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CITIES
NEWFOUNDLAND NEW YORK NEW ZEALAND NORWAY
PORTUGAL ROME RUSSIA
*SIAM

AT MANY LANDS AND

PARIS

FRANCE GERMANY GREECE HOLLAND BURMA HOLY LAND CANADA HUNGARY CEYLON ICELAND *CHINA INDIA CORSICA DELHI AND THE IRELAND ITALY DURBAR JAMAICA DENMARK * AN JAP EDINBURGH [AVA EGYPT EGYPT, ANCIENT KASHMIR KOREA ENGLAND LONDON FINLAND MOROCCO FLORENCE
AUSTRALIA BELGIUM BERLIN
* Also to

^SCOTLAND
SPAIN

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH SEAS

SWITZERLAND TURKEY WALES

in

SWEDEN

be had

French

PEEPS
BRITISH LAND

AT NATURE

WILD FLOWERS AND THEIR WONDERFUL WAYS BRITISH FERNS, CLUBMOSSES AND HORSETAILS

BIRD LIFE OF THE SEASONS BRITISH BUTTERFLIES NATURAL HISTORY OF THE

MAMMALS

GARDEN ROMANCE OF THE ROCKS

PEEPS AT THE HEAVENS PEEPS AT HERALDRY

HOMES OF MANY LANDS india PEEPS AT HISTORY

AMERICA (U.S.A.) THE BARBARY ROVERS CANADA
INDIA

HOLLAND

JAPAN SCOTLAND

PEEPS

AT GREAT RAILWAYS

THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY THE LONDON AND NORTH-WKSTERN RAILWAY THE NORTH-EASTFRN AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAYS THE SOUTH-EASTERN AND CHATHAM AND LONDON, BRIGHTON AND SOUTH COAST RAILWAYS

PEEPS
(

AT INDUSTRIES
and white
|

IVjiA Illustrations in blcuk

I

only)

RUBBER
PUFl.JSHEn BY A.

SUGAR
4,

TEA

AND

C.

BLACK,

AND

SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

AGENTS
AMEBICA
AUSTRALASIA
TTIE

MACMILLAN COMPANY

CANADA
IKSIA

....

(A 6c 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ao;; FLINDERS 1.ANE. MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA. LTD. St. Martin's House. 70 Bund Strbbt, TORONTO MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. MACMILLAN Building, BOMBAY 8C9 bow fiAZAAk Strebt. CALCUTTA

BOYS ROUND A SWEET STALL.

PAGE 46

55l0 Zo-s>(^

BO-p
First published October, 190Q Reprinted October, 1910

y-

EP-P
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.

ir.

III.

THE COUNTRY LANGUAGE BABYHOOD

GIRLS

.... ..... .....

.

13
18

IV.

V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.

A LITTLE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
BOYS

......
year's DAY

22 27
32

NEW

A CHAIR-RIDE IN THE COUNTRY A WALK IN TOWN

STORY OF pearl's MARRIAGE

36

IX.

42 47 50
54

X.
XI.
XII.

A DINNER-PARTY SOME ANIMALS

XIII.

SOME WONDERFUL SIGHTS

DOCTORS AND MEDICINE

XIV.

XV. RELIGIONS
XVI.
XVII.

.... .....
.

59 62
65

MAN A GREAT MAN

A GREAT

OF LONG AGO OF TO-DAY

:

70
74
77

CHANG CHI-TUNG
.

XVIII. STORIES

XIX.

FROM CHINESE HISTOP.Y THE LATE DOWAGER EMPRESS

83

in

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
By

NORMAN

H.

HARDY
frontispiece
PAGE

BOYS

ROUND A SWEET-STALL

FISHING

WITH CORMORANTS

viii

A WHEELBARROW
GIRL AND BABY

9
i6

MANCHU
A SCHOOL

GIRLS

25

32
41

A WATER-WHEEL
A CITY STREET

48
57

A COURTYARD

EXAMINATION HALL

64
73 80

AN OLD COOLIE

HONG KONG HARBOUR

Sketch-Map of China on
p.
v'li

MON
./
Si

^l^ANCHUniA

M
t

^
V-^fv :> ^M.ii
.,,

Arthur

f -'

v^ J^fe^^C-S^a^i/f

^-^

,-#

YE L LOW

SKETCH MAP OF CHINA.

Vll

Fishing with cormorants.

page 5

CHINA
CHAPTER
China
old.
I

THE COUNTRY
is

perhaps the most interesting country in the

whole world.

One
learned

reason for this

is

because

it

is

so

Many

men

like

to look at

ruins and

where great cities of long ago have been, such as are found in Rome and Greece. They try to find out from them how people lived in those far-off days. Some try to read the picture-writing on the monuments in Egypt, and after hard and toilsome study get some In China you idea of the history of the olden times. have the cities just as old, and still with people living in them and the writings, dating from long before Christ, still read, and the old, old language still spoken by the people of to-day. When Solomon was King in Jerusalem, and the Egyptians had built great palaces and cities by the Nile, and fought and written about their battles, and England was just a little wild island, with no one in it clever enough to write anything, or mighty enough to be written about, there were then already great men and
places
;

large cities in China.

CH.

China
Let us suppose some brave traveller had lived in the days of Solomon, and gone about with the merchants he used to send to all countries. This traveller might have gone to Egypt with the grooms who bought horses and chariots, and seen there the lovely gardens, and clever Egyptians writing on the walls of temples He might have gone to their strange picture-writing. the country of the Hittites, and been astonished at the He might even have come great walled cities there. to England and got some bright tin from Cornwall
;

but there he would despise the naked wild folk living Then he might have gone in caves or in the forests.

and there he would find great cities, with busy merchants, and learned men writing books,
as far as China,

with strange signs for words.

Now

suppose this traveller appeared again this year,

and travelled to the places he had visited before. He would learn that the great kingdom of Solomon was He would not be able to just a province of Turkey. In find any of the mighty cities of the Hittites. Egypt he would recognize the picture-writing he had seen carved on the walls, but there would be no one left who could read it. He would find it hard to believe that England was the same country he had visited before. But if he went to China he would begin to feel himself again, for there would be the strange signs written and people still able to read them, and the great cities and busy merchants would seem almost the same. The little round coins used by them are quite unchanged, and if he had put a few cash in his pocket on his earlier visit, he could have bought things to-day
2

The Country
with them.
If he took a

walk

in the fields, the

ploughs

and the spades, would be the same. He would see to-day clumsy flat-bottomed boats, probably much like the old ship in which he had
and harrows he saw, and the
carts

come on his first voyage so long before. But that does not mean that China has not learned

The thousands of years between. Chinese were the first people to make silk ; and think how many grand folk of every country wear it now
anything
in

the

They were
porcelain.

the people

who

discovered

how

to

make

Even kings had to use earthenware till Chinamen showed how fine transparent cups and bowls could be made. They had gunpowder, and knew how to print books long before Caxton. There were
astronomers and poets and thinkers in old China, and more people learnt to read there than in any other
country in old days.

One of our
a

latest

inventions

is

the taxi-cab

but a

learned professor in Cambridge has found that in China

kind of taxi-cab was used about i,6oo years ago. Instead of marking up twopences every quarter of a mile, the Chinese machine struck a drum, and when ten short Chinese miles had been traversed, a bell was rung. You may have read the story of Rip van Winkle, who went to sleep for a hundred years. China went to sleep for long years, or rather, got too sleepy to care to stir; but now she is waking, and when she gets to stirring it will be like the waking of Gulliver in Lilliput. China is rich in rivers, mountains, and minerals, and it is said she has enough coal to last the world for a thousand years. The rivers carry goods of all kinds
3

12

China
thousands of boats to all the inland cities. The two most important are the Yangtze-kiang and the
in

Yellow River.
at

The Yangtze
is is

River, which

is

one of

the largest in the world,

nearly a mile wide away

up

Chung-King, which
Before
it

about a thousand miles from

it

the coast.

gets to the sea

has to squeeze

through narrow rocky gorges, and there it roars and Boats go up and down even in tears along furiously. these parts. Men stand in the prow, with poles firmly held in their hands, and with these save the boat from
crashing against the rocks as
it

races headlong

down

the rapids.

The

other

great

river

comes hurrying from the

mountains, carrying quantities of soft

level plains,

mud down

to the

and so it gets its name of Yellow River. It winds in and out among the towns and villages. Some of the mud drops to the bed of the river and raises it till each year it is higher, and every now and then in a rainy season it bursts its banks and floods Thousands of Chinese have been the land for miles. drowned by its waters, and so it gets another name,
" China's Sorrow." When it reaches the dirty Yellow River has a long fight with the
tries

coast, the
sea,

hard with splashing waves to clean

to the sands below.

it

which by washing
river
is

the

mud away down

it

The
far
it is

the conqueror, for

the
sea,

pushes with

its

mud

out into

which

is

made such

a colour that

called the

Yellow Sea. China is a very compact country. The eighteen provinces are arranged, one row along the sea-coast, and then the rest tightly fitted in to them to form almost

The Country
the letter D.

Beyond them

are Tibet, Mongolia,

and

Manchuria. The present rulers are Manchus, and some Chinese would like to have a real Chinese Emperor again. In China there are more people than in any other part
of the world.
It is

not only in the

fields

cities that

people are
people.

to be found, but wherever

you go you come across

;

There

are farmers in the

;

flock along the roads

messengers and carriers boatmen and fishermen swarm on

the rivers.

Villages are found everywhere, and each

house has, perhaps, three or four families. Boats are used as houses, and so are caves, too, in some places. To get food these people must work hard, and happily the rivers and sea are full of fish. Many fish are caught
in nets,

but the Chinese have other ways of getting them. Sometimes in Scotland, boys catch fish with their
:

under the edge of the bank, they tickle the trout in the stream, and then quickly jerk it on the grass. In China, men sometimes dive right into the water to catch fish in this way. Sometimes the noise and splashing they make bewilder the fish, so that
hands
feeling along

they are easily caught.

The

Chinese have ponds in which they put small

fish to

fatten for the market, just as

Sometimes in the half a dozen black long-necked birds being taken for a row by a barelegged boatman. They more than pay for the trip, for they dive after and catch fish, A ring round their necks prevents them swallowing any but
the very small ones
their owner.
;

we fatten chickens or pigs. South you may see a long raft with

the rest they put into a basket for

Otters are sometimes trained to do this

too.

missionary writes that she saw one muzzled

5

China
belonging to a boatman on the Yangtze, and bought a fish which had been caught by it. The man said it
earned enough to keep him and his family of four.
In most parts the land
is

as rich as the water.

In

South China the farmers can get three crops a year off their fields, two of the three being rice ; but in the North, where the winters are bitterly cold and bread is eaten, wheat is grown. To heat the houses brick ovens, called kangs^ occupy most of the space, and people sit and eat and sleep on them. In the South there is no such oven, and the people wear two or three coats one over the other, so as to keep warm. The rich people have long coats, and the men sometimes wear leggings but the women I have often seen with four coats on to keep their bodies warm, and just one pair of loose cotton trousers
;

below.

and hear about China, we must remember that customs differ very much in diiferent parts of the country, and what is the habit in one district may be quite unknown in another. Every custom mentioned in this book is true of some place, but I suppose few are true of every place. Take, for instance, ways of travelling. In the South no such thing as a wheel is ever seen, but in the North there are carts and wheelbarrows. Carts stand for hire in the streets of northern towns, as cabs do here ; but what a difference there is between a cushioned cab, with springs and rubber tyres, bowling along a wooden pavement ; and the hard, springless two-wheeled cart, on the floor of which you have to sit, and be thrown hither
read
6

When we

The Country
and thither
as the
!

wheels
are

bump

in

and out of the deep

differently

ruts in the road

and placed in the centre of There is the barrow, with a casing of wood over it. a sort of shelf at each side of this casing, on which are Very often the wheelpiled the goods to be carried. barrow carries passengers. In Shang-hai, on the level
large

The wheelbarrows ours. The wheel is

made very

from

road leading to a factory there, they

with extra long sides, and as

may

be seen made

many

as eight or ten mill-

back to back on each wheelbarrow. Sometimes a man will sit at one side and have his luggage The barrowpacked at the other to balance him. man has a strap from the handles over his shoulders If there is to ease his arms of some of the weight.

hands

sitting

a favourable wind, a sail

is

hoisted, and the traveller

can get along at a good pace.

Another strange conveyance in North China is the mule-litter. This is a sort of covered stretcher, swung on long bamboo poles. At each end between the poles is a mule, and the mules carry the litter between them just as in the South the coolies carry the sedan-chair. This is much more comfortable than a cart or wheelbarrow, and the traveller can get along at the rate of four miles an hour. Why should you wish to go
faster
?

China

CHAPTER
-

II

LANGUAGE
say
little

words "ta,"

When
He

a baby begins to talk, he can only

for

"thank you"; "mo,"

for

"more."

sometimes says the same sound

is all

twice to

make

a word, as " ma-ma," " pa-pa," " ta-ta."

The Chinese
and they,
of

language

of short words of one

syllable,

too, often repeat the

same sound.
is

Learned men say

that this simple language

like the primitive talk

a baby race.

In your English grammar you

inflected to express

learn,

"Verbs

are

number, mood, and tense."

Chinese

verbs have no inflections.

Someone may

say to you,

" Beh khi," and his words may mean, " I am going," or " They will go," or " He goes," or " She wishes to
go."

No noun

mention more must be used. In English we say " pairs of scissors," "head of cattle"; in Chinese they say ^^ five sticks of spoon," " four balls of star."

to " anything, than one of a classifier

if

has any plural, but

you wish

For a machine
of a watch, are
tinctions than
all

their only

word

is

chia^ so that a

carriage, a sewing-machine, a typewriter,

chia.

and the works

On

the other hand, there are

other directions in which they can

we

can.

make far finer disFor our word " aunt " they

have words to distinguish between your mother's or your father's sisters, and whether they are older or younger. Little John Chinaman's urn is his father's
8

A WHEELBARROW

Language
older brother's wife, and his ee
sister,
is

his mother's

younger

and so on. Does it seem strange that so old a people as the Chinese should have a baby language ? Baby learns as he grows older to use longer words and more words by hearing all the people round him use them. China was too much alone to hear the languages of other nations, and so it kept on using its first language,
while other nations have forgotten or altered theirs.

Our English language

oldest

is

words are the Saxon simple and '*like," "go," "good." But we have adopted words and parts of words from Greek and Latin, and most European tongues, and for new things new names are invented. We have " prefer," " depart," " virtuous," for the old " like," " go," " good." We may add an ending from Latin, or put a Greek beginning to a word, and when we had much to do with France it was fashionable to use French words so from conquerors, invaders, traders, and courtiers we were always adding to our language. With the Chinese it was not so they have kept to themselves. Their high mountains shut out strangers on one side, and when any came by sea they got no welcome. The Chinese were quite satisfied with what their own land produced, and despised foreigners. Sometimes a language grows and changes just as it is The Chinese, however, had clever men who at used. a very early stage wrote the words, and no language is likely to change very much after it is written, especially as in China there were schools more than a thousand years before Christ, and so the books were read.
;

a mixture of

short

many.

The

CH.

