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作者: deepoo
周嬉皮:体制内的公务员二代:县城里“精英圈层”的内循环
县城里的“内循环”
要说什么人最爱公务员,无疑是县城人。
县城只有两种工作,安稳吃财政饭和吊儿郎当打普通工。中国1301个县城,有支柱产业支撑的寥寥无几,提供的多元化岗位也屈指可数。因此,公务员、事业单位、国企、教师、银行职员等安稳工作扛起了县城保留人才的大旗。
县城虽小,但各类科局俱全,使得县城公务员成为了全国最庞大的公务员群体,印证了司马迁的名言“县集而郡,郡集而天下”。县城公务员则更是成为众星捧月般的存在。
而回到县城考公的人群大概有两类人:一类是从村镇到县城的跨越;一类是返乡“世袭爵位”。在体制内,前者较大概率是熬资历;后者是公开的秘密“捷径”,通过上一代编织的关系网运作,起步就比没背景的快。
总之,在县城这个讲究关系、人情的江湖里,关系决定成败。北上广深通用的规则、能力、才华等等,在这里一切靠后。县城的精英家庭,都会努力让孩子吃财政饭。
1. 工作一年就借调到了县政府
陈真大三那年暑假,在某个深夜,他的父亲突然找他促膝长谈,非常庄重询问了他对工作的想法:想从事什么职业,想在什么地方定居。
如果倒回18岁,陈真幻想过在大城市发展。但在外读了三年大学后,他非常坚定要返回家乡。留在县城,房子和车子随时都能解决;但去超一线城市发展,只是房子就会掏空父母的口袋。
最重要的是,留在家乡,父母伸伸手,就能帮他铺平下半生的职业道路,能让他比其他人少熬几年的资质。
陈真父母的职业在县城职业鄙视链顶端,几十年工作下来,打声招呼就能在县城办事顺风顺水。陈真家住当地别墅“富人区”。别墅群汇集了县城的精英家庭,有各个单位的干部、有县城垄断生意人、还有外地创业族。总之,要融入这个城市的精英层,房价就是入场券。
陈真的大学和专业都不优秀,他在省内二本末流院校读财务管理专业。如果进企业,只能是普通财务,晋升通道比较狭窄。父亲建议他考县城乡镇公务员。家乡的乡镇公务员,每年有二十几个名额,陈真考上的难度系数小,以后的仕途之路家里也能帮衬帮衬。
“要说读书考名校,我没什么天赋,从小也不爱学习,成绩一直不好,就是被拿来当反面教材的‘别人家孩子’。但是从小受父母影响,擅长应付各种人情往来”,陈真觉得体制内是非常不错的归宿,自信笑容溢上脸庞。
县城公务员体系中,晋升快的部门有县委办、县府办和组织部,再就是乡镇公务员。
于普通乡镇公务员而言,晋升通道是乡镇公务员-乡镇副科(副镇长)-乡镇党委委员-副书记-镇长-书记-县城局长-退休。但事实上,到副镇长之后就得熬资历,镇长已是大部分乡镇公务员的金字塔尖,往高的县级单位转的更是少数。
陈真就是少数派。从考上乡镇时起,他就做好了向“县级”迈进的准备。工作一年后,他就和家里提出借调的想法。在父母关系打通下,成功借调去了县政府。而同批次进入单位的同事,目前还都驻守在原单位。陈真现在已经在县政府工作两年了。
在体制内混迹快三年的陈真,体制的外显迹象也逐渐明显。发型从之前的锡纸烫变成现在的大背头;穿搭从之前的高街风格变成现在的中山装,公文包不离身;谈吐也从之前的校园八卦到现在张嘴就是国家大事。
陈真周围的“县城精英圈层”朋友,大学后的选择都和他出奇一致。
这些朋友的父母职业是医生、教师,或是体制内的党员干部,都处于小县城职业鄙视链的最顶端,就连退休金都比年轻人工资高。他们的下一辈,大部分是普通本科毕业,只不过,大家都默契地选择毕业回家在,银行、事业单位、学校,和本地国企舒服地“端铁饭碗”。
但另一边,那些在县城没有根基的同学,有的远离县城,跳槽3-4次了还没找到一个满意工作;有的留在县城,做点小买卖;甚至有的考上职校,现在在县城开挖掘机,巧合的话,还能碰到陈真负责的项目。
经过了几年的磨练,又有家里的帮衬,陈真的未来是可预见的光明。
在小县城,“上学-工作-婚姻-生孩子”这条传输链的速度极其之快,接下来要考虑的就是婚姻。
对于陈真这一群人而言,家里最喜欢干的事情就是相亲。“县城的圈子很小,之前没对象的时候,逢年过节就各单位的叔叔阿姨来我家拜年,总有些人想帮我介绍对象。”陈真说当时微信都加了一堆。
于有些人而言,在体制内除了家里安排的相亲,自己很难有途径去解决个人问题。而陈真家庭条件好、爱打篮球、会弹吉他、是相亲市场的香饽饽。
刚确定工作岗位没多久后,父母就特地为他和当地某局长的女儿组了个饭局。在父母的撮合下,现在在已经在一起快3年了。双方父母都很满意对方,随着年龄的增长,父母提起结婚的频率逐渐增加。
2. “以后劳烦领导多照顾照顾新人”
周洁是家中独女,2016年填高考志愿时家里就把大学范围限死在省内,并向她灌输未来工作也要在省内的观念,能回家里县城是最好的选择。
2020年周洁大学毕业,为了在省会有购房资格,她在省内最大的美妆公司做了两年电商运营,交了两年社保。公司资源好,时常能接触头部主播,她自己看来,这是一份“光鲜亮丽”的工作。只不过由于时常要加班到凌晨,在她父母看来,却是个不稳定的“辛苦活”。
她父母时时刻刻给她洗脑体制内的优越。
周洁记得,为了让她回家,爸妈最常对她说的话是,“朝九晚五多好,你想买房我们帮你买,不会有什么经济压力,就回来自己过过小日子就可以”。所以,拿到购房资格后立马离职,努力复习一段时间后上岸了县城的乡镇公务员。
县城范围小,人口少,属于熟人社会。即使家族中没有直接对应的单位领导,通过熟人关系,也能让进体制内的后辈更加舒适。周洁的家族关系网庞大,“某个叔叔在某某所,另一个伯伯在某某局”之类的关系比较多。总之,这种情况下,就默认了“前辈铺路,后代乘凉”。
虽然乡镇公务员是大家眼中最眼热的职业,但实际上也有高低之分。县城每个乡镇情况千差万别,晋升空间和办公环境差的不是一丁半点。有的办公环境和县城无异,有的光是从县城到单位的路程都要驾车一个小时。
周洁父母和她的体制内亲戚们,自然不会让她去落后的乡镇“受委屈”。
这场“仗”,从周洁收到上岸消息后就开始了。周洁还没反应过来,她的父母酒准备好了礼物和好酒,带上了体制内“有说话分量”的亲戚,办了好几次饭局邀请单位领导一起吃饭。
在饭桌上,周洁笨拙地举着装着茶的酒杯,跟在父亲身后打圈陪笑,一遍又一遍重复着“以后还要多麻烦各位领导多照顾照顾”。诚意和关系,县里办事的万金油;双管到位,周洁最终得偿所愿。
在县城里,公务员是“面子”的指向标。
即便周洁只是个乡镇公务员,但在周洁和周洁老家村里的人看来,这是权力和安稳的象征。老家村里的人开始找周洁维系关系,希望周洁以后多多帮忙。当别人问起周洁的工作时,周洁父母也会自豪地说出女儿是公务员。
乡镇公务员是在单位报道后按需定岗,同周洁一批进单位的有5个。周洁定岗在的岗位,虽然是个比较辛苦的差事,但前途光明。在单位时常得到领导的关照,属于机会的第一梯队候选人。领导经常安排周洁参加培训,意味着领导对周洁有重点培养的意向。
县城很多“体二代”的发展路径都类似。先让孩子进入体制环境,先解决“有没有”的问题,而乡镇公务员因为工作环境相对差,不如县城公务员“体面”,也就成为众多“体二代”的优先选择。而在之后的晋升路上,有关系支撑的家庭,父母会再利用熟人社会的关系帮助孩子尽量解决“好不好”的问题。
周洁的路径也是如此。工作过程中,每次和家里倒单位的苦水时,家里时常有一句鼓励的话:“这几年你先好好干,服务期满,再想办法帮你调到更好的单位。”
因为县城提供不了多样化、更丰富的就业岗位,所以在县城除了吃财政饭的是高学历者,其他领域打工人高学历者少而又少。所以,即使在不同乡镇工作,周洁的朋友圈和陈真的高度重叠。
3. “世袭”的财政饭,县城内循环
往县城里一看,你大概率会发现同一个职位,一二线城市和县城截然不同的情形。
大城里政府大院,985/211的硕士研究生埋头写材料;放眼至县城,普通科员常常自带“某某领导孩子”的标签。北上广深的银行玻璃间,装了不少英美澳的金融海归;小城里的普通柜员,可能是父母花了六位数打点的“关系户”。
县城是一个关系网络编织成的社会,所以混在县城,最重要的是关系。而关系中确定性最高的,便是“世袭”。在县城内,体制父母的孩子也还是在体制内、从医父母孩子也在医院、生意父母孩子也在生意场上,形成了相对稳定的职业“内循环”。
有前瞻的“县城精英”父母,从孩子高考填志愿起便落子开棋,谋划孩子的城市和专业选择。学历是敲门砖,无需比拼距离和排行。省内普通二本和省外211,前者往往才是他们的先手干预。
临近孩子毕业即布局。父母会通过自己的人脉和圈子让孩子继承自己的衣钵,并为孩子在后续发展中提供全力支持。
北大社会学博士冯军旗就读期间,在河南省新野县挂职了两年。期间通过走访与调查完成了《中县干部》这一篇博士论文。在文中总结出在县城运行的潜规则:“年龄是个宝,能力做参考,关系最重要。”
而关系主要有血亲、姻亲、干亲、同乡、同事、同学、战友等等。除了血亲是自然的连接纽带,也是最强的连接纽带外,其它都是社会性的连接纽带,都需要编织和维持。运作的方式就包括喝酒、打牌和送礼。
喝酒是编织关系网的最重要方式。酒场不仅是关系建立的桥梁,还是八卦信息的流动地,办事的润滑剂。几杯酒下肚,从陌生到熟悉,甚至开始小心翼翼称兄道弟,局中人便是自己人。
喝完酒尽兴后,打牌必不可少。打牌赢不赢钱,一是靠技术;二是靠手气。而领导赢不赢钱,主要看各位小兵们愿不愿意输钱。而逢年过节,想和领导打好关系的干部也总是在去找领导的路上。
冯军旗博士在论文中也总结出了部分县城关系网。他们通过各种关系运作方式,形成大大小小的“政治家族”,在后辈就业时,也就能提供一定的帮助。
《中县干部》举例关系网的原文摘选 干部子女如果想在大城市就业,最重要的途径就是接受高等教育,形成学历优势。而如果学历一般,孤身一人在大城市漂泊也不是很多干部家庭认为的最优选择,此时有关系有根底的人就会千方百计地回到县城,就再次巩固了政治家族的根基。
县城关系网的运作,让县城职业形成了相对静态的社会形态。
4. 结语
只要将定位回归县城,县城精英二代比普通小镇青年先行一步。
尤其强调关系的县城,核心信息的传递、交流逐渐呈现静态、固化的形态,一个个小的“政治家族”更快地获取信息,更迅速链接资源形成干预,成为县城隐形的职业壁垒。
小镇青年没有一定关系根底,即使是985研究生也很难在没有裙带联结的小县城混出一片天地,甚至,薪酬回报并不会比本科生高。
所以,很多没有根基的高学历学生并不会选择回到县城,他们往往都在相对公平的城市创造属于自己的价值。
从某种角度而言,他们并不是不想回到家乡,不想守在父母身边;而是县城没有足够多元化的岗位,体制内又无法享受到县城公平。曾经的家乡也因为越来越高的壁垒而成为回不去的地方。
香港 曾章成:我一生只有一位老师,名字叫泥土
曾章成 Johnson Tsang,1960年出生于香港,专业制作陶艺、陶瓷雕塑。
他做过服务员炸薯片、烫衣工人、冷气学徒、跟车工人,后为了家庭生计走上了警察的道路。
在当警察期间会定期安排上训练班,在训练结束后,曾章成会到香港艺术中心转转。“那一刻,我好像进入了真正属于我的世界。”“ 曾几何时,我以为是自己在塑造泥土,反过来,其实是泥土塑造了我。”
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》24-26
CHAPTER XXIV. THE TAIPING REBELLION
The war, which was brought to an end by the treaty of JS anking, left the imperial government astonished and crippled, but not paralyzed or dejected. It had, moreover, the effect of arousing it from the old notions of absolutism and security; and though the actual heads of bureaus at Peking were unable, from their secluded position and imperfect education, to ascertain and appreciate the real nature of the contest, the maritime officials could see that its results were likely to be lasting and serious. A few thoughtful men among them, as Ilipu, Seu Kiyu, Iviying and his colleagues, understood better than their superiors at the capital that the advent of the ‘ Western Ocean people ‘ at the five open ports introduced a permanent influence upon the Black-haired race. They could not, of course, estimate what this influence would become, but a sense of its power and vitality had the effect of preventing them from petty opposition in carrying out the treaty stipulations. With the major part of the officials, on the other hand, life-long prejudice, joined to utter ignorance as to the numbers, position, and resources of foreign nations, led them to withdraw from even such a measure of intercourse with consular and diplomatic officials as they could easily have held. The tone of official society was opposed to having any personal relations with their foreign colleagues, and after the old Emperor Taukwang had passed off the stage in 1850, his son showed—even eight years after the peace—that promotion was incompatible with cultivating a closer acquaintance with them.
It is not surprising that this reaction took on the form of doing as little as possible, and that its stringency was increased ill reality by the device of making the governor-general at Canton the only channel of correspondence with foreign ministers.
This magnate was surrounded in that city by ^subordinates whose training had been inimical to extending intercourse with foreigners, because they had reaped the advantages of the old system in their monopoly of the trade. The intendants at the other open ports were directed to refer difficult (piestions relating to foreigners to this high functionary, but as they wero more disposed to let such disputes settle themselves, if possible, few cases were ever sent to him. The animus of the whole governing class gradually assumed a settled determination to keep aloof from those who had humbled them in the e^’es of their subjects, and yet give no handle to these potent outsiders to repeat their descent on the coast. It was a poor policy in every point of view, only serving to hasten the evils they dreaded.
SIR JOHN DAVIS AND KITING, 577
Sir John Davis was appointed governor of Hongkong in 1844, and during four years’ service so soon after the war saw much of this proud and foolish spirit. His two volumes, published in 1852 (China during the AVan and since the Peace), contain a digest of the official records and acts of the Chinese government which is highly instructive. It is remarkable that lie should show so much surprise at the mendacity, ill-will, and weakness of the officers in these reports to their master, or at the Emperor’s persistency in wreaking his wrath on those whose poltroonery had done him so much harm. A residence of nearly thirty years in the country should have developed, in his case, an intimate acquaintance with native ideas of honor and mercy, and shown him how little of either are practised in time of war.
If he blames the Chinese leaders for their ignorance and silly mistakes in its conduct, one can readily see that they never had an opportunity to learn the truth about their enemies. Their struggle against the impossible was not altogether in vain, therefore, if it prepared them for accepting the inevitable. Had Sir John manifested a little sympathy for their plight in such an unequal contest, and shown more humanity for their sufferings under the evils which afflicted them, his opinion of the best remedies would have carried much weiirht. As an instance of the result of Ills own training in the East India Company’s school, he remarks respecting the imperial edicts against opium, that they fell into disuse, and that the subject had never been revived since the war ; adding, ” But at no time was the traffic deserving the full load of infamy with which many were disposed to heap it, for at most it only supplied the poison, which the Chinese were not obliged to take. The worst effect, perhaps, was the piracy it engendered, for this has told against the honest trade.” ‘ In his first interview with Kiying, in May, 1844, he proposed that the Chinese government should legalize the opium trade, for ” such a wise and salutary measure would remove all chances of unpleasant occurrences between the two governments; it might provide an ample revenue for the Emperor, and check to the same extent the consumption of a commodity which was at present absolutely untaxed.’” He, however, brought it more directly to his notice the next year in consequence of the revival of smuggling at Whampoa to as great a degree as in 1839, and the opium vessels all left the Reach.
Kiying was entirely indisposed to move, or even aid, in this matter, which he knew would be distasteful to the Emperor, other than by a truly Chinese device—that the oflScials of both nations should let it go on by nnitual connivance. Sir John naively remarks on this : ” The only thing wanting was that the Emperor should publicly sanction what he had once publicly condemned. . . . The trade, however, was practically tolerated, and to us this made a great difference. The Chinese government was not sufficiently honest to make a public avowal of this change in its system, but the position in which Great Britain stood became materially altered. China had distinctly declined a conventional arrangement for the remedy of the evil, and expressed a desire that we should not bring the existing abuse to its notice.” ^ With two such men in command, of course nothing was ever done by either side to restrain the evils growing out of this contraband and demoralizing trade, until another war and new treaties changed the national relations.
‘ Chimi chning tits War, etc., Vol. I., p. 19.Ubid., Vol. li., p. 44.3/6j«., Vol. n., p. 303.
At Canton the long-cherished dislike to foreigners was fomented by demagogues and idlers. These worked upon the fears of the people In- telling them that their lands were to be taken to build warehouses upon ; and this rumor was so far believed that it soon became unsafe for foreigners to venture far into the suburbs. In December, 1847, not long after the arrangement with Sir John Davis respecting an entrance into Canton city was made, six Englishmen were attacked by a mob at Hwang-chuh-ki while on a ramble, and all killed, some of them with reiined cruelty. Kiying took immediate measures—extremely creditable to his sense of what he owed to justice and maintenance of peace—to pnnisli these villagers. A mimber of men whom their fellows indicated as leaders in the outrage were arrested ; the prisoners were tried at Canton by the regular courts. Four were presently decapitated in the sight of a military deputation sent from Hongkong, and two others by orders from Peking. This well-timed justice secured the safety of foreigners peaceably going about the city and environs ; but it was creditjly stated afterward that there were numerous placards already posted in that region informing the people that foreigners would perhaps be coming thither to select sites for themselves. These unfortunate Englishmen, indeed, would perhaps have been allowed to return home, if they had been able to speak to the villagers and explain their object.
DISPOSITION OF CHINESE TOWARD FOREIGNERS. ^70
This incident makes it proper to notice a common misapprehension abroad in respect to the influence of the treaties which had been signed with China upon the people themselves. It was inferred that as soon as the three treaties with England, France, and America had been ratified, the great body of educated Chinese at least would inquire and learn what were their provisions, and a natural curiosity would be manifested to know something about the peoples of those lands. Nothing could be more likely—nothing was farther from the reality, No efforts were ever made by the imperial officers at the capital or in the provinces to promulgate these national compacts, whose original and ratified copies were never even transmitted to Peking. Consequently, the existence and nature of these Iiaoo yoh, or ‘peace contracts,’ had to be continually taught to the natives, who on their part did not usually feel themselves under much obligation to obey them. In China, as elsewhere, just laws never execute themselves, and it is hardly surprising that not an officer of the Emperor should go out of his way to enforce their distasteful stipulations.
It was therefore uphill work to see that the treaties did not become a dead letter, and all the hardest part of this labor fell to the lot of the British consuls. They alone stood forth among foreign officials as invested with some power of their own ; and being generally able to use the Chinese language, they came into personal relations with the local officers, and thus began the only effectual mode through which the treaties could become agencies for breaking down the hoary wall of prejudice, ignorance, and contempt which had so long kept China out of the pale of progress. In doing this, no fixed course could be laid down ; though the constant tendency of the consuls was to encroach on the power of the mandarins, these latter were generally able to recur to the treaties, and thus learn the necessity and benefits of adherence to them. Their education was a colossal undertaking, and considering the enormous difficulties, its progress has been as rapid as was consistent with the welfare of themselves or their subjects. In this progress they bear the greatest share of the burden ; its responsibilities and costs, its risks and results, almost wholly come upon them, while foreign nations, with the immense undefined rights of exterritoriality on their side, are interested on-lookers, ready to take advantage of every fauxpas to compel them to conform to their interpretation of the treaties. Very little consideration is given to their ignorance of international law, to their full belief in the power of China, or to their consequent disinclination to accept the new order of things so suddenly forced on them. On the other hand, no one who knows all the features of this period will withhold the praise due to the British authorities in China for their conduct in relations with its functionaries ; it might fairly be added that the improved state of international intercourse is mostly due to them.
The condition of the Empire at the close of the war was most discouraging to its rulers, who had not dreamed of receiving so crushing a defeat. It is creditable to them that they honorably paid up the $21,000,000 exacted of them by the British, who of course restored Chusan at the stipulated time.
The name of II. Montgomery Martin, tlien treasurer of Hongkong colony, must be awarded due mention as being the only Queen’s official who endeavored to resist its surrender, on the plea of its great benefit to her eastern empire and influence.
Sir John Davis speaks of the “political and military considerations” which gave importance to it ; but the proposal of Mr. Martin was promptly rejected by his superiors, and the whole archipelago has since been neglected. At the four northern ports opened by treaty, with the exception of Fuhchau, trade began without difficulty. This city having entirely escaped the ravages of the war, its proud gentry influenced the citizens against foreigners and their trade ; the first European residents there met with some ill-usage, but this bitter feeling gradually wore off as the parties became better known.
At Canton the case was aggravated by the prejudices of race and the turbulence of the unemployed braves who had flocked into it on the invitation and inducements of Commissioner Lin to enlist against the English. They had been disbanded by Kiying, but had not returned to their homes ; their lawlessness increased till it threatened the supremacy of the provincial government, and required the strongest measures of repression.
The disorders spread rather than diminished under an impoverished
treasury and ill-paid soldiery, and prepared the way for
the rebellion which during the next twenty years tasked the utmost
resources’ of the nation. The ignorance of one part of its
people of what was taking place in another province—which
during the foreign war so greatly crippled the Emperor’s efforts
to interest his subjects in this struggle—hete did much to preserve them from unitino; against him to his overthrow. It was
plain to every candid observer that however weak, unprincipled,
and tyrannical the Manchu rulers might be, they were as efficient
sovereigns as the people could produce, and no substituted sway
could possibly’ elevate and purify them until higher principles of
social and political life had been adopted by the nation at large.
CAUSES OF THE TAI-PIXG IXSURRECTIOIS”. 58T
The protracted convulsion, known abroad as the Tai-ping Rebellion, owed much of its duration as well to the exposure of the government’s internal rottenness as to its weakness against foreign nations ; hut many other causes were at work. The body of the Chinese people are well aware that their rulers are no better than themselves in morals, honesty, or patriotism ; but they are all ready to ascribe the evils they suffer from robbers, taxation, exactions, and unjust sentences to those in authority.
The rulers are conscious that their countrymen consider it honorable
to evade taxes, defy the police when they can safely do so,
and oppose rather than aid in the maintenance of law and order.
There is no basis of what in Christian lands is regarded as the
foundation of social order and just government—the power of
conscience and amenableness to law ; nevertheless, from the
habits of obedience taught in the family and in the schoolroom,
the people have attained a good degree of security for themselves
and show much regard to just rulers. The most serious
evils and sufferings in Chinese society are caused by its disorderly
members, not its rapacious rulers ; and both can only be
removed and reformed by the reception of a higher code which
raises the standard of action from expediency to obligation.
In giving an account of the rise and overthrow of the Tai-pin Rebellion, it will be necessary to limit the narrative to the most important religious, political, and military events connected with it up to its suppression in ISGT. The phrase ” Tai-ping Rebellion ” is wholly of foreign manufacture ; at Peking and everywhere among those loyal to the government the insurgents were styled Changmaozei or ‘Long-haired rebels,’ while on their side, by a whimsical resemblance to English slang, the imperialists were dubbed imj)s. When the chiefs assumed to be aiming at independence in 1850, in order to identify their followers with their cause they took the term Ping Chao, or ‘Peace Dynasty,’ as the style of their sway, to distinguish it from the Qing Chao, or ‘ Pure Dynasty,’ of the Manchus. Each of them prefixed the adjective Da (or Tai, in Cantonese), ‘ Great,’ as is the Chinese custom with regard to dynasties and nations ; thus the name Tai-ping became known to foreigners. The leader took the style Tien-teh^ or ‘Heavenly Virtue,’ for his reign, thereby indicating his aim in seeking the throne, his own personal name, Hong Xiuquan, was regarded as too sacred to be used by his followers. The banners and edicts used at Nanjing and in his army bore the inscription, Tian-fu, Tian-xiong, Tian-wang Tai-ping Tian-guo, or ‘ Heavenly Father, Heavenly Elder Brother, Heavenly King of the Great Peace [Dynasty] of the Heavenly Kingdom ‘ (i.e., China).
The incidents of this man’s early life and education were ascertained in 1854, from his relative Hung Jin, by the Rev. Theodore Hamberg, whose narrative’ bears the marks of a trustworthy recital. Hung Siu-tsuen was the youngest son of Hung Jang, a well-to-do farmer living in Plwa hien, a district situated on the North Eiver, about thirty miles from Canton city, in a small village of which he was the headman. The family was from Kiaying prefecture, on the borders of Kiangsi, and the whole village was regarded as belonging to the Hakkas, or Squatters, and had little intercourse with the Pun-tis, or Indigenes, on that account. Siu-tsuen was born in 1813, and at the usual age of seven entered school, where he showed remarkable aptitude for study. His family being too poor to spare his services long, he had to struggle and deny himself, as many a poor aspirant for fame in all lands has done, in order to fit himself to enter the regular examinations. In 1826 his name appeared on the list of candidates in Hwa hien, but Hung Jin says : ” Though his name was always among the first upon the board at the district examinations, yet he never succeeded in attaining the degree of Siu-tsai.” In 1833 he was at Canton at the triennial examination, when he met with the native evangelist Liang A-fah, who was distributing and selling a number of his own writings near the Kung yuen to the candidates as they went in and out of the hall. Attracted by the venerable aspect of this man, he accepted a set of his tracts called Quan Shi Liang Yan, or ‘ Good Words to Exhort the Age.’ He took them home with him, but threw them aside when he found that they advocated Christianity, then a proscribed doctrine.
‘ Visions of Hun(j Siu-tshuen and Orifjin. oftlie Kwang-si Insurrectioii, Hongkong, 1854. Mr. W. Sargent in the North American Review for July, 1854,Vol. LXXIX., p. 158.
THE LIFE OF HONG XIU-QUAN 583
In 1837 he was again in the provincial tripos, where his repeated disappointment and discontent aggravated an illness that seized him. On reaching his home he took to his bed and prepared for death, having had several visions foretokening his decease, he called his parents to his bedside and thus addressed them: “My days are counted and my life will soon be closed. O my parents ! how badly have I returned the favor of your love to me ; I shall never attain a name that shall reflect lustre on you.”
After uttering these words he shut his eyes and lost all strength and command over his body, and became unconscious of what was going on around him. His outward senses were inactive, his body appeared as dead, but his soul was acted upon by a peculiar eneigy, seeing and remembering things of a very extraordinary nature.
At first, when his eyes were closed he saw a dragon, a tiger,
and a cock enter the room ; a great number of men placing
upon instruments then approached, bearing a beautiful sedanchair
in which they invited him to be seated. Kot knowing
wdiat to make of this honor, he was carried away to a luminous
and beautiful place wherein a multitude of fine men and women
saluted him on arrival with expressions of joy. On leaving the
sedan an old woman took him down to a river, saying : ” Thou
dirty man, why hast thou kept company with yonder people and
defiled thyself ? I must now wash thee clean.” After the
washing was over he entered a large building in company with
a crowd of old and virtuous men, some of whom were the ancient
sages. Here they opened his body, took out the heart and other
organs, and replaced them by new ones of a red color ; this
done, the wound closed without leaving a scar. The whole
assembly then went on to another larger hall, whose splendor
was beyond description, in which an aged man, with a golden
beard and dressed in black robes, sat on the liighest place. Seeing
Siu-tsuen, he began to shed tears and said : ” All human
beings in the world are produced and sustained by me ; they eat
my food and wear my clothing, but not one among them has a
heart to remember and venerate me ; what is worse, they take
my gifts and therewith worship demons ; they purposely rebel
against me and arouse my anger. Do thou not imitate them.”
Hereupon he gave him a sword to destroy the demons, a seal to overcome the evil spirits, and a sweet yellow fruit to eat. Sintsueii
received them, and straightway began to exhort his venerable
companions to perform their duties to their master. After
doing so even to tears, the high personage led him to a spot
whence he could behold the world below, and discern theliorrible
depravity and vice of its inhabitants. The sight was too awful to
be endured, and words were inadequate to describe it. So he
awoke from his trance, and had vigor enough to rise and dress
himself and go to his father. Making a bow, Siu-tsuen said : “The venerable old man above has commanded that all men shall turn to me, and that all treasures shall ilow to me.” This sickness continued about forty days, and the visions were multiplied.
]Ie often met with a man in them whom he called his elder brother, who instructed him how to act and assisted him in going after and killing evil spirits. lie became more and more possessed with the idea, as his health returned, that he had been commissioned to be Emperor of China ; and one day his father found a slip on which was written ” The Heavenly King of Great Heason, the Sovereign King Tsuen.”” As time wore on, this lofty idea seems to have more and more developed his mind to a soberness and purity which overawed and attracted him. ]S’othing is said about his utterances while the war with England was progressing, but he must have known its progress and results. His cataleptic fits and visions seem not to have returned, and he pursued his avocation as a school teacher until about 1843, having meanwhile failed in another trial to obtain his degree at Canton. In that year his wife’s brother asked to take away the nine tracts of Liang A-fah to see what they contained ; when he returned them to Siu-tsuen he urged him to road them too.
HIS HKLIEF IN HIS DIVINE CALLING. 585
They consisted of sixty-eight short chapters upon common topics, selected from the Bible, and not exactly fitted to give him, in his excited state and total ignorance of western books and religion, a fair notion of Christianity. As he read them he saw, as he thought, the true meaning of his visions. The venerable old man was no other than God the Father, and his guide was Jesus Christ, who had assisted him in slaying the demons. “These books are certainly sent purposely by heaven to me to confirm the truth of my former experience. If I had received them without having gone through the sickness, I should not have dared to believe in them, and by myself to oppose the customs of the whole world. If I had merely been sick, but not also received the books, I should have had no further evidence as to the truth of my visions, which might also have been considered as mere products of a diseased imagination.”
This sounds reasonable, and commends itself as wholly unlike the ravings of a madnuin. Nevertheless, while it would be unwise for us to closely criticise this narrative in its details, and assert that Siu-tsuen’s pretensions were all hypocritical, we must bear in mind the fact that he had certaiidy, neither at this time nor ever afterward, a clear conception of the true nature of Christianity, judging from his writings and edicts.
The nature of sin, and the dominion of God’s law upon the sinner ; the need of atonement from the stain and effects of sin ; Christ’s mediatorial sacrifice ; were subjects on which he could not possibly have received full instruction from these fragmentary essays. In after days his conviction of his own divine calling to rule over China, seems to have blinded his understanding to the spiritual nature of the Christian church.
His individual penchant was insufficient to resist or mould the
subordinates who accepted his mission for their own ends. But
lie was not a tool in their hands at any time, and his personal
influence permeated the ignorant mass of reckless men around
him to an extraordinary degree, while his skill in turning some
of the doctrines and requirements of the Bible as the ground
and proofs of his own authority indicated original genius, since
the results were far beyond the reach of a cunning impostor.
From first to last, beginning with poverty, obscurity, and weakness in II wa, continuing with distinction, power, and royalty at Nanking and throughout its five adjacent provinces, and ending with defeat, desertion, and death in his own palace, Hung never wavered or abated one jot of his claim to supreme rule on earth. When his end was reported at Peking in August, 1864, thirty-one years after his receiving Liang A-falTs tracts, the imperial rescript sadly said : ” Words cannot convey any idea of the misery and dedolation lio caused ; the measure of his iniquity was full, and the wrath of both gods and men was roused against him.”
N^ A career so full of exceptional interest and notable incidents
cannot, of course, be minutely described in this sketch. xVfter
Hung’s examination of the tracts which had lain unnoticed in
his hands for ten years, followed by his conviction of the real
meaning of his visions in 1837, he began to proclaim his mission
and exhort those around him to accept Christianity. Hung
Jin (who furnished Mr. llamberg with his statements) and a
fellow-student, Fung Vun-shan, were his first converts; they
agreed to put away all idols and the Confucian tablet out of
their schools, and then baptized or washed themselves in a
brook near by, as a sign of their purification and faith in Jesus.
As they had no portion of the Sacred Scriptures to guide them,
they were at a loss to understand many things spoken of by
Liang A-fah, but his expositions of the events and doctrines
occurring in them were deeply pondered and accepted. The
Mosaic account of creation and the flood, destruction of Sodom,
sermon on the Mount, and nature of the final judgment, were
given in them, as well as a full relation of Christ’s life and
death ; and these prepared the neophytes to receive the Bible
M’hen they got it. Jhit the same desire to find proof of his
own calling led Siu-tsuen to fix on fanciful renderings of certain
texts, and, after the maimer of commentators in other lands,
to extract meanings never intended. A favorite conceit, among
others, was to assume that wherever the character tsaen, ^,
meaning ‘ whole,’ ‘ altogether,’ occurred in a verse, it meant
himself, and as it forms a part of the Chinese phrase for al-
Qiilghtij, he thus had strong reasons (as he thought) for his
course. The phrase Tien kwoh, denoting the ‘ Kingdom of
Heaven ‘ in (Jhrisfs preaching, they applied to China, With
such preconceived views it is not w^onderful that the brethren
were all able to fortify themselves in their opinions by the
strongest arguments. All those discourses in the series relating
to repentance, faith, and man’s depravity were apparently
entirely overlooked by them.
HIS C0:N VERSION AM) EARLY ADHERENTS. 587
The strange notions, unaffected earnestness, moral conduct, and new ideas about God and happiness of these men soon began to attract people to them, some to dispute and cavil, others to accept and worship with them. Their scholars, one and all, deserted
them as soon as the Confucian tablet was removed from
the schoolroom, and they were left penniless and unemployed,
sometimes subjected to beatings and obloc^uy for embracing an
outlandish religion, and other times ridiculed for forsaking their
ancestral halls. The nundjer of their adherents was too few to
detain them at home, and in May, 1844, Siu-tsuen, Yun-shan,
and two associates resolved to visit a distant relative who lived
near the MiaoZu in Kwangsi, and get their living along the road by peddling ink-stones and pencils. They reached the adjoining district, Tsingj’uen, where they preached two months and baptized several persons ; some time after Hung Jin took a school there, and remained several years, baptizing over fifty converts. Siu-tsuen and Yun-shan came to the confines of the Miaotsz’ in Sinchau fu in three months, preaching the existence
of the true God and of redemption by his Son, and after many
vicissitudes reached their relative’s house in Kwei hien among
the mountains. Here they tarried all summer, and their earnest
zeal in spreading the doctrines which they evidently had found
so cheering to their own hearts, arrested the attention of these
I’ude mountaineers, and many of them professed their faith in
Christ. Siu-tsuen returned home in the winter, and was disappointed
in not finding his colleague Yun-shan there as well as the other two, nor could he give any account of his course.
It appeared afterward that Yun-shan had met some acquaintances on his road, and became so much interested in preaching to them at Thistle-mount that he remained there two years, teaching school and gathering churches.
Siu-tsuen continued to teach and preach the truth as he had
learned it from the books in his hands. In 1846 he heard of I.
J. Roberts, the American missionary, living at Canton, and the
next spring received an invitation to come there and study. He
and Hung Jin did so ; the former remained with Mr. Roberts about two months, giving him a narrative of his own visions, conversion, and preaching, at the same time learning the nature and extent of foreign mission work in that city. He made a visit home with two native Christians, who had been sent to llwa to learn more about him. They seem to have obtained good reports of his character; but others in Mr. Roberts’ employ were afraid of his influence if he should enter their church, and therefore intrigued to have him refused admission just then.
IMr. Tl(A)erts appears to have acted discreetly according to the
light he had respecting the applicant’s integrity, and would no
doubt have baptized him had not the latter soon after left
Canton, where he had no means of support. At this time
the i^olitical distui-bances in Kwangtung seem to have greatly
influenced Siu-tsuen’s course, and Mhen he reached home he
made a second visit to his relative, and thence went to Thistlemoimt
to rejoin Fung Ynn-shan. Hung Jin states that before
this date he had expressed disloyal sentiments against the Manchus,
but these are so common among the Cantonese that they
attracted no notice. On secini; Yun-shan and meeting the two
thousand converts he luid gathered, it is pretty certain that
hopes of a successful resistance must have revived in his breast.
A woman among them also began to relate some visions she had seen ten years before, foretelling the advent of a man who should teach them how to worship God. The number of converts rapidly increased in three prefectures adjacent to the liivcr ^ uh ill the eastern part of Kwangsi, and no serious hindrance was met with from the officials, though there were not wanting enemies, by one of whom Yun shan was accused and then thrown into prison. However, the prefect and district magistrate to whom the case was referred, fiiuling no sutlicient cause for punishment, liberated him; though the new sectaries had made themselves somewhat obnoxious to the idolaters by their iconoclasm —so hard is it to learn patience and toleration in any country. In very many villages in that region the ^-^Shaiigti hwui^ or ‘ Associations for worshipping God,’ began to be recognized, but they do not seem to have quoted the toleration edict obtained in 1844 in favor of Christianity, as that only spoke of the Tun-ehu kiao, or Catholics. The worship of Shangdi is a peculiar function of the Emperor, as has been already explained ; and it is not surprising to 1)C told by Hung Jin that tlic new sect was reiiarded as ti’casonable.
ORGANIZATION OF THE SIIANGTI IIWUI. ^89
111 1848 Sill tsueii’s father died trusting in the new faith and
directing that no Buddhist services be lield at his funeral ; the
whole family had l)y this time become its followers, and when
the son and Yun-shan met them soon after, they began to discuss
their future. The believers in Kwangsi were left to take
care of themselves during the whole winter, and appear to liavo
gone on witli their usual meetings without hindranceo In June,
1849, the two leaders left Uwa for Kwangsi, assisted by tlio
faitliful, and found much to encourage them in their secret
plans in the general unit}’ which pervaded the association.
Some members had been favored with visions, others had become exhorters, denouncing those who behaved contrary to the doctrines; others essayed to cure diseases. Siu-tsuen was immediately acknowledged by all as their leader; he set himself to introduce and maintain a rigid discipline, forbade the use of opium and spirits, introduced the observance of the Sabbath, and regulated the worship of God. No hint of calling in the aid of a foreign teacher to direct them in their new services appears to have been suggested by any member, nor even of sending to Canton to engage the services of a native convert, though Liang A-fah was still living then. The whole year was thus passed at Thistle-mount, and the nucleus of the future force thoroughly imbued with the ideas of their leader, who had, by June, 1850, gathered around him his own relatives and chosen his lieutenants.’
‘ The insurgents cut off the tail, allowed their hair to grow, and decided that all who joined the insurrectional movement should leave off the chinig and the Tartar tunic, and should wear the robe open in the front, which their ancestors had worn in the time of the Mings. —Callerv and Yvan, llixiory of the Jimarycctiou in China, translated by John Oxeuford, p. 61. London, 1853.
The existence of such a large body of people, acting together under the orders of one man, whose aspirations and teachings had gradually filled their minds with new ideas, could not remain unnoticed by the authorities. The governor-general lived at Canton, and received his information through local magistrates and prefects, whose policy was rather to understate the truth. But Sii Kwang-tsin felt that he was not fitted for the coming struggle. His place was therefore filled by the appointment of Lin, then living in Fuhchau, who started to fulfil his new ehai’ge, but died in October, as he entered the province.
Governor Sii Avas obliged to leave Canton on duty, but he never
met the enemy nor returned to his post. The po})ulac’e of the
city made themselves merry over his violent conduct toward a
poor paper-image maker near the landing, who had just set out
to di-y some effigies dressed in high ofiicial costume, each one
lacking a head. Su chose to regard this proceeding as an intentional
insult, as the artisan must have known that he was to
pass by that way, and ordered him to be bambooed and his ettigies
destroyed to neutralize the bad omen. The Peking government
had just sent three Manchus to superintend operations in
Kwangsi ; their predecessors, Li and Chau, with the provincial
governor, Clung, were all degraded, but these new imperial
officials did no better, nor did those on the spot expect that
they would succeed. Tahungah was the ruffian who had executed
one hundred and eighty British prisoners in Formosa
nine years before ; and Saishangah was the prime minister of
the young Emperor llienfung, as worthless as he was depraved.
Cruntai, who had long been in command of the Manchu garrison
at Canton, was also sent, in May, 1851, to check the growing
power of the insurgents. They were well posted in Wusiuen
hien, near the junction of two rivers, and this chieftain
naively expresses his surprise in his report to the Emperor that
the rebels should occupy an important })Ost which he had just
decided to fortify. However, his official rei)oit ‘ explains the
reasons for the imperial reverses better than anything wliich
had hitherto appeared. Corruption, venality, idleness, opiumsmoking,
and peculation had made the whole army a mass of
rottenness ; no one can wonder that the Tai-pings marched
without dan<»;er throufrh the land to their ij-oal at Xankiuii;.
A year previous to this date, however, the conflict had been
begun by the followers of Siu-tsuen. In tlieir zeal against idolatry
they had destroyed tem])les and irritated the people, which
ei-e long aroused a S])irit of distrust and emnity ; this was further
increased by the long-standing feud and mutual hatred
* Chinese Reposikn’y, Vol. XX. , p. 493.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE IJEVOLT. 591
between the j>un-iis and h<(kk-as (natives and squatters) wlileh
j-an through society. 8iu-tsuen and his chiefs were mostly of
the latter class, and whenever villages were attacked and the
hakkas worsted, they moved over to Thistle-mount and professed
to worship Shangti with Siu-tsuen. In this way the
whole population had become more or less split up into parties.
When a body of imperial soldiers sent to artest him and Yunshan
were driven off, they availed themselves of the enthusiasm
of their followers to gather them and occupy Lienchu, a lai-ge
market-town in Kwei hien. This proceeding attracted to their
banner all the needy and discontented spirits in that region, but
their own partisans were now able to regulate and employ all
who came, requiring a close adherence to their religious tenets
and worship. This town of Lienchu w^s soon fortified, and the
order of a camp began to appear among its possessors, wdio, however, spared the townspeople. The drilling of the force, now increased to many thousands, commenced ; its vitality was soon tested when it was deemed best to cross the river and advance on Taitsun in order to obtain more room. The imperialists were hoodwinked by a simple device, and when they found their enemy had marched off, their attack on the rear was repulsed
with much loss. Like all their class, they turned their
wrath on the peaceful inhabitants of Lienchu, killing and burning
till almost nothing was left. This needless cruelty recoiled
on themselves, and all the members of the Shangti /iwui, loyal
and disaffected alike, felt that their very name carried sedition
in it, and they must join Siu-tsuen’s standard or give up their
faith. lie had induced some recent comers belonging to the
Triad Society to put their money into the military chest and
to submit to his rules. One of his religious teachers had been
detected embezzling the funds while on their way to the commissariat, but the public trial and execution of the man had
served both as a warning and an encouragement to the different
classes who witnessed the affair. Most of the Triad chiefs, however,
were afraid of such discipline, and drew off to the imperialists
with the greater number of their followers. The defection
furnished Siu-tsuen an opportunity to make known his settled
opposition to this fraternity, and that every man joining his party must leave it. At this time the discipline and good order exhibited in the eneaiiipment at Taitsiin nnist have struck the people around it with surprise and admiration, if the meagre accounts we have received are at all trustworthy.
About one jeai- elapsed between the contiict near Lienchu
and the capture of Yung-ngaii chau, u city on the liiver j\Iei in
Pingloh pi’efecture. During this period Siu-tsuen had become
more and more possessed with the idea of liis divine mission
from the Tieti-fu, or ‘ Heavenly Father,’ as God was now
connnonly called, and the Tien-Jiiung, or ‘ Ileaveidy Elder
Brother,’ as he termed Jesus Christ. He began to seclude
himself from the gaze of his followers, and deliver to them
such revelations as he received for the management of the force
committed to him to clear the land of all idolatry and 0})pression,
and cheer the hearts of those pledged to the gloiious
cause. This course was destructive of all those peculiar tenets
which Christianity teaches, and, so far as can be learned, neither
lie nor Yun-shan any longer prominently set forth the doctrines
of salvation by repentance and faith in Christ, as they had done
in their first journey among the INIiaotsz’, but held their followers
together by fanaticism and the hope of final triumph. In
its main features, his course was copied from that of IMoses and
Aaron when they withdrew into the tal)ernacle, and it was
easy to impress upon his ujiinstructed followers the repetition
in his person of the same mode of making known the will of
Heaven. An adequate reason can also be found in this scheme
why he never called in the aid of foreign missionaries to teach
his followers the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, knowing full
well that none of them w^onld lend any conntenance to such delusion.
As early as April, 1849, when still in Kwei hien, he began to promulge his decrees in the form of revelations received from the Heavenly Father and Elder Brother, when one or the other came down into the world to tell him what course lie should pursue. In March, 1853, just before capturing Nanking, he issued a book of ” Celestial Decrees,” containing a series of these revelations, from which the I’eal nature of his character can be learned. Two extracts will be sufficient to
(piote:
CHAKACTEU OF THE TIEN-WANd’s ATJTHOKITY. 593
The Heavenly Father addressed the multitude, saying, O my children ! Do
you know your Heavenly Father and your Celestial Elder Brother ? To which
they all replied, We know our Heavenly Father and Celestial Elder Brother.
The Heavenly Father then said, Do you know your Lord, and truly ‘i To
which they all replied, We know our Lord right well. The Heavenly Father
said, I have sent your Lord down into the world to l)ecome the Celestial King
(Tkn-icniuj) ; every word lie litters is a celestial command ; you must be obedient
; you must truly assist your Lord and regard your King ; you must not
dare to act disorderly, nor to be disrespectful. If you do not regard your Lord and King, every one of you will be involved in difficulty.’
It is only from these official documents that we can learn the real political and religions tenets of the revolutionists now intrenched at Yung-ngan, and soon to burst forth in fury upon their country. It was in vain to expect gospel ligs from such a bramble bush.
Another extract exhibits their jugglery still more clearly. It is dated December 1), 1S51, and contains the proceedings and sentence in the case of Chan Sih-nang, mIio had been detected holdins intercourse with General Saishan^ah at Taitsun. Four of the kings were that day consulting upon some weighty matters, when suddenly the Heavenly Father came down among them and secretly told them to instantly arrest Chan and two others and bring them to Yang, the Eastern King, while he returned to heaven. They did so, and reported the matter to the Tian Wang, but none of them had any evidence to proceed upon.
” Happily, how^ever, the Heavenly Father gave himself the
trouble to appear once more,” and ordered two of the royal cousins
to go and inform the several princes of his presence. They
all attended at court and entreated the Ileavenlv Kino; to
accompany them. Hereupon, his Majesty, guarded by the
princes and body-guards, together with a host of officials, advanced
into the presence of the Heavenly Father. They all
kneeled down and asked, ” Is the Heavenly Father come down ?
‘
He replied, addressing the Tien-wang, ” Siu-tsuen, I am going
to take this matter in hand to-day ; a mere mortal would find
it a hard task. One Chan has been holdins; collusive commu-
‘ This decree bears the date April 19, 1851, at Tung-hiang, a village nea<
Wusiuen.
iiication with the enemy yesterday, and has returned to court,
intending to carry into effect a very serious revolt. Go and
bring him liere.” The culprit soon came, and the examination
is reported in full. In answer to tlie question, ” Who is it that
is now speaking to you ? ” he replied, ” The Heavenly Father,
the Supreme Lord and Great God (Shangti) is addressing me.”
He said soon after, ” I am aware that the Heavenly Father is
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent/’ By a series of
questions his guilt was proved, and he and his accomplices, with
his wife and son, were all put to death as a warning to traitors,
in presence of a large concourse, to whom they confessed the
justice of their fate.
When in possession of Nanking, Hung Siu-tsuen was formally
proclaimed by his army to be Emperor of China, and assumed
the style and insignia of royalty. Five leading chiefs were
appointed to their several corps as South, East, West, North,
and Assistant Kings ; Fung Yun-shan w’as the Southern King.
Who among them were the efficient disciplinarians and leading
minds in carrying on their plan cannot be now ascertained, so
complete was the secrecy which enveloped the whole movement
from first to last as to the personnel of the force. Dr. Medhurst’s
translations of their orders, tenets, laws, revelations, and textbooks
furnish the most authentic sources for estimating its
character, but they fail to describe its living agents. In so
large an army, composed of the most heterogeneous elements,
it cannot be expected that there would be at any time nnicli
knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, on which its leaders based
their assumed powers derived from the ‘ Heavenly Father and
Elder Brother ;
‘ but there certainly was a remarkable degree
of sobriety and discipline among them during the first few
years of their existence. A most perplexing question, which
increased in its urgency and difficulty as soon as opposition
drove the rebel general to intrench himself at Liencliu, was
temporarily arranged by forming a separate cMcaiu])inent for
the women, and placing over them officers of their own sex to
see that discipline was maintained. In doing this he allowed
the married people as great facilities for the care of their children
as was possible under the conditions of army life; but
THE REBEL ADVANCE TO THE YANGTSZ\ 505
diiriu*^ their progress through the land in 1852 and 1853, much
suffering must have been endured.
In 1852 the state and size of the army in Yung-ngan fully
authorized the leaders of the I’evolt to march northward. Several
engagements had given their men confidence in each other
as thev saw the imperialists put to flight ; defeats had furthermore
shown that their persevering enemy entertained no idea
of sparing even one of them if captured. The want of provisions
durino- their fiv^e months’ sieo;e within its walls further
trained them to a certain degree of patient endurance ; when,
therefore, they broke through the besieging force in three divisions
on the night of April T, 1852, they were animated by
success and hope to possess themselves of the Empire. Marching
north they now attacked Kweilin, the provincial capital,
May 15tli, but having no cannon fit to besiege a walled city of
that size, crossed the border and captured Tau in Hunan, which
gave them access to the Iliver Siang and means of transportation.
Their course was thenceforth an easy conquest of the
towns along its valley. Kweiyang chau, Chin chau, Tunghing,
ISTganjin, and others were taken and evacuated, one after the
other, until they reached the capital of this province, September
18th. Chano-sha and Siangtan together form one immense city,
and its defenders fully understood their peril, and the probability
of entire destruction if they allowed it to be captured.
For eighty days the Tai-pings exerted themselves in vain to
obtain possession, losing, however, very few men, and doing no
great harm to their enemy, who kept beyond reach. December
1st they raised the siege, and by the 13tli reached Yohchau on
the Yangtsz ‘, which was taken without a struggle. Ten days
after, replenished and encouraged by the spoil found in Yohchau,
they occupied Hanyang and Wuchang, the capital of
Ilupeli province, lying on the other side of the river. Its garrison
was unable to escape, and many eoldiers were destroyed.
Hwangchau and Kiukiang, two prefect cities lower down, were
captured January 12th and February 18th, while Nganking,
the capital of i^ganhwui, fell a week later. Nothing seemed
able to resist the advance of the insurgents, and on March
8th they encamped before Nanking. It was garrisoned by Mancbus and Chinese, who, however, made no better defence than their comrades in other cities ; in ten days its walls were breached, and all the defenders found iii>i(lc put to death, including Luh, the governor-general of the province. Chiidciang and Yangchau soon were dragged to the same fate, thus depriving the imperialists of their control of the (irand Canal.
This I’apid progress through the land since leaving Yung-ngan eleven months previously had spread consternation among the demoralized officers and soldiers of the Emperor, mIio, on his part, Avas as weak and ignorant as any of his subordinates.
The march of the insurgents showed the ntter hollowness of the imperial troops, the incapacity of their most trusted leaders, and the little interest taken by the great body of the nation in the conflict. Many causes which might adequately c.\}»lain this extraordinary success cannot now be ascertained, but a national dislike of the Mancbus on the part of the Chinese lay at the bottom of their coldness. They felt, too, that a government wdiich could not protect them against a few thousand foreign troops might as well give place to a native one. The insurgents had perhaps not more than ten thousand adherents, including women and children, when they left Yung-ngan ;’but these went forth in the full conviction of the heavenly commission of their leader to destroy idolatry, set up the worship of the true God, and inaugurate the kingdom of heaven hi the person of the “Heavenly King.”‘ The term SJuDujti was known by every schoolboy to be the name of the God worshipped at Peking by the Emperor in his right as Son of Heaven, and the successor of the ancient sovereigns mentioned in the Ska King ,’ accordingly, when the insurgents set up the worship of the true God as they had been able to learn it from Gutzlaff’s revised version of the Bible, their countrymen immediately recognized the challenge. It was an attack on the religious as well as political position of Taukwang; whoever maintained his side in the gage of battle, with him were undoubtedly the powers above. The progress of the new banner from Yuiig-ngan to banking was like that of a fiery cross, and the sufferings of the people, except in a few large cities, were really more owing to the savage itnperialists than to the Taipings.
‘ Though one of their officers told Mr. Meadows, at Nanking, that the force was about three thousand.
SOUIICKS OI- rilKHl STKENGTir. 597
The latter grew in strength as they advanced, owing to indiscriminate slaughter on the part of their enemies of unoffending natives, and at last reached their goal with not much less than eighty thousand men.
Their position was now accessible to foreigners—who had
been watching their rise and progress under great disadvantages
in arriving at the truth—and they were soon visited by them
in steamers. The first to do so was Governor Bonham in
II. M. S. Ilermes, accompanied by T. T. Meadows, one of the
most competent linguists in China, who published the result of
liis inquii-ies. The visitors were at first received with incredidity,
but this soon gave way to eager curiosity to learn the real
nature of their religious views and practices. The insurgents
themselves were even inore ignorant of foreigners than were
these of the rebels, so that the interest could not fail to be reciprocal,
nor could either party desire to come into collision with the other.
About two months after the cities of Nanjing, Chinkiang, and Yangzhou had been taken, garrisoned, and put in a state of defence by their inhabitants, working under the direction of Tai-ping officers, the leaders felt so much confidence in their cause, their troops, and their ability, that they despatched a division to capture Peking. Xo particulars of its size or composition are given, but its course and achievements are recorded in the Peking Gazette. The force landed not far from Kwacliau, where it defeated a body of Manchus, and then proceeded to Liuho and Fungyang fu without finding serious opposition.
Crossing the province of Xganhwui, they entered that of Honan, and in one month from landing the troops laid siege to Kaifeng, the provincial capital, June 19th. Three days later they were repulsed, and their leaders crossed the Yellow River to Hwaiking fu, about a hundred miles west of Kaifung. For two months they were baffled by an unusual resistance on the part of the imperialists, and were compelled to leave it and go west into Shansi, where they took Pingyang fu and flanked the enemy by turning east and north-east till they crossed the Liiuniing pass and got into Chihli. It was their design to have gone down the River “Wei to Lintsing chau on the Grand Canal, but they were compelled to make a detour of some hundreds of miles to reacli this last place. In doing so they ascended the steep defiles leading from the basin of the Yellow River to the plateau in South Shansi. This march was accomplished in the month of September, and on October9th the prefect city of Shinchau in Chihlf, only two hundred
miles from Peking, was taken. Their army remained at Shinchau
for a fortnight, when they marched across the plain northeasterly
to Tsinghai hien, on the Grand Canal. Here they
intrenched themselves on October 2Sth, but twenty miles south
of Tientsin. A detachment sent to attack that city was repulsed,
and the whole body were blockaded on Xovember 3d by
the Manchu force, wliicli had followed it from Ilwaiking, and
other corps ordered from the north to intercept its progress
toward the capital. In six months this insurgent force had
traversed four provinces, taken twenty-six cities, subsisted themselves
on the enemy, and defeated every body of impei’ialists
sent against thenio The men who performed this remarkable
march of fully one thousand five hundred miles in the face of
such odds, would have accomplished even greater deeds under
better training. Considering all things, it is quite equal to
General Sherman’s march to the sea in 1861: ; yet so little is
known of the details of this feat, that we are not even cei’tain
of its leader’s name—whether Lin Fung-tsiang, spoken of by
the Gazette as a ‘ Pretended Minister,’ or some other general,
was in command.
. It is rather hard to understand why the Tai-pings intrenched
themselves so near to Tientsin, but the officials of that city, in
1858, ascribed it to the fact that water covered the plain, preventing
all operations against the town. Perhaps their want
of siege guns, and the cavalry now brought from Mongolia, decided
the leaders to intrench themselves at Tsinghai and send
to Nanking for reinforcements. The Tai-ping Wang immediately
despatched an auxiliary force, which also crossed Kganliwui
to Funghien on the north bank of the Yellow lliver ; this
THE EXPEDITION AGAINST PEKING. 599
place was captured March IT, 1854, “after taking city after
city,” as the Emperor llieiifung expressed it. The ice was gone
when the army reached Liiitsiiig cliau, April 12th, and that
city was taken by a tierce assault against the combined resistance
of its garrison and the imperialists outside, after the insur’-‘
ciit auxiliary was attacked in force. The other body had
left Tsinghai in February, starved out rather than driven away,
and gone to the district town of Ilien, which they left March
KUh for Fauching, and probably rejoined their comrades somewhere
between that and Lintsing. They were about a hundred
miles apart, and the intervening region was no doubt forcibly
drained of its supplies. This joint army remained in possession
of their depots as long as they saw lit, and ti-eated the inhabitants
reasonably well, among whom there were no Manchus,
The inability to understand each other s speech kept the people
of this district from mixing with the southerners, and, combined
with the impossibility of keeping open the road to Nanking,
decided the Tai-pings to return. This they did in March, 1855,
by re-entering IS^ganhwui and rejoining the main body whereever
ordered ; but no details are known of their movements for
nearly a year before that date. Peking and the Great Pure
dynasty were saved, however ; while the failure of Hung Siutsuen
to risk all on such an enterprise proved his ignorance of
the real point of this contest. lie never was able to undertake
a second campaign, and his followers soon degenerated into
banditti.
The possession of Nanking, Chinkiang, and Kwachau, with
the large flotilla along the Yangtsz’ River west to Ichang in
Hupeh, a distance of over six hundred miles, had entirely sundered
the Emperor’s authority over the seven south-eastern provinces.
The country on each side for fifty or one hundred and
fifty miles was visited by the insurgents’ troops merely for supplies.
Their boats penetrated to Nanchang in Kiangsi, went
up the Piver Siang even beyond Changsha in Ilunan, ravaged
one town after another in quest of provisions and reinforcements,
which were either taken to Nanking or used to support
the crews ; but nowhere did the leaders set up anything like a
government, nowhere did they secure those who submitted or pursued their avocations quietly any protection against imperialist
or other foes. As a revohition involving a reorganizatioTi of the Chinese nation on Christian principles, and a well-defined assertion of the rights and duties of rulers and subjects, it had failed entirely within a year after the possession of Kanking.
There was no hope that any of the leaders in the movement would develop the ability to initiate the establishment of a consistent and suitable control, since not one of them was endowed either with the experience necessaiy to introduce provisional government over concpiei’ed communities, or with that tact calculated to impress their inhabitants with enduring confidence in them. All their prisoners were compelled to work or fight in their service, and were willing to earn their food and clothes ; while in obeying such orders, and going through such religious ceremonies as were told them, they of course had not much to complain of ; but this conduct did not imply hatred of the mandarins or an abjuiation of Buddhism.
During the three years after JS’anking had V)een occupied, the people in the Vangtsz* valley had suffered much from the conflict. Both armies lived on the land, and tlu; danger of resisting the demands for food, clothes, and animals was nearly equaled by that of j(,)ining the contending forces ; in either case beggary or loss of life was sure to be the end. As an instance of by no means unexamjilcd suffering, the populous mart of Hankow and its environs was taken by assault six different times during the thirty months ending in May, 1855, and finally was left literally a heap of ruins. In country places the imperialists were, of the two parties, perhaps the more terrible scourge, but as the region became impoverished each side vied with the other in exhausting the people. The Tai-pings were gradually circumscribed to the region around Kaiiking and Nganking by the slow approaches of the government troops, and in 1800 seemed to be near their end. The interest which had been aroused at Shanghai in 1853, upon hearing of their Christian tenets and organization, had been satisfied in the various visits of foreign functioiuiries to Xanking, the intercourse with the leaders and men, perusal of their books, and observation of their policy.
FAILURE OF THE ENTERPRISE. 601
One inherent defect in the enterprise, when viewed in its political bearing, ere long showed itself. Nothing could induce Iluiii”: Siu-tsuen to lead his men to the north and risk all ill an attack on Peking. His own conviction of his divine mission had been most cordially received by his generals and the entire b(xly of followers which left Yung-ngan in 1852; but their faith was not accepted by the enormous additit>ns made to the Tai-pings as they advanced to Nanking, and gradually the original force became so diluted that it was inade<juate to restrain and inspirit their auxiliaries. Moreover, the Tien-wang had never seriously worked out any conception of the radical changes in his system of government, which it would be absolutely necessary to inaugurate under a Christian code of laws.
Having had no knowledge of any western kingdom, he probably regarded them all as conformed to the rules and examples given in the Bible ; perhaps, too, he trusted that the ” Heavenly Father and Elder Brother ” would reveal the proper course of action when the time came. The great body of literati would naturally be indisposed to even examine the claims of a western religion which placed Shangdi above all other gods, and allowed no images in worship, no ritual in temples, and no adoration to ancestors, to Confucius, or to the heavenly bodies. But if this patriotic call to throw off the Manchu yoke had been fortified by a well-devised system of public examinations for office—modified to suit the new order of things by introducing more practical subjects than those found in the classics—and had been put into practice, it is hard to suppose that the intellectual classes would not gradually have ranged themselves on the side of this rising power. The unnecessary cruelty and slaughter practised toward the Manchu garrisons and troops carried more dread into the hearts of the population than stimulus to co-operate with such ruthless revolutionists. The latter had weakened their prospects by destroying confidence in their moderation, justice, and ability to carry out their aim to establish a new sway. There was a large foundation of national aspirations and real dislike to the present dynasty, on which the Tien-wang could have safely reckoned for help and sympathy. But he was far from equal to the exigency of his opportunity. The doubts of his countrymen as to his coiiipeteney were proved by the ^iitisfaction and relief felt when his movement collapsed.
When the remnants of the two corps which returned from the north in 1855 were incorporated into the forces holding the Grand Canal and the Liang Kiang province, their outposts hardly extended along the Great Eiver beyond Chinkiang on the east and Xganking on the west. In that year dissensions sprung up among the leaders themselves inside of Nanking, which ended in the execution of Yang, the Eastern King, the next year ; a tierce struggle maintained by Wei, the Northern King, on behalf of the Tien-wang, upheld his supremacy, but at a loss of his best general. Another man of note, Shi Dakai, the Assistant King, losing faith in the whole undertaking, managed to withdraw with a large following westward, and reached Sz’chuen. The early friend of Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan, known as the Southern King, disappeared about the same time. Humors of these conflicts reached Shanghai in such a contradictory form that it was impossible to learn all their causes.
(3ne source of sti’ife arose by Yang assuming to be the Holy
Ghost. Ileceiving communications from the Heavenly Father
and Elder Brother, he thus placed himself above the Tien-wang, and, it is said by Wilson,’ ” required him to humble himself and receive forty lashes” for some misdemeanors complained of by the Comforter. The notices of this man which have reached us show that he early took a prominent part in the movement, and perhaps manipulated ”descents of the Heavenly Father,” like the one referred to above as mentioned in the ” Book of Declarations ” in the case of Chan Sih-nang.” Many proclamations were issued in his name (»n the progress to Naidving, which set forth the principles under which the Heavenly Dynasty were trying to conquer. Incentives addressed to the patriotic feelings of the Chinese were mixed up with their obligations to worship Shangdi, now made known to them as the Great God, our Heavenly Father, and security promised to all who submitted.
‘ Tfie, ** ?Jrer-Vict<>rums Army,”^ Lt.-Col. Gordon’s Chinrxr Citmpaiqn, p. 43.
‘.T. Milton Mackie, Life of Tni-pinfi-Wang, Chief of the Chinese Insurrection^Chap. XXXIV., New York, 1857.
DISSENSIONS AMONG THE TAI-PING LEADERS. 603
In one sent forth by liini when nearing Nanking, he thus summarizes the rules which guided the Tai-pings:
I, the General, in obedience to the royal commands, have put in motion the troops for the punishment of the oppressor, and in everyplace to which I have come the enemy, at the first report, have dispersed like scattered rubbish. As soon as a city has been captured, I have put to death the rapacious mandarins and corrupt magistrates therein, but have not injured a single individual of the people, so that all of you may take care of your families and attend to your business without alarm and trei^idation. I have heard, however, that numbers or lawless vagabonds are in the villages, who previous to the arrival of our troops take advantage of the disturbed state of the country to defile mens’ wives and daughters, and burner plunder the property of honest people. . . .
I have therefore especially sent a great officer, named Yiien, with some hundreds of soldiers, to go through the villages, and as soon as he finds these vagabonds he is commissioned forthwith to decapitate them ; while if the honest inhabitants stick up the word shun [‘ obedient ‘J over their doors, they will have nothing to fear.
‘Such manifestoes could not reassure the timid population of the valley of the Yangtsz’, and the carnage of the unresisting JVLanchus inXanking, Chinkiang, and elsewhere indicated a ruthless license among the followers of the Tien-wang, which made them feel that their success carried with it no promise of melioration.
In addition, as the vast spoil obtained from these cities and towns up to 1S50 was consumed, the outlook of the rebels was most discouraging. Among their forces, the disheartened, the sick, and the wounded, with the captived and desperate, soon died, deserted, or skulked, and their places Avere filled by forced
levies. Under these circumstances the dissensions within the
court at Xanking imperilled the whole cause, and showed the
incapacity of its leaders in face of their great aim. Yang had
sunk into a sensual, unscrupulous faction leader who could no
longer he endured ; by October, 1856, he and all his adherents,
to the number of twenty thousand, were utterly cut off by Wei.
But this latter king speedily met with a like fate. Shih, the
Assistant King, was at this time in the province of Kiangsi. It
had become a life struggle with Siu-tsuen, and his removal of the
four kings resulted in leaving him without any real military
chief on whose loyalty he could depend. The rumors which
‘Lindley, Tai-ping Tien-kwoh, \ol. I., p. 94. reached Shanghai in 1856 of the fierce conflict in the city were probably exaggerated by the desire prevalent in that region that the parties would go on, like the Midianites in Gideon’s time, beatinir down each other till they ended the matter.
The success of the Tai-pings had encouraged discontented leaders in other parts of China to set up their standards of revolt. The progress of Shih Ta-kai in Sz’chuen and Kweichau engaged the utmost efforts of the provincial rulers to restore peace. In Kwangtung a powerful band invested the city, but the operations of Governor Yeh, after the departure of Sii Kwang-tsun in 185i, were well supported by the gentry. By the middle of 1855 the rising was quenched in blood. The destruction of Fatshan, Shauking, and other large towns, had shown that the sole object of the rebels was plunder, though it was thought at first that they were Tai-pings. The executions in Canton during fourteen months np to August, 1856, were nearly a hundred thousand men ; but the loss of life on both sides must be reckoned by millions. A band of Cantonese desperadoes seized the city of Shanghai in September, 1853, killing the district magistrate and some other officials. They retained possession till the Chinese New Year, January 27, 1854, leaving the city amid flames and carnage, when many of the leaders escaped in foreign vessels.’ None of these men were affiliated with the Tai-pings.
Jn Formosa and Hainan, as well as in Yunnan and Kansuh, the provincial authorities had hard work with their local contingents to maintain the Emperor’s authority. This wretched prince was himself fast bound under the sway of Suhshun and his miserable coterie, devising moans to rej>lcnish his coffers by issuing iron and paper money, and proposing counters cut out of jade stone to take the place of bullion. The national history, however, had many notices of precisely such disastrous epochs in former times, and the nation’s faith in itself was not really weakened.
THE REBEL SORTIE FROM NANKING. 605
By 1857 the imperialists had begun to draw close lines about ‘No foreigners here or elsewhere in China were injured designedly during all this insurrection.
the rebels, when they were nearly restricted to the river banks between Nganking and Nanking, both of which cities were blockaded. Two years later the insurgent capital was beleaguered,
but in its siege the loyalists trusted almost wholly to
the effects of want and disease, which at last reached such an
extreme degree (up to 18G0) that it was said human flesh was
sold on the butchers’ stalls of Xanking. Their ammunition was
nearly expended, their numbers were reduced, and their men
apparently desirous to disperse ; but the indomitable spirit of the
leader never quailed. He had appointed eleven other ((‘(okj, or generals,
called Chung TFan^ (‘ Loyal King ‘j, Ylng Wang (‘Heroic
King’), Kan TH/vi^ (‘ Shield King’), Ting Wang (‘Listening
King ‘), etc., whose abilities were cpiite equal to the old ones.
As the siege progressed events assumed daily a more threatening
aspect. Chang Kwo-liang and Ilo Chun, two imperialist generals,
invested the city more and more closely, driving the insurgents
to extremity in every direction. The efforts of these men
were, however, not aggressive in conseqnence of the war then
waging with the British and French on the Pei ho. This encouraged
the beleaguered garrison to a desperate effort to free themselves,
and on May G, 18G0, a well-concerted attack on the
armies which had for years been intrenched behind outworks
about the city scattered them in utter disorder. A small body
of Tai-pings managed to get out toward the north of Kiangsu,
near the Yellow Kiver. Another body had already (in March)
carried Hangchau by assault by springing a mine ; as many as
seventy thousand inhabitants, including the Manchu garrison,
perished here during the week the city remained in possession of
the rebels. On their return to Nanking the joint force carried all before it, and the needed guns and annnunition fell into their hands. The loyalist soldiers also turned against their old officers, but the larger part had been killed or dispei’sed. Chinkiang and Changchau were captured, and Ilo Kwei-tsing, the governor-general, fled in the most dastardly manner to Suchaii, without an effort to retrieve his overthrow. Some resistance was made at Wnsih on the Grand Canal, but Ilo Chnn was so paralyzed by the onslaught that he killed himself, and Sucliau fell into the hands of Chung Wang with no resistance whatever.
It was, nevertheless, burned and pillaged by the cowardly imperialists before they left it, Ho Kwei-tsiug setting the large suburbs on tire to uncover the solid walls. This destruction was so unnecessary that the citizens welcomed the Tai-pings, for they would at least leave them their houses. AVith Suchau and Ilangchau in their hands, the Kan Wang and Chung Wang had control of the great watercourses in the two provinces, and their desire now was to obtain foreign steamers to use in regaining niasteiy of the Yangzi River. The loss of their first leaders was by this time admirably supplied to the insurgents by these two men, who had had a wider experience than the TianWang himself, while their extraordinary success in dispersing their enemies had been to them all an assurance of divine protection and approval.
The populous and fertile region of Kiangnan and Chehkiang was wholly in their hands by June, 1800, so far as any organized Mancliu force could resist them. The destruction of life, property, and industry within the three months since their sally from Nanking had been unparalleled probably since the Conquest, more than two centuries before, and revived the stories told of the ruthless acts of Attila and Tamerlane. Shanghai was threatened in August by a force of less than twenty thousand men led by the Chung Wang, and it would have been captured if it had not been protected by British and French troops. Many villages in the district were destroyed, but the flotilla approaching from Sungkiang recoiled from a collision with foreigners, and the insurgents all retired before September. They, however,
could now be supplied with nnmitions of war, and even began
to enlist foreigners to help them drill and light. It was an
anomalous condition of things, possible only in China, that
while the allied force was marching upon Peking to extort a
treaty, the same force was encircling the walls of Shanghai, burning its suburbs to destroy all cover, and aiding its rulers to preserve it to Ilienfung— all in order to conquer a trade. It was then the moment for the Tai-pings to have moved rapidly upon Chihli and tried the gage of battle before the metropolis, as soon as possible after Lord Elgin had withdrawn. But they had now very few left to them of the kind of troops which threatened the capital in 1853-54, and could not depend on recruits from Kiangnan in the hour of adversity.
FOREKiN AID AGAINST THE REBELS. ”><)7
At this juncture the imperialists began to look toward foreigners for aid in restoring their prestige and power by employing skill and weapons not to be found among themselves.
An American adventurer, Frederick G. Ward, of Salem, Mass., proposed to the Intendant Wu to recapture Sungkiaiig from the Tai-pings ; he was repulsed on his first attempt at the head of about a hundred foreigners, but succeeded on the second, and the imperialists straightway occupied the city. This success, added to the high pay, stimulated many others to join him, and General Ward ere long was able to organize a larger body of soldiers, to which the name of Cliang-shing Mun, or ‘ Ever-victorious force,’ was given by the Chinese ; it ultimately proved to be well applied. Its composition was heterogeneous, but the energy, tact, and discipline of the leader, under the impulse of an actual struggle with a powerful foe, soon moulded it into something like a manageable corps, able to serve as a nucleus for training a native army. Foreigners generally looked down upon the undertaking, and many of the allied naval and military officers regarded it with doubt and dislike. It had to prove its character by works, but the successive defeats of the insurgents during the year 1862 in Kiangsu and Chehkiang, clearly demonstrated the might of its trained men over ten times their number of undisciplined braves.
But we must retrace our steps somewhat. In 1860 the possession of the best parts of Kiangsu and Chehkiang led the Tian Wang to plan the relief of Nganking by advancing on Hankow with four separ’ate corps. They were under the leadership of the Chung Wang, and, so far as the details can be gathered, manifested a practical generalship hardly to be expected.
The Ying Wang was to move through Ng-anhwui from Lucliau westerly to Ilwangchau ; the Attendant King (Shih) was to leave Kiangsi and co-operate with the Chung Wang by reaching the Yangtsz’ as near Hankow as possible, and a smaller force under the Tu AVang was to recover Ilukau at the mouth of Poyang Lake and ascend the Great River in boats. The area through which this campaign was to be carried on may be understood when we learn that the Chung Wang’s march of five hundred miles was over the two ranges of mountains on the frontiers of Kiangsi, and that of the Ying Wang two hundred miles through the plains of Xganhwui. This last king did actually take his force of about eighty thousand men two hundred miles to II wangchau (fifty miles below Hankow) in eleven days, but none of his colleagues came to his aid. The experience of eight years had quite changed the elements of the contest.
The people now generally realized that neither life, property, nor government was secured under the Tai-pings ; the imperialists had learned how to obtain the co-operation of the patriotic gentry, and the rank and file of the Tai-pings were by this date mostly conquered natives of the same region, as no recruits had ever come from Kwangsi. Moreover, the region was impoverished, and this involved greater privations to all parties. Yet the Chung AVang went from AVuhu south-west to Kwangsin, crossed the water-shed into Kiangsi, defeated a force at Kienchang, crossed the River Kan near Linkiang, and marched north-west to AVuning hien on the River Siu. Here he heard of the defeat of Tu AVang, and the non-arrival of Shih’s force ; and, lest he should be hemmed in himself, as the failure of the campaign was evident, he led his army back across the province to Kwangsin by September, 1861. The particulars of this last great exploit of the Tai-pings are so imperfectly known, that it is impossible to judge of it as a military movement accomplished under enormous difficulties ; but the Loyal King must have been a strategist of no mean rank. In November, 1861, Nganking succumbed to the imperialists. Its defenders and the citizens endured untold sufferings at the last, while its victors had an empty shell ; but the river Avas theirs down to Nanking, On his return east, Chung AVang moved into Chehkiang and overran all the northern half of that province, his men inflicting untold horrors upon the inhabitants, whom they killed, burned, and robbed as they listed.
THE ” EVER-VICTOKIOUS FORCE.” 609
Ningpo was taken December 9th and held till May 10th, when it was recaptured by the allies; foreign trade had not been interrupted during this period, and the city suffered less than many others. In September the Tai-pings were driven out of the valley of the Yung River, but the death of General Ward at Tsz’ki deprived the imperialists of an able leader. The career of this man had been a strange one, but his success in training his men was endorsed by honorable dealing with the mandarins, who had reported well of him at Peking. He was buried at Sungkiang, where a shrine was erected to his memory, and incense is burned before him to this day.
It was difficult to find a successor, but the command rather devolved on his second, an American named Bui-gevine, who was confirmed by the Chinese, but proved to be incapable. He was superseded by Holland and Cooke, Englishmen, and in April, 1863, the entire command was placed under Colonel Peter Gordon, of the British army. During the interval between May, 1860, wdien Ward took Sungkiang, and April 6, 1863, when Gordon took Fushau, the best manner of combining native and foreign troops M’as gradually developed as they became more and more acquainted with each other and learned to respect discipline as an earnest of success. Such a motley force has seldom if ever been seen, and the enormous preponderance of Chinese troops would have perhaps been an element of danger had they been left idle for a long time.
The bravery of the Ever-victorious force in the presence of the enemy had gradually won the confidence of the allies, as well as the Chinese officials, in whose pay it was ; and when it operated in connection with the French and British contingent in driving the Tai-pings out of jS^ingpo prefecture, the real worth of Ward’s drill was made manifest. The recapture of that city by Captain Dew’s skilful and brave attack in reply to their unprovoked firing at H. M. S. Encounter, brought out the bravery of all nationalities, as well as restored the safety of the port. An extract from Captain Dew’s report will exhibit the dreadful results to the common people of this civil war:
I had known Ningbo in its palmy days, when it boasted itself one of the first commercial cities of the Empire; but now, on this 11th of May, one might have fancied that an angel of destruction had been at work in the city as in the suburbs. All the latter, with their wealthy hongs and thousands of houses, lay levelled ; while in the city itself, once the home of half a million of people, no trace or vestige of an inhabitant could be seen. Truly it was a city of the dead. The rich and beautiful furniture of the houses had become firewood, or was removed to the walls for the use of soldiers. The canals were filled with dead bodies and stagnant filth. The stonework of bridges and pavements had been nplifted to strengthen walls and form barricades in the streets ; and in temples once the pride of their Buddhist priests, the chaotic remains of gorgeous idols and war gods lay strewn about—their lopped limbs showing that they had become the sport of those Christian Tai-pings whose chief, the Tien-wang. eight years before at Nanking, had asked Sii George Bonham if the Virgin Mary had a pretty sister for him, the King of Heaven, to marry ! It has been my good fortune since to assist at the wresting o; many cities from these Tai-pings, and in them all I found, as at Ningbo, that the same devilish hands had been at work—the people expelled from their houses and their cities ruined.’
Yet so speedy was the revival from the ruins, that we are told that in one month houses had been refurnished and shops opened ; their owners had mostly fled across the river into the foreign settlement. A larger force was now organized
—MM. Le Brethon and (iiquel behig in charge of a Franco-Chinese regiment—and an advance made on Yiiyau, which was retaken, and one thousand drilled Chinese left to defend it.
Tsz’ki, Funghwa, and Sluuigyii were also cleared of rebels, and during the month of March they evacuated the prefect city of Shauhing, never again to return to this fertile valley. Their inroad had been an unmitigated scourge, for they had now given up all pretense of Christianity, and had not the least idea of instituting a regular government ; to plunder, kill, and destroy was their only business. Their sense of danger from the liatred of the people whom they had so grievously maltreated led them at this time to defend the walled cities with a reckless bravery that made their capture more difficult and dangerous. This was shown in the siege of Shauhing fu, within whose walls about forty thousand Tai-pings were well led by the Shi Wang. The possession of cannon enabled them to reply to the balls thrown by Captain Dew’s artillery, while despair lent energy to their resistance ; so that the attack turned into a regular siege of a montlrs duration, when, food and amnumition being exhausted, they retreated en mas.se to llangchau.
> A. Wilson, The ” Ecer-Vidorious Armi/,” p. U)2, London, 18G8.
SUCCESSES OF THE FORCE UNDER GOItDON. 611
While this success relieved the greater part of Chehkiang from the scourge, the failure of the Ever-victorious force to retake Taitsang and Fuslian, under Holland and Brennan, had discouraged Governor Li, who had now come into power, he applied to General Stavely, who, with a full appreciation of the exigencies of the case, and concurrence of Sir Frederick Bruce, aided iti reorganizing Ward’s force and placing Colonel Gordon over it with adequate powers. There were live or six infantry regiments of about five hundred men each, and a battery of artillery; at times it numbered five thousand men. The commissioned officers were all foreigners, and their national rivalries were sometimes a source of trouble ; the non commissioned officers were Chinese, many of them repentant rebels or seafaring men from Canton and Fuhkien, promoted for good conduct. The uniform was a mixture of native and foreign dress, which at first led to the men being ridiculed as ‘ Imitation Foreign Devils ; ‘ after victory, however, had elevated their esprit du corps, they became quite proud of the costume.
In respect to camp equipage, arms, commissariat and ordnance departments, and means of transport, the natives soon made themselves familiar with all details; while necessity helped their foreign officers rapidly to pick up their language. It is recorded, to the credit of this motle}^ force, that ” there was very little crime and consequently very little punishment; . . . as drunkenness was unknown, the services of the provost-marshal rarely came into use, except after a capture, when the desire for loot was a temptation to absence from the ranks.”‘
In addition, the force had a fiotilla of four small steamers, aided by a variety of native boats to the number of fifty to seventy-five. The plain is so intersected by canals that the troops could be easier moved by water than land, and these boats enabled it to carry out surprises which disconcerted the rebels. Wilson well remarks concerning Gordon’s force : ” Its success was owing to its compactness, its completeness, the quickness of its movements, its possession of steamers and good artillery, the bravery of its officers, the confidence of its men, the inability of the rebels to move large bodies of troops with nqudity, tlio nature of the country^ the almost intuitive perception of the leader in adapting his operations to the nature of the country, and his untiring energy in carrying them out.*”
‘ Wilson, ibid, p. 133.
The details of this singular troop are worth telling with more minuteness than spaee here allows, for its management will no doubt form a precedent in the future ; hut the good its remarkable chief effected in restoring peace to Kiangsu calls for that recognition which skill, tact, and high moral purpose ever deserve. Being formally put in command on March 24, 18G3, he promptly reinstated the foreign officers belonging to the force, paid their dues, and within a few days was in readiness to march upon Fnshan, a town on the Yangtsz’ above Panshan.
The fall of this place on April Gth led to the ca}>tu]”e of (“hanzu,
when preparations wei-e made for besieging Taitsang fu, where
an army of ten thousand rebels, aided by foreign adventurers,
presented a formidable imdertaking for his force of two thousand
eight hundred men, although supported by a large body
of imperialists. In its capture (May 2d) the killed and wounded
numbered one hundred and sixty-two officers and men ; the
boot}- obtained was so large that Colonel Gordon led his men
back to Sungkiang, in order to reorganize them after this experience
of their conduct. Finding that their former license
in appropriating the loot thus obtained tended to demoralize
them all, he accepted the resignations of some of the discontented
officers, and adopted stringent measures to bring the
others to render military obedience. Consequently, when he
started for Iviunshan with about three thousand men, he had
liis force in a much better condition. This city occupied an
important position between Shanghai, Chanzu, Taitsang, and
other large towns on the east, and Suchau on the Avest. The
rebels had set up a cannon foundry within its M-alls, and from
it obtained supplies for the last-named city, with which it -was
connected by a causeway. By means of the armed steamer
Ilyson, Colonel Gordon was able to bi-ing up through one of
the canals a comj^any of three hundred and fifty men and field
artillery, cutting the causeway and pursuing its defenders, some
‘ Ibul, p. 138.
ENVIRONMENT OF SUCIIAU. 613
into the town and some toward Sncliau, almost to its veiy
gates. On the return of the steamer in the night, the commander
found the imperialists engaged M’ith the garrison in a
sharp contest, in which the foreigners then aided, and completely
routed the rebel body of nearly eight thousand men.
Fully four thousand of them were killed outright, and others were drowned or cut off by the exasperated peasantry before the day was over. This was on May 30th. The captured town was made headquarters by its victors, as a more eligible location than Sungkiang, though against the wishes of the native office’s, who desired to go back there with their booty. The loss of men, material, and position to the rebels was very great, and Colonel Gordon could now safely turn his whole thoughts to the capture of Suchau.
This city is like Venice in its approaches by canals ; owing to its location it was deemed best, before attempting its capture, to reduce certain towns in the vicinity, from which it derived supplies, so that the Chung “Wang should not be able to co-operate with its garrison. The district towns of AVukiang and Kahpu were both taken in July with comparatively little loss. This rapid reduction of many strong stockades, stone forts, and walled towns, with the panic exhibited by the men, proved how useless to the rebels the foreigners in their service had been in rendering them really formidable enemies, and how incapable the wangs had been to appreciate the nature and need of discipline.
After these places had been occupied. Colonel Gordon found his position beset with so many unexpected annoyances, both from his rather turbulent and incongruous troops as well as from the Chinese authorities, that he went to Shanghai on August 8th for the purpose of resigning the command. Arriving here, however, he ascertained that Burgevine had just gone over to the Tai-pings with about three hundred foreigners, and was then in Suchau. The power of moral principle, which guided the career of the one, was then seen in luminous contrast to its lack as shown in the other of these soldiers of fortune. To his lasting credit Colonel Gordon decided to return at once to Kiunshan, and, in face of the ingratitude of the Chinese and iealousy of his officers, to stand by the imperialist cause. he uraduallv restored his influence over officers ai\(l men. ascertained that Burgevine’s position in the Tai-ping army did not allow him freedom enough to render his presence dangerous to their foes, and began to act aggressively against ISuchau by taking Patachiau on its southern side in September, Emissaries from the foreigners in the city now reported considerable dissatisfaction with their position, and Colonel Gordon was able to arrange in a short time their withdrawal without much danger to themselves. It is said that Burgevine even then proposed to him to join their forces, seize Suchau, and as soon as possible march on Peking Avith a large army, and do to the Manchus what the Manchus had done, two hundred and twenty years before, to the Mings, (\jlonel Gordon’s own loyalty was somewhat suspected by the imperialist leaders, but his integrity carried him safely through all these temptations to swerve from his duty.
As soon as these niercenaries among the rebels were out of the
way, operations against Suchau were prosecuted with vigor, so
that by Xovember 19th the entire city was invested and carefully
cut off from comnnmication with the north. The city
being now hard pushed, the besieging force prepared for anight
attack upon a breach previously made in the stockade near the
north-east gate. It was well planned, but the Muh Wang, /rtc^/Ai
j)rince2)s among the Tai-ping chiefs in courage and devotion,
liaving been informed of it, opened such a destructive fire that
the Ever-victorious force was defeated with a loss of about two
hundred officers and men killed and wounded. On the next
morning, however (November 2Sth), it was reported that the
cowardly leaders in the city were plotting against the Muh
Wang—the only loyal one among their number—^and were talking
of capitulating, using the British chief as their intermediary.
This rumor proved, indeed, to be so far true, that after some
further successful operations on the part of Gordon’s division,
the Wangs made overtures to General Ghing, himself a foi-mcr
rebel commander, but long since returned to the impei’ial cause
and now the chief over its forces in Kiangsu. The Muh Wang
was publicly assassinated on December 2d by his comrades,
SURRENDER AXD EXECUTION OF ITS GENERALS. 615
and on tlie 5th tlie negotiations liad proceeded so far that interviews
were held. Colonel Gordon had withdrawn his troops a
short distance to save the city from pillage, hut did not succeed
in obtaining a donation of two months’ pay for their late bravery
from the parsimonious Li. IJe therefore proposed to lay down
his command at tliree o’clock i’.m., and meanwhile went into tlie
city to interview the Na Wang, who told him that everything was
proceeding in a satisfactory manner. Upon learning this he
repaired to the house of the nun-dered Muh Wang in order to
get his corpse decently buried, but failed, as no one in the place
would lend him the smallest assistance. While he was thus occupied,
the rebel wangs and officers had settled as to the terms
they would accept ; and on reaching his own force, Gordon found
General Ching there with a donation of one month’s pay, which
his men refused.
The next morning he returned into the city and was told by
Ching that the rebel leaders had all been pardoned, and would
deliver up the city at noon ; they were preparing then to go out.
Colonel Gordon shortly after started to return to his own camp
and met the imperialists coming into the east gate in a tumultuous
manner, prepared for slaughter and pillage. He therefore
went back to the Xa Wang’s house to guard it, but found
the establishment already quite gutted ; he, however, met the
Wang’s uncle and went with him to protect the females of the
family at the latter’s residence. Here he was detained by
several hundred armed rebels, who would neither let him go
nor send a message by his interpreter till the next morning
(December Ttli), when they permitted him to leave for his
boat, then waiting at the south gate ; narrowly escaping, on his
way thither, an attack from the imperialists, he reached his
Ijodyguard at daybreak, and with them was able to pi-event
any more soldiers entei’ing the city. His preservation amid such
conflicting forces was providential, but his indignation was great
M-hen he learned that Governor Li had beheaded the eight rebel leaders the day before. It seems that they had demanded conditions quite inadmissible in respect to the control of the thirty thousand men under their orders, and were cut off for their insolent contumacy. Another account, published a* Shanghai in 1871, states that nearly twenty chiefs were exe cuted, and about two thousand privates.
As Colonel Gordon felttliat his good name was compromised
by this cruelty, he threw up his command until he could confer
with his superiors. On the 2*Jth a reply came to Li llungchang
from Prince Kung, highly praising all who had been
engaged in taking Suchau, and ordering him to send the leader
of the Ever-victorious force a medal and ten thousand taels—
both of w Inch he declined. The posture of affairs soon became
embarrassing to all pai’tics. The rebellion was not suppressed ;
the cities in rebel hands would soon gather the desperate men
escaped from Suchau ; Colonel Gordon alone could lead his
troops to victory ; and all his past bi-avery and skill might be
lost. He therefore resumed his command, and presently recommenced operations by leading his men against Ihing hien, west of Suchau.
Concerning this wretched business of the Suchau slaughter,
much was said both in the foreign commimities in China and
later in England. Mr. Wilson, in his book compiled largely
from Colonel Gordon’s notes on this campaign, discusses the
question with as great fairness as precision, and concludes—as
must every well-wisher of China with him—that it was in every
way fortunate, both for his reputation and the cause to which
he had lent himself, that this heroic man returned to his thankless
task. Summing up the arguments of the Chinese and the
various attendant circumstances that brought about this execution,
Mr. Wilson points to Li’s not nnnatural desire after revenge
for his brother’s murder by the rebels before Taitsang;
to the army still under control of the wangs ; to the almost
absolute certainty of massacre of those imperialists who had
already entered the city should he refuse compliance with their
demands ; as also to the impossibility of arresting these chiefs
without an alarm of treachery spreading among their troops
within the walls, and thus giving them time to close the gates,
cutting off the imperial soldiers inside the city from those who
were without. ” Li was in a very ditficult and critical position,”
he says, ” which imperatively demanded sudden, unprcmedilated
action ; and though, no doubt, it would have been more
COLONEL OORDON’S FURTHER OPERATIONS. 617
honorable for liiin to have made the wangs prisoners, he cannot
in tlie circumstances be with justice severely censui-ed for haviuij;
ordered the Tai-ping chiefs who were in liis power, but who
detied his authoi’ity, to be innuediately killed. It is also certain
that Colonel Gordon need not liave been in a hui-ry to consider
himself as at all responsible for this almost necessary act,
because in a letter to him (among his correspondence relating
to these affairs) from the Futai [Li], dated November 2, 18G3,
I find the following noteworthy passage, wliich shows that the
governor did not wish Gordon to interfere at all in regard to
the capitulation of the Suchau chiefs :
‘ With respect to Moh Wang and other rebel leaders’ proposal, I am quite satisfied that you have determined in no way to interfere. Let Ching look after their treacherous and cunning management.’” ‘
On reaching thing, the dreadful effects of the struggle going on around Gordon’s force were seen, and more than reconciled him to do all he could to bring it to an end. Utter destitution prevailed in and out of the town; people were feeding on dead bodies, and ready to perish from exposure while waiting for a comrade to die. The town of Liyang was surrendered on his approach, and its iidiabitants, twenty thousand in number, supplied with a little food. From this place to Kintan proved to be a slow and irksome march, owing to the shallow water in the canal and the bad weather. On March 21st an attack was made on this strong post by breaching the walls; but it resulted in a defeat, the loss of more than a hundred officers and men, and a severe wound which Colonel Gordon received in his leg— oddly enough the oidy injury he sustained, though frequently compelled to lead his men in person to a charge. Next day he retired, in order, to Liyang, but hearing that the son of the Chung Wang had retaken Fushan he started with a thousand men and some artillery for Wusih, which the rebels had left.
‘Wilson, The ” Eccr-Victorioiis Army,” p. 204.
The operations in this region during the next few weeks conclusively proved the desperate condition of the rebels, but a hopeless cause seemed often but to increase their bravery in defending what strongholds were left them. At the same time a body of Franco-Chinese was operating, in connection with Gen^eral Ching on the south of Suchau, against Kiahing fn, a large city on the (4rand Canal, held by the Ting Wang. This position was taken and its defenders put to the sword on March 20th, but with the very serious loss of General Ching, one of the ablest generals in the Chinese army. Ilangchau, the capital of Chehkiang, capitulated the next day, and this was soon followed by the reduction of the entire province and dispersion of the rebels among the hills.
Colonel Gordon had recovered from his wound so as to lead an attack on Waisu April Cth, which town fell on the 11th, when most of its defenders were killed by the peasantry as they attempted to escape. His force was also much weakened, and needed to be recruited. With about three thousand in all, he now went to aid Governor Li in reducing Chaiigchau fu, and invested it on the 25th. The entire besieging force numbered over ten thousand ; and as the rebels were twice as many, on the Mhole well provided, and knew that no mercy would be shown, their resistance was stubborn. Several attacks were repulsed with no small loss to Gordon’s force, so that slower methods of approach were resorted to till a general assault was planned on May 11th, when it succumbed. Only fifteen hundred rebels were slain, and the greater part of the prisoners were allowed to go home, the Xwangsi men alone being executed. With this capture ended the operations of the Evervictorious force and its brave leader. Nanking was now the only strong place held by the Tai-pings, and there was nothing for that army to do there, as Tsang Kwoh-fan, the generalissimo of the imperial armies, had ample means for its capture.
THE EVHU-VICTOllIOns FOUCE DIS;BANDED. 619
Colonel Gordon, therefore, in conjunction with Governor Li, dissolved this notable division ; the latter rewarded its officers and men with liberal gratuities, and sent the natives home. During its existence of about four years down to June 1, 1804, nearly fifty places had been taken (twenty-three of them by Gordon), and its higher discipline had served to elevate the morale of the imperialists who operated with them. It perhaps owed its greatest triumph to the high-toned uprightness of its Christian chief, which impressed all who served with him. The Emperor conferred on liinitlie bigliest iiiilitarj- rank of t’l-tuJi, or
‘ Captain-General,’ and a yellow jacket {ina-k(ca) and other uniforms,
to indicate the sense of his achievements. Sir Fredei’ick
Bruce admirably summed up his character in a letter to Earl
Russell when sending the imperial rescript:
Hongkong, July 12, 1864.
My Lord,
I enclose a translation of a despatch from Prince Kung containing the decree
published by the Emperor, acknowledging the services of Lieutenant-
Colonel Gordon, R. E., and requesting that her Majesty’s government be
pleased to recognize them. This stej) has been spontaneously taken. Lieutenant-
Colonel Gordon well deserves her Majesty’s favor ; for, independently
of the skill and courage he has shown, his disinterestedness lias elevated our
national character in the eyes of the Clnuese. Not only has he refused any
pecuniary reward, but he has spent more than his pay in contributing to the
comfort of the officers who served under him, and in assuaging the distress of
the starving population whom he relieved from the yoke of their oppressors.
Indeed, tlie feeling that impelled him to resume operations after the fall of
Suchow was one of the purest humanity. He sought to save the people of
the districts that had been recovered from a repetition of the misery entailed
uijon them b/this cruel civil war. I have, etc.,
F. W. A. Bruce.
The foreign merchants at Shanghai expressed their sense of
his conduct in a letter dated November 24th, written on the
ev^e of liis retui-n to England, in which they truly remark : ” In
a position of unecpialled difficulty, and surrounded by complications
of every possible nature, you have succeeded in offering
to the eyes of the Chinese nation, no less by your loyal and
disinterested line of action than by your conspicuous gallantry
and talent for organization and command, the example of a
foreign officer serving the government of this country with
honorable tidelity and undeviating self-respect/’ ‘
‘ ” The rapidity with which the long-descended hostility of the Chinese government became exchanged for relations of at least outward friendship, must be ascribed altogether to the existence of the Tai-ping Rebellion, without whose pressure as an auxiliary we might have crushed, but never conciliated the distrustful statesmen at Peking.”—Fraser^s Magazine, Vol. LXXL,p. 145,February, 18G5.
Such men are not only the choice jewels of their own nation(and England may justly be proud to reckon this son among her worthies), but leave beliiiul them an example, as in the case of Colonel Gordon, which elevates (1n-istianity itself in theeyes of the Chinese, and will remain a legacy for good to them through coming years.’
After the dissolution of the Ever-victorious force, its leader visited Nganking and Nanking to see the governor-general, Tsiing Kwoh-fan, and his brother, mIio were directing operations against the rebels, in order to propose some improvements in their future employment of foreign soldiers and military appliances. They listened with respect, and took notes of important suggestions—knowing at the same time that their subordinates were uiuible to comprehend or adojit many such innovations. The work before’ Ts’anking indicated the industry of its besiegers in the miles of walls connecting one hundred and forty mud forts in their circumvallations. and in various mines leading under the city walls. The Tai-pings at that
date seldom appeared on the walls, and had recently sent out
thi’ee thousand women and children to be fed by their enemies,
proof enough of their distressed condition. The only general
capable of relieving the Tien “Wang was the Chung Wang,
whose army remained on the southern districts of Kiangsu,
while he himself was in the city with the Ivan “Wang (Hung Jin), now the trusted agent of his half-brother. All egress from the doomed city was stopped by flune 1st, when the explosion of mines and bursting of shells forewarned its deluded defenders of their fate. Of the last days of their leader no
authentic account has been given, and the declaration of the
Chung Wang in his autobiography, that he poisoned himself
on June 30th, ” owing to liis anxiety and troul)le of mind,” is
probably true. His body was buried behind his palace by one
of his wives, and afterward dug up by the imperialists.
On Julv 19, 1804, the wall was breaclied hy the explosion of
forty thousand pounds of powder in a mine, and the Chung
Wang, faithful to the last, defended until midnight the Tien
Wang’s family from the imperialists. lie and the Kan Wang
‘Compare further Col. C. C. Chesney’s Essays on Modern Military Biograpliy
(from the Fjliithnnjh Rcdeir), pp. 1G3-213, London, 1874.
FALL OF NANKING. 621
then escorted Hung Fu-tien—a lad of sixteen, who had succeeded to the throne of Great Peace three weeks before—with a thousand followers, a short distance beyond the city. The three leaders now became separated, but all were ultimately captured and executed. The Chung AVang, during his captivity before death, wrote an account of his own life, which fully maintains the high estimate previously formed of his character from his public acts.’ lie was the solitary ornament of the whole movement during the fourteen years of its independent existence, and his enemies would have done well to have spared
him. More than seven thousand Tai-pings were put to death
in Xanking, the total number found there l)eing hardly over
twenty thousand, of whom probably very few Mere southern
Chinese —this element having gradually disappeared.
After the recaptui-e of Xanking, two small bodies of rebels
remained in Chehkiang. The largest of them, under the Tow
Wang, held Iluchau fu, and made a despei’ate resistance until
a large force, provided with artillery, compelled them to evacuate.
During this siege the sanguinary conduct of the Taipings
showed the natural result of their reckless course since
their last escape from Xanking; the narrative of an escaped
Irishman, who had been compelled to serve them in Iluchau
for some months, is terrible enough : ” All offences received
one puinshment—death. I saw one hundred and sixty men
beheaded, as I understood, for absence from parade ; two boys
were beheaded for smoking ; all prisoners of war were executed ;
spies, or people accused as such, were tied with their hands behind
their backs to a stake, brushwood put around them, and
they burned to death.” The rebel force nundjered nearly a
hundred thousand men, and tlieir vigorous defence was continued
for a fortnight, till on August 14th their last stockade
was carried by the imperialists, and about half their number
made good tlieir escape to the neighboring hills, leavijig the
usual scene of desolation behind them. This body undertook
to march south through the hilly regions between Kiangsi and
‘ Tlie Autohiofp’dphy of tlie Chung- Wang, translated from the Chinese b^
W. T. Lay, Shanghai, 1865.
Clielikiaiig. The best disciplined portion was led by the Shi
Wan*’, who had joined it witli his men from the former province,
and arranged an attack on Kwangsin, near wliich they
were defeated. The remainder managed to march across tlio
intervening districts south-westerly to the city of Changchau,
near Amoy, where they intrenched themselves till the next
spring, subsisting on the supplies found in it and the neighborhood.
The Shi Wang and Kan Wang then left it April 16th,
in two bodies, unable to resist the disciplined force of eight
thousand men brought from the north. Feeling that their
days were numbered, the}’ seem to have scrupled at nothing to
show their savagery—as, for example, when they slaughtered
sixteen hundred imperialists who had surrendered on a promise
of safe-conduct. No mercy was therefore shown them by the
iidiabitants ; at Clumping in Kwangtung they even cut down
their growing rice in order to prevent the rebels using it. The
last straggling relics of the Tai-ping Heavenly King’s adherents
were thus gradually destroyed, and his ill-advised enterprise
brought to an end.
Fifteen years had elapsed since he had set up his standard of
revolt in Kwangsi, and now there was nothing to show as a return
for the awful cariuige and misery that had ensued from his
efforts. No new ideas concerning God or his redemption for
mankind had been set forth or illustrated by the teachings or practices of the Tai-ping leader or any of his followers, nor did they ever take any practical measures to call in foreign aid to assist in developing even the Christianity they professed. True the Kan Wang called Mr. Roberts to Nanking, but instead of consulting with him as to the establishment of schools, opening chapels, preparing books, or organizing any kind of religious or benevolent work to further the welfare of his adherents, the Tien AVang did not even grant an interview to the missionary, who, on his part, was glad to escape with his life to Shanghai.
If this rebellion practically exhibited no religious truth to the educated mind of China, it was not for lack of jniblications setting forth the beliefs its leaders had drawn from the Bible, or for laws sanctioned by severe peiuilties, both of which were scattered throuirh the land. Dj-. Medhurst’s careful translations
END OF TIIK TAI-1’IN(J IlEBELLION. 6^^’
of these tracts has preserved them, so that the entire disregard
manifested hj the new sect of tlieir plainest injunctions may he
at once seen.’ Tlie strong expectations of the friends of China
for its regeneration through the success of Ilung Siu-tsuen,
would not have heen indulged if they liad hetter known the
inner workings of liis own mind and the flagitious conduct of
liis lieutenants.
In his political aspirations the Tien Wang entertained no new
principle of govermnent, for he knew nothing of other lands,
their jurispi’udence or their polity, and wisely enough held his
followers to such legislation as they were familiar with. They
all probably expected to alter affairs to their liking when they
liad settled in Peking. But if this mysterious iconoclast had
really any ideas above those of an enthusiast like Thomas Miinzer
and the Anabaptists in the early days of the Reformation
—
whose course and end offers many parallels to his own—he
must have lamented his folly as he reviewed its results to his
country. The once peaceful and populous parts of the nine
great provinces through which his hordes passed have hardly
yet begun to be restored to their previous condition. Ruined
cities, desolated towns, and heaps of rubbish still mark their
course from Kwangsi to Tientsin, a distance of two thousand
miles, the efforts at restoration only making the conti’ast more
apparent. Their presence was an unmitigated scourge, attended
by nothing but disaster from begimiing to end, without the
least effort on their part to rebuild what had been destroyed, to
protect what was left, or to repay what had been stolen. Wild
beasts roamed at large over the land after their departure, and
made their dens in the deserted towns ; the pheasant’s whirr resounded
where the hum of busy populations had ceased, and
weeds or jungle covered the ground once tilled with ])atient industry.
Besides millions upon millions of taels irrecoverably
lost and destroyed, and the misery, sickness, and starvation
‘ Pamphlets issued hy the Chinese Tnsnnients at JVan-Kinfj ; to whicJi is added
a histwy of the Kwangsi liehellion, etc., etc., compiled by W. H. Medhurst,
Senr., Shanghai, IS”):}. Coinjjare II. J. Forrest in Joirrntd iV. C Br. R. A.
Soc, No. IV., December, 18G7, pp. 1«7 ff. The China Mail for February 2,1854. which were endured by the survivors, it has heon estimated by foreigners living at Shanghai that, during- the whole period from 1851 to 1905, fully twenty millions of human beings were destroyed in connection with the TaiPing Rebellion.’
V ‘ The most complete authorities on this conflict are files of the North China lliruld (Slianghai) and the Vhina Mail (Hongkong) during the years from 1853 to 1869 ; a careful summary of these has been made by M. Cordier in his Bibliotheat Sinica, pp. 273-281, wliich will be useful alone to those who can gain access to these newspapers. The number of articles on various phases of the rebellion contained in English and American magazines is exceedingly numerous, and can be readily found by reference to Poole’s Index. Among these compare especially the London Qudrterly, Vol. 112, for October, 1862; Fmser^s Magnzine, Vol. 71, February, 1865 ; Blarktrood’s, Vol. 100, pp. 604 and 683 ; W.Sargent in the North Antcrican Revieir, Vol. 7v’), July, 1854, p. 158. See also the various Blue Books relating to China ; Capt. Fishbourne, Inijiremons of China and the Present Berohttion, London, 1855; Gallery and Yvan, LTnsnrrertion en Chine, Paris, 1853—translated into English, London, 1853; Charles Macfarlane, The Chinese Berohttion, London, 1853 ; T. T. Meadows, The Chinese and their Behellions, London, 1856 ; J. M. Mackie, Life of Tai-piny Wang,N. Y., 1857; Commander Lindesay Brine, Narrative of the Rise and Progress of the Taeping Rebellion in China, London, 1862; “Lin-le,” Ti-Ping Tienkifoh,the History of the Ti-Ping Berolution, London, 1866— a rather untrustworthy record ; Sir T. F. Wade in the Shanghai Miscellany^ No. I. ; Richthofan, Letter on the l^rotince of Shensi.
CHAPTER XXV. THE SECOND WAR BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND CHINA
The particulars given in the last chapter respecting the TaiPing Rebellion did not include those details coiniected with foreign intercourse during the same period which have had such important results on the Chinese people and government.
It is a notable index of the vigor and self-poise of both, that
during those thirteen terrible years, the mass of inhabitants in
the ten eastern provinces never lost confidence in their own
government or its ability to subdue the rebels ; while the leading
officers at Peking and in all those provinces at no time expressed
doubt as to the loyalty of their countrymen when left
free to act. The narrative of foreign intercourse is now resumed
from the year 1849, when the British authorities waived
the right of insisting upon their admission into the city of
Canton according to the terms of the convention with Iviying
in 1847. The conduct of the Cantonese, in view of the forcible
entrance of English troops into their city, is an interesting
exhibition of their manner of arousino; enthusiasm and raisino’
funds and volunteers to cope with an emergency. The series
of papers found in Vol. XVIII. of the Chinese Re2)Ository well
illustrates the curious mixture of a sense of wrong and deep concern
in public affairs, combined with profound ignorance and
inaptitude as to the best means for attaining their object.
A candid examination of the real meaning of the Chinese
texts of the four earlier treaties makes clear the fact that there
were some grounds for their refusal ; but more attractive than
this appears the study of an address from the gentry of Canton,
sent upon the same occasion, to Governor Bonham at Hongkong,
dissuading him from attempting the entry. Their conduct was naturally legarded by the British as seditious, and of these many urged their authorities to vindicate the national honor and force a way over the walls into the city. The practice of an unwonted approach toward self-government which this popular movement in defence of their metropolis gave the citizens, was of real service to them in the year 1855, when it was beleaguered by the rebels, since they had learned how to use
their powers and resources. One result of their fancied victory
over the British at this time was the erection of six stone j)ailau,
or honorary portals, in various parts of the city and suburbs,
on each of which was engraved the sentence, ” Reverently
to commemorate glory conferred,” together with a copy of
the edict ordering their establishment, and a list of the w^ards
and villages which furnished soldiers during their time of need.’
The outcome of the working of treaty provisions between
foreigners and natives at the five opened ports during the ten
years up to 1853, had been as satisfactory to both sides
as could have been reasonably expected. The influx of foreigners
had more than doubled their numbers ; and as almost
none of them could talk the Chinese language, it happened that
natives of Canton became their brokers and compradores
—
rather more by reason of speaking pl(/eon-Migllsh than by their
wealth or capacity. The vicious plan of marking off a separate
plat of land for the residence of foreigners at each port was
adopted, and their development tended to build up concessions,
or settlements, which were to be governed by the various nationalities.
In doing this the local authorities vacated their
rights over their own territory, and these settlements have since
become the germs of foreign cities, if not colonies. The British
and French consuls at Shanghai claimed territorial jurisdiction
over all who settled within the limits of their allotted districts,
and carried this assumption so far as to exercise authority
over the natives against their own rulers. The British erelong
gave up this pernicious system, which had no legal basis by
treaty or conquest, and yielded the entire internal management
‘ The one placed near the southern gate became a target for the British gunners
in October, 1856, its demolition, most unfortunately, involving the de
Ptruction and burning of uiiilionii of Chinese books iu the shops on that street
INFLUENCE OF TREATIES ON THE CHINESE. 627
of all consular communities to those foreigners which composed
them. There were not enougli residents elsewliere to raise this
question of local government to any importance, but the progress
of the Tai-piiigs and the rapid growth of Shangliai as a
centre of trade for the Yangtsz’ basin, compelled the preparation
and adoption of a set of land regulations in order to institute
some means of governing the thousands of foreigners who
had flocked thither. George Balfour, the first British consul
in that port, had sanctioned a seiies of rules in 1845, which
purported to be drawn up by the tautal, or intendant of circuit,
and which worked well enough in peaceful times.
In the year 1853, however, the civil war altered the conditions,
when certain Cantonese rebels captured Shanghai and
killed some of its magistrates, driving others into the British
settlement, to which ground the custom-house was shortly afterward
removed. The collector of the port, AVu Kien-chang, had
formerly been a hong merchant at Canton, and he willingl}^
entered into an arrangement for putting the collection of foreign
duties into the hands of a commission until order was restored.
The presence there of the British, American, and
French ministers facilitated this arrangement. Their respective
consuls, R. Alcock, R. C. Murphy, and B, Edan, accordingly
met Wu on June 29, 1854, and agreed to a set of custom-
house rules which in reality transferred the collection of
duties into the hands of foreigners. The first rule contains the
reason for this remarkable step in advance of all former positions,
and has served to perpetuate the employment of foreigners
at all the open ports, and maintain the foreign inspectorate
:
Rule I.—The chief difficulty experienced by the superintendent of customs
having consisted in the impossibility of obtaining custom-house officials
with the necessary qualifications as to probity, vigilance, and knowledge of
foreign languages, required for the enforcement of a close observance of treaty
and custom-house regulations, the only adequate remedy appears to be in the
introduction of a foreign element into the custom-house establishment, in the
persons of foreigners carefully selected and apjjointed by the tantai, who
shall supply tlie deficiency complained of, and give him efficient and trustworthy
instruments wherewith to work.’
‘ McLane’s Cornnpondcixr, 1858. Senate Ex. Doc, No. iJ8, p. 154.
628 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
In. carrying out the new arrangement, each consul nominated
one man to the intendant, viz., T. F. Wade for the British, L.
Carr for the American, and Arthur Smith for the French
member of the board of inspectoi-s, who togetlier were to talce
charo-c of the new department. The chief responsibility for its
oro-anization fell on Mi-. Wade, inasmuch as he alone of this
number was familiar with the Chinese language, and possessed
other qualifications fitting him for the post. He, however, resigned
within a year, and the intendant appointed II. X. Lay,
a clerk in the British consulate, who completed the service organization.
This proceeding shows the readiness with which
the Chinese will shirk their own duties and functions in government
employ, and illustrates as well many peculiar traits in
their character.
The city of Shanghai had been in possession of a Cantonese
chief, Liu Tsz’-tsai, and his rabble since September T, 1853, and
the position of foreigners at that port in the presence of such a
body of outlaws developed new points of international law. If
the foreignei’s had all been of one nationalitv the consul would
probably have assumed temporary control of the city and j^ort
to assui’e their safety ; but in this case a naval force under each
flag lying in the river guaranteed ample protection of life and
property. As soon as the city was occupied the difficulty of
restraining the disorderly elements, as well among foreigners
as nativ^es, became painfully apparent to their rulers. Foreign
rowdies eagerly purchased the plunder brought to them and
supplied arms and other things in return—a line of conduct
very naturally irritating to the officials in charge of the siege
and inclining them at once toward coercive measures.
The fact that the French settlement adjoined the moat on
the north side of the city made its authorities desirous to dislodge
the brigands, which they essayed to do January 6, 1855,
b}’ joining the imperialists in breaking the walls ; they were
repulsed, however, with a loss of fifteen men killed and thii’tyseven
wounded, out of a rank and file numbering two hundred
and fifty. Another joint attack, undertaken a month later, was
likewise unsuccessful, though the attempt seems to have frightened
the force within the walls, since on the night of February
WORK or THE REBELS AT SirANGIIAI AND AMOY. 629
JOtli tliej retired, leaving the })lace in ruins. A like cordiality
was nevertheless not always maintained between native and foreign
soldiers, for in the previous year (April 4, 1854) occurred a
collision with the imperialists, in consequence of their near approach
to the foreign quarter, in which over three hundred Chinese
soldiers were killed by the foreigners who landed to resist
them. This untoward rencontre did not, however, interrupt
amicable relations with the intendant, and was followed by consular
notifications that whoever entered the service of the combatants
in or out of the city would forfeit all protection.
These notices were nevertheless soon disrefrarded as the struggle
went on, for the temptation to enjoy a lawless life was too
strong for hundreds of sailors then found in that port. It was
an anomalous state of affairs, and the exigency led to some acts
of violence by consuls in control of men-of-war.
The city of Anioy had been captured by insurgents on May
IS, 1852, but no contravention occurred ; the number of foreigners
residing at this port was small, while the opposite island
of Kulang su afforded a refuge beyond the range of missiles.
The city was regained by the imperialists before a jear had
passed. The districts north of Canton, whence Hung Siu-tsuen
and many of his adherents originated, began the same year to
send forth their bands of robbers to pillage the province. These
gangs had really no affinity with the Tai-pings, either in doctrine
or plans, and none of them succeeded in gaining even a
temporary success. When the booty was expended they usually
quarrelled, and the impei-ialists destroyed them in detail. Every
part of the province was at one time or another the scene of
savage conflict between tliese contestants, and it was soon shown
that no regenerating principle was involved on either side. The
confidence of the educated and wealthy classes in the just cause
and final success of their rulers was shown in raising men and
money for the public service and organizing bodies of local
police ; but the want of a sagacious leader to plan and execute,
so that all this mateiial and action should not be frittered away,
was painfully apparent.
In the capture of banking by Tai-pings, the restless leaders
of sedition in Kwangtung saw their opportunity, and gathered
630 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
their bands of freebooters in tlic southern prefectures. In June,
185-i, the district town of Tungkvvan neur the JJogue was taken,
the ricli manufacturing mart of Fuhshan (or Fat-slian) near
Canton fell a month later, followed by that of Shuntch, Sanf-
hui, and other lesser places, throwing the southern part of the
province into a state of anarchy. The theory of the Chinese
govermnent, that if the capital is preserved the whole province
is loyal, and its officers can use its revenue, enabled Governor-
General Yell to concert measures to repress these disorders.
The City of Hams was environed during August by large bttdies
of insurgents, whose wants were supplied from Fuhshan. In
this crisis about one thousand five hundred houses abutting
outside the city walls Mere destroyed, and the ward police
strengthened for the better protection of their neighborlioods
against incendiaries. In all these proceedings the foreigners
at Canton were ne\er consulted or referred to by the ofiicials,
l)ut their merchant steamers kept the Pearl River open to the
sea, while their men-of-war lying off the factories proved a
safeguard to the crowded city. The rebels had occupied a post
near Whampoa, and their gunboats prowled through every
creek in the delta, burning, destroying, capturing, and murdering
without resti-aint. They would be followed by a band of
imperialists, whose excesses were sometimes even more dreadful
than those of their enemies. So terrible was the plight of
the ^\•retched countrymen that the headmen of ninety-six villages
near Fuhshan formed a league and armed their people
to keep soldiers from either side from entering their precincts.
In September, at a general meeting of the gentry of Canton,
a pi-oposal to save the city by asking foreign aid was approved
by Yell, but liappily the project failed of fulfilment and only
resulted in showing them how nmch better was a reliance upon
their own resources. The news of this discussion led Chin Uienliang,
the rebel leader near Whampoa,. to circulate proposals
aniong the foreigners asking them to help him in capturing the
city and promising as rewai’d a portion of the island of Ilonan.
The condition of the peo])le at this time was sad and desperate
indeed, and their only remedy was to arm in self-defence, in
doing which they found out how small a ]>ro})ortion of the inTHE
INSUKRECTION IN KWANGTUNG. 631
habitants was disloyal. Ko quarter was given on either side.
and the carnage was appalling Avhenever victory remained with
the imperialists. During this year the emigration to California
and Australia became larger than ever before, while the coolie
trade waxed flonrishing, owing to the multitudes thi’own out of
employment who wci-e eager in accepting the offers of the
brokers to depart from the country and escape the evils they
saw everj’where about them. The terrors of famine, fighting,
and plundering paralyzed all industry and trade, and enal)led
one to better understand similar scenes described by ancient historians
as occurring in Western Asia.
The exhaustion and desperation consequent on these events
had almost demoralized society in and around Canton, which
was overcrowded M’ith refugees, raising food to famine prices.
It was creditable to these poor and sickly people that their influx
produced no other fear than that of a higher rate of living—
none of pestilence or plunder, even in the extremity of
their sufferings. In Fuhshan, fifteen miles away, no one was
safe. The rebels had depleted its resources, killed its gentry,
and oppressed the townsfolk until a quarrel broke out in their
camp, and they departed about the season of Christmas, leaving
the whole a smoking ruin. One of the insurgent practices consisted
in driving great numbers of people into squares and there
shooting them down by cannon placed in the approaching streets,
while the houses around them were burning. The flames could
be seen for two or three days from Canton, and it was estimated
that during this conflict fully two hundred thousand human
beings perished. The town was the manufacturing centre for the
foreign trade, where silks, satins, shawls, paper, fire-crackers,
pottery, and other staples were made, and their workmen resided.
After this dreadful act the insui-gents grew more and more desperate,
feeling that they could not hold out much longer for
want of booty and supplies to keep their men together. By
March the force of fifteen thousand men inside the city was
ready, and on the 6th it went quietly down to attack the fort
below Whampoa. The onset and resistance were most determined
; before the position succumbed, some twenty-five thou-,
sand men must have perished by battle or flood ; the rebel
632 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
leader escaped toward lliangslmu. The insurrection was, however,
scotched, and its victoi-s celebrated their triumph three
days later in the city to a grateful and applauding concourse.
When the city of Shanking, west of Canton, was retaken in
May, its victors boasted that thirty thousand rebels were drowned
or beheaded.
Notwithstanding these reverses the insurgents did not yet disappear,
but maintained themselves along the watercourses in
lai’ge flotillas during many months. The Portuguese and British
also fitted out expeditions to pursue the pirates, as the same men
were now called, desti’oying them and their haunts at Kulan
Lantao, and elsewhere. In rooting out these land and sea
brigands, the merciless character of the people was made manifest
; every one convicted of rebellion was straightway executed
by the authorities. At Canton, where prisoners were received
from all such districts, the executions were on a terribly huge
scale, as many as seven or eight hundred persons being beheaded
in a single day. A count taken at the city gate whence they
all issued on their way to the field of blood near the river, revealed
the fact that fully eighty thousand were thus executed
in the year 1855. This did not include thousands who connnitted
suicide in places provided for them near their homes, from
which their relatives could take their bodies to the family tomb.
As might be expected, other thousands left the province for the
north, or escaped into distant lands as coolies and emigrants.
I’ublic attention abroad was at this time so engrossed with
the greater rebellion going on along the Yangtsz’ Tliver that the
liorrors of that in Kwangtung were overlooked. There were
many foreigners at Whampoa and Hongkong who sided with
the leading brigands, reported their successes in the newspapers,
and supplied them with munitions of war. The inefiiciency of
a foreign consul to restrain his countrymen thus flagrantly violating
all their treaty obligations toward China, showed most
conclusively how easy it is for the stronger party in such cases
to demand their rights, and shirk their duties if it suits their
convenience.
During the year 1856 affaii’S between the Chinese government
and foreign powers became more and more hampered, while
flELATIUNS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND CHINA. 633
all attempts to ai’rangc difficulties as tliey arose wore defeated
by the obstinate refusal of Yeh Ming-chin, the governor-general
at Canton, to meet any foreign minister. He intrenched himself
behind the city gates, and would do nothing. Sir John
iiowring, the British plenipotentiary and governor of Jlongkong,
had most reason to be dissatisfied with this conduct, inasmuch
as there were many questions which could have been easily
ari’anged in a personal interview. It was ascertained from some
documents ‘ afterward found in Yeh’s office that this seclusion was
a })art of the system devised at Peking to maintain a complete
isolation and keep the dreaded foreigners at a distance. Ko
coui’se could be more likely to bring upon tlie government the
evils it feared, and at the same time show more conclusively the
ignorant and inapt cliaracter of those who carried it on. This
state of things could not long continue when such powerful
agencies were at work along the coast to disorganize legal trade
and thwart the utmost efforts of all officials to resti-ain the
reckless conduct of their subjects. The ten years now elapsed
since the opening of the five ports had involved the Chinese in
more complications, miseries, and disasters than had been known
since the Mancliu conquest ; nevertheless, neither rebellion nor
foreign comjdications seem to have impi’essed their lessons upon
the proud bureaucracy in Peking, which was as unwilling to
remedy as unable to appreciate the real nature of the difficulties
that beset the country.
In the struggle between nations, as between individuals, the
agony and weakness of one side becomes the opportunity of the
other ; and these conditions were now open to the British, who
speedily found their excuse for further demands. In order to
develop the trade of the free port of Hongkong, its laws encouraged
all classes of shipping to resort thither, by removing
all charges on vessels and granting licenses, with but few and
unimportant restrictions, to Chinese craft to cany on trade
inider the British flag. This freedom had developed an enormous
snuiggling trade, especially in opium, which the Chinese
revenue service was unable to restrain or unwilling to legalize.
^ Blue Book, 1857.
634 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
These boats cruised wlierever they might tiiid a trade to invite
or reward them, wholly indifferent to their own government,
which could exercise no adequate control over them, and kept
from the last excesses only on account of the risk of losing
their cargoes. To the evils of smuggling were added the worse
acts and dangers of kidnapping natives to supply baracoons at
Macao. The Poi’tuguese had many of these lorchas to carry on
their commerce, and gradually a set of desperate men had so
far engrossed them in acts of daring and pillage that honest
native trade about any part of the coast south of Shanghai
became almost impossible except undei” their con vo3\ The two
free ports of Macao and Hongkong naturally became their resorts,
where they all took on the aspect of legitimate traders,
which, indeed, most of them were—save under great temptations.
It was not surprising that Chinese rulers should confound
these two classes of vessels, nor, from the traders’ side, was it a
wonder that their crews should use the flag which gave them
the greatest protection when beyond foreign inspection and
jurisdiction. Few nations have ever been subjected to such
continuous and prolonged irritation in respect to its connnercial
regulations as was the Canton government from those two
alien communities during the ten years ending with 1850 ; few
nations, on the other hand, have acted more unwisely in exertions
toward peace and the removal of such difficulties than
did the unspeakable Governor-General Yeh. That the inevitable
collision between the Chinese and British was now at hand,
follows almost as a matter of course, when to our knowledge
of the commissioner’s character we add Mr. Justin McCarthy’s
very appropriate estimate of the two Englishmen in whose
hands well-nigh all British affairs in China were vested : ” Mr.
Consul Parkes,” says he, ” was fussy. Sir John Bowring was
a man of considerable ability, but . . . full of self-conceit,
and without any very clear idea of political principles on the
large scale.”
‘
Early in the morning of October 8th, two boat-loads of
‘ A Uintonj uf Our Own Times, Chap. XXX.
THE CASE OF THE LOltCllA AKUOW. 635
Chinese sailors, Avith their ofiicers, put off from a large war-junk,
boarded the lorcha Arrow lying’ at anchor in the river before
Canton, pinioned and carried away twelve of the fourteen natives
who composed her crew, and added to this unexpected
” act of violence,” as Mr. Tarkes stated it, ” the significant insult
of hauling down the Iji’itish ensign.” One Kennedy, a
young Irishman who is described as a very respectable man of
his class, was master of the lorcha, but chanced at the time to
be on another boat lying in the innnediate neighborhood of his
own, and could in consequence offer no resistance. It is probable,
judging from testimony given at the British consulate, that
the hauling down of the flag was a mere bit of wantonness on
the part of the junk’s oflicer upon his finding that no foreigner
was (ni board, and the offence might readily have been followed
by an apology had the command of negotiations been in any
other hands than those of Yeh. The Arrow was owned by a
Chinese, Fong A-ming, her nominal master being engaged by
Mr. Block, the Danish consul at Hongkong; his vessel was not,
however, entitled to protection, inasmuch as her British register
had expired by its own limitation eleven days before the
episode in Canton lliver, and the lorcha was already forfeited
to the crown.’ Her papers were then at the consulate, and it
was contended by Mr. Parkes that under Clause X. of the
ordinance she retained a right to protection ; a mere quibble,
since the cause refers to the vessel when upon a voyage, and the
Arrow had confessedly remained about the ports of Macao and
Canton during a month.
Consul Parkes, aftei’ ascertaining the facts connected with
this high-handed outrage, pushed off to the war-junk—which
remained the while quietly at anchor—to claim the captured
sailors and ” explain to the officers, if it were possible that they
had acted in error, the gi’oss insult and violation of national
‘ Sir John Bowring indeed conceded that ” the Arrow had no right to hoist
the British flag,” but alleged that the Chinese had no knowledge of the expiry
of the license, and that this ignorance deprived them of the legal value of
the truth. He quoted, moreover. Article IX. of the Supplementary Treaty,
requiring tliat ‘• all Chinese malfaisants in British ships shall be claimed
throui’h the British authorities.”
636 I’HE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
rights which tlicy had coininitted.” ‘ Tliis was in vain. ^Viiiuiig
the men was a notorious pirate, he was told, and tlieir orders
wei’e tliat the suspected crew should be sent to the governor
for examination. Veh stoutly upheld the act of his subordinate,
and affii’med that the lorcha had no right to fly the British
flag, disclaiming, however, any intention of molesting lawful
traders under the emblem. Katui-ally enough, he would
not yield the right of jurisdiction over his own subjects, and in
doing this was asserting precisely what Great Britain and every
other nation on the globe knew to be the first privilege of an independent
government. The case was not unlike that much-discussed
affair of the American Commodore AVilkes, who boarded
the Trent in 1863 and captured Mason and Slidell—performing
a right-enough action, but in a wrong and hasty fashion.
In his reply to Mr. Parkes, Yeh declares that he has held an
examination of the sailors and finds that three of them M’ere
implicated in a piracy of the preceding month on St. John’s
Island, that the officei’s had good reasons for seizing these men,
that the remaining nine shall ])e sent back to their vessel ; which
he straightway does, but they are as promptly returned l)y the
consul because the entire crew is not given up. Sir John Bowring
now demands, through his representative at Canton (1), ” an
apology for what has taken place, and an assurance that the
British flag shall in future be respected ; ” (2) ” that all proceedings
against Chinese offenders on board British vessels
must take place according to the conditions of the treaty ; ” “
in case of refusal the consul is to concert with the naval autliorities
the measures necessary for enforcing redress. This
threat extracted from the governor-general a promise that
” hereafter Chinese officers will on no account, without i-eason,
seize and take into custody the people belonging to foreign
lorchas;” adding very properly, “but when Chinese subjects
build for themselves vessels, foreigners should not sell registers
to them, for if this be done, it will occasion confusion between
native and foreign ships, and render it difficult to distinguish
^ Blue Book: Papers relatinri to tlie Proceedings of her Majesty^s Naval Forces
at Canton, p. 1.
‘Blue Book, Ibid., p. 13.
OPENING or HOSTILITIES. 637
between them.” ‘ Twelve days afterwuiU (Octoljer 22d) the
entire crew were returned, but once more refused by Mr.
Parkes, ostensibly because the apology was not sent with them
—and this the connnissioner coukl not offer either in justice to
his government or to the cause of truth.
Ensconced behind, the walls of Canton city, Yeh resolved to
stand firm on his rights as he understood them, even should the
doing so involve the lives and property of thousands of his
countrymen. To all foreigners in Chiua this affair was intinuitely
connected with most important possibilities and consequences:
the inviolability of national flags, protection to
every one whom they covered, personal intercourse with Chinese
officers, maintenance of treaty rights. In upholding these
the British drew to their side the good wishes of all intelligent
observers for their success in arms, however unhappy their excuse
for a resort to such means might be. One more word
from Mr. McCarthy before leaving the initial episode of this
war. ” The truth is,” he sums up, ” that there has seldom been
so flagrant and so inexcusable an example of high-handed lawlessness
in the dealings of a strong with a weak nation,” ^ but
like many another conflict where strength and justice have been
ranged on opposite sides, the latter was speedily pushed to the
wall. The incident of the Arrow” appeared a trifling one ; nevertheless
on so slight a hinge turned the future welfare and
progress of the Chinese people in their intercourse with other
nations, a hinge which, opening outward, unclosed the door for
all parties to learn the truth respecting the countries of each,
and, in the end, agree upon the only grounds on which a beneficial
and intelligent intercourse could be maintained.
It is hardly necessary to recount in detail the steps by which
Governor Bowring and Admiral Seymour vainly attempted to
bring Yeh to their terms. ” Acknowledge that you are in the
wrong,” was their ultimatum, ” by merely sending the three
‘Ibid.., p. 15.
‘^ Ifixtory of Our (hen Times, Vol. III., Chap. XXX. Lord Elgin in his journal
refers frankly enough to ” that wretched question of the Arrow, which is
a scandal to us, and is so considered, I have reason to know, hy all except the
few who are personally compromised.”
—
Letters and Journcds of Lord EJlgin,
edited by T. Walrond, p. 209.
638 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
bUspects to the consulate, and ask that tliey be returned on
cliarge of piracy.” The long-continued national policy of exclusion
could not, however, be so easily ovei’thrown ; its reduction
must be by force. The seizure of a military junk was the
lirst act of the British, then the capture of the liarrier forts,
followed by that of all others on the south of Canton, and lastly
breaching the city wall opposite Yeh’s yamun. This was entered
by Adnural Seymour with a snudl party of marines.
Sir John Bowring had already nuide the demand that the city
gates should be opened to them in accordance with the agreement
entered into ten years before between Governor Davis
and Kiying, and expresses his gratification to the consul that now
one great object of hostile action had been satisfactorily accomplished—
an object whicli Mi’. Parkes declares was clearly based
on treaty rights. However, they did not see Yeh, who resorted
to all manner of petty annoyances, the evils of which mostly fell
on his own people, without in the least advancing his cause.
On Xovember 15th, to the complications with the English
was added a quarrel with the Americans, whose boats had
been twice fired into and one man killed by the Chinese officers
in command of the Barrier forts. Commodore J. Armstrong
had under his connnand the San Jacinto, Poi-tsmouth, and Levant,
then lying at Whampoa. He ordered the two latter to go
as near to these forts as possible, and directed Captain A. H.
Foote of the Portsmouth to destroy them all. Foote accordingly
organized a large force and attacked them on the 16th,
20th, and 21st, till they were reduced and occupied. The resistance
of the Chinese on this occasion was unusually brave
and ])rolonged, the admirable position of the forts enabling
each of them to lend assistance to the others. On the part of
the Americans, seven were killed and twenty-two wounded ;
perhaps three hundred Cliinese were put hors de comhat ; the
guns in the forts (one hundred and seventy-six in all) were destroyed,
and the sea-walls demolished with powder found in
the magazines.’ This skirmish is the only passage of arms ever
‘ One brass gun of eight-inch calibre was twenty-two feet five inches long ;
the entire armament of these forts was superior in equipment to anything
before seen in China.
COLLISION WITH THE AMKltlCANS. 639
engaged in by American and Chinese forces— one whieli ^cli
seemed to ix-gard as of slight moment, and for wliich he cared
neither to apologize nor sympathize, llis unexampled indifference
in referring to the affair less than two days after the
demolishment of his forts ‘ was met by an equal frankness on
the part of Dr. Parker, who at once resumed correspondence
•witli the commissioner, and, content with the practical lesson
just administered, said no more about ” apologies and guarantees.”‘
This episode is interesting chiefly as an example of the
American course regarding an insult to the national flag, as contrasted
with the English dealing with an injury not very different
either in nature or degree.
Relations between Great Britain and China continued in this
constrained position until the opening of another year, the conflict
now being almost wholly restiicted to unimportant collisions
with village braves on land and voluminous discussions
with the governor-general on paper. In Xovember the French
minister withdrew his legation from Canton, there being by
that time neither French citizens nor interests to watch over.
Principal among the events during this interval was the burning
of the foreign factories by order of Yeh, Decend^er 14th.
They were fired in the night and were entirely consumed with
all their contents, as well, too, as the contiguous poi’tion of the
suburbs. The offer of thirty taels head-money for every Englishman
killed or captured resulted in a few endeavors on the part
of natives, whereby they kidnapped or slew two or three seamen
when separated from their ships. These attempts at
guerilla warfare were so promptly met and rewarded on the
part of the English, by wholesale punishment of offending
villages, as to cause little annoyance after the lesson of certain
retribution had been taken to heart by the Chinese. More important
than all these was a dastardly attempt, on January 11,
‘ ” There is no matter of strife between our respective nations. Henceforth
let the fashion of the flag which American ships employ be ck^arly defined,
and inform me what it is beforehand. This will be the verification of the
friendly relations which exist between the two countries.”—Hoppin, Life of
Admiral Foote, pp. 110-140. CorrcKpondenrc of McLdue and Parker, Senate
Document No. 2^, December 20, 1858, pp. lOlo’ff. lUue Book, p. 137.
640 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
1857, to poison the foreigners at Hongkong, by putting arsenic
in the bread supplied from a Chinese baker. This, it was afterward
asce]”tained, was at the instigation of certain officials on
the mainland, but fortunately even here their villany was
foiled, owing to the overdose Contained in the dough. It
ought to be stated, in passing, that such acts are not common
in China, and, in this case, that the baker’s employers were proven
entirely innocent.
Duriner much of this time Canton had been reminded of the
presence of the British force by intermittent bombarding of the
city from guns in Dutch Folly Fort. Sir John Bowring had
demanded an interview wdth Yeh in Xovember, but received a
prompt refusal, followed by a still more vigorous carrying on of
the war in his peculiar fashion, and by raising the price on
English heads. Admiral Seymour had now less reason for remaining
within the Bogue, as all trade was at an end. Hundreds
of foreigners had already been thrown out of employment,
their property destroyed, their plans broken np, and in a
few instances their lives lost in consequence of tliis quarrel.
After holding an intrenched position around the church and
])arracks of the factories for the s])ace of a month, the uselessness
of this effort when sustained by so paltry a force seems tf
have moved the admiral (January 14, 1S5T) to retire from
Canton, falling back npon Macao Fort nntil reinforcements
should arrive from India. Before leaving the site of the factories,
however, he burned down the warehouses of those native
merchants in the vicinity, their inmates having previously
beeu warned to leave them. These buildings and their contents
were private pi’operty, and the intrenched position in the factory
garden was not endangered by their reniaining. The
leaders of the British operations had hitherto professed to spare
private property ; and even if the performance was meant as a
})arting menace to the governor-general—” to show him,” as
]Mr. Parkes remarked, ” that we can burn too “—it Avas one of
the few acts, on their side, which has left a stigma npon the
English name in China. The hostile proceedings of the Chinese
authorities had been both petty and nseless, but as Admiral
Seymour’s force was inadequate to take and hold Canton,
PUBLIC SENTIMENT IN ENGLAND. 641
a more serious cannonading of the imperial quarters might have
been a more honorable method of taking retribution for outrages,
and better calculated than this cuunter-incendiarism to increase
respect for British arms and civilization.
The news of these operations in China excited great interest
and speculation in Europe, inasmuch as all its nations were more
or less interested in the China trade. Parliament was the scene
of animated argument as to the policy of Sir John Bowring and
his colleagues ; the moral, commercial, and political features of
British intercourse with China were discussed most thoroughly
in all their bearings, the arguments of both parties in the debate
being drawn from the same despatches. One remarkable
series of papers was presented to the House of Lords in February,
1857, entitled Coi’vespoiulence resjpecting Insults in China,
“containing the particulars of twenty-eight outrages committed
by the Chinese upon British and other foreigners between the
years 1812 and 1856.” This publication M’as intended apparently
to show how impracticable the Chinese authorities were
in all their intercourse with foreigners, and its contents became
to members of the House so many arguments for placing this
intereourse on a better basis at the imperial court. To those
who had watched since 1812 the results of treaty stipulations
upon the people of China and their rulers, it was plain that no
satisfactory political intercourse could be hoped for so long as
the governor-general at Canton had the power of concealing
and misrepresenting to his government everything that happened
between foreign representatives and himself. Xevertheless
such a series of papers was but one side of the insults
endured. As long as the British government upheld the
opium trade, and did nothing to restrain smuggling and the
awful atrocities of the coolie traffic at MaccO, which were tilling
the ears of all the world with their sho ‘king tales, these
few ” outrages •’ seem very petty if put forward as a defence
of Lord Palmerston’s going to war on account of the lorcha
Arrow.
In the vote upon the question of employing force in China,
the better sense of Parliament protested against the policy
which had directed recent events ; but the Premier knew his
642 THE MIDDLE KIXGDOM.
fouiitiynien, and in forty days from the dissolution (March
21st) England returned him a House of Commons strongly
in his favor. He now decided to complete what had been
wanting in the treaty of Nanking, and obtain a residence for
a l>ritish n)inister at Peking. The governments of France,
liussia, and the United States wei’e invited to co-operate with
England so far as they deemed proper, and their united interests
were those of Christendom, Xo well-wisher to China
could j)atiently look forward to a continuation of the past tantalizing
senjblance of official intercourse at Canton, and the
Aaried experience of twelve years at other ports proved that the
Chinese people did not sympathize in this policy. The French
Emperor had a special grievance against II. I. M. Ilienfung, on
account of the judicial murder of Pere Chapdelaine, a missionary
in Kwangsi province, who had been tortured and beheaded
at Si-lin hien on February 20, 1856, by order of the
district magistrate. This outrage was in direct violation of
the rescript of ISII, and some atonement and apology were
justly demanded. How totally unconscious of all these discussions
and plans were Hienfung and his counsellors at Peking,
may be guessed from their blind fright during subsequent
events, Mdiile their inability to devise a course of action corresponded
to their childish ignorance of their position and
duties.
A j^owerful though nnspoken reflection among these rulers
}iiust not here be overlooked as a secret motive in deciding
many of their short-sighted counsels. Pemembering the way
in Avhich their ancestors had captured the Empire over two centuries
before, they felt that great risk was run in admitting the
barbarians to the capital now, since the same game would probably
be ])layed over again. The visits of foreign ministers to
the insurgents at Xanking, and their readiness at Canton to
quarrel about so trifling a point as pulling down a flag and carrying
off a few natives under its protection, all indicated, in
their opinion, nothing shoi’t of conquest and spoliation. With
such tremendous ])ower ari-ayed against so weak an adversary,
they knew well enough what would ensue. Their miserable
policy of isolation liad left them more helpless in their ignoBOMBARDMENT
AND CAPTURE OF CANTON. 643
ranee than diminislied in their resources, and thoy had to })ay
dearly for their instruction.
Tlie appointments of Lord Elgin and Baron Gros as plenipotentiaries
for Great Britain and France were most foi’tunate
as a selection of eminent diplomatists and clear-headed men.
The two ambassadors entered into most cordial relations as
soon as the land and sea forces placed at their disposal arrived
on the Chinese coast. Lord Elgin reached Hongkong in July,
but learning the state of affairs in that region, and that no advances
had been made from Peking to settle the dispute, concluded
to take the Shannon to Calcutta, to the assistance of Lord
Canning against the mutineers ; from this place he proposed
to proceed in the cold weather, when the force detailed for China
would all be ready. Returning to Hongkong by September
20th, he was obliged to tarry yet another mouth before the last
of his reinforcements, or those of the French, had joined him.
By the end of November the American minister, W. B. Reed,
in the fi-igate Minr.esota, and the Russian admiral, Count
Poutiatine, in the gunboat Amerika, had likewise come.
Early in December, after a refusal on the part of Yeh of their
ultimatum, the allied forces advanced up the Canton River. An
extract from one of Lord Elgin’s private letters illustrates admirably
the spirit in which he entered upon the work he had been
chosen to do. ” December 22d.—On the afternoon of the 20th
I got into a gunboat with Commodore Elliot, and went a short
way up toward the Barrier forts, w^iicli were last winter destroyed
by the Americans. When we reached this point, all
was so quiet that we determined to go on, and we actually
steamed past the city of Canton, along the whole front, within
pistol-shot of the town. A line of English men-of-war are now
anchored there in front of the town. I never felt so ashamed
of mj’self in my life, and Elliot remarked that the trip seemed
to have made me sad. There we were, accumulating the means
of destruction under the very eyes and \vithin the reach of a
population of about one million people, against whom these
means of destruction were to be employed !
‘ Yes,’ I said to
Elliot, ‘ I am sad, because, when I look at that town, I feel that
I am earning for myself a place in the Litany, immediately
644 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
after “plague, pestilence, and famine.”‘ I believe, however,
that, as far as 1 am concerned, it Mas impossible for me to do
otherwise than as I have done. . . . AVhen we steamed up
to Canton and saw the rich alluvial banks covered with the luxurious
evidences of nnrivalled industry and natural fertility
combined—beyond them barren uplands sprinkled Avith a soil
of reddish tint which gave them the appearance of heather
slopes in the Highlands, and beyond these again the White
Cloud mountain range standing out bold and blue in the clear
sunshine—I thought bitterly of those who, for the most selfish
objects, are trampling under foot this ancient civilization.”
‘
On the 2Ttli the British and French, about six thousand in
all, landed on the east bank a short distance below the walls.
During the whole of the following day a furious bombardment
was opened upon the city from tlie ships, driving thousands of
the frightened natives into the western sul)ur])S and destroying
considerable portions of the town. By three o’clock of the 20th
the city was in the hands of the foreigners—almost exactly the
two hundred and seventh anniversary of its capture and entire
reduction by the Manclnis (November, 1()50). The A’ictory was
not a brilliant one, since scarcely any one could be found witli
whom to fight ; tln-ee or four forts to l)e entei’ed, the wall scaled,
a loss of one hundred and ten in killed and wounded to the victors,
perhaps five times as numy to the vanquished—this was alL
Immediately upon their entry within the hitherto forbidden
city the chiefs were forced to turn their energy upon their own
troops and prevent them fi-om bullying and looting the helpless
Chinese.
Governor-General Yeh was, after some little search, found
and captured while attempting an escape from his yamun,° and
within twenty-four hours the lieutenant-governor, Tartar general,
and all others in high authority came into possession of the
invaders. Yeh was carried forthwith on board II. B. M. S.
Inflexible, a wise step which deprived him of further power of
‘ Letters and JoitrnaU, p. 212.
‘ Some very cnrions documents were found among his archives ilhistrating
the character both of tlie man and his government. See Oliphant, Elr/i>i\>t Mis’
mn to China, Vol. I., Chap. VIII. Reed’s Correspondence, 1858, pp. 443-488.
TUE CITY OF CANTON AND ADJACENT ISLANDS.
646 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
resistance and misrepresentation, and left the plenipotentiaries
free to arrange some method of temporary government for the
city. This was a difficult problem, ciiietiy owing to the lack of
competent interpreters, but rendered mure so by the natural irritation
of the conquered people at the losses they had sustained,
the flight of the local officers, and the alarming extent of robbery
by natives, somewhat countenanced by foreign soldiers.
The skill and tact of Lord Elgin were never better shown than
in the construction out of such incongruous materials of a mixed
government whose subsequent easy working abundantly proved
the master mind of the builder.’ The two Manchus, Governor
Pihkwei and the connnandant of the garrison-—called also the
Tartar general—were now brought forward to assist in saving
tlieir capital from destruction and to form with the allies a joint
tribunal. Pihkwei became legally (by Yeh’s capture) the governor-
general of the Liang Kwang, and his functions in that
capacity were not interfered with ; those of his colleague had
always been restricted within the city walls. On January 9tli
they were installed by Lord Elgin and Baron Gros with all possible
ceremony as rulers of the city, under the surveillance of
three foreigners. Colonel Ilolloway and Consul Harry Parkes
for the British, and Captain Martineau for the French. This
commission had its headquarters in the same extensive yanmn
with Pihkwei, in whom happily were combined some estimable
qualities for managing the difficult post he filled. The orderly
habits of the literati and traders in and around Canton afforded
a guaranty that no seditious proceedings would be countenanced
against this joint authority if it gave them the security they had
asked from the allies. A force of marines and the Fifty-ninth
Regiment were quartered on Pagoda Hill, on the north side of
the city, and ere long the commandant’s yaniun was cleared of
its rubbish and put in order for the commission, leaving the
other for Pihkwei. The allied chiefs deemed it wisest to attempt
to govern as little in detail as possible, and their commissioners
found enough to do in adjusting complaints brought by
‘ “You may imagine,” he writes, “what it Is to undertake to govern seme
millions of people when we have in nil two or three people who understand
the language ! I never had so difficult a matter to arrange.
“
JOINT GOVERNMENT OF THE CITY. 647
the Chinese against their own men. The Cantonese did not fail
to contrast the considerate treatment they received irunx their
foreign captors with the carnage and utter ruin which would
have followed the occupation of the city by the Tai-pings or
other insurgents, and during the whole period quietly submitted.
The greater part of the responsible labor came upon Mr. Parkes,
because of liis ability to talk Chinese, but before many mouths
he had taught many natives how to assist in carrying out the
necessary details. He showed much skill in circumventing the
designs of the discontented officials at Fuhshan, giving Pihkwei
all the native criminals to judge, restraining the thievery or
cruelty of the foreign police, and sending out proclamations for
the guidance and admonition of the people.’
The kindness shown by Lord Elgin after the capture of Canton
infused itself into the minds of those working with and
under him, and the newly installed governor soon recovered his
composure as he found himself in possession of his own dignities
and power. The local and provincial officers under liim
kept themselves at Fuhshan, now recovering from its destruction
of three years before. By the end of January affairs were
put in order, the blockade was taken off the port, foreign merchants
returned and settled in the warehouses still unharmed
on llonam, while the native dealers reopened their shops in the
vicinity.^ Sixteen months had elapsed since the affair of the
Arrow, and every one felt that a new day had begun to dawn
on the relations of China with other lands.” Among the papers
‘ Blue Book: Lord Elginls Correspondence, July 15, 1859, Despatches Nos. 88,
94, 108, and 128. Oliphant, ^^//w/’.v ^fimon to China, Vol. I., p. 170.
” Oddly enough, among the most earnest appeals for the restoration of commerce
came one from Fihkwei himself, who wrote to Lord Elgin : “The
eagerness with which merchants will devote themselves to gain, ii: the trade
be now thrown well open, will increase manifold the good understanding between
our nations, and the step will thus, at the same time, enhance your
excellency’s reputation.”
—
Bine Bonk, January 24, 1858.
^ The letters of G. W. Cooke, the Times’ correspondent (London, Routledge,
1858), contain a fairly complete accoiint of the proceedings of the allies at
Canton ; his conversations with Governor-General Yeh on the way to Calcutta
are less valuable Compare an article in the Revue des Devr Monde;’. {V JTiillet.
1859), by C. Lavallee, Un Historiograplie de la Presse anglaise dans la guerre d«
Chiiui.
648 THK MIDDLE KINGDOM.
taken in Yeh’s yamuu were the ratilied copies of the treaties
between Cliiua and Great Uritriu, France, and the United kStatt l^
carefully preserved there, it was said, by directions from Peking,
m order to serve for reference in case of dispute as to the text.
It was, however, one of the indexes proving the desire of the
Emperor to keep liiniself aloof from pergonal contact with
foreigners.
The allied chiefs, early in the month of February, proposed
to their American and llussian coadjutors to join them in
laying their demands before the Peking Court, and affording
it one more opportunity to amicably settle the pending difficulties
by sending an officer to Shanghai with full powers
for that end. Both Russians and Americans were cordially in
miison with the allies, and their several despatches addressed
to Yii, the first member of the J^ul JC/i, or “Inner Council,’
at Peking, were taken up to Shanghai and thence to Suchau,
where Ho Ivwei-tsing received and forwarded them before the
end of February. These four letters simultaneously sent to
the secluded court at Peking contained nothing which could
alarm its members ; but such was the ignorance of the highest
officers there, that they knew not M’hat to do—ostrich-like,
hiding their heads from the approaching danger, simply declining
to answer any tmpleasant communication, hoping
thereby to put far off the evil day. Their isolation would remain
if left to themselves, and to have sent Kiying again to
the south would only have cherished their stupid pride and
worked their subjects ultimate injury. Their old-time policy
of absolute non-intercourse lay like some great frigate sunk
athwart the mouth of a river ; the obstacle once removed,
nothing remained to prevent the vast and populous regions
beyond the barrier from an active and profitable communion
with the whole world. They could no longer be left in statu
quo, and few can find fault with the plan proposed to solve their
difficulties—a })lan which brought the four most powerful nations
of Christendom in joint consent to set themselves on a
fair and advantageous footing with the most ancient and populous
nation of Asia. To those who admit the direct government
of tiie Almighty lluler in ordering the policy of nations in accord
ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES TOWARD PEKING. 640
with His wise plans, this simultaneous approach to Peking will
always be deemed as one of the waymarks f human progress.
The letfc”; o presented to tlie Emperor ‘ form in their topics
and toie a pleasant . >ntrast to the connnunications in past
years. That of the ll’issian minister was peculiar in bringing
forwaid the desH’ableness of llowing he profession of (Christianity
to all natives desirous of embracing it ; but this point
was made the subject of an address by the British missionaries
at Xingpo and Shanghai to Lord Elgin, Avliose reply was a
happy exposition of the dangers and difficulties connected with
the toleration of Christianity by a government ignorant of its
precepts. The imperial replies to these advances were, as
everyone expected, in the strain of non 2)0ssumus. Lord Elgin
returned his copy to Ho Kwei-tsing at Suchau, and enclosed
therewith another despatch to Yii, in which he announced his
intention to proceed to Taku, Mhere he would aw^ait the arrival
of a commissioner qualified to treat upon the points in dispute.
The force designed to accompany the allied chiefs was gathering
at Sha glial, and by t.^.e miv, die vi April most of the ships
and transports had anchored off the Pci ho, together with the
American frigates Minnesota and Mississippi and the Russian
gunboat Amerika, having the legations of those nations on
board. Xothing could be more dreary than the aspect of the
rendezvous at this season. The ships were obliged to anchor
about eight miles from shore, which M’as level, and would have
been invisible if it had not been for the forts at the entrance of
the river. The dim, hazy horizon was lurid with the rays of
the sun shiniiii; throu<:;h the dust that came in clouds from the
plains of Mongolia and Chihli. Th^ turbid waters were often
lashed into foam by the conflicting forces of tides and winds
which acted on it from every quarter, and kept the gulf in a
turmoil. Xo native boats ventured out to traffic, as would have
been the case in the south, and the only signs of life were the
gunboats and launches running in and out of the river, or the
barges passing from ship to ship. Added to other discommodi-
‘ These are all given in the correspondence of IVlr. Reed, printed hy the
Senate—Despatch No. 9, Ex. Dociuiteitt No. 30, March 13, IbGU, pp. 122-183.
650 THE MIDDLE KIXGDOM.
ties, were occasional blasts of hut air which swept over the
water, charged with fine dust that settled on the decks and rigffin’^
and insinuated itself into the dress and faces in an uncomfortable
manner.
As usual the Chinese had done nothing. The increasing
number and size of the ships which were anchored off the Pei ho
luid, however, been duly reported at Peking, and the llussian
admiral had received a reply to his announcement of arrival.
On April 23d communications were addressed by the four
ministers to Yu-ching at Peking, and on the 20th replies came
from Tan Ting-siang, governor-general of Chihli, informing
them that he, with Tsunglun and Wu, had been deputed to
” receive their complaints and investigate and manage.”‘ The
governor-general was not empowered to settle upon the terras
of a treaty, but he desired to have a personal conference to
learn what was demanded. Upon the day appointed the Russian
and American ministers met Tan at the Taku forts (April
30th) at separate hours, when they learned that he had not
been invested with ” full powers,”‘ like those granted to Kiying
and tlipu in 18-12, but had authority to discuss all matters preparatory
to signing a ti-eaty. The truth was that they were
(juitc ignorant of the important questions raised at Canton ; but
while willing to discuss them, they were equally set on keeping
the foreigners away from the capital. Here the allied chiefs
and their two colleagues took issue. The former held out for
commissioners to be sent with full powers ; but the latter deeming
that the governor-general had adequate authority, accordingly
presented him with the main points of their demands and
afterward with the drafts of their treaties. The negotiations
were delayed by the difficulties of the entrance, but they afforded
a needed instruction to these conceited and ignorant
men, who were thus enabled at their leisure to prepare for the
struggle. Not only were the officers themselves brought face
to face with their dreaded visitors, and made to perceive the
folly of resisting the armaments at their connuand, but with
the democratic habits usual in Chinese courts, the hundreds of
attendants present at the conferences heard all that passed.
Ere the non-belligerent powers had completed their negoCAPTURE
OF THE TAKU FORTS. 651
tiations, tlie allies turned over theirs into the liands of the
two admirals, MM. Seymour and liigault de Genouilly. These
advanced up the river on May 20th, forcing the slight boom
across the stream, and capturing all the forts on both banks,
with all their stores. Comparatively few Chinese were killed,
and their defence of the forts was creditable to their courage
and skill. All the troops fled or w^ere driven from their
intrenched camps as far as Taku town, and the other defences,
stockades, and fire-rafts having been destroyed, the
gunboats proceeded to Tientsin. The losses by shot on the
part of the Allies were unhappily doubled bj^ the explosion
of a powder magazine in a fort as a party of Frenchmen entered.
The news that the foreigners had forced the defences
at the mouth of the Pel ho was soon spread thi-ough the towns
along its banks, and myriads of unarmed people flocked to the
shore to see the gun-boats, whose smoke and masts towering
above the low land indicated their presence to the amazed inliabitants.
A house having been prepared at Tientsin for the allied
chiefs, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros reached the city at daylight
on May 30th, followed by the other two ministers, all of them
having come np during the night without mishap or oppo
siti(m. The inhabitants of the city were highly excited at
the presence of the vessels and those of whom they had lieard
fiuch dreadful stories, but their curiosity and fear kept them
quiet and civil, and they wei-e content with lining the shores in
dense crowds, to gaze and talk. The general ignorance of each
other’s lanOsuaOse did not prevent a constant intercourse with IT
the citizens, all the more agreeable after the confinement on
board ship. One old man was found managing a ferry-boat,
who remembered Lord Amherst’s visit in 1816. After his inquiries
as to the meaning of the flags on board the ships had
been answered, he exclaimed, “How easily you and we could
get along if you but understood our language “—to which the
crowd around reechoed their hearty assent.
Two higher commissioners now appeared on the scene of action,
Kweiliang and llwashana, who superseded the discomfited
Tan, Tsunglun, and Wu, and presented their cards as
652 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
having been invested with full powers to treat. Negotiations
were opened witli them, and thus, after months of delay, tlie
plan which Yeli had so foolishly adhered to at Canton in October,
to refuse all personal discussion, was accomplished at
Tientsin under far more promising circumstances. The Chinese
were obliged to accept almost any terms offered them, for
negotiations carried on under such conditions were hardly those
of free agents. The high commissioners were ignorant beyond
conception of the gravity of their position and the results
which were to flow from these treaties, whose provisions, linked
into one compact by the favored nation clause, were, in fact, to
form the future magna charta between almost the two halves
of the human race. It was true that the Chinese commissioners
were not altogether their own masters in making them, but
owing to their perverse seclusion, they had foolishly shut themselves
out from the opportunity of learning their rights. They
had, of course, no desire to learn what they knew nothing
about, and there was no alternative other than the display of
force to break down the barriers which pride alone made
strong. They had some grounds for fear, from their recent
occupation of Canton, that the British wished for more territory
than Hongkong ; and the frequent visits of the national vessels
of Great Britain, the United States, and France to the insur-
“•ents at Xankini;; indicated serious results in the future, for the
latter owed all their religious fanaticism to foreign inspiration.
To the persistent smuggling of opium along the whole coast
shice the treaties negotiated by Kiying sixteen years before,
and the many social and financial evils entailed thereby, were
now added the atrocities of the coolie trade in Kwangtung province.
Yet the reserve of the officials upon these and other
topics on which they might be expected to have expressed their
views or remonstrances, was only equalled by the politeness and
freedom with which they met their enemies in consultation.
Never again in the history of nations can functionaries to
whom were confided the settlement of questions of so great
moment, be brought together in such honest ignorance of the
other’s intentions, fears, and wishes. It was high time for
each of the five powers, now face to face, to have the way
THE ALLIES AT TIENTSIN—APPEARANCE OF KIYING. t53
opened for the removal of this ignorance and a better understanding
substituted.
Tlie despatches of Lord Elgin and Mr. Reed contain translations
of many reports and memorials which were found in
Yeh’s yamun at Canton, and give one a good idea of the sort
of information furnished to the Emperor by his highest officers.
It is a wrong view of these papers to regard their extraordinary
misstatements as altogether designed to deceive the court and
screen the ill-success of the writers, for they had had no more
facilities to investigate the real condition of foreign lands and
the policy of their rulers than had the poor boy Caspar Ilauser
to learn about his neighbors.
One untoward event occurred durino; the negotiations. Tliis
was the sudden arrival of Kiying (June 8th) and his effort to
force himself into the company of the plenipotentiaries. Since
his departure from Canton in IS-iT he had filled the premiership
before the death of the late Emperor Taukwang, after
which he had been deprived of all power and most of his
honors. He seemed to have tried to recover them by making
large promises at court respecting his influence over the harhariatis
/ but when he reached Tientsin he was without credentials
enabling him to participate, and acted as if his misfortunes
had in a measure unsettled his reason. The British minister
was suspicious of his designs, and sent his two secretaries,
on the 9th, to learn what they could of or from him. These
gentletnen plainly pointed out to the old man the difficulties in
the way of settling the present troubles in any other manner
than by acceding to the demands of Lord Elgin. Kiying had,
however, put himself in a serious dilemma. Finding very soon
that he was powerless to change the course of events and get the
steamers away from Tientsin (as he no doubt had promised to
do, and thus prove his influence), he returned to Peking on the
12th, though he had announced the reception of his full powers
only the day before. His colleagues were not sorry to have
him depart, but nothing definite was learned of his fate until
at the end of three weeks, when the Emperor’s rescript ordering
him to connnit suicide was received. His case was deemed
of sufficient importance to call for a summation of the principal features in order to prove the righteousness of Iiis sentence, and manifest the Emperor’s extreme desire to be at once just and gracious in his decree. Kiying’s case is rather an unusual one auiung Chinese officials, but the real reasons for his fall are probably not all stated; his prominence abroad, arising from his connection with the ]Sanking treaty, was no criterion of his influence at home or of the loss to the government by his death.’
Soon after his departure the impertinence of a native crowd
to a party of British officers while walking through the city,
lent some strength to the belief that Kiying’s counsel had been
warlike, and that a coup^ similar to the one made at Canton in
1841 by Yihshan, had been suggested, and the destruction of
all the foreigners in Tientsin was hoped for as its result. Their
relations with the citizens thus far had been amicable on the
whole, and the interruption in this desirable state of things was
very brief. Negotiations continued, therefore, but with an
undercurrent of doubt as to details on some important points
among the foreign envoys. Lord Elgin had the greatest responsibility,
indeed, and the task before him was difficult and delicate,
but he failed in drawing to himself his colleagues and
learning their views. They hardly knew w^iat to do, for none
of them wished to thwart his desires for complete and honorable
intercourse with the central government, though the
manner of reaching this end might admit of discussion. This
he never invited. The position of the American and Russian
envoys, pledged to their instructions not to fight, and having
the feeling that their nations were to obtain the atlvantages resulting
from the hostilities of the allies, was not a pleasant one; but it could have been made so, and he himself relieved of his main anxiety as to the result, by an interview. In contrast
‘ Oliphant’s Mission of Lord Elgin to China and Japan, pp. 2B8-253 (American edition), N. Y., 1860. It is interesting to note, before leaving this episode,
u Frenchman’s opinion of the character of this statesman: ” Kiying a
ote de 1842 a. 1844 le grand nugociateur de la Chine. Les ministres ctrangers ont vautu son habilete, sa finesse, ses fa(^ons aimables et courtoises.
Son nom sjmbolisait line politiqne nonvelle, bienveillante ponr les ctrangers, tolerante, liberale ; il representait nne sorto de ‘eune Chine.”—M. C. Lavalleo
in the Eenie des Deux Mondrs, If) Dc’c. IHni), p. (502. The same article contains an interesting account of the first e.\])edilion up the Pei ho and its results.
iSai ijilii -“eN -r- IMPE^RIS’-. CCN1MIS3I0NER .
LORD Elgin’s perplexities. 65^
with Lord Elgin’s general bearing toward those around him, as detailed in his correspondence, his biographer gives an extract from a private letter written the day after signing his treat^, which describes his perplexities:
June 29th.—1 have not written for some days, but they have been busy ones. We went on lighting and bullying, and getting the poor commissioners to concede one point after another, till Friday the 2″)th, when we had reason to believe that all was settled, and that the signature was to take place the following day. On Friday afternoon, however, Baron Gros came to me with a message from the Russian and American ministers to induce me to recede from two of my demands—1, a resident minister at Feking, and, 2, permission to our people to trade in the interior of China ; because, as they said, the Chinese plenipotentiaries had told them that they had received a decree from the Emperor stating that they should infallibly lose their heads if they gave way on these points.The resident minister at Peking I consider far the most important matter gained by the treaty ; the power to trade in the interior hardly less so. I had at stake not only these important points in my treaty, for which I had fought so hard, but I know not what behind. For the Chinese are such fools that it was impossible to tell, if we gave way on one point, whether they would not raise difficulties on every other. I sent for the admiral; gave him a hint that there was a great opportunity for England ; that all the powers were deserting me on a point which they had aH, in their original applications to Peking, demanded, and which they all intended to claim if I got it ; that, therefore, we had it in our power to claim our place of priority in the East by obtaining this when others would not insist on it. Would he back me V This was the forenoon of Saturday, 2Gth, and the treaty was to be signed in the evening.
I may mention, as a proof of the state of people’s minds, that Admiral Seynour told me that the French admiral had urged him to dine with him, assuring him that no treaty would be signed that day ! I sent Frederick to the imperial commissioners to tell them that I was indignant beyond all expression at their having attempted to communicate with me through third parties ; that I was ready to sign at once the treaty as it stood ; but that if they delayed or retreated, I should consider negotiations at an end, go to Peking and demand a great deal more, etc. Frederick executed this most difficult task admirably, and at six r.M. I signed the treaty of Tientsin. I am now anxiously awaiting some communication from Peking. Till the Emperor accepts the treaty I shall hardly feel safe. Please God he may ratify without delay ! I am sure that I express the wish just as much in the interest of China as in our own. Though I have been forced to act almost brutally, I am China’s friend in all this.’
‘ Walrond’s Life and Letters of Lord EUjin , p. 252.
The importance of these two provisos was not exaggerated in his mind, but lie might have seen that the difficulties with his colleagues were increased by his own reticence.
However much a different course might have liariuouized these discordant views, the pressure on the city of Tientsin was too near and severe upon the Chinese, and they yielded from fear of worse consequences when no other arguments coukl have induced them. It was not Lord Elgin alone who felt very sensibly, on that occasion, ” the painfulness of the position of a negotiator who has to treat with persons who yield nothing tu reason and everything to fear, and who are at the same time profoundly ignorant of the subjects under discussion and of their own real interests.” Looked at in any point of view, this period of negotiation at Tientsin in 1858 was a remarkable
epoch. The sole great power of paganism was being bound by
the obligations of a treaty extorted from its monarch by a
handful of men in possession of the entrance to its capital. As
one of the British officers pithily stated it, two powers had China
by the throat, while the other two stood by to egg them on, so
that all could share the spoil. Yet the past sixteen years had
proven most conclusively that, unless this pressure was exerted,
the imperial government would make no advance, admit no
opening for learning its real position among the nations of the
world, but mulishly cherish its ignorance, its isolation, its conceit,
and its folly, until these causes had worked out the ruin so
fondly hoped to be avoided. Even the necessity of coming
into personal official relations with the foreign consuls to promote
the maintenance of good order between their subjects had
been hampered or neutralized by the Chinese authorities at all
the ports ; and there was no hope of introducing a better state
of things until foreign ministers were received at Peking. Happily, Lord Elgin then saw the question in all its bearings, and no one ever proved to be a truer friend to China than did he in forcing it upon her. He had little idea, probably, of one^’.iOtive for their resistance, namely, the fear of the ManZu rulers, already referred to, that in admitting the enemy to the capital they would be as summarily ejected as had been their predecessors in 1644.
TIIK TREATIES SIGNED AND RATIFIED. 60?
However, by the first week in July the four treaties had been signed and ratified by Hienfung, and all the vessels had left the Pei ho, which itself was no doubt the greatest proof to his Majesty that they were valid compacts ; for if the tables had been turned he would not have let them oif so easily, and perhaps wondered that Tientsin had not been ransomed at the same rate that Elliot had spared Canton in 1841. It is difficult to fully appreciate the crass ignorance and singular perversity of the men in whose hands the sway of the Chinese people were now lodc-ed. lie who is unwillinci: to acknowledge the overruling hand of God in this remarkable meeting of nations, would find it very difficult to acknowledge it anywhere in human history.
The revision of the tariff had been deferred for a future discussion among those qualified for the work. Five Chinese commissioners reached Shanghai early in October for this and other purposes, of whom Kweiliang and Ilwashana were two. In this part of the negotiations the controlling power was properly left in the hands of the British, for their trade was worth more than all others combined. They used this power most selfishly, and fastened on the weak and distracted Empire a veritable remora, which has gone on sucking its resources without compunction or cessation. By making the tariff an integral part of the treaty, they theoretically made every infraction a casus Ijelli, and as no provision was left for revision, it was virtually rendered impossible, since the original four powers could not again be brought to unite on its readjustment with a view to the rights of China. While particular provision was made in it for preventing the importation of salt and the implements and munitions of war, the trade in opium was legalized at a lower rate than was paid on tea and silk entering England, and the brand of itmnorality and smuggling was removed from its diffusion throughout China. The weakness and isnoranee of the Chinese were such as laid them open to the power and craft of other nations, but the inherent wrong of the principle of ex-territorial ity was never more unjustly applied than in breaking down the moral sense of a people by forcing them to legalize this druc;. The evils of smug-o-lino: it were insufferable, but a heavy duty was desirable as a check and stigma upon the traffic. The solution to a statesman in Lord Elgin’s position was exceedingly difficult in relation to this point, and he perhaps took the safest course under the existing circumstances, but it has proved to be fraught with evils to the Chinese.
One who now reads his biography and learns his nice sense of right and equity in national affairs, will not be surprised to see his doubts as to the best course to take where all were so many moves in the dark.
The war which arose about the Arrow was now virtually closed, but many things remained to be enforced in can-ying out the treaty stipulations or restraining the irritation they produced. The vastness of the Empire sundered its inhabitants so widely that each felt the troubles it endured only when they came near; but to all of them the obligations of treaty were of the most shadowy nature. It would require years of patient instruction to educate the mass of natives up to the idea that these obligations affected them as individuals. One means of this instruction, which subsequent years have shown to be both practical and profitable, was the extension and reorganization of the administration of the customs under foreign supervision. Its short service at Shanghai had proved it to be easy and safe of operation, and the increased fidelity everywhere in collecting the duties gratified the central and provincial governments exceedingly.
It was a startling proof of the degrading effects of the opium and smuggling trade upon the honor of the foreign merchants that they generally resisted the transfer of collecting duties from native to foreign hands, and endeavored in a thousand ways to thwart and ridicule the altered system. This feeling, however, disappeared with the incoming of a new set of merchants, and the Chinese government has, since the first, found no difficulty in utilizing the skill, knowledge, and power of their employes, not only in fiscal departments, but where ever they felt the need of such qualifications. Beginning at Shanghai, when the local officers were helpless against their own subjects, mandarins and people alike desired the advantages of an honestly collected tariff to be extended to every port opened for foreign trade.
CLOSING INCIDENTS OF THE WAR, 659
The changes formulated in the treaties of Tientsin could receive their accomplishment only after patient efforts on the part of ministers, consuls, and collectors to carry them into effect with due regard to the position of the native rulers. In order to open the way into the country, Lord Elgin visited Hankow in four ships in November, after he had signed the tariff. The rebels in possession of Naidving and other towns, being unapprised of his character, fired at him from some of their forts, for which “they were pounded pretty severely in return.” But a few words afterward proved more effectual than many shots, and no further altercation occurred. The voyage to and return from Hankow occupied seven weeks, and inaugurated a commerce and intercourse which has resulted in much good to the natives by making them rapidly acquainted with foreigners. The right of China to the exclusive navigation of her internal waters was summarily set aside by making Hankow a seaport; on the other hand, the government derived many advantages in the moral assistance given her at the time against the rebels by having them restrained, and, up to the present day, in the stimulus given to internal trade and rapid intercourse between the peoples of remote districts.
The year 1858 was fraught with great events, involving the welfare of the people of China and Japan and their future position and progress. Much against their will they had been forced into political relations with Europe and America, and in a measure deprived of their independence under the guise of treaties which erected an {77vperiiim in iinpeiHO in their borders.
Their rulers, ignorant of the real meaning of these principles of ex-territoriality, were tied down to observe them, and found themselves within a few years humbled before those of their own subjects who had begun to look to foreigners for protection.
The perplexity of the Chinese commissioners at Shanghai in this new position was exhibited in a despatch addressed on November 1, 1858, to the three envoys. In it they discuss the right of foreigners who have no treaties to go into the interior, and insist upon the absolute necessity of restraining them, which their own mercantile consuls could not and would not do. ” Being unacquainted,” they wrote, ” with the usages of foreign nations in this respect, and unwilling of ourselves to lav down preventive regulations respecting issuing passports, \\g desire first to receive the result of your deliberations before we act ill the premises/’ They then proceed tu show how necessary it will be for the future peace between contiicting interests and nationalities that consuls should not be merchants, for” some of those of your respective nations have formerly and often acted in a manner calculated to impede and mar the harmony that existed between their nations and our own; wilfully disregarding everything but their own opinions, they have carried out their own high-handed measures to the ruin of all cordial feeling.”” The writers had no idea how this despatch was an argument and a proof of the need of strong measures to drag them out of their stupid ignorance and childish desires for isolation, and compel them to understand their duties.
The education then begun was the only means through which to raise the Chinese rulers and people to a higher plane of civilization and liberty. One document like this carries in itself enouo;li to show how ignorant were its writers and their coleso leagues of their own duties, and how hopeless was the prospect of their emergiiiii; voluntarilv from their seclusion. The treaties bound them down to keep the peace, while they opened the channels through which the people could learn whatever was true and useful, without fear of punishment or reproach. The toleration of Christianity, the residence of foreign ministers at Peking, and the freedom to travel through the land were three avenues heretofore closed against the welfare and progress of China which the treaties opened, and through which she has already made more real advances than ever before in her history.’
‘ For full details on these important negotiations, see the Blue Book presented to Parliament July 15, IS”)!), containing Lord Elgin’s correspondence; f’. <?. Senate Krerutice Document No. 30, read March i;}, IHGO, containing correspondence of Messrs. Reed, Williams, and Ward, from June, 1857, to September 17, 1859; Oliphant’s Mmioii of Lord Elrjin to China and Japan, London and New York, ISfiO ; Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Pers<onal Narrative of Three Years’ Serrire in (lldna, London, 1S(>:}; le Marquis de Moges, liaron. Groups EndxtHny to China and Japan, 1800; Walrond’s Letterx and JoiirnaU of James, Earl of Elfjin, London, 1872; Lieut. J. D. Johnston, China and Japan, Philadelphia, 18C0 ; North American Reriew, Vol. XC, p. 125; BlackwoocPii Magazine. Vols. LXXXVL, p. G47, LXXXVIL, pp. 430, 535, audLXXXIX., p. 37a
SENTIMENT OF CHINESE TOWARD THE ALLIES. 661
By the end of December, 1858, the four envoys had left China, as well as most of the small force under their control. Koneof them had reached Peking, so that the Emperor was relieved of his fear that he would be carried off as was his commissioner, Yeh, from Canton; he had, moreover, another year of grace to learn what he ought to do to carry out the treaties. lie was also relieved by the refusal of the allies to join their quarrel with the efforts of the Tai-pings and march together to the conquest of the Empire. In Canton the presence of the allies had been an irritation chiefly to the provincial officers, who busied themselves in stimulating large bodies of braves in its vicinity to assassinate and rob individual foreigners near or in the city, keeping up in this manner a lasting feeling of discontent. Several skirmishes took place, and a large district within the city near the British quarters on Kwanyin Shan Avas burned over to insure protection against sudden attacks.
The new governor-general, Hwang, had formed a league of the gentry and braves, which chiefly exhibited their power in harassing their own countrymen. He was removed in disgrace at Lord Elgin’s request, and all these puny and useless attacks brought to an end.
An incident which occurred near Canton about fifteen months after the city had been captured, strikingly shows the character of the people: ” February 11th.—On the 8th a body of troops about one thousand strong started on an expedition which was to take three days. I accompanied, or rather preceded them on the first day’s march, about twelve miles from Canton. We rode through a very pretty country, passing by the village of Shek-tsing, where there was a fight a fortnight ago. The people were very respectful, and apparently not alarmed by our visit. At the place where the troops were to encamp for the night a cattle fair was in progress, and our arrival did not seem to interrupt the proceedings. February 13th.—The military expedition was entirely successful. The troops were everywhere received as friends. Considering what has been of yore the state of feeling in this province toward us, I think this almost the most remarkable thing which has happened since I came here. Would it have happened if I had given way to those uiio wished me to carry tire and swoni through all the country villages ? ” ‘
These same villages furnished thousands of volunteers in May, 1841, to attack Sir Hugh Gough’s army, and had been engaged in a desperate struggle with their countrymen only three years before, so that this change was owing neither to cowardice nor Bulkiness. It had been brought about chiefly through considerate treatment of the people by the British gari-ison in Canton, by honest payment for supplies, and by regard for the traffic and local government of the city ; the citizens consequently had no complaint to make or revenge to satisfy. Those who from infancy had been brought up to call every foreigner ^fan-lm^ei^ or ‘ foreign devil,’ now slowly appreciated the fact that they had been mistaken—nor were the misconceptions all on their side. During the three years the city was occupied, public opinion there underwent an entire change ; and the Cantonese are now as courteous as they before were ill-mannered.
At this season of rebellion and foreign war under which China was now suffering, the province of Kwangtung had a special cause for just irritation against all foreigners in the coolie trade. The headquarters of this trade were at Macao, and by 1860 it had become nearly the only business carried on there.
‘ Walrond’s Letters and Joxi,rnals of Lord Elgin, p. 308.
ATROCITIES OF THE COOLIE TRADE. 663
The population of the colony is perhaps seventy-odd thousand, of whom less than five thousand wear a foreign dress. Traffic and industry are mostly carried on by Chinese, who do all the work. When the trade of hiring Chinese as contract laborers to go to Cuba, Peru, and elsewhere began, there was no difficulty in obtaining men willing to try their fortunes abroad. As rumors of gold diggings open to their labors in California were spread abri)ad and confirmed by returning miners, the coolie ships were readily filled by men whose ignorance of outer lands made them easily believe that they were bound to El Dorado, whatever country they shipped for. The inducement for hiring them was the low rate of wages ($4 a month) at which they were willing to sell their labor, and the profits derived from introducing them into westeirn tropical regions. The temptations of this business became so great that within ten years the demand had far exceeded the supply. Seldom has the unscrupulous character of trade, where its operations are left free from the restraints either of competent authority or of morality, been more sadly exhibited than in the conduct of the agents who filled these coolie ships. The details of the manner in which natives of all classes, scholars, travelers, laborers, peddlers, and artisans, were kidnapped in town and country and sent to Macao, were seldom known, because the victims were unable to make themselves heard. When the rebels at Fuhshan were defeated in 1855, thousands of their followers were glad to save their lives by shipping as coolies, but this lasted only a short time.
The allied commissioners in charge of Canton took cognizance of these outrages, and upon the representations of Governor-General Lao took vigorous measures for breaking up the trade at Wham]x»a.’ The United States minister, lion. J. E. “Ward, lent his aid in February, 1860, by allowing the Chinese authorities to take three hundred and seventeen men out of the American ship Messenger in order to ascertain whether any of them were detained on board against their will. Every one of them declined to go back to the ship, but it was not proved how many had been beguiled away on false pretences—the usual mode of kidnapping. The report of the commission sent to Cuba a dozen ^-ears later asserts, as the result of careful inquiries, that the majority of the coolies in Cuba ” were decoyed abroad, not legitimately induced to emigrate.”
The Portuguese rulers of Macao “were unwilling to make thorough investigation into the facts about this business until after the return of the commission sent to Cuba in 1873, whose report disclosed the inevitable evils and wrongs inherent in the traffic. Urged by the British government, they finally (in 1875) closed the barracoons, and thus put an end to it. During the twenty-five years of its existence about five hundred thousand coolies were taken away.
‘ Compare Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Pfrsomd Nan-ative of Three Years^ Serrke in China, pp. 260-342, where the matter is pretty thoroughly discussed and Lao’s proclamations given in detail.
To return to the war : throughout the winter no event of note occurred in any part of China, but the imperial government was busily employed in fortifying the mouth of the Pei ho to prevent the entrance of the allies. They demolished the old forts to rebuild new ones of materials gathered on the spot, and constructed somewhat after the manner laid down in foreign authorities on fortification. These books had been translated for them by natives trained in mission schools. Notwithstanding all that Kweiliang and llwashana may have assured them to the contrary, the Emperor and his officers could not divest
themselves of their fears of serious reprisals, if not of conquest,
should they pennit the allied gunboats to anchor a second
time at Tientsin and their embassies to enter the capital. The
two commissioners awaited at Shanghai the arrival of the British,
French, and American plenipotentiaries, for the purpose of
urging them to exchange the ratifications in that city. Nevertheless,
since Peking was expressly appointed in the first two
treaties as the place for signing them, Mr. Bruce and M. Bourboulon,
the English and French ministers, determined to insist
upon this detail. The poor commissioners, on the other hand,
knowing more than they dared to tell of the hostile preparations
going on, steadily declined the offer of a passage to Taku.
KEPULSE OF THE ALLIES BEFORE TAKU. 665
Mr. Ward was not tied down to any place or time for exchanging the American treaty, but decided to do so at the same place with his colleagues. The three ministers remained in the south to exchange views and allow the British gunboats to collect off Taku before their arrival, when they all joined them on June 20th. The appearance of the forts was entirely different from last year, and confirmed the reports of the great efforts making to prevent foreigners reaching the capital in large numbers. The river was found to be barred by an elaborate boom of timber and chains; but though no soldiers were in sight on the battlements, it was evident that a collision was intended. The reconnoissance had been carefully made from the ITth to the 2tl:th, and the riiiuese gcnierul, S;nig-k()-lin-siii, felt confident of his ability to hold his own against the shi])s inside of the bar. All official intercourse was refused with Admiral Hope, though he had stated his purpose clearly, because, as was alleged, these forts and men were merely gathered by the conniion people to defend themselves against pirates.
In order to discover the real state of feeling toward a neutral, Commodore Tatnall took Mr. AVard, in the United States chartered steamer Toeywan, into the river on the 24th, and proceeded toward a jetty near the fort. The steamer ran aground when about half a mile short of it; the minister then sent his interpreters to the jetty, where they were met by a dozen or more miserably dressed fellows who had come from the fort for that purpose. On learning the errand of the foreigners, one or two of the men spoke up in a way which showed that they were officers—probably disguised as coolies—telling the deputation
that the passage to Tientsin by the Pei ho had been barred, but
that the governor-general, Ilangfuh, was then at Pehtang, a
place about ten miles up the coast, where he was ready to receive
the American minister. They added that they had no
authority to take any letter or card for him ; that they knew
very well the nationality of the Toeywan, which would not be
harmed if she did not attempt to break through the boom laid
just above the jetty ; and, lastly, that they were not at all empowered
to aid or advise the Americans in getting up to Pehtang.
The whole episode was a ridiculous ruse on the part of the Chinese to hide their design of forcibly preventing the ministers from ascending the river; but by so undignified a behavior the general commandino; the works forfeited whatever moral advantage might otherwise have remained on his side. After Admiral Hope had commenced his operations against the barriers, Ilangfuh did indeed send a letter to the British minister—then lying nine miles off the shore—informing him of the arrangements made at Pehtang to take the allied envoys from thence to the capital. These arrangements certainly violated no article of the treaties, nor any promise made to the foreigners, though they neutralized entirely the journey to Peking upon which the British government had determined to send its plenipotentiary.
One may learn from the letters of Mr. Bruce to Lord Malmesbury(of July 5th and 13th) many details of the impertinent reception accorded to Admiral Hope’s messengers by the rabble and soldiers near the Taku forts, all proving plainly enough their hostile intentions. But the minister overlooks what we, in retracing the history of these years, cannot too attentively keep in mind, namely, the ever-present fear of trickery and foul play with their unknown engines of war which the Emperors counsellors momentarily dreaded from their foreign adversaries.
On the other hand, what could be done with a government which would never condescend to appreciate its own weakness, would never speak or act the truth, would never treat any other nation as an equal ? These and other despatches from the Blue Book afford a key to the policies of both parties in this remarkable contest, and convince the impartial student of the necessity of personal contact and acquaintance before it was possible to reach a lasting understanding between the holders of so widely separated views.
During the night of the 23d, after the Toeywan had floated at high water, the British advanced and blew up the first boom, leaving, however, the second and stronger obstruction untouched.
The attempt to ascend the river in force was commenced by the allies in the following afternoon, when the forts opened fire upon them and by evening had sunk or silenced almost every vessel. In this Hect thirteen small ii’unboats were enji-ased, one of the largest among them, a French craft, carrying six hundred men ; besides these were some six hundred nuirines and engineers
designed to serve as an escort upon the journey to the
capital. This guard was now landed in the mud before the
forts and an attempt made to carry the works by escalade, but
the effort failed, and by daylight the men were all once more
afloat. From the gunboats twenty-five men were killed and
ninety-thi-ee wounded ; the loss among tlie marines was naturally
heavier—sixty-four killed and two hundred and fifty-two
wounded, while of the boats four were sunk.’
Throughout this action the American vessel Toeywan remained inside of the Ijar, being a non-combatant. The gallant energy of Commodore Tatnall, who in the thick of the fight passed through the fleet to visit the British admiral lying
‘ One of these afterward lloated of itself and was preserved.
Upper North Fort
PLAN OF THE MOUTH OF THE PEI-HO.
Sheicing the Defences
and illustrative of the Attack o/25!» June, 1859
wounded in the Plover, well-nigh cost him his life; a shot from the Chinese guns tore into the stern of his harge, killing the coxswain, and narrowly missed sinking the boat with all on board. Tatnall’s declaration, in extenuation of his technical violation of international law by towing boat-loads of British marines into action, that ” blood is thicker than water,” has indissolubly associated his name with this battle of the Pei ho.’
The American minister was present as a spectator at this repulse before the Taku forts, but this could not be properly considered as a reason for not making further attempts to reach Peking. He accordingly, though not without some difficulty, notified the governor-general at Pehtang of his arrival, and four days later a pilot was sent off and the Toeywan taken up to Pehtang. Mr. Ward, in his report to Washington, expresses his belief that he would not be allowed to reach Peking, while the Chinese had no other intenti(jn than to escort him there and bring him safely back. On July Sth boats were sent to conduct his party to the place of meeting, which they reached through a line of soldiers in uniform placed along the sides of the streets, and were ushered into a large hall amid a crowd of officials. The recent encounter at Taku was discussed in a sensible manner, without apparent anxiety or bravado, and then the arrangements for taking the whole party of twenty to Peking were made known. Among other topics of inquiry brought forward was the cost of such vessels as had been sunk in the Pei ho by their guns—as if the officials had been estimating the probable expense of their victory when the English brought in their usual bill of damages. But the offer of Commodore Tatnall to place his surgeons at the disposal of the Chinese, to aid in treating the wounded men at the forts, was declined.
‘ Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher’s Personal Nmrative of Three Tears” Service in China, Chaps. XIII. and XIV.
MIJ. WAKD’s visit to PEKING. 660
Everything being made ready by July 20th, the American minister set out under the escort of Chunghow, now first brought into contact with foreigners. About forty miles of flat, saltish plain was crossed, until the party reached Pelitsang, on the Pei ho, where were lying the boats prepared for their reception. As they proceeded up the river the inhabitants flocked to the banks to behold the dreaded foreigners, but no expressions of vaunting or hostility were heard among the myriads who now gazed for the first time upon them. The
vast crowd at Tungchau, when the twenty Americans landed,
comprised apparently the whole population of that city ; clad in
white summer garments, and preserving a most remarkable
stillness and decorum as they lined the river banks and highway,
this silent, gazing multitude produced upon the strangers
an effect incomparably weird. The day was oppressively hot,
and many preferred the carts to the mules provided for the
trip to Peking, where they all arrived on the 2Ttli. A ridiculous
rumor, illustrated by appropriate pictures, respecting this
journey was circulated in Paris about a fortnight afterward,
stating that Mr. Ward and his party were conducted from the
coast in an innriense ” box or travelling chamber, drawn overland
by oxen,” and then put ” on a raft to be towed up the river and
Imperial Canal as far as the gate of the capital. They were
well treated, and were taken back to the coast in the same
manner.” This jeux (Tesjyi’it ju-obably expressed the popular
sentiment in France of what was expected from the Chinese,
and has ever since been associated with it.
On announcing his arrival, a meeting was arranged for the 30th between Mr. Ward and Kweiliang and Ilwashana, at which all the time was occupied in discussing the question of the manner of audience. The minister had the advantage in this interesting colloquy, for he had come up at the invitation of the governor-general, had no directions from the President upon the matter, was quite indifferent as to the result of the conference, and had no presents to be rejected as Lord Amherst’s were in 181G. The nature of the hotow and the reasons for requiring it of all who had audience of the Emperor were fully discussed at several interviews in the most amicable and courteous manner. The Chinese were anxious to bring about an audience, and went so far as to waive the ketou or knocking head, from the first, and proposed instead that the envoy should bend one knee as he approached the sovereign. This was even less of an obeisance than English courtiers paid their Queen, and might have been accepted without difficulty—if any eouiproinise were possible—had not one of the party previously declared the religious nature of the ceremony by saying, ” If we do not kneel before the Emperor, we do not show him any respect; it is that or nothing, and is the same reverence which we pay the gods.” Kweiliang further said that he himself would willingly burn incense before the President of the United States if asked to do so.’
During their whole national history the Chinese rulers and
people had accepted this ceremony as the inseparable prerogative
of the Son of Heaven ; and as this discussion in their capital
was in the hearing of a great crowd of officials, who, doubtless,
were prompt enough in circulating among the populace a
report of the disagreement, one may appreciate the feelings of
the latter when the American embassy was allowed quietly to
leave the city without enterhig into the “Great Interior” to
behold the Dragon’s Face. Foreigners have been so ready in
China to ridicule or depi’eciate whatever partakes of resistance
to their notions (unless it be backed up by force to make it respected),
that this remarkable discussion on a vital point in Chinese
etiquette and theology was generally regarded as silly verbiage
on their part or ascribed to the effect of fear on the part
of the Americans. As the time and phice for exchanging ratifications
were not mentioned in the treaty, there was no insuperable
difficulty in adjourning the ceremony to another place; yet it seemed a grotesque ending to the four days’ discussion for Kweiliang to seriously ask the minister for what purpose he had come to Peking, he himself being quite at a loss to understand the reason. Mr. Ward replied that it was to deliver the letter from the President, and to exchange the ratifications. It would have been better if he had held him to the promise made by the governor-general at Pehtang to do so in Peking. However, the return trip was concluded by the exchange of ratifications on August 15th at Pehtang, and the departure of the frigate for Shanghai soon after.
‘ See Ward’s despatches, pp. 594-617, U. 8. Senate Executue Document No. 30, read Marcli 1;5, 1800; American Eclectic Magazine, New York, Vol. 51, April and May, 18G1 •, North China Br. Ji. A. Society, Vol. I., No. 3, 1859.
LORD ELGIX AND BARON GROS RETURN TO CHINA 671
The mortification of having been repulsed at Taku was not concealed by the British public or press, when they ascribed it to the too hasty landing at sunset on a mud flat over which there was no pathway or footing. There certainly was no treachery on the part of the Chinese, as Mr. Swinhoe declares in his JVorf/i China Ca//tj>ai^n, for they plaiidy told what they would do if the passage were attempted.’ Yet it was a grievous disappointment to find that the exchange of ratifications had been interrupted from any cause; and though it will probably always be a debatable point whether it was right for the allied envoys to refuse the offered means of reaching Peking by way of Pehtang, there was no debate now as to the necessity of hastening to the capital at once.
‘ Though they told many lies as well. These charges against the Chinese were reiterated until they were believed by all the world; but in the effort to find a good reason for proceeding to Peking in order to exchange the ratifications, it was not needful to say that the forts fired upon the British ships without notice. Mr. Bruce’s despatches to Lord Malmesbury (of Jul}’ i;]th), together with the eufilosures and translations of native documents, discuss this question with much good sense.
The British and French governments moved immediately in the matter, and M’isely decided to place the settlement of the question in the same hands that had carried it thus far. In April, 1860, Earl Kussell wrote to Lord Elgin that ” Her Majesty resolved to employ every means calculated to establish peace with the Emperor of China, and had determined to call upon him again to give his valuable services to promote this important object.” The indispensable conditions were three, viz., an apology for the attack on the allied forces at the Pei ho ; the ratification and execution of the treaty ; and payment for the expenses incurred by the allies. Lord Elgin’s colleague was Baron Gros, and the two were ready to leave Europe in April. They were supported in making their demands by an army of about ten thousand British troops of all arms, gathered from England, Cape Colony, and Lidia, and nearly seven thousand French sent from France. Their respective naval forces were not largely added to, but the requisite transports increased the fleets to more than two hundred vessels in all, of which thirty-three
were French. The latter had small iron gunboats, fitted to carry one gun, brought from home hi fifteen pieces each; when screwed together each boat had three compartments, made water-tight with layers of vulcanized rubber at the joinings^
The British forces gathered at Talien-wan Bay on the southeastern side of Prince llegent’s Sword, and the French at Chifu on the coast of Shantung. The plenipotentiaries had arrived iu July of this year and found the imperial government maintaining its old attitude of conciliation and undue assumption.
On March 8th the foreigners^ terms had been made known by Mr. Bruce, and a reply shortly afterward transmitted to him through Ho Kwei-tsing at Shanghai. In it the lurking fear of reprisals, so largely actuating its conduct, appears from the conclusion, when the council says : ” If Mr. Bruce will come north without vessels of war and with but a moderate retinue, and will wait at Pehtang to exchange the treaties, China will not take him to task for what has gone by. But if he be resolved to bring up a number of war-vessels, and if he persist in proceeding by way of Taku, this will show that his true purpose is not the exchange of treaties.” ‘ After such a declaration there was but one way left by which to prove to the Emperor how thoroughly in earnest were the allies in their intention of exchanging the treaties. The last bulwark of Chinese seclusion was now to be broken down—never more, we may hope, to be erected against the advancing influences of a more enlightened civilization.
‘ Wolseley’s Narrative, p. 14. Fislier’s C/nmi, Chap. XXIII.
LANDING OF THE ALLIES AT PEIITANG. 673
After the usual delays incident to moving large bodies of troops with their various equipages, the combined forces left their anchorages on July 26th, presenting with their long lines of ships a grand sight as they went up the smooth waters of the Gulf of Pechele toward the mouth of the Pehtang River. This assemblage was many times larger than the armaments sent to the same region in the two previous years, and the experiences of those years had prepared both parties to regard this third attempt to reach the Court of Cambaluc as decisive of their future relations. The forces found much inconvenience in effecting a landing at Pehtang, where the beach at low tide extends over miles of ooze and sticky mud, but met no forcible opposition. The towns in this region are among the most repulsive-looking on the whole Chinese coast. In consequence of
the saline soil no trees or grass are to be seen on the wide
plain ; the only green things being a few fruit trees near the
Jiouses, or scattering patches of salsola and similar plants. The
houses are built of mud and chopped straw ; their walls rest on
layers of sorghum stalks spread on the foundation to intercept
the saline influences, while the thatched roofs also contain
much mud. These soon present a scanty covering of grass,
which, speedily withering in the hot sun, imparts to the dwelling a still more forlorn aspect. Cheerless enough on a bright day, the appearance of one of these hamlets in wet weather—with mud streaming from the roofs, the streets reeking with noisome filth, through which loaded carts and half-naked men wend dolefully their way—is certainly melancholy beyond any description.
The allies were on shore by the evening of August 2d, and
in a most pitiable plight in their own eyes. The men had been
obliged to wade through the mud left by the retiring tide to
reach solid ground, and then cross a moat that received the
drainings of the town, a reeking mass much worse, of course,
than the other. Xo fresh water was to be had, and the time
which elapsed before the men could be supplied from the boats
Avas spent in putting themselves up for the night, Avet, dirty,
and hungry as they were. In the morning it was found that
the few forts which they were to attack were merely for show,
and soon the town was occupied by the ti’oops, their generals
taking the temples for quarters. In less than three days every
house in it had been pillaged, and whatever was worthless for
plunder was destroyed as useless, ” the few natives that still
lingered by their uinisurped domiciles,” adds Mr. Swinhoe,
” quietly watching with the eye of despair the destruction of
all the property they possessed in the world, and the ruin of
their hopes perhaps forever.” Even the poor wretches who
were trying to cany off their goods in packs were stopped and
stripped by the prowling soldiers.
Ill less than a fortnight the entire force had been brought
ashore without accident or opposition. There were men, tents,
guns, horses, provisions, animals, stores, ammunition, baggage, —everything, in short, which an army now needs and which
steam easily brings to it. Besides these, two thousand live
hundred Cantonese coolies, each of whom is estimated by
Colonel Wolseley, with supreme candoi’, to have been of more
general value than any three baggage animals. They were
working constantly for ten days, carrying water, landing stores,
and performing the toil devolving on camp followers, for which
this author magnanimously praises them by saying: “They
were easily fed, and when properly treated most manageable.”
On August 12th the forces were ready to move on the Taku
forts lying about five miles distant across the plain, now rendered
miry by the constant rains. A single causeway three
miles long, flanked by deep ditches, traversed it, and along this
progress, especially for the heavy artillery, was exceedingly
slow. Upon their passage of this road the Chinese general,
Sangkolinsin, yielded the only vantage-ground where he could
have encountered his enemy with hope of success. This ignorant
blunder on the part of so energetic a commander seems all
the more unaccountatle, since a week previously the Chinese
cavalry had been nnich emboldened by some slight successes
over a reconnoitring party of the allies, and ” approached our
outposts with wonderful courage, a few even advancing to within
a few hundred yards, brandishing the swords and making grotesque
gesticulations.”
At last the allies were ready to advance to the attack of the
Chinese. The Mongol horsemen commenced the engagement
by rushing fearlessly forward in several irregular lines of
skirmishers, and bravely received the shot from the Armstrong
guns, until they charged with a loud, M’ild yell the Sikh cavalry,
with whom they engaged in close conflict. But ” in less than
a minute the Tartai’s had turned and were flying for their lives
before our well-armed irregulars supported b}^ two squadrons
of the finest dragoons in the British army ; the ])ursuit lasted
for five miles, and was then only ended by our horses being
pumped out. Had they been in good working order the vq
CAPTURE OF SINIIO AXD THE TAKU FOKTS. 675
suits would have been far more satisfactory, and the worthy tax-payers at home would have had the pleasure of gloating over the account of an immense Mst of slain enemies.”‘
TliQ allied infantry had already reached the intrenched canjp, near the village of Sinho, and the ” beautifully precise practice” of the Armstrongs, together with the accurate rifled guns of the French, were brilliantly successful in knocking over the Chinese who served their gingalls at the ranges of fourteen hundred or a thousand yards.
The reader cannot desire further particulars of this unequal
contest as described by Colonel (now Lord) Garnet “Wolsele^-.
The various forces of the Chinese M-ere entirely routed by the
allies ; the plain was speckled for miles l)y native corpses, while
the care of wounded men called out the sympathies and skill of
their conquerors. The village of Sirdio was plundered, and its
inhabitants fled, glad to escape with their lives.^ The next
morning an advance was made by the entire force upon the five
forts and intrenched camps at Tangku, three miles ofF, from
which the imperialists were dislodged with considerable loss on
their part, the rest retreating across the Pei ho toward Taku.
Tangku town was occupied by the foreigners, who took under
their care everybody left in it, and relieved the wounded and
starving while preparing for the intended attack on the forts.
This kindness, and the consequent increased acquaintance arising
between the contending parties in obtaining supplies, did much
to remove their ignorance and contempt of each other—a result
far more desirable and useful than the capture of forts and
prisoners.
‘Wolseley, NniTatiir, p. 108.
‘ A great collection of official documents disclosing the views of the court upon the struggle was found iu the yamun.
” Lieutenant-Colonel Fisher, Personal Narrative, pp. 404-409.
The French having already- encamped on the further bank of the Pei ho, each army commenced the building of a bridge ^ across the stream, completing the structure so speedily that by the morning of August 21st the whole attackingforce was in position. The twenty-three pieces of artillery now began to fire upon the north fort, from which the Chinese replied with all the alacrity they could, although taken thus in rear. About six o’clock, when the fire waxed hotter and hotter, and the troops were anxiously looking for the signal to advance, ” a tall black pillar, as if by magic, shot up from the midst of the nearest fort, and then bursting like a rocket after it had obtained
a great height, was soon lost in the vast shower of earth and
wood into which it resolved itself—a loud, bursting, booming
sound marking the moment of its short existence.” But the
fire from the fort only ceased for a minute or two, and the
gunners served their pieces most manfully, though sometimes
unprotected in any way from the crushing shell fire opposed to
them. The attack Ijegan about seven o’clock, nearly four thousand
men all told forming the advance. A gallant defence was
made to a still bi-aver onset, but the victoiy naturally fell to
the disciplined forces of the allies, who had j^ossessed themselves
of all the defences before noon. A few guns taken from
the ships destroyed June 25, 1850, were now recovered l)y the
British, but otherwise the fort contained nothing of Aalue. The
loss of life on both sides was coni]):iratively slight. The Jh-itish
had seventeen killed and one hundred and eighty-three wounded ; the French, one hundred and thirty casualties in all; the Chinese lay dead in heaps in the fort, and their total loss probably exceeded two thousand. The interior testified in every part the noble manner in which it had been defended, even after the disastrous explosion had crippled the resources and discouraged the enthusiasm of its garrison. From this position the allies moved on the other n(n-thern fort with their artillery, under a continual fire from its Avails ; but before the guns could open upon it, many white; flags appeared on the parapets; messengei’S were ere long seen to leave the gi’cat southern fort. They were all given up before sunset, and the famous Taku foi’ts, Avhieh had last year witnessed the discomfiture of the allies, now saw them enter as conquerors’—” the tarnished honor of our arms was <i;loriouslv vindicated.”
‘ When tlio allied generals came to carefully examine the construction of the walls, casemates, and internal arrangements, with the preparation made outside to hinder the enemy, they declared them to be absolutely impregnabW from seaward if defended as well as the north fort had been.
THE ADVANCE TO TIENTSIN. 077
Lord Elgin M-as quietly resting in Tangkn, and refused to jeceive their surrender, or even to hold intercourse with Hangfnh, the governor-general of Chihli, then in command, but turned him over to the commander of the forces. The path heing now open for the troops to march upon Tientsin, the gunboats were sent forward to see that the river was clear. On the ^.^th the two ])loiiipotentiaries wei-e again housed at Tientsin,
accompanied by naval and land forces amply strong to take
them to Peking. Xo opposition M’as, howevei”, experienced in
i-eaching that city, while the pleasing contrast in the surface of
this country with that of the dreary flats near Pehtang and
Taku refreshed the men as much as the abundant supplies and
})eacefulness of the people aided them. Such remarkable contrasts
in China illustrate the inert character of this extraordinary
people; and further, also lead one to incpiire what is the
reason for their loyalty to a government which fails so completely
in protecting them from their enemies. Mr. Swihhoe
records’ a conversation held with a M’ell-to-do Chinese, in which
this inquiry receives a partial answer in the peaceful education
of a race M’hicli lias no alternative.
‘ North China Campairjn, pp. 158-161.
His intrenchments at Sinho and Tangku being demolished, his vaunted defences upon the liver razed, his enemies’ ships in possession of Tientsin, nothing now remained for Sangkolinsiii save to move his entire army nearer Peking, and there again meeting the invaders, endeavor to preserve the capital from capture. He would not there be able to shift the odium of defeat on the difficulties of the river defences, while the moral effect would be incomparably greater if he were vanquislied near the palace. The aged Jvweiliang, the father-in-law of Prince Kung, was again directed to repair to Tientsin, where he arrived about August 2Sth. He and two others (all of them Manchus) endeavored to negotiate a peace so as to prevent the allies from advancing on Peking with their armies. Finding that they were trifling, Lord Elgin stopped the palaver, and started for Tungchau on September Stli, the British taking the left bank and the French keeping the southern. jS^ear Yangtsun a new cummission of higher rank reported itself, but it was rejected, and the army continued on its M’ay. Further on, at Ilosi-wu and Matau, signs of serious strife began to appear, but the commissioners assured their negotiators, Messrs. Wade and Parkes, that
everything was or would be ready at Tungchau to conclude the
convention. Affairs were becoming critical in the matter of
supplies and transport, for Sangkolinsin’s army prevented the
people from safely bringing animals and making sales. The commissariat,
therefore, was obliged to seize what could be found
to feed the advancing force, and this involved ransacking most
of the towns and handets lying near the river between Hosi-wu
and Tungchau. The progress of the force was, therefore, much
slower than below Tientsin, though the possession of sixty or
eighty small boats helped to bring on the amnumition and
other supplies.
On September 1ith the interpreters, Messrs.AYade and Parkes,
reached Tungchau, in order to meet Prince I and his colleague
to discuss the terms for stoj^ping the army and exchanging
the ratifications. This interview was marked with apparent
sincerity, and resulted in an order for the army to move forward
to a place designated near the town of Changkia-wan,
about three leagues from Tungchau, \vhere the troops were to
encamp. The camp broke up from IIosi-wu early on the 17th
to carry this arrangement into effect. Mr. Parkes was again sent
forward to Tungchau (twentj^ -five miles), accompanied by an escort
of twenty-six Sikh and other soldiers, to inform the imperial
connnissioners, and finally arrange terms. The ground pointed
out was reached, and seemed to be well suited for the j^ui-pose.
At Changkia-wan the party met an ofiicer at the head of some
cavalry, who challenged them, but allowed all to go on to Tungchau.
Mr. Parkes soon met another high official in charge of a
guard, who treated them with marked courtesy, informing
them that he had been the general at Sinlio, and let them proceed.
They were received at Tungchau and conducted through
the town to a temple by a messenger sent from the prince. At
one o’clock the discussions began, but instead of entering into
the details of carrying out the agreement, difficulties were made
OCCUKRENCES AT TUNGCIIAU. 679
about Lord Elgin’s delivering his letter of credence to the Emperor.
The whole afternoon was consumed in this debate,
which probably was grounded not a little on the recent decision
of Ilienfung to leave the capital for his summer palace at
Jeh-ho while the way was yet clear. At eventide the commissioners
waived the settlement of the audience, and soon agreed
to all the other points relating to the encampment near Changkia-
wan. In the morning Mr. Parkes, Colonel Walker, and
eleven others, leaving the rest of their party in the temple to
await the arrival of the plenipotentiaries the next day, departed
to view the designated encampment. Their journey was somewhat
eventful. As they reached Changkia-wan they met bodies
of Chinese infantry going south, but no notice was taken of
them, and the foreigners rode on to reach the appointed spot.
In doing so they came across a body of a thousand dismounted
liorsemen concealed in a dry watercourse, or nullah, evidently
placed there in ambush ; while riding along in front no interruption
was made to their progress. Further on, in a small
village, they detected a large force hidden behind the houses
and in gardens, but still no hindrance to their advance was interposed
by these men. A short distance ahead they came upon
a masked battery of twelve guns just placed in position, from
which they were driven away. It was now phiin that Sangkolinsin
Avas preparing an ainbushment for the allied forces to
enter, feeling confident, no doubt, of his success.
Mr. Loch, who accompained Mr. Parkes thus far, was now
designated to force his way through the Chinese troops, so as to
meet the allied generals and tell them the state of things. Sir
Hope Grant had already noticed some bodies of men on his
flanks, and was preparing for them when he learned the truth ;
but in order to give Mr. Parkes and the others a chance to escape
from Tungchau, he agreed to delay two hours before opening
upon the enemy. Mr. Loch accordingly started, in company
with Captain Brabazon and two horsemeu,to return to Tungchau.
They reached it in a few hours and found their friends, unconscious
of the danger, wandering through the town. Mr. Parkes
had learned something of it, and called on Prince I at his
quarters to claim protection ; this dignitary was in a state of much excitement, and said that ” mitil the question of delivering the letter of credence was settled there coiikl \)c no peace ; there must be war.” On returning to their temple the foreigners immediately started off in a body, but some of their horses were jaded, and the country was filled with moving bodies of troops.
When about five miles wei”e gone over they came on a brigade
of matchlock men, and ere long an officer of rank stopped them
from going further, but offered to accompany two of them to
obtain from the general a pass allowing the whole party to ride
around the Chinese army on their way back. Mr. Parkes and
Mr. Loch and a Sikh accordingly M’ent with him, and he bravely
looked after their safety. Meanwhile the battle had alreadybcgun,
as the booming cannon intimated. They had advanced only a
few rods when the trio found themselves in the midst of a large
body of infantry, some of whom seized their bridles, but their
guide rushed in, striking i-ight and left, and thus cleared the
way. Ten rods in the rear they met the Chinese general, to
whom Mr. Parkes addressed himself, pointing to the flag of
truce and asking for a pass for the whole party to return to the
P>ritish armv. 8aii<rkolinsin ” irave a derisive lau<2;h, and broke
out into a torrent of abuse, lie accused Parkes of being the
cause of all the troubles and difficulties that had arisen. Not
content with attempting to impose conditions which would have
been derogatory to the dignity of the Empei’or to accept, he
had now brought the allied armies down to attack the imperial
forces.” This is only a part of his excited conversation with Mi”.
Parkes, as reported by Mr. Loch. They were now imprisoned,
and ordered to l)e taken in an open cart with two French prisoners
to Tungehau, and delivered over to Prince I. The others,
twenty-three in all, had also been made prisoners where they
were waiting, and ere long conducted to Tungehau in charge
of a guard.
The five in the cart reached Tungehau after Prince I had
left his temple, and were therefore hurried on to Peking after
him, but on the way were turned off near Pa-li-kiau {i.e.,
‘ Eight Lt Bridge’) and taken to the quai’ters of Jinlin, a general
then in command of the Peking gendarmerie, fie ques’
IMPKISONMENT OF PARKES AND LOCH. 681
tioned Mr. Parkes upon the strength of the allied foi’ces, until
the latter ended this catechising under the torture of kneeling
with the arms twisted behind him, by pretending to faint.
In the aftei-noon, MJiile again undergoing examination by some
officials formerly with Prince 1, they were suddenly interru})
ted b}’ a commotion, and everybody ran off, leaving them
alone. Soon a number of soldiers rushed in and bound their
arms, while they were led away to be beheaded in an outer
court. But just as they crossed the yard a mandarin hurried
forward, and seizing liold of the soldier, then waving his
sword over Mr. Loch, rescued them both and hurried them into a cart, where the other three prisoners lay, upon which they immediately started for Peking by the great stone road. The torture and jolting of this ride over the rough causeway were increased by their weariness, hunger, and cramped position, and when they got out of the cart at the Iling Pu, in Peking, they were utterly prostrated. Kevertheless, their misery during the ride of ten miles was transient and light compared with what awaited them inside of the Board of Punishments.
They were there separated, heavily pinioned, and put with the native prisoners. Mr. Loch justly commends these wretched men for their sympathy, and mentions many little acts of kindness to him in dividing their cakes and giving him a special bench to sit on during the ten days he was quartered with them. Tie was then tai:en to the room with Mr. Parkes, and they were soon driven away to a temple in the northern part of the city, whore rooms had been fitted up for them. As to the party of twenty-three English and thirteen Frenchmen left by Parkes at his capture, they had been taken to Yuan-ming Yuan under a strong guard.
Meanwhile the allied army had come up to the Chinese
forces. These, about twenty thousand men in all, had been
posted with considerable skill betvreen Changkia-wan and the
Pei ho, showing a front of nearly four miles, nuich of which
w^as intrenched and presenting a succession of batteries. The
battle on the 18th died away as the allies reached that town, having driven Sangkolinsin’s troops toward Peking, captured eighty guns, and burned all his camps. The loss of life was much less among his men than at the Taku fort, for here none of them were chained to their guns, and were able to escape when their position was untenable. Changkia-wan was thoroughly pillaged that night by those who could get at it, especially the poor natives who followed the army.
On the 21st the Chinese forces made another stand near the
Eight Li Bridge over the Canal, from which the French dislodged
them without much difficulty. The British came up on
their flanks and drove them in upon their centre, which of
course soon resulted in a general dispersion. The artillery
opened up at long range ; the cavalry riding in upon the
Chinese horsemen, easily scattered them, often burning the
separate camps before returning. The contest at the bridge
was the most serious, and their loss here was estimated at three
hundred ; on the whole field it probably did not exceed five
hundred, for neither their cavalry nor infantry often presented
a solid front. The entire losses of the allies were less than
fifty killed and wounded. Nothing intei’posed now between
them and Peking, but they delayed to move until October
3d, when their entire force had come up, siege guns and
commissary stoi-es included. Full knowledge had been obtained
of the environs of Peking, and iiegotiations had been
going on respecting the return of the prisoners as a preliminary
to the close of hostilities. These were now conducted with
Prince Ivung, the next youiiger brother of the Emperor, who
was himself by this time safe at Jeh-ho.
TILLAGE OF YUEN-MINU YUEN. G88
On October Gtli Lord Elgin and the generals M-ere settled in the spacious quarters of the Hwang s//, a lamasaiy near the northwest gate of Peking, and their army occupied much of the open spaces between it and the city. On that day, the outposts of the French army and some of the British cavalry reached the great cantonment of Hai-tien (where the Manchu garrison of Peking was quartered) and the palace of Yuan-ming Yuan near by. This was soon pillaged under circumstances and in a barbarously wasteful manner which will reflect lasting obloquy upon General Montaubon, who, more than any other person, could have interposed to save the hnniense and precious collection of objects illustrating Chinese art, architecture, and literature. Lord Elgin’s journal gives his view of this act in a few words:
October 7th, 5 o’clock r. M. —I have just returned from the Summer Palace.It is really a line thing, like an English park—numberless buildings
with handsome rooms, filled with Chinese curios, handsome clocks, bronzes,
etc. But alas ! such a scene of desolation. The French general came up,
full of protestations. He had prevented looting in order that all the plunder
might be divided between the armies, etc. There was not a room that I saw
m which half the things had not been taken away or broken to pieces. I
tried to get a regiment of ours sent to guard the place, and then sell the things
by auction ; but it is difficult to get things done by system in such a case, so
some of the officers are left [there], who are to fill two or three carts with
treasures, which are to be sold. Plundering and devastating a place like this
is bad enough, but the waste and breakage are much worse. Out of a million
pounds’ worth of property, I daresay fifty thousand pounds will not be realized.
French soldiers were destroying in every way the most beautiful silks,
breaking the jade ornaments and porcelain, etc. War is a hateful business.
The more one sees of it the more one detests it.
‘
Mr. Swinhoe’s account of one room in this palace has now a historical interest—but his description must be condensed:
Facing the gate (he says) stood the grand reception hall, well adorned outside, and netted with copper wire under the fretted eaves to keep off the birds.Entering it we found ourselves on a marble floor in front of the Emperor’s
ebony throne ; tliis was adorned with carved dragons in various attitudes ; its
floor was covered with light red cloth, and three low series of steps led up to
it, on the central and widest of which his subjects made the kotow. The left
side of the hall was adorned with a picture representing the grounds of the
palace, and the side tables contained books in yellow binding and ornaments.
There was somehow an air of reverence throughout this simple but neat hall.
On an audience day the Emperor here seated himself attired in a yellow robe
wrought with dragons in gold thread, his head surmounted with a spherical
crown of gold and precious stones with pearl drops suspended around b}’ light
gold chains. Eunuchs and ministers in court costume kneel on each side in
long lines, and the guard and musicians are arranged in the outer court. The
name of the person to be introduced is called out, and as he approaches the
band strikes up. He draws near the ” Dragon’s Seat” and kneels before the
central steji, removes his hat, placing it on the throne floor with the peacock’s
feather toward the imperial donor. His Ma’esty moves his hand and down
goes the head, striking on the step three times three. The head is then raised,
but with downcast eyes the man hears the behests of his great master. Wheii
‘ Elgin’s Letters^ p. 361.
the voice ceases, again the hciul niukes t\w nine knocks, thus acknowledging the sovereign right, and the man withdraws. How different the scene now, adds Mr. Swinhoe. The hall filled with crowds of a foreign soldiery, and the throne floor covered with the Celestial Emperor’s choicest curios, destined as gifts for two far more worthy monarchs. ” See here,” said General Montaubon, pointing to them, ” I have had a few of the most brilliant things selected to be divided between the Queen of Great Britain and the Emperor of the French.” ‘
On the following day—October Sth—the coniuiaiulers were
greatly relieved by the return of Parkes, Loch, d’Escayrac de
Lauture, and five soldiers ; the first two of these gentlemen had
been comparatively well treated after their terrible experiences
within the lling Pu. A few days later botli armies were horrified
by the appearance in camp of eleven wretched men—all who
had survived from the party of French and English made prisoners
near Tungchau ; Anderson, Bowlby, de Xornian, and
others had succumbed to the dreadful tortures caused by the
cords which bound them. The coffined bodies were all brought
to camp within a few days, hardly recognizable from the effects
of lime thrown upon them. On the 16th occurred the impressive
ceremony of theii* interment in the Russian cemetery near
Peking, Lord Elgin, Sir Hope (Jrant, Parkes, and Loch being
chief mourners, while a deputation from every regiment in the
allied armies followed in the train.
Two days after this Lord Elgin ordered the destruction of the
palace of Yuen-ming Yuen ; a sudden though deliberate act.
Feeling prul)ably that such a decision would be closely criticised
by those wlio were far removed in time and place from the exciting
scenes around him, he took occasion to review his position
in a long despatch. It was impossible in his situation to learn
whether the responsibility for the capture and savage treatment
of these men rested with the same Chinese officials.’ This
‘ Swinhoe, JVorth China Campairin, pp. 294 fF. —the most detailed and interesting
account of this palace and its destruction. Compare M. C. Lavalloe in
the Reciie den Deux MowUs for August 1, 18(io. Other French writers on this
war are Lieutenant de vaisseau Pallu, lirhitioit (U I’expeditMn de Cliiiic, Paris,
1803; le Cornte d’Escayrac de Lauture, Memoirex sur hi Ch/’nc, Paris, 18(54;
Sinnebaldo de Mas, Iai Ghiiie et les ptmsances chretiennes, 18()1.
•’ I’robably not. The prisoners were in the hands of lictors wliosc habit it
was to torture in the hope of extorting money on their own account. The
DESTRUCTION OF THE SUMMER PALACE. 685
much, nevcrtlieless, was })laiii—that the Chinese were full^
aware of the obligations of a tlag of truce, inasmuch as they
had ah’eady often av’ailed themselves of its privileges. Lord
Elgin makes the Emperor personallj responsible for the crimes
which had been committed, but specifies Sungkolinsin as the
real culprit, lie then says
:
I had reason to bolieve that it was an act which was calcnlated to produce a
greater effect in China and on the Emperor than persons who look on from
a distance may suppose. It was the Emperor’s favorite residence, and its
destruction could not fail to be a blow to his pride as well as to his feelings.
To this place he brought our hapless countrymen, in order that they might
undergo their severest tortures within its precincts. Here have been found
the horses and accoutrements of the troopers seized, the decorations torn from
the breast of a gallant French officer, and other effects belonging to the
prisoners. As almost all the valuables had ah-eady been taken from the
palace, the army would go there, not to pillage, but to mark, by a solemn act
of retribution, the horror and indignation with which we were inspired by the
perpetration of a great crime. Tlie punishment was one which would fall,
not on the people, who may be comparatively innocent, but exclusively on the
Emperor, whose direct personal responsibility for the crime committed is establislied,
not only by the treatment of the prisoners at Ynen-ming Yuen,
but also by the edict in which he offered a pecuniary reward for the
heads of the foreigners.
‘The work of destruction left hardly a trace of the palace of the ” Round-bright Garden ;” indeed, the provocation for this act was great. The despatch refers only to the palace where Hienfung spent most of his time, and it is probable that Lord Elgin intended to burn that alone. He gave no orders for the destruction of the buildings on Wan-shao shan, Yuh-tsien shau, the Imperial Park near Pih-yun sz’, and other places five to ten miles distant. All of these residences or villas had been erected or enlarged by former Emperors of the present dynasty ; none have since been rebuilt. It is, nevertheless, easy to gather from Colonel Wolseley’s record that his lordship’s satisfaction in this candid spirit of Loch’s narrative is wanting in the more colored accounts of Wolseley and Swinlioe, written in the flush of victory. The charges they make against Prince I of treachery toward Mr. Parkes are not borne out ; the deaths of Captain Brabazon and the Abb; de Luc seem to have been by order of Pao, and not from SSngkolinsin. Compare an article in the Rente den Deux Mondcn (If) juillet, 18G5) by C. Lavallue, UExpedition anglo-francaise en Chine ‘ Elyin”s Letters and Journals, p. 300. ” retribution”‘ was not greatly impaired by its over-zealous performance on the part of the troops. In addition to the loss of the palaces, the Chinese had to pay £100,000 as indemnity to be given to the prisoners and their families, before the victors would consent to sign the convocation.
On the 13tli the ultimatum had been accepted by Prince
Kung, who about two hours before noon opened the An-ting or
northeast gate of Peking, wdiich commanded the whole city.
Arrangements were gradually completed for the grand entry of
the plenipotentiaries into Peking. The L’l Pu, or Board of
Rites, was selected as the place for exchanging the ratifications
of the treaty of Tientsin and signing the convention, while the
fa^ or palace of Prince I, had been chosen for Lord Elgin’s residence
in the city. On October 24th the latter was escorted to
both these places by many officers, together with a body of four
hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry, while in all the streets
leading to them were guards placed. The wdiole city was out to
witness the unusual parade. The procession passed slowly through
the wide avenues, the music of the band heralding i’ts approach to
the dignitaries anxiously awaiting the arrival. The utmost care
had been taken that no excuse should be ever after brought ft»rward
that the Emperor had not assented to tlie two documents
signed that day ; but much besides Mas done to show Prince
Kung and liis officers that they were in the presence of their
conquerors.’
The following day Baron Gros signed his convention and exchanged
the ratifications of the French treaty under similar
fornuilities. The principal points in the l>ritish convention of
nine articles were—the payment of eight million taels ; the permission
given by imperial sanction for the emigration at will of
Ciiinese subjects as contract laborers or otherwise ; the cession
of Kowlung to the crown as part of the colony of Hongkong.
Without delaying for additional connnent, the insertion here
of a poi’tion of Lord John Uusseirs despatch to Eord Elgin will
‘ The frontispiece of this volume is intended to represent this ceremony.
Its interest lies chielly iu the fact that it is from the work of one of the ablest
painters in the capital, and represents from a native’s staud-poiut one of the most remarkable and important events in the history of modern China.
THE TREATIES SIGNED AT PEKING. 687
not be uninteresting in connection witli these treaties. His
lordship’s document reads like the balance-sheet of a London
merchant at the termination of some successful adventure:
“The Convention is entirely satisfactory to Her Majesty’s
Government, it records the reparation made by the Emperor
of China for his disregard in the previous year of his treaty
engagements ; it sets Her Majesty’s government free from an
implied engagement not to insist m all particulars on the fulfilment
of those engagements ; it imposes upon China a fine
in the shape of an augmented rate of indemnity ; it affords an
additional opening for British trade ; it places on a recognized
footing the emigration of Chinese coolies, whose services are so
important to Her Majesty’s colonial possessions ; it relieves Her
Majesty’s colony of Hongkong from a source of previous
annoyance.”
‘The French convention of ten articles contained like demands
and rewards, but instead of a slice of territor}^, the sixth
provided that Koman Catholic Christians should be indemnified
for ” all such churches, schools, cemeteries, lands, and buildings
as were owned on former occasions by persecuted Christians,
and the money handed to the French representative at Peking
for transmission to the Christians in the localities concerned.”
The fulfilment of this article required over ten years ; and as
the injuries had been done in some cases as far back as the reign
of Louis XHL, great irritation was aroused in the minds of the
natives who had for generations been quietly in possession of
lands which they had purchased.^
‘”The practical result was not very great,” concludes Mr. McCarthy.
•’ Perhaps the most important gain to Europe was the knowledge that Peking
was by no means so large a city as we had all imagined it to be. . . . There
is some comfort in knowing that so much blood was not spilt wholly in vain.”
—A History of Our (km Times, Chap. XLII., Vol. III.
^’An instance is mentioned in No. IV. of the Journal of the N. C. Br. R. A.Soc, 18G7, pp. 21-33, where a Roman Catholic church at Hangchau, which had been confiscated by the Emperor Yungcliing (about 1730), was changed into a temple dedicated to 7Y(7i JLto, the Queen of Heaven, “to serve th« double purpose of extirpating a religion of false gossip and obduracy, and of making an offering to a spirit who really has a beneficial influence over humaa destinies.”
The i:;reat objects of tlie expedition wei’e now attnined, and
foi-ei*;n nations conld congi-atulate tl)eniselves n)M»n liaving settled
their representatives in tlie Chinese caj)ital on terms of
equality. Two /^«, or palaces, were immediately occupied by
those from Great Britain and France. Subsecjuently, the niiii’
isters from other countries have grouped themselves around
these, and a foreign (piarter has gradually grown up in the
south-eastern part of the city. The chief agents in this im])ortant
opening, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, were well fitted by
their urbanity, phiUiuthropy, and moderation for the delicate
task assigned them. Tlie terrified officials and citizens in
Peking had expected the worst consequences on the capture of
their city, but besides the destruction of Yuen-ming Yuen, their
capital and national unity escaped uninjured.
It was probably a great aid to the policy adopted by Prince
Kung and his colleagues that the Emperor and his court had
fied to Jeh-ho, for their influence, as the sequel proved, would
have opposed any pacification. It was still more important for
all future co-operation that he never came back at all, and thus
the real guidance of affaii’s fell into better hands.
The 24:th day of October saw the ending of the seclusion of
the Chinese from their fellow-men ; the contest honestly enough
begun in 1839 by Lin, to rescue his country from the curse of
opium, was in a manner completed on that day by the admission
of those regenerating influences which could alone effectually remove that evil. The intermediate twenty years had done much to prepare the Chinese for this concluding act ; and the honorable manner in which they fulfilled their promises and payments will stand as a lasting monument to, their national credit.
The retirement of the allies from Peking was accomplished
without impediment from the Chinese army under Sangkolinsin
; the money disbursed for boats, carts, supplies, fuel, etc.,
as the troops went down the river, compensating many natives
for their losses. By the end of November all had embarked
except the garrisons left at Tientsin and Taku, which latter
were removed as soon as the portion of the indemnity involving
their occupation was paid up. The effectual and salutary work
OBJECTS OF tup: WAR AC(‘0Mri>I8IIEU. 689
ing of tlio treaty stipulations for the niutual welfare of all parties
deiieiided on the di})loiiiatic and consular oflEicers left in the
capital and open ports. The British fijoverninent alone was
adequately supplied in this respect, and their consulates hecaine
the expositors to the local rulers of the manner in wliieli tlie
treaties were to be interpreted and enforced. The great mass
of natives knew almost nothing of their provisions, and looked
upon the struggle chiefly as one between their sovereign and
the foreigners. The defeat of the latter was in remoter districts
declared proven by their retirement from Peking ; but
along the coasts and up the Yangtsz’ the actual sight of steamers
and contact with foreigners who could talk with them and
explain the new state of things, really did more than anything
else to show them that these strangers were by no means overcome.
What was thus achieved to enlighten the people near
the trading marts only required time and contact to spread into
distant regions of the interior. As for the citizens of Peking,
they met only those foreigners who could talk with them, for
that city was not open to trade ; and thus one prolific source of
misunderstanding was removed. The death of the Emperor
Ilienfung (August 17, 1861) relieved them, too, from any attempt
he might have made, in his irritation on returning to the Forbidden
City and seeing his ruined palaces, to vent his wrath on the
few foreigners then living near him. Christian missionaries
also began their work in 1861, and thus thousands, who had had
only vague ideas about the ” barbarians,” could easily learn the
truth concerning them. Most fortunately, then, circumstances
were from the first favorable for forming an intelligent public
opinion in the capital.
CHAPTER XXVI. NARRATIVES OF RECENT EVENTS IN CHINA
Twelve months elapsed before the political atmosphere of China was disturbed by any break or change in its condition—a period of qniet which the government sorely needed for an appreciation of its relations with the foreigners who had forced their way into the capital. His Majesty Ilienfung having ascended the Dragon Throne on high, left the Empire in the
hands of his only son, a child six years old ; whether thixxigh
incapacity or disease, the debauched sovereign had long before
his death allowed his courtiers to engross the reins of goveriv
ment, and these now formed a cotei’ie which at Jeh-lio was ajipowerful.
At his death the administration i-csted in the hands
of a council of eight, whose nominal head was Tsai-yuen, Prince
1, a member of the imj)erial family belonging to the same generation
with the infant Emperor. The design of this cabal was to
at once assume the absolute power of a regency, to retain possession
of the young Emperor’s person at Jeh-ho, to make way
in secret with his mother and the Empress-dowager, and lastly
to arrest and destroy his father’s three brothers ; these initiatory
steps to sovereignty being accomplished, nothing would
interrupt their complete mastery of the government.
But in Prince Kung,’ the Emperor’s oldest surviving brother.
‘ Kung Tsin-waiig, ‘Prince Respect’—called by the people Wu-ako, ‘Fifth
Elder Rrother ‘—is the sixth son of Tauk’.vang, and was born about 1S;!1.
‘Ihree older brothers died young ; Ilienfung, the fourth, succeeded his father,
wliile the fifth, being adopted into a branch of the Emperor Kiaking’s faujily,
was dropped out of Tankwang’s household, leaving Princa Kung. in 18G1 ‘«>
be the first prince during the minority of Tungchi. His persona’, name, Tih-hii.
is never employed by those outside his immediate family. He has : roni
mendable record for an Asiatic statesman trained in habits Ol autocratic .1151.
mand The background in the i)ortrait ou the opposite page is a bit of ”oxm
work in the Foreign Office at Peking.
PRINCE KUNG. THE COUP D’ETAT OF PKINCE KUNG. 691
the conspirators found an opponent of no ordinary ability, to
whose astuteness in outwitting their machinations (as may he
safely affirmed in view of events which followed) is doubtless
owing the continuance of the present reigning family. The
prince was in concealment during the autumn of 1860, when
his brother fled to Jeh-ho, but appearing when the capital was
surrendered to the allies, he bore the brunt of that impleasant
task, signing the treaties, and undertook almost alone the management
of affairs with foreigners while the government was
recovering from its paralysis of defeat. It was a happy augury
for the continuance of peace and friendly intercourse that to a
man so well fitted by temperament for liis difficult position
should be joined the able and experienced statesman Kweiliang
;
though too old to take an active part in the settlement of the
succession, this skilful diplomatist lent the greatest aid to his
son-in-law by giving advice and a much needed support to the
Empresses-dowager at this critical period.
Hastily quitting Jeh-ho with the boy—who had been proclaimed
Emperor under the reign-name of Ki-tsiang, ‘ Lucky
Omen ‘—the two Empresses availed themselves of their right to
join the first prince, and repaired to Peking. Once settled in
the Forbidden City they were able to impart to Prince Kung
the magnitude of the plot against them, and concert measures
witli leading members of the impei’ial clan for the general
safety. The arrest and trial of the traitors was promptly carried
out ; by a decree of December 2, 1861, Prince 1 and his
principal coadjutor, Prince Chin, were allowed to commit
suicide, while their powerful and clever colleague, Suhshun, was
executed in the market-place, to the unfeigned delight of the
populace. This conspirator in his machinations and gross assumptions
had acted like a veritable Tigellinus, and earned for
himself a hatred and contempt which even members of the war
party could not conceal. Others of this unsuccessful clique
were disgraced or banished, but the punishments were not
numerous or barbarous. The reign-name was now changed
from Ki-tsiang to Timg-chi, or ‘ Union Rule,’ to mark the successful
demolition of this conspiracy, while Prince Kung (now
but thirty years old), the shrewd perpetrator of the couj? cPetat,
692 THE CUDDLE KINGDOM.
was \)roc]’dimed T-e/ung-ivamj, or ‘licgeiit I’liiicc,’ mid with the
Empresses constituted the regency during the iniiK^rity.’
Considerini>- all the circumstances of this ijalace intriijue, the
rank of its leading members, and its successful suppression hy
tlie operation of legal methods alone, it may well deserve the
attention of those interested in the political and historical
development of China as an admirable instance of both the
strength and weakness of her paternal government. To the
ordinary outlays of the Empire were superadded the innuense
burdens of a foreign invasion just concluded and a terrible
struggle with domestic enemies; yet neither the Regent nor his
colleagues appear during this period of stress to have lost a
particle of their contidence in the loyalty of the people ; through
loss and gain, failure of material or resource, treachery in palace
or camp, abuse or assistance frozn foreigners, this faith in one
another failed not. The face of China in 1865 was perhaps as
wi-etchcd as that of Central Europe after the peace of AVest»
phalia; indeed a more general desolation could hardly be imagined.
Xevertheless the rapidity with which its iidiabitants not
only resumed their occupations as best they could but rebuilt
dwellings and reorganized trade, startled even their habitual
disparagers into praise and testified to the marvellous recuperative
powers of this much-despised civilization.
Pleased with the excellent results of the introduction of
western drill and ai-ms into their military service, as against
the Tai-pings, certain of the mandarins at the south proposed
utilizing foreign war-vessels to the same end. To this scheme
as at first suggested there was not, perhaps, much to say either
in its behalf or otherwise. Their purpose was to purchase three
or four gun and despatch boats, man them with as many scores
of native seamen, and impart to these the necessary instruction
by placing them under foreign ofiicers. Mr. Horatio X. Lay
liad in 1850 proposed the use of armed revenue vessels in the
customs service, a very similar suggestion. But innocent as
were these conce])ti()ns, they assumed the gravest proportions
Wounud N. C. Br. R. A. S., December, 1864, pp. 110-114. Dr. Rennie,
J’ekiitr/ (iiul the Pekinfjese, Vol. II., passim—an interesting contemporary recorcj
of this event.
THE LAY-OSBORNE FLOTILLA. 693
when in 1861 Mr. Lay was allowed to visit England and there contract
for the construction of a steam fleet and secure a number
of British naval officers for three years” service.’ The Peking
authorities were still laboring under the disadvantages of their
ignorance, and nothing can illustrate better than this remarkable
enterprise the good influence which Sir Frederick Bruce had
acquired in their counsels, and their willingness to follow his
sufforestions. Their secluded life in Pekinii; had pi’evented thera
from learning many things in respect to the conduct of affairs
in their new relations, but they could hardly have had a better
counsellor than he. The instructions from Prince Ivung sent to
Mr. Lay in England described the kind of officers and hands
which the vessels were to carry ; they were to be men able and
willing to teach ignorant sailors the practice of navigation, the
management of machinery, and the use of guns of every kind.
Instead of these he contracted for ei<:;ht gunboats of different
sizes, one or two of them powerful vessels, able to carry two
hundred and more men ; they arrived in China early in 1863
under the command of Capt. Sherard Osborne, H. X. Mr.
Lay’s disappointment was great and undisguised when, on reachinn;
Pekingr in June, he found that Prince Kung and his advisers
were totally unprepared for such a fleet, and unwilling to
endorse the engagements he had entered into with the Queen’s
officers ; nor were the funds for their current expenses provided.
His ideas of his own position were soon modified, for he found
that the vessels must necessarily be placed under the direction
of the provincial authorities in operations against the rebels.
One of the articles in the agreement with Captain Osborne stipulated
that he should receive all his orders on those matters from
the Foreign Office through Mr. Lay, and would follow his own
choice in obeying others. Mr. Lay says himself that he was
“ambitious of obtaining the position of middle-man between
China and the foreign powers, because I thought I saw a way of
solving the problem of placing pacific relations with China upon
a sure footing. . . . My position was that of a foreigner engaged
by the Chinese government to perform certain work for
• Blue Bool; China, No. 2 (1864), p. 7.
694 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
them, not under them. I need scarcely observe, in passing,
that the notion of a gentleman acting under aw Asiatic barbarian
is preposterous.” ‘ Ideas like these quite unfitted him for working
with the Chinese, either under orfor them, lie could not
understand that the former days of coercion and bullying had
passed awa}’, and that time must be allowed for them to graduallv
learn in their own way how to rise in the scale of nations,
and adopt such improvements as they pleased.
In his perplexity and chagrin, he began to blame the British
minister for lukewarmness in supporting his schemes, and to
weary the members of the Tsung-li Yamun by his demands.
The controversy continued to grow warmer after Captain
Osborne’s arrival at Peking in September, where he first learned
its real nature. Finally, in October, Prince Kung refused to
ratify Mr. Lay’s agreement made in England, very properly
remarking upon the obnoxious article which required the commander
of the flotilla to act only under orders from Peking.
Happily for China, the dissolution of the force was decided on.
The ships were to be sent back, for it was impossible to prevent
the native officials from selling them after they had full
control, and persons were already looking at them for their own
lawless designs. At this juncture Sir F. Bruce came to the relief
of the Chinese, and took the ships off their hands on
account of the British government, paying back from the indemnity
fund due to England all claims for wages, salary, and
other expenses to officers and men till their arrival in London.
This settlement involved an outlay of about $525,000, but the
total cost of the vessels, crews, and outfit from first to last was
not nnu’h less than a million sterling. The Peking government
had, therefore, by this arrangement escaped a serious
imbroglicj with the provincial governors and generals—one
which would have soon neutralized all responsibility, and perchance,
even at that late date, entailed the success of the
Tai-pings.
Mr. Lay, blinded by his own egotism and ambition, ascribes
his failure to the negligence, treachery, ignorance, and ill-will
‘ Our Interests in China : A Letter to Earl Russell, p. 19.
COLLAPSE OF THE SCHEME. 695
of Sir F. Bruce, whose performances in these lines are fully
detailed in his Letter to Earl RusselV of November 26, 1864.
This statement of wliat occurred in relation to the Lay-Osborne
flotilla exhibits the difficulties in the progress of Asiatic nations
in the path of what we call civilization^ and the ideas which
such men have as to the way in which they are to be forced
into this desirable condition. This extraordinary paper is an
instructive exhibition of British interference in tlie administration
of Asiatic countries, and how totally alien ” the spirit of
trade and progress” is to the independence and elevation of a
pagan people when it alone is the chief agency depended on.
In no case, nor under the best control, could Mr. Lay’s plan
liave worked real benefit to China ; but carried out under the
domineering leadership of such a man, the scheme would have
not only been humiliating in the last degree to those whom it
was designed to assist, but would have inevitably resulted in
the restoration of the conservative party to power and another
profitless struggle with the foreigners.
Upon the dismissal of Mr. Lay the management of the Lnperial
Maritime Customs was placed in the hands of Robert Hart,
Esq., who for a period of two years had given proof of his discretion
in this position, and (in the words of Mr. Burlingame)
had ” by his tact and ability w^on the regard of every one.”
Already the imperial officers began to appreciate the immense
material advantages of a regular income from the open ports,
especially in the practical help it furnished toward the expenses
of the dviui’ i-ebellion. The contact of native and foreisrn
rule in the same territory necessarily involved much assumption
of power and friction of authority growing out of the undefined
limits of the laws of ex-territorial ity ; but the legitimate working
of treaty provisions—the prompt reference of grievances
from complainant to consul, from the consul to his minister at
Peking—served to enlighten court and country as to the gen-
^ Our Interests in China, by H. X. Lay, C.B., London, 1864, pp. 66. See
also correspondence in Blue Gjok, and letter of Sir F. Bruce, of November 19,
1863. U. S. Diplomatic Coi^respond^iwe for 1864, Part III., pp. 348-378 ; and
for 1865, Part I., p. 670. A. Wilson, The ” Erer- Victorious Army,” pp. 260-
266. Fraser’s Magazine, February, 1865, p. 147.
696 TIIIO MIDDLE KINGDOM.
eral honesty of their quoiulaiii enemies, in a fashion whicli
neither preaching nor fighting conld ever have accomplished.’
In the year 1866 the arsenals at Fnhchau, Nanking, and Shangliai
were reorganized and made to inclnde schools for naval and
military instruction as well as engine and gun works ; the value
of such works was promptly nndei’stood by the Chinese, and
has been already the source of a creditable navy.”
The retirement of the Hon. Anson Bnrlingame from the position
of United States minister in November, 1867, furnished to
the Chinese government both an admirable agent and opportunitv
for an initial step in establishing diplomatic intercourse
M-ith the treaty powers. Into the hands of this gentleman was
placed the charge of a general mission to those governments,
there being added two co-ordinate Chinese ministers, an English
and French secretary, and six students from the Tung-wiin
Kwan at Peking. The three ministers were appointed Imperial
Envoys and furnished with a letter of credence to eleven
governments. The party left Shanghai February- 25, 1868,
for San Francisco, which ])ort they reached about a month
later. Few persons can now appreciate the excitement and
discussion in China and elsewhere caused by this first diplomatic
effort of the imperial government to take its place among
the family of nations. Mr. Bnrlingame, naturally hopeful and
enthusiastic, described his mission as an earnest of future peaceful
relations with the Middle Kingdom. AVherever he went he
elevated the estimate held of that ancient land by his hearers,
and urged the European courts to l)ut wait in patience until its
backward people might be pi-epared for the changes it wished
to adopt. Those changes and improvements were only to be
‘ The trial and condemnation of an American, who was hung at Shanghai in
1804 for the murder of two Chinese, tended to repress lawlessness on the part
of foreigners and assure the native rulers of theirearnest co-operation in bringing
tlic guilty to punishment. Tlie enlightened and friendly action of Prince
Kiing in issuing a proclamation, at re(iuest of Mr. Burlinganie, against allowing
any American Confederate cruisers to enter Chinese waters, was warmly appreciated
by this and the other treaty powers as an interesting testimonial of
tlie genuine friendsliip which was already disarming fear.
‘Compare Captain Bridge, 77w; Warlike Power of China, iu Franer^s Magazine,
Vol. 90, pp. 778 ir.
THE BI^RLINGAME MISSION. 697
adopted when China liad become convinced of their need and
practicability ; but many of Mr. Bnrlingame’s hearers were
botli more eager and more ambitions than he, regarding the
introduction of raih’oads, telegraphs, and steamers as opening
an enormous field for their own innnediate activity and gain.
The consequent indignation among foreign merchants in China and at hojue upon learning the extent of his exaggeration was universal ; the British merchants especially representing in strong terms the evil consequences of such ” baseless expectations.”
The different points of view of the two parties will account for their opposite opinions. On the one side, the merchants were vexed that their hopes of a general trade arising all over China, as a result of the treaties of Tientsin, were likely to be disappointed, owing to the increasing attention of native traders in their own internal and external commerce to the exclusion of foreigners ; while on the other, Mr. Burlingame laid great stress on those things which the Chinese government desired
and intended to do as they became more and more qualified
to act for themselves, through the agencies and institutions
which they were inaugm-ating. The merchants seemed to
think that nothing had as yet been accomplished in the direction
of ” progress,” inasmuch as their personal expectations of an
instant and lucrative trade were not realized ; in reply to Mr.
Burlingame’s ” enthusiastic fictions,” they called for “tangible
evidence of the existence of this spirit M’hich he celebrates so
loudly—some tittle of proof to support his sweeping theory.” ‘
Without dw^elling further upon these discussions, it pertains
to the present narrative to briefly point out the two salient
features of China’s initial attempt to knock at the doors of
‘ See the letters to the Daily News of J. Barr Robertson, of Shanghai, which have been taken as a fairly characteristic specimen of the mercantile and political view. An article by the same gentleman in the Wedminster Revkic for January, 1870, is rather calmer in language. Other data and opinions may be gathered from a work filling 890 pages, by the late J. von Gumpach, entitled The Biirlinf/ir/ne Miaxion : A Political Disrlostire, etc., 1872. Compare also the English newspapers issued in Shanghai and Hongkong in 1867-70; Bntish ParUamentay Papers ; U. S. Ex. Doc., Foreign IMitions, 1868-71; Harper’s Monthly Maaazine, Vol. XXXVII., p. 592; The Galaxy, Vol. VI., p. 613-
Other nations. Of these the first may be described as wholly
sentimental ; but it was the healthy sentiment of justice and
good feeling towai’d a distant and unknown community, which
Mr. Burlingame’s tact and ability called forth in behalf of his
clients’ cause from their recent conquerors. Dui’ing the years
1SG8 and 1869 he spoke for the right and privilege of the
Chinese to manage their om’ii affairs, and in America, England,
France, Prussia, and other countries had already created a more
healthy feeling of forbearance toward them, when his sudden
death at St. Petei-sburg (February, 1870) cut short the complete
achievement of his mission.’
‘ His colleagues, Chi-kaiig and Sun Kia-kii, afterward visited Italy, Spain, and other countries, returning to China within the same year. Neither of them was, however, brought forward at the capital as an adviser in relation to foreign ailairs.
ITS TKEATY BETWEEN CHINA AND AMERICA. 699
In the United States the passage of this embassy might have made but a transient impression had it not negotiated a treaty of eight articles (July 28, 1868), regarded as an integral part of the Reed, treaty of ten years previous. This, the second feature of the mission, has been attended with consequences whose influence does not yet appear to have ceased. Owing to the surprise of the Chinese government, which had given no express instructions as to treaty-making, the Foreign Office was somewhat tardy in ratifying this compact. This was, however, done in the following year. Its fifth article provides that the contracting powers “cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the nuitual advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens and subjects respectively from the one country to the other for the purposes of curiosity, or trade, or as permanent residents. The high contracting parties therefore join in reprobating any other than an entirely voluntary emigration for these purposes.” At this time the British and French ministers had recently agreed to a convention with Prince Kung respecting the conduct of the coolie trade in accordance with the stipulations made at Peking in October, 1860. The draft of those regulations had been submitted to the American as well as all other foreign legations, but only the Spanish treaty contained an article allowing the engagement of Chinese laborej’s in their own country for service abroad. This traffic had become so infamous
from the cruelties and wrongs perpetrated on the coolies,
both in China before they embarked and in Cuba and Peru
after they had landed, that the American Congress had already
passed laws against it ; and this article was drawn up almost
wholly with reference to that trade, and to show the abhorrence
with which it was regarded. Chinese immigrants had come
to San Francisco to the number of Hfty-three thousand since
1855, and had been harshly treated by the miners and others in their common struggle for gold ; the Burlingame treaty simply acknowledged their right to immigrate like other foreigners.’
Meantime at Peking the foreign ambassadors were in the way
of learniny; that in their relations with the government to which
they were accredited they had to deal with men of acute minds,
whose prejudices and conservatism only needed enlightening to
bring them quite upon a level with any other body of intelligent
diplomatists. It was indeed a crucial period with Prince
Kung and his coadjutors of the Tsung-li Yamun—Wansiang,
Tung Sinn, Tan Ting-siang, llung-ki—who were placed between
the two great pressures of a warped and bigoted nuiltitude of
literati wedded to the old regime and the ministers of the outside
powers, themselves dwelling complacently in the imperial
city and representing armies and navies which had been found
invincible. Tlie pride of the ” Celestial ” was necessarily
brought low, but the situation was accepted, on the whole,
both wisely and cautiously ; the good fortune of having men of
the kindness and honor of Bruce, Ylangali, P>erthemy, and Burlingame as heads of the four chief legations, can hardly be exaggerated in its encouraging and healthful effects upon the impression taking root in the minds of Chinese officers.
At this juncture occurred the massacre at Tientsin of twenty
‘ But notwithstanding its acceptance of their “inalienable right ” to freely change their residence, the clamor against this admission was afterward so great among the people on the Pacific coast that a special embassy of three commissioners was sent to Peking in 1880, which relegated the right of admitting Chinese as immigrants into American territory entirely to Congress.
French and Eussiaus and destruction ui’ the French consuhite
L’Uthedral, and uj’phanage, by a niub on June 21, l:?i7U, attended
by circumstances of great atrocity. The event was a severe
blow as well to the anxious mandarins at the capital as to
every honest friend of the new order of things thioughout the
Empire. The Peking authorities were slow at lirst in opening
an investigation, but testified to their earnestness and righteous
indignation at the enormity in disposing troops about the capital
and summarily examining the criminals, so that by the end
of a month every fear of a general emeute had vanished.
The causes which led to this outbreak appear to have been
almost wholly local, taking their rise in the year 1861, w’hen
the French occupied as their consvdate a temple in Tientsin,
where in former times the citizens nsed to promenade ; this and
other unpopular acts kept the natives at enmity with them.
A more especial account of the most important of these is contained in Mr. Low’s despatch of June 27th: ”At many of the principal places in China open to foreign residence, the Sisters of Charity have established institutions, each of which appears to combine in itself a foundling lu)spital and orphan asylum. Finding that the Chinese were averse to placing children in their charge, the managers of these institutions offered a certain sum per head for all the children })l;iced under their control given to them, it being understood that a child once in their asylum no parent, relative, or guardian could claim or exercise
any control over it. It has been for some time asserted
by the Chinese, and believed by most of the non-Catholic foreigners
residing here, that the system of paying bounties induced
the kidnapping of children for these institutions for the
sake of the reward. It is also asserted that the priests or Sisters,
or both, have been in the habit of holding out inducements
to have children brought to them in the last staii^es of illness,
for the purpose of being baptized in aiilealo /jwrtis. In
this way many children have been taken to these establishments
in the last stages of disease, baptized there, and soon
after taken away dead. All these acts, together M’ith the
secrecy and seclusion which ap]’)ear to be a part and parcel of
the regulations which govern institutions of this character
THE TIENTSIN MASSACRE. 701
everywhere, have created suspicions in the minds of tlie Chinese,
and these suspicions have engendered an intense hatred
agahist tlie Sisters on tlie pai-t of all the common ])e(»ple who
live anywhere near a mission ; and any rumor concei’ning tlie
Sisters or their acts, however improbable or absuixl, found thousands
of willing and honest believers among the ignorant and
superstitious people. Some time about the end of May or be«
ginning of June an epidemic prevailed at the Sisters’ institution
at Tientsin, and a considerable number of the children died.
In some way the report got abroad that the Sisters were killing
the children to get their eyes and hearts for the purpose of
manufacturing some sort of a medical specific much sought
after in Europe and connnanding a fabulous price. This report
spread from one to another, and soon the belief became
general. Crowds of people assembled from time to time near
the mission buildings, demanding the liberation of the children,
and on one occasion they became so noisy that the Sisters, fearing
violence from the mob, consented that an examination
should be made by a connnittee of five. The consul, hearing
of the disturbance, made his appearance about this time, and
although the connnittee had been selected and were then in the
building, he stopped the whole proceeding and drove away the
committee Nvith angry w^ords. Subsequently the district magistrate
took a man who had been industriously spreading the reports,
who said he could ])oint out the persons who were guilty
of acts of sorcery and o^her crimes, to question him in the presence
of the Sisters, and when confronted by them admitted that
all his stories were without foundation and false. The day
prior to the outbreak the district magistrate {ch’iJilen) called
upon the French consul, and stated that unless permission be
given for a thorough examination of the Sisters’ establishment,
it was difficult to foretell the result. The consul, construing
the language into a threat, replied that the magistrate being inferior
in rank to the consul, no negotiation could take place
between them for the purpose indicated or any other.”’
‘ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1870, p. 355. A private letter quoted in the Westminster Review for April, 1871, says : ” Even then (on the I9th) I think the riot could have been prevented if the consul had earnestly joined
This very unwise answer turned the popuLir rage against the
French consuLate as well as the cathedi-al and orphanage, and
the 21st saw a surging multitude assembled in their vicinity
ready for any violence. M. Foutanier, the Frent-h ct)nsul, now
thoroughly alarmed, hurried off to the yannm of Chuughow (the
superintendent of customs), while stones Hew about the building
he was quitting. For the rest, this poor man’s fate is involved
in uncertainty. Eeaching Chunghow’s office in a ” state of excitement
bordering upon insanity,” he failed, either by persuasion
or menace, in getting that dignitary to promise the impossible—
to quell at once the angry }nob. The officials, indeed, by this
time were as helpless as he, and coidd only urge his renuiining
in the compound until the streets were clear. But the Frenchman
and his clerk heeded nothing ; how they were cut down in
the way, after firing into the angry mob, hoM* the rampant populace
now attacked and pillaged the three or four French l)uildino-
s, how the defenceless Sisters were butchered in their orphanaire
after sufferini^; nameless barbarities, and how the frenzied
host left the burning ruins to glut their passions upon the
neighboring houses, has come to the wt)rld solely on Chinese
authoi-ity, and nnist renuiin always in the obscurity resulting
from greatly contiicting testimony. The children of the orphanage,
however, were taken off, and tht)ugh attenq^ts upon
some of the Protestant buildings were made, nothing serious
resulted. Among the saddest casualties of this bloody day was
the death of a Russian, his young bride, and a friend, who in
esca|)ing toward the foreign settlement of Tsz’-chuh-lin, two
miles away, were mistaken for Frenchmen and pronq^tly hacked
to pieces on the road. The total number of victims in the
massacre amounted to twenty foreigners and as many more
Chinese servants, acolytes, and others.
To the joint note of the seven foreign ministers in ‘Peking, calling* for immediate and vigorous measures in the face of this terrible news, Prince Kung replied (on the 25th) that in vindication of the honor and justice of the inq3erial government toward with the local authorities in raakinq a full inquiry, with a number of the gentry, inside of the infirmary and church, to show them again that the rumors of foul deeds therein were groundless.”
ACTION OF THE PEKING GOVEllNMENT. 703
foreigners, Tsang Ivvvoli-faii (governor-general of the province)
and Cliunghow luiJ already been directed to do everything
in their power to suppress tlie spirit of riot and arrest lawless
men. An imperial edict was issued for the appiehension
of Chau, Chang, and Lin, the intendant, prefect, and magistrate
of Tientsin, for their remissness and complicity in the riot.
The fact that no foreign armed vessel was there on the 21st
doubtless had its weight with these officials in carrying ont
their plans at the moment. They now saw that they had pursued
their ill-will too far, and that retribution was sure to follow
for their atrocities. Exaggerated reports of their doings had
rapidly gone over the world, and as the extent and strength of
the disaffection in other provinces could not be ascertained, the
inference was made that all foreigners in China were in tmminent
jeopardy, and that the people had at last risen in their streno;th to aid their sovereii^n to drive them out of the land.
When the storm had passed over, and those in authority had examined the criminals and given such justice as they could, the opinions of the best informed observers as to the immediate causes were found to be sustained.
In a few weeks the naval forces of the leading powers had assembled at Tientsin. The French charge d’affairs, Count E-ochechouart, took the lead and demanded the execution of the prefect and magistrate for having instigated the riot. The Chinese refused to do this until a trial had proved their guilt
—
liaving, perhaps, in some measure recovered their composure
upon learning of the commencement of hostilities between
France and Germany, The imperial government was unable
itself to coerce the turbulent populace of Tientsin, for it had no
troops who could be depended on to punish the rioters, with
whom the soldiers sympathized. The extravagant statements
and demands continually put forth in the Shanghai and Hongkong
newspapers tended to irritate and disconcert those high
officials, who w^ere already at their wits’ end and were anxious
to prevent a worse disaster. The foreigners seemed to think
that they could utter hard charges indiscriminately against the
Chinese rulers and people, who on their part were not to say a
word. Minister Low, in his despatch of August 24th, when
speaking of tlie thousands of fans sold at Tientsin containing
luc-turco of the riot and murdering of foreigners, sajs : ”These
fans are made to suit the taste of the people, and the fact that
such engravings Mill cause a better sale for the fans is a conclusive
argument that there is no sentiment of regret or sorrow
among the people over the result of the riot. There is, undoubtedly,
greater unanimity of opinion in Tientsin in favor of
the rioters than in Ireland among the peasantry in favor of one
of their number who shoots his landlord. If this feelinij in
Ireland is strong enough to baffle all attempts of the English
government to bring to justice by the ordinary forms of laM’ a
peasant accused of injuring the person or property of his landlord,
is it surprising that this feeble central government should
find it difficult to ascertain and punish the rioters in a city of
four hundred thousand inhabitants, all of whom either aided
in the massacre or sympathized with the rioters?”‘
The judicial investigations in Tientsin were conducted in a
dilatory manner, but the above indicates some of the difficulties
in the way of the presiding judges. However, on October 5th
and 10th II. I. Majesty’s decrees were made known to the foreign
ministers, stating that the prefect and magistrate had been
banished to Manchuria, twenty criminals who had killed the
foreigners sentenced to death, and twenty-one others actively
aiding in the riot banished. On the morning of October I8th
sixteen were decapitated in the presence of the foreign consuls
and others assembled as witnesses. This closing act of the
tragedy, as a condign punishment of guilt, was, however, unfortunate
; it was made rather an occasion of showinic to the
people that the sufferers had the sympathy of their rulers, while
many foreigners looked upon the execution as a ghastly farce
—
” a cold-blooded nuu’der.” Many believed that the sixteen men
M-ere purchased victims; the proofs were ample, however, of
the complicity of all ; indeed, some of them gloried in what they
Iiad done, and were escorted by admiring friends to the block.”
^Foreifin Jirlntiov!^ of the UnHed StatcK- China, 1871, p. 380.
‘ As an instance of some of the bitter sentiment rampant upon this occasion,
may he quoted tlie open proposition of a British missionary, who insisted that
one-half of the city of Tieutsiu be razed by a detachment of foreign troops of
PUNISHMENT OF THE RIOTERS. 705
It is a pal})al)le exaggeration of the power or desires of a
Chinese official to affirm that he is capable of buying up candidates
for ini mediate execution.
As to the remaining four condemned culprits, M. Ylangali, the
Tvussian minister, judiciously refused to accept their deaths as a
proper satisfaction foi- the murder of the three Ilussians until satisfied
personally of their direct complicity in the deed. A careful
examination of their case having been made before the consulgeneral
of the Czar at Tientsin, revealed the fact that only two
were guilt v of the actual crime ; the minister consented then
that the punishment of the other two should be commuted to
banishment. The sum of Tls. 400,000 was paid to the French
for loss of life and property ; in addition to this the loss done
to Protestant mission premises was also made good. Chunghow
was appointed imperial commissioner to proceed to France
and present to that government a formal apology for the affair.
This mission left Peking early in 1871 and returned the following
year. The American missionaries who had in August been
frightened away from their post in Tangchau’ by the warnings
and threats of certain evil disposed persons, were taken back from
their asylum in Chifu two months later in the U. S. S. Benicia,
and publicly received by the prefect. This was the only instance
throughout the Empire, connected with the riot of June,
in which foreigners were interfered with, and here grave doubts
exist as to the i-eality of danger and need of flight from Tangchau.
In estimating the conduct of the Chinese in dealing with this
eruption, the foreign press habitually spoke of them as if they
were unwilling to grant any redress or take any measures for
the future safety of those living among their sul)jects. Little
consideration was made for the enormous difficulties of their
position. They had been reared in ignorance of the multiplied
questions and responsibilities involved in the recent treaties
with other nations ; and though the foreign ministers were
various nationalities, and that a pillar be erected upon the open space thus
made, with a suitable inscription as to the occasion and authors of the monument.
‘ On the promontory of Shantung.
really acting most kindly toward them in forcing them to can-v
out every plain treaty obligation, the fair-minded observer can
find small excuse for the harsh criticism, not to add abuse,
which was hurled at everything said or done by Prince Kung
and his colleagues in their peril and perplexity. The writers in
newspapers seemed to look upon China as an appanage of
Europe—one Englishman even going so far as to urge the most
reckless employment of force to compel her rulers to give up
the three odious officials to be dealt with and publicly executed.
Another says that the execution of the sixteen criminals could
“hardly be viewed as other than cold-blooded murder while
those men are shielded from the demands of justice.” Yet
these writers forgot that all the treaties required that ” Chinese
subjects guilty of criminal acts toward foreigners shall be arrested
and punished by the Chinese authorities according to
the laws of China ;” and each nation obliged itself to try and
punish its own criminals. Chunghow was the object of much
abuse because he had not prevented or put down the mob,
though he was merely a revenue officer and had neither territorial
nor military jurisdiction at Tientsin. Even the members
of the Tsung-li Yamun were freely charged with complicity
in the tragedy, if not knowledge or approval. In short, the
whole history of the riot—its causes, growth, culmination, results,
and repression—combine as many of the serious obstacles
in the way of harmonizing Chinese and European civilizations
as anything which ever occurred.’
‘ The records of this event are widely scattered in the local papers published in China and in diplomatic correspondence. See the ^fi’ssio^l(l)•l/ Recorder November, 1870, and January, 1871 ; Jouriuil of N. C. Bnntch of li. A. Soc, No. VI., pp. 18()-1!)0; Eiliiihiir(]h Iier/nr, Jannary, 1871; ]\'(!<tiitiii!itcr Reriew, April, 1871, Art. VI. ; T/te Tiod^in Massacre, kc, by Geo. Thin, M.D., Edinburgh, 1870; Foreitpi Relations of the United States for 1870 and 1871 ; Ij^gation to China ; ParUamentanj Elite Book, 1871 ; H. Blerzy, Les affaires de Chine en 1871, Revue des Deu.r Mondes, 1 juillet, 1871 ; North China Daily News and North China lTer(dd for 1870. One of the most carefully prepared and interesting accounts of the massacre is contained in Baron Iliibner’s Rani’hie Jionnd the World, translated by Lady Herbert, New York, 1875, pp. 526-573.
KULES SUGGESTED FOR CONTROL OF MISSIONARIES. 707
As a natural sequence to the judicial proceedings which terminated the Tientsin tragedy, came the inquiry of the imperial counsel into what was briefly summed upas the “missionary question.” More than ten years had now elapsed since the general repeal of all pre-existing edicts against Christianity in the Empire, and the officials were already concerned as to the movements and rumors respecting the new sect which had come to their ears since that time. Accordingly in February, 1871, after an earnest study of the matter from their stand-point, the Foreign Office sent to the various legations the following note and memorandum:
TuNGCiii, 9th year, 12th moon, 24th day.
Sir : In relation to the missionary question, the members of the Foreign
Office are apprehensive lest in their efforts to manage the various points connected
with it they .shall interrupt the good relations existing between this
and other governments, and have therefore drawn up several rules upon the
subject. These arc now enclosed, witli an explanatory minute, for your examination,
and we hope that you will take them into careful consideration.
With compliments, cards of Wansiang.
Shan Kwei-fan.
The rules proposed (1) that only the children of native Christians be received into Komish asylums ; (2) that ” in order to exhibit the reserve and strict propriety of Christianity,” no Chinese females should enter the chapels nor foreign women propagate the doctrines ; (3) that missionaries should confine themselves to their proper calling, and that they ” ought not to be permitted to set up an independent style and authority ;” (4) that they should not interfere in trials of their native converts when brought into criminal courts ; (5) that passports given to missionaries should not be transferred, but returned to the Chinese authorities when no longer required, “nor should they avail themselves of the passport to secretly go elsewhere,” as the French ofttimes did ; (6) that the missionaries should never receive men of bad character into the church, nor retain
those of notoriously evil characters ; moreover that quarterly reports
of the converts be handed in to the provincial officers, as
did the Buddhist and Taoist houses ; (7) that missionaries
should not use official seals, nor write official despatches to the
local authorities, nor otherwise act as if they were officials
instead of commoners. The last rule complained of the unreasonable demands of the Rouiisli missionaries for lands and houses to be restored to them in accordance with the Peking convention ; it proposed that no more be restored, and that lantis bought for erecting churches be held in the name of the native church members.
This state paper was remarkable as being the first in which
the Chinese government had expressed its desire for a satisfactory
discussion and decision of the difficult questions involved
in Christian missions, and the quasi independence allowed their
foreign agents by the treaties. The public sentiment among
foreigners in China was that these good people had a right to
do everything not expressly prohibited by treaty until their
own consular officers notified them to the contrary. The un
authorized conduct of Romish missionaries in two western
provinces had already given rise to riots, in which Frenchmen
had been killed. In such judicial proceedings as that described
by Abbe Hue in his interesting travels are seen the high-handed
perversion of justice denounced in the seventh section of this
paper.’ The writers of these rules were hardly aware of the
serious import of the questions they had grappled, still less of
the ignorance they exhibited in their handling of them. All
the strictures referred exclusively to the Roman Catholics, for
Protestant missionaries were hardly known to the Chinese
magistrates, no complaints having been entered against them.
Most of the foreign ministers long delayed their answers to this
minute, so that no personal discussion ever took place between
the parties most interested. The straightforward and eai’iiest reply of Mr. Low, the United States envoy (dated March 20th), carefully went over all the main points, and gave Wansiang
and Shan Kwei-fan a clear idea of what they might expect from
other ministers, together Avith manv “‘ood sut^y-estions as to their
own duties. Nothing practical ever came of the paper, but the
discussions it caused throughout the country showed the interest
felt in the whole matter.” A few Protestant missionaries
themselves indulged in harsh sti-ictures on the native officials,
‘ Travels in tJie Chinese Empire, Vol. I., Chap. VI.
‘ Forciyn Relations of the United States, 1871, pp. 99-111 ; also for 1872, pp 118-130 and 137-138. Missionary Recorder, Vols. III. and IV. passim.
THEIR RECEPTION BY FOREIGNERS. 709
one going the length of saving tliat he “looked upon the document
rather as an excuse offered beforehand for premeditated
outrages than as an indication of measures being taken to prevent
them.” However, no evil results ever came to the converts
or their teachers from the discussion of the minute, and
its diffusion gave many i-eaders their first information on the
whole subject. Differences of opinion led to a comparison of
facts, and the small number of grievances reported upheld the
conclusion that the Chinese officials and literati had been, on the
whole, extremely moderate, considering their limited opportunities
to examine the question and the irritation aroused by the
demands and hauteur of the Romish missionaries. The unjust
manner in which they possessed themselves of the ground
within the city of Canton on which the governor-general’s yamun
once stood had made a deep impression on the citizens;
and when their cathedral, towering above all the temples and
ofiices of the metropolis, was located upon this site, their indignation
knew no bounds.
The year 1873 saw the conclusion of the Mohammedan insurrection
in the north-western provinces, the exact extent of
which has never been perfectly made known. The capture of
Suhchau (near the Kiayii Pass in Kansuh) by the imperial
troops under General Tso Tsung-tang brought to an end all organized
rebellion in China Proper.’ As is customary, the central
government threw the responsibility of promoting the
peace of the provinces upon their governors, and the welldisposed
among the people were usually sure of protection.
The foreign administration of the import customs turned a
large and certain revenue into the hands of the Peking officials,
and their development of the defences of the coast in buildingforts,
launching war steamers, and making war material at the
new arsenals, indicated their fears of foreign reprisals and
their unwisdom in deeming such outlays effectual. The same
money spent in making good wagon roads, working iron, coal,
and other mines, deepening navigable watercourses, and intro-
‘ Foreign Relations of the United States., 1874^ p. 350. Peking Gazette, December 28, 1873. ciuc’ing fimall steamers on them, would have brought more substantial returns. But these were achievements which the future alone coukl accomplish, and the people must be somewhat taught and prepared for them before any permanent advances would ensue.’
On October 16, 1872, occurred the marriage of the Emperor Tungchi to Aluteli, a Manchu lady. The ceremonies attending her selection, betrothal, and espousal were elaborate and complete in every particular. Such an event had only once before taken place during the Manchu dynasty—when Kanghi was a minor, in 1674—all the other emperors having been
married during their fathers’ reigns. The occasion, therefore,
excited great attention, while the attendant expenses were
enormous ; but all passed off without the least disturbance and
apparently to general satisfaction. The two Empresses-dowager
controlled the details, the most important of which were announced
to the Empire in a series of edicts prepared by members
of the Li P\i^ or Board of Bites, containing directions for
every motion of the two principal actors, as well as for those
who joined the ceremonies during the occasion till the 21st of
the montli.^
The young Emperor entered into the spirit of the preparations
with great interest, and on the day before sending the
bride her phoenix robes and diadem he ordered three princes to
offer sacrifice and burn incense on the altar to heaven, ” these
informing heaven that he was about to marry Aluteh, the wise,
virtuous, and accomplished daughter of Chung, duke and
member of the llanlin.” Another prince informed mother
earth, and a third announced it to the imperial ancestors, in
their special temple. During the weeks preceding and following
the happy day, all courts throughout the land were closed
and a general jail delivery promulgated.
‘ Compare a rather enthnsiastic article by Captain A. G. Bridge, The Bciiral vf the Warhke Poirer of China, Fmnrfs Mitfiozinp ior imw, 1879, p. 778.
* A translation of these papers was made at Shanghai, not long after, by Miss L. M. Fay, an American lady, and furnishes an interesting and authentic account of the whole wedding.
MARRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR TUNOCIII, 711
Many of the ceremonies and processions in Peking were not public, for considerations of state and security deuianded great care.’ On the 19tli the wedding was thus announced to the foreign ministers by II. I. Majesty, through Prince Kung : “We having with pious veneration succeeded to the vast dominion founded by Our ancestors, and enjoying in its fuhiess the glorious lot to which We have been destined, have chosen one
virtuous and modest to be the mistress of Our imperial home.
Upon October 15th, We, by patent, installed Aluteh, daughter
of Chung Chi, a sJu-tslany in the Ilanliu College, as Empress.
This from the Emperor.” The court had not as yet outgrown
its exclusiveness further than this step of announcing the marriage
and its completion ; and to those best acquainted with the
etiquette observed for centuries, even this seemed to be a good
deal in advance of former times. The great counsellors of
state soon arranged for closing the regency which had existed
since 1861. The Emperor Tungchi, though born on April 27,
1856, was called seventeen at his marriage. The Empressesdowager
accordingly announced on October 22d that he
would attain his majority at the next Chinese new year, and be
inaugurated with all the usual ceremonies. One of his special
imperial functions, that of offering sacrifices to heaven at the
winter solstice, would be performed by him in person—a ceremony
which had been intermitted since December, 1859.
‘ For a report of what could be watched of this ceremony, see William Simpson, Meeting (lie Sun, Chap. XV. The bridal procession came off during the night, when a bright moonlight enabled him to see it pass, without molestation, from the shop where he was hidden. This chiaroscuro sort of panorama rather suited the ideas of the people, and was submitted to by the Pekingese crowd without a murmur. Compare K. Bismark in the Galaxy, Vol. XIX., p. 182; CornMl Magazine, Vol. XXVII., p. 83.
Accordingly, on February 23, 1873, he issued a decree through the Board of Rites, as follows : ” A¥e are the humble recipient of a decree from their Majesties the two Empresses, declaring it to be their pleasure that We, being now of full age, should in person assume the superintendence of business, and in concert with Our officers in the capital and in the provinces, attend to the work of good government. In respectful obedience to the commands of their Majesties, We do in person enter upon the important duty assigned to L s on the 26th day of the 1st moon of the 12th year of the reign Tungclii.”
This announceineTit was on the same day connnunicated to the
ministers of Itussia, Germany, tlie United States, Great Britain,
and France. They returned a collective note the following
morning, and asked Prince Ivnng to ” take his Imperial Majesty’s
orders with reference to their reception.”” This intimation
could not have been nnexpected to him and his colleagues, but
with their nsual habit of putting off the inevitaljle, they began
to make excuses. .Vfter deferring the consultation with the envoi’s
a fortnight on the plea of AVansiang’s illness, they met
at the Russian legation on March 11th. The question of
the I’ofoir was the crucial point, as it had Ijeen in 1859 between
1\ weiliang and Mr. Ward. Then the conrt was willing to accept
a sort of curtsey instead of a prostration when the American
minister apjjroached the throne. Xow the court had put the
strongest argument into the hands of foreign ministers by
sending the Burlini^-ame mission to their courts, and the ritjhts
of independent nations could not be waived or implicated by
the least sign of inferiority. The conference was amicable and
the matter fully ventilated. The demands n])on the Chinese
were summarized by the ministers : That a pei-sonal audience
with the Emperor was proper and needful ; that it should not
be unnecessarily delayed ; and that they would not kneel before
him, nor perform any other ceremony derogatory to their
own dignity or that of their nationalities. These points were
maintained as their united decision in the weary series of conferences,
correspondence, and delays which ensued during the
next four months in Peking. The prince and his colleagues,
by their discussion of the point, had aroused the resistance of
the great body of literati and conservative officials in the Empire,
who had grown u]^ in the belief that its unity and prosperity
were involved in the [)erf()rnuince of the kotow. The
discussion in July, 185!), when the Emjieror Ilienfung could
safely decline to admit Mr. Ward to an audience without it, had
exhausted their ai’gunu’iits ; but his son had come to the throne
under the new influences, which were rapidly breaking down
all those old ideas and safeguards. The prince had, moreover,
DISCUSSION OF THE AUDIENCE QUESTION. 7J3
ieariied tiiat the foreign ministers were not very strongly sup^
ported by tlieir own governments, none of whom intended to
make the audience question a casus helli, or even a reason for
withdrawing their legations from Peking. Perhaps the Yannni
thought that the departure of the Ilussian and German ministers
would leave the other three less inclined to persist in their
demand, if serious consequences were likely to result.
The American minister clearly states the pith of the matter
in his despatch of March S-ith in his closing words : ” I attach
importance to the proper settlement of the audience question
at the earliest time possible. To demand it, and urge compliance
with the demand, is a duty every western nation owes
to its own dignity and to the welfare of its citizens and subjects
residing here ; it is also a kindness to this government to try
through this moans to improve relations, and thus prevent, or
at least postpone, what are now likely at any time to occur—hostile collisions, with their dreadful consequences.” ‘ This
alternative was not a fanciful one, and this canse of chronic
dispute and irritation between China and other nations during
many centuries was removed chiefly through the patient pereistance
of Mr. Low in this discussion. His despatches contain
every fact and argument of importance in perhaps the most
serious controversy ever brought before China. One cannot
but sympathize with Prince Ivung and his colleagues in their
dilennna, and to this embarrassment Mr. Low gives due weight.
The Chinese ofhcials took a month to discuss the points
among themselves, and signs of yielding were apparent both
in the note of Prince Kung of April IGth and the memorandum
of the 29th brought forward at an interview with the
legations. Much of the same ground was gone over again ; a
vacation ensued, then another protocol on May 15tli appeared,
followed by notes on the 20th and 29th from both sides,
all tending to the desired conclusion. At last the audience
question was settled on June 29th by the Emperor first
‘ Forenjn EelatioriH nfllip United Sfiitrs, 1873, p. 160. See also the despatches
of that year, and compare Pauthier’s ITixUrfrc flea TiiiatioiiH Politique (fe la Cliine, Paris, 1858. Narrative of the American Embassy’s visit to Peking, N. a Br. R. As. Sv., Vol. I, 1859.
receiving Soyeshima, the ambassador from Japan, by himself; and immediately afterward the five ministers of Russia, the United States, (ireat Britain, J”ranee, and Holland, accompanied only by Mr. Carl Bismarck, the German secretary, who interpreted for them.’ Mr, Low’s despatch of July 10th, giving the details of the ceremonies and the previous discussion in settling them, with the difficulty the prince and others had in swallowing
the bitter pill, is very valuable as a description of the finale
of this last struggle of Chinese seclusion to resist the incoming
wave of w’estern power. The wall of their separation was at
last broken down. They were really stronger and wiser than
ever, and every nation interested felt a relief that the days of
proud assumption were ended. The young Emperor held only
three more audiences during his short reign of nineteen months ;
and in all these discussions he seems to have taken no active
part, nor did he oppose the conclusion. His ignorance of the
whole question made his opinion a matter of small moment.
Among other advantages resulting to all parties by the settlement
of this question was the right adjustment of the Chinese
government in its relations with other courts. This acknowledgment
of their equality as independent nations did not in anywise
interfere with the obeisance of native ofiicials when approaching
their sovereign ; but it smoothed the way for future
diplomatic relations. Xo western power could maintain an
envoy near the TTtrmvjt’i at Peking with the least self-respect
if he were not allowed to see this potentate unless by prostrating
himself. While none of the great nations would deem a mere
matter of ceremony a sufficient pretext for resorting to war
—
since war itself often fails to convince—a long, continuance of
this state of affairs must inevitably have led to complications
the more unpleasant to diplomatists because sure to be oft-recurring.
It was probably owing to the personal influence of Prince Kung and Wansiang, the two most enlightened statesmen of this period, that a further insistance upon the kotow was not made, and preparations thus arranged for reciprocal courtesies when Chinese ambassadors appeared at foreign courts.
‘ Compare the lUustrated London News for June 23, 1873.
THE AUDIENCE GRANTED—COOLIE TKADE STOPPED. 715
But against what tremendous odds of superstition and national
prejudice these two otiicials were pitted in this curious contest
those who liave never lived in the Empire can liardly appreciate.’
The years 1873 and IST-i were marked by the abolition of
the coolie trade at Macao, which since its rise in IS-iS had been
attended with many atrocities on land and sea. During these
twenty-five years attempts had been made to conduct the trade
with some regard for the rights of the laborers, but experience
had shown that to do this was practically impossible if the
business were to be made remunerative. Driven from Hongkong
and Whampoa, the agents of this traffic had long found
shelter in the Portuguese harbor of Macao, from which semiindependent
port they could despatch Chinese crimps on kidnapping
excursions for their nefarious trade. When at last the
governor closed this haven to its continuance, the Spaniards and
Peruvians were the only nationalities whom the action affected ;
but Spain, falling back on her treaty of 1864, insisted that the
coolie trade be allowed. The Yanmn was advised not to admit
this privilege until the harsh treatment of the laborers in Cuba
had been inquired into. This was done in 1873, by means of a
commission composed of three foreigners and two Chinese, who
made as thorough an inquiry as the Cuban authorities would
permit and reported the results in 1874. Since the dreadful
disclosures which transpired in their report the trade has never
revived. Peru, indeed, sent M. Garcia as its envoy to Peking to negotiate a treaty and obtain the right of engaging laborers,
but tills o-entleinan met with no success whatever. The Chinese iieirotiations on this occasion showed the <rood resulti? of their freer intercourse with foreigners in the improved character of their arguments for maintaining their rights.” Tlic Lamentable condition of Chinese laborers in Peru was fully enough proved, inasmuch as their appeal for relief to their home government had been before the Yannm since 18GS, but it could do nothing effectual to help them.
‘ Of Wansiang’s personal history little is known. He was a Mancliu, and a man of uncommonly prepossessing manner, being perhaps most highly esteemed of all the officials who came in contact with the foreign legations. At the termination of hostilities and the organization of the Tsung-li Yamun in 1861, he came prominently forward as a most efficient and sagacious adviser of the government. We have already in this narrative had occasion to note the influence of his name in the settlement of the Lay-Osborne flotilla and in the missionary question, the satisfactory conclusion of which was a meet tribute to his talents and judgment. He died at an advanced age in 1875, at the head of the administration. In his death the Chinese government lost an unselfish patriot and a keen observer of those things which were for the best interests of his country.
The Japanese government undertook in this year to try the
issue of war with the Chinese in order to settle its demand of
redress for the murder, in 18T1, of some fifty-four Lewchewan
sailors by savages on the eastern coast of Formosa. Japan
had recently deposed the native authorities in Shudi, and being
hard pressed for some employment of the feudal retainers of
the retired daimios, undertook to redress Lewchewan grievances
by occupying the southern part of Formosa, asserting that
it did not belong to Cliina because she either -vvould not or
could not govern its savage inhabitants. This view of the divided
ownership of the island was promptly rejected by the foreign
ministers resident at Tokio, but the officials were persuaded
that all they had to do was to occupy the whole southern
district, and the Chinese could not drive them out when once
their intrenchments were completed.
The Mikado accordingly gathered his forces in Kiusiu during
the years 18T3-T-4-, placing them under the command of (ieneral
Saigo, and engaging (qualified foreign military men to assist.
The expedition was called a High Commission, accompanied by
a force sufficient for its protection, sent to aboriginal Formosa to
inquii-e into the murder of fifty-four Japanese subjects, and
take steps to prevent the recurrence of such ati’ocities. A pi-oclamation
was issued April IT, 1874, and another May 19th,
stating that General Saigo was directed to call to an account
the persons guilty of outrages on Japanese subjects. As he
knew that Chiiui was not prepared to resist his landing at
Liang-kiao, his chief business was to provide means to house
‘ Foreign Relations of tJie United Stntcn, 1874, pp. 198-232. Westminster
lievietr, Vol. lUO, p. 75. Customs Hqjort on Cabau Coolie Trade, 1870.
JAPANESE EXPEDITION TO FORMOSA. 717
and feed tlie soldiers under his command. Tlie Japanese authorities
do not appear very creditably in this affair. JSo sooner
did they discover the wild and barren nature of this unknown
region than they seemed fain to beat an incontinent and hasty
retreat, nor did the troops landed there stand upon the order of
their going. They had in some measure been misled by the fallacious
arguments of Gen. Charles Le Gendre, formerly United
States consul at Amoy, who had travelled through these districts
in 18G5 ; the enormous cost which they had already incurred
made them hesitate about proceeding further, though they had
announced their intention of retaining possession of the territorj’.
The aborigines having tied south after the first rencontre, the
Japanese leader employed his men as best he could in opening
roads through the jungle and erecting houses.
Meanwhile the Peking authorities were making ^^reparations
for the coming struggle, and though they moved slowly they
were much in earnest to protect their territory. General Shin
Paochin having been invested with full powers to direct operations
against the Japanese forces, began at once to draw together
men and vessels in Fuhchau and Amoy. The Japanese consuls
at Amoy and Shanghai were allowed to remain at their posts;
and during the year two envoys arrived at Peking to treat
with the Court. Their discussions soon narrowed down to a
demand on the Japanese ministers, Yanagiwara and Okubo, to
withdraw from Formosa before treating with them upon the
outrages there ; which was met by a refusal on the ground that
the Emperor had voided his sovereignty by having for three
years taken no steps to punish his subjects, notwithstanding the
repeated requests made to this end. The Chinese proved that
the Japanese had violated their ti-eaty, and acted in an underhand
manner in certain negotiations w^ith their envoy, Soyeshima,
the preceding year ; but this continued sparring was mere
child’s play. The probabilities were strong against any settlement,
when the parties were induced to arrange their quarrel
by the intervention and wise counsel of Sir T. F. Wade, the
British minister. The Japanese accepted five hundred thousand
taels for their outlays in Formosa for roads, hotises, and
defences ; agreeing thereupon to retire and leave the further punishment of the aborigines to the Chinese authorities. The two envoys left Peking, and this attempt at war was happily frustrated.’
The history of this affair was exceedingly instructive to those who saw the risks to their best interests which both these nations were running in an unnecessary appeal to force. Never, perhaps, has the resort to arbitration been more happy, when to the difficulty of keeping out of a quarrel which so many fortune seekers were ready to encourage was added the fact that both nations had been eagerly developing their land and marine forces by adopting foreign arms, drill, ships, and defences; every friend felt the uselessness of a disastrous conflict at this
time and willingly strove to prevent any such result. The civilization
of all parts of Foi-mosa has since rapidly advanced by
the extension of tea and sugar culture, the establishment of
Christian missions, and the better treatment of the native
tribes. A single incident at this time illustrated the undefined
position of the parties in this dispute. This was the arrival
in Peking, after Okubo’s departure, of a large embassy of Lewcliewans
to make their homage to the Emperor Tungchi. The
Japanese charge d’affaires was denied admittance to the Lewchewan
hotel, and the Yamun refused to dismiss the embassy,
but gave it an audience, as was the usage in former days—probably
the last in their history. The experience acquired by these
three natioTis in their quarrel concerning Formosa has not prevented
considerable bitterness aljout their rights to Lewchew.
No sooner had the Chinese government escaped from the
Japanese imbroglio by the payment of half a million taels than
it foiuid itself involved in another and more troublesome question
with the British. This arose from the persistent attempts
of the latter to open a trade through Burmah, along the Irrawadi
River, with Yunnan and other south-western parts of
China. The Indian government had sent or encouraged explorers
to go through the little known regions lying between
‘ h Ahorif/inal Formosa a part of tJie Chinese Empire? with eight maps,
folio, Shangliai, 1874, pp. 20. Foirign Relations of the United States for 1873
and 1.S74—( liina and Japan, passim. 71ie Japan Herald aud North China
Herald for those years record all the leading events.
MAJOR SLADEN’S MISSION TO YUNNAN. 719
tlie Brahmaputra and Lantsang rivers, but no ti-ade could be
developed in so wild and thinly settled a region. During the
Tai-ping Rebellion the Emperor’s authority in Yunnan had
been practically in abeyance, and over the western half of the
province it had been superseded by a revolt of the Panthays, a
Mohammedan tribe long settled in that region. These sectaries
date their origin from the Tang dynasty, and had been generally
unmolested by the Chinese so long as they obeyed the
laws. During the Mongol sway their numbers increased so that
they began to participate in the government, while ever since
they have enjoyed more or less the control of affairs.’ The
differences in faith and practice, however, aided in keeping them
distinct ; and in Yunnan their numbers were recruited by settlers
from Ivansuh and Koko-nor, so tliat they were led to
throw off the Chinese rule altogether.
They began about the year 1855 to defend themselves against
the imperialists, captured Tali in 1857, pushing their arms
as far eastward as the provincial capital Yunnan fu, which was
seized and held for a brief period ; but in 1867 they proclaimed
Tu Win-siu as their Imam, and located their capital in Tali.
With affairs in this condition law and order speedily vanished,
life and property were sacrificed, and general misrule furnished
the lawless with an opportunity to burn, kill, and destroy until
the land became a desert. The Panthays, as the Burmese
called the insurrectionists, turned their hopes westward for
succor, and to this end endeavored to keep open the trade with
Burmah and India, but under the circumstances it could not
flourish. The British in those countries were, however, quite
ready to countenance, if not aid, the new ruler at Tali, as soon
as his power was sufficiently consolidated to keep open the roads
and protect traders.
In 1868 a party was ordered to proceed to this city and ” discover
the cause of the cessation of trade formerly existing by
these routes, the exact position held by the Kakhyens, Shans, and
Panthays Avith reference to that traflic, and their disposition or
‘ Compare Dr. Anderson, From Mandalay to Momien, p. 323. Du Halde,
Hutoire, Tome I., p. 199. Grosier, China, Vol. IV., p. 270. Gamier, Voyaye
d’Explaration, Tome I. Cooper, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce.
otherwise to resuscitate it.” This party, iininberiiii;- a hnmlred
in all, was in charge of Major Sladen, assisted by live qualitied
men, and guarded by an escort of fifty armed police ; its object
embraced diplomacy, engineering, natural science, and commerce.
Their steamer reached IJliamo January 22, ISOS, and
the party began their travels early in March, arriving after nuicli
delay at Momcin (or Tuiig-yueh chau), a town on the Taping
River, one hundred and thirty-five miles from Bhanio and about
five thousand feet above the sea. Another forced delaj- of near] ,•
two months convinced them of the impossibility of their getting
to Tali (nearly as far again) ; in face of the determined opposition,
therefore, both of the hill tribes and Chinese traders. Major
Sladen was fain to retire in safety to Bhamo. The retreat of
this anomalous expedition could be officially ascribed to the
weakness of the Panthay rulers, the wild region traversed, and
its yet wilder inhabitants. But to what principles of justice or
equity can we attribute the action of the British in retaining
their minister at the capital of an Empire Avhile sending a
peaceful mission to a rebel in arms at its boundaries ? This
impertinence seems thinly veiled by dubbing the expedition one
of inquiry concerning trade ; no trade did or could exist with
an ill-assorted rabble of wild mountaineers; when these had
been duly subjected an expedition for purposes of science would
meet with as ready assistance from the authorities as did that
of the Frenchman, Lieutenant Garnier, then exploring eastern
Yunnan. This disregard of the courtesies and i-ights of independent
nations refiects as little credit upon the powerful luition
which used her strength thus unfairly as does her similar attempt
of negotiating with another rebel, Yakub Beg in Ili.
Major Sladen’s mission, owing to the admirable qualities of
its leader, made so fair an impression upon the natives along
his route that upon his return in 1873 his progress was materially
assisted, instead of retarded, by them as far as Momcin.
In the years intervening the Imam at Tali, with about forty
thousand of his followers, had been hemmed in by the Chinese
forces under the leadership of Li Sieh-tai, or Brigadier Li. The
Mohannnedans felt their weakness against such odds, and the
80-called Sultan Suleiman sent his son Hassan to London to
SECOND BRITISH MISSION TO YUNNAX. 721
implore recognition and aid from tlie British government ; but
before lie returned his father had killed himself and the victorious
Chinese had massacred most of their opponents and regained
possession of the whole province in 1873. Its western
half had been virtually inde])endent since 1855, during which
period the wretchedness of the inhabitants had greatly reduced
their numbers and resources.
Trade soon revived. The British appointed an agent to reside
at Bhamo and learn its amount and character. In 1874 an ex
pedition—this time provided with Chinese passports—was
planned to make the trip across China from Burmah to Hankow,
as Lieutenant Garnierhad done from Saigon. The Chinese
traders in Burmah set themselves to circumvent it, for its success
boded disaster to them, as they better knew the resources
of their competitors. The British plan was to send an accredited
agent across the country from Hankow to Bhamo, there to
meet a party under charge of Col. Horace Browne, which was
to “thoroughly examine the capabilities of the country beyond
Momein.” As only six years had passed since Sladen’s party
had reached that town on its way to the Panthays at Tali, there
had perhaps been hardly time to remove all suspicion among
the local officials about the objects of this new move. One
of the consular clerks, Augustus R. Margary, was furnished
with necessary passports and instructions from her Majesty’s
legation to go to Bhamo and act as Colonel Browne’s guide and
interpreter. His journals testify that no better choice could have
been made, and all who knew him were hopeful of the success
of this young man.” He left Hankow September 2d and reached
Bhamo January 17th without molestation or accident, having
been received with respect by all Chinese officials, whom the
governor-general of Yunnan had required thus to act. While
the party in Bhamo prepared the equipment for its journey, Dr.
Anderson observes that the Chinese ” watched its movements
with a secret feeling that the objects contemplated were somewhat
beyond the peaceful pursuits of commerce and scientific inquiry.’”
‘ Journals of A. R. Margary, edited by Sir R. Alcock, London, 1877.
– The report was also circulated that the party was going to lay down a rail road.
Mr. Margary intimated that lie thought there were intrigues
going on at Manwyne adverse to the advance of the mission ; but
Brigadier Li, who treated liim there with great honor, did every
thing to promote his journey to Bhamo.
The arrangements as to routes and escorts were at last completed
so far as to allow the party iinally to leave Bhamo
February 3, 1875 ; it numbered nearly fifty persons in all, together
with a Burmese guard of one hundred and iifty. The rivalries and
deceptions of the Ivakhyen tribes proved to be worse than in 1868,
and progress was slower from the difficulty of providing animals
for transport. By the 18th it had crossed the frontier, and the
next morning Mr, Margary left, with five Chinese, for Manwyne,
to arrange there for its reception by Brigadier Li. Increased
dissensions among the tribes as to escort, transport, and pay
led Colonel Browne to push on after him with a guard so as to
reach that town and find some competent authority to aid his
expedition. Many signs of serious opposition had by this time
manifested themselves ; and when he was preparing to start
from Seray on the 23d, large bodies of armed men were seen
on the opposite hills coming to attack the British. A Burmese
messenger also arrived from Manwyne with letters giving an
account of the horrid murder of Mr. Margary and his attendants
by the treacherous officials there on the 20th, The Chinese
soldiers or robbers were in a manner repulsed by the
bravery of Browne’s escort and by firing the jungle, but the expedition
was in face of too powerful an opposition to contemplate
advancing after such disasters. The return to Bhamo was
soon made, and the earnest efforts of the Burmese officers there
to recover everything beloi^ging to the British proved their
lionesty.
The disappointment at this rebuff was exceeded by the general
indignation at tlie treachery which marked the murder. It
was soon known’ that J^i Sieh-tai was not at Manwyne at tlie
time, though the real actors in tlie tragedy l)el()nged to his ainiy,
and must have made him cognizant of the (IcmhI.’
‘ MiDiihild]! to Momien : A Narratm’ of Tiro Krjmh’t/ous toWfufcrii (‘fii)ia,
by T)i .lolm Anderson, contains a most satisfactory narrative of tlu’se attempts;
the writer’s ojjinion is of the highest value.
MURDER OF MARGARY AT MANWYNE. 7:^3
When news of this disaster reached London and Peking, the
British minister was directed to deinand an investigation of tlie
facts connected with the outrage in presence of a British
officer in Yunnan, the issue by the Yaniun of fresh passports
for a new mission, and an indemnity. After montlis of dehiy
and correspondence with the Yamun Sir Thomas Wade, the
British minister, was able to make np his commission and despatcli
it from Hankow, November 5th, for Yunnan fu. It consisted
of the Hon. T. G. Grosvenor, second secretary of the
legation, and Messrs. Davenport and Baber of the consular
ser\”ice, all of them well fitted by previous training for attaining
the objects of their expedition. The journey was performed
in company with a Chinese escort, without danger or
interference, the city of Yunnan being reached in March. The
gentlemen found the provinces through which they travelled
perfectly at peace, and the Emperor’s authority everywhere
acknowledged—a fact extremely creditable to the Chinese after
more than twenty years of civil war.
The Chinese appointed to condnct the inquiry into the
murder, in connection with Mr. Grosvenor, was Li Han-chang,
governor-general at Wuchang and brother of Li Ilung-chang.
He Avas long in making the journey, but the two began their
proceedings, having Sieh IIwan, an old member of the Yamun
in 1864, as aid. Those who had any experience or acquaintance
with similar joint commissions in China anticipated but
one result from it—an entire failure in proving or punishing
the guilty parties ; while those who wish to see their character
should read Mr. Grosvenor’s various reports ‘ to learn how slow
are the advances of the Chinese in truth-telling. Nevertheless,
such an investigation had some prospective benefit in that the
trouble which the British made on account of the taking of one
life warned the officials to exercise the greatest caution in
future. In this preventive aspect, the mission doubtless accomplished
more than can be estimated. Mr. Baber is sure that
Margary was killed (and his opinion is entitled to great respect)
by the discontented Chinese trainbands then around Manwyne—
‘ Rue Book—China, No. 1 (1876) and No. 3 (1877).
a lawless set, who were afterward hunted to death.’ Tlie
weight of evidence obtained at Yunnan fu went to prove that
the repulse of the British party was countenanced, if not
planned, by the governor-general, and carried into effect w^ith
the cognizance of Brigadier Li. Amid so much ii-reconcilable
evidence, the inference that the officers, ch icily by so doing, intended
to prevent the extension of trade by the British, offers
the niost adequate explanation. When the impoverished condition
of Southwestern China is remembered, the question
arises, Why should the Indian government strive to open a trade
where industry and population have been so destroyed ? But
the expectation that thereby a greater market would be found
for its opium in all Western China is a sufficient reason, perhaps,
for undertaking so costly an experiment.
Xo sooner had Sir Thomas Wade learned of Margary’s
death than he impressed upon the Chinese government the
necessity for unremitting and vigorous measures toward the
arrest and punishment of the guilty. In addition to what has
been already stated concerning this reparation, he brought forward
some other matters affecting the intercoui-se between the
two countries. They were long and painfully debated, and
those agreed on were embodied in a convention wdiich was
signed l)y himself and Li Ilung-chang, on the part of Great
Britain and China, September 13, 1870. The correspondence
relating to this convention is given, with its text, in the Parliamentary
Bhie Books,” and is worth perusal by all Avho M-ish to
learn the workings of the Chinese government.
The Yunnan case was settled by inmiediate payment of two
hundred thousand taels (.^280,000), which included all claims
of British merchants on the Chinese government; by posting
an imperial proclamation in the cities and towns throughout
the Empire ; by sending an envoy bearing a letter of regret to
Queen Victoria for what had occurred in Yunnan ; and by
‘ Blue Book—CMna, No. 3, 1878. Beport of Mr. Baher on the route follovxd
Inj Mr. (rrosveno7’^s luvmion between Tali fit, and Moinein. Reprinted, with his
other interesting travels and researches in Western Cliina, in Supplementary
Papers, Vol. I., Part 1, 1882, of Roi/. fM)f/. Sor., London.
^Bluc Book— China, No. 1 (1876) and No. 3 (1877).
THE CTIIFTT CONVENTION. 725
stationing Untisli officers at Tali or elsewhere in that province
to “observe the conditions of trade.” The proclamation’ was
posted very widely (three thonsand copies in Kiangsu province
alone), and through it the people learned that the safety of all
foreigners travelling through their countrj^ was guaranteed by the
Emperor. Other matters agreed upon in this convention were
the manner of official intercourse between native and foreign
officers at Peking and the ports, so that perfect equality might
be shown ; the better administration of justice in criminal cases between their respective subjects, every such case being tried by the official of the defendant’s nationality, while the plaintiffs official could always be present to watch proceedings; the extension of trade by opening four new ports as consular stations, and six on the Yangtsz’ River for landing goods, with other regulations as to opium, transit, and U-km taxes on goods; and lastly, the appointment of a joint commission to establish some system that should enable the Chinese government to protect its revenue without prejudice to the junk trade of Hongkong.
This final article might well have been omitted. The concessions
and advantages in it accrued to the British, and through
them also measurably to other nationalities. But while the
Chinese under the circumstances had no right to complain
of paying heavily for Margary’s life, it was manifestly unfair
to cripple their commerce by sheltering Hongkong smugglers
under promise of a commission which could never honestly
agree. In order to better understand the British minister’s
views regarding the political and commercial bearing of his
convention, the reader is referred to his labored minute of July
‘ Blue R)ok—Chm<i, No. 3 (1877). “^ Ihid , pp. 111-147.
1-1, 1877,’ in which the fruits of thirty-five years of official experience in China impart much value to his opinions. The singular mixture of advice, patronizing decisions, and varied knowledge running through the M^hole i-ender the paper extremely interesting. The Chinese historian of the next century will read with wonder the implied responsibility of the British minister for the conduct of the Empire in its foreign management, and the enormous development of the principle of ex-ter ritorialitv so as to cover almost every action of every British subject. He may also be instructed by this proof of the ignorance and fears of the former rulers, as well as their conceit
and hesitation in view of their wants and backwardness to cope
with the advancing age. lie must acknowledge, too, that the
sharj) and prolonged discussion of eighteen months between Sir
Thomas and the Yamun was one of the most protitable exercises
in political science the high officers of Peking ever had allowed
them.
Since the convention of Chifu the progress of China at home
and abroad has been the best evidence of an improved administration.
The reign of Hienfung ended in 1861, with the prestige,
resources, and peace of the realm he had so miserably
governed reduced to their lowest ebb. During the twelve years
of his son’s nominal regime, the face of affairs had quite changed
for the better. Peace and regular government had been for the
most part resumed throughout the Eighteen Provinces, and even
to the extreme western frontier of Ivashgar and Kuldja. The
people were returning to their desolated villages, while their
rulers did what they could to promote agriculture and trade.
The young Emperor gave small promise of beconung a wise or
efficient ruler ; and when he died (January 12, 1875) it was felt
that an effigy only had passed away, and no change would ensue
in the administration. In the question of selecting his inheritor
were involved some curious features of Chinese customs. It
is a rule that the succession to the Lung-wei, or ‘ Dragon’s
Seat,’ cannot pass to the preceding generation, since this would
involve the worship of a lower or younger generation by an
older one. The line of Jlienfung died out in his childless son ;
the eldest of his brothers had, as we have seen, been made posthumous
heir of an uncle in 1854, consequently his son, Pu-lun,
was ineligible. The elevation of Prince Kung’s son Tsai-ching
to be Emperor was in the highest degree inexpedient, as this
would necessitate the retirement of his father from active participation
in the govermnent, arising from their relationship of
father and s(mi. The next eligible candidate, Tsai-tien, a child
of Prince Chun—the seventh son of Taukwang—born August 15j
ACCESSION OF THE EMPEROR K^\’ANGS^j. 727
1871, was unanimously chosen by the Empresses dowager and assembled princes of the Manchu Imperial Clan. His parents were brother and sister of those of his predecessors, while the same regency had been reappointed, so that his tender age involved neither difficulty nor alteration during the minority.
He took the reign-name of Kwang-sl’i., or ‘ Illustrious Succession,’
having reference to the disturbance in the regular descent.
By this arrangement the same general set of officials
was continued on the government, and the risk to its peaceful
working from the freaks of Tungchi avoided.’
A most notable event during the last decade has been the recovery of the vast regions of the Tarim Valley to the imperial sway. Their loss took place during the early part of the Tai-ping Rebellion, beginning in Kansuh, where the discontented Moslem population, aided by the reckless and seditious of all clans, arose and drove out the governmental minions even to the eastern side of Shensi. Of this extended revolt little is known in the west save the name of its figure-head and leading character under whose mastery it culminated and succumbed.
The famous Yakub Beg, whom the jealous attentions of both
England and Russia had united in raising to the rank of a hero,
commenced his militarv career as lieutenant of Buzuro; khan,
a son of the notable Jehangir, kojeh of Ivokand. By the
year 1866 the energetic lieutenant had made way with his licentious
and cowardly chief, and possessed himself of a large part
of Western Kashgaria ; then, turning his attention to the rebellious
Dunganis north of him, a series of vigorous campaigns
ended in leaving him undisputed ruler of all Tien- Shan Nan
Lu. These conquests over, hordes of neighboring rebels nmst
now be recognized as fatal errors in the policy of Yakub. The
Atalik Gliazi, or ‘ Champion Father’ as he was now called,
had not only attracted the distrust of Russia—manifested in
their taking of Kuldja from the Dunganis before his approach
was possible—but in annihilating other Moslem insurrectionists,
‘ The Eastern Empress-dowager, the legal widow of Hienfung, whose only
child, a daughter, died early in 1875, followed her to the grave in 1881, leaving
the regency with her coadjutor, the Empress An, aided by Prince Kung had constituted himself an avenger of Chinese wrongs, and prepared the way of his own enemies whenever the terrible day of reckoning should come.
The attempt on the part of China to restore its prestige in a
territory where every hand was tm-ned against her seemed
indeed liopeless. Her exhausted resources, her constant fear
of tlie foreigners within lier gates, her suspicions of Russia,
the immense distances to be traversed, seemed to unite every
factor against her success. Nevertlieless, by 1871 symptoms of
disorganization began ah-eady to appear among tlie rebels, wliile
in the wishes of the common people for a strong power to insure
order and encourage trade Tso Tsung-tang, the Chinese
general, found both assistance and men.
A moment’s attention to the relations l)etwecn the Chinese
and Mohammedans of this region will throw much light on
their contest. Since their conquest by Kienlung, the inhabitants
of Eastern Turkestan had enjoyed an unexampled period of
tranquillity and prosperous trade. The Chinese, known as
Kitai, settled in their cities and brought a degree of wealth
and civilization far ahead of anything previously known, wliile
the rulers, or ambans, joined to their duties as administrators of
justice a fostering care of trade routes and methods for developing
the country. They have at all times been celebrated for
irrigating their provinces, and now reproduced their wonderful
canals (says Boulger) ” even in this outlying dependency.
Eastern Turkestan is one of the worst-watered regions in the
world. In fact there is only a belt of fertile country around
the Yarkand lliver, stretching away eastward along the slopes
of the Tien Shan as far as Ilanii. The few snudl rivers which
are traced here and there across the map are during many
months of the year dried up, and even the Yai’kand then
becomes an insignificant stream. To remedy this, and to
husband the supply as much as possible, the Chinese sunk dikes
in all directions. By this means the cultivated country was
slowly but sui-ely spi’cad over a great extent of territory, and
the vicinity of the three cities of Kashgar, Yangi llissar, and
Yarkand ])e(‘ame known as the garden of Asia. Corn and fruit
grew in abundance, and from Yarkand to the south of the Tien
TAKUB BEG AND THE REVOLT IX TURKESTAN. 729
Shan the traveller could pass through one endless orchard. On all sides he saw nothing but plenty and content, peaceful hamlets and smiling inhabitants. These were the outcome of a Chinese domination.” ‘
In addition to the fields and rivers, mines were worked, mountain passes cut and kept in repair, and the internal government of tribes placed on an equable basis. As to the precise manner in which discontent and rebellion crept into this apparently happy territory, it must always remain a matter of conjecture. The customs of its inhabitants have for ages been based on the tribal principle to such an extent that they found it impossible to assimilate with the Chinese and their methodical government, even though for their advantage to do so. The repeated failures of the United States to introduce a certain degree of civilization among the Indians present an analogous case. Uneasiness among the natives caused by agents from Kokand and Tashkend was speedily followed by larger demands from turbulent Mussulmans, who saw in Chinese moderation an evidence of weakness and decline. Jehangir’s rebellion not unjustly incensed a government which had devoted more than half a century to the building up of a shattered State, and was punished with merciless rigor. Oppression from the Chinese met by resistance, equitable rule alternating with weakness and injustice, trade impeded by illegal imports, ambitious Usbeck chiefs exciting their tribes to rise against their conquerors—these and similar causes had been at work to prevent all permanent progress in Turkestan.
‘ Life of Yakoob Beg, London, 1878, p. 59. See also R. B. Shaw, Visiti to High Tartary, Yarkand, and Kashgar, London, 1871, Chaps. II. and III.
During the lowest ebb of JSIanchu authority in the Empire, when foreigners and Tai-pings were straining the utmost resources of the government in the East, a small village of Kansuh was the scene of a sudden riot. When after two days couriers brought word that the disturbance was quelled with some loss of life, the authorities began to suppose that the affair had already been forgotten; but it proved to be the fuse that lighted an outbreak scarcely smaller than the other civil war within the provinces.’ The Dunganis had arisen and spreaa the infection of revolt wherever they existed—over hirge districts «^tf Slieiisi, but principally toward the west, to Turfan, Ivuche. and Aksu—continuing the weary story of surprise, slaughter,
and barbarity even to the city of Knldja.’ Allying with
themselves the Tarantchi, a sort of fellah class which the Chinese
had imported into the regions from Kashgar, the victorious
rebels established one of those ephemeral governments over the
Tien Shan and its adjoining valleys that have so frequently
arisen in the history of Central Asia. Under their rule ti’avel
beyond the Kia^’ii Pass was of course impossible, while trade
diminished throughout the conntry, and Russia, as we have seen,
wrested Knldja from Abul Oghlan in order to secnre her own
borders. The first sei’ious check received by this confederation
Avas its virtnal overthrow, when Yakub advanced npon Aksu
and from thence cleared the great road eastward to Tnrfan.
Tso’s first labor, then, was to clear Shensi and Kansuh of the
rebels, in which his progress was marked by admirable foresight
and energy in disposition of men, arrangement of conrier
service, and use of modern arms. Establishing himself by 1876
in Barknl and Ilami as headcpiarters, by the following spring
he was prepared for a concerted movement from the north
(Gutchen and Urumtsi) and east (Pidshan) npon ‘^’akub l>eg at
Turfan. The redoubtable chieftain was finally caught by the
tardy but certain power which he had long despised with impunity,
and driven backward through the towns of Toksnn and llarashar to Tvorla, where he died or was murdered, May, 1877.
‘ *’ It is impossible not to connect this event in some degree with that unaccountable revival among Mohammedans, which has produced so many important events during the last thirty years, and of which we are now witnessing some of the most striking results. “—Boulger. Life of Yakooh li’f/, p. 95.
“^ Which fell in January, 18C0, after the Chinese governor had destroyed himself and his citadel by gunpowder.
THE REBELLION SUPPUESSED. 731
During this and the following years the governor-general succeeded in reinstating the authority which had been in abeyance nearly a score of years. His army under two able generals advanced along the parallel roads north and south of the Tien Shan, punishing the rebels without mercy, while ” the Moham-niedaiis who submitted themselves were perm’.lfc<\ to revert to their peaceful avocations.” ‘ When upon the desert the troops were provisioned from Russian territory, but during the early years of the campaign it appears that the soldiers were made to till the ground as well as construct fortifications. The history of the advance of this ” agricultural army ” would, if thoroughly known, constitute one of the most remarkable military achievements in the annals of any modern country.^
With the fall of Kashgar (December 17, 1877) the reconquest was practically completed, though Yarkand and the neighboring towns held out some months longer, at the end of which the chiefs of the Moslem movement had either fled to Ferghana or succumbed in the light. The Chinese now turned their attention to the occupation of Kuldja, and sent Chunghow in December, 1878, to St. Petersburg upon a mission relating to its restoration. The envoy needed, indeed, but to remind the Czar of Russian promises made in Peking in 1871 concerning the prompt retrocession of the occupied territory when China should have reasserted her authority in those regions; but neither European nor Oriental diplomats seemed to regard the city “held in trust for China by the Russian government” as in the least likely to return to the dominion of the Huangdi, while many were persuaded that Russia would resort to arras before surrendering one of the most prosperous of her possessions in order to keep a rash promise.^
‘ Peking Gazette.
« The Spectator, April 13, 1878, Pall Mall Gazette, June, 1878, and London Times, November, 1878. Boiilger, Life of Yalvol) Bn/, Chaps. XII. -XIV.
^ For an excellent illustration of the prevailing sentiment on this question, even after Chunghow’s embassy, see Mr. D. C. Boulger in tVaner’s Magazine fcr August, 1680, p. 104.
Chunghow—whose capacity had been in some degree tested in the Tientsin riot—was hardly the best choice for envoy even among the still ignorant officers at Peking, inasmuch as to the seemingly apparent defect of an unusually Boeotian temperament was added a profound ignorance of any European language, of modern methods of diplomacy, and of the topography of the territory in question. It is almost needless to add that such an enil)assy was ill-prepared to cope with the astute diplo niatists of an eager court, or that it speedily fell a prey to the designs upon it. A treaty of eighteen articles was signed at Livadia yielding a portion of the Kuldja district to China, Russia retaining, however, the fruitful valley of the Tekes river, all the more important strategic strongholds and passes in the Tian Shan, and the city of Yarkand ; China, moreover, to pay as indenmity five million rubles for the cost of occupying Kuldja.
Other important concessions, such as a trade route from Hankow through Suhchau to Kuldja and Siberia, the opening to Russian caravans of thirty-six frontier stations, the modification of the Kashgarian frontier, the arming of Muscovite merchants, and the navigation of the Songari River, were apparently added to this compact according as the Russians increased their experience of the “gullability” of these remarkable ambassadors.
Even officers of the Czar’s army, in referring afterward to this treaty, were prone to add to their remarks some measure of apology. When in January, 1880, Chunghow returned home with the unwise and humiliating document in his possession, he could not have felt wholly certain of a triumphant reception. Nevertheless it is not likely that the luckless ambassador contemplated being at once deprived by imperial edict of all his offices and turned over to a board for trial and punishment. Statesmen of both parties joined in denouncing him, Li Hongzhang and Tso alike presenting memorials to the same effect, while a flood of petitions more or less fierce poured upon the
govei’ument from mandarins of all ranks. On the 2Sth the
returned envoy was cashiered for having signed away territory
and promised indemnity without special authorization, and in
punisliment was sentenced to decapitation. The actoi’s in this
movement, which upon the manifestation of such prompt and
furious measures assumed the phase of an intrigue of the war
party, were Tso and Prince Chung, who seized upon the popular
wrath as an opportune moment for a master stroke against
Prince Kung.
NEGOTIATIONS RESPECTING THE CESSION OF KULDJA. 733
With the appearance of danger such as this the party in power recoiled at once from its angry position, depreciated the highly bellicose tone of court officials, and accepted the good offices of the foreign ministers who j(»ine(l in protesting against the unworthy treatment of Chunghow and the monstrous barbarity of his sentence. Possibly the temperance (»f Russia’s attitude in demanding the uncoiuiitiunal pardon of ( liunghow before consenting to receive a second ambassador—the Marquis Tsang, minister to Enghmd, aheady appointed—materially aided in quieting the storm. Fortunately, tuo, amid the rumors of a resort to arms and manifest preparations of the palace discontents to force an issue, Colonel Gordon visited the capital, and in a communication to Governor Li pointed out the folly of attempting a foreign conflict and the peculiar dangers in overwhelming, by courting a certain defeat, the great benefits which nnist come to the Chinese army by its gradual reorganization
upon modern methods. “Potentially,” said this unpalatable
but honest critic, “you are perhaps invincible, but the outcome
of this premature war will show you to be vulnerable at a thousand
points.” Counsels such as these carried unusual weight
as coming from a man whom all parties in China respected and
admired ; there can be little doubt that it sensibly decreased
the war feeling, and possibly proN^ented the country from rushing
to certain disaster.
Chunghow was accordingly reprieved, and in June of this
year set free. The intelligence and experience of Tsang’
proved an acceptable contrast to his ^predecessor’s unguarded
conduct, and resulted in an agreement (May 15th) on the part of
the Czar’s negotiators to recede nearly the whole of the contested
district, excepting a narrow strip upon its western edge
for purposes of colonization or retreat for those inhabitants of
III who preferred to remain under Russian control.’ In return
‘ Upon his return to China the marquis published his diary, some portions of which have found their way into the China Review (Vol. XI., p. 135) and are extremely interesting as the outspoken opinion of an appreciative and enlightened Chinese gentleman.
‘-‘ Precisely the extent of this strip depends upon the exact definition of the boundary here under Taukwang. The present line is laid down in that portion of the new treaty quoted in Volume I., p. 218 ; the territory forms approximately a wedge whose a])ex is in the Ala Tau Mountains, and whose base, about three degrees south of this point, lies against the crest of the Tian Shan.
It meets the old boundary at the Muzart (or Muz-daban) Pass. Since the treaty
“for military expenses incurred by Ilnssia in lu>](Iing and pro
teeting Ili on belialf of China since the year 1871, and in satisfaction
of all claims by Russian merchants for losses previonsiy
suffered by pillage within Chinese territory, and by Russians
who have suffered outrage,” the Chinese agreed to pay nine
million roubles. This appears to have been less repugnant to
oriental diplomacy than live millions in acknowledgment of
getting back their borrowed property. As for the other points,
the treaty does not seem to have been greatly altered, save in
the Songari River and other more vexatious clauses. This treaty
was ratified August 19, 1881.
From domestic wars and political complications, the influences
of which have hai’dly as yet disappeared fi’om our morning
newspapers, our attention must be turned to the yet sadder
spectacle of famine and pestilence. The occasional notices of a
great scarcity of food in Xorthwestern China which drifted into
the news items of western countries may still remain within the
memory of many; those, however, who live under the ascendancy
of occidental institutions can with difficulty appreciate,from
any mere description of this scourge, its immense influence as a
factor in removing somewhat the suspicions of the ignorant and
apathetic Chinese against their fellow-men in other lands. The
sympathies and chai’ities of the Chi-istian world, as called forth
by this terrible visitation, were more effectual in making acceptable
the distasteful presence of foreigners within their cities
than had been the miited influence of two wars and a halfcentury
of trade, diplonuicy, and social intercourse.
The Great Famine of 1878 was in some measure foretold
over Sliansi and Shensi by the decreasinir rainfall of the four
])revious years. The peculiar nature of this loess-covered
region, and its absolute dependence for fertility upon a sufficient
supply of moisture, has been pointed out in another chapter
of this woj-k. Here, then, and in Shantung the missionaries
of all denomiiuitions were called upon to organize methods
strenuous efforts have been made by the officers of both nationalities stationed
tliere to entice the U.sbeck, Kirghis, and Diinganis of the region to settle per
manently on their side of the boundary.
THE GEEAT FAMINE OF 1878. 735
of relief as early as the summer of 1877. By the opening of
the following spring a central committee in Shanghai and their
agents in Chifu and Tientsin—all Protestant and Roman Catholic
missionaries—had put forth so great energy in their Avelldirected
efforts as to gain the zealous co-operation of Li Iluugchang,
governor-general of Cliihli, and active countenance of
the rulers and gentry in otlier provinces. “At the beginning
of their labors,” writes the secretary of the committee, ” the
distributors were received with a degree of prejudice and suspicion
which utterly frustrated any attempt to prosecute the
work. They were supposed to have sinister objects in view,
and not only was their charity refused, but they were even in
innninent danger of their lives. It required the utmost carefulness
on their part to carry on their operations with any degree
of success. They were urged to act in a way that contemplated
the speedy exhaustion of their funds and their evacuation of
the pla-ce. So far as we can ascertain, however, the distributors
conducted themselves in a most connnendable manner,
and after a time at least bore dow^n the ill-will and aspersions
of all classes, changing their sentiments and feelings of doubt
and distrust into those of the deepest gratitude and respect, so
that they are now regarded as the very saviours of the people.” ‘
After the experience of some weeks in the destitute regions,
it was found that only the strictest adherence to a business system
of distribution could be attended with any mitigation of the
evil. Tickets representing certain amounts of money were given
to the houses of each community which appeared on the catalogues
of needy families furnished by village elders. Food being
plenty in the south, the means of transportation and storage
during distribution constituted the chief labor of those concerned
in this work. When brought to the starving settlements,
grain was promptly doled out in exchange for the tickets, and
to the lasting credit of the Chinese character it must here be noticed
that not a single raid upon the provisions or resort to force
in any way has been recorded of these famished multitudes.
‘ Rev. W. Muirliead, in Report of the China Famine Relief Fund, Shanghai, 1879, p. 4.
That good-will, affection, an] gratitude should take the place
of the old mistrust under these conditions was niOst natural.’
Xevertheless the terrors of their experiences in this awful time
were hardly lightened by this cheering aspect of the curse.
Misery and desolation such as this overwhehned every other
sentiment save that of compassion. The visitor was often met
hy the solitary remnant of a large household, to hear from him
a harrowing recital of suffering and death, fitted to shock the
most callous of humanity. Again, he would come upon the
corpse of one recently fallen in the vain effort to walk to a
neighboring town, and about it a lazy pack of wolves squatting
—gorged and stupid from the fulness of many ghastly meals.
At other times a silent dwelling might be found giving shelter
only to the cadaverous bodies of its former inmates ; or anon a
ruined house would tell M’here the timbers had been plucked
out and sold for a little bread. Of the last extreme of famine,
caimibalism, which cropped out here and there, but which in
most cases met with instant punishment when discovered, it is
hardly necessary to add notice or description. The remarkable
patience under suffering exhibited by the people made their
relief compai’utively easy, though the despair which had rendered
them insensible to excitement or violence often prevented their
recuperation from the fever and plague which laid hold upon their
weakened bodies even after plenty had returned to the land.
In their report the connnittee at Shanghai acknowledge
Tls. 204,560 as having passed through their hands, while about
as much more may safely be said to have been otherwise expended
by foreigners for the relief of the sufferers.” The
Chinese government furnished food and supplies amounting to
‘ A notable exception to this universal sentiment of kindliness was exhibited
among the officials and gentry of Kaifung, the capital of Honan, in which city
foreigners were to the last forbidden to remain, or even to carry on their work in the environs.
FOREIGlSr EFFOETS TOWARD ITS RELIEF. 737
‘•’ About $22,070 were subscribed in the United States—which does not include, however, the donation from the Pacific slope. An effort was made to Induce Congress to return on this occasion the surplus of the Chinese indemnity fund, amounting to nearly $()()(),()()(), but upon this the Committee on Foreign Affairs rcportiul adversely, alleging among other reasons that all the starving people would be dead before the machinery of both nations would admit of this money being exchanged for food I
more than Tls. 2,000,000, while rich natives contributed very
lai-gely in their own districts. Sixty-nine foreigners were personally
engaged upon the work of (listributi(jn in the four
afflicted provinces, of whom Messrs. Ilall, Hodge, Barradale,
and AVhiting died in consequence of exposure and overwork.’
Upon the mortality connected with this frightful visitation
there exist hut the vaguest figures. ” The destruction as a
whole is stated to be from nine and a half to thirteen millions,”
observes the JA^mH^ alreiidy quoted, and its proofs in support
of this statement are as trustworthy as any that can be compiled.
Xo famine is recorded in the history of any land which equalled
this in death-rate. The area at the base of the Tibetan and
Mongolian highlands will always be subject to great vicissitudes
of heat and moisture,’ and the future, like the past, cannot but
suffer from these frightful droughts unless a careful attention
to the climatic influence of trees and irrigation mitigate in some
degree the dreadful comings of these plagues.
The Chinese plenipotentiary in London, T\ woh Sung-tao, gave
utterance to the sincere sentiments of his government in saying:
The noble philanthropy wliich heard, In a far-distant country, the cry of
suffering and hastened to its assistance, is too signal a recognition of the common
brotherhood of humanity ever to be forgotten, and is all the more worthy
to be remembered because it is not a passing response to a generous emotion,
but a continued effort, persevered in until, in sending the welcome rain.
Heaven gave the assuring promise of returning plenty, and the sign that the
brotherly succor was no longer required. Coming from Englishmen residing
in all parts of the world, this spontaneous act of generosity made a deep impression
on the government and people of China, which cannot but have the
effect of more closely cementing the friendly relations which now so happily
exist between China and Great Britain. But the hands that gave also assumed
the arduous duty of administering the relief ; and here I would not forget to
offer my grateful thanks and condolence to the families of those, and they are
not a few, who nobly fell in distributing the fund.’*
Mr. Whiting was honored by the governor of Shansi with a public funeral
in Taiyuen, the provincial oaiiital.
» P. 7.
^ Mr. A. Hosi.i in the X 0. Br. E. A. P!. JoHvniil, Vol. XIII., 1878, has
translated the native lists of more than eight hundred famines and droughts
occurring in the Yangtsz’ basin and northward on the Plateau during a thousand
years ending a.d. 1643.
* Letter of October 14, 1878, to Lord Salisbury.
One who has been acquainted with Chinese affairs for the last
fifty years can better than younger persons appreciate from this
letter the vast stride wliieh has been made by (^hina since the
withdrawal of the East India Company’s factory in 1834. The
Empire had then been closed for more than a century, and its
inhal)itants liad been taught to believe that all mankind outside of
its b()un(hiries were little better than i<!;norant savaijes. Their
rulers had maintained that ” barbarians could only be ruled by
misrule,” and in their honest efforts to keep them fi-om entering
the gates of the Celestial Empire in order that the people might
not become contaminated, had faithfully though ineffectually
endeavored to fulfil the first duty of every government. We
have seen how small was their success when dealing with the
iniquitous opium traffic ; no amount of moral or ethical principle
in the cause which he represented could make up to Connnissioner
Lin for his ignorance and stiff-neckedness in pushing his
injudicious methods of reforming this abuse. Had he succeeded
as he and his imperial master had ])lamied, they would have
sealed their country against the only possible remedies for those
evils they were striving to remove—free intercourse, commercial,
intellectual, and political, with their fellow-men.
The story of Cliina’s rapid progress from semi-barbarism
toward her appropriate position among nations is now fully
known to any whose interests have directed their attention
thither. It cannot be denied that the advance has been hampered
by the mass of superstitions, assumptions, and weaknesses
through which every such stride to reformation nnist push forward
; nor is it strange that interested foreigners from their vantage-
ground of a more perfect civilization should at times bemoan
the wearisome course and manifold errors of this regeneration.
Nevertheless, liopeful signs abound on every side ; against a
few errors may be balanced a multitude of genuine successes,
and the fact that these latter have come about deliberately
assures us that they are permanent. In the hands of statesmen
as far-sighted and ])atriotic as those who now control the government,
there is little cause to apprehend retrograde steps or a return
to the exclusive policy of (yonnnissioners Lin and Yeh. As
for the conservative spirit which yet characterizes the present
THE CHINESE EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION. 739
regime, in this will be found the safeguard against extravagant
and premature adoption of western machines, institutions,
nietliods, dress, and the thousand adjuncts of modern European
life which, if too rapidly applied to an effete and backward
civilization, push it rather into bankruptcy and overthrow than
out into a new existence.
Before closing these volumes, and as an illustration of these
observations, it remains to notice the so-called Chinese Education
Commission—a highly lauded project which is still fresh
in the minds of many Americans. Soon after the Tientsin
riot and Chunghow’s mission of apology, Yung Wing, a
Chinese graduate of Yale College, proposed to Li Ilung-chang
and others in authority a plan of utilizing certain surplus
moneys remaining from the fund for military stores, to defray
the expenses of educating a number of Chinese boys in the
United States. The scheme found such favor with the governor-
general and members of the Foreign Office, that early in
the year 1872 thirty boys were selected by competitive examination
at Shanghai, and took passage for San Francisco July
12th, Yung Wing having preceded them to make the necessary
arrangements. This gentleman’s acquaintance w^ith the
social life and educational methods in IS^ew England was so
complete as to enable him readily to place the students—usually
in pairs—in comfortable households, where they might learn
English and become initiated into the manner of life among
western peoples as agreeably as possible.
The commission established its headquarters in Hartford and
easily disposed their boys in adjoining towns of Connecticut
and Massachusetts, where numbers of families welcomed them
with open arms. Prince Kung’s satisfaction upon learning of
this friendly reception was expressed in a personal note of
thanks to Mr. Low at Peking, while the fair prospects of the
scheme now tended to hasten other parties of students to these
shores until their number was swelled to one hundred and
twenty.’ These lads proved themselves almost without excep-
‘ The original plan included the sending of one hundred and fifty boys, but the fund laid aside for the purpose was found to be insufficient to cover the cost of the full number.
tion capable and active in tlie studies set before them, and a8
their hold upon the language increased, began to outrank all
but the brightest of their American classmates. As they advanced
into the higher scientific schools or colleges, greater
liberty was allowed them, each boy pursuing his inclination as
to a special course or institution. With the appointment of
Yung “Wing to the Chinese legation at Washington and the
arrival of one Wu Tsz’-tang (who knew no English) as commissioner
in his place at Hartford, the complexion of this enterprise
seems to have changed. In the spring of 1881 a formal
memorial, endorsed by Chin Lan-pin, the minister at Washington,
was addressed to the home government, complaining of
the course of study pursued by these youths as including Latin
and Greek and other unnecessary subjects ; of the disrespectful
behavior of the l)oys when brought before their chiefs ; of
their deplorable luck of patriotism ; of their forgetting their
mother tongue, and other sins of omission and commission.
The memorial seems to have fallen in with the desires of those
momentarily in power at Peking ; the commission and students
were all recalled by the return mail, and arrived at Shanghai
in the fall of the same year.
Although this action may have been in some degree
prompted by a spirit of conservatism and distrust, the leading
motive of the Chinese government cannot be far to seek.
Had these boys of a dozen years each received his fifteen years’
instruction in our common-school, classical, and })r(>fessional
courses, it is impossil)le to believe that the}’ would not at the
end of this time have been more American than Chinese.
Their speedy recall was a matter of regret to the many friends
these interesting lads had made in New England, but from a
truly Chinese stand-point this foreign popularity would become
as the flesh-pots of Egypt to them after their return to
the arid intellectual life in China—and the event in one or two
instances appears to have proved the shrewdness of this surmise.
However, this expei’iment can in no wise be considered
a failure, even if we consider only the knowledge of English
and elements of a western education obtained by each student; how considerable has been its success will be seen when the
PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE OF CHINA. 741-
young incii—now engaged by their government in telegraph
posts, arsenals, schools, etc.—shall have achieved sufficient distinction
in their vai-ious professions to prove their fitness for
the pains bestowed upon them. The organization of scliools
for other than Chinese methods of education is already begun
in China—as, for example, tlie Tung-wan Kwan, under charge
of Dr. Martin, at Peking—and from these a much more
rational advance to their proper position in scientific knowledge
may be expected, than by hazardous schemes of foreign
tuition.
The pages of this brief compendium of our present knowledge
of the Chinese Empire were not written in the first place,
nor have they been revised, with any intent to laud that people
beyond their just deserts. What there is of weakness, vice,
narrowness, bigotry, in the national character has been pointed
out with great frankness, while their blindness and folly after
the lessons of two warlike visitations from foreign nations
have not passed unnoticed. The experiences of the last three
decades will probably prove more momentous for the Chinese
than those of any previous century in their history, and these
have not come about without much bitterness and the surly
traces of misunderstanding and misrepresentation. But the
great fact must have become apparent, even to the cursory
reader, that in the Chinese character are elements which in due
time must lift her out of the terribly backward position into
which she had fallen and raise her to a rank among the foremost
of nations. There is a basis of encouragement when we
keep in mind the literary institutions of tho country and their
early attention to obtaining a corps of scientific men of their
own nationality, as in the effort just mentioned.’
‘ The reserved force in the Chinese character was very strikingly brought
out in a new-year’s call at Peking, which the writer remembers, in 1870.
The topic came up as to how to diminish the expense of getting coal from the
mines to the city (which up to that time was carried on camels and mules , so
a.i to put it within the reach ol the poor people. I suggested a tram road
as the best plan for the fifty miles distance from the mines, and involving
trifling expense. After listening to the plan, Tan Ting-siang, one of the
members of the Board of Revenue, and Prince Kung, together exclaimed,
” Tieh-lu lai liao! Tkh-la lai Uao!” (‘ Railroads are coming in time’}, Tke ex
Another ground of hope—and tliese words are as pertinent
today as when written thirty-five years ago—lies in the matterof-
fact habits of the Chinese, tlieir want of enthusiasm and dislike
of cliange, which are rather favorable than otherwise to
their development as a great community. The presentation
and reception of the highest truths and motives the human
mind can realize always excites thought and action ; the chiefest
fear must be that of going too fast in schemes of reform
and correction, and demolishing the fabric before its elements
are ready for reconstruction. The non-existence of caste, the
weakness of a priesthood which cannot nerve its persecuting
arm with the power of the State, the scanty influence religion
has over the ])opular mind, the simplicity of ancestral worship,
the absence of the allurements of gorgeous temples, splendid
ritual, seductive music, gay processions, and above all, sanctified
licentiousness, to uphold and render it enticing to depraved
human nature, the popular origin of all government holidays,
and lastly, the degree of industry, loyalty, and respect for life
and property—these are characteristics which furnish some
grounds for trusting that the regeneration of China will be accomplished,
like the operation of leaven in meal, without shivering
the vessel.
istence of the treaty principle of ex-territoriality and its consequences is constantly
before the Chinese high officers, though they appreciate as well the
fact that their country is preparing and will be the better for such improve*
ments.
INDEX.
ABACUS, or Sioanpan, principle of,
ii. 60.
Abeel, Rev. D., i. 134, 835, ii. 240 ; arrives
in China, ii. 325, 327, 338, 348; memoir,
ii. 368.
Abel, Clarke, i. 363, ii. 458.
Aboriculture, curiosities of, ii. 13.
Aboriginal races, of China, i. 41 ; of Formosa,
i. 137 ; in Hunan, i. 148.
Abulgasi (History of the Tartars), i. 202-
203.
Abu Zaid, his work on China, ii. 168
;
generally trustworthy, ii. 414, 425.
Acupuncture, ii. 123.
Adams, Hon. John Quincy, his mistaken
notions of Chinese war, ii. 469.
Agar-agar, a glue made from seaweed, ii.
397.
Agnosticism, Chinese, ii. 201.
Agriculture, Temple of, Peking, i. 78 ; in
loess fields, i. 302 ; Chinese works upon,
i. 686 ; consideration of, ii. 1 ; utensils,
ii. 3.
Aksa, town and river of fli, i. 225 ; Yakub
Bey captures, ii. 730.
Alabaster’s Wheel ofthe Law, ii. 229.
Alak. See Tien Siian.
Alcock. Sir R. , ii. 637.
Almanac, rectified by Jesuits, ii. 68, 298
;
its importance, ii. 79.
Altai, i.e., ‘Golden Mountains,’ or Kin
Shan, i. 9.
Altars, to Heaven, Agriculture, and Earth,
Peking, i. 70-78 ; fashion of Romish, in
China, ii. 31.-).
Altchuku, or A-shi-ho, town in Kirin, i.
197.
Alum, found in Sz’chuen, i. 308 ; an article
of export, ii. 392.
Amber, brought to China, ii. 398.
Amherst, Lord, rebuff of his embassy at
Ynen-niing Yuen, i. 80 ; his mission to
the capital, ii. 4.58.
American, missionaries and the Hangchau
settlement, ii. 351 ; treaty with China
respecting toleration of Christianity, ii.
360 ; trade with China, ii. 460 ; residents
at Canton and Governor Lin, ii. 514
1
embassy to China concludes treaty oi
VVaiighia, ii. .567 ; homicide of Chinese
by, in Canton, ii. 568 ; Chinese favorably
disposed toward, ii. 570 ; fleet destroy
the Barrier forts, ii. 638 ; government
asked to co-operate with England,
ii. 642 ; minister. Sir. Reed, arrives in
China, ii. 643 ; minister, Mr. Ward, cooperates
in preventing coolie trade, ii.
663 ; negotiations with the Chinese
ofiicials at Taku forts, ii. 665 ; embassy
escorted to Peking via Pehtang, ii. 669
;
minister refuses to kotow and returns,
ii. 670 ; sailor hung for murder at Shanghai,
ii. 696 ; treaty with China negotiated
)jy Burhngame, ii. 6US ; missionaries
frightened away from TSugchau, iL 705.
Amiot, Pere i. 598, ii. 96, 149, SOU.
Ampere, J. J., i. 715.
Amoy, climate of, i. 53 ; island, i. 129
;
city, i. 183; its environs, i. 134; lexicon,
the Shili-wrt Yin, i. 590; dialect,
i. 611, 612,615; New Year usages at,
i. 814; infanticide at, ii. 239; sentiment
toward foreigners, ii. oS8 ; Protestant
mission at, ii. 348; Chinese and Dutch
take, ii. 438 ; East India Company trade
at, ii, 445, 448 ; taken by the English,
ii. .524, .528 ; not hostile to foreigners, ii.
573 ; during Tai-ping Rebellion, ii. 629.
Amulets and charms, to ward off evil, iL
25.5-257.
Amusements, at dinner, i. SOS ; out-door,
i. 825 ; peaceful character of Chinese, i.
829.
Amur River (called also Sas^alien, Kwantung,
Helung kiang), i. 189.
Analects of Confucius, the Lun Yu, i.
656.
Ancestral worship, compatible with
Buddhism, ii. 223; its antiquity, ii. 236;
its forms, etc., ii. 250-2.55; allowed by
Ricci, ii. 292, 299; and Christianity, ii.
355.
Anderson, Dr. John, i. 79, 181, 184, 337,
ii. 719, 721, 732.
(44 INDEX.
Anglo-Chinese College <at Malacca, ii. 324.
Animals, of China, quadiumanous, i. 814-
317, carnivoious, SlV-^iriO, ruminants.
320-323, dome stic, 323-320, rodents and
smaller animals, 32G-o2′.>, cetaceous,
329-330, four fabulous, 342-34r) ; in the
Herbal, i. 374-377 ; used as iood, i. 772,
77() ; pack, ii. 7 ; of the calendar and
zodiac, ii. fi’.t, 71 ; sculptured, ii. 115.
Ant-eater, or pangolin, Chinese ideas of,
i. 328.
Antelope, hwangyang, or clzcren, of Mongolia,
i. 321.
An-ting man, in Peking wall, 1. 63
;
opened to the allied troops, ii. 680.
Ants, studied by Chinese, i. 354.
Apple, or haw. of Manchuria, i. 300.
Arab, merchants introduce the name
Chhia into Europe, i. 3; travellers in
China, li. l’;S, 414, 421; name for opium,
ii, 373.
Arabdan, khan of the ^ongares, i. 233.
Architecture, Chinese, compared with Indian,
i. 72(i, domestic, ‘i28, military,
758 ; its needs and limitations, ii. 11(1.
Area of the Eighteen Provinces, i. 272,
£70.
Argali, mountain sheep, in China, i. 321.
Arithiuctic, Chinese knowledge of, ii. GO.
Arms used in warfare, ii. 88.
Army of China, pay of, i. 2′.)3 ; laws concerning,
i. 388 ; memorial as to its condition
in 1838, i. 494 ; examination
system in, i. 560 ; in theory and practice,
ii. SS-93 ; its condition on outbreak
of Tai-ping Rebellion, ii. 590.
Arnold’s Light of AfIu, ii. 220.
Arrow, case of the lorcha, ii. 359,
035-038.
Art, Chinese, in book illustrations, i. 080 ;
in aboriculture, ii. 13 ; in bronze, ii. 31 ;
porcelain decorations, ii. 25 ; carving,
etc., li. 59 ; illustrative, iL 105-111
;
symbolic, ii. Ill, 112; caricatures, ii.
115 ; export of objects of, ii. 393 ; example
of, ii. 080, note.
Assam, tea native of, iL 51.
Ass, wild, of the steppes, i. 212, 323.
Assembly balls, or club-houses, in Chinese
cities,!. 70, 122,107,739.
Astrology and divination, ii. 09, 74.
Astronomy, Chinese study of, ii, 68, 72
romance of, ii, 70 ; and Jesuits, ii. 298.
Atkinson, T, W., i. 331.
Atlas of China, the Tien Chii, or ‘Heaven’s
Pillar Mountains,’ i. 13.
Auber, Peter, on foreign trade with
China, ii. 4.50. 45;).
Audience, of officials before Emperor of
China, i. 801 ; of the Dutch ambassadors
Goyer and Keyzer,. ii. 435 ; of
Lord Macartney, ii. 4.55 ; question not
raised by Gushing, ii. 570 ; question discussed
by Ward’s embassy at Peking,
ii. 009 ; Rwinhoe’s descriptin -^f an, at
Yuen-ming Yuen, ii. 083; _, .uted to
all foreign ministers, ii. 714.
Azaleas about Ningpo, i. 370.
Azure Sea (see Koko-nor), i. 210.
BABER, E. C, i. 181 ; sent on Gro*.
venor mission, ii. 723, 724.
Baldwin, C. C, i. 015.
Balfour, F. H., li. 212.
Ball, Samuel, ii. .5.5, 373.
Ballads, specimens of Chinese, i. 705-714.
Balls, hollow, how carved, ii. 59.
Bamboo, beauty and uses of, i. 3.58-.’;00;
articles exported, ii. 393.
Bamboo books, the, i. 681 ; their authenticity,
ii. 149, 15.5.
Banditti numerous in China, i. 480,
495, 497.
Banks and banking system in China,
ii. 85.
Baptism, of moribund infants by Catholics,
ii. 310; discussion among missionaries
concerning Mord for, ii. 363.
Baptist Missionary Society in Hong Kong,
ii. 347.
Barbers’ establishments in China, i. 7(50;
their traitment of tlie eye.s, ii. 129.
Barkul (or Chinsi fu), town and lake of
Kansuh, i. 214.
Barkut, or golden eagle, hunting with,
i. 331.
Barrier forts, near Canton, destroyed by
Americans, li. 038.
Barrow, J., i. 22, 105, 117, 175, 287, 290,
741, 7.55, 772; ii. 5, 9.5, 97, 104, 240, 455.
Batang, in Sz’chuen, i. 20.
Bats, Chinese, i. 316 ; symbol of happiness,
ii. Ill
.
Bayan-kara in the Kwanlun system, i. 11,
211.
Bazin, i. 84.5, 714, ii. 213, 217.
Beal, Samuel, ii. 229.
Bcal, T., aviary of, at Macao, i. 341.
Bears, Chinese, i. 317.
Beggars, on the Tai-shan, i. 91 ; in Canton,
i. 730 ; how controlled, i. 742 ; condition
of, i. 835 ; and Buddhist priests,
ii. 220; alms for, ii. 203.
Bell, great, of Peking, i. 74 ; temple of, at
Puking, i. 79.
Bell, John, his residence at Peking,
ii. 442.
Belles-lettres, character and variety of
Chinese, i. 074.
Bellew, Dr. II. W., i. 234, 227.
Bells, rich in tone, ii, 20.
Belur-tag, Tartash ling, Tstmg ling,
‘ Onion ‘ or ‘ Blue Mountains,’ i. 9.
Benevolent institutions, Chinese, ii. 208-
20() ; foreign : Morrison’s and Parker’s
hospitals, ii. 333 ; Society for Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge, ii. 340 ; Morrison
Education Society, ii. 341.
INDEX. 745
Bentham, Gro., i. 9,<}C>, 355.
lietel-nut, a masticatory, how used, ii.397.
Jittiothment, cereniotiies relative to, i.
785 ; ‘spilling the tea,’ i. T’Jo ; evils attending
earl J’, i. 7135.
Bible, translated by Nestorians, ii. 280 ;
Montecorvino ordered to illustrate the,
ii. 288 ; withheld from Chinese by
Ricci, ii. 292 ; Ur. Morrison’s translation,
ii. lil’.l, o20; revi.sion, ii. SOo, o04 ;
contains the earliest notice of China,
ii. 408 ; revision and J. R. Morrison,
ii. 5(i0.
Biohe-de-mer, or sea-slug, how eaten,
i. 780 ; imported, ii. ;)U7.
Bickmore, A. S., i. 29(>.
Biographies, numerous in Chinese literature,
i. (581.
Biot, Edouard, i. 259, 263, 271, 413, 421,
482, 521, 543, 554, 559, 590, G3S, 644,
081, ii. 34. 87, 203.
Birds, of Tibet, I 243 ; of China, i. 330-
341 ; under one radical, i. 374.
Birds’-nest soup, its preparation, i. 780
;
and sharks’ fins imported, ii. 397.
Birthday fete at Ningpo, i. 814.
Black-haired race. Li Alin, common term
for Chinese, i. 5.
Blacksmith, his shop and tools, ii. 57.
Blakiston, T. W., i. 21-22, 145, 30.^.
Blodget, Dr. H., ii. 304.
Blood of animals used for food, medicines,
etc., i. 778.
Boards, Six, in government, i. 415 ; Civil
Office, i. 421 ; Revenue, i. 422 ; Rites,
1. 423; War, i. 424 ; Punishments, i. 426;
Works, i. 427 ; iiresidents of, i. 436
;
subordinate offices in the, i. 559.
Boats, bridge of, at Ningpo, i. 121 ; variety
and number of, in China, i. 749-753 ;
decorated at New Year, 1. 813 ; and internal
navigation of China, ii. 390.
Bogue, or Bocca Tigris, near Canton, i.
100; negotiations v/ith Kishen at, ii.
517 ; forts taken, ii. 520 ; destroyed
again, ii. .528 ; supplementary treaty
signed at, ii. .501 ; Governor Davis retakes
the forts, li. .573.
Bonham, Governor, visits the Tai-pings
at Nanking, ii. .577; advised by gentrv
of Canton not to enter the city, ii.
025.
Bwk of Rites {Li Ki), i. 424, 520, 643-
047, 805, ii. 33.
Book of Odes {Shi King), i. 636-643, ii.
236, 321.
Book of Records {Shu Kijig), i. 633-636,
808, ii. 32, 30, 08, 146 ff., 169, 372.
Book of Chanfies ( Yih Kiiir/), i. 027-033.
Books, used in schools, i. .520-.541, .574 ;
manufacture and price of, i. 600-0( 2
burned by Tsin. B.C. 200, ii. 101 ; Nestorian,
destroyed, ii. 286 ; circulated in
the opium traffic, ii. 379 ; destroyed at
Canton, ii. 026 ; by Protestants, ii. 328»
331, 340.
Boone, W. J., ii..^38, 348.
Bore, or Eagre, of the Tsientang, i. 114,
ii. 415.
Borget, A., i. 128, 320, 771.
Bostang-nor, or Lake Bagarash, i. 24,
223, 224.
Botany, of China, i. b’SS-SIO ; of the
/’lilt tsito, i. 372-374.
Boulgcr, D. C, i. 237, ii. 137; notice of
Turkestan, ii. ‘i28 ; of Mohammedan
revolt, ii. 730, 731.
Boundaries, of the Chinese Empire, i. 6 ;
of tlu! Eighteen Provinces, i. 8 ; made
under Kienlung. i. .59; of 111, i. 215 ;
of Tibet, i. 237 ; disputes concerning
the Amur, ii. 441 ; of the Empire near
Kuldja, ii. 733.
Bowring, Sir John, i. 459 ; his relations
with Yeh, ii. 033 ; his character, ii.
634; action in the Arrow case, ii.
635 ; opens hostilities with China, ii.
‘ 637 ; his conduct discussed in Parliament,
ii. 041.
Braam, Andreas van, Dutch ambassador
to Kienlung, i. 324, ii. 489.
Bremer, Sir Gordon, attacks Tinghai
with the fleet, ii. 514; takes the Bogue
forts, ii. 517, 520 ; sails for Calcutta,
ii. 521.
Breton, i. 314, 771.
Bretschneider, Dr. E., i 84, 345, 651,
ii. 413.
Bribes, nature and extent of, among officials,
i. 474 ; at examinations, i. 569.
Bricks, Chinese, their shapes and uses,
i. 728.
Bridges, construction and variety of, in
China, i. 7.53-756.
Bridgman, Dr. E. C, i. .530, 537. ii. 277;
arrives in China, ii. 327, 333, 335,
342, 346.
Bridgman, J. G., i. 43, 209, 316.
Bronze, beauty and excellence of, ii. 20.
Bros.set, jeniic, i. 643.
Brown, Rev. S. R., ii. 342, .344.
Bruce, Sir Frederick A., and reorganization
of Ever-Victoiious force, ii. 611 ;
commendation of (Gordon’s conduct,
ii. 619 ; sent by Elgin to commissioners
at Tientsin, ii. 655 ; repairs to Taku
with the allies, ii. 064, 065, 071, 672 ;
his good offices in Lay-Oslxime flotilla
affair, ii. 093, 694 ; his influence in
China, ii. (i99.
Buddha, temple and statue of, in Peking,
i. 71 ; near Si-ngan, i. 151 ; his life,
ii. 218 ; Chinese expedition to buy
relics of, ii. 414.
Buddhism, of the Mougol.s, i. 305,
ii. 234 ; in Khoten, i. 231 ; the lion and,
i. 317; ridiculed in the ‘Sacred Commands,’!.
689; and pagodas in China,
746 INDEX.
i. 744; introduced a.b. 05, under
Ming ti, ii. 163 ; in fourtli century A. d.,
ii. 165; and the Emperor Wu ti, ii.
166 ; its growth in China, ii. 217-229
and Koniaiiism compared, ii. 281,
315; bibliography, ii. 22′.t, 232, 234;
and J’uii(/-s/iui, ii. 246.
Buddhist, name for China, Chin-tan, i 3,
5; Olympus, i. 12; temples in
Peking, i. 73-79 ; manufactories at
Dolon-nor, i. 87; temples in Hangchau,
i. lis ; on Puto Island, i. 124; at
Canton, i. I(i4-1()() ; books translateil into
Mongolian, i. 206 ; temples at Kuldja,
i. 218; at H’lassa, i. 245; priests
and snakes, i. 346 ; images in clamshells,
i. 350 ; c7iaA’*v<»’ar^^i audCliinese
hwamjt’i^ i. 395 ; arrangement of Chinese
characters, i. 589 ; tractatG, i. 708 ;
chanting, ii. 96 ; pilgrims between
India and China, ii. 413 ; notions of cosmogony,
ii. 139 ; charm cut in Kiiyung
kwan gateway, ii. 176; missionaries
in China, ii. 189 ; priest as rain-maker,
ii. 203 ; priests oppose Nestorians, ii.
280, 28(5.
Buffalo {^hui ni/i), used more than the
ox. i. 274, 320 ; in rice-fields, ii. 3
;
worshipped, ii. 14.
Bukur, a town of 111, i. 225.
Bunge, Alex, von, i. 296, 355.
Ikirdon, Bishop J., ii. 364.
Burgevine, succeeds Ward in command
of the Ever-Victorious force, ii. 609;
goes over to Tai-pings, ii. 613 ; his proposal
to (Jordoii, ii. 614.
Burial, of lamas in Tibet, i. 250 ; places
in china, i. 275 ; ceremonies attending,
ii. 243-2.55 ; ceremonies and Christians,
ii. 3] 3.
Burkhan-buddha in the Kwanlun system,
i. 11, 211.
liiirlingame, Hon. Anson, ii. ()95 ; enters
upon Ills mission to foreign powers, ii.
696 ; his death, ii. 698 ; influence in
China, ii. 699.
Bushell, Dr. S. W., i. 88, ii. 160, 174.
(CABINET, or Imperial Chancery, i.
; 415-417.
Callery, J. M., i. 589, 643, 644, 672, 627.
Cambaluc (Peking), i. 61, 63, 6.5.
Camellia, a favorite flower, i. 367; akin
to tea, ii. 40.
Camels, wild, of Lob-nor, i. 223 ; usefulness
of, i. 325 ; hair rugs, ii. 39.
Camphor on Formosa, i. 140; its preparation,
ii. 55.
Canals (se<! (Irand Canal, i. 31), i. 37.
Candida, a Roman Catholic convert,
establishes hospitals, ii. 265; baptized,
ii. 292 ; her good works, ii. 294.
Cangue {Icia), its use as a punishment, i.
509.
Canfu (or Kanpu), i. 127, ii. 414 ; Abu
Zaid concerning, ii. 415.
Cannon, imitating English, found, ii. 62 ;
cast b}’ Jesuit missionaries, ii. 298;
found at Tinghai, ii. 525 ; at Shanghai,
ii. .536 ; at Barrier forts, ii. 638.
Canton, climate of, i. 53 ; rainfall, i. 56 ;
description, i. 160-169 ; environs, i.
169-170 ; granaries in, i. 295 ; the tankia,
i. 412, 751 ; location of magistrates
in, i. 445 ; Gov. Chu’s departure
from, i. 462 ;
‘ Free Discussion Hall
‘
at, i. 488 ; executions at, in 18.54, i. 513 ;
prisons, i. 514 ; examinations, i. 550
;
words in dialect, i. 611, 614; shops,
i. 736; street scenes, i. 740; fire control
in, i. 743 ; the river craft of, i. 749 ;
dog-mear, restaurants, i. 778 ; at New
Year, i.813; at Feast of Lanterns, 1.819 ;
porcelain painting, ii. 26 ; a cotton
–
factory experiment at, ii. 63 ; taken by
Manchus in 1650, ii. 179; the prefect
and governor of, pray for rain, ii. 203-
205 ; infanticide rare in, ii. 239,
242 ; disposal of the dead at, ii 254 ;
worship at street shrines, ii. 263 ; Moslems
in, ii. 268; excitement in, about
Portuguese, ii. 292 ; Morrison arrives in,
ii. 318; dies there, ii. 327 ; unpromising
field for missionarit’s, ii. 34() ; Marcus
Aurelius’s eiiiliassy enters, ii. 410 ; the
East India (“onipany established at, ii.
446 ; homicides among foreigners in, ii.
451; Lord Napier at, ii. 467-473; foreigners
detained Ijy Lin at, ii. 498 ; Elliot
leaves, ii. 503 ; fortified, ii. 513, 521 ;
Elliot accepts a ransom for, ii. 523 ; dislike
of foreigners at close of war, ii. 555 ;
Kiyiiig sent to. ii. 557 ; troubles at, with
foreigners, ii. .5(i8
; question of admittance
to the city, ii. 573; lawlessness
at, ii. 580 ; sentiment in. ii. 625 ; rebels
about, ii. 630 ; their wholesale execution,
ii. 632 ; Admiral Seymour enters,
ii. 638 ; French legation withdraws
from, ii. 639 ; taken by Franco-English
forces, ii. 644 ; influence of Elgin’s tact
at, ii. 647, 661 ; coolies with British
at Taku, ii. 674 ; French missionary
aggressions at, ii. 709.
Cantor, Dr. T. E., i. 350, 351.
Caps, various official, i. 414.
Cards, visiting, i. 802.
Caricature in Chinese art, ii. 11.5.
Carving, delicacy of Chinese, ii. 59 ; exj)
ort of, ii. :!94 ; horn and ivory, ii. 400.
Cassia, and cinnamon, ii. .55 ; and cassia
oil as exports, ii. 392 ; the inalaOatliriDii
of the Periplus, ii. 412.
Catalogue, Imperial, i. 626; of ancient
Chinese books recovered, ii. 149.
Cathay, a modern Persian name for
China, i. 4 ; its signification in the Middle
Ages, ii. 408.
INDEX. 747
Cats (kia-li), in China, i. 318 ; eaten, 1.
777.
Celestial Empire, derived from 2^ie7i
C/iiix, ‘Heavenly Dynasty.’ i. 5.
Celestial Mountains. .See Tien Shan.
Censorate, its duties and influence, i. 430-
483.
Censors, report.s from, i. 4G4, 480, .5(]().
Censuses of China, i. 2.58-2(54 ; considered
and compared, i. 2U5-272 ; method of
taking, i. 2S()-282 ; probable accuracy,
i. 283-288.
‘Century of Surnames ‘ {Pi/i Kia Sing),
a school-book, i. S^’IO.
Ceremonies, importance of, in government,
i. 424 ; (jourt of, i. 43.5 ; the iSiao Ilioh
upon, i. .540 ; in broader sense mean /t,
i. G45 ; marriage, i. 787-701 ; of obeisance
at court, i. 801 ; funeral, ii. 243-
250.
Ceylon, Yungloh’s expedition against, ii.
414.
Chahar. See Tsakhar, i. 87.
Chalmers, John, ii. 72, 207, 211.
Chang-an, in Shensi. See Si-ngan.
Changchau, in Puhkien, i. 13.5-13G ; bridge
at, i. 7.55 ; infanticide in, ii. 240
;
taken by Tai-pings, ii. 605.
Chang-peh Shan, ‘ Long White Mountains,’
their position, i. 10 ; called Kolmin-
shanguin alin by Manchus, i. 13,
188.
Changsha, capital of Hunan, i. 147
stormed by Tai-pings, ii. 595.
Chapu, i. I2(i, ii. 414; captured by the
British, ii. .533.
Characters, Chinese, for bee, ant, etc. , i.
354 ; botanical, i. 372 ; zoological, i.
874; method of memorizing, at school,
i. 5-11 ; origin of, i. 580; six classes, i.
583 ; their number, i. 580 ; classification,
i. .590-.508.
Chan, ‘department’ or ‘district,’ term
explained, i. .58; prefect of, i. 441.
Chan dynasty, term ‘ Middle Kingdom ‘
dates from, i. 4 ; and the Kvi-oh-tsz’
Kien, i. .543 ; King Wan of the, i. 020;
Duke, i.C37, 643, 808, ii. 157-1(50 ; After
Chan, ii. 172.
Chau hu, ‘Nest Lake,’ in Nganhwui, i.
109.
Chau-ll, or ‘ Ritual of Chau,’ i. 483; its
character, i. (543.
Chau-sm, Emperor of the Shang, ii. 1.56.
Chehkiang province, climate of, i. 55 •,
position and water ways, i. 114; trees
and productions, i. 11.5; the mulberry
in, ii. 11; silk, ii.34 ; missions in, ii. .)51.
Chess, the Chinese games of, i. 827-829.
Chih-li, ‘ Direct rule,’ term explained,
i. 58.
Chihli province, position, i. 60; lakes
and rivers of, i. 88 ; productions, i. 89.
Children, course of study for, i. 521-541 ;
how regarded in ancient time.s, i. 640;
ari’angement of their hair, i. 765
;
names, i. 797 ; how sj)oken of, i. 804 ;
infanticide, ii. 239ff.; foundling hospitals
for, ii. 264 ; baptism of, by Catholics,
ii. 310 ; in the Tientsin Romanist
orphan asylum, ii. 700.
Chifu, in Shantung, i. 90, 9.3 ; gold near,
i. 311 ; French at, ii. 6’i2 ; convention,
ii. 724.
Chin dynasty, its trade and intercourse,
ii. 166.
Vhi)\ sub-district or department, term
explained, i. .59.
Chin Hwa-ching, Chinese general, at
Wusung, ii. 534 ; his bravery, ii. .53.5.
China, origin of name uncertain, probably
from Tuin, i. 2, ii. 161 ; name
introduced into Europe by Arab traders,
i. 3 ; native names of, i. 4 ; Buddhist
and Mohammedan terms for, i. 5 ;
dimensions of the Empire, i. 5 ; of the
Eighteen Provinces, i. 8 ; boundaries,
i. 6 ; its three grand divisions, i. 7 ;
its mountain systems, i. 9 ; deserts, i.
15-17; rivers, i. 18; lakes, i. 23 ; coast,
i. 25; Great Wall of, i. 29; Grand
Canal, i, 31 ; roads, i. 37; general aspect,
i. 40 ; aboriginal races of, i. 42 ;
climate on coast of, compared with
America, i. .55 ; colonies, i. 185-257
;
population, i. 264; science in, i. 297,
377; education in, i. .521 ft’.; popular
ideas concerning, i. 724 ; methods of
cultivation in, ii. 7 ; its early history
not without foundation, ii. 135; Christianity
in, ii. 275 ; surve}^ of, by the
Jesuits, ii. 308 ; prospects of Christian
missions in, ii. 354 ; ancient and modern
commerce of, ii. 372. 390 ft’. ; earliest
notices of, ii. 408 ; general condition of,
after first war, ii. .573 ; forcibly opened,
ii. 656 ; condition in 1865, ii. 6′.)3 ; hopeful
prospects for the country, ii. 738,
743.
Chinchew, or Tsiuenchau, the ancient
Zayton, i. 129, 136; bridge at, i. 755;
Portuguese traders at, ii. 428.
Chin-chin, origin of the word, i. 805.
Chinese, race types, i. 41 ; women, 1. 42
;
industry and civilization of, i. 46 ; works
on geography, i. 49 ; people of Shantung,
i. 93; policy in I’ll, i. 314 ft’.;
Herbal, i. 370-377 ; political education
of, i. 384; divisions of society, i. 411;
advancement aft’ected by their language,
i. 579 ; philosophy mixed with divination,
i. 629, 632, ii. 74 ; care of their
early records, i. 651 ; their notions of
foreign countries, i. 725 ; popular ideas
respecting their food, i. 777 ; their social
customs, i. 782 ; regulations regarding
marriage, i. 792; names, how written,
i. 798 ; ceremony and etiquette, i.
748 IXDEX.
800 ; a temperate people, i. 808 ; commendable
traits of the, i. H’d’d ; gardeners
rather than farmers, ii. o ; societj’,
industry of, ii. C3 ; their tendency to
co-operate, ii. 88 ; chronology and cosmogony,
ii. 13G-144; their origin, it
144 ; adopt the queue, ii. 17′.) ; causes
of their remarkable duration, ii. 188 ft”.;
influence of ancestral worship on, ii.
‘2o7 ft”. ; benevolence, ii. SG:! fT. ; Christian
missions among the, ii. 27.^ ; character
of, emigrants in the Archipelago, ii.
3’2:^ ; future influence of newspapers
among, ii. o41 ; generally irreligious, ii.
355 ; tluir early isolation and suspicion,
iL 40t) ; subse<iuent estimate of foreigners
influenced by early Portuguese traders,
ii. 4:27 ; maltreated by Spaniards in
Manila, ii . 432 ; terms for ‘ foreigner,
‘
ii. 461 ; view of first war with England,
iL 508 ; national confidence during Taiping
Rebellion, ii. 604, 625 ; foreigners’
abuse of, ii. 706 ; character as exhibited
during the great famine, ii. 735,
736 ; Education Commission to the
United States, iL 7’39, 740.
Chinese Rcj)ository, its origin and object,
ii. 332 ; on first war with England, ii.
.550.
Chinhai, in Chehkiang, L 123 ; capture of,
ii. 520.
Ching-hwang miao, of Peking, i. 69 ; in
Canton, i. 165 ; in Shanghai, i. 107, ii.
202, 535.
Chingtih. See Jeh-ho, L 88.
Chingtu, in Sz’chuen, L 149, 156-157.
Chinkiang, in Kiangsu, i. 104 ; Nestorians
in, ii. 285 ; capture by British, ii.
.540; by Tai-pings, ii. 590; recaptured
by rebels, ii . 605.
Cholera and small-pox common, ii. 132.
Chop (//'(“), meaning of the term, i. 800 ;
in tea trade, ii. 48.
Chop-sticks (Av/vji tsz’), how used, L 807.
Christianity, and the Sabbath in China,
i. 810; its introduction into China l)y
Nestorian.s, ii. 275 ; l)y Roman (‘atholics,
ii. 287 ; confounded with Triad
Sect, iL 312 ; Protestants commence
their labors, ii. 318 ; prospects for toleration
in China, ii. 354 ; jjreached in
Formosa by the Dutch, ii. 434 ; Hung
Siu-tsuen accepts, ii. 58(i ; he studies at
Canton, ii. 588 ; absence of its principles
in Tai-ping movement, ii. 600- Lord
Elgin’s reply to missionaries concerning,
ii. 649 ; and missions in China,
problem discussed by the officials, ii.
707.
Chronology, Chinese, ii. 135 ; its claims
to belief, ii. 143.
Chu, (Jovernor, valedictory ode of, i. 462.
Chu Hi, commentator of Confucius, his
home in Kiangsi.i. 113 ; his Siau IHolt^
i. .540 ; commentaries of, i. 652, 654,
677 ; his philosophy, i. 683 ; on cosmogony,
ii. 141; on Tablet of Yu, iL
150, 174, 200.
Chukiang. See Pearl River, L 22, 159,
etc.
Chung-ho tien, ‘ Hall of Central Peace,’
Palace at Peking, i. 68.
Chunghow, escorts American embassy to
Peking, ii. 668 ; in the Tientsin riot, ii.
702, 703 ; sent to France on a mission
of apology, ii. 7C.5 ; abused by the
foreign press, ii. 706 ; sent to Russia,
ii. 731 ; jjunishmcnt for negotiating
treaty of Livadia, ii. 732.
Chungking, in S/.’cliueii, L 155, 158.
Vhuriij Kiuoh, or ‘ Middle Kingdom,’ name
for China since B.C. 1150, i. 4, 98.
Chusan Archipelago, i. 123-126; British
fleet arrives at, ii. 515 ; restored, ii. 580.
Chun 2’xiu, or ‘ Spring and Autumn Record,’
i. 647-651, 663.
Chu Tsun, a censor, i. 432.
Cibot, Pere, i. 537, iL 14.
Cicadas, tricks with, i. 3.52.
Cities in China, aspect of, i. 40 ; arrangement
of streets in, i. 738 ; their dull
appearance, i. 746.
Civilization, of the Chinese, L 46, 380-
383 ; the wife in, i. 792.
Club-houses, in Peking, i. 76 ; Ningpo, i.
122; Canton, i. 167, 739.
Clans, in south China, i. 482 ; their customs,
i. 484 ; secret societies, i. 492 ; in
the Archipelago, ii. 323.
Classics, or Chinese canonical books,
characters in, i. 589 ; the minor, as
school-books, i. 526-541 ; price of the
nine, i. 602 ; the five cliief, described, i.
627-651 •, the ‘Four Books,’ or minor,
L 652-672 ; Hall of the, i. 74, 730.
Clientclage in Chinese official ranks, i. 461.
Climate, of Eighteen Provinces, i. 50 ; of
Mongolia, i. 201 ; of lli, L 223 ; of Tibet,
i. 241.
Cloisonni’, its manufacture, ii. 60.
Coal, in Chilili, i. 89 ; in Shantung, i. 93 ;
in Shansi, i. 94-95 ; in Formosa, i. 139;
in Hunan, i. 147; Kwangtung, i. 174;
Yunnan, i. 184 ; modeo.f working, i. 305.
Coast, length of Chinese, i. 7 ; granitic
mountains of, i. 14; character of, i.
26 ; climate of, i. 55 ; trade along the,
ii. 389.
Cobblers, itinerant, ii. 39.
Cobdo province, i. 208 ; Tourgouths in,
i. 220.
Coffin, C. C, i. 781.
Coffins, stored in temples, i. 275 ; form
and value of, ii. 244 ; in larariums, ii.
2.54.
Cole, R., i. 604, ii. 325, 350.
Colledge, Dr. T. R., his hospital at Ma.
cao, ii. 333, 335.
INDEX. (49
Colleges, in Canton, i. 542, 545 ; Anglo-
Chinese, at Malacca, ii. 324.
Collie Kev. David, i. 054, ii. o24, 368.
Colonial Office, Peking, i. 72, 426.
Colonial Possessions oi Cliina, i. 7 ; genoral
table of, i. KSi» ; population, i. 284 ;
governed by the Li Fan Yuen, i. 428.
Commerce, Chinese, ii. 373^05. See also
nnder Trade
Concessions, or foreign settlements at
trade i)orts, ii. 020.
Concubines, their position in the household,
i. 791.
Confucius, worship of, in ‘ Hall of Intense
Thought,’ Peking, i. (>’.); temple to, at
Peking, i. 73. ii. 15!) ; l)irthplace, i.
90; ‘ bird of,’ the pjacock, i. 337 ; influence
of, on permanence of Chinese institutions,
i. 3SL ; family of, ennobled,
i. 387, 406. 52;), 525 ; and Hiang Toll, i.
534, 530, 538, (;3t), 637 ; and the Li Ki, i.
644 ; his Ckiui Tsiii, i. 047 ; Ana ects of,
i. 6.5() ; his life, i. 058 ; character of his
philosophy, i. 003 ; worship of, i. 004 ;
influence in government j)olity, ii. 92;
on music, ii. 94 ; and early emperors, ii.
146 ; writings burned, ii. 101 ; worshipped,
ii. 195 ; on religion, ii. 199 ; tsmples
to, ii. 203 ; as an example, ii. 206 ; his
meeting with Lau-tsz’, ii. 212, 218, 237.
Contrarieties in Chinese and Western
usages, i. 829-833.
Cooking among the Chinese, i. 781.
Cool.e trade, and Kwangting rebellion, ii.
631 ; its atrocities, and efforts toward its
suppression, li. 0tj2 ; labor employed by
the British at Taku, ii. 084 ; convention
signed respecting, ii. 098 ; is finally
abolislied, ii. 715.
Cooper, T. T., i. 43, ii. 719.
Copper, m Yunnan, i. 184 ; uses and localities
of, i. 311 ; manufacture, ii. 19.
Cordier, Henri, i. 034, 781, ii. 318, 024.
Corea. frontier of, i. 190 ; trade at Ki-iu
wan fair, i. 194 ; Chinese attempts to
conquer, ii. 92 ; conquest of, by the
Tang, ii 109; language, ii. 190.
Cormorant, fishing with the, ii. 10 ; noticed
by Friar Odoric, ii. 423.
Cosmogonj’-, Chinese, ii. 137 ; Chu Hi’s,
li. 141, 200.
Cotton cultivati m, ii. 9 ; and manufacture,
ii. 36, 02.
Cottrell, C. H., i. 207.
Council of State, or General Council, i.
415, 418.
Couriers, government and post, i. 389, 425.
Court, of Controllers, Peking, i. 69 ; arrangemont-^
of imperial, i. 407 ; of Colonial
Government, i. 428 ; Censorate, i.
430 , Transmission and Judicature, i.
433 ; minor court.s, i. 4:!5 ; criminal, i.
503 ; dialect, i. 013 ; ceremony otkotoii\
i. 801.
Creation, Chinese ideas concerning, u
137.
Crickets used for gambling, i. 352, 886.
Crime, laws respecting, in the code, i
389.
Crow, the, on Desert of Sha-moh, i. 17
;
about Peking, i. 334.
Cashing, Hon. Caleb, appointed U. S.
minister to China, ii. 505 ; concludes
treaty of Wanghia with Kiying, ii. 567 ;
correspondence in case of homicide, ii.
568.
Customs, management of, i. 444, ii. 402 ;
internal transit, ii. 391 ; revenue, ii.
404 ; put into hands of foreigners at
Shanghai, ii. 027, 658 ; under Mr. Hart,
ii. 095.
Cutch, or terra japonica, a dve, imported,
ii. 398.
Cuvier, Baron G., i. 343.
Cycle adopted by Hwangti, ii. 69, 146.
Cyclopedias in Chinese literature, i. 693.
DALAI-LAMA of Tibet, i. 245, 256 ;
the Pope of Shamanism, ii. 3:!3.
Dancing, or posture-making, ii. 104.
Daourian Mountains, on north frontier of
China, i. 9.
Darwin, Charles R., i. 3.”34.
Darwin, Erasmus, i. 357.
Dates, so-called, of China, the jujube
plum, i. 305, 775.
D’Avezac, ii. 416, 418.
David, P.re, i. 157, 343, 290, 314, 317,
331, 3.52, 355.
Davis, Sir J., notice of Grand Canal, L
32 ; of Yuen-mir.g Yuen, i. 80 ; on
Canal, i. 92 ; Nanking, i. 101 ; Nganking,
i. HO; tSketches, i. 114, 101,
290, 297, 434, 5(51, 055 ; Vhinc.ae Poetry,
i. 703, 714, 715, 719, 722, 745, ii. 19,
22, 27, 28, .5.5, 05, 79, 118, 137, 1.52,
179, 200, 214, 220, 233, 349, 3.52, 382,
400, 42(), 440, 4i9, 454, 458, 404 ; Kiying
introduced to, ii. 567 ; takes the Bogue
forts, ii. .573, 574; his China during
the. W<u\ ii. 570.
Day, its divisions, ii. 79.
Debts and debtors, laws and practice concerning,
i. 515 ; at New Year, i. 811.
Deer, varieties of, in China, i. 321.
Degrees, four literary, in China, i. 547-
500 ; sale of, i. 549, 500 ; value of, i.
571.
De Guignes, i. 37, 119, 200, 271, 280, 289,
291, 292, 081, 724, 735, 794, 800, 812,
ii. 30, 32, 33, 73, 96, 307, 250, 271, 410,
439.
D’Herbelot, on origin of name China, L
3 ; on Tartar, i. 302.
Deluge of Yao, probably an inundation,
ii. 147.
Dennys, N. B., i. 84, 130, 170.
‘ Density of population in China, i. 373.
750 l^•l)EX.
Dent, invited to meet liin in Canton, ii.
4’M ; conducted to consulate by Captain
Elliot, ii. 5UU ; Liu probably wislies
him as a liostage, ii. 5U8.
D’Entiecolks, ii. ^0.
DeQuincey, Tiiomas, i. 234.
Desert of Gobi, or Sha-moh, i. 15. See
Gobi.
Deshauterayes, Le Roux, i. l’)”)!.
Dew, Captain, captures Ningpo, ii. GOO
;
before Shauhing, ii. 010.
Dialects, of the Chinese language, i. 611;
the Mandarin, i. Gil! ; Canton and Amoy,
i. ()14-Gia
Dictionary, of Kanghi, i. 588, 591, 592,
G02, (u’i ; Dr. Morrison’s, i. 611 ; its
compilation, ii. o20.
Dictionaries, used by the Chinese, i. 589-
591 ; words in various, i. 611 ; of dialects,
i. 015 ; in the Imperial Catalogue,
i. 672.
Dikes, along Yellow River, i. 19 ; the
Grand Canal, i. o5 ; at Kaifung, i. 99,
100.
Dinners, formal Chinese, described, i.
806.
Dish-mending by travelling tinkers, ii. 58.
Diseases prevalent in China, ii. 12U.
Divination, by the figures of the Yifi
Jung, i. 632 ; by the horary characters,
ii. 69 ; at graves, ii. 240 ; Chinese, compared
with Roman, ii. 201.
Divisions, of China, i. 7 ; of Mongolia, i.
202 ; of Tibet, i. 244 ; of society, i. 412 ;
b}- Yang Kien into chau, hieii, etc.,
ii. 167.
Divorce, laws respecting, i. 794.
Dogs, in China, i. 318 ; eaten, i. 777.
Dolon-iior, or Lania-miao, i. 87.
Dominican friars in China, ii. 297; rivalry
and quarrels with .Jesuits, ii. 299, 300 ;
persecuted in Macao, ii. 302.
Doolittle, Justus, i. 480, .550, .5.59, 719,
7.52, 781, 788, 797, 817, 821, 827, ii.
14, 7(), 87, 104, 119, 212, 2-Jl, 242, 248,
255, 2(;i.
Douc, or Cochinchinese monkey, i. 314.
Douglas, Dr. C, i. 61.5.
Douglas, R. K., i. 663, ii. 217, 261.
Dragon, or funr/, of the Chinese, i. .344
;
imperial enil^lcm, i. 395 ; on Emperor’s
used as symbol, ii. 112 ; and grave geomancv,
ii. 246.
Dragon-boat Festival, i. 148. 696, 816.
Dramas and plays in China, i. 714 ; resume
of a plot, i. 822.
Dress, style and variety of Chinese, i.
7.59 ; of Chinese women, i. 763 ; at theatrical
representations, i. 822 ; felts and
skins as, ii. 39 ; of Tai-pings, ii. .589.
Drought, action of officials during, ii.
203-205.
Drum Tower, Peking, i. 74 ; stone drums
in Confucian Temple, ii. 159.
Ducks, numerous, i. 339 ; the mandarin,
i. 340 ; hatching establishments, i. 77a.
Dudgeon, Dr. J., i. 770, li. 134, 240, 241,
44a.
Dufresse, Romish missionary to China,
ii. 30(j, 307 ; on infant baptism, ii. 311
his letters, ii. 317.
Du Halde, i. 02, 196, 523, ii. 137, 294,
443, 719.
Duuganis, Mohammedan tribe of, L 210,
and Yakub lieg, ii. 727 ; their revolt,
ii. 730.
Du Ponceau, P. S., i. 586.
Dutch, bring tea into Europe, ii. 51
;
tlriven from Formosa by Ko.\inga, ii.
180; in the Pescadores, i. 141, ii.
433 ; and missionaries in the Archipelago,
ii. 320 ; Chinese notice of, ii. 427
;
trade and embassies to China, ii. 434.
Dutch Folly Fort, at Canton, i. 163,
170 ; British bombard Canton from, iL
640.
Dwellings, in loess, i. 301 ; in cities,
construction and arrangement, i. 727-
733 ; boats used as, i. 750.
Dyer, Samuel, i. (iC»4, ii. 325, 368.
Dynasties, table of the Chinese, ii. 186.
Dzaring Lake, in Koko-nor, i. 18.
EAGLE, or Barkut, in Mongolia, i.
331.
East India Company, appoint Morrison as
translator, ii. 319: oppose his son’s
press at Macao, ii. 345 ; and the opium
trade with China, ii. 376, 377 ; its influence
and character in China, ii. 443,
4.59, 403 ; attempt to start a trade at
Fuhchau, ii. 445 ; control the British in
China, ii. 453; its responsibility, ii.
458 ; its close, ii. 4.V.), 738.
Eclip.se.s, of moon at (^antou, i. SI 9 ; Chinese
observations of, ii. 73 ; noticed in
the tShii, ii. 149.
Edicts, style of, and modes of publishing,
i. 409.
Edkins, Dr. Joseph, i. 3, 752, ii. 197,212,
217, 229, 247, 271, 364.
Education, in China, Chap. IX. ; probable
extent of, i. 545 ; female, i. 572-
577 ; character of Chinese, ii. 370 ; of
Chinese by missionaries, ii. 310, 341 ;
of Chinese boys in the United States,
ii. 739-741.
Egypt, Chinese snuff-bottles found in, ii
27,
Eighteen Provinces (or China Proper),
called Shih-jxih Sing and C’him(\
Kwoh in Chinese, i. 8; its mountaiu
system, i. 14 ; boundaries, i. 25 ; coast,
i. 26; climate, i. .50; topographical
divisions, i. .58 ; area and population’
density of. i. 272 ; their government, i
437-443.
INDEX. 761
Eitel, Ernest, ii. 233, 247.
Elders of villages, their position, i. 483,
500.
Elephants at Peking, i. 323.
Eleuths, tribe uf Mongols, i. 213, 219.
Elgin, Loid, his opinion of the Arrow
case, li. 037; arrival in China, ii. (143;
before Canton city, ii. (144 ; construction
of municipal control at its capture,
ii. (;4G ; replies to Shanghai missionaries
on toleration of Christianity, ii. 049
;
reaches Tientsin, li. Ool ; bearing toward
the allies in Tientsin, ii. 054 ; and
the opium question, ii. 057 ; visits the
rebels at Hankow, ii. 059 ; among native.”?
near Canton, ii. 001 ; reappointed
plenipotentiary to ( liina, ii. 071 ; refuses
surrender of Takii forts and advances
to Peking, ii. 0’i7; view of the
pillage of Yuen-miiig Yuen, ii. 683 ; he
orders its destruction, ii. 684 ; signs
the treaty of Peking, ii. OsO \ his character,
ii. 688.
Elliot, Admiral G., arrives at Chusan,
ii. 515.
Elliot, Captain Charles, made superintendent
of trade, ii. 481 ; his opinion of
the opium trade, ii. 482 ; . ordered to
drive away opium ships, ii. 491 ; his
exertions to stop smuggling, ii. 496 ; returns
to Canton and oilers co-operation
with Lin, ii. 499 ; his circular upon surrendering
the opium, ii. 502 ; leaves
Canton with the prescribed Englishmen,
ii. 503 ; retires with them on board
ship, ii. 506 ; effect upon Lin of his
protecting Dent, ii. 509 ; arrival off
Chusan as plenipotentiary, ii. 515 ; interview
with Kishen at Taku, ii. 510
;
at the Bogue, ii. 518; his humane
policy, ii. 519 ; reward offered for, ii.
520; accepts a ransom for Canton, ii.
523 ; superseded by Sir H. Pottinger, ii.
524.
Ellis,’Henry, i. 85, 174, 5(il, ii. 458.
Embassy, received by Kienlung, ii. 182;
to China : of Marcus Aurelius, ii. 410 ;
Ibn Batuta, ii. 423 ; character of an,
during the Ming, ii. 42() ; the Portuguese
send four, ii. 438 ; Spanish, ii.
432 ; Dutch, ii. 438, 439 ; Macartney’s,
ii. 454 ; Lord Amherst’s, ii. 458 ; Pottinger’s
question concerning reception
of an, ii. 5.53 ; the Burlingame, to
foreign countries, ii. 097.
Embroidery, on official costume, i. 703
;
on ladies’ dresses, i. 7(55 ; Chinese skill
in, ii. 36.
Emigration, restrictions to, from China,
i. 378, 411 ; character of, to the
Archipelago, ii. 323 ; of Chinese to
Amei’ica, treaties respecting, ii. 699.
Emperor of China, his residence at Peking,
i. ()6-69 ; country place at Jeh-ho,
i. 88 ; revenue of, i. 289 ; position, titles,
etc., i. 393-399; inaugural proclamation,
i. 399 ; coronation, i. 401 ; authority, i.
403; family of, i. 404; his escort, i. 410 ;
relations with ministers, i. 420, 437 ;
his dress, i. 703 ; worship, i. 801 ; his
ceremony of ploughing, ii. i;> ; in Chine.
se annals, ii. 15^ ; tables of Ming and
Tsing, ii. 1!?6; worships Heaven as
‘Tiv)i.-tsz\ ii. 194-199; prays lor rain,
ii. 305 ; and ancestral worship, ii. 2;.’S ;
funeral of, ii. 250; worshipped in
mosques, ii. 370 ; peculiarities about
succession of the present, ii. 726.
Empress-dowager, position of, i. 409; death
of the Eastern, ii. 727.
Empress-regent, two during Tungchi, ii.
184 ; their critical position at death of
Hienfung, ii. 091 ; and marriage ceremonies
of Tungchi, ii. 710.
England, compared with China as to population-
density, i. 273 ; consumption of
tea in, ii. 51 ; attitude of, at commencement
of opium war, ii. 510 ; observations
upon, ii. 572.
English, manifesto against, at Canton,
i. 488; caricature of, ii. 116; outrage
the dead at Canton, ii. 354 ; toleration
clause in, treaty, ii. 360 ; introduce
opium into China, ii. 377 ; commerce
attempted in 1635 and 1664, ii. 444 ; and
French sailors’ quarrels, ii. 451 ; troops
at Macao, ii. 456 ; and Chinese expectations
at Napier’s arrival, ii. 400 ; at
Canton petition the king regarding
trade, ii. 470 ; losses during the hrst
war, ii. 550 ; murder of, near Canton,
ii. 578 ; consuls at Chinese ports, ii.
579 ; waive right of entering Canton,
ii. 573, 025 ; attack pirates, ii. 032
;
insult to flag, ii. 035 ; open hostilities
at Canton, ii. 638 ; sustain Palmerstoii’s
war policy at home, ii. 041 ; influ.
ence of, consular body, ii. 0S9 ; expeditions
“of trade and exploration” into
Yunnan, ii. 718-723 ; responsibility foi
China, ii. 725.
Erman, A., i. 306.
Escayrac-de-Lauture, Comte de, ii. 215;
his return from imprisonment at Peking,
ii. 684.
Etiquette, at a court levee, i. 800; of a
formal call, i. 803.
Eunuchs in imperial household, i. 407.
” Ever-Victorious Force” {Cha)ip-sfn)iff
Kiuii), its organization under Ward, ii.
007 ; under Col. Gordon, ii. 009; uniform
and character, ii. Oil ; takes
Fushan and other towns, ii. Oil 2 ; before
Suchau, ii. 013 ; last operations, ii. 617;
dissolved June 1. 1864, ii. (»18.
Examinations, Hall of, at Canton, i.
106 ; riot, i. 498 ; system of, founded, i.
521 ; mode of conducting, i. 547 ; ar752
IXDEX.
rangements, i. 551 ; example of an es-
Si.j , i. 554 ; statistics of, i. 55S ; army,
i. 560 ; practical merits and demerits of
system, i. 5t»2-573.
Execution, of criminals, i. 511 ; attempted,
in front of factories, ii. 405 ; of rebels
in Canton, ii. 632 ; of Shushun, ii. 691
;
of Tientsin rioters, ii. 704.
Exports, of silk from China, ii. ‘SH ; items
of, from China, ii. 373, 3112 ; table of,
ii. 405 ; duties on, in eighteenth century,
ii. 447.
Ex-territoriality, its inherent wrong, ii
657 ; Chinese officials inquire concerning,
ii. 659; its indirect influence, ii.
695 ; assumption of, by British minister,
ii. 72(; ; anecdote illustrating Chinese
dislike of, ii. 741.
Extortions practised by officials, i. 475.
Eyelet-hole ware, called ‘ rice-China,’ how
made, ii. 25.
FABER, Ernst, i. 603, ii. 25.5.
Fabulous animals of the Chinese, i.
342.
Factories, the, at Canton, i. 107 ; Chinese
troops placed over, ii 474 ; mob attack
the, ii. 495 ; Lin confines foreigners in,
ii. .500 ; occupied by British troops, ii.
521 ; brawl and fire at, ii. 556 ; burned
by Yeh, ii. 639.
Fairs, on frontiers of Corea, i. 194 ; at
Peking, i 817.
Falcons in Peking, i. 332.
Families, cluster together in China, i.
277 ; Confucian, ennobled, i. 387 ; in
tea cultivation, ii. 41 ; and ancestral
worship, ii. 2:>6 ff’.
P’amine of 1878, Chinese benevolence
during, ii 266 ; its extent and terrors,
ii. 734 ; efforts of foreigners toward its
relief, ii. 73 5.
fan River, in .Shansi, i. 94.
J<^au kuiei, ‘ foreign devils.’ reason for
name, i. 42 ; use at Canton, ii. 346,
347 ; influence of the term, ii. 461
gradual disappearance, ii. (i(i2.
Farce, a Chinese, i. 715.
Farms in Cldna, generally small, i. 276,
278.
Feet, compressed, origiti and extent of
practice, i. 776 ; its appearance and effects
ujjon women, i. 768 ; noticed by
Friar Odoric, ii. 423.
Pelt, poorly m;ide, ii. 39.
Female, education in China, i. .57:2-577
;
dress, i. 763 ; position in society, i. 784
privileges and misfortunes, i. 794-796
;
parts in theatres, i. 821 ; missionaries,
ii. 36i.
Fergusson, James, i. 726, 727, 745, 758,
ii. 176, 232.
Festivals, of Dragon-boats, i. 696, 816
numerous and popular, i.809; New Year,
i. 810-816 ; of lanterns, i. 817, 818 ; of
ploughing and the first of spring, iL 13.
Fiction (see also Novels), character of
Chinese, i 694.
Field. Dr. H. M., on Chinese justice,
i. .510.
Fi-fi, Chinese monkey, i. 31.5.
Filial Duty, the ‘ Canons of,’ or Ifiao
King^ i. 536 ; notable examples of, i
.
.538 ; taught in the JJoolc of liitvs, i.
646.
Finn, James, ii. 271, 274.
Fires, how controlled in cities, i. 743 ; in
pawnshops, ii. 87.
Fire-wells in Sz’chuen, i. 312.
Fire-works, in Peking, i. 817; a- id gunpowder,
ii. 90.
Fischer, Heinr., i. 309.
Fisher, Lieut. -Col, ii. 600, 663, 667, 608,
675.
Fishes, immense supply of, in China, i.
276 ; of the Empire, i. 340-350 ; shellfish,
i. 350-351 ; in (“Janton m.arkets, i.
780; models of, carried in procession, i.
818; and fishermen, ii. 14; fins and
maws eaten, ii. 397.
Fishing, various methods of, i. 779, ii.
14.
Five Sovereigns, the, of Chinese legendary
history, ii. 142-148.
Flag, Chinese national and private, i. 7.52.
Flint, his efforts to establish a trade, ii.
448 ; imprisoned, ii. 449.
Flogging, a common punishment, i. .509.
Flowers, much esteemed, i. 368 ; worn
upon the head, i. 704 ; at New Year, i.
811 ; culture of, ii. 12 ; used in scenting
tea, ii. 48.
Food, of Tibetans, i. 241 ; in use in China,
i. 274 ; supplies of palace, i. 408 ; Chinese,
i. 771-778.
Foreigners, how classified, i. 429; ideas
of Cliiuese society, i. 782 ; thought to
have no surnames, i. 798; tricks playi’d
on, i. 799 ; establish free hospitals, ii.
333 fi”. ; Morrison Education Society, ii.
340; Chinese contempt for, ii. 450-4.5-1 ;
Chinese terms for, ii. 401 ; in Canton
kept like animals, ii. 477; imprisoiu’il liy
Lin in the factories,’ ii. 500 ; how looked
uj)on by the Chinese, ii. 538 ; in general
included in terras of English treaty of
Nanking, ii. oCd ; continued hatred of,
at Canton, ii. .578,-580; and the Taipings
at Nanking, ii. 597 ; none injured
by Tai-pings, ii. 604 ; enlisted by
the rebels, ii.OOO ; by imperialists under
Ward, ii. 007; and the Ever-Victorious
force, ii. (ill ; and collection of duties
at Shanghai, ii. 627 ; Chinese opinjpn
of, after the war of ISliO, ii. <iS9 ; phm
of employing, on war vessels, ii. 692 ;
their abuse of China, ii. 70() ; admitted
to audience of Emperor, ii. 714 ; efforts
INDEX. 753
toward relief of the famine of 1878, ii.
735.
Formosa Island, or Taiwan, i. 27, 44
;
position, character, and products of, i.
137-141 ; hog found in, i. 324 ; pheasant
of, i. 337 ; camplior on, ii. .55 ; Dutch
driven from, ii. 180 ; missions in, ii.
349 ; history of the Dutch occupation of,
ii. 433^38 ; massacre of shipwrecked
crews on, ii. 554 ; during the Tai-ping
Rebellion, ii. (i()4 ; Japanese descent
upon, ii. 710 ; its recent growth and
improvement, ii. 71S.
Ports, their construction in China, i. 758 ;
at the Bogue. ii. 520; at Taku, ii. 676.
Fortune, R., i. 107, 136, 29e”., 370, 733, ii.
10, 12, 29, 38, 55, 2.53.
Fortune-tellers, and the cabala of the Yih,
i. 632 ; and astrology, ii. 74 ; their
methods, ii. 260.
Fox, localities of, ideas concerning, i. 320.
French, studies in Chinese silk-culture,
ii. 32, 34 ; toleration clauses in, treaty,
ii. 361 ; relations with China, ii. 441 ;
and English sailors, their quarrels at
Canton, ii. 451 ; treaty of Whampoa
with China, ii. 571 ; attack on rebels at
Shanghai, ii. 028 ; legation withdraws
from Canton, ii. 639 ; grievance against
China, ii. 642 ; convention of Peking,
ii. 087 ; massacre of consul and Sisters
of Charity at Tientsin, ii. 700 ; action
of the, charge’, ii 703.
Fritsche, H., i. 52, 57.
Frogs, how caught, i. 778.
Fruits, of China, i. 366 ; common table,
i. 774 ; at dinner, i. 807.
I^’u, ‘ department ‘ or ‘ prefecture, ‘ term
explained, i. 58 ; government, i. 441.
Fuhchau (Hokchiu), description of, i.
130-133 ; its dialect, i. 611 ; bridge at,
i. 754 ; nunneries abolished in, ii. 230 ;
missions at, ii. 349 ; van Hoorn lands
at, ii. 438 ; East India Company commence
trade at, ii. 44.5 ; treatment of
foreigners at, ii. 580 ; arsenal established
at, ii. 61)6.
Fuh-hi, the inventor of writing, i. 580 ;
and the Yih King, i. 627-628 ; the first
monarch, ii. 142 ; confounded with Fuh
(Buddha), ii. 217.
Fuhkien province, temperature of, i. .55 ,
description of, i. 127-13’t; dialect, i.
614-616 ; marriage customs of, i. 78.5,
7S7; experiment in coinage, ii. 84;
Taoist priests in, ii. 215_; infanticide
in, ii. 240 ; funeral customs, ii. 243 ;
missions in, ii. 348.
Fuh-niu shan, in Honan, i. 98.
Fuhshan (or Fat-shan), a mart near Canton,
i. .59 ; taken by rebels, ii. 630 ; their
brutalities in, ii. 631.
Funerals, ceremonies attending, ii. 343-
255.
Vol. II.—48
Fung-hmang, or phoenix, i. 343 ; as an
emblem, ii. 111.
Fuiig-shui, founded on the Yih King^ i.
628 ; a system of geomancy, ii. 246.
Fung Sien tien, temple in Emperor’s
Palace, Peking, i. 09.
Fung Yun-shan, an early follower of
Hung Siu-tsuen, ii. 586 ; made the
‘ Southern King,’ii. 594 ; he disappears,
ii. 602.
Furniture, in country houses, i. 733
materials, i. 734.
Furs used for winter garments, i. 763.
Futai^ orfuyen^ governor of a province,
i. 438.
Fuyin, or mayor of Peking, i. 82.
GABEL, or Salt Department, its im^
portance, i. 443.
Gambier, an import, ii. 400.
Gamble, VV., i. 604, ii. 325.
Gambling, modes and extent of, i. 825.
Games, morra {cliai rnri)^ at dinner, L
808 ; out-door, i. 825 ; chess, i. 827.
Gang-<lis-ri, Zang, or Kailasa Mountains,
i. 13.
Gardens, style of private, in China, i. 734;
in Shanghai, ii 202.
” Gates of China,” perhaps Straits of Luichau,
i. 26 ; probably at Canfu, i. 127,
ii. 415.
Gaubil, Pore, i. 63.3, 634,0.36, 809.
Gegen, at Wu-tai shan, in Shan si, i. 96.
Geography, Chinese knowledge of foreign,
i. 49 ; native topographies, i. 50, 185
;
popular ideas of, in China, ii. 80,
Geology of China, i. 297-312.
Gerbillon, Pere, i. 88, ii. 181, 441.
German representative sent to China in
1843, ii. .565.
Genghis khan, i. 726 ; takes Peking, iL
175 ; and Pres^r John, ii. 286.
Gill, Capt. \V., r21.
Ginseng, localities of, i. 367.
Glass, manufacture of, ii. 21.
Gobi, or Sha-moh, Great Desert of, the
Olympus of Buddhist and Taoist myths,
i. 12 ; its position and area, i. 15; sandhills,
i. 16 ; called Peh hai and Hah hai,
i. 2.5, 201, 216 ; grasses of, i. 357 ; its influence
on Chinese civilization, ii. 189.
God, word for, in Chinese, ii. 154; discussion
concerning, among Romanists, ii.
297 ; among Protestants, ii. 304.
Goddard, Josiah, i. 015.
Goes, Benedict, i. 310 ; his journey to
Cathay, ii. 424.
Gold, found in Shensi, i. 151 ; in Khoten,
i. 230 ; in Tibet, i. 244 ; uses of, i. 311,
ii. 19 ; never coined, ii. 83, 84.
Golden Island (Kin Shan), in Kiangsu, i
10.5.
Gold-fish, methods of rearing, i. 348.
Gon9alves, J. A., i. 591.
IND1′:X.
Gongs, how made, ii. 20 ; their use, ii.
103.
Gordon, Colonel Peter, ii. 91 ; takes command
of the ‘ Ever-Victorious force,’
ii. 609, i’Al ; captures Fushan, ii. 012;
before Suchau, ii. Clo ; efforts to protect
life after its surrender, ii. CIS;
indignation, ii. (510; wounded before
Kintan, ii. 017 ; dissolves the ‘ Ever-
Victorious force,’ ii. 018; his honorable
conduct appreciated, ii. 019 ; visits
the works before Nanking, ii. 020; his
advice to Peking officials as to a war
with Russia, ii 7c!3.
Gough, Sir Hugh, arrives to command
English land force, ii. 521 ; invests Canton,
ii. 522 ; at Ningpo, ii. 529 ; his
foroe at taking of Chapu, ii. 5:>) ; at the
capture of Chinkiang, ii. 542; before
Nanking, ii. 545 ; his rewards after the
war, ii. 556.
Gould, Dr., ii. 340.
Gould, John, i. 330.
Government, of Peking, i. 82-83 ; of Mongolia,
i. 199 ; of Ili, i. 231-233 ; of Tibet,
i. 255-;357 ; revenue of imperial, i. 289-
292 ; Chinese, its theory patriarchal, i.
380 ; laws and departments of, i. 381-
384; cabinet and boards of, i. 415; provincial,
i. 437-447 ; influence upon literature,
i. 719.
Grain, Commissioner of, i. 443.
Grains, in the Herbal, i. 372 ; eaten by
the Chinese, i. 772; how sown, ii. 5.
Grammar of the Chinese language, i.
617-021 ; MoiTison’s, ii. 321.
Grand Canal, Chah ho, or Yun ho, i. 31 ;
Davis’s description of, i. 32; present
condition, i. 35, .52, 89, 92, 108, 119;
deepened by Kublai, ii. 17() ; Tai-pings
control, ii. 590.
Grasshoppers, edict for destruction of, i.
409.
Graves, in China, i. 275 ; legend concerning
the false, ii. 107; geomancy in selecting,
ii. 240 ; pai shan at, ii. 252
;
prayers before, ii. 262.
Gray, Archdeacon J. H., i. 413, 573, 715,
778, 788, 790, 821, ii. 14, 231, 355, 201,
271.
Gray, Mrs., i. 752, 788.
Great Plain of China, i. 14 ; extent, i. 27 ;
pojjulation of, i. 28 ; climate, i. 52.
Great Wall. Waii-li Chang Ching, i. 29;
construction, i. 30; aspect, i. 31, 152,
203; built by Tsin, ii. 100; Arch of
Mongol dynasty in, ii. 170.
Greece, and China, infanticide in, ii. 242 ;
China known as Q\v in, ii. 408 ; communication
with China in the dark ages,
ii. 412.
Griffis, W. E., ii. 78.
Gros, Baron, arrives in China, ii. 043 ; at
capture of Canton, ii. 646 ; arrives at
Tientsin, ii. 6.51 ; leaves China, ii. 661 ;
reappointed envoy with Lord Elgin, ii.
671 ; signs the treaty of Peking, ii. 686
;
well fitted tor his task in China, ii, 688.
Grosier, Abbe, ii. 38, 5(), 90, 104, 719.
Grosvenor, Hon. T. (I., sent as commissioner
to Yunnan, ii. 723.
Gully, Robert, his shipwreck and murder
on Formosa, ii. .554.
(iunpowder, invention and use of, ii. 89.
Gutzlaff, Rev. Charles, i. 100, 193, ii. 137,
180, 325 ; his three voyages, ii. 328, 350,
303 ; at Chusan during the war, ii. 515
at Shiinghai, li. 530, 542, 548, 556.
Gypsum, uses of, i. 306.
HAAS, Joseph, i. 033.
Hailing, General, at Chinkiang, ii.
2.’)5 ; his devotion, ii. 540 ; posthumous
honors to, ii. .557.
Hainan Island, aborigines on, i. 44 ; notice
of the island, i 175.
Hair, how dressed and worn, i. 701 ; of
women, i. 704.
Hai-tien, near Peking, i. 80 ; British and
French troops at, ii. 083.
JIai-tuh, or khi-doc, a Chinese monkey,
i. 31.5.
Hakkas, in Formosa, i. 138 ; in Kvvangtung,
i. 486 ; and the Tai-pings, ii. 582,
591.
Hales, Dr., chronology of, ii. 143, 145.
Hanbury, Daniel, i. 3.53, 3.55, ii. 134.
Hamberg, Rev. Theodore, his Life of
Ilnnq SUi-Uncn, ii. ,582.
Hami, or Kamil, in Kansuh, i. 213, 224.
Han dynasty, Latin name of .SVjv.s originated
during, i. 4; Hau (or ‘After’ Han)
at Chingtu, i. 1.54 ; censuses under, i.
260 ; its historians, ii. 159 ; its founder
Kautsu, ii. 162; and Eastern Han, ii.
164 ; After Han, XXth dynasty, ii. 172.
Hance, Dr. H. F., i. 3.”)5, 305.
Hangchau, capital of Chehkiang, i. 115;
its temples and manufactures, i. 117-
119 ; pagoda at, i. 744 ; Moslems in, ii.
268, 270 ; Nestorians in, ii. 285 ; missions
in, ii. 251 ; Abu Zaid on, ii. 415;
retaken by imperialists, ii. 618; Romanist
church confiscated at, ii. 087.
Hanchuug, in iShensi, i. 151.
Han hai, ‘ Mirage Sea,’ or Desert of Lobnor,
i. 16.
llan-jin^ JIa7i-tiiz\ ‘Men,’ or ‘Sons of
Han,’ terms used by Chinese for themselves,
i. 4. ii. 102.
Hankow, in Hupeh, i. 144; its fortune
during the reljellion, ii. 000, 007 ; visited
by Lord Elgin, ii. 0.59.
Hanlin Yuen, National Academy, Peking,
i. 72 ; its character, i. 434 ; membership
a degree of literary rank, i. 559.
Han River, in Hupeh, i. ]4’2.
Han-sing Pass, in Shansi, i. 97.
INDEX. 755
Hao-king, ancient name of Si-ngan, i. 3.
Harashar (or Karashar), town and district
of I’ll, i. 234
Hardy, R. S., i. 395, 413, ii. 217, 218, 2:30,
224, 2J6, 232.
Hare, alpine and others, i. 327.
Harem, imperial, i. 407 ; and Board of
Revenue, i. 422 ; Sung’s daughter in, i.
45().
Harland, Dr., ii. 123.
Hart, Sir Robert, takes management of
customs service, ii. G95.
Hats, official, i. 414 ; laborers’ and other,
i. 762.
Hayton, king of Armenia, vists Mangu
khan. ii. 420.
Heaven, Altar to, Peking, i. 76; ideas
concerning the creation of, ii. 138
;
worship of, ii. 194-198 ; and the term
tifii, ii. 300.
Hedde, Isidore, ii. 34.
Heeren, A. H. L., i. 196, 238, 343, 398, 413,
44(i, 482, 503, ii. 410, 412.
Hemp, four kinds of, ii. 10.
Henderson, Dr. James, ii. 127.
Hepburn, Dr., ii. 131.
Jferbnl, Chinese (see Pii?i tsao)^ i. 370,
etc.
Herdsman and weaver-girl, fable of the,
ii. 76.
Hereditary local officers of «.?’ districts,
i. 59.
Hervey-Saint-Denys, Marquis d’, i 703,
701, ii. 14.
Hia dynasty, founded by Yu, ii. 148 ; its
early annals, ii. 152 ; its period, ii. 158.
Hia, Tartar tribe, ii. 173, 174.
Hiao, Emperor, B.C. 909. confers Tsinchau
on Prince Feitsz’, i. 2.
Hiao Kinf], or ‘Canons of Filial Duty,’
a school-book, i. 536.
Hieii, ‘district,’ term explained, i. 58;
its fAi, or ‘ district magistrate,’ i. 441.
Hienfung, Emperor, his reign, ii. 184;
attitude toward foreigners, ii 575 ; imbecilifcv
during Tai-ping revolt, ii. 604 ;
childish ignorance during war with
England, ii. 642 ; signs treaty of Tientsin,
ii. ()5() ; escapes to Jeh-ho, ii 679 ;
his death, ii. 689.
Hieroglyphics, Chinese and Assyrian, L
581 ; early Chinese, i. 583-586 ; erroneous
ideas concerning Chinese, i. 605,
606.
Himalaya Mountains, i. 10 ; the fourth
mountain system of China, i. 13.
Hindu name for China, ‘ Ma-chin,’ i. 3.
Hing-an mountain system, i. 13.
Hingking (Yenden), in Shingking, i. 193.
Hinkai-nor, in Kirin, i. 24.
History, of ili, i. 233-237; of Tibet, i.
254-255 ; in Chinese literature, i. 675
;
and chronoloj^y of China, ii 136 ; period
of fable, ii. 1 37 ; of legend, ii. 143 ; of
the twenty-six dynasties, il. 148-187″
worth of Chinese, ii. 413.
iriston/ of the Tlirie States, a Chinese
historical novel, i. 603, 677-680, ii. 164.
H’lassa, capital of Tibet, i. 245-247.
Ho, Duke, i. 80 ; career of, i. 452.
Hobson, Dr., i. 776, ii. 125, 137, 337.
Hohson, B. H. E., ii. 180, 346.
Hodgson, B. H., i. 243, 254.
Hog, a[)i)earance and usefulness of, i. 334
;
much eaten, i. 777 ; for sacrifices, i. 781.
Ho Kwei-tsing, governor-general of Kiangsn,
his cowardice at fall of Chinkiang
and Suchau, ii. 605; receives letters
of the allies, ii. 648 ; sends reply
to Mr. Bruce at Shanghai, ii. 672.
Homicides, foreign, at Canton, ii. 451-454,
460 ; of Lin Wei-hi at Hongkong, ii.
505 ; of Sii A-mun at Canton, ii. 568 ; of
Englishmen near Canton, ii. .578.
Honam, or Honan Island, opposite Canton,
i. ir)4-165, 169.
Honan province, its position and people,
i. 97-99.
Hong, explanation of term, i. 167 ; merchants
: their garden.s, i. 736 ; their integrity,
i. 834 ; monopoly established,
ii. 447 ; relations with foreign traders,
ii. 450 ; their position between Governor
Lu and Napier, ii. 469, 473 ; and
Chinese shopkeepers, ii. 477 ; expostulate
with foreigners concerning opium
smuggling, ii. 493, 494 ; a last attempt
to squeeze, ii. 559.
Hongkong, climate of, i. 54 ; description
of city, i. 171-173 ; botany of, i. 355 ;
Triad Society prohibited in, i. 493 ;
missions remove to, ii. 347 ; homicide
of Lin Wei-hi at, ii. 50.”) ; taken possession
of b}’^ British, ii. 557 ; influence as
a free port on smuggling, ii. 633 ; attempt
to poison foreigners at, ii. 640 ;
British encouragement to smuggling at,
ii. 725.
Honorary Portals, or Pai-lati, i. 83, 756.
Hoorn, Van, Dutch ambassador to Peking,
ii. 438.
Hoppiu, Prof. J. M., ii. 639.
Horse, new wild, found by Prejevalsky
in Khoten, i. 231 ; little used, i. 274,
320 ; appearance, i. 323 ; notices of, in
the Herbal, i. 375 ; shoeing, ii. 4.
Hospitals, native foundling, at Shanghai,
ii. 2(i4 ; established by Candida, ii. 295 ;
by Dr. Parker at Canton, ii. 333, 334
fF.; versus itinerary practice, ii. 340; at
Tinghai and Shanghai, ii. 351.
Howqua, a Canton merchant, his son.
created kn-Jin, i. 567; and Parker’s
hospital, ii. 334 ; his death, ii. 559.
Hue, Pere Evariste Re’gis, i. 88, 144, 156,
195, 210, 313, 246. 257, 336, 343, 644, ii.
50, 331, 332, 277, 386, 390, 293, 299, 42:3,
708.
7.”iG INDEX.
Hiimlioldt.’s theory of hills in Mongolia,
i. 11; Sx’chucn springs, i. 81o; on the
plantain, i. 362.
Hume, David, on infanticide in Rome, ii.
242.
Himan province, i. 140-14S; inscription
of Yu in, ii. 149.
Hung Jin, brother of the Tien Wang, ii.
58:i ; is converted, ii. 58G ; teaches and
baptizes, ii. 587 ; at the capture of Nanking,
ii . 620 ; subsequent efforts, ii.
Hung Siu-tsuen, the Tim Wang, leader
of the Tai-jnng revolt, ii. .582 ; his
vision, ii. 58o ; belief in his divine calling,
ii. .58.5 ; goes to Mr. Roberts, ii.
.588 ; commencement of military movement,
ii. 5′.t0 ; his opposition to the
Triad Society, ii. .501 ; his ‘ Celestial
Decrees,’ ii. 5y:3 ; proclaimed Emperor
at Nanking, ii. 594 ; failure to reach
Peking the death of his movement, ii.
.500 ; dissensions among his generals, ii.
602 ; his indomital)le sfiirit, ii. 605 ;
his death at Nanking, ii. 620 ; character
of his political aspirations, ii.
623.
Hungtsih Lake, in Kiangsu, i. 24, 100, 100.
Hungwu, Emperor, tomb of, at Nanking,
i. 101, ii. 115 ; inaugural proclamation
in 1644, i. 395 ; founds the Ming, ii.
177.
Huns, driven back by Tsin, ii. 161 ; inroads
during third century A.D., ii.
165 ; their kingdom of Wei in fifth and
sixth centuries a.d., ii. 166; go West
instead of East, ii. 169.
Hunter, W. C, ii. 560.
Hupeh ]n-ovince, i. 142-140.
Hurun Lake, in Manchuria, i. 24.
Hwaiking, in Shansi, i. 01.
Ilira Hill, ‘ Glorious Hia,’ an ancient
term for China, i. 5.
Ilwai-ngan, in Kiangsu, i. 108.
Hwang Ching, ‘ Imperial Citj-,’ Peking,
i. 60.
Hwang ho. See Yellow River.
Hwangti’, an appellation of the Emperor,
i. 303 ; a jjrimeval monarch, tlie pos.sibleinventor
of writing, i . 580 ; of clothing,
ii. 32; of the si ^tj -year cycle, ii.
60, 146; importance of audience before
the, ii. 714.
JIuHUKj gang (AnlrJnpc gnlluroaa), i. 321.
Hwang sz’, monument to Teshu Lama,
Peking, i. 70 ; Lord I’^lgin at, ii. 682.
Hwashana, Commissioner, at Tientsin, ii.
651 ; at Shangliai, on tai ill’ revision, ii.
657, 664 ; discusses audience question
with Ward at Peking, ii. 660.
Hwuichau, in Nganhwui, i. 110.
Hwui, kwan, cluh-houses at Peking, i. 76 ;
‘clubs,’ variety and extent of, ii. 87.
Hyacinthe, Pere, i, 63.
I
‘BARBARIAN,’ a term for foreign
^ ers, ii. 461.
I, Prince, and the British interpretei-s at
Tungchau, ii. 67!-!, (i70 ; the ])risoners
sent to, ii. 680 ; Elgin located in palace
of, ii. 686 ; his conspiracy, ii. 600
;
death, ii. 691.
Ibn Batuta, ii. 271, 373 ; his travels iu
Cathay, ii. 421.
Ibn Wahab, an Arab traveller, ii. 414, 425.
Ice in Peking, i. 52 ; the coast towns, i.
.53.
Tchang, in Hupeh, i. 145.
Iching, on the Yangtsz’, reception of the
English at, ii. 544.
Ides, E. Ysbrandt, envoy of Russia to
Peking, ii. 442.
Idols, how carved, ii. 115; iu Buddhist
temples, ii. 235 ; ])atronage of, general,
ii. 2.59 ; allowed by Ricci, ii. 202.
Ifung hien, in Ilonan, waste-wier at, i.
Tlchi, capital of Khotcn, i. 230.
lli province, i. 21.5 ; its recent boundaries,
i. 215; physical features, i. 216; its
two circuits — Songaria, i. 218-220;
Eastern Turkestan, i. 221-231 ; its government,
i. 231-233 ; historical notice
of, i. 233-237 ; Mohammedans of, ii.
271
.
Ilipu, Governor-General and Commissioner,
i. 464 ; truce with Elliot at
Chusan, ii. 517 ; his banishment, ii.
529 ; thanks the English for care of
prisoners, ii. 534 ; associate commissioner
with Kiying, ii. 537; concludes
and signs treaty, ii. 547, 553 ; death, ii.
557.
Imitation a Chinese national trait, ii. 6.3.
Imperial, City, Ibi’ang Ching, I’eking, i.
69 ; clan and its government, i. 40.5
family, i. 407 ; Academy, or Hanlin
Yuen, i. 434.
Imports, of opium into China, ii. 388
;
from the Archipelago, ii. 306.
Infanticide, female, in Fuhkien, i. 136
prevalence of the practice in China, ii.
239-241 ; comparison with Greece and
Rome, ii. 242.
Ink, materials of India, i. 500.
Inner Council, or Cabinet, i. 41.5.
Inscription, of Yu, in Kau-lau shan,
Hunan, ii. 140; in gateway at Kii-yung
kwan, ii. 176; on Nestorlan Tablet of
Si-ngan, ii. 277.
Insects of China, i. 351-3.54.
Intercourse, social, among the Chinese, i.
800; between China and Western Asia,
ii. ICiC) ; ancient, with foreign nations,
ii. 408; mediaeval, ii. 414. See also
under Trade.
Iron, in Shantung, i. 93 ; in Shansi,
al)undant, i. 95-‘J6 ; its manufacture,
ii. i’J,
INDEX. 757
Irrigation, various morlos of, ii. 6.
Islaniisni. Sec Moliaiiinietlan.
Issik-kul, or Lnkr ‘rciniiitu, i. 24, 217.
Isolation of the (“hinesi’, its influence on
their character, i. 5^3, Soo ; its causes
and results, ii. lSS-100, 642, 648, 660.
Isothermal lines of China, L 51.
Ivory imported from Africa, ii. 400.
JADE, or yuhs found in Khoten, i.
22.3, 220 ; description of, i. 309 ; feU
txui, or jadeite, i. 312.
Janiho, food used in Tibet, i. 241.
Japan, tea shrub.s, ii. 41 ; character symbols
and sounds in, ii. 190 ; expedition
to Formosa, ii. 716.
Jauchau, in Kiangsi, i. 113.
Jehangi’r, kojeh of Kashgar, i. 235, 454
;
his end, ii. 184, 727, 729.
Jeb-ho, or Chingtih, Emperor’s summer
retreat, i. 88, 312; thermal springs at,
i. 313 ; Sung at, i. 455 ; expense of, L
566 ; Hienfung retires to, ii, 682 ; palace
conspiracy at, ii. 690.
Jenkins, Dr. B., i. 530, ii. 90.
Jesuit missionaries, correct the Chinese
calendar, ii. 68 ; their map-making, ii.
80; enter China in 1.580, ii. 177; and
ancestral rites, ii. 2.52, 293, 299 ; and
other Catholics, ii. 294, 297 ; obnoxious
to Yungching, ii. 443.
Jewels, of China, i. 310 ; imported, ii. 400.
Jews in China, ii. 271 ; visited by Dr.
Martin, ii. 272.
Jones, Owen, ii. 107.
Johnson, Samuel, his Oriental Religions,
i. 691, ii. 211, 217,255.
Johnson, Rev. Stephen, ii. 349.
Judicial proceedings, character of, i. .500-
508 ; cruelty and mercy of, i. 510 ; in
cases of foreign homicides, ii. 451 flF.,
460.
Julien, Stanislas, i. 345, 590, 674, 714, iL
22, 32, 33, 62, 207, 212, 229.
Junks, Chinese, 1. 7.5.3; coast trade in,
decreasing, ii. 389.
‘Just Medium,’ the, Vliunfj Yung, i. 053.
KAIFUNG (Pien-liang), capital of
Honan, i. 99 ; Jews in, ii. 271 ff.;
stormed by Tai-pings, ii. 597 ; surly
spirit in, during the famine, ii. 736.
Kailasa, mountain in Tibet, i 239.
Kalgan, town in Northern Chihli, i. 203.
Kalkas, Mongol tribc’S. i. 20.5, 206, 209.
_ Kan River, tributary of the Yangtsz’, L
21, 112; boats upon, i. 751.
Kanchau, in Kiangsi, i. 113.
Kane, Dr. H. H,, ii. 388.
Kang. or brick bed. i. 53, 306.
Kanghi, Emperor, singular festival of, i.
08 ; abolishes capitation tax, i. 266
;
dictionary of, i. 588-591, 602, 672, etc.;
orders copper types, i. 603 ; his ‘ Sacred
Commands,’ i. 687; tries to suppress
fashion of compressed feet, i. 770 ; and
the calendar, ii. 68 ; introduces foreign
music, ii. 103; and Koxinga, ii. 180;
against strange religions, ii. 227; prevents
immolation of women, ii. 250
;
and Father Schaal, ii. 297, 298 ; memorialized
by Jesuits, ii. 299 ; counter decree
agaiiist the Pope, ii. 302 ; Portuguese
embassy to, ii. 429 ; letter of
Louis XIV. to, ii. 441 ; sends Tulishen
to the Czar, ii. 442 ; his prophecy
quoted, ii. 484.
Kanpu, or Canfu, i. 127.
_
Kansuh province, climate, i. 55 ; description
of, i. 152-154 ; Mohammedan insurrection
in. ii. 269, 7;>0.
Kaolin, a constituent of jjorcelain, ii. C3.
Kara-korum, Mountains, their position,
i. 13 ; town, Carpini’s mission to Kuyuk
at, ii. 416.
Kashgar, government and town, i. 227-
228, ii. 728 ; its reconquest, ii. 731
.
Katshe, or Korkache, a district of Tibet,
i 238.
Kantsu. or Lin Pang, founder of the Han,
ii. 162.
Kautsung, Emperor of Tang dynasty, iL
170.
Kerr, Dr. J. G., i. 164, ii. 337, 339, 340.
Khoten, district of 111, i. 230-231.
Kiakhta, trading post on Russian frontier,
i. 207 ; apples of, i. 366, ii. 443.
Kiaking, the Emperor, i. 431, 453, 465,
466 ; his reign, ii. 182 ; prohibits import
of opium, ii. 378.
Kiang, ‘river.’ See Yangtsz’.
Kialing River, in Sz’chuen, i. 1.55.
Kiangnan—the two Kiang, fertility of
the region, L 100.
Kiangning (see Nanking), i. 100.
Kiangsi province, its surface, i. 111.
Kiangsu province, i. 99 ; watercourses, i.
100 ; its towns, etc., i. 101-108. _
Kiao, ‘sect,’ meaning of term, ii. 193,
194; its vagueness, ii. 358.
Kiayii kwan. on Great ^V’aU in Kansuh, L
1.52, 211, ii. 14.5, 189.
Kieh Kwei, last Emperor of the Hia, ii.
1.53.
Kienlung, Emperor, festival of, i. 67-68
;
effusion on Mukden, i. 193, 5V»8 ; revives
census, i. 260, 285, 291 ; upon naming
his successor, i. 404 ; casts lead types,
i. 603 ; bronzes made under, ii. 20 ; his
reign, ii. 181 ; treatment of Catholics,
ii. 305 ; Van Braam’s embassy to, ii.
439, 447, 449.
Kicn Tsing Kung, ‘ Palace of Heavenly
Purity,’ Peking, i. 68.
Kihngan, in Kiangsi, i. 112.
Ei-lin, or unicorn, i. 342 ; Sz’ma Kwang
and the pretended, i. 676.
758 INDEX.
Kilung, on Formosa Island, i. 1 “7.
Kin, or Niu-chih (or Nu-chih), Tartars, i.
202; established in Pi’king, ii. 174;
inscription at Kii-yung kwan, ii. 176 ;
overthrow tlie Mings, ii. 178.
Kinchau, in Shingking, i. I!t3, 195.
King, Kiiig-tu, Ki>i(/-s.z\ Chinese terms
for the capital, i. CO, (il.
King Shan. Prospector Coal Hill, Peking,
i. 70.
Kingsmill, T. W., i. 296, 298, 299, 304,
ii. 159, 40().
Kingteh chin (Kiangsi), porcelain works
at, i. lis, ii. 22, 394.
Kin-sha. ‘ River of Golden Sand,’ a name
of the Yangtsz’, i. 20, 155.
Kin Shan, or Altai Mountains, i. 9.
Kircher. i. 79, 257, ii. 277, 284, 286.
Kirghis, and Prutli Kirghis, tribes of Ili,
i. 22() ; in Kashgar, etc., i. 2o(‘), “31.
Kirin. province of M.anchuria, i. 19()-198;
town, called Chiien Chwang, i. 197.
Kishen. governor-general of Cliihli’, interview
with Captain Elliot at Taku, ii.
.516 ; apologizes for attack on flag of
truce, ii. 517 ; negotiation with Captain
Elliot at the Bogue, ii. 518 ; ordered to
Peking, ii. 521 ; reprieved and associated
with Yihlcing, ii. 529.
Kitai, a Russian form of Ca/Iiai/, i. 4;
term for (‘hinese in 111, i. 224.
Kitan, or Liautiing Tartars, oppress the
After Tsin, ii. 172.
Kites, flying, a favorite amusement, i.
820.
Kiukiang, on the Yangtsz’, captured by
Tai-pings, ii. .595.
Kiu-tiao shan, in Shensi, i. 151
.
Kiying, Commissioner, his life, i. 459,
570 ; obtains toleiation for Christians,
ii 356, 358 ; grants privileges to Macao,
ii. 430; joint commissioner with llifiu,
ii. 537; writes to Pottinger, ii. 546;
signs Nanking treaty, ii. 549; exchanges
ratifications, ii. .557 ; his proclamation,
ii. 558 ; includes all foreigners
under terms of Nanking treaty, ii.
561 ; interviews with representatives of
other foreign power.s, ii. 5(15 ; reappointed
commi.^sioner to meet Mr.
Gushing, ii. 566; his correspond 3nce on
case of homicide, ii. 56^ ; concludes a
treaty with M. de Lagrene’, ii. 571 ; interview
with Governor Davis on opium
question, ii. 577 ; action regarding murder
of l]nglislim(!ii near Canton, ii. 57S;
disbands companies of braves about
Canton, ii. 58() ; his sudden apjiearance
at Tientsin, ii. 6.53 ; his untimely end,
ii. 654.
Klaproth, .[., derives name of Tsung ling
from onions found there, i. 9 ; on (irand
Canal, i. 3(>-37 ; Peking, i. 62 ; Afemoircs^
12<.», 141, 188, 193, 204, 213, 226; on
Tibet, i. 245, 2.54, 285 ; deluge of Yao
ii. 147; on Tsin, ii. 160, 163, 20.5, 232,
233,411, 421, 442.
Koeppen, C. F., on IJuddhism, i. 249, 250,
^ii. 229, 259.
Koko-nor, Tsing hai, or ‘ Azure Sea,’ i.
35, 209-213.
Kopi. See Gobi.
Koro-s, Cosma de. Hungarian author o*
Tibet, i. 244, 353.
Kotow, or prostration, Ceremonial Court
and the, i. 435 ; described, i. 801 ; at
funerals, ii. 245 ; performed by Dutch
ambassadors, ii. 435 ; by Ides, ii. 442
;
discussed before Ward’s embassy at
Peking, ii. 669 ; its importance in audience
of the Emperor, ii. 712; the ceremony
yielded in case of foreign minister.
s, il. 714.
Ko-tsing shan, in Western Nganhwui, i.
12.
Koulkun. See Kwanlun.
Kowlung, opposite Hongkong Island, i.
172 ; allVay at, in 1839, ii. 506; ceded to
the British, ii. 558, ()86.
Koxinga, his descendants ennobled, i. 406;
takes Formosa, ii. 180, 435.
Kreitner, Lieutenant G.,i. 151, 1.58, 213,
214, 357, 300, 715.
Kublai khan, i. 176, 181, 281, 318, 3-30;
his pai)er money, ii. 85; his reign, ii.
175; receives Montccorvino, ii. 3S7;
and the Polos, ii^ 420.
Kuche, a town of Ili, i. 225, ii. 730.
Kil-jhi, ‘promoted men,’ second degree of
literary rank, i. 550 ; their number, i.
5.58 ; military, i. 560, 5()().
Kuldja (Goul(lja), Kuren, or Hwuiyuen
ching, capital of Ili, i. 218 ; it^ capture,
i. 219; occupation by Russia, i. 236,
ii. 727, 730 ; Friar Pascal at, ii. 289
;
negotiations respecting its cession, ii.
731-734.
Kung. Princp, Kunr/ tshi-waiir/ his proper
title, i. 405; appointed a regent, ii. 184;
rewards Colonel Gordon, ii. 616; conducts
negotiations with Elgin at Peking,
ii. 682 ; signs the treaty, ii. 686 ; iiis coup
cCttat, ii. 691 ; refuses to ratify Lay’s
agreement, ii. 694; signs convention respecting
coolie trade; ii. 698.699; inTicntsin
riot correspondence, ii. 702, 705
discusses audience question, ii. 712, 715;
his son and the succession, ii. 726, 739.
Ku-peh kau Pass, in Great VV’all, i. 39, 89.
Kuren (see Urga). i. 204.
Kur-kara usu (Kingsni ching), town and
district of Ili, i. 2.iO.
Kuro-siwo, ocean current, i. 55.
Kutuktu, lama high-priest in Urga, i. 204.
Kuyiik khan, Piano Carpiiii’s embassy to,
ii. 415.
Kuzupchi, sand-hills on Desert of Gobi, i
16.
INDEX. 759
Kii-V’ing Kwan, gateway at,, ii. ITfi.
Kwangsi, an unhealthy province, i. 55 ;
its position and proilucts, i. 17(5; rise of
Tai-ping Rebellion in, ii. 5′.’0-595.
Kwangsii, his succession to the throne, i.
398, 404 ; his reign, ii. 185, 186 ; his accession,
ii. 7′.iC.
Kwaiigtung, considered unhealthj’, i. 5.^ ;
description and towns of, i. 158-1 Tfi;
revenue of, i. 290 ; resists the Manchu
conquest, ii. 179; missions in, ii. o48 ;
rebels in, ii. (i04, C;JO.
Kwanlun, or Koulkun Mountains, position
and extent, i. 11 ; mineral treasures,
i. 12 ; source of Yangtsz’, i. 20.
Kwanyin, (Joddess of Mercy, temple to,
in Kwangtung, i. 175.
Kweichau province, 1. 55 ; description of,
i. 1 78-180.
Kweiliang, Commissioner, meets allies at
Tientsin, ii. (iSl ; sent to Shanghai to
revise tariff, ii. 057 ; refuses to accompany
the allies to Taku, ii. Wi ; discusses
the audience question with Minister
Ward, ii. (i()9; sent to intercept-
Elgin at Tientsin, ii. 677 ; his support
to Prince Kung, ii. (>91.
Kweilin, capital of Kv/angsi, i. 177; attacked
by Tai-pings. ii. 595.
Kn’oh hao, national designation, period,
or reign name of Emperor, i. 398.
LACHARME, Pere, 1. 643.
Lacquered-ware, Hwuichau, i. 110;
its manufacture, ii. 30 ; export, ii. 394.
Ladak not a Chinese possession, i. 13.
Lagrene, French envoy to China, ii. 309 ;
obtains toleration for Christians through
Kiying, li. 355, 357 ; his mission in
1844, ii. 441 ; concludes treaty of
Whampoa with Kiying, ii. 571.
Lakes, of China, i. 23 ; of Hupeh, i. 143 ;
of ill’, i. 216-317 ; of Tibet, i. 240.
Lama, mausoleum to a, Peking, i. 79.
Lamasary ( Yumj-lio Kung) at Peking, i.
to.
Lanchau, capital of Kansuh, i. 154.
Land, how held, ii. 1-3.
Landscape, appearance of, in China, i. 40.
Land tax in China, i. 294, 739.
Language, of Tibet, i. 253 ; proportion of
readers in China, i. .544 ; Chinese, its
groups of natural objects, i. 372 ; labor
of learnin;,^ its characters, i. .541 ; an obstacle
to progress, i. 568 ; its influence
upon people and literature, i. 579, ii. 190;
origin of, i. 581 ; misaj>prehciision regarding,
i. 605 ; dialects, Mandarin and
local, i. 611-616 ; its grammar, i. 617 ; defects,
i. 621 ; methods of studying, i. 623 ;
an obstacle to missions, ii. 370 ; ignorance
of, by earlj’ traders, ii. 450, 453.
Lange, Laurent, his residence at Peking,
IL 442.
Lanterns, feast and variety of, i. 817.
Lantsan River, in Yunnan, L 181.
Larks as song birds, i. 333.
Lau-tsz’, founder of Taoism, i. 684 ; hifl
life, ii. 2U6 ; and teaching.s, ii. 207-214.
Lavallc’e, C, ii. 647, 654, 684, 685.
Laws, of China, i. 384 ; reports pf, 385 ;
Penal Code, 3S5-393 ; their administration.
Chap. VIII.; as a profession, i.
‘(83 ; controlling marriage, i. 793.
Lav, C. T., i. 60.5, 606, 715, 822, ii. 102,
103, 117, 330.
Lay, H. N., appointed intendant of customs,
ii. 62.S ; his tiotilla fiasco, ii. 692.
Lay, W. T., ii. 621.
Leather, quality and uses of, ii. 39.
Le Comte, i. 289, 509, ii. 285, 295.
Le (iendre, C. W., i. 140, ii. 717.
Legge, Dr. James, i. 398, 537, 627, 639,
633, 634, 635, 636, 638 ff., 648, 603, 671,
674, 681, 703, 809, ii. 73, 143, 144, 147,
198, 213, 237, 347. 372.
Legislation, general features of, i. 391-
394.
Li Hung-Chang, Governor-General, concurrence
in reorganizing the ‘ Ever-Victorious
force,’ ii. 611 ; executes surrendered
wangs at Suchau, ii. 615 ; his
position there, ii. 616 ; dis.solves the
‘ Ever- Victorious force,’ ii. 618; and
Sir T. Wade in the Chifu convention,
ii. 734 ; denounces the treaty of Livadia,
ii. 733 ; co-operates with foreigners
in relief of Great Famine, ii. 735.
Li Tai-peh, a poet of the Tang dynasty,
story of, i. 696-703 ; extent of his collected
poems, i. 704.
Liang dynasty, the Xlllth, ii. 166 ; After
Liang, XVIIth dynasty, ii. 171.
Liang A-fah, Morrison’s first convert, ii.
321 ; his labors and persecution, ii. 328,
347, 371 ; his tracts fall into the hands
of Hung Siu-tsuen, ii. .582, 589.
Liau River (?>ira-muren), in Manchuria,
i. 190.
Liau, Tartar tribe, ii. 173, 174.
Library at Peking, i. 69 ; its catalogue, i.
62().
Li E . or ‘ Book of Rites,’ i. 643-647, 805,
ii. 196.
Li-kilt., or ‘ cash a catty’ tax, i. 444.
Lilies, varieties of, i. 361 ; eaten, i. 773.
Li Miu, ‘ Black-haired Race,’ common
name for Chinese, i. 5 ; a tribe on Hainan
Island, i. 176.
Lime, made from shells, i. 307 ; use in
building, i. 729 ; how burned, ii. 56.
Li-mn, aboriginal tribe, i. 41 ; iu Hainan,
i. 44 ; mountains, i. 1.59.
Li shui River, in Hunan, i. 147.
Lin Tseh-si), Commissioner, geography of,
i. 50 ; and the rhubarb trade, i. 365
;
career of, i. 457, 4()4, 473, ii. 184 ; ar*
rives at Canton, ii. 497 ; demands sur«
760 IlS^DEX.
render of opirnn, ii. 40S; imprisons
foreigners in factories, ii. 50() ; an example
of his i)nl)lic writings, ii. 501 ;
visits Macao, ii. oO(i ; his reason for demanding
Mr. Dent, ii. 508 ; reply to
American request, ii. 514 ; offers rewards
for British, ii. 510 ; his recall, ii.
510; memorializes the P^mpcror against
peaceful measures, ii. 518; recalled from
hanishmcnt, ii. 5rJ9 ; his death, ii. S’JO.
Lindsay, H. H., i. 481.
Lintin, Sir G. Robiuson among opium
smugglers at, ii. 479 ; Captain Elliot ordered
to send opium smugglers away
from, ii. 491.
Lin-tsing-chau, in Shantung, i. 93.
Lion, tlie, in China, i. ol7.
Liquor little used in China, i. 808.
Literati, or literary class, the gentry of
China, its influence, i. 520, 5()”2 ; and
religious sects, i. (391 ; persecuted by
Tsin, ii. 1()2 ; their opposition to Buddhism,
ii. 2;2o, 237 ; to Christianity, ;J69.
Literature, Chinese geographical, i. 50
;
classical, size and importance, i. 020
five greater, i. 027-052, and four lesser
classics, i. 052-072 ; works on history, i.
075; historical novels, etc., i. 077; fiction,
i. 094, ballads and impromptu
verses, L 705; dramas, i. 714; its limits
and deficiencies, i. 718; of Chinese
music, ii. 98; flourishes under the
Hans, ii. 164; foreign missionary, ii.
367.
Ljilngstedt, Sir A., i. 171, ii. o33, 428;
his liistory of Macao, ii. 4o().
Lob-nor, Desert of, i. 16 ; Lake, 1. • 24,
222-223.
Lobscheid, Rev. W., i. 271, 615.
Loch, Captain G. G., i. 105, ii. 302, .53(),
541, 543, .547, .5.50.
Loch, Henry, experiences at Tungchau,
ii. 678 ; capture and imprisonment at
Peking, ii. ()80, CSl ; is returned to the
English, ii. 084, 085.
Lockhart, Dr. Wm., ii. 123, 139, 134,300,
336, 339, 350, 354.
Locusts, occasional ravages of, i. 351
edict against, i. 460 ; character for, i.
587 ; Father Faber’s miracle of the, ii.
290.
Loess, roads in, i. .38, 97; of Shanst, i.
95; of Shensi, i. 149; extent of, in
China, i. 297; its nature, i. 298-300;
dwellings in, i. 301 ; Richthofen’s theory
of origin, i. 303; terraces, ii. 0;
great famine in the region, ii. 734.
Loll (or Fo Loll) River, in Sz’chuen, i. 15,5.
Lohyang, made the capital by Siangkwan,
i.’S, ii. 159, 102, 104, 108, 174; and
Buddhism, ii. 218, 411.
Lolos race, in Sz’chuen, i. 43, 158 ; in
Yunnan, i. 183.
Longevity, Temple of, at Canton, i. 104.
Loomis, Rev. A. W., i. 703, ii. 350.
Lotus, highly esteemed, i. 308.
Low, Hon. P. F., United States Ministef
to China, ii. 700 ; concerning sentiment
toward foreigners at Tientsin, ii. 704
;
his reply to Wansiang’s note, ii. 708 ; on
audience question, ii. 713, 714 ; thanked
bv Prince Kuiig, ii. 739.
Lowrie, \V. M., i. 7.55, ii. 287, 350, 368.
Lu, governor of Kwangt>ung, opposes Napier’s
coming to Canton, ii. 464 ; rejects
iiis letter, ii. 467 ; stops the trade, ii.
471, 473 ; his succes.sor Tang, ii. 481.
Luhchau, on female education, i. .574 ; instance
of reproving a mother-in-law, i.
795.
Lukan Gorge, on Yangt-sz’, i. 146.
Ltinfi, or dragon of the Chinese, i. 344;
carried in procession, i. 818.
Lung River, in Fuhkien, i. 129.
Lung-tsiien, in Shansi, i. 95.
Lute, or kln^ a favorite instrument, ii. 99.
“\ r A TSUPU, marine goddess, temple
ItL to, at Ningpo, i. 123; and the Virgin,
ii. 316.
MaTwan-lin, his Antiquarian Rcsearclies,
i. 259-205, 081 ; list of comets, ii. 73.
Macao, climate of, i. 54 ; description of,
i. 170; governor of Canton retires to,
from pirates, ii. 183; Ricci in, ii. 390;
Tournon imprisoned in, ii. .302 ; Mrs.
Gutzlaft”s school at, ii. 345 ; smuggling
trade in opium at, ii. 378 ; origin of the
settlement and name, ii. 438 ; recent
history, ii. 4oO ; the Dutch repulsed before,
ii. 433 ; English man-of-war at, ii.
448 ; their troops occupy, ii. 4.5(i ; Lord
Napier reaches, ii. 404; Elliot and the
English retire to, ii. .500 ; Lin’s soldiers
repiiLsed at, iL 51(j ; Kiying goes to, ii.
507 ; becomes a resort of smugglers, ii.
034 ; of coolie traders, ii . 002 ; finally
closed to the coolie trade, ii. 715.
Macartney, Lord, i. 402, 431, 452, 454;
his embassy to Peking, ii. 4.54.
Macgowan, Dr. D. J., ii. 3.50, 388.
Ma-chin, from Mah<i-china, ‘ Great
China,’ its Hindu name, i. 3.
Mackie, J. Milton, ii. 002, 624.
Macy, Wm. A., ii. 344.
Magaillans (Magalhaens), Pere Gabriel, i.
04, 289, 473, 589, 817, ii. 297; his embassy,
ii. 429.
Mahdbhdrata, name China occurs in the,
i. 2.
Mail I a, J-A-M. de M., ii 34. 7.3, 137, 152,
309, 413.
Maimai chin, of Urga, i. 204 ; of Kiakhta,
i. 207, ii. 443.
Malacca, Protestant missions in, ii. 323i
324.
Malte Brun, estimate of Eighteen Prov
inces, i. 8, 296.
INDEX. r6i
Manchu, physical traits, i. 44 ; Empprors
pul>lish the I’eiial Code, i. 385 ; nobility,
i. 3S7; and education system, i. 521,
5()0 ; and Chinese poem, i. 598 ; alter
the Chinese head-dress, i. 761 ; names,
how written, i. 79S ; military endeavors
of their Emperors, ii. 9:3 ; peculiar dread
of foreign invasion, ii. 6-1;*.
Manchuria, one of the three grand divisions,
i. 7 ; extent of, i. LS7 ; watercourses
and mountains, i. 188-191
;
three provinces, i. 191-‘2O0; climate, i.
195; adndnistration of government, i.
199; by native nobles, i. 40().
Manchus, their ancestors the Kins, ii.
174 ; overthrow the Mings, ii. 178 ; their
government better than the Mings, ii.
185; and the Triad Society, ii. 2(57;
close China to foreign trade, ii. 420
;
terrible destruction of, at Chinldang,
ii. 542 ; as rulers of China, ii. 580 ; national
dislike of, and Tai-ping revolt,
ii. 596.
Mandarin ducks, fidelity of, i. 340 ; as an
emblem, ii. 112.
Mandarin, derivation of word, i. 417.
Mandarin (or court) dialect, the kwan
hwa, i. 613; the Bible in, ii. 364.
Mangu khan, successor of Kuyuk, mission
of Rubruquis to, ii. 418 ; of King
Hayton to, ii. 420.
Manji, tribes in Yunnan, i. 4.
Manning, T., mission of, to Tiljet in
1811, i. 246.
Mausoleum, of Grand Lama at Peking, i.
79 ; at Teshu Lumbo, i. 252 ; of Chinese
Emperors, ii. 248.
Munu, Laws of] mention of China in, i.3.
Manures, preparation of, ii. 8.
Marble, uses of, i. 307; slabs, etc., exported,
ii. 394.
Marco Polo. See Polo.
Margary, A. R., i. 184; sent from Hankow
to Bhamo, ii. 721 ; his murder, ii.
722 ; its subsequent investigation, ii.
723, 734.
Marriage, customs in Tibet, i. 251 ; in
Puhkien, i. 785-791 ; good sense of the
laws controlling, i. 793 ; and ancestral
worship, ii. 239 ; of Emperor Tungchi,
ii. 710.
Marshall, Thos., ii. 287, 307, 318.
Marshman, J., i. 657, ii. 320; his term
for baptism, ii. 363.
Martin, R. M., i. 120, 285, ii. 406, 443,
562 ; his proposition regarding Chusan,
ii. 580.
Martin, Dr. W. A. P., i. 20, 435, 550, 551,
559, ii. 217, 372, 741.
Match-makers employed in marriages, i.
785, ‘586.
Matting, grass grown for, i. 357 ; manufacture
and uses of, ii. 61 ; export of,
ii. 395.
Mavers, W. F., i. 438, 753, ii. 90, 185,
217, 348.
Maximo witch. CarlJ., i. 296, 355.
McCarthy, Justin, ii. 565; estimate of
Bowring and Parkes, ii. 6:34, 637 ; on
results of the w.ar, ii. 687.
McCarty, Dr. D. B., ii. 350.
McClatchie, Rev. Canon T., i. 633, 633;
ii. 142, 200.
McCulloch’s area of China, i. 5 ; of the
Eighteen Provinces, i. 8 ; population on
Plain, i. 28 ; Mongols, i. 45 ; popula-»
tion, i. 285.
Meadows, T. T., i. 192, 494, ii. 3, 596.
597. 624.
Measures of length, weight, etc., ii. 81.
Meats seen upon Chinese tables, i. 776.
Mechanical arts, and implements, ii. 18;
attainments in, ii. 117.
Medhurst, W. H., i. 12.5, 2(15, 271, 278,
290, 530, 615, 634, 636, 685, 755, 809.
ii. 28, 151, 214, 258, 295, 321, 336, 329,
330, 352, .354, 3(i3, 369; his Tai-ping
translations, ii. 594, 623.
Medicine, practice better than theories
of, i. 377 ; its profession in Chinese
society, i. 783 ; attainments in, ii. 118-
134.
Mei ling, in Kwangtung, i. 12.
]VIoi Shan, or ‘ Coal Hill,’ Peking, i. 70.
Mencius, birthplace of, i. 90 ; praises the
Chiui Tsiu, i. 649 ; life of, i. 666 ; his
doctrines, i. 66S-672 ; and early Emperors,
ii. 146; writings burned, ii. 161 ;
a saint, ii. 201, 237.
Mendacity of the Chinese, i. 834.
Metals and metallurgy, ii. 1 S ; knowledge
of, ii. lis.
Metaphysics of Chu Hi and tendency of
Chinese thought, i. 6S3-(i85.
Meteorology of China, i. 51-.55.
ATi’ao hao, or ancestral name of Emperor,
i. 399.
Miaotsz’, i. 41 ; sa?:.ff and sliuh, i. 43, lli},
177, 179-180; tankla descendants of, at
Canton, i. 412 ; songs, ii. 95 ; Hung
Siu-tsuen among, ii. 587.
Michie, A., i. 20.5.
Middle Kingdom, Chung Kwoh, a name
for China since B.C. 11.50, i. 4.
Military, control of, in provinces, i. 444 ;
examinations among the, i. 560 ; architecture
in China, i. 758 ; science, ii. 88.
Milk little used, i. 77(5.
Millet, Italian {Setaria”, in Shingking, L
191 ; much eaten in the North, i. 772.
Milne, Rev. Wm. C, i. 121, 494, .508, 686,
744, 745, 746, il 132, 339, 231, 265, 369,
350.
Milne, Dr. W.. ii. 325 ; arrives in China,
ii. 319; at Malacca, ii. 323, 368.
Min River, in Fuhkien, i. 128; in Sz’chuen,
i. 154, 155.
Minerals, probably abundant in Kwan’
r62 INDEX.
lun, i. 12; of Shantung, i. 93; of
Yunnan, i. 183 ; of the Empire, i. 304-
310.
Ming dynasty, its period, ii. 177-179; table
of Emperors, ii. 1S6 ; trade during,
ii. 373.
Ming ti, Emperor, ii. 163 ; introduces
Buddhism, ii. 21 S, 229.
Mint, its management, i. 428 ; one in
every province, ii. 83.
Mirrors, Chinese magic, ii. 20; to cure
maniacs, ii. 2.50.
Missionaries, letter from Romish, concerning
Chinese boat life, i. 751 ; they teach
mathematics at Peking, ii. 07 ; under
Kanghi, ii. 181 ; Buddhist, their influence,
ii. 189 ; Mcsiem, ii. 268 ; Nestorian,
ii. 275, 2Sr) ; Roman Catholic, ii.
287 ; their conduct in China, ii. 305
;
the first Protestant, ii. 318 ; female,
their influence, ii. 304 ; information derived
from French, ii. 440 ; French, beheaded
ia Kwangsi, ii. 642 ; British,
address to Lord Elgin, ii. 649 ; their
influence in Peking, ii. 689 ; massacre
of French, at Tientsin, ii. 700 ; American,
frightened away from Tangchau,
ii. 705 ; Chinese grievances against, ii.
701) ; their devotion during the great
famine, ii. 736.
Missions, earliest Christian, to China, the
Nestorians, ii. 275-286 ; Roman Catholic
: first period, ii. 287-289 ; second period,
ii. 289-304 ; decrease after edict of
Yuiigching, ii. 394 ; statistics of Catholic,
ii. :)07 ; their literary and educational
labors, ii, 309 ; Protestant, introduced
by MorrLson, ii. 318; among
Chinese emigrants in the Archipelago,
ii. 323 ; their hospital practice, ii.
333-340 ; condition of Protestant, at
Morrison’s death, ii. 340 ; conference
of, in 1877, ii. 3(;5 ; ob.stacles and encouragements
to, ii. 3fi8 ; Russian, established
at Peking, ii. 443 ; problem
of foreign, in China, rules suggested, ii.
707.
Mobs, fear of, in Peking, i. 84; attack
British troops before Canton, ii.
523 ; attack tiie factories, ii. 495, 556,
50S.
Mohammedan, name for China, Timg
Tu, i. 5 ; mosque in Peking, i. 74
in Hangchau, i. 119; rebellion in 1865-
73, i. 149, 154, 2(i9 ; sect in China, ii.
268-271 ; insurrection in Kansuh suppressed,
ii. 709; uprising in Yunnan
province, ii. 719 ; rebellion in Eastern
Turkestan, ii. 727-731.
Mohammedans, in Kuldja, i. 219; in
B ikur, i. 225 ; first come to China, ii.
268; the sect in tlie Empire, 270; found
by Ibn Batuta, ii. 422 ; universal uprising
of, ii. 730.
Monetary system of the Chinese, ii. 83,
Mongol, race characteristics, i. 144;
derivation of name, i. 202 ; dynasty
(Yuen) and paper money, ii. 8.5, 177;
regime, ii. 175; Buddhists, ii. 229,
233.
Mongolia, position and climate, i. 200-
202 ; divisions—Inner Mongolia, i. 202-
204 ; Outer Mongolia, i. 204-209 ; Kokonor,
i. 209-213 ; outljing towns, i.
213-21.5.
Mongols, their number, i. 45; religion.
Shamanism, ii. 233 ; tolerate the Nestorians,
ii. 280 ; and first period of
Catholic missions, ii. 288 ; their conquests
in Europe, and the embassies to,
ii. 415.
Monkeys of China, i. 314-316.
Monsoons on coast, i. .53-54.
Moutecorvino, John of, ii. 271 ; goes to
Cathay, ii. 287, 421 ; found in Peking
by Friar Odoric, ii. 423.
Moon, an eclipse at Canton, i. 819; symbols
of, ii. 73, 74.
Morals of the Chinese stage, i. 824.
Morrison, J. R., ii. 332, 342, 345, 363 ; revi’ard
offered for, ii. 520 ; services as an
interpreter, ii. 547, 548, 556 ; his death,
ii. 560
Morrison, Dr. Robert, i. 230, 265-269,
282, 284, 523, 524, 5:^0. 559, 603, 622,
624, 074, 801, 817, ii. 227; his life, ii.
318; and-Ricci compared, ii. 322,333,
333, 303, 453, 458, 459.
Morrison Education Society, ii. 341.
Mosques, at Kuldja, i. 218 ; near Moslem
pagoda in C;inton, i. 745 ; notice of, at
Ningpo, ii. 269.
Mountains, of China, its frontier, i. 9
;
its four great ranges, i. 10; Pnmpelly’s
” Sinian Sy.stem,” i. 14 ; passes
in, i. 39 ; of Manchuria, i. 188.
Mourning, cards, i. 802 ; customs in
China, ii. 249, 250.
Mukden, capital of Shingking, i. 87
desci-iption of, i. 192 ; money remitted
to, i. 295 ; Kienlung’s elegy on, i.
598.
Mulberry and silk worms, ii. 10.
Mules, fine, in China, i. 323.
2TuH-pai, or ‘ door-tablet ‘ for the census,
i. 283, 388.
Murray, Hugh, i. 309, ii. 137, 1.52, 400,
410.
Murui-ussu, ‘Tortuous River,’ i. 20.
Music, in Tibet, i. 25:1; Board of, i. 424 A
works on, in the ratalogue, i. 072; style
j and principles of Chinese, ii. 93-98 ; m-j
• strumcnts of, ii. 99-104. /
Musk, and mu.sk-deer in China, i. 332 ;
exporte<l, ii. 395.
Myths and legends, of the Chinese, ii.
70; of the creation, ii. 138-142 ;TaoiBt,
ii. 210 ; Buddhist, ii. 222.
llSTDEX. 763
NAILS worn long on fingers, i. TOO.
Names, for China, i. 2-5, ii. 408 ; ancestral,
of Emperor, i. ;!99; how inilicated
in books, i. fJ’il ; changed at marriage,
i. 788 ; several, during life, i. T’.IT
; periphrases
in use for. i. )S0o ; for jiorcelain,
ii. ‘2’i ; for tea, ii. 45 ; for opium, ii. 87o.
Nanchang, cajjital of Kiaugsi, i. 113;
Ricci in, ii. 2W.
Nanhiung, in Kwangtimg, i. 174.
Nan-kan, ‘South Gate,’ in Great Wall,
i. 14, 81.
Nankeen, a cotton cloth, ii. 37 ; decrease
in export of, ii. o95.
Nanking, climate of, i. 52 ; description of,
i. 100; Porcelain Tower of, i. 102; its
iKiiikce/i cloth, ii. 37 ; stone animals at,
ii. 115; capital of one of the ‘Three
States,’ A.D. 211, ii. 1(54; pillaged by
the Kin, ii. 175; capital of the Ming,
ii. 177 ; Ricci in, ii. ~90 ; the English
before, ii. 545 ; treaty of, ii. 549
;
Hung Siu-tsuen proclaimed Emperor
(Tien-teh) at, ii. 584 ; rebel capture of,
ii. 59*’) ; their stress in, ii. (505 ; taken by
imperialists, ii. 020.
Nan ling, ‘Southern Mountains,’ a continuation
of the Yun ling, i. 12.
Nan shall, in Kwangtuiig, i. 159; in
Koko-nor, i. 211.
Napier, John, mentioned in a Chinese treati.
se, ii. 07.
Napier, Lord, superintendent of trade,
his arrival, ii. 4(54; letter to (Governor
Lu rejected, ii. 407; contest with the
governor, ii. 471 ; retires from Canton
and dies suddenh-, ii. 474.
Nari ( A-li), a division of Tibet, i. 244, 2.56.
Navarette, a Dominican friar, and the
Jesuits, ii. 300.
Natural history, study of, in China, i.
290 ; geology, i. ‘297-313 ; zoology, i.
313-340 ; ichthyology, i. 340-351 ; insects,
i. 351-354; botany, i. 355-370;
the Pun-tsao, or Herbal, i. 371-376
;
condition of the science in China, i.
377-379.
Niu-chih, or Kin Tartars, i. 202 ; ancestors
of Manchus, ii. 174.
Navy, control of, interchanged with army,
i. 445, 496, 502 ; Lay’s flotilla fiasco, ii.
()92.
Nestor’an, monument at Si-ngan, i. 151,
ii 27(i ; missionaries at court of Taitsung,
ii. 1(J9 ; during the Yuen, ii. 280 ;
oppose Corvino, ii. 287 ; missionaries
come with traders, ii. 411 ; priest and
Rubruquis, ii. 418.
Nevius, J. L., i. 810, ii. 217.
Newspapers (see also I’ck’uKj Gazette) and
chea]) type.s, i. 005 ; edited by Protestant
missionaries, ii. 341.
New Year, festival and ceremonies, i. 810-
810 ; its date, ii. 70,
Nganhwui province, i. 108.
Nganking, or Anking, in Nganhwui, i.
110; taken by Tai-pings, ii. .595 ; their
march to relief of, ii. 007 ; captured by
imperialists, ii. 008.
N)ng[)o, tempeiature at, i. 53; description
of, i. 120-123; the to niin of, 1.
412; l)irthday fete at, i. 814; spring
festival, ii. 14 ; cannon found at, ii.
02; the cholera at, ii. 132; nunneries
at, ii. 231 ; foundling hospital, ii. 205 ;
its mosque, ii. 269 ; missions at, ii. 350 ;
Portuguese at, ii. 428 ; its capture by
the British, ii. 527 ; attemi)t at recapture,
ii. 531, ii. 573; during Tai-ping
Rebellion, ii. 008, 009.
Nieuwhof (or Nieuhoff), J., ii. 3, 428;
account of the fall oi Fort Zealandia,
ii. 436.
Nitre common in China, i. 308.
Niu Kien, Governor-General, conduct at
Wusung, ii. 535, 537 ; British offer, opj)
ortanity of ransoming Nanking, ii.
544 ; joint letter to Pottinger, ii. 546.
Niuchwang (Yingtsz’), in Shingking, L
194, 751.
Nobility, Manchu and Chinese, i. 387
;
orders of, i. 406.
Notation, Chinese arithmetical, ii. 66
musical, ii. 94.
Novels, Tibetan, i. 251 ; and tales in Chinese
literature, i. 692; character of
Chinese fiction, i. 095.
Nui Hing-an ling, or Sialkoi Mountains,
west of the Amur, i. 1 3.
Numerals, Chinese, i. 619 ; limitations to
use of, ii. 60.
Nuns, Buddhist, at Canton, i. 105 ; and
nunneries, ii. 230.
Nii-rh Yu, ‘ Words for Women and
Girls,’ a school-book, L 577.
OBEISANCE, sundry degrees of, i.
801.
Observatory at Peking, i. 72; and the
Jesuit missionaries, ii. 298.
Odes, the Book of (see Shi Kinrj, i. 686,
etc.), ‘for children,’ the Yin Hioh Shitlrh,
i. 533 ; in Nestorian inscription at
Si-ngan, ii. 282.
Odoric, Friar, i. 302 ; on casting out
devils, ii. 314; his journey to Cathay,
ii. 422.
Officers, in China, their extortions, i. 278 ;
nine ranks, i. 413-415 ; and Board of
Civil Office, i. 421 ; provincial, i. 438-
448; checks upon, i. 449; their character
and position, i. 451 ; their establishments,
i. 503 ; compelled to e.xtortion,
i. 510 ; of education, i. 548 ; dresses, i.
703 ; formalities of meeting, i. 805
;
their religious duties, ii. 201-205 ; instance
of their functions, ii. ‘230 ; of
their corruption, ii. 378 ; of theil
764 INDEX.
methods, ii. 557; attitude toward foreigners
at close of the opium war,
ii. 575.
Oling Lake, in Koko-nor, i. 18.
Oliphant, Lawrence, i. 400, ii. 644, 647,
654, 0()0.
Olives (the Pimela), so-called, of China,
i. o()5, 775.
Olyphant & Co., their assistance to missionaries,
ii. o2S, hiSO, 342.
Oineto Fiih, Buddhist prayer, i. 125.
Om maiu padiiii hum, its meaning, i.
349.
Opium, smuggling incident, i. 477 ; its
increase under Taukwang, ii. 184; introduction
and names of, ii. 37y ; cultivation
in India, ii. o74 ; preparation
and sale, ii. o76 ; manner of smoking,
ii. 381 ; its effects, li. 384 ; value of the
trade, ii. 3S7, 430 ; Robinson’s paper
on smuggling, ii. 479 ; proposal to
legalize, ii. 48’3 ; the matter referred to
Canton, ii. 480 ; prohibitory laws severely
enforced, ii. 490 ; increase of smuggling,
ii. 492 ; demanded by Lin, ii.
498 ; surrendered, ii. 502 ; and destroyed,
ii. 504 ; sales recommence, ii. 506 , Pottinger’s
position regarding, ii. 538 ; his
discussions on, with commissioners, ii.
5.50 ; smuggling and the port of Hongkong,
ii. 558 ; laissez fairc policy of
British and Chinese after first war. ii.
501, 577 ; increase of smuggling, ii. 033 ;
legalized in revised tariff, ii. 0.57.
Oranges, many varieties of, at Canton, i.
774.
Osbeck, Peter, his voyage to China, ii.
461.
Onchterlony, Lieutenant J., his Chinese
\Vio\n. .551, 574.
Oysters common along the coast, i. 350
;
their quality, i. 780.
PAGODA, Porcelain, at Nankin* i.
1 02 ; and dagoba in China, i. 743 ;
purpose and construction, i. 745 ; plain,
at Canton, ii. 209.
J’ai-laii, in Peking, i. 83 ; their purpose
and construction, i. 7.50-7.58 ; to commemorate
British retreat from Canton,
ii. 620.
Painting, as a fine art in China, ii. 105
examples of illustrations, ii. 100-116
on pith paper, ii. 113. For reproductions
of Chinese, see the two frontispieces
of these volumes.
Pakhoi, port in Kwanj^tung, i. 175.
Palace, of Emijcror, at Peking, i. 65-69 ; of
Yuen mitig Yuen, i. 80; life and arrangements
of, i. 407.
Palafox, Bishop, i. 162.
Palisade boundary between Chihli and
Shingking, i. 25, 187.
PalladiuB, Archimandrite, ii. 277, 285.
Palms, fan, cocoanut, etc., i. 300.
Palti, or Yamorouk Lake, in Tibet, i. 25.
Panthay insurrection in Yunnan province,
ii. 719.
Pao-ho tien, ‘ Hall of Secure Peace,’ in
Peking, i. 68.
Pao-tch, on Yellow River, and chief anticlinal
axes of Sinian system, i. 14.
Paper, in China, history and varieties of,
i. 599 ; used for window glass, i. 732
;
collected by priests, ii. 257 ; burned for
spirits, ii. 257.
Paper monej’, in Fulichan, i. 132 ; Polo’s
delight over, ii. 85 ; and Yuen dynasty,
ii. 177; mentioned by Ibn Batuta, ii.
422.
Parker, Admiral Sir William, arrives
from England, ii. 524.
Parker, Dr. P., i. 706, ii. 124, 325; his
hospital at Canton, ii. 333-337, 567,
639.
Parkes. Sir Harry, ii. 29 ; McCarthy’s
estimate of, ii. 634 ; action in the Arrow
case, ii. 635-637, 040; one of
commission to govern C.mton, ii. 046 ;
his ability, ii. 047; experiences _ at
Tungchau, ii. 078 ; his capture and imprisonment,
ii. 080.
Pascal, a Spanish friar, missionary to
Kuldja, ii. 289, 424.
Patriarchal feature of government, i. 381.
Panting, in Chihli, i. 85.
Pauthier, G., i. 05, 84, 043, 003, 674, iL
34, 85, 87, 137, 149, 150, 101, 307, 210,
212, 280, 413, 419, 713.
Pauying Lake, in Kiangsu, i. 100.
Pavif. T., i. 096.
Pavilion, prominent feature of Chinese
architecture, i. 730.
Pawnbrokers’ establishments, ii. 86.
Peacocks reared throughout China, i. 337.
Pearl River, in Kwangtung, i. 22, 1.59;
duck-hatching on, i. 778 ; pirates on,
during this century, ii. 183 ; kept open
by foreigners, ii. 630.
Pearls, genuine and artificial, i. 350.
Pechele (for Pch-rhihli), sometimes used
for Chihli, i. 00.
Peepnl, or 7J?<-^i tree {Ficus religiosa),
worshipped, ii. 259. .
Pell ling, ‘ Northern Mountains,’ in
Kwanlun system, i. 12.
Peh-ta -sz’, ‘ White Pagoda Temple,’ Peking,
i. 75.
Pehtang, Americans urged to go to. ii.
()(J5 ; they repair to Peking, via, ii. (i08
;
Ho asks Englisli to exchange treaties
at, 072 ; allies land and capture, ii. 073.
Pei iio, and towns on its banks, i. 85-86;
allied fleet reach, ii. 649 ; repulse at
battle of, ii. 0()6.
Peking, climate of, i. 51 ; situation, area,
and history, i. ()0-64 ; walls, i. (i4
;
‘ Prohibited City,’ i. 05 ; plan of, i. 66,*
INDEX. 765
palaces, i. 07-60; ‘Imporial City,’ i.
G9 ; parks, public buildings, temples, i.
69-T!>; Altar to Heaven, i. 7<); otlier
temples, i. 78 ; summer palace, i. 80 ;
streets, city government, life, i. 81-84 ;
dogs of, i. yi9 ; crows about, i. 3H4
State school at, i. 543 ; examinations
for isin-sz’ degree, i. 558 ; Pih-yung
Kung, i. 73, 730 ; street scenes in, i.
741 ; carts used by royalty in, i. 747 ;
compressed feet in, i. 770 ; marriage
processions at, i. 7S9 ; fireworks in, i.
817; ploughing ceremony at, ii. 13; its
medical college {T’ai-i Yucit), ii. 121 ;
taken by the Mongols, ii. 175; by the
Mings, ii. 177, 178; Barrow on infanticide
in, ii. 240 ; funerals in, ii. 345,
2.50; Moslems in, ii. 2(59; Catholics first
established in, ii. 287 ; Ricci goes to,
ii. 291 ; medical instruction at, ii. 33′.)
Friar Odoric visits, ii. 423 ; Van
Hoorn’s embassy to, ii. 438 ; Russian
mission at, ii. 443 ; Tai-ping expedition
against, ii. 597 ; Ward’s visit to,
ii. 6′)9 ; allied troops at, ii. (382, 686 ; a
foreign quarter in, ii. 088.
Pekinq Gazette {Kiiirj Pao), on revenue,
i. 293 ; notice of, i! 420.
Paial Code, of China, i. 279, 282, 287 ;
examination of, i. 384-392 ; regulating
trials and punishments, i. 50(3 ; number
of characters in, i. 589 ; laws on
land, ii. 2 ; on physicians, ii. 133
;
framed by Yungloh, ii. 177.
People of China, their clans, i. 483 ; general
education, i. 519.
Pepys, Ramtiel, mentions tea, ii. 51.
Ferny, P., i 719, ii. 90.
Pescadores, or Panghu Islands, i. 27, 141 ;
the Dutch in, ii. 433.
Petitions presented by the poor to high
magistrates, i. 505.
Petroleum in Formosa, i. 139.
Pheasants, gold, silver, Reeves, and
others, i. 336.
Philosophy, Chinese, of the Yih Kinq, i.
028-033 ; of Confucius, i. 062 ; of Chu
Hi, i. (183 ; ideas concerning the ‘ action
and reaction of the elements,’ ii.
74 ; of the creation, ii. 137-144 ; Bazin’s
view of growth of Chinese, ii. 213.
Phoenix, or Fniifj-Zitrnng, i. 343.
Physical traits of Chinese, i. 41.
Physicians, their position in society, i.
783 ; their practice, ii. 124-127; foreigners
educate Chinese as, ii. 339.
Pigeon-English, an unwritten patois, i.
624 ; examples of, i. 832, ii. 340, 402,
62().
Pigeons, abundant in Peking, 1. 335
;
raised and eaten, i. 779.
Pihkwei, made governor of Canton after
Yeh’s capture, ii. 64(! ; asks Lord Elgin
to reopen trade, ii. 647.
Pih-ynngKung, or ‘ Classic Hall,’ Confu«
cian Temple, Peking, i. 73, 730, 757.
Pilgrims, to Tai Shan, i. 90 ; Chinese, ta
Mecca, ii. 370 ; travels of Buddhist, iL
413.
Pines, the white, etc., i. 302.
Pirates, infest Kwangtung, ii. 183 ; pursued
by British and Portuguese, ii. 032.
Piry, A. Theophile, i. 080.
Pi-shan, a doubtful volcano in 111, i. 11.
Plain. See Great Plain, i. 14, 27, etc.
Piano Carpini, John of, missionary to
China, ii. 287 ; his mission to Kuyuk, ii.
417.
Plantain, productiveness of, i. 301 ; how
eaten, i. 774.
Plough, its construction, ii. 3; drillplough,
ii. 5; foreifjn, introduced, ii. 63.
Ploughing, annual ceremony of,at Peking,
i. 78, ii. 1, 13.
Poetry of the Sh I King, i. 038-043 ; characteristics
of Chinese, i. 7(3 ; examples
of their odes and liallads, i. 70,5-714.
Po-lai-tsz’, a name of the Yangtsz’ kiang,
i. 20.
Police, of Peking, i. 83; tyranny and
venality of, i. 475—480; memorial to
Emperor concerning, i. 495.
Policy of Cliinese government, in Ili, i.
214 ; its theory, i. 3S0-3S4 ; toward foreign
traders since the Mings, ii. 426 ; at
close of opium war, ii. 575.
Polo, Marco, i. 32, 110, 118, 127, 130, 157,
181, 213, 242, 281, 304, 330, 330, 337,
343, 345, 350, 300, 304, ii. 51, 85, 176,
271, 285, 415 ; his journeys in China,
ii. 420, 425.
Polyandry in Tibet, i. 350.
Polygamy, its extent in China, i. 792.
Poor, troublesome element of Peking
population, i. 84 ; petitions forced upon
magistrates, i. .505 ; dwellings of the, i.
733 ; disposal of their dead, ii. 2,54.
Pope of Rome, appoints Corvino archbishop,
ii. 287 ; sends other missionaries
to China, ii. 288 ; Ming claimants write
to, ii. 29(5 ; and question of rites, ii. 299,
301, 302 ; supports Tournon and the
Dominicans, ii. 303 ; sends Carpini to
Kuyuk khan, ii. 415.
Population, of Great Plain, i. 28 ; of Peking,
i. (i3, 84; of Canton, i. 101; of
Shingking, i. 193 ; of the Empire, i.
2.58-288 ; of Tibet, unknown, i. 284 ; of
China during the Tang, ii. 171 ; of Peking
at last determined, ii. 087.
Porcelain, i. Ill ; works, i. 113 ; materials
and manufacture, ii. 22 ; export of, ii.
394.
Porcupine in China, i. 328.
Portuguese, church in Peking, i. 75 ; in
Ningpo, i. 120; settlers in Formosa, i,
137; in Macao, i. 170; name porcelain,
ii. 22 ; during the Mings, ii. 177 ; and
766 INDEX.
pirate fleets, ii. IS” ; oppose introducing
Christianity, ii. 281) ; excitement iu Canton
against, ii. ‘.i’.U ; conduct of early,
traders with China, ii. 42t; ; misrepre-
Bent the English, ii. 444 ; keep tFiem
out of Canton, ii. 44() ; homicide of a, at
Canton, ii. 451 ; attack the pirates, ii.
632 ; smuggling lorchas, ii. K’A ; abolish
coolie trade at Macao, ii. (163.
Pottinger, Sir Henry, arrives irom England,
ii. r)”24 ; takes Chinhai and Ningpo,
ii. 527 ; his proclamation before
Chinkiang, ii. 5;i7 ; his position regarding
the opium trade, ii. Oo’J ; Kiying
writes to, ii. 546; exchanges civilities
with commissioners, ii. 547; discusses
opium problem with them, ii. 550
;
^igns Nanlcing treat}’, ii. 5.53 ; action
on hearing of Formosa massacres, ii.
5.55 ; exchanges ratifications with Kiying,
ii. 557 ; on J. R. Morrison, ii. 501 ;
action against opium smuggling, ii. 502.
Poutiatine, Admiral Count, his arrival in
China, ii. 043.
Poyang Luke, in Kiangsi, i. 33, 111.
Players, Buddhist, ii. 225, 226 ; machines
for, ii. 334 ; at ancestral tomb, ii. 253;
‘Girdle Classics,’ ii. 257.
Prejevalsky, Colonel N., observations on
Gobi, i. 10; on source of Yangtsz’, i.
20 ; Lob-nor, i. 24 ; Kansuh, i. 153
Mongolia, i. 205, 210, 212, 222, 231, 243,
290, 338, 355, 304.
Pre’mare. Pere, i. 581), 714, ii. 232.
Prester John, Prince of the Kara Kitai,
ii. 385, 280.
Priests, in Canton, i. 104, 165; and
snakes, i. 340 , harbor thieves, i. 498
in society, i. 783 ; and theatres, i. 830 ;
grow tea, ii. 42 ; no hierarchy of, in
China, ii. 101, 199; Taoist, ii. 214, 215;
Buddhist, ii. 220, 224, 250 ; Nestorian,
ii. 285, 380.
Primitives in the Chinese language, i.
591-593.
Printing, in China, i. 600 ; missionary, ii.
307.
Processions, marriage, i. 787-791 ; style
of, i. 819 ; funeral, ii. 345, 348.
Professions, the liberal, in Chinese society,
i. 783.
Prisons in (>anton, i. 167, 514.
Pronunciation, varieties in local Chinese,
i. 61.5-017.
‘Prohibited City’ of Peking, i. 65.
Pro.spect, or ‘Coal’ Hill, Peking, i. 70.
Protestants, first, missionaries to (!hina,
ii. 31S ; niethods compared with Catholics,
ii. ;?22 ; toleration granted to, ii.
357 ; statistics of, in China, ii. oOtJ.
Proverbs, Chinese, i. 110,442, 019; collections
of, and specimen, i. 719-733,
792, ii. 244.
Provincial governments, character of the
system, i. 437; higher, i. 438, and lowei
officers, i. 441 ; law courts, i. 504.
Prussian blue, \i8ed in coloring teas, ii.
47 ; introduced, ii. 62.
P.salmanazar, George, his Ilintory of Forinoaa,
i. 141.
Ptolemy, the geographer, his mention of
China, ii. 408 ; his “Stone Tower,” ii.
409.
Pulses, their importance in medical practice,
ii. 122, 12.5.
Pumpellyj R., his “Sinian System” of
mountains, i. 14; remarks on Gobi, i.
17; quoted, i. 145, 205, 207, 296, 304,
305.
Punishments, Board of, i 426; five kinds,
i. 508 ; Parkes and Loch at Board of,
ii. 681.
Pan t.iao, or ‘Chinese Herbal,’ i. 316;
concerning the sphex. i. 354 ; its author
and scope, i. 370 ; divisions of : geology,
i. 371 ; botany, i. 372 ; zoology, i. 374 ;
notices of the horse, i. 375, 691, iL
373.
Pushtikhur, mountain knot in Turkestan,
i. 10.
Puto Island, i. 124.
Puyur, or Pir Lake, in Manchuria, i. 24.
Pwanku, the first man, ii. 138-141.
UAILS, fighting, i. 826.
^ Queues, how worn, i. 761 ; false ohair in, i. 765 ; imposed upon Chinese
by the Tartars, ii. 179 ; mourning,
ii. 249 ; cut ofT by Tai-pings, ii. 589.
Quicksilver mines in Kweichau, i. 178,
311 ; experiments in, ii. 118.
I)
ACES (see under Aboriginal), abor-
\) iginal and colonial, of China, i. 43.
Radicals in the Chinese language, i. 591-
593.
Raffles, SirT. S., i. 482.
Rain, in North China, i. 51 ; in the south,
i. 53; contrast in. between coasts of
China and America, i. 55 ; Taukwang’s
prayer for, i. 407 ; eflbrts after, by
officers, ii. 203-205.
Ranking, J., i. 330.
Ranks, titular, of noblemen, i. 405 ; of
the people, i. 411 ; insignia of, i. 414.
Rationalists, or Taoists, considered as
magicians, i. ()94 ; ideas of the creation,
ii. 138; creed, ii. 207 0″.
Rats, how and when eaten, i. 778.
lied Book, of officials, its character, i
452.
Reed, William B.^ United States Minister,
i. 400; arrives in China, ii. 643,
649.
Regis, Pere J. B., i. 633.
Reinaud, J. T., i. 127, u. 168, 271, 414,
425. 426.
Religion, sects in Tibet, i. 248 ; ridicuU
INDEX. 7G7
of, by the literati, i. 601 ; none in early
mythology, ii. 14)3; only external modifying
intlaence in China, ii. 18′.); two
negative features of Chinese, ii. 192
;
the tliree ki<w, or sects : State, ii. 194 ;
Tao. or Rationalist, ii. 207 ; Fuh, or
Buddhist, ii. 217; toleration of, in
Cliiua, ii. 221 ; eft’eto among the people,
ii. 2G0.
Be’musat, Abel, his derivation of word
Tsunfj ling, i. 9 ; myths of the Great
Deseit, i. 12 ; river basins of China, i.
27, 2i:!, 214, 2:50, 2:11, 2>!:;, 2:J4, 237, 28t<,
2.’)0, 2.”)1, 254, 308, 353 ; observations on
natural sciences, i. 377, 500, .^97, ()0.5
;
on Chinese grammar, i. 617 ; Mencius,
i. (iOtJ, 674, 675, 681, 682, 694, 696. ii.
123, 139, 167, 176, 180, 224, 232, 233,
293, 309, 441.
Rennie, Dr. D. F., i. 05, ii. 602.
Researches of Ma Twan-lin, i. 2.59-265.
Responsibility, a main feature of government,
i. 382-383 ; its operation, i. 436 ;
of Emperor for natural calamities, i.
465; results of, i. 481.
Revenue, of Chinese Empire, i. 289-292
;
Board of, i. 422 ; Department of, i. 443 ;
and transit duties, ii. 391.
Rhubarb from Kansuh, i. 864.
Ricci, Father Matteo, comes to China, ii.
289 ; travels northward, ii. 290 ; his
death, ii. 2,12 ; his character, ii. 293 ; decision
as to the rites, ii. 292, 299 ; compared
witli Morrison, ii. 322 ; compiles
account of Goes’ journey, ii. 425.
Rice, its importance, i. 772 ; its cultivation,
ii. 5-7; paper, painting on, ii.
113; an import, ii. 396.
RichanlsL.!!, Sir John, i. 296, 347, 348.
Richthofen, Biron F. von, remarks on
conformation of Central Asia, i. 18
roads in loess, i. 39, 97, 120, 150, 1.5S,
184. :^12, 221, 222, 257, 296, 297, 303,
305. 636, ii. 137 ; on early knowledge of
China, ii. 407. 411, 624.
Ripa, Pere M., ii. 124; arrives in China,
ii. 302; observations on Catholic missionaries,
ii. 305.
Rites, five kinds of, i. 423; Book of, i.
643-f)47 ; question of the, Ricci’s precedent,
ii. 292 ; Catholic quarrels concerning,
ii. 297-303.
Ritter, Carl, i. 208, 234, 237, 257.
Rivers, of China, i. 18; of Shansi, i. 94;
boat life on, i. 751.
Roberts, Rev. I. J., his connection with
Hung Siu-tsnen, ii. 587, 622.
Roads, public, i. 37 ; mountain, i. 39 ; of
Shansi, i. 91″!
; of Sz’chiien, i. 156; safety
of, in the Empire, i. 212 ; in loess region,
i. 300.
Robinson, Sir G. B., associated with Napier,
ii. 464 ; succeeds him as superintendent,
ii. 479.
Rome, Chinese knowledge cf, during the
Han dynasty, ii. 163; the country ‘i’u
Tsin, ii. 207 ; and Ciiiiia, infanticide in,
ii. 242 ; divination in China and, ii.
261 ; intercourse with Cliiua, ii. 410.
Roman Catholics’, and Huddliists’ rituals
compared, ii. 231, 315 ; they suggest
the founding of hospitals, ii. 205 ; missi
jns first established in China, ii. 286
;
second period of their missions, ii. 289
diseussions concerning the rites, ii. 253,
292, 299 ; expelled from China by Yungciiing,
ii. 304 ; character of their la})or3
in China, ii. 316 ; they move to Hongkong,
ii. 347 ; restitution of their confiscated
property, ii. 361 , 362 ; indemnified
in treaty of Peking, ii. 687.
Rondot, Natalis, Chinese commerce, ii.
19, 31, 38, 83.
Roofs, how constructed in China, i. 726,
729.
Rubruquis, Friar William, sent by Louis
XI. to Mangu khan, ii. 418, 425.
_
Russia, treaty^ between, and China on
frontier of II i, i. 215, .594; and toleration
of Christianity in China, ii. 360
;
boundary disputes, trade, and treaties
of, with China, ii. 441 ; takes possession
of Kuldja, ii. 727.
Russian, ‘pigeon,’ spoken in Vierny, ii.
402 ; Admiral Poutiatine arrives in
China, ii. 643 ; and American ministers
at Tientsin, ii. 6 4 ; diplomacy and the
Kuldja question, ii. 732.
SABBATH not known in China, i. 809.
SacharofF, T., i. 271.
Sacred Edict (or Commands) of Kanghi,
the Shing Ym, i. .548; a politico-moral
treatise, i. 686-601 ; its observations on
mulberry culture, ii. ; 3 ; illus-trations
from, ii. 107-111, 227,_ 267.
Sacrifices, no human, in China, ii. 192;
three grades, ii. 105; of women at funeral
of Empress, ii. 250.
Sagalicn, River (see Amur), i. 180; town
of (Igoon),i. 108.
Sa,int-Martin, Didier, Romish missionary
to China, ii. 3C6, 312 ; on casting out
demons, ii. 314.
Salaries, of Chinese officers, i. 204 ; of
Mongol princes, i. 430.
Sale of office practised continually by
Emperor, i. 475.
Salisbury, Prof. E. E., ii. 232.
_
Salt, produced in Shansi, i. 95 ; in
Sz’chuen, i. 158, 308 ; Yunnan, i. 184
;
Department, or Gabel, i. 443.
Salve tat, ii. 23, 24.
‘Sand,’ a malady at Nanking, i. 52.
Sand-storms on the Plains, i. .52 ; dunes
or moving hills in Kashgar, i. 227.
Sangkolinsin, Tartar general, at Takii
forts, ii. 664 ; drives back the allies, il
7G8 INDEX.
606 ; blunder in operations against allies
before Taku, ii. 074 ; retires toward Peking,
ii. (577 ; his deception, ii. 079
;
conversation with Parkes, ii. (i80 ; his
connection with treatment of English
pi isoners, ii. 085 ; allows the return of
allied troops, ii. 088.
San-Ux’ Kim], or ‘ Trimetrical Classic,’ a
school-book, i. 526-530.
Sayce, Prof. A. H., on hieroglyphics, i.
581.
iSchaal, Father Adam, recommended to
the Emperor, ii. ;i94 ; and Shunchi’, ii.
2y0 ; j)roscribed, and dies, ii. ;i’J7
;
makes cannon, ii. ~98.
Scarborough, W., i. 720.
tSchereschewsky, Bishop, S. I. J., ii. 873,
304.
Science, study of, in China, i. 297; foreign
terms of, introduced, i. 021 ; abstract,
not pursued, ii. 65 ; attainments
in and ideas upon, ii. 06-86.
B.adegel, Dr. Gustave, i. 48, 494, 633.
(School name, shu mltit/, i. 525; when
conferred, i. 797.
Schools, boys’, how conducted, i. 525
books studied, i. 527-541 ; high, i. 542
Romish mission, ii. 310 ; Morrison
Education Society, ii. 341-345.
Rchuhmacher, M. Job. H. , i. 033.
Schuyler, Eugene, i. 217, 219, 233, ii. 402.
Sculpture as a fine art, ii. 105, 114.
Secret societies in China, i. 492 ; their
character, ii. 2()7.
Sedan chairs of magistrates, i. 50;! ; their
kinds and uses, i. 748.
Senamand, J., i. 003.
Seres, Latin designation for China, i. 4 ;
distinguished from Sinw, ii. 408.
Sen Ki-yu, Governor, compend of geography
by, i. 50; and Dr. Abeel, ii. 348,
409, 575.
Sevres and Chinese porcelains compared,
ii. 23.
Seymour, Admiral, ii. 037 ; enters Canton
city, ii. 038 ; withdraws from the river
to Macao Fort, ii. (J40 ; takes Taku
forts, ii. i’>T>\.
Sexes, separation of in Chines&^ociety, i.
784. _
-^
Shamanism, the Buddhism of Tibet and
Mongolia, ii. 233-235.
Shameen, foreign settlement at Canton,
i. 168.
Sha-moh (see Gobi), i. 15 ; its character,
i. 17.
Shang dynasty, its annals, ii. 154-157, 158.
Shangchuen, Sancian, or St. John’s Island,
Kwangtung, i. 173, ii. 289, 437.
Blianghai, climate, i. 53 ; rainfall, i. 50 ;
description of, i. 100; its dialect, i.
01 1 ; Ching-hwang miao at, ii. 202
;
foundling hospital at, ii. 264 ; missions
aBtablished at, ii. 351, 357 ; conference,
ii. 305 ; taken and ransomed by th«
British, ii. 530 ; at close of lirst war, ii
573 ; captured by rebels, ii. 004 ; protected
from Tai-pings by foreigners, ii.
000 ; foreigners at, thank Gordon, ii.
019; customs duties entrusted to foreigners
at, ii. 027 ; troubles with Cantonese
rebels at, ii. 628 ; arsenal estab
lished at, ii. 690.
Shangti’, worship of. as God, ii. 154, 157
;
the Taoist, ii. 215 ; and Tien, the term
question among Catholics, ii. 297
among Protestants, ii. 364 ; Hung Siutsuen
and the worship of, ii. 588, 590.
Shangtu, or Xanadu, i. 87.
Shan-hai kwan, a town on the Gulf of
Pechele, i. 25.
Shansi province, description of, i. 94;
productions, i. 95 ; mountain passes, i.
97 ; loess regions of, i. 398-303.
Shantung province, i. 89 ; productions, L
92 ; people of, i. 93.
Shark, mode of catching, i. 347 ; fins
eaten, ii. 397.
Shasi, in Hupeh, i. 14.5.
Shauchau, in Kwangtung, i. 173.
Shanking, a town in Kwangtung, i. 173;
Ricci establislied there, ii. 290, 431
;
rebel slaughter at, ii. 632.
Shaw, R. B., ii. 729.
Shaw, Samuel, his voyage to China, ii. 460.
Sheep, domestic and mountain, i. 321
.
Shensi province, i. 148-152 ; loess in, L
298 ; the Huns in, ii. 10.5.
Shigatsc’, capital of Ulterior Tibet, i. 247.
Shih, a grain measure, its value, i. 290.
Shih-pah Sang, or ‘ Eighteen Provinces,’
called t’liHHij Kii’oh. i. 8.
Slii Kin(/, the ‘ Book of Odes,’ its poetry,
i. 03(5-043, 703 ; allusion to silk, ii. 32
and ancestral worship, ii. 230.
Shingking colony, i. 25 ; a province of
Manchuria, i. 191-19(5.
Shinnung, inventor of agriculture, temple
to, at Peking, i. 78.
Shoeing animals, manner of, ii. 4.
Shoes, how made and worn, i. 701 ; women’s,
i. 769 ; given at New Year, i. 811.
Shops, in Peking, i. 82 ; arrangement of
Chinese, i. 73(5 ; their names, i. 799
;
decorated at New Yeai’, i. 811-813.
Shiiga Mountains, in the Kwanlun system,
i. 11.
SJinKing, the ‘Book of Records,’ i. 90;
its character and value, i. 633-630 ; on
temperance, i. 808 ; notice of silk culture,
ii. 32 ; of cotton, ii. 3(5 ; of early
attention to astronomy, ii. OS, (59 ; the
deluge of Yao, ii. 147 ft’.; its credibility,
ii. 152, 155 ; and House of Chau, u.
157, 159; and religion, ii. 190; on ancient
commerce, ii. 372, 59(5.
Shun, an early Emperor, ii. 145, 146-148.
Shunchi, Emperor, i. 385 ; orders women
INDEX. (GO
immolated, ii. 250 ; and Schaal, ii. 290,
-,
^*^-
Shuntien, a department of Chihli, i. (iO.
Sialkoi Mountains, in Manchuria, L 13,
1S».
Slang River, in Hunan, i. 14fi.
eiangkwan, King of Tsinchau, changes
his ca[)it;il to Lohyang, i. o.
Siao lUiih, or •Juvenile Instructor,’ a
text-book, i. 5:22, 540.
_
Sign-boards of Poking, i. 8o. 738.
Sihota, or Sili-hih-teh Mountains, in
Manchuria, i. 10, 188.
Si Hu, ‘West Lake,’ near Hangchau, i.
117; near Fuhchan, i. 131.
Silk. Hangchau. i. 119; of Sz’chuen, i.
157 ; worm reared, i. 351 ; manufacture,
ii. 33-35 ; export of. ii. 395.
Siik-worm, discovered by Yuenfi, i. 71
;
its culture, ii. 33.
Silver, localities of, i. 311 ;
‘ shoes ‘ of
si/crr. ii. 84.
Silver Island (Siung Shan), near Chinkiang.
i. 100.
Simon, Eug. , ii. 88.
Simpson, William, i. 737.
Si-ugan (Hao-king and Chang-an), abandoned
in 770 1?. c. by Siangkwan, i. 3;
description of the city, i. 1 50 ; capital of
the Chau, ii. l.-)2. 1.58, 102. 105; during
the Tang, ii. 108 ; temple to Lautsz’ in,
ii. 215 ; Nestorian tablet of, ii. 270, 408.
Sining, in Kansuh, i. 154, 210, 213. 2.52.
ijiu fsui. or ‘Bachelor of Arts,’ first degree
in examination system, i. .547;
military, i. 500 ; Hung Siu-tsuen tries
for, ii. ‘582.
Siuenhwa, in Chihli, i. 86.
Six Boards, bureaus of, Peking, i. 72, 415,
421-428.
Si Yuen, ‘Western Park,’ Peking, i. 70.
” Skinning papers ” used in examinations,
i. 551.
Slaves, few in China, i. 413, 564.
Smith, Rev. Arthur, i. 97.
Smith, Bishop George, i. 498, ii. 242, 272.
Smith, F. Porter, ii. 134, 241.
Smuggling, desperate case of opium, L
447 ; at Macao and Whampoa, ii. 378 ;
increase of, about Hongkong, ii. 633
British encouragement of, ii. 725.
Snakes in China, i. 34′>.
Snow, in Peking, i. 51 ; in Shanghai, i.
.53 ; in Canton, i. .”4.
Snuff, how taken, i. 771 ; bottles found
in Egypt, ii. 27.
Social life, in China, i. 782-830 ; and government
in reform movements, ii. 581.
Society, Medical Missionary, ii. ;)34 ; for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in
China, ii. 340 ; Morrison Education, ii.
341.
Songari River, in Manchuria, i. 190 ; in
treaty of Livadia, ii. 732.
Vol. II.—49
Songaria (see Tien-shan Peh Lu), or
Dzungaria, i. 215 ; its productions, i.
218; chief cities, i. 219; history, i.
233-230.
Sorghum (kaoliaiuj), on Teungming Island,
i. 108 ; not used for sugar, i. 776.
Sounds, of the Chinese language indicated
by symbols, i. 580; mistaken
ideas regardmg, i. 005 ; still unwritten,
i. 608 ; dialectic, of Canton and Amoy,
i. 615; and sense in Chinese rhymes, i
704.
Soy, how made, i. 365, 773 ; an export, ii.
390.
Soyorti Mountain.s. See Sialkoi.
Spanish, trade and relations with China,
ii. 431 ; Don S. de Mas appointed, minister,
ii. 505 ; government and the
coolie trade, ii. 715.
Spectacles, fashion of Chinese, ii. 22.
Sphex, or solitary wasp, Chinese ideas respecting,
i. 354.
Spirits, ardent, temperance in use of, L
808 ; dread of wandering, ii. 258.
Squirrels, varieties of, i. 327.
Stanlev, Dean A. P., on Confucius and
Buddha, ii. 220.
Stanovoi, or Wai Hing-an Mountains,
their position, i. 9.
Stars, arrangement of the, ii. 76.
Staunton, Sir G. L.. i. 89, 118, 269, 353,
362, 403, 453, ii. 444, 454.
Staunton, Sir G. T., i. 279, 384, 589, 674,
080, ii. 318, 4.52, 458. 400.
Steel everywhere made, ii. 19.
Stent, Geo. C, i. 703, 7C6, 770.
Stevens, Rev. Edwin, i. 93, 129, 764, ii.
329, 352, 308.
Stimpson, i. 290.
Strass, made in Tsinan, i. 91 ; uses of,
ii. 21.
Strauss, Victor von, i. 643, ii. 207, 212.
Streets, of Peking, i. 82 ; of Canton, L
168 ; scenes in, i. 740 ; at New Year,
812, 815; at Emperor’s funeral, ii. 250.
Sturgeon, or ijin yii, in Yaugtsz’, i. 347.
Sii, a censor, his punishment, i. 432.
Su-Hwui, a poetess of the fourth century,
i. 708.
Sii Kwang-hi, or Paul Sii, his Encyclopedia
of Aqricnlture, i. 686, ii. 10, 51
;
converted by Ricci, ii. 291, 292, 294,
354.
Sii Kwang-tsin, Governor-General, keepp
foreigners out of Canton, ii. 573 ; his
folly, ii. .590, 604.
Suchau, in Kiangsu, i. 103 ; captured by
Tai-pings, ii. OUG ; recapture of, ii. 013-
616.
Sugar, on Formosa, i. 139; largely grown,
i. 776; how made, ii. 11.
Suhshun, favorite of Hienfung, ii. 604;
his conspiracy and death, ii. 691.
Sui dynasty, ii. 167.
770 INDEX.
Suicides carofiilly drcssod, i. 513.
Sulphur found in Formosa, i. 139.
Sun symbolized by a raven, ii. 74.
Sung dynasty, cotton introduced during
the, ii. ;>7 ; the Xlth dynasty or Northern
Sung, ii. 10.5 ; the XXIId, its period,
ii. 173 ; the Southern Sung, ii. 174.
Sung, a censor, his rectitude, i. 431 ; his
career, i. 4.54.
Sunijkiaug, in Kiangsu, recaptured by
Ward, ii, (507 ; Gordon retires to, ii.
(iia.
Suuglo hills, in Nganhwui, i. lO’J ; in
‘ Tea-Picker.s’ Ballad,’ i. 710 fF.
Sunnite tribe of Mongols, i. ^06.
Superstitions, of the Chinese, respecting
divination, 1. tilJO ; in marriages, i. 785
ff.; Taoist priests and, i. 694, ii. 214;
m funerals, fung s?iui, ii. 24.5, 24()
;
various, ii. 255-‘3()o ; Chinese and
Romish, ii. 314, 316; of mediaeval travellers
in the East, ii. 423.
Supremacy, Governor Lu’s ideas of Chinese,
ii. 472 ; Chinese principles of, ii.
475, 476 ; illustrated in case of Lin’s
homicide, ii. 506, 510; Chinese, and
Pottinger’s proclamation, ii. 538.
Swallows about Peking, i. 332.
Swinlioe, Robert, i. 206, 318, 328, 329,
331, 337, 342, ii. 671, 673, 677, 683, 684,
685.
Symbolism, Chinese, ii. 74, 111.
Syle, B. W., ii. 96.
Sz\ a ‘township’ or ‘commune,’ i. 59;
government of, i. 441.
/Sz’ (‘Silk’), origin of the Latin Seres,
China, i. 4 ; of silk, ii. 35.
Sz’chuen province, climate, i. .55 ; description
of, i. 1.54-158; alum found in,
i. SOS ; wax-worm of, i. 353 ; tea of,
ii. 50,
Sz’ Hai, ‘ All within the Four Seas,’ ancient
Chinese terra for the land, i. 4.