China
Besides which the writing was so strange that if a

man
to

made
write

a
it,

new word he would have

to invent a

way

he could not just spell it, as you will see presently. This all helped to fix the quaint language and keep it different from any other. Chinese words were first written as pictures. Can you guess what these were meant for ?

O z^
The
first is for

f{

the "sun," next " mountain," " moon," " tree " or " wood," and the last is " child."

began to write more quickly the pictures changed more and more, till now they are not like pictures, only like signs, and are called characters. This is the way these same words are written now
people

When

111

^
made

* ^
for

Pictures could easily be

names of things

that could be seen, but the Chinese had very clever

ways of showing meanings by joining two or more

characters together.

Sun and moon together mean A man inside four walls means

bright.

prisoner.

Two

trees together

mean

-forest.

Sun above ground means morning. These are just some simple characters, but there are supposed to be 50,000 altogether. Most of them are far
too
difficult for

an ordinary person even to guess at the

10

Language
anyone knows 4,000 he can read most things, and would be considered quite well educated.
if

meaning.

However,

But here comes

in the next difficulty.

if

foreigner,

he were careful and correct in his pronunciation, would be understood in this country ; but if you had learnt to read and say 4,000 Chinese characters, it would be just as though you were speaking Latin to the people who heard you, for the written language is not spoken, although a few of the words sound the same. A book might be read and understood in every one of the eighteen provinces
of China, and yet the same word be pronounced in
a different

having learnt to read English,

way

in each.

This character

^i

would be

known to be man everywhere, but in Peking man is nn; in Swatow, niang ; in Canton, yan ; in Ning-po, ning ; and in Amoy, lang. The dialects differ very much in South China, but in
North and Centre, Mandarin is spoken very largely. All China is united by the written language, which is
the
called Wen-li.

Now
so

listen to the

spoken words, so
in the sentences.

short,

much up and down

Baby's "

and with Some sounds

are quite English.

but she is often to him than his mother is. more of a But you must say the word in the same imperious way that Master Baby does, or they may think you mean to
in
is

ma " " ma

China

his granny,

'*

scold,

which

is

md.
is

Try

to say these simple Chinese

toh.

words.

There

" table,"
II

That seems
2

easy.

China
No, you are saying
is it
/<?,

to^
!

a knife.

Wrong

again.
/

That
and

to

fall.

Ah
^*

when you

say your

aspirated,

is

fOy to demand.

You

try again and again,

say

"cover,"
"table."

peck,"

"fish,'*

"peach,"
ki^

anything

and before you go through the seven different ways of pronouncing the one sound, say seven quite different words, or fourteen if you give an occasional emphatic If you have a cold, and put in a nasal, you add k. another fourteen, and run through words which in English are as different as "remember," "weave," "creak," "perceive," "flag," "point," and so on, and in It seems as though Chinese all to the one sound.
but

You may

attempt

a branch,

this

Amoy

dialect, at least
;

would

ordinary English ears

but ears

anyone with are wonderfully made,

baffle

and can quickly learn to notice the tiny difference between high and low, quick and short, or slow and long The Chinese need to sounds, rising and falling tones. have these little tone variations, or how could they have In enough words without having more syllables } Canton there are nine tones, and in North China only Try to say some short English word in four or five. eight or nine different ways, and imagine it means as many different things, and you will have a little idea of
South Chinese.
Because the language
Service
is

so hard to pick up,

it

is

generally only the missionaries and

men

in the
it.

who
is

take the trouble to learn

Consular " Pidgin

English "

the queer language used by the others

have to speak much with Chinese who do not English. In this lingo a " Number one top-side joss12

who know

Language
pidgin man " is a Bishop. Fever might be expressed as " B'long inside too muchee hot." If you heard a lady
call

her servant and say,

''

Go top-side catchee
know

one piecee

handkerchief," you would

she wanted her hand-

But you might be puzzled by a man giving orders to a Chinese carpenter, showing him a picture of a desk. "Wanchee table all same so fashion, maskee chop. Number one good wood. S'pose brown no have got, B'long top-side leather. Too muchee white can do. bobbely no wanchee. Done finishee chop-chop. Savee?" This means '* I should like you to make me a table No need to copy the like the one in the picture. If you have no brown, maker's name. Best wood. Leather top. I don't want much ornawhite will do. Do you understand ?'' mentation. Finish it soon.
kerchief brought downstairs.
:

CHAPTER
BABYHOOD

III

Chinese baby

is

just the

same

soft little thing as

we have
brilliant

here in England, but instead of pretty white

little

dresses he wears

trousers and coats of the most

colours possible.
in the shape

His

bib

is

a big

stiff

em-

broidered collar, and on his head he has a funny cap.

Sometimes

of a little house, so that he may always be said to be under his own roof ; at other times merely a circle of embroidery, with a space in the centre to show the only part of his head that is not
it is

13

China
have little gold images stitched round, or an embroidered beetle in the front, waving long trembling wire feelers, and at the side a little woollen or silk pigtail shaking to and fro, beckoning a baby brother
shaved.
to follow

He may

him

into the family.

tail

Baby's

little sister is

almost sure to have a

ear to beckon in the

of her hair plaited over one

same way, and her name may be She herself may not be very anxious that the little brother should come, for, if the parents are poor, she will very likely have to carry him about tied to her back, and see him have the best of everything
" Call a Brother."
that
is

going.

In

summer very
clothes.
I

little

tots are

not troubled with

many
was
girl

remember

little

English

girl

who

longed for nothing so

five

much

as a pocket,
dress.

and when she

little

she had one in a

new

Chinese

and her brother have sometimes only a pocket. It looks like a little pinafore, and will hold lots of things,
but never a handkerchief.

One

thing baby

is

sure to wear
his

is

a silver chain of

neck with a padlock, which is often beautifully engraved. He thinks more of the padlock than of the chain, aud bites it and shakes it with
Life, fastened

round

great delight.

In China there are rules for so

these are a few of them.

many

things,

and

one month old baby is carried, then he may be rocked in a cradle, and at four months he has a little chair. When he is a year old he is carried out of doors, turned round, and expected to walk in by himself
Till

At one month

old he

may have cake and

tea, at

four

Babyhood
months he is given pigs' feet to eat to help him to walk, and at one year rice. Hard-boiled eggs are sent to the neighbours, who must touch them, so that they may not quarrel with the child when he grows older. A little girl has a red string tied round her hand to prevent her stealing or breaking things when she grows bigger. If a girl is awkward and clumsy, people say " Did your mother forget to bind your hand when you were a baby r' She has a hard-boiled egg waved over her, in the hope that her head will grow a nice round shape, and the white is given to her to eat, so that she may be thrifty. any other things are done to bring luck If baby falls, the mother runs to beat the floor, and sings a rhyme which means
:

" One, two,

three, four,

What

are

you hurting baby for

?"

Sometimes she takes baby's wee toes and says

" This little This little This little This little This little Except lie

cow eats grass cow eats hay cow drinks water ; cow runs away cow does nothing. down all day
;

We'll whip her,"

and then pats the

little foot.

When
comes

baby's

first

birthday comes, the grandmother

She brings a great bundle of clothes for baby, containing gay coats and
trousers, a

to stay for ten days or so.

warm

lined satin coat for winter, and a red

hood, something like a sou'wester in shape, called a

15

China
" wind-hood." This hood has twelve little brass figures in front, and is embroidered in all sorts of colours. Other friends come too, bringing presents of turtles and Turtles live a long time, peaches made of rice-flour. so on birthdays one always sees huge turtles in flour of

on the table. The child's parents must give away cakes, and provide a feast and a play for the company.
rice

When
on a

a little girl has her

first

birthday, she

is

seated

with a book and a pair of cymbals suspended flat bamboo tray is placed in the over her head. middle of the floor, and in it are put twelve things
chair,

among
thread.

others, scissors, a book, cash, rice, turtles,

The baby

is

everybody watches to
it is

popped down in the centre, see what she will first pick up.
sewing

and and
If
;

a needle, then she will be very clever at

if

Sometimes after this and so on. baby is carried to visit her grandmother, and she is greatly made of. When she returns home, two fowls, ricecakes, and sugar-candy are sent with her. A boy would On her second birthday get a pig and silver money. her parents give away vermicelli to the neighbours, who Vermicelli represents long life. return eggs and cash. It is only happy little babies, who are born in houses where they are wanted, who get so much attention. In many homes litde girls are not wanted at all. Boys when they grow up can worship the grandparents and
cash, she will be rich,

work

for the parents, but a girl will be married into

another family, and be of no more use in her own.

market with a basket of chickens at one end of his pole and a couple of babies in the basket at the other end, and he wants to sell
to

man sometimes comes

i6

GIRL

AND BABY

Babyhood
them
all.

Often the

girl babies are

killed to save the

trouble of bringing

believe that the spirit freed

may

be born again a
this

them up. Besides, the parents from the little girl body little boy. In one of the famous
written

books of China
"

is

If a boy is born in a downy bed, Let him be wrapped in purple and red ; If a girl is born in coarse cloth wound. With a tile for a toy let her lie on the ground.'*

That
as

IS

not

fair play, is it

When they grow old enough the little folk play games,
you do at home. They hold hands, and two play cat and mouse, running in and out under the hands of those forming the ring. Fox and geese is a favourite game. One very pretty game is played in this way All the little ones sit doubled up on the ground, and are little taro-plants. One is farmer, and pretends to water them.
:

The
and

taro-plants rise slowly

grown.

they are all standing full Then, while the farmer sleeps, a thief comes
till

tries to steal

them.

The farmer wakes up and

has

a great chase.

They
goats,

play at having feasts and funerals and keeping

and sometimes one

the others

bow down

pretend to be an before him.

will

idol,

and

CH.

17

China

CHAPTER
GIRLS

IV

While
her

she

is

tiny the

little girl

may

play about just as

little

brothers do, but the sad day comes

feet

when
is

her
is

mother says her

must be bound.
stool,

Sometimes she
she

only four or five, but often she Little Gold-needle is set on a

is left till

seven.

and her mother, taking her dear little foot in one hand and a long strip of calico in the other, bends in the four small toes and bandages them very tightly under her foot, and as
close to the heel as she can get

them, leaving only the

big toe straight.

When

both

feet are tied

up

in this

way, poor Gold-needle does not feel like running about, Her little cheeks get white, but sits near the door. and sometimes when no one is watching she sobs with
the pain.

She does not like her aunts and cousins to see her cry, for they will scold her, and the neighbours At night her little feet are will call her bad names. hot and burning, and she hangs them over the edge of
the bed and cries softly because she can't sleep.
father hears her, he will perhaps beat her
;

If her

but some-

times her mother takes the tight bandages

before they are tied up again.
brave, for her

off,

and

lets

her put her poor sore feet in hot water for a

little

while
for a

She
will

tries

to be very
fit

mother says she

only be

slave unless her feet are " golden lilies."

Sometimes the showman comes to the courtyard, and

i8

Girls
then Gold-needle forgets

watching

his

her trouble for a while performing animals, or in seeing Punch

all
is

and Judy.

If her father

kind-hearted, he will bring

her some clay toys from the market, or some very funny dolls or a pig that grunts.

Most boys and girls in China have to work. Sometimes when they are quite tiny Hok-a and Gold-needle
are sent out with a basket to gather fuel for the
little

earthen stove on which the rice

a basket and a
little

is

boiled.

They have

and up the hills they climb and scrape up dead leaves, and pull the grass and ferns, and pick up little twigs, and carry them all back
rake,
to the courtyard.

bamboo

When
ox,

there

is

a great water-buffalo
is

or a

little

brown

Hok-a
grass.

takes the string which

it

fastened to the creature's nose, and leads

places

away

to

where there

is

Sometimes he has a ride

on its back. If he is old enough, Hok-a may have to go with his father to work the water-wheel, and if Gold-needle is strong and has not had her feet bound yet, she goes too, and they tread together and turn the
water-wheel.
off"

Gold-needle can pound the rice to take the husks, and can help her mother to boil it, and

them thin for drying She can learn to spin and weave, and cut in the sun. Her mother teaches out her own coats and trousers.
scrape the sweet potatoes, or slice

her to embroider, and then she draws her

own

patterns

on her shoes, of butterflies or flowers, or a phoenix for good luck ; and when the pedlar comes, she chooses pretty bright silks and works them smoothly. During harvest, girls and boys, and mother too, often go out to the fields, and help to gather the rice. The
19

32

China
and big boys cut it down, and the girls can tie it in bundles, and then they carry it to the big tub for threshing. There the father stands, and, holding a bundle of rice, shakes the grain into the tub, whacking
father

the sheaf against a ladder inside the tub to get

rice out.

all

the

Then he throws
Gold-needle
is

the straw

on one

side.

about fifteen she hears the grown up people talk of her engagement, and she tries Her father must be to find out all she can about it.

When

making arrangements with the " go-between " for her marriage, but she would not dare to ask him about it, Gradually it all as that would be very bad manners.
leaks out.

Her mother and aunts

till

discuss the matter over

story.

their embroidery

she

knows the whole

sells

The
young
seems.

man

to

whom

her father often

''

seedlings and
it

pigs at the market wants a daughter-in-law,

The " go-between

is

man who
may be

lives in the

market-

town, and has called to ask her

she was born, so that
it

name and

exactly

when

discovered whether the

match is in every way suitable. All sorts of books must be consulted, and the stars and calendars. The Goldboy's father is willing to give a good sum. needle is surprised to hear that her father said he must It seems so much money, have 150 dollars for her. and he has always said, " Of what use is a girl?" She
can hear
little

or nothing about the son she

is

to marry.

There are three, and one is married, so she supposes it must be the second son. Gold-needle is very anxious to know what kind of a mother-in-law she will have, as her temper will make a great difi^erence to her
happiness.

20

Girls
Gold-needle
is

delighted with the presents her un-

known

fiance sends her

a piece

of

silk, ear-rings,

and

bracelets.

Her

father has to send presents in return.

For weeks the family is busy preparing the trousseau. There are to be twelve pairs of little shoes, each a
different pattern.

hair ornaments.

She has already a great number ot Some are little silver spears with a hand
Others

or a bird carved in green jade-stone at the top.

are of brass, with patterns of fish or stags, or such-like,

embossed on them. A few are of gold. These will show up well in her glossy black hair. The wedding-coat is to come from the bridegroom, but she has made a lovely silk one to wear under it, and a white inner cotton coat with the five corners, which a bride must always have. So Gold-needle, when the day comes, goes off with
very real tears to the
about.

She has to
lifts

new home she knows so little bow to the ground before her
first

parents-in-law and before the ancestral tablets, and then

her husband
time.

her veil and sees her face for the

She hopes he thinks her pretty, and wonders whether he is kind. They are not supposed to speak The bride takes a tray of tea and to each other. hands it to the guests, and for three days must neither laugh nor cry. After a month Gold- needle is allowed to go on a How she enjoys it She wears visit to her old home.
!

her best dresses, and

girl friends

is

petted and

made much

of.

Her

come

to see her,
life.

and she gossips

a great

deal about her married

As

a great secret she tells

of

how on

the wedding-day she

managed to

sit

on

21

China
corner of the bndegroom*s coat, and
the household in time.
all

her friends

congratulate her, for this means she will get the rule of

CHAPTER V
A LITTLE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW
In the
fared
last

chapter

we saw how
in a

a little Chinese girl

who was born

really cared for.

Now

happy home where she was we must see what happens to

the
a

who are not wanted. There was a man called Pu Hia who was one of large family. The father had a farm of several fields,
little girls

but the land lay between two villages, and there was

was about some oysters which the men of one village claimed, and the men of the other village went and took. At another time it was about a cow that had been sold by one villager to a man in the other village. There had been a plan that if the cow had a calf it was to be sold, and part of the money was to belong to the first owner, and so with the calf's There was difference of calf and the calf's calf's calf.
always trouble.

Once

it

opinion as to
latest calf.
It

how much money

should be paid for the

was so puzzling a case that the men went out with guns to settle it, and for months there was fighting whenever the weather was fine and there was no particular work to do in the fields. At last some 22

A
men were

Little Daughter-in-Lavv

and the Mandarin came down and but Pu's village was fined most fined both villages money, because they had only lost one man, while the other village had lost two. Now, Pu's brothers had been in the thick of the fighting, and had a good share of the money to pay. To raise the money some of the fields had to be sold, and some of the brothers went to Singapore to try and make a fortune to buy them back. Pu stayed at home with the old father and his brothers' wives and children, and his own. The house was large, and built in the best part of the village. There were hills behind, and a river ran into an arm of the sea in front. There was a fine large wooden door, with double leaves, in the stone wall which went round the courtyard. In the yard a cow was tethered, and pigs and dogs, cats and fowls wandered about. There was a stack of dried grass and straw in one corner, and across another were bamboo poles (the Chinese clothes-ropes), and on these hung some clothes to dry. Round the court were doors, and opposite the yard entrance was the guest-room, the double doors of which were swung wide open. There were some fine carvings on the posts. Inside the house looked rather bare. Opposite the door, and against the wall, stood a high table for the idols and tablets, with a lower table in front of it, and arranged down each side of the room were little tables, each with a hard
killed,
;

square wooden arm-chair

off this hall.

at either side.

Since their family had lost

Rooms opened money, Pu was

and
at that

looking about to see

how he could

save,

of three, Care, came into the yard with a cousin, and ran to her mother. She had
his
little

minute

girl

23

China
mother began to brush the mud off, Pu thought, " That child is only an expense and a trouble I may be able to do something
fallen

down and hurt

herself, and, as her

with her."

A
when

few weeks

later

Care was told she was to go

out with her father.

Her mother
off.

cried,

and she cried

She was taken about five miles away to a small house across the river, and handed over to a woman who was not at all like her This woman had several sons, and she had mother.
her father led her

spent so
to

much on

a wife for the eldest that she

She heard that Pu to sell his little girl, and so she bought her for five dollars. Pu bargained that Care was to be well treated, and when she was old enough, married to the second son, and they were to make a big feast at her wedding. Care cried herself to sleep that night and for many She was so little, and yet this mother-in-law nights. She had to fan kept telling her she must be of use. the fire while the rice was boiling, and when her little arms got tired and she stopped, she got such a slap from She was sent to lay the the old lady that she cried. potato shavings in the sun, and while she was doing it she saw a shiny beetle and stopped to play with it ; and
pay
less for the second.

wanted wanted

oh
ill

she got such a beating for that.

At

last

she

felt

so

and became so weak that her mother-in-law became frightened lest she should die, and that would be five dollars wasted, so she let her have a little more play, and Care would creep into a corner and sleep, for she felt As she grew older she had to sew and cook, so tired. and to husk the rice. To do this latter she had to jump

24

MANCHU GIRLS

Little

Daughter-in-Law

up and down on one end of a long board, at the other end of which a hammer thumped into a stone basin, and She had to draw water broke the husks off the rice. from the well and carry heavy pails into the yard. She had to wash the clothes in the river, and hammer them between two stones to get them clean. Then she must hang them up to dry, and be careful not to put men's and women's coats on the same rod. She still got beaten
if

she were not quick, or

if

she broke anything.

One day
;

her father came to see her, and asked if she

were well but, as the mother-in-law was there, she could not say much. When the old lady told him she was clumsy and slow, he just said " If that is so, you must beat her, but not heavily Care just not heavily." wished he knew how it hurt. She was about eleven years old, and used to meet some other girls at the well sometimes, and found a good many of them were '* little daughters-in-law," too, and some of them were far worse off than she was. Her father did sometimes come and see that she was not ill, and say " not heavily," but some of the others had no one to care for them at all. One who was only ten threw herself down the well because She met little slave-girls besides. she was so unhappy. Some were quite merry, but others were so miserable she did not like to think about them. One day when her father came he noticed that Care's feet had never been bound, and he was very angry. He called her dreadful names, and told the old lady she must not neglect the child like that, and make her look like a slave. So that evening she had her feet bound. Her mother-in-law was angry, because she knew she would
:

CH.

25

China
have to do a great deal of the housework herself for and a little while, till Care was able to go about again besides, she kept on scolding because of the way Pu had spoken to her. So the feet were bound roughly and
;

and it hurt dreadfully because the bones were hard and the feet were strong from going about so much. Care could have screamed, but dared not. She suffered terribly, and yet her mother-in-law made her go about. She used to move from stool to stool or walk on her knees, for it was agony to put her feet on the ground. She got very thin, and felt sick and wretched. One day she took some opium from her mother-in-law's pipe-bowl and swallowed it, to try and get away from all her misery ; but it was not enough to kill her, and she was only more sick, and got beaten besides. No one seemed to pity her. At last a neighbour came in one day, and told the old lady that if she did not take care the girl would die, and her spirit would haunt the house ; and after that she was allowed to rest a little more, and gradually she began to feel better. When she was fourteen she was married. The mother-in-law did not want much expense, but, still, there was a feast, and Care had some new clothes, and for three days did not need to work. Things were not so bad after that. Some more of the sons married, so there were more to help in the house. The mother-in-law died at last, and though Care had to cry and howl aloud with pretended sorrow,
tightly,

she could not help being very glad indeed.

26

Bovs

CHAPTER
BOYS

VI

Chinese boys do not

all

have to go to school, as Englwh

boys must, but those whose fathers can afford to send them do go. School fees are not very high, and it is just as well they should not be, for a boy may go to school
for a long time

and know almost nothing

at the

end of

it.

Imagine yo.ung John Chinaman starting off to school for the first time. He wears a long coat down to his

and a round cap, called a " basin hat," because of its shape. Below this his glossy black hair is plaited in a cue, which is lengthened with red cord till it
ankles,

reaches his heels.

His

father takes

him

to the master

him what a stupid boy his son is. You think the master would find that out soon enough, but John knows his father is only being polite to the master, He gets a school name, such as " Son of not to him. Learning," or " Heaven's Wisdom," and usually drops the name by which he has been called at home. He " may be glad to do so if it has been Black Snake," " Tiger - mane," " Number Two," " Puppy - dog," " Girl," or such-like. John must bow low, knocking his head on the ground before the tablet in the schoolroom, on which the name of Confucius is written. Turning round, he sees the other pupils, boys of all
and
tells

books before them, each shoutThe room is small and rather ing out his own lesson. dark, and the noise is tremendous, and if you came m 42 27
ages, sitting with their

China
with John you perhaps have a headache already. That fat boy in the corner might be cheering at a football-

making. You are amazed that the master has not shouted " Silence 1" and almost wish As a matter of he would cane some of the noisiest. fact, he is quite pleased that John's father should see what fine busy scholars he has, and would be very angry He hands the new pupil a little if they were quiet. " The Three-Character Classic," because reader, called each line has three words only, and, pointing, to the characters, tells him their names.

match by the row he

is

You do

not understand, and neither does John but he repeats the sounds as he is told, and goes to his seat
;

and shouts them till he thinks he knows them. Then he takes the book to his master, and, turning his back to him that he may not be supposed to be looking over,
28

Boys
he repeats the passage, swaying to and fro as he says it. If it is said correctly, he will be set a few more lines but it is only after the whole book is learnt by rote that any explanation is given. If it is not said correctly, the master will cane him, for he believes that nothing but a sound beating will give him a memory. In some parts of China a boy has to learn by heart for two years without understanding anything, for the book-words in those places are a different language altogether from spoken Chinese. His Readers, even when he knows their meaning, The one with which we saw are not very interesting. him start is a long rhyme, and gives lists of virtues he must practise and subjects he will have to learn, a very dry outline of history, and, lastly, some stories of wonderful young people whom he is told to imitate. For example, two boys, who had to go to work every day gathering wood and driving cows, took books with them, and read in the forest, or rested the book on the horns of the cow, and read while riding on its back. One who had to study late at night tied his long pigtail to the rafters, so that if he became sleepy and nodded he would be wakened by the sudden tug of his hair. Another pricked himself with an awl to keep One student, who could not afford a lamp, awake. caught glow-worms and put them in a bottle, and read by their light. When he is older the pupil may read history, and poetry, and rules of politeness, but no geography, nor arithmetic, nor natural history. The only variety he gets is a writing lesson. He has a fine brush made of
;

29

China
bamboo and
camel's hair, which he holds exactly upright as he copies the characters.

School-hours are very long, as lessons begin early, and do not stop till dark, except just for meals. I have

been wakened when it was scarcely light by the shoutThere are very few holidays ing of sleepy schoolboys. no Saturdays or half Wednesdays, and, of course, no Sundays ; for it is only in lands where God is worshipped that people have a weekly holiday.

Sometimes and always at

at

new or

full

moon

there

is

a holiday,

Year and special feasts. Even on ordinary days the boys manage to get some play. They have many games very like those you have here at home, for little John Chinaman is very much the same sort of boy as little John Bull. He is fond of A battledore is no use to him, tops and shuttlecock.
but he turns up
shoe,
his little foot,

New

with

its

thick paper-soled

and sharply

hits the shuttlecock

with

that.

If his

pigtail gets in the

way, he tucks it inside his coat, or Should the schoolmaster coils it round his head. appear, however, he will quickly untwist it and stop running for Confucius has said that running is not
;

and no student should do more than walk. There is a kind of insect which the boys love to catch, for it makes a loud whirring noise with its wings, and sometimes two of them are set to fight each other, the boys watching eagerly to see whose insect will win. They have a game something like marbles played
dignified,

with cash.

a have seen the Chinese money little round copper coin, smaller than a halfpenny, with a square hole in the middle.

You

30

Boys
Mr. Headland tells how he saw the game played: " The boys all ran to an adjoining wall each took a cash from his purse or pocket, and, pressing it against the wall, let it drop. The one whose cash rolled farthest away took it up and threw it against the wall in such a way as to make it bound back as far as
;

possible.

" Each

did

this

In

turn.

The one whose

it,

cash

bounded

farthest then

took

it

up, and with his foot on

the place whence he had taken

he pitched or threw it in turn at the cash the others had dropped. Those he hit he took up. When he missed one, all who remained took up their cash and struck the wall again, going through the same process as before. The one who wins is the one who takes up most cash." Boys play blind-man's buff, and they have the original of Diabolo, or Gambo, which people here
played so

much
kites

little

while ago.

very popular amusement, and grandfathers, fathers, and sons will all go out to fly They are made in all sorts of shapes and them.
is

Flying

sizes.

Chinese schools are changing in

many
that

places,
all

commands from

the

Government order

and sorts of

useful things shall be taught nowadays.

have been turned into schools,

Some temples and modern maps hung

If a foreigner

on the
too
is
;

walls,

and new lesson-books have been bought,

is

but the difficulty

or globe
is for,

to find teachers.

within reach, he will be asked to explain what the

and how sums can be done without counting with beads on an abacus. In some places

map

31

China
Japanese have become teachers, and Chinese boys

who

have been trained by the missionaries in their schools

and colleges are

In

in great

demand

as masters.

some of these new schools cricket, or " ke-le-ket," becoming very popular, and football -matches are is Mandarins and others sometimes come to played.
watch the game. hockey, too.
I

have seen

Chinese boys play

CHAPTER
NEW

VII

year's day

At New

Year time our little friends Hok-a and Goldneedle and their cousins always had plenty of fun. Their grandmother told them a story of why there was She said always so much feasting then. "They tell us that the people of long ago had a saying that on the last day of the twelfth month a great
:

flood
that
*

When the people of would drown everyone. time heard this they were very sad, and thought,
are going to die, let us take the food
eat,

Now we

we

and the clothes we have and dress up So they took rice, and fried rice-cakes, and gaily.' prepared strained rice and basins of vegetables, in order [The ' ancestors to take leave of their ancestors. mean the spirits of their ancestors, who are supposed to live in wooden tablets kept on a table placed against When they had worthe wall of the chief room.]
have and

32

SCHOOL

New
shipped the ancestors,
the
table

Year's
all

Day

the family sat together round

and put a little stove underneath because it was winter, and also because they shook with fright and needed a fire to warm themselves. On that night they shut the door very close, and put a prop against it. They lit up very brightly, and did not dare to go to sleep, but watched anxiously for the great flood to come. " At daybreak they opened the door, and discovered That was New Year's Day. that there was no flood. They immediately ran out to visit their friends and relations, and found that none of them had been drowned either; so they all congratulated each other, and drank
to
eat,

and wine. feasting and

tea

From
visiting

that time there has always been

and

congratulations

at

New

Year."

Hok-a and Gold-needle have been looking forward

to the holiday for a long time.

All the people in the

The dust and dirt of house have been busy for days. the year has been swept from the house into the street.

The men have been hurrying about money that was owing to them, for no
left

collecting any
bills

must be

over

till

New

Year.

Mother and aunts have been

by the door to catch the light to darn, and mend, and make, for everyone must have something As it gets near the fine to wear on New Year's Day. 28th and 29th of the twelfth month, the bustle and traflic wax fiercer and fiercer, and people push against one another, and crowd into the shops to lay in a stock of good things against the 29th ; for even if there are thirty days in the month, the great day is spoken of as
sitting

CH.

33

China
cooking goes on the day before and Pigs such a frying of rice-flour cakes you never saw. and ducks and chickens and even poor little fish have a bad time of it just then, for at noon on the 29th
the 29th.

Such

tables are

brought into the hall, and a great feast is laid out, and these must be among the offerings. The great day arrives, and Hok-a and Gold-needle
dress themselves in their

new

clothes.

Hok-a

has a
it,

blue coat, with a yellow silk waistcoat on the top of

green silk leggings, and a green cap ; while his little sister is gay in a pink coat and blue trousers trimmed with black, and some silver pins and flowers in her
shining black hair.
Fortunately, the twelve o'clock all is ready. food need only be half cooked, as the idols cannot tell whether it is done or not, and this feast is for them.

By

The men and

their
pigtails

boys, in long blue or green

finished
hall,

gowns and
tassels,

off with

red cord

are

gathered in the

and prostrate themselves, begging

the idols and the spirits of the ancestors to eat the food

prepared for them.

basin of rice and another of

vegetables, with a piece

of meat,

is

carried to

the

bedroom up the
his

for the

Mother Bed

Spirit to eat, as, if they

don't feed her,

children.

she will revenge herself by tripping

The Kitchen God,

fireplace
is

too,

must have

share,

and the

gaily decorated with

flowers.