Sz’ma Kwang, a historian, i. 676, ii. 174.
Sz’ma Tsicn, a Chinese historian, i. 675,
ii. 140, 149, 212.
TABLES : Area and population of
Eurojjean States, i. 272 ; Censuses
of the Eiglite(-n Provinces since 1710, i,
264; Colonies of China, their government
and sulidivisions, i, 186 ; Dynasti:;
s of China, ii. 18(;; Expenditure
of Chinese government, i. 293 ; Exports
from China during 1880 iind 1881, ii,
405 ;
” Five Sovereigns ” of Chinese
legendary annahs, ii. 148; Ming and
Tsing Emperors, ii. 18(i; Missionaries
(Protestant) in China, 1877, ii. 366;
Nature, ywwers, and functions of elementary,
ii, 75 ; Numerals, (‘iiinese, in
three dialects, i. 619; Opium import
to Hongkong, ii, 388 ; /’«// Kirn of Puhlii’,
in the )’//’ Kiii’i. i. O’.’B ; Population
of China, comparatirc estimates of, i
263 ; Provinces, government and divisions
of the Eighteen, i, 01 j Provincial
officer.?, i. 444 ; Pulse and its corresponding
organs in the human body, u. i22 ;
Revenue of the Eighteen Provinces
:
Cu.stoms report, ii. 4U4 ; De Guifines’a
estimate, i. 291 ; Medhurst’s estimate,
i. 299 ; Radicals of the Chinese language,
i. 592 ; Rice tribute sent to Peking,
ii. 5 ; Tea exj)()rt during ten
years, ii. 404 ; Trade, value of Chinese
foreign, ii. 4():>; Zodiac, divisions of
the Chinese, ii. 71
.
Ta-chungsz’, ‘Bell Temple,’ Peking, i. 79.
Ta Hioli, or ‘Superior Learning,’ i. 052,
Ta hu, or Tai hu, ‘(ireat Lake,’ near the
Yangtsz’, i. 2:!, 100, 103.
Tai-ho tien, ‘ Hall of Highest Peace,’
imperial palace, Peking, i. 67.
Tai Miao, ‘Great Temple,’ Peking, i. 70.
Taintor, E. C, i. 141, 176, 433.
_ Tai-ping, ‘ Tri-netrieal Clas-sic ‘ of, i.
.530 ; loyalty of imperial officials during
the rebellion, i, 5C3, ii. 184, 3.59
;
origin of the t3rm, ii. 581 ; commencement
of insurryctiaii, ii. 589 ; first military
success, ii. 591 ; character of its
control, ii. 59 J ; arrangement of camp,
ii. 594 ; advance to Nanking, ii. .595
;
expedition against Peking, ii. 597
rapid degeneration of the movement
after this failure, ii. 599 ; dissensions
among the leaders, ii. 602 ; eleven new
wangs appointsd—the sortie from Nanking
of May, 1 800, ii. 005 ; they fail in
not following Elgi.i to Peking, ii. 600 ;
operations to relieve Nganking, ii. 607
;
resistance at Suchau, ii. 613 ; execution
of leaders at its surrender, ii. 61 5 ; desperate
condition of the rebels, ii. 617
end of rebellion in the fall of Nanking,
ii. 620 ; subsequent movements of the
refugees, ii. 621 ; their final collapse,
ii. 622; authorities on the rebellion, ii.
624 ; army at Hankow visited bv Elgin,
ii. 0.59.
Tai shan, in Shantung, i. 90.
Taitsung, Emperor, of t!ie Tang dynasty,
institutes examination system, i. .521
;
his reign and acts, ii. 168-170.
Taiwan, on b’ormosa, i. l-;0.
Taiyuen, cai>ital of Shansi, i. 96.
Taku, on the Pei ho, i. 86; interview between
Elliot and Kishen at, ii. 515 ; the
allied licet at, ii. 049 ; Russian and
American interviiw with Tan at, ii. 6.50;
forts taken by l^nglish and French, ii.
651 ; the four forci>;n ministers repair
to, ii, t)64; negotiations of Americans
at, ii. 065 ; repulse of the allies at, ii.
600 ; attack upon .and capture of, ii. 676.
Tallow and the tallow-tree, ii, 11.
Tang dynasty, the best period of Chinese
INDEX. 771
poetry, i. 704; drama originates dnring,
1. 714; its brilliant period, ii. Ui7-17l ;
the After Taug, ii. 17^.’; Mo.slems in
Ciiina during the, ii. 268 ; Arabs, ii. 41 o ;
travelling regulations under, ii. 4~5.
Tnii</Jin, Tail’/ Shan, local terms for the
Chinese and China, i. 4, ii. 1G8.
Tangnu Mountains’, in Mongolia, i. 0.
Tang Ting-ching, governor at Canton, ii.
481 ; his son in the opium trade, ii. 4′.)3
;
his helpless position toward foreigners,
ii. 4′.)5 ; foolish answer to Elliot, ii. 4’JG
;
visit.s Macao, ii. 506.
TangTsz’, Temple to Imperial Ancestors,
Peking, i. 73.
Tangnts, tribe of, i. 210, 212.
Tankia boats at Canton, i. 412, 751.
Tan Ting-siang, governor-general of
Chihli, meets American and Russian
minist^ns at Taku, ii. (JiiO ; superseded
by Kwciliang at Tientsin, ii. 651.
Taoism, or Rationalism, priests regarded
as magicians, i. 694 ; its founder, ii.
206 ; its classic, the Tao Teh King, ii.
297-214; 3.ndfu)!g s/nii, ii. 246.
Tarbagatai, district of Songaria, i. 220.
Tariff and commercial regulations after
the first war, ii. 558 ; after the second,
ii. 657.
Tarim, or Ergu River, i. 16 ; its course and
basin, i. 221-223 ; reconquest of the
valley, ii. 727.
Tartars, or Tatars, i, 44; ” Fish-skin,” i.
1U6 ; derivation of name, i. 2U2 ; Kitaii
of Liautung and the After Tsin, ii. 172 ;
and the Kin, ii. 174.
Tartary, country formerly called, i. 202.
Tatnali, Commodore, at Taku, ii. 665 ; his
conduct during the action, and bon mot,
ii. ()68.
Ta Tshu/ Kwoh, ‘Great Pure Kingdom,’
present official name of China, i. .5.
Tati, Tau-tui, ‘Circuit’ and ‘ Intendant
of Circuit,’ i. .59, 440.
Taukwang, the Emperor, coronation address,
i. ;J99 ; honors the Empress-dowager,
i. 409 ; rescript of, i. 449 ; prayer
for rain i. 466 ; his reign, ii. 18o ; his
efforts to stop the opiam trade, ii. 492,
497; rejects Bogne treaty, ii. 519; his
spirit in pushitig the war, ii. 527 ; proclamation
concerning th”? causes of the
war, ii. 539 ; his death, ii. .575.
Taxes, in China, i. 294 ; difficulty of collecting,
i. 498; ‘Sacred Edict’ upon,
i. 688 ; on building lots, i. 739 ; land,
ii. 2; how paid, ii. 84.
Taye, son of Emperor Chuen-hii, founder
of the Tsin family, i. 2.
Taylor, Dr. C, i. 1(>2.
Tea, in Ngauhwni, i. 109 ; Kiakhta trade
in. i. 207; its preparation in Tibet, i.
‘241 ; ballad on picking, i. 710 ; culture,
ii. 39; manufacture, etc., ii. 40-55; as
an export, ii. 373, 404; duty on, in
1689, ii. 446.
Teachers in boys’ schools, i. .524 ff.
;
qualitications, i. .526 ; severity required,
i. 546.
Temperance, address of Duke Chau i”
the Shu King, i. 808, ii. 157 ; of th^.
Chinese, ii. .54.
‘J’emples, in Peking (q.v. ) i. 73-80; in
Canton, i. 164-166 ; in Tibet, i. 245
;
pillars of Chinese, i. 730 ; public resorts,
i. 738, ii. 202 ; to Confucius, li.
203 ; proportion of Buddhist, ii. 224 ;
worship in, ii. 232, 263.
Temperature, of Peking, i. 51 ; of coast
towns, i. .53.
Tengkiri-nor, in Tibet, i. 25, 240. •
Tennent, Sir E., ii. 413.
Terrace cultivation, in loess, i. 300; extent
of, ii. 6.
Terranova, an American sailor, case of,
ii. 453 ; his judicial murder, ii. 460.
Teshu-lama, monument to a, Peking, i.
79 ; palace of the, at Teshu-Lumbo,
Tibet, i. 247, 2.52, 2.56.
Theatres, management of, i. 820 ; style of
plays, i. 714, b22 ; morals of Chinese, i.
824.
Thom, Robert, interpreter to Pottinger,
ii. 548, 556. 557.
Thompson, James, i. 771.
Tlioms, P. P., i. 392 ; fonts of Chinese
type of, i. 603 ; Chinese Courtshij:), i.
704, ii. 320.
‘ Thousand Character,’ or ‘ Millenary
Classic’ {Tsien Txz’ IV’ds;*), a schoolbook,
i. 531, 598.
Thrashing-floors, how made, ii. 9,
Thrushes, trained, i. 333.
Tibet, physical characteristics of people,
L 45; names and boundaries, i. 237;
natural features, i. ‘238-240 ; climate,
productions, and animals, i. 241-244
;
H’lassa and Shigatse, i. 245-247 ; manners
and customs, i. 248-2.54 ; language,
i. 2.53 ; history, i. 2.54 ; government, i.
255 ; population not numbered, i. ‘284
;
manner of concocting tea in, ii. 50 ; annexed
by Kienlung, ii. 182 ; Shamanism
in, ii. 2.33.
Tick kii, ‘ Iron whirlwind,’ term for typhoon,
i. 57.
Tien, ‘ Heaven.’ worshipped, ii. 194, 195,
198; and Shanr/ti, as terms for Grod, ii.
297, 300.
Tien chu, ‘Heaven’s Pillar,’ or Atlas of
China, a name for the Kwanlun. i. 13.
Tifn Ilia, ‘ Beneath the Sky,’ a term for
China, i. 4.
Tien shan, Tengkiri, or Celestial Mountains,
in Cobdo, i. 9 ; erroneously called
Alak, i. 10; one of the four great
chains of China, i. 11.
Tien-shan Nan Lu, or Southern Circuit
772 INDEX.
(Eastern Turkestan), i. 231 ; its position
and topography, i. :221-2:i3 ; population,
i. ;224 ; towns, i. 324-231 ; history, i.
233-237.
Tieu-shan Peh Lu, or Northern Circuit
(Songaria), i. 218; its towns and districts,
i. 218-221.
Tien Tan, ‘Altar to Heaven,’ Peking, i.
70; Emperor’s worship at, ii. 195-198.
Tientsin, description, i. S~) ; riot and missions,
ii. 313 ; Mr. Gutzlaff’s visit to,
ii. 328 ; Flint at, ii. 449 ; Tai-pings repulsed
at, ii. 598 ; allies reach, ii. 051 ;
negotiations of the allies at, ii. 654 ; the
armies again reach, ii. 677 ; riot and
massacre of foreigners at, ii. 700 ; feeling
in the city, ii. 703.
Tiger, the, in China, i. 318 ; in geoniancy,
ii. 246.
Timur, or Ching-tsung, Kublai khan’s
successor, ii. 176.
Ti’iy, ‘department’ or ‘district,’ term
explained, i. .58; prefect of, i. 441.
Tiughai, capital of Chusan Archipelago,
i. 123; Lockhait’s hospital at, ii. S.^O;
capture of, by British in 1841, ii. 514
;
second cajjture, ii. 525.
Tinikow.ski, i. SO, 207, 2.50, ii. 442, 44.3.
Ti Tan, ‘Altar to Earth,’ Peking, i. 78.
Titles, of Emperor, i. 397-399 ; of nol)ility,
i. 405, 40(i ; and Board of Civil
Office, i. 422 ; assumed on taking office,
i. 799 ; of the Tien Wang, ii 582.
Ti Wang Miao, the Walhalla of China, i.
75.
Tobacco, introduced into China, i. 309
how used, i. 776; exported, ii. 394.
Tonil)s, of the Chinese, ii. 246; worship
at, ii. 252.
Tones {sfii7ig’), in the Chinese language, 1.
609.
Topographical, terms, i. 58 ; divisions of
China, i. 61.
Tortoise, or kiccl, fabulous animal, i. 345.
Torture, its infliction upon criminals, i.
.507.
Tourgouths, tribe of, in Northern fli, i.
2’20; flight of, from Knssia, i. 234
;
Tulishen’s embassy, concerning, ii. 442.
Trade, restrictions of, with Corea, i.
194 ; tl:rouL;h Kiakhta, i. 206 ; revenue
from, etc., i. 291 ; ancient, of China, ii.
372 ; value of opium, ii. 388 ; general
export, ii. 391 ; import, ii. 397 ; present
management of, ii. 402 ; ancient, with
Roman Empire, ii. 411, 414 ; limited to
Canton by the Manchns, ii. 426 ; Portuguese,
ii. 430 ; Sj)anish, ii. 431 ; Dutch,
ii. 433 ; Russian, ii. 141 ; history of the
English, ii. 443-4.59 ; peculiarities of
early Chinese, ii. -1.50 ; American, ii.
4t)0 ; Napier appointed suiiernitcndent
of British, ii. 464 ; mutations of, during
Napier’s embroglio, ii. 473-477 ; Lin
finally stops the British, ii. 507 ; carried
on during the war, ii. 517, 521, 524;
settlement of, regulations after the first
war, ii. .557.
TransformatiLns, Chinese notions about,
I. 345, 378.
Travelling, modes of, in China, i. 747
;
rognhitions under the Tangs, ii. 425.
Treaties, Husso-Chinese, concerning frontier
of Hi, i. 215; clauses of toleration
in, of June, 1858, ii. 360 ; Russian, ii.
441 ; failure of the negotiations at the
Bogue, iL 518 ; of Nanking, ii. 549 ; its
ratification, ii. 557 ; British supplementary,
signed at Bogue, ii. 5(;i ; of
Wanghia l>etween China and the United
States, ii. 567 ; French, of Whampoa,
ii. 571 ; how regarded by the Chinese,
ii. 578 ; of Tientsin signed, ii. 656 ; difficulty
of enforcing, in CJhina, ii. 658 ;
American, ratified at Pehtang, ii. 670;
English and French, signed at Peking,
iL 686; the Burlingame, ii. 698; of
1880, ii. 699 ; of Chunghow at Livadia,
iL 732 ; of MarquLs Tsfing in settlement
of Kuldja question, iL 734.
Triad Society, or Water-lily Sect, i. 493 ;
its character, ii. 267 ; and Christians,
iL 812, 323 ; opposition of Hung Siutsuen
to, ii. .591.
Trials, criminal, how conducted, i. 504.
Trigautius (or Trigault), French missionary,
i. 265, 289, ii. 293, 309, 425, 428.
‘ Trimetritxil Classic,’ Saii-tsz’ King, a
school-book, L 52()-.530.
Trinity of the Tao-teh -King, Pauthier’a
fancy, ii. 210.
Tsaidam, plain of, L 210.
Tsakhar, or Chahar, territory in Chihli,
i. 60, 87 ; tribes, i. ‘203.
Tsang Kwoh-fan, generalissimo of imperial
forces against the Tai-pings, ii.
618 ; is visited by Gordon, li. 620 ; investigates
Tientsin massacre, ii. 703
his son sent to England and Russia, iL
733.
Tsau hu, in Nganhwui, i. 23 ; its goldfish,
i. 348.
Tsau-ti, or Gras.sland of Gobi, i. 17.
Tsetsen khanate, i. 204.
Tsi dynasty, A. i). 479-502, ii. 166.
Tsientang River, in Chehkiang, L 114.
Tsin, the IXth dynastv in Cliina, ii. 165;
After Tsin, XIXth,’ii. 172.
Tsin, name t’hin.a. derived from family
of, i. 2, ii. 101 ; tbey establisli the custom
of giving tlie Empire the dynastic
name, i. 4; dynasty ends witli Chwaiigsiang,
ii. 1()3 ; Tit-tsii).. an ancient name
for Rome, ii. 410.
Tsin Chi Hwangti, ‘Emperor First,’
alters taxes, i. 2C0 ; first universal
monarch, ii. 160 ; subjugates feudal
States, iL 188.
INDEX. 773
Tei’nan, capital of Shantung, i. 91
.
Tsinchau awarded to Feitsz’, a prince of
Tsin, i. 3.
Tsing, present dynasty of China, ii. 179-
186.
Tsing hai (see Koko-nor), i. 209.
Tsining chau, in Shantung, i. 92.
TzinistiP, a term for China, i. 4 ; used by
the Greek monk Cosmas, ii. 412.
Tsin-sz’, third literary degree, i. 558, 566.
Tsitsihar province (Helung kiang), i.
198-21)0 ; town of, i. 199,
Tsiuenchau (Chinchew), the ancient Zayton,
i. 129, lo6, ii. 431.
Tso Churn, a commentary on the Chun
Tsiu. i. 649.
Tso Tsung-tang, commences operations
against Mohammedan rebels, ii. 709,
728 ; his successful campaign, ii. 730 ;
leader of the war faction, ii. 732.
Tsungming Island, mouth of Yangtsz’
River, i. 108.
Tsungling, ‘Onion,’ or ‘ Blue Mountains,’
also Belur-tag and Tartash ling, its
position, i. 9.
Tsiingttih, Governor-General, or Viceroy,
i. 438.
Tsz’ki, near Ningpo, visited by British
troops, ii. 530 ; camp near, ii. 531 ;
Ward’s death at, ii. 609 ; taken from
the rebels, ii. 610.
Tuchetu (Tusietu) khanate, i. 204.
Tumors common among tke Chinese, ii.
131.
Tunes, examples of Chinese, ii. 97.
Tungchau, the port of Peking, i. 86
Ward’s embassy at, ii. 669 ; Parkes’s
experiences in, ii. 678-681.
Tungchi, the Emperor, i. 411 ; his reign,
ii. 184 ; palace intrigue upon his accession,
i. 404, ii. 691 ; Peking in mourning
for, ii. 250, 276 ; his marriage, ii.
710 ; audience before, iL 714 ; his death
and successor, ii. 726.
Tungting Lake, in Hunan, i. 23, 147.
Tung Til, ‘Land of the East,’ Mohammedan
name for China, i. 2.
Tung-wan Kwan, at Peking, i. 436, ii.
339, 696, 741.
Turkestan, Eastern (see Tien-shan Nan
Lu), i. 221-337; the region, ii. 728.
Turkoman races of Mongolia, i. 44.
Til sz\ commune divisions in South
China, i. .59.
Types, movable printing, in China, i.
603-605 ; Dyer’s work on, ii. 32.5, 367.
Tyfoons, phenomena described, i. 56.
ULIASUTAI, in Sainnoin khanate, i.
208, 209.
Unicorn, or ki-lin, i. 343.
United States, trade relations with China
up to 1843, ii. 460 ; first minister to China,
ii. 565 ; treaty of Wanghia, ii. 567
;
Minister Ward visits Peking, ii. 660
;
the Burlingame treaty with China, i.
698 ; action of Congress as to indemnity
surplus, ii. 736 ; Chinese boys sent
to, for education, ii. 739.
Urga, or Kuren, i. 17, 204.
Urumtsi, or Tih-hwa, western department
of Kansuh, i. 214.
Ushi, or Ush-turfan, a towTi of 111, i. 225,
226.
VACCINATION, its adoption in China,
ii. 132.
Van Braam, A. E. (see Braam), i. 324.
Varnishes, manufacture and use of, ii. 32.
Vegetables used in Chinese cooking, i. 773.
Verbiest, a Jesuit priest, ii. 297 ; appointed
astronomer at Peking, ii. 298.
Vermilion, its preparation, ii. 61.
Vice, never deified in China, ii. 192 ; absence
of, in their mythology, ii. 232,
and in theic funerals, ii. 254 ; the opium,
ii. 386.
Victoria (see Hongkong), i. 171.
Villages (hiang), usual aspect of Chinese,
i. 40 ; about Canton, i. 280 ; their
elders, i. 483, 500.
Visdelou, Bishop Claude, i. 3, 202, 633,
681, ii. 277, 309.
Visiting, the etiquette of formal, i. 802
;
at New Year, i. 815; cards, how adorned,
ii. Ill, 249.
Vissering, W., ii. 87.
Vlangali, Russian minister at Peking, ii.
699 ; his temperate action in trial of
Tientsin rioters, ii. 705.
Vocabularies (see also Dictionaries), native
Chinese, i. 590.
Volcanoes, so-called, in Formosa, i. 140
in Central Asia, i. 319.
Voltaire, founds a drama on the ” Orphan
of China,” i. 714.
Vrooman, Daniel, i. 169.
WADE, Sir T. F., i. 398, 420, 460,
611, ii. 624 ; nominated intendant
of customs at Shanghai, ii. 628
experiences at Tungchau, ii. 678 ; his
good offices between China and Japan,
iL 717 ; action upon murder of Margary,
ii. 734 ; his minute on the Chifu
convention, ii. 725.
Wai Hing-an, or Stanovoi Mountains, i. 9.
Wall (see also Great Wall) of Peking, i.
63.
Wallace, A. R., i. 360.
Walls, construction of house, i. 738.
I Walrond, T., ii. 637, 6.55, 660, (502.
Wanghia, treaty of, between the United
States and China, ii. .507 ; taken as basis
for French treaty of Whampoa, ii.
.571.
Wanleih, Emperor, receives Ricci, ii. 293,
294.
774 INDEX.
Wan Miao, ‘Literary Temple,’ Peking, i.
73.
Wansiang, a minister of the Foreign Office,
his superstition, ii. 304, 691); letter
to foreign ministers at Peking, ii.
707; Low’s reply to, ii. 708, 712, 714;
his character and influence, ii. 715.
Wan-yuen koh, or library, Peking, i. 69.
War, I3oard of, i. 425 ; theory of. studied,
ii. SS.
War, with England, features of the first
Chinese, ii. 4Kj ; Lord John Russell’s
reasons for declaring, ii. 510; debate
upon, in Parliament, ii. 512 ; opened
by capture of Tinghai, ii. 514 ; resumed
after negotiations at the Bogue, ii. 521
;
thouglit by Chinese to be an opium
war, ii. 539 ; concluded with treaty of
Nanking, ii. 547, 550 ; a wholesome infliction
upon Cliina, ii. 572 ; authorities
upon, ii. 574 ; Tai-ping Rebellion, ii.
575-624 ; second, with England and
France—the Arrow case, ii. 635 ; hostilities
opened by Admiral Seymour,
ii. 637 ; discussed in Parliament, ii.
641 ; a’rival of Elgin and Gros and
capture of Canton, ii. 643 ; Taku forts
taken, ii. 651 ; treaties signed at Tientsin,
ii. 656 ; closing incidents, 6.59 ; repulse
of allied envoys at Taku forts, ii.
666 ; allies land at Pelitang and recommence
the, ii. 673 ; capture of Taku
forts, ii. 676 ; operations on tlie way to
Peking, ii. 679-682 ; autljorities on the,
of 1860, ii. 684 ; objects attained, ii.
687, 688.
Ward, Frederick G. , organizes the ‘ Ever-
Victorious force,’ ii. 607; his deatli at
Tsz’ki, ii. 6t9.
Ward, Hon J. E., ii. 660; co-operates in
suppressing coolie trade, ii. 6(53 ; repairs
with tho allies to Taku, ii. 661
;
interview with natives, ii. 665 ; goes
to Peking, ii. 6(58 ; refuses to kotow
before the Emperor, and returns, ii.
670.
Watters, T, ii. 212, 229.
Wa.x-worm of Sz’chuen, i. 3.53.
Wei River, in Shensi, i. 148.
Whales, and mode of catching them, 1.
339.
Whampoa, a town on the Pearl River, i.
170 ; opium lirst shir)ped to, ii. 378 ;
case of lioniicide at, ii. 453 ; treaty of,
between France and Ciiina, ii. .571.
Wheelbarrows used for travelling, i. 747,
ii. 7.
White Deer Vale, in Kiangsi, i. 113.
Whitney, Prof. Wm. D., ii. 73, 234.
Wife, her jjosition in Chinese society, i.
792 ; controlled liy the mother-in-law,
i. 795 ; is given a new name, i. 797,
799 ; elevated in ancestral worship, ii.238.
Willow, in poetry, etc., i. 363.
Williams, John, on comets, ii. 73.
WilUam.son, Rev. Ale.x., i. 65, 87, 190,200, ii. 277.
Wilson, Andrew, i. 250, ii. 92, 602, 610,611, 616, 617, 69.5.
Wolseley, Colonel Garnet, ii. 672 ; observations on Canton coolies, ii. 674, 675 ;character of his narrative, ii. 685.
Women, physical traits of Chinese, i. 43;in Tibet, i. 248 ; laws resbricting, i. 388of imperial palace, i. 408 ; illiteracy of mothers, i. 521 ; their education, i. 572;position, i. 646 ; consideration of literary,
i. 681 ; kidnapped at fires, i. 743
their dress, i. 763 ; shoes, i. 769 ; toilet,
i. 770 ; their milk sold, i. 776 ; separation
from men, i. 784 ; conduct toward
young brides, i. 789; never appear at
feasts, i. 806 ; well treated in crowded
fairs, i. 817 ; their skill in embroidery,
ii. .36 ; they practise obstetrics, ii. 123;Chinee historians on Empress Wu, ii.171 ; not admitted to worship, ii. 196 ;Yungching against, at Buddhist temples,ii. 228 ; as nuns, ii. 230 ; their tablets honored in tlie ancestral hall,
ii. 338, 350 ; Kanghi forbids immolation
of, ii. 250 ; old, employed as baptists
by Catholics, ii. 311; as missionaries
among the Chinese, ii. 364;
how disposed of in Tai-ping camp, ii 594.
Wolves in China, i. 320.
Wood, Lieutenant J., i. 321, 230, 341,310.
Wordsworth, W., ii. 233.
Worship, of Shangti in Shang dynasty,ii. 154; by the Emperor, ii. 197; of Heaven, the ceremony and its meaning,i. 76, ii. 194-198; various objects of, ii. 202; Buddhist and Catholic, compared,ii. 3-!2 ; ancestral, ii. 236-255
disputes respecting ancestral, by Romanists,
ii. 297-1303.
Writing, how taught in schools, i. 541 ;six styles of, L 597-598 ; materials, i..599.
Wu River, in Kweicliau, i. 31.
Wu Tsih-tien, the Empress
Wu of the Tang, her reign, ii. 170, 280.
Wuchang, in Hupch, i. 144; taken by the Tai-pings, ii. .595.
Wuchau fu, in Kwangsi, i. 177.
Wuhu hien, on the Yangtsz’, i. 110.
Wusung, near Shanghai, j. 106; captured by the English, ii. 534.
Wylie, A. , i. 494, 523, 68(), ii. 67, 72, 73,119, 176, 213, 214, 377, 286, 321.XANADU, or Shangtu, ancient palace of Kublai, i. 87.
Xavier, tomb of, on Shaiigchuen Island, i.173 ; his mission to China, ii. 289, 428.
a reward of i?200 for such evidence as would lead to the eonvic*
tioii of the offenders ; and advanced in all S2,00U to the friends of
the deceased as some compensation for their lieavy loss, and to
the villagers for injuries done to them in the riot. Having
formed the court, he politely invited the provincial officers to attend
the trial ; and when it was over, informed them that he had
been unable to ascertain the perpetrator of the deed. Five sailors
were convicted and punished for riotous conduct hy fine and imprisonment,
and sent to England under arrest, but to everybody’s
surprise were all liberated on their arrival. The proceedings in
this matter were perfectly fair, and the commissioner should have
been satisfied ; but his subsequent violent conduct really placed
the dispute on an entirely new ground, though he regarded his
action as simply exercising the same prerogative of control over
foreigners in both cases. Finding his demand for the murderer
disregarded, he took measures against the English then in INfacao
which were calculated to bring serious loss upon the Portuguese
population. His course was prompted by anger at losing the
trade, and only injured liis own cause. In order to relieve the
unoffending and helpless people in Macao, Captain Elliot and
all British subjects who could do so left the settlement August
26th, and M’ent on board ship for a time. During this interval
Lin and Governor Tang visited Macao under an escort of Portuguese
troops, but retired the same day. This move placed the
English beyond his reach, but did not advance his efforts to
drive the opium ships from the coast, or induce the regular
traders to enter the port. The sales of opium had begun again
even before the destruction of the drug, and ra])idly increased
when it M^as knoM’n that that immense quantity had really been
destroyed. Lin now began to see that his plan of proceedings
might not ultimately prove so successful as he had anticipated^
for he was bound to remain at Canton until he could report the
complete suppression of the contraband and safe continuance of
the legal trade.
Finding that the British fleet at Hongkong was too strong to
drive away, he forbade the iidial)itants supplying the ships with
])rovisions. This led to a collision between the British and three
junks near Ivowlung, which resulted, however, in no serious
FURTIIEK TROUBLES BETWEEN EiNCJLlSII AND CHINESE. 507
damage. On Septcinber lltli, Captain Elliot, luiving oixlered
all British vessels engaged in the opium trade to leave the
harbor and coast, thej mostly proceeded to Tsamoh. TJie
Chinese burned the next day a Spanish vessel, the IJilbaino, in
Macao waters, under the impression that she was English.
In unison with all the strange features of this struggle, while
hostilities were going on, negotiations for continuing trade M-ere
entered into in October, when the connnissioner signed the agreement,
and Captain Elliot furnished security for its being conducted
fairly. But the unauthorized entrance of the English
ship Thomas Coutts, whose captain signed the bond, led to a
rupture and the renewed demand for the murderer of Lin
Wei-hi. Captain Elliot ordered all British ships to reassemble
at Tungku under the protection of the ships of w^ar Yolage
and Hyacinth. He also proceeded to the Bogue to request a
withdrawal of the threats against the British until the two
governments could arrange the difficulties, when an engagement
ensued between Admiral Kwan, with a fleet of sixteen
junhs, and the two ships of war ; three junks w^ere sunk, one
blown up, and the rest scattered. The commissioner had been
foiled in all his efforts to destroy the opium trade and continue
the legal commerce. As a last effort against the Bi-itish,
he declared their trade at an end after December G, 1839, and
issued an edict like that of Xapoleon at Berlin, Kovember 19,
1806, forbidding their goods to be imported in any vessels. An
enormous amount of property now lay at Canton and on board
ship waiting to be exchanged in the course of regular trade, but
only the opium traffic flourished.
The close of the year 1839 saw the two nations involved
in serious difficulties, and as the events here briefly recounted
were the cause of the war, it will be proper to compare the
opinions of the two parties, in order to arrive at a better judgment
upon the character of that contest. The degree of
authority to be exercised over persons Mdio visit their shores is
acknowledged by Christian nations among themselves to be
nearly the same as that over their o\vn subjects ; but none of
these nations have conceded this authority to unchristian
powers, as Turkey, Persia, or China, mainly because of the little security and justice to be expected. The Chinese luive looked upon foi-eigners resortino; to their ports as dinng so by sufferance ; they entered into no treaty to settle the conditions of authority on either side, for the latter considered themselves as sojourners and aliens, and the natives were unaware of their rights in the matter. Their right to prohibit the introduction of any particular articles was acknowledged, and the propriety of making regulations as to duties allowed. But traders from western nations often set light by the fiscal regulations of such countries as China, Siam, etc., if they can do so without personal detriment or loss of character ; and where there is a want of power in the government, joined to a lack of moral sense in the people, all laws are imperfectly executed.
No one acquainted with these countries is surprised at frequent and flagrant violations of law, order, justice or courtesy, both among rulers and ruled ; yet the obligation of foreigners to obey just laws made known to them surely is not to be measured solely by the degree of obedience paid by a portion of the people themselves.
The Chinese government discussed the measure of legalizing
a trade it could not suppress, but before constructing a law to
that effect, it determined to nudce a final and more vigorous
effort to stamp it out. Might nuikes right, or at least enforces
it ; had the Chinese possessed the power to destroy every ship
found violating their laws, although the loss of life M-ould have
been dreadful, no voice would have been raised against the proceeding.
“Her Majesty’s government,” said Lord Palmerston,
“cannot interfere for the purpose of enabling Bi’itisli sul)jects
to violate the laws of the country to which they trade.” But in
that case this power would not have been dared; the known
weakness of the government end)oldened both sellers and
buyers, until Captain Elliot told the Foreign Secretai-y that ” it
was a confusion of terms to call the opium trade a snuiggling
trade.”
Lin probably wished to get Mr. Dent as a hostage for the
delivery of the opium in the hands of his countrymen, not to
punish him for disobedience to previous oi’dei’s ; expecting no
opposition to this denuiud, he seems to have been unwilling to
MOTIVE.S AND POSITION OP COMMISSIONEIl LIN. 509
seize him iuimediately, preferring tu try persuasion and command
longer, and detain him and other foreigners niitil he was
obeyed ; Captain Elliot he viewed as a mere head merchant.
When, therefore, the attempt was made, as he supposed, to take
Mr. Dent out of his hands, lie was ap[)rehensive of a sti’uggle,
and instantly took the strongest precautionary measui-es to prevent
the prey escaping. Considei-ate allowance should he granted
for the serious mistake lie made of imprisoning the innocent
M’ith the guilty ; hut when Captain Elliot took Mr. Dent thus
under his protection, the connnissioner felt that his pui-pose
would be defeated, and no opium ol>tained, if he began to draw
a distinction. I)esides, conscious that lie possessed unlimited
power over a few defenceless foreigners, nearly all oi whom
were in his eyes guilty, he cared vfry little M’here Ids acts felL
There is no s’ood evidence to show that he seriouslv meditated
anything which would liazard their lives. “When lie had received
this vast amount of property, success evidently made him
careless as to his conduct, and judging the probity and good
faith of foreigners by his own standard, he deemed it safest to
detain them until the opium was actually in his possession.
Concluding that Captain Elliot did attempt to abscond with Mr,
Dent, it is less surprising, therefore, that lie should have looked
upon his offers to ” carry out the will of the great Emperor,”
when set at liberty, as a hire rather than a sincere proposition.
In imprisoning him he had no more idea he was imprisoning,
insulting, threatening, and coercing the representative of a
power like Great Britain, or violating rules western powers call
jus gentium, than if he had been the envoy from Siam or Lewcliew.
Wliether he should not have known this is another
question, and had he candidly set liimself, on his arrival at
Canton, to ascertain the power, position, and commerce of west
em countries, he would have found Captain Elliot sincerely
desirous of meeting him in his endeavors to fulfil his high commission.
Let us deal fairly by the Chinese rulers in their desire
to restrain a traffic of which they knew and felt vastly more of
its evil than we have ever done, and give Lin his due, though
his endeavors failed so signally.
The opium was now obtained ; no lives had been lost, nor any one endangered ; but the Uritisli government felt bound to pay its own subjects for their cliests. The only source Captain Eiliut suggested was to make the Chinese refund. The Emperor ordered it to be destroyed, and the conunissioner, after executing that order, next endeavored to separate the legal from the contraband trade by demanding bonds ; they liad been taken in vain from the hong merchants, but there was more hope if taken directly from foreigners. The bonds were not
made a pretext for war by the English ministry ; that, on the
part of England, according to Lord John llussell, was “set
afoot to obtain reparation for insults and injuries offered her
Majesty’s superintendent and subjects; to obtain indenniitieatiou
for the losses the merchants had sustained under threats of
violence ; and, lastly, to get security that persons and property
trading with China should in future be protected from insult
and injury, and trade maintained upon a proper footing.”
Looking at the war, therefore, as growing out of this trade, and
waged to recover the losses sustained by the surrendry to the
British superintendent, it was an unjust one. It was, moreover,
an imnioral contest, when the standing of the two nations was
examined, and the fact could 7iot be concealed tluit Great Britain,
the first Cliristian ])Ower, I’eally waged this war against the
pagan monarch who had vainly endeavored to put down a vice
hurtful to his people. The war was looked upon in this light
by the Chinese ; it will always be so looked upon by the candid
historian, and known as the Opium War.
On the other hand, the war was felt by every well-wisher to
China to involve far higher princi})lcs than the mere recovery of
the opium ; and had it been really held to be so by the English
ministry, they would have done well to have alluded to them.
Lin’s reiterated denumds for the murderer of Lin AVei-hi,
though told that he could not be found, was only one form of
the supremacy the Chinese arrogantly assumed over other nations.
Li all their intercourse with their fellow-men the}’ maintained
a patronizing, unfair, and contemptuous position, which
left no alternative but withdrawal from their shores or a humiliating
submission that no one feeling the least inde])endence
could endure. ‘SoX. unjustly prt)ud of their country in compariCHAKACTER
OF THE DEBATE UPON THE WAU. 511
son with those near it, her Emperor, her nileivs, and her people
all believed her to be inipregnably strong, portentously awful,
and ininienselj rich in learning, power, wealth, and territory,
Konc of them imagined that aught could be learned or gained
from other nations ; for the ” outside barbarians ” were dependent
for their health and food upon the rhubarb, tea, and
silks of the Inner Land. They had seen, indeed, bad specimens
of western power and people, but there were equal opportunities
for them to have learned the truth on these points. The i-eception
of the religion of the Bible, the varied useful branches
of science, and the many mechanical arts known in western
lands, with the free passage of their own people abroad, M’ere
all forbidden to the millions of China by their supercilious
rulers ; they thereby preferred to remain the slaves of debasing
superstitions, ignorant of common science, and deprived of
everything which Christian benevolence, philanthropy, and
knowledge could and wished to impart to them. This assumption
of supremacy, and a -real impression of its propriety, was a
higher wall around them than the long pile of stones north of
Peking. Force seemed to be the only effectual destroyer of
such a barrier, and in this view the war may be said to have
been necessary to compel the Chinese government to receive
western powers as its equals, or at least make it treat their subjects
as well as it did its own people. There was little hope of
an adjustment of difficulties until the Chinese were compelled
to abandon this erroneous assumption ; the conviction that it
was unjust, unfounded, and foolish in itself could safely be left
to the gradual influences of true religion, profitable commerce,
and sound knowledge.
The report of the debate in the British Parliament on this
momentous question hardly contains a single reference to this
feature of the Chinese government. It turned almost wholly
upon the opium trade, and w^hether the hostilities had not proceeded
from the want of foresight and precaution on the part
of her Majesty’s ministers. The speeches all showed ignorance
of both principles and facts : Sir James Graham asserted that
the governors of Canton had sanctioned the trade ; Sir George
Staunton that it woidd not be safe for British power in India if these insults were not cheeked, and that the Chinese had far exceeded in their recent efforts the previous acknowledged laws of the land ! Dr. Lushington maintained that the connivance of the local rulers accjuitted the smugglers ; Sir John llohhouse truly stated that the reason why the government had done nothing to stop the opium trade was that it was profitable; and Lord Melbourne, with still more fairness, said : ” We possess immense territories peculiarly fitted for raising opium, and though I would wisli that the government were not so directly concerned in the traffic, I am not prepared to pledge
myself to relinquish it.” The Duke of AWllington thought
the Chinese government was insincere in its efforts, and therefore
deserved little sympathy ; while Lord Ellenborough spoke
of the million and a half sterling revenue ” derived from foreigners,”
which, if the opium monopoly was given up and its eultivatio7i abandoned, they must seek elsewhere, 2\”o one advocated war on the groimd that the opium had been seized, but
the majority were in favor of letting it go on because it was
begun. This debate was, in fact, a remarkable instance of the
way in which a moral question is blinked even by conscientious
persons whenever politics or interest come athwart its course.
Xo declaration of war was ever published by Queen Victoria,
further than an order in coimcil to the admiralty, in which it
was recited that ” satisfaction and reparation for the late injurious
proceedings of certain officers of the Emperor of China
against certain of our officers and subjects shall be demanded
from the Chinese government ; ” the object of this order was,
chiefly, to direct concerning the disposal of such ships, vessels,
and cargoes belonging to the Chinese as might be seized. Perhaps
the formality of a declaration of war against a nation
which knew nothing of the law of nations was not necessary,
but if a minister plenipotentiary from Peking had been present
at the debate in Parliament in April, 1S40, he would have
declared the motives and proceedings of his government
strangely misrepresented. It was time that better ideas of
one another should find ]>lace in their councils, and tliat means
enould l)e afforded tlie rulers of each nation to learn the truth.
The Chinese apparently foresaw the coming struggle, and
PREPARATION FOR HOSTILITIES. 513
began to collect troops and repair their forts ; Lin, now governor-
general of Kwangtnng, purchased the Chesapeake, a large
ship, and appointed an intendant of circuit near Macao, to
guard the coasts. The English carried on their trade under
neutral flags, and Lin made; no further efforts to annoy them.
He, however, wrote two official letters to Queen Victoria, desiring
her assistance in putting down the opium trade, in which
the peculiar ideas of his countrymen respecting their own importance and their position among the nations of the earth
were singularly exhibited.’ Ts otwithstanding the causes of complaint
he had against the English, he behaved kindly to the
surviving crew of the Sunda, an English vessel wrecked on
Hainan, and sent them, on their arrival at Canton, to their
•countrymen, ‘ Chimse Bejwsitory, Vol. VIII., pp. 9-12, 497-503 ; Vol. IX., pp. S41-257.
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》19-23
CHAPTER XIX. CHBISTIAN MISSIONS AMONG THE CHINESE
The earliest recorded attempt to impart the knowledge of the true God to the Chinese ascribes it to the Nestorian church in the seventh century; though the voice of tradition, and detached notices in ecclesiastical writers of the Eastern Empire collated by Fabricius, lead to the belief that not many years elapsed after the times of the apostles before the sound of the gospel was heard in China and Chin-India. If the tradition contained in the breviary used among the Malabar Christians, that by Saint Thomas himself the Chinese were converted to the truth, be not received, Mosheim well remarks that ” we may believe that at an early period the Christian religion extended to the Chinese, Seres, and Tartars. There are various arguments collected from learned men to show that the Christian faith was carried to China, if not by the apostle Thomas, by the first teachers of Christianity.” Arnobius, a.d. 300, speaks of the Christian deeds done in India, and among the Seres, Persians, and Medes. The Nestorian monks who brought the eggs of the silk-worm to Constantinople(a.d. 551) had resided long in China, where it is reasonable to suppose they were not the first nor the only ones who went thither to preach the gospel. The extent of their success must be left to conjecture, but ” if such beams have travelled down to us through the darkness of so many ages, it is reasonable to believe they emanated from a brighter source.”
The time of the arrival of the Kestorians in China cannot be specified certainly, but there are grounds for placing it as early as a.d. 505. Ebedjesus Sobiensis remarks that ” the Catholicos Salibazacha created the metropolitan sees of Sina and Samarcand, though so e say they were constituted by Acbseus and Silas.” Silas was patriarch of the Xcstorians fi-oni a.d. 505 to 520 ; and Achneus was archbishop at Scleucia in 415. The metropolitan bishop of Sina is also mentioned in a list of those subject to this patriarch, published by Amro, and it is placed in the list after that of India, accordmg to the priority of foundation.
NESTOKIATs^ MISSION IN CHINA. 277
The only record yet found in China itself of the labors of the Nestorians is the celebrated monument which w’as discovered at Si-ngan fu in Shensi, in 1625 ; and though the discussion regarding its authenticity has been rather warm between the Jesuits and their opponents, the weight of evidence, both interiml and external, leaves no doubt regarding its vei’ity. It has been found quite recently to be in good preservation, and i-ubbings taken from it are nearly perfect. The Syi-iac characters composing the signatures of Olopun and his associates have made it an object of much interest to the natives; these, as Avell as the singular cross on its top (seen in the illustration), have doubtless contributed to its preservation. It was set up in 1850 by a Chinese who liad so much regard for it as to rebuild it in tlic brick wall where it had once stood outside of the city. The stone seems to be a coarse marble.
It has been often translated since the first attempt by Boime, published with the original by Kircher in Holland. In 1845 Dr. E. C. Bridgman published Kircher’s Latin translation with the French version of Dalquie, and another of his own, which brought it more into notice. The style is very terse, and the exact meaning not easily perceived even by learned natives. As Dr. Bridgman says, ” Were a hundred Chinese students employed on the document they would probably each give a different view of the meaning in some parts of the inscription.” This is apparent when four or five of them are compared. The last one, by A.Wylie, of the London Mission at Shanghai, goes over the whole subject with a fullness and care which leaves little to be desired.’
‘ Visdelou in Bthliotheque Oriental, Vol. IV. Kircher’s China Illustrata, Part I., Antwerp, 1667. Chinese Eejwsitory, XIV., pp. 201-329. Hue, Christianity in Chinti, I., pp. 49-58. Wylie, North China Herald, 1855, reprinted in Journal of Am. Oriental 8oc., Vol. V., p. 277. Archimandrite Palladius published a Russian version. Williamson, Journeys in North China, I., p. 382.Le (‘(itholicimne en Chine au VIIl” Sierle de notreere arec nne nourelle traduction de ^inscription de Sif-nr/a/ifoK, par P. D. de Thiersant, Paris, 1877.
TABLET EULOGIZING THE PROPAGATION OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS RELIGION IN CHINA, WITH A PREFACE; COMPOSED BY KINGTSING, A PRIEST OF THE SYRIAN CHURCH.
Behold the unchangeably true and invisible, who existed through all eternity without origin; the far-seeing perfect intelligence, whose mysterious existence is everlasting; operating on primordial substance he created the universe, being more excellent than all holy intelligences, inasmuch as he is the source of all that is honorable. This is our eternal true lord God, triune and mysterious in substance. He appointed the cross as the means for determining the four cardinal points, he moved the original spirit, and produced the two principles of nature; the sombre void was changed, and heaven and earth were opened out; the sun and moon revolved, and day and night commenced; having perfected all inferior objects, he then made the first man; upon him he bestowed an excellent disposition, giving him in charge the government of all created beings; man, acting out the original principles of his nature, was pure and iinostentatious ; his unsullied and expansive mind was free from the least inordinate desire ; until Satan introduced the seeds of falsehood, to deteriorate his purity of principle ; the opening thus commenced in his virtue gradually enlarged, and by this crevice in his nature was obscured and rendered vicious ; hence three hundred and sixty-five sects followed each other in continuous track, inventing every species of doctrinal complexity; while soYne pointed to material objects as the source of their faith, others reduced all to vacancy, even to the annihilation of the two primeval principles; some sought to call down blessings by prayers and supplications, while others by an assumption of excellence held themselves up as superior to their fellows ; their intellects and thoughts continually wavering, their minds and affections incessantly on the move, they never obtained their vast desires, but being exhausted and distressed they revolved in their own heated atmosphere ; till by an accumulation of obscurity they lost their path, and after long groping in darkness they were unable to return. Thereupon, our Trinity being divided in nature, the illustrious and honorable Messiah, veiling his true dignity, appeared in the world as a man; angelic powers promulgated the glad tidings, a virgin gave birth to the Holy One in Syria ; a bright star announced the felicitous event, and Persians’ observing the splendor came to present tribute; the ancient dispensation, as declared by the twenty-four holy men,’- was then fulfilled, and lie laid down great principles for the government of families and kingdoms; he established the new religion of the silent operation of the pure spirit of the Triune ; he rendered virtue subservient to direct faith ; he fixed the extent of the eight boundaries,”‘ thus completing the truth and freeing it from dross ; he opened the gate of the three constant principles, introducing life and destroying death ; he suspended the bright sun to invade the chambers of darkness, and the falsehoods of the devil were thereupon defeated ; he set in motion the vessel of mercy by which to ascend to the bright mansions, whereupon rational beings were then released; having thus completed the manifestation of his power, in clear day he ascended to his true station.
‘ Po-sz\ ‘ Persians.’ This name was well known to the Chinese at that time, being the designation of an extensive sect then located in the Empire, and the name of a nation with which they had held commercial and political intercourse for several centuries. The statement here is in admirable harmony with the general tradition of the early church, that the Magi or wise men mentioned in Matthew’s gospel were no other than philosophers of the Parsee sect.
‘ The ” holy men ” denote the writers of the books of the Old Testament.
”The “eight boundaries” are inexplicable; some refer them to the beatitudes
•The “three constant iiiiiiciplfs” may perhaps mean faith, hope, and charity.
‘ Exactly the number we have in the New Testament.THE TABLET OF SI-NGAN FIT. 279
Twenty-seven sacred books have been left, which disseminate intelligence by unfolding the original transforming principles. By the rule for admission, it is the custom to apply the water of baptism, to wash away all superficial show and to cleanse and purify the neophytes. As a seal, they hold the cross, whose influence is reflected in every direction, uniting all without distinction. As they strike the wood, the fame of their benevolence is diffused abroad; worshipping toward the east, they hasten on the way to life and glory; they preserve the bea^d to symbolize their outward actions, they shave the crown to indicate the absence of inward affections ; they do not keep slaves, but put noble and mean all on an equality ; they do not amass wealth, but cast all their property into the common stock ; they fast, in order to perfect themselves by self-inspection ; they submit to restraints, in order to strengthen themselves by silent watchfulness ; seven times a day they have worship and praise, for the benefit of the liring and the dead; once in seven days they sacrifice, to cleanse the heart and return to purity.
It is difficult to find a name to express the excellence of the true and unchangeable doctrine; but as its meritorious operations are manifestly displayed, by accommodation it is named the Illustrious Religion. Now without holy men, principles cannot become expanded ; without principles, holy men cannot become magnified ; but with holy men and right principles, united as the two parts of a signet, the world becomes civilized and enlightened.
In the time of the accomplished Emperor Taitsung, the illustrious and magnificent founder of the dynasty, among the enlightened and holy men who arrived was the Most-virtuous Olopun, from the country of Syria. Observing the azure clouds, he bore the true sacred books; beholding the direction of the winds, he braved difficulties and dangers. In the year A.D. G35 he arrived at Chang-an; the Emperor sent his Prime Minister, Duke Fang Hiuenling ; who, carrying the official staff to the west border, conducted his guest into the interior; the sacred books were translated in the imperial library, the sovereign investigated the subject in his private apartments; when becoming deeply impressed with the rectitude and truth of the religion, he gave special orders for its dissemination. In the seventh month of the year A. D. G38 the following imperial proclamation was issued: “Right principles have no invariable name, holy men have no invariable station; instruction is established in accordance with the locality, with the object of benefiting the people at large. The Greatly-virtuous Olopun, of the kingdom of Syria, has brought his sacred books and images from that distant part, and has presented them at our chief capital. Having examined the principles of this religion, we find them to be purely excellent and natural; investigating its originating source, we find it has taken its rise from the establishment of important truths ; its ritual is free from perplexing expressions, its principles will survive when the framework is forgot ; it is beneficial to all creatures ; it is advantageous to mankind. Let it be published throughout the Empire, and let the proper authority build a Syrian church in the capital in the l-ning Way, which shall be governed by twenty-one priests. When the virtue of the Cliau dynasty declined, the rider on the azure ox ascended to the west ; the principles of the great Tang becoming resplendent, the Illustrious breezes have come to fan the East.”
Orders were then issued to the authorities to have a true portrait of the Emperor taken ; when it was transferred to the wall of the church, the dazzling splendor of the celestial visage irradiated the Illustrious portals. The sacred traces emitted a felicitous influence, and shed a perpetual splendor over the holy precincts. According to the Illustrated Memoir of the Western Regions, and the historical books of the Han and Wei dynasties, the kingdom ii Syria reaches south to the Coral Sea ; on the north it joins the Gem Mountains ; on the west it extends toward the borders of the immortals and the flowery forests; on the east it lies open to the violent winds and tideless waters. The country produces fire-proof cloth, life-restoring incense, bright moon-pearls, and night-lustre gems. Brigands and robbers are unknown, but the people enjoy happiness and peace. None but Illustrious laws prevail; none but the virtuous are raised to sovereign power. The land is broad and
ample, and its literary productions are perspicuous and clear.
The Emperor Kautsung respectfully succeeded his ancestor, and was still
more beneficent toward the institution of truth. In every province ho
caused Illustrious churches to be erected, and ratified the honor conferred
npon Olopun, making him the great conservator of doctrine for the preservation
of the State. While this doctrine pervaded every channel, the State
became enriched and tranquillity abounded. Every city was full of churches,
and the royal family enjoyed lustre and happiness. In the year A.D. (iD!) the Buddhists, gaining power, raised their voices in the eastern metropolis;
‘ in the year a.d. 713, some low fellows excited ridicule and spread slanders in the western capital. At that time there was the chief priest Lo-han, the Greatly virtuous Kie-leih, and others of noble estate from the golden regions, lofty minded priests, having abandoned all worldly interests; who unitedly maintained the grand princii)les and preserved them entire to the end.
The high-principled Emperor Iliuentsung caused the Prince of Ning and others, five princes in all, personally to visit the felicitous edifice; he established the place of worship ; .he restored the consecrated timbers which had been temporarily thrown down ; and re-erected the sacred stones which for a time had been desecrated.
In 742 orders were given to the great general Kau Lih-sz’, to send the five sacred portraits and have them placed in the church, and a gift of a hundred pieces of silk accompanied these pictures of intelligence. Although the dragon’s beard was then remote, their bows and swords were still within reach; while the solar horns sent forth their rays, and celestial visages seemed close at hand.’
‘ “Eastern metropolis” is Tiiiu/ Chan, literally ‘Eastern Chau.’ The Empire was at this time under the government of the Empress Wu Ze-tian, who had removed lu!r residence from Chang-an to Luoyang in Honan.
‘These personages are the first five Emperors of the Tang dynasty, Hiuentsung’s predecessors. Their portraits were so admirably painted that they seemed to be present, their arms could almost be handled, and their foreheads, or ” horns of the sun,” radiated their intelligence.
THE TABLET OF SI-NGAX FU. 281
In 744 the priest Kih-ho, in the kingdom of Syria, looking toward the star(of China), was attracted by its transforming influen, e, and observing the sun(i.e., Emperor), came to pay court to the most honorable. The Emperor commanded the priest Lo-han, the priest Pu-lun, and others, seven in all, together with the Greatly-virtuous Kih-ho, to perform a service of merit in the Hing-king palace. Thereupon the Emperor composed mottoes for the sides of the church, and the tablets were graced with the royal inscriptions ; the accumulated gems emitted their effulgence, while their sparkling brightness vied with the ruby clouds ; the transcripts of intelligence suspended in the void shot fortli their rays as reflected by the sun ; the bountiful gifts exceeded the height of the southern hills ; the bedewing favors were deep as the eastern Bea. Nothing is beyond the range of ri’rht principle, and what is permissible may be identified; nothing is beyiunl tin^ power of the holy man, and that which is practicable may be related.
The accomplished and enlightened Emperor Suhtsung rebuilt the Illustrious churches in Ling-wu and four other places ; great benefits were conferred, and felicity began to increase ; great munificence was displayed, and the imperial State became established.
The accomplished and military Emperor Taitsung magnified the sacred succession, and honored the latent principle of nature ; always, on the incarnation-day, he bestowed celestial incense, and ordered the performance of a service of merit ; he distributed of the imperial viands, in order to shed a glory on the Illustrious Congregation. Heaven is munificent in the dissemination of blessings, whereby the benefits of life are extended ; the holy man embodies the original principle of virtue, whence he is able to counteract noxious influences.
Our sacred and sage-like, accomplished and military Emperor Kienchung appointed the eight branches of government, according to which he advanced or degraded the intelligent and dull ; he opened up the nine categories, by means of which he renovated the illustrious decrees ; his transforming influence pervaded the most abstruse principles, while openness of heart distinguished his devotions. Thus, by correct and enlarged purity of principle, and undeviating consistency in sympathy with others; by extended commiseration rescuing multitudes from misery, while disseminating blessings on all around, the cultivation of our doctrine gained a grand basis, and by gradual advances its influence was diffused. If the winds and rains are seasonable, the world will be at rest; men will be guided by principle, inferior objects will be pure ; the living will be at ease, and the dead will rejoice ; the thoughts will produce their appropriate response, the affections will be free, and the eyes will be sincere ; such is the laudable condition which we of the Illustrious Religion are laboring to attain.
Our great benefactor, the Imperially-conferred-purple-gown priest,’ I-sz’, titular Great Statesman of the Banqueting-hou.se, Associated Secondary Military Commissioner for the Northern Region, and Examination-palace Overseer, was naturally mild and graciously disposed, his mind susceptible of sound doctrine, he was diligent in the performance ; from the distant city of Rajagriha,^ he came to visit China; his principles more lofty than those of the
‘ It was no rare occurrence for priests to occupy civil and military offices in the State during the Tang and preceding dynasties. Of the three titles here given, the first is merely an indication of rank, by which the bearer is entitled to a certain emolument from the State ; the second is his title as an officer actively engaged in the imperial service ; and the third is an honorary title, which gives to the possessor a certain status in the capital, without any duties or emolument connected therewith.
– WaiHj-s/ii’?!, literally ‘Royal residence,’ which is also the translation of the Sanskrit word Rajagriha, is the name of a city on the banks of the Ganges, thret:’ dynasties, his practice was perfect in every department; it first he applied himself to duties pertaining to the palace, eventually his name was inscribed on the military roll. When the Duke Koh Tsz’-i, Secondary Minister of State and Prince of Fan-yang, at first conducted the military in the northern region, the Emperor Suhtsung made him (1-sz’) his attendant on his travels; although he was a private chamberlain, he assumed no distinction on the march •, he was as claws and teeth to the duke, and in rousing the military he was as ears and eyes ; he distributed the wealth conferred upon him, not accumulating treasure for his private use ; he made offerings of the jewelry which had been given by imperial favor, he spread out a golden carpet for devotion; now he repaired the old churches, anon he increased the number of religious establishments; he honored and decorated the various edifices, till they resembled the plumage of the pheasant in its Hight ; moreover, practising the discipline of the Illustrious Religion, he distributed his riches in deeds of benevolence ; every year he assembled those in the sacred oflice from four churches, and respectfully engaged them for fifty days in purification and preparation ; the naked came and were clothed ; the sick were attended to and restored ; the dead were buried in repose ; even among the most pure and selfdenying of the Buddhists, such excellence was never heard of ; the white-clad members of the Illustrious Congregation, now considering these men, have desired to engrave a broad tablet, in order to set forth a eulogy of their magnanimous deeds.
ODE.
The true Lord is without origin,
Profoiand, invisible, and unchangeable ;
With power and capacity to perfect and transform,
He raised up the earth and established the heavens.
Divided in nature, he entered the world,
To save and to help without bounds ;
The sun arose, and darkness was dispelled,
All bearing witness to his true original.
The glorious and resplendent, accomplished Emperor,
Whose principles embraced those of i)receding monarchs,
Taking advantage of the occasion, suppressed turbulence ;
Heaven was spread out and the earth was enlarged.
When the pure, bright Illustrious Religion
Was introduced to our Tang dynasty,
The Scriptures were translated, and churches built,
And the vessel set in motion for the living and the dead;
Every kind of blessing was then obtained,
And all the kingdoms enjoyed a state of peace.which occurs in several Buddhist works. As this was one of the most important of the Buddhist cities in India, it is natural to suppose that 1-sz’ was a Buddhist priest.
THE TABLET OF SI-NGAJS Fl’. 283
When Kautsung succeeded to his ancestral estate,
He rebuilt the edifices of purity ;
Palaces of concord, largo and light,
Covered the length and breadth of the land.
The true doctrine was clearly announced.
Overseers of the church wore appointed in due form;
The people enjoyed liappiness and peace,
While all creatures were exempt from calamity and distress.
When Hiuentsung commenced his sacred career,
He applied himself to the cultivation of truth and rectitude ;
His imperial tablets shot forth their effulgence,And the celestial writings mutually reflected their splendors.
The imperial domain was rich and luxuriant.
While the whole land rendered exalted homage ;
Every business was flourishing throughout,
And the people all enjoyed prosperity.
Then came Suhtsung, who commenced anew,
And celestial dignity marked the imperial movements;
Sacred as the moon’s unsullied expanse,
While felicity was wafted like nocturnal gales.Happiness reverted to the imperial household.
The autumnal influences were long removed;
Ebullitions were allayed, and risings suppressed.
And thus our dynasty was firmly built up.
Taitsung the filial and just
Combined in virtue with heaven and earth ;
By his liberal bequests the living were satisfied,And property formed the channel of imparting succor.
By fragrant mementoes he rewarded the meritorious.
With benevolence he dispensed his donations ;
The solar concave appeared in dignity,
And the lunar reti-eat was decorated to extreme.
When Kienchung succeeded to the throne,
He began by the cultivation of intelligent virtue;
His military vigilance extended to the four seas.
And his accomplished purity influenced all lands.His light penetrated the secresies of men,
And to him the diversities of objects were seen as in a mirror;
He shed a vivifying influence through the whole realm of nature,
And all outer nations took him for example.
The true doctrine how expansive I
Its responses are minute ;
How difficult to name it!
To elucidate the three in one.
The sovereign has the power to act f
While the ministers record ;
We raise this noble monument 1
To the praise of great felicity.This was erected in the 2d year of Kienchung, of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 781), on the 7th day of 1st month, being Sunday.
Written by Lu Siu-yen, Secretary to Council, formerly Military Superintendent for Taichau ; while the Bishop Ning-shu had the charge of the congregations of the Illustrious in the East.
The two lines of Syriac, of which the following is a transcript, are in the Estrangelo character, and run down the right and left sides of the Chinese respectively :
Adam Kasiso Vicur-apiskupo in Papasi de Zinstun.Beyumi aba dahaliotha Mar liana Jemia katholihi patriarcJds.
Kircher translates this as follows :
“Adam, Beacon, Vicar-episcopal and Pope of China.
In the time of the Father of Fathers, the Lord John Joshua, the
Universal Patriarch.”
The transcript of the Sjriac at the foot of the stone is given
here on the authority of Kircher :
Bemnatli alf utisaain vtarten diaranoie. Mor Jihuznd Kasiso Vcurapt’skupo de Cnmdan mediiialt malcutho bur niJih napso Militi Kama dincn Balehh medintho Tahhurstan Akim Luclio 7iono Papa dictabon bch medabarniitho dphirwkan Vcm’uzutJion dabhain didnat malclte dizinio.
” In the year of the Greeks one thousand and ninety-two, the Lord Jazedbuzid.
THE TABLET OF SI-NGAN FU. 285
Priest and Vicar-episcopal of Cumdan the royal city, son of the enlightened Mailas, Priest of Balach a city of Turkestan, set up this tablet, whereon is inscribed the Dispensation of our Redeemer, and the preaching of the apostolic missionaries to the King of China.”
After this, in Chinese characters, is ” The Priest Lingpau.”
Then follows:
Adam mesclmmschdno Bar Jiclbuzad Ciirapishupo.
Mar Snnju Kasiso, Vcurapiskiqyo.
8abar Jchiui Kasiso.
Oabriel Kasiso Varcodiakun, VriscJi medintho de Cumdan vdasrag.
* Adam the Deacon, sou of Jazeclbiizid, Vicar-episcopal.
The Lord Sergius, Priest and Vicar-episcopal.
Sabar Jesus, Priest. .
Gabriel, Priest, Archdeacon, and Ecclesiarch of Cumdan and Sarag.”
The following subscription is appended in Chinese:
” Assistant Examiner : the High Statesman of the Sacred rites, the Imperijilly-conferred-purple-gown Chief Presbyter and Priest Yi-li.”On the left hand edge are the Sjriac names of sixty-seven
priests, and sixty-one are given in Chinese.
This trnly oriental writing is the most ancient Christian inscription
yet found in Asia, and shows plainly that Christianity
had made great progress among the Chinese. Kircher and Le
Comte claimed it as a record of the success of the Itomisli
church in China, but no one now doubts that it commemorates
the exertions of the Nestorians.
Timothy, a patriarch, sent Subchal-Jesus in 780, who labored in Tartary and China for many years, and lost his life on his return, when his place was supplied by Davidis, who was consecrated metropolitan. In the year 845 an edict of Wu-tsung commanded the priests that belonged to the sect that came from Ta Tsin, amounting to no less than three thousand persons, to retire to private life. The two Arabian travellers in the ninth century report that many Christians perished in the siege of Canfu. Marco Polo’s frequent allusions lead us to conclude that the Kestorians were both numerous and respected.
He mentions the existence of a church at Ilangchau, and two at Chinkiang, built by the prefect Marsarchis, who was himself a member of that church, and alludes to their residence in most of the towns and countries of Central Asia.
The existence of a Christian prince called Prester John, in Central Asia, is spoken of by Marco Polo and Montecorvino.
The exact position of his dominions, and the extent of his intluence in favor of that faith, have been examined by Col. Yule and M. Paiithier in their editions of the Venetian, and the glamour which once surounded him has been found to have arisen mostly from hearsay I’eports, and from eonfounding different persons under one name. When the conquests of (Tenghis khan and his descendants threw all Asia into commotion, this Prester John, ruler of the Kara Kitai Tartars in northern China, fell before him, a.d. 1203. The Xestorians suffered much, but maintained a precarious footing in China during the time of the Yuen dynasty, having been cut off from all help and intercourse with the mother church since the rise of the Moslems.
They had ceased long before this period to maintain the purity of the faith, however, and had apparently done nothing to teach and diffuse the Bible, which the tal)let intimates was in part or in whole translated by Olopun, under the Emperor’s auspices.
At the present time no works composed by their priests,
or remains of any churches belonging to them or buildings
erected by them, are known to exist in the Empire, though perhaps
some books may yet be found. The buildings erected by
the Nestorians for churches and dwellings were, of course, no
better built than other Chinese edifices, and would not long
remain when deserted ; while, to account still further for the
absence of books, the Buddhists and other opposers may have
sought out and destroyed such as existed, which even if carefully
kept would not last many generations. The notices of the
tablet in Chinese authors, which Mr. Wylie has brought together,
prove that those writers had confounded the King h’lao with Zoroastrianism and Manicheism, and such a confusion is not surprising. The records of futurity alone will disclose to us the names and labors of the devoted disciples and teachers of true Christianity in the Xestorian church, who lived and died for the gospel among the Chinese.’
The efforts of the Roman Catholics in China have been great, but not greater than the importance of the field demanded.
‘ Yvxle’s ‘Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 275, passim. N. 0. Ai^. Soc. Jonrnnl, Arch.
Palladius’ notes on it, Vol. X., pp. 20-2:5. Hue, (Un-isiiHuHy in Chiiiu, Chaj)
II. Pauthi.T’s )r,irro Polo, Chaps. XLVIII.-L. Yule, Cothuy and the Way
7 hither, \o\. I.,i)p. 174-1»:5.
TRACES OF THE NESTORlAN MISSIONARIES. 287
They have met with varied success, and their prudence in the choice of measures and zeal in the work of evangelizing have reflected the highest credit upon them, and would probably, if their object had simply been that of preaching the gospel, have gradually made the entire mass of the population acquainted with the leading doctrines of Christianity. The history of their missions is voluminous, and the principles on which they have been conducted can be learned from their own writings, especially the Lettres Edijiantes^ the Annales de la Foi, and in the elaborate works of Hue and Marshall in later times. The present sketch need embrace only the principal points, for which we shall depend chiefly upon those writers who have already examined these sources.
The first epoch of their missions in China is the thirteenth
century. Subsequent to the mission of John of Piano Carpini
to Kuyuk khan in 1246-47, there were several envoys sent by
one party to the other whose intercourse resulted in nothing
permanent. The first attempt which can be called a settled
mission was that of John of Montecorvino, from Nicholas T\.,
in 1288. Corvino arrived in India in 1291, and after preaching
there a twelvemonth, during which time he baptized a hundred
persons, he joined a caravan going to Catha}^ and was kindly
received by Kublai khan. The Nestorians opposed his progress,
and for eleven years he carried on the work alone, but not till
the latter part of this period with much success. He built a
church at Cambaluc, ” which had a steeple and belfry with
three bells that were rung every hour to summon the new eonverts
to prayer.” He baptized nearly six thousand persons
during that time, “and bought one hundred and fifty children,
whom he instructed in Greek and Latin and composed for them
several devotional books.”
‘Clement V., hearing of Corvino’s success, appointed him archbishop in 1307 and sent him seven suffragan bishops as. assistants. Two letters of his are extant in which he gives a pleasing account of his efforts to preach the gospel, but of the
‘ Chinese Bepositoi’y, Vol. III., p. 112; Vol. XIII., passim. Lowrie, Land of Sinim.subsequent success of the endeavors made by him and his coadjutors to propagate the faith there are only imperfect records.
Corvino was ordei’ed to have tlie mysteries of tlie Bible represented
by pictures in all his churches, for the purpose of captivating
the eyes of the barbarians. He died in 1328, when about
eighty years of age, ” after having converted more than thirty
thousand iniidels.” One of the accounts relates that at his
funeral ” all the inhabitants of__Cambaluc, \vithout distinction,
mourned for the man of God, and both Christians and pagans
were present at the funeral ceremony, the latter rending their
garments in token of grief, . . . and the place of his
burial became a pilgrimage to which the inhabitants of Cambaluc
resorted with pious eagerness.” It is not easy to estimate
the real value of the labors of this priest and his successors, nor
to decide how much better they were than those of the Xestorians
in making known the Cross of Christ among the Mongols. The
short record preserved of Corvino speaks well of his character
and favorably of the toleration granted by the Mongols to his
efforts to instruct them. It is affec^ting to hear him say, ” It is
now twelve years since I. have heard any news from the West.
I am become old and grayheaded, but it is rather through labors
and tribulations than through age, for I am onlv lifty-eight
years old. I have learned tlie Tartar language and literature,
into which I have translated the whole New Testament and the
Psalms of David, and liave caused them to be transcribed with
the utmost care. I write and read and preach openly and freely
the testimony of the law of Christ.”
The Pope sent Nicholas to succeed Montecorvino at Peking,
and a company of twenty-six Franciscans with him, but no authentic
record of their arrival there has been preserved. In 1336
the last Mongol Emperoi-, Shunti, whose reign was then called
Chiyuen, sent Andre, a Frank, as his ambassador to the Pope,
to whom was also addressed a letter from the Alain Christians
asking for a bishop to take Corvino’s place, Nicholas not having
then reached his see. Benedict XII. sent four nuncios, one of
whom, John of Florence, returned to Europe in 1353, after
residing and travelling in China twelve years, bringing friendly
letters from the Emperor ^hunti. At this period there was
EOMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS—MONTECORVINO. 289
another bishopric among tlie Mongols at Ih’, or Kuldja, and a
letter from Pascal, a Spanish friar, dated from that city in 1338,
lias been preserved. It would seem that during the sway of the
Mongol princes these missionaries carried on their work chiefly
among their tribes. It is, if such was the case, less surprising,
therefore, that we hear nothing of them and their converts after
the Chinese troops had expelled Kublai’s weak descendants from
the country in 1368, since they would naturally follow them
into Central Asia. After the final establishment of the Ming
dynasty almost nothing is known concerning either them or the
Nestorians, and it is probable that during the wanderings of the
defeated Mongols the adherents of both sects gradually lapsed
into ignorance and thence easily into Mohammedanism and
Buddhism. There is no reasonable doubt, however, that during
the three centuries ending with the accession of Hungwu, the
greater part of Central Asia and Northern China was the scene
of many flourishing Christian communities.
The second period in the history of Romish missions in China
includes a space of one hundred and fifty years, extending from
the time when Matteo Ricci first established himself at Shanking
in 1582 to the death of the Emperor Ynngching in 1736.
Before Ricci entered the country there had been some efforts
made to revive the long-deferred work among the Chinese, but
the Portuguese and Spanish merchants were opposed to the extension
of a faith which their flagitious conduct so outrageously
belied. The Chinese government was still more strongly opposed
to the residence of the foreign missionaries. Francis
Xavier started from Goa in 1552 in company with an ambassador
to China, but the embassy was hindered by the Governor of
Malacca, who detained Pereyra and his ship, and Xavier was
obliged to go alone. He died, however, at Shangchnen, Sancian,
or St. John’s, an island about thirty miles south-west of Macao,
disappointed in his expectations and thwarted in his plans by
the untoward opposition of his countrymen. Other attempts
were made to accomplish this design, but it was reserved for
the Jesuits to carry it into effect. Valignani, the Superior of
their missions in the East, selected Michael Ruggiero, or Roger,
for this enterprise. He arrived at Macao in 1580 and com-
VoL. II.—19
290 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
menced the study of the language. Soon after he was joined
by Matthew Ricci, and aftgr a series of efforts and disappointments
they succeeded, in 1582, in obtaining lodgment at IShauking,
then the residence of the Governor of Kwangtung. He
granted them permission to build a house there, as they had
told him that ” they had at last ascertained with their own eyes
that the Celestial Empire was even superior to its brilliant
renown. They therefore desired to end their days in it, and
wished to obtain a little land to construct a house and a church
where they might pass their time in prayer and study, in
solitude and meditation, which they could not do at Macao on
account of the tumult and bustle which the perpetual activity
of commerce occasioned.” A beginning like this indicated the
policy which has marked the progress of their work during the
thi’ee centuries now passed. Xothing is said of making known
Christ and him crucified as the great theme of their preaching.
Hue tells us, too, that they took down the picture of the Virgin,
because ” the report had been spread that the strangers
worshipped a woman,” and replaced it by an image of the
Saviour; and in this also they set the example, which successive
ages have strengthened, of upholding the native idolatry. In
their intercourse with the people of all classes they won good
opinions by their courtesy, presents, and scientific attainments,
and Hue sums up their principles in his approving remark,
“they thought justly that the philosopher would make more
impression than the priest upon minds so sceptic and so imbued
with literary conceit.” The appointed means given by the
Founder of Christianity for its propagation are never mentioned
as their guide and authority, and the building corresponds to
the foundations laid.
In 151)-i Yalignani advised Ricci and his associates to exchange
their garb of Buddhist priests for the nu)re respected
dress of the literati ; and soon after he set out from Shauchau, in
the north of Kwangtung, for Tsanchang, the capital of Kiangsi,
and thence made his way to Nanking, still a place of great
importance, althougli not the capital of the Empire. He was
directed to depart, and returned to Nanchang, where he was
permitted to lay the foundation of a religious institution and
FATTTEK MATTEO RICCI. 291
establish his associates, lie tlien left again for ^Nanking, but
finding many obstacles proceeded to Suchau, the capital of
Kiangnan, and there, too, established a school. The times becoming
favorable, he appeared a third time at Xanking, in 1598,
where he was received with amity, frankness, and good breeding,
and his lectures on the exact sciences listened to with rapture. The
progress of the mission had been so considerable that Valignani
had appointed Ricci its Su])erior-General, which gave him power
to regulate its internal concerns, for which he was well fitted.
An officer whom he had known in Shauchau, and who had been
appointed President of the Board of Civil Office, was induced to
take him to Peking on his return there from a mission to Hainan
; but opposition arising this friend, Kwang, advised him
to return M’ith him to Nanking, as tlie officials at the capital
were much disappointed to find that he knew nothing about
making silver and gold, which w^as wanted to pay for the expedition
to Japan. After Kwang’s departure he and his colleague,
Cataneo, found themselves nearly penniless, and he decided
to return south, although it was wintei*. lie reached
Suchau in a very weak condition, but, having recovered, went
to Xanking in 1599, where the high provincial authorities visited
and aided him, heard his discourses on astronomy, and
enabled him to get a house.
Everything progressed favorably, and Cataneo had returned
from Macao with funds and presents. Eicci availed himself
of a timely proposal from a eunuch to go with him to Peking,
and started in a junk with his presents. The eunuch, however,
wished to keep the latter, and by misrepresentations contrived
to detain Ricci and his companion, Pantoja, at Tientsin for six
months, at the end of which the villany was exposed, and the
foreigners invited to court by imperial orders. They reached
Peking January 4, 1601, twenty-one years after Ricci landed
in Macao. The pleasing manners and extensive acquirements
of Picci, joined to a distribution of presents, gained him the
favor of men in authority. He soon numbered some of them
among his adherents, among whom Sii, baptized Paul, was one
of his earliest and most efficient co-operators, and assisted him
in translating Euclid.
292 THE MIDDLE KIXGDOM.
Tlie Emperor AVanleih received liini with kinJnos?, and allowed
him and Pantoja to be accommodated at the phvce where
foreign envoys usually remained ; he subsequently permitted
them to hire a house, and assigned them a stipend. In the
meantime other Jesuits joined him at Peking, and were also
settled in all the intermediate stations, where they carried on
the work of their missions under his direction with success and
favor. Paul Sii and his widowed daughter, M’ho took the baptismal
name of Candida, proved efficient supporters of the new
faith. The new religion encountered many obstacles, and the
officers who saw its progress felt the necessity of checking its
growth before it got strength to set at naught the commands
of government. Much excitement arose in 1005 between the
Portuguese and the officials at Canton in consequence of a
rumor of the former going to attack the city ; and it was carried
to such a height that the latter seized a convert named
Martinez and punished him so severely that he died. A decree
in 1617 ordered the missionaries to dejiart from court to
Canton, there to embark for Euro2)e, but, like many others of
the same import subsequently issued, it received just as much
v_5>bedience as they thought expedient to give it—and properly
too ; for if they were not disturbers of the peace or seditious,
they ought not to be sent out of the country. This edict hindered
their work only partially, and such Avas their diligence
• that by the year 163(3 they had published no fewer than three
hundred and forty treatises, some of them religious, but mostly
on natural philosophy and mathematics. Ilicci formulated a set
of rules for their guidance, in Avhicli he allowed the converts to
practise the rites of ancestral worship, because he considered
them purely civil in their luiture. The matter subsequently
became a bone of contention between the Jesuits and Franciscans.
The talented founder of these missions died in 1G1(», at the
age of tifty-eight, and for skill, perseverance, learning, and
tact, his name deservedly stands highest among their missionaries.
His withholding the l)ible fi’om the Chinese, and substitution
of image worship, ritualism, and ])riestly ordinances
for the pure truths of the gospel, have been maintained by his
M\S LI IF, AND ClIAHACTKR. 293
successors, for tliey are essential features of the churcli which
sent them forth. He lias been extolled by the Jesuits as a man
possessed of every virtue. Another writer of the same church
gives liim the following character : ” Ricci was active, skilful,
full of schemes, and endowed with all the talents necessary to
render him agreeal)le to the great or to gain the favor of
princes ; but at the same time so little versed in matters of
faith that, as the Bishop of Conon said, it was sufficient to read
his work on the time religion to be satistied that he was ignorant
of the first principles of theology. Eeiiig more a politician
than a theologian, he discovered the secret of remaining
peacefully in China. The kings found in him a man full of
complaisance ; the pagans a minister who accommodated himself
to their superstitions ; the mandarins a polite courtier
skilled in all the trickery of courts ; and the devil a faithful
servant, who, far from destroying, established his reign among
the heathen, and even extended it to the Christians. lie
preached in China the religion of Christ according to his own
fancy ; that is to say, he disfigured it by a faithful mixture of
pagan superstitions, adopting the sacrifices offered to Confucius
and ancestors, and teaching the Christians to assist and cooperate
at the worship of idols, provided they only addressed
their devotions to a cross covered with flowers, or secretly attached
to one of the candles which were lighted in the temples
of the false gods.” ‘ His work was described by Trigault in
1616, w’hen full materials were accessible, so that his actions
and motives are known more fully than many who have come
after him.
After his death his place was filled by Longobardi, whose
experience, learning, and judgment well fitted him for the
post. The efforts of many enemies caused a reaction in 1616,
and an edict was issued ordering all missionaries to leave the
country ; but they w’ere sheltered b}^ their converts, especially
through the exertions of Sii, who in 1622 obtained the reversal
of the edict of expulsion, and thereby caused the persecution
‘ Anecdotes de la Chine, Tome I., Pref. vi, vii. Hue, Christianity in China^
Vol. II., Chaps. II. toV. Remusat, Kouceaux MelaiKjcs, Tome II., p. 207.
204 THE MIDDLE KITfGDOM.
to cease.’ The talents and learning of Schaal, a German
Jesuit, who was recommended by Sii to the Emperor’s regard
in 162S, soon placed him at the head of all his brethren and
ranked him among the most distinguished men in the Empire.
The Dominicans and Franciscans also flocked to the land
which had thus been opened by the Jesuits, but they were not
welcomed by those who wished to build up their own power.
After the death of Wanleih, in 1620, and those converts
within the palace who had favored the cause, new influences
against it arose, and during the short reign of his young grandson,
Tienlii, troubles increased. Amid the breaking up of
the Ming dynasty and the establishment of the present family
on the throne (1630-1660), the missions suffered much, their
spiritual guides retired to places of safety from the molestations
of soldiers and banditti, and converts were necessarily left
without instruction. The missionaries in the north sided with
the Manchus, and Schaal became a favorite with the new monarch
and his advisers, by whom he was appointed to reform
the calendar. lie succeeded in showing the incompetency of
the persons who had the supervision of it, and after its revision
was appointed president of the Kin Tien Kien, an astronomical
board established for this object, and invested with the insignia
and emoluments of a grandee of the first class. He employed
his influence and means in securing the admission of other
missionaries, and to build two churches in the capital and
repair many of those which had fallen to decay in the
provinces.
The exertions of the native converts did nuich to advance
the cause of religion, and the baptismal names of Leon, Michel,
etc., have been preserved among these early confessors ; but
none are more famous than Sii and his daughter, Candida. He
gave his influence in its favor and his property to assist in
building churches, while his revision of their Avritings made
them acceptable to fastidious scholars. His daughter also spent
her life in good works. According to Du TIalde, she exhibited
the sincerity of her profession by building thirty-nine churches
‘Sii’s Apology is given in full in the CMnese Repository^ Vol. XIX., p. 118.
LABORS OF MISSIONARIES AND CONVERTS. 295
in different provinces, and printing one liundred and thirty
Christian books for tlie instruction of her countrymen. Having
hearcl that the pagans in several of the provinces were
accustomed to abandon their cliildren as soon as born, she established
a foundling hospital ; and seeing many blind people
telling idle stories in the streets for the sake of gain, she got
them instructed and sent fortli to relate the different events of
the gospel history. A few years before her death the Emperor
conferred on her the title of shojin, or ‘virtuous woman,’
and sent her a magnificent habit and head-dress adorned with
pearls, which it is said she gradually sold, expending the proceeds
in benevolent works. She received the last sacrament
with a lively faith of being united to that God whom she .had so
zealously loved and served. She and her father have since
been deified by the people, and are worshipped now at Shanghai
for their good deeds. The large mission establishment at
Sikawe (properly Su ITia-wei, or the ‘ Sii Family Hamlet ‘), situated
near that city, under the care of the Roman Catholics, now
covers the same ground once owned by this eminent man. Candida’s
example was emulated by another lady of high connections,
named Agatha, who was zealous in carrying on the same
works. We can but hope that although the worship of these
converts was mixed with much error, and Mary, Ignatius, and
others received their homage as well as Christ, their faith was
genuine and their works done by an actuating spirit of humble
love.’
The Romish missionaries had friends among the high families
in the land during the first hundred years of their labors,
besides converts of both sexes. Few missions in pagan countries
have been more favored with zealous converts, or tlieir missionaries
more aided and countenanced hy rich and noble supporters,
than the early papal missions to China. Le Comte speaks
of the high favor enjoyed by all the laborers in this work
through the reputation and influence of Scliaal at court. One
of those who obtained celebrity was Faber, whose efforts in
Shensi were attended with great success, and who wrought many
‘ Medhurst’s China, p. 188. Du Halde’s China, Vol. II., p. 8.
296 TiiK :^[ir)DLK kixgdom.
miracles during liis ministry in tliat province. Among otliera
lie mentions that ” the town of Hang ching was at a certain
time overrun with a prodigious multitude of locusts, which ate
up all the leaves of the trees and gnawed the grass to the very
I’oots, The inhabitants, after exhausting all the resources of
their own superstitions and charms, applied to Faber, who
promised to deliver them from the 2)lague provided they would
become Christians. When they consented he marched in ceremony
into the highways in his stole and surplice, and sprinkled
up and down the holy water, accompanying this action with the
prayers of the church, but especially with a lively faith. God
heard the voice of his servant, and the next day all the insects
disappeared. But the people refused to perform their promise,
and the plague grew worse than before. AVitli much contrition
they came to the father, confessing their fault and entreating
his renewed interposition ; again he sprinkled the holy water,
and the insects a second time disappeared. Then the Avhole
borough was converted, and many years afterward was reckoned
one of the devoutest missions in China. His biographer mentions
that Falser was carried over rivers through the air ; he
foretold his own death, and did several other such wonders
;
but the greatest mii-acle of all was his life, which he spent in
the continual exercise of all the apostolical virtues and a tender
devotion to the mother of God.”
The increase of churches and converts in the northern provinces
was rapid during the reign of Shunchi, but the southern
parts of the Empire not being completely subdued, the claimant
to the throne of Ming w^as favored by the missionaries there,
and his troops led on by two Christian Chinese otRcers, called
Thomas Kiu and Luke Chin. His mother, wife, and son were
baptized with the names of Helena, Maria, and Constantine,
and the former wrote a letter to Pope Alexander VH., expressing
her attachment to the cause of Christianity, and wishing
to put the country through him under the protection of God.
He kindly answered her, but the expectations of the llomanists
were disappointed by the death of Tunglieh, the Emperor.
During the reign of Shunchi Schaal and his coadjutors stood
high at Peking, and missions prospered in the provinces ; but
THE JESUIT FATHER ADAM SOHAAL. 297
on the Emperor’s deatli tlie administration fell into the hands
of four regents, and as they were known to be opposed to the
new sect, a memorial was sent to court setting forth the evils
likely to arise if it was not repressed. It should be mentioned
that several monks of the Dominican and Franciscan orders,
especially of Fuhkien province, where Capellas, a Spaniard, had
been martyred in 1648, had i-esumed the labors of Archbishop
John of Montecorvino at Peking, more than thirty years
before this date. ” Their presence had been resisted by the
Jesuits [so ran the memorial], and the strifes between these orders
about the meaning and worship of tien and shanfjti (words
used for the Supreme Being) revealed the important secret that
the principles of the new doctrine were made to subserve the purposes
of those who were aspiring to influence. It was remembered
also that while the Catholics continued in Japan, nothing
but intrigue, schism, and civil war was heard of, calamities that
might sooner or later befal China if the criminal eagerness of
the missionaries in enlisting people of all classes was not checked.
The members of the different orders wore distinctive badges of
medals, rosaries, crosses, etc., and were always ready to obey the
calls of their chiefs, who could have no scruple to lead them on
to action the moment a probability of success in subverting the
existing political order and the ancient worship of China should
offer.” The regents took the memorial into consideration, and
in 1665 the tribunals under their direction decreed that ” Schaal
and his associates merited tlie punishment of seducers, who announce
to the people a.false and pernicious doctrine.”
Notwithstanding the honora])le position Schaal held as tutor
of the young Emperor Kanghi, he was proscril)ed and degraded
with several high officers who had been baptized. Some of them
perished, Schaal himself dying of grief and suffering August
16th of the same year, at the age of seventy-eight, having been
thirty-seven years in imperial employ, under five monai-chs.
Verbiest and others were imprisoned, one of whom died ; and
twenty-one Jesuits, with some of other sects, were sent out of the
country. Magaillans says he himself was ” loaden for four whole
months together with nine chains, three about his neck, his arms^
and his legs ; he was also condenmed to have foi-ty lashes, and
298 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
to be banished out of Tartaiy as long as he lived. But a great
earthquake that happened at that time at Peking delivered both
him and the rest of his companions.’” ‘ Their relief, however,
was probably owing more to the favor of Kanghi on taking the
reins of government in 1671 than to the earthquake ; he soon
released Verbiest to appoint him astronomer, and allowed the
missionaries to return to their stations, though he forbade his
subjects embracing Christianity. This favorable change is partly
ascribed, too, to the errors Verbiest pointed out in the calendar,
which showed an utter ignorance of the commonest principles
of astronomy On the part of those who prepared it. An intercalary
month had been erroneously introduced, and the unfortunate
astronomers wei’e made to exchange places with the
imprisoned missionaries, while their intercalary month was
discarded and the year shortened, to the astonishment of the
common people. It may reasonably be doubted whether the
priest acted with sagacity and prudence in thus exasperating
those in high places by this public ridicule of their incompetency.
Verbiest also prepared an astronomical work entitled ” The
Perpetual Astronomy of the Emperor Kanghi,” which he graciously
received and conferred the title of tajln, or ‘ magnate,’ on
him, and ennobled all his kindred. ” He had no relatives in China,
but as the Jesuits called each other brother, they did not hesitate
to use the same title. Tiio gi-eatest part of the religious caused
it to be inscribed on the doors of their houses.*”‘
The favor of the Empei-or continued, and the missionaries re-
(piited his kindness with many signal services, besides those of
a literaiy and ustron(Mnicul nature, among which was casting
camion for his army. In 1636 Scliaal had made a mimber for
Tsungching, and Verbiest, his successor, cast several hundreds in
all for the Emperor Kanghi. On one occasion, in 1680, the })ieces,
three hundred and twenty of all sizes, were to be tested in the
presence of the coui’t; but before doing so Verbiest ” had an altar
prepared on which he placed a cross. Then, clothed in his surplice
and stole, he worshipped the true (Jod, prostrating himself nine
times, and striking the earth nine times with his forehead, in
‘ Magaillans’ C’hiinf, p. 147. Chinese Itepository, Vol. I., p. 434.
QUESTION OF THE KITES. 299
the Chinese manner of expressing adoration ; and after that he
read the prayers of the church and sprinkled the cannon with
holy water, having bestowed on each of them the name of a female
saint, which he had himself drawn on the breech.” ‘ Some
of the high othcers were still opposed to the toleration of
foreign priests, and the Governor of Chehkiang undertook to
cany into effect the laws against their admission into the country
and their proselyting labors ; but Verbicst, on informing the Emperor
of their character as excellent mathematicians and scholars,
obtained their liberation. Ko foreigner has ever enjoyed so
great favor and confidenee from the inilers of China as this able
priest. lie seems indeed to have deserved this for his diligence,
knowledge, and purity of conduct in devoting all his energies
and opportunities to their good. His residence of thirty years
at Peking (1G5S-1G8S) was passed under the eyes of suspicious
observers ; but his modesty in the end won their confidence as
his writings and devotions called forth their approval.
During all this time—or at least since the other sects came to
assist in the work—there had been constant disputes, as has already
been intimated, between the disciples of Loyola, Dominic,
and Francis, excited probably by rivalry, but ostensibly relating
to the rites paid to deceased ancestors and to Confucius. Ricci
had drawn up rules for the regulation of the Jesuits, in which
he considered these customs to be merely civil and secular, and
such as might l)e tolerated in their converts. Morales, a Spanish
Dominican, however, opposed this view, declaring them to be
idolatrous and sinful, and they were condemned as such by the
Propaganda, which sentence was confirmed by Innocent X. in
1645. This decree of the see at Home gave the Jesuits some
annoyance, and they set themselves at work to procure its revision.
Martinez was sent to Home as their principal agent in
this, and by nuiny explanations and testimonials proved to the
satisfaction of the tril)unal of inquisitors their civil nature, and
Alexander Yll., in 1050, approved this opinion. There were
thus two infallible decrees nearly opposed to each other, for
Alexander took care not to directly contradict the bull of Inno-
‘Hue, Christianity in Cliina, Vol. III., p, 81.
SOO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
cent, and worded his decision so that botli claimed it. When
all the missionaries were imprisoned or sent to Canton, a good
opportunity offered for mutual consultation and decision upon
these and other points. Twenty-three priests met in the Jesuit
seminary at Canton in 1665, and drew up forty-two articles to
serve hereafter for rules of conduct, all of which were unanimously
adopted. The one relating to the ceremonies was as
follows
:
In respect to the customs by whicli the Chinese worship Confucius and
the deceased, the answer of the congregation of tlie universal Inquisition,
sanctioned in 1(556 by his Holiness Alexander VII., shall be invariably followed
: for it is founded upon the most probable opinion, without any evident
proof to the contrary ; and this probability being admitted, the door of salvation
must not be shut against innumerable Chinese, who would abandon our
Christian religion were they forbidden to attend to those things that they may
lawfully and without injury to their faith attend to, and forced to give up
what cannot be abandoned without serious consequences.
One member of this meeting, the Dominican Navarette, soon
expressed his dissent, and the dispute was renewed as virulently
as ever. The opponents of the Jesuits complained that they
taught their converts that there was but little difference generallj^
between Christianity and their own belief, and allowed
them to retain their old superstitions ; they were chai’ged, moreover,
with luxurj^ and ambition, and neglecting the duties of
their ministry that they might meddle in the affaii’s of State.
These allegations were rebutted l)y the Jesuits, though it appears
from Mosheim that some of them partially acknowledged
their ti’uth. In 1098 Maigrot, a bishoj) and apostolic vicar living
in China, issued a mandate on his own authority diametrically
opposed to the decision of the Inquisition and the Pope,
in which he declared that tten signified nothing niore than the
material heavens, and that the Chinese customs and I’ites were
idolatrous. In 1699 the Jesuits l)r()ught the matter before the
Empei’or in the folhnving memorial :
We, your faithful subjects, although originally from distant countries, respectfully
supi)licate your Majesty to give us clear instructions on the following
points. The scholars of Euro])e have understood that the Chinese practise
certain ceremonies in honor of Confucius, that they o!Ter sacrifices to heaven,
and that tlicy oliserve peculiar rites toward their ancestors ; but persuaded
POPE CLEMENT XI. AXD KANGHI. 301
that these ceremonies, sacrifices, and rites are founded in reason, though ignorant
of their true intention, earnestly desire us to inform them. We have
always supposed that Confucius was honored in China as a legislator, and that
it was in this character alone, and with this view solely, tliat th(j ceremonies
established in his honor were practised. We believe that the ancestral rites
are only observed in order to exhibit tlie love felt for them, and to hallow tlie
remembrance of the good receive<l from them during their life. We believe
that the sacririces offered to heaven are not tendered to the visible heavens
which are seen above us, but to the Supreme Master, Author, and Preserver of
heaven and earth, and of all they contain. Such are the interpretation and
the sense which we liave always given to these Chinese ceremonies ; but as
strangers cannot be considered competent to pronounce on these ‘mportant
points with the same certainty as the Chinese themselves, we presume to request
your Majesty not to refuse to give us the explanations which we desire
concerning them. We wait for them with respect and submission.’
The Emperor’s reply in 1700 to this petition, and another
one presented to him, was sent to the Pope ; in it he decLared
that ” tien means the true God, and that tlie customs of China
are political.” The enemies of the Jesuits say that they ” confirmed
the sentiments expressed in the imperial rescript by the
oaths which they exacted from a multitude of Chinese, among
whom were many from the lowest classes, not only entirely
ignoi-ant of the meaning of many characters in their own
language, but even of Christian doctrine.” The strongest efforts
were made by both parties to influence the decision of the Pope,
but the Jesuits failed. In 1701: a decree of Clement XI. confirmed
the decision of Bishop Maigrot. It had been reached
after careful and candid “examination, and was substantially as
follows: ” As the true God cannot conveniently be named in
the Chinese language with European words, we must employ the
words Tien Chu, i.e., ‘ Lord of Heaven,’ in use for a long time
in China, and approved by both missionaries and their converts.
AVe must, on the contrary, absolutely reject the aj^pellation of
Tien (Heaven) and Shangtl (August Emperor) ; and for this
reason it must on no accoimt be permitted that tablets shall be
suspended in churches with the inscription King Tien (Adore
Heaven).” The court of the Vatican had already dispatched a
legate d latere and apostolic visitor to China in the person of
‘ Life of Saint-Manin, p. 292.
302 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Tounion, who was consecrated Patriarch of Antioch in order to
give him a title of sufficient dignity in the distant regions to
which he was bound.
The legate landed at Macao in April, 17(>5, and was received
with a show of honor by the governor and bishop. He arrived at
Peking in December, but the Jesuits had already prejudiced the
Emperor against him, and at an audience accorded to him in
June, 1706, the former brought forward the subject to learn the
legate’s views. After some delay, however, the patriarch issued
the Pope’s mandate, which was contrary to the monarch’s decision.
Kanghi was not the num who would transfer to a pope
the right of legislating over his own subjects, and in December,
1706, he decreed that he would countenance those missionaries
who preached the doctrines of Ricci, but persecute those who
followed the opinion of Maigrot. Examiners were a])pointed
for ascertaining their sentiments, but Tournon, who had been
banished to Macao, forbade the missionaries, under ])ain of excommunication,
holding any discussion on these points with the
examiners. The Bishop of Macao conlined the legate in a private
house, and M-hen he used his ecclesiastical authority and
powers against his enemies, stuck up a monitory on the very
door of his residence, exhorting him to revoke his censures
within tliree days midcr pain of excommunication, and exhibit
proofs of his legation to his diocesan. This was re-echoed from
Tournon by a still severer sentence against the bishop. Three
new missionaries reached Macao at this jun(;ture in January,
1710, and one of them, l*cre Ilipa, gives an account of a nocturnal
visit they paid the legate in his })rison after eluding the
vigilance of his guards. Ripa renuirks that about forty missionaries
of different religious orders were confined with Tournon,
who had lately been nuide a cardinal, but he himself and
his companions were left at liberty. Ills eminence sent a remonstrance
to the Governor of Canton against his imprisonment,
and also a memorial to the Emperor stating that six
missionaries had arrived from Europe, three of whom were
acquainted with mathematics, music, and painting. Kipa, who
was to be the painter, says that he knew only the rudiments of
the art, and records his dissatisfaction at this change in his voQUARRELS
OF THE JESUITS AND DOMINICANS. 303
cation, Lut soon resigned himself to obedience. Touruon died
in his coniinenient in July of the same year.
The proceedings of Tournon were mainly confirmed by the
Pope, and in 1715 he dispatched Mezzabarba, another legate, by
way of Lisbon, who was favorably received at Peking, lie
” was instructed to express the Pope’s sincere gratitude to
Kanghi for his magnanimous kindness toward the missionaries,
to beg leave to remain in China as their head or as superior of
the whole mission, and to obtain from Kanghi his consent that
the Christians in China might submit to tlie decision of his
Holiness concerning the rites.” The Emperor evaded all reference
to the rites, and the legate, soon perceiving that his Majesty
would not surrender any part of his inherent authoiity,
solicited and obtained permission at his last audience to return
to Europe, which he did March 3, 1721. The first fifteen
years of the eighteenth century was the period of the greatest
prosperity to the Pomish missions in China. It is stated
that in the governor-generalship of Kiangnan and Kiangsi alone
there were one hundred churches and a hundred thousand converts.
The survey of the Empire was carried on by the Emperor’s
connnand from 1708 to 171S, under the direction of
ten Jesuits, of whom Pegis, Bouvet, and Jartoux were the most
prominent.’ It was a great work for that day, and considering
the instruments they had, the vast area they traversed, and tlic
imperfect education of their assistants, its accuracy and completeness
form the best index of the ability of the surveyors.
The disputes between the various orders of missionaries and
the resistance of some converts to the Emperor’s commands
respecting the ancestral rites, together with the representations
of his own ofiicers upon the tendency of the new religion to
undermine his own authority, gradually opened his eyes to the
true character of the propagandists. In 1718 he forbade any
missionary remaining in the country without permission from
himself, given only after their promise to follow tlie rules of
Picci. Yet no European missionary could repair to China
‘ An additional re-survey was made and presented to the Emperor Kienlung
in ITGl by Beuoit and AUerstein.
304 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
without subscribing a funnuhi in which he proniised fully and
entirely to obey the orders of Cleiiieut XI. upon these ceremonies,
and observe those injunctions without any tergiversation.
Kan^^hi was made acquainted with all these nuitters and took
his measures, gradually i-estraining the missionaries in their
work and keeping them about him at court, while he allowed
persecuting measures to be carried on in the provinces. Tho
work of Ripa affords evidence of this plan, and it was characteristic
of Chinese policy.
After the death of Kanghi in 1723 the designs of the govern
ment under his son Yungching were still more evident. In
172-i an order was promulgated in which every effort to propagate
the Tien C/m klao, or ‘ Religion of the Lord of Heaven,’
as it was then and has ever since been called, was strictly prohibited.
All missionaries not required at Peking for scientitic
purposes were ordered to leave the country, by which more than
three hundred thousand converts were deprived of teachers.
Many of the missionaries secreted themselves, and the converts
exhibited the greatest fidelity in adhering to them even at the
risk of death. AVhen the missionaries reached Canton, where
tliey were allowed to remain, they devised measures to return
to their flocks, and frequently succeeded. The influence of
those remaining at Peking was exerted to regain their former
toleration, but wdth partial success. Their enemies in the
provinces harassed the converts in order to extort money, and
found plenty of assistants who knew the names and condition
of all the leading adherents of the proscribed faith, and aided
in compelling them to violate their consciences or lose their
property.
The edict of Yungching forms an epoch in the Uoniish missions
in China. Since that time they have experienced various
degrees of quiet and storm, but on the whole decreasing in
number and influence until the new era inaugurated by the
treaties of 1S58. The troubles in France and Europe toward
the latter part of the eighteenth centui-y withdi-ew the a»ttention
of the supporters of missions from those in China, while in the
country itself the maintenance of the laws against the ])ropagation
of Christianity, and an occasional seizure of })i-iests and
THE CATHOLICS EXPELLED FUOM CHIXA. 30.”i
converts by a zealous officer, caused a still further diminution.
Tlie edicts of Kienluiig, soon after his accession in 1T3(), showed
that no countenance was to be expected from court ; the rulers
were thoroughly dissatisfied with the foreigners, and ready to
take almost any measures to relieve the country of them. Perhaps
their personal conduct had something to do with this
course of procedure, for Ripa, wlio cannot be accused of partiality,
says, when speaking of the number of converts, that
“if our European missionaries in China would conduct themselves
with less ostentation, and accommodate their manners to
persons of all ranks and conditions, the number of converts
would be immensely increased. Their garments are made of
the richest materials ; they go nowhere on foot, but always in
sedans, on horseback, or in boats, and with numerous attendants
following them. AVith a few honorable exceptions, all the missionaries
live in this manner ; and thus, as they never mix with
the people, they make but few converts. The diifusion of our
holy religion in these parts has been almost entirely owing to
the catechists who are in their service, to other Christians, or
to the distribution of Christian books in the Chinese language.
Thus there is scarcely a single missionary who can boast of having
made a convert by his own preaching, for they merely baptize
those who have been already converted by others.” ‘ But
this missionary himself afterward assigns a nnich better reason
for their not preaching, when he adds that, up to his time in
ITl-i, “none of the missionaries had been able to surmount the
language so as to make himself understood by the people at
large.” This remark must, however, be taken with some explanations.
There had l)een al^out five hundred missionaries sent
from Europe between 1580 and 172-1:, wliich was less than an
annual average of four individuals during a centurv and a half.
When the intentions of the new Emperor were known, there
Avould not lono; be wantino; occasions to harass the Christians.
In 1747 a persecution extended over all the provinces, and
Bishop Sanz and five Dominican priests in Fuhkien lost their
lives. All the foreign priests who could be found elsewhere were
‘ Residence at PeMnr/, p. 43.
Vol. II.—20
306 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
sent away—a mark of leiiiency tlie more striking wlien it was
supposed by the Chinese that some of them had ah’eady once
returned from banishment. The missions in Sz’cliuen and
Shansi suffered most, but througli the zeal of their pastors
maintained themselves better than elsewhere ; their bishops,
Mullener, and after him Pottier, contrived to remain in the
country most of the time between 1712 and 1792. The missions
in Yunnan and Kweichau were not so flourishing as that
in Sz’chuen. In this province M. Gleyo was apprehended in
1767, and endured nuich suffering for the faith he came to
preach ; he remained in prison ten years, when he was liberated
through the efforts of a Jesuit in the employ of government.
For several years after this the order enjoyed comparative
quiet, but in 1784 greater efforts than ever were made to discover
a*nd apprehend all foreign priests aiid their abettors,
owing to the detection of four Europeans in Ilukwang while they
were going to their mission. M. de la Tour, the procureur of
the mission at Canton, through whose instrumentality they were
sent tlirough the country, was apprehended and carried to Peking
; and the hong merchant who had been his security was
glad to purchase his own safety by the sacrifice of one hundred
and twenty thousand taels of silver.
Didier Saint-Martin, who was then in Sz’chuen, gives a long
account of his own capture, trial, and imprisonment, and many
particulars of the sufferings of his fellow missionaries. Eighteen
Europeans were taken away from the missions by it, but
none of them were actually executed ; twelve w-ere sentenced to
perpetual imprisonment, six having died, but for some reason
the Emperor revoked the decree soon after it was made, and
gave them all the choice to enter his service or leave the country
; nine of the twelve preferred to depart, the other three
joining the priests at the capital. This search was so close that
few of the foreigners escaped. Pottier was not taken, though
he was obliged at one time to conceal liimself for a month in a
small house, and in so confined a place that he hardly dared
either to cough or to spit for fear of being discovered. Saint-
Martin and Dufresse retired to Manila, where they were received
with great honors, and were enabled to return after a
PERSECUTION OF THE MISSIONARIES. ^ 307
time to Sz’cliuen. The former died in 1801 in peace, but Dufresse
was beheaded in 1814 ;
‘ in 1816 M. Triora was strangled
in Hupeh, and M. Clet three years after ; in the interval,
Schoeffler, Bounard, and Diaz perished, and Chapdelaine in
1856. But no data are available to show the number of native
priests and converts who suffered death, toiture, imprisonment,
and banishment in these storms. The records of constancy and
cheerful fortitude exhibited under tortures and cruel mockings,
given in the writings of the time, show their faith in Christ.
The details are summarized in Marshall’s work, and probably
the number may reasonably be estimated by hundreds.
The period which elapsed after the pronmlgation of the
edicts of 1767 up to 1820 contains less to interest the reader
than since the last date. At that time restored quiet in Europe
urged a resumption of the work ; and the Annalcs ds la Foi
henceforth continue the narratives of the missions, formerly
recorded in the Lettres Kdifiantes, with the approval of the
directors and bishops. It is not easy at any period to learn
their condition and number, for only vague estimates of hundreds
of churches, hundreds of thousands of converts, scores
of missionaries, schools, catechists, priests, and stations, comprise
the data given in the flourishing days of Verbiest and
Parennin. Perhaps many of the early statistics have perished,
yet it has never been easy to obtain accurate data, and
often they have been withheld from public knowledge. There
is no responsibility or reckoning required from the managers
of the missions by the body of the church as to wdiat is done
with the funds, as among Protestant missions. In 1820 an
estimate gives 6 bishops, 2 coadjutors, 23 foreign missionaries,
80 native priests, and 215,000 converts. In 1839 a table in
the Annales gives for that year, 8 bishops, 57 foreigners, ll-t
native priests, and 303,000 converts. In 1846 the record shows
12 bishops, 7 or 8 coadjutors, 80 foreign missionaries, 90 natives,
and 400,000 converts; 54 boys’ and 114 girls’ schools
are put down for Sz’chuen. In 1866 they report 20 bishops,
‘ Annales de la Foi, Tome I., pp. 25, 53, 68. Dufresse was afterward
canonized.
308 Tin; MIDDLE KINGDO^r.
233 foreign missionaries, 237 native priests, 12 colleges, 331
students in seven of them, and 363,000 converts ; these figures
include only those in the Eighteen Provinces. In 1870 the tahles
show 254 foreigners, bishops and missionaries, 13S native
priests in nine provinces, and 404,530 converts.
Lastly, from the Hong Kong Catholic liegister we learn that
the statistics in 1881 were : Bishops, 41 ; European priests,
664; native priests, 559 ; converts in toto^ 1,092,818 ; colleges,
34 ; convents, 34. The paper which publishes this summary,
” from a most reliable source,” gives no information as to where
the missions or colleges are located, or what numbers are found
in the different provinces. It is, moreover, somewhat difficult
to learn what constitutes a college, or whether the grade in
these institutions is uniform throughout the land. In addition
to the education imparted at home, a number of Chinese are
yearly sent to Tiome to be educated at the College of the Propaganda.
The total number of converts includes all the members
of the various families who give an outward adherence to
the rites of the church. In the persecutions which these adherents
have endured at various times, some have left the faith,
but a large number of the descendants of these early converts
have remained faithful, generation after generation, to the religion
which their ancestors had embraced under more favorable
auspices. Hence this estimate represents the number now
adhering to them, many of them being the descendants of early
converts ; and this number of followers has become so numerous
largely by natural increase. AVe have no information as
to the number of converts year by year. In one village of
South China, where there are some Poman Catholics resident,
it has been noted that the increase is almost entirely by natural
generation. The girls of Catholic families are only permitted
co-religionists. The men inarry heathen wives on the promise
that they will become Pomanists. One man and his wife of
this village first became converts. The number of adherents now
hei-e is over one hundred, all descendants of this first pair; and
this increase is entirely by natural descent and by marriage.
With the increased openings since the treaties of 1858 the
regulation of the missions has devolved on different societies,
STATISTICS OF CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN CITIXA. 309
which liavc apportioned their hiborers in the provinces. The
Lazarists have Cliihh’, Iviangsi, and Chehkiang ; the Franciscans,
Sliantung, Shansi, Shensi, and llnkwang; the Jesuits,
Kiangnan and eastern Chihh ; tlie Dominicans, Fnhkien ; the
Gallic church, all the western and south-western rcirions, with
Manchuria; one society in Milan has charge of Ilonan, and
another in Belgium labors in Mongolia. The successful efforts
of M. Lagrend, the French envoy to China in 1844, to obtain
formal recognition of the Christian religion and protection to
its professors from their own rulers, entitle him to the thanks
of every well-Avisher of missions. The intention of the Chinese
authorities in tolerating such efforts was to limit them to the
newly opened ports, where alone churches could be erected, for
the missionaries are disallowed free entrance into the country.
This partial permission of 1844 prepared the way for the
toleration articles in the treaties of 1858, when the four
Powers present at Tientsin obtained a more explicit acknowledgment
from the Emperor of the rights of Christian laborers
and professors among the Chinese. Those articles have been
in force during the past twenty years, and have proved a safeguard
and a warrant for the faith of Christ and its adherents
even beyond the hopes of those who first proposed them.
The exclusive labors of the Roman Catholics among the
Chinese comprise a period of about two hundred and fifty years
from the date of Ricci’s reception at Peking. The various
works written l)y them during this period contained not only
the details of their labors, but nearly everything that was then
known relating to the Chinese. The essays, translations, histories,
travels, etc., of Visdelou, Mailla, Trigault, Semido,
Amiot, Le Comte, and scores of others, still remain to inform
those wdio seek to learn their acts.” Every reader must honor
the men who thus suffered and labored, prospered and died, in
the prosecution of their work. It is \vorthy of consideration,
as to the self-supporting character of this work, that their constant
experience has shown that, however numerous and zealous
the converts, the presence of European pastors and overseers is
Kemusat, Nouveaux Melanges, pp. 207 ff.
310 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
indispensable to their spiritual prosperity.’ “Whether this is
owing to the character of the Chinese mind, or to the little
Christian instruction and principle these converts really have,
cannot in most cases be easily decided. It can hardly be expected
that pagans should perceive much difference immediately
between their old worship and the cei’emonies of the new fait)-
in the presence of pictures, images, and crosses, before which
they were taught to prostrate themselves. The native priests
and catechists were not instructed to maintain the authority
of the law and word of God above all human teachings in this
respect, for the second commandment had been early expunged
from the Decalogue, and thus the connnand of God made
void, which prohibits man to make, to servo, or to bow down
to such things. It may be this defect in their religious training
which keeps these native priests in tutelage under the foreigners,
and prevents the maintenance of self-supporting, indigenous
churches under their oversight.
In former days the entrance of missionaries into the interior
of China was attended with considerable hazard, delay, and
uncertainty, arising from the weakness or ignorance of those
guides to whose care they were entrusted, and the risks they
ran if detected. This has now all passed awa}’^, and access to
all parts of the Empire is even more free than it was in the
days of the Emperor Kanglii. In those early times the development
of missionary work was not as well understood as it
is now after long experience, and less attention was paid to
education and self-support. Those points were not appreciated
even in Europe, and we should not look for stronger growth in
the branches of the tree than in its trunk. Within the last
twent}^ years, not only have the theological schools of the Romish
missions increa’Sed so that eighteen were open in 1859,
but with the introduction of the Sisters of Cliarity many thousands
of young children are taught needlework, reading, and
various handicrafts to prepare them for useful lives. These
schools and oi-phanages exert a widespread and lasting influence.
The baptism of children and adults has ever been a very
^Lettrea Mifiantes, Tome IV., p. 77.
THE BAPTISM OF DYING INFANTS. 3J 1
important work witli the Roman Catholic missionaries, and
especially (if its fre(nient mention is an evidence) the baptism
of uioribumh, or dying children of heathens. The agents in
this work are usually elderly women, says Yerolles, ” who have
experience in the treatment of infantile diseases. Furnished
with innocent pills and a bottle of holy water whose virtues
they extol, they introduce themselves into the houses where
there are sick infants, and discover whether they are in danger
of death ; in this case they inform the parents, and tell them
that before administering other remedies they must wash their
hands with the purifying waters of their bottle. The parents,
not suspecting this j}ieuse ruse, readily consent, and by these
innocent frauds we procure in our mission the baptism of seven
or eight thousand infants every year.*’ Another missionary,
Dufresse, one of the most distinguished of late years, says :
” The women who baptize the infants of heathen parents announce
themselves as consecrated to the healing of infants, and
to give remedies gratis, that they may satisfy the vow of their
father who has commanded this as an act of charity.” The
number of baptized children thus saved from perdition is carefully
detailed in the annual reports, and calculations are made
by the missionaries for the consideration of their pati-ons in
France and elsewhere as to the expense incun-ed for this branch
of labor, and the cost of each soul thus saved ; and appeals for
aid in sending out these female baptists are based upon the
tabular reports. It may, however, be a question, even with a
candid Romanist who believes that unbaptized infants perish
eternally, whether baptism performed by women and unconsecrated
laymen is valid ; and still more so, whether it is ritual
when done by stealth and under false pretences. The number
thus annually baptized in all the missions cannot be placed
much under fifty thousand, and some years it exceeds a hundred
thousand. Xo attention seems to be given to the child in ordinary
cases if it happen to live after this surreptitious baptism.
The degree of instruction given to the converts is trifling,
partly owing to the great extent of a single diocese and partly to
imperfect knowledge of the language on the part of missionaries.
The vexations constantly experienced urge them to be
812 THE MIDDLE KIXODOM.
cautious ; and truly if a missionai-y believes that baptism, confirmation,
confession, and absolution, are all the evidences of faith
that ai-e required in a convert to entitle him to salvation, it
cannot be supposed he will deem it necessary to give them longcontinued
instruction. The canses which usually bring the converts
into trouble with their CDuntrymen or the officials were
thus described many years ago by the Bishop of Caradre in
Sz’chuen ; they are still partly applicable.
First. Christians are frequently confounded with tlie members
of the Triad Society, or of the AVhite Lily sect, both by
their enemies and by persons belonging to those associations.
Second. The Christians refuse to contribute to the erection
or repair of temples, or subscribe to idolatrous feasts and superstitious
rites ; though, according to the A)i7iales, they sometimes
defray the charges of the theati’ical exhibitions which
follow, in order to avoid the malice of their adversaries.
Third. ” Espousals are ahnost indissoluble in China, and
whenever the Christians refuse to ratify them by proceeding
to a marriage already commenced, they are regarded as lawbreakers
and treated as such.” ‘ This is the most common
source of trouble, especially when the parents of the girl have
become converts since the beti-othment, and the other party
is anxious to fulfil the contract. These engagements are sometimes
broken in a sufficiently unscrupulous manner, and nothing
draws so much odium upon Christians as their refusal to
adhere to these conti-acts. On one occasion this bishop assisted
in breaking up such an engagment, when the parents, on the
death of a sister of the girl, asserted that the deceased was the
one who had been betrothed. He adds : ” I thirdc the faith of
the parents and the purity of their motives will readily excuse
them before God for the sin of lying.” On other occasions
the missionaries endeavor to dissolve these engagements by exhorting
the believing party to take voavs of celibacy.
Fourth. All connnunication with Europeans being interdicted,
the magistrates seek diligently for every evidence of their exist-
Lettres Edifiantes, Tome III., p. 37, wliere there appear two or three cases
wf this and Saint-Martin’s reasonini,’ on thu point.
GRIEVANCES AGAINST CATHOLIC CONVERTS. 313
eiicc in the country, by searching for the objects used in worship,
as crosses, breviaries, etc.
Fifth. The little respect the converts have for their ancestors
is always an offence in the eyes of the pagans, and leads
to recrimination and vexatious annoyances.
Sixth. As the converts are obliged to take down the ancesti-al
tablets in order to put u]> those of their own religion, they are
seldom forgiven in this change, and occasion is taken therefrom
to persecute.
Seventh. The indiscreet zeal of the neophytes leading them
to break the idols or insult the objects of public worship is
one of the most common causes of persecution.
Eightli. The disputes between the missionaries themselves,
regarding the ceremonies, have frequently excited troubles.
In addition to these causes, some of ‘which are now removed,
there are others which have grown up since the toleration
granted to Christianit}^ by the treaties, and which may develop
still more. They are discussed in the minute drawn up by the
Chinese government in 1871, after the Tientsin riot, in which
eight rules for their regulation are proposed. The grievances
refer to the seclusion of children in orphanages ; to the pi-esence
of w^omen in religious assemblies ; to missionaries interfering
in legal cases so as to screen criminals, and their interchanging
passports ; to the neophytes rescuing criminals from
justice ; to the missionaries affecting the style of native officials
;
and, lastly, to their demand for land alleged to have once belonged
to them, whatever ma\’ have been its ownership meanwhile.
This has since ceased, and the others have been somewhat
restrained.
Christians sometimes refuse to have their deceased friends
buried with the idolatrous ceremonies required by their relatives,
upon which the latter occasionally carry the matter
before the officers, or resort to petty annoyances. In order to
keep up the spirit of devotion among the neophytes, crucifixes,
reliquaries, and other articles were given them, and ‘” God
wrought several miracles among them to authorize the practice.”
These articles, in the estimation of both priest and people,
probably have no little influence over the demons which vex and
314 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
harass tlie pagans, l)nt wliicli never trouble Christians. Saint-
Martin, writing to liis father from the capital of Sz’chnen in
1774, says: “The most sensible proof for the pagans, and one
always in force, is the power the Christians have over demons.’
It is astonisliing how these poor infidels are tormented, and
they can find remedy onl}” in the prayers of Christians, by
whose help they are delivered and then converted. Seven or
eight leagues from this spot is a house which has been infested
with demons for a month ; they maltreat all who come near
them, and have set the dwelling on fire at different times. Tliey
have had recourse to all kinds of superstitious ceremonies,
calling in the native priests, but all to no effect ; and the master
of the family where I am staying has now gone to assist
them. He is a man of lively faith, and has already performed
many miraculous cures.”
“
It is interesting to compare with this the account of Friar
Odoric, ” How the friars deal with devils in Tartary.” In his
Travels we read that ” God Almighty hath bestowed such grace
upon the Minor friars that in Great Tartary they think it a
mere nothing to expel devils from the possessed, no more, indeed,
than to drive a dog out of the house. For there be many
in those parts possessed of the devil, both men and women,
and these they bind and bring to our friars from as far as ten
days’ journey off. The friars bid the demons depart forth
instantly from the bodies of the possessed, in the name of
Jesus Christ, and they do depart immediately in obedience to
this command. Then those who have been delivered from
the demon straightway cause themselves to be baptized ; and
the friars take their idols, which are made of felt, and carry
them to the fire, while all the people of the country round
assemble to see their neighbor’s gods burnt. The friars accordingly
cast the idols into the fire, but they leap out again. And
so the friars take holy water and sprinkle it upon the fire, and
that straightway drives away the demon from the fire ; so the
friars again casting the idols into the fire, they are consumed.
‘ retires ^diJian(£S, Tomes I., pp. 39 and 151, passim, and IV., p. 27.
^ TAfe of Didier Saint-Martin, p. 35.
CARTIISrG OUT DEVILS. 315
And then the devil in the air raises a shout, saying :
‘ See
then ! see then ! how I am expelled from my dwelling place !
‘
And in this way our friars baptize great numbers in that
country.”
‘
When persons educated in a country like France allow their
converts to entertain such ideas, even if they do not favor them
:>Ss^
Roman Catholic Altar near Shanghai.
themselves, and countenance their endeavors to exorcise the
possessed, we cannot look for a very high degree of knowledge
or piety. If they are l)rouglit out of pagan darkness, it is but
little if any better than into light hardly bright enough to enable
them even to distinguish trees from men.
The points of similarity between Buddhism and Romanism
have already been noticed, and the converts from one to the
» Yule, Cathay and tlie Way TJiitlier, Vol. I., p. 155.
31G THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
other see but little more change than they do when going from
Buddhism to the metaphysical speculations of the learned ju
Mao. If Romisli ])riests have allowed their converts to worship
before pagan images, provided a cross is put into the
candles, it would not be difficult for the latter to put the names
of their departed parents behind the ” tablets of religion,” and
worship them together. Similar to such a permission is the
combination of the cross and dragon carved on a Romish altar
near Shanghai, given on the preceding page, and at which both
pagans and Christians could alike worship.
Agnuses, crosses, etc., are easily substituted for coins and
charms, and it does not surely require much faith to believe the
former as effectual as the latter. The neophyte takes away the
tablet in his house or shop having shin, ‘aeon’ or ‘ spirit,’ written
on it,’ and puts up another, on which is written shin, chin
chu, tsaotien ti jin-wuh, or ‘ God, true Lord, Creator of heaven,
earth, man, and all things,’ and burns the same incense befoi-e
this as before that. Chinese demigods are changed for foreign
saints, with this difference, tha’^ now they worship they know
not what, while before they knew something of the name and
character of the ancient hero from popular accounts and historical
legends. They cease, indeed, to venerate the queen of
Heaven, holy mother ISFa tsupu, but Mhat advance in true religion
has been made by falling down before the Queen of
Heaven, holy mother Mary ? The people call the Buddhist
idols and the Romish images by the same name, and apply
nmch the same terms to their ceremonies. Such converts can
easily be numbered by thousands ; and it is a wonder, indeed,
when one considers the nature of the case, that the whole population
of China have not long since become ” devout confessors
” of this faith. Conversions depend, in such cases, on
almost every other kind of influence than that of the Holy
Spirit blessing his own word in an intelligent mind and a
quickened conscience. The missionaries write that ‘• being
forced in three or four months after their arrival to preach
‘ Converts in Sz’chuen sometimes steal tlie idols from the roadside. J.ettres
^difiantes, Tome I., p. 219.
CHARACTER OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARY WORK. 317
when they do not know tlie language sufficiently either to be
understood or to understand theniselves, they have seen tlieir
auditors inunediately embrace Christianity.”
We pass no decision upon these converts, except what is
given or drawn from the writings of their teachers. Human
nature is everywhere the same in its great lineaments, and the
effect of living godly lives in Christ Jesus will everywhere excite
opposition, calumny, persecution, and death, accordiug to
the liberty granted the enemies of the truth. There may have
been true converts among the adherents to Romanism ; but what
salutary effects has this large body of Chi-istians wrought in the
vast population of China during the three hundred years since
Ricci established himself at banking ? T^one, absolutely none,
that attract attention. The letters of some of the missionaries
written to their friends breathe a spirit of pious ardor and true
Christian principle worthy of all imitation. Among the best
letters contained in the Annales is one from Dufresse to his
pupils then at Penang. It is a long epistle, and contains
nothing (with one exception) which the most scrupulous Protestant
would not approve. The same may be paid of most of
the letters contained in the same collection written in prison
by Gagelin, a missionary who was strangled in Annam in
1833. It is hardly possible to doubt, when reading the letters
of these two men, both of whom were mai’tyred for the
faith they preached, that they sincerely loved and trusted in
the Saviour they proclaimed. Many of their converts also exhibit
the greatest constancy in their profession, preferring to
suffer persecution, torture, imprisonment, banishment, and
death rather than to deny their faith, though every inducement
of prevarication and mental reservation was held out to
them by the magistrates in order to avoid the necessity of proceeding
to extreme measures. If undergoing the loss of all
things is an evidence of piety, many of them have abundantly
proved their title to this virtue. But until there shall be a
complete separation from idolatry and superstitioTi ; until the
confessional shall be abolished, and the worship of the A^irgin,
wearing crosses and rosaries, and reliance on ceremonies and
penances be stopped ; until the entire Scriptures and Decalogue
318 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
be tauglit to tlie converts; until, in sliort, the essential doctrine
of justitication by faitli alone be substituted for the many
forms of justification l)y works, tlie mass of converts to liomanism
in China can liai’dly be considered as much better than
baptized pagans.’
Turn we now to a brief survey of tlie efforts of Protestants
among the Chinese, and the results which have attended their
labors. Hardly forty years have passed since the treaty of Nan^
king opened the five ports to their direct work in the Empire,
and the results thus far necessarily partake of the incompleteness
of new enterprises. The radical distinction between their
modes of operation and those of their predecessors is indicated
in the names ‘ Tvclioion of Heaven’s Lord ‘ and ‘ lteli»j;ion of
Jesus ;
‘ the Romanists depend much on their teachings and cere-
/ monies to convert men, the Protestants on the preaching of the
‘ word of God and a blessing on its vital truths.
The first Protestant missionary to China was Rev. Robert
Morrison, of Morpeth, England, who was sent out by the London
Missionary Society, lie arrived at Canton, by way of Xew
York, in Se])teniber, 1807, and lived there for a year, in a quiet
manner, in the factory of Messrs. Milner and Bull, of Xew York.
He early made the acquaintance of Sir George T. Staunton,
one of his firmest friends, and already well versed in Chinese
studies; Mr. Robarts, the chief of the British factory, advised
hijii to avow his intention to the Chinese of translating the Scriptures
into their language, on the ground that it was a divine
book which Christians highly esteemed and which the Chinese
should have the opportunity of examining. In consequence of
difficulties connected with the trade, he was obliged to leave
Canton in 1S08 with all British subjects and repair to Macao,
where he deemed it prudent to maintain a careful retirement in
‘ An exhaustive collection of the titles of every work of importance upon
Catholic missions in China, as well as a rhuine of their jieriodical publications,
may be found in M. Cordier’s Diction ihiirc hibii(H/riij)/iiqiU’ t/iK oiirrKijfK ChinotK,
Tome I., pp. IJ^O-.ITH, and following these pages are the works concerning
Protestant missions, pp. .ITH-G’J;}. Compare also Thos. Marshall, (Viristitui
Mmioun: their Afieittx it lul their lienidtn, London, IHO;^, and Chr. H. Kalkar,
Oetchichte der christlichen Mission uiit<:r den J/eiih n, (iiitiTsloh, 1879-80.
THE PROTESTANTS IN CHINA—DR. MORRISON. 319
order not to attract nndue notice from the Portuguese priests.
His associate, Dr. Milne, observed, with reference to these traits
in his character, that ” the patience that refuses to be conqnered,
the diligence that never tires, the caution that always trembles,
and the studious habit that spontaneously seeks retirement were
best adapted for the tirst Protestant missionary to China.”
He married Miss Mary Morton in 1809, and accepted the appointment
of translator under the East India Company, in whose
service he continued until 1834. His position was now a wellunderstood
one, and his official connexion obtained for him all
necessary security so that he could prosecute his work with diligence
and confidence. He no doubt did wisely in the circumstances
in wdiicli he was placed, for his dictionary could hardly
have been printed, or his translation of the Scriptures and other
works been so successfully carried on, without the countenance
and assistance of that powerful body. The entire Xew Testament
was published in 181-1:, about half of it having been translated
by Morrison and the remainder revised from a mamiscript
which had been deposited in 1739 in the British Museum.
Rev. W. Milne arrived in July, 1813, as his associate, and resided
in Canton, leaving his wife at Macao. In 1814 he sailed
for the Indian Archipelago, provided with about seventeen
thousand copies of Testaments and tracts for distribution among
the Chinese there. He stopped at Banca on his route, and then
proceeded to Java, where he was received by Sir Stamford
Raffles, a man far in advance of the times in his suppoi-t and
patronage of missions. Milne was enabled to travel over the
island and distribute such books as he had. From Java he
went to Malacca, then a Dutch settlement, afterward returning
to Canton, where he remained undisturbed, though a severe
persecution, in which Dufresse lost his life, was waging against
the Christians throughout the Empire. Milne, finding it difficult
to prosecute his labors in China (for the East India Company
would not countenance him), embarked for Malacca in 1815, accompanied
by a teacher and workmen for printing Chinese
books ; here he resided till his death in 1822.
The leading objects in sending Morrison to Canton, namely,
the translation of the Bible and preparation of a dictionary,
320 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
occupied the greater portion of his time. He soon commenced
a Sabbath service with his domestics and acquaintances in his
own apartments, which lie never relinquished, though it did not
expand into a regular public congregation dui-ing his lifetime.
He considered this as one of the most important parts of his
work, and was much encouraged when in 1814 one of his
audience, Tsai A-ko, made a profession of his faith and was
baptized. He was the first convert, and it is reasonably to be
hoped, judging from his after-life, that he sincerely believed to
salvation.
The compilation of the dictionary progressed so well that in
1814 a few members of the Company’s establishment, among
whom Mr. Elphinstone and Sir George Staujiton were prominent,
interested themselves in getting it printed. The Court of
Directors responded to the application on the most liberal scale,
sending out as printer P. P. Tlioms, together with a printing
office. The first volume was issued in 1817, and the whole was
completed in six quarto volumes, containing four thousand five
hundred and ninety-five pages, in 1823, at an expense of about
twelve thousand pounds sterling. It consisted of three parts,
viz., characters arranged according to their radicals, according to
their pronunciation, and an English and Chhiese part. This
work contributed much to the advancement of a knowledge of
Chinese literature, and its aid in missions has been manifold
greater. The plan was rather too comprehensive for one man
to fill up, and also involved much repetition ; a reprint of the
second part was issued in a smaller volume, in 1854, without
material addition.
While the dictionary was going through the press, the ti-anslation
of the Old Testament was progressing by the joint labors
of Morrison and Milne, and in November, 1818, the entire
Bible was published. Another version, by Dr. Marshman at
Serampore, was completed and printed with movable types in
1822. A second edition of the Baptist version was never struck
off, and comparatively few copies have ever been circulated
among the Chinese. Both these versions are such that a sincere
inquirer after the truth cannot fail to comprehend the
meaning, though both are open to criticisms and contain mistakes
LABORS OF MORKISOX AX I) MILNE. 321
incident to first translations. Tliev are now numbered anionosuperseded
versions like those of AViclif and Tyndal, the Italic
and I’liilas in other languages, but will ever be regarded Nvith
gratitude.’
During the years he was thus engaged Morrison published a
tract on Redemption, a translation of the Assembly’s Catechism,
church of England liturgy, a synopsis of Old Testament history,
a hymn book, and a Tour of the World ; altogether, nearly thirty
thousand copies were printed and distributed. He prepared a
Chinese grammar on the model of a common English grammar,
which was printed at Serampore in 1815 ; also a volume
of miscellaneous information on the chronolog}’, festivals,
geography, and other subjects relating to China, under the
title of View of China for Philological P>irj>oses. The list
of his writings comprises thirty-one titles, of which nineteen are
in English ; each work bears witness to his learning and piety.
In 1821 Mrs. Morrison died, and about eight months after he
visited Malacca and kSingapore, where he was nnich delighted
by what he saw. The Anglo-Chinese College was then under
the care of Collie, and this visit from its founder encouraged
both principal and students. In 1824 he returned to England
and was honorably received by his Majesty George IV., and
obtained the approbation of all wdio took an interest in the
promotion of religion and learning. He published a volume of
sermons and a miscellany called Ilorce Sinicw while in England ;
and having formed a second matrimonial connection, left his native
land again in May, 1826, under different circumstances from
the lirst time. During his absence the mission at Canton was
left in charge of the first native preachei-, Liang Kung-fah, or
Liang x\-fah, whom Morrison had ordained as an evangelist. This
worthy man carried on his useful labors in preaching and writing
until his death in 1855 at that city, from whence, in 1834,
he had been forced to flee for his life. He takes a deservedly
high position at the head of the native Pi-otestant Christian min-
‘ Medhurst’s CMnn, p. 217. Chinese Reposit/)ry, VoL IV., p. 249. Life of
Morrison, by his widow, passim, 2 Vols , London, 1839. Wylie in Chinese Recorder,
VoL I., pp. 121, 145. Lives of the I^eaders of our Church Universal.
p. 819, Phila., 1879.
Vol.. II.—21
322 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
istiy among the Chinese in respect to time, and his writings
have been highly. successful and beneficiah
During the years whicli elapsed between the return and
death of Morrison, he was principally occupied by his duties as
translator to the Coinpany and in literary labors. Uh Metnoirs
furnish all the particulars of their contents, as well as the details
of his useful and uneventful life. His last years were
dieered by the arrival of five fellow-laborers from the United
States, the first who had come to his assistance since Milne left
him in 1814. On the dissolution of the East India Company’s
establishment, in April, 1834, he was appointed interpreter to
the King’s Commission, but his death took place August 1,
1834, at the age of fift3′-two, even then nnich worn out with
his unaided labors of twenty-seven years.
Perhaps no two persons were ever less alike than the founders
of the Romish and Protestant missions to China, but no
plans of opei’ations could be more dissimilar than those adopted
by Ricci and Morrison. We have already sketched the lifework
of the former, obtained from friendly sources. When
Morrison was sent out the directors of the London Missionary
Society thus expressed their views of his labors : ” AVe trust
that no objection will be made to yoiw continuing in Canton
till you have accomplished your great object of acquiring the
language ; when this is done, you may pi’obably soon afterward
begin to turn this attainment into a direction which may be of
extensive use to the world ; ])erhaps you may have the honor of
forming a Chinese dictionary, more comprehensive and correct
than any preceding one, or the still greater honor of translating
the sacred Scriptures into a language spoken by a third pai’t of
the human race.” The enterprise thus connuitted to the hands
of a single individual was only part of a system which neither
the pi’ojectors nor their collaborator supposed would end there.
They knew that the great work of evangelizing and elevating a
mass of mind like that using the Chinese language reqnired
large preparatory labors, of whi(di those here mentioned were
among, the most important. China was a sealed country when
Morrison landed on its shores, and he could not have forced his
way into it if he had ti-ied, with any prospect of ultimate sueTHE
MISSIONARIES RICCI AND MORRISON. 323
cess, even by adopting the same plans which Ilicci did. It is
doubtful if he could have lived there at all had it not been for
the protection of the East India Company. After all his toil,
and faith, and prayer, he only saw three or four converts, no
churches, schools, or congregations publicly assembled ; but his
last letter breathes the same desires as when he first went out:
” I wait patiently the events to be developed in the course of
Divine Providence. The Lord reigneth. If the kingdom of
God our Saviour prosper in China, all will be M’ell; other matters
are comparatively of small importance.” He died just as the
day of change and progress was dawning in Eastern Asia, but
liis life was very far from being a failure in its results or influence.
The principles of these two missionaries have been followed
out by their successors, and we are quite willing to let their results
be the test of their foundation upon the Chief Corner
Stone.
Protestant missions among the Chinese emigrants in Malacca,
Penang, Singapore, Tihio, Borneo, and Batavia have never taken
much hold upon them, and they are at present all suspended or
abandoned. The first named was established in 1815 by Milne,
and was conducted longest and with the most efficiency, though
the labors at the other points have been carried on with zeal and
a degree of success. The comparatively small results which have
attended all these missions may be ascribed to two or three reasons,
besides the fewness of the laborers. The Chinese residing
in these settlements consist chiefly of emigrants who have fled
or left their native countries, in all cases without their families,
some to avoid the injustice or oppression of their rulers, but
more to gain a livelihood they cannot find so well at home. Consequently
they lead a roving life ; few of them marry or settle
down to become valuable citizens, and fewer still are sufficiently
educated to relish or cai’e for instruction or books. These communities
are much troubled by branches of the Triad Society,
and the restless habits of the Malays are congenial to most of
the emigrants who enter among them. The Chinese, coming as
they do from different parts of their own land, speak different
dialects, and soon learn the Malay language as a lingua franca
;
their children also learn it still more thoroughly from their
324 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
mothers, notwithstanding the education their fathers give them
in Chinese. The want of fixedness in the Cliinese population
therefoi’e pai’tly accounts for tlie little permanent impression
made on it in these settlements by missionary efforts.
It was at Malacca that the Anglo-Chinese College was established
in 1818 by Dr. Morrison, assisted by other friends of
religion. Its objects were to afford Europeans tlie means of acquiring
the Chinese language and enable Chinese to become
acquainted with the religion and science of the West. It was
productive of good up to the time of its removal to Hongkong
in 18M. About seventy persons were baptized while the mission
remained at Malacca, and about fifty students finished their education,
part of whom were sincere Christians and all of them respectable
members of society. Three or four of the converts have
become preachers. There is little hesitation, however, in saying
that the name and array of a college were too far in advance of
the people among whom it w’as situated. The efforts made in
it would probably have been more profitably expended in establishing
common schools among the people, in wdiich Christianity
and knowledge went hand in hand. It is far better among an
igiiorant pagan people that a hundred persons should know one
thing than that one man should know a hundred ; the M’idest
diffusion of the first elements of religion and science is most desirable.
The mission was not, however, large enough at any
one time for its members to superintend many common schools.
Among the books issued besides Bibles and tracts were a periodical
called the Indo-Chinese Gleaner, edited by Dr. Mihie ; a
translation of the Four Books, by Mr. Collie ; an edition of Premare’s
Not’dla IJngxm Srnicep^ a life of ]\Iilno, and a volume of
sermons by Morrison. The number of volumes printed in Chinese
was about half a million.
The mission at (reorgctown, in tlie island of Pcnang. like that
at Malacca, was established in 1810 by the Ldndon Missionary
Society, and continued till 1843, at which time it was suspended.
The mission at 8inga])(>i’e was commenced in Isl!) by INfr. Milton
; the colonial govei’ument granted a lot, and a chapel and
other buildings wei-e erected in the course of a few years.
Messrs. Smith and Tonilin came to the settlement in 1827, but
MISSIONS TO CHINESE IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. 325
did not remain long. Gutzlaff came over from the Dutch settlement
at lihio, but did not remain long enough to effect anything
: nor did Abeel, who came fi-om China in 1831 and left soon
after for Siam. The German missionary at this station, Thomsen,
when about to leave in 1834, sold his printing apparatus to
the mission newly established there under the American Board
by Tracy. The prospects in China appearing unpromising at
this time, it was designed by the directors of the American
society to establish a well-regulated school for both Chinese and
Malays, which was by degrees to become a seminary, and as
many primary schools as there were means to support ; besides
the usual labors in preaching and visiting, a type foundry and
printing office for manufacturing books in Chinese, Malay,
Bugis, and Siamese were also contemplated. In December,
1834, Tracy was joined by the Kev. P. Parker, M.D., who
opened a hospital in the Chinese part of the town for the
gratuitous i-elief of the sick ; in 1835 Wolfe arrived from
England, and tvVo years afterward Rev. Messrs. Dickinson,
Hope, and Travelli, and T^orth from the United States, to take
charge of the schools and printing office. The school established
by the American mission was carried on until 1844, when
the mission was removed to China and the Malay portion of it
given up.
The English mission, after the death of Wolfe in 1837, was
under the care of Messrs. Dyer and Stronach, the former of
whom had removed there from Penang and Malacca. Dyer
had been for many years engaged in preparing steel punches for
a font of movable Chinese type, and his patient labors had already
overcome the principal difficulties in the way when the
work was arrested by his death in 1843. He had, however,
finished matrices for so many characters of two fonts that the
enterprise needed only to be carried on by a practised mechanic
to assure its success. This was afterward done by Messrs. Cole
and Gamble of the American Presbyterian Board. Tn their
superior styles and the different sizes now in use wo must
not forget Dyer’s initiatory steps. .This gentleman labored
nearly seventeen years with a consecration of energy and singleness
of purpose seldom exceeded, and won the affectionate re326
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
spect of the natives wlierever lie lived. The mission was continued
until 1845, when the printing office was removed to
Hongkong, and nearly all pi’oselyting efforts in the colony by
British Christians suspended. This point of intiuence has peculiar
claims on them as a radiating centre for the various nations and
tribes which trade in Singapore.
The mission to the Chinese in Java was commenced by Slater
in 1819 and reinforced in 1822 by Medhurst, who continued in
charge of it, with some interruptions, until 1843, when he removed
to Shanghai. The Dutch churches have carried on
evangelizing work in all their colonies, aided and guided somewhat
by the government officials, but have done almost nothing
for the Chinese, except as they have been addressed in Malay.
Such labors in the Dutch colonies have been left to them, and
foreign societies have now withdrawn from the Archipelago in
a great measure. The efforts of the American missionaries
were confined to Borneo and Singapore up to 1844, when they
all removed to China. The suspicious and restrictive bearing
of the Dutch authorities toward such efforts had its influence
in making this change.
A summary of labors at the stations was given by Medhurst
in 1837, who refers in it almost exclusively to the English missionaries,
as the Americans had at that time only recently commenced
operations. ” Protestant missionaries, considering themselves
excluded from the interior of the Empire of China, and
findiuir a host of emic-rants in the various countries in the
Malayan Archipelago, aimed first to enlighten these, with the
hope that if properly instructed and influenced they would, on
their return to their native land, carry with them the gospel
they had learned and spread it among their countrymen. With
this view they established themselves in the various colonies
around China, studied the language, set up schools and seminaries,
wrote and printed books, conversed extensively with the
people, and tried to collect congregations to whom they might
preach the word of life. Since the commencement of their
missions they have translated the Holy Scriptures and printed
two thousand complete Bibles in two sizes, ten thousand Testaments
and thirty thousand separate books, and ujiward of half
THE MISSIONS WITHDRAWN. 327
a million of tracts in Chinese ; besides four thousand Testaments
and one hundred and fifty thousand tracts in the languages
of the archipelago, making about twenty millions of
printed pages. About ten thousand children have passed
through the mission schools, nearly one hundred persons have
been baptized, and several native preachers raised up, one of
whom has proclaimed the gospel to his countrymen and endured
persecution for Jesus’ sake.”
Since this was written the number of pages printed and circulated
has more than doubled, the number of scholars taught
has increased many thousands, and preaching proportionably
extended ; while a few more have professed the gospel
by baptism and a generally consistent life. All these missions,
so far as the Chinese are concerned, are now suspended,
and, unless the Dutch resume them, are not likely to be soon
revived. The greater openings in China itself, and the small
number of cpialified men ready to enter them, invited all the
laborers away from the outskirts and colonies to the borders,
and into the mother country itself. The idea entertained, that
the colonists would react upon their countrymen at home,
proved illusive ; for the converts, when they returned to dwell
among their heathen countrymen, were lost in the crowd, and
though they may not have adopted or sanctioned their old
heathen customs, were too few to work in concert and too
ignorant and unskilled to carry on such labors.’
When Robert Morrison died at Canton in 1S3-I-, the prospect
of the extension of evangelistic work among the people was
nearly as dark as when he landed ; in China itself during that
time only three assistants had come to his help, for there were
few encouragements for them to stay. Bridgman, the first missionary
from the American churches to China, in company with
D. Abeel, seaman’s chaplain at Whampoa, arrived in February,
1830. Abeel remained nearly a year, when he went to Singapore,
and subsequently to Siam. They were received in Canton
‘ Besides the regular publications of the societies engaged in this brancli of
missions wliich give authentic details, see the memoirs of Abeel, Dyer, Milne,
and Morrison, Tomlin’s Missionary Letters, and Abeel’s Residence in China and
the neighboring countries.
328 TIIK MIDDLE KIXGDOM.
by the house of Olypliaiit ik Co., in wliose establishment ono
or both were maintained during the first three years, and wliose
partners remained tlic friends and supporters of all efforts for
the evangelization of the Chinese till its close, fifty years afterward.
Bridgman took four or five boys as scholars, but his
limited accommodations prevented the enlargement of the school,
and in 183-i it was disbanded by the departure of its pupils,
whose friends feared to be involved in trouble.
During the summer of 1833 Liang A-fah distributed a large
number of books in and about Canton, a work which well suited
his inclinations. Many copies of the Scriptures and his own
tracts had reached the students assembled at the literary examinations,
when the ofiicers interfered to prevent him. In
1834 the authoriti,es ordered a search for those natives who
had ” traitorously” assisted Lord Xapier in publishing an appeal
to the Chinese, and Liang A-fah and his assistants were immediately
suspected. Two of the latter were seized, one of
whom was beaten with forty blows upon his face for refusing
to divulge ; the other made a full disclosure, and the police next
day repaired to his shop and seized three printers, with four
hundi’ed volumes and l)locks ; the men were subsequently released
by paying about eight hundred dollars. Liang A-fah
fled, and a body of police arrived at his native village to arrest
him, l)ut not finding him or his family they seized three of his
kindred and sealed up his house, lie finally nuide his way to
Macao and sailed to Singapore.
Few books were distributed after this at Canton until ten
years later, but numerous copies were circulated along the coast
as far noi’th as Tientsin, accompanied with such explanations as
could be given. The first and most interesting of these voyages
was made by Gutzlaff, on board a junk proceeding from Bangkok
to Tientsin, June 9, 1831, in which the sociable character
of the Chinese and their readiness to receive and entertain
foreignc’rs when they could do so without fear of their rulers
was plainly seen.’ After his an-ival at Macao, December 13th,
‘ For an account of a trip much like it, see Annates de la Foi, Tome VII^
p. 356.
gutzlaff’s voyages along the coast. 329
he was engaged by the enlightened chief of the English factory,
Charles Marjoribanks, as interpreter to accompany Lindsay in
the ship Lord Amherst, on an experimental commercial voyage
which occnpied about seven months (February 20 to September
5, 1832), and presented further opportunities for learning the
feelings of the Chinese officers regarding foreign intercoui’se.
Many religious and scientific books were distributed, among
which was one giving a general account of the English nation
that was eagerly received by all classes. Within a few weeks
after his return Gutzlaff started a third time, October 20tli, in
the Sylph, an opium vessel in the employ of a leading English
firm at (Janton, and went as far as Manchuria while the winds
were favorable. She returned to Macao April 29, 1833, visiting
many places on the downward trip. The interest aroused
in England and America among political, commercial, and religious
people, fifty years ago, by the reports of these three
voyages can now hardly be appreciated. They opened the prospect
of new relations with one-half of mankind, and the other
half who had long felt debarred from entering upon their rightful
fields in all these diversified interests prepared for great
efforts.
Great Ihitain took the lead in breaking down the barriers,
and the religious world urged on the work of missions. Contributions
were sent to Gutzlaff from England and America, encouraging
him to proceed, and grants were made to aid in
printing Bibles and tracts. Li 1835 he gave up his connection
with the opium trade and took the office of interpreter to the
English consular authorities on a salary of eight hundred pounds
sterling, which he retained till his death, August 9, 1851, aged
fortj’-eight. lie was a man of great industry and knowledge
of Chinese, and carried on a missionary organization at Hongkong
by means of native Christians for several years. His
publications in the Chinese, Japanese, Dutch, German, English,
Siamese, C/Ochinchinese, and Latin languages number eightyfive
in all ; they are now seldom seen.
Li 1835 Medhurst visited China, and, assisted by the house of
Olyphant & Co., embarked in the brig Huron, accompanied by
the American missionary Stevens and furnished with a supply
530 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of books. During tlie three months of the voyage, tliey ” went
through various parts of four provinces and many villages, giving
away about eighteeTi thousand volumes, of which six thousand
were portions of the Scriptures, among a cheerful and
willing people, without meeting with the least aggression or injury
; having been always received by the people with a cheerful
smile, and most genei-ally by the officers with politeness and
respect.”‘ Medhurst’s ability to sj)eak the Amoy dialect introduced
him to the peo})le in the junks at all the ports on the
coast. Years after this voyage the Methodist missionaries at
Fuhchau found that some of the books given away on Ilaitan
Island had been read and rememl)ered, and thus j^repared the
people there for listening to further preaching.
The most expensive enterprise for this object was set on foot
in 1830, and few efforts to advance the cause of religion among
the Chinese have been planned on a scale of greater liberality.
The brig Himmaleh was purchased in ISTew York by the firm of
Talbot, Olyphant & Co., principally for the pui-pose of aiding
missionaries in circulating religious books on the coasts of
China and the neighboring countries, and arrived in August,
183G. Gutzlaff, who was then engaged as interpreter to the
English authorities, declined going in her, because in that case
he must resign his commission, and there was no other missionary
in China acquainted with the dialects spoken on the coast.
The brig remained unemployed, therefore, until December,
when she was dispatched on a cruise among the islands of the
archipelago under the direction of Mr. Stevens, accompanied
by G. T. Lay, agent of the Ih-itish and Foreign Bible Society,
recently arrived. This decision of Gutzlaif, who had again and
again urged such a measure, and had himself ceased his voyages
on the coast because of his implied connection thereby with the
opium trade, was quite unexpected. The death of Mr. Stevens
at Singapore, in January, threw the chief responsibility and direction
of the undertaking upon Capt. Fi’azer, who seems to
have been poorly qualified for any other than the maritime
part. Kev. Messrs. Dickinson and Wolfe went in Stevens’
place, but as none of these gentlemen understood the Malayan
language, less direct intercourse was had with the people at the
THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS. 331
places where they stopped than was anticipated. The Himiiialeh
reached China in July, 183T, and as there was no one
qualiiied to go in her, she returned to the Ignited States. An
account of the voyage was written by Lay and published
in Xew York, in connection M’ith that of the ship Morrison to
Japan in August, 1837, by C. W. King, of the tirni of Olyphant
& Co., under whose direction the trip of the latter was
taken for the purpose of restoring seven shipwrecked Japanese
to their native land. Gutzlaff accompanied this vessel as interpreter,
for three of the men were under the orders of the
English superintendent ; the expedition failed in its object, and
all the men were brought back. Probably fifty thousaud books
in all were scattered on the coast in these and other voyages,
and more than double that number about Canton, Macao, and
their vicinity.
This promiscuous distribution of books has been criticised by
some as injudicious and little calculated to advance the objects
of a Christian mission. The funds expended in printing and
circulating books, it was said by these critics, who have never undertaken
aught themselves, could have been nnich better employed
in establishing schools. To scatter books broadcast
among a people whose ability to read them was not ascertained,
and under circumstances which prevented any explanation of
the design in giving them or inquiries as to the effects produced,
was not, at first view, a very wdse or promising course.
But it must be remembered that prior to the treaty of Nanking
this was the only means of appi’oaching the people of the
country. The Emperor forbade foreigners residing in his borders
except at Canton, and Protestant missionaries did not believe
that it was the best means of recommending their teachings
to come before his subjects as persistent violators of his laws
;
God’s providence would open the way when the laborers M’ere
ready, Xo one supposed that the desire to receive books was
an index of the ability of the people to understand them or
love of the doctrines contained in them. If the plan offered a
reasonable probability of effecting some good, it certainly could
do almost no harm, for the respect for printed books assured
us that they would not be wantonly destroyed, but rather, in
332 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
most cases, carefully preserved. The business of tract distribution
and colportage may, however, be carried too far in advance
of other parts of missionary work. It is much easier
to write, print, and give away religious treatises, than it is
to sit down with the people and explain the leading truths
of the Bible ; but the two go well together among those who
can read, and in no nation is it more desirable that they should
be combined. If the books be given away without explanation,
the people do not understand the object and feel too little
interest in them to take the trouble to find out ; if the preacher
deliver an intelligible discourse, his audience will probably
remember its general purjwrt, but they will be likely to read
the book with more attention and understand the sermon
better when the two are combined ; the voice explains the
book and the book recalls the ideas and teachings of the
preacher.
It is not surprising that the fate of these books cannot be
traced, for that is true of such labors in other lands. On the
one hand, they have been seen on the counters of shops cut in
two for wra})})ing up medicines and fruit—which the shopman
would not do with the worst of his own Ijooks ; on llie other, a
copy of a gospel containing remarks was found on board the
adniirars junk at Tinghai, when that town was taken by the
English in 1840. Tliey certainly have not all been lost or contemptuously
destroyed, though perhaps most have been like
seed sown by the wayside. In missions, as in other things, it
is impossil)le to predict the result of several courses of action
before trying them ; and if it was believed that many of those
who receive books can read them, there was a strong inducement
to press this branch of labor, when, too, it was the only
one which could be brought to bear upon large portions of the
people.
In 1832 the Chinese Itepository was commenced by Bridgman
and encouraged by Morrison, who, with his son, continued
to furnish valual)le papers and translations as long as they lived.
Its object was to diffuse correct information concerning China,
while it foi-med a convenient rcjiertoiy of the essays, travels,
translations, and papers uf contriljutors. It was issued monthly
A MISSION HOSPITAL AT CANTON. 333
for twenty years under the editorship of Messrs. Bridgnian and
AVillianis, and contains a history of foreign intercourse and missions
during its existence. Tlie Chinese Recorder lias since
chronicled the latter cause and the China Review taken the
literary branch.
In 1834 Dr. Parker joined the mission at Canton, and opened
a hospital, in October, 1835, for the gratuitous relief of such
diseases among the Chinese as his time and means would allow,
devoting his attention chiefly to ophthalmic cases and surgical
operations. This branch of Christian benevolence was already
not unknown in China. Morrison in 1820 had, in connection
with Dr. Livingstone, commenced dispensing medicines at
Macao, while T. R. Colledge, also of the East India Company,
opened a dispensary at his own expense, in 1827, and finding
the number of patients rapidly increasing, he rented two small
houses at Macao, where in four years more than four thousand
patients were cured or relieved. The benevolent design was
encouraged by the foreign community, and about six thousand
five hundred dollars were contributed, so that it was, after the
first year, no other expense to the founder than giving his time
and strength. It was unavoidably closed in 1832, and a philanthropic
Swede, Sir Andrew Ljungstedt, prepared a short account
of its operations, and inserted several letters written to Dr. Colledge,
one of which is here quoted :
To knock head and tliank the great Englisli (hiotor. Venerahle gentleman :
May your groves of almond trees be abundant, and the orange trees make tlie
water of your well fragrant. As lieretofore, may you be made known to tlie
world as illustrious and brilliant, and as a most profound and skilful doctor.
I last year arrived in Macao blind in both eyes ; I liave to tliank you, venerable
sir, for having by your excellent methods cured me perfectly. Your
goodness is as lofty as a hill, your virtue deep as the sea; therefore all my
family will express their gratitude for your now-creating goodness. Now I
am desirous of returning home. Your profound kindness it is impossible for
me to requite ; I feel extremely ashamed of myself for it. I am grateful for
your favors, and shall think of them without ceasing. Moreover, I am certain
that since you have been a benefactor to the world and your good government
is spread abroad, heaven must surely grant you a long life, and you will enjoy
every happiness. I return to my mean province. Your illustrious name,
venerable sir, will extend to all time ; during a thousand ages it will not decay.
I return thanks for your great kindness. Impotent are my words to sound
your fame and to express my thanks. I wish you i!verlasting tranquillity.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Presented to the great Englisli doctor and noble gentleman ia the lltli year ol
Taukwang, by Ho Shuh, of the district of Chau-ngan, in the department of
Changchau in Fuhkien, who knocks head and presents thanks.
Another patient, in true Chinese style, returned thanks for
the aid he had received in a poetical effusion :
This I address to the English physician : condescend, sir, to look upon it.
Diseased in my eyes, I had almost lost my sight, when happily, sir, I met witli
you. You gave me medicine ; you applied the knife ; and, as when the clouds
are swept away, now again I behold the azure heavens. My joys know no
bounds. As a faint token of my feelings, I have composed a stanza in heptameter,
which, with a few trifling presents, I beg you will be pleased to accept.
Then happy, happy shall I be
!
He lavishes his blessings, but seeks for no return
;
Such medicine, such physician, since Tsin were never known
:
The medicine—how many kinds most excellent has he !
The surgeon’s knife— it pierced the eye. and spring once more I see.
If Tung has not been born again to bless the present age,
Then sure ’tis Sii reanimate again upon the stage.
Whenever called away from far, to see your native land,
A living monument I’ll wait upon the ocean’s strand.
When Dr. Parker\s scheme was made known to Howqna, the
hono; merchant, he readily fell in with it and let his huilding
for the purpose, and after the first year gave it rent free till its
destruction in 1856. It was opened for the admission of patients
Xovend)er 4, 1835. The peculiar circumstances nnder
which this enterprise was started imposed some caution on its
superintendent, and the hong merchants themselves seem to
have had a hu’king suspicion that so ])ui’ely a henevolent object,
involving so mnch expense of timt\ laboi’, and moiiev, must
have some latent object which it l)ehooved them to watch. A
linguist’s clei’k was often in attendance, partly for this purpose,
for three or fonr years, and made liimself very useful. The
patients, who numbered about a hundred daily, were often i-estless,
and hindered their own relief by not patienth’ awaiting
their turn ; but the habits of order in which they are trained
made even such a company amenable to rules. The surgical
operations attracted nnicli notice, and successful cui-es were
spoken of abroad and served to advertise and recommend the
institution to the hi<i;her ranks of native societv. It is difficult
SUCCESS OF Parker’s medical scheme. 33^5
at this date to full}- appreciate the extraordinary ignorance and
prejudice respectin<^ foreigners wliicli tlie Chinese tlien entertained,
and which could be best removed by some such form of
benevolence. On the other hand, the repeated instances of
kind feeling between friends and relatives exhibited among the
patients, tender solicitude of j)arents for the relief of children,
and the fortitude shown in bearing the severest operations, or
faith in taking unknown medicines from the foreigners’ hands,
all tended to elevate the character of the Chinese in the opinion
of every beholder, as their unfeigned gratitude for restored
health increased his esteem.
The reports of this hospital in Sin-tau-lan Street gave the
requisite information as to its operations, and means were taken
to place the whole system upon a surer footing by forming a
society in China. Suggestions for this object were circulated
in October, 1836, signed by Messrs. Colledge, Parker, and
Bridgman, in which the motives for such a step and the good
effects likely to result from it were thus explained
:
We cannot close these siiggestions without adverting to one idea, thougli
this is not the place to enlarge upon it. It is affecting to contemplate this
Empire, embracing three hundred and sixty millions of souls, where almost
all the light of true science is unknown, where Christianity has ncdredy shed
one genial ray, and where the theories concerning matter and mind, creation
and providence, are wofully destitute of truth ; it is deeply affecting to see the
multitudes who are here suffering under maladies from which the hand of
(diarity is able to relieve them. Now we know, indeed, that it is the glorious
gospel of the l)lessed God onl}’ that can set free the human mind, and that it
is only when enlightened in the true knowledge of God that man is rendered
capable of rising to his true intellectual elevation ; but while we take care to
give this truth the high place which it ought ever to hold, we should beware
of depreciating other truth. In the vast conflict which is to i-evolutionize the
intellectual and moral world, we may not underrate the value of any weai^on.
As a means, then, to waken the dormant mind of China, may we not place a
high value upon medical truth, and seek its introduction with good hope of
its becoming the liandmaid of religious truth ? If an inquiry after truth upon
any subject is elicited, is there not a great point gained ‘? And that inquiry
after medical truth may be provoked, there is good reason to expect ; for, exclusive
as China is in all her systems, she cannot exclude disease nor shut her
people up from the desire of relief. Does not, then, the finger of Providence
point clearly to one way that we should take with the people of China, directing
us to seek the introduction of the remedies for sin itself by the same door
througli which we convey those which are designed to mitigate or remove its
336 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
evils ? Although medical truths cauuot restore the sick and afflicted to the
favor of God, yet perchance the spirit of inquiry about it once awakened
will not sleep till it inquires about the source of truth ; and he who comes
with the blessings of health may prove an angel of mercy to point to the Lamb
of God. At any rate, this seems the only open door ; let us enter it. A faith
that worketh not may wait for other doors. Xcfne can deny that tlii.-i is a way
of charity that worketh no ill, and our duty to walk in it seems plain and
imperative.’
This paper was favorably received, and in Februarj’, 1838, a
public meeting was convened at Canton for the purpose of
forming a society, ” tlie object of which shall be to encourage
gentlemen of the medical profession to come and practise gratuitously
among the Chinese by aifording the usual aid of hospitals,
medicines, and attendants ; but that the support or remuneration
of such medical gentlemen be not at present within
its contemplation.” Some other rules were laid down, but the
principle here stated has been since adhered to in all the similar
establishments opened in other places. It has served, moreover,
to retain them under the oversight and their resident physicians
in the employ of missionary societies. Xo directions were
given by the framers of the first society concerning the mode
of imparting religious instruction, distributing tracts, or doing
missionary work as they had opportunity. The signers of the
original paper of suggestions also issued an address, further
setting forth their views and expectations:
To restore health, to ease pain, or in any way to diminish the sum of
human misery, forms an object worthy of the philanthrojiist. But in the
prosecution of our views we look forward to far higher results than the mere
relief of human suffering. We hope that our endeavors will tend to break
down the walls of prejudice and long-cherished nationality of feeling, and to
teach the Chinese that those whom they affect to despise are both able and
willing to become their benefactors. They shut the door against the teachers
of the gospel ; they find our books often written in idioms which they cannot
readily understand ; and they have laid such restrictions upon commerce that
it does not awaken among thein that love of science, that spirit of invention,
and that love of thought which it uniformly excites and fosters whenever it
is allowed to take its own cour.se without limit or interference. In the way of
doing them good our opportunities are few ; but among these that of practis-
‘ Chinese Repositoi’y, Vol. V., p. 372; Vol. VII., pp. 33-40. Lockhart’s Med’
iciU Missionary in China, 18G1, p. 134.
FORMATION OF MEDICAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 337
ing medicine and surgery stands pre-eminent. Favorable results have hitherto
followed it, and will still continue to do so. It is a department of benevolence
peculiarly adai)ti’d to China.
In the depaitnieut of benevolence to which our attention is now turned,
purity and disinterestedness of motive are more clearly evinced than in any
other. They appear unmasked ; they attract the gaze and excite the admiration
and gratitude of thousands, llcul the nirk is our motto, constituting alike
the injunction under which we act and tlie object at which we aim ; and
which, with the blessing of God, we hope to accomplish by means of scientific
practice in the exercise of an unbought and untiring kindness. We have
called ours a missionary society because we trust it will advance the cause of
missions, and because we want men to fill our institutions wlio to requisite
skill and experience add the self-denial and liigh moral qualities which are
looked for in a missionary.
The undertaking so auspiciously begun at Canton, in 1835,
has been carried on ever since, and was the pattern of many
similar hospitals at the stations afterward occupied. The
greatest part of the funds needed for carrying tliem on has
been contributed in China itself by foreigners, wlio certainly
would not have done so had they not felt that it was a wise and
useful charity, and known something of the way their funds
were employed. The hospital at Canton has exceeded even the
hopes of its founders, and its many buildings and wards attest
the liberality of the community which presented them to the
society. The native rulers, gentry, and merchants are now
well acquainted with the institution, and contribute to carry it
on. During the forty-five years of its existence it has been
conducted by Drs. Parker and Kerr nearly all the time, who
have relieved about seven hundred and fifty thousand patients
entered on the books ; tlie outlay has been over one hundred
and twenty-five thousand dollars. Several dispensaries in the
country have also been carried on with the society’s grants in
aid. A separate hospital was conducted in Canton from 1846
to 1856 by B. Ilobson, F.R.C.S., who iias left an enduring
record of his labors in eighteen medical works in Chinese,
many of them illustrated. J. G. Kerr, M.D., has also issued
several small treatises, and the publications of this kind in
Chinese suitable for the people, issued by them and other missionary
physicians, already number nearly fifty.
In these details of the inception of the plan of combining
Vol. II.—22
338 THE MIDDLE KINGDO^F.
medical labors witli the work of Cliristian missions in China,
it will be seen how the confined position of foreigners at Canton
proved to be an incentive and an aid to its prosecution for
some years—lo7ig enough to show its place and fitness. On
the cessation of hostilities between China and tireat Britain in
1842, other fields were opened, wliere its benefits were even
more strongly shown. The war had left the people amazed
and irritated at what they deemed to be a causeless and unjust
attack by superior power. This was the case at Amoy, where no
foreigners had lived until the British army took possession in
August, 1841. In February, 1842, Eevs. D. x\beel and W. J.
Boone went there and made the acquaintance of the people on
Kulang su, who were much pleased to meet with those who
could converse with them and answer their inquiries. Di-.
Gumming was able, by their assistance, as soon as he opened
his dispensary, to inform the people of his designs ; and the
missionaries, on their part, preached the gospel to the patients,
distributing in addition suitable books. The people were so
ready to accept tlic proffenid relief that it was soon impossible
for one man to do more than wait upon the blind, lame, diseased,
and injured who thi-onged his doors. A few months
more equally proved that while the phj^sician was attending
to the patients in one room, the preacher could not ask for a
better audience than those who were waiting in the adjoining
one. An invitation to attend more formal services on the
Sabbath was soon accepted by a few, whose curiosity led them
to come and hear more of foreigners and their teachings. The
reputation of the hospital was seen when taking short excursions
in the vicinity, for persons M’ho had been relieved constantly
came forward to express their heartfelt thanks. Thus
suspicion gave way to gratitude, enemies were converted to
friends, and those who had enjoyed no opportnnity of learning
the character of foreigners, and had been taught to regard
them as barbarians and demons, were disabused of tlicir (M-ior.
The favorable impression thus made at Amoy, forty years ago,
has never been suspended, and numerous native chnrchos have
been gathered in all that region. Just the same uuicn of
pi’eaching and practice was begun at iShaughai by Dr. W.
POPULARITY AND INCREASE OF HOSPITAL WORK. 339
Lockliart after the capture of that city in 1844, and has been
continued to this time. Ningpo and Fuhcliau received similar
benefits soon after ; tliese and many others have received aid
fi’om foreigners residing in the Empire. Several thousand
dollars were sent from Great Britain and the United States to
further the object, and one society was formed in Edinburgh
in 1S56 to develop this branch of missionary work.
The proposition in the original scheme of educating Chinese
youth as physicians and surgeons has not been carried out to a
great extent. The practising missionary has hardl}^ the time
to do his students justice, and unless they show great aptitude
for operations, the assistants get M^eary of the I’outine of attending
to the patients and go away. Dr. Lockhart speaks of
his own disappointments in this I’espect. Dr. Parker had only
one pupil, Kwan A-to, who took up the profession among his
countrymen. Dr. Wong A-fun received a complete medical
education in Edinburgh, and rendered efficient help for many
years in the hospital at Canton till his death. The college at
Peking has now a chair of anatomy and physiology, which will
aid in introducing better practice. Dr. Kerr gives some other
reasons for the small number of skilled physicians educated
in the missionary hospitals, yet some of his pupils had obtained
lucrative practice. Others had imposed themselves in
remote places on the people as such, who had only been employed
as students a few months—a gratifying index of progress.
It is not likely, however, that the Chinese generally
will immediately discard their own mode of practice and adopt
another from their countrymen so far as to support them in
their new system. They have not enough knowledge of medicine
to appreciate the difference between science and charlatanism
; and a native physician himself might reasonably
have fears of the legal or personal results of an unsuccessful or
doubtful surgical case among his ignorant patients, so far as
often to prevent him trying it.
The successive annual reports issued from the various missionary hospitals in China furnish the amplest information concerning their management, and numerous particulars respecting the people who resort to them. At the Missionary Conference in Shanghai (1877) Drs. KeiT and (iould presented papers relating to this branch of labor in all its various aspects. The latter discussed the advantages of hospital versus itinerary practice ; the modes of bringing the patients under religious instruction: how to limit their number so as to not wear out the physician; oversight of assistants and education of pupils; how far this gratuitous relief should be extended; what was the best mode of getting a fee from those natives who were able to pay something; and, finally, the reasons for not uniting the ministerial functions with the medical. These various points show clearly how the experience of past years had manifested the wisdom and foresight of those who originated the work, and the manner it has developed in connection with other branches. If kept as an auxiliary agency, there seems to be no reason for reducing the efforts now made by foreign societies until native physicians and surgeons are able to take up this work, just as native preachers are to oversee their own churches.
Another benevolent society, whose name and object was the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China, was established in December, 1834. The designs of the association were ” by all means in its power to prepare and publish, in a cheap form, plain and easy treatises in the Chinese language, on such branches of useful knowledge as are suited to the existing state and condition of the Chinese Empire.” It published six or eight works and a magazine during the few years of its existence, and their number would have been larger if there had been more persons capable of writing treatises. Since then this kind of mission work has been taken up by various agencies better fitted to develop its several departments, and, excepting newspapers, the preparation of suitable histories,
geographies, and scientific books has been done by Protestant
missionaries. The Chinese government has directed its employes
in the ai’senal schools to translate such works as will
fm-nish the scholars with good elementary books.
Their usefulness as aids and precursors of the introduction
of the gospel is very great. Among a less intelligent population
they are not so important until the people get a taste for
knowledge in schools ; but where the conceit of false learning
SOCIETY FOR DIFFUSION OF USEFML KNOWLEDGE. 341
and pride of literary uttaininents cause such a contempt for all
other than their own l)ooks, as is the case in Chinese society,
entertaining narratives and notices of otlier people and lands,
got up in an attractive form, tend to disabuse them of these
ideas (the offspring of arrogant ignorance rather than deliberate
rejection) and incite them to learn and read more. The
influence of newspapers and other periodical literature will be
very great among the Chinese when they begin to think for
themselves on the great truths and principles which are now
being introduced among them. They have already begun to
discuss political topics, and the great advantage of movable
tj’pes over the old blocks tends to hasten the adoption of
foreign modes of printing. It may, by some, be considered as
not the business of a missionary to edit a newspaper ; but those
who are ac(|uainted with the debased hiertness of heathen
minds know that any means which will convey truth and
arouse the people tends to advance religion. The influence
of the Dnyanodya in Bombay, and other kindred publications
in various places hi India, is great and good ; hundreds of the
people read them and then talk about the subjects treated in
them, who would neither attend religious meetings, look at the
Scriptures, nor have a tract in their possession. The same will
be the case in China, and it is not irrelevant to the work of a
missionary to adopt such a mode of imparting truths, if it be
the most likely way of reaching the prejudiced, proud, and
ignorant people around him. When the native religious community
has begun to take form, this mode of instruction and
disputation will be left to its most intelligent members.
In January, 1835, the foreign community in China established a third association, which originated entirely with a few of its leading members. Soon after the death of Dr. Morrison, a paper was circulated containing suggestions for the formation of an association to be called the Morrison Education Society, intended both as a testimonial of the worth and labors of that excellent man, more enduring than marble or brass, and a means of continuing his efforts for the good of China. A provisional committee was formed from among the subscribers to this paper, consisting of Sir G. 13. Robinson, Bart., Messrs. W. Jardine, D. W. C. Olypliant, Lancelot Dent, J. 11. Morrison, and Rev. E. C. Bridgnian ; live thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven dollars were immediately subscribed, and about one thousand five hundred volumes of books presented to its library. This liberal spirit for the welfare of the people among whom they sojourned reflected the highest credit on the gentlemen interested in it, as well as upon the whole foreign community, inasmuch as, with only four or five exceptions, none of them were united to the ‘jountry by other than temporary business relations.
The main objects of the Morrison Education Society were ^’ the establishment and improvement of schools in which Chinese youth shall be taught to read and write the English language in connection with their own, by which means shall be brought within their reach all the instruction rc(piisite for their becoming wise, industrious, sober, and virtuous members of society, fitted in their respective stations of life to discharge well the duties which they owe to themselves, their kindred, their country, and their (iod.” The means of accomplishing this end by gathering a library, employing competent teachers, and encouraging native schools were all pointed out in this programme of labors, whose comprehensiveness was ecpialled only by its phi-]anthroj)y. Applications were made for teachers both in England and America ; from the former, an answer was received that
there was no likelihood of obtaining one ; a person was selected
in the latter, the Tlev. S. II. Brown, who with his wife arrived
at Macao in February, 1839. In the interval between the formation
of the Society and the time when its operations assumed
a definite shape in its own schools, something was done in collecting
information concerning native education and in supporting
a few boys, or assisting Mrs. Gutzlaff’s school at Macao.
THE MOKRISOlsr EDUCATION SOCIETY. 343
The Society’s school was opened at Macao in November, 1839, with six scholars ; four years afterward it removed to INforrison Hill in Hongkong, into the connnodious quarters erected by its president, Lancelot Dent, on a site granted by the colonial government for the purpose. In 181-5 Brown had thirty pupils, who filled all the room there was in the house. He stated in his report of that year, as a gratifying evidence of confidence on their part, that no parent had asked to have his child leave during the year. ” When the school was coMiinenced,” observes Mr. Brown, ” few offered their sons as pupils, and even they, as some of them have since told me, did it with a good deal of apprehension as to the consequences. ‘ We could not understand,’ says one who first brought a boy to the school, ‘ why a
foreigner should wish to feed and instruct our children for nothing.
We thought there must be some sinister motive at the bottom
of it. Perhaps it was to entice them away from their parents
and country, and transport them by and by to some foreign
land.’ At all events, it was a mystery. ‘ But now,’ said the
same father to me a few weeks ago, ‘ I understand it. I have
had my three sons in your school steadily since they entered it,
and no harm has happened to them. The eldest has been qualified
for service as an interpreter. The other two have learned
nothing bad. The religion you have taught them, and of which
1 was so much afraid, has made them better, I myself believe
its truth, though the customs of my country forbid my embracing
it. I have no longer any fear ; you labor for others’ good, not
your own. I understand it now.’ “
This suspicion was not surprising, considering the connnon
estimate of foreigners among the people, and indicates that it
was high time to attempt something Avorthy of the Christianity
which they professed. The scliool was conducted as it would
have been if removed to a town in Xew England ; and when its
pupils left they were fitted for taking a high rank in their own
country. Their attachment to their teacher was great. One
instance is taken from the fourth report : ” Last spring the
father of one in the older class came to the house and told his
son that he could not let him remain here any longer but that
he must put him out to service and make him earn something.
His father is a poor miserable man, besotted by the use of opium,
and has sold his two daughter into slavery to raise money. The
boy ran away to his instructor and told him what his father
liad said, adding, ‘I cannot go.’ Willing to ascertain the sincerity
of the boy and the strength of his attachment to his
friends, his teacher coolly replied, ‘ Perhaps it will be well for
yon to go, for probably you could be a table-boy in some gentleman’s house and so get two dollars a month, which is two more than jou get here, where only your food is given yon.’ The little fellow looked at him steadily while he made these remarks, as if amazed at the strange language he used, and when he had done, turned hastily about and burst into tears, exclaiming, ‘ 1 cannot go ; if I go away from this school I shall be lost.’ He did not leave, for his father did not wish to force him away.”
Another case shows the contidence of a parent on the occasion
of the death of one of the pupils, his only child : ” He heard
of his son’s illness too late to arrive before he died, and when he
caiue it was to bury his remains. He was naturally overwhelmed
with grief at the affliction that had come upon him, and his apprehensions
of the effect of the tidings upon the boy’s mother
were gloomy enough. After the funeral was over, I conversed
with him. To my surprise he made not the least complaint as
to what had been done for the sick lad, either in the “way of
medical treatment or otherwise, but expressed many thanks for
the kind and assiduous attentions that liad been l)estowcd upon
him. He said he had entertained great hope of his son’s future
usefulness, and in order to promote it had placed him here at
school. But now his family would end in liimself. I showed
him some specimens of his son’s drawing, an annisement of
which he was particularly fond. The tears gushed faster as his
eyes rested on these evidences of his son’s skill. ‘Do not show
them tome,’ said he; ‘it is too much. I cannot speak now. I
know you have done well to my son. I pity yon, for all your
labor is lost.’ I assured him I did not think so. He had been
a very diligent and obedient learner, and had won the esteem of
his teachers and companions. He had been taught concerning
the true drod and the way of salvation, and it might have done
him everlastin<; ijood. As the old man was leavinc; me, he
turned and asked if, in case he should adopt another boy, I
would receive him as a pupil, to which I replied in the affirmative.”
An assistant teacher, Wm. A. Macy, joined Mr. Brown in
184G; the latter returned to America in 1847, and the school
was closed in 184J>, owing chiei^y to the departure of its early
patrons from China and the opening of new ])orts of trade,
scattering the foreign comnnmity so that funds could not be
ITS SUCCESSFUL OPERATION. 345
obtained. Mission societies began to enlarge their work at
tliese ports and occupy the same department of education as
tlie Morrison School. It, however, did a good work in its education
of half a score of men who now fill high places in their
country’s service, or occupy posts of usefulness most honorably
to themselves. The boy mentioned in a previous paragraph
afterward went through a medical course at Edinbui-gh, became
a practising surgeon and physician at Canton, and died there in
1878, honored by foreigners and natives during a life of usefulness
and benevolence. In that year Mr. Brown visited
China for his health, and M’as received hy this Dr. Wong and
others of his old pupils with marks of regard honorable and
gratifying to both ; they fitted up a house there for him, presented
him Avith a beautiful piece of silver plate, and paid his
passage up to Peking and back to Shanghai.
The efforts of Protestants for the evangelization of China
were largely of a preparatory nature until the j-ear 1842. Most
of the laborers were stationed out of China, and those in the
Empire itself were unable to pursue their designs without many
embarrassments. Mrs. Gutzlaff experienced many obstacles in
her endeavors to collect a school at Macao, partly from the
fears of the parents and the harassing inquiries of the police,
the latter of which naturally increased the former ; partly again
from the short period the parents were M’illing to allow
their children to remain. The Portuguese clergy and government
of Macao have done nothing themselves to impede Protestant
missionaries in their labors in the colony since 1833,
when the governor ordered the Albion press, belonging to Dr.
Morrison’s son, to be stopped, on account of his publishing a
religious newspaper called the Miscellanea /Sinicw / and this he
was encouraged to do from knowing that the East India Company
was opposed to its continuance. The governor intimated
to one of the American missionaries in 1839 that no tracts
nnist be distributed or public congregations gathered in the colony,
but no objection would be made to audiences collected in
his own house for instruction. Xo obstacle was put in the way
of printing, and the press that was interdicted in 1833 was carried
back to Macao in 1835, after the dissolution of the East India Company, under the diiection of the American mission. Several aids in the study of the Chinese language were issued from it during the nine years it was there under the author’s charge.
The city of Canton was long in China one of the most unpromising
fields for missionai-y labors, not alone when it was
the only one in the Empire, but until recently. This was owins
to several causes. The pui-suits of foreigners were limited
to trade. Their residence was confined to an area of a few
acres held by the guild of hong merchants allowed to trade with
them, and all intercourse was carried on in the jargon known as
Pi(Jeon-English. They were systematically degraded by the
native rulers in the eyes of the people, who knew no other appellation
for the strangers than fan-kicei^ or ‘ foreign devil.’
The opium war of 1839-42 had aroused the worst passions of
the Cantonese, and their conceit had been increased by the unsuccessful
attempts to take the city in 1841 and 1847 by the
English forces. Since 1858 the citizens have been accessible to
other infiuences, and learned that their isolation and ignorance
brought calamity on themselves.
When Morrison died, Dr. Bridgman and the writer of these
pages were the oidy fellow-laborers belonging to any missionary
society then in China; the Christian church formed in 1835
contained only three members. It was indeed a day of small
things, but from henceforth grew more and more bright. The
contrast even in twelve years is thus described in Dr. llobson’s
report of his hospital ; the extract shows the little freedom then
enjoj^ed in comparison with what it now is, nearly forty years
after:
MISSIOX AT CANTON. 347
The average attendance of Chinese has been over a hundred, and nono have been more respectful and cordial in their attention than those in whom aneurism has been cured or sight restored, from whom the tumor has been extirpated or the stone extracted. These services must be witnessed to understand fully their interest. Deep emotions have been awakened when contrasting the restrictions of the first years of Protestant missions in China with the present freedom. Then, not permitted to avow our missionary character and object lest it might eject us from the country; nor could a Chinese receive a Christian book but at the peril of his safety, or embrace that religion without hazarding his life. Now he may receive and practise the doctrines of Christ, and transgress no law of the Empire. Onr interest may he more easily conceived than expressed as we have declared the truths of the gospel, or when looking upon the evangelist Liang A-fah, and thought of him fleeing for his life and long banished from his native land, and now ruturned to declare boldly the truths of the gospel in the city from which he had fled. Well did he call upon his audience to worship and give thanks to the God of heaven and earth for what he had done for them. With happy effect he dwelt upon the Saviour’s life and example, and pointing to the paintings suspended on the walls of the room, informed his auditors that these were performed by his blessing and in conformity to his precepts and example. Portions of the Scriptures and religious tracts are given to all the hearers on the Sabbath, and likewise to all the patients during the week, so that thousands of volumes have been sent forth from the hospital to scores of villages and to distant provinces.
Before the capture of the city the people had become quite friendly to all missionary labors, through the ameliorating influences of the hospitals. While the city was beleaguered by the insin-gents in 1S55, the wounded soldiers were attended to by Dr. Hobson, who sometimes had his house full. After Canton was occupied by the allies in 1858 there was an enlargement of mission work in the city and envh-ons, which has been growing in depth and extent till the changes draw the attention of the most casual observer. Foreigners are now seldom addressed £LS yan-hvei, and their excursions into the country and along the streams are made in safety. The Germans have established
stations in many places between Canton and Hongkong,
and easterly along the river up to I\ia-ying, where the
people are more turbulent than around the city or toward the
west.
The occupation of Hongkong in 1841 induced the American
Baptists to make it a station immediately, and Messrs. Roberts
and Shuck began the mission work, followed by the London
Mission two years after, when Dr. Legge removed there from
Malacca. The Roman Catholic missionaries also moved over
from Macao at the earliest date. The colonial authorities in
time began a system of common schools for all their subjects, so
that mission schools have been less necessary since that date,
but are still opened to some extent. The benevolent labors by
German, British, and American missionaries in Plongkong and
its vicinity have been zealously carried on in harmony, and there are fully fifty separate stations on the mainland northerly from the island which are worked from this colony. The number in the whole province of Kwangtung amounts to more than seventy-five, all of them efficiently established since 1858.
The mission at Amoy was commenced in 1842 by Messrs.
Abeel and Boone under the most favorable auspices. Tlie
English expedition took that city in August, 1841, and on leaving
it stationed a small naval and military force on the island
of Kulang su. The people of Anio}’ and its environs cared perhaps
little for the merits of the war then raging, but they knew
that they had suffered much from it, and no intei-j^reters were
available to carry on communication between the two parties.
Both these gentlemen could converse in the local dialect, and
were soon applied to by many desirous of learning something of
the foreigners or who had business with them. The Chinese
authorities were also pleased to obtain the aid of competent interpreters, and the good opinion of these dignitai-ies exercised considerable influence in inducing the people to attend upon the ministrations of the missionaries. Both officers and ]n-ivate gentlemen invited them to their residences, where they had opportunity to answer their reasonable inquiries concerning foreign
lands and customs, and convey an outline of the Christian
faith. One of these officers was Sen Ki-yu, afterward governor
of the province and author of the Jlmj Ilwan CIn Lioh, in
which he mentions Abeel’s name and speaks of his indebtedness
to him in preparing that work. The number of books given
away was not great, but part of every day was spent in talking
with the people; when the hospital was opened by Dr. Cumming,
greater facilities were afforded for intercourse. The iri’itation
caused by what the people naturally looked upon as an unprovoked
outrage was gradually allayed. There had been no long
education of intercommunication between natives and foreigners
in Amoy as at Canton. The work so pleasantly begun in 1842 in
Kulang su lias extended over most parts of the province of
Fuhkien, and westward into the prefecture of Chauchau in
Kwangtung. There are more converts, native pastors, and
schools in this province than any other in China.
MISSIONS IlSr AMOY AND FUHCHAU. o49
Its capital was never visited by a foreign enemy, nor did it siiflFer from the Tai-ping rebels, so that the gentry of Fuhchau have never been scattered nor their influence broken, like those of many other provincial centres. The mission work was commenced there in 1847 by Kev. Stephen Johnson, from Bangkok, who was soon joined by other American and English colleagues. He speaks of the great prejudices against all foreigners among the citizens in consequence of the evil effects of opium-smoking, which destroyed the people who would not cease to buy it. An experience of thirty years has not altogether removed this dislike, which even lately found an opportunity to exhibit itself in removing the Church Missionary Society’s mission from the Wu-shih Hill, where it had rented buildings for that period and ” injured the good luck of the city.” These prejudices will gradually give way with a new generation of scholars and merchants, and we can afford to be patient with them when we reflect on their slow progress in other things.
The American Board, American Methodist, and Church Missionary
Societies have each extended their stations beyond the
city into the country almost to the borders of Chehkiang and
Kiangsf, occupying in all nearly two hundred localities with
their assistants. Besides these agencies, the China Inland mission
has occupied three cities on the eastern coast and about
sixteen other stations. The whole number of places in the
province of Fuhkien where Protestants have opened their woi k
in one form and another is now over two hundred and fifty,
under seven separate societies. In most of these towns the
good will of the people has remained with them when their objects
have been fully imderstood ; and the contrasts of destroying
their chapels or book-shops, as at Ivien-ning, have been found tt)
be mixed up with other causes. Since the year 18G3 the island
of Formosa has been occupied by two or three British societies,
and the work of their missionaries in the cliief towns has been
greatly prospered. Dr. Maxwell has carried on his hospital at
Taiwan with eminent success as a means of winning the good
opinion of suspicious natives and aborigines and inclining them
to listen to the gospel. Native churches have been gathered in
various parts remote from the coast, and thirty-five stations are
now worked by the two British societies which have taken up this field. This progress has not been without opposition, for two of the converts were martyred a few years ago by their countrymen.
The first missionary efforts north of Canton of a permanent nature were made in ISiO by Dr. Lockhart, in the establishment of a hospital at Tinghai in Chusan. They were resumed by Milne in 1842, and while the island was under the control of British troops. Gutzlaff occupied the office of Chinese jnagistrate of Tinghai in 1S42, and endeavored to hold meetings.
Milne left Xingpo in June, 1843, and came to Hongkong overland
dressed in a native costume. After his departure, some
time elapsed before his place was supplied. The journal of his
residence in that city indicated a great willingness on the part of
people of all ranks to cultivate intercourse with such foreigners
as could converse with them. Drs. Macgowan and McCarty
went there in 1S43 and 1844 to open a hospital, and were followed
by Messrs. Lowrie, Culbertson, Loomis, and Cole, the latter
in charge of a printing office of English and Chinese type and a type foundry. Keligious services are held at the hospitals in that city, and Dr. IMacgowan says: “Each patient is exhorted to renounce all idolatiy and wickedness and to enibruce the religion of the Saviour. They are aduiitted by lens into the prescribing room, and before being dismissed are addressed by the physician and the native Christian assistant on the subject of religion.
Tracts are given to all who are able to read.” The more such labors are carried on the better will the prospect of peace and a profitable intercourse between China and western nations become ; the more the people learn of the science and resources, the character and designs, and partake of the religion and benevolence of western nations, the icss chance will there be of collisions, and the more each party will respect the other. The fear is, however, that the disruptive and disorganizing influences will preponderate over the peaceful, and precipitate new outbreaks before these influences obtain much hold upon the Chinese.
MISSIONS IN CHEHKIANG PROVINCE. 351
The occupation of Ningbo in 1841 by the British troops, and their excursions into the country, had the effect of preparing the people of Zhejiang province to listen to foreigners. The mission work begun at Ningbo by three or four societies in 1842-4S has been carried on with marked success and completeness in its agencies. The various missions have taken different parts of the province for their particular fields, and by means of chapels, hospitals, schools, printing offices, itinerating and preaching excursions, and the sale of religious books, have made known the truth. A large part of the province was ravaged by the Tai-ping rebels, and after their dispersion in 18G7 Hangzhou and Shanking were occupied. These two cities were well high destroyed, but their inhabitants are learning that no force or governmental influence accompanies the preaching of the doctrines of Jesus. This idea has considerable strength among all the Chinese, and no disclaimer or explanations have much effect at first. The people of Zhejiang province have less energy and individuality than their countrymen in the southern provinces, but they have received the faith in simplicity, maintaining its ordinances and bearing its expenses in many cases without foreign aid. In the seventy stations now occupied by six societies from England and America, the advance is seen to be great since the capture of Ningbo and Tinghai forty years ago, even by the confession of those who still hold aloof. The good reputation of the missionaries was shown in the amicable settlement of an irritating question in Ilangchau city in 1874. It arose
from the occupation of the hillside by the Americans, who had
bought the spot when it was bare of houses and erected their
own dwellings. These were deemed to be detrimental to its
prosperity, and a riot arose which was quelled by the authorities.
A proposal was then made l)y the gentry to remove them by getting
another site in the lower city, and this harmonized all parties
while establishing a good precedent for future observance.
The great city of Shanghai was almost unknown to foreign
nations until the treaty of Nanking opened it to their trade in
1842. Its inhabitants suffered greatly at its capture, but the
growing commerce ere long brought prosperity. As soon as arrangements could be made the London Mission moved its hospital from Chusan Island to Shanghai (in 1844), and Dr. Lockhart immediately commenced his work. Ilis rooms were thronged, and it is stated that ten thousand nine hundred and seventy eight patients were attended to between May, 1844, and June, 1845. The knowledge of this charity spread over the province of Kiangsu, and removed much of the ill-will and ignorance of the people toward foreigners. One effect in the city was to incite the inhabitants to open a dispensary during four summer months, for the gratuitous relief of the sick. It was called iS/d I Kuiig-kluJi, or ‘ Public Establishment for Dispensing Healing.’
” It was attended by eight or nine iiative practitioners, who saw
the patients once in five da\’S ; this attendance was gratuitous
on the part of some of them, and was paid for in the case of
others. The medicines are supplied from the different apothecary
shops, one furnishing all that is wanted during one day,
which is paid for by subscriptions to the dispensary. The patients
vary from three hundred to five hundred. The reason
given for the recent establishment of this dispensary for relieving
the sick is that it has been done by a foreigner who came
to reside at the place, and therefore some of the wealthy natives
wished to show their benevolence in the same way.” Such a
spirit speaks well for the inhabitants of Shanghai, for nothing
like competition in doing good has ever been started elsewhere,
nor even a public acknowledgment made of the benefits conferred
by the hospitals.
During the voyage along the coast of China made by Messrs. Medhurst and Stevens, in 18l>5, they visited Shanghai ; and an abstract of Medhurst’s interview with the officers on that occasion is taken from his journal. lie had already been invited by them to enter a temple hard by the landing-place, to the end that they might learn the object of the visit, and was conversing with them.
The party was now joined by another officer named Chin, a hearty, rough-looking man, with a keen eye and a voluble tongue. He immediately took the lead in the conversation, and asked whether we had not been in Sliantung and had communication with some great officers there ? He inquired after
Messrs. Lindsay and GutzlafF, and wished to know whither we inttjnded to
proceed. I told him these gentlemen were well ; but we could hardly tell
where we should go, quoting a Chinese proverb, “We know not to day what
will take place to-morrow.” But, I continued, as your native conjurors are
reckoned very clever, they may perhaps be able to tell you. ” I am conjuror
enough for that,” said Chin ; ” but what is your profession V ” I told him that I
ENTRY OF MISSIONS INTO SnANGHAI. 35J?
was a toachor of religion. . . . AfttT a little time a great noise was heard outside, and the arrival of the chief magistrati; of the city was announced, when several officers came in and requested me to go and see his worship.
He appeared to be a middle-aged man, but assumed a stern aspect as I entered, though I paid him the usual compliments and took my seat in a chair placed opposite. This disconcerted him much, and as soon as he could recover himself from the surprise at seeing a barbarian seated in his presence, he ordered me to come near and stand before him, while all the officers called out, ” Rise ! Rise! ” I arose accordingly, and asked whether I could not be allowed to sit at the conference, and as he refused, I bowed and left the room. I was soon followed by Chin and Wang, who tried every effort to persuade me to return ; this, however, I steadfastly refused to do unless I could be allowed to sit, as others of my countrymen had done in like circumstances. . .
Having been joined by Mr. Stevens (who had been distributing books
among the crowd without), we proceeded to converse more familiarly and to
deliver out books to the officers and their attendants, as well as to some
strangers that were present, till they were all gone. A list of such provisions
as were wanted had been given to Wang, whom we requested to purchase them
for us, and we would pay for them. By this time tlie articles were brought
in, which they offered to give us as a present, and seeing that there was no
other way of settling the question, we resolved to accept of the articles and
send them something in return. The rain having moderated, we aro.se to take
a walk and proceeded toward the boat, where the sailors were busy eating
their dinner. Wishing to enter the city we turned o3E in that direction, but
were stopped by the officers and their attendants, and reluctantly returned to
the temple. After another hour’s conversation, and partaking of refreshments
with the officers, they departed. On the steps near the boat we observed
a basket nearly full of straw, and on the top about half a dozen books
torn in pieces and about to be burnt. On inquiry, they told us that these
were a few that had been torn in the scuffle, and in order to prevent their
being trodden under foot they were about to burn them. Recollecting, however,
that Chin had told his servant to do something with the books he had
received, it now occurred to us that he had directed them to be burned in our
presence. On the torch being applied, therefore, we took the presents which
were lying by and threw them on the fire, which put it out. The policeman, taking off the articles, applied the torch again, while we repeated the former operation ; to show them that if they despised our presents, we also disregarded theirs. Finally the basket was thrown into the river and we left, much displeased at this insulting conduct.’
‘ China: Its State and Prospects, pp. 371-377. Chinese Repository, Vol. IV.,pp. 330, 331.
This extract might be thouffht to refer to an event which took place in the days of Hicci instead of one within the memory of the living. The progress and changes since it occurred in that city typify what has been going on throughout the whole land. Medhurst came back to Shanghai to live, within nine years after this incident, and when his failing health compelled his retirement in 1856, he closed an honorable service of thirty-nine years in the mission field. His dictionaries, translations, and writings in Chinese and English (ninety -three in all) indicate his industry ; and through them he, being dead, yet speaketh to the Chinese upon his favorite themes of redemption.
The work which he began was reinforced by colleagues from Groat Britain and America until the whole population was reached, and towns lying south of the Yangzi river were all visited. After the rebellion was quelled in 1867 other cities were occupied, until about forty-five localities in all parts of Kiangsu are now held as preaching stations. People are returning to their deserted homes, and lands that lay fallow for years are retilled ; thither foreign and native preachers and colportors bring the living word without hindrance.’
The consequences of the introduction of the gospel into China are likely to be the same that they have been elsewhere, in stirring up private and public antagonism to what is so opposed to the depravity of the human heart. There are some grounds for hoping that there will not be much systematic opposition from the imperial government when once the chiefs of
the nation learn the popular sentiments and will. The principal
reasons for this are found in the character of the people,
who are not cruel or disposed to take life for opinions when
those opinions are held l)y numbers of respectable and intelligent
men. The fact that the officers of government all spring from
the body of the people, and that these dignitaries are neither
governed nor influenced by any State hierarch}’—by any body
of pi’iestly men, who, feeling that the progress of the new faith
will cause the loss of their influence and position, are determined
to use the power of the State to put it down—leads us to
hope that such officers as may adopt the new faith will not, on
account of their profession, be banished (»r disgraced. Such
was the case with Sii, who assisted and countenanced Ricci.
‘ In this connection the work of Dr. Lockhart {.}f<‘(h’riil 3fmionnry in China, London, IHCil) may prolitably be read for the details and results of mission labors in Shanghai.
PROSPECTS FOR CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 355
The general character of the Chinese is irreligious, and they
care much more for money and power than they do for religions
ceremonies of any kind ; they would never lose a battle as
the Egyptians did because the Persians placed cats between the
annies. There are no ceremonies which they consider so binding
as to be willing to tight for them, and persecute others for
omitting, except those pertaining to ancestral worship ;—these
are of so domestic a nature that thousands of converts miirht
discard them before much would be known or done by the people
in relation to the matter. The conscientious Christian
magistrate would be somewhat obnoxious to his master, and
liable to be removed for refusing to perform his functions at
the ching-hivang iniao before the tutelar gods of the Empire.
These and other reasons, growing out of the character of the people
and the nature of their political and religious institutions, lead
to the hope that the leaven of truth will permeate the mass of
society and renovate, purify, and strengthen it without weakening,
disorganizing, or destroying the government. There
are, also, some causes to fear that such will not be the case,
arising from the ignorance of the people of the proper results
of Christian doctrines; from a dread of the government respecting
its own stability from foreign aggression ; from the
evil consequences of the use of opium, and the drainage of the
precious metals ; and from the disturbing effects of the intercourse
with unscrupulous foreigners and irritated nati^’es often
leading to riots and the interference of government authorities.
The toleration of the Christian religion had been allowed throughout the Empire by imperial edicts issued in the reign of Shunchi and his son ; and often and often discountenanced and persecuted after those dates. The governmental policy had been long settled to disallow its profession by its subjects or the residence of the Koman Catholic missionaries in its borders.
In 1844 the French envoy, M. de Lagrene, brought their disabilities to the notice of Kiying, who memorialized the throne and received the following rescript, which reversed the bloody decrees of 1722 and later years. For his efforts in this matter he deserves the thanks and remembrance of every friend of Christianity and the Chinese.
Kiying, imperial fonimissioner, minister of State, and governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, respectfully addresses the throne by memorial.
On examination it appears that the religion of the Lord of Heaven is that professed by all the nations of the West ; that its main object is to encourage the good and suppress the wicked ; that since its introduction to China during
the Ming dynasty it has never been interdicted ; that subsequently, when
Chinese, practising tliis religion, often made it a covert for wickedness, even
to the seducing of wives and daughters, and to the deceitful extraction of the
pupils from the eyes of the sick,’ government made investigation and inflicted
punishment, as is on record ; and that in the reign of Kiaking special clauees
were first laid down for the punishment of the guilty. The prohibition, therefore,
was directed against evil-doing under the covert of religion, and not
against the religion professed by the western foreign nations.
Now the request of the French ambassador, Lagrene, that those Chinese
who, doing well, practiise this religion, be exempt from criminality, seems
feasible. It is right therefore to make the request, and earnestly to crave
celestial favor to grant that, henceforth, all natives and foreigners without
distinction, who learn and practise the religion of the Lord of Heaven, and do
not excite trouble by improper conduct, be exempted from criminality. If
there be any who seduce wives and daughters, or deceitfully take the pupils
from the eyes of the sick, walking in their former paths, or are otherwise
guilty of criminal acts, let them be dealt with according to the old laws. As
to those of the French and other foreign nations who practise the religion, let
them only be permitted to build churches at the five ports opened for commercial intercourse. They must not presume to enter the country to propagate religion.
Should any act in opposition, turn their backs upon the treaties, and rashly overstep the boundaries, the local officers will at once seize and deliver them to their respective consuls for restraint and correction. Capital punishment is not to be rashly inflicted, in order that the exercise of gentleness may be displayed. Thus, peradventure, the good and the profligate will not be blended, while the equity of mild laws will be exhibited.
This request, that well-doers practising the religion may be exempt from criminality, I (the commissioner), in accordance with reason and bounden duty, respectfully lay before the throne, earnestly praying the august Emperor graciously to grant that it may be carried into effect. A respectful memorial. DaoGuang, 24th year, 11th month, 19th day (December 28, 1844), was received the vermilion reply : ” Let it be according to the counsel [of Kiying].”
This is from the Emperor.’-‘
‘ Tills is thus explained by a Chinese : ” It is a custom with the priests who teach this religion, when a man is about to die, to take a handful of cotton, having concealed within it a sharp needle, and then, while rubbing the individual’s eyes with the cotton, to introduce the needle into the eye and puncturi! the pupil with it ; the humors of the pupil saturate the cotton and are afterward used as a medicine.” This foolish idea has its origin in the extreme unction administered by Catholic i)riw5ts to the dying. See, moreover, th«Lettrca FjIiJitiiittK, Tome IV., p. 44.
‘^ Chiiieite lifj)Oiiitorij, Vol. XIV., p. 195.
TOLKKATIOli OBTAINED THKOUGII KITING. 357
This rescript <2,rniito(l toleration to the Christians already in the country, known only by the term Tien Cha k!ao, or ‘ Keligion of the Lord of Heaven/ and referring only to those persons who profess Catholicism. Subsequently the French minister was asked to state whether, in making this request of the Chinese officers, he intended to include Christians of all sects, as there had been some doubts on that point, he therefore brought the subject again before Qiying, who issued an explanatory notice, without making a second appeal to his sovereign. It is not necessary to quote the entire reply, which granted as conq:)lete toleration to all Christian sects as its writer was able to do from his knowledge of their differences. The term Vesii, kiao, since adopted for Protestants, was not then current. After quoting the purport of M. de Lagj’enc’s communication, Qiying thus sums up his conclusions :
Now I find that, in the first place, when the regulations for free trade were agreed upon, there was an article allowing the erection of churches at the five ports. This same privilege was to extend to all nations ; there were to be no distinctions. Subsequently the commissioner Lagrene requested that the Chinese who, acting well, practised this religion, should equally be held blameless. Accordingly, I made a representation of the case to the throne, by memorial, and received the imperial consent thereto. After this, however, local magistrates having made improper seizures, taking and destroying crosses, pictures, and images, further deliberations were held, and it was agreed that these [crosses, etc.] might be reverenced. Originally I did not know that there were, among the nations, these differences in their religious practices. Now with regard to the religion of the Lord of Heaven—no matter whether the crosses, pictures, and images be reverenced or be not reverenced—all who, acting well, practise it, ought to be held blameless. All the great western nations being placed on an equal footing, only let them by acting well practise their religion, and China will in no way prohibit or impede their so doing Whether their customs be alike or unlike, certainly it is right that there should be no distinction and no obstruction.—December 22, 1845.
The sentence in this document which speaks of local magistrates making improper seizures probably refers to something which had occurred in the country. At Shanghai the intondant of circuit issued a proclamation in November, lS-i5. based upon the Emperor’s rescript, in which he defines the Tien Chu Mao ” to consist in periodically assembling for unitedly worshipping the Lord of Heaven, in respecting and venerating the cross, with pictures and images, as well as in reading aloud the works of the said religion ; these are customs of the said relio-ion in question, and practices not in accordance with these cannot be considered as the religion of the Lord of Pleaven.”
The varions associations and sects found throughout China are all included under the vague name of klao, or ‘ doctrine ;
‘ they are an annoyance to the government and well disposed people, and are referred to and excepted against in this proclamation.
In a decree received by Qiying at Canton, February 20, 1846, relating to the restoration of the houses belonging to Romanists, the views of the Chinese government respecting the foreign missionaries were further nuxde known.
On a former occasion Qiying and others laid before Us a memorial, requesting immunity from punishment for those who doing well profess the religion of Heaven’s Lord; and that those who erect churches, assemble together for worship, venerate the cross and pictures and images, read and explain sacred books, be not prohibited from so doing. This was granted. The religion of the Lord of Heaven, instructing and guiding men in well-doing, differs widely from the heterodox and illicit . ects ; and the toleration thereof has already been allowed. That which has been requested on a subsequent occasion, it is right in like manner to grant.
Let all the ancient houses throughout the provinces, which were built in the reign of Kanghi, and have been preserved to the present time, and which, on personal examination by proper authorities, are clearly found to be their bona fide, possessions, be restored to the professors of this religion in their respective places, excepting only those churches which have been converted into temples and dwelling-houses for the people.
If, after the promulgation of this decree throughout the provinces, the local officers irregularly prosecute and seize any of the professors of the religion of the Lord of Heaven, who are not bandits, upon all such the just penalties of the law shall be meted out.
If any, under a profession of this religion, do evil, or congregate people from distant towns, seducing and binding them together; or if any other sect or bandits, borrowing the name of the religion of the Lord of Heaven, create disturbances, transgress the laws, or excite rebellion, they shall be punished according to their respective crimes, each being dealt with as the existing statutes of the Empire direct.
Also, in order to make apparent the proper distinctions, foreigners of every nation are, in accordance with existing regulations, prohibited from going into the country to propagate religion.
GOVERNMENT POLICY TOWARD MISSIONARIES. 359
For these purposes this decree is given. Cause it to be made known.
From the Emperor.'(‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XV., p. 155, where the original is given.)The directors of Protestant missions did not think it right to violate the Last paragraph in this rescript, and confined their efforts to the open ports, where their agents had much preliminary work to do. This went on quietly, and on the whole peaceably, as the inhabitants found that the missionaries were their friends. Chapels^ schools, hospitals, printing offices, and dwellings were erected at all the ports, bo that by the year 1858 about one hundred Protestants were carrying them on. The number of converts was few, and there was not much result to show in tabular lists. It was a time of seed-sowing.
In 1849 the adherents of Hong Xiu-quan began to make trouble in the west of Kwangtung, and to be called the Shangdihui / and the Peking authorities were unable to distinguish them from Protestants, who had thus rendered the name for God in the version of the Bible used by these misguided men. Their rapid successes against the imperial troops soon roused the utmost energies of the government to suppress them and retake Nanking. In 1856 a more dangerous struggle was precipitated by the impolitic action of Yeh Ming-chin, the governor-general at Canton, in respect to the Arrow, a snniggling lorcha carrying the British flag, which ended in a declaration of war against China. When hostilities ceased in 1858 by signing treaties of peace at Tientsin with envoys of the four nations there assembled, it was deemed to be a favorable time to introduce some definite stipulations respecting the toleration of Christianity in China. The rescripts of the Emperor DaoGuang in 1844 had never carried any real weight among rulers or people, nor had the Romanists ever been able to re-possess their old churches and other real estate taken from them. The largest part had long been occupied or destroyed.
Any opposition to such a proposal was not likely to be very persistent on the part of the Chinese plenipotentiarie^s in face of the force at the call of those who had just captured the forts at Taku and held the city of Tientsin under their guns. The four nations. Great Britain, France, the United States, and Russia, were, as representatives of Christendom, in the providence of God brought face to face with China, the representative of paganism. They came to demand an arrangement of commercial, diplomatic, civil, and ex-territorial rights, and the introduction of religious privileges did not enter into their plans.
The war on the part of the two first-named powers had no reference to religion, and their two colleagues wuuld doubtless have omitted the articles on toleration if the Chinese had held out on those alone. At this singular and most unexpected correlation of moral and physical forces among the nations of the world, involving the greater part of its inhabitants, the freedom of the rising church of Christ in China was quietly secured by the four following articles of toleration inserted in the treaties signed in June, 1858. They are here given in the order of their dates:
Russian. Art. YIII.—The Chinese government having recognized the fact that the Christian doctrine promotes the establishment of order and peace among men, promises not to persecute its Christian subjects for the exercise of the duties of their religion; they shall enjoy the protection of all those who profess other creeds tolerated in the Empire. The Chinese government, considering the Christian missionaries as worthy men who do not seek worldly advantages, will permit them to propagate Christianity among its subjects, and will not hinder them from moving about in the interior of the Empire. A certain number of missionaries setting out from the open ports, or cities, shall be provided with passports signed by Russian authorities.
American. Art. XXIX.—The principles of the Christian religion, as professed by the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, are recognized as teaching men to do good, and to do to others as they would have others do to them. Hereafter, those who quietly profess and teach these doctrines shall not be harassed or persecuted on account of their faith. Any person, whether, citizen of the United States or Chinese convert, who according to these tenets peaceably teaches and practises the principles of Christianity, shall in no case be interfered with or molested.
TREATY STIPULATIONS RESPECTING CHRISTIANITY. 361
British. Art. VTTI.—The Christian religion, as professed by Protestants or Roman Catholics, inculcates the practice of virtue, and teaches man to do as he would be done by. Persons teaching it or professing it, therefore, shall alike be entitled to the protection of the (‘liinose authorities ; nor sliull any siicli, peaceably pursuing their calling, and not offending against the laws, be persecuted or interfered with.
French. Art. XIII.—La religion Chretienne, ayant pour objet essentiel, de porter les honinies a la vertu, les niembres de toutes communions Ohretiennes jouiront d’une entiere securite pour leurs personnes, leurs proprietes, et le libre exercice de leurs pratiques religieuses ; et une protection efficace seia donnee aux missionnaires qui se rendront pacifiquement dans I’interieur du pays, munis des passeports reguliers dont il est parle dans TArticIe VIII. Aucune entrave ne sera apportee par les autorites de TEmpire Cliinois au droit qui est reconnu a tout individu en Chine d’einbrasser, s’il le vent, le Christianisme et d’en suivre les pratiques, sans etre passible d’aucune peine intiigee pour ce fait. Tout ce qui a etc precedemment ccrit, proclame, ou public en Chine par ordre du gouvernement centre le culte Chretien, est compK’tement abroge, et reste sans valeur dans toutes les pi’ovinces de I’Empire.
An article similar to these in its general import has been
inserted in nearly all the treaties subsequently signed with the
Chinese. They contain as nmch freedom of faith and practice
by converts as could be desired by any reasonable man ; but
many missionaries were disappointed that their provisions were
violated or disregarded by native officials. These sanguine persons
often forgot that forbearance and time were both needed
to bring the people and their rulers up to an appreciation of tlie
new liberties and obligations contained in the treaties, and that
their ignorance would be best and thoroughly removed by the
living evidences of the purity and power of Christianity among
its converts. These have already begun to show their faith by
their works.
The only additional action of the Chinese government in this direction that needs to be noticed is Article YI., agreed upon with the French envoy and contained in the convention signed at Peking in October, 1860, in relation to the restoration of property once o^^^^ed by the Romanists. The translation is as follows :
Art. VI.—It shall be promulgated throughout the length and breadth of the land, in the terms of the imperial edict of February 20, 1846, that it is permitted to all people in all parts of China to propagate and practise the teachings of the Lord of Heaven, to meet together for preaching the doctrines, to build churches and to worship; further, all such as indiscriminately arrest [Christians] shall be duly punished, and such churches, schools, cemeteries, lands, and buildings as were owned on former occasions by persecuted Christians shall be paid for, and the money handed to the French representative at Peking for transmission to the Christians in the locality concerned.
It is in addition permitted to French missionaries to rent and purchase land in all the jyovinces, and to erect buildings thereon at jpleasure^
In carrying out the details of this article, so much injustice and violence were exhibited by native Ilomanists, supported by the missionaries in claiming lands alleged to have belonged to them as far back as the days of Ilicci and in the Ming dynasty, and forcing their owners and occupants to yield them without any or sufficient compensation, that riots and hatreds arose in many parts of China. Temples, houses, and shops which had been in the legal possession of natives for one or two centuries were claimed under this stipulation, and they forcibly resisted the surrender. The discontent became so great that the French minister at last issued a notice, about 1872, that no more claims of this kind would be received from the missionaries, and further complaints ceased. The imbroglio was heightened by the murder of two or three missionaries in Kweichau and Sz’chnen during the previous years, and the escape of the guilty parties into other provinces.
‘ This sentence in italics is not contained in the French text of the convention; hut as that Language is made, in Art. Ill of the Treaty of Tientsin, the oiiUi authoritative text, the surreptitious insertion of this important stipulation in the Chinese text makes it void. The procediu-e was unworthy ofa great nation like France, whose army environed Peking when the convention was signed.
REVISION OF THE BIBLE IN CHINESE. 363
The feelings of all the llomish missionaries at the removal of the many disabilities under which they had long lived and bravely suffered were expressed by the Bishop of Shantung in an encyclical letter to his people, in which he exhorts them to “maintain and diligently learn the holy religion. . . . Let them also pray that the holy religion may he greatly promoted, remembering that the kind consideration of the Emperor toward our holy religion springs entirely from the favor of the Lord of Heaven. After the reception of this order, let thanks be oifered up to God for his mercies in the churches, for three Lord’s days in succession. While the faithful rejoice in this extraordinary favor, let Ave Marias be recited to display grateful feelings.”
The subject of the thorough revision of the Chinese Bible had long occupied the thoughts of those best acquainted with the need of such a work; and when the English missionaries met at Hongkong in 1843, a general conference of all Protestant missionaries was called to take measures for the preparation of so desirable a work. The version of Morrison and Milne was acknowledged by themselves to be imperfect, and the former had begun some corrections in it before his death. Messrs. Medhurst, Gutzlaff, Bridgman, and J. R. Morrison had united their labors in revising the New Testament, and published it in 1836.
The greatest harmony existed at this meeting, and the books
of the New Testament were distributed among the missionaries
at the several stations without regard to denomination. Some
discussion arose as to the best word for haptt’sm, for all agieed
that it could not well be transliterated. The question was referred
to a committee, which, finding itself unable to agree upon
a term, recommended that in the proposed version this word
should be left for each party to adopt which it liked. The
term si I’l, wdiich had been in use to denote this rite since the
days of Ricci, by Romanists of all opinions, had been taken by
Morrison and Medhurst, and by those associated with them.
Marshman preferred another word, tsan^ which was so unusual
that it would almost always require explanation ; and in fact
could only be fully explained by the ceremony itself. Some of
the American Baptist missionaries have taken Marshman’s term,
and others have proposed a third one, yuh. Their joint action
with their brethren in regard to a common version was after* ward repudiated by the societies in the United States, which directed them to prepare separate translations.
The question of the proper word for God in Chinese was also referred to a committee at this mooting in Hongkong, which reported its inability to agree; and this point, like the word for baptism, was therefore left to the decisiuns of the respective missions, after the version itself was finished. The delegates on the projected translation were chosen by the body of missionaries at each station, and met at Shanghai in June, 1847. They consisted of Eev. Messrs. Medhurst, J. Stronach, and Milne from the London Missionaiy Society, and Rev. Messrs. Bridgman, Boone, Shuck, Lowrie, and Culbei’tson from American societies ; of the last five, Culbertson took Lowrie’s place after his death, and Bp. Boone was never able to take an active share in the work, The New Testament was finished July 25, 1850, and was published soon after with different terms for God and Spirit.
The Old Testament was translated by the three first named in 1853 ; while another, more adapted to common readers, was completed in 1862 by Messrs. Bridgman and Culbertson.
(jiitzlaff also issued two or three revisions by himself. In 1805
a committee was formed in Peking for the purpose of making
a version of the SS. in the Mandarin dialect, especially that
prevalent in the northern provinces. It was done by Rev.
Messrs. Blodget, Edkins, Burdon, and Schereschewsky ; the New Testament was completed by them jointly in 1872, and the Old Testament in 1874 by the last named alone. It made the sixth complete translation of the Bible into Chinese during this century. Other translations have been made into the five southern patois of several books of the liible—and at ]S’ingpo and Amoy they are issued in the Romanized letters, and not in the Chinese character. These last, of course, are unintelligible to all natives not taught in mission schools.
PROGRESS IN EVANGELIZING THE CHINESE. 365
The influence and labors of female missionaries in China is, from the constitution of society in that country, likely to be the only, or principal means of reaching their sex for a long time to come, and it is desirable, therefore, that they should engage in the work by learning the language and making the acquaintance of the families jirouiid them. No nation can be elevated, <)!• (In’istian institutions placed upon a pci’nianent basis, until fenuiles are taught their rightful place as the companions of men, and can teach their children the duties they owe to their God, themselves, and their country. Fenuile schools arc the necessary complement of boys’, and a heathen wife soon carries a man back to idolatry if he is only intellectually convinced of the truths of Christianity. The comparatively high estimation the Chinese place upon female education is an encouragement to nniltiply girls’ schools. The formation of mission boards in western lands, conducted entirely by women, has made these schools and medical work among women in China both practical and necessary. No large mission is now regarded as complete without one or more women to carry on such parts of the work as belong to them ; and this is true of the Komish missions as well as Protestants.
The advance in the work of evangelization since the opening of the Empire in 1842 by the Treaty of Nanking has been in the highest degree encouraging. It was soon ascertained that the hatred and contempt of foreigners which were supposed to dwell in the minds of all Chinese, needed only to be met with kindness and patient teachings to give place to respect and confidence.
The sufferings from the war with England, and the evils resulting from the snuiggling and use of opium among the people, had embittered the minds of dwellers along the coast ; but as most of this was local, the enlargement of mission work did nuich to remove the ignorance which nursed the dislike. The free relief of disease and pain in the hospitals aided greatly to improve intercourse, so that at this day the natives in and around the open ports have become entirely changed in their feelings.
This outline of Protestant mission work in China may be closed by a notice of the conference held at Shanghai in May, 1877, at which one hundi-ed and twenty-six men and women, connected wath twenty different bodies, assembled to discuss their common work in its various departments. The report of their proceedings gives fuller statistics of the work then going on than is to be found elsewhere, and the twenty-seven papers read and discussed in the three -days’ sessions contain the ripened views of competent thinkers upon the most serious questions connected with the welfare of China. The following table has been taken from this report, and exhibits a remarkable development in education and preaching, considering that most of the stations have been opened since 1860.
STATISTICS or PROTESTANT MISSIONS TO CHINA FOR THE YEAR 1877.
Branches of Mission Work.
Stations where missionaries reside
Out-stations
Organized churches
{i<) Wholly self-supporting
(b) Partially self-supporting
Communicants,
-j g^^es ‘.’.’.’.’.’.[[‘.’.][‘.’.
Pupils in 31 boj’s’ boarding-schools
” 177 boys’ day-schools
” 39 girls’ boarding-schools
” 82 girls’ day-schools
” 21 theological schools
” 115 Sunday-schools
Pastors and preachers ordained
Assistant preachers
Colportors
Bible women
Church buildings for worship
Chapels and preaching places
In-patients / .^^^^ i.ospitals, 187G …\
Out-puticnts, \ f f^
Patients treated in 24 dispensaries, 1876.
Medical students
Contributions of native Christians, 1876..
American British
Missions. Missions.
41 215 150 11
115
3,117
2,183
347
1,255
464
957
94
2,110
42
212
28
62
113
183
1,390
47,635
25,107
19
$4,482
43
290
156
7
149
4,504
2,440
154
1,470
206
335
120
495
28
273
46
28
118
249
3,905
41,170
16,174
13
$5,089
Continental Missions.
8
27
12
687
584
146
265
124
15
22
“”*3
34
3
2
15
Total,
92
532
318
18
264
8,308
5,207
647
2,991
794
1,307
236
2,605
73
519
77
92
246
457
5,295
88,805
41,281
33
$9,571
STATISTICS OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS TO CHINA. 367
The total number of men who have joined the Protestant missions to the Chinese up to 1876, as nearly as can be ascertained, has been 484. Of these 41 were laymen, chiefly physicians, and no women or natives are included. Twelve American societies had sent out 212 ordained missionaries, and the same number of British societies had sent 196 ; all the agents of the 8 or 10 continental societies amounted to 35. The number in 1847 was 112 of all nations; in 1858, this figure had increased to 214 ; and a table made out in 1877 by the Shanghai Conference gives 473 as the total number of persons then engaged in active missionary work in China, including 15 not employed by any of the 25 societies enumerated. Of these 210 belonged to 10 American, 242 to 13 British, and 26 to 2 German societies; 172 of the whole number being wives of missionaries, and 63 unmarried females.
No one acquainted with the practical evangelical work in
China needs to be told that these statistics give no idea of the
cliaracter and attainments of the fourteen thousand converts
which have joined native churches, or the extent and thoroughness
of the education given the five thousand seven hundred
children counted in. Those who look for more than the
merest beginnings of faith and culture in the minds of natives
just brought out of the ignorance, sottishness, and impurity of
heathenism into tlie brightness of Christianity, or those who
.harshly criticise these results of mission work, will do well to
examine for themselves more fully the limitations and nature
of all its branches.
‘No mention is made in these items of the amount of printing
done at mission presses, for those particulars are scattered
over hundreds of reports issued during the last score or two
years. The presses formerly conducted by Williams, Wylie,
and Cole at Canton, Slianghai, and Hongkong during an aggregate
of nearly forty years, have been superseded by more and
larger establishments ; moreover, the facilities for transporting
books render their issues more available at the remotest parts
of the country. The manufacture of Chinese and Japanese
types by the Presbyterian Mission press and foundiy furnishes
native workmen with the means of printing newspapers and
books, which otherwise could never have been done (so as to
become self-supporting) by means of blocks. At this establishment
over thirty millions of pages are annually sent forth,
and this amount is more than doubled by all the other mission
presses. The effects of this literature upon the native mind,
which these agencies are scattering wider every year, will be
apparent in the near future.
The worth and labors of many men comprised in this number of missionaries have long been known to the Christian publie. Milne and Collie ardently longed and labored diligentlv for the comino; and extension of the kingdom of Christ in China, though not allowed to live in its borders. Few men in the missionary corps have exceeded Edwin Stevens in sound judgment and steady pursuit of a well-formed purpose, which in his case was to aid in perfecting the version of the Bible, he was employed nearly three years as seamen’s chaplain at Whampoa before entering the service among the Chinese, and his labors in that department were highly acceptable to those who frequented the port.
The warm-hearted, humble piety and singleness of purpose
of Samuel Dyer were also well known to every one engaged
with him. His long and assiduous labors to complete a fount
of Chinese metallic type, amid many obstacles and hindrances,
were prompted by the hope that, when once finished, books
could be printed M’itli more elegance, cheapness, and rapidity
than in any other way. He lived to see it brought into partial
use, and to satisfy himself concerning the feasibility of this
plan. If the impulses of private friendship and the esteem
generally entertained for David Abeel should prompt a notice
of his character and labors, it would soon extend to many
pages ; they have been well worthy the fuller notice which is
given in his memoir. Among other biographies may be mentioned
those of Walter M. Lowrie, William C. Burns, D. Sandeman,
J. Henderson, Samuel Dyer, E. C. Bridgman, and W. Aitcheson, which will furnish information upon the details of their labors. Female missionaries have also done much, and will do more, in this work, which recpiires minds and labors in large variety. Mrs. Maiy Morrison, Mrs. Sarah Boone, Mrs. Theodosia Dean, Mrs. L\icy J]all, IVIrs. Henrietta Shuck, Mrs. Doty, and Mrs. Pohlman, all died in China before 184G—the first of scores of honorable women who have since thus ended their lives.
JTOTICES OF FORMER PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES. 369
Before closing this brief sketch of Christian missions among the Chinese, it may be well to mention some of the peculiar facilities and difficulties which attend the work. The business of transforming heathen society and reconstructing it on diristian principles is a great and proti’;u*tt'(l undertaking, and is to be commenced in all communities by working on individuals. The opposition of the iinregenerate heart can be overcome only by the transforming influences of the Spirit, but the intellect must be enlightened, and the moral sense instructed by a system of means, before the truths of the Bible can be intelligently received or rejected. This opposition is not peculiar to China, but it will probably assume a more polemic and argumentative cast there than in some other countries. The proud literati are not disposed to abase Confucius below the Saviour, but rather inclined to despise the reiteration of his name and atonement as a seesaw about “one Jesus who was dead, whom we affirm to be alive”. Medhurst notices a tract written against him by
a Chinese, in which it is argued that ” it was monstrous in barbarians
to attempt to improve the inhabitants of the Celestial
Empire when they were so miserably deficient themselves.
Thus, introducing among the Chinese a poisonous drug, for
their own benefit to the injury of others, they were deficient in
benevolence ; sending their fleets and armies to rob other nations
of their possessions, they could make no pretentions to
rectitude ; allowing men and women to mix in society and walk
arm in arm through the streets, they showed that they had not
the least sense of propriety ; and in rejecting the doctrines of
the ancient kings they were far from displaying wisdom ; in
deed, truth was the only good quality to which they could lay
the least claim. Deficient, therefore, in four out of the five
cardinal virtues, how could they expect to renovate others ?
Then, while foreigners lavished money in circulating books for
the renovation of the age, they made no scruple of trampling
printed paper under foot, by which they showed their disrespect
for the inventors of letters. Further, these would-be exhorters
of the world were themselves deficient in filial piety, forgetting
their parents as soon as dead, putting them off with deal coffins
only an inch thick, and never so much as once sacrificing to
their manes, or burning the smallest trifle of gilt paper for their
support in the future world. Lastly, they allowed the rich and
noble to enter office without passing through any literary examinations, and did not throw open the road to advancement to the poorest and meanest in the land. From ^JJ these, it appeared that foreigners were inferior to Chinese, and therefore most unfit to instruct them.”
To these arguments, which commend themselves to a Chinese with a force that can hardly be understood by a foreigner, they often add the intemperate, immoral lives and reckless cupidity of professed Christians who visit their shores, and ask what good it will do them to change their long-tried precepts for the new-fangled teachings of the Bible? The pride of learning is a great obstacle to the reception of the humiliating truths of the Gospel everywhere, but perhaps especially in China, where letters are so highly honored and patronized. The language is another difficulty in the way of the diffusion of the Gospel, both on the part of the native and the missionary. The mode of education among the Chinese is admirably fitted for the ends they propose, viz., of forming the mind to implicit belief and reverence for the precepts of Confucius, and obedience
to the government which makes those precepts the outlines of
its actions, but it rather weakens the intellect for independent
thought on other subjects. The language itself, as we have
had opportunity to observe, is an unwieldy vehicle for imparting
new truths, either by writing or speaking, chiefl}’ because of
the additional burden every new character or term imposes upon
the memory. The immense number, who read and speak this
language, reconciles one, however, to extra labor and patience
to become familiar with its forms of speech, and ascertain the
best modes of conveying truth.
When the five ports were opened in 1845 to practical missionary
work among the two or three millions of people living
in and around them, it was soon found that they were tolerably
well-disposed to foreigners when they understood what was said
to them. Fifteen years of constant labor changed the ignorance
and suspicion with which they regarded the first missionaries,
into respectful regard if not acceptance of their message. At
the end of this period, the capture of Peking and the ratification
of the treaties of Tientsin completed the opening of China
to such labors as far as diplomatic agency could go. Congregations
are now collected, and truth explained to them with a
good degree of acceptance every Sabbath, and all that is wanted
CHECKS AND PROMOTIONS IN CHINESE MISSIONS. 371
to get more congregations is more preachers ; long before missionary labors are accomplished in all the ports, the whole land will afford every choice of climate and position. Facilities for learning the language are constantly increasing. Dictionaries, vocabularies, phrase books, grammars, and chrestomathies in all the dialects will soon be prepared ; and the list now is not small. They have all, with few exceptions, been made and printed by Protestant missionaries.
Churches have increased since the first one was formed in Canton in 1835, and some of them are served by native evangelists, two of whom, Liang A-fali and Tsin Slien, of the London Mission, deserve mention as among the first of their countrymen who became educated, earnest preachers of the gospel. The future is full of promise, and the efforts of the church with regard to China will not cease until every son and daughter of the race of Ilan has been taught the truths of the Bible, and has had them fairly propounded for reception or rejection. They will progress until all the cities, towns, villages, and hamlets of that vast Empire have the teacher and professor of religion living in them; until their children are educated, their civil liberties understood, and political rights guaranteed; their poor cared for, their literature purified, their condition bettered in this world by the full revelation of another made known to them. The work of missions will go on until the government is modified, and religious and civil liberty granted to all, and China takes her rank among the Christian nations of the earth, reciprocating all the courtesies due fi-om people professing the same faith.
CHAPTER XX. COMMERCE OF THE CHINESE
It is probable that the applications made in remote times to the rulers of China for liberty to trade with their subjects, partook in their opinion very much of the nature of an acknowledgment of their power; the presents accompanying the request were termed I’ung, and regarded as tribute, while the traders themselves also looked upon the intercourse in somewhat the same light. The chapter of the Book of Records, called the ” Tribute of Vu,’” is one of the most ancient documents in existence relating to the products of a country, and indicates a trade in them of no small extent. Silk, lacquer, furs, grass-cloth, salt, gems, gold, silver, and other metals, ivory and manufactured goods are enumerated ; they are mostly identified with articles still produced, as Legge has shown in his translation. The records of the origin and early course of this trade are lost to a great extent, but the Chinese annals furnish proof of similar traffic for two thousand years after the days of Yu. It had the effect of extending the influence of Chinese institutions among less civilized neighbors, and of making foreign commerce a means of benefit to all parties. The restrictions and charges upon all trade were of small amount at this early period ; as it extended, the cupidity of local officers led them to burden it with numerous illegal fees, which gradually reduced its value, and finally, in some instances, drove it away altogether.
TIIADE WTTIT nillSrA. 373
The materials in Chinese literature for investigating this subject after the period of the Han dynasty are abundant, and they will reward the careful analysis of foreign scholars. Mairo Polo, the two Arab travelers in a.d. 850 and 878, and Ibn BaAXCIENT tuta, in 1330, have each contributed their narratives, hinting therein more than they could carefully investigate of the wide ransre and value of the Chinese forei2;u commerce. During; the Ming dynasty this trade fell off, owing to the impoverishment of the land by the Mongols ; but when (about 1000) the stimulus of European ships along the coast began to develop and reward native manufactures, foreign nations and merchants appreciated the fact that it was more profitable to trade with China than attack her.
The principal items of export and import have not materially changed during the last century ; the splendid fabrics of Chinese looms, their tea, lacquered ware, and products of their kilns, being still bartered for the cottons, metals, furs, and woolens of the west. Such articles as possess peculiar interest, and have not been already described, together with a few notices respecting the present extent and mode of conducting the trade, will suffice to explain its general features.’ The history of the cultin-e and trade in tea by Samuel Ball of Canton in 1835, may yet be considered as an authority upon the subject.
The growth in the use of tea is instructive, too, rising from an importation of about eighty pounds into England in 1670, till it had so well vindicated its virtues and enlarged its use among that people, that in ISSO one hundred and eighty million pounds were required to supply them ; and more than that was exported elsewhere from China.
The first item which attracts attention in the table of trade with China is opium, whose growth and momentous consequences require a detailed account. The use of opium as a medicine has not long been known to Chinese doctors, though, from the way the poppy is mentioned in the Hcrhal, there is reason to suppose it to be indigenous. The drug is called apien, in imitation of the word ojnum, while the plant is called qfuipinjj, a transliteration of the Arabic name Afi/un, from which country it was brought about the ninth century. It has many
‘Ample materials are now provided in the full reports of the Custom’s .service and the Exhibition Catalogues of Vienna, Paris, Philadelphia, etc. ; the reports of Rondot, Iledde, and other members of the French Legation in 1844 are still valuable.
names, as great smoke, ‘black commodity black earthy foreign medicine; the last is the term used in the tarifP. The compiler of the llerhal^ who wrote two centuries ago, speaks of the plant and its inspissated juice, saying that both were formerly but little known ; he then concisely describes the mode of collecting it, which leads to the inference that it was then used in medicine. None was imported coastwise for scores of years after that date, but the poppy is now grown in every province and in Manchuria, and no real restraint is anywhere put on its cultivation. The juice is collected and prepared by the people for their own consumption in much the same manner as in India; as long ago as 1S30 we find one official observing in respect to the cultivation, which was extending, that it was ” not only bringing injury on the good, but greatly retarding the work of the husbandmen.”
The mode of raising the poppy in the Patna district in India
is thus described : The ryot or cultivator havhig selected a
piece of ground, always preferring {cceter’is paribus) that which
is nearest his house, fences it in. He then, by repeated ploughings
and manuring, makes it rich and fine, and removes all
the weeds and grass. Xext. he divides the field into two or
more beds by small dikes of mould, running lengthwise and
crosswise according to the slope and nature of the ground, and
again into smaller squares by other dikes leading from the
principal ones. A tank is dug about ten feet deep at one end
of the field, from which by a leathern bucket, water is raised
into one of the principal dikes and carried to every part as
required ; this irrigation is necessary because the cultivation is
carried on in the dry weather. The seed is sown in November,
and the juice collected in February and March, during a period, usually, of about six weeks ; weeding and watering commence as soon as the plants spring up, and are continued till the poppies come to maturity. Cuts are then made in the capsule with a niishtur or notched iron instrument made of three or four sharp laiicet-likc plates; this is done at sunrise, and the exudation is scraped off next morning by a scoop or slttuJia, and deposited in the dish hanging at the ryot’s side. He takes it home and after draining it dry in a large shallow dish, turns
OPIUM CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 375
it over and over in the air for a month till the mass is equally dried, and it is lit to carry to the godown. Here it is thrown into a great tank, and kneaded to a uniform consistence; when ready it is rolled into balls according to the size of a brass bowl; these balls are covered with a coating of popp}’ petals, and stored in a drying-house till ready for jjacking. The quality of the article depends very much upon the care taken in the drying and covering with Ikoa or opium paste when the ball is prepared.
The cultivator must deliver a certain quantity at the stipulated
price to the collector, the amount being fixed by a survey
of the field when in bloom ; he receives about one dollar and
sixty-five cents for a seer (one pound thirteen ounces) of the
poppy juice, which must be of a certain consistence. The ryot
has, in most cases, already received the advance money, and if
he sell this crude opium to any other than the collector, or if
he fail to deliver the estimated quantity, and there is reason for
supposing he has embezzled it, he is liable to punishment. In
all parts of India, the cultivation of the poppy, the preparation
of the drus, and the traffic in it until it is sold at auction for
exportation, are under a strict monopoly. Should an individual
undertake the cultivation without having entered into
engagements with the government to deliver the produce at the
fixed rate, his property would be immediately attached, and he
compelled either to destroy the poppies, or give security for
the faithful delivery of the product. The cultivation of the
plant is compulsory, for if the ryot refuse the advance for the
year’s crop, the simple plan of throwing the rupees into his
house is adopted ; should he attempt to abscond, the agents
seize him, tie the advance up in his clothes, and push him into
his house. There being then no remedy, he applies himself as
he may to the fulfilment of his contract. The chief opium district is on the Ganges valley, occupying the best land in Benares and Behar, to the extent of about a thousand square miles. The northern and central parts of India are now covered with poppies, while other plants used for food or clothing have nearly been driven out. In Turkey, Persia, India, and China many myriads of acres and millions of people are employed in the cultivation of poppies.’ The growth has extended so much in Persia that opium has lately come from thence to China.
The preparation of the opium is superintended by official examiners, and is a business of some difficulty, from the many substances put into the juice to adulterate or increase its weight.
Wetting it so that the mass shall be more fluid than it naturally is, mixing sand, soft clayey mud, sugar, coarse molasses, cowdung, pounded poppy-seeds, and the juice of stramony, quinces, and other plants, are all resorted to, though with the almost certain result of detection and loss. When the juice has been dried properly, to about seventy per cent, spissitude, it appears coppery brown in the mass, and when spread tliin on a \vhito plate, shows considerable translucency, with a gallstone yellow color and a slightly granular texture. When cut with a knife it exhibits sharp edges without drawing out into threads ; and is tremulous like strawberry-jam, to which it has been aptly compared. It has considerable adhesiveness, a handful of it not dropping from the inverted hand for some seconds.
‘ Chinese Eepository, Vol V. , p. 472.
PREPARATIOiSr AND SALE OF OPIUM. 377
All the opium grown is brought to Calcutta and stored in government warehouses, until it is exposed for sale at auction, at an upset price, graduated according to the market price in China. It is supposed not to cost much more than seven hundred rupees a chest, and is sold at as high an advance as it will bear. Great care is taken to suit the taste of the Chinese ; on one occasion, the East India Company refunded part of the price on a lot which had been differently prepared, to try whether that people would prefer it. There are several sorts of opium : Turkey and Persian, which sell cheapest, and reach China from Aden ; Patna and Benares which are sold at Calcutta ; and Malwa, which is cultivated out of British jurisdiction. In order to equalize its competition, an export duty was until 1812 put on each chest of one hundred and twenty-five rupees, which has been increased to six hundred rupees. The drug is rolled in balls, and then packed in strong boxes, weighing from one hundred and sixteen pounds for Patna, to one hundred and thirty-four pounds or one hundred and forty pounds for Malwa. .Mahva opium is grown and prepared by natives, and is often extensively adulterated ; between four hundred and five hundred cakes are in a chest, and the cultivator there receives double the wages of the ryot in Bengal.
Opium chests are made of mango wood in Patna and Benares and consist of two parts, in each of which there are twenty partitions; the balls are carefully rolled in dry poppy leaves.
The chest is covered with hides or gunny bags, and the seams closed so as to render it as impervious to the air as possible. After the drug is sold at auction, there is no further tax on it. The revenue from this monopoly has become so great and important, that its continuance is described by a leading editor in India as a matter of life and death to the Government. In 1840, the income was somewhat over two millions sterling; it has since steadily increased, till in 1872 it amounted to £7,657,000; the average annual sum between the years 1869 to 1876 was £6,524,000, and it has been over five millions ever since the peace of Tientsin. The purity and flavor of the drug has been carefully maintained by competent scientists, and by this date the prejudice in its favor has become so strong among the Chinese, as to induce them to pay an enormous premium for the Indian article over any native product.
The use of opium among the Chinese two centuries ago must
have been very little,^ or tjie writings of Bomish missionaries,
from 1580 down to the beginning of the nineteenth century,
would certainly have contained some account of it. It was not
tdl the year 1767 that the importation reached a thousand chests,
and continued at that rate for some years, most of the trade
being in the hands of the Portuguese. The East India Company
made a small adventure in 1773 ; and seven years after, a depot
of two small vessels was established by the English in Lark’s Bay, south of Macao ; the price was then about $550 a chest.
In 1781 the company freighted a vessel to Canton, but were obliged to sell the lot of 1,600 chests at 8200 a chest, to Sinqua, one of the hong-merchants, who, not being able to dispose of it to advantage, reshipped it to the Archipelago. The price in 1791 was about ,$370 a chest, and was imported under the head of medicine at a dutv of about seven dollars a hundredweight, including charges. The authorities at Canton began to complain of the two ships in Lark’s Bay in 1793, and their owners being much annoyed by the pirates and revenue boats, and inconvenienced by the distance from Canton, loaded the opium on board a single vessel, and brought her to AVhampoa, where she lay unmolested for more than a year. She was then loaded and sent out of the river, and the drug introduced in another ship ; this practice continued until 1820, when the governor-general and collector of customs issued an edict, forbidding any vessel to enter the port in which opium was stored, and making the pilots and Hang-merchants responsible for its being on board. The Portuguese were also forbidden to introduce it into Macao, and every officer in the Chinese custom-house there was likewise made responsible for preventing it, under the heaviest penalties. “Be careful,” says his excellency in conclusion, ” and do not view this document as mere matter of form, and so tread within the net of the law, for you will find your escape as impracticable as it is for a man to bite his own navel.”
The importation had been prohibited by the Emperor JiaQing in 1800, under heavy penalties, on account of its use wasting the time and destroying the property of the people of the Inner Land, and exchanging their silver and commodities for the ” vile dirt ” of foreign countries. The supercargoes of the Company therefore recommended the Directors to prohibit its shipment to China from England and India, but this could not be done ; and they contented themselves by forbidding their own ships bringing it to China. The Hang-merchants were required to give bonds, in 1809, that no ship which discharged her cargo at Whampoa had opium on board ; but they contrived to evade the restriction. The traffic was carried on at Whampoa and Macao by the connivance of local officers, some of whom watched the delivery of every chest and received a fee; while their superiors, i-emote from the scene of smuggling, pocketed an annual bi’ibe for overlooking the violation of the imperial orders.
SMUGGLIiS”G TRADE IN OPIUM. 379
The system of bribery and condoning malpractices, so common
in China, Is well illustrated bj a case which occurred in connection
with this business. In September, 1S21, a Chinese inhabitant
of Macao, who had been the niediuni of receiving from
the Portuguese, and paying to the Chinese officers the several
bribes annually given for the introduction of opium, was arrested
by government for hiring banditti to assault one of his personal
opponents. Having got the man in their power, quicksilver was
poured into his ears, to injure his head without killing him;
they also forced him to drink a horril)le potion of scalding tea
mixed with the short hairs shaved from his head. The vile
wretch who originated this cruel idea and paid the perpetrators
of it, was a pettifogging notary, who brought gain to tlie officials
by intimidating the people, until he was the pest and terror of
the neighborhood. An official enemy at last laid his character
and doings before the governor, who had him seized and thrown
into prison, when he turned his wrath on his former employers,
and confessed that he held the place of bribe-collector, and that
all the authorities received so much per chest, even up to the
admiral of the station. The governor, though doubtless aware
of these practices, was now obliged to notice them ; but instead
of punishing those who were directly guilty, he accused the senior Hang-merchant, a rich man, nicknamed the ” timid young lady,” and charged him with neglecting his suretyship in not pointing out every foreign ship which contained opium. It was in vain for him to plead that he had never dealt in opium, nor had any connection with those who did deal in it; nor could lie search the ships to ascertain what was in them, or control the authorities who encouraged and protected the smuggling of opium: notwithstanding all his pleas, the governor was determined to hold him responsible. He was accordingly disgraced, and a paper, combining admonition, with exhortation and entreaty, was addressed by his excellency to the foreigners, Portuguese, English, and Americans. The gods, he said, would conduct the fair dealers in safety over the ocean, but over the contraband smugglers of a pernicious poison, the terrors of the royal law on earth, and the wrath of the infernal gods in hades were suspended. The Americans brought opium, he observed, “because they had no king to rule them.” The opium ships thus being driven from Wkanipoa, and the Portuguese unwilling or afraid to admit it into Macao unless at a high duty, the merchants established a floating depot of receiving-ships at Lintin, an island between Macao and the Bogue. In summer, the ships moved to Kumsing moon, Kapshui moon, Hongkong, and other anchorages off the river, to be more secure against the tyfoons ; remaining near Lintin during the north-east monsoon, until 1S39.’
The mode of introducing opium into the country, when the prohibitions against its use were upheld by the moral approval of the best portion of the native society, has hardly any interest now, except as a matter of history. It is a sad exhibition of power, habit, skill, and money all combining to weaken and overpower the feeble, desultory resistance of a pagan and ignorant people against the progress of what they knew was destroying them. The finality of such a struggle could hardly be doubted, and when the tariff of 1858 allowed opium to enter by the payment of a duty, the already enfeebled moral resistance seemed to die out with the extinction of the smuggling trade in opium, now raised to a licensed commerce. The rise and course of the trade up to that year can be learned from the volumes of the Chinese Repository and newspapers issued in China.
‘ CMnetse RejMisitonjj Vol. \., ]ip. 546-553.
PREPAEING THE DllFCi FOR SMOKING. 381
The utensils used in preparing the opium for smoking, consist chiefly of three hemispherical brass pans, two bamboo filters, two portable furnaces, earthen pots, ladles, straining-cloths, and sprinklers. The ball being cut in two, the interior is taken out, and the opium adhering to or contained in the leafy covering is previously sinnnered three several times, each time using a pint of spring water, and straining it into an earthen pot; some cold water is poured over the dregs after the third boiling, and from half a cake (weighing at first about twenty-eight pounds, and with which this process is supposed to be conducted), there will be about five pints of liquid. The interior of the cake is then boiled with this liquid for about an hour, until the whole is reduced to a paste, which is spread out with a spatula in two pans, and exposed to the fire for two or three minutes at a time, till the water is driven off; during this operation it is often broken up and re-spread, and at the last drying cut across with a knife. It is all then spread out in one cake, and covered with six pints of water, being allowed to remain several hours or over night for digestion. When sufficiently soaked, a rag filter is placed on the edge of the pan, and the whole of the valuable part drips slowly through the rag into a basket lined with coarse bamboo paper, from which it falls into the other brass pan, about as much liquid going through as there was water poured over the cake. The dregs are again soaked and immediately filtered till found to be nearly tasteless ; this weaker part usually makes about six pints of liquid.
The first six pints are then briskly boiled, being sprinkled
with cold water to allay the heat so as not to boil over, and removing
the scum by a feather into a separate vessel. After
boiling twenty minutes, five pints of the weak liquid are poured
in and boiled with it, until the whole is evaporated to about
three pints, when it is strained through paper into another pan,
and the remaining pint thrown into the pan just emptied, to
wash away any portion that may remain in it, and also boiled
a little while, when it is also strained into the three pints. The
wliole is then placed over a slow fire in the small furnace, and
boiled down to a pi-oper consistency for smoking ; while it is
evaporating a ring forms around the edge, and the pan is taken
off the fire at intervals to prolong the process, the mass being
the while rapidly stirred with sticks, and fanned until it becomes
like thick treacle, when it is taken out and put into small
pots for smoking. The boxes in which it is retailed are made
of buffalo’s horn, of such a size as easily to be carried about the
person. The dregs containing the vegetable residuum, together
with the scum and washings of the pans, are lastly strained and
boiled with water, producing about six pints of thin, brownish
licpiid, which is evaporated to a proper consistence for selling to
the poor. The process of seething the crude opium is exceedingly
unpleasant to those unaccustomed to it, from the overpowering narcotic fumes which arise, and this odor marks every shop where it is prepared and every person who smokes it.
The loss in weight by this mode of preparation is about one half. The Malays prepare it in much the same manner. The custom in Penang is to reduce the dry cake made on the first evaporation to a powder, and when it is digested and again strained and evaporated, reducing it to a consistence resembling shoemaker’s wax.
The opium pipe consists of a tube of heavy wood furnished at the head with a cup which serves to collect the residuum or ashes left after combustion; this cup is usually a small cavity in the end of the pipe, and serves to elevate the bowl to a level with the lamp. The bowl of the pipe is made of earthenware, of an ellipsoid shape, and sets down upon the hole, itself having a small rimmed orifice on the fiat side. The opium-smoker always lies down, and the impossible picture given by Davis of a ” Mandarin smoking an opium-pipe,” dressed in his official
robe.s and sitting up at a table, becomes still more singular if the
author ever saw a smoker at his pipe. Tying along the couch,
lie holds the pipe, aptly called yen tsiang, i.e., ‘ smoking-pistol,’
60 near the lamp that the bowl can be brought close up to the
flame. A pellet of the size of a pea being taken on the end of
a spoon-headed needle, is put upon the hole of the l)owl and set
on fire at the lamp, and inhaled at one whiff so that none of the
smoke shall be lost. Old smokers will retain the breath a long
time, filling the lungs and exhaling the fumes through the nose.
The taste of the half-lluid extract is sweetish and oily, somewhat
like rich cream, but the smell of the burning drug is rather
sickening. When the pipe has burned out, the smoker lies listless
for a moment while the fumes are dissipating, and then
repeats the process until he has spent all his purchase, or taken
his prescribed dose. When the smoking commences, the man
becomes loquacious, and breaks out into boisterous, silly merriment,
which gradually changes to a vacant paleness and shrinking
of the features, as the quantity increases and the narcotic
acts. A deep sleep supervenes fi’om half an hour to
three or four hours’ duration, during which tlie pulse becomes
slower, softer, and smaller than before the debauch. No refreshment
is felt from this sleep, when the person has become
a victim to the habir, but a universal sinking of the .powers
of the body and mind is experienced, and complete reckless ness of all consequences, if only the craving for more can be appeased.
MANNER OF SMOKING OPIUM. 383
A novice is content with one or two wliiffs, which produce vertigo, nausea, and headache, though practice enables him to gradually increase the quantity; “temperate smokers,”‘ warned by the sad example of the numerous victims around them, endeavor to keep within bounds, and walk as near the precipice as they can without falling over into hopeless ruin. In order to do this, they limit themselves to a certain quantity daily, and take it at, or soon after meals, so that the stomach may not be so much weakened. A ” temperate smoker”(though this term is like that of a tenvperate robber, who only takes sliillings from his employer’s till, or a tenvperate bloodletter, who only takes a spoonful daily from his veins) can seldom exceed a mace weight, or about as much of prepared opium as will balance a pistareen or a franc piece ; this quantity Mill fill twelve pipes. Two mace weight taken daily is
considered an innnoderate dose, which few^ can bear fur any
length of time ; and those who are afraid of the effects of the
drug upon themselves endeavor not to exceed a mace. Some
persons, who have strong constitutions and stronger resolution,
continue the use of the drug within these limits for many
years without disastrous effects upon their health and spirits
though most of even these moderate smokers are so nmch the
slaves to the habit that they feel too wretched, nerveless, and
imbecile to go on with their business without the stimulus.
The testimony regarding the evil effects of the use of this pernicious drug, which deserves better to be called an ” article of destruction ” than an ” article of luxury,” are so unanimous that few can be found to stand up strongly in its favor. Dr. Smith, a physician in charge of the hospital at Penang, says: “The baneful effects of this habit on the human constitution are particularly displayed by stupor, forgetfulness, general deterioration of all the mental faculties, emaciation, debility, sallow complexion, lividness of lips and eyelids, languor and lacklustre of eye, and appetite either destroyed or depraved, sweetmeats or sugar beino; the articles that are most reiished.’*
These synq)toms appear when the habit has weakened the physical powers, but the niiliappy man soon begins to feel the power cf the drug in a general languoi- and sinking, which disables him, mentally more than bodily, from carrying on his ordinary pursuits. A dose of opium does not produce the intoxication of ardent spirits, and so far as the peace of the community and his family are concerned, the smoker is less troublesome than the drunkard; the former never throws the chairs and tables about the room, or drives his wife out of
doors in his furious rage ; he never goes reeling through the
streets or takes lodgings in the gutter ; but contrariwise, he is
quiet or pleasant, and fretful only when the effects of the pipe
are gone. It is in the insupportable languor throughout the
whole frame, the gnawing at the stomach, pulling at the shoulders,
and failing of the spirits that the tremendous power of
this vice lies, compelling the *’ victimized ” slave “to seek it yet
again.” There has not yet been opportunity to make those
minute investigations respecting the extent opium is used
among the Chinese, what classes of people use it, their daily
dose, the proportion of reprobate smokers, and many other
points which have been narrowly examined into in regai’d
to the use of alcohol ; so that it is impossible to decide the
(question as to which of the two is the more dreadful habit.
These statistics have, heretofore, been impossible to obtain in
(“hina, and it will be very difficult to obtain them, even when
a person who may have the leisure and abilities shall undertake
the task.
Various means have been tried by benevolent natives to dissuade their countrymen from using it, such as distributing tracts showing its ruinous effects, compounding medicines for the smoker to take to aid him in breaking off the habit, and denouncing the smoking-shops to government. A painter at Canton made a series of admonitory pictures, showing the several steps in the downward course of the opium-smoker, until beggary and death ended the scene; one of them, showing the young debauchee at his revels, is here introduced.
DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE HABIT. 385
Manner of Smoking Opium.
A Chinese scholar thus sums up the bad effects of opium, which, ‘le says, us taken at first to raise the animal spirits and prevent lassitude i ” It exhausts the aninuil spirits, impedes the regular performance of business, wastes the flesh and blood, dissipates every kind of property, renders the person ill-favored, promotes obscenity, discloses secrets, violates the laws, attacks the vitals, and destroys life.” Under each of these heads he lucidly shows the mode of the process, or gives examples to uphold his assertions: “In comparison with arsenic, I pronounce it tenfold the greater poison ; one swallows arsenic because he has lost his reputation, and is so involved that he cannot extricate himself. Thus driven to desperation, he takes
the dose and is destroyed at once ; but those who smoke the
drug are injured in many ways. It may be compared to raising
the Avick of a lamp, which, while it increases the blaze,
hastens the exhaustion of the oil and the extinction of the light.
Hence, the youth who smoke will shorten their own days and
cut off all hopes of posterity, leaving their parents and wives
without any one on whom to depend. From the robust who
smoke the ‘flesh is gradually consumed and worn away, and the
skin hangs like a bag. Their faces become cadaverous and
black, and their bones naked as billets of wood. The habitual smokers doze for days over their pipes, without appetite ; when the desire for opium comes on, they cannot resist its impulse. Mucus flows from their nostrils and tears from their eyes; their
very bodies are rotten and putrid. From careless observers the
sight of such objects is enough to excite loud peals of laughter.
The poor smoker, who has pawned every article in his possession,
still remains idle ; and when the periodical thirst comes
on, will even pawn his wives and sell his daughters. In the
province of Xganhwui I once saw a man named Chin, who, being
childless, purchased a concubine and got her with child; afterward, when his money was expended and other means all failed him, being unable to resist the desire for the pipe, he sold her in her pregnancy for several tens of dollars. This money being expended, he went and hung himself. Alas, how painful was his end ! “‘
The thirst and burning sensation in the throat which the wretched sufferer feels, only to be removed by a repetition of the dose, proves one of the strongest links in the chain which drags him to his ruin. At this stage of the habit his case is almost hopeless; if the pipe be delayed too long, vertigo, complete prostration, and discharge of M’ater from the eyes ensue; if entirely withheld, coldness and aching pains are felt over the body, an obstinate diarrhoea supervenes, and death closes the scene.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 108.
MISERABLE CONDITION OF TTIE SMOKER. 387
The disastrous effects di the drug are somewhat delayed or modified by the quantity of nourishing food the person can procure, and consequently it is among the poor who can least afford the pipe, and still less the injury done to their energies, that the destruction of life is the greatest. The evils suffered and crimes committed by the desperate victims of the opium pipe are dreadful and multiplied. Theft, arson, muder, and suicide are perpetrated in order to obtain it or escape its effects. Some try to break off the fatal habit by taking a tincture of the opium dirt in spirits, gradually diminishing its strength until it is left off entirely; others mix opium with tobacco and smoke the compound in a less and less proportion, until tobacco alone remains. The general belief is that the vice can be overcome without fatal results, if the person firmly resolve to forsake it and keep away from sight and smell of the pipe, laboring as much as his strength will allow in the open air until he recovers his spirits and no longer feels a longing for it. Few, very few, however, emancipate themselves from the tyrannous habit which enslaves them; they are able to resist its insidious effects until the habit has become strong, and the resolution to break it off is generally delayed until their chains are forged and deliverance felt to be hopeless.
Swallowing opium is commonly resorted to as a means of suicide; the papers published in China constantly report cases where physi(;ians have tried to save the patient by injections of atrophine before life is gone, and the number of these applications painfully show how lightly the Chinese esteem life. A comparison is sometimes drawn between the opium-smoker and drunkard, and the former averred to be less injured by the habit; but the balance is struck between two terrible evils, both of which end in the loss of health, property, mind, influence, and life. Opium imparts no benefit to the smoker, impairs his bodily vigor, beclouds his mind, and unfits him for his station in society ; he is miserable without it, and at last dies by what he lives upon.
The import having been legalized in 1858, under the pressure
of war, it was useless fo.v the imperial government longer to
prevent the cultivation of the poppy, and the growth has rapidly
extended throughout the provinces. Since all the opium brought,
to China reaches it through Hongkong, and the consumption upon
that island must be comparatively insignificant, the table on the
following page, taken from the Chinese Customs Reports, will
convey a very fair idea of the amount and value of the import
during the past six years.
Although it is difficult to make a general statement regarding an import of such varying quantity and value, the average total may be safely enough put at between twelve and thirteen million pounds, the approximate value of which is something over sixty million dollars, per annum. The prices range from $540 to $580 per pecul for Benares, $740 for Malwa, $560 for Patna, $540 for Persian, and nearly $1,500 for the prepared drug. The imports of Persian and Tnrkisli, though steadily increasing, amount as yet to hardly one-fiftieth of the total. But the merest guesses can be made at the production of native opium.
TOTAL IMPORT OF OPIUM AT HONGKONG.
Year.
VALUE OF THE OPIUM TRADE. 389
do without now,” said a British minister once in a soiTOwing
mood, as he acknowledged its evils ; l)ut there are many other
commodities, and a survey of the native and foreign conmierce
will exhibit the extent and variety of the resources of the Empire.
The Chinese trade with foreign ports in native vessels is
at present nearly extinct, in consequence of the increase of foreign
shipping and advantages of insurance enabling the native
trader to send and receive commodities with less risk and more
speed than by junks. The facilities and security of commerce
in a country are atnong the best indices of its government being
administered, on the whole, in a tolerably just manner, and on
those principles which give the mechanic, farmer, and merchant
a good prospect of reaping the fruits of their industry. This
security is afforded in China to a considerable degree—far more
than in Western Asia—and is one of the most satisfactory proofs,
amid all the extortions and depravity seen in their courts and
in society at large, that the people, generally speaking, enjoy the
rewards of industry. Tranquillity may often be owing to the
strong arm of power, but trade, manufactures, voyages, and
large commercial enterprises must remunerate those Mdio undertake
them, or they cease. The Chinese are eminently a trading
people ; their merchants are acute, methodical, sagacious, and
enterprising, not over-scrnpulous as to their mercantile honesty
in small transactions, but in large dealings exhibiting that regard
for character in the fulfilment of their obligations which
extensive commercial engagements usually produce. The roguery
and injustice which an officer of government may commit Nvithout
disgrace would blast a merchant’s reputation, and he undertakes
the largest transactions with confidence, being guaranteed
in his engagements by a combination of mercantile security and
responsibility, which is more effectual than legal sanctions.
These are like the rings and. guilds, the corporations, patents,
co-operative societies, etc., which are fonn<l in Europe and America,
and enter into nil branches of industry.
The coasting trade is disproportionately small compared with the inland commerce ; large junks cross the seas, but smaller ones proceed crAitionsly along the coast from one headland to another, and sail chiefly by day. Their cargoes consist of rice, stockfish, vegetables, timber, poles, coal, stones, and other bulky articles. Between the unopened ports the native trade still employs thousands of small craft, whose crews know no other homes; but the progress of steam and sailing ships has gradually turned the coasting trade into foreign bottoms.
The foreign ports now visited by Chinese junks are Singapore,
Labuan, Borneo, IJangkok and elsewhere in Siam, Manila, Corea,
and Japan. The cargoes carried to these places comprise
coarse crockery, fruits, cottons, cheap silks, and metallic articles
of great vai’iety. European goods are not brought to any great
amount by junks, but the variety of articles of food or domestic
use and raw materials for manufactures, known under the general
denomination of Straits2yrodtice, is large. Rice is the chief
import from Bangkok and Manila ; i-attans, pepper, and betelnut
from Singapore and Borneo; biclK’-de-mer from the Sulu
Sea. Of the amount of capital embarked iji this commerce, the
number of vessels, the mode in which it is carried on, and the
degree of risk attending it, little is known. It is gradually decreasing,
and all the valuable portions are already transferred to foreign bottoms.
The natural facilities for inland navigation in China are, as the first chapters of this work have pointed out, unusually great, and have been, moreover, improved by art for travel and transportation.
INTERNAL TRADE AND TRANSIT DUTIES. 391
It will be a hazardous experiment for the peace of the country to hastily supplant the swarms of boats on its rivers and canals by shallow-draught steamers and launches, and throw most of their poor and ignorant crews out of employment. The sugar, oil, and rice of the southern provinces, the tea, silk, cotton, and crockery of the eastern, the furs, grain, and medicines of the northern, and the metals and minerals of the western, are constantly going to and fro and demand myriads of boats; add thereto the immense number of governmental boats required for the transportation of salt and the taxes paid in kind, the passage-boats plying in great numbers between contiguous towns, the pleasure and cfflcial barges and revenue cutters, and lastly, the far greater number used for family residences, and the total of the inland shipping, it will be seen, imist be enormous. It is, however, impossible to state the amount in any satisfactory
manner, or give an idea of the proportion between the different
kinds of boats. The transit duties levied on the produce carried
in these vessels partake of the nature of an excise duty, and
afford a very considerable revenue to the government, the greatest
so, probably, next to the land tax. It was estimated that
the additional charges for transit duty and transportation on
only those teas brought to Canton overland for exportation
amounted to about a million of dollars. Whenever a boat loaded
with produce passes the custom-house, the suj^ercargo presents
his manifest, stating his name and residence, the name of the
boat and its ci’ew, and the description of the cargo, and when
the charges are paid proceeds on his voj-age. The tariff on
goods at these places is light, but their number in a journey of
any length, and the liability to imforeseen detention and exaction
by the tidewaiters, greatly increase the expense and delay.
Since the treaties of 1842 and 1858, the Chinese and British
authorities have been in constant dispute about the right and
mode of levying transit dues on foreign and native produce
going through the country—a dispute which involves and disturbs
the whole revenue system of the country.
The mode of conducting the foreign trade with China now
presents few of those peculiarities which formerl}” distinguished
it, for the monopoly of the hong merchants and of the East India
Company- both being abolished, native and foreign traders
are free to choose with whom they will deal. The introduction
of regular printed permits, clearances, and other customs blanks
to facilitate trade, followed the treaty of 18-12, and their acceptance
has now extended to every port. The employment of
foreigners to conduct the details of the trade in connection with
native officers and clerks has worked easily, and its extension
to all commerce is gradually perfecting.
The articles of trade are likely to increase in variety and amount, and a brief account of the principal ones, taken from the Chinese Commercial Guide, may be interesting to those unacquainted with the character of this commerce. The foreign export and import trade divides itself into two branches, that between India and the Archipelago and China, and that beyond the Isthmus of Suez ; the former comprises the greatest variety, but its total value is much less. Alum of an inferior quality is sent to India to use in dyeing, making glass, and purifying water. Aniseed stars, seeds of many sorts of anioniaiii, euhehs, and tarrtieric are all sought after for their aromatic properties. The first is the small five-rayed pod of the lUicium anisatum / the pods and seeds are both prized for their aromatic qualities, and a volatile oil, used in perfumery and medicine in Europe, is obtained from them; the Asiatics employ them in cooking, Ciihths^ the produce of a vine (d/hcha ofic/’/tah’s), are externally distinguished from black pepper chiefly by their lighter color, and a short process where the seed is attached to the stalk.
The taste is warm or pungent and slightly bitter, with a pleasant
aromatic smell ; the Chinese article goes to India, the consumption
of Europe being supplied from Java. Turmeric is
the root of the CiircuDui longa^ and is used over the Archipelago
and India for its coloring and aromatic properties, and for
food. The roots are uneven and knotty, of a yellowish-saffron
color ; the smell resembles ginger, with a bitterish taste; and the
two are usually combined in the composition of curry-powders.
Its color is too fugacious for a dye, no mordant having yet been
found to set it.
Cassia and cassia oil are sent abroad in amounts far exceeding
the whole of the preceding; cassia buds also form an article
of commerce. Cassia oil is used for confectionery and perfumery,
and the demand is usually much greater than the supply.
Arsenic is exported to India for medicinal purposes, and the
native sulphuret or orpiment is sometimes shipped under the
Hindustani name of harfalL as a A^ellow colorinii; druij;.
Wrist and ankle rings, known by the Hindu name of Ijangles,
ai’e exported largely, with false pearlsj coral, and beads ; the
Chinese imitate jade and chalcedony in their mamifacture, iu
which the Hindus do not succeed so well. The universal use
and brittle nature of these ornaments render their consumption
enormous in Eastern Asia. Ilrans foil., or tinsd, is made into
the kin hwa, or ‘golden flowers,’ M-hich are placed before
shrines and adorn the rooms of houses, imitating bouquets and
tableaux with cuiming art ; it is also used for coatings of toys.
Bones and horiis are manufactured into buttons, opium-boxes,
PRINCIPAL EXPORTS FROM CHINA. 393
hair-pins, etc., some of which go abroad. Many kinds of use^
fill and fancy articles are made from bamboo and rattan, and
their export forms an item of some importance. Chairs, baskets,
canes and umbrella handles, fishing-rods, furniture, and
similar articles are still made in vast variety. The same may
be said of the great assortment of articles comprised under the
head of cui-‘tosities, as vases, pots, jars, cups, images, boxes, plates,
screens, statuettes, etc., made of copper, iron, bronze, porcelain,
stone, wood, clay, or lacquered-ware. During tlie last twenty
years the native shops have been nearly cleared of the choicer
specimens of Chinese art and skill in these various departments.
Caj)oo)’ cutchefy, corrupted from the Hindu name Aafur.
Jcuchri, or camphor root, is the aromatic root of the Iledychiwn,
and also of the K(jemj)ferla ; it goes to Bombay for perfumery,
plasters, and other medicinal ends, as well as preserving clotlies
from insects. It is about half an inch in diameter, and cut up
when brought to market ; it has a pungent, bitterish taste.
Galangal is another aromatic root exported for perfumery and
medicine. The name is probably a corruption of Kaoliang, or
Ko-loiig, meaning ‘ mild ginger,’ from Ivauchau, in the southwest
of Kwangtung, where the best is found. It is the dried
root of the Alplnia qfficinarurii (liance) and other species, and
thousands of peculs reach Europe and America, wdiere it is
used as a cordial and tonic. There are two or three sorts ; the
smaller is a reddish-colored root, light and firm in texture, with
an acrid, peppery taste.
The larger is from a different plant (Kmmpferia galanga), and inferior in every respect. Both are used as spicery, and the powder is mixed in tea among the Tartars, and to flavor a liquor called nastoihi drank in Russia. All the plants whose roots have the aromatic sliai’p taste of ginger are prized by the Chinese. China-7’oot is a commercial name applied to two different products, for which the native namefuh-ling rather misleads.
One is the root of Smilax China, a vine-like dodder in appearance ; it is a knotty and jointed brown tuber, white and starchy when cut, and sweetish. The other is a curious fungus(Pachyma) produced by fir roots apparently as it is found under that tree. The article is whitish and reddish when cut, ])itter isli and sharp to the taste, and eaten hot as a stomachic in rice-cakes where it is cheap. It is similar to the Indian bread, oi tuck-ahoo, of the Carolinas.
The exportation of porcelain and ch’uiaware, which was so
great last century, dimiiushed as European skill produced finer
sorts at cheaper rates, and ceased altogether about twenty-five
years ago, when the Tai-ping rebellion dispersed the workmen
in Kingteh chin. Since the peace, those kilns have resumed
work, and the demand for their finest pieces has arisen once
more from western lands, so that China bids fair to regain her
original reputation. She still supplies most parts of Asia with
coarse stoneware and crockery for domestic use. Glue of a
tolerabl}’ good quality, made from ox-hides, supplies the Chinese
and furnishes an article for export to India. IsinglasSy or
fisli-ii;lue, is nuide from the sounds and noses of sturo;eons and
other sorts of fish, as the bynni carp, or l^oli/neniiis ^ it is used
in sizing silk and in cookery, as well as in manufacturing of
India-ink, water-colors, and false pearls.
A kind of parasol, made of oiled paper, or silk called /i/'(tt/^ol {i.e., (juitte sol), is exported to India ; the article is durable, considering its material, and its cheapness induces a large consumption.
Tobacco, one of the most widely cultivated plants in China (for men, women, and children smoke), is also sent to the Indian Islands in considerable quantity, for use among the natives. Ware made from ivory, tortoise-shell, mother-o’-pearl, and gold and silver constitutes altoo-ether a considerable item in the trade, for the beautiful c;irving of the Chinese always commands a market. The workmen easily imitate new patterns for boxes, combs, and buttons of mother-o’-pearl or tortoiseshell, while the cheapness and beauty with which silver table furniture is made cause a large demand. Lacqtiered-icare is not so much sent abroad now as fornuM-ly, the foreign imitations of the trays and tables having nearly superseded the demand, for the Chinese ware. Marhle dahn of a clouded lilue limestone are wrought out in Kwangtung province for floors, and some go abroad ; square tiles are used everywhere for pavements, roofing, brick stoves, and drains. In the southern provinces they are well biii-iied and make serviceable floors.
PRINCIPAL EXPORTS FROM CHINA. 395
2Iats of rattan for table furniture, and of grass for floors, are
all made by liand. The latter is manufactured of two or three
sorts of grass in different widths and patterns, and though the
amount annually sent to the United States and elsewhere exceeds
five million yards, it forms a very small proportion to the home
consumption. Floor matting is put up in rolls containing
twenty mats, or forty yards. Musi; though still in demand, is
often and much adulterated, or its quality impaired by disease.
It comes in bags about as large as a walnut; when good, it is of a dark purplish color, dry and light, and generally in concrete, smooth, and unctuous grains; its taste is bitter and smell strong; when rubbed on paper the trace is of a bright yellow color, and the feel free from grittiness. A brown unctuous earth is sometimes mixed with it, and the bags are frequently artificial; the
price is about forty-five dollars a pound for the best quality.
Nanl’eeii is a foreign name given to a kind of reddish cotton
cloth manufactured near Xanking and Tsungming Island ; it was
once largely exported, but the product has now nearly ceased.
It is the most durable kind of cotton cloth known, and its excellence
always repays the cultivator. The opening of the country
to foreigners, and the disorders ensuent on the Tai-ping rebellion,
altered the character of the silh trade. The loss of capital
and dispersion of workmen in the vicinity of Canton nearly
destroj’ed the export of raw silk and piece-goods formerly made
at Fatshan, and the pongees once woven there are seldom seen.
The elegant crape shawls and scarfs, gauzes and checked lustrings, satins and lining silks, which were sent abroad from Canton, have all dwindled away. Raw silk makes the bulk of the export, amounting to over a hundred thousand bales, of which nearly two-thirds goes to Great Britain. The annual average for the six years ending 1860 was seventy-eight thousand five hundred bales ; in 1836 it was twenty-one thousand the price of the best sorts was about five hundred and fifty dollars a pecul. Silk goods are exported to the annual value of about two million taels ; they consist chiefly of gauzes, pongees, handkerchiefs, scarfs, sarsnet, senshaws, levantines, and satins; ribbons, sewing-thread, and organzine, or thrown silk, are not much shipped. The silk trade is more likely to increase than any other branch of the commerce, after tea, and the Chinese can furnish ahnost any amount of raw and manufactured silks, according to the demand for them. Soij is a name derived from the Japanese sho-ya • it is made by boiling the beans of the Dol’ichos soja, adding an equal quantity of wheat or barley, and leaving the mass to ferment; a laj^er of salt and three times as much water as beans are afterward put in, and the whole compound stirred daily for two months, when the liquid is pressed and strained. Another method of making the condiment has already been mentioned in Volume I., p. 365.
Besides the articles above-mentioned, there are many others which singly form very trifling items in the trade, but their total exportation annually amounts to man}^ lacs of dollars. Among them fire-crackers, and straw braid Moven in Shantung from a variety of wheat, are both sent to the United States. Among other sundries, vermilion, gold leaf, amber, sea-shells, preserved insects, fans, ginger, sweetmeats and jellies, rhubarb, gamboge, camphor, grass-cloth, artificial flowers, insect wax, fishing-lines, joss-sticks, spangles, window-blinds, vegetable tallow, and pictures arc the most deserving of mention. Some of them may perhaps become important articles of commerce, and all of them, except vermilion, gamboge, and i-attans, are the produce of the countiy.
The inq)orts make a much longer list than the exports, for almost everything that should or might sell there is from time to time offered in the market ; and if the Chinese at Canton had had any inclination or curiosity to obtain the productions or manufactures of other lands, they have had no want of specimens. It will only be necessary to mention articles of import whose names are not of themselves a sufficient description. ()})ium, rice, raw cotton, long cloths, domestics and sheetings among manufactured cottons, ginseng, tin, lead, bar, rod, and hoop iron, and woolen goods, constitute the great bulk of the import trade. Rice is brought from southern islands, and a bounty used to be paid on its importation into Canton by taking oft” the tonnage dues on shi})s laden with this alone—a bonus of about three thousand dollars on a large vessel.
IMPORTS FROM THP] ARCHIPELAGO. 397
The importations from the Indian Aix’liipelago comprise a large variety of articles, though their total amount and value
are not very great. Ayar-ayar, or ayal-agal, is the Malay name
for the Plocarla tena,i\ Gnicillarla^ and other sorts of seaweed ;
it is boiled and clarified to make a vegetable glue which is
largely employed in lantern and silk manufacture instead of
isinglass ; it is also made into a jelly, but the seaweed {Lalnihiarla)
from Japan has supplanted it. Betel-nut is the fruit of
the areca palm, and is called hetel-nat because it is chewed with
the leaf of the betel pepper [Chavlca) as a masticatory. The nut
is the only part brouglit to China, the leaf being raised along
the southern coast ; it resembles a nutmeg in shape and color,
is a little larger, and the whole of the nut is chewed. They
are boiled or eaten raw, the former being cut into slices and
boiled with a small quantity of cutcli and then dried. Those
brought to China are simply deprived of the husk and dried.
AVhen chewed, a slice of the nut is wrapped in the fresh leaf
smeared with a mixture of gambler or shell-lime colored red,
and the whole masticated to a pulp before spitting it out. The
teeth become dark red from using it, but the Chinese are careful
to remove this stain. The taste of the fresh pepper leaf is
herbaceous and aromatic with a little pungency, and those who
chew have it seldom out of their mouths ; the habit is not
general where the fresh leaf cannot be obtained.
Birlie-(h-iiiei\ i.e., slug of the sea, or tripang, is a marine gasteropod {Ilolothui’la) resembling, when alive, a crawling sausage more than anything else ; it is sometimes over a foot long and two or three inches through ; it inhabits the shallow waters around the islands of the Pacific and Indian Archipelago, and is obtained by diving or spearing, and prepared by cleansing and smokirjg it. In the market it appears hard and rigid, of a dirty brown color ; when soaked in water it resembles porkrind, and when stewed is not unlike it in taste. The Chinese distinguish nearly thirty sorts of hal sung—’sea ginseng;’ in commerce, however, all are known as white or black, the prices ranging from two dollars up to eighty dollars a pecul.
Birds’ nests., sJiarks\ti)is, and JisJi-uKUrs are three other articles of food prized by Chinese epicures for their supposed stimidating quality, and they readily fetch high prices. The tii’st is the nest of a species of swallow {Collocalia)^ which makes the gelatinous fibres from its own crop out of the seaweed (Gelidlum) it feeds on. These nests resemble those of the chinmey swallow in shape, and are collected in most dangerous places along the cliffs and caves in the Indian Islands.
The article varies from thirty dollars to three dollars a pound, and its total import is hardly five hundred peculs a year. The taste of the Chinese for the gelatinous fins and stomachs of the shark aids in clearing the seas of that ferocious fish even as far as the Persian Gulf. The soup nuide from the fins resembles that from isinglass, and is worthy of acceptance on other tables. Amhe?’ is found on various eastern shores, along the Mozambique coast, in the Indian Islands, and localities in Annam and Yunnan. The consumption for court beads and other ornaments is great, and shows that the supply is permanent, for none is brought from Prussia. The Chinese use the powder of amber in their high-priced medicines. Their artists have also learned to imitate it admirably in a variety of articles made of copal, shell-lac, and colophony.
The hezoars, or biliary calculi from ruminating and other animals, always find a ready market in China for drugs ; that from the cow is most prized, and is often imitated with pipeclay and ox-gall mixed with hair, or adulterated by the camel bezoar. The Mongols prize these substances very highly ; the pure goat and cow bezoars are ground for paints by the Cantonese.
Outeh, or terra japonica, is a gummy resin, obtained from a species of areca palm and the Acacia catechu, and was for a long time supposed to be a sort of earth found in Japan ; it is called aotc/i from the Ilunn of Cutch, near which the tree grows. The best is fi-iable between the fingers, is of a reddish-brown color, and used in China as a dye. There are two kinds, black andjf>«Zd y the former is made by boiling the heartwood of the acacia and putting the resin into snutll cakes ; it is now brought in small quantities, as gambler has supplanted it.
IMPORTS FROM THE ARCHIPELAGO, 399
Rose-maloes, corruj)ted from rasaiiiala, the Javanese name of the Altingia excelsa^ is a liquid storax obhined from the Styrax ; it is a scented gummous oil (tf the consistency of tar, and is 1)ronglit from Bombay to China for medicine. Guruhemoin, or henjamin, is one of the gnm-resiiis brouglit from abroad, and highly prized by Chinese doctors; its Chinese name indicates that it came from Partliia ; but it is collected from the Styrax henzoin in Snmatra and Borneo by making incisions in the bark in much the same manner as opium, until the plant withers and dies. It comes to market in cakes, which in some parts of those islands formerly served as standards of value.
Good benzoin is full of clear light-colored spots, marbled on the broken surface, and giving off an agreeable odor when heated or rubbed ; ‘it is the frankincense of the far East, and has been employed by many nations in their religious ceremonies; for what was so acceptable to the worshippers was soon inferred to be equally grateful to the gods, and sought after by all devotees as a delightful perfume. The quantity of benzoin imported is, however, small, and the Arabian frankincense, or olihanion, is more commonly seen in the market, and is employed for the same purposes. This gum-resin exudes from the Boswellia thurifera cultivated in Coromandel; the drops have a pale reddish color, a strong and somewhat unpleasant smell, a pungent and bitterish taste, and when chewed give the saliva a milky color ; it burns with a pleasant fragrance and slight residuum. Dragon”s hlood is probably an equivalent of the Chinese name lung-yen hiang, given to this resin from its coming to market in lumps formed from the agglutinated tears.
It is the gummy covering of the seeds of a rattan palm (D(jemonoroj)S draco) common in Sumatra, which is separated by shaking them in a basket or bag ; an inferior sort is made by boiling the nuts. It is used in varnishing, painting, and medical preparations. ‘
Cloves are consumed but little by the Chinese, and mostly in expressing an oil which forms an ingredient in condiments and medicines, like the oil of peppermint made by themselves. Pepper is much more used than cloves, the tea being considered beneficial in fevers ; the good effects as a febrifuge seem to be doubted lately, for the importation is only twenty thousand peculs, not one-half what it was fifty years ago.
Barooa camj^hor is still imported from Borneo, the people supposing that the drops and lumps found in the fissures of the tree (Dryohalanops) in that island are more powerful than their own gum; the proportion between the two, both in price and quantity, is about eighteen to one.
Gamhier is obtained from the gambier vine {Uncar’ai) by boiling the leaves and inspissating the decoction ; a soapy substance of a brownish-yellow color remains, which is both chewed with betel-nut and forms a good and cheap material for tanning and dyeing. Putchuch is the root of a kind of thistle {Aio’I.-landla) cultivated in Cashmere ; it comes in dry, brown, broken pieces, resembling rhubarb in color and smell, and affording an agreeable perfume when burned ; the powder is employed in making; incense-sticks and the thin shaviiiics mixed in medicines.
Cornelians, agates, and other stones of greater or less value are purchased by the Chinese for manufacturing into official insignia, rings, beads, and other articles of ornament; they are brought chiefly from India or Central Asia. 8eed jpearls^ to the amount of three hundred thousand dollars, are annually brought from Bombay to Canton, where they are run on strings to be worn in ladies’ head-dresses ; coral is also a part of cargoes from the Archipelago. Mother-of-pearl shells and tortoise-shell are brought from the same region and the Pacific islands, Muscat, and Bombay, a large part of which is re-exported in the shape of buttons, combs, and other productions of Chinese skill.
‘ The elegant plumage of the tiirquois kingfisher and some other birds is aiso worked into ornaments and head-dresses.
GEMS, IVORY, AND WOODS IMPORTED. 401
Jvorij still comes from Africa via Bombay, and ^Nfalaysia, mostly from Bangkok ; the fossil ivory of Siberia has furnished the material for the inlaid tables of Ningbo ; but the cost of fine ivory has prevented the manufacture of many articles once common at Canton. Rhinoceros’ horns are all brought to China to be carved into ornaments, or served in remedies and tonics.’ But the principal use of these horns is in medicine and for amulets, for only one good cup can be carved from the end of each horn ; the parings and fragments are carefully preserved to serve for the other purposes. The teeth of the sperm whale, walrus, lamantine, and other phocine animals, form an article of import in limited quantities under the designation of ” sea-horse teeth; ” these tusks weigh from sixteen to forty ounces, their ivory being nearly as compact though not so white as that of the elephant.
Several kinds of wood are brought for cabinet and inlaid work, medical preparations, and dyeing. Among these are ebomj and cainagon {^inao tsz’), both obtained from species of Diosjr//ros growing in India and Luzon ; they are often very cleverly imitated by covering teak and other hard woods with a black stain.
Galiru icood—also called eagle oragila wood (Aquilaria)—furnishes the calambak timber, highly prized for its perfume ; the diseased heart-Avood of this tree is the precious aloes wood, the lign aloes of the Bible.’ Among dye-stuffs the laka wood (^Tanarius) from Sumatra, mangrove bark, sapan wood {Coesal2>ini(i), and redwood are important articles; the imports of sandal wood for incense, rosewood, satin wood, amboyna or knot wood, camphor and hranjee are employed in various ways for junks, buildings, and furniture.
The greater facilities of trade with foreign countries since 1860 have vastly enlarged the list of imports and exports, and brought many new and useful articles within reach of the natives living far from the ports. In their fear and ignorance the Chinese associated everything dreadful with the name and coming of those whom they called devils and barbarians, and knew chiefly in connection, with war and opium. By degrees,
however, they are learning the benefits of a wider commercial
as well as intellectual intercourse. One of the ]nost notable
among the imports, which carries with it something of this
broadening influence, is kerosene; the traveller in China, as well
as in Algeria, Greece, and Egypt, can hardly fail to note with
interest the multitude of benefits arising from the introduction
of a cheap and brilliant lamp into a house whose only light
before has been a water-lamp or tallow candle. Electric lighting
is now employed in certain of the foreign settlements, and will
doubtless become as popular in the far East as among Western
nations. It is needless, however, to enumerate the novelties in
which the Chinese are constantly urged and tempted to invest.
The mode of conducting the trade is described in the author’s
‘ Chinese Commercial Guides Fifth Edition, p. 106.
Chinese Ccmimercial Guide (fifth edition, Ilonglcong, 1863), which contains the treaties, tariffs, regulations, etc., of other nations as well as of China. A peculiar feature of this trade is the fact that the natives have always conducted it in English,—that is, they do business in the jargon called jrlyeon-English, whose curious formation has already received some attention in a previous chapter. The Chinaman using it deems no sentence complete until it contains the same number of words and in thensame idiom as its equivalent phrase in his own language. A sample of this hybrid lingo, with its melange of Chinese, Portuguese, and Malay words and grammatical constructions, may
not be out of place here. We will suppose a shopkeeper is
soliciting custom from a foreigner : ” My chin-chin you,” he
says, “one good fleen [friend], tahe care for \ny [patronize me];
‘spose you wanchee any first chop ting, my can catch ee for you
[obtain]. I secure sell ’em plum cash [prime cost], alia same
cumsha [present] ; can do ?” The foreigner, with great gravity,
replies : ” Just now my no wanchee anyting ; any teem [time]
‘spose you got vel}’^ number one good ting, p’rhaps I come you
shop look see.” After hearing for a few days such sentences,
the foreigner begins to imitate them, soon learning to adapt his
speech to his interlocutor’s, and thus perpetuating the jargon.
Other nationalities are also obliged to learn it, and the whole
trade is conducted in this meagre gibberish, which the natives
suppose, however, to be correct English, but which hardly enables
the two parties to exchange ideas upon even household
subjects. Much of the misunderstanding and trouble experienced
in daily intercourse with the Chinese is doubtless owing
to this iniperfect medium.’
The trade at the five ports opened by the treaty of Nanking
in 1842 was conducted by native custom-house officers,
as it had been previously at Canton, but under regulations
which insured more honesty and efficiency. In lSr>;>, however,
the capture of Shanghai by insurgents throw tlic whole trade
into such confusion that the collector, who had been formerly
‘ Mr. Scluiyler mentions hearing some Chinese residents at Vierny speaking” pigeon-Kiissian.” Tiirkt)it(tii,\o\. If., p. 147.
PRESENT MANAGEMENT OF TRADE IN CHINA. 403
A mongrel with the Russian officers ol the post, which might be called a Hang merchant at Canton, called in the aid of foreigners to carry on his duties. A trio of inspectors was nominated for this purpose by tlie British, American, and French ministers from their nationalities ; and so well did it work in honestly collecting the revenue for the imperial coffers, that when the city was recaptured the system was made permanent for that port. In the negotiations growing out of the treaties of Tientsin in 1858, the Chinese government felt so much confidence in the feasibility of the plan, that it was extended to all the ports and placed under the entire control of an inspector-general.
By thus utilizing the experience and integrity of foreign employes in carrying on this important branch of its administration, the rulers broke through their long seclusion and isolation, and opened the way for removing the impediments to their own progress in every branch of polity.
The following tables, compiled or abridged from the so-called
” Yellow Books,” or Trade Reports, issued by the Imperial
Maritime Customs, will furnish a general idea of the foreign
trade with China and some statistics concerning its domestic
commerce. It is hardly necessary to add, however, that concerning
the latter when unconnected with foreigners, there are
almost no figures of value attainable. The Ilaihwan tael^ it
may be well to repeat, is valued at $1.36|^, or 5s. Qh,d. The
jpecul weighs 133| pounds.
ANNUAL VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA. 1871 TO 1881.
Ybab.
CUSTOMS REVENUE, 1871 TO 1881.
Year.
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
Duties on Native Produce
Exported to—
Foreign Countries.
Ilk. Tls.
5,246,467
5,840,261
4,978,179
5,535,041
5,640,062
5,772,709
5,703,321
5,803,485
5,958,176
6,696,290
6,869,486
Chinese Ports.
Ilk. Th.
138,116
099,724
158,938
147,686
291,923
222,860
140,442
306,118
426,894
572,392
460,182
Total Revenue fkom—
Foreign Trade. Home Trade. TotaL
Ilk. Tls.
9,508,972
10,029,050
9,238,675
9,775,743
10,030,226
10,318,631
10,356,415
10,.524,811
11,391,329
11,899,995
12,494,889
Ilk. Tls.
1,707,174
1,649,-586
1,738,407
1,721,529
1,937,S83
1,834,290
l,710,()ti3
1,956,177
2,140,341
2,3.58,588
2,190,273
Ilk. Tls.
11,216,146
11,()7S,636
10,977,083
11,497,273
11,968,109
12,152,921
12,067,078
12,483,988
13,.53 1,670
14,2.58,583
14,685,163
EXPORT OF TEA FROIM CHINA DURING TEN YEARS.
Ybar.
TRADE STATISTICS. 405
EXPORT OF NATIVE CHINESE GOODS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES,
1880 AND 1881.
Description of Goods.
Silk, all kinds
Tea, all kinds
Bags, all kinds
Bamboo, all kinds
Beans and beancake
Cassia lignea\ Camphor \ Chinaware and pottery\ Coal\ Clothing, boots, and shoes\Cotton, raw and waste\Cnrios
Dyes, colors, and paints
Fans, all kinds\Fish, provisions, and vegetables\Fire-crackers\Flour, grain, and pulse\Fruits, all kinds
Grasscloth
HempHides and hoops
Indigo
Lung-ngans
Mats and matting
Medicines
Metals, manufactured
Metals, unmanufactured
Nankeens and wool
Nutgalls and preserves
Oil, all kinds
Paper, books, tin, and brass foil
Rattans and rattanware
Rhubarb
Skins, all kinds
Straw braid
Sugar, white, brown, candy…
Tobacco
Vermicelli and macaroni
Sundries, unenumerated ClasKifier of Quantity.
1880. 1881.
Peculs.
Pieces.
Value.
Peculs.
Value.
Peculs.
Value.
Peculs.
Pieces.
Peculs.
Pieces.
Peculs.
Total value.
Pieces.
Peculs.
Value.
Quantity 114,831 3,097,119 749, S83 154,645 38,785 12,337 75,143
161 30,315 Value. Quantity.676 6,387,989 68,940 37,051 149,394 73,720 1,1S5 19,548 30,786 3,847 8,080 384,680 S8,676i 14,284 217
6,511 47,690 3,692
43,581
2,085
6,153
344.193
48,970
1,138,196 19,077 26,991 Bk. Tls. 1 29,831,444 35,728,169 *20,555 74,597 159,996 225,692 100,679 379,574 34 337, .548
182.918 44,948
3,196 38,881
165,922 260,010
139,653 92,913
104,719 160,602
2.53,.548 13,768;
34,669′ 533,027 i
194,451
147,405 i
8751
122,815
432,774
70,295
.512,720 8.975 212,.537 152,486 1,227,670 3,263,889 167,931 13.5,432 2,366,290 Vahie. 77,883,587
CHAPTER XXI. FOREIGN INTERCOURSE WITH CHINA
The most important notices which the research of authors had collected respecting the intercourse between China and the West, and the principal facts of interest of a political and commercial nature down to the year 1834, are carefully arranged in the first three chapters of Sir John Davis’ work.’ In truth, the terms intercourse and ambassies, so often used with reference to the nations of Eastern Asia, indicate a peculiar state of relations with them ; for while other courts send and receive resident ministers, those of China, Japan, Corea, and Cochinchina liav^e until very recently kept themselves aloof from this national interchange of civilities, neither understanding its principles nor appreciating its advantages. Embassies have been sent by most European nations to the two first, which have tended rather to strengthen their assumptions of supremacy than to enlighten them as to the real objects and wishes of the courts proposing such courtesies. The commercial intercourse has, like the political, either been forced upon or begged of these governments, constantly subject to those vexatious restrictions and interruptions which might be expected from such ill-defined arrangements; and though mutually advantageous, has never been conducted on those principles of reciprocity and equality which characterize commerce at the West. As yet, the rulers and merchants of oriental nations are hardly well enough acquainted with their own and others’ rights to be able or willing
^ The Chinese, 2 Vols., Harper’s Family Library, 1837. See also Murray’s China, Vol. I., 1848. Montgomery Martin’s Chiu(t, passim, 1847. Memoires conr. les Chino/K, Tome V., pp. 1-23. T. W. Kingsmill in iV’. C. Br. M. A.Soc. Jourml, N. S., No. XIV., 1879.
ISOLATION AND SUSPICION OF THE CIIIXESE. 407
to enter into close relations with European powers. Both magistrates
and people are ignorant and afraid of the resources, power,
and designs of Christian nations, and consequently disinclined
to admit them or their subjects to unrestrained intercourse.
When western adventurers, as Pinto, Andrade, Wcddell, and
others came to the shores of China and Japan in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, they found the governments disposed
to traffic, but the conquests subsequently made by Europeans in the neighboring regions of Lu9onia, Java, and India, and their cruel treatment of the natives, led these two powers to apprehend like results for themselves if they did not soon take precautionary measures of exclusion and restriction.
Nor can there be much doubt that this policy was the safest measure, in order to preserve their independence and maintain their authority over even their own subjects. Might made right more generally among nations then than it does now, and the belief entertained by most Europeans at that period, that all pagan lands belonged justly to the Pope, only wanted men and means to be everywhere carried into effect. Had the Chinese and Japanese governments allowed Portuguese, Spanish, French, and English colonists to settle and increase within their borders, they would, probably, long since have crumbled to pieces and their territories have been possessed by others.
The data brought together by Davis in 1838 on this subject has since been enlarged and illustrated by Col. Yule in his admirable ” Preliminary Essay ” of 18GG, prefixed to ddJiay and the Way Thither, and by Richthofen, the latter half of whose first volume on China is devoted to an exhaustive treatise upon the ” Development of the Knowledge of China.” ‘ A digest of these elaborate works would be too long for our purpose here,
‘ China, Ergehnisse eigener Beisen und darnvf gegriindeter Studien, Berlin,1877. This author’s arrangement of the subject into ” Periods ” is as follows :
I.—Legendary notices of intercourse before the year 1122 B.C.
II.—From the accession of the Chans to the building of the Great Wall (1122-213 B.C.).
III.—From the building of the Great Wall to the accession of the Tangs (212B.C.-619 A.D.).
IV.—From the Tangs to the Mongols (619-1205).
V.—From the rise of the Mongol power to the arrival of the Portuguese in China (1205-1517).
VI. —From the arrival of the Portuguese to the present time.where only the most interesting points can be noticed. The first recorded knowledge of China among the nations of the West does not date further hack than the geographer Ptolemy, a.d. 150, who seems himself to have Ijeeii indebted to the Tyrian author Marinus. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, however, refers to the same land under the name ©Iv, or 77iin, at perhaps an earlier date. Previous to this time, moreover, accounts of the existence of the land of Confucius, and an appreciation and demand for the splendid silks made there, had reached Persia, judging from the legends found in its writers alluding to ancient w^ars and embassies with China, in which the country, the government, people, and fabrics are invested with a halo of power and wealth which has not yet entirely vanished. These legends strengthen the conclusion that the Prophet Isaiah has the first mention now extant of the FloMcry Land under theimmeSinujK
The interchange of the initial in China, Thina or Tina, and Sitia ought to give no trouble in identifying the land, for such changes in pronunciation are still common in it ; e.g., Chun-cha^b fu into Tlt-chiu hu.
The Periphis of Ari-ian places the city of Thina perhaps as far east as Si-ngan, but too vaguely to be relied on ; that great city must certainly have then been known, however, among the trader’s of Central Asia, who probably were better acquainted with its geography than the authors who have survived them. Under the term Seres the Chinese are more clearly referred to at even an earlier date than Sina, and among the Latin writers it was about the only term used, its association with the silks brought thence keeping it before them. The two names were used for different regions,’ the Seres being understood as lying to the north. Mela places them between the Lidians and Scythians; Ptolemy calls the country Seriee and the capital Sera, but regarded them as distinct from the Slna>, precisely as a Chinese geograplier might confuse Britain and England. He says there
‘ The diflFerent appellations soeiu to have been employed according as it was
regarded as the terminus of a southern sea route for a journey across the continent.
In the former aspect the name has nearly always beim some form of
Sin, (Jhiii, Hinjc, Cliina ; in the latter, to the ancients as the land of the Seres,
to the middle ages as the Empire of Catlxnj.—Yule.
EARLIEST NOTICES OF CHINA. 409
was a long and dangerous land route leading to Sera through
Persia to Bactria, over mountain deiiles and perilous patlis,
wliicli occupied the largest part of a year. Besides Ptolemy,
there are notices by Pliny of the Seres, and these two authors
furnished their successors with most of their knowledge down
to the reign of Justinian. Col. Yule concisely summarizes the
knowledge of China down to that date among the Romans:” The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touching on the east the ocean and the limits of the habitable world; and extending west nearly to Imaus and the confines of Bactria.
The people are civilized men, of mild, just, and frugal temper; eschewing collisions with their neighbors, and even shy of close intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of
which raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk stuffs,
furs, and iron of remarkable quality.” lie further explains how
authors writing at Pome and Constantinople were quite unable
to traverse and rectify what was said of the marts and nations
spoken of in the farthest East, and place them with any precision.
They wei”e, in truth, in the same difficulty in coming to an accurate
conclusion that the Chinese geographer Sen Ki-yu was when writing at Fulichau in 1847 ; he could not explain the discrepancies he found between llhodes and its colossus and Rhode Island in the United States.
Among the marts mentioned in the various authors, Greek,
Roman, and Persian, only a few can be identified with even fair
])robability. The ” Stone Tower ” of Ptolemy seems to have
denoted Tashl-eiul, a name of the same meaning, and a town
still resorted to for trade. His port of Cattigara may have
l)een a mart at the mouth of the Meinani, the Meikon, the Chu
Kiang, or some other large stream in that region, where seafaring
people could exchange their wares with the natives, then
quite independent of the Chinese in Shensf, who were known
to him as Seres. Cattigara is more probably to be looked for
near Canton, for its annals state that in the reign of 11wan ti
(a.d. 147-168) ” Tienchuh (India), Ta-tsin (Rome, Egypt or
Arabia), and other nations came by the southern sea with
tribute, and from this time trade was carried on at Canton with
foreigners.” During the same dynasty (the Eastern Han), foreigners came from Cantoo, Lu-li\vaiig-clii, and other nations in the south. The nearest was about ten days’ journey, and the farthest about iive months’.’
On the hind frontier, the Chinese annals of the Ilan dynasty
record the efforts of Wu ti (b.c. 140-86) to open a communication
with the Yuehchi, or Getji?, who liad driven out the Greek
rulers in Bactria and settled themselves north of the lliver Oxns,
in order to get their help against his enemies the Huns. He
sent an envoy, Chang Kiang, in 135, who was captured by the
Iluns and kept prisoner for ten j^ears, when he escaped with
some of his attendants and got to Ta-wan, or Ferghana, and
thence reached the Yuehchi further south. He was unsuccessful
in his mission, and attempted to return home through
Tibet, but was re-taken by the Huns, and did not succeed in
reporting himself at Chang-an till thirteen years had elapsed.
The introduction of the vine into China is rather doubtfully
ascribed to this brave envoy.
De Guignes concludes that this notice about trade at Canton
refers to the embassy sent in a.d. IGG by the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius (whom the Chinese call An-tun), which entered China
by the south at Tongking, or Canton. The Latin author Florus,
who lived in Trajan’s reign, about fifty years before, has a passage
showing, as proof of the universal awe and veneration in
which the power of Rome was held under Augustus, that ambassadors
fi-om the remotest nations, the Seres and the Indians,
came with presents of elephants, gems, and pearls—a rhetorical
exaggeration quite on a par with tlie Chinese account of the
tribute sent from An-tun, and not so well authenticated.
AVhether, indeed, the Ta-tsin kwoh mentioned by Chinese writers
meant Judea, Home, or Persia, cannot now be exactly ascertained,
though Yule concludes that this name almost certainly
means the Roman Empire, otherwise called the Kingdom
of the Western Sea. The title was given to these regions be
cause of the analogy of its people to those of the Middle King-
‘ Chinese Eeiiository, I., p. 365. Heeren, Addtir Ri’HeairhcH, IT., pp. 285-295.
Murray’s China, I., p. 141. Yulo’s Cathay, Vol. I., pp. xli-xlv. Smith,
Claaskal Dictionary, Art. SicuES.
INTERCOUIlSK RKTWKEX MOMV. AXD CHINA. 411
dom.’ The envoys sent to tliut coiintiT repoi-ted that ” beyond
the territoi-y of the Tuu-slii (perhaps tlie Persians) there was
a great sea, by wliicli, sailing; (hie west, one might arrive at tlie
country where tlie sun sets.” like most attempts of the kind
in subsequent days, the mission of Antoninus appears to liave
been a faihn-e, and to have returned without accomplishing
any practical benefit to intercourse or trade between the two
greatest empires in the world. It was received, no doubt, at
Lohyang, then the capital, with ostentatious show and patronizing
kmdness, and its occurrence inscribed in the national i-ecords
as another evidence of the glory and fame of the Son of
Heaven. That a direct trade between Home and China did
not result at this period may have been largely due to the
jealousy of the Parthian merchants, who reaped great profits
as middle-men in the traffic, and disposed of their own woven
and colored stuffs to the Romans, all of which gain they knew
would have passed over their heads had the extreme East and
West come into more intimate relations.
It is worthy of observation how, even from the earliest times,
the traffic in the rich natural and artificial productions of India
and China has been the great stimulus to urge adventurers to
come from Europe, who on their part offered little in exchange
besides precious metals. The Scrk-a ‘vestls, whether it was a
silken or cotton fabric, and other rarities found in those regions,
bore such a high price at Pome as to tempt the merchants to
undertake the longest journeys and undergo the greatest hardships
to procure them ; and such was the case likewise during
the long period before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope.
The existence of this trade early enabled the Xestorian missionai’ies
to penetrate into those remote regions, and keep up a
communication with their patrons at home ; the more extended
‘ Cathay and iJie Way Thilher, p. Ivi. Klaproth, Tahleanx IIistoriqne>i de
VAsie (Paris, 182G), p. 68. So Richtliofen {China, Bd. I., p. 470), who adds : ” It
is accepted now, by almost all those who have written on the subject, that the
Chinese by Ta-tsin meant to denote ‘Great-China,’ and through this, on the
other hand, we have a proof that the Chinese called their own country Ti^in.
It will hardly do, however, to suppose that so prejudiced a people as they would recognize another folk as greater. The; appellation Ta (great) is given, to every nation whoso power the Chinese feel to be considerable.” voyages of modern comniorce likewise assist benevolent poisons in reaching the remotest tribes and carrying on their labors, through their patrons on the other side of the world, probably with less danger and delay than a mission at Cadiz could have been directed from Jerusalem in the days of the apostles.
The notices in Cosmas (a Greek monk who had been a merchant,
and wrote his ” Universal Christian Topography” between
530 and 550 a.d.) of China and its products refer to the
maritime trade under the Byzantine emperors. This country
he locates very correctly as occupying the extreme east of Asia,
and calls Tzinista^ a name probably picked up from the Persians
or old Hindus, and nearly similar to the Tsinisthan of the
tablet at Si-ngan. Another Greek, Theophylact, in the next
century describes the internal intercourse in Central Asia, and
a great Turkish people, the Taugas, whom he was unaware were
the Chinese. It may be that he miswrote Taiig in a grecized form
for the dynasty just about that time settling its power. The
indirect commerce between China and the Greek Empire increased
by sea and land until the i-ise of the Moslem power.
The same indifference on the part of the Chinese respecting
the power, resources, and position of other lands is seen through
all their notices of those western kingdoms. The products carried
west were silk in various forms, but the demand for this
article diminished after the worms had been successfully taken
to Greece about a.d. 550. Cotton fabrics, medicines, and spices
went westward as well as silk, but it is impossible to distinguish
the trade with China from that with India. The leaf
called raalcibathrum in the Periplus was not a Chinese plant,
but the tamalapatra, a kind of cassia {Cinnamonutm liitidum,
whose leaves were purchased in Rome for three hundred denarii
per pound), and now called Malabar leaf ; it was probably mixed
or confounded with tlie Indian nard and with camphor. The
people called SesaUe in the Periplus are probably to be looked
for in Assam or Sikkim, where wild cassia grows, and where
the real tea plant is native ; but neither tea nor betel-leaf can
be regarded as the ancient malabathrum.’
‘Heeren’s Asiatic Researches, II., p. 294; Yule’s Cathciy, pp. xlvi, cxliv.
co:\rMrNiCATiox wnii tiik greek empire. 413
Witliin the last few years the translations of the travels of
Buddhist ])ilgrinis hetweon China and India have furnished
more satisfactory details of the peoples iidiahiting the central
and western parts of Asia than all the Greek and Latin authors.
Those of Fahian (309-414), of Iliucn-tsang (628-645), and of
Ilwui-sing (518), are the most extensive. Further researches into
conventual libraries in China and Tibet are encouraged by
what has been found on their shelves, and from them enough
has already been gained to .reward the labor. Of greater worth
than these, perhaps, are the official histories of the Han, Tsin,
and Tang dynasties, reaching from b.c. 200 to a.d. 900, only
portions of which have yet been made accessible in full. Their
trivialties are so numerous that their entii-e translation intoEng;-
lish would hardly repay the printing, as the experiment by
Mailla, in 1785, oitheTang Klen. Kang-mnh, in thirteen volumes
quarto, shows. These histories, on the whole, supply more accurate
information about Syria, Pei-sia, Greece, and Parthia,
than the Avriters of those countries give about China ;—for
example, the notices of FuUn, or Constantinople, are more
minute than any account of Chang-an in western writers. But
as Yule well remarks, there is much analogy between the fragmentary
views each party had, the same uncertainty as to exact
position, and the same application of facts belonging to the
nearer skirts of a half-seen empire to the whole land. It can
M^ell be paralleled by reading some of our own travellers who
applied all that they saw and heard at Canton to the Eighteen
Pi-ovinces. Only a few emljassies from Ta-tsin and Falln are
enumerated by Pauthier in his Chine as coming down to the year
1091 ; but the tractate by Dr. E. Bretschneider, of the Russian
Legation at Peking,’ shows how constant were the visits of the
Arabs down to the Sung (a.d. 1086), and especially during the
Tang dynasty. During the Tsin and Wei dynasties the visits
of envoys from Ceylon were frequent, all of them an outgrowth
of Buddhism, but repaid in more ways than one by the trade
and its results—as shown by Sir E. Tennent in his H’lMory of
Ceylon. In 1266 the King of Ceylon had Chinese soldiers in
‘ On the Knmdedge of the Arabs and Arabian Colonies possessed by the Ancient Chinese, London, 1871.
his service, and envoys came to liiiii to \n\\ Iluddlia’s sacred
alms-disli. In 14(»5 tlie Emperor Ynngloh of the Ming dynasty,
taking underage at the indiginties offered to liis re[)resenlative
by Wijayabahu IV., despatclied Ching IIo with a Heet of sixtytwo
ships and a hind force to cruise along the coasts of Cambodia,
Siam, and other places, demanding ti-ihnte and conferring
gifts as the successor of the throne held by the great
Kublai. Going again the next year as far as Ceylon, Ching
IIo evaded a snare set by the king, and captured him and his
whole familv and officials, carrvini>; them all to Pekinj;. In
1411 the latter were set free, but a new king was appointed
to the vacant throne, who reigned fifty jears and sent tribute
till 1459 ; this was only thirty-eight years before Gama arrived
at Calicut. It was the last attempt of the Chinese to assert their sway beyond the limits of the Middle Kingdom seaward.’
‘Tennent’s Ccijlov, I., pp. 607-62G. Yule’s Cathay, pp. Ixvi-lxxvi.
– Relation des Voyar/es faitit par l(‘« Anihes ct Ics JVi-nans (hum Vlnde et dla Chine dans le IX”” Siede de Ver’ Chretienitc, 2 Vols., Paris, 1845.
NOTICES OF ARAB TRAVELLERS. 41fi
One intimation of a continuance of the intercourse with China from the time of Justinian to that of the Arab travelers Wahab and Abu Zaid, is the Xestorian inscription (page 277). The narratives of the Arabs (a.d. 850 and 877) are trustworthy in their general statements as to the course pursued in the voyage, the port to which they sailed in China, the customs of the people there, and the nature and mode of conducting the trade; they form, in fact, the first authentic accounts we have of the Chinese from western writers, and make us dinibt a little whether others like them have not been lost, rather than suppose that such were never written. These interesting relics were translated by Reinaud in 1845, with the text and notes.” The second traveler speaks of the sack of the city of Canfu, then the port of all the Arabian merchants, in which one hundred and twenty thousand Mohannnedans, Jews, Christians, and Magians, or Parsees, engaged in traffic, were destroyed. This shows the extent and value of the trade. Canfu was Kanpu, a fine port near the modern town of the same name, twenty-five miles from HangZhou, and near Chapu on the Bay of Hangzhou ; the Gates of China were probably in the Chusan Arcliipelago and its nmnerons channels. Much of the statement made 1)V >\bn Zaid respecting the wealth, extent, and splendor <»f Canfu really refers to the city of Hangzhou. The bore in the Qiantang river makes it impossible for ships to lie off that place, and this had its effect in developing Kanpn. The destruction of the capital in 877 contributed to direct part of the trade to Canton, which even then and long after was comparatively a small place, and the people of that part of the country but little removed from gross barbarism. In Marco Polo’s time Ganpu was frequented by all the ships that bring merchandise from India.’
Prior to the date when he reached the confines of the Pacific,
the ravages of the Mongols, under Genghis and his successors, in
the regions between the Mediterranean and Caspian, and their
great victory near Lignitz, April 12, 1241, had aroused the fears
of the Pope and other potentates for their own safety. After
the sudden recall of the hosts of Okkodai, in the same year, at
his death, and their retreat from Bohemia and Poland to the
Dneiper, the Pope determined to send two missions to the Tartars
to urge them to greater humanity. One was a Franciscan
monk, John of Piano Carpini, wdio carried the following letter
to Batu klian on the Wolga:
INNOCENT, BISHOP, SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD, TO THE KING AND PEOPLE OF THE TARTARS.
‘ Chinese ReposiUrry, Vol. I., pp. G, 42, 2.’)2 ; Vol. III., p. 115. Yule’s ilfarctf Pdo, Vol. II., pp. 149, 1.50. Catltiiy^ p. uxciii.
Since not only men, but also irrational animals, and even the mechanical mundane elements, are united by some kind of alliance, after the example of superior spirits, whose liosts the Author of the universe has established in a perpetual and peaceful order, we are compelled to wonder, not without reason, how you, as we have heard, having entered many lands of Christians and others, have wasted them with horrible desolation, and still, with continued fury, not ceasing to extend further your destroying hands, dissolving every natural tie, neither sparing sex nor age, direct indifferently against all the fury of the sword. We therefore, after the example of the Prince of Peace, desiring to unite all mankind in unity and the fear of God, warn, beseech, and exhort you henceforth to desist wholly from such outrages, and especially from the persecution of Christians ; and since, by so many and so great offences, you have doubtless grievously provoked the wrath of the Divine majesty, that you make satisfaction to him by suitable penitence ; and that you be not so daring as to carry your rage further, because the omnipotent God has hitherto permitted the nations to be lai<l prostrate before your face. He sometimes thus passes by the proud men of the age; but if they do not humble themselves, he will not fail to inflict the severest temporal punishment on their guilt.
And now, behold, we send our beloved brother John, and his companions, bearers of these presents, men conspicuous for religion and honesty, and endued with a knowledge of sacred Scripture, whom we hope you will kindly receive and honorably treat as if they were ourselves, placing confidence in what they may say from us, and specially treat with them on what relates to peace, and fully intimate what has moved you to this extermination of other nations, and what you further intend, providing them in going and returning with a safe conductor, and other things needful for returning to our presence.
We have chosen to send to you the said friars, on account of their exemplary eonduct and knowledge of the sacred Scriptures, and because they would be more useful to you as imitating the humility of our Saviour, and if we had thought they would be more grateful and useful to you, we would have sent ither prelates or powerful men.’
M. D’Avezac’s essay contains a full account of the travels
and proceedings of Carpini and his companion, Benedict, in
their hazardous journey of a hundred days from Kiev, across
the plains of Russia and Bokhara, to the court of Kuyuk, who
had succeeded Okkodai. They were first sent forward by the
commanding ofiicers of the several posts to Batu’s camp, where
the Pope’s letter was translated ; from hence they were again
despatched at the most rapid rate, on horseback, to Kara-korum,
M’here they arrived July 22, 124G, almost exhausted. After
they had been there a few days the election was decided, and
all ambassadors were introduced to an audience to the khan,
when the Pope’s envoys alone werf^ without a present. The
letter was read, and an answer ret’:<i-ned in a few weeks in the
same style. These two potentates, so singularly introduced to
each other in tlieir mutual ignorance by the letters carried by
John, had much more in common in their pretensions to universal
dominion by the command of God than they suspected.
‘ Murray’s Marco Polo, p. 49. Yule’s CatJuty, p. cxxiii ff. D’Avezac’s essay in the liecueU de Voyages, IV. , p. 399,
MISSION OF THE POPE TO BATU KUAN. 417
LETTER OF THE KING OF THE TARTARS TO THE LORD POPE.
The khan’s letter was as follows :
The strength of God, Kuyiik kliiui, the ruler of all men, to the great Pope. You and all the Christian people who dwell in tlie West have sent by your messengers sure and certain letters for the purpose of making peace with us. This we have heard from them, and it is contained in your letter. Therefore, if you desire to have peace with us, you Pope, emperors, all kings, all men powerful in cities, by no means delay to come to us for the purpose of concluding peace, and you will hear our answer and our will. The series of your letters contained that we ought to be baptized and to become Christians ; we briefly reply, that we do not understand why we ought to do so. As to what is mentioned in your letters, that you wonder at the slaughter of men, and chiefly of Christians, especially Hungarians, Poles, and Moravians, we shortly answer, that this too we do not understand. Nevertheless, lest we should seem to pass it over in silence, we think proper to reply as follows: It is because they have not obeyed the precept of God and of Genghis khan, and, holding bad counsel, have slain our messengers;’ wherefore God has ordered them to be destroyed, and delivered them into our hands. But if God had not done it, what could man have done to man V But you, inhabitants of the West, believe that you only are Christians, and despise others ; but how do you know on whom he may choose to bestow his favor ? We adore God, and, in his strength, will overwhelm the whole earth from the east to the west. But if we men were not strengthened by God, what could we do ?”‘ Allusion is here made to Tartar ambassadors, whom the Russians murdered before the battle of Kalka.
”Murray’s Marco Polo, p. 59.
The khan took the precaution, which the Pope did not, of putting his reply into an intelligible language, and when it yvaa written in Tartar he had it carefully explained to the friars, who translated it into Latin, and were soon after dismissed.
They left the court on November 13, 1246, and ” travelled all winter through a wide open country, being commonly obliged to sleep on the ground after clearing away the snow, with which in the morning they often found themselves covered.” They reached Kiev the next June, and Carpini was rewarded for his hardships by being appointed Archbishop of Antivari in Dalmatia. As Yule remarks, “they were the first to bring to western Europe the revived knowledge of a great and civilized nation lying in the extreme East upon the shores of the ocean.”
Louis XL of France having heard that Sartach, the son of Batu, then commanding on the w^estern frontier, was a Christian, sent z mission to liini, consistin<5 of the friar AVilliani Rubrnquis ‘ and three companions. They left Constantinople May 7, 1253, and proceeded to the Crimea, from wlience they set ont with a present of wines, frnits, and biscuits intended for the khan. In three days they met the Tartars, who conducted them first to Scacatai, a chieftain by whom, after considerable delay and vexation, they were furnished with everything necessary for a journey across the plains of southei-n Russia to the Wolga and the camp of Sartach. The monks attempted to convert the rude nomads, but igno.ance of the language and
suspicions of their intentions interposed great obstacles on
both sides. On arriving at the end of their journey, they were
disappointed at finding the ruler of these warriors a besotted
infidel, who expected all persons admitted into his presence to
bring him costly presents. A Nestorian named Cojat, whom
Rubruquis regarded as. no better than a heretic, was high in
authority, and the only medium of counmmication with the
khan. He told the friar to bring his books and vestments
and make himself ready to appear before the khan on the
mori’ow ; their elegance was such that at the close of the audience
Cojat seized most of them under an idle pretext that it
was improper to appear in them a second time before Batu
khan, to whom Rubruquis and his companions were to be sent.
Their journey was soon after prosecuted by following up the
Wolga some distance, and when they arrived at the encampment
of Batu khan, he made many inquiries about the resources and
power of the French king and the war he was waging with the
Saracens. On his introduction, ” the friar bent one knee, but
finding this unsatisfactory did not choose to contend, and dropped
on both. Misled by his position, instead of answering questions
he began a prayer for the conversion of the khan, with
warning of the dreadful consequences of unbelief. The prince
merely smiled ; but the derision which was loudly expressed by
the surrounding chiefs threw him into a good deal of confusion.”
‘ Or, more correctly, Rubruk, as D’Avezac lias pointed out {Bull. <1e hi Soc. de Geof/i:, 18G8), and in whose conclusions Yule joins {Marco Polo, second edition, p. 536).
EMBASSY OF KUBRUQUIS TO MANGU KlIAI^. 419
The interview was followed by an order to proceed to the court of Mangu, who had succeeded Kuyuk as Grand khan. This long journey occupied four months, through the high hind of Central Asia (farther eastward than where Carpini found Kuyuk’s court), and subjected them to severe hardships. Mangu received the mission hardly with civility, but having been examined by some Xestorian priests, they were admitted to an audience. The same ceremonies were required as at Batu’s court, and inquiries made as to the possessions of the French king, especially the number of rams, horses, and oxen he owned, which, the friar was amazed to learn, were soon to be attacked by the Tartars. Xo permission to remain could be obtained, but he was furnished with a house and allowed to tarry till the cold mitigated. In this remote region he found a European architect, William Bourchier, and his wife, from Mentz, besides many Armenians, Saracens, and Xestorians, all of whom the khan received, he accompanied the coin-t to Kara-korum, where he nearly became involved in dangei’ous religious disputes, and on the approach of milder weather was conqjelled to return to Batu khan, by whom he was sent on, in a south-westerly direction, until he entei’ed Armenia, and thence found his way to Iconium, having been absent nearly two years.
These ambassadors had not the aid of printing to diffuse their narratives, and it was perhaps chiefly owing to the high standing of those who sent them that their relations have been preserved. In the case of many travellers of humbler origin or pretensions, there Avas no inducement to write what they had seen ; these therefore only told their stories, which were lost with the narrators.
Even the travels of Marco Polo would perhaps never have been given to the world if the leisure of captivity had not induced him to adopt this method of relieving its tedium. Every examination of his record has added to its reputation for accuracy, both in the position of the cities he mentions or visited and in the events he details ; and when it is considered that he dictated it several years after his return to a fellow-prisoner, Rusticiano of Pisa, who wrote it in French, his accuracy is wonderful.
The edition by Marsden in 1818 remained for fifty years the chief authority, but the recent editions by Pauthier and Yule, with their full notes, have made the traveller’s record vastly better understood, while adding iiiiich to our knowledge of mediaeval Asia.
Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian, was the son of ]Sieolo Polo, who with his brother Matteo, nobles and merchants of Venice, first left that city about 125-i, and Constantinople in 1260, on a mercantile voyage to the Crimea, from which point a series of events led them eastward as far as China, then lately conquered by Kublai, the Grand Khan and successor of Mangu khan, whom Rubruquis visited. They were favorably received, and when they left Kublai it was under a promise to return, which they did about December, 1274, bearing letters from
Gregory X., and accompanied by young Marco, then about sixteen
years old. He soon became a favorite with the Emperor,
and was able to travel to many parts of the country, spending in
all about twenty-one years in the East ; the three Polos reached
Venice again in 1295. Marco was prefect at Yangchau on the
Grand Canal for three years, and this involves a knowledge of
Mongolian and Chinese speech and writing, without which he
could hardly have administered its ofHcial duties. His possession
of these accomplishments was nearly indispensable to the
post, though Col. Yule infers, from an easily explained mistake
in Chapter LXXV., that he did not have them. On reaching
Venice, by way of India and Persia, the long-lost travellers appeared
so completely altered that their friends and countrymen
did not recognize them. Their wealth and entertainini>- recitals,
however, soon restored them to the highest ranks of society.
The industry of recent editors has probably brought togethei- all
that can be learned of their subsequent history, which is now so
well known as to require no further words here.
NARRATIVES OF POLO AND OF KING TTAYTON. -t21
In the year 1254, Ilethum, or Hayton, king of Little Armenia, undertook a journey to Mangu khan, to petition for an abatement of the tribute which he had been obliged to pay the Mongols. Having first sent forth his brother, Senipad, or Sinibald (in 1240), to Kuyuk khan, Hayton himself set out upon the accession to the throne of his successor. Passing through Kars and Armenia Proper to the Wolga, he was there received by Patu and foi-warded by a route to the north of that traversed by Carpini to Kara-korum and the Grand khan. At the end of a six weeks’ sojourn with the court, during which time he appears to have been kindly received, Ilayton commenced his homeward journey via Bishbalig and Song-aria to Samarkand, Bokhara, Khorasan, and thence to Tabriz. The accounts of these two embassies, wherein are described many wonderful things concerning the heathens of the East and barbarians upon the route, made up, doubtless, a large part of the ” History ”(written in 1307) by the king’s relative, Ilayton of Gorigos.’
The different positions held by these men and the Polos naturally led each of them to look upon the same people and events with vastly different feelings. The efforts of John of Montecorvino to propagate Christianity in China were undertaken just as the Polos returned, but no detailed accounts of his labors(beyond what Col.Yule has gathered in his Cathay) have been preserved.
Among the most important mediaeval travelers in Asia was the Moor, Ibn Batuta, who at the age of twenty-one set out(in 1325) upon his journeys, from which he did not return until thirty years later.” Abu-Abdullah Mahomed (nicknamed Ibn Batuta, ” The Traveller “) commenced his wanderings, which were contemporaneous with those of the more doubtful Englishman, Sir John Mandeville, by a series of pilgrimages to the sacred places of his religion ; among other excursions, he found time at one period to continue three years in Mecca. Going from one city to another, along the shores of the Mediterranean, and in the countries between it and the Caspian, he at length reached Delhi, where he resided eight years, enjoying—until the latter end of his stay—high favor from the Sultan Mahomed.
‘ The chapter concerning Cathay appears in Yule’s Cathay, p. cxcv. A translation of the elder Hayton’s narrative is given by Klaprotli in the Journal Asiatique, IV” Scries, Tome XII., pp. 273 ff.
‘ His work has been very ably edited and translated into French by M. Defremery and Dr. Sanguinetti (four volumes, Paris, 1858-5!)), under the patronage of the Asiatic Society of Paris. Several partial translations of the journal have appeared from time to time within the present century.
The versatile Moor occupied the position of judge, though there is good reason to doubt his serious attention to any business while at this magnificent court, other than that of spending his master’s money. In the spring of 1342, having recovered tVoin a temporary disgrace, he was despatched on an ambassy to
China hy tlie Sultan. It seems that a (“liincse envoy had arrived
at Delhi to request permission for the natives to rebuild
a temple in Butan, as they were poor and dependent upon the
inhabitants of the plain, and had besought the Chinese government
to intercede for them. Ibn Batuta was sent with lavish
presents to the Emperor, but a refusal to assist in the building
project uidess that sovereign would go through the form of
paying a poll-tax to the Sultan. This embassy was attacked by
a body of Hindus when scarcely out of Delhi, and obliged to
return. Again it was sent out, going to Calicut on the Malabar
coast, where were found fifteen Chinese vessels or galleys at
anchor, whose crews and guard amounted to a thousand men
each. The envoy embarked his attendants on one of these
ships, but while he remained on shore to pray for a prosperous
voyage, a storm sunk the vessel and all on board. After this
second mishap the luckless Moor was afraid to return to Ids
master, and went to Sumatra, from whence he found his way
to China, landing at Zayton, the present Chinchew, in Fuhkien.
Though it is doubtful if Ibn Batuta, notwithstanding his description
of the place, ever reached Peking, his spirited accounts
of Zayton, Sinkalan (Canton), Khansa (Hangchau), Kanjanfu,
and other centres of trade in the soutli, are both entertaining
and important. Spite of exaggerations, confusion of names
and dates, and certain cases of positive fiction, one can hardly
fail to put faith in the generality of his statements and conclude
in favor of his veracity and genuine character. He mentions
that tlie circulation of paper money, wliich Marco Polo thought
so excellent a device for a king to raise funds, had entirely
driven out the use of metallic currency. In every large town
lie found Mohammedans, ruled by officers of their own persuasion.
TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA AND FRIAR ODORIC. 423
The journal of Friar Odoric (1286-1331) contains much of interest in connection with China of the middle ages. This worthy priest landed at ” Censcalan ” (Canton), after a long and tedious trip from Bagdad round by Sumatra and thence northeast by land to Zayton. Here, says he, ” we friars minor have two houses, and there I deposited the bones of our friars who suffered martyrdom for the faith of Jesus Christ.” He had brought these relics from Tana, near Bombay. Thence he journeyed to Fnlichau, Hangzhou, and Nanjing, going on northward to Peking, where the aged archbishop, (Jorvino, was still living, and remained there three years. His return journey as far as H’lassa was not very different from that of Hue and Gabet in 184-3 ; from the Tibetan capital he probably continued on a westerly course to Cabul and Tabriz, reaching Venice in 1330, after an absence of thirteen years. His itinerary was taken down the following year by William of Solagna, a brother of the order, at Padua.
In this narrative there is mention of a number of characterise tics of the Chinese, well known to all the world of to-day, but left wholly unnoticed by other travellers of his age. “His notices of the custom of fishing with cormorants, of the habits of letting the finger-nails grow long, and of compressing the women’s feet, as well as of the divisions of the khan’s Empire into twelve provinces, with four chief vizirs, are peculiar to him, I believe, among all the European travellers of the age.
Polo mentions none of them. The names which he assigns to the Chinese post-stations, and to the provincial Boards of Administration, the technical Turki term which he uses for a sack of rice, etc., are all tokens of the reality of his experience.’”
• Yule, Catlmy and the Way Tliither, p. 31.
On the other hand, the influence of superstition upon their own minds rendered most of the religious travellers into Central Asia—Odoric as well as the others—less trustworthy and observant than they would perhaps have been either centuries before or after that period. Everything of a religious sort they regarded as done under the direct agency of the powers of darkness, into whose dominions they were venturing. Too fearful, moreover, to examine candidly or record accurately’ what they beheld, these pious adventurers were constantly misled by endeavors to explain any uncommon experience by referi-ing the same to their own imperfect or erroneous conceptions. This is true as well of the Bomish priests connected with the Peking mission, a few of whose letters have been preserved and recently made known to the public by Col. Yule; among tlieso are Friar Jordanus, Bishop Andrew of Zayton, Pascal of Vittoria, together with the Ai-chbisliop of Soltania, author of the “Book of the Estate and Governance of the (Ireat Caan of Cathay.” ‘
But much fairer than these missionaries, in his reputation
for veracity, was tlie Jesuit Benedict Goes, wlio in the centui-
y preceding what nva,y be termed the modern period of our
knowledge of China, undertook a journey across the desert,
to die on the threshold of the Empire. Born in one of the
islands of the Azore group. Goes spent his youth in the profession
of a soldier on board of the Portuguese fleet. Becoming
suddenly converted, he entered the service of the Jesuits as a
lay brother—which humble i-ank he i-esolutely held during the
rest of his career—and was sent to the court of Akbar, His
residence in India gained hijn a high reputation for courage,
judgment, and skill in the Persian tongue, the linguafranca
of Asia at that date. He was selected, therefore, to undertake
a journey to the Cathay of Marco Polo, in the capital of which
Jerome Xavier thought he had hopes of finding the Christian
ruler and descendant of Prester John. Goes set out from
Agra in 1602, joined a company of merchants, and with them
took a route passing through Cabul, the Hindu kush, along
the River Oxus to its head-waters on the Pamir table-land,
and so to Yangi Hissar, Yarkand, Aksu, and Suh-chau, where
he was detained seventeen months, and finally died, shortly
after assistance had been sent him from the mission at Peking.
‘ About 13:30. See ibid., pp. 238-250.
JOURNEY OF BENEDICT GOES. 425
De Christiana Ej’pedit’wne apiul /Sinas.’ To Benedict Goes
His journey was full of terrible hardships, and it was to these as well as to the careless treatment he suffered in Suhchau that he owed his untimely end. Could we have Goes’ own narrative of his experience, the information concerning the unknown regions of Central Asia over which he toiled would be of priceless worth. His journals, however, were either lost or destroyed during his miserable detention at the frontier town, and nothing remained save a few meagre notes
and his faithful Armenian servant Isaac, whose language no one at Peking could understand. Such as it was, an account was compiled from these soun-es by Ilicci himself, and published soon after that missionary’s death in the work of Trigautius, we may give the credit of the discovery that Cathay and China(Sina) were in reality one and the same land. It is a curious illustration of the condition of intercommunication between distant parts of the world in those days, that this fact must have been known to the earliest Jesuit missionaries in Peking, though the friars of the same order stationed in India held to a belief in Cambaluc and its Christian prince until far into the seventeenth century.
In many particulars the practical descriptions of Abu Zaid, Masudi,” Ibn Wahab, and Marco Polo stand in decided contrast to the details noted down by such as Rubruquis and Odoric. The accounts of all these writers convey the impression that China was in their time free to all travellers. Ibn Wahab, speaking of the regulations practised under the Tang dynasty, observes:
If a man would travel from one province to another, he must take two passes with him, one from the governor, the other from the eunuch [or lieutenant]. The governor’s pass permits him to set out on his journey and contains the names of the traveller and those also of his company, also the ages of the one and the other and the clan to which he helongs. For every traveller in China, whether a native or an Arab, or other foreigner, cannot avoid carrying a paper with him containing everything by which he can be verified.
‘ A translation of this notice appears in Col. Yule’s oft-quoted CatJuiy and the Wiiy Thither, pp. 529-591. Trigautins’ work appeared in 1615, and was subsequently translated into all the continental languages. Compare Purchas, His PiUjriiites, Vol. III., pp. 380, ff.—A Ducourse of the Kingdonte of Ghimi, tnken ont of Eiecivs and I’rif/avfivii, rontayning the Conntrey, People, Gotiernmevt, etc., etc. ° Reinaud, Relation des Voyaf/e,i, etc. MM. Barbier de Meynard and Favet de Courteille, Les Prariex d’Or, Paris, 1801-OG.
The eunuch’s pass specifies the quantities of money or goods wliich the traveller and those with him take along ; this is done for the information of officers at the frontier places where these two passes are examined. Whenever a traveller arrives at any of them, it is registered that ” .Such a one, son of such a one, of such a calling, passed here on such a day, month, and year, having sufii things with him.” The governmpnt resorts to this means to prevent danger to travellers in their money or goods ; for should one suifer loss or die, everything about him is immediately known and lie himself or his heirs after his death receive whatever is his. ‘
The same writer speaks of the Mabed, a nation dwelling in Yunnan, on the south-west, who sent ambassadors every year with presents to the Emperor; and in return he sent presents annually to them. These embassies, indeed, were simply trading companies in disguise, who came from the Persians, Arabs, and other nations, with every protestation of respect and humility, bearing presents to the Son of Heaven. The dignity of the Emperor denumded that these should be returned with gifts three or four times the value of this ” tribute,” and that the ambassadors should be royally entertained during their sojourn at the capital. It is needless to add that such missions were repeated by the merchants as often as circumstances would permit. Entrance into the country overland otherwise than by some such ruse seems to have been withheld after the fall of the Mongol dynasty.
It was, however, not until the subjugation of the Empire by
the Manchus that foreign trade was limited to Canton, the
jealous conduct of the present rulers being to a certain extent
actuated by a fear of similar reprisals from some quarter, which
the Mongols experienced. The outrageous behavior of foreign
traders theujselves must, moreover, be regarded as a chief
cause of the watchful seclusion with which they were treated.
” Their early conduct,” says Sir John Davis, referring to the
Portuguese, ” was not calculated to impress the Chinese witli
any favorable idea of Europeans ; and when in course of time
they came to be com])etitors with the Dutch and the English,
the contests of mert;antile avarice tended to place them
all in a still worse point of view. To tliis day the character of
the Europeans is represented as that of a race of men intent
alone on the gains of commercial traffic, and regardless altogether
of the means of attainment. Struck by the perpetual hostilities which existed among these foreign adventurers, aslleinaud, siiiiilated in other respects by a close resemblance in their costumes and manners, the government of the country became disposed to treat them with a degree of jealousy and exclusion which it had not deemed necessary to be exercised toward the more peaceable and well ordered Arabs, their predecessors.” ‘
IkUition, Tome I., p. 41.
THE empire: closed to foreigners. 427
These characteristics of avarice, lawlessness, and power have been the leading traits in the Chinese estimate of foreigners from their first acquaintance with them, and the latter have done little to effectually disabuse orientals upon these points.
The following record of their first arrival, taken from a Chinese work, is still good authority in the general opinion of the natives:
During the reign of Cliingtili [1506], foreigners from the West, called Fahlan-ki [Franks], who said that they had tribute, abruptly entered the Bogue, and by their tremendously loud guns, shook the place far and near. This was reported at court, and an order returned to drive them away immediately and stop their trade. At about this time also the Hollanders, who in ancient times inhabited a wild territory and had no intercourse with China, came to Macao in two or three large ships. Their clothes and their hair were red; their bodies tall; they had blue eyes, sunk deep in their heads. Their feet were one cubit and two-tenths long; and they frightened the people by their strange appearance. “‘
‘ The Chinese, Vol. I., p. 20.- The term hong-mao, or * red-haired,’ then applied to the Dutch, has sLuc« been transferred to the English.
The Portuguese Hafael Perestrello sailed in a junk for China in 1516, five 3’ears after the conquest of IVIalacca, and was the first person who ever conducted a vessel to China under a European flag. Ferdinand Andrade came in the next year, in fcjur Portuguese and four Malay ships, and gave great satisfaction to the authorities at Canton by his fair dealings; his galleons were allowed to anchor at Shangchuen, or St. John’s Island. His brother Simon came the following year, and by his atrocious conduct entirely reversed the good opinion formed of his countrymen; the Chinese besieged him in port and drove him away in 1521. Others of his countrymen followed him, and one of the earliest ships accompanied some Chinese junks along the coast, and succeeded in establishing a factory at 2singpo; trade was also coiicliicted at Amoy. In 1537 there were three Portuguese settlements near Canton, one at St.
John’s, one at a smaller island called Lanipa9ao (Lang-peh-kau), lying north-west of the Grand Ladroncs, and the third just l)eirun on Macao.’ In 1542 traders had left St. John’s for
Lainpa9ao, and ten years afterward, at the time of Xavier’s
death, trade was concentrated at the latter, where five or six
hundred Portuguese constantly resided in 1500. Macao was
connnenced under the pretext of erecting sheds for drying goods
introduced under the appellation of trihute, and alleged to have
been damaged in a storm. In 1573 the Chinese government
erected a barrier wall across the isthmus joining Macao to the
island of liiangshan, and in 1587 established a civil magistracy
to rule the Chinese. By their ill conduct at Ningbo the Portuguese
drew upon them the vengeance of the people, who rose
upon them and ” destroyed twelve thousand Christians, including
eight hundred Portuguese, and burned thirty-five ships and
two junks.” One of their provocative acts is stated to have
been going out in large parties into the neighboring villages
and seizing the women and virgins, by which they justly lost
their privileges in one of the provinces and ports best adapted
to European trade. Four years later, in 15-19, they were also
driven from their newly formed settlement at Chinchew.
‘ There stood originally on tlio site of tins town an idol known as Avia. Amau-gau, or Ama-kdu, then, meant the ‘Harbor of Ama,’ which in Portuguese was written Amiicuo, and afterward shortened to Marao. Conip. Trigautius, Be OJiristiana E.vjmHtione apvd S/iiks, Hiir). Nieuwhof, Niivirhriiru;e Bes’-Jiryrivf/e nivH Gosandarhitp, etc., Amsterdam, ^CtGA. Sir A. Ljungstedt, Historical Sketch of the Portii (pi cue Settlements in China, Boston, 18^(5. Chinese Commercial Guide, lifth edition, i^. 22’J.
PORTUGUESE RELATIONS WITH CHINA. 429
The Portuguese have sent four embassies to the Emperor of China. The first envoy, Thome Pires, was appointed by the Governor at Goa, and accompanied Ferdinand Andi-adc lo Canton, in 1517, where he was received and treated in the usual style of foreign ambassadors. When his mission was reported at Peking the Emperor Chingtih was infiuenced against it by a subject of the Sultan of Malacca, and detahied Pires at Canton three years; the flagitious conduct of Andrade’s brother
and the character of the Portuguese induced the Emperor to
appoint a court to examine whether the embassy was legitiujate
or spurious, and Pires and his companions were adjudged to be
spies and sent back to Canton to be detained till Malacca was
restored. This not being done, he and others suffered death in
September, 1523 ; other accounts lead to the inference that he
died in 2)rison. Thus the innocent were made to suffer for the
guilty. The next embassy was undertaken in 155’2, at the suggestion
of Xavier, by the Viceroy of Goa, but the mission proceeded
no farther than Malacca, the governor of that towTi
refusing to allow it to leave the place—a significant intimation
of the degree of subordination and order maintained by the
Portuguese in the administration of their new colonies. The
third was also sent from Goa in 1667, in the name of Alfonso
YL, on occasion of the suspension of the trade of Macao by
Kanghi ; the expense was defrayed by that colony (about
forty thousand dollars), and ” the result of it so little answered
their expectations that the Senate solicited his Majesty not to
intercede in behalf of his vassals at Macao with the government
of China, Avere it not in an imperious and cogent case.”
A good opportunity and necessity for this, it was thought, presented itself in 1723, when Magaillans returned to China carrying the answer of the Pope to Kangxi, to send an envoy, Alexander Metello, along with him to Peking, lie arrived at court in May, 1727, and had his audience of leave in July, receiving in exchange for the thirty chests of presents which he offered, and which Yungching received with pleasure ” as evidences of the affection of the King of Portugal,” as many for his master, besides a cup of wine and some porcelain dishes, sent from the Emperor’s table, and other presents for himself and his retinue, which were ” valuable solely because they were the gifts of a monarch.” No more advantage resulted from this than the embassy sent a century previous, though it cost the inhabitants of Macao a like heavy sum. Another and last Portuguese embassy reached Peking in 1753, conducted and ending in much the same maimer as its predecessors ; all of them exhibiting, in a greater or less degree, the spectacle of humiliating submission of independent nations through their envoys to a I’oiirt which took pleasure in arrogantly exalting itself on the homage it received, and studiously avoided all reference to the real business of the embassy, that it might neither give nor deny anything. But in estimating its conduct in these respects, it must not be overlooked that the imperial court never associated commercial equality and regulations with embassies and tribute.
The influence and wealth of the Portuguese in China for the last century and a half have gradual decreased. A Swedish knight. Sir Andrew Ljungstedt, published a historical sketch of their doings down to 1833, including an account of the colony, which is still the fullest book on the subject. In 1820 the opium trade was removed to Lintin, and that being the principal source of income, the commerce of the place for many years was at a low ebb. The imperial commissioner Iviying granted some additional privileges to the settlement in 1844, among others, permitting the inhabitants to build and repair new houses, churches, and ship’s without a license, and to trade at the five ports open to foreign commerce on the same terms as other nations ; it was just three centuries before this that the Portuguese were driven away from Ningbo. The anchorage of the Typa was included in the jurisdiction of Macao, but the application of the Portuguese commissioner to surcease payment of the anmial ground-rent of five hundred taels to the Chinese met with a decided refusal. Its advantages as a summer resort and its accessibility to a densely peopled region M^est invite visitors and traders to some extent, but the proximity and wealth of Hongkong make it secondary to that. Its short-lived prosperity in 1839-50, during the opium war and curly days of Hongkong, was followed b}’ the enlargement of the coolie trade, which for twenty-five years was the only real business.
EMBASSIES AND TRADE. 431
The Chinese have never ceded the peninsula to the Portuguese crown, although they were powerless to prevent the export of coolies; the relations now between the two countries are not distinctly defined. In 1862 a treaty was negotiated at Peking by Governor Guimaraes, in which the supremacy of the Portuguese authority over the ten-itory within the Barrier was implied rather than declared in Article IX., wherein the ecpial apTHEIR pointment of consular officers was mutually agreed to. The Chinese found out, however, that this virtually acknowledged the independence of the colony, and refused to i-atify the treaty without an express stipulation asserting their right of domain to the peninsula. It has never been ratified, therefore, but trade is unfettered, and the Chinese inhabitants continue to increase; no rental has been paid for the ground-tax since 1849. The cessation of the coolie trade in 1873 has reduced Macao lower than ever, and it now hardly pays its own officials; all the thrifty or wealthy foreign citizens have removed elsewhere.
The trade between the Spaniards and Chinese has been
smaller, and their relations less important than most other
European nations. The Spanish admiral Legaspi conquered
the Philippines in 1543, and Chinese merchants soon began to
trade with Manila ; but the first attempt of the Spaniards to
enter China was not made until 1575, when two Augustine
friars accompanied a Chinese naval officer on his return home
from the pursuit of a famous pirate named Li-ma-lion, whom
the Spaniards had driven away from their new colony. The
missionaries landed at Tansuso, a place on the coast of Kwangtung,
and went up to Canton, where they were courteously received.
The prefect sent them to the governor at Shanking,
by whom they were examined ; they stated that their chief object
was to form a close alliance between the two nations for
their mutual benefit, adding at the same time what their countrymen
had done against Li-ma-hon ; a second object was their
wish to learn the language of China and teach its inhabitants their religion. The governor kept them in a sort of honorable bondage several weeks, and at last sent them back to Manila, doubtless by orders from court, though he alleged as a reason that the pirate Li-ma-hon was still at large. After the return of this mission the governor of the Philippines deemed it advisable to let the trade take its own course, and therefore refused the proposal of a body of Franciscans to enter the country.
They, however, made the attempt in a small native vessel, and passed up the river to Tsiuenchau, where they were seized and examined as to their designs. Not being acquainted with the language, they were both themselves deluded and misrepresented to the prefect by a |)r()fes.se(l native friend who understood Portuguese; after many months’ delay they were mortified to learn that no permission to remain would be given, and in 1580 they returned to Manila, not at all disposed to renew the enterprise.
Philip II,, however, having received the suggestion made by
the Chinese admiral that he should send an embassy to Peking,
had already ordered the governor to undertake such an enterprise.
He fitted out a mission, therefore, in 1580, at the head
of which was Martin Ignatius. It gives one a low idea of the
skill of navigators at that day to learn that in this short trip,
the vessel being carried np the coast northward of Canton, the
party thought it better to land than to try to beat back to their
destination. The envoy and all with him were brought before
the Chinese officers, who, probably entirely misunderstanding
their object, imprisoned them ; after considerable delay they
were brought before a hio;her officer and sent on to Canton,
where they were again imprisoned ; the Portuguese governor of
Macao subsequently obtained their liberation. This unlucky
attempt, if Mendoza is right in calling it an embassy, was the
only one ever made by the Spanish government to communicate
with the court of Peking nntil the mission of Don Sinibaido de
Mas in 1847 and his treaty of 18G4. The pecular feature of that treaty was the piivilege, first granted to Spanish merchants, of engaging coolies as contract lal)orcrs for Cuba. The harsh treatment they received there led the Chinese to send a commission of inquiry in 1873, aiul to suspend the validity of this article until the truth could be ascertained. This procedure has resulted in a cessation of imported Chinese laborers at Havana.
INTERCOUKSE BETWEEN HOLLAND AND THE EAST. 43.J
The Chinese have carried on a valuable trade at Manila, but the Spaniards have treated them with peculiar severity. They are burdened Avith special taxes, and their immigration is rather restrained than encouraged. The harsh treatment of Chinese settlers there excited the attention and indignation of one of their countrymen many years ago, and on his return to Canton he exercised all his inHuence with officers of his own government, making what he had seen the model and the mative to induce them to treat all foreigners at Canton in the same way. It ended in perfecting the principal features of the system of espionage and restriction of the co-hong which existed for nearly a century, until the treaty of 1842;—another instance of the treatment requited upon foreigners for their own acts.
The Dutch commerce with the East commenced after their successful struggle against the Spanish yoke, and soon after completing their independence they turned their arms against the oriental possessions of their enemies, capturing Malacca, the Spice Islands, and other places. They appeared before Macao in 1622 with a squadron of seventeen vessels, but being repulsed with the loss of their admiral and about three hundred men, they retired and established themselves on the Pescadores in 1624. Their occupation of this position was a source of great annoyance both to the Spaniards and to the Chinese authorities in Fuhkien. According to the custom of those days, they began to build a fort, and forced the native Chinese to do their work, treating them with great severity. Many of the laborers were prisoners, whom the Dutch had taken in their attacks.
Alternate hostilities and parleys succeeded, the Chinese declaring that the Dutch must send an envoy to the authorities on the mainland ; they accord higly despatched Yon Mildert to Amoy, and the sub-prefect forwarded him to Fuhchau to the governor. He decided to send a messenger to the Dutch to state to them that trade would be allowed if they would remove to Formosa, but this proposition was refused. However, after a series of attacks and negotiations, the Chinese constantly increasing their forces and the Dutch diminishing in their supplies, the latter acceded to the proposition, and removed to Formosa, where they erected Fort Zealandia in 1G24. It is recorded that the Chinese landed five thousand troops on one of the Pescadore Islands ; and their determined efforts in repelling the aggressions or occupation of their soil by the Dutch probably raised their reputation for courage, and prevented the repetition of similar acts by others. It was doubtless a good stroke of policy on their part to propose the occupation of Formosa to the Dutch in exchange for the Pescadores, for they had not the least title to it themselves, aiul hardly knew its exact size at the character of the inhabitants. The Dutch endeavored ta extend their power over it, but with only partial success; in the villages around Fort Zealandia they introduced new laws among the inhabitants, and instead of their councils of elders, constituted one of their chief men supervisor in every village, to administer justice and report his acts to the governor of the island.
The moral interests of the natives were not neglected, and in 162G George (Jandidius, a Protestant minister, Avas appointed to labor among them, and took great pains to introduce Christianity. The natives were ignorant of letters, their superstitions resting only on traditions or customs which were of recent origin; the prospects, therefore, of teaching them a better religion were favorable. In sixteen months he had instructed over a hundred in the leading truths of (,’hristianity. The work was progressing favorably, churches and schools were multiplying, the interniarria£o:es of the colonists and natives M-ere brinfofufiitr them into closer relationship with each other, and many thousands of the islanders had been baptized, when the Dutch governors in India, fearful of offending the Japanese, who were then persecuting the Christians in Japan—in which the Dutch helped them, to their lasting disgrace—restricted these benevolent labors, and discouraged the further conversion of the islanders. Thus, as often elsewhere in Asia, the interests of true religion were sacrificed upon the altar of mammon, and the trade thus bought died from inanition.
During the struggles ensuent upon the overthrow of the Ming dynasty, many thousands of families emigrated to Formosa, some of whom settled under the Dutch, while others planted separate colonies ; their industry soon changed the desolate island into a cultivated country, and increased the produce of rice and sugar for exportation. The immigration went on so rapidly as to alarm the Dutch, who, instead of taking wise measures to conciliate and instruct the colonists, tried to prevent their landing, and thereby did much to irritate them and lead them to join in any likely attempt to expel the foreigners.
DUTCH OCCUPATION OF FORMOSA. 435
Meanwhile, their trade with China itself was trifling compared with that of their rivals, the Portuguese, and when the undoubted ascendancy of the Manchus was evident, the government of Batavia resolved to despatch a deputation to Canton to petition for trade. In January, 1653, Schedel was sent in a richly freighted ship, but the Portuguese succeeded in preventing any further traffic, even after the envoy had spent considerable sums in presents to the authorities, and obtained the governor’s promise to allow his countrymen to build a factory.
Schedel was informed, however, that his masters would do well to send an embassy to Peking, a suggestion favorably entertained by the Company, which, in 1055, appointed Goyer and Keyzer as its envoys. The narrative of this embassy by Nieuwhof, the steward of the mission, made Europeans better acquainted with the country than they had before been—almost the only practical benefit it produced, for as a mercantile speculation it proved nearly a total loss. Their presents were received and others given in return ; they prostrated themselves not only before the Emperor in person, but made the kotow to his name, his letters, and his throne, doing everything in the way of humiliation and homage likely to please the new rulers. The only privilege their subserviency obtained was permission to send an embassy once in eight 3’ears, at which time they might come in four ships to trade.
This mission left China in 1657, and very soon after, the Chinese chieftain, Ching Ching-kung (Koshinga, or Koxinga as his name is written by the Portuguese), began to prepare an attack upon Formosa. The Dutch had foreseen the probability of this onset, and had been strengthening the garrison of Zealandia since 1G50 while they were negotiating for trade ; Koxinga, too, had confined himself to sending emissaries among his countrymen in Formosa, to inform them of his designs. He set about preparing an armament at Amoy, ostensibly to strengthen himself against the Manchus, meanwhile carrying oil his ordinary traffic with the colony to lull all apprehensions until the council had sent away the admiral and force despatched from Java to protect them, when in June, 1661, he landed a force of twenty-five thousand troops, and took up a stroll”” position. The coinmniiicatinn hctweoii tlic forts being cnt off, the governor sent t\v<> ImiKbvd ami forty nien to dislodiTc the enemy, only luilf of whom retiirneil alive ; one (»f the four ships in the luirbor was burned by the Chinese, and another hastened to Batavia for reinforcements. Koxinga fol-\o\voa\ u\> these successes by cutting off all communication between the garrison and the surrounding country, and compelling the surrender of the garrison and cannon in the small fort.
Fort Zealandia was now closely invested, but finding himself severely galled, he turned the siege into a blockade, and vented his rage against the Dutch living in the surrounding country, and such Chinese as abetted them. Some of the ministers and schoolmasters were seized and crucified, under the pretext that they encouraged their parishioners to resist ; others were used as ao-ents to treat concerninG; the surrender of the fort. Yalentyn has given a clear history of the occupation of Formosa by his countrymen in his great work, and especially of their defeat at Zealandia. He narrates an incident of Rev. A. Ilambroek, as does also ^^ieuwhof, from whose travels it is quoted.
Among the Dutch prisoners taken in the country, was one Mr. Hambroek, a minister. This man was sent by Koxinga to the governor, to propose terms for surrendering the fort ; and that in case of refusal, vengeance would be taken on the Dutch prisoners. Mr. Hambroek came into the castle, being forced to leave his wife and children behind him as hostages, which sufficiently proved that if he failed in his negotiation, they had nothing but death to expect from the chieftain. Yet was he so far from persuading the garrison to surrender, that he encouraged them to a brave defence by hopes of relief, assuring them that Koxinga had lost many o” his best ships and soldiers, and began to be weary of the siege. When ho had ended, the council of war left it to his choice to stay with them or return to the camp, where he could expect nothing but present death; every one entreated him to stay. He had two daughters within the castle, who hung upon his nock, overwhelmed’ with grief and tears to see their father ready to go where they knew he must be sacrificed by the merciless enemy. But he represented to them that having left his wife and two other children as hostages, nothing but death could attend them if he returned not: so unlocking himself from his daughters’ arms, and exhorting everybody to a resolute defence, he returned to the camp, telling them at parting that he hoped he might prove serviceable to his poor fellow-prisoners, fvoxinga received his answer sternly ; then causing it to be rumored that the prisoners excited the Formosans to rebel, he ordered all the Dutch male prisoners to be slain ; some being beheaded, others killed in a more barbarous manner, to the number of five hundred, th ir b di .> .sviijipcd quite naked and buried; nor were the women and children spared, many of them. likewise being slain, though some of the best were preserved for the use of the commanders, and the rest sold to the common soldiers. Among the slain were Messrs. Hambruik, Mus, Wiiisam, Ampzingius, and Campius, clergymen, and many schoolmasters.
KOXIXCiA DRIVES THEM FROM TIIK ISLAND. 4’17
A force of ten ships and seven hundred men arriving from Batavia, the besieged began to act on the offensive, but were nnal)le to drive Koxinga from the town, though they checked his operations and brought down the garrisons from Kihmg and Tamsui to their aid. A letter from the governor of Fuhkien to Coyet, the Dutch governor, came soon after, suggesting a junction of their forces to drive Koxinga away from the coast, after which both could, easily conquer him in Formosa. This proposal was followed, but no sooner had the five vessels gone than Koxinga made his advances so vigorously that the garrison was forced to surrender, after a siege of nine months and the loss of one thousand six hundred men. Thus ended the Dutch rule in Formosa, after twenty-eight years’ duration.’
^ Chinese Repository, Vols. I., p. 414, and XX., p. 543. Journal N. C. Br.R. As. Soc, Vol. XI. (1876), Art. I. Moreau de St.-Mery, Vot/iu/e de VArnbassade de la ComjMignie des Iiuks orientales Ilolldnduises vers V Einpereur de la Chine, tire dujoiirtnd d^Andre Evcnird van, Branm Houckc/eest, translated and published in London, 2 Vols., 1798. J. Nieuwhof, JVamrkenrir/c Beachryrincie ran’t Oesandschap der NederlandtscJie Oost-Lidische Compagnie van Batavia nar Peking in Sina, door de Ileeren Pieter de Ooyer en Jacob de Keyser, Amsterdam,1G64.
This loss induced the council at Batavia to prosecute their former enterprise against Anioy, where Koxinga still had a garrison. Twelve vessels were fitted out under Bort, who arrived, in 1662, at the mouth of the River Min, where he was visited by deputies from the governor, and induced to send two of his officers to arrange with him concerning operations. The governor was in the country, and the two officers, on reaching his camp, soon saw that there could be no cordiality between their leaders ; this proposal of a foreign power to assist them against the Chinese was too much like that of Wn San-kwei to their chieftains in 1644 for the Manchus to entertain it. Bort, desirous of doing something, commenced a series of attacks on the fleet and garrisons of Koxinga, burning and destroying them in a piratical manner, that was nut less ineffectual toward regaining Formosa and obtaining privilege of trade at Canton than harassing to the Chinese on the coast. lie returned to Batavia in 1663, and was despatched to Fnhkien in a few months with a stronger force, and ordered to make reprisals on both Manchus and Chinese, if necessary, in order to get satisfaction for the loss of Formosa. The governor received him favorably, and after a number of skirmishes against the rebellious Chinese, Amoy was taken and its troops destroyed, which completed the subjugation of the province to the Manchus. As a reward for this assistance, the real value of which cannot, however, be easily ascertained, the governor lent two junks to the Dutch to retake Formosa, but Koxinga laughed at the pitiful force sent against him, and Bort sailed for Batavia.
These results so cliagrined the council that they fitted out no more expeditions, preferring to despatch an embassy, under Van lloorn, to Peking, to petition for trade and permission to erect factories, lie landed at Fulichau in 1664, where he was received in a polite manner. The imperial sanction had been already received, but he unwisely delayed his journey to the capital until his cargo was sold. While discussing this matter the Dutch seized a Chinese vessel bringing bullion from Java contrary to their colonial regulations, and the governor very properly intimated that until restitution was made no amicable arrangement could be completed ; consequently Van lloorn, in order to save his dignity and not contravene the orders of his own o;overnment, was obliged to allow the bullion to be carried ofp, as if by force, by a police officer.
EMBASSIES OF VAN IIOORN AND VAN BRAA:\r. 439
These preliminary disputes were not settled till nearly a year had elapsed, wdien A^an lloorn and his suite left Fulichau, and after a tedious journey up the River Min and across the mountains to llangchau, they reached the canal and Peking, having been six months on the way, ” during which they saw thirty seven cities and three hundred and thirty-five villages.” The same succession of prostrations before an empty throne, followed by state banquets, and accompanied by the presentation and conferring of presents, characterized the reception of this embassy as it had all its predecessors. It ended with a similar farce, alike pleasing to the haughty court which received it, and unworthy the Christian nation which gave it; and the “only result of this grand expedition was a sealed letter, of the contents^ of which they were wholly ignorant, but which did not, in fact, grant any of the privileges they so anxiously solicited.” They had, by their performance of the act of prostration, caused their nation to be enrolled among the tributaries of the Grand khan, and then were dismissed as loyal subjects should be, at the will of their liege lord, with what he chose to give them. It was a fitting end to a career begun in rapine and aggression toward the Chinese, who had never provoked them.
The Dutch sent no more embassies to Peking for one hundred and thirty years, but carried on trade at Canton on the same footing as other nations. The ill success of Macartney’s embassy in 1793 induced Van Braam, the consular agent at Canton, to propose a mission of salutation and respect from the government of Batavia, on the occasion of Kienlung reaching the sixtieth year of his reign. He hoped, by conforming to Chinese ceremonies, to obtain some privileges which would place Dutch trade on a better footing, but one would have supposed that the miscarriage of former attempts might have convinced him that nothing was to be gained by new humiliations before a court which had just dismissed a well-appointed 3mbassy. The Company appointed Isaac Titsingh, late from lapan, as chief commissioner, giving Van Braam the second place, and making up their cortege with a number of clerks and interpreters, one of whom, De Guignes, wrote the results of his researches during a long residence in Canton, and his travels with the embassy to Peking, under the title of Vo;/-arjen d Peking. It is needless to detail the annoyances, humiliations, and contemptuous treatment experienced by the embassy on its overland journey in midwinter, and the degrading manner in which the Emperor received the envoys : his hauteur was a befitting foil to their servility, at once exhibiting both his pride and their ignorance of their true position and rights.
They were brought to the capital like malefactors, treated when there like beggars, and then sent back to Canton like mountebanks to perform the three-times-three prostration at all times and before everything their conductors saw fit; avIio on their part stood by and hiughed at their embarrassment in mailing these evolutions in their tight clothes. They were not allowed a single opportunity to speak about business, which the Chinese never associate with an embassy, but were entertained with banquets and theatrical shows, and performed many skillful evolutions themselves upon their skates, greatly to the Emperors gratification, and received, moreover, a present of broken victuals from him, which had not only been honored by coming from his Majesty’s own table, but bore marks of his teeth and good appetite;” they were upon a dirty plate, and appeared rather destined to feed a dog than form the repast of a human creature.” Van Braanrs account of this embassy is one of the most humiliating records of ill-requited obsequiousness before insolent government lackeys which any European was ever called upon to pen. The mission returned to Canton in April, 1706, having attained no more noble end than that of saluting the Emperor, and this, indeed, was all the Chinese meant should be done when themselves suggesting the entire performance; for in order to understand much of their conduct toward their guests, the feelings they entertained toward them must not be lost sight of.
In 1843 the governor-general at Batavia sent T. Modderman to Canton to make inquiries respecting trade at the newly opened ports and establish consulates. The council there had, in 1839, forbidden Chinese to settle in any of their Indian colonies, owing to their skill in engrossing the native trade; but when this prohibition was removed about 1875, the Chinese showed no disposition to emigrate to Java. In 1803 a treaty was negotiated by M. Van der Ilooven at Tientsin, which placed the trade on the same footing as other nations.
RELATIONS OF FRANCE AND KTTSSIA WITH CHIXA. 441
The French Government has never sent a formal mission to the capital to petition for trade and make obeisance, though thnjugii their missionaries that nation has made Europeans better acquainted with China and given the Chinese more knowledge of western countries than all other Christian nations together. In the year 12S!) Pliilij) the Fair received a letter from Argun khan in Persia, and in 1305 another from Oljaitu, both of them proposing joint action against their enemies the Saracens. The originals are still to be seen in Paris. In 1G88 Louis XIV. addressed a letter to Ivanghi, whom he called “Most high, most excellent, most puissant, and most magnaniuious prince, dearly beloved good friend ; ” and signed himself “Your most dear and good friend, Louis.” Li 1844 diplomatic relations were resumed by the appointment of a large mission, at the head of which was M. Lagrenc, by whom a treaty was formed between France and China.’
The Russians have sent several embassies to Peking, and
compelled the Chinese to treat them as equals. The first recorded
visit of Russian agents at Peking is that of two Cossacks,
Petroff and Yallysheff, in 1567, who, however, did not
see the Emperor Lungking, who succeeded to the throne that
year, because they had brought no presents. In 1619 Evashko
Pettlin i-eached that city, having come across the desert from
Tomsk ; but he and his companion, having no presents, could
not see the ” dragon’s face,” and were dismissed with a letter,
which all the learning at Tobolsk and Moscow could not decipher.
Thirty-four years after, the Czar Alexis (1653) sent his
envoy Baikoff, who refused to prostrate himself before the
Erapei-or Shunchl, and was promptly dismissed. This repulse
did not interfere with trade, for in the years 1658, 1672, and
1677 three several trading embassies reached Peking. During
j»ll this time Russian and Chinese subjects and soldiers frequently
quarrelled, especially along the banks of the Amur, and
the necessity of settling these disturbances and pretexts for
trouble by fixing the boundary line being evident to both nations,
commissioners were appointed and met at Xipchu, where,
on August 27, 1689, they signed the first treaty ever agreed
upon by the court of Peking. The principal points in it were
the retirement of the Russians from Albazin and Manchuria,
where they had held their own for thirty-eight years, the fj-eedom
of trade, and defining the frontier along the Daourian
Mountains. The missionary Gerbillon was mainly instrumental
‘ CMnese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 526-535. Yule’s CatJiay, p. cxxx. Re*muriut in Mem. de I’AacJ. Ins., Vol. VII., pp. 367, 391 ff.
ill settling these disputes, and neitlier party would probably
have lowered its ari-ogaut claims if it had not been through his
influence ; the Chinese were far the most difficult to please.’
Peter sent Ysbrandt Ides in 1G92 as his envoy to Peking to
exchange the ratitications. llis journey across the wilds and
wastes of Central Asia took up more time than a voj^age by
sea, for it was not till a year and eight months that “he could
return thanks to the great God, who had conducted them all
safe and well to their desired place.” Ides’ own account of his
mission contains very slight notices regarding its object or how
he was received ; but it is now credibly believed that he performed
the kotoio before the Emperor. About twenty years
after iiis departure, Kanghi sent a Manchu envoy, Tulishen,
through Russia to confei” with the khan of the Tourgouth Tartars
about their return to China, which a portion of them accomplished
some years after. Tulishen executed his mission so
well that he was sent again as envoy to the Czar about 1730,
and reached Petersburg in the reign of Peter II. In 1719 Peter the Great despatched another embassy, under Ismailoif, to arrange the trade then conducted on a precarious footing—an account of which was drawn up by John Bell in 17G3. Ismailoff refused to prostrate himself until it was agreed that a Chinese minister, whenever sent to Petersburg, should conform to the usages of the Russians ; a safe stipulation, certainly, to a court which never demeans itself to send missions. The evident desii-ableness of keeping on good terms with the Russians led the Chinese to treat their envoys with unusual respect and attend to the business they came to settle. One of the most instructive books on the kind of intercourse carried on during this period is the Journal of Lange, who went first in 1716, and thrice afterward, and has left an account of his residence at Kangxi’s capital.’
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., pp. 417, 500. Du Halde, Description geo’gi’fiphiqiie, historiqne, chronologique, ]iulitique el phyHique iJe V Empire tie la Chine”t deht, T(trf(irie chinoiHC, 4 vols., Paris, 1735. G. Timkowski, Travels of the liiisKian Mission through Mongolia to China, etc., 2 vols., London, 1827. Klaproth, Memoires stir I’ A.sie, Tome I., pp. 1-81.
” Published in one volume with Bell: Joitritcy froni St. Petersburgh in Ruatin to Ispahan in Persia, etc., London, 1715.
RUSSIAN MISSIONS TO PKKIXG. 443
In 1727 a fifth mission was sent by the Empress Catherine under Count Vladishivitcli, which succeeded in establishing the intercourse on a still better basis, viz., that a mission, consisting of six ecclesiastical and four lay members, should remain at Peking to study the Chinese and Manchu languagea, so that in terpreters could be prepared and communications carried on satisfactorily; the members were to be changed decennially. The caravans, which had been the vehicles of trade, were regulated about 1730 by the establishment, at Kiakhta and Maimaichin, of two marts on the frontier, where it could be brought under regulations; the last reached Peking in 1755. This embassy was the most successful of all, and partly owing to the Emperor Yungcliing”s desire to counterbalance Jesuit intrigues by raising up other interpreters. This treaty, signed August 27, 1727, remained in force till June, 1858—the longest lived treaty on record.
The narrative of George Timkowski, who conducted the relief sent in 1821, gives an account of his trip from Kiakhta across the desert, together with considerable information relating to the Kalkas and other Mongol tribes subject to China. The archimandrite.
Hyacinth Batchourin, has given a description of Poking, but such works as the members of the Russian college have written are for the most part still in that language. Up to the present date there have been sixteen archiniandrites (1736 to 1880) and many monks attached to the ecclesiastical mission in Peking.’
The intercourse of the English with Chiria, though it commenced
later than other maritime nations of Europe, has been
far more important in its consequences, and their trade greater
in amount than all other foreign nations combined. This intercourse
has not been such as was calculated to impress the Chinese
with a just idea of the character of the British nation as a
leading Christian people ; for the East India Company, which
had the monopoly of the trade between the two countries for
nearly two centuries, systematically opposed every effort to diffuse
Christian doctrine and general knowledge among them down to the end of their control in 1834.
‘ Dudgeon’s monograph on Russian Intercourse with China contains notices of all events of any importance between the two nations, digested with great care, pp. 80, Peking, 1872. Also, Martin’s China, Vol. I., p. 386.
The liri^t English vessels anc-liored oft Macao in July, 1G35
under the coiumand of AVeddell, who was sent to China in ac
o’ordance witli a “truce and free trade” which liad been entered
into between the Enghsh merchants and the viceroy of Goa, wlio
gave letters to the governor of Macao. The iieet was coldlj
received and AVeddell deluded with vain promises until the
Portuguese fleet had sailed for Japan, when he was denied permission
to trade. Two or three of his officers having visited
Canton, he was very desirous to participate in the traffic, and
proceeded wi’di his whole fleet up to the Bogue forts, where
this desire was made known to the commanders of the forts,
who promised to return an answer in a week. Meanwhile the
Portuguese so misrepresented them to the Chinese that the
commander of the forts concluded to end the matter by driving
them away. Having made every preparation during the j^eriod
the fleet M’as waiting, an attack was first made upon a wateringboat
by firing shot at it when passing near the forts.
” Herewith the whole fleet, being instantly incensed, did, on
the sudden, display their bloody ensigns ; and, weighing their
anchors, fell up with the flood, and berthed themselves before
the castle, from whence came many shot, yet not any that
touched so much as ludl or rope ; wdierenpon, not being able to
endure their bravadoes any longer, each ship began to play
furiously upon them with their broadsides ; and after two or
three hours, perceiving their cowardly fainting, the boats were
landed with about one hundred men : which sight occasioned
them, w’ith great distractions, instantly to abandon the castle and
fly ; the boats’ crews, in the meantime, without let, entering the
same and displaying his Majesty’s colors of Great Britain upon
the walls, having the same night put aboard all their ordnance,
fired the council-house and demolished wdiat they could. The
boats of the fieet also seized a juidv laden with boards and timber,
and another wuth salt. Another vessel of small moment
was surprised, by whose boat a letter was sent to the chief
mandarins at Canton, expostulating their breach of truce, excusing
the assailing of the castle, and withal in fair terms r&
i[uiring the liberty of trade.” ‘ This letter was shortly answered,
‘ Staunton’s E^mbassy^ Vol. I.
, y\>. 5-12.
COMMENCEMENT OF J5KIT1SII INTEKCOUKSE. 44^
and after a little explanatory negotiation, hastened to a favorable
conclusion on the part of the Chinese by what they had
seen, trade was allowed after the captured guns and vessels
were restored and the ships supplied with cargoes.
No other attempt to open a trade was made till 1G64, and
during the change of dynasty which took place in the interim,
the trade of all nations with China suffered. The East India
Company had a factory at ijantam in Java, and one at Madras,
but their trade with the East was seriously inconnnoded by tlie
war with the Dutch ; when it was renewed in 1664, only one
ship was sent to Macao, but such v/ere the exactions imposed
upon the trade by the Chinese, and the effect of the misrepresentations of the Portuguese, that the ship returned without
effecting sale. This did not discourage the Company, however,
who ordered their agents at Bantam to make inquiries respecting
the most favorable port and what commodities were most
in demand. They mentioned ” Fuhchau as a place of great
resort, affording all China commodities, as raw and wrought
silk, tutenague, gold, china-root, tea, etc.” A trade had been
opened with Koxinga’s son in Formosa and at Amoy, but this
rude chieftain had little other idea of traffic than a means of
helping himself to every curious commodity the ships brought,
and levying heavy imposts upon their cargoes. A treaty was
indeed entered into with him, in which the supercargoes, as
was the case subsequently in 1842, stipulated for far greater
privileges and lighter duties than Chinese goods and vessels
would have had in English ports. Besides freedom to
go where they pleased without any one attending them, access
at all times to the king, liberty to choose their own clerks
and trade with whom they pleased, it was also agreed ” that
what goods the king buys shall pay no custom ; that rice
imported pay no custom ; that all goods imported pay three
per cent, after sale, and all goods exported be custom free.”
The trade at Amoy was more successful than at Zealandia, and a small vessel was sent there in 16TT, which brought back a favorable report. In 1078 the investments for these two places were $30,000 in bullion and $20,000 in goods ; the returns were chiefly in silk goods, tutenague, rhubarb, etc.; the trade was continued fur several years, ajiparently with considerable profit, though the Manchus continually increased the restrictions under which it labored. In 16S1 the Company ordered their factories at Anioy and Formosa to be withdrawn, and one established at Canton or Fuhchau, but in 1685 the trade was renewed at Amoy.
The Portuguese managed to prevent the English obtaining a footing at Canton until about 10S4 ; and, as Davis remarks, the stupid pertinacity with which they endeavored to exclude them from this port and trade is one of the most striking circumstances connected with these trials and rivalries. It is the more inexplicable in the case of the rortuguese, for they could carry nothing to England, nor could they force the English to trade with them at second hand ; theirs M’as truly the ” dog in the manger” policy, and they have subsequently starved upon it.
In 10S9 a duty of five shillings per pound was laid upon tea imported into England ; and the principal articles of export are stated to have been wrought silks of every kind, porcelain, lacquered-ware, a good quantity of fine tea, some fans and screens.
Ten years after, the court of directors sent out a consul’s commission to the chief supercargo, Mr. Catchpoolo, which constituted him king’s minister or consul for the whole Empire of China and the adjacent islands. In ITOl an attempt was made by him to open a trade, and he obtained permission to send ships to Chusan or Ningbo; an investment in three vessels, worth £101,300, was accordingly made, but he found the exactions of the government so grievous, and the monopoly of the merchants so oppressive, that the adventure proved a great loss, and the traders were compelled to withdraw. The Company’s hopes of trade at that port nuist, however, have been great, for their investment to Amoy that year was only ,£34,400, and to Canton £40,800. In 1702 Catchpoole also established a factory at Pulo Condore, an island near the coast of Cochin China which had been taken by the English. The whole concern, however, experienced a tragical end in 1705, when the Malays rose upon the English, murdered them all, and burned the factory. The Cochin Chinese are said to have instigated this treacherous at tack to regain the island, which was claimed by them.
EARLY EFFORTS IX ESTABLISHING A TRADE. 447
The extortions and grievances suffered by the traders at Canton were increased in 1T02 by the appointment of an individual who alone had the right of trading with them and of farming it out to those who had the means of doing so. The trade seems hardly, even at this time, to have taken a regular form, but by 1720 the number and value of the annual commodities had so much increased that the Chinese established a uniform duty of four per cent, on all goods, and appointed a body of native merchants, who, for the privilege of trading with foreigners, became security for their payment of duties and good behavior. The duty on imports was also increased to about sixteen per cent, and an enormous fee demanded of purveyors before they could supply ships with provisions, besides a heavy measurement duty and cumshaw to the collector of customs.
These exactions seemed likely to increase unless a stand was taken against them. This was done by a united appeal to the governor in person in 1728 ; yet the relief was only temporary, for the plan was so effectual and convenient for the government that the co-hona; was ei-e lono- re-established as the only medium through which the foreign trade could be conducted. An additional duty of ten per cent, was laid upon all exports, which no efforts were effectual in removing until the accession of Kienlung in 1736. This apparently suicidal practice of levying export duties is, in China, really a continuation of the internal excise or transit duties paid upon goods exported in native vessels as well as foreign.
The Emperor, in taking off the newly imposed duty of ten per cent, required that the merchants should hear the act of grace read upon their knees ; but the foreigners all met in a bodv, and each one ao;i’eed on his honor not to submit to this slavish posture, nor make any concession or proposal of accommodation without acquainting the I’est. The Emperor also required the delivery of all the arms on board ship, a demand afterward waived on the payment of about ten thousand dollars.
The Hang merchants shortly became the only medium of communication with the government, themselves being the exactors of the duties and contrivers of the grievances, and when complaints were made, the judges of the equity of their own acta
In 1734 only one English ship came to Canton, and one waa sent to Anioy, but the extortions there were greater than at the other port, whereupon the latter vessel withdrew. In 1736 the number of ships at Canton was four English, two French, two Dutch, one Danish, and one Swedish vessel ; the Portuguese ships had been restricted to Macao before this date.
Commodore Anson arrived at Macao in 1742, and as the Centurion was the first British man-of-war which had visited China, his decided conduct in refusing to leave the river until provisions were furnished, and his determination in seeking an interview with the governor, no doubt had a good effect. A mixture of decision and kindness, such as that exhibited by Anson when demanding only what was in itself right, and backed by an array of force not lightly to be trifled with or incensed, has always proved the most successful way of dealing with the Chinese, who on their part need instruction as well as intimidation. The constant presence of a ship of war on the coast of China would perhaps have saved foreigners nnich of the personal vexations, and prevented many of the imposts upon trade which the history of foreign intercourse exhibits, making it in fact little better than a recital of annoyances on the part of a government too ignorant and proud to understand its own true interests, and recriminations on the part of traders unable to do more than protest against them.
EXERTIONS AND PUNISHMENT OF MR. FLINT. 449
In consequence of the exactions of the government and the success of the co-hong in preventing all direct intercourse with the local authorities, the attempt was again made to trade at .Vmoy and jSingpo. The llardwicke was sent to Amoy in 1744, and obliged to return without a cargo. Messrs. Flint and Harrison were despatched to Tsingpo in 1755, and were well received ; but when the Ilolderness subsequently came to trade, it was with difficulty that she procured a cargo, and an iuq)erial edict was promulgated soon after restricting all foreign ships to Canton. In 175i> the factor}- at IS’ingpo was demulished, so that Mr. Flint, who repaired there that year, was imable to do anything toward restoring the trade. This gentleman was a person of uncommon perseverance and talents, and had mastered the difficulties of the Chinese language so as to act as interpreter at Canton twelve years before lie was sent on his mission, ” The ungrateful return which his energy and exertions in their service met with from his employers,” justly observes Sir erolin Davis, ” was such as tended in all probability, more than any other cause, to discourage his successors from undertaking so laborious, unprofitable, and even hazardous a work of supererogation.”
On his arrival at Ningpo, Mr. Flint, finding it useless to attempt anything there, proceeded in a native vessel to Tientsin, from whence he succeeded in making his case known to the Emperor Kienlung. A commissioner was deputed to accompany him overland to Canton ; Mr. Flint proceeded to the English factory soon after his arrival, and the foreigners of all nations assembled before the commissioner, who informed them that the hoppo had been superseded, and all duties remitted over six per cent, on goods and the cumshaw and tonnage dues on ships. The sequel of Mr. Flint’s enterprise was unfortunate, and the mode the Chinese took to bring it about thoroughly characteristic.
It proved, however, that these fair appearances were destined only to be the prelude to a storm. Some days afterward the governor desired to see Mr. Flint for the purpose of communicating the Emperor’s orders, and was accompanied by the council of his countrymen. When the party had reached the palace, the Hang merchants proposed their going in one at a time, but they insisted on proceeding together ; and on Mr. Flint being called for, they were received at the first gate and ushered through two courts with seeming complaisance by the officers in waiting ; but on arriving at the gate of the inner court they were hurried, and even forced into the governor’s presence, where a struggle ensued with their brutal conductors to force them to do homage after the Chinese fashion until they were overpowered and thrown down. Seeing their determination not to submit to these base humiliations, the governor ordered the people to desist ; and then telling Mr. Flint to advance, he pointed to an order, which he called the Emperor’s edict, for his banishment to Macao, and subsequent departure for England, on account of his endeavoring to open a trade at Ningpo contrary to orders from Peking He added that the native who had written the petition in Chinese was to b^ beheaded that day for traitorously encouraging foreigners, which was performed on a man quite innocent of what these officers were pleased to call a crime. Mr. Flint was soon after conveyed to Tsienshan, a place near Macao, called Casa Branca by the Portuguese, where he was imprisoned two years and a half and then sent to England. ‘
‘Davis, Chinese, Vol. I., p. 58.
Mr. Flint stated to the Company that a fee of one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars to the governor would set him at liberty, but they contented themselves Avith a petition. The punishment he received from the Chinese for this attempt to break their laws would not have been considered as unmerited or unjust in any other country, but the neglect of the Company to procure the liberation of one who had suffered so much to serve them reflects the greatest reproach upon that body.
The whole history of the foreign trade, as related by Auber
In his chronological narrative, during the one hundred and fifty years up to 1842 is a melancholy and curious chapter in national intercourse. The grievances complained of were delay in loading ships and plunder of goods on their transit to Canton; the injurious proclamations annually put up by the government accusing foreigners of horrible crimes ; the extortions of the underlings of office ; and the difficulty of access to the high authorities. The Hang merchants, from their position as traders and interpreters between the two parties, were able to delude both to a considerable extent, though their responsibility for the acts and payments of foreigners, over whom they could exercise no real restraint, rendered their .situation by no means pleasant. The rule on which the Chinese government proceeded in its dealings with foreigners was this :
*’ The barbarians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same principles as citizens. AYere any one to attempt controlling them by the great maxims of reason, it would tend to nothing but confusion. The ancient kings well understood this, and accordingly ruled barbarians by misrule ; therefore, to rule barbarians by misrule is the true and best way of ruling them.”
The same rule in regard to foreign traders was vii-tuallj^ acted on in England during the reign of Henry A”II., and the ideas among the Chinese of their power over those who visit their shores are not unlike those which prevailed in Europe before the Reformation.
ANOMALOUS POSITION OF FOREIGNERS IX CHINA. 451
The entire ignorance of foreign traders of the spoken and written language of China brought them into contempt with all classes, and where all intercourse was carried on in a jargon which each party despised, the results were often misunderstanding, dislike, and hatred. Another fruitful source oi difficulty was the turbulent conduct of sailors. The French and English seamen at Whanipoa, in 1754, carried their national hatred to such a degree that they could not pursue their trade without quarrelling; and a Frenchman having killed an English sailor, the Chinese stopped the trade of the former nation
until the guilty person was given np, though he was subsequently
liberated. The Chinese allotted two different islands
in the river at Whampoa for the recreation of the seamen of each
nation, in order that such troubles might be avoided in future,
A similar case occurred at Canton in 17S0, when a Frenchman
killed a Portuguese sailor at night in one of the merchants’
houses and fled to the consul’s for refuge. The Chinese demanded
the criminal, and after some days he was given up to
them and publicly strangled ; this punishment he no doubt merited,
although it was the fii’st case in which they had interfered
where the matter was altogether among foreigners. In 1784
a native was killed by a ball left in a gun when firing a salute,
and the Chinese, on the principle of requiring life for life, demanded
the man who had fired the gun. Knowing that the
English were not likely to give him up, the police seized Mr. Smith, the supercargo of the vessel, and carried him a prisoner into the city. On the seizure of this gentleman the ships’ boats were ordered up from Whampoa with armed crews to defend the factories, A messenger from the Chinese, however, declared that their purpose in seizing Smith was simply to examine him on the affair, to which statement the captive himself added a request that the gunner should be sent up to the authorities and submit to their questions. Trusting too much to their promises, the man was allowed to go alone before the officials within the city walls, when Mr. Smith was immediately liberated and the unhappy gunner strangled, after some six weeks’ confinement, by direct orders of the Emperor. The man, probably, underwent no form of trial intelligible to himself, and his condemiuition was the more unjust, as by Section CCXCII. of the Chinese code he was allowed to ransom himself by a fine of about twenty dollars. As a counterpart of this
tragedy, the Chinese stated (and there was reason for believing
tliein) tliat a native who had accidentally killed a British sea
man about the same time was executed for the casualty.
The Chinese mode of operations, when it was inipracticablo
to get possession of the guilty or accused party, was well exhibited
in the ease of a homicide occurring in 1807. A party
of sailors had been drinking at Canton, when a scuffle ensued,
and the sailors put the populace to flight, killing one of the
natives in tlie onset. The trade was promptly stopped, and the
liong merchant M’ho liad sccxred the .ship lield responsible for
the delivery of the offender. Eleven men were arrested and a
court instituted in the Company’s hall before Chinese judges,
Captain Rolles, of II. B. M. ship Lion, being present with the
committee. The actual homicide could not be found, but one
Edward Sheen \vas detained in custody, which satisfied the
Chinese M’hile he remained in Canton ; but when the committee
wished to take him to Macao with them they resisted, imtil
Captain Holies declai’cd that otherwise he should take the ])risoner
on board his own ship, which he did. Being now beyond
their reach, the authorities were fain to account for the affair
to the supreme triljunul at the capital by inventing a tale, stating
that the prisoner had caused the death of a native by raising
an upj)er window and accidentally dropping a stick npon
liis head as he was passing in the street below. This statement
was reported to his Majesty as having been concurred in by the
English after a full examination of witnesses who attested to
the circumstances ; the imperial rescript affirmed the sentence
of the Board of Punishments, which ordered that the prisoner
should be set at liberty after paying the nsual fine of twenty
dollars provided by law to defray the funeral expenses. The
trade was thereupon resumed.’
‘ Sir G. T. Staunton, Penal Code of Chiiut^ p. 516.
CIIIXKSK ACTION IN CASP:S OF nOMIClDE. 453
Another case of homicide occurred at AVhampoa in 1820, when the authorities reported that the butcher of another ship, who had committed suicide the day of the inquest, was the guilty person. The court of directors very properly blamed their agents at Canton for their complicity in this subterfuge, and spoke of ” the paramount advantages which must invariably be derived from a strict and inflexible adherence to truth as the foundation of all moral obligations.” ‘
Other cases of murder and homicide have since occurred between foreigners and natives. In the instance of the British frigate Topaze at Lin tin Island in 1822, whose crew had been attacked on shore, her captain successfully resisted the surrender of a British subject for the death of two natives in the affray.
The dignified and united action of the British authorities on this occasion was a striking contrast to the weakness of the Americans the year before in the case of Terrariova. It proved the beneficial results of a stand for the I’ight, for no foreigner has since been executed by the Chinese. It also proved the necessity and advantages of competent interpreters and translators, inasmuch as the case owed much of its success to Dr. Morrison’s aid, which had been rejected by the Hang merchants the previous year.”
These cases are brought together to illustrate the anomalous
position which foreigners once held in China. They constituted
a community by themselves, sui)ject chiefly to their own
sense of honor in their mutual dealings, but their relations wdth
the Chinese were like what lawyers call a ” state of nature.”
The change of a governor-general, of a collector of customs, or
senior hong merchant, involved a new couree of policy according
to the personal character of these functionaries. The committee
of the East India Company had considerable power over
British subjects, especially those living in Canton, and could
deport them if they pleased ; but the consuls of other nations
had little or no authority over their countrymen. Trade was
left at the same loose ends that politics were, and the want of
an acknowledged tariff encouraged sniuggling and kept up a
constant spirit of resistance and dissatisfaction between the native
and foreign merchants, each party endeavoring to get along
as advantageously to itself as practicable. IS or was there any
acknowlediied medium of communication between them, for the
‘ Auber, Chirm: An Outline of its Oovernment, Tmws, Policy, etc., p. 286,London, 18;M.
– ChhuHi’ Repository, Vol. II., pp. 513-515. Moriison’s Memoirs, Vol. XL.App., p. 10- Auber, China, its Government, etc., pp ~88-309.
(•(.iit^iils, not being credited by the Chinese Government, came
and went, hoisted or lowered their flags, without the slightest
notice fi’oni the authorities. Trade conld proceed, perhaps,
without involving the nations in war, since if it was unprofitable
it would cease ; but while it continued on such a precarious
footing national character suffered, and tlic misrepresentations
produced thereby rendered explanations dilficult, inasmuch as
neither party understood or believed the other.
The death of the unfortunate gunner in 1784, and the large
debts owed to the English by the hong merchants, Avhich there
seemed no probability of recovering, induced the British Government
to tnrn its attention to the situation of the king’s subjects in
China with the purpose of placing their relations on a better
footing. The flagitious conduct of a Captain M’Clary, who seized
a Dutch vessel at Whampoa in 1781, which Davis narrates,”
and the inability of the Company to restrain such proceedings,
also had its weight in deciding the crown to send an embassy to
Peking. Colonel Cathcart was appointed envoy in 1788, but his
death in the Straits of Sunda temporarily deferred the mission,
which was resumed on a larger scale in 1792, when the Earl of
Macartney was sent as ambassador, with a large suite of able
men, to place the relations between the two nations, if possible,
on a well-understood and secure footing. Two ships were appointed
as tenders to accompany his Majesty’s ship Lion (04),
and nothing was omitted, either in the composition of the mission
or the presents to the Emperor, to insure its success. Little
is known regarding its real impression upon the Chinese ;
they treated it with great consideration while it remained in
the country, although at an estimated cost of $850,000, and probably dismissed it with the feeling that it was one of the most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributary nation had ever paid their court. The English were henceforth registered among the nations who had sent tribute-bearers, and were consequently only the more bound to obey the injunctions of their master.”
‘ The Cfiitirsr, Vol. I., p. 03.
‘Sir G. L. Staunton, Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 3 vols., London, 1798.
EMBASSY OF LOIID MACA KINKY, 45.0
To the European world, as well as to the British nation, however, this expedition may be said to have opened China, so great was the interest taken in it and so well calculated were the narratives of Staunton and Barrow to convey better ideas of that remote country. ” Much of the lasting impression which the relations of Lord Macartney’s embassy leave on the mind of his reader,” to quote from a review of it, ” must be ascribed, exclusive of the natural effect of clear, elegant, and able composition, to the number of persons engaged in that business, the variety of their characters, the reputation they already enjoyed or afterward acquired ; the bustle and stir of a sea voyage; the placidity and success which finally characterized the intercourse of the English with the Chinese ; the splendor of the reception the latter gave to their European guests ; the walks in the magnificent gardens of the ‘ Son of Heaven ; ‘ the picturesque and almost romantic navigation upon the imperial canal; and perhaps, not less for the interest we feel for every grand enterprise, skillfully prepared, and which proves successful, partly in consequence of the happy choice of the persons and the means by which it was to be carried into effect.” This impression of the grandeur and extent of the Chinese Empire has ever since more or less remained upon the minds of all readers of Staunton’s narrative ; but truer views were imparted than had before been entertained concerning its real civilization and its low rank among the nations.
That the embassy produced some good effect is undeniable, though it failed in most of the principal points.. It also afforded the Chinese an opportunity of making arrangements concerning that future intercourse which they could not avoid, even if they would not negotiate, and of acquiring information concerning foreign nations which would have proved of great advantage to them. Their contemptuous i-ejection, ignorant though they decided to remain of the real character of these courtesies, of peaceful missions like those of Macartney, Titsingh, and others, takes away much of our sympathy for the calamities which subsequently came upon them. With characteristic shortsightedness they looked upon the very means taken to arrange existing ill-understood relations as a reason for considering those relations as settled to their liking, and a motive to ^\\\\ further exactions.
For many years subsequent to this endjassy the trade went on without interruption, though the demands and duties were rather increased than diminished, and the personal liberty of foreigners more and more restricted. The government generally, down to the lowest underling, systematically endeavored to degrade and insult foreigners in the eyes of the populace and citizens of Canton, in order, in case of any disturbance, to have their co-operation and sympathy against the ” barbarian devils,” The dissolute and violent conduct of many foreigners toward the Chinese gave them, alas, too many arguments for their aspersions and exactions, and both parties too frequently considered the other fair subjects for imposition.
In 1S02 the English troops occupied Macao by order of the governor-general of India, lest it should be attacked by the French, but the news of the treaty of peace arriving soon after, they re-embarked almost as soon as the Chinese remonstrated.
The discussion was revived, however, in 1808, when the French again threatened the settlement ; and the English, under Admiral Drury, landed a detachment to assist the Portuguese in defending it. The Chinese, who had previously asserted their complete jurisdiction over this territory, and which a little examination would have plainly shown, now protested against the armed occupation of their soil, and immediately stopped the trade and denied provisions to the ships. The English traders were ordered by the Committee to go aboard ship, and the governor refused to have the least communication with the admiral until the troops were withdrawn. He attempted to proceed to Canton in armed boats, but was repulsed, and finally, in order not to implicate the trade any further (a step not at all apprehended in protecting the Portuguese), he wisely withdrew his troops and sailed for India. The success of the native authorities greatly rejoiced them ; a temple was built on the river’s bank to commemorate their victory, and a fort, called ” Ilowqua’s Folly ” by foreignerb(since washed away), erected toguai’d the river at that point.
ATTITUDE OF CHINESE TUWAKD FOREIGN TKAUEKS. 457
The Chinese, ignorant of the principles on which international intercourse is regulated among western powers, regarded every hostile deinoiistratiuii between them in their waters as directed toward themselves, and demanding their interference. Though often powerless to defend themselves against their own piratical subjects, as has been manifested again and again—for example, in 1810, and also in 1(500, when Koxinga ravaged the coast—they still assume that they are able to protect all foreigners who ” range themselves under their sway.” This was exhibited in 1814, when the British frigate Doris, against all the acknowledged rights of a nation over its own waters, and simply because it could be done with impunity, cruised off the port of C’anton to seize American vessels. The provincial authorities ordered the Committee to send her away, saying that if the English and Americans had any petty squabbles they must settle them between themselves and not bring them to China.
The Committee stated their inability to control the proceedings of men-of-war, whereupon the Chinese began a series of annoyances against the merchants and shipping, prohibiting the employment of native servants, entering their houses to seize natives, molesting and stopping ships’ boats proceeding up and down the river on business, hindering the loading of the ships, and other like harassing acts so characteristic of Asiatic governments when they feel themselves powerless to cope with the real object of their fear or anger. These measures proceeded at last to such a length that the Committee determined to stop the British trade until the governor would allow it to go on, as before, without molestation, and they had actually left Canton for Whampoa, and proceeded down the river some distance, before he showed a sincere wish to arrange matters amicably. A deputation from each party accordingly met in Canton, and the principal points in dispute were at last gained. In this affair the Chinese would be adjudged to have been altogether in the right according to international law. At this time the governor general conceded three important points to the Committee, viz., the right of corresponding with the government, under seal, in the Chinese language, the unmolested employment of native servants, and the assurance that the houses of foreigners should not be entered without permission ; iior were these stipulations evei retracted or violated.
The proceedings in this affair were conducted with no little apprehension on both sides, for the value of the traffic was of such importance that neither party could really think of stepping it. Besides the revenue accruing to government from duties and presents, the preparation and shipment of the articles in demand fur foreign countries give employment to millions of natives in different parts of the Empire, and had caused Canton to become one of the greatest marts in the world. The governor and his colleagues were responsible for the revenue and peaceful continuance of the trade; but through their ignorance of the true principles of a prosperous commerce, their fear of the consequences ]’esidting from any innovation or change, or the least extension of privileges to the few half-imprisoned foreigners, they thought their security la}’ rather in restriction than in freedom, in a haughty bearing to intimidate, and not in conciliation to please their customers. On the other hand, the existence of the East India Company’s charter depended in a good degree upon keeping a regular supply of tea in England, and therefore the success of the Committee’s bold measure of stopping the trade depended not a little upon the ignorance of the Chinese of the great power a passive course of action would give them.
The government at home, on learning these proceedings, resolved to despatch another ambassy to Peking in order to stato the facts of the case at court, and if possible agree upon somo understood mode of conducting trade and communicating with, the heads of government. Lord Amherst, who like Lord Macartney had been governor-general of Lidia, was appointed ambassador to Peking, and Henry Ellis and Sir George T. Staunton associated with him as second and third commissioners.
A large suite of able men, with Dr. Morrison as principal interpreter, accompanied the ambassy, and the usual quantity and variety of presents.’ The mission reached the capital August 28, 1816, but was summarily dismissed without an audience, because the ambassador would not perform the kotow
‘ Ellis, Embassy to China, London, 1840. Sir J. F. Davis, Sketclies of China, 2 Vols., London, 1841. Clarke Abel, Ndrrative of a Journey in the Interioi of Chiiiii (111(1 a Voyaae to (iiid from that Country in 1816 and 1817, London,1»18. II. Morrison, A View of China, etc., Macao, 1817. LOKI> AMHEKST’s embassy TO I’KKING. 459
or appear before his Majesty as soon as he un-ived ; tlie intrigues
of the authorities at Canton with the high officers about
the Emperor to defeat the ambassy by deceiving their master
have also been adduced as reasons for its faihire. Its real failure,
as we can now see, was owing to the utter misconception
of their true position by the Emperor and his officials, arising
from their ignorance, pride, isolation, and mendacity, all combining
to keep them so until resistless force should open them
to meliorating influences. It was the last attempt of the kind,
and three alternatives only remained : the resort to force to
compel them to enter into soine equitable arrangement, entire
submission to wdiatever they ordered, or the withdrawal of all
trade until they proposed its resumption. The course of events
continued the second until the flrst was resorted to, and eventuated
in laying open the whole coast to the enterprise of western
nations.
At the close of the East India Company’s exclusive rights in China, the prospect for the continuance of a peaceful trade was rather dubious. The enterprising Mr. Marjoribanks despatched a vessel to ascertain how far trade could be carried on along the coast, which resulted in satisfactorily proving that the authorities were able and determined to stop all traffic, however desirous the people might be for it. The contraband trade in opium was conducted in a manner that threatened ere long to
involve the two nations, but the Company nominally kept itself
aloof from it by bringing none in its ships: the sajne Company,
however, did everything in India to encourage the
growth and saleof the drug, and received from it at the time of
its dissolution an annual revenue of nearly two millions sterling.
During its whole existence in China the East India Company stood forward as the defenders of the rights of foreigners and humanity, in a manner which no community of isolated merchants could have done, and to some extent compelled the Chinese to treat all more civilly. As a body it did little for the encouragement of Chinese literature or the diffusion of Christian truth or of science among the Chinese, except the printing of Morrison’s Dictionary and an annual grant to the Anglo-Chinese College; and although Dr. Morrison was their official translator for twenty-five years, the directors never gavb liiiii the empty compliment of enrolling him in the list of tlieii servants, nor contributed one penny for carrying- on his great work of translating and printing the Bible in Chinese. They set themselves against all such efforts, and during a long existence the natives of that country had no means put into their hands, by their agency, of learning that there was any great difference in the religion, science, or civilization of European nations and their own.
The trade of the Americans to China commenced in 1784, the first vessel having left New York February 22d of that year, and returned May 11, 1785 ; it was commanded by Captain Green, and the supercargo, Samuel Shaw, on his return, gave a lucid narrative of his voyage to Chief Justice Jay. His journal, published in 1847, contains the only lecord of this voyage, and furnishes many curious facts about the political and social relations existing between foreigners then in China. Our trade with China steadily increased after this date, and has been the second in amount for many years. The only political event in the American intercourse up to 1842 was the suspension of trade in October, 1821, in consequence of the homicide of a Chinese by a sailor at Whampoa. The American merchants were really helpless to carry the trial of Terranova to a just conclusion against the Chinese law, which peremptorily required life for life wherever foreigners were concerned, and gave him up on the assurance that his life was in no danger.
They are stated, in a narrative published in the North American lieview, to have told llowtpia at the trial on board the Emily at Whampcja, “We are bound to submit to yowY laws while we are in your waters; be they ever so unjust, we will not lesist them.” The poor man was taken out of the ship by force, while all the Americans present protested against the unfair trial he had had ; he was then promptly carried to Canton and strangled at tlif public execution ground (October 25) ; his body was given up next day, and the trade reopened.’
‘Shaw’s Jonrnal, Boston, 1847. North Anirrtrm) Ifrvicir, Jannary, IS’^iry. ChiiirKP /iVyw.v/Vo/v/, So])t(‘ml)(‘r, 18:50 Kir Geo. T. Staiiutou’s iVWi’aa <>/ Ohiiuif Becond editiuii, pp. 4()’J—lo2, 1850.
AMERICAN TKADE WITH CHINA. 461
The American Government neither took notice of this affair nor made remonstrance against its injustice, but still left the commerce, lives, and property of its citizens wholly unprotected, and at the mercy of (Chinese laws and rulers. The consuls at Canton were merely merchants, having no salary from their government, no funds to employ interpreters when necessary, or any power over their countrymen, and came and went without the least notice or acknowledgment from the Chinese.
The trade and intercourse of the Swedes, Danes, Russians, Italians, Austrians, Peruvians, Mexicans, or Chilians, at Canton, have been attended with no peculiarities or events of any moment. None of these nations ever sent ” tribute ” to the court of the Son of Heaven, and their ships traded at Canton on the same footing with the English. The voyage of Peter Osbeck, chaplain to a Swedish East Indiaman, in 1753, contains considerable information relating to the mode of conducting the trade and the position of foreigners, who then enjoyed more liberty and suffered fewer extortions than in later years.’
The termfaii-l’wel, by which they were all alike called by the Cantonese, indicated the popular estimation, and this epithet of foreign deviV did much, in the course of years, to increase the contempt and ill will which it expressed, not only there but throughout the Empire, for they were thereby maligned before they were known. Another term, /’, has been raised into notice by its condenmation in the British Treaty as an epithet for British subjects or countries. This word, there rendered ‘ harharian,” conveys to a native but little more than the idea that the people thus called do not understand the Chinese language and usages, and are consequently less civilized. This epithet harharian meant to the Greeks those who could not speak Greek, as it did to Shakespeare those who were not English; likewise among the Chinese, under ^were included great masses of their own subjects. By translating icai i as ‘ outside harhai’imis,” foreigners have been misrepresented in the status they held among educated natives, which was not that of savages but of the illiteracy growing out of their ignorance of the language and writings of Confucius.
‘ A Voyage to China and the East Indies, translated from the Germun b^Joliu R. Forster, 2 vols. , London, 1771.
The ancient Chinese hooks speak of four wild nations on the four sides of the country, viz., the fan, i, tih, man / the first two seem to have been applied to traders from the south and west, and grew into more distinct expressions because these traders often acted so outrageously. Other terms, as ” western ocean men,” ” far-travelled strangers,” and ” men from afar,” have occasionally been substituted when i was objected to. When used as a general term, without an opprobrious addition, i is as well adapted as any to denote all foreigners ; but the most recent usage gives prominence to the terms ical hwok and yangjdn (‘outside country’ and ‘ocean man’). Among educated natives the national names are becoming more and more common, as Ying A-wo/i, Fah l-woh, Jlei hoohy Teh kwoh^ for England, France, Americaj Germany, etc.
CHAPTER XXII. ORIGIN OF THE FIRST WAR WITH ENGLAND
The East India Company’s commercial privileges ceased in 1834, and it is worthy of note that an association should have been continued in the providence of God as the principal representative of Christendom among the Chinese, which by its character, its pecuniary interests, and general inclination was bound in a manner to maintain peaceful relations with them, while every other important Asiatic kingdom and island, from Arabia to Japan, was at one time or another during that period the scene of collision, war, or conquest between the nations and their visitors. Its monopoly ceased when western nations no longer looked upon these regions as objects of desire, nor went to Rome to get a privilege to seize or claim such pagan lands as they might discover, and when, too. Christians began to learn and act upon their duty to evangelize these ignorant races.
China and Japan were once open to such agencies as well as trade, but no effective measures were taken to translate or distribute the pure word of God in them.
Believing that the affairs of the kingdoms of this world are ordered by their Almighty Governor with regard to the fulfilment of his promises and the promulgation of his truth, the first war between England and China is not only one of great historical interest, but one whose future consequences cannot fail to exercise increasing influence upon many millions of mankind.
This war was extraordinary in its origin as growing chiefly out of a commercial misunderstanding ; remarkable in its course as being waged between strength and weakness, conscious superiority and ignorant pride ; melancholy in its end as forcing the weaker to pay for the opium within its borders against all its laws, thus paralyzing the little moral pcrsi its feeble government could exert to protect its subjects ; and momentous in its results as introducing, on a basis of acknowledged obligations, one-half of the world to the other, without any arrogant demands from the victors or humiliating concessions from the vanquished. It was a turning-point in the national life of the Chinese race, but the compulsory payment of six million dollars for the opium destroyed has left a stignui upon the English name.
In 1834 the select Committee of the East India Company repeated its notice given in 1831 to the authorities at Canton, that its ships would no longer come to China, and that a king’s officer would be sent out as chief to manage the affairs of the British trade. The only ” chief ” whom the Chinese expected to receive was a commercial headman, qualified to communicate with their officers by petition, through the usual and legal medium of the Hang merchants. The English Government justly deemed the change one of considerable importance, and concluded that the oversight of their subjects and the great trade they conducted required a commission of experienced men.
The Tit. Hon. Lord Xapier was consequently appointed as chief
superintendent of British trade, and ari’ived at Macao July 15,
1834, where were associated with him in the commission John
F. Davis and Sir G. B. Bobinson, formerly servants of the
Company, and a number of secretaries, surgeons, chaplains, interpreters,
etc., whose miited salaries amounted to $91,000.
On arriving at Canton the tide-waiters officially repoi’ted that
three ” foreign devils ” had landed. As soon as Governor Lu
had learned that Lord Xapier had ]-eached Macao, he ordered
the hong merchants to go down and intimate to him that he
nuist remain there until he obtained legal permission to come
to Canton ; for, having received no orders from couit as to the
manner in which he should treat the English su[)erintendent,
lie thought it the safest plan to adhere to the old regulations.
Lord Napier had been ordered to report himself to the governor
at Canton 7j>/ lette/’. A short extract from his instructions
will show the intentions of the English (iovei’iiment in constituting
the connnission, and the entirely wrong views it had of
lORD NAriKK Sri’EllINTENDENT OK HKI’ilSII I’KADK. 465
the notions of the Chinese respecting foreign intercourse, and the character they gave to the English authorities. Lord Palmerston says: In addition to the duty of protecting and fostering the trade of his Majesty’s subjects with the port of Canton, it will be one of your principal objects to ascertain whether it may not be practicable to extend that trade to other parts of the Chinese dominions. . . . It is obvious that, with a view to the attainment of this object, the establishment of direct communications with the jiort of Peking would be desirable ; and you will accordingly diiect your attention to discover the best means of preparing the way for such communications, bearing constantly in mind, however, that j)ecnliar caution and circumspection will be indispensable on this point, lest you should awaken the fears or offend the prejudices of the Chinese Government, and thus put to hazard even the existing opportunities of intercourse by a precipitate attempt
to extend them In conformity with this caution you will abstain from entering
into any new relations or negotiations with the Chinese authorities, except
under very urgent and unforeseen circumstances. But if any opportunity for
such negotiations should appear to you to present itself, you will lose no time
in reporting the circumstance to his Majesty’s government, and in asking
for instructions ; but previously to the receipt of such instructions you will
adopt no proceedings but such as may have a general tendency to convince the
Chinese authorities of the sincere desire of the king to cultivate the most
friendly relations with the Emperor of China, and to join with him in any
measures likely to promote the happiness and prosperity of their respective Bubjects.
(jrovernor Lu’s messengers arrived too late to detain the
British superintendent at Macao, and a military officer despatched
to intercept liun passed him on the way ; so that the
first intimation the latter received of the governor’s disposition
was in an edict addressed to tlie hong merchants, from which
two paragraphs are extracted :
On this occasion the barbarian eye, Lord Napier, has come to Canton
witliout having at all resided at Macao to wait for orders ; nor has he requested
or received a permit from the superintendent of customs, but has hastily come
up to Canton— a great infringement of the established laws! The customhouse
waiters and others who presumed to admit liim to enter are sent with a
communication requiring their trial. But in tender consideration for the said
barbarian eye being a new-comer, and unacquainted with the statutes and laws
of the Celestial Empire, I will not strictly investigate. . . . As to liis object
in coming to Canton, it is for commercial business. The Celestial Empire appoints
officers, civil ones to rule the people, military ones to intimidate the
-nicked. The petty affairs of commerce are to be directed by the merclianta
themselves : the officers have nothing to hear on the subject. … If any
affair is to be newly commenced, it is necessary to wait till a respectful memorial be made, clearly reporting it to the great Emperor, and hi? mandate h?
received ; the great ministers of the Celestial Empire are not permitted to have intercourse by letters with outside barbarians. If the said barbarian eye throws in private letters, I, the governor, will not at all receive or look at them. With regard to the foreign factory of the Company without the walls of the city, it is a place of temporary residence for foreigners coming to Canton to trade ; they are permitted only to eat, sleep, buy and sell in the factories; they are not allowed to go out to ramble about.’
How unlike were these two docunients and the expectations
of their writers ! The governor felt that it was safest to wait
for an imperial mandate before commencing a new affair, and
refused to receive a letter from a foreign officer. Had he done
so he would have laid himself open to reprimand and perhaps
punishment from his superiors ; and in saying that the superintendent
should report himself and apply for a permit before
coming to Canton, he only required what the members of the
Company had always done when they returned from their sum
mer vacation at Macao. Lord Xapier thought he had tlie same
liberty to come to Canton without announcing himself that
other and private foreigners exercised ; but an officer of his
rank would have pleased the Chinese authorities better by observino;
their regulations. He had thought of this contingencv
before leaving England, aiid had requested ” that in case of
necessity he might have authority to treat with the government
at Peking ;
” this request being denied, he desired that his appointment
to Canton might be announced at the capital ; this
not being granted, he wished that a connnunication from the
home authorities might be addressed to the governor of Canton
; but this was deemed inexpedient, and he was directed to
” go to Canton and report himself by letter.” These reasonable
requests involved no loss of dignity, but the court of St. James
chose to send out a superintendent of trade, an officer partaking
of both ministerial and consular powers, and ordered him to
act in a certain manner, involving a violation of the regulations
of the country where he was going, without providing for tlic
alternative of his rejection.
‘ (Jorrcspondenee relatimj to China (Blue Book), p. 4. Chinese Bepository, Vol. III., p. 188 ; Vol. XL, p. 188.
HIS LETTER REJECTED I5Y GOVERNOR LU. 467
To Canton, therefore, he came, and the next day reported himself by letter to the governor, sending it to the city gates. His lordship was directed to have nothing to do with the Hang merchants ; and therefore when they waited upon him the morning of his arrival, with the edict they had been sent down to Macao to ” enjoin upon him,” he courteously dismissed them, with an intimation that “he would communicate immediately with the viceroy in the manner befitting his Majesty’s commission and the honor of the British nation.” The account of the reception of his communication is taken from his correspondence: On the arrival of the party at the city gates, the soldier on guard was despatched to report the circumstance to his superior. In less than a quarter of an hour an officer of inferior rank appeared, whereupon Mr. Astell offered my letter for transmission to the viceroy, which duty this officer declined, addiner that his superior was on his way to the spot. In the course of an hour several officers of nearly equal rank arrived in succession, each refusing to deliver the letter on the plea that higher officers would shortly attend. After an hour’s
delay, during which time the party were treated with much indignity, not
unusual on such occasions, the linguists and hong merchants arrived, who entreated
to become the bearers of the letter to the viceroy. About this time
an officer of rank higher than any of those who had preceded him joined the
party, to whom the letter was in due form offered, and as formally refused.
The officer having seen the superscrijition on the letter, argued, that “as it
came from the superintendent of trade, the hong merchants were the proper
channels of communication : ” but this obstacle appeared of minor importance in their eyes, upon ascertaining that the document was styled a letter, and not & petition. The linguists requested to be allowed a copy of the address, which was of course refused.
About this time the kicang-hielt, a military officer of the rank of colonel, accompanied by an officer a little inferior to himself, arrived on the spot, to whom the letter was offered three several times and as often refused. The senior hong merchant, Howqua, after a private conversation with the colonel, requested to be allowed to carry the letter in company with him and ascertain
whether it would be received. This being considered as an insidious attempt
to circumvent the directions of the superintendents, a negative was made to
this and other overtures of a similar tendency. Suddenly all the officers took
their departure for the purpose, as it was afterward ascertained, of consulting
with the viceroy. Nearly three hours having been thus lost within the city,
Mr. Astell determined to wait a reasonable time for the return of the officers, who shortly afterward reassembled ; whereupon Mr. Astell respectfully offered the letter in question three separate times to the colonel and afterward to the other officers, all of whom distinctly refused even to touch it; upon which the party returned to the factory.’
* Chinese Bepositori/, Vol. XI. , p. 27.
The goveriKir ]e})orted this oecurreiu’e at court in a meinorial, in which, after stating that his predecessor had instructed the Company’s supercargoes to malce arrangements tluit “a ?’«//7<;ni[or supercargo, the word. being applied to all foreign consuls] acquainted with affairs should still be appointed to come to Canton to control and direct the trade,” he states what had occurred, and adds:
The said Larbarian eye would not receive the Hang merchants, but after-M’ard repaired to the outside of the city to present a letter to me, your Majesty’s minister, Lu. On the face of the envelope the forms and style of equality were used, and there were absurdly written the characters Ta Thuj kiroh [‘Great English nation’]. Now it is plain on the least reflection, that in keeping the central and outside [people] apart, it is of the highest importance to maintain dignity and sovereignty. Whether the said barbarian eye has or has not official rank there are no means of thoroughly ascertaining. But though he be really an officor of the said nation, he yet cannot write letters on equality with the frontier officers of the Celestial Empire. As the thing concerned the national dignity, it was inexpedi’^nt in the least to allow a tendency to any approach or advance by which lightness of esteem might be occasioned.Accordingly orders Mere given to Ilan Shau-king, the colonel in command of the military forces of this department, to tell him authoritatively that, by the statutes and enactments of the Celestial Empire, there has never been intercourse by letters with outside barbarians ; that, respecting commercial matters, petitions must be
made through the medium of the hong merchants, and that it is not permitted
to offer or present letters. . . . On humble examination it appears that
the commerce of the English barbarians has hitherto been managed by the
hong merchants and taipans ; there has never been a barbarian e^-e to form a
precedent. Now it is suddenly desired to appoint an officer, a superintendent,
which is not in accordance with old regulations. Besides, if the said nation
has formed this decision, it still should have stated in a petition the affairs
which, and the way how, such superintendent is to manage, so that a memorial
miglit be presented requesting yovir Majesty’s mandate and pleasure as to what
should be refused, in order that obedience might be paid to it and the same be
acted on accordingly. But tlie said barbarian eye, Lord Napier, wjthout having
made any plain nqiort, suddenly came to the barbarian factories outside the
city to reside, and presumed to desire intercourse to and fro by official documents and letters with the officers of the Central Flowery Land; this was, indeed, far out of the bounds of reason.’
‘^ Chinese Bepouionji Vol. III., p. 327.
CONTEST BETWEEN THE COVEIINOR AXD NAPIER. 460
The governor here intimates that the intention of his government in requesting a taijpan to come to Canton was only to have a responsible officer with whom to communicate. In refusing to receive an ‘eye,” or superintendent, therefore, he did not, in his own view of the case, suppose that he was refusing, nor did he or the court of Peking intend to refuse, the residence of a supercargo, for they were desirous to have responsible heads appointed over the connnerce and subjects of every ration trading at Canton. These occurrences were discussed by the Hon. John Quincy Adams in his lecture upon the war with China, delivered in 1841, in which he alleged that the rejection of Lord JSTapier’s letter and mission was a sufficient reason for the subsequent contest, he showed the impolicy of allowing the Chinese ideas of supremacy over other nations, and exhibited their natural results in the degraded position of foreigners. He had, however, only an imperfect conception of the strength of this assumption,
but it was not debated in this contest between Governor Lu and
Lord Napier. The former was not blameworthy for endeavoring
to carry the laws of his own country into execution, while
the latter was doing his best to obey the instructions of his own
sovereign. The question of the propriety of those laws, involving
as they did the supremacy of the Emperor over the English,
or the feasibility of those instructions, could only he discussed
and settled by their principals. Whether this assumption was
a proper ground of hostilities is altogether another question.
When Lord Napier’s letter was rejected he would probably have
referred home to his government for further instructions if it
had intended to settle the question of supremacy, but he did not
do so, nor did the ministry refer to it or remonstrate against the
unhandsome treatment their representative received.
The refusal of Lord Napier to confer with the hong merchants,
and of the governor to receive any communication except
a petition, placed the two parties in an awkward position.
In his letter the former stated the object of his coming to Canton,
and requested that his excellency Avould aecoi-d him an interview
in order that their future intercoui’se might be arranged ;
and considering the desirableness of giving him accurate views,
the party at the gate would have acted M’isely in permitting the
hong merchants to take it to him. The governor was irritated
and alarmed, and vented his anger upon the unfortunate hong
merchants. These had two or three interviews with Lord Na’pier after the rejection of the letter, but as they now said it
Mould not be received unless superscribed _^??’;i, or ‘ petition.’
they were dismissed. Having heard that there was a party
among the British residents in Canton who disapproved of the
proceedings of the superintendent, they vainly endeavored to
call a meeting of the disaffected on the 10th of August, while his
lordship assembled all of his countrymen next day, and found
that they generally approved of his conduct. On the 14th he
reviews his position in consequence of the rejection of his letter
ivad the subsecpient conduct of the governor. After recommending
the renewal of the effort to open better understood relations with the court of Peking by a demand upon the Emperor to allow the same privileges to all foreigners residing in China which Chinese received in foreign countries, he goes on to say:
My present position is, in one point of view, <a delicate one, because the trade is put in jeopardy on account of the difference existing between the viceroy and myself. I am ordered by his Majesty to ” go to Canton and there report myself by letter to the viceroy.” I use my best endeavors to do so ; but the viceroy is a presumptuous savage, and will not grant the same privileges to me that have been exercised constantly by the chiefs of the committee.
He rakes up obsolete orders, or perhaps makes them for the occasion ; but
the fact is, the chiefs used formerly to wait on the viceroy on their return
from Macao, and continued to do it nntil the viceroy gave them an order to
wait upon him, whereupon they gave the practice iip. Had I even degraded
the king’s commission so far as to petition through the liong merchants for an
interview, it is quite clear by the tenor of the edicts that it would have been
refused. Were he to send an armed force and order me to the boat, I could
then retreat with honor, and he would implicate himself; but they are afraid
to attempt such a measure. What then remains but the stoppage of the trade
or my retirement ? If the trade is stopped for any length of time the consequences to the merchants are most serious, as they are also to the unoffending
Chinese. But the viceroy cares no more for commerce, or for the comfort
and happiness of the people as long as he receives his pay and plunder, than
if he did not live among them. My situation is different ; I cannot hazard
millions of property for any length of time on the mere score of etiquette. If
the trade shall be stopped, which is probable enough in the absence of the frigate, it is possible I may be obliged to retire to Macao to let it loose again.
Then has the viceroy gained his point and the commission is degraded. Now, my lord, I argue that whether the commission retires by force of arms or by the injustice practised on the merchants, the viceroy has committed an outrage on the Britisli crown which should be equally chastised. The whole system of government here is that of subterfuge and shifting the blame from tlia
oppositp: vikus of the two parties, 471
shoulders of the one to the other. … I shall not go, however, without jiublishini; in Chinese and disseminating far and wide the base conduct of the viceroy in oppressing the merchants, native as well as foreign, and of my having taken the step out of pure compassion to them. I can only once more implore your lordship to force them to acknowledge my authority and the king’s commission, and if you can do that you will have no difficulty in opening the ports at the same time.’
Such were the sentiments and desires which filled the mind of the English superintendent. He is in error in saying that the governor would not grant him the same privileges as had been accorded to the chiefs of the Company. The present question was not about having an interview, but regarding the superscription of his letter ; for the chiefs of the Company sent their sealed communications through the Hang merchants as petitions. The governor stopped the English trade on the 16th, and two days after issued an explanatory paper in reply to the report that his orders on that subject had been carried into effect. This document sets forth his determination to uphold the old regulations, and a few sentences from it are here introduced as a contrast with the preceding despatch. The conviction of the governor in the supremacy of his Emperor over all foreign nations which had sent embassies to his court, and his own official position making him responsible for successfully maintaining the laws over foreigners, must be borne in mind :
To refer to England : slrould an official personage from a foreign country proceed to the said nation for the arrangement of any business, how could he neglect to have the object of his coming announced in a memorial to the said nation’s king, or how could he act contrary to the requirements of the said nation’s dignity, doing his own will and pleasure? Since the said barbarian eye states that he is an official -personage, he ought to be more thoroughly acquainted with these principles. Before, when he offered a letter, I, the governor, saw it inexpedient to receive it, because the established laws of the Celestial Empire do not permit ministers and those under authority to have private intercourse by letter with outside barbarians, but have, hitherto, in commercial affairs, held the merchants responsible; and if perchance any barbarian merchant should have any petition to make requesting the investigation of any affair, [the laws require] that by the said ttiipiiu a duly prepared petition should be in form presented, and an answer by proclamation awaited.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XV., p. 68.
There has never been such a thing as outside barbarians sending in a letter.
He then says that there had iic’ver been any official correspondence to and fro between the native officers and the barbarian merchants ; by this he means a correspondence ol equality, which the Chinese Government had indeed never yielded. The idea of supremacy never leaves him—witness, for example, the following strain, peculiarly Chinese :
The Hang merchants, because the said barbarian eye will not adhere to the old regulations, have requested that a stop should be put to the said nation’s commerce. This manifests a profound knowledge of the great principles of dignity. It is most highly praiseworthy. Lord Napier’s perverse opposition necessarily demands such a mode of procedure, and it would be most right immediately to put a stop to buying and selling. But considering that the said nation’s king has hitherto been in the highest degree reverently obedient,
he cannot in sending Lord Napier at this time have desired him thus obstinately
to resist. The some hundreds of thousands of commercial duties yearly
coming from the said country concern not the Celestial Empire the extent of
a hair or a feather’s down. The possession or absence of them is utterly unworthy
of one careful thought. Their broadcloths and camlets are still more
unimportant, and of no regard. But the tea, the rhubarb, the raw silk of the
Inner Land, are the sources by which the said nation’s people live and nuiiutain
life. For the fault of one man, Lord Napier, must the livelihood of the
whole nation be precipitately cut off? I, the governor, looking up and embodying
the great Emperor’s most sacred, most divine wish, to nurse and tenderly
cherish as one all that are without, feel that I cannot bring my mind to
bear it ! Besides, all the merchants of the said nation dare dangers, crossing
the seas myriads of miles to come from far. Their hopes rest wholly in the
attainment of gain by buying and selling. That they did not attend when
summoned by the hong merchants to a meeting for consultation, was because
they were under the direction of Lord Napier ; it assuredly did not proceed
from the several merchants’ own free will. Sliould the trade be wholly cut
off in one morning, it would cause great distress to many persons, who, having
travelled hither by land and sea, would by one man, Lord Napier, be
ruined. They cannot in such case but be utterly depressed with grief. . . .
I hear the said eye is a man of very solid ai\d expansive mind and placid speech. If he consider, he can himself doubtless distinguish right and wrong: let him on no account permit himself to be deluded by men around him. . . . Hereafter, when the said nation’s king liears respecting these repeated orders and official replies, [he will know] that the whole wrong lies on the barbarian eye ; it is in nowise owing to any want on the part of the Celestial Empire of extreme consideration for the virtue of reverential obedience exercised by the said nation’s king.’
‘ Chinese Bejwsitori/, Vol. III., p. 235.
CHINESE IDEAS OV SUPREMACY. 473
He consequently sent a deputation of officials to Lord Napier to inquire ‘why he had come to Canton, what business he was appointed to perform, and when he would retire to Macao. The letter was again handed them, but the superscription still remained, and they refused to touch it. They, however, leariuKl enough to be able to inform their master what he wished to know : the real point of dispute between the two could only be settled between their sovereigns. The governor by this deputation showed a desire to make some arrangement, and the trade would probably have been shortly reopened had not Lord Kapier carried out his idea, two days after, of appealing to the people in order to explain the reasons why the governor had stopped the trade and brought distress on them. The paper simply detailed the principal events which had occurred since his arrival, laying the blame upon the*” ignorance and obstinacy “of the governor in refusing to receive his letter, and closino; with—” The merchants of Great Britain wish to trade with all China on principles of mutual benefit ; they will never relax in their exertions till they gain a point of equal importance to both countries; and the viceroy will find it as easy to stop the current of the Canton River as to carry into effect the insane determination of the hong.”
In many of the former proceedings between the Chinese and foreigners, based as they were upon incorrect ideas, the rules of diplomacy elsewhere observed formed no guide ; but the publication of this statement was unwise and dangerous. Not only did it jeopardize the lives and property of British subjects, but of all other foreigners residing at Canton, to whose safety and interests, as involved with his own dispute. Lord Napier makes no reference in his despatches. Happily, Governor Lu did not appease his irritation by letting loose the populace of Canton, which was highly excited, but by imprisoning members of the co-hong for allowing the superintendent to come to the city.
The governor and his colleagues stopped the English trade on September 2d, in a proclamation containing many inaccurate statements and absurd reasonings, in which he forbade either natives or foreigners to give aid or comfort to Lord Xapier. Communication with the shipping at AV^hampoa was also interdicted, so that, in reality, the entire foreign trade was interrupted. A guard of Chinese troops was placed near tlio (\)nipany’s factoiy, but no personal distress was felt on account of the interdict. 11. B. M. frigates Andromache and Imogene were ordered up to protect the shipping and persons of British subjects, and the two vessels anchored at Whanipoa on the 11th.
In their passage through the Bogue they returned the fire from the forts, with little damage to either ; and on anchoring, a lieutenant and boat’s crew were despatched to Canton to protect the English factory. These decisive proceedings troubled the native authorities not a little, who, on their part, prepared for stronger measures by blocking up the river and stationing troops about Whampoa, but were relieved when they found that the ships remained* at their anchorage.
Lord Xapier sent a protest against the proceedings of the
governor in stopping the trade, through the Chamber of Commerce
and hong merchants ; but at this juncture his health gave
way so rapidly that three days after the frigates had anchored
he decided to return to Macao and wait for insti’uctions. Tlie
Chinese detained him on his passage down until the ships were
out of the river; but he sank and died October 11th, a fortnight
after reaching that city. As soon as he left Canton the
trade was reopened. On hearing that the ships had reached
AVhampoa, the Emperor degraded or suspended all the officials
who had been in any way responsible ; but when he learned
that ” Lord Xapier had been driven out, and the two ships of
war dragged over the shallows and expelled,” he restored most
of those whom he had thus punished. The governor also vented
his indignation upon ten of his subordinates, by subjecting them
to torture in order to “ascertain if they were guilty of illicit
connection with foreigners.” The drama was closed on the part
of the Chinese by an imperial mandate : ” The English barbarians
have an open market in the Inner Land, but there has
hitherto been no interchange of official communications. Yet
it is absoluteh’ requisite that there should be a person possessing
general control, to have the special direction of affairs; wherefore let the governor immediately order the Hang merchants to command the said separate merchants, that they send a letter back to their country calling for the appoint ineiit of luiotlier person as taqxin^ to come for the couti’ol and direction of conunercial affairs, in accordance with the old regulations.”
STOPPING OF THE TP.ADK AND IJKA’III OF XAI’IKK. 475
The principles on which the Chinese acted in this affair are
plainly seen. To have granted official intercourse bv letter
would have been to give up the whole question, to consider the
king of England as no longer a tributary, and so release him
and his subjects from their allegiance. To do so would not only
permit them to come into their borders as equals, subject to no
laws or customs, but would fui’ther open the door for resistance
to their authority, armed opposition to their control, and ultimate
in possession of their territory. The governor hints at
this when speaking of the necessity of restraining the barbarian
eye: “AVith regard to territory, it would also have its consequences.”
These would be the probable results of allowing
such a mode of address from the Kalkas, or Tibetans, and the
Emperor felt the importance of irs concession in a way that
Lord Xapier himself could not appreciate. Xcvertheless, with
the inconsistency of children, the Son of Heaven and his courtiers,
in the mandate just quoted, yi(;ld their obligations to justly
govern the far-travelled strangers, by requiring them to get a
countryman ” to exercise general control ” and live among them
—thus establishing the principle of ex-territoriality within their
borders which they now find so irksome.
It is pitiable, and natural too, that the Chinese should have had notions so incorrect and dangerous, for it led them to misinterpret every act of foreigners. Their entire intercourse with Europeans, since the Portuguese first came to their shores, had conspired to strengthen the opinion that all traders were crafty, domineering, avaricious, and contumacious, and must be kept down in every possible way to insure safety to the Chinese natives. The indignation of the Emperor on hearing of the entrance of the ships of war was mixed with great apprehension,
” lest there were yet other ships staying at a distance ready to bring in aid to him ” [Lord Xapier]. Ignorant as he was of the true character of the embassies which had been received at Peking, he was still more likely to take alarm at any attempt to open an equal intercourse, and disposed to resist it as he would a forcible occupation of his territory, of which it was, in his view, only the precursor.
That these were the feelings of the rulers at Peking cannot be doubted; and we must know what views and fears actuated them in order to understand their proceedings. If the position of England in the eyes of the Chinese had been fully known in London, the unequal contest imposed upon Lord Xapier would either have been avoided or directed against the imperial government.
The offer of an amicable intercourse was given to the Chinese, but through the inapplicable instructions which his lordship received this offer was not made to the weaker and ignorant party in such a way as not to excite its fears, while it fully explained the real position and intentions of England, and through her all Christendom, in seeking intercourse with China. Yet so long as the court of Peking, in virtue of the Emperor’s vicegerency over mankind, claimed supremacy’ over other nations, the struggle to maintain that assumption was sure to come. This false notion did, however, really continue among them for about forty years, till five foreign ministers had their first audience with the Emperor Tungchl, June, 1873, and stood before his throne as they presented their credentials.
The Pritish residents at Canton saw the point of difficulty clearly, and in a petition to the king in council, dated December 4, 1834, recommended that a commissioner be sent to one of the northern ports with a small fleet to arrange the matter of future intercourse. In this petition they ” trace the disabilities and restrictions under which Pritish connnerce now labors to a long acquiescence in the arrogant assumption of supremacy over the monarchs and people of other countries claimed by the Emperor of China for himself and his subjects,” and conclude that ” no essentially beneficial result can be expected to arise out of negotiations in which such pretensions are not decidedly repelled.”
PETITION OF BRITISH MERCHANTS TO TIIK KING. 477
The recommendations of the petitioners were disregarded in England. The cabinet disapproved of the spirit of Lord Napier’s despatches, and intimated to him that it was “not by force and violence that his Majesty intended to establish a commercial intercourse between his subjects and China, but by conciliatory measures.” After the events of 1834 if a commissioner, backed by a small fleet, had Leen iininediatelj appointed to Peking to arrange the terms of future intercourse, the subsequent wai might have been averted, though it is more likely that the imperial court would have rejected all overtures until compelled to treat by force.
As things were situated at Canton, it was really impossible for
the Chinese Government to carry on a line of policy with respect
to foreign intercourse wdiich would at once maintain its assumptions,
avoid the risk of a rupture, squeeze all the money possible
out of the trade, and repress the complaints of the Bi-ilish
merchants. The cessation of the Company’s monopoly, as well
as its control over all British subjects, had weakened the leverage
of the local authorities to manage them, to a greater degree
than they were aware.
The trade was conducted during the next season to the satisfaction
of all parties. That of other nations had been practically
stopped with that of the English, but the suspension was at a
dull season of the 3’ear. Their consuls took no official part in
the dispute, though they had some ground for complaint in the
suspension of their trade and the imprisonment of their countrymen.
The Chinese shopkeepers known as “outside merchants”
having been interdicted trading at all with foreignei’s, went to
the governor’s palace in a laige body and soon obtained a removal
of the restriction. The hong mei’chants themselves instigated
this decree, for these shopkeepers, while deriving large
profits from their business, were almost free from the extortions
which the monopolists suffered. All the extraordinary expenses
incurred by the provincial exchequer in the late affair were i”equired
of these unfortunate men ; and the}^ 7)iifst get it out of
the trade in the best way they could. Amelioration could not
be expected from such a system ; for as soon as the foreigners
began to complain, the hong merchants were impelled by every
motive to misrepresent their complaints to the governor and
quash every effort to obtain redress. The situation of foreigners
there was aptly likened by a wi’iter on the subject to the inmates
of the Zoological Garden in Regent’s Park : ” They [the animals]
have been free to play what pranks they pleased, so that
they made no uproar nor escaped from confinement. The keepers looked sharply after them and tried to keep them (Hiiet, because annoyed by the noise tliey made and responsible for the mischief they miglit commit if they got at Hberty. They might do what was right in their own eyes with each other. The authorities of China do not expect from wild and restless barbarians the decorum and conduct exemplified in their own great family.”
The peculiar position of the relations with the Chinese and the
value of the trade, present and prospective, was so great that
these events called out many pamphleteers both in England and
the East. The servants of the Company naturally recommended
a continuance of the peaceable system, nrging that foreigners
should obey the laws of tlie Empire where they lived and not
interfere with the restrictions put upon them. Others counselled
the occupation of an island on the coast, to which Chinese
“traders would immediately resort, and which was to be held
only so long as the Emperor refused to open liis ports and allow
a fair traffic with his people. Othei’S deprecated resort to force
until a commissioner to Peking had explained the designs and
wishes of his government, demanded the same privileges for
foreigners in China that the Chinese enjoyed abi’oad, and then,
in the event of a refusal, compel acquiescence. Some advised
lettiuii: thing’s take their own course and conducting trade
as it could be at Canton until circumstances compelled the
Chinese to act. ” That which we now require is not to lose the
enjoyment of what w^e have got,” said the Duke of Wellington,
and his advice was followed in most respects. A few thought it
would be the wiser way to disseminate juster ideas of the position,
power, and wishes of England and all foreign nations among the
Chinese in their own language. They argued very properly that
ignorance on these points would neutralize every attempt to
bring about a better state of things ; that although the Chinese
were to blame for their uncompromising arrogance, it was also
their great misfortune that they really had had little opportunity
to learn the truth respecting their visitors. All these suggestions
looked forward to no long continuance of the present undefined,
anomalous relations, and all of them contained much pertinent
advice and many valuable items of information ; but ii
CONTINUATION OF THE TRADE. 479
was a question not more difficult than important what course of
procedure was the best. AVliile the point of supremacy seemed
to be settled in favor of the Son of Heaven, the virus of the
contraband opium trade was working out its evil effects among
his subjects and hastening on a new era.
The British superintendents now lived in Macao pending the
action of their government, merely keeping a clerk at Canton
to sign manifests. The foreign residents established the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and other benevolent
projects mentioned in a previous chapter ; they also sent two
or three vessels along the coast to see what openings existed for
entering the countrj’, preaching the gospel, or living on shore.
The results of the voyages fully proved the impossibility of entering
the country in an open manner without the permission
of the rulers, and the limited intercourse with the people also
showed that the character of foreigners was generally associated
with the opium trade. The dwellers immediately on the coast
were eager for an extension of the traffic, because it brought
them large gains, and the officers at the principal ports were
desirous of participating in the emoluments of their fellows
at Canton ; but those who had the good of the countiy at
heart (and there are many such in China) thought that the extension
of foreign trade would bring with it unmitigated evil
from the increased use of opium.
Sir G. B. Robinson, the superintendent, remained at Lintin
on board a cutter among opium ships anchored there during the
season of 1835-30, and was so well satisfied with his position
that he recommended his government to purchase a small ship
for the permanent acconunodation of the commission there beyond
the reach of the Chinese officers, and to vest its powers in
a single individual. He also expressed his conviction that there
was little hope of establishing a proper understanding with the
Chinese Government, except by a resort to force and the occupation
of an island off the mouth of the river:
I see no grounds to apprehend the occurrence of any fearful events on the north-east coast, nor can I h\arn what new danger exists. I am assured from the best authority that the scuffles between different parties of smugglers and mandarins, alike engaged and competing in the traffic, are not more serious or frequont than in this province. In no case have Europeans been engaged in any kind of conflict or affray : and while this increasing and lucrative trade is in the hands of the parties whose vital interests are so totally dependent ou its safety and continuance, and by whose prudence and integrity it has been brought into its present increasing and flourishing condition, I think little apprehension may be entertained of dangers emanating from imprudence on their part. Should any unfortunate catastrophe take place, what would our
position at Canton entail upon us but responsibility and jeopardy, from which
we are now free ? On the question of smuggling opium I will not enter in
this place, though, indeed, smuggling carried on actively in the government
boats can hardly be termed such. Whenever his Majesty’s government directs
us to prevent British vessels engaging in the traffic, we can enforce any order
to that effect, but a more certain method would be to prohibit the growth of
the poppy and the manufacture of opium in British India ; and if British
ships are in the habit of committing irregularities and crimes, it seems doubly
necessary to exercise a salutary control over them by the presence of au authority
at Lintin.
Taking all things into consideration, this is a remarkable despatch
to be sent by the representative of a Cliristian government
writing from the midst of a fleet of smugglers on the
shores of a pagan country. ” The scuilles caused by the introduction
of opium are,” he remarks, ^’not more serious or frequent
on the coast than about Canton ; ” though even there,
l)i-obably, not one-half which did occur were known ; but Europeans
never personally engaged in any of them. They only
brought the cause and object of these collisions where the people
could get it, and then quietly looked on to see them fight
about it. Tlie ” prudence and integrity ” of the merchants were
engaged in cherishing it to a high degree of prosperity, and
they were not likely to act imprudently. The orders of the
supreme government for its officers on the coast to stop the
traffic were utterly powerless, through the cupidity and venality
of tho.se officers and their underlings ; yet their almost complete
failure to execute them does not impugn the sincerity of
the court in issuing them. There is not the least evidence to
show that the couii of Peking was not sincere in its desire to
suppress the trade, from the first edict in 1800 till the war broke
out in 1840. The excuse that the government smuggled because its revenue cruisers engaged in it and the helpless provincial authorities winked at it, is no more satisfactory than to make the successful bribery of custoui-liousc officers in Enghiiul or elsewhere a proof of the corruption of the treasury department.
SIR GEORGE ROBINSON ON OPHT^r-SM (tggF.IXG. 481
The temptation of an ” increasing and lucrative ” trade was as strong to the unenlightened pagan Chinese smuggler as it was to the Christian merchants and monopolists who placed the poisonous drug constantly within his reach. It would have been far more frank on the part of the British superintendent to have openly defended a traffic affording a revenue of more than two millions sterling to his own government, and suggested that such an ‘” increasing and lucrative ” business should not be impeded, than to say that he could stop British ships enji:ao;iiio: in it as soon as he received orders to that effect.
The existence of tlie commission at the outer anchoi-ages was
fully known to the authorities at Canton, but no movement
toward reopening tlie intercourse was made by either party.
Lord Palmerston instructed the superintendent not to comnmnicate
with the governor-general through the hong merchants,
nor to give his written connnnnications the name of
petitions. Captain Elliot succeeded Sir George in 183G, and
innnediately set about reopening the connnunication with the
Chinese officei’s in the same way that the supercargoes of the
Company had conducted it. lie defended this course upon
the grounds that he had no right to direct official communication with the governor, and that the remarkable movements of the Chinese and the state of uncertainty in respect to the whole foreign trade rendered it desirable to be at Canton. The successor of Lu, Tang Ting-ching, M’illingly responded to this proposition by sendiug a deputation of three officers to Macao with the hong merchants to make some inquiries before memorializing the Emperor. In his report the governor avoided all reference to Lord Napier, and requested his Majesty’s sanction to the present request as being in accordance with the orders that the English merchants should send home to have a supercargo come out to manage them. It was of course granted; and the British connnission, having received a ” red permit “
from the collector of customs, returned to Canton April 12,
1837, after an absence of about thirty months. In his note to
the governor upon receiving the imperial sanction, Captain Eliot says: “The undersigned respectfully assures his excellencj’ that it is at once his duty and his anxious desire to conform in all things to the imperial pleasure ; and he will therefore heedfully
attend to the points adverted to in the papers now before
him.” This language was decided, and his excellency after-
Mard called upon the superintendent to do as he had promised.
The remarkable movements of tlie supi’eme government here
referred to grew out of a memorial from IIu Xai-tsi, formerly
salt commissioner and judge at Canton, proposing the legalization
of the opium trade. In this paper he acknowledges tliat
it is impossible to stop the traffic or use of the drug ; if the
foreign vessels be driven from the coast, they will go to some
island near by, where the native craft will go off to them ; and
if the laws be made too severe upon those who smoke the drug
they will be disregarded. By legalizing it, he says, the drain of
specie will be stopped, the regular trade rendered more profitable
and manageable, and the consumption of the drug regulated.
He proposes instant dismissal from office as the penalty for all
functionaries convicted of smoking, while their present ineffectual
attempts to suppress the trade, which i-esulted in general
contempt for all law, would cease, and consequently the dignity
of government be better maintained. The ti-ade on the coast
would be concenti’ated at Canton, and the fleet at Lintin broken
up, thereby bringing all foreigners more completely under
control.
This unexpected movement at the capital caused no little stir
at Canton, and the hong merchants presently advertised the foreigners
that soon there would no longer be any use for the receiving-
ships at Lintin. Captain Elliot wrote that he thought
legalization had come too late to stop the trade on the coast, and,
with a prescient eye, adds that the “feeling of independence
created among British subjects from the peculiar mode of conducting
this bi’anch of the trade,” would ere long lead to graver
difficulties and acts of violence requiring the armed interference
of his govennncnt. The impression Avas general at Canton
that the trade would be legalized, and increased preparations
were accordingly made in India to extend the cultivation. The
governor and his colleagues reconnnended its legalization on the
PROPOSAL TO LEGALIZE TFIE OPIUM TRADE. 483
grounds that ” the tens (»f millions of precious money which
now annually ooze out of the Empire will be saved,” the duties
be inei’eased, the evil practices of transporting contraband goods
by deceit and violence suppi-essed, numberless quarrels and litigations
arising therefrom and the crimes of wortliless vagrants
diminished. They also deluded themselves with the idea that if
the officers were dismissed as soon as convicted, the intellif^ent
part of society would not indulge their depraved appetites, but
let the ” victims of their own self-sacrificing folly,” the poor
opium-smokers, be found only among the lower classes. In connection
with this report, the hong merchants replied to various
inquiries respecting the best mode of carrying on the opium
trade in case it should be legalized, and their mode of conducting
commerce generally ; adding that it was bej-ond their power to
control thesnniggling traffic or restrain the exportation of sycee,
and showed that the balance of trade would naturally leave the
country in bullion. These papers are fairly drawn up, and their
perusal cannot fail to elevate the character of the Chinese for
consideration, carefulness, and business-like procedure.’
There were other statesmen, however, who regarded Ilii Xaitsi’s
memoi’ial as a dangerous step in the downward path, and
sounded the alarm. Among these the foremost was Chu Tsun,
a cabinet minister, who sent in a counter-memorial couched
in the strongest terms. He advised that the laws be more
strictly maintained, and cited instances to show that when the
provincial authorities earnestly set about it they could put the
trade down ; that the people would soon learn to despise all laws
if those against opium-smoking were suspended ; and that recreant
officers should be superseded and punished. His indignation
warms as he goes on : ” It has been represented that
advantage is taken of the laws against opium by extortionate
underlings and worthless vagrants, to benefit themselves. Is it
not known, then, that when government enacts a law, there is
necessarily an infi-action of that law ? And though tlie law
should sometimes be relaxed and become ineffectual, yet surely
it should not on that account be abolished ; any more than we
‘ Chinese Eepositoi-y, Vol. V., pp. 139, 259, 385 fiE.
eliould altogether cease to eat because of stoppage of the throat
The laws which forbid the people to do wrong may be likened
to the dikes which prevent the overflowing of water. If any
one urging, then, that the dikes are veiy old and therefore useless,
we should have them thrown down, w hat words could ex-
]u-ess the consequences of the impetuous lush and all-destroying
overflow! Yet the provincials, when discussing the subject of
opium, being perplexed and bewildered by it, think that a prohibition
which does not iiUerhj prohibit is better than one which
does not effectually prevent the importation of the drug. . . .
If we can l)ut prevent the importation of o])ium, the exportation
of dollars will then cease of itself, and the two offences will both
at once be stopped. Moreover, is it not better, by continuing the
old enactments, to find even a partial remedy for the evil, than by
a change of the laws to increase the importation still further? “
lie then proceeds to show that the native article could not
compete with the foreign, for it would not bo as well luainifactured,
and moreover ” all men prize what is strange and undervalue
whatever is in ordinary use.” Its cultivation would occupy
rich and fertile land now used for nutritive grains : ” To draw
off in this way the waters of the great fountain requisite for the
production of food and raiment, and to lavish them upon the
root whence calamity and disaster spring forth, is an eri-or like
that of the physician who, when treating a mere external disease,
drives it inward to the heart and centre of the body. Shall
the fine fields of Kwangtnng, ^vhich produce their three crops
every year, be given up for the cultivation of this noxious Meed ‘i”
He says the question does not concern property and duties, but the welfare and vigor of the people ; and quotes from the 7//,vtory of Formosa a passage showing the way in which the natives there were enervated by using it, and adds that the purpose of the English in introducing opium into the country has been to weaken and enfeeble it. Kanghi long ago (1717) remarked, he observes, ” There is cause for apprehension, lest in the centuries or millenniums to come China may be endangered by collisions with the various nations of the AYest who come hither from beyond the seas.” And now, in less than two centuries, “weseo the commencement of that danger which he apprehended.”
CIIU T8UN OPPOSES THE PROPOSITION. 485
The suggestion of II ii Nai-tsi, to allow it to the people ami interdict the officers, is called bad casuistry, ” like shutting a woman’s ears before you steal her earrings/’ He shows that thi& distinction will be vain, for it will be impossible to say who is of the people and who are officers, for all the latter are taken from the body of the former. The permission will induce people to use it who now refrain from fear of the laws ; for even the proposal has caused ” thieves and villains on all hands to raise their heads and open their eyes, gazing about and pointing the finger under the notion that wheu’once these prohibitions
are repealed, thenceforth and forever they may regard themselves
far from every restraint and cause of fear.” He asserts
that nothing l)ut strong laws rigidly carried into effect will restrain
them from their evil ways, and concludes by recommending
increased stringency in their execution as the only hope of
reformation.
This spirited paper was supported by another fvom a sub-censor,
Hii Kiu, on the necessity of checking the exportation of
silver, and reconnnending that a determined officer be sent to
punish severely the native traitors, which would add dignity to
the laws ; and then the barbarians would be awed and consequently
reform and be entirely defeated in their designs of conquering
the country. He cites several instances of their outrageous
A’iolation of the laws, such as levelling graves in Macao
for the purpose of making a road over them, landing goods
there for entering them at Canton in order to evade the duties
and port charges, and even riding in sedans with four bearers,
like Chinese officers. Force needed only to be put foi’th a little
and they would again be humbled to subjection ; but if they
still brought the pernicious drug, then inflict capital punishment
upon them as well as upon natives. The sub-censor agrees with Chu Tsun regarding the designs of foreigners in doing so, that they wished first to debilitate and impoverish the land as a pi-cparatory measure, for they never smoked the drug in their own country, but brought it all to China. This prevailing impression was derived mainly from the abstinence of foreign merchants and seamen.
Both these papers were transmitted to Canton for deliberation, although the local officers had already sent a memorial to the cabinet approving the suggestions of Hii Nai-tsi. At this time, however, it was properly remarked that ” there had been a diversity of opinion in regard to it, some requesting a change in the policy hitherto adopted, and others recommending the continuance of the severe prohibitions. It is highly important to consider the subject carefully in all its bearings, surveying at once the whole field of action so that such measures may be adopted as shall continue forever in force, free from all failure.”
This subject, the most important, it cannot be doubted, which had ever been deliberated upon by the Emperor of China and his council, was now fairly brought before the whole nation ; and if all the circumstances be taken into consideration, it was one of the most remarkable consultations of any age or country.
A long experience of the baneful effects of opium-smoking upon the health, minds, and property of those who used it, had produced a deep conviction in the minds of well-wdshers of their country of the necessity of some legal restraint over the people; while the annual drainage of specie at the rate of three or four million sterling for what brought misery and poverty in its train, alarmed those who cared only for the stability and prosperity of the country. The settlement or management of the question was one of equal difficulty and importance, and the
result proved that it was quite beyond the reach of both their
power and wisdom. Fully conscious of the weak moral principle
in themselves and in their countrymen, they considered it
right to restrain and deter the people by legislative enactments
and severe penalties. Ignorant of the nature of commercial
<lealings, they thought it both practicable and necessary to limit
the exportation of specie; for not having any substitute for
coin or any system of national credit, there was serious hazard,
otherwise, that the government would ultimately be bankrupted.
It is unjust to the Chinese to say, as was argued b}’ those who
had never felt these sufferings, that all parties were insincere in
their efforts to put down this trade, that it was a mere affectation
of morality, and that no one would be more chagrined to see it
stop than those apparently so strenuous against it. This assertion
was made bv Lord Palmerston in Parliament and re-echoed
THE MATTER REFERRED TO CANTON”. 487
by the Indian officials ; but those who have candidly examined
the proceedings of the Chinese, or have lived among the people
in a way to learn their real feelings, need not be told how incorrect
is the remark. The highest statesman and the debilitated,
victimized smoker alike agreed in their opinion of its bad effects,
and both were pretty nnich in the position of a miserable lamb
in the coil of a hungry anaconda.
The debate among the Chinese excited a discussion among
foreigners, most of whom were engaged in the traffic. Here
the gist of the question turned upon the points whether opium
was really a noxious stinnilant 2^^^ ^^1 ^.nd whether the Chinese
government was sincere in its prohibitions in the face of the
notorious connivance of the officers along the coast from Hainan
to Tientsin. One writer conclusively proved its baneful effects
upon the system when taken constantly, and that its habitual
use in the smallest degree almost certainly led to intemperate or
uncontrollable use ; he then charges the crime of nuirder upon
those who traffic in it, and asserts that ” the perpetuating and
encouraging and engaging in a trade which promotes disease, misery, crime, madness, despair, and death, is to be an accomplice
with the guilty principals in that tremendous pursuit.” He
exposes the fallacy, liypocrisy, and guilt of the question whether
it be less criminal for a man to engage in a pursuit which he
knows to be injurious to his fellow-men, because if he does not
do so some one else will. The Court of Directors, even, whom
all the world knows to be chief managers of the cultivation,
manufacture, and sale of the drug, says in one of its despatches
that ” so repugnant are their feelings to the opium trade, they
would gladly, in compassion to mankind, put a total end to the
consumption of opium if they could. But they cannot do this,
and as opium will be grown somewhere or other, and will l)e
largely consumed in spite of all their benevolent wishes, they
can only do as they do ” !
Another Englishman engaged in the traffic defended it on the ground that what is bad now was always bad ; and the Emperor and his ministers had doubtless other grounds for their sudden opposition. He asserts that opium is ” a useful soother, a harmless luxury, and a precious medicine, except to those wli “abuse it,” and that while a few destroy themselves, the prudent many enjoy a pleasing solace, to get which tends to produce the persevering economy and the never-ceasing industry of the Chinese. He estimates that at a daily allowance of one and onethird ounce not more than one person in three hundred and twenty-six touches the pipe, and that there were not inore than nine hundred and twelve thousand victimized smokers in the Empire. He also remarked that the present mode of conducting the trade by large capitalists kept it respectable, and that if their characters were held up to odium and infamy it would get into the hands of desperadoes, pirates, and marauders. He looked upon the efforts to put it down as utterly futile as the proclamations of Elizabeth were to put down hops, or the Counterl) laste of James to stop tobacco.
This rejoinder was responded to by two M’riters, who clearhcxhil)
ited its nnsoundness and ridiculed the plea that the trade
should be kept in the hands of gentlemen and under the direction
of a monopol}’. The smuggler brought his vessel on the
coast, and there waited till the people came oif for his merchandise,
disposing of it without the least risk to himself, ” coolly
commenting on the injustice of the Chinese government in refusing
the practice of international law and reciprocity to countries
whose subjects it only knows as engaged in constant and
gross infraction of laws, the breaking of M’hich affects the basis
of all good government, the morals of the country.” The true
character of the smu”-“;lini»; trade is well set forth :
Reverse the picture. Suppose, by any cliaucc, that Cliinese junks were to
import into England, as a foreign and fashionable luxury, so harmless a thing
as arsenic or corrosive sublimate ; that after a few years it became a rage ; that
thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands used it, and that its use was, in consequence
of its bad effects, prohibited. Suppose that, in opposition to the prohibition,
junks were stationed in St. George’s Channel with a constant supply,
taking occasional trips to the Isle of Wight and the mouth of the Thames when
the officers were sufficiently attentive to their duty at the former station to prevent
its introduction there. Suppose the consumption to increase annually,
and to arouse the attention of the government and of those sound-thinking
men who foresaw misery and destruction from the rapid spread of an insidious,
unprofitable, and dangerous habit. Suppose, in fact, that, muUiUy vomive, all
which has been achieved here had been practised there. Suppose some con-
Beivators of the public morals to be aroused at last, and to remonstrate againsJ
DISCUSSION AMONG THE FOREIGNERS. 489
its use and increase ; and that among the nation sending forth this destroyer to prey on private happiness and pnhlic virtue, one or two pious and wellmeaning bonzes were to r’jiuonstrato with their countrymen on the enormity of their conduct : —how wonderfully consolatory to one party, and unanswerable to the other, must be the remark of Ihe well-dressed and well-educated Chinese merchant: ” Hai ya ! my friend, do not you see my silk dress and the crystal knob on my cap; don’t you know that I have read and can quote Confucius, Mencius, and all the Five Books ; do you not see that the barbarians are passionately
fond of arsenic, that they will have it, and even go so far as to pay for
it ; and can you, for one moment, doubt that it would not be much worse for
tliem if, instead of my bringing it, it were left to the cliance, needy, and uncertain
supply which low men of no capital could afford to bring V ” ‘
Tlie writer sliows that instead of only one person in every
three hiindi-ed and twenty-six using the pipe, it was far more
probable that at least one out of every one hundred and fifty
(or about two million five hundred thousand in all) of the population
was a victimized smoker. The assertion of its being a
harmless luxury to the many, like wine or beer, is disputed, and
the sophisticated argument of its use as a means of hospitality
exploded. ” What would a benevolent and sober-minded
Chinese think,” he asks, ” were the sophistry of the defendei’s
of this trade translated for him ? Where would he find the
high-principled and high-minded inhabitants of the far-off
coimtry ? How could he be made to comprehend that the believers
in and practisers of Christian morality advocated a trade
so ruinous to his country ? That the government of India compelled
the growth of it by unwilling ryots; and that, instead of
its being brought to China by ‘ desperadoes, pirates, and marauders,’
it was purveyed by a body of capitalists, not participating
certainly in what they carry, but supplying the Indian revenue
safely and peaceably ; that the British government and others
encouraged it ; and that the agents in the traffic M-ere constantly
residing at Canton, protected by the government whose
laws they outraged, but monstrously indignant, and appealing to
their governments, if No. 2 longcloths are classed as No. 1 through the desperate villany of some paltry custom-house servant ?”
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol V., p. 409.
The other writer exposes the sinful fallacy of the argument of expediency, and then proceeds to show how great an obstacle it is in the way of diffusing the gospel among the Chinese. We nnist refer to their own remarks’ for the fuller development of the arguments, but this one showed the earnestness of his convictions by offering a premium of £100 for the best essay ” showing the effects of the opium trade on the commercial, political, and moral interests of the nations and individuals connected therewith, and pointing out the course they ought to pursue in regard to it.” There was, however, so little interest in the subject that this premium was neverawarded, though the proposal was extensively advertised both in China and England.
The governor of Canton and his colleagues soon learned that
the feeling at court was rather against legalizing the drug,
though they were directed to report concerning the amount of
duty proper to be levied on it ; and to show their zeal, arrested
several brokers and dealers. A-ming, one of the linguists, M’as
severely tortured and exposed in the cangue for exporting
sycee ; others escaped similar treatment by absconding. The
chief superintendent naively expressed his opinion that ” the
legalization of the trade in 0})ium would afford his ]\[ajesty’s
government great satisfaction,” but suggested that the gradual
diversion of British capital into other channels would be attended
with advantageous conse(piences. To one situated between
his own government, which promoted the preparation
and importation of opium, and the Chinese government, which
was now making extraordinary efforts to regulate it, and
deeply sensible of the injury resulting from its use to the
people around him, and to the reputation of his own and all
foreign nations from the constant infraction of the laws, the proposed
step of legalization offei-cd a timely relief. Xo one was
more desirous of putting a stop to this destructive traffic than
Captain Elliot, but knowing the impossibility of cheeking it by
laws, he naturally wished to see the nniltitude of political and
commercial evils growing out of snuiggling done away with.
There were, indeed, many things to urge in favor of this
‘ Chinese liepository, Vol. V., pp. 407, 41o, uud passim.
TUE PKOHIBITOKY LAWS ENFORCED. 491
course ; but the fact ought never to be lost sight of, and be
mentioned to the lasting credit of the Emperor Taukwang and
his advisers, in the midst of their perplexity and weakness, that
he would not admit opium because it was detrimental to his people.
The conflict was now fairly begun ; its issue between the
parties, so unequally matched—one having almost nothing but
the right on its side, the other assisted by every material and
physical advantage—could easily be foreseen. Captain Elliot,
as the recognized head of the British trade, received an order
through the Iiong merchants from the provincial authorities to
drive away the i-eceiving-ships from Lintin, and send the Emperor’s
commands to his king, that lieneeforth they be prohibited
coming. He replied that he could not transmit any orders
to his own sovereign which did not come to him direct from
the government, and quoted the recent instance of the governor-
general of Fuhkien communicating directly M’ith the captain
of a British ship of w^ar. The governor was therefore
forced to send his orders to the prefect and colonel of the
department to be enjoined on Captain Elliot. He replied by
promising to send it to his country, and adds, in true diplomatic
style, unworthy of himself and his nation : ” He has already
signified to your excellency, with truth and plainness, that his
commission extends only to the regular trade with this Empire ;
and further, that the existence of any other than this trade has
nev’eryet been suljmitted to the knowledge of his own gracious
sovereign.” Captain Elliot transmitted with these “orders” a
minute account of the condition of the opium trade, and a
memorandum respecting the desirableness of opening comnnmication
with the court. Lord Palmerston, in reply, intimates
that “her Majesty’s government do not see their way in such a
measure with sufficient clearness to justify them in adopting it
at the present moment.” He adds that no protection can be
afforded to ” enable British subjects to violate the laws of the
country to which they trade. Any loss, therefore, which such
persons may suffer in consequence of the more effectual execution
of the Chinese laws on this subject, must be borne by the parties who have brought that loss on themselves by their own acts.” A most paradoxical but funvonient position for this ‘• honorable ” officer of the Englisli goveriiuieiit to assiiiiie, and worthy to be recorded in contrast to the utterances from J-‘eking.
^’ear the close of 1837 the British flag was again hauled
down at Canton, and the superintendent returned to Macao because
he refused to superscribe tlie word p/’/iyOr ‘petition,’ upon
his communications, according to his instructions, and the governor
declined to receive them without it. In July, 1838, Sir
Frederick Maitland arrived in the Wellesley (T-l), and was
brought into correspondence with the Chinese Admiral Kwan,
in consequence of the forts firing upon an English schooner
passing the Bogue and stopping her to inquire Nvhether he or
any of his crew or women were on board. The Wellesley and
her two consorts were anchored near the forts, and the Chinese
admiral made a full apology for the mistake ; his conduct in
the affair was very creditable both to liis judgment and temper.
As soon as Sir Fj-ederick arrived, Captain Elliot vainly
endeavored to reopen correspondence with the governor by
sending an open letter to the city gates, which was received
and taken to him, but returned in the evening because it had
not the requii’cd superscription.
INCREASE OF SMl’GGLIXG AND AFFRAYS. 493
Having now fully taken the sense of the Empire in the replies received from all its highest officials, the Emperor DaoGuang increased his efforts to suppress the trade. In April, 1838, a native named Kwoh Si-ping was publicly strangled at Macao by express command of the Emperor, as a warning to others not to engage in exporting sycee or introducing opium. The execution was conducted by the district magistrate and subprefect with dignity and order in the presence of a crowd of natives and foreigners. More than fifty small craft under the English or American flag were constantly plying off the port of Canton, most of them engaged in smuggling. Sometimes the government exerted its power ; boats were destroyed, smugglers seized and tortured, and the sales checked ; then it M-enton again as briskly as ever. These boats were easily caught, for the government could exercise entire control over its own subjects; but when the foreign schooners, heavily urmcd and manned, sailed up and down the river delivering the drug, the revenue
cruisers vvei’e afraid to attack them. The hong merchants addressed
a note to all foreign residents concerning them, the close
of which vividly exhibits their unlucky position as the ” responsible
advisers’” of the barbarians : “Lately we have repeatedly
received edicts from the governor and lioppo severely reprimanding
us ; and we have also written to you, gentlemen of the different
nations, several times, giving you full information of the
orders and regulations, that you might perfectly obey them and
manage accordingly ; but you, gentlemen, continue wholly regardless.”
Collisions became more and more frequent between the Chinese
and their rulers, in consequence of the increased stringency of
the orders from court. In September, in an affray near Whampoa
between the militarj’ and villagers, several persons were
killed and scores arrested. The retailers at Canton were imprisoned,
and those found in other places brought there in
chains. In Ilupeh it was reported that the officers had punished
arrested smokers by cutting out a portion of the upper lip
to incapacitate them from using the pipe. Still, such was the
venality of the officers that even at this time the son of Governor
Tang himself was engaged in the traffic, and many of the
underlings only seized the drug from the smuggling-boats to retail
it themselves. The memorial of Hwang Tsioh-tsz”, advising
the penalty of death, was promulgated in Canton ; and the
Empd’or’s rescript urged to stronger measures. In a rapid survey
of the ill effects from the use of the drug, Hwang aeknoMdedges
that it had extended to Manchuria, and pervaded all ranks
of official and humble life. The efflux of silver “into the insatiate
depths of transmarine regions ” had caused the rate of
exchange for cash to rise until it was difficult to carry on the
business of government. lie then reviews the different plans
proposed for checking the cause of all this evil, such as guarding
the ports, stopping the entire foreign trade, arresting the smugglers,
shutting up the shops, and, lastly, encouraging the home
growth. lie confesses that the bribes paid the coast-guard service
and the maritime officei-s are so great as entirely to prevent
their vigilance; and that the home-prepared drug does not yield the same stimulus as the foreign article. As a last resort, he proposes to increase the penalties upon the consumers, laying all the blame upon them, and advises death to be awarded all who smoke opium after a year”s warning has been given them. The well-known subdivision of responsibility was to be made doubly strong by requiring bonds of every tithing and hundred that there were no smokers within their limits. Officers found guilty were not only to be executed, but their children deprived of the privilege of competing at the public examination. One cannot withhold a degree of sympathy for the helpless condition of the officers and statesmen of a great Empire sincerely desirous of doing their country service, and yet so sadly ignorant of their false position by their assumption of supremacy over the very nation whom they could not restrain, and whose officials they rejected for a formality. They might as well have tried to concert a measure to stop the YangZi Jiang river in its impetuous flow, as to check the opium trade by laws and penalties.
TRADE STOPPED AT CANTON”. 495
On December 3, 1SB8, about two peculs of opium were seized while landing at the factories, and the coolies carried into the city. They declared that they had been sent to Whampoa by Mr. Lines, a British merchant, to obtain the opium from an American ship consigned to Mr. Talbot. The governor ordered the Hang merchants to expel these two gentlemen and the ship within three days, on the garbled testimony of the two coolies. Mr. Talbot sent in a communication, stating that neither the ship nor himself had anything to do with the opium, and obtained a reversal of the order to leave. The Hang merchants were justly irritated, and informed the Chamber of Commerce that they would not rent their houses to any who would not give a bond to abstain from such proceedings, and refusing to open the trade until such bonds were given; they furthermore declared their intention to pull Mr. Innes’ house down if he refused to depart. The Chamber protested that ” the inviolability of their personal dwellings was a point imperatively necessary ” for their security ; the Hang merchants then )-esorted to entreaty, stating their difficult position between their own rulers on one side, who held them responsible for executing their orders, and the foreigners on the other, over whom they had little or no power. The Chamber could only express its regret at the unjust punishment inflicted on a Hang merchant, Punhoyqua, for this, and reassert its inability to control the acts of any foreigner.
The governor had put himself in this helpless condition by
refusing Captain Elliot’s letters ; and it is remarkable that he
hesitated to arrest Mr. Innes, when one word would have set
the populace on the factories and their tenants, and destroyed
them all. As an alternative, he now resolved to show foreigners
what consequences befel natives who dealt in opium ; and
while Mv. Innes still remained in Canton, he sent an otRcer
with fifteen soldiers to execute Ilo Lau-kin, a convicted dealer,
in front of the factories. The officer was proceeding to carry
his orders into effect near the American flag-stafP, when the
foreigners sallied out, pushed down the tent he was raising, and
told him in loud tones not to execute the man there. Quite
unprepared for this opposition, he hastily gathered up his implements
and went into a neighboring street, where the man
was strangled. Meanwhile a crowd collected to see these extraordinary
proceedings, whom the foreigners endeavored to
drive away, supposing that a little determination would soon
scatter them. Blows, however, were returned, the foreigners
driven into their factories, and the gates shut ; the crowd had
now become a mob, and under the impression that two natives
had been seized, they began to batter the fronts and break the
windows with stones and brickbats. They had had possession
of the square about three hours, and the danger was becoming
imminent, when the Pwanyu hien, or ‘ district magistrate,’ came
up, with three or four other officers, attended by a small body
of police. Stepping out of his sedan he waved his hand over
the crowd, the lictors pouncing upon three or four of the most
active, whom they began to chastise upon the spot, and the
storm was quelled. About twenty soldiers, armed with swords
and spears, took their stand in a conspicuous quarter ; the magistrate
and his retinue seated themselves, leaving the hong
merchants and the police to disperse the crowd. The foreigners
were also assured that all should be kept quiet during the
night, but not a word was said to them regarding their conduct in interfering with the execution or their lolly in bringing this danger upon themselves. This occurrence tended to impress both the government and people with contempt and hatred for foreigners and their characters, fear of their designs, and the necessity of restraining them. The majority of them Avere engaged in the opium trade, and all stood before the Empire as violators of the laws, while the people themselves suffered the dreadful penalty.
There is no room for the details and correspondence connected with this remarkable incident.’ Captain Elliot now reappeared in Canton, and at a general meeting expressed his conviction of the cause of these untoward events in the snniggling traffic on the
river, declaring his intention of ordering all the British-owned
vessels to leave it within three days ; he moreover expressed tlie
hope that the further step of opening connnunication with the
provincial authorities to obtain their co-operation to drive them
out would be prevented by their speedy departure. Injunctions
and entreaties to his countrymen were, however, alike unavailing,
and he accordingly addressed the governor, stating liis wish to
co-operate in driving them out. In a public notice he remarked
that ” this course of traffic was rapidly staining the British
character with deep disgrace ” and exposing the regular commerce
to innninent jeopardy, and that he meant to shrink from
no responsibility in drawing it to a conclusion. The governor,
as was expected, praised the superintendent for his offer, but
left him to do the whole work; lenuirking, in that peculiar
strain of Chinese conceit which so effectually forestalls our
sympathy for their difficulties, that ” it may well be conceived
that these boats trouble me not one iota :”—as if all he had to
do was to arise in his majesty, and they were gone. The boats,
hoM’ever, gradually left the river. Mr. Innes retired, and the
regular trade was j-esumed in January.
Chinese Jtepositai’y, Vol. VII. , pp. 437-456.
ArPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONER LIN. 497
No British consular officer has been placed in a more difficult and humiliating dilemma, and Captain Elliot did himself honor in his efforts. The English newspapers ridiculed him as a tidewaiter of the Chinese custom-house, a man who aided the cowardly authorities to carry their orders into effect, thereby staining the honor of her Majesty’s commission. Although ho did not intend to draw a line between the heinousness of the opium trade inside of the I’ogue and its harmlessness beyond that limit, still there were good reasons, under his peculiar position, for some action to show the Chinese government that British power would not protect British subjects in violating the laws of China.
At this period the Peking govermnent had taken its course
of action. Reports had been received from the provincial authorities
almost unanimously recommending increased stringency
to abolish the traffic. History, so far as we know, does
not record a similar example of an arbitrary, despotic, pagan government taking the public sentiment of its own people before
adopting a doubtful line of conduct. It was a far more momentous
and difficult question than eyen the cabinet deemed it to
be, while their conceit and ignorance incapacitated them from
dealing with it prudently or successfully. There can be no reasonable
doubt that the best part of his people and the moral
power of the nation were with their sovereign in this attempt.
Hii Xai-tsi was dismissed for proposing legalization, and three
princes of the blood degraded for smoking opium ; arrests, fines,
tortures, imprisonments, and executions were frequent in the
provinces on the same grounds, all showing the determination
to eradicate it. The governor of llukwang, Lin Tseh-sii, was
ordered to proceed to Canton, with unlimited powers to stop the
traffic. The trade thei’e was at this time almost suspended, the
deliveries being small and at losing pi-ices. Many underlings
were convicted and summarily punished, and on February
2Gth Fung A-ngan was strangled in front of the factoi-ies
for his connection with opium and participation in the affray
at Whampoa. The foreign flags, English, American, Dutch,
and French, were all hauled down in consequence. The entire
stoppage of all ti-ade ^yas thi-eatened, and the governor urged
foreigners to send all opium ships from Chinese waters.
Commissioner Lin arriyed in Canton March lOth. The Emperor sent him to inquire and act so as thoroughly to remove the source of the evil, foi-, says he, ” if the source of the evil lie not clearly ascertained, how can we hope that the stream of pernicious consequences shall be stayed? It is our full hope that the long-indulged habit will be forever laid aside, and every root and o-erni of it entirely eradicated : we would fain think that our ministers will be enabled to substantiate our wishes, and so remove from China the dire calamity/’ It was reported in Canton that the monarch, when recounting the evils which had long afflicted his people by means of opium, paused and wept, and turning to Lin, said : ” How, alas ! can I die and go to the shades of my imperial father and ancestors, until these direful evils are removed ! ” Such was the chief purpose of this movement on the part of the Chinese government, and Lin was invested with the fullest powers ever conferred on a subject. Although long experience of the ineffectiveness of Chinese edicts generally lead those residing in the country to regard them as mere verbiage, still, to say that they are all insincere and formal because they are ineffectual, is to misjudge and pervert the emotions of common humanity. Lin appears to have been well fitted for the mission , and if he had been half as enlightened as he was sincere, he would perhaps have averted the war which followed, and been convinced that legalization was the most judicious step he could recommend.
The connnissioner spent a week making inquiries, during
which time nothing was publicly heard from him; while natives
and foreigners alike anxiously speculated as to his plans. It was
not until March 18th that his first proclanuitions were issued to
the hong merchants and foreigners ; that to the latter required
them to deliver up all the opium in the storeships, and to give
bonds that they would bring no more, on penalty of death.
The poor hong merchants were, as usual, instructed regarding
their responsibility to admonish the foreigners, and strictly
charged to procure these bonds, or they would be made examples
of. Three days were allowed for compliance with these demands.
Thehoppo had already issued orders detaining all foreigners
in Canton—in fact, making them prisoners in their own
houses; comnnmication with the shipping was suspended, troops
were assembled about the factories, and armed cruisers stationed
on the river. The Chamber of Commerce wrote to the hong
LIN DEMANDS A SURRENDER OF OPII’M. 499
merchants on the 20th^ through their chamiian,W. S, Wetniore,
an American, stating that they would send a definite reply in
four days, and adding that ” there is an almost unanimous feeling
in the community of the absolute necessity of the foreign
residents of Canton having no connection with the opium traffic/’
This paper was taken to the commissioner, and ahout ten
o’clock P.M. the hong merchants again met the Chaniber, and
told them that if some opium was not given up two of their
number would be beheaded in the morning. The merchants
present, including British, Parsees, Americans, and others, acting
as individuals, then subscribed one thousand and thirtyseven
chests, to be tendered to the commissioner ; but the hong
merchants reported next morning that this amount was insufficient.
In the afternoon Lin sent an invitation to Mr. Dent, a
leading English merchant, to meet him at the city gates, who
expressed his willingness to go if the commissioner would give
him a safe-warrant guaranteeing his return within a day. The
hong merchants returned without Inm ; and the next morning
two of them, Howqua and Mowqua, came again to his house
with chains upon their necks, having been sent with an express
order for him to appear. They repaired to the Chamber of
Commerce then assembled, but all soon returned to Mr. Dent’s
house, where an animated debate took place, which resulted in
the unanimous decision on the part of the foreign residents
that he should not go into the city without the safe-warrant.
This unexpected demand caused much discussion among foreigners, as it was doubtless a contrivance to secure a hostage; and the refusal of the former to give a written safe-warrant would probably have ended in seizing Mr. Dent and imprisoning him, if Ilowqua, the senior hong merchant, had not allowed everything to wait over one day till Monday. Mr. Dent’s partner had that day seen i\\e a7i-chah sz\ or ‘provincial judge,’ in the city to explain why he hesitated to go to Lin.
On the 22d Captain Elliot sent a note to the governor expressing his readiness to meet the Chinese officers, and use ” his sincere efforts to fulfil the pleasure of the great Emperor as soon as it was made known to him.” The Chinese could hardly draw any other conclusion from this admission than that he had the power, as well as the inclination to put down the opium trade, which he certainly could not do ; it tended therefore to deceive them. This note was followed by a letter to Captain Blake, of the Larne, requesting his assistance in defending British property and life, and by a circular ordering all British ships, opium and others, to proceed to Hongkong and prepare themselves to resist every act of aggression. A second circular to British subjects detailed the reasons which compelled him to withdraw all conlidencc in the “justice and moderation of the provincial government,”‘ and demand passports for all his countrymen who wished to leave Canton, while counselling every one to make preparations to remove on board ship. Elliot
now proceeded to Canton, which he safely reached about sunset
Sunday evening, dressed in naval uniform and closely attended
by cruisers watching his movements. The British flag was
then hoisted, and Captain Elliot, conducting Mr. Dent to the
consulate in the most conspicuous manner, summoned a public
meeting, read his notice of the previous day, and told the hong
merchants to inform the commissioner that he was willing to
let Mr. Dent go into the city if he could accompany him.
His coming up the river had excited the apprehensions of
the Chinese that he meant to force his way out again, and
oi’ders were issued to close every pass around the factories. By
nine o’clock that evening the foreigners, about two hundred
and Feventy-fi\e in number, Avere the only inmates of their
houses. Patrols, sentinels, and officers, hastening hither and
thither, with the blowing of trumpets and beating of gongs,
added confusion to the darkness of the night.
THE FOKEIGNEKS IMPRISONED IN THE FACTORIES. 501
On the 25th most of the foreign merchants of all nations signed a paper pledging themselves ” not to deal in opium, nor to attempt to introduce it into the Chinese Empire : ” how many of the individuals subsequently broke this pledge on the ground that it Avas forced from them cannot be stated, but part of the firms which signed it afterward actively engaged in the trade. Captain Elliot applied for passports for himself and countrymen, and requested the return of the servants, avoiding all reference to his promise of three days before, or mention of the cause of these stringent proceedings. His requests were refused ; no native was allowed to bring food or water to the factories; letters could not be sent to AVlianipoa or Macao, except at ininiiucnt risk ; the continciiient was complete, and had been effected without the least personal harm. The heavy punishment which had fallen on Kwoh Si-ping, Ho Lau-kin, and Fung A-ngan had now come near to the foreign agents of the traihc ; but not an individual had been touched.
The commissioner next issued an exhortation to all foreigners,
urging them to deliver the drug on four grounds, viz., because
they were men and had reason ; becanse the laws forbade its
use, nnder severe penalties ; because they should have feelings
for those who suffered from using it ; and because of their
present duress, from which they would then be released. This
paper, as were all those issued by Lin, was characterized by an
uimsual vigor of expression and cogency of reasoning, but betrayed the same arrogance and ignorance which had misled his predecessors. One extract will suffice. Under the first reason why the opium should be delivered up, lie says that otherwise the retribution of heaven will follow them, and cites some cases to prove this: Now, our great Emperor, being actuated by the exatted virtue of heaven itself, wishes to cut off this deluge of opium, which is the jilainest proof that such is the intention of high heaven! It is then a traffic on which heaven looks with disgust, and who is he that may oppose its will ? Thus in the instance
of the English chief Robarts, who violated our laws ; he endeavored to
get possession of Macao by force, and at Macao he died! Again, in 1834, Lord
Napier bolted through the Bocca Tigris, but being overwhelmed with grief and
fear he almost immediately died : and Morrison, who had been darkly deceiving
him, died that very year also! Besides these, every one of those who have
not observed our laws have either been overtaken with the jiidgments of heaven
on returning to their country, or silently cut off ere they could return
thither. Thus then it is manifest that the heavenly dynasty may not be opposed I Two communications to Captain Elliot, from Lin through the prefect and district magistrates, accompanied this exhortation,
stating his view of the superintendent’s conduct in contumaciously
resisting his commands and requiring him to give np the
opium. For once in the history of foreign intercourse with
China, these commands were obeyed, and after intimating his readiness to comply, Captain Elliot issued a circular on Marcb
27th, which from its important results is quoted entire :
I, Charles Elliot, chief superintendent of the trade of British subjects in
China, presently forcibly detained by the provincial government, together with
all the merchants of my own and the other foreign nations settled liere, without
supplies of food, deprived of our servants, and cut off from all iutercoui’se
with our respective countries (notwithstanding my own official demand to be
set at liberty that I might act without restraint), have now received the commands
of the high commissioner, issued directly to me under the seals of the
honorable officers, to deliver into his hand all the opium held by the people
of my own country. Now I, the said chief superintendent, thus constrained by
paramount motives affecting the safety of the lives and liberty of all the foreigiu’rs
here present in Canton, and by other very weighty causes, do hereby,
in the name and on the behalf of her Britannic Majesty’s government, enjoin
and require all her Majesty’s subjects now present in Canton, forthwith to
make a surrender to me for the service of her said Majesty’s government, to be delivered over to the government of China, of all the opium under their respective control : and to hold the British ships and vessels engaged in the opium trade subject to my immediate direction : and to forward me without delay a sealed list of all the British-owned opium in their respective possession.
And I, the said chief superintendent, du now, in the most full and unreserved manner, hold myself responsible for, and on the behalf of her Britannic Majesty’s government, to all and each of her Majesty’s subjects surrendering the said British-owned opium into my hands, to be delivered over to the Chinese government. And I, the said chief superintendent, do further especially caution all her Majesty’s subjects here present in Canton, owners of or charged with the management of opium the property of British subjects, that failing the surrender of the said opium into my hands at or before six o’clock this day, I, the said superintendent, hereby declare her Majesty’s government wholly free of all manner of responsibility in respect of the said British-owned opium.
And it is specially to be understood that proof of British property and value of all British-owned opium surrendered to mo agreeable to this iu)tic(>, shall bedetermined upon principles, and in a manner liereafter to be defined by her Majesty’s government.
‘The guarantee offered in this notice was deemed sufficient by
the merchants, thoui2;h Captain Elliot had no authority to take
such a responsibility, and exceeded his powers in giving it ; being
the authorized agent of the crown, however, his government
was responsible for his acts, though the notice did not, nor
could it, set any price npon the sui-rendercd property.
At the time it was given it could not l)e honestly said that
‘ Cliinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 633.
CAPTAIN ELLIOT S CIRCULAR. 503
tlic lives of foreigners were in jeopardy, and Lin liad promised
to reopen the trade as soon as the opium was delivered and the
bonds given. What the other ” very weighty causes ” were
nnist be guessed ; but the requisition was promptly answered,
and before night twenty thousand two hundred and eighty-three
chests of opium had been surrendered, which Captain Elliot the
next day tendered to the connnissioner. Their market value at
tlie time was not far from nine millions of dollars, and the cost
price nearly eleven millions. Directions were sent to twentytwo
vessels to anchor near the Bogue, to await orders for its
delivery, the commissioner and the governor themselves going
down forty miles to superintend the transfer. On April 2d the arrangements for delivering the opium were completed, and on May 21st it was all housed near the Bogue.
When the guard M-as placed about the factories, no native
came near them for three days, but on the 21>tli a supply of
sheep, pigs, poultry’, and other provisions was “graciously bestowed
” upon their inmates, most of whom refused them as
gifts, which impressed Lin with the belief that they were not
actually suffering for food. On May 5th the guards and boats
M-ere removed, and communication resumed with the shipping.
Sixteen persons, English, Americans, and Parsees, named as
principal agents in the opium trade, were ordered to leave the
country and never return. On the 24th Captain Elliot left
Canton, accompanied by the ten British subjects mentioned
among the sixteen outlawed persons. In order still further to
involve her Majesty’s ministers in his acts, he forbade British
ships entering the port, or any British subject living in Canton,
on the ground that both life and property were insecure; there were, however, no serious apprehensions felt by other foreigners remaining there ; and the propriety of the order was questioned by those who were serious sufferers from its action.
This success in getting the opium encouraged Lin to demand the bond, but although the captains of most of the ships signed it when the port was first opened, it was not required long after. The British merchants at Canton prepared a memorial to the foreign secretary of their government, recapitulating the aggressive acts of the Chinese government in stopping the legal trade, detaining all foreigners in Canton until the opium was surrendered, and requiring them to sign a hund not to bring it again, which involved their responsibility over those whom they could not control; but nothing was said in it of their own unlawful acts, no reference to their promises of a few months before, no allusion to the causes of these acts of aggression. Its burden was, however, to urge the government to issue a notice of its intentions respecting the pledge given them by the superintendent in his demand for the opium.
Lin referred to Peking for orders concerning the disposal of
the opium, and his Majesty commanded the Mhole to be destroyed
by him and his colleagues in the presence of the civil
and military officers, the inhabitants of the coast, and the foreigners,
” that they may know and tremble thereat.” Captain
Elliot, on the other hand, before it had all been delivered, wrote
to his government, April 22d, his belief that the Chinese intended
to sell it at a high price, remunerating the owners and
pocketing the difference, ])reparatory to legalizing the traffic,
and making some arrangements to limit the annual importation
to a certain number of chests ; consequently he recommended
an ” innnediate and strong declaration to exact complete indemnity
for all manner of loss ” from the Chinese. lie calls Lin “false and perfidious,” though it is difficult to see why he applies these epithets to one who seems to have sincerely endeavored to carry out instructions, while his own communicfttions certainly tended to mislead him. The sense of the responsibility he had assumed, and the irritating confinement under which it was written, account, in a measure, for this despatch, so different in its tenor from his previous declarations.
THE OPIU.>r YIELDED AND DESTROYED. 505
The opium was destroyed in the most thorough manner, by Hiixiiig it in parcels of two hundred chests, in trenches, with lime and salt water, and then drawing off the contents into the adjacent creek at low tide. Overseers were stationed to prevent the workmeunor villagers from ])urloining the opium, and one man was summarily executed for attempting to carry away a small quantity. No doubt remained in the minds of persons who visited the place and examined the operation, that the entire quantity of twenty thousand two hundred and ninety-one eliests received from the English(eiglit nioi-e having been sent from Macao) was completely destroyed:—a solitary instance in the history of the world of a pagan monarch preferring to destroy what would injure his subjects, rather than to fill hisown pockets with its sale. The whole transaction M’ill ever remain one of the most remarkable incidents in human history for its contrasts, and the great changes it introduced into China.’
The course of events during the remainder of the year 1839 presents a strange mixture of traffic and hostility. The British merchants were obliged to send their goods to Canton in ships sailing under other Hags, which led the commissioner to issue placards exhorting British captains to bring their ships into port. This procedure brought out a rejoinder from Captain Elliot, giving the reasons why he had forbidden them to do so, and complaining of his own unjust imprisonment as unbecoming treatment to the “officer of a friendly nation, recognized by the Emperoi*, who had always performed his duty peacefully and irreproachably.” Captain Elliot’s own correspondence shows, however, that this is an unfair statement of the political relations between them.
While this matter of trade was pending, a drunken affray occurred at Hongkong with some English sailors, in which an inoffensive native named Lin Wei-lii lost his life. The commissioner ordered an inquest to be held, and demanded the nnn–derer, according to Chinese law. The superintendent empanelled a regular court of criminal and admiralty jurisdiction at Ilongicong, to try the seamen who had been arrested. He also offered’ Sir Robert Peel declared that this property was obtained by her Majesty’s agent without any authority ; but when the six millions of dollars were received from the Chinese as indemnity, the British government made its subjects receive their money in London, charged them with all expenses insteal of paying it in China, and priced the opium at scarcely half what the East India Company had received from it, by taking the market rates when the trade at Canton was nominal. The merchants lost, with accruing interest, about two millions sterling, and “Sir R. Peel transferred a million sterling from their pockets to the public treasury.”—Chinese liepositon/, Vol. XIIL, p. 54 (from London paper).
CHAPTER XXIII. PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF THE FIRST WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND CHINA
On June 22, 1840, before the advance part of the British force reached China, Sir Goi’don Bremer published a notice oi the blockade of the port of Canton. The Americans living There had requested Lin to let all their ships arriving before it was laid on come directly up the river, lie granted the application, but declared it ” to be an egregious mistake, analogous to an audacious falsehood, that the English contemplated putting on a hlo’^kade.”” Captain Elliot also issued a manifesto to the people, which was widely dispersed, setting forth the grievances which had been suffered by the English at the hands of Lin, and assuring them that noliarm would come while they pursued their peaceful occupations—for the quarrel was entirely between the two governments, and the Queen had deputed high officers to make known the truth to the Emperor.
Sir Gordon Bremer’s force of live ships of war, three steamers,
and twenty-one transports reached Tingliai harbor July 1th. In
reply to a summons to surrender, the Chinese officers declared
their determination to resist as far as their means allowed ; but
complained of the hardship of being made answerable for
wrongs done at Canton, upon which place the blow should properly
fall. The attack was made on Sunday, July 5th, when the
Wellesley (74) opened her guns on the town, which were
answered by the juidcs and batteries. A few minutes sufficed
to silence the latter, and three thousand men landed and
menaced Tinghai, whose walls were lined with soldiers. The
town was. evacuated dm-ing the night, most of the respectable
inhabitants going to NingBo ; many of the Chinese high officials were killed, which, with the experience of the terrible foreign force brought against them, disheartened their troops beyond measure.
AERIVAL OF THE J5KITISH—FALL OF TINGIIAI, 515
Two days after this attack tiie joint plenipotentiaries, Admiral G. Elliot and Captain Elliot, arrived in the Melville (74) at Cliusan. To the authorities at Amoy and Ningbo they sent copies of Lord Palmerston’s letter to the Emperor, with a request to forward them to Peking ; the officials declined, however, undertaking any such responsibility.
The prefect of Ningbo took measures to prevent the people of Chusan from ” aiding and comforting” their conquerors by sending police-runners to mark those who supplied them ; a purveyor from Canton was seized and brought back. An idea that the Chinese people wished to throw off the Manchu yoke, and a desire to conciliate the islanders, led the British to take less decided measures for supplying themselves with provisions than they otherwise would. A small party was sent to recapture the puwvyor, but its unsuccessful trip over the island showed the unwillingness of the people to have anything to do with their invaders, while their dread was increased by the arrest of several village elders. Mr. Gutzlaff was stationed at Chusan, doing his best to reassure the people ; and as he went around exhorting them to act peaceably, some of them asked him, ” If you are so desirous of peace, why did you come here at all ?”
After arranging the government of the island, the stations of
the troops, and blockading of Amoy, Ningpo, and the mouths
of the Min and Yangtsz’ Rivers, the two plenipotentiaries left
Tinghai and anchored off the Pei ho August 11th, Captain Elliot
went ashore, and finding that Kislien, the governor-general of
Chilli], was at Taku, delivered the letter to his messenger, who
returned with a request for ten days’ delay in which to lay it
before the Emperor. During this interval the ships visited the
coast of Liautung to procure provisions, which they obtained
with some difficulty. No message coming ofp, a strong boat force was sent ashore on the 28th, with a menacing letter to Kishen, wdien it was ascertained that the reply had in reality been awaiting the return of the ships during several days. Arrangements were now made for a personal interview at Taku between Kisheu and Captain Elliot, on Sunday, August 30th, in a large tent. Kislien argued his side of the question with great tact and ability, sincerely urging the argument that his master had the most unquestionable right to treat the English
as he had done, for they were and had em-olled themselves his
tributary subjects. He could not treat definitely on all the
points in dispute, and obtained a further delay of six days in
order to refer again to Peking. The conclusion was the reasonable
arrangement that Kishen should meet the English
plenipotentiaries at Canton, where the truth could be better
ascertained ; and on September 15th the squadron returned to Chusan.
While these things were taking place at Taku, there had occurred a few skirmishes elsewhere. A shipwrecked crew had fallen into Chinese hands and been carried to 3s’ingpo, and some foraging parties were roughly handled. Lin tried to inspirit his troops by offering large rewards for British ships and subjects, and a force of about one thousand two hundred men was stationed in and around the Barrier at Macao. Captain Smith, however, moved two sloops and a steamer near their position, and soon drove the soldiers away, destroying their guns and barracks.
Lin was busy enlisting volunteers and preparing the defences
of Canton, but in the sunnner he was ordered to return ” with
the speed of flames ” to Peking. His Majesty was uimeccssarily
severe upon his servant : ” You have not only proved
yourself unable to cut off their trade,” he says, ” but you have
also proved yourself unable to seize perverse natives. You
have but dissembled with empty words, and so far fi’om having
been any help in the affair, you have caused the waves of confusion
to arise, and a thousand interminable disorders are
sprouting ; in fact, you have been as if your arms wei’c tied,
without knowing what to do : it appears, then, you are no bettor
than a wooden image. When I meditate on all these things,
J am lilled with anger and melancholy.” Trade was carried on
notwithstanding the blockade, by sending tea and g(Kxls thi’ough
Macao ; and many ships loaded for England and the United
States.
INTERVIEW BETWEEN ELLIOT AND KISIIEN. 517
Admiral Elliot entered into a truce with Tlipu, governorgeneral
of (“lielikian*;, by wliicli each party agreed to observe
certain boundaries. ISickness and deatli had made sad inroads
into the health and numbers of the troops at Tinghai, owing to
their bad location, malaria, and iiii]>ro{)er food ; more than four
hundred out of the four thousand landed in July having died,
and three times that number being in the hospitals. The
people dared not reopen their shops until after the truce ; the
visits paid to various parts of the island better informed the
inhabitants of the personal character of their temporary rulers,
and a profitable trade in provisions encouraged them to farther
acquaintance.
The two plenipotentiaries returned November 20th, and immediately sent a steamer bearing a despatch from Ilipu to Kishen; the vessel was fired upon by an officer unacquainted with the meaning of a white flag—the intent and privileges of which were after this understood; Kishen made an ample apology for this mishap. Negotiations were resumed during the month of December, but the determination of the Chinese to resist rather than grant full indemnity for the opium was more and more apparent.
Kishen probably found more zeal among the people for a fight than he had supposed, but his own desires were to settle the matter ” more soon, more better.’” What demands were made as a last alternative are not known, but one of them,
the cession of the island of Hongkong, he refused to grant, and
broke off the discussion. Commodore Bremer thereupon attacked
and took the forts at Chuenpi and Taikok-tau on January
7th, when the furthei- progress of his forces was stayed bv
Kishen, who was present and saw enough to convince him of
the folly of resistance.
On January 20th the suspended negotiations had proceeded so far that Captain Elliot announced the conclusion of preliminary arrangements upon four points, viz., the cession of the island and harbor of Hongkong to the British crown, an indemnity of six millions of dollars in annual instalments, direct official intercourse upon an equal footing, and the immediate resumption of English trade at Canton. By these arrangements Chusan and Chuenpi were to be immediately restored to the Chinese, the prisoners at Ningbo released, and the English allowed to occupy Hongkong. One evidence of Kishen’s
” scrupulous good faith,” mentioned in Captain Elliot’s notice,
is the edict he put up on Hongkong, telling the inhabitants
they were now under English authority. Two interviews took
place after this, at the last of which it was plain that two of the
four stipulations, viz., the first instalment of a million of dollars,
and opening of trade by February 1st, would not be fulfilled.
The intimations of the designs of the court were so
evident that the treaty was probably never even presented to
the Emperor for ratification.