When

they have finished worshipping, a lot of

is

gilt

paper-money
everything
is

burnt, that the spirits

things in the other world, and have a

carried out and

may buy good Then nice time.

cooked over again, and

34

New
all

Year's

Day
women
1

the family gather round for the feast of the year.

Usually the

men

eat alone

and the

afterwards,

Such fun they Everyone have, roasting cockles and parching beans must give a stir to the bean-pan. A little stove is carried to the table, and wine is warmed over it, for all
but on this day everyone has a place.
to have a taste.
laid in,

great supply of celery has been

and the stalks must be boiled and swallowed

life.

whole, to give long

When

the feast

is

finished,

the grandfather hands a piece of

money

to each, so that

they

may have money

and a
bit

the year through.

is

Then

a basin

of

rice

of meat

given to the dog and cat

It is time to light up once a year. now. A bit of sugar-cane is stuck behind each door, and in each room food is placed for the spirits. There is so much noise and merriment that, for a wonder, the rats don't dare to peep out, so they say that " the rats

treat they only get

are marrying

and giving

in marriage."

Twelve bamboo

lam p^ are lighted

and afterwards carried out to burn. Everybody gathers round to watch which goes out first, as each lantern stands for a month, and If it the first that turns black means a month of rain.
in the hall,
is

the

first

month the

children

are
is

sad,

for that
as
it

is

holiday -time.

And
friend

it

usually

the

first,

is

carried out before the others.

been saving up for weeks, so as to buy plenty of squibs and fireworks to let off on this day, just as English boys do for the 5th of November. His father has bought hundreds of them too, and so has everyone else in the place ; the cracking of them is heard everywhere.
little

Our

Hok-a

has

35

52

China

A
over

great bonfire
it,

is

kindled, and the children

jump

singing

"Jump

busily,

jump away

the

fire

burns bright

Bring in gold and bring in

silver.
;

Now
Heap
It is late

there's
it

no place to store it away under the kitchen grate !'*

before anyone gets to bed, for they think

sit

that the longer the children

up, the longer the old

people will
night long

live.

Some

dutiful boys

and

girls sit

up

all

Next morning there

I

is

a great deal of visiting, and,

am

sorry to say, a great deal of gambling.

Nobody
in

works,

and humour.

everybody

is

supposed

to

be

good

CHAPTER
Our
just

VIII

A CHAIR-RIDE IN THE COUNTRY

sedan-chairs are ready for us.

These are

really

bamboo arm-chairs with two long supple bamboo

14 feet long, fastened to either
feet.

carrying poles, about

side,

and with a light flooring for the

An

arch
roof,

of

split

bamboo

is

fixed over the chair,

and the

back, and

sides are

shower-proof.

covered with blue cotton, made Little square windows are cut in the
let

covering at the sides, with a flap of cotton hung over

them, which can be

of ours look

down

as a curtain.

These

chairs

much

the worse for wear.

The

bearers look rather shabby in their short loose

36

A
his

Chair-Ride
like to

in

the Country
used

pants and coats of faded blue very untidily put on.

Wouldn't you

ask this one when he

has a black cloth

last

wooden comb ?

He
it.

wound round
pigtail

his head, but stray hairs

and

bits

of rough

show

here and there round

Chair-bearers are looked

down
do

upon, and
this

it is

usually only the lowest class

who

v/ill

work.
has tipped up the chair, so that you

The back man

may

step over the poles.

Do

not step over the

little

bar that

joins the poles at the end, for that

would count as an insult, almost equal to putting your foot on the bearer's neck. Both men are making up their minds how heavy you are, and very likely guess to within a few pounds. As soon as you sit down the men swing you up to their
shoulders, and start off with great strides along the un-

rough granite paving-stones. They keep in step so well, and the thick poles are so springy, that the motion is just delicious.
even road, with
its

How
fields,

small the fields are

a

ment gardens outside

more like the little allottown than like our big home
!

only instead of cabbages and turnips and potatoes there are dark-leaved taro plants in this wet place, and
there,

where

it

is

dry, pineapples and

tall

millet

and
little

sugar-cane are growing in rows, and farther on

indigo bushes and sweet potatoes.
little

Do you

see the

mat-shed by the side of that plot, with its monster pumpkins ? That is where the man stays who guards the crops, for someone must watch or else the thieves would have a grand time. The farmers club together

and take turns in watching. We meet all kinds of folk

37

as

we go

along,

many of

China
them carrying heavy
a

baskets, slung
split

from either end of

bamboo, balanced across their shoulders. Here are two men, and, swinging between them, is a fat pig hanging upside down, with its legs tied
to a

long pole made of

bamboo pole. Now we overtake

going

young

gaily-dressed

woman.

She

is

home

to visit her

mother

after being married

and behind her a wrinkled old dame, to see she comes to no harm. Both look as though they were on stilts, for they walk so stiffly on their tiny feet. Here comes a small boy leading a huge water-buffalo by the nose, or riding on its back. The little path is narrow and slippery now, and, as we go hurrying past, the burden-bearers must give way to our chairs so they stand close to the edge and balance carefully, or they would slip into the disgusting mud of the rice-fields at each side. These fields are fresh and green, and each has a tiny mud-dyke round it to make for rice must be grown in water. it into a little pond Do you see those two men standing near the river and holding a rope in each hand fastened to a bucket between them ? They let the bucket down into the water, and when filled, jerk it up and let the water pour into the mud channel, and so quite a little river runs down from
;

a month,

field to field.

The

bearers

tell

us a tiger was seen in that clump of

growing very bold, and conies sometimes into the village and carries off a dog or a goat. The tigers in the Zoo are from these parts, but though we may look at them bravely when we see the iron bars between, we would not care to meet them
sugar-cane
last night, that

he

is

38

A
here.

Chair-Ride in the Country

old

An

woman was

carried off

from her door-

step, they say, not

long ago.

farmer, standing well over his ankles in the

mud

of

the field, planting out rice seedlings, straightens his

back for a minute to shout, " Where are you going ?" Everyone has asked that question, and when they see the strange people in the chairs they want to know more are we men or women? where do we come from? and so forth. Our bearers shout answers, and

we

hear

that

we

are

"Barbarians

from

the

outer

kingdom, just going about and looking, looking." How funny the shadows of our front men are It is nearly noon, and the sun is almost exactly above us, so the big round bamboo hats make circles on the ground as though there were no men at all under them, only a bit of coat flapping breaks the round sometimes. Now the road begins to go uphill, and the huge bars
!

of granite laid across the path make steps in the steepest parts. The poles bend and sway, while the men swing the
chair

"

On

up and down and call to each other, " we go !" Little fields are made on

Up we go

!"

the sides of

the hill

not lose
can help

by levelling the ground, for the Chinese will any chance of growing something to eat if they
it.

Under

the shelter of the rocks pretty

little

ferns grow,

and there are large white wild-roses.

is

The

herons, with their, pink legs, are left behind in the wet
fields,

and so

his little

the little bird that calls all the time for brother, " Tee, tee, tee, tee-tee-tee."

Under
is

the pine-trees at the very top of the pass there

a temple,

and the front part of

it

has been

made use

of by an old woman,

who makes
39

good

living by pro-

China
viding food and drink for travellers.

The

coolies

swing

our chairs suddenly down to their hands, and then to the ground, wipe their faces with a grimy cloth on their shoulders, and then go and sit doubled up on the narrow wooden benches by the long table, and shovel basins of are left meekly hot rice noisily into their mouths. sitting in our chairs by the roadside till they are ready

We

to

go on

for another long spell.

Now we

go down the winding path on the other

side

of the mountain.

The view of the

valley

below

is fine,

with great stretches of young rice, patch joining patch in a chain of bright green, with here an orange-grove,

of sugar-cane, while villages seem to be scattered about everywhere, their brown-tiled roofs showing half hidden in dark banyan-trees. Far beyond,

and there

a field

past

where you see the gleam of the river as it winds and out over the plain, you get a glimpse of the city
not of
its

in

houses, however, for they are only one-storied.

see
is

What you

the high battlemented city wall, and

the tops of two old pagodas which

show above it. Have you noticed the strange round towers near some of the villages ? In these parts the people often fight, and when there is any specially bad quarrel on
hand the people move into the towers. They keep the fowls and cattle in the stalls below, and live in the rooms on the floors above. There are no windows, but narrow slits to the outside, and all the air and light comes from the open part in the centre.

Our

bearers are stepping carefully

down

a flight of

slippery stone steps,

and by

this sloping path

under the grey stone arch

(built in

we pass memory of a widow

40

NHJ\*>W^-

A WATERWHEEL

A
who

Chair-Ride in the Country

life
till

spent her

in caring for her father-in-law

and

mother-in-law),

we come

to the river at the foot,

where we hire a barge for the rest of the journey. Arches of bent cane covered with matting make a sort of cabin of the centre of the boat, one half of which
is

screened off for the boatman's family.

You may make

look out

yourself as comfortable as you can in the middle space,

and get glimpses of the family

at the lovely

inside, or else
river.

bamboos fanning the

little

Across there, a strange

planted in the
the wicked spirit whose

figure

made of straw

is

muddy bank by some

villager afraid of

mention.

We

name he would not dare to hear the creaking of many wooden

water-wheels, and see them being turned by men and boys,

treading steadily hour after hour to raise water in the

wooden channel up the bank

into the nearest rice-field,

and from it to run in little ditches down to the farthest Everyone seems busy, day in, day out the same, plot. the only change being in the kind of work that has to
be done.

We

are not sorry

when

the

town

is

reached, for this

and we feel somewhat cramped and rather squeamish from the smell of the opium which the boatman's old mother is smoking behind
boat has a

very hard

floor,

the screen.

CH.

41

China

CHAPTER
A

IX

WALK

IN

TOWN

have seen something of the country ; let us now take a walk through this typical town of South China. In olden days everywhere, as in China to-day, no great city could exist unless near some waterway, for where

We

no railways and the roads are bad, water makes This city is on a river just where it a splendid carrier. Before we go ashore runs into a great arm of the sea. let us notice the innumerable boats, all with one part
there are

covered, in which the

boatman's family

lives.

The
of

women
them

look strong and have natural

feet.

Many

working the oars. They do not mix with the The townsfolk, and are not allowed to sleep on shore. children tumble about in the bottom of the boat, and
are

but as they have a rope tied to them, they are quickly hooked out of the water, and These boat are not much the worse for the ducking.
often
fall

overboard

people wash themselves and their clothes in the river, and then dip up some of the water for cooking and
drinking
water,
it

Now

Happily, no one thinks of drinking cold is always boiled and a few tea-leaves added first. This is a far cleaner city than let us land.
!

seem dark and like tunnels, for they are narrow, and bamboos are laid across from roof to roof, and an awning of mats on them gives shade from the glaring sun, but makes it

many we might have

visited,

but the

streets

42

A
rather gloomy.

Walk
The
is,

in

Town
for there

shops have only a few feet of

perhaps, as well

frontage each, and do not display their goods to any

great extent, which

glass,

is

no

only a counter, and inside what looks like the

pay-desk in a butcher's shop, only made of beautiful dark wood magnificently carved. There is outside each shop a dark wooden board hanging down, and having
the trade

name of

the

owner

in gold

and red

letters.

The merchant

himself

is

very likely to be seen, dressed

in a rich silk robe,

and looking
to be fat
is,
;

China to be rich
nearly every rich

is

and pompous: for in no poor man can be, and

fat
is

man

unless he

a very

advanced

opium-smoker. Rich and poor alike eat rice, but the poor man has very little and the rich man very much. Shopping is made easy in this city, for each class of shop has its own street. This is Coffin Lane, and in the open workshops we can see carpenters sawing great trunks of trees into the Turn to thick rounded coffins used by the Chinese. the left, and we go down Shoemaker Row, and see in Some are black every shop shoes, large and small.
satin,

some

coarse cotton, others green or blue silk, with

a pattern in black velvet laid on.

The

soles of

all

are

thick and white,

made of

layer

on

layer of paper.

All
can

these are for men.

at

Women

embroider their own shoes

it is

home.

Do

not think that

only

women who

embroider, for here are some

men

standing at frames

working elaborate designs in all shades of soft silks. This tall man is working a very large square with a The faces, though so picture of some old fairy-tale.
small, are wonderfully clever.

In that street are the

43

62

China
lacquer workers, where trays, boxes, and even
are carefully worked.
coffins,

Varnish
there
is

is

laid on,

and polished

again and again,

till

a veneer of lacquer, very

smooth and rich, all over. Let us turn in here for a moment. A number of workmen are busy with little gold and silver brooches and ornaments, forming patterns on them with tiny
threads

of

filigree.
lie

Kingfishers'

feathers

in

lovely

shades of blue
little pieces,

on the table, and the men cut off and gum them into the spaces between the

patterns.

In the black hair of the

beautiful.

women

these orna-

ments look

In a street some yards

down we

hear the clatter of

wood, and going into a dark room, we see a wooden loom being worked by foot, and a shuttle thrown from hand to hand. This is the way the rich silk, for which China is famous, is made, just as it must have been

made

centuries ago.

Across the street are

men bending

over fine ivory,

carving dainty patterns with very clumsy tools.

Do you
men

hear the yelling behind

is

you.''

Stand aside

quickly, for there

the fire-brigade.

About twenty
their heads

are running along, with helmets

on

and

loose red cotton coats and short trousers on, and hauling

by a rope a heavy water-barrow with a

pump
fill

attached.

When

they reach the place of the

fire

they
it

the barrow

through a hose at Very few towns have even this primitive the flames. At one time there was a fire in Amoy, and fire-brigade. the men from a British man-of-war did great service by forming lines, and handing buckets of water along from

with water from buckets, and

pump

44

A
hand
to hand.
in the harbour,

Walk
it

in

Town
fire

When

the next

Chinese said what a pity

broke out there, the was there was no man-of-war

but made no attempt to copy what they

had seen done.

Look
student.

at

the people

we

pass.

There

is

proud

have a degree or he may not. He is proud in any case, for he belongs to the literati^ and always wears a long coat, often of silk, which he is careful to allow to sway lightly from side to side as he

He may

Englishman might walk quickly and let such a coat catch between his knees or get twisted with his swinging arm, but no student of Confucius would be so undignified. Here comes a poor old woman, bent with age. Her blue cotton coa"" is blown in the wind, and she has a black band of silk round her head, and a She has that as a black sticky patch on her temple.
walks.
plaster to cure headache.
five or six

An

Who
first is

are these

a train of

hideous ragged men, each one holding on to

the one before him.

The

a leper, with his sleeve

drawn up
blind,

to

show

his decaying

arm

the others are

and all are diseased and dirty. They go into the shops and demand money, refusing to go till they get a handful of cash. Most of the merchants pay a tax to the king of the beggars to save themselves from having these men in their shops. There is a recognized class of beggars, despised and hated, but supported by these forced gifts. Besides lepers and blind and maimed, little children are sometimes sold to the beggars by parents who do not want the trouble of bringing them up. The beggar king then decides what should be done to them. The poor little things are sometimes twisted or blinded,
45

China
so as to

make people

pity them.