Kishen carried his negotiations thus far, with the hope perhaps
that an adjustment of the ditficulties on such terms would
be accepted by his imperial master. On the other hand, Lin
and his colleagues memorialized him as soon as Kishen came to
Canton against peaceful measures, and their reconnnendations
as to the necessity of resistance were strongly backed by the
mortifying loss of Cliusan. The approach of a large force to
the Pei ho alarmed his Majesty, and conciliatory measures were
taken, and a reference to Canton proposed before settling the
dispute ; when the men-of-war left, he was inclined for peace,
and issued orders not to attack the ships while the discussions
were going on. But the memorials had already changed iiis
mind, and war was determined on at the date of signing the
treaty. It is probable if, instead of seizing Chusan, which had
given no cause of provocation, the English had gone up the
Yangtsz’ kiang and Pei ho, and stationed themselves there until
their demands were granted, peace would have been soon made.
But, in that case, would the vain notion of their supremacy have
left the Chinese ?
Looking back forty years, one can recognize the benefit to
both parties whicli resulted from the failure of this treaty. The
great desire of Chi’istian people, who believed that China was
finally to receive the gospel, was that it might be opened to
their benevolent effoi’ts, l)ut this treat)’ left the country as closed
as ever to all good influences, commercial, political, social, and
religious, while the evils of smuggling, law-breaking, and opium-
Bmoking remained unmolested. The crisis which had brought
FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS AT THE BOGUE. 519
out this expedition was not likely soon to recur, and if this
failed to break down its seclusiveness, no other nation Mould
attempt the task. Every well-wisher of China cherished the
hope that, since this unfortunate conflict nnist needs be, its outcome
would leave the entire land fully accessible to the regenci–
ating, as well as shielded from the evil influences of Christian
nations.
Captain Elliot appreciated the dilemma into which the Emperor
had been brought by the acts of Lin, and knew that
ignorance was much more the misfortune than the fault of
both ; he acted humanely, therefore, in pui’suing a mild course
at first, until the points at issue had been fairly brought before
the people as well as the cabinet. However justly some parts
of his conduct may have merited criticism, this praiseworthy
feature of his policy by no means earned the torrent of abuse
he received for consistently pursuing such a course. His countrymen
would have had him burn, kill, and destroy, as soon as
the expedition reached the coast, before even stating his
demands at court ; and during his negotiations with Ivishen,
and when Chusan was restored, a smile of contempt at his supposed
gullibility was everywhere seen. The treaty of the Bogue, though formed in good faith by both commissioners, was rejected by both sovereigns, though for opposite reasons; by Victoria, because it did not grant enough, by Taukwang, because it granted too much.
The Emperor issued orders to resume the war, collect troops
from the provinces upon Canton and Tinghai, in order to ” destroy
and wipe clean away, to exterminate and root out the
rebellious barbarians,” and urged the people to regard them
with the same bitterness they did their personal enemies. His
mandate is couched in strong terms, saying that his enemies
have been rebellious against heaven, opposing reason, one in
spirit with the brute beasts, ” beings that the overshadowing
vault, and all-containing earth can hardly suffer to live,” obnoxious
to angels and men, and that he must discharge his
heaven-conferred trust by sweeping them from the face of the
earth. This decree exhibited the true principles of action of
this proud government, which deliberately rejected the offer of peace, and determined to npliold its fancied supremacy to the utmost. China nnist now win or hi’eak.
Ilostih} intentions had become so evident that Captain Elliot
announced that Commodoi’e l>i-emer would return to the Bogue
with tlie force ; the boats of the Nemesis were fired upon while
sounding, and the battery near Anunghoy was attacked the
same day that Clnisan was evacuated. Rewards of $50,000
were ofPered for Elliot, Bremei-, Morrison, and other ringleaders,
and all the defences put in the best condition. On Februarv
20th the Bogue foi’ts were all taken. Admiral Kwan falling
at his post. The British had nine ships, assisted by less than
five Inmdred troops, and two steamers. The Chinese force was
prol)ably over three thousand, but it made no resistance after
tlie batteries were taken ; the total loss Avas supposed to be not
far from a thousand. The forts were built so solidly that few
were kihed by tlie broadsides of tlie ships, and their magazines
so well protected that no explosions took- place; the powdeifound
in them was nsed to demolish the walls. There were in
all eight large forts on the sides of the river and AVangtong
Island, forming altogether a line of batteries which would have
been impregnable in the hands of European troops, and was not
without reason deemed to be so by the Chinese themselves.
The next day the small ships moved up to the First Bar, where
a long fortification on the river bank, and an intrenched camp
of two thousand troops, defended by upward of a hundred
cannon, with a strong raft thrown across the river, showed a
resolution to make a stand. The ships and steamers opened a
hot tire upon the batteries and camp, which returned it as well
as they could, but the loss of life was greatest when the English
landed. Many instances of personal bravery showed that the
Chinese were not all destitute of courage, but without discipline
and better weapons it was of no avail. Nearly one-fourth
were killed, their camp burned, the Chesapeake and all her
stores blown up, and most of the crew killed. The raft was
easily removed b}^ the steamers, to the mortification of the
Chinese, who had trusted that this might prove a permanent
barrier to the approach of ships to the city. From this point
the way was open to within five miles of Canton, and when the forts at that place were taken, the prefect met Captain Elliot on March od with a Hag of truce proposing a suspension of hostilities for three days.
CAPTURE OF THE APPKOACIIES TO CANTON”. 621
Kishen had already been ordered to return to Peking to
await his trial; his nieniorial’ on hearing of his degradation
does him credit. Iliang was left in command of the province
until four general officers, leading large bodies of troops, should
arrive. The highest of these was Yihshan, a nephew of the
Emperor, assisted by “i’ang Fang, Lungwan, and Tsishin. On
the part of the English, Major-dreneral Sir Hugh Gougli arrived
fi’om India to take command of the land forces, and Sir Gordon
Bremer sailed for Calcutta to procure recruits. Bodies of troops
were gathering in and around Canton to the amount of five
or six thousand, most of whom had come from the North-West Provinces, and were not less strange and formidable to the citizens than were their foreign” enemies.
After the truce, had expired the English moved toward Canton
by both the channels leading to the city, the iron steamer
Nemesis proceeding up the Irmer Passage, subduing all obstacles
in her way until every fort, raft, battery, camp, and stockade
between the ocean and Canton had been taken or destroyed,
and the city lay at their mercy. The factories had been kept
safely, and were occupied by British troops just two years
after Lin had imprisoned the foreigners there. A second truce
was agreed upon March 20th, by which trade was allowed to
proceed on the old mode ; merchant ships accordingly advanced
up the river, and for about six weeks trade went on uninterruptedly—one party getting their tea and the other their duties.
The new governor, Ki Kung, together with the “rebel-quelling general ” Yihshan, then arrived, and the people, thinking that a slight cause would disturb the truce, took advantage of it to remove their effects, well aware how much they would suffer from their own army in case of trouble.
^Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 335.
Toward the middle of May the hostile intentions of the Chinese were manifest, though cloaked under professions of amity; and on the 21st Captain Elliot notilied all foreigners to go
aboard ship. The secret prepai-ations for attack were very extensive. Large fire-boats and rafts were prepared, masked batteries erected along the river, troops quartered in the temples, and large camion placed in the streets. The day before the notice of Captain Elliot was issued, the prefect had the impudence to publish a proclamation assuring all classes of the
peaceful intentions of the commissioners. Finding their prey
gone, a night attack was made by land and water on the ships,
but none were seriously injured. As daylight advanced the
Xemesis went in pursuit of the fire-boats and junks, and burned
upward of sixty, while three men-of-war silenced the batteries
along shore. Meantime the Chinese troops searched the factory
buildings for arms and pillaged three of the hongs, to the
consternation of the prefect, who told the commissioner that he
would be forced to pay for losses thus sustained. On the 24th
the land and naval forces under Sir Hugh Gongh and Sir Fleming
Senhouse arrived from Hongkong and prepared to invest
the city. Most of the troops debarked above it, at Xeishing,
under the personal directions of Sir Fleming, M’ho had provided
many boats in which the force of two thousand six hundred
men, besides followers, guns, and stores, were toM’ed about
twelve miles. A detachment landed and took possession of the
factories. Sir Hugh Gough remained near the place of debarkation
till the next morning, when the whole body moved
onward to attack the forts and camps behind the city. As the
English advanced the Chinese found that their shot did not
reach them, so that after an hour”s firing they began to collect
outside of the forts, preparatory to retiring. The advance
puslied on, and sent them scampering down the hills toward
the city ; the intrenched camp was cai’ried with considei’able
loss to its defenders, who everywhere ran as soon as the fight
came to close quarters ; but in the forts there were many furious
struo;o;:les.
THE CITY RANSOMED. 523
On the 20th a driving rain stopped all operations ; and a ])arley was also requested from the now deserted city walls by two officers, who agreed to send a deputation to make arrangements for surrender. Night came on before any heralds appeared, so that it was not till morning that the troops were in position, the guns loaded and primed, port-fires lighted, and
everything in readiness to open lire, when a messenger arrived
from captain Elliot, desiring fm-ther operations to be
delayed until he had concluded his negotiations. The terms
were : that the forces should remain in position until a ransom
of $(),000,000 was paid ; that the three imperial commissioners
and all their troops should march sixty miles from the city; that compensation for the loss of property in the factories and
burning the Spanish brig Bilbaino should be at once handed
over or secured ; and that the Chinese troops, nearly fifty thousand
in number, should evacuate the city. Captain Elliot ought
indeed to have demanded a personal apology from Yihshan and
his colleagues for their infamous treachery before letting them
go. His acceptance of this ransom and sparing the city from
capture were sharply criticised at the time, and the contemptuous
bearing of the citizens during the sixteen ensuing years
of their possession proved that it was an ill-timed mercy. How
nuich influence the ordeis from home to be careful of the teatrade
had in this course cannot be learned.
While the English forces were occupying the heights the
lawless soldiers from Kweichau and Kwangsi began to plunder
the citizens, who retaliated till blood was shed and more than a
thousand persons were killed in the streets ; a patriot mob of
v^illagers, numbering about fifteen thousand, attacked the few
British troops left on the hills north of the city, but a prompt
advance on the part of Sir Hugh drove this rabble a rout of
some three miles. Upon their reappearance next day, the prefect
was told that if they were not instantly dispersed the city
would, be bombarded ; the threats and persuasions of the commissioners,
aided by a British officer, finally induced the mob to
retire. The superiority of discipline over mere numbers was
probably never more remarkably exhibited ; though the Chinese
outnumbered the English more than forty to one, not a single
foreigner was killed.
On the 31st the prefect furnished five hundred coolies to assist in transporting the guns and stores to the river side^ and ten days after Captain Elliot’s first notice everything was restored to the Chinese. The casualties among the British forces were fourteen killed and one hundred and twelve wounded, but about three hundred died from sickness. The losses of the Chinese from first to last could hardly have been much under five thousand men, besides thousands of cannon, ginjals, and
matchlocks. In posting their forces, placing their masked batteries,
and equipping their troops and forts, the Chinese showed
considerable strategy and skill, ])ut lack of discipline and confidence
rendered every defence unavailing. Yihshan and his associates
memorialized the Emperor, detailing their reasons for
ransoming the city and requesting an inquiry into their conduct.^
The sickness of the troops compelled the British force to
remain at Hongkong to recruit and wait for reinforcements.
Commodore 13remer returned as joint plenipotentiary, bringing
additional forces from Calcutta, and the expedition was on the
point of sailing northward when both he and Captain Elliot
were wrecked in a tyfoon, and this detained the ships a few
days longer. Before they sailed Sir Henry Pottinger and ^Vdmiral
Sir William Parker arrived direct from England to supersede
them both. Sir Henry announced his appointment and
duties, and also sent a communication to the governor of Canton,
assuring him that the existing truce would be observed as
long as the Chinese did not arm their forts, impede the regular
trade, which had been lately reopened to British ships by imperial
command, or trouble the merchants residing in the factories.
The trade went on at Canton, after this, without any
serious interruption during the M-ar, the usual duties and
charges being paid as if no hostilities existed.
The expedition moved northward, August t^lst, under the
joint conniiand of Sii” Hugh Gough and Admiral Parker, consisting
of two seventy fours and seven other ships of war, four
steamers, twenty-three transports, and a surveying vessel, carrying
in. all about three thousand five hundred troops. Six ships
and four or five liundicd Indian troops remained off (‘anton
and at Hongkong, to compel the observance of the tmice. The
force reached Amoy, and after a hasty reconnoissance attacked
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. X. (p. 402), in which, and in Vols. “VIII., IX., and XI., most of the official papor.s issued from the Chinese and English authorties during the war are contained.
FALI OF AMOY AND TINGHAI. 5*25
all its defences, which were carried without inuch loss of life on
either side. The city was taken on the 27t]i, and all the arms
and public stores, wall-pieces, ginjals, matchloc-ks, shields, uniforms,
bows, arrows, spears, and quantities of powder were destroyed
; five hundred cannon were found in the forts. AVlien
II. M. S. Blonde came into this harbor, fourteen months previous,
to deliver the letter for Peking, the fortifications consisted
only of two or three forts near the city, but every island and pro
tecting headland overlooking the harbor had since been occupied
and arn.ed, while a line of stone wall more than a mile long, with
embrasures roofed by large slabs covered with earth to protect
the guns, had been built, and batteries and bastions erected al
well-chosen points. The broadsides of the ships had little effect
liere, and it was not until the troops landed and drove out tha
garrisons, who “stood right manfully to their guns,’” that the
fire slackened, and the Chinese retreated. The city was completely
pillaged by native robbers, who ran riot during several
weeks until the craven authorities came back and resumed tliei.v
functions. The island of Kulang su was garrisoned by a detachment
of five hundred and fifty troops, and three ships left
to protect them. The British found one two-decker among the
war junks, built on a foreign model, launched and i-eady for
sea, canying twenty guns; all were bui-ned.
The English fieet again entered the harbor of Tinghai, September
29th, and found the beach much altered since February.
Stone walls and fortifications extended two miles in front of the
suburbs, besides sand-bags and redoubts thrown up q}\ well-selected
positions. They were taken after a defence marked with
unusual courage ; the general connnanding the battery and all his
suite were killed at their posts, and many hand-to-hand confiicts
took place. But bravery and numbers were alike unavailing,
and in two hours their defences were cleared, the walls of the
town escaladed, the whole force scattered, and the island subdued,
with the estimated loss to the Chinese of a thousand men.
Great quantities of oitlnance, among which were forty brass guns made in imitation of foreign howitzers, with military stores and provisions in abundance, were seized. A detachment was sent throughout the island to drive oft’ the enemy’s troops, and announce to the inhabitants that they were now under English authority. They evinced none of the alarm they had done the year before; provisions came in, shops were opened, and confidence in these proclamations generally exhibited. A military government was appointed, and a garrison of four hundred men left to protect the island.
The military operations in Chehkiang were conducted by
Yukien and Yu Pu-yun ; l)<)th these men had urged war, and
had done all they could to fortify Tinghai and Chinhai, whose
batteries and magazines showed the vigor of their operations.
The English fleet proceeded to Chinhai October 9th, and a force
of about two thousand two hundred men, with twelve field
pieces and mortars, landed next morning to attack the citadel
and intrenched camp. There were nearly five thousand men in
this position, who formed in good order as the English advanced,
opening a well-directed fire upon the front column, but (piite
neglecting two detachments on their flanks ; as the three opened
upon them nearly simultaneously, their force was completely
bewildered, and all soon broke and fled. Knowing nothing of
the mode of asking for quarter, while some fled into the country,
the greater part retreated toward the watei’, pursued by the
three colunms, hundreds being shot and hundreds drowned. Sir
Hugh (lough sent out a flag with Chinese written upon it, to
inform them that their lives >vould be spared if they yielded, but
not more than five hundred either could or would throw down
their arms. The water was soon covered with bodies, and fully
fifteen hundred soldiers lost their lives. The town and its
defences Avere bombarded, and the troops driven out. Yukien
endeavored to drown himself on seeing the day was lost,
but being ])revented he retreated to Yiiyau, whiere he comnntted
suicide, as was said, by swallowing gold leaf. lie was a
Manchu, and could not brook his master’s displeasure; but his
atrocious crueltv to two Englishmen who fell into his hands,
one of whom was flayed and tlien burnt to death, had aroused
general detestation against him. About one hundred and flfty
pieces of brass ordnance, with great quantities of gunpowder
and other military stores, were destroyed. Tlie guns and carriages
in the fort and batteries were so well made and phiced
CAPTURE OF CIIINIIAI AND NINGPO. 527
that ill some cases the victors on eutering turned tlieni against
the flying Chinese. The frame of a wlieel vessel, intended to
he moved hy human power, was found near Chinhai, sliowing,
as did the brass guns, traversing carriages, and frigate at Amoy,
that the Chinese were ah-eady imitating tlie machinery of war
from their foes.
Niiigpo was taken without resistance on the 13th. Many of
the people left the city, and those who remained shut themselves
in their houses, writing ,sA?^H nihi, ‘submissive people,’
on the doors. Captain Anstruther took possession of his old
prison—where he found the identical cage he had been carried
in—and released all the inmates to make way for his detachment
of artillery. About !5lOO,000 in sycee were found in this building,
upward of $70,000 in the treasury’, many tons of copper
cash in the mint, and rice, silk, and porcelain in the public
stores, forming altogether the most valuable prizes yet secured.
Sir Henry Pottinger intended at first to burn the city, but, happily
for his reputation, he decided to occupy it as winter quarters.
Leaving a garrison at Chinhai, he returned to Hongkong
in February, 1842, Sir Hugh and the admiral remaining at the
north.
The fall of Anioy, Tinghai, Chinhai, and Xingpo, instead of
disheartening the Emperor, served rather to inspirit him. His
commissioners, generals, and high officers generally did the best
their knowledge and means enabled them to do, and when defeated,
endeavored to palliate the discomfiture they could not
entirely conceal by misrepresenting the force brought against
them, and laying the blame upon the common people, the elements,
the native traitors who aided the British, or the inefficiency
of the naval armaments. The troops sent home Avith
tokens of victory from Canton stimulated the war spirit in the
western provinces. After they had gone Yihshan concocted
measures of defence, one of wliich was to enlist two or
three thousand volunteers, or “village braves,” near the city.
and place them under their own officers. The people having
been taught to despise foreigners were easily incensed against
them, and several cases of insult and wantonness were repeated
and magnified in order to stir up a spirit of revenge. These patriots supposed, nioi-eover, tliat it” the great Emperoi had failed on Mt-y/’, instead of entrusting the conduct of the (piarrel to truckling traitorous polti’oons like Kishen and the prefect, they could li ve av ^ -^ l»iin of his enemies.
Consequently the truce was soon broken in an underhand
manner by sinking hundreds of tons of stones in the river.
II. M. S. lloyalist levelled ;;:he fortifications at the Bogue, and
Captain Is ias destroyed a number of boats at Whampoa. After
the destruction of these forts and his retirement from the rivci\
Yihshan directed his attention to erect in o- forts near the citv,
casting guns, and drilling the volunteers, v.-ho numbered nearly
thirty thousand at the new year. He also gave a public dinner
to the rich men of the city, in order to learn their willingness
to contribute to the expenses of these measures. However,
since no serious obstacles were placed in the way of shipping
teas by the provincial officers, from the duties on which they
chiefly derived the funds for these undertakings, the Britisli
officers deemed it advisable to let them alone.
The case was different at other ))oints. The imperial government
had supposed that Amoy would be attacked, because the
visit of the Blonde showed that the barbarians, “sneaking in
and out like rats,” knew of its existence ; but the people of that
province, except near Amoy, took no particular interest in the
dispute, and probably knew far less of it than was known in
most parts of England and the United States; no newspapei\s,
with “own correspondents” to write the “latest accounts from
the seat of war,” narrated the progress of this struggle, which to
them was like the silent reflection of distant lightning in their
own quiet firmament. The sack of Amoy was a heavy blow to
its citizens, but the plunderers were mostly their countiymen; and when Captain Smith of the Druid had been there a short
time in command, and his character became known, they returned
to their houses and shops, supplied the garrison with provisions,
and even brought back a desei’ter, and assisted in chasing
some ])irates. Rumors of attack were always bi’ought to
him, and his decthwations allayed their fears, so that after the
sulj pi’efect resumed his authority no distui’bance occurred. The
p.xplanations of the missionaries on Kulang su, in diffusing a
better understanding of the object in occupying that island, also contributed to this result.
DETERMINED MEASURES OF DP:FKN(n:. 529
The loss of Chinhai and Xingpo threw the eastern parts of
Chehkiaug open to the invaders, and alarmed the couit far more
tlian the destruction of Canton would have done. The Emperor
appointed his nephew, Yihking, to be ” majesty-bearing genei-alissimo,” and with him Tih-i-shun and Wunwei, all Manchus, to
command the grand army and arouse the dwellers on the seacoast
to arm and defend themselves. ” Ministers and people !
Inhabitants of our dominions ! Ye are all the children of our
dynasty ! For two centuries ye have trod our earth and eaten
our food. Whoever among you has heavenly goodness nnist
needs detest these rebellious and disordei-ly barbarians even as
ye do your personal foes. On no account allow yourselves to be
deceived by their wiles, and act or live abroad with them.”
Such was the closing exhortation of an imperial proclamation
issued to encourage them. In order to raise funds for its operations,
the government resorted to the sale of office and titles
of nobility, and levied benevolences from rich individuals and
contributions from the people ; which, when large in amount,
were noticed and rewarded. Kishen, who had been tried at
Peking and sentenced to lose his life, was for some reason reprieved
to be associated with Yihking as an adviser, but never
proceeded beyond Chihli. Lin was also recalled from Ili, if
indeed he ever went be^’ond the Great “Wall, and Ih’pu, whose
treatment and release of the prisoners at Xingpo had gained
him the good-will of the English, was also sentenced to banishment,
but neither did he go beyond the Desert,
Defences were thrown up at Tientsin and Taku to guard the
passage to the capital, but the bar at the mouth of the Pei ho
was its sufficient protection. Fearing tliat the English would
advance upon the city of Ilangchau, the troops of the province
and all its available means were put into requisition. Sir Hugh
Gough could only approach it by a land march from Kingpo,
and deemed it advisable to wait for reinforcements, his available
force being reduced to six hundred men on entering that city.
The rewards given to the families of those who had fallen in
battle, and the posthumous honors conferred by the Emperor, stimnfated others to deeds of valor and a determination to accomplish their master’s vengeance. Yukien, ” who gave his
life for his country, casting himself into the water,” received
high titular honors in the hall of worthies, and his brother was
permitted to bring his corpse within the city of Peking. The
names of humbler servants were not forgotten in the impei-ial
rescripts, and a place was granted them among those whom the
“king delighteth to honor.” Thus did the Chinese endeavor
to reassert their supremacy, though their counsels and efforts
to chastise the rebellious barbarians were not unlike the deliberations of the rats upon ” how to bell the cat.”
The occupation of Ningpo was an eyesore to the Chinese
generals, but the citizens had learned their best interests and
generally kept quiet. They showed their genius in various contrivances
to carry off plunder, such as putting valuable articles
in coffins and ash-baskets, wrapping them around corpses, packing
them under vegetables or rubbish. One party overtook two
persons near Ningpo running off with a basket between them; on overtaking and recovering it, a well-dressed lady was found
coiled up, who, however, did not scream when detected. Another
was found in a locker on board a junk, and as the captain was
desirous of examining the mode of bandaging her feet, he told
his men to lift the body out of the closet, when a scream explained
the trick ; she was dismissed, and the money she had
endeavored to hide put into her hands. Opium M^as found in
most of the official residences ; its sale received no serious check
from the war, and no reference was made to it by either party.
Toward the end of the year 1841, information was received
of the collection of a large force at Yiiyau. Two iron steamei’S
soon landed seven hundred men, who took up a position for the
night, intending to escalade the walls in the morning ; but their
defenders evacuated the ])lace. The marines and seamen took
the circuit of the walls, and found the troops, about a thousand
strong, drawn up in array ; and the two, after exchanging their
fire, started on the run. The ])ublic stores wore destroyed, and
the town left to the care of its citizens, without inncli loss of life
on either side. On his return the general visited Tsz’ki, l)Ht
the troops and the authorities had decani])eth The rice found in
CHINESE ATTEMPT TO RECAPTURE NINGPO. 581
Hie granaries was distributed to the townsmen, and the detachment
returned to Ningpo December 31st. On u simiUir visit to
Fimghwa it was found that the authorities and troops liad fled,
so that to destroy the government stores and distribute the rice
to the people was all that remained to be done. These two
expeditions so terrified tlie ” majesty-bearing genei-alissimo,”
Yihking, and his colleagues, that they fled to Suchau, in
Kiano-su. With such leaders it is not strano;e that the villagers
near Ningpo wished to enrol themselves under British rule;
and the effect of the moderation of the English troops was seen
in the people giving them little or no molestation after the first
alarm was over, and supplying their wants as far as possible.
The force had fairly settled in its quarters at Kingpo, when
the Chinese opened the campaign, March 10th, by a well-concerted
night attack on the city. During the preceding day,
many troops entered the city in citizen’s clothes, and stationed
themselves near the gates ; and about three o’clock in the morning
the western and southern gates were attacked and driven
in. Colonel Morris ordered a party to retake the south gate,
which was done, wnth considerable loss to the enemy ; as usually
happened, the moment the Chinese were opposed their main
object was forgotten, and every man sought his own safety,
thereby exposing himself more fully to destruction. On the
approach of daylight the garrison assembled at the western
gate, and dragging two or three howitzers through it, came
upon the main force of the enemy drawn up in compact form,
headed by an officer on horseback. The volleys poured into
this dense mass mowed them down so that the street was choked
with dead bodies, and the horse of the leader actually covered
with corpses, from which he was seen vainly endeavoring to
release himself. Those who escaped the fire in front were
attacked in rear ; at last about six hundred were killed, and the
whole force of five thousand scattered by less than two hundred
Europeans, with the loss of one man killed and six wounded.
The British then prepared to attack an intrenched camp of
eight thousand troops near Tsz’ki, and about twelve hundred
w^ere embarked in the steamers. The Chinese had chosen their
ground vs^ell, on the acclivity of two hills behind the town, and ill Older to confound and dispei’se their enenij completely, tlia attacking force was divided so as to fall upon them on three
sides siniultane(»usly, which was done with great slaughter. The Chinese did not run until they began to close in with their opponents, when they soon found that their intimidating gesticulations and cheers, their tiger-faced shields and two-edged swords, were of no avail in terrifying the barlnirians or resisting their pistols, bayonets, and furious onset. In these cases,
emulation among the different parties of English troops to
distinguish themselves occasionally degenerated into unmanly
slaughter of their flying enemy, who were looked u})(>n i-ather
as good game than fellow-men, and pursued in some instances
several miles. INIost of the Chinese troops in this engagement
and in the attack on Ningbo were from the western proviriCes, and
superior in size and bodily strength to those hitherto met. They
had been encouraged to attack Ningbo by a bounty to each man
of four or five dollars, and pieces of sycee were found on their
bodies. The Chinese lost a thousand slain on the field, many by
their own act ; the English casualties were six killed and thirty seven wounded.
The conquerors set fire to the Chinese camp in the morning,
consuming all the houses used as arsenals, with arms and amnninition
of ever}’ kind. The force then proceeded to the Changki
pass, a defile in the mountains, but the imperialists had abandoned
their camp, leaving only ” a considerable (juantity of
good bread.” In his despatch Sir Hugh speaks of the forbearance
shown by his men toward the inhabitants ; and efforts
were taken by the English, throughout the war, to spare the
people and respect their property. The English thus dispersed
that part of the Grand Army which had been called out by the
Emperor and his ” majesty-beariiig generalissimo” to annihilate
tlie rebels. The fugitives spread such dismay among their
comrades near Ilangchau that the troops began to desert and
exhibit symptoms of disbanding altogether; the spirit of dissatisfaction
was, moreover, increased by the people, who very
naturally grumbled at being obliged to support their unsuccessful
defenders, as well as submit to their tyrannous exactions.
The Chinese near Isingpo and Chinhai had so nmch confi
CAPTUKE OF TSZ’kI AXD CIIAPl’, , 533
deuce in the Englitli, luid were so greatly profited by tlieir
presence, that no disturbances took place. The rewards offered
by the Cliinese generals for prisoners induced the people to lay
in wait for stragglers. One, Sergeant Campbell, was seized
near Tinghai, put into a bag to be carried to the coast, where he
was shipped in a junk and landed at Chapu, before being relieved
of his hood. One of his ears was cut off with a pair of
scissors, but after reaching ilaugchau he was well treated.
During his captivity there he was often questioned by the Chinese
ofiicers as to the movements, forces, and arms of his countrymen,
and received a high idea of their intelligence from the
character of their inquiries.
The entire strength with Sir Hugh Gough, in May, consisted
of parts of four English regiments, a naval brigade of two hundred
and fifty, and a few Indian troops, in all about two
thousand five hundred men ; the fleet comprised seven ships of
war and four steamers. On the ITth the whole anchored in
the harbor of Chapu, about forty miles above Chinhai. About
six thousand three hundred Chinese troops and one thousand
seven hundred Manchus were posted herein forts and intrenched
camps. The English landed in three columns, as usual without
opposition, and promptly turned the orderly arranged army and
garrisons of their opponents into a mass of fugitives, each man
throwing away his arms and uniform and flying upas de geant.
A body of three hundred Manchus, seeing their retreat cut
off, retired into an enclosed temple, whose entrance was both
narrow and dark. Every one who attempted to enter it was
either killed or wounded, one of whom was Lieutenant-Colonel
Tomlinson. At length a part of the wall was blown in, which
exposed the inmates to the rifles of tlieir foes, and a rocket or
two set the building on fire, by which the inmates were driven
from their position to the rooms below ; when resistance ceased
only fifty were taken prisoners, the others having been burned
to death or suffocated. The total loss of the invaders was thirteen
killed and fifty-two wounded.
The defences of Chapu being carried, with a loss to the
enemy of about one thousand five hundred, the English moved
on the city. This was the first time the Manchus had really come in contact with the English ; and either fearing that indiscriminate slaughter would ensue on defeat, as it would have
done had they been the victors, or else unable to brook their
disgrace, tliej destroyed themselves in great numbers, first immolating
their wives and children, and then cutting their own
throats. Scores of bodies were found in their quarters, some
not entirely dead ; others were prevented from self-destruction,
and in many instances, young children were found attending
upon their aged or infirm parents, awaiting in dread suspense
the visit of the conquerors, from whom they expected little less
than instant destruction. The English sui-geons endeavoi-ed to
bind up the wounds of such Chinese as fell in their waj-, and
these attentions had a good effect upon the high Chinese officers,
Ilipu himself sending a letter in which he thanked the
general and admiral for their kindness in giving the hungry
rice to eat and caring for the wounded. The old man endeavored
to requite it by making the condition of his prisoners as
easy as he could, and paid them money on their release. When
the English generals, having destroyed all the government
stores, re-embarked, the prisoners were released with a small
present, and on their retui-n to Hangchau loudly proclaimed
their praises of the foreigners.
The expedition proceeded northward to the mouth of the
Yangtsz’ kiang, and reached the embouchure of the AVusung,
where the ships took their allotted positions, June 16th, before
the well-built stone batteries, extending full three miles along
the western banks of the river. One of these works enclosed
the town of Paushan and mounted one hundred and thirty-four
guns ; the others counted altogether one hundred and sevent}’–
five guns, forty-two of which were brass. These defences wei-e
manned by a Avell-selected force, under the command of Chin
Hw^a-ching. The ships had scarcely taken their stations when
the battei-ies opened, and both sides kept up a caimonading for
about two hours, the Chinese w^orking their guns with nnich
skill and effect. When the marines landed and entered, they
bravely nieasui-ed weapons with them, and died at their posts.
Among the war junks were several new wheel-boats, having two
wooden paddle-wheels turned by a capstan, which interlocked
FALL OF THE WUSUNG BATTERIES. 535
its cogs into those upon the shaft, and was worked by men on
the gun-deck. These were paddling out of danger, when the
steamers overtook and silenced them. The number of Chinese
killed was about one hundred, out of not less than live thousand
men composing the garrison and army. The governor-general,
Kiu Kien. who was present, in reporting the loss of the forts
and dispersion of the troops, says he braved the hottest of the
light, ” where cannon-balls innumerable, ilying in awful confusion
through the expanse of heaven, fell before, behind, and
on either side of him ; while in the distance he saw the ships
of the rebels standing erect, lofty as the mountains. The fierce
daring of the rebels was inconceivable ; officers and men fell at
their posts. Every efPort to resist and check the onset was in
vain, and a retreat became inevitable.”
Among the killed was General Chin, who had taken unwearied
pains to drill his troops, appoint them to their places, and
inspirit them with his own courageous self-devotion. In a
memoir of him, it is said that on the mcyningof the attack “he
arrayed himself in his robes of state, and having prayed to
heaven and earth, ordered all his ofiicers and soldiers to get
their arms and ammunition ready.” JS^iii Kien^s conduct was
not such as to cheer them on, and most of the officers ” came
forward and begged to retire ” when they saw the dilapidated
state of the batteries. Chin’s second suggested a retreat when
the marines entered the battery, but he drew his sword upon
him, saying, ” My confidence in you has been misplaced.” He
again inspirited his men, himself loading and firing the ginjals,
and fell pierced with wounds on the walls of the fort, bowing
his head as he died in the direction of the Emperor’s palace.
His Majesty paid him high honors, by erecting shrines to him
in his native village and at the place where he fell ; in the
Ching-hwang miao at Shanghai there is a sitting image of him
in his robes of state, before which incense is burned. A reward
of a thousand taels was given his family, and his son was made
a k’d-jin by special patent. In this notice it is stated as a current
rumor in Shanghai, that about a fortnight after his death
Chin sent down the news through the divining altar at Sungkiang,
that he had been promoted by the Supreme Kuler of
536 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Heaven to the rank of second general-in-eliief of the Board of
Thunder, so tliat although he coukl not, while alive, repay the
imperial favor by exterminating the rebels, he could still afford
some aid to his country.
The stores of every kind ‘.vere destroyed, except the brass
pieces, among which were one Spanish gun of old date, and
a Chinese piece more than three centuries old, both of them
of singular shape, the latter being like a small-mouthed jar.
The British landed on the 19th, two thousand in all, and proceeded
to Shanghai by land. After the capture of “Wusung,
Mr. Gutzlaff, who accompanied the admiral as interpreter, succeeded
in reassuring the people and inducing them to stay in
their dwellings ; he was also employed in procuring provisions.
The ships silenced two small batteries near the city with a
single broadside, and the troops entered it without resistance.
The good effects of previous kindness shown the people in
respecting their property were here seen. Captain Loch says
that on the march along the banks he passed through two villages
where the shops were open, with their owners in them,
and that groups of people Avere assembled on the right and left
to see them pass. The troops occupied the arsenals, the pawnbrokers’
shops, and the temples, destroying all the government
stores and distributin<; the rice in the granaries among the
people. The total number of caimon taken was three lumdred
and eighty-eight, of which seventy-six M’ere of brass ; some of
the latter were named ” tamer and subduer of the barbarians ;”
others, “the robbers’ judgment,” and one piece twelve feet long
was called the ” Barbarian.” The citizens voluntarily came
forward to supply provisions, and stated that there had been a
serious affray in the city a few days befoi’c between them and
their officers, who wished to levy a subsidy for the defence of
the city, which even then they w’ere on the point of abandoning.
The boats before the walls were crowded with inhabitants ffying
with their property, many of whom returned in a few days.
The troops retired from Shanghai June 23d, leaving it less
injured than any city yet taken, owing chiefly to tlie efforts
made by the people themselves to protect their property. The
eight hundred junks and upward lying off the town were unSHANGHAI
TAKEN. 631
lianiied, but their owners no doubt were made to contribute
toward the 8300,000 exacted as a ransom. Sir Henry Pottiiiger
now rejoined the expedition, accompanied by Lord Saltoun,
with hii-ge reinforcements for both arras, and immediate preparations
were made for proceeding up the Yangtsz’, to interrupt
the con^nnmication by the Grand Canal across tliat river.
Tiie Chinese officers, unable to read any European language,
learned the designs of their enemy chiefly by rumors, which
natives in the employ of the English brought them, and consequently
not unfrequently misled his Majesty—unwittingly, in
mentioning the wrong places likely to be attacked, but wilfully
as to their numbers and conduct in the hour of victory. The
fall of Shanghai and the probable march upon Sungkiang and
Suchau greatly alarmed him, and he now began to think that
the rebels really intended to proceed up to Kanking and the
Grand Canal, which he had been assured was not their purpose.
He accordingly concentrated his troops at Chinkiang, Nanking,
Suchau, and Tientsin, four places which he feared were
in danger, and associated Kiying and llipu as commissioners
M-ith the governor-general, Xiu Ivien, to superintend civil affairs;
military matters were still left under the management of the
imbecile Yihking. Only a few places on the Yangtsz’ kiang
offered eligible positions for forts, and Xiu Kien wisely declined
to stake the Great River at Chinkiang, lest it should alarm the
inhabitants. Fire-rafts and boats were, however, ordered for
the defence of that city, and reinforcements of troops collected
there and at XaiAing, some of whom were encamped witliuot
the city, and part incorporated with the garrison. The
tone of the documents which fell into the hands of the English
showed the anxiety felt at court regarding the result of this
movement up the river.
The British plenipotentiary published and circulated a manifesto
at this date for ” the information of the people of the
country.” In this paper he enumerated, in much the same
manner as Captain Elliot had done, the grievances the English
l)ad suffered at Canton from the spoliations, insults, and imprisonment
inflicted upon them by Lin in order to extort opium,
which was given up by the English superintendent to rescue
538 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
himself and Ins countiTnien from deatli. . The tluplicity of the
Chinese government in sending down Kislien as a commissioner
to Canton to arrange matters, and then, while he was negotiating,
to break off the treaty and treacherously resort to war, was
another “gi-and instance of oifence against England.” The bad
treatment of kidnapped prisoners, tlie mendacious reports of
victories gained over the English, wliicli misled the Emperor
and retarded the settlement of the war, was another cause of
offence. The restriction of the trade to Canton, establishment
of the monopoly of tlie hong merchants, the oppressive and unjust
exactions imposed upon it tlirongh their scheming, and
many other minor grievances which need not be enumerated,
formed the last count in this indictment. Three things must
be granted before peace could be made, viz., tlie cession of an
island for commerce and the residence of merchants ; compensation
for losses and expenses ; and allowing a friendly and
becoming intercourse between the officers of the two countries
on terms of equality. This proclamation, however, nnide no
mention of the real cause of the war, the opium trade, and in
that respect was far from being an ingenuous, fair statement of
the question. It was much more like one of Xapoleon’s bulletins
in the Moniteur, and considering the moral and intellectual
condition of Great Britain and China, failed to uphold the high
standing of the former.
While Sir Henry Pottinger knew that the use of this drug
was one of the greatest evils which afflicted the people, he
should have, in a document of this natui’e, left no room for the
supposition, on the part of either ruler or subject, that the war
was undertaken to uphold and countenance the opium trade.
He could not have been ignorant that the Emperor and his
ministers supposed the unequal contest they were waging was
caused b\’ their unsuccessful efforts to supjiress the traffic ; and
that if they were defeated the opium trade must goon unchecked.
The question of supremacy was set at rest in this proclamation ;
it must be given up ; but no encouragement was held out to
reassure the (vhinese government in their lawful desire to restrain
the tremendous scourge. Wh}^ should he ? If he encouraged
any action against the trade, he could expect little promotion or
PROCLAMATIONS ISSUED BY BOTH PARTIES. 539
.•eward from liis superiors in Indiii or England, who looked to
it for all the revenue it could be made to bring ; or consideration
from the merchants, who would not thank him for telling
the Chinese they might attack the opium clippers wherever the}’
found them, and seize all the opium they could, and English
•power would not interfere.
The Emperor issued a proclamation about the same time,
recapitulating his conduct and efforts to put a stop to the war,
stating what he had done to ward off calamity and repress the
rebels. The opium ti-ade, and his efforts for a long time to
repress it, and especially the measures of Lin, are in this papei
regarded as the causes of the war, which concludes by expressing
his regrets for the sufferings and losses occasioned his subjectl
by the attacks of the English at Amoy, Chusan, Xingpo, and
elsewhere, and exhorting them to renewed efforts. It is a mat
ter of lasting regret that the impression has been left upon the
minds of the Chinese people that the war was an opium war,
and waged chiefly to uphold it. But nations, like individuals,
must usually trust to might more than right to maintain their
standing ; and when conscious weakness leads them to adopt
underhand measures to regain their rights, the temptation which
led to these acts is rarely thought of in the da}’ of retribution.
The money demands of England were not deemed at the tijiie
to be exacting, but she should, and could at this time in an
effectual manner, through her plenipotentiary, have cleared herself
from all sanction of this traffic. If Lord jVIelbourne could
wish it were a less objectionable traffic. Sir Henry Pottinger
might surely have intimated, in as public a manner, his regret at
its existence. He probably did not deem the use of opium very
deleterious.
The number of ships, steamers, transports, and all in the
expedition, when it left Wusung, July Otli, was seventy-two,
most of them large vessels. They were arranged in five divisions,
with an advance squadron of five small steamers and tenders to
survey the river, each division having a frigate or seventy-four
at its head. The woild has seldom seen a more conspicuous
instance of the superiority of a small body possessing science,
skill, and discipline, over immense nmltitudes of undisciplined.
540 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ignorant, and distrustful soldiers, than was exhibited in this bold
manoeuvre. ]^ot to speak alone of the great disparity in numbers,
the distant quarters of the globe whence the ships were
collected, the many languages and tribes found in the invading
force, the magnitude of their ships, abundance of their supplies,
and superiority of their weapons of war, the moral energy and
confidence of power in this small troop over its ineffective adversary
was not less conspicuous. The sight of such a fleet sailing
up their Great River struck the inhabitants with mingled astonishment
and dread.
Chinkiang lies half a mile from the southern bank of tha
Yangtsz’, surrounded by a high wall four miles in circuit, and
liaving hills of considerable elevation in its rear. The canal
conies in from the south, close to the walls on its western side,
and along the shores of both river and canal are extensive suburbs—
at this time completely under the command of the guns
of the ships, which could also bombard the city itself from some
positions. A bluff hill on the north partly concealed the town
from the ships, and it was not till this hill- top had been gained
that the three Chinese encampments behind the city could be
seen. The general divided his small foi-co of seven thousand
men into three brigades, under the connnand of ]\rajor-Generals
Lord Saltoun, Schoedde, and Bartlcy, besides an artillery brigade
of live hundred and seventy rank and file, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Montgomerie. The Chinese encampments contaiiR'(l
moi-e than three thousand men, most of them soldiers from
IJupeh and Chehkiang provinces. The Manchu garrison within
the city consisted of one thousand tw^o hundred regular troops
and eight hundred Mongols from Ivoko-nor, together/ with eight
hundred and thirty -five Chinese troops, making altogether from
two thousand six hundred to two thousand eiglit hundred fighting
men ; the entire force was under the command of Hailing,
who had made such a disposition of his troops and strengthened
his means of defence as well as the time allowed. lie closes his
last communication to the Emperor with the assurance that “he
cannot do otherwise than exert his whole heart and sti-ength in
endeavors to repay a small fraction of the favors he has enjoyed
from his ijcovernment.”
ATTACK UPON CHINKIANG. 541
The right brigade, under Lord Saltoun, .sdou drove tlie imperialists
out of their camp, who did not Avait for his near
approach, but brolve and dispersed after firing tliree or four distant
volleys. Captain Loch says that while the i)arty of volunteers
were approaching the camp, they passed through a small
hamlet on the liills; “the village had not been deserted; some
of the houses were closed, while the iidiabitants of others were
standing in the streets staring at us in stu})id wonder ; and
although they were viewing a contest Ijetween foreigners and
their fellow-countrymen, and in danger themselves of being
shot, were coolly eating their meals.”‘
The centre brigade, under ]\Lijor-General Schoedde, landed
on the northern corner of the city, to escalade the walls on that
side and prevent the troops from the camp entering the gates.
He was received by a w^ell-sustained iii-e, his men placing their
ladders and mounting in the face of a determined resistance ; as
soon as they gained the parapet they drove the Tartars before
them, though their passage was bravely disputed. While they
were mounting the walls a fire was kept up on the city on the
northern and eastern sides, under cover of which, after clearing
the ramparts, they proceeded to the western gate, conquering
fill opposition in the northern part (tf the city, and driving the
Tartars to the southern quarter.
The left brigade, under Major-Genei-al Bartley, did not i-each
the western side as soon as was expected, being delayed by the
canal, here between seventy and eighty feet broad, which formed
a deep ditch on this side. The western gate was blown in, the
blast carrying before it a high pile of sand-l)ags heaped against
the inside to strengthen the bars. While this work was going
on, seven boats carrying artillerymen entered the canal to proceed
up to the gate ; but when nearly opposite they were repulsed
by a severe lire from the walls, and the men compelled to abandon
the three leading boats and take refuge in the houses along
the banks ; the others halted under cover of some houses until
their comrades rejoined them, when all j-eturned to the ships.
Two hundred marines now landed, and with three iiundred
sepoys soon recovered the boats and carried back the M^ounded
men. The party then planted their ladders in the face of a
f)42 THK MIDDLE KINGDOM.
spirited fire from the walls, and succeeded in carrying them
against all opj)Ositioii.
All resistance at the three gateways having been overcome, it
was supposed that the city was nearly subdued. Sir Hugh consequently
ordered a halt for his men on account of the heat, and
despatched a small force to proceed along the western ramparts
to occupy the southern gate. This squad had proceeded about
half a mile when it met a body of eight hundred or one tliousand
Taitars regularly drawn up in an open space. They fired
with steadiness and regularity, but their bi-avery was of no
avail, for the party, giving them one volley, charged down the
bank and scattered them immediately, though not without some
resistance. The dispersed Tartars, however, kept up a scattering
fire along the streets and from the houses, wliicli served
chiefly to irritate their enemies and increase their own loss.
The heat of the day having passed, the commander-in-chief,
guided by Mr. Gutzlaff and some Chinese, marched with two
regiments into the southern quarter of the city. The scenes of
desolation and woe which he met seem to have sickened the
gray-haired warrior, for lie says in his despatches, “finding dead
bodies of Tartars in every house we entoi-ed, principally women
and children, thrown into M’ells or otherwise murdered by their
own peo]>le, I was glud to withdraw the ti’oops from this frightful
scene of destruction, and place them in the northern quarter.”
It was indeed a terrific scene. Captain Loch, who accompanied
Sir Hugh, says they went to a large building thought to be the
prefect’s house, which was forced open and found entirely
deserted, thougli completely furnished and of great extent
;
” we set fire to it and marched on.” What the object or advantage
of this barbarous act was he does not say. Leaving the
general, he turned down a street and burst open tlie door of a
large mansion ; the objects which met his view were shocking.
After we had forced our way over piles of furniture placed to barricade
the door, we entered an open court strewed with rich stuffs and covered with
clotted blood; and upon the steps leading to the hall of ancestors there were
two bodies of youthful Tartars, cold and stiff, who seemed to be brothers.
Having gained the threshold of their abode, they had died where they had
fallen from loss of blood. Stepping over those bodies we entered the hall, and
TRAGIC SCENES IN THE CITY. 5-J3
met face to face three women seated, a motlier and two daughters, and at their
feet lay two hodies of elderly men, with their tliroats cut from car to ear, their
senseless heads resting upon the feet of their relations. To the right were two
young girls, heautiful and delicate, crouching over and endeavoring to conceal
a living soldier. In the heat of action, when the blood is up and the struggle
is for life between man and man, the anguish of the wounded and the .sight of
misery and pain is unheeded ; humanity is partially obscured by danger ; hut
when excitement subsides with victory, a heart would be hardly human that
could feel unaffected by the retrospection. And the hardest heart of the oldest
man who ever lived a life of rapine and slaughter could not have gazed on
this scene of woe unmoved. I stopped, horror-stricken at what I saw. The
expression of cold, unutterable despair depicted on the mother’s face changed
to the violent workings of scorn and hate, which at last burst forth in a paroxysm
of invective, afterward in floods of tears, which apparently, if anything
could, relieved her. She came close to me and seized me by the arm, and
with clenched teeth and deadly frown pointed to the bodies, to her daughters,
to her yet splendid house, and to herself ; then stepped back a pace, and with
firmly closed hands and in a husky voice, I could see by her gestures, spoke of
lier misery, her hate, and, I doubt not, her revenge. I attempted by signs to
explain, offered her my services, but was spurned. I endeavored to make her
comprehend that, however great her present misery, it might be in her unprotected
state a hundredfold increased ; that if she would place herself under
my guidance, I would pass her through the city gates in safety into the open
country ; but the poor woman would not listen to me, and the whole family
was by this time in loud lamentation. All that remained for me to do was to
prevent the soldiers bayoneting the man, who, since our entrance, had attempted
to escape.’
The destruction of life was appalling. Some of tlie Manchus
slmt the doors of their houses, while through the crevices persons
could be seen deliberately cutting the throats of their
women, and destroying their children by throwing them into
wells. In one house a man was shot while sawing his wife’s
throat as he held her over a well into which he had already
thrown his children ; her wound was sewed up and the lives of
the children saved. In another house no less than fourteen
dead bodies, principally women, were discovered ; while such
was their terror and hatred of the invadei’s, that every JManchu
preferred resistance, death, suicide, or flight, to surrender. Out
of a Manchu population of foui thousand, it was estimated that
not more than five hundred survived, the greater part having
perished by their own hands.
‘ Capt. G. G. Loch, Narrative of Events in China, p. 109.
544 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The public offices were ransacked and all anus and stores
destroyed ; oulj §60,000 iu sjcee were fouud iu the treasury
The populace began to pillage, and in one instance, fearing a
stop might be put to their rapacity, tliey set fire to the buildings
at each end of a street in order to plunder a pawnbroker’s
shop without interference. The streets and lanes were strewed
with silken, fur, and other rich dresses Avhich the robbers had
thrown awa}^ when they saw something more valuable, and the
sepoys and camp-followers took what they could find. Parties
were accordingly stationed at the gates to take everything
from the natives as they went out, or which they threw over the
walls, and in this way the thieves M’ere in tlieir turn stripped.
Within twenty-four hours after the troops landed, the city and
suburbs of Chinkiang were a mass of ruin and destruction;
part of the eastern wall was subsequently blown iu and all the
gates dismantled to prevent any treachery. The total loss of
the English was thirty-seven killed and one hundred and thirtyone
wounded.
A cui’ious contrast to the terrible scenes i-‘oin*:; on at Chinkiang
was seen at Iching hien, on the northei’u side of the river.
Four days before, the approach of the steamer Nemesis had
caused no little consternation, and iu the evening a Chinese
gentleman came off to her with a few presents to learn if thei-e
was any intention of attacking the town, lie was told that if he
would send supplies of meat and provisions no huiin would be
done, and all he brought should be paid for. In the morning
])rovisi(>ns were furnished, and he remained on board to see the
steamer chase and bring junks to; being nnich amazed at these
novel operations, which gave him a new idea of the energy of
the invaders. In the evening connnands were given him to
bi-ing provisions in larger quantities, and three boats went up to
the town to procure them. The people showed no hostility,
and through his assistance the English opened a market in the
courtyard of a temple, at which supplies were purchased, put
aboard snudl junks, and conveyed to the fleet. On the 21st the
same person came, according to agi’cement, to accompany a large
])arty of English from the ships to his house, where he had
prepared an entertaimnent for them. Through the medium of
RECEPTION OF THE ENGLISH AT ICHING. 545
a Chinese boj commniiicatiou was easily carried on, and tlie
alarms of the townspeople quieted ; a proclamation was also
issued stating that every peaceable person would be unharmed.
This gentleman had invited a large company of his relatives and
friends, and served up a collation for his guests ; all this time
the firing was heard from Chinkiang, where the countrymen of
those so agreeably occupied were engaged in hostile encounter.
On returning to their boats an additional mark of I’espect was
shown by placing a M’ell-dressed man each side of every officer
to fan him as he walked. At the market-temple another entertainment
was also served up. Xo injury was done by either
side, and the forbearance of the English was not without good
effect. Such queer contrasts as this have frequently characterized
the contests between the Chinese and British,
Some of the large ships were towed up to Nanking, and the
whole fleet reached it August 9th, at which time preparation
had been made for the assault ; but desirous of avoiding a repetition
of the sad scenes of Chinkiang, the British leaders had
also sent a communication to Kiu Kien, oifering to ransom the
city for iB3,00(»,000.
This celebrated city lies about three miles south of the river,
but the north-east corner of an outer wall reaches within seven
hundred paces of the water ; the western face runs along the
base of w^ooded hills for part of its distance, and is then continued
through flat grounds around the southern side, both being
defended b}- a deep ditch. The suburbs are on this low ground,
M-here Sir Hugh Gough intended to bombard the place and
make an entrance on the eastern side, M’liile diversions at other
points perplexed the garrison. Ills force consisted of only four
thousand five hundred effective men ; there were, as nearly as
could be learned, six thousand Manchu and nine thousand Chinese
troops within the city. On the 11th Lord Saltoun’s brigade
landed at a village from whence a j)aved road led to one of the
eastern gates, and other detachments were stationed in the
neighborhood. Everything was in readiness for the assault by
daylight of August loth, and the governor-general was told
that it would assuredly be made unless the commissioners produced
their authority for treating.
546 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
In the interval between the downfall of Chinkian”; and in^
vestment of Nanking, several eonnnnnications were received
from the Chinese officers, and one from Kiying, couched in
conciliatory language, and evincing a desire for peace. Sir
Henry Pottinger replied in the same strain, deploi’ing tlie war
and calamities caused by its continuance, but stating that he
could have no interview with any individual, however exalted,
M’ho was not properly connnissioned to treat for peace. It is
probable that the Emperor did not receive any suggestion from
his ministers in regard to making peace until after the fall of
Chinkiang, and it was a matter of some importance, therefore,
for Ilipu and his colleague to delay the attack on Nanking until
an answer could be received from the capital. The usual doubts
in the minds of the English as to their sincerity led them to
look npon the whole as a scheme to perfect the defences, and
gain time for the people to retire ; consequently the pi-eparations
for taking the city went on, in order to deepen the conviction
that if one party was practising any deception, the other
certainly was in earnest.
On the night of the l-4th, scarcely three hours before the
artillery was to open, Ilipu, Kiying, and Niu Ivien addressed a
joint letter to Sir Henry Pottinger requesting an interview in
the morning, Mhen they M’ould produce their credentials and
arrange for furtlier proceedings. This request was granted with
some reluctance, for the day before the jyuehing .sz’ and Tartar
commandant had behaved very unsatisfactorih’, refusing to exhibit
the credentials or discuss the terms of peace or ransom.
The distress ensuent upon the blockade was becoming greater
and greater ; more than seven hundred vessels coming from the
south had been stopped at Chiidciang, and a large fleet lay in
the northern branch of the canal, so that some possibility
existed of the whole province falling into anarchy if the pressure
were not removed. The authorities of the city of Yangchau,
on the canal, had already sent half a million dollars as
the )-ansom of that place, while Niu Kien would only offer a
third of a million to ransom the capital.
The Eni])eror*’s authority to treat with the English was, however,
exhibited at this meeting, and in return Sir Henry’s was
ARRANGEMENTS EOIl CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES. 547
fully explained to them. The delegates on the part of the
conmiistiioners were Hwang ^S’gun-tiing, secretary to Kiying,
and Chin, the Manchii commandant, while Major Malconi,
secretary of legation, and Mr. J. 11. Morrison acted on the part
of the plenipotentiary. Captain Loch, who was present, humorously
describes the solemn manner in which the Emperor’s
commission was brought out from the box in wdiich it was deposited,
and the dismay of the lower attendants at seeing the
foreigners irreverently handle it and examine its authenticity
with so little awe. The skeleton of the treaty was immediately
drafted for Hwang to take to his superiors. General Chin
laughingly remarked that though the conditions were hard,
they were no more so than the Chinese would have demanded
if they had been the victors. The bearing of these officers
was courteous, and Hwang especially found favor with all who
were thrown into his company.
The utmost care being requisite in drawing up the articles,
most of the work falling upon Mr. Morrison, it was not till late
at night on the 17th that the final draft was sent to the
Chinese. The plenipotentiary, on the 18th, desired the general
and admiral to suspend hostilities, at which time arrangements
were also made for an interview the next day between the representatives
on both sides. The English officers meantime explored
the vicinity of the city, and the demand for provisions
to supply the force caused a brisk trade highlj’ beneficial to the
Chinese, and well calculated to please them.
On the 19th Kiying, tlipu, and jS^iu Kien, accompanied by a
large suite, paid their first visit to the English. The steamer
Medusa brought them alongside the Cornwallis, and Sir Henry
Pottinger, supported by the admiral and general, received them
on the quarter-deck. The ship was decked with flags, and the
crowd of gayly dressed officers in blue and scarlet contrasted
well with the bright crapes and robes of the Chinese. This
visit was one of ceremon\’, and after partaking of refreshments
and examining the ship the commissioners retired, expressing
their gratification at what they saw. They conducted themselves
with decorum in their novel position, and Kiying and
llipu, though both brought up in the full persuasion of the
54:8 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Bupremacj of their sovereign over the rulers of all other nations,
and particularly over the English, manifested no ill-concealed
chagrin. They liad previously sent up a report of the prugj’uss
of the expedition after the capture of Chinkiang, rec[uesting
in it that the demands of the invaders might be conceded ; the
inefficiency of their troops is acknowledged, and a candid statement
of the impossibility of effectual resistance laid before his
Majesty, with cogent reasons for acceding to the demands of the
Englisli as the wisest course of procedure. The further disasters
which will ensue if the war is not brought to a close
are hinted at, and the concession of the points at issue considered
in a manner least humbling to imperial vanity. The sum
of $21,000,000 to be paid is regarded by them as a present
to the soldiers and sailors before sending them home
;
partly as the liquidation of just debts due from the hong merchants,
whose insolvency made them chargeable to the government,
and partly as indemnification for the opium. Trade at
the five ports was to be allowed, because fonr of them had already
been seized, and this was the only w’ay to induce the
invaders to withdraw, while Hongkong could be ceded inasnnich
as they had already built houses there. The memorial is a
curious effort to render the bitter pill somewhat palatable to
themselves and their master.
The English plenipotentiary, accompanied by a large concourse
of officers, returned the visit on shore in a few days, and were
met at the entrance of a temple by the commissioners, who led
them through a guard of newly uniformed and unarmed soldiers
into the building, the bands of both nations striking up their
music at the same time. This visit continued tlie good understanding
which prevailed ; the room had been carpeted and ornamented
with lanterns and sci-olls for the occasion, while the
adjacent grounds accommodated a crowd of natives. On the 20tli
Sir Henry Pottinger and his suite, consisting of his secretary,
]\[ajor Malcom, Messi-s. Morrison, Thorn, and Gutzlaff, the three
interpreters, and three other gentlemen, proceeded about four
miles to the landing-place on the canal, where they were met by
a brigadier and two colonels; the banks of the canal wei’c lined
with troops. The party then took their horses, and, preceded
AKTICLES OF THE TIJEATY OF NANKING. 549
by a mounted escort, were received at tlie city gate by the secretaries
of llipu ; the procession advanced to the place of meeting,
guarded by a detachment of Manchu cavahy, whose shaggy
ponies and llowing dresses presented a singular contiast to the
envoy’s escort and their beautiful Arabs, lie himself was conducted
through the outer gate, up the court and through the
second gateway, ascending the steps into the third entrance,
where he dismounted and entered the building with the commissioners
and governor-general. The room had been elegantly
fitted up, and a crowd of official attendants dressed in their ceremonial
robes stood around. Sir Henry occupied the chief seat
between Kiying and Ili’pu, their respective attendants being
seated in proper oi’der, with small tables between every two
persons, while dinner was served up in usual Chinese style.
These formalities being over, the thirteen articles of this most
important treaty were discussed :
I.—Lasting peace between the two nations.
II.—The ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuhchau, Kingpo, and
Shanghai to be opened to British trade and residence, and trade
conducted according to a well-understood tariff.
III.—” It being obviously necessary and desirable that British
subjects should have some port whereat they may careen and
refit their ships when required,” the island of Hongkong to be
ceded to her Majesty.
lY.—Six millions of dollars to be paid as the value of the
opium which was delivered up ” as a ransom for the lives of
II. B. M. Superintendent and subjects,” in March, 1839.
Y.—Three millions of dollars to be paid for the debts due to
British merchants.
YI.—Twelve millions to be paid for the expenses incurred in
the expedition sent out ” to obtain redress for the violent and
unjust proceedings of the Chinese high authorities.”
YIL—The entire amount of $21,000,000 to be paid before
December 31, 1845.
YIII.—All prisoners of war to be immediately released by
the Chinese.
IX.—The Emperor to grant full and entire amnesty to those
of his subjects who had aided the British.
J^O THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
X. —A regular and fair tariff of export and import customs
and other dues to be established at the open ports, and a transit
duty to be levied in addition whicli will give goods a free conveyance
to all places in China.
XI.—Official correspondence to be hereafter conducted on
terms of equality according to the standing of the parties.
XIl.—Conditions for restoring the places held by British
troops to be according to the payments of money.
XIII.—Time of exchanging ratifications and carrying the
treaty into effect.
The official English and Chinese texts of this compact and a
literal translation of the Chinese text are given in the (JJunese
Repodtoi’ij^ Vols. XIII. and XIV.; in that serial is also to be
found a full account of the struggle which was thus brought to
a close. Looked at in any point of view, political, commercial,
moral, or intellectual, it will always be considered as one of the
turning points in the history of mankind, involving the welfare
of all nations in its wide-reaching consequences.
When matters connected with the treaty had been arranged,
Sir Henry proposed to say a few words upon ” the great cause
that produced the disturbances which led to the war, viz., the
trade in opium.” But upon hearing this (Captain Loch says)
they unanimously declined entering upon the subject, until they
were assured that he had introduced it merely as a topic for
private conversation.
The}’ then evinced much interest, and eagerly requested to know why wB
would not act fairly toward them by prohi1)iting the growth of tlie poppy in
our dominions, and thus effectually stop a traffic so pernicious to the human
race. This, he said, in consistency with our constitutional laws could not he
done ; and he added that even if England chose to exercise so arbitrary a
power over her tillers of the soil, it would not check the evil, so far as the
Chinese were concerned, while the cancer remained uneradicated among themselves,
but that it would merely throw the market into other hands. It, in
fact, he said, rests entirely with yourselves. If your people are virtuous, they
will desist from the evil practice ; and if your officers are incorruptible and
obey your orders, no opium can enter your country. The discouragement of
the growth of the poppy in our territories rests principally with you, for nearly
the entire produce cultivated in India travels east to China ; if, however, the
habit has become a confirmed vice, and you feel that your power is at present
inadequate to stay its indulgence, you may rest assured your people will pro*
DISCUSSION OF THE OPIUM t^UESTION. 551
cure the drug in spite of every enactment. Would it not, therefore, he better at
once to legalize its importation, and by thus securing the co-operation of the
rich and of your authorities, from whom it would thus be no longer debarred,
thereby greatly limit tlie facilities which now exist for smuggling ? They
owned the plausibility of the argument, but expressed tliemselves persuaded
that their imperial master would never listen to a word upon the subject.
To convince them that what he said was not introduced from any sinister
wish to gain an end more advantageous for ourselves, he drew a rapid sketch
of England’s rise and progress from a barbarous state to a degree of wealth and
civilization unpai’alleled in the history of the world ; which rajiid rise was
principally attributable to benign and liberal laws, aided by commerce, which
conferred power and consequence. He then casually mentioned instances of
governments having failed to attain their ends by endeavoring to exclude any
particular objects of popular desire ; tobacco was one of those he alluded to,
and now that it was legalized, not only did it produce a large revenue to the
crown, but it was more moderately indulged in in Britain than elsewhere.’
To the well-wisher of his fellow-iueu this narrative suggests
many melancholy reflections. On the one hand were fonr or
five high Chinese officers, who, although pagans and unacquainted
with the prhiciples of true virtue, had evidently sympathized with
and upheld their sovereign in his fruitless, misdirected endeavors
to save his people from a vicious habit. ” Why will you not
act fairly toward us by prohibiting the growth of the poppy ?
“
is their anxious inquiry ; for they knew that there was no moi’al
principle among themselves strong enough to resist the opium
pipe. ” Your people must become virtuous and your officers
incorruptible, and then you can stop the opium coming into your
borders,” is the reply ; precisely the words that the callous
rumseller gives the broken-hearted wife of the besotted drunkard
when she beseeches him not to sell liquor to her enslaved
husband. ” Other people will bring it to you if Ave should stop
the cultivation of the poppy ; if England chose to exercise so
arbitrary a power over her tillers of the soil, it would not check
the evil,” adds the envoy; “you cannot do better than legalize
it.” Although nations are somewhat different from individuals
in respect to their power of resisting and suppressing a vice,
‘ Loch’s Events in China, p. 173, London, 1843. This same point is slightly
referred to by Lieutenant Ouchterlony, on page 448 of his Chinese War, where
he states that Sir Henry had prepared a paper for the information of the Chinese
officials, proposing to them to permit the traffic in opium to be by barter
552 Tin-: MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and Sir Henry did riglit to speak of the legal difficnlty in the
way of restraining labor, yet how heartless was the excnse,” if we
do not bring it to you others will.”” Xo suggestion was made
to them as to the most judicious mode of restraining what they
were told they could not prohibit; no hint of the farming
system, which would have held out to them a medinm path between
absolute freedom and prohibition, and probably been
seriously considered by the court ; no frank explanation as to
the real position the English government itself held in respect
to the forced growth of this pernicious article in its Indian territories.
How much nobler would that govermnent have stood
in the eyes of mankind if its head and ministers had instructed
their plenipotentiary, that when their other demands were all
paid and conceded no indemnity should have been asked for
smuggled opium entirely destroyed by those who had seized it
within their borders under threats of worse consequences. That
government and ministry which had paid a liundred millions for
the emancipation of slaves could surely aiford to release a pagan
nation from such an imposed obligation, instead of sending their
armies to exact a few millions which the revenue of one year,
derived from this very article alone, M’ould amply discliarge to
their ONvn subjects. For this pitiful sum nnist the great moral
lesson to the Emperor of China and his subjects, which could
have been taught them at this time, be lost.
Sir Henry inquired if an envoy would be received at Peking,
should one be sent from England, which Kiying assured him
Mould no doubt be a gratification to his master, though what
ideas the latter connected with such a suggestion can only be
inferred. The conference lasted thi-ee or four hours, and when
the procession returned to the barges, through an immense
crowd of people, nothing was heard from them to indicate dislike
or dread ; all other tlioughts were merged in overpowering
curiosity. It was remarkable that this was the anniversary of
the day when English subjects, among Avhom were the three
interpreters here present, left Macao in 1831), by order of Lin;
on August 26, 1840, the plenipotentiaries entered the Pei ho to
seek an interview with Kishen ; that day, the next year, Amoy
and its extensive batteries fell ; and now the three years’ game
THE TREATY SIGNED AND RATIFIED. 653
is won and China is obliged to bend, her magnates come down
from tlieir eminences, and her wall of supremacy, isolation, and
conceit is shattered beyond the possibility of restoration. Iler
rulers apparently submitted with good grace to the hard lesson,
which seemed to be the only effectual means of compelling
them to abandon their ridiculous pretensions ; though it cannot
be too often repeated that the effect of kindness, honorable
dealing, and peaceful missions had not been fairly tried. ‘
Arrangements were made on the 29tli to sign the treaty on
board the Corn wall is. After it was signed all sat down to
table, and the admiral, as the host in his flagship, gave the
healths of their Majesties, the Queen of England and the Emperor
of China, which was announced to the fleet and army by
a salute of twenty-one guns and hoisting the Union Jack and a
yellow flag at the main and mizzen. The treaty was forwarded
to Peking that evening. The embargo on the rivers and ports
was at once taken off, the troops re-embarked, and preparations
made to return to Wusung. The six millions were paid without
much delay, and on September 15th the Emperor’s ratification
was received. The secretary of legation, Major Malcom,
immediately left to obtain the Queen’s ratification, going by
steam the entire distance (except eighty miles in Egypt) from
Kanking to London—an extraordinary feat in those days.
The imperial assent was also published in a rescript addressed
to Kiying, in reply to his account of the settlement of affairs, in
which he gives directions for disbanding the troops, rebuilding
such forts as had been destroyed, and cultivating peace as Avell
as providing for the fulfilment of the articles. It is, on the
whole, a dignified approval of the treaty, and breathes nothing
of a spirit of revenge or intention to prepare for future resistance.
The fleet of ships and transports returned down the river and
reassembled at Tinghai, at the end of October, not a vessel
having been lost. Even before leaving Xanking, and in the passage
down the river, the troops and sailors, especially the Indian
regiments, were reduced by cholera, fever, and other diseases,
some of the transports being nearly disabled ; the deaths
amounted to more than a thousand before reachini; Ilono-kons.
554 THE .MIDDLE KINGDOM.
On arriving at Anioy tlio plenipotentiary was highly ineented
on hearing of the melancholy fate of the captive crews of the
Xerbudda and Ann, wrecked on Formosa. The first, a transport,
contained two hundred and seventy-four souls, and when she
went ashore all the Europeans abandoned two hundred and
forty Hindus to their fate, most of whom fell into the liands of
the Chinese. The Ann was an opium vessel, and lier crew of
fifty-seven souls were taken prisoners and carried to Taiwan fu.
The prisoners were divided into small parties and had little
conmumieation with each other during their captivity, M’hich
was aggravated by Mant of food and clothing, filthy lodgings,
and other hardships of a Chinese jail, so that many of the Indians
died. The survivors, on August loth, with the exception
of ten persons, were carried out to a plain near the city, one of
whom, ]Mr. Xewman, a seacunnie on board the Ann and the
last in the procession, gave the following account
:
On being taken ont of his sedcan, to have his hands shackled beliind his back,
he saw two of the prisoners with their irons otf and refusing to have them
put on. They had both been drinking and were making a great noise, crying
out to him that tliey were all to have their heads cut off. He advised them to
submit quietly, but they still refusing, he first wrenched off his own and then
j)ut them into theirs, to the great pleasure of the soldiers, but when the soldiers
wished to replace liis he declined. As they were on the point of securing
him he accidentally saw the chief officer seated close to him. Going befoi’e
him he threw himself on his head and commenced singing a few Chinese
words which he had fretjiiently hoard repeated in a temple. The officer was
HO pleased with this procedure that he turned round to the soldiers and ordered
them to carry him back to the city. All the rest, one hundred and ninetyseven
in number, were i)laced at small distances from each other on their
knees, their feet in irons and hands manacled behind their backs, thus waiting
for the executioners, who went round and with a kind of two-handed
sword cut off their heads without being laid on a block. .Afterward their
bodies were thrown into one grave and their heads stuck up in cages on the
seashore.’
A journal was kept by Mr. Gully to within tliree days of his
death, and another by Captain Denham of the Ann, one of the
prisoners saved to send to Peking.* Both contain full accounts
Chinese Reponit^yry, Vol. XII., p. 248.
” Journah of Mr. GvUi/ and CapUiin Denlutni during a Cajdivity in China in
1842. London : Chapman & Hall, 1844.
MASSACRE OF SIIIIMV P.ECKIJD CREWS ON FORMOSA. 555
of the treatment of the luihuppy captives, and diminish the
synipathy felt for tlie defeat of the government whicli allowed
such shuighter. It was said to have been done by orders from
court, grounded on a lying report sent up by the Mancliu commandant,
Tahuiigah. When their sad fate was learned Sir
Henry l*ottinger published two proclamations in Chinese, in
which the principal facts were detailed, so that all might know
the truth of the matter; a demand nuide fur the degradation and
punishment of the lying officers who had superintended it, and
the confiscation of their property for the use of the families of the
sufferers, lliang, the governor-general, expressed his sincere regret
to the English envoy at what had taken place, and examined
into the facts himself, which led to the degradation and
banishment of the conmuuidant and intendant. While the prisoners
were still at Taiwan fu, II. M. S. Serpent was sent over
from Anioy to reclaim them, by which expedition the truth of
the barbarous execution was first learned ; this vessel afterward
went tiiere to receive the shipwrecked crew of the Ilerculaneum
transport.
The citizens of Amoy, jSiingpo, and Shanghai hailed the cessation
of the war and the opening of their ports to foreign
trade ; but not so at Canton. The discharged volunteers still
remained about the city, notwithstanding orders to return home
and resume their usual employments, most of whom probably
had neither. Scheming demagogues took advantage of a rumor
that the English army intended to form a settlement opposite
the city, and issued a paper in the name of the gentry, calling
upon all to combine and resist the aggression. The enthusiasm
it caused was worked up to a higher pitch b}^ an inflannnatory
manifesto, in which desperate measures were plainly intinuited ;
but the district magistrates took no steps against them. An
invitation was circulated for the citizens and gentlemen from
other provinces to meet at the public assembly hall to consult
upon public affairs. A counter but less spirited manifesto was
pasted up in the hall, which had the effect of inducing about
half the people to disperse. The writers of this paper dissuaded
their countrymen from hasty measures, by telling them’ that no
556 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
land could be taken or dwellings occupied without periuission
from the provincial authorities, and urged upon them to live at
peace with tlie English, in accordance Avith the injunctions of
their wise sovereign.
A brawl occurred in Hog Lane on December Gth, between
some hucksters and lascars, who -were pursued into the Square,
where the mob rapidly increased, and about two o’clock began
pulling down a brick wall around the Company’s garden and
forcing open one of the factories, which was speedily pillaged,
the inmates escaping through the back doors. The British flagstaff
was fired by a party which kept guard around it, and the
flames connnunicating to the verandah, other parts soon caught,
and by midnight the three hongs east of Ilog Lane were burning
furiously. The ringleaders, satisfied with firing the British
consulate, endeavored to prevent thieves carrying away the
plunder ; but they were forced to escape about midnight. These
wretches soon began to quan-el among themsch’es for the dollars
found in the ruins, and it was not till noon that the police
and soldiers ventured to attack the knotted groups of struggling
despei’adoes and arrest the most conspicuous, and with the aid
of boats’ crews from the shipping recapture some of the specie.
Full compensation was subsequently made to the foreigners for
the losses sustained, amounting to $67,397, and some of the
ringleaders were executed.
A. large part of the officers in the army and navy engaged in
the war received promotion or honorary titles. Sir Hugh was
made a baronet, and, after more service in India, elevated to
the peerage, with the title of Lord Gough, Baron of Chinkiang
fu ; the plenipotentiary and the admiral obtained Grand Crosses
of the liath. The three interpreters, Messrs. Morrison, Thorn,
and Gutzlaff, whose services had been arduous and important,
received no distinctive reward from their government. The
amount of prize money distributed among the soldiers and
sailors was small. The losses of the English from shipwreck,
sickness, and casualties dm-ing tlie war amounted to more than
three thousand ; the mortality was greatest among the Indian
regiments and the European recruits, especially after the opei”
ations behind Canton and the capture of Chinkiang.
SETTLEMENT OF COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS. 557
While the English goveniiiieiit lewarded its officers, the Emperor
expressed his displeasure at the conduct of the major
part of his surviving generals, but distributed posthumous
honors to those who had died at their posts. Hailing, with liis
wife and grandson, were honored with a fane, and his sons promoted.
Kiying was appointed governor-general at ]^anking.
Tliougli many civil and military officers were condemned to
death, none actually lost their lives, except Yu Pu-yun, the
governor of Chehkiang, who fled from JS^ingpo in October,
1841.
The settlement of the duties and regulations for carrying
on foreign commerce immediately engaged the attention of the
plenipotentiary. He called on the British mei’chants for information,
but so utterly desultory was the manner in which the
duties had been formerly levied, that they could give him little
or no reliable information as to what was really done with the
money. The whole matter was placed by both parties in the
hands of Mr. Tliom, who had been engaged in business at Canton,
and Hwang Ngan-tung, secretary to Kiying. To settle these
multifarious affairs and restore quiet, Ilipu was sent to Canton
as commissioner. On his arrival, he set about allaying the popular
discontent at the treaty, and his edict ‘ is a good instance of
the mixture of flattery and instruction, coaxing and connnanding,
which Chinese officers frequently adopt when they are not
sure of gaining their end by power alone, and do not wish to irritate.
In this instance it did much to remove misapprehension
and allay excitement, but its author had not long been engaged
in these arduous duties before he ” made a vacancy,”
aged seventy-two, having been more than half his life engaged
in high employments in his country’s service ; his conduct and
foresight in the last two years did credit to himself and elevated
his nation. Ilis associate, Kiying, took his place and exchanged
the ratifications of the treaty of Nanking at Hongkong with Sir
Henry Pottinger, ten months after it had been signed by the
same persons. The island was then taken possession of on behalf
• Chinese Repository, Vol. XXL, p. lOG.
of the Queen by proclamation, and the warrant read appointing Sir Henry governor of the colony. Its influence on +he well-being of China since that period has been less than was anticipated by those who looked to the higher welfare and progress of a British colony so near to it as likely to be an example for good. A free port has encouraged smuggling to a degree that constantly irritates and baffles the native authorities on the mainland, and leads to armed resistance to their efforts toward collecting lawful revenue, especially on opium ; while the influx of Chinese traders, attracted by its greater security, is gradually converting the island into a Chinese settlement protected by British rule. The peninsula of Kowhmg, on the north side of the harbor, was added in 1860, to furnish ground for the
commissary departments of the forces. The influence of a wellordered
Christian government exercising a beneficent rule over
a less civilized race under its sway, is soon neutralized by licensing
the opium farms and gambling saloons and lending its moral
sanction to smuggling.
The tariff and commercial regulations were published July 22d.
In this tariff, all emoluments and illegal exactions superimposed
upon the imperial duties were prohibited, and a fixed duty
put on each article, which seldom exceeded five per cent, on
the cost ; all kinds of breadstuffs were free. ( ‘ommercial dealings
were placed on a well -understood basis, instead of the
former loose way of conducting business ; the monopoly of the
hong merchants was ended, the fees exacted on ships were abolished,
and a tonnage duty of five mace per ton substituted ; the
charge for pilotage was reduced so much that the pilots were
nearly stripped of all they received after paying the usual fees
to the tidewaiters along the river. Disputes between English
and Chinese were to be settled by the consuls, and in serious
cases by a mixed court, when, upon conviction, each party was
to punish its own criminals.
The proclamation giving effect to these i-egulations was one
of the most important documents ever issued by the Chinese
government ; as an initiation of the new order of things, it
was creditable to the people whose rulers were of themselves
and could utter such words to them. After referring to the war
and treaty of peace, Kiying goes on to say, respecting the tariff,
THE NEW TARIFF PROCLAIMED. 559
that as soon as replies shall be received from tlie Buai-d of Tlev^
enue, “it will then take effect witli refei-ence to the commerce
with China of all countries, as well as of England. Henceforth,
then, the weapons of war shall forever be laid aside,
and joy and profit shall be the perpetual lot of all ; neither sli<i;ht
nor few will be the advantages reaped by the merchants alike
of China and of foreign countries. From this time foi-ward,
all must free themselves frou] prejudice and suspicions, pursuing
each his proper avocation, and careful always to retain no inimical
feelings from the recollection of the hostilities that have
before taken place. For such feelings and i-ecollections can luive
no other effect than to hinder the growth of a good understanding
between the two peoples.” It should be moreover added, as
due praise to the imperial government, that none of the many
liundreds who served the English on ship and shore against
their country were afterward molested in any way for so doing.
Many were apprehended, but the commissioner says he ” has
obtained from the good favor of his august sovereign, vast and
boundless as that of heaven itself, the remission of their punishment
for all past deeds ; » . . they need entertain no appi-
ehension of being hereafter dragged forward, nor yield in
consequence to any fears or suspicions.”
‘These new arrangements pleased the leading Chinese merchants
better than they did the hoppo and others who had lined
their pockets and fed their friends with illegal exactions. The
never-failing sponge of the co hong could no longer be sucked,
but for a last squeeze the authorities called upon the merchants
for five millions of dollars, which they refused to pay, and
withdrew from business with so much determination and union
that the hoppo and his friends were foiled ; they finally contributed
among themselves about one million seven hundred
thousand dollars, which was nearly or quite their last benevolence
to their rulers. Ilowqua, the leading member of the body during
thirty years, died about this time, aged seventy-five ; he was,
altogether, the most remarkable native known to foreigners, and
while he filled the difficult station of senior merchant, exhibited
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 443.
great shrewdness and ability in jiumaging the deHcate and difficult
affairs constantly thrown upon him. lie came fi-oni Amoy
when a voung man, and his property, probably over estimated
at four millions sterling, passed quietly into the hands of his
children.’
Tlie foreign community also suffered a great loss at this time
in the death of John Ilobert Morrison, at the age of twentynine,
lie was born in China, and had identified himself with
the best interests of her people and their advancement in
knowledjre and Christianity. At the age of twenty, on his
father’s decease, he was appointed Chinese secretary to the
British superintendents, and filled that responsible situation
with credit and efficiency during all the disputes with the proyincial
authorities and commissioner Lin, and of the war, until
peace was declared. His intimate acquaintance with the policy
of the Chinese government and the habits of thought of its officers
eminently fitted him for successfully treating with them,
and enlightening them upon the intentions and wishes of foreign
powers ; while his unaffected kindness to all natives assured
them of the sincerity of his professions. The successful conduct
of the negotiations at Xanking depended very much upon him,
and the manner in which he performed the many translations
to and from Chinese, connected with that event, was such as to
secure the confidence of the imperial connnissioners, in their
ignorance of all foreign languages, that they were fairly dealt
with.
He was eminently a Christian man, and whenever opportunity
allowed, failed not to speak of the doctrines of the Bible to his
native friends. The projected revision of the Chinese version
of the Scriptures by the Protestant missionaries engaged his
attention, and it was expected would receive his assistance.
With his influence, his pen, his property, and his prayers, he
contributed to the welfare of the people, and the confidence felt
in him by natives who knew him was often strikingly exhibited
‘ Compare The Fan Kwae at Canton before Treaty Days, by an Old Residejit
(Mr. W. C. Hunter), London, 1882; a little volume which, besides many personal
reminiscences of the characters mentioned in this narrative, furnishes an interesting picture of life in Canton a half century ago.
DEATH OF JOHN K. MOKKISON. 561
at Canton durin*^ tlio coniinotions of 1841 and the negotiations
of 1843. lie died at Macao August 29th, a jear after the treaty
of i^anking was signed, and was l)nried by the side of liis
parents in the Pi’otestant burying-gronnd. Sir lleiny Pottinger
announced his death as a “positive national calamity,” and it was so received ‘by the government at home, he also justly added that ” Mr. Morrison was so well known to every one, and so beloved, respected, and esteemed by all wdio had the pleasure and happiness of his acquaintance or friendship, that to attempt to pass any panegyric upon his private character would be a mere waste of words ;” while his own sorrow was but a type of the universal feeling in which his memory and merit are embalmed. As a testimony of their sense of his worth, the foreign community, learning that he had died poor,
leaving a maiden sister who had been dependent upon him, and
that his official accounts were in some confusion, immediately
came forward and contributed nearlj’ fourteen thousand dollars
to relieve his estate and relatives from all embarrassment.
The negotiations were concluded by the English and Chinese
plenipotentiaries signing a supplementary treaty on October 8th
(the day was a lucky one in the Chinese calendar), at the Bogue.
This treaty provided, among other things, for the admission of
all foreigners to the iive open ports on the same terms as English
subjects ; it was inserted at the request of Kiying, that all
might appreciate the intentions of his government ; for neither
he nor his master knew anything of that favorite phrase, ” the
most favored nation,” and expected and wished to avoid all controversy by putting every ship and flag on the same footing.
It might have been expected that the Chinese government
would have now taken some action upon the opium trade, which
was still going on unchecked and unlicensed. Opium schooners
were passing in and out of Hongkong liarbor, though the drug
sold by the Indian government at Calcutta was not allowed by
the colonial British government at Hongkong to be stored on
shore. Yet no edicts wei-e issued, few or no seizui-es made, no
notice taken of it ; no proposition to repress, legalize, or inanage
it came from the imperial commissioner. The old laws denouncing
its use, purchase, or sale under the penalty of deati* still remained on the statute book, but no one feared or cared for them. This conduct is fully explained by the supposition that, having undergone so much, the Emperor and his ministers thought safety from future trouble with the British lay in enduring what was past curing ; they had already suffered greatly
in attempting to suppress it, and another war might be caused
by meddling with the dangerous subject, since too it M^as now
guarded by well-armed British vessels. Public opinion was still
too strong against it, or else consistency obliged the monarch to
forbid legalization.’
Sir Henry Pottingcr, hearing that persons were about sending
opium to Canton under the pretense that unenumerated articles
were admissible by the new tariff at a duty of five per
cent., issued a proclamation in English and Chinese, to the intent
that such proceedings were illegal. lie also forbade British
vessels going bej-ond lat. 32° X., and intimated to the Chinese
that they might seize all persons and confiscate all vessels found
above that line, or anywhei*e else on the coast besides the five
ports ; and, moreover, published an order in council wdiich
restricted, under penalty of $500 for each offence, all British
vessels violating the stipulations of the treaty in this respect.
All this was done chiefly to throw dust in their eyes, and put
the onus of the contraband traffic on the Chinese government
and the violation of law on those who came off to the smuggling
vessels, and these proclamations and orders, like their edicts,
were to be put ” on record.” This was shoAvn when Captain
Hope, of II.M.S. Thalia, for stopping two or three of the opium
vessels proceeding above Shanghai, was recalled from his station
and ordered to India, where he could not “interfere in such a manner
with the undertakings of British subjects “—to quote Lord
Palmerston’s despatch to Captain Elliot. This effectually deterred
other British officers from meddling with it.
Yet the commercial bearings of this trade were clearly seen
in England, and a memorial to Sir Bobert Peel, signed by two
hundred and thirty-five merchants and manufacturers, was drawn
‘ Montgomery Martin, China ; Political, Commercial, and Social, Vol. II.,
Chap. IV. (London, 1847)—a chapter containing some most suggestive reflections
on this subject by a member of her Majesty’s government at Hongkong.
RENEWAL OF THE OPIUM DISCUSSION. 563
np, in which they proved that tlie ” commerce with China cannot^r
be conducted on a permanently safe and satisfactory basis so long
as the contraband trade in opium is permitted. Even if legalized,
the trade would inevitably undermine the commerce of Great
Britain with China, and prevent its being, as it otherwise might
be, an advantageous market for our manufactures. It would operate
for evil in a double way: first, by enervating and impoverishing
the consumers of the drug, it would disable them from becoming
purchasers of our productions ; and second, as the Chinese
would then be paid for their produce chiefly as now in opium, the
quantity of that article imported by them having of late years
exceeded in value the tea and silk we receive from them, our
own manufactures would consequently be to a great extent precluded.”
The memorial shows that between 1803-08 the annual
demand for M’oollens alone was nearly $750,000 more than
it was for «Z^ products of British industry between 1834—39 ; while
in that interval the opium trade had risen from three thousand to
thirty thousand chests annually. Nothing in the annals of commerce
ever showed more conclusively how heartless a thing trade
is when it comes in contact with morality or humanity, than
the discussions respecting the opium traffic. These memorialists
plead for their manufactures, but the East India Company
would have been soi-ry to have had their market spoiled : what
could Sir Robert Peel, or even Wilberforce, if he had been
premier, do against them in this matter ? The question was
which party of manufacturers should be patronized. But none
of these “merchants and manufacturers of the highest standing
and respectability ” refer to the destruction of life, distress of
families, waste of mind, body, and property, and the many other
evils connected with the growth and use of opium, except as connected
with the sale of their goods. One paper, in order
to compound the matter, recommended the manufacture of
morphine to tempt the Chinese, in order that, if they would
smoke it, they might have a delicate preparation for fashionable
smokers.
The conduct of the ministry in remunerating the merchants
who had surrendered their property to Captain Elliot was appropriate
to the character of the trade. The $6,000,000, instead of being divided in Cliina aiijOiig those m’Iio were to receive it —as could have been done without expense—was cariied to England to be coined, which, with the freight, reduced it considerably. Then by the manner of ascertaining the market value at the time it was given up, and the holders of the opium script got their pay, they received scarcely one-half of what was originally paid to the East India Company, either directly or indirectly, thereby reducing it nearly a million sterling. Furthermore, by the form of payment they lost nearly one-fifth even of the promised sum, or about one million two hundred thousand dollars. Then they lost four years” interest on their whole capital, or about four million dollars more. What the merchants lost, the government profited. The Company gained during these four years at least a million sterling by the increased price of the drug, while Sir Eobert Peel also transferred that amount from the pockets of the merchants to the public treasury. It was an imdignified and pitiful haggling with the merchants and owners of the opium, whom that ministry had encouraged for many years in their trade along the Chinese coast, and then forced to take wdiat was doled out.
Public opinion will ever characterize the contest thus brought
to an end as an oj/ium war, entered into and cai’ried on to
obtain indemnity for opium seized, and—setting aside the niceties
of western international law, M’liich the Chinese government
knew nothing of—most justly seized. The British and American
merchants who voluntarily subscribed one thousand and
thirty-seven chests to Commissioner Lin, acknowledged themselves
to be transgressors by tliis very act. Yet war seemed to
be the only way to break down the intolerable assumptions of
the court of Peking ; that a Avar M’ould do it was quite plain
to every one acquainted with the character of that court and the
genius of the j^eople, and the result has shown the expectation
to have been M’cU based. Members of Parliament expi’cssed
their gratification at being at last out of a bad busines^s ; their
desire, frequently nttered, that the light of the gos])(‘l and the
blessings of C’hristian civilization might now be introduced
among the millions of China, was a cheap peace-offering of good
wishes, some^\llat in tin- manner t)f the old Hebrews sacrificing
treatip:.s mith otiieu powers. 565
a kid when tbej liad eoniniitted a trespass. Tlie short but pithy
digest of the whole war by Justin McCarthy, in Chapter X. of
the Ilisturij of Our Ocn Times, brings out its leading features
in a fairly candid manner.
The announcement of the treaty of Xanking caused considerable
sensation in Europe and America, cliictly in commercial
circles. M. Augusto Moxhet, the Belgian consul at kSingapore,
was sent on to China to make such inquiries for transmission to
his government as would direct it in its efforts to open a trade.
The Xetherlands government sent orders to the authorities at
Batavia, who despatched M. Tonco Modderman for the same
purpose. The king of Prussia appointed ]\I. Grube to proceed
to China to prosecute researches as to the prospect of finding
a market for German mamifactnres. The Spanish ministry,
through the authorities at Manila, designated Don Sinibaldo de
Mas in this new sphere. The governor of Macao, M. Pinto,
before returning home, was appointed commissioner on behalf
of II. M. F. Majesty, to treat respecting the rights and privileges
of Macao under the new order of things, and succeeded in
obtaining some stipulations favorable to the trade of the place,
but could not get the Chinese to cede it to Portugal. These
gentlemen arrived in China during the latter part of 1S43, and
most of them had interviews or communication with Kiying before
he returned to court in December.
The governments of the United States and France early appointed
ministers extraordinary to the court of Peking. Caleb Cushing, commissioner on behalf of the United States, brought a letter from the President to the Emperor, which is inserted in full as an instance of the singular mixture of patronizing and deprecatory address then deemed suitable for the Grand Khan by western nations :
LETTER TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
I, John Tyler. President of the United States of America -which States are: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, ^Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan—send you this letter of peace and friendship, signed by my own hand.
I hope your healtli is good. China is a great Empire, extending over a great
part of the world. The Chinese are numerous. You have millions and millions
of subjects. The twenty-six United States are as large as China, though
our people are not so numerous. The rising sun looks upon the great mountains
and great rivers of China. When lie sets, he looks iipon rivers and
mountains equally large in the United States. Our territories extend from
one great ocean to the other ; and on the west we are divided from your dominions
only by the sea. Leaving the mouth of one of our great rivers, and
going constantly toward tlie setting sun, we sail to Japan and to the Yellow
Pea.
Now, my words are that the governments of two such great countries should
be at peace. It is proper, and according to tlie will of lieaven, that they should
respect each other, and act wisely. 1 therefore send to your court Caleb Cushing,
one of tlie wise and learned men of this country. On his first arrival in
China, he will iiujuire for your health. He has strict orders to go to your
great city of Peking, and there to deliver this letter. He will have with him
secretaries <tnd interpreters.
The Chinese love to trade with our jteople, and to sell them tea and silk, for
which our people pay silver, and sometimes other articles. But if the Chinese
and the Americans will trade, tliere shall be rules, so that they shall not break
your laws or our laws. Our minister, Caleb Gushing, is authorized to make a
treaty to regulate trade. Let it be just. Let there be no unfair advantage on
either side. Let the people trade not only at Canton, but also at Anioy, Ningpo,
Shanghai, Fuhchau, and all such other places as may o.Ter profitable exchanges
both to China and the United States, provided they do not break your
laws nor our laws. We shall not take the part of evil-doers. We shall not
uphold them that break your laws. Therefore, we doubt not that you will be
pleased that our messenger of peace, with this letter in his hand, shall come
to Peking, and there deliver it ; and that your great officers will, by your order,
make a treaty with liim to regulate a.fairs of trade—so that nothing may
happen to disturb the pea(;e between China and America. Let the treaty be
signed by your own imperial hand. It shall be signed by mine, by the authority
of our great council, the Senate.
And so may your health be good, and may peace reign.
Written at Washington, this twelfth day of July, in the. year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and forty-three. Your good friend.
Mr. Gushing arrived in Cliiiia in the frigate Brandy wine,
Commodore Parker, February 24^, 1844. The announcement
of tlie general objects of lii.s mission, and the directions he had
to proceed to Peking, was made to Governor Cliing, who instantly
informed the com-t of his arrival ; and with a promptitude
indicative of the desii-e of the Emperor to give no cause
of offence, Kiying was reappointed commissioner, with highei
EMBASSY FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CHINA. 567
powers than before. The frigate had brought out a flagstaff
and vane for the consulate at Canton ; the vane was in the
form of an arrow, and as it turned its barb to tlie four points of
the compass, the superstitious people tliought it conveyed destructive
influences around, transfixing all the benign operations
of heaven and earth, and thereby causing disease and calamitv
among them. An unusual degree of sickness prevailed at tliis
time in the city and its environs, which the geomancers and
doctors declared would not cease until the deadly arrow was removed.
The people accordingly w^aited on the consul, Mr. Forbes, to request the removal of the arrow, which he acceded to, and substituted a vane of another shape. The gentry issued a placard the next day, connuending its removal, and requesting the people to harbor no ill-will toward the Americans as the cause of the sickness.
Kiying having announced his appointment and jxnvers to the
people, proceeded to the Bogue to meet Sir Henry Pottinger,
and be introduced to Governor Davis, from whence he went to
Macao and took up his residence in the village of Wanghia, in
the suburl)S of that city. lie had associated three assistants
with himself, viz., Hwang Ngan-tung, Pwan Sz’-shing, one of
the late hong merchants, and Chau Chang-ling, a prefect. II.
E. Hon. Caleb Cushing was sole commissioner and envoy extraordinary; Fletcher AVebster, Esq., was secretary ; Rev. E.
C. Bridgman, D.D., and Pev. Peter Parker, M.D., were joint
Chinese secretaries, and Dr. Bridgman, chaplain ; Messrs. J. H.
O’Donnell, R. Mcintosh, S. Hernisz, T. R. AVest, and John R.
Peters, Jr., were attached to the legation.
Mr. Cushing had already prepared the general outline of the
treaty, which greatly abridged the negotiations, and the few
disputed or doubtful points in the draft having been modified
and settled, it was signed at AVanghia on July 3, 1844, by the
two plenipotentiaries, Commodore Parker, and a few other
Americans, a large company of Chinese being present. Its fulness
of details and clear exhibition of the rights conceded by
the Chinese government to foreigners dwelling within its borders,
made it the leading authority in settling disputes among
them until 1860.
Soon after Ki’ying left Canton the populace began to show
signs of disturbance. A party of gentlenieu wei’e walking in
the Company’s garden, when the gate was burst open by a mob
and they were obliged to escape by boats. On the next evening
the mob again collected, with the intention of getting possession
of the large garden, but were driven out of the passage without
much opposition. Two or three Americans, in escorting one of
their countrymen to his house, were attacked by missiles on
their return ; whereupon one of them fired low to drive the
people back, but unhappily killed a native, named Sil A-mun.
The case was investigated by the district magistrate, and a
report made by the governor to Kiying; but Cliing took no
pains to send a sufficient force to repress the populace. In a
communication to the American consul he says, after ordering
him to deliver up the murderer : ” It has been ascertained that
the man who was killed was from the district of Tsingyuen,
having no relatives in Canton. But if he had been a citizen, it
would have become at the moment an occasion for attack, for it
would have been told to the populace, and they would have revenged
it by again setting fire to the factories and plundering
their contents, or something of that sort. The people are highly
irritated against the offender, and it is impossible but that they
have constant debates among themselves until they are revenged.”
A party of marines from the corvette St. Louis came up to
Canton the next day, and qiiiet was restored. Kiying brought
the case before Mr. Cushing, stating it to be his conviction that
“the murderer ought to forfeit his life,” and begging him to
give orders for a speedy examination of the ease. In his reply
Mr. Cushing expressed his regret at what had occurred, his
willingness to institute an inquiry, and added a few remarks
upon the necessity of better protecting foreigners at Canton,
in order to prevent the recurrence of such scenes, and embroiling
the two counti’ics. Kiying replied in a considerate maimer,
still upholding the authority of his government and laws: “It
seems from this that, regarding our nations and their subjects,
the people of our land may be peaceful, and the citizens of the
United States may be peaceful, and yet, after their governments
CASES OF RIOT AND HOMICIDE IN CANTON. 569
luive become amicable, that tlien tlieir people may become inim
ical ; and albeit the authorities of the two governments may
day after day deliberate upon friendship, it is all nothing but
empty M-ords. Thus, while we are deliberating and settling a
treaty of peace, all at once the people of our two countries are
at odds and taking lives.” lie also speaks of the overbearing
and violent character of the people of Canton :
Since the period when the English brought in sohiiers, these ladrones have been banding together and forming societies ; and while some, taking advantage of their strength, have plundered and robbed, others have called upon the able-bodied and valiant to get their living. Therefore, employing troop&, which is the endangering of the authorities and [peaceable] people, is the profit of these miscreants ; peace and good order which traders, both native and foreign, desire, is what these bad men do not at all wish. … I have heard that usually the citizens of Canton have respected and liked the officers and people of the United States, as they were peaceable and reasonable ; that they would, even when there was a cause of difference, endeavor to settle it, which is very unlike the English. But unexpectedly, on the 16th instant, a cause for animosity was given in the shooting of Sii A-mun. I have heard different accounts of this affair ; I judge reasonably in thinking that the merchants oi your country causelessly and rashly took life. But the populace are determined to seek a quarrel, and I very much fear lest they will avail of this to raise commotion, perhaps under the pretence of avenging his death, but doubtless with other ideas too.
The American minister referred in a subsequent commnnication
to the death of the boy Sherry, in May, 1841, when the
boat’s crew from the ship Morrison was captured. This affair
had been already bronght to the notice of the Chinese government
by Commodore Kearny, and a sum of $7,800 paid for
losses and damages sustained ; but the present was a fitting
opportunity for reviving it, since it and the case of Sii A-mun
furnished a mutual commentary npon the necessity of securing
better protection for foreigners. Kiying made an investigation
of the case, and reported the successive actions of his predecessor,
Ki Knng ; so thoroughly indeed was his reply divested of all
the rhodomontade usnally seen in Chinese state papers, that one
could hardly believe it was written by a governor-general of
Canton. The exciting circumstances of the first casualty did
indeed go far to extenuate it; though now both Kiying and his
superiors could not but see that the time for demanding life foi life had passed away. The commissioner was, however, in a
dilemma. He could only appease the populace by stating in his
proclamations that he was making every effort to ascertain who
was the murderer and bring him to justice, and they must leave
the management of the case in the hands of the regular authorities.
On the other hand, the arguments of Mr. Cushing and
the stipulations in the English treaty, both convinced him that
foreign nations would not give up their treaty right of judging
their own countrymen. He finally escaped the trouble by deferring
the petitioners and relatives of the deceased awhile, and
then appeasing them by a small donation.
In conducting these negotiations, and settling this treaty “between
the youngest and oldest empires in the world,” Mr. Cushing
exhibited both ability and knowledge of his subject. In his
instructions he was directed to deliv^er the President’s letter to
the Emperor in person, or to an officer of rank in his presence; and, therefore, on his arrival he informed the governor that he had been sent to the imperial court, and being under the necessity of remaining a few weeks at Macao, he improved the first opportunity to inquire after the health of his Majesty. Whether
he regarded the mere going to court as important camiot be inferred
from his correspondence, but if so, he should have gone
directly to the mouth of the Pei ho and waited there for a commissioner to be sent to meet him. Vet the real advantages of
such a proceeding at this time would have been trifiing, and its
risks and contingencies very serious; as the Emperor was not
dis])osed to forego that homage required of all who appeared
before him, however willing he might be to grant commercial privileges, it was undesirable to excite discussions on this point.
^Moreover, the appointment of Kiying with such unusual powers
indicated a favorable disposition toward the Americans. It was
fortunate that the two plenipotentiaries wei-e at hand when the
riot and homicide occurred, while the discussion which grew out
of those events was no snuill benefit to the local government.
The secret of nmch of the ])ower of the Emperor of China consists
in the acknowledgment by his subjects of his sacred character
as the Son of Heaven ; and although that lofty assumption
uuist come down before the advance of western civilization, and
CONCLUSION OF THE FKKNCIl TKEATV. 571
will ere long criiinble of itself, to have asked for an audience
when tliis formalitj was known to be inadmissible would have
irritated him, and put the foreign minister in an indefensible
position. The subsequent discussions proved how deeply rooted
in the Chinese mind was this attribute ; the peaceful settlement
of the question in 1873 could not have been anticipated
hi 1844.
The French ambassador, II. E. Th. de Lagrene, arrived in
China August 14th. In addition to the two secretaries, MM. le
Marquis de Ferriere le Yoyer and le Comte d’liarcourt, five
other gentlemen were sent out to make investio-ations into the
commerce, arts, and industrial resources of the Chinese. M. de
Lagrene took possession of the lodgings prepared for him at
Macao, in the same building which Mr. Gushing had occupied.
Kiying immediately made arrangements for opening the negotiations
by sending his three associates to congratulate the French minister on his arrival; he himself reached Macao September 29th. The gratification of the Chinese statesmen at finding that the missions from the American and French governments were not sent, like the English expedition, to demand indemnity and the cession of an island, was great. Their arrival had been foreshadowed among the people of Canton, the number of ships of war had been exaggerated, and the design of the
ambassadors strangely misrepresented as including the seizure
of an island. These reports could hardly fail to reach and have
some effect upon the highest officers in the land. The time,
therefore, was favorable, not merely to obtain the same political
and commercial advantages which had been granted to England,
but further to explain to the Chinese officers something of the
relations their nation should enter into with the other powers of
the earth. The first interviews between Kiying and M. de Lagrene
were held in October, and the treaty of Wanghia taken as
the basis of agreement. The negotiations were amicably settled
by the signing of the treaty at Whampoa on October 23d.
This act may be said to have concluded the opening of China,
so far as its government was prepared for the extension of this
intercourse.
The instalments due according to the treaty of NanJing were not yet all paid, but the Chinese had shown their desire to fulfil their engagements, and the $.21,000,000 were received by the English within a short period of the specified time. This was a minor consideration, however, in comparison with the great
advantages gained by England for herself and all Christendom
over the seclusive and exclusive system of former days, which
had now received such a shock that it could not only never
recover from it, but was not likely even to maintain itself where
the treaties had defined it. The intercourse begun by these
treaties went on as fast as the two parties found it for tlieir
benefit. The war, though eminently nnjust in its cause as an
opium war—and even English officers and authors do not try to
disguise that the seizure of the opium was tlie real reason for an
appeal to arms, though the imprisonment of Captain Elliot and
other acts was the pretext—was still, so far as human sagacity
can perceive, a wholesome infliction upon a government which haughtily refused all equal intercourse with other nations, or explanations regarding its conduct, and forbade its subjects having free dealings with their fellow-men.
‘ If in entering upon the conflict England had published to the
world her declaration of the reasons for engaging in it, the
merits of the case would have been better understood. If she
had said at the outset that she commenced the struggle with the
Emperor because he would not treat her subjects resorting to
his shores by his permission with common humanity, allowing
them no intercourse with his subjects, nor access to his officers;
because he contemptuously discarded her ambassadors and consular agents, sent with friendly design ; because he made foolish
regulations (which his own subjects did not observe) an occasion
of offence against others when it suited him, and had despoiled
them of their property by strange and arbitrary pi-occcdings,
weakening all confidence in his equity ; lastly, because he kept
liimself aloof from other sovereigns, and shut out his people
from that intercourse with their fellow-men which was their
privilege and right ; her character in this war would have appeared
far better. But it is the prerogative of the Governor of
nations to educe good out of evil, and make the wrath, the
avarice, and the ambition of men to serve his purposes and advanco his own designs, although their intentions may be far otherwise.
CONDITION OF CIIIXA AFTER THE WAR. 573
The external and internal relations of the Chinese Empire at
the close of the year 1844 were in a far better state than one
M’onld have snpposed they conld have become in so short a time
after such a convulsion. The cities and provinces where the
storm of war had beat most violently were i-eviving, the authority
of the officers was becoming re-established, the bands of
lawless desperadoes were gradually dispei’sing, and the people
resuming their peaceful pursuits. No ill-will was manifested in
Amoy on account of the losses its citizens had sustained, nor at
Ningpo or Shanghai for their occupation by Englisli troops.
The English consuls at the five ports had all been received, and
trade was connnencing under favorable auspices. The opium
trade—for this dark feature everywhere forces itself into the
prospect—was also extending, and opium schooners plying up
and down the coast, and anchoring on the outside limits of
eveiy port to deliver the drug.
The citizens of Canton, however, maintained their hereditary
ill-will toward foreigners, and proceeded to such lengths that
the local government became powerless to carry the stipulation
of the British treaty, to enter its city gates, into effect. Governor
Davis proceeded to Canton in May, 1847, with several
vessels of war, capturing all the guns at the Bogue in his progress
up the river, and compelled the authorities to grant a
larger space for residences and wai-ehouses on the south side of
the Pearl River, to be occupied as soon as arrangements could
be made. It was also agreed that the gates should be unconditionally
opened within two years, so that foreigners might have
the same access to this city as to the other four ports. When
the time came for this to be carried out, the Emperor ordered
Governor-General Sli to mind the voice of the people and disregard
this engagement, which had probably never received his
sanction. A careful examination of the Chinese text of all the
treaties showed that an explicit permission to enter the citadel
{c/iin(/), or walled portion of the marts opened to foreign commerce,
was not given. In consequence of this vagueness the
Hongkong authorities, acting under instructions from London,
did not press the point, and the gates of Canton remained inviolate
till January, 1858.”
• C/iinese Repositoiy, Vols. XVIII. , pp. 216,275; XV., p. 40 ff. Davis,Cfiina durinff the War (tiul mice the Peace, 1852. Vol. II., Chaps. V. and VI ,passim. Among other authorities on the war may be mentioned Lord Jocelyin,Six Months with ilte Chinese Expedition, London, 1841 ; K. Stewart Mackenzie,Narrative of the Second Campaign in China, London, 1842; Col. Aithur Cunynghame,liecoUections of Service in China, 1853 ; Lieut. John Ouchterlony,The Chinese War, 1844 ; The Last Tear in China to the Peace of Xaiding, by a Field Officer, London and Philadelphia, 1848 ; Auguste Haussmann, L<iChine, resume historiqiie, etc., Paris, 1858 • Ad. Barrot in the Revue des DeuxMondes for February 15, March 1, June 1, and July 1, 1842.
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》15-18
CHAPTER XV. INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF THE CHINESE
The superiority of the Chinese over their immediate neighbors in the enjoyments of life and in the degree of security for which individuals can look under the protection of law have their bases chiefly in the industiy of the people. Agriculture holds the first place among the branches of labor, and the honors paid to it by the annual ploughing ceremony are given from a deep sense of its importance to the public welfare ; not alone to provide a regular supply of food and labor for the population, but also to meet the wants of government by moderate taxes, and long experience of the greater ease of governing an agricultural than a mercantile or warlike community. Notwithstanding the encouragement given to tillage, many tracts of land still lie waste, some of it the most fertile in the country; partly because the people have not the skill and capital to drain and lender it productive, partly because they have not sufficient prospect of remuneration to encourage them to make the necessary outlay, and sometimes from the outrages of local banditti making it unsafe to live in secluded districts.
Landed property is held in clans or families as much as possible, and is not entailed, nor are overgrown estates frequent.
The land is all held directly from the crown, no allodial property being acknowledged ; if mesne lords existed in feudal times they are now unknown. The conditions of common tenure are the payment of an annual tax, the fee for alienation, with a money composition for personal service to the government, a charge generally incorporated into the direct tax as a kind of scutage. The proprietors of land record their names in the district and take out a hung ki, or ‘ red deed,’ which secures them in possession as long as the ground tax is paid. This sum varies according to the fertility, location, and use of the land, from $1.50 per acre for the best, down to twenty or thirty cents for unproductive or hilly fields. As the exactions for alienation oi sale of lands are high, amounting to as much as one-third of the sale price sometimes, the people accept white deeds from each other as proofs of ownership and responsibility for taxes. As many as twenty or thirty such deeds of sale occasionally accompany the original hung Ai, without which they are suspicious if not valueless. In order to keep the knowledge of the alienations of land in government offices, so that the taxes can be assured, it is customary to furnish a kl-wei, or ‘ deed-end,’ containing a note of the terms of sale and amount of tax liable on the property.
There is no other proof of ownership required ; and the simplicity and efficiency of this mode of transfer offer a striking contrast to the cumbrous rules enforced in western kingdoms. Revised codes of land laws are issued by the provincial authorities when necessary, as was done in 1846 at Canton.’
The paternal estate and houses thereon descend to the eldest son, but his brothers can remain upon it with their families, and devise their portion inperpetuo to their children, or an amicable composition can be made ; daughters never inherit, nor can an adopted son of another clan succeed. A mortgagee must enter into possession of the property and make himself responsible for the payment of the taxes ; unless explicitly stated, the land can be redeemed any time within thirty years on payment of the original sum. Sections XC. to C. of the Code contain the laws relating to this subject, some of which bear a resemblance to those established among the Hebrews, and intended to secure a similar result of retaining the land in the same clan or tribe.
» T. T. Meadows in N. C. Br. R. A. S. Transactions, Hongkong, 1848, Vol. 1
TENURE AND CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 3
The enclosure of recent alluvial deposits cainiot be made without the cognizance of the authorities, but the terms are not onerous; for waste hillsides and poor spots ample time is allowed for a return of the capital expended in reclaiming them before assessment is made.
The Chinese are rather gardeners than farmers, if regard be had to the small size of their grounds. They are ignorant, too, of many of those operations whereby soils naturally unfruitful are made fertile and the natural fertility sustained at the cheapest rate by proper manuring and rotation of crops ; but they make up for the disadvantages of poor implements by hard work. Their agricultural utensils are few and simple, and are probably now made similar to those used centuries ago. The broad hoe is used in soft land more than any other tool ; the weight of its large wooden blade, which is edged with iron, adds impetus to the blow. Spades, rakes, and mattocks are employed in kitchen gardening, and the plough and harrow in rice cultivation. The plough is made of wood, except the iron-edged share, which lies flat and penetrates the soil about five inches. The whole implement is so simple and rude that one would think the inventor of it was a laborer, mIio, tired of the toil of spading, called the ox to his aid and tied his shovel to a rail ;—fastening the animal at one end and guiding the other, he was so pleased with the relief that he never thought of improving it much further than to sharpen the spade to a coulter and bend the rail to a beam and handle. The harrow is a heavy stick armed with a single row of stout wooden teeth, and furnished with a framework to guide it ; or a triangular machine, with rows of iron teeth, on which the driver rides to sink it in the ooze.
The buffalo is used in rice cultivation, and the ox and ass in dry ploughing ; horses, mules, cows, and goats likewise render service to the farmer in various ways, and are often yoked in most ludicrous combinations. The team which Nieuhoff depicts of a man driving his wiie and his ass yoked to the same plough is too bad for CluTia often to present, though it has been so frequently repeated and used to point a comparison that one almost expects on landing to see half the women in the harness. It may be doubted, however, if this country can vie with some portions of Germany and Holland in the matter of mongrel teams employed on farms.
The arrangements of farriers’ shops in China are very similar to those of European countries, saving that the tools are of the simplest character. The manner of trussing up the poor beast which is to be shod would seem, however, an unnecessary exercise of caution in the case of a majority of the over-worked horses and nuiles. The animal is fastened to a frame and lifted almost entirely off the ground, while a rope twisted al>out his nose and tightened at will with a turn-stick controls the least attempt at unruliness. Iron shoes are employed in the north: in the south, where horses are little used, they are usually left nnsliod^ though the fore feet are often covered with leather shoes which lit the lioof.
METHOD OF PLANTING RICE. 5
An early rain is necessary to the preparation of rice-fields, except where water can be turned upon them. The grain is first soaked, and when it begins to swell is sown very thickly in a small plat containing licpiid manure. “When about six inches high the shoots are planted into the fields, which, from being an unsightly marsh, are in a few days transformed to fields clothed with living green. Holding the seedlings in one hand, the laborer wades through the nnid, at every step sticking into it five or six sprouts, which take root without further care ; six men can transplant two acres a day, one or two of whom are engaged in supplying the others with shoots. The amount of grahir£(j|IU2£d to sow a Chinese mao in this way is thirty-seven and one-half catties, or three hundred and thirty pounds-Wbout^two and one-halTUushels to an Jiinglish acre. The produce is on an average tenfokh Rent ofTaiid is usually paid according to the amount of the crop, the landlord paying the taxes and the tenant stocking the farm ; leases are for three, four, or seven years ; the terms vary according to the position and goodness of the soil.’
Grain is not sown broadcast, and this facilitates hoeing and weeding the fields as they require. Two crops are planted, one of which ripens after the other; maize and pulse, millet and sesamnm, or sorghum and squash are thus grown together. The plough is an efficient tool in soft soil, but a wide hoe, the blade set almost at a right angle, is the common implement in the north. Barrow describes a drill-plough in common use in the north which remarkably economizes time and seed. ” It con-Eisted of two parallel poles of wood shod at the lower extremity
‘ The amount of tribute rice sent to Peking from Kiangsu Province is 01)0,000 tons of 640 catties, or 974,400 peculs Chelikiang ” 44r),000 ” ” ” 633,000 ” Kiangsi ” 80,000 ” ” ” 112,000 ” Hupeh ” 50,000 ” ” ” 70,000 “1,789,400 “Of this the Chinese Company carried in 1875 to Tientsin. . 626,900 “Went by junks 1,162,500 «
with iron to open the furrows ; these poles were placed upon wheels; a small hopper was attached to each pole to drop the seeds into the furrow, which were covered with earth by a transverse piece of wood fixed behind, that just swept the face of the ground.”‘
The extent to which terrace cultivation has been described as common is a good instance of the way in which erroneous impressions concerning China obtain currency from accounts not exactly incorrect, perhaps, but made to convey- wrong notions by the mode of their description. The hills are terraced chiefly for rice cultivation or to retain soil which would otherwise be washed away ; and this restricts their gradation, generally speaking, to the southern and eastern provinces. Most of the hills in Kwangtung and Fuhkien are unfit for the plough except near their bases, while in the north it is unnecessary to go to great expense in terracing for a crop of cotton, wheat, or millet. Much labor has been expended in terracing, and many hillsides other -M’ise useless are thus rendered productive; but this does not mean that every hill is cut into plats, nor that the entire face of the country is one vast garden. Terracing was probably a more important feature of agriculture in Palestine in former days than it is in China. The natural terraces of the loess districts, and their extraordinary convenience as well as fertility, have already been noticed in a former chapter. These, it should however be remembered, do not occur south of the Yangzi River.
The ingenuity of the farmer is well exhiluted in the various modes he employs to insure a supply of water for his rice. In some places pools are made in level fields as reservoirs of rain, from which the water is lifted as occasion requires by well sweeps.
‘ Travels in China, London, 1804.
TERRACE CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION. 7
It is also expeditiously raised by two men holding a pail between them by ropes, and with a swinging motion rapidly dipping the water out of the tank into little furrows. A favorite plan is to use a natural brooklet and conduct it from one plat to another till it has irrigated the whole hillside. It is where such water privileges offer that the terrace cultivation is best developed, especially in the neighborhood of large cities, where the demand for provisions promises the cultivator a sure reward for his labor. The appearance of the slopes thus graduated into small ledges is beautiful; each plat is divided by a bank serving the triple purpose of fence, path, and dyke, and near which the • rills glide with refreshing lapse, turning whithersoever the master willeth. This primitive method of upland irrigation is carried out far more perfectly in China than in Switzerland, where it is better known to the generality of travelers. Water is not often wasted upon grass meadows in the former country. The food these marshy plats furnish to insects, mollusks, snakes, and birds is surprising to one who examines them for the first time.
Wheels of various sorts are also contrived to assist in this labor, some worked by cattle, some by human toil, and others carried round by the stream whose waters they elevate.j The last are very common on the banks of the rivers Siang, Ivan, Min, and their affluents, wherever the banks are convenient for this purpose.
High wheels of bamboo, firmly fixed on an axle in the bank, or on pillars driven into the bed, and furnished with buckets, pursue their stately round, and pour their earnings of two hundred and fifty or three hundred tons a day into troughs fixed at an elevation of twenty or thirty feet above the stream. The box-trough, containing an axle to be turned by two men treading the pedals, is rather a more clumsy contrivance, used for slight elevations ; the chain of paddles runs around two axles and in the trough as closely as possible, and raises the water ten or twelve feet in an equable current.
Few carts or wagons are used with animals in the southern and eastern provinces where boats are at all available, human strength supplying the means of transportation ; the implements of husbandry and the grain taken from the fields both being carried on the back of the laborer. It is not an uncommon sight about Canton to see a ploughman, when he has done his work, turn his buffalo loose and shoulder his plough, harrow, and hoe, with the harness, and carry them all home. It is when one crosses the Yangtsz’ on his way north that pack animals are met transporting goods and food in great droves ; here, too, people on carts and wheelbarrows fill the roads. On the Great Flain a sail is raised on the latter when a fair wind will heln the man to trundle it over a level way.
The Chinese manure the plant rather than the ground, both
in the seed and growing grain. The preparation of manure
from night soil, by mixing it with earth and drying it into cakes,
furnishes employment to multitudes who transport at all hours
their noisome loads through the narrow city streets. Tanks
are dug by the wayside, paila are placed in the streets and retiring
stalls opened among the dwellings, whose contents are
carried away in boats and buckets ; but it is a small compensation
for this constant pollution of the sweet breath of heaven
to know that the avails are to be by and by brought to market.
Science may yet ascertain how the benefits of this necessai-y
work can be obtained without its disgusting exposure among
the Chinese. Besides this principal ingredient of manure vats,
MANUFACTURE AND USE OF MANURES. 9
other substances are diligently collected, as liair from the bar ber’s shop, exploded tire-ci”ackers and sweepings from the streets, lime and plaster from kitchens and old buildings, soot, bones, tish and animal remains, the mud from the bottom of canals and tanks, and dung of every kind. In Kiangsu a small leaf clover {^Medleago satlva) is grown through the winter upon ridges raised in the rice-fields, and the plants pulled up in the spring and scattered over the fields to be ploughed and harrowed into the wet soil with the stubble, their decomposition furnishing large quantities of ammonia to the seedlings. Vegetable rubbish is also collected and covered with turf, and then slowly burned; the residue is a rich black earth, which is laid upon the seeds themselves when planted. The refuse left after expressing the oil from ground-nuts, beans, vegetable tallow, tea, and cabbage seeds, etc., is mixed with earth and made into cakes, to be sold to farmers. The bean-cake made in Liautung thus aids the cotton and sugar planter in Swatow with a rich compost.
The ripe grain is cut with bill-hooks and sickles, or pulled up by the roots; scythes, mowing-machines, and cradles are unknown where human arms are so plenty. Rice-straw is made into brooms and besoms; the rice is thrashed out against the side of a tub having a curtain on one side, or bound into sheaves and carried away to be stacked. The thrashing-floors about Canton are made of a mixture of sand and lime, well pounded upon an inclined surface enclosed by a curb; a little cement added in the last coat makes it impervious to the rain; with proper care it lasts many years, and is used by all the villagers for thrashing rice, peas, mustard, turnips, and other seeds, either with unshod oxen or flails. Where frost and snow come the ground requires to be repaired every season ; and each farmer usually has his own.
The cultivation of food plants forms so large a proportion of those demanding the attention of the Chinese, that excepting hemp, indigo, cotton, silk, and tea, those raised for manufacture are quite unimportant. The great cotton region is the basin of the Yangzi Jiang, where the white and yellow varieties grow side hy side. The manure used is nnul taken from the canals and spread with ashes over the ploughed fields, in which seeds are sown about the 20th of April. The seeds are planted, after sprouting, five or six in a hole, being rubbed with ashes as they are put in, and weeded out if necessary. After the winter crops have been gathered cotton-fields are easily made ready for the shoots, which, while growing, are carefully tended, thinned, hoed,
and weeded, until the flowers begin to appear about August. As
the pods begin to ripen and burst the cultivator collects them
before they fall, to clean the cotton of seeds and husks. The
weather is carefully watched, for a dry summer or a wet autumn
are alike unpropitious, and as the pods are ripening from August
to October, it is not uncommon for the crop to be partially lost.
The seeds are separated by a wheel turning two rollers, and the
cotton sold by each farmer to merchants in the towns. Some
he keeps for weaving at home ; spinning-wheels and looms
being common articles of furniture in the houses of the peasantry.
Cotton is cultivated in every province, and most of it is used where it grows. Around Peking the plant is hardly a foot high ; the bolls are cleaned for wadding to a great extent, while the woody stalks supply fuel to the poor. Minute directions are given in Sii’s EneyelojKedia of Agriculture respecting the cultivation of this plant, whose total crop clothes the millions of the Empire without depending on any other land.’
‘Fortune’s Wanderings, Cliap. XIV.; Chinese Itejjository, Vol. XVIIT., pp. 449-409.
COTTOX, HEMP, MULBEKKY, AND SUGAR. 11
Hemp is largely cultivated north of the Mei ling, and also grows in Fuhkien ; grass-cloth made from the iJulicltos htilhosus is used for sunuuer dresses. There are four plants which produce a fibre made into cloth known under this name, viz.: the Cannahis sativa, or connnon hemp, at Canton; the Bn’Jnncfia nivea, a species of nettle ; the S’ula tillarfoHay or abutilon hemp, in Chihli ; and the Hibiscus cannahinus. The coloring matter used for dyeing blue is derived from two plants, the Pohjgonuin tinctoriurii at the south, and the tlen tshig {Isatls indujotlcci) cultivated at Shanghai and Chusan. The mulberry is raised as a sluide and fruit tree in the northern provinces, where it forms a beautiful plant fifty feet high ; elsewhere the consumption of the leaves renders its culture an important branch of labor in the silk-pr(xliicing provinces. Some growers allow it to attain its natural height, others cut it down to increase the branched
and the produce of leaves. In Chelikiang it is cut in January
and deprived of its useless brandies, leaving only the outer ones,
which are trinnned into two or three points in order to force
the plant to extend itself. The trees are set out in rows twelve
feet or more apart, each tree being half that distance from its
neighbor and opposite the intervals in the parallel rows; the
interspaces are occupied with legumes or greens. The trees are
propagated by seed and by suckers, but soon losing their vigor
from being constantly sti’ipped of leaves, are then rooted up
and replaced by fresh nurslings.
Sugar is only a southern and southeastern crop. The name che^ by which it is known, is an original character, which favors the opinion that the plant is indigenous in China, and the same argument is applicable to wheat, hemp, mulberry, tea, and some of the common fruits, as the plum, pear, and orange. The canes are pressed in machines, and the juice boiled to sugar or boiled and hawked about the streets for consumption by the people. The sugar-mill consists merely of two upright cylinders, between which the cane is introduced as they turn, and the juice received into reservoirs; it is then boiled down and sent to the refiners to inidergo the necessary processes to fit it for market ; much is lost by this slovenly manufacture.
Many plants are cultivated for their oil, used in the arts or in
cooking. The seeds of two or three species of Elcococea belonging
to the Euphorbiaceous family, and the Cu/raspu/yans,
are gathered, and by pressure furnish an oil to mix with lacker
and paints, or to smear boats as a preservative against teredoes
and other insects. It is deleterious when taken into the system,
but does not appear to injure those who use or express it.
The tallow-tree {StlUiiKjia schtfera) grows over the eastern provinces ; it is a beautiful tree, resembling the aspen in its shape and foliage, and would form a valuable addition to the list of shade-trees in any country. Mr. Denny, the United States Consul at Shanghai, has recently sent a quantity of these seeds to California, where efforts are being made to grow them.
The tree has been introduced into India for its timber. The seeds grow in clusters like ivy berries, and are collected in November; when ripe the capsule divides, and falling off discovers two or three kernels covered with the pure, hard white tallow. When the tallow is to be prepared, these are picked from the stalks and put into an open wooden cylinder with a perforated bottom, in which they are well steamed over boiling water. In ten or fifteen minutes the tallow covering; the seeds becomes soft, and they are thrown into a stone mortar and gently beaten with mallets to detach it. The whole is then
sifted on a hot sieve, by which the tallow is separated from the
kernels, though containing the brown skin which envelops the
latter and presenting a dirty appearance. The tallow in this
state is enclosed in a straw cylindei”, or laid upon layers of straw
held together by iron hoops, and subjected to pressure in a rude
press, from which it runs clear in a semifluid state and soon
hardens into cakes. The candles made from it become soft in
liot weather, and are sometimes coated by dipping them in colored
wax.’ From one hundred and thirty-three pounds of nuts
is obtained some forty or fifty pounds of tallow.
The departments of floriculture and arboriculture have received
great attention, but the efforts of their promoters are directed
to producing something curious or bizarre, rather than
improving the quality of their fruits or enlarging the number
of their flowers. A common mode of multiplying specimens is
to slit the stem and insert half of it in damp earth tied around
the stalk until it has rooted, and then cutting off the whole.
Dwarfing trees or forcing them to grow in grotesque shapes
employs much time and patience. The juniper, cypress, pine,
elm, bamboo, peach, plum, and flowering-almond are selected
for this purpose ; the former is trained into the shapes of deer
or other animals, pagodas, etc., with extraordinary fidelit}’, the
eyes, tongue, or other parts being added to complete the resemblance.
‘ Fortune’ii ]\'(iii(k’ri’ii(j.s, ^. 78.
CEKKMONY OF PLOUGHING AND SPUING FESTIVAL. 13
The principle of the operation depends upon retarding the circulation of the sap by stinting the supply of water, confinino; the roots, and bendino; the branches into the desired form when young and pliable, afterwards retaining them in clieir forced position in pots, and clipping off all the vigorous shoots, until, as is the case of the cramped fee.t of women, nature gives up the contest and yields to art. Thesq^Uike the similar exhibitions in sculpture and painting, indicate the uncultivated taste of the people, who admire the fantastic and monstrous more than the natural. Some of the clumps placed in large earthen vases, consisting of bamboos, Howers, and
dwarf trees growing closely together upon a piece of rock-work,
and overshadowing the water in the vase, in which gold-fish
swim through the crevices of the stone, are beautiful specimens
of Chinese art. Without understanding the principles of an
aquarium, the people have succeeded in combining animal and
vegetable life in these elegant ornaments of their houses.
The annual ceremony of ploughing is of very ancient origin. At Peking it consists in ploughing the sacred field in the Temple of Agriculture with a highly ornamented plough kept for the purpose, the Emperor holding it while turning over three furrows, the princes five, and the high ministers nine. These furrows were, however, so short that the monarchs of the present dynasty altered the ancient rule, ploughing four furrows and returning again over the ground. The ceremony finished, the Emperor and his ministers repair to the terrace adjoining the plat, and remain till it has all been ploughed. The crop of wheat is used in idolatrous services. The rank of the actors renders the ceremony more imposing at Peking, but the people of the capital oidy know that such a performance takes place, as they are not admitted inside of the enclosure when it is observed by the Emperor and his suite. This ceremony is also required of all high officers throughout the Empire, and is attended with more or less parade in April.
In the provinces its celebration varies, and as there are two festivals coming near together connected with agriculture, one or the other of them is apt to predominate. The annual ploughing ritual is one, and the //// chan, or ‘ Eirst day of spring,’ is the other and prior in date. The prefect of every city and his subordinates on that day repair to the appointed spot outside of the walls, accompanied by music and a great procession of the citizens, carrying through the streets a paper image of the buffalo or ox, which, with the idol image worshipped at the same time, are at some places taken into his yamun. Here the whole is placed on an altar, and the officials present walk around and whip the effigy with rods before it is set on fire
and scrambled for by the people present. Besides the paper
ox, a clay one is also made and taken beyond the eastern gate,
sometimes accompanied by or holding hundreds of little images
inside ; after the ceremonies are over it is broken up, and
the pieces and small images are carried off by the crowd to
scatter the powder on their own fields, in the hope of thereby
insuring a good crop.
In Ningbo the principal features of the ceremony consist of
a solemn worship by all the local officers of a clay image of a
buffalo and an idol of a cow-herd. The prefect then ploughs a
small piece of ground, and he and his associates disperse till the
morrow, when they come together in another temple at dawn.
Here a series of prostrations and recitals of pra^’ers are performed
by the “fathers of the people” in their presence, some
of whom have no respect for the worship, Mhile others, perhaps,
evince deep reverence. As soon as it is over the clay ox is
brought out, and a procession consisting of all the officers pass
around it repeatedly, striking the body at a given signal, and
concluding the ceremony by a heavy blow on the head. The
crowd then rush in and tear the effigy to pieces, each one carrying
off a portion to strew on his fields.’
The various modes of catching and rearing fish exhibit the contrivance and skill of the Chinese quite as much as their agricultural operations. Some persons reckon that at least one tenth of the population in the prefecture of Kwangehau derive their food from the water, and necessity leads them to invent and try many ingenious ways of securing the finny tribes.
‘ PereCibot in Mem. cone, les Chinois, Tome III., p. 499. Penal Code, pp.94-106, 520. Chinese nepository, Vol. II., p. :}50 ; Vol. III., pp. 121, 231; Vol. v., p. 485. La Chine Ouverte, p 340. Foreign Mixnionari/ Chronide, Vol. XIII., p. 290. Gray’s China, Vol. II., pp. 115-117. Doolittle’s Social Life, Vol. TI., pp. 18-23. Revue de V Orient, Tome V. (1844), p. 297. Baron d’Hervey Saint-Denys, Recherchea stir VAc/ricnUure et VHorticuUitre des Ohi mis, Paris, 1850. Journal iV: C Br. R. A. Soc, No. IV., pp. 209 fif.
FISHING ANL> FISHERMEN ALONG THE COAST. 15
Xets woven of hempen thread are boiled hi a solution of gambier to preserve them from i-otting. The smacks which swarm along the coast go out in pairs, partly that the crews may afford mutual relief and protection, but chiefly to join in dragging the net. In the sliallows of rivers rows of heavy posts are driven down and nets secured to them, which are examined and changed at every tide. Those who attend these nets, more-over, attach scoops or drag-nets to their boats, so loaded that they will sink and gather the sole, ray, and other fish feeding near the bottom. Lifting-nets, twenty feet square, are suspended from poles elevated and depressed by a hawser worked by a windlass on shore ; the nets are baited with the whites of eggs spread on the meshes.
Group and Residence of Fishermen near Canton.
‘ The fishermen along the coast form an industrious, though rather turbulent community, by no means confining their enterprises to their professed business when piraty, dakoity, or marauding on shore hold out greater prospects of gain. When their boats become unseaworthy they are still considered landworthy, and are transformed into houses by setting them bodily upon a stone foundation above the reach of the tide, or breaking them up to construct rude huts.
The Fishing Cormorant.
Cormorants are trained in great numbers to capture fish in the rivers and lakes ; they will disperse at a given signal and return with their prey, but not often without the precaution of a neck-ring. A single boatman can easily oversee twelve or fifteen of these birds, and although hundreds may be out upon the water each one knows its own nuister. If one seize a fish too heavy for him alone, another comes to his assistance, and the two carry it aboard ; but such cases are very rare compared with others where the w^eak or young bird is unceremonioaisly robl)ed of its capture. When several hundreds of them fish together the scene becomes animated and noisy in the extreme. The birds themselves are fed on bean-curd and eels or fish. They lay eggs when three years old, which are often hatched under barnyard liens, and the chickens fed with eel’s blood and hash. They do not fish during the summer months. The price of a pair varies from five to eight dollars.
METHODS OF CATCHING FIRII. 17
Mussels are caught in cylindrical basket-traps attached to a single rope and drifted with the tide near the bottom. Similar traps fur catching laiul-crabs are laid along the edges of rice fields, baited with dried fish. When the receding tide leaves the river banks dry the boat peo^Tje get overboard and wade in the mud, or push themselves along on a board with one foot, in search of such things as harbor in the ooze.
In moonlight nights low, narrow shallops, provided with a wide white board fastened to the wale and floating upon the water, are anchored in still water; as the moon shines on the board the deceived fish leap out upon it or into the boat; twenty or thirty of these decoy boats can . be seen near Macao engaged in this fishery on moonlight evenings. Sometimes a boat furnished with a treadle goes up and down near the shores striking boards against its bottom and sides ; the startled fish are caught in the net dragging astern. The crews of many small boats combine to drive the fish into their nets by splashing and striking the water, or into a pool on the margin of the river at high tide, in which they are easily retained by wattles, and scooped out when the water has fallen. Divers clap sticks together under water to drive their prey into the nets set for
them, or catch them with their toes when, terrified at the noise,
they hide in the mud. Xeither fly-fishing nor angling with hook
and line is much practised ; its tedium and small returns would
be poor amends to a Chinese for the elegance of the tackle or
the science displayed in adapting the fly to the fish’s taste.
By these and other contrivances the Chinese capture the
finny tribes, and it is no surprise to hear that China contains as
many millions of people as there are days in the 3’ear when one
sees upon what a large proportion of them feed and how they
live. Their expenditure of human labor appears enormous to
those who are accustomed to the manufactories and engines of
western lands, but perhaps nothing would cause so much distress
in China as the prematui’o and inconsiderate introduction of labor-saving machines. Population is so close upon the means of production, not seldom overpassing them, that those who would be thrown out of employment would, owing to their ignorance as to the best resources and want of means to do anything by themselves, suffer and cause incalculable distress before relief and labor could be furnished them. Therere, for instance, six or seven 3’ards near Canton where logs are sawed by hand, but all of them together hardly turn out as many feet of boards as one water-wheel turning three or four saws would do. Yet the two hundred men employed in these yards would perhaps be half-starved if turned off in their present condition, even if they did not destroy their competitor; though there is every reason for believing that improvements will be introduced as soon as those wdio see their superiority are assured they can be made profitable.
The mechanical arts and implements of the Chinese partake of the same simplicity which has been remarked in their agricultural,—as if the faculty of invention or the notion of altering a thing had died with the discoverer, and he had had the best guarantee for the patent of his contrivance in the deprivation of all desire in his successors to alter it. This servility of imitation marks them in many things, but in machinery and metallurgy is chiefly owing to ignorance of the real nature of the ma*”erials they use, a knowledge which has only recently become familiar to ourselves. In the absence of superior models, it produces a degree of apathy to all improvement which strangely contrasts with their general industry and literary tastes. Simplicity of design pervades all operations, and when a machine directs in the best known manner the power of the hand which M’ields it, or aids in executing tiresome operations, its purpose is considered to be fully answered, for it was intended to assist and not to supplant human labor. Yet with all their simplicity some of them are both effectual and ingenious, and not a few are made to answer two or three ends. For example, the bellows, an oblong’ box divided into two compartments, and worked by a piston and two valves in the upper, which forces the wind into the lower part and out of the nozzle, is used by the travelling tinker as a seat when at work and a chest for his tools when his work is done ; though it does not, indeed, serve all these purposes with efliciency.
CONDITION OF THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 19
In the arts of metallurgy the Chinese have attained only to mediocrity, and on the whole do not equal the Japanese. To this deficiency may perhaps be ascribed their little progress in some other branchet^ which could not be executed without tools of peculiar size or nicety. Mines of iron, lead, copper, and zinc are worked, though the modes employed in digging the ore, preparing and smelting it, and purifying the metals have not yet been fully examined. Gold is used sparingly for ornaments, but is consumed in vast quantities for gilding; gold thread is commonly imported, and the ingots are known only as bullion. Mr. Gordon found the people in the country parts of Fuhkien quite ignorant of its value, for he could only pass doubloons for a dollar apiece, the natives having never seen them before.
The Chinese workmanship in chased, repousse, and carved work of gold and silver—baskets, card-cases, teapots, combs, etc.—is almost unequalled. Their jewelry, too, admirably exhibits the delicate filigree work which agrees so well with their genius. Flower-baskets wnth chased flowers and figures of various sorts enamelled on the outside of the open work of wire, and set with precious stones, may perhaps be regarded as the masterpiece of native art in the working of metals.
• Davis’ Chinese, Vol. II. , p. 235. Penny Cydopcedia, Art. Coppeb. Natalia Rondot, Commerce de la Chine, 1849, p. 142.
Steel is everywhere manufactured in a rude way, but the foreign importation is gradually supplying a better article. The quality of this metal made is best shown by the carvings in the hardest stones for ornaments, which have never been exceeded elsewhere. Iron is cast into thin plates and various machines of considerable size, but the largest pieces they make, viz., bells and cannon, are small compared with the shafts and steamhammers turned out abroad. Wrought iron is chiefly worked up into nails, screws, hinges, and small articles needed in daily life, though its quality is remarkably good. The jWi tung, argentan or ‘ white copper’ of the Chinese, is an alloy of copper 40.4, zinc 25.4, nickel 81.6, and iron 2.6, and occasionally a little silver; these proportions are nearly the same as German-silver. ” When in a state of ore, it is said to be powdered, mixed with charcoal dust, and placed in jars over a slow fire, the metal rising in the form of vapor in a distilling apparatus, and afterward condensed in water.” ‘ When new, this alloy appears as lustrous as silver, and is uuiTiufactured into incensejars, flower-stands for temple service, boxes, a vast variety of fancy articles, and a few household utensils not intended to be used near the fire. Puzzling specimens of work are made of it, such as teapots enclosed in chinaware and ornamented with a handle and a spout of stone, and having characters on the sides. The white copper varies a good deal in its appearance and malleability, owing probably to mixtures added after distillation.
Copper is less used than iron for culinary vessels, but will
probably increase as rapid importation diminishes the cost, for
iron rusts quickly in the southern parts. The manufactures of
gongs, cymbals and trumpets, lamps, brass-leaf for working
into the hin kwa, or tinsel-flowers used in worship, and the
copper coin of the country, consume probably four fifths of all
the copper used. The gong is employed on all occasions,
and its piercing clamor can be heard at any time of day and
night, especially if one lives near the water. It is an alloy of
twenty parts of tin with eighty of copper, and is made b}””
melting one hundred catties of hung tung, or ‘ red copper,’
with twenty-five catties of tin. The alloy is run into thin plates,
and the gongs are made by long and expert hammering until
the requisite sonorousness is obtained.
Bells and tripods are frequently cast of a large size. The
bells at Peking (mentioned in Volume I., p. 79) are peculiarly
rich in quality of tone ; they are almost invariably made without
tongues, being sounded with a mallet. The tripods for
receiving the ashes of papers consumed in worship also bear
inscriptions of a religious character ; the priests of temples containing
them take great pride in showing their ancient bells,
tripods, and other like rarities. The pieces of bronze formerly
produced under the patronage of the Emperor Ivienlung, as
incense tripods, lions, astronomical instruments, and the infinite
variety of ornaments, probably represent their highest attainments
in this branch of metallurgy for beauty and excellence.
CHINESE ATTAINMENTS IN METALLURGY. 21
The metallic mirrors, once the oidy reflectors the Chinese manufactured, are now nearly supei-seded by glass ; the alloy is like that of gongs with a little silver added. These mirrors have long been remarkable for a singular property which some of them possess of reflecting the raised characters or device on the back when held in the sun ; this is caused by their outline being traced upon the polished surface in very shallow lines, the whole plate being afterward rubbed until the lines are equally
bi;ight with the other parts, and only rendered visible by the
strongest sunlight.’ Besides the metallic articles already mentioned,
the ornamental and antique bronze and copper figures,
noticeable fur their curious forms and fine polishing and tracery,
afford the best specimens of Chinese art in imitating the human
figure. They are mostly statuettes, representing men,
gods, birds, monsters, etc., in grotesque shapes and attitudes ;
some of them are beautifully ornamented with delicate scrolls
and flowers in niello work of silver or gold wire inserted into
grooves cut in the metal.
The manufacture of glass is carried on chiefly at Canton, and its increasing use for windows, tumblers, lamps, mirrors, and other articles of household furniture, shows that the Chinese are quite ready to adopt such things from foreign countries as they find to be advantageous. The importation of broken glass for remelting has entirely ceased, but flints are carried from England for the use of glass-blowers. The furnaces are small, and from the ignorance, on the part of the workmen, of the constituents of good glass, their products are not uniform.
‘ Other and perhaps more correct explanations of this peculiarity have been given.
Foreign window glass is now brought so cheaply that the native inferior article, which distorts objects seen through it, is disappearing; colored articles and chandeliers are still made. The most finished articles which the Chinese have yet produced are ground shades for Argand lamps. Beautiful ornaments are made of the liao-ll, the old native name for a vitreous composition like strass, between glass and porcelain. Ear-rings, wristlets, snuff-bottles, jars, cups, etc., are made of it, plain, colored, and variegated, in vast variety. Some of these articles exhibit different tints in layers, each layer being ground away where it is not wanted, as in cameo carving; blue, red, and yellow are the prevailing colors. The art of producing it has been known longer than glass-making, but was invented later than that of porcelain.
The cutting and setting of hard and precious stones is carried on to some extent. Spectacles are cut and ground in lathes from crystal, smoky quartz, and a variety of rose quartz resembling the cairngorm-stone, which the Chinese call cha-tsing^ or ‘tea-stone,’ from its color. Their spectacles are not always true, and the wearer is obliged to have tliem ground away until his eyes are suited. The pebble is cut in a lathe, by a wire-saw working in its own dust, into a round shape Avitli plane edges.
When worn, the rim rests upon the cheek-bones; the frame has a hinge between the glasses, and the machine is sometimes kept on the ears by loops or weights. Foreign-shaped spectacles are supplanting these primitive optics, but the prejudice is still in favor of crystal. The cutting of diamonds is sometimes attempted, but it is not a favorite gem among the Chinese.
Diamonds and corundums are both employed to drill holes in clamping and mending broken glass and porcelain ; tumblers, jars, etc., are joined so securely in this way without cement as to hold fluids. Both these gems are used to cut glass, but another mode, not unconnnon, is to grease the place to be fractured, and slowly follow the line along by a lighted jossstick until it breaks.
Sir John Davis condensed all the important information known half a century ago concerning the materials and manufacture of porcelain in his valuable work, but great advance has since been made in a better understanding of this branch of Chinese industry. The wordj)o?’ccla/’}i is derived h’on\ p<»\’ellana, which was given to the ware by the Portuguese under the belief that it was made from the fusion of egg-shells and fish’s glue and scales to resemble the nacre of sea-shells (Cypr?ea) or porcellana. This instance of oft-hand nomenclature is like that of the Chinese calling ca,outchouc elephmifs skin horn its appearance.
MATERIALS AXD M ANrKACTUIlE OF I’OIICKLAIX. 23
M. Julien’s translation of the Klmj-teh chin Tun Luh (Paris, 1856) furnishes the native accounts of the porcelain manufactures at Kingteh chin, in Kiangsi, and adds so nmch from other sources that his work is a veritable classic in its special branch. He places the invention of porcelain between b.c. 185 and A.D, 85, and opening the first kiln, at Sinping (not far from the present centre of llonan province), under the reign of Changti of the Eastern Han dynasty. From this the manufacture gradually extended as raw materials were found in other localities, especially in Fauliang, on the eastern shores of the Poyang Lake, where the best ware is still made. A second
preface to this work, written by M. Salvetat, of the manufactory
at Sevres, gives the details of the introduction of the art
into Europe about 1722, and the subsequent improvement to
the time when European Avares far exceeded the Chinese or
Japanese for beauty. During the dreadful ravages of the Taiping
rebellion the manufactories at Kingteh were all stopped.
A very brief epitome of M. Salvetat’s paper will indicate the
ingredients of porcelain and their manipulation : Two substances
enter into all kinds of this ware ; one a strong, infusible
material which endures great heat, and the other, fusible at a
low temperature, which communicates its transparency to the
other as they together pass through the furnace. The first
of these is called Ixiolin, fi-om the name of a range of hills east
of Kingteh chin, known as Kao Lituj or ‘ High Ridge,’ a word that has been adopted in Europe as a term for all varieties of the argillaceous or feldspathic components of porcelain. The other is known as jx’h-tun-tss”, a Chinese term properly applied to the bricks of prepared silex, called tun, but now generally adopted to denote the fusible element. The discovery near Taochau fu of both of these in great purity led to the establishment of the kilns there in a.d. 583 ; and Chinese artists discriminate many varieties of each. It is apparently only since A.D. 1000, or thereabouts, that these kilns have produced the choice pieces now so highly prized.
The kaolin comes from decomposed granite, and is reduced by trituration and several washings to an impalpable powder; this last precipitate is put on cloths, one above another, and dried under slight pressure to a uniform paste ready for the furnace. The a^ka?- oi j>eh-Ui n-Uz’ are prepared in a similar manner; other workmen mix the clay and the quartz—the bones and the flesh, as they are aptly called bv the Chinese — in such proportions as the ware requires. In general, Chinese porcelain is more silicious than European, containing 70 parts of silex, 22 of alumine, G of potash and soda, with traces of lime, manganese, magnesia, and iron. Sevres ware has 58 silex, 34^ alumine, 3 alkali, and 4^ lime ; as the feldspar decreases the beauty of the ware diminishes, but its durability and usefulness increase.
To make ready the paste for the furnace, the Ijricks of both
ingredients are trodden in a large basin by buffaloes or men till
they are well mixed into a watery mass, which is then worked
and kneaded again on slate slabs in small pieces till it is delivered
into the hands of workmen to be fashioned on lathes and
frames into the desired forms and sizes. These craftsmen work
with very simple machinery, as is apparent from the rude drawings
of their operations. M. Salvetat gives high praise to their
skill in producing large jars without the aid of the machinery
used in Europe, and indicates the great use they make of their
feet in these operations — a feature of all Asiatic artisans which
attracts the traveller’s notice wherever he goes. Some of their
procedures are inferior and ruder than the Japanese potters exhibit,
but space does not allow them to be described in this
sketch.
The glazing on Chinese ware contains silex mixed with lime
and the ashes of burnt ferns, in such proportions as are found
suitable for the diiferent varieties. During the mixing of these
ingredients the ashes are mostly eliminated, and the glazing
really consists of quartz flexed by carbonate of lime. The liquid
glaze is applied to the biscuit by dipping, by aspersion, and by
washing, according to the nature of the ware ; sometimes it is
blown through a tube in a dewy shower oft repeated.
STYLES AND MATERIALS OF PORCELAIN DECORATION. 2.1
When ready for the furnace, the pieces are carried to work, men specially skilled in properly firing them, where the different sizes are placed in ovens particularly fitted to bake each kind. Large jars require a separate oven so as to adapt the fire to their size and thickness, continuing it at a uniform blast for several days. Cups and small pieces are baked one on top of another in smaller ovens, some of which are open and others closed. Coal and wood are both used for fuel. The pieces are taken from the furnaces when successfully baked, to be decorated and colored in all the various hues and pictures which have made Chinese porcelain so much sought after. Some of their ground colors of red, yellow, and green have not been equaled elsewhere ; a careful analysis indicates the presence of the
oxides of copper, cobalt, iron, lead, antimony, and manganese.
Some of the rarest and most beautiful tints seem to have been
the result of happy experiment, the knowledge of which died
with its manufacture. It is not often that the Chinese artist
adorns his plaque or jar with mythological or religious characters,
preferring to let his fancy run riot in grotesque combinations
of natural scenes, amid which, however, the unerring
instinct or tlie accumulated experience of many successive generations
seldom permit him to wander from a truly artistic
conception. The amount of labor devoted to some minute
treasure of porcelain decoration is little short of fabulous. Mr.
Matthew x\rnold”s picture of the “cunning workman” who
Pricks with vermilion some clear porcelain vase,
An emperor’s gift—at early morn lie paints,
And all day long, and when night comes, the lamp
Lights up his studious forehead and thin hands, could probably be seen scores of times in the humbler quarters of great cities in China.Their ignorance of analytical chemistry compels them to follow a rule of thumb in the composition of their colors ; but generally they use oxide of copper for green and bluish greens, gold for reds, oxide of cobalt for blues, of antimony for yellows, and of arsenic and tin for whites. The preparation and application of these materials admit of less scope and beauty than are found on the finest European ware, and their result is more like enamelling than painting. M. Salvetat admits that the Chinese potter has excelled in producing craqii^ele ware, and certain hues, as sea-green, deep rosedon reds, and brilliant blues, which have not been equalled in Europe.
One elegant mode of ornament peculiar to them is seen in the tao-mhi(j ts3′-Vi, lit., ‘clear, bright porcelain,’ called eyelet-hole ware or grains of rice, made in the reign Kienlung. The paste is cut through by a kind of stamp which takes out enough to form the figure, in which the glaze is inserted before the piece is finally joined and ready for the kihi. When tired the glaze becomes transparent ; different patterns are frequently painted on the two surfaces, in which advantage is taken of the eyeletholes to adapt them to two sets of figures. An instance of mechanical skill is occasionally seen in their articulated vases, in which one jar is baked inside of another, the outer one being perforated so as to show off the object within; the baking of such pieces must be very difficult and uncertain.
The ware sold at Canton for foreign use is painted in that city to suit the caprice of purchasers, and during the present century has become identified abroad with Chinese art, wdiile it is really a combination of two or three styles. Its peculiarity consists in covering the dish with medallions and vignettes in bright colors, containing figures of heroes, arms, birds, etc., or scenes oti a colored or white ground. Such ware is not commonly used by the Chinese, but its manufacture is unhappily beginning to affect their national taste. This style is quite different from the well-known blue willow pattern which has long been regarded as the real CdeHtlal ware. This color does mark the common pottery and stoneware used all over the Empire by the poor, but the pattern is not so common.
It is not possible to enter here into all the niceties of this
subject, which is now attracting great attention, and has been
examined by Jacqnemart, Prime, Young, and many others.
Further researches into native and foreign books and collections
will bring out new facts, legends, and specimens, while we may
look for rare old pieces, as has been the case with the discovery
of the small perfume bottles in Egypt, as soon as full liberty is
given over all Asia to seek and dig.
Besides table furniture, porcelain statuettes and idols are common, and vases often bring extravagant prices, owing to some quality of fineness, coloring, antiquity, or shape, which native connoisseurs can only appreciate. The god of porcelain himself is usually made of this material. D’Entrecolles, in his account of the manufacture of the ware, says that this deity owes his divinity to his self-innnolation in one of the furnaces.
CHINESE BOTTLES DISCOV EKED IN EGYPT. 27
in utter despair at being able to accomplish the Emperor’s orders for the production of some vases of peculiar fineness ; the pieces which came out of the furnace after the wretch was burned pleased his Majesty so much that he deified him. Cheap stoneware is made at Shaukinii;, in Kwangtung, and many other places, some of it very pure and white.
The exportation of })orcelain has formed a very ancient branch of commerce westward, and it is not strange that specimens should occasionally be met with even at a great distance from China. The discovery of Chinese bottles in Egypt and Asia Minor, containing quotations from Chinese poets, shows that intercourse existed between the extremes of Asia in the tenth or eleventh centuries. Rosellini seems to have been the earliest to notice these relics of an ancient trade, during his researches in Egypt in 1828, when he obtained two or three. In a letter written in reply to one from Sir J. F. Davis, he states that he found one of these little bottles in a ” petit panier tissn de feuilles de palmier,” with other objects of Egyptian manufacture, in a tomb, whose date he places between b.c. 1800 and 1100. His words are, ” Ayant penetre dans un de ces trois tombeaux j’y ai trouve,” etc., which is as explicit as possible. He also adds, that many fragments of similar bottles had been offered to him by the peasants, which he had looked upon as quite modern till this discovery showed that they were real antiques.
Since then, several more have been picked up ; Dr. Abbott’s Egyptian collection in Kew York contains seventeen, all of which came from Egypt, but none, besides llosellini’s, out of a tomb directly into the hands of an Egyptologist. Layard and Cesnola bought similar bottles in Cyprus and Arban. However, one well-authenticated fact, like that of llosellini’s discovery, gives some evidence of a similar ancient origin to others precisely like it in shape, coloring, and inscriptions, for the trade between Arabia and Egypt to China has long since ceased ; but as fifty years have passed without another bottle occurring in any of the numerous tombs opened by careful and competent persons, one is inclined to think that Ttosellini’s tomb may have been twice used to bury mummies in, or that he mistook its age.
The inscriptions ;inJ style of writing of five different kinds have been engraved, and Sir Walter H. Medhnrst gives a translation of each, tracing the lines to their original authors. One of them is from AV’ ang Wai (a.d. 702-745), and reads, JSLlng
yueh sung chung chao, ‘ The bright moon shines amidst the
firs.’ A second i-eads, Chlh isai Uz’ shan chung, ‘ Only in the
midst of these mountains,’ and it dates a.d. 831-837. A third
is contracted from a line by Wei Ying-wuh (a.d. 702-795),
being part of a stanza of eight lines, as follows: IIivo lal ijta
yih nien, ‘ The flowers open, and lo, another year !
‘ A fourth
dates from a.d. 1068-1085, and is from the famous poet Su
Tung-po : Hang hioa hung sJiih 11, ‘The apricot flowers bloom
for miles around ;
‘ this is abridged from a distich in pentameter as follows:
One mass of color, the apricot flowers bloom for miles around ;
The successful graduate urges on his steed as if flying. .
Sir John Davis ascribes this inscription to a Chinese song written prior to the Christian eia, but gives no proof of so early a date, and he is probably in error. The fifth inscription is of the same date as the last ; it forms part of a quatrain by Chao Yung, and reads, Liao teh shaojhi eld, ‘ Which few, I ween, can comprehend.’
In Prime’s work on pottery he has given fac-similes of five bottles whose inscriptions are the same as those explained by Medhnrst ; his No. 142 and No. 14G is the second in this list ; his No. 143 is the first ; his 144 is the third ; and his 145 is the fifth and is different in shape from the others. The characters on the one found at Arban by Layard are written in a very cursive style.’
‘ Davis’ Sketches, Vol. II., pp. 72-84. Medhurst’s Ohinn, p. 135. Julien’s Histoire de la Porcelain Ohinow’, pp. xi-xxii. Prime’s Pottery and Porcelain^ p. 232. N. G. Br. R. A. S. Tranmctions, 1852, pp. 34-40 ; 1854, p. 93.
INSCRIPTIONS UPON THE BOTTLES. 2l3
The age and origin of these bottles has excited much inquiry, but the weight of evidence points to their having been taken to Egypt and Arabia by the Arabs who traded at Canton and Hang Zhou down to the end of the Sung dynasty in 1278. They were, as AVilkinson suggests in his Ancient Kgijpthin^, probably used by the purchasers to hold Void, to paint the eyes and eyelids of women ; their original use was probably to liokl peppermint and other oils, bandoline and tooth-powders, though
snuff is now generally carried in them, as glass bottles contain
the essences and oils seen in shops. The uniformity in size, shape,
coloring, and decoration in these bottles indicates that the
trade was rather confined to one port in China, for at present a
vast variety in all these particulars would be seen, as I ascertained
some years ago at Canton when unsuccessfully looking
in the shops for some having inscriptions like those discovered
in Egypt. Mr. Fortune found one having the same inscription
as Xo. 2, and Sir Harry Pai-kes came across three others, but
their rarity now proves the change ; and these were probably
real antiques. The latter found two other inscriptions on similar
bottles in China, whose authors lived a.d. 584 and later; and
argues against their high antiquity from the metre having been
introduced in later times. The strongest proof of their modern
origin is the material and the date of the style of writing, neither
of which could have been prior to the Han dynasty if Chinese
records are Avorth anything ; such simple lines as these five
could indeed have been handed down and adopted by later poets from lost authors, but this possibility weighs nothing against the others. The more antiquarian researches extend in Asia, however, the more shall we find that the books and inscriptions now extant do not contain the earliest dates of inventions and travels.
The cheap pottery of the Chinese resembles the Egyptian
ware in color and brittleness, but is less porous when unglazed.
Tea-kettles, pans, plates, teapots, and articles of household use,
bathing-tubs, immense jars, comparable to hogsheads, for liolding
water, fancy images, statuettes, figurines, toys, flower-pot >,
and a thousand other articles are everywhere burned from clay
and sold at extremely low prices. The jars are used in shops
to contain liquids, powders, etc. ; in gardens to keep fish, collect
rain, and receive manure and offal ; and in boats and houses for
the same purposes that barrels, ])ails, and pans are put to elsewhere.
“Water will boil sooner and a dish of vegetables be
cooked more expeditiously in one of these earthen pots than in
metal ; the caloric seems to permeate the clay almost as soon as
it is over the fire. Druni-shaped stools and garden seats, vitruvian
ornaments for balustrades, fanciful llower-pots in the shape
of buffaloes, representing the animal feeding under the shade of
a tree growing out of its body, lishes, dragons, phoinixes, and
other objects for decorating the ridges and for gargoyles are
manufactured of this ware. Flat ligures of the human form
are set into frames to represent groups of persons, or elegantly
shaped characters are arranged into sentences, both of them to
put on the walls of rooms, making altogether a great variety of
purposes to which this material is applied.
The lacquered-ware peculiar to China and Japan owes its
histre to the prepared sap of a kind of sumach {IlJius vernieifera)
cultivated in both countries for this purpose. AVood oils
are obtained from other plants, such as the C’urcas, Augia,
J^Jleococcus, and lihus semi-alatus^ and the different qualities of
lacquered-ware are owing to the use of these inferior ingredients.
The real varnish-tree is described bv De Guiiiiies as resemblini»;
the ash in its foliage and bark ; it is about tifteen feet in height,
and when seven j-ears old furnishes the sap, which is carefully
collected in the summer nights from incisions cut in the truidv.
It comes to market in tubs holding the cakes, and those who
collect it are careful to cover their faces and hands from contact
with this irritating juice as they prepare it for market. A good
yield of a thousand ti-ees in one night would be twenty pounds
avoirdupois weight of sap. The best sort is tawny rather than
white in its inspissated state, and is kept well protected from the
air by tarred paper. The body of lacquered-ware is usually seasoned
pine, well smoothed, and the grooves covered with hempen lint
or paper. A sizing of pig’s gall, often mixed with very fine
sand, makes a priming. The prepared lacquer is composed of the
sap dissolved in spring-water, adding ground-nut oil, pig’s gall,
and rice vinegar in the sunshine with broad flat brushes till it
is thoroughly mixed.
The principal object in preparing the wood is to cover it with a priming that wall receive the lac(]uer and remain impervious to changes in temperature. This preparation varies a good deal according to the quality of the ware ; it is laid on evenly, coat after coat, allowing each to dry before the next is spread.
UlANUFACTUKE OF LACQUEKED-WARE. 81
The last coating is rubbed with puiuice or the finest sandstone, finishing this priming with ;i .smooth piece of slate. When ready the piece is taken into a close room having paper lattices and shut out from any air, where it receives a coating of clear lacquer. It is then put into a dark room to dry. The operation is repeated ten or fifteen times for the best kinds. Some workmen are so sensitive to the liquid lacquer that they cannot safely do this part of the manufacture ; others go through all the processes without annoyance. Coloring matter to give the lacquer a brown hue, or to make an imitation of venturuia(or aventui’lne^ a brownish glass spangled throughout with copper filings) by mixing gold leaf, is added during these operations.
The gilding is performed by another set of workmen in a
large workshop. The figures of the design are drawn on thick
paper, which is then pricked all over to allow the powdered
chalk to fall on the table and form the outline. Anotlier
workman completes the picture by cutting the lines with a burin
or needle, and filling them with vermilion mixed in lacquer, as
tliick as needed. This afterward is covered by means of a hairpencil
with gold in leaf, or in powder laid on with a dossil ; the
gold is often mixed with fine lampblack. The proper lacquer
is seldom used otherwise than in making this ware. The Chinese
term for UiU includes this and all kinds of oils and paints,
so that some confusion arises in describing their materials.’ A beautiful fabric of lacquered-ware is made by inlaying the nacre of fresh and salt-water shells in a rough mosaic of fiowers, animals, etc., into the composition, and then varnishing it. Another highly prized kind is made by covering the wood with a coating of fine powdered cinnabar and varnish three or four lines in thickness, and then carving figures upon it in relief. The great labor necessary to produce this ware renders it expensive, and it is not now produced.
‘ N. Rondot, Commerce (le la Chine, p. 120 ; Journal Asuttique, IV. Series,Tome XI., 184y, pp. 34-05 ; Clduene Commercial Cruidc, 5th Ed., p. 134.
The oils obtained from the nuts of other trees by simple pressure and by refining them afterward are quite numerous. The details of their manufacture and application may yet furnish many new hints and processes to western arts. The oil of the Eleococcus, after pressing (according to De Guignes), is boiled with Spanish white in the proportion of one ounce to half
a pound of oil ; as it begins to thicken it is taken off and poured
into close vessels. It dissolves in turpentine and is used as a
varnish, either clear or mixed with different colors ; it defends
woodwork from injury for a long time, and forms a good painter’s
oil. Boiled with iron rust it forms a reddish brown varnish.
In order to prevent its penetrating into the wood when
used clear, and to increase the lustre, a priming of lime and
hog’s blood simmered together into a paste is previously laid on.
The manufacture of silk is original among the Chinese, as
well as those of porcelain and lacquered-ware, and in none of
these have foreigners yet succeeded in fully equalling the native
products. The notices of the cultivation of the nmlberry
and the rearing of silk-worms found in Chinese works have
been industriously collected and published by M. Julien by
order of the French government—another instance of the
intelligent care of this nation to aid one of its great industries.
The introduction by M. Beauvais indicates certain })oints
worthy of the notice of cultivators ; it has been remarked that
the hints thus obtained from Julien’s translation have been of
more value to the peoj)le employed in silk culture in France
than all that has been paid by the govei-nment for the promotion
of Chinese literature from their first outlay in tlie last century.
The earliest notice in the SJuo Kimj of silk culture occurs in the Yu Kiing. It is said the mulberry grounds were made fit for silk-worms, when speaking of the draining of Yen Chau (parts of Shantung and Cliihli), as if it was an usual culture ; other references to silk in the same book show it to have been a well-known fabric at that date (b.c. 2204). The allusion, therefore, in the Book of Odes to silks of many sorts also strengthen the notice in the Wei li’i^ which says :
Slling shi, the Empress of Hwangtl, began to rear silk-worms:
At this period Hwangti invented the art of making clotliing.
ORIGIN AND IMPOUTANCE OP^ THE SILK INDUSTRY. 33
This legend carries tlie art back to u.r. 2600, or perhaps five
centuries after the Deluge. Siling is said to have been her
birthplace, and Lui Tsu her right name ; she was deified and is
still worshipped as the goddess of silk under the name of Yuenfi.
In this act, as De Guignes observes, the Chinese resemble other
ancient nations in ascribing the invention of spinning to women,
and deifying them ; thus the Egyptian Isis, the Ljdian Arachne,
and the Gi-ecian Athene also handled the distaff. A temple
called the Sten-tsaii Tao exists in the palace grounds dedicated
to Yuenfi, wherein she is worshipped annually in April by the
Empress. The altar, grounds, sacrifices, ritual, and buildings
are all in imitation of those in the Temple of Agriculture, of
which they are a counterpart. The Book of Rites contains a
notice of the festival held in honor of weaving, which corresponds
to that of ploughing by the Emperor. ” In the last month
of spring the young Empress purified herself and offered a sacrifice to the o:oddess of silk-worms. She went into the eastern fields and collected mulberry leaves. She forbade noble dames and the ladies of statesmen adorning themselves, and excused her attendants from their sewing and embroidery, in order that they might give all their care to the rearing of silkworms.”
The present enclosure was put up by Yungching in 17-12, but its buildings are now much dilapidated. The attention of the Chinese government to this important branch of industry has been unremitted, and at this day it supplies perhaps one-half of all the gai’tnents worn by the people. In the paraphrase to the fourth maxim of the Shing Yu, it is remarked : ” In ancient times emperors ploughed the lands and empresses cultivated the mulberiy. Though the most honorable, they did not disdain to toil and labor, as examples to the whole Empire, in order to induce all the people to seek these essential supports.” One-half of the lllastrations of Agriculture and Weaving are devoted to delineating the various processes attending this manufacture ; and Julien quotes more than twenty works and authors on this subject. Among other uses to which this material is put, may be remembered, in the second chapter of this work, the burning of many thousand pieces of plain, coarse silk as part of the offerings to the gods at Peking, and in the annual sacrifices before the tablets of Confucius.
‘While the worms are growing, care is taken to keep them
undisturbed bj either noise or bright light; they are often
changed from one hurdle to another that they may have roomy
and cleanly places ; the utmost attention is paid to their condition
and feeding, and noting the right time for preparing them for
spinning cocoons. Three days are required for this, and in six
it is time to stifle the larvae and reel the silk from the cocoons; but this being usually done by other workmen, those who rear the worms enclose the cocoons in a jar buried in the ground and
lined with mats and leaves, interlaying them with salt, which
kills the pnpfe but keeps the silk supple, strong, and lustrous ;
preserved in this manner, they can be transported to any distance,
or the reeling of the silk can be delayed until convenient.
Another mode of destroying the cocoons is to spread them on
trays and expose them by twos to the steam of boiling water,
putting the upper in the place of the lower one according to
the degree of heat they are in, taking care that the chrysalides
are killed and the silk not injured. After exposure to steam the
silk can be reeled off immediately, but if placed in the jars they
must be put into warm water to dissolve the glue before the
floss can be unwound.
‘ Julien, Culturer des Muriers, 1837 ; Pauthier, Chine Moderne, p. 21; Hedde, Cat(tlo(pu’ (JcH Prodvits Serigenes, 1848, pp. 100-287; Chinese Fepos/ton/, Vol.XVIII,, pp. :K)8-;314 ; Commercial Guide, 5th Ed., p. 136 ; Mailla, Ilistoire de la Chine, Tome I., p. 24 ; Biot, Tcheon-li, passim, 1851.
REARING AND TltKATMENT OF SILK- WORMS. 85
The commission sent from France to China in 1844 to make inquiries into its industries consisted of skilled men, and their reports embody a great amount of details nowhere else to be found. The digested catalogue of the exhibits of M. Iledde at St. Etienne in 1848 contains four hundred and fifty-three articles relating to silk and mulberry alone. The amount of silk goods exported has never regained its value previous to 1854, in consequence of the destruction of skilled workmen and manufactories during the Tai-ping rebellion, and raw silk still forms the bulk of the export. The finest silk comes from Chehkiang province, and is known as tsatli,, tay-saam, and yuenhwa in commerce ; the centre of the culture is at Ilii-chau, a prefecture in the northwest of that province. The mulberry grows everywhere, and none of the provinces are without some silk, but Kwangtung, Sz’chuen, and Chehkiang furnish the best and most.
Great attention is paid in Shantung, Sz’chuen, and Kweichau
to collecting wild silk from the cocoons of worms which
feed on the ailantus, oak, and xanthoxylum. The insect is the
Attacus ei/nthia, and its food the tender leaves of the ailantus
and Quercus mongholica in Shantung, where great quantities of
durable silk is woven. It is not so lustrous as that produced by
the bombyx-worm, which feeds on the mulberry leaf, and comparatively
little is exported. The proportion of manufactured
silks sent abroad is less now than it was fifty years ago, but the
home consumption is so enormous that an annual export to
the value of nearly ninety millions of dollars has little effect
on the prices. In 1854 the price of the best raw silk was
about $330 a bale, and the expoi-t over fifty-one thousand bales ;
in 1860, the sanie sort was $550, and the export nearly eighty
thousand bales ; this increase in price was owing chiefly to disease
in the trees in Europe, though the ravages of war in both
Chehkiang and Kwangtung had destroyed much property in
this branch.
The loom in China is worked by two hands, one of whom sits on the top of the frame, where he pulls the treadles and assists in changing the various parts of the machine. The workmen imitate almost any pattern, excelling particularly in crapes, and flowered satins and damasks for oflficial dresses.
The common people wear pongee and senshaw, which they frequently dye in gambler to a dust or black color ; these fabrics
constitute most durable garments. Many of the delicate silk
tissues known in Europe are not manufactured by the Chinese,
most of their fabrics being heavy. The lo, or law, is a beautiful
article like grenadine and seldom sent abroad ; it is used
for summer robes, muscpiito curtains, festoons, and other purposes.
The English words .satin, .senshaw, and sill’ are probably
derived from the Chinese terms sz’-twan, sien-sha, and sz\
intermediately through other languages.
The skill of the Chinese in embroidery is well known, and
the demand for such work to adorn the dresses of officers
and ladies of every rank, for ornamenting purses, shoes, caps,
fans, and other appendages of the dress of both sexes, and in
working shawls, table covers, etc., for exportation, furnishes
employment to myriads of men and women. The fj’ame is
placed on pivots and the pattern marked out upon the plain
surface. There are many styles, with thread, braid, or floss,
and an infinite variety in the quality, pattern, and beauty of the
work ; it is the art of Chinese women, and every young lady is
expected to know how to do it. (3n fire screens the design appears
the same on both sides, the ends of the threads being
neatly concealed. This mode of embroidery seems also to have
been known among the Hebrews, from the expression in Deborah’s
song (Judges V. 30), “Of divers colors of needle-work
on both sides,” which Sisera’s mother vainly looked for him to
bring home as spoil for her. Books are prepared for emljroiderers
containing patterns for their imitation or combination.
The silk used is of the finest kind and colqr, gold and silver
thread being introduced to impart a lusti’e to the figures on
caps, purses, and shoes. Tassels and twisted cords for sedans
or lanterns, knobs or buttons worn on the winter caps, and elegant
fan and pipe-cases, purses or fobs, constitute only a few
of the products of their needles. Spangles are made from
brass leaves by cutting out a small ring by means of a doubleedged
stamp, which at one drive detaches from the sheet a
wheel-shaped circle ; these are flattened by a single stroke of
the hammer upon an anvil, leaving a minute hole in the centre.
Another way of making them is to bend a copper wire into a
circle and flatten it. Their own needles are very slender, and
are rapidl}’ giving way to the foreign article ; in sewing the
tailor holds it between the forefinger and thumb, pressing
against the thimble on the thumb as he pushes it into the cloth.
Our ascertaining the date of the introdnctioii of cotton as a
textile plant into China depends very nmch on the meaning of
certain words rendered eofton. by some amiotators in the Slia
King. The weight of proof is, however, strongly adverse to
this view ; but a historical notice dated about a.d. 500 plainly
COTTON-GROWING AND MANUFACTURE. 37
refers to cotton robes ; in a.d. G70 it was called by a foreign
name kih-pei, a contracted foi”m of the Sanscrit name harjya-n.
The present name of nuen-hwa^ or ‘ cotton Hower,’ was naturally
given to it from the resemblance of its seed envelope to
the silky covering of the seeds of the muh-iriien shu^ or tree
cotton {Boniba.i’), common in Southern China. It was, however,
one thing to admire cotton cloth brought as tribute, and
quite another to introduce cotton-growing into China, which
does not seem to have been attempted until the Sung dynasty.
Early in the eleventh century the plant was brought over and
cultivated in the northwestern provinces by persons from
Khoten, where it M’as grown. If this tardy adoption seems
difficult to explain, the still slower introduction of silk-growing
(in A.D. 550) into Asia Minor from Cliina, twelve centuries
after her fabrics had been seen there, is more surprising. The
opposition to cotton cultivation on the part of silk and hemp
growers was so persistent that the plant had not fairly won its
way into favor until the Yuen dynasty ; and this was owing to
a public-spirited woman, Lady Hwang, who distributed seeds
throughout Kiangnan, now the great cotton region.
The duvable cotton cloth made in the central provinces, called nankeen by foreigners, because Kanking is famous for its manufacture, is the chief produce of Chinese looms. It is now seldom sent out of the country, and the natives are even taking to the foreign fabric in its stead. Cotton seed in that part of China is sown early in June, about eighty pounds to an acre ; in a good year the produce is about two thousand pounds, diminishing to one-half in poor seasons. It is manured with liquid bean-cake, often hoed, and the bolls gathered in October, usually by each family in its own plot. The seeds are separated by passing the pods between an iron and wooden roller on a frame, which presses out the seeds and does not break them. The cleaned cotton is then bowed ready for spinning,
and the cloth is woven in sinq^le looms by the people who are
to wear it after it is dyed blue. The looms used in weaving
cotton vary from twelve to sixteen inches in M’idth ; they are simple
in their construction ; no figures are woven in cotton fabrics,
nor have the Chinese learned to print them as chintz or calico. Whether the varied articles from the west now brought into close competition with this primitive Chinese manufacture will finally captivate the consumer’s choice, and neutralize its production, depends chiefly on what can be substituted therefor. At present, such is the extent of the native crop that prices would not probably advance ten per cent, if the whole foreign importation of raw and manufactured cotton should suddenly stop. The only attempt to estimate the product has been in Kiangnan, at The Cobbler and his Movable Workshop.
twenty-eight thousand five hundred tons, a figure below rather
than above the truth.”
Leather is used to protect the felt soles of shoes and make saddles, bridles, quivers, harness, etc., but the entire consumption is small, and the leather extremely poor. Buffalo and horse-hides are tanned for sole leather, and calf-skin for upper leather to supply shoes for foreigners at the ports. Alum, saltpetre, gandjicr, and urine are the tanning materials employed, and the rapid manner in which the process is completed renders the leather both porous and tender.
‘ Journal N. G. Dr. li. A. 8. (1859); Ghinese Repository, XVIII., pp. 449-469; N. Rondot, Counnnre de In Oliiiie, 1849, p. 72; Fortune, WanderiiKja,Chap. XIV. (18.47) ; Grosier, Ilidolrc dc la Chine, Toiiiu 111., pp. 193-204.
LKATIIEK AND WOOLLEN FABRICS. 39
Cobblers go about the streets plying their trade, provided with a few bits of nankeen, silk, and yellowish sole leather with which to patch their customers’ shoes. It is no small convenience to a man, as he passes along the street, to give his old shoe to a cobbler and his ragged jacket to a seamstress, while he calls the barber to shave him as he waits for them ; and such a trio at work for a man is not an unconnnon sight.
The chief woollen fabrics produced are felts of different qualities
and rngs or carpets woven from coarse camel’s-hair yarn.
Tanned sheep-skins furnish the laboring poor in the northern
provinces with clothing, and elsewhere felt supplies them with
material for shoes, hats, and carpets. The fulling process is
not very thoroughly done, and the fabric soon disintegrates
unless protected by matting or cotton. The consumption of the
good qualities for hats is large among out-door workmen, who
prefer the doubled kind made in the shape of a hollow cycloid,
so that it can be turned inside out. Camel’s-hair rugs supply
a durable and cheap covering for the brick divans and tiled
floors in the colder districts, but the thick soles of Chinese shoes
obviate the need of additional protection to the feet. Some of
these rugs are fine specimens of art in their arrangement of patterns
and figures in colored woollen yarns, though far inferior
to the Persian. Pretty rugs are also made of dog, deer, and foxskins
sewed together in a kind of mosaic. Knitting and ornamental
works in wool are unknown, since the far more elegant
and durable embroidery in silk takes the place of these as fancy
work amoneo; dames of hioC*-h and low deiOiiee.
The subject of tea culture and the preparation of its leaf
have engaged the attention of writers among the Chinese and
Japanese ; while its effects on the human system as a beverage
have been discussed most carefully by eminent western chemists
and pathologists. Its virtue in restoring the energies of the
body and furnishing a drink of the gentlest and most salubrious
nature has been fully tested in its native land for many centuries,
and is rapidly becoming known the world over. The
following are some of the leading facts relating to the plant and
the preparation and nature of the leaf, derived from pei’sonal
observation in the country or from the writings of competent
observers.
Tea does not grow in the northern provinces of China and Japan ; its range lies between the twenty-third and thirty-fifth degrees of latitude, and reaching in longitude from Yedo to Assam. No accounts have come to us of the tea shrub being cultivated for its infusion till a.d. 350. The people in different
parts of China gave different names to the successive pickings
of the leaves, which have now become disused. Our word tea
is derived from the common sound of the character for the
pla!it at the city of Anioy, where it is tay ; at Canton and Peking
it is clta, at Shanghai dzo, at Fuhchau ta. The Russians and
Portuguese have retained the word cha, the Spanish is te or tay,
and the Italians have both te and cha. Tea is so nearly akin to
the various species of camellia that the Chinese have only one
name for alL The principal difference to the common observer
is in the thin leaf of the tea and the leathery glabrous leaf of
the beautiful Camellia Japonica. When allowed to grow they
both become high trees. The tea flower is small, single, and
y white, has no smell, and soon falls; its petals are less erect than
the camellia. The seeds are three small nuts, like filberts in
color, enclosed in a triangular shell which splits open when ripe,
with valves between the seeds. Its taste is oily and bitter. Two
species of camellia are cultivated for their oily seeds, the oil
being known as tea-oil among the natives ; it is used for lamps
and cooking. There is probably only one species of the tea
plant, and all the varieties have resulted from culture ; but the
Thea vh’idls is most cultivated. The nuts are ripe in October.
They are put in a mixture of sand and earth, dampened to keep
them fresh till spring ; they generate heat and spoil if not thus
separated. In March they are sown in a nursery, and the
thrifty shoots transplanted the next year in rows about four feet
apart. Leaves are collected when the plant is three years old,
and this process is continued annually to a greater or less extent,
according to the demand and strength, until the whole
bush becomes so weak and diseased that it is j)ulled up for firewood
to give place to a new shoot. On the average this is about
the eighth year. The plants seldom exceed three feet; most
of them ai’C half that height, straggling and full of twigs, often
covered with lichens, but well hoed and clean around their roots.
TEA CULTURE. 4J
All tea plantations are merely patches of the shrnbs cared for by small fanners, who cultivate the plants and sell the leaves to middle-men, or more often pick the crop themselves if they can afford to do so. The great plantation or farm, with its landlord and the needy laborer, each class trying to get as nmch as possible out of the other, are unknown in China ; the farmer has not there learned to employ skill, machinery, and capital all for his own advantage, but each farmstead is worked by the family, who rather emulate each other in the reputation of their tea. Tea is cultivated on the slopes or bases of hills, where the drainage is quick and the moisture unfailing. This
is of more consequence than the ingredients of the soil, but
plants so continually depauperated and stripped require rich
manure to supply their waste. In Japan the tea shrubs are
sometimes grown as a hedge around a garden lot, but such
plants are not stripped in this way. In gathering the earliest
leaves, the pickers are careful to leave enough foliage at the end
of the twigs ; and the spring rains are depended on to stimulate
the second and full crop of leaves. When these are scant or
fail the tea harvest diminishes, and the regularity of the rains
is so essential to a profitable cultivation that it will be one of
the causes of failure whei-e everything else in soil, climate, manuring,
and manufacture may be favorable.
The first gathering is the most carefully done, for it goes to make the best sorts of black and green tea ; and as the greatest part of the leaves are still undeveloped, the price must necessarily be very much higher. Such tea has a whitish down, like that on young birch leaves, and is called ijecoe, or ‘ white hair,’ and is most of it sent to England and Russia. In the last century, the green tea known as Young Ilyson was made of these
half-opened leaves picked in April and named from two words
meaning ‘ rains before.’ The second gathering varies somewhat
according to the latitude—May 15th to June, when the foliage
is fullest. This season is looked forward to by women and
children in the tea districts as their working time ; they run in
crowds to the middle-men, who have bargained for the leaves on
the plants, or apply to farmers who have not hands. The average
produce is from sixteen to twenty-two ounces of green leaves for the healthiest plants, down to ten and eight ounces. The tea when cured is about one-fifth of its first weight, and one thousand square yards will contain about three hundred and fifty plants, each two feet across. They strip the twigs in the most summary manner, and fill their baskets with healthy leaves as they pick out the sticks and yellow leaves, for they are paid
in this manner. Fifteen pounds is a good day’s work, and six to
eight cents is a day’s wages. The time for picking lasts only
ten or twelve days. There are curing houses, where families
who grow and pick their own leaves bring them for sale at the
market rate. The sorting emploj’S many hands, for it is an important
point in connection with the purity of the various descriptions,
and much care is taken by dealers, in maintaining the
quality of their lots, to have them cured carefully as well as
sorted properly.
The management of this great branch of industry exhibits some of the best features of Chinese country life. It is only over a portion of each farm that the plant is grown, and its cultivation requires but little attention compared with rice and vegetables. The most delicate kinds are looked after and cnred by priests in their secluded temples among the hills; these often have many acolytes who aid in preparing small lots to be sold at a high price.
When the leaves are brought in to the curers they are thinly spread on shallow trays to dry off all moisture by two or three hours’ exposure. Meanwhile the roasting pans are heating, and W’hen properly warmed some handfuls of leaves are thrown on them, and rapidly moved and shaken up for four or five minutes.
The leaves make a slight crackling noise, become moist and flaccid as the juice is expelled, and give off even a sensible vapor. The whole is then poured out upon the rolling table, where each workman takes up a handful and makes it into a manageable ball, which he rolls back and forth on the rattan table to get rid of the sap and moisture as the leaves are twisted. This operation chafes the hands even with great precaution.
THE MANUFACTUKE OF TEA. 43
The balls are opened and shaken out and then passed on to other workmen, who go through the same operation till they reach the headnum, who examines the leaves to see if they have become curled. When properly done, and cooled, they are returned to the iron pans, under which a low cliarcoal fire is burning in the brickwork which supports them, and there kept in motion by the hand. If they need another rolling on the table it is now given them ; an hour or more is spent in this manipung Tea.
lation, when they are dried to a dull green color, and can be
put away for sifting and sorting. This color becomes brighter
after the exposure in sifting the cured leaves through sieves of
various sizes ; they are also winnowed to separate the dust,
and afterward sorted into the various descriptions of green tea.
Finally, the finer kinds are again fired three or four times, and the coarse kinds, as Twankay, Hyson, and Hj’son Skin, once. The others furnish the Young Hyson, Gunpowder, Imperial, etc. Tea cured in this way is called luh cha^ or ‘green tea,’ by the Chinese, while the other, or black tea, is termed hung cha, or ‘red tea,’ each name being taken from the tint of the infusion.
After the fresh leaves are allowed to lie exposed to the air
on the bamboo trays over night or several hours, they are
thrown into the air and tossed about and patted till they become
soft ; a heap is made of these wilted leaves and left to
lie for an hour or more, when they have become moist and
dark in color. They are then thrown on the hot pans for
five minutes and rolled on the i-attan table, previous to exposure
out-of-doors for three or four hours on sieves, during which
time they are turned over and opened out. After this they get
a second roasting and rolling to give them their final curl. When
the charcoal fire is ready, a basket shaped something like an
hour-glass is placed endwise over it, having a sieve in the
middle on which the leaves are thinly spread. AYlien dried
five minutes in this way they undergo another rolling, and are
then thrown into a heap, nntil all the lot has passed over the
fire. When this firing is finished, the leaves are opened out
and are again tliinly spread on the sieve in the basket for a few
minutes, which finishes the drying and rolling for most of the
heap, and nuxkes the leaves a uniform black. They are now
replaced in the basket in greater mass, and pushed against its
sides by the hands in order to allow the heat to come up
through the sieve and the vapor to escape ; a basket over all
retains the heat, but the contents are turned over until perfectly
dry and the leaves become uniformly dark.
GREEN AND BLACK TEAS. 45
It will be seen frojn this that green tea retains far more of the peculiar oil and sap in tlie leaves than the black, which undergo a partial fermentation and emit a sensibly warm vapor as they lie in heaps after the first roasting. They thus become oxidized by longer contact in a warm moist state with the atmosphere, and a delicate analysis will detect lants, as hemlock, belladonna, etc., for the
apothecary’s shop.
Green teas are mostly produced in the region south of the
Yangtsz’ River and west of Kingpo among the hills as one goes
toward the Poyang Lake in Chehkiang and Xganhwui. The
black tea comes from Fuhkien in the southeast and llupeh and
Hunan in the central region ; Kwangtung and Sz’chuen provinces
produce black, green, and brick teas. While the leaves of each
species of the shrub can be cured into either green or black tea,
the workmen in one district are able, by practice, to produce
one kind in a superior style and quality ; those in another region
will do better with another kind. Soil, too, has a great influence,
as it has in grape culture, in modifying the produce. Though
the natives distinguish onl}^ these three kinds, their varieties are
far too numerous to remember, and the names are mostly unknown
in commerce.
Of black teas, the great mass is called Congou^ or the ‘ wellworked,’
a name which took the place of the Bohea of one hundred
and fifty years ago, and is now itself giving way to the term
English Breakfast tea. The finest sorts are either named from
the place of their growth, or jnore frequently have fancy appellations
in allusion to their color or form. Orange Pekoe is
named ” superior perfume ;” pure Pekoe is ” Lau-tsz’ eyebrows ;”
“carnation hair,” “red plum blossom,”” “lotus kernel,” “sparrow’s
tongue,” ” dragon’s pellet,” ” dragon’s whiskei-s,” ” autumn
dew,” ” pearl flower,” or Chilian, are other names ; Souchong
and Pouidiong refer to the modes of packing.
In the trade, teas are more commonly classified by their locality
than their names, as it is found that well-marked differences in
the style of the produce continue year after year, all ecpially
well-cured tea. These arise from diversities in soil, climate,
age, and manufacturing, and furnish materials for still further
nuiltiplying the sorts by skilfully mixing them. Thus in black
teas we have Ilunan and llupeh from two provinces, just as
Georgia uplands and Sea Island indicate two sorts of cotton ;
Ningyong, Kai-sau, Ho-hau, Sing-chune-ki, etc., and many
others, which are unknown out of Ohina, are all names of places.
One gentleman has given a list of localities, each furnishing its quota and peculiar product, amounting in all to forty-five for black and nine for green. The area of these regions is about four hundred and seventy thousand square miles.
It will have been seen already that the color of green tea, as
well as its quality, depends very much on rapid and expert drying.
When this kind is intended for home consumption soon
after it is made, the color is of little consequence ; but when the
hue influences the sale, then it is not to be overlooked by the
manufactui’er or the broker. The first tea brought to Europe
was from Fuhkien and all black ; but as the trade extended probably
some of the delicate Hyson sorts were now and then seen
at Canton, and their appearance in England and Holland appreciated
as more and more was sent. It was found, however,
to be very difficult to maintain a uniform tint. If cured too
slightly, the leaf was liable to fermentation during the voyage ;
if cured too much, it was unmarketable, which for the manufacturer
was worse yet. Chinese ingenuity was equal to the call.
Though no patent office was at hand to register the date when
coloring green tea commenced, it is probably more than one
hundred j-ears since. The three hundred and forty-two chests and
half chests wdiich were so summarily opened on board the Dartmouth,
the Eleanor, and the Beavei”, when their contents were
thrown overboard in Boston harbor, on December 16, 1773,
furnishes probably no index of the consumption of tea in New
England at that time. It was all called Bohea by John Adams,
who speaks of three cargoes, as if the vessels had nothing
else of note in their holds.
Dr. Holmes, in his ballad on the Boston Tea Party at its
centennial celebration, says in the last verse:
The waters in the rebel bay
Have kept the tea-leaf savor—
Our old North Enders in their spray
Still taste a Hyson flavor ;
And Freedom’s teacup still o’erflows
With ever fresh libations,
To cheat of slumber all her foes
And cheer the wakening nations.COLORING GREEN TEAS, 47
It has been noticed that emigrants to Au^^tralia, who had seldom tasted green tea before leaving England, usually prefer it in their new homes, as new settlers do in tins country. The prevailing notion that green tea is cured on copper arose, no doubt, from the conclusion that real verdigris was the only source of a verdigris color, and the astringent taste confirmed the wrong idea. A more difficult question to answer is the inquiry, Why is it still believed ?
The operation of giving green tea its color is a simple one.
A quantity of Prussian blue is pulverized to a very fine powder,
and kept ready at the last roasting. Pure gypsum is
burned in the charcoal fire till it is soft and fit foi easily triturating.
Four parts are then thoroughly mixed with three parts
of Prussian blue, making a light blue powder. About five
minutes before finally taking off the dried leaves this powder
is sprinkled on them, and instantly the whole panful of two or
three pounds is turned over by the workman’s hands till a
uniform color is obtained, llis hands come out quite blue, but
the compound gives the green leaves a brighter green hue. The
quantity is not great, say about half a pound in a hundred of
tea ; and as gypsum is not a dangerous or irritating substance,,
being constantly. eaten by the Chinese, the other ingredient remains
in an almost infinitesimal degree. If foreigners preferred
yellow teas no doubt they coiild be favored, for the Chinese
are much perplexed to account for this strange predilection, as
they never drink this colored or faced tea. Turmeric root has
been detected, too, in a very few analj’ses, but probably these
were lots that needed to be refined at Canton to cover up mildew
or supply a demand. The reasons for not drinking this
tea are, however, owing more to the nature than the color of
the leaf. The kinds of green tea are fewer than the black, and
the regions producing it are less in area. Gunpowder and Imperial
are foreign-made terms ; the teas are known as siau elm
and ta chu by native dealers. The first is rolled to resemble shot
or coarse gunpowder; the other is named “sore crab’s eyes,”
“sesamura seeds,” and “pearls.” Ilyson is a corruption of yutsieny
‘ before the rains,’ and of Ili-chun, meaning ‘ flourishing
spring.’ The last is alleged to be the name of a maiden who suggested
to her father as long ago as 1700, or thereabouts, a better
mode of sorting tea, and his business increased so much as his fine Hyson became known that he gave it her name. Members of this same family are still engaged in making this same tea, and the chop, known as the Ut Yih-hing, or ‘ Li’s Extra Perfume,’ is now in market, and has maintained its reputation for nearly two hundred years. Oolong is obtained in Fuhkien—a black tea
with a green tea flavor, named Black Dragon from a story
tliat Su was struck with the fragrance of the leaf from a plant
Mdiere a black snake was found coiled. The great mart for
green tea is Twankay, in Chehkiang province.
A chop is a well-known term in the tea trade ; it is derived
from the Chinese word ehoj), or ‘ stamp’, such as an ofiicial uses,
and in the tea trade denotes a certain number of packages from
the same place, and all of the same quality. In the course of years
the uniform excellence of a certain chop, like that of a certain
vineyard, gives it a marketable value. A laAvsuit arose in 1873
between two American houses at Canton in regard to the right to
a certain chop of tea, among two brokers, each of whom claimed
to sell the genuine lot. Such chops range from fifty to one thousand
two hundred chests, averaging six hundred. English teatasters
have learned that an admixture of scented teas in common
sorts of Congou adds much to the flavor and sale. This is
not often done for native-drank tea, and is chiefly practised at
Canton. The flowers used are roses, Olea fragrans, tuberose,
orange, jasmine, gardenia, and azalea. The stems, calyx, and
other parts are carefully sorted out, so that only the petals remain.
When the tea is ready for packing, dry and warm, tlie
fresh flowers are mixed with it (forty pounds to one liundred
pounds for the orange), and left thus in a mass for twenty-four
hours ; it is then sifted and winnowed in a fanning mill till
the petals are separated. If the odor is insuflicient, the operation
may be repeated with the jasmine or orange. The proportion
of jasmine is a little more than orange ; of the azalea,
nearly half and half. The length of time required to obtain
the proper smell from these flowei-s difi’ers, and among them all
tea scented with the azalea is said to keep its perfume the longest.
The mode of scenting tea diifei-s somewhat according to the
flower itself, for the small blossom of the Qloa cannot be
separated by sifting as rose or jasmine leaves can. Tea thus
SCENTED AND ADULTERATED TEAS. 49
perfumed is sent to England as Orange Pekoe and Scented Caper.
It is mixed witli fiiu; teas ; and there is much to commend
in thus increasing tlie aroma and taste of this healthy beverage.
The Scented Caper comes in the form of round pellets, which
are made of black tea softened by sprinkling water on it until
it is pliable ; it is then tied in canvas bags and rolled with the
feet by treading on it for a good while till most of the quantity
takes this form ; as soon as perfumed it is packed for shipment.
When rolled and dried, such tea needs only a facing to make it
into Impei-ial and Gunpowder among the green teas.
The Chinese have been charo;ed with adulteratino; their tea
by mixing in other leaves with the true tea-leaf, and adding
other ingredients far vvoi-se than rose, jujube, and fern leaves,
and the cases which have been proved of lie-tea being sent off
have been applied to the entire export. The stimulus for some
of this adulteration has come from the foreigner, who desires
to get good pure tea at half its cost of manufacture. The foregoing
details will plainly show that an article which has to go
through so many hands before its infusion is poured out of the
teapot on the other side of the world, and where the only machinery
used is a fanning mill and a roasting pan, cannot be furnished
at much under twenty-five cents a pound for the common
sorts. The villanous mixture known at Shanghai as ma-hi cha^
or ‘ race-course tea,’ was the answer on the part of the native
manufacturer to the demand for cheap tea, mitil the consumers
in Great Britain protested at the deception put on them, and
its importation was prohibited. Which of the parties was most
blameworthy may be left for them to settle, but in our own
papers, of course, most of the blame rested on the tempted party.
It is not to be inferred, however, that all cheap tea is adulterated.
The process of manufacture leaves a large percentage of broken
material, which can be worked into passable tea ; the produce
of many regions has not the flavor of the finest sorts, and, as it
is with wines, will not bear so much cost in curing. The tea
brokers know this, and things equalize themselves. The dust,
the leaf ribs, and the siftings are all consumed by the poor natives,
who mix other leaves, too, with the real leaf. Tea can perhaps bear comparison with any other great staple of food in this respect ; and when we can fairly estimate the consumption of tea sent out of China and Japan at more than three hundred millions of pounds, it must be conceded that it is a very pure article—not as much, probably, as even five per cent, of false leaf.
One mode of using tea known among Tibetans and Mongols
remains to be noticed. The rich province of Sz’chuen, in the
w-estern part of China, furnishes an abundance of good tea’; much
of which is exported to Ilussia by way of Si-ngan fu and Kansuh,
to supply the inhabitants of Siberia. This brick tea is cured
by pressing the damp leaves into the form of a brick or tile,
varj’ing in size and weight, eight to twelve inches long and one
thick ; in this form it is far more easily carried than in the leaf.
In Tibet, as we have seen, it appears more as a soup than an infusion.
The brick tea is composed of coarse leaves, or of stalks moistened
by steaming over boiling water, and then pressed till dry
and hard. When used, a piece is broken off and simmered with
milk and butter and water, with a touch of vinegar or pepper.
The dish is not inviting at first, but Abbe Hue endorses its
refreshing qualities in restoring the failing energies. The pressing
and drying is assisted by sprinkling the mass with ricewater
as it is forced into the moulds. The Chinese mix other
leaves with real tea to eke it out, in districts where it is not
commonly grown, but they do not regard this as adulteration.
Willow leaves are common in such mixtures. Large caravans
cross the plateau laden with brick tea.
Packing tea is mostly done in the interior, where it is cured.
The large dry leaves frequently found inside are usually furnished
by a peculiar species of bamboo ; the lead is made into
thin sheets by pouring the melted metal on to a large square
brick, covered with several thicknesses of paper, and letting
another brick drop down instantly on it. In order to test the
honesty of the packing, the foreign merchant often walks over
the three hundred to six hundred chests which make a chop,
and selects any foui* or five he may choose for examination. If
they stand the inspection the whole is taken on their guaranty,
and are then -weighed, papered, labelled, and mottoed ready for
shipping. In all these matters the Chinese are very expert. It
INTRODUCTION OF TEA INTO EUROPE. 61
is impossible to calculate the number of persons to whom the
tea trade furnishes employment ; nor could machinery well
come into use to displace human labor.
The introduction of tea among western nations was slow at
first. Marco Polo has no notice of its use. The Dutch brought
it to Europe in 1591 according to some accounts ; but a sample
or two did not make a trade, and there would have been reference
to it if it had been used. In 1G60 Samuel Pepys writes,
September 28th : “I did send for a cup of tea (a China drink),
of which I had never drank before.” Nearly seven ^-ears after
he says : ” Home, and thei-e find my wife making of tea, a drink
which Mr. Pellin, the pothicai-y, tells her is good for her cold
and defluxions.” In 1670 the importation into England was 79
pounds ; in 1685 it was 12,070 pounds ; most of it came from
Batavia and sold for a long time between £10 and £5 a pound
weight. In 1657 Mr. Garney opened a shop in London to sell
the infusion, and paid an excise of 8d. per gallon ; the present
duty is 2s. Id. per pound, or 4^ pounds to each person in a year,
nearly all of which, as it is in Europe and elsewhere, is black
tea. In 1725 only 375,000 pounds were consumed in Great
Britain. The actual quantity now in the United Kingdom is
126,000,000 pounds, besides much on the way. The importation
into the United States is worth $18,000,000 to $19,000,000,
say 60,000,000 pounds. Russia takes more good tea than any
other nation and pays more for it, because the former overland
trade to Siberia could not afford to transport pooi- tea. The export
from Assam is now 20,000,000 pounds, but those sorts are
too strong for the public taste when used alone, and are consumed
in mixtures. Tea is a native of Assam, but its discovery
only dates from 1836 or thereabouts. It is cultivated in Java
and Brazil, but there is not much to encoui’age the manufacturer
in any country where coffee supplies a similar beverage,
and the price of labor makes it equal to the imported article.
The remarkable work on agriculture of Paul Sii, a convert to
Christianity in 1620, contains a brief account and directions for
cultivating tea. In concluding the chapter he urges the greater
use of tea as against spirits. ” Tea is of a cooling nature, and if
drunk too freely will produce exhaustion and lassitude. Country people before drinking it add ginger and salt to eoiniteract this cooling property. It is an exceedingly useful plant ; cultivate it and the benefit will be widely spread ; drink it and the animal spirits will be lively and clean. The chief rulers, lords, and
great men esteem it ; the lower people, the poor and beggarly,
will not be destitute of it ; all use it daily and like it.”
The chemical analyses which have made known to us the
components of the four or five substances used as warm beverages,
viz., tea, coffee, mate, cocoa, guarana, and kola, indicate
three constituents found in them, to which, no doubt, their virtues
are owing.
A volatile oil is observed when tea is distilled with water; about one pound conies from one hundred pounds of dried tea, possessing its peculiar aroma and flavor to a high degree. Much of it is pressed from the leaves when rolled and cured, but little as still remains, its effects upon the human system are noticeable
and sometimes powerful. Tea-tasters who continually taste the
rpiality of the various lots submitted by sample for their approval,
do so by breathing upon a handful of leaves and instantly
covering the nose, so as to get this volatile aroma as one important
test. They also examine the infusion in several diffei’ent
ways, by its taste, color, and strength. Long practice in this
business is alleged to have deleterious influence upon their nervous
systems. The other beverages we drink, as well as tea,
derive their peculiar and esteemed flavor and aroma from
chemical substances produced in them during the process of
drying and roasting; at least nothing of them can be perceived
in their natural state. Another substance in tea regarded as
the chief inducement and reward in its effect on the system is
the peculiar pi’inciple called theine. If a few finely powdered
leaves are placed on a watch-glass, covered with a paper cap
and placed on a hot plate, a white vapor slowly rises and
condenses in the cap in the form of colorless crystals. They
exist in different proportions in the different kinds of tea, from
one and one-half to five or six per cent, in green tea. Theine
lias no smell and a slightly bitter taste, and does not therefore
attract us to drink the infusion ; but the chemists tell us that
it contains nearly thirty per cent, of nitrogen. The salts in
CONSTITUENTS AM) EFFECTS OF TEA. 53
other beverages, as coffee and cocoa, likewise contain nnicli nitrogen,
and all tend to repair the waste going on in the human
system, reduce the amount of solid food necessary, diminish too
the wear and tear of the body and consequent lassitude of the
mind, and maintain the vigor of both upon a smaller amount
of food. Tea does this more pleasantly, perhaps, than any of
the others ; but it does more than they do for old people in
supplementing the impaired powers of digestion, and helping
them to maintain their flesh and uphold the system in health
longer than they otherwise would. It is no wonder, therefore,
that tea has become one of the necessaries of life ; and the
sexagenarian invalid, too poor to buy a bit of meat for her
meal, takes her pot of tea with M’liat she has, and knows that
she feels lighter, happier, and better fitted for her toil, and enjoys
life more than if she had no tea. Unconsciously she
echoes what the Chinese said centuries ago, ” Drink it, and the
animal spirits will be lively and clear.”
The third substance (which is contained in tea more than in the
other beverages mentioned) forms also an important ingredient
in l)etel-nut and gaml)ier, so extensively chewed in Southern
Asia, viz., tannin or tannic acid. This gives the astringent
taste to tea-leaves and their infusion, and is found to amount
to seventeen per cent, in well-dried l)lack tea, and much more
than that in green tea, especially the Japan leaf. The effects
of taimin are not clearly ascertained as apart from the oil
and the tlieine, but Johnston considei-s them as conducing
to the exhilarating, satisfying, and narcotic action of the beverage.
A remaining ingredient worthy of notice in tea, in common
with other food-plants, is gluten. This fornjs one-fourth of the
weight of the leaves, but in oi’der to derive the greatest good
from it which proper methods of cooking might bring out, we
must contrive a mode (»f eating the leaves. The nutritious
property of the gluten accounts for the general use of brick tea
throughout the Asiatic plateau. Hue says he drank the dish
in default of something better, for he was unaccustomed to
it, but his cameleers would often take twenty to forty cups
a day.
If the sanitary effects of tea upon the system are so great and
wholesome, its inliuence since its general introduction among
occidentals cannot be overlooked. The domestic, quiet life and
habits of the Chinese owe much of their strength to the constant
use of this beverage, for the weak infusion which they sip
allows them to spend all the time they choose at the tea-table.
If they were in the habit of sipping even their weak whiskey
in the same way, misery, poverty, quarrels, and sickness would
take the place of thrift, quiet, and industry. The general temperance
seen among them is owing to the tea nmch more than any
other cause. It has, moreover, won its way with us, till in the
present generation the associations that cluster around the teatable
form an integral part of the social life among Englishspeaking
peoples. One of the most likely means to restrict the
use of spirits among them is to substitute the use of warm
beverages of all kinds by those whose s^-stem has not become
vitiated. Tea is one of the greatest benefits to the Chinese,
Japanese, and Mongols, and its universal use, for at least fifteen
centuries, throughout their territories has proven its satisfaction
as a nervine, a stimulant, and a beverage. If one passing
through the streets of Peking, Canton, or Ohosaka, and seeing
the good-natured hilarity of the groups of laborers and loiterers
around the cha-hwan and the cha-ya of those cities, doubts
the value of tea as a harmonizer and satisfier of hmnan wants
and passions, it must be taken as a proof of his own unsatisfied
cravings.
It is a necessary of life to all classes of natives, and that its
use is not injurious is abundant!}^ evident from its general acceptance
and increasing adoption ; the pi-ejudice against the
beverage out of China may be attributed chiefly to the use of
strong green tea, which is no doubt prejudicial. If those who
have given it up on this account will adopt a weaker infusion
of black tea, general experience is proof that it will do them no
harm, and they may be sure that they will not be so likely to
be deceived by a colored article. iS’either the Chinese nor
Japanese use milk or sugar in their tea, and the peculiar taste
and aroma of the infusion is much better perceived without
those additions. Tea, when clear, cannot be drunk so strong
PREPARATION OF CASSIA AND CAMPHOR. 55
without tasting an unpleasant bitterness, which tliese diluents
partly hide.’
Among other vegetable productions whose preparation affords
employment are cassia and camphor. The cassia ti-ee
{Cinnamomuvi cassia) grows connnonly in Ivwangsi, Yunnan,
and further south ; the leading mart for all the varieties of this
spice in China is Ping-nan, in the former of tliese provinces.
The kind known as l”wei-jA, or ‘ skhiny cassia,’ affords the principal
part of that spice nsed at the west. The bark is stripped
from the twigs by running a knife along the branch and gradually
loosening it ; after it is taken off it lies a day in the sun,
when the epidermis is easily scraped off, and it is dried into the
quilled shape in which it comes to market. The immatm-e
flowers of this and two other species of Cinnamonnnn are
also collected and dried nnder the name of cassia IjiuIk^ and often
packed with the bark ; they re<|uire little or no other preparation
than simple drying. The leaves and bark of the tree
are also distilled, and furnish oil of cassia, a powerful and
pleasant oil employed by perfumers and cooks. • Few genera of
plants are more useful to man than those included under the
old name of Laurus, to which these fragrant spices of cassia
and cinnamon belong; their wood, bark, buds, seeds, flowers,
leaves, and oil are all used by the Chinese in carpentry, medicine,
perfumery, and cookery. The confusion arising from
using the term cassia for the spice instead of confining it to the
medicine {Cassia senna) has been a constant source of error.
The camphor tree {Cam])1ioi’a ojjicinarum) is another species
of Laurus, found along the southern maritime regions and Formosa,
and affords both timber and gum for exportation and domestic
use. The tree itself is large, and furnishes excellent
planks, beams, and boards. The gum is procui’ed from the
branches, roots, leaves, and chips by soaking them in water until
the liquid becomes saturated ; a gentle heat is then applied
to this solution, and the sublimed camphor received in inverted
cones made of rice-straw, from which it is detached in impure
‘Fortune’s Tea DistricU (1852); Chinme Ticpositwy, Vol. VIII., pp. 182-164, Vol. XVIII., pp. 13-18; Davis’ ChiiicHC, Vol. II., pp. 336-449; Chineim Cominercial Guide (1863), pp. 141-148 ; Ball’s Tea Vulture and Manufacture.
grains, resembling unrefined sugar in colore Grosier describes
another mode of getting it by Taking out the coagulum inspissated
from the solution into an iron dish and covering M’ith
powdered earth ; two or three layers are thus placed in the dish,
when a cover is luted on, and by a slow heat the camphor sublimes
into it in a cake. It comes to market in a crude state,
and is refined after reaching Europe. The preparation of the
gum, sawing the timber for trunks, articles of furniture, and
vessels in whole or in part, occupies great numbers of carpenters,
Bhipwrights, and boat-buildci*s. The increasing demand for
the gum and boards has caused the rapid destruction of so
many trees in Formosa that there is some ground for fear lest
they ere long be all cut off.
Many of the common ni;uii])ulations of Chinese ^vorkmen afford
good examples of their ingenious modes of attaining th©
same end which is elsewhere reached by complex machinery.
For instance, the l)aker places his fire on’ a large iron plate
worked by a crane, and swings it over a shallow pan embedded
in masonry, in* which the cakes and pastry are laid and
soon baked. The price of fuel compels its economical use
wherever it is em}>loyed ; in the forge, the kitchen, the kiln, or
the dwelling, no waste of wood or coal is seen. As an instance
in point, the mode of burning shells to lime affords a good example.
A low wall encloses a space ten or twelve feet across,
in the middle of which a hole connnunicates underneath the
wall through a passage to the pit, where the fire is urged by a fan
turned by the feet. The wood is loosely laid over tlie bottom
of the area, and the fire kindled at the orifice in the centre and
fanned into a blaze as the shells are rapidly thrown in until the
wall is filled up ; in twelve hours the shells are calcined.
Toward evening scores of villagers collect around the burning
pile, bringing their kettles of rice or vegetables to cook. The
good-humor manifested by these gi’oups of old and young is a
pleasing instance of the sociability and equality witnessed
among the lower classes of Chinese. The lime is taken out
next morning and sifted for the mason.
Handicraftsmen of every name are content with coarse-looking
tools compared with those turned out at Sheflield, but the
APPLIANCES OF CHINESK WORKMEN. 67
work prodnced by some of tliem is far from conteiriptible.
The bench of a carpenter is a low, narrow, inclined form, like a
urawing-knife fi’ame, upon which he sits to plane, groove, and
work his boards, using his feet and toes to steady them. His
augurs, bits, and gimlets are worked with a bow, but most of
the edge-tools employed by him and the blacksmith, though
similar in shape, are less convenient than our own. They are
sharpened with hones or grindstones, and also with a cold steel
like a spoke-shave, with which the edge is scraped thin. The
aptitude of Chinese workmen has often been noticed, and
Travelling Blacksmith and Equipment.
among tliem all the travelling blacksmith takes the palm for his
compendious establishment. ” T saw- a blacksmith a few days
since,” writes one observer, ” mending a pan, the arrangement
of w’hose tools was singularly compact. His fire was held in an
iron basin not unlike a coal-scuttle in shape, in the back corner
of which the mouthpiece of the bellows entered. The anvil
was a small scpiare mass of iron, not very unlike our own, placed
on a block, and a partition basket close by held the charcoal
and tools, with the old iron and other rubbish he carried. The
water to temper his iron was in an earthen pot, which just at
this time was most usefully employed iii boiling his dinner
over the forge fire After he had done the job he took off his dinner, threw the water on the fire, picked out the coals and put
them back into the basket, threw away the ashes, set the anvil
astride of the bellows, and laying the tire-pan on the basket,
slung tlie bellows on one end of his pole and the basket on the
other, and walked off.” ‘ The mode of mending holes in castiron
pans here noticed is a peculiar operation. The smith first
files the lips of the hole clean, and after heating the dish firmly
* C,
I 11 111
Itinerant Dish-nnender
places it on a tile covered with wet felt. He then pours the
liquid iron, fused in a crucible by the assistance of a flux, upon
the hole, and immediately patters it down with a dossil of felt
until it covers the edges of the pan above and below, and is
then, while cooling, hannnered until firndy fixed in its ]>lace.
Another ingenious and effectual method of mending porcelain
and all manner of crockery ware is performed by itinerant
workmen, who travel about with their workshop on their
* Chinese Repository, Vol. X., j). 473.
WOOD AND IVORY CARVING. 59
shoulders, as seen in tlio cut. By means of minute copper
clamps, even the most delicate article of China-ware may be repaired
and made to answer the purpose of a new piece ; since
no cement is used in this style of mending, it has the additional
advantage of standing innnei’sioiv in water.
The great number of craftsmen who ply their vocations in
the street, as well as the more mmierous class of hucksters
who supply food as they go from house to house, furnish mucli
to annise and interest. Each of them has a peculiar call. The
barber twangs a sort of tweezers like a long tuning-fork, the
peddler twirls a hand-drum with clappers strung on each side,
the refuse-buyer strikes a little gong, the fruiterer claps two bamboo
sticks, and the fortune-teller tinkles a gong-bell ; these, with
the varied calls and cries of beggars, cadgers, chapmen, etc., fill
the streets with a concert of strange sounds.
The delicate carving of Chinese workmen has often been described; many specimens of it are annually sent abroad. Few products of their skill are more rcnuxrkable than the balls containing ten or twelve separate spheres one within another. The manner of cutting them is ingenious. A piece of ivory or wood is first made perfectly globular, and then several conical holes are bored into it in such a manner that their apices all meet at the centre, which becomes hollow as the holes are bored into it. The sides of each having been marked with
lines to indicate the number of globes to be cut out, the w^orkman
inserts a chisel or burin with a semicircular blade, bent so
that the edge cuts the ivory, as the shaft is worked on the
pivot, at the same depth in each hole. By successively cutting
a little on the inside of each conical hole, the incisures meet,
and a sphericle is at last detached, which is now turned over
and its faces one after another brought opposite the largest
hole, and firmly secured by wedges in the other a})ertures, while
its surfaces are smoothed and carved. When the central sphere
is done, a similar tool, somewhat larger, is again introduced
into the holes, and another sphere detached and smoothed in
the same way, and then another, until the whole is completed,
each being polished and carved before the next outer one is
connnenced. It takes three or four months to complete a ball with fifteen inner globes, the price of which ranges from twenty to thirty dollars, according to the delicacy of the carving. Some writers have asserted that these curious toys were made of semi spheres nicely luted together, and they have been boiled in oil for hours in order to separate them and solve the mystery of their construction.
Fans and card-cases are carved of wood, ivory, and mother-of-pearl in alto-relievo, with an elaborateness which shows the great skill and patience of the workman, and at the same time his crude conception of drawing, the figures, houses, trees, and other objects being grouped in violation of all propriety and perspective. Beautiful ornaments are made by carving roots of plants, branches, gnarled knots, etc., into fantastic groups of birds or animals, the artist taking advantage of the natural form of his material in the arrangement of his figures. Models of pagodas, boats, and houses are entirely constructed of ivory, even to representing the ornamental roofs, the men working at the oar, and women looking from the balconies. Baskets of elegant shape are woven from ivoiy splinths; and the shopmen at Canton exhibit a variety of seals, paper-knives, chessmen, counters, combs, etc., exceeding in finish and delicacy the same kind of work found anywhere else in the world. The most
elaborate coat of arms, or complicated cypher, will also be imitated
by these skilful carvers. The national taste prefers this
style of carving on plane surfaces ; it is seen on the walls of
houses and granite slabs of fences, the woodwork of boats and
shops, and on articles of furniture. Most of it is pretty, but the
disproportion and cramped position of the figures detract from
its beauty when judged by strict rules of western art.
The manufacture of enamels and cloisonne wares has lately
received a great stimulus from their foi’eign demand. A copper
vase is formed of the desired shape by hammering and soldering,
on whose clean surface the figures to be enamelled are
etched to show where the strips of copper are to be soldered
before their interspaces are enamelled. This solder is made of
borax and silver, and melts at a higher temperature than the
enamel, which is reduced to a paste and filled into each cell of
the pattern by brushes and styles, until the whole design is
MANUFACTURE OF CLOlSONNfi, MATS, ETC. 61
gone over. Tlie various colored liao, or ingredients, are prepared
in cakes by artists who keep their composition secret, but
all the substances occur in China. The (piality of the ware
depends on the skill in mixing these cakes and fusing the colors
in a charcoal fire, into which the piece is placed ; imperfection^
and holes are covered and tilled up when it is cooled, and the
piece is again and again exposed to the fire. After the third ordeal it is ground smooth and polished on a lathe, and the brass work gilt. The specimens now made show very fine work, but their coloring hardly equals those of Kienlungs reign or still earlier in the Ming dynasty.
Fancy Carved Work.
Much inferior work has also been palmed off for that of the golden period of this art. The manufacture of mats for sails of junks and boats, floors, bedding, etc., employs thousands. A sail containing nearly four hundred square feet can be obtained for ten dollars. The rolls are largely exported, and still more extensively used in the country for covering packages for shipment. A stouter kind made of bamboo splinths serves as a material for huts, and fulfils many other purposes that are elsewhere attained by boards or canvas. Rattans are largely worked into mats, chairs, baskets, and other articles of domestic service. Several branches of manufacture have entirely grown up, or been much encouraged by the foreign trade, among which the preparation of vermilion, beating gold-leaf, cutting pearl buttons, dyeing and trimming pith-paper for artificial flowers, weaving and painting fancy window-blinds, and the preparation of sweetmeats are the principal. The beautiful vermilion exported from Canton is prepared by triturating one part of quicksilver with two of sulphur until they form a blackish powder, which is put into a crucible having an iron lid closely luted down. When the fire acts on the mixture the lid is cooled to effect the sublimation ; the deposit on the top is cinnabar and that on the sides is vermilion, according
to the Chinese ; all of them are powdered, levigated, decanted,
and dried on tiles for use in painting and pharmacy, coloring
candles and paper, and making red ink. The excellence of Chinese vermilion depends on the thoroughness of the grinding.’
‘ Compare an article by Julien in the Nouv. Journ. Asiatique, Tome V., 1830,pp. 208 ff.
PHASES OF CHINESE INDUSTRIAL LIFE. 63
It has often been said that the Chinese are so averse to change and improvement that they will obstinately adhere to their own modes, but, though slow to alter well-tried methods, such is not the case. Three new manufactures have been introduced during the present century, viz., that of glass, bronze-work, and Prussian blue. A Chinese sailor brought home the manufacture of the latter, which he had learned thoroughly in London, and the people now supply themselves. Works in bronze and brass have of late been set up, and watches and clocks are both extensively manufactured, with the exception of the springs. Fire-engines in imitation of foreign hand-engines are gradually eomino; into use. Brass cannon were made durins; the war with England in imitation of pieces taken from a wreck, and the frames of one or two vessels to be worked with wheels by men at a crank, in imitation of steamers, were found on the stocks at Ningpo Mdien the English took the place. Since then the establishment of government arsenals at Fuhchau, Shanghai, Xanking, and Tientsin has stimulated and suggested as well as taught the people many applications of machinery. Yet until they can see their Avay clear to be remunerated for their outlay, it is unwise to urge or start doubtful experiments. This was shown at Canton ten years ago when a native company was formed to spin cotton yarn by steam machinery, and when the apparatus was all ready for work the cotton flowers were quite unwilling to trust their raw cotton out of their hands. Moreover, it should be observed that few have taken the trouble to explain or show them the improvements they are supposed to be so disinclined to adopt. Ploughs have been given the farmers near Shanghai, but they would not use them, which, however, may have been as much owing to the want of a proper harness, or a little instruction regarding their use, as to a dislike to take a new article.
The general aspect of Chinese society, in an industrial point
of view, is one of its most pleasing features. The great body of
the people are obliged to engage in manual labor in order to
subsist, yet only a trifling proportion of them can be called
beggars, while still fewer possess such a degree of wealth that
they can live on its income. Property is safe enough to afford
assurance to honest toil that it shall generally reap the reward
of its labors, but if that toil prosper beyond the usual limits,
the avarice of officials and the envy of neighbors easily find a
multitude of contrivances to harass and impoverish the fortunate
man, and the laws are not executed with such strictness as to
deter them. The mechanical arts supply their wants, but having
no better models before them, nor any scientific acquaintance
with elementary principles and powers applicable to a great
number of purposes, these arts have remained stationary. The
abundance of labor must be employed, and its cheapness obviates
the necessity of finding substitutes in machinery. The adoption
of even a few things from abroad might involve so many
changes, that even those intelligent natives who saw their
advantages would hesitate in view of the momentous contingencies
of a failure. The conflict between capital and labor in its various phases and struggles is becoming more and more marked the world over as civilization advances, and the Chinese polity is destined to endure its greatest strain in adjusting their forces among its industrious millions.
Imitation is a remarkable trait in the Chinese mind, though invention is not altogether wanting; the former leads the people to rest content with what they can get along with, even at some expense of time and waste of labor, where, too, an exhibition of ingenuity and science would perhaps be accompanied with suspicion, expense, or hindrances from both neighbors and rulers.
The existence of the germ of arts and discoveries, whose development would liave brought witli them so many advantages
and pointed to still further discoveries, leads one to inquire the
reason why they were not carried out. Setting aside the view,
which may properly be taken, that the wonderful discoveries
now made in the arts by Europeans form part of God’s great
plan for the redemption of the race, the want of mutual confidence,
insecurity of property, and debasing effects of heathenism
upon the intellect will explain much of the apathy shown
toward improvement. Invention among them has rather lacked
encouragement than ceased to exist :—more than that, it has
been checked by a suspicious, despotic sway, while no stimulus
of necessity has existed to counterbalance and urge it forward,
and has been stunted by the mode and materials of education.
It was not till religious liberty and discussion arose in Europe that the inhabitants began to improve in science and arts as well as morals and good government ; and when the ennobling and expanding principles of an enlarged civilization find their way into Chinese society and mind, it may reasonably be expected that rapid advances will be made in the comforts of this life, as well as in adopting the principles and exhibiting the conduct which prove a fitness for the enjoyments of the next.
CHAPTER XVI. SCIENCE AMONG THE CHINESE
That enlargement of the mind which results from the collection and investigation of facts, or from extensive reading of books on whose statements reliance can be placed, and which leads to the cultivation of knowledge for its own sake, has no existence in China. Sir John Davis justly observes that the Chinese ” set no value on abstract science, apart from some obvious and immediate end of utility;” and he properly compares the actual state of the sciences among them with their condition in Europe previous to the adoption of the inductive mode of investigation. Even their few theories in explanation of the mysteries of nature are devoid of all fancy to make amends for want of fact and experiment, so that in reading them we are neither amused by their imagination nor instructed by their research. Perhaps the rapid advances made by Europeans, during the two past centuries, in the investigation of nature in all her departments and powers, has made us somewhat impatient of such a parade of nonsense as Chinese books exhibit.
In addition to the general inferiority of Chinese mind to European in genius and imagination, it has moreover been hampered by a language the most tedious and meagre of all tongues, and wearied with a literature abounding in tiresome repetitions and unsatisfactory theories. Under these conditions, science, whether mathematical, physical, or natural, has made few advances during the last few centuries, and is now awaiting a new impulse from abroad in all its departments.
Murray’s China (Vol. III., Chap. IV.) contains a fair account of the attainments of the Chinese in mathematics and astronomy.
The notation of the Chinese is based on the decimal principle, but as their figures are not changed in vahie by position, it is difficult to write out clearly the several steps in solving a problem.
Experiments have shown that it is easy encmgh to perform them with Chinese figures used in our way, omitting the characters for 100, 1,000, and 10,000 {2)ch, tslcn, and wan) ; but it will be long before the change will become general, even if it be desirable. Arithmetical calculations are performed with the assistance of an abacus, called a stranjxin, or ‘counting board’, which is simply a shallow case divided longitudinally by a bar and crossed by several wires ; on one side of this bar the wires bear five balls, on the other two. The five balls stand for nnits, the two balls behig each worth five units. When the
balls on any wire are taken for nnits, those next to the right
stand for tens, the thii’d for hundreds, and so on ; while those
on the left denote tenths, hundredths, etc. Simple calculations
are done on this machine with accuracy and rapidity, but as it
is only a convenient index for the progress and result of a calculation
performed in the head, if an error be made the whole
must be performed again, since the result only appears when
the sura is finished. There are three sorts of figures, partly answering
to the English, Itoman, and Arabic forms—as Seven,
VII., and T—the most connnon of which are given on page 619
of Yol. I. ; the complicated form is used for securit}- in drafts
and bills, and the abbreviated in common operations, accounts,
etc., and in setting down large amounts in a more compact form
than can be done by the other characters. This mode of notation
is employed by the Japanese and Cochinchinese, and possesses
some advantages over the method of using letters practised
by the Greeks and Romans, as well as over the counters
once employed in England, but falls far behind the Arabic system
now in general use in the west.
CHINESE MATHEMATICS. G7
Treatises on arithmetic are common, in which the simple rules are explained and illustrated by examples and questions. One of the best is the Sinan-fdh Tung T,Httng, or ‘ General Gomprehensive Arithmetic,’ in five volumes, octavo, the author of which, Cliing Yu-sz’, lived in the Ming dynasty. The Tsu-wei-shan Fang Sho ITioh, or ‘Mathematics of the Lagerstra’mia Hill Institution,’ in thirty-eight books, octavo, 182S, contains a complete course of mathematical instruction in geometry, trigonometry, mensuration, etc., together with a table of natural sines and tangents, and one of logarithmic sines, tangents, secants, etc., for every degree and minute. Both these compilations derive most of their value from the mathematical writings of the Roman Catholic missionaries ; it is stated in the latter work that “• the western scholar, John Kapier, made logarithms.”
The study of arithmetic has attracted attention among the Chinese from very early times, and the notices found in historical works indicate some treatises even extant in the Han dynasty, followed by a great number of general and particular works down to the Sung dynasty. One author of the Tang dynasty, in his problems on solid mensuration, offered one thousand taels of silver to whoever found a single word of error in the book. The Hindu processes in algebra were known to Chinese mathematicians, and are still studied, though all intellectual intercourse between the countries has long ceased. Down to the end of the Ming dynasty, these branches made slow progress.
Since foreigners have begun to apply western science, the development has been rapid. Mr. Wylie has given, in his Notes 0)1 Chinese Literature (pp. 86-104), a digested account of the most valuable native works on astronomy and mathematics. One very comprehensive work on them is the Thesaurus of Mathematics and Chronology, published by imperial order about 1750.
The knowledge of mathematics, even among learned men, is
very small, and the common people study it only as far as their
business requires ; the cumbersome notation and the little aid
such studies giv^e in the examinations doubtless discourage men
from pursuing what they seem to have no taste for as a people.’
A curious fact regarding the existence of six errors in these
tables, discovered by Bal)bage to have been perpetuated in most
of the European logarithmic tables since the publication of the
Trigonometria Artijicialis of Vlacq in 1633, proves the source
whence the Chinese derived them, and their imitative fidelity
in copying them. Chinese authors readily acknowledge the superiority of western inatlieinaticians, and generally ascribe their advances in the exact sciences to them.
‘ See Notes and Queries on C. and /., Vol. I., p. 166, and Vol. III., p. 153.
The attaiinnents made by the ancient Chinese in astronomy
are not easily understood from their scanty records, for the
mere notice of an eclipse is a very different thing from its calculation
or description. They have been examined recently
with renewed interest and care in view of the discoveries at
]S”ineveh, which have furnished so many reliable notices in
“Western Asia of early days, and may lend some rays of light
to illustrate the history and condition of Eastern Asia when
more fully studied. The Booh of liecords contains some notices
of instructions given by Yao to his astronomers Hi and IIo to
ascertain the solstices and e(|uinoxcs, to employ intercalary
months, and to tix the four seasons, in order that the husbandman might know when to commit his seed to the ground. If the time of the deluge be reckoned, according to Hales, at b.c.3155, there will be an interval of about eight centuries to the days of Yao, ];.<•. 2357 ; this would be ample time for the observation that the primitive sacred year of three hundred and sixty days in Noah’s time was wrong; also that the lunar year of about three hundred and fifty-four days was (piite as incorrect, and required additional correction, which this ancient monarch is said to have made by an intercalation of seven lunar months in nineteen years. It is remarkable, too, that the time given as the date of the commencement of the astronomical observations sent to Aristotle from Babylon by command of Alexander should be b.c. 2233, or only a few years after the death of Yao ; at that time the five additional days to complete the solar year were intercalated by the Chaldeans, and celebrated as days of festivity. Dr. Hales, who mentions this, says that many ancient nations, and also the Mexicans, had the same custom, but there are no traces of any particular observance of them by the Chinese, who, indeed, could not notice them in a lunar year.
DIVISIONS OF THE YEAR. 60
The intercalation made by Yao has continued with little variation to this day. The Romish missionaries rectified the calendar during; the i-eio;n of Kan2;hi, and have contimied its preparation since that time. The adoption of the Julian solar year of three hundred and sixty-five and one-fourth days at this remote period is far fioni certain, though the fact of its existence among nations in the west is’ mentioned hy the commentator upon the Iloolx of liecordH, who tlonrislied a.d. 1200. The attention the Chinese paid to the hniar year, and the very small difference their seven intercahitions left between the true haimonizing of the lunar and solar years (only Ih. 27m. 32s.), would not derange the calculations to a degree to attract their notice. The period of the adoption of the cycle of sixty years, called In/i-sJiiJt hwa hiah-tsz\ cannot be ascertained even with any close approach to probability. Though negative evidence is always the poorest basis on which to found a theory in any branch of knowledge, it still bears great influence in early Chinese history and science, and in no department more than astronomy. This sexagenary cycle, the Chinese assert, was contrived nearly three centuries before the time of Yao (b.c. 2637), and seems to have been perfectly arbitrary, for no explanation now exists of the reasons which induced its inventor, HuangDi, or his minister, Kao the Great, to select this number. The years have each of them a separate name, formed by taking ten characters, called shih Jicuu or ‘ ten stems,’ and joining to them twelve other characters, called the shih-‘ih c7ii, or ‘twelve branches,’ five times repeated.
These two sets of horary characters are also applied to
minutes and seconds, honrs, days, and months, signs of the
zodiac, points of the compass, etc. By giving the twelve
branches the names of as many animals and apportioning the
ten stems in couplets among the five elements, they are also
made to play an important part in divination and astrology.
The present year (1882) is the eighteenth year of the seventysixth
cycle, or the four thousand five hundred and eighteenth
since its institution ; but no trace of a serial nnmbering of the
sexagenary periods has yet been found in Chinese writings. The
application of the characters to hours and days dates from about
B.C. 1752, according to the Shu Klmj, pei’haps even before they
were combined in a cyclic arrangement. This sexagenary division
existed in India in early times, too, and is still followed
there, where it is named the Cycle of Jupiter, ” because the length of its years is measured by the passage of that phiiict, by its mean motion, through one sign of the zodiac.” liev. E. Ihirgess, in his translation of “the Surija jSuld/ianta, says that the length of Jupiter’s years is reckoned in that book at 361d.
Oh. 38m., and adds : ” It was doubtless on account of the near
coincidence of this period with the true solar year that it was
adopted as a measure of time ; but it has not been satisfactorily
ascertained, as far as we are aware, “where the cycle originated,
or what is its age, or why it was made to consist of sixty
years, including five whole revolutions of the planet.” It is
not improbable, therefore, that the cycle, the two sets of characters,
the twenty-four solar terms, witli the twelve and twentyeight
lunar mansions or zodiacal asterisms, all of which play
such an important part in Chinese astrology and astronomy,
will be found to have been derived from the Chaldeans, and not
from the Hindus, as has been confidently asserted. Though
confessedly ancient in both India and China, their adoption was
slow in its growth, while some striking similarities indicate a
common origin, and so remote that its genesis is all a mystery.
The year is lunar, but its commencement is regulated by the sun. New Year falls on the first new moon after the sun enters Aquarius, which makes it come not before January 21st nor after February lOtli. Besides the division into lunar months, the year is apportioned into twenty-four jieqi, or ‘ terms,’ of about fifteen days each, depending upon the position of the sun; these are continued on from year to year, irrespective of the intercalations, the first one commencing about February 6th, when the sun is 15° in Aquarius. Their names have reference to the season of the year and obvious changes in nature at the time they come round, as rain-vxtter, vernal-eqitifiox, spikedgrain, little-heat, etc.
The Chinese divide the zodiac(huang dao, or ‘yellow road’) into twenty-eight siu or I’ung, ‘ constellations’ or ‘lunar mansions’, but instead of an equable allotment, the signs occupy from 1° up to 31°; the Hindus arrange them nearly in spaces of 13° each. Their names and corresponding animals, with the principal stars answering to each asterism, are given in the table.
DIVISIONS OF THE ZODIAC. 71
•of one of the twenty-eight lunar mansions is given to every day in the year in perpetual rotation, consequently the same day of our week in every fourth week has the same character applied ro it. The days are numbered from the first to the last day of the month, and the months from one to twelve through the year, except the intercalaiy month, called jun yueJi y and there is also a trine division of the month into decades.’
The astronomical ideas of the common Chinese are vague and
inaccurate. Tlie knowledge contained in their own scientific
hooks has not been taught, and they still believe the earth to be
a plain surface, measuring each way about one tliousand five
hundred miles; around it the sun, moon, and stars revolve, the
first at a distance of four tliousand miles. This figure comes so
near the earth’s radius that it is reasonable to infer, with Chalmers,
that it was calculated from the different elevation of the sun
in dift’erent latitudes. The distance of the heavens from the earth
was ascertained by one observer to be 81,304 //’, and by another
subsequent to him to be 216,781 li, or about 73,000 miles; all of which indicates the lack of careful observation. The constellation of the Peh Tao, or Dipper, plays an important part in popular astronomy; the common saying is:
‘ When the handle of the Northern Peck points east at nightfall, it is spring over the land ; when it points south, it is summer ; and when west or north, it is respectively autumn and winter.’ The Dipper
has become a kind of natm-al clock from this circumstance, and
as its handle always points to the bright stars in Scorpio, these
two constellations are among the most familiar. These popular
notions must not, however, be taken as a test of what was known
in early times; it is quite as just to their scientific attainments
in this branch to give them credit (as Wjdie does) for having
known more than has come down to our days; as to deny belief
in the little that remains, because it presents some insoluble
difificulties, as Chalmers is disposed to do.
‘ Chinese Eepositorii, Vol. IX., pp. 573-584. De Giiignes’ V»i/iif/rs, Vol. II., p. 414. Chinese ChrcHtoriutthy. Legge’s Shoo Kinn, passim. Chalmers, On the Astronomy of the Ancient Chinese. Journal of the Am. Oriental Society, Vol. VI., Art. III., and Vol. VIII., Arts. I. and VII. Whitney’s Orientaland Linfjuisiie Studies, Art. XII. North China Br. R. A. S. Journal, Nos. III. and IV.
CHINESE NOTIONS OF ASTRONOMY. 73
Astronomy has been studied by the Chinese for astrological
and state pur{)oses, and their recordetl oI)servatioMS of eclipses,
comets, etc., have no small value to European astronomers and
chronologists. Mailla has collected the notices of 460 solar
eclipses, extending from n.c. 2151) to a.d. 1699, and Wylie furnishes
a careful list of 925 solar and 574 lunar eclipses, extracted
from Chinese works, observed between 2150 and a.d. 1785.
Comets have been carefully noted whenever their brilliancy has enabled them to be seen, for they are regarded as portents by the people, and their course among the stars somewhat determines their influence. A list of 373 comets mentioned in Chinese records has been published by John Williams,’ mostly extracted from Ma Twan-lin’s Antiquarian Researches, and the Shi K’i. They extend from b.c. 611 to a.d. 1621 ; the general value of these records is estimated by the learned author as entitling them to credence. The curious and intimate connection between geomancy, horoscopy, and astrology, which the Chinese suppose exists, has a powerful influence in maintaining their errors, because of its bearing on every man’s luck. Even with all the aid they have derived from Europeans, the Chinese
seem to be unable to advance in the science of astronomy, when
left to themselves, and to cling to their superstitions against
every evidence. Some clouds having on one occasion covered
the sky, so that an eclipse could not be seen, the courtiers joyfully
repaired to the Emperor to felicitate him, that Heaven,
touched by his virtues, had spared him the pain of witnessing
the “eating of the sun.” A native writer on astronomy, called
Tsinglai, who published several works under the patronage of
Yuen Yuen, the liberal-minded governor of Kwangtungin 1820,
even at that late day, ” makes the heavens to consist of ten concentric hollow spheres or envelopes; the first contains the moon’s orbit ; the second that of Mercury ; those of Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the twenty-eight constellations, follow; the ninth envelops and binds together the eight interior ones, and revolves daily ; while the tenth is the abode of the Observations of Comef.,% from b.c. Gil to a.d. 1640. Extracted from the Chinese Annuls. Loudon, 1871.
Celestial tSovereit’n, the Great Ruler, with all the ii^ods and sao’es where they enjoy eternal tranquility.” lie further says, “there are two north and two south poles, those of the equator and those of the ecliptic. The poles of the ecliptic regulate the varied machinery of the heavenly revolutions, and turn round unceasingly. The poles of the equator are the pivots of the primitive celestial body, and remain permanently unmoved.
What are called the two poles, therefore, are really not stars, but two immovable points in the north and in the south.*’ ‘ The author of this astute cosmogony studied under Europeans, and published these remarks as the fruit of his researches.
The action and reaction of the elements furnish a satisfactory
explanation to Chinese philosophers of the changes going on in
the visible universe, for no possible contingencj’ can arise which
they are not prepared to solve by their analysis of the evolution
of its powers. Through their speculations by this curious system
they have been led away from carefully recording facts and
processes, and have gone on, like a squirrel in a cage, making
no progress tow^ard the real knowledge of the elements they
treat of. The following table contains the leading elementary
correspondences which they use, but a full explanation would be out of place here.
This fanciful system is more or less received by their most intelligent mcTi ; and forms a sort of abracadabra in the hands of geomancers and future-tellers, by which, with a show of great learning, they impose on the people. The sun, moon, and planets influence sublunary events, especially the life and death of human beings, and changes in their color menace approaching calamities. Alterations in the appearance of the sun announce misfortunes to the state or its head, as revolts, famines, or the death of the Emperor; when the moon waxes red, or turns pale, men should be in awe at the unlucky times thus fore-omened.
Chinese ChrcHtoiiuitlii/, p. 391
ACTION AND UEACTIOX OF THE ELEMENTS. 75
O 5H I-:; < H P3 O a: o I— (HO !^ P P^ Q ;?;
The sun is symbolized by the figure of a raven in a circle, and the moon by a rabbit on his hind legs pounding rice in a mortar, or by a three-legged toad. The last refers to the
legend of an ancient beauty, Cliang-ngo, who drank the liquor
of imniortality and straightway ascended to the moon, where
she was transformed into a toad, still to be traced in its face.
It is a special object of worship in autumn, and moon-cakes
dedicated to it are sold at this season. All the stars are i-anged
into constellations, and an emperor is installed over them, who
resides at the north pole ; five monarchs, also, Yivc in the five
stars in Leo, where is a palace, called Wu Tl tao^ or ‘Throne of
the Five Emperors.’ In this celestial government there is also
an heir-apparent, empresses, sons and daughters, tribunals, and
the constellations receive the names of men, animals, and other
terrestrial objects. The Dipper is worshipped as the residence
of the fates, where the duration of life, and other events relating
to mankind, are measured and meted out. Doolittle’s Social
Life contains other popular notions connected with the stars,
showing the ignorance still existing, and the fears excited by
unusual phenomena among the heavenly bodies. Both heaven
and the sun are worshipped by the government in appropriate
temples on the west and east sides of Peking. The rainbow is
the product of the impure vapors ascending from the earth
meetino; those descendino; from the sun.
If their knowledge of astronomy can be criticised as being
anything but an exact science, the Chinese should not be denied
credit for a certain amount of beauty in what may be called the
romantic side of this study. In the myths and legends which
have clustered about and doubtless in many cases perverted
their observations of the stars, there are the sources of fetes
and subjects for pictorial illustration Mithout number. One of
these stories, forming the motive of a bowl decoration given
upon the opposite page, is the fable of Aquila (;^/’i’/.) and Vega,
known in Chinese and Japanese mytliX)logy as the Herdsman
and Weaver-girl. The latter, the daughter of the sun-god, was
so continually busied with her loom that her father became wor-
I’ied at her close habits and thought that by marrying her to a
neighbor, who herded cattle on the banks of the Silver Stream
of Heaven (the Milky Way), she might awake to a brighter
manner of living.
FABLE OF THE HERDSMAN AND WKAVEIt-GIRL. 77
” No sooner did the maiden become wife than her habits and character utterly changed for the worse. She became not only very merry and lively, but quite forsook loom and needle, giving up her nights and days to play and idleness; no silly lover could have been more foolish than she. The sun-king, in great wrath at all this, concluded that the husband was the cause of it and determined to separate the couple. So he ordered him to remove to the other side of the river of stars, and told him that hereafter they should meet only once a year, on the seventh night of the seventh month. To make a brids-e over the flood of stars, the sun-king called myriads of magpies, which thereupon flew together, and, making a bridge, supported the poor lover on their wnngs and backs as if it were a roadway of solid land. So bidding his weeping wife farewell, the lover husband sorrowfully crossed the River of Heaven, and all the magpies instantly flew away. But the two were separated, the one to lead his ox, the other to ply her shuttle during the long hours of the day wdth diligent toil, and the sun-king again rejoiced in his daughter’s industry.
“At last the time for their reunion drew near, and only one
fear possessed the loving wife. AVhat if it should rain ? For
the River of Heaven is always full to the brim, and one extra
di’op causes a flood which sweeps away even the bird l)ridge.
But not a drop fell ; all the heavens were clear. The magpies
flew joyfully in myriads, making a way for the tiny feet of the
httle lady. Trembling with joy, and with heart fluttering more
than the bridge of wings, she crossed the River of Heaven and
was in the arms of her husband. This she did every year.
The husband staid on his side of the river, and the wife came
to him on the magpie bridge, save on the sad occasion when it
rained. So every year the people hope for clear weather, and
the happy festival is celebrated alike by old and young.” ‘
‘ Somewhat abridged from Mr. W. E. Griffis’ Japdneae Fairy Worhl, a book which has given us the cream of a great variety of stories from Eastern won’ der-lore.
DIVISIONS OF THE DAY—THE ALMANAC. 79
These two constellations are worshipped principally by women, that they may gain cumiing in the arts of needlework and making of fancy flowers. Watermelons, fruits, vegetables, cakes, etc., are placed with incense in the reception-room, and before these offerings are performed the kneelings and knoekings in the usual wav.
The entire day is divided into twelve two-hour periods called shin., coumiencing at eleven o’clock, p.m.; each hour is further subdivided into kik, or eighths, equal to fifteen of our minutes, and receives the same characters. There are various means employed to measure time, but the people are rapidly learning to reckon its progress by watches and clocks, and follow our divisions in preference to their own. A common substitute for watches are tl/ne-sticks, long round pieces of a composition of clay and sawdust, well mixed and wound in a spiral manner; the lapse of time is indicated by its equable slow combustion from one hour mark to another, until the whole is consumed, which in the longest is not less than a week. Dials are in
common use, and frequently attached to the mariner’s compass,
by making the string which retains the cover in its place cast a
shadow on the face of it. This lesson in dialing, Davis supposes
they learned from the Jesuits. Clepsydras of various forms
were anciently employed, some of which, from their description,
were so disproportionately elegant and costly for such a
clumsy mode of noting time, that their beauty more than their
use was perhaps the principal object in preparing them.
The almanac holds an important place, its preparation having
been early taken under the special cal-e of the government,
which looks upon a present of this important publication as one
of the highest favors which it can confer on tributary vassals
or friendly nations. It is annually prepared at Peking, under
the direction of a bureau attached to the Board of Rites, and,
by making it a penal offence to issue a counterfeit or pirated
edition the governmental astrologers have monopolized the
management of the superstitions of the people in regard to the
fortunate or unlucky conjunctions of each day and hour. Besides
the cabalistic part of it, the ephemeris also contains tables
of the rising of the sun according to the latitudes of the principal
places, times of the new and full moon, the beginning
and length of the twenty -four terms, eclipses, application of the
horary characters, conjunction of the planets, etc. Two or three editions are published for the convenience of the people, the prices of which vary from three to ten cents a copy. No one ventures to be without an ahuanac, lest he be liable to the greatest misfortunes, and run the imminent hazard of undertaking important events on black-balled days. The Europeans who were employed for many years in compiling the calendar were not allowed to interfere in the astrological part ; it is to the discredit of the Chinese to aid thus in perpetuating folly and ignorance among the people, when they know that the whole system is false and absurd. Such governments as that of China, however, deem it necessary to uphold ancient superstitions, if they can thereby influence their security, or strengthen the reverence due them.
If their astronomical notions are vague, their geographical
knowledge is ridiculous. The maps of their own territories are
tolerably good, being originally drawn from actual survej’s by
nine of the Jesuits, between the years 1708-1718, and since
that time have been filled up and changed to conform to the
alterations and divisions. Their full survey’s were engraved on
copper at Paris, by order of Louis XIV., on sheets, measuring
in all over a hundred square feet, and have formed the basis of
all subsequent maps. The Chinese do not teach geography in
their schools, even of their own empire. The conimon people
have no knowledge, therefore, of the form and divisions of the
globe, and the size and position of the kingdoms of the earth.
Their common maps delineate them very erroneously, not even
excepting their own possessions in Mongolia and tli—scattering
islands, kingdoms, and continents, as they have heard of their
existence, at haphazard in various corners beyond the frontiers.
The two Americas and Africa are entirely omitted on most of
them, and England, Holland, Portugal, Goa, Lugonia, Bokhara,
Germany, France, and India, are arranged along the western
side, from north to south, in a series of islands and headlands.
The southern and eastern sides are similarly garnished by islands, as Japan, Lewchew, Formosa, Siam, Pirmah, Java, the Sulu Islands, and others, while Russia occupies the whole of the northern frontier of their Middle Kingdom.
GE0(4KAnTICAL KNOWLEDGK OF THE CHINESE. 8\
The geographical works of Tsinglai are not (juite so erroneous as his astronomical, but the uneducated peoj^lc, notwithstanding Ills efforts to teach them better, still generally suppose the earth to be an inniiense extended stationary plain. Their notions of its inhabitants are equally whimsical, and would grace the pages of Sir fJohn Mandeville. In some parts of its surface they imagine the inhabitants to he all dwarfs, who tie themselves together in bunches for fear of being carried away by the eagles; in others they are all women, who conceive by looking at their shadows ; and in a third kingdom, all the people have holes in their breasts, through which they thrust a pole, when carrying one another from place to place. Charts for the guidance of the navigator, or instruments to aid him in determining his position at sea, the Chinese are nearly or quite destitute of; they have retrograded rather than advanced in navigation, judging from the accounts of Fa-hian, Ibn Batuta, and other travellers, when their vessels frequented the ports in the Persian Gulf and on the Malabar coast, and carried on a large trade with the Archipelago. Itineraries are published, containing the distances between places on the principal thoroughfares throughout the provinces, and also lists of the ports, harbors, and islands on the coast, but nothing like sailing directions accompany the latter, nor do maps of the routes illustrate the former. Such knowledge as they have on these points is hidden away in their libraries, as the Latin and Greek classics were in European convents and castles a thousand years ago.
In the various branches of mensuration and formulae used to describe the dimensions and weight of bodies, they have reached only a practical medioci’ity. With a partial knowledge of trigonometry, and no instruments for ascertaining the heights of
objects or their distances fi’om the observer, still their lands are
well measured, and the area of lots in towns and cities accurately
ascertained. The cht/i or foot is the integer of length, but its
standard value cannot be easily ascertained. In the Chinese
Commercial Ouide^ p. 285, is a table of eighty-four observations
on this point, taken at different times and places in China, whose
extremes differ more than six inches. It is fixed by the Board
of Works at 13^ in. English, but tradesmen at Canton employ
foot measures varying from 14.625 to 14.81 in. ; according
to the tariff, it is reckoned at 14.1 in. English, and the ehang of ten chih at Z\\ yds. During the past thirty years, the tariff weights and measures have gradually obtained acceptance as the standards, and this will probably result in securing uniformity in course of time. The chih is subdivided into ten tsun or puntos, and each tsun into teny^n. The I’l is used for distances, and is usually reckoned at 1,825.55 ft. English, which gives 2.89 I’l to an English mile ; this is based on the estimate of 200 I’l to a degree, but there were only 180 li to a degree before Europeans came, which increases its length to 2,028.39 ft. or 2.6 Vi to a mile, which is nearer the common estimate. The French missionaries divided the degree into 250 li (each being then exactly 1,460.44 ft. English, or one-tenth of a French astronomical league), and also into sixty minutes and sixty seconds, to make it correspond to western notation ; this measure has not been adopted in common use. The present rulers have established
post-houses very generally, at intervals of ten li^ or about a
league. The land measures are the mao and l:’in<j ; the former
measures 6,000 square <?/«’A, or 808.6 square yaixls, and a hundred
of them make a king. Taxes are collected, land is leased,
and crops are estimated by the mao and its decimal parts ; but
examination has shown that the actual area of a inao grows less
as one goes north ; in Canton, it is about 4.76 ‘tnao to an acre,
and at Peking it is six, and even smaller.
The weights and measures of the Chinese are twenty-four in
all, and vary in their value even more than those of long measure.
The common weights are called tael^ catty^ 2i\\^^ecul by
foreigners ; their values are respectively \\ oz. av., 1|^ lb. av.,
and 1331^ lbs. av., and thus roughly correspond to the English
ounce, pound, and hundredweight. The Chinese deal in many
articles l)y weight which among western nations are sold according
to their quality—such as M’ood, silk, oil, whiskey, cloth, grain,
poultry, etc.—so that it has been humorously observed that the
Chinese sell everything by -weight, except eggs and children.
Their common measures correspond nearly to our gill, half-pint,
pint, and peck, and are used to retail rice, beans, etc. The smaller
ones are not very accurately constructed from bamboo-joints,
but the peck measure, or tec, shaped like tlie frustum of a
pyramid, must be olRcially examined and sealed before it can
MONEY, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES. SIl
be used; at Canton it contains 6^ catties weiglit, or about 1.13
gallon. The decimals of the tael, called riiace^ eamlareen, and
cash {tsitn, /an, and li), are employed in reckoning bullion,
pearls, gems, drugs, etc.; ten cash making one candareen, ten
candareens one mace, etc. The proportions between the Chinese
and American moneys and weights is such that so many
taels per pecul, or candareens per catty, is the same as so many
dollars per hundredweight, or cents per pound.’
The monetary system is arranged on the principle of weight,
and the divisions have the same names, fael, mace, candareen,
and cash. The only native coin is a copper piece called tsien,
because it originally weighed a mace ; it is thin and circular,
rather more than an inch in diameter, with a square hole in the
middle for the convenience of stringing. The obverse bears
the word ])ao, or ‘ current,’ and the name of the province in
Manchu, on each side of the square hole ; the reverse has four
words, Taulnran’j, tun’j^pno, i.e., ‘money current [during the
reign of] Taukwang.’ Mints for casting cash are established
in each provincial capital under the direction of the Board of
lievenue. The coin should consist of an alloy of copper, 50 ;
zinc, ^\\ ; lead, 6^ ; and tin, 2 ; or of equal parts of copper
and zinc ; but it has been so debased by iron and reduced in
size during the last fifty years that it does not pay to counterfeit
it. Each piece should weigh 58 grains troy, or 3.78
grammes, but most of those now in circulation are under 30
grains, and the rate of exchange varies in different parts of the
land from 900 to 1,800 for a silver dollar.
The workmen in the mint are required to remain within the
building except wdien leave of absence is obtained, but in spite
of all the efforts of government, private coinage is issued to a
great amount, and sometimes with the connivance of the mintmaster.
^ Chinese Repository, Vol. X.,p. 050; Chinese Chrestomathy ; Chinese Commercml Guide, Fifth Ed., pp. 2G5-288 ; Rondot, Commerce de la Chine, 1819.
Neither silver nor gold has ever been coined to any extent in China. In seeking for the cause of this difference from all other Asiatic nations, it seems to lie in the commercial freedom which has done so much to elevate them. The government on the one hand is not strone; enono;]i to restrain counterfeiters, and not honest enough, on the other hand, to issue pieces of uniform standard for a series of years till it has obtained the (ioniidence of its subjects. It will not receive base metal for taxes, and cannot force merchants to accept adulterated coins. As its foreign relations extend it will no doubt be
obliged to issue a better national currency in the three metals.
Attempts have been made to introduce a silver piece of the size
of a tael, and specimens were made at Shanghai in 1856. A
large coinage of native dollars was attempted in Fuhkien and
Formosa, about 1835, to pay the troops on that island. One of
them indicated that the piece was ” pure silver for current use
from the Chang-chau Commissariat ; [weight] seven mace two
candareeiis^” The other was of the same weight and purity
(417.4 grains troy), and besides the inscription in Chinese on
the obverse, and in Mancliu on the reverse, it had an etfigy of
the god of Longevity on the head and a tripod on the tail, to
authenticate its official origin. These pieces were either melted
or counterfeited to such an extent on their appearance, that they
soon disappeared.
Foreign dollars are imported in great quantities from Mexico
and San Francisco, and form the medium of trade at the open
ports. They are often stamped by the person who pays them
out, which soon destroys thein as a coin, and they are then
melted and refined to be cast into ingots of bullion, called shoes
of sijcee, from sl-s.z’ or ‘fine floss’ ; these weigh from five mace
to fifty taels, the larger pieces being stamped with the district
magistrate’s title and the date, to verify them. They are from
ninety-seven to ninety-nine per cent, pure silver, but small ingots
of ten or fifteen taels weight are less pure than the large
shoes, as they are called from their shape. Gold bullion is cast
into “bars like cakes of India-ink in shape, weighing about ten
taels, or hammered into thick leaves which can be examined but
not separated by di-iving a punch through a pile of a hundred
or more—a precaution against cheating. Large quantities are
sent abroad in this shape.
Taxes and duties are paid in sycee of ninety-eight per cent,
fineness, and licensed bankers are connected with the revenue
BANKING SYSTEM AND TAPER MONEY. 85
department to wlioni tlie proceeds are paid, and who are allowed
a small percentage for relining and becoming resjjonsible for its
purity. Dollars and ingots are counterfeited, and all classes
have them inspected by shrofs, who, by practice, are able to
decide by the sight alone npon tiie degree of alloy in a piece of
silver, though usually they employ touchstone needles to assist
them, different degrees of fineness imparting a different color to
the needle. Books are prepared as aids to the detection of counterfeit
dollars ; in these the process of manufacture is carefully
described ; some of the pieces are marvels of skill in forgery.
Chartered banking companies are unknown, for a government
warrant or charter would carry no weight with it, but
private bankers are found in all large towns. Paper money
was issued in immense quantities under the Mongol dynasty,
and its convenience is highly praised by Marco Polo, who
looked upon its emission by the Grand Khan as the highest
secret of alchemy. Polo’s ideas of this operation would please
the ‘* greenbackers ” in the United States. He says, when describing
Kublai’s purchases : ” So he buys such a quantity of
those precious things every year that his treasure is endless,
while all the while the money he pays away costs him nothing
at all. If any of those pieces of paper are spoilt the
owner cariies them to the mint, and by paying three per cent,
on the value he gets new pieces in exchange.” The total issues
of this highest secret of alchemy during Kublai’s reign of tliirtyfour
years are reckoned by Pauthier, the Yueji Annals, at equal
to $624,135,500. The Khan’s successors, however, overdid the
mamifacture, and when the people found out that they had
nothing but paper to show for all the valuables they had parted
with to the Mongols, it added strength to the rebellion of Ilungwu
(a.d. 1359), which ended in their expulsion nine years afterward.
The new dynasty was, nevertheless, obliged to issue its
notes at tirst, but the mercantile instincts of the people soon
asserted their power, and as industry revived they were superseded
about 1455. The Manchus did not issue any Governmental
paper till 1S5S, during the Tai-ping rebellion, and its circulation
was limited to the capital from the first ; seeing that even then it was known to have no basis of credit or funds.
A bank can be opened by any person or company, subject to certain laws and payments to Government, on reporting its organization. The number of these offices of deposit and emission is large in proportion to the business of a town, but their capital averages only two or three thousand taels; the number in Tientsin is stated at three hundred, at Peking it is less than four hundred, of which scores in each are mere branches. The check on over-issue of notes lies in the
control exercised by the cleai’ing-house of every city, where the
standing of each bank is known by its operations. The circulation
of the notes is limited in some cases to the street or neighborhood
wherein the establishment is situated ; often the
payee has a claim on the payer of a bill for a full day if it be
found to be counterfeit or worthless—a custom which involves
a good deal of scribbling on the back of the bill to certify the
names. Proportionally few counterfeit notes are met with, owing
nioi’e to the limited range of the bills, making it easy to ask
the bank, which recognizes its own paper by the check-tallies,
of which the register contains two or three halves printed across
the check-book. When silver is presented for exchange, the
bills are usually, in Peking, iilled up and dated as the customer
wishes while he waits for them. Their face value ranges from
one to a hundred tiao, or strings of cash, but their worth depends
on the exchange between silver and cash, and as this
fluctuates daily, the bills soon And their way home. These
notes are unknown in the southern provinces, where dollars
have long circulated; but their convenience is so great that
people are willing to run slight risks on this account. Hongkong
bills circulate on the mainland to very remote districts.
PAWNSHOPS AND POPULAR ASSOCIATIONS. 87
Banks issue circular letters of credit to travel through the Empire, and the system of remittance by drafts is as complete as in Europe ; the rates charged are high, however, and vast sums of silver are constantly on the move. The habit of pawning goods is very general, and carries its disastrous results among all classes. There are three kinds of pawnshops, and the laws regulating them are strict and equitable ; the chief evil arising from their number is the facility they give to thieves. Pawn tickets are exposed for sale in the streets, and form a curious branch of traffic. These establishments are generally very extensive, and the vast amount of goods stored in them, especially garments and jewelry, shows their universal patronage.
One pawnbroker’s warehouse at Tinghai was used by the English forces as a hospital, and accommodated between two and three hundred patients. The insecurity of commercial operations involves, of course, a high rate of interest, sometimes up to three per cent, a month, lowering according to circumstances to twelve or ten per cent, per annum. The legal pawnshops(tang ])iC) are allowed three years to redeem, and give three years’ notice of dissolution. The restrictions on selling pawned articles works injuriously to the shops, in consequence of rapid depreciation or risks to the articles. If a fire occurs on the premises the pawner claims the full amount of his pledge ; only one-half is paid if it communicates from a neighbors house.’
One characteristic feature of Chinese society cannot be omitted
in this connection, namely, its tendency to associate. It
is a fertile principle ap[)lied to every branch of life, but especially
conspicuous in all industrial operations. The people
crystallize into associations ; in the town and in the country, in
buying and in selling, in studies, in tights, and in politics, everybody
must co-operate with somebody else—women as well as
men. To belong to one or more hioui, and be identified with
its fortunes, and enlisted in its struggles, seems to be the
stimulus to activity, resulting from the democratic element in
the Chinese polity, to M’hicli we are to refer the continuity as
well as many singular features of the national character. In
trade capitalists associate to found great banks, to sell favorite
medicines, or engross leading staples ; little farmers club together
to buy an ox, pedlers to get the custom of a street, porters
to monopolize the loads in a ward, or chair-bearers to furnish
all the sedans for a town. Beggars are allotted to one or two streets by their hicul, and driven off another’s beat if they encroach. Each guild of carpenters, silknien, masons, or even of physicians and teachers, works to advance its own interests, keep its own nienibei’S in order, and defend itself against its opponents. Villagers form themselves into organizations against the wiles of powerful clans ; and unscrupulous officials are met and balked by popular unions when they least expect it. Women and mothers get up a couipany to procure a trousseau, to buy an article of dress or furniture, to pay for a son’s wedding.
‘ Ed. Biot in Journcd Asiatiqw, 1837, Tome III., p. 422, and Tome IV., pp.97, 209; Cfatime CommercM Gnklf, 1863, pp. 264-275; N. C As. Journal,No. VI , pp. 52-71 ; Yule’s Marco Polo, 1871, Vol. I., p. 378-^85; Pauthier Le Litre de M. Polo, Cap. XCV., p. 319 ; Vissering On Chinese Currency, 1877,-Chinese Reipository, Vol. XX., p. 289 ; Doolittle’s Social Life, Vol. II., pp. 138-247; Notes and Queries on C- and J., Vol. II., p. 108.
Associations are limited to a year, to a month, to a decade, according to their design. These various forms of co-operation teach the people to know each other, while they also furnish agencies for unscrupulous men to oppress and crush out their enemies, gratify their revenge, and intimidate enterprise. Nevertheless, until the people learn higher principles of morality, these habits of combining themselves bring more benefits to the whole body than evils, at the same time quickening the vitality of the mass, without which it would die out in brigandage and despair.’
‘ For an account of the money hwiii and details of their system, see M. Eug. Simon, Les Petites Societes d’Argent en Chine, N. C. Br. B. As. Soe. Journal No. v., Art. I. (1868).
MILITARY SCIENCE AND IMPLEMENTS OF WAR. 89
The theory of war has received more attention among the Chinese than its practice, and their reputation as an unwarlike people is as ancient and general among their neighbors as that of their seclusion and ingenuity. The Mongols and Manchus, Huns and Tartars, all despised the effeminate braggadocio of Chinese troops, and easily overcame them in war, but were themselves in turn conquered in times of peace. Minute directions are given in books with regard to the drilling of troops, which are seldom reduced to practice. The puerile nature of the examinations which candidates for promotion in the army pass through, proves the remains of the ancient hand-to-hand encounter, and evinces the low standard still entertained of what an officer should be. Personal courage and brawn are highly esteemed, and the prowess of ancient heroes in the battle-field is lauded in songs, and embellished in novels. The arms of the Chinese still consist of bows and arrows.
spears, matchlocks, swords, and cannon of various sizes and
lengths. The bow is used more for show in the military examinations,
than for service in battle. Rattan shields, painted
with tigers’ heads, are used on board the revenue cutters to turn
the thrust of spears, and on ceremonial occasions, when the
companies are paraded in full uniforms and equipments. The
imiform of the difterent regiments of the luh-tjin<j or ‘ native
army,’ consists of a jacket of brown, yellow, or blue, bordered
with a wide edging of another color ; the trowsers are usually
blue. The cuirass is made of quilted and doubled cotton cloth,
and covered with iron plates or brass knobs connected by copper
bands ; the helmet is iron or polished steel, sometimes inlaid,
weighing two and one-fourth pounds, and has neck and ear lappets
to protect those parts. The back of the jacket bears the
word yung, ‘ courage,’ and on the breast is painted the service
to which the corps is attached, whether to the governor, commandant,
or Emperor. The exhibition of courage among Chinese
troops is not, however, always deferred to the time when
they run away, spite of the disparaging reputation they have
obtained in this i-espect from their British conquerors—who
have, nevertheless, on more than one occasion, been led to adujire
the cool pluck of the same men when led by competent
officers.
The matchlock is of wrought iron and plain bore ; it has a
longer barrel than a musket, so long that a rest is sometimes
attached to the stock for greater ease in firing ; the match is
a cord of hemp or coir, and the pan must be uncovered with the
hand before it can be fired, which necessarily interferes with,
and almosts prevents its use in wet or windy weather. The
cannon are cast, and although not of very uniform calibre from
the mode of manufacture, are serviceable for salutes. The
ginjal ic a kind of swivel from six to fourteen feet long, resting
on a tripod ; being less liable to burst than the cannon, it is the
most effective gun the Chinese possess.
Gunpowder was probably known to the Chinese in the latter
part of the II an dynasty (a.d. 250), but its application in firearms
at that time is not so plain. The exploits of Kung-ming
in that period owe their interest to his use of gunpowder in modes like the Greek fire of the Byzantines, though the animated narratives of Lo Kwan-chung (a.d. 1300) in his History of the Three States, are not reliable history in this particular.
Grosier (Vol. VIL, pp. 176-200) has adduced the evidences proving the use of powder at or before the Christian era. The inferences that Europe obtained it from India rather than China have, however, a good deal of weight. Early Arab historians refer to it as Chinese snow and Chinese salt—a fact which only shows its eastern origin—while the Chinese comx^und term of hioo-yioh, or ‘ fire drug,’ rather indicates a foreign source than otherwise.
Mr. W. F. Mayers has searched out and collated a considerable
mass of evidence from Chinese sources bearing upon the
introduction of explosives in native warfare and ordinary life.
The conclusions of this writer point both to a foreign origin of
gunpowder in China, and a nnicli later use of the compound
among their warriors than has generally been supposed. Coming,
probably, from India or Central Asia about the fifth century
A.D. the invention, he says, ” perhaps found its way into
China in connection with the manufacture of fireworks for purposes
of diversion ; and supplanting at some unascertained
period the jiractice of producing a crepitating noise by burning
bamboos as a charm against evil spirits.” No evidence exists
of the use of gunpowder as an agent of warfare until the middle
of the twelfth century, nor did a knowledge of its propulsive
effects come to the Chinese until the reign of Yungloh, in the
fifteenth century—a thousand years after its first employment
in fire-crackers.’
Fire-arms of large size were introduced toward the end of the
Ming dynasty by foreign instructors ; ginjals and matchlocks
were known four centuries earlier in all the eastern and central
regions of Asia, but none of those people could forge or cast
large artillery, owing to their imperfect machinery. The gunpowder
is badly mixed and ti’itui-ated, though the proportions
are nearly the sauje as our own. The native arms are now
‘ JVm’th CJiina Br. Royal Aniutic iSoc. JouriMl, 1870, No. VI., Art. V. Com
pare Notes and Queries on G. and J.
INVENTION AND USE OF GUNP0\YDER. 91
rapidly giving place to foreign in the imperial army, and the
establishment of four or live arsenals under the numagement of
competent instructors, where implements of warfare of every
kind are manufactured, will, ere long, make an entire change in
Chinese weapons and tactics. Some of their brass guns were of
• enormous size and great strength, but were of little use for
practical warfare, owing to the bad carriages and rude means of
working them.
The uniforms of Chinese troops are not even calculated to
give them a iine appearance when drawn up for parade, and
no one, looking at them, can believe that men dressed in loose
jackets and trousers, with heavy shoes and bamboo caps, could
be trained to cope with western soldiers. Fans or umbrellas
are often made use of on parade to assuage the heat or protect
from the i-ain, while the chief object of these reviews is to
salute and knock head before some high officer. In order to
repress insurrection, the government has been frequently compelled
to buy off turbulent leaders with office and rewards, and
thus disorganize and scatter the enemy it could not vanquish.
But however ridiculous the army and navy of the Chinese
were half a century ago, in the isolation and ignorance which
then held them, it cannot be alleged of what has been attempted
within twenty 3’ears, and the promise of wdiat may be
done in as numy more. The following resume of the qualities
of the Chinese soldier, from experience with Col. Gordon^s
“Ever Victorious Force” during the Tai-ping insurrection will
be a, 2}roj)os of this subject to which this work cannot devote
further space. ” The old notion is pretty well got rid of, that
they are at all a cowardly people when properly paid and efticiently
led ; while the regularity and order of their habits,
whicli dispose them to peace in ordinary times, give place to a
daring bordering upon recklessness in time of war. Their intelligence
and capacity for remembering facts make them well
fitted for use in modern warfare, as do also the coolness and
calmness of their disposition. Physically they are on the
average not so strong as Europeans, but considerably more
30 than most of the other races of the East ; and on a cheap
diet of rice, vegetables, salt fish, and pork, they can go through a vast amount of fatigue, whether in a temperate climate or a tropical one, where Europeans are ill-fitted for exertion. Their wants are few; they have no caste prejudices, and hardly any appetite for intoxicating liquors. Being of a lymphatic or lymphatic-bilious temperament, they enjoy a remarkable immunity from inflannnatory disease, and the tubercular diathesis is little known amongst them.””
Their progress in real civilization is not to be fairly measured
by their attainments in war, although it has been said that the
two best general criteria of civilization among any people are
superior skill in destroying their fellow men, and the degree of
respect they pay to women. China falls far behind her place
among the nations if judged by these tests alone, and in reality
owes her present advance in numbers, industry, and wealth
mainly to her peaceful character and policy. She would have
probably presented a spectacle similar to the disunited hoi’des
of Central Asia, had her people been actuated by a warlike
spirit, for when divided into fifty or more feudal states, as was
the case in the days of Confucius, she made no progress in the
arts of life. The Manchu Emperors have endeavored to conquer
their neighbors, the Birmans and Coreans, but in both
cases had to be satisfied with the outward homage of a ]votou\
and a few articles of tribute, when a formal embassy presented
itself in Peking. The Siamese, Cochinchinese, Coreans, Tibetans,
Lewchewans, and some of the tribes of Turkestan, are
nominally vassals of the Son of Heaven, and their names remain
on the roll of feifs. The first two have ceased to tsin
hung, or send tribute, since about 1860 ; and the Lewchewans
are not likely to revisit their old quarters at Peking in any capacity
; while the others derive advantage from the facilities of
traffic which they are unwilling to give up.
‘Andrew Wilson, The ”Ever Victorious Army.” A RiHtory of the Chinese Vu»ip(.ii(/n under Lieut. -Vol.- (Jordou. London, lb08, p. 2G9.
CHINESE POLICY AND PKACTICE IN WARFARE. 93
The precepts of Confucius taught the rulers of China to conquer their neighbors by showing the excellence of a good government, for then their enemies would come and voluntarily range themselves vmder their sway; and although the kindness of the rulers of China to those fully in their power is as hypocritical as their rule is unjust, those nations who pay them this homage do it voluntarily, and experience no interference in their internal affairs. The maxims of Confucian polity, aided by the temper of the people, have had some effect, in the lapse of years, upon the nature of this quasi feudality. The weaker nations looked up to China, since they could look no higher, and their advances in just government, industry, and arts, is not a
little owing to their political intercourse during past centuries.
The Chinese Empire is a notable example of the admirable
results of a peaceful policy ; and the sincere desire of every
well-wnsher of his race doubtless is that this mighty mass of
human beings may be Christianized and elevated from their
present ignorance and weakness by a like peaceful infusion of
the true principles of good order and liberty.
Many treatises upon the art and practice of war exist, one of
which, called the Soldier’s Manual^ in eighteen chaptei’s, contains
some good directions. The lirst chapter treats of the
mode of marching, necessity of having plans of the country
through which the army is to pass, and cautions the troops
against harassing tlie people unnecessarily—not a useless admonition,
fur a body of Chinese soldiers is too often like a
swarm of locusts upon the land. The second chaj)ter teaches
the mode of buildino- bridges, the need there is of cautious explorations
in marching, and of sending out scouts ; this subject
is also continued in the next section, and directions given about
castrametation, placing sentries, and keeping the troops on the
alert, as well as under strict discipline in camp. The rest of
the book is chiefly devoted to directions for the management of
an actual battle, sending out spies beforehand, choosing positions,
and bringing the various parts of the army into action at
the best time. The hope of reward is held out to induce the
soldier to be brave, and the threats of punishment and death if
he desert or turn his back in time of battle.
‘ Chinese Eepositoi-y, Vol. XI., p. 487.
The utility of music in encouraging the soldiers and exciting them to the charge is fully appreciated, but to our notions it no more deserves the name of music tliaii the collection ol half-drilled louts in petticoats does that of an arnn’, when compared with a European force. Still, its antiquity, if nothing else, renders it a subject of great interest to the musical student, while its power over the people seems to be none the less because it is unscientific. However small their attainments in the theory and practice of music, no nation gives to this art a higher place. It was regarded by Confucius as an essential part in the government of a state, harmonizing and softening the relations between the different ranks of society, and causing them all to move on in consentaneous accord. It is remarked of the sage himself that having heard a tune in one of his ramblings, he did not know the taste of food for three weeks after—but, with all deference to the feelings of so distinguished a man, we cannot help thinking his food might have been quite as palatable without music, if it was no better then than it is at the present day. The Chinese never had anything like the musical contests among the Greeks, and their efforts have been directed to develop instrumental rather than vocal music.
The names and characters used for notes in vocal music are here given, though their real tone cannot be accurately represented by our staff. The second octave is denoted by affixing the sign jin, ‘a man,’ to the simple notes, or as shown in the second c7te, by a peculiar hooked bottom.
-^ ng Tj j: K i fL 7*; ^ fL ji: J^i^h
CHINESE MUSICAL NOTATION. 93
Barrow says that the Chinese learned this mode of writing music from Pereira, a llomaii Catholic missionary, in 1670, but its existence in Japan and Corea invalidates this statement.
There are two kinds of nmsic, known as the Southern and Northern, which differ in their character, and are readily recognized by the people. The octave in the former seems to have had only six notes, and the songs of the Miaotu and rural people in that portion of China are referable to such a gamut, while the eight-tone scale generally prevails in all theatres and more cultivated circles. Further examination by competent observers who can jot down on such a gamut the airs they hear in various regions of China, is necessary to ascertain these interesting points, which now seem to carry us back to remote antiquity, and have been noticed in other countries than China.
In writing instrumental music, marks, meaning io jmsh^Jilli^p, hool; etc., are added to denote the mode of playing the string; the two are united into very complicated combinations. For instance, in writing a tune for the lute or kin, ” each note is a chister of characters ; one denotes the string, another the stud, a third informs you in what manner the lingers of the right hand are to be used, a fourth does the same in reference to the left, a fifth tells the performer in what way he must slide the hand before or after the appropriate sound has been given, and a sixth says, perhaps, that two notes are to be struck at the same time.” These complex notes are difficult to learn and remember, therefore the Chinese usually play by the ear. This mode of notation, in addition to its complexity, must be varied by nearly every kind of instrument, inasmuch as the combinations fitted for one instrument are inapplicable to another; but music is written for only a few instruments, such as the lute and the guitar.
These notes, when simply written without directions condiined with them as described above, indicate only their pitch in a certain scale, and do not denote either the length or the absolute pitch ; they are written perpendicularly, and various marks of direction are given on the side of the column regarding the proportionate length of time in which certain notes are to be played, others to be trilled or repeated once, twice, or more times, and when the performer is to pause. Beats occur at regular intervals in some of the written tunes ; all muisic is in common time and no triple measures are used, yet time is pretty well observed in orchestras. Of harmony and counterpoint they know nothing ; the swell, diminish, flat, sharp, appogiatura, tie, and other marks which assist in giving expression to our written music, are for the most part unknown, nor are tunes set to any key. The neatness and adaptation of the European notation is better appreciated after studying the clumsy, imperfect mode which is here briefly described.’
No description can convey a true idea of Chinese vocal music, and few persons are able to imitate it when they have heard it. De Guignes says, ” It is possible to sing a Chinese song, but I think it would be very difficult to give it the proper tone without having heard it by a native, and I rather believe that no one can perfectly imitate their notes.” They seem, in some cases, to issue from the larynx and nose, the tongue, teeth, and lips having little to do with them, the modulation being made mostly with the muscles of the bronchia ; at other times, the
enunciation of the words requires a little more use of the lips
and teeth. Singing is generall}’ on a falsetto key ; and this
feature prevails throughout. Whether in the theatre or in the
street, about the house or holding the guitar or lute, both men
and women sing in this artificial tone somewhere between a
squeal and a scream, and which no western musical instrument
is able to imitate. Its character is plaintive and soft, not full
or exhibiting much compass, though when two or three females
sing together in recitative, not destitute of sweetness. Bass and
tenor are not sung by men, nor a second treble by females, and
the two performers are seldom heard together among the thousands
of street musicians who get a precarious living by their
skill in this line, as they accompany the guitar or rebeck. The
chanting in Buddhist services resembles the Ambrosian and early
Gregorian tones, and is accompanied only by striking a block
‘ Compare Dr. Jenkins in the Jmimal N. C. Br. R. A. S., Vol. V., 1868, pp.30 ff., and Rev. E. W. Syle in ib. Vol. II., 1859, p. 17G ; Pere Amiot in Mem.mnc. les CMnois, Vol. VI., pp. 1 ff.; Notes <ind Queries on C. and «/., Vol. IV.,Arts. 2 and ;}. Pt-rny Did., app. No. XIV., p. 443.
CHINESE TUNES. 97
and marking the time; the tenor voices of boys make a strong contrast to the gruff bass voices of the men in this service; some of the latter will carry their part as low as an octave below C or D in the bass, sounding most sepulchrally, like a trombone.
Three of the tunes insei’ted in Barrow’s Travels are here quoted as specimens of Chinese airs The first is the most popular, the second, conmion at Shanghai, is called Liih ixvn^ or ‘ Six Boards,’ it has a strain at the beginning and end additional to the usual form.
MOH-Ll HWA ; OR, THE JASMINE FLOWER.
^^^^xjimt^-
Hao ye to sien hva, Yu chao yu jih
How sweet this branch of fresh flower?, On the morn of the day
I W=^
e.^EiE^EfeiEi^^±^2
loh tsai ICO kia,
’twas dropped in my house ;
IVo pun tai puh chu mun,
I’ll wear it myself, yet not out of doors,
^ ^^^P 3^ W
Tui choh sien hira, ^rh loh.
But will match it with others, and make myself glad.
Hao ye to Moh-l’i hica,
Miran yuen hwa kai sho puh kwei la,
Wo pun tai tsz^ ye ta,
Tai yu kung kan hira jin ma.
How sweet this sprig of the jasmine flower!
Through the whole plat there’s none to equal it;
I myself will wear this new plucked sprig,
Though I fear all who sec it will envy me.
LUH PAN ; OK, THE SIX BOAKDS.
^
^^^^m^
^^^i^S^^^^^
^^^^^
-^-
aij=a- ^^^^^^^^
^=^ ^^^^^^s
^^^^^^^1^
STRINGED INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC. 99
The literature on the art of music is large. One treatise on heating drums scientilically dates from ahom tne year 860 A D , and contains a list of about one hundred and twenty-nine symphonies, nuxny of which are of Indian origin Among the seventy-two instruments hriefly described in the C7unese Chrestoraathj, there are seventeen kinds of drums, from the large ones suspended in temples to assist in worship to others of lesser size and diverse shape used in war, in theatres, and in bands.
Gongs, cjnibak, tambourines, and musical vases are also described
in considerable variety ; the last consisting of a curious
arrangement of twelve cups, more or less filled with water, and
struck with rods. The Chinese are fond of the tinkling of
small pieces of sonorous glass, caused by the wind striking them
against each other as they are suspended from a frame or lamp.
The simple succession of sounds arising from striking upon a
liarmonicon, jingling these glasses together, or touching different
sized cymbals suspended in a frame, is a favorite species of
music.
The stringed instruments to be played by thrumming are not as numerous as those of percussion, but they display more science. Nothing resembling the harp or Apollo’s lyre has been observed among them. The Z///, or ‘scholar’s lute,’ is considered as the most finished, and has received more attention than any other orchestral implement ; to excel in playing it is regarded as a scholarly accomplishment. A work entitled The Lute-l*laijcr”s Easy Lesmns, in two volumes, contains explanations of one hundred and nine terms and is illustrated by twenty nine pictures of the position of the hands to aid in a full understanding of the twenty-three sets of tunes given in the second volume. This lute, it may be added, is of very ancient origin and derives its name from the word Jcin, ‘ to prohibit,’ ” because it restrains and checks evil passions and corrects the human heart.” It is a board about four feet in length and eighteen inches wide, convex above and flat beneath, where are
two holes opening into hollows. There are seven strings of silk,
which pass over a bridge near the wide end through the board,
and are tightened by nuts beneath ; they are secured on two
pegs at the smaller end. The sounding-board is divided by
thirteen studs, ” so placed that the length of the strings is
divided first into two equal parts, then into three, etc., up to
eight, with the omission of the seventh. The seven sti-ings inclose
the compass of a ninth or two-fifths, the middle one being
treated like A upon the violin, viz., as a middle string, and each
of the outer ones is tuned a fifth from it. This interval is treated like our octave in the violin, for the compass of the Idn is made up of fifths. Each of the outer strings is tuned a fourth from the alternate string within the system, so that there is a major tone, an interval tone less than a minor third, and a major tone in the fifth. The Chinese leave the interval entire, and skip the half tone, while we divide it into two unequal parts. It will therefore readily appear that the mood or character of the music of the hln must be very different from that of western instruments, so that none of them can exactly do justice to the Chinese airs. One of the peculiarities in performing on the lute is sliding the left hand fingers along the string, and the trilling and other evolutions they are made to execute.”
There are other instruments similar to the hin^ one with thirty, and another with thirteen strings, played with plectrums. The number of instruments resembling the guitar, lute, cithern, spinet, etc., is cousiderable, some with silken, others with wire strings, but none of catgut. The balloon-shaped guitar, or 2nj>c(-, has four strings arranged and secured like those of a violin; it is about three feet lung, and the unvarnished upper table has twelve frets to guide the performer. The strings are tuned at the intervals of a fourth, a major tone, and a fourth, so that the outer strings are octaves to each other; but the player generally avoids the semitones. The j’U”^ frequently accompanies the songs of strolling musicians and ballad singers. The san hlen, or ‘three-stringed guitar’, resembles a rebeck in its contour, but the neck and head is three feet long, and the body is cylindrical and hollow, usually covered with snake’s skin, upon
which the bridjire is set. The strini:;s are tuned as fourths to
each othei’, and in this respect it seems to be the counterpart of
the Grecian mercurian ; their sound is low and dull, and the
instrument is sometimes played in company with the 2n2>a.
Another kind of guitar, called yueh kin, or ‘ full moon guitar,’
has a large round belly and short neck, resembling the theorbo
or arch lute of Europe, but with only four strings, while that
had ten or more. These four strings stand in pairs that are
unisons with each other, having an interval of a fifth interposed
between the pairs. Tiie sound is smarter than that from the
pij[)a or Jiin, and it is used in lively tunes, the strings being
WIND INSTRUMENTS. 101
struck briskly witli the iniil or .a plectriiin. Similar in its construction
to the san hien is the rebeck, or two-stringed fiddle,
tlie rude appearance of which corresponds to the thin grating
sounds which issue from it. This instrument is merely a
bamboo stick thrust into a cylinder of the same material, and
having two strings fastened at one end of the stick on pegs, and
passing over a bridge on the cylinder to the other end ; they
are tuned at intervals of a fifth. The bow passes between the
two sti-ings, and as they are near each other, much of the skill
required to play it is exhibited in wielding the bow so as not to
make discord by scraping it against the wrong string while tvying
to produce a given sound. Europeans wonder how the Chinese
can be delighted with the harsh gratings of this wretched
machine, but none of their musical instruments are more popular,
and the skill they exhibit in playing it deserves a better
reward in the melody of the notes. A modification of it, called
ti kin, or ‘crowing lute,’ is made by employing a cocoanut for
the belly ; its sounds are, if anything, more dissonant.
The 1/ang hin is a kind of dulcimer, consisting of a greater or
less number of brass wires of different lengths, tuned at proper
intervals, and fastened upon a sounding-board ; it is played with
light hammers, and forms a rudimentary piano-forte, but the
sounds are very attenuated. The samj is in like manner the
embryo of the organ ; it is a hollow conical-shaped box, which
corresponds to a wind -chest, having a mouthpiece on one side,
and communicating with thirteen reeds of different lengths inserted
in the top ; some of the tubes are provided with valves,
part of them opening upward and part downward, so that some
of them sound when the breath fills the wind-box, and others
are only heard when it is sucked out and the air rushes down
the tubes to refill it. The tubes stand in groups of four, four,
three, two, around the top, and those having ventiges are placed
so that the performer can open or close them at pleasure as he
holds it. By covering the first set of holes and gently breathing
in the mouthpiece, a sweet concert of sounds is produced,
augmented to the octave and twelfth as the force of the breath
is increased. By stopping certain groups, other notes, shriller
and louder, are emitted ; and any single tube can be sounded by inhaling the wind from the wind-box and stopping the other holes. It is a simple thing and no doubt among the most ancient of musical instruments, but it possesses no scope nor means of varying the tone of the tubes. Mr. Lay thinks it to be identical in principle and form with the organ invented by Jubal ; the Chinese regard it more as a curious instrument than one possessing claims to adnuration or attention.
Their wind instruments are numerous, but most of them are
remarkable rather for clamor than sweetness or compass. The’
h icang tih^ or flute, is about twice the length of our fife, and made
of a bamboo tube neatly prepared and pierced with ten holes,
two of which ai’e placed near the end and unused, and one midway
between the enibouchuro and the six equidistant ones for the
fingers. This additional hole is covered with a thin film ; the
mouth-hole is bored about one-third of the way from the top.
Tliei’e are no keys, and the performers generally blow upon the
embouchure so violently that the sounds are shrill and harsh, but
when several of them play together the concert is more agreeable.
The congener of the flute is the iiliii tlh, or clarinet, which takes
the lead in all musical performances, as it does in western bands.
It has seven effective lioles, one of which is stopped by the thumb,
but no kej-s; the bell is of coppor and sits loose upon the end,
and the copper mouthpiece is ornamented Mith rings, and blown
through a reed. The tones produced by it are shrill and deafening,
and none of their instruments better characterize Chinese
musical taste. A smaller one, of a sweeter tone, like a flageolet,
is sometimes fitted with a singular shaped reed, so that it can be
played upon by the nose. Street musicians sometimes endeavor
to transform themselves into a travelling orchestra. One of
these peripatetic Orpheuses will fit a flageolet to his nose, sling
a small drum under one shoulder, and suspend a framework of
four small cymbals upon the breast; the man, thus accoutred,
aided by a couple of monkeys running after him, or sitting on
his head and shoulders, goes from street to street singing a ])liiintive
ditty, and accompanying his voice with his instruments,
and drawing a crowd with his moidceys.
The horn i-csenibles a trombone in principle, for the shaft is
retractible within the cylindrical copper bell, and can be lengthtup:
horn, gong, etc. 103
ened at pleasure. The sound is very grave, and in processions
its hollow booming forms a great contrast to the shrill clarinets
and cymbals. Another kind of horn, less grave, is made of a
crooked stem expanding into a small l)ell at tlie end ; the shaft
is of two parts, one drawing into the other, so that the depth of
tone can be modified. A long straight horn, resembling the
funeral pipe of the Jews, is sometimes heard on funeral occasions,
but this and the clarion, ti-umpet, and other kinds of pipes of
ancient and modern make are not common.
The Zo, or gong, is the type of Chinese music : a crashing harangue of rapid blows upon this sonorous plate, with a rattling accompaniment on small drums, and a crackling symphony of shrill notes from the clarinet and cymbal, constitute the chief features of their musical performances. The Emperor Kanghi endeavored to introduce foreign tunes and instruments among his courtiers, and the natives at Macao have heard good music from the Portuguese bands and choirs in that city from childhood, but not an instrument or a tune has been adopted by them.
It seems to be a rule in Chinese music that the gong should only vary in rapidity of strokes, while the alternations of time into agreeable intervals are left to the drums. ” This want of perception as to what is pleasing in i-hythmical succession of sounds,” Lay well observes, ” is connected with another fact—the total absence of metrical effect in national poetry. The verses contain a particular number of words and set pauses in each line, but there is nothing like an interchange of long and short sounds. Among the Greeks the fall of the smith’s hammer, the stroke of the oar, and the tread of the soldier in armor suggested some poetic measure, and their music exhibits a world of curious metres. But nothing of the sort can be heard in China, amid all the sounds and noises that salute the ear in a noisy country.” It is probable that the impracticable, monosyllabic nature of the language has contributed to this result; though the genius and temperament of the people are the chief reasons.
A Chinese orchestra or band, when in full note, strikes upon the ear of a European as a collection of the most discordant sounds, and he immediately thinks of Hogarth’s picture of the Enraged Musician, as the best likeness of its dissonance. It seems, when hearing them, as if each performer had his own tune, and was trying to distinguish himself above his competitors by his zeal and force ; but on listening carefully he will observe, amid the clangoi’, that they keep good time, one taking the octave, and the different instruments striking in with some regaj’d to parts, only, however, to confound the confusion still more because they are not tuned on the same key. Bands and orchestras are employed on occasions of marriages and funerals, theatrical exhibitions, religions or civic processions, and reception of officers, but not to a very great extent in temples or ancestral worship ; no nation makes more use of such music as they have than the Chinese. The people have an ear for music, and young men form clubs to learn and practise on various instruments and fit themselves for playing at weddings or birthday festivals. In respect to adopting foreign harmonies, which youths soon learn to appreciate when taught in mission schools, there is likely to be no competition, owing to the great differences between them. ‘
From this account of Chinese mnsic, it may be readily inferred
that it is not of such a character as to start the hearers off in a
lively dance. A sort of nnimmer or posture-making is practised
by persons attached to theatrical companies, and pantomimic
art seems to have been understood in ancient times, but the
exhibitions of it were probably as jejune as the caperings of
puppets. As acrobats the Chinese are equal to any nation, and
companies have performed in many western capitals within a
few years past. Some of their performances are highly exciting,
as throwing sharp cleavers at a man fastened to a post, till he
cannot stir without cuttinji; himself afirainst their blades, is a
common exhibition. To go through the tragedy of trying, con-
‘ Chinese as Ihey Are, Chap. VIII. Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., pp. 30-54. Chinese Chrestouyithy, pp. 85G–3G5. Journal N. C. Br. R. A. Soc, No. II., 1859,p. 176 ; No. v., 1808, p. 30. Journal of the Asiatic Soc. of Japan, 1877, Vol.v., pp. 170-179. German Asiatic Soc. of Japan, 1876. Grosier, Description fjenerale (U la Chine, Tome VI., p. 258. Doolittle, Soricd TAfe, Vol. II., p. 216. Barrow’s Travels, pp. 313-323. Memoires cone, les Chinois, Tomes I., III.,VI., etc.; for ancient musical knowledge, the last still furnishes the best analysis yet made.
DANCING AND THE FINK ARTS. 105
delnning, and killing a boy by stabbing him in the belly is not
so connnon ; the imitation of the gasping chest and pallid death
hue are wotiderfnlly natural. Ventriloquism, writing answers
to questions asked of the spirits by means of rods moving over
a dusted table, and other black art or magical tricks have long
been known. In dancing and other forms of graceful motion
they are entirely wanting, and one would almost as soon think
of associating music and medicine as that Chinese music should
be accompanied by quadrilles and cotillons, or that men witli
shoes like pattens could lead off women with feet like hoofs
through the turns and mazes of a waltz or fandango.
Their deficiencies in music will not lead us to expect much from them in painting or sculpture, for all flow so much from the same general perception of the beautiful in sound, form, and color, that where one is deficient all are likely to be unappreciated.
This want in Chinese mind (for we are hardly at liberty to call it a defect) is, to a greater or less degree, observable in all the races of Eastern Asia, none of whom exhibit a high appreciation of the beautiful or sublime in nature or art, or have produced much which proves that their true principles were ever understood. Painting is rather behind sculpture, but neither can be said to have advanced beyond rude imitations of nature.
Even the best painters have no proper idea of perspective or
of blending light and shade, but the objects are exhibited as
much as possible on a flat surface, as if the painter drew his
picture from a balloon, and looked at the country with a vertical
sun shining above him. As might be inferred from their
deficiencies in linear drawing and landscapes, they eminently
fail in delineating the human figui-e in its right proportions,
position, and expressions, and of grouping the persons introduced
into a piece in natural attitudes. The study of the human
figure in all its proportions lias not been attended to by
painters any more than its anatomy has by surgeons. Shadows
upon portraits are considered a great defect, and in order to
avoid them a front view is usually taken. Landscapes are also
painted without shading, the remote objects being as minutely
depicted as those in the foreground, and the point of view in pieces of any size is changed for the nearer and remote pavts. There is no vanishing point to their pictures, as might be inferred from their ignorance of perspective and the true elements of art.
Representation of a Man Dreaming.
Outline drawing is a favorite style of the art, and the wealthy adorn their houses with rough sketches in ink of figures and landscapes; but the humblest of such compositions as are common in the galleries and studios of western countries have never been produced by Chinese artists. Some of their representations of abstract ideas are at least singular to us, and, like many other things brought from their country, attract notice from their oddity.
ATTAINMENTS IN DRAWING AND COLORING. 107
Their coloring is executed with great skill and accuracy—too much, indeed, in many cases, so that the painting loses something of the effect it would otherwise have from the scrupulous minuteness of the detail, though it looks well in paintings of flowers, animals, costumes, ornaments, and other single objects where this filling up is necessary to a true idea of the original. The tints of the Innnan countenance are no better done, however.
than its liueaiiieiits, aiul the lifeless opacity suggests the idea
that the artist was not called in until his patron was about to
be entombed from the sight of his soi-rowing family. The
paintings obtained at Canton may, some of them, seem to disprove
these opinions of the mediocrity attained by the artists
in that country, but the productions of the copyists in that city
are not the proper criteria of native uneducated art. Some of
them have had so nnich practice in copying foreign productions
that it has begun to cori-ect their own notions of designing.
These constitute, however, a very small proportion of
the whole, and have had no effect on national taste. The designs
to 1)0 seen on plates and bowls are, although not the best,
fairer specimens of art than the pieces sometimes procured at
Canton. The beautiful fidelity with which engravings are
copied at Canton is well seen in the paintings on ivory, especially
miniatures and figures, some of which fully equal similar
productions made elsewhere.’
As samples of Chinese illustrative art, the two adjoining
wood-cuts may be considered as quite up to the average of
their fairest achievements. The story of the first in bi-ief is as
follows: In the district of Tsungngan lived a crafty plebeian,
who, envying the good fortune of all about him, became especially
covetous of the burial ground of his district magistrate
Chu. Hoping to gain a surreptitious benefit from the
felicitous luck of the plat, he secretly buried his own tombstone
there, and at the end of several years brought suit for its
recovery. Unable to comprehend the affair, Chu repaired to
the burial spot, where indeed the geomancy of the grave was
found to be entirely in accord with the rules, but upon removing
the earth the stone of his enemy’s remote ancestry was disclosed.
‘ Compare Owen Jones, Grammnr of Ornament, Chap. XIV. , and Examples of CMiieHe Ornament (London, 18()7). Gazette des Beaux-Artu for October and November, 187:5, and January, 1874.
The Vengeance of Heaven upon the False Grave.
EXAMPLES OF CHINESE ILLUSTRATIVE ART. 109
The suit was in consequence declared against him, Chu removed his residence to the black tea country, and his envious neighbor entered in triumph upon possession of the graveyard. Not so readily, however, did the powers above condone this iniquity. One night there arose a tempest of unheard-of violence, when the thunder iuul lightning were indescribable, the hideons roar and Hash of which terrified the countiy far and near, boding no good to its wretched inhabitants. The following morning the grave was discovered in ruins, stone and epitaph uprooted, even the corpse and coffin missing. The vengeance of liea\eu had repaired tlu; injustice of man.
The illustration which depicts the tempest personified in its
full terror shows us the Lai Kttiuj, or God of Thunder, almost
the only Chinese mythological deity who is drawn with wings.
The cock’s head and claws, the hammer and chisel, representing
the splitting peal attending a flash, the circlet of fire encompassing
a number of drums to typify the reverberating thunder
and the ravages of the irresistible lightning, present a grotesque
ensemble which is quite unique even among the Vizarrerie of
oriental figures ; the somewhat juvenile attempts of the artist
to sketch the destruction and rifling of the grave are much less
notable.
Concerning the subject of the second illustration (taken, with the other, from the Sacred Edict of Kangxi), we are told that one Yuen, having conceived a violent hatred against an acquaintance, set out one morning, knife in hand, with the purpose of killing him. A venerable man sitting in a convent saw him pass, and was amazed to observe several scores of spirits closely following him, some of whom clutched his weapon, while others seemed endeavoring to delay his progress. “About A would-be Assassin followed by Spirits.
SYMBOLISM OF THE CHINESE. Ill
the space of a meal-time” the patriarch noticed Yueirs return, accompanied this time by more than a hundred spirits wearing golden caps and bearing banners raised on high. Yuen himself appeared with so happy a face, in place of his gloomy countenance of the early morning, that the old man sadly concluded that his enemy must be dead and his revenge gratified. ” When you passed this way at daybreak,” he asked, ” where were you going, and how do you return so soon ? ” ” It was owing to my quarrel with Miu,” said Y^ien, ” that made me wish to kill him. But in passing this convent door better thoughts came to me as I pondered upon the stress his wife and children would come to, and of his aged mother, none of whom had done me wrong. I determined then not to kill him, and return thus promptly
from my evil purpose.” It hardly needed the sage’s commendations
to increase the reformed murderer’s inner contentment,
imparted by the train of ghostly helpers ; he continued on his
way rejoicing. The reader may notice a pictoi-ial idea as well
as a moral not unlike those of more western countries.
The syml)olisni of the Chinese has not attracted the notice of
foreign writers as much as it deserves. It meets us everywhere—
on plates and crockery, on carpets, rugs, vases, wall
pictures, shop signs, and visiting cards. Certain animals stand
for well-understood characters in the language, and convey
their sense to the native without any confusion. Owing to the
similarity of sound, fuh denotes hat and ha_i>p\nem, and luh
stands for deer and official emolument. The cliaracter shao,
mtaning ‘longevit}’,’ is represented in many ways—an old man
leaning on his staff; a pine tree cut into the form of the character;
a tortoise, which is among the longest-lived reptiles; a
stork, supposed to be a bird which attains a great age, and a
fabulous peach which is a thousand years ripening. A dragon
and a phoenix, c^x fung-iokang, are emblems of a newly wedded
pail*, and various modes of combination are adopted to represent
marriage relations.
A rug w’ill sometimes tell a story very neatly to the eye. In the centre is the Raxtstica, or ‘hammer of Thor,’ which denotes all., and symbolizes all happiness that humanity desires. On the right is the luh, or ‘deer,’ which denotes honor and success in study, carrying the yii-‘i, or Buddhist scepter, in its mouth, meaning success in literary labors. On the left is pictured a goose, indicating domestic felicity, and two bats complete the rug, with its good wishes.
In the plate represented in the picture the central figure is clad in the ancient costume of officials bearing the insignia or baton of a minister of State. The old man, with his gourd and peach, indicates an extreme and happy old age; and the figure with the basket corresponds to the cornucopia of western emblems. The five bats symbolize the wufu, or ‘five happinesses,’ which all mankind desires— riches, longevity, sound body, love of virtue, and a peaceful end.
Symbols of Happiness and Old Age. (From a plaque.)
The visiting card and note paper often indicate in their adornments a good wish and a motto which does credit to the taste and heart of the designer. A most graceful and not nncommon way of wishing a guest good luck is to depict some happy emblem or a sentence of the language with a fortunate meaning on the bottom of his tea-cup. The characters ” May your happiness know no bounds ” frequently occur in this position, and the oft-recurring five bats or three peaches can be employed with like signification. The mandarin duck is a well understood emblem for conjugal affection ; again, a cock and hen standing on an artificial i”ock-work symbolize the pleasures of a country life. Sometimes the eight symbols peculiar to the Buddhist sect, or the pah s/’en (‘ eight genii’) indicative of their protection, are seen in the border of a plaque amid a device of running arabesques. The favorite dragon, in an infinite diversity of shapes, adorns the fiiici- qualities of cups, plates, bowls, and vases, to represent imperial grandeur, but common people are not wont to use such patterns.
PAINTING ON PITir-I’ArER AND LEAVES. 113
The brilliant paintings on pith-paper, or rice-paper as it is commonly but incorrectly called, deserve special mention for their singular delicacy and spirit. This substance, whose velvety surface contrasts so admirably with bright colors, is a delicate vegetable film, consisting of long hexagonal cells, whose length is parallel to the surface of the film, and which are filled with air when the film is in its usual state ; the peculiar softness
which so well adapts it for receiving colors is owing to tliis
structure. It is obtained from the pith of a species of Fatsia, a
plant allied to the Aralia, growing in Formosa and Yunnan, in
nuirshy districts. It is cultivated to some extent, but mostly
gathered \i\ cutting the branches of the wild plants, which resemble
the elder. This pitli forms a large item in the internal
trade of China, and is worked up into toys as well as cut into
sheets. The fragments are used to stuff pillows or fill up the
soles of shoes, or wherever a light, dry material is needed. The
largest and best sheets (ten l)y fifteen inches) are selected for
the painters at Hongkong and Canton, where many hundreds
of workmen are employed in making them. Under the direction
of foreign ladies at Amoy and elsewhere, most accurate
imitations of flowers and bouquets are now made I)y natives out
of pith-paper. The pieces are cut nearly a foot long, and the
pith is forced out by driving a stick into one end ; it is then wet
and put into bamboos, where it swells and dries straight. If
too short to furnish the i-equired breadth, several bits are pressed
together until they adhere and make one long straight piece.
The paring knife reseml)lcs a butcher’s cleaver, a thin find
sharp l)]ade, which is touched u]) on a block of iron-wood at the
last moment. The pith is pared on a square tile, having its
ends guarded by a thin strip of ])rass, on which the knife rests.
The pith is rolled over against its edge with the left hand ; the
right firmly holds it, slowly moving it leftward, as the workman
pulls and rolls the pith in the same direction, as far as the tile
allows. The pared sheet runs under the knife, and the paring
goes on until only a center three or four lines thick is left ; and this remnant the thirifty workmen use or sell for an aperient The paring resembles the operation of cutting out corks, and
produces a smooth slieet about four feet long, the first half foot
being too much grooved to be of use. The fresh sheets are
pressed in a pile, smoothed by ironing and their fractures
mended with mica. Most of the paper is trimmed into square
sheets for the makers of artificial fiowers, and sold in Formosa
at about eight cents for five hundred sheets. An India-ink outline
is first transferred l)y dampening and pressing it upon the
paper, when the ink strikes off sufliciently to enable the workman
to fill up the sketch ; one outline will serve for limning
several copies, and in large establishments the separate colors
are laid on by different workmen. The manufacture of these
paintings at Canton employs between two and three thousand
hands.
Another tissue sometimes used by the Chinese for painting,
more remarkable for its singularity than elegance, is the reticulated
nerve-work of leaves, the parenchyma of the leaf having
been removed by maceration, and the membrane filled with
isinglass. The appearance of a painting on this transparent
substance is pretty, but the colors do not retain their brilliancy.
The Chinese admire paintings on glass, and some of the moonlight
scenes or thunderstorms are good specimens of their art.
The clouds and dark parts are done with India-ink, and a dark
shade well befitting the subject is imparted to the whole scene
by underlaying it with a piece of blackish paper. Portraits and
other subjects are also done on glass, but the indifferent execution
is rendered still more conspicuous by the transparency of
the ground ; the Hindus purchase large quantities of such glass
pictures of their gods and goddesses. Looking-glasses are also
painted on the back with singular eifect by removing the quicksilver
with a steel point according to a design previously sketched, and then painting the denuded portion.
CHINESE SCULPTURE AND CARICATURE. 115
Statuary is confined (thiefiy to molding idols out of clay or cutting them from wood, and carving animals to adorn balus’ trades and temples. Idols are generally made in a sitting posture and dressed, the face and hands being the only parts of the body seen, so that no opportunity is afforded for imitating the muscles and contour of tlie figure. The hideous monsters which
guard the entrance of temples often exhibit more artistic skill
than the unmeaning images enshrined within, and some even
display much knowledge of character and proportion. Among
their best performances in statuettes are the accurate baked and
painted models of different classes of people ; Canton and Tientsin
artists excel in this branch.
Animals are sculptured in granite and cast in bronze, showing
great skill and patience in the detail work ; deformity in the
model has resulted in the production of such animals, indeed, as
were probably never beheld in any world. Images of lions,
tigers, tortoises, elephants, rams, and other animals ornament
bridges, temples, and tombs. The elephants in the long avenue
of warriors, horses, lions, etc., leading up to the tomb of the
Emperor Ilungwu at Xanking are the only tolerable representations
of their originals ; the gigantic images guarding the
tomb of Yungloh, his son, at Changping, near Peking, are
noticeable for size alone. The united effect of the elaborate
carving and grotesque ornaments seen upon the roofs, woodwork,
and pillars of buildings is not devoid of beauty, though in their
details there is a great violation of the true principles of art,
just as the expression of a face may please which still has not a
handsome feature in it. Short columns of stone or wood, surmounted by a lion, and a dragon twining around the shaft, the whole cut out of one block ; or a lion sejant with half a dozen cubs crawling over his body, are among the ornaments of temples and graves which show the taste of the people.
The Chinese have a sense of the ridiculous, and exhibit it
both in their sculpture and drawing in many ways. Lampoons,
pasquinades, and caricatures are common, nor is any pei’son
below the dragon’s throne spared by their pens or pencils, though
they prefer subjects not likely to involve the authors—as in the
one here selected from the many elicited during the war of 1840.
By far the best specimens of sculpture are their imitations of
fruits, flowers, animals, etc., cut out of many kinds of stone,
from gnarled roots of bamboo, wood, and other materials ; but
in these we admire the unwearied patience and cunning of the
workmen in making gi’otesque combinations and figures out of apparently intractable materials, and do not seek for any indications of a pni’e taste or embodiment of an exalted conception.
Inscriptions of a religions or geomantic cliai’acter are often cntnpon the faces of rocks, as was tlie case in India and Arabia,* and tlie pictnrescpie characters of the language make a pretty appearance in such situations.
Caricature of an English Foraging Party.
The small advances made in architecture have already been noticed in Chapter XIII.—a deficiency exhibited in the Iluns and other nations of the Mongolian stock long after they had settled in Europe and Western Asia ; nor was it imtil their amalgamation with the imaginative nations of Southern Europe
had changed their original character that grand performances
in architecture appeared among the latter. If the Chinese had
a model of the Parthenon or the Pantheon in their own
country, belike they would measurably imitate it in every part,
but they would erect dozens in the same fashion. Perhaps
an infusion of elegance and taste would liave been imparted to
them if the people had had frequent intercourse witii more im-
‘ Compare Job XXX., 24.
LIMITATIONS OF TIIKIll AlinilTKOTURE. 117
ainiiative nations, 1)ut wlicn tlici’c wei-c no models of this superior
kind to follow there was no likelihood of their originatihg
them. In lightei’ edifices, as ])avilions, rest-houses, kiosks,
and arbors, there is, however, a degree of taste and adaptation
that is umisual in other buildings, and (juite in keeping with
their fondness for tinsel and gilding rather than solidity and
grandeur. On this point Lay’s remark on the characteristics of
the Attic, Egyptian, Gothic, and Chinese styles is apposite.
” If we would see beauty, size, and proportion in all their excellence,
we should look for it among the models of Greece ; if
we desire something that was wild and stupendous, we should
find it in Egypt ; if grandeur with a never-sated minuteness of
decoration please us, we need look no further than to a cathedral
; and lastly, if the romantic and the old-fashioned attract
our fancy, the Chinese can point us to an exhaustless store in
the recesses of their vast Empire. A lack of science and of conception
is seen in all their luiildings, but fancy seems to have
had free license to gambol at pleasure ; and wdiat the architect
wanted in developing a scheme he made up in a redundancy of
imagination.”
The Chinese have made but little progress in investigating the principles and forces of mechanics, but have practically understood most of the common powers in the various applications of which they are capable. The lever, wheel and axle, wedge and pinion, are all known in some form or other, but the modification of the wedge in the screw is not frequent. The sheave blocks on board their vessels have only one pulley, but they understand the advantages of the windlass, and have adopted the capstain in working vessels, driving piles, raising timber, etc. They have long understood the mode of raising weights by a hooked pulley running on a rope, attached at each end to a cylinder of unequal diameters; by this contrivance, as the rope wound around the larger diameter it ran off the snuiller one, raising the weight to the amount of the difference between the circumference of the two cylinders at a very small expense of strength. The graduations of the weighing-beam indicate their acquaintance with the relations between the balance and the weight on the long and short arm of the lever, and this mode of weighing is preferred for gold, pearls, and other valuable things. The overshot water-wheel is used to turn stones for grinding wheat and set in motion pestles to hull rice and press oil from seeds, i’,nd the undershot power for raising water.
There is a great expenditure of human strength in most of their contrivances; in many, indeed, the object seems to have been rather to give a direction to this strength than to abridge it. For instance, they put a number of slings under a heavy stone and carry it off bodily on poles, in preference to making a low car to roll it away at half the expense of human power.
In other departments of science the attainments of the people are few and imperfect. Chemistry and metallui’gy are unknown as sciences, but many operations in them are performed with a considerable degree of success. Sir J, Davis gives the detail of some experiments in oxidizing quicksilver and preparation of mercurial medicines which were performed by a native in the presence and at the request of Dr. Pearson at Canton, and ” afforded a curious proof of similar results obtained by the most different and distant nations possessing very unequal scientific attainments, and bore no unfavorable testimony to Chinese shrewdness and ingenuity in the existing state of their knowledge.” ‘ The same opinion might be safely predicated of their metallurgic manipulations; the character of the work is the only index of the efficacy of the process. In bronzes they take a high place, and the delicacy of their niello work in gold and silver, upon wood as well as metal, caimot be surpassed.
‘ The Chinese, Vol. II., pp. 260-270, 28G.
IDEAS ON Till-: STKUt’TUIlE OF TIIK IIFMAN HODY. 119
This compendious review of the science of the Chinese can be brought to a close by a brief account of their theory and practice of medicine and surgery. Although they are almost as superstitious as the Hindus or North American Indians, they do not depend upon inc^antations and charms for relief in case of sickness, but resort to the prescriptions of the physician as the most reasonable and likely way to recover; mixed up, indeed, with many strange practices to assist the efficacy of the doses. These vary in every part of the Empire, and show the power of ignorance to perpetuate and strengthen the strangest superstitions where health and life are involved. Doolittle has collected many instances, and the experience of medical missionaries is uniform in this matter.
The dissection of the human hody is never attempted, though
some notions of its internal structure are taught in medical
works, which are published in many forms. Mr. Wylie notices
fifty-nine treatises of a medical and physiological character in
his Notes on Chinese Literature. They contain references to
a far greater number of authors, some of whom flourished in
the earliest days of China, and many of whose writings exhibit
good sense and sound advice amid the strangest theories. Dr.
Harland has deseril)ed the Chinese ideas of the organization of
the body and the functions of the chief viscera in a lucid manner,
and the diagram shown on p. 120 presents the popular
opinions on this subject, for whatever foreigners may have imparted
to them has not yet become generally known.
The Chinese seem to have no idea of the distinction between venous and arterial blood, nor between muscles and nerves, applying the word hin to both tendons and nerves. According to these physiologists, the brain (A) is the abode of the yln principle in its perfection, and at its base (B), where there is a reservoir of the marrow, communicates through the spine with the whole body. The larynx (C) goes through the lungs directly to the heart, expanding a little in its course, while the pharynx(D) passes over them to the stomach. The lungs («, «, r/, a^ a, a) are white, and placed in the thorax; they consist of six lobes or leaves suspended from the spine, four on one side and two on the other; sound proceeds from holes in them, and they rule the various parts of the body. The centre of the thorax (or pit of the stomach) is the seat of the breath; joy and delight emanate from it, and it cannot be injured without danger. The heart {h) lies underneath the lungs, and is the prince of the body ; thoughts proceed from it. The pericardium {<) comes from and envelops the heart and extends to the kidneys.
There are three tubes communicating from the heart to the spleen, liver, and kidneys, but no clear ideas are held as to their office. Like the pharynx, they pass through the diaphragm, which is itself connected with the spine, ribs, and bowels. The Chinese Notions of the Internal Structure of the Human Body.
/I,/?—The brain. C—Larynx. D—Pharynx. a,a,«,«,rt,
a—Lungs. 6—Heart, c—Pericardium. U—Bond of connection
with tho spleen, e—The (Esophagus. /—Boiidnf
connection with the liver, (j—Bond of connection with
the kidneys, h—The diaphragm, i—Cardiac extremity.
;—The spleen, i—The stomach. /—Omentum. »«—The
pylorus. n,n,n,n,n.v—The liver, o—The gall-blndder.
;>—The kidneys, q—The small intestines, r—The largo
intestines, s—Caput coli. i—Thc navel, m—The blad
tier. ?’—The “gate of life.”‘ sometimes iiUu-ed in the
right kidney, zo—The rectum, x, y—The urinal and
foecal passages.
liver (??, ;?, ??, 71, v, 71) io
on the right side and has
seven lobes ; the soul resides
in it, and schemes
emanate from it ; tlie
gall-bladder (0) is below
and projects npward into
it, and when the person
is angry it ascends ; courage
dwells in it ; hence
the Chinese sometimes
procure the gall-bladder
of animals, as tigers and
bears, and even of men,
especially notorious bandits
executed for their
crimes, and eat the bile
contained in them, under
the idea that it will impart
courage. The spleen
{J) lies between the stomach
and diaphragm and
assists in digestion, and
the food passes from it
into the stomach {k), aud
hence through the pylorus
{m) into the large intestines.
The omentum [l) overlies the stomach, but its office is unknown, and the mesentery and pancreas are entirely omitted.
TIIEOKIES REGARDING OSTEOLOGY AND CIRCULATION. 121
The small intestines {(j) are connected with the heart, and the urine passes through them into the bladder, separating from the food or fseces at the caput coli iV), where they divide from the larger intestines.
The large intestines (/) are connected with the lungs and
lie in the loins, having sixteen convolutions. The kidneys {j))
are attached to the spinal marrow, and resemble an egg in shape,
and the subtle genei-ative fluid is eliminated by them above to the
brain and belo\v to the spermatic cord and sacral extremity ; the
testes, called wal shin, or ‘outside kidneys,’ communicate with
them. The right kidney, or the passage from it (v), is called
the ” gate of life,” and sends forth the subtle fluid to the spermatic
vessels. The bladder (u) lies below the kidneys, and receives
the urine from the small intestines at the iliac valve.
The osteology of the frame is briefly despatched : the pelvis, skull, forearm, and leg are considered as single bones, the processes of the joints being quite dispensed with, and the whole considered merely as a kind of internal framework, on and in which the necessary fleshy parts are upheld, but with which they have not much more connection by muscles and ligaments than the post has with the pile of mud it upholds. The TaiYiYuan, or Medical College at Peking, contains a copper model of a man, about six feet high, on which are given the names of the pulses in different places ; it is pierced with many small holes. In a.d. 1027 the Emperor had two anatomical figures made to illustrate the art of acupuncture, which is still practised. The irrigation of the body with blood is rather complicated, and authors vary greatly as to the manner in which it is accomplished. Some pictures represent tubes issuing from the fingers and toes, and running up the limbs into the trunk, where the}’ are lost, or reach the heart, lungs, or some other organ as well as they can, wandering over most parts of the body in their course.
Theories are furnished in great variety to account for the nourishment of the body and the functions of the viscera, and upon their harmonious connection with each other and the five metals, colors, tastes, and planets is founded the well-being of the system; with all they hold an intimate relation, and their actions are alike built on the all-pervading functions of the yin and yang—those universal solvents in Chinese philosophy. The pulse is very carefully studied, and its condition regarded as the
Bar,
mp:dical puactice of the Chinese. 123
The practice of the Chinese is far in advance of their theory, and some of their treatises on dietetics and medical practice contain good advice, the result of experience. Dr. W. Lockhart has translated n native treatise on midwifery, in which the author, conlining himself principally to the best modes of treatment in all the stages of parturition, and dwelling brieii}’ on the reasons of things, has greatly improved upon the physiologists.
This branch of the profession is almost entirely in the hands of
women. Sui-gical operations are chietly confined to removing a
tooth, puncturing sores and tumors with needles, or trying to
reduce dislocations and reunite fractures by pressure or bandaging.
Sometimes they successfully execute more difficult
cases, as the amputation of a finger, operation for a harelip,
and insertion of false teeth. In one case of dentistry four incisor
teeth made of ivory were strung upon a piece of catgut
and secured in their place b}- tying the string to the eye-teeth ;
they were renewed quarterly, and served their purpose tolerably
M’ell. The practice of acupuncture has some good results among
the bad ones.* That of applying cauteries and caustics of various
degrees of power is more general, and sometiuies entails
shocking distress upon the patient. Cases have presented themselves
at the hosj)itals, where small sores, by the application of
escharotics, have extended until a large part of the tissue, and
even important organs, have been destroyed, the charlatan
amusing his suffering patient by promises of ultimate cure.
The moxa, or burning the fiovvers of the amaranthus upon the
skin, is attended with less injury.
‘Compare Ri’mnsat {Xoiiveau.r Melangen Asiatiqves, Tome I., pp. 358-380),
Tui-ning in of the eyelashes is a common ailment, and native practitioners attempt to cure it by everting the lid and fastening it in its place by two slips of bamboo tightly bound on, or by a pair of tweezers, until the loose fold on the edge sloughs off: the eye is, however, more frequently disfigured by this clumsy process than is the trouble remedied. Poultices made of many strange or disgusting substances are applied to injured parts, who says that the first notion of acupuncture as practised in China was brought into Europe by one Ten-Rhyue, a Dutch surgeon, at the end of the seventeenth century.
Dr. Parker mentions the case of a man who, having injured
tlie iris by a fall, was ordered by his native physician to cut a
chicken in halves, laying one portion on the eye as a cataplasm
and eating the other as an internal cure. Venesection is rarely
attempted, but leeches and cupping are employed to remove the
blood from a particular spot. Blood-letting is disapproved in
fevers, ” for,” says the Chinese reasoner, ” a fever is like a pot
boiling ; it is requisite to reduce the fire and not diminish the
liquid in the vessel if we wish to cure the patient.”
Many of the operations in cases of fracture present a strange
mixture of folly and sense, proceeding from their ideas of the
internal structure of the human body conliicting with those
which common sense and experience teach. Pere Ripa’s description
of the treatment he underwent to prevent the ill effects
of a fall will serve as an illustration. Having been thrown
from his horse and left fainting in the street, he was carried
into a house, wdiere a surgeon soon visited him. ” He made
me sit up in bed, placing near me a large basin filled with
water, in which he put a thick piece of ice to i-educe it to a
freezing point. Then stripping me to the waist, he made me
stretch my neck over the basin, while he continued for a good
while to pour the water on my neck with a cup. The pain
caused by this operation upon those nerves which take their
rise from the pia mater was so great and insufferable that it seemed to me unequalled, but he said it would stanch the blood and restore me to my senses, which was actually the case, for in a short time my sight became clear and my mind resumed its powers. He next bound my head with a band drawn tight by two men who held the ends, while he struck the intermediate parts vigorously with a piece of wood, which shook my head violently, and gave me dreadful pain. This, he said, was to set the brain, which he supposed had been displaced, and it is true that after the second operation my head felt more free.
THE PKACTICK OF CHINESE PHYSICIANS. 125
A third operation was now performed, during which he made me, still stripped to the waist, walk in the open air supported by two persons; and while thus walking he unexpectedly threw a basin of freezing cold water over my breast. As this caused me to draw my breath with great vehemence, and as my chest had been injured b)- the fall, it may easily be imagined what were my sufteriiigs under this inlliction ; but I was eonsoled by the information that if any i-ib had been dislocated,
this sudden and hard breathing would restoie it to its natui-al
position. The next ])roceeding was not less painful and extravagant.
The operator made me sit on the ground, and, assisted
by two men, held a cloth upon my mouth and nose till I was
almost suffocated. ‘ This,’ said the Chinese Esculapius, ‘ by
causing a violent heaving of the chest, will force back any rib
that may have been dislocated.’ The wound in my head not
being deep, he healed it by stuffing it with burnt cotton. He
then ordered that I should continue to walk much, supported
by two persons ; that I should not sit long, nor be allowed to
sleep till ten o’clock at night, at which time I should eat a little
thin rice soup, lie assured me that these walks in the open
air while fasting would prevent the blood from settling upon
the chest, where it might corrupt. These remedies, though
barbarous and excruciating, cured me so completely that in
seven days I was able to resume my journey.” ‘
The active daily practice of a popular Chinese doctor may be
very well illustrated from Dr. Ilobson’s description of one Ta
wang siensang, or ‘ Dr. Hhubarb,’ a medical practitioner in
Canton. This man, after prescribing for the sick at his office
until the hour of ten in the morning, would commence his rounds
” in the sedan chair carried in great haste by three or four men.
Those patients were visited first who had their names and
residences first placed in the entry book, and as the streets were
narrow and crowded, to avoid trouble in finding the house, a
copy of the doctor’s sign-board would be posted up outside the
patient’s door, so that the chairmen should be able at once to
recognize the house without delay.”
‘ Pere Ripa, Memoirs and Residence ai Peking^ translated by F. Prandi, Loudon,1844, p. G7.
The doctor being ushered into the hall, or principal room, is met with bows and salutations by the father or elder brother of the family. Tea and pipes are offered in due form, and he is requested to feel his patient’s pulse’; if a male, he sits opposite to him; if a female, afcreeii of bamboo intervenes, which is only removed in case it is requisite to see the tongue. The right hand is placed upon a book t»^ steady it, and the doctor, with much gravity and a learned look, places his three fingers upon the pulsating vessel, pressing it alternately with each finger on the inner and outer side, and then making with three fingers a steady pressure for several minutes, not with watch in hand, to note the frequency of its beats, but with a thoughtful and calculating mind, to diagnose the disease and prognosticate its issue. The fingers being removed the patient immediately stretches out the other hand, which is felt in the same manner.
Perhaps certain cpiestions are asked of the father or mother concerning the sick person, but these are usually few, as it is presumed the pulse reveals everything needful to know. Ink and paper are produced and a prescription is written out, which consists of numerous ingredients, but there are one or two of only prime importance —the rest are servants or adjuvants. They are all taken from the vegetable kingdom, and are mostly simples of little efficacy. The prescription is taken to a di-nggist to be dispensed; the prescriber seldom makes up the medicine himself, and as large doses are popular (a quid j»;yv’ J^^^), so the decoction made from the whole amounts to pints or even quarts, which are swallowed in large portions with the greatest ease; powders, boluses, pills, and electuaries are also use(). If the patient is an officer of the government or a wealthy person, the nature of the disease, prognosis, and treatment are written down for the inspection of the family ; for this the doctor’s fee is a dollar. But generally speaking, both the doctor and the patient’s friends are quite satisfied with a verbal communication; and if the man has a gift for speaking and has brass enough to use it to his advantage (both of which are seldom wanting in timeserving men), he will describe with a learned, self-satisfied air the ailment of the patient, and the number of days it will take to cure him. The fee is wrapped up in red paper, and called “golden thanks,” varying, in amount from fifteen to seventy cents or more, according to the means of the patient; the chair bearers being paid extra. The doctor returns to make another visit if invited, but not otherwise. It is more common, if the patient is not at once benefited by the prescription, to pall in another, then a third, then a fourth, and even more, until tired of physicians (for the Chinese patience is soon exhausted, and their faith by no means strong in all their doctors’ asseverations) they have, as a last resort, application made to one of the genii, or a god possessing wonderful healing powers. The result is that the patient dies or lives, not according to the treatment received, for that must be generally inefficacious, but according as his natural strength is equal to surmount the difficulties by which he is surrounded.’
‘ Dr. James Henderson in Journal of the N. C. Br. of Royal Asiatic Society,1864, No. r, p. 54.
Dr. Hobson has given an analysis of 442 medicinal agents enumerated in one of the popular dispensatories; of the whole number, 314 are vegetable, 50 mineral, and 78 animal. The author gives the name of each one, the organ it affects, its properties, and lastly the mode of its exhibition. Medicines are arranged under six heads—tonics, astringents, resolvents, purgatives, alteratives of poisonous humors, and of the blood. Among the agents employed are many strange and repulsive substances, as snake-skins, fossil bones, rhinoceros or hart’s horn shavings, silk-worm and liuinan secretions, asbestos, moths, oyster-shells, etc. Calomel, vermilion, red precipitate, minium, arsenic, plumbago, and sulphate of copper are among the metallic medicines used by physicians ; Dr. Henderson enumerates thirty three distitu’t mineral medicines. The number of apothecary shops in towns indicates the great consumption of medicine; their arrangement is like the druggist shops in the west, though instead of huge glass jars at the windows filled with bright colored liquids, and long rows of vials and decanters in glass cases, three or four branching deer’s horns are suspended from the walls, and lines of white and black gallipots cover the shelv’es. Hartshorn is reduced to a dust by filing, for exhibition in consumption. Many roots, as rhubarb, gentian, etc., are prepared by paring them into thin laminae; others are powdered in a mortar with a pestle, or triturated in a narrow iron trough in which a close-fitting wheel is worked. The use of acids and reagents is unknown, for they imply more knowledge of ciiemistry than the Chinese possess. Vegetable substances, as camphor, myrrh, ginseng, rhubarb, gentian, and a great variety of roots, leaves, seeds, and barks, are generally taken as pills or decoctions. Many valuable I’ecipes will probably be discovered in their books as soon as the terms used are accurately ascertained, and a better acquaintance with the botany and mineralogy enables the foreign student to test them intelligently.
The people sometimes cast lots as to which one of a dozen doctors they shall employ, and then scrupulously follow his directions, whatever they may be, as a departure therefrom would vitiate the sortilege. Sometimes an invalid will go to a doctor and ask for how much he will cure him, and how soon the cure can be performed. He states the diagnosis of his case, the pulse is examined, and every other symptom investigated, when the bargain is struck and a portion of the price paid. The patient then receives the suitable medicines, in quantity and variety better fitted for a horse than a man, for the doctor reasons that out of a great number it is more likely that some will prove efficacious, and the more he gets paid for the more he ought to administer. A decoction of a kettleful of simples is drunk down by the sick man, and he gives up both working and eating; if, however, at the expiration of the time specified he is not cured, he scolds his physician for an ignorant charlatan who cheats him out of his money, and seeks another, with whom he makes a similar bargain, and probably with similar results. Sagacious observance of cause and effect, symptoms and pains, gradually give a shrewd physician great power over his ignorant patients, and some of them become both rich and influential; a skillful physician is termed the “nation’s hand.”
DISEASES PREVALENT IN CHINA. 129
A regular system of fees exists among the profession, but the remuneration is as often left to tiie generosity of the patient. New medicines, pills, powders, and salves are advertised and pufPed by flaunting placards on the walls of the streets, some of them most disgustingly obscene; but the Chinese do not puff new nostrums by publishing a long list of recommendations from patients. The various ways devised by persons to dispose of their inediciiies exhibit much ingenuity. Sometimes a man, having spread a mat at the side of the street, and marshalled his gallipots and salves, will commence a hai-angne npf>n the goodness and efficacy of his preparations in loud and eloquent tones, until he has collected a crowd of hearers, some of whom he manages to persuade will he the better for taking some of his potions. He will exhibit their efficacy by first pounding his naked breast with a brick till it is livid, and then immediately healing the contusion by a lotion, having previously fortified the inner parts with a remedy; or he will cut open his tiesh and heal the wound in a few moments by a wonderful elixir, which he alone can sell. Others, more learned or more professional, erect a pavilion or awning, fluttering with signs and streamers, and quietly seat themselves under it to wait for customers; or content themselves with a flag perched on a pole setting forth the potency of their pills. Dentists make a necklace of the rotten teeth they have obtained from the jaws of their customers, and perambulate the streets with these trophies of their skill hanging around their necks like a rosary. In general, however, the Chinese enjoy good health, and when ill from colds or fevers, lie abed and suspend working and eating, which in most cases allows nature to work her own cure, whatever doses they may take. They are perhaps as long-lived as most nations, though sanatory statistics are wanting to enable us to form any indisputable conclusions t)n this head.
The classes of diseases which most prevail in China are ophthalmic,
cutaneous, and digestive ; intermittent fevers are also
connnon. The great disproportion of affections of the eye has
often attracted observation. Dr. Lockhart ascribes it partly to
the inflammation which often comes on at the commencement
of winter, and which is allowed to run its course, leaving the
organ in an ujiliealthy condition and very obnoxious to other
diseases. This inflammation is beyond the skill of the native
practitioners, and sometimes destroys the sight in a few days.
Another fruitful source of disease is the practice of the barbers
of turning the lids over and clearing their surfaces of the mucus
which may be lodged there, lie adds: ”If the person’s eyes be
examined after this process, they will be found to be very red
and irritated, and in process of time chronic conjunctivitis supervenes,
wliicli being considered proof of insutiicient cleansing,
the practice is persisted in, and the inner surface of the lid becomes
covered with granulations. In other cases it becomes
indurated like thin parchment, and the tarsal cartilages contract
and induce entropium.” Dense opacity of the cornea itself is
frequently caused by this harherous practice, or constant pain
and weeping ensues, both of which materially injure the sight,
if the patient does not lose it. The practice of cleansing the
ears in a similar way frequently results in their serious injury,
and sometimes destruction. When the ill effects of such treatment
of these delicate organs must be plain to eveiy obser\ing
person in his own case, it is strange that he should still allow the
operation to be repeated.
The physicians in charge of the missionary hospitals successfully
established at so many cities in Eastern China have
attended more to tumors, dislocations, wounds, and surgical
cases, ophthalmic and cutaneous diseases, than to common clinical
ailments. The hospitals here spoken of are little more than
dispensaries, with a room or two for extreme or peculiarly interesting
cases ; there is little visiting the natives at their own houses.
Asthma, even in boys, is common at Amoy, and consumption
at Canton and Chusan. Intermittent fevers prevail more
or less wlierever the cultivation of rice is carried on near villages
and towns. Elephantiasis is known between Shanghai and
Canton, but in the southern provinces leprosy seems to exist as
its equivalent. This loathsoma disease is regarded by the
Chinese as incurable and contagious. Lazar-houses are provided
for the residence of the infected, but as the allowance of poor
patients is insuthcient for their support, they go from street to
street soliciting alms, to the great annoyance of every one. As
soon as it appears in an individual, he is immediately separated
from liis family and driven forth an outcast, to herd with others
similarly afPected, and get his living from precarious charity.
The institution of lazarettoes is ])raisewortliy, hut they fail of
affording relief on account of the mismaiiagonient and peculation
of those who have their supervision ; and those who cannot get
DISEASES PREVALENT IN CHINA. 131
in are obliged to live in a village set apart for tliein north of
the city. Lepers can intermarry among themselves, but on
account of })overty and other causes they do not often do so,
and the hardships of their lot soon end their days. This disease
will probably exist among the Chinese until houses are
built more above the ground, better ventilation of cities and
improvement in diet are adopted, when it will disappear as it
has in Southern Europe.
Diseases of an inilammatoiy nature are not so fatal or rapid
among the Chinese as Europeans, nor do consumptions carry
off so large a proportion of the inhabitants as in the United
States. Dyspepsia has been frequently treated ; it is ascribed
by Dr. Hepburn to the abundant use of salt provisions, pickled
vegetables, and fish, irregularity in eating, opium smoking, and
immoderate use of tea ; though it nuiy be questioned whether
the two last reasons are more general and powerful at Amoy
than Canton, where dyspepsia is comparatively rare. The surgeons
at the latter place have successfully treated hundreds of
cases of stone, losing less than fifteen per cent, of all. Some of
the patients were under ten years, and a few of the calculi
weighed nearly half a pound. This malady is almost md^nown
in Xorthern China. The diseases which result from intemperate
and licentious habits are not as violent in their effects as
in countries where a greater use of animal food and higher living
render the system more susceptible to the noxious consequences
of the virus.
The existence of tumors and unnatural growths in great abundance and variety is satisfactorily accounted for by the inability of the native practitioners to remove them. Those which had a healthy growth increased until a moi-bid action supervened, and consequently sometimes grew to an enormous size. A peasant named IIu Lu went to England in 1831 to have an abdominal tumor extirpated weighing about seventy pounds; he died under the operation. No patients bear operations with more fortitude than the Chinese, and, owing to their hnnphatic temperament, they are followed with less inflammation than Is usual in European practice. CToitre is very common in the mountainous regions of the northern provinces ; Dr. Gillan estiniatcd that nearly one-sixth of the inhahitants met In the villages on the high land between Peking and Jeh ho were atflicted witli this deformity, which, however, is said not to be so considered by the vilLigers themselves.
The Asiatic cholera has been a great scourge in China, but does not often become an epidemic anywhere, though sporadic cases constantly occur. It raged at Ningpo in May, 1S20, and an intelligent native doctor informed Mr. Milne ‘ that it was computed that ten thousand persons were carried off by it in the city and department of Kingpo during the summers of 1820-23. In 1842 it prevailed at Amoy and Changchau and their vicinity ; more than a hundred deaths daily occun-ed at the former place for six or seven weeks. It raged violently at Hangchau in Chehkiang during the years 1821 and 1 822, persons dropping down dead in the streets, or dying within an hour or two after the attack ; many myriads were computed to have
fallen victims, and the native doctoi’s, finding their remedies
useless, gave up all treatment. It carried off multitudes in
Shantung and Iviangsu during the same years, and was as titful
in its progress in China as in Europe, going from one city to
another, passing by towns apparently as obnoxious as those
visited. The plague is said to have existed in KSouthern China
about the beginning of the sixteenth centui-y, but it has not
been heard of lately.
‘ Chinese llepository, Vol. XII., p. 487.
XATIVE TREATISES 0\ MKDICINE. 133
Small-pox is a terrible scath, and although the practice and utility of vaccination have been known for fifty years past at Canton, its adoption is still limited even in that city. It was introduced in 1820 by Dr. Pearson, of the East India Company’s establishment, and native assistants were fully instructed by him in the practice. Vaccination has now extended over all the Eighteen Provinces, and the government has given its sanction and assistance; it is chiefly owing to the heedlessness of the people in not availing themselves of it in time that it has, done no more to lessen the ravages of the disease. Where children were gratuitously vaccinated it was found almost impossible to induce parents to bring them ; and Mdien the children had been va(!cinated it was increasingly difficult to get them to return to allow the physician to see the result of the operation. Inoculation has long been practised by inserting a pledget in the nostrils containing the virjs; this mode is occasionally adopted in vaccination. The slovenly habits of the people, as well as insufficient protection and unwholesome food, give rise to many diseases of the skin, some of them incurable.
The science of medicine attracted very early attention, and there are numerous treatises on its various branches. But the search for the liquor of immortality and the philosopher’s stone, with careful observations on the pulse as the leading tests of diseases, have led them astray from accurate diagnosis age after affe. The common classification of diseases is under nine heads, viz., those which affect the pulse violently or feebly, those arising from cold, female and cutaneous diseases, those needing acupunetui-e, and diseases of the eyes, the mouth and its parts, and the bones. A professor of each of these classes is attached to the imperial family, who is taken from the Medical College at Peking; but he has no. greater advantages there than he could get in his own reading and practice. Xo museums of morbid or comparative anatomy exist in the country, nor are there any lectures or dissections ; and the routine which old custom has sanctioned will go on until modern practice, now rapidly taking its place, wins its way. Section CCXCYII. of the code orders that ” whenever an unskillful practitioner, in administering medicine or using the puncturing needle, proceeds contrary to the established forms, and thereby causes the death of a patient, the magistrate shall call in oilier practitioners to examine the medicine or the wound, and if it appear that the injury done was unintentional, the practitioner shall then be treated according to the statute for accidental homicides, and shall not be any longer allowed to practise medicine.
But if designedly he depart from the established forms, and deceives in his attempt to cure the malady in order to obtain property, then, according to its amount, he shall be treated as a thief; and if death ensue fmiu his malpractice, then, for having thus used medicine with intent to kill, he shall be beheaded.” ‘ This statute is seldom carried into execution, however, and the doctors are allowed to kill and cure, secundum, artem., as their patients give them the opportunity, Natural history, in its various branches of geologj, botany, zoology, etc., has received some attention, because the objects which come under it could not escape the notice of all the writers in Chinese literature. As sciences, however, none of them have an existence, and they are studied chiefly for their assistance in furnishing articles for the materia medica of the native physician. To these persons nothing comes amiss, and, like the ingredients of the bubbling, bubbling caldron of Macbetli’s witches, the stranger it is the more potent they think a dose will be ; in this particular they now act very much as the faculty did in England two centuries ago. It is to be regretted that their investigation should have taken such a direction, but the man of commanding influence has not yet arisen to direct their researches into nature and divert them from the marvelous and theoretical. On the whole, it may be said that in all departments of learning the Chinese are unscientific ; and that while they have collected a great variety of facts, invented many arts, and brought a few to a high degree of excellence, they have never pursued a single subject in a way calculated to lead them to a right understanding of it, or reached a proper classification of the information they possessed relating to it.
‘ Chinese CJirestomnthy, Chap. XVI., pp. 497-532. Asiatic Soc. Transactions, Hongkong, Art. III., 1847; No. III., 1852, Art. III. Jour. iV. C Br. R. A. Soc, No. I., 1864, and No. VI., 1809. W. Lockhart, Medical Missionary in China, 1861. Chinese Repository, passim. Porter Smitli’s Contributions to Chinese Materia Medira, Shanghai, 1871. Fliickiger & Hanbnry,Pharmacofiraphia, London, 1874. China Retieir, Vol. I., p. 176; Vol. III.,p. 224. J. Dudgoon, The Diseases of China, Glasgow, 1877; id. iu the Chinese Recorder, Vols. U., III., and IV., passim.CHAPTER XVII. HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY OF CHINA
The history of the Chinese people has excited less attention among western scholars than it deserves, though in some respects no nation offers more claims to have its chronicles carefully and fairly examined. The belief is generally entertained that their pretensions to antiquity are extravagant and ridiculous, and incompatible with the Mosaic chronology ; that they not only make the world to have existed myriads of years, but reckon the succession of their monarchs far beyond the creation, and ascribe to them a longevity that carries its own confutation on its face. In consequence of this opinion, some have denied the credibility of native historians altogether, and the whole subject of the settlement and early progress of this ancient race has been considered beyond the reach, and almost unworthy the attempt, of sober investigation. This erroneous and hasty conclusion is gradually giving way to a careful inquiry into those histories which show that the early records of the sons of Han contain much which is worthy of credence, and much more that is highly probable. A wide field is here opened for the researches of a Gibbon or a Kiebuhr; for as long as we are destitute of a good history of China and its connections with other Asiatic nations, we shall not only be unable to form a correct opinion respecting the people, but shall lack many important data for a full illustration of the early history of the human race. It is easy to laud the early records of the Chinese to the skies, as French writers have done ; and it is quite as easy to cry them down as worthless—manufactured in after ages to please the variety of their writers. The reputation both people and records have received is owing, in some measure, to this wulue laudation and depreciation, as well as to the intrinsic merits and defects of their histories. These, however, still mostly remain in their originals, and will require the united labors of many scholars to be full}’ brought to light and made a part of the world’s library.
The enormous difficulties arising from the extent and tedious minuteness of native historians, coupled with the scarcity of translators competent or willing to undertake the labor of even such a resume of these works as will satisfy rational curiosity, are now being slowly overcome, both by Chinese and foreign students. These researches, it is to be earnestly hoped, will be rewarded by promoting a juster estimate in the minds of both classes of their relative positions among the nations of the earth.
China, like other countries, has her mythological history, and it should be separated from the more recent and received, as her own historians regard it, as the fabrication of subsequent times. She also has her ancient history, whose earliest dates and events blend confusedly with the mythological, but gradually grow more credible and distinct as they come down the stream of time to the beginning of modern history. The early accounts of every nation whose founding was anterior to the practice of making and preserving authentic records nnist necessarily be obscure and doubtful. What is applicable to the Chinese has been true of other ancient people : ” national vanity and a love of the marvelous have intiuenced them all, and furnished materials for many tales, as soon as the spirit of investigation has supplanted that appetite for wonders which marks the infancy of nations as well as of individuals.”‘ The ignorance of the ” art preservative of all arts ” will greatly explain the subsequent record of the wonderful, without supposing that the infancy of nations partook of the same traits of weakness and credulity as that of individuals. There is neither space nor time in this work to give the details concerning the history and succession of dynasties that have swayed the Middle Kingdom, for to one not specially engaged in their examination their recital is proverbially dry ; the array of uncouth names destitute of lasting interest, and the absence of the charm of association with western nations render them nnin\ iting to the general reader. Some account of the leading events and changes is all that is necessary to explain what has been elsewhere incidentally referred to.’
THE STUDY OF EARLY CHINESE HISTORY. 137
Chinese historians have endeavored to explain the creation and origin of the world around them ; but, ignorant of the sublime fact that there is one C^reator who upholds his works by the word of his power, they have invented various modes to account for it, and wearied themselves in theorizing and disputing with each other. One of them, Yangtsz’, remarks, in view of these conflicting suppositions: “Who knows the affairs of remote antiquity, since no authentic records have come down to us? He who examines these stories will find it difficult to believe them, and careful scrutiny will convince him that they are without foundation. In the primeval ages no historical records were kept. Why then, since the ancient books that described those times were burnt by Tsin, should we misrepresent those remote ages, and satisfy ourselves with vague fables? However, as everything except heaven and earth must have a cause, it is clear that they have always existed, and that cause produced all sorts of men and beings, and endowed them with their various qualities. But it must have been man who in the beginning produced all things on earth, and who may therefore be viewed as the lord, and from whom rulers derive their dignities.”
This extract is not a bad example of Chinese writers and historians ; a mixture of sense and nonsense, partially laying the foundation of a just argument, and ending with a tremendous non-se(putur, apparently satisfactory to themselves, but showing pretty conclusisely how little pains they take to gather facts and discuss their bearings. Some of these writers imagine that the world owes its existence to the retroactive agency of the dual powers yhi and yang, which first formed the outline of the universe, and were themselves influenced by
‘ Among the works which will repay perusal on this topic are Mailla’s //?’.’»’tfdre (le l<i Chwe and Pauthier’s Cliinr, in Frendi, and Du Halde’s Jl/sfnry.
translated into English ; besides the briefer compilations of Murray, (irosier,Chitzluff, Davis, and more recently of Boulger and llichthofeii, Band I.
their own creations. One of the most sensible of their aatliors says: Heaven was formless, an utter chaos ; the whole mass was nothing but confusion. Order was first produced in the pure ether, and out of it the universe came forth ; the universe produced air, and air the milky-way. When the pure male principle yang had been diluted, it formed the heavens ; the heavy and thick parts coagulated, and formed the earth. The refined particles united very soon, but the union of the thick and heavy went on slowly; therefore the heavens came into existence first, and the earth afterward.
From the subtle essence of heaven and earth, the dual principles yia and yang were formed ; from their joint operation came the four seasons, and these putting forth their energies gave birth to all the products of the earth. The warm effluence of the yang being condensed, produced fire ; and the finest parts of fire formed the sun. The cold exhalations of the yin being likewise condensed, produced water ; and the finest parts of the watery substance formed the moon. By the seminal influence of the sun and moon, came the stars.
Thus heaven was adorned with the sun, moon, and stars ; the earth also received rain, rivers, and dust.’ But this acute explanation, like the notions of Ilesiod among the Greeks, was too subtle for the common people ; they also
wanted to personify and deify these powers and operations, but
lacking the imaginative genius and fine taste of the Greeks,
their divine personages are outrageous and their ideal beings
shapeless monsters. No creator is known or imagined who,
like Brahm, lives in space, ineffable, formless ; but the first
being, Pwanku, had the herculean task to mould the chaos
which produced him and chisel out the earth that was to contain
him. One legend is that ” the dual powers were fi.xed
when the primeval chaos separated. C’haos is bubbling turbia
water, which enclosed and mingled with the dual powers, like
a chick in ovo, but when their offspring Pwanku appeared their
distinctiveness and operations were apparent. Pwdn means a
‘ basin,’ referring to the shell of the egg ; lu means ‘ solid,’ ‘ to
secure,’ intending to show how the first man Pwanku was
hatched from the chaos by the dual powers, and then settled
and exhibited the arrangement of the causes which produced
him.”
Chinese Repositoin/, Vol. III., p. 55.
CHINESE COSMOGONY. 139
The Pationalists have penetrated furthest into the Daedalian mystery of this cosniogoiiy,’ and they go on to show what Pvvanku did and how he did it. They picture him holding a chisel and niahet in his hands, splitting and fashioning vast Pwanku Chiselling Out the Universe.
‘ For the Buddhist notions of cosmography and creation, see Remusat,Melattges PoHthmneii, pp. G5-131.
masses of gvanite lioating confusedly in space. Behind the openings his powerful hand has made are seen the sun, moon, and stars, monuments of his stupendous labors; at his right hand, inseparable companions of his toils, but whose generation is left in obscurity, stand the dragon, the phoenix, and the tortoise, and sometimes the unicorn, divine types and progenitors with himself of the animal creation. His efforts were continued eighteen thousand years, and by small degrees he and his work
increased ; the heavens rose, the earth spread out and thickened,
and Pwanku grew in stature, six feet evevy day, till, his labors
done, he died for the benefit of his handiwork. His head
became mountains, his breath wind and clouds, and his voice
thunder ; his limbs were changed into the four poles, his veins
into rivers, his sinews into the undulations of the earth’s surface,
and his flesh into fields ; his beard, like Berenice’s hair,
was turned into stars, his skin and hair into herbs and trees,
and his teeth, bones, and marrow into metal?, rocks, and precious stones ; his dropping sweat increased to rain, and lastly (nascltur ridiculus mus) the insects which stuck to his body were transformed into people!
Such was Pwanku, and these Mere his works. But these grotesque myths afford none of the pleasing images and personifications of Greek fable or Egyptian symbols ; they fatigue without entertaining, and only illustrate the children imagination of their authors. Pwanku was succeeded by three rulers of monstrous forms called the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Human sovereigns, impersonations of a trinity of powers, whose traces and influences run through Chinese philosophy, religion, and politics ; their acts and characters are detailed with the utmost gravity, and more than Methusalean longevity allowed them to complete their plans. Their reigns continued eighteen thousand years (more or less according to the author quoted), during which time good government commenced, men learned to eat and drink, the sexes united, sleep was invented, and other improvements adopted. One would think, if the subjects of these wonderful beings were as long-lived, great perfection might have been attained in these and other useful arts; but the mysterious tortoise, conq)anion of Pangu, on whose carapace was written, in ta<l])olo-headed characters, the history of the anterior world, did not survive, and their record has not come doM’u. After them flourished two other niouai’chs, one of them called
MYTHS OF THE CREATION. Hi
Youchao, which means ‘having a nest’, and the other Suiren, or ‘match-man’. Whether the former invented nests for the abodes of his subjects, such as the Indians on the ()i’iuo(;o have, is not stated ; but the hitter brought down tire from heaven for them to cook with, and became a second, or rather the first, Prometheus.
These fancies are gathered from a popuhir summary of knowledge, called the Coral Forest of Ancient Matters and from the opening chapters of history Made Easy. A higher style of philosophizing is found in C’liu Ill’s disquisition, from which an extract has been given in Chapter XII. Another on Cosmogony will show that he comes no nearer to the great fact of creation than ancient western writers.
In the beginning heaven and earth were just the light and dark air. This one air revolved, grinding round and round. When it ground quickly much sediment was compressed, which, having no means of exit, coagulated and formed the earth in the center. The subtle portion of the air then became heaven and the sun, moon, and stars, which unceasingly revolve on the outside. The earth is in the center and motionless ; it is not below the center.
Heaven revolving without ceasing, day and night also revolve, and hence the earth is exactly in the centre. If heaven should stand still for one moment, then the earth must fall down ; but heaven revolves quickly, and hence much sediment is coagulated in the centre. The earth is the sediment of the air; and hence it is said, the light, piu-e air became heaven, the heavy, muddy air became earth.
At the beginning of heaven and earth, before chaos was divided, I think there were only two things—fire and water; and the sediment of the water formed the earth. When one ascends a height and looks down, the crowd of hills resemble the waves of the sea in appearance : the water just flowed like this. I know not at what period it coagulated. At first it was very soft, but afterward it coagulated and became hard. One asked whether it resembled sand thrown up by the tide ? He replied. Just so ; the coarsest sediment of the water became earth, and the purest portion of the fire became wind, thunder, lightning, sun, and stars.
Before chaos was divided, the Yin-Yang, or light-dark air, was mixed up and dark, and when it divided the centre formed an enormous and most brilliant opening, and the two ‘c or principles were established. Shao Kang-tsieh considers one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years to be a yyn, or kalpa; then, before this period of one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred years there was another opening and spreading out of the world ; and before that again, there was another like the present ; so that motion and rest, light and darkness, have no beginning. As little things sha<l”>w forth great things, this may be illustrated by the revohitions of day and night.
Kang-tsieh says, Heaven rests upon form, and earth reclines upon air.
The reason why he repeats this frequently, and does not deviate from the idea, is lest people should seek some other place beyond heaven and earth. There is nothing outside heaven and earth, and hence their form has limits, while their air has no limit. Because the air is extremely condensed, therefore it can support the earth ; if it were not so the earth would fall down.’
A third belief respecting the position of the earth in the centre of the universe derives great strength in the opinion of intelligent natives from these speculations of Chn III. His theory considers the world to be a plane surface, straight, square, and large, measuring each way about 1500 miles (5600 Li), and bounded on the four sides by the four seas. The sun is estimated to be about 4,000 miles from the earth. Another calculation made it 81,394 Zi, and a third 216,T81| li.
One thing is observable in these fictions, characteristic of the Chinese at the present day : there is no hierarchy of gods brought in to rule and inhabit the world they made, no conclave on Mt. Olympus, nor judgment of the mortal soul by Osiris ; no transfer of human love and hate, passions and hopes, to the powers above ; all here is ascribed to disembodied agencies or principles, and their works are represented as moving on in quiet order. There is no religion, no imagination ; all is impassible, passionless, uninteresting. It may perhaps, be considered of itself as sensible as the Greek or Egyptian mythology, if one looks for nense in such figments ; but it has not, as in the latter countries, been explained in sublime poetry, shadowed forth in gorgeous ritual and magnificent festivals, represented in exquisite sculptures, nor preserved in faultless, inqjosing fanes and temples, filled with ideal creations. P^or this reason it appears more in its true colors, and, when compared with theirs, ” loses discountenanced and like folly shows “—at least to us, who can examine both and compare them with the truth.
Canon McClatchie’s Confucian CoKiumjoiiy, pp. 5:5-59.
CHINESE AND WESTERN CHRONOLOGY. 143
Their pure mythological history ends with the appearance of Fuh-hi, and their chronology has nothing to do with the long periods antecedent, varying from forty-five to five hundred thousand years. These periods are, however, a mere twinkling compared with the kulpas of the Hindus, whose highest era, called the Unspeakably Inexpressible, requires four million four hundred and fifty-six thousand four hundred and forty-eight cyphers following a unit to represent it. If the epoch of Fuh-hi could be ascertained with any probability by comparison with the history of other nations, or with existing remains, it would tend not a little to settle some disputed chronological points in other countries ; but the isolation of the Chinese throughout their whole existence makes it nearly impossible to weave in the events of their history with those of other nations, by comparing and verifying them with biblical, Egyptian, or Persian annals. Perhaps further investigations in the vast regions of Eastern and Central Asia may bring to light corroborative testimony as striking and unexpected as the explorations in Mosul, Persepolis, and Thebes.
The accession of Fuh- hi is placed in the Chinese annals b.c.2852,’ and with him commences the period known among them as the ” highest antiquity.” The weight of evidence which the later chronological examinations of Hales and Jackson have brought to bear against the common period of four thousand and four years prior to the Advent, is such as to cast great doubt over its authenticity, and lead to the adoption of a longer period in order to afford time for many occurrences, which otherwise would be crowded into too narrow a space. Chinese chronology, if it be allowed the least credit, strongly corroborates the results of Dr. Hales’ researches, and particularly so in the date of Fuh-hi’s accession. This is not the place to discuss the respective claims of the two eras, but by reckoning, as he does, the creation to be live thousand four hundred and eleven years, and the deluge three thousand one hundred and fifty-five years, before the Advent, we bring the commencement of ancient Chinese history three hundred and three years subsequent to the deluge, forty seven before the death of Xoah, and about three centuries before the confusion of tongues. If we suppose that the ante-
‘ Or 3322, according to Dr. Legge, whose date has been used elsewhere in this work, and has probably quite as much authority as the one above.
diliivians possessed a knowledge of the geography of the world,
and that ^’oah, regarding himself as the monarch of the whole,
divided it among his descendants before his death, there is
nothing improbable in the further supposition that the progenitors
of the black-haired race, and t)thers of the house and
lineage of Sliem, found their way from the valley of the
Euphrates across the defiles and steppes of Central Asia, to the
fertile plains of China before the end of the third diluvian century.
Whether the surface of the world was the same after the cataclysm as before does not aifect this point ; there was ample time for the multiplication of the species with the blessing promised by God, sufficient to form colonies, if there was time enough to increase to such a multitude as conspired to build the tower of Babel.
The views of Dr. Legge, that the present Chinese descend from settlers who came through Central Asia along the Tarim Valley and across the Desert into Kansuh, about b.c. 2200, and settled around the elbow of the Yellow River, under the leadership of Yao, Shun, Yu, and others, are very reasonable.
These settlers found the land at that time occupied with tribes, whom they partly merged with themselves or drove into mountain recesses in Kweichau, where some of their descendants perhaps still remain. These earlier tribes may have furnished the names and reigns prior to Yao, and the later Chinese annalists incorporated them into their own histories, taking everything in early times as of course belonging to the U imn, or ‘ ])lackliaired race.’ The lapse of a millennium between the Deluge and Yao allows plenty of time for several successive emigrations from Western and Central Asia into the inviting plains of China, which, through the want of a written language o>* the destruction of records, have come down to us in misty, doubtful legends.
THE EIGHT EARLY MONARCHS. 145
Fuli-hi and his seven successors are stated to have reigned seven hundred and forty-seven years, averaging ninety-three each. Those who follow Usher consider these monarchs to be Chinese travesties of the eight antediluvian patriarchs; and Marquis d’TTrban has gone so far as to write what he calls the Antediluvian History ^y CV/Y’/ic/, collecting all the notices history affords of their acts. The common chronology brings the delude about thirteen years after the accession of Yao and the death of Shmi (the last of the eight), b.c. 2205, or twenty-live years after the confusion of tongues. According to Hales, the last epoch is one hundred and twelve years before the call of Abraham, and these eight Chinese monarchs are therefore contemporaries of the patriai’chs who lived between Shem and Abraham, commencing with Salah and ending with Xahor.
The duration of their reigns, moreover, is such as would bear the same proportion to ages of five hundred years, which their contemporaries lived, as the present average of twenty and twenty -five years does to a life of sixty. The Assyrian tablets, deciphered by George Smith, contain a reference to the twenty eighth century b.c, as the founding of that monarchy ; which is a notice of more value as a chronological epoch than anything in Chinese annals, indeed, and may help to countenance a date that had before been regarded as mythological.
Supposing that the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, knowing from their fathers and grandfather, that the void world was before them, began to colonize almost as soon as they began to form families, three centuries would not be too long a time for some of them to settle in China, perhaps offsetting from Elam and Asshur, and other descendants of Shem in Persia. The capital of Fuh-hi slightly indicates, it may be thought, their route through Central Asia across the Desert to Kiayli kwan in Kansuh, and then down the Yellow River to the Great Plain near Kaifung. But these suppositions are only by the way, as is also the suggestion that teaching of fishing and grazing, the regulation of times and seasons, cultivation of music, and establishment of government, etc., compare well enough with the duties that might reasonably be supposed to belong to the founder of a colony and his successors, and subsequently ascribed to them as their own inventions. The long period allotted to human life at that date would allow these arts and sciences to take root and their memory to remain in popular legends until subsequent historians incorporated them into their writings. The Chinese annalists fill up the reigns of these chief?, down to the time of Yao, with a series of inventions and improvements in the arts of life and good government, sufficient to bring society to that degree of comfort and order they suppose consonant with the character of the monarchs. The earliest records of the Chinese correspond much too closely with their present character to receive full belief ; but they present an appearance of probability and naturalness not possessed by the early annals of Greece. No one contends for their credibility as history, but they are better than the Arabian Nights.
The commencement of the sexagenary cycle’ in the sixty first year of Ilwangtfs reign (or b.c. 2037), five hundred and eighteen years after the deluge, eighty-two years after the death of Arphaxad, and about that time before the confusion of tongues, is worthy of notice. The use of the ten horary characters applied to days in order to denote their chronological sequence dates from the reign of Yu in the twentieth century b.c, and there are other passages in the Shu KIikj showing similar application.
Sz’ma Tsien’s history now contains the first attempt to arrange the years in cycles of sixty; but he cannot fairly be claimed as the inventor of this system. he might almost as well be regarded as the inventor of his whole annals, for all the materials out of which he compiled them have now perished except the canonical books. The mention of the individual Xao the Great, who invented it, and the odd date of its adoption in the middle of a reign, do not weaken the alleged date of its origin in the minds of those who are inclined to take a statement of this kind on its own basis.
Three reigns, averaging eighty years’ duration, intervened between that of Huangdi and Yao, whose occupants were elected by the people, much as were Shemgar, Jephthah, and cttlier judges in Israel, and probably exercised a similar sway. The reigns and characters of Yao and Shun have been immortalized by Confucius and Mencius; whatever was their real history, those sages showed g]-eat sagacity in going back to those remote times for models and fixing upon a period neither fabulous nor certain, one which preventel alike the cavils of scepticism and the appearance of complete fabrication,
^ Journal Asiatique, Avril, 183G, p. 394.
THE DELUGE OF YAO. 147
A tremendous deluge occurred during the reign of Yao, b.c. 2293, caused, it is said, by the overflowing of the rivers in the north of China. Those who place the Xoachic dehige b.c.2348 regard this as only a different version of that event; Klaproth, who favors the Septuagint chronology, says that it is nearly synchronous with the deluge of Xisutlirus, b.c. 2297, a name derived, as is reasonably inferred by George Smith, from the Assyrian name Ilasisadra, the ancient hero who survived the deluge. The record of this catastrophe in the Shu King is hardly applicable to an overwhelming flood : ” The Emperor said. Oh! chief of the four mountains, destructive in their overthrow are the waters of the inundation. In their vast extent they embrace the mountains and overtop the hills, threatening the heavens with their floods, so that the inferior people groan and murmur. Is there a capable man to whom I can assign the correction of this calamity? ” ‘ They presented Kwan as a proper man, but he showed his inefficiency in laboring nine years without success to drain off the waters. Yao was then advised to employ Shun, who called in Yu, a son of Kwan, to his aid, and the floods were assuaged by deepening the beds of the rivers and opening new channels. These slight notices hardly comport with a flood like the Xoachic deluge, and are with much greater probability referred to an overflow or a change in the bed of the Yellow River from its present course into the Gulf of Pechele through Chihli northeast, to its recent one along the lowlands of Kiangsu. The weight of topographical evidence, combined with the strong chronological argument, the discussions in council said to have taken place regarding the disaster, and the time which elapsed before the region was drained, all pre-suppose and indicate a partial inundation, and strengthen the assumption that no traces of the Deluge exist in the histories of the Chinese. In our view of the chronology of the Bible, as compared with the Chinese, it requires a far greater constraint upon these records to bring them to refer to that event, than to suppose they allude to a local disaster not beyond the power of remedy.
‘ Legge’s Shu King^ p. 24, Hongkong, 1867.
THE RECORDS OF YAO AXD YU. 149
The series of chieftains down to the accession of Yu may here be recapitulated. The entirely fabulous period ends with Sui-jin, and legendary history commences with Fuh-ln’, who with four of his successors (Nos. 2, 3, 7, and 8) are commonly known as the Five Sovereigns, follows:
Their names and reigns are as Buflficient to have deepened the channel of a river or raised dikes to restrain it. The glorious reigns and spotless characters of these three sovereigns are looked upon by the Chinese with much the same feelings of veneration that the Jews regard their three patriarchs ; and to have had, or to have imagined, such progenitors and heroes is, to say the least, as much to their credit as the Achilles, Ulysses, and llomulus of the Greeks and Romans, A curious analogy can also be traced between the scheming Ulysses, warlike liomulus, and methodical Yao, and the
subsequent character of the three great nations they represent.
Chinese historians supply many details regarding the conduct
of Yu and Kieh Kwei, the first and last princes of the house of
Ilia, all the credible particulars of which are taken from the
Book of Records and the Bauihoo Annah. Dr. Legge candidly
weighs the arguments in respect to the eclipse mentioned in the
Y^uli C/ilng, and gives his opinion as to its authenticity, even
if it cannot yet be certainly referred to the year b.c. 2154. One
such authentic notice lends strer.gth to the reception of many
vague statements, which are more likely to be the relics of fuller
documents long since lost than the fabrications of later writers,
such as were the Decretals of Isidore in the Middle Ages. In
giving a full translation of the Bamhoo Books in the prolegomena
of the Sh u Klng^ Dr. Legge has shown one of the sources
of ancient Chinese liistory outside of that work. There were
many other works accessible to Sz’ma Tsien, nearly four centuries
before they were discovered (a.d. 279), when he wrote
his Annals. Pan Ku gives a list of the various books recovered
after the death of Tsin Chi Ilwangti, amounting in all to thirteen
thousand two hundred and nineteen volumes or chapters
contained in six huudi-ed and twenty different works. Well
does Pauthier speak of the inestimable value which a similar
catalogue of the extant literature of Greece and Pome at that
epoch (b.(\ 100) would now be.
One of the alleged records of the reign of Yu is an inscription traced on the rocks of Ivau-lau shaii, one of the peaks of Mount llano; in Ilunan, relatinjij to the inundation. It contfiins seventy-seven characters only, and Amiot, who regarded it as genuine, has given its sense as follows: The venerable Emperor said, Oli I aid and councillor! Who will help me in administiM-ing my affairs V The great and little islets (the inhabited places) even to their summits, the abodes of the beasts and birds, and all beings are widely inundated. Advise, send back the waters, and raise the dikes. For a long time, J have quite forgotten my family ; I repose on the top of the mountain Yoh-lu. By prudence and my labors, I have moved the spirits ; I know not the hours, but repose myself only in my incessant labors. The mountains Hwa, Yoh, Tai, and Ilang, have been the beginning and end of my enterprise; when my labors were completed, I offered a thanksgiving sacrifice at the solstice. My affliction has ceased ; the confusion in nature has disappeared; the deep currents coming from the south flow into the sea ; clothes can now be made, food can be prepared, all kingdoms will be at peace, and we can give ourselves to continual joy.’
Since Amiot’s time, however, further opportunities have offered
for more tliorongh inquiry into this relic by foreigners,
and the results of their researches throw much doubt upon its
authenticity, though they do not altogether destroy it. In the
Introduction to the S/iu King, Dr. Legge discusses the value
of this tablet among other early records of that reign, and
comes to the conclusipn that it is a fabrication of the Han
dynasty, if not later. The poet Han Yu (a.d. 800) gave it
wide notoriety by his verses about its location and nature ; but
when he was there he could not iind it on the peak, and cited
only a Taoist priest as having seen it. More than three centuries
afterward Chu Hi M^as equally unsuccessful, and his opinion
that it was made by the priests of that sect has had nnich
weight with his countrymen. It was not till one Ho Chi wont
to Mount Hang, about a.d. 1210, and took a copy of the inscription
from the stone then in a Taoist temple, that it was
actually seen ; and not till about 1510, that Chang Ki-wrm,
another antiquary of Hunan province, published his copy in
the form now generally accepted. In 1660 one Mao Tsangkien
again found the tablet on the summit of Kau-lau, but
reached it with nnich difficulty by the help of ladders and
hooks, and found it so broken that the inscription could not
be made out. A reduced fae-siitnle of Mao’s copy is given by
‘ Pauthier, Lit Chine, p. 53; J. Hager’s Inscription of Yv, Paris, 1802;
Legge’s Sim Kinr/, pp. G7-74 ; TrdiisdctimiH of flic X. C. Br: Ji. A. Soc, No.
v., 1809, pp. 78-84; Journal Aniaiiqiu’, 18G7, Tome X., jjp. 197-337.
THE TABLET OF YU. 161
Dr. Legge, whose translation differs from Amiot’s in some particulars.
I received the irords of i\\9 Emperor, saying, ” Ah \ Associate helper, aiding noble! The islands and islets ma/ now be aseended, thut were doors for the birds and beasts. Tou devoted your person to the great overflowings, and with the daybreak yon rose up. Long were you abroad, forgetting your family ; you lodged at the mountain’s foot as in a hall ; your wisdom schemed; your body was broken ; your heart was all in a tremble. You went and sought to produce order and settlement. At Hwa, Yoh, Tai, and Hang, by adopting the principle of dividing the tcaters, your undertakings were completed.
With the remains of a taper, you offered your pure sacrifice. There were entanglement and obstruction, being swamped, and removals. The southern river flows on its course ; for ever is the provision of food made sure ; the myriad States enjoy repose ; the beasts and birds are for ever fled away.”
The characters in which this tablet is written are of an ancient tadpole form, and so difficult to read that grave doubts exist as to their proper meaning—^and even as to which of two or three forms is the correct one. Since the copy of Mao was taken, the Manchu scholar Ivwan-wan, when Governor-General of Liang Hu in 1868, erected a stone tablet at Wu-chang, in the Pavilion of the Yellow Stork, upon the eminence overlooking the Yangtsz’. This he regarded as a true copy of the authentic Yu Pal, or ‘ Tablet of Yu.’ A fac-slmile of this tablet, and of another rubbing from a stone now existing at the foot of Mount Hang (which is alleged to be an exact reproduction of the original on its top), was published by W. H. Medhurst in the A^. C. Asiatic Society Journal for 1869. A comparison of these three will give the reader an idea of the difficulties and doubts attending the settlement of the credibility of this inscription. A living native writer quoted by Mr. Medhurst says that the earliest notice of the tablet is by Tsin Yung of the Tang dynasty, about a.d. TOO, from which he infers that the people of the time of Tung must have seen the rock and its inscription. lie regards the latter as consisting of fairy characters, utterly unreadable, and therefore all attempts to decipher them as valueless and misleading.
Amid so many conflicting opinions among native scholars, the verdict of foreigners may safely await further discoveries. and the day when competent observers can examine these localities and tablets for themselves. Without exaggerating the importance and credibility of the S/tu, K’nvj and other ancient Chinese records, they can be received as the writings of a very remote period ; and while their claims to trustworthiness would be fortified if more intimations had been given of the manner in which they were kept dniing the long period antecedent to the era of Confucius, they still deserve a more respectful consideration than some modern writers are disposed to allow them.
For instance, Davis remarks: ” Yu is described as nine cubits in height, and it is stated that the skies rained gold in those days, which certainly (as Dr. Morrison observes) lessens the credit of the history of this period.” Now, without laying too much stress upon the record, or the objections against it, this height is but little more than that of Og of Bashan, even if we adopt the present length of the cubit fourteen and one-tenth inches, English ; and if Zv’w, here called <j<)ld, be translated metal (which it can just as well be), it may be a notice of a meteoric shower of extraordinary duration. Let these venerable ‘writings be investigated in a candid, cautious manner, weighing their internal evidence, and comparing their notices of those remote periods as much as they can be with those of other nations, and they will illustrate ancient history and customs in no slight degree.
Mr. Murray has given a synopsis from Mailla of what is recorded of the Ilia dynasty, which will fairly exhibit the matter of Chinese history. It is here introduced somewhat abridged, with dates inserted.
The accession of Yu (B.C. 2205) forms a romarkable era in Chinese history.
EARLY HISTORY OF TUi: TIIA DYNASTY. 153
The throne, which hitherto liad been more or less ek’ctive, became from this period hereditary in the eldest son, with only those occasional and violent interrujitions to which every despotic government is liable. The national annals, too, assume a more regular and authentic shape, the reigns of the sovereigns being at the same time reduced to a probable duration. Yu justly acquired a lasting veneration, but it was chiefly by his labors under his two predecessors. When he himself ascended the throne, age had already overtaken him ; still the lustre of his government was supported by able councillors, till it closed with bis life at the end of seven years. Many of the grandees wished, according to former practice, to raise to the throne Pi-yih, his first minister, and a person of distinguished merit; but regard for the father, in this case, was strengthened by the excellent ijualities of his son Ki, or Ti Kf (/.<?., the Emperor Ki), and even Pi-yih insisted that the prince should be preferred (2197). Hi.s reign of nine years was only disturbed by the rebellion of a turbulent subject, and he was succeeded (2188) by his son, Tai Kang. But this youth was devoted to pleasure; music, wine, and hunting entirely engrossed his attention. The Chinese, after enduring him for twenty nine years, dethroned him (2159), and his brother, Chung Kaug, was nominated to succeed, and lield th:> reins of government for thirteen years with a vigorous liand. He was followed l / his son, Siang (2140), who, destitute of the energy his situation required, gave himself up to the advice of his minister Yeh, and was by him, in connection with his accomplice, Ilantsu, declared incapable of reigning. The usurper ruled for seven years, when he was Idlled ; and the rightful monarch collected his adherents and gave battle to Ilantsu and the son of Yeh in the endeavor to regain his throne. Siang was completely defeated, and lost both his crown and life ; the victors immediately marched to the capital, and made so general a massacre of the family that they believed the name and race of Yu to be for ever extinguished.
‘J’he Empress Min, however, managed to escape, and tied to a remote city, where she brought forth a son, called Shau Kang ; and th better to conceal his origin, she employed him as a shepherd boy to tend flocks. Reports of the existence of such a youth, and his occupation, at length reached the ears of Hantsu, who sent orders to bring him, dead or alive. The royal widow then
placed her son as under-cook in the liousehold of a neighboring governor,
where the lad soon distinguished himself by a spirit and temper so superior to
this humble station, that the master’s suspicions were roused, and obliged him
to disclose his name and birth. The officer, being devotedly attached to the
house of Yu, not only kept the secret, but watched for an opportunity to reinstate
him, and meanwhile gave him a small government in a secluded situation,
which he prudently administered. Yet he was more than thirty years
old before the governor, by engaging other chiefs in his interest, could assemble
such a force as might justify the attempt to make head against tlie usurper.
The latter hastily assembled his troops and led them to the attack, but was defeated and taken prisoner by the young prince Chu himself ; and Shau Kang, with his mother, returned with acclamations to the capital. His reign is reckoned to have been sixty-one years’ duration in the chronology of the time, which includes the usurpation of forty years of Hantsu.
The country was ably governed by Shau Kang, and also by his son, Chu(2057), who ruled for seventeen yearr: ; but the succeeding sovereigns, in many instances, abandoned themselves to indolence and pleasure, and brought the kingly name into contempt. From Hwai to Kieh Kwei, a space of two hundred and twenty-two years, between B.C. 2040 and 1818, few records remain of the nine sovereigns, whose bare names succeed each other in the annals. At length the throne was occupied by Kieh Kwei (1G18), .. prince who is represented as having, in connexion with his consort, Mei-hi, practised ‘,’very kind of violence and extortion, in order to accumulate treasure, which they spent in unbridled voluptuousness. They formed a large pond of wine, deep enough to float a boat, at which three thousand men drank at once. It was surrounded, too, by pyramids of delicate viands, which no one, however, was allowed to taste, till he had first intoxicated himself out of the lake. The drunken quarrels which ensued wer« their favorite amusempiit. In the intrrior o” the jialaci’ Die vilest orgies were celebrated, and the venerable ministers, wlio attempted to remonstrate against these excesses, were either put to deatlx or exiled. The people were at once indignant and grieved at such crimes, which threatened the downfall of the dynasty ; and the discarded statesmen put themselves under the direction of the wise I Yin, and advised Chingtang, the ablest of their number, and a descendant of Huangdi, to assume the reins of government, assuring him of their support. He with reluctance yielded to their solicitations, and assembling a force marched against Kieh Kwei, who came out to meet him at the head of a numerous army, but fled from the contest on seeing the defection of his troops, and ended his days in despicable obscurity, after occupying the throne fifty two years.’
Chinese annals are generally occupied in this way ; the Emperor and his ministers fill the whole field of historic vision; little is recorded of the condition, habits, arts, or occupations of the people, who are merely considered as attendants of the monarch, which is, in truth, a feature of the ancient records of nearly all countries and people, Monarchs controlled the chronicles of their reigns, and their own vanity, as well as their ideas of government and authority led them to represent the people as a mere background to their own stately dignity and acts.
The Shang dynasty began b.c. 1760, or about one hundred and
twenty years before the Exodus, and maintained an unequal sway
over the feudal States composing the Empire for a period of six
hundred and forty-four years. Its first monarch, Chingtang, or
Tang the Successful, is described as having paid religious worship
to Shangti, under which name, perhaps, the true God was
intended. On account of a severe drought of seven years’
duration, this monarch is reported to have prayed, saying,
” 1 the child Li presume to use a dark colored victim, and
announce to thee, O Shang-tien Ilao (‘High Heaven’s Ruler’).
I«[ow there is a great drought, and it is right I should be held
responsible for it. I do not know but that I have offended
the powers above and below.” AVith regard to his own conduct,
he blamed himself in six particulars, and his words
were not ended when the rain descended copiously.
The fragmentary records of this dynasty contained in the
Shu King are not so valuable to the student who wishes merely
‘Hugh Murray, China, Vol. I., pp. 51-55 (edition of 1843),
TIIK SIIAXa DYNASTY. 155
to learn the succession of luoiiarclis in tliose (l:ijs, as to one who
inquires what were the principles on which they ruled, wliat
were the polity, the religion, the jurisdiction, and the checks of
the Chinese government in those remote times. The regular
records of those days will never he recovered, hut the preservation
of the hist two parts of the Shic Kiiuj indicates their
existence by fair inference, and encourages those who try to reconstruct
the early annals of China to give full value even to
slight fragments. But these parts have been of great service to
the people since they were written, in teaching them by precept
and example on what the prosperity of a State was founded, and
how theii- rnlers could bring it to ruin. In these respects there
are no ancient works outside of the Bible w^ith which they can
at all be compared. The later system of examination has given
them an unparalleled intluonce in molding the national character
of the Chinese. Of the eleven chapters now remaining all are
occupied more or less with the relative duties of the prince and
rulers, enforcing on each that the w-elfare of all was bound up
with their faithfulness. One quotation will give an idea of
their instructions. ” Order your affairs by righteousness, order
your heart by propriety, so shall you transmit a grand example
to posterit3\ I have heard the saying. He who finds instructors
for himself comes to the supreme dominion ; he wlft> says that
others are not equal to himself comes to ruin. He who likes to
ask becomes enlarged ; he who uses only himself becomes small.
Oh ! he who would take care for his end must be attentive to
his beginning. There is establishment for the observers of propriety,
and overthrow for the blinded and wantonly indifPerent.
To revere and honor the way of Heaven is the way ever to
preserve the favoring regard of Heaven.” ‘
‘Part IV., Book II., Chap. IV., 8-9. •
The chronicles of the Shang dynasty, as gathered from the Bamboo Books and other later records, resemble those of the Hia in being little more than a mere succession of the names of the sovereigns, interspersed here and there with notices of some remarkable events in the natural and political world. Luxurious and despised princes alternate with vigorous and warlike ones who coiiiinaiuled respect, :uul the coiiditiunof the State measura.’ bly C’ori’espoiid.s with the character of the monarchs, the feudal barons soinetiines increasing in power and territory by encroacliiug on their neighbors, and then snitering a reduction from some new State. The names of twenty-eight princes are given, the accounts of whose reigns are indeed fuller than those of the dukes of Edom in Genesis, but their slight notices would be more interesting if the same confidence could be reposed in them.
The bad sovereigns occupy more room in these^fasti than the
good ones, the palm of wickedness being given to Chau-sin, with
whom the dynasty ended. The wars which broke out during
this dynasty were numerous, but other events also find a place,
though hardly anything which throws light on society or civilization.
Droughts, famines, and other calamities were frequent
and attended by dreadful omens and fearful sights ; this fancied
correlation between natural casualties and political convulsions
is a feature running through Chinese history, and grows out of
the peculiar position of the monarch as the vicegerent of heaven.
The people seem to have looked for control and protection
more to their local masters than to their lord paramount,
ranging themselves under their separate banners as they weve
bidden. The History Made Easy speaks of the twenty-fifth
monarch, Wu-yih (e.g. 1198), as the most wicked of them all.
” Having made his images of clay in the shape of human beings,
dignified them with the name of gods, overcome them at gambling,
and set them aside in disgrace, he then, in order to complete
his folly, made leathern bags and filled them with blood,
and sent them up into the air, exclaiming, when his arrows hit
them and the blood poured down, ‘ I have shot heaven,’ meaning,
I have killed the gods.”
The names of Chau-sin and Tan-ki are coupled w’ith those
of Kieh and Mi-hi of the Ilia dynasty, all of them synonymous
in the Chinese annals for tlie acme of cruelty and licentiousness
—as are those of Xero and Messalina in Koman history. Chausin
is said one winter’s morning to have seen a few women
walking barelegged on the banks of a stream collecting shellfish,
and ordered their legs to be cut off, that he might see the
CHAU-SIN—RISE OF TIFE ClIAU DYNASTY. 157
marrow of persons who could resist cold so fearlessly. The
heart of one of his reprovers was also hrought him, in order to
see wherein it differed from that of cowardly ministers. The
last Booh of Shang contains the vain i-emonstrance of another
of them, who tells his sovereign that his dynasty is in the condition
of one crossing a large stream who can iind neither ford
nor bank. Many acts of this natnre alienated the hearts of the
people, nntil Wan wang, the leader of a State in the northwest
of China, nnited the principal men against his misrule ; hut
dying, bequeathed his crown and power to his son, Wu wang.
He gradually gathered his forces and met Chau-sin at the head
of a great army at Muli, near the junction of the rivers Ki and
Wei, north of the Yellow River in llonan, where the defeat of
the tyrant was complete. Feeling the contempt he was held in,
and the hopeless struggle before him, he lied to his palace and
burned himself with all his treasures, like another Sardanapalus,
though his immolation (in b.o. 1122) preceded the Assyrian’s by
five centuries.
Wu wang, the martial king, the founder of the Chan dynasty,
his father. Wan wang, and his brother, Duke Chan, are among
the most distinguished men of antiquity- for their erudition,
integrity, patriotism, and inventions. AViln wang. Prince of
Chan, was prime minister to Tai-ting, the grandfather of Chausin,
but was imprisoned for his fidelity. His son obtained his
liberation, and the sayings and acts of both occupy al)()ut twenty
books in Part V. of the Shu King. Duke Chan survived his
brother to become the director and support of his nephew ; his
counsels, occupying a large part of the history, are full of wisdom
and equity. Book X. contains his warning advice about drunkenness,
which has been remarkably influential among his counti-vmen
ever since. Ko period of ancient Chinese history is mora
celebrated than that of the founding of this dynastv, chieflv
because of the high chai’acter of its leading men, who Avere
regarded by Confucius as the impersonations of everything wise
and noble. Wu wang is represented as having invoked the
assistance of Shangti in his designs, and, when he was successful,
returned thanks and offered prayers and sacrifices. He
removed the capital from the province of Honan to the present Si-ngan, in Shensi, where it remained for a long period. This prince committed a great political blnnder in dividing the Empire
into petty states, thus destroying the ancient pure monarchy,
and leaving himself only a small portion of territory and power,
which were (piite insufficient, in the hands of a weak prince, to
maintain either the state or authority due the ruling sovereign.
The number of States at one time was one hundred and twentyfive,
at another forty-one, and, in the time of Confucius, about
six hundred years after the establishment of the dynasty, fiftytwo,
some of them large kingdoms. From about b.c. 7U0 the
imperial name and power lost the allegiance and respect of the
feudal princes, and gradually became contemptible. Its nominal
sway extended over the country lying north of the ITangtsz
kiang, the regions on the south being occupied by tribes of whonj
no intelligible record has been preserved.
The duration of the three dynasties, the Ilia, Shang, and
Chau, comprises a long and obscure period in the history of the
world, extending from b.c. 2205 to 249, from the time when
Terah dwelt in (Jharran, and the sixteenth dynasty of Theban
kings ruled in Egypt, down to the reigns of Antiochus Soter
and Ptolemy Philadelphus and the ti-anslation of the Septuagint.
I.—The IliA dynasty, founded by Yu the Great, existed four
Inmdred and thirty-nine years, down to n.o. lT<!r>, under seventeen
monarchs, the records of whose reigns are veiy brief.
Among contemporary events of importance are the call of
Abraham, in the year b.c. 2003, Jacob’s flight to Mesopotamia
in 1016, Joseph’s elevation in Egypt in 1885, and his father’s
arrival in 1863.
II.—The SuANG dynasty began with Tang the Successful, and continued six hundred and forty-four years, under twenty eight sovereigns, down to b.c. 1122. This period was characterized by wars among I’ival princes, and the power of the sovereign depended chiefly upon his personal character. The principal contemporary events were the Exodus of the Israelites in 1648, their settlement in Palestine in 1608, judgeship of Othniel, 1564 ; of Deborah, 1406 ; of Gideon, 1350 ; of Sam son, 1202 ; and death of Samuel in 1122.
CREDIBILITY OF THESE EAULV RECORDS. 159
III.—The CuAU dynasty began with Wu wang, and continued for eight hundred and seventy-three years, under thirty five monarchs, down to b.c. 249, the longest of any recorded in history. The sway of many of these was little more than nominal, and the feudal States increased or diminished, according to the vigor of the monarch or the ambition of the princes.
In B.C. 770 the capital was removed from Kao, near the River Wei in Shensi, to Luoyang, in the western part of Honan; this divides the house into the Western and Eastern Chan. The contemporary events of these eight centuries are too numerous to particularize. The accession of Saul in 1110; of David, 1070 ; of Rehoboam, 990 ; taking of Troy, 1084; of Samaria, 719 ; of Jerusalem, 586 ; death of Nebuchadnezzar, 501 ; accession of Cyrus and return of the Jews, 551 ; battle of Marathon, 490 ; accession of Alexander, 235 ; etc. The conquest of Egypt by Alexander in 322 brought the thirty-first and last dynasty of her native kings to an end, the first of which had begun under Menes about b.c. 2715, or twenty-two years after the supposed accession of Shinnung.
The absence of any great remains of human labor or art
previous to the Great Wall, like the Pj’i-amids, the Temple of
Solomon, or the ruins and mounds in Syria, has led many to
doubt the credibility of these early Chinese records. They ascribe
them to the invention of the historians of the llan dynasty,
working up the scattered relics of their ancient books into a
readable nari-ative, and therefore try to bring every statement
to a critical test for which there are few facts. The analogies
between the records in the Shu King and the Aryan myths
are skilfully explained by Mr. Kingsmill by reference to the
meanings of the names of persons and places and titles, and a
connection shown which has the merit at least of ingenuity and
beauty. Almost the only actual known relic of these three
dynasties is the series of ten stone drums [sMh ktt) now in the
Confucian temple at Peking. They were discovered about a.d.
600, in the environs of the ancient capital of the Chau dynasty,
and have been kept in Peking since the year 1126. They are
irregularly shaped pillars, from eighteen to thirty-five inches
high and about twentj^-eight inches across ; the inscriptions are
much worn, but enough remains to show that they commemo rate a great hunt of Siien wang (b.c. 827) in the region where they were found.’
AmohiT the feudal States under the house of Chau, that of
Tsin, on the northwest, had long been the most powerful, occupying
nearly a iifth of the country, and its inhabitants forming
a tenth of the whole population. One of the princes, called
Chausiang wang, carried his encroachments into the acknowledged
imperial possessions, and compelled its master, Tungchau
kiun, the last monarch, to humble himself at his feet. Although,
in fact, master of the whole Empire, he did not take the title,
but left it to his son, Chwangsiang wang, who exterminated the
blood royal and ended the Chau dynasty, yet lived only three
years in possession of the supreme power.
The son carried on his father’s successes until he had reduced
all the petty States to his sway. lie then took the name of Chi
Hwangti (‘ Emperor First’) of the Tsin dynasty, and set himself
to regulate his conquests and establish his authority by securing
to his subjects a better government than had been experienced
during the feudal times. He divided the country into
thirty-six provinces, over which he placed governors, and went
throughout them all to see that no injustice was practised.
This monarch, who has been called the Napoleon of China,
was one of those extraordinary men who turn the course of
events and give an impress to subsequent ages; Ivlaproth gives
him a high ciuiracter as a prince of energy and skill, but native
historians detest his name and acts. It is recorded that at his
new capital, Ilienyang, on the banks of the Ilwai, he constructed
a palace exactly like those of all the kings who had submitted
to him, and ordered that all the precious furniture of each and
those persons who had inhabited them should be transported to it, and everything rearranged. The whole occupied an immense space, and the various parts communicated with each other by a magnificent colonnade and gallery. He made progresses through his dominions with a splendor hitherto unknown, accompanied by officials and troops from all parts, thus making
‘ Journrd of the N. C. Branch of II. A. Society, Vols. VII., p. 137 ; VIII., pp.23, 133. In the last paper, by Dr. Bnshell, translations and fac-similes of the inscriptions are givoii, with many historical uotictjs.
TSIX nil IIWANGTI, THE ‘ EMPEROK FIRST.’ IGl
the people interested in each otlier and consenting to liis sway.
He also built public edifices, opened roads and canals to facilitate
intercourse and trade between the various provinces, and
repressed the incursions of the Iluns, driving them into the wilds
of Mongolia. In order to keep them out effectually, he conceived
the idea of extending and uniting the short walls which
the princes of some of the Xortherii States had erected on their
frontier into one grand wall, stretching across the Empire from
the sea to the Desert. This gigantic undertaking was completed
in ten years (b.c. 20-i), at a vast expense in men and material,
and not until the family of its builder had been destroyed.
This mode of protecting the country, when once well begun,
probably commended itself to the nation. It is impossible, indeed,
to imagine otherwise how it could have been done, for
the people were required to supply a quota of men from each
place, feed and clothe them while at work, and continue this
expense until their portion was built. Xo monarch could have
maintained an army which could force his sul)jects against their
\vill to do such a work or carry it on to completion after his
death. It is one of the incidental proofs of a great population
that so many laborers were found. However ineffectual it was
to preserve his frontiers, it has made his name celebrated
throughout the world, and his dynasty Tsin has given its name
to China for all ages and nations.’
The vanity of the new monarch led him to endeavor to destroy
all records written anterior to his own reign, that he might
be by posterity regarded as the first Emperor of the Chinese
race. Orders were issued that every book should be burned,
and especially the writings of Confucius and Mencius, explanatory
of the /Shu King upon the feudal States of Chau, whose
remembrance he wished to blot out. This strange command
was executed to such an extent that many of the Chinese literati
believe that not a perfect copy of the classical works escaped
destruction, and the texts were only recovered by rewriting
them from the memories of old scholars, a mode of reproduction
‘ Pautliier, La Chine, pp. 30, 221 ; Mem. cone, les Chinois, Tome III., p.183.
that does not appear so singular to a Chinese as it does to ua
If the same literary tragedy should be re-enacted to-day, thousands
of persons might easily be found in China M’ho could rewrite
from memory the text and commentary of their nine
classical works. ” Nevertheless,” as Ivlaproth remarks, ” they
were not in fact all lost : for in a country where writin”: is so
connnon it was almost impossible that all the copies of works
universally respected should be destroyed, especially at a time
when the material on which they were written was very durable,
being engraved with a stylet on bamboo tablets, or traced upon
them with dark-colored varnish.” The destruction was no doubt
as neai’ly complete as possible, and not only were many works
entirely destroyed, but a shade of doubt thereby thrown over
the accuracy of others, and the records of the ancient dynasties
rendered suspicious as well as incomplete. Not only were books
sought after to be destroyed, but nearly live hundred literati
were buried alive, in order that no one might remain to reproach,
in their writings, the Emperor First with having committed
so barbarous and insane an act.
The dynasty of Qin, set up in such cruelty and blood, did not long survive the death of its founder; his son was unable to maintain his rule over the half-subdued feudal chieftains, ftnd after a nominal reign of seven years he was overcome by Liu Bang, a soldier of fortune, who, having been employed by one of the chiefs as commander of his forces, used them to support his own authority when he had taken possession of the capital. Under the name of Kautsu he became the founder of the Han dynasty, and his accession is regarded as the commencement of modern Chinese history. The number and character of its heroes and literati are superior to most other periods, and to this day the term IIa)i-ts2\ or ‘ Sons of Han,’ is one of the favorite names by which the Chinese call themselves.
THE HOUSE OF TTAN. 163
The first fourteen princes of this dynasty reigned in Shensi, but Jvwangwu removed the capital from (^hang-an to Lohyang, as was done in the Chau dynasty seven centuries b f :re, the old one being ruined. During the reign of Ping i {or ‘he ‘Emperor ]*eacc’) the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ, was boiii in Judea, a renuirkable coincidence which has often attracted notice. During the reign of Ming ti, a.d. 65, a deputation was sent to India to obtain the sacred books and authorized teachers of Buddhism, which the Emperor intended to publicly introduce into China. This faith had already widely spread among his subjects, but henceforth it became the popular belief of the Chinese and extended eastward into Japan. This
monarch and his successor, Chang ti, penetrated with their armies
as far westward as the Caspian Sea, dividing and overcoming the
various tribes on the confines of the Desert and at the foot of the
Tien shan, and extending the limits of the monarchy in that direction
farther than they are at present. The Chinese sway was
maintained with varied success until toward the third century,
and seems to have had a mollifying effect upon the nomads of
those regions. In these distant expeditions the Chinese heard of
the Romans, of whom their authors speak in the highest terms :
” Everything precious and adnnrable in all other countries,” say
they, “comes from this land. Gold and silver money is coined
there; ten of silver are worth one of gold. Their merchants
trade by sea with. Persia and India, and gain ten for one in their
traffic. They are simple and upright, and never have two prices
for their goods ; grain is sold among them very cheap, and large
sums are embarked in trade. Whenever ambassadors come to the
frontiers they are provided with carriages to travel to the capital,
and after their arrival a certain number of pieces of gold are furnished
them for their expenses.” This description, so characteristic
of the shop-keeping Chinese, may be compared to many
accounts given of the Chinese themselves by western authors.
Continuing the resume of dynasties in order
—
lY.—The TsiN dynasty is computed to end with Chwangsiang by the authors of the Illstonj Made Easy, and to have existed only three years, from b.c. 249 to 246.
Y.—The After Tsin dynasty is sometimes joined to the preceding, but Chi riwangti regarded himself as the first monarch, and began a new house, which, however, lasted only forty-four years, from b.c. 246 to 202. The connnotions in the farthest East during this period were not less destructive of life than the wars in Europe between the Carthaginians and Romans, andthe Syrians, Greeks, and Egyptians.
VL, YII. The Han and Eastern Han dynasties.—Liu Bang took the title of Han for his dynasty, after the name of his principality, and his family swayed the Middle Kingdom from B.C. 2U2 to A.D. 221, under twenty-six monarchs. The Han dynasty was the formative period of Chinese polity and institutions, and an instructive parallel can be drawn between the character and acts of the Emperors who reigned four hundred years in China, and the numerous consuls, dictators, and emperors
who governed the Roman Empire for the same period
from the time of Scipio Africanus to Ileliogabalus. The founder
of the Han is honored for having begun the system of competitive
examinations for office, and his successors. Wan ti,
Wu ti, and Ivwang-wu, developed literature, commerce, arts,
and good government to a degree unknown before anywhere in
Asia. In the West the Ilomans became tlie great vrorld power,
and the advent of Christ and establishment of His church within
its borders only, render this period the turning epoch of progress
among niankind.
The period between the overthrow of the Han dynasty, a.d.
190, and the establishment of the Eastei-n Tsin, a.d. 317, is
one of the most interesting in Chinese historj^, from the variety
of characters which the troubles of the times developed. The
distractions of this period are described in the Histori/ of the
Tliree States, but this entertaining work cannot be regarded as
much better than a historical novel. It has, however, like
Scott’s stories, impressed the events and actors of those days
upon the popular mind more than any history in the language.
VIII.—The Aftkk IIan dynasty began a.d. 211, and continned
forty-four years, under two princes, to a.d. 205. The
country was divided into three principalities, called Wei, Wu,
and Shuh. The first, under the son of Tsao Tsao, ruled the
whole northern counti’y at Lohyang. and was the most powerful
of them for about forty years. The second, under Sinn Kien,
occupied the eastern provinces, from Shantung and the Yellow River down to the mountains of Fuhkien, holding his court at Nanking. The third, under Liu Pi, is regarded as the legitimate dynasty from his affinity with the Han ; he had his capital at Chingtu fii, in Sz’chuen.
r:6sume of the dynasties. 165
IX.—The TsiN dynasty was foimded by Sz’ma Chao, a general
in the employ of llau of tlie last house, who seated himself on
the throne of his master a.d. 265, the year of the latter’s death.
His son, Sz’ma Yen, took his place and extended his power over
the whole Empire by 280. The inroads of the Huns and internal
commotions were fast ]-educing the people to barbai’ism. Four
Emperors of this house held their sway at Lohyang during iiftytwo
years, till a.d. 317. The Iluns maintained their sway in
Shensi until a.d. 352, under the designations of the Ilan and
Chau dynasties. It is related of Liu Tsung, one of this barbaric
race, that he built a great palace at Chang-an, where he gathered
a myriad of the lirst subjects of his kingdom and lived in
luxury and magnificence quite unknown before in China. Among
his attendants was a body-guard of elegantly dressed women, many of whom were good musicians, which accompanied liirn on his progresses.
X.—The Eastern Tsin is the same house as the last, but Yuen ti having moved his capital in 317 from Luoyang to Xanking, his successors are distinguished as the Eastern Tsin. Eleven princes reigned during a period of one hundred and three years, down to a.d. 420. Buddhism was the chief religion at this time, and the doctrines of Confucius were highly esteemed; “children of concubines, priests, old women, and nurses administered the government,” says the indignant annalist. At this period twelve independent and opposing kings struggled for the ascendency in China, and held their ephemeral courts in the north and west. It was at this time that Constantino moved the capital of the Roman Empire in 328, and the nations of northern Europe under Attila invaded Italy in 410.
XL—The ScNG, or Northern Song dynasty, as it is often called to distinguish it from the XXIId dynasty (a.d. 970), is the first of the four dynasties known as the JVan-peh C/iao, or ‘ South-north dynasties,’ which preceded the Sui. It was founded by Liu Yu, who commanded the armies of Tsin, and gradually subdued all the opposing States. Displeased at the weakness of his master, Xgan ti, he caused him to be strangled, and placed his brother, Kung ti, upon the throne, who, fearing a like fate, abdicated the empty crown, and Liu Yu became monarch under the name of Kaiitsu, A.n. 420. Eight princes held the throne till a.d. 479, many of them monsters of ernelty, and soon cut off, when Sian Tau-cliing, Duke of Tsi, the prime minister, recompensed them as their ancestor had those of Tsin.
XII. Qi dynasty.—The new monarch took the name of Kan ti, or ‘ High Emperor,’ bnt enjoyed his dignity only four years. Four princes succeeded him at iS’anking, the last of wdiom, Ilo ti, was besieged in his capital by a faithless minister, assisted by the pi’ince of Liang, who overthrew the dynasty a.d. 502, after a duration of twenty-three years.
XIII. Liang dynasty.—The first Emperor, Wu ti, reigned forty-eight years, and reduced most of his opponents ; his dominions are described as being mostly south of the Yangtsz’ River, the Wei ruling the regions north of it. Wu ti did much to restore literature and the study of Confucius ; envoys from India and Persia also came to his court, and his just sway allowed the land to recruit. In his latter days he was so great a devotee of Buddhism that he retired to a monastery, like Charles Y., but being persuaded to resume his crown, employed his time in teaching those doctrines to his assembled courtiers. Three successors occupied the throne, the last of whom, King ti, was killed A.D. 557, after surrendering himself, by the general of the troops, wdio then seized the crown.
XIY. Chen dynasty.—Three brothers reigned most of the time this house held its sway. During this period and that of the three preceding families, the Ilunnish kingdom of Wei ruled the northern parts of China from a.d. 380 to 534, under eleven monarchs, when it was violently separated into the Eastern and Western Wei, and a third one called Chau, which ere long destro\’ed the last AVci at (‘hang-an and occupied northwest China. It is probable that the intercoui-se between China and
other parts of Asia was more extensive and complete during
the Wei dynasty than at any other period. Its sovereigns had
preserved peaceful rehitions with their ancestral seats, and with
tlie ti-ibes beyond Lake Baikal and the Obi River to the North
Sea. Trade seems to have flourished throughout the regions
lying between the Caspian Sea and Corea, and tlie records of
this period present accounts of the State in this vast tract to be
found nowhere else. One of these works referred to by Rcnriiisat is the report of officers sent by Tai-wii during his reign to travel through his dominions (424-451) and give full accounts of them.
One of the sovereigns of Chan, Wu ti (a.d. 561-572), had given his daughter in marriage to Yang Kien, the Prince of Sui, one of his ministers, who, gradually extending his influence, took possession of the throne of his master Tsiiig ti in 580. In a few years he restored order to a distracted land by bringing the several States under his sway and reuniting all China under his hand a.d. 589, after it had been divided nearly four centuries.
THE SUI AND TANO DYNASTIES. I67
XV. Sui dynasty.—The founder of this house has left an enduring name in Chinese annals by a survey of his dominions and division of them into interdependent vhau^ klun, and hleii^ with corresponding officers, an arrangement which has ever since existed. lie patronized letters and commerce, and tried to introduce the system of caste from India. After a vigorous reign of twenty-four years he was killed by his son Yang ti, who carried on his father’s plans, and during the fourteen years of his reign extended the frontiers through the Tarim Yalley and down to the Southern Ocean. His murder by one of his generals was the signal for several ambitious men to rise, but the Prince of Tang aided the son to rule for a year or two till he was removed, thus bringing the Sui dynasty to an end after thirty-nine years, but not before its two sovereigns had taught their subjects the benefits of an undivided sway.
XYI. Tang dynasty.—This celebrated line of princes began
its sway in peace, and during the two hundred and eightj’-sevcn
years (018 to 90S) they held the throne China was probably the
most civilized country on earth ; the darkest days of the West,
when Europe was wrapped in the ignorance and degradation of
the Middle Ages, formed the brightest era of the East. They
exercised a humanizing effect on all the surrounding countries,
and led their inhabitants to see the benefits and understand the
management of a government where the laws were above the
officers. The people along the southern coast were completely
civilized and incorporated into the Chinese race, and mark the change by always calling themselves Tang Jin, or ‘ Men of
Tang/ An interesting work on the trade and condition of
China at this time is the AMihar-al-Syn oual-Hind, or ‘ Observations
on China and India,’ by two Arab travellers to those
lands in the years 851 and 878, compiled by Abu Zaid and
translated by lieinaud in 1845.’ Li Shi-mii], the son of Li Ynen
the founder of this dynasty, may be regarded as the most accomplished monarch in the Chinese annals—famed alike for his
wisdom and nobleness, his conquests and good government, his
temperance, cultivated tastes, and patronage of literary inen.
AVhile still Prince of Tang he contributed greatly to his father’s
elevation and to the extension of his sway over the regions of
Central Asia. When the house of Tang was fully acknowledged,
and the eleven rival States which had started up on the
close of the house of Sui had been overcome, the capital was
removed from Lohyang back to Chang-an, and everything done
to compose the disordered country and reunite the distracted
State under a reo-ular and vigorous administration. Feeline:
himself unequal to all the cares of his great office, Li Yuen,
known as Kau-tsu Shin Yao ti (lit. ‘ High Progenitor, the Divine Yao Emperor ‘), resigned the j^ellow in favor of his son, who took the style of Chlng hioan {‘ Pure Observer ‘) for his reign, though his posthumous title is Tai-tsung Wan-w^i ti (‘ Our Exalted Ancestor, the Literary-Martial Emperor ‘), a.d. 627, and still further extended his victorious arms. One of his first acts was to establish schools and institute a s^’^stem of literary examinations ; he ordered a complete and accurate edition of all the classics to be published under the supervision of the most learned men in the Empire, and honored the memory of Confucius with special ceremonies of respect. Extraordinary pains were taken to prepare and preserve the historical records of former days and draw up full annals of the recent dynasties; these still await the examination of western scholars.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 6; Reinaud, Relations des Voyages, 2 Vols..Paris, 1845. Yule, CatJiay and the Way Thithtr, Introd., p. cii.
TAI-TSLTN(J, FOUNDER OF THE HOUSE OF TAXG. 169
lie constructed a code of laws for the direction of his high officers in their judicial functions, and made progresses through
lii.s doiniiiions to inspect the condition of the people. During
liis reign the limits of the Enipii-e were extended over all the
Turkisli tribes lying west of Kiinsuh and south of the Tien
shan as far as the Caspian Sea, which were placed nnder four
satrapies or residences, those of Kuche, Pisha or Khoten, Ilarashar,
and Kashgar, as their names are at present. West of the
last many smaller tribes submitted and rendered a partial subjection
to the Emperor, who arranged them into sixteen governments
under the management of a governor-general over theiiown
chieftains. His frontiers reached from the borders of
Persia, the Caspian Sea, and the Altai of the Kirghis steppe,
along those mountains to the north side of Gobi eastward to
the Inner Iling-an. Sogdiana and part of Khorassan, and the
regions around the llindu-kush, also obeyed him. The rulers
of Xipal and Magadha or Bahar in India sent their salutations
by their ambassadors, and the Greek Emperor Theodosius sent
an envoy to Si-ngan in 643 carrying presents of rubies and
emeralds, as did also the Persians. The IS^estorian missionaries
also presented themselves at court. Tai-tsung received them
with respect, and heard them rehearse the leading tenets of
their doctrine ; he ordered a temple to be erected at his capital,
and had some of their sacred books translated for his examination,
though there is no evidence now remaining that any portion
of the Bible was done into Chinese at this time.
Near the close of his life Tai-tsung undertook an expedition against Corea, but the conquest of that country was completed by his son after his death. A sentiment has been preserved at this time of his life which he uttered to his sons while sailing t)n the River Wei :
“‘ See, my children, the waves which lloat our fragile bark are able to submerge it in an instant ; know assuredly that the people are like the waves, and the Emperor like this fragile bark.” During his reign his life was attempted several times, once by his own son, but he was preserved from these attacks, and died after a reign of twenty-three years, deeply lamented by a grateful people. The Chinese accounts state that the foreign envoys resident at his court cut off their hair, some of them disfigured their faces, bled themselves, and sprinkled the blood around the bier in testimony of their grief.
Whatever may have been the truth in this respect, many proofs exist of the distinguished character of this monarch, and that the high reputation he enjoyed during his lifetime was a just tribute to his excellences, he will favorably compare with Akbar, Marcus Aurelius, and Kanghi, or with Charlemagne and llarun Al Ilaschid, who came to their thrones in the next century.^
Tai-tsung was succeeded by his son Kau-tsung, whose indolent imbecility appeared the more despicable after his father’s vigor, but his reign fills a large place in Chinese history, from the extraordinary career of his Empress, Wu Tsih-tien, or Wu hao(‘ Empress “Wu ‘) as she is called, who by her blandishments obtained entire control over him. The character of this woman has, no doubt, suifered much from the bad reputation native historians have given her, but enough can be gathered from their accounts to show that with all her cruelty she understood how to maintain the authority of the crown, repress foreign invasions, quell domestic sedition, and provide for the wants of the people. Introduced to the harem of Tai-tsung at the age of
fourteen, she was sent at his death to the retreat where all his
women were condemned for the rest of their days to honorable
imprisonment. While a member of the palace Kau-tsung had
been charmed with her appearance, and, having seen her atone
of the state ceremonies connected with the ancestral worship,
bi’ought her back to the palace. His queen, Wang-shi, also
favored his attentions in order to draw them off from another
rival, but Wu Tsih-tien soon (obtaining entire sway over the
moiuirch, united both women against her ; she managed to
fill the principal offices with her friends, and by a series of
manonivres supplanted each in turn and became Empress. One
means she took to excite suspicion against Wang-shi was, on
occasion of the birth of her first child, after the Empress had
visited it and before Kau-tsung came in to see his offspring, to
strangle it and charge the crime upon her Majesty, which led
to her trial, degradation, and impi-isonment, and ere long to her
death.
THE EMPRESS WU TSIH-TIEN. 171
As soon as she became Empress (in O,”),”)), Wu began gradually to assume more and more authority, until, long before the Emperor’s death in 684, she engrossed the whole management of affairs, and at his demise opeidy assumed the reins of government, which she wielded for twenty-one years with no weak hand. Her generals extended the limits of the Empire, and her officers carried into effect her orders to alleviate the miseries of the people. Her cruelty vented itself in the nnirder of all who opposed her will, even to her own sons and relatives; and her pride was rather exhibited than gratified by her assuming the titles of Queen of Heaven, Holy and Divine Ttuler, Holy Mother, and Divine Sovereign. When she was disabled by age her son, Chung-sung, supported by some of the first men of the land, asserted his claim to the throne, and by a palace conspiracy succeeded in removing her to her own apartments, where she died aged eighty-one years. Her character has been blackened in native histories and popular tales, and her conduct held up as an additional evidence of the evil of allowing women to meddle with governments.’
A race of twenty monarchs swayed the sceptre of the house
of Tang, but after the demise of the Empress Wu Tsih-tien
none of them equalled Tai-tsung, and the Tang dynasty at last
succumbed to ambitious ministers lording over its imbecile
sovereigns. In the reign of IHuen-tsung, about the year 722,
the population of the Fifteen Provinces is said to have been
52,884,818. The last three or four Em])erors exhibited the usual
marks of a declining house—eunuchs or favorites promoted by
them swayed the realm and dissipated its resources. At last,
Li TsQen-chung, a general of Chau-tsung, whom he had aided
in quelling the eunuchs in 904, rose against his master, destroyed
him, and compelled his son, Chau-siuen ti, to abdicate, a.d. 907.
XYH. After Liang dynasty.—The destruction of the famous
dynasty loosened the bonds of all government, and nine separate
kings struggled for its provinces, some of whom, as Apki
over the Kitan in the north-east, succeeded in founding kingdoms.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. 543 ; Canton MisceUany, No. 4, 1831, pp24Gfif.
The Prince of Liang, the new Emperor, was unable to extend his sway beyond the provinces of Honan and Shantung. After a short reign of six years lie was killed by his brother, Liang Chn-tien, who, on his part, fell under the attack of a Turkish general, and ended this dynasty, a.d. 923, after a duration of sixteen years.
XVIII. Aftek Tang dynasty.—The conqueror called himself
(Jhwang-tsung, and his dynasty Tang, as if in continuation of
that line of princes, but this mode of securing popularity was
unsuccessful. Like Pertinax, Aurelian, and others of the Roman
emperors, he was killed by his troops, who chose a successor,
and his grandson, unable to resist his enemies, burned himself
in his palace, a.d. 930, thus ending the weak dynasty after
thirteen years of struggle.
XIX. After Tsin dynasty.—The Kitan or Tartars of Liautimg, who had assisted in the overthrow of the hist dynasty, compelled the new monarch to subsidize them at his accession, A.D. 93G, by ceding to them sixteen cities in Chihli, and promising an annual tiibute of three hundred thousand pieces of silk. This disgraceful submission has ever since stigmatized Tien-fuh(‘ Heavenly Happiness’) in the eyes of native historians. IBs nephew who succeeded him is known as Chuh ti (the ‘Carried away Emperor’), and was removed in 9J:7 by those who put him on the throne, thus ending the meanest house which ever swayed the black-haired people.
XX. AFrKu Hax dynasty.—The Tartars now endeavored to subdne the whole country, but were repulsed by Liu Clii-yuen, a loyal general who assumed the yellow in 947, and called his dynasty after the renowned house of Han; he and his son held sway four years, till a.d. 951, and then were cut olf.
THE WU TAI, on FIVE DYNASTIES. 173
XXI. Afti:u Chau dynasty.—Ko Wei, the successful aspirant to the throne, maintained his seat, but died in three years, leaving his power to an adopted son, Shi-tsung, whose vigorous rule consolidated his still unsettled sway. His early death and the youth of his son decided his generals to bestow the sceptic upon the lately appointed tutor to the monarch, which closed the After Chau dynasty a.d. 900, after a brief duiation of nine years. He was honored with a title, and, like Richard ( h’omwell, allowed to live in quiet till his death in 973, a fact creditable to the new monarch. These short-lived houses between a.d. 907-9G0 are known in Chinese history as the WuDai, or ‘ Five Dynasties.’ While they stiiiggled for supremacy in the valley of the Yellow River, the regions south and west were portioned among seven houses, who ruled them in a good degree of security.
Fuhkien was held l)y the King of Min, and Kiaiignan by the King of Wu ; the regions of Sz’chuen, Xganhwui, and Kansuh were held by generals of note in the service of Tang ; another general held Kwangtung at Canton through two or three reigns; and another exercised sway at Kingchau on the Yangzi River. It is needless to mention them all. During this period Europe was distracted by the wars of the Normans and Saracens, and learning there was at a low ebb.
XXIL—SrxG dynasty began A.D. 9TU, and maintained its power
over the whole Empire for one hundred and fifty-seven years, till
A.D. 1127. The mode in which its founder, Chan Kwang-yun, was
made head of the State, reminds one of the way in which the
Pmetorian guards sometimes elevated their chiefs to the throne of
the Caisars. After the military leaders had decided upon their
future sovereign they sent messengers to announce to him his new
honor, who found him drunk, and “before he had time to reply
the yellow robe was already thrown over his person.” At the
close of his reign of seventeen years the provinces had mostly submitted to his power at Kaifnng, but the two Tartar kingdoms of
Liau and Jlia remained independent. This return to a centralized government proves the unity of the Chinese people at this time in their own limits, as well as their inability to induce their
neighbors to adopt the same system of government. The successors
of Tai-tsu of Sling had a constant struggle for existence
with their adversaries on the north and west, the Liau and Ilia,
whose recent taste of power under the last two dynasties had
shown them their opportunity. On the return of prosperity under
his brother’s reign of twenty-two years, the former institutions
and political divisions were restored throughout the southern half
of the Empire ; good government was secured, aided by able
generals and loyal ministers, and the rebels everywhere quelled.
Chin-tsung was the third sovereign, and his reign of forty-one
years is the brightest portion of the house of Sung. The kings
of Ilia in Kansuh acknowledged themselves to be his tributaries, but he bought a cowardly peace with the Liau on the north-east.
During his reign and that of his son, Tin-tsung, a violent controversy arose among the literati and officials as to the best mode of conducting the government. Some of them, as Sz’ma Kwang the historian, contended for the maintenance of the old principles of the sages. Others, of whom Wang i^gan-shi was the distinguished leader, advocated reform and change to the entire overthrow of existing institutions. For the first time in the history of China, two political parties peacefully struggled for supremacy, each content to depend on argument and truth for the victory. The contest soon grew too bitter, however, and the accession of a new monarch, Shin-tsung, enabled AVang to dispossess his opponents and manage State affairs as he pleased.
After a trial of eight or ten years the voice of the nation restored the conservatives to power, and the radicals were banished beyond the frontier. A discussion like this, involving all the cherished ideas of the Chinese, brought out deep and acute inquiry into the nature and uses of things generally, and the Avriters of this dynasty, at the head of Avhom was Cliu Hi, made a lasting impression on the national mind.
The two sons of Shin-tsung were unable to oppose the northern
hordes of Liau and Ilia, except by setting a third aspirant against
both. These were the Niu-chih or Kin,’ the ancestors of the
present Man’chus, who carried away llwui-tsung as a captive in
1125, and his son too the next year, pillaging Lohyang and
possessing themselves of the region north of the Yellow Kiver.
This closed the Northern Sung. The Kin established themselves
at Peking in 1118, whence they were driven in 1235 by Genghis
Khan, and fled back to the ancestral haunts on the Songari and
Liau Itivers,
XXIII.
—
Southern Song dynasty forms part of the preceding, for Kao-tsung, the brother of the last and ninth monarch of the weakened house of Northern Song, seeing his capital in ruins, fled to Nanking, and soon after to the beautiful city of Hangzhou on the eastern coast at the mouth of the Qiantang River.
‘ Two graves of the Kin monarchs exist on a hill west of Fangshan hien, fifty miles south-west of Peking; they were repaired by Kanghi. Dr. Busliell visited them in 1870.
THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN SUNG. 175
Nanking was pillaged by the Kin, but Ilangeliau was too far for
tliem. It gradually grew in size and strength, and became a
famous capital. Kao-tsung resigned in liG2, after a reign of
tliirty-SiX years, and survived his abdication twenty-four years.
The next Emperor was Iliao-tsung, who also resigned the yellow
to Kwang-tsung, his son, and he again yielded it to his son Ningtsung.
This last, in his distress, called the rising Mongols into his
service in 1228 to help against the Kin. The distance from the
northern frontier, wdiere the Mongols were flushed with their
successes over the Tangouth of Ilia at Kinghia in 1226, was too
far for them to aid Xing-tsung at this time. He was, however,
relieved from danger to himself, and the Mongols deferred their
intentions for a few years. From this date for about fifty years
the Sung grew weaker and weaker under the next five sovereigns,
until the last scion, Ti Ping, was drowned with some of
his courtiers, one of whom, clasping him in his arms, jumped
from the vessel, and ended their life, dignity, and dynasty together.
It had lasted one hundred and fifty-two years under nine monarchs, who showed less ability than those of Northern Song, and were all much inferior as a whole to the house of Tang. Their patronage of letters and the arts of peace was unaccompanied by the vigor of their predecessors, for they were unwilling to leave the capital and risk all at the head of their troops. It is the genius and philosophy of its scholars that has made the Sung one of the great dynasties of the Middle Kingdom.
XXIV.—The Yuan dynasty was the first foreign sway to which the Sons of IJan had submitted; their resistance to the army, which gradually overran the country, was weakened, however, by treachery and desultory tactics until the national spirit was frittered away. During the interval between the capture of Peking by Genghis and the final extinction of the Sung dynasty, the whole population had become somewhat accustomed to Mongol rule. Having no organized government of their own, these khans were content to allow the Chinese the full exercise of their own laws, if peace and taxation were duly upheld.
Kublai had had ample opportunity to learn the character of his new subjects, and after the death of Mangu khan in 1260 and his own establishment at Peking in 1261, he in fifteen years brought his vast dominions under a nietliodical sway and developed their resources more than ever. Though faihng in his attempt to eon(pier Japan, ho enlarged elsewhere his vanishing frontiei’S (hiring his life till they could neither be dehned nor governed. His patronage of merit and scholarship proves the good results of his tu*:elage in China, while the short-lived glory of his administration in other hands chielly proved what good material he
had to work with in China in comparison with his own race.’
He was a vigorous and magnificent prince, and had, moreover,
the advantage of having his acts and splendor related by Marco
Polo—a chronicler worthy of his subject. The Grand Canal,
which was deepened and lengthened during his reign, is a lasting
token of his sagacity and eidightened policy. An interesting
monument of this dynasty, erected in 1315, is the gat^
way in the Kii-yung kwan (pass) of the Great Wall north of
Peking. Upon the interior of this arch is cnt a Buddhist charm
in six different kinds of character—Mongolian, Chinese, Oigour,
antifjue Devanagari, Niu-chih, and Tibet m.”
After the Grand Khan’s death the ]^[ongols retained their power under the reign of Ching-tsung, or T’imur khan, a grandson of Kublai, and Wu-tsung, or Genesek khan,’ a nephew of the former, but their successors met with opj^osition, or were destroyed by treachery. The offices were also filled with Mongols, without any regard to the former mode of conferring rank according to literary qualifications, and the native Chinese began to be thoroughly dissatisfied with a sway in which they had no part.
The last and eleventh, named Ching-tsung, or Tohan-Timur, came to the throne at the age of thirteen, iind gave himself up to pleasure, his eunuchs and ministers dividing the possessions and offices of the Chinese among themselves and their adherents.
‘See ‘Remusa.t,’ JVbuvemix Melanges, Tomes I., p. 437; TI., pp. 64, 88, and SOOT, for a series of notices concerning the Mongol generalii and history.
‘Compare Wylie in the R. A. Sor. Join;, Vol. V. (N.S ), i>. 14; Fergusson, Hint. Ind. iind Kitxt. Airhittrtiirc, p. 708 ; YuU^^’s Polo, I., pp. ’28, 400.
^ This should be Kaishaii-kuUuk klian, caUed Kdi-mnrj in (Jhinese. Remusat, Nouveaux MelanycH, Tome II., pp. 1-4.
<iATEWAY OF THE YUEN UYNASTV, KL-YUNti KWAN, OKEAT WALL THE Sin’REMACY OF THE MONGOLS. 177
This conduct aroused his subjects, and Chu Vuen-cluing, a plebeian by birth, and formerly a i)riest, raised the standard of revolt, and finally expelled the Mongols, a.d. 136S, after a duration of eighty-nine years.’
Like most of the preceding dynasties, the new one established
itself on’ the misrule, luxury, and weakness of its predecessors;
the people submitted to a vigorous rule, as one which exhibited
the true exposition of the decrees of Heaven, and npheld its
laws and the harmony of the universe ; while a weak sovereign
plainly evinced his usurpation of the ” divine utensil ” and unfitness
for the post by tlie disorders, famines, piracies, and
insurrections which afflicted the mismanaged State, and which
were all taken by ambitious leaders as evidences of a change in
the choice of Heaven, and reasons for their carrying out the new
selection which had fallen on them. Amid all the revolutions
in China, none have been founded on principle ; they were mere
mutations of masters, attended with more or less destruction of
life, and no better appreciation of the rights of the subject or
the powers of the rulers, Xor without some knowledge of the
high obligations man owes his Maker and himself is it easy to
see whence the sustaining motive of free religious and political
institutions can be derived.
XXY. The Ming, i.e., ‘ Bright dynasty.’—The character of Hongwu, as Zhu Yuan-zhang called his reign on his accession, has been well drawn by Remusat, who accords him a high rank for the vigor and talents manifested in overcoming his enemies and cementing his power. He established his capital at banking, or the ‘ Southern Capital,’ and after a reign of thirty years transmitted the sceptre to his grandson, Kienwtin, a youth of sixteen. Yungloh, his son, dissatisfied with this arrangement, overcame his nephew and seized the crown after five years, and moved the capital back to Peking in 1403. This prince is distinguished for the code of laws framed under his auspices, which has, with some modifications and additions,
ever since remained as the basis of the administi-ation. During
the reign of Kiahtsing the Portuguese came to China, and in that
of Wanleih, about 1580, the Jesuits gai-ned an entrance into the
‘ One of the causes of their easy overthrow is stated to have been the enormous robbery of the people by the lavish issue of paper money, which at last became worthless.
country. In his time, too, the Niu-cliih, or Kin, whom Gen*
ghis liad driven away in 1235, again became numerous and
troublesome, and took possession of the northern frontiers.
The first chieftain of the Manchus who attained celebrity was
Tienming, who in 1618 published a manifesto of his designs
against the house of Ming, in which he announced to Heaven
the seven things he was bound to revenge. These consisted of
petty oppressions upon persons passing the frontiers, assisting
his enemies, violating the oath and treaty of peace entered intc
between the two rulers, and killing his envoys. The fierce nomad
had already assumed the title of Emperor, and ” vowed to celebrate the funeral of his father with the slaughter of two hundred thousand Chinese.” Tienming overran the north-eastern parts of China, and committed unsparing cruelties upon the
people of Liautung, but died in 1627, before he had satisfied
his revenge, leaving it and his army to his son Tientsung.
The Chinese army fought bravely, though unsuccessfully,
against the warlike Manchus, whose chief not only strove to
subdue, but endeavored, by promises and largesses, to win the
troops from their allegiance. The apparently audacious attempt
of this small force to subdue the Chinese was assisted by numerous
bodies of rebels, who, like wasps, sprung up in various
parts of the country, the leaders of each asserting his claims to
the throne, and all of them i-endering their common country an
easier prey to the invader. One of them, called Li Zhi-cheng, attacked Peking, and the last Emperor Hwai-tsung, feeling that he had little to hope for after the loss of his capital, and had already estranged the affections of his subjects by his ill conduct, first stabbed his daughter and then hung himself, in 1643, and ended the house of Ming, after two hundred and seventy six years. The usurper received the submission of most of the eastern provinces, but the Chinese general. Wu San-gui, in command of the army on the north, refused to acknowledge him, and, making peace with the Manchus, invoked the aid of Tsungteh in asserting the cause of the rightful claimant to the throne. This was willingly agreed to, and the united army marched to Peking and speedily entei-cd the capital, which the rebel chief had left a heap of ruins when he took away his booty. The Manchus now declared themselves the rulers of the Empire, but their chief dying, his son Shunzhi, who at the age of six succeeded his father in 16-1-t, is regarded as the Urst Emperor; his uncle, Aina-wang, ruled and reorganized the administration in his name.
TTIE :\IINrr DYNASTY. ^79
XXVI. The Qing,’ i.e. ‘ Pure dynasty.’—During the eighteen
years he sat upon the throne Shunchi and his officers subdued
most of the northern and central provinces, but the maritime
regions of the south held out against the invaders, and
one of the leaders, by means of his fleets, carried devastation
along the whole coast. The spirit of resistance was in some
parts crushed, and in others exasperated by an order for all
Chinese to adopt as a sign of submission the Tartar mode of
shaving the front of the head and braiding the hair in a long
queue. Those M’ho gave this order, as Davis remarks, must
have felt themselves very strong before venturing so far upon
the spirit of the conquered, and imposing an outward universal
badge of surrender upon all classes of the people. ” Mar.y are
the changes which may be made in despotic countries, without
the notice or even the knowledge of the larger portion of the
community ; but an entire alteration in the national costume
affects every individual equally, from the highest to the lowest,
and is perhaps of all others the most open and degrading mark
of conquest.” This order M’as resisted by many, who chose to
lose their heads rather than part with their hair, but the mandate
was gradually enforced, aud has now for about two centuries
been one of the distinguishing marks of a Chinese, though
to this day the natives of Fuhkien near the seaboard wear a
kerchief around their head to conceal it. The inhabitants of
this province and of Kwangtung held out the longest against
the invaders, and a vivid account of their capture of Canton,
Kovember 20, 1650, where the adherents of the late dynasty had
intrenched themselves, has been left us by Martini, an eyewitness.
Some time after its subjugation a brave man, Ching Chi-hmg, harassed them by his fleet ; and his son, Ching
‘ For the origin of the Manchus see Klaproth, Memoires sur VAsie, Tome I.,p. 441.
(“]iirio:-kniiir, or Koxiiiiia, molested the coast to fiicli a dcijiee
that the Emperor Kanghi, in 1665, ordered all the people to retire
three leagues inland, in order to prevent this heroic man
from reaching them. This command was generally obeyed,
and affords an instance of the singular nnxture of power and
weakness seen in many parts of Chinese legislation ; for it
might be supposed that a government which could compel its
maritime subjects to leave their houses and towns and go into
the country at great loss, might have easily armed and equipped
a fleet to have defended those towns and homes. Koxinga,
finding himself unable to make any serious impression upon
the stability of the new government, went to Formosa, drove
the Dutch out of Zealandia, and made himself master of tho
island.’
Shunchi died in 1661 and was succeeded by his son Kanghi/
who was eight years old at his accession, and remained under
guardians till he was fourteen, when he assumed the reins of
government, and swayed the power vested in his liands with a
prudence, vigor, and success that have rendered him more celebrated
than almost any other Asiatic monarch. It was in 1661
that Louis XIY. had assumed the sovereignty of France at al)out
the same age, and for fifty -four years the reigns of these two
monarchs ran paralleL During Kanghi’s unusually long reign
of sixty-one years (the longest in Chinese annals, except Taimao
of the Shang dynasty, b.c. 1637-1562), he extended his dominions
to the borders of Kokand and Badakshan on the west, and to the confines of Tibet on the south-west, simplifying the administration and consolidating his power in every part of his vast dominions. To his regulations, perhaps, are mainly owing the unity and peace which the Empire has exhibited for more than a century, and which has produced the impression abroad of the unchangeableness of Chinese institutions and character.
‘ Compare tho interesting translation from a Chinese record of the capture of Fort Zealandia, by H. E. Ilobson, Journal of JV. C. Br. /?. A. Society, Xo. XL, Art. L, 1876.
– Rimusat, Nouveaiu Mehinges, Tome II., pp. 21-44 : Bouvet, FAfe of Kany hi; Gutzlaff, Life of Kanghi.
THE MANCIIUS—THE EMPEROP. KAXOIlf. 181
This may be ascribed, chiefly, to his indefatigable application to all affairs of State, to his judgment and penetration in the choice of officers, his economy in regard to himself and liberal magnificence in everything that tended to the good of his dominions, and his sincere desire to promote the happiness of his people by a steady and vigorous execution of the laws and a continual watchfulness over the conduct of his hiirh officers. These qualities have perhaps been unduly extolled hy his foreign friends and biographers, the liomish missionaries, and if their expressions arc taken in their strictest sense, as we understand them, they do elevate him too high. lie is to be
compared not with Alfred or AVilliam III. of England, Louis IX.
or Henry TV. of France, and other European kings, hut with
other Chinese and Asiatic princes, few of whom equal him.
The principal events of his long reign are the conquest of the
Eleuths. and subjugation of several tribes lying on the north and
south of the Tien shan ; an embassy across the Kussian Possessions
in 1713 to the khan of the Tourgouth Tartars, preparatory
to their return to the Chinese territory ; the settlement of
the northern frontier between himself and the czar, of which
Gerbillon has given a full account ; the survey of the Empire by
the Romish missionaries ; and the publication of a great thesaurus
of the language. In many things he showed himself liberal toward foreigners, and the country was thrown open to their commerce for many years.
His son Yungching succeeded in 1T22, and is regarded by many natives as superior to his father. He endeavored to suppress Christianity and restore the ancient usages, which had somewhat fallen into desuetude during his father’s sway, ami generally seems to have held the sceptre to the benefit of his subjects. Yungching is regarded as an usurper, and is sr.id to have changed the figure four to fourteen on the billet of nomination, himself being the fourteenth son, and the fourth being absent in Mongolia, where he was soon after arrested and imprisoned, and subsequently died in a palace near Peking; whether he was put to death or not is uncertain. Kienlung succeeded Yungching in 1736, and proved himself no unworthy descendant of his grandfather Ivanghi ; like him he had the singular fortune to reign sixty years, and for most of that period in peace’ Some local insurrections disturbed the general trauquilliry, principally among the al)(»rigiiies in I-‘ormosa and Tvweiclian, and in an nnprovolved attack upon IJirmali his armies sustained a signal defeat and were obliged to retreat. The incursions of the Xipalese into Tibet induced the Dalai Lama to apply to him for assistance, and in doing so he contrived to establish a guardianship over the whole country, and place bodies of troops in all the important positions, so that in effect lie annexed that vast region to his Empire, but continued the lamas in the internal administration.
During his long reign Xieidnng exhausted the resources of
his Empire by building useless edifices and keeping up large
armies. lie received embassies from the liussians, Dutch, and
English, bv which the character of the (“hinese and the nature of
their country became better known to western nations. These
end)assies greatly strengthened the im|)ression on the side of the
Chinese of their superiority to all other nations, for they looked
upon them as a(;knowledgments on the })art of the governments
Avho sent them of their allegiance to the court of Peking. The
presents were regarded as tribute, the ambassadors as deputies
from their masters to acknowledge the su]’)reniacy of the Emperor,
and the requests they made for trade as rather another form
of receiving presents in return than a mutual arrangement for a
trade equally beneficial to both. Ivienlung abdicated the throne
in favor of his fifth son and retired with the title of S’fjwe/Jie
Km/peroi\ while liis son, Kiaking, had that of Enq)eror.
The character of this prince was dissolute and superstitious, and his reign of twenty- five years was much disturbed by secret combinations against the government and by insurrections* and
‘ His character and enthusiasm for literary pursuits merit, on the whole, the lines inscribed by the Roman Catholic missionaries beneath his portrait in the Memoircs cone, leu Ghinois:
Occup sans relache a touts les soins divers
D’lin gouvcrncment qu’on admire,
Le i)lus gran<l potentat qui soit dans I’univors
Et le mcillcur l(>ttr6 qui soit dans son Empire.
‘ Among the most serious of these was the revolt oP the Peh lien kiao. Zr<-tres EfHpirdcx, Tome III., pp. 201-29S, ;55;5, 879, etc. In 1789 the ladronea infested the southern coasts. //>., Tome II., p. 493.
THE llEIGNS OF KIEXLUNG AND TAUKWANG. ]83
pirates in and about the Empire. A conspiracy’ against him
broke out in tlie pahice in 1813, where he was for a time in
some danger, but was rescued by the courage of his guard and
family ; one of liis sons, Mien-ning, was designated as his successor
for liis bravery on this occasion. A fleet of about sixhundred
piratical junks, under Ching Yih and Chang Pan, infested
the coasts of Kwangtung for several years, and were at
last put down in ISIO by the provincial government taking
advantage of internal dissensions between the leaders. The
principal scene of the exploits of this fleet was the estuary of
the Pearl lliver, whose numerous harbors and chaimels afforded
shelter and escape to their vessels when pursued by the imperialists,
while the towns upon the islands were plundered and
the inhabitants killed if they resisted. The internal government
of this audacious band was ascertained by two Englishmen,
Mr. Turner and Mr. Glasspoole, who at different times fell into
their hands and were obliged to accompany them in their marauding
expeditions. To so great a height did they proceed
that the governor of Canton went to Macao to reside, and entered
into some arrangements with the Portuguese for assistance
in suppressing them. The piratical fleet was attacked and blockaded
for ten days by the combined forces, but without much
damage ; there was little prospect of overcoming them had not
rivalry between the two leaders gone so far as to result in a
severe engagement and loss on both sides. The conquered pirate
soon after made his peace with the government, and the
victor shortly afterward followed the same course. The story
of those disturbed times to this day affords a fj-equent subject
for the tales of old people in that region, and the same waters
are still infested by the ” foam of the sea,” as the Chinese term
these freebooters.
The reign of Kiaking ended in 1820; by the Emperor’s will his second son was appointed to succeed him, and took the style Taukwang. lie exhibited more energy and justice than his father, and his efl^orts purified the administration by the personal supervision taken of their leading members. His reign was marked by many local insurrections and disasters in one quarter or another of his vast dominions. A rebellion in Turkestan in 1S28 was attended with great cruelty and treachery on the part of the Chinese, and its leader, Jehangir, was murdered, in v^iolation of the most solenm promises. An insurrection in Formosa and a rising among the mountaineers of Kwangtung, in 1830-32, were put down more by money than by force, but as peace is both the end and evidence of good government in China, the authorities are not very particular how it is brought about.
The rapid increase of opium-smoking among his people led
to many efforts to restrain this vice by prohibitions, penalties,
executions, and other means, but all in vain. The Emperors
earnestness was stimulated by the death of his three eldest sons
from its use, and the falling off of the revenue by smuggling
the pernicious drug. In 1837-38 the collective opinion of the
highest officials was taken after hearing their arguments for
legalizing its importation ; it was resolved to seize the dealers in
it. The acts of Commissioner Lin resulted in the war with
Great Britain and the opening of China to an extended intercourse
with other nations. Defeated in his honest efforts to
protect his people against their bane, the Emperor still fulfilled
Ids treaty obligations, and died in 1850, just as the Tai-ping rebellion
broke out.
His fourth son succeeded him under the style of Hienfung,
but without his father’s earnestness or vigor when the State
required the highest qualities in its leader. The devastations
of the rebels laid waste the southern half of the Empire, and
their approach to Peking in 1853 was paralyzed by tioods and
want of supplies more than by the imperial troops. A second
war with Great Britain, in 1858-60, completely broke down the
seclusion of China, and at its conclusion an inglorious reign of
eleven years ended at Jeh-ho in August, 1860. His only son
succeeded to the throne at the age of five years, under the style
of Tungchi ; the government being under the control of two
Empress-regents and Prince Kung, his uncle. During his reign
of twelve years the vigor of the new authoi’ities succeeded in
completely quelling the Tai-ping rebellion, destroying the Mohammedan
rising in Yunnan and Kansidi, and opening up
diplomatic intercourse with the Treaty Powers. Just as the
IIEIGNS AND EVENTS OF RECENT YEARS. 185
Emperor l)e<;un to exercise his authoi’ity, lie died in JamuuT,
1875, without issue. The vacant “utensil” has been filled by
the appointment of his cousin, a boy of four yeai’s, whose reii^n
was styled Kwangsii. Affairs continue to be conducted by
the same regency as before, now still more conversant with the
new relations opening up with other lands. The real Enipressilowager, or Tioig Kung^ died April IS, 1881.
So far as can be judged from the imperfect data of native
historians of former days, compai’ed with the observations of
foreigners at present, there is little doubt that this enormous
population has been better governed by the Manchus than under
the princes of the Ming dynasty; there has been more vigor in
the administration of government and less palace favoritism
and intrigue in the appointment of officers, more security of
life and property from the exactions of local authorities, bands
of robbers, or processes of law ; in a word, the Manchu sway
has well developed the industry and resources of the country,
of which the population, loyalty, and content of the people are
the best evidences.
The sovereigns of the Ming and Tsing dynasties, being more
frequently mentioned in history than those of former princes,
are here given, with the length of their reigns. For convenience
of reference a table of the dynasties is appended, taken
from the author’s SijllabiG Dlctionanj of the Chinese Language.
In this list, compiled from a Chinese work (the Digest of the
Reigns of Emperors and Kings\ the Tsin and After Tsin dynasties
are joined in one (No. 4), making a total of twenty-six dynasties.’
The whole number of acknowledged sovereigns in the twentysix
dynasties, according to the recei\ned Chinese chronology,
from Yu the Great to Kwangsii, is 238, or 246 commencing with
Fuh-hi ; by including the names of some ursurpers and moribund
claimants, the first number is increased to 250. From Yu
the Great lo th-^ accession of Kwangsii (b.c. 2205 to a.d. 1875)
is 4,080 years, which gives to each dynasty a duration of 157
‘ Compare the Chinese Chronological Tables by W. P. Mayers in N. C Br. R. A. S. Journal, No. IV., Art. VIII. , 1867.
Kwoh Hiao, or Reigiiing Title.
Miao Hiao, or Temple Title.
Began ‘Length
I
to I of
I
Reign. Reign.
Contemporary Monarchs.
1. Hungwu
2. Kieiiwan. . ..
3. Yungloh . . ..
4. Hunglii
5. Siuentih
6. Chingtung .
7. Kingtai
8. Chinghwa. ..
9. Hungchi
10. Chingtih….
11. Kiahtsing. .
12. Lungking…
13. Wanleih ….
14. Taichang ..
15. Tienki
16. Tsungching
1. Shunchi’ ….’. Kanghi
“. Yimgching .
. Kienlung . .
i. Kiaking
6. Taukwaiig..
7. Hienfuiig . .
S. Tungchi
.). Kwangsii – .
Taitsu
Kienwan ti . .
,
Taitsnng
Jintsung
Siuentsung. . .
.
Yingtsung . . .
,
Kingti ,
Hientsung . . .
,
Hiaut.suiig . . .
VVutsung
Shi’tsung
Muhtsung. …
Shintsung
Kwangtsung .
Hitsung ,
Hwaitsung. .
.
Chang hwaiigti.
Jin hwangti . .
Hien hwangti .
.
8hun hwangti.
Jui hwangti . . .
Ching hwangti .
Hien hwangti .
1368
1398
1403
1425
1426
1436
1457
1465
1488
1506
1522
1567
1573
1620
1621
1638
1644
1()62
1723
1736
1796
1821
1851
1862
1875
30
5
22
1
10
21
8
23
18
16
45
6
47
1
7
16
18
61
13
60
25
30
11
12
Tamerlane, Richard II., Robert II.
Manuel-Paleologus, Henrj’ IV. of Eng.
Jame.s I., Henry V., Martin V.
\ Amuratli II., Henry VI., Charles VII.
‘( Albert II., Cosmo de Medicis.
James II., Fred. III. of Aus., Nich. V.
Mahomet II , Edward IV., SixtuslV.
JamesIII. ,Ferd. and Isabella, Lonis XI.
Bajazet II., James IV., Henry VII.
James V., Henry VIII., Charles V.
Solyman II.,^lary, Philip II., Henry IL
yelim II., Klizabeth, Cregory 111.
James I., Henry IV., Louis XIII.
Othman II., Philip IV., Gregory XV.
Amurath IV., Charles I., Urban VIII
Innocent X., Frederick the Great.
Mahomet IV., Cromwell. Louis XIV.
Charles II., Clement IX.. Sobioskv.
Mahomet V., George II.. Lonis XV.
Osman III., George III., Clement XIV
Seiim III., Napoleon, Fred. Wm. II.
Mahmoud, George IV., Louis XVIII.
Mahmond, Victoria, Louis XVIII.
I Napoleon III., Alexander II.
Dynasty.
1. Hla
2. Shang
3. Chau
4. Tsin
r). Han
6. East Han . .,
7. After Han.
8. T.sin ,
9. East Tsin .
10. Sung
11. Tsi
12. Liang
13 Chin
14. Sui
15. Tang
16. After Liang
17. After Tang
18. After T.sin.
19. After Han.
20. After Chau
21. Sung
22. South Sung
23. Yuen
24. Ming
25. Tsing
Number of Sovereigns. Began. Ended. Duration
Seventeen, averaging 26 years to each monarch’s reign
Twenty-eight, averaging 23 years
Thirtj’- four, averaging 253.j years
Two, one reigning 37 years, the second 3 years.
Fourteen, averaging 163,., years
Twelve, averaging 16’^ years
Two, one reigning 2, the other 41 years
Four, averaging 1 4}{ years
Eleven, averaging about 9J^ years
Eight, averaging 7}£ years
Five, averaging 4% years
Four, one 48 years, and thiee together 7 years.
Five, averaging about 6 ‘ ., years
Three, one reigning 16, another 12, and another 2 years . . . :
Twenty, averaging 1 43^ years
Two. one 8 and one 7 years
Four, averaging 33^ years
Two, one 7 ami one 3 years
Two, one 3 years, another 1 year
Three, averaging 3 years
Nine, averaging 183^2 years
Nine, averaging 17 years
Nine, averaging \)% years
Sixteen, averaging 1 7 years
Eight up to 1875, averaging nearly 30 years .
.B.C.;3205 1766 1122 255 206 221 265 323 420 4791 5021 557 589 I
620 i 907 923 936 947
951 960
1127
1280
1368
1644
n.c.
1766
1122
255
206
.D. 25
231
264
322
419
478
502
556
589
619
907
923
936
946
951
960
1127
1280
1368
1644
439
644
807
40
231
196
43
57
106
58
23
54
32
30
287 16 13 10 4 9 167 153 88 276
‘ ShuiK^hi and the four fiiUowinpr monarchs are namwd in Manchu, Chidzuoldimbiikh6, Elkhetaitin, ivhowaligiisDMii tob, Abkai wekhiyekhu, and Siiichunga fungchuii, respectively.
‘^ Kwangsu was born August 14, 1871.TABLES OF M0NARCTI3 AND DYNASTIES. ]y7
years, and to eacli moiiarcli an average of 17] years. From Wu wang’s accession to Kwangsii is 2,1>UT years, giving an avei-age of 125 years to a dynasty and 151 toeacli sovereign. From the days of Menes in Egypt, n.c. 2710 to 331, Manetlio reckons 31 dynasties and 378 kings, which is about 77 years to each family and G^ to each reign. In England the 34 sovereigns from William I. to Victoria (a.d. lOGO to 1837) averaged 22| years each; in Israel, the 23 kings from Saul to Zedekiah averaged 22 years during a monarchy of 50 7 years.
CHAPTER XVIII. RELIGION OF THE CHINESE
As results must have their proportionate causes, one wishes to know what are the reasons for the remarkable duration of the Chinese people. Why have not their institutions fallen into decrepitude, and this race given place to others during the forty centuries it claims to have existed? Is it owing to the geographical isolation of the land, which has prevented other nations easily reaching it? Or have the language and literature unified and upheld the people whom they have taught? Or, lastly, is it a religious belief and the power of a ruling class working together which has brought about the security and freedom now seen in this thrifty, industi-ions, and practical people? Probably all these causes have conduced to this end, and our present object is to outline what seems to have been their mode of operation.
The position of their country has tended to separate them from other Asiatic races, even from very early times. It compelled them to work out their own institutions without any hints or modifying interference from abroad. They seem, in fact, to have had no neighbors of any importance until about the Christian era, up to which time they occupied chiefly the basin of the Yellow River, or the nine northern provinces as the Empire is now divided. Till about b.c.220 feudal States covered this region, and their quarrels only ended by their subjection to Tsin Chi Ilwangti, or the ‘Emperor First,’ whose strong hand molded the people as he led them to value security and yield to just laws. He thus prepared the way for the Emperors Wan ti (B.C. 179-1.50) and Wu ti (b.c. 140-86), of the Han dynasty, to consolidate, during their long reigns of twenty-nine and fifty four years, their schemes of good government.
ISOLATION OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 189
The four northern provinces all lie on the south-eastern slope of the vast plateau of Central Asia, the ascent to which is confined to a few passes, leading nj) live or six thousand feet through mountain defiles to the sterile, bleak plains of Gobi. This desolate region has always given subsistence to wandering nomads, and enough to enable traders to cross its o;i’assv M’astes. When their numbers increased they burst their borders in periodical raids, ravaging and weakening those M’hom they were too few to conquer and too ignorant to govern. The Chinese were too unwarlike to keep these tribes in subjection for long, and never themselves colonized the region, though the attempt to ward off its perpetual menace to their safety, by building the Great Wall to bar out their enemies, proves how they had learned to dread them. Yet this desert waste has proved a better defense for China against armies coming from the basin of the Tarini River than the lofty mountains on its west did to ancient Persia and modern Russia. It was easier and more inviting for the Scythians, Iluns, Mongols, and Turks successively to push their arms westward, and China thereby remained intact, even when driven within her own borders.
The western frontiers, between the Kiayil Pass in Kansuh, at the extreme end of the Great Wall, leading across the country south to the island of Hainan, are too wild and rough to be densely inhabited or easily crossed, so that the Chinese have always been unmolested in that direction. To invade the eastern sides, now so exposed, the ancients had no fleets powerful enough to attack the Middle Kingdom ; and it is only within the present century that armies carried by steam have threatened her seaboard.
The Chinese have, therefore, been shut out by their natural defenses from both the assaults and the trade of the dwellers in India, Tibet, and Central Asia, to that degree which would have materially modified their civilization. The external influences which have molded them have^ been wholly religious, acting through the persistent labors of Buddhist missionaries from India. These zealous men came and went in a ceaseless stream for ten centuries, joining the caravans entering the northwestern marts and ships trading at southern ports.
In addition to this geographical isolation, the language of the Chinese has tended still more to separate them intellectually from their fellow-men. It is not strange, indeed, that a symbolic form of writing should have arisen among them, for the Egyptians and Mexicans exhibit other fashions of ideographic writing, as well as its caprices and the difficulty of extending it. But its long-continued use by the Chinese is hardly less remarkablethan the proof it gives of their independence of other people in mental and political relations. Outside nations did not care to study Chinese books through such a medium, and its possessors had, without intending it, shut themselves out of easy interchange of thought. This shows that they could not have had much acquaintance in early times with any alphabetic writing like Sanscrit or Assyrian, for it is almost certain that, in that case, they would soon have begun to alter their ideographs into syllables and letters as the Egyptians did ; while the manifest advantages of the phonetic over the symbolic principle would have gradually insured it:j triumph. In that case, howevei”, the rivah’ies of feudal States would have resulted, as in Europe, in the formation of different languages, and perhaps prevented the growth of a great Chinese race. In Jajmi: and Corea the struggle between symbols and sounds has long existed, and two written languages, the Chinese and a derivel demotic, are now used side by side in each of those kingdoms.
Tills isolation has had its disadvantageous effects on the people thus cut off from their fellows, but the results now seen could not otherwise have been attained. Their literary teiulencies could never have attained the strength of an institution if they had been surrounded by more intelligent nations ; nor would they have tilled the land to such a degree if they had been forced to constantly defend themselves, or had imbibed the lust of conquest. Either of these conditions would probably have brought their own national life to a premature close.
ITS PEOPLE UNAFFECTED BY FOREIGN THOUGHT. 101
Isolation, however, is merely a potential factor in this question. It does not by itself account for that life nor furnish the reasons for its uniformity and endurance. These must be sought for in the moral and social teachino:s of their sages and great rulers, who have been leaders and counsellors, and in the character of the political institutions which have grown out of those teachings. A comparison of their national characteristics with those of other ancient and modern people shows four striking contrasts and deductions. The Chinese may be regarded “^ “^Xj as the only pagan nation which has maintained democratic “•^’^ -‘^- habits under a purely despotic theoiy of government. This government has respected the rights of its subjects by placing
them under the protection of law, with its sanctions and tribu- ~”-^-^-a,^;_
iials, and nuxking the sovereign amenable in the popular mind -^i-^T-,^.,.^
for the continuance of his sway to the approval of a higher ^^
Power able to punish him. Lastly, it has prevented the doniina- ^f*
tion of all feudal, hereditary, and priestly classes and interests by
making the tenure of officers of government below the throne
chiefly depend on their literary attainments. Kot a trace of
Judaistic, Assyrian, or Persian customs or dogmas appears in
Chinese books in such definite form as to suggest a western
origin. All is the indio-enous outcome of native ideas and habits.
The real religious belief and practices of a heathen people are
hard to describe intelligibly to those who have not lived among
them. Men naturally exercise much freedom of thought in such
matters, and feel the authority of their fellow-men over their
minds irksome to bear ; and though it is comparatively easy to
depict their religious ceremonies and festivals, their real belief
—that which constitutes their religion, their trust in danger and
guide in doubt, their support in sorrow and hope for future I’c
ward—is not rpiickly examined nor easily described. The want
of a well understood and acknowledged standard of doctrine,
and the degree of latitude each one allows himself in his observance
of rites or belief in dogmas, tends to confuse the inquirer
; while his own diverse views, liis imperfect knowledge,
and misapprehension of the eifect which this tenet or that ceremony
has upon the heart of the worshipper, contribute still
further to embarrass the subject. This, at least, is the case with
the Chinese, and notwithstanding what has been -written upon
their religion, no one has very satisfactorily elucidated the true
nature of their belief and the intent of their ritual. The reason
is owing partly to the indefinite ideas of the people themselves
upon the character of their ceremonies, and their consequent inability to give a clear notion of them ; partly also to the
variety of observances found in distant parts of the country, and
the discordant opinions entertained by those belonging to the
same sect ; so that what is seen in one district is sometimes
utterly unknown in the next province, and the opinions of one
man are laughed at by another.
Before proceeding with the present outline two negative featni’es of Chinese religion deserve to be noticed, which distinguish it from the faith of most other heathen nations. These are the absence of human sacrifices and the non- deification of vice. The prevalence of human offerings in almost all ages of the world, and among nations of different degrees of civilization, not only widely separated in respect of situation and power, but flourishing in ages remote from each other, and having little or no mutual influence, has often been noticed. Human sacrifices are offered to this day in some parts of Asia, Africa, and Polynesia, which the extension of Christian instruction and power has, it is to be hoped, greatly reduced and almost accomplished the extinction of; but no clear record of the sacrificial innnolation of man by his fellow, “offering the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul,” has been found in Chinese annals in such a shape as to carry the conviction that it formed part of the belief or practice of the people—although the Scythian custom of burying the servants and horses of a deceased prince or chieftain
with him was perhaps observed before the days of Confucius,
and may have been occasionally done since his time. This feature,
negative though it be, stands in strong contrast with the
appalling destruction of human life for religious reasons, still
existing among the tribes of Western and Central Africa, and
recorded as having been sanctioned among Aztecs and Egyptians,
Hindus and Carthaginians, and other ancient nations, not
excepting Syrians and Jews, Greeks and Romans.
The other, and still more remarkable trait of Chinese idolatry,
is that there is no deification of sensuality, which, in the name
of religion, could shield and countenance those licentious rites
and orgies that enervated the minds of worshippers and polluted
their hearts in so many other pagan countries. No Aphrodite
or Lakshmi occurs in the list of Chinese goddesses ; no weeping
VICE NEYEE SAXCTIFTED. 193
for Thaiiinmz, no exposure in the temple of Mylitta or obscene rites of tlie Durga-puja, have ever been required or sanctioned by Chinese priests ; no nautch girls as in Indian temples, or courtesans as at Corinth, are kept in their sacred buildings. Their speculations upon the dual powers of the yln and yang have never degenerated into the vile worship of the linya and yonl of the Hindus, or of Amun-kem, as pictured on the ruins of Thebes.
Although they are a licentious people in word and deed, the
Chinese have not endeavored to lead the votaries of pleasure,
falsely so called, further down the road of ruin, by making its
path lie through a temple and trying to sanctify its acts by pntting
them under the protection of a goddess. Nor does their
mythology teem with disgusting relations of the amours of
their deities ; on the contrary, like the Romanists, they exalt and
deify chastity and seclusion as a means of bringing the soul and
body nearer to the highest excellence. Vice is, in a great
degree, kept out of sight, as well as out of religion, and it may
be safely said tluit no such significant sign as has been uncovered
at Pompeii, with the inscription IIlc habitat felioitas, was ever
exhibited in a Chinese city.
To these traits of Cliinese character may be added the preservative features of their regard for parents and superiors and their general peaceful industry. If there be any connection between the former of these virtues and the promise attached to the fifth commandment, ” That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” then the long duration of the Chinese people and Empire is a stupendous monument of the good effects of even a partial obedience to the law of God, by those who only had it inscribed on their hearts and not written in their hands.
The last point in the Chinese polity which has had great nifluence in preserving it is the religious beliefs recognized by the people and rulers. There are three sects (san jiao), which are usually called Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, or Rationalism; the first is a foreign term, and vaguely denotes the belief of the literati generally, including the State religion. These three sects do not interfere with each other, however, and a man may worship at a Buddhist shrine or join in a Taoist festival while he accepts all the tenets of Confucius and worships him on State occasions ; much as a lawyer in England may attend a Quaker meeting or the Governor of a State in America may be a Methodist minister. In China there is no generic term for
religion in its usual sense. The word I’kio, which means ‘ to
teach,’ or ‘doctrines taught,’ is applied to all sects and associations
having a creed or ritual ; the ancestral worship is never
called a Mao, for everybody observes that at home just as much
as he obeys his parents ; it is a duty, not a sect.
Xo religious system has been found among the Chinese which
taught the doctrine of atonement by the shedding of blood ; an
argument in favor of their antiquity. The State religion of
China has had a remarkable history and antiquity, and, though
modified somewhat during successive dynasties, has retained its
main features during the past three thousand years. The simplicity’
and purity of this w^orship have attracted the notice of
irjany foreigners, who have disagreed on various points as to its
nature and origin. Their discussions have brought out sundry
most interesting details respecting it ; and whoever has visited
the great Altar and Temple of Heaven at Peking, where the
Emperor and his courtiers worship, must have been impressed
with its simple grandeur. What \vas the precise idea connected
svith the words tien, ‘heaven,’ and hirang tien, ‘imperial
heaven,’ as they were used in ancient times, is a very difficult
point to determine ; the worship rendered to them was probably
of a mixed sort, the material heavens being taken as the most
sublime manifestation of the power of their Maker, whose
character was then less obscured and unknown than in after
times, when it degenerated to Sabianism.
These discussions are not material to the present subject, and
it is only needful to indicate the main results. The prime idea
in this worship is that the Emperor is Tien-tsz\ or ‘ Son of
Heaven,’ the coordinate with Heaven and Earth, from whom he
directly derives his right and power to rule on earth among\
mankind, the One Man who is their vicegerent and the third of
the trinity {san tsai) of Heaven, Earth, and Man. With these
ideas of his exalted position, he claims the homage of all his
fellow-men. He cannot properly devolve on any other mortal
THE 8TATK KKLKilOX OF CIIIXA. 195
his functions of their high priest to offer the oblations on the
altars of Heaven and Earth at Peking at the two solstices, lie
is not, therefore, a despot bj mere power, as other rulers are,
but is so in the ordinance of nature, and the basis of his authority
is divine. lie is accountable personally to his two superordinate
powers for its record and result. If the people suffer from
pestilence or famine he is at fault, and must atone by prayer, sacrifice, and reformation as a disobedient son. One defect in all human governments—a sense of responsibility on the part of rulers to the God who ordains the powers that be—has thus been partly met and supplied in China. It has really been a check, too, on their tyranny and extortion; for the very books which contain this State ritual intimate the amenability of the sovereign to the Powers who appointed him to rule, and hint that the people will rise to vindicate themselves. The officials, too, all springing from the people, and knowing their feelings, hesitate to provoke a wrath which has swept away thousands of their number.
The objects of State worship are chiefly things, although persons
are also included. There are three grades of sacrifices, the
great, medlinn, and inferior, the last collectively called klun sz\
or ‘ the crowd of sacrifices.’ The objects to which the great
sacrifices are offered are only four, viz.: t’ten, the heavens or sky,
called the imperial concave expanse ; t’l, the earth, likewise
dignified with the appellation imperial ; tai Triiao, or the great
temple of ancestors, wherein the tablets of deceased monarchs
of this dynasty are placed ; and, lastly, the t^hii t-n/i, or gods of
the land and grain, the special patrons of each dynasty. The
tablets representing these four great objects are placed on an
equality by the present monarchs, which is strong presumptive
proof that by tien is now meant the material heavens.
The medium sacrifices are offered to nine objects: The sun,
or ” great light,” the moon, or ” night light,” the manes of the
emperors and kings of former dynasties, Confucius, the ancient
patrons of agriculture and silk, the gods of heaven, earth, and
the cyclic year. The first six have separate temples erected for
their worship in Peking. The inferior herd of sacrifices are
offered to the ancient patron of the healing art and the innumerable spirits of deceased pliilanthropists, eminent statesmen, martyrs to virtue, etc.; clouds, rain, wind, and tlnnider; the five celebrated mountains, four seas, and four rivers; famous hills, great watercourses, flags, triviaj, gods of cannon, gates, queen goddess of earth, the north pole, and many other things.
The State religion has been so far corrupted from its ancient simplicity, as given in the Shic King and Li K’i, as to include gods terrestrial and stellar, ghosts infernal, flags, and cannon, as well as idols and tablets, the efiigies and mementoes of deified persons.
The personages who assist the Emperor in his worship of the four superior objects, and perform most of the ceremonies, belong to the Imperial Clan and the Board of Rites; but while they go through with the ceremony, he, as pontifex maxinnis^ refuses to pay the same homage that he demands of all who approach him, and puts off these superior Powers with three kneelings and nine profound bows. When he is ill, or in his minority, these services are all forborne, for they cannot properly be done by a substitute. When he worships Heaven he wears robes of a blue color, in allusion to the sky; and when he worships earth he puts on yellow to represent the clay of this earthly clod ; so, likewise, he wears red for the sun and pale
white for the moon. The princes, nobles, and officers who assist
are clad in their usual court dresses, but no priests or women
are admitted. The worship of Yuenfi, the goddess of silk, is
alone, as we have seen, conducted by the Empress and her court.
The temple of the sun is east, and that of the moon west of the
city, and at the eqninoxes a regulus, or prince of the Impei’ial
Clan, is commissioned to perform the requisite ceremonies and
oft’er the appointed sacrifices.
The winter solstice is the great day of this State worship.
The Emperoi- goes from his palace the evening before, draM-n
by an elephant in his state car and escorted by about two thousand
grandees, princes, musicians, and attendants, down to the
Tem})le of Tlcaveii. The cortege passes out by the southern
road, reaching the Ching Yang Gate, opened only for his Majesty’s
use, and through it goes on two miles to the Tien Tan.
ile first repairs to the Chai Ktmg, or ‘ Palace of Fasting,’
WORSHIP OF IIKAVEX BY THE KMFEKOR. 197
where he prepares himself by lonely meditation for his duty;” for the idea is that if there be not pious thoughts in his mind the spirits of the unseen will not come to the sacrifice.”
To assist him he looks at a copper statue, arraj-ed like a Taoist priest, whose mouth is covered by three fingers, denoting silence, while the other hand bears a tablet inscribed with ‘ Fast three days.’ When the worship commences, and all the officiating attendants are in their places, the animals are killed, and as the odor of their burning flesh ascends to convey the sacrifice to the gods, the Emperor begins the rite, and is directed at every step by the masters of ceremonies. The worship to Heaven is at midnight, and the numerous poles around the great altar, and the fires in the furnaces shedding their glare over the marble terraces and richly dressed assembly, render this solemnity most striking.’
The hierophants in this worship of nature, so lauded by some
infidels, are required to prepare themselves for the occasion by
fasting, ablutions, change of garments, separation from their
wives and pleasurable scenes, and from the dead ; “for sickness
and death defile, while banqueting dissipates the mind and unfits
it for holding communion with the gods.” The sacrifices
consist of calves, hares, deer, sheep, or pigs, and the offerings
of silks, grain, jade, etc. Xo garlands are placed on the victim
when its life is taken, nor is the blood sprinkled on any particular
spot or article. ” The idea is that of a banquet ; and when
a sacrifice is performed to the supreme spirit of Heaven, the
honor paid is believed by the Chinese to be increased by inviting
other guests. The Emperors invite their ancestors to sit at
the banquet with Shangti. A father is to be honored as heaven,
and a mother as earth. In no way could more perfect revei’-
ence be shown than in placing a father’s tablet on the altar with
that of Shangti.” To these remarks of Dr. Edkins explanatory
of this union of the objects worshipped, it may be added that the
Emperors regard their predecessors of every dynasty as still invested
with power in Hades, and therefore invoke their blessing
and presence by sacrifice and prayers.
‘ Compare the frontispiece of Volume I. ; also ibid. , p. 76.
The statutes annex penalties of fines or blows in various degrees of punishment in case of informality or neglect, but “in these penalties there is not the least allusion to any displeasure of the things or beings worshipped ; there is nothing to be feared but man’s wrath—nothing but a forfeiture or a fine.”
Heavier chastisement, however, awaits any of the common people or the unauthorized who should presume to state their wants to high Heaven or worship these objects of imperial adoration; strangulation or banishment, according to the demerits of the case, would be their retribution. The ignob’de vulyus may worship stocks and stones in almost any form they please, but death awaits them if they attempt to join the Son of Heaven, the Vicegerent of Heaven and Earth, in his adorations to the supposed sources of his power.’
In his capacity of Vicegerent, High Priest, and Mediator between his subjects and the higher Powers, there are many points of similarity between the assumptions of the Emperor and of the Pope at Rome. The idea the Chinese have of heaven seems to be pantheistic, and in worshipping heaven, earth, and terrestrial gods they mean to include and propitiate all superior powers. If, as seems probable, the original idea of Shangti, as it can be imperfectly gleaned from early records, was that of a supreme Intelligence, it has since been lost. Of this worship, the effects in China upon the nation have been both positive and negative. One of the nearative influences has been to dwarf the State hierarchy to a complete nullity—to prevent the growth of a class which could or did use the power of the monarchy to strengthen its own hold upon the people as their religious advisers, and on the government as a necessary aid to its efiiciency.
^ Chinese ‘Repomtory, Vol. III., pp. 49-5:?. Dr. J. Edkins, Rcl/’r/innfi of China, Chap. II. ; this chapter, on Imperial Worship, gives a good account of these ceremonies.
NO STATE IIIEKARCIIY IN CHINA. 199
The High Priests of China love power and adulation too well to share this worship with their subjects, and in engrossing it entirely they have escaped the political evils of a powerful hierarchy and the people the combined oppressions of a church
Legge’s NotioriH of the Chinese concerning God and Spirits, pp. 23-36»41-43, for the forms of pra_)er used
and State. We have seen that the popular rights which are so plainly taught in the classics have been inculcated and perpetuated by the common school education ; we shall soon see, moreover, that the ancestral worship could not admit the interference of priest, altar, or sacrifice outside of the door-posts. Yet it is probable that all combined would have been too weak to resist
the seductive influence of a hierarchy in some form, if it had not
been that the Emperor himself would yield his own unapproachable
grandeur to no man. Being everything in his own person,
it is too much to expect that he is going to vacate or reduce his
prerogative, surrender his right to make or degrade gods of every
kind for his subjects to M’orship, weaken his own prestige, or mortify
the pride of his fellow-worshippers, the high ministers of
State. The chains of caste woven in India, the fetters of the Inquisition
forged in Spain, the silly rites practised by the augurs
in old Rome, or the horrid cruelties and vile worship once seen
in Egypt and Syria—in each case done under the sanction of the
State—have all been wanting along the Yellow River, and
spread none of their evils to hamper the rule of law in China.
This State religion is, therefore, a splendid and wonderful
pageant ; but it can no more be called the religion of the Chinese
than the teachings of Socrates could be termed the faith
of the Greeks. It is, however, intimately connected with the
Ju klao, or ‘ Sect of the Learned,’ commonly called Confucianists
by foreigners, because all its members and priests are
learned men who venerate the classical writings. It is somewhat
inappropriate to designate the Ju Mao a religious sect, or
regard it otherwise than as a comprehensive term for those who
adopt the writings of Confucius and Chu Hi and their disciples.
The word jtt denotes one of the literati, and was first adopted a.d. 1150, as an appellation for those who followed the speculations of Chu Hi regarding the tal I’ih, or ‘ Great Extreme.’ This author’s comments on the classics and his metaphysical writings have had greater influence on his countrymen than those of any other person except Confucius and Mencius; whose works, indeed, are received according to his explanations.
The remarks of Confucius upon religious subjects were very few ; he never taught the duty of man to any higher power than the head of the State or family, though he supposed himself commissioned by heaven to restore the doctrine and usages of the ancient kings. lie admitted that he did not understand much about the gods ; that they were beyond and above the comprehension of man ; and that the obligations of man lay I’ather in doing his duty to his relatives and society than in worshipping spirits unknown, “Not knowing even life,” said he, “how can we know death ? ” and when his disciples asked him in his last illness whom he would sacrifice to, he said he had already worshipped. Chu Hi resolved the few and obscure references to Shangti in the S/m Ivlng into pure materialism; making nature to begin with the tal I’lh, cidlcd pre7)iierjjrlnci2)e v/afe/’ui by the French, which operating upon itself resolved itself into the dual powers, the i/ln. and yM>(/.
Sir John Davis compares this production of the yin and yan^ to the masculo-feminine principle in the development of the mundane egg in the Egyptian cosmogony, and quotes an extract showing that the idea was entertained among the Hindus, and that the androgyn of Plato was only another form of this myth. The Chinese have also the notion of an egg, and that the iai k’lh was evolved from it, or acted like the process of hatching going on in it, though it may be that with them the introduction of the egg is more for the sake of illustration than as the form of the cause. Some of Chu Hi’s philosophical notions have already been quoted in Volume I.’ His system of materialism captivates his countrymen, for it is far nioi’c thoroughly worked out than any other, and allows scope for the vagaries of every individual who thinks he understands and can apply it to explain whatever phenomena come in his M-ay. Heat and cold, light and darkness, fire and water, mind and matter, every agent, power, and substance, known or supposed, are regarded as endued with these principles, which thus form a simple solution for every question.
‘ Pp. 68? ff. CaiioD McClatrhic lias made a careful iraiif^lation of Chapter XLIX. of his works, giving hi^ views on cosmogony.
THE JU KIAO, OR SECT OF THE LEARNED. 201
The infinite changes in the universe, the multiform actions and reactions in nature, and all the varied consequences seen and unseen are alike easily explained by this form of cause and effect, this ingenious theory of evolution. With regard to the existence of gods and spirits, Chu Hi affirmed that sufficient knowledge was not jiossessed to say positively that they existed, and he saw no difficulty in omitting the subject altogether—a species of agnosticism or indifferentism, therefore, which has become the creed of nearly the entire body of educated men in the Empire.
His system is also silent respecting the immortality of the soul, as well as future rewards and punishments. Virtue is rewarded and vice is punished in the individual or in his posterity on earth ; but of a separate state of existence he or his disciples do not speak.
Tn thus disposing of the existence of superior powers, the philosophers do not shut out all intelligent agencies, but have instituted a class of sages or pure-minded men of exalted intellects and simple hearts, wdio have been raised up from time to time by Heaven, Shangti, or some other power, as instructors and examples to mankind, and who therefore deserve the reverence of their fellows. The office of these shing jin, ‘perfect men’ or saints, is to expound the will of heaven and earth ; they did not so much speak their own thoughts as illustrate and settle the principles on which the world should be governed ; they were men intuitively wise without instruction, while common people must learn to be wise. Of all the saints in the calendar of the f/w Jciao Confucius is the chief ; with him are reckoned the early kings, Yao and Shun, with King Wan and his two sons Kuig AVu and Duke Chau; but China has produced no one since the “most holy teacher of ancient times” whom his proud
disciples are willing to regard his equal—Mencius being only a “number two saint.” The deceased Emperors of the reigning dynasty are canonized as its efficient and divine patrons, but a new line of monarchs would serve them as they did their predecessors, by reducing them to mere spirits. The demonolatry of the learned has gradually become so incorporated with popular superstitions that there is now little practical distinction; every one is willing to worship whatever can promise relief or afford assistance.
A student of the classical works naturally adopts theit views on these points, without supposing that they militate against worshipping his ancestors, joining the villagers in adoring the goddess of Mercy or any other Buddhistic idol, or calling in a Rationalist to write a charm. He also, on coming into office, expects to perform all the ex-officio religious ceremonies required of him, and add the worship of the Emperor to the rest.
Every magistrate is officially required to perform various idolatrous
ceremonies at the temples. The objects of worship arc
numerous, including many others besides those forming tlio
” herd of inferior sacrifices/’ and new deities are frequently made
by the Emperor, on the same principle that new saints are canonized
by the Pope. The worship of certain hills and rivers, and
of spirits supposed to preside over particular cities and districts,
has prevailed among the Chinese from ancient times, long before
the rise of Rationalism or introduction of Buddhism, and is no
doubt the origin of this official worship. In every city the
Chiny-hivcmg miao, i.e., ‘ City and Moat Temple,’ contains the
tutelar divinity of the city called Ching-hwang, with other gods,
and here on the solstices, equinoxes, new and full moons, etc.,
officers repair to sacrifice to it and to the gods of the land and
grain. Over the door of the one in Canton is written, “Right*
and wrong, truth and falsehood are blended on eai’th, but all are
most clearly distiiiguished in heaven.” C^apt. Loch thus describes
the Ching-hwang miao at Shanghai, as it stood in’ 1842: In the centre of a serpentine sheet of water there is a rocky island, and on it a large temple of two stories, litted up for the accommodation of the wealthy puhlic Pillars of carved wood support the roof, fretted groups of uncouth figures fill up the narrow spaces, while movable lattices screen the occupants from the warmth of the noonday sun. Nothing can surpass the beauty and truth to nature of the most minutely carved flowers and insects prodigally scattered over every screen and cornice. This is the central and largest temple. A number of other light aerial-looking structures of the same form are perched upon the corners of artificial rocky precipices and upon odd little islands. Light and fanciful wooden bridges connect most of these islands, and are thrown across the arms of the serpentine water, so that each secjuestered spot can be visited in turn. At a certain passage of the sun the main temple is shaded in front by a rocky eminence, tht^ large masses of which are connected with great art and propriety of taste, but in shape and adjustment most studiously grotesque.
RELKilors DCTIKS OF MAGISTRATES. 203
Trees and flowers and tufts of grass are planted where art must have been taxed to the utmost to procure them a lodgment. In another part of the garden there is a miniature wood of dwarf trees, with a dell and waterfall; the leaves, fruit, and blo.ssoms of the trees are proportionate to their size. Tortuous pathways lead to tlu> toj) of tlic artificial mountain, each turn formed with studied art to surprise and charm by offering at every point fresh views and objects. Flowers and creepers sprout out from crevices, trees hang over the jutting crags, small pavilions are seen I’roni almost every vista, while grottoes and rocky recesses, shady bowers and labyrinths, are placed to entrap the unwary, each with an appropriate motto, one inviting the wanderer to repose, another offering a secluded retreat to the philosopher.’
Official Chinese records euunierate 1560 temples dedicated to Confucius attached to the examination halls, the offerings presented in which are all eaten or used by the worshippers; there are, it is said, 02,006 pigs, rabbits, sheep, and deer, and 27,000 pieces of silk, annually offered upon their altars.^ The municipal temple is not the only one where officers worship, but, like the connnon people, they bow before whatever they think can aid them in their business or estates. It has already been stated that the duty of Chinese officers extends to the securing of genial seasons by their good administration, and consequently if bad harvests ensue or epidemics rage the fault and removal of the calamity belong to them. The expedients they resort to are both ludicrous and melancholy. In 1835 the prefect of Canton, on occasion of a distressing drousi-ht of eio;ht months, issued the following invitation, which would have better befitted a chieftain of the Sechuanas:
Pan, acting prefect of Kwangchau, issues this inviting summons. Since for a long time there has been no rain, and the prospects of drought continue, and supplications are unanswered, my heart is scorched with grief. In the whole province of Kwangtung, are there no extraordinary persons who can force the dragon to send rain V Be it known to you, all ye soldiers and people, that if there be any one, whether of this or any other province, priest or such like, who can by any craft or arts bring down abundance of rain, I respectfully request him to ascend the altar [of the dragon], and sincerely and reverently pray. And after the rain has fallen, I will liberally reward him with money and tablets to make known his merits.
‘ Events in China, p. 47. London, 1843.
– During the Han dynasty (a.d. 59) wine was drunk and sacrifices made to Confucius in the study halls. The victim offered was a dog. Biot, Eumi»ur VTmtructiou eii Chine, p. 168.
This invitation called forth a Buddhist priest as a “rain maker,” and the prefect erected an altar for him before his own office, upon which the man, armed with cymbal and wand, for three days vainly repeated his incantations from morning to night, exposed bareheaded to the hot sun, the butt of the jeering crowd. The prefect himself was lampooned by the people for his folly, the following quatrain being pasted under a copy of his invitation :
Kwangchaii’s grecat protector, the magnate Pan,
Always acting without regard to reason ;
Now prays for rain, and getting no reply,
Forthwith seeks for aid to force the dragon.The unsuccessful eiforts of the priest did not render the calamity less grievous, and their urgent necessities led the people to resort to every expedient to force their gods to send rain. The authorities forbade the slaughter of animals, or in other words a fast was proclaimed, to keep the hot winds out of the city, the southern gate was shut, and all classes flocked to the temples. It was estimated that on one day twenty thousand persons went to a celebrated shrine of the goddess of Mercy, among whom were the Governor and Prefect and their suites, who all left their sedans and walked with the multitude. The Governor, as a last expedient, the day before rain came, intimated his intention of liberating all prisoners not charged with capital offences. As soon as the rain fell the people presented thank-offerings, and the southern gate of the city was opened, accompanied by an odd ceremony of burning off the tail of a live sow^ while the animal was held in a basket.
The officers and literati, though acknowledging the folly of
these observances, and even ridiculing the worship of senseless
blocks, still join in it. As an example of this : In 18G7 a
severe drought near Peking called forth a suggestion from a
censor that if a white tiger were sacrificed by the Emperor to
the dragon the rain would be libei-ated ; for ” it was his powerful
enemies which kept the rain-god fi’oni acting.’” Wrmsiang
was deputed to perform the rite ; rain came not many days
later. The offieci- laughed, indeed, at the fancy, yet could not
disenthrall himself from some degi-ee of belief in its efficacy.
Devotees sometimes become ii-ritated against theii- gods, and
resort to sunnnary means to force them to hear their petitions.
STATE KELIGION AND THE CLASSICS. 205
It is said that the Governor in Canton, having I’epeatedly ascended
in a time of drouglit to the temple of the god of Ilaia
dressed in his burdensome robes, through the heat of a tropical
sun, on one of his visits said : ” The god supposes I am
lying when I beseech his aid ; for how can he know, seated in
his cool niche in the temple, that the ground is parched and the
sky hot V Whereupon he ordered his attendants to put a rope
around his neck and haul his godship out of doors, that he
might see and feel the state of the weather for himself. After
his excellency had become cooled in the temple the idol was
reinstated in its shrine, and the good effects of this treatment
were deemed to be fully proved by the copious showers which
soon after fell. The Emperor himself on such occasions resorts
to unusual sacrifices, and sends his relatives and courtiers almost
daily to various temples to pray and burn incense. Imperial
patronage of the popular superstitions is sought after by the
officers in one way and another to please the people, but it does
not involve much outlay of funds.’ One connnon mode is to
solicit his Majesty for an inscription to be placed over the doorway
of a temple, or memorialize him to confer a higher title upon the god. On occasion of a victory over the rebels in Kwangtung in 1822, the shrine of a neighboring deity, supposed to have assisted in obtaining it, received a new title commemorative of the event, and a temple was built for him at the expense of government.
The combined effect of the State religion and classical writings, notwithstanding their atheism and coldness, has had some effect in keeping the people out of the swinish ditch of pollution. It is one of their prime tenets that human nature is originally virtuous, and becomes corrupt entirely by bad precept and example.
‘Klaproth cites (among many) an instance of the manner in which favorable angnries are regarded and made use of by officials. Memoiren siir l*Asu’, Tome T., p. 459.
This is taught children from their earliest years, and officers refer repeatedly to it in their exhortations to obedience; its necessary results of happiness, if carried out, are illustrated by trite comparisons drawn from common life and general experience. The Chinese seldom refer to the vengeance of tha gods or future punishment as motives for reform, but to the well-being of individuals and good order of society in this world.
Examples of this type of human perfection, fully developed, are constantly set before the people in Confucius and the ancient kings he delineates. The classical tenets require duties that carry their own arguments in their obedience, as well as afford matter of thought, while the standard books of Buddhists and Rationalists, where they do not reiterate the same obligations, are mostly filled with unprofitable speculations or solemn nonsense.
Consequently the priests of those sects had only the superstitious fear of the people to work wpon where reason was at fault, and so could not take the whole man captive ; for his reason accorded with the teaching of the classics as far as they went, and only took up with divination and supplication of higher powers where their instructions ceased. The government, therefore, being composed chiefly of such people, educated to venerate pure reason, could not be induced to take the initiatory step of patronizing a religion of such an uncertain character, and confessedly inferior in its moral sanctions to what they already possessed. The current has, more or less, always set this way, and the two other sects have been tolerated when they did not interfere with government. It is too true that the instructions of Confucius and his school are imperfect and erroneous when measured by the standard of revelation, and the people can never emerge from selfish atheism and silly superstition as long as they have nothing better; but the vagaries of the Buddhists neither satisfy the reason nor reprove vice, nor does their celibate idleness benefit society. If the former be bad, the latter is worse.
SECT OF RATIONALISTS, OR TAO KIA. 207
The sect of the nationalists, or Tao I’la^ is derived from Lautsz’, or Lau-kiun. According to the legends he was born bTc.004, in Ku, a hamlet in the kingdom of Tsu, supposed to lie in Luh-yeh hien, in the provin(!e of Ilonan. His birth was fiftyfour years before Confucius. The story is that he had white hair and eyebrows at his birth, and was carried in the womb eighty years, whence he was called Lau-tsz\ the “old boy,’ and Lau-kiun, the ‘venerable prince.’ Nothing reliable about hia early life has come down to us, but, as was the case with Hesiod, his disciples have enveloped his actions and cliaracter in a nimbus of wonders. M. Julien has given a translation of their history, dated about a.d. 350, in liis version of the Tao Teh King.
Pauthier says he was appointed librarian by the Emperor, and diligently applied himself to the study of the ancient books, becoming acquainted with all the rites and histories of former times. During his life he is repoi’ted to have journeyed west-ward, but the extent and duration of his travel are not recorded, and even its occurrence is reasonably doubted. De Guignes says he went to Ta Tsin, a country under the rule of the Romans, but he forgets that the Romans had not then even concpiered Italy ; some suppose Ta Tsin to be Judea. His only extant work, the Tao Teh King, or ‘ Canons of Reason and Virtue,’ ‘ was written in Ling-pao, in Honan, before his travels, but whether the teachings contained in it are entirely his own or were derived from hints imported from India or Persia cannot be decided. It contains only five thousand three hundred and twenty characters, divided into eighty one short chapters; the text of one edition is said to have been found in a tomb A.D. 574. It has been translated by Julien, Chalmei’s, and von Strauss. A parallel has been suggested between the sects of the Rationalists of China, the Zoroastrians of Persia, Essenes of Judea, Gnostics of the primitive church, and the eremites of the Thebaid, but a common source for their similarity—the desire of their members, after the sect had become recognized, to live without labor on the credulity of their fellowmen—explains most of the likeness, without supposing thafc their tenets were derived from each other.
‘ Perhaps this may be rendered as the Logos of Plato, as near as any dogma can be compared to it.
The teachings of Lao-zi are not unlike those of Zeno; botji recommend retirement and contemplation as the most effectual means of purifying the spiritual part of our nature, annihilating the passions, and finally returning to the bosom of Dao. His teachings on the highest subjects of human thought have furnished his countrymen ample materials for the most diverse views on these same themes according to their various fancies.
In his striving after the infinite he can only describe Dao by what it is not and delineate 71A as an ideal virtue which no man can attain to. In Chapter XXI. they are thus blended: “The visible forms of the highest Teh only proceed from Tao^ and Tao is a thing impalpable, indefinite. How indefinite! How impalpable ! And [yet] therein are forms indefinite, impalpable! and [yet] therein are things (or entities). Profound and indistinct too, and [yet] therein are essences. These essence; are profoundly real, and therein faith is found. From of old till now its name has never passed away. It gives issue to all existences at their beginnings. How [then] can I know the manner of the beginning of all existences ? I know it by this
lTa6\P
Such teachings are susceptible of almost any explanation, and Julien’s extracts from the commentaries give one some idea of their diversity, though probably much well worth reading still lies buried in their pages. The names of sixty-four commentators are known, of whom three were reigning emperors ; and their explanations have given their countrymen veiy doubtful guidance through this mystic book. To those who can compare its aspirations and dogmas with the speculations of Greek and Roman writers, the teachings of the Zendavesta, and the declarations of the Bible, the work of Lao-Zi becomes of immense interest.
His countrymen, however, to whom these great writers were all unknown, have looked upon this system of philosophy rather as the reveries of a wise man than the instructions of a practical thinker.
In Wiapter I. he tries to define tao. It is reaching after the
imknown. ” The too which can be expressed is not the eternal
tao- the name which can be named is not the etei’nal name. The
Nameless [being] is before heaven and earth ; when named it
is the mother of all things. Therefore, to be constantly passionless
is to be able to see its spiritual essence; and to be constantly
passionate is to see the forms (or limits) [of tao’\. These two
conditions are alike but have different names ; they can both be
called a mystery. The more it is examined into the moi’O
mysterious it is seen to be. It is the gate of all spiritual
things.” By the phrases “constantly passionless” and “constantly passionate ‘ are denoted non-existence and existence, according to the commentators.
THE TAO-TKir KING OF LAU-TSZ’. 209
In Chapter LXV. there is a similar striving to describe teh.
” In olden times those who practised tdo did not do so to enlighten
the people, but rather to render them simple-minded.
When the people have too mnch worldly wisdom it makes them
hard to govern. lie who encourages this worldly wisdom in
the government of a State is its misfortune ; as he who governs
without it is its blessino-. To know ario;lit these two things is to have a model State; and the constant exhibition of this ideal is what I call sublime tc/t. This sublime virtue [teh] is profound, is incommensurable, is opposed to time-serving plans. If followed it will bring about a state of general accord.”
In Chapter XX. the lonely cynic seems to utter his sad cry at
the little progress of his teachings. “All men are full of ambitious
desires, like those greedy for the stalled ox, or the high
delights of spring time. 1 alone am calm ; my affections have
not yet germinated ; I am as a new-born babe which has not yet
smiled on its mother. I am forlorn as one who has no home.
All others have and to spare, I alone am like one who has lost
all. In mind I am like a fool ; I am all in a maze. Common
people are bright enough ; I am enveloped in darkness. Common
people are sagacious enough ; I am in gloom and confusion.
I toss about as if on the sea ; I float to and fro as if I was never
to rest. Others have something they can do ; I alone am good
for nothing, and just like a lout. I am entirely solitary, differing from other men in that I glory in my Mother who nurses [all beings].”
The main object kept in view throughout this work is the inculcation of personal virtue, and Lao-zi founds his argument for its practice in the fitness of things, as he tries to prove by referring all the manifestations and laws of mind and matter to the unknown factor Dao. In Chapter IV. he attempts to embody lus struggling thoughts in these few words describing Dao:
” Tao is a void ; still if one uses it, it seems to be inexhaustible.
How profound it is ! It seems like the patriarch of all things.
It softens sharp things, loosens tangled things, harmonizes bril
liant things, and assimilates itself to worldly things of the dust.
How tranquil it is ! It seems to endure perpetually. I know
not whose son it is. It seems so have existed before T’l [or
Shangti].”
Such utterances as these carry neither comfort nor repentance to the sorrowing, sinful heart of man ; he cannot go to such an abnegation for guidance or relief in his troubles, and therefore the maxims of Lau-tsz’ have fallen on callous hearts. Another extract. Chapter XLIX., is, however, more practical ; it is not the only one which furnishes instruction of the highest character.
” The perfect man [.s/iui(/Ju)’] has no immutable sentiments of
his own, [for] he makes the mind of mankind his own. He who
is good, I would meet with goodness ; and he who is not good,
I would still also meet with goodness ; [for] teh is goodness.
He who is sincere I would meet with sincerity ; and he who is
insincere, I would still also meet with sincerity ; [for] teh is
sincerity. The perfect man dwells in the world calm and reserved,
his soul preserving the same I’cgard for all mankind.
The people all turn their eyes and ears toward him, and he regards them alike as his children.”
In order to better understand these aphorisms, they need to be read with the help of the various commentaries ; these furnish us with a better estimate of their value than any other guides. Foreign writers necessarily judge such a work by their own higher standard; as does M. Pauthier when he remarks upon the last extract : ” La sagesse humaine ne pent ctre jamais exprime des paroles plus saintes et plus profondes.” He compares Lau-tsz’ to his own countryman Rousseau—and these two had a good deal in common in their sad reflections upon the evils of the times. In another place the French author goes
even farther, and regards the vague expressions in Chapter XLH.,
“which show their derivation from the Yi/i K’in<i—viz. : ” Tao
produced one, one produced two, two produced thiee, and three
produced all things “—as the Asiatic form of the docti-ine and
procession of the Holy Trinity and the biblical idea of the reunion
of good men with their Maker I
ITS SPECULATIONS AND APHORISMS. 211
One more extract from the Tao teh K’ukj will till the space at command ; but sententious apothegms like these in Chapter XXXIII. are scattered throughout the book : ” He who knows men is wise ; [while] he who knows himself is perspicacious. He who conquers men is strong ; [while] he who conquers himself is mighty. lie who knows when he has enough is rich. He who acts energetically has a fixed purpose in view. He who does not miss his nature endures ; [while] he who deceases and still is not extinct has immortality “—referring, as the commentators agree, to the life of the soul after it leaves the body.
Such a work can hardly be accurately translated into a European language ; a perusal of all the translations enables one to appreciate this point. Some translators have missed the point of Lau-tsz’s teachings by not attending to the parallelisms running through them, where one limb of the couplet illustrates and defines the other. In conclusion, it is still true that the absence of clear exposition on the duties of men in their marital, parental, and fraternal relations ; the want of all instruction upon their obligations and rights as members of the family, the village, and the State ; and lastly, his silence upon the voice of conscience and the effects of sin upon the soul of man, show that Lau-tsz’ was more an ascetic than a philanthropist, more of a metaphysician than a humanitarian.
Mr. Samuel Johnson has indicated the high position this ancient relic holds in his examination of its tenets. ” Nothing like this book exists in Chinese literature ; nothing, so far as yet known, so lofty, so vital, so restful at the roots of strength; in structure as wonderful as in spirit ; the fixed syllabic characters, formed for visible and definite meaning, here compacted into terse aphorisms of a mystical and universal wisdom, so subtly translated out of their ordinary spheres to meet a demand for spiritual expression that it is confessedly almost impossible to render them with certainty into another tongue. … It is a book of wonderful ethical and spiritual simplicity, and deals neither in speculative cosmogony nor in popular superstitions.
It is not the speculations of an old philosopher, as Chalmers calls it. It is in practical earnest, and speaks from the heart and to the heart. Its religion resembles that of Fenelon or Thomas a ICeinpis, combined with a perceptive rationalism of which they were iu)t masters.” ‘
The historian Sima Qian relates an interview which Confucius had with LaoZi when, at the age of thirty-four (u.c. 517), he visited the capital to study the ritual of ^tate worship, at which time the latter would be eighty-seven years old. Dr. Legge gives an account of this meeting, which it is to be wished could be better known, for the account is not very certain. The legendary history amplifies it largely, but in no extravagant style, and quite consonant to their diiferent characters. Si’ma Qian makes the elder lecture the younger philosopher in the following style: “Those whom you talk about are dead, and their bones mouldered to dust ; only their words remain. When the superior man gets his time, he mounts aloft; but when the
time is against him, he moves as if his feet were entangled. I
have heard that a good merchant, though he has rich treasures
deeply stored, appears as if he were poor ; and that the superior
man whose virtue is complete is yet to outward seeming stupid.
Put away your proud air and many desires, your insinuating
habit and wild will. They are of no advantage to you. This
is all which I have to tell you.” To the reply of Confucius,
that he liad sought to get tao for twenty years, and had sought
in vain, Lau-tsz’ rejoined in a strain worthy of Diogenes, which
Chwang-tsz’ thus reports : ” If tao could be offered to men,
thei’e is no one who would not willingly offer it to his prince;
if it could be presented to men, everybody would like to present
it to his parents; if it could be announced to men, each man
woul^l gladly announce it to his brothers; if it could be handed
down to men, who would not wish to transmit it to his children ? Why theii can you not obtain it ? This is the reason. You are incapable of giving it an asyhnn in your heart.”‘
‘ Johnson, Oriental Relujions : China, pp. 862-8G5. Pautliier, La Chine, pp. 110-120. Chahuers, Speculations of the Old Plnkisopher. Julien, J^a, JAvrcde la Vote et de la Vertu, Paris, 1859 ; this last is the most scholarly work on tliia classic which has yet appeared. R. von Reinhold, Dcr TlVr/ zur Tagend, Leipzig, 1870. Victor von Strauss, Lao-TsVs Tao Te King, Ans deni ChineS’ imhen ins Deutsche ilhersetzt, Leipzig, 1870. See also Doolittle’s Vocalndanj, Vol. II., Part III. T. Watters, Lao-Tzu, A Study in Chinese Philosophy, Hongkong, 1870. Dr. Edkins in Transactions of N. C. Br. R A. S. for 1H.’)5, Art. IV. F. H. Balfour, Chiianfj 7’sze’s Divine Cktssic of Nan-hi/ d, i^ha.uii\ia.\, 1881.
INTEP.VIEW 75ETAVKEN LAU-TSZ’ AND CONFUCIUS. 213
Such speculative teachings and waiting till the times were
good were not adapted to entertain or benefit, and Confucius
understood his countrymen and his own duty nmch better than
Lau-tsz\ in doing all he could by precept and practice to show
them the excellence of what he believed to be right. The divergence
of these two great men sprung from the diiferences in
human minds in all climes and ages. The teachings of the
Tao-teh King, however, are no more responsible for the subsequent
organization and vagaries of the sect of Taoists down to
the present time than the New Testament is for the legends of
monkery or the absurdities of mystics. M. Bazin has endeavored
to show that in China there has been, from early times,
a progression from magic to mythology, from mythology to
philosophy ; and when philosophy began to crystallize into parties
and take on an organized discipline of sects, during and
after the Ilan dynasty down to the Tang, they took up the old
native mj’thology against the newly arrived Buddhists, and imitated
them by adopting Lau-tsz’ as their god and his book as the
foundation of their tenets. Previous to this period he was one
among the philosophers of the Flowery Land ; in time he has
been taken as the founder of a system of religion. If the Gnostics
had deified Lucretius and taken his poem as their text-book
the cases would have been similar.
The earliest writers on Taoism are Chwang-tsz’ and Lih-tsz’ in
the fourth century, Avho have been amplified by their followers.
It is, as Wylie well observes, diflficult to educe a well-ordered
system out of the motley chaos of modern Taoism, Mdiere the
pursuit of immortality, the conquest of the passions, a search
after the philosopher’s stone, the use of amulets, and the observance
of fasts and sacrifices before gods, are mixed with the
profound speculations of recluses upon abstruse questions of
theology and philosophy. Some of the later writers of the
Taoists discourse upon Reason in a way that would please
Brownson and befit the pages of the Dial. The teachings of
the ancient and modern transcendentalists are alike destitute of common sense and unproductive of good to their fellow-men.
‘ Legge, CMnese Classics, I. Proleg., p. C5. Julieii, Tno-te King, Int., p. xxvii.
Dr. Medlmrst quotes one of the Chinese nationalists, who praises reason in a marvelous rhapsody :
What is there superior to heaven, and from which heaven and earth sprang ? Nay, what is there superior to space and which moves in space ?The great Tao is the parent of space, and space is the parent of heaven and
earth, and heaven and earth produced men and things. . . . The venerable
prince -(Reason) arose prior to the great original, standing at the commencement
of the mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep obscurity.
He is spontaneous and self-existing, produced before the beginning of emptiness,
commencing prior to uncaused existences, pervading all heaven and
earth, whose beginning and end no years can circumscribe.
The sectarians suppose their founder was merely an impersonation
of this power, and that he whom they call ” the venerable
prince, the origin of primary matter, the root of heaven
and earth, the occupier of infinite space, the commencement of
all things, farther back than the utmost stretch of numbers can
reach,” created the universe. They notice three incarnations
of him during the present epoch, one during the Shang dynasty,
B.C. 1407, one at the time of Confucius, and a third about A.n.
623, when a man of Shansi reported having seen an old man
who called himself Lau-kiun. Only the priests of this sect are
regarded as its members; they live in temples and small communities
with their families, cultivating the grotmd attached to the
establishment, and thus perpetuate their body ; many lead a
wandering life, and derive a pi-ecarious livelihood from the sale
of chariris and medical nostrums. They shave the sides of the
head and coil the rest of the hair in a tuft upon the crown,
thrusting a pin through it, and are I’cadily recognized by their
slate-colored robes. They study astrology and profess to have
dealhigs with spirits, their books containing a gi-eat variety of
stories of priests who have done wonderful acts by their help.
The Pastimes of the Study^ already noticed, is one of these books,
and Davis introduces a pleasant story of (^hwang and his wife
from another work.’ They long endeavored to find a beverage
‘ The Chinese, Vol. II., pp. 118-128. Wylie, Notes on Chinese Literature, p173. Giles, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, 1880.
RITES AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE TAOISTS. 210
which would insure immortality, and during the Tang dynasty
the Emperor and highest officers were carried away with their
delusions. The title of ‘ Heavenly Doctors ‘ was conferred on
them, and a superb temple erected to Lau-tsz’ in Chang-an, containing his statue ; examinations were ordered in a.d. 674, to
be held in the Tao-teh JClng, and some of the priests reached
the highest honors in the State, Since that time they have
degenerated, and are now looked upon as ignorant cheats and
designing jugglers, who are quite as willing to use their magical
powers to injure their enemies as to help those who seek their aid.
In some places the votaries of Tao, on the third day of the third month, go barefoot over ignited charcoal ; and on the anniversary of the birthday of the High Emperor of the Sombre Heavens, ” they assemble together before the temple of this imaginary being, and having made a great fire, about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, go over it barefoot, preceded by the
priests, and bearing the gods in their arms. The previous ceremonies
consist in chanting prayers, ringing bells, sprinkling holy
water, blowing horns, and brandishing swords in and over the
flames in order to subdue the demon, after which they dart
through the devouring element. They firmly assert that if they
possess a sincere mind they will not be injured by the fire, but
both priests and people get miserably burnt on these occasions.’
Yet such is the delusion, and the idea the people entertain of
the benefit of these services, that they willingly contribute large
sums to provide the sacrifices and pay the performers.” “^
This ceremony is practised in Fuhkien and at Batavia, but
is not very general, for the Chinese are the antipodes of the
Hindus in their endurance and relish for sufferingsand austerities
in the hope of obtaining future happiness. The Rationalists
worship a great variety of idols, among which ITuh-liioang
Shangtl is one of the highest ; their pantheon also includes
genii, devils, inferior spirits, and numberless other objects of worship. The Siu. Shin JTi, or ‘ Records of Researches concerning the Gods,’ contains an account of the birth of the deitj whose anniversary is celebrated as above described.
‘ Compare Escayrac de Lauture, Memoire sur la Chine, Religion, pp. 87, 102.Yule’s Mdiro Polo, Vol. I., p. 286. Also Bode’s Bokhara, p. 271, for a similai practice among the Moslems.
“^ Medliurst’s China, its Shite and Prospects, p. 168.There was once a childless emperor called Tsingtili (‘ Pure Virtue’), who snmmoiied a large company of Tao priests to perform their rites in his behalf, and continued their worship half a year. The Empress Pao Yueh-kwang(‘ Gemmeous Moonlight’) on a night dreamed that she saw the great and eminent Lau-kiun, together with a large number of superior deities, riding in parti-colored carriages with vast resplendent banners and shaded by bright variegated umbrellas. Here was the great founder Lau-kiun sitting in a dragon carriage, and holding in his arms a young infant, whose body was entirely covered with pores, from which unbounded splendors issued, illuminating the hall of the palace with ever}’ precious color. Banners and canopies preceded Lau-kiun as he came floating along. Then was the heart of the Empress elated with joy, and reverently kneeling before him, said: “At present our monarch has no male descendants, and I wishfully beseech you for this child that he may become the sovereign of our hearts and altars. Prostrate I look up to your merciful kindness, earnestly imploring thee to commiserate and grant my request.”
He at once ausw(n’ed, ” It is my special desire to present the boy to
you ; ” whereupon she thankfully received him, and immediately returned from
the pursuit of the dream, and found herself advanced a year in pregnancy. ,
When the birth took place a resplendent light poured forth from the child’s
body, which filled the whole country with brilliant glares His entire countenance
was super-eminently beautiful, so that none became weary in beholding
him. When in childhood he possessed the clearest intelligence and compassion,
and taking the possessions of the country and the funds of the treasury,
he distributed them to the poor and afflicted, the widowers and widows, orphans
and childless, the houseless and sick, halt, deaf, blind, and lame.
Not long after this the demise of his father took place, and he succeeded to the
government ; but reflecting on the instability of life, he resigned his throne
and its cares to his ministers, and repaired to the hills of Fuming, where he gave
himself up to meditation, and being perfected in merit ascended to heaven to
enjoy eternal life. He however descended to earth again eight hundred times,
and became the companion of the common people to instruct them in his doctrines.
After that he made eight hundred more journeys, ejigaging in medical
practice and successfully curing the people ; and then another similar series,
in which he exercised universal benevolence in hades and earth, expounded
all aljstract doctrines, elucidated the spiritual literature, magnanimously promulged
tlie renovating ethics, gave glory to the widely spread merits of the
gods, assisted the nation, and saved the people. During another eight hundred
descents he exhibited ])atient suffering; though men took his life, yet he parted with his fU^sh and blood. After this he became the first of the verified golden genii, and was denominated the pure and immaculate one, self-existing, of highest intelligence.’
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 306.
THE SECT OF FUII, OR BUDDHISTS. 217
These figments are evidently a reprotl notion of the vagaries
of llindn theosophists, and not the teachings of Ldu-tsz’, bnt they
annise his followers, to whom his own abstruse utterances are
(juite unintelligible. The learned Confucianists laugh at their
fables, but are still so much the prey of fears as to be often
duped by them, and follow even when sure of being deceived.
The organization of the Rationalists is a regular hierarchy. It
is under the supervision of the government, which holds the
chiefs responsible for the general conduct and teachings of the
members. The head resides at Lung-hu Shan in Kiangsi, where
is a large establishment, resorted to by many votaries, and
gathering in a large ]-evenue from their offerings. When he
dies a piece of iron is cast into a well near by, and when it floats
the name of his successor is found to be written on it. By their
extravagant professions and pretences the priests of this sect
maintain their influence over a laity as ignorant and credulous
as themselves ; their power to delude will only wane with the progress of truth and Christianity. The full history of the authors, divinities, vagaries, and varied fortunes of the Nationalists has yet to be written ; when this is done it will illustrate the question King David asked six centuries before Lau-tsz’ lived: Who will show us any good ? And when his followers are able to say. Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, they will know why he failed to find La Yoie et la Yertu.’^
The most popular religious sect is that of the followers of
Full, Fo, Fat, Hwut, or Fuh-tu, as it is called in different dialects
in imitation of the Hindu word Bodh, or Truth ;” this name is
sometimes confounded with that of Fuh-hi, one of the early
rulers in Chinese history. Their tenets had been promulged in
( ‘entral Asia for centuries, and were known in Western China,
but during the long period of disorders previous to the Han dynasty they found little favor. In a.d. 65 the Emperor Mingti sent an embassy to India, in consequence—as the Chinese historians say—of having dreamed that he saw the image of a foreign god. The embassy returned in a.d. 67, bringing with it some teachers of the faith to Lohyang. One cannot tell whether it was sent at first at the suggestion of the nationalists, to seek for a wise man said to liave appeared there^ or whether, according to others, it arose from the i-emarkable expression of Confucius, already quoted, ” The people of the west have sages[or a sage].” It may have been that this mission was excited by some indistinct tidings of the advent and death of Christ, though there is no trace of such a rumor havino- reached the land of Sinim. At that epoch they might have heard of or met the Apostles in their first tours through the Roman Empire and Syria.
‘ Douglas, Taouism, London, 1879 ; this is by far the most readable account of it. Edkius, Journal of Shaiif/hai Scien. and Lit. Sor. , No. III. , 1859, pp. 309-314. Slayers, No. Ch. Br. Roij. As. Soc.,\o\. VI., 1870, pp. 31-44. Bazin, Recherrhes stir Vorifjinr, Vhistoire, et la conditutioii des ordres reli(jieu.v dans Vemjnre Chinots, Paris, 1856, p. 70. Johnson, Oriental Eelirjions : China, Part V-, pp.859-904. Nevius, C’?iina and tlie Chinese, Chap. IX., New York, 1869. Dr. W. A. P. Martin, The Chinese, p. 97, etc.
‘ Hardy enumerates fifty-six modes of writing the name. Manual, p. 354The incidents in the life of Buddha have been enveloped in so much legendary narrative by his followers in India that the Chinese have placed his birth much too early—b.v. 1027—while the true date is n.o. 623 according to the best authorities; but when his actual mortal life is regarded as one in a series of incarnations, no surprise need be felt at these discre})ancies. He was the son of Suddhodana, king of Ivapilavastu, a city and country near Nipal, subject to the king of Magadha, now a part of Bahar. His mother, TMaj’a, or Maha-maya deva, died ten days after his birth, which, according to the legends, was accomplished without pain and acconq^anied by amazing wonders. His name was ISiddhai’ta, or the ‘ Establisher,’ until he became a Buddha, i.e.,h’nn In’ whom truth is known. The name Gotama, or Samona-Godam, is a patronymic better known in Siam than China, where another family or clan name, Sakya-muni, is more common. At the age of fifteen he was nuide heir-apparent ; at seventeen he was married to Yashodara, a Brahmin maiden of the Sakya clan, and his son Bahula was born the next year. At twenty-five he determined to become a recluse, and left his prospects and his father’s court for an abode in the forest beyond Kapilavastu, in solitary spots ” trying various methods to attain mental satisfaction, but in vain.” After five years of this ascetic life ” he came to the perception of the true condition and wants of mankind,” and began his ministry of forty-nine years. He was now a Buddha^ which is described as ” entering into a state of reverie, emitting a bright light and retieeting on the four modes of truth.”
LIFE OF GOTAMA BUDDHA. ^19
He began his preaching at Benares by discourses on the four truths, which was termed the revolving of the wheel of the law. He formed his first disciples into a connnunity, to whom he gave their rules, and when the number increased to fifty-six be sent them over the land to give instruction in \\\qfour miseries^ and carry out the system by which all his disciples were taught they could attain final happiness in nirvana. This system, which exists in full strength to this day, is founded on
monastic vows for the individual, living in spiritual communities
for the disciples, voluntary poverty and universal preaching,
Sakya-numi infused such energy into his followers that in a
few years India was covered with their communities ; and he
developed rules for instruction, employment, punishment, and
promotion, which have served ever since. His own life, after
his visit to his father in the year 586, when thirty-seven years
old, was passed mostly in delivering the sidras, or laws, thirtyfive
discourses in all ; these are reverenced by all Buddhists, and
copies are held to have moral and hygienic effects on those who
do so, and bring good luck to the family and the State. As
Sakya-muni lived long enough to see and correct the dangers of
his system, at his death, in the year 543, he was able to confer
much of his authority on his two chief disciples, Ananda and
Kashiapa, and thus hand down the organization to posterity.
The few facts here stated respecting this remarkable man are
selected from Hardy’s Manual of Buddhistn, where is given a
good digest of the Hindu writers respecting their sage. One
thing impresses the readei- of this work as a peculiarity of Sakyamuni’s
teaching, and standing in strong contrast to the Brahminic
system that followed it: it is the manner in which he has
weakened and almost destroyed the power of the unseen world
and of spiritual beings as agencies of restraint upon the heart
of man, and of assistance in seeking after good. By his system of
good works and self-denials, his followers are brought into such
close relationship with the whole creation of invisible beings, into whose presence and fellowship they can enter by their own efforts and mediation, that the moral sanctions of a Supreme Ruler and God over all are neutralized, and the sense of sin in the human conscience done away with. Its removal is put under
the control of the soul, and the degree of happiness and power
attained in the future world depends on the individual—so
many prayers, alms, austerities, and obediences result in so much
honor, power, and enjoyment in the coming infinite. The past
infinite is also made part of the conscious present, and moral
fate worked like physical attraction, innumerable causes producing
retributive results for rewards or for punishments. In such
a theology, salvation by faith is rendered impossible, and sacrifice
for sin by way of atonement useless. In this feature the
ancient worship of China and the teachings of Confucius rise
superior to Buddhism, and leave the soul of man more open to
rnoral law.
The personal life and character of Buddha presents a wonderful
exhibition of virtues, and one is not disposed to weigh the testimony
of their reality as di’awn out in Hardy’s 2LtnH((l so carefully
as to neutralize the effect; but the glowing picture oi his
good actions for his fellow-nicn given in the fervid lines of
Arnold’s JJyJd ofAsia, takes one quite into the realm of fable,
engendering the wish that the ( onfiician Analects and their matter-
of-fact details could have been imitated by the disciples of
Siddharta. In regard to both these great teachers, Confucius
and Buddha, however, one may gladly adopt Dean Stanley’s remark,
” that it is difficult for those who believe the permanent
elements of the Jewish and Christian religion to be universal
and divine, not to hail these corresponding forms of truth or
goodness elsewhere, or to recognize that the mere appearance of
such saintlike or godlike characters in other parts of the earth,
if not preparing the way for a greater manifestation, illustrates
that manifestation by showing how mighty has been the witness
borne to it even mider circumstances of such discouragement,
and even with effects inadequate to their grandeur.”‘
INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM AMONG THE PEOPLE. 221
Buddhist priests are more numerous in China than the Tao sz’, and they obtained influence more rapidly over the people. Their demonolatry allows the incorporation of the deities and spirits of
Other religions, and goes even further, in permitting the priests
to worship the gods of other pantheons, so that they could adapt
themselves to the popular superstitions of the countries they went
to, and ingraft all the foreign divinities into their calendar they
safw fit. The Emperors at various times have, moreover, shown
great devotion to their ceremonies and doctrines, and have built
costly temples, and supported more priests than ever Jezebel
did ; but the teachings of Confucius and Mencius were too well
understood among the people to be uprooted or overridden. The
complete separation of the State religion from the worship of the
common people accounts for the remarkable freedom of belief
on religious topics. Mohammedanism and Buddhism, Taoist
ceremonies and Lama temples, are all tolerated in a certain way,
but none of them have in the least interfered with the State religion
and the autocraay of the monarch as the Son of Heaven.
They are, as every one knows, all essentially idolatrous, and the
coming struggle between these various manifestations of error
and the revealed truths and requirements of the Bible has only
begun to cast its shadow over the land. The more subtile conflict,
too, between the preaching of the Cross and faith alone in
its sacrifice for salvation, and reliance on good works, and pi-iestly
interference in every fonn, has not yet begun at all.
The power of Buddhism in China has been owing chieily to
its ability and offer to supply the lack of certainty in the popular
notions respecting a future state, and the nature of the gods
who govern man and creation. Confucius uttered no speculations
about those unseen things, and ancestral worship confined
itself to a belief in the presence of the loved ones, who were
ready to accept the homage of their children. That longing of
the soul to know something of the life beyond the grave was
measurably supplied by the teachings of Sakya-muni and his
disciples, and, as was the case with Confucius, was illustrated
and enforced by the earnest, virtuous life of their founder.
Though the sect did not receive the imperial sanction till about
A.D. 65, these teachings must have gradually grown familiar
during the previous age. The conflict of opinions which ere long
arose between the definite practical maxims of the Confucian
moralists, and the vague speculations, well-defined good works and hopeful tliongli unproved promises of future well-being, set
forth by the Hindu missionaries, has continued ever since. It
is an instructive chapter in human experience, and affords another
illustration of the impossibility of man’s answering Job’s
great question, ” But how shall num be just with God?” The
early sages opened no outlook into the blank future, offered no
hopes of life, love, happiness, or reunion of the friends gone before,
and their disciples necessarily fell back into helpless fatalism.
Buddhism said. Keep my ten connnandnients, live a life
of celibacy and contem{)lation, pray, fast, and give alms, and according
to your works you will become pure, and be rewarded
in the serene nirvana to which all life tends. But the Buddhist
priesthood had no system of schools to teach their peculiar tenets,
and, as there is only one set of books taught in the common
schools, the elevating precepts of the sages brought forth their
proper fruit in the tender mind. Poverty, idleness, and vows
made by parents in the day of adversity to dedicate a son or a
daughter to the life-long service of Buddha, still supply that
priesthood with most of its members. The majority are unable
to nnderstand their own theological literature, and far more is
known about its jieculiar tenets in Europe than among the mass
of the Chinese. Tiie CVjufucianist, in his pride of office and learning, may lidicule their mummeries, but in his hour of weakness, pain, and death he turns to them for help, for he has nowhere else to o;o. Both are ii»;norant of the life and liojht revealed in the gospels, and cry out, ” Who will show us any good ?”
If the mythology of Buddhism M’as trivial and jejune, as we
judge it after comparing it with the beautiful imagerj- and art
of Greece and Egypt, it brought in nothing that was licentious in
its rites or cruel in its sacrifices. Coming from India, where
M’orship of the gods involved the prostitution of Avomen, the
adoration of the lingam, and the sacrifice of human beings.
Buddhism was remarkably free from all revolting features. If
it had nothing to offer the Chinese higher in morals or more
exalted or true in its conception of the universe or its Maker, it
did not sanction impurity or murder, or elevate such atrocities
above the reach of law by making them sacred to the gods.
IT ENTERS INTO THEIR RELIGHOUS LIFE. 223
This last outrage of the Prince of Darkness on tlie soul of man,
so common in Western Asia, has never been known or accepted
to any great extent in the Middle Kingdom.
But, while it is true that Buddhism gave them a system of
precepts and observances that set before them just laws and high
motives for right actions, and proportionate rewards for the good
works it enjoined, it could not furnish the highest standards,
sanctions, and inducements for holy living. On becoming a
part of the people, the Buddhists soon entered into their religious
life as acknowledged teachers. They adapted their own
tenets to the national mythology, took its gods and gave it theirs,
acted as mediators and interpreters between men and gods, the
living and the dead, and shaped popular belief on all these
mysteries. The well-organized hierarchy numbered its members
by myriads, and yet history records no successful attempts on its
part to usurp political power, or place the priest above the laws.
This tendency was always checked by the literati, who really
had in the classics a higher standard of ethical philosophy than
the Buddhists, and would not be driven from their position
by imperial orders, nor coaxed by specious arguments to yield
their ground. Constant discussions on these points have served
to keep alive a spirit of inquiry and rivalry, and preserve butli
from stagnation. Though Buddhism, in its vagaries and willworship,
gave them nothing better than husks, put hypocrisy
in place of devotion, taught its own dogmas instead of truth,
and left its devotees with no sense of sin against any law, yet
its salutary inJiuence on the national life of China cannot be
denied.
The worship of ancestors and of good and bad spirits supposed
to pervade and rule this world was perfectly compatible with
the reception of Buddhism ; thus its priests gradually became the
high priests of the popular superstition, and have since remained
so. They first ingratiated themselves by making their services
useful in the indigenous ritual, and were afterwards looked upon
as necessary for its execution. They propagated their doctrines
principally by books and tracts, rather than by collecting schools
or disciples in their temples ; the quiet, indolent life they led,
apparently absorbed in books and worship, and yet not altogether estranged from the world, likewise held out charms to some people.
China is full of temples, in most of which Buddhist priests are found, hut it is not quite the true inference to suppose that all the buildings were erected or the priests hired, because the people wish to do reverence to Buddha. It is impossible to state the proportion in which Buddhist temples are found ; there are one hundred and twenty-four in Canton alone, containing idols of every name and attribute, in most of which they live and act as the assistants of whoever comes to worship.
The tenets of Buddhism require a renunciation of the world
and the observance of austerities to overcome evil passions and
fit its disciples for future happiness.’ A vow of celibacy is
taken, the priests dwelling together for mutual assistance in
attaining perfection by worship of Buddha and calling upon his
name. They shave the entire head as a token of purity, but not
the whole body, as the ancient Egyptian priests did ; they profess
to eat no animal food, wear no skin or woollen garments,
and get their living by begging, by the alms of worshippers, and
the cultivation of the grounds of the temple. Much of their
supj)ort is derived from the sale of incense sticks, gilt paper, and
candles, and from fees for services at funerals. In the great
monasteries, like the ilai-chwang sz’ at Canton, the priests perform
the whole service ; but in other temples they contrive to
gain a livelihood, and many of those better situated derive a large
})ortion of their income from entertaining strangers of wealth
and disthiction. The sale of charms, the profits of theatrical
exhibitions, the fees paid by neighborhoods for feeding hungry
ghosts on All-Souls’ day, and other incidental services performed
for the living or the dead, also furnish resources. Their largest
monasteries contain extensive libraries, and a portion of the
fraternity are well acquainted with letters, though most of them
are ignorant even of their own books. Their moral character,
as a class, is on a par with their countrymen, and nuiny of them
are respectable, intelligent, and sober-minded persons, who seem
‘ Remusat terms these tenets not inaptly “a mixture of pantheism, rationalism, and idolatry.” In Hardy {Mitinud, p. 212) we find that the Wh-Uikj xz^ to five hundred Lo-h;in is to honor five hundred rahats. In India this number seems to stand for all.
TENETS AND LITURGY OF THE BUDDHISTS. 225
to be sincerely desirous of making themselves better, if possible, by their religious observances.
The liturgy is in Sanscrit transliterated in Chinese characters with which priest and people are alike unacquainted, nor are there now any bilingual glossaries or dictionaries to explain the words. Dr. Milne, speaking of the use of unknown tongues in liturgies, remarks : ” There is something to be said in favor of those Christians who believe in the magic powers of foreign words, and who think a prayer either more acceptable to the Deity, or more suited to common edification, because the people do not generally understand it. They are not singular in this belief. Some of the Jom’s had the same opinion ; the followers of Buddha and Mohammed all cherish the same sentiment. From the chair of his holiness at Rome, and eastward through all Asia to the mountain retreats of the Yama-bus in Japan, this opinion is espoused. The bloody Druids of ancient Europe, the gymnosophists of India, the Mohammedan hatib, the Buddhists of China, the talapoins of Siam, and the bonzes of Japan, the Tlomish clerg}’, the vartabeds of the Armenian church, and the
priests of the Abyssinian and Greek communions, all entertain
the notion that the mysteries of religion will be the more revered
the less they are understood, and the devotions of the
people (performed by proxy) the more welcome in heaven for
being dressed in the garb of a foreign tongue. Thus the synagogue
and mosque, the pagan temple and Christian church, seem all to agree in ascribing marvellous efiicacy to the sounds of an unknown language ; and, as they have Jews and Mohammedans,
Abyssinians and pagans, on their side, those Christians
who plead for the use of an unknown tongue in the services of
religion have certainly the majority. That Scripture, reason,
and common sense should happen to be on the other side is indeed
a misfortune for them, but there is no help for it.”
‘
The following canon for exterminating misfortune is extracted
from the Buddhist liturgy, but it is as unintelligible to the Chinese
as it will be to the English reader. While repeating it
‘ Encyclopcedin Britannim, Art. Buddhism. TndocMnese Gleaner, Vol. III., p. 141. Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 640. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p200, and passim.
the priest strikes upon a sounding board called mu yu, or ‘wooden fish,’ sliaped somewhat like a skull, in order to mark the time of his monotonous chant: Nan-mo O-mi’-to po-ye, to-ta-kia to-ye, to-ti-ye-ta 0-mi-li-to po-kwilii, 0-mili-to, sieli-tan-po-kwaii, O-iiii-li-to, kwan-kia-lan-ti 0-mi-li-to, kwan-kia-lan-ti; kia-mi-ni kia-kia-na, chih-to-kia-li i)o-po-ho.
Similar invocations, with the name O-iivi-to’^ Full (Amida Baddha), are repeated thousands and myriads of times to attain perfection, affording a good illustration of the propriety of our Saviour’s direction, ” When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do; for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.” A plate in one Buddhistic work contains five thousand and forty-eight open dots, arranged in the shape of a pear ; each dot to be filled up when the name of Buddha has been repeated a hundred or a thousand times, and then the paper to be burned to pass into the other world to the credit of the devotee.
The Buddhists have a system of merits and demerits, of which Sir John Davis remarks that ” this method of Ixeejumj a score with heaven is as foolish and dangerous a system of morality as that of penances and indulgences in the Romish church.”
‘ 0-im-to is derived from aniiiitr, or ‘deathless.’ Hardy, Manual, p. 355.
OrPOSITIOX OF THE LITEPvATI TO BUDDHISM. 227
In this Buddhist scale of actions, to repair a road, make a bridge, or dig a well, ranks as ten ; to cure a disease, or give enough ground for a grave, as thirty ; to set on foot some useful scheme ranks still higher. On the other hand, to reprove another unjustly counts as three on the debtor side ; to level a tomb, as fifty ; to dig up a corpse, as one hundred ; to cut off a man’s male heirs, as two hundred, and so on. This notion of keeping accounts with heaven prevails among all classes of the Chinese, and the score is usually settled about the end of the year by fasting and doing chai”ital)l(‘ acts, such as making a piece of road, repairing a temple, or distributing food, to prove their repentance and benefit tlie world. Festival days are chosen by devout people to distribute alms to the poor, and on such occasions troops of beggars cluster about their doors, holding clap-dishes in their outstretched hands, while the donor stands behind the luilf-opened door dealing out rice to the chunorous crowd which he dares not trust inside.
Considerhig how few restraints this religion imposes on the
evil propensities of tlie human lieart, and how easily it provides
for the expiation of crimes, it is surprising that it has not had
as great success among the Chinese as among the Tibetans, Birmese,
and Siamese. The thorough education in the reasonable
teachings of the classics, and the want of filial duty shown by
celibates to their parents in leaving them to take care of themselves,
have had their effects in maintaining the purer but
heartless moralities of the Confucianists. The priests have
always had the better judgment of the people against them,
and being shut out by their profession from entering into society
as companions or equals, and regarded as servants to be sent for
when their services were M’anted, they can neither get nor maintain
that influence over their countrymen which would enable
them to form a party or a powerful sect. One of the officers
in the reign of Chingtih of the Ming dynasty, Wang Yang-ning,
who addressed a remonstrance to his sovereign against sending
an embassy to India to fetch thence Buddhist books and priests,
relies for his chief argument on a comparison between the precepts
and tendency of that faith and the higher doctrines of the
classics, proving to his own satisfaction that the latter contained
all the good there was in the former, without its nonsense and
evil. The opposition to Buddhism on the part of the literati has
been in fact a controversy between common sense (imperfectly
enlightened indeed) and superstitious fear; the first inclines the
person to look at the subject with reference to the principles
and practical results of the system, as exhibited in the writings
and lives of its followers, while, not having themselves anything
to look forward to beyond the grave, they are still led to entertain
some of its dogmas, because there may be something in
them after all, and they have themselves nothing better. The
result is, as Dr. Morrison has observed, ” Buddhism in China is
decried by the learned, laughed at by the profligate, yet followed
by all.”
The paraphrase and commentary on the seventh of Kanghi’s maxims against strange religions present a singular anomaly; for while the Emperor Yungching in the paraphrase decries Buddhism and Rationalism, and exalts the “orthodox doctrine,” as he terms the teachings of the classics, he was himself a daily worshipper of Buddhist idols served by the lamas.
He inveighs against selling poor children to the priests in no
measured terms, and shows the inutility and folly of repeating
the books or reciting the unintelligible charms written by the
priests, where the person never thought of performing what
was good. lie speaks against the promiscuous assemblage of
men and women at the temples, which leads to unseemly acts,
and joins in with another of his own class, who remarked, in
reference to a festival, that ” most of the worshippers are women,
who like these worshipping days, because it gives them an opportunity
to see and l)e seen in their fine clothes; and most of
the men who go there, go to amuse themselves and look at the
M’omen.’” “The sum of the whole is, these dissolute priests of
Buddha are lazy ; they will neither labor in the fields nor traffic
in the markets, and being without food and clothing, they set
to work and invent means of deceiving people.” But though
this upholder of the good old way well exhibits the follies of
these idolatrous sects, he has nothing better to present his countrymen
than ” the two living divinities placed in the family,*’
nothing to lead their thoughts beyond this world. His best
advice and consolation for their troubled and wearied souls is,
” Seek not for happiness beyond your own sphere ; perfoi-m not
an action beyond the bounds of reason ; attend solely to your
own duty ; then you will receive the protection of the gods.”
‘
The instructions of Sakya-muni himself have noM^ become so
interwoven in the additions, ritualism, and errors of his followers
during the ages since he died, that he is charged with many
things which he probably never taught. T^nlike the founders
of Islamism and Zoroastrianism, his personlil influence and identity
have been lost amid the fables which have enveloped his
acts, and the diversities of worship and doctrine baffle all explanation.
“When the patriarchs and missionaries of the sect
‘ Milne’s Sacred Edict, pp. 133-143. Chinese Bepository, Vol. I. , p. 207 ; Vol.II., p. 265.
LIMITATIONS TO ITS POWEll IN CHINA. 220
began to increase in Central Asia and Cliina after the embassy
of Ming tt, they were obliged to defend, exphiin, and develop
their tenets against the Chinese literati, and also commend them
to the observance of the i)eople. In the former region their
coiupiests were complete, and the Alotigols stdl hold to the Bnddhist
faith as completely as the Knropean nations did to popery
until the Reformation. The histoiy of Chinese Buddhism down
to the present day has not yet been folly examined, but much
has been done within the past few years by Julien, Beal, Edkins,
Watters, Neumann, Koeppen, and others to make it known.
Translations from Chinese Buddhistic travellers and moralists
liave brought out nuiny obscure opinions and unexpected events
in this branch of religious thought and missionary work, during
a period of the world’s history hitherto quite unknown to Europeans.’
The mutual forbearance exhibited by the different sects in
China is owing a good deal to apathy, for where there is nothing
to reach thei’e is little to stimulate to effort. The government
tolerates no denomination suspected of interfering with its
own inlluence, and as none of the sects have any State patronage,
none of them liokl any power to wield for persecution, and the
people soon tire of petty annoyances and unavailing invectives.
The Buddhist priesthood is perpetuated mostly by the children
given by parents who have vowed to do so in their distress, and
by others purchased for serving in large monasteries. Persons
occasionally enter late in life, weary with the vexations of thi3
world ; Mr. Milne was accpuiinted with one who had two sons
when he took the vows upon him, but gave himself no care as
to what had become of them. The only education which most
of the acolytes receive consists in memorizing the prayers in the
liturgy and reading the canonical works. A few fraternities
have tutors from whom they receive instruction.
‘See Alabaster’s Wheel of the Lair, pp. 228-241, for a well-digested Life of Buddha, from the Siamese. Beal’s Romantic History of Buddha, and Caten(( (f Buddhist Scriptures. Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, Chaps. I to VI., gives a good resume of the early progress of the faith. G. Biihler, Three Neic Edicts of A’ioka, London (Triibner).
Nunneries also exist, most of them under the patronage of the IIolj Mother, Queen of Heaven. The priests advocate their establishment as a good means of working upon the feelings of the more susceptible part of society, to whom they themselves cannot get admittance. The succession among the “sisters “is kept up by purchase and by self-consecration ; the feet of children bought young are not bandaged. The novice is not admitted to full orders till she is sixteen, though previous to this she adopts the garb of the sisterhood ; the only difference consists in the front part of the head being shaved and the hair plaited in a queue, while nuns shave the whole. It is not easy to distinguish monks from nuns as they walk the streets, for both have natural feet, wear clumsy shoes, long stockings drawn over full trousers, short jackets, and bald pates. Like her sister
in Romish countries, the Chinese nun, when her head has been
shaved—the opposite of taking the veil, though the hair of both
is sacrificed—is required to live a life of devotion and mortification,
eat vegetables, care nothing for the world, and think only
of her eternal canonization, keeping herself busy with the service
of the temple. ” Daily exercises are to be conducted by her ;
the furniture of the small sanctuary that forms a part of the
convent must be looked after and kept clean and orderly ; those
women or men who come to worship at the altars, and seek
guidance and comfort, must be cared for and assisted. “When
there is leisure the sick and the poor are to be visited ; and all
who have placed themselves nnder her special direction and
spiritual instruction have a strong claim upon her regard. That
she may live the life of seclusion and self-denial, she must vow
perpetual virginity. The thought of marriage should never
enter her head, and the society of men must be shunned. On
her death she will be swallowed up in nihility ! ” In Fuhchau
the nunneries were all summarily abolished nearly fifty years
ago by an officer who learned the dissolute lives of their inmates.
They have not since been reopened for their residence, though
this official provided husbands for most of their nuns. Such a
proceeding would have been impossible in almost any other
country, and shows the functions of Chinese officials for the
welfare of society.
BUDDHIST NUNS AND NUNNERIES. 231
Most of them are tauo-ht to read the classics as well as their
own liturgies, and a few of the sisterhood are said to be well
read in the loi*e of the country. Each nun has her own disciples
among the laity, and cultivates and extends her acquaintances as
much as she can, inasmuch as upon them her support principally
depends. Each of her patrons, whether male or female,
receives a new name from her, as she herself also did when her
head was shaven. Contributors’ names are written or engraved
in conspicuous places in the building ; casual fees or donations
go to the general expenses. Each nun also receives ten cents
when public masses are recited for those who have engaged
them. Their moral character is uniformly represented as dissolute,
but while despised for their profligacy they are dreaded for the supposed power they can exert by means of their connection with spirits. The number of nunneries in the department of Ningbo is stated to be thirty, and the sisterhood in them all to amount to upward of three hundred persons.”
The numerous points of similarity between the rites of the Buddhists and those of the Romish church early attracted attention. Abbe Hue enumerates many of them : ” The cross, the mitre, the dalmatica, the cope which the lamas wear on their journeys, or when performing some ceremony out of the temple; the service with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the censer suspended from five chains, which you can open or close at pleasure ; the benedictions given by extending the right hand over the heads of the faithful ; the rosary, ecclesiastical celibacy, spiritual retirement, worship of the saints; the fasts, processions, litanies, and holy water—all these are analogies
between ourselves and the Buddhists.” In addition to these, the
institution of nuns, worship of relics, masses for the dead, and
burning of candles and incense, with ringing of bells during
worship, are prominent usages common to both. Their priests
alike teach a purgatory from which the soul can be released by
their prayers ; they also conduct service in a dead language, and
pretend to miracles. Lastly, the doctrine of the perpetual virginity
of Maya, the mother of Sakya-nmni, is an article taught
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vol. XIII., pp. 93-98. Doolittle’s Social Life, I., p. 253 WAn^^i Life in Chimi, pp. 134-146. Gray’s China, I., pp. 105, 131-135.
by the Mongol Buddhists, who also practise a form of infant
baptism, in which the lama dips the child three times imder the
water as he pronounces its name and j^ives it a blessing.
These mimerous and striking resemblances led the Roman
Catholic missionaries to conclude that some of them had been
derived from the papal or Syrian priests who entered China
before Xublai khan. M. Hue brings forward his hypotliesis
that Tseng Kaba, the teacher of the Buddhist reformer in Mongolia
about that time, had adopted them from some of the J2uropeans
who taught him the Christian doctrines.’ Others refer
them to St. Thomas, but Premare ascribes them to the devil,
who had thus imitated holy mother church in order to scandalize
and oppose its rites. But as Davis observes, ” To those
who admit that most of the Romish ceremonies are borrowed
directly from paganism, there is less difficulty in accounting for
the resemblance.”’ On this point it will be impossible to reach
certainty. There have probably been some tilings borrowed by
each from the other at various ages, without either knowing
from whence they came or what were their tendencies. Fergusson
shows the great probability that the monastic S3-stem,
celibacy, and ascetic good works wei’e adopted in the Eastern
church from India ; but the want of reliable records on either
side hitherto has left much to inference and conjecture.
Tlie worship is similar and equally imposing. One eye-witness
describes the scene he saw in a Buddhist temple: “There
stood foui’teen priests, seven on each side of the altar, erect,
motionless, witii clasped hands and downcast eyes, their shaven
heads and flowing gray robes adding to their solemn appearance.
The low and measured tones of the slowdy moving chant they
‘ Hue’s Trarels in Tartnry, II., p. 50. Hardy’s Mantial, p. 142. Missionary Recorder, III., pp. 142, 181. Eitel, Lectures on BnMlmm, and HnvrVmok for the Btmleut of Chinese Buddhism, Hongkong, 1870. James Fergusson, Hist. Indian and Eastern Arc7iit£ci>ire, Introduction. Remusat, Melamjei Posthumes, p. 44. Klaproth in Journal Asiatique, Tome VII. (18:51), p. 190; also Tome XT. (IV– Ser.), 1848, p. 535. Prof. E. E. Salisbiu-y in Jonrnal Am. Or. ,S<jc., Vol. I., No. II., 1844. Jour, of tlie R. As. Soc, passim. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 406; also CatJuty and the Way Thithrr, II., p. 551. W. Wordsworth, The Church of Thibet and the Historical Analoyies of Buddhism and Christianity, London, 1877.
THE ROMANIST AND BUDDHIST RITUALS. 233
were singing might have awakened solemn emotions, too, and
called away the thonghts from worldly objects. Three priests
kept time with the mnsic, one beating an immense drum, another
a large iron vessel, and a thiid a wooden ball. After chanting,
they kneeled upon low stools and bowed before the colossal
image of Buddha, at the same time striking their heads upon the
ground. Then rising and facing each other, they began slowly
chanting some sentences, and rapidly increasing the music and
their utterance until both were at the climax of rapidity, they
diminished in the same way imtil they had returned to the
original measure. In the meantime, some of the number could
not restrain their curiosity, and, even M’hile chanting and counting
their beads, left their places to ask for books. The whole
service forcibly renunded me of scenes in Romish chapels ; the
shaven heads of the priests, their long robes, mock solemnity,
frequent prostrations, chantings, beads—yea, and their idol, too,
all suggested their types, or their antitypes, in the apostate
church.”‘
The expulsion of Buddhism from India, after its triumphs in the reign of Asoka, King of Majadha, was so complete that it hence forth divided into the northern and southern schools, the first taking Sanscrit and the other Pali as its sacred language. In the course of time the divergencies became fixed, and thus, without any actual schism, the Buddhists of Ceylon and Ultra Gane-es have come to differ from those of Central Asia and China. The form of Buddhism prev-ailing among the Mongols and Tibetans differs more in its state and powder than in its doctrines; it is called Shamanism, or IhiMng Jiao (‘Yellow Sect’) in Chinese, from the color of the priestly robes—a Shaman being one who has overcome all his passions ; it is a Hindu word.
‘ Foreifjn Missionary Clironide, Vol. XIV., p. 300.
– I’or his origin see Klaprotli, Memoircs stir PAsie, Tome II., p. 90. Also Remusat, 3fel((/iges Posfhi/i/irs, pp. 1-04, for some observations on this faith in a review of De Guigues’ Huns. E. Schhigintweit. BudiUiiint in Tlbi’i, with folio atlas of plates, Leipzig, 180:3. J. Summers in llie Phceniv, I., 1870, pp 9-11,
The Dalai-Lama at Il’lassa, in the great monastery of the Butala, is the pope of the religion, the abode of deity.* Mongolia swarms with lamas, and the government at Peking aids in supporting them in order to maintain its sway more easily over the tribes, though the Manclius have endeavored to supplant* the civil authority of the Dalai-Lama and banehin-erdeni, by partially aiding and gradually subdividing their power. The ritual of the Shamans, in which the leading tenets taught by the lamas are exhibited, contains their ten principal precepts, or decalogue, viz. : 1. Do not kill. 2. Do not steal. 3. Do not connnit fornication. 4. Speak not falsely. 5. Drink no wine nor eat tlesh. 6. Look not on gay silks or necklaces, use no perfumed ointment, and paint not the body. 7. Neither sing nor dance, and do no sleight of hand tricks or gymnastic acts, and go not to see or
hear them. 8. Sit not on a high large couch. 9. Do not eat out
of time. 10. Do not grasp hold of living images, gold, silver,
money, or any valuable thing.’ The book contains also twentyfour
sections of directions as to the conduct to be observed in
various places, and before different persons. When using the
sacred books the devotee must consider himself to be in the
presence of Buddha, and he is forbidden to study books of
divination, physiognomy, medicine, drawing lots, astronomy,
geography, alchemy, charms, magic, or poetry. Xo wonder the
priests are ignorant when almost every source of instruction is
thus debarred them. The number of temples scattered over
Mongolia and Tibet and the proportion of priests are far greater
than in China, and the literature is not less enormous for bulk
than are the contents of the volumes tedious and uninstructive.’
A good device for a religion of formality to economize time and
accommodate ignoi-ance is adopted by the lamas, which is to
write the pi-ayers on a piece of ])aper and fasten them to a wheel
carried round by the wind or twirled by tlie liand ; chests are
also set up in temples having prayers engraved on the outside
in large letters, and the prayer is repeated as often as the wind or the hand revolves the wheel or ohest.
‘ Annnles He la Foi, Tome IX., p. 400.
^”The dreariest literature, perhaps,” says Professor Whitney, “that was ever painfully scored down, and patiently studied, and religiously preserved “(Oriental and lyhujuixtir Stiidifn, Second Series, p. i)8). For foreign bibliographies of Buddhism the reader may be referred to L^Il/’ntoire de (Jakya-Mount, par Foucaux (ad fin ), and Otto Kistner, Buddha and Ids Doctrines : A Bdjliographical Emuiy, London, 18G’J. See also Triibuer’s Record for 1869, p513.
SHAMANISM, THE BUDDHISM OF TIBET. 235
The Buddhist temples present nuich nniformity in their arrant »-enient, and some of the monastic establishments are amono; the finest buildings in China. No cave temples are known, but caves have been turned into temples in many places, and miserable places they are for worship. On entering a Buddhist temple, one sees four colossal statnes of the Four Great Kings who are supposed to govern the continents on each side of Mount Sumeru and guard or reward the devotees who honor their Lord ; they have black, blue, red, and white faces, and usually hold a sword, guitar, nmbrella, and snake in their hands. Opposite the door is a shrine containing an image of Maitreya Buddha, or the Merciful One, a very fat, jolly personage, who is to have an avatar three thousand years hence ; images of Kwanti, the God of War, and of Wei-to, a general nnder the Four Kings, clad in armor, are often seen near the shrine. Going behind a screen, the next great hall contains a high gilded image of Sakya-muni sitting on a lotns flower, with smaller statues of Ananda and
Kashiapa on his sides ; their shrine often has standing images
of attendants. In this hall are other images or pictures of the
Eighteen Arhans, deified missionaries who propagated their
faith early in China. In the rear of these is represented some
form of Kwanyiu, the Goddess of Mercy, the popular idol of the
sects. In large temples the live hundred Arhans, placed on as
many seats, each having some distinguishing attribute, fill a large
hall. Besides these occur the disciples of Buddha listening to
his teachings, the horrible punishments of hell, and various
honored deities, sages, or local gods, so that few temples are
alike in all respects. In all of them are guest-chambers of
various sizes, refectories, study rooms, and cloisters, according to
the wants and resources of the fraternity.
The hold of the Buddhist priesthood upon the mass of Chinese
consists far more in the position they occupy in relation to the
rites performed in honor of the dead than in their tenets. This
brings us to the consideration of the real relio-ion of the Chinese,
that in which more than anything else they trust, and to which
they look for consolation and reward— the worship of deceased ancestors. The doctrines of Confucius and the ceremonial of the State religion, exhibit the speculative, intellectual dogmas of the educated literati and thinkers, who have early been taught the high ideal of tlie Princely Man set forth by their sages.
The tenets of Lau-tsz’ and the sorcery and incantations of his
followers show the mystic and marvellous part of the popular
belief. Buddhism takes hold of the connnon life of man, offers
relief in times of distress, escape from a future hell at a cheap
rate, and employment in a round of prayers, study, or work,
ending in the nirvana. But the heart of the nation reposes
more upon the rites offered at the family shiine to the two
“living divinities” who preside in the hall of ancestors than to
all the rest. This sort of family worship has been popular in
other countries, but in no part of the world has it reached the
consequence it has received in Eastern Asia ; every natural
feeling serves, indeed, to strengthen its simple cultus.
In the Shh King, whose existence, as we have already pointed
out, is coeval with Samuel or earlier, are many references to this
worship, and to certain rites connected with its royal observance.
At some festivals the dead were personated by a younger relative,
who was supposed to be taken possession of by their spirits,
and thereby became their visible image. He was placed on
higli, and the sacrificer, on appearing in the temple, asked him
to be seated at his ease, and urged him to eat, thereby to prepare
himself to receive the liomage given to the dead. When he had
done so he gave the response in their name ; the defied spirits
returned to heaven, and their personator came down from his
seat. \\\ one ode the response of the ancestors through their
personator is thus given:
What said the message from your sires ?
*’ VoGKols r.nd gifts are cleans
And all your friends, assisting you,
Bchav) with reverent mien.
‘ Most reverently you did your part,
And reverent by your side
Your son appeared. On you henceforth
Shall ceaseless blessings bide.
” What shall the ceaseless blessings be ?
That in your palace high,
For myriad years you dwell in peace,
Rich in posterity.” ‘ANCESTRAL WORSHIP THE RELIGION OF THE FAMILY. 237
The teachings of this ancient book intimate that the protecting favor of the departed could be lost by the vile, cruel, or unjust conduct of their descendants—thus connecting ancestral worship and reward with personal character. Another ode sums up this idea in the expression, ” The mysterious empyrean is able to strengthen anything ; do not disgrace your imperial ancestors,
and it will save your posterity.” Many stories occur in
the native literature exemplifying this idea by actual experiences
of blessing and cursing, all flowing from the observance or
neglect of the required duties.
The great sages Confucius and Mencius, with the earlier rulers,
King Wan and Duke Chan, and their millions of followers, have
all upheld these sentiments, and those teachings and examples
are still as powerful as ever. In every household, a shrine, a
tablet, an oratory, or a domestic temple, according to the position
of the family, contains the simple legend of the two ancestral
names written on a slip of paper or carved on a board. Incense
is burned before it, daily or on the new and full moons ; and in
April the people everywhere gather at the family graves to
sweep them, and worship the departed around a festive sacrifice.
To the children it has all the pleasant associations of our Christmas
or Thanksgiving; and all the elder members of the family
who can do so come toorether around the tomb or in the ancestral
hall at the annual rite. Parents and children meet and bow before
the tablet, and in their simple cheer contract no associations
with temples or idols, monasteries or priests, processions, or flags
and nuisic. It is the family, and a stranger intermeddleth not
with it ; he has his own tablet to look to, and can get no good
by worshipping before that bearing the names of another family.
As the children grow up the worship of the ancestors, whom
they never saw, is exchanged for that of nearer ones who bore
and nurtured, clothed, taught, and cheered them in helpless
‘ Legge’s She Kiruj, p. 309, London, 1876.
childhood and hopeful youth, and the whole is thus rendered more
personal, vivid, and endearing. There is nothing revolting or
cruel connected with it, but everything is orderly, kind, and
simple, calculated to strengthen the family relationship, cement
the affection between brothers and sisters, and uphold habits of
filial reverence and obedience. Though the strongest motive
for this worship arises out of the belief that success in worldly
affairs depends on the support given to parental spirits in hades,
who will resent continued neglect by withholding their blessing,
yet, in the course of ages, it has intluenced Chinese character, in
promoting industry and cultivating habits of domestic care and
thrift, beyond all estimation.
It has, moreover, done much to preserve that feature of the government which grows out of the oversight of heaven as manifested to the people through their Emperor, the Son of Heaven, whom they regard as its vicegerent. The parental authority is also itself honored by that peculiar position of the monarch, and the child grows up with the habit of yielding to its injunctions, for to him the family tablet is a reality, the abode of a personal Being who exerts an influence over him that cannot be evaded, and is far more to him as an individual than any of the popular gods. Those gods are to be feared and their wrath deprecated, but the ” illustrious ones who have completed their probation ” represent love, care, and interest to the worshippers if they do not fail in their duties.
Another indirect result has been to define and elevate the position of the wife and mother. All the laws which could be framed for the protection of women would lack their force if she were not honored in the household. As there can be only one ” illustrious consort ” {liien p’l) named on the tablet, there is of course only one wife {Ul) acknowledged in the family.
There are concubines (tsieh), whose legal rights are defined and secured, and who form an integral part of the family ; but they are not admitted into the ancestral hall, and their children are reckoned with the others as Dan and Asher were in Jacob’s household.
ITS EFFECTS UPON CHINESE SOCIETY. 239
Polygamous families in China form a small proportion of the whole; and this acknowledged parity of the mother with the father, in the most sacred position she can be placed, has done much to maintain the purity and right influence of woman amid all the degradations, pollutions, and moral weakness of heathenism. It is one of the most powerful supports of good order. It may even be confidently stated that woman’s legal, social, and domestic position is as high in China as it has ever been outside of Christian culture, and as safe as it can be without the restraints of Christianity. Another benefit to the people, that of early marriages, deriv^es much of its prevalence and obligation from the fear that, if neglected, there may be no heirs left to carry on the worship at the family tomb.
The three leading results here noticed, viz., the prevention of
a priestly caste, the confirmation of parental authority in its own
sphere, and the elevation of the woman and wife to a parity
with the man and husband, do much to explain the perpetuity
of Chinese institutions. The fact that filial piety in this system
has overpassed the limit set by God in his Word, and that deceased
parents are worshipped as gods by their children, is both
true and sad. That the worship rendered to their ancestors by
the Chinese is idolatrous cannot be doubted ; and it forms one
of the subtlest phases of idolatry—essentially evil with the guisf
of goodness—ever established among men.
The prevalence of infanticide and the indifference with which
the crime is regarded may seem to militate against this view of
Chinese social character, and throw discredit on the degree of
respect and reverence paid to parents ; for how, some will ask,
can a man thus worship and venerate parents who once imbrued
their hands in his sister’s blood ? Such anomalies may be found
in the distorted minds and depraved hearts educated under the
superstitions of heathenism in every country, and the Chinese
are no exception. It is exceedingly difiicult, however, to ascertain
the extent of infanticide in China, and all the reasons which
prompt to the horrid act. Investigations have been made about
Canton, and evidence obtained to show tiiat it is comparatively
rare, and strongly discountenanced by public opinion ; though by
no means unknown, nor punished by law when done. Similar
investigations at Amoy have disclosed a fearful extent of murders
of this nature ; yet while the latter are believed, the assertions
of the former are regarded as evasions of the truth from the fear of being reproached for it or a sense of shame. The whole nation has been branded as systematic murderers of their children from the practice of the inhabitants of a portion of two provinces, who are generally regarded by their countrymen as among the most violent and poorest fraction of the whole. Sir John Barrow heard that the carts went about the streets of Peking daily to pick up dead and dying infants thrown out by their unnatural parents, but he does not mention ever having seen a single corpse in all his walks or rides about the capital.
It has now been ascertained tliat this cart contains so many dead
bodies of both sexes, that the inference by Dr. Dudgeon that
not one in a hundred was killed seems to be sustained. The
bodies of children are not as often seen in the lanes and creeks
of Canton as those of adults, and’the former are as likely to have
died natural deaths as the latter.
In Fuhkien province, especially in the departments of Tsiuenchau
and Changchau, infanticide prevails to a greater extent
than in any other part of the Empire yet examined. Mr. Abeel
extended his inquiries to forty different towns and villages lying
in the first, and found that the percentage was between seventy
and eighty down to ten, giving an average of about forty per
cent, of all girls born in those places as being murdered. In
Changchau, out of seventeen towns, the proportion lies between
one-fourth and three-tenths in some places, occasionally rising
to one-third, and in others sinking to one-fifth, making an average
of one-fourth put to death. In other departments of the
province the practice is confessed, but the pi-oportion tliought
by intelligent natives to be less, since there is less poverty and
fewer people than formerly. The examination was conducted
in as fair a inanner as ]K>ssiblo, and {K’rsoiis of all classes were
questioned as to the number of children they had killed themselves,
or knew had been killed by their relatives or neighbors.
One of eight brothers told him that only three girls were left’
among all their children, sixteen having been killed. On one
occasion he visited a small village on Anioy Island, called Bo-au,
where the whole population turned out to see him and Dr. Cnmming, the latter of whom had recently cut out a large tumor from a fellow villager, he says:
PKEVALENOE -OF INFATs’q’lCIDE IN CHINA. 241
From till’ immljor of women in tlic crowd which turned out to greet; is. we were pretty well persuaded that they were under as little restraint as the men Irom indulging their curiosity ; and upon inquiry, found it to be so. We were conducted to a small temple, when 1 had the opportunity of conversing with many who came around us. On a second visit, while addressing them, one man held up a child, and publicly acknowledged that he bad killed five c,2 the helpless beings, having pre.served but two. I thought he was jesting, but as no surprise or dissent was expressed by his neighbors, and as there was an air of simplicity and regret in the individual, there was no reason to doubt its truth. After repeating his confession he added with affecting simplicity, “It was before I heard you speak on this subject ; I did not know it was wrong; I would not do so now.” Wishing to obtain the testimony of the assembled
villagers, I put the question publicly, ” What number of female infants in this
village are destroyed at birth V ” The reply was, “More than one-half.” As
there was no discussion among them, which is not tlie case when they differ in
opinion, and as we were fully convinced from our own observation of the numerical
inequality of tlie sexes, the proportion of deatlis they gave did not
strike us as extravagant.
The reasons assigned for committing the unnatural deed are
various. Poverty is the leading cause ; the alternative being, as
the parents think, a life of infamy or slaverj”, since if they cannot
rear their offspring themselves they must sell them. The
fact of the great numbers of men who emigrate to the Archipelago
from the coast districts has no doubt also had its effect in
inducing parents to destroy daughters for v/hom they had little
expectation of finding husbands if they did rear thein. Many
who are able to support their daughters prefer to destroy them
rather than incur the expenses of their marriage, but the investigation
showed that the crime was rather less among the educated
than the ignorant, and that they had done something to dissuade
their poor neighbors from putting their girls to death. In the
adjoining departments of Chauchau and Kiaying in Kwangtung,
the people admit the practice, and, as their circumstances are
similar, it is probable that it is not much less than around Amoj’
Dr. Dudgeon, of Peking, has had very favorable opportunities
for prosecuting inquiries in that region, and has shown that the
stories formerly credited are wrong, and that most of the children
thus disposed of are born of nuns. Inquiries instituted at
Hankow by Dr. F. P. Smith, of the hospital, showed a wide
prevalence of the crime among the poor and rural population, for which he ascribes several reasons ; the proportion of the sexes is ten men to seven women.
While one of the worst features of the crime is the little degree of detestation everywhere expressed at it, vet the actual proportion is an important inquiry, and this, taking the whole nation, has been much exaggerated, chiefly from applying such facts and estimates as the preceding to the whole country. The governor of Canton once issued a dissuasive exhortation on this subject to the people, telling them that if they destroyed all their daughters they would soon have no mothers. Until investigations have been made elsewhere, it is not fair to charge all the Chinese with the atrocities of a small portion, nor to disbelieve the affirmations of the inhabitants of Canton, Ningbo, and Shanghai, and elsewhere, that they do not usually put their daughters to death, until we have overwhelming testimony that they deny and conceal what they are ashamed to confess.’
Comparing their lamentable practice with those of other and
European nations, we find, according to Hume, that “the exposure
of new-born infants was an allowed practice in almost all
the States of Greece and Rome ; even among the polite and civilized
xVthenians, the abandoning of one’s child to hunger or wild
beasts was regarded M-ithout blame or censure. This practice
was very common ; and it is not spoken of by any author of
those times with the horror it deserves, or scarcely even with
disapprobation. Plutarch, the humane, good-natured Plutarch,
mentions it as a merit in Attains, king of Pergannis, that he
murdered, or, if you will, exposed all his own children, in order
to leave his crown to the son of his brother Eumenes. It was
Solon, the most celebrated of the sages of Greece, that gave
parents permission by law to kill their children.” Aristotle
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XVII., p. 11, for a native essay against it; Vol.XVI., p. 513; Vol. XII., pp. 540-548.; Vol. XL, p. 508 ; Vol. VII., p. 54.
Bishop Smith’s China, p. 443. Report of Pekiny Ilospital, 1865. Dr. F. P.
Smith’s Fire Annual Reports of ITankow Hoapit/d, 1870, pp. 45-52. Doolittle,
Social Life, 11. , pp. 203-209. Notes and Queries on C. amlJ., Vol. III., pp.
156, 172. Ij infanticAde et VOeuvre de la Ste.-Enfance en Chine, par Pere G.
Palatre, Changhai. Autof/raphie. de la Mission Catholique a Vorphelinat de Tou^
se-tce, 1878. M. E. Martin, Etade Medico-Legale sur I’Infanticide et VAtorte’
ment dans VEmpire Chinois, Paris, 1872.
COMPARISON^ WITH GREECE AND ROME. 243
thought it should be encouraged by the magistrates, and Plato maintained the same inhuman doctrine. It was complained of as a great singularity that the laws of Thebes forbade the practice. In all the provinces, and especially in Italy, the crime was daily perpetrated.’
The ceremonies attendant upon the decease of a person vary
in different parts of the country, though they are not necessarily
elaborate or expensive anywhere, and all the important ones can
be performed by the poorest mourner. The inhabitants of
Fuhkien put a piece of silver in the mouth of the dying person,
and carefully cover his nose and ears. Scarcely is he dead when
they make a hole in the roof to facilitate the exit of the spirits
proceeding from his body, of which they imagine each person possesses
seven animal senses which die with him, and three souls,
one of which enters elysium and receives judgment, another abides
M’ith the tablet, and a third dwells in the tomb. In some places,
as a man approaches his last hour, the relatives come into the
room to array him in his best garments and carry him into the
main hall to breathe his life away while dressed in the costume
with which he is to appear in Hades. The popular ideas regarding
their fate vary so much that it is difficult to describe the national
faith in this respect; transmigration is more or less believed
in, but the detail of the changes the good or evil spirit undergoes
before it is absorbed in Buddha varies almost according to the
fancy of the worshipper. Those who are sent to hell pass through
every form of suffering inflicted upon them by hideous monsters,
and are at last released to wander about as houseless demons to
torment mankind, or vex themselves in the bodies of animals
and reptiles.
When the priests come the corpse is laid out upon the floor
in the principal room, and a tablet set up by its side ; a table is
near, on which are placed meats, lamps, and incense. While
the priests are reciting prayers to deliver the soul from purgatory
and hell, they occasionally call on all present to weep and
lament, and on these occasions the females of the household are
particularly clamorous in their grief, alternately uttering the
‘ Mcllvaine, Evidences of Christianity, p. 291.
most dolefiii accents, nnd then tittei’injx with some of the new
coiners. Papers having figni-es on tliein and Peter’s pence in
the form of paper money are hnrned ; white lanterns, instead of
tlie common red ones, and a slip of paper containing the name,
titles, age, etc., of the dead arc lumg at the door; a mat [)orch
is pnt np for tlie musicians and the priests.” The sonl, liaving
crossed the l)ridge leading out of hell with the aid of the priests,
gets a letter of recommendation from them to he admitted into
the western heavens.
Previous to burial a lucky place for interment, if the family
have moved away from its paternal sepulchre, must be found.
The body is coffined soon after death, arrayed in the most splendid
habiliments the family can afford ; a fan is put in one liand
and a prayer on a piece of paper in the other. The form of a
Chinese coffin resembles the trunk of a tree ; the boards are
three or four inches thick and rounded on top (from Avhence a
coffin is called ” longevity boards “), making a very substantial
case. When the corpse is put in it is laid in a bed of lime or
cotton, or covered with quicklime, and the edges of the lid are
closed with mortar in the groove so that no smell escapes; the
coffin is varnished if it is to remain in the house before burial.
The Chinese often expend large sums in the purchase and preparation of a coffin during their lifetime; the cheapest are from five to ten dollars, and upward to five hundred and even two thousand dollars, according to the materials and ornamenting. Bodies are sometimes kept in or about the house for many years and incense burned morning and evening. They are placed either on trestles near the doorway and protected by a covering in the principal hall, or in the ancestral chamber, where they remain until the fortunes of the family improve so as to enable them to bury the remains, or a lucky place is found, or until opportunity and means allow the survivors to lay them in their patrimonial sepulchre.
The lineal relatives of the deceased are informed of his death,
‘ Ball says that money is put into the month of the dead by rich people to buy favor and passage into heaven ; others affirm that the money is to make the spirit ready o? speech. The phrase “no silver to hit the mouth ” has r^ference to this custom.
FUXKIiAL CUSTO^rs AXI) (^EMEMONIES. 245
and as many as can do so repair to the liouse to condole with
and assist tlie family. The eldest son or the nearest descendant
repairs to an adjoining river or well with a bowl in his hand, and
accompanied by two relatives, to ” buy water ” with money
M’hich he carries and throws into it. Upon the way to the well
it is customary to carry lanterns—even at noon—and to make a
great wailing: with the water thus obtained he washes the
corpse before it is dressed. After the body is laid in the coffin
and before interment the sons of the deceased among the poor
are frequently sent around to the relatives and friends of the
family to solicit subscriptions to buy a grave, hire mourners, or
provide a suitable sacrifice, and it is considered a good act to
assist in such cases ; perhaps fear of the ill-will of the displeased
spirit prompts to the charity. The coffin is sometimes seized
or attached by creditors to compel the relatives to collect a sum
to release it, and instances of filial sons are mentioned who have
sold themselves into temporary or perpetual slavery in order to
raise money to bury their parents. In other cases a defaulting
tenant will retain a cofiin in the house to forestall an ejectment
for the back rent. On the day of burial an offering of cooked
provisions is laid out near the coffin. The chief mourners,
clothed in coarse white sackcloth, then approach and kneel
before it, knocking their heads up.on the ground and going
through with the full kotow ; two persons dressed in mourning
hand them incense-sticks, w^liieh are placed in jars. After the
male mourners have made their parting prostrations the females
perform the same ceremonies, and then such friends and relations
as are present ; during these observances a band of nuisic
plays. The funeral procession is formed of all these persons
—
the band, the tablets, priests, etc. In Peking, where religious
processions are prohibited, great display is made in funerals
according to the means and raidc of the deceased. The coffin
is borne on an nnwieldy bier carried by sixty-four men or moi-e
and covered by a richly embroidered catafalque, attended by
musicians, mourners, priests, etc. Sometimes the carts are covered
with white cloth and the mules wear white harness.
Burial-places are selected by geomancers, and their location
has important results on the prosperity of the living. The supposed connection between these two things has influenced the science, religion, and cnstoms of the Chinese from very early days, and nnder the name oi feng-shui, or ‘ wind and water’ rules, still contains most of their science and explains most of their superstitions. As true science extends this travestie of natural philosophy will fade away and form a subject of fascination among the people as it now does a source of terror. Every strange event is interpreted hy fung-shid, and its professors employ the doctrines of Buddhists and Taoists to enforce their
dicta, as they do their little knowledge of astronomy, medicine,
and natural science to explain them. The whole has gradually
grown into a system of geomancy, involving, however, their cosmogony,
natural philosophy, spiritualism, and biology so far as
they have these sciences. It was in the twelfth century that it
became systematized, and its influence has spread ever since.
Were it only a picturesque kaleidoscope of facts and fancies it
would be a harndess pastime ; but it now enters into every act
of life, since the human soul and body, Mdiether in this M’orld
or the next, are regarded as constantly influenced by their actions,
their relatives, and their locations. Thus the choice of a
burial-place is supposed to affect the past, present, and future,
and the fung-shui sicnsdng^ or ‘ wind and water doctors,’ know
therein how to benefit their customers and themselves.
Hcgarding all nature as a living organism and each person surrounded
by invisible beings, the Chinese try to propitiate these
essences through their departed relatives. They consider them
as restrained by their animal nature to the tomb where their
bodies lie, while the spiritual nature seeks to hover about its
old scenes and children. If a tomb is placed so that the spirit
dwelling therein is comfortable, the inference is that the deceased
will grant those who supply its wants all that the spirit
world can grant. A tomb located where no star on high or
dragon below, no breath of nature oi- malign configuration of
hills, can disturb the repose of the dead, must therefore be
lucky, and M’orth great effoi-t to secure.
The principles of geonuuicy depend nuich on two supposed
currents running through the earth, known as the dragon and
the tiger ; a propitious site has these on its left and right. A
INFLUENCE OF FUN(i-SIIUI. 247
skilful observer can detect and describe them, with the help of
the compass, direction of the watercourses, shapes of the male
and female ground, and their proportions, color of the soil, and
the permutations of the elements. The common people know
nothing of the basis on which tliis conclusion is founded, but
give their money as their faith in the priest or charlatan increases.’
At the south, uncultivated liills are selected because they are
dry and the white ants will not attack the coffin ; and a hillside
in view of water, a copse, or a ravine near a hill-top, arc all
lucky spots. At the north, where ants are unknown, the dead are
buried in fields ; but nowhere collected in graveyards in cities or
temples. The form of the grave is sometimes a simple tumulus
with a tonibstone at the head ; in the southern provinces oftener
in the shape of the Greek letter fi, or that of a huge arm-chair.
Tiie back of the supposed chair is the place for the tombstone,
while the body is interred in the seat, the sides of which are
built around with masonry and approach each other in front.
A tomb is occasionally built of stone in a substantial manner,
and carved pillars are placed at the corners, the whole often
costing thousands of dollars. The case of one necromancer
is recorded, who, after having selected a grave for a family, was
attacked with ophthalmia, and in revenge for their giving him
poisonous food which he supposed had caused the malad^^, hired
men to remove a large mass of rock near the grave, whereby its
efficacy was completely spoiled. The position is thought to be
the better if it command a good view. Some of the graves occupy
many hundred square feet, the corners being defined by
low stones bearing two characters, importing whose chih, or
‘ house,’ it is. The shapes of graves vary more at the north ;
some are conical mounds planted with shrubs or flowers, others
made of mason-work shaped like little houses, others mere
square tombs or earthly tunuili ; not a few coffins are simply left
upon the ground. It is seldom the Chinese hew graves out of
‘ Compare Dr. Edkins in the Chineie Recorder, Vol. IV., 1871-72. Fengshui; or the Rudiments of Natural Science in China, by Ernest J. Eitel, London, 1878. The CornhiU Magazine for March, 1874 Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. II., p. 69.
the rock or dig large vaults; their care is to make a showv
grave, and at the same time a convenient one for performing
the prescribed rites. The mausolea of emperors and grandees
occnpv vast enclosures laid out as parks and adorned with ornamental
buildings to which lead avenues of stone guardians.”
The tomb of Yungloh (a.d, 1403-1425) is reached through a
dwmos of gigantic statues nearly a mile long—two pairs each of
lions, unicoi’ns, elephants, camels, and horses, one erect, the
other couchant, and six pairs of civil and military officers; each
fio;ure is a monolith. The orii2;in of this custom can be traced
back nearly to the tenth century, but was probably known in the
Tang dynasty. Officials are allowed to erect a few statues to
become their guardians.’
AYhen the day of interment arrives, which is usually the
nearest lucky day to the third seventh after death, the friends
assemble at the house. A band of musicians accompanies the
procession, in which is also carried the ancestral tablet of the
deceased in a separate sedan, accompanied sometimes by a sacrifice
and the red tablets of the offices held by the family. The
mourners are dressed entirely in white, or wear a white fillet
ai’ound the head ; the sons of the deceased nnist put on the expression
and habiliments of woe, and the eldest one is at times
supported along the street to the grave in all the eloquence and
attitude of grief, although it may have been years since liis
father went to ” wander among the genii.” The women and
children of the family follow, and at intervals cry and wail. A
man goes ahead and scatters paper money to purchase the goodwill
of such stray spirits as are prowling about. Diiferent
figures and banners are carried according to the means and rank
of the family, which, M’ith the friends and crowd attracted by
the show, sometimes swell the train to a great length. The
grave is deep, and lime is freely mixed with the earth thrown
‘ In the Yih cliin the custodian n>i)orte(i in the Peking Oazette of January
3, 1871, that there were !)’J, (>!)() trees, mostly lir, pine, elm, etc. The people in
chart,’e of such grounds are used to girdling the timber, in order afterward to
get tlie dead trees as firewood for themselves.
-‘ Mayens in North (Jltina Jh’. Royal Asiatic Society Journal, No. XII., 1878
Doolittle, Social Life, II., p. 3;37.
CUSTOMS OF INTERMENT AND MOURNING. 249
in ; a body is never pnt into an old grave while anything remains
of the former occupant ; crackers are fired, libations
poured out, prayers recited, and finally paper models of houses,
clothes, horses, money, and everything he can possibly want in
the land of shadows (which Davis calls a loise economy) are
burned. The tablet and sacrifice are then carried back ; the
family feast on the latter or distribute it among the poor around
the door, while the former is placed in the ancestral hall. The
married daughters of the dead are not considered part of the
famil}’, and wear no mourning ; nor are they invited to their
father’s funeral.
The period of mourning for a father is nominally three years,
but actually reduced to twenty-seven months ; the persons required
to observe this are enumerated in the Code, and Sections
CLXXIX.-CLXXXI. contain the penalties for concealing
the death of a parent, or misrepresenting it, and of omitting the
proper formalities. Burning the corpse, or casting it into the
water, unfeelingly exposing it in the house longer than a year,
and making the funeral ceremony and feast an occasion of
merrymaking and indecorous meeting of males and females,
are also prohibited. For thirty days after the demise the
nearest kindred must not shave their heads nor change their
dress, but rather exhibit a slovenly, slipshod appearance, as if
grief had taken away both appetite and decorum. In the
southern districts half-mourning is bine, usually exhibited in a
pair of blue shoes and a blue silken cord woven in the queue,
instead of a red one ; grass shoes neatly made are now and then
worn. In the northern provinces white is the only mourning
color seen. The visiting cards also indicate that the time of
mourning has not passed. The expenses incurred by the rich
are great, and the priests receive large sums for masses, ten
thousand dollars being often spent. In the north still greater
expenses are incurred in buying a piece of land for a burial plot
and its glebe. Here they erect a lodge, where the keeper of the
grave lives, cultivating the land and keeping the tomb in order.’
When the Empress dies ofiicers put on mourning, take the
» Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 352; Vol. II., p. 499.
buttons and fringes from their caps, stamp their seals with bhie
ink, and go through a prescribed set of ceremonies ; they must
not shave their lieads for a hundred days, nor the people for a
month. Full details of the ceremonies ordered on the occasion
of the decease of the Empress, or ” interior assistant, who for
thirteen years had held the situation of earth to lieaven,” were
published in 1833, in both Manchu and Chinese. When the
Emperor dies all his subjects let their hair grow for a hundred
days, marriages are postponed, theatres and sports disallowed,
and a ceremonial gloom and dishabille pervades the Empire.
On the morning after the death of the Emperor Tungchi, January
12, 1875, the streets of Peking presented a surprising contrast
to their usual gaiety in the removal of everything red. In
early times human beings were immolated at the obsequies of
rulers, and voluntary deaths of their attendants and women are
occasionally mentioned. De Guignes says that the Emperor
Shunchi ordered thirty persons to be immolated at the funeral
of his consort ; but Kanghi, his son, forbade four women from
sacrificing themselves on the death of his Empress.’
The hall of ancestors is found in the house of almost every
member of the family, but always in that of the eldest son. In
rich families it is a separate building ; in others a room set apart
for the purpose, and in many a mere shelf or shrine. The tablet,
or shlii chu, is a boai’d about twelve inches long and three wide,
placed upright in a block. The inscriptions on two are like the
following: “The tablet of Hwang Yung-fuh (late (1iiiig-teh),
the head of the family, who finished his probation with honor
during the Imperial Tsing dynasty, reaching a sub-magistracy.”
His wife’s reads : ” The tablet of Madame, originally of the
noble family Chin, who would have received the title of lady,
and in the Imperial Tsing dynasty became his illustrious consort.”
A receptacle is often cut in the back, containing pieces
of paper bearing the names of the higher ancestors, or other
members of the family. Incense and papers are daily burned
before them, accompanied by a bow or act of homage, forming
‘iV. C. Br. R. As. Soc. Journal, No. II., 18C5, pp. 173 ff. De Guignes’Voyages, Tome II., p. 304. ^fe)lloires cone, les Cliinois, Tome \^., pp. 346 ff Chinese and Japanese llepository for May, 1864.
THE WORSHIP OF ANCESTRAL TABLETS. 251
in fact a sort of family prayer. The tablets are ranged in
chronological order, those of the same generation being placed
in a line. When the hall is large, and the family rich, no pains
are spared to adorn it with banners and insignia of wealth and
rank, and on festival days it serves as. a convenient place for
friends to meet, or for any extraordinary famil}^ occasion. A
person residing near Macao spent aljout one thousand live hnn-
Ancestral Hall and Mode of worshipping the Tablets.
dred dollars in the erection of a hall, and on the dedication day
the female members of his family assembled with his sons and
descendants to assist in the ceremonies. The portraits of the
deceased are also suspended in the hall, but effigies or images
are not now made.
In the wood-cut adjoining, the tablets are arranged on the same level, and the sacrifice laid uu the altar before them ; the character shao, ‘longevity,’ is drawn on the wall behind. During the ceremonies fire-crackers are let off and papers burned; after it the feast is spread.
In the first part of April, one hundred and six days after the
winter solstice, during the term called Uing-ming, a general
worship of ancestors is observed. In Kwangtung this is commonly
called j?a?^’ shan, or ‘ worshipping on the hills,’ but the
general term is slu fan ti, or ‘ sweeping the tombs.’ The whole
population, men, women, and children, repair to their family
tombs, carrying a tray containing the sacrifice, libations for
offering, and candles, paper, and incense for burning, and there
go through a variety of ceremonies and prayers. The grave is
at this season repaired and swept, and at the close of the service
three pieces of turf are placed at the back and front of the
grave to retain long strips of red and white paper ; this indicates
that the accustomed rites have been performed, and these fugitive
testimonials remain fluttering in the wind long enough to
announce it to all the friends as well as enemies of the family ;
for when a grave has been neglected three 3’ears it is sometimes
dug over and the land resold. The enormous amount of litio’ation
connected with sepulchral boundaries, transfer of grave
glebes or sale of the ancient plats, injury, robberj^ and repairs
of tombs, all indicate the high importance of this kind of
property.
” Such are the harmless, if not meritorious, forms of respect
for the dead,” says Davis, ” which the Jesuits wisely tolerated
in their converts, knowing the consequences of outraging their
most cherished prejudices ; but the crowds of ignorant monks
who flocked to the breach which those scientific and able men
had opened, jealous, perhaps, of their success, brought this as a
charge against them until the point became one of sei-ious controversy
and reference to the Pope. His Holiness espoused the
bigoted and unwiser part, which led to the expulsion of the
monks of all varieties.” And elseAvhere he says the worship
paid to ancestoi-s is ” not exactly idolatrous, for they sacrifice
to the invisible spirit and not to any representation of it in the
fijijure of an idol.” This distinction is much the same as that
IDOLATRY OF THE RITES. 253
alleged by the Greek clmrcli, mIucIi disallows images but permits
gold and silver pictures having the face and hands only painted,
for Sir John Davis, himself being a Protestant, probably admits
that worship paid to any other object besides the true God is
idolatry ; and that the Chinese do trnly worship their ancestors
is evident from a prayer, such as the following, offered at the
tombs: Taukwang, 12th year, 8d moon, 1st day. I, Lin Kwang, the second son of the third generation, presnme to come before the grave of my ancestor, Lin
Kung. Revolving years have brouglit again the season of spring. Clierisliing
sentiments of veneration, I look up and sweep your tomb. Prostrate I pray
that you will come and be present, and that you will grant to your posterity
that they may be prosperous and illustrious. At this season of genial sliowers
and gentle breezes I desire to recompense the root of my existence and exert
myself sincerely. Alwaj-s grant your safe protection. My trust is in your
divine spirit. Reverently I present the five-fold sacrifice of a pig, a fowl, a
duck, a goose, and a fish ; also an offering of five plates of fruit, with libatnns
of spirituous liquors, earnestly entreating that you will come and view them.
With the most attentive respect this annunciation is presented on higli.
It is not easy to perceive, perhaps, why the Pope and the
Dominicans were so much opposed to the worship of ancestral
penates among the Chinese when they pei-formed much the
same services themselves before the images of Mary, Joseph,
Cecilia, Ignatius, and hundreds of other deified mortals; but it
is somewhat surprising that a Protestant should describe this
worship as consisting of ” harmless, if not meritorious, forms of
respect for the dead.” Mr. Fortune, too, thinlcs ” a considerable
portion of this worship springs from a higher and purer source
than a mere matter of form, and that when the Chinese periodically
visit the tombs of their fathers to worship and pay respect
to their memory, they indulge in the pleasing reflection that
when they themselves are no more their graves will not be neglected
or forgotten,” This feeling does actuate them, but there
can be no dispute, one would think, about its idolatrous character.
The Chinese who have embraced the doctrines of the Xew
Testament, and who may be supposed qualified to judge of their
own acts and feelings, regard the rites as superstitious and sinful.
It is a form of worship, indeed, which presents fewer revolting features than most systems of false religion—consisting merely of pouring out libations and burning paper and candles at the grave, and tlien a family meeting at a social feast, with a few simple prostrations and petitions. No bacchanalian companies of men and women run riot over the hills, as in the Eleusinian mysteries, nor are obscene rites practised in the house ; all is pleasant, decorous, and harmonious. The junior members of the family come from a distance, sometimes two or three hundred miles, to observe it, and the family meeting on this occasion is looked forward to by all with much the same feelings that Christmas is in Old England or Thanksgiving in New England.
Brothers and sisters, cousins and other relatives join in the worship and feast, and it is this pleasant reunion of dear ones, perhaps the most favorable to the cementing of family affection to be found in heathen society, which constitutes nnich of its power and will present such an obstacle to the reception of the Gospel and removal of the “two divinities” from the house.
The funeral ceremonies here described are performed by sons
for their parents, especially for the father ; but there are few or
no ceremonies aiul little expense for infants, unmarried children,
concubines, or slaves. These are coffined and buried without
parade in the family sepulchre ; the poor sometimes tie them up
in mats and boards and lay them in the fields to shock the eyes
and noses of all who pass. The nnmici{)al authorities of Canton
issued orders to the people in 1S82 to bring such bodies as had
no place of burial to the potter’s field, where they M’ould l)e
interred at public expense; societies, moreover, exist in all the
large cities whose object is to bury poor people. In some pai’ts
the body is wrapped in cloth or coffined and laid in graveyards
on the surface of the ground. When one dies far away from
home the coffin is often lodged in lamrmnis, or public depositories
maintained by societies, where they remain many years.
Few acts during the war of 1841 irritated the people about
Canton against the English more than forcing open the coffins
found in these mausolea and mutilating the corpses. One building
contained hundreds of coffins ffom which, when ojiened, a
pimgent aromatic smell was perceptible, while the features of
the corpses presented a dried appearance. One traveller tells a
story of his guide, when he was condncthig him over the hills
DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 255
in Hupeb, ordering him to conceal his blue e^^es by putting on
green spectacles as they were approaching some houses, and
describes his surprise at finding them all filled with coflins
arranged in an orderly manner. Graves are not enclosed ; cattle
pasture among them and paths lead over and through them.
Tombstones are usually made of granite and their inscriptions
soon become defaced. Epitaphs are short, giving the name of
the dynasty, his place of birth, number of his generation in the
family, and his temple name. Laudatory expressions are rare,
and quotations from the classics or stanzas of poetry to convey
a sentiment entirely unknown. The corpses of ofiiceis who die
at their stations are carried to their paternal tombs, sometimes
at public expense. Tlie Emperor, in some instances, orders the
funeral rites of distinguished statesmen to be defi-ayed. This
was done during the war with England in the cases of Commissioner
Yukien and General Hailing, who burned himself at
Chinkiang fu.’
Besides these funeral rites and religious ceremonies to their
departed ancestors the Chinese have an almost infinite variety
of superstitious practices, most of which are of a deprecatorv
character, growing out of their belief in demons and genii who
trouble or help people. It may be said that most of their religious
acts performed in temples are intended to avert misfortune
i-ather than supplicate blessings. In oi-der to ward off malignant
influences amulets are worn and charms hung up, such as moneyswords
made of coins of different monarchs strung together in
the form of a dagger; leaves of the sweet-flag {Aco/-us) and Artemisia
tied in a bundle, or a sprig of peach-blossoms ; the first
is placed near beds, the latter over the lintel, to drive aM’ay demons.
A man also collects a cash or two from each of his
friends and gets a lock made which he hangs to his son’s neck
in order to lock him to life and make the subscribers surety for
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., pp. 363-384. Doolittle, Socinl Life, II., pp. 45-48. M. T. Yates, Ancestral Worship, Mism»ini-y Conference (of 1867), p. 367 Johnson, Oi-ienUd Bclif/ions : China, pp. 693-708. Gray’s China, I.,pp. 320-328. China Reiiew,Yo\. IV., p. 296. P. D. de Thiersant, La Piete Filiule en ChinCf Paris, 1877. E. Faber in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. IX., pp.’J29, 401.
his safety ; adult females also wear a neck lock for the same
purpose. Charms are common. One bears the inscription,
” May you get the three viamjs and the nine Jik’es; ” another,
” To obtain long eyebrowed longevity.” The three manijn are
man}’^ years of happiness and life and many sons. Old brass
mirrors to cure mad people are hung up by the rich in their
halls, and figures or representations of the unicorn, of gourds,
Buddhist Priests.
tigers’ claws, or the eight diagrams, are worn to insure good
fortune or ward off sickness, fire, or fright. Stones or pieces
of metal with short sentences cut upon them are almost always
found suspended or tied al)out the persons of children and
M’omen, which are supposed to have great efficacy in preventing
evil. The rich pay large sums for rare objects to promote thifl
end.
CHARMS AND AMULETS. 257
In addition to their employment in tlic worship and burial of
the dead and cultivation of glebe lands (some of which are very
extensive’), priests resort to many expedients to increase their
incomes, few of which have the improvement of their countrymen
as a ruling motive. Some go around the streets collecting
printed or written paper in baskets, to burn them lest the venerable
names of Confucius or Buddha be defiled ; others obtain a
few pennies by writing inscriptions and charms on doors ; and
many in rural places get a good living off the lands owned by
their temples. The priests of both sects are under the control
of officials recognized by and amenable to the authorities, so that
the vicious and unprincipled among them are soon restrained.
The Buddhists issue small books, called Girdle Classics, containing
prayers addressed to the deity under whose protection
the person has phiced himself. Spells are made in great variety,
some of them to be worn or pasted up in the house, while others
are written on leaves, paper, or cloth, and burned, and their
ashes thrown into a liquid for the patient or child to drink.
These spells are sold by Rationalists, and consist of characters,
like /^/A (‘ happiness ”) or shao (‘ longevity ‘), fancifully combined.
The god of doors, of the North Pole, Pwanku, the heavenly astronomer,
the god of thunder and lightning, or typhoons, the god
of medicine, demigods and genii of almost every name and
power, are all invoked, and some of them by all persons. In
shops the word shin is put up in a shrine and incense placed
before it, all objects of fear and worship being included under
this general term. The threshold is peculiarly sacred, and incense-
sticks are lighted morning and evening at its side.”*
The Chinese dread wandering and hungry ghosts of wicked
men, and the priests are hired to celebrate a mass called ta tsiao,
to appease these disturbers of human happiness, which, in its
general purport, corresponds to All Souls’ Day, and from its
splendor and the general interest taken in its success is very popular.
The streets at Canton are covered with awnings, and
^Lettres EclififinUs, Tome ITT., p. 33.
‘^LettreH E’l/fmiti’s, Tome IV., p. 310—where other ceremonies of the TaoistS; to ward o’H pestilence, are described.
festoons of cheap silk, of brilliant colors, are hung across and
along the streets. Chandeliers of glass are suspended at short
intervals, alternating with small trays, on which j^aper figures in
various attitudes, intended to illustrate some well-known scene
in history, amuse the spectators. At night the glare of a thousand
lamps shining through niyriads of lustres lights up the
whole scene in a gorgeous manner. The priests erect a staging
somewhere in the vicinit}’^, for the rehearsal of prayers to Yen
iiHouj (Yama or Pluto), and display tables covered with eatables
for the hungry ghosts to feed on. Their acolytes mark the time
when the half-starved ghosts, who have no childi-en or friends
to care for them, rush in and shoulder the viands, which they
carry off for their year’s supply. Bands of music chime in from
tiuie to time, to refresh these hungry spirits with the dulcet
tones they once heard ; for the Chinese, judging their gods by
themselves, provide what is pleasing to those who pay for the
entertainment, as well as to those who are supposed to be benefited
by it. After the services are performed the crowd carry
off what is left, but when this is permitted the priests sometimes
cheat them with merely a cover of food on the tops of the
baskets, the bottoms being filled with shavings.
Another festival in August is connected with this, called .shau
i, or ‘ burning clothes,’ at which pieces of paper folded in the
form of garments are burned for the use of the suffering ghosts,
with a large quantity of what maybe properly caWcdJiat money,
paper ingots which become valuable chiefly when they are
burned. Paper houses with proper furniture, and puppets to
represent household servants, are likewise made. IMedhurst adds
that ” writings are drawn up and signed in the presence of witnesses
to certify the conveyance of the property, stipulating
that on its arrival in hades it sliall be duly made over to the individuals
specified in the bond ; the houses, servants, clothes,
money and all are then burned with the bond, the worshippers
feeling confident that their friends obtain the benefit of what
they have sent them.” Thus ” they make a covenant with the
grave, and with hell they are at agreement.” This festival, like
all others, is attended with feasting and nmsic. In order still
further to provide for childless ghosts, their ancestral tablets are
FESTIVALS FOR WANDERING GHOSTS. 259
collected in temples and placed together in a room set apart for
the purpose, called irio sz’ tan, or ‘orbate temple,’ and a man
hired to attend and burn incense before them. The sensationa
which arise on going into a room of this sort, and seeing one or
two hundred small wooden tablets standing in regular array, and
knowing that each one, or each pair, is like the silent tombstone
of an extinct family, are such as no hall full of staring idols can
ever inspire. The tablets look old, discolored, and broken, covered
with dust and black with smoke, so that the gilded characters
are obscured, and one cannot behold them long in their
silence and forgetfulness without almost feeling as if spirits still
hovered around them. All these ghosts are supposed to be propitiated by the sacrifices on All Souls’ Day.
The patronage given to idolatry and superstition is constant
and general among all classes, and thousands of persons get their
livelihood by shrewdly availing themselves of the fears of their
countrymen. The peepul, j)^^-^’^ {Fimi.s rdigiosa) at the south
and the Sophora at the north, w’itli perhaps other aged trees,
are worshipped for long life.’ Special efforts are made from
time to time to build or repair a temple or pagoda, in order to
insure or recall prosperity to a place, and large sums are subscribed
by the devout. A case occurred in 1843, which illustrates
this spirit. One of the English officers brought an image
of Wa-kvxing, the god of fire, from Chinkiang fu, which he
presented as a curiosity to a lady in Macao. It remained in her
house several months, and on the breaking up of the establishment,
previous to a return to India, it was exposed for sale at
auction with the furniturb. A large crowd collected, and the
attention of the Chinese was attracted to this image, wdiich they
examined carefully to see if it had the genuine marks of its ordination
upon it ; for no image is supposed to be properly an
object of worship until the spirit has been inaugurated into it
by the prescribed ceremonies. Having satisfied themselves, the
idol was purchased for thirty dollars by two or three zealous
‘ Compare C. F. Koeppen, Die Relujwn des Buddha, Berlin, 1857, who describes the peepul (Bodhi) tree—the “symbol of the spread and growth of the Buddhist church “—in India. E. Bernouf, Introduction a Vhistoire du Buddhisme Indien, Paris, 1844. Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. III., p. 100.
persons, and carried off in trininpli to a shop and respectfully
installed in a room cleared for the purpose. A public meeting
was shortly after called, and resolutions passed to improve the
propitious opportunity to obtain and preserve the protecting
power of so potent a deity, by erecting a pavilion where he
would have a respectable lodgment and receive due worship.
A subsci’iption was thereupon started, some of its advocates putting
down fifty and others thirty dollars, until about one thousand
two hundred dollars were raised, with which a small lot was
purchased on the island west of Macao, and a pavilion or tenr
pie erected where Wa-hwang was enshrined with pompous
parade amid theatrical exhibitions, and a man hired to keep
him and his domicile in good order.
No people are more enslaved by fear of the unknown than the Chinese, and none resort more frequently to sortilege to ascertain whether an enterprise will be successful or a proposed remedy avail to cure. This desire actuates all classes, and thousands and myriads of persons take advantage of it to their own profit. The tables of fortune-tellers and the shops of geomancers are met at street corners, and a strong inducement to repair to the temples is to cast lots as to the success of the prayers offered. One way of divining is to hold a bamboo root cut in
halves, resembling in size and color a common potato, and let it
drop as the petition is put up. Sometimes the worshipper drops
it many times, in order to see if a majority of trials will not be
favorable, and when disappointed the first time not unfrequently
tries again, if mayhap he can force the gods to be more propitious.
The devotee may determine himself what position of the blocks
shall be deemed auspicious, but usually one face up and one doAvn
is regarded as pi-omising. The countenances of worshippers as
they leave the shrines, some beaming with hope and resolutioii
to succeed, and others, notwithstanding their repeated knocking^
and divinings, going away Avith vexation and gloom written on
their faces at the ol)duracy of the gods and sadness of tlieir prospects,
offer a study not less melancholy than instructive. ” Such
is the weakness of mortals : they dread, even aftei- mature reflection,
to undertake a project, and then entei- blindly upon it
at a chance after consultin<r chance itself as blind.”’
SORTILEGE AND FOHTrXK-TELLING, 2G1
The fortune-tellers also consult fate by means of bamboo slips bearing certain characters, as the sixty-four diagrams, titles of poetical responses, or lists of names, etc. The applicant* comes up to the table and states his desire ; he wishes to know whether it will be fair weather, which of a dozen doctors shall be selected to cure his child, what sex an unborn infant will be, where his stolen property is, or any other matter. Selecting a slip, the diviner dissects the character into its component parts, or in some other way, and writes the parts upon a board lying before him, joining to them the time, the names of the person, live planets, colors, viscera, and other heterogeneous things, and from them all, putting on a most cabalistic, sapient look, educes a sentence which contains the required answer.
Consulting a Fortune-teller.
The man receives it as confidently as if he had entered the
sybil’s cave and heard her voice, pays his fee, and goes away.
Others, less shrewd, refer to books in which the required answ^er
is contained in a sort of equivocal delphian distich. The Chinese
method of sortilege is not far different from that practised by the
ancient Romans. ” The lots preserved at Preneste were slips
of oak with ancient characters engraved on them. They were
shaken up together by a boy, and one of them was drawn for the
person who consulted the oracle. They remind us of the Runic
staves. Similar divining lots Avere found in other places.” *
‘ Niebuhr, History of Rome, Vol. I., p. 246. See, further, Doolitlle’s Sncia).
Life, Vol. II., Chap. IV. Gray’s China, Chap. XII. Prof. Douglas, China,
Chap. XV.
The purchase of a building lot, and especially the selection
of a grave, involve much expense, sortilege, and inquiry.
When a succession of misfortunes comes upon a family, they
will sometimes disinter all their relatives and bury them in a
new place to remov’e the ill luck. I’efore a house is built a
written prayer is tied to a pole stuck in the ground, petitioning
for good luck, that no evil spirits may arise from beneath ;
when the ridge-pole is laid another prayer is pasted on and
charms hunc; to it to insure the building against fire ; and
lastly, when the house is done it is dedicated to some patron,
and petitions offered for its safety. Prayers are sometimes offered
according to forms, at others the suppliant himself speaks.
Two middle-aged women, attended by a maid-servant, were once
found opposite (^anton in the fields among the graves. They
had placed a small paper shrine upon a tomb near the pathway,
and one of them was kneeling before it, her lips moving in
prayer ; there was nothing in the shrine, but over it M’as written
the most common petition known in China, “Ask and ye
shall receive.”
Answers are looked for in various \vays. A man was once
met at dusk repairing a lonely grave before which candles were
burning and plates of rice and cups of spirits arranged. lie
knelt, and knocking his head began to repeat some words in a
half audible manner, when he M-as asked if the spirits of his
ancestors heard his supplications. At the instant a slight puff
of air blew the candles, when he replied, ” Yes; see, they have
come; don’t interrupt me.” Contingent vows are often made,
and useful acts performed in case the answer be favorable. A
sick man in Macao once made a vow that if he recovered he
would repave a bad piece of road—which he actually performed,
aided a little by his neighboi-s ; but it Mas deemed eminently
unlucky that a toper who was somewhat flustered, passing soon
after, should fall into the public well. Persons sometimes insult
the gods, spit at them or whip them, or even break the
ancestral tablets, in their vexation at having been deluded
into foolish deeds or misled by divination. Legends are told
of the vengeance which has followed such impiety, as well r$
the rewards attending a different course; and tlio Kanyinc
WORSHIPPEIJS AT W AYSIDK SIIlilNKS, 263
Pien^ or ‘ Tlook of Rewards and Punishments,’ has strengtliened
tliese :«entiinents by its stories of the results of human
acts.
The worship of street divinities is not altogether municipal
;
some of the shrines in Canton are resorted to so much by
women as to obstruct the patli. The unsocial character of
heathenism is observable at such places and in temples ; however
great the crowd may be, each one worships b}’ himself as
much as if no one else were present. Altars are erected in
fields, on which a smooth stone is placed, where offerings are
presented and libations poured out to secure a good crop. Few
farmers omit all worship in the spring to the gods of the land
and grain ; and some go further and present a thanksgiving
after harvest. Temples are open night and da}’, and in towns
are the resort of crowds of idle fellows. Worshippers go on
with their devotions amid all the hubbub, strike the druin
and bell to arouse the god, burn paper prayers, and knock their
heads upon the ground to implore his blessing, and then retire.
The Chinese collectively spend enormous sums in their idolatry,
though they are more economical of time and money than
the Hindus. Rich families give much for the services of
priests, papers, candles, etc., at the interment of their friends,
but when a large sacrifice is provided none goes to the priests,
who are prohibited meat. The aggregate outlay to the whole
people is very large, made up of repairs of temples, purchasing
idols, petty costs, such as incense-sticks, candles, paper, etc.,
charms and larger sacrifices prepared from time to time. The
sum cannot of course be ascertained, but if the daily expenditure
of each person be estimated at one-third of a cent, or four
cash, the total will exceed four hundred millions of dollars per
annum, and this estimate is more likely to be under than over
the mark, owing to the universality and constancy of the daily
service,
This brief sketch of Chinese religious character will be incomplete without some notice of the benevolent institutions found among them. Good acts are required as proofs of sincerity; the classics teach benevolence, and the religious books
of the Buddhists JTiculcate coiiipassioii to the poor and relief of
tlie sick. I’rivate alms of rice or clothes are fre(|uently given,
and tlie modes of collecting the poor-tax are very direct and
economical, bringing the lionseholders into some intercourse
with the beggars in their neighborhoods, but offering no rewards
to tramps and idlers. A retreat for poor aged and infirni
or blind people is situated near the east side of Canton, the expenses
of which are stated at about seven thousand dollars, but
the number of persons relieved is not mentioned. The pecuhition
and bad faith of the managci-s vitiate many of these institutions,
and indispose the charitable to ]iatronize them. La.-
zarettos are established in all large towns in Southern China,
where a large entrance fee will secure a comfortable living for
these outcasts to the end of their days ; the prevalence of the
disease leads everybody to aid the measures taken to restrict its
ravages. A full account of the report issued by the directors
of a long-established foundling hospital in Shanghai is given
in the Ckinese Repository (Vol. XIY.), and shows the methodical
character of the people, and that no pi-iests ai-e joined in
its management. In the report full credit is given to the benefactors,
and an appeal made for funds to cany it on, as it is
nearly out of supplies. A^arious modes of raising money are
proposed, and arguments are brought forward to induce people
to give, all in the same manner as is common with charitable
institutions in western lands, as its closing paragraph shows: If, for the extension of kindness to our fellow creatures, and to those poor .ind destitute who have no father and mother, all the good and benevolent would daily give one cash (n^rn of a<l()llai), it would V)e sufficient for the maintenance of the foundlings one day. Let no one consider a.small good unmeritorious, nor a small subscription as of no avail. Either you may induce others to subscribe by the vernal breeze from your month, or you may nourish the blade of benevolence in the field of happiness, or cherish the already sprouting bud. Thus by taking advantage of opportunities as they present tliemfielves, and using your endeavors to accomplish your object, you may immeas’ urably benefit and extend the institution.
The deaths are reported as being nearly one-half of the admissions,
and the number of inmates about one hmidred and thirty
in all. The details of the receipts and expenditures are given
BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS IN CHINA. 265
at the end of the report in a business-like manner. The annual
disbursement was about one thousand live hundred and fifty dollar:^,
and the receipts from all sources more than that, so that a
balance of five thousand dollars is reported on hand, four-fifths
of whicli was derived fi-om interest on subscriptions invested
and on wares from pawnbrokers.
Similar establishments are found in all large towns, some of
them partly supported by the government. That in Canton
was founded in 1698, and contains accommodations for three
liundred children, wliose annual support was reckoned at three
thousand five hundred dollars in 1833, at which date the money
was filched from foreigners by a tax on their ships. These hospitals
seem to be of modei’u origin, less than two centuries old,
and may have been imitated from or suggested by the Roman
Catholics. Candida, a distinguished convert about 1710, did
much to establish them and show the excellence of the religion
she professed. Mr. Milne, who visited one at IS^ingpo, says,
after entering the court : ” A number of coarse-looking women
were peeping through the lattice at us, with squallababies at
their breasts and squalid boys and girls at their heels ; these
Nvomen are the nurses, and these children are the foundlings,
each woman having two or three to look after. But I have
rarely beheld such a collection of filthy, nnwashen, ragged
brats. There are at present between sixty and seventy children,
the boys on one side, the girls on the other. Boys remain here
till the age of fourteen, when they are hired out or adopted ;
girls stay till sixteen, when they are betrothed as wives or taken
as concubines or servants. It is supported by the rental of lands
and houses, and by an annual tax of thirty-six stone or shiJi
(about five hundred pounds) of rice from each district in the department.”
In large towns other voluntary societies are found, having
for their object the relief of suffering, which ought to be mentioned,
as the Chinese have not been fairly credited with what
they do in this line. Humane societies for restoring life to persons
rescued from the water, and providing coflins if they are
dead, exist along the riverine towns. Associations to give decent
interment to the poor in a public potter’s field are found in large cities, where gi-atiiitons vaccination is often given to all who apply. Soup-kitchens are constantly opened as cold weather comes on, and houses prepared for vagrants and outcasts who have been suddenly reduced. Societies for the relief of indigent and virtuous widows are of long standing, and a kind of savings bank for the purpose of aiding a man to get married or to bury his parent exists among the people.’
Charity is a virtue which thrives poorly in the selfish soil of
heathenism, but even badly managed establishments like these
are praiseworthy, and promise something better when higher
teachings shall have been engrafted into the public mind. The
government is obliged to expend large sums almost every year
for relieving the necessities of the starving and the distressed,
and strong calls are made on the rich to give to these objects.
During the great famine in 1877-78 in the north-eastern provinces,
the common hal)its of industry, thrift, and order were
united with these practices of voluntary benevolence among the
people, and aided greatly in enabling those who distributed
food and money to reach the greatest number possible with the
means. The sufferers had already learned that violence and
robbery would only increase their miseries and liasten their
end.
The general condition of religion among the Chinese is effete;
and the stately formalities of im])eri:d worship, the doctrines of
Confucius, the ceremonies of the Buddhists, the sorceries of the
Rationalists, alike fail to comfort and instruct. But the fear of
evil spirits and the worship of ancestoi’s, the two beliefs which
hold all ranks and abilities in their thrall, are still strong ; and
the principal sway the two sects exert is owing to the connection
of their priests M’ith the ceremonies of burial. Each
has exerted its greatest possible power over the })eople, but
all have failed to impart present happiness or assure future
joy to their votaries. Confucianism is cold and unsatisfactoiy
to the affectionate, the anguished, or the in(]uiring mind, and
the transcendentalism of Rationalism or the vagaries of Bud’
^Chineae Reponitary, Vol. XTV., pp. 177-195. Lockhart, Medical Missionary
in China, Cliapter II., Lundoii, 18()1.
SECRET SOCIETIES. 267
dhisin are a little worse. All classes are the prey of unfounded
fears and superstitions, and dwell in a mist of ignorance and
error which the light of true religion and knowledge alone can
dissipate.
Besides the two leading idolatrous sects, there are also many
comhinations existing among the people, partly religious and
partly political, one of which, the Plh-lien Mao, or the Triad
Society, has already been mentioned in Chapter VIII. The
Wan klang, or ‘ Incense-burning sect,’ is also denounced in the
Sacred Commands, but has not been mentioned in late times.
The Triad Society is comparativelj’ peaceful throughout China
Proper in overt acts, the members of the auxiliai’y societies contenting
themselves with keeping alive the spirit of resistance to
the Manchus, getting new members, and countenancing one
another in their opposition ; but in Siam, Singapore, Malacca,
and the Archipelago, it has become a powerful body, and great
cruelties are committed on those who refuse to join. The members
are admitted with formalities bearing strong resemblance to
those of the Freemasons, and the professed objects of the society
are the same. The novice swears before an idol to maintain
inviolate secrecy, and stands under naked swords while
taking the oath, which is then read to him ; he afterward cuts
off a cock’s head, the usual form of swearing among all Chinese,
intimating that a like fate awaits him if treacherous. There
are countersigns known among the members, consisting of grips
and motions of the fingers. Such is the secrecy of their operations
in Cliina, however, that very little is known of their numbers,
internal organization, or character ; the dislike of their
machinations is the best security against their ultimate success.
Local delusions, caused by some sharp-witted fellow, now and
then arise in one part and another of the country, but they are
speedily put down or dissipate of themselves. There has transpired
not an item of news concerning any of these seditious
organizations since the suppression of the Tai-ping rebellion in
1868. None of them are allowed to erect temples or make a
public exhibition or procession, and exhortations are from time
to time issued by the magistrates against them ; while the penalties
annexed to the statute against all illegal associations give the rulers great power to crush whatever they may deem suspicious or treasonable.’
The introduction of Islamism into China was so gradual that
it is not easy to state the date or manner. The trade between
China and ports lying on the Arabian Sea early attracted its
adherents (called Ilwai-hwul I’lao) to the Middle Kingdom,
and as long ago as the Tang dynasty its missionaries came to
the seaports, especially of Canton and Hangchau. They likewise
formed a large portion of the caravans which went to and
fro through Central Asia, and seem to have been received without
resistance, if not with favor, until they grew by natural
increase to be a large and an integral })art of the population.
Mosques were built, schools taught, pilgi’iuuiges made, books
printed, and converts allowed to exercise their rites without
serious hindrance almost from the first. The two great features
of the faith—the existence of one only true God and the M-ickedness
of idolatry—have not been kept hidden ; but, though
promulgated, the}’ have not been accepted outside of the sect
and have not made the least impression upon the State religion.
The reasons for this are not far to seek. The jigid rule that
the Koran must not be translated has kept this book out of
reach of the literati, and the faithful could not even appeal to
it in support of their belief, for not one in thousands know how
to read it. The Chinese naturally neither could nor would
learn Arabic, and there was no sword hanging over them, as
was the case in Persia, to force them into Moslem ranks. The
simplicity of the State religion and ancestral worship gave very
little handle to icronoclasts to declaim against polytheism and
idolatry. The })rohibition of pork to all true believers seemed
a senseless injunction among a frugal people which depended
largely on swine for meat and had never felt any the worse,
bodily or mentall}’, from its use. The inhibition of wine, moreover,
was needless among so temperate a race as the Chinese.
Those who liked to keep Fridays or other days as fasts, ])ractisG
circumcision as a symbol of faith, and worship in a temple with<
‘ Compare the Chinese ‘Repository, Vol. XVIII., p. 281.
MOHAMMEDANISM IN CHINA. 269
out images, could do so if tliey chose ; but they must obey the
laws of the laud and honor the Eni})ei-or as good subjects. They
luive done so, and, generally speaking, have never been molested
on account of their beliefs. Their chief strength lies in the
northern part. The recent struggle in the north-western provinces,
which cost so many lives, began almost wholly at the instigation
of Turk or Tartar sectaries, and was a simple trial of
strength as to who should rule. While cities and towns in
Kansuh occupied by them were destroyed (in lSGO-73), the two
liundred thousand Moslems in Peking remained perfectly quiet
and were unmolested by the authorities.
Some hold office, and pass through the examinations to obtain
it, most of them being military men. In their mosques they exliibit
a tablet with the customary ascription of reverence to the
Emperor, but place the Prophet’s name behind. They have no
images or other tablets in the mosques, but suspend scrolls referring
to the tenets of the faith. The Plain Pagoda in Canton
was built during the Tang dynasty and called ‘ Remember-the-
Iloly Temple ; ‘ it is one hundred and sixty-five cubits high ; it
was built by foreigners, who used to go to the top during the
fifth and sixth moons at dawn and pray to a golden weathercock
there, crying out in a loud voice. These notices are taken from
the native Tojxxjraphij, where also is reference to the tomb of
a maternal uncle of IMohammed buried north of the city. The
mosques throughout China are similar in their arrangement and
resemble temples in many respects, the large arches and inscriptions
in Arabic on the walls forming the chief peculiarities.
Arabic is studied under great difficulties by the mollahs, and
few of the faithful can read or speak it, contenting themselves
with observing its ritual relating to circumcision, abstinence
from pork, and idolatry. So fai- as can be seen, their worship
of the true God under the name of Chu^ or Lord, has not had
the least influence on the polytheism of the nation or in elevating
the tone of morals. A well-digested summaiy of their
tenets has been published at Canton by an unknown author
under the title of True Coinineids on the Correct Doctrine, in
two volumes, pp. 240, 1801. Ko restrictions have been laid on
this sect by the government during the present dynasty; the struggle which continued during the last twenty years between them was simply a question of dominion, not of religion.
Mr. Milne visited the mosque in Ningbo and made the acquaintance
of the mollah. “lie is a man about forty-five years
of age, of a remarkably benign and intelligent countenance and
{gentlemanly bearing. His native place is Shantung, but his
ancestors came from Medina, lie readily reads the Arabic
scriptures and talks that language fluently, but can neither read
nor write Chinese, which is somewhat surprising considering he
can talk it well, was liorn in China, and is a minister of religion
among the Chinese. His supporters number between twenty
and thirty families, and one or two of his adherents are officers.
He took me into the place of worship which adjoins his apartments.
A flight of steps leads into a room, covered with a plain
roof, on either side of which lay a mass of dusty furniture and
agricultural implements ; the pillars are ornamented with sentences
out of the Koran. Facing you is an ornamented pair of
small doors hung upon the wall, within which the sacred seat is
supposed to lie, and on one side is a convenient bookcase containing
their scriptures. He showed me his usual officiating
dress—a white robe with a painted tui-ban—but he never wears
this costume except at service, appearing hi the Chinese habit at
other times. They have a weekly day of rest, which falls on
our Thursday. On asking if I might be permitted to attend any
of their services, he replied that if their adherents had business
on that day they did not trouble themselves to attend. The
stronghold of his religion is in Ilangchau fu, where are several
mosques, but the low state of Moluunmedanism seemed to
dampen liis spirits. Happening to see near the entrance a
tablet similar to that found in every other temple, with the
inscription, ‘The Enq)eror, ever-living, maybe live forever!’
I asked him how he could allow such a blasphemous monument
to stand in a spot which he regarded as consecrated to the worship
of Aloha, as he styles the true God. He protested he did
not and never could worship it, and pointed to the low })lace
given it as evidence of this, and added that it was only for the
sake of expediency it was allowed lodgment in the building, for
if they wei-e ever charged with disloyalty by the enemies of
JEWS IN CHINA. 271
their faith they could appeal to it ! His reigning desire was to
make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and he inquired particularly respecting
the price of a passage.” ‘
Since the introduction of steamers great numbers of pilgrims
visit Mecca, who cannot fail to extend the knowledge of western
lands as they return among their people. The Mohammedan
inhabitants of Turkestan and 111 are distinguished into three
classes by the color and shape of their turbans ; one has red and
another white sugar-loaf, tlie third the common iirab turban.
The number throughout the region north of the Yangtsz’ liiver
cannot be stated, but it probably exceeds ten millions. In
some places they form a third of the population ; a missionary
in Sz’chuen reckons eighty thousand living in one of its
cities.”
The existence of Jews in China has long been known, but
the information possessed relative to their past number, condition,
and residences is very imperfect. They were once numbered
by thousands, and are supposed by Mr. Finn to have
belonged to the restoration from Chaldea, as they had portions
of Malachi and Zechariah, adopted the era of Seleucus, and
had many rabbinical customs. They probably entered China
through the north-western route, and there is no good reason
for rejecting their own date, during the llan dynasty. Witliin
the last three centuries all have lived in Kaifung, the capital
of Honan, wherever they may have lived in earlier days. Marco
Polo just mentions their existence at (^and)aluc, as do John of
Montecorvino and Marignolli about the same time, and Ibn
Batuta at an earlier date. In the Chinese annals of the Mongol
dynasty the Jews are first referred to in 1329, and again
in 135-1, when they were invited to Peking in the decline of
its power to join the army of the Imperialists, They are styled
Shic-htvuh, or Jehudi, and must have been numerous enough
‘ Compare Milne’s Life in China, p. 96, London, 1857.
‘ Chtnem Repository, Vols. XIII., p. ;i’2 ; XX., pp. 77-84; II., p. 250. De
Guignes, Voyar/ex d Pekinf/, Tome II., p. 08. Gray, China, I., pp. 137-142.
Edkins, IMirjion.H in China, Chap. XV. Annules de la Foi, II., p. 245. Ret
uaud, Relation des Voyages d la Chine.«
to make them worth noticing with Aloluunmedans, and their help in men and means implored ; hut no hint is given of their places of ahode. Further research into Chinese histories may disclose other notices of their existence.
The Jews were early known hy the term of Tiao-Jcin hiaOj
or the ‘ sect which pulls out the sinew.’ Do Guignes says they
are also called Laa-niao Iltoul-tsz\ or ‘ Mohammedans with
Blue Caps,’ because they wore a blue cap in the synagogue ; but
this latter must be a local name. The first description of this
colony was written by the Jesuit Gozani, about the year 1700,
and shows that the Tsing-cMn sz\ or ‘ Pure and True Temple,’
Avas then a large establisliment consisting of four separate
courts, various buildings enclosed for residence, worship, and
work. The Li-jpai ss\ or Synagogue, measured about sixty
by forty feet, having a portico with a double row of four columns
before it. In the centre of the room, between the I’ows of pillars,
is the throne of Moses, a magnificent and elevated chair
with an embroidered cushion, upon which they place the book
of the law while it is read.
This account of Gozani remained as the latest information
until Bishop Smith sent two native Christians from Shanghai
to Kaifung to learn the present condition of the Jews. They
were ignorant of llebi-ew, but had been instructed hoM^ to copy
the letters, and did their work very creditably, bringing away
with them some portions of the Old Testament wi-itten on
vellum-like paper of an old date. The synagogue had suffered
during the great inundation of 18-fi>, and the colony of two
hundred individuals was found in abject poverty, ignorance, and
dejection. Not on6 of them knew a word of Hebrew, and
many of their buildings had been sold for the matei’ials to support
their lives.
In February, ISGG, Rev. W. A. P. Mai’tin, President of the
Tung-wun Kwan at Peking, visited Kaifung, and learned that
during the interval of fifteen years they had become still more
imj)overished. Having learned from the mollah of a mosque
where they lived, he ” passed through streets crowded Mith curious
spectators to an open square, in the centre of wliich there
stood a solitary stone. On one side was an inscription connnemTHEIR
MISEUAHLK CONDITION. 273
orating the erection of the synagogue in a.d. 11S3, and on the
other of its rebuilding in 14SS. . . . ‘Are there among
you any of tlie family of Israel ‘(‘ J inquired. ‘ I am one,’ responded
a young man, whose face corroborated his assertion ; and
then another and another stepped forth, until I saw before me
representatives of six of the seven families into which the
colony is divided. There, on that melancholy spot where
the very foundations of the synagogue had been torn from
tlie ground, and there no longer I’emained one stone upon
another, they confessed, with shame and grief, that their lioly
and beautiful house had been demolished by their own hands.
It had long been, they said, in a ruinous condition ; they had
no money to make repairs. They liad lost all knowledge of
the sacred tongue ; the traditions of the fathers were no longer
handed down, and their ritual worship had ceased to be observed.
They had at last yielded to the pressure of necessity,
and disposed of the timbers and stones of the venerable edifice
to obtain relief for their bodily wants.”
They estimated their number at between thi-ee hundred
and four hundred persons, all of them poor, and, now that
the centre of attraction had disappeared, likely to become dispersed
and lost. The entrance tablet in gilt characters, stating
that the building was “Israel’s Possession,” had been
placed in a mosque, and some of the colony had entered its
worship.
Since that date one of their own race, now Bishop Schereschewsky,
of Shanghai, has also visited them, but the literati
of the city refused to allow him to remain among them. A
company of the colony came up to Peking about twelve
years ago, but, finding that no money was to be obtained
for their support, ere long went back. It is probable that in
a few years their unity will be so desti-oyed in the removal
of their synagogue that they will be quite mingled with their
countrymen. One or two are now Buddhist priests, others
are literary graduates, and all of them are ignorant of their
peculiar rites and festivals. Like the Mohammedans, they
have never translated their sacred books into Chinese ; but
during their long existence in China they have remained indeed, as Dr. Martin says, like “a rock rent from the sidea of Mount Zion by some great national catastrophe, and projected into the central Plain of China, which has stood there while the centm-ies rolled by, sublime in its antiquity and solitude.”
‘> CUnese liepository, Vol. XX., pp. 4:^6-466. Yule’s Marco Polo, 1871, Vol.I., p. 809. Cathay, pp. 225, 341, 497. James Finn, Jews in Cliina, 1843. Bp.Smith, Mission of Inquiry to Jeics at Kai-funy, 1851. Dr. Martin, The Chinese,N. Y., 1881. Journal of Royal Geog. Soc, London, Vol. XXVII., p. 297.Versuch einer Geschkhtc der JiuJen in Sina, nelisf P. J. Kof/ler^s Rschreibung ihrer ?ieiligen Bucher, herausg. von C. G. von Murr, Halle, 180G. Milne,Life in China, p. 403.
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》10-14
CHAPTER X. STRUCTURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE
It might reasonably be inferred, judging from the attention paid to learning, and the honors conferred upon its successful votaries, that the literature of the Chinese would contain much to repay investigation. Such is not the case, however, to one already acquainted with the treasures of Western science, and, in fairness, such a comparison is not quite just. Yet it has claims to the regard of the general student, from its being the literature of so vast a portion of the human species, and the result of the labors of its wisest and worthiest minds during many successive ages. The fact that it has been developed under a peculiar civilization, and breathes a spirit so totally different from the writings of Western sages and philosophers, perhaps increases the curiosity to learn what are its excellences and defects, and obtain some criteria by which to compare it with the’ literature of other Asiatic or even European nations. The language in which it is written—one peculiarly mystical and diverse from all other media of thought—has also added to its singular reputation, for it has been surmised that what is ” wrapped up ” in such complex characters must be pre-eminently valuable for matter or elegant for manner, and not less curious than profound. Although a candid examination of this literature will disclose its real mediocrity in points of research, learning, and genius, there yet remains enough to render it worthy the attention of the oriental or general student.
Some of its peculiarities are owing to the nature of the language, and the mode of instruction, both of which have affected the style and thoughts of writers : for, having, when young, been taught to fonii their sentences upon the models of anti(juity, their efforts to do so have nioiikled their thoughts in the same channoL Imitation, from beiiii;- a chity, soon became a necessity.
INFLUEXCJ’; OF THE LANGUAGE UPON LITERATURE. 579
The Chinese scholar, forsaking the leadings of his own genius, soon learned to regard his models as not only being all truth themselves, but as containing the sum total of all things valuable. The intractable nature of the language, making it impossible to study other tongues through the medium of his own, moreover tended to repress all desire in the scholar to become acquainted with foreign books ; and as he knew nothing of them or their authors, it was easy to conclude that there was nothing worth knowing in them, nothing to repay the toil of study, or make amends for the condescension of ascertaining.
The neighbors of the Chinese have unquestionably been their inferiors in civilization, good government, learning, and wealth; and this fact has nourished their conceit, and repressed the wish to travel, and ascertain what there was in remoter regions. In judging of the character of Chinese literature, therefore, these circumstances among others under which it has risen to its present bulk, must not be overlooked; we shall conclude that the uniformity running through it is perhaps owing as much to the isolation of the people and servile imitation of their models, as to their genius: each has, in fact, mutually acted upon and influenced the other.
The ” homoglot ” character of the Chinese people has arisen more from the high standard of their literature, and the political institutions growing out of its canonical books (which have impelled and rewarded the efforts of students to master the language), than from any one other cause. This feature offers a great contrast to the polyglot character which the Romans possessed even to the last, and suggests the cause and results as interesting topics of inquiry. The Egyptian, Jewish, Syriac, Greek, and Latin languages had each its own national literature, and its power was enough to retain these several nations attached to their own mother tongue, while the Clauls, Iberians, and other subject peoples, having no books, took the language and literature of their rulers and conquerors. Thus the kingdom, “part iron and part clay,” fell apart as soon as the grasp of Rome was weakened ; while the tendency in China always has been to reunite and homologate.
In this short account of the Chinese tongue, it will be sufficient to give such notices of the origin and construction of the characters, and of the idioms and soimds of the written and spoken language, as shall convey a general notion of all its pai’ts, and to show the distinction between the spoken and written media, and their mutual action. They are both archaic, because the symbols prevented all inHexion and agglutination in the sounds, and all signs to indicate what part of speech each belonged to. They are like the ten digits, containing no vocable and imparting their meaning more to the eye than the ear.
Chinese writers, unable to trace the gradual formation of their characters (for, of course, there could be no intelligible historical data until long after their formation), have ascribed them to llwangti, one of their primeval monarchs, or even earlier, to Fuli-hi, some thirty centuries before Christ ; as if they deemed writing to be as needful to man as clothes or marriage, all of which came from Fuli-hi. A mythical personage, Tsangkieh, who flourished about b.c. 2700, is credited with the invention of symbols to represent ideas, from noticing the marking on tortoise shell, and thence imitating common objects in nature.
The Japanese have tried to attach their Txana to the Chinese characters to indicate the qase or tense, but the combination looks incongruous to an educated Chinese. We might express, though somewhat crudely, analogous combinations in English by endeavoring to wa*ite l-^5y, l-;^(“6′-s’, \-ted^ for unity, oneness, united, or 3-1 God for triune God.
ORIGIN OF THE LANGUAGE. 581
At this crisis, when a medium for conveying and giving permanency to ideas was formed, Chinese historians say : ” The heavens, the earth, and the gods, were all agitated. The inhabitants of hades wept at night ; and the heavens, as an expression of joy, rained down ripe grain. From the invention of writing, the machinations of the human heart began to operate; stories false and erroneous daily increased, litigations and imprisonments sprang up ; hence, also, specious and artful language, which causes so much confusion in the world. It was for these reasons that the shades of the departed wept at iiiglit.
But from the invention of writing, polite intercourse and music proceeded; reason and insticc were made manifest; the rehations of social life were ilhistiated. and laws became fixed.
Governors had laws to which they might refer; scholars had authorities to venerate; and hence, the heavens, delighted, rained down ripe grain. The classical scholar, the historian, the mathematician, and the astronomer can none of them do without wn-iting ; were there no written language to afford proof of passing events, the shades might weep at noonday, and the heavens rain down blood.” ‘ This singular myth may, perhaps, cover a genuine fact worthy of more than passing notice—indicatiuii; a consentaneous effort of the early settlers on the Yellow River to substitute for the purpose of recording laws and events something more intelligible than the knotted cords previously in use. Its form presents a curious contrast to the personality of the fable of Cadmus and his invention of the Greek letters.
The date of the origin of this language, like that of the letters of western alphabets, is lost in the earliest periods of postdihivian history, but there can be no doubt that it is the most ancient language now spoken, and along with the Egyptian and cuneiform, among the oldest written languages used by man. The Ethiopic and Coptic, the Sanscrit and Pali, the Syriac, Aramaic, and Pehlvic, have all become dead languages; and the Greek, Latin, and Persian, now spoken, differ so much
‘ Professor H. A. Sayce, o: Oxford, in reference to a suggested possible connection between the Chinese and primitive Accadian population of Chaldea, says in a letter to the London Timcts : ” I would mention one fact which niay certainly be considered to favor it. The cuneiform characters o. Eabylonia and Assyria are, as is well known, degenerated hieroglyphics, Hive the modern Chinese characters. The original hieroglyphics were invented by the Accadians before they descended into Babylonia from the mountains of Elam, and I have long been convinced that they were originally written in vertical columns. In no other way can I explain the fact that most of the pictures to which the cuneiform characters can be traced back stand upon their sides.
There is evidence to show that the inventors of the liieroslyphics iised papyrus, or some similar vegetable substance, for writing purposes before the alluvial plain of Babylonia furnished them with clay, and the use of such a writing material will easily account for the vertical direction in which the characters were made to run.” from the ancient style, as to require special study to understand the books in them: while during successive eras, the written and spoken language of the Chinese has undergone few alterations, and done nnieh to deepen the broad line of demarkation between them and other branches of the hunuin race. The fact, then, that this is the only living language which has survived the lapse of ages is, doubtless, owing to its ideographic character and its entire absence of sound as an integral factor of any symbol. Their form and meaning were, therefore, only the more strongly united because each reader was at liberty to sound them as he pleased or had been taught by local instructors, lie was not hindered, on account of his local Itrogue^
from counmmicating ideas with those who employed the same
signs in writing. Upon the subsequent rise t)f a great and valuable
literature, the maintenance of the written language was
the chief element of national life and integrity among those
peoples who read and admired the books. Nor has this language,
like those of the Hebrews, the Assyrians, and others
already mentioned, ever fallen into disuse and been supplanted
by the sudden rise and physical or intellectual vigor of some
neighboring community speaking a jKitois. For we find that
alphabetic languages, whose words represent at once meaning
and sound, are as dependent upon local dialects as is the
Chinese tongue upon its symbols ; consequently, when in the
former case the sounds had so altered that the meanings were
obscured, the mode of writing was likely to be changed. The
extent of its literature and uses made of it were then the only
safeguard of the written forms ; while as men learned to read
books they became more and more prone to associate sense and
form, regarding the sound as traditionary. AVe have, in illustration
of this, to look no further than to our own language,
whose cumbersome spelling is in a great measure resulting from
a dislike of changing old associations of sense and form which
would be involved in the adoption of a phonetic sj’stem.
The Chinese have had no inducement, at any stage of their
existence, to alter the forms of their symbols, inasmuch as no
nation in Asia contiguous to their own has ever achieved a literature
which could rival theirs ; no conqueror came to impose
IDEOGRAPHIC NATURE OF THE SYMBOLS. 583
his tongue upon them ; tlieir language completely isolated them
from intellectual intercourse with others. This isolation, fraught
with many disadvantages in the contracted nature of their literature,
and the reflux, narrowing influence on their minds, has
not been without its compensations. A national life of a
unique sort has resulted, and to this self- nurtured language
may be traced the origin of much of the peace, industry, population,
and healthy pride of the Chinese people.
The Chinese have paid great and praiseworthy attention to their language, and furnished us with all needed books to its study. Premising that the original symbols were ideographic, the necessities of the case compelled their contraction as much as possible, and soon resulted in arbitrary signs for all common uses. Their symbols varied, indeed, at different times and in different States ; it was not until a genuine literature appeared and its readers multiplied that the varients were dropped and uniformity sought. The original characters of this language are derived from natural or artificial objects, of which they were at first the rude outlines. Most of the forms are preserved in the treatises of native philologists, where the changes they have gradually undergone are shown. The number of objects chosen at first was not great ; among them were symbols for the sun, moon, hills, animals, parts of the body, etc. ; and in drawing them the limners seem to have proposed nothing further than an outline sketch, which, by the aid of a little explanation, would be intelligible. Thus the picture ^ would probably be recognized by all who saw it as representing the moon ; that of ^ as a fish / and so of others. It is apparent that the number of pictures which could be made in this manner would beai” no proportion to the w’ants and uses of a language, and therefore recourse must soon be had to more complicated symbols, to combining those already understood, or to the adoption of arbitrary or phonetic signs. All these modes have been more or less employed.
Chinese philologists arrange all the characters in their language into six classes, called Liushu, or ‘six writings’. The first, called slang king, morphographs. or ‘ imitative symbols,’ are those in which a plain resemblance can be traced between the original form and the object represented ; they are among the first characters invented, although the six hundred and eight placed in this class do not include all the original symbols, These pristine forms have since been nioditied so much that the resemblance has disappeared in most of them, caused chiefly by the use of paper, ink, and pencils, instead of the iron style
and bamboo tablets formerly in use for writing ; circular strokes
being more distinctlj^ made with an iron point upon the hard
wood than with a hair ])encil upon thin paper ; angular strokes
and square forms, therefore, gradually took the place of round
or curved ones, and contracted characters came into use in place
of the oi’iginal imitative symbols. In this class such characters
as the followin<r are ijiven :
^^A^-^t^^ tortoise,
altered to chariot. child, elephant, deer, vase, hill, eye.
kwei, chi,
The second class, only one hundred and seven in number, is
called chi S3\ i.e., ‘ symbols indicating thought.’ They differ
from the preceding chiefly in that the characters are formed by
combining previously formed symbols in such a way as to indi«
cate some idea easily deducible from their position or combination,
and pointing out some property or relative circumstance
belonging to them. Chinese philologists consider these two
classes as comprising all the symbols in the language, which
depict objects either in whole or in part, and whose meaning is
apparent from the resemblance to the object, or from the posi-
Moii of the ])ai’ts. Among those; placed in this class are,
^ moon half appearing, signili(;s e\ening ; now written ^
O sun above the horizon, denotes nn)rning ; now written J9.
y something in the mouth, meaning sweet ; now written ^
SIX CLASSES OF CHARACTERS. 585
The third class, amounting to seven Iiundred and forty characters,
is called hioid i, i.e., ‘ combined ideas,” or ideographs, and
comprises characters made up of two or three symbols to foi-m a
single idea, whose meanings are dcdiieible either from their position,
or supposed relative intiuence upon each other. Thus the
union of the sun and moon, ^ luuttj, expresses brightness; ^
lien, a piece of wood in a doorway, denotes obstruction ; two
trees stand for a forest, as ^^ lin ; and three for a thicket, as ^^-^
mil ; two men upon the ground conveys the idea of sitting ; a
‘mouth in a doof signifies to ask ; man and words means truth
and to believe ; heart and death imports forgetfulness ; dog and iiioidh means to bark ; woman and hfoom denotes a wife, referring to her household duties ; i)encil and to speah is a book, or to write. But in none of these compounded characters is there anything like that perfection of picture writing stated by some writers to belong to the language, which will enable one unacquainted with the meaning of the separate symbols to decide upon the signification of the combined group. On the contrary
it is in most cases certain that the third idea made by combining
two already known symbols, usually required more or less
explanation to fix its precise meaning, and remove the doubt
which would otherwise arise. For instance, the combination of
the sun and moon might as readily mean a solar or lunar eclipse,
or denote the idea of time, as brightness. A piece of wood in a doorway would almost as naturally suggest a thre-shold as an ohstr actioIt / and so of others, A straight line in a doorway would more readily suggest a closed or bolted door, which is the signification of p^ shan, anciently written f\^ ; but the idea intended to be conveyed by these combinations would need prior explanation as much as the primitive symbol, though it would thenceforth readily recur to mind when noticing the construction.
It is somewhat singular that the opinion should have obtained so much credence, that their meanings were easily deducible from their shape and construction. It might almost be said, that not a single character can be accurately defined from a mere inspection of its parts ; and the meanings now given of some of those which come under this class are so arbitrary and far-fetclied, as to show that Chinese characters have not been formed by rule and plummet more than words in other languages. The mistake which Du Ponceau so learnedly combats arose, probably, from confounding sound with construction and inferring that, because persons of different nations, who used this as their written language, could understand it when written, though mutually unintelligible when speaking, that it addressed itself so entirely to the eye, as to need no previous explanation.
The fourth class, called chuen chu, ‘ inverted significations,’
includes three hundi-ed and seventy-two characters, being such
as b}^ some inversion, contraction, or alteration of their parts,
acquire different meanings. This class is not large, but these
and other modifications of the original symbols to express abstract
and new ideas show that those who used the language
either saw at once how cumbrous it would become if they went
on forming imitative signs, or else that their invention failed,
and they resorted to changes more or less arbitrary in characters
already known to furnish distinctive signs for different
ideas. Thus yu j^ the hand, turning toward the right means
the right; inclined in the other direction, as tso ‘\ it means
the left. The heart placed beneath slave, i^ signifies anger;
threads obstructed, as || , means to sunder ; but turned the
other way, as H , signifies continuous.
The fifth class, called hml shing, i.e., ‘ uniting sound symbols,’
or phonogram, contains twenty-one thousand eight hundred
and ten characters, or nearly all in the language. They
are formed of an imitative symbol united to one which merely
imparts its sound to the compound ; the former usually partakes
more or less of the new idea, while the latter loses its
own meaning, and gives only its name. In this respect, Chinese
cliaracters are superior to the Arabic numerals, inasmuch
as combinations like 25, 101, etc., although conveying the same
meaning to all nations using them, can neiier indicate sound.
This plan of forming new conjbinations by the union of symbols
expressing idea and sound, enables the Chinese to increase
the mnnber of charactei’s without multiplying the original symbolcj;
but these compoundfe, or lcx’i<jraj_>hs^ us \j\\. I’ouceau callji
METHOD OF FORMING PHONETIC CHARACTERS. 587
tlieni, do nut increase very rapidly. In Annum they liave become
so numerous in the course of years that the Chinese
books made in that country are hard to i-ead. The probable
mode in wliich this arose can best be explained by a case which
occurred at Canton in 1832. Innnature locusts were to be described
in a proclamation, l)ut the word nan, by which they
were called, was not contained in any dictionary. It would be
sufficient to designate this insect to all persons living where it
was found by selecting a well-understood character, like ^
south, having the exact sound nan, by which the insect itself
was called, and joining it to the determinative symbol clmnfj
^ insect. It woidd then signify, to every one who knew the
sound and meaning of the component parts, the insect nan ^
and be read nan, ^ meaning this very insect to the people in
Kwangtung. If this new combination was carried to a distant
part of the country, where the insect itself was unknown, it
would convey no more information to the Chinese who sav:) the
united symbol, than the sounds insect nan would to an Englishman
who heard them ; to both persons a meaning must be
given by describing the insect. If, however, the people living
in this distant region called the phonetic part of the new character
by another sound, as oiam, nein, or lam, they would attach
another name to the new compound, but the people on the
spot would, perhaps, not understand them when they spoke it
by tliat name. If they wrote it, however, both would give it
the same signification, but a different sound.
In this way, the thousands of characters under this class have probably originated. But this rule of sounding them according to the phonetic part is not in all cases certain; for in the lapse of time, the sounds of many characters have changed, while those of the parts themselves have not altered ; in other cases, the parts have altered, and the sounds remained ; so that now only a great degree of probability as to the correct sound can be obtained by inspecting the component parts. The similarity in sound between most of the characters having the same phonetic part is a great assistance in reading Chinese, though very little in understanding it, and has had much influence in keeping the sounds unchanged.
There are a few instances of an almost inadvertent arrival at a true syllabic system, Ijy which the initial consonant of one part, Avhen joined to the final vowel of the other, gives the sound of the character; as ina andy?’, in the character j|l, when united in this way, make ml. The meanings of the components are hemp and not, that of the compound is extradayant, ‘wasteful, etc., showing no relation to the primary signification.
The number of such characters is veiy small, and the syllabic composition here noticed is probably fortuitous, and not intentional. The sixth class, called hla tsle, i.e., ‘borrowed uses’, includes metaphoric symbols and combinations, m which the meaning is deduced by a somewhat fanciful accommodation ; their number is five hundred and ninety-eight. They differ but little from the second class of indicative symbols. For instance, the symbol ‘”f^ or j^, meaning a written character, is composed of a child under a shelter—characters being considered as the well-nurtured offspring of hieroglyphics. The character for hall means also mother, because she constantly abides there. The word for ‘//dnd or heart is sin ^, originally intended to represent that organ, but now used chiefly in a metaphorical sense. Chinese grammarians find abundant scope for the display of their fancy in explaining the etymology and origin of the characters, but the aid which their researches give toward understanding the language as at present used is small. This classification under six lieads is modern, and was devised as a means of arranging what existed already, for they confess that their characters were not formed according to fixed rules, and have gradually undergone many changes.
MODES OF AKHANGING CIIAKACTERS. 589
The total number in the six classes is twenty-four thousand two hundred and thirty-five, being many less than are found in KangXi’s Dictionary, which amount to forty-four thousand four hundred and forty-nine ; but in the larger sum are included the obsolete and synonymous characters, which, if deducted, would reduce it to nearly the same number. It is probable that the total of really different characters in tlie language sanctioned by good usage, does not vary greatly from twenty-five thousand, though luithors have stated them at from fifty-four thousand four hundred and nine, as Magaillaus does, up to two hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, as Montueci.
The Chinese editor of the hirge lexicon on which Dr. Morrison founded his Dictionary, gives it as his opinion that there are fifty thousand characters, including synonyms and different forms; and taking in every variety of tones given to the words, and sounds for which no characters exist, that there are five thousand different words. But even the sum of twenty-five thousand different characters contains thousands of miusual ones which are seldom met with, and which, as is the case with old words in English, are not often learned.
The burden of remembering so many complicated symbols,
whose form, sound, and meanings are all necessary to enable the
student to read and write intelligibly, is so great that the result
has been to diminish those in connnon nse, and increase their
meanings. This course of procedure really occurs in most languages,
and in the Chinese greatly reduces the labor of acquiring
it. It may be safely said, that a good knowledge of ten
thousand characters will enable one to read any work in Chinese,
and write intelligibly on any subject ; and Premare says a
good knowledi2;e of four or five thousand characters is sulficient
for all connnon purposes, while two-thirds of that number might
in fact suffice. The troublesome ones are either proper names
or technics peculiar to a particular science. The nine canonical
works coi^.tain altogether oidy four thousand six hundred and
one dljfevent characters, while in the Five Classics alone there
are over two hundred thousand words. The entire number of
different characters in the code of laws ti-anslated by Staunton is
under two thousand.
The invention of printing and the compilation of dictionaries
have given to the form of modern characters a greater degree
of certainty than they had in ancient times. The vai-iants of
some of the most common ones were exceedingly numerous before
this period ; Callery gives forty-two different modes of
writing pao^ ‘ precious ; ‘ and forty-one for writing tsun, ‘honorable
; ‘ showing the absence of an acknowledged standard, and the
slii»:ht intercourse between learned men. The best mode of arranging: the characters so as to find them easily, has been a subject of considerable trouble to Chinese lexicographers, and the various methods they have adopted renders it difficult to consult their dictionaries without considerable previous knowledge of the language. In some, those having the same sound are grouped together, so that it is necessary to know what a character is called before it can be found ; and this arrangement has been followed in vocabularies designed principally for the use of the common people. One well-known vocabulary used at Canton, called the Fan Yan^ or ‘ Divider of Sounds,’ is arranged on this plan, the words being placed under thirty-three orders, according to their terminations. Each order is subdivided into three or four classes according to the tones, and all the characters having the same tone and termination are placed together, as kam^ lam^ tarn, nam, etc. As might be supposed, it requires considerable time to find a character whose tone is not exactly known ; and even with the tone once mastered, the uncertainty is equally troublesome if the termination is not familiar: for singular as it may seem to those who are acquainted only with phonetic languages, a Chinese can, if anything, more readily distinguish between two words %ning and fining, whose tones are unlike, than he can between *^mmg and ^nieng, fining or thing, where the initial or final differs a little, and the tones are the same.
An improvement on this plan of arrangement was made by adopting a mode of expressing the sounds of Chinese characters introduced by the Buddhists, in the Yah Plen, published a.d. 5-43, and ever since used in all dictionaries. This takes the initial of the sound of one character and the final of another, and combines them to indicate the sound of the given character ; as from U-qw and y-ing to form ling. There are thirty-six characters chosen for the initial consonants, and thirty-eight for the final sounds, but the student is perplexed by the different characters chosen in different works to represent them.’ The inhabitants of Amoy use a small lexicon called the Shih-‘wu
Yin, or ‘ Fifteen Sounds,’ in which the characters are classified
‘ Biot has a brief note upon the metliods emplo^’ed by native scholars fd
studying pronunciation. Esaai sur Vinstruction en Chine, p. 597.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO COMPOSITION. 591
on this principle, by first arranging them all nnder fifty finals,
and then placing all those having the same termination in a
regular series under fifteen initials. Su])posing a new character,
chien, is seen, whose sound is given, or the word is heard in
conversation and its meanings are wanted, the person turns to
the part of the hook containing the final ien, which is designated
perhaps by the character I’un, and looks along the initials
until he comes to cA, which is indicated by the character chany.
In this column, all the words in the book I’ead or spoken chien^
OS whatever tone they may be, are placed together according to
their tones ; and a little practice readily enables a person speaking
the dialect to use this manual. It is, however, of little or no
avail to persons speaking other dialects, or to those whose vernacular
differs much from that of the compiler, whose own ear
was his only guide. Complete dictionaries have been published
on the phonetic plan, the largest of which, the ^Vu Che Tun
Fu^ is arranged with so much minuteness of intonation as to
puzzle even the best educated natives, and consequently abridge
its usefulness as an expounder of words.
The unfitness of either of these modes of arrangement to find an unkno\\Ti character, led to another classification according to their composition, by selecting the most prominent parts of each character as its key, or radical, and grouping those together in which the same key occurred. This plan was adopted subsequently to that of arranging the characters according to the sounds, about a.d. S-IS, when their number was put at
five hundred and forty-two ; they were afterward reduced to
tlii-ee hundred and sixty, and toward the close of the Ming dynasty
finally fixed at two hundred and fourteen in the Tsz* Lui.
It is now in general use from the adoption of the abridged dictionary, the Kanghi Ts^ Tien / though this number could have been advantageously reduced, as has been shown by Gon^alves, its universal adoption, more than anything else, renders it the best system. All characters found under the same radical are placed consecutively, according to the number of strokes necessary to write them, but no regularity is observed in placing those having the same number of strokes. The term j)rrmitiv6 has been technically applied to the remaining part of the character, which, though perhaps no older than the radical, is conveniently denoted by this word. The characters selected for the radicals are all common ones, and among the most ancient in the language ; they are here grouped according to their meanings in order to show something of the leading ideas followed in combination.
Corporal.—Body, corpse, head, hair, down, whiskers, face, eye, ear, nose, mouth, teeth, tusk, tongue, hand, heart, foot, hide, leather, skin, wings, feathers, blood, flesh, talons, horn, bones.
Biological.—Man, woman, child ; horse, sheep, tiger, dog, ox, hog, liog’a head, deer ; tortoise, dragon, reptile, mouse, toad ; bird, gallinaceous fowls; fish ; insect.
Botanicul. — Herb, grain, rice, wheat, millet, hemp, leeks, melon, pulse, bamboo, sacrificial herb ; wood, branch, sprout, petal.
Mineral.—Metal, stone, gems, salt, earth.
Meteorological.—Rain, wind, fire, water, icicle, vapor, sound ; sun, moon, evening •, time.
Utewtils.—A chest, a measure, a mortar, spoon, knife, bench, couch, crockery, clothes, tiles, dishes, napkin, net, plough, vase, tripod, boat, carriage, pencil ; bow, halberd, arrow, dart, ax, musical reed, drum, seal.
Descriptives.—Black, white, yellow, azure, carnation, sombre ; color ; high, long, sweet, square, large, small, strong, lame, slender, old, fragrant, acrid, perverse, base, opposed.
Actions.—To enter, to follow, to walk slowly, to arrive at, to stride, to walk, to run, to reach to, to touch, to stop, to fly, to overspread, to envelop, to encircle, to establish, to overshadow, to adjust, to distinguish, to divine, to see, to eat, to speak, to kill, to fight, to oppose, to stop, to embroider, to owe, to compare, to imitate, to bring forth, to use, to promulge.
Miscellaneous.—A desert, cave, field, den, mound, hill, valley, rivulet, cliff, retreat. A city ; roof, gate, door, portico. One, two, eight, ten. Demon ; an inch, mile ; without, not, false ; a scholar, statesman, letters ; art, wealth; motion ; self, myself, father ; a point ; again ; wine ; silk ; joined hands ; a long journey ; print of a bear’s foot ; a surname ; classifier of cloth.
The number of characters found under each of these radicals
in Kanghi’s Dictionary varies from five up to one thousand three
hundred and fifty-four. The radical is not uniformly placed,
but its usual position is on the left of the primitive. Some occur
on the top, others on the bottom ; son)e inclose the primitive,
and many have no fixed place, making it evident that no uniform
plan was adopted in the original construction. They must be
thoroughly learned before the dictionary can be readily used.
RADICALS AND PRIMITIVES. 593
and some practice had before a cliaracter can be qnickly found.’
Tlie groups occurring under a niajoi-ity of tlie radicals are more
or less natural in their general meaning, a feature of the language
wbich has already been noticed (page 375), Some of
the radicals are interchanged, and characters having the same
meaning sometimes occur under two or three different ones—
variations which seem to have arisen from the little importance
of a choice out of two or three similar radicals. Thus the same
word tsien. ‘a small cup,’ is written under the three radicals
gein^ jmreelain^ and liorn^ originally, no doubt, referring to the
material for making it. This interchange of radicals adds
greatly to the number of duplicate forms, which are still further
increased by a similar interchange of primitives having the
same sound. These two changes very seldom occur in the same
character, but there are numerous instances of synonymous
forms under almost every radical, arising from an intei”change
of primitives, and also under analogous radicals caused by their
reciprocal use. Thus, from both these causes, there are, under
the radical riia^ ‘ a horse,’ one hundred and eighteen duplicate
forms, leaving two hundred and ninety-three different words ;
of the two hundred and four characters under nm, ‘an ox,’
thirty-nine are synonymous forms ; and so under other radicals.
These characters do not difFer in meaning more thanfavor and
favour, or lady and larhje ; they are mere variations in the
form of writing, and though apparently adding greatly to the
number of characters, do not seriously increase the difficulty of
learning; the language.
Variants of other descriptions frequently occur in books,
which needlessly add to the labor of learning the language.
Ancient forms are sometimes adopted by pedantic writers to
show their learning, while ignorant and careless writers use
abridged or vulgar forms, because they either do not know the
correct form, or are heedless in using it. AVhen such is the
case, and the character cannot be found in the dictionary, the
reader is entirely at fault, especially if he be a foreigner^
though in China itself he would not experience much difficulty
‘ Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 8-29 ; Chinese Repository, Vol. III. , pp. 1-37Vol. I.—38
where the natives were at liaiid to refer to. Vulgar forms are
very commori in cheap books and letters, which are as unsanctioned
by the dictionaries and good nsage, as cockney
Dhrases or miner’s slang are in pure English. They arise,
either from a desire on the part of the writer to save time by
makinsr a contracted form of few strokes instead of the correct
character of many strokes ; or he uses common words to express
an energetic vulgar phrase, for which there are no authorized
characters, but which will be easily understood phonetically by
his readers. These characters would perchance not be understood
at all outside of the range of the author’s dialect, because
the phrase itself was new ; their individual meaning, indeed,
has nothing to do with the interpretation of the sentence, for in
this case they are merely signs of sound, like words in other languages, and lose their lexigraphic character. For instance,
the words Ma-fi for coffee, hajMan for captain, ml-sz” for Mr ,
etc., however they were written, would be intelligible to a
native of Canton if they expressed those sounds, because he was
familiar with the words themselves ; but a native of Shensi
would not understood them, because, not knowing the things
intended, he would naturally refer to the characters themselves
for the meaning of the phrase, and thus be wholly misled.
In such cases, the characters become mere syllables of a phonetic
word. Foreign names are often transliterated by writers
on geography or history, and their recognition is no easy task
to their readers.’
In addition to the variations in the forms of characters, there
are six different styles of writing them, which correspond to
black-letter, script, italic, roman, etc., in English. The first is
called Chuen shu (from the name of the person who invented it),
which foreigners have styled the seal cliaractet^ from its use in
seals and ornamental inscriptions. It is next to the picture hieroglyphics,
the most ancient fashion of writing, and has undergone
many changes in the course of ages. It is studied by those who
cut seals or inscriptions, but no books are ever printed in it.
‘ One may gain some idea of this difficulty by referring to the geographical names contained in the Russo-Chinese Treaty, quoted on page 215.
EI Bm 13 HI EJ 5t EI J3H 5? Q Q B a nB[$1
SIX STYLES OF ClIINESK CIIAIJACTEKS. 597
The second is the 11 shi, or style of official attendants, which
was introduced about the (-hristian era, as an elegant style to be
employed in engrossing docuinonts. It is now seen in prefaces
and formal inscriptions, and re(|uires no special study to read it,
as it differs but sliglitly from the following.
The third is the Jiial ^s/^ //, or pattern style, and has been gradually
formed by the improvements in good writing. It is the
usual form of Chinese characters, and no man can claim a literary
name among his countrymen if he cannot write neatly and
correctly in this style.
The fourth is called king shu, or running hand, and is the common hand of a neat writer. It is frequently used in prefaces and inscriptions, scrolls and tablets, and there are books prepared in parallel columns having this and the pattern style arranged for school-boys to learn to write both at the same time. The running hand cannot be read without a special study ; and although this labor is not very serious when the language of books is familiar, still to become well acquainted with l^oth of them withdraws many days and months of the pupil from progress in acquiring knowledge to learning two modes of writing the same word.
The fifth style is called t.’^ao tsz\ or plant character, and is a
fi-eer description of running hand than the preceding, being full
of abbreviations, and the pencil runs from character to character,
without taking it from the paper, almost at the writer’s fancy.
It is more difficult to read than the preceding, but as the abbreviations
are somewhat optional, the tsao tsz’ varies considerably,
and more or less resembles the running hand according to the
will of the writer. The fancy of the Chinese for a ” flowing
pencil,’” and a mode of writing where the elegance and freedom of
the caligraphy can be admired as much or more than the style or
sentiment of the writing, as well as the desire to contract their
nuiltangular characters as much as possible, has contributed to introduce
and perpetuate these two styles of writing. How much
all these varieties of form superadd to the difficulty of learning
the mere apparatus of knowledge need hardly be stated.
The sixth style is called Sung shu, and was introduced under
the Sung dynasty in the tenth century, soon after printing on wooden blocks was invented. It differs from the third style, merely in a certain squareness and angularity of stroke, which transcribers for the press only are obliged to learn. Of these six forms of writing, the pattern style and running hand are the only two which the people learn to any great extent, although many acquire the knowledge of some words in the seal character, and the running hand of every person, especially those engaged in business, approaches more or less to the plant character. But foreigners will seldom find time or inclination to learn to write more than one form, to be able to read and communicate on all occasions.
Besides these styles, there are fanciful ones, called * tadpole charactei’s,’ in imitation of various objects ; ‘ the Emperor Kienhmg brought together thirty-two of them in an edition of his poem, the Elegy ujwn the City of Mukden.^
All the strokes in the characters are reduced to eight elementarv
ones, which are contained in the single character ^yung, ‘eternal.’
A dot, a line, a perpendicular, u hook, a siiikc, ;i sweep, ii sroke, a dash-line.
Each of these is subdivided into many forms in copy-books,
having particular names, with directions how to write them,
and numerous examples introduced under each stroke/
‘ The writer has an edition of the Thouftdnd Chnradcv Clitsxtr, containing each couplet or eight words in a different form of character, making one hundred and twenty-five styles of type—too grotesque to be imitated, and probably never actually in use.
•’ See page TJ3. In order that the Manchu portion of this famous poem might not appear inferior to the Chinese, the Emperor ordered thirty-two varieties of Manchu characters to be invented and published in like manner with the others. Remusat, Melanges, Tome II., p. 59. Pere Amiot, El/)ge de la ViUe de Moiikden. Trad, eii frant^oin. Paris, 1770.
• Chinese Chrestomatlii/, Chap. I., Sees. 5 and 6, where the rules for writing
Chinese are given in full with numerous examples; Easy Lessons in Chinese,
‘a 59; Chinese liepositvrj/, Vol. III., p. 37.
ELEMENTARY STROKES OF THE CHARACTERS, 599
The Chinese regard their characters as highly elegant, and
take unwearied pains to learn to write them in a beautiful,
uniform, well-proportioned manner. Students are provided
with a painted board upon which to practise with a brush
dipped in blackened water. The articles used in writing, collectively
called wan fang sz’ jpao^ or ‘ four precious things of
the library,’ are the pencil, ink, paper, and ink stone. The
best pencils ai’e made of the bristly hair of the sable and fox,
and cheaper ones from the deer, cat, wolf and rabbit ; camel’s
hair is not used. K combination of softness and elasticity is
required, and those who are skilled in their use discern a difference
and an excellence altogether imperceptible to a novice.
The hairs are laid in a regular manner, and when tied up are
brought to a delicate tip ; the handle is made of the twigs of
a bamboo cultivated for the purpose. The ink, nsually known
as India ink, is made fi-om the soot of burning oil, pine, fir,
and other substances, mixed with glue or isinglass, and scented.
It is formed into oblong cakes or cylinders, inscribed with the
maker’s name, the best kinds being put up in a very tasteful
manner. A singular error formerlv obtained credence”regarding
this Ink, that it was inspissated from the fluid found in the
cuttle-fish. When used, the ink is rubbed with water upon
argillite, marble, or other stones, some of which are cut and
ground in a beautiful manner. Chinese paper is made from
bamboo, by triturating the woody fibre to a pulp in mortars
after the pieces have been soaked in ooze, and then taking it
up in moulds ; the pulp is sometimes mixed with a little cotton fiber. Inferior sorts are made entirely from cotton refuse; and in the North, where the bamboo does not grow, the bark of the Brotissonetia, or paper mulberry, furnishes material for a tough paper used for windows, wrappings, and account
books, etc. Bamboo paper has no sizing in it, and is a frail
material for preserving valuable writings, as it is easily destroyed
by insects, mildew, or handling.’
‘ Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal, Vol. III. (Sept., 1834), p. 477. S. Julien in the Revue de I’ Orient et de VAlyerie, XX., p. 74, 1856.
In the days of Confucius, pieces of bamboo pared thin, palm leaves, and reeds, were all used for writing upon with a sharp stick or stile. About the third century before Christ, silk and cloth were employed, and hair pencils made for writing. Paper was invented about the first century, and cotton-paper may have been brought from India, where it was in use more than a hundred years before. India ink was manufactured by the seventh century ; and the present mode of printing upon blocks was adopted from the discovery of Fungtau in the tenth century, of taking impressions from engraved stones. In the style of their notes and letters, the Chinese show both neatness and elegance; narrow slips of tinted paper are employed, on which various eml)leniatic designs are stamped in water lines, and enclosed in fanciful envelopes. It is common to affix a cipher instead of the name, or to close with a periphrasis or sentence well understood by the parties, and thereby avoid any signature; this, which originated, no doubt, in a fear of interception and unpleasant consequences, has gradually become a common mode of subscribing friendly epistles.
The mode of printing is so well litted for the language that
few improvements have been made in its manipulations, while
the cheapness of books brings them within reach of tfie poorest.
Cutting the blocks, and writing the characters, form two distinct
branches of the business : printing the sheets, binding the
volumes, and publishing the books, also furnish employment to
other craftsmen. The first step is to write the characters upon
thin paper, properly ruled with lines, two pages being cut upon
one block, and a heavy double line surrounding them. The
title of the work, chapter, and paging are all cut in a central
column, and wdien the leaf is printed it is folded through this
column so as to bring the characters on the edge and partly on
both pages. Marginal notes are placed on the top of the page ;
comments, when greatly extended, occupy the upper part, separated
from the text by a heavy line, or when mci-e scholia, are
interlined in the same column in characters of half the size.
Sometimes two works are printed togethei-, one running through
the volume on the upper half of the leaves, and separated from
that occupying the lower half by a heavy line. Illustrations
usually occupy separate pages at the connnencement of the
PAPER AND PRINTING. 60l
Look, but there are a few works with woodcuts of a wretched
description, inserted in tlie body of the page. In books printed
by government, each page is sometimes surrounded with dragons,
or the title page is adorned in red by this emblem of imperial
authority.
When the leaf has been written out as it is to be printed, it
is turned over and pasted upon the block, face downward.
The wood usually used by blockcutters is pear or plum ; the
boards are half or three-fourths of an inch thick, and planed
fur cutting on both sides. The paper, when dried upon the
board, is carefully rubbed off with the wetted finger, leaving
every character and stroke plainly delineated. The cutter then,
with his chisels, cuts away all the blank spots in and around
the characters, to the depth of a line or more, after which the
block is ready for the printer, whose machinery is very simple.
Seated before a bench, he lays the block on a bed of paper so
that it will not move nor chafe. The pile of paper lies on
one side, the pot of ink before him, and the pressing brush on
the other. Taking the ink brush, he slightly rubs it across the
block twice in such a way as to lay the ink e(juably over the
surface ; he then places a sheet of paper upon it, and over that
another, which serves as a tympanum. The impi-ession is
taken with the fibrous bark of the gonuiti palm ; one or two
sweeps across the block complete the impression, for only one
side of the paper is printed. Another and cheaper method in
common use for publishing slips of news, court circulars, etc.,
consists in cutting the characters in blocks of hard wax, from
which as many as two hundred impi-essions can often be taken
before they become entirely illegible. The ink is manufactured
from lampblack mixed with vegetable oil ; the printers
grind it for themselves.
The sheets are taken by the binder, who folds them through
the middle by the line around the pages, so that the columns
shall register with each other, he then collates them into volumes,
placing the leaves evenly by their folded edge, when the
whole are arranged, and the covers ])asted on each side. Two
pieces of paper stitch it through the back, the book is triinmed,
and sent to the bookseller. If required, it is stitched firmly with thread, but this part, as well as writing the title on the bottom edges of the volume, and making the pasteboard wrapper, are usually deferred till the taste of a purchaser is ascertained.
Books made of such materials are not as dm-able as European
volumes, and those who can afford the expense frequent!}’ have
valuable works inclosed in wooden boxes. They are printed of
all sizes between small sleeve editions (as the Chinese call 2-i
and 32 mos) up to quartos, twelve or fourteen inches square,
larger than which it is difficult to get blocks.
The price varies from one cent—for a brochure of twentyfive
or thirty pages—to a dollar and a half a volume. It is
seldom higher save for illustrated works. A volume rarely
contains more than a hundred leaves, and in fine books their
thickness is increased by inserting an extra sheet inside of each
leaf. At Canton or Fuhchau, the ITlstopy of the Three States^
bound in twenty-one volumes 12mo, printed on white paper, is
usually sold for seventy-five cents or a dollar per set.
Kanghfs Dictionary, in twenty-one volumes 8vo, on yellow
paper, sells for four dollars ; and all the nine classics can be
purchased for less than two. Books are hawked about the
streets, circulating libraries are carried from house to house
upon movable stands, and booksellers’ shops are frequent in
large towns. No censorship, other than a prohibition to write
about the present dynasty, is exercised upon the pi-ess ; nor are
authors protected by a copyright law. Men of wealth sometimes
show their literary taste by defraying the expense of getting
the blocks of extensive works cut, and publishing them
Pwan Sz’-ching, a wealthy merchant at Canton, published, in
1846, an edition of the Pei Wan Yun Fu, in one hundred and
thirty thick octavo volumes, the blocks for which nnist have
cost him more than ten thousand dollars. The number of good
impressions which can be obtained from a set of blocks is about
sixteen thousand, and by retouching the characters, ten thousand
more can be struck off.
The disadvantages of this mode of printing are that other
languages cannot easily be introduced into the page with the
Chinese characters; tlie blocks occupy mudi room, are easily
spoiled (jr lost ; and are incapable of correction without much
THE MANUFACTUKE OF CHINESE BOOKS. 603
expense. It possesses some compensatory adv^antages peculiar
to the Chinese and its cognate languages, Manchu, Corean, Japanese, etc., all of which are written with a brush and have few or no circular strokes. Its convenience and cheapness, coupled with the low rate of wages, will no doubt make it the common mode of printing Chinese among the people for a long time.
The honor of being the first inventor of movable tj^pes undoubtedly
belongs to a Chinese blacksmith named Pi Shing, who
lived about a.d. 1000, and printed books with them nearly five
hundred years before Gutenberg cut his matrices at Mainz.
They were made of plastic clay, hardened by fire after the
characters had been cut on the soft surface of a plate of clay in
which they were moulded. The porcelain types were then set
up in a frame of iron partitioned off l)y strips, and inserted in a
cement of wax, resin, and lime to fasten them down. The printing
was done by rubbing, and when completed the types were
loosened by melting the cement, and made clean for another impression.
This invention seems never to have been developed to any
practical application in superseding block-printing. The Emperor
Kanghi ordered about two hundi-ed and fifty thousand
copper types to be engraved for pi-inting publications of the government,
and these works are now highly prized for their beauty.
The cupidity of his successors led to melting these types into
cash, but his grandson Kienlung directed the casting of a large
font of lead types for government use.
The attention of foreigners was early called to the preparation
of Chinese movable types, especially for the rapid manufacture
of religious books, in connection with missionary work. The
first fonts were made by P. P. Thoms, for the E, I. Company’s
office at Macao in 1S15, for the purpose of printing Morrison’s
Dictionary. The characters were cut with chisels on blocks of
type metal or tin, and though it was slow work to cut a full
font, they gradually grew in numbers and variety till they served
to print over twenty dictionaries and other works, designed
to aid in learning Chinese, befoi-e they were destroyed by fire
in 1856. A small font had been cast at Serampore in 1815, and in 1838, the Rojal Printing Office at Paris had obtained a set of blocks engraved in China, fi-om which thick castings were made and the separate types obtained by sawing the plates.
M. Le Grand, a type-founder in Paris, about the year 1836, prepared an extensive font of type with comparatively few matrices, by casting the radical and primitive on separate bodies; and the plan has been found, within certain limits, to save so much expense and room that it has been adopted in other fonts.
These experiments in Europe showed the feasibility of making
and using Chinese type to any extent, but their results as to elegance
and accuracy of form were not satisfactory^, and proved
that native workmen alone could meet the native taste. Pev.
Samuel Dyer of the London Mission at Singapore began in
1838, under serious disadvantages, for he was not a practical
printer, to cut the matrices for tM’O complete fonts. He continued
at his self-appointed task until his death in 18-±4r, having
completed only one thousand eight hundred and forty-five
punches. His work was continued by P. Cole, of the American
Presbyterian Missions, a skilful mechanic in his line, and in
1851 he was able to furnish fonts of two sizes with four thousand
seven hundred characters each. Their form and style met every
requirement of the most fastidious taste, and they are now in
constant use.
While Mr. Dyer’s fonts were suspended by his death, an attempt
was made by a benevolent printer, Ilerr Peyerhaus of
Berlin, to make one of an intermediate size on the Le Grand
principle of divisible types ; his proposal was taken up by the
Presbyterian Board of Missions in New York, and after many
delays a beautiful font was completed and in use about 1859.
At this time, Mr. W. Gamble of that Mission in Shanghai, carried
out his plan of making matrices by the electrotype process,
and completed a large font of small pica type in about as many
months as Dyer and Beyerhaus had taken years. By means of
these various fonts books are now printed in many parts of
China, in almost any style, and type foundries cast in whatever
quantities are needed. The government has opened an extensive
printing office in Peking, and its example will encourage
native booksellers to unite typography with xylographic print*
MOVABLE CHINESE TYPES MADE BY FOREIGNERS. 6(>R
ing. More than this as conducing to the diffusion of knowledge
among the people is the stimulus these cheap fonts of type have
given to the circulation of newspapers in all the ports ; but for
their convenient and economical use (Hiinese newsjia}»ers could
not have been printed at all. It will be quite within the reach
of native workmen, who are skilled in electrotjping, stereotjp
ing, and casting type, to make types of all sizes and styles for
their own books, as the growing intelligence of the people creates
a demand for illustrated and scientific publications, as well as cheap ones.’
Nothing has conduced more to a misapprehension of the nature of the Chinese language than the way in which its phonetic character has been spoken of by different authors. Some, describing the primitive symbols, and the modifications they have undergone, have conveyed the impression that the whole language consisted of hieroglyphic or ideographic signs, which depicted ideas, and conveyed their meaning entirely to the eye, irrespective of the sound. For instance, Ilemusat says, ” The character is not the delineation of the sound, nor the sound the expression of the character ; ” forgetting to ask himself how or when a character in any language ever delineated a sound. Yet every Chinese character is sounded as much ;is the words in alphabetic languages, and some have more than one to express their different meanings ; so that, although the character could not delineate the sound of the thing it denoted, the sound is the expression of the character. Others, as Mr. Lay,* have dissected the characters, and endeavored to trace back some analogy in the meanings of all those in which the same primitive is found, and by a sort of analysis, to find out how much of the signification of the radical w^as infused into the primitive to form the present meaning. His plan, in general terms, is to take all the characters containing a certain primitive, and find out how much of the meaning of that primitive is contained in each one ; then he reconstructs the series by defining the primitive, incidentally showing the intention of the fraaners of the characters in choosing tliat particular one, and apportioning so much of its aggregate meaning to each character as is needed, and adding the meaning of the radical to form its whole signification. If we understand his plan, he wishes to construct a formula for each group containing the same primitive, in which the signification of the primitive is a certain function in that of all the characters containing it ; to add up the total of their meanings, and divide the amount among the characters, allotting a quotient to each one. Languages are not so formed, however, and the Chinese is no exception. Some of Mr. Lay’s statements are correct, but his theory is fanciful. It is impossible to decide what proportion was made by combining a radical and a primitive with any reference to their meanings, according to IVIr. Lay’s theory, and how many of them Mere simply phonetic combinations ; probably nine-tenths of the compound characters have been constructed on the latter principle.
1 Chinese RepoHilorij, Vol. III., pp. 246-253, 528 ; Vol. XIV., p. 124; Mi*sionary Rerarder, Jamiiiry, 1875.•^ Cidnetie an They .l;-, ,”ciiap. XXXIV.
The fifth class of syllabic symbols were formed by combining
the symbolic and syllabic systems, so as to represent sound
chiefly, but bearing in the construction of each one some reference
to its general signification. The original hieroglyphics contained
no sound, i.e., were not formed of phonetic constituents;
the object depicted had a name, but there was no clue to it. It
was impossible to do both—depict the object, and give its name
in the same chai-acter. At first, the number of people using
these ideographic symbols being probably small, every one
called them by the same name, as soon as he knew what they
represented, and began to read them. But when the ideas attempted
to be \vritten far exceeded in number the symbols, or,
what is more likely, the invention of the limmers, recourse was
had to the combination of the symbols already understood to express
the new idea. This was done in several modes, as noticed
above, but the syllabic system needs further explanation, from
the extent to which it has been carried. The character ^^ nan,
to denote the young of the locust, has been adduced. The
same principle would be applied in reading every new character,
of which the phonetic primitive merely was recognized, although
its mtaniny; mioht not 1)0 known. Probablv all the characters
in the fifth class were sounded in strict accordance with their
PHONETIC CHARACTER OF THE LANGUAGE. 607
phonetic primitives when constructed, but usage has changed
some of their sounds, and many characters belonging to other
classes, apparently containing the same primitive, are sounded
quite differentl}- ; this tends to mislead those who infer the
sound from the primitive. This mode of constructing and
naming the characters also explains the reason why there are S6
few sounds compared with the number of characters ; the phonetic
primitive perpetuated its name in all its progeny.
More than seven-eighths of the characters have been formed from less than two thousand symbols, and it is ditScult to imagine how it could have been used so long and widely without some such method to relieve the memory of the burden of retaining thousands of arbitrary marks. But, until the names and meanings of the original symbols are learned, neither the sound nor sense of the compound characters will be more apparent to a Chinese than they are to any one else ; until those are known, their combinations cannot be understood, nor even then the meaning wholly deduced ; each character must be learned by itself, just as words in other languages. The sounds given the original symbols doubtless began to vary early after coming into use. Intercommunication between different parts of the country was not so frequent as to prevent local dialects from arising ; but however strong the tendency of the spoken monosyllables to coalesce into polysyllables, the intractable symbols
kept them apart. It is surprising, too, what a tendency the
mind has to trust to the eye rather than to the ear, in getting
and retaining the sense of a book ; it is shown in many ways,
and arises from habit more than any real difficulty in catching
the idea viva voce. If the characters could have coalesced,
their names would soon have run together, and been modified
as they are in other languages. The classics, dictionaries, and
unlimited uses of a written language, maintained the same meaning; but as their sounds must be learned traditionally, endless variations and patois arose. Moreover, as new circumstances and increasing knowledge give rise to new words in all countries, so in China, new scenes and expressions arise requiring to be incorporated into the written language. Originally they were unwritten though well understood sounds ; and when first writ;-ten must be explained, as is the case with foreign words like tahu, ukdse, visie?’, etc., ad injin., when introduced into English. Different writers might, however, employ different primitives to express the sound, not aware that it had already been written, and hence woidd arise synonyms ; the\’ might use dissimilar radicals, and this as well would increase the modes of writing the sound. But the inconvenience of thus nndtiplyhig characters would be soon perceived in the obscurity of the sentence, for if the new character was not in the dictionary, its sound and composition were not enough to explain the meaning. When the language had attained a certain copiousness, the mode of education and the style of literary works compelled scholars to employ such characters only as were sanctioned by good use, or else run the risk of not being understood.
The unwritten sounds, however, could not wait for this slow mode of adoption, but the risk of being misunderstood by using characters phonetically led to descriptive terms, conveying the idea and not the sound. Where alphabetic languages adopt a technic for a new thing, the Chinese make a new phrase. This is illustrated by the terms Iluny-rnao jin, or ‘ lied Bristled men,’ for Englishmen ; llwa-Vi^ or ‘ Flowery Flag,’ for Americans; Sl-yany^ or ‘ Western Ocean,’ for Portuguese, etc., used at Canton, instead of the proper names of those countries. Cause and effect act reciprocally upon each other in this instance ; the effect of using unsanctioned characters to express unwritten sounds, is to render a composition obscure, while the restriction to a set of characters compels their meaning to be sufficiently comprehensive to include all occasions. Local, unwritten phrases, and unauthorized characters, are so common, however, owing to the partial communication between distant parts of so great a country and mass of people, that it is evident, if this bond of union were removed by the substitution of an alphabetical language, the Chinese would soon be split into many small nations. However desirable, therefore, might be the introduction of a written language less difficult of acquisition, and more flexible, there are some reasons for w-ishing it to be dela^’ed until more intelligence is diffused and juster principles of government obtain. When the people themselves feel the need of it, they M’ill contriv^e some better mediuni for the promotion of knowledge.
MODES OF INCORPORATING NEW WORDS. 609
The nionosjllabic sound of the primitive once imparted to the ideophonous compound, explains the existence of so many characters having the same sound. When these various characters were presented to the eye of the scholar, no trouble wf s felt in recognizing their sense and sound, but confusion was experienced in speaking. This has been obviated in two wavs.
One is by repeating a word, or joining two of similar meanings
but of different sounds, to convey a single idea ; or else by adding
a classifying word to express its nature. Both these modes
do in fact form a real dissyllable, and it would appear so in an
alphabetical language. The first sort of these Jden-hioh sz\ or
‘ clam-shell words,’ as they are called, are not unfrequent in books,
far more common in conversation and render the spoken more
diffuse than tlie written language—more so, perhaps, than is the
case in other tongues. Similar combinations of three, four, and
more characters occur, especially where a foreign article or term
is translated, but the genius of the language is against the use
of polysyllables. Such combinations in English as household^
house- tcarinin’j, JiouseirJfe, house-room, houseleeks, hot-house,
icood-house, household-stuff, etc., illustrate these dissyllables in
Chinese ; but they are not so easily understood. Such terms as
uiulerstand, eourtshij), withdraw, iqyright, etc., present better
analogies to the Chinese compounds. In some the real meaning
is totally unlike either of the terms, as tunghia (lit. ‘ east liouse’),
for master; tungsl {\\t. ‘east wesf), for thing; Txungchu (lit. ‘ lord ruler ‘), for princess, etc. The classifiers partake of the nature of adjectives, and serve not only to sort different words, but the same word when nsed in different senses. They correspond to such words in English as herd, feet, troop, etc. To say a fleet of cows, a troop of ships, or a herd of soldiers, would be ridiculous only in English, but a similar misapplication would confuse the sense in Chinese.
The other M-ay of avoiding the confusion of homophonons monosyllables, which, notwithstanding the “clam-shell words,” and the extensive use of classifiei’s, are still liable to misapprehension, is by accurately marking its right shing or tone, but as nothing analogous to them is found in European languages, it is rather difficult to describe them. At Canton there are eight arranged in an upper and lower series of four each ; at Peking there are only four, at Nanking five, and at Swatow seven. The Chinese printers sometimes mark the shing on certain ambiguous characters, by a semicircle put on one corner; but this is rarely done, as every one who can read is supposed to know how to speak, and consequently to be familiar with the right tone.
These four tones are called 2^’^^”J-> ^^””*^? ^’h ^n<3 j’^h meaning, respectively, the even^ asccnduiy, dejyarthuj^ and cnterhig tone. They are applied to every word, and have nothing to do either with accent or emphasis; in asking or answering, entreating or refusing, railing or flattering, soothing or recriminating, they remain ever the same. The unlettered natives, ev^en children and females, who know almost nothing of the distinctions into four, five, seven, or eight shiny, observe them closely in their speech, and detect a mispronunciation as soon as the learned man. A single illustration of them will suffice. The i:ven tone is the natural expression of the voice, and native writers consider it the most important. In the sentence, ” When I asked him, ‘ Will you let me see it ? ‘ he said, ‘ No, I’ll do no such thing, ‘” the different cadence of the question and reply illustrate the upper and lower even tone. The ascending tone is heard in exclamatory words as ah! indeed ! It is a little like the crescendo in music, while the departing tone corresponds in the same degree to the diminuendo. The drawling tone of repressed discontent, grumbling and eking out a reply, is not uidike the departing tone. The entering tone is nearly eliminated in the northern provinces, but gives a marked feature to speech in the southern ; it is an abrupt ending, in the same modulation that the even tone is, but as if broken off ; a man about to say hc1i\ and taken with a hiccup in the middle so that he leaves off the last two letters, or the final consonant, pronounces ihejuh shing.
A few characters have two tones, which give them different meanings; the ^>/yi//.s’A7’r?^ often denotes the substantive, and the hil shing, the verb, but there is no regularity in this respect.
“clam-shell words” and tones. 611
The tones are observed by natives of all ranks, speaking all patois and dialects, and on all occasions. They present a serious difficulty to the adult foreigner of preaching or speaking acceptably to the natives, for although by a proper use of classifiers, observance of idioms, and multiplication of synonyms, he may be understood, his speech will be rude and his words distasteful, if he does not learn the tones accurate!}’. In Amoy and Fuhchau, he will also run a risk of being misunderstood. If the reader, in perusing the following sentence, will accent the italicized syllables, he will have an imperfect illustration of the confusion a wrong intonation produces : ” The ipresent of that object occasioned such a tvunsjwrt as to rtJstract my mind from all around.” In Chinese, however, it is not accent upon one of two syllables which must be learned, but the integral tone of a single sound, as much as in the musical octave.
It is unnecessary here to enter into any detailed description or enumeration of the words in the Chinese language. One remarkable feature is the frequency of the termination mj preceded by all the vowels, which imparts a peculiar singing character to Chinese speech, as Kwangtung^ Yangtsz’ kiang^ etc. In a list of sounds in the court dialect, about one-sixth of the syllables have this termination, but a larger proportion of characters are found under those syllables, than the mere list indicates.
In Morrison’s Dictionary the number of separate words in the court dialect is 411, but if the aspirated syllables be distinguished, there are 533. In the author’s Sgllahic Dictionary the number is 532 ; Wade reduces the Peking dialect to 397 syllables in one list, and increases it to 420 in another. In the Cantonese there are 707 ; in the dialect of Swatow, 674 ; at Amoy, about 900 ; at Fuhchau, 928 ; and 660 at Shanghai. All these lists distinguish between aspirated and unaspirated words, as ting and tHng^ jm and p’a, which to an English ear are nearly identical. The largest part of the sounds ai-e common to the dialects, but the distinctions are such as to render it easy to detect each when spoken ; the court dialect is the most mellifluous of the whole and easiest to acquire. All the consonants in English are found in one or another of the dialects, besides many not occurring in that language, as hii\ chit\ gw^ jw, Iw, mw^ nw, etc. There are also several imperfect vowel sounds not known in any European language, as hni or ‘in, hn or ‘/c, “^’a high nasal sound), s.i’, ‘/7^, cJi\ etc. The phrase ‘m ”ng tdk in the Canton dialect, meaning cannot hejmshed, or cliah^^ mai” lany^’ a blind man,’ in the x\moy, cannot be so accurately expressed by these or any other letters that one can learn the sound from them. If it is difficult for us to express their sounds by Roman letters, it is still stranger for the Chinese to write English words.
For instance, ha2)tlze in the Canton dialect hecou\QB jKi-j/i-tai-sz’; flannel becomesfat-Ian-j/in ^’ stairs hecomes, sz’-ta-sz’ / imjypegnable becomes iin-pi-lak-na-jpu-Vi / etc. Such words as AVasliington, nihlslirpnian, tongue, etc., can be written nearer their true sound, but the indivisible Chinese monosyllables offer a serious obstacle in the way of introducing foreign words and knowledge into the language.
The preceding observations explain how the numerous local variations from the general language found in all parts of China have arisen. Difficult as the spoken language is for a foreigner to acquire, from the brevity of the words and nicety of their tones, the variety of the local pronunciations given to the same character adds not a little to the labor, especially if he be situated where he is likely to come in contact with persons from different places. Amid such a diversity of pronunciation, and where one sound is really as correct as another, it is not easy to define what should constitute a dialect, a patois, or a corruption.
COURT, OR MANDARIN DIALECT. 613
A dialect in other languages is usually described as a local variation in pronunciation, or the use of peculiar words and expressions, not affecting the idiom or grammar of the tongue; but in the Chinese, where the written character unites the mass of people in one language, a dialect has been usually regarded by those who have written on the subject, as extending to variations in the idiom, and not restricted to differences in pronunciation and local expressions. According to this definition, there are only four or five dialects (which would in fact be as many languages if they were not united by the written character), but an endless variety of patois or local pronunciations. The Chinese have published books to illustrate the court, Changchau or Amoy, the Canton and Fuhchau dialects. The differences in the idiTHE oms and proiinnciatioii tire such as to render persons speaking them nnitnally nnintelligible, but do not affect the style of writing, wliose idioms are founded upon tlie usage of the best writers, and remain unchanged.
The court language, the kivan hira, or mandarin dialect, is rather the proper language of the country—the Chinese language—than a dialect. It is studied and spoken by all educated men, and no one can make any pretence to learning or accomplishments who cannot converse in it in whatever part of the Empire he may be boni. It is the common language throughout the northeastern provinces, especially Honan, Shantung, and Xganhwui, though presetiting more or less variations even in them from the standard of the court and capital.
This speech is characterized by its soft and mellifluous tones, the absence of all harsh, consonantal endings, and the prevalence of li(j[uids and labials. In parts of the provinces where it is spoken, as the eastern portions of Chehkiang and Kiangsu, gutturals are common, and the initials softened or changed.
This tongue is the most ancient speech now spoken, for
stanzas of poetry written twenty-five centuries ago, in the times
previous to Confucius, are now i-ead with the same rhymes as
when peimed. The expressions of the kwan hica, although resembling
the written language more than the other dialects, are
still unlike it, being moi’e diffuse, and containing many synonyms
and particles not required to make the sense clear when
it is addressed to the eye. The difference is such in this respect
that two well-educated Chinese speaking in the terse style
of books would hardly understand each other, and be ol)liged
to use more words to convey their meaning when speaking than
they would consider elegant or necessary in an essay. This is.
to be sure, more or less the case in all languages, but from the
small variety of sounds and their monosyllabic brevity, it is unavoidable in Chinese, though it must not be inferred that the
language cannot be written so as to he understood when read
off ; it call be written as diffusely as it is spoken, but such a
style is not considered very elegant. There are books written
in the colloquial, however, from which it is not difficult to learn the style of conversation, and such books are amons: the best to put into the hands of a foreigner when beginning the study.
The local patois of a place is called tu tan, or hiang tan, i.e..,
local or village brogue, and there is an interpreter of it attached
to almost every officer’s court for the purpose of translating the
peculiar phrases of witnesses and others brought before him.
The term dialect cannot, strictly, in its previous definition, be
applied to the tu tan, though it is usually so called; it is a
patois or brogue. The Canton dialect is called by its citizens
pak vm, ‘the plain speech,’ because it is more intelligible
than the court dialect. It is comparatively easy of acquisition,
and differs less from the kwan /tuca, in its pronunciation and
idioms, than that of Amoy and its vicinity ; but the diversity
is still enough to render it unintelligible to people from the
north. A very few books have been written in it, but none
which can afford assistance in learning it. A native scholar
would consider his character for literary attainments almost degraded if he should write books in the provincial dialects, and
forsake the style of the immortal classics. The principal feature
in the pronunciation of the Canton dialect which distinguishes
it from the general language, is the change of the abrupt
vowel terminations, as lok, kiah, pih, into the well-defined
consonants l;p, and t, as lok, kaj>, pit, a change that considerably
facilitates the discrimination of the syllables. The idioms
of the two cannot well be illustrated without the help of the
written character, but the differences between the sounds of
two or three sentences may be exhibited : The phrase, / do not
understand what he says, is in the
Court dialect : Wo minjmh tung teh ta kiang shim mo.
Canton dialect : Ngo -m km k’d kong mat ye.
The rice contains sand in it.
Court dialect : JSTa, ko mi yu sha ts2\
Canton dialect : Ko tlk mai yau sha tsoi noi.
Kone of the provincial patois differ so much from the kwan
hwa, and affoi-d so many pcculiai’ities, as those spoken in the
province of Fuhkicn and eastern portions of Kwangtung. All
of them are nasal, and, compared with those spoken elsewhere,
harsh and rougli. They have a large number of unwritten
DIALECTS OF CAT^TOTST ATVD AMOY. G15
sounds, and so supply the lack ; the same cliaructcr often has
one sound when read and another when spoken ; all of them
are in common use. This cni’ioiis feature obli<ji;es the foreiirner
to learn two parallel languages when studying this dialect, so
intimate and yet so distinct are the two. The difference between
them will be more apparent by quoting a sentence : ” He
first performed that which was difficult, and afterward imitated
what was easier.” The corresponding words of the colloquial
are placed underneath the reading sounds.
Sien kH su chi se Ian, ji ho fc’i hau chi se te.k.
Tai seng cho i e su e se oh, ji tui ate k’w”ai e hau (jiciii e se iit lioh.
The changes from one into the other are exceedingly various
both in sound and idiom. Thus, Men chien, ‘ before one’s face,’
becomes hm chan when spoken ; while in the phrase eheng jit,
‘ a former day,’ the same word chien becomes cheng and not
chan ; hoe chu^ ‘ pupil of the eye,’ becomes ang a ; sit hioan.,
‘ to eat rice,’ becomes ehiah j>ui^. Their dialect, not less than
their trafficking spirit, point out the Amoy people wherever
they are met, and as they are usually found along the whole
coast and in the Archipelago, and are not understood except by
their provincial compatriots, they everywhere clan together and
form separate communities. Dr. Medhurst published a dictionary
of the Changchau dialect, in which the sounds of the characters
are given as they are read. Dr. C. Douglas has gathered a
great vocabulary of words and phrases used in the Amoy colloquial,
in which he has attempted to reduce everything to the
liomanized system of writing, and omitted all the characters.
The dialects of Fuhchau, Swatow, and Canton have been similarly
investigated by Protestant missionaries. Messrs. Mac! ay
and Baldwin have taken the former in hand, and their work
leaves very little to be desired for the elucidation of that speech.
Goddard’s vocabulary of the Swatow has no examples ; and
Williams’ Tonic Dictionary of the Canton dialect gave no characters
with the examples. This deficiency was made up in
Lobscheid’s rearrangement of it under the radicals.
The extent to which the dialects are used has not been ascertained, nor the degree of modification each undergoes in those parts where it is spoken ; for villagers within a few miles, althono’h able to understand each other perfectly, still give different sounds to a few characters, and have a few local phrases, enough to distinguish their several inhabitants, while towns one or two hundred miles apart are still more unlike. For instance, the citizen of Canton always says shut for water, and tss’ for child, but the native of Macao says sal and cJd for these two words ; and if his life depended upon his utterhig them as they are spoken in Canton, they would prove a shibboleth which he could not possibly enunciate. Strong peculiarities of speech also exist in the villages between Canton and Macao which are found in neither of those places. Yet whatever sound they give to a character it has the same tone, and a Chinese would be much less surprised to hear water called ttchiimi^ than he would to hear it called \yshui in the lower even tone, instead of its proper ascending tone. The tones really approach vowels in their nature more than mere musical inflections ; and it is by their nice discrimination, that the people are able to understand each other with less difficulty than we might suppose amidst such a jargon of vocables.
This accurate discrimination in the vowel sounds, and comparative
indifference to consonants, which characterize the Chinese
spoken languages, has arisen, no doubt, from the monosyllabic
nature, and the constant though slight variations the names of
characters undergo from the traditionary mode in which they
must be learned. There being no integral sound in any character,
each and all of them are, of course, equally coi-rect, ^<;^r se /
but the various general and local dictionaries have each tended
somewhat to fix the pronunciation, just as books and education
have fixed the spelling of English words. Nor do the Chinese
more than other people learn to pronounce their mother tongue
from dictionaries, and the variations are consequently but partially
restrained by them. It may truly be said, that no two
Chinese speak all words alike, while yet, through means of the
universally understood character, the greatest mass of human
beings ever collected under one government are enabled to express
themselves without difficulty, and carry on all the business
and concerns of life.
PRONUNCIATION AND GRAMMAR. 617
The grammar of the Chinese language is unique, but those
writers who say it has no grammar at all must have overlooked
the prime signification of the word. There are in all languages words which denote things, and others which signify (jualities; words which express actions done by one or many, already done, doing or to be done ; actions absolute, conditional, or ordered.
The circumstances of the doer and the subject of the action,
make prepositions necessary, as well as other connecting words.
Thus the principles of grammar exist in all intelligible speech,
though each may require different rules. These rules the Chinese
language possesses, and their right application, the proper
collocation of words, and use of particles, which supply the
place of inflection, constitute a difficult part in its acquisition.
It has no etymology, properly speaking, for neither the characters
nor their names undergo any change ; whether used as
verbs or nouns, adjectives or particles, they remain the same.
The same word may be a noun, a verb, an adverb, or any part
of speech, nor can its character be certainly known till it is
placed in a sentence, when its meaning becomes definite. Its
grammar, therefore, is confined chiefly to its syntax and prosody.
This feature of the Chinese language is paralleled in English by
such words as lights used as a noun, adjective, and verb ; I’lke^
used as a verb, adjective, and adverb ; she^jj and deei\ used both
in the singular and plural ; /v«//, used in the past, present, and
future tenses ; and in all cases without undergoing any change.
But what is occasional and the exception in that tongue, becomes
the rule in Chinese ; nor is there any more confusion in the last than in the first.
A good summary of the principles of Chinese grammar is given by Kemusat, who says that generally, ” In every Chinese sentence, in which nothing is understood, the elements of which it is composed are arranged in the following order : the subject, the verb, the complement direct, and the complement indirect.
” Modifying expressions precede those to which they belong : thus, the adjective is placed before the substantive, sub’ect, or complement ; the substantive governed before the verb that governs it ; the adverb before the verb, the proposition incidental, circumstantial, or liypothctical, before the principal proposition, to which it attaches itself by a conjunction expressed or understood.
” The relative position of words and phrases thus determined, supplies the place often of every other mark intended to denote their mutual dependence! their character whether adjective or adverhial, positive, conditional, or circumstantial.
“If the subject be understood, it is because it is a personal pronoun, or that it is expressed above, and that the same substantive that is omitted is found in the preceding sentence, and in the same quality of subject, and not in any other.’
‘ If the verb be wanting, it is because it is the substantive verb, or some other easily supplied, or one which has already found place in the preceding sentences, with a subject or complement not the same.’
‘ If several substantives follow each other, either they are in construction with each other, or they form an enumeration, or they are synonyms which explain and determine each other.
” If several verbs succeed each other, which are not synonyms and are not employed as auxiliaries, the first ones should be taken as adverbs or verbal nouns, the subjects of those which follow; or these latter as verbal nouns, the complements of those which precede.”
Chinese grammarians divide all words into sMh iss’ and hie tsz\ i.e., essential words and particles. The former are subdivided into 83^ tsz^ and hwoh tsz\ i.e., nouns and verbs; the latter into initials or introductory words, conjunctions, exclamations, finals, transitive particles, etc. They furnish examples under each, and assist the student, with model books, in which the principles of tlie language and all rhetorical terms are explained.
The number and variety of grammatical and philological works prove that they have not neglected the elucidation and arrangement of their mother tongue. The rules above cited are applicable to the written language, and these treatises refer entirely to that ; the changes in the phraseology of the colloquial do not affect its grammar, however, which is formed upon the same rules.
PARTS OF SPEECH. 619
Although the characters are, when isolated, somewhat indefinite, there are many ways of limiting their meaning in sentences. Nouns are often made by suflixing formative particles, diBmtJci, ‘ angry spirit,’ merely means anger ; i M, ‘ righteous spirit,’ is rectitude ; chin ”rh, ‘ needle child,’ is a needle, etc. ; the suffix, in these cases, simply materializing the word. Gender is formed by distinctive particles, prefixed or suffixed by appropriate words for each gender, or by denoting one gender always by a dissyllabic compound ; as inalehem^ji, for the masculine ; \\OY&e-sire, or \iov&Q-‘niother, foi- stallion or dam ; hero, heroine; emperor, empress, etc. ; and lastly as wany-Jatu, /’.c, ]<.mg-quee)t, for queen, while icany alone means Mikj. Xuniher is formed by prefixing a numeral, as ITiduj, Tsin, tioo men ; by suffixing a formative, rnun, tdtuj, and others, us Jt/)-td/uj, man-.w/’/, or men; tamun, he-.s’or they ; by repeating the word, •Asjin-jln, man-man or inen y ehu-cha, place-place, or places, i.e., everywhere ; and jastly, by the scope of the passage. The nominative, accusative, and vocative cases are commonly known by their position; the genitive, dative, and ablative are formed by appropriate prepositions, expressed or understood. The vocative is common in liii’ht reading and historical studies.
Adjectives precede nouns, by which position they are usually determined. Comparisons are nuide iu many ways. JIau is good, Txdng hau is better, and chl Imu is best / sJiihfun hau lian is very good ; hau hau tih \s j^rettij good, eta. The position of an adjective determines its comparison, as chang yih chlh means
longer by one cuhit • yih chih chang is a caJjit long. The comparison
of ideas is made by placing the two sentences parallel to
each other ; for instance, ” Entering the hills and seizing a tiger
is easy, opening the mouth and getting men to lean to is difficult,”
is the way of expressing the comparison, ” It is easier to
seize a tiger in the hills, than to obtain the good offices of men.”
The proper use of antithesis and parallelism is considered one of
the highest attainments in composition. The numerals are thirteen
in number, with the additioii of the character ^ ling to
denote a cipher. All amounts are written just as they are to
be read, as yih, pelt, sz’ nhih. mn, ~^ ^ IJI)-)-‘^ i.e., *one hundred
four tens three.’ They are here introduced, with their
pronunciation in three dialects.
12 3 4 .5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1,000 10,000
Dialect, y^^^ ‘*’^^ •”^” -^-‘ ‘^’^ ^”^i ^^^^^ l^(ih kill siiih peh tsien ivan.
Dialect. .V«^ * -sa^i •’52’ ‘ng luk tsat pal kaii. i>hap pa/c Mn man.
Dialect” *^ P ^um sii Hgou liok chif pat kill sip pek chien ban.
The Chinese, like the ancient Greeks, enumerate only up to
a myriad, expressing sums higher than that by stating how many
myriads there are ; the notation of 362,447,180 is three myriads,
six thousand, two hundred and forty -four myj’iads, seven tliousand,
one hundred, and eighty. Pronouns are few in number,
and their use is avoided wlienever the sense is clear witliout
them. The personal pronoims are three, wo^ lu, and ta, but
other pronouns can all be readily expressed by adjectives, by
collocation, and by participial phrases. The classifiers sometimes
partake of the nature of adjective pronouns, but usually are mere
distributive or numerical adjectives.
Verbs, or “living characters,” constitute the most important part of speech in the estimation of Chinese grannnarians, and the shun tu/t, or easy flow of expression, in their use, is carefully studied. The dissyllabic compounds, called dam-sliell words, are usually verbs, and are made in many ways ; by uniting two similar ^Yords, as kwei-Men (lit. peep-look), ‘to spy ;’ by doubling the verb, as h’ten-hien, meaning to look earnestly ; by prefixing a formative denoting action, as ta shioui (lit. strike sleep), ‘ to sleep ;’ by suffixing a modifying word, as grasp-halt, to grasp firmly; tJdnh-arise, to cogitate, etc. Xo part of the study requires more attention tban the right selection of these formatives in both nouns and verbs ; perfection in the shun tnh and use of antitheses is the result oidy of years of study.
The various accidents of voice, mood, tense, number, and person,
can all be expressed by corresponding particles, but the
genius of the language disfavors their frequent use. The passive
voice is formed by prefixing particles indicative of agency
before the active verb, as “The villain ‘received my sword’s
cutting^” for ” The villain was wounded by my sword.” The imperative,
potential, and subjvmctive moods are formed by particles
or adjuncts, but the indicative and infinitive are not designated,
nor are the number and person of verbs usually distinguished.
The number of auxiliaries, particles, adjuncts, and
suffixes of various kinds, employed to express what in other
languages is denoted by inflections, is really very moderate ; and
a nice discrimination exhibited in their use indicates the finished
scholar.’Chinese Tiepoaitory, Vol. VIII., p. Wil.
DEFECTS IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE. 621
The greatest defect in the Chinese language is the indistinct manner in which time is expressed ; not that there is any want of terms to denote its varieties, but the terseness of expression admired by Chinese writers leads them to discard every unessential word, and especially those relating to time. This defect is more noticed by the foreigner than the native, who has no knowledge of the precision of time expressed by inflection in other languages. Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections are not distinguished by native grammarians ; the former are classed with adjectives, and the others are collectively called hu tss’—’empty words.’
No distinction is made between proper and common names, and as every word can be employed as a name it becomes a source of confusion to the translator ; in some books a single line drawn on the side of characters denotes the names of persons, and a double line the names of places ; important words are denoted by commencing a new line with them, raised one or two characters above the other columns, which answers to capitalizing them. In most books an entire absence of all marks of punctuation, and divisions into sentences and paragraphs, causes needless doubt in the mind of the reader. The great convenience experienced in European languages from the use of capital letters, marks of punctuation, separation into sentences and paragraphs, and the distinction of time, is more plainly seen when a translation is to be made from languages like the Chinese and Japanese, in which they are disregarded. A false taste prevents them from using them ; they admire a page of plain characters so much that a student who should punctuate his essay would I’un a risk of l>einof ridiculed.
It is not easy 3’et to decide on the best way to adapt the
technical words in western science to the genius of this language.
The vast terminology in natural history, with the still greater
arraj’of scientific names, need not be introduced into it, but can
remain in their original Latin and Greek, where Chinese scientists
can consult them. Xew compounds have already been
proposed for gases, metals, earths, acids, and other elementary
substances, in which the radical and primitive ai’e chosen with
reference to their meanings, the latter being more complicated than usual for this purpose. These will gradually get into use as the sciences are studied, and their number will not be troublesomely large.
There are several distinct styles of composition recognized.
The hu wdn^ or the terse antithetic style of the ancient classics,
is considered as inimitable and unimprovable, and really possesses
the qualities of energy, vivacity, and brevity in a superior degree
; the wan. chamj, or style of elevated composition, adopted
in essays, histories, and grave works ; and the siao shwoh, or
colloquial style, used in stories.
If there are serious defects, this language also possesses some
striking beauties. The expressive nature of the characters, after
their component parts have become familiar, causes nuich of the
meaning of a sentence to pass instantly before the eye, while
the energy arising from the brevity attainable by the absence of
all inflections and partial use of particles, add a vigor to the
style that is hardly reached by any alphabetic language. Dr.
Morrison observes that ” Chinese fine writing darts upon the
mind with a vivid flash, a force and a beauty, of which alphabetic
language is incapable.” It is also better fitted than any
other for becoming a universal medium of comnnmication, and
has actually become so to a much greater extent than any other ;
but the history of its diffusion, and the modifications it has undergone among the five nations who use it, though presenting a curious topic for philological inquiry, is one far too extensive to
be discussed here. So general a use of one wi-itten language,
however, affords some peculiar facilities for the diffusion of
knowledge by means of books as introductory to the general
elevation of the people using it, and their preparation for substituting an alphabetic language for so laborious and unwieldy a vehicle of thought, which it seems impossible to avoid as Christian civilization and knowledge extend.
METHOD OF STUDYIXG CHINESE. 0:23
It is often asked, is the Chinese language hard to learn? The preceding account of it shows that to become familiar with its numerous characters, to be able to speak the delicately marked tones of its short monosyllables, and to compose in it with perspicuity and elegance, is the labor of years of close application.
To do so in Greek, Latin, English, or any settled tongue, is also a toilsome task, and excepting the barren labor of renienibering so many different characters, it is not more so in Chinese than in others. But knowledge sufficient to talk intelligibly, to write perspicuously, and read with considerable ease, is not so herculean a task as some suppose, though this degree is not to be attained without much hard study. Moreover, dictionaries, manuals, and translations are now available which materially diminish the labor, and their number is constantly increasing.
The rules for studying it cannot be laid down so that they
will answer equally well for all persons. Some readily catch
the most delicate inflections of the voice, and imitate and remember
the words they hear ; such persons soon learn to speak,
and can make themselves understood on common subjects with
merely the help of a vocabulary. Others prefer to sit down
with a teacher and learn to read, and for most persons this is
the best way to begin. At first, the principal labor should be
directed to the characters, reading them over with a teacher and
learning: their form. Commence with the two hundred and
fourteen radicals, and commit them to memory, so that they
can be repeated and written in their order ; then learn the primitives,
or at least become familiar with the names and meaning
of all the common ones. The aid this preliminary study gives
in remembering the formation of characters is worth all the
time it takes. Students make a mistake if they begin with the
Testament or a tract ; they can learn more characters in the
same period, and lay a better foundation for acquiring others,
by conunencing with the i-adicals and primitives. Meanwhile,
they will also be learning sounds and becoming familiar with
the tones, which should be carefully attended to as a particular
study from the living voice.
When these characters are learned, short sentences or reading lessons selected from good Chinese authors, with a translation attached, should be taken up and committed to memory. Phrases may also be learned at the same time, for use in conversation; an excellent way is to memorize one or two hundred common words, and then practise putting them together in sentences. The study of reading lessons and phrases, with practice in speaking and writing them, will prepare the way for commencing the study of the classics or other native authors. By the time the student has readied this point he needs no further directions; the path he wishes thenceforth to pursue can easily be marked out by himself. It is not amiss here to remark that many persons ardently desirous of fitting themselves soon for preaching or talking to the people, weary their minds and hinder their ultimate progress by too hard study at first upon the dry characters; others come to look upon the written language as less important so long as they can talk rapidly and well, but in the end find that in this, as in every other living tongue, there is no royal road which does not lead them through the grammar and literature.’
PIGEOX-ENGLISII. 625
This sketch of the Chinese language would be incomplete without a notice of the singular jargon which has grown up between the natives and foreigners along the coast, called j/Z^^o^i-J^nyUsh. It has been so long in use as the medium of traffic and household talk that it now bids fair to become an unwritten patois, of which neither the Chinese nor the English will own the parentage. The term jngeon^ a corruption from business, shows, in its transformation, some of the influences “which our words must undergo as they pass through the Chinese characters. The foreigners who first settled at Canton had no time nor facilities for learning the dialect, and the traders with whom they bargained soon picked up more foreign words than the former did native. The shopmen ere longformed vocabularies of foreign words obtained from their customers, and wrote the sounds as nearly as possible ; these were committed to memory and formed into sentences according to the idioms of their own language, and disregarding all our inflections, in which they had no instruction. Thus the two parties gradually came to understand each other enough for all practical ends ; the foreigners were rather pleased to talk’ Many aids in learning the general language and all the leading dialects have been prepared in English, French, German, and Portuguese, but several of the early ones, as Morrison, Gon(;alves, Medhurst, and Bridgman, are already out of print. The names of all of these may be found most easily in the first volume of M. Cordier’s exhaustive Diction uaire Bihlioijrnpldque den ouvrujjet relatifn d VEmpire chiiioiK, pp. 725-804. Paris, 1881.
“broken China,”‘ as it was not iiia})tly called, and habit soon made it natural to a new-comer to talk it to the natives, and it obviated all necessity for studying Chinese. The body of the jargon is English, the few Chinese, Portuguese, and Malay words therein imparting a raciness which, with the novelty of the expressions, has of late attracted much attention to this new language. Though apparently without any rules, the natives are very liable to misapprehend what is said to them by their masters or customers, because these rules are not followed, and constant difficulty arises fi-om mutual misunderstanding of this sort. The widening study of Chinese is not likely to do away with this droll lingo at the trade ports, and several attempts have been made to render English pieces into it. On the other hand, in California and elsewhere, the Chinese generally succeed in learning the languages of their adopted countries better than in talking jngeon-English, or the similar mongrel vernacular spoken at Macao by the native-born Chinese.
A knowledge of the Chinese language is a passport to the
confidence of the people, and when foreigners generally learn it
the natives \\\\\ begin to divest themselves of their prejndices
and contempt. As an inducement to study, the scholar and
the philanthropist have the prospect of benefiting and informing
through it vast numbers of their fellow-men, of imparting
to them what will elevate their minds, purify their hearts, instruct
their understandings, and strengthen their desire for
more knowledge ; the\’ have an opportunity of doing much to
counteract the tremendous evils of the opium trade by teaching
the Chinese the only sure grounds on which they can be restrained,
and at the same time of making them acquainted with the discoveries in science, medicine, and arts among western nations.
CHAPTER XI. CLASSICAL LITERATURE OF THE CHINESE
The literature contained in the language now briefly described
is very ample and discursive, but wanting in accuracy
and unenlivened by much variety or humor. The books of the
Chinese have formed and coiiiirmed their national taste, which
consequently exhibits a tedious uniformity. The unbounded
admii’ation felt for the classics and their immaculate authors,
fostered by the examinations, has further tended to this result,
and caused these writings to become still more famous from
the unequalled influence they have exerted. It may be veiy
readily seen, then, with what especial interest the student of Chinese sociology turns to an investigation of their letters, the immense accumulation of forty centuries. AVere its amount
and prominence the only features of their literature, these would suffice to make necessary some study thereof ; but in addition,
continued research may reveal some further qualities of
” eloquence and poetry, enriched by the beauty of a picturesque
language, preserving to imagination all its colors,” which will
substantiate the hearty expressions used by Rdmusat when first
he entered upon a critical examination of its treasures.
THE YITI KTXC, OK BOOK OF CTIAXGES. 027
In taking a survey of this literature, the -6V ITu Tsiuen Shu Tsumj-muh^ or ‘ Catalogue of all Books in the Four Libraries,’ will be the best guide, since it embraces the wdiole range of letters, and affords a complete and succinct synopsis of the contents of the best books in the language. It is comprised in one hundred and twelve octavo volumes, and is of itself a valuable work, especially to the foreigner. The books are arranged into four divisions, viz., Classical, Historical, and Professional writings, and Belles-lettres. This Catalogue contains about 3440 separate titles, comprising upward of 78000 books; besides these, G,T64 other works, rminl)ering 93242 books, have been described in other catalogues of the imperial collections. These lists comprise the bulk of Chinese literature, except novels, Buddhist translations, and recent publications.
The works in the first division are ranged under nine sections; one is devoted to each of the five Classics (with a subsidiary section upon these as a whole), one to the memoir on Filial Duty, one to the P^our Books, one to musical works, and the ninth to treatises on education, dictionaries, etc.
At the head of the ‘ Five Classics ‘
( Wu Kin(j) is placed the
Yih King, or ‘ Book of Changes,’ a work which if not—as it
has been repeatedly called—
Antiquisshnus Sinaruin libey\ can
be traced with tolerable accuracy to an origin three thousand
years ago. It ranks, according to Dr. Legge, third in aiitiquity
among the Chinese classics, or after the Shu and portions of
the SKi King ; but if an unbounded veneration for enigmatical
wisdom supposed to lie concealed under mystic lines be any
just claim for importance, to this wondrous monument of literature
may easily be conceded the first place in the estimation of
Chinese scholars.
While following Dr. Legge in his recent exposition of this
classic,” a clearer idea of its subject-matter can hardly be given
than by quoting his words stating that ” the text may be briefly
represented as consisting of sixty -four short essays, enigmatically
and symbolically expressed, on important themes, mostly
of a moral, social, and political character, and based on the
same number of lineal figures, each made up of six lines, some
of which are whole and the others divided.” The evolution of
the eight diagrams from two original principles is ascribed to
Fuh-hi (B.C. 3322), who is regarded as the founder of the nation,
though his history is, naturally enough, largely fabulous. From
the Liang T, or ‘Two Principles’ (—) (- -), were fashioned the
/&’ Siaruj, or ‘ Four Figures,’ by placing these over themselves
and each of them over the other, thus :
‘ The Saered Books of China. The Texts of Confucianism. Translated by James Legge. Part II. The Ti King. Oxford, 1882.
The same pairs placed in succession under the original lines formed eight trigranis called the PAH KWA of FUH-HI.
ITS PIIILOSOl’IIICAL SYSTE:\r. 629
is derived and on wliose changes it is founded.. This substance
M answers sufticiently ch)sely to tlic animated air of the Grecian
pliilosopher Anaximenes ; its divisions are a subtle and a coarse
principle which, acting and reacting upon each other, produce
four slang^ or ‘forms,’ and these again combine into eight Jiica^
or trigrams. Fuh-hi is thus said to have arranged the iirst four
of the Pah Kica under the Yaiuj (strong or hard) principle,
and the last four under the Yhi (weak or soft) principle ; the
former indicate vigor or authority, and it is their part to command,
while of the latter, representing feebleness or submission,
it is the part to obey.
It was probably AVan Wang, King Wan, chief of the principality
of Chan in 11S5 b.c, who when thro^vn into prison by his
jealous suzerain Shau, the tyrant of Sliang, arranged and multiplied
the trigrams—long before his time used for purposes
of divination—into the sixty-four hexagrams as they now occur
in tlie T7A King. His was a wholly different disposition, both
of names, attributes, and the compass points, from the original
trigrams of Fuh-hi ; again, he added to them certain social relations
of father, mother, three sons, and three daughters, which
has ever since been found a convenient addition to the conjuring
apparatus of the M^ork. ” I like to think,” says Dr. Legge,
” of the lord of Chau, when incarcerated in Yii-li, with the
sixty-four figures arranged befoi-e him. Each hexagram assumed
a mystic meaning and glowed with a deep significance.
He made it to tell him of the qualities of various objects of
nature, or of the principles of human society, or of the condition,
actual and possible, of the kingdom. He named the
figures each by a term descriptive of the idea with which he
had connected it in his mind, and then he proceeded to set that
idea forth, now with a note of exhortation, now Avith a note of
warning. It was an attempt to restrict the follies of divination
within the l)ounds of reason. . . . But all the work of
King Wan in the Ylli thus amounts to no more than sixty-four
short paragraphs. We do not know what led his son Tan to
ei\ter into his \vork and complete it as he did. Tan was a
patriot, a hero, a legisla-tor, and a philosopher. Perhaps he
took the lineal figures in hand as a tribute of filial duty. What liad been done for the whole hexagram he M-oiild do for each line, and make it clear that all the six lines ‘ bent oneway their precious inflnence,’ and blended their ravs in the globe of light
which his father had made each figure give forth. 13ut his
method strikes us as singular. Each line seemed to become
living, and suggested some ])henomenon in nature, or some case
of human experience, from which the wisdom or folly, the
luckiness or unluckiness, indicated by it could be inferred. It
cannot be said that the duke carried out his plan in a way likely
to interest any one but a Men shung who is a votary of divination
and admires the style of its oracles. According to our
notions, a framer of emblems should be a good deal of a poet;
but those of the Yih only make us think of a dryasdust. Out of more than three hundi-ed and fifty, the greater mmiber are only grotesque. We do not recover from the feeling of disappointment
till M’C remember that both father and son had to
M’rite ‘ according to the trick,’ after the uianner of diviners, as
if this lineal augury had been their profession.”
Such is the text of the Yih. The \vords of King Wan and
his son are followed by commentaries called the SJtih Yi/t, or
‘ Ten Wings.’ These are of a much later period than the text,
and are commonly ascribed to Confucius, though it is extremely doubtful if the sage was author of more than the sentences introduced by the oft-repeated formula, “The Master said,” occurring
in or concluding many chapters of the ‘Wings.’ Without
lingering over the varied contents of these appendices,
more than to point out that the fifth and sixth Wings (‘Appended
Sentences ‘), known as the ‘ Great Treatise,’ contains for
the first time the character Y!//, or ‘Change,’ it will be necessary,
before leaving this classic, to illustrate its curious nature by means of a single quotation.
EXTKACT.S FUOM ‘I’HK YIII KIXG. 031
Ilien indicates that [on the i’lillilniont of the conditions implied in it] there will he free course and success. Its advantageousness will depend on the being firm and correct, [as] in marrying a young lady. There will hi good fortune.
1. The first line, divided, shows one moving his great toes.
2. The second line, divided, shows one moving the calves of his leg. There will be evil. If he abide [quiet in his place] there will be good fortune.
3. The third line, undivided, shows one moving his thighs, and keeping close hold of those whom he follows. Going forward [in this way] will cause regret.
4. The fourth line, undivided, shows that firm correctness which will lead to good fortune and prevent all occasion for repentance. If its subject be unsettled in his movements, [only] his friends will follow his purpose.
5. The fifth line, undivided, shows one moving the flesh along the spine above the heart. There will be no occasion for repentance.
6. The sixth line, divided, shows one moving his jaws and tongue.An idea of the several commentaries, or ‘ Wings,’ upon sueli a
passage may be gained from the following e.xcerpts. First
comes the ‘ Treatise on the Twan,’ or King Wan’s paragraphs ;
then the ‘ Treatise on the Symbols,’ consisting of observations
on Duke Chan’s exposition.
From the Second Wi»g.—
1. Ilk’ii is here used in the sense of Kan, meaning [mutually] influencing.
2. The weak [trigram] above, and the strong one below; their two influences moving and responding to each other, and thereby forming a union; the repression [of the one] and the satisfaction [of the other] ; [with their relative position] where the male is placed below the female — all these things convey the notion of ‘ a free and successful course [on t e fulfilment of the conditions], while the advantage will depend on being firm and correct, as in marrying a young lady, and there will be good fortune.’ . . . etc., etc.Fourth Wuiij.—[The trigram representing] a mountain and above it that for [the waters of] a marsh form Ilu’ii. The superior man, in accordance with this, keeps his mind free from preoccupation, and open to receive [the influences of] others.
1. ‘ He moves his great toe ‘—his mind is set on what is beyond [himself].
2. Though ‘ there would be evil, yet if he abide [quiet] in his place there will be good fortune ‘—through compliance [with the circumstances of his condition and place] there will be no injury.3. ‘He moves his thighs’—he still does not [want to] rest in his place. His will is .set on ‘ following others ;’ what he holds in his grasp is low.
4. ‘ Firm correctness will lead to good fortune, and prevent all occasion for repentance ‘—there has not yet been any harm from [a selfish wish to] influence. ‘He is unsettled in his movements’—[his power to influence] is not yet either brilliant or great.
5. ‘ He [tries to] move the flesh along the spine above the heart ‘—his aim is trivial.
6. ‘ He moves his jaws and tongue ‘—he [only] talks with loquacious mouth.
Sixth Wing (‘Appended Sentences’). —Chapter I.—
1. The eight trigrams having been completed in their proper order, there were in each the [three] emblematic lines. They were then multiplied by a process of addition till the [six] component lines appeared.2. The strong line and the weak push themselves each into the place of the other, and hence the changes [of the diagrams] take place. The appended explanations attach to every form of them its character [of good or ill], and hence the movements [suggested by divination] are determined accordingly.
3. Good fortune and ill, occasion for repentance or regret, all arise from these movements . . . etc., etc.
The hundreds of fortune-tellers seen in the streets of Chinese
towns, whose answers to their perplexed customers are
more or less founded on these cabala, indicate their influence
among the illiterate ; while among scholars, who have long
since conceded all divination to be vain, it is surprising to remark
the profound estimation in which these inane lines are
held as the consummation of all w-isdom—the germ, even, of
all the truths which western science has brought to light!
Each hexagram is supposed to i-epresent, at any given time, six
different phases of the primordial V>. ” As all the good and
evil in the world,^’ observes McClatchie, ” is attributed by the
Chinese philosophers to the purity or impurity of the animated
air from which the two-fold soul in man is formed, a certain
moral value attaches to each stroke, and the diviner prognosticates
accordingly that good or evil luck, as the case may be,
will result to the consulter of the oracle with reo-ard to the matter
on which he seeks it. Xine is the number of Heaven, or
the undivided stroke, and six is the number of Earth, or the
divided stroke, and hence each stroke has a double designatiovi.
The first stroke, if undivided, is designated ‘ First-T\ ine,’ but if
divided it is designated ‘ First-Six,’ and so on. The second
and fifth strokes in each diagram are important, being the centre
or medium strokes of their respective lesser diagrams. The
fifth stroke, however, is the most important in divination, as it
represents that portion of the air which is the especial throne
of the imperial power, and is the ‘ undeflected due medium.’
Nothing but good luck can follow if the person divining with
the straws obtains this stroke. Tao, or the Divine Heason,
ITS CIIAKACTElt AND INFLUENCE. 633
which is the supreme soul of tlie wliole Kosnios, animates the
air, pervading its six phases, and thus giving power to the diagrams
to make known future events to mankind.”
Of course anything and everything could be deduced from
such a fanciful groundwork, but the Chinese have taken up the
discussion in the most serious manner, and endeavored to find
the hidden meanino; and evolutions of the universe from this
curious system. The diagrams have, moreover, supplied the
basis for many species of divination by shells, letters, etc., by
which means the mass of the people are deluded into the belief
of penetrating futurity, and still more wedded to their superstitions.
The continued influence of such a work as the Yih illustrates
the national jjenchant for law^s and method, while
equally indicating the general indifPerence to empiiical research
and the facts deduced from study of natural history. If, from
a philosophical standpoint, we consider the barrenness of its results,
there is little, indeed, to say for tlie Yih King, save concurrence
in Dr. Gustave Schlegel’s epithet, ” a mechanical play
(jf idle abstractions ; ” nevertheless, this classic contains in its
whimsical dress of inscrutable strokes nnich of practical wisdom,
giving heed to which it is not hard to agree with Dr.
Leo-oe in concludino; that ” the inculcation of such lessons cannot
have been without good effect in China during the long
course of its history.” ‘
The second section of the Imperial Catalogue contains treatises
upon the SJiio King, or ‘ Book of Records.’ This classic,
‘ Some fourteen hundred and fifty treatises on the I7A— consisting of memoirs,
digests, expositions, etc. —are enumerated in the Catalogue. The foreign
literature upon it has heretofore been scant. The only other translations of
the classic in extenso, besides Dr. Legge’s, already quoted, are the Y-Kiiuj;
Antiquissimus Sinarum liber quern e.v hiUn/i iiih’rpn’tadoiie ; P. Regis, (dicrrumqueex
Soc. Jesu P.P., edidit SnWws Mohl, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1834-39; and
A Iranslation of the Confrman Yih King, or the Chissic of Chuncje, by the
Rev. Canon McClatchie, Shanghai, 1876 (with Chinese text). Compare further
Notice du livre chinois nomme Y-kiiu/, aver des notes, pdr M Claude Visdelou,
contained in Pere Gaubil’s Clwn kinq, Paris, 1843 ; Die verbogenen Alterthumerder
Chiiieser ana deni undfen Burlte Yeking iinterfiHchet, von M. Joh. Heinrich
Schuhmacher, Wolfenbiittel, 1763 ; Joseph Haas, in Notes and Queries on Vhinu and Japitn, Vol. III., 1869; China Revieip, Vols. I., p. 151; IV., p.257; and v., p. 132.
first ill importance as it is in age among the live King, consists
of a series of documents relating to the history of China from
the times of Yao down to King Iliang, of the Chan dynasty
(b.c. 2357-627). Its earlier chapters were composed at periods
following the events of which they relate, but after the twentysecond
century b.c. the SJiu comes to us, though in a mutilated
condition, as the contemporary chronicle of proclamations, addresses,
and principles of the early sovereigns. Internal evidence
leads to the conclusion that Confucius acted chielly as
editor of documents existing in his day ; he probably wrote the
preface, but what alterations it received at his hand cannot now
be ascertained. A¥hen it left his care it contained eighty -one
documents in one hundred books, arranged under the five
dynasties of Yao, Shun, Ilia, Shang, and Chan, the last one
coming down to within two hundred and twenty-one years of
his own birth. . Most of these are lost, and others are doubted
by Chinese critics, so that now only forty-eight documents remain,
thirty of them belonging to tlie CUiau, with the preface
ascribed to Confucius. lie showed his estimate of their value
by calling the whole Shang Shu, or the ‘ Highest Book,’ and we
may class their loss witli that of other ancient works in Hebrew
or Greek literature. The Shu King now contains six different
kinds of state papers, viz., imperial ordinances, plans drawn up
by statesmen as guides for their sovereign, instructions prepared
for the guidance of the prince, imperial proclamations
and charges to the people, vows taken before Sliangtl by the
monarch when going out to battle, and, lastly, mandates, announcements, speeches, and canons issued to the ministers of state.’
‘ Several translations have been made by missionaries. One by P. Gaubil was edited by De Guignes in 1770; a second by Rov. W. H. Medhurst, in 1846; but the most complete by J. Legge, D.D., in 18G5, with its notes and text, has brought this lieconl better than ever before to the knowledge of western scholars.
THE SIIU KING, OK HOOK OF UECORDS. 635
The morality of the Shu King-, for a pagan work, is extremely good ; the principles of administration laid down in it, founded on a regard to the welfare of the people, would, if carried out, insure universal prosperity. The answer of Kaoyao to the monarch Yu is expressive of a mild spirit : ” Your virtue, O Emperor, is faultless. You condescend to your ministers with
a liberal ease ; you rule the multitude with a generous forbearance.
Your punishments do not extend to the criminal’s heirs,
but your rewards reach to after-generations. Y’ou pardon inadvertent
faults, however great, and punish deliberate crime,
however small. In cases of doubtful crimes you deal with them
lightly ; of doubtful merit, you prefer the highest estimate.
Ilather than put to death the guiltless, you will run the risk of
irregularity and laxity. This life-loving virtue has penetrated
tlie minds of the people, and this is why they do not render
themselves liable to be punished by your officers.” ‘
In the counsels of Yu to Shun are many of the best maxims
of good government, both for rulers and ruled, which antiquity
has handed down in any country. The following are among
them : ” Y’ih said, Alas ! Be cautious. Admonish yourself to
caution when there seems to be no reason for anxiety. Do
not fail in due attention to laws and ordinances. Do not find
enjoyment in indulgent ease. Do not go to excess in pleasure.
Employ men of worth without intermediaries. Put away evil
advisers, nor try to carry out doubtful plans. Study that all
your purposes may be according to reas(jn. Do not seek the
people’s praises by going against reason, nor oppose the people
to follow your own desires. Be neither idle nor wayward, and
even foreign tribes will come nnder your sway.”
The Shu King contains the seeds of all things that are valuable
in the estimation of the Chinese ; it is at once the foundation
of their political system, their history, and their religious
rites, the basis of their tactics, music, and astronomy. Some
have thought that the knowledge of the true God under the
appellation of Shangti is not obscurely intimated in it, and the
precepts for governing a country, scattered through its dialogues
and proclamations, do their writers credit, however little they
may have been followed in practice. Its astronomy has attracted
much investigation, but whether the remarks of the
commentators are to be ascribed to the times in which they
‘ Legge, The Chinese Claasks, Vol. III. Slioo King, p. 59.
themselves iiourished, or to the knowledge they had of the ancient
state of tlie science, is douhtfuL The careful and candid
discussions by Legge in the introduction to his translation furnish
most satisfactory conclusions as to the origin, value, and
condition of this venerable relic of ancient China. For his
scholarly edition of the Classics he has already earned the
hearty thanks of every student of Chinese literature.’
The third of the classics, the Shi King, or ‘ Book of Odes,’
is ranked together with the two preceding, while its influence
upon the national mind has been equally great ; a list of commentators
upon this work fills the third section of the Catalogue.
These poetical relics are arranged into four parts : The Ktvoh
Fimy, or ‘ National Airs,’ numbering one hundred and fifty-nine,
from fifteen feudal States ; the Siao Ya, or ‘ Lesser Eulogiums,’
numbering eighty, and arranged under eight decades ; the Ta
Ya, or ‘ Greater Eulogiums,’ numbering thirty-one, under three
decades (both of these were designed to be sung on solemn occasions
at the royal court) ; and the Sung, or ‘ Sacrificial Odes,’
numbering foi’ty-one chants connected with the ancestral worship
of the rulers of Chan, Lu, and Sliang. Out of a total number
of three hundred and eleven now extant, six have only their
titles preserved, while to a major part of the others native
scholars give many various readings.
In the preface to his careful translation Dr. Legge has collected
all the important information concerning the age, origin,
and purpose of these odes, as furnished by native connnentators,
whose theory is that ” it was the duty of the kings to make
themselves acquainted with all the odes and songs current in
‘ Chinese Bepository, Vol. VIII., p. 385 ; Vol. IX., p. 573. Le Clum-king,
un des Livres Sarrh (frs Olilixm, qui renfcrme leu Fondementsde leur ancienne
Ilistoirey etc. Traduit par Feu le P. Gaubil. Paris, 1770, in-4. La Morale
du Chou-kiiKj on le Livre Sacredela Chine. (The same), Paris, 1851. Ancient
China. The Shoo King, or tlie Ilistariced Cla.mr. : being the vnM ancient authentic
Record of the AnnaU of the Chinese Empire, translated by W. H. Medliurst.
Sen., Shanghae, 184G. Nouveem Journal Asiatique, Tomes V. (1830), p.
401; VI., p. 401, and XIV. (1842), p. 153. China Beoiew, Vol. IV., p. 13.
Dr. Legge’s translation has recently (1879) appeared, without the Chinese text,
in Max Miiller’s series of Sacred Rwks of tlie East, Vol. III. Richthofen,
China, Bd. I., ])p. 277-305, an exhaustive treatise on the early geography of
ULiua, with valuable historical maps.
THE SlII KING, OU BOOK OF ODES. 0:37
the different States, and to judge from them of the cliaracter of
the rule exercised by tlieir several princes, so that they might
minister praise or blame, reward or punishment accordingly.”
These odes and songs seem to hav^e been gathered by Wan
Wang and Duke Chau at the beginning of the Chau dynasty
(b.c. 1120), some of them at the capital, others from the feudal
rulers in the course of royal progresses through the land, the
royal music-master getting copies from the music-masters of the
princes. The whole were then arranged, set to nnisic, too, it
may be, and deposited for use and reference in the national
archives, as well as distributed among the feudatories. Their
ages are uncertain, but probably do not antedate b.c. 1719
nor come after 585, or about thirty years before Confucius.
Their number was not improbably at first fully up to the thi-ee
thousand mentioned by the biographers of Confucius, but long
before the sage appeared disasters of one kind and another had
reduced them to nearly their present condition. What we have
is, therefore, but a fragment of various collections made in the
early reigns of the Chau sovereigns, which received, perhaps,
larger subsequent additions than were preserved to the time of
Confucius. He probably took them as they existed in his day,
and feeling, possibly, like George Herbert, that
” A verse may finde liim, who a sermon flies,
And turn delight into a sacrifice,”
did everything he could to extend their adoption among his
countrymen. It is difficult to estimate the power they have
exerted over the subsequent generations of Chinese scholars
—
nor has their influence ever tended to debase their morals, if it
has not exalted their imagination. They have escaped the
looseness of Moschus, Ovid, or Juvenal, if they have not attained
the grandeur of Homer or the sweetness of Yirgil and
Pindar. There is nothing of an epic character in them—nor
even a lengthened narrative—and little of human passions in
their strong development. The metaphors and illustrations are
often quaint, sometimes puerile, and occasionally ridiculous.
Their ackjiowledged antiquity, their religious character, and
their illustration of early Chinese customs and feelings form
638 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
their priiicipal claiius to our notice and appreciative study.
M. Ed. JJiot, of Paris, was the first European scholar who studied
them carefully in this aspect, and his articles in the Joarnal
Asiatlque for 1S43 are models of analytic criticism and synthetic
compilation, enabling one, as he says, ” to contemplate
at his ease the spectacle of the primitive manners of society in
the early age of China, so different from what was then found
in Europe and “Western Asia.”
An ode referred to the time of Wan Wang (a contemporary
of Saul) contains a sentiment reminding us of Morris’ lines
beginning ” Woodman, spare that tree. ” It is in Part I., Book
II., and is called Kan-tawj, or the ‘ Sweet pear-tree.’
1. O fell not that sweet pear-tree!
See how its branches spread.
Spoil not its shade,
For Shao’s chief laid ^
Beneath it his weary head.
2. O clip not that sweet i)ear-tree I
Each twig and leaflet spare
—
‘Tis sacred now,
Since the lord of Shao,
When weary, rested him there.
3. O touch not that sweet pear-tree I
Bend not a twig of it now ;
There long ago,
As the stories show,
Oft halted tlie chief of Shao.’
The eighth ode in Book III., called IRung CJu^ or ‘ Cock
Pheasant,’ contains a wife’s lament on her husband’s absence.
1. Away the startled pheasant flies.
With lazy movement of his wings ;
Borne was my heart’s lord from my eyes
—
What pain the separation brings !
2. The pheasant, though no more in view,
Ilis cry below, above, forth sends.
Alas! my princely lord, ’tis yon,
—
Your absence, that my bosom rends.
Dr. Legge, The She King, trduddted into Enylinh verse, p. 70. London, 1876.
ii:xamplks of its lykic poetry. 63tJ
3. At sun uiul moon I sit and gaze,
In converse with my troubled heart.
Far, far from me my husband stays !
When will he come to heal its smart ?
4, Ye princely men, who with him mate,
Say, mark ye not his virtuous way ?
His rule is, covet nought, none hate :
How can Ins steps from goodness stray ? ‘
From tlie same book we translate somewliat freely an example
(Xo. IT) of love-song, or serenade, not uncommon among
these odes.
Maiden fair, so sweet, retiring,
At tlie tryst I wait for thee ;
Still I pause in doubt, inquiring
Why thou triflest thus with me.
Ah ! the maid so coy, so handsome,
Pledged she with a rosy reed ;
Than the reed is she more winsome.
Love with beauty liard must plead
!
In the meadows sought we flowers.
These she gave me—beauteous, rare
:
Far above the gift there towers
The dear giver— lovelier, fair !
Among the ‘ Lesser Eulogiums ‘ (Book IV., Ode 5) is one
more ambitions in its scope, relating to the completion of a
palace of King Sinen, about b.c. 800.
1. On yonder banks a palace, lo ! upshoots.
The tender blue of southern hill behind,
Time-founded, like the bamboo’s clasping roots
;
Its roof, made pine-like, to a point defined.
Fraternal love here bears its precious fruits,
And unfraternal schemes be ne’er designed 1
2. Ancestral sway is his. The walls they rear
Five thousand cubits long, and south and west
The doors are placed. Here will the king appear,
Here laugh, here talk, here sit him down and rest.
<«”- — ——
‘/6.,p. 83.
G40 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
3. To mould the walls, the frames they firmly tie ;
The toiling builders beat the earth and lime
;
The walls shall vermin, storm, and bird defy
—
Fit dwelling is it for his lordly prime.
4. Grand is the hall the noble lord ascends ;
In height, like human form, most reverent, grand ;
And straight, as flies the shaft when bow unbends
;
Its tints like hiaes when pheasant’s wings expand.
5. High pillars rise the level court around ;
The pleasant light the open chamber steeps,
And deep recesses, wide alcoves are found,
Where our good king in perfect quiet sleeps.
6. Laid is the bamboo mat on rush mat square ;
Here shall he sleep ; and waking say, ‘
‘ Divine
What dreams are good ? For bear and piebald bear,
And snakes and cobras haunt this couch of mine.”
7. Then shall the chief diviner glad reply,
*’ The bears foreshow their signs of promised sons.
The snakes and cobras daughters prophesy
:
These auguries are all auspicious ones.”
8. Sons shall be liis— on couches lulled to rest
;
The little ones enrobed, with sceptres play
;
Their infant cries are loud as stern behest,
Their knees the vermeil covers shall display.
As king liereafter one shall be addressed ;
The rest, our princes, all the States shall sway.
9. And daughters also to him shall be born.
They shall be placed upon the ground to sleep
;
Their playthings tiles, their dress the simplest worn;
Their part alike from good and ill to keep,
And ne’er their parents’ hearts to cause to mourn
;
To cook the food, and spirit-malt to steep.
‘
The last two stanzas indicate tlie comparative estimate, in
ancient days, of boys and girls born into a family ; and this estimate,
still maintained, has been in a great degree upheld by
this authority.. Another ode in the ‘ Greater Eulogies ‘ (Book
III., Ode 10) deplores the misery that prevailed about b.c. 780,
owing to the interference of women and eunuchs in the govern-
>/(/., Tlie She KliKj, p. 332.
VERSIFICATION OF THE Sill KIN(i. 641
nieiit. Two stanzas only are quoted, which are supposed to
have been specially directed against Pao Sz’, a mischief-maker
in the court of King Yu, like Agrippina and Pulcheria in
Koman and Byzantine annals.
8. A wise man builds the city wall,
But a wise woman throws it down.
Wise is she ? Good you may her call
;
She is an owl we should disown !
To woman’s tongue let scope be given
And step by step to harm it leads.
Disorder does not come from Heaven ;
‘Tis woman’s tongue disorder breeds.
Women and eunuchs 1 Never came
Lesson or warning words from them !
4. Hurtful and false, their spite they wreak
;
And when exposed their falsehood lies—
The wrong they do not own, but sneak
And say, ” Xo harm did we devise.”
*’ Thrice cent, per cent. ! ” Why, that is trade!
Yet ‘twould the princely man disgrace.
So public things to wife and maid
Must not silkworms and looms displace.
‘
There are, however, numerous stanzas among the odes in tho
‘ National Airs ‘ which show their fairer side and go far to neutralize
these, giving the same contrasts in female character
which were portrayed by King Solomon during the same age.
The versification in a monosyllabic language appears very
tame to those who are only familiar with the lively and varied
rhythms of western tongues ; but the Chinese express more
vivacity and cadence in their ballads and ditties when sung than
one would infer from these ancient relics when transliterated
in our letters. As the young lad has usually committed all the
three hundred and five odes to memory before he enters the
Examination Hall, their influence on the matter and manner of
his own future poetical attempts can hardly be exaggerated. It
is shown throughout the thousands of volumes enumerated in
the fourth division of the Imperial Catalogue. Most of the
‘ Id., The She King, p. 347.
Vol. I.—41
^42 THE 3IIDDLE KINGDOM.
>S/u King is written in tetrametres, and nothing can be more
simple. They have been most unfortunately likened to the
Hebrew Psalms by some of the early missionaries, but neither
in manner nor matter is the comparison a happy one. One point
of verbal resemblance is noticed by Dr. Legge between the first
ode in Part III. and the one hundred and twenty-first psalm,
where the last line of a stanza is generally repeated in the first
line of the next, a feature something like the repetitions in Hiawatha.
The rhymes and tones both form an essential part of
Chinese poetry, one which can only be imperfectly represented
in our language. The following furnishes an example of the
general style, to which a literal rendering is subjoined
:
1. Nan yin kUw muh,
Puh Wo Mu sill
;
Han yin yin nu,
Puh Wo kiu sz\
Han clii kii^ang i,
Puh Wo y11,11(1 sz’;
Kianrj chi yung i
Puh Wofang sz\
2. Kiao kia,o Uo sin,
Yen i ki chii,
;
Chi tsz’ yii kwei
Yen moh kl ma ;
Han chi kwang i, etc.
8. Kiao kiao tso sin,
Yen i ki lao ;
Chi tsz^ yiX kwei
Yen moh ki kii.
Han ch’i kwang i, etc.
South has stately trees,
Not can shelter indeed ;
Han has rambling women,
Not can solicit indeed.
Han’s breadth l)e sure,
Not can be dived indeed
;
Kiang’s length be sure.
Not can be rafted indeed.
Many many mixed faggots,
Willingly I cut the brambles ;
Those girls going home.
Willingly I would feed their horses
;
Han’s breadth be sure, etc.
Many many mixed faggots,
Willingly I cut the artemisia
;
Those girls going home,
Willingly I would feed their colts
;
Han’s breadth be sure, etc.
The highest range of thought in the odes is contained in
Part TY., but the whole collection is worthy of perusal, and
thi-ough the labors of Dr. Legge has been made more accessible
than it was ever before. The amount of native literature extant,
illustrative, critical, and philological, referring to the
Book of Odes ‘ is not so large as that on the Tik King ; but the
‘ A recent German translation of these odes has combined, with mucli accuracy
and a smooth versification, the peculiar adaptability of that tongue to the
THE THREE IIITUALS. 643
fifty-five works quoted in his preface ‘ contain enough to indicate
their industry and acumen. Tliese works will elevate the
character of Chinese scholarsliip in the opinion of those foreigners
who remember the disadvantaijces of its isolation from
the literature of other lands, and the difficulties of a language
which rendered that literature inaccessible.”
The fourth section in the Catalogue contains the Tlituals and
a list of their editions and commentators, but only one of the
three is numbered among the Jvlng and used as a text-l»ook at
the public examinations. Tliis is the lA Ki, or ‘ Book of Rites,’
the Memorial des Jiitct^, as M. Callery calls it in his translation,^
and one of the works which has done so much to mold
and maintain Chinese character and institutions. It is not superior
in any respect to the Chau Li and the /Z/’, but owes its
influence to its position. They were all the particular objects
of Tsin Chi IIwangti\s ire in his efforts to destroy every ancient
literary production in his kingdom; the present texts
were recovered from their hiding-places about b.c. 135. The
Chmt LI, or ‘Ttitual of Chan,’ is regarded as the work of Duke
Chau (b.c. 1130), who gives the detail of the various offices established
under the new dynasty, in which he bore so prominent
a part. The sections containing the divisions of the administrative
part of the Chinese government of that day have
furnished the types for the six boards of the present day and
their subdivisions. So far as we now know, no nation then existing
could show so methodical and effective a system of national
polity.
reproduction (in some degree) of sounds so foreign to tlie language as Chinese.
Shi KiiKj. JJiiH iMuonisclis Liederbuch tier Gldiunen. Uehersctzt voii Victor
von Strauss. Heidelberg, 1880.
‘ Ih” GJiiiifx:’. Glassies, Vol. IV., pp. 172-180. Hongkong, 1871.
– Compare Confucii Ghi-l’ing site TAher Gartninum, ex latina P. Lacharme
iiiU’vpretatiom edicUt J. Mohl, Stuttgart, 1830 ; Essai sur le GM-kiny, it sur
Pancieiine poesir rlunoise, p(ir M. Brosset jeune, Paris, 1828 ; BihUotlteque oricnt(
de, Vol.11., p. 247 (1872). Ghi-khni, on. TArre des Vns, Traduction de M. G.
Pauthier; Gkina Rfvi>ir,Vo\. VI., pp. 1 ff. and Ififi ff. .Innud X. G. Br. R.
As. &r., Vol. XII., pp. 97 ff.
•” Li-ki on Memorial des BiU’s, tntduit pour la premiere fois du cJiinois, et (u>
compagne de notes, de commentuires et du texte orifjinal, par J. M. Callery.
Turin et Paris, 1853.
644 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The / L’l is a smaller work, treating of family affairs, and
as its name, ‘Decorum Hitual,”‘ indicates, contains di)-ections
for domestic life, as the other does for state matters. That is
in forty-four sections and this is in seven, and both are now
accepted as among the most ancient works extant. The former
was translated by Ed. Biot,’ and remains a monument of his
scholarship and research.
The Li K’% owes its posititai among the classics to the belief
that Confucius here gives his views on government and manners,
although these chapters are not regarded as the same in
their integrity as those said to have been found in the M-alls of his
house, and brought to light in the second century p..r. by Ivao
Tang of Lu, under the name of ^^^ L’l, or the ‘ Scholar’s Ritual.’
In the next century Tai Teh collected all the existing
docimients relating to the ancient rituals in two hundred and
fourteen sections, oidy a portion of which M-ere then held to
have emanated from the sage and recorded by his pupils. His
work, in eighty-five sections, is called Ta Tai Li, or the
‘Senior Tai’s Hitual,’ to distinguish it from the Siiao Tai
Ij^ or the ‘Junior Tai’s Tiitual,’ a work in forty-nine sections,
by his nephew, Tai Sliing. This is the work now known as
the Li Ki, M. Gallery’s translation of which contains the
authorized text of Ivanghi according to Fan Tsz’-tang, in
thirty-six sections, with many notes. His translation is wearisome
reading from the multitude of parentheses interjected
into the text, distracting the attention and Aveakening its contiruiity.
Those who have read iVbbc Hue’s entertaining remarks on
the Rites in China will find in these three works the reason and
application of their details. In explanation of their importance,
M. Callery shows in a few words what a wide field they
cover : ” Ceremony epitomizes the entire Chinese mind ; and,
in my opinion, the Li L\^l i&jyer se the most exact and complete
monograph that China lias been able to give of itself to other
nations. Its affections, if it has anv, are satisfied bv cere-
‘ Le TcJw/ni-Li on. Ritfs d^n Tcheou, trndvit pour la premiere foia du chinot8»
par Feu fidouard Biot. 2 Tomes. Paris, 1851.
THE Li Kl, OR 1500K OF IJITES. 645
monj ; its duties are fulfilled by ceremony ; its virtues and
vices are refen-ed to ceremony ; the natural relations of created
beings essentially link themselves in ceremonial—in a word,
to that people ceremonial is man as a moral, political, and religious
being in his multiplied relations with family, country,
society, morality, and religion.” This explanation shows, too,
how meagre a rendering eereiiiony is for the Chinese idea of li,
for it includes not only the extcriud conduct, but involves the
right principles from which all true etiquette and politeness
spring. The state religion, the government of a family, and
the rules of society are all founded on the true li, or relations
of things. Reference has already been made to this profoundly
esteemed work (p. 520), and one or two more extracts will suffice
to exhibit its spirit and style, singular in its object and
scope among all the bequests of antiquity.
Affection bet ipceii father and son.
In the Domestic Rules it is said, “Men in serving their parents, at the first
cock-crowing, must all wash their hands ; rinse their mouth ; comb their
hair ; bind it together with a net ; fasten it with a bodkin, forming it into a
tuft ; brush off the dust ; put on the hat, tying the strings, ornamented with
tassels ; also the waistcoat, frock, and girdle, with the note-sticks placed in it,
and the indispensables attached on the right and lelt ; bind on the greaves;
and put on the shoes, tying up the strings. Wives must serve their husband’s
father and mother as their own; at the first cock-crowing, they must wash
their hands ; rinse their mouth ; comb their hair ; bind it together with a net
;
fasten it with a bodkin, forming it into a tu-t ; put on their frocks and girdles,
with the indispensables attached on the right and left; fasten on their bags of
perfumery ; put on and tie up their shoes. Then go to the chamber of their
father and mother, and father-in-law and mother-in-law, and having entered,
in a low and placid tone they must in(pure wliether their dress is too warm or
too cool ; if the parents have pain or itching, themselves must respect ully
press or rub [the part aTected] ; and i: they enter or leave the room, themselves
either going before or following, must respect “nlly support them. In
bringing the apparatus for washing, the younger must present the bowl ; tlie
elder the water, begging them to pour it and wash ; and alter they have
washed, hand them the towel. In asking and respectl’uUy jjresenting what
they wish to eat, they must cheer them by their mild manner ; and must wait
till their father and mother, and father-in-law and mother-in-law have eaten,
and then retire. Boys and girls, who have not arrived at the age of manhood
and womanhood, at the first cock-crowing must wash their hands; rinse their
mouth ; comb their hair ; bind it together with a net ; and form it into a tuft
0’46 TIIK MIDDLK KINGDOM.
I)rusli oPF the dust ; tie on their hags, having them well snpplied with perfumery
; then hasten at early dawn to see their parents, and inquire if they have
eaten and drunk ; if they have, they must immediately retire ; but if not,
they must assist their superiors in seeing that everything is duly made ready.”
Of rejirociiKj jMreiits.
” When his parents are in error, the son with a liumble spirit, pleasing
countenance, and gentle tone, must point it out to them. If they do not receive
liis reproof, he must strive more <ind more to be dutiful and respectful
toward them till they <ire pleased, and then he must again point out their
error. But if lie does not succeed in pleasing them, it is better that he should
continue to reiterate reproof, than permit them to do injury to the whole
department, district, village, or neighborhood. And if the parents, irritated
and displeased, chastise their son till the blood flows from him, even then he
must not dare to harbor the least resentment ; hut, on the contrary, should
treat them with increased respect and dutifulness.
“
Respect to be paid jxirents in one^s conduct.
‘• Although your father and mother are dead, if you propose to yourself any
good work, only reflect how it will make their names illustrious, and your
purpose will be fixed. So if you propose to do Avhat is not good, only consider
how it will disgrace the names of your father and mother, and you will desist
from your purpose.” ‘
These extracts sliow soinetlniig of tlie molding principles
which operate on Chinese yontli from earliest years, and the
scope given in his education to filial piety. From conning such
precepts the lad is imbued with a respect for his parents that
finally becomes intensified into a religious sentiment, and forms,
as he increases in age, his only creed—the worship of ancestors.
His seniors, on the other hand, have but to point to the textbooks
before him as authority for all things they e.xact, and as
being the only possible source of those virtues that conduct to
happiness. The position of females, too, has remained, under
these dogmas, much the same for hundreds of years. ISTor is it
difticult to account for the influence whieli they have had.
Those who were most aware of their excellence, and had had
some experience in the tortuous dealings of the human heart,
as husbands, fathers, mothers, officers, and seniors, were those
who had the power to enforce obedience upon wives, children,
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 306-312.
THE CHUX TSIU, OR SPRI^STG AND AUTUMX KECOKD. 647
daughters, subjects, and juniors, as well as teach it to them.
These must wait till increasing years brought about their turn
to fill the upper rank in the social system, by wliich time habit
would lead them to exercise their sway over the rising generation
in the same manner. Thus it would be perpetuated, for
the man could not depart from the way his childhood was
trained ; had the results been more disastrous, it would have
been easy for us to explain why, amid the ignorance, craft, ambition,
and discontent found in a populous, nneducated, pagan
country, such formal rules had failed of benefiting societ}^ to
any lasting extent. We must look higher for this result, and
acknowledge the degree of wholesome restraint upon the passions
of the Chinese which the Author of whatever is good in
these tenets has seen fit to confer upon them in order to the preservation
of society.
The fifth section contains the Chan Tslu, or ‘ Spring and
Autumn Record,’ and its literature. This is the only one of
the King attributed to Confucius, though whether we have in
the Becord, as it now exists, a genuine compilation of the sage,
does not appear to be beyond doubt. His object being to construct
a narrative of events in continuation of the Shu King,
he, with assistance from his pupils, drew np a history of his
own country, extending from the reign of Ping AVang to about
the period of his bii-th (b.c. T22 to 480). Inasmuch as the
author of this chronicle confined himself to the relation of such
facts as he deemed Avorthy to be recorded, and was not al)t)ve
altering or concealing such details as in his private judgment
appeared unworthy of the princes of his dynasty, this history
cannot be regarded as exactly in conformity with modern notions
of what is desirable in -works of this class. That Confucius
wished to leave behind him a lasting monument to his own
name, as well as a narration of events, we gather from mor.*
than one of his utterances : ” The superior man is distressed
lest his name slioulil not be honorably mentioned after death
My principles do not make way in the world ; how shall T make
myself known to future ages ? ” In order, therefore, to insure
the preservation of his chef cVoeuvre to all time, he combines
with the annals certain censures and rig-hteous decisions which
648 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
should render it at once a liistoiy and a text-book of moral lessons
; and in giving tiie book to bis disciples, “It is bj the
Chan. Tsiu,’” be said, ”that after-ages will know me, and also
by it that thej will condemn me.”
The title, ” Spring and Autumn,” is understood by many Chinese
scholars to be a term for chronological annals ; in this case
the name being explained “because their commendations are
life-giving like spring, and their censures life-withering like
autumn,”‘ or, as we find in the Trlnietricul Classic, ” which by
praise and blame separates the good and bad.” ‘ A closer inspection
of the CJiaii Tsin is sure to prove disappointing; spite
of the glowing accounts of Mencius and its great reputation,
this history is simply a bald record of incidents whose entire
contents afford barely an hour’s reading. “Instead of a history
of events,” writes Dr. Legge, ” woven artistically together,
we find a congeries of the briefest possible intimations of matters
in which the court and State of Lu were more or less concerned,
extending over two hundred and forty-two years, without
the slightest tincture of literary ability in the composition,
or the slightest indication of judicial opinion on the part of the
writer. The paragraphs are always brief. Each one is designed
to conmiemorate a fact ; l>nt whether that fact be a display of
virtue calculated to command our admiration, or a deed of
atrocity fitted to awaken our disgust, it can hardly be said that
there is anything in the language to convey to us the shadow of
an idea of the author’s feelings about it. The notices—for we
cannot call them narratives—are absolutely unimpassioned. A
base murder and a shining act of heroism are chronicled just
as the eclipses of the sun are chronicled. So and so took
‘ This somewhat fanciful explanation of. the title is from the Han commentators.
Dr. Legge {(Jlassim, Vol. V., Prolegomena, p. 7) observes that “not
even in the work do we find such ‘ censures ‘ and ‘ commendations ; ‘ and much
less are they trumpeted in the title of it.” His interpretation that Spring and
Autumn are put by synechdoche for all four seasons, i.e., the entire record of
the year, appears to he a more natiu’al account. The same writer declines that
” the whole hook is a collection of riddles, to which there are as many answers
as there are gnessers ” Tlie interesting chapters of his pmlejioniena to this
translation, and his judicious criticisms on these early records, should tempt all
sinologues to read them throughout.
place; that is all. Xo details are given; no judgment is expressed.”
So imperturbable a recital could hardly have been saved from
extinction even by the great reputation of the sage, had it not
been for the amplification of Tso, a younger contemporary or
follower of Confucius, who lillel up the meagre sentences and
added both flesh and life to the skeleton. It ‘n possible that
the enthusiastic praises of Mencius are due to the fact that he
associated the text and commentary as one work. The Chuen
of Tso has indeed always been regarded as foremost among the
secondary classics ; uor is it too much, considering his terse yet
vivid and pictorial style, to call its author, as does Dr. Legge,
” the Froissart of China.” ‘ In addition to his purpose of explaining
the text of the Chun Tuia, Tso’s secondary object was
to give a general view of the history of China during the period
embraced by that record ; unless he had put his living tableaiix
into the framework of his uuister, there is grave reason to fear
that many most important details relating to the sixth and seventh
centuries b.c. would have been forever lost. Two other
early commentaries, those of Kung Yang and Kidi Liang, dating
from about the second century b.c, occupy a high position
in the estimation of Chinese scholars as illustrative of the original
chronicle. They do not compare with the Tf<o Chuen
either in interest or in authority, though it may be said that a
study of the Chun T^’iu can hardly be made unless attended
with a careful perusal of their contents. It will not be without
interest to give an example of the Record^ followed with elucidations
of the text by these three aimotators. The second year
of Duke Hi of Lu (b.c. G57) runs as follows
:
1. In thvi [duke’s] second year, in spring, in the king’s first month, we
[aided in the] walling of Tsu-kin.
2. In summer, in the fifth month, on Sin-sz’, we buried our duchess, Gai
Kiang.
3. An army of Yu and an army of Tsin extinguished Kia-yang.
‘ The same writer adds, in summing up the merits of tlie T,^o (lliuen : ” It
is, in my opinion, tlie most precious literary treasure which has come down to
posterity from the Chow dynasty.”
—
(Jlaam’s, Vol. V., Proleg., p. 35.
650 THE 3IIDDLE KIXGDO:\r.
4. Ill autuiun, in the ninth month, the Marquis of Tsz’, tlie Duke of Sung
an officer of Kiang, and an officer of Hwang, made a covenant in Kwan.
5. Ill winter, in the tenth month, there was no rain.
G. A body of men from Tsu made an incursion into Ching.
Upon the tliird entry for tliis year tlie T.so Chuen enlarges
:
Seiin Seih, of Tsin, requested leave from the marquis to take his team of
Kiuh horses and his J5e«7t of Chui-keih jade, and with tlieni borrow a way from
Yu to march through it and attack Kwoh. “Tliey are the things I hold most
precious,” said the marquis. Seih replied, “But if you get a way through
Yu, it is but like placing them in a treasury outside the State for a time.”
” There is Kung Che-kl in Yu,” objected the duke. ” Kuug Clie-kl,” returned
the other, ” is a weak man, and incapable of remonstrating vigorously. And,
moreover, from his youth up he has always been with the Duke of Yu. who is
so familiar with him that though he should remonstrate the duke will not
listen to him.” The marquis accordingly sent Seun Seih to borrow a way
through Yu with this message: “Formerly Ki, against right and reason, entered
your State from Tien-ling, and attacked the three gates of Ming. It
suffered for so doing, all through your grace. Now Kwoh, against right and
reason, has been keeping guards about the travellers’ lodges, to make incursions
from them into my southern l)orders, and I venture to beg a right of way
from you to ask an account of its offence.” The Duke of Yu granted the request,
and even asked to take the lead in invading Kwoh. Kung Clie-ki
remonstrated with him, but in vain ; and he raised his army for the enterprise.
In summer, Li Kill and Seun Seih brought on the army of Tsin, made
a junction with that of Yu, and invaded Kwoh, when they extinguished Hiayang.
The army of Yu is mentioned first, because of the bribes which the
duke accepted.
The coniiuentar}^ of Knng Yang says on tlie same paragraph :
Yu was a small State ; why is it that it is here made to take precedence of
a great one ‘? To make Yu take tlie lead in the wickedness.
Why is Yu made to take the lead in the wickedness V Yu received the
bribes with whicli those [wlio were going to] extinguish the State [of Kwoh]
borrowed a way through it, and thus brought on its own ruin.
IIow did it receive [those] bribes ‘i Duke Hieii [of Tsin] gave audience to
his great officers, and asked them why it was that he had lain all night without
sleeping One of them advanced and said, “Was it because you did not feel
at ease [in your mind] ? or was it because your [proper] bedfellow was not by
your side “‘. ” The duke gave no answer, and then Seun Seih came forward
and said, “Was it because Yu and Kwoh were appearing to you ? ” The duke
motioned to him to come [more] forward, and then went with him into an inner
apartment to take counsel. ” I wish,” said he, ” to attack Kwoh, but Yu
will go to its velief. and if I attack Yu Kwoh will succor it ; what is to be
done ? I wish to consider the case with you.” Seun Seih replied, “If you
will use my counsel, you shall take Kwoh to-day and Yu to-morrow ; why
EXTRACTS FROM IJIK i’UUN TSIU. ‘ 651
should your lordship he trouhled y ” ” IIow is this to he accomplished’:”‘
asked the duke. ” Please let [me go toj Yu,” said the other, ‘” with your team
01 Kiuh horses and your white peth or Chui-keih, and you are sure to get
[what you wautj. It will only be taking your valuable {jai/t] Ironi your inner
treasury and depositing it in an outer one ; your lor(l^^hip will lose nothing
by it.” The duke said, “Yes; but Kung Che-ki is there. What are
we to do with him ? ” Seun Seih replied, ” Kung Che-ki is indeed knowing ;
but the Duke of Yu is covetous, and fond of valuable curios ; he is sure
not to follow his minister’s advice. I beg you, considering everything, to let
nie go.” . . . etc., etc.
The following, as a l)rief sample of the Kiih Liang conmientaiy,
takes up the narrative M’here we have broken off. There
is so ninch that is similar in these two latter exegeses as to lead
to the belief that they “were composed with reference to each
other.
On this Duke Hien soirght [in the way proposed] for a passage [through
Yu] to invade Kwoh. Kung Che-ki remonstrated, saying, “The words of the
envoy of Tsin are humble, but his oSFerings are great ; the matter is sure not
to be advantageous to Yu.” The Duke of Yu, however, would not listen to
him, but received the offerings and granted the passage through the State.
Kung Che-ki remonstrated [again], suggesting that the case was like that in
the saying about the lips being gone and the teeth becoming cold ; alter wliicli
he fled with his wi^e and children to Tsao.
Duke Hien then destroyed Kwoh, and in the fifth year [of our Duke Hi] he
dealt in the same way with Yu. Seun Seih then had the horses led forward,
while he carried the peih in his hand, and said : “The peih is just as it was,
but the horses’ teeth are grown longer ! ” ‘
Meagre as are the items <»f the text, they sliow, together with
its copious commentaries, the methodical care of the early Chinese
in preserving their ancient records. The hints which these
and other books give of their intellectual activity during the
eight centuries before C/hrist, naturally compel a higher estimate
of their culture than we have hitherto allowed them.”
The sixth section of the Catalogue has already been noticed
as comprising the literature of the JTiao King.
‘ To this the Kung Yang commentator adds: “This he said in joke.”
* Compare Tchun Tsieov, Jje Prinfemps cf- PAutomne, mi Anri/iles de la Pnneipaute
(Je Loii, depuis 122 jusqu” en 481, etc. Traduites en fran^ow, purLQ
Roux Deshauterayes. 1750. Dr. E. Bretschneider, in the Chinese BecordeVf
Vol. IV., pp. 51-52, 1871.
652 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Tlie seventh section contains a list of works written to eluci^
date tlie Five Classics as a whole, and if their character for
orio-inality of thought, variety of research, extent of illustration,
and explanation of obscurities was comparable to their size and
numbers, no books in any language could boast of the aids possessed
by the Wu Khvj for their right comprehension. Of
these commentators, Chu Hi of Kiangsi, M’ho lived during the
Sun<‘- dvnasty, has so greatly exceeded all others in illustrating
and expounding them, that his explanations are now considered
of almost equal authority with the text, and are always given
to the beginner to assist him in ascertaining its true meaning.
The eighth section of the Catalogue comprises memoirs and
comments upon the &’ Shu^ or ‘ Four Books,’ which have been
nearly as influential in forming Chinese mind as the Wu King.
They are by different authors, and since their publication have
perhaps undergone a few alterations and interpolations, but the
changes either in these or the Five Classics cannot be very
numerous or great, since the large body of disciples who followed
Confucius, and had copies of his writings, would carefully
preserve uncorrupt those which he edited, and hand do\\’n
unimpaired those which contained his sayings. Xone of the
Four Books were actually written by Confucius himself, but
three of them are considered to be a digest of his sentiments ;
they were arranged in their present form by the brothers Ching,
who flourished about eight centuries ago.
The first of the Four Books is the Ta Illoh, i.e., ‘ Superior’
or ‘ Great Learning,’ which originally formed one chapter of
the Book of Rites. It is now divided into eleven chapters,
only the first of which is ascribed to the sage, the remainder
forming the comment upon them ; the whole does not contain
two thousand words. The argument of the Ta Ilioh is briefly
summed up in four heads, ” the improvement of one’s self, the
regulation of a family, the government of a state, and the rule
of an empire.” In the first chapter this idea is thus developed in a circle peculiarly Chinese:
The ancients, who wished to illustrate renovating virtue throughout the
Empire, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their
states, they first regulated their lamilies. Wishing to regulate their families,
THE GREAT LEARNING AND JUST MEDIUM. 653
they first cultivated tlieir persons. Wishing to cultivate their person!’, they
first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to
be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their tlioughts, they
first extended their knowledge to the utmost. Such extension oi.’ knowledge
lay in the investigation of things. Things being investigated, knowledge became-
complete : knowledge being comi)lete, their thoughts were sincere : their
thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified : their hearts being
rectified, their persons were cultivated : their persons being cultivated, their
families were regulated : families being regulated, states were rightly governed
; and states being rightly governed, the Empire was made tran(iuil.
From the Son of Heaven to the man of the people, all must consider the
cultivation of the person to be the foundation.
The subsequent c]i;q)ters mainly consist of the terse sayings
of ancient kings and authors gathered and arranged by Tsang
and aftei’ward hy CJliu Hi, designed to ilhistrate and enforce
the teachings of Confucius contained in the first. One quotation
only can be given from Chapter X.
In the Declaration of [tlio Duke of] Tsin, it is said : ” Let me have but one
minister plain and sincere, not pretending to other abilities, but with a simple
upright mind ; and possessed of generosity, regarding the talents of others as
though he possessed them himself, and where he fintls accomplished and perspicacious
men, loving them in his lieart more than his mouth expresses, and
really sliowing himself able to avail himself of them ; such a minister will be
able to preserve my descendants and the Black-haired people, and benefits to
the kingdom might well be looked for. But if it be, when lie finds men of
ability, he is jealous and hateful to them ; and when he meets accomplished
and perspicacious men, he opposes theni and will not allow their advancement,
showing that he is really not able to avail liimself of them ; such a
minister will not be able to protect my descendants and the Black-haired
people. May he not even be pronounced dangerous V
“
Tt will be willingly allowed, ^^hen reading these extracts,
that, destitute as they were of the higli sanctions and animating
hopes and promises of the Word of God, these Chinese
moralists began at the right place in tlieir endeavors to reform
and benefit their countrymen, and that they did not fnlly succeed
was owing to causes beyond their reforming power.
The second of the Four Books is called CJnin’j Ynny, or the
‘ Just Medium,’ and is, in some respects, the most elaborate
treatise in the series. Tt was composed by Kung Kih, the
grandson of Confucius (better known hy his style Tsz’-sz’),
about ninety years after tlie sage’s death. It once also formed part of the Vi Ki., from wliicli it, as well as the Ta Hioh.,
Avere taken out by Chii Hi to make two of the Sz’ Shu. It
lias thirty-three chapters, and has been the subject of numei’ous
comments. The great purpose of the author is to illustrate the
nature of human virtue, and to exhibit its conduct in the
actions of an ideal Jiiun fs2\ or ‘princely man ‘ of immaculate
propriety, who always demeans himself correctly, without going
to extremes. He carries out the advice of Hesiod
:
” Let every action prove a mean confess’d;
A moderation is, in all, the best.”
True virtue consists in never going to extremes, though it does
not appear that by this the sage meant to repress acti\e benevolence
on the one hand, or encourage selfish stolidity on the
other. C/d/Kj, or uprightness, is said to be the basis of all
things; and /to, harmony, the all-pervading principle of the
universe ; ” extend uprightness and harmony to the utmost,
and heaven and earth will be at rest, and all things be produced
and nourished according to their nature.” The general character
of the work is monotonous, but relieved with some animated
passages, among which the description of the Mun tsz\ or
princely man, is one. ” The princely man, in dealing with others, does not descend to anything low or improper. How unbending his valor ! He stands in the middle, and leans not to either side. The princely man enters into no situation where he is not himself. If he holds a high situation, he does not treat with contempt those below him ; if he occupies an inferior station, he uses no mean arts to gain the favor of his superiors. He corrects himself and blames not othei’S ; he feels no dissatisfaction.
On the one hand, he nun-miirs not at Heaven ; nor, on the other, does he feel resentment toward man. Hence, the superior man dwells at ease, entirely waiting the will of Heaven.”‘
‘ Collie’s Foicr linakx, pp. 0-10.
THE SAGE, OR PRINCELY MAN. 655
Chinese moralists divide maidcind into three classes, on these principles : ” Men of the highest order, as sages, worthies, philanthropists, and lieroes, are good without instruction ; men of the middling classes are so after instruction, such as x^usbandnien, pliysicians, astrologers, soldiers, etc., while those of the lowest are bad in spite of instruction, as play-actors, pettifoggers, slaves, swindlers, etc.” The first are shing^ or sages; the second are Men, or worthies ; the last are yu, or worthless. Sir John Davis notices the similarity of this triplicate classification with that of Ilesiod. The Just Med’turii thus describes the first character:
It is only the sage who is possessed of that clear discrimination and profound intelligence which fit him for filling a high station ; who possesses that enlarged liberality and mild benignity which lit him for bearing with others; who manifests that firmness and magnanimity that enable him to hold fast good principles ; who is actuated by that benevolence, justice, propriety, and
knowledge which command reverence ; and who is so deeply learned in
polite learning and good principles as to qualify him rightly to discriminate.
Vast and extensive are the effects of his virtue ; it is like the deep and living
stream which flows unceasingly ; it is substantial and extensive as Heaven,
and profound as the great abyss. Wlierever ships sail or chariots run ; wherever
the heavens overshadow and the earth sustains ; wherever the sun and
moon shine, or frosts and dews fall, among all who have blood and breath,
there is not one who does not honor and love him.
‘
Sincerity or conscientiousness holds a high place among the
attributes of the superior or princely man ; but in translating
the Chinese terms into English, it is sometimes puzzling enough
to find those which will exhibit the exact idea of the original.
For instance, sincerity is described as “the origin or consummation
of all things ; without it, there would be nothing. It is
benevolence by which a man’s self is perfected, and knowledge
by which he perfects others.” In another place we read that
” one sincere w^ish would move heaven and earth.” The Ixlun tsz’
is supposed to possess these qualities. The standard of excellence
is placed so high as to be absolutely unattainable by unaided
human nature ; and though Kih probably intended to
elevate the character of his grandfather to this height, and thus
hand him down to future ages as a sMng Jin, or ‘ perfect and
holy man,’ he has, in the providence of God, done his countrymen
great service in setting before them such a character as is
‘lb., p. 28.
here given in the Chung Yung. Bj being made a text-book in the schools it has been constantly studied and memorized by generations of students, to their great benefit.
The third of the Four Books, called the Lun Yu, or ‘ Analects of Confucius,’ is divided into twenty chapters, in which the collective body of his disciples recorded his woi’ds and actions, much in the same way that Boswell did those of Johnson.
It has not, however, the merit of chronological arrangement,
and parts of it are so sententious as to be obscure, if not
almost unintelligible. This work discloses the sage’s shrewd
insight into the character of his conntiymen, and knowledge of
the manner in which they could best be approached and influenced.
Upon the commencement of his career as reformer and
teacher, he contented himself with reviving the doctrines of
the ” Ancients ; ” but finding his influence increasing as he
continued these instructions, he then—yet always as under their
authority—engrafted original ideas and tenets upon the minds
of his generation. Had even his loftiest sentiments been propounded
as his own, they would hardly have been received in
his day, and, perhaps, through the contempt felt for him by
his contemporaries, have been lost entirely.
Among the most remarkable passages of the Four Books are
the following : Replying to the question of Tsz’-kung, ” Is there
one word wliicli may serve as a rule of practice for all of one’s
life?” Confucius said: “Is not .^ihu (‘reciprocity’) such a
word ? What you do not want done to youi-self, do not do to
others.” In a previous place Tsz’-kung had said : ” What I do
not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men.” Confucius
replied : ” Tsz’, you have not attained to that.” The
same principle is repeated in the C/t ung Yung, where it is said
that the man who does so is not far from the path. Another
is quoted in the Imperial Dictionary, under the word Fuh: ” The people of the west have sages,” or ” There is a sage (or holy man) among the people of the west,” where the object is to show that he did not mean Buddha. As Confucius was contemporary M’ith Ezra, it is not impossible that he had heard something of the history of the Israelites scattered throughout
the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the Persian
THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS, 657
monarchy, or of the writings of their prophets, though there is not the least historical evidence that he knew anything of the countries in Western Asia, or of the books extant in their languages. Some idea of the character of the Lun Yu may be gathered from a few detached sentences, selected from Marshman’s translation.’
Grieve uot that men know jou not, but be grieved that you are ignorant of men.
Governing with equity resembles the north star, which is fixed, and all the stars surround it.
Have no friends unlike yourself.
Learning without reflection will profit nothing ; reflection without learningwill leave the mind uneasy and miserable.
Knowledge produces pleasure clear as water ; complete virtue brings happiness solid as a mountain ; knowledge pervades all things ; virtue is tranquil and happy ; knowledge is delight ; virtue is long life.
Without virtue, both riches and honor seem to me like the passing cloud.
The sage’s conduct is affection and benevolence in operation.
The man who possesses complete virtue wishes to fix his own mind therein, and also to fix the minds of others ; he wishes to be wise himself, and would fain render others equally wise.
Those who, searching for virtue, refuse to stay among the virtuous, how can they obtain knowledge ? The rich and honorable are those with whom men desire to associate ; not obtaining their company in the paths of virtue, however, do not remain in it.
In your appearance, to fall below decency would be to resemble a savage rustic, to exceed it would be to resemble a fop ; let your appearance be decent and moderate, then you will resemble the honorable man.
When I first began with men, I heard words and gave credit for conduct; now I hear words and observe conduct.
I have found no man who esteems virtue as men esteem pleasure.
The perfect man loves all men ; he is not governed by private affection or interest, but only regards the public good or right reason. The wicked man, on the contrary, loves if you give, and likes if you commend him.
The perfect man is never satisfied with himself. He that is satisfied with himself is not perfect.
He that is sedulous and desires to improve in his studies is not ashamed to stoop to ask of others.
Sin in a virtuous man is like an eclipse of the sun and moon ; all men
gaze at it, and it passes away ; the virtuous man mends, and the world standsin admiration of his fall.
‘ The TFbrA’.* of Confucius ; containing the oi’i(jiiud text, %cith a Translation,by J. Marshman. Vol. I. Serampore, 1807.Vol. I.–43
Patience is the most necessary thing to have in this world. A few facts respecting the life, and observations on the character, of the great sage of Chinese letters, may here be added, though the extracts already made from his writings are sufficient to show his style. Confucius was born b.c.551, in the twentieth year of the Emperor Ling (about the date at which Cyrus became king of Persia), in the kingdom of Lu, now included in Yenchau, in the south of IShantung. His father was a district magistrate, and dying when lie was only three years old, left his care and education to his mother, who, although not so celebrated as the mother of Mencius, seems to have nurtured in hiui a respect for morality, and directed his studies. During his youth he was remarkable fuj- a grave demeanor and knowledge
of ancient learning, which gained him the respect and admiration
of his townsmen, so that at the age of twenty, the year
after his marriage, he was entrusted M’itli the duties of a subordinate
office in the revenue department, and afterward appointed
a supervisor of fields and herds. In his twenty-fourth
year his mother deceased, and in conformity with the ancient
usage, which had then fallen into disuse, he immediately resigned
all his employments to mourn for her three years, during M’hicli
time he devoted himself to study. This practice has continued
to the present day.
His examination of the ancient writings led him to resolve
upon instructing his countrymen in them, and to revive the
usages of former kings, especially in whatever related to the
rites. His position gave him an entry to court in Lu, where
he met educated and influential men, and by the time he was
thirty he was already in repute among them as a teacher. His
own king, Siang, gave him the means of visiting the imperial
t’ourt at Lohyang. Here, together Avith his disciples, he examined
everything, past and present, with close scrutiny, and returned
home with renewed regard for the ancieiit founders of
the House of Chau. His scholars and admirers increased in
numbers, and a corresponding extension of fame followed, so
that ere long he had an invitation to the court of the prince of
Tsi, but on arrival there was mortified to learn that curiosity
had been the prevailing cause of the invitation, and not a desire
to adopt his principles. He accordingly left him and went
LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 659
home, where the struggles between three rival families carried disorder and misery throughout the kingdom ; it was with the greatest difficulty that he remained neutral between these factions.
His disciples were from all parts of the land, and public opinion began to be influenced by his example. At length an opportunity offered to put his tenets into practice. The civil strife had resulted in the flight of the rebels, and Lu was settling down into better government, when in b.c. 500 Confucius was made the magistrate of the town of Chung-tu by his sovereign, Duke Ting. He was now fifty years old, and began to carry out the best rule he could in his position as minister of crime. For three years he administered the affairs of State with such a mixture of zeal, prudence, severity, and
regard for the rights and wants of all classes, that Lu soon
became the envy and dread of all other States. He even
succeeded in destroying two or three baronial castles M’hose
chiefs had set all lawful authority at defiance. His precepts
had been fairly put in practice, and, like Solomon, his influence
in after-ages was increased by the fact of acknoM’ledged
success.
It was but little more than an experiment, however ; for Duke
King of Tsi, becoming envious of the growing power of his
neighbor, sent Ting a tempting present, consisting of thirty
horses beautifully caparisoned, and a number of curious rai’ities,
with a score of the most accomplished courtesans he could
procure in his territories. This scheme of gaining the favor of
the youthful monarch, and driving the obnoxious cynic from
his counj3ils, succeeded, and Confucius soon after retired by
compulsion into private life. He moved into the dominions of
the prince of Wei, accompanied by such of his disciples as chose
to follow him, where he employed himself in extending liis
doctrines and travelling into the adjoining States.
He Mas at times applauded and pati’onized, but quite as often
the object of persecution and contumely ; more than once his
life was endangered. He compared himself to a dog driven
from his home : ” I have the fidelity of that animal, and I am
treated like it. But what matters the ingratitude of men ?
They cannot hinder me from doing all the good that has been appointed me. If my precepts are disregarded, I have the consolation of knowing in my own breast that I have faithfully performed my duty.” lie sometimes spoke in a manner that showed his own impression to be that heaven had conferred on him a special commission to instruct the world. On one or two occasions, when he was in jeopardy, he said : ” If IJeaven means not to obliterate this doctrine from the earth, the men of Kwang can do nothing to me.” And ” as Heaven has produced whatever virtue is in nie, what can Ilwan Tui do to me 5f ” In his instructions he improved passing events to afford useful lessons, and some of those recorded are at least ingenious. Observing a fowler one day soi’tinghis birds into different cages, he said, ” I do not see any old birds here ; Where have you put them ? ” ” The old birds,” replied the fowler, ” are too wary to be caught ; they are on the lookout, and if they see a net or cage, far from falling into the snare they escape and never return.
Those young ones which are in company with them likewise escape, but only such as separate into a flock by themselves and rashly approach are the birds I take. If perchance I catch an old bird it is because he follows the young ones.”
” You have heard him,” observed the sage, turning to his disciples; “the words of this fowler afford us matter for instruction.
LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. G61
The young birds escape the snare oidy when they keep with the old ones, the old ones are taken when they follow the young ; it is thus with maidvind. Presumption, hardihood, want of forethought, and inattention are the principal reasons why young people are led astray. Inflated with their small attainments they have scarcely made a commencement in learning before they think they know everything; they have scarcely performed a few common virtuous acts, and straight they fancy themselves at the height of wisdom. Under this false impression they doubt nothing, hesitate at nothing, pay attention to nothing ; they rashly undertake acts without consulting the aged and experienced, and thus securely following their own notions, they are misled and fall into the flrst snare laid for ihem. If you see an old man of sober years so badly advised as to be taken with the sprightliness of a youth, attached tq him, and thinking and acting with him, he is led astray by him and soon taken in the same snare. Do not forget the answer of the fowler.””
Once, when looking at a stream, he compared its ceaseless
current to the transmission of good doctrine through succeeding
generations, and as one race had received it they should liand
it down to others. ” Do not imitate those isolated men [the
Rationalists] who are wise only for themselves ; to communicate
the modicum of knowledge and virtue we possess to others will
never impoverish ourselves.” lie seems to have entertained
only faint hopes of the general reception of his doctrine, though
toward the latter end of his life he had as much encouragement
in the respect paid him personally and the increase of his
scholars as he could reasonably have wished.
Confucius returned to his native country at the age of sixtyeight,
and devoted his time to completing his edition of the
classics and in teaching his now large band of disciples. He
was consulted by his sovereign, who had invited him to return,
and one of his last acts was to go to court to urge an attack on
Tsi and punish the nnu’der of its duke. Many legends have
gathered around him, so that he now stands before his countrymen
as a sage and a demigod ; yet there is a remarkable
absence of the prophetic and the miraculous in every event connected
with these later writings. One story is that when he
had finished his writings he collected his friends around him
and made a solenm dedication of his literary labors to heaven
as the concluding act of his life. ” he assembled all his disciples and led them out of the town to one of the hills where sacrifices had usually been offered for many years. Here he erected a table or altar, upon which he placed the books ; and then turning his face to the north, adored Heaven, and returned thanks upon his knees in a humble manner for having had life and strength granted him to enable him to accomplish this laborious undertaking ; he implored Heaven to grant that the benefit to his countrymen from so arduous a labor might not be small. He had prepared himself for this ceremony by privacy, fasting, and prayer. Chinese pictures represent the sage in the attitude of supplication, and a beam of light or a rainbow desceiiding from the sky upon the books, Avhile his scholars stand around in admiring wonder.” ‘
A few davs before his death lie tottered about the house, sighing,
Tai shan, ki tui Jiu!—Liang miih. hi liwai hit,
!—Ch’ijin, ki wei hu!
The great mountain is broken
!The strong beam is thrown down !
The wise man withers like a plant
!lie died soon after, b.c. 478, aged seventy-three, leaving a
single descendant, his grandson Tsz’-sz, thi-ougli whom the succession
has been transmitted to the pi-esent day. During his
life the return of the Jews from Bal)ylon, the invasion of
Greece by Xerxes, and concjucst of Egypt l)y the Persians took
place. Posthumous honors in great variety, amounting to idolatrous
worship, have been conferred upon him. His title is the
‘Most Holy Ancient Teacher’ Kung tsz’, and the ‘Holy Duke.’
In the reign of Kanghi, two thousand one hundred and fifty
years after his death, there were eleven thousand males alive
bearing his name, and most of them of the seventy-fourth generation,
being undoubtedly one of the oldest families in the
world. In the Sacrificial llitual a short account of his life is
given, which closes M’ith the following pa^an :
Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius !
Before Confucius there never was a Confucius !
Since Confucius there never has been a Confucius !
Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius !
The leading features of the })hilosophy of CVjnfucius are subordination
to superiors and kind, upright dealing with our fellow-
nien ; destitute of all reference to an iniseen Power to whom
all men are accountable, they look only to this world for their
sanctions, and make the monarch himself only partially amenable
to a higher tribunal. It would indeed be hard to overestimate
the influence of Confucius in his \^q,^ princelij scholar,
and the power for good over his race this conception ever since
has e.xerted. It might be compared to the glorious work of the
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 421. Pauthier, La Chine, Paris, 1839,pp. 121-184.
ClIAKACTEK OF THE CONFUCIAN SYSTEM. 663
sculptor on tlie Acropolis of Athens—that matchless statue
more than seventy feet in height, whose casque and spear of
burnished brass glittered above all the temples and high places
of the city, and engaged the constant gaze of the mariner on
the near ^Egean ; guiding his onward course, it was still ever
beyond his reach. Like the Athena Promachos to the ancient
Attic voyager, so stands the klun-tsz” of Confucius among the
ideal men of pagan moralists. The immeasurable influence
in after-ages of the character thus portrayed proves how lofty
was his own standard, and the national conscience has ever
since assented to the justice of the portrait.
From the duty, honor, and obedience owed by a child to his
parents, he proceeds to inculcate the obligations of wives to their
husbands, subjects to their prince, and ministers to their king,
together with all the obligations arising from the various social
relations. Political morality must be founded on private rectitude,
and the beginning of all real advance was, in his opinion,
comprised in nosce tei]_)Hiu)i. It cannot be denied that among
much that is commendable there are a few exceptionable dogmas
among his tenets, and Dr. Legge, as has already been seen,
reflects severely on his disregard of truth in the Chun Tain
and in his lifetime. Yet compared wdth the precepts of Grecian
and Poman sages, the general tendency of his writings is good,
while in adaptation to the society in which he lived, and their
eminently practical character, they exceed those of western
philosophers. lie did not deal much in sublime and unattainable
descriptions of virtue, but rather taught how the common
intercourse of life was to be maintained—how children should
conduct themselves toward their parents, when a man should
enter on office, when to marry, etc., etc., which, although they
may seem somewhat trifling to us, were probably well calculated
for the times and people among whom he lived.’
‘ Compare Dr. Legge’s lielirjions of Clnmi ; Prof. R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Tuouism, London, 1879 ; S. Johnson, Orkntdl IMigions : China, Boston, 1877 ; A Systematical Digest of tfis Doctrines of Confiidus, according to the Analects, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean, etc., by Ernst Faber. Translated from the German by MollendorfF, Hongkong, 1875 ; Histoire de Confucius, par J. Senamaud, Bordeaux et Paris, 1878.
Had Confucius transmitted to posterity such works as the
Iliad, the De Officiis, or the Dialogues of Plato, he would no
doubt liave taken a higher rank among the commanding intellects
of the world, but it may be well doubted whether his influence
among his own countrymen would have been as good or
as lasting. The variety and minuteness of liis instructions for
the nurture and education of children, the stress he lays upon
filial duty, the detail of etiquette and conduct he gives for the
intercourse of all classes and ranks in society, characterize his
writings from those of all philosophers in other countries, who,
comparatively speaking, gave small thought to the education of
the young. The Four Books and the Five Classics woukl not,
80 far as regards their intrinsic character in comparison with
other productions, be considered as anything more than curiosities
in literature for their antiquity and language, were it not
for the incomparable influence they have exerted over so many
millions of minds ; in this view they are invested with an interest
which no book, besides tlie Bible, can claim. The source
and explanation of this influence is to be found in their use as
text-books in the schools and competitive examinations, and
well would it be for Christian lands if their youth had the same
knowledge of the writings of Solomon and the Evangelists.
Their freedom from descriptions of impurity and licentiousness,
and alhisions to whatever debases and vitiates the heart, is a
redeeming quality of the Chinese classics which should not be
overlooked. Chinese literature contains enough, indeed, to pollute
even the mind of a heathen, but its scum has become the
sediment ; and little or nothing can be found in the writings
that are most highly prized which will not bear perusal by any
person in any country. Every one acquainted with the writings
of Hindu, Greek, and Koman poets knows the glowing descriptions
of the amours of gods and goddesses which fill their
pages, and the purity of the Chinese canonical books in this
respect must be considered as remarkable.
For the most part the Chinese, in worshipping Confucius, content
themselves with erecting a simple tablet in his honor ; to
carve imaiires for the cult of the sage is uncommon. The incident
represented in the adjoining wood-cut illustrates, however,
WORSHIP OF CONFUCIUS. 665
Worship of Confucius and his Disciples.
an exception to the prevailing severity of this worship. A certain
“Wei Ki, a scholar living in the Tang dynasty (a.d. 657), not
content, it is said, with giving instruction in the classics, set np
the life-size statues of Confucius and his seventy-two disciples
in order to incite the enthusiasm of his own pupils. Into this
sanctuary of the divinities of learning were wont to come the
savant AYei and his scholars—among whom were numhered
hoth his grandfather and several of his grandchildren—to prostrate
themselves before the ancient worthies. ” But of his descendants,”
concludes the chronicler, ” there were many who
arose to positions of eminence in the State.”
The last of the Fonr Books is nearly as large as the other
three nnited, and consists entirely of the writings of Mencius,
Mang tsz’, or Mang fu-tsz’, as he is called by the Chinese.’
This sage flourished npward of a century after the death of his
master, and although, in estimating his character, it must not
be forgotten that he had the advantages of his example and
stimulus of his fame and teachings, in most respects he displayed
an oi-iginality of thought, inflexibility of purpose, and
extensive views superior to Confucius, and must be regarded
as one of the greatest men Asiatic nations have ever produced.
Mencius was born b.c. 371,^ in the city of Tsau, now in the
province of Shantung, not far from his master’s native district.
He was twenty-three years t)ld when Plato died, and many
other great men of Greece were his contemporaries. His
father died earlj’^, and left the guardianship of the boy to his
widow, Changshi. “The care -of this prudent and attentive
mother,” to quote from Bemusat, ” has been cited as a model
for all virtuous parents. The house she occupied was near that
‘ It may liere be remarked that the terms tsz’ or fu-tsz’ do not properly form a part of the name, but are titles, meaning rabhi or eminent teacher, and are added to the surnames of some of the most distinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction ; and in the words Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with Mang and Kung, names of the persons themselves, into one word. The names of other distinguished scholars, as Chu fu-tsz’, Ching fu-tsz’, etc., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Chingfucius ; but usage has now brought the compellation for these two men into universal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the term reneraUe applied to Bede.
llemusat, Nouveuux MekuKjex, Tome II., pp. 115-129.
LIFE OF MENCIUS. 667
of a butcher ; she observed that at the first crj of the animals
that were being slaughtered the little Mang ran to be present
at the sight, and that on his return he sought to imitate what
he had seen. Fearful that his heart might become hardened,
and be accustomed to the sight of blood, she removed to another
house wdiicli Avas in the neighborhood of a cemetery.
The relations of those who were buried there came often to
weep upon their graves and make the customaiy libations ; the
lad soon took pleasure in their ceremonies, and amused himself
in imitating them. This was a new subject of uneasiness to
Changshi ; she feared her son might come to consider as a jest
what is of all things the most serious, and that he would acquire
a habit of performing with levity, and as a matter of
routine merely, ceremonies which demand the most exact attention
and respect. Again, therefore, she anxiously changed her
dwelling, and went to live in the city, opposite to a school,
where her son found examples the most worthy of imitation,
and soon began to profit by them. I should not have spoken
of this trifling anecdote but for the allusion which the Chinese
constantly make to it in the common proverb, ‘ Formerly the
mother of Mencius chose out a neighborhood.” ” On another
occasion her son, seeing persons slaughtering pigs, asked her
why they did it. ” To feed you,” she replied ; but reflecting
that this was teaching her son to lightly regard tlie truth, went
and bought some pork and gave him.
Mencius devoted himself early to the classics, and probably attended the instructions of noted teachers of the school of Confucius and his grandson Ivih. After his studies were completed, at the age of forty, he came forth as a public teacher, and offered his services to the feudal princes of the country. Among others, he was received by Ilwui, king of Wei, but, though much respected by this ruler, his instructions were not regarded ; and he soon perceived that among the numerous petty rulers and intriguing statesmen of the day there was no prospect of restoring tranquillity to the Empire, and that discourses upon the mild government and peaceful virtues of Yao and Shun, King Wan and Chingtang, offered little to interest persons whose ininds were engrossed with schemes of conquest or pleasure, lie thereupon accepted an invitation to go to Tsi, the adjoining State, and spent most of his public life there; the records show that he was often called on for his advice by statesmen of many governments. As he went from one State to another his influence extended as his experience showed him the difficulties of gcwd government amidst the general disregard of justice, mercy, and frugality. His own unyielding character and stern regard for etiquette and probity chilled the loose,
luiscrupulous men of those lawless times. At length he retired
to his home to spend the last twenty years of his life in the
society of his disciples, there completing the Mork which bears
liis name and has made him such a power among his countrymen.
He has always been an incentive and guide to popular
efforts to assert the rights of the subject against the injustice
of riders, and an encourager to rulers who have governed with
justice. His assertion of the proper duties and prerogatives
belonging to both parties in the State was prior to that of any
M’estern writer; some of his principles of liberal govermnent
were taught before their enunciation in Holy Writ. He died
when eighty-four years old (b.c. 288), shortly before the death
of Ptolemy Soter at the same age.
After his demise Mencius was honored, by public act, with
the title of ‘ Holy Prince of the country of Tsau,’ and in the
temple of the sages he I’eceives the same honors as Confucius
his descendants bear the title of ‘ Masters of the Traditions
concerning the Classics,’ and he himself is called A-sMn//, or
the ‘ Secondary Sage,’ Confucius being regarded as the first.
His writings are in the form of dialogues held with the great
personages of his tinae, and abound with irony and ridicule
directed against vice and oppression, which only make his
praises of virtue and integrity more weighty. After the manner
of Socrates, he contests nothing with his adversaries, but,
while granting their premises, he seeks to draw from them consequences
the most absurd, which cover his opponents with confusion.
The king of Wei, one of the turbulent princes of the time,
was conq)laining to Mencius how ill he succeeded in his endeavors
to make Ids people happy and his kingdom flourishing.
PERSONAL CHARACTER OF HIS TEACHINGS. 669
“Prince,” said the philosopher, “you love war; permit me to draw a comparison from thence : two armies are in presence; the chaige is sounded, the battle begins, one of the parties is conquered; half its soldiers have Hed a hundjed paces, the other half has stopped at fifty. Will the last have any right to mock at those mIio have fled further than themselves?*’
“No,” said the king; “they have equally taken flight, and the same disgrace must attend them both.”
” Prince,” says Mencius quickly, ” cease then to boast of your efforts as greater than your neighbors’. You have all deserved the same reproach, and not one has a right to take credit to himself over another.” Pursuing then his bitter interrogations, he asked, “Is there a difference, O king! between killing a man with a chip or with a sword? ” ” No,” said the prince.
“Between him who kills with the sword, or destroys by an inhuman tyranny?” “No,” again replied the prince.
“Well,” said Mencius, “your kitchens are encumbered with food, your sheds are full of horses, while yonr subjects, with emaciated conntenances, are worn down with misery, or found dead of hunger in the middle of the fields or the deserts. What is this but to breed animals to prey on men ‘i And what is the difference between destroying them by the sword or by nnfeeling conduct ? If we detest those savage animals which mutually tear and devour eaclr other, how much more should we abhor a prince who, instead of being a father to his people, does not hesitate to lear animals to destroy them. What kind of father to his people is he who treats his children so nnfeelingly, and has less care of them than of the wild beasts he provides for ?”
On one occasion, addressing the prince of Tsi, Mencius renuirked: ” It is not the ancient forests of a country which do it honor, but its families devoted for many generations to the duties of the magistracy. Oh, king ! in all your service there are none such ; those whom you yesterday raised to honor, what are they to-day ?”
” In what way,” replied the king, ” can I know beforehand that they are without virtue, and remove them ?”
“In raising a sage to the highest dignities of the State,” replied the philosoplier, “ii king acts only as lie is of necessity bound to do. But to put a man of obscure condition over the nobles of his kingdom, or one of his remote kindred over princes more nearly connected with him, demands most careful deliberation. Do his courtiers imite in speaking of a man as wise, let him distrust them. If all the magistrates of his kingdom concur in the same assurance, let him not rest satisfied with their testimony, but if his subjects confirm the story, then let him convince himself; and if he finds that the individual is indeed a sage, let him ]-aise him to office and honor. So, also, if all his courtiers would f)ppose his placing confidence in a minister, let him not give heed to them; and if all the magistrates are of this opinion, let him be deaf to their solicitations; but if the people unite in the same request, then let him examine the object of their ill-will, and, if guilty, remove him. In short, if all the courtiers think that a minister should sufPer death, the prince must not content himself with their opinion merely. If all the high officers entertain the same sentiment, still he must not yield to their convictions ; but if the people declare that such a num is unfit to live, then the prince, inquiring himself and being satisfied that the charge is true, must condemn the guilty to death ; in such a case, we may say that the people are his judges. In acting thus a prince becomes the parent of his subjects.”
The will of the people is always referred to as the supreme
power in the State, and Mencius warns princes that they nnist
both please and benefit their people, observing that ” if the
country is not subdued in heart there will be no such thing as
governing it; ” and also, ” He who gains the hearts of the people
secures the throne, and he who loses the people’s hearts
loses the throne.” A prince should ” give and take what is
})leasing to them, and not do that wdiich they hate.” ” Good
laws,” he further remarks, ” are not equal to winning the people
by good instruction.” Being consulted by a sovereign, wdiether
he ought to attempt the conquest of a neighboring territory, he
answered : ” If the people of Yen are delighted, then take it ;
but if otherwise, not.” lie also countenances the dethroning of
a king who does not rule his people with a regard to their hap
HIS ESTIMATE OF HUMAN NATURE. 671
piness, and adduces the example of tije founders of the Shang
and Chan dynasties in proof of its propriety. “Wlien the
prince is gnilty of great errors,” is liis doctrine, “the minister
should reprove him ; if, after doing so again and again, he does
not listen, he ought to dethrone him and put another in his
place.”
His estimate of human nature, like many of the Chinese
sages, is high, believing it to be originally good, and that ” all
men are naturally virtuous, as all water flows downward. All
men have compassionate hearts, all feel ashamed of vice.” But
he says also, ” Shame is of great moment to men ; it is only the
desig-nino; and artful that find no use for shame.” Yet human
nature must be tried by suffering, and to form an energetic and
virtuous character a man nnist endure much ; ” when Heaven
was about to place Shun and others in important trusts, it first
generally tried their minds, inured them to abstinence, exposed
them to poverty and adversity ; thus it moved their hearts and
taught them patience.” His own character presents traits
widely differing from the servility and baseness usually ascribed
to Asiatics, and especially to the Chinese ; and he seems to
have been ready to sacrifice everything to his principles. ” I
love life, and I love justice,” he observes, “‘ but if I cannot preserve
both, I would give up life and hold fast justice. Although
I love life, there is that which I love more than life; although
I hate death, there is that which I hate more than death.” And
as if referring to his own integrity, he elsewhere says: “The
nature of the superior man is such that, although in a high and
prosperous situation, it adds nothing to his virtue ; and although
in low and distressed circumstances, it impairs it in nothing.”
In many points, especially in the importance he gives to filial
duty, his reverence for the ancient books and princes, and his
adherence to old usages, Mencius imitated and upheld Confucius
; in native vigor and carelessness of the reproaches of his
compatriots he exceeded him. Many translations of his work
have appeared in European languages, but Legge’s ‘ is in most
respects the best for its comments, and the notices of Men-CMnese Classics, Vol II. Hongkong, 1863. ciiis’ life and times, and a fair estimate of his character and in fiuence.
KeLurning to the Imperial Catalogue, its ninth section contains a list of musical works, and a few on dancing or posture making; they hold this distinguished place in the list from the importance attached to music as employed in the State worship and domestic ceremonies.
The tenth section gives the names of philological treatises and lexicons, most of them confined to the Chinese language, though a few are in Mancliu. The Chinese government has excelled in the attention it has given to the compilation of lexicons and encyclopaedias. The number of works of this sort here catalogued is two hundred and eighteen, the major part issued during this dynasty, and including only works on the general language, none on the dialects. For their extent of quotation, the variety of separate disquisitions upon the form, origin, and composition of characters, and treatises upon subjects connected with the language, they indicate the careful labor native scholars have bestowed upon the elucidation of their own tongue.
One of them, the Pel Wan Yiin Fa, or ‘ Treasury of compared
Characters and Sounds,’ is so extensive and profound as
to deserve a short notice, which cannot be bettei’ made than by
an extract from the preface of M. Callery to his prospectus to
its translation, of which he only issued one livi-aison. He says
the Emperor Kanglii, who planned its preparation, ” assembled
in his palace the most distinguished literati of the Empire, and
laying befoi-e them all the works that could be got, whether
ancient or modern, commanded them carefully to collect all the
words, allusions, forms and figures of speech of every style, of
which examples might be found in the Chinese language ; to
class the principal articles according to the pronunciation of the
words ; to devote a distinct paragraph to each expression ; and
to give in suppoi-t of every paragraph several quotations from
the original works. Stimulated by the nuinificence, as well as
the example, of the Emperor, who reviewed the performances
of every day, seventy-six literati assembled at Peking, labored
with such assiduity, and kept up such an active correspondence
KANGIlfs DICTIONARY. 673
\v »th the learned in all parts of the Empire, that at the end of
eight years the work was completed (1711), and printed at the
public expense, in one hundred and thirty thick volumes.” The
peculiar natui-e of the Chinese language, in the formation of
many dissyllabic compounds of two or more characters to express
a third and new idea, renders such a work as this thesaurus
more necessary and useful, perhaps, than it would be in any
other lano;naoi;e. Under some of the common characters as
many as three hundred, four hundred, and even six hundred
combinations are noticed, all of which modify its sense more or
less, and form a complete monograph of the character, of the
highest utility to the scholar in composing idiomatic Chinese.
This magnificent monument of literary labor reflects great
credit on the monarch who took so much interest in its compilation
(as he remarks in his preface), as to devote the leisure hours of every day, notwithstanding his manifold occupations, for eight years, to overlooking the labors of the scholars engaged upon it.Vol. L—43
CHAPTER XII. POLITE LITERATURE OP THE CHUSTESE
The three remaining divisions of the Imperial Catalogue
comprise lists of Historical, Professional, and Poetical works.
The estimate made of their value will depend somewhat on the
peculiar line of research of the student, and to give him the
means of doing this would re([uire copious extracts from poetical,
religious, topographical or moral writings. Those who
have studied them the longest, as Remusat, Julien, Staunton,
Pauthier, the two Morrisons, Legge, etc., speak of them with
the most respect, whether it arose from a higher appreciation
of their worth as they learned more, or that the zealousness of
their studies imparted a tinge of enthusiasm to their descriptions.
A writer in the Quarterly Hemeto gives good reasons
for placing the polite literature of the Chinese first for the insight
it is likely to give Europeans into their habits of thought.
” The Chinese stand eminently distinguished from other
Asiatics by their early possession and extensive use of the important
art of printing—of printing, too, in that particular shape,
the stereotype, which is best calculated, by multiplying the
copies and cheapening the price, to promote the circulation of
eV’Cry species of their literature. Hence they are, as might be
expected, a reading people ; a certain degree of education is
connnon amono; even the lower classes, and amono- the hisfher it
is superfluous to insist on the great estimation in which letters
must be held under a system where learning forms the very
threshold of the gate that conducts to fame, honors, and civil
employment. Amid the vast mass of printed books which is
the natural offspring of such a state of things, we make no
CHINESE WORKS ON HISTORY. 675
scruple to avow that the circle of their helles-lettres, comprised
under the heads of drama, poetrv, and novels, has always possessed
the highest place in our esteem ; and we must say that
there appears no readier or more agreeable mode of becoming
intimately acquainted with a people from whom Europe can
have so little to learn on the score of either moral or physical
science than by drawing largely on the inexhaustible stores of
their ornamental literature.”
The second division in the Catalogue, &’ Pu, or ‘ Historical
Writings,’ is subdivided into fifteen sections. These writings
are very extensive ; even their mere list conveys a high idea of
the vast amount of labor expended upon them ; and it is impossible
to withhold respect, at least, to the industry displayed in
compilations like the Seventeen Histories^ in two hundred and
seventeen volumes, and its continuation, the Twenty-two Histories^
a still larger work. Though the entertaining episodes
and sketches of character found in Herodotus and other ancient
European historians are wanting, there is plenty of incident in
court, camp, and social life, as well as public acts and royal
biography. The dynastic records became the duty of special
officers, and the headings adopted from the Sui, a.d. 590, have
since been followed in arranging the historic materials under
twelve heads. From the mass of materials digested by careful
scholars have been compiled the records now known ; they
form, with all their imperfections, the best continuous history
of any Asiatic people. Popular abridgments are common,
among which the Tung Klen Kang-muh, or ‘ General Mirror
of History,’ and a compiled abridgment of it, the Kang Klen I
Chi, or ‘ History made Easy,’ are the most useful.
The earliest historian among the Chinese is Sz’maTsien,’ who
flourished about b.c. 104, in which year he commenced the &’
Kt, or ‘ Historical Memoirs,’ in one hundred and thirty chapters.
. In this great work, which, like the Muses of Herodotus
in Greek, forms the commencement of credible modern history
with the Chinese, the author relates the actions of the Emperors
‘ Compare Remusat, Nouveaiix Mehinriefi, Tome II., pp. IBO ff., where there
are excellent biographical notices of Sz’ma Tsieu and other native historians.
676 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
in regular succession and the principal events which happened
during their reigns, together with details and essays respecting
mus’c, astronomy, religious ceremonies, weights, public works,
etc., and the changes they had nndei-gone during the twentytwo
centuries embraced in his Memoirs. It is stated by liemusat
that there are in the whole work five hundred and twentysix
thousand five hundred characters, for the Chinese, like the
ancient Hebrews, number the words in their standard authors.
The aSs’ Kl is in five parts, and its arrangement has served as
a model for subsequent historians, few of whom have equalled
its author in the vivacity of their style or carefulness of their
research.
The General Mh’ror to Aid in Governin/j, by Sz’ma Kwang,
of the Sung dynasty, in two hundred and ninety-four chapters,
is one of the best digested and most lucid amials that Chinese
scholars have produced, embracing the period between the end
of the Tsin to the beginning of the Sung dynasty (a.d. 313 to
960). Both the historians Sz’ma Tsien and Sz’ma Ivwang filled
high offices in the State, were both alternately disgraced and
honored, and were mixed up with all the political movements
of the day. Kemusat speaks in terms of deserved connnendation
of their writings, and to a notice of their works adds some
account of their lives. One or two incidents in the career of
Sz’ma Kw^ang exhibit a readiness of action and freedom in expressing
his sentiments which are more common among the
Chinese than is usually supposed. In his youth he was standing
with some companions near a large vase used to rear gold
fish, when one of them fell in. Too terrified themselves to do
anything, all but young Kwang ran to seek succor ; he looked
around for a stone with which to break the vase and let the
water flow out, and thus saved the life of his companion. In
subsequent life the same common sense was joined with a boldness
which led him to declare his sentiments on all occasions.
Some southern people once sent a present to the Emperor of a
strange quadruped, which his flatterers said was the mythological
Jxi-lin of happy omen. Sz’ma Ivwang, being consulted on
the matter, replied : ” I have never seen the ki-len, therefore I
cannot tell wdiether this be one or not. What I do know is that
THE HISTORIANS Sz’mA TSIEN AND SZ’mA KWANG. G77
tlie i-eal JA-Un conkl iievei- ])e In-ought liitliei hy foi’eignors ; he
appears of liiniself wlieii the State is well governed.” ‘ An extension
of this great work hj Li Tao, of the Sung (Ivnasty, in
five Imndrod and twenty books, gave their countrymen a fair
account of the thirty-six centuries of their national fortunes ;
and the digest under C’hu Ui’s direction has made them still
more accessible and famous to succeed in<r a^es.
Few works in Chinese literatui-e are more popular than a
historical novel by Chin Shan, about a.d. 350, called the San
Kiroh C/n, or ‘ History of the Three States ;’ its scenes are laid
in the northern parts of China, and include the period between
A.I). 170 and ‘j\7, when several ambitious chieftains conspii’ed
against the indjecile ju-inces of the once famous Ilan dynasty,
and, after that was overtlirown, fought among themselves until
the Empire Avas again reconsolidated under the Tsin dynasty.
This pei’formance, from its donl)le character and the long period
over which it extends, necessarily lacks that unity which a novel
should have. Its charms, to a Chinese, consist in the animated
descriptions of plots and counterplots, in the relations of battles,
sieges, and retreats, and the admirable manner in M-hicli the
characters are delineated and their acts intermixed with entertaining
episodes. The work opens with desci-ibing the -distracted
state of the Empire under the misrule of Ling ti and
Ilwan ti, the last two monarchs of the ILjuse of Ilan (147 to
184), who were entirely swayed l)y eunuchs, and left the administration
of government to reckless oppressors, until aml»itious
men, taking advantage of the general <liscontent, raised
the standard of rebellion. The leaders ordered their partisans
to wear yellow head-dresses, whence the rebellion Avas called
that of the Yellow Caj^s, and Avas suppressed only after several
years of hard struggle by a few distinguished generals who upheld
the throne. Among these was Tung Choh, who, gradually
drawing to himself all the power in the State, therel)y arrayed
against himself others equally ambitious and unscrupulous.
Disorganization had not yet proceeded so far that all hope of
supporting the rightful throne had left the minds of its adher
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., pp. 210, 274.
078 THE middlj: kingdom.
ents, among wlioiu was Wang Yun, a chancellor of the Empire,
who, seeing the danger of the State, devised a scheme ta
inveigle Tung Choh to his ruin, which is thus narrated
:
One day Timg Cholx gave a great entertainment to the officers of government.
When the wine had circulated several times, Lii Pu (his adopted son)
whispered something in his ear, whereupon he ordered the attendants to take
Chang Wan from the table into the hall below, and presently one of them returned,
handing up his head in a charger. The spirits of all present left their
bodies, but Tung, laughing, said, ” Pra}’, sirs, do not be alarmed. Chang
Wan has been leaguing with Yuen 8huh how to destroy me ; a messenger just
now brought a letter for him, and inadvertently gave it to my son ; for which
he has lost his life. You, gentlemen, have no cause for dread.” All the
officers replied, ” Yes ! Yes ! ” and immediately separated.
Chancellor Wang Yun returned home in deep thought : ” The proceedings of this day’s feast are enough to make my seat an uneasy one ;” and taking his cane late at night he walked out in the moonlight into his rear garden, when standing near a rose arbor and weeping as he looked up, he heard a person sighing and groaning within the peony pavillion. Carefully stepping and watching, he saw it was Tiau Chen, a singing-girl belonging to the house, who had been taken into his family in early youth and taught to sing and dance ; she was now sixteen, and both beautiful and accomplished, and Wang treated her as if she had been his own daughter.
Listening some time, he spoke out, ” What underhand plot are you at now, insignificant menial ‘? ” Tiau Chen, much alarmed, kneeling, said, ” What treachery can your slave dare to devise ? ” “If you have nothing secret, why then are you here late at night sighing in this manner V ” Tiau replied, “Permit your handmaid to declare her inmost thoughts. I am very grateful for your excellency’s kind nurture, for teaching me singing and dancing, and for the treatment I have received. If my body should be crushed to powder [in your service], I could not requite a myriad to one [for these favors]. But lately I have seen your eyebrows anxiously knit, doubtless from some State affairs, though I presumed not to ask ; this evening, too, I saw you restless in your seat. On this account I sighed, not imagining your honor was overlooking me. If I can be of the least use, I would not decline the sacrifice of a thousand lives.” Wang, striking his cane on the ground, exclaimed, “Who would have thought the rule of Han was lodged in your hands ! Come with me into the picture-gallery.” Tiau Chen following in, he ordered his females all to retire, and placing her in a seat, turned himself around and did her obeisance. She, much surprised, prostrated herself before him, and asked the reason of such conduct, to which he replied, ” You are able to compassionate all the people in the dominions of Han.” His words ended, the tears gushed like a fountain. She added, ” I just now said, if I can be of any service I will not decline, though I should lose my life.”
Wang, kneeling, rejoined, “The people are in most imminent danger, and
the nobility in a hazard like that of eggs piled up ; neither can be rescued
Without your assistance. The traitor Tung Choh wishes soon to seize the
EXTRACT FROM THE HISTORY OF THE THREE STATES. 679
throne, and none of the civil or military officers have any practicable means
of defence. He has an adopted son, Lii Pu, a remarkably daring and brave
man, wlio, like himself, is the slave of lust. Now I wish to contrive a scheme
to inveigle them both, by first promising to wed you to Lii, and then offering
you to Tung, while you must seize the opportunity to raise suspicions in them,
and slander one to the other so as to sever them, and cause Lii to kill Tung,
whereby the present great evils will be terminated, the throne upheld, and
the government re-established. All this is in your power, but I do not know how the plan strikes you.” Tiau answered, “I have promised your excellency my utmost service, and you may trust me that I will devise some good scheme when I am offered to them.”
” You must be aware that if this design leaks out, we shall all be utterly exterminated.” “Your excellency need not be anxious, and if I do not aid in accomplishing your patriotic designs, let me die a thousand deaths.”
Wang, bowing, thanked her. The next day, taking several of the brilliant pearls preserved in the family, he ordered a skillful workman to inlay there into a golden coronet, which he secretly sent as a present to Lii Pu. Highly gratified, Lti himself went to Wang’s house to thank him, where ar well-prepared feast of viands and wine awaited his arrival. Wang went out to meet him, and waiting upon him into the rear hall, invited him to sit at the top of the table, but Lii objected : “I am only a general in the prime minister’s department, while your excellency is a high minister in his Majesty’s court—why this mistaken re.spect V”
Wang rejoined, “There is no hero in the country now besides you; I do not pay this honor to your office, but to your talents.” Lii was excessively pleased. Wang ceased not in engaging him to drink, the while speaking of Tung Choh’s high qualities, and praising his guest’s virtues, who, on his side, wildly laughed for joy. Most of the attendants were ordered to retire, a few waiting-maids stopping to serve out wine, when, being half drunk, he ordered them to tell the young child to come in. Shortly after, two pages led in Tiau Chen, gorgeously dressed, and Lii, much astonished, asked, “Who is this ?”
” It is my little daughter, Tiau Chen, whom I have ordered to come in and see you, for I am very grateful for your honor’s misapplied kindness to me, which has been like that to near relatives. ” He then bade her present a goblet of wine to him, and, as she did so, their eyes glanced to and from each other.
Wang, feigning to be drunk, said : ” The child strongly requests your honor
to drink many cups ; my house entirely depends upon your excellency.” Lii
requested her to be seated, but she acting as if about to retire, Wang remarked,
“The general is my intimate friend; be seated, my child; what are
you afraid of V ” She then sat down at his side, while Lii’s eyes never strayed
from their gaze upon her, drinking and looking.
Wang, pointing to Tiau, said to Lii, ” I wish to give this girl to you as a concubine, but know not whether you will receive her ? ” Lii, leaving the table to thank him, said, ” If I could obtain such a girl as this, I would emulate the requital dogs and horses give for the care taken of them-“
Wang rejoined, ” I will immediatcly select a lucky day, and send her to your house” Lii was delighted beyond measure, and never took his eyes off her, while Tiau herself, with ogling glances, intimated her passion. The feast shortly alter broke up, and Lii departed.
The scheme here devised was successful, and Tung Choli was assassinated by his son when he was on his war to depose the monarch. His death, however, brought no peace to the country, and three chieftains, Tsau Tsau, Lin Pi, and Sun Iviuen, soon distinguished themselves in their struggles for power, and afterward divided the Empire into the three States of AVu, Shuh, and Wei, from which the work derives its name. Many of the personages who figure in this work have since been deified, among whom are Liu Pi’s sworn brother Kwan Yli, who is now the Mars (Kioan ti), and Ilwa To, the Esculapius, of Chinese mythology. Its scenes and characters have all been fruitful subjects for the pencil and the pen of artists and poetasters.
One commentator has gone so far as to incorporate his reflections in the body of the text itself, in the shape of such expressions as ” Wonderful speech ! What rhodomontade ! This man was a fool before, and shows himself one now ! ” Davis likens this M’ork to the Iliad for its general arrangement and blustering character of the heroes ; it was composed when the scenes described and their leading actors existed chiefly in personal recollection, and the remembrances of both were fading away in the twilight of popular legends.
Among the numerous historians of China, only a few would repay the labor of an entire translation, but many would furnish good materials for extended epitomes. Among these are the Tso Chtieriy already noticed ; the Anterior Ilan Dynasty by Pan Ivu and his sister ; the Wei /Shu, by Wei Shau (a.d.3SG-55C) ; and the works of Sz’ma Ivwang. In addition to the dynastic histories, numerous similar works classified under the heads of amials and complete I’ecords in two sections of this division would furnish nnich authentic material for the foreign archaeologist. The most valuable relic after the Chun Tsiu, of a historic character, is the ” Bamboo Books,” reported to have been found in a tomb in Ilonan, .\.d. 279 ; it gives a chronological list down to b.c. 299, with incidents interspersed, and bears many internal evidences of genuineness. Legge and Biot have each translated it.’
BIOGPAPHIES A:SI) STATISTICS. 681
Biographies of distinguished men and women are numerous, and their preparation forms a favorite branch of literary labor. It is noticeable to observe the consideration paid to literary women in these memoirs, and the praises bestowed upon discreet mothers whose talented children are considered to be the criteria of their careful training. One work of this class is in one hundred and twenty volumes, called Sifuj J^i/, but it does not possess the incident and animation which are found in some less formal biographical dictionaries. The Ziek Wil Chuen, or ‘Memoirs of Distinguished Ladies’ of ancient times, by Liu Iliang, B.C. 125, is often cited by writers on female education who wish to show how women were anciently trained to the practice of every virtue and accomplishment. If a Chinese author cannot quote a case to illustrate his position at least eight or ten centuries old, he thinks half its force abated by its
youth. Biographical works are almost as numerous as statistical,
and afford one of the best sources for studying the national
character; some of them, like the lives of Washington or
Cromwell in our own literature, combine both history and
biography.
Some of the statistical and geographical works mentioned in
this division are noticed on p. 49. Among those on the Constitution
is the ‘ Complete Antiquarian Besearches’ of Ma
Twan-lin (a.d. 1275), in three hundred and forty-eight chapters.
It forms a most extensive and profound work, containing i-esearches
upon every matter relating to government, and extending
through a series of dynasties which held the throne nearly
forty centuries. Benmsat goes so far as to say : ” This excellent
work is a library by itself, and if Chinese literature possessed
no other, the language would l)e worth learning foi- the
sake of reading this alone.” ]^o book has been more drawn
upon by Europeans for information concerning matters relating
to Eastern Asia than this ; Yisdelou and De Guignes took from
‘ Legge’s CMnese Classics, Vol. III. ; Proleqomenn, Chap. TV. E. Biot in
the Jourtud Aaiatigrte, 2e Series, Tome? XII., p. 537, and XIII., pp. 203
381.
it much of their information relating to the Tartars and Huns; and Pingsc extracted his account of the comets and aerolites from its pages, besides some geographical and ethnographical papers. Remusat often made use of its stores, and remarks that many parts merit an entire translation, which can be said, indeed, of few Chinese authors. A supplement prepared and published in 1586 by AVang Ki brings it down to that date. A further revision was issued under imperial patronage in 1TT2, and a iinal one not long afterward, continuing the narrative to the reign of Kanghi.’ It elevates our opinion of a nation whose literature can boast of a work like this, exhibiting such patient investigation and candid comparison of authorities, such varied research and just discrimination of what is truly important, and so extensive a mass of facts and opinions upon every subject of historic interest. Although there be no quotations
in it from Homan or Greek classic authors, and the ignorance
of the compiler of what was known upon the same subjects in
other countries disqualified him from giving his remarks the
completeness they would otherwise have had, 3’et when the
stores of knowledge from western lands are made known to a
people whose scholars can produce such works as this, the Memoirs
of Sz’ma Tsien, and others equally good, it may reasonably
be expected that they will not lack in industry or ability to
carry on their researches.
The third division of Tsz* I^u, ‘ Scholastic ‘ or ‘ Professional Writings,” is arranged under fourteen sections, viz. : Philosophical, Military, Legal, Agricultural, Medical, Mathematical, and Magical writings, works on the Liberal Arts, Collections, Miscellanies, Encyclopedias, Novels, and treatises on the tenets of the Buddhists and Rationalists. The first section is called Jil Khi Lid, meaning the ‘ Works of the Literary Family,’ under which name is included those who maintain, discuss, and teach the tenets of the sages, although they may not accept all that Confucius taught. This class of books is worthy of far more examination than foreigners have hitherto given to it, and they will find that Chinese philosophers have discussed morals, government, cosmogony, and like subjects, with a freedom and acuteness that has not been credited to them.
‘ Compare Remusat, Melanges Asiatiques, Tome II., p. 166; Chinese Beposi'(ory. Vol. IX., p. 143 ; Wylie’s Notea, p. 55 ; Mayer’s Chinese Seader^s Manual,p. 149.
CHINESE rJIILOSOPHICAL WKITINGS. 683
It was during the Sung dynasty, when Eui’ope was utterly
lethargic and unprogressive, that China showed a marvellous
mental activity, and received from Ching, Chu, Chau, and their
disciples a molding and conservative influence which has remained
to this day. An extract from a discussion by Chu Hi
will show the way in which he reasons on the i>ruiimn mohile.
Under the whole heaven there is no primary matter (//) without the immaterial
principle {kl), and no immaterial principle apart from the primary matter.
Subsequent to the existence of the immaterial principle is produced
primary matter, which is deducible from the axiom that the one male and the
one female principle of nature may be dominated iao or logos (the active principle
from which all things emanate) ; thus nature is sj^ontaneously possessed
of benevolence and righteousness (which are included in the idea of tao).
First of all existed ticn II (the celestial principle or soul of the universe), and then came primary matter ; primary matter accumulated constituted ridj,(body, substance, or the accidents and qualities of matter), and nature was arranged.
Should any ask whether the immaterial principle or primary matter existed
first, I should say that the immaterial principle on assuming a figure ascended,
and primary matter on assuming form descended ; when we come to speak of
assuming form and ascending or descending, how can we divest ourselves of
tlie idea of priority and subsequence V When the immaterial 2:)rinciple does
not assume a form, primary matter then becomes coarse, and forms a sediment.
Originally, however, no priority or subsequence can be predicated of the
immaterial principle and primary matter, and yet if you insist on carrying out
the reasoning to the question of their origin, then you must say that the immaterial
principle has the priority ; but it is not a separate and distinct thing ;
it is just contained in the centre of the priniary nuitter, so that were there no
primary matter, then this immaterial principle would have no place of attachment.
Primary matter consists, in fact, of the four elements of metal, wood,
water, and fire, while the immaterial principle is no other than the four cardinal
virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom.
Should any one ask for an explanation of the assertion that the immaterial
principle has first existence, and after that comes primary matter, I say, it is
not necessary to speak thus : but when we know that they are combined, is it
that the immaterial principle holds the precedence, and the primary matter
the subsequence, or is it that the immaterial principle is subsequent to the
primary matter V We cannot thus carry our reasoning ; but should we endeavor
to form some idea of it, then we may suppose that the primary matter
relies on the immaterial principle to come into action, and wherever the primary matter is coagulated, there the immaterial principle is present. For the primary matter can concrete and coagulate, act and do, but the immaterial principle has neither will nor wish, plan nor operation : but only where the primary matter is collected and coagulated, then the immaterial principle is in
the midst of it. Just as in nature, men and things, grass and trees, birds and
beasts, in their propagation invariably require seed, and certainly cannot without
seed from nothingness produce anything ; all this, then, is the primary
matter, but the immaterial principle is merely a pure, empty, wide-stretched
void, without form or footstep, and incapable of action or creation ; but the
primary matter can ferment and coagulate, collect and produce things. . . .
Should any one ask, with regard to those expressions, ” The Supreme Ruler
confers the due medium on the people, and when Heaven is about to send
down a great trust upon men, out of regard to the people it sets up princes
over them ;
” and, ” Heaven in producing things treats them according to their
attainments : on those who do good, it sends down a hundred blessings, and
on those who do evil, a hundred calamities;” and, “When Heaven is about
to send down some uncommon calamity upon a generation, it first produces
some uncommon genius to determine it ;” do these and such like expressions
imply that above the azure sky there is a Lord and Ruler who acts thus, or is
it still true that Heaven has no mind, and men only carry out their reasonings
in this style ? I reply, these three things are but one idea ; it is that the immaterial
principle of order is thus. The primary matter in its evolutions
hitherto, after one season of fulness has experienced one of decay ; and after a period of decline it again flourishes ; just as if things were going on in a circle. There never was a decay without a revival.
When men blow out their breath their bellies puff out, and when they inhale their bellies sink in, while we should have thought that at each expiration the stomach would fall in, and swell up at each inspiration ; but the reason of it is that when men expire, though the mouthful of breath goes out, the second mouthful is again produced, therefore the belly is puffed up ; and when men inspire, the breath which is introduced from within drives the other out, so that the belly sinks in. LaoZi said nature is like an open pipe or bag ; it moves, and yet is not compelled to stop, it is empty, and still more comes out ; just like a fan-case open at both ends.
The great extreme (Taiji) is merely the immaterial principle. It is not an independent separate existence ; it is found in the male and female principles of nature, in the five elements, in all things ; it is merely an immaterial principle, and because of its extending to the extreme limit, is therefore called the (jredt extreme. If it were not for it, heaven and earth would not have been set afloat. . . . From the time when the great extreme came into operation, all things were produced by transformation. This one doctrine includes the whole ; it was not because this was first in existence and then that, but altogether there is only one great origin, which from the substance extends to the use, and from the subtle reaches to that which is manifest. Should one ask, because all things jiartake of it, is the great extreme split up and divided ?
I should reply, that originally there is only one great extreme {(inima mimdi), of which all things partake, so that each mw is provided with a great extreme;
CIIU HI ON THE GREAT EXTREME. 68o
just as the moon in the heavens is only one, and ^-et is dispersed over the hills and Lakes, being seen from every place in succession ; still you cannot say that the moon is divided.
The great extreme has neither residence, nor form, nor place which you can assign to it. If you speak of it before its development, then previous to that emanation it was perfect stillness ; motion and rest, with the male and female principles of nature, are only the embodiment and descent of this principle.
Motion is the motion of the great extreme, and rest is its rest, but these same motion and rest are not to be considered the great extreme itself. Should any one ask, what is the great extreme ‘i I should say, it is simply the principle of extreme goodness and extreme perfection. Every man has a great extreme, everything has one ; that which Chao-tsz’ called the great extreme is the exemplified virtue of everything that is extremely good and perfect in heaven and earth, men and things.
The great extreme is simply the extreme point, beyond which one cannot go ; that which is most elevated, most mysterious, most subtle, and most divine, beyond which there is no passing. Lienki was a’^raid lest people should think that the great extreme possessed form, and therefore called it the boundless extreme, a principle centred in nothing, and having an infinite extent.
. It is the immaterial principle of the two powers, the four forms, and the eight changes of nature ; we cannot say that it does not exist, and yet no form or corporeity can be ascribed to it. From this point is produced the one male and the one female principle of nature, which are called the dual powers ; the four forms and eight changes also proceed from this, all according to a certain natural order, irrespective of human strength in its arrangement.
But from the time of Confucius no one has been able to get hold of this idea.’
And, it miglit be added, no one ever will be able to ” get hold ” thereof. Such discnssions as this have ocenpied the minds and pens of Chinese metaphysicians for centuries, and in their endeavors to explain the half-digested notions of the Bool’ of Ohaiujes^ they have wandered far away from the road which would have led them in the path of true knowledge, namely, the observation and record of the works and operations of nature around them ; and one after another they have continued to roll this stone of Sisyphns until fatigne and bewilderment have come over them all. Some works on female education are found in this section, which seems designed as much to include whatever philosophers wrote as all they wrote on philosophy.
‘ Translated by Rev. W. H. Medhurst, iu the OJiinese Hi’potiiUjvy, Vol. XIII.,pp. 552, 001) et seq.
The second and third sections, on military and legal subjects, contain no writings of any eminence. The isolation of the Chinese prevented them from studying the various forms of government and jurisprudence observed in other countries and ages ; it is this feature of originality which renders their legislation so interesting to western students. Among the fourth, on agricultural treatises, is the Kdng Chili Tu Shi, or ‘ Plates and Odes on Tillage and Weaving,’ a thin quarlo, which was written a.d. 1210, and has been widely circulated by the present government in order ” to evince its regard for the people’s support.” The first half contains twenty-three plates on the various processes to be followed in raising rice, the last of which represents the husbandmen and their families returning thanks to the gods of the land for a good harvest, and offering a portion of the fruits of the earth ; the last plate in the second part of the work also represents a similar scene of returning thanks for a good crop of silk, and presenting an offering to the gods.
The drawings in this work are among the best for perspective and general composition which Chinese art has produced; probably their merit was the chief inducement to publish the work at governmental expense, for the odes are too brief to contain much information, and too difficult to be generally understood.
The Encydopedia of Agriculture, by Sii Kwang-ki, a high officer in 1600, better known as Paul Su, gives a most elaborate detail of farming operations and utensils existing in the Ming. Other treatises on special topics and crops have been written, but it is the untiring industry of the people which secures to them the best returns from the soil, for they o^ve very little to science or machinery.
Among the numerous writings published for the iuiprovement
and instruction of the people by their rulers, none have
been more influential than the ShlngYu, or ‘ Sacred Commands,’
a politico-moral treatise, which has been made known to English
readers by the translation of Dr. Milne.’ The groundwork
‘ The Sacred Edict, London, 1817; a second edition of this translation appeared in Shanghai in 1870, and another in 1878. Compare Wylie’s JVotes, p.71 ; Sir G. T. Staunton’s MureUdneous Notm’n, etc., pp. 1-56 (1812); Le Saint Edit, Etude de JAUerature chinoixc, i)reparee par A. Tlieophile Piry, Shanghai, 1879.
THE SACRED COMMANDS OF KANGHI, 687
consists of sixteen apothegms, written bj the Emperor Kano-hi,
containing general rules for the peace, prosperity, and wealth
of all classes of his subjects. In order that none should })lead
ignorance in excuse for not knowing the Sacred Commands, it
is by law required that they be proclaimed throughout the Empire
by tlie local officers on the first and fifteenth day of every
month, in a public hall set apart for the purpose, where the
people are not only permitted, but requested and encouraged,
to attend. In point of fact, however, this political preaching,
as it has been called, is neglected except in large towns, though
the design is not the less commendable. It is highly praise-
\vorthy to monarchs, secure in their thrones as Kanglii and
Yungching were, to take upon themselves the teaching of
morality to their subjects, and institute a special service every
fortnight to have their precepts communicated to them. If,
too, it should soon be seen that their designs had utterly failed
of all real good results from the mendacity of their officers and
the ignorance or opposition of the people, still the merit due
them is not diminished. The sixteen apothegms, each consisting
of seven characters, are as follows:
1. Pay just regard to filial and fraternal duties, in order to give due importance to the relations of life.
2. Respect kindred in order to display the excellence of harmony.
3. Let concord abound among those who dwell in the same neighborhood, thereby preventing litigations.
4. Give the chief place to husbandry and the culture of the mulberry, that adequate supplies of food and raiment be secured.
5. Esteem economy, that money be not lavishly wasted.
6. Magnify academical learning, in order to direct the scholar’s progress.
7. Degrade strange religions, in order to exalt the orthodox doctrines.
8. Explain the laws, in order to warn the ignorant and obstinate.
9. Illustrate the principles of a polite and yielding carriage, in order to improve manners.
10. Attend to the essential employments, in order to give unvarying determination to the will of the people.
11. Instruct the youth, in order to restrain them from evil.
12. Suppress all false accusing, in order to secure protection to the innocent.
13. Warn those who hide deserters, that they may not be involved in their downfall.
14. Complete the payment of taxes, in order to prevent frequent urging.
15. Unite the pao and km, in order to extirpate robbery and theft.
16. Settle animosities, that lives may be duly valued.The aniplilications of these maxims by Yungchiiig contain much information respecting the tlieoiy of his government, and the position of the writer entitles him to speak from knowledge; his amplification of the fourteenth maxim shows their character. From of old the country was divided into districts, and a tribute paid proportioned to the produce of the land. From hence arose revenues, upon which the expense of the five I’l and the whole charges of government depended.
These expenses a prince must receive from the people, and they are what inferiors should offer to superiors. Both in ancient and modern times this principle has been the same and cannot be changed. Again, the expenses of the salaries of magistrates that they may rule our people ; o” pay to the army that they may protect them ; O- preparing for years o!; scarcity that they may be fed ; as all these are collected from the Empire, so they are all employed for its use. How then can it be supposed that the granaries and treasury of the sovereign are intended to injure the people that he may nourish himself ? Since the establishment of our dynasty till now, the proportions of the revenue have been fixed by an universally approved statute, and all unjust items completely cancelled ; not a thread or hair too much has been demanded from the people. In the days of our sacred Father, the Emperor Pious, his abounding benevolence and liberal favor fed this people upward of sixty years. Daily desirous to promote their abundance and happiness, he greatly diminished the revenue, not limiting the reduction to hundreds, thousands, myriads, or lacs of taels. The mean and the remote have experienced his favor ; even now it enters the muscles, and penetrates to the marrow.
To exact with moderation, diminish the revenue, and confer favors on the multitude, are the virtues of a prince : to serve superiors, and to give the first place to public service and second to their own, are the duties of a people.
Soldiers and people should all understand this. Become not lazy and trifling, nor prodigally throw away your property. Linger not to pay in the revenue, looking and hoping for some unusual occurrence to avoid it, nor entrust your imposts to others, lest bad men appropriate them to their own use.
Pay in at the terms, and wait not to be urged. Then with the overplus you can nourish your parents, complete the marriages of your children, satisfy your daily wants, and provide for the annual feasts and sacrifices. District officers may then sleep at ease in their public halls, and villagers will no longer be vexed in the night by calls from the tax-gatherers ; on neither hand will any be involved. Your wives and children will be easy and at rest, than which you have no greater joy. If unaware of the importance of the revenue to government, and that the laws must be enforced, perhaps you will positively refuse or deliberately put off the payment, when the magistrates, obliged to balance their accounts, and give in their reports at stated times, must be rigorously severe. The assessors, suffering the pain of the whip, cannot help indulging their rapacious dtunands on you ; knocking and pecking at your doors like hungry luiwks, they will devise numerous methods of getting their wants supplied. These nameless ways o^ spending will probably amount to more than the sum which ought to have been paid, and that sum, after all, cannot be dispensed with.
THEIR AMPLIFICATION BY YUNGCIIING. GSO
We know not what benefit can accrue from this. Rather than give presents to satisfy the rapacity of policemen, how much better to clear off the just assessments ! Rather than prove an obstinate race and refuse the payment of the revenue, would it not be better to keep the law ? Every one, even the most stupid, knows this. Furthermore, when superiors display benevolence, inferiors should manifest justice ; this belongs to the idea of their being one body. Reflect that the constant labors and cares of the palace are all to serve the people. When freshes occur, dikes must be raised to restrain them ; ij! the demon of drought appear, prayer must be oTered for rain ; when the locusts come, they must be destroyed. If the calamities be averted, you reaji the advantage ; but if they overwhelm you, your taxes are forborne, and alms liberally expended for yon. If it be thus, and the people still can suffer themselves to evade the payment of taxes and hinder the supply of government, how, I ask, can you be easy ? Such conduct is like that o” an undutiful son. We use these repeated admonitions, only wishing you, soldiers and people, to think of the army and nation, and also of your persons and families.
Then abroad you will have tlie fame of faithfulness, .and at home
peacefully enjoy its fruits. Officers will not trouble yon, nor their clerks vex
you—what joy equal to this ! O soldiers and people, meditate on these things
in the silent night, and let all accord with our wishes. ^
Wang Yu-pi, a liigh officer under Yiingching, paraphrased
the anipliiications in a colloquial manner. His remarks on the
doctrines of the Buddhists and nationalists will serve as an
illustration ; the (juotation liere given is found under the seventh
maxim.
You simple people know not how to discriminate ; for even according to
what the books of Buddha say, he was the first-born son of the king Fan ; but,
retiring from the world, he fled away alone to the top of the Snowy Mountains,
in order to cultivate virtue. If he regarded not his own father, mother, wi^’e,
and children, are you such fools as to suppose that he regards the multitude
of the living, or would deliver his laws and doctrines to you ? The imperial
residence, the queen’s palace, the dragon’s chamber, and halls of state – if he
rejected these, is it not marvellous to suppose that he should delight in the
nunneries, monasteries, temples, and religious houses which you can build for
.’lim ? As to the Gemmeous Emperor, the most honorable in heaven, if there
^if- indeed such a god, it is strange to think he should not enjoy himself at his
own ease in the high heavens, but must have you to give him a body of molten
gold, and build him a house to dwell in !
All these nonsensical tales about keeping fasts, collecting assemblies,
building temples, and fashioning images, are feigned by those sauntering,
• Sacred Edict, pp. 254-259.
Vol. I.—44
690 THE MIDDLE KINGDOlVr.
worthless priests and monks to deceive you. Still you believe them, and not
only go yourselves to worship and burn incense in the temples, but also suffer
your wives and daughters to go. With their hair oiled and faces painted,
dressed in scarlet and trimmed with green, they go to burn incense in the
temples, associating with the priests of Buddha, doctors of Reason and barestick
attorneys, touching slioulders, rubbing arms, and pressed in the moving
crowd. I see not where the good tliey talk of doing is ; on the contrary,
tliey do many shameful things that create vexation, and give people occasion
for laughter and ridicule.
Further, there are some persons who, fearing that their good boys and
girls may not attain to maturity, take and give them to the temples to become
priests and priestesses of Buddha and Reason, supposing that after having removed
them from their own houses and placed them at the foot of grandfather
Fuh (Buddha), they are then sure of prolonging life ! Now, I would ask you
if those who in this age are priests of these sects, all reach the .age of seventy
or eighty, and if there is not a short-lived person among them y
Again, there is anotlier very stupid class of persons who, because their
parents are sick, pledge their own persons by a vow before the gods that if
their parents be restored to health, they will worship and burn incense
on the hills, prostrating themselves at every step till they arrive at the summit,
whence they will dash themselves down ! If they do not lose their lives,
they are sure to break a leg or an arm. They sa}’ to themselves, “To give
up our own lives to save our parents is the highest display of liliahduty.”
Bystanders also praise them as dutiful children, but they do not consider that
to slight the bodies received from their parents in this manner discovers an
extreme want of filial duty.
Moreover, you say that serving Fiih is a profitable service ; that if you
burn paper money, present offerings, and keep fasts before the face of your
god Fuh, he will dissii^ate calamities, blot out your sins, increase your happiness,
and prolong your age ! Now reflect : from of old it has been said, ” The
gods are intelligent and just.” Were Buddha a god of this description, how
could he avariciously desire your gilt paper, and your offerings to engage him
to afford you protection ? If you do not burn gilt paper to him, and spread
offerings on his altar, the god Fuh will be displeased with you, and send down
judgments on you ! Then your god Fuh is a scoundrel ! Take, for example,
the district magistrate. Should you never go to compliment and flatter him,
yet, if you are good people and attend to your duty, he will pay marked attention
to you. But transgress the law, commit violence, or usurp the rights
of others, and though you should use a thousand ways and means to flatter
him, he will still be displeased with you, and will, without fail, remove such
pests from society.
You say that worshipping Fuh atones for your sins. Suppose you have
violated the law, and are hauled to the judgment-seat to be punished ; if you
should bawl out several thousand times, ” O your excellency ! O your excellency
! ” do you think the magistrate would spare you ? Yoii will, however,
at all risks, invite several Buddhist and Rationalist priests to your houses to recite
their canonical books and make confession, siipposing that to chant their
WANG YU-Pf S RIDICULE OF BUDDHISM. 691
mummery drives away misery, secures peace, and prolongs happiness and life.
But suppose you rest satisfied with merely reading over the sections of these
Sacred Commands several thousands or myriads of times without acting conformably
thereto ; would it not be vain to suppose that his Imperial Majestj’
should delight in you, reward you with money, and promote you to office ?
‘
This ridicule of the popular superstitions has, no doubt, had
some effect, repeated as it is in all parts of the country’ ; but
since the literati merely tear down and build up nothing, giving
the people no substitute for what thej take away, but rather,
in their times of trouble, doing the things they decry, such
homilies do not destroy the general respect for such ceremonies.
The Shlng Yic has also been versitied for the benefit of children,
and collo<piial explanations added, which has further
tended to enforce and inculcate its admonitions. The praise
bestowed on this work by Johnson, in his Oriental Ecllgmis^
has a good degree of actual usefulness among the people to
confirm his observations ; yet they are quite used to hearing
the highest moral platitudes from their rulers, to whom they
would not lend a dollar on their word.
In the fifth section, on medical writings, separate works are
mentioned on the treatment of all domestic animals; among
them is one on veterinary surgery, whose writers have versified
most of their observations and prescriptions. The Ilerhal of
Li Shi-chin, noticed on p. 370, and monographs on special diseases,
all show the industry of Chinese physicians to much better
advantage than their science. Works on medicine and
surgery are numerous, in which the surface of the body is
minutely represented in pictures, together with drawings of
the mode of performing various operations. Works on judicial
astrology, chiromancy, and other .modes of divination, on the
rules for finding lucky spots for houses, graves, and temples,
are exceedingly numerous, a large number of them written by
Rationalists.
The eighth section, on art, contains writings on painting,
music, engraving, writing, posturing, and archery, and they will
doubtless furnish many new points to western artists on the
> ^red Edict, p. 146.
692 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
principles and attainments o£ the Chinese in these Inanchea
wlien the works have been made better known.
Tlie ninth section, entitled ‘Collections’ or ‘ llepertories,’ is
divided into memoirs on antiques, swords, coins, and bronzes,
and presents a field of interesting research to a foreign archaeologist
likely to reward him. Another division, containing the
monographs on tea, bamboo, floriculture, etc., is not so promising.
The tenth section, on philosophical writings, having a tinge of
heterodoxy, is a very large one, and offers a i-are opportunity of
research to those curious to know what China can contribute to
moral science. The writings of Roman Catholics and Moslems
are included in this long catalogue.
Under the head of encyclopa>dias, a list of sunnnaries, compends,
and treasuries of knowledge is given, which for extent
and bulkiness cannot be equalled in any language. Among
them is the Tal Tlen^ or’ Great Record ‘ of the Euqjeror Yungloh
(a.d. 1403), in twenty-two thousand eight hundred and
sev^enty-seven chapters, and containing the substance of all classical,
historical, philosophical, and scientific writings in the language.
Parts of this compilation were lost, and on the accession
of the Manchus one-tenth of it was missing ; but by means
of the unequalled interest on the part of Yungloh in his
national literature, three hundred and eighty-five ancient and
rare works were rescued from destruction. The San Tsai Tu,
or ‘ Plates [illustrative of the] Three Powers ‘ (?!.«?., heaven,
earth, and man, by which is meant the entire universe), in one
hundred and thirty volumes, is one of the most valuable compilations,
by reason of the great number of plates it contains,
which exhibit the ideas of the compilers much better than their
descriptions.
The twelfth section, containing novels and tales, called Sia/)
Shinoh., or ‘Trifling Talk,’ gives the titles of but few of the
thousands of productions of this class in the language. Works
of fiction are among the most popular and exceptionable books
the Chinese have, and those which are not demoralizing are,
with some notable exceptions, like the Ten Talented Authors,
generally slighted. The books sold in the streets are chiefly
of this class of writings, consisting of tales and stories generally
CYCLOPiEDIAS, NOVELS, ETC. 693
destitute of all iutricaey of ])lot, fertility of illustration, or elevation
of sentiment. They form the common mental aliment
of the lower classes, being read by those who are able, and
talked about by all ; their influence is consequently immense.
Many of them are written in the purest style, among which a
callection called L’lao Chat, or ‘Pastimes of the Study,’ in sixteen
volumes, is pre-eminent for its variety and force of expression,
and its perusal can be recommended to every one who
wishes to study the copiousness of the Chinese language. The
preface is dated in 1079 ; most of the tales are shoi’t, and few
have any ostensible moi-al to them, while those which are objectionable
for their immorality, or ridiculous from their magic
whimsies, form a large proportion. A quotation or two will
illustrate the author’s invention:
A villager was once selling pinms in the market, which were rather delicions
and fragrant, and high in price ; and there was a Tao priest, clad in
ragged garments of coarse cotton, begging before his wagon. The villager
scolded him, but he would not goolf ; whereupon, becoming angry, he reviled
and hooted at him. The priest said, “The wagon contains manj hundred
plums, and I have only begged one of them, which, for you, respected sir,
would certainly be no great loss ; wh}^ then are yon so angry ‘i ” The spectators
advised to give him a poor plum and send him away, but the villager
would not consent. The workmen in the market disliking the noise and
clamor, furnished a few coppers and bought a plum, which they gave the
priest. He bowing thanked them, and turning to the crowd said, ” I do not
wish to be stingy, and reqiiest you, my friends, to partake with me of this
delicious plum.” One of them replied, ” Now you have it, why do you not eat
it yourself V” “I want only the stone to plant,” said he, eating it up at a
munch. When eaten, he held the stone in his hand, and taking a spade off
his shoulder, dug a hole in the ground several Indies deep, into which he put
it and covered it with earth. Then turning to the market people, he procured
some broth with which he watered and fertilized it; and others, wishing to
see what would turn up, brought him boiling dregs from shops near by, which
he poured upon the hole just dug. Every one’s eyes being fixed upon the
spot, they saw a crooked shoot issuing forth, which gradually increased till it
became a tree, having branches and leaves ; flowers and then fruit succeeded,
large and very fragrant, which covered the tree. The priest then approached
the tree, plucked the fruit and gave the beholders ; and when all were consumed,
he felled the tree with a colter— chopping, chopping for a good while,
until at last, having cut it off, lie shouldered the foliage in an easy manner,
and leisurely walked away.
When first the priest began to perform his magic arts, the villager was
also among the crowd, with outstretched neck and gazing eyes, and completely
694 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
forgot his own business. When the priest had gone, he hegan to look int«
liis wagon, and lo ! it was empty of plums ; and for the first time he perceived
that wliat liad just been distributed were all his own goods. Moreover, looking
narrowly about his wagon, he saw that the dashboard was gone, having
just been cut ojE with a chisel. Much excited and incensed he ran after him,
and as he turned the corner of the wall, he saw the board thrown down beneath
the hedge, it being that with which the plum-tree was felled. Nobody
knew where the priest had gone, and all the market folks laughed heartily.
The Rationalists are considered as the chief magicians among
the Chinese, and they figure in most of tlie tales in this work,
whose object probably was to exalt their craft, and add to their
reputation. Like the foregoing against liardheartedness, the
following contains a little sidewise admonition against theft
:
On the west of the city in the hamlet of the White family lived a rustic
who stole his neighbor’s duck and cooked it. At night he felt his skin itch,
and on looking at it in the morning saw a thick growth of duck’s feathers,
which, when irritated, pained him. He was much alarmed, for he had no
remedy to cure it; but, in a dream ox the night, a man informed him, ” Your
disease is a judgment from heaven ; you must get the loser to reprimand you,
and the feathers will fall off.” Now this gentleman, his neighbor, was always
liberal and courteous, nor during his whole life, whenever he lost anything,
had he even manifested any displeasure in his countenance. The thief
craftily told him, ” The fellow who stole your duck is exceedingly afraid of a
reprimand; but reprove him, and he will no doubt then fear in future.” He,
laughing, replied, “Who has the time or disposition to scold wicked men ?” and
altogther refused to do so ; so the man, being hardly bestead, was obliged to
tell the truth, upon which the gentleman gave him a scolding, and his disorder
was removed.
Remusat compares the construction of Chinese novels to those
of Itichardson, in which the ” authors render their characters
interesting and natural by reiterated strokes of the pencil, which
finally produce a high degree of illusion. The interest in their
pages arose precisely in proportion to the stage of my progress
;
and in approaching to the termination, I found myself about to
part with some agreeable people, just as I had duly learned to
relish their society.” lie briefly describes the defects in Chinese
romances as principally consisting in long descriptions of trifling
particulars and delineations of localities, and the characters and
circumstances of the interlocutors, while the thread of the narrative
is carried on mostly in a conversational way, which, fronj
CHARACTER OF CHINESE FICTION. 695
its minuteness, soon becomes tedious. The length of their
poetic descriptions and prolix display of the wonders of art or
the beauties of nature, thrown in at the least hint in the narrative,
or moral reflections introduced in the most serious manner
in the midst of diverting incidents, like a long-metre psalm in
a comedy, tend to confuse the main story and dislocate the unity
requisite to produce an effect.
Chinese novels, however, generally depend on something of
a plot, and the characters are sometimes well sustained. ” Visits
and the formalities of polished statesmen ; assemblies, and above
all, the conversations which make them agreeable ; repasts, and
the social amusements which prolong them ; M^alks of the admirers
of beautiful nature ; journeys ; the manoeuvres of adventurers;
lawsuits; the literary examinations; and, in the
sequel, marriage, form their most fi-equent episodes and ordinary
conclusions.” The hero of these plots is usually a young academician,
endowed with an amiable disposition and devotedly
attached to the study of classic authors, who meets with every
kind of obstacle and ill luck in the way of attaining the literary
honors he has set his heart on. The heroine is also well acquainted
with letters ; her own inclinations and her father’s
desires are that she may find a man of suitable accomplishments,
but after having heard of one, every sort of difficulty is
thrown in the way of getting him ; which, of course, on the
part of both are at last happily surmounted.
The adventures which distinguished persons meet in wandering
over the countiy incognito, and the happy denouement of
their interviews with some whom they have been able to elevate
when their real characters have been let out, form the plan of
other tales. There is little or nothing of high wrought description
of passion, nor acts of atrocious vengeance introduced to
remove a troublesome person, but everything is kept within the
bounds of jirobability ; and at the end the vicious are punished
by seeing their bad designs fail of their end in the rewards and
success given those who have done well. In most of the stories
whose length and style are such as to entitle them to the name
of novel, and which have attained any reputation, the story is
not disgraced by anything offensive ; it is rather in the shorter
G96 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM,
tales that decency is violated. Among tlieiu the Ilung La(s
Jlfwyt^, or ‘ Dreams of the Red Chamber,’ is one of the most
popular stories, and open not a little to this objection.
The historical novels, of which there are many, would, if
translated, prove more interesting to foreign readers than those
merely describing manners, because they interweave much information
in the story. The SJiui Hu Chnen, or ‘Narrative
of the “Water Marshes,’ and ‘ The Annals of the Contending
States,’ are two of the best written ; the latter is more credible
as a history than any other work in this class.
The fourth division of the Catalogue is called TkUi Pu, or
‘ Miscellanies,’ and the works mentioned in it are chieily poems
or collections of songs, occupying nearly one-third of the whole
collection. They arc arranged in five sections, namely : Poetry
of Tsu, Complete Works of Individuals, and General Collections,
On the Art of Poetry, and Odes and Songs. The most
ancient poet in the language is Yuh Yuen, a talented Minister
of State who flourished previous to the time of Mencius, and
wrote the Li Sao, or ‘Dissipation of Sorrows.’ It has been
translated into German and French. Ilis name and misfortunes
are still commemorated by the Festival of Dragon-boats
on the fifth day of the fifth moon. More celebrated in Chinese
estimation are the poets Li Tai-peh and Tu Fu of the Tang
djTiasty, and Su Tung-po of the Sung, who combined the three
leading traits of a bard, being lovers of flowers, wine, and song,
and attaining distinction in the service of government.’ The
incidents in the life of the former of these bards were so varied,
and his reckless love of drink brought him into so many scrapes,
that he is no less famed for his adventures than for his sonnets.
The following stoi-y is told of him in the ‘ Remarkable Facts
of all Times,’ which is here abridged from the translation of
T. Pavie :
Li, called Tai-peli, or ‘Great-white,’ from the planet Venns, was endowed
with a beautiful countenance and a well-made person, exhibiting in all liis
‘ The second of these, Tu Fu, is a poet of some distinction noticed by Eemusat
{Koiivcdiix MeUoicicx, Tome II., p. 174). He lived in the eighth century
A.I)., dying of hunger in the year 768. His writings are usually edited wit);
those of Li Tai-peh.
STORY OF LI TAI-PEII, THE POET. 697
movements a gentle nobility which indicated a man destined to rise above his
age. When only ten years old, he could read the classics and histories, and
liis conversation sliowed the brilliancy of liis thoughts, as Avell as the purity
ol his diction. He was, in consequence oi’ his precocity, called the Exiled
Immortal, but named himself the Retired Scholar of the Blue Lotus. Some
one having extolled the quality of the wine of Niauching, he straightway
went there, although more than three hundred miles distant, and abandoned
lumself to his appetite for liquor. While singing and carousing in a tavern,
a military commandant passed, who, hearing his song, sent in to inquire who
it was, and carried the poet off to his own house. Cn departing, he urged Li
to go to the capital and compete for literary honors, which, he doubted not,
couid be easily attained, and at last induced him to bend his steps to the capital.
On his arrival there, he luckily met the academician Ho near the palace,
who invited him to an alehouse, and laying aside his robes, drank wine with
him till night, and then carried him home. The two were soon well acquainted,
and discussed the merits of poetry and wine till they were much charmed with
each other.
As the day of examination approached. Ho gave the poet some advice.
” Ihe examiners for this spring are Yang and Kao, one a brother of the Empress,
the other commander of his Majesty’s body-guard ; both of them love
those who make them presents, and if you have no means to buy their favor,
the road of promotion will be shut to you. I know them both very well, and
will write a note to each of them, which may, perhaps, obtain you some
favor.” In spite of his merit and high reputation, Li found himself in such
circumstances as to make it desirable to avail of the good-will of his friend
Ho ; but on perusing the notes he brought, the examiners disdainfully exclaimed,
” After having fingered his pi’oieije^a money, the academician contents
himself with sending us a billet which merely rings its sound, and bespeaks
our attention and favors toward an upstart without degree or title. On the
day of decision we will remember the name of Li, and any composition signed
by him shall be thrown aside without further notice.” The day of examination
came, and the distinguished scholars of the Empire assembled, eager to
hand in their compositions. Li, fully capable to go through the trial, wrote
off his essay on a sheet without effort, and handed it in first. As soon as he
saw the name of Li, the examiner Yang did not even give himself time to
glance over the page, but with long strokes of his pencil erased the composition,
saying, “Such a scrawler as this is good for nothing but to grind my ink !
“
” To grind your ink ! ” interrupted the other examiner Kao ; ” say rather he is
only fit to put on my stockings, and lace up my buskins.”
With these pleasantries, the essay of Li was rejected ; but he, transported
with anger at such a contemptuous refusal at the public examination, returned
liome and exclaimed, “I swear that if ever my wishes for promotion are accomplished,
I will order Yang to grind my ink, and Kao to put on my stockings
and lace up my buskins; then my vows will be accomplished.” Ho
endeavored to calm the indignation of the poet: ” Stay here with me till a
new examination is ordered in three years, and live in plenty ; the examiners
will not be the same then, and you will surely succeed.” They therefore
continued to live as they had done, drinking and making verses.
69S THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
After many months had elapsed, some foreign ambassadors came to the
capital charged with a letter from their sovereign, whom he was ordered to
receive and entertain in the hall of ambassadors. Ihe next day the officers
handed in their letter to his Majesty’s council, who ordered the doctors to opei»
and read it, but they could none of them decipher a single word, humbly declaring
it contained nothing but fly-tracks; “your subjects,” they added,
“have only a limited knowledge, a shallow acquaintance with things ; they are
unable to read a word.” On hearing this, the Emperor turned to the examiner
Yang and ordered him to read the letter, but his eyes wandered over the
characters as if he had been blind, and he knew nothing of them. In vain
did his Maje.’ity addi’ess himself to the civil and military officers who filled the
court ; not one among them could say whether the letter contained words of
good or evil import. Highly incensed, he broke out in reproaches against the
grandees of his palace : ” What ! among so many magistrates, so many scholars
and warriors, cannot there be found a single one who knows enough to relieve
us of the vexation of this affair ? If this letter cannot be read, how can it be
answered ? If the ambassadors are dismissed in this style, we shall be the
ridicule of the barbarians, and foreign kings will mock the court of Nanking,
and doubtless follow it up by seizing their lance and buckler and join to invade
our frontiers. What then ? If in three days no one is able to decipher this
letter, every one of your appointments shall be suspended ; if in six days you
do not tell me what it means, your offices shall every one be taken away ; and
death shall execute justice on such ignorant men if I wait nine days in vain
for its explanation, and others of our subjects shall be elevated to power whose
virtue and talents will render some service to their country.”
Terrified by these words, the grandees kept a mournful silence, and no one
ventured a single reply, which only irritated the monarch the more. On hia
return home. Ho related to his friend Li everything that had transpired at
court, who, hearing him with a mournful smile, replied, ” How to be regretted,
how unlucky it is that I could not obtain a degree at the examination last
year, which would have given mo a magistracy ; for now, alas ! it is impossible
for me to relieve his Majesty of the chagrin which troubles him.” “But
truly,” said Ho, suddenly, ” I think you are versed in more than one science,
and will be able to read this unlucky letter. I shall go to his Majesty and
propose you on my own responsibility.” The next day he went to the
palace, and passing through the crowd of courtiers, approached the throne,
saying, ” Your subject presumes to announce to your Majesty that there is a
scliolar of great merit called Li, at his house, who is profoundly acquainted
with more than one science ; command him to read this letter, for there is
notliing of which he is not capable.”
This advice pleased the Emperor, who presently sent a messenger to the
house of the academician, ordering him to present himself at court. But Li
offered some objections : “I am a man still without degree or title; I have
neither talents nor information, while the court abounds in civil and military
officers, all equally famous for their profound learning. How then can you
have recourse to sucli a contemptible and useless man as IV If I presume to
accept this behest, I fear that I shall deeply offend the nobles of the palace”—
referring especially to the premier Yang and the general Kao. When hisreplj^
STOliY OF Li TAI-PEII, THE POET. 699
was announced to the Emperor, lie demanded of IIo why his guest did not
come when ordered. Ho replied, ” I can assure your Majesty that Li is a man
of parts beyond all those of the age, one whose compositions astonish all who
read them. At the trial of last year, his essay was marked out and thrown
aside by the examiners, and lie himself shamefully put out of the hall. Your
Majesty now calling him to court, and he having neitlier title nor rank, liis
self-love is touched ; but if your Majesty would hear your minister’s prayer
and shed your favors upon his friend, and send a high officer to him, I am
sure he will hasten to obey the imperial will.” ” Let it be so,” rejoined the
Lmperor ; ” at the instance of our academician, we confer on Li Peh the title
of doctor of the first rank, with the purple robe, yellow girdle, and silken
bonnet ; and herewith also issue an order for him to present himself at court.
Our academician Ho will charge himself with carrying this order, and bring
Li Peh to our presence without fail.”
Ho returned home to Li, and begged him to go to court to read the letter,
adding how his Majesty depended on his help to relieve him from his present
embarrassment. As soon as he had put on his new robes, which were those
of a high examiner, he made his obeisance toward the palace, and hastened to
mount his horse and enter it, following after the academician. Seated on his
throne, Hwantsung impatiently awaited the arrival of the poet, who, prostrating
himself before its steps, went through the ceremony of salutation and
acknowledgment for the favors he had received, and then stood in his place.
The Emperor, as soon as he saw Li, rejoiced as poor men do on finding a treasure,
or starvelings on sitting at a loaded table ; his heart was like dark clouds
suddenly illuminated, or parched and arid soil on the approach of rain. “Fome
foreign ambassadors have brought us a letter wliieli no one can read, and we
have sent for you, doctor, to relieve our anxiety.” ” Your minister’s knowledge
is very limited,” politely replied Li, with a bow, ” for his essay was rejected by
the judges at the examination, and lord Kao turned him out of doors. Now
that he is called upon to read this letter from a foreign prince, how is it that
the examiners are not charged with the answer, since, too, the ambassadors
liave already been kept so long waiting ? Since I, a student turned off from
the trial, could not satisfy the wishes of the examiners, how can I hope to
meet the expectation of your Majesty V ” ” We know what you are good for,”
said the Emperor ; ” a truce to your excuses,” putting the letter into his hands.
Running his eyes over it, he disdainfully smiled, and standing before the
throne, read off in Cliinese the mysterious letter, as follows
:
“Letter from the mighty Ko To of the kingdom of Po Hai to the prince
of the dynasty of Tang : Since your usurpation of Corea, and carrying your
conquests to the frontiers of our States, your soldiers have violated our territory
in frequent raids. We trust yon can fully explain to us this matter, and as we
cannot patiently bear such a state of things, we have sent our ambassadors to
announce to you that you must give up the hundred and sixty-six towns of
Corea into our hands. We have some precious things to ofer you in compensation,
namely, the medicinal plants from the mountains of Tai Peh, and the
byssus from the southern sea, gongs of Tsiching, stags from Fuyu, and hor.ses
from Sopin, silk of Wucliau, black fish from the river Mcito, prunes from
700 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Kiutu, and building materials from Loyu ; some of all these articles shall be
sent you. If you do not accept these propositions, we shall raise troops and
carry war and destruction into your borders, and then see on whose side victory
will remain.”
After its perusal, to which they had given an attentive ear, the grandees
were stupefied and looked at each other, knowing how improbable it was that
the Emperor would accept the propositions of Ko To. iMor was the mind of
his Majesty by any means satisfied, and after remaining silent for some time,
he turned himself to the civil and military officers about him, and asked what
means were available to repulse the attacks of the barbarians in case their
forces invaded Corea. Scholars and generals remained mute as idols of clay
or statues of wood ; no one said a word, until Ho ventured to observe, *’ Your
venerable grandfather Taitsung, in three expeditions against Corea, lost an untold
number of soldiers, without succeeding in his enterprise, and impoverished
his treasury. Thanks to Heaven Kai-su-wSn died, and profiting by the
dissensions between the usurper’s sons, the glorious Emperor Taitsung confided
the direction of a million of veterans to the old generals Li Sie and Pi Jinkwei,
who, after a hundred engagements, more or less important, finally conquered
the kingdom. But now having been at peace for a long time, we have
neither generals nor soldiers ; if we seize the buckler and lance, it will not be
easy to resist, and our defeat will be certain. I await the wise determination
of your Majesty.”
” Since such is the case, what answer shall we make to the ambassadors ?
“
said Hwantsung. ” Deign to ask Li,” said the doctor; ” he will speak to the
purpose.” On being interrogated by his sovereign, LI replied, “Let not this
matter trouble your clear mind. Give orders for an audience to the ambassadors,
and I will speak to them face to face in their own language. The terms
of the answer will make the barbarians blush, and their Ko To will be obliged
to make his respects at the foot of your throne.” “And who is this Ko To ?
“
demanded Hwantsung. “It is the name the people of Po Hai give to their
king after the usage of their country ; just as the Hwui Hwui call theirs Kokan ;
the Tibetans, T.sangpo ; the Lochau, Chau ; the Holing, Si-mo-wei ; each one
according to the custom of his nation.”
At this rapid flood of explanations, the mind of the wise Hwantsung experienced
a lively joy, and the same day he honored Li with the title of an
academician; a lodging was prepared for him in the palace of the Golden
Bell ; musicians made the place re-echo with their harmony ; women poured
out the wine, and young girls handed him the goblets, and celebrated the
glory of Li with the same voic(?s that lauded the Emperor. What a delicious,
ravishing banquet ! He could hardly keep witliin tlie limits of propriety, but
ate and drank until he was unconscious of anything, when the Emperor ordered
the attendants to carry him into the palace and lay him on a bed.
The next morning, when the gong announced the fifth watch, the Emperor
repaired to the hall of audience ; but Li’s faculties, on awaking, were
not very clear, though the officers hastened to bring him. When all had gone
through their pro.strations, Hwantsung called the poet near liim, but perceiv
ing that the visage of the new-made doctor still bore the marks of his debaucli,
STORY OF LI TAI-PEH, THE POET, 701
and discovering the discomposure of Lis mind, he sent into the kitcVien for a little wine and some well-spiced fish broth, to arouse the sleepy bard. The servants presently sent it up on a golden tray, and the Emperor seeing the cup was fuming, condescended to stir and cool the broth a long time with the ivory chopsticks, and served it out himself to Li, who, receiving it on his knees, ate and drank, while a pleasing joy illumined his countenance. While this was going on, some among the courtiers were much provoked and displeased at the strange familiarity, while others rejoiced to see how well the Emperor knew to conciliate the good will of men. Ihe two examiners, Yang and Kao, betrayed in their features the dislike they felt.
At the command of the Emperor, the ambassadors were introduced, and
saluted his Majesty by acclamation, whilst Li Tai-peh, clad in a purple robe
and silken bonnet, easy and gracious as an immortal, stood in the historiographer’s
place before the left of the throne, holding the letter in his hand, and
read it ol in a clear tone, without mistaking a word. Then tinning toward
the frightened envoys, he said, ” Your little province has failed in its etiquette,
but our wise ruler, whose power is comparable to the heavens for vastness, disdains
to take advantage of it. This is the answer which he grants you : hear
and be silent.” The terrified amljassadors fell trembling at the foot of the
throne. The Emperor had already prepared near him an ornamented cushion,
and taking a jade stone with which to rub the ink, a pencil of leveret’s hair
bound in an ivory tube, a cake of perfumed ink, and a sheet of flowery paper,
gave them to Li, and seated liim on the cushion ready to draw up the answer.
” May it please your Majesty,” objected Li, ” my boots are not at all suitable, for they were soiled at the banquet last evening, and I trust your Majesty in your generosity will grant me some new buskins and stockings fit for ascending the platform.” The Emperor acceded to his request, and. ordered a servant to procure them ; when Li resumed, “Your minister has still a word to add, and begs beforehand that his untoward conduct may be excused ; then he will prefer his request.” “Your notions are misplaced and useless, but I will not be ofended at them ; go on, speak,” said Hwantsung ; to which LI, nothing daunted, said, “At the last examination, your minister was turned off by Yang, and put out of doors by Kao. The sight of these persons here to-day at the head of the courtiers casts a certain discomposure over his spirits; let your voice deign to command Yang to rub my ink, whilst Kao puts on my stockings and laces iip my buskins ; then will my mind and wits begin to recover their energies, and my pencil can trace your answer in the language of the foreigners. In transmitting the reply in the name of the Son of Heaven, he will then not disappoint the confidence with which he is honored.” Afraid to displease Li when he had need of him, the Emperor gave the strange order ; and while Yang rubbed the ink and Kao put on the buskins of the poet, they could not help reflecting, that this student, so badly received and treated by them, only fit at the best to render such services to them, availed himself now of the sudden favors of the Emperor to take their own words pronounced against him as a text, and revenge himself upon them for past injuries. Rut what could they do ? They could not oppose the sovereign will, and if they did feel chagrined, they did not dare at least to express it. The proverb hath it true: Do not draw upon you a person’s enmity, for enmity is never appeased; injury returns upon him who injures, and sharp words recoil against him who says them.”
The poet triumphed, and his oath was accomplished. Buskiued as he desired, he mounted the platform on the carpet and. seated himself on the cushion, while Yang stood at his side and rubbed the ink. Of a truth, the disparity was great between an ink-grinder and the magnate who counselled the Emperor.
But why did the poet sit while the premier stood like a servant at his side ‘i It was because Li was the organ of the monarch’s words, while Yang, reduced to act the part o: an ink-rubber, could not request permission to sit.
With one hand Li stroked his beard, and seizing his pencil in the other, applied it to the paper, which was soon covered with strange chai-acters, well turned and even without a fault or rasure, and then laid it lapon the dragon’s table. The Emperor gazed at it in amaze, for it was identical with that of the barbarians ; not a character in it resembled the Chinese ; and as he handed it about among the nobles, their surprise was great. When requested to read it, Li, placed before the throne, read in a clear loud tone the answer to the strangers:” The mighty Emperor of the Tang dynasty, whose reign is called Kiayuen, sends his instructions to Ko To of the Po Hai.
“From ancient times the rock and the egg have not hit each other, nor the serpent and dragon made war. Our dynasty, favored by fate, extends its power, and reigns even to the four seas ; it has under its orders brave generals and tried soldiers, solid bucklers and glittering swords. Your neighbor, King Hiehli, who refused our alliance, was taken prisoner ; but the people of Putsau, after offering a present of a metal bird, took an oath of obedience.
” The Sinlo, at the southern end of Corea, have sent us praises written on the finest tissues of silk ; Persia, serpents which can catch rats ; India, birds that can speak ; and Rome, dogs which lead horses, holding a lantern in their month; the white parrot is a present from the kingdom of Koling, the carbuncle which illumines the night comes from Cambodia, and famous horses are sent by the tribe of Koli, while precious vases are brought from Nial : in short, there is not a nation which does not respect our imposing power, and does not testify their regard for the virtue which distinguishes us. Corea alone resisted the will of Heaven, but the divine vengeance has fallen heavily upon it, and a kingdom which reckoned nine centuries of duration was overthrown as in a morning. Why, then, do you not profit by the terrible prognostics Heaven vouchsafes yon as examples ‘? Would it not evince your sagacity ?
“Moreover, your little country, situated beyond the peninsula, is little more than as a province of Corea, or as a principality to the Celestial Empire ; your resources in men and horses are not a millionth part those of China. You are like a cha’”ed locust trying to stop a chariot, like a stiff-necked goose which will not submit. Under the arms of our warriors your blood will run a thousand J’l. You, prince, resemble that audacious one who re”used our alliance, and whose kingdom became annexed to Corea. The designs of our Bage Emperor are vast as the ocean, and he now bears with your culpable anJ unreasonable conduct ; but hasten to prevent misfortune by repentance, and cheerfully pay the tribute of each year, and you will prevent the shame and opprobrium which will cover you and expose you to the ridicule of your neighbors. Reflect thrice on these instructions.”
STORY OF Li TAI-PEH, THE POET. 703
The reading of this answer filled the Emperor with joy, who ordered Li to make known its contents to the ambassadors ; he then sealed it with the imperial seal. The poet called Kao to put on the boots which he had taken off. and he then returned to the palace of Golden Bells to inform the envoys concerning his sovereign’s orders, reading the letter to them in a loud tone, while they heard tremblingly. The academician Ho reconducted them to the gates of the capital, and there the ambassadors asked who it was who had read the imperial instructions. ” He is called Li, and has the title of Doctor of the Hanlin.” ” But among so many dignitaries, M^hy did the first Minister of State rub his ink, and the general of the guards lace up his buskins ‘? ” ” Hear,” added Ho ; ” those two personages are indeed intimate ministers of his Majesty, but they are only noble courtiers who do not transcend common humanity, while Doctor Li, on the contrary, is an immortal descended from heaven on the earth to aid the sovereign of the Celestial Empire. How can any one equal him ? ” The ambassadors bowed the head and departed, and on their return rendered an account of their mission to their sovereign. On reading the answer of Li, the Ko To was terrified, and deliberated with his counsellors: “The Celestial Empire is upheld by an immortal descended from the .skies! Is it possible to attack it ‘/ ” He thereupon wrote a letter of submission, testifying his desire to .send tribute each year, which was thenceforth allowed. Li Tai-peh afterward drowned himself from fear of the machinations of his enemies, exclaiming, as he leaped into the water, ” I’m going to catch the moon in the midst of the sea !”
The poetry of the Chinese has been investigated hy Sir Jolni
Davis, and tlie republication of liis first paper in an enhirged
fonn in 1870, with the versification of Legge’s translations of
the Shi King by his nephew, and two volumes of ^’arious pieces
by Stent, have altogether given a good variety/ Davis explains
the principles of Chinese rhythm, touches upon the tones, notices
the parallelisms, and distinguishes the various kinds of
verse, all in a scholarly manner. The Avhole subject, however,
stOl awaits more thorough treatment. Artificial poetry, where
‘ Davis, Poetry of (he Chinese, London, 1870 ; G. C. Stent, The Jade Chaplet,
London, 1874; Entmnhed Alive, and other Verses, 1878; Le Marquis
D’Hervey-Saint-Denys, Poesies de VEpoqne des Thanr/, Paris, 18G2. A number
of extracts of classical and modern literature will be found in Confucius and
the Chinese Classics, compiled by Rev. A. W. Loomis, San Francisco, 1867
China Peview, Yols. I., p. 248, IV., p. 4G, and passim the sound and jingle is regarded more than the sense, is not uncommon; the great number of characters having the same sound enables versifiers to do this with greater facility than is possible in other languages, and to the serious degradation of all high sentiment. The absence of inflections in the words Clippies the easy flow of sounds to which our ears are familiar, but renders such lines as the following more spirited to the eye which sees the characters than to the ear which hears them: Liang kinuij, ming nuvrifi, yanr] hiang tsiang, Ki n’t, jn eJti, I’l M mi, etc.
Lines consisting of characters all containing the same radical are also constructed in this manner, in which the sounds are subservient to the meaning. This bizarre fashion of writing is, however, considered fit only for pedants.
The Augustan age of poetry and letters was in the ninth and
tenth centui’ies, during the Tang dynasty, when the brightest
day of Chinese civilization was the darkest one of European.
Xo complete collection of poems has yet been translated into any
Eui’opean language, and perhaps none would bear an entire version.
The poems of Li Tai-peh form thirty volumes, and those
of Su Tung-po are contained in one hundred and fifteen volumes,
while the collected poems of the times of the Tang dynasty
have been published by imperial authority in nine hundred
volumes. The proportion of descriptive poetry in it is small
compared with the sentimental. The longest poem yet turned
into English is the Jlwa Tsien Ki, or ‘ The Flower’s Petal,’ by
P. P. Thoms, nnder the title of Cldneae CouHsld]) ; it is in heptameter,
and his version is quite prosaic. Another of much
greater repute among native scholars, called Li Sao, or ‘ Dissipation
of Sorrows,’ dating from about b.c. 314, has been rendered
into French by D’llervey-Saint-Denys.’
It is a common pastime for literary gentlemen to try their’ Chinese Courtship. In Verse. To wJiieJi is added an Appendix treating of the Jievenue of China, etc., etc., by Peter Perring Thorns, London, 1S24. Compare the Quarterly Review for 1827, pp. 49G ff. Lc Li-Sao, Poeme da III’ Siedeuvant noire ere. Traduit da Chinois, par le Marquis d’Hervey de Saiut<Denys, Paris, 1870.
CHINESE SONGS AND BALLADS. 705
skill in versification ; epigrams and pasquinades ai-e usually put into metre, and at the examinations every candidate must hand in his poetical exercise. Consequently, much more attention is paid by such rhymesters to the jingle of the words and artificial structure of the lines than to the elevation of sentiment or copiousness of illustrations ; it is as easy for them to write a sonnet on shipping a cargo of tea as to indite a love-epistle to their mistress. Extemporaneous verses are made on every subject, and to illustrate occurrences -that are elsewhere regarded as too prosaic to disturb the mnse.
Still, human emotions have been the stimulus to their expression in verse among the Chinese as well as other people ; and all classes have found an ntterance to them. Ribald and impure ditties are sung by street-singers to their own low classes, but such subjects do not characterize the best poets, as they did in old Rome. A piece called ‘ Chang Liang’s Flute ‘ is a fair instance of the better style of songs:
‘Twas niglit—the tired soldiers were peacefully sleeping,
The low hum of voices was hushed in repose ;
The sentries, in silence, a strict watch were keeping
‘Gainst surprise or a sudden attack of their foes ;
When a low mellow note on the night air came stealing,
So soothingly over the senses it fell—
So touchingh- sweet—so soft and appealing,
Like the musical tones of an aerial bell.
Now rising, now falling — now fuller and clearer—
Now liquidly solt — now a low wailing cry,Now the cadences seem floating nearer and nearer—
Now dying away in a whispering sigh.
Then a burst of sweet music, so plaintively thrilling.
Was caught up by the echoes which sang the refrains
In their many-toned voices—the atmosphere filling
With a chorus of dulcet mysterious strains.The sleepers arous(», and with beating hearts listen;
In their dreams they had heard that weird music before ‘,
It touches each heart—with tears their eyes glisten.
For it tells them of those they may never see more.
In fancy those notes to their childhood’s days brought them,
To those far-away scenes they had not seen for years ;
To those who had loved them, had reared them, and taught them,
And the eyes of those stern men were wetted with tears.
Bright visions of home through their mem’ries came thronging,
Panorama-like passing in front of their view;
They were lunne-mk—no power could withstand that strange yearning;
The longer they listened the more home-sick they grew.Whence came those sweet sounds ‘?— who the unseen musician
That breathes out his soul, which floats on the night breeze
In melodious sighs—in strains so elysian
As to soften the hearts of rude soldiers like these ?
Each looked at the other, but no word was spoken.
The music insensibly tempting them on :
They must return home. Ere the daylight had broken
The enemy looked, and behold ! they were gone.
There’s a magic in music—a witchery in it,
Indescribable either with tongue or with pen ;
The tlute of Chang Liang, in one little minute,
Had stolen the courage of eight thousand men I’
The following verses were presented to Dr. Parker at Canton by a Chinese gentleman of some literary attainments, upon the occasion of a successful operation for cataract. The original may be considered as a very creditable example of extempore sonnet:A fluid, darksome and opaque, long time had dimmed my sight,
For seven revolving, weary years one eye was lost to light;
The other, darkened by a film, during three years saw no day,
High heaven’s bright and gladdening light could not pierce it with its ray.Long, long I sought the hoped relief, but still I sought in vain,
My treasures lavished in the search, brought no relief from pain;
Till, at length, I thought my garments I must either pawn or sell,
And plenty in my house, I feared, was never more to dwell.Th<m loudly did I ask, for what cause such pain I bore—
For transgressions in a former life unatoned for before ?
But again’ came the reflection how, of yore, oft men of worth.
For slight errors, had borne sutf’ ring great as drew my sorrow forth.
Stent’s Jiule Cluiplet.SPECIMEN OF AN EXTEMPORE SONNET. 707
” And shall not one,” said I then, ” whose worth is but as naught, Bear patiently, as heaven’s gift, what it ordains ‘i ” The thought Was scarce completely formed, when of a friend the footstep fell
On my threshold, and I breathed a hope he had words of joy to tell.
‘* I’ve heard,” the friend who enter’d said, ” there’s come to us of late
A native of the ‘ Flowery Flag’s ‘ far-ofi and foreign State ;
O’er tens of thousand miles of sea to the Inner Land he’s come—
His hope and aim to heal men’s pain, he leaves his native home.”I quick went forth, this man I sought, this gen’rous doctor found;
He gained my heart, he’s kind and good ; for, high up from the ground,
He gave a room, to which he came, at morn, at eve, at night—
Words were but vain were I to try his kindness to recite.
With needle argentine he pierced the cradle of the tear.
What fears I felt ! Su Dong-po’s words rung threatening in my ear:
” Glass hung in mist,” the poet says, “take heed you do not shake ;
“(The words of fear rung in my ear), “how if it chance to break I” The fragile lens his needle pierced : the dread, the sting, the pain, I thought on these, and that the cup of sorrow I must drain ; But then my mem’ry faithful showed the work of fell disease.How long the orbs of sight were dark, and I deprived of ease.
And thus I thought : ” If now, indeed, I were to find relief,
‘Twere not too much to bear the pain, to bear the present grief.”
Then the words of kindness which I heard sunk deep into my soul,
And free from fear I gave myself to the foreigner’s control.
His silver needle sought the lens, and quickly from it drew
The opaque and darksome fluid, whose effect so well I knew;
His golden probe soon clear’d the lens, and then my eyes he bound,
And laved with water sweet as is the dew to thirsty ground.Three days thus lay I, prostrate, still ; no food then could I eat ;
My limbs relax’d were stretched as though th’ approach of death to meet
With thoughts astray—mind ill at ease —away from home and wife,
I often thought that by a thread was hung my precious life.
Three days I lay, no food had I, and nothing did I feel;
Nor hunger, sorrow, pain, nor hope, nor thought of woe or weal;
My vigor fled, my life seemed gone, when, sudden, in my pain,
There came one ray—one glimm’ring ray,—I see,—^I live again !
As starts from visions of the night he who dreams a fearful dream,
As from the tomb uprushing comes one restored to day’s bright beam,
Thus I, with gladness and surprise, with joy, with keen delight,
See friends and kindred crowd around ; I hail the blessed light.
With grateful hfart, with heaving breast, with feelings flowing o’er,
I cried, ” O lead nie quick to him who can the sight restore !”
To kneel I tried, but he forbade ; and, forcing me to rise,
” To mortal man bend not the knee ;
” then pointing to the skies:—
” I’m but,” said he, ” the workman’s tool ; another’s is the hand ;
Before Jiis might, and in Im sight, men, feeble, helpless, stand :
Go, virtue learn to cultivate, and never thou forget
That for some work of future good thj life is spared thee yet !”
The off’ring, token of my tlianks, he refused ; nor would he take
Silver or gold—they seemed as dust ; ’tis but for virtue’s sake
His works are done. His skill divine I ever must adore,
Nor lose remembrance ox his name till life’s last day is o’er.
Thus liave I told, in these brief words, this learned doctor’s praise:
Well does his worth deserve tliat I should tablets to liim raise.
In this facility of versification lies one of the reasons for the
mediocrity of common Chinese poetry, but that does not prevent
its power over the popular mind being very great. Men
and women of all classes take great delight in recitation and
singing, hearing street musicians or strolling play-actors ; and
these results, whatever we may judge by our standards, prove
its power and suitableness to infiuence them. One or two
additional specimens on different subjects may be quoted, inasnnich
as they also illustrate some of the better shades of feeling
and sentiment. A more finished piece of poetry is one
written about a.d. 370, by Su-IIwui, whose husband was banished.
Its talented authoress is said to have written more than
five thousand lines, and among them a curious anagram of
about eight hundred characters, which was so disposed that it
would make sense equally well when i-ead up or down, crosswise,
backward, or forward.’ Nothing from her pen remains except this ode, interesting for its antiquity as well as sentiment.
‘ A translation is given in the Chinese lieposztori/ (Vol, IX., p. 508) of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then be cut up and eaten when dead; the ballad is arranged in the form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a Buddhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad-.sheets; one common collection ol’ prayers is arranged like a pagoda, with images of Buddlia sitting in the windows of each story.
LAMENT OF TUV: POETESS SIT-IIWUI. 709
ODE OF RU-HWUI.
When thou receiv’dst the king’s command to quiet tlie frontier,
Together to the bridge we went, striving our liearts to cheer-Hiding our grief. These words I gasped upon that mournful day :
” Forget not, love, my fond embrace, nor tarry long away !”
Ah ! Is it true that since tliat time no message glads my sight V
Think you that 7io?p your lone wi’e’s heart even in bright spring delights ?
Our pearly stairs and pleasant yard the foul weeds have o’ergrown ;
Our nuptial room—and couch—and walls—are now with dust o’erstrown.
Whene’er I think of our farewell, my soul with fear grows cold;
My mind resolves what shape I’d take to see thee as of old.
Now as I watch the deep-sea moon, I long her form to be;
Again, the mountain cloud has filled my dull heart with envy.
For deep-sea moon shines year by year upon the land abroad ;
And ye, O mountain clouds, may meet the form of my adored!
Aye, flying here and flying there, seek my beloved’s place.
And at ten thousand thousand miles—speed !—gaze on his fair face.
Alas ! for iiie the road is long, steep mountain peaks now sever
Our loving souls. I can but weep—O ! may’t not be forever !
The long reed’s leaves had yellow grown when we our farewell said ;
Who then had thought the plum-tree’s bough so oft would turn to red ?
The fairy flowers spreading their leaves have met the early spring—
All, genial months, what time for love !—But who can ease my sting ?
The pendant willows strew the court, for thee I pull them down ;
The falling flowers enrich the earth, none pick these from the ground
And scatter vernal growth, as once, before the ancestral tomb !
Taking the lute o? Tsun I strive to chase away the gloom
By thrumming, as I muse o? thee, songs of departed friends.Sending my inmost thoughts away, they reach the northern ends—
Those northern bounds! —how far they seem, o’erpassed the hills and streams
No news, no word from those confines to lighten e’en my dreams !
My dress, my pillow, once so white, are deeply stained with tears ;
My broidered coat with gilded flowers, all spotted now appears.
The very geese and storks to me, when in their passage north.
Seemed by their cries, my distant love, to tear my heartstrings forth.
No more my lute —though thou wert strong, with passion was I wrung;
My grief was its utmost bent—my song was still unsung.Ah ! husband, lord, thy love I feel is stable as the liills ;
‘Tis joy to think each hour of this—a balm for countless ills!
I had but woven half my task—I gave it to his Grace :
O grant my husband quick release, I pine for his embrace!
Auioiig tlie best of Chinese ballads, if regard be had to the
character of the sentiment and metaphors, is one on Picking
Tea, wliich the girls and women sing as they collect the leaves.
BALLAD OF THE TEA-PICKER.
I.
A\Tiere thousand hills the vale enclose, our little lu;t is there,
And on the sloping sides around the tea grows everywhere ;
And I must rise at early dawn, as busy as can be.
To get my daily labor done, and pluck the leafy tea.II.
At early dawn I seize my crate, and sighing. Oh, for rest!
Thro’ the thick mist I pass the door, with sloven hair half drest;
The dames and maidens call to me, as hand in hand they go,
” What steep do you, miss, climb to-day—what steep of high Sunglo?*III.
Dark is the sky, the twilight dim still on the hills is set;
The dewy leaves and cloudy buds may not be gathered yet:
Oh, who are they, the thirsty ones, for whom this work we do,
For whom we spend our daily toil in bands of two and two ?IV.
Like fellows we each other aid, and to each other say,
As down we pull the yielding twigs, ” Sweet sister, don’t delay ;
E’en now the buds are growing old, all on the boughs atop.
And then to-morrow—who can tell ?—the drizzling rain may drop.”V.
We’ve picked enow ; the topmost bough is bare of leaves ; and so
We lift our brimming loads, and by the homeward path we go;
In merry laughter by the pool, the lotus pool, we hie.
When hark ! tiprise a mallard pair, and hence affrighted Hy.VI.
Limpid and clear the pool, and there how rich the lotus grows.
And only lialf its opening leaves, round as the coins, it shows—
I bend me o’er the jutting brink, and to myself I say,
” I marvel in the glassy stream, how looks my face to-day ?”VII.
My face is dirty; out of trim my hair is, and awry;
Oh, tell me, where’s the little girl so ugly now as I ?
‘Tis all because whole weary hours I’m forced to pick the tea.
And driving winds and soaking showers have made me what von seetVIII.
With morn again come wind and rain, and though so fierce and strong,
With basket big, and little hat, I wend my way along;
At home again, when all is picked, and everybody sees
How muddy all our dresses are, and drabbled to the knees.IX.
I saw this morning through the door a pleasant day set in;
Be sure I quickly dressed my hair and neatly fixed my pin,
And fleetly sped I down the path to gain the wonted spot,
But, never thinking of the mire, my working shoes forgot!X.
The garden reached, my bow-shaped shoes are soaking through and through;
The sky is changed—the thunder rolls—and I don’t know what to do;
I’ll call my comrades on the hill to pass the word with speed
And fetch my green umbrella-hat to help me in my need.XI.
But my little hat does little good ; my plight is very sad !
I stand with clothes all dripping wet, like some poor fisher-lad;
Like him I have a basket, too, of meshes woven fine—
A fisher-lad, if I only had his fishing-rod and line.XII.
The rain is o’er ; the outer leaves their branching fibres show;
Shake down the branch, the fragrant scent about us ‘gins to blow;
Gather the yellow golden threads that high and low are found—
Oh, what a precious odor now is wafted all around !XIII.
N^o sweeter perfume does the wild and fair Aglaia shed,
Throughout Wu-yuen’s bounds my tea the choicest will be said;
When all are picked we’ll leave the shoots to bud again in spring,
But for this morning we have done the third, last gathering.XIV.
Oh, weary is our picking, yet do I my toil withhold ?
My maiden locks are all askew, my pearly fingers cold;
I only wish our tea to be superior over all.
O’er this one’s “sparrow-tongue,” and o’er the other’s “dragon-ball.”XV.
Oh, for a month I weary strive to find a leisure day ;
I go to pick at early dawn, and until dusk I stay ;
Till midnight at the firing-pan I hold ray irksome place:
But will not labor hard as this impair my pretty face ?XVI.
But if my face be pomewhat lank, more firm shall be my mind;
I’ll fire my tea that all else shall be my golden buds behind ;
But yet the thought arises who the pretty maid shall be
To put the leaves in jewelled cup, from thence to sip my tea.XVII.
Her griefs all flee as she makes her tea, and she is glad ; but oh,
Where shall she learn the toils of us who labor for her so ”.
And shall she know of the winds that blow, and the rains that jiour their wrath,
And drench and soak us thro’ and thro’, as plunged into a bath ?XVIII.
In driving rains and howling winds the birds forsake the nest,
Yet many a loving pair are seen still on the boughs to rest;
Oh, wherefore, loved one, with light look, didst thou send me away?
I cannot, grieving as I grieve, go through my work to-day.XIX.
But though my bosom rise and fall, like T)ucket in a well.
Patient and toiling as I am, ‘gainst work I’ll ne’er rebel;
My care shall be to have my tea fired to a tender brown,
And let the Jla(/ and aid, well rolled, display their whitish down.’XX.
Ho ‘ for my toil ! Ho I for m\’ steps ! Aweary though I be.
In our poor house, for working folk, there’s lots of work, I see ;
When the firing and the drying’s done, off at the call I go,
And once again, this very morn, I climb the high Sunglo.XXI.
My wicker basket slung on arm, and hair entwined with flowers,
To the slopes I go of high Sunglo, and pick the tea for hours;
How laugh we, sisters, on the road ; what a merry turn we’ve got;
I giggle and say, as I point down the way, There, look, there lies our cot!XXII.
Your handmaid ‘neath the sweet green shade in sheltered cot abides.
Where the pendant willow’s sweeping bough the thatchy dwelling hides;
To-morrow, if you wish it so, my guests I pray you’ll be !
The door you’ll know by the fragrant scent, the .scent of the firing tea.
‘ The ki, or ‘ flag,’ is the term by which the leaflets are called when they just begin to unroll ; the tfiiang, or ‘ awl,’ designates those lijaves which are still wrapped u]^ and which are somewhat sharp.XXIII.
While ’tis cold, and then ’tis warm, when I want to fire iny tea,
The sky is sure to shift and change— and all to worry me;
When the sun goes down on the western hills, on the eastern there is rain I
And however fair lie promises, he promises in vain.XXIV.
To-day the tint of the western hills is looking bright and fair,
And I bear my crate to the stile,’ and wait my fellow toiler there ;
A little tender lass is she—she leans upon the rail
And sleeps, and though I hail her she answers not my hail.XXV.
And when at length to my loudest call she murmurs a reply,
‘Tis as if bard to conquer sleep, and with half-opened eye;
Up starts she, and with straggling steps along the path she’s gone,
She brings her basket, but forgets to put the cover on !XXVI.
Together trudge we, and we pass the lodge of the southern bowers,
Where the beautiful sea-pomegranate waves all its yellow Howers ;
Fain would we stop and pluck a few to deck our tresses gay,
But the tree is high, and ’tis vain to try and reach the tempting spray.XXVII.
The pretty birds upon the boughs sing songs so sweet to hear.
And the sky is so delicious now, half cloudy and half clear ;
While bending o’er her work, each maid will prattle of her woe.
And we talk till our hearts are sorely hurt, and tears unstinted flow.XXVIII.
Our time is up, and yet not full our baskets to the mouth—
The twigs anorth are fully searched, let’s seek them in the south;
Just then by chance I snapped a twig whose leaves were all apair;
See, with my taper fingers now I fix it in my hair.XXIX.
Of all the various kinds of tea, the bitter beats the sweet,
But for whomever either seeks, for him I’ll find a treat;
Though who it is shall drink them, as bitter or sweet they be,
I know not, my friend—but the pearly end of my finger only see!
‘ The ting is not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts supporting
a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the convenience of wayfarers,
who can stop there and rest. It sometimes contains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.XXX.
Ye twittering swallows, rise and fall in your flight around the hill,
But when next I go to the high Sunglo, I’ll change my gown—I will;
And I’ll roll up the cuff and show arm enough, for my arm is fair to see:
Oh, if ever there were a fair round arm, that arm belongs to me 1CHINESE DRAMAS AND BUKLETTAS. 715
In the department of plays and dramas, Chinese literature shows a long list of names, few or none of which have ever been heard of away from their native soil. Some of their pieces have been translated by Julien, Bazin, Davis, and others, most of which were selected from the Hundred Plays of Yuan. The origin of the present Chinese drama does not date back, according to M. Bazin, beyond the Tang dynasty, though many performances designed to be played and sung in pantomime had been written before that epoch. He cites the names of eighty-one persons, besides mentioning other plays of unknown authors, whose combined writings amount to five hundred and sixty-four separate plays ; all of whom flourished during the Mongol dynasty. The plays that have been translated from this collection give a tolerably good idea of Chinese talent in this difficult department; and, generally speaking, whatever strictures may be nuide upon the management of the plot, exhibition of character, unity of action, or illustration of manners, the tendency of the play is on the side of justice and morality. Pere Preraare first translated a play in 1731, under the title of the Orphan of Chau,^ which was taken by Voltaire as the groundwork of one of his plays. The Heir in Old Aye and the Sorrows of Han are the names of two translated by Sir J. F. Davis. The Oircle of CJialk was translated and published in 1832 by Julien, and a volume of Bazin, aine, containing the Tidrtgaes of an Ahiyail, the Coupared Tunic, the So)i(jstrcss, and Ilesentnierd of Tau JS^go, appeared in 1838, at Paris, None of these pieces exhibit much intricacy of plot, nor would the simple arrangements of Chinese theatres allow much increase to the dramatis personoi without confusion. M. Bazin, moreover, translated the Pi-pa Ki, or History of a Lide^ ‘ Tehiio-cM-cou-eulh, ou VOrphdin de la Maison de Telmo, tragedie chinoise, tradnile par le R. P. de Pr>’mare, Miss, de la Chine, 1755. Julien published a translation o2 the same, I’aris, iy34.
a drama in twenty-four acts, of more pretensions, partaking of the novel as well as the drama; the play is said to have been represented at Peking in 1404, under the Ming dynasty.’
Besides plays in the higher walks of the drama, which form the principal part of the performances at theatres, there are by-plays or farces, which, being confined to two or three interlocutors, depend for their attractiveness upon the droll gesticulations, impi’omptu allusions to passing occurrences, and excellent pantomimic action of the performers. They are usually brought on at the conclusion of the bill, and from the freedom given in them to an exhibition of the humor or wit of the players, are much liked by the people. A single illustration will exhibit the simple range and character of these burlettas.
THE MENDER OF CRACKED CHINAWARE.
DKAMATis PERSONS. \ ^f” ^^’^]’ ^ wandering tinker.
( narif/ jyutng A joung girl.
Scene—A Street.
Niu Chau enters—across his shoulder is a bamboo, to each end of which are
suspended boxes containing the various tools and impleynenls of his trade,
and a small stool. He is dressed meanly ; his face and head are painted
and decorated in a fantastic manner.
(Sings) Seeking a livelihood by the work of my hands,
Daily do I traverse the streets of the city.
{Speaks) Well, here I am, a mender of broken jars,
An unfortunate victim of ever changing plans.
To repair old fractured jars
Is my sole occupation and support.
‘Tis even so. I have no other employment.
(7’akes his bo.rcs from his shoulder, places tJiem on the ground^ sits
beside them, and drawing out his fan, continues sjoeaking)—
A disconsolate old man—I am a slave to inconveniences.
For several days past I have been unable to go abroad,
•Since the appearance of M. Bazin’s Theatre Chinois (Paris, 18B8) and Davis’ Sorroirs of Han (London, 1829), there has been astonishingly little done
In the study of Chinese plays. Compare, for the rest, an article on this subject by J. J. AmpJre, in the Eevue des Deux Mondes, September, 1838 ; The Far East, Vol. I. (1876), pp. 57 and 90 ; Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 575 ; China Review, Vol. I., p. 2G ; also Lay’s Chinese as They Are, and Dr. Gray’s China, passim. Lieut. Kreitner gives an interesting picture of the Chinese theatre in a country town, together with a few pages upon the drama, of which his party were spectators. Lnfernen Osten, pp. 595-599.
But, observing this morning a clear sky and fine air,
I was induced to recommence my street wanderings.(Sings) At dawn I left my home,
But as yet have had no job.
Hither and yon, and on all sides,
From the east gate to the west.
From the south gate to the north,
And all over within the walls,
Have I been, but no one has called
For the mender of cracked jars. Unfortunate man 1But this being my first visit to the city of Nanking,
Some extra exertion is necessary ;
Time is lost sitting idle here, and so to roam again I go.
{8Jionlders Ids boxes and stuol, and walks about, ct^ying)-‘
Plates mended ! Bowls mended !
Jars and pots neatly repair’d !
Lady Wang (fieard ‘mthin). Did I not hear the cry of the mender ot cracked jars ?
I’ll open the door and look. {She enters, looking around.)
Yes, there comes the repairer of jars.
Niu Chau. Pray, have you a jar to mend ?
I have long been seeking a job.
Did you not call ?
TMdy W. What is your charge for a large jar—
And how much for a small one ?
Kiu Chau. For large jars, one mace five.
Lady W. And for small ones ‘?
JV^iu Chau. Fifty pair of cash.
Lady W. To one mace five, and fifty pair of cash.
Add nine candareens, and a new jar may be had.
liiu Chau. What, then, will you give ?
Ljidy W. I will give one caudareen for either size.
Niu Chau. Well, lady, how many cash can I get for this caudareen ?
fjody W. Why, if the price be high, you will get eight cash.
Niu Chau. And if low V
Lady W. You will get but seven cash and a half.
Niu Chau. Oh, you wicked, tantalizing thing!
(Sings) Since leaving home this morning,I have met but with a trifler.
Who, in the shape of an old wife.
Tortures and gives me no job ;
I’ll shoulder again my boxes, and continue my walk.
And never again will I return to tli(* house of Wang.
(Iffi moves off slowly.}
Lady W. Jar-mender ! return, quickly return ; with a loud voice, I entreat
you; for I have something on which I wish to consult with
you.
THE MENDER OF CHINAWARE—A FARCE. 717
Hiu Chav. What is it on wliicli you wish to consult me ?
Lady M’. I will give you a hundred cash to mend a large jar.
Niu Chau. And for mending a small one V
Lady W. And for mending a small one, thirty pair of cash.
Niu Chau. One hundred, and thirty pair !—truly, lady, this is worth consulting about.
Lady Wang, where shall I mend them ?
Lady W. Follow me. {.They move toward tJie door of the house.)
{Sings) Before walks the Lady Wang.
Niti Chdu. And behind comes the jni-kany (or jar-mender).
Lady W. Here, then, is the place.
JVtu Chau. Lady Wang, permit me to pay my respects.
{Bows reiwatedly in a ridiculotis manner.)
We can exchange civilities.
I congratulate 3’ou ; may you prosper—before and behind.
Lady W. Here is the jar ; now go to work and mend it.
{Takes the jar in his hand and tosses it about, examining it.)
Niu Chan. This jar lias certainly a very appalling fracture.
Lady W. Therefore, it requires the more care in mending.
Niu Clmu. That is self-evident.
ha^y W. Now, Lady Wang will retire again to her dressing room,
And, after closing the door, will resume her toilet.
Her appearance she will beautify ;
On the left, her hair she will comb into a dragon’s head tuft,
On the right, she will arrange it tastefully with flowers ;
Her lips she will color with blood-red vermilion.
And a gem of chrysoprase will she place in the dragon’s head tuft.
Then, liaving completed her toilet, she will return to the door,
And sit down to look at the jar-mender. {E.iit.)
(Niu Ghausits dotcn, straps the jar on his knee, and arranges his tools before him, and as he drills holes for the clamps, sings)—
Every hole drilled requires a pin.
And every two holes drilled require pins a pair.
As I raise my head and look around,
(At this moment Lady Wang re-enters, beautifully dressed, and sits down by the door.)
There sits, I see, a delicate young lady ;
Before she had the appearance of an old wife,
Now she is transformed into a handsome young girL
On the left, her hair is comb’d into a dragon’s head tuft;
On the right it is adorn’d tastel’ully with flowers.
Her lips are like plums, her mouth is all smiles,
Her eyes are as brilliant as the phamix’s ; and
She stands on golden lilies, but two inches long.
I look again, another look,—down drops the jar.
{Tliejar at this moment falls, and is broken to pieces.]
{Speaks) Heigh-ya ! Here then is a dreadful smash !
Lady \V. You have but to replace it with another, and do so quickly.
iVm Chau. For one that was broken, a good one must be given.
Had two been broken, then were a pair to be supplied ;
An old one being smashed, a new one must replace it.
Lady W. You have destroyed the jar, and return me nothing but words.
Give me a new one, then you may return home,—not before.
Niu CJutu. Here upon my knees upon the hard ground, I beg Lady Wang,
while she sits above, to listen to a few words. Let me receive
pardon for the accident her beauty has occasioned, and I will-^’
at once make her my wife.
lAidy W. Impudent old man ! How presume to think
That I ever can become your wife !
Niu Cluiu. Yes, it is true, I am somewhat older than Lady Wang,
Yet would I make her my wife.
Lady W. No matter then for the accident, but leave me now at once.
Niu Chau. Since you have forgiven me, I again shoulder my boxes,
And I will go elsewhere in search of a wife.
And here, before high heaven, I swear never again to come near the house of Wang.
You a great lady ! Yon are but a vile ragged girl.
And will yet be glad to take up with a much worse companion.
(Going away, Tw suddenly thToimoffJds upper dress, and appears as a handsome young man.)
Lady W. Henceforth, give up your wandering profession,
And marrying me, quit the trade of a jar-mender.
With the Lady Wang pass happily the remainder of your life.
{They eiithrace, and exeunt.]
DEFICIENCIES AND LIMITS OF CHINESE LITERATURE. 719
Such is the general range and survey of Chinese literature, according to the Catalogue of the Imperial Libraries. It is, take it in a mass, a stupendous monument of human toil, fitly compared, so far as it is calculated to instruct its readers in useful knowledge, to their Great Wall, which can neither protect from its enemies, nor be of any real’ use to its makers. Its deficiencies are glaring. Ko treatises on the geography of foreign countries nor truthful narratives of travels abroad are contained in it, nor any account of the languages of their inhabitants, their history, or their governments. Philological works in other languages than those spoken within the Empire are unknown, and must, owing to the nature of the language, remain .so until foreigners prepare them. Works on natural history, medicine, and physiology are few and useless, while
those on inatheiiiatics and the exact sciences are much less
popular and useful than they might be ; and in the great range
of theology, founded on the true basis of the Bible, there is
almost nothing. The character of the people has been mostly
formed by their ancient books, and this correlate influence has
tended to repress independent investigation in the pursuit of
truth, though not to destroy it. A. new infusion of science,
religion, and descriptive geography and history will lead to
comparison with other countries, and bring out whatever in it
is good.
A survey of this body of literature shows the effect of governmental
patronage, in maintaining its character for what
appears to ns to be a wearisome uniformity. Xew ideas, facts,
and motives must now come from the outer world, which will
gradually elevate the minds of the people above the same unvarying
channel. If the scholar knows that the goal he strives
for is to be attained by proficiency in the single channel of
classicvJ knowledge, he cannot be expected to attend to other
studies until he has secured the prize. A knowledge of mediciiiC,
mathematics, geography, or foreign languages, might, indeed,
do the candidate much more good than all he gets out
of the classics, but knowledge is not his object ; and where all run the same race, all must study the same works. But let there be a different programme of themes and essays, and a wider range of subjects required of the students, and the present system of governmental examinations in China, with all its imperfections, can be made of great benefit to the people, if it is not put to a strain too great for the end in view.
The Chinese are fond of proverbs and aphorisms. They employ them in their writings and conversation as much as any people, and adorn their houses by copying them upon elegant scrolls, carving them upon pillars, and embroidering them upon banners. A complete collection of the proverbs of the Chinese has never been made, even among the people themselves any more than among those of other lands. Davis published, in 1828, a volume called Moral Maxims, containing two hundred aphorisms ; P. Perny issued an assortment of four hundred and forty-one in 1869 ; and J. Duolittle collected several hundred proverbs, signs, couplets, and scrolls in his Vocahulaiy.
CHINESE PROVERBS. 721
Besides these, a collection of two thousand seven hundred and twenty proverbs was published in 1875 by W. 8carboi-ough, furnished with a good index, and, like the others noted here, with the original text. Davis mentions the 3I’h(/ Shi Pao Kien, or ‘Jewelled Mirror for Illumining the Mind,’ as containing a large number of proverbs. The Ku Ss* Kimig Lhi^ or ‘Coral Forest of Ancient Matters,’ is a similar collection; but if that be compared to a dictionary of quotations, this is better likened to a classical dictionary, the notes which follow the sentences leaving the reader in no doubt as to their meaning.
Manuscript lists of sentences suitable for hanging upon doors or in parlors are collected by persons who write them at New Year’s, and whose success depends upon their facility in quoting elegant couplets. The following selection will exhibit to some extent this branch of Chinese wisdom and wit:
Not to distinguish properly between the beautiful and ugly, is like attaching a dog’s tail to a squirrel’s body.
An avaricious man, who can never have enough, is as a serpent wishing to swallow an elephant.
While one misfortune is going, to have another coming, is like driving a tiger out of the front door, while a wolf is entering the back.
The tiger’s cub cannot be caught without going into his den.
To paint a snake and add legs. (Exaggeration.)
To sketch a tiger and make it a dog, is to iniitatt’ a work of genius and spoil it.
To ride a fierce dog to vaXx-\\ a huut^ rabbit. (Useless power over a contcni])- tible enemy.)
To attack a thousand tigers with ten men. (To atteniiit a ditliculty with incommensurate means.)
To cut off a hen’s head with a battle-axe. (Unnecessary valor.)
To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger ; if not well fed he will devour you: or like rearing a hawk ; if hungry he will stay by you, but lly away when fed.
To instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching a monkey to climb trees.
To catch a fish and throw away the net ;—not to requite benefits.
To take a locust’s shank for the shaft of a carriage;—an inefficient person doing important work.
A pigeon sneering at a roc ;— a mean man despising a prince.
To climb a tree to catch a fish, is to talk much and get nothing.
To test one good horse by judging the portrait of another.
A fish sports in the kettle, but his life will not be long.
Like a swallow building her nest on a hut is an anxious statesman.
Like a crane among hens is a man of parts among fools.
Like a sheep dressed in a tiger’s skin is a superficial scholar.
Like a cuckoo in a magpie’s nest is one who enjoy’s another’s labor.
To hang on the tail of a beautiful horse. (To seek promotion.)
Do not pull up your stockings in a melon field, or arrange your hat under a peach tree, lest people think you are stealing.
An old man marrying a young wife is like a withered willow sprouting.
Let us get drunk to-day while we have wine ; the sorrows of to-morrow may be borne to-morrow.
If the blind lead the blind, they will both go to the pit.
Good iron is not used for nails, nor are soldiers made of good men.
A fair wind raises no storm.
A little impatience subverts great undertakings.
Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never satisfied.
The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable.
When the tree falls the monkeys flee.
Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome.
Wood is not sold in tlie forest, nor fish at the pool.
He who looks at the sun is dazzled, he who hears the thunder is deafened.(Do not come too near the powerful.)
He desires to hide his tracks, and walks on the snow.
He seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him.
Speak not of others, but convict yourself.
A man is not always known by his looks, nor the sea measured by a bushel.
Ivory does not come from a rat’s mouth.
If a chattering bird be not placed in the mouth, vexation will not sit between the eyebrows.
Prevention is better than cure.
For the Emperor to break the laws is one with the people’s doing so.
Douiit and distraction are on earth, the brightness of truth in heaven.
Punishment can oppose a barrier to open crime, laws cannot reach to secret offences.
Wine and good dinners make abundance of friends, but in time of adversity not one is to be found.
Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not trouble himself about the hoarfrost on his neighbor’s tiles.
Better be upright with poverty than depraved with abundance. He whos’) virtue exceeds his talents is the good man; he whose talents exceed his virtues is the fool.
Though a man may be utterly stupid, he is very perspicuous when reprehending the bad actions of others; though he may be very intelligent, he is dull enough when excusing his own faults: do you only correct yourselves on the same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same principles you excuse yourselves.
‘If I do not debauch other men’s wives, my own will not be polluted.
Better not be than be nothing.
The egg fights with the rock—hopeless resistance.
One thread does not make a rope ; one swallow does not make a summer.
To be fully fed and warmly clothed, and dwell at ease without learning, is little better than a bestial state.
A woman in one house cannot eat the rice of two. (A wise woman does not marry again.)
Though the sword be sharp, it will not wound the innocent.
Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts.
Prosperity is a blessing to the good, but to the evil it is a curse.
Instruction pervades the heart of the wise, but cannot penetrate the ears of a fool.
The straightest trees are first felled ; the cleanest wells first drunk up.
The yielding tongue endures ; the stubborn teeth perish.
The life of the aged is like a candle placed between two doors—easily blown out.
The blind have the best ears, and the deaf the sharpest eyes.
The horse’s back is not so safe as the buffalo’s. (The politician is not so secure as the husbandman.)
A wife should excel in four things : virtue, speech, deportment, and needlework.
He who is willing to inquire will excel, but the self-sufficient man will fail.
Anger is like a little fire, which if not timely checked may burn down flofty pile.
Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns.
Too much lenity multiplies crime.
If you love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hate him, cram him with dainties.
When the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not defile it; when the heart is enlightened with wisdom, impure thoughts will not arise in it.
A stubborn wife and stiff necked son no laws can govern.
He is my teacher who tells me my faults, my enemy who speaks my virtues.
He has little courage who knows the right and does it not.
To sue a flea, and catch a bite—the results of litigation.
Would you understand the character of a prince, look at his ministers; or the disposition of a man, observe his companions; or that of a father, first mark his son.
The fame of good deeds does not leave a man’s door, but his evil acts are known a thousand miles off.
A virtuous woman is a source of honor to her husband, a vicious one disgraces him.
The original tendency of man’s heart is to do right, and if well ordered will not of itself be mistaken.
They who respect themselves will be honored, but disesteeming ourselves we shall be despised.
The load a beggar cannot carry he himself begged.
The happy-hearted man carries joy for all the household.
The more mouths to eat so much the more meat.
The higher the rat creeps up the cow’s horn the narrower he finds it.‘ The commendation by Lord Brougham of this “admirable precept,” as he called it, is cited by Sir J. Davis.
CHAPTER XIII. ARCHITECTURE, DRESS, AND DIET OF THE CHINESE
It is a sensible remark of De Guigues,’ that ” the habit we
fall into of conceiving things according to the words which express
them, often leads ns into error when reading the relations
of travellers. Such writers have seen objects altogether new,
but they are compelled, when describing them, to employ equivalent
terms in their own language in order to be understood; while these same terms tend to deceive the reader, who imagines
that he sees such palaces, colonnades, peristyles, etc., under
these designations as he has been used to, when, in fact, they
are (piite another thing.” The same observation is true of other
things than architecture, and of other nations than the Chinese,
and this confusion of terms and meanings proves a fruitful
source of error in regard to an accurate knowledge of foreign
nations, and a just perception of their condition. For instance,
the terms a court of justice^ a common school^ jiolltenesa^^ leariiing^
navy, houses, etc., as well as the names of things, like razor,
shoe, cap’, hed, jj<3;?6’//, jxijjer, etc., ai’e inapplicable to the same
things in England and China; M’hile it is plainly hnpossible to
coin a new word in English to describe the Chinese article, and
equally inexpedient to introduce the native term. If, for example,
the utensil used by the Chinese to shave with were
picked up in Portsmouth by some English navvy who had never
seen or heard of it, he would be more likely to call it an oysterknife,
or a wedge, than a razor ; while the use to which it is
‘ Voyage a Peking, Vol. II., p. 173.
POPULAR EKRORS KEiiAUDING FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 725
applied must of course give it that name, and would, if it were
still more unlike the western article. So with other things.
The ideas a Chinese gives to the terms htcangtl, kwanfa, jxio^
2jih, and shu^ are very different from those conveyed to an
American by the words envperor, inag1strate, cannon, jpoicil,
and IjooJ^:. Since a person can only judge of what he hears or
reads by what he knows, it is desirable that when he meets with
western names ap])lied to their equivalents in eastern countries,
the function of a different civilization, habits, and notions should
not be overlooked in the opinion he forms. These remarks are
peculiarly applicable to the domestic life of the Chinese, to their
houses, diet, dress, and social customs; although careful descriptions
may go a good way in conveying just ideas, it cannot be
hoped that they will do what the most cursory examination of
the ol)ject or trait would instantly accomplish.
The notions entertained abroad on tliese particulars ai-e, it need
hardly i)e remarked, rather more accurate than those the Chinese
have of distant countries, and it is scarcely possible that
they can lose their conceit in their own civilization and position
among the nations so long as such ideas are entertained as the
following extract exhibits. Tien Ivi-shih, a popular essayist of
the last century, thus congratulates himself and his readers: ” I
felicitate myself that I was born in China, and constantly think
how very different it would have been with me if I had been
born beyond the seas in some remote part of the earth, M’liere
the people, far remov^ed from the converting maxims of the
ancient kings, and ignorant of the domestic relations, are clothed
with the leaves of plants, eat wood, dwell in the wilderness, and
live in the holes of the earth ; though born in the world, in
such a condition I should not have been different from the
beasts of the field. But now, happily, I have been born in the
Middle Kingdom. I have a house to live in ; have food and
drink, and elegant furniture ; have clothing and caps, and infinite
blessings : truly, the highest felicity is mine.” This extract
well indicates the isolation of the writer and his race from their
fellow-men ; among the neighboring nations even the Japanese
would have shoAvn him his erroneous view. The seclusion which
had been forced upon both these peoples, who closed their doors as the surest possible defence against aggression from foreign traders and sought in this fashion to remove all cause of quarrel, brought with it in time the almost equal dangers of ignorance and inability to understand their true position among the nations of the world.
Diagram of Chinese Roof Construction. (From Fergusson.)
ABSENCE OF GREAT ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS. 727
The architecture of the Chinese suggests, in its general outline and the peculiar concave roof, a canvas tent as its primary motive, though there is no further proof than this likeness of its origin. From the palace to the hovel, in temples and in private dwellings, this type everywhere stands confessed,’ and almost nothing like a dome or cupola, a spire or a turret, is anywhere found. Few instances occur of an attempt to develop even this simple model into a grand or imposing building. While the Mogul princes in India reared costly mausolea and palaces to perpetuate their memory and the splendor of their reigns, the monarchs of China, with equal or greater resources at command, seldom indulged in this princely pastime, or even attempted the erection of any enduring monument to commemorate their taste or their splendor. Whether it was owing to the absence of the beautiful and majestic models seen in western countries, or to ignorance of the mechanical principles of the art, the fact is not the less observable, and the inference as to the advance made by them in knowledge and taste not less just.
‘ It is said that when Ghoimis in Lis invasion of Hiina took a city, his soldiers immediately set about pulling down the four walls of the houses, leaving the overhanging roofs supported by the wooden columns—by which process they converted them into excellent tents for themselves and their horses.—Encyclopedia Britannica : Art. China.
Fergiisson has no doubt assigned one good reason for this fact, in that ” the Chinese never had either a dominant priesthood or a hereditary nobiHty. The absence of the former class is important, because it is to sacred art that architecture has owed its highest inspiration, and sacred art is never so strongly developed as under the influence of a powerful and splendid hierarchy. In the same manner the want of a hereditary nobility is equally unfavorable to domestic architecture of a durable description.
Private feuds and private wars were till lately unknown, and hence there are no fortalices or fortified mansions, which by their mass and solidity giv^e such a marked character to a certain class of domestic edifices in the west.” ‘ These reasons have their weight, but they hardly cover the whole question, whose solution reaches into the well-known inertness of the imaginative faculty in the Chinese mind. It is nevertheless true that there is nothing in the whole Empire worthy to be called an architectural ruin, nothing which can inform us whether previous generations constructed edifices more splendid or more mean than the present.^
Dwelling-houses are generally of one story, having neither
cellars nor baseuients, and lighted by lattices opening into a
court; they must not equal adjacent temples in height, nor
possess the ornaments appropriated to palaces and religious establishments.
‘ James Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, p. 687; compare also Minwires Concernant les Chinois, where Chinese architecture is treated of in almost every volume.
‘ The foreign literature upon this subject is as yet scant and unimportant. Compare the rare and costly Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, Dresses, etc., from Originals draicn in China by Mr. Chambers, London, 1757, folio; J. M. Callery, De VArchitecture Chinoise, in the Recue d*Architecture ; Wm. Simpson, in Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1873-74,p. 33 , Notes and Queries on China arid Japan.
The common building materials are bricks, adobie or matting for the walls, stone for the foundation, brick tiling for the roof, and wood only for the inner work ; stone and wooden houses are not unknown, but are so rare as to attract attention. The high prices of tinil)er and the very partial use of window-glass have both tended to modify and restrict the
construction of dwelHngs. The id chuen, or sifted earth, is a
compound of decomposed granite or gravel and lime mixed with
water, and sometimes a little oil, of which durable walls are
made by pounding it into a solid mass between planks secured
at the sides and elevated as the wall rises, or by beating it into
large blocks ; when stuccoed and protected from the rain this
material gradually hardens into stone. In houses of the better
sort the stone M’ork of the foundation rises three or four feet
above the ground, and sometimes the finished surfaces, great
size of the stones and the i-egularity of their arrangement make
one regret that the same skill had nut been expended on large
edifices. In towns their fronts present no opening except the
door, and when the outer walls of sevei’al houses join those of
gardens and enclosures, the sti-eet presents an uninteresting
sameness, unrelieved by steps, windows, balconies, porticoes,
or front yards. The walls are twenty -five or thirty feet high,
usually hollow, or too thin to safely support the roof unaided.
In the common buildings a framework of wood is erected on
the foundation, which has large stones so arranged as to receive
the posts, and on these rests the entire weight of the roof. The
brick nogging fills up the intervals, but supports nothing ; it is
sometimes solid, more frequently merely a face-work, and if the
roof becomes leaky or broken a heavy rain will destroy the
wall, as it soaks through the courses and washes out the mud
within. In the central provinces common walls are often made
of small bricks four inches square and one thick, which are laid
on their edges in a series of hollows ; between the courses a
plank sometimes adds greater strength to the wall. These cellular
constructions are more durable than would be imagined provided
the stucco remains uninjured.
CONSTRUCTION OF CHINESE BUILDINGS. 729
The bricks are the same size as our own, and usually burned to a grayish slate coloi- ; they are made by hand, and sell at a price varying from three dollars to eight dollars a thousand. In the sea-coast districts lime is cheaply obtained from shells, but in the interior from limestone calcined by anthracite coal; the people use it pure, only occasionally mixing sand with it for either mortar or stucco. The walls are often stuccoed, and when not thus covered the bricks are occasionally rubbed smooth and pointed with tine cement. In place of a broad coi-nice the top is frequently relieved by a pretty ornament of moulded work of painted clay figures in alto relievo, representing a battle scene, a landscape, clusters of flowers, or some other design, defended from the weather by the projecting eaves. A black painted baud, relieved by cornei-s and designs of flowers and scrolls, is a cheap substitute for the carved figures.
The roofs are hipped in some provinces, but rarely in the north. They are steep, and if kept tight will last several years; the grass which is apt to spring up on them is a source of injury, and its growth or removal alike endangers the soundness
of the construction. The yellow and green glazed tiles of public
buildings add to their beauty, as do the dragon’s heads and
globes on their ridge-poles ; these features, together with the
earthen dogs at the corners of temples or official houses, make
the structures exceedingly picturesque. In Peking the framework
under the wide eaves of palaces is tastefully painted in
green and gold, and protected by a netting of copper wire.
Hoofs are made of earthen tiles laid on coarse clapboarding
that rests on the purlines in alternate ridges and furrows. The
under layer consists of square thin pieces, laid side by side in
ascending rows with the lower edges overlapping ; the sides are
covered by the serai-cylindrical tiles, which are further protected
by a covering of mortar. In the northern provinces the tiles
are laid in a course of mud resting on straw over the clapboarding.
The workmen begin the tiling at the ridge-pole and finish as they come down to the eaves, so as not to walk over the tiles and crack them ; but such roofs easily leak in driving storms. No chimneys are seen ; the slope is steep, for quick discharge of rain and snow. Terraces are erected on shops, but balustrades or flat roofs are seldom seen. Occasionally the gable w^alls rise above the roof in degrees, imparting a singular, bow-like aspect to the edifice. The purlines and ridge-pole extend from wall to wall, and the i-afters are slender strips. In all roofs the principal weight rests on the two rows of pillars; it the sides, tliut iiphold the plates, and the aiitefixoe which support the broad eaves far beyond the walh A series of beams and posts above the phites and tie-beams make the roof very heavy but also secure; curb and mansard roofs are unknown.
The pillars of stone or timber in Chinese temples are often
noticeable, owing to their size or length as single pieces. They
are, however, unadorned with either capital or carved base,
though the shaft may be finely carved and painted, the color
decoration being often upon a thick coating of ]_>aj)iei’-mac1iey
laid on to protect the wood. In two-story houses the sleepers
of the rioor are supported on tie-beams attached to the main
posts if they do not rest on the wall. Posts form an element
of all Chinese buildings, either to support the roof or the
veranda. The entrance is on the sides, and the wall is set back
from the outer line of the eaves so as to afford a shelter or porch.
Hipped roofs enable the architect to encompass the entire
building with a veranda, this being a common arrangement in
the southern provinces. A slight ceiling usually conceals the
tiling, but the apartment appears lofty owing to the cavity of
the roof.
The pavilion is a prominent feature of Chinese architecture,
and its ornamentation calls out the best talent of the builder in
making his edifice acceptable. One charming specimen of this
style at the Emperor’s sunnner palace of Yuen-ming Yuen is
already famous, its material being of pure copper ; it is about
fourteen feet square and twenty high.
Another beautiful structure which well exhibits the pavilion is shown in the adjoining cut. It is the Pih-yung Rang, or ‘Classic Hall,’ built by Kienlung adjacent to the Confucian Temple at Peking Tpage 74), and devoted to expounding the classics. This loftj^ building, which may be here seen through
an ornamental arch across the court, is perfectly square, covered
with a four-sided double roof, whose bright 3’ellow tiles and
gilded ball at the apex produce a most brilliant effect in the
sindight. The deep veranda, completely encircling the structure-
and supported by a score of colored wooden pillars, very
al)ly relieves the dead mass and heavy upper roof of the pavilion
P1H-YU>G KUNG, OK ‘CLASSIC HALL,’ PEKING.
ORNAMENTAL EDIFICES AND DWELLINGS. 731
proper. Around flow the waters of a circular tank, edged witli
marble balustrades and spanned by four bridges which form
the approaches to each of the sides.
The general disposition of a Chinese dwelling of the better
sort is that of a series of rooms separated and lighted by intervening
courts, and accessible along a covered corridor communicating
with each, or by side passages leading through the courts.
In cities, where the houses are cramped and the lots irregular
in shape, there is more diversity in the arrangement and size
of rooms ; and in the country establishments of wealthy families,
where the gradual increase of the members calls for additional
space, the succession of courts and buildings, interspersed
with gardens and pools, sometimes renders the whole not a little
complicated. The great expense of timber for floors, posts, and
sleepers has been the chief reason for retaining the single
story, rather than tlie awkwardness caused by cramping women’s
feet. Xo contrivance for warming the rooms by means of
chimneys or flues exists, except that found in the I’dng, or brick
bed, on which the inmates lie and sit.
The entrance into large mansions in the country is by a triple
gate leading through a lawn or garden up to the hall ; in towns,
a single door, usually elevated a step or two above the street,
introduces the visitor into a porch or court. A wall or movable
screen is placed inside of the doorway, and the intervening
space is occupied by the porter ; upon the wall on the left is
often seen a shrine dedicated to the gods of the threshold. In
the liouses of oSicials, upon this wall is inscribed a list of dignities
and offices which the master has held during his life. The
door is solidly constructed, and moves upon pivots turning in
sockets. Under the projecting eaves hang paper lanterns informing
the passer-by of the name and title of the householder,
and when lighted at night serving to illumine the street and
designate his hal)itation ; for door-plates and numbers are unknown.
The roughness of the gate is somewhat concealed by
the names or grotesque representations of two tutelar gods,
Shintu and Yuhlui, to whom the guardianship of the house is
entrusted ; wliile the sides and lintel are embellished with felicitous
quotations written upon red paper, or with sign-boards of official rank. The doorkeeper and other servants lodge in small rooms within the gateway, and above the porch is an attic containing one or two apartments, to be reached by a rude stairway.
On passing behind the screen a court, occasionally adorned
with flowers or a fancy fish-pool, is crossed before reaching the
principal hall. Tlie upper end of the hall is furnished with a
high table, on which incense vases, idolatrous utensils, and offerings
are placed in honor of the divinities and lares worshipped
there, whose tablets and names are on the wall. Sometimes the
table merely contains flowers in jars, fancy pieces of white
quartz, limestone or jade, or ornaments of various kinds. Before
the table is a large couch, with a low stand in its centi’e,
and a pillow for reclining upon. In front of it the chairs are
arranged down the room in two I’ows facing each other, each
pair having a small table between them. Tlie floors are made of
thick, lai’ge tiles of brick or marble, or of hard cement. Even
in a bright day the room is dim, and the absence of carpets and
fireplaces, and of windows to afford a prospect abroad, renders
it cheerless to a foreigner accustomed to his own glazed and
loftier houses.
A rear door near the side wall opens either into a kitchen or
court, across which are the female apartments, or directly into
the latter and the rooms for domestics. Instead of being always
rectangular the doors are sometimes made round, leaf-shaped,
or semi-circular, and it is thought desirable that they should not
open opposite each other, lest evil spirits find their way in from
tlie street. The rear rooms are lighted by skylights when
other modes are unavailable, and along the southern sea-coasts
the thin laminae of a species of oyster (Placuna) cut into small
squares supply the place of window-glass. Commerce is gradually
bringing this material into greater use all over the land,
though the fear of thieves still limits it. (^orean paper is the
chief substitute for glass in the north. The kitchen is a small
affair, for the universal use of portable furnaces enables the
imnates to cook M’herever the smoke will be least troulilesome.
Warming the house, even as far north’as i^ingpo, is not frequent,
as the inmates lely on their quilted and fur garments foi
AHRAXGEMEXT OF COUNTRY HOUSES. 733
protection. Tlie flue of tlio tiled-brick divan, or hoig^ is connected
with a pit lined with brick dug in the floor in front; when the pot of coal is well lighted and placed near the opening, the draft carries the heat into the passages running under the surface, and soon warms the room without much smoke.
The pot of burning coal furnishes all the cooking-fire the poor
liave, and at night the inmates sleep on the warm bricks.
The country establishments of wealthy men furnish the best
expression of Chinese ideas of elegance and comfort. In these
enclosures the hall of ancestors, library, school-room, and summer-
houses are detached and erected upon low plinths, surrounded
by a veranda, and frecpiently decorated with tracery
and ornamental carving, l^ear the rear court are the female
apartments and offices, many of the former and the sleeping
apartments being in attics. Considerable space is occupied by
the quadrangles, which are paved and embellished by fish-pools,
flowering shrubs, and other plants. Mr. Fortune describes ‘ the
house and garden of a gentleman at Kingpo as being connected
by rude-looking caverns of rock-work, ” and what at first sight
appears to be a subterranean passage leading from room to room,
tln-ough which the visitor passes to the garden. The small
courts, of which a gliinpse is caught in passing along, are fitted
up with rock-work ; dwarf trees are planted here and there in
various places, and graceful creepers hang down into the pools
in front. These being passed, another cavernous passage leads
into the garden, with its dwarf trees, vases, ornamented lattices,
and beautiful shrubs suddenly opening to the view. By
windings and glimpses along the rocky passages into other
courts, and hiding the real boundary by masses of shrubs and
trees, the grounds are made to appear much larger than they
really are.”
* Wanderings in China, p. 98.
The houses of the poor are dark, dirty, low, and narrow tenements, where the floor is of earth covered with mats or tiled, and the doorway the only opening, on which a swinging mat conceals the interior. The whole family often sleep, eat, and live in a single room. Pigs, dogs, and hens dispute the space with cliiklron and fiiruitui-c—if a tublc and a few trestles and
stools, pots and plates, deserve that name. The filthy street
without is a counterpart to the gloomy, smoky abode within,
and a single walk through the streets and lanes of such a neighborhood
is sufficient to reconcile a person to any ordinary condition
of life. On the outskirts of the town a still poorer class
take up with huts made of mats and thatch npon the ground,
through which the rain and wind find free course. It is surprising
that people can live and enjoy liealth, and even be
cheeriul, as the Chinese are, in such circumstances. Between
these hovels and the abodes of the rich is a class of middle
houses, consisting of three or four small rooms surrounding a
court, each one lodging a family, which uses its portion of the
quadrangle.
The best furniture is made of a heavy w^ood stained to resemble,
ebony ; camphor, elm, pine, aspen, and melia woods furnish
cheaper nuiterial. Ornamental articles, porcelain vases, copper
tripods or pots, stone screens, book-shelves, flowers in pots, etc.,
show the national taste. Ink sketches of landscapes, gay scrolls
inscribed with sentences suspended from the walls, and pretty
lanterns relieve the baldness of the room; their combined effect
is not destitute of vai’iety and elegance, though there is a lack of
‘:oriifort. l*artitions are sometimes fancifully made of latticework,
with openings neatly arranged for the reception of boxes
containing books. The bedrooms are small, poorly ventilated,
and seldom visited except at night. A massive bedstead of
costly woods, elaborately carved, and supporting a tester for
the silk curtains and mosquito-bars, is often shown as the family
])ride and heirloom ; a scroll of fine writing adorns its fringe or
valance. Mattresses or feather beds are not used, and the pillow
is a liollow square frame of rattan or bamboo. The bed, wardrobe,
and toilet usually complete the furniture of the sleeping
apartments of the Chinese ; but if this is also the sitting room,
the bed is rolled up so as often to furnish seats on its boards.
The grounds of the rich are laid out in good style, and were
not the tasteful arrangements aiul diversified shrubbery which
would render them charming resorts almost always spoiled by
geiieial bad keeping—neglect and ruin, if not nastiness and
STYLE OF GAKDEXS. To.”)
offals, being often visible—tliej would please the most fastidi
ons. The necessity of having a place for the women and children
to recreate themselves is one reason for having an open
enclosure, even if it be only a plat of flo\vei-s or a bed of
vegetables. In the imperial gardens the attempt to make an
epitome of nature has been highly successful. De Guignes
describes their art of gardening as ” imitating the beauties and
producing the inequalities of nature. Instead of alleys planted
symmetrically or uniform grounds, there are winding footpaths,
trees here and there as if by chance, woody or sterile hillocks,
and deep gulleys with narrow passages, whose sides are steep
or rough with rocks, and presenting only a few miserable
shrubs. They like to bring together in gardening, in the same
view, cultivated grounds and arid plains ; to make the field
uneven and cover it with artificial rock-work ; to dig caverns in
mountains, on whose tops are arbors half overthrown, and around
which tortuous footpaths run and return into themselves, prolonging, as it were, the extent of the grounds and increasing the pleasure of the w^alk.”
A fish-pond, supplied by a rivulet running wildly through
the grounds, forms a pretty feature of such gardens, in which,
if there be room, a summer-house is erected on a rocky islet, or
on piles over the water, accessible by a rugged causey of rockwork.
The nelumbium lily, with its plate-like leaves and magnificent
flowers, is a general favorite in such places ; carp and
other fish are reared in their waters, and gold-fish in small
tanks. AA^henever it is possible a gallery runs along the sides
of the pond for the pleasure and use of the females in the household.
A tasteful device in some gardens, which beguiles the
visitor”s ramble, is a rude kind of shell or pebble mosaic iidaid
in the g^’avelly paths, representing birds, animals, or other
figures ; the time required to decipher them prolongs the walk,
and apparently increases the size of the grounds. The pieces of
rock-work are cemented and bound w-ith wire ; and in fish-pools,
grottos, or causeways this unique ornament has a charming
effect, the moss and plants which grow upon it adding rather to
its appropriateness.
The wood and mason work is unsubstantial, requiring con736
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
staiit repairs ; when new they present a pi-etty appearance, but
both gardens and lionses, when neglected, soon fall into a ruinous
condition. Some of the princi})al merchants at Canton, in
the former days of the hong monopoly, had cultivated grounds
of greater or less extent attached to their establishments. One
of them, by way of variety, constructed a summer-house entirely
of glass, this wonderful structure being made so that it
could be closed and protected with shutters.
The arrangement of shops and warehouses is modified by the
uses to which they are applied, but they still i-esemble dwellinghouses
more than is the case with stores in western cities. The
rear room of the shop is a small apartment, used for a dormitory,
store-room, or workshop, and sometimes for all these purposes
together ; it is in most cases on an upper floor. Small
ones are lighted from the street, but the lai-gest by a skylight,
in whicli cases there is a latticed screen reaching across the
room, to secure the inside from the street. The whole shopfront
is thrown open by day and closed at uight by shutters
running in grooves, and secured by heavy cross-bars to a row of
posts whicli fit in sockets in the threshold and lintel. The doorway
recedes a foot or two, and the projecting roof serves to protect
customers, and such goods as are exposed, fi-om the rain and
sun. In small shops there are two counters, a long one running
back from the door, and another at right angles to it, reaching
partly across the front. The shopman sits within the angle
formed by these, and as they are low he can easily serve a customer
in the street as well as in the shop. At night the smaller
one often forms a lodging place for homeless beggars. The
facing of the outer counter is of granite, and in Canton a niche
containing a tablet inscribed to the god of wealth is cut in the
end, where incense is burned. Another shrine is placed on
liigh within the apartment,- dedicated to the deity of the place,
whoever he may be.
The loft is much contracted ; and that it may not intercept
the skylight, it is usually a small chamber reached by a gallery,
and lighted in front. Chinese tradesmen do not make nnich
display in exhibiting their goods, and the partial use of glass
renders it somewhat unsafe for them to do so. The want of a
SHOPS AND THOROUGHFARES. 7H7
yard compels theni to cook and wash either beliind or on top of
tlie building ; clerks and workmen usually eat and sleep under
the shop roof. In the densest parts of Canton the roofs are
covered with a loose framework, on which firewood is piled,
clothes washed and dried, and meals cooked ; it also affords a
sleeping place in summer. In case of fire, however, these lumbered
roofs become like so many tinder-boxes, and aid not a
little to spread the flames.
The narrowness of the streets in Chinese cities is a source of
many inconveniences ; few exceed ten or twelve feet in width,
and most of those in Canton are less than eight. No large
squares having fountains and shrubbery, nor any open spaces
except the areas in front of temples relieve the closeness of
these lanes. The absence of horses and carriages in southern
cities, and a custom of liuddling together, a desire to screen the
thoroughfare from the sun, and ignoi-ance of the advantages
of another mode, are among the leading reasons for making
them so contracted ; while the difficulty of collecting a mob in
them shoidd be mentioned as one point in their favor. In case
of fire it is difficult to get access to the burning buildings, and
dangerous for the inmates to move or save their property. At
all times porters carrying burdens are impeded by the crowd
of passengers, who likewise must pass Indian file lest they tilt
against the porters. Ventilation is imperfect where the
buildings are packed so closely, and the public necessaries and
their olfal carried through the streets by the scavengers pollute
the air. Drainage is very superficial and incomplete ; the sewers
easily choke up or get broken and exude their contents over
the pathway. The ammoniacal and other gases which are generated
aggravate the ophthalmic diseases so prevalent ; and
it is a matter of surprise that the cholera, plague, or yellow
fever does not visit the inhabitants of such confined abodes,
who breathe so tainted an atmosphere. The peculiar government
of cities by means of wards and neighborhoods, each
responsible to the officials, combined with the ignorance
among all ranks of the principles of hygiene, will account for
the evils so patent to one accustomed to the energetic sway o^
a mayor and board of health in most European cities, whc
Vol. I. -47
738 THE CUDDLE KIX<,;l)OM.
can bring knowledge and power to cooperate for tlie well-being
of all.
The streets are usnally paved with slabs of stone laid crosswise,
and except near markets and wells are comparatively
clean. They are not laid out straight, and some present a singularl}^
irregular appearance from the slight angle which each
house makes with its neighbors ; it being considered rather unlucky
to have them exactly even. The names of the streets are
written on the gateways crossing them, whenever they are
marked at all ; occasionally, as at Canton, each division njakes
a separate neighborhood and has its own name ; a single long
street will thus have live, six, or more names. The general arrangement
of a Chinese city presents a labyrinth of streets,
alleys, and byways very perplexing to a stranger who has
neither plan nor directory to guide him, nor numbers upon
the houses and shops to direct him. The sign-boards are
hung each side of the door, or securely inserted in stone sockets
; some of them are ten or fifteen feet high, and being gaily
painted and gilded on both sides with picturesque characters, a
succession of them as seen down a street produces a gay effect.
The inscriptions simply mention the kind of goods sold, and
“without half the puffing seen in western cities ; accounts sometimes
given of the inscriptions on sign-boards in Chinese cities,
as ” Ko cheating here,” and others, describe the exception and
not the rule. The edicts of government, handbills of medicines
and the famous doctors who make them, notices offering rewards
for children who are lost or slaves escaped, new shops opened,
houses to let, or other events, cover blank walls in great vaiiety,
printed on red, black, white, or yellow paper ; the absence of
newspapers leads shopmen to depend more for patronage upon
a circle of customers and the distribution of cards than to spend
much money in handbills. The shrines of the street gods occur
in southern cities, located in niches in the wall, with altars
before them.
The temples and assembly-halls are the only public buildings
in C’liinese cities belonging to the people. Their courts and
cloisters, with such gardens, tea-houses, and pools as may be
accessible, attract constant crowds, and furnish the only places
CLUB-HOUSES AND TAVERNS. 739
of common resort. The priests derive no small portion of their
income from travellers, and their establishments are consequently
made more commodious and extensive than the number
of priests or the throng of worshippers require.
The assembly-halls or club-houses form a peculiar feature of
Chinese society. There are more than a hundred in Canton
and many hundreds in Peking. They are built sometimes by a
particular craft as its guildhall, or more commonly erected by
persons resorting to the place for trade, study, or amusement,
who subscribe to fit up a commodious establishment to accommodate
persons coming from the same town. In this w^ay their
convenience, assistance, oversight, and general safety are all increased.”
All buildings pay a ground rent to the government,
but no data are available for comparing this tax with that levied
in western cities. The government furnishes the owner of the
ground with ^ hung Vi, or ‘red deed,’ in testimony of his right
to occupancj’, which puts him in possession as long as he pays
the taxes. There is a record office in the local magistracy of
such documents.
Houses are rented on short leases, and the rent collected quarterly in advance ; the annual income from real estate is between nine and twelve per cent. The yearly rent of the best shops in Canton is from $150 to $400 ; there is no system of insuring against fire, which, with the municipal taxes and the difficulty of collecting bad rents, enhances their price. Such kind of property in China is liable to many risks.
Compare pp. 76 and 167.
The taverns are numerous and adapted for every calling. Though they will not bear comparison with western hotels, they are far in advance of the cheerless khans and caravansaries found in Western Asia. The traveller brings his own bedding, sometimes also his own provision, and when night comes spreads his mat upon the floor or divan and lies down in his clothes. The better sort of travellers order a room for themselves, but officials or rich men go to temples, or hire a boat in which to travel and sleep ; this usage takes off the best class of customers. One considerable source of income to innkeepers is the preparation of dinners for parties of men, who either come to the house or send to it for so many covers ; for when a gentleman
invites his fi-iends to an entertainment it is common to serve it
up at liis warehouse, or at an inn. In towns and cities thousands
of men eat in the streets ; the number of eating and cooking-
stalls produces a most lively impression upon a stranger.
This custom has had a good effect in promoting the general
courtesy so conspicuous among the people, and is increased by
y-reat numbers of street story-tellers. The noisy hilaritv of
the customers, as they ply their ” nimble lads,” or chopsticks,
and the vociferous cries of the cooks recommending their cakes
and dishes, with the steaming savor from the frying-pan and
kettles, form only one of the many objects to attract the notice
of the foreign observer. Their ap23earauce and the variety of
bustling scenes and j)icturesque novelties presented to him afford
constant instruction and entertainment. Those at Canton have been thus described by an eye-witness. The iiuinlMT of itinerant workmen of one kind or another which line the sides of the streets or occupy the areas before public buildings in Chinese towns is a remarkable feature. Fruiterers, pastrymen, cooks, venders of gimcracks, and wayside sho^nnen are found in other countries as well as China; but to see a travelling blacksmith or tinker, an itinerant glass-mender, a peripatetic repairer of umbrellas, a locomotive seal-cutter, an ambulatory barber, a migratory banker, a peregrinatory apothecary or druggist, or a walking shoemaker and cobbler, one must travel hitherward. These movable establishments, together with fortune-tellers, herb and booksellers, chiromancers, etc., pretty well fill up the space, so that one often sees both sides of the streets literally lined with the stalls, wares, or tools of persons selling or making something to eat or to wear. The money-changer sits behind a small table, on which his strings of cash are chained, and where he weighs the silver he is to change ; his neighbor, the seal-cutter, sits next him near a like fashioned table.
The barber has his chest of drawers made to serve for a seat, and if he has not a furnace of his own he heats his water at the cook’s or the blacksmith’s fire near by, perhaps shaving his friend gratis by way of recompense.
STREET SCENES IN CANTON AND PEKING. 741
The herbseller chooses an open place where he will not be trampled on, and there displays his simples and his plasters, while the denti.st, with a ghastly string of fangs and grinders around his neck, testimonials of his skill, sits over against him, each with his infallible remedy. The book-peddler and chooser of lucky days, and he who searches for stolen goods by divination, arrange themselves on either side, with their tables and stalls, and array of sticks, l)en.:-ils, signs, and pictures, all trying to “catch a little jngeon.” The spectacle-mender and razor-grinder, the cutler and seller of bangles and bracelets, and tho uiakfi- <»’.’ clay jjiippcts or mender of old shoes, are not far off, all plying their callings as l)usily as it’ tln^y were in their own shops. Then, besides the hundreds of stalls for selling articles of food, dress, or ornament, there are innumerable hucksters going up and down with baskets and trays slung on
their shoulders, each bawling or making his own peculiar note, which, with
coolies transporting burdens, chair-bearers carrying sedans, and passengers following
one another lik(! a stream, with here and there a woman among them,
so till up the stre(4s that it is no easy matter to navigate one’s way. Notwitlistanding
all these obstructions, it is worthy of note and highly praiseworthy
to see these crowds jjass and repass with the greatest rapidity in the narrow
streets without altercation or disturbance, and seldom with accident.
‘
Streets at the north present a somewhat different, and on the
whole a less inviting becanse less entertaining and pictnresqne
aspect. Their greater width allows carts to pass, and it also
offers more room for the garbage, the rubbish, and the noisome
sights that are most disgusting, all of which are made worse in
rainy weather by the mud through which one liounders. Barrow
thus delineates those in Peking: “The midtitude of movable
workshops of tinkers and barbers, cobblers and blacksmiths,
the tents and booths where tea and fruit, i-ice and other eatables
were exposed for sale, with the wares and merchandise arrayed
befoi-e the doors, had contracted this spacious street to a narrow
road in the middle, just wide enough for two little vehicles to
pass each other. The processions of men in office attended by
their numerous retinues, bearing umbrellas and Hags, painted
lanterns and a variety of strange insignia of their rank and
station, different trains that were accompanying, with lamentable
cries, corpses to their graves, and with squalling nmsic, brides
to their husbands ; the troops of dromedaries laden with coals
from Tartary ; the wbeel-barrows and hand-carts stuffed with
vegetables, occupied nearly the whole of this middle space in
one continued line. All was in motion. The sides of the streets
were filled with an immense concourse of people, buj’ing and
sellino; and bartering; their different connnodities. The buzz
and confused noises of this mixed multitude, proceeding fi’om
the loud bawling of those who were crying their wares, the
wrangling of others, with every now and then a strange twanging
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vol. X. , p. 473.
sound like the jarring of a cracked jewsharp (the barber’s »io-nal), the mirth and laughter that prevailed in every group,
could scarcely be exceeded. Peddlers with their packs, jugglers
and conjurers, fortune-tellers, mountebanks and quack doctors,
comedians and musicians, left no space unoccupied.” ‘
Shops are closed at nightfall, and persons going abroad carry
a lantern or torch. Over the thoroughfares slender towers are
erected, where notice of a fire is given and the watches of the
night announced by striking a gong. Few persons are met in
the streets at night, and the private watch kept by all who are
able greatly assists the regular police in preserving order and
apprehending thiev^es. These watchers go up and down their
wards beating large bamboos, to let ” thieves know they are on
the lookout.” Considering all things, large Chinese cities are
remarkably quiet at night. Beggars find their lodgings in the
porches and squares of temples, or sides of the streets, and
nestle toorether for mutual warmth. This class is under the care
of a headman, who, in order to collect the poor-tax allowed by
law, apportions them in the neighborhoods with tiie advice of
the elders and constables. During the day they go from one
door to another and receive their allotted stipend, which cannot
be less than one cash to each person. They sit in the doorway
and sing a ditty or beat their clap- dishes and sticks to attract
attention, and if the shopkeeper has no customers he lets them
keep up their cries, for he knows that the longer they are detained
so much the more time will elapse before they come
again to his shop. Many are blind and all present a sickly
appearance, their countenances begrimed with dirt and furi’owed
by sorrow and suffering. The very difficult question how to
assist, restrain, and employ the poor has been usually left to the
mercy and wisdom of the municipal officers in the cities ; and
the results are not on the whole discreditable to their humanity
and benevolence. Many persons give the headman a dollar or
more per month to purchase exemption from the daily importunity
of the beggars, and families about to have a house-warming,
marriage, or funeral, as also jiewly arrived junks, are obliged
to fee him t<» get rid of the clamorous and loathsome crowd.
^Travels in China, p. 96.
OONTROL OF BEGGARS AND FIRES IN CITIES. 743
When fires occur the officers of goveniinent are held responsible
; the law being that if ten houses are burned vntlmi
the walls, tlie higliest officer in it shall l)e fined nine months’
pay ; if more than thirtj-, a year’s sahiry ; and if three hundred
are consumed, lie shall be degraded one degree. The governor
and other high officers, attended by a few troops, are frequently
seen at fires in Canton, as much to prevent thievery as
to direct in extinguishing the flames. The engines ai’e hurried
through tlie narrow streets at a fearful rate ; those who carry
away property are armed with swords to defend it, and usually
add to the crash of the burning houses by loud cries. The police
do not hesitate to pull down houses if the fire can thereby
be sooner extinguished, but there is no organized body of firemen,
nor any well-arranged system of operations in such cases,
thoufch conflagrations are ordinarilv soon under control. Cruel
men often take the opportunity at such times to steal and carry
off defenceless persons, especially young girls.
At Canton the usage is general of levying a bonus on the
owners of the houses adjacent to the burnt district, whose
dwellings were saved by the exertions of the firemen, the appraisement
decreasing as the distance increases ; the sum is divided
among the firemen. The householders thus saved also
employ priests to erect an altar near by, whereon to perform a
service, and “return thanks for Heaven’s mercy.” On the
whole, the fire control in China is superior to that in Turkey,
where the firemen pay themselves for their efforts by extortions
practised upon house-owners.
The pagoda is a building considered as so peculiar to the
Chinese that a landscape or painting relating to China without a
pagoda perched on a hill—like one of Egyptian scenerj’ destitute
of a pyramid—would be considered deficient. The ioxm. pagoda
is used in its proper sense by most of the French and Portuguese
writers to denote a temple for idols, but in English books it has
always been appropriated to the polygonal towers seen throughout
the country. Some confusion has arisen in consequence of applying
the account of an immense temple full of idols to these
towers. The English use is the most definite in China, although
its misapplication is indefensible if we regard its derivation.
The form of the (“liinesc tult is probably derived from the epire on the top of the Hindu dagoha, as its name is doubtless taken from the first syllable; but their purpose has so long been identitied with the geomantie inihK^nces which determine the hit’k of a place that the people do not associate them with Buddhism. Mr. Milne explains this in his remark that “the presence of such an edifice not only secures to the site the protection of heaven, if it already bears evidence of enjoying it, but represses any evil influences that may be native to the spot, and imparts to it the most salutary and felicitous omens.” ‘
Those in the southern and central provinces seldom contain
idols of any pretensions. They are ascended by stairways built
in the thick walls on alternate sides of the stories. In the
north there is another kind, designed to contain a she-li, or
relic of Buddha, having a large room near the base for worshipping
the -idol placed in it, but otherwise entirely solid and
nearly uniform in size to the top ; the stories are merely numerous
narrow projections, like eaves or string courses, on which
hundreds of small images are sometimes placed. These structlu’es
more nearly resemble the Indian dagoha than the other
kind, and are always connected with a monastery, while those
are not uniformly so placed, though under a priestly oversight.
Xo town is considered complete without a pagoda, and many
large cities have several ; there ]nust be nearly two thousand in
the Empire, some of which are quite celebrated. It is rare to
see a new one, and the ruinous condition of most of them indicates
the weakness of the faith which erected them. They vary
in height from five to thirteen stories, and are mostly built in
so solid a manner that they are likely to remain for centuries.
One at Ilangchau is octagonal, each face twenty-eight feet
wide and the wall at the base eighteen feet thick ; the top is
reached by a spiral stairway between the M’alls ; a covei-ed gallery
on the outside of each story affords resting-places and everchanging
views to the visitor; it is one hundred and seventy
feet high, and Avas built during the Sung dynasty, in the twelfth
‘ Life in China, p. 453.
century. The prospect from its summit is superb ; the picturescjiie coiubinatiou of sen aiul shore, land and water, city aiul country, wilderness, gardens, andliills, with many historical and religious associations interesting to a Jiativi;, make it one of the most charming landscapes in China.
PAGODAS, THEIR PURPOSE AXD COXSTRUCTION. 74.J
Sir John Davis visited one near Lintsing chau iu Shantung,
in very good repair, inhabited hy Buddhist ])riests, and containing
two idols ; each of its nine stories was inscribed with Otneto
Fuh, in large characters. It was erected since the completion
of the Grand Canal. A M’iuding stairway of near two hundred
steps conducted to the top, about one hundred and fifty feet
from the ground, from whence an extensive view was obtained
of the surrounding counti’v. The basement was excellently
built of granite, and all the rest of glazed brick, beautifully
joined and cemented.
The objects in building these structures being of a mixed nature,
sometimes geomantic and sometimes religious, their materials,
size, and structure vary considerably. There are two inside
of Canton, and three near the Pearl Hiver, below the city ;
fifteen others occur in the prefecture. Suchau has two, Xingpo
one, Fuhchau two, and Peking six in and out of the Avails.
One of those at Canton was built by the Moslems about a thousand
years ago, a plain brick tower nearly two hundred feet
high, from which the faithful were probably called to prayers in
the adjacent mosque. Fergusson’s remarks upon Chinese architecture
wcndd probably have been modified had the writer enjoyed
a wider range of observation and a fuller knowledge of
the designs of native builders. They are, however, the conclusions
of a competent observer, and the position he gives to
the pagoda among the tower-like buildings of the woi-ld, arising
from its peculiar form, its divisions, and its apparent uselessness,
will be genei-ally accepted as just.
Mr. Milne, in his interesting work, has a good account of pagodas; he shows that while their model is of Hindu origin, and has been carefully followed since the first one was erected(about A.D. 250) at Nanking, the popular geomantic ideas connected with their octawnal form and great heii>:ht have “”radually increased and influenced their location. The Buddhists seem themselves to have lost their ancient confidence in the protection of the sJie-ll (or salna) supposed to be built in them. The number of Indian words transliterated in Chinese accounts of these edifices further proves their foreign origin. For convenience and accuracy in describing them, it would be best to restrict the term 2)a(joda to the hollow octagonal towers, the word dagoha to the solid ones covering the relics, and toj)e to the erections over priests when buried.
Pagodas are sometimes made of cast iron ; those hitherto observed
are in the central provinces. One exists in Chehkiang
province, nearly fifty feet high and of nine stories. The octagonal
pieces forming the walls are each single castings, as are also the
plates forming the roof. The whole structure, including the
base and spire, was made of twenty pieces of iron. Its interior
is filled with brick, probably Mith the design to strengthen it
ao;ainst storms. The ignorance of the Cliinese of later davs of
the Hindu origin of pagodas has led to their regarding those
now in existence as of native design, and appropi-iated by the
Buddhists for their own ends. Most of them are falling to
ruins ; and the assurances held out by the geomancers that the
pagoda will act like an electric tractor to draw doAvn every
felicitous omen from above, so that fire, water, wood, earth, and
metal will be at the service of the people, the soil productive,
trade prosperous, and the natives submissive and happy, all fail
to call out funds for repairing them,’
^Voyages d Peking, Tome II., p. 79 ; Davis’ Sketclies, Vol. I., p. 213 ; PergiLsson, Indian and Eastern Architecture, 187G, p. ()!)5 ; Milne’s Life in China p. 429 seq.; Chinese Repositoi-y, Vol. XIX., pp. 535-540.
MODES OF TRAVELLING, 747
The dull appearance of a Chinese city when seen from a distance is unlike that of European cities, in which spires, domes, and towers of churches and cathedrals, halls, palaces, and other public buildings relieve the uniformity of rows of dwellings. In China, temples, houses, and palaces are nearly of one height ; their sameness being only partially relieved by trees mingled with pairs of tall flag-staffs with frames near their tops, which at a distance rather suggest the idea of dismantled gallows. Nature, however, charms and delights, and few countries present more beautiful landscapes ; even the tameness of the works of man serves as a foil for the diversified beauties of the cultivated landscape,
A Chinese usually prefers to travel by water, and in the southeastern provinces it may be said that vehicles solely designed for carrying travelers or goods do not exist, for the carts and wheel l)arrows which are met with are few and miserably made. Ihit north of the Yangzi River, all over the Great Plain carts and wheelbarrows form the chief means of travel and transportation. The high cost of timber and the bad roads compel the people to make these vehicles very rude and strong, having axles and wheels able to bear the strains or upsets which befall them. Carts for goods are drawn by three or four horses
Wheelbarrows Used for Travelling.
usually driven tandem, and fastened Ijy long traces to the axletree,
one remaining within the thills. The common carts,
drawn by one or two mules, are oblong boxes fastened to an
axle, covered -with cotton cloth, and cushioned to alleviate the
jolting; the passengers get in and out at the front, where the
driver sits close to the horse. In Peking the members of
the imperial clan and family are allowed to use carts having the
wheel behind the body ; their ranks are further indicated by a
red or yellow covering, and a greater or less number of outriders
to escort them. The wheelbarrow is in great use for short
distances throughout the same region. The position of the wheel in the center enables the man to 2)rupel a heavy load readily. When on a good road, and aided by a donkey, the larger \arieties of barrow carry easily a burden of a ton’s weight ; two men are necessary to maintain the balance and guide the rather top-heavy vehicle.
Where travelling by water is impossible, sedan chairs are used to carry passengers, and coolies with poles and slings transport their luggage and goods There are two kinds of sedan, neither of them designed for reclining like the Indian ^^(dl’ij.
The light one is made of bamboo, and so narrow that the sitter is obliged to lean forward as he is carried ; the large one, called hiao^ is, whether viewed in regard to lightness^ comfort, or any other quality associated with such a mode of carriage, one of the most convenient articles found in any country. Its use is subject to sumptuary laws, and forbidden to the common people unless possessing some kind of rank. In Peking only the highest officials ride in them, with four bearers. In other cities two chairmen manage easily enough to maintain a gait of four miles an hour with a sedan upon their shoulders. Goods are carried upon poles, and however large or heavy the package may be, the porters contrive to subdivide its weight between them by means of their sticks and slings. The number of persons who thus gain a livelihood is great, and in cities they are employed by headmen, who contract for work just as carmen do elsewhere ; when unengaged by overseers, parties station themselves at corners and other public places, ready to start at a beck, after the manner of Dlenstuianner in German cities. In the
streets of Canton groups of brawny fellows are often seen idling
awa\’ their time in smoking, gambling, sleeping, or jeering at
the wayfarers ; and, like the husbandmen mentioned in the
parable, if one ask them why they stand there all the day idle?
the answer will be, ” Because no man hath hired us.”
SEDAX ClfAHIS AND KIVKll CHAFT. 740
The chair-bearers form a distinct guild in cities, and the establishments where sedans and their bearers are to be hired suggest a comparison with the livery stables of western cities; the men, in fact, are nicknamed at Canton mo ml ma, ‘tailless horses.’ A vehicle used sometimes by the Emperor and high officers consists of an open chair set upon poles, so made that the inciinibeiit can 1×3 .sccii as avcU as si-e around him. It undergoes many changes in different parts of the country, as it is both cheap and iiglit and M’ell litted for traversing mountainous regions.
In the construction and management of their river craft the Chinese exceh ^Vs boats are intended to be the residences of those who navigate them, regard is had to this in their arrangement.
^)uly a part of the fleets of boats seen on the river at (^anton ai’C intended for transportation, a large nundier being designed for fixed residences, and per]ia|>s half of them are pernianently moored. They are not t)bligcd to remain where they station themselves, but the boats and their inmates are both under the supervision of a M^ater police, who I’egister them and point out the position they may occupy. Barges for families, those in which oil, salt, fuel, or other articles are sold, lighters, passage-boats, flower-boats, and other kinds, are by this means grouped together, and more easily found. It was once ascertained that there were eighty-four thousand boats
registered as belonging to the city of Canton, but whether all
remained near the city and did not go to other parts of the district,
or whether old ones were erased from Ihe register when
broken up, was not determined. It is not likely, however, that
at one time this luimber of boats ever lay opposite the citv.
Ko (lueMdio has been at Canton can forget the noisy, animating
sight the river offers, nor failed to have noticed the good humored carefulness with which boats of every size pass each other without collision.
It is difficult to describe the many kinds of craft found t>n Chinese waters without the assistance of drawings. They are furnished with stern sculls moving upon a pivot, and easily propelling the boat. Large boats are furnished with two or three of these, which, when not in use, are conveniently haided in upon the side. They are provided with oars, the loom and blade of which are fastened by withs, and “work through a band attached to a stake ; the rower stands up and pushes his oar with the same motion as that employed by the A’enetian gondolier. Occasionally an oarsman is seen rowing with his feet.
The mast in some large cargo boats consists of two sticks, resting Oil the gunwales, joined at top, and so arranged as to be hoisted from the boAv ; in those designed for residences no provision is made for a mast. Fishing boats, ligliters, and seagoing craft have one or two permanent masts. In all, except the smallest, a wale or frame projects from the side, on which the boatmen Avalk when poling the vessel. The sails in the south are “woven of strips of matting, sewed into a single sheet, and provided with yards at the top and bottom ; the bamboo ribs crossing it serve to retain the hoops that run on the mast, and enable the boatmen to haul them close on the wind. A driver is sometimes placed on the taifrail, and a small foresail near the bow, but the mainsail is the chief dependence. No Chinese boat has a bowsprit, and very few are coppered, or have two decks, further than an orlop in the stern quarter in which to stow provisions; no dead-lights give even a glimmer to these recesses, which are necessarily small.
The internal arrangement of dwelling-boats is simple. The
better sort are from sixty to eighty feet long, and about fifteen
wide, divided into three rooms ; the stem is sharp, and upholds
a platform on which, when they are moored alongside, it is
easy to pass from one boat to another. Each one is secured by
ropes to large hawsers which run along the whole line at the
bow and stern. The room nearest the bow serves for a lobby
to tlie pi’incipal apartment, which occupies about half the body
of the boat ; the two are separated by trellis bulkheads, but the
sternmost room, or sleeping apartment, is carefully screened.
Cooking and wasliiug are performed on a high stern framework,
wliicli is a(]miral)ly contrived, by means of furnaces and other
conveniences above and hatches and partitions below deck, to
serve all these purposes, contain all the fuel and water necessary,
and answer for a sleeping place as well. By means of
awnings and frameworks the top of the l)oat also subser\’es
many objects of work or pleasure. The window-shutters are
movable, fitted for all kinds of weather and for fiexibility of
arrangement, meeting all the demands of a family and the particular
service of a vessel ; nothing can be more ingenious.
Tiie lumdsomest of these craft are called hica ting, or flowerboats,
and are let to parties for pleasure excursions on tlie river,-
d\vp:lleiis on the water. 751
a large proportion of them are also the abodes of public women.
The smaller sorts at Canton are generally known as tait.kia
boats ; they are about tweuty-live feet long, coutain only one
room, and are fitted with moveable mats to cover the whole
vessel ; they are usually rowed by women. In these ” egghouses
” whole families are reared, live, and die ; the room which
serves for passengers by day is a bedroom by night ; a kitchen
at one time, a washroom at another, and a nursery always.
As to this custom of living upon the water, we have an interesting testimony of its practice so far back as the fourteenth century, from the letter of a Dominican Friar in 1330. ” The realm of Cathay,” writes the missionary, ” is peopled passing well And there be many great rivers and great sheets of water throughout the Empire; insomuch that a good half of the realm and its territory is under water. And on these waters dwell great multitudes of people because of the vast population that there is in the said realm. They build wooden houses upon boats, and so their houses go up and down upon the waters; and the people go trafficking in their houses from one province to another, whilst they dwell in these houses with all their families, with their wives and children, and all their household utensils and necessaries. And so they live upon the waters all the days of their life. And there the women be brought to bed, and do everything else just as people do who dwell upon diy land.” ‘
‘ Yule, Cat/iay and t/ie Way TMthn\ Vol. I., p. 243.
It is unnecessary to particularize the various sorts of lighters or c7toj)-hoats found along the southern coast, the passenger boats plying from town to town along the hundreds of streams, and the smacks, revenue cutters, and fishing craft to be seen in all waters, except to call attention to their remarkable adaptation for the ends in view. The best sorts are made in the southern provinces; those seen at Tientsin or Niuchwang suffer by comparison for cleanliness, safety, and speed, owing partly to the high price of wood and the less use made of them for dwellings. On the head waters of the River Ivan the boats are of a peculiarly light construction, with upper works entirely of matting, and the liull like a crescent, well fitted to encounter the rapids and rocks which beset their course.
Besides these various kinds the revenue service employs a narrow, sharp-built boat, j^ropelled by forty or fifty I’owers, armed with swivels, spears, boarding-hooks, and pikes, and lined on the sides with a menacing array of rattan shields painted with tigers’ heads. Smugglers have simihirly made boats, and now and then imitate the government boats in their appearance, which, on their part, often compete with them in smuggling. In 1S<!3 the imperial government was induced to adopt a national flag for all its own vessels, which will no doubt gradually extend to merchant craft. It is triangular in shape, and has a dragon with the head looking upward. It is usual for naval officers to exhibit long yellow flags with their official titles at full length ; the vessels under them are distinguished by various pennons. Junks carry a great assortment of flags, triangular and square, of white, red, and other colors, most of them bearing inscriptions. The number of governmental boats and war junks, and those used for transporting the revenue and salt, is proportionately very snuill ; but if all the craft found on the rivers and coasts of China be included, their united tonnage perhaps equals that of all other nations put together. The dwellers on the water near Canton are not, as has been sometimes said, debaiTed from living ashore. A boat can be built cheaper than a brick house, and is equally comfortable; it is kept clean easier, pays no ground-rent, ainl is not so (ibnoxious to fire and thieves. Most of them are constructed c^f fir or jtine and smeared with wood oil; the seams are caulked with i-attan shavings and paid over with a cement (»f oil and gvpsum. The sailing craft are usually flat-bottomed, shai-i)foi-wai'(l, and guided by an enormous i-udder which can be hoisted through the open stern sheets when in shallow waters. The teak-Mood anchors have iron-bound flukes, held bycoii’or bamboo hawsers— now often replaced by iron chain and giapnel.’
‘Compare an article by W. F. Mayers in Notes and Queries on C. and J.,Vol. I., pp. 170-173 (with illustrations) ; Mrs. Gray, Fourteen Months in Canton, passim ; Dr. Edkins in Journal JV! H. Br. R. A. Soc, Vol. XT., p. 12:5; Doolittl.?, VoMihvliry, Part ITT., No. LXVTTT ; Enirin.-.M- J. W. Kiuir in The United Service, Vol. IT., p. 383 (Phila., 1880).
RKVENUK BOATS AND J UN Kb. 753
The ()1<1 picturesque junk, with its bulging Inill, high steni, and great eyes on tlu; Itow, is rapidly disappearing before steamers. Its original model is said to he a huge sea monster; the teeth at the cutwater and top of the bow detine its mouth, the long boards on each side of the bow form the armature of the head, the eyes being painted on them, the masts and sails are ^he tins, and the high stern is the tail frisking aloft. The cabins look more like niches in a sepulchre than the accommodations for a live passenger. The crew live upon deck most of the time, and are usually interested in the trade of the vessel or an adventure of their own. The hold is divided into watertight compartments, a contrivance that has its advantages when the vessel strikes a rock, but prevents her carrying a cargo comparable to her size. The great number of passengers which have been stowed in these vessels entailed a frightful loss of life when they Mere wrecked. In February, 1822, Capt. Pearl, of the English ship Indiana, coming through Gaspar Straits, fell in with the cargo and crew of a wrecked junk, and saved one hundred and ninety-eight persons (out of one thousand six hundred with whom she had left Amoy), whom he landed at Pontianak ; this humane act cost him $55,000.”
Among secondary architectural works deserving notice are bridges and honoraiy jiortals. There is good reason for supposing that the Chinese have been acquainted with the arch from very early times, though they make comparatively little use of it. Certain bridges have pointed arches, others have semicircular, and others approach the form of a horse-shoe, the transverse section of an ellipse, or even like the Greek /2, the space being widest at the top. In some the arch is high for the accommodation of boats passing beneath; and where no heavy wains or carriages cross and jar the fabric, it can safely be made light. A graceful specimen of this class is the structure seen in the illustration on page T54. This bridge, though serving no practical purpose, is one of the greatest ornaments about the Emperor’s summer palace of Yuan-ming Yuan. The material is marble; its summit is reached by forty steps rising abruptly from the causeway, and impracticable, of course, for any but pedestrians.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 149. Vol. I.—48
BRIDGES IN CHINA. 755
The balustrades and paving of the long marble bridges near Peking and Hangzhou, some of them adorned with statues of elephants, lions, and other animals, present a pleasing effect, while their solidity and endurance of freshes running over the top at times attest the skill of the architects. Wooden bridges furnish means for crossing small streams in all parts of the land; when the river is powerful, or the rise and fall of the tide great, it is crossed on boats fastened together, with contrivances for drawing out two or three in the centre when the passing craft demand a passage. At Tientsin, Ningbo, and other cities, this means of crossing entails little delay in comparison to its cheapness.
Some of the bridges in and about Peking are beautiful structures; their erection, however, presented no difficult problem, while that at Fuhchau was a greater feat of engineering.
It is about four hundred yards long and five wide, consisting of nearly forty solid buttresses of hewn stone placed at unequal distances and joined by slabs of granite; some of these slabs arc three feet square and forty-five feet long. They support a granite pavement. The bridge was formerly lined with shops, which the increased traffic has caused to be removed. Another similar bridge lies seven miles north of it on the River Min, and a third of equal importance at the city of Chinchew, north of Amoy. Some of the mountain streams and passes in the west and north are crossed by rope bridges of ingenious construction, and by chain suspension bridges.
Mr. Lowrie describes a bridge at Changchau, near Amoy, and these structures are more numerous in the eastern provinces than elsewhere. ” It is built on twenty-live piles of stone about thirty feet apart, and perhaps twenty feet each in height. Large round beams are laid from pile to pile, and smaller ones across in the simplest and rudest manner; earth is then placed above these and the top paved with brick and stone. One would suppose that the work had been assigned to a number of different persons, and that each one had executed his part in such manner as best suited his own fancy, there being no regularity whatever in the paving. Bricks and stone were intermingled in the most confused manner, and the railing was here wood and there stone. We were particularly struck Math the length of some of the granite stones used in paving the bridge; one was eight, another eleven, and three others eighteen paces, or about forty-five feet long, and two broad. The bridge averaged eight or ten feet in width, and about half its length on both sides was occupied by shops.”‘
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vol. XII., p. 528 ; Medhurst’s HohJceen Dictionary, Introduction pp. XXII, XXIII.
A causeway of ninety arches crosses a feeder of the Grand Canal near Hangchau. The stones for the arch in one bridge noticed by Barrow were cut so as to form a segment of the arch, and at each end were mortised into transverse blocks of stone stretching across the bridge ; they decreased in length from ten feet at the spring of the arch to three at the vertex, and the summit stone was mortised, like the rest, into two transverse blocks lying next to it.* (* Barrow’s Travels, p. 338.)The tenons were short, and the disposition of tlio principal pieces such that a bridge built in tliit^ way “would not support great weights or endure many ages.
The mode oi” placing the pieces can be seen in the cut. In other instances the stones are laid in the same manner as in Europe; many small bridges over creeks and canals have cambered or straight arches. When one of these structures falls into ruins or becomes dangerous, the people seldom bestir themselves to repair the damage, preferring to wait for the government ; they thereby lose the benefit of self-dependence and action.
Bridge showing the mode of Moitising the Arch.
TAI-LAU, OR irOXOKAUY rOlJTALS. 7o7
It is singular how the term triumphal arch came to be applied to tha j)al-fan<j und jxii-lau, or honorary portals or tablets, of the Chinese; for a triumph was perhaps never heard of in that country, and these structures are never arched. They consist merely of a broad gateway flanked with two smaller ones, and suggest a turnpike gate Mitli side-ways for foot passengers rather than a triumphal monument. They are scattered in great numbers over the provinces, and are erected in honor of distinguished persons, or by officers to commemorate their parents, by special favor from the Emperor. Some are put up in honor of women who liiive distinguished thoiiiHclves for their cliastity and filial duty, or to widows who have refused a second marriage. Permission to erect them is considered a high honor, and perhaps the term tflant_p/ud was given them from this circumstance.
The economical and peaceful nature of such honors conferred upon distinguished men in China is most characteristic; a man is allowed to build a stone gateway to himself or his parents, and the Emperor furnishes the inscription, or perhaps sends with it a patent of nobility. Their general arrangement is exhibited in the title page of this work; the two characters, f<Jiin(j c/ii, at the top, meaning ‘ sacred will,’ intimate that it was erected by his Majesty’s permission.
Some of the J>al-l(( (6 are elaborately ornamented with carved work and inscriptions; and as a protection to the frieze a ponderous covering of tiles projects over the top, which, however, exposes the structure to injury from tempests. They are placed in conspicuous places in the outskirts of towns, and in the streets before temples or near government edifices. Travellers looking for what they had read about have sometimes strangely mistaken the gateways at the heads of streets or the entrance to temples for the honorary portals.’ Those built of stone are fastened by mortises and tenons in the same manner as the wooden ones ; they seldom exceed twenty or twenty-five feet in height. The skill and taste displayed in the symmetry and carving upon some of them are creditable ; but as the man in wdiose honor it is erected is, generally speaking, “the architect of his own fame,” he prudently considers the worth of that commodity, and makes an inferior structure to what would have been done if his fellow-subjects, ” deeply sensible of the honor,” had come together to appoint a committee and open a subscription list for the purpose. Among the numerous ^>^//-Zc^?^, in and near Peking, two or three deserve mention for their beauty.
One lies in the Confucian Temple in front of the Plh-yung Kung, and is designed to enhance the splendor, of its approach by presenting, as it were, a frame before its facade. It is built of stone and overlaid with square encaustic tiles of many hues.
‘ Encyclopedia Americana, Art. Canton.
The arrangement of the colors, the carving on the marble, and the fine proportions of the structrue render it altogether one of the most artistic objects in China. Another like it is built in the Imperial Park, but the position is not so advantageous.
Fergusson points out the similarity between tho&e pai-lau and certain Hindu gateways, and claims that India furnished the model. The question of priority isliardly susceptible of proof; but his fancy that a \iirge pai-lau in a street of Amoy presented a simulated coffin on it above the principal cornice, leads us to suspect that he was looking for what was never in the builder’s mind.
The construction of forts and towers presents little worthy of
observation, since there is no other evidence of science than what
the erection of lines of massive stone Avail displays. The portholes
are too large for protection and the parapet too slight to
resist modern missiles. The Chinese idea of a fortification is
a wall along the water s edge, with embrasures and battlements,
and a plain wall landwai’d without port-holes or. parapets, enclosing
an area in which a few houses accommodate the garrison
and ammunition. Some erected at the junction of streams are
pierced on all sides ; others are so unscientifically jilanned that
the walls can be scaled at angles where not a single gun can be
brought to bear. The towers are rectangular edifices of brick
on a stone foundation, forty feet square and fifty or sixty high,
to be entered by ladders through a door half way up the side.
The forts in the neighborhood of Canton, probably among the best in the Empire, are all constructed without fosse, bastion, glacis, or counter-defence of any kind. Both arrangement and placement are alike faulty : some are square and approachable without danger; others circular on the outer face but with flank or rear exposed; others again built on a hillside like a pound, so that the garrison, if dislodged from the battlements, are forced to fly up the slope in full range of their enemy’s fire. The gate is on the side, unprotected by ditch, drawbridge, or portcullis, and poorly defended by guns upon the walls or in the area behind. In general the points chosen for their forts display a misapprehension of the true principles of defence, though Bome may be noted as occupying commanding positions.
MILITAKY Ar.dllTKCTUUE—DRKSS. 759
111 recent times mud defences and batteries of sand-bags have proved a much safer defence than such buildings against ships and artillery, and show the aptitude of the people to adopt practical things. Though not particularly resolute on the held, the Chinese soldier stands well to his guns when behind a fortification of whose strength he is assured. The forts which have recently been constructed under supervision of European engineers are rapidly taking the place of native works in all parts of the country.
Dress, like other things, undergoes its changes in China, and fashions alter there as well as elsewhere, but they are not as rapid or as strikhig as among European nations. The full costume of both sexes is, in general terms, commodious and graceful, combining all the purposes of warmth, beauty, and ease which could be desired, excepting always the shaven crown and braided queue of the men and the crippled feet of the women, in both of which fashions they have not less outraged nature than deformed themselves. On this point different tastes exist, and some prefer the close-fitting dress of Europeans to the loose robes of Asiatics ; but when one has become in a measure habituated to the latter, one is willing to allow the force of the criticism that the European male costume is ‘* a mysterious combination of the inconvenient and the unpicturesque : hot in summer and cold in winter, useless for either keeping off rain or
sun, stiif but not plain, bare without being simple, not durable,
not becoming, and not cheap.” The Chinese dress has remained,
in its general style, the same for centuries ; and garments of fur
or silk are handed down from parent to child without fear of
attracting attention by their antique shapes. The fabrics most
worn are silk, cotton, and grass-cloth for summer, with the addition
of furs and skins in winter ; woollen is used sparingly, and
ahiiost wholly of foreign manufacture.
Barber’s Establishment Dress of the Common People.
VARIETY AND MATERIAL OP APPAREL. 761
The principal articles of dress are inner and outer tunics of various lengths made of cotton or silk, reaching below the loins or to the feet ; the lapel on the right side folds over the breast and fits close about the neck, which is left uncovered. The sleeves are much wider and longer than the arms, have no cuffs or facings, and in common cases serve for pockets. A Chinese, instead of saying ” he pocketed the book,” would say ” he sleeved it.” In robes of ceremony the end of the sleeve resembles a horse’s hoof, and good breeding requires the hand to be kept in a position to exhibit the cuff when sitting. In warm weather one upper garment is deemed sufficient; in winter a dozen can be put on without discommodity, and this number is sometimes actually seen upon persons engaged in sedentary employments, or on those who sit in the air. Latterly, underwear of flannel has become common among the better dressed, who like the knitted fabric so close-fitting and warm. The lower limbs are comparatively slightly protected ; a pair of loose trousers, covered;o the knee by cloth stockings, is the usual summer garment; tight leggings are pulled over both in winter and attached to the girdle by loops ; and as the trousers are rather vohiiriiiions and the tunic short, the excess shows behind from luider these leggings in a rather unpleasant manner. Gentlemen and officers always wear a robe with the skirt opened at the sides, which conceals this intermission of the imder apparel. The colors preferred for outer garments are various hues of buff, purple, oi blue.
The shoes are made of silk or cotton, usually embroidered for women’s wear in red and other colors. The soles are of felt, sometimes of paper inside a rim of felt, and defended on the bottom by hide. These shoes keep the feet dry and unchilled on the tiles or ground, so that a Chinese nuiy be said really to carry the floor of his house under his feet instead of laying it on the ground. The thick soles render it necessary for ease in walking to round up their ends, which constrains the toes into an elevated position so irksome that all go slipshod who conveniently can do so. The cost of a cotton suit need not exceed five dollars, and a complete silken one, of the gayest colors and best materials, can easily be procured for twenty-five or thirty. Quilted cotton garments are exceedingly common, and are so made as to protect the whole person from the cold and obviate the need of fires. In the north dressed sheepskin i-()l)os furnish bedding as well as garments, and their durability will long make them more desirable than woven fabrics.
The ancient Chinese wore the hair long, bound upon the top of the head, somewhat after the style of the Lewchewans; and taking pride in its glossy black, called themselves the black-haired race. But in 1627 the Manchus, then in possession of only Liautung, issued an order that all Chinese under them should adopt their coiffure as a sign of allegiance, on penalty of death; the fashion thus begun by compulsion is now followed from choice. The fore part of the head is shaved to the crown and the hair braided in a single plait behind. Laborers often wind it about the head or knot it into a ball out of the way when barebacked or at work. The size of the queue can be enlarged by permitting an additional line of hair to grow; the appearance it gives the M-earer is thus described by Mr. Downing, and the quotation is not an unfair specimen of the remarks of travelers upon China : ” At the hotel one of the waiters was dressed in a pecuhar manner about the head. Instead of the hair being shaved in front, he had it cut round the top of the forehead about an inch and a half in length. All the other part was tiu-ned as usual and plaited down the back. This thin semi-circular ridge of hair was then made to stand bolt upright, and as each hair was separate and stiff as a bristle, the whole looked like a very fine-toothed comb turned upward. This I imagined to be the usual way of dressing the head by single unengaged youths, and of course must be very attractive.”” Thus what the wearer regarded as ill-looking, and intended to braid in as soon as it was long enough, is here taken as a device for beautifying himself in the eyes of those he never saw or cared to see.
Tricks Played with the Queue.
OFFICIAL COSTUMES. 763
The people are vain of a long thick queue, and now and then play each other tricks with it, as well as use it as a ready means for correction ; but nothing irritates them more than to cut it off. Men and women oftener go bareheaded than covered, warding off the sun by means of a fan ; in winter felt or silk skull-caps, hoods, and fur protect them from cold. Laborers shelter themselves from rain under an umbrella hat and a grotesque thatchwork of leaves neatly sewn upon a coarse network—very effectual for the purpose. In illustration of the remailv at the beginning of this chapter, it might be added that if they were not worn on the head such hats woukl be called ti-ays, so unlike are they to the English article of that name. The formal head-dress is the conical straw or felt hat so peculiar to this nation, usually covered with a red fringe of silk or hair.
The various forms, fabrics, colors, and ornaments of the dresses
worn by grades of officers are regulated by sumptuary laws.
Citron-yellow distinguishes the imperial family, but his Majesty’s
apparel is less showy than many of his courtiers, and in all
that belongs to his own personal use there is an appearance of
disregard of ornament. The five-clawed dragon is figured upon
the dress and whatever pertains to the Emperor, and in certain
things to members of his family. Tlie nionarchs of China formerly
wore a sort of flat-topped crown, shaped somewhat like
a Cantab’s cap, and having a row of jewels pendent from each
side. The sunnner bonnet of officers is made of finely woven
straw covered with a red fringe ; in winter it is trimmed with
fur. A string of beads hanging over an embroidei’ed robe, a
round knob on the cap, thick-soled satin boots, two or three
pouches for fans or chopsticks, and occasionally a watch or two
hanging from the girdle, constitute the principal points of difference
between the official and plebeian costume. No company
of men can appeal- more splendid tlian a large pai’ty of officers
in their winter robes made of fine, lustrous crapes, trimmed
with rich furs and brilliant with gay embroidery. In winter a silk or fur spencer is worn over the robe, and forms a handsome and warm garment. Lambskins are much used, and the downy coats of unyeaned lambs, which, with the finer furs and the skins of hares, wild cats, rabbits, foxes, wolves, otter, squirrels, etc., are worn by all I’anks. Some years ago a lad used to parade the streets of Canton, who presented an odd appearance in a long spencer made of a tiger’s skin. The Chinese like strong contrasts in the colors of their garments, sometimes wearing yellow leggings underneath a light blue robe, itself set off by a purple spencer.
The dress of women is likewise liable to few fluctuations, and all ranks can be sure that the fashion will last as long as the gown. The garments of both sexes among the common people resemble each other more than in Western Asia. The tunic oi short gown is open in front, buttoning around the neck and under the arm, reaching to the knee, like a smock-frock in its general shape. The trousers among the lower orders are usually worn over the stockings, both being covered, on ceremonial occasions, by a petticoat reaching to the feet. Laboring women, whose feet are left their natural size, go barefoot or slipshod in the M-arni latitudes, but cover their feet carefully farther north. Both sexes have a paucity of linen in their habiliments—if not a shiftless, the Chinese certainly are a shirtless race, and such undergarments as they have are not too often washed.
The head-dress of married fenuiles is becoming and even elegant.
The copious black hair is bound upon the head in an
oval-formed knot, which is secured in its place and shape by a
broad pin placed lengthwise on it, and fastened by a shorter ona
thrust across and under the bow. The hair is drawn back from
the forehead into the knot, and elevated a little in front by combino;
it over the fiuo’er ; in order to make it lie smooth the locks
are drawn through resinous shavings moistened in warm M^ater,
which also adds an exti-a gloss, at the cost, however, of injury
to the hair. In front of the knot a tube is often inserted, in
which flowers can be placed. The custom of wearing them is
nearly universal, fresh blossoms being preferred wdien obtainable,
and artificial at other times. Having no covering on the head
there is more opportunity than in the west to display pretty
devices in arranging the hair. A widow is known by her white
flowers, a maiden by one or two plaits instead of a knot, and so on; in their endless variety of form and ornament, Chinese women’s head-dresses furnish a source of constant study. Mr. Stevens tells us that the animated appearance of the dense crowd which assembled on the bridge and banks of the river at Fuhchau when he passed in 1835, was still more enlivened by the flowers worn by the women.
COSTUMES OF CHINESE WOMEN. 765
Matrons wear an embroidered fillet on the forehead, an inch or more wide, pointed between the eyebrows, and covering the front of the hair though not concealing the baldness which often comes on early from the resinous l)and()line used. This fillet is embroidered, or adorned with pearls, a favorite ornament with Chinese ladies. The women along the Yangzi River wear a band of fur around the head, which relieves their colorless complexions.
A substitute for l)onnets is common in summer, consisting of a flat piece of straw trimmed with a fringe of blue cloth. The hair of children is unbound, but girls more advanced allow^ the side locks to reach to the waist and plait a tress down the neck ; their coarse hair does not curl, and the beautiful luxuriance of curls and ringlets seen in Europe is entirely unknown.
False hair is made use of by both sexes, the men being particularly fond of eking out their queues to the fullest length. Gloves are not worn, the long sleeves being adequate for warmth; in the north the ears are protected from freezing by ear-tabs lined with fur, and often furnished with a tiny looking-glass on the outside.
The dress of gentlewomen, like that of their husbands, is
regulated by sumptuary laws, but none of these prevent their
costumes from being as splendid as rich silks, gay colors, and
beautiful embroidery can make them. The neck of the robe is
protected by a stiff band, and the sleeves are large and long,
just the contrary of the common style, which being short allows
the free use and display of a well-turned arm. The official embroidery
allowed to the husband is changed to another kind on
his wife’s robe indicative of the same rank. No belt or girdle
is seen, nor do stays compress the waist to its lasthig injury.
One of the prettiest parts of a lady’s dress is the petticoat, which appears about a foot below the upper robe covering the feet. Each side of the skirt is plaited about six times, and in front and rear are two pieces of buckram to which they are attached; the plaits and front pieces are stiffened with wire and lining. Embroidery is worked upon these two pieces and the plaits in such a way that as the wearer steps the action of the feet alternately opens and shuts them on each side, disclosing a part or the whole of two different colored figures, as may be seen in the illustration. The plaits are so contrived that they are the same when seen in front or from behind, and the effect is more elegant when the colors are well contrasted. In order to produce this the plaits close around the feet, unlike the wider skirt of western ladies.
Ornaments are less worn by the Chinese than other Asiatic
nations. The men suspend a string of fragrant beads together
with the tobacco-pouch from the jacket lapel, or occasionally
wear seal-rings, linger- rings, and armlets of strass, stone, oi
glass. They are by law prohibited from carrying weapons of
any sort. The women wear bangles, bracelets, and ear-rings of
glass, stone, and metal ; most of these appendages are regarded
more as amulets to ward off evil influences than mere orna*
raents. Felicitous charms, such as aromatic bags, old coins,
and rings, are attached to the persons of children, and few
adults venture to go through life without some preservative of
this kind ; no sacred thread or daub of clay, as in India, is
known, however, nor any image of a saint or other figurine, as
in Ttomish countries. The queer custom of wearing long nails
is practised by comparatively few ; and although a man or
woman with these appendages would not be deemed singular, it
is not regarded as in good taste by well-bred persons. Pedantic
scholars wear them more than other professions, in order to
show that they are above manual labor ; but the longest set the
writer ever saw was, oddly enough, o’n a carpenter’s fingers, who
thereby showed that he was not obliged to use his tools. Fine
ladies protect theirs with silver sheaths.
The practice of compressing the feet, so far as investigation has gone, is more an inconvenient than a dangerous custom, for among the many thousands of patients who have received aid in the missionary hospitals, few have presented themselves with ailments chargeable to this source. A difference of opinion exists respecting its origin. Some accounts state that it arose from a desire thereby to remove the reproach of the club feet of a popular empress, others that it gradually came into use from the great admiration of and attempt to imitate delicate feet, and others that it was imposed by husbands to keep their wives from gadding.’ Its adoption was gradual, however it may have commenced, and not without resistance. It is practised
‘ It is recorded that Hau-Chu, of the Chin dynasty, in the year a.d. 583 ordered Lady Yao to bind hor feet so as to make them looli like the new moon; and Uiat the evil fashion has since prevaili’d against all subsequent prohibitions.—^o/^^s «//(/ Q’lcr/cs on Ghina and Jajxtn, Vol. II., pp. 37 and 43.
MANNER OF COMPRESSING THE FEET. 767
by all classes of society except the Manchus and Tartars, poor as
well as rich (for none are so poor as not to wish to be fashionable)
; and so habituated does one become to it after a residence
in the country, that a well-dressed lady with large feet seems
to be denationalized. There is no certain age at which the
operation nnist be commenced, but in families of easy circumstances
the bandages are put on before five; otherwise not until
betrothment, or till seven or eight years old. The whole operation
is performed, and the shape maintained, by bandages,
which are never permanently removed or covered by stockings;
iron or wooden shoes are not used, the object being rather to
prevent the feet growing than to make them smaller.
A good account of the effects of this practice is given in a paper contained in the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, written by Dr. Cooper, detailing the appearances presented on dissection.
The foot belonged to a person in low life ; it was five and one-fourth inches long, which is full eighteen lines over the most fashionable size. The big toe was bent upward and backward on the foot, and the second twisted under it and across, so that the extremity reached the inner edge of the foot. The third toe somewhat overlapped the second, but lying less obliquely, and reaching to the first joint of the great toe. The ball of the great toe, much flattened, separated these two from the fourth and fifth toes. The fourth toe stretched obliquely inward under the foot, but less so than the little toe, which passed under and nearly across the foot, and had been bound down so strongly as to bend the tarsal bone. The dorsum of the foot was much curved, and a deep fissure crossed the sole and separated the heel and little toe, as if the two ends of the foot had been forced too-ether ; this was filled for three Appearance of the Bones of a
Foot when Compressed.
inches with a very condensed cellular tissue; the instep waa
three and one-half inches high. The heel-bone, which naturally
forms a considerable angle with the ankle, was in a direct Ihie
with the leg-bones ; and the heel itself was large and flat,
covered with a peculiarly dense integument, and forming, with
the end of the metatarsal bone of the great toe and the two
smallest toes bent under the sole, the three points of taction in
walkino-. When the operation is begun earlier, and the bones
are more flexible, four of the toes are bent under the foot and
only the big toe laid upon the top. The development of the
nniscles of the calf being checked, the leg tapers from the knee
downward, though there is no particular w^eakness in the limb.
The appearance of the deformed member when uncovered is shocking, crushed out of all proportion and beauty, and covered with a wrinkled and lifeless skin like that of a washerwoman’s hand. It is surprising how the circulation is kept up in the member without any pain or wasting away ; the natural supposition would be that if any nutriment M’as conveyed to it, there would be a disposition to grow until maturity was attained, and consequently constant pain ensue, or else that it would be destroyed or mortify for want of nourishment.
Feet of Chinese Ladies.
PllEVALENCP] OF THE FASTnON”.—LADIES SHOES. im
The gait of these victims of fashion can be imitated by a l)erson walking on the heels. Women walking alone swing their arms and step quick and short, elderly women availing themselves, when practicable, of an umbrella, or leaning upon the shoulder of a lad or maid for support—literally making a walking-stick of them. The })ain is said to be severe at first, and a recurrence now and then is felt in the sole ; but the evident freedom fiom distress exhibited in the little girls who are seen walking or playing in the streets, proves that the amount of suffering and injm-ious effects upon life and health are perhaps not so great as has been imagined. The case is different when the girl is not victimized until ten or more years old. The toes are then bent under and the foot forced into the smallest compass ; the agony arising from the constrained nniscles and excoriated ilesli is dreadful, while, too, the shape of the member is, even in Chinese eyes, a burlesque upon the beautiful little ness so nnich desired.
Shape of a Lady’s Shoe.
The opinion prevails abroad that only the daughters of the rich or learned pay this price to Dame Fashion. A greater proportion is indeed found among the well-to-do classes, and in the southern provinces near the rivers the unfashionable form perhaps half of the whole ; for those who dwell in boats, and all who in early life may have lived on the water or among the farmsteads, and slave girls sold in infancy for domestics, are usually left in the happy though low-life freedom of nature. Close observation in the northern provinces show general adoption of the usage among the poor, whose feet are not, however, usually so small as in the south. Foreigners, on their arrival at Canton or Fuhchau, seeing so many women with natural feet on the boats and about the streets, wonder where the ” little-footed Celestials” they had heard of were, the only specimens they see being a few crones by the wayside mending clothes. Across the Mei ling range the proportion increases. All the women who came to the hospital at Chusan in 1841, to the number of eight hundred or one thousand, had their feet more or less cramped ; and some of them walked several miles to the hospital and home again the same day. Although the operation may be less painful than has been represented, the people are so much accustomed to it that most men would refuse to M^ed a woman whose feet were of the natural size ; and a man who should find out that his bride had large feet when he expected small ones would be exonerated if he instantly sent her back to her parents. The kin lien, or ‘golden lilies,’ are desired as the mark of gentility ; the hope of rising to be one of the upper ten, and escaping the roughness and hard work attached to the lower class, goes far to strengthen even children to endure the pain and loss of free d(tin consequent on the practice. The secret of the prevalence of the cruel custom is the love of ease and praise; and not till the principles of Christianity extend will it cease. In Peking, where the Manchus have shown the advantages nature has over fashion, the example of their women for two hundred and fifty years, aided by the earnest efforts of the great Emperor Kanghi, has not had the least effect in inducing Chinese ladies to give it up. The shoes are made of red silk and prettily embroidered; hut no one acquainted with Chinese society would say that “if a lady ever breaks through the prohibition against displaying her person’, she presents her feet as the surest darts with which a lovers heart can be assailed ! ” ‘
Cosmetics are used by females to the serious injury of the
skin. On grand occasions the face is entirely bedaubed Nvitli
white paint, aiul rouge is added to the lips and clieeks, giving a
singular starched appearance to the physiognomy. A girl thus
l)eautified has no need of a fan to hide her blushes, for they
cannot be seen through the paint, her eye being the only index
of emotion. The eyebrows are blackened with charred sticks,
and arched or narrowed to resemble a nascent willow leaf, or the moon when first seen—as in the ballad translated by Mr. Stent, which pictures the beauty as possessing
Eyebrows shaped likt^ loaves of willows
Drooping over “autumn billows;”
Almond shaped, oi’ liciiiid brightness,
Were the eyes of Yang-gui-fei.‘ Murray’s OJiiiirt, Vol. II., p. 266. Compare the Chinese Repository, Vol. III., p. r)37; Hee. dc Mem. tic Meleriiic iinlil. (Paris), 1802-63 -04 passim; Clihirse Il/ror(f<r, Vols. I., II., and III. passim (mostly a series of articles on this subject by Dr. I)udg<M)n) ; T/ir Far Eaxl, February, 1877, p 27.
‘ The Jade Chiipht, p. 121.
TOILET PRAOTICES. 771
A belle is described as having cheeks like the almond llower, lips like a peach’s bloom, waist as the willow leaf, eyes bright as dancing ripples in the sun, and footsteps like the lotus flower. Much time and care is bestowed, or said to be, by females upon their toilet, but if those; in the upper classes have anything like the variety of domestic duties which their sisters in common life perform, they have little leisure left for superfluous adorning. If dramas give an index of Chinese manners and occupations, they do not convey the idea that most of the time of well-bred ladies is spent in idleness or dressing.
At his toilet a Chinese uses a basin of tepid water and a cloth,
and it has been aptly remarked that he never appears so dirty
as when trying to clean himself. Shaving is done by the barber,
for no man can shave the top of his head. Whiskers are never
worn, even by the very few who have them, and mustaches are
not considered proper for a man under forty. Snuff bottles and
tobacco pipes ai”e carried and nsed by both sexes, but the practice
of chewing betel-nut is confined to the men, M-ho, however,
take nmch pains to keep their teeth white. Among ornamental
articles of dress, in none do they go to so nmch expense and
style as in the snuff bottle, which is often carved fi-om stone,
amber, agate, and other rare miuerals with most exquisite taste.
Snuff is put on the thumb-nail with a spoon fastened to the
stopper—a more cleanly way than the European mode of ” pinching.”‘
The articles of food which the Chinese eat, and the mode and
ceremonies attending their feasts, have aided much in giving
them the odd character they bear abroad, though uncouth or
unsavory viands form an infinitesimal portion of tlieir food,
and ceremonious feasts not one in a thousand of their repasts.
Travellers have so often spoken of birdsnest soup, canine hams,
and grimalkin fricassees, rats, snakes, worms, and other culinary
novelties, served up in equally strange ways, that their readers
get the idea that these articles form as large a proportion of
the food as their description does of the narrative. In general,
the diet of the Chinese is sufficient in variety, wholesome, and
‘ On Chinese costume, see Wm. Alexander, Tim Costume of China, illustrated, London, 1805; Mnnirs et Containes des CMnois et leurs costumes en couleur, j)’ii’ J. G. Grohmann, Leipzig; Breton, China: Its Costume, Arts, etr.,4 vols., translated from the French, London, 1813; another translation is from Auguste Borget, Sketches of China and ths Chinese, London, 1843 ; Illvstrations of China and, its People. A series of two hundred photorjrajths, with letterpress descriptive of the places and people represented, by J. Thompson, London, 1874, 4 vols. q.uarto.
well cooked, tliongli many of the dishes arc unpalatable to a
European from the vegetahlc oils used in their preparation, and
the alliaceous plants introduced to savor them. In the assortment
of dishes, Barrow has truly said that ” there is a wider
diiference, perhaps, between the rich and the poor of China than
in any other country. That wealth, which if permitted would
be expended in flattering the vanity of its possessors, is now
applied to the purchase of dainties to pamper the appetite.”
The proportion of animal food is probably smaller among the
Chinese than other nations on the same latitude, one platter of
fish or flesh, and sometimes both, being the usual allowance on
the tables of the poor, llice, maize, Italian millet, and wheat
furnish most of the cereal food ; the first is emphatically the
staff of life, and considered indispensable all over the land. Its
louf use is indicated in the number of terms emr)loved to describe it and the variety of allusions to it in common expressions.