One day

saw a baby

of three or four sitting on a bit of matting at a corner where many people passed. She lifted a poor little blind face and held out a basin for cash, and cried in a high
voice, without daring to stop for a minute,

They have not give charity." " heard of the One who had compassion," and so sadder things happen in these streets than I can write about.
ah
charity, ah
!

"

" Give

"Kam

siong

must walk on past the great gate of the Yamen, with huge dragons painted on the wall, and past the tall flagstaff which marks the house of a man with a degree, Fancy if our M.D.'s and into the busier streets again. M.A.'s each put up a flagstaff in the street At this Here comes corner the man with the sweet-stall sits. our little friend Hok-a, fishing in his pocket for some Will he have fruits dipped in syrup, or one of cash. these little bamboo sticks with Hvq sugary cherries on No he has paid a few or some sugar- candy ? it, precious cash, eight of which make a farthing, for what looks like a round green ruler. It is sugar-cane, and he bites off pieces and sucks the juice, throwing the rest This man carrying heavy baskets with basins of away. queer soup on the top of one of them is shaking a china spoon in an empty basin, as a muflin-man rings his bell at home. That fellow who is frying cakes needs no
! !

We

rattled spoon, for the smell of his stale fat reaches for

seems to attract the coolies, for numbers of them stop to buy. << To the right I" " Look out, oh !" Have a care !"
yards
the road.
It

down

the bearers of that closely-shut sedan are shouting as

they hurry along,

Stand back into that open shop

till

46

Story of Pearl's Marriage

they pass.

Quick!

How

they jostle the people!

They

have turned the sharp street corner, overthrowing a tray of peanuts, for in these poorer streets the shop-keepers arrange their goods in baskets outside their shops, as greengrocers at home sometimes do. In the grand streets through which we went at first there is none of this. are glad to turn into the quiet part of the town

We

where the foreigners live, away from the noise and smells of the busy city.

CHAPTER X
STORY OF pearl's MARRIAGE

The

following story was told

me by
:

an old

woman

to

show how lucky it is to be rich There was an old man of the Lim clan who wanted Her to marry a girl of sixteen. Pearl was beautiful. eyebrows had been plucked out, and arched lines drawn
were painted red, and her cheeks powdered. She was fat and round-faced, her hair thick and straight and black, her feet only two and a half inches long, and she was all a bride should be. The " middle- woman," who arranges these things,
instead.
lips

Her

went to the girl's father and told him a rich man, who was forty years old, wanted his daughter, and would give i,ooo dollars (;^ioo) for hen The father was delighted, and soon a lucky day for the marriage was being sought for by the priest. But while the calculations were being

47

China
made, taking into account the animal of the year in which each was born, and whether fire, wood, or water was predominant, a rumour reached the home that the would-be husband was an old man. The little bride cried, and the father made up his mind to go and see for himself if this were true, and found, sure enough, that However, a bribe of loo dollars made him it was. quite willing for the marriage, and he came home and said the bridegroom was middle-aged and very rich. The mother was not quite satisfied, and she went too to see, and again the cunning old man gave a bribe, and she came home and talked to the girl of the beautiful house to which she was going and of the riches and charm of the bridegroom. The betrothal was arranged, and the little bride received handsome gold engagement bracelets from Mr. Lim, which the " middle-woman," weighing them in her hand, declared were worth 800 dollars at least. While the bride was busy with her trousseau, embroidering tiny shoes and other things for herself, and making the pocket she would have to give to the groom, the neighbours came in, and insisted again that Mr. Lim was old and a bad match, and Pearl's fears were all aroused again. She wept and howled, and said she would kill herself rather than marry a man older than her father. At last she persuaded her two brothers to go and see him ; but they were each given 100 dollars, and they promised to speak in favour of the marriage. So when they returned they comforted their sister, and said it was a good match, and the groom was young and handsome and very rich. It would be a good thing

48

A Ciry STREET.

PAGE

43.

Story of PearPs Marriage

marry a Lim, for did not " the Lims and Tans divide the world?" So Pearl was comforted, and worked away at her trousseau till the wedding-day. She went off, all dressed in her rich red satin and heavy head-dress, in the red chair sent for her, and made the correct wailing sound all the way to her new home. None of her own family came with her, for that would have seemed like prying on the wedding-feast. The " middle-woman" was there, and she dragged her out of the chair and to the hall, for she had to seem unwilling, though she was really very curious to see Mr. Lim. When the bowings and ceremonies were over and the bridegroom lifted her veil, she saw he was as old as the neighbours had said, and so she cried and wept, and refused to be comforted. Mr. Lim in despair ran to his coffer, and brought out handfuls of silver coins and threw them amongst the crowd, saying money was no use to him, as he could When the crowd began to scramble for not win love.
to

them. Pearl tried to scrape some of the pieces with her

under her skirt, and old Lim, when he saw this, whispered to her that she should have as much as she wanted, so she was comforted. Soon after this Mr. Lim bought some grown-up sons and then bought wives for them, and so Pearl had all the honour of being a mother-in-law, with her sons and daughters to wait on her. Then she had grand-children, and her happiness was complete. Such happiness can money win and such happiness is the kind some of the Chinese seem to value most.
feet
!

CH.

49

China

CHAPTER
A

XI

DINNER-PARTY
?

Do

the Chinese ever have parties

to one of them. invitation

They

do, and

think
*'

we might go Here comes an

on a sheet of red paper:

On

the tenth day of the third

moon

a trifling enter-

tainment will await

April 2 2

the

light

of your countenance.

From Tan High-Virtue, with compliments."

is

To-day

by our

calendar,

and the seventh of the third

it

moon by Chinese

reckoning, so
*'

will

be in three days.
first

When you
you think of

get an invitation, one of the

is,

things

What

shall

wear

.?"

Well, your

white dress will look like mourning to them, and your

blue muslin with
indecent.
its

short sleeves
silk will

Your pink

would be thought be just the thing. But I

am

not sure whether you should go, for there will be only men at the feast, as women do not sit down with

However, as we are just going in imagination, it can do no harm. Your brother will just wear his black suit. The cloth will be all right, though
to

them

meals.

the cut will be thought very bad, for coats should be

long to the ankles and trousers baggy.

another red sheet
is

On

the loth

house
his

is

only three

in chairs.

He

is

Mr. Tan*s minutes' walk away, but we must go rich merchant, and, looking down on
sent, giving the hour.
hill,

house from our

he seems to have almost a village

is

inside his gates, but that

because every large

room

has

50

A
to have
its

Dinner-Party
Chinese architecture.
into the dining-room

own

roof, according to

In the courtyard are camellias and azaleas in pots, and a

large tree in the centre.

As we go

our host meets us, and, clasping his hands, bows.

the same.

We do

He has two red things like new pencils in his

them
to his

hands, and after raising

head, he hands

them
1

and another pair to each of the guests. Have the Chinese really "competition" parties? Not yet These are chop-sticks. There are several square Now for the tables, and room at each for eight people. The most honoured guest business of getting seated. is asked by Mr. Tan to sit in the chair on his left, but he tries to sit in various less honourable places first, and only after nearly five minutes of compliments has he been persuaded that nothing else will satisfy his host. At last everyone knows where he is to sit, and the dinner can begin. There are a spoon, a saucer, and two bowls before you, one having some water, so that you may wash your mouth at any time. It is the dessert we are having first candied walnuts, pickled plums, water-melon seeds, candied peanuts, etc. Then come the hot dishes pork and chicken stews, shrimps in vinegar, sea-slugs and chicken in oil, kidneys and omelettes, hard-boiled eggs,birds'-nest soup, bamboo shoots and vermicelli, and every now and then, between these, little syrupy dumplings, sugar biscuits, or gingerroot. Everything is in small pieces, so that it can be lifted with the chop-sticks. Don't you wish you could hold your chop-sticks as neatly as your neighbour does? Put your thumb firmly over them both, and press the tips of your second and third fingers against the middle
to you,

51

72

China
Then, you see, you can pick anything up between them by holding the lower one steady and moving the upper. If you can't succeed, you must starve rather than use your left hand to help your right. What do you think of the music ? The band seems
of each.

made up of the noisiest instruments invented. As the dinner goes on, riddles are asked.
sisters all

"Two

That
This

is

day stand apart, but at night they hold hands." the two sides of a Chinese door.
all fallen in,

"A little house

is

yet

it

holds

five guests."

a shoe.
**

the top of a mountain a tuft of reeds Below the mountain two bright lamps ; Below the lamps a grave-mound ; Below the mound a little ditch ; Within the ditch a great big fish ; Below the ditch a drum Below the drum two roads branch."
;

On

Do you
Still

recognize yourself.?

hair, eyes, nose,

mouth,
after

tongue, body, and legs.

the feast goes on, one dish

coming on
it

another.

The

host takes a dainty, such as a bit of sweet

oil,

pork from
with his

a dish of fragrant

and passes

to

you

Don't look disgusted because He and the guests he has just had them in his mouth drink to each other's health, and turn up the little winechop-sticks.
!

own

cup to show it is empty. The servants fill it again with more of the warm wine. Everyone makes as much noise as possible over his food, smacking his lips, sucking in his breath to show he is enjoying it, and making horrid sounds to show he has had enough. Each
52

A
guest must eat a
insulted.

Dinner-Party
little

of everything or the host

is

We

have been answering riddles, or trying to look

clever while other people answer

them

listening

to

music which is like a brass band, a nigger troupe, and Highland bagpipes all together ; playing games something like "How many fingers do I hold up?" and eating for more than three hours.

At

last plain

boiled rice
is

and hot

tea are served,

which

is

a sign the dinner

over.
leave.
is

Just look round the handsome

room

before

we

There

is

carving at the door and windows, and here

;

ebony table and cabinet but the chairs As a are all of the same square, uncomfortable shape. whole the rooms look very bare and cheerless, though the wood is fine, and there are some painted scrolls on
beautiful carved

the walls.

We get home to our cosy arm-chairs and soft cushions

and rather laugh at some of the customs we have seen. But the laugh is not only with us. Our friend Tan High-Virtue is probably laughing with his son over some of our mistakes. In a book I lately saw a bit out of a Chinaman's letter, telling what he thinks of English customs

and

carpets,

"

You

cannot civilize these foreign devils.

They are

beyond redemption. They will live for weeks and months without touching a mouthful of rice, but they will eat the flesh of bullocks and sheep in enormous quantities. That is why they smell so badly they smell like sheep themselves. Every day they take a
;

bath to rid themselves of their disagreeable odours, but

they do not succeed.

Nor do
53

they eat their meat cooked

China
in small pieces.
It
is

carried into the

room

in large

chunks, often half raw, and they cut, and

tear
it

slash,

and
It

apart.

They

eat with knives

and prongs.

makes
even

a civilized being quite nervous.

One

fancies

himself in the presence of sword-swallowers.

sit

They

down

at the
first,

same

table

with women, and the

latter are

served

reversing the order of nature."*

CHAPTER
The
dogs.
colour.

XII

SOME ANIMALS
animals you would see most often in China are

They are mostly the same size, but differ They may be black, or yellowish-brown,

in

or

white.
hair

When

well cared for they are pretty, with thick

and bushy tails curled over their backs. In England at dog-shows you see "chows," and these are
the

just

Chinese

breed

very

much improved.

An

English chow would not condescend to recognize his mangy, disreputable brother in a Chinese street. There
they are unfed and uncared
for that they
for,

given only shelter, and

their owners*

keep watch over

at all intruders.
fly at

houses,

barking furiously

If

you threaten them

only thing to

with a

stick,

they will

you.

The

do to frighten them off is to throw a stone at them. If there is no stone, just stoop down and pretend you
* "

New

Forces in

Old China."

A.

J.

Brown.

5+

Some Animals
have picked one up, and they will cower away. There Is no dog licence to pay in China, and no dogs wear collars They are never or muzzles, or such-like ornaments.

and often kicked, and just have to pick up what food they can about the house and yard or in the streets. Prowling about with them, looking for tit-bits, such as pieces of rotting vegetables or stale fish, are the pigs. They are much better off than the poor dogs, for twice a day you may hear the women come to the yard door and cry, " O-eh, o-eh !" and each pig knows the voice of its own mistress, and comes grunting in from the Chinese pigs are black, so, street to its basin of swill. though you know they are very dirty, they never look it. The tiny ones look quite nice, and sucking-pig is a Every dainty dish the Mandarins are very fond of. Chinaman eats a great deal of pork, so It pays to keep a pig and the grunter has as good a time in China as in Ireland, and often lives in the house. Poking In and out amongst the chairs and tables In In Chinthe poorer houses are fowls, as well as pigs. chiu, in the South, there is a very curious kind, with no
petted,
;

feathers, just covered with

down

like a chicken.

While

and pretty with its downy coat, these full-grown cocks and hens only look absurd. Imagine how funny It is to see a fussy hen and a proud cock strutting about dressed only In damp down Chinese fowls do get fed sometimes, but they, for the most part, have to pick up a livelihood for themselves. This is very good for making them strong and Independent, but It makes them also small and tough, and when you eat one for your dinner you wish that they
a chicken looks soft
!

SS

China
had had some more luxuries and indulgences. The eggs, too, are very small, and the Chinese think an egg much more tasty when it is not new-laid, which is perhaps true Buried eggs are counted a great dainty. Would you care to eat eggs which had been buried for a hundred days ?
!

While we

are indoors

we may

as well notice the cat.

Chinese cats are always small, always thin, and always

mewing loudly
tied all

but when you realize that they are often

day by the neck to a chair, never fed, and only freed at night to catch mice or starve, you are not surprised that they are unhappy. They are never stroked or petted. Some American ladies in China They had a cat, to which they gave milk every day. allowed it to wander freely all over the house, and it grew larger and larger, and more and more plump. When the weather was very hot it would coil itself round the basin on the washhand-stand, for that was cool and pleasant, while in cold weather it would bask in But one unhappy day the ladies went home the sun.
to America, leaving the cat in the care of a servant.

and felt its weight with surprise. Now their chance had come. What was the use of feeding a cat with milk and letting it live in luxury and no one get the benefit ? So the cat disappeared, and some family had nice pussy- stew with their rice. Not only dogs and cats, but even rats, are occasionally eaten. A family saw a fine fat rat drop from the rafters Plague was raging all around into their sitting-room. them, and they knew that rats carried it very often, yet, because that rat seemed such a plump one, they could
cat,

Many

Chinese had admired this

56

A COURTYARD.

PAGE 55

Some Animals
was cooked and eaten, but several of the family died of plague very soon after.
not resist
it.

So

it

Have you ever come from Amoy,

cats

seen the tigers at the

in

Zoo ?

They

South China, and there are plenty

more where those came from.

They

generally eat wild

and stray dogs, but once a tiger tastes human flesh, he likes it best, and a man-eating tiger is a terrible danger to a village. Once a missionary was in a village, and was going to make a start for another place early in the morning. His servant got up before it was light to prepare for Suddenly a tiger appeared, and the man the journey. flew in at the door of the little house, and shut it quickly. The tiger flung its heavy body against the shaky old door, but the bolts held firm. Then it very cleverly ran round to the back-door, and pounded at that, only to find that it had been shut too. The tiger roared with anger and hunger, and a tiger's voice heard through a few rather old boards is not a pleasant sound. Till dawn that tiger acted sentinel round the little house, first at one door and then at the other but daylight came at last, and he slunk away, to hide till night came again. A Chinaman was walking homewards in the dusk along the narrow field-path that led to his village. He thought he saw a calf standing in his way, but when he got closer, he saw it was a tiger, and its gleaming eyes If he had turned and run, the tiger were upon him. would have sprung upon him but he remembered reading that a man had saved his life by opening an umbrella in a tiger's face, so he did likewise, and shouted
; ;

CH.