To tale a meal is chifan, ‘eat rice;’ and the salutation equivalent to hoio cVije ? is cJuh l-wofan ? ‘ have you eaten rice?’ The grain is deprived of its skin by wooden pestles M’orked in a mortar by levers, either by a water-wheel or more conunonly by oxen or men. It is cleaned by rubbing it in an earthen dish scored on the inside, and steamed in a shallow iron bc>iler partly filled with water, over which a basket or sieve containing the rice is supported on a framework ; a M’ooden dish fits over the whole and confines the steam. By this process the kernels are thoroughly cooked without forming a pasty mass, as is too often the result when boiled by cooks in Christian countries.
Bread, vegetables, and other articles are cooked in a
similar manner; four or five sieves, each of them full and
nicely fitting into each other, are placed upon the boiler and
covered with a cowl ; in the water beneath, which supplies the
steam, meats or other things are boiled at the same time. Wheat
flour is boiled into cakes, dumplings, and other articles, but not
baked into bread. Maize, buckwheatj oats, and barley are not
ground, but the grain is cooked in various ways, alone or mixed
with other dishes. Italian millet, or canary-seed {Setaria), furnishes
a large amoimt of nutritious cereal food in tlic north ; the
flour is yellow and sweet, and boiled or baked for eating, often
VEGETABLES EATEN BY THE CHINESE. 773
seasoned witli jujube plums in tlie cakes. Its cultivation is easy,
and its proliiic crop makes up in a measure for the small seeds; ten thousand kernels have been counted on one spike in a good season.
The Chinese have a long list of culinary vegetables, and much
of their agriculture consists in rearing them. Leguminous and
cruciferous plants occupy the largest part of the kitchen garden ;
more than twenty sorts of peas and beans are cultivated, some
for camels and horses, but mostly for men. Soij is njade by boiling
the beans and mixing \vater, salt, and wheat, and producing
fermentation by yeast ; its quality is inferior to the foreign.
Another more common condiment, called bean curd or bean jam,
is prepared by boiling and grinding black beans and mixing the
flour with water, gypsum, and turmeric. The consumption of
cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cress, colewort, and other
cruciferous plants is enormous ; a great variety of modes are
adopted for cooking, preserving, and improving them. The
leaves and stems of many plants besides these ai-e included in
the variety of greens, and a complete enumeration of them
would form a curious list. Lettuce, sow thistle [Sonchus),
spinach, celery, dandelion, succory, sweet basil, ginger, mustard,
radishes, artemisia, amaranthus, tacca, pig weed {Chenopod’tum),
burslane, shepherd’s purse, clover, ailantus, and others having
no English names, all furnish green leaves for Chinese tables.
Garlics, leeks, scallions, onions, and chives are eaten by all
classes, detected upon all persons, and smelt in all rooms where
they are eating or cooking. CVirrots, gourds, squashes, cucumbers,
watermelons, tomatoes, turnips, radishes, brinjals, pumpkins,
okers, etc., are among the list of garden vegetables; the
variety of cucurbitaceous plants extends to nearly twenty. Most
of these vegetables are inferior to the same articles in the markets
of western cities, where science has improved their size or
flavor. Several aquatic plants increase the list, among which
the nelumbium covers extensive mai*shes in the eastern and
northern provinces, otherwise unsightly and ban-en. The root
is two or three feet lonp-, and piei-ced longitudinally with several
holes ; when boiled it is of a yellowish color and sweetish taste,
not unlike a turnip. Taro is used less than the nelumbium, and SO arc the water-caltrops {Trajxi) and water-cliestnuts. The taste of water-caltrops when boiled resembles that of new cheese; water-c’hostniits are the round roots of a kind of sedge, and resemble that fruit in color more than in taste, which is mealy and crisp. The sweet potato is the most common tuber ; although the Irish potato has been cultivated for scores of years it has not become a common vegetable among the people, except on the borders of Mongolia.
The catalogue of fruits comprises most of those occurring elsewhere in the tropic and temperate zones, and China is probably the earliest home of the peach, plum, and pear. The pears arc large and juicy, sometimes weighing eight or ten pounds; the white and strawberry }>ear are equal to any western variety. The apples are rather dry and insipid. The peaches, plums, quinces, and apricots are better, and offer many good varieties. Cherries are almost unknown. The orange is the common fruit at the south, and the baskets, stalls, and piles of this golden fruit, mixed with and heightened by contrast with other sorts and with vegetables, which line the streets of Canton and Amoy in winter, present a beautiful sight. Many distinct species of Citrus, as the lemon, kumquot, pumelo, citron, and orange, are extensively cultivated.
The most delicious is the vhu-sha I’ih, or ‘mandarin orange;’ the skin, when ripe, ,is of a cinnabar red color, and adheres to the pulp by a few loose fibres. The citron is more prized for its fragrance than taste, and the thick rind is now and then made more abundant by cutting it into strips when growing, each of which becomes a roundish end like a finger, whence the name of Fushou, or ‘Buddha’s hand,’ given it. It will remain uncorrupt for two or three mouths, diffusing an agreeable perfume.
COMMON TABLE FRUITS. 775
Chapter YI. contains brief notices of other fruits. The banana and persimmon are common, and several varieties are enumerated of each; the plantain is eaten raw and cooked, and forms a large item in the subsistence of the poor. The pomegranate, carambola or tree gooseberry, mango, custard-apple, pine-apple, rose-apple, bread-fruit, fig, guava, and olive, some of them as good and others inferior to what are found in other countries, increase the list. The ir/i,n/ij>e, lic/i’t, l/nuja/i, or ‘dragon’s eyes,’ and loquat, are the native names of four indigenous fruits at Canton. The whampe(Cookla) resembles a grape in size and a gooseberry in taste; the loquat or 2)cho (Eriobotryct) is a kind of medlar. The liclii looks like a strawberry in size and shape; the tough, rough red skin encloses a sweet watery pulp of a whitish color surrounding a hard seed. Grapes are plenty and cheap ; in the northern cities they are preserved during the winter, and even till May, by constant care in regulating the temperature.
Chestnuts, walnuts, ground-nuts, filberts {Torreya), almonds,
and the seeds of the salisburia and nelumbium, are the most
common nuts. The Chinese date {Itkanmus) has a sweetish,
acidulous flesh ; the olive is salted or pickled ; the names of
both these fruits are given them because of a resemblance to the
western sorts, for neither the proper date nor olive growls in
China. A pleasant sweetmeat, like cranberry, is made from
the seeds of the arbutus (M(//’lea), and another still more acid
from a sort of haw, both of them put up for exportation.
Preserved fruits are common, and the list of sweetmeats and
delicacies is increased by the addition of many roots, some of
which are preserved in syrup and others as comfits. Ginger,
nelumbium roots, bamboo shoots, the common potato, and
other vegetables are thus prepared for export as well as domestic
consumption. The natives consume enormous quantities of
pickles of an inferior quality, especially cabbages and onions,
but foreigners consider them detestable. The Chinese eat but
few spices ; black pepper is used medicinally as a tea, and
cayenne pepper when the pod is green.
Oils and fats are in universal use for cooking ; crude lard or
pork fat, castor oil, sesamum oil, and that expressed from two
species of Camellia and the ground-nut, are all employed for
domestic and culinary purposes. The Chinese use little or no
milk, butter, or cheese ; the comparatively small number of
cattle raised and the consequent dearness of these articles may
liave caused them to fall into disuse, for they are all common
among the Manchus and Mongols. A Chinese table seems ill
furnished to a foreigner when he sees neither bread, butter, nof
milk upon it, and if he express his disrelish of the oily dishes or alliaceous stews before liliii, the Chinese thinks that he delivers a
sufficient retort to his want of taste when he answers, ” You eat
cheese, and sometimes when it can almost walk.” Milk is used
a little, and no one who has lived in Canton can forget the prolonged
mournful cry of n<jao nal ! of the men hawking it about
the streets late at night. “Women’s milk is sold for the sustenance
of infants and superannuated people, the idea being prevalent
that it is peculiarly nourishing to aged persons.’
Sugar is grown only in Formosa and the three southern provinces,
which supply the others; neither molasses nor rum are
manufactured from it. No sugar is expressed from sorghum
stalks, nor do the Chinese know that it contains syrup. The
tobacco is milder than the American plant; it is smoked and
not chewed or made into cigars, though these are being imported
from Manila in steadily increasing quantities, and find favor
among many of the wealthier Chinese ; snuff is largely usoil.
The betel-nut is a common masticatory, made up of a slice of
the nut and the fresh leaf of the betel-pepper with a little lime
rubbed on it. The common beverages are tea and arrack, both
of which arc taken warm ; cold water is not often drunk, cold
liquids of any kind being considered unwholesome. The constant
practice of boiling Avater before drinking, in preparing tea,
doubtless tends to make it less noxious, when the people are not
particular as to its sources. Coffee, chocolate, and cocoa are unknown, as are also beer, cider, porter, Avine, and brandy.
‘ Dr. Hobson mentions a case at Shanghai where he was called upon to examine a child well-iiigli dead with spurious hydrocephalus. Upon investigation he found that the nurse, “a young healthy-looking woman, with breasts full of milk to overflowing,” had “been in the habit of selling her milk in small cupfuls to old persons, under the idea of its highly nutritive properties, and was actually poisoning the child dependent on it.” The nurse being promptly changed, the infant recovered almost immediately.
—Journal N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. ?sew Series, Vol. I., p. 51.
KINDS OF ANIMAL FOOD USED. 777
The meats consumed by the Chinese comprise, perhaps, a greater variety than are used in other countries; while, at the same time, very little land is appropriated to rearing animals for food. Beef is not a common meat, chiefly from a Buddhistic prejudice against killing so useful an animal. Mutton in the southern provinces is poor and dear compared with its excellence and cheapness north of the Yangzi River, where the greater numbers of Mohanunedans cause a larger demand for it. The beef of the buffalo and the mutton of the jjroat are still less used; pork is consumed more -than all other kinds, and no meat can be raised so economically. Hardly a family so poor
that it cannot possess a pig ; the animals are kept even on the
boats and rafts, to consume and fatten upon what others leave.
Fresh pork probably constitutes more than half of the meat
eaten by the Chinese ; hauis are tolerably plenty, and a dish
called “golden hams,” from the amber appearance of the joint,
makes a conspicuous object in feasts. Ilgrseilesh, venison, wild
boar, and antelope are now and then seen, but in passing through
the markets mutton, pork, fowls, and fish are the viands which
everywhere meet the eye.
A few kittens and puppies are sold alive in cages, mewing and yelping as if in anticipation of their fate, or from pain caused by the pinching and handling they receive at the hands of dissatisfied customers. Those intended for the table are usually fed upon rice, so that if the nature of their food be considered, their flesh is far more cleanly than that of the omnivorous hog ; few articles of food have, however, been so identified abroad with the tastes of the people as kittens, puppies, and rats have M’ith the Chinese. American school geograpliies often contain pictures of a nuxrket-man cariying baskets holding these unfortunate victims of a perverse taste (as we think), or
else a string of rats and mice hanging by their tails to a stick
across his shoulders, which almost necessarily convey the idea
that such things form the usual food of the people. Travellers
hear beforehand that the Chinese devour everything, and when
they arrive in the country straightway inquire if these animals
are eaten, and hearing that such is the case, perpetuate the idea
that they form the common articles of food. However commonly
live kittens and puppies or dressed dogs may be exposed
for sale, one may live in a city like Canton or Fuhchau for
many years and never see rats offered for food, unless he hunts
up the people who sell them for medicine or aphrodisiacs ; in
fact, they are not so easily caught as to be either common or
cheap. A peculiar prejudice in favor of black dogs and cats exists among natives of the south ; these animals invariably command a higher price than others, and are eaten at midsmnmer in the belief that the meat ensures health and strength during the ensuing year.
Rats and mice are, no doubt, eaten now and then, and so are many other undesirable things, by those whom want compels to take what they can get; but to put these and other strange eatables in the front of the list gives a distorted idea of the everyday food of the people. There are perhaps half a dozen restaurants in Canton city where dog’s-meat appears upon the menu ‘, it is, however, by no means an inexpensive delicacy.’ The flesh of rats is eaten by old women as a hair restorative. The blood of ducks, pigs, and sheep is used as food, or prepared for medicine and as a paste; it forms an ingredient in priming and some kind of varnish. It is coagulated into cakes for sale, and in cooking is mixed with the meats and sauces. The blood of all animals is eaten without repugnance so far as concerns religious scruples, except in the case of Buddhist priests.
Frogs are caught in a curious manner by tying a young jumper lately emerged from tadpole life to a line and bobbing him up and down in the grass and grain of a rice field, where the old croakers are wont to harbor. As soon as one of them sees the young frog sprawling and squirming he makes a ])hmge at him and swallows him whole, whereupon he is immediately conveyed to the frog-fisher’s basket, losing his life, liberty, and lunch together, for the bait is rescued from his maw and used again as long as life lasts.
Poultry, including chickens, geese, and ducks, are everywhere
raised ; of the three the geese are the best flavored, but all of
them are reared cheaply and supply a large portion of the poor
with the principal meat they eat. The eggs of fowls and ducks
are hatched artificially, and every visitor to Canton remembers
the duck-boats in which those birds are hatched and reared
and carried up and down the river seeking for pasture along
its muddy banks. Sheds are erected for hatching, in which are
‘ Archdeacou Gray, China, Vol. II., p. 7G.
HATCHING ducks’ EGGS. 779
a number of higli baskets well lined to retain the heat. Each
one is placed over a fireplace, so that the heat shall be conveyed
to the eggs through the tile in its bottom and retained
in the basket by a close cover. When the eggs are brought a
layer is put into the bottom of each basket, and a tire kept in
the room at a uniform heat of about SU° F. After four or five
days they are examined in a strong light, to separate the addled
ones ; the others are put back in the baskets and the heat kept
up for ten days longer, when they are all placed upon shelves in
the centre of the shed and covered with cotton and felt for
fourteen days. At the end of the twenty-eighth day the shells
are broken to release the inmates, which are sold to those who
rear them. Pigeons are raised to a great extent ; their eggs
form an ingredient in soups. Wild and water fowl are caught in
nets or shot ; the wild duck, teal, grebe, wild goose, plover, snipe,
heron, egret, partridge, pheasant, and ortolan or rice bird are all
procurable at Canton, and the list could be increased elsewhere.
If the Chinese eat many things which are rejected by other peoples, they are perfectly omnivorous with respect to aquatic productions ; here nothing comes amiss ; all waters are vexed with their fisheries. Their nets and other contrivances for capturing fish display great ingenuity, and most of them are admirably adapted to the purpose. Elvers, creeks, and stagnant pools, the great ocean and the little tank, mountain lakes and garden ponds, tubs and rice fields, all furnish their quota to the sustenance of man, and tend to explain, in a great degree, the dense population. The right to fish in running streams and natural waters is open to all, while artificial reservoirs, as ponds, pools, tanks, tubs, etc., are brought hito available use; near tidewater the rice grounds are turned into fish-ponds in winter if they will thereby afford a more profitable return. The inhabitants of the water are killed with the spear, caught with the hook, scraped up by the dredge, ensnai-ed by traps, and captured by nets ; they are decoyed to jump into boats by painted boards, and frightened into nets by noisy ones, taken out of the water by lifting nets and dived for by birds—for the cormorant seizes what his owner could not easily reach. In short, every possible way of catching or rearing fish is practiced in one part of the country or another. Tanks are placed in the streets, with water running through them, where carp or perch are reared until they become so large they can hardly turn lound in their pens ; eels and water-snakes of every color and size are fed in tubs and jars until customers carry them off.
King-crabs, cuttle-fish, sharks, sting-rays, gobies, tortoises, tuitles, crabs, prawns, crawlish, and shrimps add to the variety. The best lish in the Canton market are the garoupa or rock cod, pomfret, sole, mackerel, bynni carp or mango fish, and the polynemns, erroneously called salmon. Carp and tench of many kinds, herring, shad, perch, mullet, and bream, with others less connnon at the west, are found in great abundance. They are usually eaten fresh, or merely opened and dried in the sun, as stock-fish. Both salt and fresh-water shell-fish are abundant.
The oysters are not so well flavored as those on the Atlantic coast of America ; the crabs and prawns are excellent, but the clams, mussels, and other fresh-water species are less palatable. Insect food is confined to locusts and grasshoppers, grubs and silk-worms; the latter are fried to a crisp when cooked. These and water-snakes are decidedly the most repulsive things the Chinese eat. Many articles of food are sought after by this sensual people for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities, and most of the singular productions brought from abroad for food are of this nature.
COOKING AMOTS’G THE CHINESE. 781
The famous birds nest soup is prepared from the nest of a swallow (Collocah’a esrulenfa) found in caves and damp places in some islands of the Indian Archipelago ; the bird macerates the material of the nest from seaweed (Gelidiwn chiefly) in the crop, and constructs it by drawing the food out in fibres, which are attached to the damp stone with the bill. The nest has the same shape as those which chimney swallows Ituild, and holds the young against the cliffs; they rarely exceed three or four inches in the longest diameter. The operation of cleaning is performed by picking away each morsel of dirt or feathers from the nest, and involves considerable labor. After they come forth perfectly free from impui’ities they are stewed with pigeons’ eggs, spicery, and other ingredients into a soup ; when cooked they resemble isinglass, and the dish depends upon sauces and seasoning for most of its taste. The biche-de-mer, tripang, oi
sea-slug, is a marine substance procui-ed from the Polynesian
Islands ; it is souglit aftei- under the same idea of its invigorating
qualities, and being cheaper than the birdsnest is a more common
dish ; when cooked it resembles pork-rind in appearance and
taste. Sharks’ fins and fish-maws are imported and boiled into
gelatinous soups that are nourishing and palatable ; and the
sinews, tongues, palates, udders, and other parts of different
animals are sought after as delicacies. A large proportion of
the numerous made dishes seen at great feasts consists of such
odd articles, most of which are supposed to possess some peculiar
strengthening quality.
The art of cooking has not reached any high degree of perfection. Like the French, it is very economical, and consists of stews and fried dishes more than of baked or roasted. Salt is proportionately dear from its preparation being a government monopoly, and this has led to a large use of onions for seasoning.
The articles of kitchen furniture are few and simple ; an iron
boiler, shaped like the segment of a sphere, for stewing or frying,
a portable earthen furnace, and two or three dift’erent shaped
earthenware pots for boiling water or vegetables constitute the
whole establishment of thousands of families. A few other
utensils, as tongs, ladles, forks, sieves, mills, etc., are used to a
greater or less extent, though the variety is quite commensurate
witli the simple cookery. Both meats and vegetables, previously
hashed into mouthfuls, are stewed or fried in oil or fat ; they
are not cooked in large joints or steaks for the table of a household.
Hoy;s are baked whole for sacrifices and for sale in cookshops,
but before being eaten are hashed and fI’ied again. Chitting
the food into small pieces secures its thorough cooking with less
fuel than it would otherwise re(|uire, and is moreover indispensable
for eating with chopsticks. Two or three vegetables are boiled together, but meat soups are seldom seen ; and the immense variety of puddings, pastry, cakes, pies, custards, ragouts, creams, etc., made in western lands is almost unknown in China.’
‘ Memoires cone. les Ohinols, Tome XL, pp. 78 ff. C. C. Coffin in the Atlantic Monthly, 18G9, p. 747. Doolittle’s Vocnhul(try, Part III., No. XVIIl. M.Henri Cordier in the Journal des Debats, Nov. 19, 1879. Notes and Queries on C. and J., Vol. II., pp. 11 and 2(5.CHAPTER XIV. SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE CHINESE
The preceding chapter, in a measure, exhibits the attainnienta the Chinese have reached in the comforts and elegances of li\”-ing. These terms, as tests of civilization, however, are so comparative that it is rather difficult to define them ; for the notions which an Englishman, an Egyptian, and a Chinese severally might have of comfort and elegance in the furniture and arrangement of their houses are almost as unlike as their languages.
If Fisher’s Views of China he taken as a guide, one can easily believe that the Chinese need little from abroad to better their condition in these particulars; while if one listen to the descriptions of some persons who have resided among them, it will be concluded that they possess neither comfort in their houses, civility in their manners, nor cleanliness in their persons. In passing to an account of their social life, this variety of tastes should not be overlooked; and if some points appear objectionable when taken alone, a little further examination will, perhaps, show that they form part of a system which requires complete reconstruction before it could be happily and safely altered.
FACTORS IN CHINESE SOCIAL LIFE. 783
The observations of a foreigner upon Chinese society are likely to be modified by his own feelings, and the way in which he has been treated by natives there ; but their behavior to him might be very unlike what would be deemed good breeding among themselves. If a Chinese feared or expected something from a foreigner, he would act toward him more politely than if the contrary were the case ; on the one hand better, on the other worse, than he would toward one of his own countrymen in like circumstances. In doing so, it may be remarked with
regret that lie would only imitate the conduct of a host of
foreigners who visit China, and whose coarse remarks, rude
actions, and general supercilious conduct toward the natives ill
comport with their superior civilization and assumed advantages.
One who looked at the matter reasonably would not expect
much true politeness among a people whose conceit and ignorance,
selfishness and hauteur, were nearly equal ; nor be surprised to find the intercourse between the extremes of society present a strange mixture of brutality and commiseration, formality and disdain. The separation of the sexes modifies and debases the amusements, even of the most moral, leads the men to spend their time in gambling, devote it to the pleasures of the table, or dawdle it away when the demands of business, study, or labor do not arouse them. Political parties, which
exert so powerful an influence upon the conduct of men in
Christian countries, leading them to unite and connnunicate
with each other for the purpose of watching or resisting the
acts of government, do not exist ; and where there is a general
want of confidence, such institutions as insurance companies,
savings or deposit banks, corporate bodies to Iniild a railroad
or factory, and associations of any kind in which persons unite
their funds and efforts to accomplish an object, are not to be
expected ; they do not exist in China, nor did they in Home or
ancient Europe. Xor will any one expect to hear that literary
societies or voluntary philanthropic associations are common.
These, as they are now found in the west, are the products of Christianity alone, and we must wait for the planting of the tree before looking for its fruit. The legal profession, as distinct from the possession of office, is not an occupation in which learned men can obtain an honorable livelihood; the priesthood is confined to monasteries and temples, and its members do not enter into society ; while the practice of medicine is so entirely empirical and strange that the few experienced practitioners are not enough to redeem the class. These three professions, which elsewhere do so much to elevate society and guide public opinion, being wanting, educated men have no stimulus to draw them out into independent action. The competition for literary degrees and official rank, the eager pursuit of trade, or the duU routine of mechanical and agricultural lal)*»i-, form the leading avocations of the Chinese people. Unacquainted with the intellectual enjoyments found in books and the conversation of learned men, and having no educated taste, as we understand that term (while, too, he cannot iind such a thing as virtuous female society), the Chinese resorts to the dice-box, the opium pipe, or the brothel for his pleasures, though even there with a loss of character among his peers.
The separation of the sexes has many bad results, only partially compensated by some conservative ones. Woman owes her present elevation at the west to Christianity, not only in the degree of respect, support, freedom from servile labor, and education which she receives, but also in the retlex influences she exerts of a purifying, harmonizing, and elevating character.
Where the requirements of the Gospel exert no force, her rights are more or less disregarded, and if she become as debased as the men, she can exert little good influence even upon her own family, still less upon the community. General mixed society can never be maintained with pleasure unless the better parts of human nature have the acknowledged preeminence, and where she, who impaits to it all its gracefulness and purity, is herself uneducated, nnpolished, and immodest, the common sense of mankind sees its impropriety. By advocating the partition of the sexes, legislators and moralists in China have acted as they best could in the circumstances of the case, and by preventing the evils beyond their remedy, provided the best
safeguards they could against general coiruption. In her own
domestic circle a Chinese female, in the character and duties of
daughter, wife, or mother, flnds as nnich em])loyment, and probably
as many enjoyments, as the nature of her training has litted
her for. She does not hold her proper place in society simply
because she has nev’cr been taught its duties or exercised its
privileges.
RESULTS UPON SOOIKTY OF SEPAIIATINO THK SKXKS. 785
In ordinary cases the male and female branches of a household are strictly kept apart; not only the servants, but even brothers and sisters do not freely associate after the boys commence their studies. At this period of life, or even earlier, an anxious task devolves upon parents, which is to And suitable partners for their children. Uetrothmeiit is entirely in their hands, and is conducted through the medium of a class of persons called inel-jin, or go-betweens, who are expected to be well acquainted with the character and circumstances of the parties. Mothers sometimes contract their unborn progeny on the sole contingency of a difference of sex, but the usual age of forming these engagements is ten, twelve, or older, experience having shown that the casualties attending it render an earlier period undesirable.
There are six ceremonies which constitute a regular marriage, though their details vary much in different parts of the Empire: 1. The father and elder brother of the young man send a go-between to the father and brother of the girl, to inquire her name and the moment of her birth, that the lioroscope of the two may be examined, in order to ascertain whether the proposed alliance will be a happy one. 2. If the eight characters’ seem to augur aright, the boy’s friends send the mei-jin back to make an offer of marriage. 3. If that be accepted, the second party is again requested to return an assent in writing. 4. Presents are then sent to the girl’s parents according to the means of the parties. 5. The go-between requests them to choose a lucky day for the wedding. 6. The preliminaries are concluded by the bridegroom going or sending a party of friends with music to bring his bride to his own house. The match-makers contrive to multiply their visits and prolong the negotiations, when the parties are rich, to serve their own ends.
In Fuhkien parents often send pledges to each other when their children are mere infants, and registers containing their names and particulars of nativity are exchanged in testimony of the contract. After this has been done it is impossible to retract the engagement, unless one of the parties becomes a leper or is disabled. When the children are espoused older, the boy sometimes accompanies the go-between and the party carrying the presents to the house of his future mother-in-law, and receives from her some trifling articles, as melon-seeds, fruits, etc., which he distributes to those around. Among the presents sent to the fijirl are fruits, money, vermicelli, and a ham, of which she gives a morsel to each one of the party, and sends its foot back. These articles are neatly arranged, and the party bringing them is received with a salute of fire-crackers.
‘ Compare p. 628.
From the time of engagement until marriage a young lady is required to maintain the strictest seclusion. Whenever friends call upon her parents she is expected to retire to the inner apartments, and in all her actions and words guard her conduct with careful solicitude. She must use a close sedan whenever she visits her relations, and in her intercourse with her brothers and the domestics in the household nniintain great reserve. Instead of having any opportunity to form those friendships and acquaintances with her own sex which among ourselves become a source of so much pleasure at the time and advantage in after life, the Chinese maiden is confined to the circle of her relations and her immediate neighbors. She has few of the pleasing remembrances and associations that are usually connected with school day life, nor has she often the ability or opportunity to correspond by letter with girls of her own age. Seclusion at this time of life, and the custom of crippling the feet, combine to confine women in the house almost as much as the strictest laws against their appearing abroad ; for in girlhood, as they know only a few persons except relatives, and can make very few acquaintances
after marriage, their circle of friends contracts rather
than enlarges as life goes on. This privacy impels girls to learn
as much of the world as they can, and among the rich their
curiosity is gratified through maid-servants, match-makers, pedlers,
visitors, and others. Curiosity also stimulates young ladies
to learn something of the character and appearance of their intended
husbands, but the rules of society arc too strict for young
persons to endeavor to form a personal attachment, though it is
not impossible for them to see each other if they wish, and there
are, no doubt, many contracts suggested to parents by their
children.
BETROTHMENT AND PRELI^MINARIES OF MARRIAGE. 787
The office of match-maker is considered honorable, and both men and women are employed to conduct nuptial negotiations. Great confidence is reposed in their judgment and veracity, and as their employment depends somewhat upon their tact and character, they have every inducement to act with strict propriety in their intercourse with families. The father of the girl employs their services in collecting the sum agreed upon in the contract, which, in ordinary circumstances, varies from twenty-five to forty dollars, increasing to a hundred and over according to the condition of the bridegroom ; until that is paid the marriage does not take place. The presents sent at betrothment are sometimes costly, consisting of silks, rice, cloths, fruits, etc. ; the bride brings no dower, but both parents frequently go to expenses they can ill afford when celebrating the nuptials of their children, as the pride of family stimulates each party to make undue display.
The principal formalities of a marriage are everywhere the same, but local customs are observed in some regions which are quite unknown and appear singular elsewhere. In Fuhkien, when the lucky day for the wedding comes, the guests assemble in the bridegroom’s house to celebrate it, where also sedans, a band of music, and porters are in readiness. The courier, who acts as guide to the chair-bearers, takes the lead, and in order to prevent the onset of malicious demons lurking by the road, a baked hog or large piece of pork is carried in front, that the procession may safely pass while these hungry souls are devouring the meat. Meanwhile the bride arrays herself in her best dress and richest jewels. Her girlish tresses have already been bound up, and her hair arranged by a matron, with due formality; an ornamental and complicated head-dress made of rich materials, not unlike a helmet or corona, often forms part of her coiffure. Her person is nearly covered by a large mantle, over
which is an enormous hat like an umbrella, that descends to the
shoulders and shades the whole figure. Thus attired she takes
her seat in the red gilt marriage sedan, called hwa Jdao, borne
by four men, in which she is completely concealed. This is
locked by her mother or some other relative, and the key given
to one of the bridemen, who hands it to the bridegroom or his
representative on reaching his house.
The procession is now rearranged, with the addition of as many red boxes and trays to contain the wardrobe, kitchen utensils, luul the feast, as the means (.»f the family or the extent of her parapliei’ualia require. As the procession approaches the bridegroom’s house the courier iiastens forward to announce its coming, whereupon the music strikes up, and fire-crackers salute her until she enters the gate. As she approaches the door the bridegroom conceals himself, but the go-between brings forward a young child to salute her, while going to seek the closeted bridegroom, lie approaches with becoming gravity and opens the sedan to hand out his bride, she still retaining the hat and mantle ; they approach the ancestral tablet, which they reverence with three bows, and then seat themselves at a table upon which are two cups of spirits. The go-between serves them, though the bride can only make the motions of drinking, as the large hat completely covers her face. They soon retire into a
chamber, where the husband takes the hat and mantle from his
wife, and sees her, perhaps, for the first time in his life. After he
has considered her for some time, the guests and friends enter
the room to sui-vey her, when each one is allowed to express an
opinion ; the criticisms of the M’omen are severest, perhaps because
thej remember the time they stood in her unpleasant
position. This cruel examination being over, she is introduced
to her husband’s parents, and then salutes her own. Such are
some of the customs among the Fuhkienese. Other usages followed
in marriages and betrothals have been carefully described
by Doolittle, with parti(;nlar reference to the same people, and
by Archdeacon John II. Gray, alluding to other parts of the
Empire.’
The bridegroom, previous to the wedding, receives a new
name or ” style,” and is formally capped by his father in presence
of his friends, as an introduction to manhood. He invites
the guests, sending two red cakes with each invitation, and to
liim each guest, a few days before the marriage, returns a
present or a sum of money worth about ten or fifteen cents,
nominally equal to the expenses he will be considered as occasioning.
‘ Social Life of the CldneM, Chapters II. and III.; China, Chap. VII.; also
Fourteen Months in Canton, by Mrs Gray.
MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS. 789
Another invitation is sent the day after to a feast, and the bride also calls on the ladies who attended her wedding,
from whom slie receiv^es a ring or some other article of small
value. The gentlemen also make the bridegroom a present of
a pair of lanterns to hang at his gateway. On the night of the
wedding they sometimes endeavor to get into the house when
the pair is supposed to be asleep, in order to carry off some article, which the bridegroom must ransom at their price.
Among the poor the expenses of a wedding are much lessened by purchasing a young girl, whom the parents bring up as a daughter until she is marriageable, and in this way secure her services in. the household. A girl already affianced is for a like reason sometimes sent to the boy’s parents, that they may support her. In small villages the people call upon a newly married couple near the next full moon, when they are received standing near the bedside. The men enter first and pay their respects to the bride, while her husband calls the attention of his visitors to her charms, praises her little feet, her beautiful hands, and other features, and then accompanies them into the hall, where they are regaled with refreshments. After the men have retired the women enter and make their remarks upon the lady, whose future character depends a good deal upon the manner in which she conducts herself. If she shows good temper, her reputation is made. Many a prudent woman on this occasion says not a word, but suffers herself to be examined in silence in order that she may I’un no risk of offending.’ Far different is this introduction to married life from the bridal tour and cordial greetings of friends which ladies receive in western lands during the honeymoon !
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vols. IV., p. 568, and X., pp. 65-70; Annalea de la Foi, No. XL., 1885.
The bridal procession is a peculiar feature of Chinese social life. It varies in its style, nature of the ornaments, and the wdiole get-up in all parts of the land, but is always as showy as the means of the parties will allow. It is composed of bearers of lanterns and official tablets, musicians, relatives of the bride and groom and their personal friends, framed stands with roofs carried on thills to hold the bride’s effects, all centering around her sedan. In Peking such a procession will sometimes be stretched out half a mile, and the sedan borne by a dozen or more bearers. The coolies are dressed hi red. and tlicy and their burdens are nsiially provided by special sli()|>iiieii, who purvey on such occasions. The tablets of literary rank held by members of the family, wooden dragons’ heads, titular lanterns, and other official insignia are l)orne in state, an evidence of its high standing. In some places an old man, elegantly dressed,
heads the procession, bearing a large umbrella to hold over the
bride when she enters and leaves her sedan ; behind him come
bearers with lanterns, one of which carries the inscription, “The
phoenixes sing harmoniously.” To these succeed the music and
the honorary tablets, titular flags, state umbrella, etc., and two
stout men as executioners dressed in a fantastic manner, wearing
long feathers in their caps, and lictors, chain-bearers, and other
emblems of office. Parties of young lads, prettily dressed
and playing on drums, gongs, and flutes, or carrying lanterns
and banners, occasionally form a pleasing variety in the train,
which is continued by the trays and covered tables containing
the bride’s trousseau, and ended with the sedan containing
herself.
The ceremonies attending her reception at her husband’s
house are not uniform. In some parts she is lifted out of the
sedan, over a pan of charcojd placed in the court, and carried
into the bed-chandjer ; in other places she enters and leaves her
sedan on rugs spread for her use, and walks into the chamber.
After a brief interval she returns into the hall, bearing a tray
of betel-nut for the guests, and then worships a pair of geese brought in the train with her husband, this bird being an emblem of conjugal afl^ection. On returning to her chamber the bridegroom follows her and takes off the I’ed veil, after which they pledge each other in wine, the cups being joined by a thread. While there a matron who has borne several children to one husband comes in to pronounce a blessing upon them and make up the nn])tial l)ed. The assembled guests then sit down to the feast and ])ly the sni l(ing^ ‘new man’ or bridegroom, pretty well with liquor; the Chinese on such occasions do not, however, often overpass the rules of sobriet\-. The sin fitjiii, ‘new lady’ or bride, and her mother-in-law also attend to those of her own sex who are present in other apartments, but among the poor a pleasanter sight is now and then seen in all the o-nests sittino; at one table.
NUPTIAL PROCESSION AND FESTIVITIES. 791
In the morning the pair worship the ancestral tablets and salute all the members of the family ; among the poor this important ceremony occurs very soon after the pair have exchanged their wine-cups. The pledging of the bride and groom in a cup of wine, and their worship of the ancestral tablets and of heaven
and earth, are the important ceremonies of a wedding after the
procession has reached the house. Marriages are celebrated at
all liom-s, though twilight and evening are preferred ; the spring
season, or the last month in the year, are regarded as the most
felicitous nuptial periods. From the way in which the whole
matter is conducted there is some room for deception by sending
another person in the sedan than the one betrothed, or the
man may mistake the name of the girl he wishes to marry.
Mr. Smith mentions one of his acquaintances, who, having been
captivated with a girl he saw in the street, sent a go-between
with proposals to her parents, which were accepted ; but he was
deeply mortified on receiving his bride to find that he had mistaken
the number of his charmer, and had received the fifth
daughter instead of the fourth.
The Chinese do not marry another woman wdth these observances
while the first one is living, but they may bring home
concubines with no other formality than a contract with her
parents, though it is considered somewhat discreditable for a
man to take another bedfellow if his wife have borne him sons,
unless he can afford each of them a separate establishment. It is
not unfrequent for a man to secure a maid-servant in the family
with the consent of his wife by purchasing her for a concubine,
especially if his occupation frequently call him away from home,
in which case he takes her as his travelling companion and leaves
his wife in charge of the household. The fact that the sons of a
concubine are considered as legally belonging to the wife induces
parents to betroth their daughters early, and thus prevent their
entering a man’s family in this inferior capacity. The Chinese
are sensible of the evils of a divided household, and the laws
place its control in the hands of the wife. If she have no sons
of her own, she looks out for a likely boy among her clansmen to adopt, knowing that otherwise her husband will probably bring a concubine into the family. It is difficult even to guess at the extent of polygamy, for no statistics have been or can be easily taken. Among the laboring classes it is rare to find more than one woman to one man, but tradesmen, official persons, landholders, and those in easy circumstances frequently take one or more concubines : perhaps two-fifths of such families have them. Show and fashion lead some to increase the number of their women, though aware of the discord likely to arise, for they fully believe their own proverb, that ” nine women out of ten are jealous.” Yet it is probably true that polygamy finds its greatest support from the women themselves. The wife seeks to increase her own position by getting more women into the
house to relieve her own work and humor her fancies. The
Chinese illustrate the relation by comparing the wife to the
moon and the concubines to the stars, both of which in their
appropriate spheres wait upon and I’cvolve around the sun.
If regard be had to the civilization of the Chinese and their
opportunities for moral training, the legal provisions of the code
to protect females in their acknowledged rights and pnnish
crimes against the peace and purity of the family relation reflect
credit upon their legislators. In these laws the obligation of
children to fulfil the contract made by their parents is enforced,
even to the annulling of an agreement made by a son himself
in ignorance of the arrangements of his parents. The position
of the tsi, or wife taken by the prescribed formalities, and that
of the tneh, or women purchased as concubines, are accurately
defined, and the degradation of the former or elevation of
the latter so as to interchange their places, or the taking of a
second ts’i, are all illegal and void. The relation between the
two is more like that which existed between Sarah and 1 1 agar in
Abraham’s household, or Zilpah and Bilhah and their mistresses
in Jacob’s, than that indicated by our terms first and second
wife, of which idea the Chinese words contain no trace. The
degrees of unlawful marriages are comprehensive, extending even
to the prohibition of persons having the same fthuj^ or family
name, and to two brothers marrying sisters. The hnvs forbid
the marriage of a brother’s widow, of a father’s or grandfather’s
LAWS KEGULATING MARRIAGES. 793
wife, or a father’s sister, under the penalty of death ; and the
like punishment is inflicted upon whoever seizes the wife or
daughter of a freeman and carries them away to marry them.
These regulations not only put honor upon marriage, but render it more common among the Chinese than almost any other people, thereby preventing a vast train of evils. The tendency of unrestrained desire to throw down the barriers to the gratiiication of lust must not be lost sight of ; and as no laws on this subject can be effectual unless the common sense of a people approve of them, the Chinese, by separating the sexes in general society, have removed a principal provocation to sin, and by compelling young men to fulfil the marriage contracts of their parents have also provided a safeguard against debauchery at the age when youth is most tempted to indulge, and when indulgence would most strongly disincline them to marry at all. They have, moreover, provided for the undoubted succession of the inheritance by disallowing more than one loife^ and yet have granted men the liberty they would otherwise take, and which immemorial usage in Asiatic countries has sanctioned. They have done as well as they could in regulating a difficult matter, and better, on the whole, perhaps, than in most other unchristianized countries. If any one supposes, however, that because these laws exist sins against the seventh commandment are uncommon in China, he will be as mistaken as those who infer that because the Chinese are pagans nothing like modesty, purity, or affection exists between the sexes.
When a girl ” spills the tea”—that is, loses her betrothed by death—public opinion honors her if she refuse a second engagement; and instances are cited of young ladies committing suicide rather than contract a second marriage. They sometimes leave their father’s house and live with the parents of their affianced husband as if they had been really widows. It is considered derogatory for widows to marry ; though it may be that the instances quoted in books with so much praise only indicate how rare the practice is in reality. The widow is occasionally sold for a concubine by her father-in-law, and the grief and contumely of her degradation is enhanced by separation from her children, whom she can no longer retain. Such cases are, however, not common, for the impulses of maternal affection are too strong to be thus trifled with, and widows usually look to their friends for support, or to their own exertions if their children he still young; they are assisted, too, by their relatives in this laudable industry and care. It is a lasting stigma to a son to neglect the comfort and support of his widowed mother. A widower is not restrained by any laws, and weds one of his concubines or whomsoever he chooses ; nor is he expected to defer the nuptials for any period of mourning for his first wife.
The seven legal reasons for divorce, viz., barrenness, lasciviousness,
jealousy, talkativeness, thievery, disobedience to her
husband’s parents, or leprosy, are almost nullified by the single
provision that a woman cannot be put away whose parents are
not living to receive her back again. Parties can separate on
nmtual disagreement, but the code does not regulate the alimony
; and a husband is liable to punishment if he retain a
wife convicted of adultery. If a wife merely elopes she can
be sold by her husband, but if she marry while absent she is
to be sti’angled ; if the husband be absent three years a woman
must state her case to the magistrates before presuming to remarry.
In regard to the o-eneral condition of females in China the
remark of De Guignes is applicable, that ” though their lot is
less happy than that of their sisters in Europe, their ignorance
of a better state renders their present or jji-ospective one more
supportable ; happiness does not always consist in absolute
enjoyment, but in the idea which we have formed of it.” ‘ She
does not feel that any injustice is done her by depriving her of
the right of assent as to whom her partner sliall be ; her wishes
and her knowledge go no farther than her domestic circle, and
where she has been trained in her mother’s apartments to the
various duties and accomplishments of her sex, her removal to
a husband’s house brings to her no great change.
‘ Yoyages a Peking^ Tome II. , jj. 383.
PRIVILEGES AND I USlTlOK OF WIVES AND WIDOWS. 795
This, however, is not always the case, and the power accorded to the husband over his wife and family is often used with great tyranny. The young wife finds in her new home little of the sympathy and love her sisters in Christian lands receive. Her mother-in-law is not unfrequently the source of her greatest trials, and demands from her both the submission of a child and the labor of a slave, which is not seldom returned by disobedience and bitter revilings. If the husband interfere she has less likelihood of escaping his exactions; though in the lower walks of life his cruelty is restrained by fear of losing her and her services, and in the upper diverted by indifference as to what
she does, in the pursuit of other objects. If the wife behave
well till she lierself becomes a mother and a mother-in-law, then
the tables are turned ; from being a menial she becomes almost
a goddess. Luhchau, a writer on female culture, jnentions the
following indirect mode of reproving a mother-in-law : ” Loh
Yang travelled seven years to improve himself, during which
time his wife diligently served her mother-in-law and supported
her son at schooL The poultry from a neighbor’s house once
wandered into her garden, and her mother-in-law stole and killed
them for eating. When she sat down to table and saw the
fowls she would not dine, but burst into tears, at which the old
lady was much surprised and asked the reason. ‘ I am much
distressed that I am so poor and cannot aftord lo su|)|)]y you
with all I wish I could, and that I should have caused you to
eat flesh belonging to another.’ Her parent was affected by
this, and threw away the dish.”
The evils attending early betrothment induce many parents
to defer engaging their daughters until they are grown, and a
Imsband of similar tastes can be found ; for even if the condition
of the families in the interval of betrothment and marriage
unsuitably change, or the lad grows up to be a dissipated, worthless,
or cruel man, totally unworthy of the gii’l, still the contract
must be fulfilled, and the worst party genei-ally is most anxious
for it. The unhappy bride in such cases often escapes from her
present sufferings and dismal prospects by suicide. A case occured
in Canton in 1833 where a young wife, visiting her parents
shortly after marriage, so feelingly desciibed her sufferings at
the hands of a cruel husband to her sisters and friends that she
and three of her auditors joined their hands together and drowned
themselves in a pond, she to escape present misery and they to avoid its future possibility. Another young lady, having heard of the worthless character of her intended, carried a bag of money with her in the sedan, and when they retired after the ceremonies were over thus addressed him : ” Touch me not ; I am resolved to abandon the world and become a nun. I shall this night cut off my hair. I have saved 8200, which I give you ; with the half you can purchase a concubine, and with the rest enter on some trade. Be not lazy and thriftless. Hereafter, remember me.” Saying this, she cut off her hair, and her husband and his kindred, fearing suicide if they opposed her, acquiesced, and she returned to her father’s house.’
Such cases are common enough to show the dark side of family life, and young ladies implore their parents to rescue them in this or some other way from the sad fate which awaits them. Sometimes girls become skilled in female accomplishments to recommend themselves to their husbands, and their disappointment is the greater when they find him to be a brutal, depraved tyrant. A melancholy instance of this occurred in Canton in 1840, which ended in the wife committing suicide. Her brother had been a scholar of one of the American missionaries, and took a commendable pride in showing specimens of his sister’s exquisite embroidery, and not a few of her attainments in writing, which indicated their reciprocal attachment. The contrary happens too, sometimes, where the husband finds himself compelled to wed a woman totally unable to appreciate or share his pursuits, but he has means of alleviatinor or avoidino; such misalliances which the weaker vessel has not. On the whole, as we have said, one must admit that woman holds a fairly high position in China. If she suffers from the brutality of her husband, the tyraimy of her mother-in-law, or the overwork of household, field, or loom, she is as often herself blameworthy for indolence, shiftlessness, gadding, and bad temper. The instances which are given by Gray” in his account of marital atrocities prove the length to which a man will wreak his rage on the helpless ; but they are the exception to the general testimony of the people themselves. So far as general purity of society goes, one may well doubt whether such aboininahle conduct as is legalized among IVIornions in Utah is any improvement on the hardships of woman among the Chinese.
‘ Chinese JRepository, Vol. I., p. 293. * China, Chap. VII.
UNHAPPY BKTKOTHMENTS. 797
Pursuing this brief account of the social life of the Chinese, the right of parents in managing their children comes into notice. It is great, though not unlimited, and in allowing them very extensive power, legislators have supposed that natural affection of the parents, a desire to continue the honorable succession of the family, together with the influence of proper education, were as good securities against paternal cruelty and neglect as any laws which could be made. Fathers give their sons the ru ming, or ‘milk name,’ about a month after birth.
The mother, on the day appointed for this ceremony, worships
and thanks the goddess of Mercy, and the boy, dressed and
having his head shaved, is brought into the circle of assembled
friends, where the father confers the name and celebrates the
occasion by a feast. The milk name is kept until the lad enters
school, at which time the sJiit ming, or ‘school name,’ is conferred
upon him, as already mentioned. The fiJiu ruing generally
consists of two characters, selected with reference to the
boy’s condition, prospects, studies, or some other event connected
with him ; sometimes the milk name is continued, as the
family have become accustomed to it. Such names as InJi–
gi’lnder. Promising-study, Opening-oli’ve, Entering-virtue, Rising-
advancement, etc., are given to young students at this time.
Though endearing or fanciful names are often conferred, it is
quite as common to vilify very young children by calling them
dog, hog, pujypy, fiea, etc., under the idea that such epithets
will w^ard off the evil eye. Girls have only their milk and
marriage names ; the former may be a flower, a sister, a gem,
or such like ; the latter are terms like Emulating the Moon,
Orchis 1^ lower, the Jasmine, Delicate Perfume, etc. A mere
number at Canton, as A-yat, A-sam, A-luk (No. 1, No. 3, No. G),
often designates the boys till they get their book names.’
‘ Doolittle’s Handbook, Vol. III., p. 660, gives a list of names collected at Fulicliau, which are applicable to other provinces.
The personal names of the Chinese are written contrariwise to our own, the xing or surname, coming first, then the ming, or given name, and then the complimentary title ; as Liang Wantai siensang, where Liang, or ‘ Millet,’ is the family name, Wantai, or ‘ Tei’race of Letters,’ the given name, and siensdng, Mr. {i.e., Master), or ‘ Teacher.’ A few of the surnames are double, as Si’ma Qian, where Si’ma is the family name and Qian the official title. A curious idea prevails among the people of Canton, that foreigners have no surname, which, as Pliny thought of the inhabitants of Mt. Atlas, they regard as one of the proofs of their barbarism ; perhaps tin’s notion came by inference from the fact that the Manchus write only their given name, as Kishen, Kiying, Ilipu, etc. When writing Chinese names in
translations and elsewhere, some attention should be paid to
these particulars ; the names of Chinese persons and places are
constantly appearing in print nnder forms as singular as would
be Williamhcnryhdrrison, Rich-Ard- Ox-Ford, or Phila Delphia-
city in English. The name being in a different language,
and its true nature unknown to most of those who write it, accounts
for the misarrangement.
NUMBER AND CHANGES OF PERSONAL NAMES. 799
Li Canton and its vicinity the names of people are abbreviated in conversation to one character, and an A prefixed to it; —as TslnteJi, called A-teh or A-tsin. In Amoy the A is placed after, as China in the northern provinces no such usage is known. Some families, perhaps in imitation of the imperial precedent, distinguish their members from others in the clan by adopting a constant character for the first one in the niing,OY given name ; thus a family of brothers will be named Lin Tung-pei, Lin Tung-fung, Lin Tung-peh, where the word Tung distinguishes this sept of the clan Lin from all others. There are no characters exclusively appropriated to proper names or different sexes, as George, Agnes, etc., all being chosen out of the language with reference to their meanings. Consequently, a name is sometimes felt to be incongruous, as Xaomi, when saluted on her return to Bethlehem, felt its inappropriateness to her altered condition, and suggested a change to Mara. Puns on names and sobriquets are common, from the constant contrast of the sounds of the characters with circumstances suggesting a comparison or a play upon their meanings ; sly jokes are also played when writing the names of foreigners, by choosing such characters as will make a ridiculous meaning when read according to their sense and not their sound.
“When a man marries he adopts a third name, called zi, or ‘style’, by which he is usually known through life ; this is either entirely new or combined from previous names. When a girl is married her family name becomes her given name, and the given name is disused, her husband’s name becoming her family name. Thus Wa Salah married to ^Vei San-wei drops the Salah, and is called ^Vei Wa shl, i.e., Mrs. Wei [born of the clan] Wa, though her husband or near relatives sometimes retain it as a trivial address. A man is frequently known by another compellation, called jrieh tsz\ or ‘second style,’ which the public do not presume to employ. When a young man is successful in attaining a degree, or enters an office, he takes a title called I’lixm ming, or ‘ official name,’ by which he is known to government. The members or heads of licensed mercantile companies each have an official name, which is entered in their permit, from whence it is called among foreigners their choj) name. Each of the heads of the co-hong formerly licensed to trade with foreigners at Canton had such an official name. Besides these various names, old men of fifty, shopkeepers, and others take a ?mo, or ‘ designation; ‘ tradesmen use it on their signboards as the name of their shop, and not unfrequently receive it as their personal appellation. Of this nature are the appellations of the tradesmen who deal with foreigners, as Catshing, Chanlung, Linchong, etc., which are none of them the names of the shopmen, but the designation of the shop. It is the usual M’ay in Canton for foreigners to go into a shop and ask ” Is Mr. Wanglik in ? ” which would be almost like one in New York inquiring if Mr. Alhambra or Mr, Atlantic-House was at home, though it does not sound quite so ridiculous to a Chinese. The names taken by shopkeepers allude to trade or its prospects, such as Mutual Advantage, Obedient Profit, EHcns’ive Ilarniony, liising Goodness, Great Completeness, etc. ; the names of the partners as such are not employed to form the firm. Besides this use of the hao, it is also employed as a brand upon goods; the terms Hoyuen^ K’mghing, YiienVi, meaning ‘ Harmonious Springs,’ ‘ Cheering Prospects,’ ‘ Fountain’s Memorial,’ etc., are applied to particular parcels of tea, silk, or other goods, just as brands are placed on lots of wine, flour, or pork. This is called zi-hao, or ‘ marked signation,’ but foreigners call both it and the goods it denotes a choj).
When a man dies he receives another and last, though not
necessarily a new name in the hall of ancestors ; upon emperors
and empresses are bestowed new ones, as Benevolent, Pious,
Discreet, etc., by which they are worshipped and referred to in
history, as that designation which is most likely to be permanent.
In their common intercourse the Chinese are not more formal
than is considered to be well-bred in Europe ; it is on extraordinary
or official occasions that they observe the precise etiquette
for which they are famous. The proper mode of behavior toward
all classes is pei’haps more carefully inculcated upon youth
than it is in the west, and habit renders easy what custom demands.
The ceremonial obeisance of a court or a levee, or the salutations proper for a festival, are not carried into the everyday intercourse of life; for as one chief end of the formalities prescribed for such times is to teach due subordination among persons of different rank, they are in a measure laid aside with the robes which suggested them. True politeness, exhibited in an unaffected regard for the feelings of others, cannot, we know, be taught by rules ; but a great degree of urbanity and kindness is everywhere shown, whether owing to the naturally placable disposition of the people or to the effects of their early instruction in the forms of politeness. Whether in the crowded and narrow thoroughfares, the village green, the market, the jostling ferry, or the thronged procession—wherever the people are assembled promiscuously, good humor and courtesy are observable; and when altercations do arise wounds or serious injuries seldom ensue, although from the furious clamor one would imagine that half the crowd were in danger of their lives.
CEREMONIAL OBEISANCE AT COURT. 801
Chinese ceremonial requires superiors to be honored according to their station and age, anci equals to depreciate themselves while lauding those they address. The Emperor, considering himself as the representative of divine power, exacts the same prostration which is paid the gods; and the ceremonies which are performed in his presence partake, therefore, of a religious character, and are not merely particular forms of etiquette, which may be altered according to circumstances. There are eight gradations of obeisance, commencing with “the lowest form of respect, called hung shao, which is merely joining the hands and raising them before the breast. The next is tso yih, bowing low with the hands thus joined. The third is ta tsieoi^ bending the knee as if about to kneel ; and hinei^ an actual kneeling, is the fourth. The fifth is Jco tao (ketou), kneeling and striking the head on the ground, which when thrice repeated makes the sixth, called m/i hao, or ‘thrice knocking’.
The seventh is the In/i hfo, or kneeling and knocking the head thrice upon the ground, then standing upright and again kneeling and knocking the head three times more. The climax is closed by the san. kwcl liu I’ao, or thrice kneeling and nine times knocking the head. Some of the gods of China are entitled to the san hio, others to the Ink Ji’ao, while the Emperor and Heaven are worshipped by the last. The family now on the throne consider this last form as expressing in the strongest manner the submission and homage of one state to another.”‘
The extreme submission which the Emperor demands is partaken by and tratisferred to his officers of every grade in a greater or less degree ; the observance of these forms is deemed, therefore, of great importance, and a refusal to render them is considered to be nearly equivalent to a rejection of their authority.
Minute regulations for the times and modes of official intercourse
are made and promulgated by the Board of Rites, and to
learn and practise them is one indispensable part of official duty.
In court the master of ceremonies stands in a conspicuous place,
and with a loud voice commands the courtiers to rise and kneel,
stand or march, just as an orderly sergeant directs the drill of
‘ Memoir of Dr. Morrison, “Vol. II. , p. 143.
recruits. The same attention to the ritual is observed in their mutual intercourse, for however much an inferior may desire to dispense with the ceremony, his superior will not fail to exact it. In the salutations of entree and exit among officers these forms are particularly conspicuous, but when well acquainted with each other, and in moments of conviviality, they are in a great measure laid aside; but the juxtaposition of art and nature among them, at one moment laughing and joking, and the next bowing and kneeling to each other as if they had never met, sometimes produces amusing scenes to a foreigner. The entire ignorance and disregard of these forms by foreigners unacquainted with the code leaves a worse impression upon the natives at times, who ascribe such rudeness to hauteur and contempt.
Without particularizing the tedious forms of official etiquette,
it will be sufficient to describe what is generally required in
good society. Military men pay visits on horseback ; civilians
and others go in sedans or carts ; to walk is not common. Visiting
cards are made of vermilioned paper cut into slips about
eight inches long and three wide, and are single or folded four,
six, eight, or more times, according to the position of the visitor.
If he is in recent mourning, the paper is white and the
name written in blue ink, but after a stated time this is indicated
by an additional character. The simple name is stamped
on the upper right corner, or if written on the lower corner, with an addition thus, ‘* Your humble servant {lit., ‘stupid younger brother ‘) Pi Chi-wan bows his head in salutation.” On approaching the house his attendant hands a card to the doorkeeper, and if he cannot be received, instead of saying ” not a^ home,” the host sends out to ” stay the gentleman’s approach,” and the card is left. If contrariwise the sedan is carried through the doorway into the court, wdiere he comes forth to receive his guest ; as the latter steps out each one advances just so far, bowing just so many times, and going through the ceremonies which they mutually understand and expect, until both have taken their seats at the head of the hall, the guest sitting on the left of the host, and his companions, if he have any, in the chairs on each side.
ETIQUETTj: OF FORMAL VIRITINCt. 803
The inquiries made after ihe mutual welfare of friends and each other are eonched in a form of studied laudation and depreciation, which when literally translated seem somewhat affected, but to them convey no more than similar civilities do among ourselves—in truth, perhaps not so much of sincere good-will.
For instance, to the remark, ” It is a long time since we have met, sir,” the host replies (literally), ” IIow presume to receive the trouble of your honorable footsteps ; is the person in the chariot well ? “—which is simply equivalent to, ” I am much obliged for your visit, and hope you enjoy good health.”
Tea and pipes are always presented, together with betel-nut or sweetmeats on some occasions, but it is not, as among the Turks, considered disrespectful to refuse them, though it would be looked upon as singular. If the guest inquire after the health of relatives he should commence with the oldest living, and then ask how many sons the host has; but it is not considered good bi’eeding for a formal acquaintance to make any remarks respecting the mistress of the house. If the sons of the host are at home they are generally sent for, and make their obeisance to their father’s friend by coming up l)eft>re him and performing the kototn as rapidly as possible, each one making haste, as if he did not wish to delay him. The guest raises them with a slight bow, and the lads stand facing him at a respectful distance. He will then remark, perhaps, if one of them happen to be at his studies, that ” the boy will perpetuate the literary reputation of his family ” {lit., ‘ he will fully carry on the fragrance of the books’); to which his father rejoins, “The reputation of our family is not great {lit., ‘ hills and fields’ happiness is thin ‘) ; high expectations are not to be entertained of him ; if he can only gain a livelihood it will be enough.” After a few such compliments the boys say shao j)ei, ‘slightly waiting on you,’ i.e., pray excuse us, and retire. Girls are seldom brought in, and young ladies never.
The periphrases employed to denote persons and thus avoid speaking their names in a measure indicate the estimation in which they are held. For instance, ” Does the honorable great man enjoy happiness?” means “Is your father well?” “Distinguished and aged one what honorable age ? ” is the mode of asking how old he is; for among the Chinese, as it seems to have been among the Egyptians, it is polite to ask the names and ages of all ranks and sexes. ” The old man of the house,” “excellent honorable one,” and ” venerable great prince,” are terms used by a visitor to designate the father of his host. A child terms his father ” family’s majesty,” ” old man of the family,” ” prince of the family,” or ” venerable father.” When dead a father is called ” former prince,” and a mother ” venerable
great one in repose ; ” and there are particular characters to
distinguish deceased parents from living. The request, ” Make
my respects to your mother”—for no Chinese gentleman ever
asks to see the ladies—is literally, ” Excellent-longevity hall place
in my behalf wish repose,” the first two words denoting she who
remains there. Care should be taken not to use the same expressions
when speaking of the relatives of the guest and one’s
own; thus, in asking, ” IIow many worthy young gentlemen
[sons] have you ? ” the host replies, ” I am unfortunate in having
had but one l)oy,” literally, ” My fate is niggardly ; I have only
one little bug.” This runs through their whole Chesterlieldian
code. A man calls his wife Uleii mti, i.e., ‘ the mean one of the
inner apartments,’ or ‘ the foolish one of the family ; ‘ while another speaking of her calls her ” the honorable lady,” ” worthy lady,” ” your favored one,” etc.
‘ This is repeated by both at the\
FORMALITIE:^ OF ADDRESS AND GREETING. 80.”)
Something of this is found in all oriental languages ; to become familiar with the right application of these terms in Chinese, as elsewhere in the east, is no easy lesson for a foreigner. In their salutations of ceremony they do not, however, quite equal the Arabs, with their kissing, bowing, touching foreheads, stroking beards, and repeated motions of obeisance. The Chinese seldom embrace or touch each other, except on unusual occasions of joy or among family friends; in fact, they have hardly a common word for a kiss. When the visitor rises to depart he remarks, ” Another day I will come to receive your instructions; ” to which his friend replies, ” You do me too much honor; I rather ought to wait on you tomorrow.” The common form of salutation among equals is for each to clasp his own hands before his breast and make a slight bow, saying, Tsing ! Tsimj ! i.e., ^l\\x\\\ ITail !
.same time, on meeting as well as separating.’ The formalities of leave-taking correspond to those of receiving, but if the parties are equal, or nearly so, the host sees his friend quite to the door and into his sedan.
Officers avoid meeting each other, especially in public, except when etiquette requires them. An officer of low rank is obliged to stop his chair or horse, and on his feet to salute his superior, who receives and returns the civility without moving. Those of equal grades leave their places and go through a mock struo-gle of deference to sret each first to return to it. The common people never presume to salute an officer in the streets, nor even to look at him very carefully. In his presence, they speak to him on their knees, but an old man, or one of consideration, is usually requested to rise when speaking, and even criminals with gray hairs are treated with respect. Officers do not allow their inferiors to sit in their presence, and have always been unwilling to concede this to foreigners ; those of the lowest rank consider themselves far above the best of such visitors, but this affectation of rank is already passing away. The converse, of not paying them proper respect, is more common among a certain class of foreigners.
Children are early taught the forms of politeness toward all
ranks. The duties owed by younger to elder brothers are peculiar,
the firstborn havino; a sort of birthrio-ht in the ancestral
Avorship, in the division of property, and in the direction of the
family after the father’s decease. The degree of formality in
the domestic circle inculcated in the ancient Book of Rites is
never observed to its full extent, and would perhaps chill the
affection which should exist among its members, did not habit
render it easy and proper ; and the extent to which it is actually
carried depends a good deal upon the education (jf the family.
In forwarding presents it is customary to send a list with the
note, and if the person deems it proper to decline some of them,
he marks on the list those he takes and returns the i-est ; a douceur
is always expected by the bearer, and needy fellows sometimes pretend to have been sent with some insignificant present
‘ Chinese Chrestomathy, Chap. V., Sec. 12, p. 182. This phrase is the origin of the word chinchin, so often heard among the Chinese.
from a grandee in hopes of receiving more than its equivalent as a cumshavv from the person thus honored. De Guignes mentioned one donor who waited until the list came back, and then sent out and purchased the articles which had been marked and sent them to his friend.
Travellers have so often described the Chinese formal dinners,
that theJ have almost become one of their national traits in the
view of foreigners ; so many of these banquets, however, were
given by or in the name of the sovereign, that they are hardly
a fair criterion of usual private feasts. The Chinese are both a
social and a sensual people, and the pleasures of the table form
a principal item in the list of their enjoyments ; nor are the
higher delights of mental recreation altogether wanting, though
this part of the entertainment is according to their taste and not
ours. Private meals and public feasts among the higher classes
are both dull and long to us, because ladies do not participate; but perhaps we judge more what our own tables would be without their cheerful presence, Avhile in China each sex is of the opinion that the meal is more enjoyable without interference from the other.
An invitation to dinner is written on a slip of red paper like a visiting-card, and sent some days before. It reads, ” On the —day a trifling entertainment will await the light of your countenance. Tsau San-wei’s compliments.” Another card is sent on the day itself, stating the hour of dinner, or a servant comes to call the guests. The host, dressed in his cap and robes, awaits their arrival, and after they are all assembled, requests them to follow his example and lay aside their dresses of ceremony.
CUSTOMS AT DINNER. 807
The usual way of arranging guests is by twos on each side of small uncovered tables, placed in lines; an arrangement as convenient for serving the numerous courses which compose the feast, and removing the dishes, as Avas the Roman fashion of reclining around a hollow table; it also allows a fair view of the musical or theatrical performances. On some occasions, in the sunny south, however, a single long or round table is laid out in a tasteful manner, having pyramids of cakes alternating with piles of fruits and dishes of preserves, all covered more or less with flowers, while the table itself is partly hidden from view by nosegaj’s and leaves. If the party be large, ten minutes or more are consumed by the host and guests going through a tedious repetition of requests and refusals to take the highest seats, for not a man will sit down until he sees the host occupying his chair.
On commencing, the host, standing up, salutes his guests, in
a cup, apologizing for the frugal board before them, his only
desire being to show his respects to them. At a certain period
in the entertainment, they reply by simultaneously rising and
drinking his health. The Western custom of giving a sentiment
is not known ; and politeness requires a person when drinking
healths to turn the bottom of the tiny wine-cup upward to
show that it is drained. Glass dishes are gradually becoming
cheap and common among the middle class, but the table furniture
still mainly consists of porcelain cups, bowls, and saucers
of various sizes and quality, porcelain spoons shaped like a
child’s pap-boat, and two smooth sticks made of bamboo, ivory,
or wood, of the size of quills, well known as the chojp-sticks^
from the native name hwai tsz\ i.e., ‘ nimble lads.’ Grasping
these implements on each side of the forefinger, the eater
pinches up from the dishes meat, fish, oi- vegetables, already
cut into mouthfuls, and conveys one to his mouth. The bowl
of rice or millet is brought to the lips, and the contents shovelled
into the mouth in an expeditious manner, quite suitable to the
name of the tools employed. Less convenient than forks, chopsticks
are a great improvement on fingers, as every one will
acknowledge who has seen the Hindus throw the balls of curried
rice into their mouths.
The succession of dishes is not uniform ; soups, meats, stews, fruits, and preserves are introduced somewhat at the discretion of the major-domo, but the end is announced by a bowl of plain rice and a cup of tea. The fruit is often brought in after a recess, during which the guests rise and refresh themselves by walking and chatting, for three or four hours are not unfrequently required even to taste all the dishes. It is not deemed impolite for a guest to express his satisfaction with the good fare before him, and exhibit evidences of having stuffed himself to repletion ; nor is it a breach of manners to retire before the dinner is ended. The guests relieve its tedium by playing the game of ehal mel, or morra (the niicare digitls of the old Romans), which consists in showing the fingers to each other across the table, and mentioning a number at the same moment; as, if one opens out two fingers and mentions the number four, the other instantly shows six fingers, and repeats that number.
If he mistake in giving the complement of ten, he pays a forfeit
by drinking a cup. This convivial game is common among
all ranks, and the boisterous merriment of workmen or friends
at their meals is frecjuently heard as one passes through the
streets in the afternoon.’ The Chinese generally have but two
meals a day, breakfast at nine and dinner at four, or thereabouts.
The Chinese are comparatively a temperate people. This is owing principally to the universal use of tea, but also to taking their arrack very warm and at their meals, rather than to any notions of sobriety or dislike of spirits. A little of it fiushes their faces, mounts into their heads, and induces them when flustered to remain in the house to conceal the suffusion, although they may not be really drunk. This liquor is known as toddy, arrack, saki, tsiu, and other names in Eastern Asia, and is distilled from the yeasty liquor in which boiled rice has fermented under pressure many days. Only one distillation is made for common liquor, but when more strength is wanted, it is distilled two or three times, and it is this strong spirit alone which is rightly called samshu, a word meaning ‘ thrice fired.’ Chinese moralists have always inveighed against the use of spirits, and the name of I-tih, the reputed inventor of the deleterious drink, more than two thousand years before Christ, has been handed down with opprobrium, as he was himself banished by the great Yu for his discovery.
‘ Compare the- China Review, Vol. IV., p. 400.
TEMPERANCE OF THE CHINESE. 809
The Shu King contains a discourse by the Duke of Chan on the abuse of spirits. His speech to his brother Fung, b.c. 1120, is the oldest temperance address on record, even earlier than the words of Solomon in the Proverbs. ” When your reverend father, King AVaii, founded our kingdom in the western region, ho delivered announcements and cautions to the princes of the
various states, their officers, assistants, and managers of affairs,
morning and evening, saying, ‘ For sacrifices spirits should be
employed. When Heaven was sending down its [favoring]
commands and laying the foundations of our people’s sway,
spirits were used only in the great sacrifices. [But] when
Heaven has sent down its terrors, and our people have therel)y
been greatly disorganized, and lost their [sense of] virtue, this
too can be ascribed to nothing else than their unlimited use of
spirits; yea, further, the ruin of the feudal states, small and
great, may be traced to this one sin, the free use of spirits.’
King Wan admonished and instructed the young and those in
office managing public affairs, that they should not habitually
drink spirits. In all the states he enjoined that their use be
confined to times of sacrifices ; and even then with such limitations
that virtue should prevent drunkenness.” ‘
The general and local festivals of the Chinese are numerous, among which the first three days of the year, one or two about the middle of April to worship at the tombs, the two solstices, and the festival of dragon-boats, are common days of relaxation and merry-making, only on the first, however, are the shops shut and business suspended. Some persons have expressed their surprise that the unceasing round of toil which the Chinese laborer pursues has not rendered him more degraded. It is usually said that a weekly rest is necessary for the continuance of the powers of body and mind in man in their full activity,
and that decrepitude and insanity would oftener result
were it not for this relaxation. The arguments in favor of this
observation seem to be deduced from undoubted facts in countries
where the obligations of the Sabbath are acknowledged,
though where the vast majority cease from business and labor,
it is not easy for a few to work all the time even if they wish,
owing to the various ways in which their occupations are involved
‘ C/dnese Repository, Vol. XV., p. 433. Book of Records, Part V., Book X., Legge’s translation ; also Medliurst’s and Caubil’s translations.
with those of others ; yet, in China, people who apparently tax themselves uninterruptedly to the utmost stretch of
body and mind, live in health to old age. A few facts of this
sort incline one to suppose that the Sabbath was designed by
its Lord as a day of rest for man from a constant routine of relaxation
and mental and physical labor, in order that he might
have leisure for attending to the paramount duties of religion,
and not alone as a day of relaxation and rest, without which
they could not live out all their days. Nothing like a seventh
day of rest, or religious respect to that interval of time, is
known among the Chinese, but they do not, as a people, exercise
their minds to the intensity, or upon the high subjects
common among Western nations, and this perhaps is one reason
why their yearly toil produces no disastrous effects. The countless blessings which flow from an observance of the fourth commandment can be better appreciated by witnessing the wearied
condition of the society where it is not acknowledged, and whoever
sees such a society can hardly fail to wish for its introduction.
Converts to Christianity in China, who are instructed in its
strict observance, soon learn to prize it as a high privilege ; and
its general neglect among the native Roman Catholics has removed
the only apparent difference between them and the pagans. The former prime minister of China once remarked that among the few really valuable things which foreigners had brought to China, the rest of the Sabbath day was one of the most desirable; he often longed for a quiet day.”
Nevius, China and the Chinese, pp. 399-408.
NEW year’s customs AND CEREMONIES. 811
The return of the year is an occasion of unbounded festivity and hilarity, as if the whole population threw oft” the old year with a shout, and clothed themselves in the new with their change of garments. The evidences of the approach of this chief festival appear some weeks previous. The principal streets are lined with tables, upon which articles of dress, furniture, and fancy are disposed for sale in the most attractive manner. Necessity compels many to dispose of certain of their treasures or superfluous things at this season, and sometimes exceedingly curious bits of bric-a-brac, long laid up in families, can be procured at a cheap rate. It is customary for superiors to give their dependents and employees a present, and for shopmen to send an’ acknowledgment of favors to their customers; one of the most common gifts among the lower classes is a pair of new shoes. Among the tables spread in the streets are many provided with pencils and red paper of various sizes, on which persons write sentences appropriate to the season in various styles,
to be pasted upon the doorposts and lintels of dwellings and
shops,’ or suspended from their walls. The shops also put on a
most brilliant appearance, arrayed in these papers interspei’sed
among the I’hi hwa^ or ‘golden flowers,’ which are sprigs of artificial
leaves and flowers made in the southern cities of brass tinsel
and fastened upon wires ; the latter are designed for an annual offering in temples, or to place before the household tablet. Small strips of red and gilt paper, some bearing the word fah, or ‘happiness,’ large and small vermilion candles, gaily painted, and other things used in idolatry, are likewise sold in great quantities, and with the increased throng impart an unusually lively appearance to the streets. Another evident sign of the approaching change is the use of water upon the doors, shutters, and other woodwork of houses and shops, washing chairs, utensils, clothes, etc., as if cleanliness had not a little to do wath joy, and a well-washed person and tenement were indispensable to the proper celebration of the festival. Throughout the southern rivers all small craft, tankia-boats, and lighters are beached and turned inside out for a scrubbing.
‘ A like custom existed among the Hebrews, now continued in the modern mezuzmc. Deut. vi. 9. Jahu’s Arduvoloyy, p. 88.
A still more praiseworthy custom attending this season is that of settling accounts and paying debts; shopkeepers are kept busy waiting upon their customers, and creditors urge their debtors to arrange these important matters. No debt is allowed to overpass new year without a settlement or satisfactory arrangement, if it can be avoided ; and those whose liabilities altogether exceed their means are generally at this season obliged to wind up their concerns and give all their available property into the hands of their creditors. The consequences of this general pay-day are a high rate of money, great resort to the pawnbrokers, and a general fall in the price of most kinds of produce and commodities. Manj- good results flow from the practice, and the conscious sense of the difficulty and expense of resorting to legal proceedings to recover debts induces all to observe and maintain it, so that the dishonest, the unsuccessful, and the wild speculator may be sifted out from amongst the honest traders.
De Guignes mentions one expedient to oblige a man to pay
his debts at this season, which is to carry off the door of his
shop or house, for then his premises and person will be exposed
to the entrance and anger of all hungry and malicious demons
prowling around the streets, and happiness no more revisit his
abode ; to avoid this he is fain to arrange his accounts. It
is a common practice among devout persons to settle with the
gods, and during a few days before the new yeai”, the temples
are nnusually thronged by devotees, both male and female, rich
and poor. Some persons fast and engage the priests to intercede
for them that their sins may be pardoned, while they prostrate
themselves before the images amidst the din of gongs, drums,
and bells, and thus clear off the old score. On new year’s eve
the streets are full of people hun-ying to and fro to conclude the
many matters which press upon them. At Canton, some are
busy pasting the five slips upon their lintels, signifying their
desire tliat the five blessings which constitute the sum of all
human felicity (namely, longevity, riches, health, love of virtue,
and a natural death) may be their favored portion. Such sentences
as ” May the five blessings visit this door,” ” May heaven
send down happiness,” ” May rich customers ever enter this
door,” are placed above them ; and the dooi-posts are adorned
with others on plain or gold sprinkled red paper, making tlie
entrance quite picturesque. In the hall are suspended scrolls
more or less costly, containing antithetical sentences carefully
chosen. A literary man would have, for instance, a distich like
the following:
May I be so learned as to secrete in my raind three myriads of volumes:
May I know the affairs of the world for six tiiousand years.
SETTLING ACCOUNTS AND DECORATING HOUSES. 813
A. shopkeeper adorns his door with those relating to trade:
May prolits ho lik(> tlio morning sun lising on tho clouds.
May wealth increase like the morning tidt; which brings the rain.
Manage your occupation according to truth and loyalty.
Hold ou to benevolence and rectitude in all your trading.The influence of these mottoes, and countless others like them which are constantly seen in the streets, shops, and dwellings throughout the land, is inestimable. Generally it is for good, and as a large proportion are in the form of petition or wish, they show the moral feeling of the people.
Boat-people in Kwaiigtmig and Fuhkien provinces are peculiarly
liberal of their paper prayers, pasting them on every board
and oar in the boat, and suspending them from the stern in scores,
making the vessel flutter with gaiety. Farmers stick theirs
upon barns, trees, wattles, baskets, and implements, as if nothing
was too insignificant to receive a blessing. The house is arranged
in the most oi’derly and cleanly manner, and purified
with religious ceremonies and lustrations, firing of ei-ackers, etc.,
and as the necessary preparations occupy a considerable portion
of the night, the streets are not quiet till dawn. In addition
to the bustle arising from business and religious observances,
which marks this passage of time, the constant explosion of firecrackers,
and the clamor of gongs, make it still more noisy.
Strings of these crackling fireworks are burned at the doorposts,
before the outgoing and incoming of the year, designed to expel
and deter evil spirits from the house. The consumption is
so great as to cover the sti-eets with the fragments, and farmers
come the week after into Canton city and sweep up hundreds of
bushels for manure.
The first day of the year is also regarded as the birthday of the entire population, for the practice among the Hebrews of dating the age from the beginning of the year, prevails also in China; so that a child born only a week before new year, is considered as entering its second year on the first day of the first month. This does not, however, entirely supersede the observance of the real anniversary, and parents frequently make asolenmity of their son’s birthday. A missionary thus describes the celebration of a son’s sixth birthday at Ningpo. ” The little fellow was dressed in his best clothes, and his father had brought gilt paper, printed praj^ers, and a large number of bowls of meats,
rice, vegetables, spirits, nuts, etc., as an offering to be spread
out before the idols. The ceremonies were performed in the
apartment of the Tao 2£u, or ‘ Bushel Mother,’ who has special
charge of infants before and after birth. The old abbot
was dressed in a scarlet robe, with a gilt image of a serpent
fastened in his hair ; one of the monks wore a purple, another
a gray robe. A multitude of prayers, seemingly a round of
repetitions, were read by the abbot, occasionally chanting a little,
when the attendants joined in the chorus, and a deafening
clamor of bells, cymbals, and wooden blocks, added force to
their cry ; genuflexions and prostrations were repeatedlj’ made.
One pai’t of the ceremony was to pass a live cock through a barrel,
which the assistants performed many times, shouting some
strange words at each repetition ; this act symbolized the dangers
through which the child was to pass in his future life, and
the priests had prayed that he might as safely come out of them
all, as the cock had passed through the barrel. In conclusion,
some of the prayers were burned and a libation poured out, and
a grand symphony of bell, gong, drum, and block, closed the
scene.”‘
‘ Presbyterian Missionary Chronide, 1846.
CALLS AND COMPLLMKNTS AT NEW YEAR’S. 815
A great diversity of local usages are observed at this period in different parts of the country. In iVmoy, the custom of ‘•’ surrounding the furnace” is generally practised. The members of the family sit down to a substantial supper on new year’s eve, with a pan of charcoal under the table, as a supposed preservative against fires. After the supper is ended, the wooden lamp-stands are brought out and spread upon the pavement with a heap of gold and silver paper, and set on fire after all demons have been warned off by a volley of fire-crackers. The embers are then divided into twelve heaps, and their manner of going out carefully watched as a prognostic of the kind of weather to be expected the ensuing year. Many persons wash their bodies in warm water, made aromatic by the infusion of leaves, as a security against disease; this ceremony, and ornamenting the ancestral shrine, and garnishing the whole house with inscriptions, pictures, flowers, and fruit, in the gayest manner the means of the family will allow, occupy most of the night.
The stillness of the streets and the gay inscriptions on the
closed shops on new year’s morning present a wonderful contrast
to the usual bustle and crowd, resembling the Christian
Sabbath. The red papers of the doors are here and there interspersed with the blue ones, announcing that during the past
year death has come among the inmates of the house ; a silent
but expressive intimation to passers that some who saw the last
new year have passed away. In certain places, white, yellow,
and carnation colored papers are employed, as well as blue, to
distinguish the degree of the deceased kindred. Etiquette requires that those who mourn remain at home at this period.
By noontide the streets begin to be filled with well-dressed persons, hastening in sedans or afoot to make their calls; those who cannot afford to buy a new suit hire one for this purpose, so that a man hardly knows his own domestics in their finery and robes. The meeting of friends in the streets, both bound on the same errand, is attended with particular demonstrations of respect, each politely struggling who shall be most affectedly humble. On this day parents receive the prostrations of their children, teachers expect the salutations of their pupils, magistrates
look for the calls of their inferiors, and ancestors of every
generation, and gods of various powers are presented with the
offerings of devotees in the family hall or public temple. Much
of the visiting is done by cards, on which is stamped an emblematic
device representing the three happy wishes—of children,
rank, and longevity ; a common card suffices for distant
acquaintances and customers. It might be a subject of speculation
whether the custom of visiting and renewing one’s acquaintances
on new year’s day, so generally practised among
the Dutch and in America, was not originally imitated from
the Chinese ; but as in many other things, so in this, the
westerns have improved upon the easterns, in calling upon
the ladies. Persons, as they meet, salute each other with Kung-hi I Kung-ld ! ‘ I respectfully wish yon joy ! ‘—or Sviihi! 8in-hi ! ‘ May the new joy be yours,’ either of which, from its use at this season, is quite like the Ilayj^ij JVew Year ! of Englishmen.
Toward evening, the merry sounds proceeding from the closed
doors announce that the sacrifice provided for presentation before
the shrines of departed parents is cheering the M’orshippers ;
while the great numbers who resort to gambling-shops show full
M’ell that the routine of ceremony soon becomes tiresome, and a
more exciting stimulus is needed. The extent to which play is
now carried is almost indescribable. Jugglers, mountebanks,
and actors also endeavor to collect a few coppers by amusing
the crowds. Generally speaking, however, the three days devoted
to this festival pass by without turmoil, and business and
work then gradually resume their usual course for another
twelvemonth.
The festival of the dragon-boats, on the fifth day of the fifth month, presents a very different scene wherever there is a serviceable stream for its celebration. At Canton, long, narrow boats, holding sixty or more rowers, race up and down the river in pairs with huge clamor, as if searching for some one wdio had been drowned. This festival was instituted in memory of the statesman Kiih Yuen, about 450 b.c, who drowned himself in the river Miii-lo, an affluent of Tungting Lake, after having been falsely accused by one of the petty princes of the state. The people, who loved the unfortunate courtier for his
fidelity and virtues, sent out boats in search of the body, but to
no purpose. They then made a peculiar sort of rice-cake called
tsung, and setting out across the river in boats with flags and
gongs, each strove to be fii’st on the spot of the tragedy and sacrifice
to the spirit of Kiih Yuen. This mode of commemoi-ating
the event has been since continued as an annual holiday.
The bow of the boat is ornamented or cai’ved into the head of
a dragon, and men beating gongs and drums, and waving flags,
inspirit the rowers to renewed exertions. The exhilarating exercise
of racing leads the people to prolong the festival two or
three days, and geiuM’ally with commendable good humor, but
their eagerness to beat t»ften breaks the boats, or leads them
DKAGON-BOAT FESTIVAL XnD FEAST OF JvANTEKNS. 817
into 80 iiiudi danger that the magistrates souietiiues forbid the
races in order to save tlie people from drowning.’
•The first full moon of the year is the feast of lanterns, a
childish and dull festival compared with the two preceding. Its
origin is not certainly known, but it was obse^. ^d as early as
A.D. 700. Its celebration consists in suspending lantei-ns of different
forms and materials before each door, and illuminating
those in the hall, but their united brilliancy is dimness itself
compared with the light of the moon. At Peking, an exhibition
of transparencies and pictures in the Loard of War on this
evening attracts great crowds of both sexes if the weather be
good. Magaillans describes a firework he saw, which was an
arbor covered with a vine, the woodwork of which seemed to
burn, while the trunk, leaves, and clusters of the plant gradually
consumed, yet so that the redness of the grapes, the greenness
of the leaves, and natural brown of the stem were all
maintained until the whole was burned. The feast of lanterns
coming so soon after new year, and being somewhat expensive,
is not so enthusiastically observed in the southern cities. At
the capital this leisure time, when public offices are closed, is
availed of by the jewellers, bric-a-brac dealers, and others to
hold a fair in the courts of a temple in the Wai Ching, where
they exhibit as beautiful a collection of carvings in stone and
gems, bronzes, toys, etc., as is to be seen anywhere in Asia.
‘ Compare Morrison’s Dictionary under Tsunrj ; Doolittle, &>ntil Life, Vol II., pp. 55-60; JVot^s and Qaeries on China ami Japan, Vol. II., p. 157.Vol. J. —53
The respect with which the crowds of women and children are treated on these occasions reflects much credit on the people. In the manufacture of lanterns the Chinese surely excel all other people ; the variety of their forms, their elegant carving, gilding, and coloring, and the laborious ingenuity and taste displayed in their construction, render them among the prettiest ornaments of their dwellings. They are made of paper, silk, cloth, glass, horn, basket-work, and bamboo, exhibiting an infinite variety of shapes and decorations, vary ingin size from a small hand-light, costing two or three cents, up to a magnificent chandelier, or a complicated lantern fifteen feet in diameter, containing several lamps within it, and worth three or four hundred dollars. The uses to which they are applied are not less various than the pains and skill bestowed upon their construction are remarkable. One curious kind is called the tsao-ma-tdng^ or ‘ horse-racing lantern,’ which consists of one, two, or more wire
frames, one within the other, and arranged on the same principle
as the smoke-jack, by w^iich the current of air caused by
the flame sets them revolving. The wire framework is covered
with paper figures of men and animals placed in the midst of
appropriate scenery, and represented in various attitudes ; or,
as Magaillans describes them, ” You shall see horses run, draw
chariots and till the earth ; vessels sailing, kings and princes go
in and out with large trains, and great numbers of people, both
afoot and a horseback, armies marching, comedies, dances, and
a thousand other divertissements and motions represented.”
One of the prettiest shows of lanterns is seen in a festival observed
in the spring or autumn by fisherman on the southern
coasts to propitiate the gods of the waters. An indispensable
part of the procession is a dragon fifty feet or more long, made
of light bamboo frames of the size and shape of a barrel, connected
and covered with strips of colored cotton or silk ; the extremities
represent the gaping head and frisking talk This
monster symbolizes the ruler of the watery deep, and is carried
through the streets by men holding the head and each joint
upon poles, to which are suspended lanterns ; as they follow each
other their steps give the body a wriggling, waving motion.
Huge models of fish, similarly lighted, precede the dragon, while
music and fireworks—the never-failing warning to lurking
demons to keep out of the way—accompany the procession,
which presents a very brilliant sight as it winds in its course
through the dark streets. These sports and processions give
idolatry its hold upon a people ; and although none of them are
required or patronized by government in China as in other
heathen countries, most of the scenes and games which please
the people are recommended by connecting with them the observances
or hopes of religion and the merrymaking of the
festive board.
ARRANGElvrENT AND STYLE OF PROCESSIONS. 819
In the middle of the sixth moon lanterns are hung from the top of a pole placed on the highest part of the house. A single small lantern is deemed sufficient, but if the night be calm, a greater display is made by some householders, and especially in boats, by exhibiting colored glass lamps arranged in various ways. The illumination of a city like Canton when seen from a high spot is made still more brilliant by the moving boats on the river. On one of these festivals at Canton, an almost total eclipse of the moon called out the entire .population, each one carrying something with which to make a noise, kettles, pans, sticks, drums, gongs, guns, crackers, and what not to frighten away the dragon of the sky from his liideous feast. The advancing shadow gradually caused the mj-riads of lanterns to show more and more distinctly and started a still increasing clamor,
till the darkness and the noise were both at their climax ; silence
gradually resumed its sway as the moon recovered her fulness.
The Chinese are fond of processions, and if marriages and
funerals be included, have them more frequently than any other
people. Livery establishments are opened in every city and town
where processions are arranged and supplied with everything
necessary for bi’idal and funeral occasions as well as religious
festivals. Not only are sedans, bands of music, biers, framed
and gilded stands for carrjdng idols, shrines, and sacrificial
feasts, red boxes for holding the bride’s trousseau, etc., supplied,
but also banners, tables, stands, curiosities, and uniforms in
great variety. The men and boys required to carry them and
perform the various parts of the ceremony are hired, a uniform
hiding their ragged garments and dirty limbs. Guilds often go
to a heavy expense in getting up a procession in honor of their
patron saint, whose image is carried through the streets attended
by the members of the corporation dressed in holiday robes and
boots. The variety and participators of these shows are exceedingly
curious and characteristic of the people’s taste. Here are
seen splendid silken banners worked with rich embroidery,
alternating with young girls bedizened with paint and flowers,
and perched on high seats under an artificial tree or apparently
almost in the air, resting upon frames on men’s shoulders ; bands
of music ; sacrificial meats and fruits adorned with flowers ; shrines, images, and curious rarities laid out upon red pavilions; boys gaily dressed in official robes and riding upon ponies, oi harnessed up in a covered framework to represent horses, all so contri\’ed and painted that the spectator can hardly believe they are not riding Lilliputian ponies no bigger than dogs. A child standing in a car and carrying a branch on its shoulder, on one twi”; of which stands another child on one foot or a girl
holding a plate of cakes in her hand, on the top of which stands
another miss on tiptoe, the whole borne by coolies, sometimes
add to the diversion of the spectacle and illustrate the mechanical
skill of the exhibitors. Small companies dressed in a great
variety of military uniforms, carrying spears, shields, halberds,
etc., iio\v and then volunteer for the occasion, and give it a more
martial appearance. The carpenters at Canton are famous for
their splendid processions in honor of their hero, Lu Pan, in
which also other craftsmen join ; for this demi-god corresponds
to the Tubal-cain of Chinese legends, and is now regarded as
the patron of all workmen, thougli he flourished no longer ago
than the time of Confucius. Besides these festivities and processions,
there are several more strictly religious, such as the
annual mass of the Buddhists, the supplicatory sacrifice of
farmers for a good crop, and others of more or less importance,
which add to the number of days of recreation.
Theatrical representations constitute a common amusement,
and are generally connected with the religious celebration of
the festival of the god before whose temple they are exhibited.
They are got up by the priests, who send their neophytes around
with a subscription paper, and then engage as large and skilful
a band of performers as the funds will allow. There are few
permanent buildings erected for theatres, for the Thespian band
still retains its original strolling character, and stands ready to
pack up its trappings at the first call. The erection of sheds
for playing constitutes a separate l)ranch of the carpenter’s
trade ; one large enough to accommodate two thousand persons
can be put up in the southern cities in a day, and almost the
only part of the materials which is wasted is the rattan which
binds the posts and mats together. One large shed contahis
the stage, and three smaller ones before it enclose an area, and
are furnished with rude seats for the paying spectators. The
THEATRICAL RKPKESEXTATIOXS AND PLAV-ACTOIIS. 821
subscribers’ bounty is acknowledged by pasting^rcd siieets containing
their names and amounts upon the walls of tlie temple.
The purlieus are let as stands for the sale of refreshments, for
gambling fables, or for worse purposes, and by all these means
the ]>riests generally contrive to make gain of their devotion.’
Parties of actoi-s and acrobats can be hired cheaply, and their
performances form part of the festivities of rich families in
their houses to entertain the women and relativ^es who cannot
go abroad to see them. They are constituted into separate corporations or’ guilds, and each takes a distinguishing name, as the ‘ Happy and Blessed company,’ the ‘ Glorious Appearing company,’ etc.
The performances usually extend through three entire days,
with brief recesses for sleeping and eating, and in villages
where they are comparatively rare, the people act as if they
were bewitched, neglecting everything to attend them. The
female parts are performed by lads, who not only paint and
dress like women, but even squeeze their toes into the “golden
lilies,” and imitate, upon the stage, a mincing, wriggling gait.
These fellows personate the voice, tones, and motions of the
sex with wonderful exactness, taking every opportunity, indeed,
that the play will allow to relieve their feet by sitting when on
the boards, or retiring into the green-room when out of the acts.
The acting is chiefly pantomine, and its fidelity shows the excellent
ti-aining of the players. This development of their imitative
faculties is probably still more encouraged by the difficulty
the audience find to understand what is said ; for owing to
the differences in the dialects, the open construction of the
theatre, the high falsetto or recitative key in which many of the
parts are spoken, and the din of the orchestra intervening between
every few sentences, not one cpiarter of the people hear
or understand a word.
‘ Gray’s China (Vol. II., p. 273) contains a cut of a mat theatre from a native drawing. See also Doolittle, Social Life, Vol. II., pp. 292-299,
The scenery is very simple, consisting merely of rudely painted mats arranged on the back and sides of the stage, a few tables, chairs, or beds, which successively serve for many uses, and are bfonglit in and out from the robing-room. The orchestra sits on the side of the stage, and not only fill up the intervals with their interludes, but strike a crashing noise by way of emphasis, or to add energy to the rush of opi30sing warriors.
]S’o falling curtain divides the acts or scenes, and the play is carried to its conclusion without intermission. The dresses are made of gorgeous silks, and present the best specimens of ancient Chinese costume of former dynasties now to be seen. The imperfections of the scenery require much to be suggested by the spectator’s imagination, though the actors themselves supply the defect in a measure by each man stating what part he performs, and what the person he represents has been doing: while absent. If a courier is to be sent to a distant city, away he strides across the boards, or perhaps gets a whip and cocks up his leg as if mounting a horse, and on reaching the end of the stao;e cries out that he has arrived, and there delivers his message. Passing a bridge or crossing a river are indicated by stepping up and then down, or by the rolling motion of a boat. If a city is to be impersonated, two or three men lie down upon each other, when warriors rush on them furiously, overthrow the wall which they formed, and take the place by assault. Ghosts or supernatural beings are introduced through a wide trap-door in the stage, and, if he thinks it necessary, the impersonator cries out from underneath that he is ready, or for assistance to help him up through the hole.
Mr. Lay describes a play he saw, in which a medley of celestial
and terrestrial personages were introduced. “The first
scene was intended to represent the happiness and splendor of
beings who inhabit the upper regions, with the sun and moon
and the elements curiously personified playing around them.
The man who personated the sun held a round image of the
sun’s disk, while the female who acted the part of the moon
liad a crescent in her hand. The actors took care to move so’
as to mimic the conjunction and opposition of these heavenly
bodies as they revolve round in their apparent orbs. The
Thunderer wielded an axe, and lea})ed and dashed about in a
variety of extraordinary somersaults. After a few turns the
monarch, who had been so highly honored as to find a place.
DESCRIPTION OF A PLAY. 823
throngh the partiality of a mountain nynipli, in the ahocles of
the happy, begins to feel that no height of good fortune can
secure a mortal against the common calamities of this frail life.
A wicked courtier disguises himself in a tiger’s skin, and in this
garb imitates the animal itself. He rushes into the retired
apartments of the ladies, frightens them out of their wits, and
throws the heir-apparent into a moat. The sisters hurry into
the royal presence, and casting themselves on the ground divulge
the sad intelligence that a tiger has borne off the young
prince, who it appears was the son of the mountain nymph
aforesaid. The loss the bereaved monarch takes so much to
heart, that he renounces the world and deliberates about the
nomination of a successor. By the influence of a crafty woman
he selects a young man who has just sense enough to know that
he is a fool. The settlement of the crown is scarcely finished
when the unhappy king dies, and the Ijlockhead is presently invested
with the crown, but instead of excelling in his new preferment
the lout bemoans his lot in the most awkward strains
of lamentation, and cries, ‘ O dear ! what shall I do ? ‘ with such
piteous action, and yet withal so truly ludicrous, that the spectator
is at a loss to know whether to laugh or to weep. The courtier who had taken off the heir and broken the father’s heart finds the new king an easy tool fur prosecuting his traitorous purposes, and the state is plunged into the depths of civil discord at home and dangerous wars abroad.
” In the sequel a scene occurred in which the reconciliation of this court and some foreign prince depends upon the surrender of a certain obnoxious person. The son-in-law of the victim is charged with the letter containing this proposal, and returns to his house and disguises himself for the sake of concealment. When he reaches the court of the foreign prince he discovers that he has dropped the letter in changing his clothes, and narrowly escapes being taken for a spy without his credentials.
He hurries back, calls for his garments, and shakes them one by one in an agony of self-reproach, but no letter appears. He sits down, throwing himself with great violence upon the chair, Avith a countenance inexpressibly full of torture and despair:
reality could have added nothing to the imitation. But while every eye was riveted upon him, he called the servant maid and inquired if she knew anything about the letter ; she replied she overheard her mistress reading a letter whose contents
were so and so. The mistress had taken her seat at a
distance from him and was nursing her baby ; and the instant
he ascertained the letter was in her possession, he looked toward
her with such a smile upon his cheek, and with a flood of
light in his eye, that the whole assembly heaved a loud sigh
of admiration ; for the Chinese do not applaud by clapping and
stamping, but express their feelings by an ejaculation that is
between a sigh and a groan. The aim of the husband was to
wheedle his wife out of the letter, and this smile and look of
aifection were merely the prelude ; for he takes his chair, places
it beside her, lays one hand softly on her shoulder, and fondles
the child with the other in a style so exquisitely natural and so
completely English, that in this dramatic picture it was seen
that nature fashioneth men’s hearts alike. His addresses were,
however, ineffectual, and her father’s life was not sacrificed.” ‘
The morals of tlie Chinese stage, so far as the sentiments of
the pieces are concerned, are better than the acting, which
sometimes panders to depraved tastes, but no indecent exposure,
as of the persons of dancers, is ever seen in China. The audience
stand in the area fronting the stage, or sit in the sheds
around it ; the women present are usually seated in the galleries.
The police are at hand to maintain order, but the crowd, although in an irksome position, and sometimes exposed to a fierce sun, is remarkably peaceable. Accidents seldom occur on these occasions, but whenever the people are alarmed by a crash, or the stage takes fire, loss of life or limb generally ensues. A dreadful destruction took place at Canton in May, 1845, by the conflagration of a stage during the performances, by which more than two thousand lives were sacrificed ; the survivors had occasion to remember that fifty persons had been killed many years before in the same place, and while a play was going on, by the falling of a wall.^
‘ Chinese as They Are, p. 114. ^ Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., p. 335,
POPULAR AMUSEMENTS. 825
j^ctive, manly plays are not popular in the south, and instead
of engaging in a ball-game or i-egatta, going to a bowling alley
or fives’ court, to exhibit their strength and skill, jouug men
lift beams iieaded with heavy stones, like huge dumb-bells,
to prove their muscle, or kick up their lieels in a game of
shuttlecock. The out-door amusements of gentlemen consist in
flying kites, carrying birds on perches and throwing seeds high
in the air for them to catch, sauntering through the fields, or
lazily boating on the water. Pitching coppers, fighting crickets
()!• quails, tossing up several balls at once, kicking large leaden
balls against each other, snapping sticks, chncking stones, or
guessing the number of seeds in an orange, are plays for
lads.
Gambling is universal. Hucksters at the roadside are provided
with a cup and saucer, and the clicking of their dice is
heard at every corner. A boy with but two cash prefers to risk
their loss on the throw of a die to simply buying a cake without
trying the chance of getting it for nothing. Gaminghouses
are opened by scores, their keepers paying a bribe to the
local officers, who can hardly be expected to be very severe
against what they were brought up in and daily practise ; and
women, in the privacy of their apartments, while away their
time at cards and dominoes. Porters play by the wayside
when waiting for employment, and hardly have the retinue of
an officer seen their superiors enter the house, than they pull
out their cards or dice and squat down to a game. The most
common game of luck played at Canton is called fan tan^ or
‘ quadrating cash.’ The keeper of the table is provided with
a pile of bright large cash, of which he takes a double handful,
and lays them on the table, covering the pile with a bowl. The
persons standing outside the rail guess the remainder there will
be left after the pile has been divided by four, whether one, two,
three, or nothing, the guess and stake of each person being first
recorded by a clerk ; the keeper then carefully picks out the coins
four by four, all narrowly watching his movements. Cheating
is almost impossible in this game, and twenty people can play
at it as easily as two. Chinese ciirds are smaller and more
numerous than our own ; but the dominoes are the same.
Combats between crickets are oftenest seen in the south, where the small field sort is common. Two well-chosen combatants are put into a basin and irritated with a straw until they rush upon each other with the utmost fury, chirruping as they make the onset, and the battle seldom ends without a tragical result in loss of life or limb. Quails are also trained to mortal combat ; two are placed on a railed table, on which a handful of millet has been strewn, and as soon as one picks up a kernel the other flies at him with beak, claws, and wings, and the struggle is kept up till one retreats by hopping into the Boys Gambling with Crickets.
hand of his disappointed owner. Hundreds of dollars are occasionally betted upon these cricket or quail fights, which, if not as sublime or exciting, are certainly less inhuman than the pugilistic fights and bull-baits of Christian countries, while both show the same brutal love of sport at the expense of life.
METHODS AXD POPULARITY OB’ GAMBLING. 827
A favorite amusement is the flying of kites. They are made of paper and silk, in imitation of birds, butterflies, lizards, spectacles, fish, men, and other objects ; but the skill shown in flying them is more remarkable than the ingenuity displayed in their construction. The ninth day of the ninth moon is a festival devoted to this amusement all over the land. Doolittle describes them as sometimes resembling a great bird, or a serpent thirty feet long ; at other times the spectator sees a group of hawks hovering around a centre, all being suspended by one strong cord, and each hawk-kite controlled and moved by a separate line. On this day he estimates that as many as thirty thousand people assemble on the hills around Fuhchau to join in this amusement if the weather be propitious. Many of the kites are cut adrift under the belief that, as they float off, they carry away with them all impending disasters.
Chinese Chess-board.
The Chinese game of chess is very ancient, for Wu Wang (b.c. 1120) is the reputed inventor, and its rules of playing are so unlike the Indian game as to suggest an independent origin, which is confirmed by the peculiar feature of the kiai ho, or river, running across the board. There are seventy-two squares of which eight are run together to form the river, leaving thirty-two on each side ; but as the men stand on the intersection of the lines, there are ninety positions for the sixteen pieces used by each player, or twenty-six more than in the European game. The pieces are arranged for playing as in the diagram above.
The pieces are like chequer-men in shape, each of the seven kinds on each side having its name cut on the top, and distinguished by its red or black colors. The four squares near each edge form the headquarters of the tsimig, or ‘ general,’ out of which he and his two «.*’, or ‘ secretaries,’ cannot move. On each side of the headquarters are two elephants, two horses, and two chariots, whose powers are less than our bishop, knight, and castle, though similar ; the chariot is the most powerful piece. In front of the horses stand two cannoniers, which capture like our knight but move like our castle. Five pao, soldiers or pawns, guard the river banks, but cannot return when
once across it in pursuit of the enemy, and get no higher value
when they reach the last row. Each piece is put down in the
point where it captured its man, except the cannoniers ; as the
general cannot be taken, the object of each player is to checkniate
him in his headquarters, therefore, by preventing his
moving except into check. The want of a queen and the limited
moves of the men restrict the combinations in the Chinese
game more than in western chess, but it has its own elements
of skill. Literary men and women play it much, and usually
for small stakes. There is another game played less frequently but one of the most ancient in the Empire. It is called loei-ki, which may be rendered ‘blockade chess,’ and was common in the days of the sages, perhaps even earlier than chess. The board contains three hundred and twenty four squares, eighteen each way, and the number of pieces is three hundred, though both the number of points and of pieces may be less than this size of the full game. The pieces are black and white and stand on the crossings of the lines, three hundred and sixty-one in number. The object of the opponents is to surround each other’s men and take up the crossings they occupy, or neutralize their power over those near them. Each player puts down a piece anywhere on the board, and continues to do so alternately, capturing his adversary’s positions until all the crossings are occupied and the game is ended.’
CHINESE CHESS. 829
If this sketch of the customs and annisemcnts of the Chinese
in their social intercourse and public entertainments is necessarily
brief, it is perhaps enough to exhibit their character.
Dr. Johnson has well remarked that no man is a hypocrite in
his amusements. The absence of some of the violent and gladiatorial
sports of other countries, and of the adjudication of
doubtful questions by ordeals or duels ; the general dislike of a
resort to force, their inability to cope with enemies of vastly
less resources and numbers, and the comparative disesteem of
warlike achievements, all indicate the peaceful traits of Chinese character. Duels are unknown, assassinations are infrequent, betting on horse-races is still to begin, and running amuck a la Malay is unheard of. When two persons fall out upon a matter, after a vast variety of gesture and huge vociferation of opprobrium, they will blow oft their wrath and separate almost without touching each other. Some contrarieties in their ideas and customs from those practised among ourselves have frequently been noticed by travellers, a few of which are grouped in the following sketch :
On asking the boatman in which direction the harbor hxy, I was answered west-north, and the wind, he said, was west-south ; lie still further perplexed my ideas as to our course by getting out his compass and showing me that the needle pointed south. It was really a needle as to size, weight, and length, about an inch and a half long, the south end of it painted red, and all the time quivering on the pivot. His boat differed from our vessels, too, in many ways: the cooking was done in the stern and the passengers were all accommodated in the bow, while the sailors slept on deck and had their kits stowed in lockers amidships.
‘ Temple Bur, Vol. XLIX., p. 45.
On lauding, the first object that attracted my attention was a military officer wearing an embroidered petticoat, who had a string of beads around his neck and a fan in his hand. His insignia of rank was a peacock’s feather pointing downward instead of a plume turning upward ; he had a round knob or button on the apex of his sugar-loaf cap, instead of a star on his breast or epaulettes on his shoulders; and it was with some dismay that I saw him mount his horse on the right side. Several scabbards hung from his belt, which I naturally supposed must be dress swords or dirks; but on venturing near through the crowd 1 was undeceived by seeing a pair of chopsticks and a knife-handle sticking out of one, and soon his fan was folded up and put in the other. I therefore concluded that he was going to a dinner instead of a review. The natives around me shaved the hair from the front half of their heads and let it grow long behind: many of them did not shave their faces, and others employed their leisure in diligently pulling the straggling hairs down over their mouths. We arrange our toilets differently, thought I ; but could easily see the happy device of chopsticks, which enabled these gentlemen to put their food into the mouth endwise under this natural fringe. A group of hungry fellows, around the stall of a travelling cook, further exhibited the utility of these ktrai-fsz\ or ‘ nimble lads ‘ (as I afterward learned chopsticks were called), for each had put his bowl of rice to his lips, and was shovelling in the contents till the mouth would hold no more. “We keep our bowls on the table, ” said I, “do our cooking in the house, and wait for customers to come there instead of travelling around after them;” but these chopsticks serve for knife, fork, and spoon in one.
On my way to the hotel I saw a group of old people and graybeards. A few were chirruping and chuckling to larks or thrushes, which they carried perched on a stick or in cages; others were catching flies or hunting for crickets to feed them, while the remainder of the party seemed to be delightfully employed in flying fantastic paper kites. A group of boys were gravely looking on and regarding these innocent occupations of their seniors with the most serious and gratified attention. A few of the most sprightly were kicking a shuttlecock back and forth with great energy, instead of playing rounders with bat and ball as boys would do.
As I had come to the country to reside for some time, I made inquiries respecting a teacher, and happily found one who understood English. On entering he stood at the door, and instead of coming forward and shaking my hands, he politely bowed and shook his own, clasping them before his breast.
I looked upon this mode as an improvement on our custom, especially when the condition of the hands might be doubtful, and requested him to be seated.
I knew that I was to study a language without an alphabet, but was not prepared to see him begin at what I had always considered to be the end of the book. He read the date of its publication, ” the fifth year, tenth month, and first day.” ” We arrange our dates differently,” I observed, and begged him to read—which he did, from top to bottom, and proceeding from right to left.
CONTRARIETIES IN CHINESE AND WESTERN USAGE. 831
“You have an odd book here,” remarked I, taking it up; “what is the price?” “A dollar and eight-thirds,” said he, upon which I counted out three dollars and two-thirds and went on looking at it. The paper was printed only on one side; the running title was on the edge of the leaves instead of the top of the page, the paging was near the bottom, the number and contents of the chapters were at their ends, the marginal notes on the top, where the blank was double the size at the foot, and a broad black line across the middle of each page, like that seen in some French newspapers, separated the two works composing the volume, instead of one being printed after the other. The back was open and the sewing outside, and the name neatly written on the bottom edge. ” You have given me loo much,” said he, as h« handed me back two dollars and one-third, and then explained that eight thirds meant eight divided by three, or only three-eighths. A small native vocabulary which lu? carried with him had the characters arranged according to the termination of their sounds, iidny, dint/, kiiifj, being all in a row, and the first word in it being necii. “Ah! my friend,” said I, “English won’t help me to find a word in that book ; please give me your address.” He accordingly took out a red card, big as a sheet of paper, on which was written Ying San-yuen in large characters, and pointed out the place of his residence, written on the other side. “I thought your name was Mr. Ying; why do you write your name wrong end first ‘? ” ” It is you who are in the wrong,” replied he ; “look in your yearly directory, where alone you write names as they should be written, putting the honored family name first.”
I could only say, ” Customs differ; ” and begged him to speak of ceremony, as I gave him back the book. He commenced, ” When you receive a distinguished guest, do not fail to place him on your left, for that is the seat of honor ; and be careful not to uncover the head, as that would be an unbecoming act of familiarity.” This was a little opposed to my established notions ; but when lie reopened the volume and read, ” The most learned men are decidedly of the opinion that the seat of the human understanding is in the belly,” I cried out, ” Better say it is in the feet ! ” and straightway shut up the book, dismissing him for another day ; for this shocked all my principles of correct philosophy, even if King Solomon was against me.
On going abroad I met so many things contrary to my early notions of propriety that I readily assented to a friend’s observation, that the Chinese were our antipodes in many things besides geographical position. ” Indeed,” said T, ‘ ‘ they are so ; I shall expect shortly to see a man walking on his head. Look ! there’s a woman in trousers and a party of gentlemen in petticoats ; she is smoking and they are fanning themselves.” However, on passing them I saw that the latter had on tight leggings. We soon met the steward of the house dressed in white, and I asked him what merry-making he was invited to ; with a look of concern lie told me he was returning from his father’s funeral.
Instead of having crape on his head he wore white shoes, and his dress was slovenly and neglected. My companion informed me that in the north of China it was common for rich people at funerals to put a white harness on the mules and .shroud the carts in coarse cotton ; while the chief mourners walked next to the bier, making loud cryings and showing their grief by leaning on the attendants. The friends rode behind and the musicians preceded the coffin—all being unlike our sable plumes and black crapes.
We next went through a retired street, where we heard sobbing and crying inside a court, and I inquired who was dead or ill. The man, suppressing a smile, said, ” It is a girl about to be married, who is lamenting with her relatives and fellows as she bids adieu to the family penates and lares and her paternal home. She has enough to cry about, though, in the prospect of going to her mother-in-law’s house”
I thought, after these unlucky essays, I would ask no more questions, but use my eyes instead. Looking into a shop, I saw a stout fellow sewing lace on a bonnet for a foreign lady; and going on to the landing-place, behold, all the ferry-boats were rowed by women, and from a passage-boat at the wharf I saw all the women get out ol! the bow to go ashore. “What are we coming to next ? ” said I ; and just then saw a carpenter take his foot-rule oiit of his stocking to measure some timber which an apprentice was cutting with a saw whose blade was set nearly at right angles with the frame. Before the door sat a man busily engaged in whitening the thick soles of a pair of cloth shoes.
” That’s a shoewhite, I suppose,” said I ; ” and he answers to the shoeblacks in New York, who cry ‘Shine ! shine !’ ” “Just so,” said my friend ; ” and beyond him see the poor wretch in chokey, with a board or cangue around his neck for a shirt-collar ; an article of his toilet which answers to the cuffs with which the lads in the Tombs there are garnished instead of bracelets. In the prisons in this land, instead of cropping the hair of a criminal, as with us, no man is allowed to have his head shaved.”
In the alleys called streets, few of them ten feet wide, the signs stood on their ends or hung from the eaves ; the counters of the shops were next the street, the fronts were all open, and I saw the holes for the upright bars which secured the shop at night. Everything was done or sold in the streets or markets, which presented a strange medley. The hogs were transported in hampers on the shoulders of coolies, to the evident satisfaction of the inmates, and small pigs were put into baskets carried in slings, while the fish were frisking and jumping in shallow tubs as they were hawked from door to door.
A loud din led us to look in at an open door to see what was going on, and there a dozen boys were learning their tasks, all crying like auctioneers ; one lad reciting his lesson out of Confucius turned his back to the master instead of looking him in the face, and another who was learning to write put the copyslip under the paper to imitate it, instead of looking at it as our boys would do.
We next passed a fashionable lady stepping out of her sedan chair. Her head was adorned with flowers instead of a bonnet, her hands gloveless, and her neck quite bare. Her feet were encased in red silk pictured shoes not quite four inches long ; her plaited, embroidered petticoat was a foot longer than her gown, and her waist was not to be seen. As she entered the courtyard, leaning on the shoulder of her maid to help her walk on those cramped feet, my friend observed, “There you see a good example of a live walking stick.”
A little after we met one of his acquaintances accompanying a prettily carved coffin, and he asked who was dead.
” No man hab catchee die,” replied the Celestial ; “this one piecy coffin I just now gib my olo fader. He likee too much counta my numba one ploper; s’pose he someteem catchee die, can usee he.”
” So fashion, eh?” rejoined n\v friend ; “how muchee plice can catchee one alia same same for that ?”
” I tinky can get one alia same so fashion one tousaia dollar, so ; this hab first chop hansom, lo.”
” Do you call that gibberish English or Chinese ? ” I asked ; for the language sounded no less strange than the custom of presenting a coffin to a living father differed from my preconceived notions of filial duty.
“That’s the purest pigeon-English,” replied he; “and you must be the Jack Downing of Canton to immortalize it.”
COMMENDABLE TIIAITS OF CHINESE CHAIIACTER. 833
“Comi’, rather let lis go home, for soon I shall hardly be able to tell where or who I am in this strange land.” ‘
In suinining up the moral traits of Chinese character—a far more difficult task than the enumeration of its oddities—we must necessarily compare them with that perfect standard given us from above. While their contrarieties indicate a different external civilization, a slight acquaintance with their morals proves tneir similarity to their fellow-men in the lineaments of a fallen and depraved nature. Some of the better traits of their character have been marvellously developed. They have attained, by the observance of peace and good order, to a high degree of security for life and property ; the various classes of society are linked together in a remarkably homogeneous manner by the diffusion of education in the most moral bookb in their language and a general regard for the legal rights of property. Equality of competition for office removes the main incentive to violence in order to obtain posts of power and dignity, and industry receives its just reward of food, raiment, and shelter with a uniformity which encourages its constant exertion. If any one asks how they have reached this point, we would primarily ascribe it to the blessing of the Governor of the nations, who has for
His own purposes continued one people down to the present time from remote antiquity. The roots of society among them have never been broken up by emigration or the overflowing conquest of a superior race, but have been fully settled in a great regard for the family compact and deep reverence for parents and superiors. Education has strengthened and disseminated the morality they had, and God has blessed their filial piety by fulfilling the first commandment with promise and making their days long in the land which He has given them. Davis lays rather too much stress upon geographical and climatic causes in accounting for their advancement in these particulars, though their isolation has no doubt had much to do with their security and progress.
Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 106 ; New York Christian Weekly, 1878. Vol. I. -53
When, however, these traits have been mentioned, the Chinese are still more left without excuse for their wickedness, since being without law, they are a law unto themselves; they have always known better than they have done. With a general regard for outward decency, they are vile and polluted in a shocking degree; their conversation is full of filthy expressions and their lives of impure acts. They are somewhat restrained in the latter by the fences put around the family circle, so that seduction and adultery are comparatively infrequent, the former may even be said to be rare; but brothels and their inmates occur everywhere on land and on water. One danger attending young girls going abroad alone is that they will be stolen for incarceration in these gates of hell. By pictures, songs, and aphrodisiacs they excite their sensuality, and, as the Apostle says, “receive in themselves that recompense of their error which is meet.”
MENDACITY OF THE CHINESE. 835
More uneradicable than the sins of the flesh is the falsity of the Chinese, and its attendant sin of base ingratitude; their disregard of truth has perhaps done more to lower their character than any other fault. They feel no shame at being detected in a He (though they have not gone quite so far as not to know when they do lie), nor do they fear any punishment from their gods for it. On the other hand, the necessity of the case compels them, in their daily intercourse with each other, to pay some regard to truth, and each man, from his own consciousness, knows just about how much to expect. Ambassadors and merchants have not been in the best position to ascertain their real character in this respect; for on the one side the courtiers of Peking thought themselves called upon by the mere presence of an embassy to put on some fictitious appearances, and on the other, the integrity and fair dealing of the Hang merchants and great traders at Canton is in advance of the usual mercantile honesty of their countrymen. A Chinese requires but little motive to falsify, and he is constantly sharpening his wits to cozen his customer—wheedle him by promises and cheat him in goods or work. There is nothing which tries one so much when living among them as their disregard of truth, and renders him m indifferent as to what calamities may befall so mendacious a race ; an abiding impression of suspicion toward everybody rests upon the mind, which chills the warmest wishes for their welfare and thwarts many a plan to benefit them. Their better traits diminish in the distance, and patience is exhausted in its daily proximity and friction with this ancestor of all sins. Mr. Abeel mentions a case of deceit which may serve as a specimen.
Soon after we arrived at Kulang sii, a man came to us who professed to be the near relation and guardian of the owners of the house in which we live, and presented a little boy as the joint proprietor with his widowed mother.
From the appearance of the house and the testimony of others we could easily credit his story that the family were now in reduced circumstances, having not only lost the house when the English attacked the place, but a thousand dollars besides by native robbers; we therefore allowed him a small rent, and gave the dollars to the man, who put them into the hands of the child. The next month he made his appearance, but our servant, whom we had taken to be peculiarly honest for a heathen, suggested the propriety of inquiring whether the money was ever given to those for whom it was professedly received ; and soon returned with the information that the mother had heard nothing of the money, the man who received it not living in the family, but had now sent a lad to us who would receive it for her, and who our servants assured us would give it to the proper person. A day or two afterward our cook whispered to me that our honest servant, who had taken so much pains to prevent all fraud in the matter, had made the lad give him one-half of the money for his disinterestedness in preventing it from falling into improper hands; and further examination showed us that this very cook had himself received a good share to keep silent.
Thieving is exceedingly common, and the illegal exactions of the rulers, as has already been sufficiently pointed out, are most burdensome. This vice, too, is somewhat restrained by the punishments inflicted on criminals, though the root of the evil is not touched. While the licentiousness of the Chinese may be in part ascribed to their ignorance of pure intellectual pleasures and the want of virtuous female society, so may their lying be attributed partly to their truckling fear of officers, and their thievery to the want of sufficient food or work. Hospitality is not a trait of their character; on the contrary, the number and wretched condition of the beggars show that public and private charity is ahuOi^t extinct ; yet here too the sweeping charge must be mouifled when we remember the efforts they make to sustain their relatives and families in so densely peopled a country.
Their avarice is not so distinguishing a feature as their love of money, but the industry which this desire induces or presupposes is th source of most of their superiority to their neighbors.
The politeness which they exhibit seldom has its motive in goodwill, and consequently, when the varnish is off, the rudeness, brutality, and coarseness of the material is seen; still, among themselves this exterior polish is not without some good results in preventing quarrels, where both parties, fully understanding each other, are careful not to overpass the bounds of etiquette.
On the whole, the Chinese present a singular mixture: if there is something to commend, there is more to blame; if they have some glaring vices, they have more virtues than most pagan nations. Ostentatious kindness and inbred suspicion, ceremonious civility and real rudeness, partial invention and servile imitation, industry and waste, sycojjhancy and self-dependence, are, with other dark and bright qualities, strangely blended. In trying to remedy the faults of their character by the restraints of law and the diffusion of education, they have no doubt hit upon the right mode; and their shortcomings show how ineffectual both must be until the Gospel comes to the aid of ruler and subject in elevating the moral sense of the whole nation. Female infanticide in some parts openly confessed, and divested of all disgrace and penalties everywhere ; the dreadful prevalence of all the vices charged by the Apostle Paul upon the ancient heathen world ; the alarming extent of the use of opium(furnished, too, under the patronage, and supplied in purity by the power and skill of Great Britain from India), destroying the productions and natural resources of the people ; the universal practice of lying and dishonest dealings; the unblushing lewdness of old and young ; harsh cruelty toward prisoners by officers, and tyranny over slaves by masters—all form a full unchecked torrent of human depravity, and prove the existence of a kind and degree of moral degradation of which an excessive statement can scarcely be made, or an adequate conception hardly be formed.
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》6-9
CHAPTER VI. NATURAL HISTORY OF CHINA
The succinct account of the natural history of China given by Sir John Davis in lS^i^, contained nearly all the popular notices of much value then known, and need not be repeated, while summarizing the items derived from other and later sources. Malte-Brun observed long ago, ” That of even the more general, and, according to the usual estimate, the more important features of that vast sovereignty, we owe whatever knowledge we have obtained to some ambassadors who have seen the courts and the great roads—to certain merchants who have inhabited a suburb of a frontier town—and to several missionaries who, generally more credulous than discriminating, have contrived to penetrate in various directions into the interior.”
The volumes upon China in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library contain the best digest of what was known forty years since on this subject. The botanical collections of Robert Fortune in 18-14-1849, and those of Col. Champion at Hongkong, have been studied by Bentham, while the later researches of Hance, Bunge and Maximowitch have brought many new forms tc notice. In geology, Pumpelly, Ivingsinill, Bickmore, and Bai-on Richthofen have greatly enlarged and certiiied our knowledge by their travels and memoirs ; while Pere David, Col. Prejevalsky, Swinhoe, Stimpson, and Sir John Richardson have added hundreds of new species to the scientific fauna of the Empire.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 297
Personal investigation is particularly necessary in all that relates to the geology and fossils of a country, and the knowledge possessed on these heads is, it must be conceded, still meagre, though now sufficient to convey a general idea of the formations, deposits, and contents of the mountains and mines, as well as the agencies at work in modifying the surface of this land. The descriptions and observed facts recorded in native books may furnish valuable hints when they can be compared with the places and productions, for at present the difficulty of explaining terms used, and understanding the processes described, render these treatises hard to translate. The empirical character of Chinese science compels a careful sifting of all its facts and speculations by comparisons with nature, while the amount of real information contained in medical, topographical, and itinerant works render them always worth examining. Large regions still await careful examination in every part of the Empire ; and it will be m’ell for the Chinese Government if no tempting metallic deposits are found to test its strength to protect and work them for its own benefit. But in mere science it cannot be doubted that so peculiar a part of the world as the plateau of Central Asia will, when thoroughly examined, solve many problems relating to geology, and disclose many important facts to illustrate the obscure phenomena of other parts of the world.
A few notices of geolooical formations furnished in the waitings of travelers, have already been given in the geographical account of the provinces. The summaiy published by Davis is a well digested survey of the observations collected by the gentlemen attached to the embassies.’
The loess-beds, covering a great portion of Northern China, are among the most peculiar natural phenomena and interesting fields for o;eoloo;ical investigation on the world’s surface. Since attention was first directed to this deposit by Pumpelly, in 18G4, its formation and extent have been more carefully examined by other geologists, whose hypotheses are now pretty generally discarded for that of Baron von Eichthofen. The loess territory begins, at its eastern limit, with the foot hills of the great alluvial plane. From this rises a terrace of from 90 to 250 feet in height, consisting entirely of hjess, and westward of it, in 1 The Chinese, Vol. II., pp. 333-343.
a nearly north and south line, stretches the TaihangShan or dividing range between the alluvial land and the hill (tountrj of Shansi. An almost uninterrupted loess-covered country extends west of this line to the Koko-nor and head-waters of the Yellow River. On the north the formation can he ti’aced from the vicinity of Ivalgan, along the water-shed of the Mongolian steppes, and into the desert beyond the Ala shan. Toward the south its limits are less sharply defined ; though covering all the country of the Wei basin (in Shensi), none is found in Sz’chuen, due south of this valley, but it appears in parts of Ilonan and Eastern Shantung. Excepting occasional spurs and isolated spots—as at Xanking and the Lakes Poyang and Tungting—
loess may be considered as ending everywhere on the north side of the Yangzi valley, and, roughly speaking, to cover the parallelogram between longs. 99° and 115°, and lats.
33° and 41°. The district within China Proper represents a territory half as large again as that of the German Empire, while outside of the Provinces there is reason to believe that loess spreads far toward the east and north. In the WuTaiShan (Shanxi), Richthofen observed this deposit to a height of 7200 feet above the sea, and supposes that it may occur at higher levels.
LOESS-BEDS OF ISTORTIIERX CHINA. 299
The term loess, now generally accepted, has been used to designate a tertiary deposit appearing in the Illiine valley and several isolated sections of Eurt)pe ; its formation has heretofore been ascribed to glaciers, but its enormous extent and thickness in China demand suine other origin. The substance is a brownish colored earth, extremely porous, and when dry easily powdered between the fingers, when it becomes an impalpable (lust that may be rubbed into the pores of the skin. Its particles are somewhat angular in shape, the lumps varying from the size of a peamit to a foot in length, whose appearance warrants the peculiarly appropriate Chinese name meaning ‘ ginger stones.’(‘ Journal of the Oeolog. Soc, Loudon, for 1871, p. 379.) After washing, the stuff is readily disintegrated, and spread far and wide by rivers during their freshets ; Ivingsmill’ states that a nimiber of specimens which crumbled in the moist air of a Shanghai summer, rearranged themselves afterward in the bottom of a drawer in which they had been phiced. Every atom of loess is perforated by small tubes, usually very minute, circulating after the manner of root-fibres, and lined with a thin coating of carbonate of lime. The direction of these little canals being always from above downward, cleavage in the loess mass, in-espective of its size, is invariably vertical, while from the same cause surface water never collects in the form of rain puddles or lakes, but sinks at once to the local water level.
One of the most striking, as well as important phenomena of this formation is the perpendicular splitting of its mass into sudden and multitudinous clefts that cut up the country in every direction, and render observation, as well as travel, often exceedingly difficult. The clifPs, caused by erosion, vary from cracks measured by inches to canons half a mile wide and hundreds of feet deep ; they branch out in every direction, ramifying through the country after the manner of tree-roots in the
soil—from each root a rootlet, and from these other small
fibres—until the system of passages develops into a labyrinth of
far-reaching and intermingling lanes. Were the loess throughout
of the uniform structure seen in single clefts, such a region
would itideed be absolutely imj^assable, the vertical banks
becoming precipices of often more tlian a thousand feet. The
fact, however, that loess exhibits all over a terrace formation,
renders its surface not only habitable, but highly convenient
for agricultural purposes; it has given rise, moreover, to the
theory advanced by Kingsmill and some otliers, of its stratification,
and from this a proof of its origin as a marine deposit.
Richthofen argues that these apparent layers of loess are due
to external conditions, as of rocks and debris sliding from surrounding hillsides upon the loess as it sifted into the basin or
valley, thus interrupting the homogeneity of the gradually rising
deposit. In the sides of gorges near the mountains are seen
layers of coarse debris which, in going toward the valley, become
finer, while the layei’s themselves are thinner and separated
by an increasing vertical distance ; along these rubble
beds are numerous calcareous concretions which stand upright.
These are then the terrace-forming layers which, by their
resistance to tlie action of water, cause the broken chasms and
step-like contour of the loess regions. Each bank does indeed
cleave vertically, sometimes—since the erosion works from below—
leaving an overhanging bank ; but meeting with this
horizontal layer of marl stones, the abrasion is interrupted, and
a ledge is made. Falling clods upon such spaces are gradually
spread over their surfaces by natural action, converting them
into rich fields. AVhen seen from a height in good seasons,
tliese systems of terraces present an endless succession of green
fields and growing crops ; viewed from the deep cut of a road
below, the traveller sees nothing but yellow walls of loam and
dusty tiers of loess ridges. As may be readily imagined, a
country of this nature exhibits many landscapes of unrivalled
picturesqueness, especially when lofty crags, which some variation
in the water- course has left as giant guardsmen in fertile
river valleys, stand out in bold relief against the green background
of neighboring hills and a fruitful alluvial bottom, or
when an opening of some ascending pass allows the eye to range
over leagues of sharp-cut ridges and teaming crops, the work of
the careful cultivator.
UTILITY AND FRUITFULNESS OF THE LOESS. 301
The extreme ease with which loess is cut away tends at times to seriously embarrass traffic. Dnst made by the cart-wheels on a highway is taken up by strong winds during the dry season and blown over the surrounding lands, much after the maimer in which it was originally deposited here. This action continued over centuries, and assisted by occasional deluges of rain, Which find a ready channel in the road-l)od, has hollowed the country routes into depressions of often 50 or 100 feet, where the passenger may ride for miles without obtaining a glimpse of the surrounding scenery. Lieutenant Kreitner, of the Szechenyi exploring expedition, illustrates,’(‘ Imfirnen Oxtin, j>. 4()2.) in a personal experience in Shansf, the difficulty and danger of leaving these deep cuts; after scrambling for miles along the broken loess above the road, he only regained it when a further passage was cut off by a precipice on the one side, while a jump of some 30 feet into the beaten track below awaited him on the other. Difficult as may be such a territory for roads and the purposes of trade, the advantages to a fanner are manifold. Wherever this deposit extends, there the liusbandman has an assured harvest, two and even three times in a year. It is easily worked, exceedingly
fertile, and submits to constant tillage, with no other manure
than a sprinkling of its own loam dug from the nearest bank.
Facade of Dwelling in Loess Cliffs, Ling-shf hien. (Fronn Richthofen.)
But loess performs still another service to its inhabitants. Caves
made at the base of its straight clefts afford homes to millions
of people in the northern provinces. Choosing an escai”pment
where the consistency of the earth is greatest, the natives cut
for themselves rooms and houses, whose partition walls, cement,
bed and furniture are made from the same loess. Whole villages
cluster together in a series of adjoining or superimposed chambers, some of which pierce the soil to a depth of often more than 200 feet. Tii more costly dwellings the terrace or succession of terraces tlms perforated are faced with brick, as well as the arching of rooms within. The advantages of such habitations consist as well in imperviousness to changes of temperature without, as in their durability when constructed in properly selected places, many loess dwellings outlasting six or seven generations. The capabilities of defence in a country such as this, where an invading army must inevitably become lost in the tangle of interlacing ways, and where the defenders may always remain concealed, is very suggestive.
There remains, lastly, a peculiar property of loess which is perhaps more important than all other features M’hen measured by its man-serving efficiency. This is the manner in which it brings forth crops without the aid of manure. From a period more than 2,000 years before Christ, to the present day, the province of Shansi has borne the name of Grainery of the Empire, while its fertile soil, HuangDi, or ‘yellow earth’, is the origin of the imperial color. Spite of this productiveness, which, in the fourteenth century, caused the Friar Odoric to class it as the second country in the world, its present capacity for raising crops seems to be as great as ever. In the nature of this substance lies the reason for this apparently inexhaustible
fecundity. Its renuirkably porous sti-uctui-e must indeed cause
it to absorb the gases necessary to plant life to a much greater
degree than other soils, but the stable productit>n of those mineral
substances needful to the yearly succession of crops is in
the ground itself. The salts contained more or loss in solution
at the water level of the region are freed by the capillary action
of the loess when rain-water sinks thi’ough tlie spongy mass
from above. Surface moisture following the downward direction
of the tiny loess tubes establishes a connection M’ith the
waters compressed below, when, owing to the law of diffusion,
the ingredients, being released, mix with the moisture of the
little canals, and are taken from the lowest to the topmost
levels, permeating the ground and fni-nishing nourishment to
the plant roots at the surface. It is on account of this curious
action of loess that a co])ious i-ain fall is nioi-e necessary in North
richtiiofen’s theory of its origin. 303
China than elseM’lieie, for with a dearth of rain the capillary communication from above, below, and vice versa, is interrupted, and vegetation loses both its niainire and moisture. Drought and famine are consequently synonymous terms here. As to the formation and origin of loess, Richthofen’s theory is substantially as follows :
‘The uniform composition of this material over extended areas, coupled with the absence of stratification and of marine or fresh-water organic remains, renders impossible the hypothesis that it is a water deposit. On the other hand, it contains vast quantities of land-shells and the vestiges of animals (mammalia) at every level, both in remarkably perfect condition. Concluding, also, that from theconformation of the neighboring mountain chains and their
peculiar weathering, the glacial theory is inadmissible, he advances
the supposition that loess is a sub-aerial deposit, and that
its fields are the drained analogues of the steppe-basins of Central
‘ China : Ergebnisse eigener Reiaen. Baud I. , S. 74. Berlin, 1877.
Asia. They date from a geological era of great dryness, before the existence of the Yellow and other rivers of the northern provinces. As the rocks and hills of the highlands disintegrated, the sand was removed, not by water-courses seaward, but by the high winds ranging over a treeless desert landward, until the dust settled in the grass- covered districts of what is at present China Proper. New vegetation was at once nourished, while its roots were raised by the constantly arriving deposit; the decay of old roots produced the lime-lined canals which impart to this material its peculiar characteristics. Any one who has observed the terrible dust-storms of North China, when the air is filled with an impalpable yellow powder, which leaves its coating upon everything, and often extends, in a foglike cloud, hundreds of miles to sea, will understand the power of this action during many thousand years. This deposition received the shells and bones of innumerable animals, while the dissolved solutions contained in its bulk stayed therein, or saturated the water of small lakes. By the sinking of mountain chains in the south, rain-clouds emptied themselves over this region with much greater frequency, and gradually the system became drained, the erosion working backward from the coast, slowly cutting into one basin after another. AVith the sinking of its salts to lower levels, unexampled richness was added to the wonderful topography of this peculiar formation.’
Pumpelly, while accepting this ingenious theory in place of his own (that of a fresh- water lake deposit), adds that the supply of loess might have been materially increased by the vast mersde-(jlam of High Asia and the Tien Shan, whose streams have for ages transported the products of glacial attrition into Central Asia and Northwest China. Again, he insists that llichthofen has not given importance enough to the parting planes, wrongly considered by his predecessors as planes of stratification.
” These,” he says, ” account for the marginal layers of debris brought down from the mountains. And the continuous and more abundant growth of grasses at one ])lanG would produce a modification of the soil structurally and chemically, which superincumbent accumulations could never efface. It should seem probable that we have herein, also, the explanation of the calcareous concretions which abound along these planes ; for the greater amount of carbonic acid generated by the slow decay of this vegetation would, by forming a bicarbonate, give to the lime the mobility necessary to produce the concretions.”
‘Compare Kingsmill, in the Quar. Journal of the Oeol. Soe. of London, 1868, pp. 119 ff., and in the North China Herald, Vol. IX., 85, 80.
METHODS OF WORKING COAL. 305
The metallic and mineral productions used in the arts comprise nearly everything found in other countries, and the common ones are furnished in such abundance, and at such rates, as conclusively prove them to be plenty and easily worked. The careful digest of observations published by Pumpelly through the Smithsonian Institution, carries out this remark, and indicates the vast field still to be explored. Coal exists in every province in China, and Pumpelly enumerates seventy-four h)calities which have been ascertained. Marco Polo’s well-known notice of its use shows that the people had long employed it: ” It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stone existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. It is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost less.’ This mineral seems to have been unknown in Europe till after the return of the Venetian to his native land, while it was employed before the Christian era in China, and probably in very ancient times, if the accessible deposits in Shensi then cropped out in its eroded gorges, as represented by Richthofen. The few fossil plants hitherto examined indicate that the mass of these deposits are of the Mesozoic age. The mode of working the coal mines is described by Pumpelly,” and was probably no worse two thousand five hundred years ago.
Want of machinery for draining them prevents the miners from going much below the water-level, and a rain-storm will sometimes flood and ruin a shaft. An inclined plane seldom takes the workmen more than a hundred feet below the level of the mouth, and then a horizontal gallery conducts him to the end of the mine. Some water is bailed out by buckets handed from one level up to another at the top, and the coal
is carried out in baskets on the miners’ backs, or dragged in
sleds over smooth, round sticks along passages too low for the
coolies to do better than crawl as they work. Mr. Pumpelly
found the gallery of one mine near Peking so low that he
had to crawl the whole distance (six thousand feet) to see its
construction, and when he emerged into daylight, with his
knees nearly skinned, ascertained that the workmen padded
theirs. The timbering is very expensive, yet, with all drawbacks,
the coal sells, at the pit’s mouth, for $2.00 down to 50 cents a ton. The mines, lying on the slopes of the plateau reaching from near Corea to the Yellow River, supply the plain with cheap and excellent fuel.
» Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 395.^ Across Aineric i and Asia, pp. 291 ff.Vol. I.—20
Blakiston gives an account of the manner in which coal is worked on the Uj^per Yangzi near the town of Siichau: “Having to be got out at a great height up in the cliff, very thick hawsers, made of plaited bamboo, are tightly stretched from the mouth, or near the mouth, of the working gallery, to a space near the water where the coal can be deposited. These ropes are in pairs, and large pannier-shaped baskets are made to traverse on them, a rope passing from one over a large wheel
at the upper landing, and down again to the other, so that the
full basket going down pulls the empty one up, the velocity
being regulated by a kind of brake on the wheel at the top.
At some places the height at which the coal is worked is so
great that two or more of these contrivances are used, one takine:
to a landins; half wav down, and another from thence to the
river. The hawsers are kept taut by a windlass for that purpose
at the bottom.” * This useful mineral appears to be abundant
throughout Sz’chuen Province, and is used here much less
sparingly than in the east. With such inexpensive methods of
getting coal to the water-courses, foreign machinery can hardly
be expected to reduce its price very materially.
The economical use of coal in the household and the arts has
been carried to great perfection. Anthracite is powdered and
mixed with wet clay, earth, sawdust or dung, according to the
exigencies of the case, in the proportion of about seven to one ;
the balls thus made are dried in the sun. The brick-beds
(Jcang) are effective means of warming the house, and the hand
furnaces enable the poor to cook with these balls—aided by a
little charcoal or kindlings—at a trifling expense. This form
of consumption is common north of the Yellow River, and brings
coal within reach of multitudes who otherwise would suffer and
starve. Bituminous, brown, and other varieties of coal occur
in the same abundance and extent as in other great areas, giving
promise of adequate supplies for future ages. The coal
worked on the Peh kiang, in Ivwangtung, contains sulphur,
ftud is employed in the manufacture of copperas.*
Crystallized gypsum is brought fi-om the northwest of the
province to Canton, and is ground to powder in mills ;
plaster
‘ Five Months on the Ynng-Uze, p. 265. Annates de la Foi, Tome IX., p.
457.
2 N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, New Series, No. III., pp. 94-106, and No.
IV., pp. 243 ff. Notes by Mr. Hollingworth of a Visit to the Coal Mines in the
Neighborhood of Loh-Ping. Blue Book, China, No. 2, 1870, p. 11. Notes
and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. IT., pp. 74-76. North China Herald,
passim. Richthofen’s Letters, and in Ocean Highways, Nov., 1S78. Chinese Repository, Vol. XIX., pp. 385 fE. l4j’Cr /’ 111/
BUILDING STONES AND MINP:RALS. 307
of Paris and other forms of this sulphate are common all over China. It is not used as a manure, but the flour is mixed with wood-oil to form a cement for paying the seam’s of boats after they have been caulked. The powder is employed as a dentifrice, a cosmetic, and a medicine, and sometimes, also, is boiled to make a gruel in fevers, under the idea that it is cooling. The bakers who supplied the English troops at Amoy, in 1843, occasionally put it into the bread to make it heavier, but not, as was erroneously charged upon them, with any design of poisoning their customers, fur they do not think it noxious ; its employment in coloring green tea, and adulterating powdered sugar, is also explainable by other motives than a wish to injure the consumers.
Limestone is abundant at Canton, both common clouded marble and blue limestone ; the last is extensively used in the artificial rockwork of gardens. Even if the Cantonese knew of the existence of lime in limestone, which they generally do not, the expense of fuel for calcining it would prevent their burning it while oyster-shells are so abundant in that region. In other provinces stone-lime is burned, by the aid of coal, in small kilns.
The fine marble quarried near Peking is regarded as fit alone
for imperial uses, and is seen only in such places as the Altar
of Heaven and palace grounds. The marble used for floors is a
fissile crystallized limestone, unsusceptible of polish ; no statues
or ornaments are sculptured from this mineral, but slabs are
sometimes wrought out, and the surfaces curiously stained and
corroded with acids, forming rude representations of animals or
other figures, so as to convey the appearance of natural markings.
Some of these simulated petrifactions are exceedingly
well done. Slabs of aro-illaceous slate are also chosen with
reference to their layers, and treated in the same manner. An
excellent granite is used about Canton and Amoy for building,
and no people exceed the Chinese in cutting it. Large slabs are
split out by wooden wedges, cut for basements and foundations,
and laid in a beautiful manner ; pillars are also hewn from single stones of different shapes, though of no extraordinary dimensions, and their shafts embellished with inscriptions.
Ornamental walls are frequently formed of large slabs set in posts, like panels, the outer faces of which are beautifully carved with figures representing a landscape or procession. lied and gray sandstone, gneiss, mica slate, and other species of rock, are also worked for pavements and walls.
Nitre is cheap and common enough in the northern provinces
to obviate any fear of its being smuggled into the country from
abroad ; it is obtained in Chihli by lixiviating the soil, and
furnishes material for the manufacture of gunpowder. A lye
is obtained from ashes, which partially serves the purposes of
soap ; but the people are still ignorant of the processes necessaiy
for manufacturing it. Fourteen localities of alum are
given in Pumpelly’s list, but the gi-eatest supply for the eastern
provinces comes from deposits of shale, in Ping-yang hien, in
Chehkiang, Avhich produces about six thousand tons annually.
It is used mostly by the dyers, also to |)urify tnrbid water, and
whiten paper. Other earthy salts are known and used, as borax,
sal-ammoniac (which is collected in Mongolia and 111 from
lakes and the vicinity of extinct volcanoes), and blue and white
vitriol, obtained by roasting pyrites. Common salt is procured
along the eastern and southern coasts by evaporating seawater,
rock-salt not having been noticed ; in the western provinces
and Shansf, it is obtained from artesian wells and lakes
as cheaply as from the ocean ; in Tsing-3’en hien, in Central
Sz’chuen, two hundred and thirty-seven wells are worked. At
Chusan the sea-water is so turbid that the inhabitants filter it
through clay, afterward evaporating the Avater.
The minerals heretofore found in China have, for the most part, been such as have attracted the attention of the natives, and collected by them for curiosity or sale. The skillful manner in which their lapidaries cut crystal, agate, and other qnartzose minerals, is well known.’ The corundum used for polishing and finishing these carvings occurs in China, but a good deal of emery in powder is obtained from Borneo. A composition of gramdar corundum and gum-lac is usually employed by workmiMi in order to produce the highest luster of
‘ Compare Remusat, Uistmre de Khotan, pp. 163 ff., where there is an qxtended list of Chinese precious stones drawn from native sources.
JADE STONE, Oil YUH. 300
which the stones arc capable. The three varieties of the silicate of alumina, called jade, nephrite, and jadeite by mineralogists, are all named yuh by the Chinese, a word which is applied to a vast variety of stones—white marble, ruby, and cornelian all coming under it—and therefore not easy to define.
Jade has long been known in Europe as a variety of jasper, its separation from that stone into a species by itself being of comparatively recent origin. Since the third edition of Boetius, in 1647, the two minerals have been regarded as entirely distinct. Its value in the eyes of the Chinese depends chiefly upon its sonorousness and color. The costliest specimens
are brought from Yunnan and Klioten ; a greenish-white
color is the most highly prized, a plain color of any shade
being of less value. A cargo of this mineral was once imported
into Canton from New Holland, but the Chinese would
not purchase it, owing to a fancy taken against its origin and
color. The patient toil of the workers in this hard mineral is
only equalled by the prodigious admiration with which it is
regarded ; both fairly exhibit the singular taste and skill of the
Chinese. Its color is usually a greenish-white, or grayish-green
and dark grass-green ; internally it is scarcely glimmering. Its
fracture is splintery; splinters white; mass semi-transparent
and cloudy ; it scratches glass strongly, and can itself generally
be scratched by flint or quartz, but while not excessively hard
it is remarkable for toughness. The stone when freshly broken
is less hard than after a short exposure. Specific gravity from
2.9 to 3.1.’ Fischer (pp. 31-1-318) gives some one hundred and
fifty names as occurring in various authors—ancient and modern
—for jade or nephrite.” An interesting testimony to the esteem
‘ Murray’s China^ Edinburgh, 1843, Vol. III., p. 276 ; compare also an
article on this stone by M. Blondel, of Paris, published in the Smithsoninn
Report for 1876. Memoires concernant Us Chinois, Tome XIII., p. 889. Remusat
in the Journal des Savcuis, Dec, 1818, pp. 748 fF. J^i’otes and Queries
oil a and J., Vol. II., pp. 173, 174, and 187 ; Vol. III., p. 63 ; Vol. IV., pp.
13 and 33. MacmilUui’H Magazine, October, 1871. Yule, Cathay and the
Way Thither, Vol. II., p. 564.
‘^ Nephrit undjadeit, nach ihren miiieralogischen Eigenschaften soioie nach ihrer
urgeschichtiichea und ethnographischen Bedeutiing. Heinrioh Fischer, Stuttgart,
1880. An exhaustive treatise on every phrase and variety of the mineral in wliicli tills stone was held in China during tlie middle agea
conies from Benedict Goes (1002), who says : “There is no article
of traffic more valuable than lumps of a certain transparent
kind of marble, which we, from poverty of language, usually
call jasper. . . , Out of this marble they fashion a variety of
articles, such as vases, brooches for mantles and girdles, which,
when artistically sculptured in flowers and foliage, certainly
have an effect of no small magniflcence. These marbles (with
which the Empire is now overflowing) are called by the Chinese
lusce. There are two kinds of it ; the first and more valuable
is got out of the river at Cotan, almost in the same way
in which divers fish for gems, and this is usually extracted in
pieces about as big as large flints. The other and inferior
kind is excavated from the mountains.” The ruby, diamond,
amethyst, sapphire, topaz, pink tourmaline, lapis-lazuli,’ turquoises,
beryl, garnet, opal, agate, and other stones, are known
and most of them used in jewelry. A ruby Ijrought from
Peking is noticed by Bell as having been valued in Europe at
$50,000. The seals of the Boards are in man}’ instances cut on
valuable stones, and private persons take great pride in quartz
or jade seals, with their names carved on them ; lignite and
jet are likewise employed for cheaper ornaments, of which all
classes are fond.
All the common metals, except platina, are found in China, and the supply would be sufficient for all the purposes of the inhabitants, if they could avail themselves of the improvements adopted in other countries in blasting, mining, etc. The importations of iron, lead, tin, and quicksilver, are gradually increasing, but they form only a small proportion of the amount used throughout the Empire, especially of the two first named ; iron finds its way in because of its convenient forms more than its cheapness. The careful examination of Chinese topographical works by Pumpelly,” records the leading localities of iron in every province, and where copper, tin, lead, silver, and quick, silver have been observed ; he also mentions fifty-two places pro-
‘ Obtained from Badakslian. Wood, Journey to tlie Oxus, p. 263.
‘ Geological licucarches in China, Chap. X.
METALS AND THEIR PRODUCTION. 31J
diicing gold in various forms, most of them in Sz’cliuen. The rumor of gold-washings occurring not far from Chifn, in Shantung, caused much excitement in 1808, but thej were soon found to he not worth the labor. Gold has never been used as coin in China, but is wrought into jewelry ; most of it is consumed in gilding and exported to India as bullion, in the shape of small bars or coarse leaves.
Silver is mentioned in sixty-three localities by the same author; large amounts are brought from Yunnan, and the mines in that region must be both extensive and easily worked to afford such large quantities as have been exported. The working of both gold and silver mines has been said to be prohibited, but this interdiction is rather a government monopoly of the mines than an injunction upon working those which are known. The importation of gold into China during the two centuries the trade has been opened, does not probably equal the exportation which has taken place since the commencement of the opium trade.
It is altogether improbable that the Chinese are acquainted
with the properties of quicksilver in separating these two
metals from their ores, though its consumption in making vermilion
and looking-glasses calls for over two thousand flasks
yearly at Canton. Cinnabar occurs in Kweichau and Shensi
and furnishes most of the ” water silver,” as the Chinese call
it, by a rude process of burning brushwood in the wells, and
collecting the metal after condensation.
Copper is used for manufacturing coin, bells, bronze articles,
domestic and cooking utensils, cannon, gongs, and brass-foil.
It is found pure in some instances, and the sulphuret, the blue
and green carbonates, pyrities, and other ores are w’orked ; malachite
is ground for a paint. It occurs in every province, and
is specially rich in Shansi and Kweichau. The ores of zinc
and copper in Yunnan and Sz’chuen fnrnish spelter, and the
peculiar alloy known as white copper or argentan, containing in
addition tin, iron, nickel, and lead. So much use indicates
large deposits of the ores. Tin is rather abundant, but lead is
more common ; thirty-nine localities of the first are mentioned,
some of which are probably zinc ores, as the Chinese confound
tin and zinc under one generic name. Lead occurs with silver in many places ; twenty-four mines are mentioned in Pumpelly’s list, and those in Fuhkien are rich ; but the extensive importations prove that its reduction is too expensive to compete with the foreign.
Realgar is quite common, this and orpiment being used as paints; statuettes and other articles are carved from the former, while arsenic is used in agriculture to quicken grain and preserve it from insects. Amber and fossilized copal are collected in several localities ; the first is much employed in the making of court necklaces and hair ornaments. Thefel-tsui or jadeite is the most prized of the semi-precious stones; it is cut into ear-rings, finger-rings, necklaces, etc. Pumpelly mentions pieces of this mineral set in relics obtained from tombs in Mexico, though no locality where it abounds has yet been found in America. Lapis-lazuli is employed in painting upon copper
and porcelain ware ; this mineral is obtained in Chehkiang and
Kansuli ; jadeite, topaz, and other fine stones are most plenty
in Yunnan. A few minerals and fossils have been noticed in
the vicinity and shops at Canton, but China thus far has furnished
very few petrifactions in any strata. Coarse epidote
occurs at Macao, and tungstate of iron has been noticed in the
quartz rocks at Hongkong. Petrified crabs {inacrojpJithalinus)
have been brought to Canton from Hainan, which are prized
by the natives for their supposed medicinal qualities. Scientists have hitherto described a score or more species of Devonian shells, and recognized fragments of the hyena, tapir, rhinoceros, and stegedon, among some other doubtful vertebrate in the ” dragon’s bones ” sold in medicine shops ; but further examinations will doubtless increase the list. Orthoceratites and bivalve shells of various kinds are noticed in Chinese books as being found in rocks, and fossil bones of huge size in caves and river banks.
There are many hot springs and other indications of volcanic
action along the southern acclivities of the table land in the
])rovinces of Shensi and Sz’chuen ; and at Jeh-ho, in Chihli,
there are thermal springs to which invalids resort. The Ilo
tsing, or Fire wells, in Sz’chuen are apertures resembling artesian
springs, sunk in the rock to a depth of one thousand
QUADRUMANOUS ANIMALS OF CHINA. 313
five hundred or one thousand eight hundred feet, whilst theii
breadth does not exceed five or six inches. This is a work
of great difiicultj, and requires in some cases the labor of
two or three jears. The water procured from them contains
a fifth part of salt, which is very acrid, and mixed with nmch
nitre. When a lighted torch is applied to the mouth of
some of those which have no Avator, fire is produced with
great violence and a noise like thunder, bursting out into a
flame twenty or thirty feet high, and which cannot be extinguished
M’ithout great danger and expense. The gas has a
bituminous smell, and burns with a bluish flame and a quantity
of thick, black smoke. It is conducted under boilers in bamboos,
and employed in evaporating the salt-water from the
other springs.’ Besides the gaseous and aqueous springs in
these provinces, there are others possessing different qualities,
some sulphurous and others chalybeate, found in Shansi and
along the banks of the Yellow River. Sulphur occurs, as has
been noted, in great abundance in Formosa, and is purified for
powder manufacturers.
The animal and vegetable productions of the extensive regions
under the sway of the Emperor of China include a great
variety of types of different families. On the south the
islands of Hainan and Formosa, and parts of the adjacent
coasts, slightly partake of a tropical character, exhibiting in the
cocoanuts, plantains, and peppers, the parrots, lenmrs, and
monkeys, decided indications of an equatorial climate. From
the eastern coast across through the country to the northwest
provinces occur mountain ranges of gradually increasing elevation,
interspersed with intervales and alluvial plateaus and bottoms,
lakes and rivers, plains and hills, each presenting its
peculiar productions, both wild and cultivated, in great variety
and abundance. The southern ascent of the high land of Mongolia,
the uncultivated wilds of Manchuria, the barren wastes
of the desert of Gobi, with its salt lakes, glaciers, extinct volcanoes,
and isolated mountain ranges ; and lastly the stupendous
‘ Humboldt, Fragmens Asiatiques, Tome I., p. 196. Annates de la Foi,
Janvr., 182’J, pp. 41G ff.
chains and v^alleys of Tibet, Koko-nor, and Kwanlun all differ
from eacli other in the character of their prodnctions. In one
or the other division, every variety of soil, position, and temperature
occur which are known on tlie globe ; and what has
been ascertained within the past fifteen years by enterprising
naturalists is an earnest of future greater discoveries.
Of the quadrumanous order of animals, there are several
species. The Chinese are skilful in teaching the smaller kinds
of monkeys various tricks, but M. Breton’s picture of their
adroitness and usefulness in picking tea in Shantung from
plants growing on otherwise inaccessible acclivities, is a fair instance
of one of the odd stories furnished by travellers about
China, inasmuch as no tea grows in Shantung, and monkeys
are taught more profitable tricks.’ One of the most remarkable
animals of this tribe is the douc^ or Cochinchinese monkey
{Seinnojnthecus 7iemmus). It is a large species of great rarity,
and remarkable for the variety of colors with which it is
adorned. Its Ijody is about two feet long, and when standing
in an upright position its height is considerably greater. The
face is of an orange color, and flattened in its foi-m. A dark
band runs across the front of the forehead, and the sides of the
countenance are bounded by long spreading yellowish tufts of
liair. The body and upper parts of the forearms are brownish
gray, the lower portions of the arms, from the elbows to the
wrists, being white ; its hands and thighs are black, and the
legs of a bright red color, while the tail and a large triangular
spot above it are pure white. Such a creature matches well,
for its grotesque and variegated appearance, with the mandarin
duck and gold fish, also peculiar to China.
‘ Breton, China, its Costumes, Arts, etc., Vol. II.
THE FI-FI AND IIAI-TUH. 315
Chinese books speak of several species of this family, and small kinds occur in all the provinces. M. David has recently added two novelties to the list from his acquisitions in Eastern Koko-nor, well fitted for that cold region by their abundant hair. The Rhinoplthccus I’oxellancB inhabits the alpine forests, nearly two miles high, where it subsists on the buds of plants and bamboo shoots laid up for winter supply; its face is greenish, the nose remarkably /’cfrousse, and its strong, brawny limbs well fitted for the arboreal life it leads ; the hair is thick and like a mane on the back, shaded with yellow and white tints.
In this respect it is like the Gelada monkey of Abyssinia, and a few others protected in this part of the body from cold. This is no doubt the kind called f’t-fi in native books, and once found in flocks along many portions of western China, as these authors declare. Their notices are rather tantalizing, but, now that we have found the animal, are worth quoting: “The f’l-fi resembles a man ; it is clothed with its hair, runs quick and eats men ; it has a human face, long lips, black, hairy body, and turns its heels. It laughs on seeing a man and covers its eyes with its lips ; it can talk and its voice resembles a bird. It occurs in Sz’chuen, where it is called jhi hiung, or ‘human bear ; ‘ its palms are good eating, and its skin is used; its habit is to turn over stones, seeking for crabs as its food. Its form is like that of the men who live in the Kwaiilun Mountains.”
Another large simia {2Iacactis thlhetanus) comes from the
same region; it lives in bands like the preceding, but lower
down the mountains. A third species of gi-eat size was reported
to occur in the southwestern part of Sz’chuen, and described
as greenish like the Macacus tcheliensis from the hills
northwest of Peking—the most northern species of monkey
known. The former of these two may possibly be the sinysing
of the Chinese books, though its characteristics involve
some confusion of the Macacus and baboon on the part of those
writers. Two other species of ]\Iacacus, and as many of the
gibbons, have been noticed in Hainan, Formosa, and elsewhere
in the south.
The singular proboscis monkey {J^^asalis laivalus\ called hhi-doc in Cochinchina and hai-tuh by the Chinese, exhibits a strange profile, part man and part beast, reminding one of the combinations in Da Yinci’s caricatui-es. It is a large animal, covered with soft yellowish hair tinted with red ; the long nose projects in the form of a sloping spatula. The Chinese account says : ” Its nose is turned upward, and the tail very long and forked at the end, and that whenever it rains, the animal thrusts the forks into its nose. It goes in herds, and lives in friendship ; when one dies, the rest accompany it to buriaL Its activity is so great that it runs its head against the trees; its fur is soft and gray, and the face black.’”‘
‘The Chinese llerhal., from which the preceding extract is taken, describes the bat under various names, such as ‘ heavenly rat,’ ‘faiiy rat,’ ‘flying rat,’ ‘night swallow,’ and ‘belly wings;’Ff-fr and Hai-tuh. (From a Chinese cut.)
it also details the various uses made of the animal in medicine,
and the extraordinary longevity attained by some of the wdiite
species. The bat is in form like a mouse ; its body is of an
ashy black color ; and it has thin fleshy wings, which join the
four legs and tail into one. It appears in the summer, but becomes
torpid in the winter ; on which account, as it eats nothing
during that season, and because it has a habit of swallowing its
breath, it attains a great age. It has the character of a night
‘ Bridgmiui’s Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 4G9.
WILD ANIMALS. 317
rover, not on account of any inability to fly in the day, hnt it dares not o;o abroad at that time because it fears a kind of hawk. It subsists on mosquitoes and gnats. It flies with its head downward, because the brain is heavy,’ This quotation is among the best Chinese descriptions of animals, and shows how little there is to depend upon in them, though not without interest in their notices of habits. Bats are common everywhere, and seem to be regarded with less aversion than in certain other countries. Twenty species belonging to nine genera are given in one list, most of them found in southern China ; the wings of some of these measure two feet across ; a large sort in Sz’chuen is eaten.
The brown bear is known, and its paws are regarded as a
delicacy ; trained animals are frequently brought into cities by
showmen, wdio have taught them tricks. The discovery by
David of a large species {Ailunypus riielanoleurus) allied to the
Himalayan panda {Ailurasfulgens), also found on the Sz’chuen
Mountains, adds another instance of the strange markings common
in Tibetan fauna. This beast feeds on flesh and vegetables
; its body is white, but the ears, eyes, legs, and tip of the
tail are quite black ; the fur is thick and coarse. It is called
peh hlaixj, or white bear, by the hunters, but is no doubt the
animal called j;i in the classics, connnon in early times over
western China, and now rare even in Koko-nor. The Tibetan
black bear occurs in Formosa, Shantung, and Hainan, showing
a wide range. The badger is quite as widespread, and the two
species have the same general appearance as their European
congeners.
Carnivorous animals still exist, even in thickly settled districts.
The lion may once have roamed over the southwestern
Manji kingdom, but the name and drawings both indicate a
foreign origin. It has much connection with Buddhism, and
grotesque sculptures of ranq3ant lions stand in pairs in front of
temples, palaces, and graves, as a mark of honor and symbol
of protection. The last instance of a live lion brought as tribute
was to Hientsung in a.d. 1470, from India or Ceylon.
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vol. VII., p. 90.
Many other species of yeZ/5 are known, some of tliein peculiar
to particular regions. The royal tiger has been killed near
Amoy, and in Manchuria the panther, leopard, and tiger-cat
all occur in the northern and southern provinces, making
altogether a list of twelve species ranging from Formosa to
Sagalien. Mr. Swinhoe’s ‘ account of his rencounter with a
tiger near Amoy in 1S58 explains how^ such large animals still
remain in thickly settled regions where food is abundant and
the people are timid and unarmed. In thinly peopled parts
they become a terror to the peasants. M. David enumerates
six kinds, including a lynx, in Monpin alone, one of which
{Felis sc/’fj)ta) is among the most prettily marked of the whole
family. Ilunting-leopards and tigers were used in the days of
Marco Polo by Kublai, but the manly pastime of the chase, on
the magnificent scale then pi-actised, has fallen into disuse with
the present princes. A small and fierce species of wild- cat
{Felis chinensls), two feet long, of a brownish-gray coloi’, and
liandsomely marked with chestnut spots and black streaks, is
still common in the southwestern portions of Fuhkien. (Uvet
cats of two or thi-ee kinds, tree-civets (Ildwtes), and a fine
species of marten {Martes), with yellow neck and purplishbrown
bod}’, from Formosa, are among the smaller cai-nivora in
the southern provinces.
The domestic animals offer few peculiarities. The cat, lia U,
or ‘household fox,’ is a favorite inmate of families, and the
ladies of Peking are fond of a variety of the Angora cat,
having long silky hair and hanging ears. The common species
is variously marked, and in the south often destitute of a tail; when reared for food it is fed on i-ice and vegetables, but is not much eaten. Popular superstition has clustered many omens of good and bad luck about cats ; it is considered, for example, the prognostic of certain misfortune when a cat is stolen from a house—much as, in some countries of the western world, it is unlucky when a black cat crosses one’s pathway.
The dog differs but little from that reared among the Esquimaux,
and is perhaps the original of the species. There is
• Zodl. &c. Proc, 1870, p. G3G.
CATS AND DOGS. 319
little variation in tlieir size, wliicli is about a foot liigli and
two feet in length ; the color is a pale yellow or black, and
always uniform, with coarse bristling hair, and tails curling up
high over the back, and rising so abruptly from the insei-tion
that it has been humoi-ously remarked they almost assist in
lifting the legs from the ground. The hind legs are unusually
straight, which gives them an awkward look, and perhaps pre*
vents them running very rapidly. The black eyes are small
and piercing, and the insides of the lips and months, and the
tongue, are of the same color, or a blue black. The bitch has a
dew-claw on each hind leg, but the dog has none. The ears are
sharp and upright, the head peaked, and the bark a short, thick
snap, very unlike the deep, sonorous baying of our mastiffs. In
Xganhwui a peculiar variety has pendant ears of great length,
and thin, wii-ey tails. One item in the Chinese description of
the dog is that it ‘ can go on three legs ‘—a gait that is often
exhibited b}’ them. They are used to watch houses and flocks; the Mongolian breed is fierce and powerful. The dogs of Peking are very clannish, and each set jealously guards its own street or yard ; they ai-e fed by the butchers in the streets, and serve as scavengers there and in all large towns. They are often mangey, presenting hideous spectacles, and instances of j>//(‘«2)oloni<‘a are not uncommon, l)nt, as among the celebrated street dogs of Ooiistantinople, hydrophobia is almost unheard of among them. Dog markets are seen in every city where this meat is sold ; the animals are reared expressly for the table, but their flesh is expensive.
One writer remarks on their habits, when describing the
worship offered at the tombs : ” Hardly had the hillock been
abandoned by the M’orshippers, when packs of hungry dogs
came running up to devour the part of the offerings left for the
dead, or to lick up the grease on the ground. Those who came
first held up their heads, bristled their hair, and showed a
proud and satisfied demeanor, curling and wagging their tails
with selfish delight ; while the late-comers, tails between their
legs, held their heads and ears down. There was one of them,
however, which, grudging the fare, held his nose to the wind as
if sniffing for better luck ; but one lean, old, and ugly beast. with a flayed back and liaii-less tail, was seen gradually separating himself from the band, though without seeming to hurry himself, making a thousand doublings and windings, all the while looking back to see if he was noticed. But the old sharper knew what he was about, and as soon as he thought himself at a safe distance, away he went like an arrow, the whole pack after him, to some other feast and some other tomb.”
‘Wolves, raccoon-dogs, and foxes are everywhere common, in some places proving to be real pests in the sheepfold and farmyard. In the vicinity of Peking, it is customary to draw large white rings on the plastered walls, in order to terrify the wolves, as these beasts, it is thought, will flee on observing such traps.
The Chinese regard the fox as the animal into which human spirits enter in preference to any other, and are therefore afraid to destroy or displease it. The elevated steppes are the abodes of three or four kinds, which find food without difficulty. The Tibetan wolf (Cams chanco) has a warm, yellowish-white covering, and ranges the wilds of Tsaidam and Koko-nor in packs. The fox {Ganis cossac) spreads over a wide range, and is famed for its sagacity in avoiding enemies.
The breed of cattle and horses is dwarfish, and nothing is done to improve them. The oxen are sometimes not larger than an ass ; some of them have a small hump, showing their affinity to the zebu ; the dewlap is large, and the contour neat and symmetrical. The forehead is round, the horns small and irregularly curved, and the general color dun red. The buffalo(shui niu), or ‘water ox’, is the largest beast used in agriculture. It is very docile and unwieldy, larger than an English ox, and its hairless hide is a light black color; it seeks coolness and refuge from the gnat in muddy pools dug for its convenience, where it wallows with its nose just above the surface. Each horn is nearly semi-circular, and bends downward, while the head is turned back so as almost to bring the nose horizontal.
‘ Borget, La Chine Ouverte, p. 147.
CATTLE, SHEEP, AND DEER. 321
The herd-boys usually ride it, and the metaphor of a lad astride a buffalo’s back, blowing the flute, frequently enters into Chinese descriptions of rural life. The yak of Tibet is employed us a beast of burden, and to furnish food and raiment. It is covered with a mantle of hair reaching nearly to the ground, and the soft pelage is used for making standards among the Persians, and its tail as fly-Haps or chowries in India ; the hair is woven into carpets. The wild yak {PoepluKjas (jrunnienH) has already been described. Great herds of these huge bovines roam over the wastes of Koko-nor, where their dried droppings furnish the only fuel for the nomads crossing those barren wilds.
The domestic sheep is the broad-tailed species, and furnishes excellent mutton. The tail is sometimes ten inches long and three or four thick ; and the size of this fatty member is not affected by the temperature. The sheep are reared in the north by Mohammedans, who prepare the fleeces for garments by careful tanning ; the animal is white, with a black head. Goats are raised in all parts, but not in large numbers. The argali and wild sheep of the Ala shau Mountains {Ovis Burrhel) furnish exciting sport in chasing them over their native cliffs, which they clamber with wonderful agility. Another denizen of those dreary wilds is the Antilope jpicticauda, a small and tiny species, weighing about forty pounds, of a dusky gray color, with a narrow yellow stripe on the flanks. Its range is about the head-waters of the YangZiJiang River ; its swiftness is amazing; it seems absolutely to fly. It scrapes for itself trenches in which to lie secure from the cold.
Many genera of ruminants are represented in China and
the outlying regions ; twenty-seven rare species are enumerated
in Swinhoe’s and David’s lists, of which eleven are antelopes
and deer. The range of some of them is limited to a
narrow region, and most of them are peculiar to the country.
The wealthy often keep deer in their grounds, especially the
spotted deer {Cermis j)seicdaxis), from Formosa, whose coat is
found to vary greatly according to sex and age ; its name, Mntsien
lu/i, or ‘money deer,’ indicates its markings. Mouse-deer
are also reared as pets in the southern provinces.
One common species is the dscren or hwang yan<j {AntiUpe(jiitturosa), which roams over the Mongolian wilds in large herds, and furnishes excellent venison. It is heavy in comparison to the gazelle ; liorns thick, about nine inches long, anmilated to the tips, lyrated, and their points turned inward. The goitre, which gives it its name, is a movable protuberance occasioned by the dilatation of the larnyx ; in the old males it is much enlarged. The animal takes surprising bounds when running.
Great numbers are killed in the autunm, and their flesh,
skins, and liorns ai’e all of service for food, leather, and medicine.
Several kinds of hornless (or nearly hornless) deer, allied to
the musk-deer, exist. One is the river-deer {Ihjdrojyotes)^ common
near the Yangtsz’ Eiver, which resembles the pudu of
Chili ; it is very prolific on the bottoms and in the islands. Another
sort in the northwest {Elaj>hod>iK) is intermediary between
the muntjacs and deer, having long, trenchant, canine
upper teeth, and a deep chocolate-colored fur. Three varieties
of the musk-deer {MoscJiun) have been observed, differing a
little in their colors, all called shie or hkouj cliaiuj by the Chinese,
and all eagerly hunted for their musk. This perfume
was once deemed to be nseful in medicine, and is cited in a
Greek presci-iption of the sixth century ; the abundance of the
animal in the Himalayan regions may be inferred from Tavernier’s
statement that he bought 7GT3 bags or pods at Patna in
one of his journeys over two hundred years ago. This animal
roams over a vast extent of alpine territory, from Tibet and
Shensi to Lake Baikal, and inhabits the loftiest cliffs and defiles,
and makes its way over nigged mountains with great rapidity.
It is not unlike the roe in general appearance, though the projecting
teeth makes the npper lip to look broad. Its color is
grayish-brown and its limbs slight; the hair is coarse and brittle,
almost like spines. The musk is contained in a pouch beneath
the tail on the male, and is most abundant during the
i-utting season. He is taken in nets or shot, and the hunters
are said to allure him to destruction by secreting themselves
and playing the flute, though some would say the animal
showed very little taste in listening to such sounds as Chinese
flutes usually produce. The musk is often adulterated with
clay or mixed with other sul)stanees to moderate its powerful
odor. A singular and interesting member of this familv is
reared in the great park south of Peking—a kind of elk with
HORSES, ARSES, AND ELEPHANTS. 8,’?:}
short horns. This large animal {Elwphwus Damdianus)^ of a
gentle disposition, equals in size tlie largest deer; its native
name, sz’-2>uh slang, indicates that it is neither a horse, a deer,
a camel, nor an ox, but partakes in some respects of the characteristics
of each of them. Its gentle croaking voice seems to be
nnworthj of so huge a body ; the color is a uniform fawn or
light gray.
The horse is not much larger than the Shetland pony ; it is
bony and strong, but kept with little cai-e, and presents the
worst possible appearance in its usual condition of untrinmied
coat and mane, bedraggled fetlocks, and twisted tail. The Chinese
language possesses a great variety of terms to designate
the horse ; the difference of age, sex, color, and disposition, all
being denoted by particular characters. Piebald and mottled,
white and bay horses are common ; but the improvement of
this noble animal is neglected, and he looks sorry enough compared.
with the coursers of India. lie is principally used for
carrying the post, or for military services ; asses and mules
being more employed for draught. lie is hardy, feeds on
coarse food, and admirably serves his owners. The mule is
well-shaped, and those raised for the gentry are among the very
best in the M’orld for endurance and strength; dignitaries are
usually drawn by sumpter mules. Donkeys are also carefully
raised. Chinese books speak of a mule of a cow and horse, as
M’ell as from the ass and horse, though, of course, no such hybrid
as the former ever existed.
The wild ass, or onager (under the several names by which
it is known in different lands, Ji-yaiuj^ djan/j, I’ulan, djiggeta),
ghor-hhar, and ye-la), still roams free and untameable. It is
abundant in Koko-nor, gathering in troops of ten to fifty, each
under the lead of a stallion to defend the mares. The flesh is
highly prized, and the difficult}^ of procuring it adds to the
delicacy of the dish ; the color is light chestnut, with white
belly.
Elephants are kept at Peking for show, and are used to
draw the state chariot when the Emperor goes to worship at
the Altars of Heaven and Earth, but the sixty animals seen in
the days of Kienlung, by Bell, have since dwindled to one or two. Van Braam met six going into Peking, sent thither from Yunnan. The deep forests of that province also harbor the rhinoceros and tapir. The horn of the former is sought after as medicine, and theTjest pieces are carved most beautifully into
ornaments or into drinking cups, which are supposed to sweat
whenever any poisonous liquid is put into them. The tapir is
the white and brown animal found in the IMalacca peninsula,
and strange stories are recorded of its eating stones and copper.
The wild boar grows to weigh over four hundred pounds and
nearly six feet long. In cold weather its frozen carcass is
brought to I’eking, and sold at a high price. A new species of
The Chinese Pig.
hoff has been found in Formosa, about three feet long, twentyone
inches high, and showing a dorsal row of large bristles ; a
tliird variety occurs among the novelties discovered in Sz’chuen
ij^m moujnnensiH)^ having short ears. Wild boars are met M’ith
even in the hills of C’hehkiang, and seriously’ annoy the husbandmen
in the lowlands by their depredations. Deep pits are
dug near the l)ase of the hills, and covered M’ith a bait of fresh
grass, and many are annually captured or droM’iied in them.
They are fond of the bamboo shoots, and persons are stationed
near the groves to fi-igliten them away by striking pieces of
wood together.
The Chinese hollow-backed pig is known for its short legs,
tup: wild boar and domestic hog. 325
round body, crooked back, and almndance of fat; the flesh is
the connnoii meat of tlie people soutli of tlie Yaii<>’ts// liiver.
The black C-hinese breed, as it is called in England, is considered
the best pork raised in that country. The boo-” in the
northern provinces is a gaunt animal, unifoiiuly black, and not
so well cared for as its southern rival. Pieljald pigs are common
in Formosa, resulting from crossing; sometimes animals
of this kind are quite woolly. The Chinese in the south, well
aware of the perverse disposition of the hog, find it much more
expeditious to can-y instead of drive him through their narrow
Mode of Carrying Pigs.
Streets. For this purpose cylindrical baskets, open at both ends,
are made ; and in order to capture the obstinate brute, it is
secured just outside the half-opened gate of the pen. The men
seize him by the tail and pull it lustily ; his rage is roused by
the pain, and he struggles ; they let go their hold, whereupon
he darts out of the gate to escape, and finds himself snugly
caught. He is lifted up and unresistingly carried off.
The camel is employed in the trade carried on across the
desert, and throughout Mongolia, Manchuria, and northern
China near the plateau; without his aid those regions would be ii))pa?sil)le ; the passes across the ranges near Tvoho-nor, sixteen thonsand feet high, ai-e traversed by his help, though amid suffej’ing and danger. In the summer season it sheds all its hair, which is gathered for weaving into ropes and rugs ; at this period, large herds pasture on the plateau to recuperate. The humps at this season hang down the back like empty bags, and the poor animal presents a distressed appearance during the hot weather. In its prime condition it carries about six hundred
pounds weight, but is not used to ride upon as is the Arabian
species. The two kinds serve man in one continuous l-ajilah
from the Sea of Tartary across two continents to Tinibuctoo.
The Chinese have employed the camel in wai’, and trained it to
carry small gingalls so that the riders could fire them while
resting on its head, but this antique kind of cavalry has disappeared
with the introduction of better weapons.
Among the various tribes of smaller animals, the Chinese
Em])ire furnishes many interesting peculiarities, and few families
are unrepresented. Xo marsupials have yet been met, and
the order of edeutata is still restricted to one instance. Several
families in other orders are rare or wanting, as baboons,
spider-monkeys, skunks, and ichneumons. In the weasel tribe,
some new species have been added to the already long list of
valuable fur-bearing animals found in the mountains—the sable
ermine, marten, pole-cat, stoat, etc., whose skins still repay the
hunters. The weasel is common, but not troublesome. The
otter is trained in Sz’chuen to catch fish in the mountain
streams \vith the docility of a spaniel ; another species {Lutia
siolnhosl) occurs along the islands on the southern coast, while
in Hainan Island appears a kind of clawless otter of a rich
brown color above and white beneath ; each of these is about
twenty inches long. The furs of all these, and also the seaotter,
are prepared for garments, especially collars and neckwraps.
A kind of mole exists in Sz’chuen, having a muzzle of extreme
length, while the scent of another variety near Peking is so
nuisky as to suggest its name {Scapfot’hirKi^ moschatus). Muskrats
and shrew-mice are found both north and south ; and one
western species has only a rudimentary tail ; w^hile another, the
SMALLER ANIMALS AISTD RODET^TS, 327
Scaptony.i’, forms an intermediate species l>ctween a mole and a
shrew, having a bhmt muzzle, strong fore feet and a long tail;
and lastly, a sort fitted for aquatic lial)its, with l)road hind feet
and flattened tail. Tiny hedgehogs are common even in the
streets and by-lanes of Peking, where they find food and
refuge in the allnvial earth. Two or three kinds of marmots
and mole-rats are fonnd in the north and west {Sqyhucus Arctami/
s), all specifically unlike their congeners elsewhere. The
Chinese have a curious fancy in respect to one beast, one bird,
and one fish, each of which, they say, requires that two come
together to make one complete animal, viz., the jerboa, the
spoonbill and sole-fish ; the first {D’qius annnlatus) occurs in
the sands of northern China, the second in Formosa, and the
third along the coasts.
Many kinds of rodents have been described. The alpine
hare {Lagomijs ogotona) resembles a marmot in its habits and is
met with throughout the grassy parts of the steppes ; its burrows
riddle the earth wherever the little thing gathers, and endangers
the hunters riding over it. It is about the size of a rat,
and by its w^onderful fecundity furnishes food to a great number
of its enemies—man, beasts, and birds ; it is not dormant, but
gathers dry grass for food and warmth during cold weather
;
this winter store is, however, often consumed by cattle before
it is stored away. Hares and rabbits are well known. Two
species of the former are plenty on the Mongolian grass-lands,
one of which has very long feet ; in winter their frozen bodies
are brought to market. One species is restricted to Hainan
Island, Ten or twelve kinds of squirrels have been described,
red, gray, striped, and buff ; one with fringed ears. Their skins
are prepared for the furriers, and women wear winter robes
lined with them. Two genera of flying-squirrel {Pteromys and
Sciurapterus) have been noticed, the latter in Formosa and the
former mostly in the western provinces, Chinese writers have
been puzzled to class the flying-squirrel ; they place it among
birds, and assure their readers that it is the only kind which
suckles its young when it flies, and that ” the skin held in the
hand during parturition renders delivery easier, because the
animal has a remarkably lively disposition,” The long, dense
328 THE MIDDLK KINGDOM.
fur of the P. alhonifow’i makes beautiful dressep, the white
tips of the hair contrasting prettily with the red ground.
Of the proper rats and mice, more than twenty-five species
have been already described. Some of them are partially
arboreal, others have remarkably long tails, and all but three
are peculiar to the country. A Formosan species, called by
Swinhoe the spinous county rat, had been dedicated to Koxinga,
the conqueror of that island ; while another common
in Sz’chuen bears the name of Mufi Confucianus. The extent
to which tlie Chinese eat rats has been greatly exaggerated
by travellers, for the flesh is too expensive for general
use.
One species of porcupine {TTijsfrir suhcrlxtata) inhabits the
southern provinces, wearing on its head a purplish-black crest
of stout spines one to five inches long ; the bristles are short,
but increase in size and length to eight oi- nine inches toward
the rump ; the entire length is thiity-three inches. The popular
notion that the porcupine darts its quills at its enemies as
an efPectual weapon is common among the Chinese.
Xo animal has puzzled the Chinese more than the scaly anteater
or pangolin {JIa?iis dahnanni), which is logically considered
as a certain and useful remedy bv them, simply because of
its oddity. It is regarded as a fish out of water, and therefore
named Ihuj-l’i., or ‘ hill carp,’ also dragon carp, but the most
common designation is ehuen. s/ian liah, or the ‘ scaly hill borer.’
One author says: ” Its shape resembles a crocodile ; it can go in
dry paths as well as in the water ; it has four legs. In the
daytime it ascends the banks of streams, and lying down opens
its scales wide, putting on the appearance of death, which induces
the ants to enter between them. As soon as they are in,
the animal closes its scales and returns to the water to open
them ; the ants float out dead, and he devours them at leisure.”
A more accurate observer says: “It contimially protrudes its
tongue to entice the ants on which it feeds ; ” and true to
Chinese physiological deductions, similia similihis curantur,
he recommends the scales as a cure for all antish swellings.
lie also I’emarks that the scales are not bony, and consist of
the agglutinated hairs of the body. The adult specimens
PORPOISES AND WHALES. 329
measure tliirty-threo inches. It walks on the sides of the
hind feet and tips of the claws of the fore feet, and can stand
upright for a minute or two. The large scales are held tt
the skin by a liesliy iiipple-like pimple, which adheres to the
base.
Among the cetaceous inhabitants of the Chinese waters, one
of the most noticeable is the great white poi-poise {Delj>/ihi>;s
chinensis), whose uncouth tumbles attract the traveller’s notice
as he sails into the estuary of the Pearl River on his way to
Hongkong, and again as he steams up the Yangtsz’ to Hankow.
The Chinese fishermen are shy of even holding it in their nets,
setting it free at once, and never pui-suing it ; they call it^>M-^i
and deem its presence favorable to their success. A species of
fin-whale {Balmnoptera) has been described by Swinhoe, which
ranges the southern coast from the shores of Formosa to Hainan.
Its pi-esence between Hongkong and Amoy induced some
foreigners to attempt a fishery in those waters, but the yield of
oil and bone was too small for their outlay. The native fishermen
join their efforts in the wintei*, when it resorts to the seas
near Hainan, going out in fleets of small boats from three to
twenty-five tons burden each, fifty l)oats going together. The
line is about three hundred and fifty feet long, made of native
hemp, and fastened to the mast, the end leading over the bow.
The harpoon has one barb, and is attached to a wooden handle
;
through an eye near the socket, the line is so fastened along the
handle, that when the whale begins to strain upon it, the handle
draws out upon the line, leaving only the barlj buried iji the
skin. The boat is sailed directly upon the fish, and the harpooner
strikes from the bow just behind the blow-hole. As
soon as the fish is struck the sail is lowered, the rudder unshipped,
and the boat allowed to drag stern foremost until the
prey is exhausted. Other boats come up to assist, and half a
dozen harpoons soon dispatch it. The species most common
there yield about fifty bai-rels each ; the oil, fiesh, and bone are
all used f(jr food or in manufactures. Tiie fish resort to the
shallow waters in those seas for food, and to roll and rub on the
banks and reefs, thus ridding themselves of the barnacles and
insects which torment them ; they are often seen leaping en330
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
tire)y out of water, and falling back perpend icnlarly against the
hard bottom.’
The Yellow Sea affords a species of cow-lish, or round headed
cachalot {Globicejjhalus Itissii), wdiich the Japanese capture.*
Seals have been observed on the coast of Liautung, but nothing
is known of their species or habits ; the skins are common and
cheap in the Peking market. Xative books speak of a marine
animal in Koko-nor, from wliich a rare medicine is obtained,
that probably belongs to this famOy.
This imperfect account of the mammalia known to exist
in China has been drawn from the lists and descriptions inserted
in the zoological periodicals of Europe, and may serve to
indicate the extent and richness of the field yet to be investigated.
The lists of Swinhoe and David alone contain nearly
two hundred species, and within the past ten years scores more
have been added, but have not exhausted the new and unexplored
zoological regions. The emperors of the Mongol dynasty
were very fond of the chase, and famous for their love of the
noble amusement of falconry ; Marco Polo says that Kublai employed
no less than seventy thousand attendants in his hawking
excursions. Falcons, kites, and other birds were taught to
pursue their quarry, and the Venetian speaks of eagles trained
to stoop at wolves, and of such size and strength that none
could escape their talons.’ Hanking has collected * a number
of notices of the mode and sumptuousness of the field sports of
the Mongols in China and India, but they convey little more
information to the naturalist, than that the game Avas abundant
and comprised a vast variety. ]\rany s])ecies of accipitrine
birds are described in Chinese books, but they are spoken of so
vaguely that nothing definite can be learned from the notices.
Few of them are now trained for sport by the Chinese, except
a kind of sparrow-hawk to amuse dilettanti hunters in
showing their skill in catching small birds. The fondness for
sport in the wilds of Manchuria which the old emperoi-s
‘ CMnese Repository, Vol. XII., p. 608.
Mbid., Vol. VI., p. 411.
•Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. ‘m^.
* Wars and Sports of the Mongols and Romans.
BIRDS OF PREY. 331
encouraged two centuries ago has all died out among their
descendants.
Within the last fifteen years a greater advance has been
made in the knowledge of the birds of China than in any other
branch of its natural history, perhaps owing somewhat to their
presenting themselves for capture to the careful observer. The
list of described species already munljers over seven hundred, of
which the careful paper of the lamented Swinhoe, in the ProceedingH
of the Zoological SocJeti/ for May, 1871, gives the
names of six hundred and seventy-five species, and M. David’s
list, in i\\(i Nouvelles Archives for 1871, gives four hundred and
seventy as the number observed north of the Itiver Yangtsz’.
The present sketcli must confine itself to selecting a few of the
characteristic birds of the country, for this part of its fauna is
as interesting and peculiar as the mammalia.
Among birds of prey are vultures, eagles, and ernes, all of
them M’idespread and well known. One of the fishing-eagles
(Ilalicctus macei) lives along the banks of the bend of the Yellow
River in the Ortous country. The golden eagle is still
trained for the chase by Mongols ; Atkinson accompanied a
party on a hunt. ” We had not gone far,” he says, ” when
several large deer rushed past, bounding over the plain about
three hundred yards from ns. In an instant the barkut wai
unhooded and his shackles removed, when he sprung from hi^
perch and soared on high. lie rose to a considerable height,
and seemed to poise fof^ minute, gave two or three flaps with his
wings, and swooped off in a straight line for the pi’ey. I could
not see his wings move, but he went at a fearful rate, and all of
us after the deer ; when we were about two hundred yards off,
the bii-d struck the deer, and it gave one bound and fell. The
barkut had struck one talon in his neck, the other into his back,
and was tearing out his liver. The Kirghis sprung from his
horse, slipped the hood over the eagle’s head and the shackles
on his legs, and easily took him off, remounting and getting
ready for another flight.” ‘ Other smaller species are trained
to capture or worry hares, foxes, and lesser game.
‘ Oriental and Western Siberia, p. 41 G.
332 TIIK MIDDLK KINGDOM.
The falcons which inhabit the gate-towers and trees in Pe
kinw form a peculiar feature of the place, from their impudence
in foraging in tlie streets and markets, snatching things out of
the liands of people, and startling one by their responsive
screams. Much quarrelling goes on between them and the
crows and magpies for the possession of old nests as the spring
comes on. Their services as scavengers insures them a quiet
residence in their eyries on the gate-towers. Six sorts of harriers
(Circles), with various species of falcons, bustards, gledes,
and spaiTOw^-hawks, are enumerated. The family of owls is
well represented, and live ones are often exposed for sale in
the markets ; its native name of ‘ cat-headed hawk ‘ {inao-rhtao
ying) suggests the likeness of the two. Out of the fifty-six
species of accipitrine birds, the hawks are much the most
numerous.
The great order of Passerinae has its full share of beautiful
and peculiar representatives, and over four hundred species
have been catalogued. The night-hawks have only three
members, but the swallows count up to fifteen species. Around
Peking they gather in vast numbers, year after year, in the
gate-towers, and that whole region was early known by the
name of Yen Kwoli, or ‘ Land of Swallows.’ The innnunity
granted by the natives to this twittering, bustling inmate of
their houses has made it a synonym for domestic life ; the
phrase yin yen. {lit. to ‘ drink swallows ‘) means to give a feast.
The famil}’ of king-fishers contains several most exquisitely
colored birds, and multitudes of the handsome ones, like the
turquoise king-fisher {Halcyon fi/nyrnensis), are killed by the
(Chinese for the sake of the plumage. Beautiful feather-work
ornaments are made from this at Canton. The hoopoe, beeeater,
and cuckoo are not uncommon ; the first goes by the
name of the s/ia/i. ho-.shan’j, or ‘ country priest,* f i-om its color.
Six species of the last have been recognized, and its peculiar
habits of driving other birds from their nests has made it well
kuuwn to the people, who call it ha-l’a for the same reason as
do the English. On the upper Yangtsz’ the short-tailed species
makes its noisy agitated Hight in order to draw off attention from
its nest. The C’hinesc say it wcepi blood as it bewails its mate
SWALLOWS, THRUSHES, LARKS, El’C. 333
all night long. The Cacutas strlatus varies so greatly in different
provinces that it has much perplexed naturalists ; all of
them are only summer visitants.
The habit of the shi-ike of impaling its prey on thorns and
elsewhere before devouring it has been noticed by native
writers ; no less than eleven species have been observed to cross
the country in their migrations from Siberia to the Archipelago.
Of the nuthatches, tree and wall creepers, wrens, and chats,
there is a large variety, fJid one species of willow-wren {Sylvia
horealls) has been detected over the entire eastei’u hemisphere ;
six sorts of redstarts {Rat’tGilla) are spread over the provinces.
Among the common song birds reared for the liousehold, the
thrush and lark take precedence ; their fondness for birds and
flowers is one of the pleasant features of Chinese national character.
A kind of grayish-yellow thrush {Garrula,c j)<”i’-y)i<-il’^-
tus)j called hwa-mi, or ‘painted ej’ebrows,’ is common about
Canton, where a well-trained bird is worth several dollars.
This genus furnishes six species, but they are not all equally
nnisical ; another kind {Suthorla wehhiana) is kept for its fighting
qualities, as it will die before it yields. These and other
allied birds furnish the people with much amusement, by teaching
them to catch seeds thrown into the air, jump from perches
held in the hand, and })erform tricks of various kinds. A party
of gentlemen will often be seen on the outskii-ts of a town in
mild weather, each one holding his pet bird, and all busily engaged
in catching grasshoppei’s to feed them. The spectacle
thrush {Leuc()d’wj.>trn,tii) has its eyes surrounded by a black
circle bearing a fancied resemblance to a pair of spectacles ; it
is not a very sweet songster, but a graceful, lively fellow. The
species of wagtail and lark known amount to about a score altogether,
but not all of them are equally good singers. The
southern (^hinese prefer the lark which comes from Chihli, and
large numbei-s ai-e annually carried south. The shrill notes of
the field lark {Alauda adkiox and arvensis) are heard in the
shops and streets in enmlous concert with other kinds—these
larks becoming at times well-nigh frantic with excitement in
their struggles for victory. The Chinese name of peh-ling, or
‘hundred spirits,’ given to the Mongolian lark, indicates the
334 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
reputation it has earned as an active songster ; and twenty-five
dollars is not an unconnnon pi-ice for a good one.’
The tits [Parus) and recdlings {Emhe/’ha), together with kindred
genera, are among the most common .small birds, fifteen or
twenty species of each having been noticed. In the proper season
the latter are killed for market in such numbei-s as to excite
surprise that they do not become extinct. In taking many of
the warblers, orioles, and jays, for rearing or sale as fancy birds,
the Chinese are veiy^ expert in the use of birdlime. In all parts
of the land, the pie family are deemed so useful as scavengers
that they are never molested, and in consequence become very
connnon. The magpie is a favorite bird, as its name, /il tsloh,
or ‘ joyous bird,’ indicates, and occurs all over the land. Ravens,
choughs, crows, and blackbirds keep doM-n the insects and vermin
and consume offal. The palace grounds and inclosures of
the nobility in Peking are common I’esorts for these crows,
where they are safe from harm in the great trees. Every
morning myriads of them leave town with the dawn, returning
at evenino; with increased ca\\ino; and clamor, at times actuallv
darkening the sky with their flocks. A pretty sight is occasionally
seen M’hen two or three thousand young ci’ows assemble
just at sunset in mid-air to chase and play with each other.
The crow is i-egarded as somewhat of a sacred bird, either from
a service said to have been rendered by one of his race to an
ancestor of the present dynasty, or because he is an emblem of
filial duty, from a notion that the young assist their parents
when disabled. The owl, on the other hand, has an odious
name because it is stiy-matized as the bii’d which eats its dam.
One member of the pie family deserving mention is the longtailed
l)lue jay of Formosa (^.TO^’^Vm), remarkable for its brilliant
plumage. Another, akin to the sun birds {^Ethoj^njija
(lahryi)^ comes from Sz’chuen, a recent discovery. The body is
red, the head, throat, and each side of the neck a brilliant
violet, belly yellow, wings black with the primaries tinted green
along the edge, and the feathers long, tapering, of a black or
steel blue.
‘ Journal of the North China Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, May, 1S59.
p. 289.
MAGPIES AND PIGEONS. 335
Tlie Mahiah, or Indian niino [Acndotheus)^ known by its
yellow carbuncles, which extend like ears from behind the eye,
is reared, as are also three species of Mu7iia, at Canton. Sparrows
abound in every province around houses, driving away
otiier birds, and entertaining the observer by their quarrels and
activity, llobins, ouzels, and tailor-birds are not abundant.
Xone of the humming-birds or birds of paradise occur, and
only one species has hitherto been seen of the parrot group.
Woodpeckers {Picus) are of a dozen species, and the wryneck
occasionally attracts the eye of a sportsman. Tlie canary is
reared in great numbers, being known under the names of
‘white swallow’ and ‘time spari-ow ;
‘ the chattering Java
sparrow and tiny avedavat are also taught little tricks by their
fanciers, in compensation for their lack of song. The two or
three proper parrots are natives of Formosa.
The family of pigeons {Coluvibidie) is abundantly represented
in fourteen species, and doves form a common household
bird ; their eggs are regarded as proper food to prevent smallpox,
and sold in the markets, being also cooked in birdnest and
other kinds of soups. The Chinese regard the dove as eminently
stupid and lascivious, but gi^ant it the qualities of faithfulness,
impartiality, and filial duty. The cock is said to send
away its mate on the approach of rain, and let her return to the
nest with fine weather. They have an idea that it undergoes
periodic metamoi-phoses, but disagree as to the form it takes,
though the sparrow-hawk has the preference.’ The bird is
most famed, howevei-, for its filial duty, arising very probably
from impei’fect observations of the custom of feeding its young
with the macerated contents of its crop ; the wood pigeon is
said to feed her seven young ones in one order in the morning,
and reversing it in the evening. Its note tells the husbandman
when to begin his labors, and the decorum observed in the nests
and cotes of all the species teach men how to govern a family
and a state. The visitor to Peking is soon attracted by the
aeolian notes proceeding from doves which circle around their
homes for a short time (forty or fifty or less in a flock), and
‘ Journal N. O. Br. R A. Soc, Vol. IV., 1867, Art. XI., by T. Walters.
336 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
then settle. These birds are cdWed j)aN -tie n l-ido-j’in^ or ‘ mid
cky houris,’ and their weird music is caused by ingenious wooden
whistles tied on the rumps of two or three of the Hock, which
lead the others and delight themselves. Carrier pigeons are
used to some extent, and training them is a special mystery.
One of the prettiest sort is the rose pigeon, and half a dozen
kinds of turtles enliven the village groves with their gentle
notes and peculiar plumage.
No tribe of birds in China, however, equals the Gallinaceous
for its beauty, size, and novelty, furnishing some t)f the most
elegant and graceful birds in the world, and yet none of them
have become domesticated for food. As a connecting link between
this tribe and the last is the sand-grouse of the desert
{Syrrhaptis paradoxus), whose singular combination attracted
Marco Polo’s eye. “This bird, the harg^erlae, on which the
falcons feed,” says lie, ” is as big as a partridge, has feet like
a parrot’s, tail like a swallow’s, and is strong in tUght.” ‘ Abbo
Hue speaks of the immense flocks which scour the plateau.
The gold and silver pheasants are reared without ti-ouble in
all the provinces, and have so long been identified witli tlic
ornithology of China as to bo regarded as typical of its grotesque
and brilliant fauna. Among other pheasants may be
mentioned the Impeyan, Heeves, Argus, JVIedallion, Andierst,
riluys, and Pallas, each one vicing with the other for some
peculiarly graceful featui’e of color and sha])e, so that it is liaid
to decide which is the lincst. The Amherst pheasant has tlic
bearin<r, the ele«i;ance, and the details of form like the goM
pheasant, but the neck, shoulders, back and M’ing covers are of
a sparkling metallic green, and each feather ends in a belt of velvet
black. A little red crest allies it to the gold ])heasant, and a
pretty silvery ruff M’ith a black band, a white breast and belly, and
a tail barred with bi-own, green, Avhite, and red bands, complete
the picturesque dress. Jlidden away in these Tibetan wilds are
other pheasants that dispute the })alm for beauty, among which
four species of the eared pheasant {( ‘fossoptUon) attract notice.
One is of a pure white, with a black tail curled up and spread
‘ Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. T., p. 2:57.
vai:ii:tiks of piika.sants. 337
out like a plume, uud is mcII called the suow pheasant. Another
is the better knctwn Pallas pheasant, nearly as large as a
turkey, distinguished hy eai’-like appendages or Avattles hehind
the head, and a red neck above a white body, whence its native
name of /lo-li, or ‘ fire hen.’ Another genus {^Lojp1ioj)horus) contains
some elegant kinds, of Avhich the I’lluys pheasant is new,
and noted for a coppery-green tail bespangled with white. The
longer known Reeves pheasant is sought for by the natives for
the sake of its white and yellow-l)arred tail feathers, which are
used l)y play actoi’S to complete a wan-ior’s dress ; Col. Yule
proves a reference to it in Marco Polo from this part of its
plumage, Mhicli the Venetian states to be ten palms in length
—
not far beyond the truth, as they have been seen seven feet
long.’ It is a long time for a bird of so iiiuch beauty to have
been unknown, from 1350 to ISOS, Avhen Mr. Thomas Beale
procured a specimen in Canton, and sent others to England in
1832 ; Mr. Reeves took it thither, and science has recorded it
in her annals. As Xew Guinea is the home of the birds of
paradise, so do the Himalayas contain most of these superb
pheasants and francolins, each tribe serving as a foil and comparison
with the Creator’s handiwork in the other.
The island of Formosa has furnished a second species, Swinhoe’s
pheasant, of the same genus as the silver pheasant {Eujploeamus),
and another smaller kind {Phasianusfcmnosanus) ; the
list is also increased by fresh acquisitions from Yimnan and
Cochinchina through Dr. Anderson. This is not, liowever, the
place where Me may indulge in details respecting all of these
gorgeous birds ; we conclude, then, with the Medallion, or
horned pheasant. It has a ” l)eautiful membrane of resplendent
colors on the neck, which is displayed or conti’acted according
as the cock is more or less roused. The hues are chiefly
purple, with bright red and green spots, which vary in intensity
according to the degree of excitement.’”
The peacock, though not a native, is reared in all parts ; it
bears the name of I’ung Utah, sometimes rendei-ed ‘ Confucius’
‘ Yiile’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 246—where there is an admirable wood-cut of one from Wood.
Lird,” though it is more probable that the name means the great
or magniticeiit bird. The use of the tail feathers to designate
official rank, which probably causes a large consumption of
them, does not date previous to the present dynasty. Poultry
is reared in immense quantities, but the assortment in China
does not equal in beauty, excellence, and variety the products
of Japanese culture. The silken cock, the vane of whose plume
is so minutely divided as to resemble curly hair, is probably the
same sort with that described by some w^riters as having wool
like sheep. The Mongols succeed very well in rearing the tall,
Shanghai breed, and their unifoi-m cold winter enables them to
preserve frozen flesh without much difficulty. The smaller
gallinaceous birds already described, grouse, quails, francolins,
partridges, sand-snipe, etc., amount to a score or more species,
ranging all over the Empire. The red partridge is sometimes
tamed to keep as a house bird with the fowls. The Chinese
quail {Cotarnic) has a brown back, sprinkled with black spots
and white lines, blackish throat and chestnut breast. It is reared
for lighting in south China, and, like its bigger Gallic rival, is
soon eaten if it allows itself to be beaten.
The widespread family of waders sends a few of its representatives
from Europe to China, but most of the members are
Oriental. The marshes and salt lakes of Mongolia attract
enormous numbers of migratory birds in summer to rear their
young in safety, in the midst of abundant food. Col. Prejevaleky
watched the arrival of vast flocks early in February, and
thus describes their appearance : ” For days together they
sped onward, always fi-oni the W.S.AV., going further east in
search of open water, and at last settling down among the open
pools ; their favorite haunts were the flat nnid banks overgrown
with low saline bushes. Here every day vast flocks would congregate
toward evening, crowding among the ice ; the noise they
made on rising was like a hurricane, and at a distance they resembled a thick cloud. Flocks of one, two, three, and even five thousand, followed one another in quick succession, hardly a minute apart. Tens and hundreds of thousands, even millions
of birds appeared at Lob-nor during the fortnight ending the
2l6t of February, when the flight was at its height. What
FAMILY OF WADERS I]?f CHINA. 339
prodigious quantities of food must be necessary for such numbers
! ” ‘ Wading and web-footed birds all harmlessly mix in
these countless hosts, but hawks, eagles, and animals gather too,
to prey on them.
Among the noticeable wadei-s of China, the white Manchurian
or Montigny crane is one of the finest and largest ; it is
the official insigna of the highest rank of civilians. Five
species of crane {Grus) arc recognized, and seven of plovers,
together with as many more allied genera, including an avocet,
bustard, and ov8ter-catclier. Curlews abound along the flat
shores of the Gulf of Pechele, and are so tame that they race
up and down with the naked children at low tide, hunting for
shell-fish ; as the boy runs his arm into the ooze the curlew
pokes his long bill up to the eyes in the same hole, each of
them grasping a crab. Godwits and sandpipers enliven the
coasts with their cries, and seven species of gambets {Totanus)
give them them the largest variety of their family group, next
to the snipes {Tr’tnga)^ of wdiich nine are recorded. Herons,
egrets, ibis, and night-herons occur, and none of them are discarded
for food. At Canton, a pure Nvliite egret is often exposed
for sale in the market, standing on a shelf the livelong
day, with its eyelids sewed together—a pitiable sight. Its
slender, elegant shape is imitated by artists in making bronze
candlesticks. The singular spoonbill {Platalea) is found in
Formosa, and the jacana in southwestern China. The latter
is described by Gould as ” distinguished not less by the grace
of its form than its adaptation to the localities which nature
has allotted it. Formed for traversing the morass and lotuscovered
surface of the water, it supports itself upon the floating
weeds and leaves by the extraordinary span of the toes,
aided by the unusual lightness of the body.” ‘ Gallinules,
crakes, and rails add to this list, but the flamingo has not been
recorded.
In the last order, sixty-five species of web-footed birds are
enumerated by naturalists as occui-ring in China. The fenny
‘ From Kulja to Lob-nor, p. 116.
‘John Gould, Century of Birda, London, 1831-32.
margins of lakes and rivera, and tlie seacoast niaislies, afford
food and shelter to Hocks of water-fowl. Ten sepaiate species
of duck are known, of which four or live ai”e peculiar. The
whole coast fi’oin Hainan to jVIanchuiia swarms with gulls,
terns, and grebes, while geese, swans, and mallards resort to the
inland waters and pools to rear their young. Ducks are sometimes
caught by persons who first cover their heads with a
gourd pierced with holes, and then wade into the water where
the birds are feeding ; these, previously accustomed to emptycalabashes
floating about on the water, allow the fowler to approach,
and ai”e pulled under without difficulty. The wild
goose is a favorite bird with native poets. The reputation for
conjugal fidelity has made its name and that of the mandarin
duck emblems of that virtue, and a pair of one or the other
usually forms part of wedding processions. The epithet mandarin
is applied to this beautiful fowl, and also to a species of
orange, simply because of their excellence over other varieties
of the same genus, and not, as some writers have inferred, l)ecause
they are appropriated to officers of government.
The yuen-ydng, as the Chinese call this duck, is a native of
the central provinces. It is one of the most variegated birds
known, vieing with the humming-birds and parrots in the
diversified tints of its plumage, if it does not equal them for
brilliancy. The drake is the object of admiration, his partner
being remarkably plain, but during the sunnner season he also
loses much of his gay vesture. INFr. P>ennet tells a pleasant
story in proof of the conjugal fidelity of these birds, the incidents
of which occurred in Mr. Beale’s aviary at Macao. A
drake was stolen one night, and the duck displayed the strongest
marks of despair at her loss, retiring into a corner and refusing
all nourishment, as if determined to starve lierself to death
from grief. Another drake undertook to comfort the disconsolate
widow, but she declined his attentions, and was fast becoming
a martyr to her attachment, when her mate was recovered
and restored to her. Their nnmioii was celebrated by
the noisiest demonstrations of joy, and the duck soon infoi-med
her lord of the gallant ])i-o]iosals made to her during his absence
; in high dudgeon, he instantly attacked the luckless bird
BEale’s aviary. 341
which would have snp})hintc(l him, and so maltreated liim as to
cause his death.
The aviary here mentioned was for many j’ears, up to 1838,
one of the principal attractions of Macao. Its owner, Mr
Thomas Beale, had erected a wire cage on one side of his house,
having two apartments, each of them about fifty feet high, and
containing several large trees ; small cages and roosts were
placed on the side of the liouso under shelter, and in one corner
a pool afforded bathing conveniences to the water-fowl. The
genial climate obviated the necessity of any covering, and only
those species which would agree to live quietly together were
allowed the free range of the two apartments. The great attraction
of the collection was a living bird of paradise, which, at
the period of the owner’s death, in 1840, had been in his possession
eighteen years, and enjoyed good health at that time.
The collection during one season contained nearly thirty specimens
of pheasants, and besides these splendid birds, there were
upward of one hundred and fifty others, of different sorts, some
in cages, some on perches, and others going loose in the aviary.
In one corner a large cat had a hole, where she reared her
young ; her business was to guard the whole from the depredations
of rats. A magnificent peacock from Damaun, a large
assortment of macaw^s and cockatoos, a pair of magpies, another
of the superb crowned pigeons {Goura coronata), one of Mdioni
moaned itself to death on the decease of its mate, and several
Nicobar ground pigeons, were also among the attractions of this
curious and valuable collection.
Four or five kinds of grebe and loon frequent the coast, of
which the Podlcejys cristatus, called shui nu, or ^ water
slave,’ is connnon around Macao. The same region affords
sustenance to the pelican, which is seen standing motionless for
hours on the rocks, or sailing on easy wing over the shallows
in search of food. Its plumage is nearly a pure wliite, except
the black tips of the wings ; its height is about four feet, and
the expanse of the wings more than eight feet. The bill is
flexible like whalel)one, and the pouch susceptible of great
dilatation. Gulls abound on the northeast coasts, and no one
who has seen it can forget the beautiful sight on the marshes at the entrance of the Pei ho, where myriads of white gulls assemble to feed, to ‘preen, and to quarrel or scream—the bright sun rendering their plumage like snow. The albatross, black tern, petrel, and noddy increase the list of denizens in Chinese waters, but offer nothing of particular interest.’
There are foui* fabulous animals which are so often referred
.y to by the Chinese as
to demand a notice.
The ki-lin is one of
these, and is placed
‘^’i at the head of all
hairy animals; as
the funfj-Jiwang is
pre-eminent among
feathered races ; the
dragon and tortoise
among the scaly and
shelly tribes ; and
man among naked
animals! The naked,
hairy, feathered,
shelly, a n d scaly
tribes constitute the
quinary system of
ancient Chinese naturalists.
The Tci-lin
is pictured as resembling
a stag in its
\)^’>k\\ and a horse in its hoofs, but possessing the tail of an ox
and a parti-colored or scaly skin. A single horn having a
Heshy tip proceeds out of the forehead. Besides these external
marks to identify it, the ¥i-lin exhibits great benevolence of
The Kf-lin, or Unicorn,
‘ On the birds of China, see in general T^es Oiteaux de la Chine, par M.
I’Abbo Armand David, avec un Atlas de 124 Planches dessin.’es et lith. par M.
Arnonl. Taris, 1877. R. Rwinhoe, in the Procredmfjs of th<‘. ScknUfic Meetinf/
s of the Zoological Sac. of London, and in 77ie Ihis, a Max/azine of General
Ornitholodn, passim. Journ. N. C. Br. R. A. Soc, Nos. II., p. 225, and
III., p. 287.
THE KI-LIN AND FUNU-IIWANO. 343
disposition toward other living animals, and appears only when
w’ise and just kings, like Yau and Shun, or sages like Confucius,
are born, to govern and teach mankind. The Chinese description
presents many resemblances to the popular notices of the
unicorn, and the independent origin of their account adds something
to the probability that a single-horned equine or cervine
animal has once existed.’
Cuvier expresses the opinion that Pliny’s description of the
The Fung-hwang, or Phcenix.
Arabian phcenix was derived from the golden pheasant, though
othei-s think the Egyptian plover is the original type. From his
likening it to an eagle for size, having a yellow neck with purple,
a blue tail varied with red feathers, and a richly feathered tufted
head, it is more probable that the Impeyan pheasant was Pliny’s
‘ Chine.se Rejiository, Vol. VII., p. 213. Compare Yule’s note, Marco Polo,
Vol. I., p. 233. Hue, Travels in Tartary, etc.. Vol. II., p. 246. Bell,
Journey from St. Petersburgh in Russia to Ispahan in Persia., Vol. I., p. 216.
Also Heeren, Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 98, where there is a resume of
Ctesias’ acco\int of the unicorn.
tvpe. The Chinesefung-kivang, or phoenix, is probably based
on the Argns pheasant. It is described as adorned with every
color, and combines in its form and motions whatever is elegant
and graceful, while it possesses such a benevolent disposition
that it will not peck or injure living insects, nor tread on
o-rowino- herbs. Like the ki-lin, it has not been seen since the
halcyon days of Confucius, and, from the accomit given of it,
seems to have been entii-ely fabulous. The etymology of the
characters implies that it is the emperor of all birds. One Chinese author describes it ” as resembling a wild swan before and a unicorn behind ; it has the throat of a swallow, the bill of a cock, the neck of a snake, the tail of a fish, the forehead of a crane, the crown of a mandarin drake, the stripes of a dragon, and the vanlted back of a tortoise. The feathers have five colors, which are named after the five cardinal virtues, and it i;^ five cubits in height ; the tail is graduated like Pandean pipes, and its song resembles the music of that instrument, having five modulations.” A beautiful ornament for a lady’s headdress is sometimes made in the shape of i\\e fung-Jnrang, and somewhat resembles a similar ornament, imitating the vulture, worn by the ladies of ancient Egypt.
The lung, or dragon, is a familiar object on articles from
China. It furnishes a comparison among them for e\ierything
terrible, imposing, and powerful ; and being taken as the imperial
coat of arms, consequently imparts these ideas to his
person and state. The type of the dragon is probably the boaconstrictor
or sea-serpent, or otiier similar monster, though the
researches of geology have brought to light such a near counterpart
of the lung in the iguanadon as to tempt one to
believe that this has been the prototype. There are three
dragons, the lung in the sky, the U in the sea, and the hlao in
the marshes. The first is the only authentic species, according
to the Chinese ; it has the head of a camel, the horns of a deer,
eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog,
scales of a carp, claws of a hawk, and palm of a tigei-. On
each side of the mouth are whiskers, and its beard contains a
bi’ight pearl ; the breath is sometimes changed into water and
sometunes into fire, and its voice is like the jingling of copper
THE LUNG, OR DRAGON. 345
pans. The dragon of the sea occasionally ascends to heaven in
Avater-sponts, and is the rnler of all oceanic phenomena.’ The
dragon is worshipped and feared by Chinese fishermen, and
their liing-wang, or ‘ drag(jn king,’ answei-s to Keptnne in western
mythology ; perhaps the ideas of all classes toward it is a
modified relic of the widespread serpent worship of ancient
times. The Chinese suppose that elfs, demons, and other
supernatural beings often transform themselves into snakes ;
and M. Julien has translated a fairy story of this sort, called
Blanche et Bleue. The J,-wet, or tortoise, has so few fabulous
qualities attributed to it that it hardly comes into the list ; it
was, according to the story, an attendant on Pwanku when he
chiselled out the world. A semi-classical work^ the SJian-hal
Kmg, or ‘ Memoirs upon the Mountains and Seas,’ contains
pictures and descriptions of these and kindred monsters, from
which the people now derive strange notions respecting them,
the l)Ook having served to embody and fix for the whole nation
what the writer anciently found floating about in the popular
legends of particular localities.
A species of alligator {A. sinensis) has been described by
Dr. A. Fauvel in the iT. O. Br. B.A. So,-. Journal, Xo. XIII.,
1879, in which he gives man}’ historical and other notices of its
existence. Crocodiles are recorded as having been seen in the
rivers of Ivwangtnng and Ivwangsi, but none of this family
attain a large size.
Marco Polo’s account of the huge serpent of Yunnan,” having
two forelegs near the head, and one claw like that of a lion or
hawk on each, and a mouth big enough to swallow a man whole,
referring no doubt to the crocodile, is a good instance of the
way in which truth and fable were mingled in the accounts of
those times. The flesh is still eaten by the Anamese, as he
says it was in his day. A gigantic salamander, analogous to
the one found in Japan (the Sieholdia), has suggested it as the
‘ CJdnese Refiository, Vol. VII., p. 250. For a careful analysis of this relic
of ancient lore, see the Nowoeau Journal Asiatiq^ie, Tome XII., pp. 232-243,
1833 ; also Tome VIII., 3d Series, pp. 337-382, 1839, for M. Bazin’s estimata of its value.
•^ Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 46.
type of the dragon which ligures on the Chinese national flag.
Small lizards abound in the southern parts, and the variety
and numbers of serpents, both land and water, found in the
maritime provinces, are hardly exceeded in any country in the
world ; they are seldom poisonous. A species of naja is the
only venomous sruike yet observed at Chusan, and the hooded
cobra is one of the few yet found around Canton. Another
species frequents the banks, and is driven out of the di’ains and
creeks l)v high water into the houses. A case is mentioned by
Bennet of a Chinese who was bitten, and to whose wound the
mashed head of the reptile had been applied as a poultice, a
mode of treatment which probably accelerated his death by
mixing more of the poison diluted in the animars blood with
the man’s own blood. It is, however, rare to hear of casualties
from this source. This snake is called ‘black and M’hite,’
from beino; marked in alternate bands of those two colors. A
species of acrochordon, remarkable for its abrupt, short tail,
has been noticed near Macao.
It is considered felicitous by the Buddhist priests to harbor
snakes around their temples ; and though the natives do not
play with poisonous serpents like the Hindoos, they often
handle or teach them simple tricks. The common frog is taken
in great numbers for food. Tortoises and tui-tles from fresh
and salt water are plenty along the coast, while both the emys
and trionyx are kept in tubs in the streets, where they grow
to a large size. An enormous carnivorous tortoise inhabits the
M’aters of Chehkiansr near the ocean. The natives have strange
ideas concerning the hairy turtle of Sz’chuen, and regard it as
excellent medicine ; it is now known that the supposed hair
consists of confervre, whose spores, lodged on the shell, have
grown far beyond the animal’s body.
The ichthyology of China is one of the richest in the world,
though it may be so more from the greater proportion of food
fui-nished by the waters than from any real supei’abundance of
the finny tribes. The offal thi-own from boats near cities attracts
some kinds to those jdaces, and gives food and employment
to multitudes. Several large collections of fishes have
CHTHYOLOGY OF CHINA. 347
been made in Canton, and IMr. Reeves deposited one of the richest in the British Museum, together with a series of drawings made Ijy native artists from living specimens ; they have been described by Sir John liicliardson in the Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, for 1845. In this paper he enumerates one hundred and ninety genera and six hundred and seventy-one species, nearly all of which are marine
or come out to sea at certain times. Since it was prepared
great accessions to this branch have been made from the inland
waters, so that probably a thousand sorts in all have been observed.
The salmon and cod families are comparatively scarce,
but the mackerel, goby, and herring families are very abundant.
The variety of fish is so great in Macao, that if one is
willino; to eat all that are brought to market, as the Chinese do
(including the sharks, torpedoes, gudgeons, etc.), one can have
a different species every day in the year. It may with truth
be said that the Chinese eat nearly every living thing found in
the water, some of the hideous fishing frogs or gurnards alone
excepted.
The cartilaginous fishes, sharks, rays, and saw-fish, are abundant
on the sea-coast. The sturgeon is not common at the south,
but in the winter it is brouo;ht fi-om the Sonsfari and other
rivers to Peking for the imperial table, being highly prized by
Chinese epicures. There is found in the Yangtsz”‘ a singular
species of sturgeon, the i/iuyil, which lies under the banks in still
water and sucks its prey into a sac-like mouth projecting like
a cusp under the long snout ; it has no scales, and is four feet
long. Common sturgeon, weighing a thousand pounds, are
caught in this river. The hammer-headed and zebra shark
{Cestracion zehra) are seen in the markets at Macao; also huge
skates, some of them measuring five feet across ; the young of
all these species are regarded as particularly good eating. A
kind of torpedo {J^arcine lingula) is not uncommon on the
southern coast, but the natives do not seem to l)e aware of any
electrical properties. It is said that the fishermen sometimes
destroy the shark by boiling a melon and throwing it out as a
bait ; when swallowed, the heat kills the fish. The true cod
has not been observed on the Chinese coast, but several species
of serrani (as Plectrojiotna susuki, Serranus shihjjan, Megachh\etc.), generally called s/n’/i-jxtn by the natives, and garoupa bj foreigners, are common oft” C^anton, and considered to be most
delicate fare. Anothei” fine fish is the Poh/nennis fetradactylus^
or bjnni-carp, often called salmon by foreigners ; isinglass is
prepared from its skin. The pomfret, or tsang yii {Stromateus
argenteus), is a good pan-fish, bnt hardly so delicate as the sole,
many fine species of which aboimd along the whole coast. Besides
these, two or three species of mackerel, the Soiodna lucicla^
an ophicephalns, the mullet, and the ‘ white rice fish ‘ occur.
The shad is abundant oft’ the Yangtsz’, and is superior to the
American species; Chinese epicures will sometimes pay fifty
dollars for the first one of the season.
The cai’p family {C’i/2>i’hiidie) is very abundant in the rivers
and lalces of China, and some species are reared in fish-pools and
tubs to a monstrous size ; fifty-two species are mentioned in
Ricliardson’s list. The gold-fish is the most celebrated, and
has been introduced into Europe, M’here it M-as first seen towai’d
tlie end of the seventeenth century. The Chinese say that its
Jiative place is Lake Tsau, in the province of l^ganhwui. The
effects of domestication in changing the natm-al form of this
fish are great ; specimens are often seen without any doi-sal fin,
and the tail and other fins tufted and lol)ed to such a degree as
to resemble artificial appendages or wings rather than natui-al
organs. The eyes are developed till the globe projects beyond
the socket like goggles, presenting an extraordinary appearance.
Some of them are so fantastic, indeed, that tlioy would be regarded
as Insns nature M^ere they not so connnon. The usual
color is a I’uddy golden hue, but both sexes exhibit a silvery or
blackish tint at certain stages of their growth ; and one variety,
called the silver-fish, retains this shade all its life. The Chinese
keep it in their garden ponds, or in earthern jai-s, in which
are placed rocks covered with moss, and overgi-own w\x\\ tufts
of ferns, to afford them a retreat fi-om the light. Vriien the
females spawn, the eggs must be removed to a shallow vessel,
lest the males devour them, where the heat of the sun hatches
them ; the young are nearly black, but gradually become whitish
or i-eddish, and at last assume a golden or silvery hue.
Specimens upward of two feet long have been uoticed, and
METHODS OF REARIN^G FISH. 349
those wlio rear tlieni emulate each other in producing new
varieties.
The rearing of lisli is an important pursuit, the spawn being
collected with the greatest care and placed in favorable positions
for hatching. The Bulletin Universel for 1829 asserts
that in some part of China the spawn so taken is carefullv
placed in an empty egg-shell and the hole closed ; the cirg is
then replaced in the nest, and, after the hen has sat a few davs
upon it, reopened, and the spawn placed in vessels of water
warmed bj the sun, wdiei-e it soon hatclies.
The innnense fleets of fishing boats on the Yangtsz’ and its
tributaries indicate the finny supplies its waters afford. A species
of pipe-fish [Fistula/’ia iminaculata\ of a red color, and
the gar-pike, with green bones, are found about Canton ; as are
also numerous beautiful parrot-fish and sun-fish {Chwtodon).
An ingenious mode of taking its prey is practised by a sort of
chsetodon, or chelmon ; it darts a drop of water at the flies or
other insects lighting on the bank near the edge, in such a
manner as to knock them off, when they are devoured. All
the species of ophieephalus, or mruj yi’i., so I’emarkable for their
tenacity of life, are reared in tanks and pools, and are hawked
alive through the streets.
Eels, mullets, alewives or file-fish, breams, gudgeons, and
many other kinds, are seen in the nuirkets. Few things eateix
by the Chinese look more repulsive than the gobies as they lie
wriggliTig in the slime which keeps them alive; one species
{Try])auchen vcujina)^ called chu 2>’Ji yu, or ‘vermilion pencilfish,’
is a cylindrical fish, six or eight inches long, of a dark red
color ; its eyes protrude so that it can see behind, like a girafle.
Some kinds of gobies construct little liillocks in the ooze, with
a depression on the top, in which their spawn is hatched by tlu;
sun ; at low tide they skip about on the banks like young frogs,
and are easily captured with the hand. A delicious species oi
Saurus {Leiicosoma Chinensis), called pihfan yil, or ‘ white rice
fish,’ and yin yil, or silver-fish, ranges from Hakodate to Canton.
It is six or eight inches long, the body scaleless and transparent,
so that the muscles, intestines, and spinal column can
be seen without dissection ; the bones of the head are thin, flexible, and diaphanoiis. Many species of file-fish, sole-fish, an^ cliovy, and eels, are captured on the coast. Vast quantities of
dried fish, like the stock fish in Sweden, are sent inland to sell
in resrions where fish are rare. The most common sorts are the
perch, sun fish, gurnard, and hair-tail {Trlchlnrus).
Shell-fish and mollusks, both fresh and salt, are abundant in
the market. Oysters of a good quality are common along the
coast, and a species of mactra, or sand-clam, is fished up near
Macao. The Pearl River affords two or three kinds of freshwater
shell-fish {Mytilus), and snails ( Voluta) are plenty in all
pools. The crangons, prawns, shrimps, crabs, and other kinds
of Crustacea met with, are not less abundant than palatable;
one species of craw-fish, as large as (but not taking the place of)
the lobster, called Ian// hat, or ‘ dragon crab,’ together with
cuttle-fish of three or four kinds, and the king-crab {Poly])]ietnus),
are all eaten. The inland w^aters produce many species
of shells, and the new genus theliderma, allied to the unio,
was formed by Mr. Benson, of Calcutta, from specimens obtained
of a shopkeeper at Canton. The land shells are abundant,
especiall}’ various kinds of snails {IIcll,i; Liftiiiwa, etc.) ;
twenty two species of helix alone were contained in a small
collection sent from Peking, in which region all this kind of
food is well known. A catalogue of nearly sixty shells obtained
in Canton is given in Murray’s China,’ but it. is doubtful
whether even half of them are found in the country, as the
shops there are supplied in a great degree from the Archipelago.
Dr. Cantor”” mentions eighty-eight genera of shells occurring
between Canton and Chusan. Pearls are found in China, and
Marco Polo speaks of a salt lake, supposed now to be in Yunnan,
which produced them in such quantity that the fishery in
his day was farmed out and restricted lest they should become
too cheap and common. In Chehkiang the natives take a largo
kind of clam {Alasmodonta) and gently attach leaden images
‘ Vol. TIL, p. 445.
” Conspectus of collections made by Dr. Cantor, CMnefte Ttepository, Vol. X.,
p. 434. General features of Cliusan, with remarks on the Fh)ra and Fauna of that Island, by T. E. Cantor, Aimal. Nai. Hist., Vol. IX. (1H42), pp. 205, 3()1
and 481. Juuriial Ah. Soc. of Bengal, Vol. XXIV., 1855.
SHELL-FISII AND INSECTS OF CHINA. 351
of Buddha under tlie flsli, after wliieli it is thrown back into
the water. Xacre is deposited over the lead, and after a few
months the shells are retaken, cleaned, and then sent abroad to
sell as proofs of the power and presence of Buddha. The
Quarterly lieview speaks of a mode })ractised by the Chinese
of making pearls by dropping a string of small mother-of-pearl
beads into the shell, which in a year ai’e covered wdth the
pearly crust. Leeches are much used by native physicians;
the hammer-headed leech has been noticed at Chusan.
The insects of China are almost unknown to the naturalist.
In Dr. Cantor’s collection, from Chusan, there are fifty-nine
genera mentioned, among which tropical forms prevail ; there
are also six genera of arachnida^, and the list of spiders could
easily be nudtipliod to hundreds ; among them are many showing
most splendid coloring. One large and strong species is
affirmed to capture small birds on the trees. Locusts sometimes
commit extensive ravages, and no part of the land is free
from their presence, though their depredations do not usually
reach over a great extent of country, or often for two successive
years. They are, however, sufficiently troiildesome to attract
the notice of the government, as the edict against them, inserted
in another chapter, proves. Centipedes, scorpions, and some other species in the same order are known, the former being most abundant in the central and western regions, where scorpions are rare.
The most valuable insect is the silkworm, which i.; reared in
nearly every province, and the silk from otlier wild M’orms
found on the oak and ailantus in Shantung, Sz’chuen, and elsewhere
also gathered ; the proper silkworm itself has been met
with to some extent in northern Shansi and Mongolia. Many
other insects of the same order {Lepidoj)ter(e) exist, but those
sent abroad have been mostly from the province of Kwangtung.
Eastward of the city of Canton, on a range of hills
called Lofau shan, large butterflies and night moths of immense
size and brilliant coloring are captured. One of these
mQGcis, {Bornhyx atlas) \\\e2i&\\ve& about nine inches across ; the
ground color is a rich and varied orange brown, and in the centre
of each wing there is a triangular transparent spot, resembling a piece of mica. Sphinxes of great beauty and size are common, and in their splendid coloring, rapid noiseless flight from flower to flower, at the close of the day, remind one of the lunnming-bird. Sonje families are more abundant than others ; the coleopterous exceed the lepidopterous, and the range of particular tribes in each of these is often very limited. The humid regions of Sz’chuen furnished a great harvest of beautiful butterflies to M, David, while the lamellicorn beetles and cerambycidae are the most common in the north and central parts.
Many tribes of coleopterous insects are abundant, but the
number of species yet identified is trifling. Several water
beetles, and others included under the same general designation,
have been found in collections sold at Canton, but owing to the
careless manner in wliich those boxes are filled, very few specimens
are perfect, the antenna3 or tarsi being broken. The molecricket
occurs everywhere. The common cricket is caught and
sold in the markets for gambling ; persons of all ranks amuse
themselves by irritating two of these insects in a bowl, and betting
upon the prowess of their favorites. The cicada, or broad
locust, is abundant, and its stridulous sound is heard from trees
and groves with deafening loudness. Boys tie a straw around
the abdomen of the male, so as to irritate the sounding apparatus,
and carry it through the streets in this predicament, to
the great annoyance of every one. This insect was well known
to the Greeks ; the ancient distich
—
” Happy the cicadas’ lives,
For they all have voiceless wives,”
hints at their knowledge of this sexual difference, as well as intimates
their opinion of domestic quiet. Again it forms the
subject of Meleager’s invocation :
•’ shrill-voiced insect ! that with dew-drops meet,
Inehriate, dost in desert woodlands sing ;
Perch’d on the spray top with indented feet,
Thy dusky body’s echoings harp-like ring.”
COLEOPTEM^ AND THE WAX \VOK>t. 358
The lantern-fly {Fulgm’o) is less common than the cicada. It is easily recognized by its long cylindrical snout, arched in an upward direction, its greenish reticulated elytra, and orange-yellow wings with black extremities ; but its appearance in the evening is far from being as luminous as are the fire-Hy and glow-worm of South America. The Peh lah ahu, or ‘ white wax tree’ {Fraxinus chinensis), affords nourishment to an insect of this order
called Coccus pela. The larvae alone furnish the wax, the secretion
being the result of disease. Sir Geo. L. Staunton first
described the tly from specimens seen in Annam in 1795, where
the natives collected a white powder from the bark of the
tree on which it occurs. Daniel Ilanbury figured the insect
and tree with the deposit of crude wax on the limbs, all obtained
in Chekhiang province.’ Baron Richthofen speaks of
this industry in Sz’chuen as one furnishing employment to
great multitudes. The department of Kia-ting furnishes the
best wax, as its climate is warmer than Chingtu. The eggs of
the insect are gathered in Kien-chang and King-yuen, where
the tree flourishes on which it deposits them, and its culture is
carefully attended to. The insect lives and breeds on this evergreen,
and in April the eggs are collected and carried up to
Kia-ting by porters. This journey is mostly performed by
night so as to avoid the risk of hatching their loads ; 300 eggs
weigh one tael. They are instantly placed on the same kind of
tree, six or seven balls of eggs done up in palm-leaf bags and
hung on the twigs. In a few days the larvae begin to spread
over the branches, but do not touch the leaves ; the bark soon
becomes incrusted with a white powder, and is not disturbed
till August. The loaded branches are then cut off and boiled,
when the wax collects on the surface of the water, is skimmed
off, and melted again to be poured into pans for sale. A tael’s
weight of eggs will produce two or three catties of the translucent,
highly crystalline wax ; it sells thei-e for five mace a tael and
upward. The annual income is reckoned at Tls. 2,000,000.’
The purposes to which this singular product are applied include
all those of beeswax. Pills are ingeniously enclosed in small
‘ Hanbury’s notes on Chinese Materia Medica, 1862 ; Pharmaceutical
Journal, Feb., 1802.
^ Baron Ricbthofen’s Letters, No. VII. , to Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, May, 187e, p. r)2.
globes of it, and onndles of every size made. “Wax is also gatli
ered from wild and domestic bees, but honey is not miicli used ;
a casing of wax, colored with vermilion, is nsed to inclose the
tallow of great painted candles set before the idols and tablets.
The Chinese Ilerhal contains a singular notion, prevalent
also in India, concerning the generation of the sphex, or solitary
wasp. When the female lays her eggs in the clayey nidus
she makes in houses, she encloses the dead body of a caterpillar
in it for the subsistence of the worms when they hatch. Those
who observed her entombing the caterpillar did not look for
the eggs, and immediately concluded that the sphex took the
wo)-m for her progeny, and say that as she plastered up the
liole of the nest, she hinnmed a constant song over it, saying,
^^ Class ‘ii’ith nnc ! (Jhixs tiufji, me ! ‘”—and the transformation
gradually took place, and was perfected in its silent grave by
the next spring, when a winged wasp emerged to continue its
posterity in the same mystei’ious way.’
White ants are troublesome in the warmer parts, and annoy
the people there by eating up tlie coffins in the graves. They
form passages under ground, and penetrate upward into the
woodwork of houses, and the w’hole building may become infested
M’ith them almost before their existence is suspected.
They will even eat their way into fruit trees, cabbages, and
other plants, destroying them while in full vigor. Many of the
internal arrangements of the nests of bees and ants, and their
peculiar instincts, have been described by Chinese writers with
considerable accuracy. The composition of the characters for
the bee, ant, and mosquito, respectively, denote the atcl insect,
the 7’l(jhteous insect, and the lettered insect ; referring thereby
to the sting of the first, the orderly working and subordination
of the second, and the letter-like markings on the wings of
the latter. Mosquitoes are plenty, and gauze curtains are considered
to be a more necessary part of bed furniture than a
mattress.
The botany of China is rather better known than its zoology,
‘ Darwin, NaturalisVs Voyage, p. 35, notices a similar habit of the spliex in
tlie vicinity of Rio Janeiro. The insect partially kills the spider or caterpillar
by stinging, when they are stored in a rotting state with her eggs.
RESEARCHES IN THE BOTANY OF CHINA. 355
though vast and unexplored fields, like that reaching from Canton
to Silhet and Assam, still invite the diligent collector to
gather, examine, and make known their treasures. One of the
earliest authors in this branch was Pere Loureiro, a Portuguese
for thirty-six years missionary in Cochinchina, and professor of
mathematics and physic in the royal palace. He gathered a
large herbarium there and in southern Kwangtung, and published
his Flora Coehinehinensis in 1790, in which he described
one hundred and eighty-four genera and more than three hundred
new species. The only other work specially devoted to
Chinese botany is Bentham’s Flora JTongJcongensis, published
in 18G1. The materials for it were collected by Drs. Hinds,
Ilance and Ilarland, Col. Champion, and others, during the
previous twenty years, and amounted in all to upward of five
thousand specimens, gathered exclusively on the island. Since
its publication, Dr. Hance has added to our accurate knowledge
of the Chinese flora many new specimens growing in other
parts of the Empire, whose descriptions are scattered through
various publications. Pere David, during his extensive travels
in northern China, gathered thousands of specimens which have
yet to be carefully described. The Pussian naturalists Maximowitch,
Bunge, Tatarinov, Bretschneider, Prejevalsky, and
others liave largely increased our knowledge of the plants of
Mongolia, the Amur basin, and the region about Pekhig. The
first named has issued a separate work on the Amur flora, but
most of the papers of these scientists are to be found in periodicals.
In very early days, China was celebrated for the camphor,
varnish, tallow, oil, tea, cassia, dyes, etc., obtained from
its plants ; and the later monographs of professed botanists,
issued since Linneus looked over the two hundred and sixtyfour
species brought by his pupil Osbeck in 1750, down to the
present day, have altogether given immense assistance to a
thorough understanding of their nature and value.
Mr. Bentham’s observations on the range of the plants collected
in the island of Hongkong represent its flora, in general
character, as most like that of tropical Asia, of which it offers,
in numerous instances, the northern limit. The damp, M’ooded
ravines on the north and west furnish plants closely allied to those of Assam and Sikkiiii ; while other species, in considerable numbers, have a much more tropical character, extending with little variation over the x\rchipelago, Malaysia, Ceylon, and even to tropical Africa, but not into India. Within two degrees north of the island these tropical features (so far as is
known) almost entireW cease, and out of the one thousand and
fifty-six species described in the Flora Ifongl’ongensis, only
about eighty have been found in Japan ; thus indicating that
very few of the plants known to range across from the Himalaya
to Japan grow south of Amoy. On the twenty-nine
square miles foi-ming the area of Hongkong there exists, Mr.
]3entham says, a greater number of monotypic genera than in
any other flora from an equal area in the world ; he gives a
comparative table of the floras of Hongkong, Aden and Ischia
islands, about equal in extent, showing one thousand and three
species growing on the first, ninety-five on the second, and
seven hundred and ninety-two on the third. Tlie proportion
of woody to herbaceous species in Hongkong is nearly one-half,
while in Ischia it is one to eleven ; yet Hongkong has actually
fewer trees than Ischia. Out of tlie one thousand and three
species of wild plants there, three hundred and ninety-eight
also occur in the tropical Asiatic flora, while one hundred and
eighty-seven others have been found as well on the mainland; one hundred and fifty-nine are peculiar to the island.
Many species of coniferae are floated down to Canton, taken
from the Mei ling, or brought from Kwangsi ; the timber is
used for fuel, but more for rafters and pillars in buildings.
The wood of the pride of India is employed for cabinet work ;
there are also many kinds of fancy wood, some of which are
imported, and more are indigenous. The nan muh, or southern
wood, a magnificent species of laurus common in Sz’chuen,
which resists time and insects, is peculiarly valuable, and reserved
for imperial use. The cc«salpinia, rose wood, aigle
wood, and the camphor, elm, willow, and aspen, are also
serviceable in carpentry.
The people collect seaweed to a great extent, using it in the
arts and also for food ; among these the Gi<jartina tenax affords
an excellent material for glues and varnishes. It is boiled, and
CONIFERyE AND GRASSES. 357
the transparent glne obtained is brushed upon very coarse silk or
mulberry paper, filling up their substance, and making a transparent
covering for lanterns ; it is also used as a size for stiffening
silks and gauze. This and other kinds of fuel are boiled to a
jelly and used for food ; it is known in commerce under the name
of agar-agar. The thick fronds of the laminaria are gathered on
the northern coasts and imported from Japan. Among other
cryptogams, the Tartarian lamb {Aspldiian haromefz), so
graphically described by Darwin in his Botania Garden, has
long been celebrated ; it is partly an artificial production of the
ingenuity of Chinese gardeners taking advantage of the natural
habits of the plant to form it into a shape resembling a sheep or
other object.
Among i-emarkable grasses the zak or saxaul {Ilaloxylon) and
the sulhJr {Agr’tojdnjllu.m), which grow in the sandy parts of
the desert of Gobi, should he mentioned. The first is found
across the whole length of this arid region, growing on the bare
sand, furnishing to the traveller a dry and ready fuel in its brittle
twigs, while his camels greedily browse on its leafless but
juicy and prickly branches. The Mongols pitch their tents bebeath
its shelter, seeking for some covert from the wintry
winds, and encouraged to dig at its roots for water which has
been detained by their succulent nature, a wonderful provision
furnished by God in the bleakest desert. The sulh’ir is even
more important, and is the ” gift of the desert.” It grows on
bare sand, is about two feet high, a prickly saline plant, producing
many seeds in September, of a nutritious, agreeable
nature, food for man and beast.
The list of gramineous plants cultivated for food is large; the common sorts include rice, wheat, barley, oats, maize, sugarcane,
panic, sorghum, spiked and panicled millet, of each kind
several varieties. The grass {Phragmites) raised along the
river banks is carefully cut and dried, to be woven into floormatting
; a coarser sort, called ataj), is made of bamboo splints
for roofs of huts, awnings, and sheds. In the milder climes of
the southern coasts, cheap houses are constructed of these
materials. The coarse grass and shrubbery on the hills is cut
in the autumn for fuel by the poor ; and when the hills are well slieared of their grassy covering, the stubble is set on lire, in order to supply ashes for manuring the next crop—an operation which tends to keep the hills ])are of all shrubbery and trees.
Few persons mIio have not seen the bainlxio growing in its
native climes get a full idea from pictures of its grace and
beauty. A clump of this magnificent grass will gradually develop
by new shoots into a grove, if care be taken to cut down
the older stems as they reach full maturity, and not let them
flower and go to seed ; for as soon as they have perfected the
seed, they die down to the root, like other grasses. The stalks
usually attain the height of fifty feet, and in the Indian islands
often reach seventy feet and upward, with a diameter of ten or
twelve inches at the bottom. A road lined with them, with
their feathery sprays meeting overhead, presents one of the most
beautiful avenues possible to a warm climate.
In China the industry and skill of the people have multiplied
and pei-petuated a number of varieties (one author contents
himself with describing sixty of them), among M’liich are the
yellow, the black, the green, the slender sort for pipes, and a
slenderer one for writing-pencils, the big-leaved, etc. Its uses
are so various that it is not easy to enumerate them all. The
shoots come out of the ground nearly full-sized, four to six
inches in diameter, and are cut like asparagus to eat as a pickle
or a comfit, or by boiling or stewing. Sedentary Buddhist
priests raise this lenten fare for themselves or to sell, and extract
the tabasheer from the joints of the old culms, to sell as a
precious medicine for almost anything which ails you. The
roots are carved into fantastic and ingenious images and stands,
or divided into egg-shaped divining-blocks to ascertain the will
of the gods, or trinnned into lantern handles, canes, and umbrella-
sticks.
The tapering culms are used for all pui’poses that poles can
be applied to in carrying, propelling, suj)])orting, and measuring,
for which thcii- light, elastic, tubular sti-uctni-e, guarded by
a coating of silicious skin, and strengthened by a thick septum
at each joint, most admii-ably fits them. The pillars and props
of houses, the framework of awnings, the ribs of mat-sails, and
THE BAMBOO—ITS BEAUTY AND USEFULNESS. 359
tlie shafts of rakes are each fnrnislied bj these cuhns. So,
also, are fences and all kinds of frames, coops, and cages, the
wattles of abatis, and the ribs of uuibi-eHas and fans. The
leaves are sewed into rain-cloaks for farmers and sailors, and
thatches for covering their huts and boats, pinned into linings
for tea-boxes, plaited into immense um])rellas to screen the
huckster and his stall from the sun and rain, or into coverings
for theatres and sheds. Even the whole lot where a two-storj
house is building is usually covered in by a framework of bamboo-
poles and (?/%;—as this leaf covering is called, from its
Malay name—all tied together by rattan, and protecting the
workmen and theii” work from sun and rain.
The wood, cut into splints of proper sizes and forms, is woven
into baskets of every shape and fancy, sewed into window-curtains
and door-screens, plaited into awnings and coverings for
tea-chests or sugar-cones, and twisted into cables. The shavings
and curled threads aid softer things in. stuffing pillows ; while
other parts supply the bed for sleeping, the chopsticks for eating,
the pipe for smoking, and the broom for sweeping. The
mattress to lie upon, the chair to sit upon, the table to eat on,
the food to eat, and the fuel, to cook it with, are also derivable
from bamboo. The master makes his ferule from it, the carpenter
his foot-measure, the farmer his water-pipes, irrigating
wheels, and straw-rakes, the grocer his gill and phit cups, and
the mandarin his dreaded instrument of punishment. This last
use is so common that the name of the plant itself has come in
our language to denote this application, and the poor wretch
who is hamhooed for his crimes is thus taught that laws cannot
be violated with impunity.
The paper to write on, the book to study fi’om, the pencil to
write with, the cup to hold the pencils, and the covering of the
lattice-window instead of glass are all indebted to this grass in
their manufacture. The shaft of the soldier’s spear, and oftentimes
the spear altogether, the plectrum for playing the lute,
the reed in the native organ, the skewer to fasten the hair, the
undershirt to protect the body, the hat to screen the head, the
bucket to draw the water, and the easy-chair to lounge on,
besides cages for birds, fish, bees, grasshoppers, shrimps, and
360 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
cockroaches, crab-nets, fishing-poles, sumpitans oi* sliooting
tubes, fintes, fifes, fire-holders, etc., etc., are among the thingti
furnished from this plant, whose beauty when growing is commensurate
to its usefulness when cut down. A score or two of
bamboo- poles for joists and rafters, fifty fathoms of rattan ropes,
with plenty of palm-leaves and bamboo-matting for roof and
sides, supply material for a common dwelling in the south of
China. Its cost is about five dollars. Those houses built over
creeks, or along the low banks of rivers and sea-beaches, are
elevated a few feet, and their floors are neatly made of split
bamboos, which allow the water to be seen through. The
decks, masts, yards, and framework of the mat-sails of the small
boats of the islanders in the Archipelago are all more or les.’i
made of this useful plant. Throughout the south of Asia it
enters into the daily life of the people in their domestic economy
more than anything else, or than any other one thing does in
any part of the world. The Japanese supply us with fans
neatly formed, ribs and liandle, from a single branch of bamboo,
and covered with paper made from mulberry bark, while their
skill is shown also in the exquisite covering of fine bamboo
threads woven around cups and saijcers.’
In ancient times the date palm was cultivated in China, but
is now unknown. The cocoanut flourishes in Hainan and the
adjacent coasts, where its fruit, leaves, and timber are much
used. A great variety of utensils are carved from the nut-case,
and ropes spun from the coir, while the cultivators drink the
toddy made from the juice. The fan palm {Ch(Hiucroj)s) is the
comlnon palm of the country, two species being cultivated for
the wiry fibres in the leaf-sheaths, and fur their broad leaves.
This fibre is far more useful than that from cocoanut husks, as
it is longer and smoother, and is woven into ropes, mats, cloaks,
and brushes. The tree is spread over the greater part of the
provinces, one of their most ornamental and useful trees. Another
sort {Canjotd) also furnishes a fibre employed in the same
way, but its timber is more valuable ; sedan thills are made of
its wood. Still another is the tali}>ot \rA\\\\ (ItoraxKits), from.
‘ Compare Yule’s Marm Polo, Vol. I., p. 271 •, A. 11. Wallace. 2’he Malay
Archipelago, pp. 87-91, American Ed.
PALMS, YAMS, PLANTAINS, ETC. 861
whose leaves a material fur writing books upon was once produced,
as is the case now in Siam.’
Several species of Aroideae are cultivated, among which the
Caladluiii cuculaturn, Arum esculentuvi, and Indicurii are
common. The tuberous farinaceous roots of the Sagittaria
srueihslfi are esteemed ; the roots of these plants, and of the
water-chestnut, are manufactured into a powdoi- resemblingarrow-
root. The sweet Hag {Calanitm) is used in medicine for
its spic\’ warmth. The stems of a species of Juncus are collected
and the pith carefully taken out and dried for the wicks
of water lamps, and the inner layers of the pith hats so generally
worn in southern China.
The extensive group of lillies contains many splendid ornaments
of the conservatory and garden, natives of China ; some
are articles of food. The Agcqxinthus, or blue African lily, four
species of IlemerocaUis, or day lily, and the fragrant tuberose,
are all common about Canton ; the latter is widely cultivated
for its blossoms to scent fancy teas. Eight or ten species of
Lilium (among which the speckled tiger lily and the unsullied
white are conspicuous) also add their gay beauties to the gardens
; while the modest Commelina, with its delicate blue blossoms,
ornaments the hedges and walks. Many alliaceous plants,
the onion, cives, garlic, etc., belong to this group ; and the Chinese
relish them for the table as nmcli as they admire the
flowers of their beauteous and fi-agrant congeners for bouquets.
The singular red-leaved iron-wood {Draccena) forms a common
ornament of gardens.
The yam, or t((-s/tu (i.e., ‘great tuber’), is not much raised,
though its wholesome qualities as an article of food are well
understood. The same group {3Iusalei^) to which tlie yam
belongs furnishes the custard-apple, one of the few fruits which
have been introduced from abroad. The Amaryllidse are represented
by many pretty species of Crinum, Xerine, and Amaryllis.
Their unprotitable beauty is compensated by the plain but
useful plantain, said to stand before the potato and sago pahn
as producing the greatest amount of wholesome food, in propor-
‘See also in Nates and Queries on 0. and J., Vol. IIL, pp. 115, 139, 13^
147, 150, 170.
362 tup: middle kixgdom.
tion to its size, of any cultivated plant.’ There are many varieties
of this fruit, some of them so acid as to require cooking
hefore eating.
That pleasant stomachic, ginger, is cultivated through all the
country, and exposed for sale as a ereen vegetable, to spice
dishes, and largely made into a preserve. The Alpinia and
Canna, or Indian shot, are common garden flowers. The large
group of OrchideiB has nineteen genera known to be natives of
China, among which the air plants ( Vanda and jErides) are great
favorites. They are suspended in baskets under the trees, and
continue to unfold their blossoms in gradual succession for manv
weeks, all the care necessary being to sprinkle them daily. The
true species of brides are among the most beautiful productions
of the vegetable world, their flowers being arrayed in long racemes
of delicate colors and delicious fragrance. The beautiful Bletia,
Arundina, Spathoglottis, and Cymbidium are common in damp
and elevated places about the islands near Macao and Hongkong.
Many species of the pine, cypress, and yew, forming the
three subdivisions of cone-bearing plant?, furnish a 1 a I’ge proportion
of the timber and fuel. The larch is not rare, and the
Pinus tndssoniana and Cunninghamia furnish most of the
common pine timber. The finest member of this order in
China is the white pine {Pinus htDujtami), peculiar to Chihli
;
its trunk is a clear white, and as it annually sheds the bark it
always looks as if whitewashed. Some specimens near Peking
are said to be a thousand years old. Two members of the
genus Sequoia, of a moderate size, occur near Tibet. The juniper
and thuja are often selected by gardeners to try their skill
in forcing them to grow into rude representations of birds and
animals, the price of these curiosities being proportioned to
their grotesqueness and difiiculty. The nuts of the maiden-hair
tree {Saliffhu/’ia adiatdifolia) are eaten, and the leaves are
sometimes put into books as a preservative against insects.
The willow is a favorite plant and grows to a great size,
Staunton mentioning some which were fifteen feet in girth ;
‘ From calculations of Humboldt It was estimated that the productiveness
of this plant as compared with wheat is as 133 to 1, and as against potatoes, 44
to 1.
FOKEST TREES, HEMP, ETC. 363
they shade the roads near the capital, and one of them is the
true Babylonian ^\ illow ; the trees are grown for timber and for
burning into charcoal. Their leaves, shape, and habits afford
many metaphors to poets and Avriters, much more use being
made of the tree in tliis way. it miglit almost be said, than any
other. The oak is less patronized by fine writers, but the value
of its wood and bark is well understood ; the country affords
several species, one of which, the chestnut oak, is cultivated for
tlie cupules, to be used in dyeing. The galls are used for dyeing
and in medicine, and the acorns of some kinds are ground in
mills, and the iiour soaked in water and made into a farinaceous
paste. Some of the missionaries speak of oaks a hundred feet
high, but such giants in this family are rare. ” One of the
lai’gest and most interesting of these trees, which,’”‘ writes Abel,
” I have called Quercus derhsifolia, resembled a laurel in its
sliming green foliage. It bore branches and leaves in a thick
head, crowning a naked and straight stem ; its fi-uit grew along upright
spikes terminating the branches. Another species, growing
to the height of fifty feet, bore them in long, pendulous spikes.”
The chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut together furnish a large
supply of food. The queer-shaped ovens fashioned in imitation
of a raging lion, in which chestnuts are roasted in tlie streets of
Peking, attract the eye of the visitoi”. The Jack-fruit {Artocarj>
us) is not uidvnown in Canton, but it is not much used. Thei’e
are many species of the banian, but none of them produce fruit
worth plucking ; the Portuguese have introduced the connnon
fig, but it does not flourish. The bastard banian is a magnificent
shade tree, its branches sometimes overspreading an area a
hundred or more feet across. The walls of cities and dwellings
are soon covered with the Ficus rej>en.s, and if left unmolested
its roots gradually demolish them. The paper mulberry
{Broussonetia) is largely cultivated in the northern provinces,
and serves the poor with their chief material for windows.
The leaf of the common nmlberry is the pi-incipal object of its
culture, but the fruit is eaten and the wood burned for lampblack
to make India-ink.
Hemp {Cannahis) is cultivated for its fibres, and the seeds
furnish an oil used for household purposes and medicinal prep364
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
arations ; the intoxicating substance called hang, made in India,
is unknown in China. The family Proteaceae’ contains the
Eleococca cvrdata, or wu-ttnuj, a favorite tree of the Chinese for
its beauty, the hard wood it furnishes, and the oil extracted
from its seeds. The Stillingia belongs to the same family ; this
symmetrical tree is a native of all the eastern provinces, where
it is raised for its tallow ; it resembles the aspen in the form
and color of the leaf and in its general contour. The castor-oil
is cultivated as a hedge plant, and the seeds are used both in
the kitchen and apothecai’ies’ ^\\o\>.
The order Ilippuriuie furnishes the water caltrops {Trwpa),
the seeds of which are vended in the streets as a fruit after
boiling; one native name is ‘buffalo-head fruit,’ Mhicli the unopened
nuts strikingly resemble. Black pepper is imported,
not so much as a spice as for its infusion, to be administered in
fevers. The betel pepper is cultivated for its leaves, which are
chewed with the betel-nut. The pitcher plant (N’ejpenthes),
called pig-basket plant, is not unfrequent near Canton ; the
leaves, or ascidia, bear no small resemblance to the open baskets
employed for carrying hogs.
Many species of the tribe JRumicince are cultivated as esculent
vegetables, among which maybe enumerated spinach, green
basil, beet, amaranthus, cockscomb, broom-weed {Kochia), buckwheat,
etc. Two species of Polygonum are laised for the blue
dye furnished by the leaves, which is extracted, like indigo, by
maceration. Buckwheat is prepared for food by boiling it like
millet; one native name means ‘triangular wheat.’ The tlour
is also employed in pastry. The cockscomb is much adniire<l
by the Chinese, whose gardens furnish several splendid varieties.
The rhubarb is a member of this useful tribe, and large quantities
are l)rought from Kansuh and Koko-nor, where its habits
have lately been observed by Prejevalsky. The root is dug by
Chinese and Tanguts during September and October, dried in
the shade, and ti-ansported by the Yellow River to the coast
towns, where Europeans pay from six to ten times its rate
among the mountain markets.’ The Chinese consider the rest
‘ Compare Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. T., p. 197.
RHUBARB, LEGUMINOS^, ETC. 365
of tiie world dependent on them for tea and rhubarb, whose
inhabitants are therefore forced to resort thither to procure
means to relieve themselves of an otherwise irremediable costiveness.
This argument was made use of by Commissioner
Lin in 1840, when recommending certain restrictive regulations
to be imposed upon foreign trade, because he supposed merchants
from abroad would be compelled to purchase them at
any price.
The order lliclna^ or holly, furnishes several genera of
lihamneai, whose fruits are often seen on tables. The Zizyphus
furnishes the so called Chinese dates’ in immense quantities
throughout the northern provinces. The fleshy peduncles
of the llovenia are eaten ; they are connnon in the southeastern
provinces. The leaves of the Rltaninus tlieezans are among
the many plants collected by the poor as a make-shift for the
true tea. The fruit called the Chinese olive, obtained from the
Pimela, is totally diiferent from and is a poor substitute for the
rich olive of the Mediterranean countries.”
The Leguminos^e hold an important place in Chinese botany,
affording many esculent vegetables and valuable products.
Peas and beans are probably eaten more in China than any
other country, and soy is prepared chiefly from the ISoja or
Dolichos. One of the modes of making this condiment is to
skin the beans and gi’ind them to flour, which is mixed with
water and powdered gypsum, or turmeric. It is eaten as a
jelly or curd, or in cakes, and a meal is seldom spread without
it in some form. One genus of this tribe affords indigo, and
from the buds and leaves of a species of Coluteaakind of green
dye is said to be obtained. Liquorice is esteemed in medicine ;
and the red seeds of the Ahna j^recrt/o^’/^^.s” are gathered for
ornaments. The Poinciana and Bauhinia are cultivated for
their flowers, and the Erythrina and Cassia are among the
most magnificent flowering trees in the south.
‘ Tlie application of this name to the jujube plum by foreigners, because
the kind cured in honey resembled Arabian dates in color, size, and taste
when brought on the table, is a good instance of the nuinner in which errors
arise and are perpetuated from mere carelessness.
‘^ Compare Dr. H. F. Hance, in Journal of Bot<iny, Vol. IX., p. 38.
366 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The fruits are, on the whole, inferior in flavor and size to
those of the same names at the west. Several varieties of
pears, plums, peaches, and apricots are known ; it is probable
that China is the native country of each of these fruits, and
some of the varieties equal those found anywhere. Erman
‘
mentions an apple or haw which grows in ” long bunches and
is round, about the size of a cherry, of a red color, and very
sweet taste,” found in abundance near Kiahhta. There are
numerous species of Amygdalus cultivated for their flowers
;
and at new year the budding stems of the flowering almond,
narcissus, plum, peach, and bell-flower (Enlianthus retlculatuH)
are forced into blossom for exhibition, as indicating good luck
the coming year. The apples and cpiinces are generally destitute
of that flavor looked for in them elsewhere, but the lu-l’uh,
or loquat^ is a pleasant acid spring fruit. The pomegranate is
chiefly cultivated for its beauty as a flowering plant ; but the
guava and Eugenia, or rose-apple, are sold in the market or
made into jellies. The rose is a favorite among the Chinese and
extensively cultivated ; twenty species are mentioned, together
with many varieties, as natives of the country ; the Banks rose
is developed and trained with great skill. The Spira?a or privet,
myrtle, Quisqualis, Lawsonia or henna, white, purple, and red
varieties of crape-myrtle or Lagerstrcemia, Hydrangea, the passion-
flower, and the house-leek are also among the ornamental
plants found in gardens. Few trees in any countiy present a
more elegant appearance, when in full flowei”, than the Lagerstra’inias.
The Pride of India and Chinese tamarix are also
beautiful flowering trees. Specimens of the Cactus and Cereus,
containing fifty or more splendid flowers in full bloom, are not
unusual at Macao in August.
The watermelon, cucumber, squash, tomato, brinjal or eggplant,
and other garden vegetables are abundant ; the tallowgourd
(Bcnincctsacerifcm) is remarkable for having its surface
covered with a waxy exudation which sniells like rosin. The
dried bottle-gourd {Cucnirbita lagenaria) is tied to the backs of
children on the boats to assist them in floating if they should
^Travels in Siberia, Vol. II., p. 151.
FRUIT TREES AND FLOWERING PLANTS. 367
Tinluckily fall overboard. Tlie fniit and leaves of the papaw,
or inuh k^va, ‘ tree melon,’ are eaten after being cooked ; tlie
Chinese are aware of the inteneratino; property of the exhalations
from the leaves of this tree, and make use of them sometimes
to soften the flesh of ancient hens and cocks, by hanging
the newly killed birds in the tree or by feeding them upon the
fruit beforehand. The carambola {Averr/ioa) or tree gooseberry
is nnich eaten by the Chinese, but is not relished by
foreigners ; the tree itself is also an ornament to any pleasure
grounds.
Ginseng is found wild in the forests of Manchuria, where it
is collected by detachments of soldiers detailed for this purpose ;
these regions are regarded as imperial preserves, and the medicine
is held as a governmental monopoly. The importation of
the American root does not interfere to a very serious degree
with the imperial sales, as the Chinese are fully convinced that
their o’svn plant is far superior. Among numerous plants of
the malvaceous and pink tribes (Dianthacece) remarkable for
their beauty or use, the Lychnis cownata, five sorts of pink,
the Althcea Chinensis, eight species of Hibiscus, and other
malvaceous flowers may be mentioned ; the cotton tree {Salmalia)
is common at Canton ; the fleshy petals are sometimes
j^repared as food, and the silky stamens dried to stuff cushions.
The (Tossyjnmn hevljaceniti and Pachyrrhizus affoi-d the matCv
rials for cotton and gra«scloth ; both of them are cultivated in
most parts of China. The latter is a twining, leguminous
plant, cultivated fi-om remote antiquity, and still grown for its
fibres, which are woven into linen. The petals of the Ilihiscvs
rosa-sinensis furnish a black liquid to dye the eyebrows, and at
Batavia they are employed to polish shoes. The fruits of the
Hibiscus ocJira^ or okers, are prepared for the table in a vai’iety
of ways.
The Camellia Ja^wnica is allied to the same great tribe as
the Hibiscus, and its elegant flowers are as much admired by
the people of its native country as by florists abroad ; thirty or
forty varieties are enumerated, many of them unknown out of
China, while Chinese gardeners are likewise ignorant of a large
proportion of those found in our conservatories. This flower is
368 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
cultivated solely for its beauty, but other species of Camellia
are raised for their seeds, the oil expressed from them being
serviceable for many household and mechanical purposes. From
the fibres of a species of Waltheria, a j)lant of the same tribe, a
fine cloth is made ; and the Pentapctes Pluxnicia^ or ‘ noon
fiower,’ is a common ornament of gardens.
The widely diffused tribe Ranunculiacese has many representatives,
some of them profitable for their timber, others sought
after for their fruit or admired for their beauty, and a few
prized for their healing properties. There are eight species of
Magnolia, all of them splendid flowering plants ; the bark of
the Magnol’ui yulan is employed as a febrifuge. The seed vessels
of the IllclunL anisatum, or star-aniseed, are gathered on
account of their spicy warmth and fragrance. The Artabotrys
odoratixslinuH and Unona odorata are cultivated for tlieir perfume.
Another favorite is the iiiowtan^ or tree paiony, reared
for its large and variegated flowers ; its name of hwa uiang, or
‘ king of flowers,’ indicates the estimation in which it is held.
The skill of nativ-e gardeners has made many varieties, and
their patience is rewarded b}’ the high prices which fine specimens
command. Good imitations of full-grown plants in flower
are sometimes made of pith paper. Tlie Clematis, the foxglove,
the Berheris Chinensh^ and the magnificent lotus, all
belong to this tribe ; the latter, one of the most celebrated
plants in Asia, is more esteemed by the CMiinese for its edible
roots than reverenced for its religious associations. The Adtm
aKpci’d is sometimes collected, as is the scouring i-ush, for cleaning
pewter vessels, for which its hispid leaves are well fitted.
The groups which include the poppy, nnistai-d, cabbage, cress,
and many ornamental species, form an important ])ortion of
native agriculture. The poppy has become a connuon crop in
all the province^, driving out the useful cereals by its greater
value and profit. The leaves of many crucifei-ous plants are
eaten, whether cultivated or wild ; and one kind {Lsates^ yields
a fine blue dye in the eastern provinces ; the variety and amount
of such food consumed by the Chinese proi)ably exceeds that
of any other people. Another tribe, Tlutaceie, contains the
oranges and shaddocks, and some very fragrant shrubs, as the
ORTSTAMKNTAL PLANTS, ETC. 369
Mnvraya ci’otk’a and jHiniculata, and tlie Aglaia odoratd ;
while the bhiddei’-tree {Koelt’euteria) is a great attraction when
its whole surface is brilliant with golden tlowers. The whamj^e,
^.^?,, yellow skin {Cvo/iJ((, j}a/uiat(f), is a common and superior
fruit. The seeds of the Gleditschia, besides their value in cleansing,
are worn as beads, ” because,” say the Buddhists, ” all
demons are afraid of the wood ;” one name means ‘ preventive
of evil.’ Two native fruits, the lic/u and liinrjan, are allied to
the Sapindus in their affinities ; while the f’f’/i/j sku, or Liquidambar,
and many sorts of maple, with the P’tttosj[)orum tohira^
an ornamental shrub, may be mentioned among plants used for
food or sought after for timber.
Tiiese brief notices of Chinese plants may be concluded by
mentioning some of the most ornamental not before spoken of
;
but all the beautiful soi-ts are soon introduced into western
conservatories by enterprising florists. In the extensiv^e tribe
of Rubiacinae are several species of honeysuckle, and a fragrant
Yiburnum resembling the snowball. The Serissa is cultivated
around beds like the box ; the Ixora eocGinea, and other species
of that genus, are among common garden shrubs. The seeds of
two or three species of Artemisia are collected, dried, and reduced
to a down, to be bui-ned as an actual cautery. The dried
twigs are frequently woven into a rope to slowly consume ^s
a means of driving away mosquitoes. From the Carthamxis
tlnctoirus a fine red dye is prepared. The succory, lettuce, dandelion,
and other cichoraceous plants, either wild or cultivated,
furnish food ; while innumerable varieties of Chrysanthemums
and Asters are reared for their beauty.
The Labiatae afford many genera, some of them cultivated ;
and the Solanaceae, or nightshades, contain the tomato, potato,
tobacco, stramony, and several spetnes of Capsicum, or red pepper.
It has been disputed whether tobacco is native or foreign,
but the philological argument and historical notices prove that
both this plant and maize were introduced -within half a century
after the discovery of America, or about the year 1530. The
Chinese dry the leaves and cut them into shreds for smoking ;
the snuff is coarser and less pungent than the Scotch ; it is said
that powdered cinnabar is sometimes mixed with it.
Vol. I.— -4
Among the Convolvnlaceai are many beautiful species of Ipomea,
especially the cypress vine, or quaniodU, ti-ained about the
houses even of the poorest. The Ijxnnea marithiia occurs, trail
ing over the sandy beaches along the coast from Hainan to
Chusan and Lewchew. The Convolvulus rej)tans is planted
around the edges of pools on the confines of villages and fields,
for the sake of its succulent leaves. The narcotic family of
Apocynese contains the oleander and Plumeria, prized for their
fragrance ; while the yellow milkweed {Asdejykis curamamca)
and the Vlnea rosea, or red periwinkle, are less conspicuous,
but not unattractive, members of the same group. The jasmine
is a deserved favorite, its clusters of flowers being often wound
by women in their hair, and planted in pots in their houses.
The Ol<iafragrans, or hwei hum, is cultivated for scenting tea.
In the eastern provinces the hills are adorned with yellow and
red azaleas of gorgeous hue, especially around Ningbo and in
Chusan. ” Few,” says Mr. Fortune, ” can form any idea of the
gorgeous beauty of these azalea-clad hills, where, on every side,
the eye rests on masses of flowers of dazzling brightness and
surpassing beauty. IS^or is it the azalea alone which claims our
admiration ; clematises, wild roses, honeysuckles, and a hundred
others, mingle their flowers with them, and make us confess
that China is indeed the ‘ central flowery land.’ “
A few notices of the advance made by the Chinese themselves
in the study of natural history, taken from their great work on
materia medica, the Pun tsao, or ‘ Herbal,’ will form an appropriate
conclusion to this chapter. This work is usually bound
in forty octavo volumes, divided into fifty-two chapters, and
contains many observations of value mixed up with a deal of
incorrect and useless matter ; and as those who read the book
have not sufiicient knowledge to discriminate between what is
true and what is partly or wholly wrong, its reputation tends
.greatly to perpetuate the errors. The compiler of the Pun fsao,
Li Shi-chin, spent thirty years in collecting all the information
on these subjects extant in his time, arranged it in a methodical
manner for popular use, adding his own observations, and pub-
‘ Wanderings in China.
THE PUN TSAO, OR CHINESE HERBAL. 371
lished it about 1590. lie consulted some eight hundred preceding
autliors, from whom he selected one thousand five hundred
and eighteen prescriptions, and added three hundred and
seventy-four new ones, arranging his materials in fifty-two books
in a methodical and (for his day) scientific manner. But how
far behind the writings of Pliny and Dioscorides ! The nucleus
of Li’s production is a small work which tradition ascribes to
Shinnung, the God of Agriculture, and is doubtless anterior to
the Ilan dynasty. His composition was well received, and attracted
the notice of the Emperor, who ordered several succeeding
editions to be published at the expense of the state. It
was, in fact, so great an advance on all previous books, that it
checked future writers in that branch, and Li is likely now to
be the first and last purely native critical writer on natural science
in his mother tongue.
The first two volumes contain a collection of prefaces and
indices, together with many notices of the theory of anatomy
and medicine, and three books of pictorial illustrations of the
rudest sort. Chapters I. and II. consist of introductory observations
upon the practice of medicine, and an index of the
recipes contained in the work, called the Sure Guide to a
Myriad of Recipes ^ the whole filling the first seven volumes.
Chapters III. and IV. contain lists of medicines for the cui-e of
all diseases, occupying three volumes and a half, and comprising
the therapeutical portion of the work, except a treatise on the
pulse in the last volume.
In the subsequent chapters the author carefully goes over
the entire range of nature, first giving the correct name and
its explanation ; then comes descriptive remarks, solutions of
doubts and corrections of errors being interspersed, closing with
notes on the savor, taste, and application of the recipes in
which it is used. Chapters V. and YI. treat of inorganic
substances under water and fire, and mine)-als under Chapters
VII. to XL, as earth, metals, gems, and stones. Water is
divided into aerial and terrestrial, /.c, from the clouds, and
from springs, the ocean, etc. Fire is considered under eleven
species, among which ai-e the flames of coal, bamboo, moxa,
etc. The chapter on earth comprises the secretions from various animals, as well as soot, ink, etc. ; that on metals includes
metallic substances and their common oxides ; and gems
are spoken of in the next division. The eleventh chapter, in
true Chinese stvle, groups together what could not be placed
in the preceding sections, including salts, minerals, etc. In
looking at this arrangement one detects the similarity between
it and the classification of characters in the language itself,
showing the influence this has had upon it ; thus /«>, shui, tu,
Hn, yuh, shih, and la^ or fire, water, earth, metals, gems,
stones, and salts, are the seven radicals under which the names
of inorganic substances are classified in the iuiperial dictionary.
A like similarity runs through other parts of the Ilcrhal.
Chapters XII. to XXXATLL, inclusive, treat of the vegetable
kingdom, under fivej*??^, or ‘divisions,’ viz. : herbs, gi-ains, vegetables,
fruits, and trees; which are again subdivided into lui^ or
‘families,’ though the members of these families have no more
relationship to each other than the heterogeneous family of an
Egyptian slave dealer. The lowest term in the Chinese scientific
scale is chung, which sometimes in<;ludes a gemis, but
quite as often corresponds to a species or even a variety, as
Linneus understood those terms.
The first division of hei’bs contains nine families, viz. : hill
plants, odoriferous, marshy, noxious, scandent or climbing,
aquatic, ston}^, and mossy plants, and a ninth of one hundred
and sixty-two miscellaneous plants not used in medicine, making
six hundred and seventy-eight species in all. In this classification
the habitat is the most influential principle of arrangement
for the families, while the term tsao, or ‘herb,’ denotes
M-hatcver is not eaten or used in the arts, or which does not attain
to the magnitude of a tree.
The second division of grains contains four families, viz. : 1,
that of hemp, sesamuiii, buckwheat, wheat, rice, etc.; 2, the
family of millet, maize, opium, etc. ; 3, leguminous plants,
pulse, peas, vetches, etc. ; and 4, fermentable things, as bean
curd, boiled rice, wine, yeast, congee, bread, etc., which, as they
are used in medicine, and pi’oduced from vegetables, seem most
naturally to come in this place. The first three families em
bi-ace thirty-nine species, and the last tweny-nine articles.
BOTANY OF THE HERBAL. 373
The tliird division of kitclicn herbs contains five families: 1,
offensive pungent plants, as leeks, nnistard, ginger ; 2, soft and
mucilaginous plants, as dandelions, lilies, bamboo sprouts; 3,
vegetables producing fruit on the ground, as tomatoes, eggplants,
melons ; 4, aquatic vegetables ; and 5, mushrooms and
fungi. The number of species is one hundred and thirty-three,
and some part of each of them is eaten.
The fourth division of fruits contains seven families : 1, the
five fruits, the plum, peach, apricot, chestnut, and date (Rhamnus)
; 2, liill fruits, as the orange, pear, citron, persinniion ; 3,
foreign fruits, as the cocoanut, lichi, cararnbola ; 4, aromatic
fruits, as pepper, cubebs, tea ; 5, trailing fruits, as melons,
grape, sugar-cane ; G, aquatic fruits, as water caltrops, water
lily, water chestnuts, etc. ; and 7, fruits not used in medicine,
as whampe. In all, one hundred and forty-seven species.
The fifth division of trees has six families: 1, odoriferous
trees, as pine, cassia, aloes, camphor ; 2, stately trees, as the
willow, tamarix, elm, soapl)erry, palm, j^oplar, julibrissin or silk
tree ; 3, luxuriant growing trees, as mulberry, cotton, Cercis,
Gardenia, Bonibax, Hibiscus ; 4, parasites or things attached to
trees, as the mistletoe, pachyma, and amber ; 5, flexible plants,
as bamboo ; this family has only four species ; 6, includes what
the other five exclude, though it might have been thought that
the second and tliird families were sufficiently comprehensive
to contain almost all miscellaneous plants. The mnnber of
species is one hundred and ninety-eight. All botanical subjects
are classified in this manner under five divisions, thirtyone
families, and one thousand one hundred and ninety-five
species, excluding all fermentable things.
The arrangement of the botanical characters in the language
does not correspond so well to this as does that of inorganic
substances. The largest group in the language system is tsao^
which comprises in general such herbaceous plants as are not
used for food The second, muh, includes all trees or shrubs ;
and the bamboo, on account of its great usefulness, stands by itself,
though the characters mostly denote names of articles made
of bamboo IS’o less than four radicals, viz., rice, wdieat, millet,
and grain, serve as the heads under which the esculent grasses
374 tup: middle kingdom.
are arranged ; tliere are consequently many synonymes and
superfluous distinctions. One family includes beans, and another
legumes ; one comprises cucurbitaceous plants, another
the alliaceous, and a fourth the hempen ; the importance of
these plants as articles of food or manufacture no doubt suggested
their adoption. Thus all vegetable substances are distributed
in the language under eleven different heads.
The zoological grouping in the Pun tsao is as rude and unscientific
as that of plants. There are five jpu^ or divisions,
namely : insect, scaly, shelly, feathered, and hairy animals. The
first division contains four families : 1 and 2, insects born
from eggs, as bees and silkworms, butterflies and spiders; 3,
insects produced by metamorphosis, as glow-worms, molecrickets,
bugs ; and 4, water insects, as toads, centipedes, etc.
The second division has four families: 1, the dragons, including
the manis, ” the only fish that has legs ; ” 2, snakes ; 3,
fishes having scales ; and 4, scaleless fishes, as the eel, cuttlefish,
prawn. The third division is classified under the two
heads of toi”toises or turtles and mollusks, including the starfish,
echinus, hermit-crab, etc. The fourth division contains
birds arranged under four families : 1, water-fowl, as herons,
king-fishers, etc. ; 2, heath-fowl, sparrows, and pheasants ; 3,
forest birds, as magpies, crows; and 4, wild birds, as eagles
and hawks. Beasts form the fifth division, which likewise
contains four families : 1, the nine domesticated animals and
their products ; 2, wild animals, as lions, deers, otters ; 3,
rodentia, as the squirrel, hedgehog, rat ; and 4, monkeys and
fairies. The number of species in these five divisions is three
hundred and ninety-one, but there are only three hundred and
twenty different objects described, as the roe, fat, hair, e.xuvite,
etc., of animals are separately noticed.
The sixteen zoological characters in the language are not
quite so far astray fi-om being types of classes as the eleven
botanical ones. Nine of thorn are mannniferous, viz. : the tiger,
dog, and leopard, which stand for the carnivora ; the rat for
lodentia ; the ox, sheep, and deer for ruminants ; and the
horse and hog for pachydermatous. Birds are chiefly comprised
under one radical niao, but there is a sub-family of
ITS ZOOLOGY AND OI?SKKV ATFOXS OX TTTE IIOKSP:. 37.7
short-tailed gallinaceous fowls, though much confusion exists in
the division. Fishes form one group, and improperly inchide
crabs, lizards, whales, and snakes, though most of the latter are
placed along with insects, or else under the dragons. The tortoise,
toad, and dragon are the types of three small collections,
and insects are comprised in the sixteenth and last. These
groups, although they contain many anomalies, as might be
expected, are still sufficiently natural to teach those who write
the language something of the world around them. Thus,
when one sees that a new character contains the radical dorj in
composition, he will be sure that it is neither fowl, fish, nor bug,
nor any animal of the pachydermatous, cervine, or ruminant
tribes, although he may have never seen the animal nor heard
its name. This peculiarity runs through the whole language, indeed,
but in other groups, as for instance those under the radicals
man, woman, and child, or heart, hand, leg, etc., the characters
include mental and passionate emotions, as well as actions and
names, so that the type is not sufficiently indicative to convey a
definite idea of the words included under it ; the names of
natural objects being most easily arranged in this manner.
Between the account of plants and animals the Jlerhal has
one chapter on garments and domestic utensils, for such things
” are used in medicine and are made out of plants.” The remaining
chapters, XXXIX.-LII., treat of animals, as noticed
above. The properties of the objects spoken of are discussed
in a very methodical manner, so that a student can immediately
turn to a plant or mineral and ascertain its virtue. For instance,
the information relative to the history and uses of the
horse is contained in twenty-four sections. The first explains
the character, ma, which was oi-iginally intended to represent
the outline of the animal. The second describes the varieties
of horses, the best kinds for medical use, and gives brief descriptions
of them, for the guidance of the practitioner. ” The
pure white are the best for medicine. Those found in the south
and east are small and Aveak. The age is known by the teeth.
The eye reflects the full image of a man. If he eats rice his
feet will become heavy ; if rat’s dung, his belly will grow long; if his teeth be rubbed with dead silkworms, or black plums, he will not eat, nor if the skin of a rat or wolf be li\uii^- in his
manger, lie should not he allowed to eat from a hog’s trough,
lest he contract disease; and if a monkey is kept in the stable
he M’ill not fall sick.”
The third section goes on to speak of the flesh, which is an
article of food ; that of a pure white stallion is the most wholesome.
One author recommends ” eating almonds, and taking a
rush broth, if the person feel uncomfoi-table after a meal of
horse-flesh. It should he roasted and eaten with ginger
and pork ; and to eat the flesh of a black horse, and not
drink wine -with it, will surely produce deatli.” The fourth
describes the crown of the horse, the ” fat of which is sweet,
and good to make the hair grow and the face to shine.” The
fifth and succeeding sections to the twenty-fourth treat of the
sanative properties and mode of exhibiting the milk, heart,
lungs, liver, kidneys, placenta, teeth, bones, skin, mane, tail,
brains, blood, perspiration, and excrements.
Some of the directions are dietetic, and others are prescriptive.
” When eating horse-flesh do not eat the liver,” is one of
the former, given because of the absence of a gall-bladder in
the liver, wdiich imports its poisonous qualities. ” The heart of
a white horse, or that of a hog, cow, or hen, when dried and
rasped into spirit and so taken, cures forgetfulness; if the patient
hears one thing he knows ten.” ” Above the knees the
horse has night-eyes (warts), M’hich enable him to go in the
night ; they are useful in the toothache ;” tliese sections partake
both of the descriptive and pi-escriptive. Another medical one
is : ” If a man be restless and hysterical when he wishes to
sleep, and it is requisite to put him to rest, let the ashes of a
skull be mingled with water and given him, and let him have a
skull for a pillow, and it will cure him.” The same preservative
virtues appear to be ascribed to a horse’s hoof hung in a
house as are supposed, by some who should know better, to
belong to a horseshoe Avhen nailed upon the door.’ The whole
of this extensive work is liberally sprinkled with such whimsies,
but the practice of medicine among the Chinese is vastly
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 393.
NATURAL SCIENCES IN CHINA. 377
better than their tlieories ; for as llenmsat justly oTjserves, ” To
see well and reason falsely are not wholly incompatible, and the
naturalists of China, as well as the chemists and physicians of
our ancient schools, have sometimes tried to reconcile them.”
Another work on botany besides the Jlefbal, issued in 1848,
deserves notice for its research and the excellence of its drawings.
It is the Ch’th Wuh Mlng-shih Ta-kao, or Researches
into the Names and Virtues of Plants, with plates, in sixty volumes.
There are one thousand seven hundred and fifteen
drawings of plants, with descriptions of each, arranged in
eleven books, followed by medical and agricultural observations
on the most important in four books. One of its valuable
points to the foreigner is the terminology furnished by
the two authors for describing the parts and uses of plants.
Renmsat read a paper in 1828, ‘ On the State of the Natural
Sciences among the Orientals,’ in which he indicates the position
attained by Chinese in their researches into the nature
and uses of objects around them. After speaking of the adaptation
the language possesses, from its construction, to impart
some general notions of animated and vegetable nature,
he goes on to remark upon the theorizing propensities of their
writers, instead of contenting themselves with examining and
recording facts. “In place of studying the organization of
bodies, they undertake to determine by reasoning how it should
be, an aim which has not seldom led them far from the end
they proposed. One of the strangest errors among them relates
to the transformation of beings into each other, which has
arisen from popular stories or badly conducted observations on
the metamorphoses of insects. Learned absurdities have been
added to puerile prejudices ; that which the vulgar have believed
the philosophers have attempted to explain, and nothing
can be easier, according to the oriental systems of cosmogony, in
which a simple matter, infinitely diversified, shows itself in all
beings. Changes affect only the apparent propei’ties of bodies, or
rather the bodies themselves have only appearances ; according
to these principles, they are not astonished at seeing the electric
fiuid or even the stars converted into stones, as happens when
aerolites fall. That animated beings become inanimate is proven by fossils and petrifactions. Ice enclosed in the earth for a millenninm becomes rock crystal ; and it is only necessary that lead, \\\e father of all metals (as Satnrn, its alchemistic type, was of gods), pass thi-oiigh four periods of two centuries each to become successively cinnabar, tin, and silver. In spring the rat changes into a quail, and quails into rats again during the eighth month.
” The style in which these marvels is related is now and then a little equivocal ; but if they believe part of them proved, they can see nothing really impossible in the others. One naturalist, less credulous than his fellows, rather smiles at another author who reported the metamorphosis of an oriole into a mole, and of rice into a carp ;
‘ it is a ridiculous story,’ says he ;
‘ there is proof only of the change of rats into quails, which is reported in the almanac, and which I have often seen myself, for there is an imvaried progression, as well of transformations as of generations.’
Animals, according to the Chinese, are viviparous as quadrupeds, or oviparous as birds ; they grow by transformations, as insects, or by the effect of humidity, as snails, slugs, and centipedes The success of such systems is almost always sure, not in China alone either, because it is easier to put words in place of things, to stop at nothing, and to have formulas ready for solving all questions. It is thus that they have formed a scientific jargon, which one might almost think had been borrowed from our dark ages, and which has powerfully contributed to retain knowledge in China in the swaddling clothes we now find it. Experience teaches that when the human mind is once drawn into a false way, the lapse of ages and the help of a man of genius are necessary to draw it out.
Ages have not been wanting in China, but the man whose superior enlightenment might dissipate these deceitful glimmerings, would find it very difficult to exercise this happy influence as long as their political institutions attract all their inquiring minds or vigorous intellects far away from scientific researches into the literary examinations, or put before them the honors and employments which the functions and details of magisterial appointments bring with them.” ‘* Melanges Orientules, Posthumes, p. 315.
CONSKKVATISM OF NATIVE liESEARCH. 379
This last observcation indicates the reason, to a great degree, for the fixedness of the Chinese in all departments of learned inquiry ; hard labor employs the energy and time of the ignorant mass, and emulation in the strife to reach official dignities consumes and perverts the talents of the learned. Then their language itself disheartens the most enthusiastic students in this branch of study, on account of its vagueness and want of established terms. When the vivifying and strengthening truths of revelation shall be taught to the Chinese, and its principles acted upon among them, we may expect more vigor in their minds and more profit in their investigations into the wonders of nature.
CHAPTER VII. LAWS OP CHINA, AND PLAN OP ITS GOVERNMENT
The consideration of the theory and practice of the Chinese government reconmiends itself to the attention of the intelligent student of man by several peculiar reasons, among which are its acknowledged antiquity, the multitudes of people it rules, and the comparative quiet enjoyed by its subjects. The government of a heathen nation is so greatly modified by the personal character of the executive, and the people are so liable to confound institutions with men, either from imperfect acquaintance with the nature of those institutions, or from being, through necessity or habit, easily guided and swayed by designing and powerful men, that the long continuance of the Chinese polity is a proof both of its adaptation to the habits and condition of the people, and of its general good management. The antiquity and excellence of such a government, and its orderly administration, might, however, be far greater than it is in China, without being invested with the interest which at present attaches to it in that Empire in consequence of the immense population, whose lives and property, food and well-being, depend to so great a degree upon it. What was at first rather a feeling of curiosity, gradually becomes one of awe, when the evil results of misgovernment, or the beneficent effects of equitable rule, are seen to be so momentous.
THEORY OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT. 381
The theory of the Chinese government is undoubtedly the patriarchal; the Emperor is the sire, his officers are the responsible elders of its provinces, departments, and districts, as every father of a household is of its inmates. This may, perhaps, be the theory of other governments, but nowhere has it been systematized so thoroughly, and acted upon so consistently and for so long a period, as in China, ^wo causes, mutually acting upon each other, have, more than anything else, combined to give efficiency to this theory. The ancient rule of Van and Shun ‘ was strictly, so far as the details are known, a patriarchal chieftainship, conferred upon them on account of their excellent character ; and their successors under Yu of the Xia dynasty were considered as deriving their power from heaven, to whom they M’ere amenable for its good use. When Chingtang, founder of the Shang dynasty, b.c. ITOG, and Wu Wang, of the Zhou, B.C. 1122, took up arms against the Emperors, the excuse given was that they had not fulfilled the decrees of heaven, and had thereby forfeited their claim to the throne.
Confucius, in teaching his principles of political ethics, referred to the conduct of those ancient kings both for proof of the correctness of his instructions and for arguments to enforce them.
The large number of those who followed him during his lifetime furnishes some evidence that his countrymen assented to
the propriety of his teachings. This may account for their reception,
illustrated as they were by the high character the sage
boi-e ; but it was not till the lapse of tM’o or three centuries
that the rulers of China perceived the great security the adoption
and diffusion of these doctrines would give their sway.
They therefore turned their attention toward the embodiment of
these precepts into laws, and towai’d basing the institutions of
government upon them ; through all the convulsions and wars
which have disturl)ed the country and changed the reigning
families, these writings have done more than any one thing
else to uphold the institutions of the Chinese and give them
their character and permanence. Education being founded on
them, those who as students had been taught to receive and
reverence tliem as the oracles of political wisdom, would, when
they entered upon the duties of office, endeavor to carry out, in
some degree at least, their principles. Thus the precept and
the practice have mutually modified, supported, and enforced
each other./
• 2357 and 2255 before Christ.
But this civilization i;^ Asiatic and not European, pagan and not Christian. ^The institutions of China are despotic and defective, and founded on wrong principles. They may have the element of stability, but not of improvement.^ The patriarchal theory does not make uien honorable, truthful, or kind; it does not place woman in her right position, nor teach all classes their obligations to their Maker; the wonder is, to those who know the strength of evil passions in the human breast, that this huge mass of mankind is no worse. We must, indeed, look into its structure in order to discover the causes of this stability, inasmuch as here we have neither a standing army to enforce nor the machinery of a state religion to compel obedience toward a sovereign. A short inspection will show that(the great leading principles by which the present administration preserves its power over the people, consist in a system of strict surveillance and viatual 7’esj)onsihiHtij among all classes.
These are aided in their efficiency by the geographical isolation of the country, a remarkable spirit of loyal pride in their own history, and a general system of political education and official examinations!)
These two principles are enforced by such a minute gradation of rank and subordination of othces as to give the government more of a military character than at first appears, and the whole system is such as to make it one of the most unmixed oligarchies now existing. (It is like a network extending over the whole face of society, each individual being isolated in his own mesh but responsibly connected with all around him’) The man who knows that it is almost impossible, except by entire seclusion, to escape from the company of secret or acknowledged emissaries of government, will be cautions of offending the laws of the country, knowing, as he must, that though he should himself escape, yet his family, his kindred, or his neighbors will suffer for his offence; that if unable to recompense the sufferers, it will probably be dangerous for him to return home ; or if he does, it will be most likely to find his property in the possession of neighbors or officials, who feel conscious of security in plundering one whose offences have forever placed him under a ban.
RESPONSIBILITY, FEAR, AXD ISOLATION. 383
^The effect of these two causes upon the mass of the people is to imbue them with a i^ceat fear of the government, both of its officers and its operations; each man considers that safety is best to be found in keeping aloof from both. This mutual surveillance and responsibility, though only partially extended throughout the multitude, necessarily undermines confidence and infuses universal distrust ; while this object of complete isolation, though at the expense of justice, truth, honesty, and natural affection, is what the government strives to accomplish and actually does to a wonderful degree.) The idea of government in the minds of the uneducated people is that of some everpresent terror, like a sword of Damocles; and so far has this undetined fear of some untoward result when connected with it counteracted the real vigor of the Chinese, that to it may be referred much of their indifference to improvement, contentment with what is already known and possessed, and submission to petty injustice and spoliation.^
Men are deterred, too, as much by distrust of each other as by fear of the police, from combining in an intelligent manner to resist governmental exactions because opposed to principles of equity, or joining with their rulers to uphold good order; no such men, and no such instances, as John Hampden going to prison for refusing to subscribe to a forced loan, or Thomas Williams and his companions throwing the tea overboard in Boston harbor, ever occurred in China or any other Asiatic country. They dread illegal societies quite as much from the cruelties this same distrust induces the leaders to exercise over recreant or suspected members, as from apprehension of arrest and punishment by the regular authorities. (Thus, with a state of society at times on the verge of insurrection, this mass of people is kept in check by the threefold cord of responsibility, fear, and isolation, each of them strengthening the other, and all depending upon the character of the people for much of their efficiency. Since all the officers of government received their intellectual training when connnoners under these influences, it is easy to understand why the supreme powers are so averse to improvement and to foreign intercourse—from both of which causes, in truth, the monarch has the greatest reason to dread lest the cliarin of his power be weakened and his sceptre pass away. I (There is, however, a further explanation for the general peace which prevails to be found back of this. It is owing partly to the diffusion of a political education among the people ^teaching them the principles on which all government is founded, and the reasons for those principles flowing from the patriarchal theory—and partly to their plodding, industrious character. A brief exposition of the construction and divisions of the central and provincial governments and their mutual relations, and the various duties devolving upon the departments and officers, will exhibit more of the operation of these principles.
Although the Emperor is regarded as the head of this great
organization, as the fly-wheel w^hich sets other wheels of the
machine in motion, he is still considered as bound to rule according
to the code of the land ; and when there is a w^ellknown
law, though the source of law, he is expected to follow
it in his decrees. The statutes of China form an edifice, the
foundations of which were laid by Li Ivwei twenty centuries
ago. Successive dynasties have been building thereon ever
since, adding, altering, pulling down, and putting together as
circumstances seemed to require. The people liave a high regard
for the code, ” and all they seem to desire is its just and
impartial execution, independent of caprice and uninfluenced
by corruption. That the laws of China are, on the contrary,
very frequently violated l)y those who are their administrators
and constitutional guardians, there can, unfortunately, be no
question ; but to what extent, comparatively with the laws of
other countries, must at present be very much a matter of conjecture
: at the same time it nuiy be observed, as something in
favor of the Chinese system, that there are substantial grounds
for believing that neither flagrant nor repeated acts of injustice
do, in point of fact, often, in any rank or station, ultimately
escape with impunity.” ‘ Sir George Staunton is well qualified
to speak on this point, and his opinion has been corroborated
‘ Penal Code, Introduction, p. xxviii.
THE PENAL CODE OF CHINA. 385
by most of those who have had siinihir opportunities of judging; while his translation of the Code has given all persons interested in the (piestion the means of ascertaining the principles on which the government ostensibly acts.
This body of laws is called Ta Tsing Liuh Li, i.e., ‘ Statutes and Eescripts of the Great Pure Dynasty,’ and contains all the laws of the Empire. They are arranged under seven leading heads, viz.: General, Civil, Fiscal, Ritual, Military, and Criminal laws, and those relating to Public Works ; and subdivided into four hundred and thirty-six sections, called Hah, or ‘ statutes,’ to which the li, or modern clauses, to limit, explain or alter them, are added ; these are now much more numerous than the original statutes. A new edition is published by authority every five years; in the reprint of 1830 the Emperor ordered that the Supreme Court should make but few alterations, lest wily litigants might take advantage of the discrepancies between the new and old law to suit their own purposes. This edition is in twenty-eight volumes, and is one of the most frequently seen books in the shops of any city. The clauses are attached to each statute, and have the same force. ]^o authorized reports of cases and decisions, either of the provincial or supreme courts, are published for general use, though their record is kept in the court where they are decided ; the publication of such adjudged cases, as a guide to officers, is not unknown. An extensive collection of notes, comments, and cases, illustrating the practice and theory of the laws, was appended to the edition of 1799.
A short extract from the original preface of the Code, published in 101:7, only three years after the Manchu Emperors took the throne, will explain the principles on which it was drawn up. After remarking upon the inconveniences arising from the necessity of aggravating or mitigating the sentences of the magistrates, who, previous to the re-establishment of an authentic code of penal la\vs, were not in possession of any fixed rules upon which they could build a just decision, the Emperor Shunchi goes on to describe the manner of revising the code:
” A numerous body of magistrates was assembled at the
capital, at our command, for the purpose of revising the penal
code formerly in force under the late dynasty of Ming, and of dio-esting the same into a new code, by the exchision of such parts as were exceptionable and the introduction of others which were likely to contribute to the attainment of justice and the t>-eneral perfection of the work. The result of their labors having been submitted to our examination, we maturely weighed and considered the various matters it contained, and then instructed a select number of our great officers of state carefully to revise the whole, for the purpose of making such alterations and emendations as might still be found requisite. “Wherefore, it being now published, let it be your great care, officers and magistrates of the interior and exterior departments of our Empire, diligently to observe the same, and to forbear in future to give any decision, or to pass any sentence, according to your private sentiments, or upon your unsupported authority. Thus shall the magistrates and people look up with awe and submission to the justice of these institutions, as they find themselves respectively concerned in them ; the transgressor will not fail to suffer a strict expiation of his crimes, and will be the instrument of deterring others from similar misconduct ; and finally both officers and people will l)e equally secured for endless generations in the enjoyment of the happy effects of the great and noble virtues of our illustrious progenitors.”
Under the head of Genei-al Laws are forty-seven sections,
comprising principles and definitions applicable to the whole,
and containing some singular notions on equity and criminality.
The description of the five ordinary punishments, definition of
the ten treasonable offences, regulations for the eight privileged
classes, and general directions regarding the conduct of officers
of government, are the matters treated of under this head.
The title of Section XLIY. is ” On the decision of cases not provided for by law ; ” and the rule is that ” such cases may then be determined by an accurate comparison with others which are already provided for, and which approach most nearly to those under investigation, in order to ascertain afterward to what extent an asirravation or mitiij-ation of the i)nnislinment would be equitable. A provisional sentcMice confonnablc thereto shall be laid before the superior magistrates, an<l, after receiving their approbation, be submitted to the Enqieror’s final decision. Anv
GENEIIAL, CIVIL, AXD FISCAL LAWS. 387
*
erroneous judgment which may be pronounced, in consequence
of adopting a more summary mode of proceeding in cases of a
doubtful nature, shall be punished as wilful deviation from justice.”
This, of course, gives great latitude to the magistrate, and
as he is thus allowed to decide and act before the new law can
be confirmed or aimulled, the chief restraints to his injustice in
such cases (which, however, are not nuinerous) lie in the fear
of an appeal and its consequences, or of summary reprisals
from the suffering parties.
The six remaining divisions pertain to the six administrative
boards of the government. The second contains Civil Laws,
under twenty-eight sections, divided into two books, one of
them referring to the system of government, and the otlier to
the conduct of magistrates, etc. The hereditary succession of
rank and titles is regulated, and punishments laid down for
those who illegally assume these honors. HlMost of the nobility
of China are Manchus, and none of the hereditary dignities existing
previous to the conquest were recognized, except those
attached to the family of Confucius*’ Improperly recommending
unfit persons as deserving liigh honors, appointing and
removing officers witliout the Emperor’s sanction, and leaving
stations without due permission, are the principal subjects
regulated in the first book. The second book contains rules
regarding the interference of superior magistrates with the proceedings
of the lower courts, and prohibitions against cabals and
treasonable combinations among oflScers, which are of course
capital crimes ; all persons in the employ of the state are required
to make themselves acquainted with the laws, and even
private individuals ” who are found capable of explaining the
nature and comprehending the objects of the laws, shall receive
pardon in all offences resulting purely from accident, or imputable
to them oidy from the guilt of others, j^rovided it be the
first offence.”
The third division, of Fiscal Laws, under eighty-two sections,
contains rules for enrolling the people, and of succession and
inheritance ; also laws for regulating marriages between various
classes of society, for guarding granaries and treasuries, for
preventing and punishing smuggling, for restraining usury, and for overseeing shops. Section LXXYI. orders that persons and families truly represent their profession in life, and restrains them from indulging in a change of occupation ; ” generation
after generation they must not vary or alter it.” This i-ule is,
however, constantly violated. Section XC. exempts the huildinffs
of literarv and relio;ious institutions from taxation. The
general aim of the laws relating to holding real estate is to
secure the cultivation of all the land taken up, and the regular
payment of the tax. The proprietor, in some cases, can be deprived
of his lands because he does not till them, and though in
fact owner in fee simple, he is restricted in the disposition of
them by will in many w^ays, and forfeits them if the taxes are
not paid.
The fourth division, of Ritual Laws, under twenty-six sections,
contains the regulations fur state sacritices and ceremonies,
those appertaining to the worship of ancestors, and whatever
belongs to heterodox and magical sects or teachers. The heavy
penalties threatened in some of these sections against all illegal
combinations under the guise of a new form of worship presents
an interesting likeness to the restrictions issued by the
English, French, and German princes during and after the
Heformation. The Chinese authorities had the same dread
lest the people should meet and consult how to resist them.
Even processions in honor of the gods may be forbidden for
good reason, and are not allow^ed at all at Peking ; while, still
more, the rites observed by the Emperor cannot be imitated by
any unauthorized person ; women are not allowed to congregate
in the temples, nor magicians to perform any strange incantations.
Few of these laws ai’e really necessary, and those
against illegal sects are in fact levelled against political associations,
which usually take on a religious guise.
The fifth division, of Military Laws, in seventy-one sections,
provides for the protection of the palace and government of
the army, for guarding frontier passes, management of the
imperial cattle, and forwarding despatches by couriers. Some
of these ordinances lay down rules for the protection of the
Emperor’s person, and the disposition of his body-guard and
troops in the palace, the capital, and over the Empire. The
RITUAL, MILITARY, AND CRIMmAL LAWS!. 380
sections r(‘latiii<2; to the goveniinoiit of tlie army include tlic
rules for tli(> police of cities ; and those designed to secure the
protection of the frontier conipi-ise all the enactments against
foreign intei’course, some of which have already been refei-red tn
in passing. The supply of horses and cattle for the army is a
matter of some importance, and is minutely regulated ; one law
orders all persons who possess vicious and dangerous animals to
restrain them, and if through neglect any person is killed or
wounded, the owner of the animal shall be obliged to redeem
himself from the punishment of manslaughter by pa-ying a fine.
This provision to compel the owners of unruly beasts to exercise
proper restraint over them is like that laid down by Moses
in Exodus XXT., 20, 30. There is as yet no general postoffice
establishn’ent, hut governmental couriers often take
private letters ; local mails are safely carried by express companies.
The required rate of travel for the official post is one hundred miles a day, but it does not ordinarily go more than half that distance. Officers of government are allowed ninety days to make the journey from Peking to Canton, a distance of twelve hundred miles, but conriers frequently travel it in twelve days.
The sixth division, on Criminal Laws, is arranged in eleven books, containing in all one hundred and seventy sections, ‘and is the most important of the whole. The clauses under some of the sections are numerous, and show that it is not for want of proper laws or insufficient threatenings that crimes go unpunished.
The books of this division relate to robbery, in which is included high treason and renunciation of allegiance ; to homicide and murder; quarrelling and fighting; abusive language; indictments, disobedience to parents, and false accusations ; bribery and corruption ; forging and frauds ; incest and adultery ; arrests and escapes of criminals, their imprisonment and execution ; and, lastly, miscellaneous offences.
Under Section CCCXXIX. it is ordered that any one who is guilty of addressing abusive language to his or her father or mother, or father’s parents, or a wife who rails at her husband’s
parents or grandparents, shall be strangled ; provided always
that the persons so abused themselves complain to the magistrate, and had personally heard the language addressed to them.
This law is the same in regard to children as that contained
in Leviticus XX. , H, and the power here given the parent does
not seem to be productive of evil. Section CCCLXXXI. has
reference to ” privately hushing np public crimes,” but its
penalties are for the most part a dead letter, and a full account
of the various modes adopted in the courts of withdrawing cases
from the cognizance of superiors, would form a singular chapter
in Chinese jurisprudence. Conseq\icntly those who refuse every
offer to suppress cases are highly lauded by the people. Another
section (CCCLXXXYI.) ordains that whoever is guilty of improper
conduct, contrary to the spirit of the laws, but not a
breach of any specific article, shall be punished at least with forty blows, and with eighty when of a serious nature. Some of the provisions of this part of the code are praiseworthy, but no part of Chinese legislation is so cruel and irregular as criminal jurisprudence. The permission accorded to the judge to torture the criminal opens the door for much inhumanity.
The seventh division contains thirteen sections relating to Public Works and Ways, such as the weaving of interdicted patterns of silk, repairing dikes, and constructing edifices for government. All public residences, granaries, treasuries and manufactories, embankments and dikes of rivers and canals, forts, walls, and mausolea, must be frequently examined, and kept in repair. Poverty or peculation render numy of these laws void, and many subterfuges are often practised by the superintending officer to pocket as much of the funds riS he can.
One officer, M’hen ordered to repair a wall, made the workmen go over it and chip off the faces of the stones etill remaining, then plastering up the holes.
CRITICISM OF THE CODE. 301
Besides these laws and their numerous clauses, every high provincial officer has the right to issue edicts upon such public matters as require regulation, some of thei^,; even affecting life and death, either reviving some old law or ^.v^ving it an application to the case before him, with such iuodifications as seem to be necessary. lie must report these ac-t* to the proper board at Peking. Xo such order, which for Uf*. time has the force of law, is formally repealed, but gradually f;(,lls into ohlWion, until circumstances again require its reiteration. This mode of publishing statutes gives rise to a sort of common and unwritten law in villages, to which a council of elders sometimes compels individuals to submit ; long usage is also another ground for enforcing them.
Still, with all the tortures and punishments allowed by the law, and all the cruelties superadded upon the criminals by irritated officers or rapacious underlings and jailors, a broad survey of Chinese legislation, judged by its results and the general appearance of society, gives the impression of an administration far superior to other Asiatic countries. A favorable comparison has been made in the Jidinlmrgh Review:’ ” By far the most remarkable thing in this code is its great reasonableness, clearness, and consistency, the business-like brevity and directness of the various provisions, and the plainness and moderation in which they are expressed. There is nothing here of the monstrous verhiage of most other Asiatic productions, none of the superstitious deliration, the miserable incoherence, the tremendous non-sequiturs and eternal repetitions of those oi”acnlar performances—nothing even of the turgid adulation, accumulated epithets, and fatiguing self-praise of other Eastern despotisms—but a calm, concise, and distinct series of enactments, savoring throughout of practical judgment and European good sense, and if not always conformable to onr improved notions of expediency, in general approaching to them more nearly than the codes of most other nations. When we pass, indeed, from the ravings of the Zendavesta or the Puranas to the tone of sense and business in this Chinese collection, we seem to be passing from darkness to light, from the drivellings of dotage to the exercise of an improved understanding ; and redundant and absurdly minute as these laws are in many particulars, we scarcely know any European code that is at once so copious and so consistent, or that is so nearly free from intricacy, bigotry, and fiction. / In everything relating to political freedom or individual independence it is indeed wofuUy defective!; but for the repression of disorder and the gentle coer-cion o£ a vast population, it appears to be equally mild and efficacious. The state of society for which it was formed appears incidentally to be a low and wretched o!ie ; but how could its framers have devised a wiser means of maintaining it in peace and tranquillity ?”
This encomium is to a certain extent just, but the practice of legislation in China has probably not been materially improved by the mere possession of a reasonable code of laws, though some melioration in jurisprudence has been effected.’ ^The infliction of barbarous punishments, such as blinding, cutting off noses, ears, or other parts of the body, still not uncommon in Persia and Turkey, is not allowed or practised in China ; and the government, in minor ci’imes, contents itself with but little more than opprobrious exposure in the pilloij, or castigation, which cari-y with them no degradation.
uhe defects in this remarkable body of laws arise from several
sources. The degree of liberty that can safely be awarded
to the subject is not defined in it, and his i-ights are unknown
in law. The government is despotic, but having no etficient
military power in their hands, the lawgivers resort to a minuteness
of legislation upon the pi-actice of social and relative virtues
and duties which interferes with their observance ; though it
must be remembered that no pulpit or Sabbath-school exists
there to expound and enforce them from a higher code, and
the laws must be the chief guide in most cases. The code also
exhibits a minute attention to trifles, and an effort to legislate
for every possible contingency, which nmst perplex the judge
when dealing with the infinite shades of difference occuning in
human actions. There are now many vague and obsolete statutes,
I’eady to serve as a handle to prosecute offenders for the
gratification of private pique ; and although usage and precedent
both combine to prove their disuse, malice and bribery
can easily effect their reviviscence and application to the case.
Sheer cruelty, except in cases of treason against the Emperor,
cannot be chai’ged against this code as a whole, though
many of the laws seem designed to operate chiefly in terrorem^
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 24-29.
INFLUEXCE OF THE LAWS UPON SOCIETY. 39o
and the penalty is placed higher than the punishment really
intended to be inflicted, to the end that the Emperor may have
scope for mercy, or, as he says, ” for leniency beyond the bounds
of the law.” The principle on which this is done is evident, and
the commonness of the practice proves that such an exercise of
mercy has its effect. The laws of China are not altogether unmeaning
words, though the degi-ee of ethciency in their execu
tion is subject to endless variations ; some officers are clement,
others severe ; the people in certain provinces are industrious
and peaceable, in others turbulent and averse to quiet occupations,
so that one is likely to form a juster idea of their adnunistration
by looking at the i-esults as seen in the general aspect
of society, and judging of the tree by its fruits, than by drawing
inferences applicable to the whole machine of state from particular
instances of oppression and insubordination, as has been. so often the case with travellers and writers.
The general examination of the Chinese government here proposed may be conveniently considered under the iieads of the Emperor and his court, classes of society, the different branches of the supreme administration, the provincial authorities, and the execution of the laws.
The Emperor is at the head of the whole ; and if the possession
of great power, and being the object of almost unbounded
reverence, can impai-t happiness, he may safely be considered
as the happiest mortal living; though to his power there are
many checks, and the reverence paid him is proportioned somewhat
to the fidelity with which he administers the decrees of
heaven. ” The Emperor is the sole head of the Chinese constitution
and government ; he is regarded as the vice-gerent of
lieaven, especially chosen to govern all nations ; and is supreme
In everything, holding at once the highest legislative and executive
powers, without limit or control.” Both he and the Pope
claim to be the vice-gerent of heaven and interpreter of its decrees
to the whole world, and these two rulers have emulated
each other in their assumption of arrogant titles. The most
common appellation employed to denote the Emperor in state
papers and among the people is hirangt’i, or ‘ august sovereign ;
‘it is defined as ” the appellation of one possessing complete virtues, and able to act on heavenly principles.” ‘ This title is further defined as meaning heaven : ” Heaven speaks not, yet the four seasons follow in regular succession, and all things spring forth. So the three august ones (Fulihi, Shinnung, and Hwangti) descended in state, and without even uttering a word the people bowed to their sway ; their virtue was inscrutal)le and boundless like august heaven, and therefore were they called august ones.”
Among the numerous titles given the monarch may be mentioned
hiimng shang, the ‘ august lofty one ; ‘ tien Mvang, ‘ celestial
august one;’ shing hivang, the ‘wise and august,’-/.^.,
infinite in knowledge and complete in virtue ; tien ti, ‘ celestial
sovereign ;’ and shing t’l, ‘ sacred sovereign,’ because he is able
to act on heavenly principles. He is also called tien tsz\ ‘ son
of heaven,’ becanse heaven is his father and earth is his mother,
and shing tien tsz\ ‘wise son of heaven,’ as being born of heaven
and having infinite knowledge ; terms which are given him as
the ruler of the world l)y the gift of heaven. He is even addressed,
and sometimes refers to himself, under designations which pertain exclusively to heaven. Wan sui ye, ‘ sire of ten thousand years,’ is a term used when speaking of him or approaching him, like the words, O h’ng, live forever! addressed to the ancient kings of Persia. Pi Ida, ‘ beneath the footstool,’ is a sycophantic compellation used by his courtiers, as if they were only worthy of being at the edge of his footstool.
‘ Chinese Repositori/, Vol. IV., p. 12 ; Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 558.
ATTRIBUTES OF THE CHINESE EMPEROR. 395
The Emperor usually designates himself by the terms ehvn^ ‘ourself; ‘ hwa jin, the ‘ solitary man,’ or the one man ; and hwa Jciun, the ‘ solitary prince.’ He has been loaded with many ridiculous titles by foreign writers, as Brother of the Sun and Moon, Grandson of the Stars, King of Kings, etc., but no such epithets are known among his subjects. His palace has various appellations, such as hall of audience, golden palace, the ninth entrance, vermilion avenue, vermilion hall, rosy hall, forbidden pavilion, the crimson and forbidden palace, gemmeous steps, golden steps, meridian portal, gemmeous avenue, celestial steps,
celestial court, great interior, the maple pavilion, royal house,
etc. To see him is to see the dragon’s face ; the throne is called
the ” di-agon’s throne,” and also the ” divine utensil,” i.e., the
tliinir oiven him bv heaven to sit in Avhen executin<!; his divine
mission ; his person is styled the dragon’s body, and a fiveclawed
dragon is emblazoned, like a coat of arms, on his robes,
which no one can use or imitate. Thus the Old Dragon, it
might be almost said, has coiled himself around the Emperor
of China, one of the greatest upholders of his power in this
world, and contrived to get himself worshipped, through him,
by one third of mankind.
The Emperor is the fountain of power, rank, honor, and privilege to all within his dominions, which are termed tieti hia, meaning all under heaven, and were till recently, even by his highest officers, ignorantly supposed to comprise all mankind.
As there can be but one sun in the heavens, so there can be
but one hwangti on earth, the source and dispenser of benefits
to the whole world.” /The same absolute executive power held
by him is placed in the hands of his deputies and governorgenerals,
to be by them exercised within the limits of their
jui-isdiction. He is the head of religion and the only onef
qualified to adore heaven ; he is the source of law and dispen-j
ser of mercy ; no right can be held in opposition to his pleasure,
no claim maintained against him, no privilege protect from his
wrath. All the forces and revenues of the Empire are his, and
lie has a riffht to claim the services of all males between sixteen j and sixty. In short, the whole Empire is his property, and they only cliecks upon his despotism are 2)ubli(‘ opinion, the want of j an efficient standing army, po^’erty and the venality of the agents of his power.
When the Manchus found themselves in possession of Peking,
they regarded this position as fully entitling them to assume all
imperial rights. Their sovereign thus announced his elevation
in November, 16-14 : ” I, the Son of Heaven, of the Ta-tsing
^ The attributes ascribed to a chakrnwartti in the Buddhist mythology have
many points of resemblance to the hintngti, and Hardy’s Manual of Buddhism
(p. 126) furnishes an instructive comparison between the two characters, one fanciful and the other real.
dynasty, liuniljly as a subject dare to announce to Imperial
Heaven and Sovereign Earth. Tliougli tlie world is vast,
Sliangti looks on all without partiality. My Imperial Grandfather
received the gracious decree of Heaven and founded a
kingdom in the East, which became firmly established. My
Imperial Father succeeding to the kingdom, extended it ; and I,
Heaven’s servant, in my poor person became the ii heritor of
the dominion they transmitted. AVlien the ]\Iing dynasty was
coming to its end, traitors and men of violence appeared in
crowds, involving the people in misery. China was without a
ruler. It fell to me reverentially to accept the responsibility
of continuing the meritorious work of my ancestors. I saved
the people, destroyed their ojopressors ; and now, in accordance
with the desires of all, I iix the urns of Empire at Yen-king.
… I, receiving Heaven’s favor, and in accordance with their
wishes, announce to Heaven that I have ascended the throne of
the Empire, that the name I have chosen for it is the Great
Pure, and that the style of my reign is Shun-chl (‘ Obedient
Rule ‘). I beg reverentially Heaven and Earth to protect and
assist the Empire, so that calamity and disturbance may soon
come to an end, and the land enjoy universal peace. For this
I humbly pray, and for the acceptance of this sacrifice.”
The present Emperor is the ninth of the Tsing dynasty M’ho
has reigned in China. Tk/ikj means Pure, and was taken by
the Manchus as a distinctive tei’m for their new dynasty,
alluding to the ])uj’ity of justice they intended to maintain in
their sway. Some of the founders of the ancient dynasties derived
their dynastic name from their patrimonial estates, as
/SifUfj, ITaii, C//af/, etc., but the later ones have adopted names
like T’uen, or ‘ Original,’ Min<j, or ‘ Illustrious,’ etc., which indicate
their vanity.
The present monarch is still a minor, and the affairs of government are nominally under the direction of the Empressdowager, who held the same office during the minority of his predecessor, Tungchf. -The surname of the reigning family is (j’ioi’o, or ‘ Golden,’ derived from their ancestral chief, Aisin Gioro, whom they feign to have been the son of a divine virgin.
PERSONAL NAME AXD TITLES OF THE EMPEROR. 397
They are the lineal descendants of the Kin, a rude race u-liieh drove out the Chinese rulers and occupied the northern provinces about 1130, making Peking their capital for many years. On the approach of the Mongols they were chased away to the east, and retained oidy a nominal independence ; changing their name from Niichih to Manjurs, they gradually increased in numbers, but did not assume any real importance until they became masters of China. The acknowledged founder of the reigning house was the chief IIien-tsu(1583-lC15), whose actual descendants are collectively designated Tsutuj-sJi’/h, or ‘Imperial Clan.’ The second Emperor further limited the Clan by giving to each of his twenty-four sons a personal name of two characters, the first of which, Ynn, was the same for all of
them. For the succeeding generations lie ordered a series of
characters to be nsed l)y all the membei-s of each, so that
through all their ramifications the first name would show tlieir
position. Ivanghi’s own name was Iliuen^ then followed Yun^
Hung, Yung, JIt’en, Y!h, and T^v?/, tlie last and present sovereigns
being both named T^cr/. All who bear this name are
direct descendants of Kanghi. Since the application of these
seven generation names, eight more have been selected for
future nse by imperial scions.
Tn order still further to distinguish those most nearly allied
in blood, as sons, nephews, etc., it is required that the second
names of each family always consist of characters under the
same radical. Thus Kiaking and his brothers wrote their first
names Yang, ‘Am\ under the radical ^?r>i for the second ; Taukwang
and his brothers and cousins Mien, and under the radical
heart. For some unexplained reason the radicals sill: and gaJ(l,
chosen for the second names of the next two generations, were
altered to u-ords and irater. This peculiarity is easily represented
in the Chinese characters ; a comparison can be made
in English with the supposed names of a family of sons, as
Louis Edward, Louis Edwin, Louis Edwy, Louis Edgar, etc.,
the word Louis answering to Mien, and the syllable Ed to the radical heart.
The present Emperor’s personal name is Tsai-tien, and, like those of his predecessors, is deemed to be too sacred to be spoken, or the characters to be written in the common form.
The same reverence is observed for the names after death, sg that twelve characters have been altered since the Manchu monarchs began to reign ; Hinen-wa, which was the personal name of Kanghi, has become permanently altered in its formation.
The present sovereign was born August 15, 1871, and on January
12, 1875, succeeded his cousin Tsaishun, who died without
issue—the first instance in the Gioro family for nearly three
centuries. At this time there was some delay as to which of
his cousins should succeed to the dragon throne, when the united
council of the princes was led by the mother of the deceased
Emperor to adopt her nephew, the son of Prince Chun. The
little fellow was sent for at night to be immediately saluted
as hwangti, and ere long brought in before them, cross and
sleepy as he was, to begin his reign under the style of Kwangsii,
or ‘ Illustrious Succession.’
This title is called a kwoh hao^ or national designation, and
answers more nearly to the name that a new Pope takes with
the tiara than to anything else in western lands. It is the expression
of the idea which the monarch wishes to associate with
his reign, and is the name by which he is known to his subjects
during his life. It has been called a j>^^”^od by some
writers, but while it is not strictly his name, yet period is not
so correct as reign. Usage has made it equivalent in foreign
books to the personal name, and it is plainer to say the Emperor
Taukwang than the period Taukwang or the reign Taukwang,
or still more than to write, as Wade has done, ” the Emperor
Mien-Ning, the style of whose reign Mas Tau Kwang ;”or than Legge has done, to Bay, *’ the Emperor Pattern, of the period Yungciiing.” In such cases it is not worth the trouble to attempt strict accuracy in a matter so entirely unlike western usages.
The use of the kwoh hao began with Wan-ti, of the Han dynasty,’ b.c. 179, and has continued ever since. Some of ‘ The remark of Heeren {Asiatic Nations, Vol. I. , p. 57), that the names by which the early Persian monarchs, Darius, Xerxes, and others, were called, were really titles or surnames, and not their own personal names, suggests the further comparison whether those renowned names were not like the kiroh hao of the Chinese emperors, whose adoption of the custom was after the ex
THE KWOII HAO AND MIAO HAO. 399
the early inouarclis elianged their hwoli hao many times during
their reigns ; Kao-tsung (a.d. 650-684), for example, had thirteen
in a regime of thirty four years, which induced historians
to employ the laiao Jiao, or ancestral name, as more suitable
and less liable to confusion. The reason for thus investinir the
sovereign with a title different from his real name is not fully
apparent, but arose probably out of the vanity of the monai-ch,
who wished thus to glorify himself by a high-sounding title,
and make his own name somewhat ineffable at the same time.
The custom was adopted in Japan about a.d. 645, and is practised
in Corea and Annam.
When a monarch ascends the throne, or as it is expressed in Chinese, ” when he receives from Heaven and revolving nature the government of the world,” he issues an inaugural proclamation. There is not much change in the wording of these papers, and an extract from the one issued in 1821 will exhibit the practice on such occasions: “Our Da Qing dynasty has received the most substantial indication of Heaven’s kind care. Our ancestors, Taitsu and Taitsung. began to lay the vast foundation [of our Empire] : and Shitsu became the sole monarch of China. Our sacred ancestor Kanghi, the Emperor Yungching, the glory of his age, and Kienlung, the eminent in honor, all abounded in virtue, were divine in martial prowess, consolidated the glory of the Empire, and moulded the whole to peaceful harmony.
” His late Majesty, who has now gone the great journey, governed all under Heaven’s canopy twenty-live years, exercising the utmost caution and industry. Xor evening nor morning was he ever idle. He assiduously aimed at the best possible rule, and hence his government was excellent and illustrious; the court and the country felt the deepest reverence and the stillness of profound awe. A benevolent heart and a benevolent tinction of the Persian monarchy. Herodotus (Book VI., 98) seems to have been familiar with these names, not so much as being arbitrary and meaningless terms as epithets whose significations were associated with the kings. The new names given to the last two sons of Josiah, who became kings of Judah by their conquerors (3 Kings, 23; 34, and 24 : 17), indicate even an earlier adoption of this custom.
administration were universally dift’used : in China Proper, as well as beyond it, order and tranquillity pi-evailed, and the tens of thousands of common people were all happy. But in the midst of a hope that this glorious reign would be long protracted, and the help of Heaven would be received many days, unexpectedly, on descending to bless, by his Majesty’s presence, Lwanyang, the dragon charioteer (the holy Emperor) became a guest on high.
” My sacred and indulgent Father had, in the yeai” that ho
bejiran to rule alone, silent! v settled that the divine utensil
should devolve on my contemptible person. I, knowing the
feebleness of my virtue, at first felt much afraid I should not be
competent to the office ; but on reflecting that the sages, my
ancestors, have left to posterity their plans ; that his late
Majesty has laid the duty on me—and Heaven’s throne should
not be long vacant—I have done violence to my feelings and
foi’ced myself to intermit awhile my heartfelt grief, that I may
with reverence obey the unalterable decree ; and on the 2Tth of
the Sth moon (October 3d) 1 purpose devoutly to announce the
ev^ent to Heaven, to earth, to my ancestors, and to the gods of
the land and of the grain, and shall then sit down on the imperial throne. Tx’t the next year be the first of Taukwang.
” I look upward and hope to be able to continue former excellences. I lay my hand on my heart with feelings of respect and cautious awe.—When a new monarch addresses himself to the Empire, he ought to c(»iifer benefits on his klndi-ed, and extensively bestow gracious favors : what is proper to be done on this occasion is stated below.”
(Here follow twenty-two paragraphs, detailing the gifts to be
conferred and promotions made of noblemen and officers ; ordering
the restoration of suspended dignitaries to their full pay
and honoi’s, and sacrifices to Confucius and the Emperors of
former dynasties ; pardons to be extended to ciiminals, and
banished convicts recalled ; governmental debts and arrearages
to be forgiven, and donations to be bestowed upon the aged.)
“Lo! now, on succeeding to the throne, T shall exei-cise myself
to give repose to the millions of my ]>eople. iVssist me to
sustain the burden laid on mv shoulders ! With veneration I
COr.OXATIOX T’ROrr.AMATIOX OF TArKU’AXO. 4(‘]
receive charge of Heaven’s great concerns.—Ye kings and statesmen, great and small, civil and military, let every one be faithful and devoted, and aid in supporting the vast afPairs, that our family dominion may be preserved hundreds and tens of thousands of years in never-ending tranquillity and glory ! Promulgate this to all under Heaven — cause every one to hear it!”
The programme of ceremonies to be observed when the Emperor” ascends the summit,” and seats himself on the dragon’s throne, was published for the Emperor Taukwangby the Board of Kites a few days after. It details a long series of prostrations and bowings, leading out and marshalling the various officers of the court and members of the imperial family. After they are all arranged in proper precedence before the throne,” at the appointed hour the president of the Board of Bites shall go and entreat his Majesty to put on his mourning, and
come forth by the gate of the eastern palace, and enter at the
left door of the middle palace, where his Majesty, before the
altar of his deceased imperial father, will respectfully announce
that he receives the decree—kneel thrice and bow nine times.”
lie then retires, and soon after a large deputation of palace
officers ” go and solicit his Majesty to put on his impei-ial robes
and proceed to the palace of his mother, the Empress-dowager,
to pay his respects. The Empress-dowager will put on her court
robes and ascend her throne, before which his Majesty shall
kneel thrice and bow nine times.” After this filial ceremony
is over the golden chariot is made ready, the officer of the
Astronomical Board—whose business is to ohscrve times—
h
stationed at the palace gate, and when he announces the arrival
of the chosen and felicitous moment, his Majesty comes forth
and mounts the golden chariot, and the procession advances to
the Palace of Protection and Peace. Here the great officers of
the Empire are marshalled according to their rank, and when
the Emperor sits down in the palace they all kneel and bow
nine times.
” This ceremony over, the President of the Board of Rites, stepping forward, shall kneel down and beseech his Majesty, saying, ‘ Ascend the imperial throne.’ The Emperor shall then rise from his seat, and the procession moving on in the same order to the Palace of Peace, his Majesty shall ascend the seat of gems and sit down on the imperial throne, with his face to the south.” All present come forward and again make the nine prostrations, after which the proclamation of coronation, as it would be called in Europe, is formally sealed, and then announced to the Empire with similar ceremonies. There are many other lesser rites observed on these occasions, some of them appropriate to such an occasion, and others, according to our notions, bordering on the ludicrous ; the whole presenting a strange mixture of religion, splendor, and farce, though as a whole calculated to impress all with a sentiment of awe toward one who gives to heaven, and receives from man, such homage and worship.’
Nothing is omitted which can add to the dignity and sacredness
of the Emperor’s person or character. Almost everything
used by him, or in his personal service, is tabued to the connuon
people, and distinguished by some peculiar mark or color, so as
to keep up the impression of awe with which he is regarded,
and which is so powerful an auxiliary to his throne. The outer
gate of the palace must always be passed on foot, and the paved
entrance walk leading up to it can only be used by him. The vacant throne, or even a screen of yellow silk thrown over a chair, is worshipped equally with his actual presence, and an imperial dispatch is received in the provinces with incense and prostrations ; the A-essels on the canal bearing articles for his special use always have the rig:ht of way. His birthday is eel ebrated by his officers, and the account of the opening ceremony, as witnessed by Lord Macartney, shows how skilfully every act tends to maintain his assumed character as the son of heaven.
‘ Chinese Repository^ Vol. X., pp. 87-98. Indo-Chinese Gleaner, February, isai.
HOMAGE KENDERP:D TO THE EMPEROR. 403
” The first day was consecrated to the purpose of rendering a solemn, sacred, and devout homage to the supreme majesty of the Emperor. The ceremony was no longer performed in a tent, nor did it partake of the nature of a banquet. The princes, tributai-ies, ambassadors, and great officers of state were assembled in a vast hall ; and upon particular notice were introduced into au inner building, bearing at least the semblance of a temple.
It was chietiy furnished with great instruments of music,
among which were sets of cylindrical bells suspended in a line
from ornamental frames of wood, and gradually diminishing in
size from one extremity to the other, and also triangular pieces
of metal, arranged in the same order as the bells. To the
sound of these instruments a slow and solemn hymn was sung
by eunuchs, who had such a command over their voices as to
resemble the effect of musical glasses at a distance. The performers
were directed, in tlie gliding from one tone to the other,
by the striking of a shrill and sonorous cymbal ; and the judges
of music among the gentlemen of the embassy were much
pleased with their execution. The whole had, indeed, a grand
effect. During the performance, and at particular signals, nine
times repeated, all present prostrated themselves nine times,
except the ambassador and his suite, who made a profound
obeisance. But he whom it was meant to honor continued, as
if in imitation of the Deity, invisible the whole time. The
awful impression intended to iTe made upon the minds of men
by this apparent worship of a fellow-mortal was not to be
effaced by any immediate scenes of sport or gaiety, which were
postponed to the following day. ” ‘ The mass of the people are
not aduutted to particij^ate in these ceremonies ; they are kept
at a distance, and care, in fact, very little about them. In every
provincial capital there is a hall, called Wan-shao l:u?ig, dedicated
solely to the honor of the Emperor, and where, three days
before and after his birthday, all the civil and military officers
and the most distinguished citizens assemble to do him tlie
same homage as if he were present. The walls and furniture
are yellow.
The right of succession is hereditary in the male line, but it
is always in the power of the sovereign to nominate his successor
from among his own children. The heir-apparent is not
commonly known during the lifetime of the incumbent, though
Staunton’s Embassy, 8vo edition, London, 1797, Vol. III., p. 63.
there is a titular office of guardian of the heir-apparent. During
tlie Tsing dynasty the succession has varied, l)ut tiie hloody
scenes enacted in Turkey, Egypt, and India to remove competitors
are not known at Peking, and the people have no fear that they will be enacted. Of the eight preceding sovereigns, Shunchi was the ninth son, Tvanghi the third, Vnngehing the fourth, Kienlung the fourth, Kiaking the iifteenth, Taukwang
the second, Hienfung the fourth, and Tungchi the only son.
When Kwangsii was chosen this regular line failed, and thus
was terminated an nnbi-oken succession during two Inmdred
and fifty-nine years (1616 to 1875), when ten rulers (including
two in Manchuria) occupied the throne. It can be paralleled
onlv in eTudah, where the line of David down to Jehoiachin
(b.c. 1055 to 599) continued regularly in the same manner—
•
twenty kings in four hundred and fifty six years.
In the reign of Kieidung, one of the censors memorialized
him upon the desirableness of announcing his sncsessor, in order
to quiet men’s minds and repress intrigue, but the suggestion
cost the man his place. The Emperor said that the name of
his successor, in case of his own sudden death, would be found
in a designated place, and that it was highly inexpedient to
mention him, lest intriguing men buzzed about him, forming
factions and trying to elevate themselves. The soundness of
this policy cannot l)e doubted, and it is not nnlikely that Kienlung
knew the evils of an opposite course from an acquaintance
with the history of some of the princes of Central Asia or
India. One good result of not indicating the heir-apparent is
that not oidy are no intrigues formed by the crown-prince, but
when he begins to reign he is seldom compelled, from fear of
his own safety, to kill or imprison his brothers or uncles; for,
as they possess no power or party to render them formidable,
their ambition finds full scope for its exercise in peaceful ways.
In 1861, when the heir was a child of five years, a palace intrigue
was started to remove his custody out of the hands of his mother
into those of a cabal wlio had held sway for some years, but the
promoters were all executed.
THE IMPKIilAL HOUSE AXD NOBILITY. 405
The management of the imperial clan appertains entirely to the Emperor, and has been conducted with considerable sagacI’ty. All its members arc under the control of the Tsuny-jln fu, a sort ot” clansmen’s court, consisting of a presiding controller, two assistant directors, and two deputies of the family.
Their duties are to regulate whatever belongs to the government of the Emperor’s kindred, which is divided into two branches, the direct and collateral, or the Uiukj-hMIi and Gioro.
The TmurKj-sJiiJi, or ‘Imperial House,’ coni})rise only the lineal
descendants of Tienming’s father, named llien-tsu, or ‘ Illustrious
Sire,” who first assumed the title of Emperor a.d. 1610.
The collateral branches, including the children of his uncles and
brothers, are collectively c;illed Gioro. Their united number is
unknown, l)ut a genealogical record is kept in the national archives
at Peking and Mukden. The Tsunfj-ahlh are distinguished
by a yellow girdle, and the Gioro by a red one; when
degraded, the former take a red, the latter a carnation girdle.
There are altogether twelve degrees of rank in the Tsung-shih^
and consequently some of the distant kindred are reduced to
straitened circumstances. They are shut out from useful careers,
and generally exhibit the evils ensuent upon the system of education
and surveillance adopted toward them, in their low,
vicious pursuits, and cringing imbecility of character. Tlie sum
of $133 is allowed when they marry, and $150 to defray funeral
expenses, vvhich induces some of them to maltreat their wives
to death, in order to receive the allowance and dowry as often
as possible.
The titular nobility of the Empire, as a whole, is a body
whose members are without power, land, wealth, office, or influence,
in virtue of their honors ; some of them are more or less
hereditary, but the whole system has been so devised, and the
designations so conferred, as to tickle the vanity of those who
receive them, without granting them any real power. The titles
are not derived from landed estates, but the rank is siinply
designated in addition to the name, and it has been a question
of some difficulty how to translate them. For instance, the
title Kung tsin-vKing literally means the ‘ Reverent Kindred
Prince,’ and should be translated Prince Kung, not Prince of
Kung, which conveys the im})ression to a foreign reader that
Kung is an appanage instead of an epithet The twelve orders of nobility are conferred solely on the members of the imperial house and clan : 1. Tsin icamj, ‘ kindred prince,’ i.e., prince of the blood, conferred usnallj on his
Majesty’s brothers or sons. 2. K’nm. irang, or ‘ prince of a
princedom ;
‘ the eldest sons of the princes of these two degrees
take a definite rank during their father’s lifetime, but the collateral
branches descend in precedence as the generations are
more and more remote from the direct imperial line, until at
last the person is simply a member of the imperial clan. These
two ranks were termed regulus by the Jesuit writers, and each
son of an Emperor enters one or other as he becomes of
age. The highest princes receive a stipend of about ^13,300,
some rations, and a retinue of three hundred and sixty servants,
altogether making an annual tax on the state of $75,000 to
$90,000. The second receive half that sum, and inferior grades
in a decreasing ratio, down to the simple members, who each
get four dollars a month and rations. 3 and -i. BeUe and
Beitse, or princes of and in collateral branches. The Sth to
8th are dukes, called Guard i;m and Sustaining, with two subordinate
grades not entitled to enter the court on state occasions.
The 9th to 12th ranks are nobles, or rather generals, in line of
descent. The number of persons in the lower ranks is very
great. Few of these men hold offices at the capital, and still
more rarely are they placed in responsible situations in the
provinces, but the government of Manchuria is chiefly in their
hands.
Besides these are the five ancient orders of nobility, Ining,
liao,2_^(‘li,Uz’, and nan, usually rendered duke, count, viscount,
baron, and baronet, which are conferred without distinction on
Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, both civil and military, and as
such are highly prized by their recipients as marks of honor.
The three first take precedence of the highest untitled civilians,
but an appointment to most of the high offices in the country
carries with it an honorary title. The direct descendant of
Confucius is called Yoi-f^/ilng humj, ‘ the Ever-sacred duke,’
and of Koxinga Ilai-ching hmg, or ‘ Sea-quelling duke ;’ these
two arc the only perpetual titles among the Chinese, but among
the Manchus, the chiefs of eight families which aided in settling the crown in the Gioro line were made hereditary princes,
LIFE IN THE PALACE. 407
who are collectively called princes of the iron crown. Besides
the above-mentioned, there are others, which are deemed even
more honorable, either from their rarity or peculiar privileges,
and answer to membership of the various orders of the Garter,
Golden Fleece, Bath, etc , in Europe.
The internal arrangements of the court are modelled somewhat
after those of the Boards, the general supervision being
under the direction of the Nid-wufa, composed of a president
and six assessors, under whom are seven subordinate departments.
It is the duty of these officers to attend upon the Emperor
and Empress at sacrifices, and conduct the ladies of the
harem to and from the palace ; they oversee the households of
the sons of the Emperor, and direct, under his Majestj’, everything
belonging to the palace and whatever appertains to its
supplies and the care of the imperial guard. The seven departments
are arranged so as to bear no little resemblance to a
miniature state : one supplies food and raiment ; a second is
for defence, to regulate the body-guard when the Emperor
travels; the third attends to the etiquette the members of this
great family must observe toward each other, and brings forward
the inmates of the harem when the Emperor, seated in
the inner hall of audience, receives their homage, led by the
Empress herself ; a fourth department selects ladies to fill the
harem, and collects the revenue from crown lands ; a fifth
superintends all repairs necessary in the palace, and sees that
the streets of the city be cleared whenever the Emperor, Erapress,
or any of the women or children in the palace wish to go
out ; a sixth department has in charge the herds and fiocks of
the Emperor ; and tlie last is a court for punishing the crimes
of soldiers, eunuchs, and ethers attached to the palace.
The Emperor ought to have three thousand eunuchs, but the
actual number is rather less than two thousand, who perform
the work of the household. His sons and grandsons are alloM^ed
from thirty down to four, while the iron-crown princes and imperial
sons-in-law have twenty or thirty ; all these nobles are
constrained to employ some eunuchs in their establishments, if
not able to maintain the full quota, for show. Most of this
class are compelled to submit to mutilation by tlieir parents
before the age of eight (and not always from povei-ty), as it
usually insures a livelihood. Some take to this condition from
motives of laziness and the high duties falling to their share if
they behave themselves. From very ancient times certain
criminals have been punished by castration. There is a separate
control for the due efficiency of these servants of the court,
who are divided into forty-eight classes ; durhig the present
dynasty they have never caused trouble. The highest pay any
of them receive is twelve taels a month.
The number of females attached to the harem is not accurately
known ; all of them are under the nominal direction
of the Empress. Every third year his Majesty reviews the
daughters of the IVIanchu officers over twelve years of age, and
chooses such as he pleases for concubines ; there are oidy seven
legal concubines, but an unlimited mnuber of illegal. The latter
are restored to li])erty when they reach the age of twentyfive,
unless they have borne cliildren to his Majest}-. It is generally
considered an advantage to a family to have a daughter
in the harem, especially by the Manchus, who endeavor to rise
by this backstairs influence.’ To the poor Avomen themselves
it is a monotonous, weary life of intriguing unrest. As soon as
one enters the palace she bids final adieu to all her male relatives,
and rarely sees her female friends ; the eunnchs \vlio
take care of her are her chief channels of communication with
the outer world. It may be added, however, that the comforts
and influence of her condition are vastly superior to those of
Hindu females.
In the forty-eighth volume of the Hiral Tioi, from whicii
work most of the details in this chapter are obtained, is an account
of the snpplies furnished his Majesty and the court.
There should daily be placed befoi-o the Emperor thirty pounds
of meat in a basin and seven pounds boiled into soup ; hog’s
fat and butter, of each one and one-third pound ; two sheep,
two fowls, and two ducks, the milk of eighty cows, and seventy-
‘ Chinese licpositorp, Vol. XIV., !>. 521; N. C. Br. It. As. Soc. Jovriuil,
x\o. XI.
positio:n” of the empress and ladies. 409
five parcels of tea. Her Majesty receives twenty-one pounds
of meat in platters and thirteen pounds boiled with vegetables
;
one fowl, one duck, twelve pitchers of watei’, the milk of
twenty-iive cows, and ten parcels of tea. Her maids and the
3oncubines receive their rations according to a regular fare.
The Empress-dowager is the most important subject within
the palace, and his Majesty does homage at frequent intervals,
!)y making the highest ceremony of nine prostrations before
her. When the widow of Iviaking reached the age of sixty in
1S3<), many honors were conferred l)y the Emperor. An extract
from the ordinance issued on this festival will exhibit the
regard paid her by the sovereign
:
” Our extensive dominions have enjoyed the utmost prosperity
under the shelter of a glorious and enduring state of felicity.
Our exalted race has become most illustrious under the protection
of that honored relative to whom the whole court looks up.
To her happiness, already unalloyed, the highest degree of
felicity has been superadded, causing joy and gladness to every
inmate of the Six Palaces. The grand ceremonies of the occasion
shall exceed in splendor the utmost recpiirements of the
ancients in regard to the human relations, calling ft)rth the gratulation
of the whole Em})ire. It is indispensable that the observances
of the occasion sliould be of an exceedingly unusual
nature, in older that our reverence for our august parent and
care of her may both be equally and gloriously displayed. . . .
… In the first month of the present winter occurs the sixtieth
anniversary of her Majesty’s sacred natal day. At the opening
of the happy period, the sun and moon shed their united genial
influences on it. When commencing anew the revolution of
the sexagenary cycle, the honor thereof adds increase to her
felicity. Looking upward and Ijeholding her glory, Ave repeat
our gratulations, and announce the event to Heaven, to Earth, to
our ancestors, and to the patron gods of the Empire. On the
nineteenth day of the tenth moon in the fifteenth year of Taukwang,
we will conduct the princes, the nobles, and all the high
officers, both rivil and military, into the presence of the great
Empress, benign and dignified, universally placid, thoi-oughly
virtuous, tran(piil and self-collected, in favors unbounded ; and
we will then present our congratulations on the glad occasion,
the anniversary of her natal day. The occasion yields a happiness
equal to what is enjoyed by goddesses in heaven ; and
while announcing it to the gods and to our people, we will
tender to her blessings unbounded.”
Besides the usual tokens of favor, such as rations to soldiers, pardons, promotions, advances in official rank, etc., it was ordered in the eleventh article, ” That every perfectly filial son or obedient grandson, every upright husband or chaste wife, upon proofs being brought forward, shall have a monument erected, with an inscription in his or her honor.”” Soldiers who had reached the age of ninety or one hundred received money to erect an honorary portal, and tombs, temples, bridges, and roads were ordered to be repaired ; but how many of these ” exceedingly great and special favors ” were actually carried into effect cannot be stated.’
For the defence and escort of the Emperor and his palaces
there are select bodies of troops, which are stationed within the
Hwang-ching and the capital and at the various cantonments
near the city. The Bannermen form three separate corps, each
containing the hereditaiy troops of Manchu, Mongol, and enrolled
Chinese, organized at the beginning of the dynasty under
eight standards. Their flags are ti’iangular, a plain yellow,
white, red, and blue for troops in the left wing, and the same
bordered with a narrow stripe of another color for troops in the
rio-ht wino;. All the families of these soldiers remain in the
corps into which they were born.
Two special forces are selected, one named the Vanguard
Division, the other the Flank Division, from the Manchu and
Mongol Bannermen ; these guard the Forbidden City, form his
Majesty’s escort when he goes out, and number respectively
about one thousand five hundred and fifteen thousand men.
For the preservation of the peace of the capital a force of upward
of twenty thousand, called the Infantry Division, or Gendarmerie,
is stationed in and around the walls, in addition to
the palace forces. Besides these a cadet corps of five hundred
Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 576.
EMPEllOR’S GUARD AND DIVISIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 411
young men nrnied with l)Ows and spears, two battalions with firearms, and four larger battalions of eight hundred and seventy-five men each, di’iiled in rifle-practice, are relied on to aid the Gendarmerie and Vanguard in case of danger. Whenever the One Man goes out of the palace gate to cross the city, the streets through which he passes aie screened with matting, to keep off the crowds as well as diminish the risks of his person.
The result has been that few of the citizens have ever seen their sovereign’s face during the last two hundred years. The young Emperor Tungchi obtained great favor among them on one occasion of his return from the Temple of Heaven by ordering the screen of mats to be removed so that he and his people could see each other.
Lender the Emperor is the whole body of the people, a great
family bound implicitly to obey his will as being that of heaven,
and possessing no right or property jper se ; in fact, having
nothing but what has been derived from or may at any time be
reclaimed by him. The greatness of this family, and the absence
of an entailed aristocracy to hold its members or their
lands in serfdom, have been partial safeguards against excess
of oppression. Liberty is unknown among the people ; there is
not even a word for it in the language. No acknowledgment
on the part of the sovereign of certain well-understood rights
belonging to the people has ever been required, and is not
likely to be demanded or given by either party until the Gospel
shall teach them their respective rights and duties. Emigration abroad, and even removal from one part of the Empire to another, are prohibited or restrained by old laws, but at present no real obstacle exists to changing one’s place of residence or occupation. Notwithstanding the fact that Chinese society is so homogeneous when considered as distinct from the sovereign, inequalities of many kinds are constantly met with, some growing out of birth or property, others out of occupation or merit, but most of them derived from official rank. There is no caste as in India, though the attempt to introduce the miserable system was vainly made by Wan-ti about a.d. 590. The ancient distinctions of the Chinese into scholars, agriculturists, artisans, and traders is far superior to that of Zoroaster into priests, warriors, agriculturists, and artisans ; a significant index of the different polities of eastern and western x\siatic nations is contained in this early quaternary division, and the superiority of the Chinese in its democratic element is also noticeable. There are local prejudices against associating with some portions of the community, thougly the people thus shut out are not remnants of old castes.
\The tan/da, or boat-people, at Canton form a class in some respects beneath the other portions of the community, and have many customs peculiar to themselves.
At Mngpo there is a degraded set called to viin, amounting to nearly three thousand persons, with whom the people will not associate. The men are not allowed to enter the examinations or follow an honorable calling, but are play-actors, musicians, or sedan-bearers ; the women are match-makers or female barbers and are obliged to wear a peculiar dress, and usually go abroad carrying a bundle wrapped in a checkered handkerchief.
The tanhia at Canton also wear a similar handkerchief on their head, and do not cramp their fee^ The to iidn are supposed to be descendants of the Kin, who held northern China in a.d.1100, or of native traitors who aided the Japanese, in 1555-1563, in their descent upon Chehkiang. The tanh’ui came from some of the Miaotsz’ tribes so early that their origin is unknown.’
The modern classifications of the people, recognized, however, more by law than custom, are various and comprehensive. First, natives and aliens ; the latter include the unsubdued mountaineers and aboriginal tribes living in various parts, races of boat-people on the coasts, and all foreigners residing within the Empire, each of whom are subject to particular laws. Second, conquerors and conquered ; having reference almost entirely to a prohibition of intermarriages between Manchus arid Chinese. Third, freemen and slaves; every native is allowed to pm-chase slaves and retain their children in servitude, and free persons sometimes forfeit their freedom on account of their crimes, or mortgage themselves into bondage. Fourth, the
‘ Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., p. 324; Hardy, Manual of BttddJdsm, pC9 ; Heereii, Asiatic Nations, Vol. I., p. 240.
SLAVES AXD PRIVILEGED CLASSES. 413
iioiioi’able and the mean, m’Iio cannot intermarry without the former forfeiting their privileges; the latter comprise, besides aliens and slaves, criminals, executioners, police-runners, actors, jugglers, beggars, and all other vagrant or vile persons, who are in general required to pursue for three generations some honorable and useful employment before they are eligible to enter the literary examinations. These four divisions extend over the whole body of the people, but really affect only a small minority.
It is worthy of note how few have been the slaves in China, and how easy has been their condition in comparison with what it was in Greece and Rome. / Owing chiefly to the prevalence of education in the liberal principles of the Four Books, China has been saved from this disintegrating element. The proportion of slaves to freemen cannot be stated, but the former have never attracted notice by their numbers nor excited dread by their restiveness^ Girls are more readily sold than boys ; at Peking a healthy girl under twelve years brings from thirty to fifty taels, rising to two hundred and fifty or three hundred for one of seventeen to eighteen years old. In times of famine orphans or needy children are exposed for sale at the price of a few cash.’
There are also eight privileged classes, of which the privileges of imperial blood and connections and that of nobility are the only ones really available ; this privilege affects merely’ the punishment of offenders belonging to either of the eight classes. The privilege of imperial blood is extended to all the blood relations of the Emperor, all those of the Empress-mother and grandmother within four degrees, of the Empress within three, and of the consort of the crown prince within two. Privileged noblemen comprise all officers of the first rank, all of the second holding office, and all of the third whose office confers a command.
These ranks are distinct from titles of nobility, and are much thought of by officers as honorary distinctions. There are nine, each distinguished by a different colored ball placed on the apex of the cap, by a peculiar emblazonry of a bird for civilians and a beast for military officers on the breast, and a different clasp to the girdle.
‘ M. Ed. Biot furnished a good account to the Journal Asiatique (3d series, Vol. III.) of the legal condition of slaves in China ; see also Chinese RepoHVtory^ Vol. XVIII., pp. 347-003, and passim; Archdeacon Gray’s China.
Civilians of the first rank wear a precious ruby or transparent red stone; a Manchurian crane is embroidered on the back and breast of the robe, while the girdle clasp is jade set in rubies; military men have a unicorn, their buttons and clasps being the same as civilians.
Civilians of the second rank wear a red coral button, a robe
embroidered with a golden pheasant, and a girdle clasp of gold
set in rubies ; the lion of India is emblazoned on the military.
Civilians of the third rank carry a sapphire and one-eyed
peacock’s feather, a robe with a peacock worked on the breast,
and a clasp of worked gold ; military officers have a leopard.
Different Styles of Official Caps.
Civilians of the fourth rank are distinguished by a blue opaque stone, a wild goose on the breast, and a clasp of worked gold with a silver button ; military officers carry a tiger in place of the embroidered wild goose.
Civilians of the fifth rank are denoted by a crystal button, a silver pheasant on the breast, and a clasp of plain gold with a silver button ; the bear is the escutcheon of military men.
Civilians of the sixth rank wear an opaque white shell button, a blue plume, an egret worked on the breast, and a mother of pearl clasp; military men wear a tiger-cat.
Civilians of the seventh rank have a plain gold button, a mandarin duck on the breast, and a clasp of silver; a mottled bear designates the military, as it also does in the last rank.
EIGHT HONOUAUY RANKS. 415
The eighth rank wear a worked gokl button, a quail on the breast, and a clasp of clear horn : military men have a seal. The ninth rank are distinguished by a worked silver button, a long-tailed jay on the breast, and a clasp of buffalo’s horn ; military men are marked by a rhinoceros embroidered on the robe. All under the ninth can embroider the oriole on their breasts, and unofficial Ilanlin take the egret.
The mass of people show their democratic tendencies in many ways, some of them conservative and others disorganizing. They form themselves into clans, guilds, societies, professions, and communities, all of which assist them in maintaining their rights, and give a power to public opinion it would not otherwise possess. Legally, every subject is allowed access to the magistrates, secured protection from oppression, and can appeal to the higher courts, but these privileges are of little avail if he is poor or unknown. ( He is too deeply imbued with fear and too ignorant of his rights to think of organized resistance ; his mental independence has been destroyed, his search after truth paralyzed, his enterprise checked, and his whole efforts directed into two channels, viz., labor for bread and study for office.
The people of a village, for instance, will not be quietly robbed of the fruits of their industry ; but every individual in it niay suffer multiplied insults, oppressions, and cruelties, without thinking of combining with his fellows to resist. Property is held by a tolerably secure tenure, but almost every other right and privilege is shamefully trampled oiA
Although there is nominally no deliberative or advisatory body in the Chinese government, and nothing really analogous to a congress, parliament, or tiersetat, still necessity and law compel the Emperor to consult and advise with the heads of tribunals. There are two imperial councils, which are the organs of communication between the head and the body politic ; these are the Cabinet, or Imperial Chancery, and the Council of State ; both of them partake of a deliberative character, but the first has the least power. Subordinate to these two councils are the administrative parts of the supreme government, consisting of the six Boards, the Colonial Office, Censorate, Courts of Representation and Appeal, and the Imperial Academy; making in all thirteen principal departments, each of which will require a short description. It need hardly be added that there is nothing like an elective body in any part of the system ; such a feature would be almost as incongruous to a Chinese as the election of a father by his family.
1. The Nui Kon, or Cabinet, sometimes called the Grand Secretariat,
consists of iowv ta]ik)Ji-sz\ or principal, and two hiehpa/i
ta Jdoh-sz\ or ‘joint assistant chancellors,’ half of them Manchus
and half Chinese. Their duties, according to the Imperial
Statutes, are to ” deliberate on the government of the Empire,
proclaim abroad the imperial pleasure, regulate the canons
of state, together with the whole administration of the great
balance of power, thus aiding the Emperor in directing the
affairs of state.” Subordinate to these six chancellors are six
grades of officers, amounting in all to upward of two hundred
persons, of whom more than half are Manchus. Under the six
chancellors are ten assistants, called hloh-sz\ ‘ learned scholars ;’
some of the sixteen are constantly absent in the provinces or
colonies, when their places are supplied by substitutes. What in other countries is performed by one person as prime minister, is in China performed by the four chancellors, of whom the first in the list is usually considered to be the premier, though perhaps the must influential man and the real leader of government holds another station.
The most prominent daily business of the Cabinet is to receive imperial edicts and rescripts, present memorials, lay before his Majesty the affairs of the Empire, procure his instructions thereon, and forward them to the appropriate office to be copied and promulgated. In order to expedite business in court, it is the custom, after the ministers have read and formed an opinion upon each document, to fasten a slip of paper at the foot—or more than one if elective answers are to be given—and thus present the document to his Majesty, in the presence chamber, who, with a stroke of his pencil on the answer he chooses, decides its fate. The papers, having been examined and arranged, are submitted to the sovereign at daylight on the following morning ; one of the six Manchu ///o/z-.s*.?’ first reads each document and hands it over to one of the four Chinese ]uoh-sz\ who inscribes the answer dictated by the sovereign, or hands it to him to perform that duty with the vermilion pencil.
THE NTTI KOII, OR CABIXET. 417
By this arrangement a large amount of business can be summarily despatched; but it is also evident that much depends upon the manner in which the answer written upon the slip is drawn up, as to the reception or rejection of the paper, though care has been taken in this particular by requiring that codicils be prepared showing the reasons for each answer. The appointment, removal, and degradation of all officers throughout his vast aominions, orders respecting the apportionment or remittal of the revenue and taxes, disposition of the army, regulation of the nomadic tribes—in short, all concerns, from the highest appointments and changes down to petty police cases of crime, are in this way brought to the notice and action of the Emperor.
Besides these daily duties there are additional functions devolving
upon the members of the Cabinet, who are likewise all
attached to other bureaus, such as presiding on all state occasions
and sacrifices, coronations, reception of embassies, etc. ;
these duties are fulfilled by the ten assistant hk>h-sz\ who are
all vice-presidents of the Board of Rites. They are the keepers
of the twenty-five seals of government, each of which is of a
different form and used for different and special purposes,
according to the custom of orientals, who place so much de-
Tj)endence upon the seal for vouching for* the authenticity of a
document.’ Attached to the Cabinet are ten subordinate offices,
one of which is for translating documents into the various
Vmguages found in the Empire. The higher members of the
Cabinet are familiarly called h>h lao, i.e., elders of the councilroom,
from which the word colao, often met with in old books
upon China, is derived.”
‘ Chinese Chrestmnnthy. Chap. XVII., Sec. 4, p. 570.
^ A still more common designation for officers of every rank in the employ of the Chinese government has not so good a parentage ; this is the word iiKtiidarin, derived from the Portuguese maiidar, to command, and indiscriminately applied by foreigners to every grade, from a premier to a tide-waiter; it is not needed in English as a general term for officers, and ought to be disiised, moreover, from its tendency to convey the impression that they are in some way unlike similar officials in other lands. Compare Notes and Queries on Chihd (uid Jdjmn, Vol. III., p. 12.
2. The KiCN-Ki Chu, Council of State or General _Coimci], was organized about 1730, butjias now become the most influential body in the governmentj and^ though quite unlike in its construction, corresponds to the 7mnidry of western nations more than does any other branch of the Chinese system. It can be composed of any grandees, as princes of the blood, chancellors, presidents and vice-presidents of the Six Boards, and chief officers of all the other metropolitan courts. They are ^selected at the Emperor’s pleasure^ and unitedly called J^great ministers directing the machinery of the army “—the army being here taken to signify the nation. Its duties are ” to write imperial edicts and decisions, and determine such things as are of importance to the army and nation, in order to aid the sovereign in regulating the machinery of affairs.” The number of members of the General Council probably varies according to his Majesty’s pleasure, for no list of them is given in the Bed Bool’ • but latterly their munber has been four, two of each nationality, and Prince Kung as the president. This body is one of the mainsprings of the government, and its composition shows the tendency of the national councils and polity.
The members of the General Council assemble daily in the
Forbidden Palace, between five and six in the morning ; when
summoned by his Majesty into the council-chamber they sit
upon mats or low cushions, no person being permitted to sit on
chairs in the real or supposed presence of the Emperor. His
Majesty’s commands being written down by them, are, if public,
transmitted to the Iimer Council to be promulgated ; but
on any matter requiring secrecy or expedition, a despatch is
forthwith made up and sent under cover to the Board of War,
to be forwarded. In all important consultations or trials this
Council, either alone or in connectipji^with the appropriate
court, is called in ; and in time of war it is formed intg^a committee
of ways and means. Lists of ofiicers entitled to promotion
are kept by it, and the names of proper persons to supply
vacancies furnished the Emperor, Many of the residents in
the colonies ai-e members of the Council, and communicate
directly with his Majesty through it, and receive allowances
and gifts with great formality from the throne—a device of
THE KIUN-Ki, OR GENERAL COUNCIL. 419
statecraft designed to maintain an awe of the imperial character and name as much as possible among the mixed races under them.
The General Council fills an important station in the system, and tends greatly to consolidate the various branches of government, facilitating their harmonious action as well as supplying the deficiencies of an imbecile, or restraining the acts of a tyrannical monarch. The statutes speak of various record books, both public and secret, kept by the members for noting down the opinions of his Majesty, and add that there are no fixed times for audiences, one or more sessions being held daily, according to the exigencies of the state. Besides these functions, its members are further charged with certain literary matters, and three subordinate offices are attached to the Council for their preparation. One is for drawing up narratives of important transactions—a few of those relating to the wars and negotiations with foreigners since 1839 would be of much interest now ; a second is for translating documents ; and the third, entitled ” an office for observing that imperial edicts are carried into effect,” must be at times rather an arduous task, though probably its responsibility ends when the despatch goes forward.
An office with this title shows that the Chinese government, with all its business-like arrangements, is still an Asiatic one.* The duties of these supreme councils are general, comprising matters relating to all departments of the government, and serving to connect the head of the state with the subordinate bodies, not only at the capital, but throughout the provinces, so that he can, and probably does to a very great degree, thereby maintain a general acquaintance with what is clone in all parts, and sooner rectify disorders and malpractices. The rivalry between their members, and the dislike entertained by the Chinese and Manchus composing them, cause, no doubt, some trouble to the Emperor ; but this has some effect in thwarting conspiracies and intrigues. It must not be supposed, however, that every high officer in the Chinese government is wholly unprincipled, venal, and intriguing; most of them desire to serve and maintain their country. The personal character and knowledge of the monarch has much to do with the efficiency of his government, and the guidance of its affairs demands constant oversight.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 138. Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 573.
If he allows his ministers to conduct their trusts without restraint, they soon engross and misuse this power for selfish ends. In natural sequence every branch feels the fatal laxity, while its functionaries lose no time in imitating their superiors.
This was the case during the reign of Ilienfung, but matters have much improved under the regency since 18C1. In ordinary times, the daily hiterconrse between the Emperor of China and his ministers presents very similar features of confidence, courtesy, and esteem between them as those seen in western lands.
The King Pac, i.e.^
‘ Metmpol’diui Itejjoiier^ usually called the PcJdng Gazette, is compiled from the papers presented before the General Council, and constitutes the principal source of information available to the people for ascertaining what is going on in the Empire. Every morning ample extracts from the papers decided upon or examined by the Emperor, including his own orders and rescrij^ts, are placarded upon boards in a court of the palace, and form the materials for the aimals of government and the history of the Empire. Couriers are despatched to all parts of the land, carrying copies of these papers to the high provincial officers; certain persons are also permitted to print these documents, but always without note or change, and circulate them at their own charges to their customers.
This is the Peking Gazette, and such the mode of its compilation. It is simply a record of official acts, promotions, decrees, and sentences, without any editorial comments or explanations; and as such of great value in understanding the policy of government.
It is very generally read and discussed by educated people in cities, and tends to keep them more acquainted with the character and proceedings of their rulers than ever the Itomans were of their sovereigns and Senate. In the provinces thousands of persons find employment by copying and abridging the Gazette for readers who cannot afford to purchase the complete edition.’
‘ Fraser’s Magazine. February, 1873. China Review, Vol. III., p. 13.
Note on the Condition and Government of the Chinese Empire in 1849. By T F. Wade. Hongkong, 1850. Translations of several years of the Oazette have appeared since 1S72, reprinted from the columns of the North China Herald.
THE PEKING GAZETTE AND SIX BOARDS. 421
The principal executive Ixxlies uiulor these two Councils are the Lali Pa, or ‘ Six Boards/ which were modelled on much the same plan during the ancient dynasties. At the head of each Board are two presidents, called sJi<iti(j->ifi.i(, and foiTr vicepresidentsT called HhUaug^ alternately a Manchu and a Chinese; and over three of them—those of lievenue, War, and Punishment—are placed superintendents, who are frequently members of the Cabinet ; sometimes the president of one Board is superintendent of another. There a.re three subordinate grades of officers in each Board, who may be called directors, undersecretaries, and controllers, with a great number of minor clerks, and their appropriate departments for conducting the details of the general and peculiar business coming under the cognizance of the Board, the whole being arranged and subordinated in the most business-like style. The detail of all the departments in the general and provincial governments is regulated in the same manner. For instance, each Board” has a different style of envelope for its despatches, and the papers in the offices are filed away in them.
3. The LiBu, or Board of Civil Office, ” has the government and direction of all the various officers in the civil service of the Empire, and thereby it assists the Emperor to rule all people ; ” these duties are further defined as hicluding ” whatever appertains to the plans of selecting rank and gradation, to the rules of determining degradation and promotion, to the ordinances of granting investitures and rewards, and the laws for fixing schedules and furloughs, that the civil service may be supplied.” Civilians arc presented to the Emperor, and all civil and literary officers throughout the Empire distributed by this Board. The great power apparently thus entrusted is shared by the two preceding, whose members are made advisory overseers of the highest appointments, while the provincial authorities put men in vacant posts as fast as they are needed. The danger arising from the arrangement is noticed by Biot’ as having early attracted criticism.
‘ Esaai mr P Instruction en Chine, jip. 540-589.
This Board is subdivided into four bureaus. The first at tends to the distinctions, precedence, promotion, exchanging, etc., of officers. The second investigates their merits and worthiness to be recorded and advanced, or contrariwise ; ascertains the character each officer bears and the manner in which he fulfils his duties, and prescribes his fnrlonghs. The third jegnlates retirement from office on account of mourning or filial duties, and supervises the registration of official names; it is through this bureau that Hwang Xgan-tung, the Governor of Ivwangtung, was degraded in 1846 for not resigning his office on the death of his mother. The fourth regulates the distribution of titles, patents, and posthumous honors. The Chinese is the only government that ennobles ancestors for the merits of their descendants; the custom arose out of the worship paid them, in which the rites arc proportionate to the rank of the deceased, not of the survivor ; and if the deceased parent or grandparent were connnoners, they receive proper titles in consequence of the elevation of their son or grandson. This custom is not a trick of state to get money, for commoners cannot buy these posthumous titles ; they can only buy nominal titles for themselves. The usage, however, offers an unexpected illustration of the remark of Job, ” His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not.”
4. The Hu Bu, or Board of Revenue, ” directs the territorial government of the Empire, and keeps the lists of population in order to aid the Emperor in nourishing all people ; whatever appertains to the regulations for levying and collecting duties and taxes, to the plans for distributing salaries and allowances, to the rates for receipts and disbursements at the gi*anaries and treasuries, and to the rights for transporting by land and water are reported to this Board, that sufficient supplies for the country may be provided.” Besides these duties, it obtains the admeasurement of all lands in the Empire, and proportions taxes and conscriptions, according to the divisions, population, etc., regulates the expenditure, and ascertains the latitude and longitude of places. One minor office prepares lists of all the Manchu girls fit to be introduced into the palace for selection as inmates of the harem, a duty wdiich is enjoined on it because the allowances, outfits, and positions of these womou
BOARDS OF REVENUE AND KITES. 423
come within its control. The injudicious mode of collecting revenue common under the Persian and Syrian kings, by which the sums obtained from single cities and provinces were apportioned among the royal family and favorites, and carried directly to them, has never been practised by the Chinese, there are fourteen subordinate departments to attend to the receipt of the revenue from each of the provinces, each of which corresponds with the treasury department in its respective province. The revenue being paid in sundry ways and articles, as money, grain, manufactures, etc., the receipt and distribution of the various articles require a large force of assistants.
This Board is moreover a court of appeal on disputes respecting propertyj^and superintends the mint in each province; one bureau is called the ” great ministers of the Three Treasuries,” viz., of metals, silks and dye-stuffs, and stationery.
5. The Li Bu, or Board of Rites, ” examines and directs concerning the performance of the five kinds of ritual observances, and makes proclamation thereof to the whole Empire, thus aiding the Emperor in guiding all people. Whatever appertains to the ordinances for regulating precedence and literary distinctions, to the canons for maintaining; religious honor and fidelity, to the orders respecting intercourse and tribute, and to the forms of giving banquets and granting bounties, are reported to this Poard in order to promote national education.”
The five classes of rites are defined to be those of a propitious and those of a felicitous nature, military and hospitable rites, and tliosj of an infelicitous nature. Among the subordinate departments is that of ceremonial forms, which ” has the regulation of the etiquette to be observed at court on all occasions, on congratulatory attendances, in the performance of official duties, etc. ; also the regulation of dresses, caps, etc. ; as to the figure, size, color, and nature of their fabrics and ornaments, of carriages and riding accoutrements, their form, etc., with the number of followers and insignia of rank. It has also the direction of the entire ceremonial of personal intercourse between the various ranks or peers, minutely defining the number of bows and degree of attention which each is to pay to the other when meeting in official capacities, according as they are on terms of equality or otherwise. It has also to direct the forms of their written official intercourse, including those to be observed in addresses to and from foreign states. The regulation of the literary examinations, the imnjber of the graduates the distinction of their classes, the fornisj)f their jelection, and the privileges of successful candidates, with the establishment of governmental schools and academies, are all under this department.”
Another office superintends the rites to be observed in worshipping deities and spirits of departed monarchs, sages, and worthies, and in ” saving the sun and moon ” when eclipsed.
The third, called ” iiost and guest office,” looks after tribute and tribute-bearers, ar^d takes the whole management of foreign embassies, supplying not only provisions, but translators, and ordering the mode of intercourse between China and other states. The fourth oversees the supplial of food for banquets and sacrifices. The details of all the multifarious ritual duties of this Board occupy fourteen volumes of the Statutes. ” Truly nothing is without its ceremonies,” as Confucius taught, and no nation has paid so much attention to them in the ordering of its government as the Chinese. The Book of Rites is the foundation of ceremonies and the infallible standard as to their meaning; the importance attached to them has elevated etiquette and I’itualism into a kind of crystallizing force which has molded Chinese character in many ways.
Connected with the Board of Rites is a Board of Music, containing an indefinite number of officers whose duties ” are to study the principles of harmony and melody, to compose musical pieces’ and form instruments proper to play them, and then suit both to the various occasions on which they are required.” Kor are the gi*aces of posture-making neglected by these ceremony-mongers ; but it may with tinith be said, that if no other nation ever had a Board of Music, and required so much official music as the Chinese, certaiidy none ever had less real melody.
THE BING BU, OR BOARD OF WAR. 425
6. The Bing Bu, or Board of War, “has the duty of aiding the sovereign to protect the people by the direction of all military affairs in the metropolis and the province Sj^ and to regulate the hinge of the state upon the reports received from the various departments regarding deprivation of, or appointment to, office ; succession to, or creation of, hereditary military rank ; postal or courier arrangements ; examination and selection of the deserving, and accuracy of returns.”* The navy is also under the control of this Board. The management of the post is confided to a special department, and the transmission of official despatches is performed with great efficiency and regularity. A minor bureau of the courier office is called ” the office for the announcement of victories,” which, from a recital of its duties, appears to he rather a grande vlfes-se, whose couriers should hasten as if they announced a victory.
To enable this Board of War to discharge its duties, they are apportioned under four s~\ or bureaus, severally attending to promotion for various reasons : to the regulation of the distribution of rewards and punishments, inspection of troops and issue of general orders, answering to an adjutant-general’s department; to the supply and distribution of horses for the cavalry; and, lastly, to the examination of candidates, preparation of estimates and rosters, with all the details connected with equipments and ammunition. The conception of all government with the Manchus being military and not civil, they have developed this board more than was the case during the last dynasty, the possessions in Central Asia having drawn greatly on their resources and prowess.
The Household troops and city Gendarmerie have already been noticed ; their control is vested in the JVui-zric F’u, and the oversight of all the Bannermen in the Empire vests in the metropolitan office of the Tu-tun/j, or Captains-general, of whom there are twenty-four, one to every banner of each race. The Board of War has no control directly over this large portion of the Chinese army, and as the direction of the land and sea forces in each province is entrusted in a great degree to the local authorities, its duties are really more circumscribed than one would at first imagine. The singular subordination of military to civil power, which has ever distinguished the Chinese polity, makes the study of the army, as at present constituted, a very interesting feature of the national history ; fur while it has often proved inefficient to repress insurrection and defend the people against brigandage, it has never been used to destroy their institutions. In times of internal commotion the national soldiers have usually been loyal to their flag, though it must be confessed that discipline within the ranks is not so perfect as to prevent the soldiers from occasionally harassing and robbing those whom they are set to protect.’
7. The Xing Bu, or Board of Punishments, ” has the government
and direction of punishments throughout the Empire, for
the purpose of aiding the sovereign in cori-ecting all people.
Whatever appertains to measures of applying the laws with
leniency or severity, to the task of hearing evidence and giving
decisions, to the rights of granting pardons, reprieves, or otherwise,
and to the rate of fines and interest, are all reported to
this Board, to aid in giving dignity to national manners.” The
Hing Pu partakes of the nature of both a criminal and civil
court ; its officers usually meet with those of the Censorate and
Tali Sz’, the three forming the San Fall 8z\ or ‘ Three Law
Chambers,’ which decide on capital cases brought before them.
In the autumn these three unite with members from six other
courts, forming collectively a Court of Errors, to revise the decisions
of the provincial judges before reporting them to his
Majesty. These precautions are taken to prevent injustice
when life is involved, and the system shows an endeavor to secure
a full and impartial consideration for all capital cases,
which, although it may signally fail of its full effect, does the
rulers high credit, when the small value set upon life generally
by Asiatic governments is considered. These bodies are expected
to conform their decisions to the law, nor are they permitted
to cite the Emperor’s own decisions as precedents, without
the law on these decisions has been expressly entered as a
supplementaiy clause in the code.
It also belongs to sub-officers in the Board of Punishments to
record all his Majesty’s decisions upon appeals from the provinces
at the autumnal assizes, when the entire list is presented
‘ Chineae Refiository, Vol. lY., pp. 188, 276-287; Vol. V., pp. 165-178;Vol. XX., pp. 250, 800, and 863.- Memoires concernant Us Chinois^par k» Mmionuiren a Pekin, Tomes VII. and VIII., passim.
BOARDS OF PUNISHMENTS AND WORKS. 427
for Lis examination and ultimate decision, and see that these
sentences are transmitted to the provincial judges. Another
office snpei’intends the publication of the code, with all the
changes and additions ; a third oversees jails and jailers ; a
fourth i-eceives the fines levied by commutation of punishments,
and a fifth registei’s the receipts and expenditures. If the administi-
ation of the law in China at all corresponded with the
equitj’ of most of its enactments, or the caution taken to prevent
collusion, malversation, and haste on the part of the judges, it would be incomparably the best governed country out of Christendom; but the painful contrast between good laws and wicked rulers is such as to show the utter impossibility of securing the due administration of justice without higher moral principles than heathenism can teach.
The yamiui of the Hlny Pa in the capital is the most active of all the Boards, but little is known of what goes on within its walls. Its prisoners are mostly brought from the provinces, officers of high rank arrested for malfeasance or failure, and criminals convicted or condemned there who have appealed to the highest tribunals. Few of those who enter its gates ever return through them, and their sufferings seldom end as long as they have any property left. The narrative of the horrible treatment endured by Loch and his comrades in ISCO, while confined within this yaiiiun^ gives a vivid picture of their sufferings, but native prisoners are not usually kept bound and pinioned.
In the rear wall of the establishment is an iron door, through which dead bodies are thrust to be carried away to burial.
8. The Gong Bu, or Board of Works, ” has the government and direction of the public works throughout the Empire, together with the current expenses of the same, for the purpose of aiding the Emperor to keep all people in a state of repose. Whatever appertains to plans for buildings of wood or earth, to the forms of useful instruments, to the laws for stopping up or opening channels, and to the ordinances for constructing the mausolea and temples, are reported to this Board in order to perfect national works.” Its duties are of a miscellaneous nature, and are performed in other countries b}^ no one department, though the plan adopted by the Chinese is not without its advantages
One bureau takes cognizance of the condition of all city walls,
palaces, temples, altars, and other public structures ; sits as a
prize-office, and furnishes tents for his Majesty’s journeys ; supplies
timber for ships, and potterj’ and glassware for the court.
A second attends to the manufacture of mihtary stores and
utensils employed in the army ; sorts the pearls from the fisheries
according to their value ; regulates weights and measures,
furnishes ” death-warrants ” to governors and generals ; and,
lastly, takes charge of arsenals, stores, camp-equipage, and other
things appertaining to the army. A third dcpailnient has
charge of all water-ways and dikes; it also repairs and digs
canals, erects bridges, oversees the banks of rivers by means of
deputies stationed at posts along their course, builds vessels of
Avar, collects tolls, mends roads, digs the sewers in Peking and
cleans out its gutters, preserves ice, makes book-cases for public
records, and, lastly, looks after the silks sent as taxes. Tlie
fourth of these offices confines its attention chiefly to the condition
of the imperial mausolea, the erection of the sepulchres
and tablets of meritorious officers buried at public expense, and
the adormnent of temples and palaces, as well as superintending
ah workmen employed by the Board.
The mint is under the direction of two vice-presidents, and
the manufacture of gunpowder is specially intrusted to two
great ministers. One would think, from this recital, that the
functions of the Boai’d of AYorks Mere so diverse that it would
be one of the most efficient parts of government ; but if the
condition of forts, ports, dikes, etc., in other parts of the country
corresponds to those along the coast, there is, as the Emperor
once said of tlie army, ” the appearance of going to war,
but not the reality “—most of the works being on record, and
suffered to remain there, except when danger threatens, or his
Majesty specially orders a public work, and, what is more important,
furnishes the money.
THE LI FAN YUAN, OR COLONIAL OFFICE. 429
9. The Li Fan Yuan, or Court for the Government of Foreigners, commonly called the Colonial Office, ” has the government and direction of the external foreigners, orders their emoluments and honors, appoints their visits to court, and regulates their punishments, in order to display the majesty and goodness of the state.” This is an important branch of the government, and has the superintendence of all the wandering and settled tribes in Mongolia, Cobdo, Ili, and Koko-nor. All these are called wai fan, or ‘ external foreigners,’ in distinction from the tributary tribes in Sz’chuen and Formosa, who are termed ivuifan, or ‘ internal foreigners.’ There are also nui i
and loai i, or ‘ internal and external barbarians,’ the former
comprising the unsubdued mountaineers of Kweichau, and the
latter the inhabitants of all foreign countries who do not choose
to range themselves under the renovating influences of the Celestial
Empire. The Colonial Othce regulates the government of the nomads and restricts their wanderings, lest they trespass on each other’s pasture-grounds. Its officers are all Manchus and Mongols, having over them one president and two vice-presidents, Manchus, and one Mongolian vice-president appointed for life.
Besides the usual secretaries for conducting its general business,
there are six departments, whose combined powers include
every branch necessary for the management of these
clans. The first two have jurisdiction over the numerous tribes
and corps of the Inner Mongols, who are under more complete
subjection than the others, and part have been placed under
the control of officers in Chihli and Shansi. The appointment
of local officers, collecting taxes, allotting land to Chinese settlers,
opening roads, paying salaries, arranging the marriages,
retinues, visits to courts, and presents made by the princes and
the review of the troops, all appertain to these two departments.
The third and fourth have a similar, but less effectual control
over the princes, lamas, and tribes of Outer Mongolia. At
TTrga reside two high ministers, organs of communication with
Russia, and general overseers of the frontier. The oversight of
the lama hierarchy in Mongolia is now completely under the
control of this office ; and in Tibet their power has been considerably
abridged. The fifth department directs the actions,
restrains the powers, levies the taxes, and orders the tributary
visits of the Mohannnedan begs in the Tien shan Xan Lu, who
are quiet pretty nuich as they are paid by presents and flattered
by honors. The sixth department regnlatesthe penal discipline
of the tributary tribes. The salai’ies paid the Mongolian princes
are distributed according to an economical scale. A tsin wmuj
annually receives $2,000 and twenty-hve pieces of silk ; a kiun
wang receives about $1,066 and iifteen pieces of silk ; and so on
through the ranks of Eeile, JBeitse, Duke, etc., the last of whom
gets a stipend of only $133 and four pieces of silk. The internal
organization of these tribes is probably the same now as it
was at first among the Scythians and Huns, and partakes of the
features of the feudal and tribal system, modified by the nomadic
lives they are obliged to lead. The Chinese government
is endeavoring to reduce the influence and retinues of the khans
and begs and elevate the people to positions of independent
owners and cultivators of the soil.
10. The DuCHA Yuan, or Censorate, i.e., ‘ All-examining Court,’ is entrusted with the ” care of manners and customs, the investigation of all public offices within, and without the capital, the discrimination between the good and bad performance of their business, and between the depravity and uprightness of the officers employed in them ; taking the lead of other censors, and uttering each his sentiments and reproofs, in order to cause officers to be diligent in attention to their daily duties, and to render the government of the Empire stable.” The Censorate, when joined with the Board of Punishments and Court of Appeal, forms a high court for the revision of criminal cases and hearing appeals from the pntvinces; and, in connection with the Six Boards and the Court of Representation and Appeal, makes one of the Iviu King, or ‘ Nine Courts,’ which deliberate on important affairs of government.
The officers are two censors and four deputy censors, besides whom the governors, lieutenant-governors, and the governors of rivers and inland navigation are ex-offwlo deputy censors.
A class of censors is placed over each of the Six Boards, whose
duties are to supervise all their acts, to receive all public documents
from the C^abinet, and after classifying them transmit
them to the several courts to which they belong, and to make a
semi-monthly examination of the papers entered on the archives
uf each court. All ciiminal cases in the provinces come under
THE DU-CHA YUAN, OR CENSORATE. 431
the oversight of the censors at tlie capital, and the department
which superintends the affairs of the nieti-opolis revises its
municipal acts, settles the quarrels, and represses the crimes of
its inhabitants. Tliese are the duties of the Censorate, tlian
which no part of the Chinese government has attracted more
attention. The privilege of reproof given by the law to the
office of censor has sometimes been exercised with remarkable
candor and plainness, and many cases are recoi-ded in histoiy
of these officers suffering for tlieir fidelity, but such instances
must be few indeed in proportion to the failures.
The celebrated Sung, who was appointed commissioner to accompany
Loi’d Macartney, once remonstrated with the Emperor
Kiaking upon his attachment to play-actors and strong drink,
which degraded him in the eyes of his people and incapacitated
him from performing his duties. The Emperor, highly ii-ritated,
called him to his presence, and on his confessing to the authorship
of the memorial, asked him vidiat punishment he deserved.
He answered, ” Quartering.” lie was told to select some
other; “Let me be beheaded ;” and on a third command, he
chose to be strangled. He was then ordered to retire, and the
next “day the Emperor appointed him governor in llf, thus
acknowledging his rectitude, though unable to bear his censure.
History records the reply of another censor in the reign of an
Emperor of the Tang dynasty, who, when his Majesty once desired
to inspect the archives of the historiographer’s office, in
order to learn what had been recorded concei’ning himself,
under the excuse that he nuist know his faults before he could
well correct them, was answered : ” It is true your Majesty has
committed a number of errors, and it has been the painful duty
of our employment to take notice of them ; a duty which further
obliges us to inform posterity of the conversation which
your Majesty has this day, very improperly, held with us.”
The censors usually attend on all state occasions by the side
of his Majesty, and are frequently allowed to express tlieir
opinions openly, but in a despotic government this is little else
than a fiction of state, for the fear of offendhig the imperial ear,
and consequent disgrace, will usually prove stronger than the
consciousness of right or the desires of a public fame and martyrdom for the sake of principle. The usual mode of advising is to send in a remonstrance against a proposed act, as when one of the body in 1832 remonstrated against the Emperor paying attention to anonymous accusations ; or to suggest a different procedure, as the memorials of Chu Tsun against legalizing opium. The number of these papers inserted in the Peking Gazette for the information of the Empire, in many of which the acts of officers are severely reprehended, shows that the censors are not altogether idle. In 1833 a censor named Slii requested the Emperor to interdict official persons at court from writing private letters concerning public persons and affairs in the provinces. lie stated that when candidates left the capital for their provincial stations, private letters were sent by them from their friends to the provincial authorities, ” sounding
the voice of influence and interest,” by which means justice
M-as perverted. The Emperor ordered the Cabinet to examine
the censor and get his facts in proof of these statements, but on
inquiry he either would not or could not bring forward any
cases, and he himself consequently received a reprimand.
‘^’ These censors are allowed,” says the Emperor, ” to tell me
the reports they hear, to inform me concerning courtiers” and
governors who pervert the laws, and to speak plainly about any
defect or impropriety which they may oljserve in the monaich
himself; but they are not permitted to employ their pencils in
writing memorials which are filled M’i^^h vague surmises and
mei’e probabilities or suppositions. This would only fill my
mind with doubts and uncertainty, and T wo;dd not know what
men to employ; were this spirit indulged, the detrinie?)t of
government would be most serious. Let 8ii ))0 subjected to a
court of inquiry.”
‘J’lie suspension or disgrace of censors for their freedom of
speech is a common occurrence, and among the forty or fifty
persons who have this privilege a few are to be found who do
not hesitate to lift up their voice against what they deem to be
wrong; and there is reason for supposing that only a small portion
of their remonstrances appeai-s in the Gazette. With regard
to this depai’tment of government, it is to be observed
that although it may tend only in a partial degree to check
COURTS OF TUANSMISSION AND JUPTCATURE. 433
Oppression and reform ahusos, and wliilc a close examination of
its real operations and intlnenee and the character of its members
may excite more contempt than respect, still the existence of
such a body, and the pnblication of its memorials, can hardly
fail to rectif}’ misconduct to some degree, and check maladministration
before it results in widespread evil. The (Jensorate is,
however, only one of a number of checks upon the conduct of
officers, and perhaps by no means the strongest.’
11. The TuNG-cniNG Sz’, which may be called a Court of
Transmission, consists of a small body of six officers, whose
duty is to receive memorials from the provincial authorities and
appeals from their judgment by the people and present them to
the Cabinet. Attached to this Court is an office for attending
at the palace-gate to await the beating of a drum, which, in conformity
with an ancient custom, is placed there that applicants
may by striking it obtain a hearing. It is also the channel
through which the people can directly appeal to his Majesty,
and cases occur of individuals, even women and girls, travelling
to the capital from remote places to present their petitions for
redress before the throne. The feeling of blood revenge prevails
among the Chinese, and impels many of these weak and
unprotected persons to undergo great hardships to obtain legal
redress, when the lives of their parents have been unjustly
taken by powerful and rich enemies.
12. The Ta-li Sz’, or Court of Judicature and Eevision, has
the duty of adjusting all the criminal courts in the Empire, and
forms the nearest approach to a Supreme Court in the government,
though the cases brought before it are mostly criminal.
“When the crimes involve life, this and the preceding unite
with the Censorate to form one coui’t, and if the judges are
]i()t unanimous in their decisions they must report their reasons
to the Emperor, who M’ill pass judgment upon them. In a despotic
government no one can expect that the executive officers
of courts will exercise their functions with that caution and
‘ Compare an article by E. C Taintor, in Notes and Queries on China and Japan. Chinese Repository, Vols. IV., pp. 148, 164, and 177, and XII., pp.62 and 67.
equity required in Christian countries, but considerable care has
been taken to obtain as great a degree of justice as possible.
IJr. The Hanlin Yuen, or Imperial Academy, is entrusted
” with the duty of drawing up governmental documents, histories,
and other works ; its chief officers take tlie lead of the
various classes, and excite their exertions to advance in learning
in order to prepare them for employments and fit them for attending
upon the sovereign.” This body has, it is highly probable,
some similarity to the collection of learned men to whom
the King of Babylon entrusted the education of promising
young men, for although the members of the Ilanlin Yuen do
not, to any great degree, educate persons, they are constantly
referred to as the Chaldeans were by Belshazzai-. Sir John
Davis likens it to the Sorbonne, inasmuch as it expounds the
sacred books of the Chinese. Its chief officers are two presidents
or senior members, called chuiang yuen hioh-sz\ m*1io are
usually appointed for life ; they attend upon the Emperor,
superintend the studies of graduates, and furnish semi-annual
lists of persons to be ” speakers” at the ” classical feasts,” where
the literary essays of his Majesty are translated from and into
Manchu and read before him.
Subordinate to the two senior members are four grades of
officers, five in each grade, together with an imlimited number
of senior graduates, each forming a sort of college, whose duties
are to prepare all works published under governmental sanction
; these persons are subject from time to time to fresh examination,
and are liable to lose their degrees or be altogether
dismissed from office if found faulty or deficient. Subordinate
to the Hanlin Yuen is an office consisting of twenty-two selected
members, who in rotation attend on the Emperor and make a
record of his words and actions. There is also an additional
office for the preparation of national histories.
The situation of a member of the Ilanlin is one of considerable
honor and literary ease, and scholars look forward to a station
in it as one which confers dignity in a government where
all officers are appointed according to their literary merit, l)ut
much more from its being the body from which the Emperor
selects his most responsible offi-ers. A graduate of this rank is
THE IIANLIN AND MINOR COURTS. 435
most likely to be nominated to a vacant office, though the possession
uf the title does not of itself warrant a place.’
Before proceeding to consider the provincial governments,
notices of some of the other de})artments not connected with
the general machinery of the state are here in place. The
municipality of Peking has already been mentioned when describing
the capital ; it is intimately connected with the general
government and forms an integral part of the machine.
Among the courts not connected with tlie nnmicipal rule of the
metropolis, nor forming one of the great departments of state,
is Tal-chang Sz\ or ‘ Sacrificial Court,’ whose officers ” direct
the sacrificial observances and distinguish the various instruments
and the quality of the sacrifices.” Their duties are of importance iti connection with the state religion, and they rank high among the court dignitaries of the Empire, but as members of this, possess no power. The Tal-jyuTi Sz\ or Superintendent of II. I. ]\I.’s Stud, is an office for “rearing horses, taking account of their increase, and regulating their training;” large tracts of land beyond the Great “Wall are appropriated to this purpose, and the clerks of this office, under the direction of the Board of War, oversee the herdsmen and grooms.
The JCwanrjluh Ss\ or ‘Banqueting House,’ has the charge
of ” feasting the meritorious and banqueting the deserving ;
“
it is somewhat subordinate to the Board of Rites, and provides
whatever is necessary for banquets given to literary graduates,
foreign ambassadors, etc. The Jlunz/hc >&’, or ‘ Ceremonial
Court,’ regulates the forms to be observed at these banquets,
which consist in little else than marshalling the guests according
to their proper ranks and directing them when to make the
Ivtow, called also scui Jewel hlu Jcao, ” three kneelings and nine
knockings.” The Guozi’ Jian, or ‘ National College,’ is a different institution from the Hanlin Yuen, and intended for teaching graduates of the lower degrees; the departments of study are the Chinese language, the classics and mathematics, each branch having its appropriate teachers, with some higher officers, both Chinese and Manchu.
‘ Dr. W. A. P. Martin, Th& Chinese.
The Qin Tian Jian, or ‘ Imperial Astronomical College,’ as might be expected, is much more astrological than astronomical; its duties are defined to 1)0 ” to direct the ascertainment of times and the movements of the heaveidy bodies, in order to attain conformity with the celestial periods and to regulate the notati(Mi of time among inen ; all things relating to divination and the selection of days are under its charge.” The preparation of the almanac, in which, among other things, lucky and unlucky days are marked for the performance of all the important acts of life, and astrological and chiromantic absurdities inserted for the amusement of fortune-tellers and others, the instruction of a few pupils, and care of the observatory, occupy most of the time of its officers. It is now of no practical use, and as the Tang-icdn Kuxtii develops into a learned and efficient college, including astronomy and medicine and their kindred branches, these native Boards will gradually pass away.
The other local courts of the capital seem to have been subdivided and multiplied to a great degree for the purpose of affording employment to a larger number of persons, especially Manchus and graduates, so that the Emperor can attach them to himself and be surer of their support in case of any insurrection on the part of the people, and also that he may have them more under his control. The nundjer of clerks and minor offices in all the general departments of state is doubtless more numerous than it would be in a European government. In the nnitual relations of the great departments of the Chinese government the principles of responsibility and surveillance among the officers are plainly exhibited, while regard has been paid to such a division and apportionment of labor as would secure great efficiency and care, if every member of the machine faithfully did his duty. Two presidents are stationed over each Board to assist and watch each other, while the two presidents oversee the four vice-presidents ; the president of one Board is sometimes the vice-president of another ; and by means of the Censorate and the General Council every portion is brought under the cognizance of several independent officers, whose mutual jealousy and regard for individual advancement, or a
RELATION OF THE KMPEUOIl WITH HIS OFFICIALS. 437
partial desire for tlie well-being of tlie state, affords the Emperor
some guarantee of fidelit}-. Tlie seclusion in which he
lives makes it difficult for any conspirator to approach his person,
but his own fears regarding the management of such an
immense Empire compel him to inform himself respecting the’
actions of ministers, generals, and proconsular governors. The
conduct and devotion of hundreds of officers, both civil and
military, during the wars with Great Britain and the suppression
of rebellions within the last thirty years, afford proof
enough that he has attached his subordinates to his service by
some other principle than fear. The total number of civilians
holding office is estimated at about fourteen thousand persons,
but those dependent on the government are many times this
amount.
The rulers of China have contrived the system of provincial governments in an admirable manner, considering the character of the people and the materials they had to work with; no better proof of their sagacity in this respect can be required than the general degree of good order which has been maintained for nearly two centuries, and the great progress the people have made in wealth, numbers, and power. By a well-arranged plan of checks and changes in the provincial authorities, the chances of their abusing position and power and combining to overthrow the supreme government have been reduced almost to an impossibility; the influence of mutual responsibility among them does something to prevent outrageous oppression of the people, by leading one to accuse another of high crimes in order to exonerate himself or obtain his place. The sons and relatives of the Emperor being excluded from civil office inthe provinces, the high-spirited and talented native Chinese do
not feel inclined to cabal against the government because every
avenue to emolument aiid power is filled and closed against them
by creatures and connections of the sovereign ; nor when in office
are they disposed to attempt the overthrow of the reigning
family, lest they lose what has cost them many years of toilsome
study and the wealth and influence of friends to attain.
The examination of these pashaliks is furthermore entitled to notice from the degree of power delegated to their highest officers, and the shrewd manner in which its exercise has been circumscribed and rendered amenable to its imperial source.
The highest officers in the provinces are afsu/iyfuh, lit. ‘general director,’ or governor-general, and the fatal or fuyuen, ‘ soother ‘ or governor. The former is often called a viceroy, but that term seems to be quite inapplicable M-hen used to denote an officer within the limits of the state ; governor-general, or proconsul, is more analogous to his duties. A translation of these and many other Chinese titles does not convey their exact functions, but in some cases an equivalent is more intelligible than a translation.’ The tsungtuh has rule over two provinces, or else fills two high offices in one province, while the fntd’i is placed over one province, either independent of or in subordination to a tsungtuh^ as enumerated in the table on page 61.
An examination of the Tied Booh for 1852 showed that out
of a total of 20,327 names in it, 10,-174 were Chinese, 3,29.5
were Manclius and Mongols, and 558 enrolled Chinese ; in the
copy for 1844, out of 12,758 names, 10,403 were Chinese, 1,708
Manchus, and 527 enrolled Cliinese ; these figui-es include only
civilians and the employees in Peking. The Eighteen Provinces
ha\e altogether less than two thousand persons in office al)ove
the raidc of assistant district magistrate, viz. : 8 governor-generals,
15 governors, 19 treasurers, 18 judges, 17 chancellors, 15
commanders of the forces, including 2 admirals and 1,740 prefects
and magistrates. All those filling tlie high grades in this
series report themselves to the Enq)eror twice every month, by
sending him a salutatory card upon yellow paper, enclosed in a
silken envelope ; stating, for instance, that ‘ Lin Tseh-sii, governor-
general of Liang Ivwang, humbly presents his duty to the
throne, wishing his Majesty repose.’ The Emperor replies M’ith
the vei’niilion ])encil, Cli’ni ngan, ij\, ‘ Ourself is well.’
The duties of the governor-general consist in the collective
control of all affairs, civil and military, in the regioii under hia
jurisdiction ; he occupies, in his sphere, under correction, the
same authority that the Emperor does over the whole Empire.
‘ Mayers’ Manual of Chinese Titles furnishes tlio best compend for learning their duties and names.
IIIGIIP:ii PROVINCIAL ALTIlOliniKS. 439
The futai has a similar control, but in an inferior degree when there is a tstungtuh, in the more special supervision of the administrative part of the civil government, as distinguished from the revenue, gabel, or literary branches.
The departments of the civil government are five, viz. : administrative,
literary, gabel, commissariat, and excise ; the first
being also divided into the teri-itorial and financial and the
judicial branches. At the head of the first branch is the j»j>t^-
ihing sz^ {i.e., ]-egulating-government commissioner), who is
usually called the treasurer ; the ngan-chah sz\ or ‘ criminal
judge,’ presides over the second. These two ofiicers often unite
their deliberations in the direction of any territoi’ial or financial
business, or the trial of important cases. The literary department
is placed under the direction of an ofiicer selected from
among the members of the Hani in Academy, called a hioh-ching,
director of learning, or literary chancellor ; there are seventeen
of them altogether. The gabel and connnissariat are usually
supervised l)y certain intermediate ofiicers called tao, or taotai,
sometimes termed intendants of circuit, who have other functions
in addition. The excise, or conmiercial department, is under /ivV;*^?^^, or superintendents, but the details of these three branches vary considerably in different provinces. The officers of the excise, either in the interior or on the coast, are made amenable
to their supei-iors in the province, but their functions are exercised
in an irregular manner ; for the collection of the revenue is
a difficult affair, and mostly entrusted to the local magistrates.
The military govemment of a province includes both the land
and sea forces. It is under a tHuh, or commander-in-chief, of
which rank there are in all sixteen, twelve of them commanding
one arm alone, and four controlling both land and sea forces.
In five provinces the futai is commander-in-chief, and in
Ivansuh there are two. Above the tttuJ}, in point of rank but
not of power, are placed garrisons of Manchu Bannermen under
a tsicmg-Jciun, or general, whose ofiice is conferred, and his
actions directly controlled, by the captains-general in Peking;
he has jurisdiction, usually, only in the city itself, the principal
object of the appointment, api)areTitly, being to check any treasonable designs of the civil authorities.
The duties and relations of these various grades with one another require some further explanation, however, to be understood.
The three officers, tsunytuh, fatal, and tslaiujMun (if there be one), form a supreme council, and unite in deliberating upon a measure, calling in the subordinate officer to whose department it particularly belongs, and to whom its execution is io be committed, the whole forming a deliberative board, though “the responsibility of the act rests with the two highest officers.
By this means the various members of the provincial government
become better acquainted with each other’s character and
plans, though their intercourse is nuich restricted by precedence
and rivalry. In the provincial courts civilians always take precedence
of military officers ; the governor-general and Banner
commander, governor and major-general, the literary chancellor
and collector of customs, rank with each other ; then follow the
treasurer, the judge, and other civilians. The authority of the
governor-general extends to life and death, to the temporary
appointment to all vacant offices in the province, to ordering
the troops to any part of it, issuing such laws and taking such
measures as are necessary for the security and peace of the
region committed to his care, or any other steps he sees necessary.
The futal also has the power of life and death, and
attends to appeals of criminal cases ; he oversees, moreover, the
conduct of the lower civilians.
IS^ext in rank to i\\e j)u-ching sz^ and ngan-chah sz\ who always reside in the provincial capital, are the intendants of circuit, who are located in the circuits consisting of two or three prefectures united for this purpose. They are deputies of the two highest functionaries, and their delegated power often includes military as well as civil authority, the chief object of their appointment being to relieve and assist those high functionaries in the discharge of their extensive duties. Some of the intendants are appointed to supervise the proceedings of the prefects and district magistrates; others are stationed at important posts to protect them, and those connected with foreign trade at the open ports have no territorial jurisdiction.
SUBORDINATE PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES. 441
Subordinate to the governors, through the intendants of circuits, are the prefects or head magistrates of departments, called Zhifu/Zhizhou, and ting tungchi, i.e., ‘knowers’ of them, according as they are placed over fu, zhou, or ting departments.
It is the duty of these persons to make themselves acquainted with everything that takes place within their jurisdiction, and they are held responsible for the full execution of whatever orders are transmitted to them, all presenting their reports and receiving their orders through the intendants.
The practical efficiency of the Chinese government in promoting the welfare of the people and preserving the peace depends chiefly upon these officers. The people themselves are prone to quarrel and oppress each other ; beggars, robbers, tramps, and shysters stir up disorders in various ways, and need wise and vigorous hands to repress and punish them ; while all classes avoid and resist the tax-gatherer as much as is safe. The proverb, ” A Zhifu can exterminate a family, a chihien can confiscate a patrimony,” indicates the popular fear of their power.
The subdivisional pai’ts of departments, called ting, chau, and
hien, have each their separate officers, who report to the chifu
and cliicliau above them ; these are called tungcM, clacJiau, and
ch’tJiien, and may all be denominated district magistrates. The
parts of districts called sz’ are placed under the control of siuii-
I’ien, circuit-restrainers, or hundreders, who form the last in the
regular series of descending; rank—the last of the ” connnissioned
officers,” as they might not improperly be called. The
prefects sometimes have deputies directly under them, as the
governor has his intendants, when their jurisdiction is very
large or important, who are called hiunininfu and tungchi, i.e.,
‘ joint-knowers.’ The deputies of district magistrates are termed
chautung and chmiptran for the chlchan, and hienching and
chufu for the cJdhien^ the last also have others called tso-tang
And yu-tang, i.e., left-tenants and right-tenants.
Resides these assistants there are others, both in the departments and districts, having the oversight of the police, collection of the taxes and management of the revenue, care of waterways, and many other subdivisions of legislative duties, which it is unnecessary to particularize. They are appointed whenever and wherever the territory is so large and the duties so onerous that one man cannot attend to all, or it is not safe to entrust him with them. They have nearly as much power as their superiors in the department entrusted to them, but none of them have judicial or legislative functions, and the routine of their othces affords them less scope for oppression. ±\oy is it worth while to notice the great number of clerks, registrars, and secretaries found in connection with the various ranks of dignitaries here mentioned, or the multitude of petty subordinates found in the provinces and placed over particular places or duties as necessity may require. Their number is very large, and the responsibility of their proceedings devolves upon the higher officers who receive their reports and direct their actions.
The common people suffer more from these ” rats under the altar,” as a Chinese proverb calls them, than from their superiors, because, unlike them, they are usually natives of the place and better acquainted with the condition of the inhabitants, and are not so often removed. The fear of getting into their clutches restrains from evil doings perhaps more than all punishments, though the people soon complain of high-handed acts in a way not to be disregarded. (3ne saying, ” Underlings see money as a fly sees blood,” indicates their penchant, as another, ” Cash drops into an underling’s paw as a sheep falls into a tiger’s jaw,” does the popular notion how to please them.
Each intendant, prefect, and district magistrate has special
secretaries in his ofhce for riling papers, writing and transmitting-
despatches, investigating cases, recording evidence, keeping
accounts, and performing other functions. All above the chihien
are allowed to keep private secretaries, called sz’ ye, who
are usually personal friends, and accompany the officers wliereever
they go for the purpose of advising them and preparing
their official documents. The ngan-chah s£ have jailers under
their control, as have also the more important prefects.
The appointment of officers being theoretically founded on
literary merit, those to whom is committed the supervision of
students and conferment of degrees would naturally be of a
high grade. The Jiioh-ehlti’/, or literary chancellor, of the province,
therefore ranks next to the governor, more, however, because
he is specially ai)pointed by his Majesty and oversees thia
LITEKAKY, (lABEL, AND REVENUE DEPARTMENTS. 443
hrancli of the goveniinent, than from the power coinniitted to
liis liaiids. Under him aie head-teachers of different degrees
of autliority, residing in the cliief towns of departments and
districts, tlie ^vhole forming a simihir series of functionaries to
M’hat exists in tlie civil department. These subordinates have
merely a greater or less degree of supervision over the studies of
students, and the colleges established for the promotion of learning
in the chief towns of departments. The business of conferring
the lower degrees appertains exclusively to the chancellor,
who makes an annual circnit through the province for that purpose,
and holds examinations in the chief town of each department,
to which all students residing within its limits can come.
The gabel, or salt department, is under the control of a special
officer, called a ” commissioner for the transport of salt,”
and forming in the five maritime provinces one of thesau s.z\ or
three commissioners, of which the j>u-e/ung sz’ and ngan-chah ss’
are the other two. There are, above these commissioners, eight
directors of the salt monopoly, stationed at the depots in Chihli
and Shantung, M’ho, however, also fill other offices, and have
rather a nominal responsibility over the lower commissioners.
The number and rank of the ofilcers comiected with the salt
monopoly show its importance, and is proof of how large a revenue
is derived fi-om an article which will bear such an expensive establishment. At present its administration costs about as much as its receipts.
The commissariat and revenne department is nnusually large
in China compared with other countries, for the plan of collecting
any part of the revenue in kind necessarily requires nnmerous
vehicles for transporting and buildings for storing it, which
still further multiplies the number of clerks and hands employed.
The transportation of grain along the Yangtsz’ River is under
the control of a tsungtuh, who. also oversees the disposal and
directs the collectors of it in eight of the provinces adjacent to
this river. The office of liang-chu tao, or commissioner to collect
grain, is found in twelve provinces, the pu-ehing.sz’ attending
to this duty in six ; the supervision of the subordinate agents of this department in the several districts is in the hands of the prefects and district magistrates.- That feature of the Chinese system which makes officers mutually responsible, seems to lead the superior powers to confer such various duties upon
one functionary, in order that he may thus have a general
knowledge of what is going on about and under him, and ref)ort
what he deems amiss. It is not, indeed, likely that such was the
original arrangement, for the Chinese government has come to
its present composition by slow degrees ; but such is, so far as
can be seen, the effect of it, and it serves in no little degree to
accomplish the designs of the rulers to bind the main and lesser
wheels of the huge machine to themselves and to one another.
The customs and excise are under the management of different
grades of officers according to the importance of their posts.
The transit duties levied at the excise stations placed in every
town are collected by officers acting under the local authorities,
and have nothing to do with the collection of maritime duties.
This tax, called li-kin, or ‘a cash a catty,’ has lately been
greatly increased, and the natural result has been to destroy the
trade it preyed on, or divert it to other channels. The foreign
merchants and officers have, too, protested against its imposition,
seeing that their trade was checked.
Kecapitulating in tabular form, we may say that outside of
the Cabinet, Council, Boards, and Courts at the capital, the
government (in the Eighteen Provinces) is in the hands of: 8 Governors-General (6 governing two provinces each).
15 Governors. 11) Commissioners of Finance (2 for Kiangsu).
18 Commissioners of Justice.
4 Directors of the Salt Gabel.
9 Collectors (independent of these).
13 Commissioners of Grain, or Commissaries.
G4 Intendants of Circuit.
182 Prefects.
G8 Prefects of Inferior Departments.
18 Independent Subprefects.
180 Dependent Subprefects.
139 Deputy Subprefects.
141 District Magistrates of the Fifth
Class.
1,232 District Magistrates of the Seventh
Class.
The military section of the provincial governments is under
the control of a tituh, or major-general, who resides at a central
post, and, in conjunction with the governor-general and
governor, directs the movements of the forces, while these last
have also an independent control over a certain body of troops
belonging to them officially. The various grades of officers in
the native army, and the portion of troops under each of them,
MILITARY AND NAVAL DEPARTMENTS. 445
stationed in the garrisons and forts in different parts of the
provinces, are all arranged in a methodical manner, which will
bear examination and comparison with the army of any country
in the world. The native force in each province is distinct
from the Manchu troops, and is divided somewhat according to
the Roman plan of legion, cohort, maniple, and century, over
each of which are officers, from colonel down to sergeant.
Nothing is wanting to the Chinese army to make it fully adequate to the defence of the country but discipline and confidence in itself ; for lack of practice and systematic drilling have made it an army of paper warriors against a resolute enemy. Nevertheless, the recent campaigns against the rebels in the extreme western colonies indicate the fact that its regeneration is already of some weight. On the other hand, it has no doubt been for the good of the Chinese people and government—the advance of the first in wealth, numbers, and security, and the consolidation and efficiency of the latter—that they have cultivated letters rather than arms, peace more than war.
All the general officers in the army have fixed places of residence,
at which the larger portion of their respective brigades
remain, while detachments are stationed at various points within
their command. The governor, major-general, and Banner
commandant have commands independent of each other, but
the tituh,OY major-general, exei-cises the principal military sway.
The navai officers have the same names as those in the army,
and the two are interchanged and promoted from one service to
the other. Admirals and vice-admirals usually reside on shore,
and despatch their subordinates in squadrons or single vessels
wherever occasion requires. This system must, ere long, give
place to a better division of the two arms with the building of
steam vessels and management of arsenals, when junks are
superseded.
The system of mutually checking the provincial officers is
also exhibited in their location. For example, in the city of
Canton the governor-general is stationed in the Xew city near
the collector of customs, while the lieutenant-governor and
Manchu general are so located in the Old city that should circumstances require they can act against the two first. The governor has the general command of all the provincial troops,
estimated to be one hundred thousand men, but the particukir
command of only five thousand, and they are stationed fifty
miles off, at Sliauking fu. The ts’uoiy A-ii/.n has five thousand
men under him in the Old city, which, in an extreme case,
would make him master of tlie capital, while his own allegiance
is secured by the antipathy between the Manchus and Chinese
preventing liim from combining with the latter. Again, the
governor-general has the power of condenming certain criminals
to death, but the vxincj-iiiuKj^ or death-warrant, is lodged
with tlie fatal, and the order for execution must be countersigned
by him ; his despatches to court must be also countersigned
b}’ his coadjutor. The general absence of resistance to
the imperial sway on the part of these high officers during the
two centuries of Manchu rule, when compared with the multiplied
intrigues and rebellions of the pashas in the Turkish
Empire, proves how well the system is concocted.
In order to enable the superior officers to exercise greater
vigilance over their inferiors, they have the privilege of sending
special messengers, invested with full power, to every part
of their jurisdiction. The Emperor himself never visits the
provinces judicially, nor has an Emperor been south of the
capital during the present century ; he therefore constantly
sends connnissioners or legates, called llncJuii, to all parts of the
Empire, ostensibly entrusted M’ith the management of a particular
business, but required also to take a general surveillance of
what is going on. The ancient Persians had a similar system
of commissioners, who M-ere called the eyes and ears of the
prince, and made the circuit of the empire to oversee all that
was done. There are numy points of resemblance between the
structure of these two ancient monarchies, the body of councillors
who assisted the prince in his deliberations, the presidents
over the provinces, the satraps, etc. ; but tlie Persians had not
the elements of perpetuity which the system of connnon schools
and official examinations <rive to the Chinese iiovernment.”
‘ RoUin’s Aricient Ilktory, Chap. IV. Manners of the Assyrians. Heeren’aAsiatic Researches, Vol. I., Chap. II.
TRAVELLINCJ DEPUTIES AND COMMISSIONKRS. 447
Governors in like manner send their deputies and agents, called weiyuen, over the province ; and even the prefects and intendants despatch their messengers. All these functionaries, during the time of their mission, take rank with the highest officers according to the quality of their employers; but the imperial connnissioners, who for one object or another are constantly passing and repassing through the Empire in every direction, exercise great influence in the government, and are powerful agents in the hands of the Emperor for keeping his proconsuls at their duty.
CHAPTER VIII. ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS
The preceding chapter contains a general view of the plan upon which the central and provincial governments of the Empire are constircted ; and if an examination of the conduct of oiRcers in every department shows their extortion, cruelty, and venalitv, it will not, in the opinion of the liberal-minded reader, detract from the general excellence of the theory of the government, and the sagacity exhibited in the system of checks designed to restrain the various parts from interfering with the well-being of the whole. In addition to the division of power and the restrictions upon Chinese officers already mentioned, there are other means adopted in their location and alternation 10 prevent combination and resistance against the head of the state. One of them is the law forbidding a man to hold any civil office in his native province, which, besides stopping all intrigue where it would best succeed, has the further effect of congregating aspirants for office at Peking, where they come in hope of obtaining some post, or of succeeding in the examination for the highest literary degrees. The central government could not contrive a better plan for bringing all the ambitious and talented men in the country under its observation before appointing them to clerkships in the capital, or scattering them in the provinces.
Moreover, no officer is allowed to marry in the jurisdiction under his control, nor own land in it, nor have a son, brother, or near relative holding office under him ; and he is seldom continued in the same station or province for more than three or four years, QVfanchus and (liinese are mingled together in high stations, and obligations are imposed on certain grandees
CHECKS PLACED UPON OFFICIMIDLDEKS. 449
to inform the Emperor of each other’s acts. Members of the imperial clan are required to attend the meetings of the Boards at the capita], and observe and report what they deem amiss or Qf interest to the Emperor and his council; while in all the upper departments of the general and provincial governments, a system of espionage is can-ied out, detrimental to all principles of honorable fidelity, such as we look for in officiajA, but not without some good effects in a weak despotism like China.
OThere is, besides this constant surveillance, a triennial catalogue made out of the merits and demerits of all officers in the Empire, which is submitted to imperial inspection by the Board of Civil Office. In order to collect the details for this catalogue, it is incumbent upon every provincial officer to report upon the character and cpialiiications of those under him, and the list, when made out, is forwarded by the govei-nor to the capital./
The points of character are arranged under six different heads, viz.: those wh(i are not diligent, the inefficient, the superficial, the untalented, superannuated, and diseased. ( According to the opinion given in this report, officers are elevated or degraded so many steps in the scale of merit, like school-boys in a class, and whenever they issue an edict are required to state how many steps they have been advanced or degraded, and how many times recorded. Officers are required to accuse themselves, when guilty of crime, either in their own conduct or that of their subordinates, and request punishment^ The results of this peculiar and patriarchal mode of teaching officers their duty will be best exhibited by quoting from a rescript of Taukwang’s, issued in February, 1837, after one of the catalogues had been submitted to his Majesty.
“The cabinet minister Cliangling lias strenuously exerted himself during a long lapse of years ; he has reached the eightieth year of his age, yet his energies are still in full force. His colleagues Pwan Shi-ngan and Muchangah, as well as the assistant cabinet minister Wang Ting, have invariably displayed diligence and attention, and have not failed in yielding us assistance. Tang Kin-chau, president of the Board of Office, has knowledge and attainments of a respectable and sterling character, and has shown himself public-spirited and intelligent in the performance of special duties assigned to him. Shi Chi-yen, president of the Board of Punishments, retains his usual strength and energies, and in the performance of his judicial duties has displayed perspicacity and circumspection. The assistant cabinet minister and governor of Chihli province, Kislien, transacts the affairs of his government with faithfulness, and the military force under his control is well disciplined. Husunge, the governor of Sliensi and Kausuh provinces, is cautious and prudent, and perrorms his duties with careful exa,ctness. iKpu, governor of Yunnan and Kweichau, is well versed in the affairs of his frontier government, and has fully succeeded in pre erving it free from disturbance. Linking, who is entrusted with the general charge of the rivers in Kiangnan, has not failed in his care of the embankments, and has preserved the surrounding districts from all disquietude. To show our favor unto all these, let the Board of Office determine on appropriate marks of distinction for them.
“Kweisan, subordinate minister of the Cabinet, is hasty and deficient, both in precision and capacity ; he is incapable of moving and acting for himself; let him take an inferior station, and receive an appointment in the second class of the guards. Yihtsih, vice-president of the Board of Works for Mukden, possesses but ordinary talents, and is incompetent to the duties of his present office; let him also take an inferior station, and be appointed to a place in the first class of guards. Narkinge, the governor-general of Hukwang, though having under him the whole civil and military bodies of two provinces, has yet been unable, these many days, to seize a few beggarly impish vagabonds : a’”ter having in the first instance failed in prevention, he has followed up that failure by idleness and remissness, and has fully proved himself inefficient. Let him take the lower station of governor in Hunan, and within one year let him, by the apprehension of Lan Ching-tsun, show that he is aroused to greater exertion.
s.
“Let all our other servants retain their present appointments. Among them Tau Shu, the governor of Kiangnan and Kiangsi, is bold and determined in the transaction of affairs, but has not yet attained enlarged views in regard to the salt department; Chung Tsiang, the governor of Fuhkien and Chehkiang, finds his energies failing; TSng Ting-ching, the governor of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, possesses barely an adequate degree of talent and knowledge ; and Shin Ki-hien, though faithful and earnest in the performance of his duties, has, in common with these others, been not very long in office.
*’ That all ministers will act with purity and devotedness of purpose, with public spirit and diligence, is our most fervent hope. A special edict.” ‘
‘ Chinese licposilor;/, Vol. VI. , p. 48.
niAKACTER OF CHINESE OFFICIALS. 451
I The effet’t of such confessions and examination of cliafacter iV to restrain the commission of outra<;eons acts of oppression; it is still further enforced by the privilege, common alike to censors and private subjects, of complaining to the Emperor of misdeeds done to them by persons in authority. Fear for their own security has suggested this multiplicity of checks, but the Emperor and his ministry have no doubt thereby impeded the efficiency of their subordinates, and compelled them to attend so much to their own standing that they care far less than they otherwise would foi* the prosperity of the people.*)
The position of an officer in the Chinese government can hardly be ascertained from the enumeration of his duties, nor can we easily appreciate, from a general account of the system, his temptations to oppress inferiors and deceive superiors.
His duties, as indicated in the code, are so minute, and often so contradictory, as to make it impossible to fulfil them strictly; it is found, accordingly, that few or none have ascended the slippery heights of promotion without frequent relapses. ^Degradation, when to a step or two and temporary, carries with it of course no moral taint in a country where the award for bribery is graduated to the amount received, without any reference to moral violation^, where the bamboo is the standard of punishment as well for error in judgment or remissness as for crime —only commuted to a fine in honor of official rank ; whereas a distinction in favor of the imperial race, the bamboo is softened to the whip and banishment mitigated to the pillory.’
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV. , p. 59.
The highest officers have of course the greatest opportunity to oppress, but their extortions are limited by the venality and mendacity of the agents they are compelled to employ. Inferiors also can carry on a system of exactions if they keep on the right side of those above them. (.The whole class forma body of men mutually jealous of each other’s advance, where every incumbent endeavors to supplant his associate ; they all agree in regarding the people as the source of their profits, the sponge which all must squeeze, but differ in the degree to which they should carry on the same plan with each other. Although sprung from the mass of the people, the welfare of the community has little place in their thoughts. Their life is spent in ambitious efforts to rise upon the fall of others, though they do not lose all sense of character or become reckless of the means of advance, for this would destroy their chance of success] The game they play with each other and their imperial master is, however, a harmless one compared with what was done ill old Rome or in Europe four or five centuries ago, or even lately among the pashas and viziers of the sultans and shahs in Western Asia. To the honor of the Chinese, life is seldom sacrificed for political crime or envious emulation; no officer dreads a bowstring or a poisoned cup from his lord paramount, nor is he on the watch against the dagger of an assassin hired by a vindictive competitor. Whatever heights of favor or depths of umbrage he may experience, the servant of the Emperor of Chhia need not, in unproved cases of delinquency, fear for his life; but he not unfrequently takes it himself from conscious guilt and dread of just punishment.
The names and staiuiing of all officers are published quarterly by permission of government in the Red Book (which by an usual coincidence is bound in red), called the ” Complete Record of the Girdle Wearers” {Tshi jSkin Tslae/h Shif), comprised in four volumes, 12nio, to which are added two others of the Army and Bannermen. This publication was first issued at the command of Wanlih, of the Ming dynasty, about 15S0, and mentions the native province of each person, whether Chinese, Manchu, Mongol, or enrolled Chinese, describes the title of the office, its salary, and gives much general information. The publishers of the book expect that officers will inform them of the changes that take place in their standing, and sometimes omit to mention those who do not thus report themselves.
CAREER OF DUKE HO. 463
A memoir of the public life of a high officer in China would present a singular picture of ups and downs, but, on account of their notorious disregard of truth, Chinese documents are unsafe to trust entirely in drawing such a sketch. One of the most conspicuous men in late times was Duke IIo, the premier in the time of Macartney’s embassy, who for many years exercised a greater control over the counsels of a Chinese sovereign than is recorded of any other man during the present dynasty. This man was originally a private person, who attracted the notice of the Emperor by his comeliness, and secured it by his zeal in discharging the offices entrusted to him. With but few interruptions he gradually’ mounted the ladder of promotion, and for some years before Tvienlung’s death, when the hitter’s energies had begun to fail from age, was virtual master of the country. Staunton describes him as possessing eminent abilities ; ” the manners of Ilokwan were not less pleasing than his understanding was penetrating and acute, lie seemed indeed to possess the qualities of a perfect statesman.”‘ The favorite had gradually tilled the highest posts with his friends, and his well-wishers were so numerous in the general and provincial governments that some began to apprehend a rising in his favor when the Emperor died. Kiaking, on coming to the throne, began to take those cautious measures for his removal which showed the great influence he possessed ; one of these proceedings was to appoint him superintendent of the rites of mourning, in order, probably, that his official duties might bring him often to the palace.
After four years the Emperor drew up sixteen articles of impeachment, most of them frivolous and vexatious, though of more consequence in the eyes of a Chinese prince than they would have been at other courts. One article alleged that he had ridden on horseback up to the palace gate; another, that he had appropriated to his own household the females educated for the imperial harem; a third, that he had detained the reports of officers in time of war from coming to the Emperor’s eye, and had appointed his own retainers to office, when they were notoriously incompetent; a fourth, that he had built many apartments of nan-muh, a kind of laurel-wood exclusively appropriated to j-oyalty, and imitated regal style in his grounds and establishment; a fifth, that ” on the day previous to our
Itoyal Father’s announcement of our election as his successor,
Ilokwan waited upon us and presented the insignia of the newly
conferred rank—thereby betraying an important secret of state,
in hopes of obtaining our favor.” lie was also accused of having
pearls and jewels of larger size than those even in the Emperor’s
regalia. But so far as can be inferred from what was
published, this Cardinal AVolsey of China was, comparatively
speaking, not cruel in the exercise of his power, and the real
cause of his fall was evidenth’ his riches. In the schedule of his
confiscated property it was mentioned that besides houses, lands,
and other innnovable property to an amazing extent, not less
‘ Embassy to China, Vol. III., p. 26.
than one hundred and five millions of dollars in bullion and
geuls were found in his treasury, A special tribunal was instituted
for his trial, and he was allowed to become his own executioner,
while his constant associate was beheaded. These were
the only deaths, the remainder of his relatives and dependents
being simply removed and degraded. His power was no doubt
too great for the safety of his master if he had proved faithless
;
but his wealth was too vast for bis own security, even had he
been innocent. The Emperor, in the edict which contains the
sentence, cites as a precedent for his own acts similar condemnation
of premiers by three of bis ancestors in the present dynasty,
but nothing definite is known of their crimes or trials.’
Taukwang was more clement, or more fortunate than his father, and upon coming to the throne continued Tohtsin in power; this statesman bad held the premiership from 1815 to 1832, with but few interruptions, when he was allowed to retire at the age of seventy-five. He had served under three emperors, having risen step by step from the situation of clerk in one of the offices. His successor, Changling, experienced a far more checkered course, but remained in favor at last, and retired from the j)remiership in 1836, aged about seventy-nine. He became very popular with his master from his ability in quelling the insurrection of Jeliangir in Turkestan in 1 827. Even a few such instances of the honor in which an upright, energetic, and wise minister is regarded by prince and people have great influence in encouraging young men to act in the same way.
‘ Phiriese Repository^ Vol. III., p. 241.
LIFE AND CIIARACTEU OF MINISTEIl SUNT,, 453
Few Chinese statesmen have been oftener brought into the notice of western foreigners than Sung, one of the commissioners attached to Lord Macartney’s embassy, and a favorite of all its members. His lordship speaks of him then as a young man of high quality, possessing an elevated mind; and adds that ” during the whole time of our connection with him he has on all occasions conducted himself toward us in the most friendly and gentleman-like manner.” This was in 1703. In 1817 he is mentioned as one of the Cabinet ; but not long after, for some unknown reason, he was degraded by Kiaking to the sixth rank, and appointed adjiitaiit-general aiuoiig tlic Tsakliar Mongols ; from thence he memorialized his master respecting the ill conduct of some lamas, who had been robbing and murdering. Sung and his friends opposed the Emperor’s going to Manchuria, and were involved in some trouble on this account, the reasons of which it is difficult to understand. He was promoted, however, to be captain-general of Manchuria, but again fell under censure, and on his visit to his paternal estate at Mukden the Emperor took him back to the capital and appointed him to some important office. lie soon got into new trouble with the Emperor, who in a proclamation remarks that ” Sung is inadequate to the duties of minister of the imperial presence ; because, although he formerly officiated as such, he is now upward of seventy years of age, and rides badly on horseback ; ” he is therefore sent to Manchuria to fill his old office of captain-general. The next year the ex-minister and his adherents were involved in a long trial about the loss of a seal, and he was deprived of his command and directed to retire to his own Banner ; the real reasons of this disgrace were probably connected with the change of parties ensuent upon the accession of Taukwang.
Soon afterward Sung was restored to favor and made adjutant at Jell ho, after having been president of the Censorate for a month. He was allowed to remain there longer than usual, and employed his spare time in writing a book upon the newly acquired territory in Turkestan. In 1824 he was reinstated as president of the Censorate, with admonitions not to confuse and puzzle himself with a multiplicity of extraneous matters. In 1826 he was sent on a special commission to Shansi, and when he returned was honored with a dinner at court on new year’s day. He then appears as travelling tutor to the crown-prince, but where his royal highness went for his education does not appear; from this post we find him made president of the Board of Rites, and appointed to inspect the victims for a state sacrifice. He is then ordered to Jeh ho, from whence, in a fit of penitence, or perhaps from fear of a dun, he memorialized the Emperor about a debt of $52,000 he had incurred nearly thirty years before, which he proposed to liquidate by foregoing his salary of $1,000 until the arrears were paid up ; the Emperor was in good humor with the old man, and forgave him the whole amount, being as Bured, he says, of Sung’s pure official character. In this memorial, when recounting his services, the aged officer says that he has been twice commander-in-chief and governor of III, governor- general at Xanking, Canton, etc., but had never saved much.
NOTICE OF COMMISSIONER LIN, 457
Shortly after this he is recalled from Jeh ho and made ti-iuh of Peking, then president of the Board of War ; and in a few months he is ordered to proceed across the desert to Cobdo to investigate some affair of importance—a long and toilsome journey of fifteen hundred miles for a man over seventy-five years old. He returned the next year and resumed his post as president of the Board of war, in which capacity he acted as examiner of the students in the Russian College. In 1831 he was made president of the Colonial Office, and later received an appointment as superintendent of the’ Three Treasuries, but was obliged to resign from ill health. A month’s relaxation seems to have wonderfully restored him, for the Emperor, in reply to his petition for employment, expresses surprise that he should so Boon be fit for official duties, and plainly intimates his opinion that the disease was all sham, though he accedes to his request so far as to nominate him commander of one of the eight Banners. In 1832 Sung again became involved in intrigues, and was reduced to the third degree of rank; the resignation of Tohtsin and the struggle for the vacant premiership was probably the real reason of this new reverse, though a frivolous accusation of two years’ standing “was trumped up against him. He was restored again, after a few months’ disgrace, at the petition of a beg of a city in Turkestan, which illustrates, by the way, the influence which those princes exert. Old age now began to come upon the courtier in good earnest, and in 1833 he was ordered to retire with the rank and pay of adjutant, which he lived to enjoy only two years. Much of the success of Suui; was said to be owinu to his havin<r had a daughter in the harem, but his personal character and kindness were evidently the main sources of his enduring influence among all ranks of people and officers; one account says the IManchus almost worshipped him, and beggars clung to his chair in the streets to ask alms. It is wortriy of notice that in all his re-A-erses there is no mention made of any severer punishment than degradation or banishment, and in this particular the political life of Sung is probably a fair criterion of the usual fortune of high Chinese statesmen. The leading events in the life of Changling, the successor of Tohtsin, together with a few notices of the governor of Canton in 1833, Li llung-pin, are given in the Rej)ositorij.^ Commissioners Lin and Kivins; became more famous amontr foreigners than their compeers in the capital, from the parts they acted in the war with England in IS-iO, but only a few notices of their lives are accessible. Lin Tseh-sii was born in 1785, in Fuhchau, and passed through the literary examinations, becoming a graduate of the second rank at the age of nineteen, and of the third when twenty-six. After filling an
office or two in the Imperial Academy, he was sent as assistant
literary examiner to Iviangsi in 1816, and during three subsequent
years acted as examiner and censor in various places. In
1819 he filled the office of intendant of circuit, in Chehkiano^:
and after absence on account of health, he was, in 1823, appointed
to the post of treasurer of Iviangsu, in the absence of the incuml)ent. In 1820 he was made overseer of the Yellow River, but hearing of his mother’s death, resigned his office to mourn for her. After the period of mourning was finished he went to Peking and received the office of judge in Shensi; but before he had been in it a month he was made treasurer of Kiangsu, and before he could enter upon this new office he
heard of his father’s death, and was obliged to resign once
more. In 1832 he was nominated treasurer in Ilupeh, and
five months later transferred to the same office in Honan, and
six months after that sent to Iviangsu again. Three months after this third transfer he was reinstated overseer of the Yellow River, and within a short time elevated to be governor of Iviangsi, which he retained three years, and acted as governor-general of Liang Iviang two years more. In 1838 he was made governor-general of II u Kwang; and shortly after this ordered to come to Peking to be admitted to an imperial audience, and by special favor permitted to ride on horseback within the palace.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 61-66.
He was at this audience appointed imperial commissioner to put down the opium trade and manage the affairs of the maritime frontier of Ivwantung, receiving at the time such plenipotentiary powers to act for the Emperor as had only once before been committed to a subject since 1644-, viz., when Changling was sent to Turkestan to (piell the insurrection. Lin’s ill success in dealing with the opium trade and its upholders in the British government reflect no discredit on his own ability, for the task was beyond the powers of the Empire ; but his fame even now stands high amono; the Cantonese. One incident showing his kindness to the crew of the Sunda, an English vessel lost on Hainan Island, on their arrival in Canton in October, 1839, while he was ligliting their consular officers,
gave a good insight into the candor of the man. In December,
1839, he was appointed governor-general of Liang Kiang ; but
succeeded to that of Liang Ivwang in February, 1840, In
October of the same year the seals of office were taken away,
and he was ordered to return to Peking. He remained, however,
till May of the next year to advise with Ivishen in his
difficult negotiations with the English. Lin left Canton in
May,’ 1841, leading two thousand troops to defend Ningpo, but
this role M^as not his foi’te. In July, 1842, he was banished to
111, but the sentence was suspended for a season hy giving him
a third time the oversight of the Yellow River. However, in
1844 we find him in lli, holding an inferior appointment and
trying to bring waste lands near the Mohammedan cities nnder
cultivation ; his zeal was rewarded the next year by a pardon,
and the year after that by the Jiigh post of governor-general of
Shensi and Kansuh, in wliich region he set himself to work to
reform the civil service and increase the revenue. In 1847 the
cares of office wore “upon him, so that he asked for a furlough
and went back to Fulichau, aged sixty-two. His ambition was
not yet satisfied, for he was made governor-general in Yunnan
in 1848, but his strength was not equal to its duties, and
he again retired in 1849. The young Emperor Hienfung,
CAREER OF COMMISSIONER KIYING. 459
startled at the rapid rise of the Tai-ping rebels, applied to the aged statesman to help him as he had his father, Lin responded to the call of his sovereign, but death came upon him before he reached Kwangsi, on the 22d of November, 1850, at the aiie of sixty-seven. More endurino; than some of his official acts was the preparation and publication of the History of Maritime Nations, with maps, in fifty books, in which he gave his countrymen all the details he could gather of other nations.’
Much less is known of the official life of Iviying than of Lin, but the Manchu proved himself superior to the Chinese in trinunino; his course to meet the inevitable and avoid the rocks his predecessor struck. In 1835 his name is mentioned as president of the Board of Revenue and controller of the Tsung-jin fu. lie was detained at the capital as commander-in chief of the forces there until 1842, when his Majesty sent him to Canton to take the place of Yihshan. He was ordered to stop at Ilangchau, however, on his way, and make a report of the condition of affairs; his memorials seem to have had great influence, for he was appointed joint commissioner with llipu in April of that year. At the negotiations of Xanking Iviying acted as chief commissioner, and was mainly instrumental in bringing the war to a conclusion. He proceeded to Canton in May, 18-43, to succeed llipu, and there acted as sole commissioner in negotiating the supplementary treaty and the commercial regulations with the British, returning to the capital in December, 1843. His prudence and vigor had great effect in calming the irritation of the people of Canton. On the arrival of the American plenipotentiary lie was vested with full powers to treat with Mr. Cushing, and soon after with the French and Swedish envoys, with all of whom he signed treaties. During the progress of these negotiations Ki Kung died and Iviying succeeded him.
‘ Compare Dr. Bowring in N. C. Br. R. A. Soc. Journal, Part III., Art VII. (Dec, 1852).
His administration as governor-general continued till January, 1848, when he returned to Peking to receive higher honors from the Emperor. In 1849 he went to Kiangsu to inquire into the salt department, and then to Northern Shansi to settle differences with the Mongols. From this period he held various posts in the cabinet and capital, busy in all court intrigues, and rather losing his good name, till he fell into disgrace.
In 1856, when the envoys of the four western Powers were at Tientsin, he entered into some underhand dealings against the policy of Kweiliang and Ilwashana, and was sent there as joint commissioner, he had hardly entered upon his functions by the presentation of his commission, when he suddenly returned to Peking against the Emperor’s will, and was ordered to take poison in the presence of the head of the Clan to avoid the ignominy of a public execution,’ Few Chinese statesmen in modern times have borne a higher character for prudence, dignity, and intelligence than Iviying, and the confidence reposed in him is creditable to his imperial master. In his demeanor, says Sir Thomas Wade, ” there was a combination of dignity and courtesy which more than balanced the deficiencies of a by no means attractive exterior.” The portrait of him has been engraved from a native painting made at Canton, and is a good one. It was kindly furnished for this work by J. P. Peters, Jr.
‘ Chinese Repository, passim. Oliphant, Lord Elgin’s Mission to China and Jiqmu, Cluii). XVIT. Minister Reed, in U. >S’. Dip. Correspondence, 1857-58.
AGED STATESMEN RETAINED IN OFFICE. 461
The facts of this man’s career are not all known, but his connection by birth with the Clan brought him into an entirely different set of influences from Lin, while his training removed him from the contact with the people which made the other so popular and influential. Both of them were good instances of Chinese statesmen, and their checkered lives as here briefly noticed resemble that of their compeers in the highest grades of official dignity. The sifting which the personnel of the Emperor’s employees in all their various grades receive generally brings the cleverest and most trustworthy to the top ; no one can come in contact with thein in state affairs without an increase of respect for their shrewdness, loyalty, and skill. One observable feature of the Chinese political world is the great age of the high officers, and It is not easy to account for their
being kept in their posts, when almost worn out, bj a monarch
who wished to have efficient men around liim, until we learn
how little real power he can arbitrarily exert over the details of
the branches of his government. It is somewhat explainable
on the ground that, as long as the old incumbents are alive, the
Emperor, being more habituated to their company and advice,
prefers to retain those whose competency has been proven by
their service. The patriarch, kept near the Emperor, is moreover
a kind of hostage for the loyalty of his following ; and the
latter, scattered throughout the provinces, can be managed and
moved about through him with less opposition : he is, still
further, a convenient medium thrcjugh which to receive the
exactions of the younger members of the service, and convey
such intimations as are thought necessary. Tlie system of
clientelage which existed among the Gauls and Franks is also
found in China with some modifications, and has a tendency to
link officers to one another in parties of different degrees of
power. The Emperor published an order in 1S33 against this
system of patronage, and it is evident that he would find it seriously interfering with his power were it not constantly broken up by changing the relations of the parties and sending them away in different directions. Peking is almost the only place where the ” teacher and pupils,’^ as the patron and client call each other, could combine to much purpose ; and the principal safeguard the throne seems to have against intrigues and parties around it lies in the conflicting interests arising among themselves, though a long-established oi- unscrujiulous favorite, as in the cases of Duke IIo and Suhshun in 1S55-C1, can sometimes manage to engross the whole power of the crown.
Notwithstanding the heavy charges of oppression, cruelty, bribery, and mendacity which are often brought against officers Math more or less justice, it must not be inferred that no good qualities exist among them. Thousands of them desire to rule equitably, to clear the innocent and punish the guilty, and exert all the knowledge and power they possess to discharge their functions to the acceptance of their master and their own good name among the inhabitants. Such officers, too, generally rise, while the cruelties of others are visited with degradation, The pasquinades which the people stick up in the streets indicate their sentiments, and receive much more attention than would such vulgar expressions in other countries, because it is almost the only way in which their opinions can be safely uttered. The popularity which upright officers receive acts as an incentive to others to follow in the same steps, as well as a reward to the person himself. The governor of Ivwangtung in 1833, Chu, was a very popular officer, and when he obtained leave to resign his station on account of age, the people vied with each other in showing their hearty regret at losing him.
The old custom was observed of retaining his boots and presenting him with a new pair at every city he passed through, and many other testimonials of their regard were adopted.
On leaving the city of Canton he circulated a few Aerses, ” to console the people and excite them to virtue,” for he heard that some of them w^ept on learning of his departure.
From ancient days, my fathers trod the path
Of literary fame, and placed their names
Among the wise ; two generations past,
Attendant on their patrons, they have come
To this provincial city. ‘ Here this day
‘Tis mine to be imperial envoy ;
Thus has the memory of ancestral fame
Ceased not to stimulate this feeble frame.
My father held an office at Lungchau.”And deep imprinted his memorial there ;
He was the sure and generous friend
Of learning unencouraged and obscure.
When now I turn my head and travel back
In thought to that domestic hall, it seems
As yesterday, those early happy scenes—
How was he pained if forced to be severe 1‘ The Chinese have a great affection for the place of their nativity, and coneider a residence in any other province like being in a foreign settlement.
They always wish to return thither in life, or have their remains carried and interred there after death.
VALEDICTORY VERSES OF GOVERNOR CHU. 463
‘^ A district in the province of Kwangsi.
From times remote Kwangtung has been renowned
For wise and mighty men ; but none can stand
Among them, or compare with Kiuh Kiang :’
Three idle and inglorious years are past,
And I have raised no monument of fame,
By shedding round the rays of light and truth,
To give the people knowledge. In this heart
I feel the shame, and cannot bear the thought.
But now, in flowered pavilions, in street
Illuminations, gaudy shows, to praise
The gods and please themselves, from year to yearThe modern people vie, and boast themselves,
And spend their hard-earned wealth—and all in vain;
For what shall be the end? Henceforth let all
Maintain an active and a useful life,
The sober husband and the frugal wife.
The gracious statesman, “politic and wise,
Is my preceptor and my long-tried friend ,Called now to separate, spare our farewell
The heartrending words affection so well loves.
That he may still continue to exhort
The people, and instruct them to be wise,
To practice virtue and to keep the laws
Of ancient sages, is my constant hope.
When I look backward o’er the field of fame
Where I have travelled a long fifty years,
The struggle for ambition and the sweat
For gain seem altogether vanity.
Who knoweth not that heaven’s toils are close,
Infinitely close V Few can escape.
Ah! how few great men reach a full old age f
How few unshorn of honors end their days I
Inveterate disease has twined itself
Around me, and binds me in slavery.
The kindness of his Majesty is high ‘
And liberal, admitting no return‘ Kiuh Kiang was an ancient minister of state during the Tang dynasty. Hia imperial master would not listen to his advice and lie therefore retired. Rebellion and calamities arose. The Emperor thought of his faithful servant and sent for him ; but he was already dead.
• Governor Loo.
* In permitting Chu to retire from public life.
Unless a grateful heart ; still, still my eyes
Will see the miseries of the people—
Unlimited distresses, mournful, sad,
To the mere passer-by awaking grief.
Untalented, unworthy, I withdraw,
Bidding farewell to this windy, dusty world;
Upward I look to the supremely good—
The Emperor—to choose a virtuous man
To follow me. Henceforth it will oe well—
The measures and the merits passing mine;
But I shall silent stand and see his grace
Diffusing blessings like the genial spring.Ilipn, Ki Kiing, the late governor-general of Ivwangtnng, and Shn, the prefect of Ningbo in 1842, are other officers who have been popular in late years. When Lin passed through Macao in 1839, the Chinese had in several places erected honorary portals adorned with festoons of silk and laudatory scrolls ; and when he passed the doors of their houses and shops they set out tables decorated with ^’ases of flowers, ” in order to manifest their profound gratitude for his coming to save them from a deadly vice, and for removing from them a dire cahnnity by the destruction and severe intei’diction of opium.” Alas, that his efforts and intentions should have been so fruitless! The Pehing Gazette frequently contains petitions from old officers describing their ailments, their fear lest they shall not be able to perform their duties, the length of their official service, and requesting leave of absence or permission to retire.
OFFICIAL PETITIONS AND CONFESSIONS. 465
It is impossible to regard all the expressions of loyalty in these papers, coming as they do from every class of officers, as heartless and made out according to a prescribed form; but we are too ready to measure them by our own standard and fashion, forgetting that it is not the defects of a system which give the best standard of its value and efficiency. Let us rather, as an honest expression of feeling, quote a few lines from a memorial of Shi, a censor in 1824: “Reflecting within myself that, notwithstanding the decay of my strength, it has still pleased the imperial goodness to employ me in a high office instead of rejecting and discarding me at once, I have been most anxious to eft’ect a cure, in order that, a weak old horse as I am, it might be still in my power, by the exertion of my whole strength, to recompense a ten-thousandth part of the benevolence which restored me to life/”
Connected with the triennial schedule of official merits and
demerits is the necessity the high officers of state are under of
confessing their faults of government ; and the two form a
peculiar and somewhat stringent check upon their intrigues and
malversation, making them, as Le Comte observes, “exceeding
circumspect and careful, and sometimes even virtuous against
their own inclinations.” The confessions reported in i\\Q Peking
Gazette are, however, by no means satisfactory as to the real extent
or nature of these acts ; most of the confessors are censors,
and perhaps it is in virtue of their office that they thus sit in
judgment upon themselves. Examples of the crimes mentioned
are not wanting. The governor-general of Chihli requested severe
punishment in 1S32 for not having discovered a plotting
demagogue who had collected several thousand adherents in his
and the next provinces ; his request was granted. An admiral
in the same province demands punishment for not having properly
educated his son, as thereby he went mad and wounded several people. Another calls for judgment upon himself because the Empress-dowager had been kept waiting at the palace gate by the porters when she paid her Majesty a visit. One officer accused himself for not being able to control the Yellow River; and his Majesty’s cook in 1830 requested punishment for being too late in presenting his bill of fare, but M^as graciously forgiven. The rarity of these confessions, compared with the actual sins, shows either that they are, like a partridge’s doublings, made to draw off attention from the real nest of malversation, or that few officers are willing to undergo the mortification.
The Emperor, in his character of vicegerent of heaven, occasionally imposes the duty of self confession upon himself.
‘ Chinese Repositunj , Vol. IV., p. 71.
Kiaking issued several public confessions during his reign, but the Gazette has not contained many such papers within the last thirty years. These confessions are drawn from him more by natural calamities, such as drought, freshets, epidemics, etc., than by political causes, though insurrections, tii-es, ominoug portents, etc., sometimes induce them. The personal character of the monarch has much to do with their frequency and phraseology. On occasion of a drought in 1817 the Emperor Kiaking said : ” The remissness and sloth of the officers of government constitute an evil which has long been accumulating.
It is not the evil of a day ; for several years I have given the most pressing admonitions on the subject, and have punished many cases which have been discovered, so that recently there appears a little improvement, and for several seasons the weather has been favorable. The drought this season is not perhaps entirely on their (the officers’) account. I have meditated upon it, and am persuaded that the reason why the aznro Heavens above manifest disapprobation by withholding rain for a few hundred miles only around the capital, is that the fifty and more rebels who escaped are secreted somewhere near Peking.
Hence it is that fertile vapors are fast bound, and the felicitous harmony of the seasons interrupted.” On the 14th of May, 1818, between five and six o’clock in the evening, a sudden darkness enveloped the capital, attended by a violent “wind from the southeast and much rain. During its action two intervals occurred when the sky became a lurid red and the air offensive, terrible claps of thunder startling the people and frightening the monarch. His astroloo;ers could not relieve his forebodings of evil, and he issued a manifesto to explain the matter to his subjects and discharge his own conscience. One sentence is w^orth quoting : ” Calumnious accusations cause the ruin and death of a multitude of innocent people; they alone are capable of provoking a sign as terrible as this one just seen. The wind coming from the southeast is proof enough that some great crime has been committed in that region, which the officials, by neglecting their duties, have ignored, and thereby excited the ire of Heaven,” ‘
^Anncdes de la Foi, No. 6, 1823, pp. 21-24.
PRAYER FOR RAIN OF TAUKWANG. 467
One of the most remarkable specimens of these papers is a prayer for rain issued by Taukwang, July 24, 1832, on occasion of a severe drought at the capital. Before publishing this paper he had endeavored to mollify the anger and heat of heaven by ordering all suspected and accused persons in the prisons of the metropolis to be tried, and their guilt or innocence established, in order that the course of justice might not be delayed, and witnesses be released from confinement. But these vicarious corrections did not avail, and the drought continuing, he was obliged, as high-priest of the Empire, to show the people that he was mindful of their sufferings, and would relieve them, if possible, by presenting the following memorial:
*’ Kneeling, a memorial is hereby presented, to cause affairs to be beard.
” Oh, alas ! imperial Heaven, were not the world afflicted by extraordinary changes, I would not dare to present extraordinary services. But this year the drought is most unusual. Summer is past, and no rain has fallen. Not only do agriculture and human beings feel the dire calamity, but also beasts and insects, herbs and trees, almost cease to live. I, the minister of Heaven, am placed over mankind, and am responsible for keeping the world in order and tranquillizing the people. Although it is now impossible for me to sleep or eat with composure, although I am scorched with grief and tremble with anxiety, still, after all, no genial and copious showers have been obtained.
“Some days ago I fasted, and offered rich sacrifices on the altars of the gods of the land and the grain, and had to be thankful for gathering clouds and slight showers; but not enough to cause gladness. Looking up, I consider that Heaven’s heart is benevolence and love. The sole cause is the daily deeper atrocity of my sins; but little sincerity and little devotion. Hence I have been unable to move Heaven’s heart, and bring down abundant blessings.
” Having searched the records, I find that in the twenty-fourth year of Kienlung my exalted Ancestor, the Emperor Pure, reverently performed a ‘great snow service’. I feel impelled, by ten thousand considerations, to look up and imitate the usage, and with trembling anxiety rashly assail Heaven, examine myself, and consider my errors; looking up and hoping that I may obtain pardon. I ask myself whether in sacrificial services I have been disrespectful? Whether or not pride and prodigality have had a place in my heart, springing forth there unobserved? Whether, from length of time, I have become remiss in attending to the affairs of government, and have been unable to attend to them with that serious diligence and strenuous effort which I ought ‘i Whether I have uttered irreverent words, and have deserved reprehension? Whether perfect equity has been attained in conferring rewards or inflicting punishments ? Whether in raising mausolea and laying out gardens I have distressed the people and wasted property ? Whether in the appointment of officers I have failed to obtain fit persons, and thereby the acts of government have been petty and vexatious to the people V Whether punishments have been unjustly inflicted or not V Whether the oppressed have found no meaus of appeal ? Whether in pc^rsecuting lieterodox sects the innocent have not been involved ? Whether or not the magistrates have insulted the people and refused to listen to their affairs ‘i Whctln’r, in the successive military operations on the western frontiers, then’ may imt liavu been the horrors of human slaughter for the sake of imperial rewards V Whether the largesses bestowed on the afflicted southern provinces were properly applied, or the people were left to die in the ditches ‘i Whether the efforts to exterminate or pacify the rebellious mountaineers of Hunan and Kwangtung were properly conducted ; or whether they led to the inhabitants being trampled on as mire and ashes ? To all these topics to which my anxieties have been directed I ought to lay the plumb-line, and strenuously endeavor to correct what is wrong ; still recollecting that there may be faults which have not occurred to me in my meditations.
” Prostrate I beg imperial Heaven (Jlmmcj Tieu) to pardon my ignoiance and stupidity, and to grant me self-renovation ; for myriads of innocent people are involved by me, the One man. My sins are so numerous it is difficult to escape from them. Summer is past and autumn arrived ; to wait longer will really be impossible. Knocking head, I pray imperial Heaven to hasten and confer gracious deliverance—a speedy and divinely beneficial rain, to save the people’s lives and in some degree redeem my iniquities. Oh, alas ! imperial Heaven, observe these things. Oh, alas ! imperial Heaven, be gracious to them. I am inexpressibly grieved, alarmed, and frightened. Reverently this memorial is presented.” ‘
This paper apparently intimates some acknowledgment of a
ruling power above, and before a despot like the Emperor of
China would place himself in such an equivocal posture before
his people, he would assure himself very thoroughly of their
sentiments ; for its effects as a state paper would be worse than
null if the least ridicule was likely to be thrown upon it. In this
case heavy showers followed the same evening, and appropriate
thanksgivings were ordered and oblations presented before the
six altars of heaven, earth, land, and grain, and the gods of
heaven, earth, and the revolving year.
‘ Chinese Bepository, Vol. I., p. 236.
METHODS OF PUHLISITINO EDICTS. 469
The orders of the court are usually transmitted in manuscript, except when some grand event or state cei’cmony requires a general i)i”oclanuition, in which cases the document is printed on yellow paper and published in both the Chinese and ]\[anchu languages, encin;led with a border of dragons. The governors and their suboi’dinatos, imperial commissioners, and collectoi’s of customs are the principal officers in the provinces who publish their orders to the people, consisting of admonitions, exhortations, regulations, laws, special ordinances, threatenings, and municipal j-e<|uirements. Standing laws and local regulations are often superbly carved on tablets of black marble, and placed in the streets to be ” held in everlasting remembrance,” so that no one can plead ignorance ; a custom which recalls the mode of publishing the Twelve Tables at Rome. Several of these
monuments, beautifully ornamented, are to be seen at Canton
and Macao. The usual mode of publishing the commands of
government is to print the document in large characters, and
, post copies at the door of the offices and in the streets in public
places, with the seal of the officer attached to authenticate them.
The sheets on -which they are printed being connnon bamboo
paper, and having no protection from the weather, are, however,
soon destroyed ; the people read them as they are thus
exposed, and copy them if they wish, but it is not unconnnon,
too, for the magistrates to print important edicts in pamphlet
form for circulation. These placards are written in an official
style, differing from common Meriting as much as that does
in English, but not involved or obscure. A single specimen of
an edict issued at Canton will suffice to illustrate the form of
such papers, and moreover show npon what subjects a Chinese
ruler sometimes legislates, and the care he is expected to take
of the people.
” Sii and Hwang, by special appointment magistrates of the districts of Nanliai and Pwanyn, raised ten steps and recorded ten times, hereby distinctly publish important rules for the capture of grasshoppers, that it may be known how to guard against them in order to ward off injury and calamity. On the 7th day of the Sth month in the 18th year of Taukwang [September 20, 1838], we received a communication from the prefect of the [department of Kwangchau], transmitting a despatch from their excellencies the governor-general and governor, as follows:
” ‘ During the fifth month of the present year flights of grasshoppers appeared in the limits of Kwangsi, in [the departments of] Liu, Tsin, Kwei, and Wu, and their vicinage, which have already, according to report, been clean destroyed and driven off. We have heard that in the department of Kauchau and its neighborhood, conterminous to Kwangsi, grasshoppers have appeared which multiply with extreme rapidity. At this time the second crop is in the blade (which if destroyed will endamage the people), and it is proper, therefore, immediately, wherever they are found, to capture and drive them off, marshalling the troops to advance and wholly exterminate them. But Kwang tung heretofore has never experienced this calamity, and we apprehend the officers and people do not understand the mode of capture; wherefore we now exhibit in order the most important rules for catching grasshoppers. Let the governor’s combined forces be immediately instructed to capture them secundum artem; at the same time let orders be issued for the villagers and farmers at once to assemble and take them, and for the magistrate to establish storehouses for their reception and purchase, thus without fail sweeping them clean away.If you do not exert yourselves to catch the grasshoppers, your guilt will be very great ; let it be done carefully, not clandestinely delaying, thus causing this misfortune to come upon yourselves, transgressing the laws, and causing US again, according to the exigencies of the case, to promulgate general orders and make thorough examination, etc., etc. Appended hereto are copies of the rules for catching grasshoppers, which from the lieutenant-governor must he sent to the treasurer, who will enjoin it upon the magistrates of the depart-, meats, and he again upon the district magistrates.’
“Having received the preceding, besides respectfully transmitting it to the colonel of the department to be straightway forwarded to all the troops under his authority, and also to all the distri(-t justices, that they all with united purpose bend their energies to observe, at the j^roper time, that whenever the grasshoppers become numerous they join their forces and extirpate them, thus removing calamity from the people ; we also enjoin upon whomsoever receives this that the grasshoppers be caught according to these several directions, which are therefore here arranged in order as follows:
“‘1. When the grasshoppers first issue forth they are to be seen on the borders of large morasses, from whence they quickly multiiily and fill large tracts of land; they produce their young in little hillocks of black earth, using the tail to bore into the ground, not quite an inch in depth, which still remain as open holes, the whole somewhat resembling a bee’s nest. One grasshopper drops ten or more pellets, in form like a pea, each one containing a hundred or more young. For the young grasshoppers fly and eat in swarms, and this laying of their young is done all at once and in the same spot; the place resembles a hive of bees, and therefore it is very easily sought and found.
” ‘2. When the grasshoppers are in the fields of wheat and tender rice and
the thick grass, every day at early dawn they all alight on the leaves of the
grass, and their bodies being covered with dew are heavy and they cannot fly
or liop ; at noon they begin to assemble for flight, and at evening they collect
in one spot. Thiis each day there are three periods when tliey can be caught,
and the p(!ople and gentry will also have a short respite. The mode of catching
them is to dig a trench before them, the broader and longer tlio better, on
each side placing boards, doors, screens, and such like things, oiu> stretched
on after another, and spreading open each side. The whole multitude must
then cry aloud, and, holding boards in their hands, drive them all into the
trench; meanwhile those on the opposite side, provided with brooms and
rakes, on seeing any leaping or crawling out, must sweep them back; then
covering them with dry grass, burn them all up. Let the fire be first kindled
in the trench, and then drive; tlunn into it ; for if they are only buried upi
then many of them will crawl out of the openings and so escape.
EDICT FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF GRASSHOPPERS. 471
” ‘3. When the swarms of grasshoppers see a row of trees, or a close line of
flags and streamers, they nsnally hover over and settle ; and the farmers frequently
suspend red and white clothes and petticoats on long poles, or make
red and green paper flags, but they do not always settle with great rapidity.
Moreover, tliey dread the noise of gongs, matchlocks, and guns, hearing which
they fly away. If they come so as to obscure the heavens, you must let off
the guns and clang the gongs, or fire the crackers ; it will strike the front
ranks with dread, and flying away, the rest will follow them and depart.
” ‘4. When the wings and legs of the grasshoppers are taken off, and [their
bodies] dried in the sun, the taste is like dried prawns, and moreover, they
can be kept a long time without spoiling. Ducks can also be reared upon the
dried grasshoppers, and soon become large and fat. Moreover, the hill people
catch them to feed pigs ; tliese pigs, weighing at first only twenty catties
or so, in ten days’ time grow to weigh more than fifty catties ; and in rearing
all domestic animals they are of use. Let all farmers e.xert themselves and
catch them alive, giving rice or money according to the number taken. In
order to remove this calamity from your grain, what fear is there that you will
not perform this V Let all these rules for catching the grasshoppers hb diligently
carried into full effect.’
“Wherefore these commands are transcribed that all you soldiers and people
may be fully acquainted with them. Do you all then immediately in
obedience to them, when you see the proper time has come, sound the gong ;
and when you see the grasshoppers and their young increasing, straightway
get ready, on the one hand seizing them, and on the other announcing to the
oflicers that they collect the troops, that with united strength you may at once
catch them, without fail making an iitter extermination of them ; thus calamity
will be removed from tlie people. We will also then confer rewards upon
those of the farmers and people who first announce to the magistrates their
approach. Let every one implicitly obey. A special command.
” Promulgated Taukwang, 18th year, 8th month, and 15th day.’”
The concluding part of an edict affords some room for displaying
tlie character of the promulgator. Among other endings
are sucli as these : ” Hasten ! hasten ! a special edict.”
‘• Tremble liereat intenselj.” ” Lay not up for yourselves future
repentance by disobedience.” ” I will by no means eat my
words.” ” Earnestly observe these things.” In their state
papers Chinese officers are constantly referring to ultimate
tmiths and axioms, and deducing arguments therefrom in a
peculiarly national grandiloquent manner, though some of their
‘ Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 223-227. The effect of these instructions relating to grasshoppers does not appear to have equaled the zeal of the officers composing them ; swarms of locusts, however, are in general neither numerous nor devastating in China.
conclusions are preposterous iion-sequitvirs. Commissioner Lin addressed a letter to the Queen of England regarding the interdiction of opium, which began with the following preamble:” Whereas, the ways of Heaven are without partiality, and no sanction is allowed to injure others in order to benefit one’s self, and that men’s natural feelings are not very diverse (for where is he who does not abhor death and love life ?)—therefore your honorable nation, though beyond the wide ocean at
a distance of twenty thousand /?, also acknowledges the same
ways of Heaven, the same human nature, and has the like perceptions
of the distinctions between life and death, benefit and
injury. Our heavenly court has for its family all that is within
the four seas ; and as to the great Emperor’s heaven-like benevolence—
there is none whom it does not overshadow ; even
regions remote, desert, and disconnected have a part in his
general care of life and well-being.”
The edicts furnish almost the only exponents of the intentions
of government. They present several characteristic features
of the ignorant conceit and ridiculous assumptions of the
Chinese, while they betray the real weakness of the authorities
in the mixture of argument and command, coaxing and threatening,
pervading every paragraph. According to their phraseology,
there can possibly be no failure in the execution of every
order ; if they are once made known, the obedience erf the people
follows almost as a nuitter of course; while at the same
time both the writer and the people know that most of them are
not only perfunctory but nearly useless. The resj^onsibility of
the writer in a measure ceases witli the promulgation of his
orders, and when they reach the last in the series their efficiency
has well nigh departed. Expediency is the usual guide
for obedience ; deceiving superiors and oppressing the people
the rule of action on the part of many officials ; and their orders
do not more strikingly exhibit their weakness and igno-
I’ance than their mendacity and conceit. A large proportion of
well-meanino; officers are sensible too that all their efforts will
be neutralized by the half-paid, imscrupnlous retainers and
clerks in the ymnuns ; and this checks their energy.
It is not easy, without citing many examples accompanied
CHAKACTEK AND PHRASEOLOGY OF THE EDICTS. 478
with particular explanations, to give a just idea of the actual
execution of the laws, and show how far the people are secured
in life and pi’opcrty hy their i-ulei”s ; and perhaps nothing has
been the source of such differing views regarding the Chinese
as the predominance writers give either to the theory or the
practice of legislation. Old Magaillans has hit this point pretty
well when he says : ” It seems as if the legislators had omitted
nothing, and that they had foreseen all inconveniences that were
to be feared ; so that I am persuaded no kingdom in the world
could be better governed or more happy, if the conduct and
probity of the officers were but answerable to the institution of
the government. But in regard they have no knowledge of the
true God, nor of the eternal rewards and punishments of the
other woi-ld, they are subject to no remorses of conscience, they
place all their happiness in pleasure, in dignity and riches ; and
therefore, to obtain these fading advantages, they violate all
the laws of God and man, trampling under foot religion, reason,
justice, honesty, and all the rights of consanguinity and
friendship. rThe inferior officers mind nothing but how to defraud
their superiors, they the supreme tribunals, and all together
how to cheat the king ; which the}’ know how to do
with so much cunning and address, making use in their memorials
of words and expressions sb soft, so honest, so respectful,
so humble and full of adulation, and of reasons so plausible,
that the deluded prince frecpiently takes the greatest falsehoods
for solemn truths. So that the people, finding themselves continually
oppressed and overwhelmed without any reason, murmur
and raise seditions and revolts, which have caused so much
ruin and so many changes in the Empirp^ Nevertheless, there
is no reason that the excellency and perfection of the laws of
China should suffer for the depravity and wickedness of the
magistrates.”
‘
Magaillans resided in China nearly forty years, and his opinion
may be considered on the whole as a fair judgment of the
real condition of the people and the policy of their rulers.
* A new nistory of China, containing a description of tJie most considerable
particulars of that Empire, written by Gabriel Magaillans, of the Society oj
Jesus, Missionary Apostolick. Done out of French. Loudou, 1G88, p. 249.
474 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
“When one is living in the country itself, to hear the complaints
of individuals against the extortion and cruelty of their rulers,
and to read the reports of judicial murder, torture, and crime
in the Pekimj Gazette^ are enough to cause one to wonder how
such atrocities and oppressions are endured from year to year,
and why the sufferers do not rise and throw aside the tyrannous
power M’hich thus abuses them. But the people are generally
conscious that their rulers are no better than themselves,
and that they would really gain nothing by such a procedure,
and their desire to maintahi as great a degree of peace as possil)
le leads them to submit to many evils, which in western
countries would soon be remedied or cause a revolution. In
order to restrain the officers in their misrule. Section CCX. of the
code ordains that ” If any officer of government, whose situation
gives him power and control over the people, not only does
not conciliate them by proper indulgence, but exercises his
authority in a manner so inconsistent with the established laws
and approved usages of the Empire, that the sentiments of the
once loyal subjects being changed by his oppressive conduct,
they assemble tunniltuously and openly rebel, and drive him at
length from the capital city and seat of his government ; such
jeer shall suffer death.”
Ry the laws of China, every officer of the nine lanks must
be previously qualified for duty by a degree; in the ninth are
included village magistrates, deputy treasurers, jailers, etc., but
the police, local interpreters, clerks, and other attendants on the
courts are not considered as having any rank, and most of them
are natives of the place where they are employed. The oidy
degradation they can feel is to turn them out of their stations,
but this is hardly a palliative of the evils the people suffer from
thein ; the new leech is more thirsty than the old. The cause
of many of the extortions the people suffer from their rulers is
found in the system of purchasing office, at all times practised
in one shape or other, but occasionally resorted to by the government.
As the counterpart of this system, that of receiving
bribes must be expected therefore to prevail, and l)eing in fact
l)ractised by all grades of dignitaries, and sometimes even uplield
by them as a ” necessary evil,” it adds still more to the
EXTORTIONS PRACTISED BY MAGISTRATES. 475
bad consequences lesulting fi-oni tliis mode of obtaining oflBce.
Indeed, so far is tlie practice of “covering the eyes” carried in
China, that the people seldom approach their rulers without a
gift to mahe way for them.
One mode taken hy the highest ranks to obtain money is to
notify inferiors that there are certain days on M’hich presents
are expected, and custom soon increases these as nnich as the
case will admit. Subscriptions for objects of public charity or
disbursements, such as an inundation, a bad harvest, bursting
of dikes, and other similar things which the government must
look after, are not uufrequently made a source of revenue to
the incumbents by requiring nnich more than is needed ; those
who subscribe are rewarded by an enqDty title, a peacock’s
feather, or employment in some insignificant formality. The
sale of titular rank is a source of revenue, but the government
never attempts to subvert or interfere with the well-known
channel of attaming office by literary merit, and it seldom confers
much real power for money when unconnected with some
degree of fitness. The security of its own position is not to be
risked for the sake of an easy means of filling its exchequer,
yet it is impossible to say how far the sale of office and title is
carried. The censors inveigh against it, and the Emperor
almost apologizes for resorting to it, but it is nevertheless constantly
practised. The government stocks of this description
were opened during the late rebellions and foreign wars, as the
necessities of the case were a sufficient excuse for the disreputable
practice. In 1SS5 the sons of two of the leading hongmerchants
wei’e promoted, in consequence of their donations of
$25,000 each to repair the ravages of an inundation ; subscribers
to the amount of §;10,000 and upward were rewarded by an
honorary title, whose only privilege is that it saves its possessor
from a bambooing, it being the law that no one holding any
office can be personally chastised.’/
Besides the lower officers, the clerks in their employ and the
police, who are often taken from the garrison soldiery, are the
agents in the hands of the upper ranks to squeeze the people.
‘ Compare tlie Chinese Repository, Vol. XVIII., p. 207.
476 TIIK .AIIDDLK KINGDOM.
There are many clerks of vaiious duties and grades about all
the offices who receive small salaries, and every application and
petition to their sujDeriors, going through their hands, is attended
by a bribe to pass them up. The military police and
servants connected with the offices are not paid any regular
salary, and their number is great. In the large districts, like
those of Nanhai and Pwanyu, which compose the city of Canton
and suburbs, it is said there are about a thousand unpaid
police ; in the middle-sized ones l)etween tln*ee and four hundred,
and in the smallest from one to two hundred. This
number is increased by the domestics attending high officers as
part of their suite, and by their old acquaintances, who make
themselves known when there is any likelihood of being employed.
Among other abuses mentioned by the censors is that
of magistrates appointing their own creatures to fill vacancies
until those nominated by his Majesty arrive ; like a poor man
oppressing the poor, such officers are a sweeping rain. A
similar abuse arises when country magistrates leave their posts
to go to the provincial capital to dance attendance npon their
superiors, and get nominated to a higher place or taken into
their service as secretaries, because they will work for nothing
the duties of their vacated offices are meantime nsually left undone,
and underlings take advantage of their absence to make
new exactions. The governor fills vacant offices with his own
friends, and recommends them to his Majesty to be confirmed
;
but this has little effect in consolidating a system of oppression
from the constant changes going on. In fact, it is hard to say
which feature of the Chinese polity is the least disastrous to
good government, these constant changes which neutralize all
sympathy with the people on the part of rulers, or on the
other hand make it useless for seditious men to try to foment
rebellion.
The retinues of high provincial officers contain many dependents
and expectant supermnneraries, all subservient to
them ; among them arc the descendants of poor officers ; the
sons of bankrupt merchants who once possessed influence
;
dissipated, well bred, uiiscru]iulous men, who lend themselves
to everything flagitious ; and lastly, fortune-seekei’s without
AGENTS AND MODES OF OFFICIAL EXACTION. 477
money, T)ut posscssinp; talents of good order to he used bv any
one who will hire them. Such persons are not })ecnliar to
China^ and their employment is guarded against in the code,
but no law is more of a dead letter. (Officers of government,
too, conscious of their delinquencies, and afraid their posts will
soon be taken from them, of course endeavor to make the most
of their opportunities, and by means of such persons, who are
iisually well acquainted with the leading inhabitants of the
district, harass and thi’eaten such as are likely to pay well for
being left in quiet. It does them little or no good, however,
for if they are not removed they must fee their superioi-s, and
if they are punished for their misdeeds they are still more certain
of losing their wicked exactions. /
In the misappropriation of pul)lic funds, and peculation of all
kinds in materials, government stores, rations, wages, and salaries,
the Chinese officials are skilled experts, and are never surprised
at any disclosures.
Another common mode of plundering the people is for officers
to collude with bands of thieves, and allow them to escape for a
composition when arrested, or substitute other persons for the
guilty party in case the real offenders are likely to be condemned.
Sometimes these banditti are too strong even for an
upright magistrate, and he is obliged to overlook what he cannot
I’emedy ; for, however much he may wish to ari-est and
bring them to justice, his policemen are too much afraid of
their vengeance to venture nipon attacking them. An instance
of this occurred near Canton in 1S39, when a boat, containing a
clerk of the court and three or four police, came into the fleet
of European opium-ships to hunt for some desperate opium
smugglers Avho had taken refuge there. The fellows, hearing
of the arrival of the boat, came in the night, and surrounding
it took out the crew, bound their pursuers, and burned them
alive with the boat in sight of the whole fleet, to whom the
desperadoes looked for protection against their justly incensed
countrymen.
A censor in 1819, complaining of flagrant neglect in the administration of justice in Cliihli, says : ” Among the magistrates are many who, without fear or shame, connive at robbery and deceit. Formerly, horse-stealers were wont to conceal themselves in some secret place, but now they openly bring their plunder to market for sale. “When they perceive a person to be weak, they arc in the habit of stealing his property and returning it to him for money, while the officers, on hearing it, treat it as a trivial matter, and blame the sufferer for not being more cautious. Thieves are apprehended with warrants on them, showing that when they were sent out to arrest
thieves they availed of the opportunity to steal for themselves.
And at a village near the imperial residence are very many
plunderers concealed, M’ho go out by night in companies of
twenty or thirt}- persons, carrying weapons with them ; they
frequently call up the inhabitants, break open the doors, and
having satisfied themselves with what food and wine they can
obtain, they threaten and extort money, Avhich if they cannot
procure they seize their clothes, ornaments, or cattle, and depart.
They also frequently go to shops, and having broken
open the shutters impudently demand money, which if they do
not get they set fire to the shop with the torches in their
hands. If the master of the house lay hold on a few of them
and sends them to the magistrate, he merely imprisons and
beats them, and ‘ before half a month allows them to run
away.” ‘
The impaid retainers about the ycnmins a^e very numerous,
and are more di-eaded than the police ; one censor says they are
looked upon by the people as tigers and wolves ; he effected
the discharge of nearly twenty-four thousand of them in the
province of Cliihli alone. They are usually continued in their
places by the head magistrate, who, wheii he arrives, being
ignorant of the characters of those he must employ, re-engages
such as are likely to serve. In cases of serious accusation the
clei-ks frequently subpoena all who are likel}^ to be implicated,
and demand a fee for liberating them when their innocence is
shown. These myrmidons still fear the anger of their superiors
and a recoil of the people so far as to endeavor to save
appeai-ances by hushing up the matter, and liberating those
‘ Chinese licposituryy Vol. IV., p. 218.
VENALITY OF THE POLICE AND CLERKS. 479
unjustly cappreliended, with great protestations of conipassion.
It may be added that, as life is not lightly taken, thieves are
careful not to murder or maltreat their victims dangerously,
nor do the magistrates venture to take life outright by torture,
though their cruelties frequently result in death by neglect or
starvation. Money and goods are what both policemen and
officials want, not blood and rcA^enge. Parties at strife with
each other frequently resort to legal inq^lication to gratify their
ill-will, and take a pitiful revenge by egging on the police to
pillage and vex their enemy, though they themselves profit nowise
thereby.
The evils resulting from a half-paid and venal magistracy are
dreadful, and the prospects of their removal very slight. The
governor of Chihli, in 1829, memorialized the Emperor upon
the state of the police, and pointed out a remedy for many
abuses, one of which was to pay them fair salaries out^ of the
public treasury ; but it is plain that this remedy must begin
with the monarch, for until an officer is released from sopping
his superior he will not cease exacting from his inferiors. Experience has shown the authorities liow f^r it can safely be carried; while many officers, seeing how useless it is to irritate the people, so far as ultimately enriching themselves is concerned, endeavor to restrain their policemen. One governor issued an edict, stating that none of his domestics were allowed to browbeat shopmen, and thus get goods or eatables below the market price, and permitted the seller to collar and bring them to him
for punishment when they did so. When an officer of high
rank, as a governor, treasurer, etc., takes the seals of his post, he
ofttimes issues a proclamation, exhorting the subordinate ranks
to do as he means to do—” to look up and embody the kindness
of the high Emperor,” and attend to the faithful discharge of
their duties. The lower officers, in their turn, join in the cry,
and a series of proclamations, by turns hortative and mandatory,
are echoed from mastiff, spaniel, and poodle, until the cry ends
upon the police. Thus the prefect of Canton says : ” There are
hard-hearted soldiers and gnawing lictors who post themselves
at ferries or markets, or rove about the streets, to extort money
under various pretexts ; or, being intoxicated, they disturb and annoy the people in a hundred ways. Since I came into office iicre I have repeatedly commanded the inferior magistrates to act faithfully and seize such persons, but the depraved spirit still continues.”
A censor, speaking of the police, says : ” They no sooner get a warrant to bring up witnesses than they assail both plaintiff and defendant for money to pay their expenses, from the amount of ten taels to several scoi’es. Then the clei’ks must have double what the runners get; if their demands be not satisfied they contrive every species of annoyance. Then, again, if there are people of property in the neighborhood, they will implicate them. They plot also with pettifogging lawyers to get np accusations against people, and threaten and frighten them out of their money.” ‘
One natural consequence of such a state of society and such
a perve/sion of justice is to render the people afraid of all contact
with the officers of government and exceedingly selfish in
all their intercourse, though the latter trait needs no particular
training to develop it in any heathen comitry. It also tends to
an inhuman disregard of the life of others, and chills every emotion
of kindness which might otherwise arise ; for by making a
man responsible for the acts of his neighbors, or by involving a whole village in the crimes of an individual, all sense of justice is violated. The terror of being iinplieatcd in any evil that takes place sometimes prevents the people from cpienching fires until the superior authorities be first informed, and from relieving the distressed until it is often too late. Hence, too, it not unfrequently happens that a man who has had the ill fortune to be stabbed to death in the street, or who falls down from disease and dies, remains on the spot till the putrescence obliges the neighbors, for their own safety, to remove the corpse. A dead body floating down the river and washing ashore is likely to remain
on the banks until it again drifts away or the authorities
get it buried, for no unofficial person would voluntarily run the
risk of being seen interring it. One censor reports that when
he asked the people why they did not remove the loathsome ob-
‘ Compare Doolittle, Socidl Life of the CJit’nene, Vol. I., p. 330.
EFFECT OF IMUTUAL llESPONSIBILITY. 481
ject, tliej said: “Wo always let the bodies be either buried in
the bellies of fishes or devoured by the dogs ; for if we inform
the magistrates they are sure to make the owner of the ground
buy a coffin, and the clerks and assistants distress us in a hundred
ways/’ The usual end of these memorials and remonstrances is that the police are ordered to behave better, the clerks commanded to abstain from implicating innocent people and retarding the course of justice, and their masters, the magistrates, threatened with the Emperor’s displeasure in ease the grievance is not remedied : after which all goes on as before, and will go on as long as both rulers and ruled are what they are.
(The working out of the principle of responsibility accounts for many things in Chinese society and jurisprudence that otherwise appear completely at variance with even common humanity.
It makes an officer careless of his duties if he can shift the responsibility of failure upon his inferiors, who, at the same time,
he knows can never execute his orders; it renders the people
dead to the impulses of relationship, lest they become involved
in what they cannot possibly control and hardly know at the
time of its commission. Mr. Lindsay states that when he was
at Tsungming in 18r>2 the officers were very urgent that he
should go out of the river, and in order to show him the effect
of his non-compliance upon others a degraded subaltern was
paraded in his sight. ” His cap with its gold button was borne
before him, and he nuirched about blindfolded in procession between
two executioners, with a small flag on a bamboo pierced
through each ear. Uefore him was a placard with the inscription,
‘ By orders of the general of Su and Sung : for a breach
of militaiy discipline, his ears are pierced as a warning to the
multitude.’ Ilis offence was having allowed our boat to pass
the fort without reporting it.’^
During the first war with England, fear of punishment induced many of the subordinates to commit suicide when unable to execute their orders, and the same motive impelled their superiors to avoid the wrath of the Emperor in like fashion.
The Hong-merchants and linguists at Canton, during the old regime, were constantly liable, from the operation of this principle, to exactions and punishments for the acts of their foreign customers. One of them, Sunsliing, was put in prison and ruined because Lord Napier came to Canton from Whampoa in the boat of a ship which the unhappy merchant had ” secured” several weeks before, and the hnguist and pilot were banished for allowing what they could not possibly have hindered even if they had known it.
Having examined in this general manner the various grades
of official rank, we come to the people ; and a close view will
show that this great mass of human l)eings exhibits many equally
objectionable traits, while oppression, want, clannish rivalry,
and brigandage combine to keep it in a constant state of turmoil.
The subdivisions into tithings and hundreds are better
observed in rural districts than in cities, and the headmen of
those communities, in their individual and collective character,
possess great influence, from the fact that they represent the
popular feeling. In all parts of the country this popular organization
is found in some shape or other, though, as if everything
was somehow perverted, it not unfrequently is an instrument of
greater oppression than defence. The division of the people
into clans is far more marked in the southern provinces than in
those lying north of the Yangtsz’, and has had a depressing
effect upon their good government. It resembles in general the
arrangement of the Scottish clans, as do the evils arising from
their dissensions and feuds those which histoiy records as excited
among the Highlanders by the i-ivalry between Campbells
and Macgregors.
‘ H«eren, Asiatic Nations, Vol. II., p. 259. Raffles, Java, Vol. II. App.Biot, Vlmtructioii publique, pp. 59, 200.
VILLAGE ELDERS. 483
The eldership of villages has no necessary connection with the clans, for the latter are unacknowledged by the government, but the clan having the majority in a village generally selects the elders from among their number. This system is of very ancient date; its elementary details are given in the Chau-l’i, one of the oldest works extant in China ; Ileeren furnishes the same details for India and Kaffles for Java, reaching back in their duration to remote antiquity.’ In the vicinity of Canton the elder
is elected by a sort of town meeting, and holds his office during
good behavior, receives such a salary as his fellow villagers give
him, and may be removed to make way for another whenever
the principal persons in the village are displeased with his conduct.
His duties are limited to the supervision of the police
and general oversight of what is done in the village, and to be a
sort of agent or spokesman between the villagers and higher authorities; the duties, the power, and the rank of these officers
vary almost indeiinitel}’. The preponderance of one clan prevents
much strife in the selection of the elder, but the degree of
power reposed in his hand is so small that there is probably little
competition to obtain the dignity. A village police is maintained
by the inhabitants, under the authority of the elder ; the village
of Whampoa, for instance, containing about eight thousand inhabitants, pays the elder $300 salary, and employs fourteen
watchmen. His duties further consist in deciding upon the
petty questions arising between the villagers and visiting the
delinquents with chastisement, enforcing such regulations as are
deemed necessary regarding festivals, markets, tanks, streets,
collection of taxes, etc. The system of surveillance is, howevei-,
kept up by the superior officers, who appoint excise officers, grain
agents, tide-waiters, or some other subordinate, as the case may
require, to exercise a general oversight of the headmen.
The district magistrate, with the s’mnkien and their deputies
over the hundred, are the officers to whom appeals are carried
from the headmen ; they also receive the reports of the elders
respecting suspicious characters within their limits, or other
matters which they deem worthy of reference or remonstrance.
A similarity of interests leads the headmen of many villages
to meet together at times in a public hall for secret consultation
upon important matters, and their united resolutions are
generally acted upon by themselves or by the magistrates, as
the case may be. This system of eldership, and the influential
position the headmen occupy, is an important safeguard the
people possess against the extremity of oppressive extortion; while, too, it upholds the government in strengthening the loyalty
of those who feel that the only security they possess against
theft, and loss of all things from their seditious countrymen, is to uphold the institutions of the land, and that to suffer the evils of a bad magistracy is less dreadful than the horrors of a lawless brigandage.
The customs and laws of clanship perpetuate a sad state of
society, and render districts and villages, otherwise peaceful, the
scenes of unceasing tm-moil and trouble. There are only about
four hundred clans in the whole of China, but inasmuch as all
of the same surname do not live in the same place, the separation
of a clan answers the same purpose as multiplying it. Clannish
feelings and feuds are very much stronger in Kwangtung
and Fuhkien than in other provinces. As an instance which
may be mentioned, the Gazette contains the petition of a man
from Chauchau fu, in Kwangtung, relating to a quarrel, stating
that “four years before, his kindred having refused to assist
two other clans in their feuds, had during that period suffered
most shocking cruelties. Ten jiersons had been killed, and
twenty men and women, taken captives, had had their eyes dug
out, their ears cut off, their feet maimed, and so rendered useless
for life. Thirty houses Avere laid in ruins and three hundred
acres of land seized, ten thousand taels plundered, ancestral
temples thrown down, graves dug up, dikes destroyed, and water
cut off from the fields. The governor had oifered a reward of
a thousand taels to any one who would apprehend these persons,
but for the ten murders no one had been executed, for the
police dare not seize the offenders, whose nmnbers have largely
increased, and M’ho set the laws at defiance.” This region is
notorious for the turbulence of its inhal)itants ; it adjoins the
province of Fuhkien, and the people, known at Canton as Ilolio,
emigrate in large immbers to the Indian Archipelago or to other
provinces. The later Gazettes contain still more dreadful accounts
of the contests of the clans, and the great loss of life and
property resulting from their forays, no less than one hundred
and twenty villages having been attacked, and thousands of
people killed. These battles are constantly occurring, and the
authorities, feeling themselves too weak to put them down, are
()l)]iged to comiive at them and let the clans fight it out.
Ill will is kept up between the clans, and private revenges
gratified, by every personal annoyance that malice can suggest
SOCIAL EVILS OF CLANSHIP. 485
or opportniiity tempt. If an unfortunate individual of one clan
is met alone by his enemy, he is sure to be robbed or beaten, or
botli ; the boats or the houses of each party are plimdered or
burned, and legal redress is almost impossible. Graves are defaced
and tombstones injured, and on the annual visit to the
family sepulchre perhaps a putrid corpse is met, placed there
by the hostile clan ; this insult arouses all their ire, and they
vow deadly revenge. The villagers sally out with such arms as
they possess, and death and wounds are almost sure to result
before they separate. In Shunteh (a district between Canton
and Macao) upward of a thousand men engaged with spears
and iirearms on one of these occasions, and thirty-six lives were
lost ; the military were called in to quell the riot. In Tungkwan
district, southeast of Canton, thirty-six ringleaders w^ere
apprehended, and in 1S31 it was reported that four hundred
persons had been killed in these raids ; only twenty-seven of
their kindred appealed to government for redress.
When complaint is made to the prefect or governor, and investigation becomes inevitable, the villagers have a provision to meet the exigencies of the case, which puts the burden of the charges as equally as possible upon the whole clan. A band of ”devoted men ” are found —persons who volunteer to assume such crimes and run their chance for life—whose names are kept on a list, and they come forward and surrender themselves to government as the guilty persons. On the trial their friends employ witnesses to prove it a justifiable homicide, and magnify the provocation, and if tliei-e are several brought on the stand
at once they try to get some of them clear by proving an alibi.
It not unfrequently happens that the accused are acquitted—
seldom that they are executed ; transportation or a fine is the
usual result. The inducement for persons to run this risk of
their lives is security from the clan of a maintenance for their
families in case of death, and a reward, sometimes as high as
$300, in land or money when they return. This sum is raised
by taxing the clan or village, and the imposition falls heavily
on the poorer portion of it, who can neither avoid nor easily
pay it. This sj-stem of substitution pervades all parts of society,
and for all misdemeanors. A person was strangled in Macau in 183S for having been engaged in the opium trade, who had
been hired bj the real criminal to answer to liis name. Another
mode of escape, sometimes tried in sucli cases when the
person has been condemned, is to bribe the jailers to report him
dead and carry out his body in a cotiin ; but this device probably
does not often answer the end, as the turnkeys require a
larger bribe than can be raised. There can be little doubt of the
prevalence of the j)ractice, and for crimes of even minor penalty.
To increase the social CN^ils of clanship and systematized
thieving, local tyrants occasionally spring up, persons who rob
and maltreat the villagers by means of their armed, retainers,
who are in most cases, doubtless, members of the same clan.
One of these tyrants, named Yc/i, or Leaf, became quite notorious
in the district of Tungkwan in 1833, setting at defiance
all the power of the local authorities, and sending out his men
to plunder and ravage whoever resisted his demands, destroying
their graves and grain, and particularly molesting those who
would not deliver np their wives or daughters to gratify him.
lie was arrested through craft by the district magistrate at
Canton leaving his office and inducing him, for old acquaintance
sake, to return with him to the provincial city ; he was there
tried and executed by the governor, although it was at the time
reported that the Board of Punishments endeavored to save his
life because he had been in office at the capital. In order that
no attempt should be made to rescue him, he was left in ignorance
of his sentence until he was put into the sedan to be carried
to execution.
Clannish banditti often supply themselves with firearms, and prowling the countiy to revenge themselves on their enemies, soon proceed to pillage every one; in disarming them the government is sometimes obliged to resort to contemptible subterfuges, which conspicuously show its weakness and encourage a repetition of the evil. Parties of tramps, called /lakka, or ‘guests,’
roam over Ivwangtung provinc^e, s(juatting on vacant places
along the shores, away from the villages, and forming small
clannish communities ; as soon as they increase, occupying more
and more of the land, they l)egin to commit petty depredations
upon the crops of the inhabitants, and demand money for the
BANDITTI AND TRAMPS, 487
privilege of burying upon the unoccupied ground around tliem.
The government is generally unwilling to drive them ofP bv
force, because there is the alternative of making them robbers
thereby, and they are invited to settle in other waste lands,
which they can have free of taxation, and leave those they have
cultivated if strictly private property. This practice shows the
populousness of the country in a conspicuous manner. To these
evils nnist be also added the large bodies of floating l)anditti or
dakoits, who rove up and down all the watercourses ” like
sneaking rats ” and pounce upon defenceless boats. Hardly a
river or estuary in the land is free from these miscreants, and
lives and property are annually destroyed by them to a very
great amount, especially on the Yangtsz’, the Pearl Iviver, and
other great thoroughfares.
The popular associations in cities and towns are chiefly based
upon a community of interests, resulting either from a similarity
of occupation, wdien the leading persons of the same calling
form themselves into guilds, or from the municipal regulations
requiring the householders living in the same street to unite to
maintain a police and keep the peace of their division. Each
guild has an assembly-hall, where its members meet to hold the
festival of their patron saint, to collect and appropriate the subscriptions of the members and settle the rent or storage on the
rooms and goods in the hall, to discuss all public matters as well
as the good cheer they get on such occasions, and to confer with
other guilds. The members often go to a great expense in
emulating each other in their processions, and some rivalry
exists regarding their rights, over which the government keeps
a watchful eye, for all popular assemblies are its horror. The
shopkeepers and householders in the same street are required to
have a headman to superintend the police, watchmen, and beggars
within his limits. The rulers are sometimes thwarted in
their designs by both these forms of popular assemblies, and they
no doubt tend in many ways to keep up a degree of independence
and of nmtual acquaintance, which compels the respect of
the government. The governor of Canton in 1838 endeavored
to search all the shops in a particular street, to ascertain if there
Was opium in them ; but the shopmen came in a body at the iiead of the street, and told the policemen that they would on no account permit their shops to be searched. The governor deemed it best to retire. Those who will not join or agree to what the majority orders in these bodies occasionally experience petty tyranny, but in a city this must be comparatively trilling.
Several of the leading men in the city are known to hold meetings
for consultation in still more popular assemblies for different
reasons of a public and pressing nature. There is a building
at Canton called the Mhuj-lun Tang^ or ” Free Discussion
Hall,” where political matters are discussed under the knowledge
of government, which rather tries to mould than put them
down, for the assistance of such bodies, rightly managed, in
carrying out their intentions, is considerable, while discontent
would be roused if they were forcibly suppressed. In October,
1842, meetings were held in this hall, at one of which a public
manifesto was issued, here quoted entire as a specimen of the
public appeals of Chinese politicians and orators: “We have been reverently consulting upon the Empire— a vast and undivided whole ! How can Yfi^ permit it to be severed in order to give it to others ‘? Yet we, the rustic people, can learn to practice a rude loyalty; we too know to destroy the banditti, and thus requite his Majesty. Our Great Pure dynasty has cared for this country for more than two hundred years, during which a succession of distinguished monarchs, sage succeeding sage, has reigned ; and we who eat the herb of the field, and tread the soil, have for ages drank in the dew of imperial goodness, and been imbued with its benevolence. The people in wilds far remote beyond our influence have also felt this goodness, comparable to the heavens for height, and been upheld by this bounty, like the earth for thickness. Wherefore peace being now settled in the country, ships of all lands come, distant though they be from this for many a myriad of miles ; and of all the foreigners on the south and west there is not one but what enjoys the highest peace and contentment, and entertains the profoundest respect and submission.
” But there is that English nation, whose ruler is now a woman and then a man, its people at one time like birds and then like beasts, with dispositions more fierce and furious than the tiger or wolf, and hearts more greedy than the snake or hog—this people has ever stealthily devoured all the southern barbarians, and like the demon of the night llicy now suddenly exalt themselves.
MANIFESTO ISSUI^-O AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 489
During the reigns of Kienlung and Kiaking these English barbarians humlily besought entrance and permission to make a present ; they also presumptuously reijuested to have Chusan, but those divine personages, clearly perceiving their traitorous designs, gave them a peremptory refusal. From that time* linking themselves in with traitorous traders, they have privilj dwelt at Macao, trading largely in opium and poisoning our brave people.
They have ruined lives— how many millions none can tell ; and wasted property—how many thousands of millions who can guess! They have dared again and again to murder Chinese, and have secreted the murderers, whom they have refused to deliver up, at which the hearts of all men grieved and their heads ached. Thus it has been that for many years past the English, by their privily watching for opportunities in the country, have gradually brought things to the present crisis.
“In 1888, our great Emperor having fully learned all the crimes of the
English and the poisonous effects of opium, (quickly wished to restore the
good condition of the country and compassionate the people. In consequence
of the memorial of Hwang Tsioh-sz’, and in accordance to his request, he
specially deputed the public-minded, upright, and clear-headed minister, Lin
Tseh-sii, to act as his imperial commissioner with pleniijotentiary powers, and
go to Canton to examine and regulate. He came and took all the storedup
opium and stopped the trade, in order to cleanse the stream and cut
off the fountain ; kindness was mixed with his severity, and virtue was
evident in his laws, yet still the English repented not of their errors, and
as the climax of their contumacy called troops to their aid. The censor
Hwang, by advising peace, threw down the barriers, and bands of audacious
robbers willingly did all kinds of disreputable and villainous deeds. During
the past three years these rebels, depending upon their stout ships and effective
cannon, from Canton went to Fuhkien, thence to Chehkiang and on
to Kiangsu, seizing our territory, destroying our civil and military authorities,
ravishing our women, capturing our property, and bringing upon the inhabitants
of these four provinces intolerable miseries. His Imperial Majesty was
troubled and afflicted, and this added to his grief and anxiety. If you wish
to purify their crimes, all the fuel in the Empire will not suffice, nor would
the vast ocean be enough to wash out our resentment. Gods and men are
alike filled with indignation, and Heaven and Earth cannot permit them to remain.
“Recently, those who have had the management of affairs in Kiangnan have been imitating those who were in Canton, and at the gates of the city they have willingly made an agreement, peeling oH the fat of the people to the tune of .hundreds of myriads, and all to save the precious lives of one or two useless officers ; in doing which they have exactly verified what Chancellor Kin Ying-lin had before memorialized. Now these English rebels are barbarians dwelling in a petty island beyond our domains ; yet their coming throws myriads of miles of country into turmoil, while their numbers do not exceed a few myriads. What can be easier than for our celestial dynasty to exert its fulness of power and exterminate these contemptible sea-going imps, just as the blast bends the pliant bamboo? But our highest officers and ministers cherish their precious lives, and civil and military men both dread a dog as they would a tiger ; regardless of the enemies of their country or the griefs of the people, they have actually sundered the Empire and granted its wealth ; acts more flagitious these than those of the traitors in the days of the Southern Sung dynasty, and the reasons for which are wholly beyond out comprehension. These English barbarians are at bottom without ability, and yet we have all along seen in the memorials that officers exalt and dilate upon their prowess and obstinacy ; our people are courageous and enthusiastic, but the officers on the contrary say that they are dispirited and scattered : this is for no other reason than to coerce our prince to make peace, and then they will luckily avoid the penalty due for ‘ deceiving the prince and betraying the country.’ Do you doubt ? Then look at the memorial of Chancellor Kin Ying-lin, which says : ‘ They take the occasion of war to seek for self-aggrandizement ;’ every word of which directly points at such conduct as this.
“We have recently read in his Majesty’s lucid mandate that ‘There is no other way, and what is requested must be granted ; ‘ and that ‘ We have cou’ferred extraordinary powers upon the ministers, and they have done nothing but deceive us.’ Looking up we perceive his Majesty’s clear discrimination and divine perception, and that he was fully aware of the imbecility of his ministers ; he remembers too the loyal anger of his people. He has accordingly now temporarily settled all the present difficulties, but it is that, having matured his plans, he may hereafter manifest his indignation, and show to the Empire that it had not fathomed the divine awe-inspiring counsels.
” The dispositions of these rebellious English are like that of Hlie dog or sheep, whose desires can never be satisfied ; and therefore we need not inquire whether the peace now made be real or pretended. Remember that when they last year made disturbance at Canton they seized the Square fort, and thereupon exhibited their audacity, everywhere plundering and ravishing.
MANIFESTO ISSUED AGAINST THE ENGLISH. 491
If it had not been that the patriotic inhabitants dwelling in Hwaitsing and other hamlets, and those in Shingping, had not killed their leader and destroyed their devilish soldiers, they would have scrupled at nothing, taking and pillaging the city, and then firing it in order to gratify their vengeance and greediness : can we imagine that for the paltry sum of six millions of dollars they would, as they did, have raised the siege and retired ‘i How to be regretted ! That when the fish was in the frying-pan, the Kwangchau fu should come and pull away the firewood, let loose the tiger to return to the mountains, and disarm the people’s indignation. Letting the enemy thus escape on one occasion has successively brought misery upon many provinces: whenever we speak of it, it wounds the heart and causes the tears to fiow.
” Last year, when the treaty of peace was made, it was agreed that the English should withdraw from lieyond Lankeet, that they should give back the forts near there and dwell temporarily at Hongkong, and that thenceforth all military operations were forever to cease. Who would have supposed that before the time stipulated had passed away they would have turned their backs upon this agreement, taken violent possession of the forts at the Bogue with their ‘ wooden dragons ‘ [i.e. , ships of war]—and when they came upon the gates of the City of Rams with their powerful forces, who was there to oppose them ? During these three years we have not been able to restore things as at first, and their deceptive craftiness, then confined to these regions, has rapidly extended itself to Kiangnan. But our high and mighty Emperor, preeminently intelligent and discerning [lit. grasping the golden mirror and holding the gemmeous balances], consents to demean himself to adopt soothing counsels of peace, and therefore submissively accords with the decrees of Heaven. Having a suspicion that these outlandish people intended to encroach upon us, he has secretly arranged all things. We have respectfully read through all his Majesty’s mandates, and they are as clear-sighted as the sun and moon ; but those who now manage affairs are like one who, supposing the raging fire to be under, puts himself as much at ease as swallows in a court, but who, if the calamity suddenly reappears, would be as defenceless as a grampus in a fish-market. The law adjudges the penalty of death for betraying the country, but how can even death atone for their crimes V Those persons who have been handed down to succeeding ages with honor, and those whose memories have been execrated, are but little apart on the page of righteous history ; let our rulers but remember this, and we think they also must exert themselves to recover their characters. We people have had our day in times of great peace, and this age is one of abundant prosperity ; scholars are devising how to recompense the kindness of the government, nor can husbandmen think of forgetting his Majesty’s exertions for them. Our indignation svas early excited to join battle with the enemy, and we then all urged one another to the firmest loyalty.