57

China
as

loud as he could.

The

tiger ran away,

and he went

on home and told his story. The villagers all laughed at him, but next morning they went out and saw the marks of the tiger and the man, in the soft mud. One more tiger story, to show you how plucky and ingenious a Chinese boy can be. Little Tek-a was hurrying home one evening, his
bare feet pattering along the slippery path, his pole, with
a burden at each end, balanced across his shoulders.

Suddenly he heard a soft padding sound behind, and in a minute a tiger knocked him down, and holding the poor boy in its mouth as a cat holds a mouse, began pacing over the wet rice-fields with him. Tek-a had been shaken, but had not lost his senses. As he was being dragged along he put his hand into the thick mud, and, taking up a handful, smeared it on the tiger's eyes. The tiger stopped, and putting down its burden, began to clean itself as a cat does. Tek-a tried to crawl away, but he had not got far when the creature bounded after him, and caught him again. However, Tek-a tried his plan again, and taking up more mud, he smeared both eyes, and this time got safely away. His people took him to a mission hospital to have his wounds seen to.

The Chinese make traps to catch tigers. Some are of wood and some of stone, something like gigantic
mouse-traps.

58

Some Wonderful

Sights

CHAPTER
There
two

XIII

SOME WONDERFUL SIGHTS

are
special

wonders

for

which China

is

famous all over the world. Everyone has heard of the Great Wall of North The old Romans tried to keep the Picts out of China. England by building a wall between the Forth and Clyde, but about 300 years before that, Emperor Shi had planned the same thing on a far larger scale. The first Roman wall was only about 60 or 70 miles long, and has almost disappeared ; Shi*s was 1,500 miles long, and is still standing. It is built for the most part along the top of a range of mountains, and is 15 to 30 feet high, and about as thick at the base as it is high. At
intervals there are massive towers, so that
it

looks at a

distance almost like rows of cottages with a great house

here and there between

the cottages
filled

them

but you must imagine

with earth, so as to

It would take a and strong barrier. walking all day, to walk from end to end of that wall. One man calculated that if the material of the wall were taken there would be enough to make two walls round the earth at the Equator, each wall 6 feet high and 2 feet Wretched farmers and coolies were forced to wide.

make a very solid man two months,

leave

their

homes

to

work

at

the building of this

wonderful wall, and many never returned, so that the Chinese say it was the destruction of one generation

59

82

China
was built to keep the Tartars out of the rich plains of China ; but the Tartars did come i,ooo years later, and ruled China. It is to these same Tartars that China owes its next the Grand Canal, made by Kublai Khan. great wonder It is 800 miles long, and just as wonderful as the Great There are numbers of Wall, and far more useful. boat-people who live on its waters, carrying rice and tea from the rich fields of the South to the large cities For 600 years it has been the great of the North. road linking North and South China. There will soon be another road, for steel lines are being laid from Canton to Peking, and a much closer, stronger link will be made when trains run from end to end, taking people and goods at more than ten times the rate of the barges on the Canal. Besides these two great world wonders, there are some other sights well worth seeing. In looking at any view of a town in this country of ours, the churches are seen to rise high above the other In China it is the pagodas that you would buildings.
It

and the salvation of many.

notice

first

towering into the

air.

They

are generally

sometimes nine stories high, and are eight-sided. They look very picturesque, as each story is smaller than the one below, and the corners of the roofs of each are curved up and often ornamented. Many of them are hundreds of years old, and they are all supposed to be very useful in bringing good luck to a neighbourhood. Outside the walls of Canton there is a very strange
five or seven, or place, called the

City of the Dead.

It is the

only clean

60

Some Wonderful
There are no one hurrying up and intervals up the centre. one-roomed houses. In
city in China.

Sights

numbers of silent streets, with down, but plants in pots at At each side are rows of tiny
the front part of the roorr

and incense and offerings behind the table a curtain is hung. Standing silently by are plaster and paper attendants, almost life-size, and behind is the large coffin, sometimes beautifully lacquered at a cost of ^0 or more. These coffins are all waiting burial, and are left for three months or a year or more. The only sound heard in this city of 500 houses is when every now and again the relatives go to mourn there. In the chief town of every province there is an examination hall but this name gives no idea of the strange and wonderful place which an examination hall
there
is

a table, with a tablet

is

in China.

Instead of a hall there are endless ceils or

large sentry-boxes, and each student used to be shut

in

up

one of these to write his essays. The largest hall is perhaps the one in Nanking. There are four large towers, where guards kept watch day and night during the examination. Looking down from one of these, one sees a sea of roofs. There are streets and streets or cells, each just 4 feet by 3 feet, and not 6 feet high. Into this city of learning at three o'clock in the morning about 15,000 students used to pour once in three years, carrying food and candles with them men of every age from grandfather to grandson each to sit for two days in his cell, not being allowed to move out. Some of the old men had tried to pass every year since they were grandsons themselves. The hot September sun blazed

down, making the

little cell

an oven,

in

which the poor

61

China
student sat and was baked, his head aching from want

was not Uncommon for a student to die with his pen in hand. Some went out of their minds with the worry and strain. These examinations are now done away with, and the
of sleep and the
effort

of writing.

It

examination halls in

many

places are falling into ruin.

CHAPTER XIV
DOCTORS AND MEDICINE

To

be a doctor in China

it

is

necessary

first

to get

huge spectacles, with very thick dark rims, and then to open a shop. For stockin-trade there must be a few books on magic, and, if possible, a work on medicine that is said to have While Western doctors been written 2,000 years B.C. try to get the most recent medical book, in China this
a long coat, next a pair of

ancient treatise

is still

thought a great deal

of.

In con-

spicuous places in his shop, this wise, spectacled doctor

put one bottle containing a serpent, another with a few dried scorpions, and perhaps a third with a toad.
will

Tigers' claws, hairs, and teeth, with rats and a centipede

or two, will take prominent places on his shelves.
will

He
few
rich

know

a little about the healing properties of a

;

and have them in his shop and enough to have some ginsengs his shop
herbs,

if

he

is

will

be very

famous.

Ginseng

is

looked upon as so rare and powerful 62

Doctors and Medicine

a medicine that only the

Emperor

is

supposed to have
all

the right to use

Patients
troubles.

it.

who come

to the doctor have

sorts of

Here is a boy with toothache, which the doctor tells him is caused by a worm in the tooth. But
to get at this

he draws the tooth, so, worm or no worm, the boy gets relief. If he keeps the tooth and makes a powder of it, he will find it a useful tonic taken

worm

in tea.

Seeing that a tiger

is

strength

itself,

a patient

weak

after fever is advised to take

with his
soft part

both are

some of its flesh to eat rice. For a young child an earthworm or the of a cockroach makes very good medicine, and very easily found. There is a special kind of
is

crab which

and a baby of ten months old who was very unwell had the whole of the flesh of one stuflFed down its throat by
believed to be very strengthening
;

the anxious father.

In more serious cases the doctor

the invalid.
will let

is

called in to visit

He

feels first the left pulse,

because that
feels

him know the

If this
is

state

of the heart.

Then he

the right pulse, that he

may know

the state of the lungs

and

liver.

not enough, he asks to see the not in a satisfactory

state,
is

tongue, and
pierce
it

if that is

he

may
it

with a needle.

long, stout needle

one of

the most useful instruments he has!

ruthlessly into any part of the

He

will dig

body

that has a pain,

!

and
I

twists
is

it

about to

let

the inflammation out

Even
a pain
at last

the eye

not sacred to him.

in

have seen an old lady who was troubled with her eyes. She had tried many remedies, but

63

China
She had found one which she declared had cured her. caught green tree-frogs, and gulped them down alive. Three to five a day was the proper dose, she said, and in her case fifty had been enough more than enough, one would have thought Almost every child gets smallpox, but it is not much feared, and there is no attempt to isolate a patient. Many people are pock-marked. Measles is much more They know dreaded, and generally proves more fatal. something of vaccination from a book translated into Chinese by an Englishman nearly loo years ago, but it is only partly understood. On one occasion the servant of a doctor donned a long coat, and made a good deal of money by going round the country vaccinating with condensed milk In places where there are mission

hospitals

numbers of women bring

terrible

their babies to be

properly vaccinated.

from which the people suffer is plague. This started in the South, and each year spreads to a fresh district. It is most prevalent in winter and spring. When the weather gets really hot, it dies down. The Chinese take no precautions against it, unless wearing a charm or going about with a dead
disease
rat in the big loose sleeve

The most

can be called a precaution.

The

last of these is supposed to be very efficacious. " Poison cures poison " is one of their rules in medicine,

and knowing that rats carry plague, they carry rats to keep off plague. The reasoning is truly Celestial The Protestant missionaries have opened about 130 hospitals in China, and in these, wonderful operations are performed, and thousands of sick people cured.

64

*'-*^

;*>;sw-

rIAKoy

rifciaiiflt^^^irl^

EXAMINATION HALL.

PAGE

61.

Religions
Patients often

come

a distance of

loo miles to

see the

mission doctor, and the news of his skill spreads far and

most of these hospitals there are young Chinamen, and in some, girls, learning something about the body and how to treat it. Many of these students become very clever doctors, and settle in various towns, teaching common sense and the benefits of Western methods, and showing Christian kindness in the places to which they go.
wide.

Besides

all this,

in

CHAPTER XV
RELIGIONS

The

Chinese are not a religious people, but they are very superstitious. Lucky days and lucky places, lucky colours and lucky signs, are all very important to them.

someone happens to break a saucer or bowl, the engagement is broken off at once, as this is a most unlucky sign. The English church in Canton had been freshly painted, but the colour chosen was reddish, so a deputation waited on the authorities to ask that it mio^ht be changed, as that colour was too much like flames, and might be the cause of fires in the town The citizens were allowed to repaint the church at their own cost in some safer tint. If there is an earthquake, the Chinese perhaps blame a telegraph-pole, and think it has disturbed the earth
is

While an engagement

being spoken about,

if

CH.

65

China
dragon.

At one time

there was

much

illness in a city,

and the people thought it must be caused by a weathercock which had been put up on the British Consul's Really, the city was so dirty that the wonder house. but that weathercock was that everyone was not ill had to be taken down. An Englishman was taking a walk on the hills one day, and a crowd came up to watch him, for they thought his blue eyes were peering through the earth to
;

look

for

minerals.

Chinaman

believes

there

are

round, and that most of them are wanting " There is only a sheet of paper between to harm him. them and us," he says ; so when anything happens which
spirits all

he does not understand, he puts it down to them. little child was ill, and his mother, thinking the illness

was the work of some

then pasted
it

evil spirit,

asked the priest to

write a prayer just the length of the baby's back, and

on and read it aloud to make him well. When the Chinese were afraid that the Ek^lloh and Germans and other foreigners were coming too much into China, making railways, building houses, and claiming land, they believed that by the help of the spirits of brave soldiers of the past they could conquer and drive out
all

strangers

so the society called Boxers used chants

and queer words, and by waving arms and sticks believed they could receive the power of the old warrior spirits of fable and make themselves invulnerable, so that neither guns nor swords could hurt them. When asked if they dare stand up and be shot at, some did so, and, of course, were killed. They believed, besides, that any weapon they used would kill. Even a Mandarin who
66

Religions
France and England told an Englishman that a little child, if it had the '* Boxer spirit," could use a straw to kill his enemies as though it were a sword. There are really three religions in China Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism and most people believe in all three. The temples are mostly Buddhist. In the schools Confucius is worshipped, and the Taoists are called in by most people when they are in difficulties or want to know which way good luck lies. Some of the temples are very fine, and many of them are beautifully situated, and have lovely views. Come It and visit this one. is built on the side of a hill, and the grey building, with its carved front, and its roof all curves and points and decorated with grotesque squirming fishes, birds, and dragons, stands out well against the green and red creepers on the rocks round it. As

had travelled

in

we
of

are looking, a priest

tea.

The

cups are

comes with a tray and cups very small and have no handles,

and the tea is almost colourless, but very refreshing, with no milk or sugar. As we put a few pence on the tray we look at the priest. He has been so polite that we do not like to criticize him, but his shaven head and colourless dress, his dirty nails, and stupid expression,
are not attractive.

We

are standing in the court in

front of the temple.

the idols,
roof.

who The priest

Plays are acted here to amuse are arranged in a line inside the sheltering
points out with

some

pride, a bit of

coloured glass stuck in the forehead of each, and says that at sunset the sun shining in gets, an answering

gleam from

these.

A woman
67

enters,

and
9

is

far

more

interested in seeing us than in offering

the

incense

China
She has and making the prayers she had intended. a question to ask the gods, and for answer she picks The priest a stick out of the bundle of short bamboos. reads the sentence on it, which is usually so indefinite Some boys are gambling in that it may mean anything. the corner there, just under that fierce black-faced idol.

The

learned classes say the idols are for the

common
Some

people, but even they

do not always respect them.

young men were

weapons, and
slung away
it

practising the use of long chains as

occurred to them that the idols would

be capital dummies.

They went

to

the temple and

with these, and the idols were badly damaged. The priest reported to the Mandarin, who only said, "The gods should take care of themselves." In times of drought processions in honour of the idols
are often

made
till

but

if rain is

not soon sent

down by

the gods, they are often taken out of the temple and set
in the

sun

their paint blisters, that they

may under-

stand the need for clouds and cool showers. other hand,

On

the

one hears strange stories sometimes of devotion to the gods, and of wild, passionate prayers and vows offered to them, showing that men and women all over the world feel the need of help from One To please Buddha a nun in stronger than themselves. Central China cut off her right hand, and to win heaven
a

man walked

i,ooo miles, stretching himself on the

ground and saying a prayer every six steps. Far more precious to a Chinaman than his idols are There are generally a good his ancestral tablets.

number
8

in every house.

They
68

are slips of

inches long and 3 inches broad, of a

wood about dull brown

Religions
colour,

and one end runs

into a thicker piece of

wood

for a base.
in

They

stand sometimes singly, sometimes

rows three or four deep on a high, narrow table along one end of the entrance-hall which serves as a guestroom. They are sometimes larger, carved, and painted in red and gold, and each one bears the name of some dead relative. There are basins and chop-sticks for

them

as for each living person,

and

all in

the house are

expected to worship them.

When
him

a rich

man

dies, his

sons have to send after

into the spirit-world every sort of thing he could

This is done by burning models of these things. In one case of which I know there were three houses made, about the size of large dolls' houses. One was quite Chinese, with curving roof ; another was like the foreigner's house, with wide verandas and a third was a Yamen or Mandarin's house for who could say which would be the kind required ? Furniture, clothing, and servants made in wood and paper were also burnt in great quantities, along with thousands of sheets of paper money. poor man can buy a few sheets of paper on which are printed rough pictures of coats, scissors, pots, boots, hats, etc., and burn these for the use of his dead relations, because it is the best he can do ; but he feels it is not satisfactory, and often he will sell one of his children so as to get money enough
possibly want.
;
:

for a

good
rich

offering.

man's grave is chosen with great care In a lucky spot on a hill-side, if possible with a wide view in front. In the South it is the shape of a horseshoe, and occupies a great space. In the North the graves

69

China
are often

mounds

planted with shrubs, sometimes square

and sometimes

built like little houses.