“We have heard the English intend to come into Pearl River and make a
settlement ; this will not, however, stop at Chinese and foreigners merely
dwelling together, for men and beasts cannot endure each other ; it will be
like opening the door and bowing in the thief, or setting the gate ajar and
letting the wolf in. While they were kept outside there were many traitors
within ; how much more, when they encroach even to our bedsides, will our
troubles be augmented ? We cannot help fearing it will eventuate in something
strange, which words will be insi;flicient to express. If the rulers of
other states wish to imitate the English, with what can their demands be
waived V Consequently, the unreasonable demands of the English are going
to bring great calamity upon the people and deep sorrow to the country. If
we do not permit them to dwell with us under the same heaven, our spirits
will feel no shame ; but if we willingly consent to live with them, we may in truth be deemed insensate.
” We have reverently read in the imperial mandate, ‘There must indeed be some persons among the people of extraordinary wisdom or bravery, who can stir them up to loyalty and patriotism or unite them in self-defence ; some who can assist the government and army to recover the cities, or else defend passes of importance against the robbers ; some who can attack and burn their vessels, or seize and bring the heads of their doltish leaders ; or else some with divine presence and wisdom, who can disclose all their silly counsels and get to themselves a name of surpassing merit and ability and receive the highest rewards. We can confer,’ etc., etc. We, the people, having received the imperial words, have united ourselves together as troops, and practise the plan of joining hamlets and villages till we have upward of a million of troops, whom we have provisioned according to the scale of estimating the produce of respective farms; and now we are fully ready and quite at ease as to the result. If nothing calls us, then each one will return to his own occupation ; but if the summons come, juiuiug our strength iu force we will incite each other to e.7ort ; our brave sons and brothers are all animated to deeds of arms, and even our wives and daughters, finical and delicate as jewels, have learned to discourse of arms. At first, alas, those who guarded the passes were at ease and careless, and the robbers came unbidden and undesired; but now [if they come], we have only zealously to appoint each other to stations, and suppress the rising of the waves to the stillest calm [i.e., to exterminate them]. When the golden pool is fully restored to peace, and his Majesty’s anxiety for the south relieved; when the leviathan has been driven away, then will our anger, comparable to the broad ocean and high heavens, be pacified.
” Ah ! We here bind ourselves to vengeance, and express these our sincere intentions in order to exhibit great principles ; and also to manifest Heaven’s retribution and rejoice men’s hearts, we now issue this patriotic declaration. The high gods clearly behold : do not lose your first resolution.” ‘
This spirited paper was subsequently answered Ly the party desirous of peace, but the anti-English feeling prevailed, and the committee appointed by the meeting set the English consulate on fire a few days after, to prevent it being occupied.
There were many reasons at the time for this dislike; its further exhibition, however, ended with this attack, and has now pretty much died out with the rising of a new generation. The many secret as.^ociations existing among the people are mostly of a political character, but have creeds like religious sects, and differ slightly in their tenets and objects of worship.
‘ ChineHe Ilejwsitory, Vol. XI., p. 0:50.
POPULAR SECRET ASSOCIATIONS. 493
They are traceable to the system of clans, which giving the people at once the habit and spirit for associations, are easily made use of by clever men for their own purposes of opposition to government. Similar grievances, as local oppression, hatred of the Manchus, or hope of advantage, add to their mimbersand strength, and were they founded on a full acquaintance with the grounds of a just resistance to despotism, they would soon overturn the government ; but as out of an adder’s egg only a cockatrice can be hatched, so until the people are enlightened with regard to their just rights, no ]”)cnnanent melioration can be expected. It is against that leading feature in the ]\[anchu policy, isolation^ that these societies sin, which further prompts to systematic efforts to suppress them. The only objection the supreme government seems to have against the religion of the people is that it brings them together ; they may be Buddhists, nationalists, Jews, J\rohammedans, or Christians, apparently, if they will worship in secret and apart. On the other hand, the people naturally connect some religious rites with their opposition and cabals in order to more securely bind their members together.
The name of the most powerful of these associations is mentioned in Section CLXII. of the code for the purpose of interdicting it ; since then it has apparently changed its designation from the Pih-Uen l-kio, or ‘AVater-lily sect,’ to the Tien-ti hioui or Siui-hoh /itnii, i.e., ^ Triad society,’ though both names still exist, the former in the northern, the latter in the maritime provinces and Indian Archipelago; their ramifications take also other appellations. The object of these combinations is to overturn the reigning dynasty, and in putting this prominently forward they engage many to join them. About the beginning of the century a wide-spread rebellion broke out in the northwestern and middle provinces, which was put down after eight years’ war, attended with desolation and bloodshed ; since that time the AYater-lily sect has not been so often spoken of. The Triad society has extended itself along the coasts, but it is not popular, owing more than anything else to its illegality, and the intimidation and oppression employed toward those who will not join it. The members have secret regulations and signs, and uphold and assist each other both i)i good and bad acts, but, as might be inferred from their character, screening evil doers from just punishment oftener than relieving distressed members. The original designs of the association may have been good, but what was allowable in them soon degenerated into a systematic plan for plunder and aim at power.
The government of Hongkong enacted in 1845 that any Chinese living in that colony who was ascertained to belong to the Triad society should be declared guilty of felony, be imprisoned for three 3’ears, and after branding expelled the colony. These associations, if they cause the government much trouble by interfering with its operations, in no little degree, through the overbearing conduct of the leaders, uphold it by showing the people what may be expected if they should ever get the upper hand.’
The evils of lual-adiniiiistratiou are to be learned chiefly
from the memorials of censors, and although they may color
their statements a little, very gross inaccuracies would be used
to their own disadvantage, and contradicted by so many competitors,
that most of their statements may be regarded as having
some foundation. An unknown person in Kwangtung memorialized
the Emperor in 1838 concerning the condition of that
province, and drew a picture of the extortions of the lower
agents of government that needs no illustrations to deepen its
darkness or add force to its complaints. An extract from each
of the six heads into which the memorial is divided will indicate
the principal sources of popular insurrection in China,
besides the exhibition they give of the tyranny of the officers.
In his preface, after the usual laudation of the beneficence
and popularity of the monarch, the memorialist proceeds to express
his regret that the imperial desires for the welfare of his
subjects should be so grievously thwarted by the villany of his
officers. After mentioning the calamities which had visited the
province in the shape of freshets, insurrections, and conflagrations,
he says that affairs generall}’ had become so bad as to
compel his Majesty to send connnissioners to Canton repeatedly
in order to regulate them. ” If such as this be indeed the state
of things,” he inquires, ” what wonder is it if habits of plunder
characterize the people, or the clerks and under officers of the
public courts, as well as village pettifoggers, lay themselves out
on all occasions to stir up quarrels and instigate false accusations
against the good?” He reconnnends reform in six departments,
under each of which he thus specities the evils to beremedied: “‘
Compare Dr. Milne, in Transnctions R. A. S. of Gr. Brit, and Irel., Vol.I., p. 240 (182.”)). Journal of the R. A. R, Vol. I., p. 9;}, and Vol. VI., p.120. Chinese Repository, Vol. .XVIII., pp. 280-295. A. Wylie, in the Shttncjhiti Almtinacfor ISrA. Notes and Queries on C and ,/., Vol. III., p. M. T. T. Meadows, The Chinese and their Rebellions, London, 1850. Gustave Schlegel, Thian Ti Ilitui, the JIunfj-Jjeague or JTeaven-Earth-League. A Secrel Society with the Chinese in China and India, Hatavia, lS(i().
MEMORIAL UPON OFFICIAL OPPRESSION. 495
First.—(In the department of police there is great negligence
and delay in the decision of judicial cases. Cases of plunder
are very common, most of which are committed hy banditti
under the designations of Triad societies, Heaven and Earth
brotherhoods, etc. These men carry off persons to extort a
ransom, falsely assume the character of policemen, and in sinuilated
revenue cutters pass up and down the rivers, plundei’iiig
the boats of travellers and forcibly carrying off the women.
Husbandmen are obliged to pay these robbers an ” indemnity,”
or else as soon as the crops are ripe they come and carry off
the M’hole harvest. In the precincts of the metropolis, where
their contiguity to the tribunals prevents their committing depredations
in open day, they set tire to houses during the night,
and under the pretence of saving and defending the persons and
property carry off both of them; hence, of late years, calamitous
fires have increased in frequency, and the bands of robbers
multiplied greatly. In cases of altercations among the villagers,
who can only use their local patois, it rests entirely with the
clerks to interpret the evidence ; and when the magistrate is lax
or pressed with business, they have the evidence pre-arranged
and join with bullies and strife-makers to subvert right and
wrong, fattening themselves upon bribes extorted under the
names of ” memoranda of complaints,” ” purchases of replies,”
etc., and retarding indefinitely the decision of cases. They also
instigate thieves to bring false accusations against the good, who
are thereby ruined by legal expenses. While the officers of the
government and the people are thus separated, how can it be
otherwise than that appeals to the higher tribunals should be
increased aiid litigation and strife prevail ?
Second.—Magistrates overrate the taxes with a view to a deduction for their own benefit, and excise officers connive at non-payment. The revenue of Kwangtung is paid entirely in money, and the magistrates, instead of taking the commutation at a regular price of about five dollars for one hundred and fifty pounds of rice, have compelled the people to pay nine dollars and over, because the inundation and bad harvests had raised the price of grain.j In order to avoid this extortion the police go to the villagers and demand a douceur, when they will get them off from all payment. But the imperial coffers are not filled b;^ this means, and the people are by and hy forced to pay up their arrearages, even to the loss of most of their possessions.
Third.—There is great mismanagement of the granaries, and instead of being any assistance to the people in time of scarcity, they are only a soiu’ce of peculation for those who are charged with their oversight.
Fourth —The condition of the army and navy is a disgrace;
illicit traffic is not prevented, nor can insurrections be put down.
The only care of the officers is to obtain good appointments,
and reduce the actual nmnber of soldiers below the register in
order that they may appropriate the stores. The cruisers aim
only to get fees to allow the prosecution of the contraband traffic,
nor will the naval officers bestir themselves to recover the
pi-operty of plundered boats, but rather become the protectors
of the lawless and partakers of their booty. Robberies are so
common on the rivers that the traders from the island of Hainan,
and Chauchau near Fuhkien, prefer to come by sea, but
the revenue cutters overhaul them under pretence of searching
for contraband articles, and practise many extortions/*
Fifth.—The monopoly of salt needs to be guarded more
strictly, and the private manufacture of salt stopped, for thereby
the revenue from this source is materially diminished.
S’uih.—^\\Q inei-case of smuggling is so great, and the evils
flowing from it so multiplied, that strong measures nmst be
taken to repress it. Traitorous Chinese combine with depraved
foreigners to set the laws at defiance, and dispose of their opium
and other commodities for the pure silvci-. In this manner the
country is impoverished and every evil arises, the revenues of
the customs are diminished by the unnecessary number of persons
employed and by the fees they receive for connivance, i If
all these abuses can be remedied, ” it will be seen that when
there are men to rule well, nothing can be found beyond the
reach of their government.”
FREQUENCY OF KOBBEllY AXI) DAKOITY. 497
The chief efforts of officials are directed to put down banditti, and maintain such a degree of peace as will enable them to collect the revenue and secure the people in the quiet possession of their property ; but the people are too ready to resist them rulers, and this brings into operation a constant struggle of opposing desires. ( )nc side gets into the habit of resisting even the proper re(piisitions of the officers, who, on their part, endeavor in every way to reimburse their outlay in bribes to their superiors ; and the combined action of the two proves an insurmountable impediment to the attainment of even that degree of security a Chinese officer wishes.”i The general commission of robbery and dakoity, and the prevalence of bands of thieves, therefore proves the weakness of the government, not the insurrectionary disposition of the people. In one district of Ilupeh the governor reported in 1828 that “very few of the iuliabitants have any regular occupation, and their dispositions are exceedingly ferocious; they fight and kill each other on every provocation. In their villages they harbor thieves who flee from other districts, and sally forth again to plunder.” In the northern parts of Ivwangtung the people have erected high and strongly built houses to which they flee for safety from the attacks of robbers. These bands sometimes fall upon each other, and the feudal animosities of clanship adding fuel and
rage to the rivalry of partisan warfare, the destruction of life
and property is great. Occasionally the people zealously assist
their rulers to apprehend them, though their exertions depend
altogether upon the energy of the incumbent ; an officer in
Fuhkien is recommended for promotion because he had apprehended
one hundred and seventy-three persons, part of a band
of robbers which had infested the department for years, and
tried and convicted one thousand one hundred and sixty criminals,
most or all of whom were probably executed.
In 1821 there were four hundred robbers taken on the borders
of Fuhkien ; in 1827 two hundred were seized in the
south of the province, and forty-one more brought to Canton
from the eastward. The governor offered $1,000 reward for
the capture of one leader, and ,^3,000 for another. The judge
of the province put forth a proclamation upon the subject in
the same year, in w’hieh he says there were four hundred and
thirty undecided cases of robbery by brigands then on the calendar
; and in 1816 there were upward of two thousand waiting
his decision, for each of which there were perhaps five or six persons in prison or under constraint until the ease was settled.
These bands prowl in the large cities and commit great
cruelties. In 1830 a party of live hundred openly plundered a
rich man’s house in the western suburbs of Canton ; and in
Shunteh, south of the city, $600 were paid for the ransom of
two persons carried off by them. The ex-governor, in 1831,
was attacked by them near the Mei ling pass on his departure
from Canton, and plundered of about ten thousand dollars.
The magistrates of ITiangshan district, south of Canton, M-ere
ordered by their superiors the same year to apprehend five
hundred of the robbers. Priests sometimes harbor gangs in
their temples and divide the spoils with them, and occasionally
go out themselves on predatory excursions. Xo mercy is
shown these miscreaTits when they are taken, but the multiplication
of executions has no effect in deterring them from crime.
Cruelty to individual prisoners does not produce so nuich disturbance
to the general peace of the community as the forcible
attempts of officers to collect taxes. / The people have the impression
that their rulers exact more than is legal, and consequently
consider opposition to the demands of the tax-gatherer
as somewhat justifiable, which compels, of course, more stringent
measures on the part of the authorities, whose station depends
not a little on their punctuality in remitting the taxes. Bad
harvests, floods, or other public calamities _i-ender the people
still more disinclined to pay the assessments./ (In 184:5 a serious
disturbance arose near jS^ingpo on this accoimt, which with unimportant differences could probably be paralleled in every prefecture in the land. The people of Funghwa liien having refused to pay an onerous tax, the prefect of Ningpo seized three literary men of the place, who had been deputed to collect it, and put them in prison ; this procedure so irritated the gentry that the candidates at the literary examination which occurred at Funghwa soon afterward, on being assembled at the public hall before the cJuhicn, rose upon him and beat him severely.
DIFFICULTY IN COLLECTING TAXES. 499
They were still further incensed against him from having recently detected him in deceitful conduct regarding a ]>etition they had made at court to have their taxes lightened; he had kept the answer and pocketed the difference, he was consequently superseded by another magistrate, and a deputy of the intendant of circuit was sent with the new incumbent to restore order. But the deputy, full of his importance, carried himself so haughtily that the excited populace treated him in the same manner, and he barely escaped with his life to Xingpo.
The intendant and prefect, finding matters rising to such a pitch, sent a detachment of twelve hundred troops to keep the peace, but part of these were decoyed within the walls and attacked with such vigor that many of them were made prisoners, a colonel and a dozen privates killed, and two or three hundred wounded or beaten, and all deprived of their arms. In this plight they returned to Ningbo, and, as the distance is not great, apprehensions were entertained lest the insurgents should follow up their advantage by organizing themselves and ii>arching upon the city to seize the prefect. The officers sent immediately to Ilangchau for assistance, from whence the governor sent a strong force of ten thousand men to restore order, and soon after arrived himself. He demanded three persons to be given up who had been active in fomenting the resistance, threatening in case of non-compliance that he would destroy the town ; the prefect and his deputy from the intendant’s office were suspended and removed to another post.^ These measures restored quiet to a considerable extent.’
The existence of such evils in Chinese society would rapidly
disorganize it were it not for the conservative influence upon
society of early education and training in industry. The government
takes care to avail itself of this better element in public
opinion, knd grounds thereon a basis of action for the establishment
of good order. But this, and ten thousand similar
instances, only exhibit more strongly how great a work there is
to be done before high and low, people and rulers, will understand
their respective duties and rights ; before they will, on
the one hand, pay that regard to the authority of their rulers
which is necessary for the maintenance of good order, and, on
the other, resist official tyranny in preserving their own liberties.
If the character of the officers, therefore, be such as has been
^Mmionary Chronicle, Vol. XTV., p. 140. Smith’s China, p. 250.
briellv shown—open to hi-ibeiy, colluding with criminals, sycO’
phantic toward suporions, and cruel to the people ; and the constituents of society present so many repulsive features—opposing clans engaged in deadly feuds, bandits sccjuring the country to rob, policemen joining to oppress, truth universally disregarded, selfishness the main principle of action, and almost every disorganizing element but imperfectly restrained from violent outbreaks and convulsions, it will not be expected that the regular proceedings of the courts and the execution of the laws will prove on examination to be any better than the materials of which they arc composed. As civil and criminal cases are all judged by one officer, one court tries nearly all the questions which arise. A single exception is provided for in the code, wherein it is ordered that ” in cases of adultery, r()l)bery, fraud, assaults, breach of laws concerning marriage, landed property or pecuniaiy contracts, or any other like offences committed by or against individuals in the military class—if any of the people are implicated or concerned, the military commanding officer and the civil magistrate shall have a concurrent jurisdiction.” ‘
‘ For cases of this sort in Cambodia, R’musat makes mention of a variety of ordeals which curioush’ resemble tiiose resorted to on the continent of Europe lUuing the Middle Ages. Nouveaux Milanyes, Tome I., p. 126.
CHARACTER OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 501
At the bottom of the judicial scale are the village elders. This incipient element of the democratic principle has also existed in India in much the same form ; but while its power ended in the local eldership there, in China it is only the lowest step of the scale. The elders give character to the village, and are expected to manage its public affairs, settle disputes among its inhabitants, arrange matters with other villages, and answer to the magistrates on its behalf. The code provides that all persons having complaints and informations address themselves in the first instance to the lowest tribunal of justice in the district, from which the cognizance of the affair may be transferred to the superior tribunals. The statement of the case is made in writing, and the officer is required to act upon it immediately; if the parties are dissatisfied with the award, the judgment of the lower courts is carried np to the superior ones. No case can be carried directly to the Emperor ; it must go through the
Board of Punishments ; old men and womeu, however, sometimes
present petitions to him on his journeys, but such appeals
seldom occur, owing to the ditficulty of access. The captains in
charge of the gates of Peking, in 1831, presented a memorial
upon the subject, in which they attribute the number of appeals
to the obstinacy of many persons in pressing their cases and
the remissness of local officers, so that even women and girls of
ten years of age take long journeys to Peking to state their
cases. The memorialists reconnnend that an order be issued requiriug
the two high provincial officers to adjudicate all cases,
either themselves or by a court of errors, and not send the complainants
back to the district magistrates. These official porters
must have been much troubled with young ladies coming to see
his Majesty, or perhaps were advised to present such a paper to
afford a text for the Emperor to preach from ; to confer such
power upon the governor and his associates would almost make
them the irresponsible sovereigns of the provinces. A2:)peals
frequently arise out of delay in obtaining justice, owing to the
amount of business in the courts ; for the calendar may be
expected to increase when the magistrate leaves his post to
curry favor with his superiors. The almost utter impossibility
of learning the truth of the case brought before tliern, either
from the principal parties or the witnesses, must be borne in
mind when deciding upon the oppressive proceedings of the
magistrates to elicit the truth. Mention is made of one officer
promoted for deciding three hundred cases in a year ; again of
a district magistrate who tried upward of a thousand within
the same period ; while a third revised and decided more than
six hundred in which the parties had appealed. What becomes
of the appeals in such cases, or whose decision stands, does not
appear ; but if such proceedings are common, it accounts for the
constant practice of sending appeals back to be revised, probably
after a change in the incumbent.
Eew or no civil cases are reported in the Gazette as being carried up to higher courts, and probably only a small proportion of them are brought before the authorities, the rest being settled by reference. Appeals to court receive attention, and it may be inferred, too, that many of them are mentioned in the Gazette in order that the carefnhiess of the supreme government in revising the unjust decrees against the people should be known through the country, and this additional check to malversation on the part of the lower courts be of some use. Many cases are reported of widows and daughters, sons and nephews, of murdered persons, to -whom the revenge of kindred rightly belongs, appealing against the unjust decrees of the local magistrates, and then sent back to the place they came from ; this, of course, was tantamount to a nolle 2^i’osequL At other times the wicked judges have been degraded and banished. One case is reported of a man who found his way to the capital from Fuhkien to complain against the magistracy and police, who protected a clan by whom his only son had been shot, in consideration of a ])i-ibe of $2,000. His case could not be understood at Peknig in consequence of his local pronunciation, which indicates that all cases are not reported in writing. One appeal is reported against the governor of a province fur not carrying into execution the sentence of death passed on two convicted murderers ; and ant»tlicr appellant requests that two persons, who were bribed to undergo the sentence of the law instead of the real murderers, might not be substituted—he, perhaps, fearing their subsequent vengeance.
All officers of government are supposed to be accessible at
any time, and the door of justice to be open to all who claim a
hearing ; and in fact, courts are held at all hours of night and
day, though the regular time is from sunrise to noonday. The
style of address varies according to the rank ; t((jin, or magnate,
for the highest, ta laoye, or gi-eat Sii-, and hioi/e, Sir, for the
lower grade, are the most common. A drum is said to be
placed at the inferior tribunals, as well as before the Court of
Representation in Peking, which the plaintiff strikes in order to
make his presence known, though from the mimberof hangerson
a!)Out the doors of official residences, the necessity of employing
this mode of attracting notice is rare. At the gate of the
governor-general’s palace are placed six tablets, having appropriate
inscriptions for those who have been wronged by wicked
officers ; for those who have suffered from thieves ; for persons
STYLE OF OFFICIAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 508
falsely accused ; for those who have been swindled ; for such as
have been grieved by other parties ; and lastly, for those who
have secret information to impart. The people, however, are
aware how useless it would be to inscribe their appeals upon
these tablets ; they write them out and carry them up to his
excellency, or to the proper official—seldom forgetting the indispensable present.
Magistrates are not allowed to go abroad in ordinary dress
and without their official retinue, which varies for the different
grades of rank. The usual attendants of the district magistrates
are lictors M’ith whips and chains—significant of the
punishments they inflict; they are preceded by two gong-
Mode of Carrying High Officers in Sedan.
bearers, who every few moments strike a certain number of
raps to intimate their master’s rank, and by two avant-couriers,
who howl out an order for all to make room for the great man.
A servant bearing aloft a lo^ or state uml)]-ella (of which a
drawing is given on the title-page), also goes before him, further
to increase his display and indicate his rank.’ A subaltern
usually runs by the side of his sedan, and his secretary and messengers,
seated in moi*e ordinary chairs or following on foot,
make up the cortege. The highest officers are carried by eight
bearers, others by four, and the lowest by two. Lanterns are
used at night and red tablets in the daytime, to indicate his
rank. Officers of higher ranks are attended by a few soldiers
Hee.’en informs us that a similar insignia was used in Persia in early days.
in addition, and in the capital are required to liave mounted
attendants if tliej ride in carts ; those who bear the sedan are
usually in a uniform of their masters devising. The parade
and noise seen in the provinces are all hushed in Peking, where
the presence of majesty subdues the glory of the officers which
it has created. When in court the officer sits behind a desk upon
which are placed writing materials ; his secretaries, clerks, and interpreters
being in waiting, and the lictors with their instruments
of punishment and torture standing around. Persons who are
brought before him kneel in front of the tribunal. His official
seal, and cups containing tallies which are thrown down to indicate
the number of blows to be given the culprits, stand upon
the table, and behind his seat a I’l-luu or unicorn, is depicted
on the wall. There are inscriptions hanging around the room,
one of which exhorts him to be merciful. There is little pomp
or show, either in the office or attendants, compared with our
notions of what is usual in such matters among Asiatics. The
former is a dirty, unswept, tawdry room, and the latter are beggarly’
and impertinent.
No counsel is allowed to plead, but the written accusations,
pleas, or statements required nmst be prepared by licensed
notaries, Avho may also read them in court, and who, no doubt,
take opportunity to explain circumstances in favor of their
client. These notaries buy their situations, and repay themselves
by a fee upon the documents ; they are the only persons
who are analogous to the lawyers in western countries, and
most of them have the reputation of extorting largely for their
services. Of course there is no such thing as a jury, or a chief
justice stating the case to associate judges to learn their
opinion ; nor is anything like an oath required of the witnesses.
The presiding officer can call in others to assist him in the
trial to any extent he pleases. In one Canton court circular it
is stated that no less than sixteen officers assisted the governorgeneral
and governor in the trial of one criminal. Tlie report of
the trial is as summary as the recital of tlic bench of judges is
minute: “II. E. Gov. Tang arrived to join the futai in examining
a criminal ; and at 8 a.m., under a salute of guns, the
doors of the great hall of audience were thrown open, and their
VKISONEK lON-‘JEMNEn TO TUE CANGUE, IN COURT.
(Bis son praying to take his place.)
MODE OF PROCEDURE IN LAW COURTS. 605
excellencies took their seats, supported by all the other func
tioiiaries assembled for the occasion. The police officers of the
judge were then directed to bring forward the prisoner, Yeli
A-sliun, a native of Tsingyuen hien ; he was forthwith brought
in, tried, and led out. The futai then requested the imperial
death-warrant, and sent a deputation of officers to conduct the
criminal to the market-place and there decapitate him. Soon after the officers returned, restored the death-warrant to its place, and reported that they had executed the criminal.”’ The prisoner, or his friends for him, are allowed to appear in every step of the inquiry prior to laying the case before the Emperor, and punishment is threatened to all the magistrates through whose hands it passes if they neglect the appeal ; but this extract shows the usage of the courts.
The general policy of officers is to quash cases and repress appeals, and probably they do so to a great degree by bringing extorted confessions of the accused party and the witnesses in proof of the verdict. Governor Li of Canton issued a prohibition in 1834: against the practice of old men and women presenting petitions—complaining of the nuisance of having his chair stopped in order that a petition might be forced into it, and threatening to seize and punish the presumptuous intruders if they persisted in this custom. lie instructs the district magistrates to examine such persons, to ascertain who pushed them forward, and to punish the instigators, observing, ” if the people are impressed with a due dread of punishment, they will return to respectful habits.” It seems to be the constant effort on the part of the officers to evade the importunities of the injured and shove by justice, and were it not owing to the perseverance of the people^ a system of irremediable oppression would soon be induced. But the poor have little chance of being heard against the rich, and if they do appeal they are in most cases remanded to the second judgment of the very officer against Mdiom they complain ; and of course as this is equivalent to a refusal from the high grades to right them at all, commotions gradually grow out of it, which are managed according to the exigencies of the case by those who are likely to be involved in their responsibility. The want of an irresistible police to compel obedience luis a restraining effect on the rulers^ who know that Lyncli law niav perhaps be retaliated upon them if they cxaspei’ate the people too far. A prefect was killed in Chauchan fu some years ago for his cruelty, and the people excused their act by saying that, it was done because the officer had failed to carry out the Emperor’s good rule, and they would not endure it longer. Amid such enormities it is no wonder if the peaceably disposed part of the community prefer to submit in silence to petty extortions and robberies, rather than risk the loss of all by unavailing complaints.
The code contains many sections regulating the proceedings
of courts, and provides heavy punishments for such officers as
are guilty of illegalities or cruelty in their decisions, but the recorded
cases prove that most of these laws are dead letters.
Section CCCCXYI. ordains that ” after a prisoner has been tried
and convicted of any offence punishable with temporary or perpetual
banishment or death, he shall, in the last place, be
brought before the magistrate, together with his nearest relations
and family, and informed of the offence M’hereof he
stands convicted, and of the sentence intended to be pronounced
upon him in consequence ; their acknowledgment of its justice
or protest against its injustice, as the case maybe, shall theii be
taken down in writing: and in every case of their refusing to
admit the justice of the sentence, their protest shall be made
the ground of another and more particular investigation.” All
capital cases must be reviewed by the highest authorities at the
metropolis and in the provinces, and a final report of the case
and decision submitted to the Emperor’s notice. Section
CCCCXY. requires that the law be quoted M’hen deciding. The
numerous wise and merciful provisions in tlie code for the due
administration of justice only place the conduct of its authorized
executives in a less excusable light, and prove how impossible it
is to procure an equitable magistracy by mere legal requirements
and penalties.
MODES AND EXTF>:T OF TORTUllIXG CULPRITS. 507
The confusion of the civil and criminal laws in the code, and the union of both functions in the same person, together with the torture and imprisonment employed to elicit a confession, serve as an indication of the state of legislation and jurisprudence. The common sense of a truthful people would revolt against the inliietioii of torture to get out the true deposition of a witness, and their sense of honor would resist the disgraceful exposure of the cangue for not paying debts. As the want of truth among a people indicates a want of honor, the necessity of more stringent modes of procedure suggests the practice of torture ; its application is allowed and restricted by several sections of the code, but in China, as elsewhere, it has always been abused. Torture is practised upon both criminals and witnesses, in court and in prison ; and the universal dread among the people of coming before courts, and having anything to do with their magistrates, is owing in great measure to the illegal sufferings they too often must endure. It has also a powerful deterrent effect in preventing crime and disorder. IN^either imprisonment nor torture are ranked among the five punishments, but they cause more deaths, probably, among arrested persons than all other means.
Among the modes of torture employed in court, and reported in the Gazette^ are some revolting to humanity, but which of them are legal does not appear. The clauses under Section I. in the code describe the legal instruments of torture ; they consist of three boards with proper grooves for compressing the ankles, and five round sticks for squeezing the fingers, to which may be added the bamboo; besides these no instruments of torture are legally allowed, though other ways of putting the question are so common fis to give the impression that some of them at least are sanctioned. Pulling or twisting the ears with roughened fingers, and keeping them in a bent position while making the prisoner kneel on chains, or making him kneel for
a long time, are among the illegal modes. Striking the lips
with sticks until they are nearly jellied, putting the hands in
stocks before or behind the back, wrapping the fingers in oiled
cloth to burn them, suspending the body by the thumbs and
fingers, tying tlie hands to a bar under the knees, so as to bend
the body double, and chaining by the neck close to a stone, are
resorted to when the prisoner is contumacious. One magistrate
is accused of having fastened up two criminals to boards by
nails driven through their palms ; one of them tore his hands loose and was nailed np again, which caused his death ; using beds of iron, boiling water, red hot spikes, and cutting the tendon Achilles are also charged against him, but the Emperor exonerated him on account of the atrocious character of the criminals. Compelling them to kneel upon pounded glass, sand, and salt mixed together, until the knees become excoriated, or simply kneeling upon chains is a lighter mode of the same infliction.
Mr. Milne mentions seeing a wretch undergoing this torture, his hands tied behind his back to a stake held in its position by two policemen; if he swerved to relieve the agony of his position, a blow on his head compelled him to resume it. The agonies of the poor creature were evident from his quivering lips, his pallid and senseless countenance, and his tremulous voice imploring relief, which was refused with a cold, mocking command, ” Suffer or confess.” ‘
Flogging is one of the five authorized punishments, but it is used more than any other means to elicit confession; the bamboo, rattan, cudgel, and whip are all employed. When death ensues the magistrate reports that the criminal died of sickness, or hushes it up by bribing his friends, few of whom are ever allowed access within the walls of the prison to see and comfort the sufferers. From the manner in which such a result is spoken of it may be inferred that immediate death does not often take place from torture. A magistrate in Sz’chuen being abused by a man in court, who also struck the attendants, ordered him to be put into a coffin which happened to be near, when suffocation ensued ; he was in consequence dismissed the service, punished one hundred blows, and transported three years. One check on outrageous torture is the fear that the report of their cruelty will come to the ears of their superiors, who are usually ready to avail of any mal-administration to get an officer removed, in order to fill the post. In this case, as in other parts of Chinese government, the dread of one evil prevents the commission of another.
‘ W. C. Milne, Life in China, Loudon, 1857, p. 99.
THE FIVE LEGAL PUNISHMENTS. 509
The five kinds of punishment mentioned in the code are from ten to fifty bloM’s with the lesser bamboo, from fifty to one hundred with the greater, transportation, perpetual banishishment, and death, each of them modified in various ways. The small bamboo weighs about two pounds, the larger two and two-thirds pounds. Public exposure in the Ida, or cangue, is considered rather as a kind of censure or reprimand than a punishment, and carries no disgrace with it, nor comparatively much bodily suffering if the person be fed and screened from the sun. The frame weighs between twenty and thirty pounds, and is so made as to rest upon the shoulders without chafing the neck, but so broad as to prevent the person feeding himself.
The name, residence, and offence of the delinquent are written upon it for the information of every passerby’, and a policeman is stationed over him to prevent escape. Branding is applied to deserters and banished persons.
Imprisonment and fines are not regarded as legal punishments, but rather correctives ; and flogging, as Le Comte says, ” is never wanting, there being no condemnation in China without this previous disposition, so that it is unnecessary to mention it in their condemnation ; this being always understood to be their first dish.” When a man is arrested he is effectually prevented from breaking loose by putting a chain around his neck and tying his hands.
Mode of Exposure in the Cangue.
Most punishments are redeemable by the payment of money if the criminal is under fifteen or over seventy years of age, and a table is given in the code for the guidance of the magistrate in such cases. An act of ofrace enables a criminal condemned even to capital punishment to redeem himself, if the oifenee be not one of wilful malignity ; but better legislation would have shown the good effects of not making the punishments so severe. It is also ordered in Section XA^IIL, that ” any offender under sentence of death for a crime not excluded from the contingent benefit of an act of grace, who shall have infirm parents or grandparents alive over seventy years of age, and no other male child over sixteen to support them, shall be recommended to the mercy of his Majesty ; and if only condemned to banishment, shall receive one hundred blows and
redeem himself by a fine/’ Many atrocions laws may be forgiven
for one such exhibition of regard for the care of decrepid
parents. Few governments exhibit such opposing principles of
actions as the Chinese : a strange blending of cruelty to prisoners
with a maudlin consideration of their condition, and a constant
effort to coax the peoj^le to obedience while exercising
great severity npon individuals, are everywhere manifest. One
M’ho has lived in the country long, however, knows well that
they are not to be held in check by rope-yarn laws or whimpering
justices, and unless the rulers are a terror to evil-doers, the
latter w\\\ soon get the upper hand. Dr. Field Avell considers
this point in his interesting notes describing his visit to a
yaniwi at Canton.’ The general prosperity of the Empire
proves in some measure the ecjuity of its administration.
Banishment and slavery are punishments for minor official
delinquencies, and few officers who live long in the Emperor’s
employ do not take an involuntary journey to Mongolia, Turkestan,
or elsewhere, in the course of their lives. The fates
and conduct of banished criminals are widely unlike; some
doggedly serve out their time, others try to ingratiate themselves
with their nuisters in order to alleviate or shorten the
time of service, while hundreds contrive to escape and return
to their homes, though this subjects them to increased punishment.
‘ Dr. H. M. Field, From Effypt fo Japan, Chap. XXIV., passim. New York,1877. CMtN’sp Rrpox’/fori/, Vol. TV., pp. 214, 2fiO.
CORRECTION OF MINOR OFFENCES. 511
Publicly Whipping a Thief through the Streets.
Persons banished for treason are severely dealt with if they return without leave, and those convicted of crime in their place of banishment are increasingly punished ; one man was sentenced to be outlawed for an offence at his place of banishment, but seeing that his aged mother had no other support than his labor, the Emperor ordered that a small sum should be paid for her living out of the public treasury. “Whipping a man through the streets as a public example to others is frequenty practised upon persons detected in robbery, assault, or some other minor offences. The man is manacled, and one policeman goes before him carrying a tablet, on which are written his name, crime, and punishment, accompanied by another holding a gong. In some cases little sticks bearing flags
are thrust through his ears, and the lictor appointed to oversee
the fulfilment of the sentence follows the executioner, who
strikes the criminal with his whip or rattan as the rap on the
gong denotes that the appointed number is not yet complete.
Decapitation and strangling are the legal modes of executing
criminals, though Ki Kung having taken several incendiaries at
Canton, in 1843, who were convicted of fii-ing the city for purposes
of plunder, starved them to death in the public squares of the city. The least disgraceful mode of execution is strangulation, which is performed by tying a man to a post and tightening the cord which goes round his neck by a winch ; the infliction is very speedy, and apparently less painful than hanging. The least crime for which death is awarded appears to be a third and aggravated theft, and defacing the branding inflicted for former offences. Decollation is considered more disgraceful than strangling, owing to the dislike the Chinese have of dissevering the bodies which their parents gave them entire. There are two modes of decapitation, that of simple decollation being considered, again, as less disgraceful than being ” cut into ten thousand pieces,” as the phrase Uikj cluli has been rendered. The military officer who superintends the execution is attended by a
guard, to keep the populace from crowding upon the limits and
prevent resistance on the part of the prisoners. The bodies are
given up to the friends, except when the head is exposed as a
warnini>; in a cao-e where the crime was committed. If no one
is present to claim the corpse it is buried in tlie public pit. The
criminals are generally so far exhausted that they make no resistance,
and submit to their fate without a groan—nmch more,
without a dying speech to the spectators. In ordinary cases
the executions are postponed until the autumnal assize, when
the Emperor revises and confirms the sentences of the provincial
governors; criminals guilty of extraordinary offences, as robbery
attended with murder, arson, rape, breaking into fortifications,
liiglivvay robbery, and piracy, may be immediately beheaded
M’ithout reference to court, and as the expense of maintenance
and want of prison room are both to be considered, it is the
fact that criminals condennied for one or other of these crimes
comprise the greater part of the um-eferred executions in the
provinces.
It is impossible to ascertain the number of persons executed
in China, for the life of a condennied criminal is thought little
of ; in the court circular it is merely reported that ” the execution
of the criminals was completed,” without mentioning their
crimes, residences, or names. At the autunmal revises at Peking
the number sentenced is given in the Gazette; 935 were
sentenced in 1S17, of which 133 were from the province of
MANNER OK PUHLIC EXECUTIONS. 613
Kwangtnng ; in 1820 tlicro wci’c r)Sl ; in 182S the number
was 789, and in the next year 579 names were marked off, none of
whose crimes, it is inferrible, are inchided in tlie list of offences
mentioned above. The condenniations are sent from the capital
by express, and tlie executions take place innnediately. Most
of the persons condemned in a province are executed in its capital,
and to hear of the death of a score or more of felons on a
single day is no uncommon thing. The trials are more speedy
than comports with our notions of justice, and the executions are
performed in the most summary manner. It is reported on one
occasion that the governor-general of Canton ascended his judgment-
seat, examined three prisoners brought before him, and
having found then\ guilty, condemned them, asked himself for
the death-warrant (for he temporarily filled the office of governor),
and, having received it, had the three men carried away
in about two hours after they were first brought before him. A
few days after he granted the warrant to execute a hundred
bandits in prison. During the terrible rebellion in Ivwangtung,
in 1854-55, the prisoners taken by the Imperialists were usually
transported to Canton for execution. In a space cf fourteen
months, up to January, 1856, about eighty-three thousand malefactors
suffered death in that city alone, besides those who died
in confinement ; these men were arrested and delivered to execution
by their countrymen, who had suffered untold miseries
through their sedition and rapine.
“When taken to execution the prisoners are clothed in clean
clothes.* A military officer is present, and the criminals are
brought on the ground in hod-like baskets hanging from a pole
borne of two, or in cages, and are obliged to kneel toward the
Emperor’s residence, or toward the death-warrant, which indicates
his presence, as if thanking their sovereign for his care.
The list is read aloud and compared with the tickets on the
prisoners ; as they kneel, a lictor seizes their pinioned hands
and jerks them i.pward so that the head is pushed down horizontally,
and a single down stroke with the heavy hanger severs
‘ Persons who commit suicide also dress themselves in their best, the common notion being that in the next world they will wear the same garments in which they died.Vol. I.—33
it from tlie neck. In the slow and ignominious execution, or
ling chih, the criminal is tied to a cross and hacked to pieces ; the
executioner is nevertheless often hired to give the coup-de-grace
at the first blow. It is not uncommon for him to cut out the
gall-bladder of notorious robbers and sell it, to be eaten as a
specific for courage. There is an official executioner besides the
real one, the latter being sometimes a criminal taken out of the
prisons.
Probably the number of persons who suffer by the sword of
the executioner is not one-half of those who die from the effects
of torture and privations in prisons. Not much is known of
the internal arrangement of the hells, as prisons are called ; they
seem to be managed with a degree of kindness and attention to
the comfort of the prisoners, so far as the intentions of government
are concerned, but the cruelties of the turnkeys and older
prisoners to exact money from the new comers are terrible. In
Canton there are jails in the city under the control of four different
officers, the largest covering about an acre, and capable
of holding upward of five hundred prisoners. Since it is the
practice of distant magistrates to send their worst prisoners up
to the capita], these jails are not large enough, and jail distempers
arise from over-crowding ; two hundred deaths were
reported in 1826 from this and other causes, and one hundred
and seventeen cases in 1831. Private jails were hired to accommodate
the number, and one governor reports having found
twenty-two such places in Canton where every kind of cruelty
was practised. The witnesses and accusers concerned in appellate
causes had, he says, also been brought up to the city and
imprisoned along with the guilty party, where they were kept
months Avithout any just reason. In one case, M’here a defendant
and plaintiff were imprisoned together, the accuser fell upon
the other and murdered him. Sometimes the officer is unable
from press of business to attend to a case, and confines all the
principals and witnesses concerned until he can examine them,
but the government takes no means to provide for them during
the interval, and many of the poorer ones die. No security’ or
bail is obtainable on the word of a witness or his friends, so
that if unable to fee the jailers he is in nearly as bad a case as the
ATROCIOUS MAXAGEMENT OF PRISONS. 515
criminal. Extending bail to an accused criminal is nearly unknown,
but female prisoners are put in charge of their husbands
or parents, who are held responsible for their appearance. Tliie
constant succession of criminals in the provincial head prison
renders the posts of jailers and turnkeys very lucrative. The
letters of the Roman Catholic missionaries from China during
the last century, found in the Lettres Edijiantes and Annales de
la Foi, contain many sad pictures of the miseries of prison life
there.
The prisons are arranged somewhat on the plan of a large
stable, having an open central court occupying nearly one-fourth
of the area, and small cribs or stalls covered by a roof extending
nearly around it, so contrived that each company of prisoners
shall be separated from its neighbors on either side night and
day, though more by night than by day. The prisoners cook for
themselves in the court, and are secured by manacles and gyves,
and a chain joining the hands to the neck ; one hand is liberated
in the daytime in order to allow them to take care of themselves.
Heinous criminals are more heavily ironed, and those in the
prisons attached to the judge’s office are Avorse treated than the
others. Each criminal should receive a daily ration of two
pounds of rice, and about two cents \vith which to buy fuel, but
the jailer starves them on half this allowance if they are unable
to fee him ; clothing is also scantily provided, but those who
have money can pi’ocure almost every convenience. Each crib
full of criminals is under the control of a turnkey, who with a
few old offenders spends much time torturing newly arrived
persons to force money from them, by which many lose their
lives, and all suffer far more in this manner than they do from
the officers of government. Well may the people call their
prisons hells, and say, when a man falls into the clutches of the
jailers or police, “the flesh is under the cleaver.”
There are many processes for the recovery of debts and fulfilment of contracts, some legal and others customary, the latter depending upon many circumstances irrelevant to the merits of the case. The law allows that debtors be punished by bambooing according to the amount of the debt. A creditor often resorts to illegal means to recover his claim, which give rise to tnanj excesses ; sometimes he quarters himself upon the debtor’s family or premises, at others seizes him or some of his family and keeps them prisoners, and, in extreme cases, sells them.
Unscrupulous debtors are equally skilful and violent in eluding, cheating, and resisting their incensed creditors, according as they have the power. They are liable, when three months have expired after the stipulated time of payment, to be bambooed, and their property attached. In most cases, however, disputes of this sort are settled without I’ecourse to government, and if the debtor is really without property, he is not imprisoned till he can procure it. The effects of absconding debtors are seized and divided by those who can get them. Long experience, moreover, of each other’s characters has taught them, in contracting debts, to have some security at the outset, and therefore in settling up there is not so much loss as might be supposed considering the difficulty of collecting debts. Accusations for libel, slander, breach of marriage contract, and other civil or less criminal offences are not all brought before the authorities, but are settled by force or arbitration among the people themselves and their elders.
The nominal salaries of Chinese officers have already been
stated (p. 294). It is a common opinion among the people that
on an average they receive about ten times their salaries ; in
some cases they pay thirty, forty and more thousand dollars
beforehand for the situation. One encouragement to the
harassing vexations of the official secretaries and police is the
dislike of the people to carry their cases before officers who
they know are almost compelled to fleece and peel them ; they
think it cheaper and safer to bear a small exaction from an
underling than run the risk of a greater from his master.
If the preventives against popular violence which the supreme
government has placed around itself could be strengthened
by an efficient military force, its power would be well
secured indeed ; but then, as in Kussia, it would probably become,
by degrees, an intolerable tyranny. The troops are, in
fact, everywhere present, ostensibly to support the laws, protect
the innocent, and punish the guilty ; such of them as are employed
by the authorities as guards and policemen are, on the
whole, efficient and coni-tcous, though iniseralily paid, while the regiments in garrison are contemptible to both friend and foe.
LATENT INFLUENCE OF PUI5LIC OPINION. 517
The efficacy of the system of che<*ks upon the high courts and provincial officers is ijicreased by their intrigues and contlicting ambition, and long expeiuence has shown that the Emperor’s power has little to fear from proconsular rebellion. The inefficiency of the army is a serious evil to the people in one respect, for more power in that arm would repress banditti and pirates; while the sober part of the community would cooperate in a hearty effort to quell them. The greatest difficulty the Emperor finds in upholding his authority lies in the general want of integrity in the officers he employs ; good laws may be made, but he has few upright agents to execute them. This has been abundantly manifested in the laws against opium and gambling ; no one could be found to carry them into execution, though everybody assented to their propriety^
The chief security on the side of the people against an unmitigated oppression such as now exists in Turkey, besides those already pointed out, lies as much as anywhere in their general intelligence of the true principles on which the government is founded and should be executed. With public opinion on its side the government is a strong one, but none is less able to execute its designs when it runs counter to that opinion, although those designs may be excellent and well intended.
Elements of discord are found in the social system which would
soon effect its ruin were they not counteracted by other influences,
and the body politic goes on like a heavy, shackly, lumbering
van, which every moment threatens a crashing, crumbling
fall, yet goes on still tottering, owing to the original goodness
of its construction. From the enormous population of this
ancient van, it is evident that any attempt to remodel it mut^t
seriousl}^ affect one or the other of its parts, and that when
once upset it may be impossible to reconstruct it in its original
form. There is encouragement to hope that the general intelligence
and shrewdness of the government and people of China,
their language, institutions, industry, and love of peace, will ail
act as powerful conservative influences in working out the
changes which cannot now be long delayed ; and that she will luaintaiii her unitv and industry while going through a thorough reform of her political, social, and religious systems.
It is very difficult to convey to the reader a fair view of the administration of the laws in China. Notwithstanding the cruelty of officers to the criminals before them, they are not all to be considered as tyrants ; because insurrections arise, attended
with great loss of life, it must not be supposed that
society is everywhere disorganized ; the Chinese are so prone
to falsify that it is difficult to ascertain the truth, yet it must
not be inferred that every sentence is a lie ; selfishness is a
prime motive for their actions, yet charity, kindness, filial
affection, and the unbought courtesies of life still exist among
them. Although there is an appalling amount of evil and crime
in every shape, it is mixed with some redeeming traits ; and in
China, as elsewhere, good and bad are intermingled, [^ome of
the evils in the social system arise from the operation of the
principles of mutual responsibility, while this very feature produces
sundry good effects in restraining people who have no
higher motive than the fear of injuring the innocent;^ TTeliear
so much of the shocking cruelties of courts and prisons that
the vast number of cases before the bench are all supposed to
exhibit the same fatiguing reiteration of suffering, injustice,
bribery, and cruelty. One must live in the country to see how
the antagonistic j^rinciples found in Chinese society act and react
upon each other, and are affected by the wicked passions of the heart. Officers and people are bad almost beyond belief to one conversant only with the courtesy, justice, purity, and sincerity of Christian governments and society; and yet we think they are not as bad as the old Greeks and Romans, and have no more injustice or torture in their courts, nor impurity or mendacity in their lives. As in our own land we are apt to forget that the recitals of crimes and outrages which the daily papers bring before our eyes furnish no index of the general condition of society, so in China, where that condition is immeasurably worse, we must be mindful that this is likewise true.
CHAPTER IX.EDUCATION AND LITERARY EXAMINATIONS
Among the points relating to the Chinese people which have attracted the attention of students in the history of intellectual development, their long duration and literary institutions have probably taken precedenceJ To estimate the causes of the first requires much knowledge of the second, and from them one is gradually led onward to an examination of the government, religion, and social life of this people in the succeeding epochs of their existence. The inquiry will reveal much that is instructive, and show us that, if they have not equaled many other nations in the arts and adornments of life, they have attained a high degree of comfort and developed much that is creditable in education, the science of rule, and security of life and property.
Although the powers of mind exhibited by the greatest
writers in China are confessedly inferior to those of Greece
and Rome for genius and original conceptions, the good influence
exerted by them over their countrymen is far greater, even
at this day, than was ever obtained by western sages, as Plato,
Aristotle, or Seneca. The thoroughness of Chinese education,
the purity and effectiveness of the examinations, or the accuracv
and excellency of the literature must not be compared with
those of modern Christian countries, for there is really no common
measure between the two ; they must be taken with other
parts of Chinese character, and comparisons drawn, if necessary,
with nations possessing similar opportunities. (The importance
of generally instructing the people was acknowledged even before
the time of Confucius, and practised to a good degree at an age
when other nations in the world had no such system; and although in his day feudal institutions prevailed, and offices and rank were not attainable in the same manner as at present, on the other hand magistrates and noblemen deemed it necessary to be well acquainted with their ancient writings’. It is said in the Booh of RitcH (b.c. 1200), ” that for the purposes of education among the ancients, villages had their schools, districts their academies, departments their colleges, and principalities their universities.” This, so far as we know, was altogether superior to what obtained among the Jews, Persians, and Svrians of the same period.’
TTlie great stimulus to literary pursuits is the hope thereby of
] obtaining office and honor, and the only course of education
followed is the classical and historical one prescribed by law.
Owing to this undue attention to the classics, the minds of the
scliolars are not symmetrically trained, and they disparage other
branches of literature which do not directly advance this great
1 end, /’^very department of letters, except jurisprudence, his-
* t^ tory, and official statistics, is disesteemed in comparison ; and
the literary graduate of fourscore will be found deficient in
most branches of general learning, ignorant of hundreds of
common things and events in his national history, which the
merest schoolljoy in the western world would be ashamed not
to know in Lis. This course of instruction does not form wellbalanced
minds, but it imbues the future rulers of the land
with a full understanding of the principles on which they are
to govern, and the policy of the supreme power in using those
principles to consolidate its own authoi-ityj
(C’entralization and conservatism were the leading features of
the teachings of Confucius which first recommended them to
the rulers, and have decided the course of public examinations
in selecting officers who would readily uphold these principles.
The effect has been that the literary class in China holds the
functions of both nobles and priests, a perpetual association,
genu edema in qua nemo nascitiir, holding^ in its liands public
opinion and legal power to maintain it.- The geographical
isolation of the people, the nature of the language, and the
absence of a landed aristocracy, combine to add efficiency to
this system ; and when the peculiarities of Chinese character,
and the nature of the class-books which do so much to mould that character, are considered, it is impossible to devise a better plan for insuring the perpetuity of the government, or the contentment of the people under that government./
STIMULUS TO LITERARY PURSUITS. 621
Lit was about a.d. 600, that Taitsung, of the Tang dynasty,
instituted the present plan of preparing and selecting civilians
by means of study and degrees, founding his system on the
facts that education had always been esteemed, and that the ‘
ancient writings were accepted by all as the best instructors o£J
the manners and tastes of the peopji^. ‘ According to native
historians, the rulers of ancient times made ample provision for
the cultivation of literature and promotion of education in all
its branches. They supply sojne details to enable us to understand
the mode and the materials of this instruction, and glorify
it as they do everything ancient, but probably from the want
of authentic accounts in their own hands, they do not clearly
describe it. fThe essays of M. I^douard Biot on the History of
Public Instruction in China,{contains well-nigh all the information
extant on this interesting subject, digested in a very lucid
manner. Education is probably as good now as it ever was,
and its ability to maintain and develop the character of the
people as great as at any time ; it is remarkable how much it
really has done to form, elevate, and consolidate their national
institutions. The Manchu monarchs were not at first favorably
disposed to the system of examinations, and frowned upon the
literary hierarchy who claimed all honors as their right ; but
the next generation saw the advantages and necessity of the
concours, in preserving its own power.
^oys commence their studies at the age of seven with a
teacher/; for, even if the father be a literary man he seldom instructs
his sons, and very few mothers are able to teach their
offspring to read. Maternal training is supposed to consist in
giving a right direction to the morals, and enforcing the obedience
of the child ; but as there are few mothers who do more
than compel obedience by commands, or by the rod, so there are
none who can teach the infantile mind to look up to its God in
prayer and praise.
Among the many treatises for the guidance of teachers, the Siao Hioh, or ‘ Juvenile Instructor,’ is regarded as most author*itative. When establishing the elements of education, this book advises fathers to “choose from among their concubines those who are fit for nurses, seeking such as are mild, indulgent, affectionate, benevolent, cheerful, kind, dignified, respectful, and reserved and careful in their conversation, whom they will make
governesses over their children. “When able to talk, lads must
be instructed to answer in a quick, bold tone, and girls in a slow
and gentle one. ^t the age of seven, they should be taught to
count and name the cardinal points ; but at this age the sexes
should not be allowed to sit on the same mat nor eat from the
same table. At eight, they must be taught to wait for their superiors,
and prefer others to themselves. At ten, the boys
must be sent abroad to private tutors, and there remain day and
night, studying writing and arithmetic, wearing plain apparel,
learning to demean themselves in a manner becoming their age,
and acting with sincerity of purpose. At thirteen, they must
attend to music and poetry ; at fifteen, they must practise archery
and charioteering. At the age of twenty, they are in due
form to be admitted to the rank of manhood, and learn additional
rules of propriety, be fathful in the performance of filial
and fraternal duties, and though they possess extensive knowledge,
must not affect to teach others. At thirty, they may
marry and commence the management of business. At forty,
they may enter the service of the state ; and if their prince
maintains the reign of reason, they must serve him, but otherwise
not. At fifty, they may be promoted to the rank of ministers
; and at seventy, they must retire from public life.”
Another injunction is, t^Let children always be tanght to
speak the simple truth ; to stand erect and in their proper places,
and listen with respectful attention.” The way to become a
student, ” is, with gentleness and self-abasement, to receive implicitly
every word the master utters. The pupil, when he sees
virtuous people, nuist follow them, when he hears good maxims,
conform to them. He must cherish no wicked designs, but always
act uprightly ; whether at home or abroad, he nmst have
a fixed residence, and associate with the benevolent, carefully
regulating his personal deportment, and controlling the feelings
METHODS AND PURPOSE OF EDUCATION IN CHINA. 623
of his heart. lie must keep his clothes in order. Every morning
he must learn something new, and rehearse the same every
evenuig.” The great end of education, therefore, among the
ancient Chinese, was not so much to fill the head M’ith knowledge,
as to discipline the heart and purify the affections^ One
of their writers says, ” Those who respect the virtuous and put
away unlawful pleasures, serve their parents and prince to the
utmost of their ability, and are faithful to their word ; these,
though they should be considered unlearned, we must pronounce
to be educated men.” Although such terms as purity, filial
affection, learning, and truth, have higher meanings in a Christian
education than are given them by Chinese masters, the inculcation
of them in any degree and so decided a manner does
great credit to the people, and will never need to be superseded
—only raised to a higher grade.’
In intercourse with their relatives, children are taught to attend
to the minutest points of good breeding ; and are instructed in
everything relating to their personal appearance, making their
toilet, saluting their parents, eating, visiting, and other acts of
life. Many of these directions are trivial even to puerility, but
they are none too minute in the ideas of the Chinese, and still
form the basis of good manners, as much as they did a score of
centuries ago ; and it can hardly be supposed that Confucius
would have risked his influence upon the grave publication of
trifles, if he had not been well acquainted with the character of
his countrymen. Yet nothing is trifling which conduces to the
growth of good manners among a people, though it may not
have done all that was wished.^
\lules are laid down for students to observe in the prosecution
of their studies, which reflect credit on those who set so
high a standard for themselves.’ Dr. Morrison has given a
synopsis of a treatise of this sort, called the ‘ Complete Collection
of Family Jewels,’ and containing a minute specification of
‘ Compare Du Halde, Description de VEmpire fie la Chine, Tome IT., pp. 365-384 ; A. Wylie, Notes, p. 68 ; Chinese Repository, Vols. V., p. 81, and VI., pp.185, 393, and 563; China Review, Vol. VI., pp. 120, 195, 253, 328, etc. ; New Enghmder, May, 1878.
”Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 83-87, 306-316.
duties to be performed by all who would be thorough students.
The author directs the tyro to form a hxed resolution to press
forward in his studies, setting his mark as high as possible, and
thoroughly understanding everything as he goes along. “I
have always seen that a man who covets much and devotes
liimself to universal knowledge, when he reads he presumes on
the quickness and celerity of his genius and perceptions, and
chapters and volumes pass before his eyes, and issue from his
mouth as fluently as water rolls away ; but when does he ever
apply his mind to rub and educe the essence of a subject? In
this manner, although much be read, what is the use of it ?
Better little and fine, than much and coarse.” lie also advises
persons to have two or three good volumes lying on their tables,
which they can take up at odd moments, and to keep commonplace
books in which they can jot down such things as occur to
them. They should get rid of distracting thoughts if they
wish to advance in their studies ; as ” if a man’s stomach has
been filled by eating greens and other vegetables, although the
most precious dainties with exquisite tastes should be given
him, he cannot swallow them, he must first get rid of a few
portions of the gi-eens ; so in reading, the same is true of the
mixed thoughts which distract the mind, which are about the
dusty affairs of a vulgar world.” The rules given by these
writers correspond to those laid down among ourselves, in such
books as Todd’s Manual for Students, and reveal the steps
which have given the Chinese their intellectual position.’
iFor all grades of scholars, there is but one mode of study ;
the imitative nature of the Chinese mind is strikingly exhibited
; in the few attempts on the part of teachers to improve upon
the stereotyped practice of their predecessors, although persons
of as original minds a,aL_tlic country affords are constantly en-
^_gage_d in education.^When the lad connnences his studies, an
impressive ceremony takes place—or did formerl}-, for it seems
to have fallen into desuetude : the father leads his son to the
teacher, who kneels down before the name of some one or other
of the ancient sages, and supplicates their blessing upon his
‘ Morrison’s (JlUiU’se Dictionary, Vol. T., Tiirt T., ])p. TlD-ToH.
ARRANGEMENT AND REGIME OF BOYS’ SCHOOLS. 525
pupil ; after which, seating himself, he receives tlie homage
and petition of the lad to guide him in his lessons.’ As is the
case in Moslem countries, a present is expected to accompany
this initiation into literary pursuits. In all cases this event is
further marked by giving the lad his shu oning or ‘ book name,’
by which he is culled during his future life. The furniture of
the school merely consists of a desk and a stool for each pupil,
and an elevated seat for the master, for maps, globes, blackboards,
diagrams, etc., are yet to come in among its articles of
furniture. In one corner is placed a tablet or an inscription on
the wall, dedicated to Confucius and the god of Letters ; the
sage is styled the ‘ Teacher and Pattern for All Ages,’ and incense
is constantly burned in honor of them both.
^The location of school-rooms is usually such as would be considered
bad elsewhere, but by comparison with other things in
China, is not so. A mat shed which barely protects from the
weather, a low, hot upper attic of a shop, a back room in a
temple, or rarely a house specially built for the purpose, such
are the school-houses in China. The chamber is hired by the
master, who regulates his expenses and furnishes liis apartment
according to the number and condition of his pupils ; their
average nundjer is abont twenty, ranging between ten and forty
in day schools, and in private schools seldom exceeding ten.
The most th<n-ough course of education is probably pursued in
the latter, where a well-qualified teacher is hired by four or five
persons living in the same street, or nnituully related by birth
or marriage, to teach their children at a stipulated salary. In
such cases the lads are placed in bright, well-aired apartments,
superior to the common school-room. ^Tlie majority of teachers
have been unsuccessful candidates for literary degrees, who
having spent the prime of their days in fruitless attempts to
attain office, are unfit for manual lal)or, and unable to enter on
mercantile life.J In Canton, a teacher of twenty boj’s receives
from half a dollar to a dollar per month from each pupil ; in
country villages, three, four or five dollars a year are given,
with the addition, in most cases, of a small present of eatables
1
‘ This custom obtains also in Bokhara.
from each scholar three or four times a year. Private tutors
receive from $150 to $350 or more per annum, according to
particular engagement. There are no boarding-schools, nor
anything answering to infant schools ; nor are public or charity
schools established by government, or by private benevolence
for the education of the poor. ‘
The first hours of study are from sunrise till ten a.m., when
the boys go to breakfast ; they reassemble in an hour or more,
and continue at their books till about five p.m., when they disperse
for the day. In summer, they have no lessons after dinner,
but an evening session is often held in the winter, and evening
schools are occasionally opened for mechanics and others
who are occupied during the day. When a boy comes into
school in the morning, he bows reverentially before the tablet
of Confucius, salutes his teacher, and then takes his seat. The
vacations during the year are few ; the longest is before new
year, at which time the engagement is completed, and the school
closes, to be reopened after the teacher and parents have made a
new arrangement. The common festivals, of which there are a
dozen or more, are regarded as holydays, and form very necessary
relaxations in a country destitute of the rest of the Sabbath.
(The requisite qualifications of a teacher are gravity, severity,
and patience, and acquaintance w^ith the classics ; he has
only to teach the same series of books in the same fashion in
which he learned them himself and keep a good watch over his
charge,)
When the lads come together at the opening of the school,
their attainments are ascertained ; the teacher endeavors to
have his pupils nearly equal in this respect, but inasmuch as
they are all put to precisely the same tasks, a difference is not
material. If the boys are beginners, they are brought up in a
line before the desk, holding the San-tsz’ King, or ‘ Trimetrical
Classic,’ in their hands, and taught to read off the first lines
after the teacher until they can repeat them without help. He
calls off the first four lines as follows:
Jin chi tsu, smgpun sTien /
SiTig sirnig hm, slh sian^ yuen /
ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION. 527
when his pupils siniultaiieoiisly cry out:
, Jin ehi tsii, Hinypan slien ^
Sing siang kin, sih siang yuen.
‘Mispronunciations are corrected until each can read the lesson
accurately ; they are then sent to their seats to commit the
sounds to memory. As the sounds are all entire words (not
letters, nor syllables, of which they have no idea), the boys are
not perplexed, as ours are, with symbols M’hich have no meaning.
All the children study aloud, and when one is able to recite
the task, he is required to hach it—come up to the mastei-‘s
desk, and stand with his back toward him while rehearsing it.)
‘ The San-tsz’ King was compiled by Wang Pih-hao of the
Sung dynasty (a. d. 1050) for his private school. It contains
ten hundred and sixty-eight words, and half that number of different
characters, arranged in one hundred and seventy-eight
double lines. It has been commented upon by several persons,
one of whom calls it ” a ford which the youthful inquirer may
readily pass, and thereby reach the fountain-head of the higher
courses of learning, or a passport into tlie regions of classical and
historical literature.”) This hornbook begins with the nature of
man, and the necessity and modes of education, and it is noticeable
that the first sentence, the one quoted above, which a Chinese
learns at school, contains one of the most disputed doctrines in
the ancient heathen world :
** Men at their birth, are by nature radically good ;
Though alike in this, in practice they widely diverge.
If not educated, the natural character grows worse ;
A course of education is made valuable by close attention.
Of old, Mencius’ mother selected a residence,
And when her son did not learn, cut out the [half-wove] web.
To nurture and not educate is a father’s error;
To educate without rigor shows a teacher’s indolence.
That boys should not learn is an unjust thing ;
For if they do not learn in youth, what will they do when old ?
As gems unwrought serve no useful end, ,
So men untaught will never know what right conduct is.”The importance of filial and fraternal duties are then inculcated by precept and example, to which succeeds a synopsis of the various branches of learning in an ascending series, under several heads of numbers ; the three great powers, the four seasons and four cardinal points, the five elements and live constant virtues, the six kinds of grain and six domestic animals, the seven passions, the eight materials for music, nine degrees of kindred, and ten social duties. A few extracts will exhibit the mode in which these subjects are treated.
“There are three powers,—heaven, earth, and man.
There are tliree lights,—the sun, moon, and stars.
There are three bonds,—between prince and niinister, justice ;
Between father and son, affection ; between man and wife, concord.
Humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom, and truth,—
These five cardinal virtues are not to be confused.
Rice, millet, pulse, wheat, sorghum, millet grass,
Are six kinds of grain on which men subsist.
Mutual affection of father and son, concord of man and wife;
The older brother’s kindness, the younger one’s respect;
Order between seniors and juniors, friendship among associates;
On the prince’s part regard, on the minister’s true loyalty ;—
These ten moral duties are ever binding among men.”To this technical summary succeed rules for a course of
academical studies, M’ith a list of the books to be learned, and
the order of their use, followed by a synopsis of the general history
of China, in an enumeration of the successive dynasties.
The work concludes with incidents and motives to learnino;
drawn from the conduct of ancient sages and statesmen, and
from considerations of interest and gh)iy. The exam})les cited
are curious instances of pui-suit of knowledge under difficulties,
and form an inviting part of the treatise.
” Formerly Confucius had young Iliang Toh for his teacher;
Even the sages of antiquity studied with diligence.
Chau, a minister of state, read tlu^ Confucian Dialogues,
And he too, though high in office, studied assiduously.
One copied lessons on rec’ds, another on slii)s of l)amb()o ;
These, though without books, eagerly sought knowledge.
[To vanquish sleep] one tied his head [by tlu! hair] to a beam, and auothel pierced his thigh with an awl;
Though destitute of instructors, these were laborious in study.
One read by the glowwoi’ui’s light, another by rellection from snow;TIIK TRIM ETHICAL CLASSIC. 629
These, tliougli tlieir families were poor, did not omit to study.
One carried faggots, and another tied his books to a cow’s horD«
And while thus engaged in labor, studied with intensity.
Su Lau-tsiuen, when lie was twenty-seven years old
Commenced close study, and applied his mind to books;
This man, when old, grieved that he commenced so late ;
You who are young must early think of these things.
Behold Liang Hau, at the ripe age of eighty-two,
In the imperial hall, amongst many scholars, gains the first rani:’fThis he accomplished, and all regarded liim a prodigy ;
You, mj’ young readers, shoukl now resolve to be diligent.
Yung, when only eiglit years old, could recite the Odes ;
And Pi, at the age of seven, understood the game of chess;
These displayed ability, and all deemed them to be rare men ;And you, my hopeful scholars, ought to imitate them.
Tsai Wan-ki could play upon stringed instruments ;
Sie Tau-wfin, likewise, could sing and chant;
These two, though girls, were bright and well informed ;You, then, my lads, should surely rouse to diligence.
Liu Ngan of Tang, when only seven years old,
Proving himself a noble lad, was able to correct writing:
He, though very young, was thus highly promoted.
You, young learners, strive to follow his example, .
For he who does so, will acquire like honors.
” Dogs watch by night ; the cock announces the morning J
If any refuse to learn, how can they be esteemed men ?
The silkworm spins silk, the bee gathers honey ;
If men neglect to learn, they are below the brutes.
He who learns in youth, to act wisely in mature age.
Extends his influence to the prince, benefits the people.
Makes his name renowned, renders his parents honorable ;
Reflects glory on his ancestors, and enriches his posterity.
Some for their Ouspring, leave coffers filled with gold ;
While I to teach children, leave this one little book.
Diligence has merit ; play yields no profit;
Be ever on your guard ! Rouse all your energies !”These quotations illustrate the character of the T7imetri’
cal Classic, and show its imperfections as a book for voung
minds. It is a syllahns of studies rather than a book to be
learned, and ill snited to entice the boy on in his tasks by giving
him mental food in an attractive form. Yet its influence has
been perhaps as great as the classics during the last four dynasties,
from its general use in primary schools, where myriads of
lads have ” backed ” it who have had no leisure to study much
more, and when they had crossed this ford could travel no
farther, (The boy commences his education by learning these
maxims ; and by the time he has got his degree—and long before,
too—the higiiest truths and examples known in the land
are more deeply impressed on his mind than are ever Biblical
truths and examples on graduates of Yale, Oxford, Heidelberg
or the Sorbonne.’ Well was it for them that they had learned
nothing in it which they had better forget, for its deficiencies,
pointed out by Bridgman in his translation, should not lead us
to overlook its suggestive synopsis of principles and examples.
The commentary explains them very fully, and it is often
learned as thoroughly as the text. Many thousands of tracts
containing Christian truths written in the same style and with
the same title, have been taught with good effect in the mission
schools in China.”
( The next hornbook put into the boy’s hands is the P\h Kla,
S’mg, or ‘ Century of Surnames.’ It is a list of the family or clan
names commonly in use. Its acquisition also gives him familiarity
with four hundred and fifty-four common words employed
as names, a knowledge, too, of great importance lest mistakes
be made in choosing a wrong character among the scores of
horaophonous characters in the language) For instance, out of
eighty-three common words pronounced hi, six only are clan
names, and it is necessary to have these very familiar in the
daily intercourse of life. The nature of the work forbids its being
studied, but the usefulness of its contents probably explains
its position in this series.’^
The third in the list is the Tsien Tsz^ Wan, or ‘Millenary
Classic,’ unique among all books in the Chinese language, and
whose like could not be produced in any other, in that it consists
‘ Compare Dr. Morrison in the Horm Sinic/v, pp. 122-146 ; B. Jenkins, The
Three-Glmnicter CluxHic, romanized acrording to the Khaufihai di(dect, Shanghai,
1800. The Classic has also been translated into Latin, French, German, Russian,
and Portuguese. For the Trimetrical Classic of the Tai-ping regime see
a version in the North China Herald, No. 147, May 21, 185;}, by Dr. Medhurst •
also a translation by Rev. S. C. Malan, of Balliol College, Oxford. London,
1856.
” E. C. Bridgman in the Chinese Eepository, Vol. IV., p. 152. Livre de Cent
famiUes, Perny, Diet., App., No. XIV., pp. 156 fE.
THE THOUSAND-CHARACTER CLASSIC. 531
of just a thousand characters, no two of which are alike in form or
meaning. The author, Chau lling-tsz’, flourished ahout a.d. 550,
and according to an account given in the history of the Liang
dynasty, wrote it at tlie Empei-or’s request, who had ordered his
minister Wang Hi-chi to write out a thousand characters, and
give them to him, to see if he could make a connected ode with
them.’ This he did, and presented his performance to liis majesty,
who rewarded him with rich presents in token of his approval.
Some accounts (in order that so singular a work might
not M’ant for corresponding wonders) add that he did the task in
a single night, under the fear of condign punishment if he
failed, and the mental exertion was so great as to turn his hair
white. It consists of two hundred and fifty lines, in which
rhyme and rhythm are both carefully observed, though there
is no more poetry in it than in a multiplication table. The
contents of the book are similar but more discursive than those
of the Trimetrical Classic. Up to the one hundred and second
line, the productions of nature and virtues of the early monarchs,
the power and capacities of man, his social duties and
mode of conduct, with instructions as to the manner of living,
are summarily treated.’ Thence to the one hundred and sixtysecond
line, the splendor of the palace, and its high dignitaries,
with other illustrious persons and places, are referred to. The
last part of the w’ork treats of private and literary life, the pursuits
of agriculture, household government, and education, interspersed
with some exhortations, and a few illustrations. A few
disconnected extracts from Dr. Bridgman’s translation’ will show
the mode in which these subjects are handled. The opening
lines are,
*’ The heavens are sombre ; the earth is yellow
;
The whole universe [at the creation] was one wide waste ;
“
after which it takes a survey of the world and its products, and
Chinese history, in a very sententious manner, down to the
thirty-seventh line, which opens a new subject.
‘ Chinese Bepository, Vol. IV., p. 229.
” Now this our human body is endowed
With four great powers and five cardinal virtues:
Preserve with reverence what your paieuts nourished,—
How dare you destroy or injure it V
Let females guard their chastity and purity,
And let men imitate the talented and virtuous.
When you know your own errors then reform;
And when you have made acquisitions do not lose them.Forbear to complain of the defects of other people,
And cease to brag of your own superiority.
Let your truth be such as may be verified,
Your capacities, as to be measured with difficulty.
” Observe and imitate the conduct of the virtuous,
And command your thoughts that you may be wise.
Your virtue once fixed, your reputation will be established
;
Your habits once rectified, your example will be correct.
Sounds are reverberated in the deep valleys.
And the vacant hall reechoes all it hears
;
So misery is the penalty of accumulated vice.
And happiness the reward of illustrious virtue.
” A cubit of iade stone is not to be valued,
But an inch of time you ought to contend for.
” Mencius esteemed plainness and simplicity;
And Yu the historian held firmly to rectitude.
These nearly approached the golden medium,
Being laborious, humble, diligent, and moderate.
Listen to what is said, and investigate the principles explained
:
Watch men’s demeanor, that you may distinguish their characters.
Leave behind you none but purposes of good ;
And strive to act in such a manner as to command respect.
When satirized and admonished examine 3’ourself,
And do this more thoroughly when favors increase.
” Years fly away like arrows, one pushing on the other;
The sun shines brightly through his whole course.
The planetarium keeps on revolving where it hangs ;
And the bright moon repeats her revolutions.
To support fire, add fuel ; so cultivate the root of happiness,
And you will obtain eternal peace and endless felicity.”
Tlie conimentaiy 011 the TJiousand Character Classic contains
many just observations and curious anecdotes to explain
this hook, whose text is so familiar to the people at large that its
lines or characters are used as lal)ols instead of figures, as thev
take up less room. If Western scholars were as familiar with
the acts and sayings of King Wan, of Su Tsin, or of Kwan
(hung, as they are with those of Sesostris, Pericles, or Horace,
THE ODES FOR CIirLDREN. 583
these incidents and places would naturally enough he deemed
more interesting than they now are. But where the power of
genius, or the vivid pictures of a brilliant imagination, are
wanting to illustrate or beautify a subject, there is comparatively
little to interest Europeans in the authors and statesmen of such
a distant country and remote period/
(The fourth in this series, called V-iu ITioh Shl-tlch^ or ‘ Odes
for Children,’ is written in rhymed pentameters, and contains
only thirty-four stanzas of four lines.’ A single extract will
show its character, which is, in general, a brief description and
praise of literary life, and allusion to the changes of the season,
and the beauties of nature.
It is of the utmost importance to educate children ;
Do not say that your families are poor,
For those who can handle well the pencil,
Go where they will, need never ask for favors.
One at the age of seven, showed himself a divinely endowed youth,
‘Heaven,’ said he, ‘gave me my intelligence :
Men of talent appear in the courts of the holy monarch,
Nor need they wait in attendance on lords and nobles.
‘ In the morning I was an humble cottager,
In the evening I entered the court of the Son of Heaven:
Civil and military offices are not hereditary.
Men must, therefore, rely on their own efforts.
‘ A passage for the sea has been cut through mountains,And stones have been melted to repair the heavens ;
In all the world there is nothing that is impossible ;
It is the heart of man alone that is wanting resolution.
• Once I myself was a poor indigent scholar.
Now I ride mounted in my four-horse chariot.
And all my fellow-villagers exclaim with surprise.’
Let those who have children thoroughly educate them.
The examples of intelligent youth rising to the highest offices
of state are numerous in all the works designed for beginners,
* Compare Das Tsidn clsii wen, oder Buch von Tamend MDrtern, aus dem
Schinesisclien, niit Bei’dckschtit/unf/ der Koraisclien und Jwpaninchen Uebersetzumj,
ins DeuUche ubertragen, Ph. Fr. de ^iehoXdi, Nippon, Abh. IV., pp. 105-
191 ; B. Jenkins, The Thou’sand-ChanieUr Cittssic, romanized, etc. Shanghai,
1860; Ths/en-2’ffeu-Weii, Le Livre des MiUe Mots, etc., par Stanislas Julien
(with Chinese text), Paris, 18G4 ; China Review, Vol. II., pp. 1S3 ff.
and stories illustrative of their precocity are sometimes given
in toy-books and novels. One of the most common instances ia
here quoted, that of Confucius and Iliang Toh, which is as well
known to every Chinese as is the story of George Washington
barking the cherry-tree with his hatchet to American youth..
” The name of Confucius was Yu, and his style Chungni ; he established himself as an instructor in the western part of the kingdom of Lu. One day, followed by all his disciples, riding in a carriage, he went out to ramble, and on the road, came across several children at their sports ; among them was one who did not join in them. Confucius, stopping his carriage, asked him, saying, ‘ Why is it that you alone do not play V ‘ The lad replied, ‘ All play is without any profit ; one’s clothes get torn, and they are not easily mended ; above me, I disgrace my father and mother ; below me, even to the lowest, there is fighting and altercation ; so much toil and no reward, how can it be a good business ? It is for these reasons that I do not play.’ Then dropping his head, he began making a city out of pieces of tile.
“Confucius, reproving him, said, ‘ Why do you not turn out for the carriage V ‘ The boy replied, ‘ From ancient times till now it has always been considered proper for a carriage to turn out for a city, and not for a city to turn out for a carriage. ‘ Confucius then stopped his vehicle in order to discourse of reason. He got out of the carriage, and asked him, ‘ You are still young in years, how is it that you are so quick V ‘ The boy replied, saying, ‘ ^human being, at the age of three years, discriminates between his father and his mother ; a hare, three days after it is born, runs over the ground and furrows of the fields ; fish, three days after their birth, wander in rivers and lakes ; what heaven thus produces naturally, how can it be called brisk ?’
“Confucius added, ‘In what village and neighborhood do you reside, what is your surname and name, and what your style? ‘ The boy answered, * I live in a mean village and in an insignificant land ; my surname is Hiang, my name is Toh, and I have yet no style.’
” Confucius rejoined, ‘ I wish to have you come and ramble with me ; what do you think of it V ‘ The youth replied, ‘ A stern father is at 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 from whom I am required to learn. How have I leisure to go a rambling with you V’
“Confucius said, ‘I have in my carriage thirty-two chessmen; what do you say to having a game together V ‘ The lad answered, ‘ If the Emperor love gaming, the Empire will not be governed ; if the nobles love play, the government will b<5 impeded ; if scholars love it, learning and investigation will be lost and thrown by ; if the lower classes are fond of gambling, they will utterly lose the support of their families ; if servants and slaves love to game, they will gel a cudgelling ; if farmers love it, they miss the time for ploughing and sowing; for these reasons I shall mit play with you.’
THE STORY OF CONFUCIUS AND IIIANG TOIL 585
“Confucius rejoined, ‘I wish to have you go with me, and fully equalize the Empire; what do you think of this? ‘ The Lad replied, ‘ The Empire cannot be equalized; here are high hills, there are lakes and rivers; either there are princes and nobles, or there are slaves and servants. If the high hills be levelled, the birds and beasts will have no resort ; if the rivers and lakes be filled up, the fishes and the turtles will have nowhere to go ; do away with kings and nobles, and the common people will have much dispute about right and wrong ; obliterate slaves and servants, and who will there be to serve the prince ! If the Empire be so vast and unsettled, how can it be equalized ?’
” Confucius again asked, ‘ Can you tell, under the whole sky, what fire has no smoke, what water no fish ; what hill has no stones, what tree no branches ; what man has no wife, what woman no husband ; what cow has no calf, what mare no colt ; what cock has no hen, what hen no cock ; what constitutes an excellent man, and what an inferior man ; what is that which has not enough, and what which has an overplus ; what city is without a market, and who is the man without a style ?’
” The boy replied, ‘A glowworm’s fire has no smoke, and well-water no fish ; a mound of earth has no stones, and a rotten tree no branches ; genii have no wives, and fairies no husbands ; earthen cows have no calves, nor wooden mares any colts ; lonely cocks have no hens, and widowed hens no cocks ; he who is worthy is an excellent man, and a fool is an inferior man ; a winter’s day is not long enough, and a summer’s day is too long ; the imperial city has no market, and little folks have no style.’
” Confucius inquiring said, ‘ Do you know what are the connecting bonds between heaven and earth, and what is the beginning and ending of the dual powers ? What is left, and what is right ; what is out, and what is in ; who is father, and who is mother ; who is husband, and who is wife. [Do you know]where the wind comes from, and from whence the rain V From whence the clouds issue, and the dew arises V And for how many tens of thousands of miles the sky and earth go parallel ?’
“The youth answering said, ‘Nine multiplied nine times make eighty-one, which is the controlling bond of heaven and earth ; eight multiplied by nine makes seventy-two, the beginning and end of the dual powers. Heaven is father, and earth is mother ; the sun is husband, and the moon is wife ; east is left, and west is right ; without is out, and inside is in ; the winds come from Tsang-wu, and the rains proceed from wastes and wilds ; the clouds issue from the hills, and the dew rises from the ground. Sky and earth go parallel for ten thousand times ten thousand miles, and the four points of the compass have each their station.’
“Confucius asking, said, ‘ Which do you say is the nearest relation, father and mother, or husband and wife ? ‘ The boy responded, ‘ One’s parents are near ; husband and wife are not [so] near.’
“Confucius rejoined, ‘While husband and wife are alive, they sleep under the same coverlet ; when they are dead they lie in the same grave ; how then can you say that they are not near V ‘ The boy replied, ‘ A man without a wife is like a carriage without a wheel ; if there be no wheel, another one is made, for he can doubtless get a new one ; so, if one’s wife die, he seeks again, for he also can obtain a new one. The daughter of a worthy family must certainly marry an honorable husband ; a house having ten rooms always has a plate and a ridgepole ; three windows and six lattices do not give the ligh\ of a single door ; the whole host of stars with all their sparkling brilliancy do not equal the splendor of the solitary moon : the affection of a father and mother—alas, if it be once lost !’
“Confucius sighing, said, ‘How clever! how worthy!’ The boy asking the sage said, ‘ You have just been giving me questions, which I have answered one by one ; I now wish to seek information ; will the teacher in one sentence afford me some plain instruction V I shall be much gratified if my request be not rejected.’ He then said, ‘ Why is it that mallards and ducks are able to swim; how is it that wild geese and cranes sing ; and why are firs and pines green through the winter ‘?
‘ Confucius replied, ‘ Mallards and ducks can swim because their feet are broad ; wild geese and cranes can sing because they have long necks ; firs and pines remain green throughout the winter because they have strong hearts.’ The youth rejoined, ‘ Not so ; fishes and turtle’; can swim, is it because they all have broad feet ? Frogs and toads can sing, is it because their necks are long V The green bamboo keeps fresh in winter, is it on account of its strong heart *’
“Again interrogating, he said, ‘ How many stars are there altogether in the sky V ‘ Confucius replied, ‘ At this time inquire about the earth; how can we converse about the sky with certainty?’ The boy said, ‘Then how many houses in all are there on the earth ? ‘ The sage answered, ‘ Come now, speak about something that’s before our eyes ; why mu.st you converse about heaven and earth ? ‘ The lad resumed, ‘ Well, speak about what’s before our eyes—how many hairs are there in your eyebrows ‘?’
“Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and turning round to his disciples called them and said, ‘ This boy is to be feared ; for it is easy to see that the subsequent man will not be like the child. ‘ He then got into his carriage and rode off.”‘
6Xext in course to this rather trifling primer conies the Hlao
King, or ‘ Canons of Filial Duty,’ a short tractate of only 1,903
characters, which purports to be the record of a conversation
held between Confucius and his disciple Tsitng Tsan on the
principles of filial piet}*! Its authenticity has been disputed by
critics, but their doubts are not shared by their countrymen,
who commit it to memory as the words of the sage. The legend
is that a copy was discovered in the wall of his dwelling, and
compared with another secreted by Yen Chi at the burning of
the books ; from the two Liu Iliang chose eighteen of tlie
chapters contained in it as alone genuine, and in this shape it
has since remained. The sixth section of the Imperial Catalogue
is entirely devoted to writers on the Iliao Kmg, one of whom was
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. X., p. 614.
THE HIAO KING, OR CANONS OF FILIAL DUTY. 537
Vnentsuiig, an emperor of the Tang dynasty (a.d. T33). Another
comment was publislied in 32 vohimes in Kanghi’s reign, discussing
the whole sul)ject in one liundred cliapters. Though it
does not share in critical eyes the conlidence accorded to the
nine classics, the brevity and subject matter of this work have
commended it to teachers as one of the best books in the
language to be placed in the hands of their scholars ; thus its
influence has been great and enduring. It has been translated
by Bridgman, who regards the first six sections as the words of
Confucius, while the other twelve contain his ideas. Two quotations
are all that need be here given to show its character.
Section I.
—
On the origin and nature ofjUial duty.—Filial duty is the root
of virtue, and the stem from which instruction in the moral principle springs.
Sit down, and I will explain this to you. The first thing which filial duty requires
of us is, that we carefully preserve from all injviry, and in a perfect
state, the bodies which we have received from our parents. And when we
acquire for ourselves a station in the world, we should regulate our conduct
by correct principles, so as to transmit our names to future generations, and
reflect glory on our parents. This is the ultimate aim of filial duty. Thus it
commences in attention to parents, is continued through a course of services
rendered to the prince, and is completed by the elevation of ourselves. It
is said in the Book of Odes,
Ever think of your ancestors
;
Reproducing then- virtue.
Section V.
—
0>i the attention of scholars to flial duty.—With the same love
that they serve their fathers, they should serve their mothers ; and with the
same respect that they serve their fathers, they should serve their prince ; unmixed
love, then, will be the offering they make to their mothers ; unfeigned
respect the tribute they bring to their prince ; while toward their fathers both
tliese will be combined. Therefore they serve their prince with filial duty and
are faithful to him ; they serve their superiors with respect and are obedient to
them. By constant obedience and faithfulness toward those who are above
them, they are enabled to preserve their stations and emoluments, and to offer
the sacrifices which are due to their deceased ancestors and parents. Such is
the influence of filial piety when performed by scholars. It is said in the
Book of Odes,
When the dawn is breaking, and I cannot sleep,
The thoughts in my breast are of our parents.
‘
‘ Compare Pere Cibot in Memoires.concernant les Chinois, Tome IV., pp. 1 ff.
;
Dr. Legge, ±he Sacred Books of China, Part I. The ShU-kinr/, Reliyious Portions of the Shih-kinff, the Hsido-kimj, Oxford, 1879 ; Asiatic Journal, Vol XXIX., pp. 302 if., 1839.
(The highest place in the list of virtues and obligations is accorded
to filial duty, not only in this, but in other writings of
Confucius and those of his school. ” There are,” to quote from
another section, ” three thousand crimes to which one or the
other of the five kinds of punishment is attached as a penalty ;
and of these no one is greater than disobedience to parents.
When ministers exercise control over the monarch, then there
is no supremacy ; when the njaxims of the sages are set aside,
then the law is abrogated ; and so those who disregard filial
duty are as though they had no parents. These three evils prepai*
e the way for universal rebellion.’^
This social virtue has been highly lauded by all Chinese
wn-Iters, and its observance inculcated upon youth and children
by precept and example. Stories are written to show the good
effects of obedience, and the bad results of its contrary sin,
which are put into their hands, and form also subjects for pictorial
illustration, stanzas for poetry, and materials for conversation.
The following examples are taken from a toy-book of
this sort, called the Twenty-four F’diah^ one of the most popular
collections on the subject.
” During the Chau dynasty there lived a lad named Tsang Tsan (also Tsz’-yu),
who served his mother very dutifully. Tsang was in the habit of going to the.
hills to collect fagots ; and once, while he was thus absent, many guests came
to his house, toward whom his mother was at a loss how to act. She, while
expecting her son, who delayed his return, began to gnaw her fingers. Tsang
suddenly felt a pain in his heart, and took up his bundle of fagots in order to
return home ; and when he saw his mother, he kneeled and begged to know
what was the cause of her anxiety. She replied, ‘ there have been some guests
here, who came from a great distance, and I bit my finger in order to arouse you to return to me.’
” In the Chau dynasty lived Chung Yu, named also Tsz’-lu, who, because his
family was poor, usually ate herbs and coarse pulse ; and he also went more
than a hundred I’l to procure rice for his parents. Afterward, when they were
dead, he went south to the country of Tsu, where he was made commander of
a hundred companies of chariots; there he became rich, storing up grain in
myriads of measures, reclining upon cushions, and eating food served to him
in numerous dishes; but sighing, ho said, * Although I should now desire to
eat coarse herbs and bring rice for my parents, it cannot be !
‘
” In the Chau dynasty there flourished the venerable Lai, who was very obedient
and reverential toward his parents, manifesting his dutifulness by exerting
liimself to provide them with every delicacy. Although upward of
EXTRACTS FROM THE TWENTY-FOUR FILIALS. 539
seventy years of age, he declared that he was not yet old ; and usually
dressed liimself in parti-colored embroidered garments, and like a child
would playfully stand by the side of his parents. He would also take up
buckets of water, and try to carry them into the house ; but feigning to slip,
would fall to the ground, wailing and crying like a child: and all these things
he did in order to divert his parents.
” During the Han dynasty lived Tung Yung, whose family was so very poor
that when his father died he was obliged to sell himself in order to procure
money to bury his remains. After this he went to another place to gain the
means of redeeming liimself ; and on his way he met a lady who desired to become
his wife, and go with him to his master’s residence. She went with him,
and wove three hundred pieces of silk, which being completed in two months,
they returned home ; on the way, having reached the shade of the cassia tree
where they before met, the lady bowed and ascending, vanished from his sight.
” During the Han dynasty lived Ting Lan, whose parents both died when
he was young, before he could obey and support them ; and he reflected that
for all the trouble and anxiety he had caused them, no recompense had yet
been given. He then carved wooden images of his parents, and served them
as if they had been alive. For a long time his wife would not reverence them ;
but one day, taking a bodkin, she in derision pricked their fingers. Blood immediately
flowed from the wound ; and seeing Ting coming, the images wept.
He examined into the circumstances, and forthwith divorced his wife.
“In the days of the Han dynasty lived Koh Kii, who was very poor. He
had one child three years old ; and such was his poverty that his mother usually
divided her portion of food with this little one. Koh says to his wife,
‘ We are so poor that our mother cannot be supported, for the cliild divides
with her the portion of food that belongs to her. Why not bury this child V
Another child may be born to us, but a mother once gone will never return.’
His wife did not venture to object to the proposal ; and Koh immediately dug
a hole of about three cubits deep, when suddenly he lighted upon a pot of gold,
and on the metal read the following inscription :
‘ Heaven bestows this treasure
upon Koh Kii, the dutiful son ; the magistrate may not seize it, nor shall
the neighbors take it from him.’
“Mang Tsung, who lived in the Tsin dynasty, when young lost his father.
His mother was very sick ; and one winter’s day she longed to taste a soup
made of bamboo sprouts, but Mang could not procure any. At last he went
into the grove of bamboos, clasped the trees with his hands, and wept bitterly.
His filial affection moved nature, and the ground slowly opened, sending forth
several shoots, which he gathered and carried home. He made a soup with
them, of which his mother ate and immediately recovered from her malady
” WuMang, a lad eight years of age, who lived under the Tsin dynasty, was
very dutiful to his parents. They were so poor that they could not afford to
furnish their bed with mosquito-curtains ; and every summer’s night, myriads
of mosquitos attacked them unrestrainedly, feasting upon their flesh and
blood. Although there were so many, yet Wu would not drive them away,
lest they should go to his parents, and annoy them. Such was his affection.”
‘
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., p. 131.
The last book learned before entering on the classics has had
almost as great an influence as any of them, and none of the works
of later scholars are so well calculated to sliow the ideas of the
Chinese in all ages upon the principles of education, intercourse
of life, and rules of conduct as this ; precepts are illustrated by
examples, and the examples referred back to precepts for their
moving cause. (This is the Siao Hloh, or ” Juvenile Instructor,”
and was intended by Chu Hi, its author, as a counterpart of the
Ta Hlao, on which he had written a connnentary, “^ It has had
more than fifty commentators, one of whom says, ” We confide
in the Siao Hioli as we do in the gods, and revere it as we do
our parents.” It is divided into two books, the ” fountain of
learning,” and ” the stream flowing from it,” arranged in 20
chapters and 385 short sections. The first book has four parts
and treats of the first principles of education ; of the duties we
owe our kindred, rulers, and fellow-men, of those we owe
ourselves in regard to study, demeanor, food, and dress ; and
lastly gives numerous examples from ancient history, beginning
with very early times down to the end of the Chau dynasty,
B.C. 249, confirmatory of the maxims inculcated, and the good
effects resulting from their observance. The second book contains,
in its first part, a collection of wise sayings of eminent,
men who flourished after e.g. 200, succeeded by a series of examples
of distinguished persons calculated to show the effects of
good principles ; both designed to establish the truth of the
teachings of the first book. One or two quotations, themselves
extracted from other works, will sulfice to show something of
its contents.
” Confucius said, ‘ Friends must sharply and frankly admonish each other, and brothers must be gentle toward one another.’ “
“Tsz’-kung, asking about friendship, Confucius said, ‘ Faithfully to inform and kindly to instruct another is the duty of a friend ; if he is not tractable, desist ; do not disgrace yourself.’ “
“Whoever enters with his guests, yields precedence to them at every door ;
when they reach the innermost one, he begs leave to go in and arrange the
seats, and then returns to receive the guests ; and after they have repeatedly
declined he bows to them and enters. He passes through the right door, they
through the left. He ascc^nds the eastern, they the western steps. If a guest
be of a lower grade, he must api)roach the steps of the host, while; the latter
THE SIAO IIIOH, OR JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR. 541
must reppatedly dc^cline this attention ; then the guest m.\v return to the western
steps, he ascending, both liost and guest must mutually yield precedence:
then the host must ascend first, and tlie guests follow. From step to step they
must bring their feet together, gradually ascending—those on the east moving
the right foot lirst, those on the west the left.”
The great influence wliicli these six school-books have had is
owing to their formative power on youthful minds, a large proportion
of whom never go beyond them (either from want of
time, means, or desire), but are really here fui-nished with the
kernel of their best literature.
(The tedium of memorizing these unmeaning sounds is relieved
by writing the characters on thin paper placed over copy slips.
The writing and the reading lessons are the same, and both are
continued for a year or two until the forms and sounds of a few
thousand characters are made familiar, but no particular effort
is taken to teach their meanings. It is after this that the teacher
goes over the same ground, and with the help of the commentary,
explains the meaning of the words and phrases one by one, until they are all understoodJ It is not usual for the beginner to attend much to the meaning of what he is learning to read and write, and where the labor of committing arbitrary characters is so great and irksome, experience has probably shown that it is not wise to attempt too many things at once.
^The boy has been familiarizing himself with their shapes as
he sees them all the time around him, and he learns what they
mean in a measure before he comes to school. The association
of form with ideas, as he cons his lesson and writes their words,
gradually strengthens, and results in that singular interdependence
of the eye and ear so observable among the scholars of the
far East. They trust to what is read to help in understanding what
is heard much more than is the case in phonetic languages. (_Xo
effort is made to facilitate the acquisition of the characters by the
boys in school by arranging them according to their component
parts ; they are learned one by one, as boys are taught the names
and appearance of minerals in a cabine^<_^The effects of a course of
study like this, in which the powers of the tender mind are not
developed by proper nourishment of truthful knowledge, can
hardly be otherwise than to stunt the genius, and drill the faculties of the mind into a slavish adherence to venerated usage and dictation, making the intellects of Chinese students like the trees which their gardeners so toilsomely dwarf into pots and jars—plants, whose unnaturalness is congruous to the insipidity of their fruit.)
The number of years spent at school depends upon the means
of the parents. Tradesmen, mechanics, and country gentlemen
endeavor to give their sons a competent knowledge of the
usual series of books, so that they can creditably manage the
common affairs of life. (No other branches of study are pursued
than the classics and histories, and what will illustrate
them, ineanwhile giving much care and practice to composi-
,_jtioiiivNo arithmetic or any department of mathematics, nothing
of the geography of their own or other countries, of natural
philosophy, natural history, or scientific arts, nor the study of
other languages, are attended to.) Persons in these classes of
society put their sons into shops or counting-houses to learn the
routine of business with a knowledge of figures and the style
of letter-writing ; they are not kept at school more tlian three
or four years, unless they mean to compete at the examinations.
Working men, desirous of giving their sons a smattering,
try to keep them at their books a year or two, but millions
nnist of course grow up in utter ignorance. It is, however,
an excellent policy for a state to keep up this universal honor
paid to education where the labor is so great and the return
so doubtful, for it is really the homage paid to the principles
taught.
r^ Besides the common schools, there are grammar or high
I schools and colleges, but they are far less effective. In Canton,
I there are fourteen grammar schools and thirty colleges, sqinej:)f
/ wluch are quite ancient, but most of them are neglected,/ Three
of the largest contaimeach about two hundred students and two
or three professors. (The chief object of these institutions is to
instruct advanced scholars in composition and elegant writing ;
the tutors do a little to turn attention to general literature, but
have neither the genius nor the means to make many advances.”)
In I’ural districts students are encouraged to meet at stated times
in the town-house, where the lieadman, or deputy of the sz” or
HABITS OF STUDY—SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 543
township, examines them on themes previously proposed by him.’
In large towns, the local officers, assisted by the gentry and
graduates, hold annual examinations of students, at which pre
miums are given to the best essayists. At such an examination
in Amoy in March, 1845, there were about a thousand
candidates, forty of whom received sums varying from sixty to
sixteen cents
^One of the most notable, as well as the most ancient of collegiate
institutions, is the Jvwoh-Uz’ Kien, or ‘ School for the Sons
of the State,’ whose extensive buildings in Peking, now empty
and dilapidated, show how much easier it is to found and plan
a good thing than to maintain its efficiency^ , This state school
orighiated as early as the Chau dynasty, andTtlie course of study
as given in the Tt’itual of Chau was much the same three thousand
years ago as at present. Its officers consisted of a rector,
usually a high minister of state, aided by five councillors, two
directors, two proctors, two secretaries, a librarian, two professors
in each of the six halls, and latterly five others for each of the
colleges for Bannermen. These halls are named Hall of the
Pursuit of “Wisdom, the Sincere of Heart, of True Virtue, of
Koble Aspiration, of Broad Acquirements, and the Guidance of
Xature. ^he curriculum was not intended to go beyond the classics
and the six libei-ai arts of music, charioteering, archery, etiquette,
writing, and mathematics’; but as if to encourage the
professors to ” seek out by wisdom concerning all things that are
done under heaven,” as Solomon advises, they were told to take
their students to the original sources of strategy, astronomy, engineering,
music, law, and the like, and points out the defects and
merits of each author. The Kiooh-tsz’ Kien possesses now only
the husk of its ancient goodness ; and if its professors were not
honored, and made eligible to be distinct magistrates after three
years’ term, the buildings would soon be left altogether empty.
Instead of reviving and rearranging it, the Chinese Government
. i^ Chinese Repository, VoL IV., p. 414. See also Vol. VI., pp. 229-241;Vol. IV., pp. 1-10; Vol. XL, pp. 545-557 ; and Vol. XIII. , pp. 626-641, for further notices of the modes and objects of education ; Biot, Essai stir VHistoiie de I’Instruction PiMiqiie en Chine, and liis translation of the C1uw-li, VoL H.,p. 27, Paris, 1851. Chinese Recorder, September, 1871.
Las wisely supplanted it by a new college with its new professors
and new course of studies—the Tang-iodn Kwan mentioned on p.
436. Kative free schools, established by benevolent })ersons in
city or country, are not uncommon, and serve to maintain the literary
spirit ; some may not be very long-lived, but others take
their place. In Peking, each of the Banners has its school, and so
lias the Imperial Clan ; retired officials contribute to schools
opened for boys connected with their nativ^e districts living in
the capital. Such efforts to promote education are expected
from those who have obtained its high prizes.
ow great a proportion of the people in China can read, is a
difficult question to answer, for foreigners have had no means of
learning the facts in the case, and the natives never go into such
inquiries. More of the men in cities can read than in the country,
and inore in some provinces than in othfirSj,’ In the district
anhai, which forms part of the city of Canton, an imperfect
examination led to the belief that neaily all the men are
able to read, except fishermen, agriculturists, coolies, boat-people,
and fuelers, and that two or three in ten devote their lives
to literary pursuits. In less thickly settled districts, not more
than four- or five-tenths, and even less, can read. /Tn Macao,
perhaps half of the men can read. From an examination of the
hospital patients at Kingpo, one of the missionaries estimated
the readers to form not more than five per cent, of the men ;
while another missionary at the same place, w^ho made inquiry in
a higher grade of society, reckoned them at twenty per cent.
The villagers about Amoy are deplorably ignorant ; one lady
who had lived there over twenty years, writes that she had never
found a woman who could ycad, but these were doubtless from
among the poorer classes. It appears that as one goes north, the
extent and thoroughness of education diminishes. ^Throughout
the Enipiretho ability to understand books is not commensurate
with the ability to read the characters, and both ha\e been somewhat
exaggerated. Owiner to the manner in which education is
commenced^learning the forms and sounds of characters before
their meanings are understood—it comes to pass tliat many persons
can call over the names of the characters while they^do not
comprehend in the least the sense of what they readJ/ They can
rROPOllTIOX OF THOSE WHO CAN READ IX CHINA. 545
pick oat ;i word here and there, it may be a phrase or a sentence,
but they derive no clearer meaning from the text before them
than a lad, who has just learned to scan, and has proceeded half
through the Latin Header, does from reading Virgil ; while in
both cases an intelligent audience, unacquainted with the facts,
might justly infer that the reader understood what he was readino-
as well as his hearers did. Moreover, in the Chinese language,
different subjects demand different characters ; and although a
man may be well versed in the classics or in fiction, he may be
easily posed by being asked to explain a simple treatise in medicine
or in mathematics, in consequence of the many new or unfamiliar
words on every page. This is a serious obsta^e in the way
of obtaining a general acquaintance with boolvS^The mind be-‘
comes weary with the labor of study where its toil is neither rewarded
b}^ knowledge nor beguiled by wit ; consequently, few
Chinese are well read in their natural literature. The study o£
books being regarded solely as the means wherewith to attain ai
‘
definite end, it follovs naturally that when a cultivated man haa
reached his goal he should feel little disposed to turn to these;
inmlements of his profession for either instruction or pleasure^
(Wealthy or official parents, who wish their sons to compete
for literarv honors, o-ive them the advantages of a full course in
reading and rhetoric under the best masters. Composition is
the most difficult part of the training of a Chinese student, and
requires unwearied application and a retentive memory. lie
who can most readily quote the classics, and approach the nearest
to their terse, comprehensive, energetic diction and style, is,
cmierls iKtrihus^ most likely to succeed ; while the man who can
most quickly throw off well rhythmed verses takes the palm
from all competitor^. In novels, the ability to compose elegant
verses as fast as the pencil can fly is usually ascribed to the hero
of the plot. How many of those who intend to compete for
degrees attend at the district colleges or high schools is not
known, but they are resorted to by students about the time of
the examinations in order to make the acquaintance of those
who are to conq^ete with them. Xo public examinations take
place in either daj’ or private schools, nor do parents often visit
them, but rewards for remarkable proficiency are occasionally conferred. (There is little gradation of studies, nor are any diplomas conferred on students to show that they have gone Q . through a certain course. Punishments are severe, and the rattan or bamboo hangs conspicuously near the master, and its liberal use is considered necessary : ” To educate without rigor, shows the teachers indolence,” is the doctrine, and by scolding,
starving, castigation, and detention, the master tries to instil
habits of obedience and compel his scholars to learn their
task. )
Notwithstanding the high opinion in which education is held,
the general diffusion of knowledge, and the respect paid to
learning in comparison with mere title and wealth, the defects of
the tuition here brieHy described, in extent, means, purposes, and
results, are very great. Such, too, must necessarily be the case
until new principles and new information are infused into it.
Considered in its best point of view, this system has effected all
that it can in enlarging the understanding, purifying the heart,
and strengthening the minds of the people ; but in none of these,
nor in any of the essential points at which a sound education
aims (as we understand the matter), has it accomplished half that
is needed. The stream never rises even as high as its source,
and the teachings of Confucius and Mencius have done all that
is possible to make their countrymen thinking, useful, and intelligent
men.
Turn we now from this brief sketch of primary education
among the Chinese, to a description of the mode of examining
students and conferring the degrees which have been made the
passport to office, and learn what are the real merits of the systeuL^-‘
tPersons from almost every class of society may become
(—’^naidates for degrees under the certificates of securities, but
none are eligible for the second diploma who have not already
received the first. It therefore happens that the republican
license apparently’ allowed to well-nigh every subject, in reality
reserves the prizes for the few most talented or wealtiiy persons
in thficonamunity.) |V majority of the clever, learned, ambitious,
and intelligent spirits in the laTid look forward to these examinations
as the only field woithy of their efforts, and where they are
most likely to find their equals and friends. How much better
MODE OF EXAMINATION AND CONFERRING DEGREES. 547
for the good of society, too, is this arena than the camp or
the feudal court, the tournament or the monastery !
There are four regular literary degrees, with some intermediate
steps of a titular sort. The first is called slu-tsal, meaning
‘ flowering talent,’ because of the promise held out of the future
success of the scholar ; it has often been rendered ‘ bachelor of
arts ‘ as its nearest equivalent. The examinations to obtain it
are held under the supervision of the chihien in a public
building belonging to the district situated near his yamun ; and
the chief literary officer, called Moh-ching^ ‘ corrector of learning,’
or Mao-yu, ‘ teacher of the commands,’ has the immediate
control. (When assembled at the hall of examination, the district
magistrate, the deputy chancellor, and prefect, having prepared
the lists of the undergraduates and selected the themes,
allow only one day for writing the essays. The number of candidates
depends upon the population and literary spirit of the district
} in the districts of Xanhai and Pwanyu, upward of two
thousand persons competed for the prize in 1832, while in
Hiangshan not half so many came together. The rule for apportioning
them was at first according to the annual revenue.
“When the essays are handed in, they are looked over by the
board of examiners, and the names of the successful students
entered on a roll, and pasted upon the walls of the magistrate’s
hall ; this hoaor is called Men ming, i.e., ‘ having a name in
the village.’ Out of the four thousand candidates referred to
above, only thirteen in one district, and fourteen in the other,
obtained a name in the village ; the entire population of these
two districts is not much under a million and a half. Many of
the competitors at this primary tripos are unable to finish their
essays in the day, others make errors in writing, and others
show gross ignorance, all of which so greatly diminish their
numbers, that only those who stand near the head of the list of
Men mhuj do really or usually enter on the next trial before
the prefect. ^ But all have had an equal chance, and few complain
that their performances were disregarded, for they can try as often as they please.
(Those who pass the first examination are entered as candidates for the second, which takes place in the chief town of the department before the literary chancellor and the prefect, as. sisted bj a literary magistrate called Mao-shao, ‘ giver of instructions; ‘ it is more rigorous than that held before the chihlcn^ though similar to it in nature. The prefect arranges the candidates from each district by themselves according to their standing on their several lists, and it is this vantage ground which makes the first trial in one’s native place so important to the
ambitious scholar. The themes on which they have tested their
scholarship are published for the information of friends and the
other examiners. If the proportion given above of successful
candidates at the district examinations hold for each district,
there would not be more than two hundred students assembled
at the prefect’s hall, but the number is somewhat increased by
persons who have purchased the privilege ; still the second trial
is made among a small number in projjortion to the first, and
yet more trifling when compared with the amount of population.
The names of the successful students at the second trial are exposed
on the walls of the office, which is called y^* mlng^ i.e.,
‘ having a name in the department,’ and these only are eligible
as candidates for the third trial} (In addition to their knowledge
of the classics, the candidates at this trial are often required to
write off the text of the Siting Yu, or ‘ Sacred Edict,’ from memory,
as this work consists of maxims for the guidance of officer§li
The literary chancellor exercises a superintendence over the
previous examinations, and makes the circuit of the province to
attend them in each department, twice in three years. There
are various ranks among these educational officials, corresponding
to the civilians in the province ; transfers are occasionally
made from one service to the other, and the oversight of the
latter is always given at; the examinations wherever they ai’C
held. Most of the literary officers, however, remain in their
own line, as it is highly honorable and more permanent. (At the
third trial in the provincial capital, he confers the first degree of
siio-tmi upon those who are chosen out of the whole list as the
best scholars.^
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF SIU TSAI. 649
There are several classes of bachelors, depending; somewhat on the manner in which they obtained their dciirree ; those who get it in the maimer here described take the precedence. yiAiQ possession of this degree protects the person from corporeal punishment, raises him above the common people, renders him a consj)icuons man in his native place, and eligible to enter the triennial examination for the second degree. (Those who have more money than learning, purchase this degree for sums varying from $200 up to $1000, and even higher; in later years, according to the necessities of the government, diplomas have been sold as low as $25 to $50, but such men seldom risel They are called kien-sd/Kj, and, as might be supposed, are looked upon
somewhat contemptuously by those who have passed through the
regular examinations, and ” won the battle with their own
lance.” A degree called Imng-sdng is purchased by or bestowed
upon the slu-tsal, but is so generally recognized that it has almost
become a fifth degree, which does not entitle them to the
full honors of a ku-jin. What proportion of scholars are rewarded
by degrees is not known, but it is a small number compared
with the candidates. A graduate of considerable intelligence
at Ningbo estimated the number of sia-tsal in that city at four hundred, and in the department at nearly a thousand. ( In
Canton City, the number of shin-hin, or gentry, who are allowed
to wear the sash of honor, and have obtained literary degrees, is
not over three hundred ; but in the wdiole province there are
about twelve thousand bachelors in a population of nineteen
millions.) Those who have not become siu-tsal are still regarded
as under the oversight of the hiao-yu and others of his class,
who still receive their essays ; but the body of provincial
siu-tsai are obliged to report themselves and attend the prefectural
tripos before the chancellor, under penalty of losing all the
privileges and rank obtained. (This law brings them before
those who may take cognizance of misdeeds, for these men are
often very oppressive and troublesome to their countrymen^
The graduates in each district are placed under the control of a chief, whose power is almost equal to the deputy chancellors; from them are taken the two securities required by each applicant to enter the tripos.
The candidates for siu-tsai are narrowly examined when they enter the hall, their pockets, shoes, wadded robes, and ink-stones, all being searched, lest precomposed essays or other aids to com position be smuggled in. When they are all seated in the hall in their proper places, the wickets, doors, windows, and other entrances are all guarded, and pasted over with strips of paper.
The room is filled with anxious competitors arranged in long seats, pencil in hand, and ready to begin. The theme is given out, and every one immediately writes off his essay, carefully
noting how many characters he erases in composing it, and hands
it up to the board of examiners ; the whole day is allotted to the
task, and a signal-gun announces the hour when the doors are
thrown open, and the students can disperse. (A man is liable to
lose his acquired honor of sla-tsai if at a subsequent inspection
he is found to have discarded his studies, and he is therefore impelled
to pursue them in order to maintain his influence, even if
he does not reach the next degree. ‘\
^ince the first degree is sometimes procured by influence and
money, it is the examination for the second, called hiljin, or
‘ promoted men,’ held triennially in the provincial capitals before
two imperial commissioners, that separates the candidates
into students and ofiacers, though all the students who receive a
diploma by no means become officers./ This examination is held
at the same time in all the eighteen provincial capitals, viz., on
the 9th, 12th, and 15tli days of the eighth moon, or about the
middle of September ; while it is going on, the city appears exceedingly
animated, in consequence of the great number of relatives
and friends assembled with the students. The persons
who preside at the examination, besides the imperial commissioners,
are ten provincial officers, with the futai at their head,
who jointly form a board of examiners, and decide upon the
merits of the essays. (The number of candidates who entered
the lists at Canton in the years 1828 and 1831 was 4,800 ; in
1832 there were 6,000, which is nearer the usual number. In
the largest provinces it reaches as many as 7,000, 8,000, and upward.]
^Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 349; Vol. XVI., pp. 67-72. Doolittle, Social Life of f/te Chineisc, Vol. I., pp. 376-443. Dr. Martin, The Chinese.
EXAMINATION Foil THE SECOND DEGREE. 551
Previous to entering the Kunrj T’aen, each candidate has given in all the necessary proofs and particulars, which entitle him to a cell, and receives the ticket which designates the one he is to occupy. He enters the night before, and is searched to see that no manuscript essay, “skinning paper,” or miniature edition of the classics, is secreted on his person. If anything of the sort is discovered, he is punished with the cangue, degraded from his first degree, and forbidden again to compete at the examination; his father and tutor are likewise punished. ( Some of the pieces written for this purpose are marvels of penmanship, and the most finished compositions ; one set contained an essay on every sentence in the Four Books, each of the sheets covered with hundreds of characters, and the paper so thin that they could be easily read through it. The practice is, however, quite common, notwithstanding the penalties, and one censor requested a law to be passed forbidding small editions to be
printed, and booksellers’ shops to be searched for tlieni^
The general arrangement of the examination halls in all the
provincial capitals is alike. A description of that at Canton,
given on page 166, is typical of them all.
The Hall at Peking, situated on the eastern side, not far from
the observatory, contains ten thousand cells, and these do not
always suffice for the host which assembles. The Hall at Fuhchau
is equally large ; each cell is a little higher than a man’s
head, and is open on but one side—letting in more rain and wind
during inclement days than is comfortable. Confinement in
these cramped cells is so irksome as to frequently cause the death
of aged students, who are unable to sustain the fatigue, but who
still enter the arena in hopes of at last succeeding. Cases have
occurred where father, son, and grandson, appeared at the same
time to compete for the same prize. (Dr. Martin’ found that out
of a list of ninety-nine successful competitors for the second
degree, sixteen were over forty years of age, one sixty-two, and
one eighty-three. The average age of the whole number was over
thirty—while in comparison with like statistics foi* the third degree,
a proportionate increase might be looked for.) The unpleasantness
of the strait cell is nnich increased by the smoke arising
• The Chinese, p. 50.
from the cooking, and by the heat of the weather. All servants are provided by government, but each candidate takes in the rice and fuel which he needs, together with cakes, tea, candles, bedding, etc., as he can afford ; no one can g(> in with him. The enclosure presents a bustling scene during the examination, and its interest intensifies until the names of the successful scholars
are published. Should a student die in his cell, the body is pulled
through a hole made in the wall of the enclosure, and left there for
his friends to carry away. Whenever a candidate breaks any of
the prescribed regulations of the contest, his name and offence are
reported, and his name is ” pasted out ” by placarding it on the
outer door of the hall, after which he is not allowed to enter until
another examination comes around. More than a hundred
persons are thus ” pasted out ” each season, but no heavy disgrace
seems to attach to them in consequence.
(On the first day after the doors have been sealed up, four themes are selected by the examiners from the Four Books, one of which subjects must be discussed in a poetical essay. The minimum length of the compositions is a hundred characters, and they must be written plainly and elegantly, and sent in without any names attached^ In 1828, the acumen of four thousand
eight hundred candidates was exercised during the first day on
these themes : ” Tsang-tsz’ said, ‘ To possess ability, and yet ask
of those who do not ; to know much, and yet inquire of those
who know little ; to possess, and yet appear not to possess ; to
be full, and yet appear empty.’ “—” lie took hold of things by
the two extremes, and in his treatment of the people maintained
the golden medium.” “A man from his youth studies eight
principles, and when he arrives at manhood, he wishes to reduce
them to practice.”—The fourth essay, to be written in
pentameters, had for its subject, “The sound of the oar, and the
green of the hills and water.” Among the themes given out
in 1843, were these: “lie who is sincere will be intelligent,
and the intelligent man will be faithful.”—”In carrying out
benevolence, there are no rules.” In 1835, one was, ” lie acts
as he ought, both to the common people and official men, receives
his revenue from Heaven, and by it is protected and highly
esteemed.” Among other more practical texts are the following: ” Fire-arms began with the use of rockets in the Chau dynasty ; in what book do we first meet with the word for cannon? Is the defence of Kaifung fii its first recorded use ?
METHOD OF CONDUCTING THE EXAMINATION. 553
Kublai klian, it is said, obtained cannon of a new kind ; from whom did he obtain them ? When the Ming Emperors, in the reign of Yungloh, invaded Cochincliina, they obtained a kind of cannon called the weapons of the gods; can you give an account of their origin ‘( “
The three or five themes (for the number seems to be optional)
selected from the Five Classics are similar to these, but as those
works are regarded as more recondite than the Four Books, so
nmst the essayists try to take a higher style/ An officer goes
around to gather in the pa] )ers, which are first handed to a body
of scholars in waiting, who look them over to see if the prescribed
rules have all been observed, and reject those which infringe
them, /The rest are then copied in red ink, to prevent
recognition of the handwriting, and the original manuscripts
given to the governor. The cojjies are submitted to another
class of old scholars for their criticism, each of whom marks the
essays he deems best with a red circle, and these only are placed
in the hands of the chancellors sent from Peking for their decision.
The examining board are aided by twelve scholars of
repute, to each of whom forty or fifty essays are given to read.
The students are dismissed during the niglit of the ninth day,
and reassemble before sunrise of the eleventh ; all M’hose essays
were rejected on the first review are refused enti-ance to their
cells. At the second tripos, five themes are given out from the
Five Classics, and everything pi-oceeds as before in respect
to the disposal of the manuscripts. The students are liberated
early on the thirteenth as before by companies, under a salute
and music as they leave the great door; their number has been
much reduced by this time. On the next morning the roll is
called, and those who answer to their names for the last struggle
are furnished with five themes for essays, one for poetry, taken
from the classics or histories, upon doubtful matters of government,
or such problems as might arise in law and finance.
These questions take even a more extended range, including topics relating to the laws, history, geography, and customs of the Empire in former times, doubtful points touching the classical works, and the interpretation of obscure passages, and biograpli«ical notices of statesnieiil Ut is forbidden, however, to discusa any points relating to the poHcy of the present family, or the character and learning of living statesmen); but the conduct of their rulers is now and then alluded to by the candidates. (Manuals of questions on such subjects as candidates are examined in, are commonly exposed for sale in shops about the time of these examinations.’ By noon of the sixteenth day of the eighth moon, all the candidates throughout the Empire have left their halls, and the examination is over.’
The manner in which subjects are handled may be readily illustrated
by introducing an essay upon this theme : ” When persons
in high stations are sincere in the performance of relative
and domestic duties, the people generally will be stimulated to
the practice of virtue.” It is a fair specimen of the jejune style
of Chinese essayists, and the mode of reasoning in a circle M’hick
pervades their writings.
“When the upper classes are really virtuous, the common people will inevitably become so. For, though the sincere performance of relative duties by superiors does not originate in a wish to stimulate the people, yet the people do become virtuous, which is a proof of the effect of sincerity. As benevolence is the radical principle of all good government in the world, so also benevolence is the radical principle of relative duties amongst the people. Traced back to its source, benevolent feeling refers to a first progenitor ; traced forward, it branches out to a hundred generations yet to come. The source of personal existence is one’s parents, the relations which originate from Heaven are most intimate; and that in which natural feeling blends is felt most deeply. That which is given by Heaven and by natural feeling to all, is done without any distinction between noble or ignoble. One feeling pervades all. My thoughts now refer to him who is placed in a station of eminence, and who may be called a good man. The good man who is placed in an eminent station, ought to lead forward the practice of virtue; but the way to do so is to begin with his own relations, and perform his duties to them.
” In the middle ages of antiquity, the minds of the people were not yet dissipated—how came it that they were not humble and observant of relative duties, when they were taught the principles of the five social relations V This having been the case, makes it evident that the enlightening of the people must depend entirely on the cordial performance of immediate relative duties. The person in an eminent station who may be called a good man, is he who appears at the head of all others in illustrating by his practice the relative duties.
‘ Blot, Essai sur VInstruction en Chine, p. 603.
EXAMPLE OF AN ESSAY. 555
To ages nearer to our own, the manners of the people were not far removed from the dutiful; how came it that any were disobedient to parents, and without
brotherly att’ectioii, and that it was yet necessary to restrain men by intiictiug
the eight forms of punishment ‘! This having been the case, shows tliat in the
various modes of obtaining promotion in the state, there is nothing regarded of
more importance than filial and fraternal duties. The person in an eminent
station who may be called a good man, is he who stands forth as an example of
the performance of relative duties.
” The difference between a person filling a high station and one of the common
people, consists in the dej^artment assigned them, not in their relation to
Heaven ; it consists in a difference of rank, not in a difference of natural feeling; but the common people constantly observe the sincere performance of relative duties in people of high stations. In being at the head of a family and preserving order amongst the persons of which it is composed, there should be sincere attention to politeness and decorum. A good man placed in a high station says, ‘ Who of all these are not related to me, and shall I receive them with mere external forms ‘?
‘ The elegant entertainment, the neatly arranged
tables, and the exhilarating song, some men esteem mere forms, but the good
man esteems that which dictates them as a divinely instilled feeling, and at
tends to it with a truly benevolent heart. And who of the common peoj^le
does not feel a share of the delight arising from fathers, and brothers, and
kindred ? Is this joy resigned entirely to princes and kings ?
” In favors conferred to display the benignity of a sovereign, there should
be sincerity in the kindness done. The good man says, ‘ Are not all these
persons whom I love, and shall I merely enrich them by largesses ? ‘ He gives
a branch as the sceptre of aiithority to a delicate 3’ounger brother, and to another
he gives a kingdom witli his best instructions. Some men deem this as
merely extraordinary good fortune, but the good man esteems it the exercise
of a virtue of the first order, and the effort of inexpressible benevolence.
But have the common people no regard for the spring whence the water flows,
nor for the root which gives life to the tree and its branches ? Have they no
regard for their kindred ? It is necessary both to reprehend and to urge them
to exercise these feelings. The good man in a high station is sincere in the
performance of relative duties, because to do so is virtuous, and not on account
of the common people. I3ut the people, without knowing whence the impulse
comes, witli joy and delight are influenced to act with zeal in this career of
virtue ; the moral distillation proceeds with rapidity, and a vast change is effected.
” The rank of men is exceedingly different ; some fill the imperial throne, but every one equally wishes to do his utmost to accomplish his duty ; and success depends on every individual himself. The upper classes begin and pour the wine into the rich goblet ; the poor man sows his grain to maintain his parents ; the men in high stations grasp the silver bowl, the poor present a pigeon ; they arouse each other to unwearied cheerful efforts, and the principles implanted by Heaven are moved to action. Some things are difficult to be done, except by those who possess the glory of national rule ; but the kind feeling is what I myself possess, and may increase to an unlimited degree.
The prince may write verses appropriate to his vine bower ; the poor man can think of his gourd shelter ; the prince may sing his classic odes on fraternal regards ; the poor man can muse on his more simple allusions to the same subject, and asleep or awake indulge his recollections ; for the feeling is instilled into his nature. When the people are aroused to relative virtues, they will be sincere ; for where are there any of the common people that do not desire to perform relative duties ? But without the upper classes performing relative duties, this virtuous desire would have no point from which to originate, and
therefore it is said, ‘Good men in high stations, as a general at the head of liis
armies, will lead forward the world to the practice of social virtues.’”
_\ The discipline of mind and memory wliicli these examinations
di’aw ont fm-nishes a grade of intellect which only needs the
friction and experience of public life to make statesmen out of
scholars, and goes far to account for the influence of Chinese in
Asia. The books studied in preparation for such trials must be
remembered with extraordinary accuracy,)though we may wish
they contained more truth and better science. The following
are among the questions proposed in 1853, and must be taken
as an average : ” In the Ilan dynasty, there were three commentators
on the J7A King^ whose explanations, and divisions
into chapters and sentences were all different : can you give an
account of them ?
“—” Sz’ma Tsien took the classics and ancient
records in arranging his history according to their facts ; some
have accused him of undulv exaltino; the Taoists and thinking
too highly of wealth and power. Pan Ku is clear and compreliensive,
but on Astronomy and the Five Elements, he has written
more than enough. Give examples and proof of these two
statements.”—” Chin Shao had admirable abilities for historical
writings. In his San Kiooh Chi he has depreciated Chu-koh
Liang, and made very light of t and I, two other celebrated
characters. What does he say of them ? ” This kind of
question involves a wide range of reading within the native literature,
though it of course contracts tlie mind to look upon that
literature as containing all that is worth anything in the world/J
( Twenty-five days are allowed for the examining board to de
cide on the essays ; and few tasks can be instanced moi-e irksome
to a board of honest examiners than the perusal of between flfty
and seventy-flve thousand papers on a dozen subjects, through
which the most monotonous uniformity nuist necessarily run,
ARDUOUS LABORS OF THE EXAMIXERS. 551
and out of wliich tliey have to choose the seventy or eighty best
—for the number of successful candidates cannot vary far from
this, according to the size of the province. The examiners, as
lias ah’eady been described, are aided by literary men in sifting
this mass of papers, which relieves them of most of the laboi”,
and secures a better decision. If the number of students be
five tliousand, and each writes thirteen essays,- there will be
sixty-five thousand papers, whicli allots two hundred and sixty
essays for each of the tenexamineivs. With the help of the assistants
who are intrusted with their examination, most of the essays obtain a reading, no doubt, by some qualified scholar.
There is, therefore, no little sifting and selection, so that when at the last the commissioners choose three rolls of essays and poems from each of the sessions belonging to the same scholar, to pass their final judgment, the company of candidates lilcely to succeed has been reduced as. small in proportion as those in Gideon’s host who lapped water. (One of the examining committee, in 183:2, who sought to invigorate his nerves or clear his intellect for the task by a pipe of opium, fell asleep in consequence, and on awaking, found that many of the essays had caught fire and been consumed. It is generally supposed that hundreds of them are unread, but the excitement of the occasion, and the dread on the part of the examining board to irritate the body of students, act as checks against gross omissions. Very trivial errors are enough to condemn an essay, especially if the examiners have not been gained to look upon it kindly. Section LIT. of the code
regulates the conduct of the examiners, but the punishments are
slight. One candidate, whose essay had been condenmed without
being read, printed it, which led to the punishment of the
examiner, degradation of the graduate, and promulgation of a
law forbidding this mode of appealing to the public. Another
essay was rejected because the writer had abbreviated a single characterj
When the names of the successful wranglers are known, they are published by a crier at midnight, on or before the tenth of the ninth moon ; at Canton, he mounts the highest tower, and, after a salute, announces them to the expectant city ; the next morning, lists of the lucky scholars are hawked about the streets, and rapidly sent to all parts of the province. The proclamat) m which contains their names is pasted upon the governor’s office under a salute of three guns ; his excellency comes out and bows three times towards the names of iha I’i’omoted men^ and retires under another salute. The disappointed multitude must then rejoice in the success of the few, and solace themselves with the hope of better luck next time ; while the successful ones are honored and feasted in a very distinguished manner, and are the objects of flattering attention from the whole city. On an appointed day, the governors, commissioners, and high provincial officers banquet them all at the futai’s palace; inferior officers attend as servants, and two lads, fantastically dressed, and holding fragrant branches of the olive(pleafragrans) in their hands
grace the scene with this symbol of literary attainments. The
number of A.M., licentiates, or kil-jtn, who triennially receive
their degrees in the Empire, is upwards of thirteen hundred :
the expense of the examinations to the government in various
ways, including the presents conferred on the graduates, can
hardly be less than a third of a million of taels. (Besides the
triennial examinations, special ones are held every ten years,
and on extraordinary occasions, as a victory, a new reign, or an
imperial marriage. One was granted in 1835 because the Empress-
dowager had reached her sixtieth year)
The third degree of tsln-sz\ ‘entered scholars,’ or doctors, is
conferred triennially at Peking upon the successful licentiates
who compete for it, and only those among the h’d-j’m., who have
not alread}’ taken office, are eligible as candidates. On application
at the provincial treasury, they are entitled to a part of their
travelling expenses to court, but it doubtless requires some interest
to get the mileage granted, for many poor scholars are detained
from the metropolitan examination, or nnist beg or bor
row in order to reach it. The procedure on this trial is the
same as in the provinces, but the examiners are of higher rank ;
the themes are taken from the same works, and the essays ai’e
but little else than repetitions of the same ti-ain of thought and
argument. After the degrees are conferred upon all who are
deeined worthy, which varies from one hundi-ed and fifty to four
hundred each time, the doctors are introduced to the Emperor,
EXAMINATIONS FOR TIIIKD AND FOUKTII DEGREES. 559
and do him reverence, the three highest receiving rewards from
him) At this examination, candidates, instead of being promoted,
are occasionally degraded from their acquired standing
for incompetency, and forbidden to appear at them again. VThe
graduates are all inscribed upon the list of candidates for promotion,
by the Board of Civil Office, to be appointed on the lirst
vacancy ; most of them do in fact enter on official life in some
way or other by attaching themselves to high dignitaries, or getting
employment in some of the departments at the capital-/
(One instance is recorded of a student taking all the degrees
within nine months ; and some become Tianlin before entering
office. Others try again and again, till gi’ay hairs compel them
to retire.) I’here are many subordinate offices in the Academy,
the Censorate, or the Boards, which seem almost to have been
instituted for the employment of graduates, whose success has
given them a partial claim upon the country. The Emperor
sometimes selects clever graduates to prepare works for the use
of government, or nominates them upon special literary commissions’”
‘ It can easily be understood that no small address in
managing and appeasing such a crowd of disciplined active
minds is required on the part of the bureaucracy, and only the
long experience of many generations of the graduates could suffice
to keep the system so vigorous as it is.
The fourth and highest degree of Jianlln is rather an office
than a degree, for those who attain it are enrolled as members
of the Imperial Academy, and receive salaries. The triennial
exatnination for this distinction is held in the Emperor’s palace,
and is conducted on much the same plan as all preceding ones,
though being in the presence of the highest personages in the
Empire, it exceeds them in honor.’ *^ Manchus and Mongols
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541 ; Vol. III., p. 118.
2 See Morrison’s Chinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 759-779, for the laws
and usages of the several trials. Also Doolittle’s Sucidl Life, Vol. I. , Chaps.
XV., XVI., and XVII. ; Biot, Essai snr VHistoirc de VInstruction PubUque en
Chine ; W. A. P. Martin, T/iC Chiiu’se, pp. 39 ff. ; Journal Asiatique, Tomes
III., pp. 257 and 331, IV., p. 3, and VII. (3d Series, 1839), pp. 32-81;
Journal Asiatic Soc. Benr/al, Vol. XXVIII., No. 1, 1859; Journal N. C. Br.
R. As. Soc, New Series, Vol. VI., pp. 129 ff. ; China Review, Vol. II., p
309.
compete at these trials with the Chinese, but many facts show
tliat the former are generally favored at the expense of the latter’;
the large proportion of men belonging to these races filling
high oflSces indicates who are the rulers of the landT] The candidates
are all examined at Peking ; one instance is recorded
of a Chinese who passed himself oif for a Mancliu, but afterward
confessed the dissimulation ; the head of the division was
tried in consequence of his oversight. It is the professed policy
of the govermnent to discourage literary pursuits among them,
in order to maintain tho ancient energy of the race ; but Avhero
the real power is lodged in the hands of civilian^^, it is impossible
to prevent so powerful a component of the population
from competing with the others for its possession.
The present dynasty introduced examinations and gradations
among the troops on the same principles as obtain in the civil
service ; nothing more strikingly proves the power of literary
pursuits in China, than this vain attempt to harmonize the profession
of arms in all its branches with them. Their enemies
were, however, no better disciplined and equipped than they
themselves were. Candidates for the first degree present
themselves before the district magistrate, with proper testimonials
and securities. On certain days they are collected on
the parade-grounds, and exhibit their skill in archery (on foot
and in the saddle), in wielding swords and lifting weights,
graduated to test their muscle. The successful men are assembled
afterward before the prefect ; and again at a third trial
before the literary chancellor, who at the last tripos tests them
on their literary attainments, before giving them their degrees
of siu-tsai. The number of successful military slu-tsal is tho
same as the literary. They are triennially called together by
tho governor at the provincial capital to undergo further examination
for Mi-jin in four successive trials of the same nature.
These occasions are usually great gala days, and three or four
scores of young warriors who carry off pi’izes at these tournaments
receive honors and degrees in much the same style as
their literary compeers. The trials for the highest degree are
lield at Peking ; and the long-continued efforts in this service
generally obtain for the young men posts in the body-guard of
COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS OF THE MILHARV. 561
the governors or staff uppointrneiits. The forty- nine successful
candidates out of several thousands at tlie trieiniial examination
for l-il-jln. in Canton, November, 1882, all hit the target on
foot six times successively, and on horseback six times ; once
with the arrow they hit a ball lying on the ground as they
passed it at a gallop ; and all were of the first class in wielding
the iron-handled battle-axe, and lifting the stone-loaded beam,
tl’he candidates are all persons of property, who find their own
horses, dresses, arms, etc., and are handsomely dressed, the
horses, trimmings, and accoutrements in good order—the arrows
being without barbs, to prevent accidents. One observer
says, ” the marks at wliich they fired, covered with white
paper, were about the height of a man and somewhat wider,
placed at intervals of fifty yards ; the object was to strike the>ie
marks successively with their three ari’ows, the horses be^.’g
kept at full speed. Although the bulTs-eye was not always
hit, the target was never missed : the distance did not exceed
fifteen or twenty feet.’y
(Since military honors depend so entirely on personal skill, it
may partly account f(jr the inferior rank the graduates hold in
comparison with civilians. I\^o knowledge of tactics, gunnery,
engineering, fortifications, or even, letters in general, seems to
be required of them; and this explains the inefficiency of the
army, and the low estimation its officers are held in. Sir J.
Davis mentions one military officer of enoi’mous size and
strength, Avhom. he saw on the Pei ho, who had lately been
promoted for his personal prowess ; and speaks of another attached
to the guard on one of the boats, who was such a foolish
fellow that none of the civilians would associate with him.”
All the classes eligible to civil promotion can enter the ^.sts for
military honors ; the Emperor is present at the examination for
the highest, and awards prizes, such as a cap decorated with a
peacock’s feather ; but no system of prizes or examinations can
supply the want of knowledge and courage. Military distinctions
not being much sought by the people, and conferring but
•Ellis, Embassy to China, p. 87; Chinese Repository, No\. XVI., p. 63;
Vol. IV., p. 125.
^ Davis, Sketches, Vol. I., pp. 99, 101.
little emolument or power, do not stand as high in public estimation as the present government wishes. The selection oi officers for the naval service is made from the land force, and a man is considered (piite as fit for that branch after his feats of archery, as if the trials had been in yacht-sailing or manning the yards. I
Such is the outline of the system of examinations through
which the civil and military services of the Chinese government
are supplied) and the only part of their system not to be
paralleled in one or other of the great monarchies of past or
present times ; though the counterpart of this may have also
existed in ancient Egypt. ” It is the only one of their inventions,”
as has been remarked, “which is perhaps worth preserving,
and has not been adopted by other countries, and carried
to greater perfection than they were equal to.” CBut such a
system w^ould be unnecessary in an enlightened Cliristian
country, where the people, pursuing study for its own sake, are
able and willing to become as learned as their rulers desire
without any such inducement. Nor M’ould they submit to the
trammels and trickery attendant on competition for office ; the
ablest politicians are by no means found among the most
learned scholars. The honor and power of official position
liave proved to be ample stimnlus and reward for years of
patient study, (^ot one in a score of graduates ever obtains an
office, not one in a hundred of competitors ever gets a degree ;
but they all belong to the literary class, and share in its influence,
dignity, and privileges. Moreover, these books render
not only those who get the prizes well acquainted with the true
principles on which power should be exercised, but the whole
nation—gentry and commoners—know them also. These unemployed
literati form a powerful middle class, whose members
advise the work-people, who have no time to study, and aid
ri their rulers in the management of local affairs. Their intelligence
fits them to control most of the property, while few
acquire such wealth as gives them the power to oppress. They
make the public opinion of the country, now controlling it,
then cramping it; alternately adopting or resisting new influences,
and sometimes successfully thwarting the acts of officials,
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE SYSTEM. 503
when the rights of the people are in danger of encroachment
;
or at other times combining with tlie authorities to repress anarchy
or relieve suffering.’
(This class has no badge of I’ank, and is open to every man’s
highest talent and efforts, but its complete neutralization of
hereditary rights, which would have sooner or later made a
privileged uligari^iij anil-aJiUJdeifiiLfeiKhLLMi§tQcracy, proves
its vitalizing, democratic influence.) It has saved the Chinese’
people from a second disintegration into numerous kingdoms,
by the sheer force of instruction in the political rights and
duties taught in the classics and their conmientaries. f While
this system put all on equality, human nature, as we know, has
no such equality. .Vt its inception it probably met general
support from all classes, because of its fitness for the times, and
soon the resistance of multitudes of hopeful students against
its abrogation and their consequent disappointment in their lifework
aided its continuance.^ As it is now, talent, wealth, learning,
influence, paternal raidc, and intrigue, each and all have
full scope for their greatest efforts in securing the prizes. If
these prizes had been held by a tenure as slippery as they
are at present in the American Republic, or obtainable only
by canvassing popular votes, the system would surely have
failed, for ” the game would not have been worth the candle.”
But in China the throne gives a character of pernumency to
the government, which opposes all disorganizing tendencies,
and makes it for the interest of every one in ofiice to strengthen
the power which gave it to him. This loyalty was remarkably
shown in the recent rebellion, in which, during the eighteen
years of that terrible carnage and ruin, not one imperial official
voluntarily joined the Tai-pings, while hundreds died resisting
them.
There is no space here for further extracts from the classics
which will adequately show their character. They would prove
that Chinese youth, as well as those in Christian lands, are
taught a higher standard of conduct than they follow. The
former are, however^ drilled in the very best moral books the
language affords ; if the Proverbs of Solomon and the New Testament were studied as thoroughly in our schools as the Four Books are in China, our young- ineu would be better fitted to act their part as good and useful citizens.
fin this way literary pursuits have taken precedence of warlike,
and no unscrupulous (“sesar or ]^apoleon has heen able to
use the army for his own aggrandizement. The army of
Cliina is contemptible, certainly, if compared with those of
Western nations, and its use is rather like a police, whose powers
of protection or oppression are exhibited according to the
tempers of those Avho employ them. But in China the army
has not been employed, as it was by those great captains, to
destroy the institutions oti ^vhich it rests ; though its weakness
and want of discipline often make it a greater evil than good to
the people.) But had the military waxed strong and efficient,
it would certainly have l)ecome a terror in the hands of ambitious
monarchs, a drain on the resources of the land, pci-haps
a menace to other nations, or finally a destroyer of its own.
(The officials were taught, when young, what to honor in their
rulers ; and, now that they liold those stations, they learn that
discreet, upright magistrates do receive reward and promotion,
and experience has shown them that peace and thrift are the
ends and evidence of good government, and the best tests of
their own fitness for office.?
Another observable result of this republican method of getting
the best-educated men into office is the absence of any
class of slaves or serfs among the population. Slavery exists in
a modified form of corporeal mortgage for debt, and thousands
remain in this serfdom for life through one reason or another.
But the destruction of a feudal baronage involved the extinction
of its correlative, a villein class, and the oppression of
poor debtors, as Avns the case in Rome under the consuls. Only
freemen are eligil>le to enter the concoKfs^ but the percentage
of slaves is too snuill to influence the total. To this cause, too,
may, perhaps, to a large degree, be ascribed the absence of
anything like caste, which has had such bad effects in India.
<‘^The system could not be transplanted ; it is fitted for the
‘genius of the Chinese, and they have become well satisfied
with its workings, jits purification would do great good, doubtless,
if the mass or^the people are to be left in their present
VARIOUS KKSl’LTS TO THE LAND AND PKOI’LIO. 565
state of ignoi’ance, but their elevation in knowledge would, ere
long, revolutionize the whole. There can be no doubt as to
tlie important and beneficial i-esnlts it has accomplished, with / .
all its defects, in perpetuating and strengthening the system of
government, and securing to the people a more equitable and
vigorous body of magistrates than they could get in any other
way. It offers an honorable career to the most ambitious, taleiited,
or turbulent spirits in the country, which demands all
their powers ; and by the time they enter upon office, those
aspirations and powers have been drilled and molded into use-
1
ful service, and are ever after devoted to the maintenance of \
the system they might otherwise have wrecke^.f Most of the
real benefits of Chinese education and this sj’sfem of examinations
are reached before the conferment of the degree of Ixujin.
These consist in diffusing a general respect and taste for
letters among the people ; in calling out the true talent of the
country to the notice of the rulers in an honorable path of effort
; in making all persons so thoroughly acquainted -with the
best moral books in the language that they cannot fail to exercise
some salutary i-estraint ; in elevating the genei-al standard
of education so much that every man is almost compelled to
give his son a little learning in order that he may get along in
life ; and finally, through all these influences, powerfully contributing
to uphold the existing institutions of the Empire.
From the intimate knowledge thus obtained of the writings
of their best minds, Chinese youth learn the principles of democratic
nde as opposed to personal authority ; and from this instruction
it has resulted that no monarch has evei* been able to
use a standing army to enslave the people, or seize the proceeds
of their industry for his own selfish ends^’ Nothing in Chinese
politics is more worthy of notice than the unbounded reverence
for the Emperor, while each man resists unjust taxation, and
joins in killing or driving away oppressive officials. [Educated
men form the only aristocracy in the land ; and the attainment
of the first degree, by introducing its owner into the class of
gentnj, is considered ample compensation for all the expense
and study spent in getting it. On the whole, it may safely be
asserted that these examinations have done more to maintain the stability, and explain the continuance, of the Chinese government than any other single canse.)
Ijhe principal defects and malversations in the system can
soon be shown. Some are inherent, but others rather prove
the badness of the material than of the system and its harmonious
workings. One great difRcnlty in the way of the graduated
students attaining office according to their merits is the
favor shown to those who can buy nominal and real honors.
“”Two_censm:g^,-ill–1822, laid a document before his Majesty, in
M’hich the evils attendant on selling office are shown ; viz., elevating
priests, highwaymen, merchants, and other unworthy or
uneducated men, to responsible stations, and placing insurmountable
difficulties in the way of hard-working, worthy students
reaching the reward of their toi^ They state that the
plan of selling offices connnenced during the II an dynasty, but
speak of the greater disgrace attendant upon the plan at the
present time, because the avails all go into the privy purse instead
of being applied to the public service ; they recommend,
therefore, a reduction in the disbursements of the imperial estal)
iishment. LVniong the items mentioned by these oriental
Joseph Humes, which they consider extravagant, are a lac of
taels (100,000) for tlowers and rouge in the seraglio, and 120,-
000 in salaries to waiting-boys ; two lacs were expended on the
gardens of Yuenming, and almost half a million of taels upon
the parks at Jeh ho, while the salaries to officers and presents
to women at Yuenming were over four lacs. ” If these few
items of expense were abolished,” they add, “there would be a
saving of moi’e than a million of taels of useless expenditure
;
talent might be brought forward to the service of the country,
and the people’s wealth be secured.”
i^n consequence of the extensive sale of offices, they state
that more than five thousand ^.s/;? -,<?.;’ doctors, and more than
twenty-seven thousand l-il-j’ui licentiates, arc waiting for employment
; and those first on the list obtained their degrees
thirty years ago, so that the pi-obability is that when at last
employed, they will be too old for service, and be declared
superannuated in the first examination of official merits and demerits.
The rules to be observed at the regular examinations
ITS rilACTICAL DEFECTS AND CORRUPTION. 067
are strict, but no questions are asked the buyers of office ; and
they enter, too, on their duties as soon as the money is paid.
The censors quote tliree sales, ^vhose united proceeds amounted
to a quarter of a million of taels, and state that the whole income
from this source for twenty years was only a few lacs.
Examples of the flagitious conduct of these purse-proud magistrates
are quoted in proof of the bad results of the plan.
” Thus the priest Siang Yang, prohibited from holding office,
bought his way to one ; the intcndant at Xingpo, from being a
mounted highwayman, bought his M’ay to office ; besides others
of the vilest parentage. But the covetousness and cruelty of
these men are denominated purity and intelligence ; they inflict
severe punishments, which make the people terrified, and
their superiors point them out as possessing decision : these are
our able officers !
“/^
After animadverting on the general practice “of all officers,
from governor-generals down to village magistrates, combining
to gain their jMU-poses l)y hiding the truth from the sovereign,”
and specifying the malversations of Tohtsin, the premier, in
particular, they close their paper with a protestation of their
integrity. “If your Majesty deems what we have now stated
to be right, and will act thereon in the government, you will
realize the designs of the souls of your sacred ancestors; and
the army, the nation, and the poor people, M’ill have cause for
gladness of heart. Should we be subjected to the operation of
the hatchet, or suffer death in the boiling caldron, we will not
decline it,”
These censors place the proceeds of “button scrip “far too
low, for/in 1826, the sale produced about six millions of taels,
and was continued at intervals during the three following
years. In 1831, one of the sons of HoAvqua was created a
ku-jin by patent for having subscribed nearly fifty thousand
dollars to repair the dikes near Canton ; and upon another was
conferred the rank and title of ” director of the salt monopoly”
for a lac of taels toward the war in Turkestan, Neither of
these persons ever held any office of power, nor probably did
they expect it ; and such may be the case with many of those
who are satisfied with the titles and buttons, feathers and robes, which their money procures./ The sale of office is rather accepted
as a State necessity which does not necessarily bring
tyrants npon the bench ; but when, as was the case in 1863.
Peiching, head of the Examining Board at Peking, fraudulently
issued two or three diplomas, his execution vindicated
the law, and deterred similar tampering with the life-springs of
the system, ^i^uring the present dynasty, military men have
l)een frequently appointed to magistracies, and the detail of
their offices intrusted to needy scholars, which has tended, still
further, to disgii^ and dishearten the latter from resorting to
the literary arena.)
The language itself of the Chinese, which has for centuries
aided in preserving their institutions and strengthening national
homogeneity amid so many local varieties of speech, is now
rather in the way of their progress, and may be pointed to as
another unfortunate feature which infects this system of education
and examination ; for it is impossible for a native to write
a treatise on grammar about another language in his own
tongue, through which another Chinese can, unaided, learn to
speak that language. This people have, therefore, no ready
means of learning the best thoughts of foreign minds. Such
being the case, the ignorance of their first scholars as regards
other races, ages, and lands has been their misfortune far more
than their fault, and thej’ have suffered the evils of their isolation.
One has been an utter ignorance of what would have
conferred lasting benefit resulting from the study of outside
conceptions of morals, science, and politics, (inasmuch as
neither geography, natural history, mathematics, nor the history
or languages of other lands forms part of the curriculum,
these men, trained alone in the classics, have naturally grown
up with distorted views of their own country. The officials
are imbued with conceit, ignorance, and arrogance as to its
power, resources, and comparative influence, and are helpless
when met by greater skill or strength. However, these disadvantages,
great as they are and have been, have mostly resulted
naturally fi-om their secluded position, and are rapidly yielding
to the new influences which are acting upon government and
people.^ To one contemplating this startling metamorphosis,
SALE OF DEGREES a:ND FORGED DIPLOMAS. D6j)
the foremost wish, indeed, must he that these causes do not
disinte^’-rate their ancient economies too fast for the recuperation
and preservation of wliatever is good therein.
|\nother evil is ^h^ bribery practised to attain the degrees.
By certain signs placed on the essays, the examiner can easily
pick out those he is to approve; §8,000 was said to be the
price of a bachelor’s degree in Canton, but this sum is within
the reach of few out of the six thousand candidates. The poor
SL’liolars sell their services to tlie rich, and for a certain price
will enter the hall of examination, and personate their employer,
running the risk and penalties of a disgraceful exposure if
detected ; for a less sum they will drill them before examination,
or write the essays entirely, which the rich booby must commit
to memory.) ^The purchase of forged diplomas is another mode
of obtaining a graduate’s honors, which, from some discoveries
made at Peking, is so extensively practised, that when this and
other corruptions are considered, it is surprising that any person
can be so eager in his studies, or confident of his abilities,
as ever to think he can get into office by them alone. In 1830,
the Gazette contained some documents showing that an inferior
officer, aided by some of the clerks in the Board of Hevenue,
during the successive superintendence of twenty presidents of
the Board had sold twenty thousand four hundred and nineteen
foi-ged diplomas ; and in the ])rovince of Xganhwui, the
writers in the office attached to the Board of Ileveuue had
carried on the same practice for four years, and forty-six persons
in that province were convicted of possessing them. All
the principal criminals convicted at this time were sentenced to
decapitation, butCjhese cases are enough to show that the real
talent of the country does not often find its way into the magistrate’s
seat without the aid of money ; nor is it likely that the
tales of such delinquencies often appear in the Gazette. Literary
chancellors also sell bachelors’ degrees to the exclusion of
deserving poor scholars ; the office of the // ‘lohchhuj of Kiangsi
was searched in 1828 by a special commission, and four lacs of
taels found in it ; he hung himself to avoid further punishment,
as did also the same dignitary in (^anton in 1833, as was supposed,
for a similar cause. It is in this way, no doubt, that the ill-fjotten o;ains of most officers return to the o-enenil cirdilation.’
Notwithstanding these startling corruptions, which seem to
involve the principle on which the harmony and efficiency of
the whole machinery of state stand, it cannot be denied, judging
from tlie results, that the highest officei’s of the Chinese
government do possess a very respectable rank of talent and
knowledge, and carry on the unwieldy machine with a degree
(»f integrity, pati’iotism, industry, and good order which shows
that the leading minds in it are well chosen. The person who
has originally obtained his rank by a forged diploma, or by
direct purchase, cannot hope to rise or to maintain even his first
standing, without some knowledge and parts. One of the tlu’ce
commissioners whom Kiying associated with himself in his
negotiations with the American minister in lS4-i, was a supernumerary
cluhloi of forbidding appearance, who could hardly
Avrite a common document, but it was easy to see the low estimation
the ignoranms was hold in. It may therefore be fairly
inferred that enough large prizes are drawn to incite successive
generations of scholars to compete for them, and thus to maintain
the literary spirit of the people. At these examinations
the superior minds of the country are brought together in large
bodies, and thus they learn each others views, and are able to
check official oppressions with something like a public ojunion.
In Peking the concourse of several thousands, from the remotest
provinces, to compete at or assist in the triennial examinations,
exerts a great and healthy influence upon their rulers
and themselves. jSTothing like it ever has been seen in any
other metropolis.
^The enjoyment of no small degree of power and influence in
their native village, is also to be considered in estinuiting the
rewards of studious toil, whether the student get a diploma or
not ; and this local consideration is the most common i-eward
attending the life of a scholar. ^ In those villages where no
governmental officer is specially appointed, such men are almost
sure to become the headmen and most influential persons in the
very spot)where a Chinese loves to be distinguished, (rraduates
are likewise allowed to erect flag-staffs, or put up a red sign
INFLUENCE AND IlESPECT OBTAINED BY BACHELORS. 57]
over the door of tlieir lionses si lowing tlie degree tliev have obtained,
wliich is both a hariuloss and gratifying reward of
stud}’/; like the additions of Cant((h. or Odvu.^ D.D. or LL.D.,
to their owner’s names in other lands.
(The fortune attending the unsuccessful candidates is various/
Thousands of them get employment as school-teachers, pettifogging notaries, and clerks in the public offices, and others who are rich return to their families. Some are reduced by degrees to beggary, and resort to medicine, fortune-telling, letter-writing, and other such shifts to eke out a living. Many turn their attention to learning the modes of drawing up deeds and forms used in dealings regarding property ; others look to aiding military men in their duties, and a few turn authors, and thus in one way or another contrive to turn their learning to account.
During the period of the examinations, when the students are assembled in the capital, the officers of government are careful not to irritate them by punishment, or offend their €ii]^>i-it ile corj)s^ but rather, by admonitions and warnings, induce them to set a good example. The personal reputation of the officer himself has much to do with the influence he exerts over the students, and whether they will heed his cdveats. One of the examiners in Zhejiang, irritated by the impei’tinence of a bachelor, who presumed upon his immunity from corporeal chastisement, twisted his ears to teach him better manners; soon after, the student and two others of equal degree were accused before the same magistrate for a libel, and one of them beaten forty strokes upon his palms. At the ensuing examination, ten of the xiucai indignant at this unauthorized treatment, refused to appear, and all the candidates, when they saw who was to preside, dispersed immediately. In his memorial upon the matter, the governor-general recommends both this officer, and another one who talked much al)Out the affair and produced a great effect upon the public mind, to be degraded, and the bachelors to be stripped of their honors. A magistrate of Honan, having punished a student with twenty blows, the assembled body of students rose and threw their caps on the ground, and walked ofp, leaving him alone. The prefect of Canton, in 1842, having become obnoxious to the citizens from the part lie took in ransoming the city M’lien surrounded by the British forces, the students refused to receive him as their examiuer, and when he appeai’ed in tlie liall to take his seat,
drove him out of the room by throwing their ink-stones at him ;
he soon after resigned his statio’N. Perhaps the siu-tsai are
more impatient than the hu-jin from being better acquainted
with eacli other, and being examined by local officers, while the
I’il-jin are overaw’ed by the rank of the commissioners, and,
coming from distant parts of a large province, have little
}mitual sympathy or acquaintance. The examining boards,
however, take pains to avoid displeasing any gathering of graduates.
We have seen, then, in what has been of necessity a somewhat
cursory resmue, the management and extent of an institution
which has opened the avenues of rank to all, by
teaching candidates how to maintain the principles of liberty
and equality they had learned from their oft-quoted ‘ancients.’
All that these institutions need, to secure and promote the highest welfare of the people—as they themselves, indeed, aver—is their faithful execution in every department of government; as we find them, no higher evidence of their remarkable wisdom can be adduced, than the general order and peace of the land. When one sees the injustice and oppressions in law courts, the feuds and deadly fights among clans, the prevalence of lying, ignorance, and pollution among commoners, and the unscrupulous struggle for a living going on in every rank of life, he wonders that Tuiiversal anarchy does not destroy the whole machine. But ‘ the powers that be are ordained of God.”
The Chinese seem to have attained the great ends of human government to as high a degree as it is possible for man to go without the knowledge of divine revelation. That, in its great truths, its rewards, its hopes, and its stimulus to good acts has yet to be received among them. The course and results of the struggle between the new and the old in the land of Sinim will fomi a remarkable chapter in the history of man.
FKMA^ EDUCATION IX CHINA. 573
With regard to female education, it is a singular anomaly among Chinese writers, that while they lay great stress upon maternal instruction in f(u-ining the infant mind, and leading i* on to exoelleiK’O, no more of them should have turned their attention to the preparation ©f hooks for girls, and the establishment of female schools. There are some reasons for the absence of the latter to be found in the state of society, notable among which must stand, of course, the low position of woman in every oriental community, and a general contempt for the capacity of the female mind. It is, moreover, impossible to procure many qualified schoolmistresses, and to this we must add the hazard of sending girls out into the streets alone, where they would run some risk of being stolen. (^~~The principal stimulus
for boys to study—the hope aiid:”~pi”ospect of office—is
taken away from girls, and Chinese literature offei’s little to re-|
pay them for the labor of learning it in addition to all the
domestic duties which devolve upon them// Nevertheless, education
is not entirely confined to the sti-onger sex ; seminaries
for young women are not at all unconnnon in South China, and
it is not unusual to find private tutors giving instruction to
young ladies at their houses.* Though this must be regarded
as a comparative statement, and holding much more for the
southern than for the northern provinces, on the other hand, it
may be asserted that literary attainments are considered creditable
to a wonuin, more than is the case in India or Siam ; the
names of authoresses mentioned in Chinese annals would make
a long list. Yuen Yuen, tlie governor general of Canton, in
1S20, while in office, published a volume of his deceased’s
daughter’s poetical effusions ; and literary men ai-e usually desirous
of having their daughters accomplished in music and
poetry, as well as in composition and classical lore. Such an
education is considered befitting their station, and reflecting
credit on the family.
One of the most celebrated female writers in China is Pan
Ilwui-pan, also known as Pan Chao, a sister of the historian
Pan Ivu, who wrote the histoiy of the former Ilan dynasty.
She M’as appointed historiographer after his death, and completed
his unfinished annals ; she died at the age of seventy,
and was honored by the Emperor Ho with a public burial, and
‘ Arcluleacon Gray, China, Vol. I., p. 167.
the title of the (ireat Lady Tsao. About a.d. So, slie was made
pi”eeeptress of tlie Empress, and wrote the Urst woi-k in any
language on female education ; it was called Nil Kiai or Fe-
‘inale Precej’ts^ and has formed the basis of many succeeding
books on female education. The aim of her writings was to
elevate female character, and make it virtuous. She says, ” The
virtue of a female does not consist altogether in extraordinary
abilities or intelligence, but in being modestly grave and inviolably
chaste, observing the requirements of virtuous widowhood,
and in being tidy in her person and evei-ything about
her ; in whatever she does to be unassmning, and M’henever she
moves or sits to be decorous. This is female virtue.” Instruction
in morals and the various branches of domestic economy
are more insisted upon in the Mi-itings of this and other authoresses,
than a knowledge of the classics or histories of the country.
One of the most distinguished Chinese essayists of modern
times, Luhchau, published a Avork for the benefit of the sex,
called the Female Instructor j an extract from liis preface will
show what ideas are generally entertained on female education
by Chinese moralists.
” The basis of the government of the Empire lies in the habits of the people, and the surety that their usages will be correct is in the orderly management of families, which last depends chiefly upon the females. In the good old times of Cliau, the virtuous women set such an excellent example that it influenced the customs of the Empire—an influence that descended even to the times of the Ching and Wei states. If the curtain of the inner apartment gets thin, or is hung awry [i.e., if the sexes are not kept apart], disorder will enter the family, and viltimately pervade the Empire. Females are doubtless the sources of good manners ; from ancient times to the present this has been the case. The inclination to virtue and vice in women differs exceedingly; their dispositions incline contrary ways, and if it is wished to form them alike, there is nothing like education. In ancient times, youth of both sexes were
in.structed. According to the A’rtwa^ 0/ 67</<m, ‘the imperial wives regulated the law for educating females, in order to instruct the ladies of the palace in morals, conversation, manners, and work ; and each led out her respective
(dasses, at proper times, and arranged them for examination in the imperial
presence.’ But these treatises have not reached us, and it cannot be distinctljr
ascertained what was their plan of arrangement
“The t^lncation of a woman and that of a man arc* very <lissimilar. Tlius,
a man can study during his whole life ; whether he is abroad or at home, lit
THE “female IISrSTRUCTOR” ON WOMEN”. 575
can always look into the classics and history, and liecome thorouglily ac-nainted
wilh the wlioUi range of authors, lint a woman does not study mori; than ten
years, when she takes upon her the management of a family, whave a multiplicity
of cares distract her attention, and having no leisure lor undisturbed
study, she cannot easily understand learned authors ; not having obtained a
thorough acquaintance with letters, she does not fully comprehend their principles
; and like water that has flowed from its fountain, she cannot regulate
lier conduct by their guidance. How can it be said that a standard work on
female education is not wanted 1 Every profession and trade has its appropriate
master ; and ought not those also who possess sucli an influence over manners
[as females] to be tanght their duties and tluir proper limits ? It is a
matter of regret, that in these books no extracts liave been made from the
works of Confucius in order to make them introductory to the writings on polite
literature ; and it is also to be regretted that selections have not been made
from the commentaries of Clung, Chu, and other scholars, who have explained
his writings clearly, as also from the whole range of writers, gathering from
them all that which was appropriate, and omitting the rest. These are circulated
among mankind, together with such books as the Juvenile InstrucU/i’
;
yet if they are put into the hands of females, they cause them to become like a
blind man without a guide, wandering hither and thither without knowing
where he is going. There has been this great deficiency from very remote times until now.
“Woman’s influence is according to her moral character, there Tore that point
is largely explained. First, concerning her obedience to her husband and to
liis parents ; then in regard to her complaisance to his brothers and sisters,
and kindness to her sisters-in-law. If unmarried, she has duties toward her
parents, and to the wives of her elder brothers ; if a principal wiie, a woman
must have no jealous feelings ; if in straitened circumstances, she must be
contented with her lot ; if rich and honorable, she must avoid extravagance
and haughtiness. Then teach her, in times of trouble and in days of ease,
how to maintain her purity, how to give importance to right principles, how
to observe widowhood, and how to avenge the murder of a relative. Is she
a mother, let her teach lier children ; is she a step-mother, let her love
and cherish her husband’s children ; is her rank in life high, let her be
condescending to her inferiors ; let her wholly discard all sorcerers, superstitious
nuns, and witches ; in a word let her adhere to propriety and avoid
vice.
“In conversation, a female should not be freward and garrulous, but observe
strictly what is correct, whether in suggesting advice to her husband, in
remonstrating with him, or teaching her children, in maintaining etiquette,
humbly imparting her experience, or in averting misfortune. The deportment
of females should be strictly grave and sober, and yet adapted to the occasion
; whether in waiting on her parents, receiving or reverencing her husband,
rising up or sitting down, when pregnant, in times ol’ mourning, or when
fleeing in war, she should be perfectly decorous. Rearing the silkworm and
working cloth are the most important of the employments of a female ; pre’
paring and serving up the food for the household, and setting lu order th* sacrificee, follow next, each of which must be attended to ; after them, studj
and learning can fill up the time.” ‘
The work thus prefaced, is similar to Sprague’s Letters to a
Daughter, rather than to a text-book, or a inaiiual intended to
be read and obeyed rather than recited by young ladies. Happy
would it be for the country, however, if the instructions given
by this moralist were followed ; it is a credit to a pagan, to write
such sentiments as the followinor : ” Durino; infancv, a child ardently
loves its mother, who knows all its traits of goodness: while the father, perhaps, cannot know about it, there is nothing
which the mother does not see. Wherefore the mother teaches
more effectually, and only by her unwise fondness does her son
become more and more proud (as musk by age becomes sourer
and stronger), and is thereby nearly ruined.”—*’ Heavenly order
is to bless the good and curse the vile ; he who sins against it
will certainly receive his punishment sooner or later : from lucid
instruction springs the happiness of the world. If females are
unlearned, they will be like one looking at a wall, they will know
nothing : if they are taught, they will know, and knowing they
will imitate their examples.”
It is vain to expect, however, that any change in the standing
of females, or extent of their education, will take place until influences
from abroad are brought to bear upon them—until the
same work that is elswhere elevating them to their proper place
in society by teaching them the principles on which that elevation
is founded, and how they can themselves maintain it, is
begun. The Chinese do not, by any means, make slaves of their
females, and if a comparison be made between their condition in
China and other modern unevangelized countries, or even with
ancient kingdoms or Moslem races, it will in many points acquit
them of much of the obloquy they have received on this behalf.
There are some things which tend to show that more of the
sex read and write sufficiently for the ordinary purposes of life,
than a slight examination would at first indicate. Among these
may be mentioned the letter-writers compiled for their use, in
which instructions are given for every variety of note and epis-
‘ Chinese lieposltorij, Vol. IX., p. 543.
EXTRACT FROM A GIHLs’ PRIMER. 577
tie, except, perhaps, love letters. The works just inentioiied, intended
for their improvement, form an additional fact. A
Mancliu official of rank, named Sin-kwau, who rose to be governor
of Kiangsi in Kiaking’s reign, wrote a primer in 1838, for
girls, called the Nu-rh Yu, or ‘ Words/or Women and Girls.”
It is in lines of four characters, and consists of aphorisms and
short pi-ecepts on household management, behavior, care of
children, neatness, etc., so written as to be easily memorized.
It shows one of the ways in which literary men interest themselves, in educating youth, and further that there is a demand for such books. A few lines from this primer will exhibit its tenor
Vile looks should never meet your eye,
Nor filthy words defile your ear ;
Ne’er look on men of utterance gross,
Nor tread the ground which they pollute.
Keep back the heart from thoughts impure,
Nor let your hands grow fond of sloth ;
Then no o’ersight or call deferred
Will, when you’re pressed, demand your time
In all your care of tender babes,
Mind lest they’re fed or warmed too much;
The childish liberty first granted
Must soon he checked by rule and rein;
Guard them from water, fire, and fools ;
Mind lest they’re hurt or maimed by falls.
All flesh and fruits when ill with colds
Are noxious drugs to tender bairus—
Who need a careful oversight,
Yet want some license in their play.
Be strict in all you bid them do.
For this will guard from ill and woe.The pride taken by girls in showing their knowledge of letters is evidence that it is not common, while the general respect in which literary ladies ai-e held proves them not to be so very rare ; though for all practical good, it may be said that half of the Chinese people know nothing of books. The fact that female education is so favorably regarded is encouraging to those philanthropic persons and ladies who are endeavoring to establish female schools at the mission stations, since they have not preiudice to contend with in addition to ignorance.
WELLS WILLIAMS《The Middle Kingdom》1-5
The Middle Kingdom: A SURVEY OP THE GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT. LITERATURE, SOCIAL LIFE, ARTS, AND HISTORY of THE CHINESE EMPIRE ITS INHABITANTS
S. WELLS WILLIAMS, LL.D., Professor of the Chinese language and literature at tale college; author or TONIC AND STLLABIO DICTIONARIES OF THE CHINESE LANOUAOE
1913PREFACE
During the thirty-five years which have elapsed since the first edition of this work was issued, a greater advance has probably been made in the political and intellectual development of China than within any previous century of her history. While neither the social habits nor principles of government have so far altered as to necessitate a complete rewriting of these pages, it will be found, nevertheless, that the present volumes treat of a reformed and in many respects modern nation. Under the new regime the central administration has radically increased its authority among the provincial rulers, and more than ever in former years has managed to maintain control over their pretentions. The Empire has, moreover, established its foreign relations on a well-understood basis by accredited envoys; this will soon affect the mass of the people by the greater facilities of trade, the presence of travelers, diffusion of education, and other agencies which are awaking the people from their lethargy. Already the influences which will gradually transform the face of society are mightily operating.
The changes which have been made in the book comprise such alterations and additions as were necessary to describe the country under its new aspects. In the constant desire to preserve a convenient size, every doubtful or superfluous sentence has been erased, while the new matter incorporated has increased the bulk of the present edition about one-third. The arrangement of chapters is the same. The first four, treating of the geography, combine as many and accurate details of recent explorers or residents as the proportions of this section will permit. The extra-provincial regions are described from the researches of Russian, English, and Indian travelers of the last twenty years. It is a waste, mountainous territory for the most part and can never support a large population. Great pains have been taken by the cartographer, Jacob Wells, to consult the most authentic charts in the construction of the map of the Empire. By collating and reducing to scale the surveys and route charts of reliable travelers throughout the colonies, he has produced in all respects as accurate a map of Central Asia as is at this date possible. The Eighteen Provinces are in the main the same as in my former map.
The chapter on the census remains for the most part without alteration, for until there has been a methodical inspection of the Empire, important questions concerning its population must be held in abeyance. It is worth noticing how generally the estimates in this chapter—or much larger figures—have since its first publication been accepted for the population of China. Foreign students of natural history in China have. by their researches in every department, furnished material for more extensive and precise descriptions under this subject than could possibly have been gathered twoscore years ago. The sixth chapter has, therefore, been almost wholly rewritten, and embraces as complete a summary of this wide field as space would allow or the general reader tolerate. The specialist will, however, speedily recognize the fact that this rapid glance serves rather to indicate how immense and imperfectly explored is this subject than to describe whatever is known.That portion of the first volume treating of the laws and their administration does not admit of more than a few minor changes. However good their theory of jurisprudence, the people have many things to bear from the injustice of their rulers, but more from their own vices. The Peking Gazette is now regularly translated in the Shanghai papers, and gives a coup devil of the administration of the highest value.
The chapters on the languages and literature are considerably improved. The translations and text-books which the diligence of foreign scholars has recently furnished could be only partially enumerated, though here, as elsewhere in the work, references in the foot-notes are intended to direct the more interested student to the bibliography of the subject, and present him with the materials for an exhaustive study. The native literature is extensive, and all branches have contributed somewhat to form the resume which is contained in this section, giving a preponderance to the Confucian classics. The four succeeding chapters contain notices of the arts, industries, domestic life, and science of the Chinese—a necessarily rapid survey, since these features of Chinese life are already well understood by foreigners. Nothing, however, that is either original or peculiar has been omitted in the endeavor to portray their social and economic characteristics. The emigration of many thousands of the people of Kwangtung within the last thirty years has made that province a representative among foreign nations of the others; it may be added that its inhabitants are well fitted, by their enterprise, thrift, and maritime habits, to become types of the whole.
The history and chronology are made fuller by the addition of several facts and tables(An alphabetical arrangement of all the tables scattered throughout the work may be found, under this word in the Index.) ; but the field of research in this direction has as yet scarcely been defined, and few certain dates have been determined prior to the Confucian era. The entire continent of Asia must be thoroughly investigated in its geography, antiquities, and literature in order to throw light on the eastern portion. The history of China offers an interesting topic for a scholar who would devote his life to its elucidation from the mass of native literature.
The two chapters on the religions, and what has been done within the past half century to promote Christian missions, are somewhat enlarged and brought down to the present time. The study of modern scholars in the examination of Chinese religious beliefs has enabled them to make comparisons with other systems of Asiatics, as well as discuss the native creeds with more certainty.
The chapter on the commerce of China has an importance commensurate with its growing amount. Within the past ten years the opium trade has been attacked in its moral and commercial bearings between China, India, and England. There are grounds for hope that the British Government will free itself from any connection with it, which will be a triumph of justice and Christianity. The remainder of Volume II. Describes events in the intercourse of China with the outer world, including a brief account of the Tai-ping Rebellion, which proximately grew out of foreign ideas. No connected or satisfactory narrative of the events which have forced one of the greatest nations of the world into her proper position, so far as I am aware, has as yet been prepared. A succinct recital of one of the most extraordinary developments of modern times should nut be without interest to all.
The work of condensing the vast increase of reliable information upon China into these two volumes has been attended with considerable labor. Future writers will, I am convinced, after the manner of Richthofen, Yule, Legge, and others, confine themselves to single or cognate subjects rather than attempt such a comprehensive synopsis as is here presented. The number of illustrations in this edition is nearly doubled, the added ones being selected with particular reference to the subject-matter. I have availed myself of whatever sources of information I could command, due acknowledgment of which is made in the foot-notes, and ample references in the Index.
The revision of this book has been the slow though constant occupation of several years. When at last I had completed the revised copy and made arrangements as to its publication, in March, 1882, my health failed, and under a partial paralysis I was rendered incapable of further labor. My son, Frederick Wells Williams, who had already looked over the copy, now assumed entire charge of the publication. I had the more confidence that he would perform the duties of editor, for he had already a general acquaintance with China and the books which are the best authority. The work has been well done, the last three chapters particularly having been improved under his careful revision and especial study of the recent political history of China. The Index is his work, and throughout the book I am indebted to his careful supervision, especially on the chapters treating of geography and literature. By the opening of this year I had so far recovered as to be able to superintend the printing and look over the proofs of the second volume.
My experiences in the forty-three years of my life in China were coeval with the changes which gradually culminated in the opening of the country. Among the most important of these may be mentioned the cessation of the East India Company in 1834, the war with England in 1841-42, the removal of the monopoly of the hong merchants(特许商行), the opening of five ports to trade, the untoward attack on the city of Canton which grew out of the lorcha Arrow, the operations in the vicinity of Peking, the establishment of foreign legations in that city, and finally, in 1873, the peaceful settlement of the kotow, which rendered possible the approach of foreign ministers to the Emperor’s presence. Those who trace the hand of God in history will gather from such rapid and great changes in this Empire the foreshadowing of the fulfilment of his purposes ; for while these political events were in progress the Bible was circulating, and the preaching and educational labors of missionaries were silently and with little opposition accomplishing their leavening work among the people.On my arrival at Canton in 1833 I was officially reported, with two other Americans, to the hong merchant Kingqua as fan-kwai, or ‘foreign devils,’ who had come to live under his tutelage. In 1874, as Secretary of the American Embassy at Peking, I accompanied the Hon. B. P. Avery to the presence of the Emperor Tungchi, when the Minister of the United States presented his letters of credence on a footing of perfect equality with the ‘Son of Heaven.’ With two such experiences in a lifetime, and mindful of the immense intellectual and moral development which is needed to bring an independent government from the position of forcing one of them to that of yielding the other, it is not strange that I am assured of a great future for the sons of Han; but the progress of pure Christianity will be the only adequate means to save the conflicting elements involved in such a growth from destroying each other. Whatever is in store for them, it is certain that the country has passed its period of passivity. There is no more for China the repose of indolence and seclusion—when she looked down on the nations in her overweening pride like the stars with which she could have no concern.
In this revision the same object has been kept in view that is stated in the Preface to the first edition—to divest the Chinese people and civilization of that peculiar and indefinable impression of ridicule which has been so generally given them by foreign authors. I have endeavored to show the better traits of their national character, and that they have had up to this time no opportunity of learning man}’ things with which they are now rapidly becoming acquainted. The time is speedily passing away when the people of the Flowery Land can fairly be classed among uncivilized nations. The stimulus which in this labor of my earlier and later years has been ever present to my mind is the hope that the cause of missions may be promoted. In the success of this cause lies the salvation of China as a people, both in its moral and political aspects. This success bids fair to keep pace with the needs of the people. They will become fitted for taking up the work themselves and joining in the multiform operations of foreign civilizations. Soon railroads, telegraphs, and manufactures will be introduced, and these must be followed by whatsoever may conduce to enlightening the millions of the people of China in every department of religious, political, and domestic life.
The descent of the Holy Spirit is promised in the latter times, and the preparatory work for that descent has been accomplishing in a vastly greater ratio than ever before, and with increased facilities toward its final completion. The promise of that Spirit will fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah, delivered before the era of Confucius, and God’s people will come from the land of Sinim and join in the anthem of praise with every tribe under the sun.
S. w. w. New Haven, July, 1883.CONTENTS OF VOLUME I & VOLUME II
CHAPTER I. General Divisions and Features of the Empire
Unusual interest involved in the study of China ; The name China probably a corruption of Tsin; Other Asiatic names for the country; Ancient and modern native designations; Dimensions of the Empire; Its three Grand Divisions :The Eighteen Provinces, Manchuria, and Colonies; China Proper, its names and limits; Four large mountain chains; The Tien shan. ibid.: The Kwanlun; The Hing-an and Himalaya systems; Pumpelly’s ” Sinian System” of mountains; The Desert of Gobi and Sha-moh; Its character and various names; Rivers of China : The Yellow River; The Yangtsz’ River; The Chu or Pearl River;Lakes of China; Boundaries of China Proper; Character of its coast; The Great Plain; The Great Wall of China, its course; Its construction and aspect; The Grand Canal,; Its history and present condition; Minor canals; Public roads, De Guignes’ description, ibid.; General aspects of a landscape; Physical characteristics of the Chinese; The women; Aborigines: Miaotsz’, Lolos, Limus, and others; Manchus and Mongols; Attainments and limits of Chinese civilization
CHAPTER II. Geographical Description of the Eastern Provinces
Limited knowledge of foreign countries; Topographies of China numerous and minute; Climate of the Eighteen Provinces; Of Peking and the Great Plain; Of the southern coast towns; Contrast in rain-fall between Chinese and American coasts; Tyfoons; Topographical divisions into Fu, Ting, Chan, and Hien; Position and boundary of Chihli Province; Table of the Eighteen Provinces, their subdivisions and government; Situation, size, and history of Peking; Its walls and divisions; The prohibited city (Tsz’ Kin Ching) and imperial residence; The imperial city (Huang Ching) and its public buildings; The so-called “Tartar City”; The Temples of Heaven and of Agriculture; Environs of Peking; Tientsin and the Pei ho; Dolon-nor or Lama-miao; Water-courses and productions of the province; The Province of Shantung; Tai shan, the ‘Great Mount’; Cities, productions, and people of Shantung; Shansi, its natural features and resources; Taiyuen, the capital; Roads and mountain passes of Shansi; Position and aspect of Honan Province, ibid.; Kaifung, its capital; Kiangsu Province, ibid.; Its fertility and abundant water-ways; Nanking, or Kiangning, the capital; Porcelain Tower of Nanking; Suchau, “the Paris of China”; Chinkiang and Golden Island; Shanghai; The Province of Nganhwui; Nganking, Wuhu, and Hwuichau; Kiangsi Province; Nanchang, its capital, and the River Kan; Porcelain vvorks at Kingteh in Jauchau; Chehkiang Province, its rivers; Hangchau, the capital; Ningpo; Chinhai ano the Chusan Archipelago; Chapu, Canfu, and the “Gates of China,”; Fuhkien Province, ibid. : The River Min, Fuhchau; Amoy and its environs; Chinchau (Tsiuenchau), the ancient Zayton; Position, inhabitants, and productions of Formosa; The Pescadore Islands
CHAPTER III. Geographical Description of the Western Provinces
The Province of Hupeh; The three towns, Wuchang, Hanyang, and Hankow; Scenery on the Yangtsz’ kiang; Hunan Province, its rivers and capital city; Shensi Province; The city of Si-ngan; Topography and climate of Kansuli Province; Sz’chuen Province and its four streams; Chingtu fu and the Min Valley; The Province of Kwangtung; Position of Canton, or Kwangchau; Its population, walls, general appearance; Its streets and two pagodas; Temple of Longevity and Honam Josshouse; Other shrines and the Examination Hall; The foreign factories, or ‘Thirteen Hongs’; Sights in the suburbs of Canton; Whanipoa and Macao; The colony of Hongkong; Places of interest in Kwangtiing; The Island of Hainan; Kwangsi Province; Kweichau Province; The Miaotsz’; The Province of Yunnan; Its topography and native tribes; Its mineral wealth
CHAPTER IV. Geographical Description of Manchuria, Mongolia, Ili, and Tibet
Foreign and Chinese notions of the land of Tartary; Table of the Colonies, their subdivisions and governments; Extent of Manchuria; Its mountain ranges; The Amur and its affluents, the Ingoda, Argun, Usuri, and Songari; Natural resources of Manchuria; The Province of Shingking, ibid.; Its capital, Mukden, and other towns; Climate of Manchuria; The Province of Kirin; The Province of Tsi-tsi-har; Administration of government in Manchuria; Extent of Mongolia; Its climate and divisions; Inner Mongolia; Outer Mongolia; Urga, its capital, ibid. ; Civilization and trade of the Mongols; Kiakhta and Maimai chin; The Province of Cobdo; The Province of Koko-nor, or Tsing hai; Its topography and productions; Towns between Great Wall and Ili; Position and topography of ill; Tien-shan Peh Lu, or Northern Circuit; Kuldja, its capital; Tien-shan Nan Lu, or Southern Circuit; The Tarim Basin, ibid. ; Cities of the Southern Circuit; Kashgar, town and government; Yarkand; The District of Khoten; Administration of government in Ili; History and conquest of the country; Tibet, its boundaries and names; Topography of the province; Its climate and productions; The yak and wild animals, ibid. ; Divisions: Anterior and Ulterior Tibet; Il’lassa, the capital city; Manning’s visit to the Dalai-lama; Shigatsi’, capital of Ulterior Tibet; Om mani padmi hum; Manners and customs in Tibet; Language; History; Government
CHAPTER V. Population and Statistics
Interest and difficulties of this subject; Ma Twan-lin’s study of the censuses; Tables of various censuses; These estimates considered in detail; Four of these are reliable; Evidence in their favor; Comparative population-density of Europe and China; Proportion of arable and unproductive land; Sources and kinds of food in China; Tendencies toward increase of population; Obstacles to emigration; Government care of the people; Density of population near Canton, ibid; Mode of taking the census under Kublai khan; Present method; Reasons for admitting the Chinese census; Two objections to its acceptance; Unsatisfactory statistics of revenue in China; Revenue of Kwangtung Province; Estimates of Medhurst, De Guignes, and others; Principal items of expenditure; Pay of military and civil officers; The land tax
CHAPTER VI. Natural History of China
Foreign scientists and explorers in China; Interesting geological features; Loess formation of Northern China, ibid. : Its wonderful usefulness and fertility; Baron Richthofen’s theory as to its origin; Minerals of China Proper : Coal; Building stones, salts, jade, etc.; The precious metals and their production; Animals of the Empire; Monkeys; Various carnivorous animals; Cattle, sheep, deer, etc.; Horses, pigs, camels, etc.; Smaller animals and rodents; Cetacea in Chinese waters; Birds of prey; Passerinse, song-birds, pies, etc.; Pigeons and grouse; Varieties of pheasants; Peacocks and ducks; An aviary in Canton; Four fabulous animals : The ki-Un; The fung-huang, or phoenix; The lung, or dragon, and kuei, or tortoise; Alligators and serpents; Ichthyology of China; Gold-fish and methods of rearing them; Shell-fish of the Southern coast; Insects : Silk-worms and beetles; Wax-worm : Native notions of insects; Students of botany in China; Flora of Hongkong, coniferae, grasses; The bamboo; Varieties of palms, lilies, tubers, etc.; Forest and timber growth; Rhubarb, the Chinese ‘ date ‘ and ‘ olive’; Fruit-trees; Flowering and ornamental plants; The Pun tsito, or Chinese herbal; Its medicine and botany; Its zoology; Its observations on the horse; State of the natural sciences in China
CHAPTER VII. Laws of China, and Plan of its Government
Theory of the Chinese Government patriarchal; The principles of surveillance and mutual responsibility; The Penal Code of China; Preface by the Emperor Shunchi; Its General, Civil, and Fiscal Divisions; Ritual, Military, and Criminal Laws; The Code compares favorably with other Asiatic Laws; Defects in the Chinese Code; General survey of the Chinese Government; 1, The Emperor, his position and titles, ibid. ; Proclamation of Hungwu, first Manchu Emperor; Peculiarities in the names of Emperors; The Kicoh Imo, or National, and Miiio hao, or Ancestral Names; Style of an Imperial Inaugural Proclamation; Programme of Coronation Ceremonies; Dignity and Sacredness of the Emperor’s Person; Control of the Right of Succession; The Imperial Clan and Titular Nobles; 2, The Court, its internal arrangements; The Imperial Harem; Position of the Empress-dowager; Guard and Escort of the Palace; 3, Classes of society in China; Eight privileged classes; The nine honorary “Buttons,” or Rank; 4, The central administration; The Nui Koh, or Cabinet; The Kinn-ki Chu, or General Council; The King Pao, or Peking Gazette; The Six Boards(a), of Civil Office—Li Pu; (b), of Revenue—Hu PU; (c), of Rites— Li Pu; {d), of War—Ping Pu; {e), of Punishments—Hing Pu; (f), of War—Ping Pu; The Colonial Office; The Censorate; Frankness and honesty of certain censors; Courts of Transmission and Judicature; The Hanlin Yuen, or Imperial Academy; Minor courts and colleges of the capital; 5, Provincial Governments; Governors-general (tsungtuh) and Governors (futai); Subordinate provincial authorities; Literary, Revenue, and Salt Departments; Tabular Resume of Provincial Magistrates; Military and Naval control; Special messengers, or commissioners
CHAPTER VIII. Administration of the Laws
6, Execution of laws, checks upon ambitious officers; Triennial Catalogue and its uses; Character and position of Chinese officials; The lied Book, or status of office-holders; Types of Chinese high officers : Duke Ho; Career of Commissioner Sung; Public lives of Commissioners Lin and Kiying; Popularity of upright officers. Governor Chu’s valedictory; Official confessions and petitions for punishment; Imperial responsibility for public disasters; A prayer for rain of the Emperor Taukwang; Imperial edicts, their publication and phraseology; Contrast between the theory and practice of Chinese legislation; Extortions practised by officials of all ranks; Evils of an ill-paid police; Fear and selfishness of the people; Extent of clan systems among them; Village elders and clan rivalries; Dakoits and thieves throughout the country; Popular associations—character of their manifestoes; Secret societies. The Triad, or Water-Lily Sect; A Memorial upon the Evils of Mal-Administration; Efforts of the authorities against brigandage; Difficulties in collecting the taxes; Character of proceedings in the Law Courts; Establishments of high magistrates; Conduct of a criminal trial; Torture employed to elicit confessions; The five kinds of punishments; Modes of executing criminals; Public prisons, their miserable condition; The influence of public opinion in checking oppression
CHAPTER IX. Education and Literary Examinations
Stimulus of literary pursuits in China; Foundation of the present system of competition; Precepts controlling early education; Arrangements and curriculum of boys’ schools; Six text-books employed : 1, The ‘Trimetrical Classic’; 2, The ‘Century of Surnames,’ and 3, ‘ Thousand-Character Classic’; 4, The ‘ Odes for Children’; 5, The Hiao King, or ‘ Canons of Filial Duty,’; 6, The Siao Hioh, or ‘Juvenile Instructor,’; High schools and colleges; Proportion of readers throughout China; Private schools and higher education; System of examinations for degrees and public offices; Preliminary trials; Examination for the First Degree, Siu-tsai,; For the Second Degree, Kil-jin,; Example of a competing essay,; Final honors conferred at Peking; A like system applied to the military; Workings and results of the system of examinations,; Its abuses and corruption; Social distinction and influence enjoyed by graduates; Female education in China; Authors and school-books employed
CHAPTER X Structure of the Chinese Language
Influence of the Chinese language upon its literature; Native accounts of the origin of their characters; Growth and development of the language; Characters arranged into six classes; Development from hieroglyphics; Phonetic and descriptive properties of a character; Arrangement of the characters in lexicons; Classification according to radicals; Mass of characters in the language; Six styles of written characters; Their elementary strokes; Ink, paper, and printing; Manufacture and price of books; Native and foreign movable types; Phonetic character of the Chinese language; Manner of distinguishing words of like sound; The Shing, or tones of the language; Number of sounds or words in Chinese; The local dialects and patois; Court or Mandarin dialect; Other dialects and variations in pronunciation; Grammar of the language; Its defects and omissions; Hints for its study; Pigeon English
CHAPTER XI. Classical Literature of the Chinese
The Imperial Catalogue as an index to Chinese literature; The Five Classics : I. The Yih King, or ‘Book of Changes’; II. The Shu King, or ‘ Book of Records’; III. The Shi King, or ‘ Book of Odes’; IV. The Li Ki, or ‘ Book of Rites,’ and other Rituals; V. The Chun Tsui, or ‘ Spring and Autumn Record’; The Four Books : 1, The ‘Great Learning’ 2, The ‘Just Medium’; 3, The Lun Yu, or ‘ Analects ‘ of Confucius; Life of Confucius; Character of the Confucian System of Ethics; 4, The Works of Mencius; His Life, and personal character of his Teachings; Dictionary of the Emperor Kanghi
CHAPTER XII. Polite Literature of the Chinese
Character of Chinese Ornamental Literature; Works on Chinese History; Historical Novels; The ‘ Antiquarian Researches ‘ of Ma Twan-lin; Philosophical Works : Chu Hi on the Primum Mobile; Military, Legal, and Agricultural Writings; The Shing Yu, or ‘Sacred Commands’ of Kanghi; Works on Art, Science, and Encyclopedias; Character and Examples of Chinese Fiction; Poetry: The Story of Li Tai-peh; Modern Songs and Extempore Verses; Dramatic Literature, burlettas; ‘The Mender of Cracked Chinaware ‘—a Farce; Deficiencies and limits of Chinese literature; Collection of Chinese Proverbs
CHAPTER XIII. Architecture, Dress, and Diet of the Chinese
Notions entertained by foreigners upon Chinese customs; Architecture of the Chinese; Building materials and private houses; Their public and ornamental structures; Arrangement of country houses and gardens; Chinese cities: shops and streets; Temples, club-houses, and taverns; Street scenes in Canton and Peking; Pagodas, their origin and construction; Modes of travelling; Various kinds of boats; Living on the water in China; Chop-boats and junks; Bridges, ornamental and practical; Honorary Portals, or Pai-lan; Construction of forts and batteries; Permanence of fashion in Chinese dress; Arrangement of hair, the Queue; Imperial and official costumes; Dress of Chinese women; Compressed feet : origin and results of the fashion; Toilet practices of men and women; Food of the Chinese, mostly vegetable; Kinds and preparation of their meats; Method of hatching and rearing ducks’ eggs; Enormous consumption of fish; The art of cooking in China
CHAPTER XIV. Social Life among the Chinese
Features and professions in Chinese society; Social relations between the sexes; Customs of betrothment and marriage; Laws regulating marriages; General condition of females in China; Personal names of the Chinese; Familiar and ceremonial intercourse : The Kotow; Forms and etiquette of visiting; A Chinese banquet; Temperance of the Chinese; Festivals ; Absence of a-Sabbath in China; Customs and ceremonies attending New-Year’s Day; The dragon-boat festival and feast of lanterns; Brilliance and popularity of processions in China; Play-houses and theatrical shows; Amusements and sports : Gambling, chess; Contrarieties in Chinese and Western usage Strength and weakness of Chinese character; Their mendacity and deceit
CHAPTER XV. INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF THE CHINESE
Tenure of land in China; Agricultural utensils; Horse-shoeing; Cultivation of rice; Terraces and methods of irrigation; Manner of using manure; Hemp, the mulberry sugar, and the tallow-tree; Efforts in arboriculture; Celebration of the annual ploughing ceremony; Modes of catching and rearing fish; Mechanical arts, metallurgy; Glass and precious stones; Ingredients and manufacture of porcelain; Its decoration; Chinese snuff-bottles discovered in Egyptian tombs; The preparation of lacquered-ware; Silk culture and manufacture in China; Chinese skill in embroidery; Growth and manufacture of cotton; Leather, felt, etc.; Tea culture, 39 ; Method of curing and preparing, 42 ; Green and black teas, 44 ; Historical notice; Constituents and effects of tea; Preparation of cassia (cinnamomum) and camphor; Ingenious methods of Chinese craftsmen; The blacksmith and dish-mender; Carving in wood and ivory, 59 ; Manufacture of cloisonne, matting, etc.• General aspect of Chinese industrial society.
CHAPTER XVI. Science Among the Chinese
Attainments of the Chinese in the exact sciences : Arithmetic; Astronomy, 68 ; Arrangement of the calendar, 69 ; Divisions of the zodiac, 71 ; Chinese observations of comets and eclipses; Their notions concerning the “Action and Reaction of the Elements,”; Astronomical myths: Story of the herdsman and weaver-girl; Divisions of the day : arrangement of the almanac, 79 ; Geographical knowledge, 80 ; Measures of length, money, and weight, 81 ; System of banks and use of paper money, 85 ; Pawnshops, 8G ; Popular associations, or huni; The theory and practice of war, arms in use, 89 ; Introduction and employment of gunpowder, 90 ; Chinese policy in warfare; Their regard for music, 94; Examples of Chinese tunes; Musical instruments, 99 ; Dancing and posture-making; Drawing and painting, 105 ; Samples of Chinese illustrative art, 107 ; Their symbolism. 111 ; Paintings on pith-paper and leaves, 113; Sculpture and architecture, 115; Notions on the internal structure of the human body, 119; Functions of the viscera and their connection with the yin and yang; Surgical operations, 123 ; A Chinese doctor, 125 ; Drugs and medicines employed, 127 ; The common diseases of China, 129 ; Native treatises on medicine.
CHAPTER XVII. History and Chronology of China
General doubts and ignorance concerning the subject, 136 ; The mythological period, 137 ; Chinese notions of cosmogony, 138 ; The god Pwanku; Chu Hi’s cosmogony; The legendary period, Fuh-hi, 143 ; The eight monarchs, 145 ; Hwangti and the sexagenary cycle, 146 ; The deluge of Yao, 147 ; The historical period : The Hia dynasty, 148 ; Yu the Great, his inscription on the rocks of Kau-lan shan; Records of the Hia, 152 ; The Shang dynasty; Chau-sin; Rise of the house of Chau, 157 ; Credibility of these early annals, 159 ; The Tsin dynasties, Tsin Chi Hwangti; The dynasty of Han; From the Han to the Sui, 165 ; The great Tang dynasty; Taitsung and the Empress Wu, 169 ; The Five Dynasties, 172; Tlie Sung dynasty; The Mongol conquest, Kublai Khan, 175; The Mings, 177; The Manchus, or Tsing dynasty, 179; Kanghi, 180; Yungching and Kienlung, 181; Kiaking and Taukwang, 183; Tables of the monarchs and dynasties.
CHAPTER XVIII. REHGION OF THE CHINESE
Causes of the perpetuity of Chinese institutions, 188 ; Isolation of the people, 189; The slight influence upon them of foreign thought and customs, 191 ; Their religious belief’s, two negative features; Three sects: the State religion, called Confucianism; Objects and methods of State worship, The Emperor as High Priest, 198 ; The Ju kino, or Sect of Literati, 15)9 ; Religious functions of government officers, 202 ; Purity and coldness of this religious system, 205 ; Rationalism (Tao kia), Lau-tsz’ its founder, 207 ; His classic, the Tao-the King, 208 ; Visit of Confucius to the philosopher Lau-tsz’, 212; Rites and mythology of the Taoists, 214; Their degeneracy into fetich worshippers, 215 ; Their organization, 217 ; The Sect of Fuh, or Buddhism, 218 ; Life of Buddha, 219 ; Influence of the creed among the people, 221 ; Checks to its power; Its tenets and liturgy, 224 ; Opposition to this sect by the literati, 227 ; Perpetuated in monasteries and nunneries; Similarity between the, Buddhist and Roman Catholic rites; Shamanism, its form in Tibet and Mongolia, 233 ; Buddhist temples, 235 ; Ancestral worship, its ancient origin; Its influence upon the family and society, 237 ; Infanticide in China, its prevalence, 239 ; Comparison with Greece and Rome; Customs and ceremonies attending a decease, 243 ; Funerals and burial-places, 245 ; Funtj-slnit, 240 ; Interment and mourning; Family worship of ancestors, 250 ; Character of the rites, 253 ; Popular superstitions, 255 ; Dread of wandering ghosts, 257 ; Methods of divination, 200 ; Worship at graves and shrines, 262 ; Chinese benevolent institutions and the practice of charity, 263 ; General condition of religion among them; Secret societies, 267 ; Mohammedanism in China; Jews in Kaifung, 271 ; Their miserable condition.
CHAPTER XIX. RISTIAN Missions Among the Chinese
Arrival of the Nestorians in China; The tablet of Si-ngan; Prester John and traces of Nestorian labors, 286 ; First epoch of Roman Catholic missions in Eastern Asia; John of Montecorvino, ibid.; Other priests of the fourteenth century; Second period : Xavier’s attempt, 289 ; Landing of Ricci; His life and character, 292 ; The Jesuits in Peking; Faber, 295 ; Adam Schaal; Verbiest; Discussion concerning the rites, 299 ; The Pope and the Emperor Kanghi; Quarrels between the missionaries, 302; Third period: The edict of Yungching expels the Catholics; Statistics of their numbers, 307 ; Their methods : the baptism of dying infants; Collisions between converts and magistrates; Pagan and Christian superstitions: casting out devils; Character of Catholic missionary work, 317; Protestantism in China : The arrival of Morrison in Canton, 318 ; His missionary and literary work, 320 ; Comparison with that of Ricci; Protestant missions among the Chinese of the Archipelago Early efforts, tract distribution, 328 ; Gutzlaff’s voyages along the coast; Foundation of the Medical Missionary Society; Success of hospital work among the natives; Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China; The Morrison Education Society, 341 ; Protestant mission work at Canton; At Amoy and Fuhchan, 348 ; In Chehkiang province; At Shanghai, 352 ; Toleration of Christianity in China obtained through Kiying; Policy of the government toward missionaries, 359 ; Articles of toleration in the treaties of 1858; Bible translation and the Term Question among missionaries; Female missionaries, 364 ; Statistics of Protestant missions in China, 366 ; Notices of deceased missionaries; Facilities and difficulties attending the work.
CHAPTER XX. Commerce of the Chinese
Ancient notices of foreign trade; The principal import, opium; Peculiarities of its cultivation in India, ibid.; Its preparation and sale in Calcutta, 376 ; Early efforts at introduction into China; Rise of the smuggling trade, 378 ; Manipulation of the drug in smoking, 380 ; The pipe and its use, 382 ; Effects of the practice, 383 ; Quantity and value of the import, 3S7 ; Coasting and inland navigation in China, 389 ; Detail of the principal exports from China, 391 ; Of the imports, 396 ; An example of pigeon-English, 402 ; Present management of the maritime customs; Trade tables.
CHAPTER XXI. Foreign Intercourse with China
Limited conception of the Chinese as to embassies; Earliest mention of China or Cathay, 408 ; Acquaintance between Rome and Seres, or Sinae; Knowledge of China under the Greek Empire; Narratives of Buddhist pilgrims, 413 ; Notices of Arab travellers, 414 ; Piano Carpini’s mission from the Pope to Kuyuk Klian, 415; Rubruquin sent by Louis XL to Mangu Khan, 418 • Travels of Marco Polo and King Ilayton of Armenia ; Of the Moor, Ibn Batuta; Of Friar Odoric, 422 ; Of Benedict Goes, 424 ; Of Ibn Waliab, 425 ; The Manchus confine foreign trade to Canton, 42G ; Character of early Portuguese traders; Their settlement at Macao and embassies to Peking; Relations of Spain with China, 431 ; The Dutch come to China, 438 ; They occupy Formosa, 434 ; Koxinga expels them from the island, 437 ; Van Hoorn’s embassy to Peking; Van Braam’s mission to Kienlung, 439 ; France and China; Russian embassies to the court at Peking, 441 ; Intercourse of the English with China, 443 ; Attempts of the East India Company to establish trade, 445 ; The Co-hong; Treatment of Mr. Flint; Anomalous position of foreigners in China during the eighteenth century, 450 ; Chinese action in sundry cases of homicide among foreigners, 451 ; Lord Macartney’s embassy to Peking, 454 ; Attitude of the Chinese regarding Macao; Regarding English and American “squabbles,”; Embassy of Lord Amherst, 458 ; Close of the East India Company monopoly; American trade with China; Chinese terms for foreigners.
CHAPTER XXII. Origin Of THE First War with England
Features of the war with England; Lord Napier appointed superintendent of British trade, 404 •, He goes to Canton; His contest with the governor, 468 ; Chinese notions of supremacy; Lord Napier retires from Canton, his sudden death; Petition of the British merchants to the king, 47() ; Trade continued as before, 478 ; Sir B. G. Robinson the superintendent at Lintin; Is succeeded by Captain Elliot; Hu Nai-tsi proposes to legalize the opium trade, 482 ; Counter-memorials to the Emperor, 483 ; Discussion of the matter among foreigners, 487 ; Canton officers enforce the prohibitory laws; Elliot ordered to drive the opium ships from Lintin; Arrival of Admiral Sir F. Maitland; Smuggling increases; A mob before the factories, 495 ; Captain Elliot’s papers and actions regarding the opium traffic, 496 ; Commissioner Lin sent to Canton, 497; He demands a surrender of opium held by foreigners, 499 ; Imprisons them in the factories; The opium given up and destroyed, 502 ; Homicide of Lin Wei-hi at Hongkong, 505 ; Motives and position of Governor Lin; The war an opium war; Debate in Parliament upon the question.
CHAPTER XXIII. Progress and Results of the First War between England AND China
Arrival of the British fleet and commencement of hostilities; Fall of Tinghai, 515; Lin recalled to Peking, 510; Kishen sent to Canton, negotiates’ a treaty with Captain Elliot at the Bogue, 517 ; The negotiations fail, 519 ; Capture of the Canton River defences; The city ransomed; Amoy and Tinghai taken; Fall of Chinhai and Ningpo, 527 ; The Emperor determines to resist, 529 ; Attempt to recapture Ningpo; The British reduce the neighboring towns, 533 ; The fleet enters the Yangtsz’, capture of Wusung; Shanghai taken; Proclamations issued by both parties respecting the war; Storming of Chinkiang, 540 ; Terrible carnage among its Manchu inhabitants, 542 ; Singular contrast at Iching; Kiying communicates with Sir H. Pottinger; The envoy and commissioners meet, 547 ; A treaty drawn up, 549 ; Conversation on the opium question, 550 ; The Treaty of Nanking signed; Massacre of shipwrecked crews on Formosa; Losses and rewards on both sides alter the war, 556 ; Settlement of a tariff and commercial relations, 557 ; Deaths of Howqua and John R. Morrison; A supplementary treaty signed; Renewal of opium vexations, 562 ; Treaties arranged with other foreign powers, 565 ; The ambassador and letter from the United States to China, 566 ; Caleb Cushing negotiates a treaty with Kiying, 567 ; Homicide by an American at Canton, and subsequent correspondence, 568 ; A French treaty concluded by M. de Lagreno at Whampoa; Position of England and China after the war.
CHAPTER XXIV. THE Tai-ping Rebellion
Attitude of the ruling classes in China toward foreigners; Governor Sir J. Davis and Commissioner Kiying; Killing of six Englishmen at Canton; Chinese notions of treaties ibid; Causes of the Tai-ping Rebellion; Life of Hung Siutsuen, its leader; This wonderful vision; He interprets it by Christian ideas, 585 ; Early phases of the movement; Commencement of the insurrection, 590 ; Political and religious tenets of the rebels, 592 ; Rapid advance to the Yangtsz’ and occupation of Nanking, 596 ; The expedition against Peking; Its failure; Dissensions among the rebel wangs, or leaders; Rebel sortie from Nanking; Assistance of foreigners sought by imperialists; Achievements of the Chung Wang; Colonel Gordon assumes control of the “Ever-Victorious force,”; His successful campaigns; Environment of Suchan; The city surrenders; Execution of its wangs by Governor Li; Gordon’s responsibility in the matter, GIG ; Further operations against the insurgents, 617 ; The Ever-Victorious force disbanded, 618 ; Fall of Nanking and dispersion of the rebels; Subsequent efforts of the Shi and Kau wangs; Disastrous character of the rebellion.
CHAPTER XXV. The Second War between Great Britain and China Relations between the Cantonese and foreigners after the first war; Collecting of customs duties at Shanghai entrusted to foreigners; Common measures of defence against the rebels there; The insurrection in Kwangtung; Frightful destruction of life, 632 ; Governor Yeh’s policy of seclusion; Smuggling lorchas at Hongkong and Macao; The lorcha Arrow affair; The initial acts of the war; Collision with Americans at the Barrier forts, 639 ; View of the war in England, 641 ; Arrival of Lord Elgin and Baron Gros in China; Bombardment and capture of Canton, ibid.; Problem of governing the city; The allies repair to the Pei ho; Capture of the Taku forts, 651 ; Negotiations with Kweiliang and Hwashana at Tientsin; Unexpected appearance of Kiying; Difficulties of Lord Elgin’s position at Tientsin; The treaties signed and ratified, 656 ; Revision of the tariff undertaken at Shanghai; Effect of treaty stipulations and foreign trade on the people of China; Lord Egin visits the Tai-ping rebels at Hankow, 659 ; Sentiment of officials and people in China regarding foreigners, 660 ; Coolie trade outrages, 663 ; The foreign ministers repair to Taku, 664 ; Repulse at the Taku forts, 66G ; The American minister conducted to Peking; Discussion concerning the formalities of an audience, 669 ; He retires and ratifies the treaty at Pehtang; Lord Elgin and Baron Gros sent back to China, 671 ; War resumed, the allies at Pehtang; Capture of villages about Taku, 674 ; Fall of the Taku forts, 676 ; Lord Elgin declines to remain at Tientsin; Interpreters Wade and Parkes sent to Tungchau, 678 ; Capture of Parkes and Loch, 680 ; Skirmish of Pa-li-kiau, 682 ; Pillage of Yuen-ming Yuen, G83 ; Its destruction upon the return of the prisoners, 684 ; Entry into Peking and signing of the treaties, 686 ; Permanent settlement of foreign embassies at the capital.
CHAPTER XXVI. Narrative of Recent Events in China
Palace conspiracy upon the death of Hienfung; The regency established at Peking, 691 ; The Lay-Osborne flotilla, 693 ; Collapse of the scheme and dismissal of Lay, 695 ; The Burlingame mission to foreign countries, 696 ; Its treaty with the United States, 698 ; Outbreak at Tientsin, 700 ; Investigation into the riot, 703 ; Bitter feeling among foreigners, 705 ; Memorandum from the Tsung-ii Yamun on the missionary question; Conclusion of the Kansuh insurrection; Marriage of the Emperor Tungchi; The foreign ministers demand an audience; Reception of the ambassadors by Tungchi; Stopping of the coolie trade, 715 ; Japanese descent upon Formosa; English expedition to Yunnan, 719 ; Second mission, murder of Margary; The Grosvenor mission of inquiry; The Chifu Convention between Li Hung-chang and Sir T. Wade, 725 ; Death of Tungchi and accession of Kwangsii; The rebellion of Yakub Beg in Turkestan; He overthrows the Dungani Confederation, 730 ; His forces conquered by Tso Tsung-tang, 731 ; Negotiations as to the cession of Kuldja, 732 ; The great famine of 1878, 734 ; Efforts of foreigners for its relief, 736 ; Chinese boys sent to America for education, 739 ; Grounds of hope for the future of China.LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS IN VOLUME I & VOLUME II
Worship of the Emperor at the Temple of Heaven, Title-page, representing an honorary portal, or PAI-LAU. (The two characters, Shing chi, upon the top, indicate that the structure has been erected by imperial command. In the panel upon the lintel the four characters, Chung Kwoh Tsung-Um, ‘ A General Account of the Middle Kingdom,’ express in Chinese the title of this work. On the right the inscription reads, Jin che ngai jin yu tsin kih so, ‘ He who is benevolent loves those near, and then those who are remote ; ‘ the other side contains an expression attributed to Confucius, ‘ Si fang chi jin yu shing che ye,” ‘The people of the West have their sages.’)—Compare p. 757. A Road-Cut IN the Loess, An-ting Gate, Wall of Peking, Plan op Peking, Portal op Confucian Temple, Peking, Monument, or Tope, op a Lama, Hwang sz’, Peking, View over the Loess-clefts in Shansi, Temple of the Goddess Ma Tsu-pu, Ningpo, Lukan Gorge, Yangtsz’ River. (From Blakiston.), View of a Street in Canton, Miaotsz’ Types, Domesticated Yak, FACADE OF Dwellings in Loess Cliffs, Ling-shi hien, Coal Gorge on the Yangtsz’. (From Blakiston.), Fl-Fl Ami HAI-TUJI. (From a Chinese cut.), The Chinese Pig, Mode of Carrying Pigs, The Kl-LIJV, or Unicorn, The FUNG-HWANG, or Phoenix, Different Styles op Official Caps, Mode of Carrying High Officers in Sedan, Prisoner Condemned to the Cangue in Court, Mode of Exposure in the Cangue, Publicly Whipping a Thief through the Streets, Interior of KUNO YUEN, or ‘Examination Hall,’ Peking, Chinese Hieroglyphics and their Modern Equivalents, Six Styles op Chinese Characters, Worship of Confucius and his Disciples, Diagram of Chinese Roof Construction, The PIH-TUNO KUNO, or ‘Classic Hall,’ Peking, Wheelbarrow used for Travelling, Bridge in Wan-shao Shan Gardens, near Peking, Bridge, showing the Mode of Mortising the Arch, Barber’s Establishment, Tricks Played with the Queue, Procession op Ladies to an Ancestral Temple, Appearance of the Bones op a Foot when Compressed, Feet of Chinese Ladies, Shape of a Lady’s Shoe, Boys Gambling with Crickets, Chinese Chess-board
Signing of the Treaty of Peking, Manner of Shoeing Horses, Pedler’s Barrow, Group and Residence of Fishermen near Canton, The Fishing Cormorant, The Cobbler and his Movable Workshop, Mode op Firing Tea, Travelling Blacksmith and Equipment, Itinerant Dish-mender, Fancy Carved Work, Fable of the Herdsman and Weaver-girl. (From a bowl.), Representation of a Man Dreaming, The Vengeance op Heaven upon the False Grave, A would-be Assassin Followed by Spirits, Symbols of Happiness and Old Age. (From a plaque.), Caricature of an English Foraging Party, Chinese Notions of the Internal Structure of the Human Body, Pwanku Chiselling Out the Universe, Gateway of the Yuen Dynasty, Ku-yung Kwan, Great Wall, Ancestral Hall and Mode of Worshipping the Tablets, Buddhist Priests, Consulting a Fortune-teller, Head of Nestorian Tablet at Si-ngan, Roman Catholic Altar near Shanghai, Manner of Smoking Opium, Wall of Canton City. (From Fisher.), Plan of Canton and Vicinity, Portrait of Commissioner KiYing, Plan of the Pei ho and Forts. (From Fisher.), Portrait of Prince Kung, Portrait of WanslangNOTE RESPECTING THE SYSTEM OF PRONUNCL ATION ADOPTED IN THIS WORK
In this the values of the vowels are as follows :
1. a as the italicized letters in father, far (never like a in hat) ;e.g., chang, hang—sounded almost as if written chahng, hahng, not flat as in the English words sang, hang, man, etc.
2. a like the short u in hut, or as any of the italicized vowels in American, summer, mother ; the German o approaches this sound, while Wade writes it e ; e.g., pan, tang, to be pronounced as pun, tongue.
3. e as in men, dead, saw! ; as teh, shen, yen.
4. e, the French e, as in they, neigh, pray ; as che, ye, pronouneed chaij, yay.
5. i as in pm, f/ntsh ; as dug, lin, Chihl’i.
6. ‘t as in machine, believe, feel, me ; as I’l, Ktshen, Kanghi.
7. o as in long. Yawn ; never like no, cro^u ; as to, soh, j)o.
8. u as in rule, too, fool ; as 7\i7-k, Belur, ku, sung ; pronounced Toork, Beloor, koo, soong. This sound is heard less full in fuh, fsun, and a few other words ; this and the next may be considered as equivalent to the two ii-sounds found in German.
9. u nearly as in I’une (French), or wnion, rheum ; as hii, tsil.
10. ai as in aisle, high, or longer than i in pine ; as Shanghai, Hainan. The combination ei is more slender than ai, though the difference is slight ; e.g., Kivei chau.
11. au and ao as in round, our, hoio ; as Fuhchau, Macao, Taukwang.
12. eu as in the colloquial phrase say ’em ; e.g., cheung. This diphthong is heard in the Canton dialect.
13. ia as in yard ; e.g., Ma, Hang ; not to be sounded as if written Jdgh-a, kigh-ang, but like hed, keiing.
14. iau is made b}” joining Nos. 5 and 11 ; hiau, Liautung.
15. ie as in sierra (SjDanisli), Ki’enzi; e.g., Men, kien.
16. iu as in peu;, pure, lengthened to a dij)hthong ; km, siun.
17. iue is made by adding a short e to the preceding ; kiuen, Muen,
18. ui as in Louisiana, suicide ; e.g., sui, cMii.SYSTEM OF PRONUNCIATION
The consonants are sounded generally as they are in the English alphabet. Ch as in church ; hw as in when. ; j soft, as s in pleasure; kw as in awkward ; ng, as an initial, as in singing, leaving off the first two letters ; sz’ and tsz’ are to be sounded full with one breathing, but none of the English vowels are heard in it ; the sound stops at the z ; Dr. Morrison wrote these sounds tsze and sze, while Sir Thomas Wade, whose system bids fair to become the most widely employed, turns them into ssu and fzii. The hs of the latter, made by omitting the first vowel of hissing, is written simply as h by the author. Urh, or’rh, is pronounced as the three last letters of purr.
All these, except No. 12, are heard in the court dialect, which has now become the most common mode of writing the names of places and persons in China. Though foreign authors have employed different letters, they have all intended to write the same sound ; thus chan, shan, and xan, are only different ways of writing閂; and tsse, tsze, tsz’, zh, tzu`, and tzu, of 字. Such is not the case, however, with such names as Macao, Hongkong, Amoy, Whampoa, and others along the coast, which are sounded according to the local patois, and not the court pronunciation-Ma-ngau, Hiangkiang, Hiamun, Hwangpu, etc. Many of the discrepancies seen in the works of travellers and writers are owing to the fact that each is prone to follow his own fancy in transliterating foreign names ; uniformity is almost unattainable in this matter. Even, too, in what is called the court dialect there is a great diversity among educated Chinese, owing to the traditional way all learn the sounds of the characters. In this work, and on the map, the sounds are written uniformly according to the pronunciation given in Morrison’s Dictionary, but not according to his orthography. Almost every writer upon the Chinese language seems disposed to propose a new system, and the result is a great confusion in writing the same name ; for example, eull, olr, id, ulli, Ih, urh, ‘rh, ‘i, e, lur, nge, ngi, je, ji, are different ways of writing the sounds given to a single character. Amid these discrepancies, both among the Chinese themselves and those who endeavor to catch their pronunciation, it is almost impossible to settle upon one mode of writing the names of places. That which seems to offer the easiest pronunciation has been adopted in this work. It may, perhaps, be regarded as an unimportant matter, so long as the place is known, but to one living abroad, and unacquainted with the language, the discrepancy is a source of great confusion. He is unable to decide, for instance, whether Tang-ngan, Tangon hien, Tang-oune, and Tangao, refer to the same place or not.
In writing Chinese proper names, authors differ greatly as to the style of placing them ; thus, Fuhchaufu, Fiih-chau fu, Fuh Chau Fu, Fuh-Chau fu, etc., are all seen. Analogy affords little guide here, for New York, Philadelphia, and Cambridge are severally unlike in the principle of writing them : the first, being really formed of an adjective and a noun, is not in this case united to the latter, as it is in Newport, Newtown, etc. ; the second is like the generality of Chinese towns, and while it is now written as one word, it would be written as two if the name were translated-as ‘Brotherly Love ;’ but the third, Cambridge, despite its derivation, is never written in two words, and many Chinese names are like this in origin. Thus applying these rules, properly enough, to Chinese places, they have been written here as single words, Suchau, Peking, Hongkong ; a hyphen has been inserted in some places only to avoid mispronunciation, as Hiau-‘i, St-ngan, etc. It is hardly supposed that this system will alter such names as are commonly written otherwise, nor, indeed, that it will be adhered to with absolute consistency in the following pages ; but the principle of the arrangement is perhaps the simplest possible. The additions fu, chau, ting, and hien, being classifying terms, should form a separate word. Li conclusion, it may be stated that this system could only be carried out approximately as regards the proper names in the colonies and outside of the Empire.CHAPTER I GENERAL DIVISIONS AND FEATURES OF THE EMPIRE
The possessions of the ruling dynasty of China,—that portion of the Asiatic continent which is usually called by geographers the Chinese Empire,—form one of the most extensive dominions ever swayed by a single power in any age, or any part of the world. Comprising within its limits every variety of soil and climate, and watered by large rivers, which serve not only to irrigate and drain it, but, by means of their size and the course of their tributaries, affording unusual facilities for intercommunication, it produces within its own borders everything necessary for the comfort, support, and delight of its occupants, who have depended very slightly upon the assistance of other climes and nations for satisfying their own wants. Its civilization has been developed under its own institutions; its government has been modelled without knowledge or reference to that of any other kingdom ; its literature has borrowed nothing from the genius or research of the scholars of other lands ; its language is unique in its symbols, its structure, and its antiquity ; its inhabitants are remarkable for their industry, peacefulness, numbers, and peculiar habits. The examination of such a people, and so extensive a country, can hardly fail of being both instructive and entertaining, and if rightly pursued, lead to a stronger conviction of the need of the precepts and sanctions of the Bible to the highest development of every nation in its personal, social, and political relations in this world, as well as to individual happiness in another. It is to be hoped, too, that at this date in the world’s history, there are many more than formerly, who desire to learn the condition and wants of others, not entirely for their own amusement and congratulation at their superior knowledge and advantages, but also to promote the well-being of their fellow-men, and impart liberally of the gifts they themselves enjoy. Those who desire to do this, will find that few families of mankind are more worthy of their greatest efforts than those comprised within the limits of the Chinese Empire ; while none stand in more need of the purifying, ennobling, and invigorating principles of our holy religion to develop and enforce their own theories of social improvement.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME CHINA
The origin of the name China has not yet been fully settled. The people themselves have now no such name for their country, nor is there good evidence that they ever did apply it to the whole land. The occurrence in the Laws of Manu and in the Mahaharata of the name China, applied to a land or people with whom the Hindus had intercourse in the twelfth century B.C., and who were probably the Chinese, throws the origin far back into the remotest times, where probability must take the place of evidence. The most credible account ascribes its origin to the family of Tsin, whose chief first obtained complete sway, about b.c. 250, over all the other feudal principalities in the land, and whose exploits rendered him famous in India, Persia, and other Asiatic states. His sept had, however, long been renowned in Chinese history, and previous to this conquest had made itself widely known, not only in China, but in other countries. The kingdom lay in the northwestern parts of the empire, near the Yellow River, and according to Visdelon, who has examined the subject, the family was illustrious by its nobility and power. ” Its founder was Taye, son of the emperor Chuen-hu. It existed in great splendor for more than a thousand years, and was only inferior to the royal dignity. Feitsz’, a prince of this family, had the superintendence of the stud of the emperor Hiao, b.c. 909, and as a mark of favor his majesty conferred on him the sovereignty of the city of Tsinchau in mesne tenure with the title of sub-tributary king. One hundred and twenty-two years afterwards, b.c. 770, Siangkwan, jh’t’it vol of Tsinchau (having by his bravery revenged the insults offered to the emperor Ping by the Tartars, who slew his father Yu), was created king in full tenure, and without limitation or exception. The same monarch, abandoning Si-ngan (then called Hao-king, the capital of his empire) to transport his seat to Lohyang, Siangkwan was able to make himself master of the large province of Sliensi, which had composed the proper kingdom of the emperor. The king of Tsin thus became very powerful, but though his fortune changed, he did not alter his title, retaining always that of the city of Tsinchau, which had been the foundation of his elevation. The kingdom of Tsin soon became celebrated, and being the place of the first arrival by land of people from western countries, it seems probable that those who saw no more of China than the realm of Tsin, extended this name to all the rest, and called the whole empire Tsin or Chin.”(D’Herbelot, Bibliotheqne Orientale, quarto edition, 1779, Tome IV., p. 8.Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. I., pp. xxxiv., Ixviii. Edkiius, Chinese Buddhism, p. 93.)
This extract refers to periods long before the dethronement of the house of Chan by princes of Tsin ; the position of this latter principality, contiguous to the desert, and holding the passes leading from the valley of the Tarim across the desert eastward to China, renders the supposition of the learned Jesuit highly probable. The possession of the old imperial capital would strengthen this idea in the minds of the traders resorting to China from the West ; and when the same family did obtain paramount sway over the whole empire, and its head render himself celebrated by his conquests, and by building the Great Wall, the name Tsin was still more widely diffused, and regarded as the name of the country. The Malays and Arabians, whose vessels were early found between Aden and Canton, knew it as China, and probably introduced the name into Europe before 1500. The Hindus contracted it into Machin, from Maha-china, i.e., ‘Great China;’ and the first of these was sometiuies confounded with Manj’i^ a term used for the tribes in Yunnan. Tlius it appears that these and other nations of Asia have known the country or its people by no other terms than Jin., Chin, Sin, Since, or Tziniske. The Persian name Cathay, and its Russian form of Kitai, is of modern orio-in ; it is altered from Ki-tah, the race Avhieh ruled northern China in the tenth century, and is quite unknown to the people it designates. The Latin word Seres is derived from the Chinese word sz’ (silk), and doubtless first came into use to denote the people during the Ilan dynasty.
VARIOUS DESIGNATIONS
The Chinese have many names to designate themselves and the land they inhabit. One of the most ancient is Tien Ilia, meaning ‘ Beneath the Skj^,’ and denoting the AVorld ; another, almost as ancient, is /&’ Ilai, i.e., ‘ [all within] the Four Seas,’ while a third is (Vtunr/ Kivoh, oy ‘Middle Kingdom.’ This dates from the establishment of the Chan dynasty, about b.c.1150, when the imperial family so called its own special state in Honan because it was surrounded by all the others. The name was retained as the empire grew, and thus has strengthened the popular belief that it is really situated in the centre of the earth; Chn,)i<j Kioohjln, or ‘men of the Middle Kingdom,’ denotes the Chinese. All these names indicate the vanity and ignorance of the people respecting their geographical position and their rank among the nations ; they have not been alone in this foible, for the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all had terms for their possessions which intimated their own ideas of their superiority ; while, too, the area of none of those monarchies, in their widest extent, ecpialled that of China Proper. The family of Tsin also established the custom, since continued, of calling the country by the luimc of the dynasty then reigning; but, wliilc the brief duration of that house of forty-four years was not long enough to give it much currency among the people, snccueeding dynasties, by their talents and prowess, imparted their own as permanent appellations to the people and country. The terms Ilan-jhi and JLoi-tsz’ {i.e., men of Ilan or sons of llan) are now in use by the people to denote themselves : the last also means a ”brave man.” Tangjin, or ‘Men of Tang,’ is quite as frequently heard iu the southern provinces, where the phrase Tang Shan, or ‘ Hills of Tang,’ denotes the whole country. The Buddhists of India called the land Chin-tan, or the ‘ Dawn,’ and this appellation has been used in Chinese writings of that sect.
The present dynasty calls the empire Ta Tsing Kivoh, or * Great Pure Kingdom;’ but the people themselves have refused the corresponding term of Tsing-jin, or ‘ Men of Tsing.’ The empire is also sometimes termed Tsing Chau, i.e., ‘ [land of the] Pure Dynasty,’ by metonymy for the family that rules it. The term now frequently heard in western countries—the Celestial Empire^is derived from Tien Chan, i.e., ‘ Heavenly Dynasty,’ meaning the kingdom which the dynasty appointed by heaven rules over ; but the term Celestials, for the people of that kingdom, is entirely of foreign manufacture, and their language could with difficulty be made to express such a patronymic.
The phrase Li Jlin, or ‘ Black-haired Pace,’ is a common appellation ; the expressions Ilira Yen, the ‘ Flowery Language,’ and Chung lima Kiooh, the ‘ Middle Flowery Kingdom,’ are also frequently used for the written language of the country, because the Chinese consider themselves to be among the most polished and civilized of all nations—which is the sense of hwa in these phrases. The phrase I^ui T”i, or ‘ Inner Land,’ is often employed to distinguish it from countries beyond their borders, regarded as the desolate and barbarous regions of the earth. lima Ilia (the Glorious Hia) is an ancient term for China, the Hia dynasty being the first of the series; Tung Tu, or ” Land of the East,” is a name used in Mohammedan writings alone.
The present ruling dynasty has extended the limits of the empire far beyond what they were under the Ming princes, and nearly to their extent in the reign of Kublai, a.d. 1290. In 1840, its borders were well defined, reaching fi*om Sagalien I. on the north-east, in lat. 48° 10′ jS”. and long. 144° 50′ E., to Hainan I. in the China Sea, on the south, in lat. 18° 10′ X., and westward to the Belur-tag, in long. T4° E., inclosing a continuous area, estimated, after the most careful valuation by McCullcjch, at 5,300,000 square miles. The longest line which could be drawn in this vast region, from the south-western part of tli, bordering on Kokand, north-easterly to the sea of Okhotsk, is 3350 miles ; its greatest breadth is 2,100 miles, from the Outer Hing-an or Stanovoi Mountains to the peninsula of Luichau in Kwangtung :—the first measuring 71 degrees of longitude, and the last over 34 of latitude.
Since that year the process of disintegration has been going on, and the cession of Hongkong to the British has been followed by greater partitions to Russia, which have altogether reduced it more than half a million of square miles on the north-east and west. Its limits on the western frontiers are still somewhat undefined. The greatest breadth is from Albazin on the Amur, nearly south to Hainan, 2150 miles ; and the longest line which can be drawn in it runs from Sartokh in Tibet, north-east to the junction of the Usuri River with the Amur.
GENERAL DIVISIONS
The form of the empire approaches a rectangle. It is
bounded on the east and south-east by various arms and portions
of the Pacific Ocean, beginning at the frontier of Corea,
and called on European maps the gulfs of Liautung and Pechele,
the Yellow Sea, channel of Formosa, China Sea, and Gulf
of Tonquin. Cochinchina and Burmali border on the provinces
of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, in the south-west;
but most of the region near that frontier is inhabited by halfindependent tribes of Laos, Ivakyens, Singphos, and others.
The southern ranges of the Himalaya separate Assam, Butan,
Sikkim, Nipal and states in India from Tibet, whose western
border is bounded by the nominally dependent country of
Ladak, or if that be excluded, by the Kara-kormn Mountains.
The kingdoms or states of Cashmere, Badakshan, Kokand, and
the Kirghls steppe, lie upon the western frontiers of Little
Tibet, Ladak, and 111′, as far north as the Russian border ; the
high range of the Belur-tag or Tsung-ling separates the former
countries from the Cliiiiese territory in this quarter. Russia is
conterminous with China from the Kirghis steppe along the
Altai chain and Kenteh range to the junction of the Argun
and the Amur, from whence the latter river and its tributary,
the Usuri, form the dividing line to the border of Corea, a
total stretch of 5,300 miles. The circuit of tiie whole empire
is 14,000 miles, or considerably over half the circumference of
the globe. These measurements, it must be remembered, are
of the roughest character. The coast line froiri the mouth of
the river Yaluh in Corea to that of the Annam in Cochinchina
is not far from 4,400 miles. This immense country comprises
about one-third of the continent, and nearly one-tenth of the
habitable part of the globe ; and, next to Russia, is the largest
empire which has existed on the earth.
It will, perhaps, contribute to a better comprehension of the
area of the Chinese Empire to compare it with some other countries.
Russia is nearly 6,500 miles in its greatest length, about 1,500 in its average breadth, and measures 8,369,144(Or 21,759,974 sq. km.—Gotha Almanack.) square miles, or one-seventh of the land on the globe. The United States of America extends about 3,000 miles from Monterey on the Pacific in a north-easterly direction to Maine, and
about 1700 from Lake of the Woods to Florida. The area of
this territory is now estimated at 2,936,166 square miles, with
a coast line of 5,120 miles. The area of the British Empire
is not far from 7,647,000 square miles, but the boundaries of
some of the colonies in Hindostan and South Africa are not
definitely laid down ; the superficies of the two colonies of
Australia and Kew Zealand is nearly equal to that of all the
other possessions of the British crown.
The Chinese themselves divide the empire into three principal
parts, rather by the different form of government in each,
than by any geographical arrangement.
I. The Eighteen Provinces^ including, with trivial additions, the country conquered by the Manchus in 1664.
II. 3fmichuria, or the native country of the Manchus, lying north of the Gulf of Liautung as far as the Amur and west of the Usuri River.
III. Colonial Possessions, including Mongolia, 111 (comprising Sungaria and Eastern Turkestan), Koko-uor, and Tibet.The first of these divisions alone is that to which other nations have given the name of China, and is the only part which is entirely settled by the Chinese. It lies on the eastern slope of the high table-land of Central Asia, in the south-east ern angle of the continent ; and for beauty of scenery, fertility of- soil, salubrity of climate, magnificent and navigable rivers, and variety and abundance of its productions, M’ill compare with any portion of the globe. The native name for this portion, as distinguished from the rest, is Shih-jxih Sang or the ‘ Eighteen Provinces,’ but the people themselves usually mean this part
alone by the term Chung Juvoh. The area of the Eighteen
Provinces is estimated by ‘McCulloch at 1,348,870 square miles,
but if the full area of the provinces of Kansuh and Chihli be
included, this figure is not large enough ; the usual computation
is 1,297,999 square miles ; Mahe Brun reckons it at
1,482,091 square miles ; but the entire dimensions of the Eighteen
Provinces, as the Chinese define them, cannot be much
under 2,000,000 square miles, the excess lying in the extension
of the two provinces mentioned above. This part, consequently,
is rather more than two-fifths of the area of tlie whole empire.
MOUNTAIN CHAINS
The old limits are, however, more natural, and being better known may still be retained. They give nearly a square form to the provinces, the length from north to south being 1,474
miles, and the breadth 1,355 miles ; but the diagonal line from
the north-east corner to Yunnan is 1,009 miles, and tliat from
Amoy to the north-western part of Kansuh is 1,557 miles.
China Proper, therefore, measures about seven times the size of
France, and fifteen times that of the United Kingdom ; it is
nearly half as large as all Europe, which is 3,050,000 square
miles. Its area is, however, nearer that of all the States of the
American Union lying east of the Mississippi Piver, with Texas,
Arkansas, Missouri and Iowa added ; these all cover 1,355,309
square miles. The position of the two countries facing the
western borders of great oceans is another point of likeness,
which involves considerable similarity in climate ; there is
moreover a further reseml)lance between tlie size of the provinces
in China and those of the newer States.
Before proceeding to define the three great basins into which
China may be divided, it will give a better idea of the whole
subject to speak of the mountain ranges which lie within and
near or along the limits of the country. The latter in them
selves form almost an entire wall inclosing and defining the old
empire ; the principal exceptions being the western boundaries
of Yunnan, the border between Hi and the Kirghis steppe, and
the trans-Anmr region.
Commencing at the north-eastern corner of the basin of the
Amur above its mouth, near lat. 56° N., are the first sunmiits
of the Altai range, which during its long course of 2,000 miles
takes several names ; this range forms the northern limit of the
table-land of Central Asia. At its eastern part, the range is
called Stanovoi by the Russians, and Wai Jling-an by the Chinese
; the first name is applied as far west as the confluence of
the Songari with the Amur, beyond which, north-west as far
as lake Baikal, the Russians call it the Daourian Mountains.
The distance from the lake to the ocean is about 600 miles, and
all within Russian limits. Beyond lake Baikal, westward, the
chain is called the Altai, i.e.^ Golden Mountains, and sometimes
Kinshan, having a similar meaning. Near the head-waters of
the river Selenga this range separates into two nearly parallel
systems running east and west. The southern one, which lies
mostly in Mongolia, is called the Tangnu, and rises to a much
liigher elevation than the northern spur. The Tangnu Mountains
continue under that name on the Chinese maps in a southwesterly
direction, but this chain properly joins the Tien shan,
or Celestial Mountains, in the province of Cobdo, and continues
until it again unites with the Altai further west, near the
junction of the Kirghis steppe with China and Russia. The
length of the whole chain is not far from 2,500 miles, and
except near the Tshulyshman River, does not, so far as is
known, rise to the snow line, save in detached peaks. The
average elevation is supposed to be in the neighborhood of
7,000 feet ; most of it lies between latitudes 47° and 52° X.,
largely covered with forests and susceptible of cultivation.
The next chain is the Belur-tag, Tartash ling, in Chinese
Tsungling, Onion Mountains, or better. Blue Mountains, so called from their distant hue. (Klaproth (MemoireH sur VAsie, Tome II., p. 295) observes that the name is derived from the abundance of onions found upon tliese mountains. M. Abel-Remusat prefers to attribute it to the “bluish tint of onions.”) This range lies in the south-west of Songaria, separating that territory from Badakshan ; it commences about lat. 50° N., nearly at right angles with the Tien shan, and extends south, rising to a great height, though little is known of it. It may be considered as the connecting link between the Tien shan and the Kwanlun ; or rather, both this and the latter
may be considered as proceeding from a mountain knot, detached
from the llindu-kush, in the south-western part of Turkestan
called Pushtikhur, the Belur-tag coming from its northern
side, while the Kwanlun issues from its eastern side, and extends
across the middle of the table-land to Koko-nor, there diverging
into two branches. This mountain knot lies between latitudes
36° and 37° Is., and longitudes 70° and 74° E. The Himalaya
range proceeds from it south-easterly, along the southern frontier
of Tibet, till it bi-eaks up near the head-waters of the
Yangtsz’, Salween, and other rivers between Tibet, Burmali,
and Yunnan, thus nearlj’ completing the inland fi’ontier of the
empire. A small spur from the Yun ling, in the west of Yunnan,
in the country of the Singphos and borders of Assam,
may also be regarded as forming part of the boundary line.
The C/ian(/-j)eh shan lies between the head-waters of the Yaluh
and Toumen rivers, along the Corean frontier, forming a
spur of the lower range of the Siliota or SUi-hlh-teh Mountains,
east of the Usuri.
Within the confines of the empire are four large chains,
some of the peaks in their course rising to stupendous elevations,
but the ridges generally falling below the snow line.
The first is the Tien shan or Celestial Mountains, called Tengkiri
b}’ the Mong(jls, and sometimes erroneously Alak Mountains.
This chain begins at the northern extremity of the
Belur-tag in lat. 40° N., or more properly comes in from the
west, and extends from west to east between longitudes 76° and
90° E., and generally along the 22° of north latitude, dividing
Ili into the Northern and Southern Circuits. Its western portion
is called Muz-tag ; the Muz-daban, about long. 79° E., between
Kuldja and Aksu, is where the road from north to south
runs across, leadino; over a hi”;h glacier above the snow line.
East of this occurs a mass of peaks anK)ng the highest in Central
Asia, called Bogdoula; and at the eastern end, near Ur
THE TIEN SHAN AND KWANLUX RANGES. 11
Qiiitsi, as it declines to the desert, are traces of volcanic action
seen in solfataras and spaces covered with ashes, but no active
volcanoes ai’C now known. The doubtful volcano of Pi shan,
between the glacier and the Bogdo-ula, is the only one reported
in continental China. The Tien shan end abruptly at their
eastern point, w-here the ridge meets the desert, not far from
the meridian of Barknl in Kansuh, though Humboldt considers
the hills in l^Iongolia a continuation of the range eastward,
as far as the Kui Iling-an. The space between the
Altai and Tien shan is very nuich broken up by mountainous
spurs, which may be considered as connecting links of them
both, though no regular chain exists. The western prolongation
of the Tien shan, under the name of tlie Muz-tag, extends
from the high pass only as far as the junction of the Belurtag,
beyond which, and out of the Chinese Empire, it continues
nearly west, south of the river Sihon toward Kodjend, under
the names of Ak-tag and Asferah-tag ; this part is covered with
perpetual snow.
Nearly parallel with the Tien shan in part of its course is
the Kan shan, Ivwanlun or Koulkun range of mountains, also
called Tien Chu or ‘ Celestial Pillar ‘ by Chinese geographers.
The Ivwanlun starts from the Pushtikhur knot in lat. 3G° X.,
and runs along easterly in nearly that parallel through the
whole breadth of the tabledand, dividing Tibet from the desert
of Gobi in part of its course. About the middle of its extent,
not far from long. 00° E., it divides into several ranges,
wliich decline to the south-east through Ivoko-nor and Sz’cliuen,
under the names of the Bayan-kara, the Burklian-buddha,
the Shuga and the Tanghi Mountains,—each more or less
parallel in their general south-east course till they merge
with the Yun ling {i.e., Cloudy Mountains), about lat. 33° !N.
Another group bends northerly, beyond the sources of the Yellow
Piver, and under the names of Altyn-tag, Xan shan, In
shan, and Ala shan, passes through Ivansuh and Shensi to join
the Xui IIino;-an, not far fi-om the o-reat bend of the Yellow
River. Some portion of the country between the extremities
of these two ranges is less elevated, but no plains occur, though
the parts north of Kansuh, where the Great Wall runs, are rugged and unfertile. The large tract between the basins of the Tarini River and that of the Yaru-tsano . i, including the Kwanlun range, is mostly occupied by the desert of Gobi, and is now one of the least known parts of the globe. The mineral treasures of the Kwanlun are probably great, judging from the many precious stones ascribed to it ; this desolate region is the favorite arena for the monsters, fairies, genii, and other beings of Chinese legendary lore, and is the Olympus where the Buddhist and Taoist divinities hold their mystic
sway, strange voices are lieard, and marvels accomplished.*
From near the head-waters of the Yellow Iliver, the four ridges
run south-easterly, and converge hard by the confines of Burmth
and Yunnan, within an area about one hundred miles in breadth.
The Yun ling range constitutes the western frontier of Sz’chuen,
and going south-east into Yunnan, thence turns eastward, under
the names of Kan ling, Mei ling, “Wu-i shan, and other local
terms, passing through Kweichau, Hunan, and dividing Kwangtunoj
and Fuhkien from Iviano-si and Chehkiano;, bends northeast
till it reaches the sea opposite Chusan. One or two spurs
branch off north from this range through Hunan and Iviangsi,
as far as the Yangtsz’, but they are all of moderate elevation,
covered with forests, and susceptible of cultivation. The descent
from the Siueh ling or Bayan-kara Mountains, and the
western part of the Yun ling, to the Pacific, is ^’ery gradual.
The Chinese give a list of fifty peaks lying in the provinces
w^hich are covered with snow for the whole ur part of the
year, and describe glaciers on several of them.
Another less extensive ridge branches off nearly due east
from the Bayan-kara Mountains in Koko-nor, and forms a moderately
high range of mountains between the Yellow Iliver and
Yangtsz’ kiang as far as long. 112° E., on the western borders
of Kganhwui ; this range is called Ivo-tsing shan, and Peh
ling {i.e., Xorthern Mountains), on European maps. These two
chains, viz., the Yun ling—with its continuation of the Mei
ling—and the Peh ling, with their numerous offsets, render the
whole of the western })art of C’hina very imeven.
‘ Compare Reimisiit, Ilistaire de la VUle de KJiotan, p. (ir), ff.
HING-AN AND HIMALAYA KANGES. IB
On the east of Mongolia, and cominencini!; near the hend of
the Yellow Ilivei”, or i-ather forming a contiiniation of the
range in Shansi, is the Nui lling-an ling or Sialkoi, called also
kSoyorti range, which runs north-east on the west side of the
basin of the Amur, till it reaches the Wai lling-an, in lat.
56° N. The sides of the ridge toward the desert are nearly
naked, but the eastern acclivities are AV’ell wooded and fertile.
On the confines of Corea a spur strikes off westward through
Shingking, called Kolmin-shanguin alin bj the Manchus, and
Chang-pell shan {i.e., Long White Mountains) by the Chinese.
Between the Sialkoi and Siliota are two smaller ridges defining
the basin of the Nonni River on the east and west. Little is
known of the elevation of these chains except that they are
low in comparison with the great \vestern ranges, and under the
snow line.
The fourth system of mountains is the Himalaya, which
bounds Tibet on the south, while the Kwanlun and Burkhan
Buddha range defines it on the north. A small range runs
through it from west to east, connected with the Himalaya by
a high table-land, which surrounds the lakes Manasa-rowa and
Ravan-hrad, and near or in which are the sources of the Indus,
Ganges, and Yaru-tsangbu. This range is called Gang-dis-ri
and Zang, and also Kailasa in Dr. Buchanan’s map, and its
eastern end is separated from the Y^un ling b}’ the narrow valley
of the Y’angtsz’, which here flows from north to south. The
countr}’ north of the Gang-dis-ri is divided into two portions by a
spur which extends in a north-west direction as far as the Kwanhm,’
called the Kara-korum Mountains. On the western side
of this range lies Ladak, di-ained by one of the largest branches
of the Indus, and although included in the imperial domains
on Chinese maps, has long been separated from imperial cognizance.
The Kara-korum Mountains may therefore be taken
as composing part of the boundary of the empire ; Chinese
geographers regard them as forming a continuation of the Tsung ling.
‘ One among many native names given to tlie Kwanlun, or Koulkun Mountains, is Tien chv. ^ .^^ ‘Heaven’s Pillar,’ wliieli corresponds precise!)’ with the Atlas of China.
This hasty sketch of the mountain chains in and around China needs to be further illustrated by Punipelly’s outlines of their general course and elevation in what he suitably terms the Sinian System^ applied ” to that extensive northeast-southwest system of upheaval which is traceable through nearly all Eastern Asia, and to which this portion of the continent owes its most salient features.” lie has developed this system in the liesearches in China, Moncfolla and Ja^Kin, issued by the Smithsonian Institution in 186G. The mountains of China correspond in many respects to the Appalachian system in America, and its revolution probably terminated soon after the deposition of
the Chinese coal measures. Mr. Pumpelly describes the principal
anticlinal axes of elevation in China Proper, beginning with the Barrier Range, extending through the northern part of Cliihli and Shansi, where it trends AV.S.W., prolonging across the Yellow River at Pao-teh, and hence S.W. through Shansi and Kansuh, coinciding with the watershed between the bend of that river, which traverses it through an immense gorge.
The next axis east begins at the Tushih Gate, and goes S.W. to the Xankau Pass, both of them in the Great Wall, and thence across Shansi to the elbow of the Yellow River, and onward to Western Sz’chuen, forming the watershed within the bend of the Yangtsz’. In the regions between these two axes are found coal deposits. A central axis succeeds this in Shansi, crossing the Yangtsz’ near Ichang, and passing on S.W. through Kweichau to the Kan ling ; going X.E., it )-uns through IIonaTi and subsides as it gets over the Yellow River, till in Shantung and the Regent’s Sword it rises higher and higher as it stretches on to the Chang-peh shan in Manchuria, and the ridge between the Songai-i and Usuri rivers. Between the last
two ranges lie the great coal, iron, and salt deposits in the
provinces, and each side of the central axis huge troughs and
basins occur, such as the valley of the Yangtsz’ in Yunnan, the
Great Plain in Nganhwui and Chihli, the Gulf of Pechele, and
the basins of the Liao and Songari rivers.
The coast axis of elevation is indicated by ranges of granitic mountains between Kiangsi and Kiangsu on the north, and Chehkiang and Fuhkien on the south, extending S.W. through pumpelly’s sinian system.
15 Kwangtung into the Yuii ling, and N.E. into the Chusan Arcliipelago, thence across to Corea and the Sihota Mountains east of the Usuri River. An outlying granitic range, reaching from Hongkong north-easterly to Wanchau, and IS.W. to Hainan Island, marks a fifth axis of elevation.
Crossing these anticlinal axes are three ranges, coming into China Proper from the west in such a manner as to prove highly beneficial to its structure. The northern is apparently a continuation of the Bayan-kara Mountains in a S.E. direction into Kansuh, and south of the river Wei into Honan, inider the name of the Hiung slian or ‘ Bear Mountains.’ The centre is an offset from this, going across the north of Hupeh. The southern appears to be a prolongation of the IHmalaya into Yunnan and Kwangsi, making the watershed between the Yangtsz’ and Pearl river basins.
Between the Tien slian and the Kwanlun range on the southwest,
and reaching to the Sialkoi on the north-east, in an oblique
direction, lies the great desert of Gobi or Sha-moh, both words
signifying a ivaterless j)laln^ or sandy floats.’ The entire length
of this waste is more than 1,800 miles, but if its limits are
extended to the Belnr-tag and the Sialkoi, at its western and
eastern extremity, it will reach 2,200 miles ; the avei-age breadth
is between 350 and 400 miles, subject, however, to great variations.
The area within the mountain ranges which define it is
over a million square miles, and few of the streams occurring
in it find their way to the ocean. The whole of this tract is not
a barren desert, though no part of it can lay claim to more than
comparative fertility ; and the great altitude of most portions
seems to be as much the cause of its stei-ility as the nature of
the soil. Some portions have relapsed into a waste because of
the destruction of the inhabitants.
The M^estern portion of Gobi, lying east of the Tsung ling
and north of the Kwanlun, between long. 76° and 94° E., and
in lat. 36° and 41° N., is about 1,000 miles in length, and
between 300 and 400 wide. Along the southern side of the
‘ Another interpretation makes Gobi (Kopi) to apply to the stony, while Sha-moh denotes the sandy tracks of this desert, in which case the name would more correctly read, ” Great Desert of Gobi and Sha-moh.”
Tien shan extends a strip of arable land from 50 to SO miles in width, producing grain, pastni’age, cotton, and other things, and in which lie nearly all the Mohammedan cities and forts of the JVcui Lu. The Tarim and its branches flow eastward into Lob-nor, through the best part of this ti-act, from 76° to 89° E. : and along; the banks of the Khoten River a road runs from Yarkand to that city, and thence to Il’lassa. Here the desert is comparatively narrow. This part is called Ilan ha I, or ‘ Mirao;e Sea,’ by the Chinese, and is sometimes known as the desert of Lob nor. The remainder of this region is an almost unnntigated waste, and north of Koko-nor assumes its most terrific appearance, being covered with dazzling stones, and rendered insufferably hot by the reflection of the sun’s rays from these and numerous movable mountains of sand. Kor in winter is the climate milder or more endurable. ” The icy winds of Siberia, the almost constantly unclouded sky, the bare saline soil, and its great altitude above the sea, combine to make the Gobi, or desert of Mongolia, one of the coldest countries in the whole of Asia.” *
The sandhills —kmi/^jchi, as the Mongols call them—appear north of the Ala Shan and along the Yellow River, and when the wind sets them in motion they, gradually travel before it, and form a great danger to travelers who try to cross them.
One Chinese author says, ” There is neither watei-, herb, man,
nor smoke ;—if there is no smoke, there is absolutely nothing.”
The limits of the actual desert are not easily defined, for near
the base of the mountain ranges, streams and vegetation are
usually found.
Near the meridian of Hami, long. 9-1° E., the desert is narrowed to about 150 miles. The road from Kiayii kwan to Hami runs across this narrow part, and travellers find water at various places in their route. It divides Gobi into two parts—the desert of Lob-nor and the Great Gobi—the former being about 4,500 feet elevation, and the latter or eastern not higher than 4,000 feet. The borders of Kansuh now extend across this tract to the foot of the Tien shan. ‘Col. Prejevalskj, Travelis in Mongolia, i’U-. Vul. II., p. 22. London, 187(5.
THE DESERT OF GOBI. 17
The eastern part, or Great Gobi, stretches from the eastern declivity of the Tien shan, in long. 94° to 120° E., and about lat. 40° iS^., as far as the Inner Iling-aii. Its width between the Altai and the In shan range varies from 500 to 700 miles. Through the middle of this tract extends the depressed valley properly called Sha-moh, from 150 to 200 miles across, and whose lowest depression is from 2,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea. Sand almost covers the surface of this valley, generally level, but sometimes rising into low hills. The road from Urga to Kalgan, crossing this tract, is watered during certain seasons of the year, and clothed with grass. It is 660 miles, and forty-seven posts are placed along the route. The crow, lai-k, and sand-«:;rouse are abundant on this road, the first beins a real pest, from its pilfering habits. Such vegetation as occurs is scanty and stunted, affording indiiferent pasture, and the M-ater in the small streams and lakes is brackish and unpotable. North and south of the Sha-moh the surface is gravelly and sometimes rocky, the vegetation more vigorous, and in many places affords good pasturages for the herds of the Kalkas tribes. In those portions bordering on or included in Chihli province, among the Tsakhars, agricultural labors are repaid, and millet, oats,
and barley are produced, though not to a great extent. Trees
are met with on the water-courses, but not to form forests.
This region is called tsaii-ti, or Grassland, and maintains large
herds of sheep and cattle. It extends more or less northward
towards Siberia. The Etsina is the largest inland stream in
this division of Gobi, but on its north-eastern borders are some
large tributaries of the Annir. On the south of the Sialkoi
range the desert-lands reach nearly to the Chang-peh shan,
about five degrees beyond those mountains. The general features
of this portion of the earth’s surface are less forbidding
than Sahara, but more so than the steppes of Siberia or the
pampas of Buenos Ayres. The whole of Gobi is regarded by
Pumpelly as having formed a portion of a great ocean, which,
in comparatively recent geological times, extended south to the
Caspian and Black Seas, and between the Ural and Inner Hing an
Mountains, and was drained off by an upheaval whose traces
and effects can be detected in many parts. ” It appears to me,”
Vol. I.—2
he adds, ” that the ancient physical geography of this region,
and the effects of its elevation, present one of the most important
fields of exploration.” It will no doubt soon be more fully
explored. Baron Richthofen describes Central Asia as properly
a shallow trough, 1,800 miles long and about 400 miles wude,
whose bottom is about 1,800 feet above the ocean ; its ancient
shore-line extended between the Kwanlun and Tien slian ranges
on the west, from 5,000 to 10,000 feet high, and gradually falling
to 3,600 feet in its eastern shore. This is the Ilan-ha’i •
eastward is Sha-nioh.^ and outside of both these wildernesses
are the peripheral regions, where the waters flow to the ocean,
carrying their silt, the erosions from the mountains. Inside of
the shore-line nothing reaches the oceans, and these results of
degradation are washed or blown into the valleys, and the
country is buried in its own dust.’
The rivers of China are her glory, and no country can
compare with her for natural facilities of inland navigation.
The people themselves consider that portion of geography relating
to their rivers as the most interesting, and give it the
greatest attention. The four largest rivers in the empire are the
Yellow River, the Yangtsz’, the Amur, and the Tarim ; the
Yaru-tsangbu also runs more than a thousand miles within its
borders.
The Hwang ho, or ‘ Yellow River,’ rises in the plain of Odontala,
called in Chinese Shuj-suh Juil, or ‘ Starry Sea,’ from the
numerous springs or lakelets found there between the Shuga
and Bayan-kara Mountains, in lat. 35^°, and about long. 96° E.,
and Tiot a hundred miles from the Yangtsz’. The Chinese popularly
believe that the Yellow River runs underground from
Lob-nor to Sing-suh liai. In this region are two lakes—the
Dzaring and Oling, which are its fountains ; and its course is
very crooked after it leaves them. It turns first south 30 miles,
then east 160, then nearly west about 120, winding through
gorges of the Kwanlun; the river then flows north-east and
east to Lanchau in Ivansuh, having gone about 700 miles in its
devious line. From Lanchau it turns northward along the
‘ Von Richthofen, China. Ergebnisse eigener Heisen, Band I. Berlin, ISTt,
THE YELLOW RIVEE. 19
Great Wall for 430 miles, till deflected eastward by the fn shan,
on the edge of the plateau, and incloses the country of the
Ortous Mongols within this great bend. A spur of the Peh
ling forces it south, about long. 110° E., between Shansi and
Shensi, for some 500 miles, till it enters the Great Plain,
having run 1,130 miles from Lanchau. Through this loess region
it becomes tinged with the soil which imparts both color
and name to it. At the northern bend it separates in several
small lakes and branches, and during this part of its course,
for more than 500 miles, receives not a single stream of any
size, while it is still so rapid, in descending from the plateau,
as to demand much care when crossing it by boats. At the
south-western corner of Shansi this river meets its largest
tributary, the Wei, which comes in from the westward after
a course of 400 miles, and is more available as a navigable
stream than any other of the aflHuents. The area of the whole
basin is less than that of the Yangtsz’, and may be estimated
at about 475,000 square miles ; though the source of this
stream is only 1,290 miles in a direct line from its mouth,
its numerous windings prolong its course to nearly double that
distance.
The great differences of level in winter and summer have
always made this river nearly useless, except as a drain ; while
the effect of the long-continued deposit of silt along its lower
level course has finally choked the mouth altogether. This
remarkable result has been hastened, no doubt, by the dikes
built along the banks to the east of Kaifung, which thus forced
the floods to fill up the channel, and pushed the waters back
over 500 miles to Honan-fu. Here the land is low, and the
refluent waters gradually worked their way through marshes
and creeks into the river Wei on the north bank, and thus
found a north-east ‘ channel into the Canal and the Ta-tsing
River, till they reached the Gulf of Pechele. A small part of
these floods have perhaps gone south into the head waters of
the river Hwai, and thence into Hung-tsih Lake ; but that lake
has shrivelled, like its great feeder, and all its waters flow into
the Yangtsz’. The history of the Yellow River furnishes a conclusive
argument against diking a river’s banks to restrain its floods. It lias now reverted to the channel it occupied about fourteen centuries ago.’
Far more tranquil and useful is its rival, the Yangtsz’ kiang,
called also simply Kiaivj or Ta kiang, the ‘ River,’ or ‘ Great
River.’ It is often erroneously named on western maps, Kyang
Ku, which merely means ‘ mouth of the river.’ The sources
of the Kiang ai’e in the Tangla Mountains and the Kwanlun
range, and are placed on native maps in three streams flowing
from the southern side of the Bayan-kara, This has been
partly confirmed by Col. Prejevalsky. In January, 1873, he
reached the Murui-ussu (Tortuous River) in lat. 35°, long. 94°,
at its junction with the Ts^apchitai, the northern of the three
branches, and found it 750 feet wide at that season. In spring,
the river’s bed there is filled up a mile wide. Its course thence
is south-east, receiving three other streams, all of which may be
considered as its head-waters. All their channels are over ten
thousand feet above the sea, but the ranges near them are under
the snow-line. There is no authentic account of its course from
this union till it joins the Yalung kiang in Sz’chuen, a distance
of nearly 1,300 miles ; but Chinese maps indicate a southeasterly
direction through the gorges of the Yun ling, till it
bursts out from the mountains in lat. 20° IST., where it turns
north-east. During nmcli of this distance it bears the name of
the Po-lai-tsz’. The Yalung River rises very near the Yellow
River, and runs parallel with the Kiang in a valley further east,
flowing upwards of 600 miles before they join. Great rafts
of timber are floated down both these streams, for sale at
the towns furtlier east, but no large boats are seen on them
before they leave the mountains. The town of Batang, in
Sz’chuen, on the road from Il’lassa, is the first large place on
the river. The main trunk is called Kin sha kiang {I.e., Goldensand
River), until it receives the Yalung in the southern part
of Sz’chuen, which the Chinese there regard as the principal
stream of the two. Beyond the junction, the united river is
called Ta kiang as far as Wuchang, in Ilupeh, beyond which
‘ Report by Dr. W. A. P. Martin in Journal of N. C. Branch of R A.
Society, Vol. III., pp. 33-38 ; 1860. Same journal, Vol. IV., pp. 80-86 ; 1867,-
Notes by Ney Elias. Pumpelly’s Researches, 1866, chap, v., pp. 41-51
THE YANGTSZ’ KIANG. 21
the people know it also as the Cliang kiang, or ‘Long Tliver.’
They do not often call it Yangtsz’, which is properly applied
only to the reach from Xanking ont to sea, which lay within
the old region of Yangchan. This name has been erroneously
written in Chinese, and thence translated ‘ Son of the Ocean,’
The French often call it the Fleuve Bleu, but the Chinese have
no such name. Its general course from AYuchang is easterly,
receiving various tributaries on both shores, until it discharges
its waters at Tsungming Island, by two mouths, in hit, 32° N,,
more than 1,850 miles from its mouth in a direct line, but flowing
nearly 3,000 miles in all its windings.’
One of the largest and most useful of its tributaries in its
lower course is the Ivan kiang in Kiangsi, which empties
through the Poyang lake, and continues the transverse communication
from north to south, connecting with the Grand
Canal. The Tungting lake receives the Siang and Yuen, which
drain the northern sides of the Xan ling in Ilunan ; and west
of them is the Kungtan or Wu, which comes in with its
surplus waters from Kweichau. These are on the south ; the
Ilan in Ilupeh, and the Kialing, Min, and Loh in Sz’chuen, are
the main aifluents on the north, contributing the drainage
south of the Peli ling. The Grand Canal comes in opposite
Chinkiang, and from thence the deep channel, able to carry the
largest men-of-war on its bosom, finds its way to the Pacific.
No two rivers can be more unlike in their general features than
these two mighty streams. While the Yellow Piver is unsteady,
the Yangtsz’ is uniform and deep in its lower course,
and available for rafts from Batang in the western confines of
Sz’chuen, and for boats from beyond Tungchuen in Yunnan,
more than 1,700 miles from its mouth. Its great body and
depth afford ample I’oom for ocean steam-ships 200 miles, as far
as Xanking, where in some places no bottom could be found at
twenty fathoms, while the banks are not so low^ as to be often
injured by the freshets, even when the flood is over thirty feet.
‘ See the account of Pere Laribe’s voyage on this river in 1843, Annates de
la Propagation de la Foi, Tome XVII., pp. 207, 286, ff. Five Months on the
Tang-tsze, by Capt. Thos.W. Blakiston ; London, 1862. Pumpelly’s Researches^chap. ii. , pp. 4-10. Capt. Gill, The River of Golden Sand.
At Pingslian above Siicliau in Sz’chnen, 1,550 miles from its month, Blakiston reckons the river to be 1,500 feet above tidewater, which gives an average fall of 13 inches to a geographical mile ; the inclination is increased to 19 inches in some portions, and it is this force which carries the silt of this stream ont to sea, bnt which is wanting in the Yellow River. The fall of the Yangtsz’ is nearly donble that of the Nile and Amazon, and half that of the Mississippi. The amount of water discharged is estimated at 500,000 cubic feet a second at Ichang, about 700 miles up, and it may reasonably be concluded that at Tsungming it discharges in times of flood a million cubic feet per second. Barrow calculated the discharge of the Yellow River in 1798 to be 11,610 cubic feet per second, when the current ran seven miles an hour. Xo river in the world exceeds the Yangtsz’ for arrangement of subsidiary streams, which render the whole basin accessible as far as the Yalung. “When a ship-canal has been dug around the gorges and rapids between Ichang and Kwei, steam-vessels can ascend nearly two thousand miles. The area of its basin is estimated at 548,000 square miles ; and from its central course, and the number of provinces through which it 2:)asses, it has been termed the Girdle of China ; while for its size, perennial and ample supply of water, and accessibility for navigation, it ranks with the great rivers of the world.’
Besides these two notable rivers, numerous others empty
into the ocean along the coast from Hainan to the Amur, three
of which drain large tracts of country, and afford access to
many populous cities and districts. The third basin is that
south of the I^an ling to the ocean ; it is drained chiefly by the
Chu kiang, and its form is much less regular than those of the
Yellow River and Yangtsz’. The Chu kiang or Pearl River,
like most of the rivers in China, has many names during its
course, and is formed by three principal branches, respectively
called East, North, and West rivers, according to the quarter
from whence they come. The last is by far the largest, and all
‘ Staunton’s Emhnssy, Vol. III., p. 233. Blakiston’s Yang-tsze, p. 294, etc
Chinese Repodtoru^ Vol. II., p. 316,
LAKES OF CHINA. 2^\
of them are navigal)le most of their length. They disembogue
togetlier at Canton, and drain a region of not nuich less than
130,000 S(jiiare miles, being all the conntr}- east of the Ynn ling
and south of the Nan ling ranges. The rivers in Yunnan, for
the most part, empty into the Salween, Saigon, Meikon, and
other streams in Coehinehina. The Min, which flows by Fnhchau,
the Tsili, upon which Xingpo lies, the Tsientang, leading
up to Hangchau, and the Pei ho, or White River, emptying into
the Gulf of Pechele, are the most considerable among these
lesser outlets in the provinces ; while the Liau ho and Yaliluh
kiang, discharging into the Gulf of Liautung, are the only two
that deserve mention in Southern Manchuria. The difference
between the number of river-mouths cutting the Chinese coast
and that of the United States is very striking, resulting from
the diiferent direction of the mountain chains in the interior.
The lah’s of China are comparatively few and small ; all
those in the provinces of any size lie within the Plain, and are
connected with the two.great rivers. The largest is tlie Tungting
in Ilunan, about 220 miles in circumference, tlirough
Avliich the waters of the Siang and Yuen rivers flow, and fill
its channels and beds according to the season ; it is now the silted-
up bed of a former inland sea in Ilupeh, lying on both sides
of the Yangtsz’, and through which countless lakes, creeks, and
canals form a navigable network between that river and the
Han. The lake receives the silt as the tributaries flow on
through it, and discharge themselves along the deep outlet
near Yohchau ; this depression altogether is about 200 miles
long and 80 broad. About 320 miles eastward lies the Poyang
Lake in Kiangsi, which also discharges the surplus waters of
the Kan into the Yangtsz’. It is nearly 90 miles long, and
about 20 in breadth, inclosing within its bosom many beautiful
and populous islets. The scenery around this lake is highly
picturesque, and its trade and flsheries are inore important
than those of the Tungting. The Yangtsz’ receives the waters
of several other lakes as it approaches the ocean, the largest
of which are the Ta liu or ‘ Great Lake ‘ near Suchau, and the Tsau hu, lying on the northern bank, between Nganking and Nanking ; both these lakes join the river by navigable streams and the former is connected with the ocean by more than one channel.
The only considerahle lake connected with the Yellow River
is the llungtsih in Iviangsu, situated near the junction of that
river and the Grand Canal, into which it discharges the drainings
of the Ilwai River ; it is more remarkable for the fleets of
boats upon it than for scenery in the vicinity. The larger part
of the country between the mouths of the two rivers is so
marshy and full of lakes, as to suggest the idea that the
whole was once an enormous estuary where their waters joined,
or else that their deposits have filled up a huge lake which
once occupied this tract, leaving only a number of lesser sheets.
Besides these, there are small lakes in Chihli and Shantung; also the Tien, the /Sien, and the Tali, of moderate extent, in Yunnan ; all of them support an aquatic population upon the fish taken from their waters.
The largest lake in Manchuria is the Hinkai-nor in Kirin,
near the source of the Usuri ; the two.lakes Hurun and Puyur,
or Pir, in the basin of the Nonni River, give their name to
Hurun-pir, the western district of Tsitsihar ; but of the extent
and productions of these sheets of water little is known.
Tl”3 regions lying north and south of Gobi contain many
salt lakes, none of them individually comparing with the Aral
Sea, but collectively covering a much larger extent, and most
of them receiving the waters of the streams which drain their
own isolated basins. The peculiarities of these little known
parts, especially the depression on each side of the Tien shan,
are such as to render them among the most interesting fields
for geographical and geological research in the world. The
largest one in Turkestan is Lob-nor, stated to be a great marsh
overgrown with tall reeds and having a length of 75 miles and
width of 15 miles(Prejevalsky, Froni Kulja Across the Tien shnii to Lob-nor, p. 99.). Bostang-nor, said to connect with this
lake, is placed on Chinese maps some 30 miles north of it.
Korth of the Tien shan the lakes are larger and more numerous
; the Dzaisang, Kisil-bash and Issik-kul are the most important.
All these lakes are salt.
BOUNDARIES OF THE PROVINCES. 25
The M’liole region of Koko-nor is a country of lakes. The
Oling and Dzaring are among tlie sources of the Yellow Rivei”; and the Tsing Ixti^ or Azure Sea, better known as Koko-nor,
gives its name to the province. The Tengkiri-nor in Tibet lies
to the north of H’lassa, and is the largest sheet of water within
the frontiers of the empire. In its neighborhood are numerous
small lakes extending northward into Koko-nor. The
Palti or Yamorouk is shaped like a ring, an island in its centre
occupying nearly the whole surface. Ulterior Tibet possesses
many lakes on both sides of the Gang-dis-ri range ; the Yik
and Paha, near Gobi, are the largest, being only two of a long
row of them south of the Kwanlun range.
The Eighteen Provinces are bounded on the north-east by the
colony of Shingking, from which they are separated by the
line of a former palisade marking the boundary from the town
of Shan-hai kwan to the Hwang ho. Following this stream to
its sources in the In shan, the boundary then crosses these
mountains and pursues a west and south-west course, through
the territories of roving Mongol tribes, until it finds the Yellow
River at the settlement of Hokiuli in Shensi. West of this
the Great “Wall divides the provinces of Shensi and Ivansuh
from the Mongolian deserts as far as the Kiayli Pass, beyond
which lies the desert of Gobi, called Pch ha I (Xorth Sea) and Hah
fiai (Black Sea). On the east are the Gulf of Pechele and the
Yellow Sea or Hwang hai, also called Tang hai (Eastern Sea)
as far south as the Channel of Formosa. This channel and
the China Sea lie on the south-east and south, as far as the Gulf
of Tongking and the confines of Annam. Kwangsi and Yunnan border on Annam and Siam on their south sides, while Burmali marks the western frontier, but nearly the whole southwest and western frontiers beyond Yunnan and Sz’chuen are possessed by small tribes of uncivilized people, over whom neither the Chinese nor Burmese have much real control.
Koko-nor bounds Sz’chuen and Kansuh on their western and southwestern sides.
The coast of China, from Hainan to the mouth of the Yangtsz’, is bordered with multitudes of islands and rocky islets; from that point northward to Liautung, the shores are low, and, except in Sliantuiiii’, the coast is rendered dangerous by shoals.
South of the Pei ho, along to the end of Shantung Promontory, the coast is bolder, increasing in height after passing the Miautau Islands, though neither side of the promontory presents any point of remarkable elevation ; Cape Macartney, at the eastern end, is a conspicuous bluff when approaching it from sea. From this cape to the mouth of the Tsientang River, near Chapu, a distance of about 400 miles, the coast is
low, especially between the mouths of the Yangtsz’ and Yellow
rivers, and has but few good harbors. Quicksands in the
regions near these rivers and the Bay of Ilangchau render the
navigation dangerous to native junks. From Kitto Point, near
Ningpo, down to Hongkong, the shores assume a bolder aspect,
and numerous small bays and coves occur among the islands,
affording safe refuge for vessels. The aspect along this part is
uninviting in the extreme, consisting principally of a succession
of yellowish cliffs and naked headlands, giving little promise
of the highly cultivated country beyond them. This bleak appearance
is caused by the rains washing the decomposed soil
off the surface ; the rock being granite in a state of partial
and progressive disintegration, the loose soil is easily carried
down into the intervals. Another reason for its treeless sin–
face is owing to the practice of annually cutting the coarse
grass for fuel, and after the crop is gathered setting the stubble
on fire, in order to manure the ground for the coming year; the fire and thinness of the soil together effectually prevent any large growth of trees or shrubbery upon the hills.
The estuary of the Pearl Iliver from the Bocca Tigris down to the Grand Ladrones, a distance of TO miles, and from Hongkong westerly to the Island of Tungku, about 100 miles, is interspersed with islands. The strait which separates Hainan from the Peninsula of Luichau has been supposed to be the place called by Arabian travelers in the ninth century the Gates of China, but that channel was probably near the Chusan Archi})elago. That group of fertile islands is regarded as the l)rokeii termination of the continental range of mountains running throui^h Chehkiang.
CHARACTER OF THE COAST.
The Island of Formosa, or Taiwan, cmmects tlie islands of Japan and Lewchew with Lu9onia. Between Formosa and the coast lie the Pescadores or Panghu Islands, a group much less in extent and number than the Chusan Islands. The Chinese have itineraries of all the places, headlands, islands, etc., along the entire coast, but they do not afford much information respecting the names of positions.(CJiinese Repository, Vol. V., p. 337; Vol. X., pp. 351, 371. Williams’ Chinese Commerced Guide, fifth edition, second part, 1863.)
The first objects that invite attention in the general aspect of China Proper are the Great Plain in the north-east, and the three longitudinal basins into which the country is divided by mountain chains running east and west(Remusat (Nouvennx Melanges, Tome I., p. 9) adds a fourth basin, that of the Sagalien. The latter, however, scarcely deserves the name, having so many interrupting cross-chains.). The three great rivers which drain these basins How through them very irregularly, but by means of their main trunks and the tributaries, water communication is easily kept up, not only from west to east along the great courses, but also across the country. These natural facilities for inland navigation have been greatly” improved by the people, but they still, in most cases, await the introduction of steam to assist them in stemming the rapid currents of some of their rivers, and bringing distant places into more frequent communication.
The whole surface of China may be conveniently divided into the mountainous and hilly country and the Great Plain. The mountainous country comprehends more than luilf of the whole, lying west of the meridian of 112^ or 114° (nearly that of Canton), quite to the borders of Tibet. The hilly portion is that south of the Yangtsz’ kiang and east of this meridian, comprising the provinces of Fuhkien, Kiangsi, Kwangtung, and sections of Hunan and Ilupeh. The Great Plain lies in the northeast, and forms the richest part of the empire.
This Plain extends in length 700 miles from the Great Wall and Barrier Range north of Peking to the confluence of Poyang Lake with the Yangtsz’ in Kiangsi, lat. 30° X. The latter river is considered as its southern boundary as far down as Nganking in Ngankwui, wlience to the sea it is formed by a line drawn nearly east throng] i llangchau. The western boundary may be marked by a line drawn from Kingchau in Ilupeh(lat. 30° 36′), nearly north to llwaiking, on the Yellow River, and thence due north to the Great Wall, 50 miles north-west of
Peking. The breadth varies. North of lat. 35°, where it
partly extends to the Yellow Sea, and partly borders on the
western side of Shantung, thence across to tlie ]jear Mountains
and Shansi, its measure is between 150 and 250 miles ; stating
the average at 200 miles, this portion has an area of 70,000
square miles. Between 3-i° and 35° the Plain enlarges, and in
the parallel of the Yellow Piver has a breadth of some 300
miles from east to west ; while further south, along the course
of the Yangtsz’, it reaches nearly 400 miles inland. Estimating
the mean breadth of this portion at 400 miles, there are
140,000 square miles, which, watli the northern part, make an
area of about 210,000 square miles—a surface seven times as
large as that of Lombardy, and about the same area as the
plain of Bengal drained by the Ganges. The northern portion
in Chihli up to the edge of the Plateau is mostly a deposit
of the yellow loess and alluvial on the river bottoms;
that lying near the coast in Kiangsu is low and swampy, covered
by lakes and intersected by water-courses. This portion
is extremely fertile, and furnishes large quantities of silk, tea,
cotton, grain, and tobacco. The most interesting feature of this
Plain is tlie enormous population it supports, which is, according
to the census of 1812, not less than 177 millions of human
beings, if the whole number of inhabitants contained in the six
provinces lying wholly or partly in it be included ; making it
by far the most densely settled of any part of the world of the
same size, and amounting to nearly two-thirds of the whole
population of Europe.(Penny Cydojwidia, Vol. VII., p. 74. McCulloch’s Oeographicul Dictionary, Vol. I., p. 596.)
THE GREAT WALL 29
The public works of China are probably unequalled in any land or by any people, for the amount of human labor bestowed upon them; the natural aspect of the country has been materially changed by them, and it has been remarked that the Great Wall is the only artificial structure which would arrest attention in a hasty survey of the surface of the globe. But their usefulness, or the science exhibited in their construction, is far inferior to their extent. The Great Wall, called Wan-li Chang Cheng (i.e., Myriad-mile Wall), was built by Qin Shi-huangdi, in order to protect his dominions from
the incursions of the northern tribes. Some portions of it
were already in existence, and he formed the plan of joining
and extending them along the whole northern frontier to
guard it. It was finished b.c. 204, having been ten years in
building, seven of which were done after the Emperor’s death.
This gigantic work was probably a popular one in the main,
and still remains as its own chief evidence of the energy,
industry, and perseverance of its builders, as well as their
unwisdom and waste. Its construction probably cost less than
the usual sums spent by Eui-opean States for their standing
armies. It commences at Shanhai wei or Shanhai kwan (lat.
40°, long. 119° 50′), a coast town of some importance as on
the boundary between Child i and Shingking, and a place of
considerable trade. Lord Jocelyu describes the wall, when
observed from the ships, as ” scaling the precipices and topping
the craggy hills of the country, which have along this
coast a most desolate appearance.”
It runs along the shore for several miles, and terminates on
the beach near a long reef. Its course from this point is
west, a little northerly, along the old frontiers of the province
of Chihli, and then in Shansi, till it strikes the Yellow River,
in lat. 394° and long. 111^°. This is the best built part, and
contains the most important gates, where garrisons and trading
marts are established. Within the province of Chihli there
are two walls, inclosing a good part of the basin of the Sangkan
ho west of Peking ; the inner one was built by an emperor of the Ming dynasty. From the point where it strikes the Yellow River, near Pau-teh, it forms the northern boundary of Shensf, till it tonches that stream again in lat. 37°, inclosing the country of the Ortous Mongols. Its direction from this point is north-west along the northern frontier of Kansnh to its termination near Kiavii kwan, through which the road passes leading to llami.
From Tiear the eastern extremity of tlio AVall in the province of Ciiihh’, extending in a north-easterly direction, there was once a wooden stockade or palisade, forming the boundary between Liautung and Ivirin, which has been often taken from its representation on maps as a continuation of the Great Wall. It was erected by the Manchus, but has long since become decayed and disused.
The entire length of the Great Wall between its extremities is 22^ degrees of latitude, or 1,255 miles in a straight line; but its turnings and doublings increase it to fully 1,500 miles.
It would stretch from Philadelphia to Topeka, or from Portugal to Naples, on nearly the same latitude. The construction of this gigantic work is somewhat adapted to the nature of the country it traverses, and the material was taken or made on the spot where it was used. In the western part of its course, it is in some places merely a mud or gravel wall, and in others earth cased with brick.
The eastern part is generally composed of earth and pebbles faced with large bricks, weighing from 10 to GO lbs, each, supported on a coping of stone. The whole is about 25 feet thick at the base, and 15 feet at the top, and varying from 15 to 30 feet high; the top is protected with bricks, and defended by a slight parapet, the thinness of which has been taken as proof that cannon were unknown at the time it was erected.
There are brick towers at different intei’vals, some of them more than 40 feet high, but not built upon the Wall. These are independent structures, usually about 40 feet square at the base, diminishing to 30 at the top; at particular spots the towers are of two stories.
The impression left upon the mind of a foreigner, on seeing this monument of human toil and unremunerative outlay, is respect for a people that could in any manner build it. Standing on the jK-ak at Kn-jxh Knu (Old North (late), one sees the cloud-<-a[)ped towers extending away over the declivities in single tiles both east and west, until dwarfed by miles and miles of sk}’-w:ird jiei-sj)e(‘ti\(> as they dwindle inf(» niiiinte piles, yet stand
THE GRAND CANAL. 31
with solemn stillness where they were stationed twenty centuries ago, as though condemned to wait the march of time till their builders returned. The crumbling dike at their feet may be followed, winding, leaping across gorges, defiles, and steeps, now buried in sonie chasm, now scaling the cliffs and slopes, in very exuberance of power and M’antonness, as it vanishes in a thin, shadowy line, at the horizon. Once seen, the Great Wall of China can never be forgotten.
At present this remarkable structure is simply a geographical boundary, and except at the Gates nothing is done to keep it in repair. Beyond the Yellow River to its western extremity, the Great Wall, according to Gerbillon, is mostly a mound of earth or gravel, about fifteen feet in height, with only occasional towers of brick, or gateways made of stone.
At Kalgan portions of it are made of porphyry and other stones piled up in a pyramidal form between the brick towers, difficult to cross but easy enough to pull down. The appearance of this rampart at Ivu-peh kau is more imposing; the entire extent of the main and cross walls in sight from one of the towers there is over twenty miles. In one place it runs over a peak 5,225 feet high, where it is so steep as to make one wonder as much at the labor of erecting it on such a cliff as on the folly of supposing it could be of any use there as a defence. The wall is most visited at Xan-kau (South Gate), in the Ku-yung Pass, a remarkable Thermopyla fifteen miles in length, which leads from the Plain at Peking up to the first terrace above it, and at one time was guarded by five additional walls and gates, now all in ruins. From this spot, the wall reaches across Shansi, and was built at a later period.
The other great public work is the Grand Canal, or Chah ho (i.e., river of Flood-gates), called also Yim ho or ‘ Transit River,’ an enterprise which reflects far more credit upon the monarchs who devised and executed it, than does the Great Wall, and if the time in which it was dug, and the character of the princes who planned it, be considered, few works can be mentioned in the history of any country more admirable and useful. When it was in order, before the inflow of the Yellow River failed, by means of its connection with its feeders, an uninterrupted water communication across the country from Peking to Canton existed, and goods and passengers passed from the capital to nearly every hirge town in the basins of the two great rivers. The canal was designed by Kublai to reach from his own capital as far as HangZhou, the former capital of the Sung dynasty, and cannot be better described than in Marco Polo’s language : ” You must understand that the Emperor has caused a water communication to be made from this city [Kwa-chau] to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply.” ‘ The northern end is a channel fourteen miles long, from Tung-chau up to Peking, which, passing under the city walls, finishes its course of some 600 miles at the palace wall, close by the British Legation ; here it is called Jl^ Ao, or ‘ Imperial River,’ but all boats now unlade at the eastern gate. An abridged account of Davis’s observations ” will afford a good idea of its construction and appearance.
“Early on the 23d September, we entered the canal through
two stone piers and between very high banks. The mounds
of earth in the immediate vicinity were evidently for the purpose
of effecting repairs, which, to judge from the vestiges of
inundation on either side, could not be infrequent. The canal
joins the Yu ho, which we had just quitted, on its eastern
bank, as that river flows towards the Pei ho. One of the
most striking features of the canal is the comparative clearness
of its waters, when contrasted with that of the two rivers
on which we had hitherto travelled ; a circumstance reasonably
attributable to the depositions occasioned by the greater stillness
of its contents. The course of the canal at this point
was evidently in the bed of a natural river, as might be perceived
from its winding course, and the irregularity and inartificial
appearance of its banks. The stone abutments and
flood-gates are for the purpose of regulating its waters, which
at present were in excess and flowing out of it. As we proceeded
on the canal, the stone flood-gates or sluices occurred at the rate of three or four a day, sometimes oftener, according as the inequalities in the surface of the country rendered them necessary
• Yuk-‘s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. KJG. ” Sketches of China, Vol. I., p. 245
THE GRAND CANAL. 33
” As we advanced, the canal in some parts became narrower,
and the banks had rather more of an artificial appearance than
where we first entered it, being occasionally pretty high ; but
still the winding course led to the inference, that as yet the
canal was for the most part only a natural river, modified and
regulated by sluices and embankments. The distance between
the stone piers in some of the flood-gates was apparently so
narrow as only just to admit the passage of our largest boats.
The contrivance for arresting the course of the water through
them was extremely simple ; stout boards, with ropes fastened
to each end, were let down edgewise over each other through
grooves in the stone piers. A number of soldiers and workmen
alwaj’s attended at the sluices, and the danger to the boats
was diminished by coils of rope being hung down at the sides
to break tha force of l)lows. The slowness of our progress,
which for the last week averaged only twenty miles a day,
gave us abundant leisure to observe the country
” “We now began to make better progress on the canal than
we had hitherto done. The stream, though against us, was
not strong, except near the sluices, where it was confined. In
the afternoon we stopped at Kai-ho chin (i.e., River-opening mart), so called, perhaps, because the canal was commenced near here. On the 28th we arrived at the influx of the Yun ho, where the stream turned in our favor, and flowed to the southward, being the highest point of the canal, and a place of some note. The Yun ho flows into the canal on its eastern side nearly at right angles, and a part of its waters flow north and part south, while a strong facing of stone on the western bank sustains the force of the influx. At this point is the temple of the Dragon King, or genius of the watery element, who is supposed to have the canal in his special keeping. This enterprise of leading in this river seems to have been the work of Sung Li, who lived under Hungwu, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, about 1375. In his time, a part of the canal in Shantung became so impassable that the coasting passage by sea began to be most used. Tins was the very thing the canal had been intended to prevent ; Sung accordingly adopted the plan of an old man named Piying, to concentrate the waters of the Yun ho and neighboring streams, and bring them down upon the canal as they are at present. History states that Sung employed 300,000 men to carry the plan into operation, and that the work was completed in seven months.
On both sides of ns, nearly level with the canal, were extensive swamps with a shallow covering of water, planted with the Keluml)ium ; they were occasionally separated by narrow banks, along which the trackers walked, and the width of the canal sometimes did not exceed twenty-five yards. On reaching the part which skirts the Tu-shan Lake, the left bank was entirely submertred, and the canal confounded with the lake. All within sight was swamp, coldness, and desolation—in fact, a vast iidand sea, as many of the large boats at a distance were hull down. The swamps on the following day were kept out of sight by some decent villages on the high banks, which from perpetual accunnilation assumed in some places the aspect of hills.
” A part of our journey on the first of October lay along a portion of the canal where the banks, particularly to the right, were elaborately and thoroughly faced with stone ; a precaution which seemed to imply a greater than ordinary danger from inundations. In fact, the lakes, or rather floods, seemed to extend at present nearly to the feet of the mountains which lay at a distance on our left. We were now approaching that part of China which is exposed to the disastrous overflowings of the Yellow River, a perpetual source of wasteful expenditure to the government, and of peril and calamity to the people ; it well deserves the name of China’s Sorrow. We observed the repairs of the banks diligently proceeding under the superintendence of the proper officer. For this purpose they use the natural soil in combination with the thick stalks of the gigantic millet.”
THE GRAND CANAL. 35
The canal reaches the Yellow River about TO miles from its mouth ; but before leaving the lakes in the southern part of Shantung, it used to run nearly parallel with that stream for more than a hundred miles, and between it and the New Salt River during a good part of this distance. It is hard to understand how, by natural causes, so powerful a river, as it is described to be by the historians of both the British enil^assies less than one hundred years ago, should have become so completely choked up. The difference of level near Kaifung is found to be so very little that the siltage there has been enough to turn the current into the river “Wei and elsewhere. When Amherst’s
embassy passed, the boats struck right across the stream,
and gained the opposite bank, about three-fourths of a mile
distant, in less than an hour. They drifted about two miles
down, and then slowly brought up against the current to the
spot Avhere the canal entered. This opening was a sluice nearly
a hundred yards across, and through it the waters rushed into
the river like a mill-race ; the banks were constructed of earth,
strengthened with sorghum stalks, and strongly bound with cordage.
Sir John Davis remarks, with the instinct of a tradesman,
as he commends the perseverance and industry which had
overcome these obstacles, that if the science of a Brunei could
be allowed to operate on the Yellow River and Grand Canal,” a
benefit mio-ht be conferred on the Chinese that M^ould more
than compensate for all the evil that M-e have inflicted with our
opium and our guns.” The boats were dragged through and
up the sluice close to the bank by ropes communicating with
large windlasses worked on the bank, wdiich safely, though
slowly, brought them into still water.
The distance between the Yellow and Yangtsz’ rivers is about
ninety miles, and the canal here is carried largely upon a raised
w^ork of earth, kept together by retaining walls of stone, and
not less that twenty feet above the surrounding country in
some parts. This sheet of water is about two hundred feet wide,
and its current nearly three miles an hour. South of the II%vang
ho several large towns stand near the levees, below their level,
whose safety wholly depends upon the care taken of the baidvs
of the canal. Ilwai-ngan and Pauying lie thus under and near
them, in such a position as to cause an involuntary shudder at
the thought of the destruction which would take place if they
should give way. The level descends from these towns to the Yangtsz’, and at ‘i’angeliau the canal is much below the houses on its sides. It also connects with every stream or lake whose waters can be led into it. There are two or three inlets into the Yangtsz’ where the canal reaches the northern bank, but Chinkiang, on the southern shore, is regarded as the principal defence and post of its crossing. The canal leaves the river east of that city, proceeds south-east to
Sucliau, and thence southerly on the eastern side of lake Tai,
with which it communicates, to Ilangchau in Chehkiang. This
portion is by far the most interesting and picturesque of the
whole line, owing to its rich and populous cities, the fertility
and high cultivation of the banks, and the lively aspect imparted
by the multitude of boats. Though Kublai has had the credit
of this useful work, it existed in parts of its com-se long before his day. The reach between the two great rivers was opened in the 11 an dynasty, and repaired by the wise founder of the SuiChao dynasty (a.d. (500). The princes of the TangChao dynasty kept it (tpen, and when the Sung emperors lived at Ilangchau they made the extension up to Chinkiang the great highway which it is to this day. The work from Peking to the Yellow River Mas opened by the Mongols about 1289, in which they merely joined the rivers and lakes to each other as they now exist. The Ming and Tsing emperors have done all they could to keep it open throughout, and lately an attempt has been made to reopen the passage from Ilungtsih Lake north into the old bed, so that boats can reach Tientsin from Kwachau. Its entire length is about 650 miles, or not quite twice that of the Erie Canal, but it varies in its breadth and depth more than any important canal either of America or Europe.
As a work of art, compared with canals now existing in western countries, the Transit river does not rank high ; but even at this day there is no work of the kind in Asia which can compare with it, and there was none in the world equal to it when first put in full operation. It passes through alluvial soil in every part of its course, and the chief labor was expended in constructing embankments, and not in digging a deep channel.
CANALS. 37
The junction of the Yun ho, about lat. 3(5° N., was probably taken as the summit level. From this point northward the trench was dug through to Liiitsing to join the Yu ho, and embankments thrown up from the same place southward to the Yellow River, the whole being a line of two hundred miles. In some places the bed is cut down thirty, forty, and even seventy feet, but it encountered no material obstacle. The sluices which keep the necessary level are of rude construction, and thick planks, sliding in grooves hewn in stone buttresses, form the only locks. Still, the objects intended are all fully gained, and the simplicity of the means certainly does not derogate from the merit and execution of the plan.’
There are some other inferior canals in the empire. Kienlung
constructed a waste-weir for carrying off the surplus waters
of the Yellow River of about a hundred miles in length, by
cutting a canal from Ifimg liien in llonan, to one of the principal
affluents of lake Hungtsih. It also answered as a drain for
the marshy land in that part, and has probably recently served
to convey the Hoods from the main stream into the lake. In
the vicinity of Canton and Sucliau are many channels cut
through the plains, which serve both for irrigation and navigation,
but they are not worthy the name of canals. Similar conveniences
are more or less frequently met with in all parts of
the provinces, notably those on the Plain and low coast-lands.
The public roads, in a country so well provided with navigable
streams, are of minor consequence, but these media of travel
are not neglected. ” I have travelled near 600 leagues by land
in China,” observes De Guignes, ^ and have found many good
roads, most of them wide and planted with trees. They are
not usually paved, and consequently in rainy weather are either
channelled by the water or covered with nnid, and in dry weather
so dusty that travellers are obliged to wear spectacles to protect
their eyes. In Kwangtung transportation is perfornied almost
wholly by water, the only roads being across the lines of navigation.
‘ Klaproth, Memoires, Tome III., p. 312 sqq. De Guignes’ Voyages a Peking. Tome II., p. 195. Davis’s Sketchets, Vol. I., passim.H8 almost nortlnv
The pass across the Mei ling is paved or filled up with stones; at Kihngan, in Kiangsi, are paved roads in good condition, but beyond the Yangtsz’, in xSganhwui, they were impracticable, but became better as we proceeded ard, and in many places had trees on both sides. Beyond-the Hwang ho they were broader, and we saw crowds of travelers, carts, nudes, and horses.
In Shantung and Chihli they were generally broad and shady, and very dusty. This is, no doubt, disagreeable, but we went smoothly over these places, while in the villages and towns we were miserably jolted on the pavements. I hope, for the sake of those who may come after me, that the Chinese will not pave their roads before they improve their carriages.
Some of the thoroughfares leading to Peking are paved with thick slabs of stone. One feature of the roads through the northern provinces which attracts attention is the great miiiilxT that lie below the level of the country. It is caused by the wind sweeping along them, and carrying over
A Rf ., I-Cut in thf Loess. runLic JioADS. 39
the fields the dust made and raised by the carts. As soon as the pools left by the rains dry enough to let the carts pass, the earth is reduced to powder ; as the winds sweep through the passage and clear it out, the process in a few years cuts a defile through the loani often fifteen feet deep, which impedes travel by its narrow gauge, hindering the carts as they meet. The banks are protected by revetment Myalls or turf, if necessary. Those near I langchau, and the great road leading from Chehkiang into Kiangsi, are all in good condition. Generally speaking, however, as is the case with most things in China, the roads are not well repaired, and large holes are frequently allowed to remain unfilled in the path, to the great danger of those who travel by night.” ‘
Mountain passes have been cut for facilitating the transit of goods and people over the high ranges in many parts of the empire. The great road leading from Peking south-west through Sliansi and Shensi, and thence to Sz’chuen, is carried across the Peli ling and the valley of the river Ilwai by a mountain road, ” which, for the difficulties it presents and the art and labor with which they have been overcome, does not appear to be inferior to the road over the Simplon.” * At one place on this route, called Li-nai, a passage has been cut through the rock, and steps hewn on both sides of the mountain from its base to the summit. The passage across the peak being only wide enough for one sedan, the guards are perched in little houses placed on poles over the pass. This road was in ancient times the path to the metropolis, and these immense excavations were made from time to time by different monarchs. The pass over the Mei ling, at Kan-ngan, is a work of later date, and so are most of the other roads across this range in Fuhkien and Ivwangtung.
^ Voyages a Peking, Vol. II., p. 214. Compare the letter of a Jesuit missionary (Annales de la Foi, Tome VII., p. 377), who describes houses of rest on the wayside. These singular road-gullies of the loess region have been very thoroughly examined by Baron von Richthofen, from whose work the cut above is taken.^ Penny Cyclopaedia, Vol. XXVIL, p. 656.
The general aspect of the country is perhaps as much modified by labor of man in China as in England, but the appearance of a landscape in the two kingdoms is unlike. Whenever water is a\aihil)le, streams are led upon the rice fields, and this kind of cultivation allows few or no trees to grow in the plats.
Such fields are divided by i-aised banks, which serve for pathways across the marshy enclosui-e, and assist in confining the water when let in upon the growing crop. The bounds of other fields are denoted by stones or other landmarks, and the entire absence of walls, fences, or hedgerows, makes a cultivated plain appear like a vast garden.
The iireatest sameness exists in all the cities. A wall encloses all towns above a .s-^’ or township, and the suburbs are not unfrequently larger than their enceinte. The streets in large towns south of the Hwang ho are paved, and the sewers run under the cross slabs. What filth is not in them is generally in the street, as these drains easily become choked. The roadways arc not usually over ten feet wide, but the low houses on each side make them appear less like alleys than would be the case in western cities. Villages have a pleasant appearance at a distance, usually embowered among trees, between which the whitewashed houses look prettily ; but on entering them one is disappointed at their irregularit}’, dirtiness, and generally decayed look. The gardens and best houses are mostly walled in from sight, while the precincts of temples are the resort of idlers, beggars, and children, with a proportion of pigs and dogs.
Elegance or ornament, orderly arrangement and grandeur of design, cleanliness, or comfort, as these terms are applied in Europe, are almost unknown in Chinese houses, cities, or gardens.
GENERAL ASPECT AND RACE TYPES. 41
Commanding or agreeable situations are chosen for temples and monasteries, which are not only the abode of priests but serve for inns, theatres, and other purposes. The terrace cultivation sometimes renders the acclivities of hills beautiful in the highest degree, but it does not often impart a distinguishing feature to the landscape. A lofty solitary pagoda, an extensive temple shaded by trees in the opening of a vale, a commemorative ^x«’-Z«i*, or boats inoving in every direction through narrow creeks or on broad streams, are some of the peculiar lin eanients of Chinese scenery. No imposing mansions with beautiful grounds are found on the skirts of a town, for the people huddle together in luunlets and villages for mutiuil aid and security.
No tapering spires pointing out the rural chureli, nor towers, pillars, domes, or steeples in the cities, indicating buildings of public utility, rise upon the low level of dun-tiled roofs.
No meadows or pastures, containing herds and tlocks, are visible from tlie hill-tops in China ; nor are coaches or railroad cars observed hurrying across its landscapes. Steamers have just begun to course through some of its rivers, and disturb, by theii whistles and wheels, the drowsy silence of past ages and the slow progress of unwieldy junks—the other changes have yet to come.
The condition and characteristics of the various families of man inhabiting this great empire, render its study far more interesting than anything relating to its physical geography or public works. The Chinese forms the leading family, but the Miaotsz’, the Li-mu, the Kakyens, and other aborigines in the southern provinces, the Manchus, the Mongols, and various
Tartar tribes, the Tibetans, and certain wild races in Kirin and
Formosa, must not be overlooked. The sons of Ilan are indeed
a remarkable race, whether regard be had to their antiquity,
their numbers, their government, or their literature, and on
these accounts deserve the study and respect of every intelligent
student of mankind ; while their unwearied industry, their general
peaceableness and good humor, and their attainments in
domestic order and mechanical arts, connnend them to the notice
of every one who sees in these points of character an earnest
of their future position amid the great family of civilized
nations when once they shall have attained the same.
The physical traits of the Chinese may be described as being between the light and agile Hindu, and the muscular, fleshy European. Their form is well built and symmetrical ; their color is a brunette or sickly white, rather approaching to a yellowish than to a florid tint, but this yellow hue has been much exaggerated ; in the south they are swarthy but not black, ne\er becoming as dark even as the Portuguese, whose fifth or sixth ancestors dwelt near the Tagus. The shades of complexion differ much according to the latitude and degree of exposure to the -u-eather, especially in the females. The hair of the head is lank, black, coarse, and glossy; beard always black, thin, and deficient ; scanty or no whiskers ; and very little hair on the body. Eyes invariably black, and apparently oblique, owing to the slight degree in which the inner angles of the eyelids open, the internal canthi being more acute than in western races, and not allowing the whole iris to be seen ; this peculiarity in the eye distinguishes the eastern races of Asia from all other families of man. There is a marked difference between the features of the mixed race living south of the Mei ling, and the inhabitants of the Great Plain and in Shansi or further west ; the latter are the finer appearing. The hair and eyes being always black, a European with blue eyes and light hair appears strange to them; one reason given by the people of Canton for calling foreigners ‘yangguizi’ or ‘foreign devils,’ is, that they have sunken blue eyes, and red hair like demons.
The cheek-bones are high, and the outline of the face remark ably round. The nose is rather small, much depressed, nearly even with the face at the root, and wide at the extremity ; there is, however, considerable difference in this respect, but no aquiline noses are seen. Lips thicker than among Europeans, but not at all approaching those of the negro. The hands are small, and the lower limbs better proportioned than among any other Asiatics. The height of those living north of the Yangtsz’ is about the same as that of Europeans. A thousand men taken as they come in the streets of Canton, will hardly equal in stature and weight the same number in Rome or New Orleans, while they would, perhaps, exceed these, if gathered in Peking;
their nuiscular powers, however, would probably be less in
either Chinese city than in those of Europe or America.
In size, the women are smaller than European females ; antf
in the eyes of those accustomed to the European style of beauty,
the Chinese women possess little ; the broad upper face, low
nose, and linear eyes, being quite the contrary of handsome.
Nevertheless, the Chinese face is not destitute of beauty,
and when animated with good humor and an expressive eye,
and lighted by the glow of youth and health, the features lose
much of their repulsiveness. Nor do they fade so soon and
ABORIGINAL TRIBES. 43
look as ugly and witliered wlien old as some travellers say, but
are in respect to bearing children and keeping their vigor, more
like Europeans than the Hindus or Persians.
The mountainous regions in Yunnan, Kwangsi, and Ivweichau,
give lodgement to many elans of the Miaotsz’ or ” children
of the soil,” as the words may be rendered. It is singular that
any of these people should have maintained their independence
so long, when so lai’ge a portion of them have partially submitted
to Chinese rule. Those who will not are called sang
Miaots2\ i.e., wild or ‘ unsubdued,’ while the others are termed
sh}ih or ‘ subdued.’ They present so many physical points of
difference as to lead one to infer that they are a more ancient
race than the Chinese around them, and the aborigines of
Southern China. They are rather smaller in size and stature,
have shorter necks, and their features are somewhat more
angular. They are divided into many tribes, and have been
described by Chinese travellers, who have illustrated their habits
by paintings and sketches, from which a good idea can be
obtained of their condition. Dr. Bridgman has translated such
an account, written by a Chinese native traveller, in which he
sketches the manners of eighty-two clans, especially those customs
relating to worship and marriage, showing how little they
have learned from their i-ulei’s or impi-oved from the savage
state. An examination of their languages shows that those of
the Miaotsz’ proper have strong affinities with the Siamese and
Annamese, and those known as Lolo exhibit a decided likeness
to the Burmese. The former of these are mentioned in Chinese
histoi-y during 4,000 years ; the latter about a.d. 250, when a
Shan nation came under Cliinese influence in Yunnan, and was
the object of a warlike expedition. The same race still remain
on the Upper Irrawadi and in Assam as Shans and Ivhamti, ami
in the basins of the IMeinam and Mei-lung, all of them akin to
the Tibetans and Burmese. They form together an interesting
relic of the ancient peoples of the land, and further inquiries
will doubtless develop something of their history and origin.’
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., p. 105. Shanghai Journal, No. III., 1859.Journal of Indian Archipelago, 1852. Missionary Recorder, Vol. III., pp. 33,02, 149, etc. T. T. Cooper, Travels of a Pioneer of Commerce, jiassim.
An aboriginal race—the Li-mu—exists in the center of Hainan, an offset from the Miaotsz’, judging by the little that is known of their language. The natives of Formosa seem to have more affinity with their neighbors in Luzon and southwai-d than with the Chinese.
The Mongol and Manchu races have been considered as springing from the same stock, but during centuries of separation under different ‘ circumstances they have altered much.
The Mongols are essentially a nonuadic race, while the Manchus are an agricultural or a hunting people, according to the part of their country they inhabit. The Manchus are of a lighter complexion and somewhat larger than the Chinese, have the same conformation of the eyelids, but leather more beard, while their countenances indicate greater intellectual capacity. They seem to partake of both the Mongol and Chinese character, possessing more determination and largeness of plan than the latter, with much of the rudeness and haughtiness of the former.
They have fair, if not florid, complexions, straight noses, and, in a few cases, brown hair and heavy beards. They are more allied to the Chinese, and when they ruled the northern provinces as the Kin dynasty, amalgamated with them. They may be regarded as the most improvable race in Central Asia, if not on the continent; and the skill with which they have governed the Chinese empire, and adopted a civilization higher than their own, gives promise of still further advances when they become familiar with the civilization of Christian lands.
Under the term Mongols or Moguls a great number of tribes occupying the steppes of Central Asia are comprised. They extend from the borders of the Ivhirgis steppe and Kokand eastward to the Sialkoi Mountains, and it is particularly to this race that the name Tartars or Tatars is applicable. ‘ No such word is now known among the people, except as an ignominious epithet, by the Chinese, who usually write it with two characters—tah-tsz’—meaning ‘ trodden-down people.’ Klaproth confines the appellation of Tartars to the Mongols, Kalmucks, Kalkas, Eleuths, and Buriats, while the Kirghis, Usbecks, Cossacks, and Turks are of Kurdish and Ttirhrman origin.
MANCIIUS AND MONGOLS. 46
The Mongol tribes generally arc a stout, squat, swarthy, ill favored race of men, having high and broad shoulders, short, broad noses, pointed and prominent chins, long teeth distant from each other, eyes black, elliptical, and imsteady, thick, short necks, extremities bony and nervous, muscular thighs, but short legs, with a stature nearly or quite equal to the European.
They have a written language, but their literature is limited and mostly religious. The same language is spoken by all the tribes, with slight variations and only a small admixture of foreign words. Most of the accounts of their origin, their wars, and their habits, were written by foreigners living or travelling among them ; but they themselves, as McCulloch remarks, know as little of these things as rats or marmots do of their descent.
Yet it is not so easy to find the typical Mongol among the medley of nationalities in their towns. A crowd in a town like Yarkand exhibits all the varieties of the human race. The gaunt, almost beardless Manchu, with sunken eyes, high cheekbones, and projecting jowl, contrasts with the smooth face, pinky yellow, oblique eye, flat cheeks, and rounded jowl of the Chinese. The bearded, sallow Toork, the angular, rosy Kirghis, the coarse, hard Dungani, and thick-lipped, square-faced Eleuth, all show poorly with the tall, handsome Cashmerian, the swarthy liadakshi, and robust, intelligent Uzbek. The fate of the vast swarms of this race which have descended from the tal)le-land of Central Asia and overrun, in different ages, the plains of India, China, Syria, Egypt, and Eastern Europe, and the rise and fall of the gigantic empire they themselves erected under Genghis in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, are among the most remarkable episodes in the world’s history. They have always maintained the same character in their native wilds, their conquests have been exterminations rather than subjugations, their history a record of continual quarrels between clans.
The last of the five races is the Tibetan, who partake of the physical characteristics of the Mongols and Hindus. They are short, squat, and broad-shouldered in body, with angular faces, wide, high cheek-bones, small black eyes, and scant beard. They are^ mild in disposition, have a stronger religious feeling than the Chinese, and have never left their own highlands either for emigration or conquest. Their civilization is fullj’ equal to that of tlie Siamese and Burmese, and life and property are more secure with them than among their turbulent neighbors in Butan, Lahore, or Cabul.
It will be seen from this short survey that a full account of the geography, government, manners, literature, and civilization of so large a part of the world and its inhabitants requires the combined labors of many observers, all of them well acquainted with the languages and institutions of the people whom they describe. No one will look, therefore, for more than a brief outline of these subjects in the present work, minute enough, however, to enable readers to form a fair opinion of the people.
It is the industry of the Chinese which has given them their high place among the nations of the earth. Not only has the indigenous vegetation been superseded wherever culture M-ould remunerate toil, but lofty hills have been tilled and terraced almost to their tops, cities have been built upon them, and extensive ranges of wall erected alone; their summits. They practise all the industrial arts whose objects are to feed, clothe, educate or adorn mankind, and maintain the largest population ever united under one system of rule. Ten centuries ago they were the most civilized nation on earth, and the incredulity manifested in Europe, five hundred years ago, at the recitals of Marco Polo regarding their condition, is the counterpart of the sentiments now expressed by the Chinese when they hear of the power and grandeur of western nations.
Isolated by natural boundaries from other peoples, their civilization, developed under peculiar influences, must be compared to, ratlier than judged of, by European. A people from whom some of the most distinguishing inventions of modern Europe came (such as the compass, porcelain, gunpowder, and printing), and were known and practised many centuries earlier; who probably amount to more tlian three huTidred millions, united in one system of manners, letters, and polity; whose cities and capitals rival in numbers the greatest metropoles of any age; who have not only covered the earth, but the waters, with towns and streets—such a nation must occupy a conspicuous place in the history of mankind, and the study of their character and condition commend itself to every well-v/islier of his race.
CIVILIZATION PAST AND FUTURK
It lias been too much the custom of writers to overlook the influence of the Bible upon modern civilization ; but when a comparison is to be drawn between European and Asiatic civilization, this element forces itself upon the attention as the main cause of the superiority of the former. It is not the civilization of luxury or of letters, of arts or of priestcraft ; it is not the spirit of war, the passion for money, nor its exhibitions in trade and the application of machinery, that render a nation permanently great and prosperous. ” Christianity is the summary of all civilization,” says Chenevix ; ” it contains every argument which could be urged in its support, and every precept which explains its nature. Former systems of religion were in conformity with luxury, but this alone seems to have been conceived for the region of civilization. It has flourished in Europe, while it has decayed in Asia, and the most civilized nations are the most purely Christian.” Christianity is essentially the religion of the people, and when it is covered over with forms and contracted into a priesthood, its vitality goes out; this is one reason why it has declined in Asia. The attainments of the Chinese in the arts of life are perhaps as great as they can be without this spring of action, without any other motives to industry, obedience, and morality, than the commands or demands of the present life.
A survey of the world and its various races in successive ages leads one to infer that God has some plan of national character, and that one nation exhibits the development of one trait, while another race gives prominence to another, and subordinates the first. Thus the Egyptian people were eminently a priestly race, devoted to science and occult lore ; the Greeks developed the imaginative powers, excelling in the fine arts ; the Romans were warlike, and the embodiment of force and law ; the Babylonians and Persians magnificent, like the head of gold in Daniel’s vision ; the Arabs predacious, volatile, and imaginative ; the Turks stolid, bigoted, and impassible ; the Hindus are contemplative, religious, and metaphysical ; the (yhinese industrious, peaceful, literary, atlieistic, and self-contained.’ The same religion, and constant intercommunication among European nations, has assimilated
them more than these other races ever could have become ; but every one knows the national peculiarities of the Spaniards,
Italians, French, English, etc., and how they are maintained,
notwithstanding the motives to imitation and coalescence. The
compai’ison of national character and civilization, M’ith the
view of ascertaining such a plan, is a subject worthy the profound
study of any scholar, and one which would orter new
views of the human race. The Chinese would be found to
iiave attained, it is believed, a higher position in general security
of life and property, and in the arts of domestic life and
comfort among the mass, and a greater degree of general literary
intelligence, than any other heathen or Mohammedan nation
that ever existed—or indeed than some now calling: themselves
Christian, as Abyssinia. They have, however, probably done all they can do, reached as high a point as they can without the Gospel ; and its introduction, with its attendant intluences, will erelong change their political and social system. The rise and progress of this revolution among so mighty a mass of liuman beings will form one of the most interesting parts of the history of the world during the nineteenth century, and solve the problem whether it be possible to elevate a race without the intermediate steps of disorganization and reconstruction. ‘ For ol)Sprvations on the Chinese as compared witli other nations, see Sclilef^el’s Philoaifphy of llistuiy, p. 1 18, Bohu’s edition.
CHAPTER II. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE EASTERN PROVINCES
The provinces of China Proper are poll tloally subdivided in a scientific manner, but in the regions beyond them, these divisions are considerably modified. Manchuria is regarded as belonging to the reigning family, somewhat as Hanover once pertained to the kings of England, and its scanty population is ruled by a simple military organization, the higliev officials being appointed by his majesty himself. The khans ot the Mongols in Mongolia and 111, the Mohammedan begs in Turkestan, and the lamas in Tibet, are assisted in their rule by Chinese residents and generals who direct and uphold the government.
The geography of foreign countries has not been studied by the Chinese ; and so few educated men have travelled even into the islands of the Indian Archipelago, or the kingdoms of Siam, Corea, or Burmah, that the people have had no opportunity to become acquainted with the countries lying on their borders, much less with those in remoter parts, whose names, even, they hardly know. A few native works exist on foreign geography, among which four may be here noticed. ”
1. Researches in the East and West^ 6 vols. Svo. It was written about two centuries ago ; the first volume contains some rude charts intendea to show the situation and form of foreign countries.
2. Notices of the Seas, 1 vol. Its author, Yang Ping-nan, obtained his information from a townsman, who, being wrecked at sea, wss picked up by a foreign ship, and travelled abroad for fourteen years; on his return to China he became blind, and was engaged as an interpreter in Macao.
3. JVotiees of Things heard and seen in Foreign Countries^ 2 vols. 12mo ; written about a century ago, containing among other things a chart of the wholb Vol. I.—4 Chinese coast,
4. The Memoranda of Foreign Tribes, 4 vols.Svo, published in the reign of Kienlung.”‘ A more methodicalwork is that of Li Tsing-lai, called ‘Plates Illustrative of tJie
Ileavens^ being an astronomical and geographical work, mucl^
of whose contents were obtained from Europeans residing iiv
the country. But even if the Chinese had better treatises on
these subjects, the information contained in them would be
of little use until it was taught in their schools. The high officers
in the government begin now to see the importance of a
better acquaintance with general geography. Commissioner
Lin, in 1841, published a partial translation of Murray’s Cydol)(
jidia of Geogrcfjjhy, in 20 volumes ; Gov. Seu Ki-yu, in 1850,
issued a compend of geographical notices with maps, and many
others, more accurate and extensive, are now extant.
However scarce their geographical works upon foreign countries
may be, those delineating the topography of their own are
hardly equalled in number and minuteness in any language :
every district and town of importance in the empire, as well as
every department and province, has a local geography of its
own. It may be said that the topographical and statistical
works form, after the ethical, the most valuable portion of
Chinese literature. It would not be difficult to collect a library
of 10,000 volumes of such treatises alone ; the topography of the
city of Suchau, and of the province of Chehkiang, are each in
40 vols., while the Kwamjtuncj Tung Chi, an ‘ Historical and
Statistical Account of Kwangtung,’ is in 182 volumes. Xone
of these works, however, would bear to be translated entii’c,
such is the amount of legendary and unimportant matter contained
in them ; but they contain many data not to be overlooked
by one who undertakes to write a geography of China.
The Climate of the Eighteen Provinces has been represented
in meteorological tables sufficiently well to ascertain its general
salubrity. Pestilences do not frequently visit the land, nor, as
in Southern India, is it deluged with rain during one monsoon,
and parched with drought during the other. The average temperature
of the whole empire is lower than that of any other
‘ Bridgman’s Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 420. Macao, 1841.
CLIMATE OF THE PROVINCES. ol
country on the same latitude, and the coast is subject to the
same extremes as that of the Atlantic States in America. The
isothermal line of 70° F. as the average for the year, which
passes south of Canton, runs hy Cairo and Xew Orleans, eight
degrees north of it ; the line of 60° F. average passes from
Shanghai to Marseilles, Raleigh, St. Louis, and north of San
Francisco ; and the line of 50° F. average goes near Peking,
thence on to Vienna, Dublin, Philadelphia, and Puget’s Sound,
in lat. 52°. These various lines show that while Shanghai and
Peking liave temperatures similar to Paleigh and Philadelphia,
nearly on their own parallels, Canton is the coldest place on the
globe in its latitude, and the only place within the tropics
where snow falls near the sea-shore. One result of this projection
of the temperate zone into the tropical is seen in the
greater vigor and size of the people of the three southern pi-ovinces
over any races on the same parallel elsewhere ; and the
productions are not so strictly tropical. The isothermal lines
for the year, as given above, are not so irregular as those for
winter. The line of 00° F. runs by the south of Formosa and
Hongkong, to Cairo and St. Augustine, a range of nine degrees
;
but the winter line of 40° F. passes from Shanghai to Constantinople,
Milan, Dublin, and Ealeigh, ending at Puget’s
Sound, a range of twenty degrees. A third line of 32° for
winter passes through Shantnng to X. Tibet and the Black
Sea, Norway, Xew York, and Sitka—a range of twenty-five
degrees.
Peking (lat. 39° 55′ N.) exhibits a fair average of the climate
in that part of the Plain. The extremes range from 104° to
zero F., but the mean annual temperature is 52.3° F., or more
than 9° lower than Kaples ; the mean winter range is 12° below
freezing, or about 18° lower than that of Paris (lat. 48° 50′),
and 15° lower than Copenhagen. The rainfall seldom reaches
sixteen inches in a year, most of it coming in July and August
the little snow that descends remains only two or three days on
the ground, and is blown away rather than melted ; no one associates
white with winter, but snow is earnestly prayed for as
a purifier of the air against diphtheria and fevers. The winds
from the Plateau cause the barouieter and thermometer to fall, r])ut the sky is clear. In the spring, as the heat increases, the winds raise the dust and sand over the country ; some of these sand-storms extend even to Shanghai, carrying millions of tons of soil from its original place. The dryness of the region has apparently increased during the last century, and constant droughts destroy the trees, which by their absence increase the desiccation now going on. Frost closes the rivers for three months, and ice is cheap. After the second crops fully start in August, the autumns become mild, and till the lOtli of December are calm and genial.’
The climate of the Plain is generally good, but near the rivers and marshy grounds along the Grand Canal, agues and bowel complaints prevail. A resident speaks of the temperature of banking and the region around it : ” This vast Plain being only a marsh half drained, the moisture is excessive, giving rise to many strange diseases, all of them serious, and not unfrequently mortal. The climate affects the natives from
other provinces, and Europeans. I have not known one of the
latter who was not sick for six months or a year after his arrival.
Every one who comes here must prepare himself for a
tertian or quotidian. For myself, after suffering two months
fi’om a malignant fever, I had ten attacks of a maladv the Chinese
here call the sand^ from the skin being covered with little
blackish pimples, resembling grains of dust. It is prompt and
\iolent in its progi’ess, and corrupts the blood so rapidly that in
a few minutes it staijnates and coae-ulates in the veins. The
best remedy the people have is to cicatrize the least fleshy j^arts
of the body with a copper cash. The first attack I experienced
rendered all my limbs insensible in two minutes, and I expected
to die before I could receive extreme unction. After recovering
a little, great lassitude succeeded.” ^ The monsoons
form an important element in the seaside climate as far north
as latitude 31°. The dry and wet seasons correspond to the
north-east and south-west monsoons, assuaging the heats of
summer by their cooling showers, and making the winters
^Comijare an article in the China Review for September-October, 1881, byII. Fritsche : The Amount of Baiii and Snow in Pekinf/.Annates de la Foi, Tome XVI., p. 29^3.
CLIMATE OF THE COAST TOWNS. 53
bracing- and healthy. Above the Formosa Channel they are
less regular in the summer than in winter.
The inhabitants of Shanghai suffer from rapid changes in
the autumn and spring months, and pulmonaiy and rheumatic
complaints are connnon. The maximum of heat is 100° F.,
and the minimum 2-i°, but ice is not common, nor does snow
remain long on the ground. The average temperature of the
sunnner is from 80° to 93° by day, and from G0° to 75.° by
.night , the thermometer in winter ranges from 45° to 60° by
day, and from 36° to 45° by night.
Owing in some degree to the hills, the extremes are rather greater at Ningbo than Shanghai. The thermometer ranges from 24° to 107° during the twelvemonth, and changes of 20° in the course of two hours are not unusual, rendering it the most uidiealtliy station along the coast. There is a hot and cold season of three months each at this place. The cold is very piercing when the north-east winds set in, and fires are needed, but natives content themselves with additional clothing.
The large brick beds {hang) common in Chihli are not often
seen. Ice forms in pools, and is gathered to preserve fish.
Snow frequently falls, but does not remain long. Occasionally
it covers the hills in Chehkiang for several weeks to the depth
of six inches. Fuhchau and Canton lie at the base of hills,
Avithin a hundred miles of the sea-coast, and their climates exhibit
greater extremes than Amoy and Hongkong. Frost and
ice are common every winter at each of the former, and fires
are therefore pleasant in the house. The extremes at Fuhchau
are from 38° to 95°, with an average of 56° during December
and 82° for August. Along this whole coast the most refreshing
monsoon makes the summers very agreeable. The climate of
Amoy is delightful, but its insular position renders a residetice
somewhat less agreeable than on the main. Here the thermometer
ranges from 40° to 96° during the year, without the
rapid changes of Xingpo. The heat continues longer, though
assuaged by breezes from the sea.
Meteorology at Canton and its vicinity has been carefully studied ; on the whole, its climate, and especially that of Macao, may be considered more salubrious than in most other places situated between the tropics. The thermometer at Canton in July and August stands on an average at S0° to 88°, and in January and February at 50° to 60°. The highest recorded observation in 1831 was 94°, in July; and the lowest, 29° in January. Ice sometimes forms in shallow vessels a line or two in thickness, but no use is made of it. A fall of snow nearly two inches deep occurred there in February, 1835, which remained on the ground three hours. Having never seen any before, the citizens hardly knew what was its proper name, some calling \t falling cotton, and every one endeavoring to preserve a little for a febrifuge. Another similar fall occurred in the winter of 1861. Fogs are common during February and March, and the heat sometimes renders them very
disagreeable, it being necessary to keep up a little fire to dry
the house. Most of the rain falls in May and June, but there
is nothing like the rainy season at Calcutta and Manilla in July,
August, and September. The regular monsoon comes from
the south-west, with frequent showers to allay the heat. In
the succeeding months, northerly winds connnence, but from
October to January the temperature is agreeable, the sky clear,
and the air invigorating. Few large cities are more healthy
than Canton ; no epidemics nor malaria prevail, notwithstanding
the fact that much of the town is built upon piles.
The climate of Macao and Hongkong has not so great a range
as Canton, from their proximity to the sea. Few cities in Asia
are more salntiferous than Macao, though it has been remarked
that few of the natives there attain a great age. Themaxinnnn
is 90°, with an average summer heat of 84°. The minimum is
50°, and average winter weather 68°, with almost uninterrupted
sunshine. Fogs are not often seen here, but on the river they
prevail, being frequent at Whampoa. Korth-easterly gales
are conmion in the spring and autumn, and have a noticeable
periodicity of three days. The vegetation does not change its
general aspect during the winter, the trees cease to grow, and the
grass becomes brownish ; but the stimulus of the warm moisture
in March soon makes a sinisilJe diffei’ence in the appearance of
the landscape, and bright green leaves ra])idly replace the old.
The reputed insalubrity of Hongkong, in early days, was owing
RAIN-FALL ON CHINESE AND AMERICAN COASTS. 55
to other causes than climate, and when it became a well-built and
well-drained town, its unwholesomeness disappeared. The rainfall
is greater than in Macao, owing to the attraction of the high
peaks. During the rainy weather the walls of houses become
damp, and if newlj plastered, drip with moisture.
The Chinese consider the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi,
and Yunnan to be the most unhealthy of the eighteen, and for
this reason employ them as places of banishment for criminals
from the north-eastern districts. The central portions of the
country are on some accounts the most bracing, not so liable to
sudden changes as the coast, nor so cold as the western and
northern districts. Sz’chuen and tweichau are cooler than
Fuhkien and Chehkiang, owing to the mountains in and upon
their borders.
The marked contrast between the Chinese and American coasts in regard to rain is doubtless owing, in a great degree, to the outlying islands from Formosa to Sagalien on the former, whose high mountains arrest the clouds in their progress inland.
The iLuro-siwo, being outside of them, allows a far greater mass of cold water between it and the shore on the Chinese, than is the case on the Atlantic coast, and renders it the colder of the two by nearly eight degrees of latitude, if isothermal lines alone are regarded. This mass of cold water, having less evaporation, deprives the maritime provinces of rain in diminishing supply as one goes north along the skirts of the Plain, until the Chang-peh shan are reached. The rains which fall in the western provinces and the slopes of the Bayan kara Mountains, coming up from the Indian Ocean during the south-west
monsoon, fall in decreasing quantities as the clouds are driven
north-east across the basins of the Yangtsz’ and Yellow rivers.
In the western part of Kansuh the humidity covers the mountains
with more vegetation than further east, toward the ocean.
Snow falls as late as June, and frosts occur in every month of the
year. The enormous elevation of the western side of China near
Tibet, the absence of an expanse of water like the great lakes,
and the bareness of the mountains north of the Mei ling, account
for much of this difference between the United States and China f
but more extended data are needed for accurate deductions.
The fall of rain at Canton is 70 inches annually, which is the mean of sixteen years’ observation. JS^inety inches was registered during one of these years. Kearly one-half of the whole falls during May, June, and September. The average at Shanghai for four years was 36 inches. Ko observations are recorded for the valley of the Yangtsz Near the edge of the Plateau the rainfall averages 10 inches in the province of Chihli, and rather more in Shansi and Shantung, where moisture is attracted by the mountains. More than three fourths of the rain falls during the ten weeks ending August 31st. Snow seldom remains on the level over a fortnight.
The increased temperature on the southern coast during the months of June and July operates, with other causes, to produce violent storms along the seaboard, called typhoons, a word derived from the Chinese taifeng, or ‘great wind.’ These destructive tornadoes occur from Hainan to Chusan, between July and October, gradually progressing northward as the season advances, and diminishing in fury in the higher latitudes. They annually occasion great losses to the native and foreign shipping in Chinese waters, more than half the sailing ships lost on that coast having suffered in them. Happily, their fury is oftenest spent at sea, but when they occur inland, the loss of life is fearful.
In August, 18G2, and September 21, 1ST4-, the deaths reported in two such storms near Canton, Hongkong, and their vicinity, were upward of 30,000 each. In the latter instance the American steamer Alaska, of 3,500 tons, M’as lifted from her anchorage and quietly put down in five feet of water near the shore, from whence she was safely floated some months afterward.
TYFOONS. 57
Typhoons exhaust their force within a narrow track, which, in such cases as have been registered, lies in no uniform direction, other than from south to north, at a greater or less angle, along the coast. The principal i)heni)iiiena indicating their approach are the direction of the wind, which commences to blow in soft zephyj-s from the north, without, however, assuaging the heat or disturbing the stifling calm, and the falling barometer. The glass usually begins to fall several hours before the storm commences, and the rarefaction of the air is further shown by the heavy swell rolling in upon the beach, though the sea remains unrutfled. The wind increases as it veers to the north-east, and from that point to south-east blows with the greatest force in iitful gusts. The rain falls heaviest toward the close of the gale, when the glass begins to rise. The barometer not unfrequently falls below 28 in. Capt. Krusenstern in 1804 records his surprise at seeing the mercury sink out of sight.
The Chinese have erected temples in Hainan to the Tjfoon
Mother, a goddess whom they supplicate for protection against
these hurricanes. They say “that a few days before a tyfoon
comes on, a slight noise is heard at intervals, whirling round
and then stopping, sometimes impetuous and sometimes slow.
This is a ‘ tyfoon brewing.’ Then fiery clouds collect in thick
masses ; the thunder sounds deep and heavy. Kainbows appear,
now forming an unbroken curve and again separating, and the
ends of the bow dip into the sea. The sea sends back a bellowing
sound, and boils with angry surges ; the loose rocks dash
against each other, and detached sea-weed covers the water;
there is a thick, murky atmosphere ; the water-fowl fly about
affrighted ; the trees and leaves bend to the south—the tyfoon
has connnenced. When to it is superadded a violent rain and
a frightful surf, the force of the tempest is let loose, and away
fly the houses up to the hills, and the ships and boats are
removed to the dry land ; horses and cattle are turned heels
over head, trees are torn up by the roots, and the sea boils up
twenty or thirty feet, inundating the fields and destroying vegetation.
This is called tleh la, or an iron tcJurlwindr ‘ Those
remarkable gusts which annually occur in the Atlantic States,
called tornadoes, defined as local storms affecting a thread of
surface a few miles long, are unknown in China. The healthy
climate of China has had much to do with the civilization of its
inhabitants. Xo similar area in the world exceeds it for general
salubrity.
The Chinese are the only people who have, by means of a
‘ Chinese Repository. Vol. VIII ., p. 230 ; Vol. IV., p. 197. See also Fritsche’a
paper in Journal of N. C. Branch Royal Asiatic Society, No. XII., 1878, pp.
127-385; also Appendix II. in No. X., containing observations taken at Zi-ka
wei.
term added to the name of a place, endeavored to designate ita
relative rank. Three of the words used for this purpose, viz.,
fa, chau, and Men, have been translated as ‘ first,’ ‘ second,’ and
‘ third ‘ rank ; but this gradation is not quite correct, for the terms
do not apply to the city or town alone, but to the portions of
country of which it is the capital. The nature of these and
other terms, and the divisions intended by them, are thus
explained
:
“The Eighteen Provinces are divided into fu, ting, clinu, and Men. A fu
is a large portion or department of a province, under the general control of
one civil officer immediately subordinate to the heads of the provincial government.
A ting is a division of a province smaller than a fu, and either like it
governed by an officer immediately subject to the heads of the provincial
government, or else forming a subordinate part of a/?/. In the former case it
is called chih-l%, i.e. under the ‘direct rule’ of the provincial government;
in the latter case it is sim^jly called ting. A chaii is a division similar to a
ting, and like it either independent of any other division, or forming part of
a/H. The difference between the two consists in the government of a ting
resembling that of a fu more nearly than that of a chau does : that of the chau is less expensive. The ting and chau of the class to which the term chih-li is attached, may be denominated in common with the fu, departments or prefectures ; and the term cMh-Vi may be rendered by tlie word independent.
The subordinate ting and chau may both be called districts. A ?den, which is also a district, is a small division or subordinate part of a department, whether of a,fu, or of an independent chau or ting.
“Each/w, ting, chau, and hien, possesses at least one walled town, the seat of its government, which bears the same name as the department or district to which it pertains. Thus Hiangshan is the chief town of the district Hiang-.shan hien ; and Shanking, that of the department Shanking fu. By European writers, the chief towns of the/w or departments liave been called cities of the first order ; tho.se of the chau, cities of the second order ; and those of the hien, cities of the third order. The division called ting, being rarely met with, lias been left out of the arrangement—an arrangement not recognized in
China. It must be observed that the cliief town of a fu is always also the
cliief town of a hien district ; and sometimes, when of considerable size and
importanc-e, it and the country around are divided into two Iden districts, both
of which have the seat of their government within the same walls: but this
is not the case with the ting and chau departments. A district is not always
subdivided ; instances may occur of a whole district possessing but one important
town. But as there are often large and even walled towns not included in the number of chief or of district towns, consequently not the seat of a regular chau or hien magistracy, a subdivision of a district is therefore frequently rendered necessary ; and for the better government of such towns and the towns surrounding them, magistrates are appointed to them, secondary to the magi.strates of the departments or the districts in which they are
PtJ, TING, CHAU, AND HIEN. 59
comprised. Thus Fnlishan is a very large commercial town or mart called a
chin, situated in the district of Nanhai, of the department of Kwangchau,
about twelve miles distant from Canton. The chief officer of the department
has therefore an assistant residing there, and the town is partly under his
government and partly under that of the Nanhai magistrate, within whose
district it is included, but who resides at Canton. There are several of these
c?iin in the provinces, as Kingteh in Kiangsi, Siangtan in Hunan, etc. ; they are not inclosed by walls. Macao affords another instance : being a place of some importance, both from its size and as the residence of foreigners, an assistant
to the Hiangshan hien magistrate is placed over it, and it is also under
the control of an assistant to the chief magistrate of the fu. Of these assistant
magistrates, there are two ranks secondary to the chief magistrate of a///,
two secondary to the magistrate of a chaii, and two also secondary to the magistrate
of a liien. Tiie places under the rule of these assistant magistrates are
called by various names, most frequently chin and so, and sometimes also chai
and wei. These names do not appear to have reference to any particular form
of municipal government existing in them ; but the chai and the loei are often
military posts ; and sometimes a place is, with respect to its civil government,
the chief city of a fu, while with respect to its military position it is called
icei. There are other towns of still smaller importance ; these are under the
government of inferior magistrates who are called siun kien : a division of
country under such a magistrate is called a sz’, which is best represented by
the term township or commune. The town of Whampoa and country around it form one such division, called Kiautang sz’, belonging to the district of Pwanyu, in the depai’tment of Kwangchau.
“In the mountainous districts of Kwangsi, Yunnan, Kweichau, and Sz’-
chuen, and in some other places, there are districts called tu sz’. Among
these, the same distinctions of fu, chau, and hien exist, together with the
minor division «2′. The magistrates of these departments and districts are liereditary in their succession, being the only hereditary local officers acknowledged by the supreme government.
“There is a larger division than any of the above, but as it does not prevail universally, it was not mentioned in the first instance. It is called tau, a cottrse or circuit, and comprises two or more departments of a province, whether fu, or independent ting or cJtnu. These circuits are subject to the government of officers called tau-tai or intendants of circuit, who often combine with political and judicial powers a military authority and various duties relating to the territory or to the revenue.”
‘The eighteen provinces received their present boundaries and divisions in the reign of Ivienhmg ; and the little advance which has been made abroad in the geography of China is shown by the fact, that although these divisions were established a hundred years ago, the old deniarkations, existing at’ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 54.
the time of the survey in 1710, are still found in many modern European geographies and maps. The following tahle shows their present divisions and government. The three columns under the head of JJepaiiiiieuts contain i\iQ fu, chUdl tiny^ and chihli chau, all of which are properly prefectures ; the three columns under the head of Districts contain the timj, cJiau, and Men.
The province of CniiiLi is the most important of the whole. Qn foreign maps it is sometimes written Pechele {i.e., Korth vJhihii), a name formerly given it in order to distinguish it from Iviangnau, or Xaii-cUiJd’i, in which the seat of government w^as once located. This name is descriptive, rather than technical, and means ‘ Direct rule,’ denoting that from this province the supreme power which governs the empire proceeds; any province, in which the Emperor and court should be fixed, would therefore be termed Chihli, and its chief city King, ‘ capital,’ or King-ta or King-ss\ ‘ court of the capital.’ The surface of this province lying south of the Great Wall is level, excepting a few ridges of hills in the west and north, while the eastern parts, and those south to the Gulf, are among the flattest portions of the Great Plain.
It is bounded on the north-east by Liautung, M’here for a short distance the Great AVall is the frontier line ; on the east by the Gulf of Pechele ; on the south-east and south by Shantung; on the south-west by llonan ; on the west by Shansi and north by Inner Mongolia, where the river Liau forms the boundary. The extensive region beyond the Wall, occupied mostly by the Tsakhar Mongols, is now included within the jurisdiction, and placed under the administration o*f officers residing at one of the garrisoned gates of the Great Wall ; the area of this part is about half that of the whole province. The chief department in the province, that of Shuntien, being both large and important, as containing the metropolis, is divided into four III or circuits, each under the rule of a sub-prefect, who issubordinate to the prefect living at Peking.
Peking’ {i.e., Northern Capital) is situated upon a sandy’ This word shoixld not be written Pekin ; it is pronounced Pei-ching by the citizens, and by most of the people north of the Great River.
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plain, about twelve miles south-west of the Pei ho, and more than a hundred miles west-north-west of its month, in lat. 39° 54′ 36′ K., and long. 11(3° 27′ E., or nearly on the parallel of Samarkand, Naples, and Philadelphia. It is a city worthy of note on many accounts. Its ancient history as the capital of the Yen Kwoh (the ‘ Land of Swallows ‘) during the feudal times, and its later position as the metropolis of the empire for many centuries, give it historical importance ; while its imperial buildings, its broad avenues with their imposing gates and towers, its regular arrangement, extent, populousness, and diversity of costume and equipage, combine to render it to a traveler the most interesting and unique city in Asia. It is now ruinous and poor, but the remains of its former grandeur under Kienlung’s prosperous reign indicate the justness of the comparisons made by the Catholic writers with western cities one hundred and eighty years ago. The entire circuit of the walls and suburbs is reckoned by Ilyacinthe at twenty-five
miles, and its area at twenty-seven square miles, but more accurate
measurements of the walls alone give forty-one //, or
14.25 miles (or 23.55 kilometers) for the Manchu city, including
the cross-wall, and twenty-eight Z/, or ten miles, for the
Chinese city on its south ; not counting the cross-wall, the circuit
measures almost twenty-one miles. The suburbs near the
thirteen outer gates altogether form a small pi-oportion to the
whole ; the area within them is nearly twenty-six square miles.
Those residents who have had the best opportunities estimate
the entire population at a million or somewhat less ; no census
returns are available to prove this figure, nor can it be stated
what is the proportion of Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, except
that the latter outnumber all others. Du Ilalde reckoned it
to be about three millions, and Klaproth one million three hundred
thousand ; and each was probably true at some period,
for the number has diminished with the poverty of the Government.
Peking is regarded by the Chinese as one of their ancient
cities, ])ut it was not made the capital of the whole empire
until Kublai established his court at this spot in 1264. The
Ming emperors who succeeded the Mongols held their court
POSITION AND HISTORY OF PEKING. 63
at Nanking until Yimgloh transferred the seat of government to Peking in 1411, where it lias since remained. Under the Mongols, the city was called Khan-haligh (*.<?., city of the Khan), changed into Cambalii in the accounts of those times; on Chinese maps it is usually called King-sz\ Peking has, during its history, existed under many different names ; after each disaster her walls have been changed and her houses rebuilt, so that to-day she stands, like the capitals of the ancient Roman and Byzantine empires, upon the debris of centuries of buildings. The most important renovations have been those by the Liao dynasty, in 937 A.D., who entirely rebuilt the city, and by the Kin rulers in 1151.
It was at first surrounded by a single wall pierced by nine
gates, whence it is sometimes called the City of Nine Gates.
The southern suburbs were inclosed by Kiatsing in 1543, and
the city now consists of two portions, the northern or inner
city {JSFui ching), containing about fifteen square miles, where
are the palace, government buildings, and barracks for troops; and the southern or Outer city ( Wai ching), where the Chinese live. The wall of the Manchu city averages fifty feet high, forty wide at top, and about sixty at bottom, most of the slope being on the inner face. That around the Outer city is no more than thirty in height, twenty-five thick at bottom, and about fifteen at top. The terre-plein throughout is pave^ with bricks weighing sixty pounds each ; a crenellated parapet runs around the entire town, intended only for archers or musketeers, as no port-holes for cannon exist. It is undoubtedly the finest wall surrounding any city now extant. Near the gates, of which there are sixteen in all, the walls are faced with stone, but in other places with these large bricks, laid in a concrete of lime and clay, which in process of time becomes almost as durable as stone. The intermediate space between facings is filled up with the earth taken from the ditch which surrounds the city. Square buttresses occur at intervals of sixty yards on the outer face, each projecting fifty feet, and every sixth one being twice the size of the others ; their tops furnish room for the troops posted there to resist side attacks. Each gate is surmounted with a brick tower of many stories, over a hundred feet high, built in galleries with port-holes, and giving a very imposing appearance to the city as one approaches it from the wide plain. The gates of the Mancliu city have a double entrance formed by joining their supporting bastions with a circular wall in which are side entrances, thus making an enceinte of several acres, in which the yellow-tiled temple to the tutelary God of War is conspicuous. The arches of all the gates are built solidly of granite; the massive doors are closed and barred every night soon after dark.
At the sides of the gates, and also between them, are esplanades for mounting to the top ; this is shut to the common people, and the guards are not allowed to bring their women upon the wall, which would be deemed an affront to Kwanti. The moat around the city is fed from the Tunghwui River, which also supplies all the other canals leading across or through the city. The approach to Peking from Tung chau is by an elevated stone road, but nothing of the buildings inside the walls is seen ; and were it not for the lofty towers over the gates, it would more resemble an encampment inclosed by a massive wall than a large metropolis. No spires or towers of churches, no pillars or monuments, no domes or minarets, nor even many dw-ellings of superior elevation, break the dull uniformity of this or any Chinese city. In Peking, the different colored yellow or green tiles on official buildings,’ mixed with the brown roofs of common houses, impart a variety to the scene, but the chief objects to relieve the monotony are the large clumps of trees, and the flag -staffs in pairs near the temples.
GENERAL ASPECT OF THE CAPITAL. 65
The view from the walls impresses one with the grand ideas of the founders of the city ; and the palaces in the Forbidden City, towering above everything else, worthily exhibit their notions of what was befitting the sovereigns of the Middle Kingdom. The Bell and Clock Towers, the Prospect Hill, the dagobas, pagodas, and gate towers, and lastly the Temple of ‘ ” You woxald think them all made of, or at least covered with, piii’e gold enamelled in azure and green, so that the spectacle is at once majestic an^ channing.” Magaillans, Noavelln Dencriptioit dc Id Cliiiu\ p. 353.
Heaven, are all likewise visible from this point, and render the scene picturesque and peculiar.*
The plan of the city here given is reduced from a large Chinese
map, but is not very exact. The northern portion occupies
for the most part the same area as the Cambaluc of Marco
Polo, which, however, extended about two miles north, where
the remains of the old north wall of the Mongols still exist.
On their expulsion Ilungwu erected the present northern wall,
and his son Yungloh rebuilt the other three sides in 1419 on a
rather larger scale ; but the ai’rangement of the streets and
gates is due to the Great Khan. When taken possession of by
the Manchus in 1611, they found a magnificent city ready for
them, uninjured and strong, which they apportioned among
their officers and bannermen ; but necessity soon obliged these
men, less frugal and thrifty than the natives, to sell them, and
content themselves with humbler abodes ; consequently, the
greater part of tlie noi-thern city is now tenanted by Chmese.
The innermost inclosure in the l!^ul Ching contains the palace
and its surrounding buildings; the second is occupied by barracks
and public offices, and by many private residences ; the
outer one, for the most part, consists of dwelling-houses, with
shops in the large avenues. The inner inclosui’e measures 6.3
li^ or 2.23 miles, in circuit, and is called Ts£ Kin Ching, or
‘ Carnation Prohibited City ;
‘ the wall is less solid and high than the city wall ; it is covered with bright yellow tiles, guarded by numerous stations of bannermen and gendarmerie, and surrounded by a deep, wide moat. Two gates, the Tunghwa and Si-hiva, on the east and west, afford access to the interior of this habitation of the Emperor, as well as the space and rooms appertaining, which furnish lodgment to the guard
c’afending the approach to the Dragon’s Throne ; a tower at
each corner, and one over each gateway, also gi\’e accommodation
to other troops. The interior of this inclosure is divided
‘ See also Ji’ Unwera Pittoresque, Chine Modern f, par MM. Pauthier et Bazin,
Paris, 185:^, for a good map of Peking, with careful descriptions. Yule’s Murro
Polo, passim. De Guigues, Voydr/cs, Tome I. Williamson, Journeys in North
China, Vol. II. Dr. Rennie, Pckiny and tlixi Pekimjeae. Tour du Monde foi 1864, Tome II.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
1.
J.
K.
K.
L.
M.
N.
O.
P.
Q.
R.
S.
T.
U.
V.
w.
X.
Y.
Z.
BEFEBENCES.
The Meridian Gate.
Gate of E.\tensive Peace.
Hall of Perfect Peace.
Hall of Secure Peace.
Palace of Heaven—the Emperor’s.
Palace of Earth’s Repose—the Empress’.
Gate to Earth’s Repose, leads to a Garden.
Ching-hwang miao.
Temple of Great Happiness.
Northern gate of Forbidden City.
Nui Koh, or Privy Council Chamber, lies
within the wall.
Gate of Heavenly Rest.
Hall of Intense Mental Exercises.
Library, or Hall of Literary Abyis.
Imperial Ancestral Hall.
Hall of National Portrait-s.
PrintinK Office.
Court of Controllers of Imperial Clan.
Marble Isle ; a marble bridge leads to it.
Five Dragon Pavilion.
Great Ancestral Temple.
Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain.
Artificial Mountain. The Russian school
lies just north of the Eastern gate near N.
A summer-houpc.
Military Examination Hall.
Plantain Garden, or Conservatory,
A Pavilion.
Medical College.
Astronomical Board.
Five of the Six Boards. The Hanlin Yu9n
lies just above them.
House of the Russian Mission.
Colonial Office.
Temple for Imperial worship.
Imperial Observatory, partly on the wall-
Hall of Literary Examination.
Russian Church of the Assumption.
Temple of Eternal Peace of the lamas.
Kwoh Tsz’ Kien, a Manchii College.
Temple of the God of the North Star.
High Watch-tower and Police Office.
Board of Punishments.
Censorate.
Mohammedan Mosque.
I’ortugtiese Church.
Elephant’s Inclosure.
Principal Ching-hwang miau.
Temple of Deceased Emperors of all ages.
Obelisk covering a »cab of Buddha.
Altar to Heaven.—Altar to Earth is on the
north of the city.
Altar to Ayriculture.
Black Dragon Pool, and Temple of God ol
Hain.
Altar to the Moon.
Altar to the Sun.
PALACES OF THE PROHIBITED CITY. 67
Into three parts by two walls running from south to north, and
the whole is occupied by a suite of court-yards and halls, which,
in their prrangenient and architecture, far exceed any other
speciraer?. of the kind in China. According to the notions of a
common Chinese, all here is gold and silver ; ” he will tell you
of gold and silver pillars, gold and silver roofs, and gold and
silver vases, in which swim gold and silver fishes.”
The southern gate, called the Wu 3Idn, or ‘ Meridian Gate,’
is the fourth in going north from the entrance opposite the
Tsien. Mitii, and this distance of nearly half a mile is occupied
by troops. The Wtc Ildn leads into the middle division, in
which are the imperial buildings ; it is especially appropriated
to the Emperor, and whenever he passes through it, a bell
placed in the tower above is struck ; when his troops return in
triumph, a drum is beaten, and the prisoners are here presented
to him ; here, too, the presents he confers on vassals and ambassadors
are pompously bestowed. Passing through this gate
into a large court, over a small creek spanned by five marble
bridges, ornamented with sculptures, the visitor is led through
the Tai-ho Mdii into a second court paved with marble, and
terminated on the sides by gates, porticos, and pillared corridors.
The next building, at the head of this court, called the TaiheDian or ‘ Hall of Highest Peace,’ is a superb marble structure, one hundred and ten feet high, standing on a terrace that raises it twenty feet above the ground ; five flights of stairs, decorated with balustrades and sculptures, lead up to it, and five doors open through it into the next court-yard. It is a great hall of seventy-two pillars, measuring about two hundred feet by ninety broad, with a throne in the midst. Here
the Emperor holds his levees on New Year’s Day, his birthdays,
and other state occasions ; a cortege of about fifty household
courtiers stand near him, while those of noble and inferior
dignity and rank stand in the court below in regular grades,
and, when called upon, fall prostrate as they all make the fixed
obeisances. It was in this hall that Titsingh and Van Braam
were banqueted by Kienlung, January 20, 1795, of which interesting
ceremony the Dutch embassador gives an account, and
since which event no European has entered the building. The three Tien in this iiiclosiire are the audience halls, and the sido buildings contain stores and treasures under the charge of the Household Board, with minor bureaus.
Beyond it are two halls; the first, the CJmmjhe Dian, or ‘Hall of Central Peace,’ having a circular roof, that rests on columns arranged nearly four-square. Here the Emperor ‘jomes to examine the written prayers provided to be offered at the state worship. The second is the Baohe Dian, or ‘ Hall of Secure Peace,’ elevated on a high marble terrace, and containing nine rows of pillars. The highest degrees for literary merit are her6 conferred triennially by the Emperor upon one hundred and fifty or more scholars ; here, also, he banquets his foreign guests and other distinguished persons the day before New Year’s Day. After ascending a stairway, and passing the Iti-eii Tsing 2Idn, the visitor reaches the Kieii Tsing Jfiinj, or ‘Palace of Heavenly Purity’, into which no one can eiiter without special license. In it is the council-chamber, where the Emperor usually sits at morning audience up to eight o’clock, to transact business with his ministers, and see those appointed to office. The building is the most important as it is described to be the loftiest and most mao-nificent of all the palaces. In the court before it is a small tower of gilt copper, adorned with a great number of figures, and- on each side are large incense vases, the uses of which are no doubt religious.
It Avas in this palace that Ivanghi celebrated a singular and
unique festival, in 1722, for all the men in the enquire over
sixty years of age, that being the sixtieth year of his reign.
His grandson Ivienlung, in 1785, in the fiftieth year of his
reign, repeated the ceremony, on which occasion the number
of guests was about three thousand.’ Beyond it stands the
‘ Palace of Earth’s Bepose,’ where ‘ Heaven’s consort ‘ rules
• ler niiniature court in the imperial harem ; there are numerous
buildings of lesser size in this part of the inclosure, and
adjoining the northern Avail of the Forbidden City is the imperial
Flower Garden, designed for the use of its inmates. The
gardens arc adorned with elegant pavilions, tenq)les, and. :
‘ Chinese liepobitory, Vol. IX., p. 259.
IMPERIAL CITY. 69
groves, and interspersed with canals, fountains, pools, and
flower-beds. Two groves rising from the bosoms of small
lakes, and another crowning the summit of an artificial mountain, add to the beauty of the scene, and afford the inmates of the palace an agreeable variety.
In the eastern division of the Prohibited City are the otiices
of the Cabinet, where its members hold their sessions, and the
treasury of the palace. North of it lies the ‘Hall of Intense Thought,’ where sacrifices are presented to Confucius and other sages. Kot far from this hall stands the Wchi-//yen loA, or the Library, the catalogue of whose contents is published from time to time, forming an admirable synopsis of Chinese literature.
At the northern end of the eastern division are numerous
palaces and buildings occupied by princes of the blood, and
those connected Avith them ; and in this quarter is placed the
Fung Sien tien, a small temple where the Emperor comes to
‘ bless his ancestors.’ Here the Emperor and his family perform
their devotions before the tablets of their departed progenitors;
whenever he leaves or returns to his palace, the first
day of a season, and on other occasions, the monarch goes
through his devotions in this hall.
The western division contains a great variety of edifices devoted
to public and private purposes, among which may be
mentioned the hall of distinguished sovereigns, statesmen, and
literati, the printing-office, the Court of Controllers for the
regulation of the receipts and disbursements of the court, and
the Ching-Jncang Mlao^ or ‘Guardian Temple’ of the city.
The number of people residing within the Prohibited City
cannot 1)0 stated, .but probably is not large ; most of them are
Manchus.
The second inclosure, which surrounds the imperial palaces,
is called Hwang Ching^ or ‘ Imperial City,’ and is an oblong rectangle
about six miles in circuit, encompassed by a wall twenty
feet high, and having a gate in each face. From the southern
gate, called the Tlen-an Mdn^ or ‘ Heavenly Rest,’ a broad
avenue leads up to the Kin Chiw/ ; and before it. outside of
the M’all, is an extensive space walled in, and having one entrance
on the south, called the gate of Great Purity, which 110 one is allowed to enter except on foot, unless by special permission. On the right of the avenue within the wall is a gateway leading to the TaiMiao, or ‘ Great Temple’ of the imperial ancestors, a large collection of buildings hiclosed by a wall 3,000 feet in circuit. It is the most honored of religious structures
next to the Temple of Heaven, and contains tablets to princes
and meritorious officers. Here offerings are presented before
the tablets of deceased emperors and empresses, and worship
performed at the end of the year by the members of the imperial
family and clan to their departed forefathers. Across
the avenue from this temple is a gateway leading to the Shie-
Tsih tan, or altar of the gods of Land and Grain. These were
originally Kaa-lung, a Minister of Works, b.c. 2500, and Hautsih,
a remote ancestor of Chan Kung ; here the Emperor sacriiices
in spring and autumn. This altar consists of two stories,
each five feet high, the upper one being fifty-eight feet square; no other altar of the kind is found in the empire, and it would
he tantamount to high treason to erect one and worship upon it.
The north, east, south, and west altar are respectively black,
green, red, and white, and the top yellow ; the ceremonies connected
with the worship held here are among the most ancient practised among the Chinese.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND BARKS. 71
On the north of the palace, separated by a moat, and surrounded by a wall more than a mile in circuit, is the King Shan, or ‘ Prospect Hill,’ an artificial mound, nearly one hundred and fifty feet high, and having five summits, crowned with as many temples ; many of these show the neglect in which public edifices soon fall. Trees of various kinds border its base, and line the paths leading to the tops. Its height allows the spectator to overlook the whole city, while, too, it is itself a conspicuous object from every direction. The earth and stone in it were taken from the ditches and pools dug in and around the city, and near its base are many tanks of picturesque shape and appearance; so that altogether it forms a great ornament to the city. Another name for it is Mei Shan, or ‘ Coal Hill,’ from a tradition that a quantity of coal Avas placed there, as a supply in case of siege. The western part of this inelosure is chiefly occupied by the Si l”;<;6/<, or ‘Western Park,’ in and around which are found some of the most beautiful objects and spots in the uietropolis. An artificial lake, more than a mile long, and averaging a furlong in breadth, occupies the centre; it is supplied from the Western Hills, and its waters are adorned with the splendid lotus. A marble bridge of nine arches crosses it, and its banks are shaded by groves of trees, under which are well-paved walks. On its south-eastern side is a large summer-house, consisting of several edifices partly in or over the water, and inclosing a number of gardens and walks, in and around which are artificial hills of rock-work beautifully alternating or supporting groves of trees and parterres of flowers.
On the western side is the hall for examining military candidates,
where his majesty in person sees them exliibit their
prowess in equestrian archery. At the north end of the lake is
a bridge leading to an islet, wdiich presents the aspect of a hill
of gentle ascent covered with groves, temples, and summerhouses,
and surmounted with a tower, from which an extensive
view can be enjoyed. On the north of the bridge is a hill on
an island called Kiung-hwa tan^ capped by a white dagoba.
Xear by is an altar forty feet in circuit, and four feet high,
inclosed by a wall, and a temple dedicated to Yuenfi, the
reputed discoverer of the silk-worm, where the Empress annually
offers sacrifices to her ; in the vicinity a plantation of mulberry
trees and a cocoonery are maintained. Xear the temple
of ‘ Great Happiness,’ not far distant from the preceding, on
the northern borders of the lake, is a gilded copper statue of
Maitreya, or the coming Buddha, sixty feet high, with a hundred
arms ; the temple is one of the greatest ornaments of the
Park. Across the lake on its western bank, and entered
through the first gate on the south side of the street, is the
Ts^-kwamj Koh^ wdiere foreign ministers are received by the
Emperor ; the inclosure is kept with great care, and numerous
halls and temples are seen amidst groves of firs. The object
kept in view in the arrangement of these gardens and grounds
has been to make them an epitome of nature, and then furnish
every part with conmiodious buildings. But however elegant
the palaces and grounds may have appeared when new, it is to
be feared that his majesty has no higher ideas of cleanliness and order tliuu lii.s subjects, and tluit the various public and private edifices and gardens in these two inelosures are despoiled of luilf their beauty bj dirt and neglect. The nundjer of the palaces in them both is estimated to be over two hundred, “each of which,” says Attinet, in vague terms, ” is suflSciently large to accommodate the greatest of European noblemen, with all his retijiue.*’
Along the avenue leading south from the Imperial City to the division Avail, are found the principal government offices. Five of the ISix Boards have their bureaus on the east side, the Board of Punishments with its subordinate departments being situated with its courts on the west side; immediately south of this is the Censorate. The office attached to the Board of Itites, for the preparation of the Calendar, commonly called the Astronomical Board, stands directly east of this; and the Medical College has its hall not far off. The Ilanlhi l\en, or National Academy, and the Ll-fan Yuen., or Colonial Office, are also near the south-eastern corner of the Imperial City. Opposite to the Colonial Office is the Tang T)iz\ where the remote ancestors of the reigning family are worshipped by his majesty together with the princes of his family; when they come in procession to this temple in their state dresses, the Emperor, as high-priest of the family, performs the highest religious ceremony before his deified ancestors, viz., three kneelings and nine knockings. After he has completed his devotions, the attendant grandees go through the same ceremonies. The temple itself is pleasantly situated in the midst of a grove of fir and other trees, and the large inclosure around it is prettily laid out.
BUDDHIST AND CONFUCIAN TEMPLES. 73
In the south-eastern part of the city, built partly upon the wall, is the Observatory, which was placed imder the superintendence of the Komish missionaries by Ivanghi, but is now confided to the care of Chinese astronomers. The instruments are arranged on a terrace higher than the city wall, and are beautiful pieces of bronze art, though now antiquated and useless for practical observations. Nearly opposite to the Observatory stands the Ilall for Literary Examinations, Mdiere the candidates of the province assemble to write their essays. In the north-eastern corner of the city is the Bussian Mission and
Astronomical Office, inclosed in a large compound ; near it live
the converts. About half a mile west is the Yung-ho Kung, or
‘ Lamasar}’ of Eternal Peace,’ wherein alwut 1,500 Mongol and
Tibetan priests study the dogmas of Buddhism, or spend their
days in idleness, under the conti’ol of a Gegen or living Buddha.
Their course of study comprises instruction in metaphysics, ascetic
duties, astrology, and medicine ; their daily ritual is performed
in several courts, and the rehearsal of prayers and chants
by so many men strikes the hearer as very impressive. The I’ear
building contains a wooden image, 70 feet in height, of Mait-
•veya, the coming Buddha ; the whole establishment exhibits in its
buildings, pictures, images, cells, and internal arrangemeuts for
study, living, and worship, one of the most complete in the empire.
Several smaller lamasaries occur in other parts of the city.
Directly west of the Yimg-ho Kung^ and presenting the
greatest contrast to its life and activity, lies the Confucian
Temple, where embowered in a grove of ancient cypresses
stands the imposing Wan Mlao^ or ‘ Literary Temple,’ in which
the Example aiid Teacher of all Ages and ten of his great disciples
are worshipped. The hall is 84 feet in front, and the lofty
roof is supported on wooden pillars over 40 feet high, covering
the single room in which their tablets are placed in separate
niches, he in the high seat of honor. All is simple, quiet, and
cheerless ; the scene liere presents an impressive instance of
merited honors paid to the moral teachers of the people. Opposite
and across the court are ten granite stones shaped like
drums, which are believed to have been made about the eighth
century b.c, and contain stanzas recording King Siien’s hunting
expeditions. In another court are many stone tablets containing
the lists of Tslii-sz’ graduates since the Mongol dynasty, many thousands of names with places of residence. Contiguous to this temple is the Pili-yung Kang^ or ‘Classic Ilall’, where the Emperor meets the graduates and literati. It is a beautiful specimen of Chinese architectural taste. Near it are 800 stone tablets on which the authorized texts of the classics are engraved.’
‘ Dr. Martin, The CJdnese (New York, 1881), p. 85.
North of the Imperial City lies the extensive yamiui of fJie Tl-tuh, who has the police and garrison of the city under his control, and exercises great authority in its civil administration. The Drum and Bell Towers stand north of the Ti-ngan Mwi in the street leading to the city wall, each of them over a hundred feet high, and forming conspicuous objects ; the drum and bell are sounded at night watches, and can be heard throughout the city; a clepsydra is still maintained to mark time—a good instance of Chinese conservatism, for clocks are now in general use, and correct the errors of the clepsydra itself.
SHRINES OF ALL KELIGIONS. 75
Outside of the south-western angle of the Imperial City stands the Mohammedan mosque, and a large number of Turks whose ancestors were brought from Turkestan about a century ago live in its vicinity ; this quarter is consequently the chief resort of Moslems who come to the capital. South-%vest of the mosque, near the cross-wall, stands the Xan Tavy, or old For tugiiese church, and just west of the Forbidden City, inside of the Hwang Chlng, is the Peh 2’ang, or Cathedral; Loth are imposing edifices, and near them are large schools and seiiiinaries for the education of children and neophytes. There are religions edifices in the Chinese metropolis appropriated to many forms of religion, viz., the Greek, Latin, and Protestant churches, Islamism, Buddhism in its two principal forms, nationalism, ancestral worship, state worship, and temples dedicated to Confucius and other deified mortals, besides a great number in which the popular idols of the country are adored. One of the most worthy of notice is the Ti- Wang Miao, lying on the avenue leading to the west gate, a large collection of halls wherein all the tablets of former monarchs of China from remote ages are worshipped. The rule for admission into this Walhalla is to accept all save the vicious and oppressive, those who were assassinated and those who lost their kingdoms. This
memorial temple was opened in 1522; the Manchus have even
admitted some of the Tartar rulers of the Kin and Liao dynasties,
raising the total number of tablets to nearly three hundred.
It is an impressive sight, these simple tablets of men who once
ruled the Middle Kingdom, standing .here side by side, wovshipped
by their successors that their spirits may bless the state.
This selection of the good sovereigns alone recalls to mind the
custom in ancient Jerusalem of allowing wicked pi-inces no place
in the sepulchres of the kings. Distinguished statesmen of all
ages, called by the Chinese liroh cJiu, or ‘pillars of state,’ are
associated with their masters in this temple, as not unworthy to
receive equal honors.
A little west of this remarkable temple is the Peli-ta sz\ or ‘White Pagoda Temple,’ so called from a costly dagoba near it erected about a.d. 1100, renovated by Kublai in the thirteenth century, and rebuilt in 1S19. Its most conspicuous feature is the great copper umbrella on the top. When finished, the dagoba was described as covered with jasper, and the projecting parts of the roof with ornaments of exquisite workmanship tastefully arranged. Around this edifice, which contains twenty beads or relics of Buddha, two thousand clay pagodas and five books of charms, are also one hundred and eight small pillars Oil which lamps are burned. The portion of the city lying south of the cross-wall is inhabited mostly by Chinese, and contains
hundreds of /avui-kican, or club-liouses, erected by the gentry
of cities and districts in all parts of the empire to accommodate
their citizens resorting to the capital. Its streets are narrow
and the whole aspect of its buildings and markets indicates the
life and industry of the people. Hundreds of inns accommodate
trayellers who lind no lodging-places in the Nul C/n’urj, and
storehouses, theatres, granaries and markets attract or supply their customers from all parts. There is more dissipation and freedom from etiquette here, and the Chinese officials feel freer from their Manchu colleagues.
Three miles south of the Palace, in the Chinese City, is situated the Tien Tan, or ‘ Altar to Ileayen,’ so placed because it was anciently customary to perform sacrifices to Heaven in the outskirts of the Emperor’s residence city. The compound is inclosed by more than three miles of wall, within which is planted a thick grove of locust {Sajj/iora), pine and fir trees, interspaced with stretches of grass. Within a second wall, which surrounds the sacred buildings, rises a copse of splendid and thickly growing cypress trees, reminding one of the solemn shade in the vicinity of famous temples in Ancient Greece, or of those celebrated shrines described in “Western Asia. The great South Altar, the most important of Chinese religious structures, is a beautiful triple circular terrace of white marble, whose base is 210, middle stage 150, and top 90 feet in width, each terrace encompassed by a richly caryed balustrade. A curious symbolism of the number three and its multiples may be noticed in the measurements of this pile. The uppermost terrace, whose height above the ground is about eighteen feet, is paved with marble slabs, forming nine concentric circles—the inner of nine stones inclosing a central piece, and around this each receding layer consisting of a successive multiple of nine until the square of nine (a favorite number of Chinese philosophy) is reached in the outermost row. It is upon the single nnind stone in the centre of the upper plateau that the Emperor kneels when worshipping Heaven and his ancestors at the winter solstice.
THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN”. 77
Four lliglits of nine steps each lead from this elevation to the next lower stage, where are placed tablets to the spirits of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the Year God. On the ground at the end of the four stairways stand vessels of bronze in which are placed the bundles of cloth and sundry animals constituting part of the sacrilicial offerings. But of ^’astly greater importance than these in the matter of burnt-offering is the great furnace, nine feet high, faced with green porcelain, and ascended on three of its sides by porcelain staircases. In this receptacle, erected some hundred feet to the south-east of the altar, is consumed a burnt-offering of a bullock—entire and without blemish—at the yearly ceremony. The slaughter-house of the sacrificial bullock stands east of the North Altar, at the end of an elaborate winding passage, or cloister of 72 compartments, each 10 feet in length.
Separated from the Altar to Heaven by a low wall, is a smaller though more conspicuous construction called Kl-l’iih Tan, or ‘ Altar of Prayer for Grain.’ Its proportions and arrangement are somewhat similar to those of the South Altar, but upon its upper terrace rises a magnificent triple-roofed, circular building known to foreigners as the ‘ Temple of Heaven.’
This elaborate house of worship, whose surmounting gilded ball rests 100 feet above the platform, was originally roofed with blue, yellow and green tiles, but by Kienlung these colors were changed to blue. When, added to these brilliant hues, we consider the I’ichly carved and painted eaves, the windows shaded by Venetians of blue-glass rods strung together, and the I’ai’e symmetry of its proportions, it is no exaggeration to call this temple the most remarkable edifice in the capital—or indeed in the empire. The native name is Qi-Nian Dian, or ‘Temple of Prayer for the Year’. In the interior, the large shrines of carved wood for the tablets coiTespond to the movable blue wooden huts which on days of sacrifice are put up on the Southern Altar. Here, upon some day following the first of spring (Fel). G), the Emperor offers his supplications to Heaven for a blessing upon the year. In times of drought, prayer for rain is also made at this altar, the Emperor being obliged to proceed on foot, as a repentant suppliant, to the ‘ Hall of Peni tent Fasting,’ a distance of three miles. A green furnace for burnt-offerings lies to the south-east of this, as of the Korth Altar ; while in the open park not far from the two and seventy cloisters are seven great stones, said to have fallen from heaven and to secure good luck to the country.
Across the avenue upon which is situated this great inclosure of the I’ien Tan, is the Sleii ^uny Tan, or ‘ Altar dedicated to Shinnung,’ the supposed inventor of agriculture. These precincts are about two miles in circumference, and contain four separate altars : to the gods of the heavens, of the earth, of the planet Jupiter, and to Shinnung, The worship here is performed at the vernal equinox, at which time the ceremony of ploughing a part of the inclosed park is performed by the Emperor, assisted by various officials and members of the Board of Rites, The district magistrates and prefect also plough their plats ; but no one touches the imperial portion save the monarch himself. The first two altars are rectangular ; that to the gods of heaven, on the east, is 50 feet long and 4^ feet high: four marble tablets on it contain the names of the gods of the clouds, rain, wind, and thunder. That to the gods of earth is 100 feet long by GO wide ; here the five marble tablets contain the names of celebrated mountains, seas, and lakes in China, Sacrifices are offered to these divinities at various times, and, with the prayers presented, are burned in the furnaces, thus to come before them in the unseen world ; the idea which runs through them partakes of the nature of homage, not of atonement, iS’ early one-half of the Chinese City is empty of dwellings, much of the open land being cultivated ; a large pond for rearing gold-fish near the T’ten Tan is an attractive place. West of this city wall is an old and conspicuous dagobain the Ti.enning sz\ nearly 200 feet high, and a landmark for the city gate. This part of Peking was much the best built when the Liao and Kin dynasties occupied it, west of the main city is the Temple of the Moon, and on the east side, directly opposite, stands the Temple to the Sun ; the T’l Tan, or ‘ Altar to Earth.’ is on the north over against the Altar to Heaven, just desciilicd.
MONUMENT, OK TOPE, OF A LAMA. UWANG SZ’, PEKING.THE BELL TEMPLE AND HWANG SZ*. 79
At all these the Emperor performs religious rites during the twelve months. The inciosure of the Altar to Earth is suuiller, and everything connected with the sacrifices is on an inferior scale to those conducted in the Altar to Heaven, The main altar has two terraces, each 6 feet high, and respectively lOG feet and 00 feet square ; the tablet to Imperial Earth is placed on the npper with those to the Imperial Ancestors, and all are adored at the summer solstice. The bullock for sacrifice is afterwards buried and not burned. Adjoining the terraced altar on the south is a small tank for Mater.
About two miles from the Tl Tan, in a northerly direction, passing through one of the ruined gates of the Peking of Marco Polo’s time on the way, is found the Ta-chioig sz\ or ‘Bell Temple’, in which is hung the great bell of Peking. It was cast about 1406, in the reign of Yungloli, and was covered over in 1578 by a small temple. It is 14 feet high, including the nmbones, 34 feet in circumference at the lim, and 9 inches thick ; the weight is 120,000 lbs. av. ; it is struck by a heavy beam swung on the outside. The Emperor cast five bells in all, but this one alone was hung. It is covered with myriads of Chinese characters, both inside and out, consisting of extracts from the Fah-hwa King and TJng-yen King, two Buddhist classics. In some respects this may be called the most remarkable work of art now in China ; it is the largest suspended bell in the world. A square hole in the top prevents its fracture under the heaviest rinoino-.’
‘ Compare Kirclier, China Illustratn, where an engraving of it may be seen. A bell near Mandalay, mentioned by Dr. Anderson, is 13 feet high, 10 feet across tli3 lips, and weighs 90 tons—evidently a heavier monster than this in Peking. (Mandalay to Momien, p. 18.)
A short distance outside the northern gate, Tah-shing Man, is an open ground for military reviews, and near it a Buddhist temple of some note, called Hwang sz\ containing in its enceinte a remarkable monument erected by Ivienlung. In 1779 the Teshu Lama started for Peking with an escort of 1,500 men; he was met by the Emperor near the city of Si-ning in Ivansuh, conducted to Peking with great honor, and lodged in this temple for several months. He died here of small-pox, November 12, 1780, and this cenotaph of white marble was erected to his nieinoi’v ; the body was inclosed in a <^old cuflin and sent to the Dalai Lama at Lliassa in 1781. The plinth of this beautiful work contains scenes in the })relate’s life carved on the panels, one of which represents a lion rubbing- his eyes with his paw as the tears fall for grief at the Lama’s death.
The Summer Palace at Yiien-ming Yuen lies about seven miles from the north-west corner of Peking, and its entire circuit is reckoned to contain twelve square miles. The country in this direction rises into gentle hills, and advantage has been taken of the original surface in the arrangement of the different parts of the ground, so that ilie whole presents a great variety of hill and dale, woodlands and lawns, interspered with pools, lakes, caverns, and islets joined by bridges and walks, their banks thrown up or diversified like the free hand of nature. Some parts are tilled, groves or tangled thickets occur here and there, and places are purposely left wild to contrast the better with the cultivated precincts of a palace, or to form a rural pathway to a retired temple or arbor. Here were formerly no less than thirty distinct places of residence for various palace officials, around which were houses occupied by eumichs md servants, each constituting a little village.
But all was swept away l)y the British and French troops in
I860, and their ruins still i-cmain to irritate the officials and
people of Peking against all foreigners. Xear the Summer
Palace is the great cantomnent of llai-tien, where the Manchu
garrison is stationed to defend the capital, and whose troops
did their best in the vain effort to stay the attack in I860. As
a contrast to the proceedings connected with this approach of
the British, an extract fi-om Sir John Davis’s Chinese (chap, x.)
will furnish an index of the changed condition of things.
” It was at a place called Jlai-tien, in the innnediate vicinity
of these gardens, that the strange scene occurred which terminated
in the dismissal of the embassy of 1816, On his arrival
there, about daylight in the jnornii?g, with the coinmissioners
and a few other gentlemen, tlie ambassador was drawn
to one of the Emperor’s temporary residences by an invitation
from Duke llo, as he was called, the imperial relative charged
rt’ith the conduct of the negotiations. After passing through
SUMMEIl PALACE AT YUEN-MING YUEN. 81
an open court, where were assembled a vast number of grandees
in their dresses of ceremony, they were shown into a WTetched
room, and soon encompassed l)y a well-dressed crowd, among
whom were princes of the blood by dozens, wearing yellow girdles.
With a childish and unmannei-ly curiosity, consistent
enough with the idle and disorderly life which many of them
are said to lead, they examined the persons and dress of the
gentlemen without ceremony ; while these, tired with their
sleepless journey, and disgusted at the behavior of the celestials,
turned their backs upon them, and laid themselves down to rest.
Duke IIo soon appeared, and surpi’ised the ambassador hy urging
him to proceed directly to an audience of the Emperor, who
was waiting for him. His lordsliip iu vain remonstrated that
to-morrow liad been fixed for the first audience, and that tired
and dusty as they all were at present, it would be worthy
neither of the Emperor nor of himself to wait on his majesty in
a manner so unprepared. He urged, too, that he was unwell,
and required innnediate rest. Duke llo became more and more
pressiug, and at length forgot himself so far as to grasp the
ambassador’s arm violently, and one of the others stepped up at
the same time. His lordship immediately shook them oft’, and
the gentlemen crowded about him ; while the highest indignation
was expressed at such treatment, and a determined resolution
to proceed to no audience this morning. The ambassador
at leugth retired, with the appearance of satisfaction on the
part of Duke Ho, that the audience should take place tomorrow.
There is every reason, however, to suppose that this
person had been largely bribed by the heads of the Canton
local government to frustrate the views of the embassy, and
prevent an audience of the Emperor. The mission, at least, was
on its way back in the afternoon of the same day.”
The principal part of the provisions recpiired for the supply of this iimnense city comes from the southern provinces, and from flocks reared beyond the wall. It has no important manufactures, horn lanterns, wall papers, stone snuff-bottles, and pipe mouth-pieces, being the principal. Trade in silks, foreign fabrics, and food is limited to supplying the local demand, inasmuch as a heavy octroi duty at the gates restrains all enterprise. No foreign merchants are allowed to carry on business here. The government of Peking differs from that of other cities in the empire, the affairs of the department being separated from it, and administered by officers residing in thvi four circuits into which it is divided. ” A minister of one of the Boards is appointed superintendent of the city, and subordinate to him is ^ fuyin, or mayor. Their duties consist in having charge of the metropolitan domain, for the purpose of extending good government to its four divisions. They have under them two district magistrates, each of Mhoni rules half the city; none of these officers are subordinate to the provincial governor, but carry affairs which they cannot determine to the Emperor. They preside or assist at many of the festivals observed in the capital, superintend the military police, and hold the courts which take cognizance of the offences committed there.”‘
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 181.
STREET SCENES AND FEATURES OF PEKING. 80
The thoroughfares leading across Peking, from one gate to the other, are broad, unpaved avenues, more than a hundred feet wide, which appear still wider owing to the lowness of the buildings; the centre is about two feet higher than the sides. The cross-streets in the main city are generally at right angles with them, not over forty feet wide, and for the most part occupied with dwellings. The inhabitants of the avenues are required to keep them well sprinkled in summer; but in rainy weather they are almost impassable from the mud and deep jniddles, the level surface of the ground, and obstructed, neglected drains, preventing rapid drainage. The crowds which throng these avenues, some engaged in various callings, along the sides or in the middle of the way, and others busily passing and repassing, together with the gay appearance of the signl)oards, and. an air of business in the shops, render the great streets of the Chinese metropolis very bustling, and to a foreigner a most interesting scene. Shop-fronts can be entirely opened when necessary ; they are constructed of panels or shutters fitting into grooves, and secured to a row of strong posts which set into mortises. At night, when the shop is
closed, nothing of it is seen from without ; but in the daytime,
when the goods are exposed, tlie scene becomes more animated.
The sign-boards are often broad planks, fixed in stone bases
on each side of the shop-front, and reaching to the eaves, or
above them ; the characters are large and of different colors,
and in order to attract more notice, the signs are often hung
with various colored flags, bearing inscriptions setting forth the
excellence of the goods. The sliops in the outer city are frequently
constructed in this manner, others are made more compact
for warmth in winter, but as a whole they are not brilliant
in their fittings. Their signs are, when possible, images of
the articles sold and always have a red pennon attached ; the
finer shop-fronts are covered with gold-leaf, brilliant when new,
but shabby enough when faded, as it soon does. The aj^pearance
of the main streets exhibits therefore a curious mixture ol
decay and renovation, which is not lessened by the dilapidated
temples and governmental buildings everywhere seen, all indicating
the impoverished state of the exchequer. In many parts of
the city are placed 2>(^i-lau, or honorary gateways, erected to
mark the approach to the palace, and M^orthy, by their size and
ornamental entablatures, to adorn the avenues and impress the
traveller, if they were kept in good condition.
The police of the city is connected with the Bannermen, and
is, on the whole, efiicient and successful in preserving the peace.
During the night the thoroughfares are quiet ; they are lighted
a little by lanterns hanging before the houses, but generally are
dark and cheerless. In the metropolis, as in all Chinese cities,
the air is constantly polluted by the stench arising from private
vessels and pul)lic reservoirs for urine and every kind of offal,
which is all carefully collected by scavengers. By this means,
although the streets are kept clean, they are never sweet ; but
habit renders the people almost insensible to this as well as
other nuisances. Carts, mules, donkeys and horses are to be
hired in all the thoroughfares. The Manchu women ride
astride ; their number in the streets, both riding and walking,
imparts a pleasant feature to the crowd, which is not seen in
cities further south. The extraordinary length and elaborateness
of marriage and funeral processions daily passing through the avenues, adds a pretty feature to them, which other cities Avitli narrow streets catinot emulate.
The environs beyond the suburbs are occupied with niausolea, temples, private mansions, hamlets, and cultivated fields, in or near which are trees, so that the city, viewed from a distance, appears as if situated in a thick forest. Many interesting points for the antiquarian and scientist are to be found in and around this old city, which annually attracts more and more tlic attention of other nations. Its population has decreased regularly since the death of Kienlung in 1707, and is now probably rather less than one million, including the immediate suburbs. The clinuite is healthy, but subject to extremes from zero to 104°; the dryness during ten months of the year is, moreover, extremely irritating. The poor, who resort thither from other parts, form a needy and troublesome ingredient of the population, sometimes rising in large mobs and pillaging the granaries to supply themselves with food, but more commonly perishing in great numbers from cold and hunger. Its peace is always an object of considerable solicitude with the imperial government, not only as it may involve the personal safety of the Emperor, but still more from the disquieting effect it may have upon the administration of the empire. The possession of this capital by an invading force is more nearly equivalent to the control of the country than might be the case in most European kingdoms, but not as much as it might be in Siam, Burmah, or Japan.
The good influences which nuiy be exerted upon the nation from the metropolis are likewise correspondingly great, while the purification of this source of contamiiuition, and the liberalizing of this centre of power, now well begun in various ways, will confer a vast benefit upon the Chinese people.’
‘ Compare the Aiinales de la Foi, Tome X., p. 100, for interesting details concerning the Romish missionurios in Peking. Also Pautliier’s CIdne Moderne,pp. 8-;}(i (I’iiris, l.sr)2), containing an oxccllont map. Bretschneider’s Archeokxjical and Jliitt’iricti! Rencarches on Pddiig, etc., published in the Chinese Recorder, Vol. VI. (1875, passim). Memnirea .mncernaiit fllistoire, les Sciences, les Arts, les A/oeiirs, /<?.<( Usages, etc., des Chinois. par les Mit,si(»inaires de Pckiii ; 16 vols., Paris, 1797-1814. N. B. Dtjimys, Notes for T(>iV.rwts in the: North of China ; Hongkong, 18(5G.
Chihli contains several other large cities, among which Tau-ting, the foniier residence of the governor-general, and Tientsin, are the most important. The former lies about eighty miles south-west of the capital, on the Yungting River and the great road leading to Shansi. The whole department is described as a thoroughly cultivated, populous region ; it is well M’atered, and possesses two or three small lakes.
Tientsin is the largest port on the coast above Shanghai. Owing, however, to the shallowness of the gulf and the bar at the mouth of the Pei ho, over which at neap tide only three or four feet of water flow, the port is rendered inaccessible to large foreign vessels. 1 tti size and importance were formerly chiefly owing to its being t’le terminus of the Grand Canal, where the produce and taxes for the use of the capital were brought. Mr. Gutzlaff, who visited Tientsin in 1831, described it as a bustling place, comparing the stirring life and crowds on the water and shores outside of the walls of the city with those of Liverpool.
The enormous fleet of grain junks carrying rice to the capital is supplemented by a still greater number of vessels which take the food up to Tung chau. Formerly the coast trade increased the shipping at Tientsin to thousands of junks, including all which lined the river for about sixty miles. This native trade has diminished since 1861, inasmuch as steamers arc gradually ousting the native vessels, no one caring to risk insurxince on freight in junks. The country is not very fertile between the city and the sea, owing to the soda and nitre in the soil; but scanty crops are brought forth, and these only after much labor ; one is a species of grass(Phragmites) much used in making floor-mats. Sometimes the rains cause the Pei ho and its affluents to break over their banks, at which periods their waters deposit fertilizing matter over large areas.
The approach to Tientsin from the eastward indicates its importance, and the change from the sparsely populated country lying along the banks of the Pei ho, to the dense crowds on shore and the fleets of boats, adds greatly to the vivacity of its aspect. ” If flue buildings and striking localities are required to give interest to a scene,” remarks Mr. Ellis, ” this has no claims; but, on the other hand, if the gradual crowding of junks till they become innumerable, a vast population, buildings, though not elegant, yet reguhir and peculiar, careful and successful cultivation, can supply these deficiencies, the entrance to Tientsin will not be without attractions to the traveler.’”
The stacks of salt along the river arrest the attention of the voyager; the innuense quantity of this article collected at this city is only a small portion of the amount consumed in the interior. Tientsin will gradually increase in wealth, and nt)\v perhaps contains half a million of inhabitants. Its position renders it one of the most important cities in the empire, and the key of the capital.
Near the endjouehure of the river is Ta-ku, with its forts and gari’ison, a small town noticeable as the spot where the first interview between the Chinese and English plenipotentiaries was held, in August, IS^tO ; and for three engagements between the British and Chinese forces in 1858, 1859, and ISGO. The general aspect of the province is flat and cheerless, the soil near the coast unpi’o(lucti\e, but, as a whole, rich and well cultivated, though the harvests are jeopardized by frequent droughts.
The port of Peking is Tung chau on the Pei ho, twelve miles from the east gate, and joined to it by an elevated stone causeway. All boats here unload their passengers and freight, which are transported in carts, wheelbarrows, or on mules and donkeys.
The city of Tung chau presents a dilapidated appearance amidst all its business and trade, and its population depends on the transit of goods for their chief support. The streets are paved, the largest of them having raised footpaths on their sides. The houses indicate a prosperous community. A single pagoda towers nearly 200 feet above them, and forms a waymark for miles across the country. Tung chau is only 100 feet above the sea, fi-om which it is distant 120 miles in a direct line; consequently, its liability to floods is a serious drawback to its permanent prosperity.
‘ Jourtud of Lord AinhcrsVs Emba.sKy to China^ Cd ed., p. 22. Lundon, 1840
DOLOX-XUli \:SD TOV.^’.S IX THE NORTH. 87
Another city of note is Siuenhwa fu, finely situated between the branches of the Great Wall. Tindvowski remarks, “the crenfvted wall which surrounds it is thirty feet high, and puts one in mind of that of the Krendin, and resembles those of several towns in Uussia; it consists of two thin parallel brick walls, the intennediate space being filled with clay and saud. The Avail is flanked with towers. AVe passed through three gates to enter the city : the first is covered with iron nails; at the second is the guard-house ; we thence proceeded along a broad street, bordered with shops of hardware ; we went through several large and small streets, which are broad and clean ; but, considering its extent, the city is thinly peopled.” ‘
The department of Chahar, or Tsakhar, lies beyond the Great Wall, north and west of the province, a mountainous and thinly settled country, chiefly inhabited by Mongol shepherds who keep the flocks and herds of the Emperor.”
‘ Travels of the Russian Mission through Mongolia to China, Vol. I., p. 293.London, 1837.•^ Williamson, Journeys in North China, Vol. II. , p. 90.
In the north-east of their grounds lies the thriving town of Dolon-nor (I.e., Seven Lakes), or Lama-miao, of about 20,000 Chinese, founded by Kanghi. The Buddhist temples and manufactories of bells, idols, praying machines, and other religious articles found here, give it its name, and attract “the Mongols, whose women array themselves in the jewelry made here. It is in latitude 42° 16′ X., about ten miles from the Shangtu river, a large branch of the river Liao, on a sandy plain, and is approached by a road Minding among several lakes. North-west of Dolon-nor are the ruins of the ancient Mongolian capital of Shangtu, rendered more famous among English reading people by Coleridge’s exquisite poem—
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alpli, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round—than by Marco Polo’s relation, which moved the poet to pen the lines. It was planned as Mukden now is, an outer and inner Avail inclosing separate peoples, and its tumuli will probably furnish many tablets and relics of the Mongol emperors, when carefully dug over. It was too far from Peking for the Manclm monarchs to rebuild, and the Ming emperors had no power there. It was visited in 1 872 by Messrs. Grosvenor and Bushell of the British Legation ; Dr. BusheH’s description corroborates Polo’s account and Gerbillon’s later notices of its size.’
There are several lakes, the largest of which, the Peh hu, in
the south-western part, connects with the Pei ho throngh the
river Hli-to. The various bi-anches of the five rivers, whose
miited waters disembogue at Ta-ku, afford a precarious water
communication through the southern half of Chihli. Their headwaters
rise in Shan si and beyond the Great AVall, bringing down
much silt, which their lower currents only partially take out into
the gulf; this sediment soon destroys the usefulness of the
channels by raising them dangerously ncai’ the level of the banks.
The utilization of their streams is a difficult problem in civil
engineering, not only here but throughout the Great Plain.
Kear the banks of the Lan ho, a large stream flowing south
from the eastern slopes of the (Jhahar Hills, past Yungping fu
into the gulf, and about one hundred and seventy-four miles
north of Ta-ku, lies Chingpeli, or Jeh-ho, the Emperor’s country
palace. The approach to it is through a pass cut out of the
rock, and resembles that leading to Damascus. The imperial
grounds are embraced by a high range of hills forming a grand
amphitheatre, which at this point is extremely fine. This descent
to the city presents new and captivating views at every
turn of the road. The hunting grounds are inclosed by a high
wall stretching twenty miles over the hills, and stocked with
deer, elks, and other game. The Buddhist temples form the
chief attraction to a visitor. The largest one is square and castellated,
eleven stories high, and about two hundred feet on
each of its sides ; the stories are painted red, yellow and green
alternating. There are several similar but smaller structures
below this one, and on each of the first two or three series is a
row of small chinaware pagodas of a blue color ; their tiles are
‘ Journal of the Boy. Qeog. Foe, 1874. Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., pp. 263-26S. Cathay and the Way Thither, Vol. I., p. 134. Gerbillon, Memoires concernant leu Vhinoin (Anih^y’^ cd.), Vol. IV., pp. 701-71(5. Joiiriuil AHutiqve,Ser. II., Tome XL, p. 345. Hue, Tiirtary, etc., Vol. I., p 34, 2d ed., London
SHANDONG PROVINCE. 89
likewise blue. In the bright sunlight the effect of these brilliant hands is very good, and the general neatness adds to the pleasing result of the gay coloring. Nearly a thousand lamas live about these shrines. The town of Re-he (I.e., Hot River) consists mostly of ons street coiling around the hills near the palace; its inhabitants are of a higher grade than usual in Chinese cities, the greater part being connected with the government.
The road through Ku peh kau in the Great Wall from Peking to Jeh-ho is one of the best in the province, and the journey presents a variety of charming scenery ; its chief interest to foreigners is connected with the visit there of Lord Macartney, in 1793.’ This fertile prefecture is rapidly settling by Chinese, whose numbers are now not far from two millions.
The principal productions of Chihli are millet and wheat, sorghum, maize, oats, and many kinds of pulse and fruits, among which are pears, dried and fresh dates(likamnus), apples and grapes ; all these are exported. Coal, both bituminous and anthracite, exists in great abundance ; one mode of using hard coal is to mix its dust with powdered clay and work them into balls and cakes for cooking and fuel. The province also furnishes good marble, granite, lime, and iron, some kinds of precious stones, and clay for bricks and pottery.
‘ Sir G. L. Staunton, Acconntof an KmhasRy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China. 3 vols. Lond., 179G.
The province of Shandong (i.e., East of the Hills) has a long coast-line, its maritime border being more than half its whole circuit. It lies south of the Gulf of Pechele, south-east of Chihli, north of Kiangsu, and borders on Honan, where the Yellow River divides the two. Most of its area is level, the hilly part is the peninsula portion, where the highest points rise too high to admit of cultivation. The Grand Canal enters the province on its course from Tientsin at Lintsing chan in the north-west, passing in a south-easterly direction to the old Yellow River, and adds greatly to its importance. The shores of the promontory are generally l)old, and full of indentations, presenting several excellent harbors ; no important river disembogues within the province, and on each side of the peninsula the waters are shallow. Chifu, in the prefecture of Tangchau, has the hest harhor, and its trade will gradually draw toward it a large population. The hills along the shore have a reniarkahlj uniform, conical shape, resembling the bonnets worn by officers. The hilly regions are arranged in a series of chains running across the promontory, the longest and highest of which runs Avith the general trend of the coast in Tai-ngan fu, some peaks reaching over five thousand feet, but most of them being under three thousand feet high. Their intervales are highly cultivated. The soil is generally productive, except near the shores of the gulf, where it is nitrous. Two crops are aimually produced here as elsewhere in Northern China. The willow, aspen, ailantus, locust(Sop^ora), oak, mulberry, and conifera, are common trees; silk-worms fed on oak leaves furnish silk.
This province is one of the most celebrated in Chinese history, partly from its having been the scene of many remarkable events in the early history of the people up to b.c. 200, but more particularly from its containing the birthplaces of Confucius and Mencius, wdiose fame has gone over the earth. The inhabitants of the province are proud of their nativity on this score, much as the woman of Samaria was because Jacob’s cattle had (huidv water at the well of Sychar.
TAI SHAN, THE ‘ GREAT MOUNT,’ 91
The high mountain called Taishan, or ‘great mount’, is situated near Tai-ngan fu in this province. This peak is mentioned in the Shu King as that where Shun sacrificed to Heaven (b.c.2254) ; it is accordingly celebrated for its historical as well as religious associations. It towers high above all other peaks in the range, as if keeping solitary watch over the country roundabout, and is the great rendezvous of devotees ; every sect has there its temples and idols, scattered up and down its sides, in which priests chant their prayers, and practise a thousand superstitions to attract pilgrims to their shrines. During the spring, the roads leading to the Tai shan are obstructed with long caravans of people coming to accomplish their vows, to supplicate the deities for health or riches, or to solicit the joys of heaven in exchange for the woes of earth. A French missionary mentions having met with pilgrims going to it, one party
of whom consisted of old dames, who had with iulhiite fatigue
and discomfort come from the south of llonan, about three
hundred miles, to “‘remind their god of the long abstinence
from flesh and fish thev had obsei’ved during the course of tlieir
lives, and solicit, as a recompense, a happj transmigration for
their souls.” The youngest of this party was 78, and the oldest
90 years.’ Another traveller says that the pilgrims resort there
during the spring, when there are fairs to attract tliem ; high
and low, official and commoner, men and women,’ old and
young, all sorts gather to worship and traffic. A great temple
lies outside the town, whose grounds furnish a large and secure
area for the tents where the devotees amuse themselves, after
they have finished their devotions. The road to the summit is
about five miles, well paved and furnished with rest-houses,
tea-stalls, and stairways for the convenience of the pilgrims,
and shaded with cypresses. It is beset with beggars, men and
women with all kinds of sores and diseases, crippled and injured,
besieging travellers with cries and self-imposed sufferings,
frequently lying across the path so as to be stepped upon.
A vast number of them live on alms thus collected, and have
scooped themselves holes in the side of the way, where they
live ; their numbers indicate the great crowds whose offerings
support such a M’retched thi-ong on the hill.
‘ Annalcs de la Foi, 1844, Tome XVI., p. 421.
The capital of the province is Tsinan, a well-built city of about 100,000 inhabitants. It was an important town in ancient times as the capital of Tsi, one of the influential feudal States, from b.c.1100 to its conquest by Chf Huangdi about 230 ; the present town lies not far east of the Ta-tsing ho, or new Yellow River, and is accessible by small steamers from sea. It has hills around it, and is protected by three lines of defence, composed of mud, granite, and brick. Three copious sprhigs near the western gate furnish pure water, which is tepid and so abundant as to fill the city moat and form a lake for the solace of the citizens whether in boats upon its bosom or from temples around its shores. Its manufactures are strong fabrics of wild silk, and ornaments of llit-ll, a vitreous substance like strass, of which pnuff-l)()ttlcp, bangles, cups, etc., are made in great variety, to reseuil)le serpentine, jade, ice, and other things. East of Tsinan is the prefect city of Tsing chau, once the provincial capital, and the centre of a populous and fertile region. Tsining chau is an opulent and flourishing place, judging from the gilded and carved shops, temples, and public offices in the suburbs, which stretch along the eastern banks of the Canal ; just beyond the town, the Canal is only a little raised above the level of the extensive marshes on each side, and further south the swamps increase rapidly : when Amherst’s embassy passed, the whole country, as far as the eye could reach, displayed the effects of a most extensive I’ecent inundation. Davis adds, ” The
waters were on a level with those of the Canal, and there was
no need of dams, which wei-e themselves nearly under water,
and sluices for discharging the superfluous water were occasionally
observed. Clumps of large trees, cottages, and towers, were
to be seen on all sides, half under water, and deserted by the
inhabitants ; the number of the latter led to the inference that
they were provided as places of refuge in case of inundation,
which must be here very frequent. Wretched villages t»ccuiTC(l
frequently on the right-hand bank, along which the tracking
path was in some places so completely undermined as to give
way at every step, obliging them to lay down hurdles of reeds
to afford a passage.” ‘
Lin-tsing chau, on the Yu ho, at its junction with the Canal, lies in the midst of a beautiful country, full of gardens and cultivated grounds, interspersed with buildings. This place is the depot for produce brought on the Canal, and a rendezvous for large fleets of boats and baiges. ?sear it is a pagoda in good repair, about 150 feet high, the basement of which is built of granite, and the other stories of glazed bricks.
‘ SketcJies of CJu/ui, Yul. I., p. 257.
CITIES AND CIIAnACTERISTICS OF SHANTUNG. 93
The towns and villages of Shandong have been much ^•isited during the past few years, and tlu’ir inhabitants have become better acquainted with foreigners, with whom increased intercourse has developed its good and bad results. The productions of this fertile province comprise every kind of grain and vegetable finuid in Xoitlieni China, and its trade by sea and along the Canal opens many outlets for enterprising capital. Among its mineral productions are gold, copper, asbestos, galena, antimony, silver, sulphur, fine agates, and saltpetre ; the first occurs in the beds of streams. All these yield in real importance, however, to the coal and iron, which are abundant, and have been worked for ages. Its manufactures supply the common clothing and utensils of its people ; silk fabrics, straw braid woven from a kind of wheat, glass, cheap earthenware, and rugs of every pattern.
Mr. Stevens, an American missionary who risited Wei-hai wei and Chifu in 1837, gives a description of the people, which is still applicable to most parts of the province : “These poor people know nothing, from youth to old age, but the same monotonous round of toil for a subsistence, ?nd never see, never hear anything of the world around them. Improvements in the useful arts and sciences, and an increase of the conveniences of life, are never known among them. In the place where their fathers lived and died, do they live, and toil, and die, to be succeeded by another generation in the same nuiimer.
Few of the comforts of life can be found among them; their houses consisted in general of granite and thatched roofs, but neither table, chair, nor floor, nor any article of furniture could be seen in the houses of the poorest. Every man had his pipe, and tea was in most dwellings. They were industriously engaged, some in ploughing, others in reaping, some carrying out manure, and others bringing home produce; numbers were collected on the thrashing-floors, winnowing, sifting and packing wheat, rice, millet, peas, and in drying maize, all with the greatest diligence. Here, too, were their teams for ploughing, yoked together in all possible ludicrous combinations; sometimes a cow and an ass; or a cow, an ox and an ass; or a cow and two asses; or four asses; and all yoked abreast. All the women had small feet, and wore a pale and sallow aspect, and their miserable, squalid appearance excited an indelible feeling of compassion for their helpless lot. They were not always shy, but were generally ill-clad and ugly, apparently laboring in the fields like the men. But on several occasions, young ladies clothed in gay silks and satins, riding astride upon bags on donkeys, were seen. Ko prospect of melioration for either men or women appears but in the liberalizing and happy influences of Christianity.” ‘
The province of ShanXxi (i.e., West of the Hills) lies between Ciiihli and Shensi, and north of HeNan ; the Yellow River bounds it on the west and partly on the south, and the Great Wall forms most of the northern frontier. It measures 55,2(38 square miles, nearly the same as England and Wales, or the State of Illinois. This province is the original seat of the Chinese people ; and many of the places mentioned and the
scenes recorded in their ancient annals occurred within its borders.
Its rugged surface presents a striking contrast to the level
tracts in Chihli and Shantung. The southern portion of ShansI,
including the region down to the Yellow River, in all an area
of 30,000 square miles, presents a geological formation of great
simplicity from Ilwai king a^ far north as Ping ting. The plain
around the lirst-named cit)^ is bounded on the north by a steep,
castellated raiige of hills which varies from 1,000 to 1,500 feet
in height ; it has few roado ov streams crossing it. On reaching
the top, an undulating table-land stretches northward, varying
from 2,500 to 3,000 feet above the Plain, consisting of coal formation,
above the limestone of the lower steep hills. About
forty miles from those hills, there is a second rise like the first,
up which the road takes one to another plateau, nearly 6,000
feet above the sea. This plateau is built up of later rocks, sandstones,
shales, and conglomerates of green, red, yellow, lilac,
and brown colors, and is deeply eroded by branches of the Tsin
Piver, which finally flow into the Yellow Piver. This plateau
has its north-west boi-der in the Wu ling pass, beyond which
besrins the descent to the basin of the Fan Piver. That basin
is traversed near its eastern side by the Hob shan nearly to Taiyuen; its peaks rise to 8,000 feet in some places ; the rocks are granite and divide the coal measures, anthracite lying on its eastern side and bituminous on the west, as far as the Yellow.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 308-335. W. H. Medhurst’s China,chaps, xv.-xix.NAT- -HANSI. 95
River, and nr \, On top of both plateaus is spread the loess deposi iu depth from ten to five hundred fe^ ” ‘ water-courses in every direction, Avhic’ ‘ ^ .nines.
On the eastern side . Shansi the rocks are made up of ancient for Liatlons v»r deposits of the Sihirian age, presenting a series of peaks, piisses and ranges that render travel very difficult down to u’.j Plain. By these outlying ranges the province is isolated from Chihli, as no useful water communication exists. This coal and iron formation is probably the largest in the “world, and when railroads open it up to easy access it can be leadily -worked along the water-courses. The northern part of the province is drained through the rivers ending at Tientsin. This elevated region cannot be artificially irrigated, and when the rainfall is too small or too late, the people suffer from famine. The northern and southern prefectures exhibit great diversity in their animal, mineral, and vegetable productions. Some of the favorite imperial hunting-grounds are in the north; from the coal, iron, cinnabar, copper, marble, lapis-lazuli, jasper, salt, and other minerals which it affords, the inhabitants gain much of their wealth. The principal grains are wheat and millet, a large variety of vegetables and fruits, such as persimmons, pears, dates and grapes. The rivers are not large, and almost every one of them is a tributary of the Yellow River. The Fan ho, about 300 miles long, is the most important, and empties into it near the south-western corner of the province, after draining the central section. East of this stream, as far as the headwaters of those rivers flowing into Chihli, extends an undulating table-land, having a general altitude of 3,000 feet above the Plain. South of it runs the river Kiang, also an afiiuent of the Yellow River, and near this, in Kiai chau, is a remarkable deposit of salt in a shallow lake (18 miles long and 3 lu-oad), which is surrounded by a high wall. The salt is evaporated in the sun under government direction, the product bringing in a large revenue ; the adjacent town of Lung-tsiien, containing 80,000 inhabitants, is devoted to the business. Salt has been obtained from this region for two thousand years ; the water in some of the springs is only brackish, and used in culiiKiry operations. There are t\\ “> smaller lakes nearei” the Yellow River.
The iron obtained in the lower puitean, ii: the sonth-east neaj Tsih chan, is from clay iron-ure and spathic ore with heniatite4 \vhich occurs in limestone strata at the bottom of the coal formations.
It is extracted in a rude manner, but the produce is etpial to any iron in the world, while its price is only about two cents a pound. The working and transportation of coal and iron employ myriads of people, though they are miserably paid. The province barely supplies its own cotton, but woolen garments and sheepskins are produced to make up the demand for clothing.
Taiyuen fu, the capital, lies on the northern border of a fertile plain, 3,000 feet above the sea level ; this plain extends about 2,000 square miles, and owes its existence to the gradual filling up of a lake there, the waters having cut their way out, and left the river Fan to drain the surplus. Across the IIo shan Range lies another basin of equal fertility and mineral wealth, in Ping-ting chau, where coal, iron, clay and stone exist in unlimited
quantities. In the northern part of this province the Buddhist
tenqjles at AVu-tai shan in Tai chau draw vast crowds of votaries
to their shrines. The hills in which they are built rise
jtroiuinently above the range, and each celebrated locality is
memorialized by its own particular divinity, and the buildings
where he is worshipped. The presence of a living Buddha, or
G’egen, hei-e attracts thousands of Mongols from the north to
adore him ; their toilsome journey adding to the worth of the
\isit. Most of the lamas are from the noi-th and west. The
region north of this seems to be gradually losing its fertility,
owing to the sand which is drifted by north winds from the
Ortous steppes ; and as all the hills are bare of trees, the whole
of Shansi seems destined to increasing poverty and barrenness.
Its inhabitants are shrewd, enterprising traders as well as frugal
agriculturists ; many of the bankers in the Empire are from its
cities.
MOUNTAIN PASSES IN SFIANSl. 97
The great roads from Peking to the south-west and west pass through all the chief towns of this province, and when new pi-()b:ibly (‘(|ualk'(l in eiiglneei’ing and construction anything o^ the kind ever biult by the Konuuis. The stones with which they are paved average 15 inches in thickness. Few regions can exceed in natural difficulties some of the passes over the loess-covered tracts of this province, where the road must wind the Loess-clefts from the Han-sing From Richthofen.
through miles of narrow cuts in the light and tenacious soil, to emerge before a landscape such as that seen in the illustration.’
The province of Henan (i.e. South of the River) comprises some of the most fertile parts of the Plain, and, on account of its abundance and central position, early received the name of
‘ Richthofen, China. Band I. S. 68. Ilcv. Arthur Smith, Glimpses of Travel in the Middle Kingdom. Shanghai, 1875.
Chung Hwa T’l, or the ‘ Middle Flowery Land,’ afterwards enlarged into Chung Kicoh, or ‘ Middle Kingdom.’ Its form is an irregular triangle, and its size nearly the same as ISiiantmig ; it has iShansi and Cliihli on the north, ]S’ganliwui on the southeast, Ilupeh on the south and south-west, and Shensi on the west, bordering also on Shantung and Kiangsu. This area is divided into three basins, that of the Yellow River in the north, of the Hai River on the south, and the Han River on the south-west; the last two are separated by a marked range of mountains, the Fuh-niu shan, which is regarded as the eastern terminus of the Kwunlun Mountains ; it is about 300 miles long, and its eastern end is near Jii-ning fu. This range maintains an elevation of 4,000 to 6,000 feet, and is crossed at Xanchau, where a remarkable natural pass about 30 miles long, rising to 1,200 or 1,500 feet, affords the needed facilities for trade and travel between the central and northern provinces. The Peh and Tan rivers drain its southern slopes into the Ilan, and the eastern sides are abundantly watered by the numerous branches of the Hai River as they flow into Ilungtsih Lake. The northern portion of Henan along the Yellow River is level, fertile and populous, forming one of the richest portions of the province.
For its climate, productions, literary reputation, historical associations, and variety of scenery, this province takes a prominent rank. The earliest records of the Black-haired race refer to this region, and the struggles for dominion among feudal and imperial armies occurred in its plains. Its’ present difficulty of access from the coast will ere long be overcome by railroads, when its capabilities may be further developed, and the cotton, hemp, iron, tutenag, silk and coal be increased for exportation.
THE PKOVIXCE OF IIOXMST. 99
The people at present consume their own food and manufactures, and only require a got)d demand to increase the quality and amounts and exchange them for other things. The three prefectures north of the Yellow River are low-lying; through these the waters of that river have recently found their way into the river Wei and thence to the (lulf of Pechele, at Mang-tsin or east of it ; the gradual rise of the l)ed renders their levels nearly the same, while it makes the main stream so broad and shallow that it is of little use for navigation. These plains are traversed by wheelbarrows and carts, whose drivers and trundlers form a vast body of stalwart men constantly going about in their employment from one city to another.
Kaifung fu, or Pien-liang, the capital, is situated about a
league from the southern bank of the Yellow Kiver, whose bed
is here elevated above the adjacent country. It was the metropolis
from A.D. 960 to 1120, and has often suffered from attacks
of armies as well as from inundations. The dikes are mostly
on the northern shore, and exhibit the industry and unavailing
efforts of the people for scores of leagues. During the period
of the Manchu conquest Kaifung was defended by a loyal general,
who, seeing no other resource against the invaders, broke
down the embankments to drown them, by which mantjeuvre
upwards of 300,000 of the inhabitants perished. The city was
rebuilt, but it has not attained to its ancient splendor, if credit
can be given to the Statistics of Kaifumj^ in which work it
is described as having been six leagues in circuit in the twelfth
century, approached by five roads, and containing numerous
palaces, gardens, and government houses. The valley of the
Kiver Loll lies between the Yellow River and the Fuh-niu Mountains,
a fertile, populous region wherein many of the remarkable
events of Chinese history M’ere enacted. Loh-yang, near Honan,
was the metropolis at three different intervals, and probably
further researches here will bring to light many ancient relics; rock-cut temples and old inscriptions, with graceful bas-reliefs, near the natural gate of Lung-man, where the road crosses Sung slian, have already been seen. Owing to the direction of the roads leading through this region from the south and east, and the passes for travel towards the north-west, it will form a very important center of trade in the future of Central Asia and western China.
The province of Iviangsu is named from the first syllable of the capital, Kiangning, joined to Su, part of the name of the richest city, Suchau. It lies along the sea-coast, in a northwesterly direction, having Shantung on the north, Xganhwnii on the west, and C’hehkiang on the south. The area is about 4:5,000 square miles, equaling Pennsylvania or a little less than England by it-self. It consists, with little interruption, of level tracts interspersed with lakes and marshes, through which How their two noble rivers, which as tliej are the source of the extraordinary fertility of this region, so also render it obnoxious to freshes, or cover the low portions with irreclaimable morasses.
The region of Kiangnan is where the beauty and riches
of China are most amply displayed ; ” and M-hether we considai*,”
remarks Gutzlaff, speaking of this and the adjoining
province, ” their agricultural resom-ces, their great manufactures,
their various productions, their excellent situation on the
banks of these t»vo large streams, their many canals and tributary
rivers, these two provinces doubtless constitute the best
territory of China.” The staple productions are grain, cotton,
tea, silk, and rice, and most kinds of manufactures are here
carried to the greatest perfection. The people have an exceptional
reputation for intelligence and wit, and although the
province has long ceased to possess a court, its cities still ])i’esent
a ga^’er aspect, and are adorned W’ith better structures than
any others in the empire. This province was the scene of the
dreadful ravages of the Tai-ping rebellion, and large districts
are still desolate, while their cities lie waste.
Proljably no other country of equal extent is better watered
than Kiangsu. The Great River, the Grand Canal, many
smaller streams and canals, and a succession of lakes along the
line of the canal, afford easy communication through everj’ part.
The sea-coast has not been surveyed north of the Yangtsz’,
where it is unapproachable in large vessels ; dykes have been
constructed in some portions to prevent the in-flo\v of the
ocean. The largest lake is the Ilungtsih, about two hundred
miles in circumference. South of it lies Ivauyu Lake, and on
the eastern side of the canal opposite is Pauying Lake, both of
them broad sheets of water. Numerous small lakes lie around them. Tai hu, or ‘ Great Lake,’ lies partly in Jiangsu and partly in Zhejiang, and is the largest in the province. Its borders are skirted by romantic scenery, while its bosom is broken by numerous islets, affording convenient resort to the fishermen who get their subsistence from its waters.
CITY OF NANKING. 10^
Kiangning fu (better known abroad as Nanking), the capital
of the province, is situated on the south sliore of tlie Yangtsz’,
194 miles from Shanghai. It was the metropolis from a.d. 317
to 582, and again for 35 years during the Ming dynasty (1368-
1403). This city is the natural location of an imperial court,
accessible by land and water from all cpiarters, and susceptible
of sure defence. “When the Tai-pings were expelled in 1865,
the city was nearly destroyed, and has since that date only
slowly revived. When Hungwu made it his capital, he
strengthened the wall around it, inclosing a great area, 35 miles
in circuit, which was never fully covered with buildings, and at
present has a most ruinous appearance. Davis remarks the
striking resemblance between Home and Xanking, the area
within the walls of both being partially inhabited, and ruins of
buildings lying here and there among the cultivated fields, the
melancholy remains of departed glory. Both of them, however,
have now brighter prospects for the future.
The part occupied by the Manchus is separated by a cross
wall from the Chinese town. The great extent of the wall
renders the defence of the city difficult, besides which it is
overlooked from the hills on the east, from one of which, tlio
Chung shan, a wide view of the surrounding country can be
obtained. On this eastern face are three gates ; the land near
the tM’o toward the river is marshy, and the gates are ap
preached on stone causeys. A deep canal runs up from the
river directly under the walls on the west, serving to strengthen
the approaches on that side. Xanking is laid out in four
rather wide and parallel avenues intersected by others of less
width ; and though not so broad as those of Peking, are on the
Mdiole clean, vrell-paved, and bordered Avith handsomely furnished
shops.
The only remarkable monuments of royalty which remain are
several guardian statues situated not far from the walls. These
statues form an avenue leading up to the sepulchre where the
Emperor Hungwu was buried about 1398. They consist of
gigantic figures like warriors cased in armor, standing on either
side of the road, across which at intervals large stone tablets are
extended, supported by great blocks of stone instead of pillars
Situated at some distance arc a innnber of ]-ude colossal timires of horses, elephants, and other animals, all intended to repre eent the guardians of the mighty dead.’
Nothing made Kanking more celebrated abroad than the
Porcelain Tower, called Pao-nydn tah, or the ‘Recompensing
Favor Monastery,’ which stood pre-eminent above all other
similar buildings in China for its completeness and elegance,
the material of which it was built, and the quantity of gikling
with wliicli its interior was embellished. It was erected by
Yungloh to recompense the great favor of her majesty the
Empress, and occupied 19 years (1411-14:30) in its construction.
It was maintained in good condition by the government, and
three stories which had been thrown down by lightning in
1801 were rebuilt. TheTai-pings blew it up and carried off the
bricks in 1856, fearing lest its geomantic influences should work
against the success of their cause. As to its dimensions : Its
form was octagonal, divided into nine equal stories, the circumference
of the lower story being 120 feet, decreasing gradually
to the top. Its base rested upon a solid foundation of brickwork
ten feet high, up which a flight of twelve steps led into
the tower, whence a spiral staircase of 190 steps carried the
visitor to the summit, 261 feet from the ground. The outer
face was covered with slabs of glazed porcelain of various
colors, principally green, red, yellow, and white, the body of
the edifice being brick. At every story was a projecting roof,
covered with green tiles ; from each corner and from the top of
these roofs were suspended bells, numbering 150 in all.
‘ The curious reader can consult the article by Mayer, in Vol. XII. of the North China Jirnnch Royal Asiatic Societt/’s Journal, 1878, for the meaning of these various objects.
^ Five Years in China, Nashville, Tenn., 1860. See also Voyages of the Nemesis, pp. 450-452, for further details of this city in 1842 ; the Chinese Repository, Vols. I., p. 257, and XIII., p. 261, contain more details on the PagoJa
PORCELAIl^ TOWEll OF NANKING. 103
This beautiful structure was visited in 1852 by Dr. Charles Taylor, an American missionary, who has left a full account of his observations. It was to have been raised to an altitude of 329 feet and of thirteen stories, but only nine were built ; careful measurement gave 261 feet as its height, 8^ feet its thickness at top, and 12 feet at the base, wdiere it was 96 feet 10 inches in diameter. The facing was of bricks made of fine porcelain clay ; the prevailing color was green, owing to the predominance of the tiles on the nnnierous stories. The woodwork supporting these successive roofs was strong, curiously carved and richly painted. The many-colored tiles and bricks were highly glazed, giving the building a gay and beautiful appearance, that was greatly heightened when seen in the reflected sunlight.
When new it had 140 lamps, most of them hanging outside; and a native writer says ” that when lighted they illumine the 33 heavens, and detect the good and evil among men, as well as forever ward off human miseries.” The destruction of a building like this, from mere fanciful ideas, goes far to explain the absence of all old or great edifices in China.
Nanking has extensive manufactories of fiue satin and ci-upc, Nankeen cotton cloth, paper and ink of fine quality, and beautiful artificial flowers of pith paper. In distant parts of the empire, any article which is superior to the common run of workmanship, is said to be from Nanking, though the speaker means only that it was made in that region. It is renowned, too, for its scholars and literary character, and in this particular stands among the first places of learning in the country. It is the residence of the governor-general of three provinces, and consequently the centre of a large concourse of officials, educated men, and students seeking for promotion ; these, with its large libraries and bookstores, all indicating and assisting literary pursuits, combine to give it this distinguished position. In the monastery on Golden Island, near Chinkiang, a library was found by the English officers, but there was no haste in examining its contents, as they intended to have carried off the whole collection, had not peace prevented.
The city of Suchau now exceeds Nanking in size and riches. It is situated on islands lying in the Ta hu, and from this sheet of water many streams and canals connect the city with most parts of the department. The walls are about ten miles in circumference; outside of them are four suburbs, one of which is said to extend ten miles, besides which there is an immense floating population. The whole space includes many canals and pools connected with the Grand Canal and the lake, and preeented in 1859 a scene of activity, industry, and riches whicieonJd not be surpassed elsewhere in China. The population probably then exceeded a million, including the suburbs. It lies north-west of Shanghai, the way passing through a continual range of villages and cities; the environs are highly cultivated, producing cotton, silk, rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables. It was captured in 1860 by the rebels, and M’lien retaken in 1865 was nearly reduced to a heap of ruins. It is, however, rapidly reviving, as the loss of life was comparatively small.
The Chinese regard this as one of their richest and most beautiful cities, and have a saying, ” that to be happy on earth, one must be born in Suchau, live in Canton, and die in Liauchau, for in the first are the handsomest people, in the second the most C(»8tly luxui-ies, and in the third the best coffins.”
It has a high reputation for its Imildings, the elegance of its tombs, the picturesrpie scenery of its waters and gardens, the politeness and intelligence of its inhabitants, and the beauty of its women. Its manufactures of silk, linen, cotton, and works in iron, ivory, wood, horn, glass, lackered-ware, paper, and other articles, are the chief sources of its wealth and prosperity; the kinds of silk goods produced here surpass in variety and richness those woven in any other place. Vessels can proceed up to the city by several channels from the Yangzi jiang, but junks of large burden anchor at Shanghai, or Songjiang ; the whole country is so intersected by natural and artificial watercourses, that the people have hardly any need for roads and carts, but get about in barrows and sedans. Small steamers find their way to every large village at high tide.*
THE CITIES OF SUCIIAU AND CIIIXKIANG. 105
Chinkiang, situated at the junction of the Grand Canal with the Yangzi jiang, was captured by the British in July, 1842, at a great loss of life to its defenders ; the Manchu general Hailing, finding the city taken, seated himself in his office, and set fire to the house, making it his funeral pyre. Its position renders it the key of the country, in respect to the transport of produce, taxes and provisions for Peking, inasmuch as when the river and canal ai-e both blockaded, the supplies for the north and south are to a great extent intercepted. In times of peace the scenes at the junction afford a good e\hil)itinu of the Industry and trade of the people. BaiTow describes, in 1794, ” tlio multitude of ships of war, of burden and of pleasure, some glidin<^ down the stream, <^)thers sailing against it; some moving by oars, and others lying at anchor; the banks on either side covered with towns and houses as far as the eye could reach; as presenting a prospect more varied and cheerful than any that had hitherto occurred. Kor was the canal, on the opposite side, less lively. For two whole days we were contimially passing among fleets of vessels of different construction and dimensions.” ‘
The country in the vicinity is well cultivated, moderately hilly, and presents a characteristic view of Chinese life and action. ” On the south-east, the hills broke into an undulating country clothed with verdure, and firs bordering upon small lakes. Beyond, stretched the vast river we had just ascended. In the other direction, the land in the foreground continued a low and swampy flat, leaving it difficult at a little distance to determine which of the serpentine channels was the main branch; there were imnnnerable sheets of water, separated by narrow mounds, so that the whole resembled a vast lake, intersected by causeways. Willows grew along their sides, and dwellings were erected on small patches somewhat higher than the common surface.” ” This whole country was the scene of dreadful fighting for many years. Between the Imperialists and Tai-pings the city was totally destroyed, so that in 1801 hardly a house was left. It is now roo-ainino- its natural trade and prosperity.
Near the month of the Grand Canal is Kin shan, or Golden Island,’ a beautiful spot, covered with temples and monastic establishments. A pagoda crowns the summit, and there are many pavilions and halls, of various sizes and degrees of elegance, on its sides and at the base, many of them showing their imperial ownership by the yellow or green tiling. Since the river has been open to traffic, and the devastations of the Tai-pings have ceased, the priests have retui-ned in small munbers to their abodes, but the whole settlement is a pool mockery of its early splendor. A similar one, rather larger, is found at Siung shan, or Silv^er Island, below Chinkiang ; it is, however, on a less extensive scale, though in a beautiful situation.
‘ Travels in China. ‘^ Capt. G. G. Locli, Ecents in CMna, p. 74.^Mentioned by Marco Polo. Yule’s edition, Vol. II., p. 1<37.
Priests are the only occupants; temples and palaces the principal buildings, surrounded by gardens and bowers. Massive granite terraces, decorated with huge stone monsters, are reached from the water by broad flights of steps; fine temples, placed to be seen, and yet shaded by trees, open pavilions, and secluded summer-houses, give it a delightful air of retreat and conifort, which a nearer inspection sadly disappoints.
The banks of the Yangtsz’ during the 250 miles of its course through this province, are uniformly low, and no towns of importance occur close to them, as they would be exposed to the floods. The vast body of water, with its freight of millions of tons of silt goes on its way in a quiet equable current into the Yellow Sea. The dense population of the prefectures on the south bank, contrasted with the sparseness of the region between the Canal and seashore on the north side, indicate the comparative barrenness of the latter, and the difficulty of cultivating marshy lands so nearly level with the sea.
SHANGHAI. 107
The largest seaport in Jiangsu is Shanghai (i.e., Approaching the Sea), now become one of the leading emporia in Asia. It lies on the north shore of the Wusong River, about fourteen miles from its mouth, in lat. 31° 10′ N., and long. 121° 30′ E., at the junction of the Huangpu with it, and by means of both streams communicates with SuZhou, SongJiang, and other large cities on the Grand Canal ; while by the Yangzi’ it receives produce from Yunnan and Sichuan. In these respects its position resembles that of New Orleans.
The town of Wusung is at the mouth of that river, here about a mile wide ; and two miles beyond lies the district town of Paushan. The wall of Shanghai is three miles in circuit, through which six gates open into extensive suburbs ; around the ramparts flows a ditch twenty feet wide. The city stands in a wide plain of extraordinary fertility, intersected by numerous streamlets, and aftoi-ding ample means of navigation and communication; its population is estimated to be at present over 500-000, but the data for this figure are rather imperfect. Since it was opened to foreign commerce in 1843, the growth of the town has been rapid in every element of prosperity, though subject to great vicissitudes by reason of the rebellion which devastated the adjoining country. Its capture by the insurgents in 1851, and their expulsion in February, 1853, with the destruction of the eastern and southern suburbs in 1800, have been its chief disasters since that date. The native trade has gradually passed from the unwieldy and unsafe junks which used to throng the Ilwang-pu east of the city, into steamers and foreign craft, and is now confined, so far as the vessels are concerned, to the inland and coast traffic in coarse, cheap articles.
Shanghai city itself is a dirty place, and poorly built. The houses are mostly made of bluish square brick, imperfectly burned ; and the walls are constructed in a cellular manner by placing bricks on their edges, and covering them with stucco. The streets are about eight feet wide, paved with stone slabs, and in the daytime crowded with people. Silk and embroidery, cotton, and cotton goods, porcelain, ready-made clothes, beautiful skins and furs, bamboo pipes of every size, bamboo ornaments, pictures, bronzes, specimens of old porcelain, and other curiosities, to which the Chinese attach great value, attract the
stranger’s notice. Articles of food form the most extensive
trade of all ; and it is sometimes a difficult matter to get
through the streets, owing to the iiwmense quantities of fish,
pork, fruit, and vegetaUes, which crowd the stands in front of
the shops. Dining-rooms, tea-houses, and bakers’ shops, are
met with at every step, from the poor man who carries around
his kitchen or bakehouse, altogether hardly worth a dollai-, to
the most extensive tavern or tea-house, crowded with customers.
‘ Fortune’s Wanderings in China, p. 120.
For a few cash, a Chinese can dine upon rice, fish, vegetables, and tea; nor does it matter much to him, whether his table is set in the streets or on the ground, in a house or on a deck, he makes himself merry with his chopsticks, and eats what is before him.’ The buildings composing the Cheng-huang miao, and the grounds attached to this establishment, present a good instance of Chinese style and taste in architecture. Large warehouses for storing goods, granaries, and temples, are common; but neither these, nor the public buildings, present any distinguishing features peculiar to this city alone.
The contrast between the narrow, noisome and reeking parts of the native city, and the clean, spacious, well-shaded and well paved streets and large houses of the foreign municipalities, is like that seen in many cities in India. The Chinese are ready enough to enjoy and support the higher style of living, but they are not yet prepared to adopt and maintain similar improvements among themselves. The difficulty of being sure of the co-operation of the rulers in municipal improvements deters intelligent natives from initiating even the commonest sanitary enterprise of their foreign neighbors.
The remaining cities and districts of Iviangsu present nothing worthy of special remark. The Grand Canal runs from north to south, and affords a safe and ample thoroughfare for multitudes of boats in its entire length. Tsing-kiang-pu and Ilwaingan, near the old Yellow River, receive the traffic from the north and Ilungtsih Lake, while Yangchau near the Yangtsz’ River, takes that going north. In this part of the channel, constant dyking has resulted in raising the banks ; the city of Ilwai-ngan, for example, lies below the canal which brings trade to its doors, and may one day be drowned by its benefactor. Salt is manufactured in the districts south of the Yellow River, where the people cultivate but rare patches of arable land.
The island of Tsungming, at the mouth of the Yangtsz’, is about sixty miles long, and sixteen wide, containing over nine hundred square miles, and is gradually enlarging by the constant deposits from the river; it is flat, but contains fresh water. It is highly cultivated and populous, though some places on the northern side are so impregnated with salt, and others so marsh}’, as to be useless for raising food. This island produces a variety of kaoliang or sorghum (Holcus), which is sweet enough to furnish syrup, and is groMu for that purpose in the United States.
POSITIOX AND TOWNS OF NGANIIWUI PllOVINCE, 109
The pruvince of T^ganuwui was so named by condjining the rtrst words in its two large cities, Xgaiikiiig and llw uicliaii, and forms the south-western half of Kiangnan ; it is both larger and more uneven than Kiangsu, ranges of hills stretching along the southern portions, and between the River llwai and the Yangzi. It lies in the central and southern parts of the Plain, north of Kiangsi, west of Kiangsu and Chehkiang, and between them and IJonan and Ilupeh. Its productions and manufactures, the surface, cultivation of the country, and character of the people, are very similar to those of Kiangsu, but the cities are less celebrated. The terrible destruction of life in this province during the Tai-ping rule has only been partially remedied by immigration from other provinces ; it will require years of peace and industry to restore the prosperous days of Taokwang’s reign.
The surface of the country is naturally divided into that portion which lies in the hilly regions around Ilwaichau and Ningkwoh connected with the Tsientang River, the central plain of the Yangtsz’ with its short affluents, and the northern portion which the River Ilwai drains. The southern districts are superior for climate, fertility, and value of their products to most parts of the Empire; and the numerous rivulets which irrigate and open their beautiful valleys to traffic with other districts, render them attractive to settlers. No expense has been spared in erecting and preserving the embankments along the streams, whose waters are thereby placed at the service of the farmers.
The Great River passes through the south from south-west to north-east ; several small tributaries flow into it on both banks, one of which connects with Chao Hu, or Nest Lake, in Lu Zhou Fu, the principal sheet of water in the province. The largest section is drained by the River Huai and its branches, which flow into Hongze Lake ; most of these are navigable quite across to Ilonan. The productions comprise every kind of grain, vegetables, and fruit known in the Plain ; most of the green tea districts lie in the south-eastern parts, particularly in the Sunglo range of hills in ITwuichau prefecture. Silk, cotton, and hemp are also extensively raised ; but excepting iron, few metals are brought to market.
The provincial capital, Xgaiikiiig or Anking, lies close to the northern shore of the Kiang. Davis describes the streets as very narrow, and the shops as unattractive ; the courts and gateways of many good dwelling-houses presented themselves as he passed along the streets. ” The palace of the governor we first took for a temple, but were soon undeceived by the inscriptions on the huge lanterns at the gateway. These official residences seldom display any magnificence. The pride of a Chinese officer of rank consists in his power and station, and as the display of mere wealth attracts little respect, it is neglected more than in any country of the world. The best shops that
we saw were for the sale of horn lanterns and porcelaiu. They
possess the art of softening horn by the application of a very
high degree of moist heat, and extending it into thin laminse of
any shape. These lamps are about as transparent as groundglass,
and, M’hen ornamented with silken hangings, have an elegant
appearance.” During the fifty years since his visit, this
large city has been the sport of prosperous and adverse fortunes,
and is now slowly recovering from its demolition during the
Tai-ping rebellion. It is situated on rising ground near the base
of a range of hills far in the north, the watershed of two basins.
The banks of the river, between Kanking and Xganking, a
distance of 300 miles, are well cultivated, and contain towns
and villages at short intervals. The climate, the scenery, the
bustle on the river near the towns, and the general aspect of
peaceful thrift along this reach, makes it on ordinary occasions
one of the bright scenes in China. AYuhu hien, about sixty
miles above Xanking, lies near tlie mouth of the llwangchi, a
stream connecting it with the back country, and making it the
mart for much of that trade. It was next in importance to
Chinkiang, but its sufferings between the rebels and imperialists
nearly destroyed it. The revival in population and trade has
been encouraging, and its former importance is sure to revive.
Ilwuichau (or in Cantonese, Fychow) is celebrated, among
other things, for its excellent ink and lackered-ware. Fung’
yang (i.e., the Rising Phoenix), a town lying north-west of Thanking, on the River Huai, was intended, by Hongwu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, to have been the capital of the Empire instead of NanJing, and was thus named in anticipation of its future splendor.
KIANGSf PROVINCE. Ill
The province of IviAN<isi (/.<?., AVest of the River) lies south of Xganhwui and Ilupeh, between Chehkiaiig and Fuhkien on the east, and Ilunan on the west, reaching from the Yaugtsz’ to the Mei ling on the south. Its form is oblong, and its entire area is nuide up of the beautiful basin of the Kan kiang, including all the affluents and their minor valleys. The hilly portions form part of the remarkable series of mountainous ridges, which cover all south-eastern and southern China, an area of about 300,000 square miles, extending from Ningpo south-westerly to Annam. It is made up of ranges of short and moderate hills, cut up by a complicated net of water-courses, many of which present a succession of narrow defiles and gentle valleys with bottom lands from five to twelve miles wide. That part of this region in Kiangsi has an irregular watershed on the east, separating it from the Min basin, and a more definite divide on the west from Ilunan and its higher mountains. The province entire is a little larger than all New England, or twice the size of Portugal, but, in population, vastly exceeds those countries.
The surface of the land is rugged, and the character of the inhabitants partakes in some respects of the roughness of their native hills. It is well watered and drained by the River Kan and its tributaries, most of which rise within the province; the main trunk empties into Poyang Lake by numerous mouths, whose silt has gradually made the country around it swampy. For many miles on its eastern and southern banks extends an almost uninhabitable marsh, presenting a dreary appearance. The soil, generally, is productive, and large quantities of rice, wheat, silk, cotton, indigo, tea, and sugar, are grown and exported. It shares, in some degree, the manufactures of the neighboring provinces, especially in Xankeen cloth, vast quantities of which are woven here, but excels them all in the quality and amount of its porcelain. The mountains produce camphor, varnish, oak, banian, fir, pine, and other trees ; those on the west are well wooded, but much of the timber has been carried away during the late rebellion, and left the hill-sides bare and profitless.
Kancliang, the provincial capital, lies near the southern shore
of the Poyang Lake ; the city walls are six miles in circuit, and
accessible by water from all sides. The character of its population
is not favorable among their countrymen, and owing to the
difficulty of reaching it from the Yangtsz’, it escaped the ruin
and rapine which befel Kiukiang. Small steamers can come
up to its jetties, but as the tea and porcelain are shipped on the
south-east side of the lake, Nanchang is not likely to become
a large mart ; few of the cities above it can ever be reached l)y
steamers. Barrow estimated that there were, independent of
innumerable small craft, 100,000 tons of shipping lying before
the place. The banks of the Kan kiang, near the lake, are flat,
and not highly cultivated, but the scenery becomes more varied
and agreeable the further one ascends the stream ; towns and
villages constantly come in sight, and the cultivation, though
not uiiiversal, is more extended. Among other sights on this
river are the bamboo water-wheels, which are so built on the
steep banksides, that the buckets lift their freight 20 or 25
feet, and pour it out in a ceaseless stream over the fields. The
flumes thrown out into the stieani to turn a stronger current on
the wheel, often seriously interfere with navigation. Many
pagodas are seen on eithei* bank of this water-course, some of
them undoubtedly extremely old. As the voyager ascends the river, several large cities are passed, as Linkiang, Kih-ngan, Ivauchau, and Xan-ngan (all capitals of departments), besides numerous towns and villages; so that if the extent of this river and the area of the valley it drains be considered, it will probably bear comparison with that of any valley in the world for populousness, amount and variety of productions, and diligence of cultivation.
Beyond Kihngan are the Shihpah tan, or ‘ Eighteen llapids,’ which are torrents formed by ledges of rocks running across the river, but not of such height or roughness as to seriously obstruct the navigation except at low water. The shores in their vicinage are exceedingly beautiful. The transparency of the stream, the bold I’ocks fringed with wood, and the varied forms of the mountains, call to mind those delightful streams that are discharged from the lakes and iioilh counties of England. The
TOWNS AND PRODUCTIONS OF KIAN(iSI. 113
hilly banks are in many places covered with the Camellia oleifera, whose white blossoms give them the appearance of snow, when the plant is in flower. Kanchan is the town where large boats are obliged to stop; but Nan-ngan is at the head of navigation, about three hundred miles from the lake, where all goods for the south are debarked to be carried across the Mei ling, or ‘ Plnm Pass.’
Within the department of Janchan in Fanliang hien, east of Poyang Lake, are the celebrated porcelain manufactories of Ivingteh chin, named after an Emperor of the Sung dynasty, in whose reign, a.d. 1004, they were established. This mart still supplies all the fine porcelain used in the country, but was almost wholly destroyed during the rebellion, the kilns broken up, and the workmen dispersed to join the rebels or die from want. The million of workmen said to have been employed there thirty years ago are now only gradually resuming their operations, and slowly regaining their prosperity. The approach to the spot is announced by the smoke, and at night it appears like a town on fire, or a vast furnace emitting fiames from numerous vents, there. being, it is said, five hundred kilns constantly burning. Ivingteh chin stands on the river Chang in a plain flanked by high mountains, about forty miles north-east from Jauehau, through which its ware is distributed over the empire.
Genius in China, as elsewhere, renders a place illustrious, and few spots are more celebrated than the vale of the white Deer in the Lii hills, near Kankang, on the west side of Lake Poyang, where Chu Hi, the great conniientator of Confucius, lived and taught, in the twelfth century. It is a secluded valley about seven miles from the city, situated in a nook by the side of a rivulet. The unpretending buildings are comprised in a number of different courts, evidently intended for use rather than show. In one of the halls, the White Deer is represented, and near by a tree is pointed out, said to have been planted by the philosopher’s own hand. This spot is a place of pilgrimage to Chinese literati at the present day, for his writings are prized by them next to their classics. The beauty and sublimity of this region arc lauded by Davis, and its praisea are frequent themes for poetical celebration among native scholars.”
The maritime province of Ciiehkiang, the smallest of the eighteen, lies eastward of Kiangsi and ^N^ganhwui, and between Kiangsu and Fuhkein north and south, and derives its name from the river Cheh or ‘ Crooked,’ which runs across its southern part. Its area is 39,000 square miles, or nearly the same as Ohio; it lies south-east of the plain at the end of the Kan slian, and for fertility, numerous water-courses, rich and populous cities, variety of productions, and excellence of manufactures, is not at all inferior to the larger provinces. Baron Richthofen’s letter to the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce, July 25, 1871, contains a good account of its topography. The whole province produces cotton, silk, tea, rice, ground nuts, wheat, ‘indigo, vegetable tallow {stilUngia)^ and pulse, in abundance. It possesses within its limits every requisite for the food and clothing of its inhabitants, while the excellence of its manufactures insures it in exchange a supply of the luxuries of other regions.
The rivers in Chehkiang rise in the province ; and, as might be inferred from the position of the hills, their course is generally short and the currents rapid. Fourteen principal streams are enumerated, of which the Tsientangis the most important.
The main branch of this river rises in the southern districts in two head-waters, which join at Kiichau fu and run thence into Hangchau Bay. The bore which comes up into this river fifteen miles, as far as Hangchau, is the only one along the coast. As its wall of water approaches the city, the junks and boats prepare by turning their bows to meet it, and usually rise over its crest, G or 10 feet at times, without mishap.
The basin of the Tsientang River measures nearly half of the province; by means of rafts and boats the people transport themselves and their produce for about 300 miles to its headwaters.
‘ Davis’s Sketches^ Vol. II., p. 55.
NATURAL FEATURES OF CHEIIKIANG. 115
The valley of Lanki is the largest of the bottom lands, 140 miles long and .5 to 15 wide, and passes north through a gorge 70 miles in length into the lower valley, where it receives the Sin-ngan River from the west in Xganhwui, and thus communicates with Tlwuichau at times of higli water. It is just fitted for the rafting navigation of the region, and by means of its tortuous channels each one of the 29 districts in its entire basin can be readied by water.
The forest and fruit trees of Chehkiang comprise almost
every vahiable species known in the eastern provinces. The
larch, elcococcus, camphor, tallow, fir, mulberry, varnish, and
others, are common, and prove sources of wealth in their timber
and products. The climate is most salubrious ; the grains,
vegetables, animals, and fishes, furnish food ; while its beautiful
manufactures of silk are unrivalled in the world, and have found
their way to all lands. Hemp, lackered- and bamboo-wares,
tea, crockery, paper, ink, and other articles, are also exported.
The inhabitants emulate those in the neighboring regions for
wealth, learning, and refinements, with the exception of the
hilly districts in the south bordering on Kiangsi and Fuhkien.
The dwellers of these upland valleys are shut out by position
and inclination, so that they form a singularly clannish race.
Their dialects are peculiar and very limited in range, and each
group of villagers suspects and shuns the others. They are sometimes rather turbulent, and in some parts the cultivation of the mountain lands is interdicted, and a line of military posts extends around them in the three provinces, in order to prevent the people from settling in their limits; though the interdiction does not forbid cutting the timber growing there.’
HangZhou, the capital of the province, lies in the northern part, less than a mile from the Qiantang. The velocity of this stream indicates a rapid descent of the country towards the ocean, but it discharges very little silt ; the tide rises six or seven feet opposite the city, and nearly thirty at the mouth.
>See Chinese Repository, Vol. FV., p. 488; Journal of N. C. Br. R. A. Society,Vol. VI., pp. 123-128; and Chinese Recorder, Vol. I., 1869, pp. 241-248. These people are relies of tribes of Miaotsz’.
Only a moiety of the inhabitants reside within the walls of the city, the suburbs and the waters around them supporting a large population. A portion of the space in the north-western part is walled off for the accommodation of the Manchu garri-si)]i, which consists of 7,000 troops. The governor-general of Chehkiang and Fulikien has an official house here, as well, also, as the governor of the province, but since the increased importance of Fuhchan. he seldom resides in this city; these, with their courts and troops, in addition to the great trade passing through, render it one of the richest and most important cities in the empire. The position is the most picturesque of any of the numerous localities selected by the Chinese for their capital. It lies in full view of the ocean, and from the hill-top in the center a wide view of the plains south and east is obtained.
‘ Yule’s Marco Poh, Vol. IT., p. 145.
IIANGCIIAU AND ITS ENVIKOISrS. 117
The charming lake, Si Ilu, and the numerous houses on its shores, with the varied scenery of the hills, copses, glades, and river banks, all highly cultivated, within a radius of ten miles, fidly bear out the praises of the Chinese as to i’ts singular beauty. Marco Polo lavishes all his admiration upon its size, riches, manufactures, and government, from which it is to be inferred that it suffered little in the Mongolian conquest. He visited the place when governor of Yangchau in 1286, and enthusiastically describes it as ” beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world.” ‘ The Chinese have a proverb—-t^Ar^;?^yu. tlen tang : Hia ya Sa Hang—the purport of which is that Ilangchau and Suchau are fully equal to paradise ; but the comparison of the Venetian traveler gives one a poorer idea of the European cities of his day, than it does of the magnificence of the Chinese, to those who have seen them. The streets are well-paved, ornamented with numerous honorary tablets erected to the memoiy of distinguished individuals, and agreeably interrupting the passage through them. The long main street extending along the Grand Canal into and through the city, thence out by the Tsientang, was, before its ruthless demolition by the Tai-pings in 1S63, probably one of the finest streets in t’^? whole Empire. The shops and warehouses, in point of size and stock of goods contained in them, might vie with the best in London. In population, luxury, wealth, and influence this city rivals Suchau, and for excellence of manufactures probably exceeds the latter place. Were Ilangchau easily reached bji sea, and had it ample harbors, it would engross the trade of the eastern coast; but furious tides (running sometimes 11^ knots an hour) ; the bore jeoparding passage-boats and other small crafts ; sand banks and quick sands ;—these present insuperable difficulties to the commerce by the ocean.
This city was the metropolis of the country during the nine latter princes of the Sung dynasty (1129 to 1280), when the northern parts were under dominion of the tribe of Kin Tartars. One cause of celebrity is found in the beauty of its environs, especially those near the Si llu, or West Lake, an irregular sheet of water about 12 miles in circuit. Barrow observes that ” the natural and artificial beauties of this lake far exceeded anything we had hitherto had an opportunity of seeing in China. The mountains surrounding it were lofty, and broken into a variety of forms that were highly picturesque ; and the valleys were richly clothed with trees of different kinds, among which three species were remarkably striking, not only by their intrinsic beauty, but also by the contrast they formed with themselves and the rest of the trees of the forest. These were the camphor and tallow trees, and the arl)or vitse. The bright, shining green foliage of the first, mhigled with the purple leaves of the second, and over-topped by the stately tree of life, of the deepest green, produced a pleasing effect to the eye ; and the landscape was rendered still more interesting to the mind by the very singular and diversified appearance of several thousand repositories of the dead upon the sloping sides of the inferior hills. Here, as well as elsewhere, the sombre and upright cypress was destined to be the melancholy companion of the tombs.
” Higher still, among the woods, avenues had been opened to admit of rows of small blue houses, exposed on white colonnades, which, on examination, were also found to be mansions of the dead. Xaked coffins, of extraordinary thickness, were everywhere Iving on the surface of the OTOund. The maro-ins of the lake w^ere studded with light aerial buildings, among W’hich one of more solidity and greater extent than the rest was said to belong to the emperor. The grounds were inclosed with brick walls, and mostly planted with vegetables and fruit trees; but in some there appeared to be collections of such shrubs and tiowers as are most esteemed in the country.” ‘
Staunton speaks of the lake as a beautiful sheet of water, perfectly pellucid, full of fish, in most places shallow, and ornamented with a great number of light and fanciful stone bridges, thrown across the arms of the lake as it runs up into the hills.
A stone tower on the summit of a projecting headland attracted attention, from its presenting a different architecture from that usually seen in Chinese buildings. This tower, called the Lui Fung t<(h, lit. ‘Tower of the Thunder Peak’ (not Thundering Wind, as Staunton renders it), from the hill being at first owned by Mr. Lui, was built about a.d. 050, and is to-day a solid structure, though much ruined. It has now four stories, and is about 120 feet high ; something like a regular order is still discernible in the moldering cornices. The legend of the White Snake is associated with this structure, and people constantly cany away pieces of its bricks as charms.
An interesting corroboration of this account is given by Polo, who says, ” Inside the city there is a lake which has a compass of some 30 miles ; and all around it are erected beautiful palaces and mansions, of the richest and most exquisite structure that you can imagine, belonging to the nobles of the city. There are also on its shores many abbeys and churches of the idolaters. In the middle of the lake are two islands, on each of which stands a rich, beautiful and spacious edifice, furnished in such a style as to seem fit for the palace of an emperor. And when any one of the citizens desired to hold a marriage feast, or to give any other entertainment, it used to be done at one of these palaces.” ‘^
• Travels ih China, p. 522. ‘^ Yule’s Murco Poh, Vol. II., p. 146.
DESCRIPTION OF HANGZHOU. 119
The splendor and size of the numerous Buddhist temples in and around HangZhou attracted travelers to the city more even than (lid its position; these shrines have, however, all been destroyed, and their thousands of priests driven away; the Taipings left no Iniilding untouched. The Yoh Miao stands near the north-west corner of the Si IIu, and contains the tombs of the patriot general ^’oh Pi of the Sung dynasty (a.d. 1125), and his son, who were unjustly executed as traitors. Two conical
mounds mark their resting places, and separated bj a wall, but
inside the inclosnre are four iron statues cast in a kneeling posture
and loaded with chains,—on his right Qin Hui and his wife, on the left a judge and general, who subserved Qin Hui’s hatred of Yue Fei by their flagitious conduct. All four are here doing homage and penance to this just man whom they killed, and by the obloquy they receive serve as a warning to other traitors. In a temple, called Tmg-tHz’ s.z\ not far from the city, ths party of the Dutch embassy were well lodged, and attended by three hundred priests. The establishment was in good repair, and besides two guardian monsters more than thirty feet high, near the entrance, contained five hundred images of the Buddhist Arhans, with miniature pagodas of bronze, of beautiful workmanship.
Ilangchau is better known abroad for manufactures of silk than for any other fabrics, but its position at the termination of the Canal may perhaps give its name to ujany articles which are not actually made there, for lluchau is now a greater depot for raw and woven silks. In the northern suburbs lies an irregular basin, forming the southern extremity of the Canal ; but between the river and the basin there is no communication, so that all goods brought hither nnist be landed. The city contains, among other public buildings, a mosque, bearing an iugcription in Arabic, stating that it is a ” temple for Mussnlmen, when travelling, who wish to consult the Koran,” ‘ It is higher than the adjacent buildings, and adorned with a cupola, pierced with holes at short intervals. It was spared in 1803, as not being an idolatrous temple. There are also several others in the city, it being a stronghold of Islamism in China. “Water communication exists between Ilangchau and Yiiyau, south-east through Shauhing, and thence to Ningbo, by means of which goods find their way to and from the capital. A good road also runs between the two former cities; indeed, elsewhere in the province the thoroughfares are very creditable; they are laid with broad slabs of granite and limestone, and lead over plains and hills in numberless directions.
‘ De Guigiies, Voyages a Peking, Vol. II., pp. 65-77.
Ningbo fu (‘Peaceful AVave city*) is the next important city in Zhejiang, in consequence of its foreign relations. It is adniiiably situated for trade and intluence, at the junction of three streams, in hit. 20° 55′ ^”., and long. 121° 22’ E. ; the united river flows on to the ocean, eleven and a half miles distant, under the name of the Tatsieh. Opposite the city itself, there are but two streams, but the southern branch again subdivides a few miles south-west of Ningbo. Its population has been variously estimated from one-fourth to one-third of a million, and even more, including the subin-ban and floating inhabitants.
This place was called Klng-yuen by the Sung, and received its present name from the Mongols. It was captured in 1862 by the insurgents, who were deterred from destroying it by the presence of foreign men-of-war ; the prosperity of the mart has since increased. When foreigners first resorted to China for trade, Ningbo soon became a centre of silk and other kinds of commodities; the Portuguese settled there, calling it Z/rt>/(^>o, “which is the same name. It is, moreover, an ancient city, and its Annals afford full information upon every point interesting to a Chinese antiquarian, though a foreigner soon tires of the numy insignificant details mixed up with a few valuable statements.’
‘ Compare R. M. Martin’s CJiiiui (Vol. II., ]>. 304), who gives considerable miscellaneous information about the open ports, jtrevious to 184(5; also Dennys’ Treaty Porta of (Jhiiut, 18(57, pp. ;52(5-:54!) ; Richthol’en’s Letlerx, No. T), 1871 ; Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 181 ; Mistsioaarij Recorder, 18(59, pp. 15(5,177.NINGPO. 121
” The plain in which Xingpo lies is a magnificent amphitheatre, stretching away from twelve to eighteen miles on one side to the base of the distant hills, and on the other to the verge of the ocean. As the eye travels along, it catches many a pleasing object. Turn landward, it will see canals and water-courses, fields and snug farm-houses, smiling cottages, family residences, hamlets and villages, family tombs, monasteries and temples. Turn in the opposite direction, and you perceive a plain country descending toward the ocean; but the river alive with all kinds of boats, and the banks studded with ice-houses, most of all attract the attention. From without the city, and while still
Upon the ramparts, look within its walls, you. will be no less gratified. Here there is nothing European, little to remind you ut’ what you have seen in the west. The single-storied and the double-storied houses, the heavy prison-like family mansions, the family vaults and graveyards, the glittering roofs of the temples, the dilapidated official residences, the deserted literary and examination halls, and the prominent sombre Tower of Ningpo, are entirely Chinese. The attention is also arrested for a moment or two by ditches, canals, and reservoirs of water, with their wooden bridges and stone arches.” ‘ Two serious drawbacks to a residence here are the stifling heat of summer and the bad equality of the water.
The circumference of the walls is nearly five miles ; they are
about twenty-five feet high, fifteen feet wide at the top, and
twenty-two at the base, built solidly, though somewhat dilapidated,
and overgrown with grass. A deep moat partly surrounds
them ; conimencing at the North gate, it runs on the west, south,
and south-east side as far as Bridge gate, a distance of nearly
thi’ee miles, and is in some places forty yards wide. Its constant
use as a thoroughfare for boats insures its repair and proper
depth ; the other faces of the city are defended by the river.
There are six gates, and two sally-ports near the south and west
approaches intended for the passage of the boats that ply on the
city canals.
On the east is Bridge gate, within which, and near the walls,
the English factory was once situated. This opening leads out
to the floating bridge ; the latter structure is two hundred yards
long and five broad, made of planks firmly lashed, and laid
upon sixteen lighters closely linked and chained together, but
which can be opened. A busy market is held on the bridge,
and the visitor following the lively crowd finds his way to an
extensive suburb on the opposite side. Ferry boats ply across
both streams in vast numbers, adding greatly to the vivacity of
the scene. The custom-house is situated beyond the bridge,
and this eastern suburb contains several buildings of a religious
‘ Milne, in Chinese Bepositorp, “Vol. XIII. , p. 22, and in liis Life in China, part second. London, 1857.
:ind public cliaracter, lumber-yards, dock-yards, and rows of icelionses, inviting the notice of the traveler. The environs beyond the north gate are not so thickly settled as those across the rivers ; the well cultivated fields, divided and irrigated by numerous water-courses, with scattered hamlets, beguile the visitor in his rambles, and lead him onward.
There are numerous temples and monasteries, and a large variety of assembly-halls, governmental offices, and educational establishments, but none of these edifices are remarkable in an architectural point of view. The assembly-halls or club-houses are numerous, and in their internal arrangements form a cm-ious feature of native society. It is the practice among residents or merchants from other provinces, to subscribe and erect on the spot where they are engaged in business, a temple, dedicated to the patron deity of their native province, in which a few priests are supported, and plays acted in its honor. Sometimes the building is put in charge of a layman, called a ” master of ceremonies,” and the cun-ent expenses defrayed by subscription.
The club-houses are places of resort for travellers from the several provinces or districts, and answer, moreover, to European coffee-houses, in being points where news from abroad is heard and exchanged.
The streets are well paved, and interrupted here and there
by honorary portals of considei*able size and solidity, which also
give variety to an otherwise dull succession of shops and signboards,
or dead walls. Two small lagoons afford space for
some aquatic amusements to the citizens. One called Sun Lake
is only a thousand yards in circuit ; the other, called Moon
Lake, is near the AVest gate, and has three times its perimeter.
]3oth are supplied by sluices passing through the city gates,
while many canals are filled from them, which aid in irrigating
the suburbs. Some of the pleasantest residences of the city are
built on their banks.
NINGPO, CHI.HIIAI, AND THE ARCHIPELAGO. 12B
Among interesting edifices is the Tien-fung tah {i.e., Heavenconferred pagoda), a hexagonal seven-storied tower upward of 100 feet high, which, according to the Aanah of Ningbo, was first erected 1100 years ago, though during that period it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Upon the authority of this work, the tower was constructed before the city itself, and its })reservation is considered as connected with the good hick of the place. The visitor mounts to the summit by a flight of narrow stone steps, ascending spirally within the walls.
The most elegant and solid building of the city lies on the water’s edge outside the walls, between the East and Bridge gates ; it is a temple dedicated to the marine goddess Ma Tsupu, and was founded by Fuhkien men in the 12th century, but the present structure was erected in IGSO, and largely endowed.
Its ornaments are elaborate and rich, and its appearance on festival days, gay and animated in an unusual degree. The lanterns and scrolls hanging from the ceiling attract attention by the curious devices and beautiful characters written and drawn on them in bright colors, while the walls are concealed by innumerable drawings.
Chinhai, at the mouth of the river, is so situated by nature and fortified by art, that it commands the passage. Its environs were the scene of a severe engagement between the Chinese and English in October, 1841, on which occasion great slaughter was committed npon the imperial troops. The town lies at the foot of a hill on a tongue of laud on the northern bank of the river, and is partly sheltei-ed from the sea on the north by a dyke about three miles long, composed of large blocks of hewn granite, and proving an admirable defence in severe weather. The walls are twenty feet high and three miles in circumference, but the suburbs extend along the water, attracted by, and for the convenience of, the shipping. Merchant ships report here when proceeding up the river, along whose banks the scenery is diversified, wdiile the water, as usual in China, presents a lively scene. Numerous ice-houses are seen constructed of thick stone walls twelve feet high, each having a door on one side and an incline on the other for the removal and introduction of the ice, and protected by straw and a heavily thatched roof.
The Chusan archipelago forms a single district of which Tinghai is the capital ; it is divided into thirty-four chwang or townships, whose officers are responsible to the district magistrate.
The southern limit of the group is Quesan or the Iviu shan islands, in lat. 29° 21′ X., and long. 121° 10′ E., consist ing of eleven islets, the nortlierninost of which is False Saddle Island ; their total number is over a hundred. Tinghai city lies on the southern side of Chau shan or Boat Island, which gives its name on foreign maps to the whole group. It is twenty miles long, from six to ten wide, and fifty one and a half in circumference. The archipelago seems to be the highest portion of a vast submarine plain, geologically comiected with the Kan shan range on the Continent and the mountains in Kiusiu and Nippon; it is a pi\’ot for the changes in weather and temperature observed north and south of this point along the coast.
The general aspect of these islands and the mainland, is the same beautiful alternation of hills and narrow valleys, everywhere fertile and easily irrigated, with peaks, cascades, and woodlands interspersed. In Chusan itself the fertile and well watered valleys usnally reach to the sea, and are furnished with dykes along the beach, which convert them into plains of greater or less extent, through which run canals, used both for irrigation and navigation. Rice and barley, beans, yams, sweet potatoes, etc., are grown ; every spot of arable soil being cultivated, and terraces constructed on most of the slopes. The view from the tops of the ridges, looking athwart them, or adown their valleys, or to seaward, is highly picturesque. The prevailing rocks belong to the ancient volcanic class, comprising many varieties, but principally clay-stone, trachj^te, and compact and porphyritic felspar. The brief occupation of this island by the British forces in 1841 led to no permanent improvement in the condition of the people, and it has neither trade nor minerals sufficient to attract capital thither. Owing in part, perhaps, to this poverty, Tinghai escaped the ravages of the Tai-pings, and has now recovered from the damage sustained by its first capture.
PUTO ISLAND AND ITS TEMPLES. 125
Puto and a few smaller islands are independent of civil jurisdiction, being ruled by the abbot of the head monastery. This establishment, and that on Golden Island in the Yangtsz’ are among the ‘ richest and best patronized of all the bhiddhist monasteries in China ; both of them have been largely favored by emperors at diffirent periods.
Puto is a narrow islet, 3^ miles long, and lies 1^ miles from the eastern point of Cliusan. Its surface is covered with sixty monasteries, pavilions, temples, and other religious buildings, besides grottos and sundry monuments of superstition, in which at least 2,000 idle priests chant the praises of their gods. One visitor describes his landing and ascending ” a broad and well beaten pathway which led to the top of one of the hills, at every: 5rag and turn of which we encountered a temple or a grotto, an inscription or an image, with here and there a garden tastefully laid out, and walks lined with aromatic shrubs, which diffused a grateful fragrance through the air. The prospect from these heights was extremely delightful; numerous islands, far and near, bestudded the main, rocks and precipices above and below, here and there a mountain monastery rearing its head, and in the valley the great temple, with its yellow tiles indicative of imperial distinction, basked like a basilisk in the noonday-sun. All the aid that could be collected from nature and from Chinese art, was here concentrated to render the scene enchanting. But to the eye of the Christian philanthropist it presented a melancholy picture of moral and spiritual death. The only tliuig we heard out of the mouths of the
priests was Ometo Full ; to every observation that was made,
re-echoed Ometo Full ; and the reply to every inquiry was
Ometo Full. Each pi-iest was furnished with a rosary which
lie was constantly counting, and as he counted repeated the
same senseless, monotonous exclamation. These characters met
the eye at every turn of the road, at every corner of the temples,
and on every scrap of paper; on the bells, on the gateways,
and on the walls, the same words presented themselves; indeed the whole island seemed to be under the spell of this talismanic phrase, and devoted to recording and re-echoing Ometo Full.” ‘ The pristine glory of these temples has become sadly dimmed, many of the buildings present marks of decay, and some of the priesthood are obliged to resort to honest labor in order to gain a living. Deaths in their number are supplied by purchasing youths, who are taught nothing but re-‘ Mcdhurst’s China, its State and Prospects, p. 393.
Jigious literature, a tit training to stunt their minds to pursue the dull niunnuery of singing Onieto Full. The two inipeiial temples present good specimens of Chinese architecture ; but they as well as all other things to be seen at Puto are dilapidated and effete.
Temples were erected on this island as early as a.d. 550, and since it became a resort for priests it seems to have enjoyed the patronage of the government. The goddess of Mercy is said to have visited this spot, and her image is the principal object of worship. No females are allowed to live on the island, nor any persons other than the priests, unless in their employ. The revenues are derived from rent of the lands belong-ino; to the temples, from the collection of those priests who go on begging excursions over the Empire, and from the alms of pilgrims who resort to this agreeable locality. It appears like one of the most beautiful spots on the earth when the ti’aveller lands, just such a place as his imagination had pictured as exclusively belonging to the sunny East, and so far as nature and art can combine, it is really so : but liere the illusion ends. Idleness and ignorance celibacy and idolatr}-, vice, dirt, and dilapidation, in the inmate! or in their habitations, form a poor back-ground for the well dressed connnunity, and gay, variegated prospect seen when stepping ashore.
A town of considerable importance in this province is Chapu,
about fifty miles north-west from Chinhai, across Ilangchau
Pay, and connected with that city through a luxuriant plain by
a well-paved causeway about thirty miles long. Chapu was the
port of Ilangchau, and when it possessed the entii-e trade with
Japan, boasted of being the largest mai’t on the seacoast of Chehkiang.
The town lies at the bottom of a bay on the westei’n
face of some hills fc)rming its eastern point ; and at low tide
the mud extends a long way from the lowland. The suburbs
are situated near a small headland ; the walled town stands
about half a mile ])ehin(l. When attacked by the British in
!^^ay, ]S42, the walls were found in ])()or condition, but the
Manchu garrison stationed here upheld their ancient reputation
for bravery. This body of troops occupies a separate division
of the city, and their cantonment is j)lanned on the model of a
CHAPU AND CAN FIT. 127
camp. The outer defences are numerous, but most of tlie old
fortifications are considerably decayed. The country in tlu;
vicinity is highly cultivated, and possesses an unusual number
of finely constructed, substantial houses.
South-west from Chapu lies the old town of Canfu (called
Kanpu by the Chinese), which was once the port of Ilangchau,
but now deserted, since the stream on which it is situated has
become choked with sand. This place is mentioned in the voyages
of two Arabian travellers in the ninth century, as the chief
port of China, where all shipping centred. The narrow entrance
between Buffalo Island and Ivitto Point is probably the
Gates of China mentioned by them ; and Marco Polo, in 1290,
says, ” The Ocean Sea comes within 25 miles of the city at a
place called Ganfu, where there is a town and an excellent
haven, with a vast amount of shipping which is engaged in the
traffic to and from India and other foreign parts. . . . And a
great river flows from the city of Kinsay to that sea-haven, l)y
which vessels can come up to the city itself.” ‘ Marsden erroneously
supposes Kanpu to be Xingpo, If this was in fact the
only port allowed to be opened for foreign trade, it shows that,
even in the Tang dynasty, the same system of exclusion was
maintained that has so recently been broken up ; though at that
date the Emperors in Shansi had very little authority along the
southern coasts. The changes in the Bay of Ilangchau have
been more potent causes for the loss of trade, and Yule reasonably
concludes that the upper part of it is believed to cover now
the old site in Polo’s time.
‘ Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 149. Cathay and the Way Thither, p.cxciii. Reinaud, Relations den Voyages faits par les Arabea dans VTnde et d la Chine, etc. (Paris, 1845), Tome I., p. 19.
The province of Fujian (i.e. Happily Established) is bounded on the north by Zhejiang, north-west and west by Iviangsf, south-west by Ivwangtung, and east by the channel of Formosa. Its western borders are determined, for the most part, by the watershed of the basins of the rivers Min and Kan; a rugged and fertile region of the Xan shan. The line of seacoast is bold, and bordered with a great number of islands, whose lofty granitic or trappean peaks extend in precipitous,
Larreu headlands from Xaiiioli as far as tlie Cliusan archipelago.
Ill the general features of its surface, the islands on its
coasts, and its position with reference to the ocean, it resembles
the region lying east of Xew Hampshire in the United States ;
including Formosa, it about equals Missouri in size.
The Itiver Min is formed by the union of three large streams
at Yenping fu ; it drains all the country lying east of the AVu-i
(Bohea) hills, or about three-fourths of the province. It is
more than three hundred miles long, and owing to its regular
depth, is one of the most useful streams in China ; twenty-seven
walled towns stand on its banks. The tide rises eighteen or
twenty feet at the entrance, and this, with the many islands and
reefs, renders the approach difficult. At Min-ngan hien, about
fourteen miles from the mouth, the stream is contracted to less
than half a mile for about three miles, the water being from
twelve to twenty-five fathoms deep ; the hills on each side rise
from fifteen hundred to two thousand feet. One traveller speaks
of the walls of its forts and batteries, in this part, as affording
a sort of stairs for the more convenient ascent of the hills on
which they are situated. From the top, ” the view embraces a
beautiful scene ; nothing can be more picturesque than the little
plats of wheat and barley intermixing their yellow crops on the
acclivities with bristling pines and arid rocks, and crowned with
garden spots, or surrounded with rice fields and orchards of
oranges. The valley of the Min, viewed from the summit of
the fortress, is truly a beautiful sight.” ‘ The scenery on this
river, though of a different character, will bear comparison with
that of the Hudson for sublimity and beauty ; the hills are,
however, much higher, and the country less fruitful, on the
Min.
* Borget, L(i Chine Ouverte, p. 13G.
AVATKll-COUllSES OF FUIIKIEN ri:()VIX(n<:. 129
Beyond Pagoda Anchorage the passage is too shallow for large vessels, and this obstacle tends to prevent Fuhchau from becoming a place of commerce in keeping with its size and geographical advantages. From the city upwards the river is partially obstructed with rocks and banks, rendering the navigation troublesome as far as Mintsing hien, about thirty miles above it, beyond which the strong rapids render the passageto Yenping extremely tedious,—in high water impossible even with trackers. The banks are steep, and the tow-rope is sometimes taken 50 to 70 feet above the water.
Mr. Stevens says of this river, that ” bold, high, and romantic
hills giA^e a uniform yet ever varying aspect to the country ;
l)ut it partakes so much of the mountainous character, that it
may be truly said that beyond the capital we saw not one plain
even of small extent. Every hill was covered with verdure
from the base to the summit. The less rugged were laid out in
terraces, rising above each other sometimes to the number of
thirty or forty. On these the yellow barley and wheat were
waving over our heads. Here and there a laborer, with a bundle
of grain which he had reaped, was bringing it down on his
shoulder to thrash out. Orange, lemon, and mulberry, or other
trees, sometimes shaded a narrow strip along the banks, half
concealing the cottages of the inhabitants.” ‘
Next in size is the Lung kiang, which flows by Changchau, and disembogues near Amoy after a course of two hundred miles. A large number of small islands lie on the coast of Fuhkien, the first of which, on the west, is Naraoh or ]^an-au, about thirteen miles long. Amoy and Quemoy are the largest islands of a group lying off the estuary of the Lung kiang.
Chimmo Bay is north-east of Amoy, and is the entrance of the passage up to Chinchew, or Tsiuenchau fu, the Zayton * of Marco Polo, and still celebrated for the commercial enterprise of its inhabitants. Before the introduction of steamers into the oasting trade, the harbors and creeks along the provinces of Fuhkien and Kwangtung were infested with numerous fleets of pirates, which used to ” sneak about like rats,” and prey upon the peaceful traders.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 93.’Yule’s Mnrco Poh, Vol. II., pp. 183-185, etc. A Turkish geography,printed at Constantinople, describes this port under the name of Zeitouii.Compare Klaproth, Memoires sur VAsie, Tome II., p. 208. See further,CJdnese Recoider, Vol. III., p. 87; Vol. IV., p. 77; Vol. V., p. 327, and Vol VI., p. 31, sqq.Vol. I.—9
The grain raised in Fujian is hardly enough to support its population, especially on the sea-board, and large quantities of rice are brought from Siani, Formosa, and elsewhere. Black tea, camphor and other woods, sugar, chinaware, and grass cloth, are the principal exports.
The city of Fuzhou(i.e., Happy City), or Ilokchiu, as it is called by the inhabitants, lies in lat. 26° 5′ north, and long. 119° 20′ east, on the northern side of the Min, thirty -four miles from its mouth, and nine from Pagoda Island. The city lies in a plain, surrounded by hills, forming a natural and most magnificent amphitheatre of vast dimensions, whose fertility emulates and adds to its beauty. Suburbs extend from the walls three miles to the banks, and stretch along on both sides the stream.
They are connected with each other, and a small islet in the
river, by a stone bridge built in the eleventh century. The
scenery is bold, and such parts of the surrounding hills as are not
cultivated or used for graves, are covered with pines ; some of
the hills north of the city are three thousand feet high. Opposite
Fuhchau the land is lower, and the suburb is built upon an
island formed by the division of the main channel, seven miles
above the city ; the branches reunite at Pagoda Island. This
island, and the plain on each side, forms a large basin, about
twenty miles long by fifteen wide. The river is crowded with
floating habitations, ferry-boats, and trading craft, rendering its
surface an animated and noisy scene. The flowers grown in
pots on the boats, and those usually worn by the boatwomen in
their hair, all assist in imparting a pleasing aspect to the lively sight.
The city walls ai-e about thirty feet high and twelve wide at the top. The gates, seven in number, are overlooked by high towers ; smaller guard-houses stand upon the walls at short intervals, in which a few soldiers lodge, and where two or three cannon indicate their object. The city is divided into wards and neighborhoods, each of which is under its own police and headmen, who are resjxnisible for the peace of their respective districts.
APPEARANCE OF FUHCIIAU. 131
From the Wu-shih slum, an eminence on the south of the city, the view is extensive, and presents a great diversity of charming objects. The square battlements of the wall are seen extending in a devious and irregular circuit for more than eight miles, and inclosing most of the buildings, except on the south.
On the south-east, a hill rises abruptly more than two hundred feet, its sides built up with interspersed dwellings ; and another on the extreme north of the cit}’, surmounted by a “watch-tower,
closes the prospect in that dii-ection. Two pagodas within, and
fantastic looking watch-towers upon the walls, large, regularbuilt
granaries, and a vast number of flag-staffs in pairs indicating
temples and offices, contribute to relieve the otherwise dull
monotony, which is still further diversified by many large trees.
Several lookout houses are placed over the streets, or upon the
roofs of buildings, for the accommodation of watchmen, one of
M’hich immediately attracts the attention of the visitor, from
its height, and its clock-dial with Koman letters. Few vacant
spaces occur within the walls of the city, which is everywhere
equally well built.
Serpentine canals divide the country round about into plats of greater or less extent, of every form and hue ; while they help drain the city and provide channels for boats coming from the river. These parts of the landscape are dotted with hamlets and cottages, or, where the ground is higher, with graves and tombstones. To one seated on this eminence, the confused hum of mingling cries ascending from the town below,—the beating of gongs, crackling of fireworks, reports of guns, vociferous cries of hucksters and coolies, combining with the barking of dogs and other domestic sounds, as well as those from the crows, fish-hawks, and magpies nearer by,—inform him in the liv^eliest manner that the beautiful panorama he is looking down upon is filled with teeming multitudes in all the tide of life. On the western side of the city is a sheet of water, called Xi Hu, or West Lake, with a series of unpretending buildings and temples lying along its margin, a bridge crossing its expanse, and fishing-nets and boats floating upon its bosom. The watch-tower, on the hill in the northern part of the city, is upon the wall, which here runs near a precipice two hundred feet high ; it is a most conspicuous object when approaching the place.
The Manchus occupy the eastern side of the city, and number altogether about 8,000 persons; the natives gcncrall}- are not allowed to enter their precincts. They live under their own officers, in much the same style as the Chinese, and, .not having any regular occupation, give no little trouble to the provincial authorities. Though vastly larger than Ningpo, the number of temples and substantial private residences in Fuhchau is much less, and as a whole it is not so well built. The streets are full of abominations, for which the people seem to care very little.
Before foreign trade attained importance, paper money used to be issued by native mercantile iirms in the city, varying in denomination from forty cents to a thousand dollars, and supplying all the advantages with few of the dangers of bank notes.
The blue, red, and black colors, which are blended on these promissory bills, present a gay appearance of signatures and eudorsings. The name of the issuing house, and a number of characters traced around the page, in briglit blue ink, form the original impression. The date of issue, and some ingeniously Avrought cyphers, for the recej^tion of signatures and prevention of forgeries, are of a deep red ; while the entry of the sum, and names of the partners and receiver, stand forth in large blade characters. On the back are the endorsements of various individuals, through whose hands the bill has passed, in order to facilitate the detection of forgeries, but not rendering the writer at all liable. These bills have now nearly disappeared, and bank bills from Hongkong are gradually coming into use. The streets usually are thronged with craftsmen and hucksters, in the fashion of Chinese towns, where the shopmen, in their desire to attract buyers, seem to inuigine, that the more they get in their customers’ way, the more likely they are to sell them something. The shops are thrown ojien so widely, and display such a variety of articles, or expose the M’orkmeii so plainly, that the whole street seems to be leather the stalls of a nuirket, or the aisle in a manufactory, than the town-thoroughfare.
BUILDINGS AND TYPES OF INirABITANTS. 133
The chief civil and military dignitaries of the province reside here, besides the profect and the magistrates of ]\rin and llaukwan districts. The (li’iiKj-lmxing mUio is one of the largest religious edifices in the place, and the temples tif the goddess of Mercy, and god of War, the most frequented. The KiuSien shan, or ‘ Hill of the Nine Genii,’ on the southern side of the town, is a pretty object. The city wall runs over it, and on its sides little houses are built upon rocky steps ; numerous inscriptions are carved in the face of the rocks. Near the eastern gate, called Tang Men., or ‘ Bath gate,’ is a small suburb, where Chinese and Manchus live together, and take care of many hot wells filled from springs near by ; the populace resort hither in large crowds to wash and amuse themselves.
The citizens of Fuhchau bear the character of a reserved, proud, rather turbulent people, imlike the polite, affable natives further north. They are better educated, however, and plume themselves on never having been conquered by foreigners. Their dialect is harsh, contrasting strongly with the nasal tones of the patois of Amoy, and the melliflnous sounds heard at Ningpo. There are few manufactures of importance in the city, its commerce and resources depending almost wholly on the trade with the interior by the River Min. Many culprits wearing the cangue are to be seen in the streets, and in passing none of the hilarious merriment which is heard elsewhere greets the eai”. There is also a general lack of courtesy between acquaintances meeting in the higlnvay, a circumstance quite unusual in China. Beggars crowd the thoroughfares, showing both the poverty and the callousnesj of the inhabitants. One half the male population is supposed to be addicted to the opium pipe, and annually expend millions of dollars for this noxious gratification.
The population of the city and suburljs is reckoned at rather over than under a million souls, including the boat people; it is, no doubt, one of tlie chief cities in the Empire \\\size, trade, and iidluence.
The island in the river is settled by a trading p()])ulati(jii, a great part of whom consist of sailors and boatmen. The country-women, who bring vegetables and poultry to market, are a robust race, and contrast strikingly with the sickly-looking, little-footed ladies of the city, Fishing-boats are numerous in the river, many of which are furnished with cormorants.’
Chinese liejwsitary, Vol. TSV., pp. 185, 225.
Amoy is the best known port in the province, and 150 years ao-Q was the seat of a large foreign coniinercc. It lies in tha district of Tung-ngan, within the prefecture of Tsiuenchau, in lat. 2i° 4U’ X., and long. 118° 20′ E., upon the south-western corner of the island of Amoy, at the mouth of the Lung Kiang. The island itself is about forty miles in circumference, and contains scores of large villages besides the city. The scenery within the bay is picturesque, caused partly by the numerous islands which define it, some of them surmounted by pagodas or temples, and partly by the high hills behind the city, and
crowds of vessels in the liarbor in the foreground.’ There is
an outer and inner city, as one approaches it seaward—or more
properly a citadel and a city—divided by a ridge of rocky hills
having a fortified wall along the top. A paved road connects
the two, which is concealed from the view of the beholder as
he comes in from sea, until he has entered the Inner harbor.
The entire circuit of the city and suburbs is about eight miles,
containing a population of 185,000, while that of the island is
estimated at 100,000 more.
The harbor of Amoy is one of the best on the coast ; the tide
rises and falls from fourteen to sixteen feet. The western side
of the harbor is formed by the island of Kulang su, the batteries
upon it completely commanding the city. It is about a
mile long and two and three-quarters around, and maintains a
large rural population, scattered among four or five hamlets.
The foreign residences scattered over its hills add measurably
to the charm of its aspect when viewed from the harbor. Eastward
of Amoy is the island of Quemoy (/.6\, Golden harbor), whose low, rice grounds on the south-west shore produce a very different effect as opposed to the high land on Amoy ; its population is, moreover, much less.
‘ The Boston Missionary Herald for 1845 (p. 87) coutaius a notice of tha ” WfeHe Deer Cavern,” in tliu neighborhood.
AMOY AND ITS ENVIRONS. 135
The country in this part of Fuhkien is thickly settled and highly cultivated. Mr. Abeel, describing a trip toward TungngaTi, says, ” For a few miles up, the hills wore the same rugged, barren aspect which is so common on the southern coast of China, but fertility and cultivation grew upon us as we advanced ; the mountains on the east became hills, and these were adorned with fields. The villages were numerous at intervals; many of them were indicated in the distance by large groves of trees, but generally the landscape looked naked. Well-sweeps were scattered over the cultivated hills, affording evidence of the need and the means of irrigation.”
In the other direction, toward Changchau, the traveller, beyond Pagoda Island, enters an oval bay ten or twelve miles long, bounded by numerous plains rising in the distance into steep barren mountains, and upon which numerous villages are found ; twenty-three were counted at once by Mr. Abeel, and the boatmen said that all could not be seen. Several large towns, and ” villages uncounted ” are visible in every direction, as one proceeds up the river toward Changchau, thirty-five miles from Amoy. This city is well built, the streets paved with granite, some of them twelve feet wide, and intolerably offensive. A bridge, about eight hundred feet long, spans the river, consisting of beams stretching from one abutment to another, covered with cross pieces. From the hill- top behind a temple at the north-western corner of the city, the prospect is charming.
” Imagine an amphitheatre,” says Mr. Lowrie, ” thirty miles in length and twenty in breadth, hemmed in on all sides by bare pointed hills, a river running through it, an immense city at our feet, with fields of rice and sugar-cane, noble trees and
numerous villages stretching away in every direction. It was
grand and beautiful beyond every conception we had ever
formed of Chinese scenery. Beneath us lay the city, its shape
nearly square, curving a little on the river’s banks, closely built,
and having an amazing number of very large trees within and
around. The guide said that in the last dynasty it had numl)
ered 700,000 inhabitants, and now he thought it contained a
million—probably a large allowance. The villages around also
attracted our attention. I tried to enumerate them, but after counting thirty-nine of large size distinctly visible in less than half the field before us, I gave over the attempt. It is certainly Avithhi the mark to say that within the t-ircuit of thi.- immense plain there are at least one hundred villages, some of them small, but many numbering Inmdreds and even thousands of inliabitants.” ‘
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., p. 506.
ChangZhou was the last city in the eastern provinces held by the Tai-pings, a small remnant of their forces having come across the country after the loss of NanJing. They were expolled in 1806, after the town had suffered much from the contending forces. Traces of this destruction have not yet entirely disappeared from the vicinity.
Shilima, or Chiohbe, is a place of some trade, extending a
mile along the shore, and larger than Ilaitang hien, a district
town between it and Amoy. Large numbers of people dwell
in boats on this river, rendering a voyage up its channel somewhat
like going through a street, for the noise and bustle.
The city of Chinchew (or Tsiuenchau), north of Amoy, w’as
once the larger of the two. It is described by Marco Polo, who
reached it after iive days’ journey from Fuhchau, meeting with
a constant succession of flourishing cities, towns and villages.
“At this city is the haven of Zayton, frequented by all the
ships from India, . . . and by all the merchants of Manzi, for
hither is imported the most astonishing quantity of goods and
of precious stones and pearls. . . . For it is one of the two
greatest havens in the world for connnerce.”^ It was gradually
forsaken for Amoy, which was more accessible to junks.
‘ Chinesie Rejmiton/, Vol. XIT., p. T^•.^0^, Fortune’s Tea Districts, chaps, xiv and XV.=” Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. IbG.
THE ISLAND OF FORMOSA. 137
From Zayton, Ivublai Khan’s expedition to Java and Japan sailed, and here the men from Egypt and Arabia traded for silks, sugar, and spices long after the Portuguese reached China. The department of Ilinghwa, situate on the coast between Tsiuenchau and Fuhchau, is exceedingly populous, and its dialect differs distinctly from both of the adjoining prefectures. Its people have a bad reputation, and female infanticide prevails here to a greater degree than elsewhere. At Yenping, on the Min River, the people speak the dialect of banking, showing their origin of not many scores of years past ; there are many patois in these hilly parts of Fnhkien, hirI tlio province as a whole exhibits probably greater discrepancies in its dialects than any other. Its produce is exported north and west, as well as coastwise, and this intcirconrse tends to assimilate the speech of the inhabitants with their neighbors. The natural scenery in the ranges near the Bohea Hills in the borders of Kiangsi attracts visitors from afar. Fortune describes the picturesque grouping of steep rocks, lonely temples on jutting ledges and hidden adits, alternating with hamlets, along the banks of the stream which carries the boats and produce away to a market. The rocks and cliffs here have furnished Chinese artists with many subjects for pen and pencil, while the valley in addition to its natural beauty brings forth the best of teas.
The island of Formosa, lying 90 miles west of Amoy, together with the Pescadore group, forms a department called Taiwan. The former is a fertile, well-watered region, possessing a salubrious climate, and meriting in every respect its name Formosa—a descriptive term first given by the Portuguese to their settlement at Kilung in 1590, and extended afterward to the entire island. Its total length is about 235 miles, while the width at the centre is not far from 80 miles ; the limits of Chinese jurisdiction do not, however, end)race more than the western or level portion, leaving to untamed aborigines the
thickly wooded districts beyond the ]\f((h htii sJkdk a lofty
rantj-e of mountains runnino; north and south and formino- the
backbone of the island. The western coast presents no good
harbors, and vessels lying a long distance oft” shore are exposed
to the double inconvenience of a dano-erons anchoraije and an
inhospitable reception from the natives ; the eastern side is still
less inviting, owing to its possession by savage tribes. From
recent reports it appears, moreover, that the whole coast line is
rising with unusual persistence and regularity, and that the
streams are being choked up at their mouths.
The aborigines of this island are, in those districts that lemain uncontaminated by mixture with Chinese settlers, a remarkably well-built, handsome race, strong, large of eye, bold, and devoted to hunting and ardent spirits (when the latter is procurable), after the manner of wild people the world over; no written language exists among them, nor do they employ any fixed method of reckoning time. They and the inhabitants of Lewchew and neighboring islands are probably of the same race with the Philippine Tagalas, though some have supposed them to be of Malay or Polynesian origin. Like the North American Indians they are divided into numerous clans,
whose mutual feuds are likely to last until one party or another
is exterminated ; this turbulence restrains them from any
united action against the Chinese, whose occupation of the
island has always been irksome to the natives. Their social
condition is extremely low ; though free from the petty vices
of thieving and deception, and friendly toward strangers, the
principle of blood-requital holds among them with full force,
and family revenge is usually the sole object of life among the
men. I^o savage is esteemed who has not beheaded a Chinaman,
while the greater the number of heads brought home from a fray, the higher the position of a brave in the comnumity.
The women are forced to attend both to house and field, but share the laziness of their masters, insomuch that they never cut from the growing rice or millet more than enough for the day’s provision. ” Although these people have men’s forms,” observes a Chinese writer in the peculiar antithetical style common to their literary productions, ” they have not men’s natures. To govern them is impossible; to exterminate them not to be thought of; and so nothing can be done with them. The only thing left is to establish troops with cannon at all the passes through which they issue on their raids, and so overawe them, b^^ military display, from coming out of their fastnesses. The savage tracks lie only through the dense forests, thick with underbi’ush, where hiding is easy.
PRODUCTIONS OF FORMOSA. 139
When they cut off a head, they boil it to separate the flesh, adorn the skull with various ornaments, and hang it up in their huts as evidence of their valor.” In addition to a few native clans who have submitted to the rulers from the mainland and dwell in the border region between the colonists and :i])oi-igines proper, a peculiarly situated race, called Ilahhas^ maintains a neutral position between the hill tribes and the Cliinese. These people were formerly industrious but per«secuted inhabitants of Kwangtung province, who, in order to better their lot, emigrated to Formosa and established close communication with the natives there, making themselves indispensable to them by procuring arms, powder, and manufactured goods, while owing to their industry they were able in time to monopolize the camphor trade. Though retaining the Chinese costume and shaving their heads, they practically ignore Chinese rule, paying tribute and intermarrying with the mountaineers, from whom they have also obtained large tracts of land.
Maize, potatoes, fruits, tobacco, indigo, sugar, rice, and tea, are all grown on this island, the three latter in rapidly increasing quantities for purposes of export. Of natural products salt, coal, sulphur, petroleum, and camphor are of the first importance.
The vast coal basins have hardly been opened or even explored, the only mines now worked being those in the northern part, near Kilung. Native methods of mining are, however, the only ones employed thus far, and it is not surprising, considering their extreme simplicity, that they have not been able to extract coal from remote districts, where the natural difficulties encountered are greatest. Hand labor alone is used, and draining a pit unheard of—compelling a speedy abandoning of the mines when pierced to any great depth in the mountain side. The cost of the coal at the mouth of the pit is about 65 cents per ton for the first qualities, which price improved methods might reduce a third. The presence of volcanoes on this island will, nevertheless, present a serious obstacle to the employment of western mining machinery, especially along the coast, where the measures appear to be excessively dislocated and the work of draining is rendered more difficult. Petroleum is abundant in certain tracts of northern Formosa, flowing plentifully from crevices in the hills, and used to some extent for burning and medicinal purposes by the natives, but not exported. The possibilities of a large sulphur trade are much more important. It is brought from solfatarae and geysers at Tah-yu kang, near Kilung, where it is found in a nearly pure state, as well, too, as a great quantity of sulphurous acid which might with profit be used in the sugar refineries on the island. The manufacture of sidphur is, however forbidden by treaty, though its exportation goes on in small quantities, the contractors taking on themselves all risk of seizure. Camphoi”, perhaps the greatest source of wealth to Formosa, is obtained here by saturating small sticks of the wood with steam, not by boiling as in Japan. The crystals of camphor condense in a receiv-er placed above the furnace ; during the process of distillation an es-^ential oil is produced, which when chemically treated with nitric acid becomes solid camphor. The trees from which the wood is cut grow^ in the most inaccessible tracts of the island, and are, according to all descriptions, of innnense extent, though chopped down by the natives without discrimination or idea of encouraging a second growth.
Among the most interesting natural phenomena of this district are the so-called volcanoes, whoso occasional eruptions have been noticed by many, Mr. Le Gendre, United States Consul at Amoy in 1869, upon a visit to Formosa took occasion to examine more closely into this subject. It appears from his report ‘ that a gas is constantly issuing from the earth, and when a hole to the depth of a few inches is made it can be lighted.
It is most likely, he continues, that from time to time gas jets break forth at points of the hills where they had not been observed before, rushing through its long grass and forests of linge trees, and the rock oil which as a general thing flows in their vicinity. As they are apt to spontaneously ignite in contact with the atmosphere, they must set fire to these materials and cause a local conflagration, that gives to the many peaks of the chain the appearance of volcanoes.
FORMOSA AND THE PESCADORES. 141
Previous to the first half of the fifteenth century the Chinese had little knowledge of Formosa, nor was their sway established over any part of it until 1GS3. It was never really colonized, and became a misooverned and refractorv region from the earliest attempts at subjection. A great emigration is constantly going on from the main, and lands are taken up by capitalists, who not only encourage the people in settling there, but actually purchase large numbers of poor people to occupy these districts. Taiwan fu, the seat of local government, is the ‘ Commercial Relations between the U. S. and Voreign ‘iS(ttiiinx. lS(iO.
largest place on the island ; other harbors or places of importance are Ku-sia and Takow, some miles south of Taiwan, the latter, with Tamsui, on the north-west coast, being one of the recently opened ports of trade. Kihmg possesses a good harbor and is the entrepot of goods for the northern end of the island. Snice the opening (in 1861) of these three towns to foreign intercourse, and the more careful examination of the neutral territory at the foot of the mountains, the resources, peoples, and condition of this productive isle have become better known.
It may be of interest to refer, before leaving Formosa, to the extraordinary fabulous history of the island by one George Psalmanazar, the nam de lylmiie of a remarkable impostor of the commencement of the eighteenth century, who pretended to be a Japanese convert to CJhristianity from Formosa, and who created a profound sensation in Europe by the publication in Latin of a iictitious notice of that country.’
About twenty-five miles west of Formosa, and attached to Taiwan fu, is the district of Pdvghu ting or Pescadore Islands, consisting of a group of twenty-one inhabited islets, the largest of which, called Panghu, is eighty-four miles in circumference; none of them rise three hundred feet above the sea. The two largest, called Prmgliu and Fisher Islands, ai-e situated near the centre of the cluster, and have an excellent harbor between them. The want of trees, and the absence of sheltered valleys, give these islands a barren appearance. Millet, ground-nuts, pine-apples, sweet potatoes, and vegetables are grown, but for most of their supplies they depend upon Formosa. The population of the group is estimated at ‘6()()(^^ of M’hom a large part are fishermen. The Dutch seized these islands in 1G22, and attempted to fortify them by forced Chinese laborers, but removed to Formosa two years after at the instance of the governor of Fuhkien.
‘ ” An nistoricrd and GeograpJdcal Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the Emperor of Japan, ^^ etc. YiXii^voili {MemoiressiirVAsie, Tome I., p. 321) translates an accovint of this island from Chinese sources. E. C. Taintor, The Aborigines of Northern /’l^’/w^Avn!—Shanghai, 1874—read before the North China branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p408, and Vol. V., p. 480.”CHAPTER III. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WESTERN PROVINCES
The central provinces of llnpeli and Hunan formerly constituted a single one under the name of Hukwang {i.e. Broad Lakes), and they are still commonly known by this appellation. HuPEH {i.e. Korth of the Lakes) is the smaller of the two, but contains the most arable land. It is bounded north by Honan, east by Kganhwui and Kiangsi, south by Hunan, and west by Sz’chuen and Shensi. Its area is about T0,000 square miles, or slightly above that of Kew England.
The Great Tliver flows through the south, where it connects with all the lakes on both its shores, and nearly doubles its volume of water. The Han kiang, or Han shui rises in the southwest of Shensi, between the Fuh-niu shan and Tapa ling, and drains the south of that province and nearly the whole of Hupeh, joining Yangtsz’ at AVuehang. It is very tortuous in its course, flowing about 1300 miles in all, and is navigable only a portion of the year, during the freshes, as far as Siangyang, about 300 miles. Boats of small size come down, however, at all times from Sin-pu-wan, near its source in Shensi.
THE PROVINCE OP IIUPEH. 143
The mouth is not over 200 feet broad, but the bed of the river as one ascends soon widens to 400 and 500 feet, and at Shayang, 168 miles from Hankow, it is half a mile wide. The area of its whole basin is about the same as the province. The extraordinary effects of a large body of melted snow poured into a number of streams converging on the slopes of a range of hills, and then centering in a narrow valley, bringing their annual deposit of alluvial and silt are seen along the River Han. The rise of this stream is often fifty feet where it is narrowest, and the shores are high ; at Iching the channel varies from 300 to 1500 feet at different seasons, but the i-iverbed from 2000 to 9000 feet, the water rising 18 feet at the fresh. In these wide places, the river presents the aspect of a broad, winding belt of sand dunes, in which the stream meanders in one or many channels, l^avigation, therefore, is difficult and dangerous, since moving sands shift the deep water from place to place, and boats are delayed or run aground. In high water the banks are covered, but the current is then almost as serious an obstacle as the shallows are in winter.
The southeastern part of Ilupeh is occupied by an extensive depression filled with a succession of lakes. The length and breadth of this plain are not far from two hundred miles, and it is considered the most fertile part of China, not being subject to overflows like the shores of the Yellow River, while the descent of the land allows its abundance of water to be readily distributed. Every spot is cultivated, and the surplus of productions is easily transported wherever there is a demand.
The portions nearest the Yangtsz’ are too low for constant cultivation. The Ax Lake, Millet Lake, Red Horse Lake, and Mienyang Lake, are the largest in the province. The remaining parts of both the Lake provinces are hilly and mountainous ; the high range of the Ta-peh shan (‘ Great White Mountains ‘), commencing far into Shensi, extends to the west of Ilupeh, and separates the basins of the Great River from its tributary, the Han Jiang, some of its peaks rising to the snow line. The productions of Ilupeh are bread-stuffs, silk, cotton, tea, fish, and timber; its manufactures are paper, wax, and cloth. The climate is temperate and healthy.
The favorable situation of “Wuchang, the provincial capital,
lias drawn to it most of the trade, which has caused in the
course of years the settlement of Hanyang and Hankow on the
northern bank of the Yangtsz’ and River Han. The number
of vessels gathered here in former years from the other cities
on these two streams was enormous, and gave rise to exaggerated
ideas of the value of the trade. The introduction of steamers has destroyed much of this native commerce, and the cities themselves suffered dreadfully Ijv the Tai-pings, from Mliicli thev are rapidly recovering, and oti a surer foundation. The cities ‘lie in lat. 30° 33′ X. and long. 114° 20’ E., 582 geographical miles distant from Shanghai.
Wuchang is the residence of the provincial officers, the
Manchu garrison, and a literary population of influence, while
the working part depends mostly on Hankow for employment.
Its walls are over twelve miles in circuit, inclosing more vacant
than occupied surface, whose flatness is relieved by a range of
low hills that extend bevond Ilanvano; on the other side of
the liver. The narrow streets are noisome from the offal,
and in summer are sources of malaria, as the drainage is had.
AYhen Haidvow was opened to foreign trade in 1801, it presented
AvucHAXd a:vd Hankou. 145
a most ruinous appearance, but the sense of security inspired by the presence of the men and vessels from far lands rapidly drew the scattered citizens and artisans to rebuild the ruins. The foreigners live near the river side, east of Hankow and west of the River Han, where the anchorage is very favorable, and out of the powerful current of the Yangtsz’. The difference in level of the great stream is about forty feet in the year. In the long years of its early and peaceful trade up to 1850, this region had gathered probably more people on a given area than could be found elsewhere in the world ; and its repute for riches led foreigners to base great hopes on their share, which have been gradually dissipated. The appearance of the city as it was in 1845 is given by Abbt’^ Hue in a few sentences: ” The night had already closed in when we reached the place where the river is entirely covered with vessels, of every size and form, congregated here from all parts. I hardly think there is another port in the world so frequented as this, which passes, too, as among the most commercial in the empire. We entered one of the open ways, a sort of a street having each side defined by floating shops, and after four hours’ toilsome navigation through this difficult labyrinth, arrived at the place of debarkation. For the space of five leagues, one can only see houses along the shore, and an infinitude of beautiful and strange looking vessels in the river, some at anchor and others passing up and down at all hours.” ‘
The coup d’a’il of these three cities is beautiful, their environs being highly cultivated and interspersed with the mansions of the great ; but he adds, “If you draw near, you will find on the margin of the river only a shapeless bank worn away with freshets, and in the streets stalls surmounted with palisades, and workshops undermined by the waters or tumbling to pieces from age. The open spots between these ruins are filled with abominations which diffuse around a suffocating odor. No regulation.s respecting the location of the dwellings, no sidewalks, no place to avoid the crowd which presses upon one, elbowing and disputing the passage, but all get along pell-mell, in the midst of cattle, hogvS, and other domestic animals, each protecting himself as he best can from the filth in his way, which the Chinese collect with care for agricultural uses, and carry along in little open buckets through the crowd.”
Above Hankow, the towns on the Yangtsz’ lie n’earer its
banks^lfsHiey are not so exposed to the freshets. The largest
trading places in this part of Ilupeli on the river, are Shasi,
opposite Kinchau fu, and Ichang near the borders of Sz’chuen,
respectively 293 and 363 miles distance. From the first settlement
there is a safe passage by canal across to Shayang, forty
miles away on the iliver Han ; the travel thence goes north
to Shansi. The other has recently been opened to foreign
trade. It is the terminus of navigation for the large vessels
used from Shanghai upward, as the rapids commence a few
miles beyond, necessitating smaller craft that can be hauled by
trackers. These two marts are large centres of trade and travel,
and were not made desolate by the Tai-pings, as were all other
towns of importance on the lower Yangtsz’.
‘ Annnles de la Fci. i845, Tome XVII., pp. 287, 290. See also Hue’s TravreU in the Chinese Empire, Harper’s Ed., 1855, Vol. II., pp. 142-144. Fnmpelly, pp. 224-22G ; Blakiston’s Yanrjtsze, p. 65 ; Treaty Ports of China, 1867,Art. Hankow.
The portion of the Yangzi in this province, between Yichang and the Sichuan border, exhibits perhaps some of the most Jiiagnificenl- glunpse^,_.M_scenery in the world. Breaking through the limestone foundations that dip on either side of the granite core of the rapids, the river first penetrates the AVu shan, Mitan, and Lukan gorges on the one side, then the lono- defile of Ichang on the other. At various points between and beyond these the stream is broken by more or less formidable rapids. Among these grand ravines the most impressive, though not the longest, is that of Lukan, whose vertical walls rise a thousand feet or more above the narrow river. Nothing can be more striking, observes Blakiston, than suddenly coming upon this huge split in the mountain mass ” by which the river escapes as through a funnel,” The eastern portions of llupch are rougher than the southern, and were overrun during the rebellion by armed bands, so that their best towns were destroyed. Siangyang fu and Fanching, near the northern borders, arc important places in the internal commerce of this region. Its many associations with leading events in Chinese early and feudal history render it an interesting region to native scholars. A large part of the southwestern prefecture of Shingan is hilly, and its mountainous portions are inhabited by a rude, illiterate population, many of whom are partly governed by local rulers.