The pleasantest holiday a Chinese boy has is in April, when he goes with his father, brothers, uncles, and
often his mother and aunts, in a big family picnic-party

up the

hills to

worship

at

the grandfather's tomb.

They

carry baskets with rice and fruit, and often a chicken

and pork. The grave is swept and the offerings spread on the flat stone in front. When all the ceremonies have been gone through and the spirits are supposed to have taken the " essence " out of the food, the family has a feast. Paper money is laid all about the graves, and the hill-sides in spring look like Hampstead Heath
after a

Bank Holiday.

CHAPTER XVI
A GREAT MAN OF LONG AGO

There
heard.
Christ.

is
I

a great

Chinaman of

whom

everyone has

mean Confucius, who

lived

500 years before

Confucius was a soldier's son. His father was a but brave officer, he died when Confucius was only His mother encouraged the boy to study, and three.
as he

was very industrious he got on well. Much of his time was spent in reading the ancient books. In " later years he was asked How are you able to do so many things?" He answered " I was born poor and
:

70

Great

Man

of Long

Ago

had to learn." Instead of playing he liked to practise He married the ancient ceremonies of which he read. at nineteen, and his mother died when he was twentythree. He was then a teacher, and had some Government employment ; but as the ancient custom was to mourn for three years, he retired at once into private

and spent these three years in study. The more he studied, the more he found to admire in the writings of the ancients, and he determined to try to influence his countrymen to live in obedience to their teachings. He gathered many followers and spent much time teaching them. He laid great stress on rules of correct behaviour for all occasions, for he believed that if the outward manners were correct a man would keep right
life,

in all his conduct.

he was fifty years old, Confucius was made governor of a city, which he ruled so splendidly that he was promoted to be Superintendent of Works and Minister of Crime for the whole State. Again he '* showed his genius, and we read that dishonesty and dissoluteness were ashamed and hid their heads. Loyalty and good faith became the characteristics of the people." Other Statesheard of the prosperity of the dukedom under his rule, and strangers came to see and admire. Unfortunately, the Duke tired of the sage and his high ideas, and Confucius left the Court, grieved and disappointed. He wandered for years from province to province, surprised that none of the Dukes cared to govern by his rules, although the good effects of such government had been proved. Often he and his followers were illtreated and sometimes in great want, but Confucius
71

When

China
was always patient and cheerful, and would play on his lute and sing to them. In his old age he settled down again, and spent his time editing the ancient writings of which he was so fond. A story, which every Chinese schoolboy knows, is told by Dr. Wells Williams, of how Confucius met The sage was out a priggish little boy called Toh.
driving playing

when he came
:

across a

number of

children

by the roadside. Toh was with them, and " Why is it that you alone do Confucius asked him

no use, and he might get his clothes torn, and they would be a trouble to mend ; besides, to play would be a great deal When he had spoken in this of trouble for no reward.
not play?"
that play was of

The boy answered

way, he began making a city out of bits of tile. Confucius then asked him why he did not move out Toh only said '' From of the way of the carriage.
:

ancient times

been considered proper for a carriage to turn out of the way of a city, Instead of not for a city to turn out for a carriage." boxing his ears, the sage got out of his carriage in order to have a talk with such a wonderful boy, and asked him Toh replied " A stern to go for a ramble with him.
till

now

it

has always

home, whom I am bound to serve ; an affectionate mother is there, whom it is my duty to cherish ; a worthy elder brother is at home, whom it is proper for me to obey, with a tender younger brother, whom I must teach and an intelligent teacher is there, How have I from whom I am required to learn. ?" leisure to go a-rambling with you
father
is

at

Confucius then invited

Toh
72

to

come

into his carriage

AN OLD

COOLIE.

A
for

Great

Man
;

of

Long Ago

and have a game of chess

Toh

but he only got another snub, proceeded to show that any game was a waste
if it

were indulged in would lead to the ruin of the country. Confucius asked this young marvel many riddles. He answered them all most skilfully, and then put posers to Confucius. He asked how many stars there were in the sky, and Confucius told him to keep to things on the earth. Toh then asked how many houses there were on the earth. Poor Confucius said '' Come now, speak about something that is before our eyes ; why must you converse about heaven and earth r' The impudent youngster then " Well, speak about what's before our eyes how said many hairs are there in your eyebrows?" We are told that Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and, turning to his disciples, said " This boy is to be
of time, and
: : : :

feared."
I

think you will agree that the sage was right, for the
little terror.

child seems to have been a

Confucius was over seventy when he died, and his grave is under a great mound of earth. Every year a

few more shovels of earth are thrown on the heap, so

that
it is

now

like a small

hill.

He

turned the thoughts of the

men of

his

time back

to the simplicity and

purity of the ancient writings,

and taught that to study books, to be true and diligent, and to behave politely were the best things in life. His teaching has had a tremendous influence in China for
all

these 2,400 years.

in the

As long as there is a Chinaman name of Confucius will be honoured.

CH.

world the

73

10

China

CHAPTER
A GREAT

XVII
I

MAN

OF TO-DAY

CHANG CHI-TUNG
is less

Of

the great

man of

the present day there

to be

said than of the

wonderful old sage of long ago. Chang Chi-tung passed his highest examination in 1863, and ever since has served in the Government of

his country.

At

the beginning of his career he believed

all

the

wild stories told of English and other foreigners, and

He first became was full of prejudices against them. famous because of a letter to the Emperor, in which he calls them " outer barbarians, ravenous as wolves," and
writes furiously of the

opium

trade.

He

then begs the

war against them, and to burn all Christian An churches, and "exterminate this wicked brood."
to

Emperor

English lady writes that she said to a Chinese friend " I think I must really get an interview with Chang
:

Chi-tung and see him myself. What effect do you "Oh, it think that would have?" The answer was could not make him hate foreigners more than he does
:

now
in

!"
it

Was
his

not wonderful that this man,

who

despised

early years everything that

later
?

became
reformer
It
all

was not Chinese, the protector of the foreigners and a

his absolute honesty in everything.
is

came of

In

money

matters he

a marvel

among

the Chinese

74

A
officials.

Great

Man

of
is

To-Day
comparatively poor

Though he
uses
all

has had every chance of becoming

public funds for public purposes,

rich, as other

because he

mandarins do, he
bribes.

Other great Viceroys have received valuable presents on their sixtieth and seventieth birthdays. Chang Chi-tung on the day before his birthday ordered his yamen gates to be locked, so that he did not even receive the congratulations which would have been offered to him. He is fearlessly honest in his loyalty, and many times has written bold messages to the throne which he knew would not please, simply because they were true and for the good of his country. It was his honesty which made him examine whether all the tales told him of foreigners were true. His early hatred was caused by ignorance, and when he came into touch with Westerners he was willing to study their manners and customs, their history and religion, with an open mind, and the result was that he changed his views, and was honest enough to say so. He wrote a book called by him " Learn,'* in which he shows that many of the tales told of Westerners are not true, and that they are by no means " barbarians," and he urges his own people to be willing to learn some things from them. When foreigners and Chinese Christians were being hounded to death, Chang, who had himself advised this treatment thirty years before, was one of the brave men who would allow no such
and receives no
doings in the provinces over which he ruled. Don't we Wik^^ admire a patriot a

man who

loves his country better than his goods or his family or

75

lo

China
his life
?

Viceroy Chang

is

a patriot to the backbone, to be patriotic too.

and he

inspires the

men about him

them also to be as honest as himself, though their honesty makes them hated by the other officials. Chang Chi-tung has encouraged many new industries. He has a steel -factory and a cotton -mill. He has trained a modern army, and had a great deal to do
with reforming the navy.

He teaches

He
style

is,

besides,

the book

one of China's greatest scholars, and " Learn " which he wrote is in such perfect

and full of such fresh ideas that one million *' copies were circulated. In this book he says The first step in reform is to throw away your opium-pipes; the second step is to unbind the feet of your women ; the third step is to abandon the follies o{ fung-shuiy To explain fung-shui let me tell you a story of the Viceroy himself, who, though he was so enlightened, He was ill at one time, and the did a strange thing. Now, some time doctor came and gave him pills. before this Chang Chi-tung had made a very fine wide road, and where it crossed a hill he made a deep cutting, When he was ill the doctor told him so as to level it. that his illness was caused by the road, and especially
:

had disturbed the fung-shui of the neighbourhood and caused ill-luck. Wise and learned though the Viceroy was, he sent men to fill up the cutting again, although it spoilt his fine road. Chang Chi-tung is now an old man, and his brave little body is nearly worn out ; but his work for his loved China will live, and the memory of his fine example will last for many a long day.
the cutting.
It

76

Stories

from Chinese History

CHAPTER
STORIES

XVIII

FROM CHINESE HISTORY

rulers,

China

has had

some splendid

and about many

of them there are strange

tales told.

Before the time of Abraham there was in the lands

in the centre of
loss

China

a great flood,

which caused much

and distress. The Emperor called to his Ministers. the waters Grandees," he said, "we suffer much cover the hills on every side, they overtop the mounFind us tains, and seem to be rising even to the skies. a man to remedy this evil.'* So they sought and found a man, who laboured for The years, but could not rid the land of the flood. Emperor then had him executed that he might learn to The son of this unfortunate engineer, be more skilful not fearing the fate of his father, then worked his best, deepening the channels of the rivers, making canals and dykes, and after long toil succeeded in draining the The people sing about him land.
**
: !

" Yes, all about the Southern Hill Great Yu pursued his wondrous toil. He drained the plain, the marsh he dried;

Our

lord in fields laid out the soil."

was rewarded by being made successor to the He still worked for the good of the people, throne. and, in order that even the poorest might have justice,
77

Yu

China
which anyone might ring. They say that, even it he were in his bath when the bell rang, he would rush out without stopping to put on his
bell at his gate

he hung a

robes, or if at dinner, without waiting to finish his rice.

An

ingenious subject of his

made wine

or

spirits,

and

Yu, which he drank with great enjoyment but he would not use it much, because he said kings would lose their thrones through being too fond of it. So, we see, there was a temperance lecturer as soon as there was a distillery.
presented
to
;

some

was from the Princes of the province of Chin that we get the name China. One of these was a great warrior, and conquered the Kings of the provinces round about, and styled himself Emperor Shi. He divided his realm and set Governors over each district, travelling round himself to see that no injustice was done. It was he who built the Great Wall, but it was also he who burnt the books of Confucius, and persecuted the scholars who studied them, and for this the Chinese hate and despise him.
It

The
is

Chinese
a

the

name
is

themselves " Sons of Han," which of the next dynasty, and the first Emperor
call

who was
story

brave soldier was also a wise ruler. The told that, when he was firmly established on the

throne, one of his Ministers suggested that he should

open schools and encourage learning. ** " Learning !" exclaimed the Emperor I have none of it myself, nor do I feel the need of it. I conquered the Empire on horseback." " But can you govern the
;

78

Stories

from Chinese History

Empire on horseback ? That is the question," replied the Minister. The Emperor listened to this, wise
advice

and

ordered that learning

should

be

again

instituted.

But the books had been burnt and the

scholars killed.

great search was made, and though thousands of

books had been destroyed and about 500 scholars killed, still there were some bamboo tablets found on which there were writings engraved with a stylet Pupils of the old scholars were or written in varnish. discovered who could repeat long chapters, and these were written down. There was brought to Court one old man of ninety. When the scholars were being hunted to death, he had put out his eyes and pretended He to be an idiot, and so his life had been spared. could remember whole books, and as he repeated page after page they wrote down the words till most of the writings of the ancients had been recovered. So devoted to learning did the monarchs of the Han dynasty become, that they sent to the West to seek for more. The deputation brought back the religion of Buddism from India.
dynasty was the Tang, and the Chinese are so proud of it that they call themselves At this time the Empire often " Men of Tang."
next
great

The

reached nearly to the Caspian Sea.

Rulers in India and

Persia sent Ambassadors to the throne, and the

Emperor
emeralds.

Theodosius

sent

presents

of rubies

and
in
it

About

this time Christianity

was preached

China by

the Nestorians.

The Emperor gave

79

his approval,

Chi na
For 500 years there and it spread in the country. were Christians to be found, but gradually they left the purity of their early faith and became like the There is a stone in Shensi which heathen round them. tells of how the faith was introduced, and this is all that Quite lately this stone has is left of that early effort.
been moved by the
officials

to stand beside

some other

took sixty or seventy men to carry it. The learning which had revived under the Hans was encouraged by the Tangs, and examinations were introIn China comparatively few students study duced.

famous

tablets.

It

long enough to enter for an examination, and even to have attempted tho, first examination is a claim to honour.

hundred who enter pass, and of these only a few go on to study for the next degree, and in Most students this only one in a hundred can succeed. are satisfied with this, but a few work on, and of these

Only

three in a

title " Fit for Office.'' 3 per cent, get the high In the examination a subject is given and the student

has to write an essay, of which each letter

beautifully formed,

must be

and each sentence like blank verse, and no page may have a single blot or alteration. From the days of the early Tangs till now, for generation after generation, for

more than 1,000

years, such

examinations have been held.

Chinese Emperor who became fairly well known He came to Europe was Kublai Khan, a Mongol. with his armies from beyond the Great Wall, and was
the

Although he was a descendant of the rude Tartars, to keep out whom 80

first

foreign ruler of China.

HONG KONG HARBOUR

Stories

from Chinese History

the wall was built, he adopted the civilization of the

Chinese and encouraged their learned men.

the

He made

Grand Canal and showed himself

to be a very able

ruler.

In his time two Italians, Nicolo and Matteo Polo,

arrived at the capital, and were well received (in 1261).

Kublai recognized them as coming from a land where

even more civilization and knowledge of science than he had found in China. So he wrote a letter to the Pope, asking for 100 learned men to come and teach the arts of the West, and begged the
there was

strangers
for him.

to

take

the

letter

home and
it

deliver

it

The

Italians did

not find

possible to get

They started back to 100 teachers asked for. China, and Marco Polo, the son of Nicolo, went with them. The journey took them four years, but when they reached the Chinese Court they were received with more honour than before. Marco pleased Kublai very much by studying the language and customs of the Court, and was sent as Envoy to several other countries, such as Tibet, Annam, and Bengal, and even to Japan. He was made Governor of a Chinese town for three years, and so knew China and Eastern Asia better than any European has before or since. Some time after returning to Italy he was made prisoner, and in Genoa wrote a book of his travels. No one believed they were anything but " traveller's tales " till many years
the
later

they were found to be wonderfully true, and then

the stories of the golden East

find a

way

to

it.

It

was

in

made many men want searching for a new way

II

to

to

the East that America was discovered.

CH.