The province of Hunan is bounded north by Ilupeh, east by Kiangsi, south by Kwangtung and Kwangsi, w.est by Ivweichau and Sz’chuen. Its area is reckoned at 84,000 square miles—equal to Great Britain or the State of Kansas. It is drained by four rivers, whose basins comprise nearly the whole province, and define its limits by their terminal watersheds. The largest is the Siang, which, rising in the hills on the south and east in numerous navigable streams, affords facilities for trade in small boats to the borders of Kiangsi and Kwangtung,
the traffic concentring at Siangtan ; this fertile and populous
basin occupies well-nigh half of the province. Through the
western part of Hunan runs the Yuen kiang, but the rapids
and cascades occur so frequently as to render it far less useful
than the Siang. Boats are towed up to the towns in the southwest
with great labor, carrying only four or five tons cargo;
these are exchanged for mere scows at Ilangkia, 200 miles
above Changteh, in order to reach Yuenchau. The contrast
‘UKAN GOKGE, YANGZI RlVER. NATURAL AND POLITICAL FEATURES OF HUNAN. 147
between the two rivers as serviceable channels of intercourse is
notable. Between these two main rivers runs the Tsz’ kiang,
navigable for only small batteaux, which nnist be pulled up so
many rapids that the river itself has been called Tan ho, or
‘ Rapid River ; ‘ its basin is narrow and fertile, and the produce
is carried to market over the hills both east and west. The
fourth river, the Li shui, empties, like all the others, into the
Tungting Lake, and drains the northwestern portion of the
province ; it is navigable only in its lower course, and is almost
useless for travel. These rivers all keep their own chaimels
through the lake, which is rather a cesspool for the overflow of
the Yangtsz’ during its annual rise than a lake fed by its own
springs and aflluents. At Siangyin, on the River Siang, the
banks are 35 feet above low water, and gradually slope down
to its mouth at Yohchau, or near it. The variation of this
lake from a large sheet of water at one season to a marsh at
another, must of course affect the whole internal trade of the
province, inasnnich as the rivers running through it are in a
continual condition of flood or low water—either extreme
cannot but seriously interfere with steam vessels.
The productions of Ilunan do not represent a very high development
of its soil or mines. Tea and coal are the main exports; tea-oil, ground-nut and tun/j oils, hemp, tobacco, and rice, with iron, copper, tin, and coarse paper make up the list.
The coal-fields of southern Hunan contain deposits equal to those in Pennsylvania ; anthracite occurs on the River Lui, and bituminous on the River Xiang, both beds reaching over the border into Kwangtung. The timber trade in pine, fir, laurel, and other woods is also important. The population of Hunan was somewhat reduced during the Tai-ping rebellion ; its inhabitants have in general a bad reputation among their countrymen for violence and rudeness. The hilly nature of the country tends to segregate them into small communities, which are imperfectly acquainted with each other, because travelling is difficult ; nor is the soil fertile enough to support in many districts a considerable increase of population.
The capital of Hunan, Changsha, lies on the River Xiang, and is one of the most iofluentialj as it is historically one of the most interesting, cities in the central })urt of China ; the festival of the Dragon Boats originated here. Siangtan, at the confluence of the Lien kf, nioie than 200 miles above Yohchan, is one of the greatest tea-marts in China. Its population is reckoned to he a million, and it is a centre of trade and banking for the products of this and other legions ; it extends for three miles along the west bank, and nearly two miles inland, with thousands of boats lining the shores. Its return to prosperity since the rebellion has been marvellously rapid. The city of Changteh on the Yuen River is the next important town, as it is easily reached from Yohchan on the Yangzi; large amounts of rice are grown in the prefecture.
Hunan has a high position for letters, the people are well dressed, healthy, and usually peaceable. The boating population is, however, exceptionally lawless, and forms a difficult class for the local authorities to control. Aboriginal hill-tribes exist in the sonthwestern districts, mIucIi are still more unmanageable, probably through the imjust taxation and oppression of the imperial officers set over them. In addition to these ungovernable elements a large area is occupied by the Yao-Jin, who have possessed themselves of the elevated territory lying between Ynngchau and Kweiyang, in the southern point of the province, and there barricaded the mountain passes so that no one can ascend against their will.
MOUNTAINS AND HIVEKS OF SIIENSl. 140
The province of SnENsi (i.e., Western Defiles) is bounded north by Inner Mongolia, from which it is divided by the Great Wall, cast by Shansi and Ilonan, southeast by Ilupeh, south by Sz’chuen, and west by Ivansuh. Its area is not far from 70,000 square miles, which is geologically and politically most distinctly marked by the Tsingling shan, the watershed between the Wei and Ilan I’ivers. There is only one good road across it to Ilanchung fu near its southern part ; another, farther east, goes from Si-ngan, by a natural pass between it and the Fuh-niu shan, to Shang, on the Tan ho, in the Ilan basin. This part conijM’ises about one-third of Shensf. The other portion includes the basins of the Wei, Loh an<l Wu-ting, and some smaller tributaries of the Yellow River, of which the Wei is the mo.-^t important. This I’iver joins tiie Yehow at the lowest point of its basin, the Tung-kwaii pass, where the larger stream breaks thj-ongh into the lowlands of llonan, and divides eastern and southern Cliina from the northwestern regions.
The whole of this part presents a loess formation, and the beds of the streams are cut deep into it, the roads across them being few. The Wei basni is the most fertile part of the province; the history of the Chinese race has been more connected with its fortunes than with any other portion of their possessions. Its productiveness is shown in the rapid development and peopling of the districts along the banks and affluents.
On the north, the Great Wall separates Shensi from the Ordos -Mongols, its western end reaching the Yellow River at Ninghia—the largest and only imjx^rtant city in that region. All the connections with this region are through Shensi and by Kwei-hwa-ching, l)ut the configuration of the ranges of hills prevents direct travel. Isone of the rivers in this region are serviceable to any great degree for navigation, and but few of them for irrigation ; the crops depend on the rainfall. The climate is more equable and mild than in Shansi, and not so wet as in many parts of Kansuh. The harvests of one good year here furnish food for three poor ones. The chief dependence of the people is on wheat, but rice is grown wherever water can be had; sorghum, millet, pulse, maize, barle}^ ground-nut, and fruits of many sorts fill up the list. Cotton, hemp, tobacco, rapeseed, and poppy are largely cultivated, but the surplus of any crop is not enough in average years to leave much for export.
The ruthless civil war recently quenched in the destruction of the Mohannnedans in the province has left it quite desolate in many parts, and its restoi’ation to former prosperity and population must be slow.
The travel between Shensi and Sz’chuen is almost wholly confined to the great road reaching from Si-ngan to Chingtu. It passes along the River Wei to Hienyang liien on the left bank, where the road north into Kansuh diverges, the other continuing west along the river through a populous region to Paoki hien, where it recrosses the Wei. During this portion, the Tai-peh Mountain, about eleven thousand feet high, with its white summit, adds a prominent feature to the scenery. At Paoki, the crossing at the Tsingliiig slian commences, and occupies seven days of difficult travel through a devious road of 163
miles to Fung hien on the confines of Kansnh. It crosses successive
ridges from C>,OUO to 9,000 feet higli, and is carried along
the sides of hills and down the gorges in a manner reflecting
nnich credit on the engineers of the third centuiy a.d. who
made it. These mountainous regions ai-e thinly settled all the
M’ay down to Paoching, near Ilanchung ; hut upon gaining the
Kiver Ilan, one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys in
China is reached. Its western watershed is the Kiu-tiao shan,’
running southwesterly into Sz’chuen on the west side of the
Kialing River.
The city of Si-ngan is the capital of the northwest of China, and next to Peking in size, population, and importance. It surpasses that city in historical interest and records, and in the long centuries of its existence has upheld its earlier name of Chang-cm^ or ‘ Continuous Peace.’ The approach to it from the east lies across a bluff, whose eastern face is filled with houses cut in the dry earth, and from whose sunnnit the lofty towers and imposing walls are seen across the plain three miles away.
These defences Avere too solid for the Mohammedan rebels, and protected the citizens while even their suburbs were burned. The population occupies the entire enciente, and presents a heterogeneous sprinkling of Tibetans, Mongols and Tartai’s, of whom many thousand Moslems are still spared because they were loyal. Si-ngan has been taken and retaken, rebuilt and destroyed, since its establishment in the twelfth century b.c. by the Martial King, but its position has always assured for it the control of trade between the central and western provinces and Central Asia. The city itself is picturesquely situated, and contains some few remains of its ancient importance, while the
‘ Usually known as the Ta-pa ling ; but Baron von Eiclithofen found that the natives of that region “call those mountains the Kiu-tiao shan, that is the ‘ nine mountain ridges,’ designating therewith the fact that the range is made up of a number of parallel ridges. This name should be retained in preference to the other.” Letter on the Promncc>< of Chihl’i, Shansi, Shenx’t, etc Shanghai, 1872. See also his CMim, Band II. S. SCJJ-STti ; Alex. Wylie, Notes of a Journey from Chin<jtoo to Hankow^ Journ. Roy. Qeoy. Sac. Vol XIV., p. 108.
St-I^GA?^ ITS CAPITAL. 151
neighborhood promises better returns to the sagacious antiquarian
and explorer than any portion of China. The principal
record of the Xestorian mission work in China, the famous tablet
of A.D. 781, still remains in the yard of a temple. Some miles to
the northwest lies the temple Ta-fu-sz’, containing a notable
colossus of Buddha, the largest in China, said to have been cut
by one of the Emperors of the Tang in the ninth century.
This statue is in a cave hewn out of the sandstone rock, being
cut out of the same material and left in the construction of the
grotto. Its height is 56 feet ; the proportions of limbs and
l)ody of the sitting figure are, on the whole, good, the Buddha
being represented with right hand npraised in blessing, and the
figure as well as garments richly covered with color and gilt.
Before the god stand two smaller colossi of the Schang-hoa,
Buddha’s favorite disciples ; their inferior art and workmanship,
however, testify to a later origin. The cave is lighted from
above, after the manner of the Pantheon, by a single round
opening in the vaulting. Sixty feet over the rock temple rises
a tile roofing, and upon the hillside without the cavern are a
nimiber of minor temples and statues.’
Next to this city in importance is Ilanchnng, near the bordor of Sz’chuen ; it was much injured by the Tai-pings, and is only slowly recovering, like all the towns in that valley which were exposed ; none of these rebels crossed the Tsingling Mountains. Yu-lin (‘Elm Forest’) is an important city on the Great Wall in the north of Shensi, the station of a garrison which overawes the Mongols. Several marts carrying on considerable trade are on or near the Wei and Han Rivers.
Gold mines occur in Shensi, and gold is collected in some of the streams ; other metals also are worked. The climate is too cold for rice and silk ; wheat, millet, oats, maize, and cotton supply their places ; rhubarb, nuisk, wax, red-lead, coal, and nephrite are exported. The trade of Si-ngan is chiefly that of bartering the produce of the eastern provinces (reaching it by the great pass of Tung-kwan) and that from Tibet, Kansuh, and 111. Wild animals still inhabit the northern parts, and the number of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle raised for food and service is large compared with eastern China.
‘ See Kreituer, Tmfernen Osten, p. 504. Wien, 1881.
The iniineiise province of Kansuh (/.(\, A^oluntary Reverence,
made by uniting the names of Kanchaufu and ISuh chau) belonged
at one time to Shensi, and extended no farther westtlian Kiayii
kwan; but since the division by Ivienlung, its limits have been
stretched across the desert to the confines of Songaria on the
northwest, and to the borders of Tibet on the west. It is
bounded north and northeast by Gobi and the Dsassaktu
khanate, east by Shensi, south by Sz’chuen, southwest by Kokonor
and the desert, and northwest by Cobdoand lli. Its entire
area cannot be much under 400,000 square miles, the greater
part of which is a barren waste ; it extends across twelve degrees
of latitude and twenty-one degrees of longitude, and comprises
all the best part of the ancient kingdom of Tangut, M’hich
was destroyed by Genghis.
The topography of this vast region is naturally divided into
two distinct areas by the Kiayii kwan at the end of the Great
Wall ; one a fertile, well-watered, populous country, differing
toto cwlo from the sandy or mountainous wildernesses of the
other. The eastern portion is further partitioned into two sections
by the ranges of mountains which cross it nearly from
south to north in parallel lines, dividing the basins of the AVei
and Yellow Rivers near the latter. The passage between them
is over the Fan-shui ling, not far from the Tao ho and by the
town of Tihtao, leading thence up to Lanchau. This part of
the province, watered by the Wei, resembles Shansi in fertility
and productions, and its nearness to the elevated ranges of the
Bayan-kara induces comparatively abundant rainfall. The
streams in the extreme south flow into Sz’chuen, but furnish
few facilities for navigation. The affluents of the Yellow River
are on the whole less useful for irrigation and navigation, and
the four or five which join it near Lanchau vary too nmch in
their supply of water to be depended on.
JIAiSSUII PROVINCE. 153
The peculiar feature of Kansuh is the narrow strip projecting like a wedge into the Tibetan plateau, reaching from Lanchau northwesterly between the Ala shan and Kilien shan to the end of the Great Wall. This strip of territory commands the passage between the basin of the Tarini River and Central Asia and China Proper ; its passage nearly controls trade and power throughout the northern provinces. The Ta-tnng River flows on the south of the Kilien Mountains, but the travel goes near the Wall, where food and fuel are abundant, a long distance beyond its end—even to the desert. The roads from Si-ngan to Lanchan pass up the King River to Pingliang and across several ranges, or else go farther up the River Wei to Tsin chau; the distances are between 500 and 600 miles. From Lanchau one road goes along the Yellow River down to Ninghia, a town inhabited chiefly by Mongols. Another leads 90 miles west to Sining, whither the tribes around Koko-nor repair for trade. The most important continues to Suhchau, this being an easier journey, while its trade furnishes employment to denizens of the region, whose crops are taken by travellers on passage ; this road is about 500 miles in length. Its great importance from early days is indicated by the erection of the Great Wall, in order to prevent inroads along its sides, and by the fortress of Kiayii, which shuts the door upon enemies.
The climate of Kansuh exhibits a remarkable contrast to that
of the eastern provinces. Prejevalsky says it is damp in three
of the seasons; clear, cold winds blowing in winter, and alternatiug
witli calm, warm weather ; out of 92 days up to September
3(>, he registered 72 rainy days, twelve of them snowy.
The highest temperature was 8S° F. in July. Snow and hail
also fall in May. Xorth of the Ala slian, which divides this
moist region from the desert, everything is dry and sandy; their peaks attract the clouds, which sometimes discharge their
contents in torrents, and leave the northern slopes dry ; a marsh
appears over against and only a few miles from a sandy waste.’
‘ Prejevalsky’s Travels in Mongolia, Vol. II., pp. 256-266.
The country east of the Yellow River is fertile, and produces wheat, oats, barley, millet, and other edible plants. Wild animals are frequent, wdiose chase affords both food and peltry; large flocks and herds are also maintained by Tartars living within the province. The mountains contain metals and minerals, among which are copper, almagatholite, jade, gold, and silver. The capital, Lanchau, lies on the south side of the Yellow River, where it turns northeast ; the valley is narrow, and defended on the west Ly a pass, through which the road goes westward. At Sming fii, about a hundred miles east of Qing Hai, the superintendent of Koico-nor resides ; its political importance has largely increased its trade within the last few yeais. Xinghia fu, in the northeast of the province, is the larofest tow’n on the borders of the desert. The destruction of life and all its resources during the recent JNIohannjiedan rebellion, which was crushed out at Suhchau in October, 1873, is not likely to be repeated soon, as the rebels were all destroyed ;’ their Toorkish origin can even now be traced in their features.” Ko relialjle desci’iption of the t(nvns belonging to Kansuh in the districts around Barkul, since the pacificatioTi of the country by the Chinese, has been made.
The province of Sz’cuuen (‘ Four Streams ‘) was the largest of
the old eighteen before Kansuh was extended across the desert,
and is now one of the richest in its pi-oductions. It is bounded
north by Kansuh and Shonsi, east by Ilupeh and Ilunan, south
by Kweichau and Yunnan, west and northwest by Tibet and
Koko-nor; its area is 1G0,S00 square miles, or double most of
the other provinces, rather exceeding Sweden in supei-ticies, as it
falls below California, while it is superior to both in navigable
I’ivers and productions. The emperors at Si-ngan always de-
])ended upon it as the main prop of their power, and in the
third century a.d. the After Hans I’uled at its capital over the
west of China.
‘7)//). Cor., ^S7i, p. 251.
• That this insurroction was not unprccodented we learn from a notice of a similar Moliammedan revolt here in 1784. NouveUes Lcttrcs h\lijiantes des MissiiiitK de Ik (‘}iini\ Tome II., p. 2;3.
TOPOGKAPTIY 01″ SZ’CHUEN PROVINCE. lf).1
Sz’chuen is naturally divided by the four great rivers which run from north to south into the Yangtsz’, and thus form parallel basins ; as a whole these comprise about half of the entire area, and all of the valuable portion. The western part beyond the Min Hiver belongs to the high table lands of Central Asia, and is little else than a series of mountain ranges, sparsely populated and unfit for cultivation, except in small spaces and bottom lands. The eastern portion is a triangular sluiped I’egion surrounded with high niountaiiis composed of Silurian and Devonian formations with intervening deposits, mostly of red clayey sandstone, imparting a peculiar brick color, which has
led Baron von Richthofen to call it the Red Basin. The ranges
of hills average about 3,500 feet high, but the rivers have cut
their channels through the deposits from 1,500 to 2,500 feet
deep, making the travel up and down their waters neither rapid
nor easy. The towns which define this triangular red basin are
Kweichau on the Yangtsz’, from which a line runnhig south
of the river to Pingshan hien, not far from Siichau at its
confluence with the Min, gives the southern border ; thence
taking a circuit as far west as Yachau fu on the Tsing-i River,
and turning northwesterly to Lung-ngan fu, the western side is
roughly skirted, while the eastern side returns to Kweichau
along the watershed of the River Ilan. Within this area, life,
industry, wealth, prosperity, are all found; outside of it, as a
rule, the rivers arc unnavigable, the country uncultivable, and
the people wild and insubordinate, especially on the south and
west.
The four chief rivers in the province, flowing into the Yangtsz’,
are the Kialing, the Loh, the Min, and the Yalung, the
last and westerly beiiig regarded as the main stream of the
Great River, which is called the Kin-sha kiang, west of the
Min. The Kialing rises in Kansuh, and retains that name
along one trunk stream to its mouth, receiving scores of tributaries
from the ridges between its basin and the Ilan, until it
develops into one of the most useful watercourses in China,
coming perhaps next to the Pearl River in Kwangtung. Chungking,
at its embouchure, is the largest dej^ot for trade west of
Icliang, and like St. Louis, on the Mississippi, will grow in importance
as the country beyond develops. The River Fo Loh
(called Fa-sang by Blakiston) is the smallest of the four, its
headwaters being comiected with the Min al)Ove Chingtu ; the
town of Lu chau stands at its mouth ; through its upper part it
is called Chuno; kiani>;. The Min River has its fountains near
those of the Kialing in Koko-nor, and like that stream it gathers
contributions from the ranges defining and crossing its basin; as it descends into the plain of Cliingtu, its waters divide into a dozen channels below 1 1 wan hien, and after ruiuiing more than a hundred miles reunite above ^Afei hien, forming a deep and picturesque riv n* down to Siichau, a thousand miles and more from the source. At its junction, the Min almost doubles the volume of water in summer, when the snows melt. The Ya-Innc River is the only large affluent between the Min and the main trunk ; it comes from the I>ayan-kara mountains, between the headwaters of the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers, and leceives no important tributaries in its long, solitary, and unfnictuous course. The Abbe Hue speaks of crossing its rapid channel near Makian-Dsung just before reaching Tatsienlu, the frontier town ; it takes three luimes in its course.
From Chingtu as a centre, many roads radiate to the other
large towns in the province, by which travel and trade find free
course, and render the connections with other provinces safe
and easy. The roads are paved with flagstones wide enough
to allow passage for two pack-ti’ains abreast ; stairs are made
on the inclines, up and down which mules and ponies travel
without risk, though most of the goods and passengers are
carried by coolies. In order to facilitate travel, footpaths are
opened and paved, leading to every handet, and wherever the
traffic will afford it, bridges of cut stone, iron chains or wii-e,
span the torrent or chasm, according as the exigency’ requires ;
towns or hamlets near these structures take pride in keeping
them in repair.
chIjStgtu a]nd the mix valley. 157
The products of this fertile region are varied and abundant. nice and wheat alternate each other in summer and winter, but the amount of land producing food is barely sufficient for its dense population ; pulse, barley, maize, ground-mits, sorghum, sweet and connnon potatoes, buckwheat and tobacco, are each raised for home consumption. Sugar, hemp, oils of several kinds, cotton, and fruits complete the list of plants mostly grown for home use. The exports consist of raw and woven silk, of which more is sent abroad than from any province ; salt, opium, musk, croton (tun//) oil, gentian, rhubarb, tea, coal, spelter, copper, iron, and insect wax, are all grown oi* made for other regions. The peace which S//chuen enjoyed while other provinces were ravaged by rebels, has tended to develop all its products, and increase its abundance. The climate of this region favors the cultivation of the hillsides, which are composed of disintegrated sandstones, because the moist and mild winters bring forward the winter crops ; snow remains only a few days, if it fall at all, and Mdieat is cut before May. The summer rains and freshets furnish water for the rice fields by filling the streams on a thousand hills. This climate is a great contrast to the dry regions further north, and it is subject to less extremes of temperature and moisture than Yunnan south of it. When this usual experience is altered by exceptional dry or wet seasons, the people are left without food, and their wants cannot be supplied by the abundance of other provinces, owing to the slowness of transit. Brigandage, rioting, cannibalism, and other violence then add to the misery of the poor, and to the difficulty of government.
Chingtu, the capital, lies on the River Min, in the largest plain in the province, roughly measuring a hundred miles one way, and fifty the other, conspicuous for its riches and populousness.
The inhabitants are reckoned to number 3,500,000 souls. This city has been celebrated from the earliest days, but received its present name of the ‘Perfect Capital ‘ when Liu Pi made it his residence. Its population approaches a million, and its walls, shops, yamuns, sti-eets, warehouses, and suburbs, all indicate its wealth and political importance. Marco Polo calls it Sindafu, and the province Acbalec Manzi, describing the fine stone bridge, half a mile long, M’ith a roof resting on marble pillars, under Mhich “trade and industry is carried on,” ‘ which spans the Kian-suy, i.e.^ the Yangtsz’, as the Min is still often termed. The remarkable cave houses of the old iidiabitants still attract the traveler’s notice as he journeys up to Chingtu, along its banks.
> Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II., p. 23.
M. David, who lived at this city several months, declares it to be one of the most beautiful towns in China, placed in the midst of a fertile plain watered by many canals, which form a network of great solidity and usefulness. The number of honoraiy gateways in and near it attract the voyager’s eye, and their variety, size, inscriptions, and age furnish an interesting field of in(]iiiry. Many statues cut in fine stone are scattered about the city or used to adoi-n the cemeteries.
The city of Chungking, on the Yangzi, at the mouth of the Jialing River, 725 miles from Hankow, is the next important city in Sichuan, and the center of a great trade on both rivers. The other marts on the Great River are also at the mouths of its affluents, and from Kwaichau to Siichau and Pingslian hien, a distance of 41)0 miles, there is easy and safe communication within the province for all kinds of boats; steam vessels will also liere find admirable opportunities for their employment.
In the western half of Sz’clmen, the people are scattered over intervales and slopes between the numberless hills and mountains that make this one of the roughest parts of China; they are governed by their own local rulers, under Chinese superintendence. They belong to the Lolos race, and have been inimical and insubordinate to Chinese rule from earliest times, preventing their own progress and destroying all desire on the part of their rulers to benefit them. Yachau fu, Tatsieidu, and Datang are the largest towns Avest of Chingtu, on the road to Tibet. On the other side of the province, at
Fungtu hien, occur the fire-wells, where great supplies of
petroleum gas are used to evaporate the salt dug out near by.
The many topics of interest in all parts of Sz’chuen, can only
be referred to in a brief sketch, for it is of itself a kingdom.’
‘ Chinese Repository, “Vol XIX., pp. 317 and .394 Annnles de la Foi, Tome III., pp. :Ui9-:}81, and Tome IV., pp. 40!)-4ir>. J^ter by Baron Hiclithofen oit the Provinces of ChlM’i, Shdiisl, Sheiis’t, Sz’chueiiy etc. Shanghai, 1872-Krt’itiicr, Tiafcriien Onteit, pp. 780-829.
THE PROVINCE OF KWAXGTUNG. 150
The province of Kwangtuno {i.e., Broad East), from its having been for a long time the only one of the eighteen to which foreigners have had access, has almost become synonymous with (vhina, although but little more is really known of it than of the others—except in the vicinage of Canton, and along the course of the Peh kiang, from Xanhiung down to that city. It is bounded north by Kiangsi and llunan, northeast by Fuh-kieu, south by the ocean, and west and northwest hy Kwangsi; with an area about the same as that of the United Kingdom. The natural facilities for internal navigation and an extensive coasting trade, are unusually great ; for while its long line of ‘coast, nearly a thousand miles in length, affords many excellent harbors, the rivers communicate with the regions on the west, north, and east beyond its borders.
The Xan shau runs along the north, between it and Kiangsi
and Ilunan, in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction^
presenting the same succession of short ridges, with bottom
lands ‘and clear streams between them, which are seen in Fuhkien.
These ridges take scores of names as they follow one
another from Kwangsi to Fuhkien, but no part is so well known
as the road, twenty-four miles in length, which crosses the Mei
ling [i.e. Plum ridge), between Xan-ngan and Xanhiung. The
elevation here is about a thousand feet, none of the peaks in
this part exceeding two thousand, but rising higher to the west.
Their summits are limestone, with granite underlying; granite
is also the prevailing rock along the coast. Li-nm ridge in
Hainan has some peaks reaching nearly to the snow-line. The
bottoms of the I’ivers are wide, and their fertility amply repays
the husbandman. Fruits, rice, silk, sugar, tobacco, and vegetables,
constitute the greater part of the pi-oductions. Lead,
iron, and coal, are abundant.
The Zhu Jiang, or Pearl River, which flows past Canton, takes this name only in that short portion of its course ; it is however preferable to employ this as a distinctive name, comprehending the whole stream, rather than to confuse the reader by naming the numerous branches. It is formed by the union of three rivers, the West, Korth, and East, the two first of which unite at Sanshwui, west of the city, while the East River joins them at Whampoa. The Si kiang, or AVest Iliver, by far the largest, rises in the eastern part of Yunnan, and receives tributaries throughout the whole of Kwangsi, along the southern acclivities of the Xan shan, and after a course of 500 miles, passes out to sea through numerous mouths, the best known of which is the Boeca Tigris. The Peh kiang, or North Piver, joins it after a course of 200 miles, and the East Piver is nearly the same length; these two streams discharge the surplus waters of all the northern parts of Kwangtung. The country drained by the three cannot benmch less than 150,000 square miles, and most of their channels are navigable for boats to all the large towns in this and the province of Kwangsi. The Han kiang is the only river of importance in the eastern end of Kwangtung; the large town of Chauchau lies near its mouth. There can hardly be less than three hundred islands scattered along the deeply indented coast line of this province between Namoh Island and Annani, of which nearly one-third belong to the department of Kwangchau.
Canton,, or Kwangchau fu (i.e. Broad City), the provincial capital, lies on the north bank of the Pearl River, in lat. 23° 7’10” K., and long. 113° 11:’ 30″ E., nearly parallel with Havana, Muskat, and Calcutta ; its climate is, however, colder than any of those cities. The name Canton is a corruption of Kwangtung, derived in English from Kamtoin, the Portuguese mode of writing it ; the citizens themselves usually call it Kicangtung Sling chinij, i.e. the provincial capital of Kwangtung or simply sdny cJilny. Another name is Yang-ching, or the ‘City of Rams,’ and a third the City of Cienii, both derived from ancient legends. It lies at the foot of the White Cloud hills, along the banks of the river, about seventy miles north of Macao in a direct line, and ninety northwest of Hongkong ; these distances are greater by the river.
SIZE AND SITUATION OF CANTON. 161
The delta into which the West, JSTorth, and East Rivei’S fall might be called a gulf, if the islands in it did not occupy so much of the area. The whole forms one of the most fertile parts of the province, and one of the most extensive estuaries of any river in the world,—being a rough triangle about a hundred miles long on each side. The bay of Lintin—so called from the islet of that name, where opium and other store ships formerly anchored—is the largest sheet of water, and lies below the principal embouchure of the river, called Fu, 3ft(.n, i.e. Bocca Tigi-is, or Bogue. Few rivers can be more completely protected by nature than this ; their defences of walls and guns at this spot, however, have availed the Chinese but little against the skill and power of their enemies. Ships pass through it up to the auchorage at Whainpoa, about thirty miles, from whence Canton lies twelve miles nearly due west. The approach to it is indicated by two lofty ]3agodas within the walls, and the multitude of boats and junks thronging the river, amidst which the most pleasing object to the ” far- travelled stranger” is the glimpse he gets through their masts of the foreign houses on Sha-meen, and the flagstaifs bearing their national ensigns.
The part of Canton inclosed by walls is about six miles in circumference ; having a partition wall running east and west, which divides it into two unequal parts. The entire circuit, including the suburbs, is nearly ten miles. The population on land and water, so far as the best data enable one to judge, cannot be less than a million of inhabitants. This estimate has been doubted ; and certainty npon the subject is not to be attained, for the census affords no aid in determining this point, owing to the fact that it is set down hy districts, and Canton lies partly in two districts, Kanhai and Pwanyii, which extend beyond the walls many miles. Davis says, ” the whole circuit of the city has been compassed within two hours by persons on foot, and cannot exceed six or seven miles ;
”—-which is true, but he means only that portion contained within the walls ; and there are at least as many houses without the walls as within them, besides the boats. The city is constantly increasing, the western suburbs present many new streets entirely built up within the last ten years. The houses stretch along the river from opposite the Fa ti or Flower grounds to French Folly, a distance of four miles, and the banks are everywhere nearly concealed by the boats and rafts.
The situation of Canton is one w^hich would naturally soon attract settlers. The earliest notices of the city date back two centuries befoi-e Christ, but traders were doubtless located here prior to that time. It grew in importance as the country became better settled, and in a.d. 700, a regular market was opened, and a collector of customs appointed. AYhenthe Manchus overran the country in 1650, this city resisted their ntmost efforts to reduce it for the space of eleven months, and was finally carried by treachery. Martini states that a hundred thousand men were killed at its sack ; and the whole number who lost their lives at the final assault and during the siege was 700,000—if the native accounts are trustworthy.’ Since then, it has been rebuilt, and has increased in prosperity until it is regarded as the second city in the empire for numbers, and is probably at present the first in wealth.
The foundations of the city Avails are of sandstone, their upper
part being brick ; they are about twenty feet thick, and from
twenty-five to forty feet high, having an esplanade on the inside,
and pathways leading to the i-aiiipart, on three sides. The
houses are built near the wall on both sides of it, so that except
on the north, one hardly sees it when walking around the
city. There are twelve outer gates, four in the partition wall,
and two water gates, through which boats pass, into the moat,
from east to west. A ditch once encompassed the walls, now
dry on the northern side ; on the other thi’cc, and within the
city, it and most of the canals arc filled by the tide, which as it
runs out does nmch to cleanse iUp city from its sewage. The
gates are all shut at night, and a guard is stationed near them to
preserve order, but the idle soldiers themselves cause at times
no little disturbance. Among the names of the gates are Gfeat-
Peace gate, Eternal-Rest gate, Five-Genii gate, Bainhoo- Wiehet
gate, etc.
The appearance of the city when viewed from the hills on the north is insipid and uninviting, compared with western cities, being an expanse of reddish roofs, often concealed by frames for drying or dyeing clothes, or shaded and relieved by a few large trees, and interspersed with high, red ])olcs used for flagstaffs. Two pagodas shoot up within the walls, far above the watch towers on them, and with the five-storied tower on Kwanyiji shan near the northern gate, form the most conspicuous objects in the prospect.
‘ The French bishop Palafox gives still another accoimt of the capture of Canton ; his statement contains, however, one or two glaring errors. Vid. Iliitoire de la Conquete de la Chine par lea Tartares^ pp. 150 ff.
SIGHTS OF CANTON CITY. 163
To a spectator at this elevation, the river is a prominent feature in the landscape, as it shines out covered with a great diversity of boats of different colors aiul sizes, some stationary others moving, and all resounding with the mingled hum of laborers, sailors, musicians, hucksters, children, and boatwonien, pursuing their several sports and occupations. On a low sandstone ledge, in the channel off the city, once stood the Sea Pearl(Hai Zhu) Fort, called Dutcli Folly by foreigners, the cpiietude reigning witliin which contrasted agreeably with the liveliness of the waters around. Beyond, on its southern shore, lie the suburb and island of Ilonam, and green fields and low hills are
seen still farther in the distance ; at the western angle of this
island the Pearl Piver divides, at the Peh-ngo tan or Macao
Passage, the greatest body of water flowing south, and leaving a
comparatively narrow channel before the city. The hills on the
north rise twehe hundred feet, their acclivities for miles being
covered with graves and tombs, the necropolis of this vast city.
The streets are too narrow to be seen from such a spot.
Among their names, amounting in all to more than six hundred,
are Dragon street, Martial Dragon street, l\’arl street. Golden
Fknver street, I^ew Green Pea street, Physic street, SjKctaele
street, Old Clothes street, etc. They are not as dirty as those
of some other cities in the empire, and on the whole, considering
the habits of the people and surveillance of the government,
which prevents almost everything like public spirit, Canton has
been a well governed, cleanly city. In these respects it is not
now as w^ell kept, perhaps, as it was before the war, nor was it
ever comparable to modern cities in the West, nor should it be
likened to them : without a coi’poration to attend to its condition,
or having power to levy taxes to defray its unavoidable
expenses, it cannot be expected that it should be as wholesome.
It is more surprising, rather, that it is no worse than it is. The houses along the waterside are built upon piles and those portions of the city are subject to inundations. On the edge of the stream, the water percolates the soil, and spoils all the wells.
The temples and public buildings of Canton are numerous. There are two pagodas near the west gate of the old city, and one hundred and twenty-four temples, pavilions, halls, and other religious edifices within the circuit of the city. The Kwang tah or ‘Plain pagoda,’ was erected by the Mohammedans (who still reside near it), about ten centuries ago, and is rather a minaret than a pagoda, though quite unlike those structures of Turkey in its style of architecture ; it shoots up in an angular, tapering tower, to the height of one hundred and sixty feet. The other is an octagonal ])agoda, of nine stories, one hundred and seventy feet high, first erected more than thirteen hundred years ago. The geoniancei’S say that the whole city is like a junk, these two pagodas are her masts, and the iive-storied tower on the northern wall, her stern sheets.
Among the best known monuments to foreigners visiting this city was the monastery of ChorKj-shoin ^z\ ‘ Temple of Longevity,’ founded in 1573, and occupying spacious grounds. “In the iirst pavilion are three Buddhas ; in the second a sevenstory, gilt pagoda, in which are TO images of Buddha. In the third pavilion is an image of Buddha reclining,, and in a merry mood. A garden in the rear is an attractive place of resort, and another, on one side of the entrance, has a numher of tanks in which gold fish are reared. In the space in front of the temple a fair is held every morning for the sale of jade ornaments and other articles.” ‘ This temple was destroyed in Novemher, 1881, hy a mob who were incensed at the alleged jnisbehaviour of some of the priests toward the female devotees—an instance of the existence in China of a lively popular sentiment regarding certain matters. Near this compound stands the ‘Temple of the Five Hundred Genii,’ containing 500 statues of various sizes in honor of Buddha and his disciples.
‘Dr. Kerr, Cttntoiu (Inidc,
BUDDHIST TEMPLES IN CANTON. 165
The TTaJ-cJiwang sz\ a Buddhist temple at Ilonam usually known as the Plonam Joss-house, is one of the largest in Canton. Its grounds cover about seven aci-es, surrounded by a wall, and divided into courts, garden-spots, and a burial-gromid, where are deposited the ashes of priests after cremation. The buildings consist mostly of cloistei’s or apartments surrounding a court, within which is a temple, a pavilion, or a hall ; these courts are overshadowed by bastard-banian trees, the resort of thousands of birds. The outer gateway leads up a gravelled walk to a high portico guarded by two huge demoniac figures, through which the visitor enters a small inclosure, separated from the largest one by another spacious porch, in which are four colossal statues. This conducts him to the main temple, a low building one hundred feet square, and surrounded by pillars; it contains three wooden gilded images, in a sitting posture, called San Pao Fah, or the Past, Present, and Future Puddha, each of them about twenty-five feet high, and surrounded by numerous altars and attendant images. Daily prayers are chanted before them by a large chapter of priests, all of whom, dressed in yellow canonicals, go through the liturgy. Beyond this a smaller building contains a marble carving somewhat resembling a pagoda, under which is preserved a relic of Puddha, said to be one of his toe-nails. This court has other shrines, and many rooms for the accommodation of the priests, among which are the printing-office and library, both of them respectable for size, and containing the blocks of books issue by them, and sold to devotees.
There are about one hundred and seventy-five priests connected with the establishment, only a portion of whom can read. Among the buildings are several small temples dedicated to national deities whom the Puddhists have adopted into their mythology. One of the houses adjoining holds the hogs (not hiKjs, as was stated in one work) offered by worshippers who feed them as long as they live.
•Two other shrines belonging to the Buddhists, are both of them, like the Honam temple, well endowed. One called Kivanghiao s.i\ or ‘ Temple of Glorious Filial Duty,’ contains two hundred priests, who are supported from glebe lands, estimated at three thousand five hundred acres. The number of priests and nuns in Canton is not exactly known, but probably exceeds two thousand, nine-tenths of whom are Puddhists. There are only three temples of the Pationalists, their numbers and influence being far less in this city than those of the Puddhists.
The Cluntj-liioang miao is an important religious institution in every Chinese city, the temple, being a sort of palladium, in which both rulers and people offer their devotions for the mcIfare of the city. The superintendent of that in Canton pays $4,000 for his situation, which sum, with a large profit, is obtained again in a few years, by the sale of candles, incense, etc., to the worshippers. The temples in China are generally cheerJJess and gloomy abodes, well enough fitted, however, for the residence of inanimate idols and the perfurmance of unsatisfying ceremonies. The entrance courts are usually occupied by liucksters, beggars, and idlers, who are occasionally driven off to give room for the mat-sheds in which theatrical performances got up by priests are acted. The principal hall, where the idol sits enshrined, is lighted only in fictnt, and the altar, drums, bells, and other furniture of the temple, are little calculated to enliven it ; the cells and cloisters are inhabited by men almost as senseless as the idols they serve, miserable beings, whose droning, useless life is too often only a cloak for vice, indolence, and crime, which make the class an opprobrium in the eyes of their countrymen.
Canton is the most intluential city in Southern China, and its
reputation for riches and luxury is established throughout the
central and northern provinces, owing to its formerly engrossing
the entire foreign trade np to 1843, for a period of about one
hundred years. At that time the residence of the governorgeneral
Avas at Shao-king fu, west of Canton, and his official
guard of 5,000 troops is still quartered there, as the Manchii
garrison is deemed enougli for the defence of Canton. He and
the lloppo, or collector of customs, once had their yamuns in the
Xew City, but a llomish C^athedral lias been built on the ^te
of the former’s office since its capture in 1857. The governor,
treasurer, Manchu commandant, chancellor, and the lower local
magistrates (ten in all), live in the Old City, and with their official
retinues compose a large body of underlings. Some of these
establishments occupy four or five acres.
The KanyYuenoY Examination Hall, lies in the southeastern corner of the Old City, similar in size and arrangement to these edifices in other cities. It is 1,330 feet long, 583 wide, and covers over sixteen acres. The wall surrounding it is entered at the east and west corners of the south end, where door-keepers are stationed to prevent a crowd of idlers. The cells are arranged in two sets on each side of the main passage^ which is paved and lined with trees: they are further disposed in rows of 57 and 63 cells each—all reached through one side door.
The total is 8,653 ; each cell is 5 feet 9 inches deep, by 3 feet 8 inches wide ; grooves are made in the wall to admit a planlc, serving as a table by day and a bed by night. Once within, the students arc contined to their several stalls, and the outer gate is sealed. A single roof covers the cells of one range, the ranges being 3 feet 8 inches apart. The northern portion includes about one-third of the whole, and is built over with the lialls, courts, lodging-rooms, and guard or eating-houses of the highest examiners, their assistants and copyists, with thousands of waiters, printers, underlings, and soldiers. At the biennial examination the total number of students and others in the Hall reaches nearly twelve thousand men.
THE THIRTEEN HONGS OR FACTORIES. 167
There are four prisons in the city, all of them large establish- v^
ments ; all the capital offenders in the province are brought to Canton for trial before the provincial officers, and this regulation makes it necessary to provide spacious accommodations for them. The execution-ground is a small yard near a pottery manufacture between the southern gate and the river side, and unless the ground is newly stained with blood, or cages containing the heads of the criminals are hung around, has nothing about it to attract the attention. Another public building, situated near the governor’s palace, is the Wan-s/iao Jiung, or ‘ Imperial Presence hall,’ where three days before and after his majesty’s birthday, the officers and citizens assemble to pay him adoration.
The various guilds among the people, and the clubs of scholars
and merchants from other provinces, have, each of them, public
halls which are usually called consoo houses by foreigners, from
a corruption of a native term hung-sz\ i.e., public hall ; but the
usual designation is houi kwan or ‘ Assembly Hall.’ Their
total number must be quite one hundred and fifty, and some of
them are not destitute of elegance.’
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. II., pp. 145, 191, &c.
The former residences of foreigners in the western suburbs were known as Shisan Hang or ‘ Thirteen Hangs,’ “” and for nearly two centuries furnished ulniust theonlv (!\hll)ition to the Chinese people of the Yangren or ‘ocean-men’. Here the fears and the greed of the rulers, landlords, and traders combined to restrain foreigners of all nations “within an area of about fifteen acres, a large part of this space being the Garden or licyxnidxiii’ta
– This word is derived from the Chinese hong or hang, meaning a row or series, and is applied to warehouses because these consist of a succession of rooms. The foreign factories were built in this manner, and therefore the Chinese called each block a hong; the old security-merchants were dubbed liong-merchants, because they lived in such establishments.
“Walk on the baidv of the river. All these houses and out-houses covered a space scarcely as great as the base of the Great Pyramid ; its total population, including native and foreign servants, was upwards of a thousand souls. The shops and nuirkets of the Chinese were separated from them only a few feet, and this greatly increased the danger from fire, as may be inferred from the sketch of the street next on the west side.
VIEW OF A STKEET IN CANTON.ENVIKOXS OF CANTOX. 169
In 1S50, the number of hongs was reckoned to be 16, and the local calendar for that A’ear contained 317 names, not including women and children. Besides the 16 Hangs, four native streets, boidered with shops for the sale of fancy and silk goods to their foreign customers, ran between the factories. This latter name was given to them from their being the residences of factors, for no handicraft was carried on here, nor were many goods stored in them. Fires were not unusual, which demolished jwrtions of them ; in 1822 they were completely consumed; another conflagration in 1843 destroyed two hongs and a street of shops ; and in 1842, owing to a sudden riot, connected with paying the English indemnity, the British Consulate was set on fire. Finally, as if to inaugurate a new era, they were all simultaneously burned by the local authorities to drive out the British forces, in December, 1856, and every trace of this interesting spot as it existed for so long a time in the annals of foreign intercourse obliterated. Since the return of trade, a new and better site has been fomned at Shameen, west of the old spot, by building a solid stone wall and filling in a long, marshy low-tide bank, formerly occupied by boats, to a height of 8 or 10 feet, on which there is room for gardens as well as houses. This is surrounded by water, and thereby secure from fire and mobs t() which the old hongs were exposed. Besidences are obtainable anywhere in the city by foreigners, and the common sight in the olden times of their standing outside of the Great Peace Gate to see the crowd pass in and out while
they themselves could not enter, is no longer seen. A very
good map of the enciente was made by an American missionary,
Daniel Vrooman, by taking the angles of all the conspicuoni
buildings therein, with the highest points in the suburbs ; he
then taught a native to pace the streets between them, compass
in liand (noting courses and distances, which he fixed by the principal gates), until a complete plan was filled out. When the city was opened four years afterwards this map was foundto need no important corrections.
The trades and manufactories at Canton are mainly connected
with the foreign commerce. Many silk fabrics are woven at
Fatshan, a large town situated about ten miles west of the city ;
fire-crackers, paper, mat-sails, cotton clotli, and other articles,
are also made there for exportation. The number of persons
engaged in M’eaving cloth in Canton is about 50000, including
embroiderers ; nearly 7000 barbers and 4200 shoemakers are
stated as the number licensed to shave the crowns and shoe the
soles of their fellow-citizens.
^lie opposite suburb of Ilonam offers pleasant walks for recreation, and the citizens are in the habit of going over the river to saunter in its fields, or in the cool grounds of the great temple ; a race-course and many enjoyable rides on horseback also tempt foreigners into the country. A couple of miles up the river are the Fa ti or Flower gardens which once supplied the plants carried out of the country, and are resorted to bypleasure parties ; but to one accustomed to the squares, gardens, and esplanades of M’estern cities, these grounds appear mean in
the extreme.y Foreigners randjle into the country, but rowing
upon the river is their favorite reci-eation. Like Europeans in
all parts of the East, they retain their own costume and modes
of living, and do not espouse native styles ; though if it were
not for the shaven crown, it is not unlikely that many of them
would adopt the Chinese dress.
The Cantonese enumerate eight remarkable localities, called
l>ah hhuj^ which they consider worth}’ the attention of the
stranger. The first is the peak of Yuehsiu, just within the
walls on the north of the city, and commanding a fine view of
the surrounding country. The Vi-])a Tah^ or Lyre pagoda at AVhampoa, and the ‘Eastern Sea Fish-pearl,’ a rock in the Pearl
River off the city, on wliich the fort ah-eady referred to as
the ‘ Dutch Folly ‘ was formerly situated, are two more ; the
pavilion of the Five Genii, with the five stone rams, and print
of a man’s foot in the rock, ” always filled with water,” near
by ; the rocks of Yu-shan ; the lucky wells of Faukiu in the
western suburbs ; cascade of Si-tsiau, forty miles west of the
city ; and a famous red building in the city, complete the eight
” lions.”
The foreign shipping all anchored, in the early days, at “Whampoa, but this once important anchorage has been nearly deserted since the river steamers began their trips to the outer waters. There are two islands on the south side of the anchorage, called French and Danes’ islands, on which foreigners are buried, some of the gravestones marking a century past. The prospect from the summit of the hills hereabonts is picturesque and charming, giving the spectator a high idea of the fertility and industry of the land and its people. The town of Whanipoa and its pagoda lie north of the anchorage; between this and Canton is another, called Lob creek pagoda, both of them uninhabited and decaying.
MACAO AND HONGKONG. 171
Macao (pronounced Mal’ov) is a Portuguese settlement on a small peninsula projecting from the south-eastern end of the large island of Iliangshan. Its Chinese inhabitants have been governed since 1S49 by the Portuguese authorities somewhat differently from their own people, but the mixed government has succeeded very well. The circuit of this settlement is about eight miles ; its position is beautiful and very agreeable ; nearly surrounded with water, and open to the sea breezes, having a good variety of hill and plain even in its little territory, and a large island on the west called Tul-vtien shan or La})a Island, on which arc pleasant rambles, to be reached by equally pleasant boat excursions, it offers, moreover, one of the healthiest residences in south-eastern Asia. The population is not far from 80,000, of whom more than ‘7,000 are Portuguese and other foreigners, living under the control of the Portuguese authorities. The Portuguese have refused to pay the former annual ground-rent of 000 taels to the Chinese Government, since the assassination of their governor in 1849, and now control all the inhabitants living within the Barrier wall, most of M’lioni have been born therein. The houses occupied by the foreign population aie solidly built of brick or adobie, large, roomy, and open, and from the rising nature of the ground on which they stand, present an imposing appearance to the visitor coming in from the sea.
There are a few notable buildings in the settlement ; the most imposing edifice, St. Paul’s church, was burned in 1835.
Three forts on connnanding eminences protect the town, and others outside of the walls defend its waters ; the governor takes the oaths of office in the Monte fort ; but the government offices are mostly in the Senate house, situated in the middle of the town. Macao was, up to 1813, the only residence for the
families of merchants trading at Canton. Of late the authorities
are doing much to revive the prospei-ity of the place, by making
it a free port. The Typa anchorage lies’ between the islands
Mackerara and Typa, about three miles off the southern end
of the peninsula ; all small vessels go into the Inner harbor on
the west side of the town. Ships anchoring in the Roads are
obliged to lie about three miles off in consequence of shallow
Mater, and large ones cannot come nearer than six or seven miles.’
Since the ascendancy of Hongkong, this once celebrated poi-t
has fallen away in trade and importance, and for many years
had an infamous reputation for the protection its rulers afforded
the coolie trade.
Eastward from Macao, about, forty miles, lies, the English colony of Hongkong, an island in lat. 22° 16^’ K., and long. Ill” 8^’ E., on the eastern side of the estuary of the Pearl River. The island of Hongkong, or Xianggang (i.e., the Fragrant Streams), is nine miles long, eight broad, and twenty-six in circumference, presenting an exceedingly uneven, barren surface, consisting for the most part of ranges of hills, with narrow intervales, and a little level beach land. Victoria Peak is 1825 feet. Probably not one-twentieth of the surface is available for a<^riciiltural purposes. The island and harbor were first ceded to the Crown of England by the treaty made between Captain Elliot and Kishen, in January, 1841, and again by the treaty of Nanjing, in August, 1842 ; lastly, by the Convention of Peking, October 24, ISCO, the opposite peninsula of Ivowlung M’as added, in order to furnish space for quartering troops and storehouse room for naval and military supplies. The town of Victoria lies on the north side, and extends more than three miles along the shore. The secure and convenient harbor has attracted the settlement here, though the nne\en nature of the ground compels the inhabitants to stretch their warehouses and dwellings along the beach.
‘ Cldnese Rejwsitory, passim. An Historical Sketch of the Portwjxiese Settlements in China. Bj Hir A. Ljungstedt. Boston, 188(>.
The architecture of most of the buildings erected in Victoria is eu})erior to anything heretofore seen in (^liina. Its population is now estimated at 130,000, of whom five-sixths are Chinese tradesmen, craftsmen, laborers, and boatmen, few of whom lune their families. • The government of the colony is vested ^’n a governor, chief-justice’, and a legislative council of five, assisted by various subordinate officers and secretaries, the M’liole forming a cumbrous and expensive machinery, compaied “with the needs and resources of the colony The Bishop of Victoria has an advisory control over the missions of the establishment in the southern provinces of China, and supervises the schools in the colony, where many youths are trained in English and Chinese literature.
The supplies of the island are chiefly brought from the mainland where an increasing population of Chinese, under the control of the magistrate of Kowluiig, find ample demand for all the provisions they can furnish.
Three newspapers are published in English, and two in Chinese. The Seaman’s and Military hospitals, the chapels and schools of the London and Church Missionary Society, St. John’s Cathedral, Tioman Catholic establishment, the government house, the magistracy, jail, the ordnance and engineer departments.
TOWNS OF KWAXGTUNG PROVINCE. 173
Exchange, and the Club house, are among the principal edifices. The amount of money expended in buildings in this colony is enormous, aiid most of them are substantial stone or brick houses. The view of the city as seen from the harbor is only excelled in beauty by the wider panorama spread out before the spectator on Victoria Peak. During the forty-odd years of its occupation, this colony lias slowly advanced in commercial importance, and become an entrepot for foreign goods designed for native markets in Southern China. Every facility has been given to the Chinese who resort to its shops to carry away their purchases, by making the port free of every impost,
and preventing the imperial revenue cutters from interfering
with their junks while in sight of the island. The arrangements
of this contested point so that the Chinese revenue shall
not suffer have not satisfied either party, and as it is in the similar
case of Gibraltar, is not likely to soon be settled. Smugglers
must run their own risks with the imperial officers. The
most valuable article leaving Hongkong is opium, but the
greatest portion of its exports pay the duties on entering China
at the five open ports in the province of Kwangtung. As the
focus of postal lines of passenger steamers, and the port where
mercantile vessels come to learn markets, Ilonofkono; exerts a
greater influence on the southeast of Asia than her trade and
size indicate. The island of Shangclmen or San9ian, where Xavier
died, lies southwest of Macao about thirty miles, and is sometimes
visited by devout persons from that place to reverence his tomb, which they keep in repair.
The city oi Shauchau in the northern part of the province lies at the fork of the river, which compels a change of boats for passengers and goods ; it is one of the largest cities after Canton, and a pontoon bridge furnishes the needed facilities for stopping and taxing the boats and goods passing through.
Shanking, west of Canton, is another important town, which held out a long time against the Manchus ;* it was formerly the seat of the provincial authorities, till they removed to Canton in 1630 to keep the foreigners under control. It stretches along six miles of the river bank, a well-built city for China, in a beautiful position. Some of its districts furnish green teas and matting for the Canton market, and this trade has opened the way for a large emigration to foreign countries. Among other towns of note is Xanhiung, situated at the head of navigation on the North River, where goods cross the Mei ling.
‘ Palafox, Conquete de la CJdne, p. 172.
Before the coast was opened to trade, fifty thousand porters obtained a livelihood by transporting packages, passengers, and merchandise to and from this town and Xan-ngan in Kiangsi. It is a thriving place, and the restless habits of these industrious carriers give its population somewhat of a turbulent character. Many of them are women, who usually pair off by themselves and carry as heavy burdens as the men.
Not far from Yangshan hien is a fine cavern, the JV^iu Yen or ‘ Ox Cave,’ on a hillside near the North River. Its entrance is like a grand hall, with pillars TO feet high and 8 or 10 feet thick. The finest part is exposed to the sun, but many pretty rooms and niches are revealed by torches ; echoes 2-esound through their recesses. The stalactites and stalagmites present a vast variety of shapes—some like immense folds of di-apery, between which are lamps, thrones and windows of all shapes and sizes, while others hang from the roof in fanciful forms.
‘ Embassy (of Lord Amherst) to Cldna, Moxon’s ed., 1840, p. 98.
THE ISLAND OF HAINAN. 175
The scenery along the river, between Xanhiung and Shauchau, is described as wild, rugged, and barren in the extreme; the summits of the mountains seem to touch each other across the river, and massive fragments fallen from their sides, in and along the river, indicate that the passage is not altogether free from danger. In this mountainous region coal is procured by opening horizontal shafts to the mines. Ellis ‘ says, it was brought some distance to the place where he saw it, to be used in the manufacture of green vitriol. Many pagodas are passed in the stretch of 330 miles between Xanhiung and Canton, calculated to attract notice, and assure the native boatmen which swarm on its waters, of the protection of the two elements he has to deal with—wind and water. One of the most conspicuous objects in this part of the river are five rocks, which rise abruptly from the banks, and are fancifully called Wt(-7na-tao, or ‘Five-horses’ heads.’ The formation of this part of the province consists of compact, dark-colored limestone, overlying sandstone and breccia. Nearly halfway between Shauchau and Canton is a celebrated mountain and cavern temple, dedicated to Kwanjnn, the goddess of Mercy, and most charmingly situated amid waterfalls, groves, and fine scenery, near a hill about 1850 feet high. The cliff has a sheer descent of five hundred feet; the temple is in a fissure a hundred feet above the water, and consists of two stories; the steps leading up to them, the rooms, walls, and cells, are all cut out of the rock. Inscription;; and scrolls hide the naked walls, and a few inane priests inhabit this somewhat gloomy abode. Mr. Barrow draws a proper comparison between these men and the inmates of the Cork Convent in Portugal, or the Franciscan Convent in Madeira, who had likewise ” chained themselves to a rock, to be gnawed by the vultures of superstition and fanaticism,” but these last have less excuse.
The island of Hainan constitutes a single department, Kiungchau,
but its prefect has no power over the central and mountainous
parts. In early European travels it is named Aynao, Kainan
and Aniam. It is about one hundred and fifty miles long and
one hundred broad, being in extent nearly twice the size of
Sicily. It is separated from the main by Luichau Strait, sixteen
miles wide, whose shoals and reefs render its passage uncertain.
The interior of the island is mountainous, and well wooded, and the inhabitants give a partial submission to the Chinese ; Ihey are identical in race with the mountaineers in Kweichau. This ridge is called Li-mu ling; a remarkable peak in the centre of the southern half, Wuzhi Shan or ‘ Fivefinger Mountain,’ probably rises 10,000 feet. The Chinese inhabitants are mostly descendants of emigrants from Fuhkien, and are either trading, agricultural, marine, or piratical in their vocation, as they can make most money. The lands along the coast are fertile, producing areca-nuts, cocoa-nuts, and other tropical fruits, which are not found on the main. Kiungchau fu lies at the mouth of the Li-mu River, opposite Luichau. The port is Hoiliau, nineteen miles distant, but the entrance is too shallow for most vessels, and the trade consequently seeks a better market at Pakhoi, a town which has recently risen to importance as a treaty port on the mainland. All the thirteen district towns are situated on the coast, and within their circuit, on Chinese maps, a line is drawn, inclosing the centre of the island, within which the Li viin^ or Li people live, some of whom are acknowledged to he independent. They are therefore known as wild and civilized Li, and are usually in a state of chronic irritation from the harsh treatment of the rulers. It is prohahle that they originally came from the Malayan Peninsula (as their features, dress, and habits indicate their atiinity with those tribes), and have gradually withdrawn themselves into their recesses to avoid oppression. In 1202, the Emperor Kublai gave twenty thousand of them lands free for a time in the eastern parts, but the Ming sovereigns found them all intractable and l)elligerent. The population of the island is about a million. Its productions are rice, sweet potatoes, sugar, tobacco, fruits, timber, and insect wax.’
The province of Guangxi(l.e. Broad West) extends westward of Guangdong to the borders of Annam, occupying the region on the southwest of the Xan ling, and has been seldom visited by foreigners, mIioso journeys have been up the Kwai Jiang: or ‘Cassia River’ into Hunan. The banks of the rivers sometimes spread out into plains, more in the eastern parts than elsewhere, on which an abundance of rice is grown. There are mines of gold, silver, and other metals, in this province, most of which are worked under the superintendence of government, but no data are accessible from whicli to ascertain the produce.
Among the commercial productions of Guangxi, are cassia, cassia-oil, ijik-stones, and cabinet-woods; its natural ivsources supply the prin(;i})al articles of trade, for there are no manufactures of importance. IMany partially subdued tribes are found within the limits of this province, who are ruled by their own hereditary governors, under the supervision of the Chinese authorities; there are twenty-four vhau districts occupied by these people, the names of whose head-men are given in the lied
‘ E. C. Taintor, OeogrnpMeal Skelcit of the Mnnd of JTnlnnn, with map.
(Canton. 18«8. Journal N. G. Br. R. A. S., No. VII., Arts. I., 11., and IN.C’/iiTKi li/anew, Vols. I., p. 124, and II., p. 382. N. B. Dennys, Report on thtnetoly-^jpeiied porta of Kiangchow {UoUkiu) in JIi<iu((n, <ind lldiphong in. Tonqidn. Ilouij’koug, 1878.
THE PROVINCE OF KWANGSI. 177
Book, and their position marked in the statistical maps of the
empire, but no information is furnished in either, concerning
the numbers, hmguage, or occupations, of the inhabitants.
Guangxi is well watered by the west lliver and its branches, which enable traders to convey timber and surplus produce to Canton, and receive from thence salt and other articles. The mountains on the northwest are occasionally covered with siK)w; many of the western districts furnish little besides wood for buildings and boats. The basin of the West River is subdivided by ranges of hills into three large valleys, through which flow many tributaries of the leading streams, and as they each usually drop the old name on receiving a new affluent, it is a confusing study to follow them all. On the south the river Yiih rises near Yunnan, and deflects south to Kan-ning near
the borders of Kwangtung, joining the central trunk at Sinchau,
after a course of five hundred miles. On the north the
river Lung and the Hiing-shui receive the surplus drainage
of the northern districts and of Kweichau, a region where the
Miaotsz’ have long kept watch and ward over their hilly abodes.
The waters are then poured into the central trench a few miles
west of Sinchau. This main artery of the province rises in
Yunnan and would connect it by batteaux with Canton City if the channel were improved ; it is called Sz’ ho, and ranks as the largest tributary of the Pearl River.
The capital, Guilin (i.e., Cassia Forest), lies on the Cassia River, a branch of the West River, in the northeast part of the province ; it is a poorly built city, surrounded by canals and branches of the river, destitute of any edifices wortliy of notice and having no great amount of trade. During the Tai-ping rebellion, this and the next town were nearly destroyed between the insurgents and imperialists.
Wuchau fu, on the same river, at its junction with the Long Jiang, or ‘Dragon River’, where they unite and form the West River, is the largest trading town in the province. The independent chau districts are scattered over the southwest near the frontiers of Annam, and if anything can be inferred from their position, it may be concluded that they were settled by Laos tribes, who had been induced, by the comparative security of life and property within the frontiers, to acknowledge the Chinese sway.’
The province of Kweichau (*.<?., Koblc Region) is on the whole the poorest of the eighteen in the character of its inhabitants, amount of its products, and development of its resources.
A range of mountains passes from the northeast side in a southwesterly course to Yunnan, forming the watershed between the valleys of the Yangtsz’ and Siang rivers, a rough but fertile region. The western slopes are peopled by Chinese tillers of the soil, a rude and ignorant race, and rather turbulent; the eastern districts are largely in the hands of the Miaotsz’, who are considered by the officials and their troops to be lawful objects
of oppression and destruction. The climate of the province
is regarded as malarious, owing to the quantity of stagnant
water and the impurity of that drawn from wells. Its productions
consist of rice, wheat, musk, insect wax, tobacco, timber,
and cassia, with lead, copper, silver, quicksilver, and iron. The
quicksilver mines are in Kai chau, north of the provincial capital,
and apparently exceed in extent and richness all other
known deposits of this metal ; they have been worked for centuries.
Cinnabar occurs at various places, about lat. 27°, in a
belt extending quite across the province, and tei’minating near
the borders of Yunnan. Two kinds of silk obtained from the
worms which feed on the mulberry and oak, furnish material
for clothing so cheaply that cotton is imported from other provinces.
Horses and other domestic animals are reared in larger quantities than in the eastern provinces. •
The largest river is the AVu, which drains the central and northern parts of the province, and empties into the Yangtsz’, through the river Kien near Chungking. Other tributaries of that river and West River, also have their sources in this province, and by means of batteaux and rafts are all more or less available for traffic. The natural outlet for the products of Ivweichau is the river Yuen in Ilunan, whose various branches flow into it from the eastern prefectures, but their unsettled condition prevents regular or successful intercourse.
‘ Chinese Repodtory, Vol. XIV., pp. 171 ff.
KWEICHAU PROVINCE AND THE MIAOTSZ 179
The capital, Kweijang, is situated among the mountains ; it is the smallest provincial capital of the eighteen, its walls not being more than two miles in circumference. The other chief towns or departments are of inferior note. There are many military stations in the southern prefectures at the foot of the mountains, intended to restrain the unsubdued tribes of Miaotsz’ who inhabit them.
Miaotsz’ Types.
This name Miaotsz’ is used among the Chinese as a general term for all the dwellers upon these mountains, but is not applied to every clan by the people themselves. They consist of eighty-two tribes in all (found scattered over the mountains in Kwangtung, ITunan, and Kwangsi, as well as in Kweichau), speaking several dialects, and diifering among themselves in their customs, government, and dress. The Chinese have often described and pictured these people, but the notices are confined to a list of their divisions, and an account of their most striking peculiarities. Their language dift’ei’s entirely from the Chinese, but too little is known of it to ascertain its analogies to other tonj^ues; its affinities are most likely with the Laos, and those
tribes between Burmah, Siam, and China. One clan, inhabiting
Lipo hien in the extreme south, is called Yau-jin, and
although they occasionally come down to Canton to trade, the
citizens of that place firmly believe them to be furnished with
short tails like monkeys. They carry arms, are inclined to live
at peace with the lowlanders, but resist eveiy attempt to penetrate
into their fastnesses. The Yau-jin first settled in Kwangsi,
and thence passed over into Lien chau about the twelfth century, where they have since maintained their footing. Both sexes wear their hair braided in a tuft on the top of the head—but never shaven and tressed as the Chinese—and dress in loose garments of cotton and linen ; earrings are in imiversal use among them. They live at strife among themselves, which becomes a source of safety to the Chinese, who are willing enough to liarass and oppress, but are ill able to resist, these hardy mountaineers. In 1832, they broke out in active hostilities, and destroyed numerous parties of troops sent to subdue them, but were finally induced to return to their retreats by offers^of pardon and largesses granted to those who submitted.
A Chinese traveler among the Miaotsz’ says that some of them live in huts constructed upon the branches of trees, others in mud hovels ; and one tribe in clift” houses dug out of the hillsides, sometimes six hundred feet up. Their agriculture is rude, and their garments are obtained Ijy barter from the lowlanders in exchange for metals and grain, or wov^en by themselves.
The religious observances of these tribes are carefully noted, and whatever is connected with nuirriages and funerals.
THE PROVINCE OF YUNNAN. 181
In one tribe, it is the custom for the father of a new-born child, as soon as its mother has become strone^ enouoh to leave her couch, to get into bed himself and there receive the congratulations of his acquaintances, as he exhibits his offspring—a custom which has been found among the Tibetan tribes and elsewhere. Another class has the counterpart of the may-pole and its jocund dance, which, like its corresponding game, is availed of by young men to select their mates.’
The province of Yunnan {i.e., Cloudy South—south of the Yun ling, or ‘Cloudy Mountains”‘) is in the southwest of the empire, bounded by north Sz’chuen, east by Kweichau and Kwangsi, south by Annam, Laos, and Siam, and west by Burmah.
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 29; Vol. XIV., pp. 105-117; G. T. Lay,Chinese as They Are, p. 316 ; Journal of N’. C. Branch of Royal Asiatic Society,No. III., 1H59, and No. VI., 1869. Chinese Recorder, Vols. 11., p. 265, and III., pp. 33, 74, 96, 134 and 147. Peking Gazette for 1872. China Rei-ietc,Vol. v., p. 92.- Known as Widiharit in Pali records. Chinese Recorder, Vol. III., pp. 33,74, sqq. ; see also pp. 62, 93, 126, for the record of a visit.
Its distance from the central authority of the Empire since its partial conquest under the Ilanjhjnasty has always made it a weak point, and the uneducated, mixed character of the inhabitants has given an advantage to enterprising leaders to resist Chinese rule. It was recovered from the aborigines by the Tang Emperors, who called it Jung chau, or the region of the Jung tribes, from which the name Karajang, i.e.. Black Jung, which Marco Polo calls it, is derived; Kublai Khan himself led an army in 1253 thither before he conquered China, and sent the Venetians on a mission there about the year 127S, after his establishment at Peking. A son of the Emperor was his Yiceroy over this outlying province at that time. The recent travels of Margary, Baber, and Anderson, of the British service, with Monhot and Garnier of the French, have done much to render this secluded province better known. The central portion is occupied by an extensive plateau, ramifying in various directions and intersected with valley-plains at altitudes of 5,000 to 6,000 feet, in Mdiich lie several large lakes and the seven principal cities in the province. These plains are overtopped by the ridges separating them, which, seen from the lower levels, appear, as in Sliansi, like horizontal, connected summit-lines. All are built up of red sandstone, like the basin in Sz’chuen, through which rivers, small and large, have furroM’ed their beds hundreds and thousands of feet, rendering communication almost impossible in certain directions as soon as one leaves the plateau. In the east and northwest, the defiles are less troublesome, and in this latter portion of the province are some peaks rising far above the snow line. These are called on Col. Yule’s map the Goolan Sigon range. The climate is cooler than in Sz’chuen, owing to this elevation, and not very healthy ; snow lies for weeks at Yunnan fu, and the summers are charming.
The Yangtsz’ enters the province on the northwest for a short distance. The greatest river in it is the Lantsan, which rises in Tibet, and runs for a long distance parallel with and between the Yangzi and Xu Kivers till the three break through the mountains not far from each other, and take different courses,—the largest turning to the eastward across China, the Lantsan southeast throngh Ynnnan to the gulf of Siani, under the name of the Meikon or river of Cambodia, and the third, or Salween, westerly through Burmah. The Meikon receives many large tributaries in its course across the province, and its entire length is not less than 1500 miles. The Lungehuen,
a large affluent of the Irrawadi, runs a little west of the
Salween. The Meinam rises in Yunnan, and flows south into
Siam under the name of the Xanting, and after a course of nearly
eight hundred miles, empties into the sea below Bangkok.
East of the Lantsan are several important streams, of which
three that unite in Annam to form the Sangkoi, are the largest.
The general course of these rivers is southeasterly, and their
upper waters are separated by mountain lidges, between which
the valleys are often reduced to very narrow limits. There are
two lakes in the eastern part of the province, south of the capital,
called Sien and Tien ; the latter is about seventy miles
long by twenty wide, and the Sien hu {I.e., ‘ Fairy Lake ‘) about
two-thirds as large. Another sheet of water in the northwest,
near Tali fu, coiinnunicating with the Yangtsz’ kiang, is called
Urh hai or Uhr sea, which is more* than a hundred miles long,
and about twenty in width.
INHABITANTS AND PRODUCTIONS OF YUNNAN. 183
The capital, Yunnan, lies u})ou the north shore of Lake Tien, and is a town of note, having, moreover, considerable political importance from its trade with other parts of the country through the Yangtsz’, and with Burmah. The city was seriously injured in 1834, by an earthquake, which is said to have lasted three entire days, forcing the inhabitants into tents or the open fields, and overthrowing every important building.’
The traffic between this province and Burinah centres at the fortified post of Tsantah, in the district of Tangjneh, both of them situated on a branch of the Irrawadi. The principal part of the commodities is transported upon animals from these depots to Bhamo, upon the Iri-awadi, the largest market-town in this part of Chin-India. The Chinese participate largely in this trade, which consists of raw and manufactured silk to the amount of §400,000 annualh’, tea, copper, carpets, orpiment, quicksilver, vermilion, drugs, fruits, and other things, carried from their country in exchange for raw cotton to the amount of $1,140,000 annually, ivory, wax, rhinoceros and deer’s horns, precious stones, birds’ nests, peacocks’ feathers, and foreign articles.
The entire traffic is probably $2,500,000 annually, and for a few years past has been regularly increasing. There is considerable intercourse and trade on the southern frontiers with the Lolos, or Laos and Annamese,” partly by means of the head-waters of the Meinam and Meikon—which are supposed to communicate with each other by a natural canal—and partly by caravans over the mountains. Yunnan fu was the capital of a Chinese prince about the time of the decadence of the Ming dynasty, who had rendered himself independent in this part of their empire by the overthrow of the rebel Li, but having linked his fortunes with an imbecile scion of that house, he displeased his officers, and his territories gradually fell under the sway of the conquering Manchus.
‘ A/males de la Foi, Tome VIII. , p. 87.
‘ Two thousand Chinese families live in Amerapura.The southern and western districts of the province are inhabited by half-subdued tribes who are governed by their own rulers, under the nominal sway of the Chinese, and pass and repass across the frontiers in pursuit of trade or occupation. The extension of British trade from Bangoon toward this part of China, has brought those hill tribes more into notice, and proved in their present low and barbarous condition the accuracy of the ancient description by Marco Polo and the Boman Catholic missionaries. Colonel Yule aptly terms this wide region an “Ethnological Garden of tribes of various race and in every stage of uncivilization.” The unifying influence of the Chinese written language and literary institutions has been neutralized among these races by their tribal dissensions and inaptitude for study of any kind. Anderson gives short vocabularies of the Kakhyen, Shan, Ilotha Shan, Le-san and Poloung languages, all indicating radical differences of origin, the existence of which would keep them from mingling with each other as Avell as from the Chinese.’
The mineral wealth of Yunnan is greater and more varied than that of any other province, certain of the mines having been worked since the Sung dynasty. Coal occurs in many places on the borders of the central plateau ; some of it is anthracite of remarkable solidity and uniformity. Salt occurs in hills, not in wells as in Sz’chuen ; the brine is sometimes obtained by diving tunnels into the hillsides. Metalliferous ores reach from this province into the three neighboring ones. Copper is the most abundant, and the mines in Kingyuen fu, in the southwestern ‘part of Sz’chuen, have supplied both copper and zinc ores during the troubles in Yunnan. The copper at Ilwuili chau in that prefecture is worked by companies which pay a royalty of two taels a pecul to the government, and furnish the metal to the mine owners for $S per pecul. The pehtaiKj or argentan ores are mixed with copper, tin, or lead, by the manufacturers according to the uses the alloys are put to.
Silver exists in several places in the north, and the exploitation of the mines was successful until within 30 years past ; now they cannot be safely or profitably worked, in consequence of political disturbances. Gold is obtained in the sand of some rivers but not to a large extent; lead, iron, tin, and zinc occur in such plenty that they can be exported, but no data are accessible as to the entire product or export.
”’ Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. II. Anderson, Mandalay to Momien.” rroced. Roy. Geog. Soc, Vols. XIII., p. 392, XIV.’, p. 335, XV., pp. 1G3 and 343. Col. Yule, Trade Routes to Westeru CJdiia—The Geo(jiuq,hic<d Mitynzine,April, 1875. Riclithofen, Recent Attoiipts to find a direct Trade-Road toSonthtDCstern China—Shoiif/fiai Budget, March 2(i, 1874. Journey of A. R.Margary from Shaiighae to Bhamo. Loudon, 1875. Col. H. Browne in Blue Books, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 (1870-77).CHAPTER IV. GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF MANCHURIA, MONGOLIA, ILi, AND TIBET
The portions of the Chinese Empire beyond the limits of the Eighteen Provinces, though of far greater extent than China Proper, are comparatively of minor importance. Their vast regions are peopled by different races, whose languages are nnitually unintelligible, and whose tribes are held together under the Chinese sway rather by interest and reciprocal hostilities or dislike, than by force. European geographers have vaguely termed all that space lying north of Tibet to Siberia, and east of the Tsung ling to the Pacific, Chinese Tartary ; while the countries west of the Tsung ling or Belur tag, to the Aral Sea, have been collectively called Inde2}endtnt Tartary. Both these
names have already become nearly obsolete on good maps of
those regions ; the more accurate knowledge brought home by
recent travellers having ascertained that their inhabitants are
neither all Tartars (or Mongols) nor Turks, and further that
the native names and divisions are preferable to a single comprehensive
one. Such names as Manchuria, Mongolia, Songaria,
and Turkestan, derived from the leading tribes dwelling in
those countries, are more definite, though these are not permanent,
owing to the migratory, changeable habits of the people.
From their ignorance of scientific geography, the Chinese have
no general designations for extensive countries, long chains of
mountains, or devious rivers, but apply many names where, if
they were better informed, they would be content with one.
The following table presents a general view of these countries,
giving their leading divisions and forms of government.
EXTENT OF Manchuria. 187
They cannot be classed, however, in the same manner as the provinces, nor are the divisions and capitals here given to be regarded as definitely settled. Their nnited area is 3,951,130 square miles, or a little more than all Europe ; their separate areas cannot be precisely given. Manchuria contains about 400,000 square miles ; Mongolia between 1,300,000 and 1,500,000 square miles ; III about 1,070,000 square miles ; and Tibei from 500,000 to 700,000 square miles.
MANcnuRi.v is so termed from the leading race who dwell there, the 3IandJu/’s or Manclius ^ it is a word of foreign origin, the Chinese having no general appellation for the viceroyalty ruled from Mukden. It comprises the eastern portion of the high table land of Central Asia, and lies between latitudes 39° and 52° X., and longitudes 120° to 134° E. These points include the limits in l^otli directions, giving the region a rectangular shape lying in a north-east and sonth-west direction; roughly speaking, its dimensions are 800 by 500 miles. It is
bounded on the south by the Gulf of Pechele, and the highlands
of Corea on the north bank of the Yalnli River ; on the east
by a line running from the Russian town of Possiet northerly
to the River ITsuri, so as to include Ilinka Lake ; thence from
its headwaters to its junction Nvith the Anmr. This river forms
the northern frontier ; its tributary, the River Argun, together
with the large lakes llurun and Puyur, lie on the west ; from
the latter lake an artificial line stretching nearly due east for
six degrees in lat. 47° strikes the town of Tsitsihar on the
River Xonni. The rest of the western border follows the rivers
Konni and Songari to the Palisade. This obsolete boundary
commences at Shan-hai kwan on the Gulf of Liatung and runs
north-easterly ; it nominally separates the Mongols from the
Manchus for neai’ly 300 miles, and really exists only at the
passes where the roads are guarded by military.
But a portion of this region has yet been traversed by Europeans, and most of it is a wilderness. The entire population is not stated in the census of 1812, and from the nature of the country and wandering habits of the people, many tribes of whom render no allegiance to the Emperor, it would be impossible to take a regular census. Parts of Manchuria, as here defined, have been known under many names at different periods.
LiaiUung (‘East of the River Lian’) has been applied to the country between that river, Corea, and the Sea of Japan ; Tungking(‘Eastern Capital’) referred to the chief town of that region, under the Ming dynasty ; and Kwantung (‘ East of the Pass ‘), denoting the same country, is still a common designation for the whole territory.
Manchuria is now chiefly comprised in the valleys between the ITsuri and Nonni Rivers, up to the Amur on the north, while the basin of the Liau on the south embraces the rest. There are three principal mountain chains. Beginning nearly a hundred miles east of Mukden, in lat. 43°, are the Long White Mountains’ (Chang-bai Shan of the Chinese, or Kolmin-shanguin alin of the Manchus), which form the watershed between the Songari and Yaluh Rivers and serve for the northern frontier of Corea as far as Russian territory. There it divides
and takes the name of Sih-hih-teh, or Sihoti Mountains, for the
eastern spur which runs near the ocean, east of the River ITsuri; and the name of Hurkar Mountains for the western and lower
spurs between that river and the Ilurkar. One noted peak,
called Mount Chakoran, rising over 10,000 feet, lies south-east
of San-sang on the Amur. On the plain, north of Ivirin,
numerous buttes occur, sometimes isolated, and often in lines
fifteen or twenty miles apart ; most of them are wooded.
In the western part of Tsitsihar lies the third great range of
mountains in Manchuria, called the Sialkoi Mountains, a continuation
of the Inner Iling-an range of Mongolia, and separating
the Argun and Nonni basins. The Sialkoi range extends over
a great part of Mongolia, commencing near the bend of the Yellow
River, and reaching in a north-easterly direction, it forms
in Manchuria three sides of the extensive valley of the Xonni,
ending between the Amur and Songari Rivers at their junction.
These regions are more arid than the eastern portions, and
the mountains are rather lower ; but our information is vague
and scanty. As a whole, Manchuria should be called hilly
rather than mountainous, its intervales alone repaying cultivation.
‘ Klaproth {Memoires Relatifs d PAsie, Tome I., Paris, 1834) has translated from the Manchu a narrative of a visit made in 1(577 by one of the grandees of Kanghi’s court to a summit in this range. Chlneise lieposilvry, Vol. XX. , p. 29G.
THE AMUR AND ITS AFFLUENTS. 189
The country north of the Chang-bai Shan as far as the Stanovoi Mountains is drained by one river, viz., the Sagalien, Amur, Kwantung, or Hehlung kiang (for it is known by all these names), and its affluents ; Scujalieii ula in Manchu and Heilong Jiang in Chinese, each mean ‘Black’ or ‘Black Dragon River’. The Amur drains the north-eastern slope of Central Asia by a circuitous course, aided by many large tributaries. Its source is in lat. 50° N. and long. 111° E., in a spur of the Daou-]”ian Mountains, called Kenteh, where it is called the Onon.
After an east and north-east course of nearly five hundred miles,
the Onon is joined in long. 115° E. by the Ingoda, a stream
coming from the east of Lake Baikal, where it takes its rise by a
peak called Tshokondo, the highest of the Yablonsi Khrebet
Mountains. Beyond this junction, under the Bussian name of
Shilka, it flows about two hundred and sixty miles north-east
till it meets the Argun. The Argun rises about three degrees
south of the Onon, on the south side of the Kenteh, and under
the name of Kerlon runs a solitary north-east course for four
Imndred and thirty miles to Lake Hurun, Kerlon, or Dalai-nur; the Kalka here comes in from Lake Buyur or Fir, and their waters leave Lake Hurun atUst-Strelotchnoi (the Arrow’s Mouth) under the name of the Argun, flowing north nearly four hundred miles to the union with the Shilka in lat. 53° ; from its exit as the Argun and onward to the entrance of the Usuri, it forms the boundary between China and Russia for 1,593 versts, or 1,062 miles.
Beyond this town the united stream takes the name of the
Amur (/.(‘., Great River) or Sagalien of the Manchus, running
nearly east about 550 miles beyond Albazin, when its course is
south-east till it joins the Songari. Most of the affluents are on
the north bank ; the main channel grows wider as its size increases,
having so many islands and banks as seriously to interfere
with navigation. The valley thus watered possesses great
natural advantages in soil, climate, and productions, which are
now gradually attracting Russian settlers. In lat. 47^° the Songari River {Sung-hwa kiang of the Chinese) unites with the Amur on the right bank, 950 miles from Ust-Strelotchnoi,
bringing the drainings of the greater portion of ]\ranehuria,
and doubling the main volume of water. The headwaters of
this stream issue from the northern slopes of the C”liang-peh
shan ; quickly combined in a single channel, these waters tlow
past the town of Ivirin, scarcely a hundred miles from the
mountains, in a river twelve feet deep and 900 M-ide. Xear Petune
the Iliver Xonni joins it from Tsitsihar, and their united
stream takes the Chinese name of Kwantung (‘ Mingled Union ‘);
it is a mile and a half wide here and only three or four feet
deep, a sluggish river full of islands. Then going east b}- north,
growing deeper by its affluents, the Ilurka, Mayen, Tunni,
llulan, and other smaller ones, it unites with the Amur at
at Changchu, a hundred miles west from the Usuri. All accounts
agree in giving the Songari the superiority. At Sansing,
it is a deep and rapid river, but further down islands and
banks interfere with the navigation. The Ilurka drains the
original country of the Manchus.’
The district south-east of the desert, and north of the Great
Wall, is drained and fertilized by the Sira-nniren, or Liau
Iliver, which is nearly valueless for navigation. Its main and
western branch divides near the In shan Mountains into the
Hwang ho and Lahar; the former rises near the Pecha peak,
a noted point in those mountains. The Sirainuren runs
through a dry region for nearly 400 miles before it turns south,
and in a zigzag channel reaches the Gulf of Liautung, a powerful stream carrying its quota of deposit into the ocean ; the M’idtli at Yingtsz’ is C50 feet. The depth is IG feet on the bar at high tide. The Yaluh kiang, nearly three hundred miles long, runs in a very crooked channel along the northern frontiers of Corea. iJut little is known about the two lakes, Ilurun and Pir, except that their waters are fresh and full of fish ; the river Urshun unites them, and several smaller streams run into the latter.
‘ Voyage Down the Amur, by Perry McD. Collins, in 1857. New York,1860, cliaps. xxxii.-lx., passim. Ravenstein’s Arnur. Chinese Repository,Vol. XIX., p. 289. Rev. A. Williamson, Journeys in North China, Vol. II.,eliap.s. x.-xiii.
NATURAL RESOURCES OF MANCHURIA. 191
The larger part of Manchuria is covered by forests, the
abode of wild animals, whose capture affords employment,
clothing, and food to their hunters. The rivers and coasts
abound in fish ; among which carp, sturgeon, salmon, pike, and
other species, as well as shell-fish, are plenty ; the pearl-fishery
is sufficiently remunerative to employ many fishermen ; the
Chinese Government used to take cognizance of their success,
and collect a revenue in kind. The argali and jiggetai are
found here as well as in Mongolia ; bears, wolves, tigers, deer,
and numerous fur-bearing animals are hunted for their skins.
The troops are required to furnish 2,4:00 stags annually to the
Emperor, who reserves for his own use only the fieshy part of
the tail as a delicacy. Larks, pheasants, and crows of various
species, with pigeons, thrushes, and grouse, abound. The condor
is the largest bird of prey, and for its size and fierceness rivals
its congener of the Andes.
The greater half of Shingking and the south of Ivirin is cultivated; maize, Setaria wheat, barley, pulse, millet, and buckwheat are the principal crops. Ginseng and rhubarb are collected by troops sent out in detachments under’ the charge of their proper officers. These sections support, moreover, large herds of various domestic animals. The timber which covers the mountains will prove a source of wealth as soon as a remunerative market stimulates the skill and enterprise of settlers; even now, logs over three feet in diameter find their way up to Peking, brought from the Liau valley.
Manchuria is divided into three provinces, Shhujhing, Kirin,
and Tsltnlhar. The province of Shingking includes the ancient
Liautung, and is bounded north by Mongolia ; north-east and
east by Kirin ; south by the Gulf of Liautung and Corea, from
which latter it is separated by the Yaluh Eiver ; and west by
Chahar in Chihli. It contains two departments, viz., Fungtien
and Kinchau, subdivided into fifteen districts; there are also
twelve gai-risoned posts at the twelve gates in the Palisade,
whose inmates collect a small tax on travellers and goods. Manchuria
is under a strictly military government, every male above
eighteen being liable for military service, and being, in fact,
enrolled under that one of the eight standards to which by Liith he belongs. The administration of Shingking is partl;yuivil and partly military ; that of Iviriu and Tsitsihar is entirely military.
The popnlation of the province has been estimated by T. T.
Meadows ‘ at twelve millions, consisting of Manclms and Chinese.
The coast districts are now mostly occupied and cultivated
by emigrants from Shantung, who are pushing the Manchus
toward the Amur, or compelling them to leave their hunting
and take to farming if they wish to stay where they ^vere born.
The conquerors are being civilized and developed by their subjects,
losing the use of their own meagre language, and becoming
more comfortable as they learn to be industrious. But few
aboriginal settlements now remain who still resist these influences.
The inhabitants collect near the river, or along the great
roads, where food or a market are easiest found.
The capital of Shingking is usually known on the spot as
Shin-yang, an older name than the Manchu Mukden, or the
Chinese name Fungtien. As the metropolis of Manchuria, it is
also known as Shingking (the ‘ Affluent Capital ‘), distinguished
from the name of the province by the addition oi jjuti-chiny, or
‘head-garrison.’ It lies in lat. 41° 50^’ X. and long. 123° 30′ E., on the banks of the Shin, a small brancli of the Liau, and is reckoned to be five hundred miles north-east from Peking. The town is surrounded by a low mud wall about ten miles in circuit, at least half a mile distant from the main city wall, whose eight gates have double archways so that the crowd may not interfere in passing ; this wall is about three miles around, and its towers and bastions are in good condition. It is 35 or 40 feet high, and 15 feet wide at the top, of brick throughout ; a crenulated parapet protects the guard. But for its smaller scale, the walls and buildings here are precisely similar to those at Peking.
‘ The Chinese and their Rebdliona. Loudon, 1856.
THE PROVINCE OF SHINGKING. 193
The streets are wide, clean, and the main business avenues lined with large, well built shops, their counters, windows, and other arrangements indicating a great trade. This capital contains a large proportion of governmental establishments, yai/uins^ and nearly all the officials belong to the ruling race. Main streets run across the city from gate to gate, with narrow roads or ku-tung intersecting them. The palace of the early Manchn sovereigns occupies the center; while the large warehouses are outside of the inner city. Everywhere marks of prosperity and security indicate an enterprising population, and for its tidy look, industrious and courteous population, Mukden takes high rank among Chinese cities. Its population is estimated to be under 200,000, mostly Chinese. The Manchu monarchs made it the seat of their government in 1631, and the Emperors have since done everything in their power to enlarge and beautify it. The Emperor Kienlung rendered himself celebrated among his subjects, and made the city of Mukden better known abroad, by a poetical eulogy upon the city and province, which was printed in sixty-four different forms of Chinese writing. This curious piece of imperial vanity and literary effort was translated into French by Amyot.
The town of Ilingking,’ sixty miles east of it, is one of the favored places in Shingking, from its being the family residence of the Manchu monarchs, and the burial-ground of their ancestors.
It is pleasantly situated in an elevated valley, the tombs being three miles north of it upon a mountain called Tsz’yun shan. The circuit of the walls is about three miles. Ilingking lies near the Palisade which separates the province from Ivirin, and its officers have the rule over the surrounding country, and the entrances into that province. It has now dwindled to a small handet, and the guards connected with the tombs comprise most of the inhabitants.
Ivinchau, fifteen leagues from Mukden, carries on considerable
trade in cattle, pulse, and drugs. Gutzlaff ‘ describes the
harbor as shallow, and exposed to southern gales ; the houses
in the town are built of stone, the environs well cultivated and
settled by Chinese from Shantung, while natives of Fuhkien
conduct the trade. The Manchus lead an idle life, but keep
on good terms with the Chinese. When he was there in 1832,
‘Also called Yertden ; Klaprcth, Meinoire.% Tcvme T., p. 446. Remusat
informs us that this name formerly included all vf Kirin, or that which was placed under it.- Voyages Along the Coast of China. New York, 1833»Vol. I.— 18
the authorities had ordered all the females to seclude themselves
in order to put a stop to debauchery among the native
sailors. Horses and camels are numerous and cheap, but the
carriages are clumsy. Kaichau, another port lying on the east
side of the gulf, possesses a better liarboi-, but is not so much
frequented.
Since the treaty of 1858 opened the port of Xiuchwang or
Yingts//, on the Iliver Liau, to foreign trade, the development
of Shingking has rapidly increased. The trade in pulse and
bean-cake and oil employs many vessels annually. Opium,
silk, and paper are prepared for export thi’ough this mart, besides
foreign goods. Fung-hwang ting, lying near the Yaluh
liiver, commands all the trade with Corea, which must pass
through it. There are many restrictions upon this intercourse
by both governments, and the Chinese forbid their subjects
passing the frontiers. The trade is conducted at fairs, under
the supervision of officers and soldiers ; the short time allowed
for concluding the bargains, and the great numbers resorting to
them, render these bazaars more like the frays of opposing clans
than the scenes of peaceable trade. There is a market-town in
Corea itself, called Ki-iu w^an, about four leagues from the
frontier, wliei’e the Chinese ” supply the Coreans with dogs,
cats, pipes, leather, stags’ horns, copper, horses, mules, and
asses ; and receive in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice,
corn, swine, paper, mats, oxen, furs, and small horses.” Merchants
are allowed not more than four or five hours in which
to conduct this fair, and the Corean officers under whose charge
it is placed, drive all strangers back to the frontier as soon as
the day closes.’
The borders of the sea consist of alluvial soil, efflorescing
a nitrous white salt near the beach, .but very fertile inland,
well cultivated and populous. Beyond, the hill-country is extremely
picturesque. Ever-changing views, torrents and fountains,
varied and abounding vegetation, flocks of black cattle
grazing on the hillsides, goats perched on the overhanging crags,
liorses, asses, and sheep lower down in the intervales, numerous
‘ Annales de la Foi, Tome XVIII., 1840, p. 302.
TRADE AND CLIMATE OF MANCHURIA. 195
well-built Iiamlets, eveiywliere enliven the scene. The department
of Kinchau lies along the Gulf of Liautung, between the
Palisade and the sea, and contains four small district towns,
with forts, around whose garrisons of agricultural troops have
collected a few settlers. On the south, toward Chilili and the
“Wall, the country is better cultivated.
The climate of Manchuria, as a whole, is healthy and moderate,
far removed from the rigor of the plateau on its west, and
not so moist as the outlying islands on the east. In summer
the ranges are TO” to 90° F., thence down to 10° or 20° below
zero. The rivers remain frozen from December nearly to
April, and the fall of snow is less than in Eastern America.
The seasons are really six weeks of spring, five months of summer,
six weeks of autumn and four months of winter ; the last
is in some respects the enjoyable period, and is used l)y the
farmers to l)ring produce to market. If the houses were
tighter, their inmates would suffer little during the cold season.
Hue speaks of hail storms which killed tlocks of sheep in Mongolia,
near’Chahar. Darwin (^N^aturalisfs Yoymje, 2d ed., 1845,
p. 115) corroborates the possibility of his statement by a somewhat
similar experience near Buenos Ayres. He here saw many
deer and other wild animals killed by ” hail as large as small
apples and extremely hard.’” Of the denuded country, near the
Liau River, Abbe Hue says : ” Although it is uncertain where
God placed paradise, we may be sure that he chose some other
country than Liautung ; for of all savage regions, this takes a
distinguished rank for the aridity of the soil and rigor of the
climate. On his entrance, the traveller remarks the barren
aspect of most of the hills, and the nakedness of the plains,
where not a tree nor a thicket, and hardly a slip of a herb is to
be seen. The natives are superior to any Europeans I have
ever seen fof their powers of eating ; beef and pork abound on
their tables, and I think dogs and horses, too, under some other
name ; rich people eat i-ice, the poor are content with boiled
millet, or with another grain called hac-ham,, about thrice the
size of millet and tasting like wheat, which I never saw elsewhere.
The vine is cultivated, but must be covered from October to April ; the grapes are so watery that a hundred liters of juice produce by distillation only forty of poor spirit. The leaves of an oak are used to rear wild silkworms, and this is a considerable branch of industry. The people relish the worms as food after the cocoons have been boiled, drawing them out with a pin, and sucking the whole until nothing but the pellicle is left.” ‘ Another says, the ground freezes seven feet in Kirin, and about three in Shingking ; the thermometer in winter is thirty degrees below zero. The snow is raised into the air by the north-east winds, and becomes so fine that it penetrates the clothes, houses, and enters even the lungs. When travelling, the eyebrows become a mass of ice, the beard a large flake, and the eyelashes are frozen together ; the wind cuts and pierces the skin like razors or needles. The earth is frozen during eight months, but vegetation in summer is rapid, and the streams are swollen by the thawing drifts of snow.
The province of Kikin, or Girin, comprises the country northeast
of Shingking, as far as the Annir and Usuri, which bound
it on the north and east, while Corea and Shingking lie on the
south-east (better separated by the Chang-peh shan than any
political confine) and Mongolia on the west. All signs of the line
of palisades have disappeared (save at the Passes) in the entire
trajct between the Songari and Shan-hai kwan. The region is
mountainous, except in the link of that river after the Xonni
joins it till the Usuri comes in, measuring about one-fourth of
the M’hole. This extensive region is thinly inhabited by Manchus
settled in garrisons along the bottoms of the rivers, by
Goldies, Mangoons, Ghiliaks, and tribes having afiinity with
them, mIio subsist principall}^ by hunting and fishing, and acknowledge
their fealty by a tribute of peltry, but who have no
officers of government placed over them. Du llalde calls them
Kicking Tatse^ Yuj)i Tatse^ and other names, which seem, indeed,
to have been their ancient designations. The Y^u-jn TdJifs’i,
or ‘Fish-skin Tartars,’^ are said to inhabit the extensive valley
of the Usuri, and do not allow the subjects of the Emperor to
‘ AnnaleR de la Foi, Tomo XVI. , p. ‘^i’iO.
– The inhabitants of ancient Gedrosia, now Beloochi.stan, are said to have
clothed themselves in lish-skins. Heereu, Historical Researches among Asiatic
Nations^ Vol. I., p. 175.
TOWNS AND PRODUCTIONS OB’ KIRIN PROVINCE. 197
live among them. In winter they nestle together in kraals like
the Bushmen, and subsist upon the products of their summer’s
tishing, having cut down fuel enough to last them till warm
weather. Shut out, as they have been during the past, from all
elevating influences, these people are likely to be ei-e long amalgamated
and lost, as well among liussian and other settlers coming
in from the north, as amid the Chinese immigrants who occupy
their land in the south. The entire population of this province
cannot be reckoned, from present information, as high as three
millions, the greater part of which live along the Songari valley.
Kirin is divided into three ruling tlmj departments or commanderies,
viz., Kirin ula, or the garrison of Kirin, Petune or
Pedne, and Changchun ting. Kirin, the largest of the three, is
subdivided into eight garrison districts. The town, called
Chaen Chwang, or ‘ Navy Yard,’ in Chinese, is finely situated
on the Songari, in lat. 43” 45′ N., and long. 127° 25′ E., at the
foot of encircling hills, where the river is a thousand feet wide.
The streets are narrow and irregular, the shops low and small,
and much ground in the city is unoccupied. Two great streets
cross each other at right angles, one of them running far into
the river on the west supported by piles. The highways are
paved with wooden blocks, and adorned with flowers, gold fish,
and squares ; its population is about 50,000.
The four other important places in Kirin are Petune, Larin,
Altchuku, or A-shi-ho, and Sansing, the latter at the confluent of
the Sono-ari and Ilurka. Altchuku is the largest, and Petune
next in size, each town having not far from 35,000 inhabitants
;
Larin is perhaps half as lai’ge, and like the others steadily increasing
in numbers and importance. jS inguta on the river Ilurka
has wide regions under its sway where ginseng is gathered ; near
the stockaded town is a subterranean body of water that furnishes
large fish. A great and influential portion of the Chinese
population is Moslem, but no Manchus reside in the place.
The former control trade and travel in every town.
Petune, in lat. 45° 20′ X., and long. 125° 10′ E., is inhabited
by troops and many persons banished from C’hina for their
crimes. Its favorable position renders it a place of considerable
trade, and during the suunner ujonths it is a busy mart for
198 TlIK MIDDLE KINCiDOM.
these tliiiilj peopled regions. It consists of two main streets,
with the chief market at their crossing. .\. large mosque attracts
attention. The third commandery of Changchun, west
of Kirin and south of Petunc, just beyond the Palisade, is a
mere post for overseeing the Manchus and Mongols passing to
and fro on the edge of the steppe.
The resources of this wide domain in timber, minerals, metals,
cattle and grain Ivaxq not yet been explored or developed. The
hills are wooded to the top, the bottoms bring forth two crops
anmially, and the rivers take down timber and grain to the
llussian settlers. Sorghum, millet, barley, maize, pulse, indigo,
and tobacco are the chief crops ; and latterly opium, wdiicli has
rapidly extended, because it pays well. Oil and whiskey are extensi\’
ely manufactured, packed in wicker baskets lined with
paper and transported on Avheelbarrows. The wild and domestic
animals are numerous. ^Vmong the latter the hogs and mules,
more than any other kind, furnish food and transportation ;
while tigers, panthers, and leopards, bears, wolves, and foxes
reward the hunters for their pains in killing them.
The province of Tsi-tsi-hak, or Ilehlung kiang, comprises the
northwest of Manchuria, extending four hundred miles from
east to west, and about five hundred from north to south. It is
bounded north by the Amur, from Sliilka to its junction with
the Songari ; east and southeast by Ivirin, from which the
Songari partly separates it ; southwest by Mongolia, and west
by the lliver Argun, dividing it from Russia. The greatest part
of it is occupied by the valley of the Noimi, jSToun or IS^iin ; its
area of about two hundred thousand square miles is mostly an
iminhabited, mountainous wilderness. It is divided into six
commanderies, viz. : Tsitsihar, Ilulan, Putek, Merguen, Sagalien
ula, and Ilurun-pir, whose officers have control over the
tribes within their limits; of these, Sagalien or Igoon is the
chief town in the northeast districts, and is used by the government
of Peking as a penal settlement. The town stands on a
plain but a rood or so above the river, Avhich sweeps off to the
mountains in the distance. Here is posted a large force of officers
and men, their extensive barracks indicating the importance
attached to the place. The garrison has gradually attracted a
THE PROVINCE OF TSI-TSI-IIAR. 199
population of natives and Chinese from the south, who live by
fishing and hunting, as well as farming.
Tsitsihar, the capital of the province, lies on the River
]^onni, in lat. 47° 20′ N., and long, 124° E., and is a place of some
trade, resorted to by the tribes near the river. Merguen, Hurunpir,
and Ilulan are situated upon rivers, and accessible when
the waters are free from ice. Tsitsihar was built in 1692 by
Kanghi to owerawe the neighboring tribes. It is inclosed hy a
stockade and a ditch. The one-stoi-ied houses are constructed
of logs, or of brick stuccoed, where timber is dear, and warmed
by the brick beds ; the tall chimneys outside the main buildings
give a peculiar appearance to villages. Pulse, maize, tobacco,
millet, and wheat, and latterly poppy are common crops. The
valley of the Nonni is cultivated by the Taguri Manchus, among
whom six thousand six hundred families of Yakutes settled in
1687, when they emigrated from Siberia. The Korchin Mongols
occupy the country south and west of this valley. Some
of its streams produce large pearls. The region lying between
the Sialkoi Mountains and the River Argun is rough and sterile,
presenting few inducements to agriculturalists. Fish abound
in all the rivers, and furs are sought in the hills. Pasturage is
excellent in the bottoms. Fairs, between the natives and Cossacks,
are constantly held at convenient places on the Argun
and other rivers. The racial distinction between the Mongols
and Manchus is here seen in the agricultural labors of the latter,
so opposed to the nomadic habits of the former. This
region has, within the last half century, attracted Chinese settlers
from Shantung and Chihli. These colonists are fast filling
up the vacant lands along the rivers, dispossessing the Manchus
by their thrift and industry, and making the country far more
valuable. They will in this way secure its possession to the
Peking Government, and bring it, by degrees, under Chinese
control, greatly to the benefit of all. In early days the policy
of the Manchus, like that of the E. I. Company in India towardg
British immigration, discountenanced the entrance of Chinese
settlers, and in both cases to the disadvantage of the ruling
power.
The administration of Manchuria consists of a supreme civil
200 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
government at Mukden, and three provincial military one.’-,
though Shingking is under both civil and military. There are
live Boards, each under a president, whose duties are analogous
to those at Peking. The oversight of the city itself is under a
fiiyia or mayor, superior to the prefect. The three provinces
are under as many marshals, whose subordinates rule the conimanderies,
and these last have garrison officers subject to them,
whose rank and power correspond to the size and importance of
their districts. These delegate part of their power to ” assistant
directors,” or residents, who are stationed in every town ; on
the frontier posts, the officers have a higher grade, and report
directly to the marshals or their lieutenants. All the officers,
both civil and military, are Manchus, and a great portion of
them belong to the imperial clan, or are intimately connected
with it. By this arrangement, the Manchus are in a measure
disconnected with the general government of the provinces,
furnished wnth offices and titles, and induced to recommend
themselves for promotion in the Empire by their zeal and fidelity
in their distant posts.’
Mongolia is the first in order of the colonies, by which are
meant those parts of the Empire under the control of the Ll-fan
Yaen, or Foi’eign Office.” According to the statistics of the
Empire, it comprises the region lying between lats. 35° and 52°
X., and from long. 82° to 123° E. ; bounded north by the
Russian governments of Trans-Baikalia, L’kutsk, Yeniseisk,
Tomsk, and Semipolatinsk ; northeast and east by Manchuria
;
south by the provinces of Chihli and Shansi, and the Yellow
River ; southwest by Kansuh ; and west by Cobdo and Ili.
These limits are not very strictly marked at all points, but the
lengtli from east to west is about seventeen hundred miles,
and one thousand in its greatest breadth, inclosing an area of
‘ Rev. Alex. Williamson, Travels in Northern China. London, 1870.
Vol. II., Chaps. I. to XIV. ; Chinene Reposltorij, Vols. IV., p. 57 ; XV., p. 454 -,
Phinene Itecorder, Vol. VII., \HH\, ” The Ris« and Progress of the Maujows,”
by J. Ross, pp. 155, 2;}5, and ;515.
” Compare Niebuhr’s Flistori/ of Rome, Vol. II., Sect. “Of the Colonies,”
where can be observed the essential differences between Roman settlements
abroad and those of the Chinese ; and still greater differences will be fonnd in
contrasting these with the offsets of Grecian States.
CLIMATE AXU DIVISIOXS OF MONGOLIA. 201
1,400,000 square miles, supporting an estimated population uf
two millions. This elevated plain is almost destitute of wood
or water, inclosed southward by the mountains of Tibet, and
northward by offsets from the Altai range. The central part
is occupied by the desert of Gobi, a barren steppe having an
average height of 4,000 feet above the sea level, and destitute
of all running water. Owing to its elevation, extremely vari.:-
l)le climate, and the absence of oases, it may be considered quite
as terrible as Sahara, although the sand-waste liere is, perhaps,
hardly as unmitigated.
The climate of Mongolia is excessively cold for the latitude,
arising partly from its elevation and dry atmosphere, and, on
the steppes, to the want of shelter from the winds. But this
has its compensation in an unclouded sky and the genial rays of
the sun, which support and cheer the people to exertion when
the thermometer is far below zero. The air has been drained of
its moisture by the ridges on every side ; day after day the
sun’s heat reaches the eartli with smaller loss than obtains in
moister regions in the same latitudes. Otherwise these wastes
would support no life at all at such an elevation. In the districts
bordering on Chihli, the people make their houses partly
under ground, in order to avoid the inclemency of the season.
The soil in and upon the confines of this high land is unfit for
agricultural purposes, neither snow nor rain falling in suflicient
quantities, except on the acclivities of the mountain ranges ;
but millet, barley, and wheat might be raised north and south
of it. The nomads rejoice in their freedom from tillage, however,
and move about with their herds and possessions Avithin
the limits marked out by the Chinese for each tribe to occupy.
The space on the north of Gobi to the confines of Russia,
about one hundred and fifty miles wide, is warmer than the
desert, and supports a greater population than the southern
sides. Cattle arc numerous on the hilly tracts, but none are
found in the desert, where wild animals and birds hold undisputed
possession. The thermometer in winter sinks to thirty
and forty degrees below zero (Fr.), and sudden and great
changes are frequent. Xo month in the year is free from snow
or frost ; but on the steppes, the heat in summer is almost
202 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
intolerable, owing to the radiation from the sandy or stony
surface. The snow does not fall very deep, and even in cold
weather the cattle find food under it ; the flocks and herds are
not, however, large.
The principal divisions of Mongolia are four, viz. : 1, Inner
Mongolia, lying between the Wall and south of the desert ; 2,
Outer Mongolia, between the desert and the Altai Mountains,
and reaching from the Inner Iling-an to the Tien shan ; 3, the
country about Koko-nor, between Kansuh, Sz’chuen, and Tibet
;
and, 4, the dependencies of Uliasutai, lying northwestward of
the Kalkas khanates. The whole of this region has been included
under the comprehensive name of Tartary, and if the
limits of Inner and Outer Mongolia had been the bounds of Tartary,
the appellation would have been somewhat appropriate.
But when Genghis arose to power, he called his own tribe
Kitkai Mongol^ ‘ Celestial People,’ and designated all the
other tribes Tatars^ that is ‘ tributaries.’ ‘ The three tribes of
Kalkas, Tsakhars, and Sunnites, now constitute the great body
of Mongols under Chinese rule.
Inner Mongolia, or Nui MunyJcu, is bounded north by
Tsitsihar, the Tsetsen khanate, and Gobi, their frontiers being
‘ Abulgasi-Bayadui-clian (lIi»toire Genenlogique des Tatars, traduite du
Manuscript Tartare ; Leyde : 172G), gives another derivation for these two
names. ” Alanza-chan eut deux lils jumeaiix I’un appelle Tatar and I’autre
Mogull oil pour bien dire Muiig’l, entre les quels il partagea ses Estates lorsqu’il
se vit sur la fin de sa vie.” It is the first prince, he adds, from whom
came the name Tartar—not from a river called Tata, as some liave .stated—
wliile of the second : ” Le terme Mung’l a ests change par une corruption generale
en Mogull ; Mung vent dire trMe on un homme triste, et i)aroeque ce
prince estoit naturellement d’une humeur fort triste, il porta ce nom dans la
verite”—(pp. 27-29). But Visdelon (D’Herbelot, ed. 1778, Tome IV., p. 327)
shows more acquaintance with their history in producing proofs that the name
Tatar was applied in the eightli century by the Chinese to certain tribes living
north of the in shan, Ala shan, and River Liau. In the dissensions following
upon the ruin of the Tang dynasty, some of them migrated eastwards beyond
the Songari, and there in time rallied to subdue the northern provinces,
under the name of Nu-cldh. These are the ancestors of the Manchus. Another
fraction went north to the marshy banks of Lakes Hurun and Puyur,
where they received the name of Moungul Tahtsz\ i.e., Marsh Tatars. This
tribe and name it was that the warlike Genghis afterwards made conspicuous
The sound Mogul used in India is a dialectal variation.
TRIBES OF INNER MONGOLIA. 203
almost luidefinable ; east by Ivirin and Sliingking ; south hy
Chihli and Shansi ; and west by Kansuli. Wherever it runs
the Wall is popularly regarded as the boundary between China
and Mongolia. The country is divided into six m/’nj or clialkans^
like our corps, and twenty-four aimahs ‘ (tribes), which are
again placed under forty-nine standards or Ihochoun^ each of
which generally includes about two thousand families, commanded
l)y hereditary princes, or dsassaks. The principal
tribes are the Kortchin and Ortous. The large tribe of the
Tsakhars, which occupies the region north of the Wall, is governed
by a tatanfj, or general, residing at Kalgan, and their
pasture gi-ounds are now nominally included in the province of
Chihli. The province of Shansi in like manner includes the
lands occupied by the Toumets, who are under the control of a
general stationed at Suiyuen, beyond the Yellow E-iver. In the
pastures northwest from Kalgan, in the vicinity of Lakes
Chazau and Ichi, and reaching more than a hundred miles from
the Great Wall, lie the tracts appropriated to raising horses for
the ” Yellow Banner Corps.” Excepting such grazing lands or
the vast hunting grounds near Jeh-lio, reserved in like manner
by the government, small settlements of Chinese are continually
squatting over the plains of Inner Mongolia, from whence they
have already succeeded in driving many of the aboriginal Mongol
tribes off to the north. Those natives who will not retire
are fain to save themselves from starvation or absorption by
cultivating the soil after the fashion of their neighbors, the
Chinese immigrants. It was, indeed, this influx of settlers
which led Ivanghi to erect the southern portion of Inner Mongolia
into prefectures and districts like China Proper. This
alteration of habits among its population seems destined, ere
long, to modify the aspect of the country.
Most of the smaller tribes, except the Ortous, live between
the western frontiers of Manchuria, and the steppes reaching
north to the Sialkoi range, and south to Chahar. These tribes
are peculiarly favored by the Manchus, from their having joined
them in their conquest of China, and their leading men are
‘ Abulgasi (p. 8:’) fviniislies a notice of these aiinaks and their origin.
204 thp: middle kingdom.
often promoted to liigh stations in the government of the
country.
OcjTEK Mongolia, or Wal Muivjhu^ is the wild tract Iving
north of the last as far as Russia. It is bounded north bv
Russia, east by Tsitsihar, southeast and south by Inner Mongolia,
southwest by Bai’kul in Kansuli, west by Tarbagatai,
and northwest by Cobdo and Uliasutui. The desert of CJobi
occupies the southern half of the i-egion. It is divided into
four lu^ or circuits, each of which is governed by a khan or
prince, claiming direct descent fi’om Genghis, and superintending
the internal management of his own khanate. The Tsetseu
khanate lies west of Ilurun-pir in Tsitsiliar, extending from
Russia south to Inner Mongolia. West of it, reaching from
Siberia across the desert to Inner Mongolia, lies the Tuchetu
(or Tut<letii of Klaproth’) khanate, the most considerable of the
four ; the road fi’om Iviakhta to Ivalgan lies within its borders.
“West of the last, and bounded south by Gobi and northeast
by Uliasutai, lies the region of the Kalkas of Sainnoin ; and on
its northwest li(3S the Dsassaktu khanate, south of Uliasutai,
and reaching to Barkul and Cobdo on the south and west. All
of them are politically under the control of two IManchu residents
stationed at I’rga, who direct the mutual interests of the
Mongols, Chinese, and Russians.
Ilrga, or Ivuren, the capital, is situated in the Tuchetu khanate,
in lat. 48° 20′ X., and long. 1()T^° E., on the Tola River, a
branch of the Selenga. It is the largest and most important
place in Mongolia, and is divided into ^fahiia’i cJi’tn, the Chinese
quartei’, and Jhxjdo-Iviu’c’ii^ the Mongol settlement, nearly
three miles from the other. Its total population is estimated at
30,000, the Chinese inhabitants of M’hich are forbidden by law
to live with their families ; of the Mongols here, by far the larger
part is composed of lamas. In the estimation of these people
Ilrga stands next to Il’lassa in degree of sanctity, being the seat
of the third person in the Tibetan 2)atriarchate. According to
the Lama doctrine this dignitary—the Kutuktu—is the terrestrial
impersonation of the Godhead and never dies, but passes.
‘ Meinoires, Tome I., p. 3.
OUTER MONGOLIA. 205
after lils apparent decease, into the body of some newly born
boy, who is songlit for afterwards according to the prophetic
indications of the Dalai-lania in Tibet. Tliis holy potentate,
thongh of limited education and entirely nnder the control of
the attendant lamas, exercises an nnbonnded influence over the
Kalkas. It is, indeed, by means of him that the Chinese officials
control the native I’aces of Mongolia. His wealth, owing to
contributions of enthusiastic devotees, is enoi-mous ; in and
about Urga he owns 150,000 slaves, an abundance of worldly
goods, and the most pretentious palace in Mongolia. Outside
of its religious buildings, Urga is disgustingly dirty ; the filth
is thrown into the streets, and the habits of the people are
loathsome. Decrepid beggars and starving dogs infest the
Avays ; dead bodies, instead of being interred, are flung to birds
and beasts of prey ; Imts and liovels afford shelter for both rich
and poor.*
The four khanates constitute one ahaah or tribe, subdivided
into eighty-six standards, each of which is restricted to a certain
territory, within which it wanders about at pleasure. There
are altogether one hundred and thirty-five standards of the
Mongols. The Kalkas chiefiy live between the Altai Mountains
and Gobi, but do not cultivate the soil to much effect.
They are devoted to Buddhism, and the lamas hold most of the
power in their hands through the KatfiMu. They render an
annual tribute to the Emperor of horses, camels, sheep, and
other animals or their skins, and receive presents in return of
many times its value, so that they are kept in subjection by
constant bril)ing ; the least restiveness on their part is visited
by a reduction of presents and other penalties. An energetic
government, however, is not wanting in addition. The supreme
tribunal is at Urga ; it is the yaiiiKii, par excellence, and has
both civil and military jurisdiction. The decisions are subject
to the revision of the two Chinese residents, and sentences
are usually carried into execution after their confirmation.
The punishments are horribly sev^ere ; but only a decided
‘ Prejevalsky, Monrjolia, Vol. I. ; Pumpelly, Across America, pp. 382-385 ;
Michie, Across Siberia.
206 THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and cruel hand over these wild tribes can keep them from constant
strife.
Letters are encouraged among them by the Manchus, but
Avith little success. Many Buddhist books have been translated
into Mongolian by order of the Emperors ; nor can we wonder
at the indifference to literature when this stuff is the aliment
])rovided them. Their tents, or yu/’ts, are made of wooden
laths fastened together so as to form a coarse lattice-work ; the
framework consists of several lengths securer! with ropes, leaving
a door about three feet square. The average size is twelve
feet across and ten feet high ; its shape is round and the conical
roof admits light where it emits smoke. The poles or rafters
are looped to the sides, and fastened to a hoop at the top.
Upon this framework sheets of heavy felt are secured according
to the season. A hearth in the centre holds the fire which
heats the kettle hanging over it, and warms the inmates squatted
round, who usually place only felt and sheepskins under
them. The felt protects from cold, rain, snow, and heat in a
wonderful manner. A first-class yiwt is by no means an uncomfortable
dwelling, with its furniture, lining, shrine, and hot
kettle in the centre. A carpet for sleeping and sitting on is sometimes
seen in yurts of the wealthier classes; in these, too, the
walls are lined with cotton or silk, and the floors are of wood.
The lodges of the rich Kalkas have several apartments, and are
elegantly furnished, but destitute of cleanliness, comfort, or
airiness. Most of their cloths, utensils, and arms ai’o procured
from the Chinese. The Sunnites are fewer than the Kalkas,
and roam the wide wastes of Gobi. Both derive some revenue
fi’om conducting caravans across their counti-y, but depend for
their livelihood chiefly upon the produce of their herds and
hunting. Their princes are obliged to reside in Urga, or keep
hostages there, in order that the residents nuiy direct and restrain
their conduct ; but their devotion to the Katitktu^ and
the easy life they lead, are the strongest inducements to remain.
The trade with Tlussia formerly all passed through Iviakhta,
a town near the frontier, and was carried on by special agents
and officials appointed by each nation. The whole business
was managed in the interest of the govermnent, and its ramiK-
IAKHTA AND THE TRADE WITH RUSSIA. 207
fications furnished employment, position, and support to so
many persons as to form a bond of union and guaranty of peace
between them and their subjects. Timkowski’s jonrney with
the decennial mission to Peking in 1820-21 furnishes one of
the best accounts of this trade and intercourse now accessible,
and with Klaproth’s notes, given iti the English translation
published in 1827, has long been the chief reliable authority
for the divisions and organization of the Mongol tribes. Since
the opening of the Suez Canal, through which Russian steamers
carry goods to and fro between Odessa and China, the largest
portion of the Chinese produce no longer goes to Kiakhta.
That which is required for Siberia is sent from Hankow by way
of Shansi’, or from Kalgan and Tientsin, under the direction of
Russian merchants at those places. Furs, which once formed
the richest part of this produce, are gradually diminishing in
quality and quantity wdth the increase of settlers. In 1843 the
export of black tea for Russian consumption was only eight
millions of pounds, besides the brick tea taken by the Mongols.
Cottrell states the total value of the trade, annually, at that
period, at a hundred millions of rubles, reckoned then to be equal
to $20,830,000, on w^hich the Russians paid, in 1836, about
$2,500,000 as import duty. The data respecting this trade of
forty years ago are not very accurate, probably ; the monopoly
was upheld mostly for the benefit (.>f the officials, as private
traders found it too much burdened.
Kiakhta is a haudet of no importance apart from the trade.
The frontier here is marked by a row of granite columns ; a stockade
separates it from Maimai chin. Pumpelly says : ” One
can hardly imagine a sharper line than is here drawn. On the
one side of the stockade wall, the houses, churches, and people
are European, on the other, Chinese. With one step the traveller
passes really from Asia and Asiatic customs and language,
into a refined European society.’” The goods pay duty at the
Russian douane in a suburb of fifty houses, near Kiakhta. The
Chinese town is also a small place, numbering between twelve
and fifteen hundred men (no women being allowed in the settlement)
who lived in idleness most of the year. This curious
haudet has two principal streets crossing at right angles, and gates at the four ends, in the wooden muU which surrounds it.
These streets are badly paved, while their narrowness barely allows the passage of two camels abreast. The one-storied houses are constructed of wood, roofed Avith turf or boards, and consist of two small rooms, one used as a shop and the other as a bedroom. The windows in the rear apartment are made of oiled paper or mica, but the door is the only opening in the shop.
The dwellings are kept clean, the furniture is of a superior description, and considerable taste and show are seen in displaying the goods. The traders live hixuriously, and attract a great crowd there during the fair in February, when the goods are exchanged. They are under the control of a Manchu, called the dzargneh’i, who is appointed for three years, and superintends the police of the settlement as Mell as the commercial proceedings. There are two Buddhist temples here served by lamas, and containing five colossal images sitting cross-legged, and numerous smaller idols.’
The western portion of Mongolia, between the meridians of
84^ and *JG^ E., extending from near the western extremity of
Kansuh province to the confines of Russia, comprising Uliasutai
and its dependencies, Cobdo, and the Kalkas and Tom–gouths of the Tangini JNEountains, is less kiunvn than any other part of it. The residence of the superintending officer of this province is at [Tliasutai (i.e., ‘ Poplar drove ‘), a tt»wn lying northwest of the Seleuira, in the khanate of Sainnoin, in a wiill cultivated and pleasant valley.
Conno, according to the ( 1iin(\se ma])s, lies in the northwest of Mongolia ; it isbounded north and west by the government Yeniseisk, northeast by I’lianghai, and southeast by the Dsassakt.i khanate, south by Kansidi, and west by Tarbagatai. The part occupied by the Ulianghai or Fi-iyangkit tribes of the Tangmi ^lountains lies northeast of ( ‘olxlo, and nctrth of the Sainnoin and Dsassaktu khanates, and separated from Kussia by the Altai.
These tribes are allied to the Samoj^eds, and the i ule over th(Mn is ^CoiirAV?, Recollections of Sibena, Chap. IX., p. 314; Timkowski’s T/aveU, Vol. I., ])p. 4-91, 1821 ; PumpHlly, Acnm America and Asia, p. ;]S7, 1871 ; Klapi-oth, Memoires, Toiuu I., p. (Jo ; Kittor, J),’e Erdkuiule run Asien, Bd. II., l>l.. 11)8-1220.
THE PROVINCE OF COBDO. 200
administered bv twenty-five siiljordinate military officers, subject
to the resident at Uliasutai. This city is said to contain
about two tliousand liouses, is regularly built, and carries on
some trade with Urga ; it lies on the Iro, a tributary of the
Jabkan. Cobdo comprises eleven tribes of Kalkas divided into
thirty-one standards, whose princes obey an amban at Cobdo
City, himself subordinate to the resident at Uliasutai. The
Chinese rule over these tribes is conducted on the same principles
as that over the other IVLjngols, and they all render fealty to
the Emperor through the chief resident at Uliasutai, but liow
much obedience is really paid his orders is not known. The
Kalkas submitted to the Emperor in 1688 to avoid extinction in
their war with the Eleuths, by whom they had been defeated.
Cobdo contains several lakes, many of which I’eceivc rivers without having any outlet. The largest is Upsa-nor, which receives from the east the Kiver Tes, and the Iki-aral-nor into which the Jabkan runs. The Hiver Irtysh falls into Lake Dzaisang.
The existence of so many rivers indicates a more fertile country north of the Altai or Ektag Mountains, but no bounties of nature would avail to induce the inhabitants to adopt settled modes of living and cultivate the soil, if such a clannish state of society exists among them as is described by M. Levchine to be the case among their neighbors, the Kirghis.
The tribes in Cobdo resemble the American Lidians in their habits, disputes, and modes of life, more than the eastern Kalkas, who approximate in their migratory character to the Arabs.
The province of Qinghai, or Koko-nor (called Tsok-gumbam by the Tanguts), is not included in Mongolia by European geographers, nor in the Chinese statistical works is it comprised within its borders ; the inhabitants are, however, mostly Mongols, both Buddhist and Moslem, and the government is conducted on the same plan as that over the Kalkas tribes further north.
This region is known in the histories of Central Asia under the names of Tangout, Sifan, Turfan, etc. On Chinese maps it is politically called Qinghai(‘Azure Sea’), but in their books is named Si Tn or Si Yi/t, ‘ western Limits.’ The borders are now limited on the north by Kansuh, southeast by Sz’chuen, south by Anterior Tibet, and west by the desert, comprising about four degrees of latitude and eleven of longitude. It includes within its limits several large lakes, which receive rivers into their bosoms, and many of them having no outlets.
The Azure Sea is the largest, lying at an altitude of 10,500 feet and overlooked by high mountains, which in winter are covered with snow, and in summer form an emerald frame that deepens the blueness of the Avater. . It is over 200 miles in circuit, and its evaporation is replaced by the inflowing waters of eight large streams ; oue small islet contains a monaster}’, whose inmates are freed from their solitude only when the ice makes a bridge, as no boat is known to have floated on its salt
water. The wide, moist plains on the east and west furnish
pasturage for domestic and wild animals, and constant collisions
occur between the tribes resorting there for food. The travels
of Abbe Hue and Col. Prejevalsky furnish nearly all that is
known concerning the productions and inhabitants of Koko-nor.
The country is nominally divided into thirty-four banners, and
its Chinese rulers reside at Si’ning, east of the lake ; but they
have more to do in defending themselves than in protecting
their subjects. The Avhole country is occupied by the Tanguts
of Til)etan origin, who are brigands by profession, and roam
over the mountains around the headwaters of the Yangtsz’ and
Yellow Kivers ; by the Mohammedan Dunganis, who have latterly
been nearly destroyed in their recent rebellion ; and by
tribes of Mongols under the various names of Eleuths, Kolos,
Kalkas, Surgouths, and Koits. The Chinese maps are filled
with names of various tribes, but their statistical accounts are as
meagre of information as the maps are deficient in accurate and
satisfactory delineations.
THE PROVINCE AND LAKE OF KOKO-NOR. 211
The topographical features of this region are still imperfectly known, and its inhospitable climate is rendered more dangerous by man’s barbarity. High mountain masses alternate with narrow valleys and a few large depressions containing lakes ; the country lying south of the Azure Sea, as far as Burmah, is exceedingly mountainous. “West and southwest of the lake extends the plain of Chaidamu, which at a recent geological age has been the bed of a huge lake; it is now covered with morasses, shaking bogs, small rivers, and sheets of water—the most considerable of the latter bemg Lake Kara, in the extreme western portion.
The saline argillaceous soil of this region is not adapted to vegetation. Large animals are scarce, due in part to the plague of
insects which compels even the natives to retreat to the mountains
with their herds during certain seasons. Its inhabitants
are the same as those of Eastei-n Koko-nor ; thej are divided
into five banners, and number about 1,000 yurts^ or 5,000 souls.
The Burkhan-buddha range forms the southern boundary of
this plain, and the northernmost limit of the lofty plateau of
Tibet. Its length from east to west is not far from 130 miles,
its eastern extremity being near the Yegrai-ula (the near sources
of the Yellow Eiver) and Toso-nor. The range has no lofty
peaks, and stretches in an unbroken chain at a height of 15,000
to 16,000 feet ; it is terribly barren, but does not attain the
line of perpetual snow. The southern range, which separates
the headwaters of the Yellow and Yangtsz’ Rivers, is called the
Bayan-kara Mountains ; that northw^est of this is called on
Chinese maps, Kilien shan and Kan shan, and bounds the desert
on the south. On the northern declivities of the T^an shan
range are several towns lying on or near the road leading across
Central Asia, which leaves the valley of the Yellow Eiver at
Lanchau, in Kansuh, and runs X.X.W. over a rough country to
Liangchau, a town of some importance situated in a fertile and
populous district. From this place it goes northwest to Kanchau,
noted for its manufactures of felted cloths which are in
demand among the Mongol tribes of Koko-nor, and where large
quantities of rhubarb, horses, sheep, and other commodities are
procured. Going still northwest, the traveller reaches Suhchau,
the last large place before passing the Great Wall, which renders
it a mart for provisions and all articles brought from the
west in exchange for the manufactures of China. This city
was the last stronghold of the Dungani Moslems, and when
they were destroyed in 1873 it began to revive out of its ruins.
About fifty miles from this town is the pass of Kiayii, beyond
which the road to Hami, Urumtsi, and 111 leads directly across
the desert, here about three hundred miles wide. This route
has been for ages the line of internal communication between the west of China and the regions lying around and in the basins of the Tarini river and the (‘asi)ian.’ A better idea of the security of traffic and caravans within the Empire, and consequently of the goodness of the Chinese rule, is obtained by comparing the usually safe travel on this route with the hazards, robberies, and poverty formerly met with on the great roads in ]5okhara, and the regions south and west of the Belur tag.
The productions of Koko-nor consist of grain and other vegetables raised along the bottoms of the rivers and margins of the lakes ; sheep, cattle, horses, camels, and other aninuds. Alpine liares, wild asses,’ wild yaks, vultures, lammergeiers, pheasants, antelopes, wolves, mountain sheep, and wild camels are among the denizens of the wilds. The Chinese have settled among the tribes, and Mohammedans of Turkish origin are found in the large towns. There are eight corps between Koko-nor and
Iliasutai, comprising all the tribes and banners, and over which
are placed as many supreme generals or commanders appointed
from Peking. The leading tribes in Ivoko-nor are Eleuths,
Tanguts, and Tourbeths, the former of M’hom are the remnants
of one of the most powerful tribes in Centi-al Asia. Tangout
submitted to the Emperor in 1G90, and its population since the
incorporation has greatly increased. They iidiabit the hilly region
of Kansuh, Ivoko-nor^ Eastern Tsaidam, and the basin of
the Upper Yellow Kiver. They resemble gipsies, being above
the average in height, with thick-set features, broad shoulders,
liair and whiskers, black, dark eyes, nose straight, lips thick
and protruding, face long and never flat, skin tawny. Unlike
the Mongols aiul Chinese they have a strong growth of beard
and whiskers which, however, they always shave. They wear
no tail, Ijut shave their heads; their dress consists of furs and
cloths made into long coats that reach to the knees. Shirts or
trowsers are not made use of ; their upper logs are generally
left bare. Women dress like the men. Their habitations are wooden huts or black cloth tents. The Tangut is cunning,
‘Compare Richthofen, China, Band I., 2or Thoil. ; Yulo, Cathaij and t/ie Way Thither, passim.
•The wild ass is called by Prejevalsky the most remarkable animal of these steppes. Compare Yule’s Marco Polo, Vol. I., p. 220 (2d edition).
THE TANGUTS AND NOMADS OF KOKO-NOR. 218
stingy, lazy, and sliiftless. His sole occupation that of tending
cattle (yaks). He is even more zealous a Buddhist than are the
Mongols, and extremely superstitious.” The trade at Sining is
large, but not equal to that between Yunnan and Burniah at
Tall and Bhamo ; dates, rhubarb, chowries, precious stones, felts,
cloths, etc., are among the commodities seen in the bazaar. It
lies about a hundred miles from the sea, at an elevation of
V,800 feet, and near it is the famous laraasary of Ivunibum,
where MM. Hue and Gabet lived in 1845. The town is well
situated upon the Sining ho, and though constructed for the
most part of wood, presents a fine appearance owing to the
number of official buildings therein. The population numbers
some 00,00(1 souls.”
‘ For a notice of the Ouigours, who formerly ruled Tangout, consult Klaproth, Memmres, Tome II., p. 301, if. See also Remusat, Nouveaux Melanges Asiati’ques, Tome II., p. 61, for a notice of the Ta-ta tung’o, who applied their letters to write Mongolian.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 113; Vol. I., p. 118. Penny Cyclopaedia, Arts. Bayan Kara, Tangut. Kreitner, Imfemen Osten, p. 703. Hue, Tr^i*-els, passim.
The towns lying between the treat Wall and ill, though politically belonging to Xansuh, are more connected with the colonies in their form of government than with the Eighteen Provinces. The first town beyond the Kiayii Pass is Yulimim, distant about ninety miles, and is the residence of officers, who attend to the caravans going to and from the pass. It is represented as lying near the junction of two streams, which flow northerly into the Purunki. The other district town of Tunhwang lies across a mountainous country, upwards of two hundred miles distant. The city of Xgansi chau has been built to facilitate the communication across the desert to Hami or Kamil, the first town in Songaria, and the depot of troops, arms, and munitions of Avar. “With the town of Hami,” says an Austrian visitor in these regions, ” the traveller comes upon the southern foot-hills of the Tien shan, and the first traces of Siberian civilization. Magnificent mountain scenery accompanies him on his way toward the west to the Pussian line. In the government of Semipolatinsk are the express mail-wagons wliicli stand ready at his order to carry him at furious speed to the town of the same name, then to the right bank of the River Irtjsh, and so to Omsk.” ‘ This route and that stretching towards the southwest bring an important trade to llanii ; the country around it is cuUivated by poor Mongols.” Barkul, or Chinsi fu, in hit. 43° 40′ ]X., and long. 93° 30’ E., is the most important place in the department ; the district is called Iho hien. A thousand Manchus, and three thousand Chinese, guard the post. The town is situated on the south of Lake Barkul, and its vicinity receives some cultivation, llami and Turfan each form a ihi(j district in the southeast and west of the department. The trade at all these places consists mostly of articles of food and clothing.
Urumtsi, c)r Tih-hwa chau (the Bivh-halih of the Ouigours in 1100 % in hit. 43° 45′ N., and long. 89° E., is the westernmost department of Kansuh, divided into three districts, and containing many posts and settlements. In the war with the Eleuths in 1770, the inhabitants around this place were exterminated, and the countiy afterwards repeopled by upwards of ten thousand troops, with their families, and by exiles; emigrants from Kansuh were also induced to settle there. The Chinese accounts
speak of a high monntain near the city, always covered
with ice and snow, whose base is wooded, and abounding with
pheasants ; coal is also obtained in this region. The cold is
great, and snow falls as late as July. Many parts produce
grain and vegetables. All this department formerly constituted
a portion of Songaria. The policy of the Chinese government
is to induce the tribes to settle, by placing large bodies of troops
with their families at all important points, and sending their
exiled criminals to till the soil ; the Mongols then find an increasing demand for their cattle and other products, and are induced to become stationary to meet it. So far as is known, this policy had succeeded well in the regions beyond the Wall, and those around Koko-nor ; but the rebellion of the Dunganis, who arose in these outlying regions at the moment when the energies of the Peking government were all directed to suppressing the Tai-ping insurrection, destroyed these improvements, and frustrated, for an indefinite period, the promising development of civilization among the inhabitants.
‘ Lieut. Krcitner, Imfernen Osten.
” In Remusat’s Ilii^toire de la VUle de Khotun (p. 70) there is an account of a journey made in the lOth century between Kanchan and Klioten.
^ Remusat calls it PciUiUope. Nouveaux MelamjeSy Tome I., p. 5.
DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF ILI. 215
That part of the Empire called Ili is a vast region lying on
each side of the Tien shan, and including a tract nearly as large
as Mongolia, and not much more susceptible of cultivation. Its
limits may be stated as extending from lat. 36° to 49° K., and
from long. 71° to 96° E., and its entire area, although difficult
to estimate from its irregularity, can hardly be less than 900,000
square miles, of which Songaria occupies rattier more than onethird.
It is divided into two Lu^ or ‘ Circuits,’ viz., the Tien
shan Pell Lu, and Tien shan Nan Lu, or the circuits north and
south of the Celestial Mountains. The former is commonly
designated Songaria, or Dzungaria, from the Songares or
Eleuths, who ruled it till a few scores of years past, and the latter
used to be known as Little Bokhara, or Eastern Turkestan.
tli is bounded north by the Altai range, separating it from
the Kirghls ; northeast by the Irtysh Piver and Outer Mongolia
; east and southeast by ITrumtsi and Barkul in Ivansuh ;
south by the desert and the Ivwanlun range ; and west by the
Belur-tag, dividing it from Badakshan and Russian territory.’
‘ The recent treaty between Russia and China (ratified in 1881), marks the boundaries between Ili and Russian territory in the following sections: Art. VII. A tract of country in the west of Ili is ceded to Russia, where those who go over to Russia and are thereby dispossessed of their land in tli may settle. The boundary line of Chinese tli and Russian territory will stretch from the Pieh-chen-tao [Bedschin-tau] Mountains along the course of the Hocrh-kwo-ssU [Yehorsos] River, to its junction with the Ili River, thence across the 111 River, and south to the east of the village of Kwo-li-cha-ti”‘ [Kaldschatl on the Wu-tsung-tau range, and from this point south along the old boundary line fixed by the agreement of Ta-Cheng [Tashkend] in the year 1864.
Art. VIII. The boundary line to the east of the Chi-sang lake, fixed iu the year 1864 by the agreement of Ta-Cheng [Tashkend], having proved unsatisfactory, high officers will be specially deputed by both countries jointly to examine and alter it so that a satisfactory result may be attained. That there may be no doubt what part of the Kliassak country belongs to China and what to Russia, the boundary will consist of a straight line drawn from the Kwei Tung Mountains across the Hei-i-erh-te-shih River to the Sa-wu-crh range, and Ill lenoftli, the Northern Circuit extends about nine hundred miles, and the width, on an average, is three hundred miles. The Southern Circuit reaches nearly twelve hundred and fifty miles from west to east, and varies from three hundred to five hundred in breadth, as it extends to the IvM’unhm range on the south. There is probably most arable land in the Northern Circuit.
Ili, taken north of the Tarim basin, may be regarded as an
inland isthmus, extending southwest from the south of Siberia,
off between the Gobi and Caspian deserts, till it reaches the
Hindu Kush, leading down to the valley of the Indus. The
former of these deserts incloses it on the east and south, the
other on the west and northwest, separated from each other by
the Belur and Muz-tag ranges, which join with the Tien shan,
that divide the isthmus itself into t\\o parts. These deserts
united are equal in extent to that of Sahara, l)ut are not as arid
and tenantless.
This region has some peculiar features, among which its great
elevation, its isolation in respect to its water-courses, and the
character of its vegetation, are the most remarkable. Songaria
is especially noticeable for the many closed river-basins which
occur between the Altai and Tien shan, among the various
liiinor ranges of hills, each of which is entirely isolated, and
containing a lake, the receptacle of its drainage. The largest
of these singular basins is that of the Kiver 111, which runs
about three hundred miles westward, from its rise in the Tien
shan (lat. 85°) till it falls into Lake Balkash, which also receives
some other streams ; the superficies of the whole basin is about forty thousand square miles. The other lakes lie northeastward of Balkash ; the largest of them are the Dzaisang, which receives the Irtysh, the Kisilbasli, into which the ITrungu the liigli of Beors deputed to settle the boundiuy will fix the iit>\v boundary .along such straight line which is within the old bounchxry.
Art. IX. As to the boundary on the west, between the Province of Fei-rrhkan[Ferghana], which is subject to Russia, and Chinese Kashgar, officials will be deputed V)y both countries to examine it, and they will fix the boundary line between the territories at present actually under the jurisdiction of either country, and they will erect boundary stones thereon.
TOPOGRAPHY OF ILI. 217
flows, and four or five smaller ones between them, lying north
of the city of III. Lake Tenmrtu, or Issik-kul, lies now just
beyond the southwestern part of this Circuit, and was until
recently contained therein. This sheet of water is deep and
never freezes ; it is brackish, but full of fish ; the dimensions
are about one liundred miles long, and thirty-five wide ; its
superabundant waters flow oif through the Chu ho into the
Xirghis steppe.
The Ala-tau range defines the lake on the north shore. Says
a Hussian traveller in describing this region, ” It M^ould be difl[icnlt
to imagine anything more splendid than the view of the
Tien shan from this spot. The dark blue surface of the Issikkul,
like sapphire, may M’ell bear comparison with the equally
blue surface of Geneva Lake, but its expanse—five times as
great—seeming almost unlimited, and the matchless splendor of
its background, gives it a grandeur which the Swiss lake does
not possess. The unbroken, snowy chain liere stretches away
for at least 200 miles of the length of the Issik-kul ; the sharp
outlines of the spurs and dark valleys in the front range are
softened by a thin mist, which hangs over the water and
heightens the clear, sharp outlines of the white heads of the
Tien shan giants, as they rise and glisten on the azure canopy
of a central Asian sky. The line of perpetual snow connnences
at three-fifths of their slope up, but as one looks, their snowless
base seems to sink the deeper in the far east, till the waves of
the lake seem to wash the snowy crests of Ivhan-Tengse.” Forty
small rivers flow into it, but its size is gradually lessening.’
Little is known concerning the topography, the productions,
or the civilization of the tribes who inhabit a large part of Songaria,
but the efforts of the Chinese government have been
systematically directed to developing its agricultural resources,
by stationing bodies of troops, who cultivate the soil, there, and
by banishing criminals thither, who are obliged to work for and
assist the troops. It gives one a higher idea of the rulers of
China, themselves wandering nomads originally, when they are
seen carrying on such a plan for extending the capabilities of
these remote parts of their Empire, and teaching, partly by force, partly by bribes, and partly by example, the Mongol tribes under them the advantages of a settled life.
‘ Compare also Schuyler, Turkistan, Vol. II., pp. 137 ff
The productions of Songaria are nnmerons. Wheat, barley,
rice and millet, are the chief corn stuffs ; tobacco, cotton, melons,
and some fruits, are grown ; herds of horses, camels, cattle, and
sheep, afford means of locomotion and food to the people, while
the mountains and lakes supply game and fish. The inhabitants
are composed mostly of Eleuths, with a tribe of Tourgouths,
and remnants of the Songares, together with Mongols, Manchus,
and Chinese troops, settlers and criminals.
TiEN-SHAN Peh Lu is divided by the Chinese into three commanderies, llh, on the west, Tarhagatai on the north, and Kurkara usu on the east, between Ili and the west end of Kansuh.
The government of the ISTorth and South Circuits is under the control of Manchu military officers residing at Ili. This city, called by the Chinese Ilwuiyuen ching, and Gouldja (orlvuldja) and Kuren by the natives, lies on the north bank of the Ili River, in lat. 43° 55′ K., and long. 81^° E. ; it contains about fifty thousand inhabitants, and carries on considerable trade with China through the towns in Ivansuh. The city was defended by six strong fortresses in its neighborhood, and tho solidity of the stone walls enabled it to resist a vigorous assault in the Dungani rebellion. Its circuit is nearly four miles, and two wide avenues cross its centre, dividing it into four equal parts, through each of which run many lanes. Its houses indicate the Turkish origin of its builders in their clay or adobe walls and flat roofs, and this impression is increased by the Junnna mosque of the Taranchis, and the Dungan mosque, outside of the walls. The last has a wonderful minaret built of small roofed pavilions one over another; both of them affect the Chinese architecture in their roofs, and their walls are faced with diamond-shaped tiles. The Buddhist temple has hardly been rebuilt since the city has returned to Chinese rule. The supply of meats and vegetables is constant, and the variety and quality exceed that of most other towns in the region. The population is gradually increasing with the return of peace and trade, but is still under twenty thousand, of which not one-fifth are Chinese and Manchus : the Taranchis constitute half of the whole, and Dunganis are the next in number. The province is the richest and best cultivated of all this reijion of fli : its coal, metals, and fruits are sources of prosperity, and with its return to Chinese sway under new relations in respect to Russian trade, its future is promising.
TIEN-SHAlSr PEU LU AXD THE TOWX OF KULDJA. 219
The destruction of life was dreadful at the capture of Kuldja and other towns, which were then left a heap of ruins.’
Schuyler estimates that not more than a hundred thousand people remained in the province, out of a third of a million in 1860. It is stated in Chinese works that when Amursana, the discontented chief of the Songares, applied, in 1775, to Kienlung for assistance against his rival Tawats or Davatsi, and was sent back with a Chinese army, in the engagements which ensued, more than a million of people were destroyed, and the whole country depopulated. At that time, Knldja was built by
Kienlung, and soon became a place of note. Outside of the
town are the barracks for the troops, which consist of Eleuths
and Mohammedans, as well as ]\[anchus and Chinese. Coal is
found in this region, and most of the inland rivers produce
abundance of fish, wliile wild animals and birds are numerous.
The resources of the country are, however, insufficient to meet
the expenses of the military establishment, and the presents
made to the begs, and the deficit is supplied from China.”
‘ 175,000 perished in Kuklja alone.
” The question of the existence of volcanoes in Central Asia, especially on the Knldja frontier, has always been a matter of doubt and discussion among geologists and Russian explorers. The Governor of Semiretchinsk, General Kolpakofsky, was, in 1881, able to report the discovery of the perpetual fires in the Tien shan range of mountains. The mountain Bai shan was found twelve miles northeast of Kuldja, in a basin surrounded by the massive Ailak mountains ; its fires are not volcanic, but proceed from burning coal. On the sides of the mountain there are caves emitting smoke and sulphurous gas. Mr. Schuyler, in his Turkistan, mentions that these perpetual fires in the mountains, referred to by Chinese historians, were considered by Severtzofif, a Russian, who explored the region, as being caused by the ignition of the seams of coal, or the carburetted h^’drogen gas in the seams. The same author further mentions that Captain Tosnofskey, another Russian explorer, was told of a place in the neighborhood from which steam constantly rose, and that near this crevice there had existed, from ancient times, three pits, where per sons afflicted with rheumatism or skin diseases were in the habit of bathing.Subordinate to the control of the commandant at Knldja are nine garrisoned places situated in the same valley, at each of which are bodies of Chinese convicts. The two remaining districts of Tarbagatai and Ivur-kara usu are small compared with 111 ; the first lies between Cobdo and the Kirghis steppe, and is inhabited mostly by emigrants from the steppes of the latter, who render merely a nominal subjection to the gari’isons placed over them, but are easily governed through their tribal rulers. The Tourgouths, who emigrated from Kussia in 1772, into China, are located in this district and Cobdo, as well as in the valleys of the Tekes and Kunges rivers. They have become more or less assimilated with other tribes since they were placed here. In the war with the Songares, many of the people fled from the valley of IK to this region, and after that country was
settled, they submitted to the Emperor, and partly returned to
111. The chief town, called Tuguchuk by the Kirghis, and
Suitsing cliing by the Chinese, is situated not far from the
southern base of the Tarbagatai Mountains, and contains about
six hundred houses, half of which belong to the garrison. It
is one of the nine fortified towns under the control of the commandant
at Kuldja, and a place of some trade with the Kirghis.
There are two residents stationed here, with high powers to oversee
the trade across the frontier, but their duties are inferior
in importance to those of the officials at Ilrga. 2,500 Manchu
and Chinese troops remain at this post, and since the conquest
of the country in 1772 by Kienhmg, its agricniltural products
have gradually increased under the industry of the Chinese.
The tribes dwelling in this distant province are restricted within
certain limits, and their obedience secured by presents. The
climate of Tarbagatai is changeable, and the cold weather
comprises more than half the year. The basin of Lake
Aladvul, or Alaktu-kul, occupies the southwest, and part of the
Trtysh and Lake Dzaisang the northeast, so that it is well
watered. The trade consists chiefiy of domestic animals and
cloths.
POSITION OF TIEN-SHAN NAN LU. 221
The town of Kur-kara usu lies on the Ttiver Kur, northeast from Kuldja and oti the road between it and TTrumtsi ; it ia called Kingsui ching by the Chinese. The number of troops stationed at all these posts is estimated at sixty thousand, and the total population of Songaria under two millions.
The TiEN-SHAN Kan Lit, or Southern C^ircuit of Ili,the territory
of ‘ the eight Mohammedan cities,’ was named Sin
Kiang (‘ New Frontier ‘) by Kienlung. It is less fertile than
the T^orthern Circuit, the greatest part of its area consisting of
ruffo-ed mountains or barren wastes, barelv affordino; subsistence
for herds of cattle and goats. The principal boundaries are the
Kwanlun Mountains, and the desert, separating it from Tibet on
the south ; Cashmere lies on the southwest, and Badukshan and
Kokand are separated from it on the west and northwest by
the Belur-tag, all of them defined and partitioned by the mountain
ranges over which the passes 12,000 to 16,000 feet high
furnish both defence and travel according to the season.
The greater part of this Circuit is occupied with the basin of
the Tarim or Ergu, which flows from the Belur range in four
principal branches ‘ (called from the towns lying upon their
banks the Yarkand, Kashgar, Aksu, and Khoten Rivers), and
running eastward, receives several affluents from the north and
south, and falls into Lake Lob in long. 89^ E., after a course,
including windings, of between 1,100 and 1,300 miles. Of the
river system from which this stream flows Baron Ilichthofen
says, ” the region which gives birth to this river is on a scale of
grandeur such as no other river in the world can boast. It is
girt round by a wide semicircular collar of mountains of the
loftiest and grandest character, often rising in ridges of 18,000
to 20,000 feet in height, while the peaks shoot up to 25,000 and
even 28,000 feet. The basin which fills in the horse-shoe shaped
space encompassed by these gigantic elevations, though deeply
depressed below them, stands at a height above the sea varying
from 6,000 feet at the margin to about 2,000 in the middle,
and formed the bed of an ancient sea. From its wall-like sides
on the south, west, and north, the waters rush headlong down,
and though the winds blowing from all directions deposit most
of their moisture on the remoter sides of the surrounding
‘ Wood, Jmirney to the Source of the River Oxus, p. 356. From the hills that encircle Lake Sir-i-kol rise some of the principal rivers in Asia : the Yarkand, Kashgar, Sirr, Kuner, and Oxus.
ranges, viz., the southern foot of the Himalayas, the west side
of the Paniii-, and the northern slope of the Tien shan, the
streams formed thereby windhig through the cloud-capped lofty
cradle-land, and breaking tlirough the mountain chains, reach
the old ocean bed onlj^ partly well watered. The smallest of
them disappear in the sand, others flow some distance before
expanding into a level salt basin and are there absorbed. Only
the largest, whose munber the Chinese estimate at sixty, unite
with the Tarim, a river 1,150 miles long, and therefore in
length between the Khine and Danube, but far surpassing both
in the massiveness of surrounding mountains, just as it exceeds
the Daimbe in the extent of its basin. Its tributaries foi-m
along the foot of the mountains a number of fruitful oases, and
these by means of artificial irrigation have been converted into
flourishing, cultivated states, and have played an important part
in the history of these regions.” ‘ Col. Prejevalsky’s explorations
in this totally unknown country have brought out a multitude
of facts pregnant with interest both for histoi’ical and geographical
study. Among the most important results of his discoveries is the location of Lob more than a degree to the south of its position on Chinese maps, and a consequent bend of the Tarim from its due eastern course before it reaches its outlet.
This lake, consisting of two sheets of water, the Kara-buran
and Kara-kurc’hin (or Chon-kul), lies on the edge of the deseit,
in an uniidiabited region, and surrounded by great swamps,
which extend also northwest along the Tarim to its junction
with the Kaidu. It is shallow, overgrown with weeds, and is
for the most part a morass, the water being fresh, despite the sail
marshes in the vicinity. The people living near it speak a language
most like that of Ivhoten ; they are Moslems. Lake Lob is elliptical, 90 to 100 versts long and 20 wide, 2,200 feet above the sea. Enormous flocks of birds come from Khoten on the southwest, as they go north, and make Lob-nor their stopping-place. The desert in this region is poor and desolate in the extreme.
‘ RicJitJioferi’ s Bemarks in Prejevalsky’s Loh-nor, p. i;?8. London, 1879.
THE RIVER TARIM AND LOB-NOR. 223
Its southern side is formed by the Altyn-tag range, a spur of the Kwanlun Mountains that rises about 14,000 feet in a sheer wall. Wild camels are found in its ravines, whose sight, hearing, and smell are marvellously acute. No other river basins of any size are found within the Circuit, except a large tributary called the Kaidu, which, draining a parallel valley north of Lobnor, two hundred miles long, runs into a lake nearly as large, called Bostang-nor, from which an outlet on the south continues it into the Tarim, about eighty miles from its mouth.
The tributaries of this river are represented as much more serviceable for agricultural purposes than the main trunk is for navigation. The plain through which the Tarim flows is about two hundred miles broad and not far from nine hundred miles long, most of it unfit for cultivation or pasturage. The desert extends considerably west of the two lakes. The climate of this region is exceedingly dry, and its barrenness is owing, apparently, more to the want of moisture than to the nature of the soil. The western parts are colder than those toward Kansuh, the river being passable on ice at Yarkand, in lat. 38°, for three months, while frost is hardly known at Hami, in lat. 43°.
The productions of the valley of the Tai’im comprise most of the grains and fruits found in Southern Europe ; the sesamum is cultivated for oil instead of the olive. Few trees or shrubs cover the mountain acclivities or plains. All the domestic animals abound, except the hog, which is i-eared in small numbers by the Chinese. The camel and yak are hunted and raised for food and service, their coats affording both skins and hair for garments. The horse, camel, black cattle, ass, and sheep, are found wild on the edge of the desert, where they find a precarious subsistence. The mountains and marshes contain jackals, tigers, bears, wolves, lynxes, and deer, together with some large species of birds of prey. Gold, copper, and iron are brought from this region, but the amount is not large, and as articles of trade they are less important than the sal-ammoniac, saltpetre, sulphur, and asbestos obtained from the volcanic region in the east of the Celestial Mountains. The best specimens of the yuh or nephrite, so highly prized by the Chinese, are obtained in the Southern Circuit.
The present divisions of this Circuit are regulated by the position of the eight Mohammedan cities. The western departments of Kansnh naturally belong to the same region, and the cities now pertaining to that province are inhabited by entirely
similar races, and governed in the same feudal manner, with
some advantages in consideration of their early submission to
Kienlung. The first town on the road, of note, is Ilami ; Turfan
and Pidshan are less important as trading posts than as
garrisons. The eight cities are named in the Statistics of the
Empire in the following order, beginning at the east : Harashar,
Kuche, Ushi (including Sairim and Bai), Aksu, Khoten,
Yarkand, Kashgar, and Yingkeshar or Yangi Hissar. The
superior officers live at Yarkand, but the Southern Circuit is
divided into four minor governments at Ilarashar, Ushi, Yarkand,
and Khoten, each of whose residents reports both to Kuldja
and Peking. There is constant restiveness on the part of the
subject races, who are all Moslems, arising from their clannish
habits and feuds ; they have not the elements of substantial
progress and national growth, either under their own rulers or
Chinese. They have lately thrown off the Peking Government,
but they have generally regretted the rapines and waste caused
by the strifes and change, and Avould probably receive the
Kitai (so they term the Chinese) back again. The latter are
not hard masters, and bring trade and wealth the longer they
remain. One of the IJsbek chiefs under Yakub khan gave
the pith of the situation between the two, when he replied to
Dr. Bellew’s remark that he talked like a Chinese himself,
” Ko, I hate them. But they were not bad rulers. “We had
everything then ; we have nothing now. We never see any
signs of the Kitai trade, nor of the wealth they brought here.”‘
Ilarashar (or Karashar) lies on the Kaidu River, not far from
Lake Bagarash or Bostang, about two hundred and ninety miles
west of Turfan, in lat. 42° 15′ N., and long. 87° E. It is a
large district, and has two towns of some note within the jurisdiction
of its officers—namely, Korla and Bukur. Ilarashar is
fortified, and from its being a secure position, and the seat of
the chief resident, attracts considerable trade. The embroidery
is superior ; but the tribes living in the district are more addicted
to hunting than disposed to sedentary trades. Korla lies
TOWNS OF THE SOUTheRISr CIIiCUIT. 225
southwest of llarasliar on the Kaidii, between lakes Bostany;
and Lob, and the productions of the town and its vicinity indi
cate a fertile soil ; the Chinese say the Mohammedans who live
here are fond of singing, but have no ideas of ceremony or
Virbanity. Bukur lies two hundred miles Avest of Korla and
” might be a rich and delicious country,”” says the Chinese account,
” but those idle, vagrant Mohannnedans only use their
strength in theft and plunder ; the Avomen blush at nothing.”
The town formerly contained upward of ten thousand inhal)-
itants, but Kienlung nearly destroyed it ; the district has been
since resettled by Iloshoits, Tourbeths, and Turks, and the people
carry on some trade in the produce of their herds, skins, copper,
and agates.
Kuche, about eighty miles west from Bukur, hit. 41° 3T’ X.,
and long. 83° 20′ E., is a larger an<l more important city than that
t)f Ilarashar, for the road which crosses the Tien shan l)y the
pass Muz-daban to Ili, here joins tliat coming from Aksu on
the west and Ilami on the east. It is three miles in circuit, and
is defended by ten forts and three hundred troops. The
bazaars contain grain, fruits, and vegetables, raised in the vicinity
by great labor, for the land requires to be irrigated by hand
from Avells, pools, and streams. Copper, sulphur, and saltpeti’e
are carried across to 111, for use of government as well as traffic,
being partly levied from the inhabitants as taxes ; linen is
manufactured in the town, and sal ammoniac, cimiabar, and
quicksilver are procured fi’oni the mountains. Kuche is considered
the gate of Turkestan, and is the chief town, politically
speaking, between Ilami and Yarkand. The district and town
of Shayar lie south of Kuche, in a marshy valley producing
abundance of rice, melons, and fruit ; the pears are particularly
good. Two small lakes, Baba-kul and Sary-kamysch, lie to the
east of this town, and are the only bodies of water between
Bostang-nor and Issik-kul. The population is about four thousand,
ruled by hegs subordinate to the general at Kuche.
The valley of. the Aksu contains two large towms, Aksu and Ushi or Ush-turfan, besides several posts and villages. Between the former and Kuche, lie the small garrisons and districts of Bai and Sairim. The first contains from four to five hundred families, ruled by their own chiefs. Sairim or Ilanlemuli is siiboi-dinate to Ushi in some degree, but its productions, climate, and inhabitants are like those of Kuche. ” Their manners are simple,” remarks a Chinese writer, speaking of the people; ” they are neither cowards nor rogues like the other Mohammedans; they are fond of singing, drinking, and dancing, like those of Kuche.” Aksu is a large commercial and manufacturing
town, containing twenty thousand inhabitants, situated,
like Kuche, at the termination of a road leading across the Tien
slian to til, and attracting to its market traders from Siberia,
i)okhara, and Kokand, as well as along the great road. Its manufactures
of cotton, silk, leather, harnesses, crockery, precious
stones, and metals are good, and sent abroad in great numbers.
The country produces grain, fruits, vegetables, and cattle in perfection, and the people are more civilized than those on the east and north; “they are generous and nol)lo, and both slug and ] idieulc the oddities and niggardliness of the other jMobammedans.”
The Chinese garrison consists of three thousand soldiers, and the officers are accountable to those at Ushi. Ushi lies al)Out TO miles due west of Aksu, in lat. 41° 15′ N. and long. 79° 40′ E., and is stated to contain ten thousand inhabitants.
^ CiilU’d aho Pourouts. Compare Klaproth {Memoircs, Tome III., p. 332), who has a notice of these tribes.
THE GOVERNMENT AND TOWN OF KASJIGAR. 227
The Chinese name is Yung-ning ching(ie. ‘City of Eternal Tranquillity’). The officers stationed here report to the commandant at Ili, but they communicate directly with Peking, and receive the Emperor’s sanction to their choice of begs, and to the envoys forwarded to the capital with tribute. Copper money is cast here in ingots, somewhat like the ingots of sycee in the provinces. There are six forts attached to Uslif, to keep in order the wandering tribes of the Kii’ghis, called I’ruth l\irghi’s,’ which roam over the fi’ontier regions between Ushi and ^’arkand. They pay homage to the officers at Ushi, but give no tribute. Those who do pay tribute are taxed a tenth, but the Kii-ghis on this frontier are usually allowed to roam where they like, provided they keep the peace. This region was nearly depopulated by Kienlung’s generals, and at present supports a sparse population compared with its fertility and resources.
The government of Kashgar, known, at the time of the Arab conquest, as Klehlh Bul’hara, presents a vast, undulating plain, of which the slope is very gradual toward the east, and of which the general elevation maybe reckoned at from three to four thousand feet above the sea. The aspect of its surface is mostly one of unmitigated waste—a vast spread of bare sand and gloomy salts, traversed in all directions by dunes and banks of gravel, with the scantiest vegetation, and all but absence of animal life. Such is the view that meets the eye ajid joins the horizon everywhere on the plain immediately beyond the river courses and the settlements planted on their banks.’ The population of this whole district is considerably less than a million
and a half. The natural mineral productions hei’e are of great
value, and it is a knowledge of this fact which has induced the
Chinese to persevere in retaining so expensive and turl)ulent a
frontier province. The gold and jade of Ivhoten, silver and
lead of Cosharab, and copper of Khalistan, have given abundant
employment to Chinese settlers ; while coal, iron, sulphur,
alum, sal ammoniac, and zinc, though worked in unimportant
quantities before the insurrection of Yakub khan (Atalik
Gliazi), furnished the inhabitants with supplies for domestic
use. An important hinderance to building villages in many sections
of this territory is the prevalence of sand dunes here.
Solitary houses and even whole settlements lying in the path of
these moving hills are suddenly overwhelmed and oftentimes
totalh’ effaced.
The town of Kashgar is situated at the northwestern angle
of the Southern Circuit, on the Kashgar River, a branch of the
Tarim, in lat. 39° 25′ X., and long. 76° 5′ E., at the extreme
west of the Empire. Several roads meet here. Going in a
northw^est direction, one leads over the Tien shan to Kokand ; a
second passes south, through Yarkand and Khoten, to Leh and
Cashmere ; a third, the great caravan route, from China through
1 H. W. Bellew, Kashmir and Kashgar. A Narrative of the Journey of the Embassy to Kashgar in 1873-4, p. 2.
Uslii, iiiav be said to end liere ; and the fourth and most frequented,
leads off northwest over the Tien shan through the
llowat Pass, and along the western banks of Lake Issik-kul to
111. Kashgar was the capital of the Oigours for a long time, and
its ruler forced his people, as far east as llanii, to accept Islaniisni
about the year lUCiO. They then came under Genghis’
sway, and this city increased its iuiportance. but when Abubahr
JMiza took Yarkand, he razed Kashgar to the ground. Under
Chinese rule it became one of the richest marts in Central
Asia, and its future im])ortance is secured by its position. The
city is enclosed with high and massive walls, supported by buttress
bastions, and protected by a deep ditcli on three sides, the river flowing under the fourth. There are but two gates ; the area within is about fifty acres. Around it are populous suburbs.
In the middle of the town is a large s(piare, and four bazaars
branch from it through to the gates ; the gari-ison is placed
without the wall^. The nuinufactures of Kashgar excel those
of any other town in the two Circuits, especially in jade, gold,
silk, cotton, gold and silver cloths, and carpets. The country
around produces fruit and grain in abundance; “the manners
of the people have an appearance of elegance and politeness,”
says the Chinese geographer ;
” the women dance
and sing in fanuly parties ; they fear and respect the officers,
and have not the M’ild, uncultivated aspect of those in
Ushi.” This judgment is in a measure confirmed by Bellew,
who credits the people with being singularly free from prejudice
against the foreigners, quite indifferent on any score of his
nationality or religion, and content so long as lie pays his way
and does not offend the customs of the natives. Sevei-al towns
arc subordinate to Kashgar, because of its oversight of their
I’ulers, and consumption of their products. Southwest lies Tashl)
alig, and on the road leading to Yarkand is Yangi Tlissar, both
of them towns of some importance ; the whole distance from
Kashgar presents a succession of sandy or saline tracts, alternating
with fertile bottoms wherever water runs. Small villages
and post houses serve to connect the larger towns, but the soil
does not reward the cultivators with much produce.
THE CITY OF YARKAND. 229
Tarkand, or Yerkiang, is the political capital of the Southern
Circuit, as the highest militaiy officers and strongest force
are stationed liere. It is situated on the Yarkand Itiver, in hit.
36° 30′ X., and long. 77° 15′ E., in the midst of a sand-girt
oasis of great fertility. The environs are ai)undantlv su])plied
with water by canals. The stone walls are three miles in circumference,
but its suburbs are nuicli larger ; the houses are
built of dried bricks, and the town has a more substantial appearance
than others in III. There are njanj mosques and colleges,
which, with the public buildings occupied by the government
and ti’oops, add to its consideration. Yarkand is one of
the ancient cities of Tartary, and was, in remote times, a royal
residence of Turk princes of the Afrasyab dynasty. In modern
times it owes its rank as a well-built city chiefly to Abubahr
Miza, whose short-lived sway from Aksu to Wakhan left its
chief results in the mosques and bazaars erected or enlarged by
him. By means of quarrying jade in the Karakash valley, and
W’orking the bangles, ear-rings and other articles in the city,
thousands of families found employment under Chinese rule.
With the overthrow of that sway and then of Yakub khan in
its restoration, all this industry disappeared. In the destruction
ensuing on these long struggles for supremac}^, one learns the
explanation of the barbarism which has succeeded the downfall
of mighty empires all over AYestern ^isia. The city has no important
manufactures ; it enjoys a local reputation for its
leather, and boots and shoes made here are esteemed all over
the province. Among other articles of trade are horses, silk,
and wool, and fabrics made from them ; but everything found
at Ivashgar is sold also at this market. In a Chinese notice of
the city, the customs at Yarkand are stated to have yielded over
$45,000 annually ; the taxes are 35,400 sacks of grain, 57,569
pieces of linen, 15,000 lbs. of copper, besides gold, silk, varnish,
and hemp, part of which are carried to 111. Jade is obtained
from the river in large pieces, yellow, white, black, and reddish,
and the articles made from it are cariied to China. The Chinese
authorities have no olqection to the resorting thither of
natives of Kokand, Badakshan, and other neighboring states,
many of whom settle and marry.
Klioten is situated on the southern side of the desert, and the
district embraces all the country south of Aksu and \ arkand,
alono- the northern base of the Kwanlun Mountains, for more
tlian three hundred miles from east to west. The capital is
called Ilchi on Chmese maps, and lies in an extensive plain on
the Khoten Kiver in lat. 37° N., and long. 80^ E. The town
of Karakash (meaning ‘Black Jade’)’ lies in lat. 37° 10′, long.
80″ 13′ 30″, a few miles northwest in the same valley, and is
said by traders to be the capital rather than Ilchi ; it is located
on the road to Yarkaud, distant twelve days’ journey. On
this road the town of (iumnu is also placed, whose chief had in
his possession a stone supposed to have the power of causing
rain. Kirrea lies five days’ journey east of Ilchi, near the pass
across the mountains into Tibet and Ladak ; a gold mine is
M’orked near this place, the produce of which is monopolized by
the Chinese. The three towns of Karakash, tlchi, and Kirrea,
are the only places of importance between the valley of the
Tarim and Tibet, but none of them have been visited for a long
time by Europeans.* The population of the town or district is
unknown ; one notice ‘ gives it a very large number, approaching
three millions and even more, which at any rate indicates
a more fertile soil and genial climate than the regions north and
south of it. Dr. Morrison, in his Yieia of China, puts it at
44,630 inhabitants ; and although the former includes the whole
district, and is probably too large, the second seems to be nnich
too small.
Khoten is known, in Chinese books, by the names of Yu-tu’/i,
Ilwan-na, KleuAan, and Klu,-sa-tan-na—the last meaning, in
Sanscrit, ” Breast of tiie Earth.” * Its eastern part is marshy,
i)ut that the country nnist have a considerable elevation is
manifest from the fact that the river which drains and connects
it with the Tarim runs quite across the desert in its
course. The country is governed by two high officei-s and a
‘ But Remusat says that Karakash is a river and no town.
‘” Wood {Journey to the Oxuk, p. 279) refers to a frontier town by the name
of Ecla.
‘ Penny Ci/clopcedia, Art. Tuian Shan nan lu.
* Rdmusat, Ilis’oire de Hhotan, p. 35.
KHOTEN DISTRICT. 2^1
detachment of troops ; there are six towns under their jurisdiction,
the inhabitants of which are ruled in the same manner as
the other Mohammedan cities. The people, however, are said
to be mostly of the JJuddhist faith, and the Chinese give a good
accoimt of their peacefulness and industi-y. The trade with
Leh and ll’lassa is carried on by a road crossing the Kwunlun
over the Kirrea Pass, beyond which it divides. The productions
of Khoten are fine linen and cotton stuffs, jade ornaments,
amber, copper, grain, fruits, and vegetables ; the former for exportation,
the latter for use. It was in this region that Col.
Prejcvalsky discovered (in 1879) a new variety of wild horse, a
specimen of which has been stuffed and exhibited in St. Petersburg.
The animal in question, though belonging undoubtedly
to the genus J^quus, presents, in many respects, an intermediate
form between the domestic horse and the wdld ass.
Remusat published, in 1820, an account of this country,
drawn from Chinese books, in wdiich the principal events in its
histoiy are stated, commencing with the Han dynasty, before
the Christian era, down to the Manchu conquest. In the early
part of its history, Khoten was the resort of many priests from
India, and the Buddhist faith was early established there. It
was an independent kingdom most of the time, from its earliest
mention to the era of Genghis khan, the princes sometimes extending
their sway from the Iviayii pass and Koko-nor to the
Tsung ling, and then being obliged to contract to the valley now
designated as Khoten. After the expulsion of the Mongols
from China, Khoten asserted its independence, but afterward
fell under the sway of the Songares and Eleuths, and lost many
of its inhabitants. The Manchus conquered it in 1770, when
the rest of the region between the Tien shan and Kwanlun fell
under their sway, but neither have they settled in it to the same
extent, nor made thereof a penal settlement, as in other parts
of 111.-
The government of Ili differs in some respects from that of
Mongolia, where religion is partly called in to aid the state. In
‘ Concerning the nomenclature of this region compare Remusat, Histoire de
Khotan, p. 66. See, moreover, ib., p. 47 ff., the legend of a drove of desert
rats assisting the king of this land against the army of his enemies.
the Northern Circuit, the authority is strictly military, exercised
by means of residents and generals, with bodies of troops under
their control. The supreme connnand of all Hi is intrusted by
the colonial office to a Manchu UiaH(jl(an,ov military governorgeneral
at Kuldja, who has under him two coimcillors to take
cognizance of civil cases, and thirty -four residents scattered
about in both Circuits. This governor has also the control of
the troops stationed in the three western departments of Kansuh,
but has nothing to do M’ith the civil jurisdiction of those
towns. The entire number of soldiers under his hand is stated
at 60,000, most of whom have families, and add agricultural,
mechanical, or other labors to the profession of arms. The
councillors are not altogether sul)ordhiatc to the general, but report
to the Colonial Office.
In the Northern Circuit, there is a deputy appointed for every village and town, invested with military powers over the troops and convicts, and civil supervision over the native jpiko or chieftains, who are the real rulers acknowledged by the clans.
The character of the inhabitants north of the Tien shan is rendered
unlike that of those dwelling in the Southern Circuit, not
more by the diversity in their language and nomadic habits,
than by the sway religious rites and allegiance have over them.
Through this latter motive, the government of Mongolia and
the Xorthern Circuit is rendered far easier and more effectual
for the distant court of Peking than it otherwise Avould be.
The appointment of the native chieftains is first announced to
the general at Kuldja and the Colonial Office, and they succeed
to their post when confirmed, which, as the station is in a measure
hereditaiy, usually follows in course.
The inhabitants of the Southern Circuit are Mohammedans
and acknowledge a less Milling subjection to the Emperor than
those in the Xorthern, the differences in race, religion, and language
being probably the leading reasons. The government
of the whole rejjrion is divided amoni»; the Manchu residents or
aiiihatin at the eight cities, who are nominally responsible to the
general at Ili, and independent of each other, but there is a
gradation in rank and power, the one at Yarkaiid having the
priority. The begs are chosen by the tribes themselves, and
GOVERNMEXT OF IlI 233
exercise authority in all petty cases arising among the people,
without the interference of the Chinese. The troops are all
Manchu or Chinese, none of the Turks being enrolled in separate
bodies, though individuals are employed with safety.
There is considerable difference in the rank and inliuence of
the begs, which is upheld and respected by the amhcDis. The
allowances and style granted them are regulated in a measure
by their feudal importance. The revenue is derived from a
monthly capitation tax on each man of about half a dollar, and
tithes on the produce ; there are no transit duties as in China,
but custom-houses are established at the frontier trading towns.
The language generally used in the Southern Circuit is the
Jaghatai Turki of the Kalmucks ; the Usbecks constitute the majority
of the people, but Eleuths and Kalmucks are everywhere
intermixed. The Tibetans have settled in Khoten, or more
probably, remnants still exist there of the former ijihabitants.
The history of the vast region constituting the present government
of 111 early attracted the attention of oriental scholars,
and few portions of the world have had a more exciting historj’.
After the expulsion of the Mongols from China by
Hungwu, A.D. 1366, they found that they, as a tribe, were inferior
in power to the westei’u triljes, but it was not till about
1680 that the Eleuths, noi-th of the Tien slian under the Galdan,’
began to attack the Kalkas, and drive them eastward.
The Sunnites, Tsakhars, and Solons, portions of the Eastern
Mongols, had already joined the Manchus ; and the Kalkas, to
avoid extermination, submitted to them also, and besought their
assistance against the Eleuths. Kanghi received their allegiance,
and tried to settle the difficulties peaceably, but was
obliged to send his troops against the Galdan, and drivj him
from the territory of the Kalkas to the westward of Lob-nor
and Barkul. The Emperor was materially aided in this enterprise
by the secession from the Eleuths of the Songares,
whose khan had taken offence, and drawn his hordes off to the
south. The khans of the Kalkas and their vast territory thus
‘ “Galdan, better kuown by his title of Contaisch “—Remusat, Nouveaux
Melanges, Tome II., p. 29, See also Scliuyler’s TurkiMan, Vol. II., p. 168.
became subject to the Chinese. The Galdan lost all his forces,
and expired bj poison, in 1697, his power dying with him, and
his tribe having already become too weak to resist.
Upon the ruins of his power arose that of Arabdan, the khan
of the Songares. lie subjugated the ]S’orthern Circuit, passed
over into Turkestan, Tangout, and Khoten, and gradually reduced
to his sway nearly all the elevated region of Central Asia
M’est of Kansuh. lie expelled the Tourgouths from their possessions
in Cobdo, and compelled them to retreat to the banks
of the Volga. Ivanghi expelled the Songares from the districts
about Koko-nor, but made no impression upon their authority
in Songaria. After the death of Arabdan, about 1720, his
throne was disputed, and the power weakened by dissensions
among his sons, so that it Avas seized by two usurpers, Amursana
and Tawats, Avho also fell out after their object was gained.
Annn-sana repaired to Peking for assistance, and with the aid
of a Chinese army expelled Tawats, and took possession of the
throne of Arabdan. But he had no intention of becoming a
vassal to Ivienlung, and was no sooner reinstated than he resisted
him ; he defeated two Chinese armies sent against him,
but succumbed on the third attack, and fled to Tobolsk, -where
he died in 1757.
The territory of Arabdan then fell to Ivienlung, and he pursued
his successes with such cruelty that the Northern Circuit
was nearly depopulated, and the Songares and Eleuths became
almost extinct as distinct tribes. The banished tribe of Tourgouths
was then invited by the Emperor to retui-n from Russian
sway to their ancient possessions, which they accepted in
1772; the history of the Chinese embassy to them, and their
disastrous journey back to Cobdo over the Ivirghis steppe and
through the midst of their enemies, is one of the most remarkable
instances of nomadic wanderings and unexampled suffering
in modern times.’ Chinese troops, emigrants, exiles, and
nomadic tribes and families, M^ere sent and encouraged to come
‘ Compare Remusat (Nouvrnvx Melanges, Tome II., p. 102), who lias compiled
a brief life of their leader Ubusha. De Quincey’s essay, The Flight of a
Tartar Tribe. Ritter, Asien, Bd. V. pp. 531-58:^ : Welthistorischer Einflusa
des chinenicheu lieichs auf Central- tinU West-Asien.
HISTORY AND CONQUEST OF ILI 235
into the vacant territory, so that erelong it began to resume its
former importance. In the period which has since elapsed, the
Manchus have been enabled to prevent any combination among
the clans, and maintain their own authority by a mixed system
of coercion and coaxing which they well know how to practise.
The agricultural and mineral resources of the country have
been developed, many of the nomads induced to attend to agriculture
by making their chieftains emulous of each others prosperity,
and by exciting a spirit of traffic among all.
There have been some disturbances from time to time, but no
master spirit has arisen ^v]lo has been able to unite the tribes
against the Chinese. In 1825, there “svas an attempt made
from Kokand by Jehangir, grandson of the l:ojeh or prince of
Kashgar, to regain possession of Turkestan ; the khan of Kokand
assisted him with a small army, and such was their dislike
of the Chinese, that as soon as Jehangir appeared, the Mohammedans
arose and drove the Chinese troops away or put them
to death, opening the gates to the invader, lie took possession
of Tarkand and Kashgar, and advanced to Aksu” where the
winter put a stop to the campaign. In the next year, the khan
of Kokand, seeing the disposition of the people, thought he
would embark himself in the same cause, and made an incursion
as far as Aksu and Khoten, reducing more than half the
Southern Circuit to himself, but ostensibly in aid of Jehangir.
The kojeh, beginning to fear his aid, withdrew ; and the khan,
having suffered some reverses from the Chinese troops, made his
peace on very favorable terms, and returned to his own country.
Jehangir went to Khoten fi-om Yarkand, but his conduct there
displeasing the people, the Chinese troops, about 60,000 in
number, had no difficulty in dispersing his force, and resuming
their sway. The adherents of the kojeh fled toward Badakshan,
while he himself repaired to Isaac, the newly appointed kojeh
of Kashgar, by whom he was delivered up to the Chinese with
his family, and all of them most barbarously destroyed.
The kojeh was rewarded with the office of prince of Kashgar,
but having been accused of treasonable designs he was ordered
to come to Peking for trial ; the charges were all disproved,
and he returned to Kashgar after several years’ residence at the capital of the Empire. The country was gradually reduced
by Changliiig, the general at Ili, but Kashgar suffered so nuich
by the war and removal of the chief authority to Yarkand,
that it has not since regained its Importance. During this war,
the dislike of the Mohammedans to the Chinese sway M’as exhibited
in the large forces Jehangir brought into the field ; and
if he had been a popular spirited leader, there is reason for
supposing he might have finally wrested these cities from the
Chinese. The joy of Taukwang at the successful termination
of the expedition and capture of the rebel, was so extravagant
as to appear childish ; and when Jehangir was executed at
Peking, he ordered the sons of two officers who had been reported
killed, ” to witness his execution, in order to give expansion
to the indignation which had accumulated in their
breasts ; and let the rebel’s heart be torn out and given to them
to sacrifice it at the tombs of their fathers, and thus console
their faithful spirits.” Honors Avere heaped upon Changling at
his return to Peking, and rewards and titles showered upon all
the troops engaged in the war.
Since this insurrection, the frontiers of Kashgar and Kokand
have been passed and repassed by the Pruth Kirghis; iiil830,
they excited so much trouble because their trade was restricted,
that a large force was called out to restrain them, and many
lives were lost before the rising was subdued. The causes of
the dispute wei-e then examined, and the trade allowed to go on
as befoi’e. The oppressions of the residents sometimes goad
on the Mohammedans to rise against the Chinese, but the
policy of the Emperor is conciliatory, and the complaints of the
people are in general listened to. The visits of the begs and
princes to Peking with tribute affords them an opportunity to
state their grievances, while it also prevents them from caballing
among themselves. In 1871 the Russians took possession of
nearly the whole of Tien-Shan Peh Lu during an insurrection of
the Dunganis against Chinese control. The Tarantchis having
attacked a Russian outpost, and Yakub Beg being on suspiciously
good terms with the rebels, it was determined to occupy
Kuldja—which was effected after a campaign of less than a
month, led by Gen. l\olpakofsky. The Chinese government was
BOUNDARIES OF TIBET. 2S1
imniediatelv informed that the place should be restored whenever
a sutHcient force could be brought there to hold it against
attacks, and preserve order. After the final conquest of the
Dungan tribes in 1S79-SO, this territory was returned by the
Ilussians upon conclusion of their last treaty M’ith China, exactly
ten years from the date of possession. The old manner
of government is now resumed and the country slowly recoveriiiiT
from the fri^-htful devastation of the insurrection. The
salai’ies of the governor-general and his councillors, and the
residents, are small, and they are all obliged to resort to illegal
means to reimburse their outlays. The highest officer receives
about $5,200 annually, and his councillors about $2,000 ; the residents
from $2,300 down to $500 and less. These sums do not,
probably, constitute one-tenth of the receipts of their situations.’
The third gi-eat division of the colonial part of the Chinese
empire, that of Tibet, is less known than III, though its area is
hardly less extensive. It constitutes the most southern of the
three great table lands of Central Asia, and is surrounded with
high mountains which separate it from all the contiguous regions.
The word Tibet or Tubet is unknown among the inhabitants
as the name of their country ; it is a corruption by the
Mongols of T(c po,’ the country of the Tu, a race w^hich overran
it in the sixth century ; Turner gives another name, Pue-hoachim-,
signifying the ‘ snowy country of the north,’ doubtless a
local or ancient term. The general appellation by the people is
Pot or Bod, or Bod yul—”- the land of Bod.” ‘ It is roughly
bounded northeast by Ivoko-nor ; east by Sz’chuen and Yunnan ;
south by Assam, Butan, Xipal, and Gurhwal ; west by Cashmere
; and north by the unknown i-anges of the Kwanlun Mountains.
The southern frontier curves considerably in its course,
1 Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pp. 267, 316, 351, etc. ; Vol. IX., p. 113.
Penny Uyclo^mUa, Art. Songaria. Boiilger, Russia and England in Central
Asia, 2 Vols., London, 1879. Schuyler, Turkistan, 2 vols., N. Y., 1877.
Petermann’s Mlttheilungen, Appendices XLII. and XLIII., 1875.
– This derivation is explained somewhat differently in R^musat, Nouveaux
Melanges, Tome I., p. 190.
3 To these Ritter adds the names of Wei, Dzang, Nga-ri, Kham, Bhodi, Peuu-
Tsang, Si-Dzang, Tliupho, Tubl.at, TGbGt, Tiibet, Tibet, and Barantola, asall
applying to this country. Asien, Bd. III., S. 174-183.
but is not less than 1,500 miles from the western extremity of
Kipal to the province of Yunnan ; the northern border is about
1,300 miles ; the western frontiers cannot be accurately defined,
and depend more upon the possession of the passes through which
trade is carried on than any political separation. Beltistan,
Little Tibet, and Ladak, although included in its limits on
Chinese maps, have too little subjection or connection with the
court of Peking, to be reckoned among its dependencies.
Tibet, in its largest limits, is a table land, the highest plains
of which have a mean elevation of 11,510 feet, or about 1,300
feet lower than the plateau of Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca.
The snow-line on the north side of the Himalaya is at an altitude
of 16,630 feet ; on the southern slope it is at 12,982 feet.
Several striking analogies may be traced between this country
and Peru : the tripartite divisions caused by lofty ranges ; their
common staples of wool, from alpacas and vicunas in one, and
sheep and goats in the other ; the abundance of precious
metals, and many specific customs. The entire province of
Tibet is divided by mountain chains into three distinct parts; its western portion consists of the basin of the Lidus, until it breaks through into Cashmere at Makpon-i-Shagaron. It begins near Mount Ivailasa, and stretches northwest between the Hindu Ivush and Himalaya, comprising the whole of Beltistan and Ladak ; the Kara-korum, Mus-tag, or Tsung ling range defines it on the northeast. The second part consists of an extensive desert land, commencing at Mount Kailasa, and having the Tsung ling on the west, the Kwjlnlun on the north
(which separates it from Khoten, and the high waterslied of the
Yangtsz’, Salween, and other rivers), and Lake Tengkiri, on the
east ; the Himalaya constitutes its southern boundary. This
high i-egion, called Katshe or Kor-kache, has not been traversed
by intelligent travellers and is one of the few yet unknown regions
of the earth, and is nearly uninhabitable, owing to the extreme rigor of its climate.’
‘ Se<‘ Ri’musat, Nouvennx Milnnc/es, T. , p. 100, for notices of tribes anciently inliabiting this district and Bokhara. Compare also Heeren {Historical Re’ aenrcJies, Vol. I., j)p. 180-186), who gives in brief the accounts of Herodotus k)id Ctesias.
\ NATURAL FEATURES OF TIBET. 239
The eastern part, consisting of the basin of the Yaru-tsangbu,
contains, in its plains, most of the towns in Tibet, until it
reaches the Alpine region which lies between the River Yarn
and the Yangtsz’, a space extending from long. 1)5° to 99° E.
This district is described as a succession of ridges and gorges,
over which the road takes the traveller on narrow and steep
paths, crossing the valleys by ropes and bridges enveloped in
the clouds. Mount Kailasa, a notable peak lying in the northeastern
part of Xari, is not far from 26,000 feet high. The
number of summits covered with perpetual snow exceeds that
of any other part of the world of the same extent.
The road from Sz’chuen to H’lassa strikes the Yalung kiang,
in the district of Ta tsien lu, and then goes southwesterly to
Batang on the Yangtsz’ kiang ; crossing the river it proceeds
up the narrow valley a short distance, and then crosses the
mountains northwest to the Lantsan kiang or River Meikon, by
a series of pathways leading over the gorges, till it reaches
Tsiamdo ; from this point the road turns gradually southwest,
following the valleys when practicable, till it ends at H’lassa.
The largest river in Tibet is the Erechumbu, or Yaru-tsangbu ;
tsangha means river, and is often alone used for this whole
name. It rises in the Tamchuk range, at the Mariam-la pass
in Nari, 60 miles east of Lake Manasarowa, the source of the
Sutlej ; it flows a little south of east for about seven hundred
miles, through the whole of Southern Tibet, between the first
and second ranges of the Himalayas, as far as long. 90° E.
Its tributaries on the north are mimerous, and among them the
Nauk-tsani>;bu and Dzany;tsu are the larij-est. The volume of
water which flows through the mountains into Assam by this
river, is equal to that by the Indus into Scinde. The disputed
question, whether the Yaru-tsangbu joins the Brahmaputra or
Irrawadi, has been settled by presumptive evidence in favor
of the former, but a distance of about 400 miles is still unexplored; ‘ the fall in this part is about 11,000 feet, to where the river Dihong has been traced in Assam. This makes the Brah-‘ Introduction by Col. Yule, iu Gill’s River of Golden 8and.luaputra the largest and longest river in Southern Asia ; Its passage into Assam is near 95° E. longitude.
The eastern part of Tibet, beyond this meridian, is traversed
by numerous ranges of lofty mountains, having no separate
names, the direction of which is from west to east, and from
northwest to southeast. From these ranges, lateral branches
run out in different directions, containing deep valleys between
them. In proportion as the principal chains advance towards
the southeast they converge towards one another, and thus the
valleys between them gradually become narrower, until at last,
on the frontiers of Yunnan and Burmah, they are mere mountain
passes, whose entire breadth does not much exceed a
hundred miles, having four streams flowing through them.
In fact, Tibet incloses the fountain heads of all the large rivers
of Southern and Eastern Asia. The names and courses of those
in Eastern Tibet are known ordy imperfectly from Chinese
maps, but others have described them after their entrance into
the lowlands.
Tibet, especially the central part, is a country of lakes, in this
respect resembling Cobdo. The largest, Tengkiri-nor, situated
in the midst of stupendous mountains, about one hundred and
ten miles northwest of Il’lassa, is over a hundred miles long and
about thirty wide. The i-egion north of it contains many isolated
lakes, most of them salt. Two of the largest, the Bouka
and Kara, are represented as connected with the Tliver Xu.
Lake Khamba-la, Yamoruk or Yarbrokyu, sometimes called
Palti, from a town on its northern sliore, is a large lake south of
iriassa, remarkable for its ring shape, the centi-e being filled
by a large island, around which its waters flow in a chamiel
thirty miles or more in width. On the island is a nunnery,
called the Palace of the Holy Sow, said to be the finest in the
country. In Balti or Little Tibet are many sheets of water, the
largest of which, the Yik and Paha, are connected by a river
flowing through a marshy country. A long succession of lakes
fill one of the basins in Katsche, suggesting the former existence
of another Aral Sea. The sacred lakes of Manasarowa and
Ilavan-hrad (Ma])am-dalai and Langga-nor, of the Cliinese)
form the headwaters of the Sutlej.
CLIMATE, FOOD ANJ) l’K<>DUCTIONS. 241
The climate of Tibet is cliaracterized by its purity and excessive
dryness. The valleys are hot, notwithstanding their proximity
to snow-capped mountains; from May to October the sky
is clear in the table -lands, and in the valleys the moisture and
temperature are favorable to vegetation, the harvest being gathered
before the gales and snows set in, after October. The
effects of the air resemble or are worse than those of the kamsin
in Egypt. The trees wither, and their leaves may be ground
to powder between the fingers ; planks and beams break, and
the iidial)itants cover the tind)ers and wood-work of their houses
with coarse cotton, in order to preserve them against the destructive
saccidity. The timber neither rots nor is worm-eaten.
Mutton, exposed to the open air, Ijecomes so “dry that it may be
powdered like bread ; when once dried it is preserved during
years. This flesh-bread is a common food in Tibet. The carcass
of the animal, divested of its skin and viscera, is placed
where the frosty air Mnll have free access to it, until all the
juices of the body dry np, and the whole becomes one stiffened
mass. Xo salt is used, nor does it ever become tainted, and is
eaten without any further dressing or cooking ; the natives eat it
at all periods after it is frozen, and prefer the fresh to that which
has been kept some months. The food called janiha is prepared
by cooking brick tea during several hours, then adding butter
and salt, and stirring the mixture until it becomes a thick broth.
AVhen eaten the stuff is served in wooden bowls, and a plentiful,
supply of roasted barley-meal poured in, the whole being kneaded
by the hands and devoured in the shape of dough pellets.
The productions of Tibet consist of domestic animals, cattle,
horses, pigs ; some wild animals, such as the white-breasted
argali, orongo-antelope, ata-dzeren, wolf, and steppe-fox ; and few
plants or forests, presenting a strong contrast with Nipal and
Butan, where vegetable life flourishes more luxuriantly. Sheep
and goats are reared in immense flocks, for beasts of burden
over the passes, and for their flesh, hair, and coats. Chiefest
among the animals of tliis mountain land is the yak.’ The
‘ Called by Wood Kasli-gow {Journey to the Oxus, p. 319). Chauri gau^aarlykt and sarlac, are other names. doiiiesticated variety, or long-haired yak, is the inseparable companion and most trusty servant not only of the Tibetans, but of tribes in Cashmere, Ladak, Tangout, and JVIongolia, even as far north as Urga. It is a cross-breed, or mule from the yak bull and native cow, which alone is hardy enough for these elevated regions.’ These creatures are of the same size as our cattle, strong, sure-footed and possessed of extraordinary endurance; they retain, however, something of their wild nature, even after long domestication, and must be carefully treated,
Domesticated Yak.
especially when being loaded and unloaded. They thrive best
in hilly countries, well watered and covered with grass—the two
last being indispensable. The hair is black or black and white,
seldom entirely white. One sort is without horns, and when
crossed with the cow bears sterile males, or females which are
fertile for one generation. As to the wild yak of Til)et, a traveller
says : ” This handsome animal is of extraordinary size and
beauty, measuring, when grown, eleven feet in length, exclusive
of its bushy tail, which is three feet long; its height at the
hump is six feet ; girth around the body eleven feet, and its
‘ This cross is mentioned by Maroo Polo, Yule^a ed., Vol. I., p. 241.
AlSriMALS OP TIBET. 243
weight ten or eleven liundred weight. The head is aaorned
with ponderous liorns, two feet nine inches h)ng, and one foot
four indies in circumference at the root. The body is covered
with tliick, black hair, which in the old males assumes a chestnut
color on the back and upper parts of the sides, and a deep
fringe of black hair hangs down from the flanks. The muzzle
is partly gray, and the younger males liave marks of the same
color on the upper part of the body, whilst a narrow, silverygray
stripe runs down the centre of the back. The hair of
young yaks is much softer than that of older ones ; they are
also distinguishable by their smaller size, and by handsomer
horns, with the points turned up. The females are much
smaller than the males, and not nearly so striking in appearance
; their horns are shorter and lighter, the hump smaller,
and the tail and flanks not nearly as hairy.” ‘ This animal is
useful for its milk, flesh, and wool, as well as for agricultural
purposes and travel.
There is comparatively little agriculture. The variety of
wild animals, birds, and fishes, is very great ; among them the
musk deer, feline animals, eagles, and wild sheep, are objects
of the chase. The brute creation are generally clothed with an
abundance of fine hair or wool ; even the horses have a shaggier
coat than is granted to bears in more genial climes. The
Tibetan mastiff is one of the largest and fiercest of its race,
almost nntamable, and unknown out of its native country.
The nnisk deer is clothed with a thick coverino; of hair two or
three inches long, standing erect over the whole body ; the
animal resembles a hog in size and form, having, however,
slender legs. The Tibetan goat affords the shawl wool, so
highly prized for the manufacture of garments.^
‘ Prejevalsky, Travels in Mongolia, etc., Vol. I., p. 187.
“^ B. H. Hodgson, Notice of the Mammals of Tibet, Journal As. Soc. of BeU’gal, Vol. XI., pp. 275 ff. ; also ib. Vols. XVI., p. 763, XIX., p. 466, and XXVI., No. 3, 1857. Abbe Armand David-, Notes sur quelques oiseaux de Thibet, Nouv. Arch, du MuMum, Bull, V. 1869, p. 33; ib. Bull, VI., pp. 19 and 33. Bull, VIII., 1872, pp. 3-128, IX., pp. 15-48, X., pp. 3-82. Recherches pour servir a Vhistoire naturelle des mammiferes comprennant des considerations su)’ la classification de ces animaux, etc. , des etudes sur la faiine de la Chineel du Tibet oriental, par MM. Milne-Edwards, etc, 2 vols. Paris, 1868-74.
Fruits are common ; small peaches, grapes, apples, and nuts, constitute the limited variety. Barley is raised more than any
other grain the principal part of agricultural labors being performed
by the Avomen. Pulse and wheat ai’e cultivated, but no
rice “svest of Illassa. Ithubarl), asaf{jL’tida, ginger, madder, and
safflower are collected or prepared, but most of the medicines
come from China and Butan. Turnips, rape, garlic, onions, and
melons are raised in small quantities. The mineral productions
are exceedingly rich. Gold occurs in mines and placer diggings,
and forms a constant article of export ; lead, silver, copper, and
cinnabar are also dug out of the ground, but iron has not been
found to much extent. The great difficulty in the way of the
inhabitants availing themselves of their metallic Avealth, apart
fi’om their ignorance of the best modes of mining, is the want
t>f fuel with which to smelt the ore. Tincal, or crude borax,
is gathered on the borders of a small lake in the neighborhood
of Tengkiri-nor, where also any quantity of rock salt can be
obtained. Precious stones are met with, most of which find
their way to China.
The 2)resent divisions of Tibet, by the Chinese, are Tsien
Tsang^ or Anterior Tibet, and JIau Tsang, or Ulterior Tibet.
Anterior Tibet is also called U (Wei) and U-tsang, and includes
the central part of Bod-yur where Il’lassa is ; east of
this lies Ivham (Kang) or Khamyul, and northeast toward
Ivoko-nor is Ivhamsok, /.(?., Ivham on the River Sok. Kear the
bend of the Brahmaputra is the district of Ivongbo, where I’ice
can be raised ; going westward are Takpo, doUs and gTsang on
the borders of Xari, ending in a line nearly continuous with
the eastern border of Kipal. The Chinese books mention eight
cantons in Anterior Tibet, five of them lying east of ITlassa,
added to which are thirty-nine feudal townships in Khamsok
called tu-sz\ all of them chiefiy nominal or at present antiquated.
Csoma de Ivciros speaks of several small principalities
in Kham, and describes the inhabitants as differing from the
rest of the Tibetans in appearance and language ; they assimilate
probably with the tribes on the l]urman and Chinese frontiers.
Xari ( A-li in Chinese) is divided into Mangyul, Khorsum,
and Maryul. The first of these districts lies nearly centerh’LASSA
the (ATITAL. 24^
iiiinous with Xipal, and its area is probably about the same, but
its cold, drj, and elevated i-egions, support only a few sliepherds
; Khorsuni and Maryul lie north and northwest in a
still more inhospitable clime ; the latter adjoins Ladak and
Balti and is the reservoir of hundreds of lakes situated from
12,000 to 15,000 feet above the sea. A ridge separates the
valley of the Indus from the Sutlej, crossed at the Bogola Pass,
19,220 feet high, and then- over the Gugtila Pass, 19,500 feet
into Gartok. The people throughout this elevated region are
forced to live in tents, wood being ahuost unknown for buildil’lassa,
the gyalsa or capital of Tibet, is situated on the Kichu
River, about twelve leagues from its junction with the
Yarn, in lat. 29° 39′ ]S\, and long. 91°05’E. ; the name signifies
God’s ground^ and it is the largest town in this part of Asia.
It is famous for the convents near it, composing the ecclesiastical
establishments of the Dalai (or ‘ Ocean ‘)-lama, whose residence
is in the monastery of Pobrang-marbu {I.e., ‘ Red town ‘) on
Mount Putala. The principal building of this establishment is
three hundred and sixty-seven feet high, and it contains, as the
Chinese expression is, ” a myriad of rooms.” This city is the
head-quarters of Buddhism, and the hierarchy of lamas, who, by
means of the Dalai-lama, and his subordinate the Kiituktu, exercise
priestly control over wellnigh all Mongolia as well as Tibet.
The city lies in a fertile plain nearly 12,000 feet high, about
twelve miles wide, and one hundred and twenty-five from north
to south, producing harvests of barlej^ and millet, with abundant
pasturage and some fruit trees. Mountains and hills encircle it; of these the westernmost is Putala, the liver running so near its base that a wall has been built to preserve the buildings from the rise of the waters. The Chinese garrison is quartered about two miles north of this mount, and two large temples, called ITlassa tm-‘kang and Bamotsietso-hang, resplendent with gold and precious stones, stand very near it. The four monasteries.
Sera, Brebung, Samye, and Galdan, constitute as many separate establishuients.’ During the sway of the Songares in’ Klaproth, Description du Ttibet, p. 246.Ill, their prince xVrabdan made a descent npon IPlassa, and the Lama Avas killed. Kanglu placed a new one upon the see, in 1720, appointing six leading officers of the old Lama to assist him in the government. Three of these joined in an insurrection, and in the conflicts which succeeded, IFlassa suffered considerably.
The population of the town is conjectured to be 24,000 ; that of the province is reckoned by Csoma at about 050,000.
The town was visited in the year 1811 by j\rr. Manning whose description of its dirty and miserable streets swarming Mitli dogs and beggars, and the meanness of its buildings, corresponds
with what Hue and Gabet found in 1846. Mr. Manning
remained there nearly five months, and had several intei:-
views with the Dalai-lama ; lie was much impeded in his
observations by a Cantonese viansJd or teachei’, and exposed to
danger of illness from insufficient shelter and clothing. His
reception by the chief of the Buddhist faith on the 17th of
December, was equally remarkable with that by the Teshu-lama
of Bogle in 1774, and of Turner in 1783. Mr. Manning was
alone and unprotected and had very few presents, but his offering
was accepted ; it consisted of a piece of fine broadcloth, two
brass candlesticks, twenty new dollars, and two vials of lavender
water. He rode to the foot of the mountain Putala, and
dismounted on the first platform to ascend by a long stairway
of four hundred steps, part of them cut in the rock, and the
rest ladder steps from story to stoiy in the palace, till he
reached a large platform roof off which was the reception hall.
Upon entering this he found that the Ti-mu-fu or Gesiib Jiwihoche,
the highest civil functionary in Tibet, was also present,
wliich caused him some confusion : “I did not know how
much ceremony to go through with one before I began with
the other. I made the due obeisance, touching the ground three times with my head to the (ii’and Lama, and once to the 2\-ina-fu. I presented my gifts, delivering the coins with a handsome silk scarf with my own hands to them both. While I was Jxotovnmj, the awkward servants let one of the bottles of lavender water fall and break. Havin<i: delivered the scarf to the Grand Lama, I took oft” my hat, and humbly gave him my clean shaven head to lay his hands upon. . . . The Lama’s beautiful and interesting face and manner engrossed all my attention.
SIIIGATSE AND TESIIU-LUMBO. 247
He was about seven yeai-s old ; had the simple manners
of a well educated princely child. His face was, I thought,
poetically and affectingly beautiful. He was of a cheerful disposition,
his beautiful mouth perpetually unbending into a
graceful smile, which illuminated his whole countenance. No
doubt my grim beard and spectacles excited his risibility. “We
had not been seated long before he put questions which we rose
to receive and answer. He inquired whether I had met with
difficulties on the road ; to which I replied that I had had
troubles, but now that I had the happiness of being in his presence
they were amply compensated. I could see that this
answer pleased both him and his people, for they found that I
was not a mere rustic, but had some tincture of civility in me.” ‘
The capital of Tsangor Ulterior Tibet is Shigatse, situated 126
miles west of H’lassa, and under its control. The monastery
where the Teshu-lama and his court resides is a few miles
distant, and constitutes a town of about 4,000 priests, named
Teshu-Lumbo. He is styled Panchen Rimboche, and is the
incarnation of Amitabha ]>uddha. His palace is built of dark
l)rick and has a roof of gilded copper ; the houses rise one
above another and the gilt ornaments on the temples combine
to give a princely appearance to the town. The fortress of
Shigatse stands so as to command both places. The plain
between this town and H’lassa is a fertile tract, and judging
from the number of towns in the valleys of the basin of the
Yaru, its productive powers are comparatively great. Ulterior
Tibet is divided into six other cantons, besides the territory
under the jurisdiction of the chief town, most of their fortified
capitals lying westward of Shigatse.
‘ Mis-sion of George Bogle to Tibet and Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhaaa^Edited by C. R. Markliam. London, 1876, p. 265.
The degree of skill the Tibetans have attained in manufactures, mechanical arts, and general civilization, is less than that of the Chinese, but superior to the Mongols. They appear to be a mild and humane people, possessing a religious sense and enjoying an easy life compared with their southern neighbors.
They are well-bred and affable, fond of gossiping and festivities, which soften the heart and cheer the temper. Women are treated with care and are not often compelled to work out of doors, ^s’o two people or countries widely separated present a stronger contrast than do the stout, tall, muscular, and floi-id Butias, upon their fertile fields and wooded hills, with the squat, puny, sluggish, and swarthy Tibetans in their rugged, barren mountains. They distinguish five sorts of people among
themselves, the last of whom are the Butias ; the others are
the inhabitants of Kham, or Anterior Tibet, those in Tsang, the
nomads of Kor-kache, and the people of Little Tibet. All of
them speak Tibetan with some variations. The Tibetans are
clad with woollens and furs to such a degree that they appear
to emulate the animals they derive’ them from in their weight
and warmth ; and with this clothing is found no small quantity
of dirt. The dress of the sexes varies slightly in its shape ;
yellow and red are the predominant colors. Large bulgar boots
of hide are worn by all persons ; the remainder of the dress
consists of woollen robes and furs like those of the Chinese.
The women wear many jewels, and adorn their hair as do the
Mongols with pearls, coral, and turquoises. Girls braid their
hair in three tresses, married women in two. The head is protected
by high velvet caps ; the men wear broad-brimmed
coverings of various materials.
The two religious sects are distinguished by yellow and red
caps ; the latter are comparatively few, allow marriage to the
lamas, but do not differ materially in their ritual or tenets.
There is no country where so large a proportion of the people
are devoted to religious service as in Tibet, nor .one where the
secular part of the inhabitants pays such implicit deference to
the clergy. The food of the Tibetans is taken at all hours,
nmtton, barley, and tea constituting the staple articles. On
all visits tea is presented, and the cup replenished as often as it
is drained. Spirits and beer, both made from barley, are common
beverages. On every visit of ceremony, and whenever a
letter is sent from one person to another, it is necessary to connect
a silk scarf with it, the size and texture being proportioned
to the rank and condition of the parties. The sentence Omviaiil 2)ttdiiii- hum is woven upon each end.
OM MANX PADMI HUM. 249
The following note by Col. Yule, condensed from Koeppen’s
Lamaisehe Hlcrai’clde iind Kurhe, contains the most satisfactory
explanation of this puzzling mystic formnla : ” Om mani
padmi hum!—the primeval six syllables, as the lamas l ly,
among all prayers on earth form that which is most abundantly
recited, written, printed, and even spun by machines for the
good of the faithful. These syllables form the only prayer
knoM’u to the ordinary Tibetans and Mongols; they are the first
words that the child learns to stannner, and the last gasping
utterance of the dying. The wanderer nmrmurs them on his
M’ay, the herdsman beside his cattle, the matron at her household
tasks, the monk in all the stages of contemplation (/.^., of
fa7- niente) y they form at once a cry of battle and a shout of
victory ! They are to be read wherever the Lama church
hath spread, upon banners, upon rocks, upon trees, upon walls,
upon monuments of stone, upon household utensils, upon strips
of paper, upon human skulls and skeletons ! They foi*m, according
to the idea of the believers, the utmost conception of all
religion, of all wisdom, of all revelation, the path of rescue and
the gate of salvation ! Properly and literally these
four words, a single utterance of which is sufficient of itself
to purchase an inestimable salvation, signify nothing more
than : ” O the Jewel in the Lotus ! Amen !
” Li this interpretation,
most probably, the Jetcel stands for the Bodhisatva
Avalokite5vara, so often born from the bud of a lotus flower.
According to this the whole fornmla is simply a salutation to
the mighty saint who has taken under his especial chai-ge the
conversion of the Xorth, and with him who first employed it
the mystic formula meant no more than Ave AvaloJiitecvara !
But this simple explanation of course does not satisfy the Lama
schoolmen, who revel in glorifications and multitudinous glossifications
of this formula. The six syllables are the heart of
hearts, the root of all knowledge, the ladder to re-birth in
higher forms of being, the conquerors of the five evils, the
flame that burns up sin, the hannner that breaks up torment,
and so on. Om saves the gods, tua the Asuras, ni the men, jH((7 the animals, ?//< the spectre world oi p?’etas, ^lan the in
habitants of hell! O/a^ is ‘the blessing of self-renunciation,
ma of mercy, ?u’ of chastity, etc’ * Truly monstrous,’ says
Koeppen,”is the number oi pcuh/us \\\nch in the great festivals
Imm and buzz through the air like flies.’ In some places
each worshipper reports to the highest Lama how many oni
‘jiKinis he has nttered, and the total immber emitted by the
congregation is counted by the billion.”
Grueber and Dorville describe Manij>e as an idol, befoi’e
which xtidfa yens insol’dis gcdleulatlonihus sacra sua faclt.,
hlentldtn verTja haec repetens:
—’ O JManipe, mi hum, O Manipe,
mi hum ; id est Manipe, salva nos !
‘ ” Ileniusat {Melanges
I^ostJiuiiies, Paris, 1843, p. 90) translates this phrase by:
” Adoration, O thou precious stone who art in the lotus ! ” and
observes that it illustrates the fundamental dogma of Buddhism,
viz. : the production of the material universe by an absolute
being; all things which exist are shut up in the breast of the
divine substance ; the ‘ precious stone ‘ signifying that tJte
world is in God. Mr. Jameson says that the sentence Oni
tnaxi jxtdiiii JuDKj is formed of the initial letters of various
deities, all of whom are supposed to be implored in the prayer.’
In reverential salutations, the cap is removed by the inferior,
and tbe arms hang by the side. The bodies of the dead are
placed in an open inclosure, in the same nuumer as practised by
the Parsees, where birds and beasts of prey devour them, or
they are dismembered in an exposed place. Lanuis are burned,
and their ashes collected into urns. As soon as the breath has
departed, the body is seated in the same attitude as Buddha is
represented, with the legs bent before, aiul the soles of the feet
turned upwards. The right hand rests upon the thigh, the
left turns up near the body, the tlnnnb touching the shoulder.
In this attitude of contemplation, the corpse is burned.
In Tibet, as in Butan, the custom of polyandry prevails. The
choice of a Avife lies with the eldest son, who having made
known his intentions to his parents sends a matchmaker to pro-
‘ Comjiare, for further discussion of this suhjoct, Timkowski’s Misffion ts Peking, London. 1827, Vol. II., p. :i4y. Wilson’s Abode of >S/toiC, p. 329.
TIBETAN TYPES AND CUSTOMS. 251
pose the matter to the parents of the girl. The consent of the
parents being obtained, the matchmaker places an ornament of
a jewel set in gold, called sedskc upon the head of the damsel,
and gives her presents of jewels, dresses, cattle, etc., according
to the means of the young man. The guests invited on the
day of the marriage bring presents of such things as they
choose, which augments the dowry, A tent is set up before
the bride’s house, in which are placed three or four square
cushions, and the ground around sprinkled with wheat ; the
bride is seated on the highest cushion, her parents and friends
standing near her according to their rank, and the assembled
party there partake of a feast. The bride is then conducted to
the house of her lover by the friends present, her person being
sprinkled with wheat or barley as she goes along, and there
placed by his side, and both of them served with tea and spirits.
Soon after, the groom seats himself apart, and every one present
gives a scarf, those of superior rank binding them around their
necks, equals and inferiors laying them by their sides. The
next day, a procession is formed of the relatives of the newly
married pair, wdiich visits all the friends, and the marriage is
conqjleted. The girl thus becomes the wife of all the brothers,
and manages the domestic concerns of their household. The
number of her husbands is son)etimes indicated by as many
points in her cap. This custom is strengthened by the desire,
on the part of the family, to keep the property intact among
its members ; but it does not prevent one of the husbands leaving
the roof and marrying another woman, nor is the usage
universal, liemusat speaks of a novel in Tibetan, in which the
author admirably portrays the love of his heroine, Triharticha,
for her four lovers, and bi’ings their marriage in at the end in
the happiest manner.
The dwellings of the poor are built of unhewn stones, rudely piled upon each other without cement, two stories high, and resembling brick-kilns in shape and size ; the windows are small, in order not to weaken the structure ; the roof is flat, defended by a brushwood parapet, and protected from the molestation of evil spirits by flags, strips of paper tied to strings, or branches of trees. Timber is costly and little used ; the floors are of marble or tiles, and the furniture consists of little else than mats and cushions. The temples and convents are more imposing and commodious structures ; some of those at Il’lassa are among the noblest specimens of architecture in Central Asia.
The mausoleum of the Teshu-lama at Teshu Lumbu resembles
a plain square watch-tower surmounted by a double Chinese
canopy roof, the eaves of which are hung with Ijells, on which
the breeze plays a ceaseless dirge. The body of the lama reposes
in a coffin of gold, and his effigy, also of gold, is placed
within the concavity of a large shell upon the top of the pyramidal
structure which contains it. The sides of the pyramid
are silver plates, and on the steps are deposited the jewels and
other costly articles which once appertained to him. An altar
in front receives the oblations and incense daily presented before
the tomb, and near by is a second statue of the deceased as
large as life in the attitude of reading. Scrolls and pennons of
silk hang from the ceiling, and the walls are adorned with
paintings of priests engaged in prayer. The whole structure is
substantially built, and its rich ornaments are placed there n<jt
less for security than to do honor to the revered person deposited
beneath. The windows are closed with mohair curtains,
and a skylight in the upper story serves for lighting the room,
and for passing out upon the roof. The roof or parapet is
ornamented with cylinders of copper or other nuiteiials, which
imparts a brilliant appearance to the ediiices.
The manufactures of Tibet consist of woollens, cloth, blankets,
yarn, goat-hair shawls, musk, paper, metals, and jewelry.
Their lapidaries cut every kind of oriuiment in superior style,
and gold and silverware forms a considerable article of trade to
China. These and other crafts nmst necessai’ily languish, liowever,
from the immense proportion of men who are witiidi’awn
from labor into monasteries, compelling the residue to devote
most of their strength to tillage. The most important exports
to China consist of gold dust, precious stones, bezoars, asafcetida,
musk, woollens, and skins ; for which the people receive
silks, teas, chinaware, tobacco, musical instruments, and metals.
The trade is carried on throuy-h Sinino- fu in Kansuh, and Batang in Sz’chneii. Tincal, rock-salt, and shawl wool, are additional articles sent to Ladak, Biitan, and India.
COMMERCE AND LANGUAGE OF TIBET. 25;}
Music is studied by the priesthood for their ceremonies, and
with much better effect than among the Chinese priests. Their
amusements consist in archery, dancing, and observance of
many festivals connected with the worship of the dead or of
the living. Dram-drinking is common, but the people camiot
be called a drunken race, nor does the habit of opium eating or
smoking, so fatally general in Assam, prevail, inasmuch as the
poppy cannot well be cultivated among the mountains.
Education is confined to the priesthood, but the women, who conduct much of the traffic, also learn arithmetic and writing. The language is alphabetical, and reads from left to right; there are two forms of the character, the uchen used for books, and the umin employed in writing, which do not differ more than the Iloman and the running-hand in English. The form of the characters shows their Sanscrit origin, but there are many consonants in the language not found in that tongue, and silent letters are not unfrequent in the written words. There are thirty consonants in the alphbet, distributed into eight classes, with four additional voM-el signs ; each of them ends in a short a, as la, oiga, cJia, which can be lengthened by a diacritical mark placed underneath. The syllables are separated
from each other by a point ; the accented consonant is that
which follows the vowel, and the others, whether before or
after it, are pronounced as rapidly as possible, and not unfrequently
omitted altogether in speaking. The variations in this
respect constitute the chief features of the patois found in different
parts where Tibetan is spoken. A dictionary and grammar ‘
of this language were printed in 1S34 in Calcutta by (‘soma de
Korcis, a Hungarian who resided among the priests near Ladak.
The literature is almost wholly theological, as far as it has been
examined, and such works as are not of this character, have
probably been introduced from China. Their divisions of time,
numeration, chronology, and weights, have also been adopted
‘ Essay towards a Dictionary, Tibetan and English. A Grammar of the Tibetan Lauguage in English. Calcutta, 1834. from that country with a few alterations. An Englishman, Mr. Brian Hodgson, who lived in Kipal from lb20 to 1843, has added more than any one else to our knowledge of the literature of this country. This gentleman procured complete copies of the original documents of the Buddhist canon preserved in Sanscrit in Nipalese monasteries, as well as (by a present from the Dalai-lama) the whole of the existing literary remains of the once flourishing Christian mission at Il’lassa. His more important essays on these lands have now been brought together in a single volume.’
The history of Tibet has been made partially known to Europe through the Mongol author, Sanang Setsen,^ but if free access could be had to their annals, it is probable that a methodical history could be extracted, reaching back at least three centuries before Christ. Tibet was ruled by its ow^n princes till the rise of Genghis ; the first monarch, who united the various tribes under his sway b. c. 313, was Seger-Sandilutu-Kagan-Tlil-Esen,^ and from the fact that Buddhism was introduced during his reign, it miglit be inferred that he came from the south. Il’lassa was founded by Srongzan-Ctambo, or Srongbdzan sgambouo,^ about a.d. 630, after which time Tibetan
history becomes more authentic, inasmuch as this king introduced
the alphabet. The Tang dynasty carried their arms into
Tibet from Khoten, but the people threw off their yoke during
the decline of that family. Mohammedanism also disturbed the
supremacy of the Buddhist faith, and severe persecutions followed
about the beginning of the tenth century by an Islam
prince Darma, but it was rej^elled at liis death, and has neversince
made the least impression upon the people. Genghis reduced
Tangout, one of the principalities, northeast of Koko-nor,
and soon after brought the whole country under his sway ; this
‘ Essays on the Language, Literature, and Religion of Nejial and Tibet, etc.Loudon, 1874.-‘ R musat, Observations stir VlJistoire des Mongols orientemix de S:inang Setsen,Paris, I’an 8. Ssanang Ssetsen, Oeschichte der Mongolen, Uebers., von. J.J. Schmidt, Petersb., 1829.^ Remusat relates tlic story of his origin, Melanges Posthmnes, p. 400.• Klaproth, Description du Tubet.
HISTORY OF TIBET. 255
Kiiblai still further settled as a dependency of his empire. The people recovered their independence on the expulsion of the Mongols, and under the Ming dynasty formed several small kingdoms, among which were Ladak and Rodok, both of them still existing.
From a short resume of letters written from Tibet in 162(), by Romish missionaries living there, it appears that the kingdom of Sopo was the most powerful in the north, and Cogur, IT-tsang, and Mai-yul were three southern principalities. The king of Cogue allowed these missionaries to reside in his territories, and took pleasure in hearing them converse and dispute with the lamas. The Dalai-lama at this time was the king’s brother, and possessed subordinate influence in the state, but the priests were numerous and influential. The conquest of Mongolia and Tangout opened the way for Ivanglil to enter Tibet, but the intercourse between the Emperor and Dalai-lama was chiefly connected with religion and carrying tribute. An index of the freedom of communication between Tibet and the west is found in the passports issued to the traders visiting iriassa in lOSS. The lamas held the supreme power imtil towards the end of his reign, when Chinese influence became paramount. The country had already been concpiered by the Songar chieftain, so that on his defeat it could ofPer little resistance.
Ivanghi appointed six of the highest princes or gidlho over the provinces ; but soon after his death, in 1727, three of them conspired against Yungching, and were not subdued without considerable resistance. The Emperor then appointed the loyal prince or gialbo as governor-general, and he remained in his vice-regal office till his death, about 1750. Kienlung, finding that his son was endeavoring to make himself fully independent, executed him as a rebel, suppressed the office, and appointed two Chinese generals to be associated with the Dalailama and his coadjutoi-, in the administration of the country.
The troops were increased and forts erected in all parts of the country to awe the people and facilitate trade.
The present government of Tibet is superintended by two ta chilly ‘or great ministers,’ residing at Il’lassa, who act con-“‘ointly, while they serve as checks upon each other ; they do not hold their office for a long time. They have absolute control over all the troops in the country, and the military are generally confined to the garrisons, and do not cultivate the soil. The collection of revenue, transmission of tribute to Peking, and direction of the persons who carry it, and those mIu) conduct the trade at Batang and Sining fu, are all under their control. The Dalai-lama, and the Teshu-lama are the high religious officers of the country, each of them independent in his own province, but the former holding the highest place in the hierarchy. The Chinese residents confer with each concerning the direction of his own province. All their appointments to office or nobility must be sanctioned by the residents before they are A’alid, but merely religious officers are not under this surveillance. In the villages, the authority is administered by secular deputy lamas called delni^ and by commandants called kaiipon^ who are sent from the capital. Each dcha is assisted by a native vazir of the place, who, Avith the chief lama, foiiii the local government, amenable to the supreme magistracy. The western province of Kari is peopled by nomads, who wander over the regions north of Tlavan-hrad, and are under the authority of larjxni-‘^ sent from IFlassa, without the assistance of lamas. The two higli-pi-iests themselves are likewise assisted by councillors. One of these, called Soopoon(‘hoondx)o, who held the office of sadeeh or adviser when Turner visited Teshu-Lumbo, was a ]V[anchu by birth, but had long lived in Tibet.
GOVERNMENT OF TIBET. 257
The nomadic clans of Dam Mongols and other tribes occupying the thirty-nine feudal townships or ta-sz’ in Anterior Tibet, are governed by the residents without the intervention of the lamas. The disturbances in Ulterior Tibet in 1792, resulting from the irruption of the Kipalese and sack of Teshu-Lumbo, were speedily quelled by the energy of Kienlung’s government, and the invaders forced to sue for mercy. The southern frontier was, in consequence of this inroad, strongly fortified by a chain of posts, and the communication with the states between Tibet and India strictly forbidden and w^atched. It gave the Chinese an opportunity to strengthen their rule and extend their inlluence north to Khoten and into Ladak. The natural mildness of character of the Tibetans, and similarity of religion renders thera much easier under the Chinese joke, than the Mohammedans.*
‘ Authorities on Tibet besides those already referred to: Journal Asiatique,Tomes IV., p. 281 ; VIII., p. 117; IX., p. 81 ; XIV., pp. 177, ff. 277, 406,etc. Dii Halde, DescHption of (Jhiim., Vol. II., pp. 884-888. Capt. Samuel Turner, Account of an Embassy to the Court of Teslioo Lama in Tibet, London, 1800. Histoire cic ce qui s’est ]Mi>se au lioyaume du Tibet, en Pann’e 1(}26 ; trad de I’ltalien. Paris, 1829. P. Kircher, CJiinn llhistrnta. MM. Peron et Billecocq, liecueil de Voyages du lldbet, Paris, 1796. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal^ passim. Chinese Repository, Vols. VI., pp. 28, 494,IX., p. 20, and XIII., p. 50.5. Hitter, Asien, Bd. II., 4er Abschnitt, and Bd.III., S. 187-424. Richthofen, China, Bd. I., S. 228, 247, 466, 670, 688, etc.C. H. Desgodin, La mission du Tibet de 1855 a 1870, comprennant Pexpose desaffaires rdigieuses, etc. Dhtpres les lettres de M. fabbe Desgodins, missionaireapofitoliquc, Verdun, 1872. Lieut.’ Kreitner, Jm fernen Osten, pp. 829 ff.,and in The r»jndar Science Monthly, for August, 1882. Emil Schlagintweit,Tibetan Buddhism, Illustrated by Literary Documents and Objects of Religious Worship, London, 1868. Abbe Hue, I’ravels through Tartary, Tibet and China, 2 vols.Vol. I.—17CHAPTER V. POPULATION AND STATISTICS
Much of the interest appertaining to the country and people here treated of, in the minds of philanthropic and intelligent men, has arisen from the impression they have received of its vast population. A country twice the size of the Chinese empire would present few attractions to the Christian^ the merchant, or the ethnologist, if it were no better inhabited than Sahara, or Arizona : a people might possess most admirable institutions, and a matchless form of government, yet these excellencies would lose their interest, did we hear that it is the republic of San Marino or the kingdom of Muscat, where they are found. The population of few countries in the world has been accurately ascertained, and probably that of China is less satisfactory than any European or American state of the present day. It is far easier to take a census among a people who understand its object, and will honestly assist in its execution, than in a despotic, half-civilized country, Avherc the mass of the inhabitants are afraid of contact or intercourse with their rulers; in most of such states, as Abyssinia, Turkey, Persia, etc., there is either no regular emnneration at all, or merely a general estimate for the purposes of i-cvemie or conscription.
CREDIT DUE TO CHINESE CENSUSES. 259
The subject of the population of Cliiiui has engaged the attention of the monarchs of the present dynasty, and their censuses have been the best sources of information in making up an intelligent opinion upon the matter. Whatever may be our views of the actual population, it is plain that these censuses, with all their discrepancies and inaccuracies, are the only reliable sources of information. The conflicting opinions and
conclusions of foreign writers neither give any additional weight
to them, nor detract at all from their credibility. As the question
stands at present, they can be doubted, but cannot be
denied ; it is impossible to prove them, while there are many
grounds for believing them; the enormous total which they
exhibit can be declared to be improbable, but not shown to be
impossible.
No one who has been in China can hesitate to acknowledge that there are some strong grounds for giving credit to them, but the total goes so far beyond his calculations, that entire belief nmst, indeed, be deferred till some new data have been furnished. There are, perhaps, more peculiar encouragements
to the increase of population there than in any other
country, mostly arising from a salubrious climate, semi-annual
crops, unceasing industry, early marriages, and an equable
taxation, involving reasonable security of life and property.
Turning to other countries of Asia, we soon observe that in
Japan and Persia these causes have less influence ; in Siam
and Burmah they are weak ; in Tibet they are almost powerless.
At this point every one must rest, as the result of an examination
into the population of the Chinese Empire ; though,
from the survey of its principal divisions, made in the preceding
chapters, its capability of maintaining a dense population needs
no additional- evidence. The mind, however, is bewildered in
some degree by the contemplation of millions upon millions of
human beings thus collected under one government ; and it
almost wishes there might be grounds for disbelieving the
enormous total, from the dieadful results that might follow
the tyrannical caprice or unrestrained fury of their rulers,
or the still more shocking scenes of rapine and the hideous
extremities of want which a bad harvest would necessarily
cause.
Chinese literature contains many documents describing
classes of society comprised in censuses in the various dynasties.
The results of those enumerations have been digested by Ma
Twan-lin in a judicious and intelligent manner in the chapters
treating on population, from which M. Ed. Biot has elaborated
many important data.’ The early records show that the census
was designed to contain only the number of taxable people, excluding all persons bound to give personal service, who were
under the control of others. Moreover, all othcials and slaves,
all persons over 60 or 66 years of age, the weak or sick, those
needing help, and sometimes such as were newly placed on state
lands, were likewise omitted. Deducting these classes. Ma
Twan-lin gives one census taken in the ninth century, b.c, as
13,704,923 persons, between the ages of 15 and 05, living
within the frontiers north of the Yangtsz’ Eiver. This figure
would be worth, according to the tables of modern statistics,
about 65 per cent, of the entire population, or as representing
21,753,528 inhabitants.
The mighty conqueror, Tsin Chi Ilwangtf, changed the personal
corvc’c to scutage, and introduced a kind of poll tax, by
accepting the money from many who could not be forced to do
the work required. This practice was followed in the 11 an
dynasty, and in b.c. 194, the poll-tax was legalized, to include
all men between 15 and 66, while a lighter impost was le\ ied
on those between 7 and 14. During the four centuries of this
family’s regime, the object and modes of a census were well
understood. Ma Twan-lin gives the results of ten taken between
A.D. 2 and 155. His details show that it was done
simply for revenue, and was omitted in bad years, when drought
or freshets destroyed the harvests ; they show, too, an increase
in the number of slaves, that women were now enumerated,
and that girls between 15 and 30 paid a poll-tax. In b.c. 30,
the limits of age were placed between 7 and 56. The average
of these ten censuses is 63,500,600, the first one being as high
as 83,640,000, while the next and lowest, taken fifty-five years
afterwards, is only 29,180,000, and the third is 47,396,<»00.
These great variations are explained by the disturbances arising
in consequence of the usurpation of Wangmang, a.d. 9-27, and
subsequent change of the ca})ital, and the impossibility, during
this troubled period, of canvassing all parts of the Empire.
‘ This careful digest is contained in the Journal Asiatique for 1836 (April and May), and will repay perusal.
MA TWAN-LIN’s study OF THE cp:nsu8es. 261
The irfcroiice from thesc data, that tlio real population of the Chinese Empire north of the Nan ling at the time of Christ was at least eighty millions, is as well groinided as almost any fact in its history.’
After the downfall of the Ilan dynasty, a long period of
civil war ensued, in which the destruction of life and property
was so enormous that the population was i-educed to one-sixth
of the amount set down in a.d. 230, when disease, epidemics,
and earthquakes increased the losses caused by war and the cessation
of agricultui’e, according to Ma Twan-lin ; and it is not
till A.D. 280, when the Tsin dynasty had subjected all to its
sway, that the country began to revive. In that year an enumeration
was made which stated the free peojjle between 12
and 66 years in the land at 14,163,863, or 23,180,000 in all.
From this period till the Sui dynasty came into power, in 589,
Cliina was torn by dissensions and rival monarchs, and the
recorded censuses covered only a portion of the land, the figures
including even fewer of the people, owing to the great number
of serfs or bondmen who had sought safety under the protection
of landowners. At this time a new mode of taking the census
was ordered, in M’hich the people were classified into those from
1 to 3 years, then 3 to 10, then 10 to IT, and 17 to 60, after
which age they were not taxed ; the ratio of the land tax was
also fixed. A .census taken in 606 in this way gives an estimated
population of 46,019,956 in all China ; the frontiers, at
this period, hardly reached to the Xan ling Mountains, and the
author’s explanation of the manner of carrying on some public
works shows that even this sum did not include persons who were
liable to l)e called on for personal service, while all officials, slaves,
and beggars were omitted. Troubles arose again from these
enforced works, and it was not till the advent to power of the
Tang dynasty, in 618, that a regular enumeration was possible.
‘ The population of the Ronican Empire at the same period is estimated at 85,000,000 bj Merivale (Vol. IV., pp. ‘^,?,Q-M’^i), but the data are less complete than in China; he reckons the European provinces at 45,000,000, and the Asiatic and African colonies at the remainder, giving 27,000,000 to Asia Minor and Syria. The area of China, at this time, was less than Rome by about one fourth.
This family reigned 287 years, and Ma Twan-lin gives fifteen
returns of the population up to 841. They show great variations,
some of them difficult to explain even by omitting ot
supplying large classes of the inhabitants. The one most carefully
taken was in a.d. 75-i, and gives an estimated total of
about seventy millions for the whole Empire, which, though
nearly the same as that in the Ilan dynasty in a.d. 2, extended
over a far greater area, even to the whole southern seaboard.
In addition to former enumerated classes, many thousands of priests were passed by in this census.
The years of anarchy following the Tang, till a.d. 976, M-hen the Sung dynasty obtained possession, caused their usual effect. Its first census gives only about sixteen millions of taxable population that year, when its authority was not firmly assured ; but
in 1021 the returns rise to 43,388,380, and thence gradually
increase to 100,095,250 in 1102, just before the provinces north
of the Yellow River, by far the most fertile and loyal, were lost.
The last enumeration, in 1223, while Ma Twan-lin was living,
places the returns in the southern provinces at 63,304,000 ; this
was fifty years before Kublai khan conquered the Empire. Our
author gives some details concerning the classes included in the
census during his own lifetime, which prove to a reasonable
mind that the real number of mouths living on the land Avas, if
anything, higher than the estimates. In 1290, the Mongol
Emperor published his enumeration, placing the taxable population
at 58,834,711, “not counting those who had fled to the
mountains and lakes, or who had joined the rebels.” This was
not long after his ruthless hand had almost depopulated vast
regions in the northern provinces, before he could quiet them.
In the continuation of Ma Twan-lin’s Ti (‘searches, thei-e are
sixteen censuses given for the Ming dynasty between 1381 and
1580 ; the lowest figure is 46,800,000, in 1506, and the highest,
66,590,000, in 1412, the average for the two centuries being
56,715,360 inhabitants. One of its compilers declares that he
cannot reconcile their great discrepancies, and throws doubts on
their totals from his inability to learn the mo(^leof emimeration.
Three are given for three consecutive years (1402-1404), the
difference between the extremes of which amounts to sixteen
millions, but they were all taken when Yungloh was fighting Kienwan, his nephew, at Nanking, and settling himself at Peking as Emperor, during which years large districts could not possibly have been counted.
COMPARATIVE CENSUS TABLES. 263
Before entering upon a careful examination of this question,
it will be well to bring together the various estimates taken of
the population during the present dynasty. The details given
in the table on page 264 have been taken from the best sources,
and are as good as the people themselves possess.
Besides these detailed accounts, there have been several
aggregates of the whole country given by other native writers
than Ma Twan-lin, and some by foreigners, professedly drawn
from original sources, but who have not stated their authorities.
The most trustworthy, together with those given in the other
table, are here placed in chronological order.
Authorities.
/ Continuation of MaTwan-lin. Ed.I Biot, Jour7ial Asiatique, 1836.
Oeneral Statistics of the Empire ;Medhurst’s China, p. 53.
‘, Till Tung Chi, a statistical work; \ Morrison’s View of China.
j General Statistica ; Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 359.
I Memoires sur les Chinois, Tome f VI., p. 377 ff.
] Les Missionaires, De Guignes,
I Tomelll, p. 67.
i General Statistics ; Chinese Repo-
\ sitory. Vol. I., p. 359.
J
Yih Tung Chi, a statistical work ;
( Morrison’s Vieto of China.
I Memoiressur lesChinois^TomeYI.
f De Guignes, Tome III. , p. 73.
j Allerstein ; Grosier ; De Guignes,
] Tome III., p. 67.
\ ” Z.” of Berlin, in Chinese Repo-
\ sitory. Vol. I., p. 361.
j General Statistics ; Dr. Morrison,
I Anglo-Chinese Coll. Report,
\ 1839. Statement made to Lord
( Macartney.
] General Statistics ; Chinese Repo-
( sitory. Vol. I., p. 359.
\ VassUivitch.
] Chinese Ciistoni’s Reports.
Seven of these censuses, viz., the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 17th,
20th, 21st and 23d, are given in detail in the following table.
364 tiij: middle kingdom.
c O 3) CP o o^o^o —^ ~_ —_ —_ o ^_ :r_ —__ o
©j”-^’cct-*” CO* -T ;r”-r – to 7?’ ::’ //cc -T ir: r*’
Tr-gi,-(0 CO rrir2-Tr;c;-T:ct:r-r. r: xco
els??,:
~ ^? 5 »
oil a>
^_^ —• N^ ^-^ ,*J l*X ^—’ -‘. ‘y T —^ ^’. l*X ^ ‘.r •— •*•’ -f^
x’jT C-“cTi–rT^jij ;^’ -^ (^ —’ ^ ;^” 4^ai”X iO ifj
1(5 = 100 o ooin o
:c JO t- a, -^ lO =- r; o
o iO X CO ;o 00 ?* T 😮
I- rt as i: i- «:ca:_^ s-j
;C5’rX!W CO ;c”iCt:^ -^
lO OOO U3″0 O
CO <— O iC T 2? ?*
O X O ‘^ lO ^ cc
JB ‘—O i-H TJ ‘-‘.’5”
a;i-r^5’*o^»:c-jrm -r o c: ir: ‘t t-_^oo (»
cS X vr rr .r CO = 7′ – i m /; th x g 3 o (- :^
<r« !- t- ^r ^ (- c; -r :^ = x o; x i- t-_~ -r o 😮
irfic c:’i; ITT* r-‘ lo’xTx.’ x’ i- 1- ttScovi tT
t-i U r-l(N T( ri 1-1
‘”id
•52J «
000=0000 oO oO oO oO oO O00!=0G> oO oO O00O0-^ 000= O — 00 C= 0^=:__0_0 0^0 0^=^ 0000 cT o”o cTo^oo cTcTo ^o
o
O0O0^0J0O Oo o_^o^o__o_o_0o_0o;3o_o=_^0oo0_o0_^
oo*-*i-^io” 5* cTi-j’io’^’MocrirJtfT-fo’oroo’
o
roi-HrtS:ci-*ooot-5einQooif5 05o;e
:*-Hi-oin~ X — oioiocii-o^Cii-H^^X’
–r(T-<inOOC-**3’Ol0^rlO 0_’X^T* ?? c*^
d” -T t–‘ cc^X :c o” i-^ oT ^* i-^ CO irf~ TT co’cd” T—* tjoccTco-
Tioi-i-inoOicoi-t-ixco’-o
15 O O 00 ri O S^ l-^CC CO ‘^^’^..^ •^’*^*’^ ^
<i-iff{ra?;s«T<r-ie«i-ii-i>-i(NT-i
Gi-l
O
t-.’NTH-Ot-i-iT-IQ035O(NWMC0 00C:XlX5»
r-lt-0-n’CC;CiOOO:COTO-TIN3:-TT-ITJ>in-T
OT0003C00iCC’NQ0C000?rO’W”T ^^CO X O t-^
-^aTs^-^ooiffiO ‘?f0^00 cc^r-Tco co”oi”u5 x’ CO r-T
t-OOt-Ht-IC0OC0»-lCCC010:CC0C0l— rHOS-^
COt-T-ii-i;C-»OCO£- lO^CO O0_t-H CO cb os_i-_^o ‘»
ofw itT t-^ cfcTiO*x -^ ‘^’” t”cc 5^ T-T cc’ T-T r-T r-T
IS
. OJXt-TH3:05iOt-e«o:»»T)’Xin3:cO’l’
•(NXOCOC:-TTr(MXOt-lO:-‘£. XCD35 -~ — ~ ‘ “) 05 T-i_o; o^ o :c »-»
_. -_ _ – _ TrH-^’oO lOrH *rf ‘t’ C:0~’-ilO«i-(CCCDt–^i-l-T-^Ol010 ” ^”^CCWCOfHT-HT* 74
t-T itT
uoi:(‘B[ndod uaAV
lO^’NOOlOO^COCirlCOlOXrHCO*”-!
t-^lflT^iOOC^t’-l’-XiQirtt-fN-TasXO
•^Tji’TiTJ’Xt— COCD’WCC(?*»-<THf-ifW
s
THE CENSUSES INDIVIDUALLY CONSIDERED. 265
The first three belong to the Ming dynasty, and are taken from
a continuation of Ma Twan din’s Researches, whence they were
quoted in the Mtrror of Hlstonj, without their details. During
the Ming dynasty, a portion of the country now called the
Eighteen Provinces, was not under the control of IlungM’u and
his descendants. The wars with the Japanese, and with tribes
on the north and west, together with the civil wars and struggles
between the Chinese themselves, and with the Nu-chi in
Manchuria, nmst have somewhat decreased the population.
The first census of 1662 (No. 4), is incidentally mentioned by
Kierlung in 1791, as having been taken at that time, from his
making some observations upon the increase of the population
and comparing the early censuses with the one he had recently
ordered. This sum of 21,068,600 does not, however, include
all the inhabitants of China at that date ; for the Manchus
commenced their sway in 161:’±, and did not exercise full authority
over all the provinces much before 1700 ; Canton was
taken in 1650, Formosa in 1683.
The census of 1668 (Ko. 5), shows a little increase over that
of 1662, but is likewise confined to the conquered portions ; and
in those provinces which had been subdued, there were extensive
tracts which had been almost depopulated at the conquest.
Any one who reads the recitals of Semedo, Martini, Trigautius,
and othei’s, concerning the massaci-es and destruction of life
both by the Manchus and by Chinese l)andits, between 1630
and 1650, M’ill feel no loss in accounting for the diminution of
numbers, down to 1710. But the chief explanation of the decrease
from sixty to twenty-seven millions is to be found in the
object of taking the census, viz., to levy a poll-tax, and get at
the number of men fit for the army—two reasons for most men
to avoid the registration.
The census of 1711 (No. 8), is the first one on record which bears the appearance of crediljility, when its several parts are compared with each other. The dates of the preceding (Nos. 6 and 7), are rather uncertain ; the last was extracted by Dr. Morrison from a book published in 1790, and he thought it was probably taken as early as 1650, though that is unlikely.
The other is given by Dr. Medhurst without any explanation, and their great disparity leads us to think that both are dated wrongly. The census of 1711 is much more consistent in itself, though there are some reasons for supposing that neither did it include all the population then in China. The census was still taken for enrolment in the army, and to levy a capitation tax upon all males between the ages of sixteen and sixty. But this tax and registration were evaded and resisted by the indignant Chinese, who had never been chronicled in this fashion by their own princes; the Emperor Kanghi, therefore, abolished the capitation tax. It was not till about this time that the
Manchus had subdued and pacified the southern provinces, and
it is not improbable that this census, and the survey taken by
the Jesuits, were among their acts of sovereignty. Finding
the people unwilling to be registered, the poll tax was merged
in the land tax, and no census ordered during the reign of
Yungching, till Kienlung revived it in order to have some
guide in apportioning relief during seasons of distress and scarcity,
establishing granaries, and aiding the police in their duties.
Many, therefore, who would do all in their power to prevent
their names being taken, when they were liable to be taxed or
called on to do military service, could have no objection to
come forward, when the design of the census was to benefit
themselves. It matters very little, however, for what object the
census was taken, if there is reason to believe it to have been
accurate. It might indeed act as a stimulus to multiply names
and figures whom there were no people to represent, as the
principle of paying the marshals a percentage on the numbers
they reported did in some parts of New York State in 1840.
The three next numbers (9, 10, and 11), are taken from De
Guignes, who quotes Amiot, but gives no Chinese authorities.
The last is given in full by De Guignes, and both this and that
of Allerstein, dated twenty years after, ai-e introduced into the
table. There are some disci’epancies between these two and
the census of 1753, taken from the General Statistics, which
cannot easily be reconciled. The internal evidence is in favor
of the latter, over the census of 1743 ; it is taken from a new
edition of the Ta Tsing IFioul Tien, or ‘ General Statistics of
the Empire,’ and the increase during the forty-two years which
COMPAIJISON OF LATER CENSUSES. 267
had elapsed since the last census is regular in all the provinces,
with the exception of Shantung and Kiangnan. The extraordinary
fertility of these provinces would easily induce immigration,
while in the war of conquest, their popnlousness and wealth attracted the armies of the Manchus, and the destruction of life was disproportionably great. The smaller numbers given to the western and southern provinces correspond
moreover to the opposition experienced in those regions.
On the whole, the census taken in 1753 compares very well
with that of 1711, and both of them bear an aspect of verity,
which does not belong to the table of 1743 quoted by De Guignes.
From 1711 to 1753, the population doubled itself in about
twenty-two years, premising that the whole country was faithfully
registered at the iii-st census. For instance, the province
of Kweichau, in 1711, presents on the average a mere fraction
of a little more than a single person to two square miles ; while
in 1753 it had increased in the unexampled ratio of three to a square mile, which is doubling its population every seven years ; Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Kansuh (all of them containing to this day, partially subdued tribes), had also multiplied their numbers in nearly the same proportion, owing in great measure, probably, to the more extended census than to the mere increase of population.
The amounts for 173G, three of 1743, and those of 1760,
1761, and 1762 (Xos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17), are all extracted
from De Guignes, who took them from the Memolres
sur les Chlnois. The last, that of 1762, is given in detail in the
table. The discrepancy of sixty millions between that given
by Amiot for 1760, and that by Dr. Morrison for the same
year, is owing, there can be little doubt, to foreigners, and not
to an error of the Chinese. The work from which Dr. Morrison
extracted his estimate for that year was published in 1790,
but the census was taken between 1760 and 1765. The same
work contains the census of 1711 (Xo. 8), quoted by him, and
there is good cause for believing that Amiot’s or Grosier’s
estimate of 157,343,975 for 1743, is the very same census, he having multiplied the number 28,605,716 by five, supposing them to have been families and not individuals. The three ascribed to the year 1743, are probably all derived from the same native authorities by different individuals.
The three dated in 1760, 1761, and 1762, are harmonious with each other ; but if they are taken, those of 1753 and 1760, extracted from the Ylh Tung CIu hy I)i-. Morrison, must be rejected, which are far more reasonable, and correspond better with the preceding one of 1711. It may be remarked, that by reckoning five persons to a family in calculating the census of 1753, as Amiot does for 1743, the population would be 189,223,820 instead of 103,050,060, as given in the table. This explains the apparent decrease of fifty millions. All the discrepancies between these various tables and censuses must not be charged upon the Chinese, since it is by no means easy to ascertain their modes of taking the census and their use of terms. In the tables, for example, they employ the phrase y^/lting, for a male over 15 years of age, as the integer ; this has, then, to be multiplied by some factor of increase to get at the total population ; and this last figure must be obtained elsewhere.
It must not be overlooked that the object in taking a census being to calcidate the probable revenue by enumei’atingthe taxable persons, the margin of error and deficiency depends on the peace of the state at the time, and not chiefly on the estimate of five or more to a household.
The amount for 1736 corresponds sufficiently closely with that for 1743 ; and reckoning the same number of persons in a family in 1753, that tallies well enough with those for 1760, 1761, and 1762, the whole showing a gradual increase for twenty-five years. But all of them, except that of 1753, ai’6 probably rated too high. That for 1762 (Xo. 17), has been justly considered as one of the most authentic.
THE FOUR MOST RELIABLE CEISTSUSES. 269
The amount given by ” Z.” of Berlin (Xo. 18), of 155^ millions for 1790 is quoted in the Clihiem liejms’dot’y, but the writer states no authorities, was probably never in China, and as it appears at present, is undeserving the least notice. That given by Dr. Morrison for 1792 (Xo. 19), the year before Lord Macartney’s embassy’, is quoted from an edition of that date, but probably Avas really taken in 1765 or thereabouts, but he did nut publish it in detail.’ It is probably much nearer the truth than the amount of ao’d millions by the commissioner Chau to the English ambassador. This estimate has had much more respect paid to it as an authentic document than it deserved.
The Chinese connnissioner would naturally wish to exalt his country in the eyes of its far-travelled visitors, and not having the official returns to refer to, would not be likely to state them less than they were. lie gave the population of the provinces in round numbers, perhaps altogether from his own memory, aided by those of his attendant clerks, with the impression that his hearers would never be able to refer to the original native authorities.
The next one quoted (Xo. 21) is the most satisfactory of all the censuses in Chinese works, and was considered by both the Morrisons and by Dr. Bridgman, editor of the Chinese Jiejwsitori/, as ” the most accurate that has yet been given of the population.”
In questions of this nature, one well authenticated table is
worth a score of doubtful origin. It has been shown how
apocryphal are many of the statements given in foreign books,
but with the census of 1812, the source of error which is chiefly
to be guarded against is the average given to a family. This
is done by the Chinese themselves on no uniform plan, and it
may be the case that the estimate of individuals from the number
of families is made in separate towns, fi-oni an intimate
acquaintance with the particular district, which would be less
liable to eri-or than a general average. The number of families
given in the census of 1753, is 37,785,552, which is more than
one-third of the population.
The four censuses which deserve the most credit, so far as
the sources are considered, are those of 1711, 1753, 1792, and
1812 {i.e., Nos. 8, 13, 19, and 21) ; these, when compared,
show the following rate of increase: From 1711 to 1753, the population increased 7”1,222,602,
which was an annual advance of l,70-±,82-l: inhabitants, or a’ Sir G. Staunton, PJmbassy to China, Vol. II., Appendix, p. 615 : ” Table of the Population and Extent of China proper, within the Great V/all. Taken in round numbers from the Statements of Chow ta-zhin.” little more than six per cent, per annum for forty-two years.
Tiiis high rate, it must be remembered, does not take into account
the more thorough subjugation of the south and west at
the later date, when the Manchus could safely enrol large districts,
where in 1711 they would have found so much difficulty
that they would not have attempted it.
From 1753 to 1792, the increase was 104,636,882, or an annual
advance of 2,682,997 inhabitants, or about 2^ per cent,
per annum for thirty-nine years. During this period, the
country enjoyed almost uninterrupted peace under the vigorous
sway of Kienlung, and the unsettled regions of the south and
west rapidly filled up.
From 1792 to 1812, the increase was 51:,126,679, or an annual
advance of 2,706,333—not quite one per cent, per annum
—for twenty years. At the same rate of progress the present
population would amount to over 150,000,000, and this might
have been the case had not the Tai-ping rebellion reduced the
numbers. An enumeration (Xo. 22), was published by the
Russian Professor of Chinese Yassilivitch in 1868 as a translation
from official documents. Foreigners have had greater
opportunities for travel through the country, between the years
1840 to 1880, and have ascertained the enormous depopulation
in some places caused by wars, short supplies of food in consequence
of scarcity of laborers, famines, or brigandage, each
adding its own power of destruction at different places and
times. The conclusion will not completely satisfy any inquirer,
but the population of the Empire cannot now reasonably
be estimated as high as the census of 1812, by at
least twenty-five millions. The last in the list of these censuses
(No. 23), is added as an example of the efforts of intelligent
persons residing in China to come to a definite and
independent conclusion on this point from such data as they
can obtain. The Imperial Customs’ Service has been able to
command the best native assistance in their researches, and the
table of population given above fi-om the Gotha Almanac is
the sunnnary of what has been ascertained. The population
of extra-})rovincial (^hina is really uulvnown at present. Manclmria
is put down at twelve millions by one author, and three
PRESUMPTIVE EVIDENCE IN THEIR FAVOR. 271
or four millions, by another, without any official autliurity for
either ; and all those vast regions in Ili and Tibet may easily
be set down at from twelve to fifteen millions. To sum up,
one must confess that if the Chinese censuses are worth but
little, compared with those taken in European states, they are
better than the guesses of foreigners who have never been in
the country, or who have travelled only partially in it.
The Chinese are doubtless one of the most conceited nations
on the earth, but with all their vanity, they have never bethought
themselves of rating their population twenty-five or
thirty per cent, higher than they suppose it to be, for the purpose
of exalting themselves in the eyes of foreigners or in their
own. Except in one case none of the estimates were presented
to. Of intended to be known by foreigners. The distances in U
between places given in Chinese itineraries correspond very
well with the real distances ; the number of districts, towns,
and villages in the departments and provinces, as stated in
their local and general topographical works, agree with the
actual examination, so far as it can be made : why should their
censuses be charged with gross error, when, however much we
may doubt them, we cannot disprove them, and the weight of
evidence derived from actual observation rather confirms them
than otherwise ; and while their account of towns, villages,
distances, etc., are unhesitatingly adopted until better can be
obtained ? Some discrepancies in the various tables are ascribable
to foreigners, and some of the censuses are incomplete,
or the year cannot be precisely fixed, both of which vitiate the
deductions made from them as to the rate of increase. Some
reasons for believing that the highest population ascribed to
the Chinese Empire is not greater than the country can support,
will first be stated, and the objections against receiving the
censuses then considered.’
‘ This interesting subject can then be left with the reader, who will find
further remarks in Medhurst’s China, De Guignes’ Voyages d Peking, The Missionaries,
in Tomes VI. and VIII. of Memoires, Ed. Biot, in Journal Asiatique
for 1836. The Numerical Relations of the Population of China during the 4,000
Years of its Historical Existence ; or the Rise and Fall of the Chinese Pojmlation,
by T. Sacharoflf. Translated into English by the Rev. W. Lobscheid, Hongkong,
1862. Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. II., pp. 88, 103, and 117
The area of the Eighteen Provinces is rather imperfectly given
at 1,348,870 sqnare miles, and the average population, there
fore, for the whole, in 1812, was 268 persons on every sqnare
mile ; that of the nine eastern provinces in and near the Great
Plain, comprising 502,192 sqnare miles, or two-fifths of the
whole, is 458 persons, and the nine southern and western provinces,
constituting the other three-fifths, is 154 to a square mile.
The surface and fertility of the country in these two portions
differ so greatly, as to lead one to look for results like these.
The areas of some European states and their population, are
added to assist in making a comparison with China, and coming
to a clearer idea about their relative density.
states.
France
German}’ . ..
Great Britain
Italy
Holland
Spain
Japan
Benural
204.092
212,091
121,608
114,296
20,497
190,625
160,474
156,200
Population.
dp:nsity of populations in Europe and china. 273
ture-lands, and only ten millions devoted to grain and vegeta
bles ; the other two millions consist of fallow-ground, hop-beds,
etc. One author estimates that in England 42 acres in a hundred,
and in Ireland G4, are pastures—a little more than half of
the whole. There are, then, on the average about two acres of
land for the support of each individual, or rather less than this,
if the land required for the food of horses be subtracted. It
has been calculated that eight men can be fed on the same
amount of land that one horse requires ; and that four acres of
pasture-land will furnish no more food for man than one of
ploughed land. The introduction of railroads has superseded
the use of horses to such an extent that it is estimated there are
only 200,000 horses now in England, instead of a million in 1830.
If, therefore, one-half the land appropriated to pasture should
be devoted to grain, and no more horses and dogs raised than a
million of acres could support, England and Wales could easily
maintain a population of more than four hundred to a square
mile, supposing them to be willing to live on what the land and
water can furnish.
The Irish consume a greater proportion of vegetables than
the English, even since the improvement by emigration after
1851 ; many of these live a beggaily life upon half an acre, and
even less, -and seldom taste animal food. The quantity of land
under cultivation in Belgium is about fifteen-seventeenths of
the whole, which gives an average of about two acres to each
person, or the same as in England. In these two countries, the
people consume more meat than in Ireland, and the amoimt of
land occupied for pasturage is in nearly equal proportions in
Belgium and England. In France, the average of cultivated
land is If acre ; in Holland, If acre to each person.
If the same proportion between the arable and uncultivated
land exists in China as in England, namely one-fourth, there are
about six hundred and fifty millions of acres under cultivation
in China ; and we are not left altogether to conjecture, for by a
report made to Ivienlung in 1745, it appears that the area of
the land under cultivation was 595,598,221 acres ; a subsequent
calculation places it at 640,579,381 acres, which is almost the
same proportion as in England. Estimating it at six hundred and fifty millions—for it lias since increased rather than diminished—it gives one acre and four-fifths to every person, Which is by no means a small supply for the Chinese, considering that there are no cultivated pastures or meadows.
In comparing the population of different countries, the
manner of living and the articles of food in use, form such important
elements of the calculation, in ascertaining whether the
country be overstocked or not, that a mere tabular view of the
number of persons on a square mile is an imperfect criterion of
the amount of inhabitants the land would maintain if they consumed
the same food, and lived in the same manner in all of
them. Living as the Chinese, Hindus, Japanese, and other
Asiatics do, chiefly upon vegetables, the country can hardly be
said to maintain more than one-half or one-third as many people
on a square mile as it might do, if their energies were developed
to the same extent with those of the English or Belgians.
The population of these eastern regions has been repressed by the combined influences of ignorance, insecurity of life and property, religious prejudices, vice, and wars, so that the land has never maintained as many inhabitants as one would have otherwise reasonably expected therefrom.
Nearly all the cultivated soil in China is employed in raising food for man. AVoollen garments and leather are little used, while cotton and mulberry cultivation take np only a small proportion of the soil. There is not, so far as is known, a single acre of land sown with grass-seed, and therefore almost no human labor is devoted to raising food for animals, which will not also serve to sustain man. Horses are seldom used for pomp or war, for travelling or carrying burdens, but mules, camels, asses, and goats are employed for transportation and other purposes north of the Yangtsz’ River. Horses are fed on cooked rice, bran, sorghum seed, pulse, oats, and grass cut along
the banks of streams, or on hillsides. In the southern and
eastern provinces, all animals are rare, the transport of goods
and passengers being done by boats or by men. The natives
make no use of butter, cheese, or milk, and the few cattle employed
in agriculture easily gather a living on the waste ground
around the villages. In the south, the buffalo is applied more
AREA AND VALUE OF ARABLE LAND IN CHINA. 275
than the ox to plough the rice fields, and the habits of this
animal make it cheaper to keep him in good condition, while he
can also do more work. The winter stock is grass cut upon the
hills, straw, bean stalks, and vegetables, ^o wool being wanted
for making cloth, flocks of sheep and goats are seldom seen—it
may almost be said are unknown in the east and south.
No animal is reared cheaper than the hog ; hatching and
raising ducks affords employment to thousands of people ; hundreds
of these fowl gather their own food along the river
shore, being easily attended by a single keeper. Geese and
poultry are also cheaply reared. In fishing, which is carried on
to an enormous extent, no pasture-grounds, no manuring, no
barns, are needed, nor are taxes paid by the cultivator and consumer.
While the people get their animal food in these ways, its preparation takes away the least possible amount of cultivated soil. The space occupied for roads and pleasure-gromids is insignificant, but there is perhaps an amount appropriated for burial places quite equal to the area used for those purposes in European countries ; it is, however, less valuable land, and much of it would be useless for culture, even if otherwise unoccupied.
Graves are dug on hills, in ravines and copses, and wherever they will be retired and dry; or if in the ancestral field, they do not hinder the crop growing close around them.
Moreover, it is very common to preserve the coffin in temples
and cemeteries until it is decayed, partly in order to save the
expense of a grave, and partly to worship the remains, or preserve
them until gathered to their fathers, in their distant
native places. They are often placed in the corners of the fields,
or under precipices where they remain till dust returns to dust,
and bones and wood both moulder away. These and other customs
limit the consumption of land for graves much more than
would be supposed, when one sees, as at Macao, almost as much
space taken up by the dead for a grave as by the living for a
hut. The necropolis of Canton occupies the hills north of the
city, of which not one-fiftieth part could ever have been used
for agriculture, but where cattle are allowed to graze, as much
as if there were no tombs.
Under its genial and equable climate, nioi’e than three-fourths
of the area of China Proper produces two crops annually. In
Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Fuhkien, two ci’ops of rice are taken
year after year from the low lauds ; while in the loess regions
of the northwest, a three-fold return from the grain fields is
annually looked for, if the rain-fall is not withheld. In the
winter season, in the neighborhood of towns, a third crop of
sweet potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or some other vegetable is
grown, T)e Guignes estimates the retui-ns of a rice crop at ten
for one, which, with the vegetables, will give full twenty-five
fold from an acre in a year ; few parts, however, yield this increase.
Little or no land lies fallow, for constant manuring and
turning of the soil prevents the necessity of repose. The diligence
exhibited in collecting and applying manure is Avell
known, and if all this industry result in the production of two
crops instead of one, it really doubles the area under cultivation,
Avhen its superficies are compared with those of other
countries. If the amount of land which produces two ci’ops be
estimated at one-fourth of the whole (and it is perhaps as near
one-third), the area of arable land in the provinces may be considered
as representing a total of 812 millions of acres, or 2f
acres to an individual. The land is not, however, cut up into such
small farms as to prevent its being managed as w^ell as the people
know how to stock and cultivate it ; manual labor is the chief
dependence of the farmer, fewer cattle, carts, ploughs, and machines being employed than in other countries. In rice fields no aninuils are used after the wet land has received the shoots, transplanting, weeding, and reaping being done by men.
In no other country besides Japan is so much food derived from the water. Not only arc the coasts, estuaries, rivers, and lakes, covered with fishing-boats of various sizes, which are provided with everything fitted for the capture of whatever lives in the waters, but the spawn of fish is collected and reared.
TENDENCIKS TO INCREASE OF POrULATION”. 277
Rice fields are often converted into pools in the winter season, and stocked with fish; and the tanks dug for irrigation usually contain fish. By all these means, an immense supply of food is obtained at a cheap rate, which is eaten fresh or preserved with or without salt, and sent over the Empire, at a cost which places it within the reach of all above beggary. Other articles of food, both animal and vegetable, such as dogs, game, worms, spring greens, tripang, leaves, etc., do indeed compose part of their meals, but it is comparatively an inconsiderable fraction, and need not enter into the calculation. Enough has been stated to show that the land is abundantly able to support the population ascribed to it, even with all the drawbacks known to exist; and that, taking the highest estimate to be true, and considering the mode of living, the average population on a square mile in China is less than in several European countries.
The political and social causes which tend to multiply the inhabitants are numerous and powerful. The failure of male posterity to continue the succession of the family, and worship at the tombs of parents, is considered by all classes as one of the most afflictive misfortunes of life; the laws allow unlimited facilities of adoption, and secure the rights of those taken into the family in this way. The custom of betrothing children, and the obligation society imposes upon the youth when arrived at maturity, to fulfil the contracts entered into by their parents, acts favorably to the establishment of families and the nurture of children, and restricts polygamy. Parents desire children for a support in old age, as there is no legal or benevolent provision
for aged poverty, and public opinion stigmatizes the man
who allows his aged or infirm parents to suffer when he can
help them. The law requires the owners of domestic slaves to
provide husbands for their females, and prohibits the involuntary
or forcible separation of husband and wife, or parents and
children, when the latter are of tender age. All these causes
and influences tend to increase population, and equalize the
consumption and use of property more, perhaps, than in any
other land.
The custom of families remaining together tends to the
same result. The local importance of a large family in the
country is weakened by its male members removing to town, or
emigrating; consequently, the patriarch of three or four generations
endeavors to retain his sons and grandsons around him, their houses joining his, and they and their families forming a social, united company. Such cases as those mentioned in the.
Sacred Commands are of course rare, where nine generations of the family of Chang Kung-i inhabited one lioiise, or of Chin, at whose table seven hundred mouths were daily fed,’ but it is the tendency of society. This remark does not indicate that great landed proprietors exist, whose hereditary estates are secured by entail to the great injur}- of the state, as in Great Britain,
for the farms are generally small and cultivated by the
owner or on the metayer system. Families are supported on a
more economical plan, the claims of kindred are better enforced,
the land is cultivated with more care, and the local importance
of the family perpetuated. This is, however, a very different system from that advocated by Fourier in France, or Greeley in America, for these little communities are placed
under one natural head, whose authority is acknowledged and
upheld, and his indignation feared. Workmen of the same profession form unions, each person contributing a certain sum on the promise of assistance when sick or disabled, and this custom prevents and alleviates a vast amount of poverty.
‘ Sacred Edict, pp. 51, 60.
RESTRICTIONS UPON EMIGRATION. 279
The obstacles put in the way of emigrating beyond sea, both in law and prejudice, operate to deter respectable persons from leaving their native land. Necessity has made the law a dead letter, and thousands annually leave their homes. No better evidence of the dense population can be offered to those acquainted with Chinese feelings and character, than the extent of emigration. “What stronger proof,” observes Medhurst,” of the dense population of China could be afforded than the fact, that emigration is going on in spite of restrictions and disabilities, from a country where learning and civilization reign, and where all the dearest interests and prejudices of the emigrants are found, to lands like Burmah, Siam, Cambodia, Tibet, Manchuria, and the Indian Archipelago, where comparative ignorance and barbarity prevail, and where the extremes of a tropical or frozen region are to be exchanged for a mild and temperate climate? Added to this consideration, that not a single female is permitted or ventures to leave the country, when consequently, all the tender attachments that bind heart to heart must be burst asunder, and, perhaps, forever.”‘
Moreover, if they return with wealth enough to live upon, they are liable to the vexatious extortions of needy relatives, sharpers, and police, who have a handle for their fleecing whip in the law against leaving the country ; although this clause has been neutralized by subsequent acts, and is not in force, the power of public opinion is against going. A case occurred in 1832, at Canton, where the son of a Chinese living in Calcutta, who had been sent home by his parent with his mother, to perform the usual ceremonies in the ancestral hall, was seized by his uncle as he was about to be married, on the pretext that his father had unequally divided the paternal inheritance; he
was obliged to pay a thousand dollars to free himself. Soon
after his marriage, a few sharpers laid hold of him and bore
him away in a sedan, as he was walking near his house, but his
cries attracted the police, who carried them all to the magistrates,
where he was liberated—after being obliged to fee his
deliverers.’ Another case occurred in Macao in 1838. A
man had been living several years in Singapore as a merchant,
and when he settled in Macao still kept up an interest in the
trade with that place. Accounts of his great wealth became
rumored abroad, and he was seriously annoyed by relatives.
One night, a number of thieves, dressed like police-runners,
came to his house to search for opium, and their boisterous
manner terrified him to such a degree, that in order to escape
them he jumped from the terrace upon the hard gravelled
court-yard, and broke his leg, of which he shortly afterward
died. A third case is mentioned, where the returned emigrants,
consisting of a man and his wife, who was a Malay, and
two children, were rescued from extortion, when before the
magistrate, by the kindness of his wife and mother, who wished
to see the foreign woman.” Such instances are now unknown,
owing to the increase of emigration ; they were, indeed, never numerically great, on account of the small number of those who came back.
‘ China : Its State ojid Prospects, p. 42.
^ Ta Tslag Leu Lee ; being the Fundamental Laws, etc., of the Penal Codt of China, by Sir G. T. Staunton, Bart , London, 1810. Section CCXXV.
^ Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p. 382.
* Ibid., Vol. VII., p. 503; Vol. II., p. 161.
The anxiety of the government to provide stores of food for times of scarcity, shows rather its fear of the disastrous residts following a short crop—such as the gathering of clamoi’ous crowds of starving poor, the increase of bandits and disorganization of society—than any peculiar care of the rulers, or that these storehouses really supply deficiencies. The evil consequences resulting from an overgrown population are experienced in one or another part of the provinces almost every year ; and drought, inundations, locusts, mildew, or other natural causes, often give rise to insurrections and disturbances. There can be no doubt, however, that, without adding a single acre to the area of arable land, these evils would be materially alleviated, if the intercommunication of traders and their goods, between distant parts of the country, were more frequent, speedy, and safe; but this is not likely to be the case until both rulers and ruled make greater advances in just government, science, obedience, and regard for each other s right.
It would be a satisfaction if foreigners could verify any part
of the census. But this is, at present, impossible. They cannot
examine the records in the ofiice of the Board of Revenue,
nor can they ascertain the population in a given district from
the archives in the hands of the local authorities, or the mode
of taking it. Neither can they go through a village or town to
count the number of houses and their inhabitants, and calculate
from actual examination of a few parts what the whole would
be. “Where\er foreigners have journeyed, there has appeared
much the same succession of waste land, hilly regions, cultivated
plains, and M’ooded heights, as in other countries, M’ith an
abundance of people, but not more than the land could support,
if properly tilled.
METHOD OF TAKING THE CENSUS. 281
The people are grouped into hamlets and villages, under the control of village elders and officers. In the district of Nanhai, Avhich forms the western part of the city of Canton, and the surrounding country for more than a hundred square miles, there are one hundred and eighty /it'((/if/ or villages; the population of each hiang varies from two hundred and upwards to one hundred thousand, but ordinarily ranges between three hundred and thirty-five hundred. If each of the eighty-eight districts in the province of Kwangtung contains the same number of JtlaiKj, there will be, including the district towns, 15,928 villages, towns, and cities in all, with an average population of twelve hundred inhabitants to each. From the top of the hills on Dane’s Island, at Whampoa, thirty-six towns and villages can
be counted, of which Canton is one; and four of these contain
from twelve to fifteen hundred houses. The whole district of
Hiangshan, in which Macao lies, is also well covered with villages,
though their exact number is not known. The island of
Anioy contains more than fourscore villages and towns, and
this island forms only a part of the district of Tung-ngan. The
banks of the river leading from Amoy up to Changchau fu, are
likewise well peopled. The environs of Ningpo and Shanghai
are closely settled, though that is no more than one always expects
near large cities, where the demand for food in the city
itself causes the vicinity to be well peopled and tilled. In a
notice of an irruption of the sea in 1819, along the coast of
Shantung, it was reported that a hundred and forty villages
were laid under water.
Marco Polo describes the mode followed in the days of Kublai
khan : ” It is the custom for every burgess of the city, and
in fact for every description of person in it, to write over his
door his own name, the name of his wife, and those of his children,
his slaves, and all the inmates of his house, and also the number of animals that he keeps. And if any one dies in the house, then the name of that person is erased, and if a child is born its name is added. So in this way the sovereign is able to know exactly the population of the city. And this is the practice throughout all Manzi and Cathay.” ‘ This custom was observed long before the Mongol conquest, and is followed at present ; so that it is perhaps easier to take a census in China than in most European countries.
The law upon this subject is contained in Sees. LXXV. and
‘ Yule’s Marco Polo, Vul. II., p. 152.
LXXVI. of the statutes. It enacts various penalties for not
registering the members of a family, and its provisions all go to
show that the people are desirous rather of evading the census
than of exaggerating it. When a family has omitted to make
any entry, the head of it is liable to be punished with one hundred
blows if he is a freeholder, and with eighty if he is not.
If the master of a family has among his household another distinct family whom he omits to register, the punishment is the same as in the last clause, with a modification, according as the unregistered persons and family are relatives or strangers.
Persons in government employ omitting to register their families, are less severely punished. A master of family failing to register all the males in his household who are lia1)le to public service, shall be punished with from sixty to one hundred blows,
according to the demerits of the ofPence ; this clause was in
effect repealed, when the land tax was substituted for the capitation
tax. Omissions, from neglect or inadvertency to register
all the individuals and families in a village or town, on the part
of the headmen or government clerks, are punishable with
different degrees of severity. All persons whatsoever are to
be registered according to their accustomed occupations or professions,
whether civil or military, whether couriers, artisans,
physicians, asti’ologers, laborers, musicians, or of any other denomination
whatever ; and subterfuges in representing one’s self
as belonging to a profession not liable to public service, are
visited as usual with the bamboo ; persons falsely describing
themselves as belonging to the army, in order to evade public
service, are banished as well as beaten. From these clauses it
is seen that the Manchus have extended the enumeration to
classes M’hich were exempted in the Ilan, Tang, and other
dynasties, and thus come nearer to the actual population.
‘ Penal Code, p. 79, Staunton’s translation.
ITS PROBABLE ACCURACY. 283
” In the Chinese government,” observes Dr. Morrison, ” there appears great regularity and system. Every district has its appropriate officers, every street its constable, and every ten houses their tything man. Thus they have all the requisite means of ascertaining the population with considerable accuracy. Every family is required to have a board always hanging up in the house, and ready for the inspection of authorized officers,
on which the names of all persons, men, women, and children,
in the house are inscribed. This board is called mun-j>ai
or ‘door-tablet,’ because when there are women and children
within, the officers are expected to take the account from the
board at the door. Were all the inmates of a family faithfully
inserted, the amount of the population would, of course, be
ascertained with great accuracy. But it is said that names are
sometimes omitted through neglect or design ; others think
that the account of persons given in is generally correct.”
The door-tablets are sometimes pasted on the door, thus serving
as a kind of door-plate ; in these cases correctness of enumeration
is readily secured, for the neighbors are likely to know
if the record is below the truth, and the householder is not
likely to exaggerate the taxable inmates under his roof. I have
read these inun-jMil on the doors of a long ro\v of houses ; they
were pi-inted blanks filled in, and then pasted outside for thejy<;o-
Mah or tithing man to examine. Both Dr. Morrison and his
son, than whom no one has had better opportunities to know the
true state of the ease, or been more desirous (^f dealing fairly
with the Chinese, regarded the censuses given in the General
Statistics as more trustworthy than any other documents available.
In conclusion, it may be asked, are the results of the enumeration
of the people, as contained in the statistical works published
by the government, to be rejected or doubted, therefore,
because the Chinese officers do not wish to ascertain the exact
population ; or because they are not capable of doing it ; or,
lastly, because they wish to impose upon foreign powers by an
arithmetical array of millions they do not possess ? The question
seems to hang upon this trilemma. It is acknowledged
that they falsify or garble statements in a manner calculated to
throw doubt upon everything they write, as in the reports of
victories and battles sent to the Emperor, in the memorials upon
the opium trade, in their descriptions of natural objects in
books of medicine, and in many other things. But the question
is as applicable to China as to France : is the estimated population of France in 1801 to be called in question, because the Moniteur gsive false accounts of Napoleon’s battles in 18131
It would be a strange combination of conceit and folly, for a
ministry composed of men able to carry on all the details of a
complicated government like that of China, to systematically
exaggerate the population, and then proceed, for more than a
century, with taxation, disbursements, and official appointments,
founded upon these censuses. Somebody at least must know
them to be worthless, and the proof that they were so, must,
one would think, ere long Jbe apparent. The provinces and
departments have been divided and subdivided since the Jesuits