81

China
was during the reign of the Mings that Europeans first came in numbers to China. They were not well received, but one Italian priest, Father Ricci, found a way in through his knowledge of Euclid. Others followed, and taught astronomy and other things, and, under the favour of the Emperor, the Christian religion once more began to spread.
It

The Mings were famous

written during their reigns.
in the royal library,

for

the books that were

There were 300,000 books

it

occurred to the Emperor he would like a sort of encyclopaedia made of them. So nearly 3,000 men were set to work, and a book was produced of 22,877 volumes, and an index was made to it of sixty-six more volumes. Later

and

that

another book of 200 volumes was prepared, and one about the geography of China in 500 volumes.

We

a very large work, " but in China it would just be a pocket edition *' One of the Emperors who was a great warrior and a splendid ruler was also a poet, and found time to write more than 30,000 verses. He died about the time of the French Revolution. The tombs of the Mings are very fine, and there is a long avenue leading up to them, with stone images at each side, of priests, elephants, tigers, camels, etc., all

think thirty or forty volumes

make

more than

life-size.

82

The Late Dowager Empress

CHAPTER XIX
THE LATE DOWAGER EMPRESS

The

present

Emperor
it

is

Manchu, but

as

he

is

only

a little boy,
will be.

is

hard to say what kind of a ruler he

was very curious how no two people could agree about what sort of a man the late Emperor was. In the same newspaper one day I saw both these accounts. " His piercing eye and dignified look betoken him to
It

be a

man endowed
indicated

with high intellectual qualities."

On

the next page he was written of in this

way

"

His

appearance
incapacity."

mental

weakness and

physical

In any case, he was clever enough to see that Western nations could teach much to China. He had read

about other lands, for he bought over a hundred books on travel, science, etc., most of which had been written or translated by missionaries. He had, besides, a copy of the New Testament. His favourite Minister

was

young reformer who wanted China to adopt all foreign ways, just as suddenly and completely as Japan
a

has done.
that he dressed himself in English dress one day, and showed himself to the Dowager Empress, and asked how she J iked it. " Very nice indeed," she said " but having admired
is
;

There

a story told of the

Emperor

yourself in the

glass,

advise

you to go to your

83

II 2

China
and compare yourself with the portraits of your ancestors in their proper costume, and judge which is more befitting for an Emperor." He was too eager to make his country modern by issuing edicts to his people, commanding them to cut off their cues, open schools, and dress in Western fashion. The Ministers were afraid of rebellion, and so the young Emperor was shut up and allowed no say in the government. The real ruler was his aunt, the Empress Dowager. She was brought to the Court when only sixteen years old, and her name was then Yehonala, but it was changed to Tsu-hsi. Every few years another name was added, and she was made richer by some thousands of dollars being added at the same time to her income. When she died, her name was Tsu-hsi Tuan-yu Kangyi Chao - yu Chuang - cheng Shou - kung Chin - hsian Chung-hsi. She was the third woman to sit on the throne in China, and everyone is agreed that she was a very remarkable person. In the pictures of her she is
ancestral hall

seen to be fairly good-looking, but not the kind of old lady a naughty boy would like to go near. She

looks as though she would enjoy giving him a piece of her mind, or something even more unpleasant. She

was

short, but, like

<immwmu. Queen

Victoria, she held

tall.

herself so well that she almost looked

She had

very pleasant manners, and one lady who was invited to the Palace says that she spoke very kindly, while she held the visitor's hand in both her own. But she was
a

woman who would

allow nothing and nobody to

official

stand in her way.

If an

thwarted her, he was

84

The
executed
;

Late Dowager Empress

and because the Empress disliked her, a lady of the palace was thrown down a well. When the German, Russian, English, and French nations each seized a port in China, Tsu-hsi was both angry and frightened, and said, with some truth, that
the
'*

Powers, like
in seizing

tigers, hustle

each other in trying to

She had a great opinion of the dignity of the throne which "governs ten thousand kingdoms and the four seas," and to whom
be
first

our territories."

all

nations bring

or

should bring

tribute.

She

believed

more

or less that China was the only really

civilized land,

and she spoke and thought of the other nations as "outer barbarians." The fear and scorn and anger of the Empress made her wish to get rid of all strangers. She believed she could kill all the foreigners in China as she would kill any of her own subjects who were troublesome so she encouraged the secret society called the Boxers, who wanted to drive out the foe. She issued an edict commanding the Governors to kill and destroy all the
;

foreigners in their districts. to change

Two

brave Chinese dared

some of the messages before they were sent, putting the word protect instead of destroy^ and so there was no trouble in the centre and South. But the brave men paid for this with their lives. Four of the Viceroys, too, were firm, and kept the peace in the provinces they governed. The Boxers came to one town in the South and put up notices offering to teach their " drill " to any young men who would join them. The Governor at once put up notices side by side with these that he would give ten dollars for every Boxer's head. The
85

China
Boxers
left

the town in a hurry, and no

more was heard

of them there. In the North, sad to say, the Empress had her way, and numbers of foreigners were killed. More than a

hundred of these were missionaries. The Chinese Christians were also attacked because they were looked upon as following foreign religion. They were taken by the Boxer soldiers and told that if they would offer incense to the idols they would be left in peace. Hundreds chose rather to die, and of these many were tortured. The Boxers could not understand what made these Christians so brave, and they cut out their hearts to try and find the secret there. All the foreigners who could, fled to Peking, and took refuge in the Legation buildings, where the Ambassadors of the Powers lived. The Chinese tried to set these buildings on fire, and when this failed, fired on them with big guns. There were some 900 foreigners, of many nationahties, soldiers, sailors, Government people, missionaries, and even ladies and children, all shut up in the houses and gardens of the Legations. The Empress could see all this from the imperial
2i

city.

There was plenty of work for all the besieged folk. The ladies made over 50,000 bags, of tablecloths, sheets, carpets, curtains, and anything they could find, and filled them with sand, for the men to use in the fortifications which had to be made. The doctors looked after the sick and wounded, and every man had to be ready for any duty. There were, besides all these, nearly 3,000 Chinese Christians, who had come
86

The
for

Late
the

Dowager Empress
coolies
alike,

protection,

and they, scholars and

roughest

willingly

did

work

as

labourers

and

washermen. Only a few weeks before everything had been going on quite in the ordinary way, and there had been a dance on the tennis-court. The hot summer sun blazed down for two months on the poor people shut up in such narrow bounds, with little food and less rest, and then, at last, relief came. The soldiers of the Powers arrived, and the Emperor, Dowager Empress, and Boxers fled far inland. That year, 1900, was a bad one for China. The Empress had tried by treachery and murder to get rid of the " barbarians," and the only result seemed to be that they were there in larger numbers than before, and that a great sum of money had to be paid for the damage done to them. There was another result. China began to wake up, and the reforms for which the Emperor had longed are now being introduced. China is getting a huge army drilled as European armies are, and the soldiers have modern guns and rifles. The postal service is improving, and new post-offices are being opened at the rate of one a day. Railways are increasing every year. There are already 2,000 miles in working order, and month by month the

number grows.
Besides the missionary, and
the
schools which have been opened in so

new Government many places,

many Chinamen

are

in

England and America and

87

Japan, studying just what owr; Oxford and Cambridge

China
men
study, and in

some

cases getting

on so well

that

they take

first prizes.
is

being discouraged, and girls' schools Best of have been opened in Peking and other places. all is the decision of the Chinese Government to rid the Hundreds of pipes have been burnt country of opium.

Foot-binding

and opium-dens
'*

closed, and the decree has

within ten years this

gone forth harmful muck must be fully

wiped away."

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at the end of this Catalogue,

PRICE
What

2/6

NET EACH

Containing 16 full-page illustrations from photographs

the Other Children do

BIBLIOTHEQUE ROUGE EN COULEURS

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
Large crown
8vo., cloth,

IN

FRENCH FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

in colour,
|

each containing 12 full-page illustrations

Les Contes de
PUBLISHED BY
A.

ma Grand'mere
AND
C.

^ric
5

BLACK,

4,
{

AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

)

PRICE

2/6
,

EACH

Large crown 8vo,

Stories of Old. {Small crown ^to.) Eric ; op, L'ttle by Little or, The World of St. Winifred's
;

illustrated.
:

Julian Honne
Life

Tale of College
See
list

Scott's Waverley Novels.

the end

at

School

of

this Catalogue.

PRICE

3/6

NET EACH

PEEPS AT MANY LANDS AND CITIES

Larger Volumes in
the style

of the Popular One Shilling and Sixpenny net

Series.

"PEEPS

AT MANY LANDS AND CITIES"

Each containing
32

full-page illustrations in colour.

The World The British Empire The Gorgeous East (India, Burma, Ceylon, and Slam) The Far East (China, Japan, and Korea)
Oceania (Australia,

New

Zealand, and South Seas)

Large crown 8vo. cloth.

,

The Open Book of Nature: A Book of Nature Study The Alps. 24 full-page illustrations from The Holy Land. {Not illustrated)

for Young People. 16 full-page illustrations in colour and 114 reproductions from photographs, etc.

photographs

CONTES ET NOUVELLES
BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
IN
,

FRENCH FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

Large square crown 8vo.

cloth, each containing 12 full-page illustrations in colour.

Les

Petits

Aventuriers en

La Case de I'Oncle
in colour

Tom
in

(8

pictures

Amerique
La Guerre aux Fauves

and 16

black and

white)

Un Tour

en Melanesie
A.

Voyages de Gulliver
G.

PUBLISHED BY

AND

BLACK,

4,
(

AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

)

PRICE

3/6

NET EACH

(Continued)

GREAT BUILDINGS AND HOW TO

ENJOY THEM
A SERIES OF HANDBOOKS FOR THE AMATEUR LOVER OF

ARCHITECTURE
Square demy
Early
8vo., cloth,

each containing 48 full-page illustrations from photographs.

Christian and Architecture Gothic Architecture

Byzantine

Greek Architecture

Norman Architecture Romanesque Architecture

PRICE

3/6

EACH

LIFE STORIES OF ANIMALS

Large crown Svo.
,

cloth,

each containing 8 full-page illustrations in colour.

The Black Bear The Cat The Dog

The Fowl The F0X{Aut7a;in, The Lion

Large crown Svo,
,

1913)

The Rat The Squirrel The Tiger

cloth, illustrated.

In

the Grip of the Wild

Wa

{Auhivtn, 1913)

Tales of St. Austin's

The Head of Kay's

Mike
:

By a Schoolboy's Hand Exiled from School From Fag to Monitor The Sea Monarch

Public School Story

The Scouts of Seal

Island
{^ ulmftn, 1913)

The Gold Bat

Psmith in the City The Pothunters A Prefect's Uncle The White Feather

Cook's Voyages and Discoveries Dana's Two Years Before the Mast

The

First

Voyages of Glorious
[Ilahluyt)

Memory

The Divers Stories from Waverley The Life of St. Paul The Right Sort

Nipping Bear The Adventures of Don Quixote

Park's Travels Africa
in

Gods

Lantern Bearers

the Interior of

The Kinsfolk and Friendsof Jesus The Story of Stories A Life of Christ for the Young
:

PUBLISHED BY

A.

AND

C.

BLACK,

4,
(

5
5
)

AND

6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.

PRICE

3/6

EACH

{Continued)

PRICE

6/= EACH
in colour.

Small square demy 8vo., cloth, with illustrations

Grimm's

Fairy Tales
{Autumn,
1913)

The

/Esop's Fables

The Arabian Nights

Children's Book of Celtic Stories Children's Tales of English Minsters

Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales Swiss Family Robinson

The The

Fairchild Family {Autumn, Pilgrim's Progress

1913)

Russian Wonder Tales Tales from " The Earthly Paradise"

Gulliver's
{A u(umn,
igi2,)

Uncle Tom's Cabin Adventurers in America

The Children's Book of Stars The Children's Book of Edinburgh TheChildren's BookofGardening The Children's Book of Art

Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World Talks about Birds Red Cap Tales

Red Cap Adventures The Tales of a Grandfather The Book of the Railway

The

Children's

Book of London

A LIST OF CHEAPER BOOKS SUITABLE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE PUBLISHED AT Is. Od., 9d., and 6d. EACH
PRICE
Eric
;

1/= EACH
Julian Home; a Tale of College Life

or, Little
;

by
or,

Little

St. Winifred's

The World of

School

PRICE

1/= NET EACH

illustrations.

TALES OF ENGLISH MINSTERS

Large crown 8vo. each containing 6 full-page
,

Canterbury

Ely

Lincoln
St.

St. Paul's

Durham

Hereford

Albans

York

Scott's Waverley Novels.

frontispiece in colour.

Crown
See
list

8vo., cloth, each

volume containing a

at the end of this

Catalo^e

PRICE

9d.
AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
)

ConBlack's Painting Book for Children. By Agnes Nightingale. taining 23 page outline pictures for colouring. Small crown 410., bound in attractive cover

PUBLISHED BY

A.

AND

C.

BLACK,

4,
(

PRICE
Demy
;

6d.
,

EACH

8vo.

picture paper covers.

Eric; or, Little by Little St. Winifred's or, The World of

School
* These vtay be

Julian Home: a Tale of College

Life

Scott's Waverley Novels.

folio winf^

See

list

had hound together

in

doth cover/o?- 2S. 6d.

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS

By SIR

WALTER SCOTT

The Authentic Editions of Scott are published solely by A. and C. Black, who purchased along with the copyright the interleaved set of the Waverley
Novels in which Sir Walter Scott noted corrections and improvements almost to the day of his death. The under-noted editions have been collated word for word with this set, and many inaccuracies, some of tliem ludicrous,
corrected.

LIST OF THE NOVELS

Waverley

The Fortunes of Nigel

Peveril of the Peak Quentin Durward
St.

Guy Mannering The Antiquary Rob Roy

Old Mortality Montrose, and Black Dwarf The Heart of Midlothian

Ronan's Well

Redgauntlet

The Bride of Lamnnernnoor

Ivanhoe

The Monastery The Abbot

Kenilworth

The Betrothed, etc. The Talisman Woodstock The Fair Maid of Perth Anne of Geierstein
Count Robert of Paris The Surgeon's Daughter,
etc.

The

Pirate

FoY

Details

regarding Editions and Prices

see

below.

LIST OF EDITIONS OF

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS

Price 6d. per Volume. 25 Volumes. 25 Volumes. Price 1/- net per Volume. Victoria Edition. 25 Volumes. Price 1/6 per Volume. Two Shilling Edition. 25 Volumes. Price 2/- per Volume.

New

Popular Edition.

The

Portrait Edition.

Standard Edition. Dryburgh Edition.

PUBLISHED BY
A.

25 Volumes.
25 Volumes.

Price 2/6 per Volume.

Price 3/6 per Volume.

W.

AND

C.

BLACK,

4,
(

AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON,

)

RETURN EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY LIBRAKYq q 2600Tolman Hall TO LOAN PERIOD

1

SEMESTER
4SEMESTER LOAN
NOTELEPI-

MC E?C '"

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2-hour books must be renewed in person Return to desk from which borrowed

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

I

B tqOf

s-:^i-

t&=p
J AW 17 1S33
AUTO-D SCHAKG
I

JAN 1^

1933

^0^

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

FORM NO. DD10

BERKELEY,

CA 94720

GENERAL LIBRARY

-U.C.

BERKELEY

BDDOessS'^M