made their survey, because they were becoming too densely
settled for the same officers to rule over them.
Still less will any one assert that the Chinese are not capable
of taking as accurate a census as they are of measuring distances,
or laying out districts and townships. Errors may be
found in the former as well as in the latter, and doubtless are
so ; for it is not contended that the four censuses of 1711, 1Y53,
1792, and 1812 are as accurate as those now taken in England,
France, or the United States, but that they are the best data
extant, and that if they are rejected we leave tolerable evidence
and take up with that which is doubtful and suppositive. The
censuses taken in China since the Christian era are, on the
whole, more satisfactory than those of all other nations put
together up to the Reformation, and further careful research
will no doubt increase our respect for them.
Ere long we may be able to traverse a census in its details of
record and deduction, and thus satisfy a reasonable curiosity,
especially as to the last reported total after the carnage of the
rebellion. On the other hand, it may be stated that in the last
census, the entire population of Manchuria, Koko-nor, 111, and
Mongolia, is estimated at only 2,107,286 persons, and nearly all
the inhabitants of those vast regions are subject to the Emperor.
The population of Tibet is not included in any census,
its people not being taxable. It is doubtful if an enumeration
of any part of the extra provincial territory has ever been
taken, inasmuch as the Mongol tril)es, and still less the TTsbeck
or other Moslem races, are unused to such a thing, and would
EVIDENCES IN FAVOR OF THE CENSUS, 28,”)
not be nnnibered. Yet, the Chinese cannot be eliarged with
exaggeration, when good judges, as Klaproth and others, reckon
the whole at between six and seven millions ; and Khoten alone,
one author states, has three and a half millions. No writer of
importance estimates the inhabitants of these regions as high
as thirty millions— as does 11. Mont. Martin—which would be
more than ten to a square mile, excluding Gobi ; while Siberia
(though not so well peopled) has only 3,611,300 persons on an
area of 2,649,600 square miles, or 1^ to each square mile.
The reasons just given why the Chinese desire posterity are
not all those which have favored national increase. The uninterrupted
peace’ which the country enjoyed between the years
1700 and 1850 operated to greatly develop its resources. Every
encouragement has been given to all classes to multiply and
fill the land. Polygamy, slavery, and prostitution, three social
evils which check increase, have been circumscribed in their
effects. Early betrothment and poverty do much to prevent
the first ; female slaves can be and are usually married ; while
public prostitution is reduced by a separation of the sexes and
early marriages. No fears of overpassing the supply of food
restrain the people from rearing families, though the Emperor
Kienlung issued a proclamation in 1793, calling upon all ranks
of his subjects to economize the gifts of heaven, lest, erelong,
the people exceed the means of subsistence.
It is difficult to see what this or that reason or objection has to do with the subject, except where the laws of population are set at defiance, which is not the case in China. Food and work, peace and security, climate and fertile soil, not universities or
steamboats, are the encouragements needed for the multiplication
of mankind ; though they do not have that effect in all
countries (as in Mexico and Brazil), it is no reason why they
should not in others. There are grounds for believing that not
more than two-thirds of the whole population of China were
included in the census of 1711, but that allowance cannot be
made for Ireland in 1785 ; and consequently, her annual percentage
of increase, up to 18-41, would then be greater than
China, during the forty-two years ending with 1753. McCulloch
quotes De Guignes approvingly, but the Frenchman takes the rough estimate of 333,000,000 given to Macartney, which is less trustworthy than that of 307,407,200, and compares it with Grosier’s of 157,343,975, which is certainly wrong through his misinterpretation. De Guignes proceeds from the data in his possession in 1802 (which were less than those now available), and from his own observations in travelling through the country in 179G, to show the improbability of the estimated population.
But the observations made in journeys, taken as were those of the English and Dutch embassies, though they passed through some of the best provinces, cannot be regarded as good evidence against official statistics.
“Would any one suppose, in travelling from Boston to Chatham,
and then from Albany to Buffalo, along the railroad, that
Massachusetts contained, in 1870, exactly double the population
on a square mile of New York ? So, in going from Peking to
Canton, the judgment which six intelligent travellers might
form of the population of China could easily be found to differ
by one-half. De Guignes says, after comparing China with
Holland and France, ” All these reasons clearly demonstrate
that the population of China does not exceed that of other
countries ;” and such is in truth the case, if the kind of food,
number of crops, and materials of dress be taken into account.
His remarks on the population and productiveness of the country are, like his whole work, replete with good sense and candor; but some of his deductions would have been different, had he
been in possession of all the data since obtained.’ The discrepancies
between the different censuses have been usually considered
a strong internal evidence against them, and they should receive
due consideration. The really difficult point is to fix the
percentage that must be allowed for the classes not included as
taxable, and the power of the government to enumerate those
who wished to avoid a census and the subsequent taxation.
After all these reasons for receiving the total of 1812 as the
best one, there are, on the other hand, two principal objections
against taking the Chinese census as altogether tinistworthy.
‘ Voyages a Peking, Tome III. , pp. 55-80.
POSSIBILITIES OF ERROR. 287
The first is the enormous averages of 850, 705, and 071 inhabitants on a square mile, severally apportioned to Kiangsu, Xganliwui, and Cliehkiang, or, what is perhaps a fairer calculation, of 458 persons to the nine eastern provinces. Whatever amount of circumstantial evidence may be brought forward in confirmation of the census as a whole, and explanation of the mode of taking it, a more positive proof seems to be necessary before giving implicit credence to this result. Such a population on such an extensive area is marvellous, notwithstanding the fertility of the soil, facilities of navigation, and salubrity of the
climate of these regions, although acknowledged to be almost
unequalled. While we admit the full force of all that has been
urged in support of the census, and are willing to take it as the
best document on the subject extant, it is desirable to have
proofs derived from personal observation, and to defer the settlement
of this question until better opportunities are afforded.
So high an average is, indeed, not without example. Captain
Wilkes ascertained, in 1840, that one of the islands of the Fiji
group supported a population of over a thousand on a square
mile. On Lord North’s Island, in the Pelew group, the crew
of the American whaler Mentor ascertained there were four
hundred inhabitants living on half a square mile. These, and
many other islands in that genial clime, contain a population
far exceeding that of any large country, and each separate community
is obliged to depend M’holly on its own labor. They
cannot, however, be cited as altogether parallel cases, though if
it be true, as Barrow says, ” that an acre of cotton will clothe
two or three hundred persons,” not much more land need be
occupied with cotton or mulberry plants, for clothing in China,
than in the South Sea Islands.
The second objection against receiving the result of the census
is, that we are not well informed as to the mode of enumerating
the people by families, and the manner of taking the account,
when the patriarch of two or three generations lives in
a hamlet, with all his children and domestics around him. Two
of the provisions in Sec. XXY. of the Code^ seem to be designed
for some such state of society ; and the liability to underrate
the males fit for public service, when a capitation tax was
ordered, and to overrate the inmates of such a house, when the head of it might suppose he would thereby receive increased aid from government when calamity overtook him, are equally apparent.
The door-tablet is also liable to mistake, and in shops and workhouses, where the clerks and workmen live and sleep on the premises, it is not known what kind of report of families the assessors make. On these important points our present information is imperfect, while the evident liability to serious error in the ultimate results makes one hesitate. The Chinese may have taken a census satisfactory’ for their purposes, showing
the number of families, and the a^•erage in each ; but the point
of this objection is, that ^ve do not know how the families aie
enumerated, and therefore are at fault in reckoning the individuals.
The average of persons in a household is set down at five
by the Chinese, and in England, in 1831, *t was 4.7, but it is
probably less than that in a thickly settled country, if every
married couple and their children be taken as a family, whether
living by themselves, or grouped in patriarchal hamlets.
Ko one doubts that the population is enormous, constituting
by far the greatest assemblage of human beings using one speech
ever congreo ated under one monarch. To the merchants and
manufacturers of the West, the determination of this question
is of some importance, and through them to their governments.
The political economist and philologist, the naturalist and geographer,
have also greater or less degrees of interest in the
contemplation of such a people, iiduibiting so beautiful and feitile
a country. But the Christian philanthropist tui-ns to the
consideration of this subject with the liveliest solicitude ; for if
the weight of evidence is in favor of the highest estimate, he
feels his responsibility increase to a painful degree. The danger
to this people is furthermore greatly enhanced by the 0})ium
traffic—a trade which, as if the Rivers Phlegethon and Lethe
were united in it, carries fire and destruction wherever it flows,
and leaves a deadly forgetfulness wherever it has passed. Let
these facts appeal to all calling themselves Christians, to send
the antidote to this baleful drug, and diffuse a knowledge of the
principles of the Gospel among them, thereby placing life as
well as death before them.
REVENUE OF THE EMPIRE. 289
If the population of the Empire is not easily ascertained, a satisfactory account of the public revenue and expenditures is still more difficult to obtain ; it possesses far less interest, of course, in itself, and in such a country as China is subject to many variations. The market value of the grain, silk, and other products in which a large proportion of the taxes are paid, varies from year to year; and although this does not materially affect the government which receives these articles, it complicates the subject very much when attempting to ascertain the real taxation. Statistics on these subjects are only of recent date in Europe, and should not yet be looked for in China, drawn up with much regard to truth. The central government requires each province to support itself, and furnish a certain surplusage for the maintenance of the Emperor and his court; but it is well known that his Majesty is continually embarrassed for the want of funds, and that the provinces do not all supply enough revenue to meet their own outlays.
The amounts given by various authors as the revenue of
China at different times, are so discordant, that a single glance
shows that they were obtained from partial or incomplete returns,
or else refer only to the surplusage sent to the capital.
De Guignes remarks very truly, that the Chinese are so fully persuaded of the riches, power, and resources of their country, that a foreigner is likely to receive different accounts from every
native he asks ; but there appears to be no good reason why the
government should falsify or abridge their fiscal accounts. In
1587, Trigault, one of the French missionaries, stated the revenue
at only tls. 20,000,000. In 1655, Xieuhoff reckoned it at
tls. 108,000,000. About twelve years after, Magalhaens gave
the treasures of the Emperor at $20,423,962 ; and Le Comte,
about the same time, placed the revenue at $22,000,000, and
both of them estimated the receipts from rice, silk, etc., at
$30,000,000, making the whole revenue previous to Kanghi’s
death, in 1721, between fifty and seventy millions of dollars.
Barrow reckoned the receipts from all sources in 1796 at
tls. 198,000,000, derived from a rough estimate given by the
commissioner who accompanied the embassy. Sir George
Staunton places the total sum at $330,000,000 ; of which
$60,000,000 only were transmitted to Peking. Medhurst,
Vol. T.—19.
drawing his iiiforuiation from original sources, thus states the
principal items of the receipts :
Land taxes in money,)
( Tie. 3I,745,9()6 valued at $42,327,954
Land taxes in grain, }- sent to Peking, ^ Shih 4,2:30,’.)57 ” 12,692,871
Custom and transit duties, ) ( Tls. 1,480,997 ” 1,974,662
Land taxes in money, l kent in Drovinces ‘ ”^^«- 28,705,125 ” 38,373,500
Grain, ( ^^P’^^P’^*”‘^””®^
1 Shih 31,596,569 ” 105,689,707
$200,958,694
The shih of rice is estimated at $3, but this does not include
the cost of transportation to the capital.’ At $200,000,-
000, the tax received by government from each person on an
average is about sixty cents ; Barrow estimates the capitation
at about ninety cents. The account of the revenue in taels
from each province given in the table of population on page
264, is extracted from the Hed Mooh for 18-40 ; ” the account
of the revenue in rice, as stated in the official documents
for that year, is 4,114,000 shih, or about five hundred and
fifty millions of pounds, calling each shUi a pecul. The
manner in wdiich the various items of the revenue are divided
is thus stated for Kwangtung, in the Ited Booh for 1842 :
Taels.
Land tax in money 1,264,304
Pawnl)rokers’ taxes 5,990
Taxes at the frontier and on transportation 719,307
Retained 339,143
Miscellaneous sources 59,530
Salt department (gabel) 47,510
Revenue from customs <at Canton 43,750
Other stations iu the province 53,670
2,533,204
This is evidently only the sum sent to the capital from this
province, ostensibly as the revenue, and which the provincial
treasury must collect. The real receipts from this province or
any other cannot well be ascertained by foreigners ; it is, however,
known, that in former years, the collector of customs at
Canton was obliged to remit annually from eight hundred
thousand to one million three hundred thousand taels, and
‘ The fihih, says Medhurst, is a measure of grain containing 3,460 English
cubic inches. China : Its State and Prospects, p. 68. London, 1838.
* Aiinalea de la Foi, Tome XVI., p. 440.
SOURCES AND AMOUNT OF REVENUE. 291
the gross receipts of bis office were not far from three millions
of taels.’ This was then the richest collectorate in the
Empire ; hut since the foreign trade at the open ports has been
placed under foreign supervision, the resoui’ces of the Empire
have been better reported. A recent analysis of the sources of
revenue in the Eighteen Provinces has been furnished by the
eustoms service ; it places them under different headings from
the preceding list, though the total does not materially differ.
Out of this whole amount the sum derived from the trade in
foreign shipping goes most directly to the central exchequer.
Taels.
Land tax in money 18,000,000
Li-kin or internal excise on goods 20,000,000
Import and export duties collected by foreigners 12,000,000
Import and export duties on native commerce 3,000,000
Salt gabel 5,000,000
Sales of offices and degrees 7,000,000
Sundries „ 1,400,000
Amount paid in silver 66,400,000
Land tax paid in produce 13,100,000
79,500,000
De Guignes has examined the subject of the revenue with
his usual caution, and bases his calculations on a proclamation
of Kienlung in 1777, in which it was stated that the total income
in bullion at that period was tls. 27,967,000.
Taels.
Income in money as above 27,967,000
Equal revenue in kind from grain 27,967,000
Tax on the second crop in the southern provinces 21 ,800,000
Gabel, coal, transit duties, etc 6,479,400
Customs at Canton. .’. 800,000
Revenue from silk, porcelain, varnish, and other manufactures.. 7,000,000
Adding house and shop taxes, licenses, tonnage duties, etc 4,000,000
Total revenue 89,713,400
The difference of about eighty millions of dollars between
this amount and that given by Medhurst, will not surprise one
who has looked into this perplexing matter. All these calculations
are based on approximations, which, although easily made
‘ Chinese Commercial Guide, 2d edition, 1842, p. 143.
up, cannot be verified to onr satisfaction ; but all agree in placing
the total amount of revenue below that of any European
government in proportion to the population. In 1823, a paper
M-as published by a graduate uj^on the fiscal condition of the
country, in which he gave a careful analysis of the receij)ts and
disbursements. P. P. Thoms translated it in detail, and summarized
the former under three heads of taxes reckoned at
tls. 33,327,056, rice sent to Peking 0,34(5,438, and supplies to
army 7,227,300—in all tls. 46,900,854. Out of the first snni
tls. 24,507,933 went to civilians and the army, leaving tls. 5,819,-
123 for the Peking government, and tls. 3,000,000 for the Yellow
Piver repairs and Yuen-ming Palace. The resources of the
Empire this writer foots up at tls. 74,461,633, or just one-half
of what Medhurst gives. The extraordinary sources of revenue
which are resorted to in time of war or bad harvests, are sale of
oflSce and honors, temporary increase of duties, and demands
for contributions from wealthy merchants and landholders. The first is the most fruitful source, and nniy be regarded rather as a permanent than a temporary expediency employed to make
up deficiencies. The mines of gold and silver, pearl fisheries in
Manchuria and elsewhere, precious stones brought from 111 and
Ivhoten, and other localities, furnish several millions.
The expenditures, almost every year, exceed the revenue, but
how the deficit is supplied does not clearly appear ; it has been sometimes drawn from the rich by force, at other times made good by paltering with the currency, as in 1852-55, and again by reducing rations and salaries. In 1832, the Emperor said the excess of disbursements was tls. 28,000,000 ;
‘ and, in 1836, the defalcation was still greater, and oflfices and titles to the amount of tls. 10,000,000 were put up for sale to supply it.
This deficiency has become more and more alarming since the drain of specie annually sent abroad in payment for opium has been increased by military exactions for suppressing the lebellion up to 1867. At that date the Empire began to recuperate.
‘ Chinese Rejiositorij, Vol. I., p. 159.
PRINCIPAL ITEMS OF EXPENDITURE. 293
The principal items of the expenditure are thus stated by De Guignes:
Taels,
Salary of civil and military officers, a tithe of the impost on lands. 7,773,500
Pay of 00(),()U0 infantry, three taels per month, half in money and
half in rations •21,G00,()()&
Pay of 242,000 cavalry, at four taels jjer month 11,010,000
Mounting the cavalry, twenty taels each 4,840,000
Uniforms for both arms of the service, four taels 3,308,000
Arms and ammunition 842,000
Navy, revenue cutters, etc 13,500,000
Canals and transportation of revenue 4,000,000
Forts, artillery, and munitions of war 3,800,000
71,339,500
This, according to his calculation, shows a surplus of nearly twenty millions of taels every year. But the outlays for quelling insurrections and transporting troops, deficiency from bad harvests, defalcation of officers, payments to the tribes and princes in Mongolia and 111, and other unitsual demands, more than exceed Ihis surplus. In 1833, the Peking Gazette contained an elaborate paper on the revenue, proposing various ways and means for increasing it. The author, named Xa, says
the income from land tax, the gabel, customs and transit duty,
does not in all exceed forty millions of taels, while the expenditures
should not much transcend thirty in years of peace.* This
places the budget much lower than other authorities, but the
censor perhaps includes only the imperial resources, though the
estimate would then be too high. The pay and equipment of
the troops is the largest item of expenditure, and it is probable
that here the apparent force and pay are far too great, and that
reductions are constantly made in this department by compelling
the soldiers to depend more and more for support upon
the plats of land belonging to them. It is considered the best
evidence of good government on the part of an officer to render
his account of the revenue satisfactorily, but from the injudicious
system which exists of combining fiscal, legislative, and
judicial functions and control in the same person, the temptations
to defraud are strong, and the pecuhitions proportionabl}’ great.
The salaries of officers, for some reasons, are placed so low as
‘ Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 481.
to prove that the legal allowances were really the nominal incomes,
and the sums set against their names in the lied Book
as y<-ing tlen, or anti-extortion perquisites (lit., ‘ nourishing
frugality ‘), are the salaries.. That of a governor-general is
from 15,000 to 25,000 taels for the latter, and only ISO or 200
taels for the legal salary ; a governor gets 15,0UO when he is
alone, and 10,000 or 12,000 when under a governor-general ; a
treasurer from 4,500 to 10,000 ; a judge from 3,000 to 8,000 ;
a prefect from 2,0(»0 to 4,5U0 ; district nuigistrates from 700 to 1,000, according to the onerousness of the post ; an intendant from 3,000 to 4,500 ; a literary chancellor from 2,000 to 5,000 ; and military men from 4,0(»0 taels down to 100 or 150 per annum. The perquisites of the highest and lowest officers are disproportionate, for the people prefer to lay their important cases before the highest courts at once, in order to avoid the expense of passing through those of a lower grade. The personal disposition of the functionary modifies the exactions lie makes upon the people so much, that no guess can be made as to the amount.
The land tax is the principal resource for the revenue in rural districts, and this is well understood by all parties, so that there is less room for exactions. The land tax is from 1^ to 10 cents a inao (or from 10 to QQ cents an acre), according to the quality of the land, and difficulty of tillage ; taking the average at 25 cents an acre, the income from this source would be up- M^ard of 150 millions of dollars. The clerks, constables, lictors, and underlings of the courts ..ud prisons, are the “claws” of their superiors, as the Chinese aptly call them, and perform most of their extortions, and are correspondingly odious to the people. In toM’ns and trading places, it is easier for the officers to exact in various Avays from wealthy people, than in the country, where rich people often hire bodies of retainers to defy the police, and practise extortion and i-obbery themselves. Like other Asiatic governments, China suffers from the consequences of Ijribery, peculation, extortion, and poorly paid officers, but she has no powerful aristocracy to retain the money thus squeezed out of the people, and ere long it finds its way out of the hands of emperors and ministei’S back into the mass of the people, officers’ salaries and the land-tax. 295
The Chinese believe, however, that the Emperor annually remits such amounts as he is able to collect into Mukden, in time of extremity ; but latterly he has not been able to do so at all, and probably never sent as much to that city as the popular ideas imagine. The sum applied to filling the granaries is much larger, but this popular provision in case of need is really a light draft upon the resources of the country, as it is usually managed. In Canton, there are onh fourteen buildings appropriated to this purpose, few of them more than thirty feet square, and none of them full.
亨利·梅因《古代法》
目录
序
导 言
第 一 章 古 代 法 典
第 二 章 法 律 拟 制
第 三 章 自 然 法 与 衡 平
第 四 章 自 然 法 的 现 代 史
第 五 章 原 始 社 会 与 古 代 法
第 六 章 遗 嘱 继 承 的 早 期 史
第 七 章 古 今 有 关 遗 嘱 与 继 承 的 各 种 思 想
第 八 章 财 产 的 早 期 史
第 九 章 契 约 的 早 期 史
第 十 章 侵 权 和 犯 罪 的 早 期 史序
本书的 主 要 目 的 , 在 扼 要 地 说 明 反 映 于 “ 古 代 法 ” 中 的人 类 最 早 的 某 些 观 念 , 并 指 出 这 些 观 念 同 现 代 思 想 的 关 系 。 如果 没 有 像 罗 马 法 那 样 的 一 套 法 律 , 本 文 中 企 图 进 行 的 研 究 , 多数 将 不 能 有 丝 毫 希 望 达 到 有 用 的 结 果 。 因 为 在 罗 马 法 的 最 古部 分 中 , 有 着 最 久 远 的 古 代 事 物 的 痕 迹 , 而 在 其 后 期 规 定 中 ,又 提 供 了 甚 至 到 现 在 还 支 配 着 现 代 社 会 的 民 事 制 度 资 料 。 由于 必 须 把 罗 马 法 当 作 一 个 典 型 的 制 度 , 这 使 著 者 不 得 不 从 其中 采 取 了 数 目 似 不 相 称 的 例 证 ; 但 他 的 本 意 并 非 在 写 一 篇 关于 罗 马 法 律 学 的 论 文 , 他 并 且 尽 可 能 竭 力 避 免 足以 使 其 作 品具 有 这 样 的 外 貌 的 一 切 论 述 。 第 三 和 第 四 章以 一 定 篇 幅 用 来说 明 罗 马 法 学 专 家 的 某 些 哲 学 理 论 , 这 样 做 , 有 两 个 理 由 。 第一 , 著 者 认 为 这 些 理 论 对 世 界 的 思 想 和 行 为 , 比 一 般 所 设 想的 有 较 为 广 泛 、 永 久 的 影 响 。 其 次 , 这 些 理 论 被 深 信 为 是 有关 本 书 所 讨 论 的 各 个 问 题 直 到 最 近 还 流 行 着 的 大 多 数 见 解 的根 源 。 对 于 这 些 纯 理 论 的 渊 源 、 意 义 与 价 值 , 著 者 如 不 说 明其 意 见 , 则 其 所 承 担 的 工 作 , 将 不 能 做 得 深 入 透 澈 。 ——亨利·梅因
导言
有 关 法 律 的书 籍 , 不 论 是 古 代 法 或 现 代 法 , 并 不 常 常 能吸 引 很 多 的读 者 ; 但 十 八 世 纪 和 十 九 世 纪 分 别 产 生 了 一 本 著名 的 法律 书 籍 ,对 当 代 的 和 以 后 的 思 想 发 展 方 向 , 有 着 深 远的影 响 。 孟德 斯 鸠的 “ 论 法 的 精 神 ”是 法 国 十 八 世 纪 最 杰 出 的作 品 之一 , 它 标 志 着 历 史 法 律 学 上 的 一 个 重 要 阶 段 , 虽然 具 有梅 因 在 “ 古 代 法 ” ( 第 五 章 ) 中 所 评 论 的 某 些 偏 颇之 处 。“ 古 代 法 ” 在 十 九 世 纪 执 行 了 甚 至 更 为 重 大 的 职 能; 真 的, 就 英 国 而 论 , 如 果 说 现代 历 史 法 律 学 是 随 着 这本 书 的出 现 而 出 生 的 , 也 不 能 谓 言 之过 甚。
虽 然 在 梅 因 的 卓 越 的 文 体 中 所 表 达 的 , 有 一 些 也 不 能 认为 是 普 通 的 东 西 , 但 “ 古 代 法 ” 中 有 相 当 部 分 , 在 过 去 七 十年 中 , 几 乎 是 学 习 法 律 制 度 的 学 生 所 不 可 或 缺 的 。 为 了 要 能体 现 它 在 当 时 是 怎 样 一 个 独 具 见 解 的 作 品 , 我 们 有 必 要 来 回顾 一 下 当 时 流 行 着 的 一 些 智 力 状 态 。
1758年 时 作 为 第 一 个 佛 尼 林 派( V i n e r i a n)教授的 布 拉 克 斯 顿 ( B l a c k s t o n e ) 进 行 了 未 有 先 例 的 试 验 , 他在 牛 津 大 学 讲 授 英 国 法 律 。 当 时 , 他 不 得 不 用 法 律 研 究 是 一个 有 教 养 绅 士 的 一 种 适 宜 的 职 业 , 来 说 服 他 的 听 众 ; 虽 然 甚至 他 自 己 或 许 也 不 会 相 信 这 是 像 猎 狐 一 样 一 种 非 常 绅 士 般 的职 业 。 七 十 年 以 后 , 约 翰 · 奥 斯 丁 ( J o h n A u s t i n ) 在 伦 敦 大学 以 法 律 学 的 吸 引 力 与 实 利 向 其 听 众 吹 嘘 ( 结 果 收 效 很 少 ) ,同 时 却 坦 白 地 承 认 有 许 多 心 地 宽 厚 的 人 们 不 愿 研 习 法 律,主要 是 由 于 它 所 来 自 的 渊 源 , 其 性 质 “ 令 人 可 厌 ” 。 有 一 次,他这 样 写 道 , “ 我 胆 敢 断 言 , 在 一 个 文 明 社 会 中 , 没 有 一 套 法 律会 像 我 们 的 那 样 缺 乏 一 致 性 和 均 称 性 ” 。 除 了 海 尔 ( H a l e ) 和布 拉 克 斯 顿 外 , 没 有 人 曾 把 它 作 过 有 系 统 的 阐 明 。 过 去 , 法律 是 根 据 有 试 验 必 有 错 误 的 原 则 学 习 的 , 现 在 还 活 着 的 一 些老 法 学 家 可 以 记 得 那 样 一 个 时 期 , 用 一 个 著 名 的 美 国 老法官— — 荷 姆 斯 法 官 先 生 ( M r . j u s t i c e h o l m e s ) — — 的 话 来 描写 , 法 律 只 是 一 麻 袋 的 琐 细 东 西 ; 真 的 , 在 某 些 开 业 律 师 中,赞 成 用 这 种 纯 粹 实 验 的 、 听 天 由 命 的 方 法 来 精 通 法 律 的 偏 见,甚 至 到 今 天 忘 没 有 完 全 消 除 。
至 于 英 国 的 法 律 史 , 不 仅 被 忽 视 了 , 简 直 是 被 蔑 视 了 。 例如 , 边沁竟 然 建 议 — — 除 了 作 为 批 判 之 外 — — 完全 不 顾 所 有 的 先 例 而 把 英 国 法 律 全 部 重 新 写 过 : 对 于 他 , 甚至 其 最 卓 越 的 学 生 约 翰 · 斯 图 亚 特 · 密 尔也 不 得 不 说 , “ 他 宁 愿 完 全 不 顾 过 去 的 全 部 成 就 , 而 重新 从 头 写 起 ” 。 如 果 对 于 英 国 法 律 史 的 态 度 是 这 样 , 那 就 可 以想 象 到 , 对 于 外 国 制 度 或 对 于 今 昔 法 律 现 象 的 比 较 研 究 , 又将 会 有 怎 样 轻 蔑 的 感 情 了 。这 种 褊 狭 的 心 情 , 在 对 待 罗 马 法 上 , 特 别 显 而 易 见 。1816年 尼 布 尔 ( N i e b u b r ) 在 维 罗 纳 ( V e r o n a ) 发 掘 到 该 雅 士( G a i u s ) “ 法 学 教 典 ” ( I n s t i t u t e s ) 的 手 稿 — — 这 当 然 是 学 术史 上 最 著 名 的 发 现 之 一 : 因 为 这 篇 论 文 不 仅 是 我 们 对 于 古 代罗 马 法 律 甚 至 是 我 们 对 于 雅 利 安 ( A r y a n ) 法 律 一 些 最 有 启 发 性 的 方 面 的 唯 一 知 识 来 源 , 并 且 在 它 写 成 四 百 年 后 的 一 部 不朽 杰 作 查 斯 丁 尼 安 ( J u s t i n i a n ) 的 “ 法 学 阶 梯 ” ( I n s t i t u t e s ) 曾根 据 其 中 极 大 部 分 作 为 编 纂 的 范 本 。 英 国 对 这 样 的 重 大 事 件漠 不 关 心 。 在 本 书 第 九 章 中 , 可 以 看 到 梅 因 痛 切 地 — — 最 终是 有 效 地 — — 抗 议 “ 对 罗 马 法 的 无 知 , 这 是 英 国 人 欣 然 承 认 ,且 有 时 不 以 为 耻 地 引 以自夸的 ” 。
但 是 , 对 于 过 去 法 律 制 度 和 政 治 制 度 中 可 以 确 定 的 事 实,不 愿 加 以 探 究 的 情 况 , 不 独 英 国 如 此 。 全 欧 洲 有 许 多关 于 政治 社 会 、 自 然 法 以 及 “ 自 然 状 态 ” 的 起 源 的 假 说 , 这 些 假 设,从 现 代 观 点 看 来 , 似 乎 是 很 可 笑 , 并 且 一 点 也 不 像 历 史 上 的事 实 , 以 致 在 今 日 , 我 们 竟 难 于 理 解 他 们 怎 样 会 这 样 强有力地 深 入 当 时 人 们 的 想 像 的 。 我 们 必 须 耐 心 地 、 宽 容 地、并 且也 许 谦 逊 地 ( 否 则 将 来 我 们 自 己 的 信 念 也 将 同 样 地 成 为 毫 无根 据 ) 牢 记 着 梅 因 所 说 的 “ 推 理 的 错 误 的 非 常 活 力 ” 。 这 使 我们 记 起 赫 伯 特 · 斯 宾 塞的 意 见 , 即 “ 一种 思 想 体 系 在 自 杀 以 后 , 有 可 能 精 神 焕 发 地 到 处 流 行 ” 。 十 八世 纪 中 流 行 着 的 关 于 政 治 起 源 的 各 种 观 念 , 在 卢 梭的 奇 怪 的 假 定 中 达 到 了 极 点 , 并 且 直 到 十 九 世 纪中 叶 即 使 已 濒 于 死 亡 , 却 仍 活 着 、 呼 吸 着 , 但 如 果 说 这 些 观念 在 过 去 二 千 年 的 长 时 期 中 实 在 一 无 进 步 , 那 是 不 能 说 是 言之 过 甚 的 。 关 于 社 会 人 的 性 质 , 同 这 些 虚 说 讽 喻 同 时 流 行 的 ,另 外 有 一 种 广 泛 传 布 的 信 念 , 认 为 政 治 历 史 是 一 些 退 化 的 而不 是 发 展 的 故 事 , 认 为 人 类 及 其 大 部 分 的 制 度 已 从 一 个 神 秘地 遥 远 的 时 代 的 较 为 幸 福 的 状 况 中 趋 向 衰 颓 。 因 此 , 既 然 恢复 原 始 的 天 真 状 态 已 不 可 能 , 则 我 们 为 民 族 所 能 做 的 最 好 的工 作 就 是 珍 惜 地 保 存 事 物 的 现 存 秩 序 , 至 少 要 阻 止 它 进 一 步堕 落 。
由 于 对 历 史 的 藐 视 , 幸 而 它 是 同 比 较 体 面 的 动 机 相 结 合着 的 — — 一 种 动 机 是 对 于 这 种 卓 越 的 自 然 法 的 正 当 反 应 , 另一 种 动 机 是 要 对 法 律 概 念 的 实 质 进 行 有 系 统 分 析 的 一 种 非 常及 时 的 愿 望 — — , 就 在 英 国 产 生 了 另 一 种 法 律 理 论 , 这 主 要同 霍 布 斯和 奥 斯 丁 有 关 , 但 和 边 沁 也 不 无 关 系 。 这种 理 论 , 我 们 为 了 便 利 称 它 为 法 律 与 主 权 的 命 令 说 。 它 认 为 法 律最突出的 是 一 个 在 法 律 上 有 无 限 权 力 的 主 权 者 或 “ 政 治领 袖 ” 对 一 个 臣 民 或 “ 政 治 下 属 ” 所 颁 发 的 不 可 抗 拒 的 命令 ,后 者 既 被 假 定 为 具 有 服 从 的 习 惯 , 就 有 绝 对 服 从 的 义 务。对于自 然 法 或 理 想 法 中 模 糊 的 赏 罚 观 念 发 生 着 怀 疑 , 并 且 是 正当 地 怀 疑 , 它 就 集 中 其 全 部 注 意 力 于 现 实 法 的 强 制 性 质 , 至于 它 在 历 史 上 或 伦 理 上 的 各 种 要 素 , 则 坚 决 不 加 考 虑 。这 种理 论 虽 然 在 其 他 地 方 很 少 受 到 注 意 , 但 在 英 国 直 到 现 在仍 旧常 常 被 讨 论 到 ; 不 过 至 少 有 一 种 意 见 是 大 家 一 致 同 意 的, 即它 既 然 从 法 律 学 的 领 域 中 排 斥 了 历 史 考 虑 , 就 使 它 陷入了一 种 根 本 的 谬 误 , 即 把 一 切 法 律 制 度 都 认 为 是 以 西 欧 的 君 主国 家 作 为 典 型 的 。
对 于 这 些 倾 向 , 不 是 没 有 阻 力 的 , 这 些 阻 力 就 存 在 于 梅因 的 作 品 中 。 德 国 有 一 个冯·萨维尼,他是历 来 最 著 名 的 法 学 家 之 一 , 他 在 十 九 世 纪 初 期 曾 对 十 八 世 纪非 历 史 的 思 想 习 惯 加 以 激 烈 的 攻 击 。 虽 然 他 对 于 国 家 法 律 与习 惯 并 没 有 真 正 找 到 一 种 科 学 的 历 史 的 研 究 方 法 , 但 他 提 供了 向 这 个 方 向 努 力 的 主 要 推 动 力 量 ; 他 从 事 于 法 律 学 研 究 的精 神 , 辉 煌 地 表 达 在 他 自 己 的 研 究 中 , 此 种 精 神 在 以 后 就 从来 没 有 被 人 们 舍 弃 过 , 虽 然 其 中 有 些 夸 张 之 处 , 随 着 时 间 的变 迁 已 有 所 变 更 。 他 在 英 国 很 少 直 接 影 响 , 就 是 曾 在 德 国 求学 的 奥 斯 丁 , 也 常 常 反 对 他 所 提 出 的 结 论 , 并 且 我 认 为 虽 然没 有 很 多 证 据 , 足 以 证 明 梅 因 非 常 熟 悉 丰 · 萨 维 尼 及 其 门 徒的 著 作 , 但 他 是 深 知 他 们 的 观 点 的 一 般 要 旨 的 , 并 且 无 疑 地在 实 质 上 是 同 意 这 种 观 点 的 。 梅 因 可 能 从 洛 多 尔 夫 · 丰 · 伊叶 林 在1858年 出 版 的 巨 著 “ 罗 马 法 精 神 ”受 到 更 加 直 接 的 影 响 。 伊 叶 林 在 几 个 重 要 问 题 方 面 , 与 萨 维 尼 的 观 点 不 同 , 但 他 肯 定 地 主 张 把 历 史 方 法 用 于 法 律 学 中 。 他 也 对 罗 马 法 的 研究 带 来 了 一 种 新 的 和 活 泼 的 精 神 , 与 长 期 在 德 国 压 制 着 罗 马法 的 无 生 气 的 经 院 哲 学 派 不 同 ; 有 许 多 证 据 足 以 表 明 这 对 于梅 因 是 一 种 真 正 的 刺 激 , 正 像 吉 朋对 伊 叶 林 同 样 是 一 种 刺 激 一 样 。
“ 古 代 法 ” 出 现 的 时 期 , 也 是 人 类 思 想 史 上 有 最 深 远 影 响 的 事 件 之 一 , 即 达 尔 文自 然 选 择 原 则 形 成 的 时 期 。
“ 物 种 起 源 ”发 表 于 “ 古 代 法 ” 出 版 前 两 年 。 在 梅 因 的 主 要 著 作 中 , 据 我 所 知 , 只 有 一 处 直 接提 到 了 达 尔 文 ; 在 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” 第 七 章 中 , 他 认 为 达 尔 文 从 自 然 科 学 上 提 供 了 有 利于 父 权 制 理 论 的 证 据 。 究 竟 梅 因 是 否 接 受 进 化 论 的 理 论包 括其 全 部 含 意 在 内 , 这 是 本 文 作 者 所 不 了 解 的 , 但 梅 因 在历 史法 律 学 方 面 的 著 作 自 然 地 同 十 九 世 纪 中 叶 广 为 传 布 的 新 的 研究 精 神 平 列 在 一 起 , 则 是 没 有 疑 问 的 。
关 于 这 种 “ 新 学 问 ” , 就 其 对 法 律 的 影 响 而 论 , 梅 因 的 全部 著 作 可 以 被 认 为 是 一 种 有 生 气 的 表 现 。 他 对 那 些 不 科 学的缺 乏 批 判 的 , 被 野 蛮 地 但 简 略 地 称 为 “ 先 天 主 义 ” 的 那 种很盛 行 的 思 想 习 惯 , 从 不 放 松 加 以 反 对 。 他 在 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ”( 第 十 二 讲 ) 中 写 道 ,“ 为 英 国 法 学 家 一 般 接 受 的 各 种 历 史 理 论 , 不 但 对 于 法 律 的 研究 有 很 大 的 损 害 , 即 使 对 历 史 的 研 究 也 是 如 此 , 因 此 , 当 前英 国 学 术 上 最 迫 切 需 要 增 益 的 , 也 许 是 新 材 料 的 审 查 , 旧材料 的 再 度 审 查 , 并 在 这 基 础 上 把 我 们 法 律 制 度 的 来 源 及 其 发展 , 加 以 阐 明 。 ” 对 英 国 法 律 应 该 这 样 , 对 其 他 一 般 法 律 也 同样 应 该 这 样 。 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 中 , 梅 因 对 当 时 流 行 的 政 治 纯 理论 中 最 为 旁 若 无 人 的 、 根 深 蒂 固 的 某 种 “ 先 天 主 义 ” 给 以第一 次 的 攻 击 ( 这 在 他 以 后 的 著 作 中 , 常 被 重 复 地 进 行 着)。例如 , 在 第 四 章 中 的 “ ‘ 自 然 平 等 ’ 的 教 条 ” , 第 五 章 中 的 “ 幻想 的 ‘ 自 然 状 态 ’ ” , 第 八 章 中 的 “ 认 为 财 产 起 源 于 单 独 的个人 对 物 质 财 富 的 ‘ 占 有 ’ 这 毫 无 根 据 的 观 点 ” , 第 九 章 中 的“ 社 会 契 约 的 梦 呓 ” , 没 有 一 个 人 曾 像 他 那 样 恶 毒 地 辱 骂这 些一 度 声 势 极 盛 的 说 教 的 严 重 错 误 。 他 说 : 这 些 有 关 “ 世界最古 年 代 人 类 情 况 的 描 写 受 到 这 两 种 假 设 的 影 响 , 首 先 是假定人 类 并 不 具 有 今 天 围 绕 者 他 们 的 大 部 分 环 境 , 其 次 ,是假定在 这 样 想 像 的 条 件 下 他 们 会 保 存 现 在 刺 激 他 们 进 行 活 动的同样 的 情 绪 和 偏 见 ” 。 至 少 对 于 英 国 , 梅 因 可 以 说 是 已 经改变了“自然” 的 面 貌 。这 种 智 力 状 态 使 梅 因 完 全 不 可 能 接 受 霍 布 斯 与 奥 斯 丁 的主 权 命 令 说 , 把 它 视 为 是 一 切 法 律 的 起 源 和 性 质 的 特 征 。 这 是 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 最 初 的 篇 幅 中 就 加 以 说 明 的 ; 并 且 他 在 十 四 年 后 出 版 的 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ” 最 后 两 讲 中 更 深 入 地 加 以 发 挥 。 奇 怪 的 是 , 梅 因 虽 然 是 奥 斯 丁 最 严 格 的 批 评 者 之 一 , 但 他 把 奥 斯 丁 在 法 律 分 析 上 所 作 努 力 的 真 正 成 绩 推 荐 给 英 国 法 学 家 , 则 有 甚 于 任 何 人 。 奥 斯 丁 在 1 8 2 8 年 所 作 的 演 讲 , 除 了 培 养 人才 补 足 审 判 席 缺 额 以 外 , 似 乎 很 少 成 就 ; 他 的 演 讲 集 在 1 8 32年 出 版 时 , 依 旧 毫 无 影 响 ; 只 是 通 过 了 梅 因 的 各 种 著 作 和 他在 1 8 5 2 年 对 法 学 院 所 作 的 演 讲 才 把 这 一 热 诚 的 、 太 过 热 诚 的真 理 追 求 者 所 作 耐 性 的 但 落 空 的 努 力 , 从 湮 没 中 援 救 出 来 。 但是 , 虽 然 他 对 奥 斯 丁 的 分 析 天 才 比 以 后 许 多 争 论 者 给 予 更 多的 赞 誉 , 但 他 对 于 把 法 律 视 作 为 命 令 , 并 且 只 是 命 令 这 一个论 点 , 却 无 疑 地 论 证 了 它 的 缺 点 。
我 在 前 面 已 经 提 到 梅 因 对 于 英 国 人 对 罗 马 法 的 “ 极 端 无知 ” , 提 出 了 非 难 。 1847年 , 他 接 受 了 剑 桥 大 学 民 法 学 钦 定 讲座 的 教 授 职 位 , 因 为 这 个 任 命 , 使 他 得 以 专 心 研 究 古 代 法 而获 益 不 少 。 在 关 于 罗 马 遗 嘱 ( 第 六 章 ) 、 法 律 诉 讼 ( 第十 章 )、家 父 权 ( 第 五 章 ) 以 及 罗 马 契 约 分 类 ( 第 八 章 ) 等 这 些 辉 煌的 纲 要 中 , 包 含 着 许 多 新 奇 的 东 西 , 这 些 东 西 现 在 虽 已毫 不新 奇 , 但 在 1 8 6 1 年 它 们 都 是 很 新 奇 的 ; 我 们 必 须 指 出 其 中 也有 许 多 到 现 在 已 成 为 有 疑 问 的 了 , 但 是 , 对 于 并 不 熟 悉专 门的 罗 马 法 的 读 者 , 还 不 能 在 英 文 中 找 到 一 本 书 , 能 对 那伟 大法 制 中 某 些 独 特 的 制 度 , “ 像 古 代 法 ” 这 样 提 供 生 气 勃 勃 的说明 , 并 且 就 罗 马 法 对 于 欧 洲 人 生 活 上 和 思 想 上 几 乎 每 一 个 部门 所 发 生 的 巨 大 影 响 , 现 在 当 然 还 找 不 到 比 第 九 章 中 所 作 的更 好 的 、 更 有 说 服 力 的 描 写 。 还 不 很 熟 悉 这 一 切 的 读 者 , 可以 从 吉 朋 所 著 “ 罗 马 帝 国 衰 亡 史 ” 这 一 无 比 精 辟 的 书 的 第 四十 四 章 中 找 到 很 适 宜 的 补 充 材 料 。
梅 因 与 进 化 论 学 派 的 密 切 关 系 , 可 以 从 他 对 于 法 律 制 度史 中 某 种 进 步 因 素 所 具 有 的 确 实 而 决 不 空 洞 的 信 念 , 明 白 表现 出 来 , 他 完 全 意 识 到 进 步 一 字 的 含 义 含 糊 : 在 其 无 数警句之 一 中 , 他 告 诉 我 们 : “ 对 于 人 们 , 不 论 是 个 人 或 是 集体,没有 东 西 比 把 他 们 的 道 德 进 步 认 作 一 个 实 体 的 现 实 性 , 更可厌恶 的 了 ” ; 他 认 为 绝 大 部 分 人 类 往 往 对 于 任 何 有 意 识 地努力改进 民 主 制 度 表 示 漠 不 关 心 , 对 于 这 种 现 象 , 他 表 示 大 为惊奇( 见 第 二 章 ) 。 他 从 不 怀 疑 , 社 会 是 明 显 地 向 着 一 种 稳健的坚实 的 方 向 前 进 的 ; 这 样 , 在 契 约 的 发 展 史 中 , 他 发 现 了善意这 个 道 德 观 念 的 逐 步 出 现 , 并 且 虽 然 从 没 有 停 止 和 自 然 法 非历 史 性 的 谬 论 作 斗 争 , 但 他 依 然 在 其 中 看 到 了 一 个 可 以 促 使改 进 的 有 力 因 素 , 以 反 对 法 律 的 保 守 主 义 的 禀 性 ,即认为法律 是 只 能 通 过 相 当 难 以 运 用 的 如 拟 制 、 衡 平 和 立 法 等 权宜手段 来 改 进 本 身 的 。 他 同 样 清 楚 地 认 识 到 社 会 是 天 然 地 分 为“ 进 步 的 ” 和 “ 不 进 步 的 ” 的 — — 这 种 两 分 法 , 相 当 于 西 方 与东 方 的 两 分 法 。 他 不 愿 为 “ 进 步 ” 的 标 准 下 一 个 定 义 ; 但 在“ 古 代 法 制 史 ” 中 , 他 提 出 了 至 少 两 种 可 能 的 区 别 标 准 — — 一种 是 有 意 识 地 采 用 对 最 大 多 数 人 给 以 最 大 幸 福 的 原 则 作 为 立法 政 策 , 另 一 种 是 对 待 妇 女 地 位 的 流 行 态 度 。 有 许 多 其 他 标准 可 以 提 出 来 讨 论 ; 没 有 一 个 可 以 不 变 地 加 以 应 用 ; 但 谁 会怀 疑 , 在 进 步 的 社 会 和 不 进 步 的 社 会 之 间确有 不 同 , 或 是 谁会 认 为 , 梅 因 在 这 样 相 信 了 以 后 已 作 出 了 过 分 满 足 的 假 设 呢 ?
在 进 一 步 介 绍 “ 古 代 法 ” 中 某 几 个 时 常 引 起 争 论 的 部 分以 前 , 必 须 首 先 注 意 到 本 书 的 一 个 独 特 之 点 。 大 多 数 人 在 对某 一 门 科 学 作 专 门 研 究 时 , 在 发 表 ( 如 果 他 们 的 确 发 表 了 ) 他们 的 一 般 结 论 前 , 必 先 就 其 各 个 细 节 , 加 以 详 细 研 究 , 并可能 要 先 加 以 说 明 。 而 梅 因 的 做 法 , 恰 恰 与 此 相 反 。 在 其 第 一本 书 中 , 他 叙 述 了 最 粗 糙 的 一 般 原 理 , 而 在 他 所 有 的 后 期 作品 中 , 除 了 二 本 比 较 不 重 要 的 之 外 , 只 是 用 了 更 详 细 的 和 更明 确 具 体 的 例 证 , 以 深 入 阐 明 他 在 开 始 其 专 业 时 新 提 出 的 各项 原 理 。 这 种 方 法 是 大 胆 的 , 并 不 是 毫 无 危 险 的 :除 了 对 于事 物 的 要 点 具 有 非 常 的 直 觉 的 理 解 力 的 人 , 采 用 这 种 做 法 , 很难 获 得 成 功 。 学 者 们 为 了 使 其 结 论 能 达 到 精 确 无 误 , 一般 对于 概 括 是 非 常 谨 慎 的 , 有 时 简 直 是 不 健 康 地 谨 慎 ; 但 是 对 于“ 古 代 法 ” , 如 果 真 有 任 何 成 语 与 它 联 用 得 最 最 经 常 , 那 就 是“ 辉 煌 的 概 括 ” 这 一 个 成 语 。 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 中 , 很 少 有 一 页 没有 几 句 著 名 的 警 句 , 突 出 于 字 里 、 行 间 ; 可 怪 的 是 , 梅 因 在经 过 长 期 的 辛 勤 的 进 一 步 研 究 后 , 竟 发 现 很 少 有 必 要 就 其 最早 的 意 见 , 进 行 修 正 。 这 本 书 充 满 了 渊 博 的 知 识 , 却 没 有 表示 博 学 的 一 般 附 属 物 ; 究 竟 是 由 于 政 策 , 或 是 由 于 厌 恶,还是由于 无 能 , 无 论 如 何 , 梅 因 坚 决 拒 绝 采 用 似 乎 常 常 需 要 的旁 注 和 详 细 证 据 , 以 为 其 明 白 直 率 的 主 文 的 累 赘 。 虽 然具结果 有 时 使 经 过 专 门 训 练 的 读 者 感 到 不 便 , 但 免 除 学 术上的累赘 , 无 疑 地 大 大 增 加 了 “ 古 代 法 ” 和 梅 因 的 其 他 一 切 著 作的声 望 。 我 们 享 受 着 文 字 的 乳 汁 , 而 不 被 迫 目 击 挤 乳 的 这种繁重 的 、 有 时 候 很 辛 苦 的 劳 动 , 虽 然 在 “ 东 西 方 村 落 共 产 体 ”( V i l l a g e C o m m u n i t i e s i n t h e E a s t a n d W e s t ,1871) 、 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ” (1875) 及 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” ( 1 8 8 3年)中 都 用 了 比 “ 古 代 法 ” 更 正 确 的 、 更 有 批 评 眼 光 的 考 查以 观 察 古 代 法 律 中 的 各 个 问 题 , 但 梅 因 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 之 后 写的 一 些 作 品 , 都 不 及 这 个 初 生 儿 , 甚 至 一 半 也 及 不 到 。
因 此 , “ 古 代 法 ” 应 该 被 认 为 好 像 是 梅 因 毕 生 工 作 中 的 一个 宣 言 书 , 这 是 雅 利 安 民 族 各 个 不 同 支 系 , 尤 其 是 罗 马 人 、 英国 人 、 爱 尔 兰 人 、 斯 拉 夫 人 以 及 印 度 人 的 古 代 法 律 制 度 的 一个 比 较 研 究 。 由 于 它 本 身 是 一 个 令 人 满 意 的 统 一 体 , 它 不 能被 视 为 仅 仅 是 一 篇 绪 论 ; 不 过 , 对 于 他 粗 糙 地 谈 到 的 许 多 问题 , 如 果 要 获 得 更 丰 富 的 知 识 , 读 者 还 必 须 借 助 于 梅 因 的 后期 作 品 。 例 如 第 八 章 提 到 的 村 落 共 产 体 是 一 篇 用 同 名 的 完 整的 ( 虽 然 是 简 短 的 ) 论 文 的 主 题 , 由 于 当 时 那 士 ( N a s s e ) 和G.L . 丰 · 毛 勒 ( G . L . v o n M a u r e r ) 的 新 近 研 究 而 引 起的 ; 关 于 父 权 家 族 的 说 明 , 当 然 应 该 以 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” 为补 充 材 料 , 这 是 梅 因 的 最 后 一 部 重 要 著 作 , 在 其 中 , 他 用 了同 样 的 说 服 力 和 机 智 , 乘 便 对 主 张 母 权 制 理 论 的 几 个 主 要 代表人 予 以 答 复 。 在 这 里 , 由 于 篇 幅 的 限 制 , 难 以 就 “ 古 代法”中 讨 论 的 各 个 题 目 , 一 一 指 出 究 竟 在 他 后 期 作 品 中 哪 些地 方 曾 详 加 说 明 ; 但 就 主 要 的 题 目 中 , 可 以 提 出 的 有 主 权 、 集体 财 产 的 早 期 形 式 ( 其 重 要 的 一 方 面 , 即 联 合 家 族 , 在 “ 古代 法 ” 中 没 有 提 到 , 但 在 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 和 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ” 中 ,都 有 详 尽 的 讨 论 ) , 封 建 制 度 化 的 过 程 , 各 种 古 代 法 典 ( 例 如在 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” 的 第 一 章 中 , 详 细 叙 述 了 “ 摩 奴法典 ” ),法 学 家 〔 特 别 是 罗 马法学专家 ( J u r i s p r u d e n t e s ) 和 爱尔 兰 “ 古 代 法 官 ” 〕 在 制 成 法 律 上 所 起 的 影 响 , 原 始 的 亲 属 关系,动 产 所 有 权 〔 关 于 第 八 章 中 所 讨 论 的要式交易物 ( r e s m a n Acipi) 更 详 细 的 说 明 , 可 参 考 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” 第 十 章 〕 , 土地 所 有 权 , 长 子 继 承 权 , 拟 制 ( 例 如 , 关 于 收 养 这 个 拟 制 的补 充 说 明 , 可 见 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ” 第 八 讲 和 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” 第 四 章 ) , 原 始 诉 讼 程 序 〔 著 名 “ 戏 剧 化 ” 的誓金(Sacra m e n At u m ) 可 在 “ 古 代 法 制 史 ” 第 九 讲 中 再 发 现 〕 , 强 制 执 行 的 各种 早 期 形式,祖先 崇 拜 和 家 族圣物,以 及 衡 平 的 发 展 等。
“ 古 代 法 ” 中 有 许 多 部 分 , 在 后 来 成 为 批 评 或 者 有 时 是 别人 所 不 同 意 的 主 题 , 对 于 这 些 , 只 可 浏 览 一 过 。 在 一 般 人的心目中 , 梅 因 的 名 字 也 许 最 容 易 同 父 权 制 的 理 论 联 系 在 一 起 。
大 家 都 知 道 , 有 一 个 以 巴 觉 芬 ( B a c h o f e n ) 〔 他 的 “ 母 权 制论 ” ( D a s M u t t e r r e c h e t ) 由 于 巧 合 , 恰 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 出 版 的同 一 年 中 出 版 〕 、 马 克 林 南 ( M c l e n n a n ) 、 摩 尔 根 ( M o r g a n ) 、约 瑟 夫 · 库 勒 ( J o s e f k o h l e r ) 和 法 拉 善 ( F r a z e r ) 为 其 主 要代 表 人 物 的 反 对 学 派 , 主 张 人 类 社 会 以 一 个 人 群 开 始 ,其中男 女 两 性 处 于 一 种 没 有 节 制 的 杂 交 状 态 中 互 相 匹 配 , 主张首先 出 现 的 家 族 集 团 是 以 母 氏 为 中 心 的 , 并 且 主 张 以 认 定 的 生父 的 体 力 和 独 占 禁 忌 占 优 势 的 家 族 集 团 , 在 发 展 的 过 程中,应属 于 一 个 较 后 的 阶 段 。 而 在 “ 古 代 法 ” 和 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习惯 ” 的 简 要 研 究 中 , 显 然 梅 因 所 描 写 的 社 会 , 既 不 是 一 个 以“ 自 然 状 态 中 的 人 ” 也 不 是 以 母 系 子 嗣 , 而 是 一 个 以 父 权 的 、宗 亲 的 家 作 为 单 位 的 社 会 。
但 是 , 梅 因 所 重 新 假 设 的 这 种 共 产 体 , 从 来 没 有 要 被 认为 是 人 类 社 会 渊 源 的 代 表 之 意 。 他 的 研 究 明 白 地 限 于 雅 利 安民 族 , 尤 其 是 其 中 比 较 进 步 的 几 个 支 系 ( 但 有 显 著 的 例 外 , 如印 度 村 落 共 产 体 ) ; 虽 然 在 其 他 方 面 可 能 有 些 争 执 , 但 雅 利 安家 族 制 度 主 要 是 父 权 的 , 这 是 没 有 争 议 的 。 在 “ 古 代 法 律 与习 惯 ” 中 , 梅 因 不 但 不 主 张 人 类 种 族 的 各 个 支 系 应 该 有 一 个单 一 的 、 一 成 不 变 的 发 展 图 式 , 他 并 且 毫 无 隐 瞒 地 对 这 种 想法 表 示 着 怀 疑 。 现 代 学 说 所 主 张 的 , 正 和 这 个 意 见 相 同 : 现在 认 为 , 把 父 权 制 理 论 和 母 权 制 理 论 作 为 相 互 之 间 不 能调和的 对 立 物 是 完 全 人 为 的 。 男 性 和 女 性 在 家 族 中 和 社 会 上 的 相对 重 要 性 决 定 于 许 多 变 化 着 的 情 况 , 譬 如 各 家 族 集 团 是孤立的 还 是 互 相 邻 接 的 , 男 女 两 性 的 相 对 人 数 , 战 争 的 影 响,可用 以 瞻 养 妻 子 的 财 富 , 灭 婴 的 习 俗 , 以 及 许 多 其 他 类 似 的 因素 , 决 不 可 能 在 一 切 时 代 和 一 切 地 点 , 完 全 相 同 。 即 使 在 大量 证 据 中 仅 仅 熟 悉 其 中 一 部 分 的 人 ( 或 仅 仅 熟 悉 其 中 可靠部分 的 人 , 并 且 不 包 括 梅 因 讽 刺 地 称 之 为 “ 道 听 途 说 ” 的 人 ) ,现 在 也 不 再 怀 疑 母 系 的 安 排 曾 流 行 于 世 界 的 许 多 地 方 。 梅 因曾 被 责 难 为 在 承 认 马 克 林 南 和 摩 尔 根 所 提 出 母 权 制 的 证 据 时过 分 勉 强 , 并 且 过 分 严 格 地 坚 持 着 男 性 的 体 力 和 性 的 忌 妒 这些 支 配 的 因 素 。 实 际 上 , 梅 因 完 全 承 认 父 权 制 并 不 能 适用 于一 切 形 式 的 社 会 ; 他 所 主 张 的 , 只 是 父 权 制 是 雅 利 安 人 所 特有 的 , 同 时 母 权 制 的 证 据 并 不 足 以 支 持 有 一 种 原 始 群 杂交的通 说 而 已 。 对 于 这 两 种 说 法 , 现 代 的 意 见 都 支 持 着 他 ; 任 何普 遍 的 原 始 杂 交 的 假 设 , 现 在 为 一 般 人 所 不 信 , 虽 然 作为偶然 的 热 情 奔 放 的 那 种 所 谓 性 的 共 产 主 义 , 证 据 还 是 不 少 ; 在雅 利 安 人 中 间 确 有 母 权 制 的 遗 迹 , 但 他 们 认 为 这 很 可 能 不 是人 类 家 族 中 这 一 支 系 的 一 种 较 古 时 期 的 原 有 情 况 , 而 是 它 同非 雅 利 安 种 族 习 惯 相 接 触 的 结 果 。梅 因 的 行 文 流 畅 , 偶 尔 ( 但 只 是 偶 尔 ) 也 有 自 相 矛 盾 之处 , 这 是 不 能 毫 无 保 留 地 加 以 接 受 的 。 这 类 矛 盾 在 “ 古 代法 ” 最 初 的 篇 幅 中 就 可 以 看 到 , 在 第 一 章 中 , 关 于 半 司 法 的 、半 宗 教 的θεμιτε 觉 得 出 了 在 原 始 社 会 中 “ 判 决 先 于 习 惯 ” 的结 论 。 在 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 中 , 梅 因 回 到 了 “ 主 权 者 有 权 创造习 惯 ” 。 在 这 个 问 题 上 , 有 两 种 不 同 信 念 的 学 派 ; 一 派 主 张 在最 古 时 期 高 级 官 吏 的 宣 告 只 是 宣 布 业 已 存 在 的 习 惯 , 另一派则 认 为 这 些 宣 告 却 真 正 是 创 设 和 塑 造 通 俗 惯 例 的 决 定 因 素 。真 相 似 乎 是 在 这 两 种 相 反 的 观 点 的 中 间 。 毫 无 疑 问 , 早期的判 决 , 不 论 是 国 王 的 或 是 祭 司 的 , 不 论 是 纯 粹 世 俗 的或是幻想为 神 灵 所 启 示 的 , 在 确 定 习 惯 的 形 式 、 范 围 以 及 方 向 上,确有 很 大 的 影 响 。 同 时 , 一 切 证 据 似 乎 都 说 明 , 最 古 时 期 的 司法 职 能 被 认 为 是 以发现现存的法律 为 其 主 要 目 的 。 在 西 方 世界,到处都有关 于 这 种 “ 发 现 法 律 ” 以 及 以 发 现 法 律 为 专 职的 公 认 专 家 的 各 种 记 录 。 甚 至 在 解 释 过 程 中 采 用 了 ( 这 也 常是 必 然 的 ) 新 的 成 分 , 在 这 种 情 况 下 , 实 际 上 已 从 单 纯 的 宣布 进 入 了 创 设 的 时 期 , 甚 至 在 这 种 时 候 , 这 种 改 革 仍 旧被装扮成 只 是 发 现 : 正 像 英 国 法 官 在 实 质 上 是 把 新 的 成 分 转 入 到法 律 中 去 , 却 仍 旧 尽 可 能 地 把 它 们 说 成 是 根 据 于 现 存 的 先 例一 样 。 梅 因 对 于 这 种 看 法 , 曾 经 详 细 考 虑 而 加 以 同 意 , 因 为在 “ 古 代 法 律 与 习 惯 ” ( 第 六 章 ) 中 , 当 他 写 到θεμιτε时 , 认为 它 “ 无 疑 地 来 自 早 已 存 在 的 习 惯 或 惯 例 ” ; 虽 然 他 也 许 是 为了 表 示 公 正 起 见 , 接 着 说 ; “ 这观念是,它 们 是 由 国 王 自 发 地或 经 过 神 的 提 示 而 想 出 来 的 ” 。
“ 古 代 法 ” 中 没 有 一 部 分 像万民法的 叙述 那 样 需 要 更 多 的 详 细 说 明 。 “ 古 代 法 ” 的 最 大 缺 点 , 在 于 它跳 过 了 从 罗 马 人 到 格 罗 秋 ( Grotius) 之 间 的 几 个 世 纪 , 忽 略了中古世纪的时期 , 在 这 个 时 期 内 , “ 自 然 法 ” 转 变 成 为 有 无限 活 力 和 影 响 的 一 种 神 学 概 念 。 对 于 像 梅 因 这 样 有 非 常 的 均衡 感 和 透 视 力 的 人 , 这 真 是 一 个 奇 怪 的 遗 漏 , 而 每 一 个 读 者希 望 对 这 一 漫 长 时 期 的 法 律 理 论 有 比 较 正 确 的 印 象 的 ,应该至 少 参 考 一 下 布 赖 斯 爵 士 (B r y c e ) 和 菲 莱 特 烈 克 · 濮洛 克 爵 士 (F r e d e r i c k P o l l o c k ) 关 于 “ 自 然 法 律 史 ” 的几 篇 论 文 , 以 及喀莱尔博士 (A. J. C a r l y l e ) 的“ 西 方 中 世 纪 政 治 理 论 ” 。
梅 因 对 于 罗 马 契 约 法 发 展 的 说 明 , 是 他 论 文 中 最 雄 辩 的部 分 之 一 。 但 这 部 分 有 些 浪 漫 的 倾 向 , 则 是 无 法 掩 盖 的 事 实 。 在 有 些 方 面 , 他 似 乎 显 然 是 错 误 的 ; 例 如约定,根据现代意 见 , 不 能 被 真 正 地 认 为 是 来 源 于耐克逊( n e x u m ) : 它也 许 在宗教的 神 圣 性 中 有 完 全 不 同 的 历 史 , 不 同 的 来 源 。在其 他 方 面 , 如 关 于耐克逊 的 确 切 性 质 , 他 所 表 示 的 见 解 , 有些 也 只 能 认 为 是 似 乎 可 信 的 猜 测 ; 但 这 样 说 , 并 不 能 被 认 为是 对 他 责 难 , 因 为 从 梅 因 的 时 代 起 , 对 于 这 一 个 问 题 曾 发 生过 无 休 无 止 的 争 论 , 而 争 论 的 结 果 也 还 只 是 一 些 可 能 和 推 测而 已 , 实 际 上 , 以 证 据 而 论 , 也 只 能 得 到 这 样 的 结 果 。 梅 因对 于 罗 马 契 约 的 历 史 分 类 存 在 着 真 正 的 弱 点 , 这 与 罗 马 法 学家 自 己 对 于 合 意 的 分 类 的 存 在 着 弱 点 , 完 全 相 同 — 弱 点是在于 它 图 表 式 的 但 靠 不 住 的 单 纯 。 梅 因 所 提 出 的 各 个 阶段是:把债 务 同 真 正 的 以 身 体 自 由 为 质 物 ( 耐 克 逊 借 贷 ) 看 做 一 回 事 , 带 有 严 格 的 神 圣 仪 式 ; 其 次 是 以 庄 严 的 口 头 问 答 和 以 诚 意 担保 的 债 务 ; 其 次 是 有 书 面 文 字 的 无 可 辩 驳 的 证 据 ; 其 次 是 真正 契 约 的 “ 巨 大 道 德 进 步 ” , 这 些 契 约 代 表 着 公 正 的 基 本 原 理 ,即 根 据 一 致 同 意 的 条 件 , 受 领 和 享 有 他 人 有 价 物 件 的 人 , 有归 还 它 或 其 价 值 的 义 务 ; 其 次 是 在 任 何 经 济 发 达 的 社 会 中 , 在四 种 最 普 通 和 重 要 的 交 易 中 一 致 的 效 力 ; 以 及 最 后 , 通 过 裁判 官的 自 由 学 说 , 在 任 何 严 肃 的 和 合 法 的 场 合 中 所取 得 纯 粹 一 致 的 拘 束 力 。 我 们 不 能 说 这 种 根 据 于 道 德 进 步 路线 的 历 史 顺 序 , 是 明 显 地 错 误 的 , 但 为 慎 重 起 见 , 我 们 必 须承 认 要 证 实 其 一 切 细 节 , 现 有 的 证 据 显 然 并 不 充 分 。 事 实 正如 我 们 常 常 指 出 来 的 那 样 , 罗 马 人 在 有 关 合 意 的 法 律 方 面 是独 特 地 凭 经 验 的 , 他 们 从 来 没 有 发 展 一 个 令 人 满 意 的 和 不 矛盾 的 真 正作为 契 约 的 契 约 理 论 , 他 们 的市民法要因(causa civilis)学说, 被 假 定 为 是 一 切 有 拘 束 力 的 合 意 所 依 据 的 , 是完 全 没 有 可 靠 的 法 律 基 础 的 。 梅 因 留 给 我 们 的 印 象 是 , 裁 判官 凭 着 体 现 “ 能 达 到 正 当 后 果 的 ‘ 诺 成 契 约 ’ 原 则 ” 的 ‘ 裁判 官 告 令 ” , 把 合 意 的 可 诉 性 扩 大 到 几 乎 毫 无 限 制 。 这 是 一 种严 重 的 夸 大 。 实 际 上 , 裁 判 官 告 令 , 在 数 量 上 是 很 少 的 , 在性 质 上 是 很 专 门 的 , 在 范 围 上 是 很 狭 小 的 。 毫 无 疑 义 , 到 了古 典 时 期 , 契 约 的 领 域 在 理 论 上 和 在 实 际 上 , 都 已 变 得 很 广泛 , 足 以 满 足 一 切 普 通 目 的 了 ; 但 是 它 还 不 能 公 正 地 被 认 为具 有 梅 因 这 样 热 诚 地 归 功 于 它 的 那 种 科 学 的 均 称 性 或 道 德 的一 致 性 。
在 第 五 章 的 结 尾 , 可 以 看 到 梅 因 对 他 所 想 象 的 “ 各 国 民事 法 律 ” 的 发 展 , 进 行 了 干 练 的 总 结 , 同 时 读 者 在 开 始 阅 读本 书之 前 , 最 好 先 熟 读 这 一 段 文 字 , 即 以 “ 到 现 在 为 止 , 我 们 已 经研 究 过 有 关 古 代 ‘ 人 法 ’ 的 各 个 部 分 ” 开 始 的 几 页 , 并 且 先 要 把 本 书 开 头 的 主 要 的 五 章 所 依 据 的 要 旨 牢 记 在 心 中 。这 几 页 中 最 后 一 句 话 是 全 部 英 国 法 律 文 献 中 最 著 名 的 “ 进 步社 会 的 运 动 , 到 此 处 为 止 , 是 一个从身分到契约 的 运 动 。 ” 这些 文 句 在 它 写 成 的 当 时 , 是 适 当 的 、 可 以 接 受 的 — —那 个 时候 , 十 九 世 纪 个 人 主 义 的 全 部 力 量 正 在 逐 渐 增 加 其 动 力。关于 梅 因 所 应 用 的 “ 身 分 ” 这 个 字 , 是 否 适 当 , 这 里 不 拟作专门 的 详 尽 讨 论 , 但 作 为 一 个 法 律 “ 术 语 ” , 就 他 所 接 受 的 含 义来 讲 , 是 有 讨 论 的 余 地 的 ; 但 他 的 结 论 实 足 以 表 现 一 条为当今 历 史 法 学 家 没 有 任 何 争 执 的 原 则 — — 即 个 人 自 决 的原则,把 个 人 从 家 庭 和 集 团 束 缚 的 罗 网 中 分 离 开 来 ; 或 者 , 用 最 简单 的 话 来 说 , 即 从 集 体 走 向 个 人 的 运 动 。 这 是 梅 因 的 论文的主 要 观 点 , 是 他 对 所 有 那 些先天 的 空 想 进 行 攻 击 的 矛 头,这些 空 想 创 造 了 抽 象 的人 , 作 为 年 轻 世 界 的 天 命 的 君 主 , 这样就 颠 倒 了 全 部 的 历 史 进 程 。 可 以 看 到 , 梅 因 在 说 这 个 运 动到此处为止 是 进 步 社 会 的 特 征 时 , 是 很 慎 重 的 。 现 在 有 许 多 人在 问 , 有 的 带 着 怀 疑 , 有 的 可 以 看 出 是 有 礼 貌 地 , 究 竟 有 没有 从 契 约 到 身 分 的 相 反 运 动 发 生 过 。 我 们 可 以 完 全 肯 定 , 这个 由 十 九 世 纪放任主义 ( l a i s s e z f a i r e ) 安 放 在 “ 契 约 自 由 ” 这神 圣 语 句 的 神 龛 内 的 个 人 绝 对 自 决 , 到 了 今 日 已 经 有 了 很 多的 改 变 ; 现 在 , 个 人 在 社 会 中 的 地 位 , 远 较 著 作 “ 古 代 法 ” 的时 候 更 广 泛 地 受 到 特 别 团 体 、 尤 其 是 职 业 团 体 的 支 配 , 而 他的 进 入 这 些 团 体 并 非 都 出 于 他 自 己 的 自 由 选 择 。 很 可 能 , 过去 一 度 由 家 庭 这 个 发 源 地 担 任 的 任 务 , 在 将 来 要 由 工 团 这 个发 源 地 来 担 任 了 ; 也 可 能 梅 因 的 这 个 著 名 原 则 , 将 会 有 一 天被 简 单 地 认 为 只 是 社 会 史 中 的 一 个 插 曲 。 如 果 竟 然 是 这 样 发生 了 , 这 究 竟 是 标 志 着 社 会 的 进 步 还 是 退 化 , 是 一 个 非 常 适合 于 每 一 个 有 思 想 的 人 仔 细 研 究 的 问 题 , 但 在 这 里 , 是 不 宜于 作 任 何 讨 论 的 。
本 书 中 有 些 不 重 要 的 疏 漏 之 处 , 对 于 一 般 读 者 , 是 可 以不 必 特 别 提 出 的 。 但 有 一 点 必 须 加 以 指 出 。 在 第 四 章 中 梅 因竟 以 为 布 拉 克 顿 ( B r a c t o n ) 曾 “ 把 全 部 形 式 和 三 分 之 一 内 容直 接 剽 窃 自 ‘ 民 法 大 全 ’ ” 的 一 篇 论 文 , 作 为 纯 粹 英 国 法 的 一个 纲 要 , 向 其 同 胞 推 销 。 这 与 现 在 由 麦 特 兰 ( M a i t l a n d ) 研 究结 果 确 定 的 事 实 严 重 地 不 相 符 合 , 这 些 事 实 , 在1861年 时 是不 可 避 免 地 被 误 解 了 。 布 拉 克 顿 的 亨 利 或 布 拉 顿 ( B r a t o n ) 是除 了 法 学 家 和 历 史 学 家 外 , 一 般 人 很 少 知 道 的 一 个 作 家 , 因此 请 原 谅 我 为 他 作 一 介 绍 , 他 是 亨 利 三 世 皇 朝 后 半 期 中 一 个王 室 法 庭 的 法 官 , 并 且 是 研 究 中 世 纪 时 期 “ 英 国 法 律 和 习惯 ” 方 面 一 个 最 重 要 的 “ 寺 院 派 ” 作 家 。 像 他 当 时 所 有 的 教士 一 样 , 他 用 拉 丁 文 纂 述 文 章 , 他 应 用 罗 马 法 的 传 统 分 类 与排 列 ; 虽 然 决 不 至 于 有 “ 三 分 之 一 内 容 ” , 但 他 的 著 名 论 文 中确 有 相 当 部 分 借 助 于 罗 马 法 — — 但 不 是 “ 民 法 大 全 ” 的 本 身 ,而是 十 二 世 纪 “ 波 罗 诺 学 派 ” ( B o l o g n e s e ) 注 释 者 所 “ 修 正 ”的 罗 马 法 律 学 。 但 他 的 著 作 , 不 论 在 意 图 上 或 是 在 效 果 上 , 绝不 是 欺 人 之 谈 : 他 的 主 题 是 真 实 的 、 本 土 风 光 的 、 英 国 的 封建 法 律 , 虽 然 曾 受 到 当 时 所 公 认 的 研 究 法 律 学 的 方 法 — — 一个 必 然 是 罗 马 式 的 方 法 — — 的 影 响 , 而 它 受 到 这 种 影 响 , 实在 也 是 无 可 避 免 的 。
最 后 必 须 加 以 说 明 , 在 本 书 中 提 到 的 一 二 椿 有 关 英 国 法的 事 , 最 近 已 经 有 了 变 化 。 一 般 都 知 道 , 在 梅 因 著 作 中 占 有非 常 显 著 地 位 的 并 且 是 他 所 一 贯 不 赞 成 的 长 子 继 承 权, 在 现 在 , 除 了 荣 誉 称 号 以 外 , 在 一 切 主 要 方 面都 已 从 英 国 继 承 法 中 消 失 了 。 第 八 章 中 有 关 英 国 动 产 法 “ 威胁着要 并 吞 和 毁 灭 不 动 产 法 ” 的 预 言 , 现 在 大 部 已 经 实 现 了 。
至 于 英国已婚妇 女 的 无 能 力 ( 第 五 章 ) ,这种 现 象 在1861年时 是 任 何 文 明 社 会 的 一 种 耻 辱 , 在 二 十 一 年 以 后 已 被 彻 底 消灭 , 这 原 是 众 所 周 知 而 毋 庸 加 以 说 明 的 事。
——C a r l e t o n k e m p A l l e n,1931第一章 古代法典
世 界 上 最 著 名 的 一 个 法 律 学 制 度 从 一 部 “ 法 典 ” (code)开 始 , 也 随 着 它 而 结 束 。 从 罗 马 法 历 史 的 开 始 到 结 束 , 它 的释 义 者 一 贯 地 在 其 用 语 中 暗 示 着 , 他 们 制 度 的 实 体 是 建 筑 于“ 十 二 铜 表 法 ”、因 此 也 就 是 建 筑 于 成 文 法 的 基 础 上 的 。 在 罗 马 , 对 于 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 以前 的 一 切 制 度 , 除 了 一 特 殊 之 点 外 , 都 不 予 承 认 。 罗 马 法 律学 在 理 论 上 是 来 自 一 部 法 典 , 而 英 国 法 律 在 理 论 上 则 被 认 为是 来 自 古 代 的 不 成 文 惯 例 , 这 是 他 们 制 度 的 发 展 和 我 们 制 度的 发 展 所 以 不 同 的 主 要 原 因 。 这 两 种 理 论 与 事 实 不 完 全 相 符,但 却 都 产 生 了 极 端 重 要 的 后 果 。
“ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 的 公 布 并 不 能 作 为 我 们 开 始 研 究 法 律 史 的最 早 起 点 , 这 是 毋 庸 多 说 的 。 古 代 罗 马 法 典 , 是 属 于 这 样 一类 的 法 典 , 几 乎 世 界 上 每 一 个 文 明 国 家 都 可 以 提 出 一 个 范 例 ,并 且 以 罗 马 和 希 腊 而 论 , 它 们 是 在 彼 此 之 间 相 距 并 不 过 分 遥远 的 时 代 中 在 它 们 各 自 的 领 域 中 广 泛 地 传 布 着 。 它 们 是 在 非常 类 似 的 情 况 下 出 现 的 , 并 且 据 我 们 所 知 , 也 是 由 类 似 的 原因 产 生 的 。 毫 无 疑 问 , 在 这 些 法 典 的 后 面 , 存 在 许 多 法 律 现象 , 这 些 法 律 现 象 在 时 间 上 是 发 生 在 法 典 之 前 的 。 现 在 有 很多 文 件 记 录 , 明 白 地 提 供 我 们 关 于 这 种 早 期 法 律 现 象 的 知 识 ;但 在 语 言 学 家 能 对 “ 梵 文 ”文 学 作 出 完 全的 分 析以 前 , 我 们 知 识 的 最 好 来 源 无 疑 地 只 有 希 腊 的 荷 马 诗 篇, 当 然 我 们 不 能 把 它 认 作 一 种 确 实 事 件 的历 史 , 而 只 能 把 它 作 为 作 者 所 知 道 的 不 是 完 全 出 于 想 象 的 一种 社 会 状 态 的 描 写 。 纵 使 诗 人 的 想 象 力 对 于 这 种 英 雄 时代的某 些 特 征 , 如 战 士 的 勇 猛 以 及 神 的 威 武 , 可 能 有 些 夸 张 之 处 ,但 我 们 没 有 理 由 相 信 , 他 的 想 象 力 曾 受 到 道 德 或 形 而 上 学 的概 念 的 影 响 , 因 为 , 这 些 概 念 当 时 当 没 有 作 为 有 意 识 观察的对 象 。 就 这 一 点 而 论 , 荷 马 文 学 实 远 比 后 期 的 文 件 更为真实可 靠 , 因 为 , 这 些 文 件 虽 然 也 是 为 了 要 说 明 同 样 的 较 早时期的 情 况 , 但 是 它 们 的 编 纂 是 在 哲 学 的 或 神 学 的 影 响 之 下 进 行的 。 如 果 我 们 能 通 过 任 何 方 法 , 断 定 法 律 概 念 的 早 期 形 式 , 这将 对 我 们 有 无 限 的 价 值 。 这 些 基 本 观 念 对 于 法 学 家 , 真 象 原始 地 壳 对 于 地 质 学 家 一 样 的 可 贵 。 这 些 观 念 中 , 可 能 含 有 法律 在 后 来 表 现 其 自 己 的 一 切 形 式 。 我 们 的 法 律 科 学 所 以 处 于这 样 不 能 令 人 满 意 的 状 态 , 主 要 由 于 对 于 这 些 观 念 除 了最最肤 浅 的 研 究 之 外 , 采 取 了 一 概 加 以 拒 绝 的 草 率 态 度 或 偏 见 。 在采 用 观 察 的 方 法 以 代 替 假 设 法 之 前 , 法 学 家 进 行 调 查 研究的方 法 真 和 物 理 学 与 生 物 学 中 所 用 的 调 查 研 究 方 法 十 分 近 似 。凡 是 似 乎 可 信 的 和 内 容 丰 富 的 、 但 却 绝 对 未 经 证 实 的 各 种 理论 , 像 “ 自 然 法 ”或 “ 社 会 契 约 ” 之 类 , 往 往 为 一 般 人 所 爱 好 , 很 少 有 踏 实 地 探 究社 会 和 法 律 的 原 始 历 史 的 ; 这 些 理 论 不 但 使 注 意 力 离 开 了 可以 发 现 真 理 的 唯 一 出 处 , 并 且 当 它 们 一 度 被 接 受 和 相 信 了 以后 , 就 有 可 能 使 法 律 学 以 后 各 个 阶 段 都 受 到 其 最 真 实 和 最 大的 影 响 , 因 而 也 就 模 糊 了 真 理 。
在 荷 马 诗 篇 中 曾 经 提 到 “ 地 美 士 ” ( T h e m i s ) 和 “ 地 美 士第 ” ( T h e m i s t e s ) 的 字 眼 , 这 是 一 些 最 早 期 的 概 念 , 它 们 和 现在 已 经 充 分 发 达 的 法 律 观 念 和 生 活 规 律 有 着 密 切 的 关 系 。 如所 周 知 , “ 地 美 士 ” 在 后 期 希 腊 万 神 庙 中 是 “ 司 法 女 神 ” ( A Goddess o f J u s t i c e ) , 但 这 是 一 个 现 代 的 并 且 已 经 很 发 达 的 观念 , 同 “ 伊 利 亚 特 ” ( I l i a d ) 中 把 “ 地 美 士 ” 描 写 为 宙 斯的 陪 审 官 的 原 意 , 完 全 不 同 。 所 有 对 于 人 类 原 始 状 态的 忠 实 观 察 者 现 在 都 能 清 楚 地 看 到 , 在 人 类 的 初 生 时 代 , 人 们 对 于 持 续 不 变 的 或 定 期 循 坏 发 生 的 一 些 活 动 只 能 假 用 一 个有 人 格 的 代 理 人 来 加 以 说 明 。 这 样 , 吹 看 的 风 是 一 个 人 , 并且 当 然 是 一 个 神 圣 的 人 ; 上 升 、 上 升 、 到 达 极 顶 然 后 下 落 的太 阳 是 一 个 人 , 并 且 是 一 个 神 圣 的 人 ; 生 长 庄 稼 的 土 地 是 一个 人 , 也 是 神 圣 的 人 。 在 物 理 世 界 中 如 此 , 在 道 德 世 界 中 也是 如 此 。 当 国 王 用 判 决 解 决 纠 纷 时 , 他 的 判 决 假 设 是 直接灵感 的 结 果 。 把 司 法 审 判 权 交 给 国 王 或 上 帝 的 神 圣 代 理 人 , 万王 之 中 最 伟 大 的 国 王 , 就 是地美士 。 这 个 概 念 的 特 点 , 表 现在 这 个 字 的 复 数 用 法 。地美士第,即地美西斯 , 是 “ 地 美士 ” 的 复 数 , 意 指 审 判 的 本 身 , 是 由 神 授 予 法 官 的 。 在 谈 到 国 王 时 , 好 像 他 们 的 手 中 就 有 着 丰 富 的 “ 地 美 士 第 ” , 随 时 可 以 应 用 似 的 。 但 是 我 们 必 须 明 白 了 解 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 并 不 就 是 法 律 而 是 判 决 。 格 罗 脱 ( G r o t e ) 先 生 在 其 “ 希 腊 史 ”中 说, “宙 斯 或 是 地 球 上 的 人 王 , 不 是 一 个 立法 者 而 是 一 个 法 官 ” 。 他 有 充 足 的 “ 地 美 士 第 ” , 但 是 , 虽 然始 终 相 信 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 来 自 天 上 , 我 们 却 并 不 能 就 假 设 在 各个 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 之 间 , 有 着 任 何 一 条 原 则 贯 串 着 ; 它 们 是 各别 的 、 单 独 的 判 决 。
甚 至 在 荷 马 诗 篇 中 , 我 们 也 还 可 以 看 出 , 这 些 观 念 只 是暂 时 的 。 在 古 代 社 会 的 简 单 机 构 中 , 情 况 类 似 的 情 形 可 能 比现 在 还 要 普 遍 , 而 在 一 系 列 的 类 似 案 件 中 , 就 有 可 能 采用彼此 近 似 的 审 判 。 我 们 由 此 就 有 了 一 种 “ 习 惯 ” 的 胚 种 或者雏形 , 这 是 在 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 或 判 决 的 概 念 之 后 的 一 种 概 念。由于 我 们 的 现 代 联 想 , 我 们 就先天地 倾 向 于 以 为 一 个 “ 习 惯 ” 观念 必 然 是 先 于 一 个 司 法 判 决 的 概 念 , 以 为 一 个 判 决 必 然是肯定 一 个 “ 习 惯 ” , 或 是 对 于 违 犯 “ 习 惯 ” 的 人 加 以 处 罚 , 纵 使我 们 的 思 想 倾 向 是 这 样 , 但 是 , 非 常 明 确 , 各 种 观 念 的 历 史
顺 序 却 真 正 是 象 我 在 前 面 所 排 列 的 那 样 排 列 的 。 荷 马 对 于 一个 在 胚 胎 中 的 习 惯 , 有 时 用 单 数 的 “ 地 美 士 ” — — 更 多 的 时候 则 用 “ 达 克 ” ( D i k e ) , 它 的 意 义 明 显 地 介 于 一 个 “ 判 决 ” 和一 个 “ 习 惯 ” 或 “ 惯 例 ” 之 间 。 至 于 N Fμ σ � 是 指 一 条 “ 法律 ” , 这 是 后 期 希 腊 社 会 政 治 语 言 中 一 个 非 常 伟 大 而 著 名 的 名辞 , 但 在 荷 马 诗 篇 中 却 没 有 见 到 过。
所 谓 神 圣 的 代 理 人 这 种 观 念 , 暗 示 着 “ 地 美 士 第 ” , 而 其本 身 又 人 格 化 在 “ 地 美 士 ” 中 。 这 种 观 念 一 个 肤 浅 的 研 究 者可 能 会 把 它 和 其 他 原 始 信 念 混 淆 起 来 , 我 们 必 须 把 它 们 区 分开 来 。 有 一 种 概 念 认 为 整 部 的 法 典 是 由 “ 神 ” ( D e i t y ) 口 授 的 ,例 如 印 度 的 “ 摩 奴 ” 法 典 ( H i n d o o laws of Manu), 这 种概 念 似 乎 属 于 比 较 后 期 和 比 较 发 达 的 思 想 , “ 地 美 士 ” 和 “ 地美 士 第 ” 是 同 长 久 以 来 顽 固 地 为 人 们 拘 泥 着 的 一 种 信 念 密 切地 联 系 着 的 , 这 种 信 念 认 为 在 生 活 的 每 一 个 关 系 中 , 在 每 一个 社 会 制 度 中 , 都 有 一 种 神 的 影 响 作 为 它 的 基 础 , 并 支 持 着它 。 在 每 一 古 代 法 律 中 , 在 每 一 政 治 思 想 的 雏 形 中 , 到 处 都可 以 遇 到 这 种 信 念 的 征 象 。 那 时 候 所 有 的 根 本 制 度 如 “ 国家 ” 、 “ 种 族 ” 和 “ 家 族 ” 都 是 假 定 为 贡 献 给 一 个 超 自 然 的 主宰 , 并 由 这 个 主 宰 把 它 们 结 合 在 一 起 的 。 在 这 些 制 度 所 包 含的 各 种 不 同 关 系 中 集 合 起 来 的 人 们 , 必 然 地 要 定 期 举 行 公 共的 祭 礼 , 供 奉 公 共 的 祭 品 , 他 们 时 时 为 了 祈 求 赦 免 因 无 意 或疏 忽 的 侮 慢 而 招 惹 的 刑 罚 举 行 着 斋 戒 和 赎 罪 ,在 这 中 间 这 种同 样 的 义 务 甚 至 被 更 有 意 义 地 承 认 着 。 凡 是 熟 悉 普 通 古 典 文学 的 人 , 都 会 记 得家祭 ( s a c r a g e n t i l i c i a ) 这 个 名 词 , 这 对于 古 代 罗 马 的 收 养 法 和 遗 嘱 法 都 有 着 极 重 要 的 影 响 。 到 现 在为 止 , 还 保 存 着 原 始 社 会 某 些 最 古 怪 特 点 的 印 度 习 惯 法 ( H i n Ad o o C u s t o m a t y law),对 于 人 们 所 有 的 一 切 权 利 和 继 承 的一 切 规 定 , 几 乎 都 要 在 死 人 安 葬 时 , 也 就 是 说 在 家 族 延 续 发生 中 断 时 , 按 照 举 行 规 定 仪 式 时 的 严 肃 程 度 而 决 定 。
在 我 们 离 开 这 一 法 律 学 阶 段 以 前 , 凡 是 英 国 学 生 都 必 须注 意 到 这 样 的 一 点 。 在 边 沁 的 “ 政 府 论 丛 ” 以 及 奥 斯 丁 的 “ 法 律 学 范 围 论 ”中 , 他 们 把 每 一 项 法 律 分 解 为立 法 者 的 一 个命令,因 此 是 一 种 强 加 于 公 民 身 上 的义务,并且 是 在 发 生 反 抗 时 的 一 种制裁 ; 他 们 并 且 进 一 步 断 定 这 个 作为 法 律 第 一 个 要 素 的命 令,必 须 不 仅 是 针 对 一 个 单 一 的 行 为,而 且 是 对 着 一 系 列 的 或 者 许 多 属 于 同 一 类 型 和 性 质 的 行 为 。这 样 把 法 律 的 各 种 要 素 加 以 分 析 的 结 果 , 同 已 经 成 熟 的 法 律学 的 事 实 完 全 相 符 ; 并 且 只 要 在 用 语 上 稍 为 引 伸 一 下 ,它们就 能 在 形 式 上 适 用 于 各 种 各 样 的 、 各 个 时 代 的 一 切 法 律 。 但是 , 这 并 不 就 是 说 , 在 这 个 概 括 中 所 含 有 的 法 律 观 念 , 即 使到 现 在 , 还 完 全 同 这 个 解 剖 相 符 合 ; 可 奇 怪 的 是 , 我 们 对 于古 代 思 想 史 如 果 研 究 得 越 深 入 , 我 们 发 现 我 们 自 己 同 边 沁 所主 张 的 所 谓 法 律 是 几 个 要 素 的 混 合 物 的 这 种 概 念 , 距 离 越 远 。可 以 断 言 , 在 人 类 初 生 时 代 , 不 可 能 想 象 会 有 任 何 种 类 的 立法 机 关 , 甚 至 一 个 明 确 的 立 法 者 。 法 律 还 没 有 达 到 习 惯的程度 , 它 只 是 一 种 惯 行 。 用 一 句 法 国 成 语 , 它 还 只 是 一种“气氛 ” 。 对 于 是 或 非 唯 一 有 权 威 性 的 说 明 是 根 据 事 实 作 出 的 司 法判 决 , 并 不 是 由 于 违 犯 了 预 先 假 定 的 一 条 法 律 , 而 是 在 审 判时 中 一 个 较 高 的 权 力 第 一 次 灌 输 入 法 官 脑 中 的 。 我 们 要想理解 这 些 在 时 间 上 和 在 联 想 上 同 我 们 距 离 这 样 遥 远 的 种 种 见解 , 当 然 是 极 端 困 难 的 , 但 是 , 我 们 如 果 能 比 较 详 细 地 研 究一 下 古 代 社 会 的 构 成 , 了 解 到 在 古 代 社 会 中 , 每 个 人 的生命有 极 大 部 分 都 生 活 在 族 长 的 专 制 之 下 , 他 的 一 切 行 为 实 际 上
不 是 由 法 律 的 而 是 由 翻 复 无 常 的 一 种 统 治 所 控 制 着 , 这 就 比
较 可 信 了 。 我 可 以 说 , 一 个 英 国 人 应 该 比 外 国 人 更 能 够 理 解
这 样 的 一 个 历 史 事 实 , 即 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 的 发 生 先 于 任 何 法 律
概 念 , 这 是 因 为 , 在 流 行 着 的 有 关 英 国 法 律 学 性 质 的 许 多 相
互 矛 盾 的 理 论 中 , 其 最 得 人 心 的 , 或 者 无 论 如 何 是 最 能 影 响
实 践 的 , 当 然 是 假 定 成 案 和 先 例 先 于 规 则 、 原 则 及 差 别 而 存
在 的 理 论 。 应 该 指 出 , 根 据 边 沁 和 奥 斯 丁 的 见 解 , “ 地 美 士
第 ” 还 有 把 单 一 的 或 唯 一 的 命 令 从 法 律 中 区 分 开 来 的 特 性 。 真
正 的 法 律 使 所 有 公 民 毫 无 差 别 地 一 致 遵 守 着 种 类 相 似 的 许 多
条 例 ; 这 正 是 法 律 的 最 为 一 般 人 所 深 切 感 觉 到 的 特 征 , 使
“ 法 律 ” 这 个 名 词 只 能 适 用 于 一 致 、 连 续 和 类 似 。 至 于 ·
命令 只规 定 一 个 单 独 的 行 为 , 因 此 同 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 比 较 近 似 的 是 命令而不是法律 。 命 令 只 是 对 孤 立 的 事 实 状 态 的 宣 告 , 并 不 必然 地 按 照 一 定 的 顺 序 一 个 和 另 一 个 相 速 。
英 雄 时 代 的 文 学 告 诉 我 们 的 法 律 萌 芽 , 一 种 是 “ 地 美 士第 ” , 还 有 一 种 是 在 稍 为 发 展 的 “ 达 克 ” 的 概 念 中 。 我 们 在 法律 学 史 上 达 到 的 下 一 个 阶 段 是 非 常 著 名 的 , 并 且 也 是 饶 有 兴趣 的 。 格 罗 脱 先 生 在 其 “ 希 腊 史 ” 第 二 篇 第 二 章 中 , 曾 把 已逐 渐 不 同 于 荷 马 所 纂绘的社 会 生 活 方 式 详 细 加 以 描 写 。英雄时 代 的 王 权 , 部 分 地 依 靠着神所赋与的特 权 , 部 分 地 依 靠着拥 有 出 类 拔 萃 的 体 力 、 勇 敢 和 智 慧 。 逐 渐 地 , 君 主 神 圣不可侵 犯 的 印 象 开 始 淡 薄 , 当 一 系 列 的 世 袭 国 王 中 产 生 了 柔 弱 无能 的 人 , 王 家 的 权 力 就 开 始 削 弱 , 并 且 终 于 让 位 于 贵 族 统 治 。如 果 我 们 可 以 正 确 地 应 用 革 命 的 术 语 , 则 我 们 可 以 说 , 王 位是 被 荷 马 一 再 提 到 的 和 加 以 描 写 的 领 袖 议 会 所 篡 夺 了 。 无 论如 何 , 在 欧 洲 各 地 , 这 时 已 经 从 国 王 统 治 时 代 转 变 到 一 个 寡头 政 治 时 代 ; 即 使 在 名 义 上 君 主 职 能 还 没 有 绝 对 消 失 ,然而王 权 已 缩 小 到 只 剩 下 一 个 暗 影 。 他 成 为 只 是 一 个 世 袭 将 军 , 像在 拉 栖 第 梦 ( L a c e d Em o n ) , 只 是 一 个 官 吏 , 像 雅 典 的 执 政 王(King Archon at Athens ) , 或 仅 仅 是 一 个 形 式 上 的 祭司 , 像 罗 马 的献身王 ( R e x S a c r i f i c u l u s ) 。 在 希 腊 、 意 大 利和 小 亚 细 亚 , 统 治 阶 级 似 乎 一 般 都 包 括 着 由 一 种 假 定 的 血 缘关 系 结 合 在 一 起 的 许 多 家 族 , 他 们 虽 然 在 开 始 时 似 乎 都 主 张有 一 种 近 似 神 圣 的 性 质 , 但 他 们 的 力 量 在 实 际 上 却 并 不 在 于他 们 所 标 榜 的 神 圣 性 。 除 非 他 们 过 早 地 被 平 民 团 体 所 推 翻 , 他们 都 会 走 向 我 们 现 在 所 理 解 的 一 种 贵 族 政 治 。 在 更 远 一 些 的亚洲 国 家 , 社 会 所 遭 遇 的 变 革 , 在 时 间 上 , 当 然 要 比 意 大 利和 希 腊 所 发 生 的 这 些 革 命 早 得 多 ; 但 这 些 革 命 在 文 化 上 的 相对 地 位 , 则 似 乎 是 完 全 一 样 的 , 并 且 在 一 般 性 质 上 , 它 们 也似 乎 是 极 端 相 似 的 。 有 些 证 据 证 明 , 后 来 结 合 在 波 斯 王 朝 统治 下 的 各 个 民 族 以 及 散 居 在 印 度 半 岛 上 的 各 个 民 族 , 都 有 其英 雄 时 代 和 贵 族 政 治 时 代 ; 但 是 在 它 们 那 里 , 分 别 产 生 了 军事 的 寡 头 政 治 和 宗 教 的 寡 头 政 治 , 而 国 王 的 权 威 则 一 般 并没有 被 取 而 代 之 。 同 西 方 事 物 的 发 展 过 程 相 反 , 在 东 方 , 宗 教因 素 有 胜 过 军 事 因 素 和 政 治 因 素 的 倾 向 。 在 国 王 和 僧 侣阶级之间,军事和 民 事 的 贵 族 政 治 消 失 了 , 灭 绝 了 , 或 者 微 不 足道 ; 我 们 所 看 到 的 最 后 结 果 , 是 一 个 君 主 享 有 大 权 , 但是受到了祭 司 阶 级 的 特 权 的 拘 束 。 在 东 方 , 贵 族 政 治 成 为 宗 教 的 ,而 在 西 方 , 贵 族 政 治 成 为 民 事 的 或 政 治 的 , 虽 然 有 着 这些区别 , 但 是 , 在 一 个 英 雄 国 王 历 史 时 代 的 后 面 跟 着 来 了 一 个 贵族 政 治 的 历 史 时 代 , 这 样 一 个 命 题 是 可 以 被 认 为 正 确 的,纵使 并 不 对 于 全 人 类 都 是 如 此 , 但 无 论 如 何 , 对 于 印 度 — 欧 罗巴系 各 国 是 一 概 可 以 适 用 的 。
有 一 点 对 于 法 学 家 很 重 要 , 就 是 这 些 贵 族 都 是 法 律 的 受托 人 和 执 行 人 。 他 们 似 乎 已 经 继 承 了 国 王 的 特 权 , 唯 一 的 重要 区 别 , 在 于 他 们 并 不 对 每 一 个 判 决 都 装 作 出 于 直 接 的 神 示 。主 张 全 部 法 律 或 是 部 分 法 律 来 自 神 授 的 思 想 联 系 , 仍 旧 到 处表 现 出 来 , 这 使 族 长 所 作 的 判 决 被 诿 诸 于 超 人 类 的 口 授 , 但是 思 想 的 进 步 已 不 复 允 许 把 个 别 争 议 的 解 决 , 用 假 定 一 种 超人 的 仲 裁 来 解 释 。 法 律 寡 头 政 治 现 在 所 主 张 的 是 要 垄 断 法 律知识 , 要 对 决 定 争 论 所 依 据 的 各 项 原 则 有 独 占 的 权 利 。 我 们在事 实 上 已 到 了 “ 习 惯 法 ” 的 时 代 。 “ 习 惯 ” 或 “ 惯 例 ” 现 在已 成 为 一 个 有 实 质 的 集 合 体 而 存 在 , 并 被 假 定 为 贵 族 阶 层 或阶 级 所 精 确 知 道 的 。 我 们 所 依 据 的 权 威 使 我 们 深 信 , 这 种 寄托 于 寡 头 政 治 的 信 任 有 时 不 免 要 被 滥 用 , 但 这 当 然 不 应 该 仅仅 视 为 一 种 僭 取 或 暴 政 的 手 段 。 在 文 字 发 明 以 前 , 以 及 当 这门 技 术 还 处 于 初 创 时 代 , 一 个 赋 与 司 法 特 权 的 贵 族 政 治 成 了唯 一 的 权 宜 手 段 , 依 靠 这 种 手 段 可 以 把 民 族 或 部 族 的 习 惯 相当 正 确 地 保 存 着 。 正 是 由 于 它 们 被 托 付 于 社 会 中 少 数 人 的 记忆 力 , 习 惯 的 真 实 性 才 能 尽 可 能 地 得 到 保 证。
“习惯法” 以 及 它 为 一 个 特 权 阶 级 所 秘 藏 的 时 代 , 是 一 个很 值 得 注 意 的 时 代 。 这 个 时 代 的 法 律 学 处 于 怎 样 一 个 状 态 , 其残 留 痕 迹 到 现 在 仍 旧 可 以 在 法 律 的 和 民 间 的 用 语 中 发 现 。 这种 专 门 为 有 特 权 的 少 数 人 所 知 道 的 法 律 , 不 论 这 少 数 人是一个 等 级 , 一 个 贵 族 团 体 , 一 个 祭 司 团 体 , 或 者 一 个 僧侣学院,是 一 种 真 正 的 不 成 文 法 。 除 此 以 外 , 世 界 上 就 没 有 所 谓不成文 法 这 样 东 西 了 。 英 国 的 判 例 法 有 时 被 称 为 不 成 文 法,有些英 国 理 论 家 正 告 我 们 说 , 如 果 真 要 编 订 一 部 英 国 法 律 学 的 法
典 , 我 们 必 须 把 不 成 文 法 变 为 成 文 法 — — 他 们 坚 持 说 , 这 一
个 转 变 , 如 果 不 是 在 政 策 上 有 可 疑 之 处 , 无 论 如 何 , 是 非 常
重 大 的 。 实 际 上 , 在 有 一 个 时 期 中 , 英 国 普 通 法 的 确 可 以 合
理 地 称 为 不 成 文 法 。 前 一 辈 的 英 国 法 官 们 确 实 标 榜 着 具 有 为
法 院 和 人 民 群 众 所 不 完 全 知 道 的 规 则 、 原 则 及 差 别 的 知 识 。 他
们 要 垄 断 的 法 律 , 究 竟 是 不 是 完 全 不 成 文 的 , 是 非 常 可 疑 的 ;
但 是 , 无 论 如 何 , 纵 使 可 以 假 定 过 去 确 实 曾 经 一 度 有 着 许 多
专 门 为 法 官 们 所 知 道 的 民 事 和 刑 事 规 则 , 但 它 在 不 久 以 后 即已 不 再 成 为 不 成 文 法 了 。 在 “ 威 斯 敏 斯 特 法 院 ”开 始 根 据 档 案 , 不 论 是 根 据 年 鉴 或 是其 他 资 料 作 出 判 决 时 , 他 们 所 执 行 的 法 律 已 是 成 文 法 。 到 这个 时 候 英 国 法 律 中 任 何 一 条 规 则 , 必 须 首 先 从 印 成 的 许 多 判决 先 例 所 记 录 的 事 实 中 清 理 出 来 , 然 后 再 由 特 定 法 官 根 据 其不 同 的 风 格 、 精 确 度 以 及 知 识 而 表 现 于 不 同 的 文 字 形 式 中 , 最后 再 把 它 运 用 于 审 判 的 案 件 。 在 这 过 程 中 , 没 有 一 个 阶 段 显示 出 有 任 何 特 点 , 使 它 和 成 文 法 有 什 么 不 同 之 处 。 英 国 法 律是 成 文 的 判 例 法 , 它 和 法 典 法 的 唯 一 不 同 之 处 , 只 在 于 它 是用 不 同 的 方 法 写 成 的 。
离 开 “ 习 惯 法 ” 时 代 , 我 们 再 来 谈 谈 法 律 学 史 上 另 一 明确 划 分 的 时 代 , 也 就 是 “ 法 典 ” 时 代 , 在 那 些 古 代 法 典 中 , 罗马 的 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 是 最 著 名 的 范 例 。 在 希 腊 、 在 意 大 利 、 在西 亚 的 希 腊 化 海 岸 上 , 这 些 法 典 几 乎 到 处 都 在 同 一 个 时 期 出现 , 这 所 谓 同 一 个 时 期 , 我 的 意 思 当 然 并 不 是 指 在 时 间 上 的同 一 个 时 期 , 而 是 说 在 每 一 个 社 会 相 对 地 进 步 到 类 似 的 情 况下 出 现 的 。 在 我 所 提 到 的 几 个 国 家 中 , 到 处 都 把 法 律 铭 刻 在石 碑 上 , 向 人 民 公 布 , 以 代 替 一 个 单 恁 有 特 权 的 寡 头 统 治 阶级 的 记 忆 的 惯 例 。 在 我 所 说 的 这 种 变 化 中 , 我 们 决 不 能 设 想当 时 已 有 了 现 代 编 纂 法 典 时 所 必 须 有 的 各 种 精 密 考 虑 。 毫 无疑 问 , 古 代 法 典 的 所 以 全 创 造 成 功 是 由 于 文 字 的 发 现 和 传 布 。诚 然 , 贵 族 们 似 乎 曾 经 滥 用 具 对 于 法 律 知 识 的 独 占 : 并 且 无论 如 何 , 他 们 对 于 法 律 的 独 占 有 力 地 阻 碍 了 当 时 在 西 方 世 界开 始 逐 渐 普 遍 的 那 些 平 民 运 动 获 得 成 功 。 不 过 虽 然 民 主 情 绪可 能 使 这 些 法 典 更 加 深 得 人 心 , 但 是 法 典 的 产 生 当 然 主 要 还是 由 于 文 字 发 明 的 直 接 结 果 。 铭 刻 的 石 碑 被 证 明 真 是 一 种 比较 好 的 法 律 保 存 者 , 并 且 是 一 种 使 其 正 确 保 存 的 更 好 保 证 , 这比 仅 仅 依 靠 着 少 数 人 的 记 忆 要 好 得 多 , 虽 然 这 种 记 忆 由 于 惯常 运 用 的 结 果 也 是 在 不 断 地 加 强 着 的 。
罗 马 法 典 就 是 属 于 上 面 所 说 的 那 一 类 法 典 , 这 类 法 典 的价 值 不 在 于 其 分 类 比 较 匀 称 或 用 词 比 较 简 洁 明 了 , 而 在 于 它们 为 众 所 周 知 , 以 及 它 们 能 使 每 个 人 知 道 应 该 做 些 什 么 和 不应 该 做 些 什 么 的 知 识 。 罗 马 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 中 确 实 显 示 出有排 列 匀 稀 的 某 种 迹 象 ; 但 根 据 傅 说 , 这 可 能 是 由 于 当 时这个法 律 的 编 纂 者 曾 求 助 于 希 腊 人 , 这 些 希 腊 人 具 有 后 期希腊在编 纂 法 律 工 作 上 的 经 验 。 从 “ 核 伦 的 阿 提 喀 法 典 ” ( A t t i cC o d e o f S o l o n ) 所 遗 留 下 来 的 片 断 , 可 以 看 到 它 很 少 有秩序,而 在 “ 德 里 科 ” 的 法 律 ( L a w s o f D r a c o ) 中 也 许 更 少 。这 些 东 方 的 和 西 方 的 法 典 的 遗 迹 , 也 都 明 显 地 证 明 不 管它们的 主 要 性 质 是 如 何 的 不 同 , 它 们 中 间 都 混 杂 着 宗 教 的、民事的 以 及 仅 仅 是 道 德 的 各 种 命 令 ; 而 这 是 和 我 们 从 其 他 来源所知 道 的 古 代 思 想 完 全 一 致 的 , 至 于 把 法 律 从 道 德 中 分离出来,把 宗 教 从 法 律 中 分 离 出 来 , 则 非 常 明 显 是 属 于 智 力 发 展 的 较后 阶 段 的 事 。
但 是 , 不 论 从 现 代 的 眼 光 看 来 这 些 “ 法 典 ” 的 特 点 是 什么 , 它 们 对 于 古 代 社 会 的 重 要 性 , 是 无 法 用 言 词 来 形 容 的 。 问题 — — 而 这 个 问 题 影 响 着 每 一 个 社 会 的 全 部 将 来 — — 并不在于 究 竟 该 不 该 有 一 个 法 典 , 因 为 大 多 数 古 代 社 会 似 乎 迟 早 都会 有 法 典 的 , 并 且 如 果 不 是 由 于 封 建 制 度 造 成 了 法 律 学史上重 要 的 中 断 , 则 所 有 的 现 代 法 律 很 可 能 都 将 明 显 地 追 溯 到 这些 渊 源 中 的 一 个 或 一 个 以 上 上 去 。 但 是 民 族 历 史的转 折 点 , 是要 看 在 哪 一 个 时 期 , 在 社 会 进 步 的 哪 一 个 阶 段 , 他 们应该把法 律 书 写 成 为 文 字 。 在 西 方 世 界 中 每 一 个 国 家 的 平 民 成分都成 功 地 击 溃 了 寡 头 政 治 的 垄 断 , 几 乎 普 遍 地 在 “ 共 和 政治”史的初期 就 获 得 了 一 个 法 典 。 但 是 在 东 方 , 像 我 已 在 前 面 说 过
的 , 统 治 的 贵 族 们 逐 渐 倾 向 于 变 为 宗 教 的 而 不 是 军 事 的 或 政
治 的 , 并 因 此 不 但 不 失 去 反 而 获 得 了 权 力 ; 同 时 , 在 有 些 事
例 中 , 亚 细 亚 国 家 的 地 理 构 造 促 使 各 个 社 会 比 西 方 社 会 的 面
积 更 大 , 人 口 更 多 ; 根 据 公 认 的 社 会 规 律 , 一 套 特 定 制 度 传
布 的 空 间 越 广 , 它 的 韧 性 和 活 力 也 越 大 。 不 论 由 于 何 种 原 因 ,
东 方 各 国 社 会 编 制 法 典 , 相 对 地 讲 , 要 比 西 方 国 家 迟 得 多 , 并
且 有 很 不 相 同 的 性 质 。 亚 细 亚 的 宗 教 寡 头 , 或 者 是 为 了 他 们
自 己 参 考 , 或 者 是 为 了 帮 助 记 忆 , 或 者 是 为 了 教 育 生 徒 , 都
终 于 把 他 们 的 法 律 知 识 具 体 地 编 订 成 为 法 典 ; 但 也 许 促 使 他
们 这 样 做 的 最 难 于 拒 绝 的诱力,还 在 于 这 是 一 个 可 以 增 加 和
巩 固 他 们 影 响 的 机 会 。 他 们 完 全 垄 断 法 律 知 识 , 这 一 点 使 它
们 能 用 汇 编 来 欺 骗 世 人 , 而 汇 编 中 所 包 括 的 确 实 已 被 遵 守 的规 则 , 还 不 及 祭 司 阶 级 认 为 应 当 被 遵 守 的 规 则 多 。 称 为 “ 摩奴 ” 法 律 的 印 度 法 典 , 当 然 是 婆 罗 门所 编 辑 的 ,无 疑 地 包 含 了 印 度 民 族 的 许 多 真 正的惯例,但根据现代最好的 东 方 学 者 的 见 解 , 整 个 讲 起 来 , 它 并 不 代 表 确 实 曾 经 在 印度 斯 坦 执 行 过 的 一 套 规 则 。 在 它 里 面 有 一 大 部 分 只 是 在 婆 罗门 的 眼 光 中应该 作 为 法 律 的 一 幅 理 想 图 画 。 这 是 和 人 类 的 性质 相 适 应 的 , 也 是 和 作 者 的 特 殊 动 机 相 一 致 的 : 即 像 “ 摩 奴法 典 ” 这 样 的 一 些 法 典 , 应 该 假 托 为 最 古 的 , 并 且 应 认 为 完全 从 “ 神 ” 得 来 的 。 按 照 印 度 的 神 话 学 , “ 摩 奴 ” 是 至 尊 “ 上帝 ” 的 一 种 分 出 物 ; 但 是 这 个 冠 以 他 的 名 称 的 汇 编 , 虽 然 其确 切 日 期 已 不 易 查 考 , 从 印 度 法 律 学 的 相 对 进 步 来 看 , 实 在是 一 种 近 代 的 产 品 。
“ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 以 及 类 似 的 法 典 赋 予 有 关 社 会 的 好 处 , 主要 是 保 护 这 些 社 会 使 它 们 不 受 有 特 权 的 寡 头 政 治 的 欺 诈 , 使国 家 制 度 不 致 自 发 地 腐 化 和 败 坏 。 “ 罗 马 法 典 ” 只 是 把 罗马人的 现 存 习 惯 表 述 于 文 字 中 。 从 罗 马 人 在 文 化 进 步 中 的 相 对 地位 来 看 , 它 是 一 非 常 早 的 法 典 , 而 它 公 布 的 时 间 , 正 当罗马社 会 还 没 有 从 这 样 一 种 智 力 状 态 中 脱 身 出 来 , 也 就 是 正 当 他们 的 智 力 状 态 还 处 在 政 治 和 宗 教 义 务 不 可 避 免 地 混 淆 在 一 起的 时 候 。 一 个 野 蛮 社 会 实 行 的 一 套 习 惯 , 往 往 对 其 文 化 进 步绝 对 有 害 或 有 某 种 特 殊 的 危 险 。 一 个 特 定 社 会 从 其 初 生 时 代和 在 其 原 始 状 态 就 已 经 采 用 的 一 些 惯 例 , 一 般 是 一 些 在 大体上 最 能 适 合 于 促 进 其 物 质 和 道 德 福 利 的 惯 例 ; 如 果 它 们 能 保持 其 完 整 性 , 以 至 新 的 社 会 需 要 培 养 出 新 的 惯 行 , 则 这个社会 几 乎 可 以 肯 定 是 向 上 发 展 的 。 但 不 幸 的 是 , 发 展 的 规 律始终 威 胁 着 要 影 响 这 些 不 成 文 的 惯 例 。 习 惯 是 为 群 众 所 遵 守 的 ,但 他 们 当 然 未 必 能 理 解 它 们 所 以 存 在 的 真 正 原 因 , 因 此 , 也
就 不 可 避 免 地 要 创 造 出 迷 信 的 理 由 以 说 明 它 们 的 永 恒 存 在 。
于 是 就 开 始 着 这 样 一 种 过 程 , 简 单 地 讲 , 就 是 从 合 理 的 惯 例
产 生 出 不 合 理 的 惯 例 。 类 比 , 这 是 法 律 学 成 熟 时 期 中 最 有 价
值 的 工 具 , 但 在 法 律 学 的 初 生 时 代 却 是 最 危 险 的 陷 阱 。 禁 令
和 命 令 在 开 始 时 由 于 正 当 理 由 原 来 只 限 于 某 一 种 性 质 的 行
为 , 后 来 就 被 适 用 于 属 于 同 一 类 别 的 一 切 行 为 , 因 为 一 个 人做 了一椿要受到 上 帝 谴 责 的 行 为 , 他 在 做 任 何 稍 有 些 类 似 的
行 为 时 , 就 必 然 地 要 感 到 一 种 自 然 的 恐 惧 。 当 一 种 食 物 由 于
卫 生 的 理 由 被 禁 止 , 禁 令 就 要 适 用 于 一 切 类 似 的 食 物 , 虽 然
类 比 在 有 的 时 候 完 全 是 建 筑 在 想 象 的 基 础 上 的 。 同 样 的 , 为
了 保 证 一 般 清 洁 而 作 出 的 明 智 的 规 定 , 终 于 竟 变 成 了 教 仪 上
净 身 的 冗 繁 的 手 续 。 又 如 等 级 的 划 分 是 在 社 会 史 上 特 定 紧 急
关 头 为 保 持 民 族 生 存 所 必 需 的 , 但 逐 渐 退 化 而 成 为 所 有 人 类一 切 制 度 中 最 不 幸 的 和 最 有 损 害 的 制 度 — — “ 族 籍 制 度 ”(C a s t e ) 。 印 度 法 的 命 运 , 在 事 实 上 , 是 衡 量 罗 马 法 典 价 值 的尺 度 。 人 种 学 告 诉 我 们 , 罗 马 人 与 印 度 人 来 自 同 一 个 原始祖先 , 而 在 他 们 的 原 来 习 惯 中 , 也 确 实 有 显 著 的 类 似 之处,即使 在 现 在 , 印 度 法 律 学 还 存 留 着 考 虑 周 到 和 判 断 正 确 的 实 体 ,只 是 不 合 理 的 摹 仿 已 使 它 在 实 体 上 面 附 加 着 残 酷 妄 诞 的 巨 大附 着 物 。 罗 马 人 由 于 得 到 了 法 典 的 保 护 , 没 有 受 到 这 一类腐蚀 。 在 它 编 纂 的 时 期 , 惯 例 还 是 很 健 康 的 , 如 果 推 迟 到 一 百年 以 后 , 或 许 就 太 迟 了 。 印 度 法 的 大 部 分 是 具 体 规 定 于文字中 的 , 但 是 , 在 “ 梵 文 ” 中 到 现 在 仍 旧 保 存 着的撮要 虽 然在一 种 意 义 上 是 很 古 的 , 但 在 它 们 中 间 有 充 分 证 据 , 证 明 它 们的 编 制 是 在 错 误 造 成 之 后 。 当 然 , 我 们 不 能 就 因 此 而 有 权 利说 , 如 果 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 没 有 公 布 , 罗 马 人 的 文 明 将 像 印 度文 明 那 样 地 无 力 和 恶 化 , 但 至 少 这 是 可 以 断 定 的 , 他 们有了 法 典 , 才 避 免 了 那 样 不 幸 的 遭 遇 。
第二章 法律拟制
当 原 始 法 律 一 经 制 成 “ 法 典 ” , 所 谓 法 律 自 发 的 发 展 , 便告 中 止 。 自 此 以 后 , 对 它 起 着 影 响 的 , 如 果 确 有 影 响 的 话 , 便都 是 有 意 的 和 来 自 外 界 的 。 。 我 们 不 能 设 想 , 任 何 民 族 或 部 族的 习 惯 , 从 一 个 族 长 把 它 们 宣 告 以 后 一 直 到 把 它 们 用 文 字 公布 为 止 在 这 一 个 长 久 的 — — 在 有 些 情 况 下 , 非 常 悠 久 的 — —期 间 内 , 会 一 无 变 更 。 如 果 认 为 在 这 个 期 间 以 内 的 任 何 变 更都 不 是 有 意 地 进 行 的 , 也 是 不 妥 当 的 。 但 就 我 们 对 于 这 个 时期 内 法 律 进 步 所 掌 握 的 一 些 知 识 来 说 , 我 们 确 有 理 由 假 定 , 在造 成 变 化 中 , 故 意 只 占 着 极 小 的 部 分 。 远 古 惯 例 中 曾 经 发 生过 一 些 改 革 , 但 促 使 这 些 改 革 发 生 的 情 感 作 用 和 思 想 方 式 , 却不 是 我 们 在 现 在 智 慧 状 态 下 所 能 理 解 的 。 但 是 , 有 了 “ 法典 ” 就 开 始 了 一 个 新 纪 元 。 在 这 时 期 以 后 , 当 我 们 追 溯 一 下法 律 变 更 的 经 过 时 , 我 们 就 能 发 现 这 些 变 更 都 是 出 于 一 种 要求 改 进 的 、 有 意 识 的 愿 望 , 或 者 无 论 如 何 , 是 出 于 一 种 具 有一 定 目 的 的 有 意 识 的 愿 望 , 这 同 原 始 时 代 所 企 求 的 完 全 不 同 。
初 看 起 来 , 我 们 从 法 典 产 生 以 后 的 法 律 制 度 史 中 , 似 乎很 难 引 伸 出 来 足 以 深 信 不 疑 的 各 种 一 般 命 题 。 涉 及 的 领 域是太 广 泛 了 。 我 们 很 难 肯 定 , 在 我 们 的 观 察 中 是 否 已 包 括 了 足够 数 量 的 现 象 , 或 者 我 们 对 于 所 观 察 的 现 象 , 是 否 已 有了正确 的 理 解 。 但 如 果 我 们 注 意 到 , 在 法 典 时 代 开 始 后 , 静 止 的社 会 和 进 步 的 社 会 之 间 的 区 分 已 开 始 暴 露 出 来 的 事 实 , 我 们
的 工 作 就 比 较 容 易 进 行 。 我 们 所 关 心 的 只 是 进 步 的 社 会 , 而
这 类 社 会 显 然 是 极 端 少 数 的 。 虽 然 有 着 充 分 的 证 据 , 但 是 对
于 一 个 西 欧 的 公 民 , 还 是 非 常 难 于 使 他 完 全 领 会 这 样 一 个 真
理 , 即 环 绕 在 他 周 围 的 文 明 , 在 整 个 世 界 史 中 , 实 在 是 一 个
罕 有 的 例 外 。 如 果 把 各 个 进 步 民 族 同 人 类 生 活 总 体 的 关 系 鲜
明 地 放 在 我 们 的 前 面 , 则 我 们 中 间 共 有 的 思 想 感 情 , 我 们 所
有 的 一 切 希 望 、 恐 惧 和 理 想 必 将 受 到 重 大 的 影 响 。 这 是 无 可
争 辩 的 , 几 乎 绝 大 部 分 的 人 类 , 在 其 民 事 制 度 因 被 纳 入 某 种
永 久 纪 录 中 而 第 一 次 使 其 具 有 外 表 上 的 完 善 性 时 , 就 绝 少 有
表 示 要 再 加 以 改 进 的 愿 望 。 一 套 惯 例 有 时 被 另 外 一 套 惯 例 强
暴 地 推 翻 和 代 替 了 ; 到 处 , 标 榜 着 来 自 超 自 然 渊 源 的 一 个 原
始 法 典 , 往 往 由 于 僧 侣 注 释 者 的 牵 强 附 会 而 被 大 大 地 扩 大 了 ,
并 被 歪 曲 成 为 最 可 惊 人 的 形 式 ; 但 是 , 除 了 世 界 上 极 小 部 分
外 , 从 没 有 发 生 过 一 个 法 律 制 度 的 逐 渐 改 良 。 世 界 有 物 质 文
明 , 但 不 是 文 明 发 展 法 律 , 而 是 法 律 限 制 着 文 明 。 研 究 现 在
处 在 原 始 状 态 下 的 各 民 族 , 使 我 们 得 到 了 某 些 社 会 所 以 停 止
发 展 的 线 索 。 我 们 可 以 看 到 , 婆 罗 门 教 的 印 度 还 没 有 超 过 所
有 人 类 各 民 族 历 史 都 发 生 过 的 阶 段 , 就 是 法 律 的 统 治 尚 未 从
宗 教 的 统 治 中 区 分 出 来 的 那 个 阶 段 。 在 这 类 社 会 中 的 成 员 , 认
为 违 犯 了 一 条 宗 教 命 令 应 该 用 普 通 刑 罚 来 处 罚 , 而 违 背 了 一
个 民 事 义 务 则 要 使 过 失 者 受 到 神 的 惩 戒 。 在 中 国 ,这 一 点 是
过 去 了 , 但 进 步 又 似 乎 就 到 此 为 止 了 , 因 为 在 它 的民事法律中,同 时 又 包 括 了 这 个 民 族 所 可 能 想 象 到 的 一 切 观 念 。 静 止的 和 进 步 的 社 会 之 间 的 差 别 , 是 还 须 继 续 加 以 探 究 的 大 秘 密之 一 。 在 对 于 它 的 局 部 的 解 释 中 , 我 敢 把 上 章 之 末 所 提 出 的意 见 , 提 供 考 虑 。 我 也 许 必 须 进 一 度 说 明 , 如 果 不 明 白 地 理解 到 , 在 人 类 民 族 中 , 静 止 状 态 是 常 规 , 而 进 步 恰 恰 是 例 外 ,这 样 研 究 就 很 少 可 能 有 结 果 。 成 功 的 另 一 个 不 可 或 缺 的 条 件 ,是 对 于 罗 马 法 的 所 有 各 主 要 阶 段 , 都 要 有 精 确 的 知 识 。 罗 马法 律 学 中 , 有 着 任 何 一 套 人 类 制 度 中 最 长 久 著 名 的 历 史 。 它所 经 历 的 一 切 变 化 的 性 质 , 已 经 在 大 体 上 得 到 很 好 的 肯 定 。 从它 的 开 始 到 它 的 结 束 , 它 是 逐 步 地 改 变 得 更 好 , 或 向 着 修 改者 所 认 为 更 好 的 方 向 发 展 , 而 且 改 进 是 在 各 个 时 期 中 不 断 地进 行 着 的 , 在 这 些 时 期 中 , 所 有 其 余 的 人 类 的 思 想 和 行 动 , 在实 质 上 都 已 经 放 慢 了 脚 步 , 并 且 不 止 一 次 地 陷 于 完 全 停 滞 不前 的 状 态 。
我 将 把 我 的 叙 述 局 限 于 进 步 社 会 中 所 发 生 的 情 况 。 关于这 些 社 会 , 可 以 这 样 说 , 社 会 的 需 要 和 社 会 的 意 见 常 常 是或多或少 走 在 “ 法 律 ” 的 前 面 的 。 我 们 可 能 非 常 接 近 地 达 到 它们 之 间 缺 口 的 接 合 处 , 但 永 远 存 在 的 趋 向 是 要 把 这 缺 口 重 新
打 开 来 。 因 为 法 律 是 稳 定 的 ; 而 我 们 所 谈 到 的 社 会 是 进 步 的 ,
人 民 幸 福 的 或 大 或 小 , 完 全 决 定 于 缺 口 缩 小 的 快 慢 程 度 。
关 于 使 “ 法 律 ” 和 社 会 相 协 调 的 媒 介 , 有 一 个 有 些 价 值
的 一 般 命 题 可 以 提 出 。 据 我 看 来 , 这 些 手 段 有 三 , 即 “ 法 律
拟 制 ” 、 “ 衡 平 ” 和 “ 立 法 ” 。 它 们 的 历 史 顺 序 就 像 我 在 上 面 所
排 列 的 , 有 时 , 其 中 两 个 在 同 时 进 行 , 也 有 些 法 律 制 度 没 有
受 到 它 们 中 的 这 一 个 或 另 一 个 的 影 响 。 但 我 从 没 有 看 到 过 一
个 例 子 , 它 们 出 现 的 顺 序 会 是 不 同 的 或 颠 倒 过 来 的 。 “ 衡 平 ”
的 早 期 历 史 , 一 般 讲 起 来 , 都 是 比 较 模 糊 的 , 因 此 , 有 人 以为 某 些 改 进 民 法 的 单 独 条 例 , 就 早 于 任 何 衡 平 的 审 判 权 。 我
的 意 见 是 , 不 论 任 何 地 方 , 补 救 的 “ 衡 平 ” 必 早 于 补 救 的 立
法 ; 但 是 , 倘 使 事 实 上 并 不 严 格 地 是 这 样 , 那 就 只 须 把 关 于
它 们 先 后 顺 序 的 命 题 局 限 于 那 些 时 期 , 即 , 它 们 在 改 变 原 始法 律 中 发 生 持 续 和 实 质 影 响 的 时 期 内 。
我 在 应 用 “ 拟 制 ” 这 个 字 时 , 其 含 意 比 英 国 法 学 家 习 用的 意 义 要 广 泛 一 些 , 比 罗 马 的 “ 拟 制 ” ( f i c t i o n e s ) 则 要 广 泛得 多 。 “ 拟 制 ” ( f i c t i o ) 在 旧 罗 马 法 中 , 恰 当 地 讲 , 是 一 个 辩诉 的 名 词 , 表 示 原 告 一 方 的 虚 伪 证 言 是 不 准 被 告 反 驳 的 ; 例如 原 告 实 际 上 是 一 个 外 国 人 而 提 出 他 是 一 个 罗 马 公 民 的 证 言是 。 这 种 “ 拟 制 ” 的 目 的 , 当 然 是 为 了 给 予 审 判 权 , 因 此,他们 与 英 国 后 座 法 院 和 理 财 法 院 命 令 状 中 的 主 张 非 常 类 似 , 这些 法 院 就 是 通 过 这 些 主 张 来 剥 夺 普 通 诉 证 的 审 判 权 的 ; — —主 张 被 告 已 为 国 王 执 行 官 所 拘 留 , 或 是 主 张 原 告 为 国 王 的 债务 人 , 并 以 被 告 的 拖 欠 为 理 由 而 不 能 清 偿 债 务 。 但 我 现 在应用 “ 法 律 拟 制 ” 这 一 个 用 语 , 是 要 用 以 表 示 掩 盖 、 或 目 的 在
掩 盖 一 条 法 律 规 定 已 经 发 生 变 化 这 事 实 的 任 何 假 定 , 其 时 法
律 的 文 字 并 没 有 被 改 变 , 但 其 运 用 则 已 经 发 生 了 变 化 。 因 此 ,
这 个 用 语 包 括 了 上 面 我 从 英 国 法 和 罗 马 法 中 所 引 证 的 拟 制 的
实 例 , 但 是 它 们 所 包 括 的 范 围 还 要 广 泛 得 多 , 因 为 我 认 为 英
国 的 “ 判 例 法 ” 和 罗 马 的 “ 法 律 解 答 ” ( R e s p o n s a Pr u d e n t i u m ) 都 是 以 拟 制 为 其 基 础 的 。 这 两 方 面 的 例 子 立 刻就 要 加 以 研 究 。
事实 是 , 在 这 两 种 情 况 下,法 律 都 已 经 完 全 被 变 更 了 ; 而拟制 是 它 仍 旧 和 改 变 以 前 一 样 。 为 什 么 各 种 不 同 形 式 的 拟 制 特 别 适 合 于 社 会 的 新 生 时 代 , 这 是 不 难 理 解 的 。
它 们 能 满 足 并 不 十 分 缺 乏 的 改 进 的 愿 望 , 而 同 时 又 可 以 不 触
犯 当 时 始 终 存 在 的 、 对 于 变 更 的 迷 信 般 的 嫌 恶 。 在 社 会 进 步
到 了 一 定 阶 段 时 , 它 们 是 克 服 法 律 严 格 性 最 有 价 值 的 权 宜 办
法 。 真 的 , 如 果 没 有 其 中 之 一 , 即 “ 收 养 的 拟 制 ” , 准 许 人 为
地 产 生 血 缘 关 系 , 就 很 难 理 解 社 会 怎 样 能 脱 出 其 襁 褓 而 开 始
其 向 文 明 前 进 的 第 一 步 。 因 此 , 我 们 不 应 该 受 着 边 沁 的 影 响 ,
他 一 遇 到 法 律 拟 制 就 要 加 以 嘲 笑 谩 骂 。 他 认 为 拟 制 只 是 诈 欺 ,
这 适 足 以 说 明 对 于 它 们 在 法 律 发 展 史 中 所 担 任 的 特 殊 任 务 ,
愚 昧 无 知 。 但 同 时 有 些 理 论 家 看 到 了 拟 制 的 用 处 , 即 据 而 认
为 它 们 应 该 在 我 们 制 度 中 固 定 下 来 , 如 果 我 们 同 意 他 们 的 见
解 , 也 同 样 的 是 愚 蠢 的 。 它 们 有 它 们 的 时 代 , 但 是 它 们 的 时
代 早 已 过 去 了 。 我 们 现 在 已 不 值 得 要 去 用 像 法 律 拟 制 这 样 一
种 粗 糙 的 方 式 以 求 达 到 一 个 公 认 为 有 益 的 目 的 。 我 不 能 承 认
任 何 变 例 都 是 合 法 的 , 如 果 它 只 有 使 法 律 更 难 解 , 或 者 是 更
难 按 照 和 谐 的 顺 序 排 列 起 来 , 因 为 , 法 律 拟 制 是 均 称 分 类 的
最 大 障 碍 。 法 律 制 度 仍 旧 保 持 原 样 , 原 封 不 动 , 但 它 已 只 成
为 一 个 躯 壳 。 它 已 经 早 被 破 坏 了 , 而 藏 在 其 外 衣 里 面 的 则 是
新 的 规 定 。 于 是 , 困 难 就 立 刻 发 生 了 , 我 们 将 很 难 断 定 , 实
际 上 可 以 适 用 的 规 定 究 竟 应 该 归 类 于 其 真 正 的 还 是 归 类 于 其
表 面 的 地 位 , 同 时 , 禀 性 不 同 的 人 在 不 同 的 部 门 中 进 行 选 择
时 , 也 将 得 到 不 同 的 结 果 。 如 果 英 国 法 真 要 得 到 有 秩 序 的 分门 别 类 , 那 就 必 须 剪 除 这 些 法 律 拟 制 , 虽 然 最 近 在 立 法上有所 改 进 , 但 在 英 国 法 律 中 , 拟 制 仍 旧 是 很 多的。
法 律 用 以 适 应 社 会 需 要 的 其 次 一 个 手 段 , 我 称 之 为 “ 衡平 ” ( E q u i t y ) 。 这 个 名 词 的 含 义 , 是 指 同 原 有 民 法 同 时 存 在 的某 一 些 规 定 , 它 们 建 筑 在 各 别 原 则 的 基 础 上 , 并 且 由 于 这 些原 则 所 固 有 的 一 种 无 上 神 圣 性 , 它 们 竟 然 可 以 代 替 民 法 。 不论 是 罗 马 的 “ 裁 判 官 ” 或 是 英 国 的 大 法 官 的 “ 衡 平 ” , 同 出 现比 较 早 的 “ 拟 制 ” 都 有 不 同 , 其 不 同 之 点 在 于 它 能 公 开 地 、 明
白 地 干 涉 法 律 。 另 一 方 面 , 它 又 和 “ 立 法 ” 不 同 , 这 是 发 生
在 它 之 后 的 另 外 一 种 法 律 改 进 的 媒 介 , 其 不 同 之 点 在 于 它 的
权 力 基 础 并 不 建 筑 在 任 何 外 界 的 人 或 团 体 的 特 权 上 面 , 甚 至
也 不 建 筑 在 宣 布 它 的 官 吏 的 特 权 上 面 , 而 是 建 筑 在 它 原 则 的
特 殊 性 上 面 , 这 些 原 则 , 据 说 是 一 切 法 律 应 该 加 以 遵 循 的 。 这
种 认 为 有 一 套 原 则 比 普 通 法 律 具 有 更 高 的 神 圣 性 并 且 可 以 不
经 任 何 外 界 团 体 的 同 意 而 主 张 单 独 适 用 的 概 念 , 要 比 法 律 拟制 最 初 出 现 时 属 于 进 步 得 多 的 一 个 思 想 阶 段 。
最 后 一 个 改 进 的 手 段 是 “ 立 法 ” ( L e g i s l a t i o n ) , 就 是 由 一个 立 法 机 关 制 定 的 法 规 。 这 种 立 法 机 关 , 不 论 它 的 形 式 是 一个 专 制 君 主 或 是 一 个 议 会 , 总 之 是 一 个 为 社 会 所 公 认 的 机 关 。
它 和 “ 法 律 拟 制 ” 不 同 , 正 像 “ 衡 平 ” 和 “ 法 律 拟 制 ” 不 同一 样 。 它 和 “ 衡 平 ” 也 有 不 同 , 因 为 它 的 权 威 来 自 一 个 外 界团 体 或 人 。 它 所 以 有 强 制 力 , 与 其 原 则 无 关 。 不 论 社 会 舆 论对 立 法 机 关 加 以 任 何 现 实 的 约 束 , 在 理 论 上 , 它 有 权 把 它 所认 为 适 宜 的 义 务 加 在 社 会 的 成 员 身 上 。 没 有 谁 能 够 限 制 它 任意 制 定 法 律 。 如 果 衡 平 的 名 词 可 以 用 作 是 或 非 的 标 准 , 而 立法 机 关 所 制 定 的 法 规 恰 巧 是 根 据 了 这 些 标 准 而 调 整 的 , 则 立法 可 以 说 是 根 据 了 衡 平 而 制 定 的 ; 但 即 使 是 这 样 , 这 些 法 规所 以 能 有 拘 束 力 , 仍 旧 是 由 于 立 法 机 关 本 身 的 权 力 , 并 不 是由 于 立 法 机 关 制 定 法 律 所 根 据 的 原 则 的 权 力 。 因 此 , 它 们 在专 门 术 语 的 意 义 上 与 “ 衡 平 法 ” 不 同 , 后 者 标 榜 着 有 一 种 高度 的 神 圣 性 , 这 使 它 们 即 使 没 有 经 过 君 主 或 议 会 同 意 , 也 应该 为 法 院 立 即 承 认 。 这 些 差 别 特 别 重 要 , 因 为 一 个 边 沁 的 学生 很 容 易 把 “ 拟 制 ” 、 “ 衡 平 ” 和 “ 制 定 法 ” 混 淆 起 来 , 把 它们 统 统 归 属 于 立 法 的 一 个 项 目 下 。 他 会 说 , 它 们 都 包 括制定法律 ; 它 们 之 所 以 不 同 , 只 是 在 新 法 律 产 生 的 机 构 。 这 个 说法 是 完 全 正 确 的 , 我 们 永 远 不 应 该 忘 记 ; 但 这 并 不 使 我 们 有理 由 不 去 利 用 这 样 一 个 便 利 的 名 词 , 表 达 出 立 法 的 特 殊 意 义 。“ 立 法 ” 与 “ 衡 平 ” 在 一 般 人 的 心 目 中 和 在 大 多 数 法 律 家 的 心目 中 , 是 分 开 的 ; 我 们 决 不 能 忽 略 它 们 之 间 的 区 分 , 纵 使 是习 惯 上 的 区 分 , 因 为 这 个 区 分 有 着 重 要 的 实 际 后 果 。
法律拟制的 例 子 , 几 乎 可 以 很 容 易 地 在 任 何 正 常 发 展 的法 律 规 定 中 找 到 , 因 为 它 们 的 真 正 性 质 立 刻 可 以 为 现 代 观 察者 所 发 觉 。 在 我 即 将 进 而 研 究 的 两 个 例 子 中 , 其 所 用 权 宜 的性 质 不 是 很 容 易 立 刻 就 发 现 的 。 这 些 拟 制 的 第 一 批 作 者 , 其目 的 也 许 并 不 在 改 革 , 当 然 更 不 希 望 被 人 怀 疑 是 在 改 革 。 此外 , 有 一 些 人 , 并 且 是 始 终 有 着 这 样 一 些 人 , 拒 绝 看 到在发展 过 程 中 的 任 何 拟 制 , 而 习 惯 言 语 证 实 了 他 们 的 拒 绝 。因此,没 有 其 他 的 例 子 能 够 被 更 好 地 用 来 说 明 法 律 拟 制 的 分 布广泛 , 以 及 它 们 在 完 成 其 双 重 任 务 , 即 一 方 面 改 变 一 个 法律制度 , 而 另 一 方 面 又 掩 盖 这 种 改 变 时 所 有 的 效 率 。
我 们 在 英 国 惯 常 看 到 有 一 种 机 构 , 在 扩 大 、 变 更 和 改 进法 律 。 但 在 理 论 上 这 种 机 构 原 是 不 能 改 变 现 存 法 律 一 丝 一毫的 。 这 种 用 以 完 成 实 际 立 法 工 作 的 过 程 , 并 非 是 不 可 感知的,只 是 不 被 承 认 而 已 。 关 于 包 括 在 判 例 中 和 记 录 在 法 律 报 告 中的 我 们 大 部 分 的 法 律 制 度 , 我 们 习 惯 于 用 一 种 双 重 言 语 , 并
往 往 持 有 一 种 双 重 的 互 不 一 致 的 两 套 观 念 。 当 有 一 些 事 实 被
提 出 于 英 国 法 院 请 求 审 判 时 , 在 法 官 与 辩 护 人 之 间 进 行 讨 论
的 全 部 进 程 中 , 决 不 会 、 也 决 不 可 能 提 出 要 在 旧 的 原 则 之 外
应 用 其 他 任 何 原 则 , 或 者 除 早 已 允 许 的 差 别 外 应 用 任 何 差 别
的 问 题 。 被 绝 对 地 认 为 当 然 的 , 是 在 某 些 地 方 , 必 然 会 有 这
样 一 条 法 律 能 够 包 括 现 在 诉 诸 法 律 以 求 解 决 的 事 实 , 如 果 不
能 发 现 这 样 一 条 法 律 , 那 只 是 由 于 缺 乏 必 要 的 耐 性 、 知 识 或
智 力 把 它 发 现 而 已 。 但 是 一 当 判 决 被 宣 告 并 列 入 纪 录 以 后 , 我
们 就 不 自 觉 地 、 不 公 开 地 潜 入 到 一 种 新 的 言 语 和 一 串 新 的 思
想 中 。 到 这 时 , 我 们 不 得 不 承 认 新 的 判 决已经 改 变 了 法 律 。 如
果 我 们 用 有 时 被 应 用 的 一 个 非 常 不 正 确 的 说 法 , 那 就 是 可 以
适 用 的 规 定 已 经 成 为 比 较 有 弹 性 的 了 。 事 实 上 , 它 们 已 经 发
生 变 化 。 在 已 有 的 先 例 中 , 现 在 已 显 然 地 多 了 一 条 , 比 较 各
个 先 例 而 得 出 的 法 律 准 则 , 必 将 和 仅 仅 从 一 个 例 子 所 能 得 到
的 法 律 准 则 完 全 不 同 。 旧 的 规 定 已 经 被 废 除 , 而 一 个 新 的 规
定 已 被 用 来 代 替 它 , 但 这 个 事 实 往 往 不 容 易 觉 察 , 因 为 们 们
不 习 惯 于 把 我 们 从 先 例 中 引 伸 出 来 的 法 律 公 式 用 正 确 的 文 字
表 现 出 来 , 因 此 , 它 们 性 质 的 改 变 , 除 非 是 剧 烈 而 明 显 的 以
外 , 就 不 很 容 易 被 发 觉 了 。 我 现 在 不 打 算 停 下 来 详 细 讨 论 使
英 国 法 学 家 同 意 这 些 古 怪 变 例 的 原 因 。 情 况 可 能 是 这 样 的 , 即
原 来 可 能 有 一 条 公 认 的 学 说 , 认 为 在 某 些 地 方 ,在太虚幻境中 (in nu b i b u s ) 或 者在官吏的胸怀中 ( i n g r e m i o m a g i s At r a t u u m ) , 有 着 一 套 完 全 的 、 有 条 理 的 、 匀 称 的 英 国 法 律 , 其内 容 广 泛 , 足 以 提 供 各 种 原 则 以 适 用 于 任 何 可 以 想 象 到 的 一组 情 况 。 这 个 理 论 在 当 初 比 在 现 在 更 为 人 们 深 信 不 疑 , 并 且
这 也 许 真 正 有 很 好 的 根 据 。 十 三 世 纪 的 法 官 们 也 许 的 确 掌 握
着 一 些 为 律 师 和 一 般 人 民 所 不 知 道 的 法 律 宝 藏 , 因 为 我 们 有
理 由 怀 疑 他 们 秘 密 地 从 罗 马 法 和 “ 寺 院 法 ” 的 流 行 纲 要 中 任
意 地 但 不 一 定 是 始 终 聪 明 地 套 用 着 一 些 东 西 。 但 是 当 韦 斯 敏
斯 德 法 院 所 判 决 的 问 题 逐 渐 增 加 , 足 以 组 成 一 个 独 立 存 在 的
法 律 制 度 基 础 时 , 这 个 仓 库 就 被 封 闭 ; 而 现 在 , 几 世 纪 以 来 ,
英 国 法 律 学 者 竟 然 提 出 了 这 样 一 个 自 相 矛 盾 的 命 题 , 认 为 除
“ 衡 平 法 ” 和 “ 制 定 法 ” 以 外 , 在 英 国 法 的 基 础 上 , 从 它 第 一
次 形 成 的 时 候 起 , 就 没 有 什 么 东 西 加 上 去 过 。 我 们 不 承 认 我
们 的 法 庭 从 事 于 立 法 工 作 ; 我 们 暗 示 着 , 它 们 从 来 没 有 做 过
立 法 工 作 ; 然 而 我 们 又 主 张 , 英 国 普 通 法 的 规 定 , 在 衡 平 法
院 和 国 会 的 帮 助 下 , 是 可 以 同 现 代 社 会 的 复 杂 利 益 相 适 应 的 。
在 罗 马 有 一 种 法 律 , 具 有 非 常 类 似 我 们 判 例 法 中 我 所 说的 那 些 特 点 的 , 称 为 “ 法 律 解 答 ” , 即 “ 法 学 家 的 回 答 ” 。 这些 “ 解 答 ” 的 形 式 , 在 罗 马 法 律 学 的 各 个 时 期 中 有 极 大 的不同 , 但 自 始 至 终 它 们 都 是 由 对 权 威 文 件 的 注 解 组 成 的 , 而 在最 初 , 它 们 只 是 解 释 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 的 各 种 意 见 的 专 门 性的汇 编 。 同 我 们 一 样 , 在 这 些 解 答 中 所 有 的 法 律 用 语 都 从 这 样一 个 假 设 出 发 , 即 古 代 “ 法 典 ” 的 原 文 应 被 保 存 不 变 。 这就是 明 白 的 规 定 。 它 废 止 了 一 切 注 解 和 评 注 , 并 且 不 论 解 释 者是 如 何 的 优 秀 , 对 于 法 典 的 任 何 解 释 , 在 参 照 古 老 的 原文时,没 有 人 敢 公 开 承 认 , 他 所 作 的 解 释 不 会 发 生 修 正 。 但 在 事 实上 , 冠 以 重 要 法 学 专 家名 字 的 “ 法 律 解 答 汇编 ”,至 少 具 有 与 我 们 报 告 案 件 同 样的 威 权 , 并 且 不 断 地 变 更 、 扩 大 、 限 制 或 在 实 际 上 废 弃 “ 十二 铜 表 法 ” 的 规 定 。 在 新 法 律 学 逐 步 形 成 的 过 程 中 , 它 的 作者 们 自 认 为 非 常 专 心 地 尊 重 着 “ 法 典 ” 的 原 来 文 字 。 他 们 只是在 解 释 它 , 阐 明 它 , 引 伸 其 全 部 含 义 ; 但 其 结 果 , 通 过 把
原 文 凑 合 在 一 起 , 通 过 把 法 律 加 以 调 整 使 适 应 于 确 实 发 生 的
事 实 状 态 以 及 通 过 推 测 其 可 能 适 用 于 或 许 要 发 生 的 其 他 事 实
状 态 , 通 过 介 绍 他 们 从 其 他 文 件 注 释 中 看 到 的 解 释 原 则 , 他
们 引 伸 出 来 大 量 的 多 种 多 样 的 法 律 准 则 , 为 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 的
编 纂 者 所 梦 想 不 到 的 , 并 且 在 实 际 上 是 很 难 或 者 不 能 在 其 中
找 到 的 。 法 学 专 家 的 全 部 论 文 都 受 到 尊 重 , 因 为 它 们 是 被 假
定 为 完 全 符 合 “ 法 典 ” 的 , 但 它 们 的 相 当 高 的 权 威 是 植 基 在
把 它 们 公 诸 于 世 的 各 个 法 学 专 家 的 声 望 上 的 。 凡 是 举 世 公 认
为 伟 大 的 任 何 名 字 , 必 使 一 本 “ 法 律 解 答 汇 编 ” 具 有 一 种 不
小 于 立 法 机 关 制 定 法 规 所 有 的 拘 束 力 ; 而 这 样 一 本 汇 编 的 本
身 又 成 为 更 进 一 步 的 法 律 学 所 根 据 的 新 基 础 。 但 是 , 早 期 法
学 家 的 “ 解 答 ” 并 不 由 原 著 者 像 现 在 那 样 印 行 的 。 它 们 由 其
学 生 加 以 记 录 和 编 辑 , 因 此 , 多 半 都 不 是 按 照 任 何 分 类 方 法
排 列 的 。 学 生 们 在 这 些 出 版 物 中 所 处 的 地 位 , 应 加 特 别 注 意 ,
因 为 他 们 对 老 师 服 务 , 一 般 都 因 老 师 对 学 生 孜 孜 不 倦 的 教 育
而 得 到 补 偿 。 被 称 为 “ 法 学 教 典 ” 或 “ 评 释 ”(C o m m e n t a r i e s ) 的 教 育 论 文 为 当 时 承 认 的 义 务 的 一 种 后 来果 实 , 是 罗 马 制 度 中 最 显 著 的 特 色 之 一 。 至 于 法 学 专 家 们 公诸 于 世 的 他 们 的 分 类 法 以 及 他 们 对 于 变 更 和 改 进 专 门 术 语 的建 议 , 显 然 不 是 在 他 们 用 以 训 练 法 学 家 的 解 答 中 , 而 是 在 这些 涉 及 原 理 的 作 品 中 。
在 把 罗 马 的 “ 法 律 解 答 ” 同 英 国 法 律 中 最 相 近 的 相 应 部分 进 行 比 较 时 , 我 们 必 须 牢 记 着 , 说 明 罗 马 这 一 部 分 法 律 学的 权 威 者 不 是法院 而 是律师 。 罗 马 法 庭 的 判 决 虽 然 在 特 定 案件 中 是 终 局 的 判 决 , 但 除 了 当 时 承 审 官 吏 在 职 位 上 极 有威信者外 , 并 无 使 它 可 以 适 用 于 其 他 案 件 的 权 力 。 更 确 当 地 讲,在共 和 时 期 内 罗 马 并 没 有 和 英 国 法 院 、 日 耳 曼 帝 国 审 判院或法兰 西 君 主 国 高 等 审 判 厅 相 类 似 的 机 构 。 罗 马 有 许 多 高 级官吏在 其 各 该 部 门 中 都 握 有 重 要 的 司 法 职 能 , 但 他 们 的 官 职 任 期只 有 一 年 , 因 此 它 们 不 能 与 一 个 永 久 的 裁 判 所 相 比 , 只 能 作为 在 律 师 领 袖 中 间 迅 速 地 流 转 着 的 一 个 循 环 职 位 。 对 这种奇特 状 态 的 来 源 , 可 能 有 很 多 的 说 明 , 在 我 们 看 来 是 一种可惊的 变 例 , 但 是 事 实 上 , 它 比 我 们 自 己 的 制 度 更 能 适 合 于 古 代社 会 精 神 , 因 为 这 种 社 会 常 常 不 断 地 分 裂 为 许 多 各 别 的 阶 级 ,在 它 们 之 间 虽 然 互 不 往 来 , 但 却 都 不 愿 在 他 们 上 面 有 一 个 职业 的 教 阶 组 织 存 在 。
值 得 注 意 的 是 , 这 种 制 度 并 没 有 产 生 某 种 很 可 能 会 产 生的 结 果 。 例 如 , 它 并 没 有 使 罗 马 法通俗化— — 它 没 有 像 有 些希 腊 共 和 国 那 样 削 弱 知 识 分 子 精 通 这 门 科 学 所 需 要 的 努力,虽 然 并 没 有 人 为 的 障 碍 阻 碍 其 普 及 和 作 权 威 的 解 释。相反的,如 果 不 是 由 于 其 他 许 多 原 因 在 发 生 作 用 , 那 就 非 常 可 能,这种 罗 马 法 律 学 就 会 成 为 琐 细 、 专 门 和 难 以 解 释 的 东 西,像从那 时 候 起 流 行 着 的 任 何 制 度 一 样 。 其 次 , 另 外 有 一 种 可能更加 自 然 地 预 期 会 发 生 的 后 果 , 却 没 有 在 任 何 时 期 中 表显出来 。直到 罗 马 的 共 和 政 权 被 颠 复 时 , 法 学 专 家 还 只 是 一 个 界 限不十 分 明 显 并 在 数 量 上 有 很 大 消 长 的 阶 级 ; 虽 然 , 他 们 之 中 任何 特 定 的 个 人 , 对 于 在 他 们 面 前 提 出 的 任 何 案 件 能 发 表 终 局的 意 见 , 则 似 乎 从 来 就 没 有 发 生 过 疑 问 。 在 拉 丁 文 学 中,有大 量 的 关 于 著 名 法 学 专 家 日 常 活 动 的 生 动 描 写 — — 从全 国 各地 蜂 拥 而 来 的 当 事 人 在 清 晨 到 达 他 的 接 待 室 , 他 的 学 生环 立在 周 围 , 手 里 都 拿 着 笔 记 簿 , 记 录 着 这 伟 大 法 学 家 的 回 答——,但 这 样 描 写 的 著 名 人 物 在 任 何 既 定 时 期 内 , 很 少 或 从来 没 有 超 过 一 个 或 二 个 人 的 。 同 时 正 由 于 当 事 人 和 辩 护人的
直 接 接 触 , 罗 马 人 民 也 就 似 乎 经 常 注 意 着 职 业 威 信 的 升 降 。 现
在 有 充 分 的 证 据 , 特 别 是 在 西 塞 罗的 著 名 演 讲 “ 为黑 罗 那 辩 ” ( Pro M u r En a ) 中 , 证 明 群 众 对 于 胜 诉 的 重 视 往往不 是 不 够 而 是 过 度 的 。
我 们 毫 不 怀 疑 , 我 们 在 罗 马 法 最 早 依 靠 了 它 而 得 以 发 展的 这 种 手 段 中 所 发 现 的 各 种 特 点 , 就 是 使 罗 马 法 独 特 卓 越的渊 源 , 也 是 使 它 很 早 就 能 有 丰 富 原 则 的 渊 源 。 原 则 的 成长和茂 盛 , 部 分 地 是 法 律 注 释 者 之 间 的 竞 争 所 造 成 的 , 而这种竞争 , 在 有 法 院 的 地 方 , 即 有 国 王 或 政 府 授 以 司 法 特 权 的 受 托人 的 地 方 , 是 不 被 人 们 所 完 全 知 道 的 。 但 是 主 要 的 媒 介 ,无疑 地 还 在 于 提 请 法 律 判 决 的 各 种 案 件 的 无 限 制 地 大 量 增加。有 些 事 实 状 态 虽 会 使 一 个 乡 村 当 事 人 真 诚 地 感 到 不 知 所 措,但 这 些 事 实 状 态 对 于 形 成 法 学 专 家 “ 解 答 ” 或 法 律 判 决基础的 价 值 , 还 不 如 一 个 有 才 智 的 学 生 所 提 出 的 各 种 假 设情况。成千 成 百 的 事 实 , 不 论 是 真 的 或 是 出 于 想 象 的 , 都 被 一 律 看 待 。
对 于 一 个 法 学 专 家 , 如 果 他 的 意 见 为 审 判 其 当 事 人 案 件 的 官
吏 暂 时 废 弃 , 他 会 毫 不 介 意 , 除 非 这 个 官 吏 的 法 律 知 识 或 在
专 业 上 受 到 的 尊 敬 都 恰 恰 高 过 于 他 。 当 然 , 我 的 意 思 并 不 是说 他 会 完 全 不 考 虑 其 当 事 人 的 利 益 , 因 为 , 这 些 当 事 人 在 较早 时 期 就 是 大 律 师 的 选 举 人 , 到 后 来 才 成 为 他 的 付 款 人 的 , 但
是 , 一 个 法 学 专 家 走 向 成 功 之 路 要 依 靠 他 的 公 会 的 好 评 ; 显
然 , 在 我 所 描 写 的 这 样 一 个 制 度 下 , 要 达 到 这 样 一 个 结 果 , 就
必 须 把 每 一 个 案 件 作 为 一 条 重 大 原 则 的 一 个 例 证 或 是 一 条 广
泛 规 定 的 一 个 示 范 来 考 虑 , 而 不 能 斤 斤 于 个 别 案 件 的 得 失 。 另
外 一 种 更 有 力 的 影 响 , 发 生 在 对 各 种 可 能 的 问 题 任 意 提 出 或
创 造 , 不 加 任 何 明 确 的 限 制 。 资 料 既 然 可 以 任 意 增 加 , 则 发
展 成 为 一 条 总 则 的 方 便 便 也 无 限 地 增 多 。 法 律 是 在 我 们 自 己
中 间 执 行 的 , 法 官 不 能 逾 越 展 示 于 他 或 他 的 先 辈 之 前 的 各 种
事 实 的 范 围 。 因 此 , 受 到 审 判 的 每 一 种 情 况 , 借 用 一 个 法 国
成 语 , 就 被 奉 之 为 神 圣 。 它 具 有 与 每 一 个 其 他 真 正 的 或 假 设
的 案 件 不 同 的 某 种 特 点 。 但 是 在 罗 马 , 像 我 已 经 在 前 面 企 图
说 明 的 , 没 有 像 “ 法 院 ” 或 “ 审 判 院 ” 这 一 类 的 机 构 ; 因 此 ,
也 没 有 一 组 事 实 会 比 其 他 事 实 具 有 更 多 的 特 殊 价 值 。 当 有 一
种 困 难 提 交 法 学 专 家 征 求 意 见 时 , 决 没 有 东 西 会 阻 止 一 个 赋
有 很 好 类 比 力 的 人 立 即 进 而 援 引 和 考 虑 同 它 有 些 联 系 的 全 部
假 设 问 题 。 不 论 给 予 当 事 人 的 实 际 劝 告 是 怎 样 , 其 由 倾 听着的 学 生 在 笔 记 簿 上 慎 重 保 存 起 来 的 解 答 , 无 疑 地 会 考 虑 到 由一 重 大 原 则 所 能 适 用 的 、 或 为 一 条 包 罗 无 遗 的 规 定 所 能 包 括的 一 切 情 况 , 在 我 们 中 间 , 这 种 情 况 是 不 可 能 的 , 并 且 应 该承 认 , 在 对 英 国 法 提 出 的 许 多 批 评 中 , 它 提 出 时 所 用 的 方 式似 乎 已 经 不 存 在 了 。 我 们 的 法 院 所 以 不 愿 直 截 了 当 地 宣 布 原则 , 很 可 能 不 是 由 于 我 们 法 官 的 禀 性 , 而 是 由 于 我 们 的 先 例比 较 少 , 虽 然 我 们 的 先 例 , 在 不 知 其 他 制 度 的 人 看 来 已 是 卷帙 浩 繁 的 了 。 就 法 律 原 则 的 财 富 而 论 , 我 们 显 然 比有些现代欧 洲 国 家 贫 乏 得 多 。 但 必 须 记 着 , 它 们 是 以 罗 马 法 律 学 为 其民 事 制 度 的 基 础 的 。 它 们 把 罗 马 法 的碎石残屑 建 筑 在 它 们墙垣 之 中 ; 但 就 其 材 料 和 工 作 技 巧 来 看 , 则 并 没 有 使 它 好 过 英国 司 法 机 关 所 造 的 建 筑 物 。
罗 马 共 和 时 期 是 使 罗 马 法 律 学 具 有 特 别 性 质 的 一 个 时期 ; 在 其 最 初 的 一 部 分 时 间 中 , 法 律 的 发 展 主 要 依 靠 着法学专 家 的 “ 解 答 ” 。 但 当 它 临 到 共 和 国 衰 败 的 时 候 , 在 “ 解 答 ”的 形 式 上 显 示 出 它 们 已 不 可 能 再 作 进 一 步 扩 展 的 预 兆 。它们已 经 开 始 系 统 化 , 并 且 被 提 炼 成 为 纲 要 。 据 说 曾 有 一 个 名 为缪 子 · 沙 沃 拉 ( Q . M u c i u s S c Ev o l a ) 的 “ 教 长 ”( P o n t i f e x ) 公 布 过 一 本 包 括 全 部 “ 市 民 法 ” 的 手 册 , 在 西 塞罗 的 著 作 中 , 也 显 示 出 对 于 旧 方 法 日 益 不 满 的 迹 象 , 所 谓 旧方 法 是 指 与 法 律 改 革 这 个 更 活 泼 的 手 段 比 较 而 言 的 。 到 了 这个时候 , 其 他 各 种 媒 介 也 在 事 实 上 对 法 律 开 始 发 生 影 响 。 所谓 “ 告 令 ” ( E d i c t ) 或 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 年 度 布 告 已 被 日 益 重 视,并 用 作 法 律 改 革 的 主 要 手 段 , 而 哥 尼 流 · 西 拉 ( L . C o r n e l i u s S y l l a ) 把 称 为 “ 哥 尼 流 律 ” ( L e g e s C o r n e l i E) 的 大 量 条 例经 过 立 法 而 制 定 为 法 律 , 就 显 示 出 用 直 接 立 法 的 方 法 能 达 到如 何 迅 速 的 改 进 。 至 于 对 “ 解 答 ” 的 致 命 打 击 则 来 自 奥古斯都,他 限 制 少 数 主 要 的 法 学 专 家 对 案 件 发 表 有 拘束 力 的 意 见 的 权 利 , 这 个 变 化 虽 使 我 们 能 更 接 近 于 现 代 世 界的 观 念 , 但 显 然 根 本 地 改 变 了 法 律 职 业 的 特 点 以 及 它 对 罗 马法 影 响 的 性 质 。 在 一 个 较 后 的 时 期 中 , 另 外 一 个 学 派 的 法 学专 家 又 产 生 了 , 这 些 都 是 各 时 代 中 法 律 学 的 巨 大 人 物 。 但 是阿 尔 比 安 ( U l p i a n ) 和 保 罗 斯 ( P a u l u s ) 、 该 雅 士 和 巴 平 尼 安( p a p i n i a n ) 都 不 是 “ 解 答 ” 的 作 者 。 他 们 的 作 品 都 是 论 述 法律 特 定 部 门 尤 其 是 “ 裁 判 官 告 令 ” 的 正 式 论 文 。
罗 马 人 的 “ 衡 平 法 ” 以 及 使 衡 平 法 成 为 其 制 度 一 部 分 的“ 裁 判 官 告 令 ” , 将 在 下 面 的 一 章 中 加 以 研 究 。 至 于 对 “ 制 元法 ” , 须 要 说 明 的 只 是 它 在 共 和 时 期 是 很 少 的 , 但 到 了 帝 国 时期 则 有 大 量 增 加 。 在 一 个 国 家 还 是 青 年 和 幼 年 的 时 代 , 绝 少要 求 借 助 于 立 法 机 关 的 活 动 以 求 对 私 法 作 一 般 的 改 进 的 。 人民 所 要 求 的 不 是 变 更 法 律 , 这 些 法 律 通 常 被 估 计 得 高 过 它 们的 真 正 价 值 , 人 民 的 要 求 只 在 能 很 纯 洁 地 、 完 善 地 和 容 易 地执 行 法 律 ; 一 般 是 在 要 除 去 某 种 大 积 弊 , 或 是 要 处 理 阶 级 与阶 级 之 间 和 朝 代 与 朝 代 之 间 某 种 无 可 调 和 的 争 执 时 , 才 求 助于 立 法 机 关 。 依 罗 马 人 看 来 , 在 社 会 发 生 了 一 次 重 大 民 变 后,必 须 制 定 一 大 批 的 条 例 , 才 得 以 安 定 社 会 秩 序 。 西 拉 用 “ 哥尼 流 律 ” 来 宣 布 他 的 改 造 共 和 国 ; 朱 理 亚 · 凯 撒在 “ 制 定 法 ” 中 作 了 大 量 增 加 ; 奥 古 斯 多 促 使 通 过 了最 重 要 的 “ 朱 理 亚 律 ”; 在 以 后 的 一 些 皇 帝 中 ,最 积 极 于 颁 布 宪 令 的 是 像 君 士 坦 丁那 些 要 想统 治 世 界 事 务 的 君 主 。 真 正 的 罗 马 制 定 法 时 期 要 直 到 帝 国 建立 以 后 方 才 开 始 。 皇 帝 们 的 各 种 立 法 起 初 还 伪 装 经 过 群 众 同意 , 但 在 后 来 就 毫 不 掩 饰 地 利 用 皇 权 , 从 奥 古 斯 多 政 权 巩 固后 到 “ 查 斯 丁 尼 安 法 典 ” 公 布 , 这 种法 规 有 大 量 的 增 加 。 可 以 看 到 , 甚 至 在 第 二 个 皇 帝 的 统 治 时期 内 , 法 律 的 条 件 和 其 执 行 的 方 式 就 已 逐 渐 地 接 近 于 我 们 都熟 悉 的 了 。 一 个 制 定 法 和 一 个 有 限 制 的 释 义 局 已 产 生 了 ; 一个 永 久 的 上 诉 法 院 和 一 个 特 许 的 评 释 集 将 在 不 久 之 后 产 生了 ; 这 样 , 我 们 就 被 带 到 更 接 近 于 我 们 今 日 的 观 念 了 。
第 三 章 自 然法 与 衡 平
有 些 法 律 原 则 由 于 固 有 的 优 越 性 而 有 代 替 旧 有 法 律 的 权利 , 这 种 理 论 很 早 就 在 罗 马 国 家 和 英 国 广 泛 流 行 。 这 一 类 原则 存 在 于 任 何 制 度 中 , 在 以 前 各 章 中 曾 被 称 为 “ 衡 平 ” , 像 我们 立 刻 就 要 谈 到 的 , 这 个 名 词 是 罗 马 法 学 专 家 用 以 称 呼 法 律变 化 中 这 种 媒 介 的 名 称 之 一 ( 虽 然 是 唯 一 的 一 个 ) 。 在 英 国 ,冠 以 “ 衡 平 ” 名 称 的 衡 平 法 院 , 其 有 关 的 法 律 学 只 能 在 另 一论 文 中 充 分 讨 论 。 它 的 组 成 是 极 端 复 杂 的 , 它 的 资 料 来 自 几个 不 同 的 渊 源 。 早 期 的 教 会 大 法 官 曾 从 “ 寺 院 法 ” 中 采 取 了许 多 原 则 , 这 些 原 则 已 深 深 地 根 植 在 其 结 构 中 。 罗 马 法 中 可以 适 用 于 世 俗 纠 纷 的 规 定 远 多 于 “ 寺 院 法 ” , 因 此 罗 马 法 便 常为 下 一 代 的 衡 平 法 官 所 借 重 , 在 他 们 的 审 判 意 见 录 中 , 我 们常 常 发 现 列 入 了 从 “ 民 法 大 会 ” ( C o r p u s J u r i s C i v i l i s ) 中采 摘 的 整 段 原 文 , 其 中 的 名 词 不 加 更 动 , 虽 然 它 们 的 来 源 是从 来 没 有 注 明 的 。 在 近 代 , 尤 其 是 在 十 八 世 纪 中 叶 和 其 后 半期 中 , 尼 德 兰 ( L o w C o u n t r i e s ) 的 公 法 学 家 所 创 造 的 法 律与 道 德 的 混 合 制 度 似 乎 曾 经 为 英 国 法 学 家 详 细 研 究 过 , 从 泰
尔 波 爵 士 ( L o r d T a l b o t ) 大 法 官 到 厄 尔 顿 爵 士 ( L o r d E l A
d o n ) 就 任 大 法 官 职 位 时 为 止 , 这 些 作 品 对 衡 平 法 院 的 裁 定 实
有 相 当 的 影 响 。 构 成 这 个 制 度 的 各 种 要 素 虽 然 来 自 许 多 不 同
方 面 , 但 由 于 它 必 须 与 普 通 法 近 似 , 它 的 发 展 受 到 了 很 大 的抑 制 , 不 过 它 始 终 能 符 合 一 个 比 较 新 的 法 律 原 则 的 要 求 , 能
因 其 固 有 的 伦 理 优 越 性 而 有 权 废 弃 国 内 旧 有 的 法 律 。
罗 马 的 “ 衡 平 法 ” 在 结 构 上 比 较 简 单 , 它 从 开 始 出 现 时
起 的 全 部 发 展 过 程 是 很 容 易 查 考 的 。 它 的 性 质 和 它 的 历 史 都
有 详 加 研 究 的 必 要 。 它 是 对 人 类 思 想 有 着 深 远 影 响 的 、 通 过
人 类 思 想 严 重 地 影 响 了 人 类 命 运 的 那 几 种 概 念 的 根 源 。
罗 马 人 认 为 他 们 的 法 律 制 度 是 由 两 个 要 素 组 成 的 。 经 查
斯 丁 尼 安 皇 帝 钦 定 出 版 的 “ 法 学 阶 梯 ” ( I n s t i t u t i o n a l T r e a At i s e s ) 中 说 , “ 受 法 律 和 习 惯 统 治 的 一 切 国 家 , 部 分 是 受 其 固有 的 特 定 法 律 支 配 , 部 分 是 受 全 人 类 共 有 的 法 律 支 配 。一 个民 族 所 制 定 的 法 律 , 称 为 该 民 族 的 ‘ 民 事 法 律 ’ , 但 是 , 由 自
然 理 性 指 定 给 全 人 类 的 法 律 , 则 称 为 ‘ 国 际 法 ’ , 因 为 所 有 的
国 家 都 采 用 它 。 ” 所 谓 “ 由 自 然 理 性 指 定 给 全 人 类 的 ” 这 一 部
分 法 律 , 就 是 被 假 定 为 由 “ 裁 判 官 告 令 ” 带 入 罗 马 法 律 学 中
的 原 素 。 在 有 些 地 方 , 它 被 简 单 地 称 为 “ 自 然 法 ” ( J u s N a t u Ar a l e ) ; 它 的 规 定 据 说 是 受 命 于自然 衡平 ( n a t u r a l i s Eq u i t a s ) 和 自 然 理 性 。 我 将 设 法 发 掘 这 些 著 名 成 语 如 “ 国 际法 ” 、 “ 自 然 法 ” 、 “ 衡 平 法 ” 的 渊 源 , 并 进 而 决 定 它 们 所 表 示的 概 念 在 相 互 之 间 存 在 着 什 么 关 系 。
有 一 些 学 者 对 于 罗 马 历 史 只 有 极 肤 浅 的 知 识 , 当 他 看 到
许 多 外 国 人 用 各 种 名 义 在 共 和 国 境 内 出 现 , 以 及 共 和 国 的 命
运 竟 会 受 到 非 常 程 度 的 影 响 , 一 定 有 很 深 刻 的 印 象 。 在 较 后
时 期 , 这 种 侨 民 入 境 的 原 因 是 很 容 易 被 理 解 的 , 因 为 我 们 很
容 易 体 会 为 什 么 各 族 人 民 都 要 成 群 结 队 地 到 这 世 界 霸 主 的 国
家 来 ; 在 罗 马 国 家 最 早 的 纪 录 中 , 我 们 就 发 现 有 这 种 大 量 外国 人 和 归 化 者 移 入 的 现 象 。 毫 无 疑 义 , 古 代 意 大 利 大 半 是 由
强 盗 部 落 所 组 成 的 , 社 会 的 不 安 定 使 得 人 们 集 居 在 有 力 量 来
保 护 自 己 并 可 以 不 受 外 界 攻 击 的 任 何 社 会 领 土 内 , 纵 使 这 种
保 护 要 以 付 重 税 、 以 政 治 上 权 利 的 被 剥 夺 、 以 忍 受 社 会 耻 辱
作 为 代 价 , 也 在 所 不 惜 。 这 个 解 释 也 许 是 不 完 全 的 , 要 作 一
比 较 完 全 的 解 释 , 还 必 须 考 虑 到 当 时 活 跃 的 商 业 关 系 , 这 种
关 系 虽 然 很 少 在 共 和 国 的 军 事 传 统 中 反 映 出 来 , 但 罗 马 在 史
前 时 期 是 必 然 地 和 迦 太 基 ( C a r t h a g e ) 以 及 和 意 大 利 内 地 存 在
着 这 种 关 系 。 不 论 情 况 究 竟 是 怎 样 , 共 和 国 中 的 外 国 人 实 决
定 着 其 历 史 的 全 部 过 程 , 在 这 个 历 史 的 各 个 阶 段 中 , 几 乎 完
全 是 在 说 明 一 个 顽 强 的 民 族 与 一 个 外 来 的 人 民 之 间 的 冲 突 。
在 现 代 世 界 中 从 来 没 有 发 生 过 这 种 情 况 , 一 方 面 , 因 为 现 代
欧 洲 社 会 很 少 或 从 来 没 有 受 到 过 足 以 使 土 著 公 民 感 觉 得 到 的
大 量 的 外 国 移 民 侵 入 , 另 一 方 面 , 因 为 现 代 国 家 的 团 结 一 起
是 依 靠 着 对 于 一 个 国 王 或 政 治 上 强 有 力 者 的 忠 诚 , 因 此 这 些
国 家 可 以 用 古 代 世 界 所 没 有 见 到 过 的 速 度 吸 收 着 相 当 数 量 的
入 境 移 民 , 但 在 古 代 世 界 中 , 一 个 社 会 的 本 地 公 民 常 常 自 以
为 是 由 于 血 统 而 结 合 在 一 起 的 ; 他 们 反 对 外 来 人 民 主 张 平 等
权 利 , 认 为 这 是 对 于 他 们 生 来 固 有 权 利 的 一 种 篡 夺 。 早 期 罗
马 共 和 国 在 “ 宪 令 ” 中 规 定 有 绝 对 排 斥 外 国 人 的 原 则 , 在
“ 市 民 法 ” 中 也 有 同 样 规 定 。 外 国 人 或 归 化 者 在 “ 国 家 ” 利 益
休 戚 相 关 的 任 何 机 构 中 , 是 不 能 参 与 的 。 他 不 能 享 受 “ 公 民
法 ” ( Q u i r i t a r i a n l a w ) 的 利 益 。 他 不 能 成 为耐克逊的当事人 , 这 种 契 约 在 有 一 个 时 期 是 原 始 罗 马 人 的 让 与 证 据 同 时 也是 契 约 。 他 不 能 用 “ 提 供 誓 金 之 诉 ” ( S a c r a m e n t a l A c t i o n )起 诉 , 这 种 涉 讼 的 方 式 其 渊 源 可 以 追 溯 到 文 明 的 萌 芽 时 代 。 但是 , 不 论 是 为 了 罗 马 的 利 益 或 是 为 了 罗 马 的 安 全 , 都 不允许把 外 国 人 完 全 剥 夺 法 律 的 保 护 。 所 有 古 代 社 会 往 往 为 了 轻 微的 骚 动 就 有 被 颠 复 的 危 险 , 所 以 单 单 出 于 自 卫 的 本 能 ,就足以 迫 使 罗 马 人 要 想 出 某 种 方 法 来 安 排 外 国 人 的 权 利 和 义 务 ,
否 则 他 们 也 许 会 — — 而 这 是 古 代 世 界 中 一 种 真 正 重 要 的 危 险
— — 用 武 力 斗 争 来 解 决 争 执 。 况 且 , 在 罗 马 史 中 从 来 没 有 一
个 时 期 完 全 忽 略 对 外 贸 易 。 因 此 , 对 于 当 事 人 双 方 都 是 外 国
人 或 者 一 方 是 本 国 人 一 方 是 外 国 人 的 争 议 , 在 最 初 所 以 有 审
判 权 , 也 许 一 半 是 作 为 一 种 警 察 手 段 , 一 半 是 为 了 要 促 进 商
业 。 由 于 这 类 审 判 权 的 存 在 , 就 有 必 要 立 即 发 见 某 种 原 则 , 以
便 据 以 解 决 提 交 审 判 的 问 题 , 而 罗 马 法 律 家 为 了 达 到 这 目 的
而 采 用 的 原 则 是 卓 越 地 反 映 着 当 时 的 特 点 的 。 像 我 在 前 面 已
经 说 过 的 , 他 们 拒 绝 用 纯 粹 的 罗 马 “ 市 民 法 ” 来 判 决 新 的 案
件 。 他 们 拒 绝 采 用 外 国 诉 讼 人 “ 本 国 ” 的 特 定 法 律 , 显 然 这
是 因 为 , 如 果 这 样 做 了 , 也 许 要 造 成 法 律 的 退 化 。 他 们 最 后
采 用 的 方 法 , 是 选 择 罗 马 同 外 来 移 民 所 出 生 的 意 大 利 各 个 不
同 社 会 中 共 有 的 法 律 规 定 。 换 言 之 , 他 们 开 始 形 成 一 种 符 合于 “ 万 民 法 ” ( J u s G e n t i u m ) 的 原 始 的 和 字 面 的 意 义 的 制 度 。所 谓 “ 万 民 法 ” , 即 “ 所 有 国 家 共 有 的 法 律 ” 。 事 实 上 , “ 万 民法 ” 是 古 意 大 利 各 部 落 各 种 习 惯 共 同 要 素 的 总 和 , 因 为 这 些部 落 是 罗 马 人 有 办 法 可 以 观 察 到 的 、 并 且 是 不 断 把 移 民 一 群群 送 到 罗 马 土 地 上 来 的所有国家 。 当 有 一 种 特 别 惯 例 被 看 到为 大 量 的 各 别 民 族 共 同 应 用 时 , 它 即 被 纪 录 下 来 作 为 “ 所有国 家 共 有 的 法 律 ” 或 是 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 一 部 分 。 像 这 样 , 在 罗马 四 周 各 个 不 同 的 国 家 中 , 对 于 财 产 的 让 与 虽 然 都 必 然 地 伴随 着 很 不 同 的 形 式 , 但 是 准 备 要 让 与 的 物 品 的 实 际 移 转 、 交
付 或 是 送 达 乃 是 它 们 之 中 共 有 仪 式 的 一 部 分 。 例 如 , 这 就 是
“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” ( M a n c i p a t i o n ) 或 是 罗 马 所 特 有 的 让 与 方 式 中
的 一 部 分 , 虽 然 是 一 个 次 要 的 部 分 。 因 此 , 交 付 既 然 很 可 能
是 被 法 学 专 家 有 机 会 观 察 到 的 各 种 让 与 方 式 中 的 唯 一 共 同 要
素 , 它 就 被 订 作 “ 万 民 法 ” 中 的 一 种 制 度 , 或 是 “ 所 有 国 家
共 有 法 律 ” 的 一 项 规 定 。 大 量 的 其 他 惯 例 在 经 过 仔 细 研 究 后 ,
也 得 到 同 样 的 结 果 。 它 们 都 有 一 个 共 同 目 的 , 具 有 某 些 共 同
特 点 , 这 些 特 点 就 被 归 类 在 “ 万 民 法 ” 中 。 因 此 , “ 万 民 法 ”
是 规 则 和 原 则 的 一 个 集 合 物 , 这 些 规 则 和 原 则 经 过 观 察 后 被
决 定 是 各 个 意 大 利 部 落 间 当 时 通 行 的 各 种 制 度 所 共 有 的 。
上 面 所 说 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 起 源 情 况 , 也 许 足 以 消 除 这 样
一 种 误 解 , 即 认 为 罗 马 法 学 家 似 乎 对 “ 万 民 法 ” 特 别 重 视 。
“ 万 民 法 ” 的 产 生 , 一 部 分 是 由 于 他 们 轻 视 所 有 的 外 国 法 律 ,
一 部 分 是 由 于 他 们 不 愿 以 其 本 土 的 “ 市 民 法 ” ( J u s C i v i l e ) 的
利 益 给 予 外 国 人 。 诚 然 , 现 在 如 果 我 们 执 行 着 罗 马 法 学 专 家
当 时 所 进 行 的 工 作 , 我 们 对 于 “ 万 民 法 ” 可 能 会 采 取 一 种 完
全 不 同 的 看 法 。 我 们 对 于 这 样 辨 别 出 来 的 作 为 大 量 不 同 惯 例
的 基 础 而 普 遍 存 在 的 要 素 , 必 然 会 附 着 某 种 模 糊 的 优 越 或 占
先 之 感 。 我 们 对 于 这 样 普 遍 地 适 用 的 规 则 和 原 则 , 必 然 会 有
几 分 尊 重 。 也 许 我 们 会 认 为 , 这 种 共 同 的 要 素 是 进 行 交 易 所
必 需 的 本 质 , 而 剩 下 来 的 在 各 个 社 会 中 不 相 同 的 仪 式 , 则 只
能 被 认 为 是 偶 然 的 和 非 必 要 的 。 我 们 也 可 能 会 作 出 这 样 的 推
论 , 认 为 我 们 正 在 进 行 比 较 的 各 个 民 族 , 在 过 去 可 能 曾 经 一度 遵 守 过 一 种 共 同 的 伟 大 制 度 , 而 “ 万 民 法 ” 就 是 这 个 制 度
的 一 个 复 制 品 , 认 为 各 个 国 家 中 错 综 复 杂 的 惯 例 , 只 是 过 去
曾 经 一 度 管 理 过 他 们 的 原 始 状 态 的 比 较 简 单 的 法 规 的 讹 误 和
残 余 。 但 现 代 思 想 引 导 观 察 者 达 到 的 这 些 结 论 , 与 原 始 罗 马
人 本 能 地 感 到 的 结 论 几 乎 恰 恰 相 反 。 我 们 所 尊 重 或 赞 美 的 , 正
是 他 所 不 喜 欢 的 或 疑 惧 的 。 他 所 爱 好 的 那 部 分 法 律 学 , 正 是
现 代 理 论 家 认 为 不 必 加 以 考 虑 的 和 暂 时 的 ; 例 如 “ 曼 企 帕 地
荷 ” 中 的 庄 严 手 势 ; 口 头 契 约 中 巧 妙 地 安 排 的 问 和 答 ; 辩 护
与 诉 讼 中 不 胜 枚 举 的 手 续 程 序 。 “ 万 民 法 ” 只 是 由 于 政 治 需 要
而 强 使 他 注 意 的 一 种 制 度 。 他 不 爱 “ 万 民 法 ” 正 像 他 不 爱 外
国 人 一 样 , 因 为 “ 万 民 法 ” 是 从 这 些 外 国 人 的 制 度 中 来 的 , 并
且 是 为 了 外 国 人 的 利 益 而 制 定 的 。 在 “ 万 民 法 ” 能 得 到 他 的
重 视 以 前 , 必 须 在 他 思 想 中 有 一 次 彻 底 的 革 命 , 但 当 这 个 革
命 确 实 发 生 时 , 它 真 进 行 得 非 常 的 彻 底 , 我 们 现 在 对 于 “ 万
民 法 ” 的 估 计 所 以 与 刚 才 所 说 的 完 全 不 同 , 其 真 正 理 由 就 在
于 现 代 法 律 学 和 现 代 哲 学 所 持 的 观 点 都 是 继 承 着 后 期 法 学 专
家 就 这 问 题 所 持 的 成 熟 见 解 的 。 过 去 确 实 有 过 这 样 一 个 时 期 ,
把 这 仅 仅 是 “ 市 民 法 ” 的 一 个 卑 贱 附 属 物 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 认 作
为 一 切 法 律 所 应 该 尽 可 能 依 从 的 一 个 伟 大 的 、 虽 然 还 没 有 完
全 发 展 的 模 范 。 这 个 剧 变 的 发 生 是 正 当 希 腊 的 “ 自 然 法 ” 理论 被 适 用 于 罗 马 的 “ 所 有 国 家 共 有 法 律 ” 的 实 践 中 的 时 期。所 谓 “ 自 然 法 ” ( j u s N a t u r a l e ) 只 是 从 一 个 特 别 理 论 的角 度 来 看 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 或 “ 国 际 法 ” 。 法 学 专 家 阿 尔 比 安 曾 经
以 一 个 法 学 家 所 特 有 的 辨 别 的 癖 好 , 企 图 把 它 们 加 以 区 别 , 但
结 果 没 有 成 功 。 根 据 有 更 高 权 威 的 该 雅 士 的 言 论 , 以 及 前 面从 “ 法 学 教 典 ” 中 所 摘 引 的 部 分 , 使 我 们 毫 不 怀 疑 , 这 些 用
语 在 实 际 上 是 可 以 通 用 的 。 它 们 之 间 的 差 别 完 全 是 历 史 的 , 在
本 质 上 , 它 们 之 间 不 可 能 有 什 么 区 别 。 “ 万 民 法 ” 或 “ 所 有 国
家 共 有 法 律 ” 与 “ 国 际 法 ” 之 间 的 混 淆 不 清 , 完 全 是 现 代 的 ,
这 几 乎 是 不 必 加 以 说 明 的 。 国 际 法 的 古 典 用 语 是 “ 使 节 法 ”( J u s F e c i a l e ) 或 谈 判 与 外 交 的 法 律 。 但 是 毫 无 疑 问 , “ 万 民法 ” 的 含 义 不 明 对 于 独 立 国 家 之 间 的 关 系 应 由 自 然 法 来 管 理这 一 个 现 代 理 论 的 产 生 曾 经 起 过 很 大 的 作 用 。
我 们 有 必 要 研 究 一 下 希 腊 的 自 然 和 自 然 法 律 的 两 个 概念 。 � Gσ ι � 这 个 字 在 拉 丁 文 中 是 n a t u r a , 在 英 文 中 是nature,它的 含 义 毫 无 疑 问 原 来 是 指 物 质 宇 宙 , 但 这 个 物 质 宇 宙 是 从 完全 另 外 一 个 角 度 来 领 会 的 , 由 于 我 们 的 智 力 与 当 时 的 智 力 有着 距 离 , 这 一 个 角 度 , 在 现 代 语 言 中 , 就 不 很 容 易 加 以说 明。自 然 指 的 是 物 质 世 界 , 是 某 种 原 始 元 素 或 规 律 的 结 果 。 最 古的 希 腊 哲 学 家 习 惯 把 宇 宙 结 构 解 释 为 某 种 单 一 原 则 的 表现,这 种 原 则 , 他 们 有 不 同 的 看 法 , 认 为 是 运 动 、 是 强 力 、 是 火、是 湿 气 、 是 生 殖 。 “ 自 然 ” 的 最 简 单 和 最 古 远 的 意 义 , 正 就 是从 作 为 一 条 原 则 表 现 的 角 度 来 看 的 物 质 宇 宙 。 此 后 , 后 期 希腊 各 学 派 回 到 了 希 腊 最 伟 大 知 识 分 子 当 时 迷 失 的 道 路 上 , 他们 在 “ 自 然 ” 的 概 念 中 , 在物质 世 界 上 加 上 了 一 个道德 世 界 。他 们 把 这 个 名 词 的 范 围 加 以 扩 展 , 使 它 不 仅 包 括 了 有 形的 宇宙 , 并 且 包 括 了 人 类 的 思 想 、 惯 例 和 希 望 。 这 里 , 像 以前一样 , 他 们 所 理 解 的自然 不 仅 仅 是 人 类 的 社 会 的 道 德 现 象 , 而且 是 那 些 被 认 为 可 以 分 解 为 某 种 一 般 的 和 简 单 的 规 律 的现象。
犹 如 最 古 的 希 腊 理 论 家 所 假 定 的 机 会 的 嘲 弄 使 物 质 宇 宙
从 其 简 单 的 原 始 形 式 变 成 为 现 今 的 庞 杂 状 态 , 他 们 的 聪 明 的
后 裔 幻 想 着 , 倘 若 不 是 凑 巧 的 意 外 人 类 很 可 能 会 使 其 自 己 生
活 于 较 简 单 的 行 动 规 律 和 一 种 比 较 平 静 的 生 活 中 。 按 照 ·
自 ·
然
而 生 活 , 曾 被 认 为 是 人 类 生 存 的 目 的 , 并 且 是 最 优 秀 的 人 必
须 要 达 到 的 目 的 。 按 照 自 然 而 生 活 , 是 解 脱 粗 俗 人 民 的 混 乱
习 惯 和 粗 野 放 纵 而 达 到 较 高 级 的 行 为 规 律 , 这 些 规 律 只 有 有
志 者 通 过 克 己 和 自 制 才 能 加 以 遵 守 。 尽 人 皆 知 , 这 个 命 题 — —按 照 自 然 而 生 活 — — 是 著 名 的 斯 多 葛 派 哲 学 哲 理 的总 和 。 在 希 腊 被 征 服 后 , 这 种 哲 学 在 罗 马 社 会 中 立 刻 有 了 长足 的 发 展 。 它 对 于 有 权 势 的 阶 级 有 着 自 然 的 魔 力 , 这 个 阶 级
的 人 们 至 少 在 理 论 上 还 墨 守 着 古 代 意 大 利 民 族 的 简 单 习 惯 ,
不 愿 意 使 自 己 屈 从 于 新 的 外 来 的 风 俗 习 惯 。 他 们 于 是 立 即 开
始 爱 好 斯 多 葛 派 关 于 按 照 自 然 而 生 活 的 训 戒 。 当 时 由 于 对 世
界 的 掠 夺 , 由 于 各 地 最 奢 侈 民 族 的 榜 样 , 罗 马 城 中 充 满 了 荡
佚 荒 淫 , 这 种 爱 好 , 相 比 之 下 , 益 加 可 喜 , 我 并 且 要 说 , 益
加 可 以 尊 贵 。 纵 使 我 们 不 能 从 历 史 上 来 加 以 证 实 , 但 我 们 仍
可 以 断 定 , 出 现 于 这 新 希 腊 学 派 门 徒 的 前 列 的 , 一 定 是 罗 马
法 学 家 。 我 们 有 大 量 证 据 , 证 明 在 罗 马 共 和 国 中 , 实 质 上 只
有 两 种 职 业 , 军 人 一 般 地 就 是 行 动 的 一 派 , 而 法 学 家 则 普 遍地 站 在 反 抗 派 的 前 列 。
法 学 家 同 斯 多 葛 派 哲 学 家 的 联 盟 , 延 续 到 数 世 纪 之 久 。 在一 系 列 的 著 名 法 学 专 家 中 , 其 最 早 的 几 个 名 人 都 同 斯 多 葛 学派 有 联 系 , 最 后 , 一 般 公 认 罗 马 法 律 学 的 黄 金 时 代 是 在 安 托宁 · 凯 撒 ( A n t o n i n e C Es a r s ) 的 时 代 , 而 他 们 就 是 从 这 派哲 学 中 取 得 一 种 生 活 规 则 的 最 著 名 的 门 徒 。 这 些 学 理 在 一 些从 事 特 殊 职 业 的 人 中 间 长 期 广 泛 传 播 , 必 然 要 影 响 他 们所执行 的 和 掌 握 的 艺 术 。 在 罗 马 法 学 专 家 的 遗 著 中 , 有 些论 点 简直 不 能 理 解 , 除 非 我 们 掌 握 了 斯 多 葛 派 的 哲 理 把 它 用 作 一 把
钥 匙 ; 但 同 时 , 如 果 我 们 只 计 算 那 些 肯 定 归 属 于 斯 多 葛 派 教
条 的 法 律 条 文 的 数 目 来 衡 量 斯 多 葛 学 派 对 于 罗 马 法 所 发 生 的
影 响 , 这 将 是 一 个 严 重 的 、 虽 然 是 很 普 通 的 错 误 。 一 般 人 以
为 , 斯 多 葛 学 派 的 力 量 并 不 在 其 规 定 的 行 为 准 则 中 , 因 为 这
些 准 则 常 是 可 厌 和 可 笑 的 , 而 是 在 于 伟 大 的 ( 虽 然 是 模 糊
的 ) 教 人 抑 制 情 欲 的 一 些 原 则 中 。 同 样 地 , 最 明 显 地 表 现 于
斯 多 葛 哲 学 上 的 希 腊 理 论 对 法 律 学 上 的 影 响 , 并 不 在 于 它 们
提 供 给 罗 马 法 的 特 殊 论 点 的 数 量 , 而 在 于 它 们 结 予 它 的 单 一
的 基 本 假 设 。 自 从 自 然 一 语 已 成 为 罗 马 人 口 头 上 一 个 家 喻 户
晓 的 名 词 以 后 , 这 样 一 种 信 念 便 逐 渐 在 罗 马 法 学 家 中 间 流 行
着 , 即 旧 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 实 际 是 已 经 失 去 的 “ 自 然 ” 法 典 , 至
于 “ 裁 判 官 ” 根 据 “ 万 民 法 ” 原 则 而 创 制 的 “ 告 令 ” 法 律 学 ,
则 正 在 逐 渐 恢 复 法 律 因 为 背 离 了 它 而 退 化 的 一 种 范 式 。 从 这
信 念 出 发 , 我 们 立 即 得 到 了 这 样 一 个 推 断 , 即 “ 裁 判 官 ” 有
责 任 尽 量 以 “ 告 令 ” 来 代 替 “ 市 民 法 ” , 尽 可 能 把 “ 自 然 ” 用
以 管 理 处 于 原 始 状 态 中 的 人 们 的 各 种 制 度 恢 复 过 来 。 当 然 , 用
这 个 媒 介 来 改 良 法 律 , 还 存 在 着 许 多 障 碍 。 甚 至 在 法 律 界 本
身 , 可 能 还 要 克 服 各 种 偏 见 , 而 罗 马 人 的 习 惯 也 是 非 常 固 执 ,
不 肯 很 快 屈 服 于 单 纯 的 哲 学 理 论 。 “ 告 令 ” 用 以 反 抗 某 种 专 门的 变 例 的 间 接 方 法 , 显 示 出 作 者 的 不 得 不 非 常 谨 慎 注 意,而且 直 到 查 斯 丁 尼 安 时 代 , 还 有 部 分 的 旧 法 固 执 地 拒 绝 它 的 影响 。 但 是 , 从 整 体 来 讲 , 罗 马 人 在 法 律 改 进 方 面 , 当 受 到“ 自 然 法 ” 的 理 论 的 刺 激 时 , 就 发 生 了 惊 人 迅 速 的 进 步 。 单 纯化 和 概 括 化 的 观 念 , 是 常 常 和 “ 自 然 ” 这 个 概 念 联 系 着 的 ; 因此 单 纯 匀 称 和 通 晓 易 懂 就 被 认 为 是 一 个 好 的 法 律 制 度 的 特点 , 过 去 对 于 复 杂 言 语 、 繁 褥 仪 式 和 不 必 要 困 难 的 好 尚,便完 全 消 除 。 罗 马 法 所 以 能 具 有 现 存 形 式 , 是 依 靠 着 查 斯 丁 尼安 的 坚 强 意 志 以 及 不 寻 常 的 机 会 , 但 是 制 度 的 基 本 图 形 , 则在 皇 帝 的 改 革 实 行 以 前 很 早 就 计 划 定 当 了 。
旧 “ 万 民 法 ” 与 “ 自 然 法 ” 之 间 , 真 确 切 的 接 触 之 点 是什 么 ? 我 以 为 它 们 是 通 过 原 来 意 义 的 “ 衡 平 ” ( Hq u i t a s ) 而接 触 和 混 合 的 ; 这 里 , 我 们 似 乎 在 法 律 学 上 第 一 次 遇 到“衡平 ” 这 个 著 名 的 名 词 。 在 研 究 一 个 来 源 如 此 古 远 、 历 史 如此悠 久 的 用 语 上 , 如 果 可 能 , 最 妥 当 的 办 法 是 深 追 最 初 隐 藏 这
概 念 的 简 单 隐 喻 或 比 喻 。 一 般 认 为 Hq u i t a s 就 是 希 腊 文
Iσ IDη � , 即 平 均 或 按 比 例 分 配 的 原 则 。 数 或 量 的 平 均 分 配 无 疑
地 是 和 我 们 对 公 正 的 理 解 密 切 地 交 织 在 一 起 的 ; 很 少 联 想 能
象 这 样 顽 固 地 坚 持 在 人 们 的 心 中 , 即 使 是 最 深 刻 的 思 想 家 也
很 难 把 它 从 脑 海 中 加 以 清 除 。 但 在 探 求 这 种 联 想 的 来 历 时 , 我
们 当 然 还 不 能 证 明 它 是 一 种 早 期 的 思 想 , 它 只 是 比 较 后 来 的
一 种 哲 学 的 产 物 , 同 时 也 必 须 注 意 , 希 腊 民 主 政 治 用 以 夸 耀
的 法 律 “ 平 等 ” — — 这 种 平 等 , 在 卡 利 斯 屈 拉 得 斯 ( G a l l i s t r a A
t u s ) 的 美 丽 的 酒 歌 中 , 据 说 是 哈 马 笛 斯 ( H a r m o d i u s ) 和 阿 利
斯 托 杰 顿 ( A r i s t o g i r o n ) 给 予 雅 典 人 的 — — 与 罗 马 人 的 “ 衡平 ” 很 少 共 同 之 处 。 前 者 表 示 在 公 民 中 间 平 等 施 行 民 事 法 律 ,
纵 使 公 民 这 一 个 阶 级 的 人 数 是 非 常 有 限 的 ; 后 者 的 含 义 是 把民 事 法 律 以 外 的 一 种 法 律 适 用 于 不 一 定 要 由 公 民 组 成 的 一 个
阶 级 。 前 者 不 包 括 暴 君 ; 后 者 包 括 着 外 国 人 , 在 某 种 情 况 下 ,并 且 包 括 奴 隶 。 总 的 讲 来 , 我 倾 向 于 从 另 外 一 个 角 度 来 探 求罗 马 “ 衡 平 ” 的 胚 种 。 拉 丁 文 “ Eq u u s ” 比 希 腊 文 “ Iσ F� ” 更明 确地 带 有平准 的 意 思 。 平 准 的 倾 向 正 是 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 特 点 ,这 种 倾 向 是 一 个 原 始 罗 马 人 最 注 意 的 。 纯 粹 的 “ 公 民 法 ” 承认 在 各 阶 级 人 类 和 各 种 类 财 产 之 间 有 大 量 的 武 断 的 区 分 ; 至于 把 许 多 不 同 习 惯 加 以 比 较 概 括 起 来 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 则 不 承 认“ 公 民 法 ” 的 这 些 区 分 。 例 如 , 古 罗 马 法 规 定 在 “ 宗 亲 ”( A g n a t i c ) 与 “ 血 亲 ” ( C o g n a t i c ) 关 系 之 间 具 有 一 种 根 本 的区 别 , 前 者 是 指 基 于 共 同 服 从 于 同 一 家 父 权 的 “ 家 族 ” , 后 者是 指 ( 按 照 现 代 的 观 点 ) 单 单 由 于 源 自 共 同 祖 先 的 事 实而结合 起 来 的 “ 家 族 ” 。 这 个 区 分 在 “ 各 国 共 有 法 律 ” 中 不 复 存 在,在 财 产 的 古 代 形 式 之 间 、 即 所 谓 “ 要 式 交 易 ” 物 ( T h i n g s “ M a n c i p i ” ) 与 “ 非 要 式 交 易 ” 物 ( T h i n g s “ n e c M a n c i p i ” ) 之 间 的 区 别 , 也 是 如 此 。 因 此 , 据 我 看 来 , 这 种 界限 不 清 , 就 是 以 “ 衡 平 ” 表 示 的 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 特 色 。 当 裁 判官 制 度 适 用 于 涉 及 外 国 诉 讼 人 的 案 件 时 , 常 常 发 生 有 要 求平准 或 排 除 不 规 则 的 必 要 , 我 猜 想 这 个 字 在 最 初 就 是 用 来 描 述
这 种 情 况 的 。 起 始 , 在 这 个 用 语 中 可 能 没 有 任 何 伦 理 的 色 彩 ;
也 没 有 任 何 理 由 可 以 相 信 它 所 指 的 诉 讼 程 序 就 不 是 原 始 罗 马
人 心 目 中 所 极 端 嫌 恶 的 诉 讼 程 序 , 而 是 另 一 种 诉 讼 程 序 。
在 另 一 方 面 , 罗 马 人 通 过 “ 衡 平 ” 这 个 名 词 所 理 解 的
“ 万 民 法 ” 的 特 点 , 正 就 是 对 假 想 中 的 自 然 状 态 的 第 一 次 和 最
鲜 明 地 感 觉 到 的 特 点 。 “ 自 然 ” 含 有 匀 称 秩 序 的 意 思 , 先 是 在物 质 世 界 中 , 而 后 是 在 道 德 世 界 中 , 而 对 秩 序 的 最 早 的 看 法 ,
无 疑 地 含 有 直 线 、 平 面 和 长 短 之 意 。 人 们 不 论 是 在 想 象 假 定
中 的 自 然 状 态 的 轮 廓 , 也 不 论 是 在 想 象 “ 各 国 共 有 法 律 ” 的
确 实 行 使 情 况 时 , 都 会 不 自 觉 地 想 到 这 种 同 样 种 类 的 图 画 或
数 字 , 并 且 我 们 所 知 道 的 关 于 原 始 思 想 的 知 识 , 会 使 我 们 达
到 这 样 一 个 结 论 , 即 这 种 想 象 上 的 相 似 性 很 可 能 会 促 使 我 们
相 信 这 两 种 概 念 在 实 际 上 是 一 同 事 。 可 是 , 虽 然 “ 万 民 法 ” 在
罗 马 在 事 前 很 少 有 或 者 没 有 什 么 声 望 , 但 是 当 “ 自 然 法 ” 的
理 论 被 介 绍 到 罗 马 时 , 带 来 了 高 度 的 哲 学 权 威 的 威 望 , 并 且
被 认 为 是 同 罗 马 民 族 较 早 和 更 幸 福 的 情 况 有 联 系 的 。 不 难 理
解 , 观 点 的 不 同 会 如 何 地 影 响 到 这 名 词 的 含 义 , 它 既 描 述 了
旧 原 则 的 运 用 , 又 描 述 了 新 理 论 的 结 果 。 即 在 现 代 的 人 看 来 ,
把 一 个 过 程 描 述 为 “ 平 准 ” 的 过 程 , 而 同 时 把 这 个 过 程 称 为
“ 变 例 的 纠 正 ” , 也 不 能 认 为 完 全 是 一 回 事 , 虽 然 两 者 的 含 义
确 切 地 讲 来 是 一 样 的 。 我 也 并 不 怀 疑 , 当 “ 衡 平 ” 一 经 被 理
解 为 具 有 希 腊 理 论 的 含 义 时 , 从 希 腊平均 ( Iσ IDη � ) 观 念 所 发生 的 各 种 联 想 , 便 开 始 环 绕 在 衡 平 的 周 围 。 西 塞 罗 的 言 论 把
它 夸 大 了 , 而 这 就 是 衡 平 这 个 概 念 发 生 变 质 的 第 一 个 阶 段 , 并
为 自 从 那 个 时 候 起 的 几 乎 每 一 个 伦 理 制 度 或 多 或 少 推 动 着 进行 的 。
这 里 必 须 说 明 一 下 , 起 初 同 “ 各 国 共 有 法 律 ” 发 生 联 系 、后 来 又 同 “ 自 然 法 ” 联 系 的 各 种 原 则 和 差 别 , 是 通 过 了 什 么正 式 手 段 而 逐 渐 结 合 到 罗 马 法 律 中 去 的 。 因 塔 垦 士( T a r q u i n s ) 的 被 放 逐 而 在 古 罗 马 史 上 引 起 的 危 机 中 , 发 生 了在 许 多 古 代 国 家 早 期 史 乘 中 相 类 似 的 一 种 变 化 , 但 这 种 变 化同 我 们 今 天 所 称 为 革 命 的 那 些 政 治 事 件 , 很 少 共 同 之 处 。 最妥 当 的 说 法 , 可 以 说 是 君 主 政 体 被 转 变 为 委 员 政 治 。 以 往 被集 中 在 一 个 人 手 中 的 权 力 , 现 在 被 分 配 给 了 许 多 选 任 官吏,王位 这 个 名 称 仍 旧 被 保 持 着 , 放 在 后 来 被 称 为 “ 献 身 王 ” (Re x S a r o r u m 或 R e x S a c r i f i c u l u s ) 的 一 个 人 物 身 上 。 变 化的 一 部 分 是 把 最 高 司 法 机 关 的 固 定 职 务 移 转 给 了 “ 裁 判 官 ” ,他 同 时 是 共 和 国 的 首 席 官 吏 , 跟 着 这 些 职 务 一 并 移 转 的 有法律 的 和 立 法 的 无 限 制 的 最 高 统 治 权 , 这 是 始 终 为 古 代 主权者所 掌 握 , 并 且 是 显 然 地 同 他 们 一 度 所 享 有 的 宗 法 的 和 英 雄 的
权 力 有 关 系 的 。 罗 马 当 时 的 情 况 , 使 这 些 被 移 转 的 职 能 中 这
个 比 较 不 确 定 的 部 分 特 别 显 得 重 要 , 因 为 , 随 着 共 和 国 的 建
立 , 迫 使 国 家 不 得 不 进 行 一 系 列 反 复 的 试 验 , 以 求 解 决 这 样
一 个 困 难 , 使 能 很 好 处 理 这 一 部 分 人 , 他 们 在 技 术 上 不 符 合
于 土 著 罗 马 人 的 标 准 , 但 却 长 期 隶 属 于 罗 马 审 判 权 之 内 。 在
这 类 人 之 间 或 在 这 类 人 和 土 著 公 民 之 间 所 发 生 的 争 执 , 如 果
“ 裁 判 官 ” 不 进 行 处 理 , 则 将 永 远 处 于 罗 马 法 所 能 提 供 的 救 济
的 范 围 之 外 。 随 着 商 业 的 扩 展 , 在 罗 马 人 民 和 真 正 的 外 国 人
之 间 发 生 了 更 为 严 重 的 纠 纷 , 不 久 也 迫 使 他 不 得 不 加 以 处 理 。
约 在 第 一 次 布 匿 战 争 ( P u n i c W a r ) 时 期 , 罗 马 法 院 中 这 类
案 件 的 数 量 , 大 量 增 加 , 当 时 就 任 命 了 一 个 专 任 “ 裁 判 官 ” 即
后 来 被 称 为 “ 外 事 裁 判 官 ” 的 ( P r Et o r P e r e g r i n n s ) 来 专 门
处 理 这 些 案 件 。 同 时 , 罗 马 人 为 了 预 防 暴 政 的 复 辟 , 使 职 责
范 围 有 逐 渐 扩 张 趋 势 的 每 一 个 高 级 官 史 在 他 就 职 之 时 , 公 布
一 个 “ 告 令 ” 或 布 告 , 在 这 个 “ 告 令 ” 或 布 告 中 , 他 把 他 负
责 部 门 的 管 理 方 式 公 布 出 来 。 “ 裁 判 官 ” 采 用 了 与 其 他 高 级 官吏 同 样 的 规 定 ; 但 每 年 规 定 一 套 原 则 制 度 , 必 然 是 不 可 能 的 ,
他 只 是 照 例 把 他 前 任 的 “ 告 令 ” 重 新 公 布 一 次 , 并 针 对 当 前
的 迫 切 需 要 或 根 据 他 自 己 对 于 法 律 的 见 解 , 作 一 些 增 加 或 者
变 更 。 这 样 每 年 由 于 新 增 部 分 的 不 断 加 长 , “ 裁 判 官 ” 告 令 就
获 得 了 “ 常 续 告 令 ” ( E d i c t u m P e r p e u u m ) 的 名 称 , 意 即连续的和不断的 告 令 。 它 的 无 限 长 度 , 再 加 上 了 它 结 构 必 然 地杂 乱 无 章 , 引 起 了 嫌 恶 , 使 一 次 次 往 上 增 加 的 习 惯 , 到 了 萨尔 维 士 · 犹 令 安 ( S a l v i u s J n l i a n u s ) 的 年 代 就 被 终 止 了 , 犹令 安 是 汉 德 林 皇 帝 ( E m p e r o r H a d r i a n ) 朝 代 的 一 个 高 级 官吏 。 这 一 个 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 告 令 便 包 括 了 全 部 的 衡 平 法 律 学 , 可能 被 用 了 新 的 和 均 称 的 顺 序 加 以 排 列 , 于 是 , 在 罗 马 法 中 , 常续 告 令 便 常 被 称 为 “ 犹 令 安 告 令 ” ( E d i c t o f J u l i a n u s ) 。
一 个 研 究 “ 告 令 ” 这 特 殊 机 构 的 英 国 人 , 可 能 会 发 生 的第 一 个 问 题 , 是 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 这 些 广 泛 权 力 , 究 竟 有 没 有 限制 的 范 围 ? 这 样 很 少 有 明 确 界 限 的 权 威 , 如 何 与 社 会 的 和 法律 的 稳 定 条 件 相 适 应 ? 要 求 得 一 个 答 案 , 只 有 通 过 详 细 研 究我 们 自 己 施 行 英 国 法 律 的 各 种 条 件 。 必 须 记 着 “ 裁 判 官 ” 本身 是 一 个 法 学 专 家 , 或 者 是 一 个 完 全 掌 握 在 都 是 些 法 学专家的 顾 问 手 中 的 人 , 那 就 很 可 能 , 每 一 个 罗 马 法 学 家 都 焦 急 地在 等 待 着 有 一 天 时 间 到 来 , 他 能 充 任 或 掌 握 这 伟 大 的 司 法 高级 官 职 。 在 这 期 间 内 , 他 的 嗜 好 、 情 感 、 偏 见 和 教 养 程度不可 避 免 地 是 属 于 他 自 己 阶 级 的 , 而 他 最 后 带 到 他 职 位 上 的 资格 也 必 然 是 他 在 职 业 的 实 践 和 研 究 中 所 获 得 的 。 每 一 个英国大 法 官 所 受 到 的 正 是 完 全 同 样 的 训 练 , 他 所 带 到 大 法 官 席 上的 正 是 同 样 的 资 格 。 在 他 就 任 时 就 可 以 决 定 , 到 他 离 职 前 必将 在 某 种 程 度 上 变 更 法 律 , 但 是 直 到 他 离 去 职 位 和 直 到 他 所
作 的 一 系 列 判 决 完 全 被 记 载 于 “ 法 律 记 录 ” 以 前 , 我 们 不 能
发 现 他 对 于 前 辈 所 遗 留 下 来 的 原 则 , 究 竟 有 了 多 少 的 简 明 或
增 加 。 “ 裁 判 官 ” 对 罗 马 法 的 影 响 , 和 我 们 所 不 同 的 , 只 在 其
结 果 被 确 定 的 期 间 。 像 前 面 已 说 过 的 , 他 的 任 期 只 有 一 年 , 而
他 在 任 期 以 内 所 作 的 判 决 , 虽 然 对 于 诉 讼 人 当 然 是 不 可 推 翻
的 , 但 此 外 就 没 有 别 的 价 值 。 因 此 , 他 宣 布 想 实 行 变 革 的 最
顺 利 的 时 期 即 是 在 他 就 “ 裁 判 官 ” 职 位 的 时 候 ; 所 以 , 他 在
就 职 时 公 开 地 做 的 , 正 是 其 英 国 代 表 在 最 后 不 声 不 响 和 有 时
不 自 觉 地 做 的 。 对 于 这 种 显 然 的 自 由 所 加 的 节 制 , 也 正 和 加
于 一 个 英 国 法 官 的 完 全 一 样 。 理 论 上 , 对 于 他 们 二 者 的 权 力 ,
似 乎 都 并 没 有 任 何 限 制 , 但 是 在 事 实 上 , 罗 马 “ 裁 判 官 ” 和
英 国 大 法 官 一 样 , 被 其 早 期 训 练 浸 润 的 先 入 之 见 以 及 职 业 论
点 的 有 力 抑 制 束 缚 在 极 其 狭 小 的 活 动 范 围 之 内 , 这 些 抑 制 的
严 格 程 度 非 身 受 者 是 不 能 体 会 的 。 应 该 附 加 说 明 的 , 那 许 可
行 动 的 范 围 以 及 其 不 准 逾 越 的 范 围 , 都 是 非 常 清 楚 地 被 标 明
的 。 在 英 国 , 法 官 遵 循 着 记 录 判 决 中 各 类 事 实 而 进 行 类 比 。 在
罗 马 , 由 于 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 干 预 在 最 初 仅 仅 是 为 了 关 心 社 会 的
安 全 , 那 就 很 可 能 , 在 最 早 的 时 候 , 干 预 的 多 少 决 定 于 它 所
必 须 解 决 的 困 难 的 程 度 。 后 来 , 当 “ 解 答 ” 引 起 了 大 家 对 于
原 则 的 兴 味 时 , 他 就 无 疑 地 利 用 “ 告 令 ” 作 为 一 种 手 段 , 来
广 泛 推 行 他 和 同 时 代 的 其 他 法 学 专 家 认 之 为 法 律 基 础 的 那 些
原 则 。 最 后 , 他 竟 完 全 处 在 希 腊 哲 学 理 论 的 影 响 之 下 , 这 些
理 论 立 即 推 动 他 前 进 , 并 把 他 局 限 于 一 个 特 殊 的 发 展 过 程 中 。
对 于 萨 尔 维 士 · 犹 令 安 所 采 取 的 措 施 的 性 质 , 有 很 多 的争 论 , 无 论 如 何 , 这 些 措 施 对 于 “ 告 令 ” 的 影 响 是 非 常 明 显的 。 “ 告 令 ” 不 再 因 每 年 有 所 增 加 而 延 长 。 在 这 以 后 , 罗 马 衡平 法 律 学 由 于 汉 德 林 朝 代 到 亚 力 山 大 · 赛 弗 拉 斯 ( A l e x a n d e r S e v e r u s ) 朝 代 一 系 列 伟 大 法 律 学 专 家 的 辛 勤 著 作 而 得 到 发展 。 他 们 所 建 立 起 来 的 奇 伟 制 度 , 在 查 斯 丁 尼 安 “ 法 学 汇纂 ” ( P a n d e c t s o f J u s t i n i a n ) 中 还 保 存 着 一 些 片 断 , 证 明 他们 的 著 作 采 用 了 论 文 的 形 式 讨 论 了 “ 罗 马 法 ” 的 全 部 , 但 主要 的 是 对 “ 告 令 ” 加 以 解 释 。 真 的 , 在 这 个 时 代 中 , 一 个 法学 专 家 不 论 其 处 理 的 是 什 么 , 他 总 可 以 称 为 是 “ 衡 平 法 ”的一 个 释 义 者 。 在 “ 告 令 ” 被 停 止 应 用 的 时 代 以 前 , “ 告 令 ” 的
原 则 已 经 渗 入 了 罗 马 法 律 学 的 每 一 个 部 门 。 必 须 了 解 , 罗 马
的 “ 衡 平 法 ” 纵 使 在 和 “ 市 民 法 ” 完 全 不 同 的 时 候 , 也 始 终
是 在 同 一 个 法 院 内 执 行 的 。 “ 裁 判 官 ” 是 普 通 法 的 大 官 吏 , 也
是 衡 平 法 的 首 席 法 官 , 并 且 一 到 “ 告 令 ” 发 展 成 为 一 种 衡 平
规 定 时 , “ 裁 判 官 ” 法 院 立 即 开 始 适 用 它 , 以 代 替 “ 市 民 法 ”
的 旧 规 定 , 或 者 与 其 同 时 适 用 , 这 样 旧 规 定 就 不 经 过 立 法 机关 的 立 法 行 为 而 直 接 或 间 接 地 被 废 弃 了 , 其 结 果 , 当 然只是法 律 与 衡 平 完 全 不 相 融 合 而 已 , 这 种 融 合 要 直 到 查 斯丁尼安改 革 时 方 才 实 现 。 法 律 学 上 这 两 个 要 素 在 技 术 上 的 分 割 , 必然 地 造 成 了 某 种 混 乱 和 不 便 , 而 “ 市 民 法 ” 中 有 些 比 较 顽固的 学 理 , 则 又 是 “ 告 令 ” 著 者 或 释 义 者 都 不 敢 加 以 干 涉 的。不过 在 同 时 , 在 法 律 学 的 领 域 内 , 几 乎 没 有 一 个 角 落 没 有 受 到“ 衡 平 法 ” 或 多 或 少 的 影 响 。 它 供 给 了 法 学 家 他 所 用 的 一 切 概括 材 料 、 所 用 的 解 释 方 法 、 他 对 原 理 的 释 明 , 以 及 大 量 的 限制 规 定 , 这 些 规 定 很 少 受 到 立 法 者 的 干 预 , 但 却 严 密 地 控 制着 每 一 个 立 法 法 案 的 应 用。
法 学 家 的 时 期 同 亚 力 山 大 · 赛 弗 拉 斯 同 时 告 终 。 从 汉 德林 到 这 个 皇 帝 时 为 止 , 法 律 在 继 续 不 断 地 改 进 着 , 正 如 现 在在 大 多 数 大 陆 国 家 中 一 样 , 一 部 分 通 过 审 定 的 解 释 , 一 部 分
通 过 直 接 立 法 。 但 在 亚 力 山 大 · 赛 弗 拉 斯 在 位 的 时 期 , “ 罗 马
衡 平 法 ” 的 发 展 力 量 似 乎 已 到 了 枯 竭 的 时 候 , 法 学 专 家 的 延
续 也 停 止 了 下 来 。 余 下 来 的 一 部 分 罗 马 法 律 史 是 君 主 立 法 史 ,
最 后 , 则 是 试 图 把 到 这 时 为 止 已 成 为 罗 马 法 律 学 的 这 个 庞 大
躯 体 编 成 法 典 的 历 史 时 期 。 这 样 一 种 最 后 的 和 最 著 名 的 试 验就 是 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 “ 民 法 大 全 ” 。
要 把 英 国 的 和 罗 马 的 衡 平 法 详 细 地 加 以 比 较 或 对 照 , 是一 件 冗 长 可 厌 的 事 , 但 有 必 要 提 出 它 们 所 共 有 的 两 个 特 点 。 第一 个 特 点 是 这 样 的 。 它 们 都 倾 向 于 、 并 且 所 有 这 类 制 度 都 是这 样 地 倾 向 于 和 旧 普 通 法 第 一 次 为 衡 平 法 所 干 涉 时 的 那 种 状态 完 全 一 样 的 状 态 。 这 样 一 个 时 期 是 必 然 会 到 来 的 , 就 是 原来 采 用 的 道 德 原 则 已 经 发 挥 出 了 所 有 的 合 法 的 结 果 , 于 是 , 建筑 在 这 些 道 德 原 则 上 面 的 制 度 , 就 会 像 最 严 峻 的 法 律 法 典 那样 地 生 硬 、 那 样 地 没 有 伸 缩 、 那 样 地 不 得 不 落 后 于 道 德 的 进步 。 在 罗 马 , 这 样 一 个 时 期 正 是 亚 力 山 大 · 赛 弗 拉 斯 在 位 的时 期 ; 在 这 以 后 , 虽 然 整 个 罗 马 世 界 正 在 经 历 着 一 次 道德革命 , 但 “ 罗 马 衡 平 法 ” 已 停 止 扩 展 。 英 国 法 律 史 达 到 这同一阶 段 时 , 正 是 大 法 官 厄 尔 顿 爵 士 在 职 的 时 候 , 在 我 们的衡平法 官 中 , 他 是 第 一 个 人 不 但 不 用 间 接 立 法 的 方 法 来 扩 大 其法院 的 法 律 学 , 并 且 终 其 身 致 力 于 解 释 它 和 协 调 它 。 如 果 法 律史 的 哲 学 会 在 英 国 被 更 好 地 理 解 , 则 厄 尔 顿 爵 士 的 贡 献 , 将不 会 像 同 时 代 法 学 家 对 待 它 那 样 , 一 方 面 加 以 夸 张 而 另 一 方面 则 不 予 重 视 。 还 有 其 他 各 种 误 解 , 曾 发 生 某 种 实 际 效 果 的 ,也 许 可 能 会 得 到 避 免 。 英 国 法 学 家 很 容 易 看 出 , “ 英 国 衡 平法 ” 是 建 筑 在 道 德 规 则 上 的 一 种 制 度 ; 但 是 却 忘 记 了 这 些 规则 是 过 去 几 世 纪 的 — — 而 不 是 现 在 的 — — 道 德 , 忘 记 了 这 些
规 则 已 经 几 乎 尽 它 们 所 能 的 受 到 了 多 方 面 的 应 用 , 并 且 忘 记
了 它 们 虽 然 同 我 们 今 天 的 伦 理 信 条 当 然 并 没 有 很 大 的 区 别 ,
但 它 们 并 不 一 定 同 我 们 今 天 的 伦 理 信 条 处 在 同 一 个 水 平 上 。
一 般 人 对 于 这 个 主 题 所 采 用 的 各 种 理 论 并 不 完 全 , 这 造 成 了
两 种 相 反 的 误 解 。 许 多 研 究 “ 衡 平 法 ” 的 著 者 , 看 到 了 这 个
制 度 在 今 日 的 完 整 状 态 , 竟 然 会 明 显 地 或 暗 示 地 自 陷 于 这 样
一 种 矛 盾 的 说 法 , 即 认 为 衡 平 法 律 学 的 始 创 人 在 奠 定 第 一 块
墙 基 时 , 就 已 经 筹 划 着 它 今 日 的 固 定 形 式 。 而 另 外 一 些 人 则
抱 怨 着 — — 这 是 一 种 时 常 在 法 庭 辩 论 中 提 到 的 不 平 — — 以 为
衡 平 法 院 所 执 行 的 道 德 规 定 已 不 完 全 合 乎 今 日 的 伦 理 标 准 。
他 们 希 望 每 一 个 大 法 官 对 法 律 学 所 做 的 , 能 完 全 和 英 国 衡 平
法 的 先 辈 们 对 旧 普 通 法 所 做 的 一 样 。 但 这 是 和 促 使 法 律 改 进的 媒 介 顺 序 , 恰 恰 相 反 的 。 衡 平 法 自 有 它 的 地 位 和 它 的 时 期 ;但 我 在 前 面 已 经 指 出 了 , 当 衡 平 法 的 活 力 消 耗 完 了 时 , 另 一个 手 段 已 经 准 备 好 来 继 承 它 了 。
英 国 和 罗 马 衡 平 法 还 有 另 一 个 显 著 的 共 同 特 点 , 即 原 来用 以 辩 护 衡 平 主 张 比 法 律 规 定 优 越 的 这 个 假 定 , 是 虚 伪 的 。 对于 人 们 , 不 论 是 个 人 或 是 集 体 , 没 有 东 西 比 把 他 们 的 道德进步 认 作 一 个 实 体 的 现 实 性 , 更 可 厌 恶 的 了 。 这 种 厌 恶 情 绪 , 就个 人 而 言 , 表 现 在 过 分 的 尊 敬 , 这 种 过 分 的 尊 敬 通 常 是 只 用以 对 一 致 性 的 这 个 可 疑 的 美 德 的 。 全 社 会 集 体 意 见 的 动 向 是非 常 明 显 , 不 应 加 以 忽 视 的 , 并 且 一 般 是 非 常 明 显 地 为 了 求得 进 步 不 应 加 以 诋 毁 的 ; 但 是 社 会 上 有 一 种 巨 大 的 阻 力,不愿 接 受 它 , 把 它 作 为 一 种 原 始 现 象 来 对 待 , 而 一 般 都 只 把 它解 释 为 恢 复 一 个 失 去 的 至 善 ( L o s t p e r f e c t i o n ) — — 逐 渐 回返 到 民 族 未 堕 落 以 前 的 状 态 。 这 种 向 后 而 不 是 向 前 去 寻 求 道德 进 步 目 标 的 倾 向 , 像 我 们 已 看 到 的 , 在 古 代 就 对 罗 马 法 律学 产 生 了 最 深 远 的 影 响 。 罗 马 法 学 专 家 为 了 要 说 明 “ 裁 判官 ” 对 法 律 学 所 作 的 改 进 , 从 希 腊 借 用 了 一 个 人 类 “ 自 然 ” 状态 — — 一 个 “ 自 然 ” 社 会 — — 的 学 理 , 这 种 自 然 社 会 是 出 现于 由 现 实 法 统 治 的 社 会 组 织 之 前 的 社 会 。 另 一 方 面 在 英 国 , 则用 一 些 特 别 适 合 于 当 时 英 国 人 口 味 的 观 念 , 来 解 释 “ 衡 平法 ” 主 张 的 优 于 普 通 法 , 这 些 观 念 假 定 国 王 作 为 其 宗 主 权 的自 然 结 果 , 是 应 该 被 推 定 为 具 有 监 督 公 正 执 行 的 一 般 权 利 的 ,过 去 有 这 样 一 种 旧 的 学 理 , 认 为 “ 衡 平 法 ” 来 自 国 王 的 良 心— — 这 种 改 进 在 实 际 上 已 经 发 生 在 被 指 为 主 权 者 在 道 德 意 义上 的 一 个 固 有 的 提 高 的 社 会 道 德 标 准 中 了 , 这 种 见 解 是 和 前述 的 见 解 相 同 的 , 不 过 表 现 于 一 种 不 同 的 和 一 种 更 为 离奇古怪 的 方 式 中 而 已 。 英 国 宪 法 的 发 展 , 使 这 种 一 条 理 论 在 过 了一 个 时 期 以 后 , 就 不 合 口 味 ; 但 是 , 衡 平 法 院 的 审 判 权在当时 既 然 已 经 是 坚 定 地 确 定 了 , 那 就 没 有 另 设 任 何 正 式代 替 物的 必 要 。 在 现 代 教 科 书 中 , 关 于 “ 衡 平 法 ” 的 理 论 是 多 种多样 的 , 但 都 是 同 样 的 不 足 取 。 其 中 绝 大 部 分 都 只 是 把 罗马的自 然 法 学 理 加 以 改 头 换 面 , 尤 其 是 那 些 著 者 , 他 们 在 开 始 讨论 衡 平 法 院 的 审 判 权 时 就 在 自 然 公 正 和 民 事 公 正 之 间 加 以 明白 的 区 分 , 那 真 是 把 罗 马 自 然 法 学 理 的 要 旨 全 部 采 纳 了 。
第 四 章 自 然 法 的 现 代 史
从 前 面 所 说 的 , 可 以 推 断 , 改 变 罗 马 法 律 学 的 理 论 决 不能 被 认 为 有 哲 学 上 的 正 确 性 。 这 种 理 论 事 实 上 包 括 了 “ 思 想的 混 合 方 式 ” 之 一 , 这 种 所 谓 思 想 的 混 合 方 式 现 在 被 认为是人 类 思 想 初 期 的 最 高 思 想 的 特 点 , 同 时 也 是 我 们 今 天 的 智 慧的 努 力 所 不 难 发 现 的 。 “ 自 然 法 ” 把 “ 过 去 ” 与 “ 现 在 ” 混 淆起 来 了 。 逻 辑 上 , 它 意 味 着 曾 经 一 度 由 自 然 法 支 配 的 一 种 “ 自 然 ” 状 态 ; 但 法 学 专 家 并 不 明 白 地 或 确 信 地 说 到 过 有 这 样一 个 状 态 存 在 , 这 种 状 态 除 了 偶 然 在 幻 想 黄 金 时 代 的 诗 歌 中能 发 现 外 , 的 确 也 绝 少 为 古 人 们 所 注 意 到 。 自 然 法 从 实 际 效果 讲 , 是 属 于 现 代 的 产 物 , 和 现 存 制 度 交 织 在 一 起 的 东 西 , 是一 个 有 资 格 的 观 察 家 可 以 从 现 存 制 度 中 区 分 出 来 的 东 西 。 把“ 自 然 ” 的 法 规 从 同 这 些 法 规 混 淆 在 一 起 的 各 种 粗 陋 成 分 中 分离 开 来 的 鉴 别 方 法 , 是 一 种 单 纯 和 调 和 的 感 觉 。 但 是 这 些 经过 提 炼 出 来 的 原 素 所 以 能 受 到 重 视 , 却 并 不 是 由 于 它 们 的 单纯 和 调 和 , 而 是 由 于 它 们 来 自 太 古 的 “ 自 然 ” 统 治 。 这 种 混淆 并 没 有 为 法 学 专 家 的 现 代 学 生 们 成 功 地 解 释 清 楚 , 而 对
“ 自 然 法 ” 提 出 的 一 些 近 代 纯 理 论 中 暴 露 出 来 的 认 识 模 糊 、 用
语 含 混 不 清 之 处 , 实 际 上 远 比 我 们 公 正 地 责 咎 于 罗 马 法 学 家
的 还 要 来 得 厉 害 。 有 些 研 究 这 个 主 题 的 著 者 , 认 为 “ 自 然 ” 法
典 存 在 于 将 来 , 是 所 有 民 事 法 律 正 在 走 向 的 目 的 , 他 们 企 图用 这 种 方 法 来 避 免 基 本 的 困 难 , 但 是 这 非 但 同 旧 理 论 所 根 据的 假 设 完 全 相 反 , 而 且 也 许 混 杂 了 两 种 自 相 矛 盾 的 理 论 。 这种 不 问 过 去 只 向 将 来 寻 求 完 善 典 型 的 倾 向 , 是 由 基 督 教 带 到这 世 界 上 来 的 , 古 代 文 学 很 少 或 者 没 有 暗 示 过 这 样 一 种 信 念 ,即 认 为 社 会 进 步 必 然 地 是 从 坏 到 好 的 。
但 是 , 这 个 理 论 在 哲 学 上 虽 然 有 其 缺 陷 , 我 们 却 不 能 因此 而 忽 视 其 对 于 人 类 的 重 要 性 。 真 的 , 如 果 自 然 法 没 有 成 为古 代 世 界 中 一 种 普 遍 的 信 念 , 这 就 很 难 说 思 想 的 历 史 、 因 此也 就 是 人 类 的 历 史 , 究 竟 会 朝 哪 一 个 方 向 发 展 了 。
法 律 以 及 由 法 律 结 合 在 一 起 的 社 会 , 在 其 幼 稚 时 代 , 似乎 很 容 易 遭 受 两 种 特 殊 危 险 。 其 中 之 一 是 , 法 律 可 能 发 展 得太 快 。 在 比 较 进 步 的 希 腊 社 会 中 , 它 们 的 法 典 就 发 生 过这 种情 形 , 这 些 法 典 用 惊 人 的 速 度 从 繁 杂 的 程 序 形 式 和 不 必 需 的术 语 中 解 脱 出 来 , 并 且 不 久 以 后 就 使 各 种 严 峻 的 规 定 和 规 则上 不 再 依 附 着 任 何 迷 信 色 彩 。 它 们 这 样 做 , 其 本 意 并 不 是 为了 人 类 的 最 终 利 益 , 虽 然 因 此 而 使 其 公 民 获 得 的 直 接 好 处 可能 是 相 当 大 的 。 国 民 性 中 最 罕 见 的 特 性 之 一 , 是 这 样 的 来 应用 和 制 定 法 律 的 能 力 , 即 一 方 面 在 达 到 抽 象 公 正 中 忍 受 着 不断 地 发 生 的 错 误 , 而 在 同 时 却 不 丧 失 法 律 可 能 符 合 于 一 个 较高 理 想 的 希 望 或 愿 望 。 希 腊 的 思 想 家 本 其 高 贵 的 和 顺 应的特性 , 没 有 把 自 己 局 限 在 窄 狭 的 法 律 公 式 中 ; 我 们 对 于 雅 典 平民 法 院 的 工 作 情 况 掌 握 着 正 确 的 知 识 , 如 果 我 们 用 雅 典 平 民法 院 来 推 测 希 腊 的 法 院 , 则 我 们 可 以 知 道 , 在 希 腊 法 院 中 有着 非 常 强 有 力 的 倾 向 把 法 律 与 事 实 混 淆 在 一 起 。 当 时 “ 演 说家 ”的 遗 著 , 以 及 亚 里 士 多 德在 “ 修辞 学 论 ”中 所 保 存 的 法 庭 语 录 , 显示 出 当 时 对 纯 粹 的 法 律 问 题 往 往 是 用 可 能 影 响 法 官 心 理 的 各 种 理 由 来 进 行 辩 论 的 。 通 过 这 种 方 法 , 不 可 能 产 生 持 久 的 法律 学 制 度 。 一 个 社 会 对 于 某 些 特 殊 案 件 , 为 了 要 得 到 一 个 理想 的 完 美 的 判 决 , 就 毫 不 迟 疑 的 把 阻 碍 着 完 美 判 决 的 成 文 法律 规 定 变 通 一 下 , 如 果 这 个 社 会 确 有 任 何 司 法 原 则 可 以传诸后 世 , 那 它 所 能 传 下 来 的 司 法 原 则 只 可 能 仅 仅 是 包 括 着 当 时正 在 流 行 的 是 非 观 念 。 这 种 法 律 学 就 不 能 具 有 为 后 世 比 较 进步 的 概 念 所 能 适 合 的 骨 架 。 充 其 量 , 它 只 是 在 带 有 缺 点 的 文明 之 下 成 长 起 来 的 一 种 哲 学 而 已 。
很 少 民 族 社 会 的 法 律 学 曾 受 到 这 种 或 则 过 早 成 熟 或 则 时机 未 熟 就 已 经 瓦 解 的 特 殊 危 险 的 威 胁 。 究 竟 罗 马 人 有 没 有 受到 过 它 的 严 重 威 胁 , 当 然 还 不 能 确 定 , 但 是 无 论 如 何 ,罗马人 在 其 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 理 论 中 是 有 着 适 当 的 保 护 的 。 因 为法学专 家 显 明 地 把 “ 自 然 法 ” 想 象 为 一 种 应 该 逐 渐 吸 收 各 种民事法 律 的 制 度 , 但 是 在 民 事 法 律 还 没 有 被 废 弃 以 前 , 自 然 法 却不 能 把 它 们 取 而 代 之 。 在 国 外 自 然 法 是 没 有 这 种 神 圣 不可侵犯 的 印 象 的 , 就 是 只 要 向 它 提 出 申 诉 就 有 可 能 使 处 理 特 定 诉讼 案 件 的 法 官 的 心 理 为 之 折 服 。 这 个 概 念 的 所 以 有 其 价 值 和作 用 , 是 因 为 它 能 使 人 在 想 象 中 出 现 一 个 完 美 法 律 的 典 型 , 它并 且 能 够 鼓 舞 起 一 种 要 无 限 地 接 近 于 它 的 希 望 , 而 在 同 时 , 对于 还 没 有 适 应 于 这 个 理 论 的 那 些 现 存 法 律 义 务 , 它 又 从 不 使法 律 实 务 者 或 市 民 加 以 否 认 。 同 样 重 要 的 , 应 该 看 到 , 这 个模 范 制 度 同 许 多 在 以 后 时 期 曾 嘲 弄 过 人 们 的 希 望 的 制 度 不同 , 并 不 完 全 是 幻 想 的 产 物 。 从 来 没 有 人 把 它 看 作 是 建 筑 在完 全 没 有 经 过 考 验 的 原 则 之 上 的 。 一 般 的 看 法 , 它 是 现 存 法律 的 基 础 , 并 且 一 定 要 通 过 现 存 法 律 才 能 找 到 它 。 它 的 职 能 ,简 单 地 讲 , 是 补 救 性 的 , 而 不 是 革 命 性 的 或 无 政 府 状 态 的 。 这一 点 , 不 幸 地 , 恰 恰 就 是 现 代 对 于 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 见 解 常 常 不再 和 古 代 见 解 相 同 的 地 方 。
社 会 在 幼 年 时 代 要 招 惹 到 的 另 外 一 种 危 险 , 曾 阻 碍 了 或停 住 了 更 大 一 部 分 人 类 的 进 步 。 原 始 法 律 的 僵 硬 性 , 主 要 是由 于 它 同 宗 教 的 早 期 联 系 和 同 一 性 而 造 成 的 , 这 种 僵 硬 性 曾
把 大 多 数 人 在 生 活 和 行 为 上 的 见 解 束 缚 住 , 使 它 们 和 人 们 的惯 例 第 一 次 被 固 定 为 有 系 统 形 式 时 的 见 解 一 样 。 世 界 上 只 有
一 二 个 民 族 由 于 奇 异 的 命 运 才 能 使 它 们 免 除 了 这 种 不 幸 , 而
从 这 些 民 族 所 出 的 支 系 曾 丰 富 了 少 数 现 代 社 会 , 但 是 情 况 仍
旧 是 这 样 : 在 大 部 分 世 界 中 , 只 有 墨 守 着 由 原 始 立 法 者 所 设
计 的 最 初 计 划 , 法 律 才 能 达 到 其 完 美 性 。 如 果 在 这 类 情 形 中 ,
智 慧 确 曾 对 法 律 发 生 过 影 响 , 那 它 能 一 致 地 以 之 自 夸 的 , 就
是 它 能 在 古 原 文 的 基 础 上 , 求 得 种 种 机 巧 的 牵 强 附 会 的 结 论 ,
而 在 其 文 字 性 质 上 却 毫 无 显 著 的 背 离 。 我 找 不 出 任 何 理 由 , 为
什 么 罗 马 法 律 会 优 于 印 度 法 律 , 假 使 不 是 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 理 论
给 了 它 一 种 与 众 不 同 的 优 秀 典 型 。 在 这 个 稀 有 的 事 例 中 , 这
个 由 于 其 他 原 因 而 注 定 了 对 人 类 发 生 巨 大 影 响 的 社 会 , 把 单
纯 和 匀 称 作 为 其 心 目 中 一 个 理 想 的 和 绝 对 的 完 美 法 律 的 特
证 。 一 个 国 家 或 者 一 个 职 业 在 其 力 求 改 进 时 , 如 果 能 有 一 个
明 显 的 要 达 到 的 目 标 , 其 重 要 性 是 不 能 忽 视 的 。 在 过 去 三 十
年 间 , 边 沁 之 所 以 能 在 英 国 发 生 巨 大 影 响 , 其 秘 密 就 是 在 于他 能 成 功 地 把 这 样 一 个 目 的 , 向 国 人 提 出 。 他 给 我 们 一 个 明白 的 改 良 规 则 。 前 一 世 纪 中 的 英 国 法 学 家 是 敏 锐 的 , 当 然 不致 于 会 被 这 样 一 个 似 是 而 非 的 言 论 所 蒙 蔽 , 以 为 英 国 法 律 是人 类 完 美 的 理 想 , 但 是 由 于 缺 乏 任 何 其 他 原 则 可 资 依 据 , 他们 在 行 动 上 似 乎 就 相 信 着 这 样 一 个 说 法 。 边 沁 提 出 社 会 幸 福 ,
把 它 作 为 优 先 于 其 他 一 切 的 首 要 目 的 , 这 样 , 就 使 一 个 长 期以 来 正 在 寻 找 出 路 的 洪 流 , 得 到 了 发洩 。
如 果 我 们 把 前 面 所 描 述 的 假 定 作 为 边 沁 主 义 的 古 代 对 称物 , 这 不 能 说 是 完 全 出 于 妄 想 的 一 种 比 较 。 罗 马 理 论 引 导 人们 努 力 的 方 向 , 正 和 这 个 英 国 人 计 划 的 理 论 所 导 致 的 方 向 , 完全 相 同 ; 罗 马 理 论 的 实 际 结 果 , 同 主 张 坚 决 地 追 求 社 会 一 般幸 福 的 改 良 法 学 派 所 可 能 达 到 的 结 果 , 不 致 于 有 很 大 的 区 别 。但 如 果 认 为 这 个 理 论 是 边 沁 原 则 的 有 意 识 的 豫 期 , 则 是一种错 误 。 毫 无 疑 义 , 在 罗 马 的 普 通 文 献 和 法 律 文 献 中 ,确有时以 人 类 幸 福 作 为 补 救 立 法 的 正 当 目 的 , 但 如 果 拿 有 关 这 个 原则 的 证 据 , 同 不 断 地 给 予 “ 自 然 法 ” 笼 盖 一 切 的 主 张 的 颂扬相 比 , 则 前 者 是 显 著 地 少 而 无 力 的 。 罗 马 法 学 专 家 所 甘 心 悦
服 的 , 不 是 近 似 博 爱 的 东 西 , 而 是 它 们 的 单 纯 和 调 和 之 感 — —
就 是 他 们 意 味 深 长 地 称 为 “ 文 雅 ” 的 东 西 。 他 们 辛 勤 劳 力 的
结 果 , 恰 和 一 个 更 精 确 的 哲 学 所 企 求 的 相 一 致 , 这 正 是 人 类
好 运 的 一 部 分 。
回 过 头 来 看 自 然 法 的 现 代 史 , 我 们 断 然 相 信 它 的 影 响 是
广 泛 深 入 的 , 但 这 种 影 响 的 是 好 是 坏 , 则 就 比 较 难 以 坚 定 地
加 以 肯 定 。 同 它 有 关 的 各 种 学 说 和 制 度 , 是 在 我 们 时 代 中 争
论 最 剧 烈 的 一 些 资 料 。 譬 如 说 , “ 自 然 法 ” 理 论 是 一 切 特 殊 观
念 如 法 律 、 政 治 与 社 会 的 渊 源 , 在 过 去 一 百 年 间 通 过 法 国 而传 遍 西 方 世 界 。 法 学 家 在 法 国 史 上 所 占 有 的 地 位 以 及 法 律 概
念 在 法 国 思 想 中 所 占 的 领 域 , 始 终 是 非 常 巨 大 的 。 但 现 代 欧
洲 的 法 律 科 学 , 其 起 源 实 在 不 是 在 法 国 , 而 是 在 意 大 利 , 在
意 大 利 各 大 学 的 使 者 在 大 陆 各 地 创 设 的 和 企 图 ( 虽 然 结 果 是
徒 劳 的 ) 在 我 岛 国 创 立 的 学 校 中 , 建 立 在 法 国 的 学 校 对 这 个
国 家 的 命 运 产 生 了 最 大 的 影 响 。 当 时 的 法 国 法 学 家 立 即 同 加佩 皇 族 ( h o u s e o f C a p e t ) 的 国 王 们 结 成 了 密 切 的 联 盟 , 而法 兰 西 君 主 国 之 所 以 能 从 省 邦 和 藩 属 的 割 据 状 态 中 成 长 起来 , 一 方 面 固 然 是 由 于 武 力 , 同 时 也 借 助 他 们 对 帝 王 特 权 的主 张 以 及 他 们 对 封 建 承 继 规 则 的 解 释 。 法 国 国 王 们 同 法 律 家之 间 的 谅 解 , 使 国 王 们 在 对 大 封 建 主 、 贵 族 和 教 会 的 斗 争 中
取 得 巨 大 的 利 益 , 我 们 只 要 研 究 一 下 直 到 中 世 纪 还 在 欧 洲 流
行 着 的 各 种 观 念 就 能 够 体 会 到 这 一 点 。 首 先 是 对 于 概 括 的 非
常 醉 心 以 及 对 于 一 般 命 题 的 出 奇 的 崇 拜 , 因 此 , 在 法 律 的 分
野 内 , 对 于 看 上 去 似 乎 能 包 含 和 总 括 在 各 地 区 作 为 惯 例 实 行
的 许 多 各 别 规 则 的 每 一 条 一 般 公 式 就 都 油 然 而 产 生 一 种 虔 敬
之 心 。 像 这 样 一 类 的 一 般 公 式 , 对 于 熟 习 “ 民 法 大 全 ” 或
“ 注 释 集 ” 的 法 律 实 务 者 说 来 , 当 然 是 不 难 尽 量 提 供 的 。 但 是
此 外 还 有 其 他 原 因 使 法 学 家 的 权 力 有 更 大 的 增 加 。 在 我 们 所
谈 到 的 时 期 中 , 对 于 成 文 法 律 究 竟 有 怎 样 程 度 和 怎 样 性 质 的
权 力 , 在 观 念 上 是 普 遍 地 模 糊 的 。 一 般 讲 来 , 独 断 的 序 言 ,兹规定 ( I t a s c r i p t u m e s t ) , 似 乎 即 足 以 止 息 所 有 的 异 议 。 按
照 我 们 今 日 的 心 意 , 我 们 对 于 所 引 证 的 公 式 , 必 将 审 慎 地 加
以 研 究 , 查 询 其 来 源 , 必 要 时 并 会 否 认 它 所 属 的 法 律 有 代 替
当 地 习 惯 之 权 , 但 前 辈 法 学 家 可 能 就 不 敢 这 样 做 , 他 们 只 是考 究 一 下 法 律 的 规 定 是 否 可 以 适 用 , 充 其 量 , 也 只 是 从 “ 法
学 汇 纂 ” 或 “ 寺 院 法 ” 中 引 一 些 相 反 的 命 题 而 已 。 对 于 各 种
法 律 争 论 中 这 个 最 重 要 的 方 面 人 们 看 法 的 变 化 无 定 , 必 须 牢
记 在 心 中 , 因 为 这 不 但 可 以 帮 助 说 明 法 学 家 对 于 帝 王 出 过 一
臂 之 力 , 同 时 也 可 以 使 几 个 古 怪 的 历 史 问 题 得 以 阐 明 。 “ 伪 教皇 教 令 集 ” ( F o r g e d D e c r e t a l s ) 著 者 的 动 机 以 及 他 的 非 常 成功 , 也 能 因 此 而更 加 容 易 领 会 。 再 就 一 个 关 系 较 小 的 现 象 而论 , 它 能 够 帮 助 我 们 、 虽 然 只 是 部 分 地 , 了 解 布 拉 克 顿 的 抄袭 主 义 。 这 个 生 活 在 亨 利 三 世 ( H e n r y Ⅲ ) 时 代 的 英 国 著 者 ,竟 会 把 他 的 一 篇 全 部 形 式 和 三 分 之 一 内 容 直 接 剽 窃 自 “ 民 法大 全 ” 的 论 文 , 作 为 纯 粹 国 英 法 的 纲 要 , 而 向 其 同 胞 宣 扬 。 他竟 敢 在 正 式 禁 止 系 统 地 研 究 罗 马 法 的 一 个 国 家 内 作 这 样 的 试验 , 这 在 法 学 史 上 将 始 终 成 为 一 个 最 不 可 解 之 谜 。 但 当 我 们了 解 到 当 时 对 于 成 文 法 律 有 拘 束 力 的 一 般 意 见 , 不 论 其 来 源 如 何 , 则 我 们 的 惊 异 是 仍 旧 可 以 略 为 减 少 的 。
当 法 国 的 国 王 们 在 长 期 争 取 最 高 统 治 权 的 斗 争 中 得 到 胜
利 的 结 束 时 , 约 相 当 于 瓦 罗 亚 · 安 古 伦 ( V a l o i s A n g o u l e Jm e ) 王 族 继 承 皇 位 的 时 候 , 法 国 法 学 家 的 地 位 是 特 殊 的 , 并 且 延续 到 革 命 暴 发 为 止 。 一 方 面 , 他 们 形 成 了 国 内 最 有 教 养 的 并且 是 最 有 势 力 的 阶 级 。 他 们 尽 量 利 用 他 们 在 封 建 贵 族 以 外 的
一 个 特 殊 阶 级 的 地 位 , 他 们 并 且 通 过 了 一 个 组 织 把 他 们 的 职
业 分 布 到 全 法 国 来 确 保 他 们 的 影 响 , 这 个 组 织 包 括 许 多 巨 大
的 特 许 公 司 , 具 有 广 泛 而 明 确 的 权 力 , 以 及 更 为 广 泛 无 限 制
的 发 言 权 。 不 论 他 们 所 担 任 的 是 辩 护 人 , 是 法 官 , 或 是 立 法
者 , 在 其 性 质 上 他 们 都 远 超 过 全 欧 洲 的 同 辈 。 他 们 的 法 律 技巧 , 他 们 的 能 言 善 辩 , 他 们 的 善 于 类 比 和 调 和 , 以 及 ( 如 果以 他 们 中 最 著 名 的 人 物 来 评 定 ) 他 们 对 公 正 概 念 的 热 诚 , 正和 他 们 所 赋 有 的 各 式 各 样 的 独 特 天 才 , 同 样 是 十 分 引 人 注 意的 。 在 这 多 样 的 天 才 中 包 括 着 由 古 乍 斯 ( C u j a s ) 到 孟 德 斯 鸠 ,由 达 该 素 ( D ’ A g u e s s e a u ) 到 都 漠 兰 ( D u m o u l i n ) 的 两 个 相反 的 极 端 之 间 的 全 部 人 物 。 但 是 在 另 一 方 面 , 他 们 必 须 执 行
的 法 律 制 度 , 则 与 他 们 所 养 成 的 习 性 完 全 不 同 。 这 个 主 要 经
由 他 们 的 努 力 而 组 成 的 法 国 , 当 时 从 一 种 畸 形 的 和 不 协 调 的
法 律 学 受 到 的 苦 恼 , 远 超 过 了 其 他 的 任 何 欧 洲 国 家 。 一 次 巨
大 的 分 裂 终 于 在 这 个 国 家 发 生 , 把 它 分 为成文法区域和习惯 ·
法 ·
区域,前 者 承 认 成 文 的 罗 马 法 为 其 法 律 学 的 基 础 , 后 者 只
在 它 能 提 供 一 般 表 现 形 式 或 是 它 能 提 供 同 当 地 惯 例 相 一 致 的
法 律 推 理 方 法 时 , 才 加 以 采 用 。 这 样 划 分 的 区 域 , 又 被 划 分为 不 同 的 小 区 域 。 在习惯法区域中 , 就 其 习 惯 的 性 质 来 说 、 省与 省 之 间 不 同 , 县 与 县 之 间 、 市 与 市 之 间 又 有 不 同 。 在成文法区域 中 , 掩 盖 在 罗 马 法 上 面 的 封 建 规 则 , 具 层 次 组 成 亦 非常 复 杂 。 英 国 从 来 没 有 发 生 过 这 样 的 混 乱 情 况 。 在 德 国,这种 情 况 曾 经 存 在 , 但 因 为 和 该 国 政 治 宗 教 间 的 深 刻 划 分 , 在很 大 程 度 上 是 非 常 协 调 的 , 所 以 很 少 影 响 , 甚 至 难 以 感觉到法 国 的 独 特 之 点 在 于 当 君 主 的 中 央 政 权 正 在 不 断 加 强 , 完 全
的 行 政 统 一 工 作 正 在 迅 速 完 成 , 以 及 在 人 民 中 间 一 种 热 烈 的
国 家 精 神 正 在 发 展 起 来 的 时 候 , 这 种 法 律 上 非 常 参 差 的 情 况
还 是 继 续 着 , 丝 毫 不 感 到 有 什 么 改 变 。 这 种 矛 盾 现 象 产 生 了
许 多 严 重 的 后 果 , 其 中 , 尤 以 它 在 法 国 法 学 家 心 神 上 所 产 生的 效 果 , 最 为 重 要 。 他 们 在 推 理 上 的 意 见 和 他 们 在 智 力 上 的
偏 见 , 恰 恰 和 他 们 的 利 益 和 职 业 习 惯 完 全 相 反 。 他 们 既 深 深
地 感 觉 到 并 完 全 认 识 到 法 律 学 上 的 完 美 是 在 于 单 纯 性 和 一 致
性 , 因 此 便 以 为 或 似 乎 以 为 那 些 确 实 感 染 着 法 国 法 律 的 缺 点
是 难 以 革 除 的 , 因 此 , 在 实 际 上 , 他 们 常 拒 绝 纠 正 这 些 缺 点 ,
其 顽 固 程 度 即 在 比 较 不 开 明 的 同 胞 中 也 是 不 常 有 的 。 但 当 时
有 一 种 方 法 可 以 用 来 调 和 这 些 矛 盾 。 他 们 变 成 了 “ 自 然 法 ” 的
热 烈 拥 护 者 。 “ 自 然 法 ” 跳 过 了 所 有 的 省 市 界 限 ; 它 不 管 一 切
区 分 , 不 论 是 贵 族 和 市 民 之 间 的 , 市 民 和 农 民 之 间 的 ; 它 给
明 白 、 单 纯 和 系 统 以 极 端 崇 高 的 地 位 ; 但 是 它 并 没 有 促 使 其
拥 护 者 进 行 任 何 特 殊 的 改 进 , 亦 没 有 直 接 威 胁 到 任 何 可 尊 敬
的 或 有 利 的 专 门 性 质 。 “ 自 然 法 ” 可 以 说 已 成 为 法 国 的 普 通 法 ,
或 者 , 无 论 如 何 , 承 认 它 的 尊 严 和 要 求 已 成 为 所 有 法 国 法 律
实 务 者 一 致 同 意 的 一 个 哲 理 。 革 命 前 法 学 家 的 言 论 中 , 对
“ 自 然 法 ” 毫 无 保 留 地 一 致 颂 扬 , 而 值 得 注 意 的 是 , 那 些 专 事诽 谤 纯 粹 罗 马 法 的 “ 习 惯 ” 论 者 , 在 谈 到 “ 自 然 ” 及 其 规 定时 , 往 往 甚 至 比 自 认 为 只 尊 重 “ 法 学 汇 纂 ” ( D i g e s t ) 及 “ 法典 ” 的 民 法 学 家 , 更 为 热 烈 。 都 漠 兰 是 古 “ 法 兰 西 习 惯 法 ” 所
有 权 威 学 者 中 的 最 高 权 威 , 却 有 几 篇 非 常 透 彻 详 尽 的 有 关
“ 自 然 法 ” 的 论 文 , 他 的 颂 词 并 且 有 一 种 特 殊 的 风 格 , 显 然 同罗 马 法 学 专 家 的 小 心 慎 重 有 着 距 离 。 一 个 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 假 说已 成 为 不 复 是 指 导 实 际 的 一 种 理 论 , 而 是 纯 理 论 信 仰 的 一 种信 条 ; 因 此 , 我 们 将 发 现 在 它 比 较 近 来 所 经 受 的 变 化 中 , 由于 其 拥 护 者 的 推 崇 , 它 的 最 弱 部 分 也 上 升 到 了 其 最 强 部 分 的水 平 。
在 “ 自 然 法 ” 史 达 到 最 紧 要 的 关 头 时 , 十 八 世 纪 已 经 过去 了 一 半 。 如 果 对 于 自 然 法 理 论 及 其 后 果 的 讨 论 继 续 专 属 于法 律 界 , 则 它 所 受 到 的 重 视 可 能 要 有 一 些 减 少 ; 因 为 到 这 个
时 候 , “ 论 法 的 精 神 ” 出 版 了 。 孟 德 斯 鸠 在 这 本 书 中 , 一 方 面
相 当 夸 张 地 显 示 出 作 者 强 烈 地 不 愿 接 受 以 前 通 常 是 不 加 详 细
审 查 而 予 以 容 忍 的 各 种 假 设 , 另 一 方 面 又 相 当 模 糊 地 表 现 出
作 者 要 与 现 存 偏 见 相 调 和 的 愿 望 , 但 是 , 这 本 书 虽 有 其 缺 点 ,
却 仍 按 照 着 “ 历 史 方 法 ” 进 行 研 究 , 在 这 种 方 法 之 前 , “ 自 然
法 ” 是 从 来 没 有 能 瞬 息 维 持 其 立 足 点 的 。 它 不 但 受 到 了 大 众
的 欢 迎 , 并 且 在 思 想 上 也 发 生 了 巨 大 的 影 响 ; 但 是 , 在 事 实
上 它 并 没 有 得 到 进 一 步 深 入 的 机 会 , 因 为 似 乎 注 定 要 被 它 所
毁 灭 的 反 假 说 突 然 从 法 庭 传 到 了 民 间 , 并 且 成 为 远 较 法 院 或
学 校 中 曾 经 激 辩 过 的 主 题 更 能 引 起 激 烈 争 执 的 主 题 。 这 个 把
它 放 在 新 地 位 的 人 , 是 一 个 非 常 的 人 , 他 没 有 学 识 , 很 少 美
德 , 并 且 也 没 有 十 分 坚 强 的 个 性 , 但 由 于 一 种 鲜 明 的 想 象 力 ,
以 及 他 对 于 人 类 的 真 诚 的 热 爱 ( 为 了 这 , 我 们 对 他 有 许 多 地
方 应 该 原 谅 的 ) , 却 使 他 成 为 历 史 上 不 可 磨 灭 的 人 物 。 在 我 们
自 己 的 一 代 中 , 我 们 从 来 没 有 看 到 过 — — 的 确 , 即 在 全 世 界
整 个 历 史 过 程 中 , 也 不 会 看 到 一 次 或 二 次 以 上 的 — — 这 样 一
个 文 件 , 曾 对 人 类 的 心 灵 、 对 知 识 分 子 的 躯 体 和 灵 魂 产 生 过
像 卢 梭 在 1 7 4 9 年 和 1 7 6 2 年 之 间 所 产 生 的 那 样 巨 大 的 影 响的 。 在 由 贝 尔 ( B a y l e ) 和 部 分 地 由 我 国 的 洛 克开 始 ,最 后 却 由 伏 尔 泰完 成 的 纯 然 是 偶 象 破 坏 的 努 力 以后 , 这 是 要 重 新 建 立 人 类 信 念 的 第 一 次 尝 试 ; 并 且 除 了 每 一个 有 建 设 性 的 努 力 常 常 必 然 优 于 单 纯 的 破 坏 性 的 努 力 以 外,它 还 有 着 一 个 卓 越 之 处 , 就 是 在 一 个 几 乎 普 遍 的 怀 疑 论 的 氛围 中 间 , 提 出 了 所 有 过 去 推 理 方 面 知 识 的 健 全 性 问 题 。 在 卢梭 的 一 切 理 论 中 , 其 中 心 人 物 , 不 论 是 穿 着 英 国 服 装 在 一 个
社 会 契 约 上 签 名 的 或 者 是 率 直 地 把 所 有 历 史 特 性 完 全 剥 光
的 , 都 一 律 是 在 一 种 假 设 的 自 然 状 态 中 的 “ 人 ” 。 每 一 种 法 律
和 制 度 , 凡 是 不 能 适 合 于 这 些 理 想 情 况 下 的 这 种 想 象 的 人 , 都
被 加 以 非 难 , 认 为 是 从 一 种 原 始 完 美 状 态 的 堕 落 ; 对 于 每 一
种 能 使 社 会 更 接 近 于 “ 自 然 ” 生 物 统 治 着 的 世 界 的 社 会 变 革 ,
都 认 为 是 可 以 赞 美 的 , 并 值 得 用 任 何 明 显 的 代 价 使 其 实 现 。 这
个 确 论 仍 旧 是 罗 马 法 学 家 的 理 论 , 因 为 在 这 个 人 类 居 住 的“ 自 然 条 件 ” ( N a t u r a l C o n d i t i o n ) 的 暗 影 中 , 除 了 对 于 法 学
专 家 具 有 非 常 魔 力 的 单 纯 和 调 和 之 外 , 竟 没 有 一 个 特 色 和 特
点 为 人 们 所 注 意 到 ; 但 是 这 个 理 论 好 像 是 本 末 倒 置 过 来 了 。 现
在 所 研 究 的 主 要 问 题 , 已 不 是 “ 自 然 法 律 ” , 而 是 “ 自 然 状态 ” ( S t a t e o f n a t u r e ) 。 罗 马 人 曾 认 为 , 如 果 对 于 现 存 的 各种 制 度 加 以 仔 细 观 察 , 则 在 这 些 制 度 中 必 然 可 以 挑 选 出 有 几
个 部 分 或 者 立 即 可 以 显 示 出 来 , 或 者 必 须 经 过 法 律 上 的 纯 净
作 用 才 可 以 显 示 出 那 种 自 然 统 治 的 痕 迹 , 这 种 自 然 统 治 在 罗
马 人 看 起 来 , 有 可 能 是 真 实 的 。 至 于 卢 梭 的 信 念 是 : 一 个 完
美 的 社 会 秩 序 可 以 求 之 于 单 纯 的 对 自 然 状 态 的 考 虑 , 这 一 种
社 会 秩 序 完 全 同 世 界 的 实 际 情 况 没 有 关 系 , 并 且 完 全 同 世 界
的 实 际 情 况 不 同 。 这 两 种 见 解 的 分 歧 是 巨 大 的 , 一 种 是 痛 责
现 在 , 因 为 它 不 像 理 想 中 的 过 去 : 而 另 外 的 一 种 , 假 定 现 在
同 过 去 一 样 的 必 要 的 , 因 此 也 就 不 轻 视 现 在 或 谴 责 现 在 。 我
们 没 有 必 要 枉 费 时 间 , 以 详 细 分 析 这 建 筑 于 一 个 自 然 状 态 基础 上 的 政 治 、 艺 术 、 教 育 、 伦 理 学 和 社 会 关 系 的 哲 学 。 这 种
哲 学 对 于 每 一 个 国 家 中 比 较 不 精 确 的 思 想 家 还 具 有 特 别 的 吸
引 力 , 并 且 无 疑 地 是 妨 碍 着 应 用 “ 历 史 研 究 方 法 ” 的 几 乎 一
切 先 入 之 见 的 、 多 少 是 不 直 接 的 根 源 , 但 它 已 为 我 们 今 日 有
识 者 所 不 信 任 到 了 这 样 的 程 度 , 竟 使 那 些 熟 知 纯 理 论 的 错 误
具 有 非 常 活 力 的 人 们 , 为 之 惶 惑 不 止 。 在 今 天 最 常 提 到 的 问
题 , 也 许 并 不 是 这 些 意 见 究 竟 有 什 么 价 值 , 而 是 : 在 一 百 年
以 前 使 它 们 有 这 样 的 盖 过 一 切 的 优 势 , 其 原 因 究 竟 是 什 么 。 我
认 为 回 答 是 很 简 单 的 。 在 上 一 世 纪 中 , 有 一 种 研 究 最 可 能 用
来 纠 正 凡 是 专 门 注 意 于 古 法 律 的 人 很 容 易 陷 入 的 误 解 , 这 种
研 究 便 是 宗 教 的 研 究 。 但 希 腊 宗 教 如 当 时 所 理 解 的 那 样 , 都
已 被 分 散 于 许 多 想 象 的 神 话 中 。 东 方 的 各 种 宗 教 纵 使 确 曾 受
到 过 注 意 , 但 这 些 宗 教 似 乎 都 迷 失 于 空 虚 的 宇 宙 开 辟 论 中 。 只
有 一 种 原 始 记 录 , 值 得 加 以 研 究 — — 就 是 早 期 的 犹 太 史 。 但
当 时 的 种 种 偏 见 阻 止 着 我 们 利 用 它 。 卢 梭 学 派 同 伏 尔 泰 学 派
所 共 有 的 少 数 特 征 之 一 ; 是 完 全 轻 视 一 切 宗 教 上 的 古 代 事 物 ,
特 别 是 属 于 希 伯 来 民 族 的 。 众 所 周 知 , 当 时 的 理 论 家 都 不 仅
认 为 以 摩 西为 名 的 制 度 并 非 真 的 出 自 神 授 , 认 为 它
们 也 不 是 象 传 说 那 样 在 一 个 较 后 的 时 期 被 制 定 为 法 典 的 , 他
们 认 为 这 些 制 度 以 及 全 部 的 “ 摩 西 五 经 ”都 只是 一 种 毫 无 根 据 的 伪 造 , 是 在 从 “ 幽 囚 ” ( C a p t i v i t y ) 中 回 来以 后 完 成 的 。 这 些 思 想 家 所 以 作 出 这 样 的 假 定 , 因 为 这 与 他们 的 荣 誉 有 关 。 因 此 法 国 的 哲 学 家 们 , 既 被 阻 止 取 得 这 个 反
对 纯 理 论 谬 见 的 主 要 保 证 , 就 在 他 们 热 切 于 从 他 们 认 为 是 僧
侣 的 迷 信 中 逃 避 出 来 的 时 候 , 又 轻 率 地 把 他 们 自 己 投 入 了 法学 家 的 迷 信 中 去 。
但 是 这 个 以 自 然 状 态 的 假 设 为 基 础 的 哲 学 , 虽 然 因 为 它
只 被 看 到 了 其 粗 糙 的 和 比 较 容 易 看 到 的 一 面 , 一 般 的 评 价 不
高 , 但 这 并 不 是 说 , 当 它 在 比 较 精 巧 的 伪 装 中 , 就 失 掉 了 它
可 以 赞 美 的 地 方 、 通 俗 的 地 方 和 它 的 力 量 。 我 相 信 , 象 我 前
面 已 说 过 的 , 它 仍 旧 是 “ 历 史 方 法 ” 的 劲 敌 ; 并 且 ( 除 了 宗
教 上 的 反 对 以 外 ) 凡 是 拒 绝 或 责 难 这 种 研 究 方 式 的 人 , 一 般
都 是 由 于 有 意 或 无 意 地 受 到 了 信 赖 社 会 或 个 人 的 非 历 史 的 即
自 然 的 状 态 的 一 种 偏 见 或 武 断 的 影 响 的 结 果 。 不 过 “ 自 然 ” 学
说 及 其 法 律 观 点 之 所 以 能 保 持 其 能 力 , 主 要 是 由 于 它 们 能 和
各 种 政 治 及 社 会 倾 向 联 结 在 一 起 , 在 这 些 倾 向 中 , 有 一 些 是
由 它 们 促 成 的 , 有 一 些 的 确 是 它 们 所 创 造 的 , 而 绝 大 部 分 则
是 由 它 们 提 供 了 说 明 和 形 式 。 它 们 明 显 地 大 量 渗 入 到 不 断 由
法 国 传 播 到 文 明 世 界 各 地 的 各 种 观 念 中 , 这 样 就 成 为 改 变 世
界 文 明 的 一 般 思 想 体 系 的 一 部 分 。 这 些 学 理 对 民 族 命 运 所 加
的 影 响 , 其 价 值 如 何 , 当 然 是 我 们 时 代 中 最 热 烈 争 辩 的 论 点
之 一 , 对 于 这 个 方 面 , 我 们 不 准 备 在 本 文 中 加 以 讨 论 。 但 是
如 果 回 顾 一 下 自 然 状 态 理 论 在 政 治 上 达 到 非 常 高 度 的 重 要 性
的 时 期 , 则 绝 少 人 会 否 认 : 在 第 一 次 “ 法 国 革 命 ” 时 期 , 曾
经 多 次 发 生 的 重 大 失 望 都 是 由 它 有 力 地 促 成 的 。 它 产 生 了 或
强 烈 地 刺 激 了 当 时 几 乎 普 遍 存 在 的 智 力 上 的 恶 习 , 如 对 现 实
法 的 蔑 视 , 对 经 验 的 不 耐 烦 , 以 及 ·
先 ·
天 ·
的 优 先 于 一 切 其 他 理
性 等 。 这 种 哲 学 紧 紧 地 掌 握 住 了 那 些 比 较 思 想 得 少 、 同 时 又
不 善 于 观 察 的 人 , 它 的 发 展 趋 势 也 就 比 例 地 成 为 明 显 的 无 政
府 状 态 。 可 惊 异 的 是 , 杜 蒙 ( D u m o n t ) 为 边 沁 出 版 的 “ 无 政府 的 诡 辩 ” 一 书 中 具 体 地 表 现 了边 沁 所 暴 露 的 显 然 是 来 自 法 国 的 谬 见 , 有 很 多 是 来 自 经 过 法国 变 化 的 罗 马 假 设 , 并 且 除 非 是 参 照 了 罗 马 假 设 , 这 些 诡 辩是 不 容 易 理 解 的 。 在 这 一 点 上 可 以 参 考 在 革 命 的 各 个 主 要 年代 中 间 的 ·
劝 ·
戒 ·
者 ( M o n t e u r ) 。 时 代 越 黑 暗 , 则 诉 诸 “ 自 然 法
律 和 状 态 ” 便 越 加 频 繁 。 在 “ 国 民 议 会 ” 中 这 种 情 况 比 较 少
见 ; 在 “ 立 法 议 会 ” 时 期 则 比 较 经 常 ; 在 “ 宪 法 会 议 ” 中 , 在
辩 论 着 阴 谋 和 战 争 的 纷 争 声 中 , 这 种 情 况 便 永 久 存 在 着 。
有 一 个 例 子 非 常 明 显 地 说 明 了 自 然 法 理 论 对 现 代 社 会 的
影 响 , 并 且 表 明 这 些 影 响 是 如 何 的 深 而 且 远 。 我 以 为 人 类 根
本 平 等 的 学 理 , 毫 无 疑 问 是 来 自 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 一 种 推 定 。 “ 人
类 一 律 平 等 ” 是 大 量 法 律 命 题 之 一 , 它 随 着 时 代 的 进 步 已 成
为 一 个 政 治 上 的 命 题 。 罗 马 安 托 宁 时 代 的 法 学 专 家 们 提 出 :
“ 每 一 个 人 自 然 是 平 等 的 ”, 但 在 他 们 心 目 中 , 这 是 一 个 严 格 的 法 律 公 理 。 他 们 企 图 主 张 , 在 假 设 的 “ 自 然 法 ” 之 下 , 以 及 在 现 实法 接 近 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 程 度 内 , 罗 马 “ 市 民 法 ” 所 支 持 的 各 阶
级 人 们 之 间 的 武 断 区 分 不 应 该 在 法 律 上 存 在 。 这 个 规 定 对 罗
马 法 律 实 务 者 , 是 有 相 当 的 重 要 性 的 , 因 为 这 使 他 们 必 须 记
着 , 凡 在 罗 马 法 律 学 被 推 定 为 完 全 符 合 于 “ 自 然 ” 法 典 的 规
定 时 , 则 罗 马 法 院 在 考 虑 公 民 与 外 国 人 之 间 、 人 民 与 奴 隶 之
间 、 “ 宗 亲 ” 与 “ 血 亲 ” 之 间 ” 的 一 切 问 题 时 , 却 不 应 该 有 所
区 别 。 凡 是 作 这 样 主 张 的 法 学 专 家 , 当 然 决 不 会 指 摘 使 市 民
法 不 能 达 到 其 理 论 形 式 的 社 会 安 排 , 他 们 显 然 也 不 会 相 信 世
界 真 会 看 到 人 类 社 会 会 同 自 然 组 织 完 全 同 化 的 。 但 当 人 类 平等 学 说 披 上 了 现 代 服 装 而 出 现 时 , 它 显 然 已 包 藏 着 一 种 新 的
意 义 。 罗 马 法 学 专 家 用 “ 是 平 等 ” ( Eq u a l e s s u n t ) 的 这 些 字眼 , 其 所 含 意 义 真 和 他 所 说 的 完 全 一 样 , 而 现 代 民 法 学 家 在
写 “ 人 类 一 律 平 等 ” 时 , 他 的 意 思 是 “ 人 类 应 该 平 等 ” 。 罗 马
人 以 为 自 然 法 是 和 市 民 法 同 时 存 在 的 , 并 且 是 在 逐 渐 吞 并 着
市 民 法 的 , 这 种 特 殊 看 法 显 然 已 经 被 遗 忘 了 , 或 已 经 成 为 不
可 理 解 的 了 。 这 些 字 眼 在 过 去 充 其 量 只 是 表 达 了 有 关 人 类 各
种 制 度 渊 源 、 组 织 和 其 发 展 的 一 种 理 论 , 后 来 开 始 被 用 来 表
示 人 类 长 期 遭 受 的 大 不 公 正 之 意 。 早 在 十 四 世 纪 初 期 , 关 于
人 类 出 生 状 态 的 流 行 说 法 虽 然 明 显 地 想 要 和 阿 尔 比 安 及 其 同
时 代 人 的 说 法 相 一 致 , 但 其 形 式 和 意 义 却 已 全 然 不 同 。 路 易
· 胡 廷 国 王 ( K i n g L o u i s H u t i n ) 解 放 王 家 领 地 内 农 奴 的 著名 命 令 中 的 前 言 , 在 罗 马 人 听 来 , 将 是 非 常 陌 生 的 , “ 既 然 按
照 自 然 法 , 每 个 人 应 该 生 而 自 由 ; 由 于 自 上 古 以 来 就 已 采 用
并 一 直 到 现 在 还 在 我 国 土 上 被 保 持 着 的 某 种 惯 例 和 习 惯 , 并
且 可 能 由 于 人 们 前 辈 的 罪 行 , 在 我 们 普 通 人 民 中 就 有 许 多 人
陷 入 了 被 奴 役 的 地 位 , 因 此 , 我 们 等 等 ” , 这 不 是 一 条 法 律 规
定 而 是 一 个 政 治 教 条 的 宣 言 ; 从 这 个 时 候 起 , 法 国 法 学 家 们
在 谈 到 人 类 平 等 时 , 正 好 象 这 是 偶 然 被 保 留 在 他 们 的 科 学 中
的 一 个 政 治 真 理 似 的 。 象 来 自 “ 自 然 法 ” 假 设 中 的 一 切 其 他
演 释 一 样 , 同 时 也 象 “ 自 然 法 ” 这 个 信 念 的 本 身 一 样 , 它 在
直 到 被 从 法 学 家 之 手 转 入 到 十 八 世 纪 文 人 们 之 手 以 及 信 服 他
们 的 公 众 之 手 以 前 , 只 是 毫 无 生 气 地 被 同 意 着 , 而 且 它 对 意
见 和 实 践 , 也 都 很 少 有 影 响 。 在 这 些 文 人 之 手 中 , 它 成 为 他
们 信 条 中 最 清 楚 的 教 理 , 并 被 认 为 是 一 切 其 他 教 理 的 一 个 总结 。 但 是 , 它 最 后 在 1 7 8 9 年 事 件 中 所 以 得 势 , 可 能 不 完 全 是
由 于 它 在 法 国 的 声 望 。 因 为 在 这 世 纪 的 中 叶 , 它 已 被 传 播 到
了 美 国 。 当 时 的 美 国 法 学 家 , 尤 其 是 弗 吉 尼 亚的 法 学 家 , 似 乎 已 具 有 和 英 国 同 时 代 人 不 同 的 大 量 知 识 , 其 主要 不 同 之 点 , 是 在 他 们 的 知 识 中 包 括 了 许 多 只 可 能 来 自 欧 洲大 陆 法 律 文 献 的 知 识 。 只 要 参 考 一 下 杰斐逊的 著 作 , 就 可 以 看 到 他 是 如 何 深 受 到 法 国 当 时 时 尚 的 半 法 律 、 半通 俗 的 见 解 的 影 响 ; 我 们 也 毫 不 怀 疑 , 正 是 由 于 他 们 对 法 国法 学 家 这 些 特 殊 观 念 深 表 同 情 , 在 “ 独 立 宣 言 ” 开 头 的 几 行 中 , 这 位 指 导 着 当 时 美 国 事务 的杰斐逊和 在 这 殖 民 地 中 的 其 他 法 学 家 , 就 把 这 独 特 的 法国 假 设 即 “ 人 类 生 而 平 等 ” 和 英 国 人 最 熟 悉 的 假 设 “ 人 类 生而 自 由 ” 相 结 合 在 一 起 。 这 是 放 在 我 们 当 前 的 这 个 学 理 的 历史 中 有 极 大 重 要 性 的 一 节 文 句 。 美 国 法 学 家 这 样 突 出 地 和 这样 着 重 地 主 张 人 类 的 根 本 平 等 , 这 在 他 们 自 己 国 家 中 , 并 且在 较 小 的 程 度 上 , 也 在 大 不 列 颠 , 推 动 了 一 个 政 治 运 动 , 到
现 在 还 远 没 有 衰 竭 下 来 ; 但 除 此 以 外 , 他 们 正 把 他 们 所 一 度
采 用 的 教 条 还 给 了 法 国 本 土 , 赋 予 了 更 巨 大 的 能 力 , 并 且 使
它 受 到 了 一 般 人 更 大 的 欢 迎 和 尊 敬 。 甚 至 在 第 一 次 “ 国 民 议
会 ” 中 比 较 小 心 谨 慎 的 政 治 家 , 也 重 复 着 阿 尔 比 安 的 命 题 , 好
象 这 个 命 题 立 即 自 荐 于 人 类 的 本 能 和 直 觉 似 的 ; 并 且 在 所 有
“ 1 7 8 9 年 的 各 种 原 则 ” 中 , 这 是 唯 一 的 曾 受 到 最 少 的 热 烈 的 攻击 , 曾 最澈底地 影 响 现 代 意 见 并 将 最 深 刻 地 改 变 社 会 构 成 和
国 家 政 治 的 原 则 。
“ 自 然 法 ” 所 尽 的 最 伟 大 的 职 能 是 产 生 了 现 代 “ 国 际 法 ”和 现 代 “ 战 争 法 ”, 虽 然 它 的 这 一 个 部 分 效果 是 非 常 重 要 的 , 但 在 这 里 , 由 于 它 和 本 文 关 系 不 大 , 因 此将 略 而 不 论 。
在 形 成 “ 国 际 法 ” 基 础 的 各 种 假 定 中 间 , 或 在 形 成 “ 国
际 法 ” 中 到 现 在 仍 旧 能 保 持 其 从 原 来 建 筑 师 那 里 所 接 受 的 形
态 的 部 分 基 本 假 定 中 间 , 有 二 三 种 特 别 显 得 重 要 的 假 定 。 其
中 第 一 个 表 现 在 这 样 的 一 个 立 论 中 , 即 认 为 有 一 种 可 以 确 定
的 “ 自 然 法 ” 。 格 罗 修 斯 及 其 后 继 者 直 接 从 罗 马 人 那 里 得 到 这
一 个 假 设 , 但 他 们 同 罗 马 法 学 专 家 之 间 以 及 在 他 们 相 互 之 间 ,
对 于 确 定 的 方 式 , 在 看 法 上 有 着 巨 大 的 分 歧 。 在 文 艺 复 兴 以
后 盛 极 一 时 的 公 法 学 家 中 , 几 乎 每 一 个 人 都 野 心 勃 勃 , 提 出
了 新 的 和 更 容 易 处 理 的 有 关 “ 自 然 ” 及 其 法 律 的 定 义 , 并 且
无 可 争 辩 , 当 这 个 概 念 经 过 一 系 列 的 “ 公 法 ” 学 著 者 之 手 , 在
其 周 围 就 积 聚 了 一 大 堆 的 附 加 物 , 其 中 包 括 了 都 是 从 支 配 着
各 学 派 的 每 一 种 伦 理 学 理 论 中 得 来 的 各 种 观 念 片 断 。 虽 然 是
这 样 , 但 仍 有 明 显 的 证 据 证 明 这 个 概 念 主 要 是 有 历 史 性 质 的 ,
因 为 从 自 然 状 态 的 各 种 必 要 特 点 中 探 求 自 然 法 典 ; 虽 然 经 过
了 种 种 努 力 , 但 所 获 得 的 结 果 , 正 和 人 们 把 罗 马 法 学 家 的 意
见 不 加 探 究 或 修 正 而 立 即 采 用 时 所 可 能 得 到 的 结 果 , 完 全 相
同 。 如 果 把 国 际 法 中 的 协 约 和 条 约 部 分 撇 开 不 论 , 可 以 看 到 ,
在 这 制 度 中 有 相 当 惊 人 的 一 部 分 是 由 纯 粹 罗 马 法 律 所 组 成
的 。 法 学 专 家 的 每 一 种 学 理 , 只 要 经 过 他 们 确 认 为 同 “ 万 民
法 ” 相 协 调 时 , 公 法 学 家 就 以 种 种 理 由 来 借 用 它 , 不 论 这 个
学 理 是 如 何 明 显 地 标 志 着 其 罗 马 渊 源 。 我 们 也 可 以 看 到 , 这
些 派 生 的 理 论 是 带 有 其 原 来 观 念 的 弱 点 的 。 大 多 数 公 法 学 家的 思 想 方 法 仍 旧 是 “ 混 合 的 ” 。 在 研 究 这 些 著 者 时 , 最 大 的 困
难 始 终 是 在 弄 清 楚 他 们 所 讨 论 的 究 竟 是 法 律 还 是 道 德 — — 他
们 所 描 写 的 国 际 关 系 状 态 究 竟 是 现 实 的 还 是 理 想 的 — — 他 们
所 说 的 究 竟 是 事 实 , 还 是 他 们 的 意 见 认 为 应 该 是 这 样 的 。
作 为 “ 国 际 法 ” 基 础 的 其 次 一 个 假 设 是 , “ 自 然 法 ” 与 国家相 ·
互之间有约束力。一系 列 主 张 或 认 可 这 原 则的 言 论 , 得 追 溯 到 现 代 法 律 科 学 的 极 幼 稚 时 代 , 并 且 初 看 起
来 , 它 好 像 是 直 接 来 自 罗 马 人 学 说 的 一 个 推 理 。 人 为 的 社 会
状 态 和 自 然 状 态 不 同 , 在 前 者 之 中 有 一 个 明 显 的 制 法 者 , 在
后 者 却 没 有 , 因 此 , 如 果 某 一 个单位 不 承 认 它 们 服 从 一 个 共
同 主 权 或 政 治 领 袖 的 时 候 , 它 们 就 好 像 恢 复 到 了 受 命 于 “ 自
然 法 ” 了 。 国 家 就 是 这 类 的 单 位 ; 它 们 各 自 独 立 的 这 个 假 设 ,
排 斥 了 一 个 共 同 立 法 者 的 观 念 , 并 从 这 观 念 出 发 , 按 照 某 种
思 想 方 法 进 而 得 到 了 从 属 于 自 然 原 始 秩 序 的 观 念 。 另 一 种 想
法 认 为 各 独 立 的 社 会 相 互 之 间 没 有 任 何 法 律 把 它 们 联 系 着 ,
但 这 种 无 法 律 状 态 正 就 是 法 学 专 家 们 的 “ 自 然 ” 所 厌 恶 的 真
空 。 如 果 一 个 罗 马 法 学 家 遇 到 有 市 民 法 被 排 斥 不 能 适 用 的 情
况 , 他 就 立 即 会 以 “ 自 然 ” 法 令 来 填 补 这 个 空 隙 , 这 样 一 种
想 法 , 显 然 是 有 理 由 的 。 但 我 们 不 能 就 因 此 以 为 , 在 历 史 的
任 何 时 期 中 , 都 确 实 可 以 得 出 这 样 的 结 论 , 虽 然 这 在 我 们 的
眼 光 中 是 非 常 明 确 和 直 接 的 。 根 据 我 的 判 断 , 罗 马 法 的 遗 作
中 没 有 任 何 一 节 可 以 用 来 证 明 法 学 专 家 确 曾 相 信 自 然 法 在 独
立 国 家 之 间 有 任 何 拘 束 力 ; 并 且 我 们 不 得 不 看 到 , 对 于 把 君
主 领 土 看 作 和 文 明 同 境 界 的 罗 马 帝 国 公 民 们 , 如 果 确 有 各 国
平 等 隶 属 “ 自 然 法 ” 这 样 的 想 法 , 也 至 多 只 是 古 怪 理 论 的 一个 极 端 结 果 。 真 相 似 乎 是 : 现 代 的 “ 国 际 法 ” 虽 然 无 疑 是 罗
马 法 的 后 裔 , 但 只 是 由 一 种 不 规 则 的 血 统 相 联 系 着 的 。 现 代
早 期 的 罗 马 法 解 释 者 , 误 解 了 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 意 义 , 毫 不 犹 豫
地 认 为 罗 马 人 传 给 了 他 们 一 套 调 整 国 际 事 务 的 法 律 制 度 。 在
起 初 这 个 “ 国 际 法 ” 成 为 有 许 多 可 怕 的 竞 争 者 与 之 相 对 抗 的
一 种 权 威 , 而 欧 洲 是 长 期 处 在 这 种 情 况 下 , 阻 碍 着 它 被 普 遍
接 受 。 但 是 , 逐 渐 地 , 西 方 世 界 安 排 了 它 自 己 , 使 其 形 式 比
较 适 合 于 民 法 学 家 的 理 论 ; 情 况 的 变 更 摧 毁 了 所 有 敌 对 学 理
的 势 力 ; 最 后 , 在 一 个 罕 有 地 幸 运 的 机 会 , 阿 雅 拉 ( A y a l a ) 和
格 罗 修 斯 终 于 为 它 取 得 了 欧 洲 的 热 诚 同 意 ; 这 种 同 意 曾 经 在
每 一 个 不 同 的 庄 严 条 约 中 被 一 再 重 复 申 述 着 。 它 的 胜 利 主 要
应 归 功 于 这 些 伟 大 人 物 , 他 们 并 且 企 图 把 它 放 在 一 个 完 全 新
的 基 础 上 , 这 是 毋 庸 赘 述 的 ; 而 且 毫 无 疑 问 , 在 这 转 移 位 置
的 过 程 中 , 他 们 改 变 了 很 多 它 的 结 构 , 虽 然 远 没 有 一 般 所 想
象 的 那 么 多 。 格 罗 修 斯 既 然 从 安 托 宁 法 学 专 家 那 里 采 用 了 这
个 论 点 , 认 为 “ 万 民 法 ” 和 “ 自 然 法 ” 是 同 一 的 , 他 和 他 的
直 接 前 辈 及 直 接 后 继 者 便 使 “ 自 然 法 ” 具 有 一 种 权 威 , 这 种
权 威 要 不 是 在 那 个 时 候 “ 国 际 法 ” 的 含 义 模 糊 不 清 , 是 也 许
永 远 不 会 为 “ 自 然 法 ” 要 求 的 。 他 们 毫 无 保 留 地 主 张 “ 自 然
法 ” 是 各 国 的 法 典 , 于 是 就 开 始 了 这 样 一 种 过 程 , 就 是 把 假
定 是 从 单 纯 考 虑 “ 自 然 ” 概 念 而 求 得 的 各 种 规 定 灌 输 到 国 际
制 度 中 去 , 这 个 过 程 几 乎 一 直 延 续 到 我 们 的 时 代 。 还 有 一 种
对 于 人 类 有 着 巨 大 实 际 重 要 性 的 后 果 , 虽 然 在 欧 洲 早 期 现 代
史 中 并 非 完 全 不 知 , 但 在 直 到 格 罗 修 斯 学 派 的 学 理 获 得 盛 行
之 前 , 却 从 来 没 有 被 明 显 地 或 普 遍 地 承 认 过 。 如 果 各 个 国 家的 集 体 都 受 着 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 统 治 , 则 组 成 这 个 集 体 的 各 个 原
子 必 须 绝 对 平 等 。 人 类 在 “ 自 然 ” 的 王 笏 之 下 , 是 一 律 平 等
的 , 从 而 , 如 果 国 际 间 的 状 态 是 一 种 自 然 的 状 态 , 则 各 国 也
一 定 是 平 等 的 。 独 立 的 国 家 不 论 , 大 小 强 弱 不 同 , 但 在 国 际
法 的 眼 光 中 是 一 律 平 等 的 ; 这 个 命 题 对 人 类 的 幸 福 有 巨 大 的
贡 献 , 虽 然 它 在 各 个 时 代 中 继 续 不 断 地 为 各 种 政 治 倾 向 所 威
胁 着 。 如 果 “ 国 际 法 ” 不 是 由 文 艺 复 兴 后 的 公 法 学 家 们 完 全
从 “ 自 然 ” 的 庄 严 主 张 中 求 得 , 那 末 这 个 学 理 可 能 永 远 不 能
获 得 一 个 稳 固 的 立 足 点 。
可 是 , 总 的 讲 起 来 , 象 我 在 前 面 已 经 说 过 的 , 自 从 格 罗
修 斯 时 代 以 来 , 在 加 于 “ 国 际 法 ” 上 的 各 种 附 加 物 中 , 只 有
很 小 一 部 分 是 从 罗 马 “ 万 民 法 ” 最 古 资 料 直 接 采 取 来 的 。 土
地 的 取 得 始 终 是 引 起 国 家 野 心 的 巨 大 的 刺 激 物 ; 而 适 用 于 这
种 取 得 的 法 律 规 定 , 以 及 消 除 因 土 地 取 得 而 造 成 的 战 争 的 法
律 规 定 , 都 仅 仅 是 从 罗 马 法 中 有 关 取 得 “ 万 民 法 ” 财 产 的 各
种 方 式 的 部 分 中 抄 袭 得 来 的 。 这 许 多 取 得 的 方 式 , 象 我 在 前
面 已 经 企 图 说 明 的 , 都 是 由 前 辈 法 学 专 家 从 其 所 观 察 到 的 各
种 惯 例 中 抽 象 出 来 的 一 些 共 同 要 素 , 这 些 惯 例 曾 经 流 行 于 罗
马 周 围 各 部 落 间 ; 根 据 它 们 的 来 源 , 这 些 规 定 被 归 类 在 “ 各
国 共 有 的 法 律 ” 中 , 再 由 于 他 们 的 单 纯 性 , 后 来 的 法 学 家 便
认 为 它 们 恰 合 于 一 个 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 较 近 代 的 概 念 。 它 们 就 这
样 编 进 了 现 代 的 “ 国 际 法 ” , 其 结 果 是 , 国 际 制 度 中 有 关 ·
领土( d o m i n i o n ) 、 领 土 性 质 、 领 土 范 围 、 取 得 和 保 卫 领 土 方 式 的 那些 部 分 , 便 都 是 纯 粹 的 罗 马 “ 财 产 法 ” — — 这 就 是 说 , 罗 马
“ 财 产 法 ” 中 的 那 些 部 分 , 曾 为 安 托 宁 法 学 专 家 想 象 为 和 自 然状 态 有 某 种 一 致 性 的 。 为 了 使 “ 国 际 法 ” 中 这 些 章 节 能 付 诸
实 施 , 有 必 要 使 存 在 于 主 权 者 之 间 的 相 互 关 系 , 如 同 罗 马 所
有 者 各 个 成 员 之 间 存 在 的 关 系 一 样 。 这 是 建 立 “ 国 际 法 典 ” 所
依 据 的 各 种 假 定 中 的 另 一 个 假 定 , 而 这 也 是 在 现 代 欧 洲 史 开
头 几 个 世 纪 中 不 可 能 被 同 意 的 一 个 假 定 。 这 个 假 定 可 以 被 分
解 为 这 样 一 个 双 重 命 题 , 一 方 面 “ 主 权 是 领 土 的 ” , 即 它 是 始
终 和 地 球 表 面 上 一 定 部 分 的 所 有 权 联 系 着 , 另 一 方 面 “ 主 权
者 ·
相 ·
互 ·
之 ·
间 , 应 该 被 认 为 不 是 国 家 领 土 的最高 所 有 人 , 而 是
·
绝 ·
对 所 有 人 ” 。
许 多 现 代 的 “ 国 际 法 ” 著 者 都 默 认 : 他 们 以 各 种 衡 平 和
常 识 原 则 为 基 础 建 立 起 的 整 套 学 理 , 都 可 以 在 现 代 文 明 的 各
个 阶 段 中 推 论 出 来 。 但 这 个 默 认 一 方 面 掩 盖 着 国 际 理 论 上 所
存 在 的 某 些 真 正 缺 点 , 另 一 方 面 , 就 大 部 分 的 现 代 史 而 论 , 实
在 是 完 全 不 足 取 的 。 在 匡 际 事 务 中 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 权 威 并 不 是
始 终 不 受 到 反 抗 的 ; 相 反 的 , 它 不 得 不 长 时 期 地 和 几 种 相 竞
争 的 制 度 不 断 斗 争 着 。 同 时 , 主 权 的 领 土 性 质 也 并 不 是 始 终
被 承 认 着 的 , 因 为 在 罗 马 统 治 解 体 以 后 , 人 们 的 心 理 是 长 时
期 地 处 在 和 这 类 概 念 不 相 协 调 的 观 念 的 支 配 之 下 。 在 “ 国 际
法 ” 上 这 两 个 主 要 假 定 被 普 遍 承 认 之 前 , 一 个 旧 的 制 度 以 及
建 筑 在 它 上 面 的 思 想 观 念 必 然 地 要 腐 败 , 一 个 新 的 欧 洲 , 以
及 与 之 相 适 应 的 新 的 观 念 必 然 地 要 生 长 起 来 。
有 一 桩 事 值 得 注 意 , 在 我 们 通 常 称 为 现 代 史 的 大 部 分 时期 中 , 没 有 接 受 过 所 谓领土主权 这 类 概 念 。 在 过 去 , 主 权 并不 是 和 对 地 球 上 一 部 分 或 再 小 部 分 的 土 地 的 控 制 联 系 在 一 起的 。 世 界 曾 有 这 样 许 多 世 纪 长 期 处 于 罗 马 帝 国 的 庇 护 之 下 , 以致 忘 记 了 包 括 在 帝 国 中 的 广 大 空 间 在 过 去 曾 一 度 被 划 分 成 许多 独 立 国 家 , 它 们 都 主 张 有 权 不 受 外 来 的 干 预 , 并 且 标 榜 着
国 家 权 利 应 该 一 律 平 等 。 在 蛮 族 入 侵 平 靖 后 , 关 于 主 权 当 时
流 行 着 的 观 念 , 似 乎 具 有 双 重 意 义 。 一 方 面 它 有 着 所 谓 “部落 主 权 ” 的 形 式 。 法 兰 克 人, 勃艮第人, 汪 达 尔 人,伦巴达人以 及 西 哥 特 人, 当 然 都 是 他 们 所 占领 着 的 土 地 的 主 人 , 其 中 有 几 种 人 并 以 他 们 自 己 的 名 字 作 为
土 地 的 地 理 名 称 ; 但 是 他 们 并 不 根 据 土 地 占 有 的 事 实 而 主 张
任 何 权 利 , 并 且 在 实 际 上 甚 至 对 于 占 有 的 事 实 也 并 不 认 为 有
任 何 特 别 重 要 性 。 他 们 似 乎 还 保 留 着 他 们 由 森 林 中 和 草 原 上
所 带 来 的 传 统 , 按 照 他 们 自 己 的 看 法 , 仍 旧 是 一 个 宗 法 社 会 ,
一 个 游 牧 部 落 , 只 是 暂 时 驻 扎 在 能 供 给 他 们 粮 食 的 土 地 上 而
已 。 阿 尔 卑 斯 北 高 卢 的 一 部 分 加 上 了 日 耳 曼 的 一 部 分 , 现 在
已 成 为 法 兰 克 人 在事实上 占 领 的 国 家 — — 就 是 法 兰 西 ; 但 克洛维的 后 裔 即 墨 洛 温王 朝 的 首 领们 并 不 是 法 兰 西 的 国 王 而 是 法 兰 克 人 的 国 王 。 另 外 一 种 有 关主 权 的 特 殊 观 念 , 似 乎 是 — — 这 是 重 要 的 一 点 — — 普 遍 领 土
的 观 念 。 当 一 个 君 主 失 去 了 领 袖 与 其 部 族 之 间 的 特 殊 关 系 , 并
为 了 个 人 的 目 的 急 切 要 取 得 一 个 新 的 主 权 形 式 时 , 他 所 能 采
用 的 唯 一 先 例 是 罗 马 皇 帝 们 的 霸 术 。 胡 乱 摹 仿 一 句 谚 语 , 他成 了 “不为凯撒,即为庸人”的人 。 或 则 他 享 有 拜 占 廷 皇 帝的 全 部 特
权 , 或 则 他 完 全 没 有 任 何 政 治 地 位 。 在 我 们 这 个 时 代 , 当 一
个 新 的 王 朝 希 望 废 去 被 黜 免 皇 朝 的 名 号 时 , 它 往 往 喜 欢 说 它的 称 号 来 自人民 而 不 是领土 。 这 样 , 我 们 便 有 了 一 些 法 兰 西
皇 帝 和 国 王 , 还 有 一 个 比 利 时 人 的 国 王 。 在 我 们 所 谈 到 的 时
期 中 , 在 类 似 的 情 况 下 , 还 出 现 了 另 外 一 种 不 同 的 观 念 。 一
个 “ 首 领 ” 如 果 不 想 再 自 称 为 部 落 国 王 , 必 定 会 要 求 成 为 世
界 的 皇 帝 。 这 样 , 当 世 袭 的 权 臣 们 和 实 际 上 久 已 废 立 的 君 主
们 相 决 裂 时 , 他 们 立 即 不 愿 自 称 为 法 兰 克 人 的 国 王 , 这 个 称
号 是 属 于 被 废 黜 的 墨 洛 温 的 ; 但 他 们 又 不 能 自 称 为 法 兰 西 的
国 王 , 因 为 , 虽 然 这 类 称 号 显 然 并 不 是 不 见 经 传 的 , 却 也 不
是 一 个 尊 严 的 称 号 。 因 此 , 他 们 就 进 而 矢 志 为 世 界 帝 国 的 统
治 者 。 他 们 的 动 机 曾 被 大 大 地 误 解 。 近 代 法 国 作 家 们 曾 认 为 ,
查 理 曼是 远 远 超 过 他 的 同 时 代 人 的 , 不 但 在
其 意 图 的 性 质 上 如 此 , 即 在 他 执 行 这 些 意 图 所 用 的 能 力 上 也
是 如 此 。 不 论 是 否 有 人 在 任 何 时 期 都 是 超 过 他 的 同 时 代 人 的 ,
但 有 一 点 必 然 是 真 的 , 即 查 理 曼 在 企 求 一 个 无 限 制 的 领 土 时 ,
确 是 有 力 地 采 取 了 他 当 时 的 时 代 思 想 所 准 许 他 遵 循 的 唯 一 的
道 路 。 关 于 他 在 智 力 上 的 卓 越 , 当 然 是 毫 无 疑 问 的 , 但 这 种
卓 越 不 是 由 他 的 理 论 而 是 由 他 的 行 为 证 明 的 。
在 见 解 上 的 这 些 特 性 , 并 不 因 为 查 理 曼 的 遗 产 为 其 三 个
孙 子 所 分 割 而 有 所 变 更 。 秃 头 查 理、 路易和 罗 退 耳仍 旧 在 理 论 上 — — 如 果 用 这个 词 是 适 当 的 — — 是 罗 马 的 皇 帝 。 正 犹 如 东 罗 马 帝 国 与 西 罗马 帝 国 的 “ 凯 撒 ” ·
在 ·
法 ·
律 ·
上 都 是 全 世 界 的 皇 帝 , 而 ·
在 ·
事 ·
实 ·
上
则 只 各 自 统 治 着 其 中 的 一 半 , 这 三 个 加 洛 温 朝 的 皇 帝 似 乎 都
认 为 他 们 的 权 力 是 有 限 的 , 但 是 他 们 的 称 号 是 无 限 的 。 这 同
一 的 纯 理 论 的 主 权 普 遍 性 在 肥 硕 查 理死 亡 , 发 生 第 二 次 分 裂 时 仍 继 续 和 王 位 联 系 着 , 并 且 , 真 的 ,
在 日 耳 曼 帝 国 存 续 期 间 内 , 从 来 没 有 完 全 和 它 分 离 过 。 领 土
主 权 — — 这 种 把 主 权 与 地 球 表 面 上 一 块 土 地 的 占 有 联 系 起 来
的 见 解 — — 明 显 地 是 ·
封 ·
建 ·
制 ·
度 的 一 个 支 流 , 虽 然 是 一 个 迟 缓
的 支 流 。 这 可 能 是 ·
先 ·
天 ·
的 预 期 的 , 因 为 第 一 次 把 个 人 义 务 , 结
果 也 就 是 把 个 人 权 利 和 土 地 所 有 权 联 系 起 来 的 是 封 建 制 度 。
对 于 封 建 制 度 的 渊 源 和 其 法 律 性 质 , 不 论 正 当 见 解 应 当 是 怎
样 , 要 鲜 明 地 想 象 封 建 组 织 的 最 好 方 式 , 应 从 它 的 基 础 开 始 ,
先 考 虑 佃 农 同 设 定 和 限 制 其 劳 务 的 小 块 土 地 之 间 的 关 系 — —
而 后 通 过 上 层 封 建 建 筑 的 狭 小 范 围 而 一 直 上 升 以 至 接 近 于 这
制 度 的 顶 点 。 在 黑 暗 时 代 的 后 期 , 这 个 顶 点 究 竟 在 什 么 地 方 ,
是 不 容 易 决 定 的 。 可 能 , 在 部 落 主 权 的 概 念 确 实 消 失 的 地 方 ,
这 个 最 高 之 点 始 终 被 指 向 着 西 罗 马 帝 国 凯 撒 的 假 定 承 继 人 。
但 是 过 了 不 久 , 当 帝 国 权 威 的 实 际 影 响 大 大 萎 缩 时 , 皇 帝 把
他 仅 有 的 残 余 权 力 集 中 于 日 耳 曼 和 北 意 大 利 , 所 有 在 前 加 洛
温 帝 国 四 周 的 最 高 封 建 主 发 觉 了 在 他 们 上 面 实 际 上 已 经 没 有
一 个 最 高 首 领 。 逐 渐 地 他 们 就 习 惯 于 这 种 新 的 形 势 , 而 已 免
除 外 来 干 涉 的 这 个 事 实 , 终 于 把 依 附 的 理 论 隐 灭 掉 ; 当 然 有
许 多 征 象 表 明 , 这 个 变 化 的 完 成 并 不 是 十 分 容 易 的 ; 而 且 我
们 得 毫 无 疑 问 地 认 为 , 由 于 这 样 一 种 印 象 , 就 是 说 , 根 据 事
物 的 自 然 性 质 , 必 然 地 要 在 某 些 地 方 有 一 个 最 高 的 统 治 权 , 就
产 生 了 不 断 地 把 世 俗 上 的 无 上 权 力 归 属 于 罗 马 教 皇 的 倾 向 。
法 兰 西 加 佩 王 朝 的 接 位 , 标 志 着 思 想 革 命 中 第 一 阶 段 的 完 成 。
这 个 环 绕 着 巴 黎 四 周 有 限 领 土 的 封 建 诸 侯 , 由 于 大 量 的 宗 主
权 结 合 于 本 身 这 一 个 偶 然 事 件 而 开 始 自 称 为 ·
法 ·
兰 ·
西 ·
国 ·
王 , 他成 为 了 一 种 全 然 新 的 意 义 的 国 王 , 一 个 主 权 者 , 他 对 法 兰 西
土 地 的 关 系 和 男 爵 对 于 封 邑 、 佃 农 对 于 自 由 产 的 关 系 完 全 相
同 。 这 个 先 例 不 但 是 新 奇 的 , 同 时 也 是 有 影 响 的 。 在 法 兰 西
的 这 种 君 治 的 形 式 , 有 力 地 促 使 其 他 地 方 向 同 一 个 方 向 变 化 。
我 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊王 室 的 王 位 这 时 处 于 一个 部 落 首 领 和 领 土 最 高 统 治 权 的 中 途 。 但 是 诺 曼王朝 诸 王 最 高 权 模 仿 着 法 兰 西 国 王 , 明 显 地 是 一 种 领 土 主 权 。 在
以 后 建 立 的 或 巩 固 的 每 一 个 统 治 权 , 都 根 据 了 后 一 种 模 型 而
组 成 。 西 班 牙 、 那 不 勒 斯以 及 在 意 大 利 自 由 市 废 墟
上 建 立 起 来 的 各 个 诸 侯 国 家 , 都 由 领 土 主 权 的 统 治 者 统 治 着 。
从 一 个 见 解 逐 渐 转 变 到 另 一 个 见 解 的 事 例 中 , 我 认 为 最 最 离
奇 的 莫 如 ·
威 ·
尼 ·
斯 ·
人。 在 其 对 外 征 伐 开 始 时 , 这 个共 和 国 自 视 为 和 罗 马 共 和 政 治 同 一 类 型 的 国 家 , 统 治 着 许 多
的 属 省 。 经 过 了 一 个 世 纪 以 后 , 你 就 可 以 发 现 它 却 希 望 成 为一 个 集 合 的 主 权 国 家 , 对 它 在 意 大 利 和 爱 琴 海所 有的 占 有 地 拥 有 一 个 封 建 宗 主 国 的 权 利 。
关 于 主 权 这 个 主 题 的 各 种 通 俗 观 念 在 经 历 着 显 著 变 化 的时 期 内 , 作 为 我 们 今 日 称 为 “ 国 际 法 ” 的 制 度 , 在 形 式 上 是杂 乱 无 章 的 , 在 原 则 上 也 是 不 符 合 它 所 祈 求 的 目 的 的 。 在 罗马-日耳 曼 帝 国 内 的 一 部 分 欧 洲 土 地 上 , 联 邦 国 家 之 间 的 关系 是 由 复 杂 的 但 还 不 完 全 的 帝 国 宪 法 机 构 所 约 束 着 ; 并且这在 我 们 看 来 也 许 是 可 惊 异 的 , 日 耳 曼 法 学 家 所 爱 好 的 观 念 仍旧 是 : 联 邦 国 之 间 的 关 系 , 不 论 在 帝 国 之 内 或 在 帝 国 之 外 应该 根 据 以 凯 撒 为 中 心 的 纯 粹 罗 马 法 律 学 的 规 定 而 不 应 该 根 据“万 民 法 ” 的 规 定 。 这 个 学 理 在 边 远 的 各 国 中 没 有 像 我 们 早 先所 假 定 那 样 地 被 大 胆 抛 弃 ; 但 是 在 实 质 上 , 在 欧 洲 的 其 余 的地 方 , 封 建 的 部 属 已 成 为 公 法 的 一 种 代 替 品 ; 当 那 些 封建从属 犹 疑 不 定 暧 昧 不 明 时 , 至 少 在 理 论 上 , 从 “ 教 会 ” 领袖的权 威 上 面 找 到 一 种 最 高 的 支 配 力 。 虽 然 是 这 样 , 但 可 以 断 定,封 建 和 教 会 的 势 力 在 十 五 世 纪 甚 至 在 十 四 世 纪 年 代 中 就 已 开
始 迅 速 衰 败 了 ; 如 果 我 们 密 切 审 视 一 下 当 时 各 次 战 事 的 借 口
以 及 公 开 的 联 盟 动 机 , 就 可 以 看 到 , 以 后 为 阿 雅 拉 和 格 罗 修
斯 所 调 和 和 巩 固 的 各 种 见 解 , 正 随 着 旧 原 则 一 步 步 地 被 代 替
而 有 着 重 要 的 进 展 , 虽 然 这 种 进 展 是 默 默 无 声 的 , 并 且 是 很
缓 慢 的 。 来 自 各 个 渊 源 的 权 威 有 没 有 经 熔 合 而 最 后 成 为 一 个
国 际 关 系 的 制 度 , 以 及 这 个 制 度 究 竟 在 实 质 上 是 不 是 和 格 罗
修 斯 的 结 构 有 什 么 不 同 , 现 在 已 无 法 加 以 断 定 , 因 为 在 事 实
上 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 已 经 把 它 所 有 的 有 力 要 素 , 除 了 一 点 之 外 , 全
部 消 灭 。 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 从 日 耳 曼 开 始 , 它 在 帝 国 的 各 个 诸 侯 之
间 用 深 而 且 广 的 鸿 沟 分 裂 开 来 , 纵 使 帝 国 元 首 保 持 中 立 , 也
已 无 法 用 帝 国 最 高 统 治 来 加 以 沟 通 。 帝 国 元 首 于 是 不 得 不 袒
护 教 会 以 反 对 改 革 者 ; 教 皇 自 然 也 是 处 在 同 样 的 苦 境 中 ; 这
样 , 这 原 来 在 敌 对 双 方 之 间 负 有 调 停 职 责 的 两 个 当 局 者 本 身
就 成 为 了 各 国 分 裂 中 的 一 个 大 党 的 首 领 。 在 这 时 声 势 已 被 削
弱 , 并 且 已 不 能 被 认 为 是 公 共 关 系 中 的 一 个 原 则 而 加 以 信 任
的 封 建 主 义 , 已 不 复 是 足 够 稳 定 并 可 以 和 宗 教 联 盟 相 匹 敌 的
一 种 约 束 力 。 因 此 , 在 公 法 处 于 几 乎 混 乱 状 态 的 情 况 下 , 那
些 被 认 为 是 罗 马 法 学 专 家 唯 一 加 以 认 可 的 一 个 国 家 制 度 的 各种 观 念 , 仍 旧 继 续 存 在 。 这 些 观 念 从 格 罗 修 斯 手 中 获 得 的 形式 、 均 称 和 卓 越 性 , 为 每 一 个 学 者 所 熟 知 。 但 “ 战 事 与 和 平法 规 论 ” 这 部 巨著 的 惊 人 之 处 则 在 其 迅 速 、 完 全 和 普 遍 的 成 功 上 。 “ 三 十 年 战争 ” 的 惨 状 , 军 人 毫 无 拘 束 的 放 纵 行 为 所 激 起 的 无 边 恐 怖 和
憾 事 , 无 疑 地 , 在 某 种 程 度 上 , 可 以 被 用 来 说 明 这 种 成 功 的
原 因 , 但 是 这 还 不 能 作 为 全 部 的 说 明 。 因 为 只 要 对 当 时 的 各
种 观 念 略 为 浏 览 一 下 , 就 可 以 使 我 们 深 信 在 格 罗 修 斯 的 伟 大
著 作 中 描 绘 出 来 的 国 际 大 厦 的 基 本 图 样 , 如 果 不 是 在 理 论 上很 完善 的 话 , 那 它 就 很 可 能 会 被 法 学 家 所 抛 弃 , 被 政 治 家 及士 兵 们 所 藐 视 。
显 然 , 格 罗 修 斯 制 度 在 纯 理 论 上 的 完 善 性 是 和 我 们 所 讨论 的 那 个 领 土 主 权 概 念 密 切 地 联 系 着 的 。 “ 国 际 法 ” 理 论 所 作出 的 假 定 是 : 各 个 共 和 政 治 在 其 相 互 关 系 上 处 在 一 种 自然 状态 中 ; 但 是 一 个 自 然 社 会 的 各 个 组 成 原 子 根 据 这 个 基 本 假 设必 须 是 互 相 分 离 和 各 自 独 立 的 。 如 果 有 一 个 较 高 的 权 力 由 于对 共同 最 高 统 治 权 的 要 求 而 把 它 们 联 结 起 来 , 纵 使 这 种 联 结是 很 薄 弱 的 并 且 也 是 偶 然 的 , 但 正 是 这 一 个 共 同 领 导 者 的 概念 引 进 了 现 实 法 的 观 念 , 排 斥 了 一 个 自 然 法 的 观 念 。 因此,如果 一 个 帝 国 元 首 的 普 遍 宗 主 权 , 即 使 仅 仅 是 在 理 论 上 被得到承 认 , 格 罗 修 斯 的 努 力 就 可 能 会 变 成 徒 劳 。 这 也 不 是现代公法 和 我 企 图 描 述 其 发 展 的 有 关 主 权 的 各 种 见 解 之 间 的 唯一结合之 点 。 我 曾 经 说 过 , 国 际 法 律 学 中 有 些 部 门 完 全 是 由 罗马“财 产 法 ” 组 成 的 。 那 末 我 们 可 以 得 到 什 么 推 论 呢 ? 推 论 是:在 对 主 权 所 作 的 评 价 中 如 果 没 有 象 我 所 描 述 的 那 种 变化——如 果 主 权 并 没 有 和 地 球 上 一 块 土 地 的 所 有 权 联 系 起 来 , 换言之 , 并 没 有 成 为 对 领 土 的 主 权 — — , 则 格 罗 修 斯 的 理 论 , 就将 有 四 分 之 三 无 法 加 以 适 用 。
第 五 章 原 始 社 会 与 古 代 法
在 近 代 , 法 律 学 这 个 主 题 作 为 科 学 研 究 的 必 要 性 , 是 一向 被 重 视 的 , 由 于 感 到 这 种 必 要 而 提 出 的 论 文 来 自 各 个 不 同方 面 , 但 是 , 如 果 说 , 到 现 在 为 止 , 被 认 为 是 科 学 的 东 西 实际 上 绝 大 部 分 仅 只 是 一 些 推 测 , 只 是 一 些 在 前 面 二 章 中 所 研究 的 罗 马 法 学 家 的 推 测 , 我 以 为 并 不 能 认 为 太 武 断 。 明 白 承认 和 采 用 一 个 自 然 状 态 ; 以 及 与 其 性 质 相 类 似 的 原 则 制 度 的各 种 推 测 理 论 , 其 有 关 的 一 系 列 论 文 , 从 这 些 理 论 发 明 者 的时 代 起 一 直 到 我 们 今 天 为 止 , 始 终 被 继 续 着 , 很 少 中 断 。它们 出 现 于 奠 定 现 代 法 律 学 基 础 的 注 释 学 派 的 注 解 中 , 出 现 于继 承 他 们 的 经 院 法 学 家 的 作 品 中 。 它 们 可 以 在 寺 院 法 学者的教 条 中 看 到 。 它 们 被 那 些 在 文 艺 复 兴 时 代 极 为 活 跃 的 博 学 多能 的 民 法 学 家 放 置 在 杰 出 的 地 位 。 格 罗 修 斯 及 其 继 承 人 不 但
使 它 们 具 有 实 际 的 重 要 性 , 并 且 使 它 们 变 得 更 加 辉 煌 更 加 可
以 赞 誉 。 在 我 国 布 拉 克 斯 顿 的 开 头 几 章 中 也 可 以 看 到 它 们 , 他
把 它 们 原 封 不 动 地 从 柏 拉 玛 克 ( B u r l a m a q u i ) 中 照 抄 下 来 , 而凡 是 今 天 所 刊 印 的 用 以 为 学 者 或 实 务 者 作 指 导 的 各 种 教 科
书 , 在 它 们 开 头 讨 论 法 律 的 基 本 原 理 时 往 往 就 会 被 发 觉 , 这
些 基 本 原 理 就 是 罗 马 假 设 的 一 次 重 复 申 述 。 但 是 , 正 由 于 这
些 推 测 有 时 用 以 掩 盖 其 自 己 的 伪 装 , 如 同 其 原 来 的 形 式 一 样 ,
使 我 们 对 于 它 们 混 杂 于 人 类 思 想 中 的 技 巧 , 能 获 得 一 个 充 分的 观 念 。 洛 克 所 主 张 的 “ 法 律 ” 起 源 于 一 个 “ 社 会 契 约 ” 的理 论 , 很 难 隐 瞒 其 来 自 罗 马 的 特 点 , 事 实 上 , 这 个 理 论 只 是
使 古 代 见 解 对 现 代 人 中 特 殊 的 一 代 具 有 更 大 吸 引 力 的 外 衣 而
已 ; 可 是 , 在 另 一 方 面 , 霍 布 斯 就 同 一 主 题 所 提 出 的 理 论 , 却
故 意 否 认 罗 马 人 及 其 门 徒 所 设 想 的 一 个 自 然 法 的 现 实 性 。 然
而 在 这 个 把 英 国 有 代 表 性 的 政 治 家 长 期 分 成 为 两 个 敌 对 阵 营
的 两 种 理 论 中 , 有 一 点 却 是 彼 此 之 间 极 为 相 似 的 , 就 是 它 们
都 以 人 类 的 、 非 历 史 的 、 无 法 证 实 的 状 态 作 为 他 们 的 基 本 假
设 , 这 两 个 理 论 的 作 者 , 对 于 社 会 产 生 前 状 态 的 各 种 特 征 , 以
及 对 于 人 类 凭 以 脱 离 这 种 社 会 产 生 前 状 态 进 入 我 们 所 熟 悉 的
仅 有 的 那 种 社 会 组 织 的 异 常 活 动 的 性 质 , 有 着 分 歧 的 看 法 。 但
是 他 们 却 一 致 同 意 , 认 为 在 原 始 状 态 中 的 人 和 在 社 会 产 生 后
的 人 两 者 之 间 , 存 在 着 一 个 巨 大 的 鸿 沟 把 他 们 分 离 开 来 , 我
们 毫 不 怀 疑 , 这 个 观 点 正 是 他 们 有 意 识 地 或 者 无 意 识 地 从 罗
马 人 那 里 借 用 来 的 。 如 果 法 律 现 象 的 确 象 这 些 理 论 家 所 认 为
的 那 样 — — 即 认 为 是 一 个 庞 大 、 复 杂 的 整 体 — — , 那 么 , 也
就 难 怪 人 心 往 往 要 规 避 它 所 担 任 的 工 作 , 否 则 它 有 时 候 就 会
失 望 地 放 弃 系 统 化 的 工 作 ; 而 人 心 所 采 取 的 规 避 的 办 法 , 是
退 而 求 助 于 某 种 似 乎 可 以 调 和 一 切 事 物 的 智 巧 的 推 测 。
在 和 罗 马 学 理 有 着 同 样 的 思 想 基 础 的 各 种 法 律 学 理 论
中 , 有 两 种 非 常 著 名 的 理 论 , 必 须 除 外 。 其 中 的 第 一 种 是 和
孟 德 斯 鸠 的 大 名 有 联 系 的 。 虽 然 在 “ 论 法 的 精 神 ” 的 开 始 部
分 中 , 有 一 些 模 糊 辞 句 似 乎 表 明 作 者 不 愿 与 当 时 流 行 着 的 各
种 见 解 公 然 决 裂 , 但 从 全 书 的 大 意 来 看 , 它 对 其 主 题 所 表 示
的 概 念 当 然 是 和 前 人 所 发 表 的 见 解 完 全 不 同 的 。 在 它 从 各 种假 定 的 法 律 学 制 度 中 通 过 广 泛 深 入 观 察 而 搜 集 起 来 的 大 量 种
类 繁 杂 的 例 子 中 间 , 常 常 可 以 看 到 有 一 种 明 显 的 渴 望 , 想 把
因 其 粗 鲁 、 奇 异 或 猥 亵 而 使 文 明 的 读 者 为 之 震 惊 的 那 些 风 尚
和 制 度 ; 置 于 特 别 杰 出 的 地 位 。 书 中 不 断 地 提 出 的 推 测 是 : 法
律 是 气 候 、 当 地 情 况 、 偶 然 事 件 或 诈 欺 的 产 物 — — 是 除 了 相
当 经 常 发 生 作 用 的 原 因 以 外 任 何 原 因 的 产 物 。 在 事 实 上 , 孟
德 斯 鸠 似 乎 把 人 类 的 本 性 看 做 是 完 全 可 塑 性 的 , 它 只 是 在 被
动 地 重 复 着 它 从 外 界 所 接 受 的 印 象 , 在 绝 对 地 听 命 着 它 从 外
界 所 接 受 的 刺 激 。 而 他 的 制 度 所 以 不 能 成 为 一 个 制 度 , 无 疑
地 , 错 误 就 是 在 这 里 。 他 过 低 地 估 计 了 人 类 本 性 的 稳 定 性 。 他
很 少 或 完 全 不 重 视 种 族 的 遗 传 性 质 , 即 每 一 代 从 前 辈 接 受 下
来 再 一 代 代 传 下 去 很 少 加 以 改 变 的 性 质 。 的 确 , 除 非 对 “ 论
法 的 精 神 ” 中 所 注 意 到 的 那 些 变 更 原 因 给 予 应 有 的 承 认 , 要
对 社 会 现 象 、 因 而 也 对 于 法 律 提 供 一 个 完 全 的 说 明 是 不 可 能
的 ; 但 这 些 原 因 的 数 量 和 其 力 量 , 似 乎 为 孟 德 斯 鸠 过 高 地 估
计 了 。 在 他 所 罗 列 的 变 例 中 , 有 许 多 已 被 证 明 是 建 筑 在 虚 伪
的 报 告 或 错 误 的 解 释 上 , 而 在 剩 余 下 来 的 一 些 变 例 中 , 有 不
少 不 是 证 明 人 类 本 性 的 变 化 无 常 , 相 反 地 却 证 明 了 其 恒 久 不
变 , 因 为 它 们 都 是 人 类 在 较 古 远 的 时 期 顽 固 地 抗 拒 了 在 别 种
场 合 可 能 会 发 生 效 果 的 各 种 影 响 而 遗 留 下 来 的 遗 物 。 真 相 是 ,
在 我 们 智 力 的 、 道 德 的 和 体 力 的 组 成 中 , 绝 大 部 分 都 是 属 于
稳 定 部 分 , 它 对 于 变 化 具 有 巨 大 的 抵 抗 力 , 因 此 虽 然 世 界 上
一 个 部 分 的 人 类 社 会 是 明 显 地 变 化 多 端 的 , 但 这 些 变 化 并 非
如 此 迅 速 , 也 不 是 如 此 广 泛 , 以 致 其 数 量 、 性 质 及 一 般 趋 向
会 达 到 不 可 能 确 定 的 地 步 。 以 我 们 今 日 有 限 知 识 所 可 能 达 到的 , 也 许 只 是 比 较 地 接 近 的 真 理 , 但 我 们 没 有 理 由 以 为 这 是非 常 遥 远 的 , 或 以 为 ( 实 在 是 同 样 的 东 西 ) 它 须 要 在 将 来作很 大 的 修正,因 此 是 完 全 无 用 的 和 不 足 为 训 的 。
前 面 所 谈 的 另 外 一 种 理 论 是 边 沁 的 历 史 理 论 。 这 个 理 论
在 边 沁 的 著 作 的 有 几 个 部 分 中 模 糊 地 ( 并 且 可 以 说 是 胆 小
地 ) 提 出 来 , 和 他 在 “ 政 府 论 丛 ” 中 开 其 端 , 后 来 由 约 翰 ·
奥 斯 丁 先 生 加 以 完 成 的 有 关 法 律 概 念 的 分 析 完 全 不 同 。 把 一
条 法 律 还 原 为 在 特 殊 情 况 下 适 用 的 一 种 特 殊 性 的 命 令 , 目 的
只 是 为 了 使 我 们 可 以 摆 脱 言 语 上 的 困 难 — — 这 当 然 是 一 种 最
可 怕 的 困 难 。 至 于 社 会 所 以 把 这 些 命 令 加 诸 自 己 身 上 , 其 动
机 何 在 , 这 些 命 令 相 互 之 间 的 联 系 如 何 , 以 及 它 们 对 在 它 们
以 前 的 命 令 及 对 它 们 所 代 替 的 命 令 的 依 附 性 质 又 如 何 这 一 些
问 题 , 仍 旧 是 悬 而 未 决 。 边 沁 所 提 出 的 答 案 是 , 社 会 因 其 对
一 般 权 宜 措 施 的 见 解 有 所 变 更 而 变 更 着 、 并 且 是 不 断 地 变 更
着 法 律 。 很 难 说 这 个 命 题 是 错 误 的 , 但 它 肯 定 是 没 有 效 果 的 。
因 为 , 所 谓 对 一 个 社 会 或 毋 宁 说 是 对 社 会 的 统 治 阶 级 是 权 宜
的 东 西 , 实 际 上 必 然 地 就 是 社 会 在 作 出 变 更 时 心 目 中 所 想 要
达 到 的 目 的 , 不 论 这 个 目 的 是 什 么 。 所 谓 权 宜 和 最 大 幸 福 , 实
在 就 是 推 动 变 更 的 冲 动 , 不 过 名 称 不 同 而 已 ; 当 我 们 把 权 宜
作 为 是 变 更 法 律 或 意 见 的 准 则 时 , 我 们 从 这 个 命 题 中 所 能 得
到 的 , 只 是 用 一 个 特 别 名 词 来 代 替 当 我 们 说 一 次 变 更 发 生 了时 必 然 地 要 想 到 的 另 一 个 名 词 而 已 。
对 于 现 有 的 各 种 法 律 学 理 论 , 存 在 着 非 常 广 泛 的 不 满 , 并且 一 般 都 认 为 这 些 理 论 不 能 真 正 解 决 它 们 标 榜 着 要 解 决 的 问题 , 因 此 就 正 当 地 产 生 了 这 样 的 一 种 怀 疑 , 就 是 说 为 了 要 求得 一 个 完 美 的 结 果 所 必 须 的 某 些 方 面 的 研 究 ; 或 者 为 其 著 者进 行 得 不 够 彻 底 , 或 者 是 甚 至 完 全 被 忽 略 了 。 真 的 , 也 许 除了 孟 德 斯 鸠 外 , 在 所 有 这 些 纯 理 论 中 , 的 确 都 有 一 个 可 以 指责 的 显 著 遗 漏 。 在 这 些 纯 理 论 中 , 都 忽 视 了 在 它 们 出 现的特定 时 间 以 前 很 遥 远 的 时 代 中 , 法 律 在 实 际 上 究 竟 是 怎 样 的 。 这
些 纯 理 论 的 创 造 者 详 细 地 观 察 了 他 们 自 己 时 代 的 各 种 制 度 和
文 明 以 及 在 某 种 程 度 上 能 迎 合 他 们 心 理 的 其 他 时 代 的 各 种 制
度 和 文 明 , 但 是 当 他 们 把 其 注 意 力 转 向 和 他 们 自 己 的 在 表 面
上 有 极 大 差 别 的 古 代 社 会 状 态 时 , 他 们 便 一 致 地 停 止 观 察 而
开 始 猜 想 了 。 因 此 , 他 们 所 犯 的 错 误 , 正 和 一 个 考 察 物 质 宇
宙 规 律 的 人 , 把 他 的 考 虑 从 作 为 一 个 统 一 体 的 现 存 物 理 世 界
开 始 而 不 从 作 为 其 最 简 单 构 成 要 素 的 各 个 分 子 着 手 时 所 犯 的
错 误 , 很 相 类 似 。 这 种 在 科 学 上 违 背 常 理 的 方 法 , 在 任 何 其
他 思 想 领 域 中 不 可 采 用 , 那 在 法 律 学 中 当 然 也 是 同 样 不 足 取
的 。 似 乎 在 先 就 可 以 看 到 , 我 们 应 该 从 最 简 单 的 社 会 形 式 开
始 , 并 且 越 接 近 其 原 始 条 件 的 一 个 状 态 越 好 。 换 言 之 , 如 果
我 们 要 采 用 这 类 研 究 中 所 通 常 遵 循 的 道 路 , 我 们 就 应 该 尽 可
能 地 深 入 到 原 始 社 会 的 历 史 中 。 早 期 社 会 所 提 供 给 我 们 的 各
种 现 象 并 不 是 一 看 就 容 易 理 解 的 , 但 要 掌 握 住 这 些 现 象 时 所
遇 到 的 困 难 , 和 在 考 究 现 代 社 会 组 织 错 综 复 杂 情 况 时 使 我 们
遭 受 的 困 惑 , 是 不 能 相 比 的 。 这 种 困 难 的 产 生 ; 是 由 于 它 们
的 奇 怪 和 异 样 , 而 不 是 由 于 它 们 的 数 量 和 复 杂 性 。 当 人 们 用
一 种 现 代 的 观 点 来 观 察 这 些 现 象 时 必 然 会 引 起 不 易 很 快 克 服
的 惊 奇 ; 但 当 惊 奇 被 克 服 时 , 它 们 就 将 很 少 也 很 简 单 的 了 。 不过 纵 使 它 们 造 成 了 很 大 的 困 难 , 我 们 不 辞 劳 苦 以 确 定 这 些 胚种 也 不 会 是 浪 费 精 力 的 。 因 为 现 在 控 制 着 我 们 行 动 以 及 塑 造着 我 们 行 为 的 道 德 规 范 的 每 一 种 形 式 , 必 然 可 以 从 这 些 胚 种当 中 展 示 出 来 。
我 们 所 能 知 道 的 社 会 状 态 的 雏 形 , 来 自 三 种 记 录 — — 即
观 察 者 对 于 同 时 代 比 较 落 后 的 各 种 文 明 的 记 事 , 某 一 个 特 殊
民 族 所 保 存 下 来 的 关 于 他 们 的 原 始 历 史 的 记 录 , 以 及 古 代 的
法 律 。 第 一 种 证 据 是 我 们 可 以 预 期 的 最 好 的 一 种 。 各 个 社 会
既 不 是 同 时 并 进 而 是 按 着 不 同 速 度 前 进 的 , 因 此 确 有 这 样 一
些 时 期 , 凡 是 受 到 有 系 统 的 观 察 习 惯 训 练 的 人 们 , 能 真 正 有
机 会 可 以 看 到 人 类 的 幼 年 , 并 加 以 描 述 。 塔西佗曾尽 量 利 用 了 这 种 机 会 ; 但 是 他 所 著 的 “ 日 耳 曼 ” 一书 , 不 像 大 多 数 著 名 的 经 典 著 作 一 样 , 没 有 能 引 起 别 人 去 仿 效 他 的 优 秀 榜 样 ; 因 此 我 们 现 在 所 保 有 的 这 一 类 的 记 录 , 数
量 非 常 之 少 。 文 明 人 对 于 其 野 蛮 的 邻 人 往 往 有 一 种 傲 慢 之 感 ;
这 就 使 他 们 往 往 明 显 地 不 屑 于 观 察 他 们 , 而 这 种 不 关 心 有 时
更 因 为 恐 惧 、 因 为 宗 教 偏 见 、 甚 至 就 因 为 这 些 名 词 — — 即 文
明 和 野 蛮 — — 的 应 用 而 更 加 严 重 , 这 种 文 明 和 野 蛮 的 分 野 常
对 大 多 数 人 造 成 了 不 但 在 程 度 上 而 且 在 种 类 上 都 有 所 差 别 的
印 象 。 甚 至 对 于 “ 日 耳 曼 ” 也 有 些 批 评 家 曾 怀 疑 它 为 了 要 求
对 比 尖 锐 , 叙 述 生 动 而 牺 牲 了 信 实 。 有 一 些 史 料 , 叙 述 着 民
族 的 幼 年 , 保 存 在 档 案 中 流 传 给 我 们 的 , 也 被 认 为 由 于 种 族
骄 傲 或 由 于 新 时 代 的 宗 教 情 绪 而 被 歪 曲 了 。 然 而 对 于 大 部 分
的 古 代 法 律 却 并 未 发 生 过 这 些 毫 无 根 据 的 或 合 理 的 疑 虑 , 这
是 非 常 值 得 重 视 的 事 实 。 所 有 流 传 下 来 的 许 多 古 代 法 律 所 以
能 被 保 存 下 来 , 只 是 因 为 它 们 是 古 代 的 , 那 些 在 当 初 执 行 它和 服 从 它 的 人 们 , 并 不 标 榜 能 理 解 它 ; 在 有 些 情 况 下 , 他 们
甚 至 嘲 笑 它 和 藐 视 它 。 除 了 它 是 由 他 们 祖 先 传 下 来 的 以 外 , 他
们 对 它 并 不 特 别 重 视 。 因 此 , 如 果 我 们 能 集 中 注 意 力 于 那 些
古 代 制 度 的 断 片 , 这 些 断 片 还 不 能 合 理 地 被 假 定 为 曾 经 受 到
过 改 动 , 我 们 就 有 可 能 对 于 原 来 所 属 社 会 的 某 种 主 要 特 征 获
得 一 个 明 确 的 概 念 。 在 这 个 基 础 上 再 向 前 跨 进 一 步 , 我 们 可
以 把 我 们 已 有 的 知 识 适 用 于 象 “ 摩 奴 法 典 ” 那 种 大 体 上 其 真
实 性 还 可 疑 的 一 些 法 律 制 度 ; 凭 了 这 个 已 经 获 得 的 关 键 , 我
们 就 可 以 把 那 些 真 正 是 古 代 传 下 来 的 部 分 从 那 些 曾 经 受 到 过
编 纂 者 的 偏 见 、 兴 趣 或 无 知 的 影 响 的 部 分 , 区 分 开 来 。 至 少
应 该 承 认 , 如 果 有 足 够 的 材 料 来 从 事 于 这 样 的 研 究 过 程 , 如
果 反 复 的 比 较 是 被 正 确 地 执 行 着 , 则 我 们 所 遵 循 的 方 法 , 必
将 象 征 比 较 语 言 学 中 使 能 达 到 惊 人 结 果 的 那 些 方 法 一 样 很 少
有 可 以 反 对 的 余 地 。
从 比 较 法 律 学 中 所 获 得 的 证 据 , 使 我 们 对 人 类 原 始 状 态
确 立 了 一 种 看 法 , 即 所 谓 “ 宗 法 理 论 ” 。 当 然 这 个 理 论 无 疑 地
原 来 是 以 下 亚 细 亚(L o w e r A s i a ) 希 伯 来族 长制 的 圣 经 史 为 根 据 的 ; 但 是 , 像 前 面 已 经 解 释 过 的 , 正 因 为 它 和 “ 圣 经 ” ( S c r i p t u r e ) 有 联 系 , 它 就 被 反 对 , 不 被 认 为 是一 个 可 以 接 受 的 完 全 的 理 论 , 因 为 直 到 最 近 还 热 诚 从 事 于 总
括 各 种 社 会 现 象 的 多 数 研 究 者 , 不 是 一 些 对 希 伯 来 古 代 事 物
具 有 最 顽 强 偏 见 的 人 , 就 是 一 些 想 不 借 助 于 宗 教 记 录 而 最 坚
强 地 希 望 自 己 建 立 一 个 体 系 的 人 。 即 使 一 直 到 现 在 ; 也 许 还
有 着 这 样 一 种 倾 向 , 低 估 这 些 记 事 的 价 值 , 或 者 应 该 说 是 不
愿 把 它 们 作 为 闪 族 ( S e m i t i c p e o p l e ) 传 统 的 组 成 部 分 , 而 从其 中 得 出 结 论 。 但 是 , 值 得 注 意 的 是 , 这 一 种 法 律 记 录 , 几乎 完 全 来 自 属 于 印 度 - 欧 罗 巴 种 族 的 社 会 制 度 , 其 中 较 大 部
分 是 罗 马 人 、 印 度 人 和 斯 拉 夫 人 所 供 给 的 ; 而 当 前 研 究 阶 段
所 面 临 的 困 难 是 : 要 知 道 究 竟 到 什 么 地 方 为 止 , 究 竟 有 哪 一
些 人 种 , 是不 许 可 被 肯 定 为 他 们 的 社 会 原 来 是 按 照 父 权 的 模
型 而 组 成 的 。 从 “ 创 世 纪 ” 开 头 的 几 章 中 所 能 收 集 到 的 这 一
类 社 会 的 主 要 轮 廓 , 在 这 里 毋 庸 详 为 描 述 , 因 为 我 们 大 多 数
人 已 经 从 小 都 非 常 熟 悉 , 同 时 也 因 为 由 于 洛 克 和 菲 尔 美
( F i l m e r ) 之 间 辩 论 的 结 果 , 在 英 国 文 献 中 已 有 专 书 论 述 了 这个 问 题 , 虽 然 这 本 书 并 不 是 很 有 益 的 。 从 历 史 表 面 上 所 能 看
到 的 各 点 是 : — — 最 年 长 的 父 辈 — — 最 年 长 的 尊 属 亲 — — 是
家 庭 的 绝 对 统 治 者 。 他 握 有 生 杀 之 权 , 他 对 待 他 的 子 女 、 他
的 家 庭 象 对 待 奴 隶 一 样 , 不 受 任 何 限 制 ; 真 的 , 亲 子 具 有 这
样 较 高 的 资 格 , 就 是 终 有 一 天 他 本 身 也 要 成 为 一 个 族 长 , 除
此 以 外 , 父 子 关 系 和 主 奴 关 系 似 乎 很 少 差 别 。 子 女 的 羊 和 牛
就 是 父 的 羊 和 牛 , 父 所 占 有 的 物 件 是 由 他 以 代 表 的 身 分 而 非
所 有 人 的 身 分 占 有 的 , 这 些 占 有 物 , 在 他 死 亡 时 , 即 在 其 一
等 卑 亲 属 中 平 均 分 配 , 长 子 有 时 以 生 得 权 的 名 义 接 受 双 倍 的
份 额 , 但 更 普 通 的 是 除 了 一 种 荣 誉 的 优 先 权 以 外 , 不 再 赋 予
任 何 继 承 利 益 。 在 圣 经 的 记 事 中 有 一 个 不 十 分 明 显 的 例 子 , 似
乎 父 系 的 帝 国 第 一 次 发 生 了 破 坏 的 痕 迹 。 雅 各和以扫两 个 家 族 分 离 而 组 成 为 两 个 国 家 ; 但 是 雅 各 子 女的 各 个 家 族 却 仍 旧 结 合 在 一 起 , 而 成 为 一 个 民 族 。 这 就 好 象是 一 个 国 家 或 共 和 政 治 的 不 成 熟 的 胚 种 , 同 时 也 好 象 是 一 种权 利 顺 序 较 胜 于 家 族 关 系 所 提 出 的 要 求 。
为 了 法 学 家 的 特 殊 目 的 , 简 要 地 说 明 人 类 在 其 历 史 黎 明时 期 所 做 状 态 的 各 个 特 征 , 我 以 为 只 要 摘 引 荷 马 “奥特赛 ”中 如 下 几 行 诗 句 就 够 了 :
“ 他 们 既 没 有 评 议 会 , 又 没 有地美士第 , 但 每 一 个 人 对 妻 子 和儿 女 都 有 审 判 权 , 在 他 们 相 互 之 间 , 则 是 各 不 相 关 的 。 ” 这 些诗 句 是 适 用 于 “ 独 眼 巨 人 ”的 , 我 以 为 如 果 说 “ 独眼 巨 人 ” 就 是 荷 马 心 目 中 一 种 外 国 的 和 不 进 步 的 文 明 的 典 型 ,
也 许 不 完 全 是 一 种 幻 想 ; 因 为 一 个 原 始 共 产 体 对 于 在 风 尚 上
和 它 自 己 有 非 常 不 同 的 人 , 往 往 会 感 到 几 乎 是 自 然 的 憎 恶 , 这
种 憎 恶 通 常 表 现 为 把 他 们 描 写 成 怪 物 , 例 如 巨 人 甚 至 是 魔 鬼
( 在 东 方 神 话 学 中 , 几 乎 在 所 有 情 况 中 都 是 如 此 ) 。 不 论 是 不
是 这 样 , 在 这 几 行 诗 句 中 , 正 集 中 了 古 代 法 律 事 物 所 能 给 予
我 们 的 各 种 暗 示 的 总 和 。 人 类 最 初 是 分 散 在 完 全 孤 立 的 集 团
中 的 , 这 种 集 团 由 于 对 父 辈 的 服 从 而 结 合 在 一 起 。 法 律 是 父
辈 的 语 言 , 但 它 们 没 有 达 到 我 们 在 本 文 第 一 章 中 所 分 析 的 地
美 士 第 的 程 度 。 当 我 们 向 前 进 行 而 达 到 这 些 早 期 法 律 概 念 成
形 的 社 会 状 态 时 , 我 们 发 现 , 这 些 法 律 概 念 仍 旧 多 少 带 有 足
以 表 示 一 个 专 制 的 父 的 命 令 的 这 个 特 点 的 神 秘 性 和 自 发 性 ,
但 在 同 一 时 候 , 由 于 他 们 来 自 一 个 主 权 者 , 这 些 法 律 概 念 就
预 先 假 定 了 一 个 组 织 比 较 广 泛 、 由 许 多 家 族 集 团 组 成 的 联 合体 。 第 二 个 问 题 是 , 这 种 联 合 体 的 性 质 是 什 么 以 及 它 包 括 的
亲 密 程 度 究 竟 是 怎 样 的 。 正 是 在 这 一 点 , 古 代 法 律 提 供 给 我
们 最 大 的 贡 献 之 一 , 并 且 填 补 了 否 则 只 可 能 以 猜 度 来 渡 过 的
一 个 鸿 沟 。 它 不 论 在 任 何 方 面 都 明 显 地 表 示 着 , 原 始 时 代 的
社 会 并 不 象 现 在 所 设 想 的 , 是 一 个个人 的 集 合 , 在 事 实 上 ; 并
且 根 据 组 成 它 的 人 们 的 看 法 , 它 是一个 ·
许 ·
多 ·
家 ·
族 ·
的 ·
集 ·
合 ·
体 。 如
果 说 一 个 古 代 社 会 的 ·
单 ·
位 是 “ 家 族 ” , 而 一 个 现 代 社 会 的 单 位
是 “ 个 人 ” , 则 这 个 对 比 , 也 许 可 以 更 强 有 力 地 表 示 出 来 。 在
古 代 法 律 中 , 这 个 差 别 有 着 重 大 的 后 果 。 法 律 的 这 样 组 成 是
为 了 要 适 应 一 个 小 的 独 立 团 体 的 制 度 。 因 此 , 它 的 数 量 不 多 ,
因 为 它 可 以 由 家 长 的 专 断 命 令 来 增 补 的 。 它 的 仪 式 繁 多 , 因
为 它 所 着 重 处 理 的 事 务 , 类 似 国 际 间 的 事 务 的 地 方 , 多 于 个
人 间 交 往 的 迅 速 处 理 。 尤 其 重 要 的 , 它 具 有 一 种 特 性 , 其 重
要 性 在 目 前 还 不 能 全 部 表 现 出 来 。 它 所 持 有 的 ·
人 ·
生 观 和 发 达
的 法 律 学 中 所 体 现 的 完 全 不 同 。 团 体 ·
永 ·
生 ·
不 ·
灭 , 因 此 , 原 始法 律 把 它 所 关 连 的 实 体 即 宗 法 或 家 族 集 团 , 视 为 永 久 的 和 不能 消 灭 的 。 这 种 见 解 同 远 古 时 代 道 德 属 性 所 表 现 的 特 别 看 法 ,
有 着 密 切 联 系 。 个 人 道 德 的 升 降 往 往 和 个 人 所 隶 属 集 团 的 优
缺 点 混 淆 在 一 起 , 或 处 于 比 较 次 要 的 地 位 。 如 果 共 产 体 有 了
罪 过 , 它 的 罪 恶 大 于 其 成 员 所 犯 罪 的 总 和 ; 这 个 罪 是 一 个 团
体 行 为 , 其 后 果 所 及 , 要 比 实 际 参 与 犯 罪 行 为 的 人 多 的 多 。 如
果 , 反 过 来 , 个 人 是 显 然 有 罪 的 , 那 他 的 子 女 、 他 的 亲 属 、 他
的 族 人 或 他 的 同 胞 就 都 要 和 他 一 起 受 罚 , 有 时 甚 至 代 替 他 受
罚 。 因 此 关 于 道 德 责 任 和 道 德 报 应 的 观 念 , 在 很 古 时 代 , 似
乎 常 比 各 个 较 进 步 时 代 体 会 得 更 加 明 白 , 因 为 既 然 家 族 集 团是 永 生 不 灭 的 , 其 担 当 刑 罚 的 责 任 是 无 限 制 的 , 则 原 始 人 的
头 脑 自 不 会 象 后 来 当 个 人 被 视 为 完 全 和 集 团 分 离 的 时 期 的 后
代 人 的 头 脑 那 样 被 种 种 困 难 问 题 所 窘 困 了 。 早 期 希 腊 关 于 一
个 遗 传 的 诅 咒 的 观 念 , 标 志 着 由 古 代 的 和 简 单 的 对 于 事 物 的
看 法 走 向 后 来 神 学 或 形 而 上 学 解 释 的 过 渡 的 一 步 。 他 的 后 裔
从 原 来 罪 犯 所 受 到 的 遗 物 , 不 是 一 种 受 刑 罚 的 义 务 , 而 是 一
种 犯 新 罪 使 发 生 一 种 该 受 报 复 的 义 务 ; 这 样 , 家 族 的 责 任 就
和 这 种 新 的 思 想 状 态 , 即 把 犯 罪 后 果 限 制 于 实 际 犯 罪 者 的 新
思 想 状 态 , 取 得 了 一 致 。
如 果 我 们 能 根 据 前 面 谈 到 的 圣 经 上 的 例 子 提 供 给 我 们 的
暗 示 而 作 出 一 个 一 般 结 论 , 并 假 定 : 凡 族 长 死 亡 时 , 一 个 家
族 仍 能 结 合 在 一 起 而 不 分 散 , 这 时 候 共 产 体 就 开 始 存 在 了 , 如
果 是 这 样 , 则 社 会 起 源 的 解 释 将 是 很 简 单 的 。 在 大 多 数 的 希
腊 国 家 中 , 以 及 在 罗 马 , 长 期 存 在 着 一 系 列 上 升 集 团 的 遗 迹 ,
而 “ 国 家 ” 最 初 就 是 从 这 些 集 团 中 产 生 的 。 罗 马 人 的 “ 家
族 ” 、 “ 大 氏 族 ” 和 “ 部 落 ” 都 是 它 们 的 类 型 , 根 据 它 们 被 描
述 的 情 况 , 使 我 们 不 得 不 把 它 们 想 象 为 从 同 一 起 点 逐 渐 扩 大
而 形 成 的 一 整 套 同 心 圆 , 其 基 本 的 集 团 是 因 共 同 从 属 于 最 高
的 男 性 尊 属 亲 而 结 合 在 一 起 的 “ 家 族 ” 。 许 多 “ 家 族 ” 的 集 合
形 成 “ 氏 族 ” 或 “ 大 氏 族 ” 。 许 多 “ 氏 族 ” 的 集 合 形 成 “ 部
落 ” 。 而 许 多 “ 部 落 ” 的 集 合 则 构 成 了 “ 共 和 政 治 ” 。 根 据 这
些 痕 迹 , 我 们 是 不 是 可 以 进 而 认 为 : 共 和 政 治 是 因 为 来 自 一
个 原 始 家 族 祖 先 的 共 同 血 统 而 结 合 在 一 起 的 许 多 人 的 一 个 集
合 体 。 关 于 这 一 点 , 我 们 至 少 可 以 断 定 , 一 切 古 代 社 会 都 自
认 为 是 来 自 一 个 原 祖 , 并 且 除 此 以 外 , 他 们 虽 经 努 力 , 但 仍无 法 想 出 他 们 所 以 会 结 合 在 一 个 政 治 团 体 中 的 任 何 其 他 理
由 。 事 实 上 , 政 治 思 想 的 历 史 是 从 这 样 一 个 假 设 开 始 的 ; 即
血 缘 是 共 产 体 政 治 作 用 的 唯 一 可 能 的 根 据 ; 也 没 有 任 何 一 种
我 们 强 调 地 称 之 为 革 命 的 感 情 破 灭 , 其 惊 人 和 完 全 的 程 度 及
得 上 其 他 原 则 — — 例 如 所 谓 “ 地 方 毗 邻 ” — — 第 一 次 成 为 共
同 政 治 行 动 的 基 础 时 所 完 成 的 变 化 的 。 因 此 , 我 们 可 以 肯 定
认 为 在 早 期 共 和 政 治 中 , 所 有 公 民 都 认 为 , 凡 是 他 们 作 为 其
成 员 之 一 的 集 团 , 都 是 建 筑 于 共 同 血 统 上 的 。 凡 对 于 “ 家
族 ” 是 显 然 正 确 的 , 当 时 便 认 为 首 先 对 于 “ 氏 族 ” , 而 后 对 于
“ 部 落 ” , 最 后 对 于 “ 国 家 ” 也 都 是 正 确 的 。 可 是 , 我 们 发 现 ,
虽 然 有 着 这 样 一 个 信 念 , 或 者 假 如 我 们 可 以 这 样 称 呼 它 的 话 ,
这 个 理 论 , 但 每 一 个 共 产 体 所 保 存 着 的 记 录 或 传 统 , 却 都 明
显 地 表 示 这 个 基 本 假 设 是 虚 伪 的 。 不 论 我 们 观 察 希 腊 各 邦 , 或
罗 马 , 或 提 供 尼 布 尔 以 许 多 有 价 值 例 证 的 在 笛 脱 麻 希 的 条 顿
贵 族 政 治 , 或 凯 尔 特 部 族 组 织 , 或 斯 拉 夫 俄 罗 斯 人 和 波 兰 人
的 那 些 只 在 后 来 才 引 人 注 意 的 奇 怪 的 社 会 组 织 , 在 每 个 地 方 ,
我 们 都 能 在 他 们 的 历 史 中 发 现 有 把 外 国 出 生 的 人 接 纳 或 同 化
于 原 来 的 同 族 人 中 的 事 。 如 果 单 独 以 罗 马 而 论 , 我 们 也 可 看
到 , 这 个 原 始 集 团 即 “ 家 族 ” 是 不 断 地 由 于 收 养 的 习 俗 而 搀
杂 进 来 其 他 血 统 的 人 的 , 而 有 关 把 原 来 的 “ 部 落 ” 之 一 驱 逐
出 境 , 以 及 一 个 古 代 国 王 大 量 增 加 各 氏 族 成 员 的 种 种 故 事 , 似
乎 是 始 终 不 断 地 流 传 着 的 。 国 家 的 组 成 被 普 遍 假 定 为 自 然 的 ,
但 在 实 际 上 却 绝 大 部 分 是 人 为 的 。 这 种 存 在 于 信 念 或 理 论 同
显 著 的 事 实 之 间 的 互 相 抵 触 , 初 看 起 来 是 非 常 令 人 困 惑 的 ; 但
它 真 正 说 明 的 , 正 是 “ 法 律 拟 制 ” 在 社 会 幼 年 时 代 所 发 挥 的效 能 。 最 早 最 广 泛 应 用 的 法 律 拟 制 , 是 允 许 以 人 为 的 方 法 来
发 生 家 庭 关 系 , 我 以 为 , 人 类 所 深 受 其 惠 的 , 实 没 有 比 这 个
更 多 的 了 。 如 果 过 去 从 来 没 有 过 这 种 拟 制 , 任 何 一 个 原 始 集
团 不 论 其 性 质 如 何 , 决 不 可 能 吸 收 另 一 个 集 团 , 除 了 一 方 面
是 绝 对 的 优 势 , 另 方 面 是 绝 对 的 从 属 之 外 , 也 决 不 可 能 有 任
何 二 个 集 团 在 任 何 条 件 下 能 结 合 起 来 。 毫 无 疑 问 , 如 果 我 们
用 现 代 的 见 解 来 设 想 几 个 独 立 共 产 体 的 结 合 , 我 们 可 以 提 出
成 百 种 达 到 这 个 目 的 的 方 式 来 , 其 中 最 简 单 的 方 式 就 是 由 包
括 在 要 合 并 的 各 集 团 中 的 个 人 , 按 照 地 区 在 一 起 选 举 或 一 起
活 动 ; 但 是 , 许 多 人 如 果 仅 仅 因 为 他 们 恰 巧 居 住 于 同 一 地 域
以 内 就 应 该 行 使 共 同 政 治 权 利 , 这 个 观 念 对 于 原 始 的 古 代 社
会 来 讲 , 是 完 全 陌 生 和 奇 怪 的 。 在 那 时 代 , 受 到 欢 迎 的 办 法
是 , 外 国 人 应 该 ·
把 ·
他 ·
们 ·
自 ·
己 ·
冒 ·
充 为 来 自 他 们 所 要 加 入 的 人 民
的 同 一 祖 先 ; 我 们 今 天 所 不 易 理 解 的 , 正 就 是 这 个 拟 制 的 善
意 , 以 及 它 能 被 做 得 接 近 真 实 。 但 是 , 有 一 个 情 况 是 必 须 加
以 重 视 的 , 即 形 成 不 同 政 治 集 团 的 人 们 当 然 有 定 期 会 集 在 一
起 的 习 惯 , 目 的 在 用 共 同 的 祭 祀 以 确 认 和 神 圣 其 联 系 。 被 同
化 于 同 胞 中 的 异 乡 人 无 疑 地 也 会 被 允 许 参 加 这 些 祭 祀 ; 我 们
可 以 相 信 当 这 些 异 乡 人 一 度 这 样 做 了 以 后 , 似 乎 就 很 容 易 或
没 有 什 么 困 难 被 视 为 参 加 了 共 同 血 统 。 因 此 , 从 证 据 得 出 的
结 论 , 所 有 早 期 社 会 并 不 都 是 由 同 一 祖 先 的 后 裔 组 成 , 但 所
有 永 久 和 团 结 巩 固 的 早 期 社 会 或 者 来 自 同 一 祖 先 , 或 者 则 自
己 假 定 为 来 自 同 一 祖 先 。 有 无 数 的 原 因 可 能 会 把 原 始 集 团 加
以 粉 碎 , 但 无 论 如 何 , 当 它 们 的 成 分 重 新 结 合 时 , 都 是 以 一
种 亲 族 联 合 的 型 式 或 原 则 为 根 据 的 。 不 论 在 事 实 上 是 怎 样 , 所有 的 思 想 、 言 语 和 法 律 都 被 调 整 , 以 适 合 于 这 个 假 定 。 但 是 ,
虽 然 在 我 看 来 , 就 那 些 记 录 为 我 们 所 熟 悉 的 各 个 共 产 体 而 论 ,
所 有 这 一 切 似 乎 都 是 可 以 成 立 的 , 但 它 们 历 史 的 其 余 部 分 论
证 了 前 面 所 提 出 的 论 点 , 即 这 个 最 有 力 的 “ 法 律 拟 制 ” 主 要
地 起 着 暂 时 的 和 有 限 的 影 响 。 到 了 某 一 个 时 间 — — 也 许 是
— — 当 它 们 自 己 感 觉 到 自 己 力 量 足 以 抵 抗 外 来 压 力 时 — — ,
所 有 这 些 国 家 就 立 即 终 止 用 人 为 扩 大 血 缘 的 方 法 来 滋 补 新 成
员 。 因 此 , 凡 当 有 新 的 人 口 由 于 任 何 原 因 而 结 集 在 他 们 四 周 ,
但 不 能 提 出 和 他 们 起 原 于 共 同 祖 先 的 主 张 时 , 在 这 种 情 况 下 ,
他 们 就 必 然 地 成 为 “ 贵 族 ” 。 他 们 严 格 维 持 着 一 个 制 度 的 主 要
原 则 , 根 据 这 个 原 则 人 们 除 了 真 正 的 或 人 为 的 血 统 关 系 以 外 ,
没 有 任 何 条 件 可 以 使 他 们 获 得 政 治 权 利 , 因 此 教 导 了 弱 者 另
一 个 原 则 , 这 个 原 则 已 证 明 是 具 有 高 度 的 生 命 力 的 。 这 就 是
·
地 ·
方 ·
毗 ·
邻 原 则 , 现 在 已 被 到 处 承 认 为 共 产 体 在 政 治 职 能 上 的
一 种 条 件 。 于 是 一 套 新 的 政 治 观 念 立 刻 产 生 了 , 这 些 既 然 是
我 们 自 己 的 观 念 , 是 我 们 同 时 代 人 的 观 念 ; 并 且 在 很 大 程 度
上 也 是 我 们 祖 先 的 观 念 , 因 此 也 就 模 糊 了 我 们 对 于 那 些 被 它
们 所 驳 倒 和 废 弃 的 旧 理 论 的 理 解 。
一 个 古 代 社 会 、 据 我 们 所 能 设 想 到 的 , 虽 然 是 多 种 多 样
的 , 但 “ 家 族 ” 是 它 的 典 型 ; 不 过 这 里 所 谓 的 家 族 , 同 现 代
人 所 理 解 的 宗 族 并 不 完 全 相 同 。 为 了 要 得 到 古 代 的 概 念 , 我
们 必 须 就 我 们 现 代 观 念 作 一 些 重 要 的 增 加 和 一 些 重 要 的 限
制 。 我 们 必 须 把 家 族 看 作 是 因 吸 收 外 来 人 而 不 断 扩 大 的 团 体 ,
我 们 并 且 必 须 把 收 养 的 拟 制 认 为 是 和 真 正 的 血 缘 关 系 非 常 密
切 地 近 似 的 , 因 此 不 论 在 法 律 上 或 在 人 们 的 意 见 中 , 对 于 真正 的 血 缘 关 系 和 收 养 关 系 之 间 , 都 没 有 丝 毫 差 别 。 在 另 一 方
面 , 由 于 共 同 血 统 而 在 理 论 上 混 合 于 一 个 家 族 中 的 人 们 , 他
们 在 实 际 上 结 合 在 一 起 , 乃 是 由 于 他 们 共 同 服 从 其 最 高 在 世
的 尊 亲 属 如 父 亲 、 祖 父 或 曾 祖 父 。 一 个 首 领 具 有 宗 法 权 , 是
家 族 集 团 观 念 中 的 一 个 必 要 的 要 素 , 正 和 家 族 集 团 是 由 他 所
产 生 的 事 实 ( 或 假 定 事 实 ) 同 样 的 必 要 ; 因 此 , 我 们 必 须 了
解 , 不 论 任 何 人 , 虽 然 由 于 血 缘 关 系 真 正 包 括 在 同 族 之 内 ; 但
如 果 他 们 ·
在 ·
事 ·
实 ·
上 退 出 了 其 统 治 者 的 支 配 , 则 早 在 法 律 创 始
时 期 , 他 们 就 要 被 认 为 是 不 属 于 这 个 家 族 了 。 我 们 在 原 始 法
律 学 的 发 轫 时 候 所 遇 到 的 , 正 是 这 种 宗 法 的 集 合 体 , — — 近
代 家 族 就 是 这 样 在 一 方 面 加 以 缩 小 在 另 一 方 面 加 以 扩 大 而 组
成 的 。 家 族 也 许 比 “ 国 家 ” 、 比 “ 部 落 ” 、 比 “ 氏 族 ” 更 加 古
老 一 些 , 但 它 在 “ 氏 族 ” 和 “ 部 落 ” 被 长 久 遗 忘 , 在 血 缘 同
国 家 的 组 成 已 长 久 失 掉 了 联 系 以 后 , 还 在 私 法 上 留 有 残 迹 。 它
在 法 律 学 的 各 大 部 门 中 都 有 烙 印 可 以 发 现 ; 并 且 我 以 为 , 它
可 以 被 认 为 是 这 些 部 门 中 许 多 最 重 要 和 最 持 久 特 征 的 真 正 渊
源 。 最 古 法 律 的 各 种 特 性 从 开 始 时 就 使 我 们 得 到 这 样 一 个 结
论 , 即 在 权 利 和 义 务 制 度 上 , 它 对 于 家 族 集 团 所 持 的 见 解 正
和 我 们 今 日 流 行 在 全 欧 洲 的 对 于 个 人 所 持 的 见 解 完 全 相 同 。
即 使 在 现 在 , 我 们 还 可 以 观 察 到 这 样 的 社 会 , 它 们 的 法 律 和
惯 例 除 非 被 假 定 为 还 没 有 脱 离 这 种 原 始 状 态 就 很 难 加 以 说
明 ; 但 是 在 环 境 比 较 幸 运 的 共 产 体 中 , 法 律 学 的 结 构 已 开 始
逐 渐 瓦 解 了 , 如 果 我 们 仔 细 地 观 察 这 种 瓦 解 现 象 , 我 们 就 能
看 到 这 种 瓦 解 主 要 是 发 生 在 受 到 家 族 的 原 始 概 念 影 响 最 深 的
那 些 部 分 的 制 度 中 。 一 个 最 重 要 的 例 证 中 , 就 是 在 罗 马 法 中 , 变 化 发 生 得 非 常 迟 缓 , 从 一 个 时 代 到 另 一 个 时 代 , 我 们 可 以
观 察 到 变 化 所 遵 循 的 路 线 和 方 向 , 并 且 甚 至 可 以 对 变 化 所 趋
向 的 最 后 结 果 , 略 加 叙 述 。 并 且 在 进 行 这 个 最 后 的 研 究 时 , 我
们 不 会 受 到 那 个 把 现 代 和 古 代 世 界 分 隔 开 来 的 想 象 障 碍 的 阻
挠 。 因 为 经 过 提 炼 的 罗 马 法 同 原 始 野 蛮 的 惯 例 混 合 后 , 形 成
了 以 封 建 制 度 这 个 虚 伪 的 名 字 为 我 们 所 知 的 混 合 物 , 其 结 果
之 一 是 复 活 了 在 罗 马 世 界 早 已 废 弃 不 用 的 古 代 法 律 学 的 许 多
特 色 , 因 此 那 似 乎 已 经 终 止 了 的 分 解 过 程 又 再 度 开 始 , 并 且
在 某 种 程 度 上 直 到 现 在 仍 旧 在 继 续 进 行 中 。
最 古 社 会 的 家 族 组 织 曾 在 少 数 法 律 制 度 学 上 留 有 明 白 而
广 大 的 标 志 , 显 示 出 “ 父 ” 或 其 他 祖 先 对 于 卑 亲 属 的 人 身 和
财 产 有 终 身 的 权 力 , 这 种 权 力 , 我 们 为 了 方 便 起 见 , 用 它 后
来 在 罗 马 的 名 称 , 称 它 做 “ 家 父 权 ” 。 在人 类 原 始 联 合 的 所 有 特 色 中 , 没 有 比 这 种 权 力 更 多 地 被 大 量的 证 据 所 证 明 ; 但 也 没 比 这 种 权 力 更 为 普 遍 地 、 更 为 迅 速 地从 进 步 共 产 体 的 惯 例 中 消 失 掉 。 在 安 托 宁 时 代 写 作 的 该 雅 士 ,认 为 这 个 制 度 是 罗 马 人 特 有 的 制 度 , 诚 然 , 如 果 他 看 一 看 莱因 河 或 多 瑙 河 对 岸 那 些 曾 引 起 他 同 时 代 人 好 奇 心 的 野 蛮 部落 , 他 可 能 会 看 到 许 多 最 粗 陋 形 式 的 宗 法 权 的 例 子 。 在 远 东
有 一 个 和 罗 马 人 来 自 同 一 人 种 的 支 系 也 正 在 按 照 其 最 专 门 的
细 节 重 复 施 行 “ 家 父 权 ” 。 但 在 公 认 为 包 括 于 罗 马 帝 国 内 的 各
民 族 中 , 除 了 只 在 亚 细 亚 加 拉 塔 ( A s i a t i c G a l a t E) 之 外 , 该雅 士 不 可 能 找 到 有 类 似 罗 马 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 一 种 制 度 。 据 我 看来 , 祖 先 的 直 接 权 威 在 大 多 数 进 步 社 会 中 所 以 会 很 快 就 少 于
其 在 最 早 状 态 中 所 有 的 程 度 , 是 有 多 种 理 由 的 。 未 开 化 人 们对 其 父 绝 对 遵 从 , 无 疑 地 是 一 个 主 要 事 实 , 这 个 事 实 不 是 轻
易 地 能 解 释 清 楚 的 , 如 果 只 说 因 为 这 样 对 他 们 有 利 ; 但 是 , 在
同 时 , 如 果 子 服 从 父 是 出 于 自 然 的 , 那 末 子 希 望 父 具 有 卓 越
的 体 力 或 卓 越 的 智 慧 也 是 同 样 出 于 自 然 的 。 因 此 , 当 社 会 处
在 体 力 和 智 力 都 具 有 特 殊 价 值 的 时 候 , 就 会 发 生 一 种 影 响 , 倾
向 于 使 “ 家 父 权 ” 限 于 确 实 具 有 才 干 的 和 强 有 力 的 人 。 当 我
们 初 看 到 有 组 织 的 希 腊 社 会 时 , 好 像 出 类 拔 萃 的 智 慧 会 使 体
力 虽 已 衰 微 的 人 仍 能 保 持 其 家 父 权 ; 但 在 “ 奥 特 赛 ” 中 优 烈
锡 士 ( U l y s s e s ) 和 莱 安 底 斯 ( L a e r t e s ) 的 关 系 似 乎 表 示 当 其子 兼 有 非 常 的 勇 武 和 智 慧 时 , 其 年 已 衰 老 的 父 是 可 以 从 家 族
首 领 的 地 位 上 被 废 免 的 。 在 成 熟 的 希 腊 法 律 学 中 , 其 规 定 比
荷 马 文 学 中 所 暗 示 的 实 践 , 更 前 进 了 几 步 ; 虽 然 仍 有 许 多 严
格 的 家 族 义 务 被 保 留 着 , 但 父 亲 的 直 接 权 威 象 在 欧 洲 的 法 典
中 一 样 被 限 制 于 未 成 年 的 子 女 , 或 是 , 换 言 之 , 被 限 制 于 这
些 子 女 假 定 他 们 的 智 力 和 体 力 还 不 充 足 的 一 定 时 期 内 。 但 是 ,
这 个 具 有 改 革 古 旧 惯 例 以 适 应 共 和 政 治 急 需 这 种 显 著 倾 向 的
罗 马 法 , 它 一 方 面 保 持 了 原 始 制 度 , 另 一 方 面 却 保 持 了 我 认
为 它 曾 从 属 的 自 然 限 制 。 在 每 一 种 生 命 有 关 的 场 合 , 如 当 集
体 的 共 产 体 为 了 议 和 或 为 了 战 争 而 必 须 利 用 其 智 力 和 体 力
时 , 家 子或 “ 在 父 权 下 之 子 ” 就 可 以 获 得 和 父 同 样 的 自 由 。 罗 马 法 学 中 有 这 样 一 个 格 言 , “ 家 父 权 ” 并 不 触 及 “ 公 法 ”。 父 和子 在 城 中 一 同 选 举 , 在 战 场 上 并 肩 作 战 ; 真 的 , 当 子 成 为 将
军 时 , 可 能 会 指 挥 其 父 , 成 为 高 级 官 吏 时 ; 要 审 判 其 父 的 契
约 案 件 和 惩 罚 其 父 的 失 职 行 为 。 但 在 “ 私 法 ” 所 创 造 的 一 切关 系 中 , 子 就 必 须 生 活 在 一 个 家 庭 专 制 之 下 , 这 种 家 庭 专 制
直 到 最 后 还 保 持 着 严 酷 性 , 它 并 且 延 续 了 许 多 世 纪 , 为 就 成
为 法 律 史 中 最 奇 怪 的 问 题 之 一 。
罗 马 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 必 然 地 是 我 们 原 始 父 权 的 典 型 , 但 作
为 一 个 文 明 生 活 的 制 度 , 不 论 我 们 从 其 对 人 的 影 响 或 对 物 的
效 果 而 论 , 都 是 同 样 难 以 理 解 的 。 遗 憾 的 是 , 在 它 的 历 史 上
存 在 着 的 一 个 鸿 沟 , 现 在 已 无 法 更 完 全 地 填 满 了 。 就 人 而 言 ,
根 据 我 们 所 获 得 的 材 料 , 父 对 其 子 有生死之权,更 ·
毋 ·
待 ·
论 的 , 具 有 无 限 制 的 肉 体 惩 罚 权 ; 他 可 以任 意 变 更 他 们 的 个 人 身 分 ; 他 可 以 为 子 娶 妻 , 他 可 以 将 女 许 嫁 ; 他 可 以 令 子 女 离 婚 ; 他 可 以 用 收 养 的 方 法 把 子 女 移 转 到
其 他 家 族 中 去 ; 他 并 且 可 以 出 卖 他 们 。 后 来 在 帝 政 时 期 , 我
们 还 可 以 发 现 所 有 这 些 权 利 的 遗 迹 , 但 已 经 缩 小 在 极 狭 小 的
范 围 内 。 家 内 惩 罚 的 无 限 制 的 权 利 已 变 成 为 把 家 庭 犯 罪 移 归
民 事 高 级 官 吏 审 判 的 权 利 ; 主 宰 婚 姻 的 特 权 已 下 降 为 一 种 有
条 件 的 否 定 权 ; 出 卖 的 自 由 已 在 实 际 上 被 废 止 , 至 于 收 养 在
查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 改 良 制 度 中 几 乎 全 部 失 去 了 它 在 古 代 的 重 要
性 , 如 果 没 有 子 女 的 同 意 , 移 转 给 养 父 母 就 不 能 生 效 。 总 之 ,
我 们 已 十 分 接 近 最 后 流 行 于 现 代 世 界 的 各 种 观 念 的 边 缘 , 但
是 在 这 些 相 隔 很 远 的 时 代 之 间 , 存 在 着 一 个 暗 昧 的 期 间 , 据
我 们 猜 想 , “ 家 父 权 ” 所 以 能 这 样 长 时 期 地 持 续 者 , 其 原 因 就
在 它 比 表 面 上 较 为 可 以 容 忍 一 些 。 儿 子 积 极 完 成 其 对 国 家 所
负 各 种 义 务 中 最 重 要 的 义 务 , 纵 使 不 取 消 他 父 亲 的 权 威 , 一
定 也 会 削 弱 这 种 权 威 。 我 们 不 难 想 象 , 如 果 对 于 一 个 占 有 高
级 民 事 官 吏 职 位 的 成 年 人 行 使 父 权 专 制 , 则 必 然 地 会 引 起 极大 的 诽 谤 。 不 过 在 较 早 期 的 历 史 中 , 这 种 在 实 际 上 解 放 的 事
例 , 如 和 罗 马 共 和 时 代 因 不 断 发 生 战 事 而 造 成 的 事 例 相 比 , 是
要 少 得 多 。 早 期 战 争 中 一 年 有 四 分 之 三 时 间 辗 转 于 战 场 上 的
军 事 护 民 官 和 士 兵 , 以 及 在 后 一 时 期 统 治 一 省 的 地 方 总 督 和
占 领 它 的 军 团 兵 , 他 们 实 在 不 应 该 有 任 何 实 际 理 由 使 他 们 自
认 为 是 一 个 专 制 主 人 的 奴 隶 ; 而 在 当 时 , 所 有 这 些 逃 避 “ 家
父 权 ” 的 道 路 有 不 断 增 加 的 倾 向 。 胜 利 引 导 到 征 服 , 征 服 引
导 到 占 领 ; 用 殖 民 来 占 领 的 方 式 改 变 了 用 常 备 军 来 占 领 各 省
的 制 度 。 每 次 向 前 进 展 一 步 , 就 要 召 唤 更 多 的 罗 马 公 民 出 国 ,
就 要 对 正 在 不 断 减 少 的 拉 丁 民 族 的 血 液 进 行 一 次 新 的 汲 引 。
我 以 为 , 我 们 得 推 定 , 到 帝 国 建 立 , 世 界 平 靖 开 始 的 时 候 , 主
张 松 弛 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 强 有 力 的 情 绪 , 已 成 为 确 切 不 移 的 了 。 最
早 加 于 这 古 代 制 度 的 大 打 击 来 自 较 早 期 的 几 个 凯 撒 , 而 图 拉
真 ( T r a j a n ) 和 汉 德 林 所 作 的 几 次 单 独 干 涉 , 似 乎 又 为 后 来 一
系 列 明 确 的 立 法 准 备 了 条 件 , 我 们 虽 无 法 断 定 这 些 立 法 的 时
间 , 但 我 们 知 道 , 这 些 立 法 在 一 方 面 限 制 了 家 父 权 , 另 一 方
面 增 加 了 其 自 动 放 弃 的 种 种 便 利 。 在 比 较 早 的 时 期 , 如 果 子
经 过 三 次 出 卖 , 就 可 以 消 灭 “ 家 父 权 ” , 我 认 为 , 这 个 方 式 证
明 在 很 早 时 候 就 感 觉 到 没 有 延 长 这 种 权 力 的 必 要 。 这 一 条 规
定 宣 布 子 在 被 父 出 卖 三 次 以 后 应 该 获 得 自 由 , 其 原 意 似 乎 是
为 了 要 惩 罚 这 种 甚 至 为 道 德 观 念 还 处 于 启 蒙 时 期 的 原 始 罗 马
人 所 反 对 的 实 践 。 但 是 甚 至 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 公 布 以 前 , 由
于 法 学 专 家 的 智 机 , 如 果 家 父 愿 意 中 止 家 父 权 的 时 候 , 就 可
以 利 用 这 个 方 式 来 把 它 取 消 。
无 疑 地 , 我 们 是 不 能 从 历 史 的 表 面 来 发 现 这 许 多 促 使 减轻 父 对 子 人 身 权 力 的 严 酷 性 的 原 因 的 。 我 们 无 法 断 定 究 竟 公
共 舆 论 对 于 一 种 法 律 所 赋 予 的 权 威 能 使 它 瘫 痪 到 如 何 程 度 ,
或 者 父 子 之 情 究 竟 能 使 它 被 忍 耐 到 如 何 程 度 。 但 是 , 虽 然 对
于 人 身 的 权 力 在 后 来 可 能 变 成 了 有 名 无 实 , 不 过 到 现 在 还 残
存 的 罗 马 法 律 学 的 全 部 要 旨 暗 示 着 ; 父 对 子财产 所 有 的 权 利 ,
则 是 始 终 毫 无 犹 豫 地 被 行 使 到 法 律 所 准 许 的 限 度 的 。 这 些 对
财 产 的 权 利 在 最 初 出 现 时 , 其 活 动 范 围 较 广 是 无 足 惊 异 的 。 古
代 罗 马 法 禁 止 “ 在 父 权 下 之 子 ”和父 分 开 而 持 有 财 产 , 或 者 ( 我 们 宁 可 说 ) 绝 对 不 考 虑 子 有 主张 一 种 各 别 所 有 权 的 可 能 。 父 有 权 取 得 其 子 的 全 部 取 得 物 , 并享 有 其 契 约 的 利 益 而 不 牵 涉 到 任 何 赔 偿 责 任 。 我 们 从 最 古 罗
马 社 会 的 构 成 中 所 能 得 到 的 就 是 这 些 , 因 为 除 非 我 们 假 定 原
始 家 族 集 团 的 成 员 应 该 把 他 们 各 式 各 样 的 劳 动 所 得 都 放 在 其
共 有 的 财 产 中 , 而 在 同 时 他 们 又 不 能 把 在 事 前 没 有 经 过 考 虑
的 个 人 债 务 来 拘 束 它 , 则 我 们 就 很 难 就 原 始 家 族 集 团 作 出 一
个 概 念 。 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 真 正 难 解 之 处 实 在 并 不 在 这 一 方 面 , 而
是 在 于 父 的 这 些 财 产 特 权 被 剥 夺 得 如 此 之 慢 , 以 及 在 于 在 这
些 特 权 被 大 大 地 缩 小 之 前 全 部 文 明 世 界 都 被 引 入 这 些 特 权 范
围 之 内 的 情 况 。 对 于 这 种 情 况 , 没 有 试 作 过 任 何 改 革 , 直 到
帝 国 的 初 期 , 现 役 军 人 的 取 得 物 可 以 不 受 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 影 响 ,
这 无 疑 地 是 被 用 作 为 对 推 翻 自 由 共 和 政 治 的 军 队 的 酬 劳 的 一
部 分 。 经 过 三 个 世 纪 以 后 , 这 同 样 的 免 除 扩 大 而 适 用 于 国 家
文 官 的 劳 动 所 得 。 这 二 种 变 化 在 应 用 时 是 显 然 有 限 制 的 , 并
且 它 们 在 技 术 上 是 采 用 这 样 的 形 式 , 以 求 尽 量 避 免 干 预 “ 家
父 权 ” 的 原 则 。 罗 马 法 在 过 去 是 一 向 承 认 某 种 有 限 的 和 依 附的 所 有 权 的 , 奴 隶 及 “ 在 父 权 下 之 子 ” 的 赏 金 和 积 蓄 并 不 被强 迫 包 括 在 家 庭 账 目 之 内 , 这 种 特 许 财 产 的 特 别 名 称 为 “ 特有 产 ” ( P e c u l i u m ) , 适 用 于 新 从 “ 家 父 权 ” 中 解 放 出 来 的 取 得物 , 属 于 军 人 方 面 的 则 称 为 “ 军 役 特 有 产 ”, 属 于 文 官 方 面 的 则 称 为 “ 准 军 役 特 有 产 ”。 以 后 对 家 父 权 还 有 其 他 的 变 更 , 在 外 表
上 对 于 古 代 原 则 已 不 复 像 过 去 那 样 的 尊 重 了 。 在 采 用 “ 准 军
役 特 有 产 ” 以 后 不 久 , 君 士 坦 丁 大 帝 取 消 了 父 对 子 从 其 母 承
继 财 产 上 所 有 的 绝 对 权 , 把 它 缩 小 为 一 种用益权或 终 身 收 益 。 在 西 罗 马 帝 国 还 有 少 数 比 较 不 很 重 要 的 变 化 , 但最 大 的 变 化 发 生 在 东 罗 马 帝 国 , 是 当 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 时 代 , 他
所 制 定 的 法 律 , 规 定 除 非 子 的 取 得 物 是 来 自 其 父 自 己 财 产 , 父
对 这 些 取 得 物 的 权 力 不 得 超 出 在 他 生 存 期 内 享 有 出 产 物 的 范
围 。 罗 马 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 虽 已 作 了 这 样 极 度 的 宽 放 , 但 是 罗 马
的 制 度 仍 旧 远 比 现 代 世 界 中 任 何 类 似 制 度 为 广 泛 和 严 格 。 法
律 学 最 早 的 现 代 作 者 认 为 , 只 有 比 较 残 暴 和 比 较 鄙 野 的 罗 马
帝 国 征 服 者 , 特 别 是 斯 拉 夫 族 的 各 国 , 才 有 类 似 “ 法 学 彙
纂 ” 和 “ 法 典 ” 中 所 叙 述 的 一 种 “ 家 父 权 ” 。 所 有 的 日 耳 曼 移民 似 乎 都 承 认 一 个 家 族 团 体 属 于门特 ( m u n d ) 或 族 长 权 之 下 ;
但 族 长 的 权 力 显 然 只 是 一 种 腐 败 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 遗 骸 , 同 罗
马 人 的 父 所 享 有 的 权 力 远 不 能 相 比 拟 。 法 兰 克 人 特 别 被 提 到
没 有 受 到 这 种 罗 马 制 度 的 影 响 , 因 此 老 一 辈 的 法 国 法 学 家 甚
至 在 非 常 忙 于 用 罗 马 法 规 定 来 填 补 野 蛮 习 惯 的 孔 隙 时 , 还 不
得 不 用 这 明 白 的 格 言 ·
在 ·
法 ·
兰 ·
西 ·
父 ·
权 ·
不 ·
能 ·
代 ·
替
来 保 获 自 己 , 使 不 受 到“ 家 父 权 ” 的 侵 入 。 罗 马 人 固 执 地 保 持 着 他 们 这 个 最 古 状 态 的
遗 迹 , 其 本 身 是 值 得 注 意 的 , 但 更 值 得 注 意 的 是 “ 家 父 权 ” 在
它 一 度 绝 迹 以 后 又 复 在 全 部 文 明 世 界 广 泛 流 行 这 一 事 实 。 当
“ 军 役 特 有 产 ” 还 只 是 父 对 子 财 产 权 力 的 唯 一 例 外 时 , 以 及 当
父 对 于 子 人 身 所 有 的 权 力 还 是 极 为 广 泛 的 时 候 , 罗 马 公 民 权
以 及 随 着 公 民 权 而 产 生 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 正 被 广 布 到 帝 国 的 每 一
个 角 落 。 每 一 个 非 洲 人 或 西 班 牙 人 、 每 一 个 高 卢 人 、 不 列 颠
人 或 犹 太 人 因 赠 与 、 买 受 或 继 承 而 获 得 这 种 公 民 权 的 光 荣 时 ,
把 它 自 己 放 在 罗 马 “ 人 法 ” 之 下 , 又 虽 然 我 们 的 权 威 学 者 暗
示 , 在 取 得 公 民 权 前 所 生 的 子 女 不 能 违 背 他 们 的 意 志 而 把 他
们 放 在 “ 父 权 ” 之 下 , 但 在 这 以 后 所 生 的 子 女 以 及 所 有 在 他
们 以 后 的 卑 亲 属 都 应 该 处 于 一 个 罗 马家子 的 通 常 地 位 上 。 对
于 后 期 罗 马 社 会 的 构 成 , 本 不 在 本 文 研 究 范 围 之 内 , 但 我 不
妨 在 这 里 说 明 , 有 人 认 为 安 托 宁 那 · 卡 刺 卡 拉 ( A n t o n i n u s C a r a c a l l a ) 规 定 把 罗 马 公 民 权 赋 予 其 全 部 臣 民 的 措 施 并 不 重要 , 这 种 意 见 是 缺 乏 根 据 的 。 不 论 我 们 对 这 件 事 作 如 何 解 释 ,
但 它 必 然 无 疑 地 大 大 扩 大 了 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 范 围 , 并 且 据 我 看
来 , 它 使 家 族 关 系 更 加 紧 密 , 而 这 正 是 我 们 必 须 比 以 前 更 加
注 意 的 , 可 以 用 来 说 明 正 在 改 变 着 世 界 的 伟 大 道 德 革 命 的 一
种 媒 介 。
在 离 开 我 们 主 题 的 这 一 个 部 分 以 前 , 应 该 注 意 到 “ 家
父 ” 对 于 “ 在 父 权 下 之 子 ” 的 不 法 行 为 ( 或侵 ·
权 ·
行 ·
为 ) 应 负
责 任 。 他 对 其 奴 隶 的 不 法 行 为 也 同 样 的 应 该 负 责 ; 但 在 这 两
种 情 形 下 , 他 原 有 这 样 一 种 特 别 的 权 利 , 就 是 把 犯 罪 者 的 本
人 交 出 以 赔 偿 损 害 。 “ 家 父 ” 这 样 因 为 子 的 缘 故 而 负 担 责 任 ,再 加 上 父 和 “ 在 父 权 下 之 子 ” 相 互 之 间 不 能 提 起 控 诉 , 有 些
法 学 家 认 为 这 种 情 况 最 好 用 “ 家 父 ” 与 “ 家 子 ” 间 存 在 着 一
种 “ 人 格 统 一 ” 的 假 设 来 加 以 说 明 。 在 “ 继 承 ” 的 一 章 中 , 我
将 说 明 在 什 么 意 义 上 和 在 什 么 限 度 内 , 这 种 “ 统 一 ” 可 以 被
认 为 是 一 种 现 实 。 在 目 前 我 只 须 说 明 : “ 家 父 ” 的 这 些 责 任 以
及 此 后 要 讨 论 到 的 其 他 一 些 法 律 现 象 , 据 我 看 来 , 都 是 作 为
原 始 族 长 所 有 ·
权 ·
利 的 一 种 对 称 的 某 种 ·
义 ·
务 。 我 的 看 法 是 , 如
果 他 有 绝 对 的 处 分 其 同 部 族 之 人 的 人 身 和 财 产 的 权 利 , 则 和
这 种 代 表 性 的 所 有 权 相 适 应 , 他 也 有 从 共 同 基 金 中 供 养 同 族
内 所 有 成 员 的 责 任 。 困 难 是 在 于 , 当 我 们 在 想 象 “ 家 父 ” 的
这 种 责 任 的 性 质 时 , 我 们 必 须 从 我 们 习 惯 的 联 想 中 充 分 地 解
脱 出 来 。 它 不 是 一 种 法 律 义 务 , 因 为 法 律 还 没 有 渗 透 到 “ 家
族 ” 的 境 界 之 内 。 要 称 它 为 ·
道 ·
德 ·
的 也 许 还 言 之 过 早 , 因 为 道
德 观 念 属 于 较 后 阶 段 的 智 力 发 展 ; 在 目 前 , 我 们 不 妨 称 之 为
“ 道 德 义 务 ” , 但 是 这 所 谓 “ 道 德 义 务 ” , 应 该 被 理 解 为 一 种 自
觉 地 服 从 的 , 并 且 是 依 靠 本 能 和 习 惯 而 不 是 依 靠 文 明 规 定 裁
制 所 强 行 的 义 务 。
“ 家 父 权 ” 就 其 正 常 状 态 而 论 , 并 不 是 , 并 且 据 我 看 来 ,
也 不 可 能 是 一 种 在 大 体 上 永 久 的 制 度 。 因 此 , 如 果 我 们 单 从
它 本 身 来 考 虑 , 它 以 前 具 有 普 遍 性 的 证 据 , 是 不 完 全 的 ; 但
是 如 果 研 究 一 下 古 代 法 律 中 在 根 本 上 依 附 着 它 、 但 却 不 是 从
它 所 有 方 面 或 为 每 一 个 人 所 能 看 到 的 一 条 线 索 所 联 系 着 的 其
他 部 门 , 则 可 以 获 得 的 证 据 将 更 多 。 我 们 试 以 亲 属 关 系 为 例 ,
或 者 换 言 之 , 以 古 代 法 律 学 中 亲 属 相 互 间 据 而 衡 量 远 近 亲 疏
的 等 级 为 例 。 这 里 , 最 方 便 的 方 法 又 是 应 用 罗 马 的 用 语 , 即“ 宗 亲 ” 和 “ 血 亲 ” 关 系 。 血亲 关 系 就 是 现 代 观 念 所 熟 悉 的 亲属 关 系 概 念 ; 这 是 因 一 对 已 婚 的 人 所 出 生 的 共 同 后 裔 而 产 生 的 亲 属 关 系 , 不 论 其 后 裔 来 自 男 性 或 女 性 方 面 。宗亲 亲 属 关系 和 这 完 全 不 同 ; 它 不 包 括 有 许 多 我 们 在 今 天 认 为 当 然 是 我
们 亲 属 的 人 , 而 同 时 却 包 括 了 更 多 我 们 决 不 会 计 算 在 我 们 亲
属 中 的 人 。 其 实 , 这 是 根 据 了 最 古 时 代 的 看 法 而 存 在 于 家 族
成 员 间 的 一 种 关 系 。 这 个 关 系 的 范 围 , 和 现 代 亲 属 关 系 的 范
围 是 远 不 相 一 致 的 。
因 此 , “ 血 亲 ” 指 的 是 一 切 人 , 从 血 统 上 能 追 溯 到 一 个 单
一 的 男 性 和 女 性 祖 先 的 ; 或 者 , 如 果 我 们 用 罗 马 法 中 这 个 字
的 严 格 的 专 门 意 义 , 他 们 是 一 切 从 血 统 上 能 追 溯 到 一 对 合 法
结 婚 夫 妇 的 人 。 “ 血 亲 属 ” 因 此 是 一 个 相 对 的 名 称 , 它 所 表 示
血 缘 关 系 的 程 度 要 以 被 选 定 作 为 计 算 的 起 点 的 特 殊 婚 姻 而 决
定 。 如 果 我 们 从 父 和 母 的 婚 姻 开 始 , “ 血 亲 属 ” 只 表 示 兄 弟 和
姊 妹 的 亲 属 关 系 ; 如 果 我 们 从 祖 父 和 祖 母 的 婚 姻 开 始 , 则 伯
叔 姑 母 以 及 其 后 裔 也 都 要 包 括 在 “ 血 亲 属 ” 的 观 念 内 , 根 据
这 同 一 步 骤 只 要 我 们 在 宗 谱 上 选 定 更 高 更 高 的 起 点 , 那 就 可
继 续 得 到 更 大 量 的 “ 血 亲 ” 。 这 一 些 都 是 为 一 个 现 代 人 所 容 易
理 解 的 , 但 谁 是 “ 宗 亲 ” 呢 ? 首 先 , 凡 专 从 男 性 追 溯 其 亲 属
关 系 的 都 是 “ 血 亲 ” 。 为 了 要 组 成 一 张 “ 血 亲 ” 世 系 表 , 当 然
只 须 要 依 次 取 每 一 个 直 系 祖 先 , 并 把 其 所 有 男 女 两 性 的 卑 属
亲 都 包 括 在 一 张 表 式 内 ; 如 果 , 在 追 溯 这 样 一 张 家 系 表 或 家
系 树 的 各 个 支 派 时 , 我 们 每 到 达 一 个 女 性 的 名 字 时 立 即 停 止 ,
不 再 在 该 特 殊 的 支 派 或 枝 节 上 继 续 向 前 进 行 , 把 女 性 的 卑 属
亲 完 全 除 外 后 所 有 遗 留 下 来 的 人 就 都 是 “ 宗 亲 ” , 而 他 们 相 互的 关 系 便 是 “ 宗 亲 ” 关 系 。 我 之 所 以 要 在 那 实 际 上 把 他 们 从
“ 血 亲 ” 分 开 来 的 过 程 上 稍 谈 几 句 , 因 为 这 说 明 了 一 个 著 名 的
法 律 格 言 “ 一 个 妇 女 是 家 族 的 终 点 ”。 在 一 个 女 性 名 字 出 现 的 地 方 封 闭 了 家 系 中 有 关 支 派 或 枝 条 。 女 性 的 后 裔 是 不 包 括 在 家 族 关 系 的 原 始 观 念 中 的 。
如 果 我 们 所 研 究 的 古 法 律 制 度 是 一 个 允 许 收 养 的 制 度 ,
则 在 “ 宗 亲 ” 之 中 还 必 须 加 进 由 于 人 为 的 扩 大 范 围 而 增 加 到
“ 家 族 ” 中 来 的 人 口 , 包 括 男 性 或 女 性 。 但 是 这 类 人 的 卑 亲 属
如 果 能 满 足 上 面 所 谈 的 各 种 条 件 ; 则 他 们 将 只 是 “ 宗 亲 ” 。
然 则 , 究 竟 凭 着 什 么 理 由 , 决 定 这 种 专 断 的 包 括 和 除 外 ?
为 什 么 一 个 “ 亲 属 关 系 ” 的 概 念 一 方 面 是 这 样 地 有 弹 性 , 可
以 包 括 因 收 养 而 带 入 家 族 中 来 的 陌 生 人 , 但 另 一 方 面 又 是 这
样 地 狭 隘 , 把 一 个 女 性 成 员 的 后 裔 排 除 在 家 族 之 外 ? 要 解 决
这 个 问 题 , 我 们 又 必 须 回 到 “ 家 父 权 ” 。 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 的 基 础 并
不 是 “ 父 ” “ 母 ” 的 婚 姻 , 而 是 “ 父 ” 的 权 威 。 在 同 一 “ 父
权 ” 之 下 的 一 切 人 , 或 是 曾 经 在 它 下 面 的 一 切 人 , 或 是 可 能
会 在 它 们 下 面 的 一 切 人 , 如 果 他 们 的 直 系 祖 先 寿 命 很 长 足 以
造 成 他 个 人 的 王 国 , 所 有 这 一 切 人 就 都 是 因 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 而 结
合 在 一 起 的 。 实 际 上 , 在 原 始 的 见 解 中 , 所 谓 “ 亲 属 关 系 ” 正
是 以 “ 家 父 权 ” 为 其 范 围 的 。 “ 家 父 权 ” 开 始 时 , “ 亲 属 关
系 ” 也 开 始 ; 因 此 , 收 养 关 系 也 包 括 在 亲 属 关 系 之 中 。 “ 家 父
权 ” 终 了 时 , “ 亲 属 关 系 ” 也 终 了 ; 因 此 , 一 个 被 父 所 解 放 了
的 子 就 丧 失 了 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 的 一 切 权 利 。 这 就 是 为 什 么 女 性 后
裔 不 在 古 亲 属 关 系 范 围 之 内 的 理 由 。 如 果 一 个 妇 女 未 婚 而 死
亡 , 她 不 能 有 合 法 的 卑 亲 属 。 在 她 结 婚 后 , 她 所 生 的 子 女 属于 她 夫 而 不 属 于 她 父 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 范 围 , 这 样 , 她 的 子 女 就不 属 于 她 自 己 的 家 族 。 很 显 然 , 如 果 有 人 自 称 是 母 亲 的 亲 属 ,
则 原 始 的 社 会 组 织 可 能 要 为 之 惊 惶 失 措 。 因 为 这 样 一 个 人 就
可 能 要 属 于 两 个 不 同 的 “ 家 父 权 ” ; 但 是 各 别 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 含
有 各 别 的 管 辖 权 之 意 , 则 这 个 同 时 属 于 两 个 管 辖 权 的 人 就 必
将 生 活 于 两 种 不 同 法 律 管 理 之 下 。 既 然 “ 家 族 ” 是 帝 国 内 的
一 个 帝 国 ; 是 共 和 政 治 内 的 一 个 共 产 体 , 受 到 它 自 己 的 以 父
为 其 泉 源 的 制 度 的 统 治 , 则 把 亲 属 关 系 限 于 “ 宗 亲 ” , 正 是 避
免 在 家 庭 中 的 法 庭 上 发 生 法 律 冲 突 的 一 种 必 要 保 证 。
“ 父 权 ” 本 身 因 父 的 死 而 消 灭 , 但 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 则 好 像 是 一
个 模 型 , 在 “ 父 权 ” 消 灭 后 还 留 着 痕 迹 。 这 就 是 研 究 法 律 学
史 的 人 对 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 感 到 有 兴 趣 的 所 在 。 只 有 在 比 较 少 数 的
古 代 法 律 的 纪 念 碑 中 可 以 看 到 “ 父 权 ” , 但 是 意 味 着 父 权 存 在
的 “ 宗 亲 ” 关 系 , 则 几 乎 到 处 都 可 以 发 现 。 属 于 印 度 - 欧 罗
巴 祖 先 的 各 个 共 产 体 的 土 著 法 律 , 在 其 最 古 结 构 中 ; 绝 少 不
显 示 出 明 明 可 以 归 因 于 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 的 特 性 的 。 例 如 : 在 含 有
浓 厚 宗 族 依 附 这 个 原 始 观 念 的 印 度 法 中 , 亲 属 关 系 是 完 全
“ 宗 亲 ” 的 , 据 我 所 知 , 在 印 度 的 家 谱 中 , 所 有 妇 女 的 名 字 一
般 是 完 全 略 而 不 载 的 。 对 于 亲 属 关 系 的 这 种 同 样 见 解 , 在 许
多 蹂 躏 罗 马 帝 国 的 各 民 族 的 法 律 中 都 普 遍 存 在 , 真 好 象 是 它
们 原 始 惯 例 的 一 部 分 ; 我 们 并 且 不 妨 猜 想 ; 如 果 不 是 后 期 罗
马 法 对 现 代 思 想 所 加 的 巨 大 影 响 , 它 在 现 代 欧 洲 法 律 学 中 可
能 要 比 现 在 更 永 久 地 被 保 存 着 。 “ 裁 判 官 ” 很 早 就 把 “ 血 亲属 ” 作 为天然 形 式 的 亲 属 关 系 , 并 不 辞 艰 苦 地 想 把 旧 的 概 念
从 他 们 的 制 度 中 清 除 出 去 。 他 们 的 观 念 传 给 了 我 们 , 但 “ 宗亲 属 ” 的 痕 迹 在 许 多 现 代 的 继 承 法 规 定 中 仍 旧 可 以 看 到 。 把
女 性 及 其 子 女 排 斥 在 政 府 职 务 之 外 , 一 般 以 为 系 由 于 撒 利 族法 兰 克 人 ( S a l i a n F r a n k s ) 的 惯 例 , 但 这 当 然 是 来 自 “ 宗亲 ” 关 系 , 起 源 于 古 日 耳 曼 对 于 自 主 财 产 的 继 承 规 定 。 在 英
国 法 律 中 , 只 有 到 最 近 才 被 废 弃 的 那 种 特 别 规 定 , 即 禁 止 半
血 统 兄 弟 相 互 继 承 土 地 的 规 定 , 也 可 以 在 “ 宗 亲 ” 中 找 到 解
释 。 在 诺 曼 底的 习 惯 中 。 这 个 规 定 只 适 用 于同母 ·
异 ·
父 ( u t e r i n e ) 兄 弟 , 也 即 是 同 母 而 不 是 同 父 的 兄 弟 ; 这
种 限 制 , 是 严 格 地 从 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 制 度 中 演 绎 出 来 的 , 因 为 在
这 个 制 度 下 , 同 母 异 父 兄 弟 在 相 互 之 间 根 本 不 是 亲 属 。 当 它
被 带 到 英 格 兰 时 , 英 国 法 官 不 了 解 原 则 的 来 源 , 把 它 解 释 为
只 是 一 般 地 禁 止 半 血 统 的 继 承 , 并 把 它 推 用 到同血 ·
统兄 弟 , 即 同 父 异 母 的 各 个 儿 子 。 在 一 切 虚 伪 法律 哲 学 的 文 籍 中 , 当 以 企 图 对 半 血 统 的 被 排 斥 进 行 解 释 并 证
明 它 是 正 当 的 布 拉 克 斯 顿 的 诡 辩 文 章 , 最 为 突 出 。
我 以 为 , 由 此 可 以 看 出 这 个 由 “ 家 父 权 ” 结 合 起 来 的
“ 家 族 ” 是 全 部 “ 人 法 ” 从 其 中 孕 育 而 产 生 出 来 的 卵 巢 。 在
“ 人 法 ” 的 各 章 中 , 最 重 要 的 是 有 关 妇 女 身 分 的 一 章 。 刚 才 说
过 , “ 原 始 法 律 学 ” 虽 不 允 许 一 个 妇 女 把 任 何 “ 宗 亲 属 ” 的 权
利 传 给 其 后 裔 , 但 却 把 它 本 人 包 括 在 “ 宗 亲 ” 范 围 之 内 。 其
实 , 一 个 女 性 同 她 所 出 生 的 家 族 之 间 的 关 系 , 应 该 比 把 她 和
男 性 亲 属 结 合 在 一 起 的 关 系 更 来 得 严 格 、 密 切 和 永 久 。 我 们
曾 几 次 说 过 , 早 期 法 律 只 着 眼 于 “ 家 族 ” ; 这 也 就 是 说 , 它 只
着 眼 于 行 使 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 人 : 因 此 , 它 在 父 死 之 时 解 放 其 子
或 孙 所 依 据 的 唯 一 原 则 , 是 在 考 虑 这 个 子 或 孙 有 没 有 使 其 本身 成 为 一 个 新 家 族 的 首 领 和 一 套 新 “ 父 权 ” 的 根 子 的 能 力 。 一
个 妇 女 当 然 不 具 有 这 种 能 力 , 因 此 也 就 不 能 有 获 得 法 律 所 赋
与 的 自 由 的 权 利 。 所 以 古 法 律 学 用 一 种 特 殊 的 诡 计 把 她 终 生
留 在 “ 家 族 ” 的 范 围 中 。 这 就 是 最 古 罗 马 法 中 所 谓 “ 妇 女 终身 监 护 ” ( P e r p e t u a l T u t e l a g e o f W o m e n ) 的 制 度 , 在 这个 制 度 下 面 , 一 个 “ 女 性 ” 虽 因 其 父 的 死 亡 而 从 父 权 中 解 脱
出 来 , 但 仍 应 继 续 终 身 从 属 于 最 近 的 男 性 亲 属 ; 并 以 他 作 为
其 “ 监 护 人 ” 。 “ 终 身 监 护 制 ” ( P e r p e t u a l G u a r d i a n s h i p ) 显
然 是 不 折 不 扣 的 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 一 种 人 为 的 延 长 , 虽 然 当 时 在
其 他 方 面 , “ 家 父 权 ” 已 经 被 完 全 取 消 了 。 在 印 度 , 这 个 制 度
完 整 无 缺 地 保 存 下 来 , 并 执 行 得 非 常 严 格 , 以 致 一 个 印 度 的
母 亲 常 常 受 着 自 己 儿 子 的 监 护 。 甚 至 在 欧 洲 所 有 斯 干 的 那 雄
亚 各 国 有 关 妇 女 的 法 律 一 直 到 最 近 还 保 留 着 这 种 制 度 。 西 罗
马 帝 国 的 侵 入 者 在 土 著 惯 例 中 都 普 遍 具 有 这 种 制 度 。 他 们 在
“ 监 护 制 ” 这 个 主 题 上 所 有 的 各 式 各 样 观 念 , 实 在 是 他 们 介 绍
到 西 方 世 界 的 各 种 观 念 中 最 退 化 的 一 种 。 但 在 成 熟 的 罗 马 法
律 学 中 , 这 种 制 度 已 完 全 消 失 。 如 果 我 们 所 能 参 考 的 只 是 查
斯 丁 尼 安 所 编 纂 的 法 律 , 则 我 们 将 几 乎 完 全 不 知 道 有 这 样 一
个 制 度 ; 但 是 该 雅 士 手 稿 的 发 现 让 我 们 看 到 了 这 个 制 度 , 正
当 它 陷 于 完 全 丧 失 信 用 和 濒 于 消 灭 的 这 样 一 个 最 有 趣 的 时
代 。 这 个 伟 大 的 法 学 专 家 斥 责 了 一 般 用 来 替 这 个 制 度 辩 解 的
所 谓 女 性 智 力 低 劣 的 说 法 , 在 他 的 著 作 中 , 并 且 有 相 当 大 的
一 部 分 用 来 说 明 罗 马 法 学 家 所 提 出 以 便 “ 妇 女 们 ” 能 凭 以 打
垮 这 古 代 规 定 的 许 多 方 法 , 其 中 有 些 是 非 常 聪 明 的 。 这 些 法
学 专 家 在 “ 自 然 法 ” 理 论 的 指 导 下 , 在 这 个 时 期 明 显 地 以 两性 平 等 作 为 其 衡 平 法 典 的 一 个 原 则 。 我 们 可 以 看 到 他 所 攻 击
的 各 种 限 制 是 对 于 财 产 处 分 上 的 限 制 , 因 为 在 那 个 时 候 , 妇
女 处 分 财 产 仍 必 须 正 式 取 得 其 监 护 人 的 同 意 。 至 于 对 她 人 身
的 支 配 权 则 显 然 早 已 废 弃 了 。
“ 古 代 法 ” 把 妇 女 从 属 于 她 血 统 至 亲 , 而 现 代 法 律 学 中 的
一 个 主 要 现 象 则 是 把 她 从 属 于 丈 夫 。 这 种 变 化 的 历 史 是 值 得
注 意 的 。 这 种 历 史 的 开 始 , 远 在 罗 马 的 纪 年 史 中 。 在 古 代 , 按
照 罗 马 的 惯 例 而 缔 结 婚 姻 的 方 式 有 三 种 , 一 种 是 男 宗 教 仪 式 ,
另 外 两 种 是 按 照 世 俗 仪 式 进 行 。 宗 教 婚 姻 叫共食婚 ( C o n f a r A r e a t i o n ) ; 高 级 形 式 的 民 事 婚 姻 称 为买卖婚 ( C o e m p t i o n ) ; 低 级 形 式 称 为时效婚 ( U s u s ) , 通 过 这 些 婚 姻 , 夫 对 于 妻 的 人 身和 财 产 取 得 了 多 种 权 利 , 总 的 说 来 , 是 超 过 现 代 法 律 学 任 何制 度 所 赋 与 他 的 。 然 则 , 他 究 竟 是 凭 什 么 能 力 取 得 这 些 权 利的 呢 ? 他 不 是 以夫 而 是 以父 的 能 力 。 通 过 “ 共 食 婚 ” 、 “ 买 卖婚 ” 和 “ 时 效 婚 ” ,妇女处在夫 的 监 护 下也 就 是 说 , 在 法 律 上 , 她 成 了 她 丈 夫 的女儿 。 她 被 包 括 在 夫的 “ 家 父 权 ” 中 。 她 承 担 着 在 “ 家 父 权 ” 存 在 时 所 产 生 的 以及 在 “ 家 父 权 ” 消 灭 后 所 遗 下 的 一 切 义 务 。 她 所 有 的 全 部 财
产 绝 对 地 属 于 夫 所 有 , 在 他 死 亡 后 , 她 便 受 监 护 人 的 保 护 , 监
护 人 是 由 其 夫 用 遗 嘱 指 定 的 。 但 是 , 这 三 种 古 代 的 婚 姻 形 式
逐 渐 废 弃 不 用 , 在 罗 马 最 光 辉 灿 烂 的 时 期 , 它 们 几 乎 完 全 为
另 外 的 一 种 婚 礼 所 代 替 — — 显 然 是 旧 式 的 , 但 到 这 时 为 止 一
向 是 被 认 为 不 体 面 的 — — , 这 是 低 级 形 式 民 间 婚 姻 的 一 种 变
形 。 我 毋 庸 详 细 说 明 这 在 现 在 成 为 普 遍 流 行 的 制 度 的 专 门 结
构 , 只 须 说 明 : 在 法 律 上 妇 女 只 是 作 为 家 族 的 一 种 暂 时 寄 托物 而 已 。 家 族 所 有 的 各 种 权 利 仍 旧 毫 无 损 失 , 妇 女 继 续 在 她
父 所 指 定 的 监 护 人 的 保 护 之 下 , 而 监 护 人 的 支 配 权 在 许 多 实
质 问 题 上 甚 且 超 过 其 夫 的 低 级 权 力 。 其 结 果 , 罗 马 女 性 不 论
是 已 婚 的 或 未 婚 的 , 在 人 身 上 和 财 产 上 都 有 巨 大 的 独 立 地 位 ,
因 为 象 我 已 经 暗 示 过 的 ; 后 期 法 律 的 趋 势 把 监 护 人 的 权 力 逐
渐 缩 减 到 零 , 而 流 行 的 婚 姻 形 式 也 并 没 有 把 补 充 的 优 越 权 给
予 其 夫 。 但 基 督 教 似 乎 从 开 始 时 就 有 要 缩 小 这 种 显 著 自 由 的
倾 向 。 具 有 这 个 新 信 仰 的 专 家 们 最 初 由 于 对 腐 败 的 邪 教 世 界
种 种 放 荡 行 为 的 正 当 嫌 恶 的 引 导 , 但 后 来 则 为 禁 欲 主 义 的 一
种 热 情 所 催 促 , 对 于 这 事 实 上 为 西 方 世 界 所 仅 见 的 最 松 弛 的
一 种 婚 姻 关 系 , 不 表 欢 迎 。 最 后 期 的 罗 马 法 律 由 于 它 曾 受 到
基 督 皇 帝 宪 令 的 接 触 , 带 有 反 对 这 些 伟 大 安 托 宁 法 学 专 家 们
自 由 学 理 的 某 种 痕 迹 。 当 时 流 行 的 宗 教 情 绪 可 以 说 明 , 经 过
蛮 族 征 服 的 熔 炉 锻 炼 过 并 由 罗 马 法 律 学 同 宗 法 惯 例 混 合 而 形
成 的 近 代 法 律 学 , 为 什 么 会 在 其 雏 形 中 过 分 地 吸 收 一 些 不 完
全 的 文 明 社 会 中 有 关 妇 女 地 位 的 规 定 。 在 近 代 史 开 始 的 混 乱
时 代 , 日 耳 曼 和 斯 拉 夫 移 民 的 法 律 对 于 地 方 臣 民 象 是 一 个 隔
层 那 样 重 叠 在 罗 马 法 学 之 上 , 这 些 优 胜 民 族 的 妇 女 到 处 都 是
处 在 各 式 各 样 的 古 代 监 护 制 之 下 , 丈 夫 要 从 他 本 族 以 外 任 何
家 族 娶 妻 , 为 了 从 他 们 那 里 取 得 保 佐 权 , 就 必 须 以 一 种 聘 金
付 给 她 的 亲 属 作 为 代 价 。 当 我 们 继 续 向 前 进 展 看 到 中 世 纪 时 ,
法 典 已 通 过 两 种 制 度 的 合 并 而 形 成 , 其 有 关 妇 女 的 法 律 也 就
带 有 双 重 渊 源 的 烙 印 。 对 于 未 婚 女 性 , 罗 马 法 律 学 的 原 则 占
了 优 势 , 一 般 ( 虽 然 对 这 规 定 在 有 些 地 方 是 有 例 外 的 ) 都 已
不 受 家 族 的 束 缚 ; 但 已 婚 妇 女 的 地 位 则 是 根 据 蛮 族 的 古 代 原则 规 定 的 , 夫 能 以 夫 的 身 分 把 过 去 一 度 属 于 妻 的 男 性 亲 属 所
有 的 各 种 权 力 取 为 己 有 , 所 不 同 的 是 他 已 不 再 是 购 买 他 的 特
权 了 。 因 此 , 到 这 时 候 , 西 欧 和 南 欧 的 近 代 法 律 开 始 因 这 样
一 个 主 要 特 征 而 著 名 , 就 是 一 方 面 未 婚 妇 女 和 寡 妇 比 较 有 了
自 由 , 另 一 方 面 它 又 使 妻 子 感 到 沉 重 无 力 。 由 于 婚 姻 而 使 女
性 处 于 从 属 地 位 , 要 经 过 很 长 时 期 才 明 显 地 消 灭 , 欧 洲 这 种
野 蛮 主 义 的 复 活 , 其 主 要 和 有 力 的 溶 剂 始 终 是 来 自 查 斯 丁 尼
安 法 典 化 的 法 律 学 ; 因 为 凡 是 研 究 它 的 地 方 都 必 然 地 会 唤 起
那 热 情 , 查 斯 丁 尼 安 法 典 化 的 法 律 学 隐 秘 地 、 但 是 最 有 效 地
损 坏 着 它 在 表 面 上 仅 仅 是 要 加 以 解 释 的 各 种 习 惯 、 但 是 有 关
已 婚 妇 女 的 一 章 法 律 , 绝 大 部 分 不 是 根 据 了 “ 罗 马 法 ” 而 是
根 据 了 “ 寺 院 法 ” 的 见 解 来 解 释 的 , “ 寺 院 法 ” 对 于 因 婚 姻 而
创 设 关 系 所 持 的 见 解 同 世 俗 法 律 学 的 精 神 两 者 之 间 有 着 宽 阔
的 距 离 , 其 程 度 较 其 他 任 何 方 面 都 来 得 明 显 。 这 多 少 是 难 以
避 免 的 , 因 为 凡 是 保 留 着 一 些 基 督 教 制 度 这 种 彩 色 的 社 会 , 很
少 可 能 会 使 已 婚 妇 女 恢 复 中 期 罗 马 法 所 赋 与 她 们 的 个 人 自
由 , 但 是 已 婚 女 性 在 财 产 上 没 有 权 力 和 其 在 人 格 上 的 没 有 地
位 是 建 筑 在 完 全 不 同 的 基 础 上 的 , 而 寺 院 法 的 释 义 者 所 以 深
深 阻 碍 了 文 明 , 就 是 因 为 他 们 把 前 者 保 存 下 来 , 并 加 以 巩 固 。
有 许 多 迹 象 说 明 在 世 俗 原 则 和 教 会 原 则 之 间 , 是 曾 经 发 生 过
斗 争 的 , 但 寺 院 法 几 乎 处 处 都 得 到 胜 利 。 在 有 些 法 国 省 分 中 ,
等 级 低 于 贵 族 的 已 婚 妇 女 取 得 了 罗 马 法 律 学 所 准 许 的 处 分 财
产 的 全 部 权 力 , 这 种 地 方 法 律 后 来 有 大 部 分 就 为 “ 拿 破 仑 法
典 ” 所 采 纳 ; 但 是 苏 格 兰 法 律 的 情 况 表 明 , 切 实 顺 从 罗 马 法
学 专 家 的 学 理 并 不 一 定 能 使 妻 的 地 位 有 所 提 高 。 不 过 对 于 已 婚 妇 女 最 严 厉 的 制 度 , 或 则 是 那 些 严 格 尊 重 “ 寺 院 法 ” 的 制
度 , 或 则 是 由 于 同 欧 洲 文 明 接 触 较 迟 从 未 把 他 们 的 古 制 加 以
去 除 的 制 度 。 斯 干 的 那 维 亚 法 律 直 到 后 来 对 于 所 有 女 性 还 是
比 较 苛 刻 的 , 仍 旧 因 为 对 妻 的 严 峻 而 著 名 。 英 国 普 通 法 所 规
定 的 财 产 上 的 无 能 力 , 其 严 厉 程 度 也 并 不 稍 逊 , 而 英 国 普 通
法 中 绝 大 部 分 的 基 本 原 则 , 都 是 来 自 “ 寺 院 法 学 者 ” 的 法 律
学 的 。 普 通 法 中 规 定 已 婚 妇 女 法 律 地 位 的 那 一 部 分 , 真 可 以
使 一 英 国 人 对 作 为 本 章 主 题 的 伟 大 制 度 有 一 个 明 白 的 概 念 。
我 们 只 要 回 想 一 下 纯 粹 英 国 普 通 法 所 赋 与 丈 夫 的 各 种 特 权 ,
并 回 想 一 下 , 在 普 通 法 还 没 有 经 衡 平 法 或 制 定 法 修 正 的 部 分
中 , 在 权 利 、 义 务 和 救 济 等 各 方 面 严 格 地 坚 持 妻 在 法 律 上 必
须 完 全 从 属 的 见 解 , 我 们 将 对 古 代 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 运 用 和 性 质 ,
获 得 一 个 鲜 明 的 印 象 。 最 早 的 罗 马 法 和 最 晚 的 罗 马 法 之 间 , 就
在 “ 父 权 下 之 子 ” 这 个 主 题 上 所 存 在 着 的 距 离 , 同 普 通 法 和
衡 平 法 院 法 律 学 就 其 分 别 对 妻 所 作 规 定 上 存 在 的 距 离 , 可 以
视 为 完 全 相 等 。
如 果 我 们 看 不 到 监 护 在 两 种 形 式 上 的 真 正 来 源 , 而 就 这
些 论 题 采 用 了 普 通 用 语 , 则 我 们 必 然 会 以 为 , “ 妇 女 的 保 佐 ”
果 然 是 古 代 法 律 制 度 把 停 止 权 利 的 拟 制 推 进 到 一 个 过 分 极 端
的 例 子 , 而 古 代 法 律 制 度 为 “ 男 性 孤 儿 监 护 ”所 设 的 规 定 则 是 恰 恰 方 向 相 反 的 一 种 错 误 的 例 证 。 所 有 这 类 制 度 都 规 定 在 绝 早 的 时 期 就 终 止 男
性 的 保 佐 。 根 据 可 以 作 为 其 典 型 的 古 代 罗 马 法 的 规 定 , 因
“ 父 ” 或 “ 祖 父 ” 死 亡 而 免 除 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 家 子 , 应 仍 处 在 监
护 之 下 , 一 般 讲 到 他 十 五 岁 的 时 候 为 止 ; 但 一 到 这 个 时 候 , 他 就 能 立 刻 完 全 享 有 人 格 和 财 产 独 立 之 权 。 因 此 , 未 成 年 的 期
间 , 是 不 合 理 地 短 促 , 正 像 妇 女 无 权 力 的 持 续 期 间 是 荒 谬 地
长 久 一 样 。 但 是 , 事 实 上 , 在 造 成 这 两 种 监 护 原 来 形 式 的 情
况 中 , 既 没 有 过 分 , 也 没 有 不 足 的 成 分 。 在 这 两 者 之 中 , 不
论 是 哪 一 种 都 丝 毫 没 有 考 虑 对 公 或 对 私 的 便 利 。 男 性 孤 儿 的
监 护 原 只 是 为 了 庇 护 他 们 到 解 事 的 年 龄 , 正 像 妇 女 的 保 佐 , 目
的 是 在 保 护 女 性 使 不 受 其 本 身 柔 弱 所 造 成 的 害 处 。 父 的 死 亡
所 以 能 使 子 免 除 家 族 束 缚 , 其 理 由 是 为 了 子 已 有 能 力 成 为 一
个 新 的 宗 族 首 领 和 一 个 新 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 始 创 者 ; 这 类 能 力 是
妇 女 所 没 有 的 , 所 以 她 就 ·
永 ·
远 ·
不 ·
能 被 解 放 。 因 此 “ 男 性 孤 儿
监 护 ” 是 一 种 手 段 , 用 以 保 持 从 属 于 “ 父 ” 家 族 的 假 象 , 到
假 定 儿 童 能 自 成 为 父 的 时 候 为 止 。 这 就 是 把 “ 家 父 权 ” 延 长
到 体 力 刚 刚 达 到 壮 年 时 为 止 。 因 为 严 格 的 理 论 要 求 它 应 该 作
出 这 样 的 规 定 , 直 到 青 春 期 终 了 为 止 。 但 是 , 它 既 然 并 不 要
求 把 受 监 护 的 孤 儿 一 直 监 护 到 智 力 成 熟 或 适 宜 于 处 理 事 务 的
年 龄 , 那 就 不 能 达 到 一 般 便 利 的 目 的 ; 而 这 一 层 似 乎 是 罗 马
人 在 其 社 会 进 步 的 很 早 阶 段 就 已 经 发 觉 的 了 。 罗 马 立 法 中 最
早 的 纪 念 碑 之 一 是 ·
雷 ·
多 ·
利 ·
亚 或 ·
柏 ·
雷 ·
多 ·
利 ·
亚 ·
法 ( L e x l Et o r i a
o r P l Et o r i a ) , 它 就 把 所 有 成 年 的 和 有 完 全 权 利 的 自 由 男性 放 在 一 种 新 型 监 护 人 称 为保佐人 ( C u r a t o r e s ) 的 暂 时 管 束之 下 , 取 得 保 佐 人 的 认 可 是 一 切 行 为 或 契 约 有 效 的 必 要 条 件 。
青 年 人 年 龄 达 到 二 十 六 岁 , 是 这 个 制 定 法 所 规 定 的 监 督 的 限
期 ; 罗 马 法 中 所 用 的 “ 成 年 ” 或 “ 未 成 年 ” 这 些 名 词 , 是 专
对 二 十 五 岁 的 年 龄 而 言 的 。 在 现 代 法 律 学 中 , ·
未 ·
成 ·
年 或 ·
受 ·
监
·
护 已 经 几 乎 一 致 地 被 用 为 专 门 保 护 在 体 力 上 和 智 力 上 未 成 熟的 少 年 人 。 在 达 到 解 事 年 龄 时 ,未成 · 年 或受 · 监护 便 自 然 终 止
了 。 但 罗 马 人 对 于 体 力 幼 弱 的 保 护 和 对 于 智 力 幼 稚 的 保 护 , 分
成 在 理 论 上 和 在 形 式 上 完 全 不 同 的 两 种 制 度 。 有 关 这 两 种 制
度 的 观 念 , 在 近 代 的 对 监 护 的 观 念 中 已 合 而 为 一 。
“ 人 法 ” 中 还 有 另 外 一 章 , 现 在 有 加 以 引 述 的 必 要 。 在 成
熟 的 法 律 学 的 各 种 制 度 中 用 以 规 定 ·
奴 ·
隶 ·
主 ·
和 ·
奴 ·
隶 关 系 的 法 律
规 定 , 并 没 有 很 明 显 的 迹 象 可 以 表 明 这 种 原 始 状 态 是 古 代 社
会 所 共 有 的 。 但 是 这 种 例 外 是 有 理 由 的 。 在 “ 奴 隶 制 度 ” 中
似 乎 始 终 有 一 些 使 人 类 为 之 震 惊 或 困 惑 的 东 西 , 不 论 人 类 是
如 何 的 不 习 惯 于 回 忆 , 不 论 人 类 道 德 天 性 的 教 养 是 进 步 得 如
何 微 少 。 古 代 共 产 体 几 乎 是 下 意 识 地 都 要 体 验 到 良 心 谴 责 , 其
结 果 往 往 会 采 用 一 些 想 象 的 原 则 为 奴 隶 制 度 作 辩 护 , 或 至 少
是 作 理 性 上 的 辩 护 的 可 能 根 据 。 在 他 们 历 史 的 初 期 , 希 腊 人
解 释 这 个 制 度 的 根 据 是 因 为 某 种 民 族 智 力 低 劣 , 从 而 天 然 地
适 合 于 这 种 奴 役 状 态 。 罗 马 人 用 了 同 样 独 特 的 精 神 , 认 为 它
是 战 胜 者 和 战 败 者 之 间 一 种 假 定 的 合 意 , 前 者 要 求 敌 人 永 久
为 其 服 役 ; 而 后 者 以 获 得 他 在 法 律 上 已 经 丧 失 的 生 命 来 作 为
交 换 。 这 些 理 论 不 但 不 充 分 , 并 且 也 显 然 同 它 所 想 说 明 的 实
际 情 况 不 符 。 但 这 些 理 论 在 某 些 方 面 还 有 着 巨 大 的 影 响 。 它
们 使 “ 奴 隶 主 ” 心 安 理 得 。 它 们 永 久 保 存 了 并 且 也 许 加 深 了
“ 奴 隶 ” 的 低 下 地 位 。 它 们 自 然 有 助 于 隐 蔽 奴 隶 同 家 族 制 度 其
他 方 面 原 来 所 有 的 关 系 。 这 种 关 系 虽 不 明 显 , 但 在 原 始 法 律
的 许 多 部 分 中 , 特 别 是 在 典 型 的 制 度 — — 即 古 罗 马 的 制 度 中 ,
还 是 不 经 意 地 被 表 现 出 来 的 。
在 美 国 , 曾 花 了 很 多 力 量 从 事 于 研 究 早 期 社 会 中 “ 奴隶 ” 是 否 被 认 为 “ 家 族 ” 中 一 个 成 员 的 问 题 。 有 这 样 一 种 看法 , 认 为 答 案 必 然 是 正 面 的 。 从 古 代 法 和 许 多 原 始 历 史 所 提供 的 证 据 中 , 很 明 显 , “ 奴 隶 ” 在 某 种 条 件 下 , 是 可 以 成 为“ 奴 隶 主 ” 的 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 概 括 继 承 人 ” ( U n i v e r s a l S u c c e s s o r ) 的 , 这 样 重 要 的 权 力 , 像 我 将 在 “ 继 承 ” 这 一 章中 加 以 说 明 的 , 意 味 着 “ 家 族 ” 的 管 理 和 代 理 在 某 种 特 殊 情
况 下 是 可 能 遗 传 给 奴 仆 的 。 但 在 美 国 的 论 点 中 似 乎 有 着 这 样
的 一 个 假 定 , 即 如 果 我 们 承 认 “ 奴 隶 制 ” 曾 经 是 一 个 原 始 的
“ 家 族 ” 制 度 , 这 个 确 认 实 在 就 是 意 味 着 承 认 现 在 “ 黑 奴 制
度 ” 在 道 德 上 是 有 可 以 辩 护 的 根 据 的 。 然 则 所 谓 “ 奴 隶 ” 原
来 就 包 括 在 “ 家 族 ” 之 内 , 究 竟 是 什 么 意 思 呢 ? 这 并 不 是 说
奴 隶 的 地 位 不 可 能 是 激 动 人 们 行 动 的 最 卑 鄙 动 机 的 产 物 。 “ 奴
隶 制 ” 的 基 础 无 疑 是 出 于 这 种 简 单 的 愿 望 , 就 是 利 用 他 人 的
体 力 以 为 图 谋 自 己 舒 适 或 安 乐 的 一 种 手 段 , 而 这 是 象 人 类 天
性 一 样 地 古 老 的 。 当 我 们 说 “ 奴 隶 ” 在 古 时 候 就 包 括 在 “ 家
族 ” 之 内 , 我 们 并 不 是 企 图 说 明 那 些 把 他 带 到 “ 家 族 ” 里 并
把 他 留 在 那 里 的 人 们 的 动 机 ; 我 们 仅 仅 是 在 暗 示 , 把 他 同 奴
隶 主 连 结 起 来 的 约 束 , 和 把 集 团 中 每 一 个 成 员 同 族 长 结 合 在
一 起 的 约 束 , 是 属 于 同 样 的 一 般 性 质 的 。 我 们 在 前 面 已 提 到
过 , 在 人 类 原 始 观 念 中 , 除 了 家 族 关 系 之 外 , 不 可 能 理 解 在
各 个 个 人 相 互 之 间 可 以 有 任 何 关 系 , 事 实 上 , 上 述 的 后 果 就
是 来 自 这 个 一 般 的 确 言 。 “ 家 族 ” 首 先 包 括 因 血 缘 关 系 而 属 于
它 的 人 们 , 其 次 包 括 因 收 养 而 接 纳 的 人 们 ; 但 是 当 有 一 种 第
三 类 的 人 , 他 们 只 是 因 为 共 同 从 属 于 族 长 而 参 加 “ 家 族 ” 的 ,
这 些 人 就 是 “ 奴 隶 ” 。 族 长 所 出 生 的 和 收 养 的 臣 民 被 放 在 “ 奴隶 ” 之 上 ; 因 为 按 照 事 物 正 常 的 发 展 , 他 们 迟 早 一 定 会 从 约
束 中 被 解 放 出 来 , 行 使 他 自 己 的 权 力 ; 至 于 “ 奴 隶 ” , 他 并 不
因 为 地 位 低 微 而 被 放 在 家 族 范 围 之 外 , 也 不 因 为 他 地 位 低 微
而 使 他 降 低 到 无 生 命 的 财 产 那 样 的 地 位 , 我 以 为 , 这 是 可 以
从 遗 留 下 来 的 许 多 迹 象 中 明 显 地 证 明 的 , 象 在 没 有 其 他 办 法
时 古 代 奴 隶 可 以 有 继 承 的 能 力 , 就 是 证 明 之 一 。 但 如 果 妄 自
推 测 , 以 为 在 社 会 的 启 蒙 时 期 , 因 为 在 “ 父 ” 的 王 国 中 曾 经
为 他 保 留 过 一 定 的 地 位 , 所 以 “ 奴 隶 ” 的 命 运 就 可 以 大 大 改
善 , 这 当 然 是 极 端 不 妥 当 的 。 比 较 可 能 的 情 况 是 , 家 子 在 实
际 上 已 经 被 同 化 为 “ 奴 隶 ” , 而 不 是 “ 奴 隶 ” 分 享 着 较 晚 的 时
代 父 对 其 子 所 表 示 的 那 种 温 情 。 但 是 对 于 那 些 比 较 进 步 的 和
成 熟 的 法 典 , 我 们 可 以 有 信 心 地 说 , 凡 是 准 许 有 奴 隶 制 度 的
场 合 , 在 那 些 保 留 着 奴 隶 早 期 状 态 某 种 残 余 的 制 度 下 面 的
“ 奴 隶 ” , 一 般 要 比 采 用 使 他 社 会 地 位 降 低 的 其 他 理 论 的 制 度
下 面 的 “ 奴 隶 ” 好 一 些 。 法 律 学 对 于 奴 隶 所 持 的 观 念 , 对 于
奴 隶 始 终 有 着 巨 大 的 关 系 。 罗 马 法 由 于 受 到 了 “ 自 然 法 ” 理
论 的 影 响 , 把 他 日 益 看 作 为 一 件 财 产 的 趋 势 得 以 停 止 发 展 , 从
而 凡 是 深 受 罗 马 法 律 学 影 响 并 准 许 有 奴 隶 的 地 方 , 其 奴 隶 的
状 态 从 来 不 是 悲 惨 得 难 堪 的 。 我 们 有 大 量 的 证 据 , 证 明 在 美
国 凡 是 以 高 度 罗 马 化 的 路 易 斯 安 那 州 法 典为 其 法 律 基 础 的 那 些 州 中 , 黑 种 人 的 命 运 及 其 前途 , 在 许 多 重 大 方 面 都 比 以 英 国 普 通 法 为 其 基 础 的 制 度 之 下
的 要 好 得 多 , 因 为 根 据 最 近 的 解 释 , 在 英 国 普 通 法 上 “ 奴
隶 ” 是 没 有 真 正 的 地 位 的 , 因 此 也 就 只 能 被 认 为 是 一 种 物 件 。
到 现 在 为 止 , 我 们 已 经 研 究 过 属 于 本 文 范 围 之 内 的 有 关古 代 “ 人 法 ” 的 各 个 部 分 , 而 研 究 的 结 果 , 我 相 信 , 能 使 我
们 对 于 法 律 学 初 生 时 期 所 有 的 看 法 , 有 进 一 步 的 明 确 。 各 国
的 民 法 , 在 其 最 初 出 现 时 , 是 一 个 宗 法 主 权 的 “ 地 美 士 第 ” ,
我 们 现 在 并 且 可 以 看 到 这 些 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 也 许 只 是 更 早 期 人
类 状 态 中 每 一 个 独 立 族 长 可 能 向 他 妻 、 子 以 及 奴 隶 任 意 提 出
的 不 负 责 任 的 命 令 的 一 种 发 展 形 式 。 但 是 甚 至 在 国 家 组 织 形
成 之 后 , 法 律 的 使 用 仍 旧 是 极 其 有 限 的 。 这 些 法 律 不 论 是 保
持 着 像 “ 地 美 士 第 ” 的 这 种 原 始 形 态 , 也 不 论 是 已 经 进 步 到
“ 习 惯 或 法 典 化 条 文 ” 的 状 态 , 它 的 拘 束 力 只 及 到 各 “ 家 族 ”
而 不 是 个 人 。 用 一 个 不 完 全 贴 切 的 对 比 , 古 代 法 律 学 可 以 譬
作 “ 国 际 法 ” , 目 的 只 是 在 填 补 作 为 社 会 原 子 的 各 个 大 集 团 之
间 的 罅 隙 而 已 。 在 处 于 这 种 情 况 下 的 一 个 共 产 体 中 , 议 会 的
立 法 和 法 院 的 审 判 只 能 及 到 家 族 首 长 , 至 于 家 族 中 的 每 一 个
个 人 , 其 行 为 的 准 则 是 他 的 家 庭 的 法 律 , 以 “ 家 父 ” 为 立 法
者 。 但 民 法 的 范 围 在 开 始 时 虽 然 很 小 , 不 久 即 不 断 地 逐 渐 扩
大 。 改 变 法 律 的 媒 介 即 拟 制 、 衡 平 和 立 法 , 依 次 在 原 始 制 度
中 发 生 作 用 , 而 在 每 一 个 发 展 过 程 中 必 有 大 量 的 个 人 权 利 和
大 量 的 财 产 从 家 庭 审 判 庭 中 移 转 到 公 共 法 庭 的 管 辖 权 之 内 。
政 府 法 规 逐 渐 在 私 人 事 件 中 取 得 了 同 在 国 家 事 务 中 所 有 的 同
样 的 效 力 , 已 不 再 被 每 一 个 家 庭 中 奉 为 神 圣 的 暴 君 的 严 命 所
废 弃 了 。 通 过 罗 马 法 的 纪 年 史 , 我 们 可 以 看 到 有 关 一 个 古 代
制 度 逐 渐 被 摧 毁 以 及 把 各 种 材 料 再 度 结 合 起 来 而 形 成 各 种 新
制 度 的 几 乎 全 部 的 历 史 , 这 些 新 的 制 度 , 有 的 被 保 持 原 状 一
直 传 到 了 现 代 世 界 , 也 有 的 由 于 在 黑 暗 时 期 和 蛮 族 相 接 触 而
被 消 灭 或 腐 蚀 , 最 后 才 又 为 人 类 所 恢 复 。 当 这 个 法 律 学 在 查斯 丁 尼 安 时 代 经 过 了 最 后 一 次 改 编 后 , 除 了 为 活 着 的 “ 家
父 ” 仍 旧 保 有 广 泛 权 力 的 唯 一 条 款 以 外 , 其 中 已 很 难 找 到 古
代 制 度 的 迹 象 。 到 处 都 以 便 利 的 、 匀 称 的 或 单 纯 的 原 则 — —
总 之 , 是 新 的 原 则 — — 来 代 替 能 满 足 古 代 良 心 的 空 洞 考 虑 的
权 威 。 到 处 都 以 一 种 新 的 道 德 来 代 替 同 古 代 惯 例 相 一 致 的 行
为 准 则 和 顺 从 理 由 , 因 为 在 事 实 上 , 这 些 准 则 和 理 由 都 是 从古 代 惯 例 中 产 生 的 。
所 有 进 步 社 会 的 运 动 在 有 一 点 上 是 一 致 的 。 在 运 动 发 展的 过 程 中 , 其 特 点 是 家 族 依 附 的 逐 步 消 灭 以 及 代 之 而 起 的 个人 义 务 的 增 长 。 “ 个 人 ” 不 断 地 代 替 了 “ 家 族 ” , 成 为 民 事法律 所 考 虑 的 单 位 。 前 进 是 以 不 同 的 速 度 完 成 的 , 有 些 社会在表 面 上 是 停 止 不 前 , 但 实 际 上 并 不 是 绝 对 停 止 不 前 , 只要经过 缜 密 研 究 这 些 社 会 所 提 供 的 各 种 现 象 , 就 可 以 看 到 其 中 的古 代 组 织 是 在 崩 溃 。 但 是 不 论 前 进 的 速 度 如 何 , 变 化 是绝少受 到 反 击 或 者 倒 退 的 , 只 有 在 吸 收 了 完 全 从 外 国 来 的 古 代 观
念 和 习 惯 时 , 才 偶 尔 发 生 显 然 停 滞 不 前 的 现 象 。 我 们 也 不 难
看 到 : 用 以 逐 步 代 替 源 自 “ 家 族 ” 各 种 权 利 义 务 上 那 种 相 互
关 系 形 式 的 , 究 竟 是 个 人 与 个 人 之 间 的 什 么 关 系 。 用 以 代 替
的 关 系 就 是 “ 契 约 ” 。 在 以 前 , “ 人 ” 的 一 切 关 系 都 是 被 概 括
在 “ 家 族 ” 关 系 中 的 , 把 这 种 社 会 状 态 作 为 历 史 上 的 一 个 起
点 , 从 这 一 个 起 点 开 始 , 我 们 似 乎 是 在 不 断 地 向 着 一 种 新 的
社 会 秩 序 状 态 移 动 , 在 这 种 新 的 社 会 秩 序 中 , 所 有 这 些 关 系
都 是 因 “ 个 人 ” 的 自 由 合 意 而 产 生 的 。 在 西 欧 , 向 这 种 方 向
发 展 而 获 得 的 进 步 是 显 著 的 。 奴 隶 的 身 分 被 消 灭 了 — — 它 已
为 主 仆 的 契 约 关 系 所 代 替 了 。 在 “ 保 佐 下 妇 女 ” 的 身 分 , 如果 她 的 保 佐 人 不 是 夫 而 是 其 他 的 人 , 也 不 再 存 在 了 ; 从 她 成
年 以 至 结 婚 , 凡 是 她 所 能 形 成 的 一 切 关 系 都 是 契 约 关 系 。 “ 父
权 下 之 子 ” 的 身 分 也 是 如 此 , 在 所 有 现 代 欧 洲 社 会 的 法 律 中
它 已 经 没 有 真 正 的 地 位 。 如 果 有 任 何 民 事 责 任 加 于 “ 家 父 ” 和
成 年 之 子 , 使 他 们 共 同 受 到 它 的 约 束 , 则 这 样 的 责 任 只 可 能
通 过 契 约 而 后 才 能 具 有 法 律 效 力 。 有 一 些 显 然 的 例 外 , 而 这
种 例 外 的 性 质 适 足 以 证 明 这 个 规 定 。 在 解 事 年 龄 以 前 的 子 裔 ,在 监 护 下 的 孤 儿 , 经 宣 告 的 疯 癫 病 人 , 都 在 “ 人 法 ” 上 规 定了 他 们 在 某 些 方 面 是 有 能 力 的 , 在 某 些 方 面 是 无 能 力 的 。 究竟 为 什 么 要 有 这 些 规 定 呢 ? 在 各 种 不 同 制 度 的 传 统 用 语 中 , 所提 出 的 理 由 虽 然 是 各 不 相 同 的 , 但 是 在 实 质 上 , 各 种 说 法 所具 有 的 效 果 却 是 完 全 一 致 的 。 绝 大 部 分 法 学 家 都 一 致 承 认 这样 一 个 原 则 , 他 们 都 认 为 上 述 各 类 人 所 以 应 受 外 来 的 支 配 , 其唯 一 理 由 是 在 于 他 们 本 身 不 具 有 为 其 自 己 利 益 而 作 出 决 定 的能 力 ; 换 言 之 , 他 们 缺 乏 用 “ 契 约 ” 而 达 到 定 约 的 必 要 条 件 。
“ 身 分 ” 这 个 字 可 以 有 效 地 用 来 制 造 一 个 公 式 以 表 示 进 步的 规 律 , 不 论 其 价 值 如 何 , 但 是 据 我 看 来 , 这 个 规 律 是 可 以足 够 地 确 定 的 。 在 “ 人 法 ” 中 所 提 到 的 一 切 形 式 的 “ 身 分 ” 都起 源 于 古 代 属 于 “ 家 族 ” 所 有 的 权 力 和 特 权 , 并 且 在 某 种 程度 上 , 到 现 在 仍 旧 带 有 这 种 色 彩 。 因 此 , 如 果 我 们 依 照 最 优秀 著 者 的 用 法 , 把 “ 身 分 ” 这 个 名 词 用 来 仅 仅 表 示 这 一 些 人格 状 态 , 并 避 免 把 这 个 名 词 适 用 于 作 为 合 意 的 直 接 或 间 接 结果 的 那 种 状 态 , 则 我 们 可 以 说 , 所 有 进 步 社 会 的 运 动 , 到 此 处 为 止 , 是 一 个 “ 从 身 分 到 契 约 ” 的 运 动 。
第 六 章 遗 嘱 继 承 的 早 期 史
我 们 在 英 国 研 究 “ 法 律 学 ” , 如 果 想 要 表 示 出 历 史 的 研 究
方 法 的 优 越 性 , 超 过 其 他 流 行 在 我 们 中 间 的 任 何 方 法 , 则
“ 遗 命 ” ( T e s t a m e n t s ) 或 “ 遗 嘱 ” ( W i l l s ) 在 “ 法 律 ” 的 一 切部 门 中 , 是 一 个 最 好 的 例 子 。 它 所 以 具 有 这 种 性 能 是 由 于 它 的 内 容 多 、 时 间 长 。 它 的 历 史 , 在 社 会 状 态 很 幼 稚 的 时 期 就开 始 了 , 当 时 所 有 的 各 种 概 念 , 由 于 其 形 式 古 老 , 须 要 费 些 心 力 才 能 加 以 理 解 ; 而 在 其 发 展 过 程 的 另 一 个 极 端 , 即 现 在 ,
我 们 又 有 这 样 许 多 法 律 观 念 , 这 些 法 律 观 念 成 为 现 代 语 法 和
思 想 习 惯 所 隐 蔽 的 一 些 同 样 的 概 念 , 因 此 也 就 遇 到 另 外 一 种
困 难 , 就 是 难 以 相 信 那 些 作 为 我 们 日 常 知 识 的 各 种 观 念 , 究
竟 是 否 真 的 需 要 加 以 分 析 研 究 。 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 的 发 展 正 在 这 两 个
极 端 之 间 , 是 可 以 追 溯 得 很 清 楚 的 。 和 多 数 其 他 部 门 的 法 律
史 不 同 , 它 在 封 建 制 度 产 生 的 时 代 很 少 受 到 阻 碍 。 真 的 , 就
法 律 的 所 有 部 门 而 论 , 所 谓 它 们 曾 由 于 古 代 史 和 近 代 史 间 的
划 分 而 引 起 了 中 断 , 或 者 换 言 之 , 曾 由 于 罗 马 帝 国 的 解 体 而
引 起 了 中 断 , 这 个 说 法 实 际 上 是 大 大 地 夸 张 了 的 。 许 多 著 者 ,
只 是 由 于 懒 惰 , 不 愿 费 一 些 力 量 在 六 百 多 年 的 混 乱 中 从 迷 惑
和 模 糊 的 里 面 寻 求 联 系 的 线 索 , 至 于 其 余 的 研 究 者 , 虽 然 不
是 天 然 地 缺 乏 耐 性 和 勤 奋 , 但 由 于 他 们 对 自 己 国 内 法 律 制 度
怀 有 无 谓 的 自 尊 心 , 不 愿 承 认 它 曾 受 惠 于 罗 马 法 律 学 , 他 们就 被 引 入 了 歧 途 。 但 这 些 不 利 的 势 力 , 对 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 领 域 中
发 生 的 影 响 比 较 少 。 蛮 族 对 于 所 谓 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 概 念 , 显 然 是
生 疏 的 。 权 威 学 者 一 致 同 意 , 他 们 在 本 土 和 以 后 在 罗 马 帝 国
边 境 居 留 地 上 所 实 行 的 各 种 包 括 他 们 习 惯 的 成 文 法 典 的 有 关
部 分 中 , 完 全 没 有 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 痕 迹 。 只 有 在 他 们 和 罗 马 各 省
人 民 混 合 在 一 起 以 后 , 他 们 才 从 帝 国 法 律 学 中 吸 取 了 “ 遗
嘱 ” 的 概 念 , 在 开 始 时 只 是 一 部 分 , 到 后 来 才 被 全 部 采 纳 。 教
会 的 影 响 对 于 这 次 迅 速 同 化 有 很 大 关 系 。 教 会 势 力 很 早 就 继
承 了 有 些 邪 教 神 庙 所 享 有 的 那 些 保 管 和 登 记 “ 遗 命 ” 的 特 权 ;
甚 至 在 这 样 早 的 时 候 , 宗 教 基 金 中 的 现 世 所 有 物 几 乎 完 全 来
自 私 人 遗 赠 。 因 此 , 最 早 的 “ 省 议 会 ”的 命 令 对 于 否 认 “ 遗 嘱 ” 神 圣 性 的 人 都 有 革 出 教 门
的 规 定 。 在 我 们 这 里 , 在 英 国 , 一 般 都 认 为 阻 止 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 史
中 断 的 主 要 原 因 之 一 当 然 是 由 于 教 会 的 影 响 , 这 种 中 断 有 时
被 确 信 曾 在 其 他 部 门 的 “ 法 律 学 ” 史 中 发 生 过 。 有 一 类 “ 遗
嘱 ” 的 管 辖 权 过 去 曾 被 委 托 给 “ 宗 教 法 院 ” , 这 些 法 院 虽 然 并
不 始 终 是 明 白 地 、 但 却 的 确 适 用 着 罗 马 法 律 学 的 原 则 ; 并 且 ,
虽 然 “ 普 通 法 院 ” 或 “ 衡 平 法 院 ” 都 并 没 有 必 须 遵 照 “ 宗 教
法 院 ” 的 任 何 义 务 , 但 它 们 对 这 在 它 们 旁 边 适 用 的 一 套 明 确
规 定 的 制 度 , 终 不 能 规 避 其 有 力 影 响 。 英 国 的 人 格 遗 嘱 继 承
法 就 成 了 过 去 罗 马 公 民 遗 产 处 分 所 遵 循 的 宗 规 的 一 种 变 形 。
用 历 史 方 法 来 研 究 这 个 问 题 时 我 们 所 能 得 到 的 结 论 , 和
不 依 靠 历 史 而 单 凭表 ·
面印 象 进 行 分 析 时 所 得 到
的 结 论 , 两 者 之 间 的 极 端 不 同 是 不 难 指 出 的 。 我 认 为 , 不 论
从 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 通 俗 概 念 出 发 , 或 是 从 它 的 法 律 概 念 出 发 ,没 有 人 会 不 想 象 到 : 凡 是 “ 遗 嘱 ” 必 附 有 某 种 特 性 。 例 如 , 他
可 能 会 说 , 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 必 须 ·
只 ·
有 ·
在 ·
死 ·
亡 ·
时 才 能 发 生 效 力 — —
它 是 ·
秘 ·
密 ·
的 , 它 里 面 所 规 定 的 有 利 害 关 系 的 人 们 是 必 然 地 不
应 该 知 道 的 — — 它 是 ·
可 ·
以 ·
取 ·
消 ·
的 , 即 始 终 可 以 为 一 个 新 的 遗
嘱 行 为 所 代 替 的 。 但 是 , 我 可 以 证 明 , 在 某 一 个 时 期 , 一 个
“ 遗 嘱 ” 完 全 没 有 这 些 特 征 。 我 们 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 直 接 来 自 “ 遗
命 ” , 而 “ 遗 命 ” 在 最 初 是 一 经 执 行 立 即 有 效 的 : 是 不 秘 密 的 ;
是 不 可 取 消 的 。 事 实 上 , 在 所 有 法 律 媒 介 中 , 没 有 一 种 历 史
媒 介 的 产 物 要 比 人 们 用 书 面 意 志 来 控 制 其 死 后 的 财 产 处 分 更
为 复 杂 的 了 。 “ 遗 命 ” 很 迟 缓 地 但 是 逐 渐 地 把 我 在 前 面 所 说 的
各 种 特 性 聚 集 在 其 周 围 ; 造 成 这 种 情 况 的 原 因 是 完 全 偶 然 的 ,
并 且 也 是 在 偶 然 的 事 物 压 力 之 下 完 成 的 , 这 些 原 因 和 事 物 压
力 除 了 曾 影 响 过 法 律 的 历 史 以 外 , 对 于 我 们 目 前 已 经 是 没 有
什 么 利 害 关 系 的 了 。
在 法 律 理 论 远 比 现 在 为 多 的 一 个 时 期 中 — — 诚 然 , 这 些
理 论 的 绝 大 部 分 是 毫 无 价 值 的 和 十 分 不 成 熟 的 , 但 是 这 些 理
论 却 仍 旧 把 法 律 学 从 我 们 并 非 是 不 知 道 的 、 比 较 恶 劣 的 和 比
较 拙 劣 的 情 况 下 挽 救 了 出 来 , 在 当 时 的 情 况 中 , 我 们 不 能 希
望 有 象 概 括 这 一 类 的 东 西 , 而 法 律 也 被 仅 仅 认 为 是 一 种 经 验
的 产 物 — — 对 于 我 们 在 直 觉 上 能 立 即 和 显 然 地 感 到 的 一 个
“ 遗 嘱 ” 所 具 有 的 某 些 特 性 , 当 时 在 进 行 解 释 时 所 采 取 的 流 行
说 法 是 : 这 些 特 性 是 它 天 然 就 有 的 , 或 者 , 说 得 具 体 一 些 , 是
由 “ 自 然 法 ” 附 着 于 它 上 面 的 。 我 以 为 , 在 一 度 认 定 所 有 这
些 特 征 的 渊 源 都 在 历 史 的 记 忆 中 , 可 能 就 不 会 有 人 主 张 这 样
一 个 学 理 了 ; 同 时 , 这 个 学 理 所 自 来 的 理 论 , 其 遗 迹 尚 残 存于 我 们 所 习 用 并 且 也 许 还 不 知 如 何 加 以 舍 弃 的 表 现 形 式 中 。
我 可 以 用 十 七 世 纪 法 律 文 籍 中 一 个 共 有 的 论 点 来 说 明 这 种 情
况 。 当 时 的 法 学 家 很 普 遍 地 认 为 “ 立 遗 嘱 ” 权 力 的 本 身 是 来
自 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 权 力 , 是 由 “ 自 然 法 ” 所 赋 与 的 一 种 权 利 。 他
们 的 学 说 虽 然 并 不 是 所 有 的 人 都 能 立 即 看 到 其 联 系 的 , 但 实
质 上 , 这 些 学 说 确 在 后 来 为 这 些 人 所 取 法 , 他 们 主 张 : 指 定
或 控 制 死 亡 后 财 产 处 分 的 权 利 是 财 产 所 有 权 本 身 的 一 种 必 然
的 或 自 然 的 结 果 。 每 一 个 法 律 学 者 也 一 定 还 遇 到 过 表 现 在 一
个 相 当 不 同 的 学 派 的 语 句 中 的 这 个 同 一 的 见 解 , 这 个 见 解 在
说 明 这 一 部 门 法 律 的 原 理 时 , 认 为遗命 继 承是 死 亡 者 财 产 应 该 首 先 遵 照 的 移 转 方 式 , 然 后再 进 而 说 明 法 定 继 承是 立 法 者
的 偶 然 规 定 , 以 履 行 由 于 死 亡 的 财 产 所 有 者 因 疏 忽 或 不 幸 而
未 执 行 的 一 种 职 能 。 这 些 意 见 , 实 际 上 就 是 所 谓 遗 嘱 处 分 是
“ 自 然 法 ” 的 一 个 制 度 这 种 比 较 扼 要 的 学 理 , 表 现 于 详 尽 的 方
式 中 而 已 。 当 近 代 思 想 非 难 “ 自 然 ” 和 “ 自 然 法 ” 时 , 究 竟
它 所 联 想 的 范 围 如 何 , 如 果 要 武 断 地 加 以 认 定 , 当 然 是 决 不
妥 当 的 ; 但 我 以 为 , 大 多 数 主 张 “ 遗 嘱 权 ” 是 来 自 “ 自 然
法 ” 的 人 们 , 他 们 的 意 思 , 可 能 或 者 是 认 为 这 种 权 力 在 事 实
上 普 遍 存 在 的 , 或 者 认 为 这 种 权 力 由 于 一 种 原 始 的 本 能 和 冲
动 的 推 动 而 为 各 国 所 一 致 承 认 。 对 于 上 述 论 点 中 的 第 一 点 , 我
认 为 , 当 它 经 过 这 样 明 显 的 说 明 后 , 是 决 不 能 认 为 满 意 的 , 特
别 是 在 这 样 一 个 时 期 中 , 当 我 们 可 以 看 到拿破仑法典对 于 “ 遗 嘱 权 ” 有 着 许 多 严 格 的 限 制 , 同 时 也可 以 看 到 以 这 个 法 兰 西 法 典 为 范 本 的 各 种 制 度 正 在 一 天 天 地增 加 。 对 于 第 二 种 说 法 , 我 们 也 必 须 加 以 反 对 , 因 为 这 是 违 背 了 早 期 法 律 史 中 最 最 可 靠 的 事 实 的 , 并 且 我 敢 于 一 般 地 断 定 , 在 所 有 自 然 生 长 的 社 会 中 , 在 早 期 的 法 律 学 中 是不 准 许
或 是 根 本 没 有 考 虑 到 过 “ 遗 嘱 权 ” 的 , 只 有 在 法 律 发 展 的 后
来 阶 段 , 才 准 许 在 多 少 限 制 之 下 使 财 产 所 有 者 的 意 志 能 胜 过
他 血 亲 的 请 求 。
所 谓 “ 遗 嘱 ” 或 “ 遗 命 ” 这 个 概 念 是 不 能 单 从 它 本 身 来
考 虑 的 。 它 是 一 系 列 概 念 中 的 一 个 概 念 , 并 且 还 不 是 第 一 个
概 念 。 就 其 本 身 而 论 , 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 仅 仅 是 遗 嘱 人 用 以 宣 告
其 意 思 的 工 具 。 我 以 为 , 在 讨 论 这 一 个 工 具 前 , 有 几 个 问 题
必 须 首 先 加 以 研 究 — — 例 如 , 从 一 个 死 亡 者 在 死 亡 时 所 转 移
的 究 竟 是 什 么 , 究 竟 是 哪 一 类 的 权 利 或 利 益 ? 转 移 给 谁 , 用
什 么 形 式 ? 以 及 为 什 么 死 亡 者 被 允 许 在 死 后 来 支 配 其 财 产 的
处 分 ? 如 果 用 术 语 来 表 示 , 则 和 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 观 念 有 关 联 的
各 种 概 念 , 它 们 的 依 附 关 系 是 应 该 这 样 表 示 的 。 一 个 “ 遗
嘱 ” 或 “ 遗 命 ” 是 一 种 工 具 , 继 承 权 的 移 转 即 通 过 这 个 工 具
而 加 以 规 定 。 继 承 权 是 概 括 继 承 的 一 种 形 式 。 概 括 继 承 是 继
承 一 种 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 ( u n i v e r s i t a s j u r i s ) , 或 权 利 和 义 务 的 全
体 。 把 这 个 次 序 颠 倒 过 来 , 我 们 就 必 须 研 究 什 么 是 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权
·
利 ; 什 么 是 概 括 继 承 ; 被 称 为 一 个 继 承 权 的 概 括 继 承 , 它 的
形 式 究 竟 是 怎 样 的 。 此 外 还 有 两 个 问 题 , 虽 然 在 某 种 程 度 上
和 我 所 要 讨 论 的 各 点 是 并 不 相 关 的 , 但 为 了 澈 底 了 解 “ 遗
嘱 ” 这 个 主 题 , 却 是 必 须 加 以 解 决 的 。 这 两 个 问 题 就 是 , 为
什 么 一 个 继 承 权 在 任 何 情 况 下 都 要 由 遗 嘱 人 的 意 志 来 支 配 ,
以 及 用 以 控 制 继 承 权 的 工 具 , 它 的 性 质 究 竟 是 什 么 ?
第 一 个 问 题 和概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 有 关 ; 即 和 一 个 全 体 的 ( 或 一
群 的 ) 权 利 和 义 务 有 关 。 所 谓 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 是 各 种 权 利 和 义 务
的 集 合 , 由 于 在 同 一 时 候 属 于 同 一 个 人 这 种 唯 一 情 况 而 结 合
起 来 的 。 它 好 比 是 某 一 个 特 定 的 个 人 的 法 律 外 衣 。 它 并 不 是
把 “ 任 何 ” 权 利 和 “ 任 何 ” 义 务 凑 合 在 一 起 而 形 成 的 。 它 只
能 是 属 于 一 个 特 定 人 的 一 切 权 利 和 一 切 义 务 所 组 成 的 。 把 这
样 许 多 财 产 权 、 通 行 权 、 遗 赠 权 、 特 种 清 偿 义 务 、 债 务 、 损
害 赔 偿 责 任 — — 把 这 样 一 些 法 律 权 利 和 义 务 结 合 在 一 起 而 成
为 一 个 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 的 纽 带 , 是 由 于 它 们 附 着 于 某 一 个 能 够 行
使 这 些 权 利 和 义 务 的 个 人 的 这 一 种 ·
事 ·
实 。 没 有 这 一 个 ·
事 ·
实 , 就
没 有 权 利 和 义 务 的 全 体 。 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 这 个 用 语 不 是 古 典 的 , 但
法 律 学 有 这 个 观 念 , 应 该 完 全 归 功 于 罗 马 法 ; 同 时 这 个 用 语
也 不 是 完 全 难 于 捉 摸 的 。 我 们 应 该 设 法 把 我 们 每 一 个 人 对 世
界 上 其 余 人 的 全 部 法 律 关 系 , 聚 集 在 一 个 概 念 之 下 。 不 论 这
些 法 律 关 系 的 性 质 和 构 成 是 怎 样 , 这 些 法 律 关 系 在 集 合 起 来
后 , 就 成 为 了 一 个 ·
概 ·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 ; 只 要 我 们 仔 细 记 着 , 在 这 个
用 语 中 不 但 应 该 包 括 权 利 并 且 也 应 该 包 括 义 务 , 则 我 们 对 于
这 个 观 念 就 很 少 有 误 解 的 危 险 。 我 们 的 义 务 可 能 超 过 我 们 的
权 利 。 一 个 人 可 能 欠 得 多 而 值 得 少 , 因 此 , 如 果 他 的 总 的 法
律 关 系 用 金 钱 价 值 来 衡 量 , 他 可 能 是 一 个 所 谓 破 产 者 。 但 就
以 他 为 中 心 所 包 含 的 全 部 权 利 和 义 务 而 论 , 这 依 然 是 一 个
“ 概 括 的 权 利 ” 。
其 次 我 们 要 研 究 “ 概 括 继 承 ” 。 概 括 继 承 就 是 继 承 一 种 ·
概
·
括 ·
的 ·
权 ·
利 。 当 一 个 人 接 受 了 另 外 一 个 人 的 法 律 外 衣 , 在 同 一
个 时 候 一 方 面 承 担 其 全 部 义 务 , 另 一 方 面 享 有 其 全 部 权 利 时 ,就 发 生 概 括 继 承 。 为 了 使 这 个 概 括 继 承 真 实 和 完 全 , 转 移 必
须 象 法 学 家 所 说 的 那 样一次。 当 然 , 可 以想 象 , 一 个 人 可 以 在 不 同 时 期 取 得 另 外 一 个 人 的 全 部 权 利 和
义 务 , 例 如 通 过 连 继 购 买 ; 他 也 可 以 用 不 同 身 份 来 取 得 这 些
权 利 和 义 务 , 部 分 由 于 是 继 承 人 , 部 分 由 于 是 买 受 人 , 部 分
由 于 是 受 遗 赠 人 。 但 是 , 虽 然 这 样 组 合 起 来 的 一 群 权 利 和 义
务 在 事 实 上 确 等 于 一 个 特 定 人 的 全 部 法 律 人 格 , 但 这 种 取 得
不 能 作 为 一 个 概 括 继 承 。 要 有 一 个 真 正 的 概 括 继 承 , 转 让 必
须 是 对 全 部 权 利 和 义 务 在同一 时 候 一 次 进 行 , 同 时 受 领 人 也
必 须 以同一 法 律 身 分 来 接 受 。 一 个 概 括 继 承 的 观 念 正 如 一 个
概 括 的 权 利 的 观 念 , 在 法 律 学 中 是 永 久 的 , 虽 然 在 英 国 法 律
制 度 中 , 由 于 取 得 权 利 的 身 分 是 多 种 多 样 的 , 尤 其 是 由 于 英
国 财 产 上 “ 不 动 产 ” 和 “ 动 产 ” 两 大 部 分 之 间 的 区 分 , 这 个
观 念 给 模 糊 了 。 在 破 产 的 情 况 下 , 一 个 受 让 人 继 承 破 产 者 全
部 财 产 , 是 一 种 概 括 继 承 , 虽 然 受 让 人 只 就 遗 产 的 限 度 清 偿
债 务 , 但 这 只 是 对 原 来 观 念 的 一 个 修 正 形 式 。 如 果 在 我 们 中
间 有 人 承 受 一 个 人 的 ·
全 ·
部 财 产 以 偿 付 其 ·
全 ·
部 债 务 作 为 条 件 ,
则 这 类 移 转 就 和 最 古 罗 马 法 中 所 谓 概 括 继 承 完 全 类 似 。 当 一
个 罗 马 公 民收养 一 个 养 子 , 就 是 说 把 原 来 不 在 “ 家 父 权 ” 下
的 人 收 纳 为 其 养 子 , 他 就概括地 继 承 其 养 子 的 财 产 , 也 就 是
说 他 取 得 了 养 子 全 部 财 产 和 承 担 了 其 养 子 全 部 义 务 。 在 原 始
“ 罗 马 法 ” 中 还 发 现 有 几 种 其 他 形 式 的 概 括 继 承 , 但 其 中 最 重
要 和 最 持 久 的 一 种 , 是 我 们 所 最 直 接 关 心 的 “ 汉 来 狄 塔 斯 ”
( H Er e d i t a s ) 或 “ 继 承 权 ” 。 “ 继 承 权 ” 是 在 死 亡 时 发 生 的 一 种概 括 继 承 。 概 括 继 承 人 是 “ 汉 来 斯 ” ( H Er e s ) 或 “ 继 承 人 ” 。 他 立 即 取 得 死 亡 者 的 全 部 权 利 和 全 部 义 务 。 他 立 刻 取 得 了 他
的 全 部 法 律 人 格 , 并 且 不 论 他 由 于 “ 遗 嘱 ” 提 名 , 或 是 根 据
“ 无 遗 嘱 ” ( I n t e s t a c y ) 而 继 承 , “ 汉 来 斯 ” 的 特 殊 性 质 保 持 不
变 , 这 是 无 须 赘 述 的 。 “ 汉 来 斯 ” 这 个 名 词 可 以 用 于 “ 无 遗 嘱
继 承 人 ” , 也 可 以 用 于 “ 遗 嘱 继 承 人 ” , 因 为 一 个 人 成 为 “ 汉
来 斯 ” 的 方 式 和 他 所 具 有 的 法 律 性 质 本 来 是 毫 无 关 系 的 。 死
亡 者 的 概 括 继 承 人 , 不 论 是 由 于 “ 遗 嘱 ” 或 由 于 “ 无 遗 嘱 ” ,统 是 他 的 “ 继 承 人 ” 。 但 是 “ 继 承 人 ” 不 一 定 是 一 个 人 。 在 法律 上 被 视 为 一 个 单 位 的 许 多 人 , 也 可 以 作 为 “ 继 承 权 的共同继承人 ” ( C o h e i r s ) 。
我 现 在 引 述 罗 马 人 通 常 对 于 一 个 “ 继 承 权 ” 所 下 的 定 义 ,读 者 就 能 够 理 解 这 些 各 别 名 词 的 全 部 含 意 。 “ 继承权是对于一个死亡者全部法律地位的一种继承”。意思 就 是 说 , 死 亡 者 的 肉 体 人 格 虽 已 死 亡 , 但 他 的 法 律 人 格 仍
旧 存 在 , 毫 无 减 损 地 传 给 其 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 共 同 继 承 人 ” ,
( 以 法 律 而 论 ) 他 的 同 一 性 在 其 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 共 同 继 承 人 ”
身 上 是 延 续 下 去 的 。 在 我 国 法 律 中 , 把 “ 遗 嘱 执 行 人 ” 作 为
死 亡 者 个 人 遗 产 范 围 内 的 代 表 一 条 可 以 用 来 例 证 它 所 自 来 的
理 论 , 不 过 它 虽 然 能 例 证 , 但 却 仍 不 能 对 这 个 理 论 加 以 说 明 。
甚 至 后 期 罗 马 法 , 尚 认 为 在 死 亡 者 和 其 继 承 人 之 间 , 必 须 有
密 切 相 当 的 地 位 , 但 英 国 的 一 个 代 表 人 就 不 具 有 这 一 种 特 点 ;
同 时 在 原 始 法 律 学 中 , 一 切 东 西 都 依 赖 着 继 承 的 延 续 。 除 非
在 遗 嘱 中 规 定 着 遗 嘱 人 的 权 利 和 义 务 应 该 立 即 移 转 给 “ 继 承
人 ” 或 “ 共 同 继 承 人 ” , 遗 命 就 丧 失 其 效 力 。
在 近 代 遗 嘱 法 律 学 中 , 象 在 后 期 罗 马 法 中 一 样 , 最 重 要
的 目 的 是 在 执 行 遗 嘱 人 的 意 志 。 象 古 罗 马 法 律 中 , 相 应 关 心
的 主 题 是 “ 概 括 继 承 ” 的 授 与 。 在 这 些 规 定 中 , 有 一 些 在 我
们 看 来 是 一 种 来 自 常 识 的 原 则 , 但 另 外 一 些 则 看 上 去 很 象 是
一 个 无 谓 的 幻 想 。 不 过 如 果 没 有 其 中 第 二 类 的 规 定 , 则 第 一类 的 规 定 便 将 无 从 产 生 , 这 是 任 何 这 一 类 的 命 题 所 必 然如此的 。
为 了 要 解 决 这 显 然 的 矛 盾 , 并 使 我 想 说 明 的 一 系 列 观 念
更 为 清 楚 起 见 , 我 必 须 借 用 前 一 章 开 始 部 分 中 所 作 研 究 的 结
果 。 我 们 在 社 会 的 幼 年 时 代 中 , 发 现 有 这 样 一 个 永 远 显 著 的
特 点 。 人 们 不 是 被 视 为 一 个 个 人 而 是 始 终 被 视 为 一 个 特 定 团
体 的 成 员 。 每 一 个 人 首 先 是 一 个 公 民 , 然 后 , 既 是 一 个 公 民 ,
他 必 是 阶 级 中 的 一 个 成 员 — — 属 于 一 个 贵 族 阶 级 的 成 员 或 是
属 于 一 个 平 民 阶 级 的 成 员 ; 或 是 , 在 有 一 些 社 会 中 , 由 于 时
运 不 佳 而 在 其 发 展 的 过 程 中 遭 受 到 了 特 殊 的 逆 转 , 他 就 成 了
一 个 族 籍 的 成 员 。 其 次 , 他 是 一 个 氏 族 、 大 氏 族 或 部 族 的 成员 ; 最 后 , 他 是 一 个家族 的 成 员 。 这 最 后 的 一 类 是 他 所 处 身的 最 狭 小 的 最 个 人 的 关 系 ; 这 看 上 去 好 象 是 矛 盾 的 , 但 他 绝不把他自己 看 成 为 一 个 各 别 的 个 人 。 他 的 个 性 为 其 家 族 所 吞没 了 。 我 重 复 一 遍 前 面 已 经 说 过 的 对 于 一 个 原 始 社 会 的 定 义 。作 为 社 会 的 单 位 的 , 不 是 个 人 , 而 是 由 真 实 的 或 拟 制 的 血 族关 系 结 合 起 来 的 许 多 人 的 集 团 。
我 们 第 一 次 发 现 有 关 概 括 继 承 的 迹 象 , 正 是 一 个 未 开 化
社 会 的 特 点 之 一 。 原 始 时 代 的 共 和 国 和 一 个 近 代 国 家 的 组 织
不 同 , 在 原 始 时 代 的 共 和 国 中 , 包 括 了 许 多 小 的 专 制 政 府 , 每一 个 政 府 相 互 之 间 各 不 相 关 , 每 一 个 政 府 都 处 于 一 个 唯 一 的
君 主 特 权 的 绝 对 统 治 之 下 。 但 是 , 虽 然 “ 族 长 ” 〔 我 们 在 这 时
候 还 不 应 称 他 为 “ 家 父 ” ( P a t e r f a m i l i a s ) 〕 有 这 样 广 泛 的 权 利 ,
但 我 们 决 不 能 就 认 为 他 负 担 着 同 样 广 大 的 义 务 。 如 果 他 管 理
一 家 , 这 是 为 了 家 族 的 利 益 。 如 果 他 是 所 有 物 的 主 人 , 他 是
作 为 儿 女 和 亲 族 的 受 讬 人 而 持 有 的 。 除 去 由 于 他 统 治 着 小 国
家 的 关 系 而 赋 与 他 的 权 力 和 地 位 以 外 , 他 没 有 任 何 其 他 特 权
或 特 殊 地 位 。 一 个 “ 家 族 ” 在 事 实 上 是 一 个 “ 法 人 ” , 而 他 就
是 它 的 代 表 , 或 者 我 们 甚 至 几 乎 可 以 称 他 为 是 它 的 “ 公 务
员 ” 。 他 享 有 权 利 , 负 担 义 务 , 但 这 些 权 利 和 义 务 在 同 胞 的 期
待 中 和 在 法 律 的 眼 光 中 , 既 作 为 他 自 己 的 权 利 和 义 务 , 也 作
为 集 体 组 织 的 权 利 和 义 务 。 我 们 不 妨 在 这 里 研 究 一 下 , 当 这
样 一 个 代 表 在 死 亡 时 所 可 能 产 生 的 结 果 。 在 法 律 的 眼 光 中 , 根
据 民 事 高 级 官 吏 的 看 法 , 族 长 的 死 亡 是 一 个 全 然 无 关 紧 要 的
事 件 。 因 为 结 果 只 是 代 表 家 族 集 体 组 织 和 对 于 市 政 审 判 权 负
有 主 要 责 任 的 人 , 换 一 个 名 字 而 已 。 所 有 原 来 依 附 于 死 亡 的
族 长 的 种 种 权 利 和 义 务 , 将 毫 无 间 断 地 依 附 于 其 继 承 人 ; 因
为 , 在 事 实 上 , 这 些 权 利 和 义 务 是 家 族 的 权 利 和 义 务 , 而 家
族 则 分 明 具 有 一 个 法 人 的 特 性 — — 它 是 永 生 不 灭 的 。 债 权 人
对 新 的 族 长 象 对 旧 的 族 长 一 样 , 可 以 要 求 同 样 的 补 偿 , 因 为
这 种 责 任 既 然 是 仍 旧 存 在 的 家 族 的 责 任 , 自 将 绝 对 不 变 。 在
族 长 死 亡 后 , 家 族 所 有 的 一 切 权 利 将 和 他 死 亡 前 所 有 的 完 全
相 同 , 除 了 这 法 人 — — 如 果 对 这 样 早 的 时 代 真 能 够 恰 当 地 运
用 这 样 精 确 而 专 门 的 用 语 — — 必 须 用 一 个 略 微 有 变 动 的 名 字
来 ·
依 ·
法 ·
要 ·
求 以 外 。
如 果 我 们 要 了 解 社 会 是 怎 样 逐 渐 地 和 缓 慢 地 分 解 而 成 为
它 现 在 所 由 构 成 的 合 成 原 子 的 — — 是 经 过 了 怎 样 的 不 知 不 觉
的 程 序 才 以 人 和 人 的 关 系 来 代 替 个 人 和 家 族 以 及 家 族 和 家 族
相 互 之 间 的 关 系 的 , 那 我 们 就 得 探 究 法 律 学 历 史 的 全 部 过 程 。
现 在 所 应 注 意 之 点 是 , 纵 使 革 命 已 经 显 然 完 成 , 纵 使 高 级 官
吏 已 经 在 很 大 程 度 上 代 替 了 “ 家 父 ” 的 地 位 , 民 事 法 庭 已 代
替 了 家 族 法 庭 , 但 是 , 司 法 当 局 所 管 理 的 全 部 权 利 和 义 务 仍
旧 受 到 已 经 废 弃 的 特 权 的 影 响 , 并 在 每 一 个 部 分 中 都 带 有 这
些 特 权 的 色 彩 。 因 此 , 毫 无 疑 问 , 被 罗 马 法 律 用 全 力 坚 持 作
为 遗 嘱 或 无 遗 嘱 继 承 首 要 条 件 的 “ 概 括 的 权 利 ” 的 移 转 , 是
一 个 比 较 古 老 的 社 会 的 一 个 特 点 , 这 特 点 是 人 们 的 思 想 无 法
把 它 和 新 社 会 分 离 开 来 的 , 虽 然 它 和 较 新 的 局 面 之 间 是 并 没
有 真 正 的 或 适 当 的 联 系 的 。 一 个 人 在 法 律 上 的 生 存 得 在 其 继
承 人 或 许 多 共 同 继 承 人 身 上 延 长 , 这 在 实 质 上 似 乎 就 等 于 把
·
家 ·
族 的 一 个 特 征 通 过 拟 制 而 移 转 给 ·
个 ·
人 。 法 人 中 的 继 承 必 然
是 概 括 的 , 而 家 族 是 一 个 法 人 。 法 人 永 生 不 灭 。 个 别 成 员 的
死 亡 对 于 集 体 的 总 的 生 存 毫 无 关 系 , 并 且 也 决 不 会 影 响 到 集
体 的 法 律 附 带 、 其 能 力 或 其 责 任 。 这 样 , 在 罗 马 人 所 谓 概 括
继 承 的 这 个 观 念 中 一 个 法 人 所 有 的 这 一 切 性 质 , 似 乎 都 被 移
转 给 个 人 公 民 了 。 他 肉 体 的 死 亡 可 以 丝 毫 不 影 响 他 所 占 有 的
法 律 地 位 , 其 所 根 据 的 原 则 显 然 是 : 他 的 地 位 应 该 尽 可 能 和
一 个 家 族 的 地 位 相 类 似 , 而 一 个 家 族 既 有 着 法 人 的 性 质 , 是
不 会 发 生 肉 体 死 亡 的 。
我 注 意 到 在 大 陆 法 学 家 中 , 对 于 混 杂 于 概 括 继 承 中 的 各
种 概 念 之 间 的 联 系 , 在 理 解 其 性 质 时 , 绝 少 不 感 到 很 大 的 困难 的 , 同 时 在 法 律 学 中 , 一 般 讲 起 来 恐 怕 也 没 有 一 个 主 题 像
他 们 就 这 个 主 题 上 所 作 的 纯 理 论 那 样 缺 少 价 值 。 但 英 国 法 学
者 就 我 们 现 在 正 在 研 究 的 观 念 所 作 的 分 析 , 应 该 不 会 有 错 误
的 危 险 。 在 我 们 自 己 的 制 度 中 有 一 种 为 所 有 法 律 家 都 熟 悉 的
拟 制 , 能 用 来 很 好 地 说 明 它 。 英 国 法 学 家 把 法 人 分 为 “ 集 合
法 人 ” ( C o r p o r a t i o n a g g r e g a t e ) 和 “ 单 一 法 人 ” ( C o r p o r a t i o n s o l e ) 。 一 个 “ 集 合 法 人 ” 是 一 个 真 正 的 法 人 , 但 一 个 “ 单 一 法 人 ” 则 是 一 个 个 人 , 是 一 系 列 的 个 人 中 的 一 个 成 员 , 通 过 拟 制 而 赋 与 一 个 “ 法 人 ” 的 性 质 的 。 例 如 , 国 王 或 一 个 教 区 中 的 教 区 长 就 是 “ 单 一 法 人 ” 的 例 子 。 在 这 里 , 当 考 虑 到
他 的 权 能 或 职 位 时 , 是 和 随 时 可 以 据 有 这 种 权 能 或 这 个 职 位
的 各 别 的 人 不 相 牵 涉 的 , 同 时 , 由 于 这 种 权 能 是 永 久 的 , 因
此 据 有 这 种 权 能 的 一 系 列 的 个 人 便 也 带 着 “ 法 人 ” 所 有 的 主
要 属 性 — — 即 “ 永 久 性 ” 。 在 罗 马 法 的 较 古 理 论 中 , 个 人 之 与
家 族 , 正 和 英 国 法 律 学 的 原 理 中 一 个 “ 单 一 法 人 ” 之 与 “ 集
合 法 人 ” 的 关 系 , 完 全 相 同 。 这 两 种 观 念 的 由 来 和 联 系 是 完
全 相 同 的 。 事 实 上 , 如 果 我 们 认 为 就 罗 马 遗 嘱 法 律 学 而 论 , 每
一 个 个 人 公 民 就 是 一 个 “ 单 一 法 人 ” , 则 我 们 将 不 但 能 充 分 理
解 一 个 继 承 权 的 全 部 概 念 , 并 且 将 能 完 全 掌 握 这 概 念 所 自 来
的 假 定 的 线 索 。 我 们 有 这 样 一 个 格 言 , 国 王 是 一 个 “ 单 一 法
人 ” , 他 永 生 不 灭 。 他 的 权 能 应 立 即 为 其 继 承 人 所 填 补 , 而 统
治 权 的 延 续 也 就 视 为 未 经 中 断 。 对 于 罗 马 人 , 把 死 亡 的 事 实
从 权 利 和 义 务 的 移 转 中 排 除 掉 , 似 乎 也 是 同 样 简 单 和 自 然 的
过 程 。 遗 嘱 人 在 其 继 承 人 或 在 许 多 共 同 继 承 人 中 继 续 生 存 下
去 。 在 法 律 上 , 他 和 他 们 是 同 一 个 人 , 如 果 有 任 何 人 在 其 遗
嘱 处 分 中 违 背 了 把 他 的 实 际 生 存 和 他 的 死 后 生 存 结 合 起 来 的
原 则 , 纵 使 这 种 违 背 仅 仅 是 出 于 推 定 的 , 法 律 也 就 将 认 为 这
个 遗 嘱 有 瑕 疵 而 予 以 排 斥 , 并 把 继 承 权 给 与 其 血 亲 族 , 至 血
亲 族 所 以 能 具 有 符 合 继 承 人 条 件 的 权 能 , 是 由 法 律 本 身 的 规
定 , 而 不 是 由 可 能 会 有 错 误 的 任 何 证 件 所 赋 与 的 。
当 一 个 罗 马 人 在 死 亡 时 没 有 遗 嘱 或 没 有 有 效 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” ,
他 的 卑 亲 属 或 亲 族 就 将 根 据 下 述 亲 等 而 成 为 其 继 承 人 。 继 承
的 人 或 许 多 人 不 仅 仅代表 ·
着 死 亡 者 , 根 据 刚 才 所 谈 到 的 理 论 ,
他 们 并 且 ·
继 ·
续 着 他 的 民 事 生 活 、 他 的 法 律 生 存 。 当 继 承 的 顺
序 是 由 “ 遗 嘱 ” 决 定 时 , 也 可 以 得 到 同 样 的 结 果 , 但 是 死 亡
者 和 其 继 承 人 之 间 有 同 一 性 的 原 理 , 当 然 比 任 何 形 式 的 “ 遗
命 ” 或 任 何 种 遗 嘱 法 律 学 要 古 老 得 多 。 这 里 , 应 该 恰 当 地 提
出 一 个 问 题 , 这 个 问 题 将 因 我 们 对 这 主 题 探 究 得 愈 深 入 而 对
我 们 发 生 愈 大 压 迫 力 — — 如 果 不 是 由 于 和 概 括 继 承 有 关 联 的
这 些 显 著 观 念 , 那 末遗 ·
嘱 是 否 就 根 本 不 会 出 现 了 呢 ? 遗 嘱 法
所 适 用 的 原 则 是 可 以 用 多 种 多 样 的 似 是 而 非 的 哲 学 假 设 来 说
明 的 ; 这 个 原 则 和 现 代 社 会 的 每 一 个 部 分 交 织 着 , 并 且 可 以
用 广 泛 的 一 般 便 宜 来 作 为 辩 护 它 的 根 据 的 。 但 是 在 这 里 , 必
须 再 一 次 地 重 复 我 们 的 警 告 , 即 如 果 以 为 , 目 前 我 们 为 维 护
一 个 现 存 制 度 而 持 有 的 那 些 理 由 , 必 然 地 和 这 个 制 度 产 生 时
所 有 的 情 绪 有 其 共 同 之 处 , 这 是 不 对 的 , 这 种 印 象 是 法 律 学
上 各 种 问 题 发 生 错 误 的 最 大 根 源 。 可 以 断 言 , 在 古 罗 马 “ 继
承 法 ” 中 , 遗 嘱 或 遗 命 这 个 观 念 是 和 一 个 人 死 后 生 存 于 其 继
承 人 人 格 中 的 理 论 , 不 能 分 解 地 纠 缠 在 一 起 的 , 我 甚 至 可 以
说 , 是 混 和 在 一 起 的 。
概 括 继 承 这 个 概 念 虽 然 在 法 律 学 中 已 经 根 深 蒂 固 , 却 并
不 是 为 每 一 种 法 律 的 编 制 者 自 发 地 想 到 的 。 在 可 以 发 现 有 这
种 概 念 的 地 方 , 都 显 示 出 它 是 来 自 罗 马 法 ; 跟 着 它 一 直 传 下
来 的 有 许 多 以 “ 遗 命 ” 和 “ 遗 赠 ” 为 主 题 的 法 律 规 定 , 这 些
规 定 为 现 代 实 务 者 所 应 用 , 竟 完 全 没 有 觉 察 到 它 们 和 其 原 来
理 论 的 关 系 。 但 是 , 在 纯 粹 罗 马 法 律 学 中 , 一 个 人 在 其 继 承
人 身 上 继 续 生 存 的 原 则 — — 如 果 我 们 可 以 这 样 说 , 根 本 消 灭
死 亡 的 事 实 — — 是 遗 嘱 继 承 和 无 遗 嘱 继 承 全 部 法 律 所 环 绕 的
中 心 , 这 是 非 常 明 显 而 不 致 发 生 误 解 的 。 罗 马 法 强 迫 服 从 这
个 有 势 力 的 理 论 , 其 坚 决 严 厉 的 程 度 就 足 以 说 明 , 这 个 理 论
是 由 罗 马 原 始 社 会 组 织 中 生 长 出 来 的 ; 在 这 个 推 定 之 外 , 我
们 并 且 还 有 更 好 的 证 据 。 在 罗 马 最 古 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 制 度 中 恰 巧
有 某 些 术 语 偶 然 地 被 保 存 到 现 在 。 在 该 雅 士 的 著 作 中 , 我 们
看 到 概 括 继 承 所 借 以 创 设 的 授 受 公 式 。 我 们 看 到 古 代 的 名 称 ,
通 过 了 这 个 名 称 , 一 个 后 来 被 称 为 “ 继 承 人 ” 的 人 被 预 先 给
指 定 了 。 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 中 我 们 并 且 还 有 明 白 承 认 “ 遗
命 ” 权 的 著 名 条 款 , 而 规 定 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 的 条 款 也 被 保 存
着 。 所 有 这 一 切 古 代 的 名 言 中 , 都 有 一 个 显 著 的 特 点 。 它 们
一 致 表 示 , 从 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 转 移 给 “ 继 承 人 ” 的 是 ·
家族 , 也 就
是 包 括 在 “ 家 父 权 ” 中 和 由 “ 家 父 权 ” 而 产 生 的 各 种 权 利 和
义 务 的 集 合 体 。 在 所 有 的 三 个 例 子 中 都 完 全 没 有 提 到 物 质 财
产 ; 在 其 余 两 个 例 子 中 , 物 质 财 产 被 明 白 地 称 为 “ 家 族 ” 的
附 属 物 或 附 属 品 。 因 此 , 原 始 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 或 “ 遗 命 ” 是 一 个
手 段 , 或 者 ( 因 为 在 开 始 时 可 能 不 是 成 文 的 ) 是 一 种 程 序 , 而
·
家 ·
族 的 移 转 就 是 根 据 了 这 个 规 定 而 进 行 的 。 这 是 宣 告 谁 有 权来 继 承 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 为 族 长 的 一 种 方 式 。 当 我 们 对 于 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 原 来 目 的 作 出 这 样 的 理 解 , 我 们 也 就 立 即 可 以 看 到 为 什 么
“ 遗 嘱 ” 会 同 古 代 宗 教 和 法 律 最 古 怪 遗 物 之 一 的家祭 ( s a c r a)联 系 在 一 起 。 这 些 ·
家 ·
祭 是 一 种 罗 马 形 式 的 制 度 , 凡 是 没 有 完
全 解 脱 原 始 形 态 的 社 会 都 有 这 种 制 度 。 ·
家 ·
祭 是 用 以 纪 念 家 族
同 胞 之 谊 的 祭 祀 和 礼 仪 , 是 家 族 永 存 的 誓 约 和 见 证 。 不 论 ·
家祭 的 性 质 如 何 — — 所 谓 在 一 切 情 形 中 ·
家 ·
祭 都 是 对 某 些 荒 诞 无
稽 的 祖 先 的 崇 拜 , 不 论 这 话 是 否 真 实 — — 它 们 在 各 处 都 被 用
来 誓 证 家 族 关 系 的 神 圣 性 ; 因 此 每 当 家 族 族 长 本 人 发 生 变 化
危 及 “ 家 族 ” 的 延 续 生 存 时 , ·
家 ·
祭 就 显 得 特 别 重 要 。 因 此 , 在
这 族 统 治 者 死 亡 时 , 人 们 更 常 提 到 ·
家 ·
祭 。 在 印 度 人 中 , 继 承一 个 死 亡 者 财 产 的 权 利 , 是 和 履 行 其 葬 仪 的 责 任 相 辅 而 行 的 。
如 果 葬 仪 没 有 被 按 礼 履 行 或 者 不 是 由 适 当 的 人 来 履 行 , 则 在
死 亡 者 和 在 生 存 者 之 间 不 能 认 为 已 经 建 立 了 任 何 关 系 ; “ 继 承
法 ” 就 不 能 适 用 , 没 有 人 能 继 承 遗 产 。 在 一 个 印 度 人 的 一 生
中 , 似 乎 每 一 椿 大 事 都 和 这 些 祭 仪 有 关 。 如 果 印 度 人 结 婚 了 ,
是 为 了 要 有 子 女 , 在 他 死 亡 后 祭 祀 他 ; 如 果 他 没 有 子 女 , 他
就 有 最 大 的 责 任 从 其 他 家 族 中 收 养 一 个 子 女 , “ 其 目 的 是 在 ” ,
根 据 印 度 博 士 的 说 法 , “ 获 得 葬 饼 、 水 和 庄 严 的 祭 礼 ” 。 西 塞
罗 时 代 罗 马 ·
家 ·
祭 所 保 存 的 范 围 , 也 并 不 小 于 印 度 。 它 包 括 了
“ 继 承 权 ” 和 “ 收 养 ” 。 如 果 对 养 子 原 来 的 家 族 不 举 行 适 当 的
·
家 ·
祭 , 则 不 能 进 行 “ 收 养 ” : 如 果 祭 仪 的 费 用 不 在 各 个 共 同 继
承 人 中 严 格 地 平 均 分 摊 , 则 不 准 根 据 “ 遗 命 ” 来 分 配 一 个
“ 继 承 权 ” 。 我 们 最 后 一 次 看 到 这 ·
家 ·
祭 的 时 代 的 罗 马 法 , 和 现
存 印 度 制 度 之 间 所 存 在 的 差 别 , 是 非 常 有 益 的 。 在 印 度 人 中间 , 法 律 中 的 宗 教 成 分 获 得 了 完 全 的 优 势 。 “ 家 族 ” 祭 祀 成 了
一 切 “ 人 法 ” 和 大 部 分 “ 物 法 ” 的 基 石 。 祭 祀 甚 至 经 过 异 常
的 扩 大 , 因 为 , 在 一 种 常 常 伴 随 着 祭 祀 的 观 念 的 印 象 影 响 之
下 , 认 为 人 类 血 液 是 一 切 祭 品 中 最 可 珍 贵 的 祭 品 , 印 度 人 就
在 原 始 的 家 祭 上 作 了 一 些 补 充 , 认 为 寡 妇 在 丈 夫 的 葬 仪 中 应
该 以 身 殉 葬 , 这 个 实 践 为 印 度 人 继 续 实 行 到 有 史 时 期 , 并 且
在 几 个 印 度 - 欧 罗 巴 人 种 中 亦 都 见 诸 于 传 说 。 在 罗 马 人 方 面
则 恰 恰 与 此 相 反 , 法 律 责 任 和 宗 教 义 务 已 不 再 挽 杂 在 一 起 。 举
行 庄 严 ·
家 ·
祭 的 必 要 性 已 不 再 成 为 民 事 法 律 理 论 的 一 部 分 , 它
们 改 属 “ 教 长 会 ” ( C o l l e g e o f P o n t i f f s ) 的 各 别 管 辖 之 下 。
在 西 塞 罗 给 阿 提 格 斯 ( A t t i c u s ) 的 许 多 信 中 充 满 了 有 关 ·
家 ·
祭
的 提 示 , 使 我 们 深 信 不 疑 ·
家 ·
祭 已 在 “ 继 承 权 ” 上 构 成 了 一 种
难 以 容 忍 的 重 担 ; 但 到 这 个 时 候 , 在 发 展 上 已 经 超 过 了 法 律
从 宗 教 分 离 出 来 的 时 期 , 而 我 们 所 期 待 着 的 是 ·
家 ·
祭 从 后 期 法
律 学 中 全 部 消 失 不 见 。
在 印 度 法 律 中 , 没 有 一 个 所 谓 真 正 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 东 西 。
“ 遗 嘱 ” 所 处 的 地 位 为 “ 收 养 ” 所 占 据 着 。 在 这 里 我 们 可 以 看
到 “ 遗 嘱 权 力 ” 和 “ 收 养 能 力 ” 的 关 系 , 以 及 为 什 么 这 两 者
之 一 的 行 使 都 可 能 引 起 要 履 行 ·
家 ·
祭 的 一 种 特 殊 渴 望 。 “ 遗 嘱 ”
和 “ 收 养 ” 都 威 胁 着 要 歪 曲 “ 家 族 ” 承 袭 的 正 常 进 程 , 但 当
亲 族 之 中 没 有 人 能 继 承 的 时 候 , 它 们 显 然 都 是 避 免 承 袭 的 完
全 中 断 的 手 段 。 在 这 两 者 之 中 , 用 人 为 的 方 法 来 创 设 血 亲 关
系 的 “ 收 养 ” 是 在 大 部 分 古 代 社 会 中 自 发 地 产 生 的 一 种 手 段 。
印 度 人 无 疑 地 在 古 代 的 实 践 上 前 进 了 一 步 , 即 准 许 寡 妇 收 纳
养 子 , 如 果 丈 夫 忽 略 了 这 样 做 ; 只 在 孟 加 拉 的 地 方 习 惯 中 , 隐约 有 一 些 “ 遗 嘱 权 力 ” 的 痕 迹 。 但 是 首 创 这 个 对 人 类 社 会 的
转 化 具 有 巨 大 影 响 ( 仅 次 于 “ 契 约 ” ) 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 制 度 这 一 项
功 劳 , 主 要 应 该 归 属 于 罗 马 人 。 我 们 必 须 注 意 , 切 不 可 以 把
在 晚 近 时 代 它 所 具 有 的 职 能 , 认 为 在 其 最 早 形 态 中 就 已 经 具
备 的 了 。 在 开 始 时 , 它 并 不 是 分 配 死 亡 者 财 产 的 一 种 方 式 , 而
是 把 家 族 代 表 权 移 转 给 一 个 新 族 长 的 许 多 方 法 中 的 一 种 。 无
疑 地 财 产 已 传 给 其 “ 继 承 人 ” , 但 这 些 是 因 为 公 有 财 产 处 分 权
是 随 着 家 族 统 治 权 的 移 转 而 移 转 的 。 我 们 还 没 有 到 达 “ 遗
嘱 ” 史 上 的 这 一 个 阶 段 , 即 “ 遗 嘱 ” 已 成 为 变 更 社 会 的 有 力
工 具 , 即 一 方 面 它 们 刺 激 着 财 产 的 流 转 , 另 一 方 面 它 们 在 财
产 所 有 权 中 产 生 了 可 塑 性 。 甚 至 最 后 期 的 罗 马 法 学 家 , 似 乎
也 没 有 在 实 际 上 把 这 些 后 果 和 “ 遗 嘱 权 力 ” 联 系 起 来 。 在 罗
马 社 会 中 , 从 没 有 把 “ 遗 嘱 ” 视 为 分 离 “ 财 产 ” 和 “ 家 族 ” 的
一 种 手 段 , 或 作 为 创 设 许 多 各 式 各 样 利 益 的 一 种 手 段 , 而 是
作 为 使 一 个 家 族 的 成 员 都 能 得 到 比 在 “ 无 遗 嘱 ” 继 承 规 定 下
所 能 获 得 的 更 好 的 供 应 的 一 种 方 法 。 我 们 可 能 要 发 生 这 样 一
个 疑 问 , 即 当 时 一 个 罗 马 人 对 于 立 遗 嘱 的 实 践 所 有 的 想 法 和
我 们 今 天 所 熟 悉 的 想 法 究 竟 是 不 是 极 端 地 不 同 的 。 把 “ 收
养 ” 和 “ 立 遗 嘱 ” 作 为 延 续 “ 家 族 ” 的 方 式 的 习 惯 , 是 必 然
地 和 罗 马 人 对 于 主 权 继 承 的 看 法 特 别 含 糊 有 关 联 。 我 们 不 能
不 看 到 , 早 期 罗 马 各 个 皇 帝 的 依 次 继 承 在 当 时 是 被 认 为 合 理
地 正 常 的 , 并 且 尽 管 当 时 发 生 了 这 一 切 事 情 , 但 象 狄 奥 多 西
( T h e o d o s i u s ) 或 查 斯 丁 尼 安 这 类 诸 侯 的 自 封 为 凯 撒 和 奥 古 斯多 , 也 并 没 有 被 认 为 是 妄 诞 无 稽 的 。
当 原 始 社 会 的 各 种 现 象 揭 露 以 后 , 十 七 世 纪 法 学 家 认 为可 疑 的 一 个 命 题 , 即 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 比 “ 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 是 更 为
古 老 的 一 个 制 度 , 已 成 为 无 可 争 辩 的 了 。 在 这 个 问 题 解 决 以
后 , 又 发 生 了 另 外 一 个 更 有 趣 的 问 题 , 即 一 个 遗 嘱 的 指 示 究
竟 是 怎 样 和 在 什 么 条 件 下 最 初 被 准 许 用 来 规 定 家 族 权 的 移
转 , 以 及 后 来 又 规 定 财 产 的 死 后 分 配 。 这 个 问 题 的 所 以 难 于
决 定 , 是 因 为 在 古 代 共 产 体 中 “ 遗 嘱 权 力 ” 是 罕 见 的 。 除 了
罗 马 人 之 外 , 其 他 原 始 社 会 究 竟 是 否 知 道 有 真 正 立 遗 嘱 权 力
的 , 还 是 有 疑 问 的 。 它 的 萌 芽 形 式 虽 然 到 处 可 见 , 但 其 中 绝
大 部 分 都 不 能 逃 避 渊 源 来 自 罗 马 的 嫌 疑 。 雅 典 的 遗 嘱 无 疑 是
土 著 的 , 但 我 们 不 久 就 可 以 看 到 , 它 只 是 未 成 熟 的 遗 命 。 至
于 那 些 征 服 罗 马 帝 国 的 各 个 蛮 族 所 传 给 我 们 的 一 些 法 典 中 用
法 律 规 定 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” , 这 些 “ 遗 嘱 ” 几 乎 都 肯 定 是 罗 马 的 。 近
来 最 有 鉴 别 力 的 德 国 批 评 都 注 意 到 这 些 ·
蛮 ·
族 ·
法 ·
律上 来 , 调 查 的 主 要 目 的 , 是 要 在 这 些 制 度 中 把
原 来 本 族 习 惯 所 组 成 的 部 分 从 借 用 罗 马 法 律 的 外 来 要 素 中 分
离 出 来 。 在 进 行 这 项 工 作 的 过 程 中 , 经 常 发 现 一 个 结 果 , 即
在 古 代 法 典 的 核 心 中 并 没 有 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 痕 迹 。 凡 含 有 “ 遗
嘱 ” 的 法 律 , 都 是 来 自 罗 马 法 律 学 的 。 同 样 地 , ( 据 我 被 告
知 ) 希 伯 来 语 的 犹 太 法 所 规 定 的 萌 芽 “ 遗 命 ” , 也 应 该 归 因 于
和 罗 马 人 接 触 。 唯 一 不 属 于 罗 马 或 希 腊 社 会 的 遗 命 形 式 可 以
被 合 理 地 假 定 为 土 著 的 , 是 为 孟 加 拉 省 的 惯 例 所 承 认 的 一 种 ;
而 孟 加 拉 的 遗 命 只 是 一 种 萌 芽 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 。
从 上 述 证 据 似 乎 应 该 得 出 这 样 一 个 结 论 , 即 “ 遗 命 ” 在
最 初 只 是 在 没 有 人 能 根 据 真 正 的 或 人 为 的 血 族 权 利 而 享 有 继
承 时 方 才 有 效 。 因 此 , 当 梭 伦 法 第 一 次 以 “ 遗 命 ” 权 赋 与 雅典 公 民 时 , 他 们 曾 禁 止 剥 夺 直 系 男 性 卑 亲 属 的 继 承 权 。 同 样地 , 孟 加 拉 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 只 有 在 和 家 族 某 种 优 先 权 相 一 致 时 才 被 准 许 适 用 于 某 种 继 承 。 又 , 犹 太 人 的 原 来 制 度 虽 没 有 规 定
“ 立 遗 嘱 ” 的 特 权 , 但 后 来 自 称 为 以遗漏之 ·
件 ( c a s u s o m i s s i ) 补 充 “ 摩 西 法 ” ( M o s a i c L a w ) 的 希 伯 来 语 法 律 学 ,
准 许 在 根 据 摩 西 制 度 规 定 有 继 承 权 的 亲 族 全 部 不 能 继 承 或 全
部 不 能 发 现 时 , 才 能 行 使 “ 立 遗 嘱 ” 权 。 古 日 耳 曼 法 典 借 以
保 卫 与 之 相 结 合 的 遗 嘱 法 律 学 的 一 些 限 制 也 是 很 有 意 义 的 ,
并 且 也 指 向 了 同 一 的 方 向 。 根 据 我 们 所 知 道 的 这 些 日 耳 曼 法
律 , 其 绝 大 部 分 都 有 这 样 一 个 特 点 , 即 在 每 家 所 有 的 ·
自 ·
主 ·
地(a l l o d ) 或 领 地 外 , 法 律 还 承 认 几 种 附 属 的 财 产 , 每 一 种 附 属
财 产 就 都 表 示 着 罗 马 的 原 则 曾 各 别 地 被 注 入 到 原 始 条 顿 惯 例
中 。 原 始 的 日 耳 曼 的 自 主 的 财 产 是 被 严 格 地 保 留 给 其 亲 族 的 。
它 不 但 不 能 用 遗 命 来 处 分 , 并 且 也 不 能 ·
在 ·
生 ·
前 ( i n t e r
v i v o s ) 用 让 与 的 方 式 来 移 转 。 古 日 耳 曼 法 和 印 度 法 律 学 相 同 ,
规 定 男 性 的 子 嗣 与 其 父 亲 是 财 产 共 有 人 , 家 族 赠 与 非 得 全 部
成 员 同 意 , 不 能 执 行 。 但 其 他 各 种 财 产 , 比 自 主 物 发 生 得 较
迟 并 且 也 比 较 不 甚 贵 重 的 , 就 比 较 容 易 移 转 , 并 且 移 转 时 也
按 照 远 为 宽 弛 的 规 定 办 理 。 妇 女 和 女 性 的 后 嗣 也 可 以 继 承 这
种 财 产 , 显 然 是 根 据 这 样 一 个 原 则 , 即 它 们 是 不 包 括 在 宗 亲
的 神 圣 界 限 之 内 的 。 从 罗 马 借 用 的 “ 遗 命 ” , 最 初 被 准 许 适 用
于 、 实 在 也 仅 适 用 于 这 些 最 后 提 到 的 财 产 。
以 上 的 说 明 , 可 用 以 使 我 们 对 古 代 罗 马 “ 遗 嘱 史 ” 中 一
种 确 定 的 事 实 所 作 的 最 可 能 的 解 释 更 为 可 信 。 我 们 根 据 丰 富
的 证 据 , 认 为 在 罗 马 国 家 的 原 始 时 代 , “ 遗 命 ” 是 在 “ 特 别 民会 ” ( C o m i t i a C a l a t a ) 也 即 是 在 “ 贵 族 民 会 ” ( C o m i t i a C u r i a At a ) 或 “ 罗 马 贵 族 市 民 议 会 ” ( P a r l i a m e n t o f t h e P a t r i c i a n B u r g h e r s o f R o m e ) 为 “ 私 事 ” 而 集 会 时 加 以 执 行 的 。 这
种 执 行 的 方 式 , 成 为 民 法 学 家 世 代 相 传 的 一 种 说 法 的 来 源 , 他
们 认 为 在 罗 马 史 的 有 一 个 时 代 中 每 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 都 是 一 个 庄
严 的 立 法 行 为 。 但 我 们 实 在 没 有 必 要 去 仰 仗 一 个 曾 对 古 代 议
会 的 程 序 作 了 非 常 不 精 确 的 说 明 的 解 释 。 有 关 在 “ 特 别 民会 ” 中 执 行 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 故 事 , 其 适 当 的 解 答 无 疑 地 应 求 诸最古 的 罗 马无遗嘱 继 承 法 。 原 始 罗 马 法 律 学 中 规 定 亲 属 相 互 之间 继 承 权 的 准 则 , 在 它 们 还 没 有 受 到 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 “ 告 令 法律 ” 所 变 更 前 , 是 这 样 的 : — — 第 一 , 由正统 ( s u i ) 或 没 有被 解 放 的 直 系 卑 亲 属 继 承 。 在 没 有正统 时 , 由 “ 最 近 的亲 ” 来 代 替 他 , 即 由 过 去 在 或 曾 经 在 死 亡 者 同 一 “ 家 父 权 ”下的 最 亲 近 的 人 或 最 亲 近 的 亲 等 来 代 替 。 再 次 是 三 等 和 最 后 等亲 , 其 中 继 承 权 传 给同族人 , 即 死 亡 者氏族或大氏族中的集体 成 员 。 我 在 前 面 已 经 解 释 过 , “ 大 氏 族 ” 是 家 族 的 一 种 拟 制
的 扩 大 , 凡 是 具 有 同 一 姓 氏 以 及 因 为 有 同 一 姓 氏 而 被 假 定 为
来 自 共 同 始 祖 的 一 切 罗 马 “ 贵 族 ” 公 民 都 包 括 在 内 。 称 为
“ 贵 族 民 会 ” 的 “ 贵 族 议 会 ” 是 完 全 由 “ 氏 族 ” 或 “ 大 氏 族 ”
的 代 表 组 成 的 一 个 “ 立 法 机 关 ” 。 这 是 罗 马 人 民 的 一 个 代 表 会
议 , 根 据 了 国 家 的 组 成 单 位 是 “ 氏 族 ” 的 假 定 而 组 织 的 。 正
由 于 这 样 不 可 避 免 的 推 理 , “ 民 会 ” 的 受 理 “ 遗 嘱 ” 是 与 “ 同
族 人 ” 的 权 利 有 关 的 , 并 且 其 目 的 是 在 保 证 “ 同 族 人 ” 能 行
使 他 们 的 最 后 继 承 权 。 如 果 我 们 假 定 , 只 有 在 遗 嘱 人 没 有 可以 发 现 的同族人 或在同族人 放 弃 权 利 时 才 可 以 立 “ 遗 命 ” , 并假 定 每 一 个 “ 遗 命 ” 应 提 交 给 “ 罗 马 氏 族 大 会 ” ( G e n e r a l A s As e m b l y o f t h e R o m a n G e n t e s ) 以 便 使 那 些 因 遗 嘱 处 分 而 受 到 损 害 的 人 得 在 必 要 时 可 以 提 出 否 决 , 在 大 会 中 通 过 后即 可 推 定 他 们 已 放 弃 其 继 承 权 , 如 果 我 们 这 样 假 定 , 则 全 部
显 然 的 变 例 就 可 以 为 之 扫 除 了 。 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 公 布 的 前
夕 , 这 种 否 决 权 可 能 已 经 大 大 地 缩 小 了 , 或 是 仅 仅 偶 然 地 和
不 经 常 地 行 使 着 。 虽 然 , 要 说 明 把 这 管 辖 权 托 付 给 “ 特 别 民
会 ” 的 意 义 和 渊 源 是 容 易 的 , 但 要 追 溯 其 逐 渐 发 展 或 逐 渐 衰
亡 的 过 程 却 没 有 这 样 容 易 。
但 是 , 所 有 现 代 “ 遗 命 ” 所 自 来 的 “ 遗 命 ” , 并 不 是 在
“ 特 别 民 会 ” 中 执 行 的 “ 遗 命 ” , 而 是 另 外 一 种 与 之 相 竞 争 并
且 终 于 用 来 代 替 它 的 “ 遗 命 ” 。 这 种 早 期 罗 马 “ 遗 命 ” 在 历 史
上 有 其 重 要 性 , 并 且 通 过 了 它 可 以 解 释 清 楚 许 多 古 代 的 思 想 ,因 此 我 认 为 必 须 比 较 详 细 地 加 以 阐 明 。
当 “ 遗 嘱 权 ” 在 法 律 史 上 第 一 次 出 现 时 , 像 几 乎 所 有 伟大 的 各 种 罗 马 制 度 一 样 , 有 迹 象 证 明 它 成 了 “ 贵 族 ” 和 “ 平民 ” 间 争 论 的 题 目 。 当 时 有 一 条 政 治 格 言 , 即 “一个平民不能成为一个大氏族的成员 ” ( P l e b s G e m t e m n o n h a b et),其 结 果 是 把 “ 平 民 ” 完 全 排 斥 在 “ 贵 族 民 会 ” 之 外 。 因 此 ,有些 评 论 家 就 认 为 一 个 “ 平 民 ” 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 是 不 可 能 在 “ 贵 族议 会 ” 中 宣 读 的 , 因 此 一 个 “ 平 民 ” 就 也 完 全 没 有 “ 遗 嘱 ” 之
权 。 其 他 评 论 家 仅 仅 指 出 , 在 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 没 有 代 表 的 一 个 不
友 好 的 议 会 中 , 要 把 一 个 拟 议 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 提 交 它 受 理 是 有 困
难 的 。 不 论 真 正 的 看 法 应 该 如 何 , 一 种 “ 遗 命 ” 被 应 用 了 , 它
具 有 意 图 避 免 某 种 可 厌 恶 义 务 的 一 切 特 点 。 这 种 “ 遗 嘱 ” 是一 种在生 ·
前 的 让 与 , 把 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 家 族 和 财 产 完 全 地 和 不
可 挽 回 地 移 转 给 他 心 意 中 的 继 承 人 。 这 种 移 转 一 定 是 始 终 为
严 格 的 罗 马 法 规 定 所 准 许 的 , 但 是 , 当 这 种 行 为 的 目 的 是 要
在 死 后 发 生 效 力 时 , 就 可 能 发 生 纠 纷 , 因 为 在 没 有 取 得 “ 贵族 议 会 ” 的 正 式 认 可 前 , 它 是 否 能 成 为 有 效 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” , 是 一
个 问 题 。 当 时 在 罗 马 人 民 的 两 个 阶 级 之 间 如 果 在 这 一 点 上 存
在 着 分 歧 意 见 , 那 末 后 来 通 过 伟 大 的 大 宪 官 和 解 时 代 它 就 连同 许 多 其 他 不 平 的 泉 源 给 一 并 消 灭 了 。 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 原 文 还保 存 着 , 它 说法律规定,家父得使用他资产的监护权 ( P a t e r f a m i l i a s u t i d e p e c u n i a J t u t e l a Jv e r e i s u E l e g a Js s i t , i t a j u s e s t o ) — — 这 一 条 法 律 除 了 使 “ 平 民 遗嘱 ” 合 法 化 外 , 不 可 能 有 任 何 其 他 的 目 的 。
学 者 们 都 知 道 , 在 “ 贵 族 议 会 ” 停 止 作 为 罗 马 国 家 的 立法 机 关 又 经 过 了 几 世 纪 后 , 它 仍 旧 为 了 私 事 而 继 续 召 开 正 式集 会 。 因 此 , 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 公 布 后 的 一 个 长 时 期 内 ,我们 有 理 由 相 信 “ 特 别 民 会 ” 仍 旧 为 了 使 “ 遗 命 ” 生 效 而 集 会。把 它 称 为 一 个 “ 登 记 法 院 ” ( C o u r t o f R e g i s t r a t i o n ) , 可 以最 恰 当 地 表 示 出 它 可 能 的 职 能 , 但 是 提 出 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 应 被 理解 为 并 不 真 正 地登入簿据 , 只 是 向 其 成 员 宣 读 , 他 们 应 能 注意 其 要 旨 并 牢 记 于 心 中 。 很 可 能 这 一 种 “ 遗 命 ” 从 来 没 有写成 书 面 , 但 无 论 如 何 , 纵 使 “ 遗 嘱 ” 原 来 是 书 面 的 , “ 民 会 ”
的 职 责 也 只 限 于 听 取 高 声 朗 诵 , 在 这 以 后 文 件 由 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 加以 保 管 , 或 寄 存 于 某 些 宗 教 团 体 妥 为 保 管 。 这 种 公 告 也 许 是在 “ 特 别 民 会 ” 中 执 行 的 “ 遗 命 ” 的 附 带 条 件 之 一 , 这 就 使它 不 为 一 般 人 所 欢 迎 。 在 帝 国 的 初 期 , “ 民 会 ” 仍 旧 召 集 会 议 ,但 这 些 会 议 似 已 徒 具 形 式 , 很 少 或 甚 至 没 有 “ 遗 嘱 ” 会 在 定期 会 议 中 被 提 出 来 。
对 现 代 世 界 文 明 有 深 远 影 响 的 , 是 古 代 的 “ 平 民 遗嘱 ” — — 这 是 上 述 “ 遗 命 ” 的 代 替 物 。 它 在 罗 马 获 得 了 由于要 把 “ 遗 命 ” 提 交 “ 特 别 民 会 ” 而 丧 失 的 一 切 声 望 。 它 所 以有 其 一 切 优 点 , 关 键 在 于 它 是 来 自曼企帕因 ( m a n c i p i u m ) 或 即 古 罗 马 的 让 与 , 我 们 毫 不 踌 躇 地 认 为 这 种 手 续 程 序 是 现 代社 会 如 果 没 有 了 它 们 就 很 难 团 结 在 一 起 的 两 个 伟 大 制 度即“ 契 约 ” 和 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 母 体 。 曼 企 帕 因 或 后 来 在 拉 丁 文 中 所谓“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” , 把 我 们 带 回 到 民 事 社 会 的 萌 芽 时 代 去 。由于它 的 产 生 远 在 书 写 艺 术 发 明 之 前 、 至 少 是 在 书 写 艺 术 广 为 流
行 之 前 , 所 以 手 势 、 象 征 的 行 为 和 庄 严 的 成 语 便 被 用 来 代 替
了 文 件 的 形 式 , 冗 长 的 和 繁 复 的 仪 式 是 为 了 要 使 有 关 各 造 都
能 注 意 到 交 易 的 重 要 性 , 并 使 证 人 们 可 以 因 此 而 获 得 深 刻 的印 象 。 口 头 证 言 不 及 书 面 证 言 完 备 , 因 此 必 须 增 加 的 证 人 和助 手 的 人 数 , 远 超 过 后 来 被 认 为 合 理 或 可 以 理 解 的 范 围 。
罗 马 的 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 首 先 要 求 当 事 人 、 也 就 是 出 卖 人和 买 受 人 到 场 , 如 果 我 们 用 现 代 法 律 术 语 , 应 该 是 让 与 人 和受 让 人 到 场 。 此 外 , 还 应 该 至 少 有五个 证 人 ; 以 及 一 个 例 外人 物 , 即 “ 司 秤 ” ( L i b r i p e n s ) , 他 带 着 一 对 天 平 秤 用 以 权 衡古 罗 马 未 铸 成 钱 币 的 铜 钱 。 我 们 现 在 所 研 究 的 “ 遗 命 ” — —即铜衡式 ( p e r Ee t l i b r a m ) “ 遗 嘱 ” , 这 是 在 术 语 上 这 样 被 长
期 继 续 称 呼 的 — — 就 是 一 个 普 通 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” , 在 形 式 上 甚至 在 用 语 上 都 是 毫 未 变 动 过 的 。 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 是 让 与 人 ; 五 个 证人 和 司 秤 都 到 场 了 ; 受 让 人 的 地 位 由 一 个 在 术 语 上 被 称 为家产买主 ( f a m i l i E e m p t o r ) 的 所 占 有 。 于 是 就 按 照 一 个 普 通“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 的 仪 式 进 行 。 经 过 某 种 正 式 的 手 势 和 言 语 的 宣述 。
家产买主 用 一 块 钱 敲 击 天 平 以 表 示 价 金 的 支 付 , 最 后 ,“ 遗 嘱 人 ” 即 用 所 谓 “ 交 易 宣 告 ” ( N u n c u p a t i o ) 的 一 套 话 语 来批 准 刚 才 所 做 的 , 这 一 套 成 语 在 遗 嘱 法 律 学 中 已 有 了 长 久 的历 史 , 已 为 法 学 家 所 熟 知 。 对 于 称 为 家 产 买 主 的 人 的 性 质 , 必须 特 别 加 以 注 意 。 毫 无 疑 问 , 在 起 初 他 是 “ 继 承 人 ” 本 身 。“ 遗 嘱 人 ” 当 场 把 他 全 部 “ 家 产 ” ( f a m i l i a ) , 也 就 是 他 在 家 族
上 以 及 通 过 家 族 所 享 有 的 一 切 权 利 移 转 给 他 , 包 括 他 的 财 产 、
他 的 奴 隶 以 及 他 的 一 切 祖 传 特 权 , 连 同 他 的 一 切 义 务 和 责 任 。
根 据 上 面 所 说 的 资 料 , 我 们 可 以 发 现 原 始 形 式 的 所 谓
“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 式 “ 遗 命 ” 和 现 代 的 遗 嘱 之 间 是 有 几 个 显 著 的不 同 之 点 的 。 因 为 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 式 “ 遗 命 ” 既 然 相 当 于“ 遗 嘱 人 ” 财 产 的完全的 让 与 , 它 是 不 能撤销的 。 因 为 一 个 权力 在 既 已 消 灭 之 后 , 是 不 能 重 新 行 使 的 了 。
再 则 , 它 不 是 秘 密 的 。 既 然 “ 家 产 买 主 ” 本 身 就 是 “ 继承 人 ” , 他 就 完 全 知 道 他 的 权 利 是 什 么 , 并 且 也 知 道 他 是 不 可
改 变 地 享 有 继 承 权 的 , 即 使 在 秩 序 最 好 的 古 代 社 会 中 也 常 难
免 会 发 生 暴 乱 , 因 此 这 样 的 知 识 便 成 为 极 端 危 险 的 了 。 但 这
种 “ 遗 命 ” 和 “ 让 与 ” 关 系 所 发 生 的 最 可 惊 的 后 果 , 也 许 是
在 把 继 承 权 立 刻 归 属 于 “ 继 承 人 ” 。 多 数 民 法 学 家 都 不 相 信 这
一 点 , 他 们 认 为 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 财 产 的 归 属 是 以 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 死 亡
为 条 件 的 , 或 要 在 一 个 不 可 确 定 的 时 候 , 即 让 与 人 死 亡 的 时
候 才 能 让 与 给 他 。 但 是 一 直 到 罗 马 法 律 学 的 最 后 时 期 , 有 一
类 的 交 易 是 绝 对 不 允 许 用 一 个 条 件 来 直 接 变 更 它 , 或 用 一 定时 限 来 限 制 它 , 或 用 一 定 时 限 来 起 算 的 。 用 术 语 来 讲 , 就 是不 准 许 附 有条件 ( c o n d i t i o ) 或日期 ( d i e s ) 的 。 “ 曼 企 帕 地荷 ” 是 其 中 的 一 种 , 因 此 , 虽 然 看 起 来 很 奇 怪 , 但 我 们 还 是
不 得 不 得 出 这 样 一 个 结 论 , 即 原 始 罗 马 “ 遗 嘱 ” 是 立 即 生 效
的 , 即 使 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 在 其 “ 立 遗 嘱 ” 行 为 后 仍 旧 生 存 , 也 是
如 此 。 很 可 能 , 罗 马 公 民 原 来 只 在 临 死 的 时 候 订 立 “ 遗 嘱 ” ,
而 一 个 少 壮 的 人 为 了 “ 家 族 ” 延 续 而 预 作 准 备 时 就 往 往 宁 可
采 取 “ 收 养 ” 而 不 采 取 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 形 式 。 我 们 仍 旧 应 该 相 信 ,
如 果 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 竟 然 恢 复 健 康 , 他 只 能 在 其 “ 继 承 人 ” 的 容
许 之 下 继 续 管 理 其 家 族 。
这 些 不 方 便 处 如 何 补 救 , 以 及 为 什 么 “ 遗 命 ” 会 具 有 现
在 普 遍 地 认 为 和 它 有 关 联 的 各 种 特 点 , 我 在 进 行 解 释 之 前 , 首
先 应 该 说 明 二 三 个 问 题 。 “ 遗 命 ” 并 非 必 须 是 书 面 的 : 在 起 初 ,
“ 遗 命 ” 似 乎 一 成 不 变 地 是 口 头 的 , 并 且 , 即 使 在 较 后 时 期 ,
宣 布 遗 赠 的 证 书 也 只 是 偶 然 地 和 “ 遗 嘱 ” 联 系 在 一 起 而 并 不
是 它 的 主 要 组 成 部 分 。 它 对 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 关 系 , 事 实 上 正 和 旧
英 国 法 律 中 允 许 使 用 的 证 书 对 罚 金 和 回 复 的 关 系 , 或 “ 封 土
授 与 状 ” 对 封 土 授 与 的 关 系 相 同 。 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 之 前 , 书
面 绝 少 用 处 , 因 为 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 无 权 以 其 遗 产 遗 赠 给 任 何 人 , 能
从 一 个 遗 嘱 中 获 得 利 益 的 唯 一 的 人 们 是 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 共 同
继 承 人 ” 。 但 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 中 条 文 的 极 端 一 般 性 不 久 产 生 了
这 样 一 条 教 义 , 即 不 论 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 对 他 加 上 任 何 指 示 , “ 继 承
人 ” 必 须 接 受 继 承 权 , 换 言 之 , 必 须 接 受 作 出 遗 赠 限 制 的 继
承 权 。 书 面 的 遗 嘱 证 件 于 是 取 得 了 一 种 新 的 价 值 , 即 可 以 用
来 作 为 防 止 继 承 人 诈 欺 地 拒 绝 满 足 受 遗 赠 人 的 一 种 保 证 ; 但到 最 后 , “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 还 是 可 以 任 意 决 定 专 靠 证 人 的 证 言 , 并 用口 头 宣 告家产买主 必 须 支 付 的 各 个 遗 赠 。
所 谓家产买主 这 个 名 词 , 须 要 注 意 。 “ 买 主 ” 表 示 “ 遗嘱 ” 可 以 说 是 一 种 买 卖 , 而 “ 家 产 ” 这 个 词 , 和 “ 十 二 铜 表法 ” 遗 嘱 条 款 中 的 用 语 相 比 较 时 , 可 以 使 我 们 获 得 有 启 发 性的 结 论 。 “ 家 产 ” 在 古 典 拉 丁 文 中 , 意 思 始 终 是 指 一 个 人 的 奴隶 。 但 在 这 里 , 以 及 一 般 地 在 古 罗 马 法 的 用 语 中 , 它 包 括 了在 他 “ 家 父 权 ” 之 下 的 一 切 人 , 至 于 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 物 质 财 产或 资 产 , 则 视 为 家 族 的 附 属 物 而 移 转 。 试 再 回 顾 一 下 “ 十 二铜 表 法 ” , 可 以 看 到 它 谈 到 了 “他资产的监护权 ” ( t u t e l a r e isu E) , 这 一 种 说 法 正 和 刚 才 所 研 究 的 成 语 意 义 相 反 。 因 此我 们 就 无 法 避 免 这 样 一 个 结 论 , 即 甚 至 在 比 较 近 的 大 宪 官 和解 时 代 , 表 示 “ 家 庭 ” 和 “ 财 产 ” 的 两 个 名 词 在 日 常 用 语 中是 混 淆 不 清 的 。 如 果 把 一 个 人 的 “ 家 庭 ” 认 为 是 他 的 财 产 , 我们 就 不 妨 把 这 个 用 语 解 释 为 指 “ 家 父 权 ” 的 范 围 , 但 是 , 由于 这 两 个 名 词 是 可 以 相 互 交 换 的 , 我 们 必 须 承 认 , 这 样 的 说法 把 我 们 带 回 到 了 原 始 时 代 , 当 时 财 产 是 由 家 族 所 有 , 而 家族 则 为 公 民 所 管 理 , 因 此 社 会 的 成 员 并 不 有 其 财 产和 其 家 族 ,而是通过 其 家 族 而 有 其 财 产 的 。
在 一 个 不 容 易 明 确 决 定 的 时 期 , 罗 马 “ 裁 判 官 ” 在 处 理“ 遗 命 ” 时 , 习 惯 于 按 照 法 律 的 精 神 而 不 是 法 律 的 文 字 来 举 行仪 式 。 不 定 期 处 分 在 不 知 不 觉 中 成 为 成 规 定 例 , 直 到 最 后 , 一
种 完 全 新 形 式 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 成 熟 了 , 并 且 和 “ 告 令 法 律 学 ” 正
规 地 啣 接 在 一 起 。 新 的 或 是裁判官 的 “ 遗 命 ” 从 ·
大 ·
官 ·
法 ( J u s H o n o r a r i u m ) 或 罗 马 的 衡 平 法 取 得 其 全 部 的 稳 固 性 。 某 年的 “ 裁 判 官 ” 一 定 曾 在 其 就 任 的 “ 布 告 ” 中 列 入 了 一 个 条 款 ,
说 明 他 决 意 支 持 通 过 某 种 仪 式 而 执 行 的 一 切 “ 遗 命 ” ; 这 种 改
革 在 被 发 现 为 有 利 的 以 后 , 其 有 关 条 款 便 被 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 继
承 者 重 新 引 用 , 并 再 为 其 后 任 重 复 采 用 , 直 到 最 后 由 于 这 样
地 被 继 续 编 入 而 被 称 为 “ 常 续 ” 或 “ 永 续 告 令 ” ( C o n t i n u o u s E d i c t ) 这 一 部 分 法 律 学 的 一 个 公 认 部 分 。 研 究 一 下 一 个有效 “ 裁 判 官 遗 嘱 ” 的 条 件 , 显 然 可 以 看 到 这 些 条 件 决 定 于“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 命 ” 的 要 求 , 革 新 的 “ 裁 判 官 ” 显 然 只 在 旧 有的 手 续 能 保 证 真 实 或 防 止 诈 欺 时 才 加 以 保 留 。 当 “ 曼 企 帕地荷 遗 命 ” 执 行 时 , 在 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 旁 边 有 七 个 人 到 场 。 因 此“ 裁 判 官 遗 嘱 ” 必 须 有 七 个 证 人 : 其 中 两 个 相 当 于司秤和家产买主 , 他 们 不 是 作 为 象 征 的 性 质 , 他 们 到 场 的 唯 一 目 的 是为了 提 供 证 言 。 这 时 不 再 举 行 象 征 的 仪 式 ; 只 是 把 “ 遗 嘱 ”诵读 一 遍 ; 但 是 为 了 要 永 保 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 处 分 的 证 据 起 见 , 很 可能 ( 虽 然 不 能 绝 对 地 肯 定 ) 必 须 有 一 书 面 的 证 件 。 无 论 如 何 ,每 当 一 个 书 面 提 出 诵 读 或 被 提 供 为 一 个 人 的 最 后 “ 遗 嘱 ” 时,我 们 确 切 地 知 道 , 除 非 七 个 证 人 中 的 每 一 个 人 分 别 在 外 面 加盖 其 印 章 , “ 裁 判 官 法 院 ” 是 不 会 用 特 别 干 涉 来 支 持 它 的。这是 在 法 律 学 史 上 第 一 次 看 到盖印 , 作 为 立 证 的 方 式 。 必 须 注意 , 罗 马 “ 遗 嘱 ” 以 及 其 他 重 要 文 件 上 的 印 章 并 非 仅 仅 作 为签 证 者 到 场 或 同 意 的 标 志 , 而 是 的 的 确 确 的 一 种 封 签 , 在 可以 阅 读 文 件 前 必 须 加 以 启 开 的 。
因 此 “ 告 令 法 律 ” 所 强 行 的 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 处 分 , 只要 经 过 七 个 证 人 的 封 签 证 明 , 不 一 定 要 经 过 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 的形 式 。 但 我 们 可 以 作 出 这 样 一 个 一 般 性 的 命 题 , 即 罗 马 财 产的 主 要 性 质 , 除 非 通 过 假 定 为 和 “ 市 民 法 ” 同 源 的 各 种 程 序以 外 , 是 不 能 传 授 的 。 因 此 , “ 裁 判 官 ” 不 能 把 一 个继承权授与 任 何 人 。 他 不 能 把 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 共 同 继 承 人 ” 放 在 “ 遗嘱 人 ” 本 身 和 他 自 己 的 权 利 义 务 所 有 的 同 样 关 系 中 。 他 所 能做 到 的 , 是 使 被 称 为 “ 继 承 人 ” 的 人 对 遗 赠 财 产 有 实 际 的 享有 权 , 并 对 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 债 务 有 清 偿 的 力 量 。 当 “ 裁 判 官 ” 为这 些 目 的 而 行 使 其 权 力 时 , 在 术 语 上 他 被 称 为 传 授遗产占有( B o n o r u m P o s s e s s i o ) 。 这 种 情 况 下 的 “ 继 承 人 ” 或遗产占有者 , 能 享 有 “ 市 民 法 ” 上 “ 继 承 人 ” 所 能 享 有 的 一 切 财 产 所有 权 。 他 取 得 财 产 利 益 并 能 以 之 移 转 , 然 而 , 在 申 请 损 害 赔偿 时 , 他 不 应 如 我 们 所 说 的 , 求 诸 “ 普 通 法 ” 而 应 求 诸 “ 裁判 官 法 院 ” 的 “ 衡 平 法 ” 。 如 果 我 们 说 他 拥 有 在 继 承 权 中 的 一种衡平 的 财 产 , 可 能 不 致 发 生 大 错 ; 但 是 , 为 了 使 我 们 不 致为 这 样 的 类 比 所 迷 惑 , 我 们 必 须 始 终 记 着 , 在 有 一 年 中,遗产占有 是 根 据 所 谓 “ 时 效 取 得 ” ( U s u c a p i o n ) 的 一 条 罗 马 法 原则 而 产 生 效 果 的 , “ 占 有 者 ” 就 成 为 包 括 在 继 承 权 中 的 一切 财产 的 一 个 “ 公 民 ” 所 有 人 。我 们 对 古 代 的 “ 民 事 诉 讼 ” ( C i v i l P r o c e s s ) 法 所 知 道 的太 少 了 , 不 能 对 “ 裁 判 官 法 院 ” 所 提 供 的 各 式 救 济 方 法 之间的 利 弊 一 一 加 以 比 较 。 但 可 以 断 言 , 虽 然 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷遗命 ” 有 许 多 缺 点 , 但 通 过 它 而 立 即 全 部 把概括的权利 加 以 移转 的 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 命 ” , 却 从 没 有 完 全 为 这 新 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 所
代 替 ; 在 一 个 不 拘 泥 于 古 代 形 式 或 者 这 些 古 代 形 式 并 不 十 分
被 重 视 的 时 期 , 法 学 专 家 的 所 有 机 智 便 都 被 耗 费 于 改 进 这 种
比 较 神 圣 庄 严 的 工 具 。 在 该 雅 士 时 代 , 也 就 是 安 托 宁 · 凯 撒时 代 ; “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 命 ” 的 大 缺 点 都 已 消 除 。 原 来 , 正 如 我
们 已 经 看 到 过 的 那 样 , 对 手 续 程 序 的 主 要 性 质 的 要 求 , 是
“ 继 承 人 ” 本 身 必 须 是 “ 家 产 买 主 ” , 其 结 果 是 : 他 不 但 立 即
在 “ 遗 嘱 人 的 财 产 ” 中 取 得 一 种 既 得 利 益 , 并 且 被 正 式 告 知他 的 权 利 。 但 是 到 了 该 雅 士 时 期 , 就 准 许 可 由 一 些 不 相 关 的人 来 担 任 “ 家 产 买 主 ” 。 因 此 继 承 人 就 不 一 定 会 被 告 知 他 的 预定 继 承 ; 从 此 以 后 , “ 遗 嘱 ” 就 取 得 了秘密 的 特 性 。 用 一 个 陌生 人 作 为 “ 家 产 买 主 ” 以 代 替 真 正 的 “ 继 承 人 ” , 还 有 其 他 的种 种 后 果 。 在 它 一 经 合 法 化 后 , 一 个 罗 马 “ 遗 命 ” 就 包 括 了两 个 部 分 或 阶 段 — — 一 个 是 让 与 , 这 是 一 种 纯 粹 的 形 式 , 还有 一 个 是 “ 宣 告 ” 。 在 这 程 序 的 后 半 过 程 中 , “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 或 者口 头 向 其 助 手 宣 布 在 他 死 亡 后 应 该 执 行 的 愿 望 , 或 者 提 出 一个 书 面 文 件 , 其 中 包 含 有 他 的 愿 望 。 可 能 要 直 到 注 意 力 已 不再 集 中 于 这 想 象 的 ” 让 与 ” 而 集 中 于 “ 宣 告 ” , 并 把 它 作 为 交易 的 重 要 部 分 时 , “ 遗 嘱 ” 才 被 准 许 成 为可以撤销的 。
这 样 , 我 已 从 法 律 史 上 把 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 系 统 作 了 一 番 考 察 。它 的 根 源 , 就 是 建 筑 在 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 或 “ 让 与 ” 上 的 古“ 铜 衡 式 ” 遗 命 。 但 这 个 古 “ 遗 嘱 ” 有 多 种 缺 点 , 这 些 缺 点 已经 , 虽 然 只 是 间 接 的 , 为 裁 判 官 法 所 补 救 了 。 同 时 , 法 学 专家 们 的 机 智 , 在 “ 普 通 法 遗 嘱 ” 或 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 命 ” 中 , 实现 了 那 些 裁 判 官 可 能 会 同 时 在 “ 衡 平 法 ” 中 达 到 的 各 种 改 进 。但 这 些 最 后 的 改 良 , 完 全 依 靠 了 法 律 上 的 机 巧 , 因 此 我 们 看到 该 雅 士 或 是 阿 尔 比 安 时 代 的 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 只 是 过 渡 性 质 的 。 以后 接 着 发 生 些 什 么 变 化 , 我 们 不 知 道 ; 但 最 后 , 刚 在 查 斯 丁尼 安 法 律 学 复 兴 之 前 , 我 们 发 现 东 罗 马 帝 国 的 人 民 应 用 着 一种 “ 遗 嘱 ” , 它 一 方 面 可 以 追 溯 到 “ 裁 判 官 遗 嘱 ” , 而 另 一 方面 可 以 追 溯 到 “ 铜 衡 式 ” 遗 命 。 像 “ 裁 判 官 遗 命 ” 一 样 , 它不 需 要 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” , 并 且 除 非 有 七 个 证 人 的 封 签 不 生 效 力 。
但 又 象 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 嘱 ” 一 样 , 它 所 移 转 的 是 继 承 权 , 不仅 仅 是 一 个遗产占有 。 但 它 最 重 要 特 点 中 有 几 点 是 由 现 实 法规 所 规 定 的 , 并 且 正 是 由 于 它 有 三 重 来 源 , 即 “ 裁 判 官 告令 ” 、 “ 市 民 法 ” 以 及 “ 帝 国 宪 令 ” , 因 此 查 斯 丁 尼 安 就 称 他 自己 时 代 的 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 为三重法 。 这 种 新 的“遗命 ” 就 是 一 般 人 所 说 的 “ 罗 马 遗 嘱 ” 。 但 这 只 是 东 罗 马 帝国 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” ; 根 据 萨 维 尼 的 研 究 , 显 示 出 在 西 罗 马 帝 国,直到 中 世 纪 , 旧 的 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 遗 命 ” 连 同 让 与 、 铜 和 天平 等工 具 , 仍 旧 被 继 续 使 用 着 。
第七章 古今有关遗嘱与继 承的各种思想
虽 然 现 代 欧 洲 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 中 有 许 多 地 方 和 过 去 人 类 所 实 行 的
最 古 的 遗 嘱 处 分 有 着 密 切 的 联 系 , 但 在 “ 遗 嘱 ” 和 “ 继 承 ” 这
个 主 题 上 , 古 代 和 现 代 思 想 观 念 确 实 存 在 着 重 要 的 分 歧 。 这
一 些 分 歧 点 , 我 将 在 本 章 中 详 细 加 以 说 明 。
在 距 离 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 时 代 几 世 纪 以 后 的 一 个 时 期 中 , 我
们 发 现 在 “ 罗 马 市 民 法 ” 上 增 加 了 许 多 规 定 , 其 目 的 是 在 限
制 剥 夺 子 女 的 继 承 权 ; 我 们 看 到 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 审 判 权 亦 积 极
地 执 行 这 一 项 利 益 ; 我 们 在 那 时 候 发 现 有 一 种 新 的 救 济 方 法 ,
在 性 质 上 是 非 常 例 外 的 , 而 其 来 源 也 是 不 确 定 的 , 这 种 救 济
方 法 称 为 “ 遗 嘱 违 反 伦 道 之 诉 ” ( Q u e r e l a I n o f f i c i o s i T e s t a Am e n t i ) , 目 的 是 使 亲 子 恢 复 为 其 父 的 “ 遗 命 ” 所 不 公 正 地 拒 绝
的 继 承 利 益 。 有 的 著 者 在 把 这 个 法 律 规 定 和 承 认 订 立 “ 遗
嘱 ” 的 绝 对 自 由 的 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 原 文 相 比 较 时 , 他 们 想 把
大 量 戏 剧 性 的 偶 然 事 件 混 入 他 们 的 “ 遗 嘱 法 律 ” 史 中 。 他 们
谈 到 族 长 立 刻 毫 无 限 制 地 任 意 剥 夺 子 女 的 继 承 权 , 谈 到 这 种
新 的 实 践 对 公 共 道 德 所 造 成 的 侮 辱 和 损 害 , 更 谈 到 一 切 善 良
人 们 对 “ 裁 判 官 ” 阻 止 父 权 堕 落 进 一 步 发 展 而 作 的 勇 敢 行 为
加 以 赞 美 。 这 些 故 事 就 其 所 叙 述 的 主 要 事 实 而 论 , 并 不 是 完
全 毫 无 根 据 的 , 但 反 映 出 对 于 法 律 史 上 的 各 项 原 则 是 有 严 重的 误 解 的 。 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 的 法 律 应 该 根 据 它 制 定 时 代 的 特 性
来 加 以 解 释 。 它 不 可 能 有 一 种 在 较 后 时 代 认 为 它 必 须 加 以 反
对 的 倾 向 , 它 只 根 据 这 样 一 个 假 定 继 续 前 进 , 即 不 认 为 这 种
倾 向 是 存 在 的 , 或 者 我 们 可 以 说 , 根 本 不 考 虑 到 有 这 种 倾 向
存 在 的 可 能 。 罗 马 公 民 很 少 可 能 会 立 刻 开 始 自 由 地 运 用 这 剥
夺 继 承 权 的 权 力 。 我 们 知 道 , 在 当 时 , 家 族 奴 役 的 羁 绊 是 在
最 残 酷 地 压 迫 着 , 但 人 们 仍 旧 忍 受 着 , 在 这 种 情 况 下 , 如 果
以 为 在 我 们 自 己 时 代 不 受 欢 迎 的 某 些 负 担 , 在 那 时 竟 然 能 够
解 脱 , 这 是 违 背 了 一 切 理 性 和 违 背 了 对 于 历 史 的 合 理 理 解 的 。
“ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 准 许 执 行 “ 遗 命 ” , 只 限 于 它 认 为 遗 嘱 可 能 被
执 行 的 情 况 下 , 也 就 是 说 , 只 限 于 没 有 子 嗣 和 近 亲 的 时 候 。 它
并 不 禁 止 剥 夺 直 系 卑 亲 属 的 继 承 权 , 因 为 这 种 偶 然 事 件 是 当
时 罗 马 立 法 者 所 不 可 能 预 见 到 的 , 因 此 也 就 无 从 在 立 法 中 用
明 文 加 以 规 定 。 毫 无 疑 义 , 当 家 族 情 谊 逐 渐 丧 失 了 它 原 来 所
具 有 的 个 人 义 务 的 面 貌 时 , 就 偶 然 发 生 了 剥 夺 子 女 继 承 权 的
事 件 , 但 “ 裁 判 官 ” 的 干 预 却 并 不 是 由 于 这 种 恶 习 的 普 遍 发
生 , 而 在 最 初 时 无 疑 地 是 由 于 下 述 原 因 的 推 动 , 即 因 为 这 类
不 自 然 的 任 意 行 动 事 例 在 当 时 是 很 少 而 且 是 例 外 的 , 并 且 也
是 和 当 时 的 道 德 观 念 相 抵 触 的 。
由 这 一 部 分 罗 马 “ 遗 嘱 法 ” 所 提 供 的 迹 象 在 性 质 上 是 完
全 不 同 的 。 可 注 意 的 是 , 罗 马 人 从 没 有 把 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 用 作
·
剥 ·
夺 一 个 “ 家 族 ” 的 继 承 权 的 一 种 手 段 , 或 用 作 造 成 一 项 遗
产 的 不 公 平 分 配 的 一 种 手 段 。 阻 止 它 转 向 这 一 方 面 的 法 律 规
定 , 随 着 这 部 分 法 律 学 的 逐 渐 发 展 而 不 断 增 加 其 数 量 和 严 密
程 度 ; 这 些 规 定 无 疑 地 是 和 罗 马 社 会 一 贯 的 情 绪 相 符 合 的 , 并不 完 全 是 由 于 个 人 感 情 的 偶 然 变 动 。 遗 嘱 权 的 主 要 价 值 似 乎
是 在 它 的 能 够 帮 助 一 个 “ 家 族 ” ·
作 ·
好 ·
豫 ·
备 , 并 在 分 配 继 承 财
产 中 能 比 较 按 照 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 法 ” 分 配 得 更 加 公 平 不 偏 。 如
果 一 般 的 情 绪 确 是 这 样 , 它 在 某 种 程 度 上 说 明 了 始 终 成 为 罗
马 人 的 特 点 : 即 对 于 “ 无 遗 嘱 ” 而 死 亡 感 到 特 殊 的 恐 怖 。 丧
失 遗 嘱 特 权 似 乎 被 认 为 是 比 任 何 灾 害 更 沉 重 的 一 种 天 罚 ; 咒
诅 一 个 敌 人 , 说 他 要 死 而 无 “ 遗 嘱 ” 要 比 任 何 咒 诅 都 更 苛 酷 。
在 我 们 今 日 所 存 在 的 各 种 意 见 中 , 没 有 这 种 类 似 的 感 情 , 或
是 很 不 容 易 发 现 有 这 种 感 情 。 所 有 各 个 时 代 的 一 切 人 无 疑 地
都 宁 愿 能 筹 划 其 所 有 物 的 归 宿 , 并 由 法 律 来 为 他 们 执 行 这 个
任 务 ; 但 是 罗 马 人 对 于 “ 有 遗 嘱 而 死 亡 ” 的 感 情 , 从 其 强 度
来 讲 , 并 不 仅 仅 是 出 于 放 任 随 便 的 愿 望 ; 当 然 , 它 和 家 族 骄
傲 更 无 共 同 之 处 , 因 为 家 族 骄 傲 全 然 是 封 建 制 度 的 产 物 , 它
把 一 种 财 产 积 累 在 一 个 独 一 的 代 表 人 手 中 。 也 许 是 ·
先 ·
天 ·
的 由
于 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 中 的 某 些 规 定 , 造 成 这 种 强 烈 地 宁 愿 用
“ 遗 嘱 ” 分 配 财 产 而 不 愿 根 据 法 律 规 定 而 分 配 。 但 是 , 困 难 是
在 于 , 当 我 们 看 到 罗 马 的 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 法 律 , 还 是 处 在 查
斯 丁 尼 安 把 它 制 成 为 现 代 立 法 者 几 乎 普 遍 采 用 的 继 承 顺 序 以
前 几 个 世 纪 中 一 直 具 有 的 那 种 形 式 中 时 , 它 完 全 没 有 给 人 以
显 著 不 合 理 或 不 平 衡 的 印 象 。 相 反 的 , 它 所 规 定 的 分 配 方 法
非 常 公 平 合 理 , 并 且 和 现 代 社 会 一 般 认 为 满 意 的 分 配 方 法 很
少 不 同 之 处 , 因 此 , 我 们 实 没 有 理 由 说 明 为 什 么 会 这 样 地 非
常 不 受 欢 迎 , 特 别 是 在 这 样 一 种 法 律 学 中 , 它 把 有 子 女 要 扶
养 的 人 的 遗 嘱 权 削 减 到 一 个 狭 小 的 范 围 内 。 我 们 可 以 预 期 的 ,
象 在 现 在 的 法 兰 西 那 样 , 族 长 都 一 般 地 不 愿 意 自 找 麻 烦 执 行一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” , 他 宁 愿 让 其 财 产 听 任 “ 法 律 ” 处 理 。 但 是 , 我
以 为 如 果 我 们 比 较 仔 细 地 研 究 一 下 查 斯 丁 尼 安 以 前 的 “ 无 遗
嘱 继 承 ” 标 准 , 我 们 就 能 发 现 打 开 秘 密 的 关 键 。 这 个 法 律 的
结 构 包 括 两 个 不 同 的 部 分 。 一 部 分 的 规 定 来 自 “ 市 民 法 ” , 这
是 罗 马 的 “ 普 通 法 ” ; 另 一 部 分 则 来 自 “ 裁 判 官 告 令 ” 。 我 在
其 他 场 合 已 经 提 到 过 了 , “ 市 民 法 ” 规 定 有 权 继 承 的 继 承 人 按
顺 序 有 这 样 三 种 ; 未 解 放 之 子 , 宗 亲 中 的 最 近 亲 等 , 以 及
“ 同 族 人 ” 。 在 这 三 种 顺 序 中 间 , “ 裁 判 官 ” 添 加 了 各 类 的 亲 族 ,
这 些 亲 族 是 “ 市 民 法 ” 所 完 全 不 管 的 。 直 到 最 后 “ 告 令 ” 和
“ 市 民 法 ” 结 合 而 组 成 了 一 张 继 承 顺 序 表 , 它 在 实 质 上 和 传 到
现 代 的 多 数 法 典 中 的 并 没 有 很 大 区 别 。
有 一 点 必 须 注 意 , 在 古 代 一 定 有 这 样 一 个 时 期 , 当 时
“ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 的 顺 序 完 全 由 “ 市 民 法 ” 决 定 “ 告 令 ” 的 安 排
是 完 全 不 存 在 的 , 或 是 不 一 贯 地 执 行 的 。 我 们 毫 不 疑 惑 , “ 裁
判 官 ” 的 法 律 学 在 其 早 年 时 代 , 不 得 不 和 可 怕 的 阻 力 相 竞 争 ,
并 且 更 可 能 的 是 , 在 一 般 情 绪 和 法 律 意 见 默 认 了 它 很 久 以 后 ,
它 定 期 地 介 绍 进 来 的 各 种 变 更 并 不 根 据 于 某 种 确 定 的 原 则 ,
而 是 根 据 了 连 续 任 命 的 各 个 高 级 官 吏 的 不 同 偏 见 而 随 时 变 动
的 。 我 认 为 , 罗 马 人 在 这 个 时 期 中 所 实 行 的 “ 无 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 规
定 , 足 以 说 明 罗 马 社 会 长 时 期 以 来 对 于 一 个 “ 无 遗 嘱 死 亡 ” 所
以 始 终 存 在 着 强 烈 嫌 恶 的 理 由 。 当 时 继 承 的 顺 序 是 这 样 的 : 在
一 个 公 民 死 亡 时 , 如 果 没 有 遗 嘱 或 是 没 有 有 效 的 遗 嘱 , 他 的
“ 未 解 放 ” 之 子 成 为 其 继 承 人 。 他 的 ·
解 ·
放 之 子 不 能 分 享 继 承 权 。
如 果 在 他 死 亡 时 , 没 有 直 系 卑 亲 属 , 就 由 宗 亲 中 最 近 的 亲 等
继 承 , 但 是 通 过 女 性 后 裔 而 和 死 者 结 合 起 来 的 亲 族 ( 不 论 如何 接 近 ) , 都 不 能 享 有 继 承 权 。 家 族 中 所 有 其 他 支 系 都 被 排 斥
在 继 承 权 之 外 , 而 继 承 权 就 应 归 属 于 ·
同 ·
族 ·
人 也 就 是 和 死 者 具
有 同 一 姓 氏 的 全 体 罗 马 公 民 。 因 此 , 如 果 没 有 一 个 有 效 的
“ 遗 命 ” , 在 我 们 所 考 察 的 这 一 个 时 期 中 的 一 个 罗 马 人 就 将 使
其 解 放 之 子 绝 对 得 不 到 什 么 权 利 , 另 一 方 面 , 既 然 假 定 他 在
死 亡 时 没 有 子 嗣 , 则 他 的 宗 族 就 有 完 全 失 去 其 财 产 而 使 财 产
传 诸 于 另 外 一 些 人 的 迫 切 危 险 , 这 些 人 和 他 的 关 系 仅 仅 是 由
于 祭 司 的 拟 制 , 假 定 凡 是 同 族 的 全 部 成 员 都 是 来 自 一 个 共 同
祖 先 。 这 样 一 种 状 态 的 本 身 就 几 乎 足 以 说 明 上 述 一 般 情 绪 的
所 以 发 生 ; 但 在 事 实 上 , 如 果 我 们 忘 记 了 , 我 所 描 述 的 情 况
很 可 能 是 发 生 在 正 当 罗 马 社 会 处 于 从 其 分 散 家 族 的 原 始 组 织
转 变 的 第 一 个 阶 段 时 , 则 我 们 所 理 解 的 仅 及 一 半 而 已 。 把
“ 解 放 ” 承 认 为 一 个 合 法 的 惯 例 , 真 是 针 对 父 权 王 国 的 最 早 的
一 个 打 击 , 但 是 法 律 虽 然 仍 旧 认 为 “ 家 父 权 ” 是 家 族 关 系 的
根 本 , 却 坚 持 把 解 放 之 子 视 作 “ 亲 属 ” 权 外 的 陌 生 人 和 血 缘
外 的 外 人 。 然 而 , 我 们 不 能 就 因 而 认 为 法 律 上 的 炫 学 所 加 于
家 族 上 的 种 种 限 制 会 在 其 父 的 自 然 情 感 上 有 同 样 效 果 。 家 族
忠 诚 一 定 仍 旧 保 留 着 “ 宗 法 ” 制 度 下 的 那 种 近 乎 不 可 思 议 的
神 圣 性 和 强 烈 性 ; 并 且 家 族 忠 诚 很 少 可 能 会 因 为 解 放 行 为 而
消 灭 , 它 的 可 能 性 恰 恰 完 全 相 反 。 可 以 毫 不 踌 躇 地 认 为 当 然
的 , 从 父 权 下 得 到 解 放 不 但 不 是 情 感 的 割 断 , 相 反 的 正 是 情
感 的 表 现 — — 这 是 对 最 最 溺 爱 和 最 最 尊 重 的 子 嗣 给 予 一 种 仁
德 和 宠 爱 的 标 志 。 如 果 在 所 有 子 嗣 中 受 到 这 样 特 别 宠 遇 之 子
会 因 为 “ 无 遗 嘱 死 亡 ” 而 绝 对 地 被 剥 夺 了 继 承 权 , 则 他 的 不
愿 蒙 受 这 种 情 况 是 母 庸 多 加 解 释 而 自 明 的 。 我 们 也 许 可 以 ·
先天地 假 定 , 人 们 的 喜 爱 “ 立 遗 嘱 ” 是 由 于 “ 无 遗 嘱 ” 继 承 规
定 所 造 成 的 某 种 道 德 上 的 不 公 正 而 产 生 的 ; 在 这 里 , 我 们 发
现 这 些 “ 无 遗 嘱 ” 继 承 规 定 是 和 古 代 社 会 借 以 结 合 在 一 起 的
那 种 天 性 不 相 一 致 的 。 我 们 可 以 把 上 面 所 主 张 的 一 切 , 表 现
于 一 简 明 的 形 式 中 。 原 始 罗 马 人 的 每 一 种 占 优 势 的 情 绪 , 都
是 和 家 族 的 各 种 关 系 交 织 在 一 起 的 。 但 什 么 是 “ 家 族 ” ? 法 律
上 有 它 的 定 义 — — 自 然 情 感 上 有 它 另 外 的 一 个 定 义 。 在 这 两
者 之 间 的 冲 突 中 产 生 了 我 们 所 要 加 以 分 析 的 感 情 , 它 热 烈 欢
迎 这 样 一 种 制 度 , 根 据 这 种 制 度 人 们 可 以 根 据 情 感 的 指 示 而
决 定 其 对 象 的 命 运 。
因 此 , 我 认 为 罗 马 人 对 于 “ 无 遗 嘱 死 亡 ” 的 恐 惧 , 说 明
了 在 古 代 有 关 “ 家 族 ” 这 个 主 题 的 法 律 与 古 代 人 对 于 家 族 的
情 感 慢 慢 地 发 生 改 变 这 两 者 之 间 很 早 就 发 生 了 冲 突 。 在 罗 马
“ 制 定 法 ” 中 有 一 些 规 定 ; 特 别 是 有 关 限 制 妇 女 继 承 能 力 的 那
一 个 条 例 , 是 使 这 种 感 情 长 期 存 在 的 主 要 原 因 ; 一 般 人 都 相
信 , 创 设 “ 信 托 遗 赠 ” ( F i d e i - C o m - m i s s a ) 制 度 , 其 目 的 就
是 想 用 以 避 免 这 些 条 例 所 规 定 的 无 能 力 。 但 是 这 种 感 情 本 身
的 惊 人 的 强 烈 程 度 , 似 乎 说 明 了 在 法 律 和 舆 论 之 间 早 就 存 在
着 某 种 很 深 的 对 抗 ; 而 “ 裁 判 官 ” 对 于 法 律 学 的 改 进 无 法 把
这 种 感 情 加 以 消 灭 , 也 是 完 全 不 足 为 奇 的 。 凡 是 熟 悉 舆 论 哲
学 的 人 都 知 道 : 一 种 情 绪 决 不 会 因 为 产 生 它 的 情 况 消 逝 了 而
必 然 地 随 着 消 灭 。 它 可 能 会 比 情 况 留 存 得 更 长 久 ; 不 , 它 也
可 能 会 在 后 来 达 到 一 个 强 烈 的 顶 点 和 高 潮 , 而 这 种 顶 点 和 高
潮 是 在 情 况 继 续 存 在 期 间 从 来 没 有 达 到 过 的 。
把 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 看 作 是 授 予 一 种 权 力 , 把 财 产 从 家 族 中转 出 来 , 或 是 把 财 产 根 据 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 想 象 或 见 解 而 分 成 许
多 不 公 平 的 部 分 , 这 种 看 法 发 生 在 封 建 制 度 已 完 全 巩 固 了 的
中 世 纪 的 后 半 期 。 当 现 代 法 律 学 初 步 以 粗 糙 的 形 式 出 现 时 , 用
遗 嘱 来 绝 对 自 由 处 分 一 个 死 者 的 财 产 , 还 是 很 少 见 的 。 在 这
个 时 期 内 , 当 财 产 的 遗 传 由 “ 遗 嘱 ” 规 定 时 — — 在 大 部 分 的
欧 洲 , 动 产 是 遗 嘱 处 分 的 主 体 — — 遗 嘱 权 的 行 使 不 能 干 预 寡
妇 从 遗 产 中 取 得 一 定 分 额 的 权 利 , 同 样 不 能 干 预 子 嗣 取 得 固
定 比 例 的 权 利 。 子 所 取 得 的 分 额 由 罗 马 法 的 规 定 用 数 量 表 示
出 来 。 关 于 寡 妇 的 规 定 , 应 该 归 功 于 教 会 的 努 力 , 它 始 终 不
懈 地 关 怀 着 丈 夫 死 后 妻 子 的 利 益 , — — 经 过 二 三 世 纪 的 坚 决
要 求 之 后 , 才 获 得 了 所 有 的 胜 利 中 也 许 是 最 难 得 的 一 个 胜 利 ,
就 是 丈 夫 在 结 婚 时 就 明 白 保 证 赡 养 其 妻 , 最 后 并 把 “ 扶 养 寡
妇 财 产 ” ( D o w e r ) 的 原 则 列 入 了 全 西 欧 的 “ 习 惯 法 ” 中 。 可
怪 的 是 , 以 土 地 作 为 扶 养 寡 妇 的 财 产 的 制 度 经 证 明 要 比 类 似
的 和 更 古 的 为 寡 妇 和 子 嗣 保 留 的 一 定 分 额 动 产 的 制 度 , 更 加
巩 固 。 在 法 兰 西 有 些 地 方 习 惯 中 , 把 这 种 权 利 一 直 保 持 到
“ 革 命 ” 时 代 , 在 英 国 , 也 有 类 似 的 惯 例 的 痕 迹 ; 但 在 大 体 上 ,
流 行 着 的 学 理 是 动 产 可 以 由 “ 遗 嘱 ” 自 由 处 分 , 并 且 , 虽 然
寡 妇 的 要 求 得 到 继 续 尊 重 , 但 子 的 特 权 则 被 从 法 律 学 上 加 以
取 消 。 当 然 这 种 变 化 完 全 是 由 于 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 影 响 。 “ 封
建 的 ” 土 地 法 为 了 一 个 子 嗣 而 剥 夺 所 有 其 余 诸 子 的 继 承 权 , 甚
至 对 那 些 可 以 平 均 分 配 的 财 产 也 不 复 视 为 有 加 以 平 均 分 配 的
义 务 。 “ 遗 命 ” 是 用 以 产 生 不 平 等 的 主 要 工 具 , 而 在 这 种 情 况
下 产 生 了 古 代 人 和 现 代 人 对 于 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 不 同 的 概 念 。 但
是 , 虽 然 通 过 “ 遗 命 ” 而 享 有 处 理 遗 产 的 自 由 是 封 建 主 义 的一 个 偶 然 产 物 , 但 是 在 自 由 “ 遗 嘱 ” 处 分 制 度 和 另 外 一 个 制
度 , 像 封 建 土 地 法 制 度 之 间 , 是 存 在 着 极 端 巨 大 的 区 别 的 , 因
为 在 封 建 土 地 法 制 度 之 下 , 财 产 的 移 转 是 强 迫 按 照 规 定 的 遗
传 系 统 而 进 行 的 。 这 个 真 理 似 乎 是 “ 法 兰 西 法 典 ” 的 著 者 所
没 有 注 意 到 的 。 在 他 们 决 定 要 加 以 摧 毁 的 社 会 组 织 中 , 他 们
看 到 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 主 要 建 筑 在 “ 家 族 ” 授 产 的 基 础 上 , 但
他 们 同 时 也 注 意 到 “ 遗 命 ” 在 严 格 限 嗣 继 承 下 常 常 被 用 来 以
为 他 保 留 的 完 全 相 同 的 优 先 权 给 予 长 子 。 因 此 , 为 了 使 他 们
的 工 作 非 常 可 靠 , 他 们 不 但 使 长 子 不 得 在 婚 姻 协 议 中 优 先 于
其 余 诸 子 , 他 们 并 把 “ 遗 嘱 继 承 ” 排 斥 于 法 律 之 外 , 否 则 就
要 使 他 们 的 基 本 原 则 , 即 在 父 死 亡 时 其 财 产 应 在 诸 子 中 平 均
分 配 的 原 则 不 能 成 立 。 其 结 果 是 他 们 建 立 了 一 种 小 范 围 的 永
续 限 嗣 继 承 制 度 ( a s y s t e m o f s m a l p e r p e t u a l e n t a i l s ) , 这 种 制 度 非 常 接 近 欧 洲 的 封 建 制 度 , 而 不 是 完 全 的遗 产 自 由 。 英 国 的 土 地 法 , “ 封 建 制 度 的 赫 鸠 妻 尼 恩 城 ” ( t h e H e r c u l a n e u m o f F e u d a l i s m ) , 当 然 是 更 和 中 世 纪 的 土 地
法 相 似 而 不 同 于 任 何 大 陆 国 家 的 土 地 法 , 我 们 的 “ 遗 嘱 ” 也
就 常 常 被 用 来 助 长 或 效 法 长 子 和 其 亲 系 的 优 先 权 , 这 成 为 不
动 产 婚 姻 授 产 中 几 乎 普 遍 的 特 色 。 但 是 , 这 个 国 家 中 的 感 情
和 舆 论 都 曾 受 到 自 由 遗 嘱 处 分 实 践 的 重 大 影 响 ; 据 我 看 来 , 在
大 部 分 法 兰 西 社 会 中 就 家 族 中 保 存 财 产 这 个 问 题 所 具 有 的 情
绪 , 比 诸 英 国 人 更 接 近 于 二 三 世 纪 以 前 流 行 于 全 欧 洲 的 情 绪
状 态 。
“ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 问 题 引 起 了 历 史 法 律 学 中 一 个 最 困 难 的 问
题 。 虽 然 我 还 没 有 说 明 我 的 见 解 , 但 我 常 常 谈 到 在 罗 马 继 承法 上 , 许 多 “ 共 同 继 承 人 ” 总 是 和 一 个 单 一 “ 继 承 人 ” 有 同
一 的 立 足 点 的 。 事 实 上 , 我 们 从 没 有 看 到 罗 马 法 律 学 上 有 这
样 一 个 时 期 , 一 个 “ 继 承 人 ” 或 “ 概 括 继 承 人 ” 的 地 位 不 可
以 为 一 个 集 体 的 共 同 继 承 人 所 取 得 。 这 个 集 体 作 为 一 个 单 一
的 单 位 而 继 承 , 继 承 的 财 产 通 过 以 后 另 外 的 法 律 程 序 在 他 们
中 间 进 行 分 配 。 当 “ 继 承 ” 是 ·
法 ·
定 ·
继 ·
承 , 这 个 集 体 中 所 包 括
的 都 是 死 者 的 子 嗣 时 , 他 们 每 一 个 人 都 从 财 产 中 取 得 一 个 相
等 的 份 额 ; 虽 然 在 有 一 个 时 期 男 性 比 女 性 占 一 些 便 宜 , 但 在
这 里 完 全 没 有 一 些 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 痕 迹 。 分 配 的 方 式 在 全
部 古 代 法 律 学 中 是 完 全 一 样 的 。 当 然 , 当 民 事 社 会 开 始 , 各
家 族 在 经 过 许 多 世 代 以 后 已 不 再 结 合 在 一 起 时 , 自 发 地 就 产
生 了 这 种 观 念 , 要 把 领 地 在 每 一 世 代 的 所 有 成 员 中 平 均 分 配 ,
并 且 不 专 为 长 子 或 其 支 系 保 留 任 何 特 权 。 关 于 这 种 现 象 和 原
始 思 想 的 密 切 关 系 , 可 以 从 比 罗 马 制 度 更 古 的 一 些 制 度 中 , 看
到 一 些 特 别 有 意 义 的 暗 示 。 在 印 度 人 中 , 当 子 刚 出 生 时 , 他
对 其 父 的 财 产 立 刻 取 得 一 种 既 得 权 , 这 种 财 产 未 得 共 有 人 的
承 认 是 不 能 出 卖 的 。 在 子 达 到 成 年 时 , 他 有 时 甚 至 可 以 不 愿
其 父 是 否 同 意 而 强 迫 分 割 财 产 , 并 且 , 如 果 得 到 父 的 同 意 , 则
纵 使 不 为 所 有 其 余 诸 子 所 愿 意 , 一 子 也 能 取 得 分 割 。 在 这 类
分 割 发 生 时 , 父 除 了 取 得 的 份 额 不 是 一 份 而 是 两 份 以 外 , 并
不 能 较 其 子 更 为 优 待 。 日 耳 曼 部 落 的 古 代 法 是 非 常 类 似 的 。
“ 自 由 地 ” 或 家 族 领 地 是 父 和 子 的 共 有 财 产 。 不 过 , 习 惯 上 这
种 共 有 财 产 在 父 死 亡 时 也 是 不 分 割 的 , 而 一 个 印 度 人 的 所 有
物 虽 然 在 理 论 上 是 可 以 分 割 的 , 但 在 事 实 上 却 同 样 地 很 少 分
割 , 因 此 往 往 许 多 世 代 转 辗 相 传 从 不 分 割 , 这 样 , 印 度 的 家族 就 有 不 断 扩 大 为 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 的 倾 向 , 其 情 况 我 将 在 以
后 加 以 阐 述 。 所 有 这 一 切 , 明 显 地 指 出 , 在 死 亡 时 把 财 产 在
男 性 子 嗣 中 绝 对 平 均 分 配 , 是 家 族 依 附 发 生 瓦 解 的 第 一 个 阶
段 中 社 会 上 最 为 普 遍 的 实 践 。 这 时 候 , “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 就 成 为
历 史 上 的 难 题 了 。 当 封 建 制 度 在 形 成 的 过 程 中 , 这 些 制 度 除
了 一 方 面 从 罗 马 各 省 的 法 律 以 及 另 一 方 面 从 蛮 族 的 古 代 习 惯
中 得 到 其 原 素 外 , 在 世 界 上 已 没 有 其 他 渊 源 , 但 我 们 知 道 罗
马 人 或 蛮 族 在 财 产 继 承 中 都 不 习 惯 于 把 任 何 优 先 权 给 予 长 子
或 其 亲 系 , 因 此 , 初 看 起 来 , 我 们 感 到 迷 惑 不 解 。
在 蛮 族 最 初 定 居 于 罗 马 帝 国 境 内 时 所 实 行 的 各 种 “ 习
惯 ” 中 , 并 没 有 “ 长 子 继 承 制 ” 。 我 们 知 道 它 的 渊 源 是 来 自 入
侵 酋 长 的采地 ( b e n e f i c e ) 或 贻 赠 。 这 些 初 时 只 是 由 移 居 来 的
国 王 偶 然 封 赐 、 但 后 来 为 查 理 曼 大 量 分 配 的 “ 采 地 ” , 乃 是 授
与 有 军 功 的 受 益 人 管 业 的 罗 马 各 省 土 地 。 ·
自 ·
主 ·
地 所 有 人 似 乎
并 不 跟 随 其 统 治 者 从 事 远 征 或 艰 难 的 冒 险 事 业 , 所 有 法 兰 克
酋 长 和 查 理 曼 所 进 行 的 历 次 远 征 , 其 随 军 出 征 的 或 是 人 身 依
附 王 家 的 士 兵 , 或 是 由 于 土 地 的 租 佃 而 被 迫 服 役 的 士 兵 。 但
是 采 地 在 开 始 时 完 全 没 有 世 袭 的 意 味 , “ 采 地 ” 的 持 有 要 听 从
赐 与 人 的 好 恶 , 至 多 以 受 赐 人 的 终 身 为 限 ; 但 从 最 初 的 时 候
起 , 受 益 人 似 乎 并 未 致 力 于 扩 大 出 租 地 , 并 在 其 死 后 把 土 地
继 续 保 留 给 家 族 中 人 。 由 于 查 理 曼 继 承 人 柔 弱 无 能 , 这 些 企
图 普 遍 获 得 成 功 , “ 采 地 ” 就 逐 渐 转 变 为 世 袭 的 “ 封 地 ”
( F i e f ) 了 。 但 是 封 地 虽 然 是 世 袭 的 , 却 并 不 一 定 遗 传 给 长 子 。
它 们 所 遵 从 的 继 承 规 则 , 完 全 由 赐 与 人 和 受 益 人 之 间 同 意 的
条 件 决 定 , 或 者 由 其 中 之 一 方 强 加 于 另 一 方 的 条 件 决 定 。 因此 , 原 来 的 租 地 条 件 是 非 常 多 种 多 样 的 ; 因 为 到 现 在 为 止 所
提 到 的 各 种 租 地 条 件 都 是 为 罗 马 人 和 蛮 族 所 熟 悉 的 继 承 方 式
的 某 种 联 合 , 所 以 并 不 象 有 时 所 说 的 那 样 任 意 地 变 化 的 , 但
它 们 无 疑 是 非 常 琐 细 的 。 在 有 些 租 地 条 件 中 , 毫 无 疑 问 地 准
许 长 子 和 其 支 系 先 于 其 他 子 嗣 而 继 承 封 地 , 但 这 类 继 承 非 特
并 不 普 通 , 甚 至 也 没 有 为 一 般 所 采 用 。 在 欧 洲 社 会 较 近 的 一
次 变 化 中 , 当 领 地 的 ( 或 罗 马 的 ) 和 自 主 地 的 ( 或 日 耳 曼
的 ) 财 产 形 式 完 全 为 封 建 的 财 产 形 式 所 代 替 时 , 这 种 完 全 同
样 的 现 象 又 重 复 发 生 了 。 自 主 地 完 全 为 封 地 所 吸 收 。 较 大 的
自 主 地 所 有 者 把 部 分 的 土 地 有 条 件 地 移 转 给 其 属 下 而 自 成 为
封 建 主 ; 较 小 的 自 主 地 所 有 者 为 了 逃 避 那 个 恐 怖 时 代 的 压 迫 ,
就 把 他 们 的 财 产 奉 献 给 某 些 强 大 的 酋 长 , 并 以 战 争 时 为 他 服
役 为 条 件 再 从 他 的 手 中 领 回 其 土 地 。 当 这 个 时 期 , 西 欧 的 广
大 人 民 都 处 于 奴 隶 或 半 奴 隶 的 状 态 — — 罗 马 和 日 耳 曼 的 个 人
奴 隶 , 即 罗 马 的 土 著 农 奴 ( c o l o n i ) 和 日 耳 曼 的 农 奴 ( l i d i ) — — 他 们 同 时 为 封 建 组 织 所 并 吞 , 他 们 中 的 一 小 部 分 对 封 建 主 处
于 奴 仆 关 系 , 但 大 部 分 则 以 当 时 视 为 降 格 的 条 件 接 受 土 地 。 在
这 普 遍 分 封 土 地 的 时 代 中 创 设 的 各 种 租 地 条 件 、 因 佃 农 和 新
地 主 拟 定 的 条 件 或 因 佃 农 被 迫 接 受 地 主 条 件 的 不 同 而 各 异 。
在 采 地 的 情 况 下 , 有 些 财 产 的 继 承 按 照 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 规
定 , 但 并 不 是 全 部 如 此 。 但 是 , 一 当 封 建 制 度 普 遍 推 行 于 西
欧 ; 就 明 显 地 感 到 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 比 其 他 任 何 种 继 承 方 式 有
更 大 的 长 处 。 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 于 是 就 以 惊 人 迅 速 的 程 度 遍 传 到
全 欧 各 地 , 它 传 播 的 主 要 工 具 是 “ 家 族 授 产 ” ( F a m i l y S e t t l e Am e n t , 在 法 兰 西 称 为 P a c t e s d e F a m i l l e , 在 日 耳 曼 称 为 H a u s G e s e t z e ) , 它 普 遍 规 定 凡 是 由 于 武 功 而 占 有 的 土 地 一 概
应 传 给 长 子 。 最 后 , 法 律 竟 让 位 给 这 多 年 应 用 的 实 践 , 在 逐
渐 建 立 起 来 的 一 切 “ 习 惯 法 ” 中 , 对 于 自 由 租 地 和 军 役 租 地
的 财 产 , 长 子 和 其 亲 系 有 优 先 继 承 之 权 。 至 于 因 佃 役 租 地 而
持 有 的 土 地 ( 原 来 , 所 有 租 地 都 是 佃 役 的 , 佃 农 必 须 偿 付 金
钱 或 提 供 劳 役 ) , 习 惯 所 规 定 的 继 承 制 度 在 各 国 和 各 省 中 差 别
很 大 。 比 较 一 般 的 通 例 是 , 这 些 土 地 在 所 有 人 死 亡 时 应 由 所
有 子 嗣 平 均 分 配 , 但 在 有 些 事 例 中 , 长 子 仍 有 优 先 权 , 在 有
些 事 例 中 则 由 幼 子 取 得 优 先 权 。 但 象 英 国 的 “ 定 役 租 地 ”
( S o c a g e ) 一 样 , 它 发 生 的 时 期 较 其 余 各 类 的 租 地 为 迟 , 并 且
既 不 是 完 全 自 由 的 , 也 不 是 完 全 佃 役 的 , 这 些 通 过 租 地 而 持
有 的 财 产 、 这 些 在 某 些 方 面 看 来 是 属 于 最 重 要 的 一 类 财 产 的
继 承 , 通 常 就 适 用 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 。
“ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 所 以 能 被 广 为 传 播 , 一 般 都 认 为 是 由 于 所
谓 封 建 的 理 由 。 据 说 , 如 果 在 封 地 最 后 持 有 人 死 亡 时 把 它 传
给 一 个 单 一 的 人 而 不 在 多 数 人 中 间 进 行 分 配 , 封 建 主 就 可 以
对 他 所 需 要 的 军 役 有 更 好 的 保 证 。 我 不 否 认 这 种 意 见 可 以 部
分 地 说 明 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 所 以 逐 渐 为 人 们 所 爱 好 , 但 我 们 须
指 出 , “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 所 以 能 成 为 欧 洲 的 一 种 习 惯 , 倒 并 不 是
由 于 它 对 封 建 主 有 利 , 而 是 由 于 它 为 佃 农 所 欢 迎 。 再 则 , 上
述 理 由 完 全 不 能 说 明 它 的 来 源 。 法 律 中 决 不 可 能 有 任 何 规 定
完 全 是 为 了 要 求 得 便 利 。 在 便 利 的 意 识 发 生 作 用 之 前 , 必 先
有 某 些 观 念 存 在 着 , 它 所 能 做 的 也 只 是 把 这 些 观 念 组 成 新 的
结 合 而 已 ; 在 当 前 的 情 形 中 , 问 题 正 就 是 在 找 寻 这 些 观 念 。
从 一 个 富 有 这 类 征 兆 的 地 方 , 我 们 获 得 了 一 个 很 有 价 值的 暗 示 。 在 印 度 , 虽 然 父 的 所 有 物 可 在 其 死 亡 时 加 以 分 割 , 并
且 甚 至 在 生 前 就 可 以 在 所 有 男 性 子 嗣 中 平 均 分 割 , 虽 然 这 个
平 均 分 配 财 产 的 原 则 推 广 到 印 度 制 度 的 每 一 个 部 分 , 但 当 最
后 一 个 在 职 者 死 亡 时 , 他 所 传 下 的 ·
官 ·
职 ·
或 ·
政 ·
治 ·
权 ·
利 , 几 乎 普
遍 地 根 据 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 规 定 而 进 行 继 承 。 因 此 , 主 权 是
传 给 长 子 的 , 作 为 印 度 社 会 集 合 单 位 的 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 的 事
务 原 归 一 人 管 理 时 , 则 父 死 之 后 一 般 就 由 长 子 继 续 管 理 。 在
印 度 , 所 有 职 位 都 有 世 袭 的 趋 向 , 并 且 在 性 质 许 可 时 , 这 些
职 位 即 归 属 于 最 老 支 系 的 最 长 成 员 。 把 这 些 印 度 继 承 和 在 欧
洲 几 乎 一 直 到 现 在 还 存 在 的 较 未 开 化 社 会 组 织 的 有 些 继 承 ,
加 以 比 较 , 我 们 可 以 得 到 这 样 的 结 论 , 即 宗 法 权 不 仅 是 ·
家 ·
庭
·
的 并 且 是 ·
政 ·
治 ·
的 , 它 在 父 死 亡 时 不 在 所 有 子 嗣 中 分 配 , 它 是
长 子 的 天 生 权 利 。 例 如 , 苏 格 兰 高 原 部 落 的 酋 长 职 位 是 按 照
“ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 顺 序 继 承 的 。 的 确 , 这 里 似 乎 有 一 种 家 族 依
附 , 比 我 们 从 有 组 织 民 事 社 会 原 始 记 录 中 所 知 道 的 任 何 一 种
家 族 依 附 还 要 来 得 古 老 。 古 罗 马 法 中 亲 属 的 宗 法 联 合 体 以 及
大 量 类 似 的 征 兆 , 说 明 在 有 一 个 时 期 中 家 族 所 有 的 各 支 系 都
团 结 在 一 个 有 机 的 整 体 中 ; 当 亲 属 这 样 形 成 的 集 团 本 身 就 成
为 一 个 独 立 社 会 时 , 这 个 集 团 是 由 最 老 亲 系 的 最 长 男 性 管 理
的 ; 这 自 非 狂 妄 的 臆 测 。 的 确 , 我 们 并 不 具 有 这 类 社 会 的 真
实 知 识 。 即 在 最 原 始 的 共 产 体 中 , 就 我 们 所 知 , 家 族 组 织 至
多 只 是 “ 政 府 中 的 政 府 ” ( i m p e r i a i n i m p e r i o ) 。 但 是 有 一
些 部 族 、 特 别 是 凯 尔 特 部 族 的 地 位 从 有 史 以 来 都 近 似 独 立 , 这
使 我 们 不 得 不 深 信 它 们 过 去 曾 一 度 是 各 别 的 政 府 , 它 的 酋 长
职 位 是 根 据 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 而 继 承 的 。 但 是 , 我 们 必 须 注 意 ,不 要 把 它 和 法 律 上 的 名 词 作 现 代 的 联 想 。 我 们 现 在 所 谈 到 的
一 种 家 族 关 系 比 我 们 所 熟 知 的 印 度 社 会 或 古 罗 马 法 中 任 何 家
族 关 系 更 为 紧 密 。 如 果 罗 马 的 “ 家 父 ” 明 显 地 是 家 族 所 有 物
的 管 家 , 如 果 印 度 人 之 父 只 是 其 诸 子 的 共 同 分 配 者 , 则 真 正
的 宗 法 族 长 将 更 显 著 地 仅 仅 是 一 个 公 共 基 金 的 管 理 人 。
因 此 , 在 “ 采 地 ” 中 所 发 现 的 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 继 承 事
例 可 能 是 从 入 侵 种 族 的 一 种 宗 族 政 府 制 度 模 仿 来 的 , 这 种 家
族 政 府 制 度 曾 为 入 侵 种 族 所 知 道 , 但 并 不 是 普 遍 适 用 的 。 有
些 未 开 化 的 部 落 也 许 还 在 实 行 着 这 种 制 度 , 或 者 更 加 可 能 , 社
会 还 刚 刚 离 开 较 古 的 状 态 , 因 此 人 们 在 为 一 种 新 形 式 的 财 产
决 定 继 承 规 则 时 , 就 自 发 地 联 想 到 了 这 种 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 。 但
这 里 还 有 一 个 问 题 , 为 什 么 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 会 逐 渐 代 替 了 其
他 一 切 继 承 原 则 ? 我 以 为 答 案 应 该 是 在 加 洛 林 帝 国 瓦 解 期 间 ,
欧 洲 社 会 肯 定 是 在 退 化 着 。 它 比 早 期 蛮 族 王 朝 时 期 的 悲 惨 低
微 状 况 甚 至 还 要 落 后 一 些 。 这 个 时 期 的 最 大 特 点 是 国 王 权 力
的 软 弱 甚 至 中 断 , 因 此 也 就 是 内 政 的 软 弱 中 断 ; 因 此 社 会 内
部 是 不 团 结 的 , 人 们 也 普 遍 地 倒 退 到 比 共 产 体 开 始 时 更 古 的
一 种 社 会 组 织 中 去 。 在 第 九 第 十 世 纪 时 期 , 封 建 主 连 同 其 属
臣 大 概 都 属 于 一 个 宗 法 家 庭 , 这 种 家 庭 不 是 象 原 始 时 代 那 样
用 “ 收 养 ” 而 是 用 “ 分 封 土 地 ” ( I n f e u d a t i o n ) 的 方 法 补 充 成
员 的 ; 对 这 样 一 种 结 合 , “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 继 承 方 式 是 强 力 和 持
久 的 一 种 渊 源 。 只 要 全 部 组 织 建 筑 在 它 上 面 的 土 地 能 保 留 在
一 起 , 它 就 能 有 力 地 进 行 攻 击 和 防 卫 ; 分 割 土 地 也 就 是 分 割
这 小 小 的 社 会 , 也 就 是 在 普 遍 暴 乱 的 世 纪 中 给 侵 略 造 成 机 会 。
我 们 可 以 完 全 断 定 , “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 制 的 被 优 先 采 用 , 并 不 是为 了 一 个 子 而 剥 夺 其 余 诸 子 的 继 承 权 。 分 裂 封 地 要 使 每 一 个
人 受 到 损 害 。 封 地 的 巩 固 会 使 每 一 个 人 获 得 好 处 。 “ 家 族 ” 可
以 因 权 力 集 中 于 一 个 人 手 中 而 更 强 大 有 力 量 ; 赋 与 继 承 权 的
封 建 主 并 不 能 较 其 同 胞 和 亲 属 在 占 有 、 利 益 或 享 受 上 有 任 何
优 越 之 处 , 如 果 我 们 以 英 国 长 子 在 一 个 严 格 的 授 产 下 所 处 的
地 位 , 来 估 计 一 个 封 地 的 继 承 人 所 继 承 的 特 权 , 这 将 是 一 个
独 特 的 时 代 错 误 。
我 曾 说 过 , 早 期 的 封 建 结 合 来 自 一 种 古 代 的 “ 家 族 ” 形
式 , 并 且 和 它 极 端 类 似 。 但 是 在 古 代 世 界 中 , 在 还 没 有 通 过
封 建 制 度 坩 埚 的 一 些 社 会 中 , 当 时 似 乎 曾 经 流 行 的 “ 长 子 继
承 权 ” 还 没 有 变 成 后 期 封 建 欧 洲 的 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 。 当 亲 属 集
团 经 过 许 多 世 代 不 再 为 一 个 世 袭 的 酋 是 统 治 时 , 过 去 曾 为 大
家 而 管 理 的 领 地 也 就 被 大 家 平 均 分 配 了 。 为 什 么 这 种 情 况 不
在 封 建 世 界 中 发 生 呢 ? 如 果 在 最 初 的 封 建 时 代 的 混 乱 期 间 , 长
子 为 了 全 家 的 利 益 而 持 有 土 地 , 那 末 为 什 么 当 封 建 欧 洲 已 经
巩 固 , 正 规 的 社 会 生 活 又 再 度 确 立 了 时 , 全 个 家 族 会 不 重 新
恢 复 过 去 一 度 属 于 罗 马 人 和 日 耳 曼 人 的 平 等 继 承 权 的 能 力 ?
那 些 专 心 致 力 于 探 讨 封 建 制 度 的 家 系 的 著 者 , 很 少 能 掌 握 开
启 这 个 困 难 的 关 键 。 他 们 看 到 了 封 建 制 度 的 原 料 , 但 是 他 们
没 有 注 意 到 成 品 。 助 威 这 个 制 度 形 成 的 观 念 和 社 会 形 式 无 疑
地 是 蛮 族 的 和 古 代 的 , 但 是 , 当 法 院 和 法 律 家 被 要 求 来 解 释
它 时 , 他 们 用 来 解 释 它 的 原 则 却 是 最 后 期 罗 马 法 律 学 的 , 因
此 也 就 是 非 常 精 炼 和 非 常 成 熟 的 原 则 。 在 一 个 宗 法 统 治 的 社
会 中 , 长 子 继 承 了 宗 亲 集 团 的 政 府 , 并 有 绝 对 权 力 处 分 其 财
产 。 但 他 并 不 因 此 而 成 为 一 个 真 正 的 所 有 人 。 他 还 有 不 包 含在 所 有 权 这 概 念 中 的 相 关 连 的 各 种 义 务 , 这 些 义 务 是 十 分 不
明 确 的 并 且 也 不 可 能 下 定 义 的 。 但 后 期 的 罗 马 法 律 学 象 我 们
自 己 的 法 律 一 样 , 把 对 于 财 产 上 所 有 的 无 限 制 权 力 看 做 财 产
所 有 权 , 并 没 有 、 并 且 在 事 实 上 也 不 可 能 注 意 到 这 一 类 的 义
务 , 而 关 于 这 类 义 务 的 概 念 是 在 正 规 法 律 产 生 之 前 就 已 经 有
的 。 这 种 精 练 的 观 念 和 野 蛮 的 观 念 相 接 触 后 , 不 可 避 免 地 召
致 了 这 样 一 个 后 果 , 就 是 把 长 子 改 变 成 继 承 财 产 的 法 定 所 有
人 。 教 会 的 和 世 俗 的 法 律 学 家 从 一 开 始 就 这 样 确 定 了 长 子 的
地 位 ; 而 原 来 本 可 与 其 亲 属 在 平 等 的 地 位 上 共 祸 福 的 年 轻 兄
弟 , 则 在 不 知 不 觉 间 下 降 为 僧 侣 、 军 事 冒 险 家 或 是 官 邸 的 食
客 。 这 种 法 律 上 的 革 命 , 正 和 苏 格 兰 高 原 大 部 分 地 方 在 最 近
小 规 模 地 发 生 的 革 命 , 完 全 相 同 。 当 苏 格 兰 法 律 学 必 须 决 定
酋 长 在 扶 养 部 族 的 领 地 上 所 具 有 的 法 律 权 力 时 , 它 已 远 超 过
了 同 部 族 人 对 完 全 所 有 权 可 以 加 一 些 模 糊 限 制 的 时 期 , 因 此 ,
它 也 就 不 可 避 免 地 把 许 多 人 的 遗 产 转 变 成 一 个 人 的 财 产 了 。
为 了 简 明 起 见 , 我 把 一 个 单 独 子 嗣 对 一 个 家 或 一 个 社 会
所 有 权 力 的 继 承 , 称 为 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 的 继 承 方 式 。 但 是 , 可
注 意 的 是 , 在 遗 留 给 我 们 的 这 类 继 承 的 少 数 很 古 的 事 例 中 , 取
得 代 理 地 位 的 不 一 定 是 我 们 所 熟 知 的 意 义 中 的 长 子 。 曾 在 西
欧 流 行 的 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 形 式 也 曾 在 印 度 人 中 继 续 保 存 过 , 我
们 并 有 一 切 理 由 相 信 它 是 正 常 的 形 式 。 在 这 种 制 度 下 , 不 但
是 长 子 , 并 且 是 长 子 的 亲 系 也 常 常 获 得 优 先 权 。 如 果 长 子 不
能 继 承 , 则 他 的 长 子 不 但 对 其 兄 弟 并 且 对 其 叔 父 辈 有 优 先 权 。
如 果 他 也 不 能 继 承 , 这 同 一 规 定 可 以 适 用 于 再 下 一 代 。 但 如
果 继 承 不 仅 仅 是 ·
民 ·
事 ·
的 、 而 且 是 ·
政 ·
治 ·
的 权 力 时 , 就 可 能 要 发生 一 种 困 难 , 这 种 困 难 的 大 小 随 社 会 团 结 力 的 强 弱 而 增 减 。 一
个 行 使 权 力 的 酋 长 可 能 寿 命 长 过 其 长 子 , 而 原 来 有 继 承 资 格
的 孙 子 又 可 能 年 龄 太 小 未 及 成 年 , 不 能 担 负 实 际 指 导 社 会 以
及 管 理 事 务 的 责 任 。 在 这 种 情 况 下 , 比 较 固 定 的 社 会 往 往 采
取 这 种 便 宜 方 法 ; 就 是 把 这 幼 小 的 继 承 人 放 在 监 护 之 下 , 一
直 到 他 适 宜 于 执 政 的 年 龄 。 监 护 权 一 般 属 于 男 性 宗 亲 ; 但 有
可 注 意 的 是 , 在 极 少 的 偶 然 事 例 中 , 古 代 社 会 也 有 同 意 由 妇
女 行 使 这 种 权 力 者 , 这 无 疑 是 出 于 尊 重 母 亲 的 庇 护 的 要 求 。 在
印 度 , 一 个 印 度 主 权 者 的 寡 妇 曾 用 她 稚 子 的 名 义 而 统 治 着 国
家 , 并 且 我 们 也 不 禁 要 想 到 法 兰 西 皇 位 继 承 规 定 的 习 惯 — —这种 习 惯 , 不 论 其 渊 源 为 何 , 无 疑 是 非 常 古 远 的 — — 规 定母后 对 “ 摄 政 职 位 ” ( R e g e n c y ) 较 所 有 其 他 申 请 人 有 优 先 之 权 ,但 同 时 它 却 又 严 格 地 排 斥 一 切 女 性 据 有 皇 位 。 把 主 权 遗 传 给
一 个 幼 小 的 继 承 人 所 发 生 的 不 方 便 , 还 有 另 外 一 种 方 法 加 以
消 除 , 这 种 方 法 无 疑 会 自 发 地 发 生 在 组 织 简 略 的 共 产 体 中 。 就
是 把 幼 小 的 继 承 人 完 全 放 在 一 边 , 而 把 酋 长 的 职 位 授 与 第 一
代 中 年 事 最 高 的 现 存 男 性 。 凯 尔 特 部 族 组 织 在 他 们 已 保 留 了
一 个 世 纪 且 其 中 民 事 的 和 政 治 的 社 会 还 没 有 初 步 划 分 的 许 多
现 象 中 间 , 就 有 着 这 样 一 个 继 承 的 规 定 , 并 把 它 一 直 带 到 了
有 史 时 期 。 在 这 些 部 族 组 织 中 , 似 乎 还 有 这 样 一 种 现 实 准 则 ,
认 为 在 长 子 不 能 继 承 时 , 他 的 长 弟 可 以 优 先 于 所 有 的 孙 辈 而
获 得 继 承 , 不 问 在 主 权 遗 传 的 当 时 孙 辈 的 年 龄 是 怎 样 。 有 些
著 者 用 这 样 的 假 说 来 解 释 这 个 原 则 , 认 为 凯 尔 特 的 习 惯 是 把
最 后 的 酋 长 看 做 好 象 是 一 个 树 根 或 是 主 干 , 而 后 把 继 承 权 给
与 和 他 距 离 最 近 的 卑 亲 属 ; 叔 父 既 较 接 近 于 共 同 的 根 干 , 便应 优 先 于 孙 辈 。 如 果 这 个 解 释 只 是 用 以 说 明 继 承 制 度 , 那 是
无 可 非 议 的 ; 但 如 果 以 为 第 一 个 采 用 这 样 的 规 定 的 人 , 是 在
应 用 显 然 从 封 建 继 承 制 度 开 始 在 法 律 家 中 进 行 论 辩 的 时 候 起
就 有 的 推 理 过 程 , 则 将 是 一 个 严 重 的 错 误 。 叔 父 所 以 能 优 先
于 孙 辈 , 其 真 正 的 来 源 无 疑 地 是 出 于 一 个 原 始 社 会 中 原 始 人
们 的 一 种 简 单 打 算 , 即 认 为 由 一 个 成 年 的 酋 长 来 统 治 总 比 由
一 个 孩 子 统 治 来 得 好 , 一 个 年 纪 较 轻 的 儿 子 将 比 长 子 的 任 何
子 嗣 更 早 达 到 成 年 。 同 时 , 我 们 有 证 据 证 明 我 们 所 最 熟 悉 的
那 种 形 式 的 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 是 一 种 原 始 的 形 式 , 其 传 统 是 当
越 过 一 个 幼 小 的 继 承 人 而 作 出 有 利 于 其 叔 父 的 决 定 时 , 须 先取 得 部 族 的 同 意 。 在 麦 克 唐 纳 氏 ( M a c d o n a l d s ) 纪 年 史 中 有着 有 关 这 种 仪 式 的 相 当 真 实 的 例 子。
根 据 可 能 保 存 着 一 种 古 代 阿 剌 伯 习 惯 的 穆 罕 默 德 法 律( M o h a m e t a n I a w ) , 财 产 继 承 权 是 在 诸 子 中 平 均 分 配 的 , 女儿 则 可 取 得 半 份 , 但 是 如 果 有 任 何 一 人 在 继 承 权 分 割 前 死 亡而 遗 下 子 女 时 , 这 些 孙 儿 女 会 全 部 为 其 叔 姑 所 排 斥 。 与这原则 相 一 致 , 当 遗 下 的 是 政 治 权 时 , 继 承 就 按 照 凯 尔 特社会中的 “ 长 子 继 承 权 ” 形 式 进 行 。 在 西 方 两 个 穆 罕 默 德 的 大 家 族中 , 所 根 据 的 规 定 是 : 在 继 承 王 位 时 叔 父 优 先 于 诸 姪 , 虽 此姪 为 长 兄 之 子 , 亦 在 所 不 论 ; 这 一 规 定 虽 然 直 到 最 近 还 在 埃及 适 用 , 但 依 我 所 知 , 是 否 适 用 于 土 耳 其 君 主 的 移 转 , 是 还有 疑 问 的 。 苏 丹 们 的 政 策 事 实 上 一 直 是 在 防 止 适 用 这 个规定的 情 况 的 发 生 , 很 可 能 , 他 们 整 批 屠 杀 其 幼 年 兄 弟 一 方 面 固然 是 为 了 其 子 孙 的 利 益 , 另一 方 面 也 是 为 了 消 除 对 王 位 的 危险 竞 争 者 。 不 过 很 明 显 , 在 一 夫 多 妻 的 社 会 中 , “ 长 子 继 承权 ” 的 形 式 是 经 常 在 变 化 的 。 有 许 多 理 由 都 可 以 构 成 对 继 承的 要 求 , 例 如 , 母 亲 的 位 次 或 她 受 父 亲 宠 爱 的 程 度 。 因 此 , 有些 信 奉 伊 斯 兰 教 的 印 度 君 主 不 敢 主 张 有 任 何 明 显 的 遗 嘱 权 ,但 主 张 有 权 指 定 继 承 之 子 。 圣 经 上 以 撒 与 其 子 的 历 史 中 所 提到 的祝福 , 有 时 被 指 为 一 种 遗 嘱 , 但 这 似 乎 应 该 被 认 为 是 一种 指 定 一 个 长 子 的 方 式 。
第 八 章 财 产 的 早 期 史
罗 马 “ 法 学 阶 梯 ” 在 对 各 种 各 样 的 所 有 权 下 了 定 义 之 后 ,
进 而 讨 论 “ 取 得 财 产 的 自 然 方 式 ” 。 凡 是 不 熟 悉 法 律 学 史 的 人 ,
对 于 这 些 取 得 的 “ 自 然 方 式 ” , 似 乎 不 致 在 一 看 之 下 就 有 理 论
上 的 或 者 是 实 践 上 的 兴 趣 的 。 猎 人 捕 获 或 杀 死 的 野 兽 , 由 于
河 流 在 不 知 不 觉 中 的 淤 积 而 在 我 们 田 野 上 增 加 的 土 地 , 和 生
根 于 我 们 土 地 上 的 树 木 , 这 些 都 是 罗 马 法 律 家 称 之 为 我 们 可
以自然地 取 得 的 东 西 。 较 老 的 法 学 专 家 一 定 曾 注 意 到 , 这 类
取 得 是 普 遍 地 为 他 们 所 处 的 小 社 会 的 惯 例 所 认 可 的 , 后 一 时
期 的 法 律 家 既 然 发 现 这 些 取 得 被 归 类 于 古 “ 万 民 法 ” 中 , 并
把 它 们 看 作 为 最 简 单 的 一 种 取 得 , 就 在 “ 自 然 ” 律 令 中 给 它
们 分 配 了 一 个 地 位 。 这 些 财 产 所 受 到 的 尊 严 性 在 现 代 时 期 正
在 继 续 不 断 增 长 , 直 至 完 全 超 过 了 它 原 来 的 重 要 性 。 理 论 已
把 它 们 作 为 它 的 美 好 食 料 , 并 使 它 们 在 实 践 上 起 着 最 最 严 重
的 影 响 。
在 这 些 “ 自 然 取 得 方 式 ” 中 , 我 们 有 必 要 只 研 究 其 中 的一 种 , 即 “ 先 占 ” ( O c c u p a t i o ) 。 “ 先 占 ” 是 蓄 意 占 有 在 当 时 为
无 主 的 财 产 , 目 的 ( 这 是 在 专 门 定 义 中 加 上 去 的 ) 在 取 得 财
产 作 为 己 有 。 罗 马 法 律 学 称 为无主物 ( r e s n u l l i u s ) 的 物 件— — 即 现 在 没 有 或 过 去 从 来 没 有 过 一 个 所 有 人 的 物 件 — — 只能 用 列 举 的 方 法 来 加 以 确 定 。 在从来没有过 一 个 所 有 人 的 物件 中 , 如 野 兽 、 鱼 、 野 雞 、 第 一 次 被 发 掘 出 来 的 宝 石 , 以 及新 发 现 或 以 前 从 未 经 过 耕 种 的 土 地 。 在现在没有 一 个 所 有 人的 物 件 中 , 包 括 抛 弃 的 动 产 、 荒 废 的 土 地 以 及 ( 一 个 变 例 的但 最 为 惊 人 的 项 目 ) 一 个 敌 人 的 财 产 。 在 所 有 这 些 物 件 中 , 完全 的 所 有 权 为 第 一 个 占 有 它 们 、 意 图 保 留 它 们 作 为 已 有 的占有人 所 取 得 — — 这 种 意 图 在 某 种 情 况 下 是 必 须 以 特 殊 行 为 来表 示 的 。 我 以 为 我 们 不 难 理 解 “ 先 占 ” 有 其 普 遍 性 , 它 促 使有 一 代 的 罗 马 法 律 家 把 “ 先 占 ” 的 实 践 列 入 “ 所 有 国 家 共 有 的 法 律 ” 中 , 它 有 其 单 纯 性 , 这 使 另 外 一 些 法 律 家 认 为 它 应 归 因 于 “ 自 然 法 ” 。 但 对 于 它 在 现 代 法 律 史 中 的 命 运 , 我 们 是没有先天的 考 虑 的 。 罗 马 人 的 “ 先 占 ” 原 则 , 以 及 法 学 专 家把 这 原 则 发 展 而 成 的 规 则 , 是 所 有 现 代 “ 国 际 法 ” 有 关 “ 战利 品 ” 和 在 新 发 现 国 家 中 取 得 主 权 等 主 题 的 来 源 。 它 们 又 提供 了 “ 财 产 起 源 ” 的 理 论 , 这 种 理 论 立 刻 受 到 欢 迎 , 并 通 过这 一 种 或 另 一 种 形 式 而 成 为 绝 大 部 分 纯 理 论 法 律 家 所 默 认 的理 论 。
我 曾 说 过 , 罗 马 的 “ 先 占 ” 原 则 曾 决 定 “ 国 际 法 ” 中 有
关 “ 战 利 品 ” 这 一 章 的 要 旨 。 “ 战 争 虏 获 法 ” 中 的 种 种 规 定 ,
来 自 这 样 一 种 假 定 , 就 是 敌 对 行 动 的 开 始 使 社 会 回 复 到 了 一
种 自 然 状 态 , 并 且 , 在 这 样 造 成 的 人 为 的 自 然 状 态 中 , 就 两
个 交 战 国 而 论 , 私 有 财 产 制 度 就 处 于 停 止 的 状 态 。 后 期 论 述
“ 自 然 法 ” 的 著 者 竭 力 主 张 私 有 财 产 在 某 种 意 义 上 是 他 们 所 解
释 的 制 度 所 认 可 的 , 因 此 , 所 谓 一 个 敌 人 的 财 产 是 ·
无 ·
主 ·
物 的
假 说 , 在 他 们 看 起 来 , 是 不 法 和 惊 人 的 , 他 们 谨 慎 地 把 它 污
蔑 为 仅 仅 是 法 律 学 上 的 一 种 拟 制 。 但 是 , 当 我 们 把 “ 自 然法 ” 的 渊 源 追 溯 到 “ 万 民 法 ” , 我 们 立 刻 看 到 为 什 么 一 个 敌 人的 财 物 会 被 看 作 无 主 财 产 , 并 因 此 而 能 力 第 一 个 占 有 人 所 取
得 。 在 古 代 , 当 胜 利 使 征 服 者 的 军 队 的 组 织 解 体 , 并 任 令 士
兵 进 行 不 分 皂 白 的 抢 掠 时 , 从 事 战 争 的 人 们 会 自 然 地 产 生 这
种 观 念 。 可 是 , 在 最 初 , 允 许 为 虏 获 者 所 取 得 的 , 只 是 一 些
动 产 。 我 们 根 据 一 个 可 靠 的 证 据 , 知 道 在 古 意 大 利 , 对 于 在
一 个 被 征 服 国 家 的 土 地 上 取 得 所 有 权 , 流 行 着 一 种 很 不 同 的
规 则 , 因 此 , 我 们 可 以 猜 想 把 先 占 原 则 适 用 于 土 地 ( 这 始 终
是 一 椿 困 难 事 ) 开 始 于 “ 万 民 法 ” 成 为 “ 自 然 法 典 ” 的 时 期 ,
并 且 这 是 黄 金 时 代 法 学 专 家 所 作 的 一 种 概 括 的 结 果 。 他 们 有
关 这 一 点 的 教 条 被 保 存 在 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 “ 法 学 汇 纂 ” 中 , 这
些 教 条 无 条 件 地 主 张 , 敌 人 的 各 种 财 产 就 交 战 的 对 方 而 论 是
·
无 ·
主 ·
物 , 而 虏 获 者 使 敌 产 成 为 自 己 所 有 的 “ 先 占 ” 则 是 “ 自
然 法 ” 的 一 种 制 度 。 国 际 法 律 学 从 这 些 立 论 中 得 出 的 规 则 , 有
时 被 人 诋 毁 为 一 种 不 必 要 的 对 于 战 斗 者 的 残 酷 和 贪 婪 的 宽
纵 , 但 我 认 为 提 出 这 种 责 难 的 人 , 只 是 那 些 不 熟 悉 战 争 历 史
的 人 , 因 此 也 就 是 那 些 不 了 解 要 强 使 人 们 服 从 任 何 一 种 法 则
是 怎 样 一 种 伟 大 功 绩 的 人 。 当 罗 马 的 “ 先 占 ” 原 则 被 现 代 的
“ 战 利 品 ” 法 所 采 用 时 , 带 来 了 一 些 附 属 的 法 规 , 使 其 执 行 得
更 加 精 确 。 如 果 把 在 格 罗 修 斯 论 文 成 为 权 威 著 作 后 发 生 的 战
事 来 和 较 早 时 期 的 战 争 相 比 较 , 可 以 看 到 , 一 待 罗 马 的 格 言
被 接 受 后 , “ 战 争 ” 立 刻 具 有 一 种 比 较 可 以 容 忍 的 性 质 。 如 果
把 罗 马 “ 先 占 ” 法 律 非 难 为 对 现 代 “ 国 际 法 ” 的 任 何 部 分 发
生 着 有 害 的 影 响 , 则 我 们 可 以 有 相 当 理 由 认 为 曾 受 到 有 害 影
响 的 是 国 际 法 的 另 外 一 章 。 “ 公 法 学 家 ” 把 罗 马 人 曾 引 用 于 宝石 的 发 现 的 原 则 同 样 地 引 用 于 新 国 家 的 发 现 , 这 样 就 生 搬 硬
套 地 采 用 了 与 期 待 它 担 当 的 任 务 完 全 不 相 称 的 一 条 学 理 。 由
于 十 五 世 纪 和 十 六 世 纪 伟 大 航 海 家 的 发 现 , 这 学 理 被 提 高 到
了 极 端 重 要 的 地 位 , 但 它 所 引 起 的 争 端 比 它 所 解 决 的 争 端 更
来 得 多 。 不 久 , 在 最 需 要 明 确 的 两 个 问 题 上 , 发 生 了 最 大 的
不 明 确 , 即 关 于 发 现 人 为 其 主 权 者 取 得 的 领 土 的 范 围 , 以 及
完 成 ·
主 ·
权 ·
者 ·
占 ·
有 ·
假 ·
定 ( a d p r e h e n s i o ) 所 必 需 的 行 为 的 性 质 。 更
有 进 者 , 这 个 原 则 对 于 一 件 幸 运 的 结 果 竟 赋 与 了 这 样 巨 大 的
利 益 , 它 就 本 能 地 为 欧 洲 有 些 最 冒 险 的 民 族 如 荷 兰 人 、 英 吉
利 人 以 及 葡 萄 牙 人 所 反 对 。 我 们 英 国 人 虽 不 明 白 否 认 “ 国 际
法 ” 的 规 定 , 但 在 实 践 上 从 不 承 认 西 班 牙 人 独 占 墨 西 哥 湾 以
南 全 部 美 洲 的 要 求 , 也 没 有 承 认 法 兰 西 国 王 独 霸俄亥俄和密西西比河流 域 的 要 求 。 从 伊 利 萨 伯( E l i z a b e t h ) 接 位 到 查 理 二 世 接 位 时 为 止 , 在 美 洲 领 海 内 可 以说 从 来 没 有 过 完 全 的 和 平 , 而 新 英 格 兰 殖 民 者 侵 犯 法 兰 西 国
王 的 领 土 一 直 延 续 了 一 世 纪 之 久 。 边 沁 看 到 这 条 法 律 在 运 用
中 所 遇 到 的 混 乱 情 况 , 受 到 很 深 刻 的 印 象 , 竟 然 失 其 常 态 而
去 赞 美 那 著 名 的 教 皇 亚 历 山 大 六 世 ( P o p e A l e x a n d e r t h e S i x t h ) 的 “ 训 谕 ” , 在 亚 速 尔 群 岛 ( A z o r e s ) 之 西 一 百 海 哩
处 划 一 分 界 线 把 世 界 上 未 发 现 的 国 家 分 给 西 班 牙 人 和 葡 萄 牙
人 ; 边 沁 的 赞 扬 , 初 看 起 来 , 好 像 很 是 奇 怪 的 , 但 教 皇 亚 历
山 大 的 安 排 , 究 竟 是 否 在 原 则 上 真 比 “ 公 法 ” 的 规 定 更 为 妄
谬 , 还 是 可 疑 的 。 因 为 “ 公 法 ” 把 半 个 大 陆 给 与 一 个 国 王 , 主
要 由 于 他 的 臣 仆 们 所 做 的 , 恰 恰 符 合 罗 马 法 律 学 的 规 定 , 符
合 取 得 一 件 可 以 用 手 复 盖 的 贵 重 物 件 时 所 需 要 的 各 种 条 件 。
从 事 研 究 本 书 主 题 的 人 们 , 所 以 认 为 “ 先 占 ” 饶 有 兴 味
者 , 主 要 由 于 它 对 纯 理 论 法 律 学 所 作 出 的 贡 献 , 即 它 提 供 了
一 个 关 于 私 有 财 产 起 源 的 假 说 。 过 去 曾 一 度 普 遍 地 认 为 “ 先
占 ” 中 包 含 的 手 续 程 序 和 在 最 初 时 属 于 共 有 的 土 地 及 其 果 实
转 变 成 为 个 人 财 产 的 手 续 程 序 , 是 同 样 的 。 导 致 这 个 假 定 的
思 想 过 程 是 不 难 理 解 的 , 如 果 我 们 掌 握 了 “ 自 然 法 ” 概 念 上
古 代 的 和 现 代 的 区 别 。 罗 马 法 律 家 认 为 , “ 先 占 ” 是 取 得 财 产
的 “ 自 然 方 式 ” 之 一 , 他 们 毫 不 怀 疑 地 深 信 , 如 果 人 类 真 能
生 活 在 “ 自 然 ” 的 制 度 下 , “ 先 占 ” 必 将 为 他 们 的 实 践 之 一 。
至 于 他 们 是 否 真 正 自 信 这 样 的 民 族 状 态 确 实 存 在 , 则 象 我 在
前 面 已 经 说 过 的 , 是 他 们 论 文 中 留 而 未 决 的 一 点 ; 但 他 们 有
一 个 推 测 则 确 是 所 有 时 代 的 人 一 致 认 为 可 信 的 , 即 财 产 制 度
并 不 是 自 有 人 类 以 来 就 有 的 制 度 。 现 代 法 律 学 一 无 保 留 地 接
受 他 们 的 全 部 教 条 , 而 对 于 这 种 假 定 的 “ 自 然 ” 状 态 所 怀 抱
的 热 诚 好 奇 , 甚 且 超 过 了 他 们 。 此 后 , 由 于 现 代 法 律 学 接 受
了 这 个 论 点 , 认 为 土 地 及 其 果 实 在 过 去 一 度 是 ·
无 ·
主 ·
物 , 同 时
也 由 于 它 对 于 “ 自 然 ” 的 特 殊 见 解 使 得 它 毫 无 犹 豫 地 假 定 人
类 在 组 织 民 事 社 会 前 很 久 就 确 实 实 行 过 ·
无 ·
主 ·
物 的 “ 先 占 ” , 我
们 可 以 立 刻 得 到 这 样 一 个 推 理 : 即 “ 先 占 ” 是 一 个 手 续 程 序 ,
通 过 了 这 个 手 续 程 序 , 原 始 世 界 的 “ 无 人 物 件 ” 在 世 界 历 史
中 即 成 为 个 人 的 私 有 财 产 。 要 列 举 那 些 赞 成 这 个 理 论 的 某 一
形 式 的 法 学 家 , 将 是 无 聊 的 , 并 且 也 没 有 这 样 做 的 必 要 , 因
为 始 终 作 为 其 时 代 一 般 意 见 的 忠 实 索 引 的 布 拉 克 斯 顿 , 曾 在
他 的 第 二 部 书 的 第 一 章 中 有 如 下 一 段 概 括 。
他 写 道 : “ 土 地 及 土 地 里 的 一 切 物 件 是 人 类 直 接 得 自 ‘ 造物 主 ’ 的 赐 赠 的 一 般 财 产 。 财 物 共 有 即 使 在 最 早 时 代 , 似 乎也 从 来 没 有 适 用 于 物 件 实 体 以 外 的 部 分 ; 也 不 能 扩 大 及 于 物
件 的 使 用 。 因 为 , 根 据 自 然 法 律 和 理 性 , 凡 是 第 一 个 开 始 使
用 它 的 人 即 在 其 中 取 得 一 种 暂 时 所 有 权 , 只 要 他 使 用 着 它 , 这
种 所 有 权 就 继 续 存 在 , 但 是 不 能 比 使 用 期 更 长 ; 或 者 , 更 确
切 一 些 讲 , 占 有 的 权 利 只 是 与 占 有 行 为 同 时 继 续 存 在 。 这 样 ,
土 地 是 共 有 的 , 没 有 一 部 分 可 以 成 为 任 何 特 定 个 人 的 永 久 财
产 ; 但 如 有 人 占 有 了 它 的 任 何 一 定 的 地 点 作 为 休 息 、 居 住 以
及 类 似 目 的 之 用 , 即 暂 时 取 得 一 种 所 有 权 , 如 果 有 人 用 武 力
把 他 赶 走 , 这 是 不 公 正 的 并 且 是 违 反 自 然 法 的 , 但 是 一 当 他
离 开 而 不 复 占 有 它 时 , 别 的 人 就 可 以 夺 取 它 而 并 无 不 公 正 之
处 。 ” 他 于 是 再 进 而 辩 称 : “ 当 人 类 日 益 增 加 , 就 有 必 要 接 受
较 永 久 的 所 有 权 的 概 念 , 不 是 仅 仅 把 眼 前 的 使 用 权 而 是 要 把
将 被 使 用 的 物 件 的 实 体 拨 归 个 人 所 有 。 ”
这 一 节 中 有 一 些 模 糊 的 说 法 , 令 人 怀 疑 布 拉 克 斯 顿 对 于
他 在 他 的 权 威 著 作 中 所 找 到 的 命 题 即 所 谓 地 面 的 所 有 权 在
“ 自 然 ” 法 下 是 由 ·
占 ·
有 ·
人 第 一 个 取 得 的 意 义 , 似 乎 并 不 完 全 了
解 ; 但 他 有 意 地 或 是 由 于 误 解 而 加 于 这 个 理 论 上 的 限 制 , 使
它 变 成 了 它 所 不 时 采 取 的 形 式 。 许 多 比 布 拉 克 斯 顿 更 著 名 的
作 者 在 用 语 上 是 确 切 的 , 认 为 在 事 物 开 始 时 , “ 先 占 ” 最 初 给
与 一 种 针 对 世 人 来 说 是 排 外 性 的 但 又 只 是 暂 时 享 有 的 权 利 ,
到 后 来 , 这 种 权 利 一 方 面 保 持 其 排 外 性 , 同 时 又 成 为 永 久 的 。
他 们 这 样 来 说 明 其 理 论 , 目 的 是 为 了 使 “ 自 然 ” 状 态 中 的 ·
无
·
主 ·
物 通 过 “ 先 占 ” 而 成 为 财 产 的 学 理 , 和 他 们 从 圣 经 史 中 所
获 得 的 推 理 取 得 一 致 , 即 族 长 们 在 最 初 对 牧 养 其 牛 羊 的 土 地并 不 是 永 久 占 有 的 。
直 接 适 用 于 布 拉 克 斯 顿 理 论 的 唯 一 批 评 , 是 在 研 究 那 个
造 成 他 的 原 始 社 会 图 景 的 情 况 , 是 否 要 比 其 他 能 同 样 容 易 地
想 象 出 来 的 情 况 更 接 近 可 能 一 些 。 用 这 种 方 法 来 研 究 , 我 们
可 以 恰 当 地 询 问 , 是 不 是 ·
占 ·
有 ( 布 拉 克 斯 顿 显 然 是 按 照 其 普
通 英 语 意 义 而 使 用 这 个 名 词 的 ) 土 地 上 一 定 地 点 作 为 休 息 或
居 住 的 人 就 应 该 准 许 保 留 它 而 不 受 干 扰 。 在 这 样 情 况 下 , 他
的 占 有 权 必 须 有 同 样 广 大 的 力 量 , 才 能 保 留 它 , 并 且 他 也 很
可 能 时 常 受 到 新 来 者 的 干 扰 , 如 果 这 个 新 来 者 看 中 了 这 块 土
地 并 自 以 为 有 强 力 足 以 把 占 有 人 驱 逐 掉 。 但 事 实 是 : 所 有 对
这 些 论 点 的 一 切 强 辩 由 于 这 些 论 点 本 身 的 毫 无 根 据 而 完 全 没
有 价 值 。 人 类 在 原 始 状 态 中 所 做 的 也 许 并 不 是 一 个 毫 无 办 法
加 以 研 究 的 主 题 , 但 对 于 他 们 为 什 么 要 这 样 做 的 动 机 , 则 可
能 就 无 法 知 道 了 。 这 些 有 关 世 界 最 古 年 代 人 类 情 况 的 描 写 , 受
到 这 两 种 假 定 的 影 响 , 首 先 是 假 定 人 类 并 不 具 有 他 们 现 在 被
围 绕 着 的 大 部 分 的 情 况 , 其 次 是 假 定 在 这 样 想 象 的 条 件 下 他
们 会 保 存 着 刺 激 他 们 现 在 活 动 的 同 样 情 绪 和 偏 见 , — — 虽 然
在 事 实 上 , 这 些 情 绪 很 可 能 正 是 由 这 个 假 定 认 为 他 们 应 该 被
剥 夺 的 情 况 所 创 设 和 产 生 的 。
萨 维 尼 有 一 个 格 言 , 有 时 被 认 为 是 在 赞 助 着 和 布 拉 克 斯
顿 所 概 括 的 一 些 理 论 颇 相 近 似 的 一 种 有 关 财 产 起 源 的 见 解 。
这 个 伟 大 的 日 耳 曼 法 律 家 宣 称 : 一 切 “ 所 有 权 ” 都 是 因 “ 时
效 ” ( P r e s c r i p t i o n ) 而 成 熟 的 “ 他 主 占 有 ” ( A d v e r s e P o s s e s As i o n ) 。 萨 维 尼 作 出 这 样 说 明 , 只 是 就 罗 马 法 而 言 , 在 全 部 理
解 其 含 义 以 前 , 必 须 对 用 语 的 解 释 和 定 义 耗 费 很 多 劳 力 。 可
是 , 他 的 意 思 可 以 充 分 正 确 地 表 现 出 来 , 如 果 我 们 认 为 他 所
断 言 的 是 : 不 论 我 们 对 罗 马 人 所 接 受 的 有 关 所 有 权 的 观 念 钻
研 得 如 何 深 入 , 不 论 我 们 在 追 溯 这 些 观 念 时 如 何 密 切 接 近 法
律 的 初 生 时 代 , 我 们 所 能 得 到 的 有 关 所 有 权 的 概 念 不 外 乎 包
括 这 三 个 要 素 — — “ 占 有 ” , “ 他 主 占 有 ” , 即 不 是 一 种 任 意 的
或 从 属 的 而 是 一 种 针 对 世 人 来 说 的 绝 对 占 有 , 以 及 “ 时 效 ” ,
也 就 是 “ 他 主 占 有 ” 不 间 断 地 延 续 着 的 一 定 期 间 。 非 常 可 能 ,
这 个 格 言 可 以 用 其 著 者 所 允 许 的 更 大 的 概 括 性 来 表 达 , 但 如
果 我 们 所 考 察 的 任 何 法 律 制 度 的 发 生 远 在 这 些 联 合 观 念 构 成
所 有 权 观 念 的 时 期 以 前 , 则 就 很 难 预 期 一 个 合 理 可 靠 的 结 论 。
同 时 萨 维 尼 的 准 则 不 但 确 立 了 关 于 财 产 起 源 的 通 俗 理 论 , 它
的 特 殊 价 值 还 在 于 使 我 们 注 意 到 它 的 弱 点 。 在 布 拉 克 斯 顿 和
他 的 追 随 者 的 见 解 中 , 神 秘 地 影 响 我 们 人 类 祖 先 的 心 理 的 是
取 得 专 门 享 有 的 方 式 。 但 神 秘 之 处 , 并 不 在 此 。 所 有 权 以 他
主 占 有 开 始 , 并 不 足 以 奇 怪 。 第 一 个 所 有 人 应 该 是 武 装 的 强
有 力 的 人 , 才 能 保 证 其 物 件 的 安 全 , 这 也 并 非 出 于 意 外 。 但
是 为 什 么 一 定 要 经 过 一 定 的 时 间 , 才 能 产 生 一 种 尊 重 他 占 有
的 情 绪 — — 这 正 就 是 为 什 么 人 类 对 于 一 切 在 ·
事 ·
实 ·
上 长 时 期 存
在 的 东 西 普 遍 加 以 尊 敬 的 根 源 — — , 这 才 真 正 有 深 入 研 究 的
必 要 但 却 远 不 属 于 本 文 范 围 之 内 的 问 题 。
在 指 出 我 们 可 能 多 少 搜 集 一 些 有 关 所 有 权 早 期 历 史 知 识
的 处 所 之 前 , 我 敢 提 出 我 的 意 见 。 我 认 为 一 般 对 于 “ 先 占 ” 在
文 明 第 一 阶 段 中 起 的 作 用 所 产 生 的 印 象 , 恰 正 和 真 相 直 接 相
反 。 “ 先 占 ” 是 实 物 占 有 的 有 意 承 担 ; 至 于 这 样 一 种 行 为 赋 予
人 们 对 “ 无 主 物 ” 享 有 权 利 的 看 法 , 不 但 不 是 很 早 期 社 会 的特 征 , 而 且 很 可 能 , 这 是 一 种 进 步 法 律 学 和 一 种 在 安 定 的 情
况 下 法 律 产 生 的 结 果 。 只 有 在 财 产 权 利 的 不 可 侵 犯 性 在 实 际
上 长 期 得 到 了 认 可 时 , 以 及 绝 大 多 数 的 享 有 物 件 已 属 于 私 人
所 有 时 , 单 纯 的 占 有 可 以 准 许 第 一 个 占 有 人 就 以 前 没 有 被 主
张 所 有 权 的 物 品 取 得 完 全 所 有 权 。 产 生 这 个 学 理 的 情 绪 , 和
作 为 文 明 开 始 时 期 的 特 征 的 所 有 权 的 少 见 和 不 固 定 , 是 绝 对
不 能 调 和 的 。 它 的 真 正 的 基 础 , 并 不 在 于 对 这 “ 财 产 权 ” 制
度 出 于 天 性 的 偏 爱 , 而 是 在 于 这 个 制 度 长 期 继 续 存 在 而 发 生
的 一 种 推 定 , 即 ·
每 ·
一 ·
种 ·
物 ·
件 ·
都 ·
应 ·
该 ·
有 ·
一 ·
个 ·
所 ·
有 ·
人 。 当 一 个
“ 无 主 物 ” 、 也 就 是 当 一 个 还 没 有 或 者 ·
从 ·
来 没 有 成 为 完 全 所 有
权 的 物 件 被 占 有 时 , 占 有 人 所 以 被 允 许 成 为 所 有 人 , 是 出 于
这 样 一 种 感 觉 , 即 所 有 的 贵 重 物 件 天 然 地 是 一 种 绝 对 占 有 的
主 体 , 而 在 上 述 的 情 况 中 , 除 了 “ 占 有 人 ” 以 外 还 没 有 一 个
人 被 授 与 过 财 产 权 。 简 言 之 , “ 占 有 人 ” 成 为 所 有 人 , 因 为 所
有 的 物 件 都 被 假 定 为 应 该 是 属 于 某 个 人 的 财 产 , 同 时 也 因 为
没 有 一 个 人 比 他 对 这 特 定 物 件 有 更 好 的 所 有 权 。
即 使 对 于 我 们 所 讨 论 的 、 在 其 自 然 状 态 中 的 人 类 的 描 写
没 有 其 他 反 对 意 见 , 但 在 有 一 点 上 , 这 种 描 述 是 和 我 们 所 掌
握 的 真 凭 实 据 严 重 地 不 一 致 的 。 可 以 看 到 , 这 些 理 论 所 假 定
的 各 种 行 为 和 动 机 是 “ 个 人 ” 的 行 为 和 动 机 。 为 自 己 签 署
“ 社 会 契 约 ” 的 , 是 每 一 个 “ 个 人 ” 。 这 好 象 是 一 个 移 动 的 沙
洲 , 而 作 为 沙 洲 中 的 沙 粒 的 是 “ 个 人 ” , 按 照 霍 布 斯 的 理 论 ,
这 些 沙 粒 由 于 强 力 的 锻 炼 凝 固 为 社 会 岩 石 。 在 布 拉 克 斯 顿 所
描 绘 的 图 画 中 , “ 占 有 了 它 的 任 何 一 定 的 地 点 作 为 休 息 、 居 住
以 及 类 似 目 的 之 用 ” 的 , 也 是 一 个 “ 个 人 ” 。 它 的 缺 点 是 : 它必 然 要 动 摇 从 罗 马 “ 自 然 法 ” 所 传 下 来 的 一 切 理 论 。 罗 马
“ 自 然 法 ” 和 “ 市 民 法 ” 主 要 不 同 之 处 , 是 在 于 它 对 “ 个 人 ”
的 重 视 , 它 对 人 类 文 明 所 作 最 大 的 贡 献 , 就 在 于 它 把 个 人 从
古 代 社 会 的 权 威 中 解 放 出 来 。 但 是 有 必 要 再 一 次 加 以 重 复 的
就 是 “ 古 代 法 律 ” 几 乎 全 然 不 知 “ 个 人 ” 。 它 所 关 心 的 不 是
“ 个 人 ” 而 是 “ 家 族 ” , 不 是 单 独 的 人 而 是 集 团 。 即 使 到 了
“ 国 家 ” 的 法 律 成 功 地 透 过 了 它 原 来 无 法 穿 过 的 亲 族 的 小 圈 子
时 , 它 对 于 “ 个 人 ” 的 看 法 还 是 和 法 律 学 成 熟 阶 段 的 看 法 显
著 地 不 同 的 。 每 一 个 公 民 的 生 命 并 不 认 为 以 出 生 到 死 亡 为 限 ;
个 人 生 命 只 是 其 祖 先 生 存 的 一 种 延 续 , 并 在 其 后 裔 的 生 存 中
又 延 续 下 去 。
罗 马 人 就 “ 人 法 ” 和 “ 物 法 ” 之 间 的 区 分 , 虽 然 是 极 端
方 便 的 , 但 却 是 完 全 人 为 的 , 这 个 区 分 显 然 促 使 我 们 在 研 究
当 前 的 主 题 时 , 离 开 了 真 正 的 方 向 。 当 讨 论 到 “ 物 法 ” ( J u s
R e r u m ) 时 , 就 把 讨 论 “ 人 法 ” ( J u s P e r s o n a r u m ) 中 所 得 的
教 训 忘 记 了 , 当 考 虑 到 “ 财 产 ” 、 “ 契 约 ” 以 及 “ 侵 权 行 为 ”
( D e l i c t ) 等 等 时 , 好 像 从 关 于 “ 人 ” 的 原 始 状 态 所 确 定 的 事
实 中 , 不 能 获 得 有 关 它 们 原 始 性 质 的 暗 示 。 如 果 一 个 纯 粹 古
法 律 制 度 可 以 放 在 我 们 的 面 前 , 并 适 用 罗 马 的 分 类 来 作 为 试
验 , 这 种 方 法 的 无 用 是 显 而 易 见 的 。 不 久 就 可 以 看 到 , 把
“ 人 法 ” 从 “ 物 法 ” 中 分 离 出 来 , 在 法 律 的 初 生 时 代 是 毫 无 意
义 的 , 因 为 属 于 这 两 个 部 门 的 规 定 是 难 解 地 错 杂 在 一 起 的 , 而
后 期 法 律 家 的 区 分 只 可 能 适 用 于 后 期 法 律 学 。 本 文 开 始 时 已
经 说 过 , 可 以 推 断 , 如 果 把 我 们 的 注 意 力 限 于 个 人 的 所 有 权 ,
则 就 先 天 地 极 少 可 能 对 早 期 的 财 产 史 获 得 任 何 线 索 。 真 正 古代 的 制 度 很 可 能 是 共 同 所 有 权 而 不 是 各 别 的 所 有 权 , 我 们 能
得 到 指 示 的 财 产 形 式 , 则 是 些 和 家 族 权 利 及 亲 族 团 体 权 利 有
联 系 的 形 式 。 在 这 里 , 罗 马 法 律 学 不 能 对 我 们 有 所 启 发 , 因
为 正 是 被 自 然 法 理 论 所 改 变 后 的 罗 马 法 律 学 把 下 述 的 印 象 遗
留 给 我 们 现 代 人 , 即 个 人 所 有 权 是 正 常 状 态 的 所 有 权 , 而 人
的 集 团 所 共 有 的 所 有 权 只 是 通 则 的 一 个 例 外 。 可 是 , 凡 是 要
探 究 原 始 社 会 任 何 已 经 消 灭 的 制 度 的 人 , 有 一 个 共 产 体 始 终
应 该 仔 细 地 加 以 研 究 。 对 长 期 居 留 在 印 度 的 一 支 印 度 - 欧 罗
巴 系 , 这 类 原 始 制 度 即 使 曾 经 发 生 过 重 大 变 化 , 但 我 们 发 现
它 绝 少 完 全 抛 弃 它 原 来 在 其 中 长 大 的 外 面 轮 廓 。 在 印 度 人 中
间 , 我 们 确 实 发 现 有 一 种 所 有 权 形 式 应 立 刻 引 起 我 们 的 注 意 ,
因 为 它 完 全 符 合 我 们 研 究 “ 人 法 ” 中 有 关 财 产 原 始 状 态 时 要
使 我 们 接 受 的 各 种 观 念 。 印 度 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 一 方 面 是 一 个
有 组 织 的 宗 法 社 会 , 另 一 方 面 又 是 共 同 所 有 人 的 一 个 集 合 。 组
成 它 的 人 们 相 互 之 间 的 个 人 关 系 是 和 他 们 的 财 产 所 有 权 不 能
辨 别 地 混 淆 在 一 起 的 , 英 国 官 吏 曾 企 图 要 把 两 者 加 以 分 开 , 这
种 企 图 被 认 为 是 英 印 统 治 中 最 惊 人 的 失 策 。 印 度 的 “ 村 落 共
产 体 ” 是 被 公 认 为 非 常 古 老 的 。 不 论 从 哪 一 个 方 面 来 深 入 研
究 印 度 历 史 , 印 度 的 一 般 历 史 或 者 地 方 史 , 在 其 历 史 发 展 的
最 早 时 期 常 常 可 以 发 现 有 这 种 “ 共 产 体 ” 的 存 在 。 许 多 有 才
智 的 和 善 于 观 察 的 著 者 , 其 中 大 部 分 的 人 对 于 这 种 “ 共 产
体 ” 的 性 质 和 来 源 , 都 没 有 任 何 理 论 的 支 持 , 但 他 们 却 一 致
同 意 认 为 它 是 一 种 最 不 容 易 摧 毁 的 社 会 制 度 , 它 从 来 不 愿 意
把 任 何 一 个 惯 例 加 以 革 新 。 征 服 和 革 命 不 断 地 横 扫 而 过 , 但
是 并 没 有 扰 乱 它 或 除 掉 它 , 在 印 度 , 凡 是 最 好 的 政 府 制 度 似乎 始 终 是 把 它 承 认 为 行 政 基 础 的 那 些 政 府 制 度 。
成 熟 的 罗 马 法 律 以 及 紧 接 着 它 的 足 迹 的 现 代 法 律 学 把 共
有 制 度 看 作 财 产 权 中 一 种 例 外 的 、 暂 时 的 状 态 。 在 西 欧 普 遍
流 行 着 的 格 言 : ·
没 ·
有 ·
人 ·
能 ·
违 ·
背 ·
其 ·
意 ·
志 ·
而 ·
被 ·
保 ·
留 ·
在 ·
共 ·
同 ·
所 ·
有 ·
制
·
中 ( N e m o i n c o m m u n i o n e p o t e s t i n v i t u s d e t i n e r i ) , 就
明 显 地 表 示 出 这 种 见 解 。 但 是 在 印 度 , 他 们 的 想 法 恰 恰 相 反 ,
个 别 的 所 有 制 始 终 是 朝 着 共 同 所 有 制 的 方 向 在 发 展 。 其 过 程
已 经 在 前 面 谈 到 了 。 儿 子 一 出 世 就 已 在 父 的 财 产 中 立 即 取 得
一 种 既 得 利 益 ; 当 到 达 成 年 时 , 在 某 种 偶 然 情 况 下 , 法 律 的
条 文 甚 至 许 可 他 要 求 分 割 家 族 财 产 。 可 是 , 在 事 实 上 , 甚 至
在 父 死 亡 时 , 也 绝 少 发 生 分 家 的 , 财 产 继 续 被 保 留 不 分 割 有
几 代 之 久 , 虽 然 每 一 代 的 每 一 个 成 员 对 于 财 产 中 没 有 经 过 分
割 的 一 个 份 额 都 各 有 一 种 合 法 权 利 。 这 样 共 有 的 领 地 有 时 由
一 个 选 任 的 管 理 人 加 以 管 理 , 但 在 一 般 情 况 下 , 在 某 些 省 份
中 , 始 终 是 由 年 事 较 高 的 宗 亲 、 也 就 是 由 血 族 中 最 长 一 支 系
的 最 年 长 的 代 表 来 管 理 。 这 样 一 种 共 同 财 产 所 有 人 的 集 合 , 一
个 持 有 一 个 共 有 领 地 的 亲 族 的 集 团 , 是 最 简 单 形 式 的 印 度
“ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 。 但 是 这 个 “ 共 产 体 ” 不 仅 仅 是 一 个 因 亲 族 的
同 胞 之 谊 而 结 合 起 来 的 , 也 不 仅 仅 是 一 种 合 伙 的 联 合 。 它 是
一 个 有 组 织 的 社 会 , 它 不 但 管 理 着 共 有 基 金 , 并 且 通 过 一 整
套 的 官 吏 来 管 理 着 内 政 、 警 务 、 司 法 以 及 赋 和 公 共 义 务 的 分
配 。
我 在 上 面 叙 述 的 一 个 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 的 形 成 过 程 , 可 以
视 为 典 型 的 。 但 我 们 不 能 就 因 此 而 假 定 , 在 印 度 每 一 个 “ 村
落 共 产 体 ” 都 是 在 这 样 一 种 简 单 方 式 里 面 结 合 起 来 的 。 虽 然据 我 所 知 , 在 印 度 北 部 , 在 保 存 下 来 的 记 录 中 , 几 乎 一 成 不
变 地 表 明 “ 共 产 体 ” 是 由 一 种 简 单 的 血 亲 集 合 而 成 的 , 但 记
录 中 也 提 供 我 们 这 种 情 况 , 即 血 亲 外 的 人 也 始 终 随 时 可 以 参
加 进 来 , 并 且 在 某 种 条 件 下 , 只 要 是 一 个 份 额 财 产 的 买 受 人 ,
一 般 地 就 可 以 被 准 许 加 入 族 内 。 在 印 度 半 岛 的 南 部 , 常 常 有
一 些 “ 共 产 体 ” 似 乎 不 是 由 一 个 而 是 由 二 个 或 更 多 的 家 族 发
展 而 成 的 ; 也 有 些 “ 共 产 体 ” 的 构 成 部 分 经 公 认 是 完 全 出 于
人 为 的 ; 真 的 , 有 时 在 同 一 社 会 中 聚 合 着 属 于 不 同 族 籍 的 人
们 , 这 种 情 况 对 于 一 个 共 同 祖 先 的 假 设 是 一 个 致 命 的 打 击 。 但
是 在 所 有 这 些 同 族 中 , 或 者 保 留 着 一 个 共 同 祖 先 的 传 统 , 或
者 有 着 这 样 一 个 共 同 祖 先 的 假 定 。 蒙 特 斯 图 亚 特 · 爱 芬 斯 吞
( M o u n t s t u a r t E l p h i n - s t o n e ) 曾 经 特 别 详 细 描 述 过 “ 南 方村 落 共 产 体 ” ( 在 其 “ 印 度 史 ” 第 7 1 页 中 ) 。 他 这 样 说 : “ 一
般 人 的 看 法 是 : 村 落 的 土 地 所 有 人 都 是 开 拓 这 个 村 落 的 一 个
或 几 个 个 人 的 后 裔 ; 向 原 有 族 员 购 买 或 通 过 其 他 方 法 从 原 有
家 族 成 员 取 得 权 利 的 人 , 则 是 仅 有 的 例 外 。 这 一 个 推 定 由 下
述 事 实 加 以 证 实 , 即 直 到 现 在 , 在 小 村 落 中 , 往 往 只 有 一 个
唯 一 的 家 族 的 土 地 所 有 人 , 大 村 落 中 的 土 地 所 有 人 往 往 也 只
有 少 数 几 个 家 族 ; 但 每 一 个 家 族 都 有 许 多 成 员 , 以 致 全 部 农
业 劳 动 普 通 都 是 由 土 地 所 有 人 自 己 担 任 的 , 不 需 要 佃 农 或 工
人 的 帮 助 。 土 地 所 有 人 的 权 利 是 他 们 集 体 所 有 的 , 虽 然 他 们
几 乎 始 终 可 以 取 得 其 中 或 多 或 少 一 个 完 整 的 部 分 , 但 他 们 从
来 没 有 发 生 过 一 次 全 部 的 分 割 。 例 如 , 一 个 土 地 所 有 人 可 以
出 卖 或 抵 押 其 权 利 ; 但 他 必 须 首 先 取 得 ‘ 村 落 ’ 的 同 意 , 而
买 受 人 就 恰 恰 抵 充 他 的 位 置 并 负 担 他 的 所 有 义 务 。 如 果 一 家没 有 后 裔 , 它 的 份 额 便 应 归 入 共 有 财 产 中 。 ”
本 书 第 五 章 中 提 到 的 一 些 意 见 , 我 相 信 可 以 帮 助 读 者 理
解 爱 芬 斯 吞 所 谈 的 重 要 性 。 没 有 一 种 原 始 社 会 的 制 度 可 能 会
保 存 到 今 天 , 除 非 是 通 过 某 种 生 动 的 法 律 拟 制 使 它 取 得 了 原
来 性 质 所 没 有 的 一 种 弹 性 。 因 此 , “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 不 一 定 是 一
种 血 亲 的 集 合 , 它 或 者 是 这 类 的 一 种 集 合 , 或 者 是 根 据 一 个
亲 属 联 合 的 模 型 而 组 成 的 一 个 共 同 财 产 所 有 人 的 集 体 。 和 它
可 以 相 比 拟 的 类 型 显 然 不 是 罗 马 的 “ 家 族 ” , 而 是 罗 马 的 “ 氏
族 ” 或 “ 大 氏 族 ” 。 “ 氏 族 ” 也 是 根 据 家 族 的 模 型 而 组 成 的 一
个 集 团 ; 这 是 通 过 多 种 多 样 的 拟 制 而 扩 大 的 家 族 , 这 些 拟 制
的 确 切 性 质 已 经 湮 没 不 可 考 了 。 在 历 史 时 期 内 , 其 主 要 的 特
点 正 就 是 爱 芬 斯 吞 在 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 中 所 谈 到 的 两 点 。 过 去
始 终 有 一 个 共 同 祖 先 的 假 定 , 这 个 假 定 有 时 和 事 实 显 然 是 有
出 入 的 ; 我 们 再 重 复 一 次 历 史 学 家 的 话 , “ 如 果 一 家 没 有 后 裔 ,
它 的 份 额 便 应 归 入 共 有 财 产 中 ” 。 在 旧 罗 马 法 中 , 无 人 主 张 的
继 承 权 归 属 于 “ 同 族 人 ” 。 凡 是 研 究 它 们 历 史 的 人 们 都 这 样 怀
疑 , 认 为 “ 共 产 体 ” 和 “ 氏 族 ” 一 样 , 一 般 都 由 于 准 许 族 外
人 的 加 入 而 混 杂 , 但 “ 共 产 体 ” 吸 收 族 外 人 的 确 实 方 式 , 现
在 已 无 法 确 定 。 在 现 在 , 据 爱 芬 斯 吞 告 诉 我 们 , “ 共 产 体 ” 在
取 得 族 人 同 意 后 用 接 纳 买 受 人 的 方 法 而 补 充 成 员 。 然 而 , 这
个 被 收 养 成 员 的 取 得 是 属 于 一 种 概 括 继 承 的 性 质 ; 随 着 他 所
买 受 的 份 额 , 他 同 时 继 承 了 卖 主 对 集 合 体 所 负 的 全 部 责 任 。 他
是 一 个 “ 家 产 买 主 ” , 他 开 始 抵 充 某 人 的 地 位 , 也 就 继 承 了 他
的 法 律 身 分 。 要 接 纳 他 必 须 取 得 全 族 人 的 同 意 , 这 使 我 们 回
忆 到 “ 贵 族 民 会 ” 那 些 自 命 为 亲 属 的 较 多 族 人 所 组 成 的 “ 议会 ” , 也 就 是 古 代 罗 马 共 和 政 体 所 竭 力 坚 持 的 同 意 , 他 们 坚 执
地 认 为 这 种 同 意 是 使 一 个 “ 收 养 ” 合 法 化 和 使 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 获
特 确 认 所 必 要 的 条 件 。
在 印 度 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 的 每 一 个 方 面 几 乎 都 可 以 发 现 一
种 极 端 古 老 的 象 征 。 我 们 有 极 多 的 充 足 的 理 由 来 猜 疑 : 法 律
初 生 时 代 的 特 点 是 , 由 于 人 格 权 和 财 产 权 的 混 杂 不 清 以 及 公
法 义 务 和 私 法 义 务 的 混 淆 在 一 起 而 流 行 着 共 同 所 有 制 , 因 此 ,
即 使 在 世 界 的 任 何 其 他 部 分 都 不 能 发 现 类 似 地 混 合 的 社 会 ,
我 们 应 有 正 当 理 由 从 我 们 对 于 这 些 财 产 所 有 同 族 团 体 的 考 察
中 推 论 出 许 多 重 要 的 结 论 来 。 在 欧 洲 有 一 些 部 分 其 财 产 权 很
少 受 到 封 建 变 化 的 影 响 , 在 许 多 其 他 重 要 方 面 它 和 东 方 世 界
的 关 系 也 象 和 西 方 世 界 一 样 密 切 , 在 这 些 部 分 中 , 恰 巧 有 一
套 类 似 的 现 象 在 最 近 引 起 了 许 多 热 切 的 兴 趣 。 哈 克 索 孙 ( M .
d e H a x t h a u s e n ) 、 顿 戈 波 斯 基 ( M . T e n g o b o r s k i ) 以 及 其 他人 的 科 学 研 究 告 诉 我 们 , 俄 罗 斯 的 村 落 并 不 是 人 们 的 偶 然 集合 , 也 不 是 根 据 契 约 而 组 成 的 联 合 体 ; 它 们 是 和 印 度 那 些 村
落 一 样 天 然 组 织 起 来 的 共 产 体 。 诚 然 , 这 些 村 落 在 理 论 上 始
终 是 某 些 贵 族 所 有 人 的 世 袭 财 产 , 农 民 从 历 史 时 期 起 就 已 变
成 领 主 的 附 属 于 土 地 的 农 奴 , 在 很 多 情 况 下 , 并 成 为 领 主 个
人 的 农 奴 。 但 这 高 贵 的 所 有 制 的 压 力 从 来 没 有 把 古 代 的 村 落
组 织 加 以 破 坏 , 而 且 很 可 能 , 这 个 假 定 为 把 农 奴 制 介 绍 来 的
俄 罗 斯 沙 皇 , 他 在 制 定 法 律 时 的 真 正 意 图 是 在 防 止 农 民 舍 弃
那 种 合 作 , 因 为 没 有 这 种 合 作 , 旧 的 社 会 秩 序 是 不 可 能 长 期
维 持 的 。 在 俄 罗 斯 “ 村 落 ” 中 , 村 民 之 间 是 假 定 有 一 种 宗 亲
的 关 系 的 , 人 格 权 和 所 有 权 是 混 杂 在 一 起 的 , 在 内 政 方 面 亦有 多 种 多 样 的 自 发 规 定 , 这 一 切 就 使 它 几 乎 完 全 和 印 度 “ 共
产 体 ” 重 复 ; 但 是 有 一 个 重 要 的 不 同 之 点 , 是 我 们 极 感 兴 趣
的 。 一 个 印 度 村 落 的 共 同 所 有 人 , 虽 然 其 财 产 是 混 在 一 起 的 ,
但 他 们 有 其 各 别 的 权 利 , 而 且 这 种 权 利 的 分 割 是 完 全 和 无 限
制 地 继 续 着 的 。 在 一 个 俄 罗 斯 村 落 中 , 权 利 的 分 割 在 理 论 上
也 是 完 全 的 , 但 只 是 暂 时 的 。 在 一 定 的 、 但 并 不 是 在 所 有 情
况 中 都 是 同 样 的 时 期 终 了 后 , 各 别 的 所 有 权 即 告 消 灭 , 村 落
的 土 地 就 集 中 在 一 起 , 然 后 在 组 成 共 产 体 的 家 族 中 按 照 人 数
重 行 分 配 。 这 种 再 分 配 实 行 后 , 家 族 的 和 个 人 的 权 利 又 被 分
成 为 各 个 支 系 , 作 为 再 一 次 分 配 时 期 到 来 之 前 继 续 遵 循 的 根
据 。 还 有 一 种 所 有 权 更 奇 特 的 变 形 发 生 在 某 些 国 家 中 , 这 些
国 家 长 期 成 为 土 耳 其 帝 国 和 奥 地 利 皇 室 领 土 之 间 的 一 块 争 执
的 土 地 。 在 塞 尔 维 亚 ( S e r v i a ) 、 在 克 罗 西 亚 ( C r o a t i a ) 以 及
在 奥 地 利 的 斯 拉 窝 尼 亚 , 各 种 村 落 也 都 是 由 既 是 共 同 所 有 人
又 是 亲 属 的 人 们 集 合 而 成 的 ; 但 在 那 里 , 共 产 体 的 内 部 安 排
和 以 上 两 个 例 子 中 所 提 到 的 有 所 不 同 。 在 这 一 例 子 中 , 共 有
财 产 的 内 容 不 但 在 事 实 上 不 分 割 , 并 且 在 理 论 上 也 认 为 是 不
能 分 割 的 , 全 部 土 地 由 所 有 村 民 的 联 合 劳 动 耕 种 着 , 农 产 物
每 年 在 各 家 村 民 中 分 配 一 次 , 有 时 按 照 各 家 假 定 的 需 要 , 有
时 按 照 规 定 而 以 一 定 份 额 的 用 益 权 给 与 各 别 的 人 。 东 欧 的 法
学 家 都 认 为 所 有 这 些 实 践 都 可 追 溯 到 一 个 据 说 在 最 古 的 斯 拉
夫 法 律 中 可 以 找 到 的 原 则 , 就 是 家 族 财 产 不 能 永 久 分 割 的 原
则 。
在 以 上 研 究 中 发 现 的 这 些 现 象 所 以 会 引 起 人 们 的 极 大 兴
趣 , 主 要 是 它 使 我 们 得 以 了 解 原 来 持 有 财 产 的 团 体 ·
内 ·
部 的 各别 所 有 权 的 发 展 情 况 。 我 们 有 强 有 力 的 理 由 , 认 定 在 某 一 个
时 期 中 , 财 产 不 属 于 个 人 、 甚 至 也 不 属 于 各 别 的 家 族 , 而 是
属 于 按 照 宗 法 模 型 组 成 的 较 大 的 社 会 所 有 ; 从 古 代 所 有 权 转
变 到 现 代 所 有 权 的 方 式 , 虽 然 还 是 十 分 模 糊 的 , 但 是 如 果 有
几 种 显 著 的 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 形 式 没 有 被 发 现 并 加 以 研 究 的 话 ,
则 可 能 还 要 更 加 模 糊 。 在 印 度 - 欧 罗 巴 血 统 的 民 族 中 间 , 过
去 可 以 看 到 , 或 者 至 今 还 可 以 看 到 一 些 宗 法 团 体 , 其 中 各 式
各 样 的 内 部 安 排 是 有 加 以 注 意 的 价 值 的 。 据 说 , 未 开 化 的 苏
格 兰 高 原 部 族 领 袖 经 常 每 隔 一 个 短 时 期 、 有 时 甚 至 是 逐 日 把
食 物 分 配 给 其 管 辖 下 各 家 庭 的 家 长 。 奥 地 利 和 土 耳 其 省 的 斯
拉 夫 村 人 也 由 他 们 团 体 的 长 辈 作 定 期 分 配 , 但 在 这 里 , 是 把
全 年 全 部 农 产 物 一 次 分 配 的 。 可 是 在 俄 罗 斯 村 落 中 , 财 产 的
实 体 已 不 再 被 视 为 不 可 分 割 的 , 各 别 的 对 于 财 产 的 要 求 准 许
自 由 提 出 , 但 在 这 里 , 分 割 的 进 程 在 继 续 一 定 的 时 期 以 后 即
断 然 停 止 。 在 印 度 , 不 但 没 有 共 有 财 产 的 不 可 分 性 , 并 且 共
有 财 产 的 各 个 部 分 所 具 有 的 各 别 的 财 产 所 有 权 得 无 限 制 地 延
长 , 并 分 为 任 何 数 量 的 派 生 所 有 权 , 但 是 公 有 财 产 的 “ 事 实
上 ” 的 分 割 则 为 根 深 蒂 固 的 习 惯 所 阻 止 , 也 为 反 对 在 未 经 族
人 同 意 时 接 纳 族 外 人 的 规 定 所 阻 止 。 当 然 , 我 们 并 不 想 坚 持
这 些 不 同 形 式 的 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 可 以 代 表 到 处 都 以 同 样 方 式
完 成 的 一 种 变 化 过 程 中 的 各 个 阶 段 。 虽 然 证 据 并 不 允 许 我 们
前 进 过 远 , 但 是 我 们 如 果 认 为 , 就 我 们 所 看 到 的 那 种 形 式 的
私 有 财 产 权 , 主 要 是 由 一 个 共 产 体 的 混 合 权 利 中 逐 步 分 离 出
来 的 各 别 的 个 人 权 利 所 组 成 的 , 这 种 猜 度 , 并 不 能 说 是 完 全
毫 无 根 据 的 臆 测 。 我 们 在 研 究 “ 人 法 ” 时 , 似 乎 可 以 看 到“ 家 族 ” 扩 张 而 成 为 亲 属 的 “ 宗 亲 ” 集 团 , 然 后 , “ 宗 亲 ” 团
体 分 解 而 成 为 各 个 的 家 ; 最 后 , 家 又 为 个 人 所 代 替 ; 现 在 可
以 提 出 这 样 的 意 见 , 即 在 这 个 变 化 中 每 一 个 步 骤 相 当 于 “ 所
有 权 ” 性 质 中 一 次 类 似 的 改 变 。 如 果 在 这 个 意 见 中 有 任 何 真
理 的 话 , 可 以 看 到 , 它 在 实 质 上 影 响 了 有 关 “ 财 产 ” 起 源 的
理 论 家 一 般 都 向 他 们 自 己 提 出 的 问 题 。 他 们 最 急 切 需 要 解 决
的 问 题 — — 也 许 是 一 个 无 法 解 决 的 问 题 — — 是 : 最 初 引 起 人
们 相 互 尊 重 他 人 的 所 有 物 , 其 动 机 究 竟 是 什 么 ? 这 个 问 题 也
可 以 用 这 种 形 式 来 表 现 , 虽 然 也 很 少 希 望 能 为 它 找 到 一 个 答
案 , 即 研 究 一 下 使 得 一 个 混 合 团 体 和 其 他 混 合 团 体 的 领 地 离
开 的 原 因 。 但 是 , 私 有 “ 财 产 ” 史 中 最 最 重 要 的 一 章 如 果 真
是 它 的 逐 渐 从 亲 属 共 同 所 有 权 中 解 除 出 来 , 那 末 , 需 要 研 究
的 主 要 之 点 , 就 和 在 所 有 历 史 法 律 学 门 口 所 要 遇 到 的 问 题 完
全 相 同 — — 即 原 来 促 使 人 们 团 结 在 家 族 联 合 体 中 的 动 机 究 竟
是 什 么 ? 对 于 这 样 一 个 问 题 , 如 果 没 有 其 他 科 学 的 帮 助 , 单
靠 法 律 学 是 不 能 提 出 一 个 答 案 的 。 这 个 事 实 不 得 不 加 以 注 意 。
古 代 社 会 的 财 产 是 不 分 割 的 , 但 这 种 状 态 是 和 当 任 何 单
独 的 一 部 分 完 全 从 集 团 遗 产 中 分 离 出 来 时 就 立 刻 表 现 的 一 种
特 殊 鲜 明 的 分 割 , 是 不 相 矛 盾 的 。 这 种 现 象 的 产 生 , 无 疑 地
是 由 于 财 产 经 分 割 后 , 就 成 为 一 个 新 的 团 体 的 所 有 物 , 因 此 ,
在 已 经 分 离 的 状 态 下 , 如 果 要 和 它 发 生 往 来 , 就 成 为 两 个 高
度 复 杂 团 体 之 间 的 一 种 交 易 了 。 我 已 经 就 各 集 合 体 的 大 小 和
复 杂 程 度 等 方 面 , 把 古 代 法 和 现 代 国 际 法 加 以 比 较 , 这 些 集
合 体 的 权 利 和 义 务 古 代 法 里 都 有 规 定 。 古 代 法 中 的 契 约 和 让
与 既 然 不 是 以 单 独 的 个 人 而 是 以 有 组 织 的 人 的 团 体 为 当 事人 , 这 此 契 约 和 让 与 就 有 高 等 的 仪 式 ; 它 们 需 要 多 种 多 样 象
征 性 的 行 为 或 言 辞 , 其 目 的 是 使 整 个 交 易 能 深 深 地 印 在 参 与
仪 式 的 每 一 个 人 的 记 忆 中 ; 它 们 并 且 要 求 一 个 很 大 数 目 的 证
人 到 场 。 从 这 些 特 点 以 及 类 似 的 其 他 特 点 产 生 了 古 代 财 产 形
式 上 普 遍 存 在 着 的 顽 强 性 。 有 时 , 家 族 的 遗 产 是 绝 对 不 可 让
与 的 , 像 斯 拉 夫 人 的 情 形 , 更 通 常 的 是 , 虽 然 让 与 不 一 定 完
全 非 法 , 但 象 在 大 部 分 的 日 耳 曼 部 落 中 那 样 , 让 与 在 实 际 上
几 乎 是 不 能 实 行 的 , 因 为 要 移 转 就 必 须 取 得 多 数 人 的 同 意 。 在
这 些 障 碍 并 不 存 在 或 是 能 够 克 服 的 地 方 , 让 与 行 为 的 本 身 一
般 都 为 一 大 套 不 能 有 丝 毫 疏 忽 的 仪 式 所 重 累 着 。 古 代 法 一 致
拒 绝 废 除 一 个 单 独 动 作 , 不 论 它 是 如 何 地 荒 诞 ; 一 个 单 独 的
音 节 , 不 论 其 意 义 可 能 是 早 已 被 忘 却 了 ; 一 个 单 独 的 证 人 , 不
论 他 的 证 词 是 如 何 地 多 余 。 全 部 的 仪 式 应 该 由 法 律 上 所 规 定
的 必 须 参 加 的 人 们 毫 不 苟 且 地 加 以 完 成 , 否 则 让 与 便 归 无 效 ,
而 出 卖 人 亦 恢 复 其 权 利 , 因 为 他 移 转 的 企 图 并 未 生 效 。
对 使 用 物 件 和 享 有 物 件 的 自 由 流 通 所 加 的 种 种 障 碍 , 只
要 社 会 获 得 极 为 细 微 的 活 动 时 , 就 会 立 刻 被 感 觉 到 , 前 进 中
的 社 会 就 竭 力 用 种 种 权 宜 手 段 来 克 服 这 些 障 碍 , 这 就 形 成 了
“ 财 产 ” 史 中 的 材 料 。 在 这 些 手 段 中 , 有 一 个 更 重 要 , 因 为 它
更 古 老 和 普 遍 。 把 财 产 分 为 许 多 类 别 的 想 法 , 似 乎 是 大 多 数
早 期 社 会 中 自 发 地 产 生 的 。 有 一 种 或 一 类 的 财 产 放 在 比 较 不
贵 重 的 地 位 上 , 但 在 同 时 却 免 除 了 古 代 加 在 它 们 上 面 的 种 种
拘 束 。 后 来 , 适 用 于 低 级 财 产 移 转 与 继 承 的 规 定 , 其 高 度 的
便 利 逐 渐 被 一 般 人 所 承 认 , 在 经 过 了 一 个 渐 进 的 改 革 过 程 后 ,
比 较 不 贵 重 一 类 的 有 价 物 的 可 塑 性 就 传 染 给 传 统 上 地 位 较 高一 级 的 各 类 物 件 。 罗 马 “ 财 产 法 ” 的 历 史 就 是 “ 要 式 交 易物 ” 和 “ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 同 化 的 历 史 。 在 欧 洲 大 陆 上 的 “ 财产 ” 史 是 罗 马 化 的 动 产 法 消 灭 封 建 化 的 土 地 法 的 历 史 , 虽 然在 英 国 所 有 权 的 历 史 还 没 有 接 近 完 成 , 但 已 可 以 看 出 , 动 产
法 是 在 威 胁 着 要 并 吞 和 毁 灭 不 动 产 法 。
享 有 物 件 的 唯 一自然 分 类 , 即 能 符 合 物 体 中 实 质 区 别 的唯 一 分 类 , 是 把 它 们 分 成 为 “ 动 产 ” 和 “ 不 动 产 ” 。 这 种 分 类
虽 是 法 律 学 中 所 熟 悉 的 , 但 它 是 罗 马 法 慢 慢 地 发 展 而 得 来 的 ,
并 且 直 到 罗 马 法 的 最 后 阶 段 才 被 采 用 。 我 们 现 在 的 分 类 就 是
从 罗 马 法 得 来 的 。 “ 古 代 法 ” 的 分 类 有 时 在 表 面 上 和 这 个 分 类
很 相 类 似 。 古 代 法 分 类 偶 然 地 把 财 产 分 为 各 个 范 畴 , 并 把 不
动 产 作 为 其 中 的 一 项 ; 但 是 后 来 发 现 它 们 或 者 把 许 多 和 不 动
产 毫 无 关 系 的 物 件 归 在 不 动 产 之 内 , 或 者 把 它 们 从 和 它 们 有
极 密 切 关 系 的 各 种 权 利 中 强 行 分 出 来 。 这 样 , 在 罗 马 法 中 ,
“ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 不 但 包 括 土 地 , 并 且 也 包 括 奴 隶 和 牛 马 。 苏 格
兰 法 律 把 某 种 抵 押 物 和 土 地 列 在 一 起 , 印 度 法 则 把 土 地 和 奴
隶 联 系 起 来 。 在 另 一 方 面 , 英 国 法 律 把 多 年 的 土 地 租 赁 和 土
地 上 的 其 他 利 益 分 列 , 并 把 前 者 用 动 产 物 ( c h a t t e l s r e a l ) 的名 义 并 入 动 产 之 内 。 更 有 进 者 , “ 古 代 法 ” 的 分 类 是 含 有 贵 重和 低 贱 之 意 的 分 类 ; 动 产 和 不 动 产 之 间 的 区 分 , 至 少 以 罗 马法 律 学 而 论 , 实 在 并 不 具 有 尊 鄙 的 意 思 。 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ”最初的 确 要 比 “ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 优 越 些 , 正 象 苏 格 兰 的 可 继 承财产 和 英 格 兰 的 不 动 产 优 越 于 和 它 们 相 对 的 动 产 一 样 。 研究一切 制 度 的 法 律 家 都 不 辞 劳 苦 , 力 求 以 某 种 易 解 的 原 则 来 说 明这 些 分 类 ; 但 在 法 律 哲 学 中 去 寻 求 划 分 的 理 由 , 结 果 必 然 是徒 劳 无 功 ; 它 们 不 属 于 法 律 哲 学 而 属 法 律 历 史 。 可 以 用 来 概括 绝 大 多 数 事 例 的 解 释 是 , 比 其 余 享 用 物 贵 重 的 享 用 物, 一般 都 是 每 一 个 特 定 社 会 最 初 和 最 早 知 道 的 , 因 此 也 就 着 重 地用 “ 财 产 ” 的 名 称 来 尊 重 它 们 的 那 些 形 式 的 财 产 。 在 另 一 方面 , 所 有 不 列 入 爱 好 的 物 件 中 的 物 品 都 被 列 在 较 次 的 地 位 , 因为 关 于 它 们 价 值 的 知 识 是 肯 定 在 贵 重 财 产 目 录 已 经 确 定 之
后 。 它 们 在 最 初 是 不 为 人 们 所 知 道 的 , 稀 少 , 用 途 有 限 , 再
不 然 就 被 认 为 是 特 权 物 件 的 附 属 物 。 这 样 , 罗 马 “ 要 式 交 易
物 ” 虽 然 包 括 了 许 多 极 有 价 值 的 动 产 , 但 价 值 最 高 的 宝 石 仍
旧 是 从 来 没 有 被 列 入 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 项 内 , 因 为 它 们 是 古 罗
马 人 所 不 知 道 的 。 同 样 地 , 在 英 国 , 动 产 物 据 说 已 下 降 到 动
产 的 地 位 , 因 为 在 封 建 土 地 法 下 , 这 类 地 产 是 不 常 见 的 , 并
且 是 毫 无 价 值 的 。 但 最 饶 有 兴 趣 的 是 , 这 些 商 品 继 续 降 格 , 正
当 其 重 要 性 已 有 增 加 、 其 数 量 已 有 增 多 时 。 为 什 么 它 们 没 有
继 续 被 包 括 在 爱 好 的 享 有 物 件 中 呢 ? 理 由 之 一 , 是 由 于 “ 古
代 法 ” 固 执 地 墨 守 着 它 的 分 类 。 凡 是 没 有 受 过 教 育 的 人 和 早
期 社 会 都 有 这 样 一 个 特 点 , 他 们 除 了 在 实 际 上 所 熟 悉 的 特 定
应 用 之 外 , 一 般 都 不 能 想 出 一 条 通 用 的 规 则 。 他 们 不 能 从 日
常 经 验 中 遇 到 的 特 殊 事 件 中 分 析 出 一 个 通 用 的 名 词 或 通 用 的
格 言 ; 这 样 , 包 括 为 我 们 所 熟 知 的 各 种 形 式 财 产 的 名 称 , 就
被 拒 绝 适 用 于 和 它 们 完 全 类 似 的 其 他 享 有 物 件 和 权 利 主 体
上 。 对 象 法 律 那 样 稳 定 的 一 个 主 题 发 生 了 特 别 的 力 量 , 后 来
又 添 加 了 其 他 更 适 合 于 文 明 进 步 以 及 一 般 适 宜 概 念 的 影 响 。
法 院 和 法 律 家 终 于 对 爱 好 商 品 的 移 转 、 回 复 或 遗 传 中 所 需 要
的 各 种 令 人 困 惑 的 手 续 程 序 , 感 到 不 便 , 于 是 便 也 不 愿 把 作为 法 律 幼 年 时 代 特 点 的 专 门 束 缚 加 于 新 的 各 类 财 产 之 上 。 因
此 就 产 生 了 一 种 倾 向 , 把 这 些 最 后 发 现 的 物 件 在 法 律 学 安 排
中 列 在 最 低 的 地 位 , 只 通 过 较 简 单 的 程 序 就 可 以 移 转 , 比 较
古 代 的 让 与 简 便 了 许 多 , 不 再 用 来 作 为 善 意 的 绊 脚 石 和 诈 欺
的 进 身 阶 了 。 我 们 也 许 有 低 估 古 代 移 转 方 式 的 不 便 的 危 险 。 我
们 的 让 与 证 书 是 书 面 的 , 其 中 的 文 字 既 经 职 业 起 草 者 审 慎 推
敲 过 , 在 正 确 性 上 就 绝 少 存 在 着 缺 点 。 但 是 一 个 古 代 让 与 不
是 用 书 面 的 , 而 是 用 行 动 的 。 动 作 和 口 语 代 替 了 书 面 专 门 语
法 , 任 何 公 式 被 误 读 了 或 是 象 征 的 行 为 被 遗 漏 了 , 就 可 能 使
程 序 归 于 无 效 , 正 如 二 百 年 前 在 叙 述 使 用 权 或 发 表 残 余 财 产
权 中 发 生 一 个 重 大 错 误 时 , 就 使 一 个 英 国 契 据 归 于 无 效 一 样 。
真 的 , 古 代 仪 式 的 害 处 , 上 面 所 说 的 仅 及 其 半 。 假 使 只 在土地 的 移 转 中 需 要 有 书 面 的 或 行 为 的 精 密 让 与 , 由 于 这 类 财 产绝 少 在 极 忽 忙 之 中 予 以 处 分 , 在 移 转 时 发 生 错 误 的 机 会 是 不
会 多 的 。 但 是 古 代 世 界 中 所 谓 高 级 财 产 不 但 包 括 土 地 , 并 且
也 包 括 几 种 最 最 普 通 和 几 种 最 最 有 价 值 的 动 产 。 当 社 会 一 经
开 始 很 快 地 运 动 时 , 如 果 对 于 一 匹 马 或 一 头 牛 , 或 对 于 古 代
世 界 最 有 价 值 的 可 移 动 之 物 — — “ 奴 隶 ” — — 都 需 要 高 度 地错 综 复 杂 形 式 的 移 转 , 必 将 感 到 很 大 的 不 便 。 这 类 商 品 一 定常 常 是 、 并 且 甚 至 于 原 来 是 用 不 完 全 的 形 式 来 让 与 的 , 因 此也 就 在 不 完 全 的 名 义 下 持 有 它 们 。
古 罗 马 法 中 的 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 是 土 地 — — 在 有 史 时 期 , 指意 大 利 疆 土 内 的 土 地 , — — 奴 隶 以 及 负 重 的 牲 畜 , 如 牛 和 马 。毫 无 疑 问 , 构 成 这 一 类 别 的 物 件 都 是 农 业 劳 动 的 工 具 , 对 于一 个 原 始 民 族 很 重 要 的 商 品 。 我 猜 想 , 这 类 商 品 最 初 称 为“ 物 件 ” 或 “ 财 产 ” , 而 它 们 移 转 的 让 与 方 式 称 作 “ 曼 企帕因 ” 或 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” ; 但 可 能 要 直 到 很 后 的 时 期 , 它 们才接受 了 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 的 特 别 名 称 , 所 谓 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” , 就 是“ 需 要 一 次 ‘ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ’ 的 物 件 ” 。 可 能 除 此 以 外 , 存 在 着或 产 生 了 有 一 类 的 物 件 , 这 些 物 件 是 不 值 得 坚 持 采 用 全 部 的
“ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 仪 式 的 。 当 这 些 物 件 由 所 有 人 移 转 给 所 有 人 时 ,
只 须 进 行 通 常 手 续 程 序 的 一 部 分 , 这 一 部 分 就 是 实 际 送 达 、 实
物 移 转 或 交 付 , 这 是 一 种 财 产 所 有 权 变 更 的 最 明 显 的 标 志 。 这
类 商 品 是 古 代 法 律 学 中 的 “ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” , 即 “ 不 需 要 一 次
‘ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ’ 的 物 件 ” , 这 些 物 件 在 起 初 可 能 很 少 被 重 视 , 并
且 也 不 常 从 一 个 团 体 的 所 有 人 移 转 给 另 一 团 体 的 所 有 人 的 。
可 是 , “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 的 目 录 虽 是 不 可 改 变 地 定 下 来 了 , 但
“ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 的 目 录 却 在 无 限 制 地 扩 大 ; 从 此 , 人 类 对 物
质 自 然 每 一 次 新 的 征 服 就 在 “ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 上 添 加 了 一 个
新 的 项 目 , 或 在 那 些 已 经 公 认 的 项 目 中 实 行 一 次 修 改 。 因 此 ,
它 们 就 不 知 不 觉 地 提 高 到 和 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 处 于 平 等 的 地 位 ,
一 种 固 有 的 低 级 的 印 象 就 这 样 逐 渐 消 失 , 人 们 也 就 看 到 了 在
他 们 移 转 时 , 如 果 用 简 单 的 手 续 , 比 较 采 用 复 杂 和 严 肃 的 仪
式 有 更 多 的 利 益 。 法 律 改 良 中 的 两 个 媒 介 即 “ 拟 制 ” 和 “ 衡
平 ” 就 被 罗 马 法 律 学 专 心 一 致 地 运 用 着 , 使 得 “ 交 付 ” 能 具
有 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 的 实 际 效 果 。 同 时 , 虽 然 罗 马 立 法 者 是 期
不 敢 制 订 法 律 , 规 定 “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 中 的 财 产 权 可 通 过 简 单
的 物 件 送 达 而 立 即 移 转 , 但 甚 至 这 样 一 个 步 骤 , 最 后 也 为 查
斯 丁 尼 安 大 胆 地 做 了 , 在 他 的 法 律 学 中 , “ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 和
“ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 之 间 的 区 别 已 完 全 消 失 , “ 交 付 ” 或 “ 送达 ” 成 为 法 律 所 承 认 的 最 大 让 与 。 罗 马 法 律 家 很 早 就 对 “ 交
付 ” 有 显 著 的 偏 爱 , 这 种 偏 爱 使 他 们 在 理 论 中 分 配 给 “ 交
付 ” 一 个 特 殊 地 位 , 使 现 代 学 生 们 无 法 看 到 其 真 正 的 历 史 。
“ 交 付 ” 被 归 类 在 “ 自 然 的 ” 取 得 方 式 中 , 一 方 面 因 为 它 在 意
大 利 各 部 落 中 普 遍 地 应 用 着 , 另 一 方 面 因 为 它 是 能 通 过 最 简
单 机 构 来 达 到 其 目 的 的 一 种 过 程 。 如 果 把 法 学 专 家 的 言 语 简
要 地 加 以 重 述 , 无 疑 地 包 含 着 : 属 于 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 “ 交 付 ” 比
“ 是 企 帕 地 荷 ” 还 要 古 老 , 因 为 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 是 一 个 “ 市 民
社 会 ” 的 制 度 ; 我 认 为 不 消 说 得 , 这 一 点 是 恰 恰 和 事 实 相 反
的 。
“ 要 式 交 易 物 ” 和 “ 非 要 式 交 易 物 ” 之 间 的 区 分 是 一 种 有
功 于 人 类 文 明 的 区 分 , 这 种 区 分 涉 及 全 部 商 品 , 它 把 商 品 中
的 一 小 部 分 归 入 一 类 , 而 把 其 余 的 列 入 较 低 级 的 一 类 。 各 种
低 级 的 财 产 , 由 于 蔑 视 和 忽 视 , 首 先 从 原 始 法 律 所 喜 爱 的 复
杂 仪 式 中 释 放 出 来 , 此 后 , 在 另 一 种 智 力 进 步 的 状 态 下 , 简
单 的 移 转 和 恢 复 方 法 便 被 采 用 , 作 为 一 个 模 型 , 以 它 的 便 利
和 简 单 来 非 难 从 古 代 传 下 来 的 繁 重 仪 式 。 但 是 , 在 有 些 社 会
中 , 财 产 所 受 到 的 束 缚 是 过 分 地 复 杂 和 严 密 , 不 能 轻 易 地 得
到 放 松 。 当 印 度 人 生 出 男 性 的 子 嗣 时 , 象 我 已 经 说 过 的 印 度
的 法 律 便 使 他 们 都 在 父 的 财 产 中 取 得 一 种 利 益 , 并 使 他 们 的
同 意 成 为 财 产 让 与 的 一 个 必 要 条 件 。 古 日 耳 曼 民 族 的 一 种 通
例 具 有 同 样 的 精 神 — — 值 得 注 意 的 是 , 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 的 习
惯 似 乎 是 一 个 例 外 — — , 它 规 定 在 未 经 取 得 男 性 子 嗣 同 意 前
禁 止 让 与 财 产 ; 斯 拉 夫 人 的 原 始 法 律 甚 至 完 全 禁 止 让 与 。 很
明 显 , 这 一 类 的 障 碍 是 不 能 用 在 各 种 财 产 之 间 加 以 区 分 的 方法 来 克 服 的 , 因 为 困 难 涉 及 所 有 各 类 商 品 ; 因 此 , 当 “ 古 代
法 ” 一 度 开 始 向 改 进 的 道 路 发 展 时 , 就 用 另 外 一 种 性 质 的 区
分 来 克 服 这 种 障 碍 , 这 种 区 分 不 是 按 照 财 产 的 性 质 而 是 按 照
其 渊 源 来 分 类 。 在 印 度 , 就 有 两 种 分 类 制 度 的 遗 迹 , 我 们 现
在 考 虑 的 一 种 可 以 用 印 度 法 在 “ 继 承 财 产 ” 和 “ 取 得 物 ” 之
间 建 立 的 区 分 来 例 证 。 父 的 继 承 财 产 在 其 子 出 生 时 即 为 他 们
所 分 有 ; 但 按 照 大 多 数 省 分 的 习 惯 , 他 本 人 在 世 时 取 得 的 则
完 全 为 他 个 人 所 有 , 并 可 以 由 他 任 意 移 转 。 罗 马 法 中 有 一 种
类 似 的 区 分 , 这 是 对 “ 父 权 ” 最 早 的 一 种 改 革 , 它 允 许 子 把
他 在 军 役 中 所 获 得 的 物 件 归 他 自 己 所 有 。 但 这 种 分 类 方 法 , 在
日 耳 曼 人 中 得 到 最 广 泛 的 应 用 。 我 曾 反 复 地 说 过 ,自主 ·
地 虽然 并 非 不 可 让 与 , 但 一 般 必 须 经 过 很 大 的 困 难 才 可 以 移 转 ; 而且 ,自主地 只 可 以 遗 传 给 宗 亲 属 。 于 是 , 非 常 多 种 多 样 的 区分 便 被 承 认 了 , 都 企 图 消 灭 和 自 主 土 地 分 不 开 的 各 种 不 便 。 例如,杀害亲属和解费 ( w e h r g e l d ) 在 日 耳 曼 法 律 学 中 占 有 很 大的 地 位 , 却 并 不 成 为 家 族 领 地 的 一 部 分 , 并 且 根 据 完 全不同的 继 承 规 则 而 遗 传 。 同 样 的 ,寡妇再醮时所课的罚金( r e i p u s ) 也 不 并 入 它 所 给 付 的 人 的自主地 之 内 , 在 移 转 时 , 并且 也 可 以 不 理 会 宗 亲 的 特 权 。 日 耳 曼 的 法 律 也 象 印 度 人 的 法
律 一 样 , 把 家 长 的 “ 取 得 物 ” 和 “ 继 承 ” 财 产 区 分 开 来 , 准
许 他 在 十 分 自 由 的 条 件 下 处 理 其 “ 取 得 物 ” 。 其 他 种 类 的 分 类
也 是 被 承 认 的 , 常 见 的 是 土 地 与 动 产 的 区 分 ; 但 是 在 动 产 项
下 还 被 分 成 几 个 附 属 的 类 别 , 每 一 类 都 适 用 一 种 不 同 的 规 则 。
象 征 服 罗 马 帝 国 的 日 耳 曼 人 那 样 未 开 化 的 民 族 竟 会 有 这 样 丰
富 的 分 类 , 我 们 在 初 看 起 来 似 乎 是 很 奇 怪 的 , 但 这 无 疑 地 是由 于 他 们 的 制 度 中 有 相 当 数 量 的 罗 马 法 成 分 , 这 些 都 是 他 们长 期 寄 居 于 罗 马 领 土 边 境 的 时 期 内 吸 收 的 。 对 于 自 主 地 以 外各 种 商 品 的 移 转 和 遗 传 的 规 定 , 我 们 可 以 毫 无 困 难 地 发 现 其
中 许 多 来 自 罗 马 法 律 学 , 这 些 都 可 能 是 他 们 在 非 常 是 的 时 间
内 零 零 星 星 地 从 罗 马 法 律 学 中 借 用 来 的 。 究 竟 阻 碍 财 产 自 由
流 通 的 障 碍 通 过 了 这 类 手 段 能 克 服 到 何 种 程 度 , 我 们 无 法 加
以 猜 度 , 因 为 这 些 区 分 已 在 现 代 历 史 上 消 失 了 。 我 在 前 面 已
解 释 过 , 自 主 地 形 式 的 财 产 在 封 建 时 期 已 完 全 消 灭 了 , 并 且
当 封 建 制 度 一 经 巩 固 后 , 西 方 世 界 所 有 各 种 区 分 在 实 际 上 只
有 一 种 还 留 存 着 — — 就 是 土 地 和 物 件 、 不 动 产 和 动 产 之 间 的
区 分 。 在 外 表 上 , 这 个 区 分 和 罗 马 法 在 最 后 采 用 的 那 种 区 分
相 同 , 但 中 世 纪 的 法 律 和 罗 马 法 律 在 有 一 点 上 是 显 然 不 同 的 ,
这 就 是 中 世 纪 的 法 律 认 为 不 动 产 比 动 产 更 加 高 贵 。 这 一 个 例
子 , 就 足 以 证 明 它 所 属 的 一 类 方 法 的 重 要 性 。 在 以 法 兰 西 法
典 为 其 制 度 的 基 础 的 一 切 国 家 中 , 也 就 是 在 欧 洲 大 陆 的 绝 大
部 分 国 家 中 , 始 终 是 来 自 罗 马 法 律 的 动 产 法 代 替 了 和 废 弃 了
封 建 的 土 地 法 。 英 国 是 唯 一 的 重 要 国 家 , 在 那 里 这 种 变 化 虽
然 已 有 进 展 , 但 并 没 有 接 近 完 成 。 应 该 进 一 步 说 明 , 我 国 也
是 唯 一 重 要 的 欧 洲 国 家 , 在 其 中 , 动 产 和 不 动 产 的 分 开 受 到
了 在 过 去 曾 促 使 古 代 分 类 乖 离 了 唯 一 合 乎 自 然 分 类 的 同 一 种
影 响 的 扰 乱 。 英 国 的 分 类 在 大 体 上 是 分 为 土 地 和 物 件 ; 但 某
种 物 件 被 作 为 继 承 动 产 ( h e i r l o o m ) 和 土 地 列 在 一 起 , 某 种 土地 上 的 利 益 则 由 于 历 史 上 的 原 因 又 和 动 产 平 列 。 英 国 法 律 学站 在 法 律 变 化 的 主 流 之 外 , 重 复 着 古 代 法 律 的 现 象 , 这 里 所说 的 并 不 是 唯 一 的 事 例 。
因为 本 文 的 范 围 只 许 可 提 到 那 些 极 古 的 方 法 , 我 要 再 谈
一二 个 方 法 , 通 过 了 这 些 方 法 , 古 代 人 对 于 财 产 所 有 权 所 加
的 种 种 束 缚 多 少 放 松 了 一 些 。 特 别 是 其 中 的 一 种 必 须 加 以 详
细 讨 论 , 因 为 凡 是 不 熟 悉 早 期 法 律 史 的 人 都 不 会 很 容 易 地 相
信 : 现 代 法 律 学 非 常 迟 缓 并 且 经 过 了 绝 大 困 难 才 获 得 承 认 的
一 条 原 则 , 却 在 法 律 科 学 很 幼 年 时 代 就 非 常 熟 悉 了 。 在 一 切
法 律 中 , 现 代 人 最 不 愿 采 用 并 不 愿 使 它 产 生 合 法 后 果 的 原 则 ,
就 是 罗 马 人 所 知 的 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 和 在 “ 时 效 ” 的 名 义 下 一 直
传 到 现 代 法 律 学 的 原 则 , 虽 然 这 个 原 则 是 有 它 有 利 的 性 质 的 。
最 古 罗 马 法 上 有 一 条 明 定 的 规 则 , 比 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 更 古 老 ,
它 规 定 : 凡 是 曾 被 不 间 断 地 持 有 一 定 时 期 的 商 品 即 成 为 占 有
人 的 财 产 。 占 有 的 期 间 是 极 短 促 的 — — 一 年 或 二 年 , 根 据 商
品 的 性 质 而 定 — — , 在 有 史 时 期 内 , “ 时 效 取 得 ” 只 在 用 一 种
特 殊 方 式 开 始 占 有 时 才 能 准 许 有 效 ; 但 我 以 为 在 一 个 较 不 进
步 的 时 代 , 比 我 们 在 权 威 著 作 中 所 读 到 的 更 不 严 格 的 条 件 下 ,
占 有 也 很 可 能 变 成 所 有 权 。 我 在 前 面 已 经 说 过 , 我 决 不 主 张
人 类 对 于事实上 占 有 的 尊 重 是 法 律 学 本 身 所 能 说 明 的 一 种 现
象 , 但 有 必 要 说 明 的 是 , 原 始 社 会 在 采 用 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 原 则
时 , 并 没 有 被 曾 经 阻 碍 现 代 人 接 受 这 原 则 的 那 些 纯 理 论 的 疑
虑 和 踌 躇 所 困 惑 。 现 代 法 律 家 对 于 “ 时 效 ” 的 看 法 , 起 先 是
嫌 恶 , 后 来 则 是 勉 强 赞 成 。 在 有 几 个 国 家 中 , 包 括 我 们 自 己
的 国 家 在 内 , 立 法 是 期 不 愿 越 过 这 样 一 个 旧 的 方 法 而 前 进 一
步 , 根 据 这 个 旧 的 方 法 , 凡 是 在 过 去 一 个 指 定 的 时 期 以 前 、 一
般 是 前 一 个 朝 代 的 第 一 年 以 前 遭 受 损 害 而 提 出 的 诉 讼 , 一 概
不 予 受 理 ; 直 到 中 世 纪 最 后 结 束 、 詹 姆 士 一 世继 承 英 格 兰 王 位 , 我 们 才 获 得 了 一 种 很 不 完 全 的 真 正
的 时 限 条 例 。 现 代 世 界 对 罗 马 法 中 这 最 著 名 的 一 章 、 而 且 无
疑 是 欧 洲 大 多 数 法 律 家 经 常 谈 到 的 一 章 竟 会 这 样 慢 才 加 以 采
用 , 主 要 是 由 于 受 到 “ 寺 院 法 ” 的 影 响 。 “ 寺 院 法 ” 是 从 宗 教
习 惯 产 生 出 来 的 , 这 些 宗 教 习 惯 既 然 关 心 着 神 圣 或 准 神 圣 的
利 益 , 就 很 自 然 地 认 为 它 们 所 赋 与 的 特 权 不 能 因 长 期 不 用 而
丧 失 ; 按 照 这 个 见 解 , 宗 教 法 律 学 在 后 来 巩 固 时 , 就 以 明 显
地 反 对 “ 时 效 ” 著 称 。 “ 寺 院 法 ” 被 教 会 法 律 家 用 作 世 俗 立 法
的 范 本 , 对 基 本 原 理 就 发 生 了 特 殊 影 响 。 “ 寺 院 法 ” 给 予 全 欧
洲 形 成 的 各 式 各 样 习 惯 的 明 确 规 定 , 其 数 量 远 不 及 罗 马 法 所
给 予 的 多 , 但 它 在 许 多 基 本 问 题 上 似 乎 已 经 给 了 职 业 意 见 以
一 种 偏 向 , 而 这 样 产 生 的 倾 向 又 随 着 每 个 制 度 的 发 展 而 不 断
地 增 加 力 量 。 它 所 产 生 的 倾 向 之 一 就 是 对 于 “ 时 效 ” 的 嫌 恶 ;
但 是 , 如 果 不 是 和 实 在 派 经 院 法 学 家 的 学 理 相 同 , 我 以 为 这
种 偏 见 是 决 不 会 象 它 现 在 那 样 有 力 的 。 这 些 经 院 法 学 家 认 为 :
不 论 实 际 立 法 如 何 变 动 , 凡 是 一 种 ·
权 ·
利 , 纵 使 经 过 长 期 的 忽
视 , 在 实 际 上 是 不 可 毁 灭 的 。 这 种 想 法 的 残 余 , 到 现 在 依 旧
存 在 。 凡 是 热 诚 讨 论 法 律 哲 学 的 任 何 地 方 , 对 于 “ 时 效 ” 的
理 论 基 础 问 题 , 总 是 热 烈 地 进 行 争 辩 的 。 在 法 国 和 德 国 , 如
果 一 个 人 已 经 有 许 多 年 丧 失 了 占 有 , 究 竟 应 作 为 其 怠 忽 的 处
罚 而 剥 夺 其 所 有 权 呢 , 还 是 由 于 法 律 希 望结束诉讼 ( f i n i s l i t i u m ) 而 通 过 简 单 仲 裁 使 其 丧 失 所 有 权 , 仍 旧 是 一 个 极 有 兴
趣 的 问 题 。 但 是 在 古 代 罗 马 社 会 中 , 人 们 就 没 有 受 到 这 种 犹
豫 不 决 的 困 扰 。 罗 马 的 古 代 惯 例 对 于 在 某 种 情 况 下 丧 失 占 有
达 一 二 年 的 任 何 人 , 就 直 接 剥 夺 其 所 有 权 。 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 的 这个 规 定 , 在 它 最 古 代 形 式 下 , 其 确 切 性 质 究 竟 是 怎 样 的 , 很
不 容 易 说 明 ; 但 是 , 就 我 们 从 书 本 中 所 看 到 和 它 附 着 在 一 起
的 种 种 限 制 , 可 知 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 实 在 是 一 种 最 有 用 的 保 障 , 用
以 防 止 过 于 繁 杂 的 一 种 让 与 制 度 所 有 的 各 种 害 处 。 为 了 得 到
“ 时 效 取 得 ” 的 好 处 , 他 主 占 有 在 开 始 时 必 须 是 善 意 的 , 换 言
之 , 即 占 有 人 必 须 认 为 他 是 合 法 地 取 得 财 产 ; 其 次 , 商 品 移
转 给 他 时 所 采 用 的 形 式 虽 然 在 这 特 定 情 况 中 不 一 定 要 等 于 是
一 个 完 全 的 权 利 的 赋 与 , 但 至 少 是 应 该 为 法 律 所 承 认 的 。 因
此 , 在 一 个 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 的 情 形 中 , 不 问 履 行 是 如 何 的 草
率 , 但 只 要 在 履 行 中 已 经 包 括 了 一 种 “ 交 付 ” 或 “ 送 达 ” , 则
权 利 上 的 缺 点 就 可 以 因 至 多 两 年 的 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 而 矫 正 。 在
罗 马 人 的 实 践 中 , 我 认 为 他 们 对 于 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 的 利 用 , 最
有 力 地 证 明 他 们 的 法 律 天 才 。 他 们 所 感 到 苦 恼 的 困 难 , 几 乎
正 是 英 国 法 律 家 过 去 曾 经 和 现 在 仍 旧 感 到 窘 迫 的 困 难 。 由 于
他 们 的 制 度 的 复 杂 性 , 这 是 他 们 一 直 没 有 勇 气 也 没 有 力 量 加
以 改 造 的 , 实 际 上 的 权 利 常 常 和 理 论 上 的 权 利 相 脱 离 , 衡 平
上 的 所 有 权 则 和 法 律 上 的 所 有 权 相 脱 离 。 但 是 法 学 专 家 制 订
的 这 个 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 提 供 了 一 个 自 动 的 机 械 , 通 过 了 这 个 自
动 机 械 , 权 利 的 缺 陷 就 不 断 得 到 矫 正 , 而 暂 时 脱 离 的 所 有 权
又 可 以 在 可 能 极 短 的 阻 碍 之 后 重 新 迅 速 地 结 合 起 来 。 直 到 查
斯 丁 尼 安 改 革 之 前 , “ 时 效 取 得 ” 一 直 没 有 失 掉 其 好 处 。 但 法
律 和 衡 平 一 经 完 全 混 合 、 罗 马 人 不 再 用 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 作 为
让 与 时 , 这 古 代 的 方 法 已 失 去 必 要 , 而 “ 时 效 取 得 ” 在 相 当
地 延 长 的 时 期 后 , 就 成 为 “ 时 效 ” , 它 最 后 几 乎 为 所 有 现 代 法
律 制 度 所 普 遍 采 用 。
我 将 简 单 地 提 一 提 另 外 一 种 方 法 , 它 和 上 面 所 提 到 的 一
种 方 法 具 有 同 一 的 目 的 , 它 虽 然 没 有 立 即 在 英 国 法 律 史 中 出
现 , 但 在 罗 马 法 中 却 是 历 史 非 常 悠 久 的 。 有 些 日 耳 曼 民 法 学
家 对 英 国 法 律 中 类 比 这 个 问 题 所 提 供 的 线 索 没 有 足 够 地 注
意 , 竟 认 为 它 甚 至 早 于 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” , 这 足 证 它 的 明 显 年 代 。
我 要 谈 到 的 是 “ 拟 诉 弃 权 ” ( C e s s i o i n J u r e ) , 即 在 一 个 法院 中 , 对 于 要 求 让 与 财 产 的 一 种 串 通 回 复 。 原 告 用 一 种 普 通
形 式 的 诉 讼 请 求 诉 讼 标 的 ; 被 告 缺 席 ; 商 品 就 当 然 地 被 判 给
原 告 。 我 母 庸 提 醒 英 国 法 律 家 , 这 个 方 法 也 曾 为 我 们 的 祖 先
所 想 到 , 并 产 生 了 著 名 的 “ 罚 金 ” 和 “ 回 复 ” , 大 大 地 解 除 了
封 建 土 地 法 最 严 酷 的 束 缚 。 这 种 罗 马 人 的 和 英 国 人 的 方 法 有
很 多 相 同 之 点 , 并 且 最 有 启 发 地 相 互 例 证 。 但 在 这 两 者 之 间
还 是 有 区 别 的 , 英 国 法 律 家 的 目 的 是 解 除 存 在 权 利 中 的 各 种
纠 葛 , 而 罗 马 法 学 专 家 则 是 在 用 一 种 必 然 地 无 可 非 议 的 移 转
方 式 来 代 替 常 常 失 误 的 移 转 方 式 , 用 它 来 防 止 纠 葛 。 实 际 上 ,
这 种 办 法 是 “ 法 院 ” 正 常 地 进 行 工 作 时 自 行 发 现 的 办 法 , 但
无 论 如 何 仍 旧 逃 不 出 原 始 观 念 的 支 配 。 当 法 律 观 点 在 前 进 状
态 中 时 , 法 院 认 为 串 通 的 诉 讼 是 诉 讼 程 序 的 一 种 滥 用 ; 但 始
终 存 在 这 样 一 个 时 期 , 当 法 院 的 形 式 被 谨 慎 地 遵 守 着 时 , 法
院 就 决 不 会 梦 想 再 有 所 求 了 。
法 院 及 其 诉 讼 手 续 对 “ 财 产 ” 的 影 响 是 很 广 泛 的 , 但 这
个 问 题 已 超 过 了 本 文 的 范 围 , 并 将 使 我 们 深 入 到 后 期 的 法 律
史 , 这 也 和 本 文 的 计 划 是 不 相 一 致 的 。 但 有 必 要 提 一 下 , “ 财
产 ” 和 “ 占 有 ” 间 区 分 之 所 以 重 要 , 就 是 由 于 这 种 影 响 — —
并 不 是 区 分 的 本 身 , 这 ( 用 一 个 著 名 英 国 民 法 学 家 的 话 ) 和对 物 所 有 的 法 律 权 利 和 对 物 所 有 的 实 际 权 力 间 的 区 分 ) 是 完
全 相 同 的 — — 而 是 它 在 法 律 哲 学 中 所 获 得 的 非 常 重 要 性 。 凡
是 受 过 教 育 的 人 决 不 全 没 有 从 法 律 著 作 中 听 到 过 罗 马 法 学 专
家 在 “ 占 有 ” 这 个 问 题 上 长 时 期 来 发 生 的 一 些 极 端 混 乱 的 意
见 , 而 萨 维 尼 天 才 的 得 到 证 明 , 主 要 就 在 于 他 发 现 了 这 个 谜
语 的 解 答 。 事 实 上 , 罗 马 法 律 家 所 用 的 “ 占 有 ” 似 乎 含 有 一
种 不 容 易 说 明 的 意 义 。 这 个 名 词 从 其 字 源 上 看 , 原 来 一 定 含
有 实 体 接 触 或 可 以 任 意 恢 复 的 实 体 接 触 之 意 ; 但 在 实 际 应 用
上 如 不 加 任 何 形 容 词 , 它 的 含 义 不 仅 仅 包 括 实 体 强 留 , 而 是
实 体 强 留 加 上 了 要 把 物 件 保 留 为 自 己 所 有 的 意 向 。 萨 维 尼 跟
随 着 尼 布 尔 , 认 为 这 个 变 例 只 可 能 有 一 个 历 史 渊 源 。 他 指 出 ,
罗 马 的 “ 贵 族 ” 市 民 在 付 出 名 义 租 金 而 成 为 绝 大 部 分 公 共 领
地 的 佃 农 时 , 在 古 罗 马 法 的 见 解 中 , 他 们 只 是 占 有 人 , 但 他
们 当 时 是 一 些 意 图 保 持 他 们 的 土 地 而 抗 拒 一 切 外 来 者 的 占 有
人 。 其 实 , 他 们 所 提 出 的 请 求 , 几 乎 和 最 近 在 英 国 由 “ 教
会 ” 土 地 的 承 租 人 所 提 出 的 请 求 , 完 全 相 同 。 他 们 承 认 在 理
论 上 他 们 是 国 家 的 任 意 佃 农 ( t e n a n t s - a t - w i l l ) , 但 又 认 为
时 间 和 安 全 的 享 有 使 他 们 的 持 有 成 熟 而 成 为 一 种 所 有 权 , 如
果 为 了 要 重 行 分 配 领 地 而 排 斥 他 们 , 那 是 不 公 正 的 。 这 种 请
求 和 “ 贵 族 ” 租 地 的 联 想 永 远 影 响 着 “ 占 有 ” 的 意 义 。 同 时 ,
佃 农 如 果 被 排 斥 了 或 受 到 了 扰 乱 的 威 胁 时 , 他 们 所 能 利 用 的
唯 一 法 律 救 济 , 是 “ 占 有 禁 令 ” ( P o s s e s s o r y I n t e r d i c t s ) , 这是 罗 马 法 中 的 简 易 诉 讼 程 序 , 是 “ 裁 判 官 ” 为 了 要 保 护 他 们而 明 白 制 定 的 , 或 者 , 根 据 另 外 一 种 理 论 , 是 在 较 早 时 代 用以 临 时 保 持 占 有 以 待 法 律 权 利 问 题 的 最 后 解 决 。 因 此 , 不 难了 解 , 凡 是 · 作 ·
为 · 自 ·
己 · 所 ·
有 而 占 有 财 产 的 人 , 就 有 权 要 求 “ 禁
令 ” , 并 且 通 过 一 种 高 度 人 为 的 辩 诉 制 度 , 使 “ 禁 令 ” 程 序 能
用 以 处 理 一 个 争 执 占 有 的 冲 突 请 求 。 接 着 就 开 始 了 一 种 运 动 ,
而 这 种 运 动 正 象 约 翰 · 奥 斯 丁 先 生 所 指 出 的 , 在 英 国 法 律 中
恰 恰 重 复 地 发 生 。 ·
财产所有人 ( d o m i n i ) 宁 愿 采 用 形 式 比 较 简
单 方 法 比 较 迅 速 的 “ 禁 令 ” , 以 代 替 手 续 程 序 迟 滞 而 复 杂 的
“ 物 权 诉 讼 ” ( R e a l A c t i o n ) , 并 且 为 了 能 利 用 这 种 占 有 救 济 ,
财 产 所 有 人 竟 借 助 于 假 定 是 包 括 在 其 所 有 权 之 中 的 占 有 。 容
许 不 是 真 正 的 “ 占 有 人 ” 而 是 “ 所 有 人 ” 的 人 们 能 自 由 利 用
占 有 救 济 以 证 实 其 权 利 , 在 起 初 虽 可 能 是 一 种 恩 赐 , 但 最 后
使 英 国 和 罗 马 法 律 学 发 生 了 严 重 退 化 的 效 果 。 罗 马 法 , 在
“ 占 有 ” 问 题 上 发 生 了 各 种 复 杂 难 解 之 处 , 使 它 为 人 们 所 不 信
任 , 而 英 国 法 , 在 适 用 于 回 复 不 动 产 的 诉 讼 陷 入 了 最 无 希 望
的 混 乱 状 态 后 , 终 于 不 得 不 用 一 种 果 断 的 救 济 办 法 来 把 全 部
混 乱 一 扫 而 光 。 近 三 十 年 来 英 国 在 实 质 上 已 把 物 权 诉 讼 加 以
发 除 , 没 有 人 怀 疑 , 这 是 一 件 公 认 的 好 事 , 但 是 对 于 法 律 学
的 调 和 有 敏 感 的 人 们 仍 将 慨 歎 地 认 为 , 这 样 我 们 不 但 没 有 澄
清 、 改 进 和 简 化 真 正 的 所 有 权 诉 讼 , 反 而 牺 牲 了 这 些 所 有 权
诉 讼 而 让 位 于 占 有 的 勒 迁 之 诉 ( p o s s e s s o r y a c t i o n o f e Aj e c t m e n t ) , 这 样 使 我 们 的 全 部 土 地 回 复 制 度 完 全 建 筑 在 一 个
法 律 拟 制 上 。
法 院 也 用 区 分 “ 法 律 ” 和 “ 衡 平 ” 的 方 法 来 有 力 地 帮 助
形 成 和 改 变 有 关 财 产 所 有 权 的 各 种 概 念 , 法 律 和 衡 平 间 的 区
分 在 最 初 出 现 时 通 常 表 现 为 管 辖 权 上 的 区 分 。 在 英 国 , 可 以
衡 平 的 财 产 只 是 受 “ 衡 平 法 院 ” 管 辖 的 财 产 。 在 罗 马 , “ 裁 判官 告 令 ” 采 用 新 的 原 则 时 在 外 表 上 往 往 是 用 允 许 在 某 种 情 况
下 可 以 提 出 一 种 特 殊 诉 讼 或 一 种 特 殊 抗 辩 的 形 式 ; 因 此 , 罗
马 法 上 的 ·
可 ·
衡 ·
平 财 产 ( p r o p e r t y i n b o n i s ) 是 以 “ 告 令 ” 为
根 据 的 完 全 由 救 济 方 法 保 护 的 财 产 。 保 全 衡 平 权 利 、 使 不 因
法 律 所 有 人 的 请 求 而 发 止 的 机 构 , 在 两 种 制 度 中 似 乎 略 有 不
同 。 在 我 们 的 制 度 中 , 它 们 的 独 立 性 靠 “ 衡 平 法 院 ” 的 “ 禁
状 ” 而 保 全 。 在 罗 马 制 度 中 , 既 然 “ 法 律 ” 和 “ 衡 平 ” 还 没
有 巩 固 , 并 且 由 同 一 法 院 执 行 , 就 不 需 要 “ 禁 状 ” , 只 须 “ 高
级 官 吏 ” 简 单 地 拒 绝 把 “ 市 民 法 所 有 人 ” 能 凭 而 获 得 在 衡 平
法 上 属 于 别 人 的 财 产 的 那 些 诉 讼 和 抗 辩 给 与 他 们 即 可 。 但 两
个 制 度 在 实 际 的 执 行 上 , 是 几 乎 相 同 的 。 它 们 都 用 了 不 同 的
手 续 程 序 , 以 一 种 暂 时 成 立 来 保 存 新 的 财 产 形 式 , 直 到 这 种
新 的 财 产 形 式 为 全 部 法 律 所 承 认 。 用 了 这 种 方 法 , 罗 马 “ 裁
判 官 ” 以 一 种 即 时 的 财 产 权 给 与 因 仅 仅 送 达 而 取 得 “ 要 式 交
易 物 ” 的 人 , 不 必 等 待 “ 取 得 时 效 ” 的 成 熟 。 同 样 , 他 及 时
承 认 最 初 仅 作 为 一 个 “ 受 托 人 ” 或 受 寄 人 的 抵 押 权 人 , 以 及
“ 永 佃 人 ” ( E m p h y t e u t a ) 或 偿 付 一 定 永 久 佃 租 的 佃 农 , 有 所
有 权 。 和 这 个 发 展 过 程 相 平 行 ; 英 国 衡 平 法 院 为 “ 抵 押 人 ” 、
为 “ 信 托 受 益 人 ” ( C e s t u i q u e T r u s t ) 为 享 有 特 种 授 产 的
已 婚 妇 女 , 以 及 为 还 没 有 获 得 一 种 完 全 法 律 所 有 权 的 “ 买 受
人 ” , 创 设 一 种 特 殊 的 所 有 权 。 在 这 一 切 事 例 中 , 显 然 是 新 的
所 有 权 形 式 被 承 认 了 并 保 存 了 。 但 是 , 在 英 国 和 罗 马 , “ 财
产 ” 间 接 地 受 到 衡 平 影 响 的 , 真 不 下 千 百 种 之 多 。 衡 平 的 著
者 利 用 他 们 手 中 掌 握 的 有 力 工 具 , 向 法 律 学 的 各 个 角 落 里 推
进 , 他 们 必 然 地 要 遇 到 、 触 及 并 且 多 少 在 实 质 上 改 变 财 产 法律 。 在 前 面 我 谈 到 某 些 古 代 法 律 特 点 和 方 法 曾 有 力 地 影 响 着
所 有 权 的 历 史 时 , 我 的 意 见 应 被 理 解 为 , 它 们 的 最 大 影 响 是
在 把 改 进 的 暗 示 和 提 示 注 入 到 衡 平 制 度 制 造 者 所 呼 吸 的 精 神
空 气 中 。
但 是 要 描 述 “ 衡 平 法 ” 对 “ 所 有 权 ” 发 生 的 全 部 影 响 , 就
必 须 把 它 的 历 史 一 直 写 到 我 们 现 在 为 止 。 我 所 以 提 到 它 , 主
要 因 为 有 几 位 可 尊 敬 的 当 代 著 者 曾 以 为 : 从 罗 马 人 把 “ 衡
平 ” 财 产 从 “ 法 律 ” 财 产 中 分 离 开 来 这 件 事 情 中 , 我 们 获 得
了 使 中 世 纪 法 律 对 于 “ 所 有 权 ” 持 有 的 概 念 显 然 有 别 于 罗 马
帝 国 法 律 所 持 有 概 念 的 线 索 。 封 建 时 代 概 念 的 主 要 特 点 , 是
它 承 认 一 个 双 重 所 有 权 , 即 封 建 地 主 所 有 的 高 级 所 有 权 以 及
同 时 存 在 的 佃 农 的 低 级 财 产 权 或 地 权 。 有 人 认 为 这 种 双 重 所
有 权 非 常 象 罗 马 人 把 财 产 权 概 括 地 区 分 ·
为 ·
公 ·
民 的 或 法 律 的 ,
以 及 ( 用 一 个 后 来 的 名 词 ) ·
有 ·
使 ·
用 ·
权 ·
的 ( B o n i t a r i a n ) 或 可 衡
平 的 。 该 雅 士 也 把 ·
完 ·
全 ·
所 ·
有 ·
权 分 裂 为 两 个 部 分 作 为 罗 马 法 律
的 一 个 特 点 , 与 其 他 民 族 所 熟 悉 的 完 全 或 自 主 财 产 所 有 权 成
为 明 白 的 对 比 。 诚 然 , 查 斯 丁 尼 安 把 完 全 所 有 权 重 新 合 而 为
一 , 但 蛮 族 在 这 样 许 多 世 纪 中 所 接 触 到 的 是 西 罗 马 帝 国 经 过
部 分 改 革 的 制 度 而 不 是 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 法 律 学 。 当 蛮 族 居 留 在
帝 国 的 边 缘 上 时 , 很 可 能 他 们 学 到 了 这 种 分 划 , 后 来 便 产 生
了 显 著 的 后 果 。 我 们 虽 然 同 意 这 种 理 论 , 但 无 论 如 何 必 须 承
认 , 在 各 种 蛮 族 习 惯 中 所 含 有 的 罗 马 法 因 素 到 现 在 为 止 , 还
研 究 得 很 不 完 全 。 所 有 解 释 封 建 制 度 的 各 种 错 误 的 或 不 充 分
的 理 论 , 在 它 们 相 互 之 间 有 一 点 类 似 的 倾 向 , 就 是 忽 略 了 包
含 在 封 建 制 度 结 构 中 的 这 种 特 殊 要 素 。 在 这 个 国 家 中 为 一 般人 所 追 随 的 前 辈 研 究 者 , 都 特 别 着 重 封 建 制 度 逐 渐 从 长 成 到
成 熟 这 个 混 乱 期 间 内 的 各 种 情 况 ; 后 来 , 在 已 经 存 在 的 那 些
错 误 中 又 加 添 了 一 个 新 的 错 误 的 来 源 , 这 就 是 民 族 骄 傲 , 它
使 日 耳 曼 的 著 者 过 分 夸 大 其 祖 先 早 在 他 们 来 到 罗 马 世 界 之 前
就 已 建 立 起 了 的 社 会 组 织 的 完 整 性 。 有 一 二 位 英 国 研 究 者 虽
能 从 正 确 的 方 向 来 寻 求 封 建 制 度 的 基 础 , 但 他 们 的 考 察 仍 旧
没 有 得 到 任 何 可 以 令 人 满 意 的 结 果 , 这 或 者 是 由 于 他 们 过 于
专 心 地 从 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 编 纂 中 寻 求 类 比 , 或 者 由 于 他 们 把 注
意 力 局 限 于 现 在 被 发 现 附 在 现 存 的 蛮 族 法 典 上 的 罗 马 法 纲 要
上 。 但 是 , 如 果 罗 马 法 律 学 的 确 对 蛮 族 社 会 有 任 何 影 响 , 则
绝 大 部 分 影 响 的 产 生 应 该 在 查 斯 丁 尼 安 立 法 以 前 , 也 就 是 这
些 纲 要 着 手 编 辑 之 前 。 我 认 为 , 在 蛮 族 惯 例 这 个 瘦 削 的 骨 骼
上 被 以 肌 肉 的 , 不 是 经 过 改 革 的 和 经 过 提 炼 的 查 斯 丁 尼 安 法
律 学 , 而 是 流 行 在 西 罗 马 帝 国 的 以 及 东 罗 马 帝 国 ·
民 ·
法 ·
大 ·
全 所
没 有 能 代 替 的 未 经 整 理 的 体 系 。 变 更 的 发 生 , 应 该 假 限 定 在
日 耳 曼 部 落 作 为 征 服 者 而 占 有 罗 马 领 土 的 任 何 部 分 之 前 , 因
此 , 也 就 是 远 在 日 耳 曼 君 主 为 供 罗 马 臣 民 之 用 下 令 起 卓 罗 马
法 辑 要 之 前 。 凡 是 能 体 会 到 古 代 法 律 和 发 达 的 法 律 之 间 的 差
别 的 每 一 个 人 都 会 感 觉 到 有 这 类 假 定 的 必 要 。 遗 存 的 ·
蛮 ·
族 ·
法
·
律 虽 然 是 粗 糙 的 , 但 从 它 们 纯 粹 源 自 蛮 族 的 理 论 来 看 , 还 不
是 太 粗 糙 的 ; 我 们 也 没 有 理 由 认 为 我 们 在 文 字 记 录 中 所 看 到
的 已 超 过 了 当 时 在 胜 利 部 落 的 成 员 自 己 中 间 所 实 行 的 各 种 规
定 。 如 果 我 们 能 有 办 法 使 我 们 相 信 在 蛮 族 制 度 中 已 经 存 在 着
已 贬 低 了 价 值 的 罗 马 法 的 大 量 成 分 , 则 我 们 就 有 可 能 解 除 一
个 严 重 的 困 难 。 征 服 者 的 日 耳 曼 法 律 和 其 臣 民 的 罗 马 法 律 恐不 可 能 合 并 起 来 , 如 果 在 这 两 种 法 律 相 互 之 间 不 具 有 比 精 炼法 律 学 和 蛮 族 习 惯 中 间 通 常 有 的 更 多 的 亲 和 力 的 话 。 很 可 能 ,蛮 族 的 法 典 在 表 面 上 虽 然 很 古 , 却 只 是 真 正 原 始 的 惯 例 和 半
省 略 的 罗 马 规 定 的 一 种 混 合 物 , 正 是 这 种 外 国 原 素 使 它 们 和
罗 马 法 律 学 能 合 并 起 来 , 而 当 时 的 罗 马 法 律 学 其 精 致 程 度 也已 稍 逊 于 西 罗 马 帝 国 诸 皇 帝 治 下 所 获 得 的 了 。
虽 然 这 一 切 都 应 该 承 认 , 但 是 却 有 几 种 理 由 使 封 建 形 式的 所 有 权 不 象 是 罗 马 的 双 重 所 有 权 所 直 接 提 示 的 。 法 律 上 的财 产 权 和 衡 平 的 财 产 权 之 间 的 区 别 , 看 起 来 很 微 妙 , 极少 可能 为 蛮 族 所 理 解 ; 更 有 进 者 , 除 非 “ 法 院 ” 已 经 正 常 进 行 工作 , 这 是 很 难 被 人 懂 得 的 。 但 反 对 这 理 论 的 最 强 有 力 的 理 由是 , 在 罗 马 法 中 存 在 一 种 形 式 的 财 产 权 — — 这 的 确 是 “ 衡平 ” 的 一 种 产 物 — — 可 以 用 来 非 常 简 单 地 说 明 从 一 套 思 想 转变 到 另 一 套 思 想 的 过 渡 。 这 种 财 产 权 就 是 “ 永 佃 权 ” ( E m p h y At e u s i s ) , 虽 然 关 于 它 把 封 建 所 有 权 介 绍 到 世 界 上 来 时 所 作 出的 确 切 助 力 , 我 们 知 道 得 很 少 , 但 中 世 纪 的 “ 封 地 ” 就 常 常是 建 筑 在 这 上 面 的 。 “ 永 佃 权 ” 虽 在 当 时 也 许 还 没 有 以 它 的 这个 希 腊 名 称 为 人 所 知 道 , 仅 却 的 确 标 志 着 最 后 引 导 到 封 建 主义 的 一 种 思 潮 中 的 一 个 阶 段 。 在 罗 马 史 中 , 第 一 次 提 到 大 地产 , 是 在 我 们 研 究 到 罗 马 的 贵 族 财 产 时 , 其 规 模 之 大 绝 非 一个 “ 家 父 ” 连 同 其 子 嗣 和 奴 隶 全 家 所 能 耕 种 的 。 这 些 大 财 产所 有 人 似 乎 完 全 不 知 道 有 自 由 佃 农 耕 种 的 制 度 。 他 们 的大地产 ( l a t i f u n d i a ) 一 般 都 是 由 奴 隶 队 在 监 工 之 下 进 行 工 作 , 监工 本 身 可 能 是 奴 隶 或 自 由 人 ; 当 时 试 行 的 唯 一 组 织 , 就 是 把低 级 奴 隶 分 成 为 许 多 小 团 体 , 使 他 们 成 为 较 好 的 和 较 可 信 任的 那 些 奴 隶 的特有产 , 因 而 也 就 使 那 些 较 好 的 和 较 可 信 任 的奴 隶 关 心 他 们 的 工 作 效 率 。 可 是 , 这 类 制 度 对 于 有 一 种 土 地所 有 人 即 “ 市 政 当 局 ” 特 别 不 利 。 意 大 利 的 官 吏 从 事 于 罗 马行 政 的 往 往 调 动 迅 速 频 繁 ; 因 此 由 一 个 意 大 利 法 人 来 管理 广大 土 地 必 定 是 非 常 不 够 好 的 。 因 此 , 市 政 当 局 开 始 把纳税地( a g r i v e c t i g u l e s ) 出 租 , 换 言 之 , 即 把 土 地 以 一 定 的 租 金 、 在某 种 条 件 下 、 永 久 租 与 一 个 自 由 佃 农 。 这 个 办 法 后 来 为个人所 有 者 广 泛 模 仿 , 而 佃 农 和 所 有 人 的 关 系 原 来 是 由 契约决定的 , 后 来 为 “ 裁 判 官 ” 所 承 认 , 认 为 佃 农 也 具 有 一 种 有 限 的所 有 权 , 这 在 后 来 就 成 为 “ 永 佃 权 ” 。 从 这 时 起 , 租 地的历史分 为 两 大 支 流 。 在 我 们 对 于 罗 马 帝 国 记 录 最 不 完 全 的一段长时 期 内 , 那 时 罗 马 大 家 族 的 奴 隶 队 逐 渐 转 化 成 为土著农夫 , 他们 的 来 源 和 地 位 构 成 了 全 部 历 史 中 最 暧 昧 问 题 之 一 。 我 们 不妨 这 样 来 猜 测 , 即 他 们 中 一 部 分 来 自 奴 隶 的 上 升 , 一 部 分 来自 自 由 农 民 的 降 格 ; 同 时 他 们 也 证 明 了 罗 马 帝 国 的 富 人阶级逐 渐 注 意 到 耕 种 者 对 于 土 地 的 出 产 物 有 一 种 利 益 时 就 可 以 使土 地 财 产 的 价 值 增 多 。 我 们 知 道 , 他 们 的 服 役 是 属 于 土 地 的 ;这 种 服 役 性 质 并 不 完 全 具 有 绝 对 奴 隶 状 态 的 许 多 特 征 ; 并 且他 们 只 要 在 每 年 收 获 量 中 以 一 定 的 部 分 付 给 地 主 就 可 以 免 除服 役 。 我 们 也 知 道 , 他 们 经 历 了 古 代 世 界 和 现 代 世 界 中 一 切社 会 的 变 化 而 被 保 存 下 来 , 他 们 虽 然 包 括 在 封 建 结 构 的 较 低级 的 地 位 , 但 他 们 在 许 多 国 家 中 继 续 以 他 们 曾 付 给 罗 马土地所有人 ( d o m i n u s ) 的 完 全 同 样 数 量 的 贡 税 交 与 地 主 , 而 从 土著 农 夫 之 中 的 一 个 特 殊 阶 层 、 即 为 其 所 有 人 保 留 一 半 农 产物的分益土著农夫 ( c o l o n i m e d i e t a r i ) , 传 下 来 了分益 佃 农( m e t a y e r t e n a n t r y ) , 几 乎 所 有 欧 洲 南 部 的 土 地 到 现 在 为 止仍 旧 由 这 些 人 耕 种 着 。 在 另 一 方 面 , 如 果 我 们 可 以 这 样 来 理解 “ 民 法 大 全 中 ” 关 于 它 的 暗 示 的 话 , 那 末 “ 永 佃 权 ” 可 以成 为 财 产 权 的 一 种 人 人 欢 迎 和 有 益 的 变 更 ; 并 且 可 以 设 想 , 凡有 自 由 农 民 存 在 的 地 方 , 支 配 着 他 们 在 土 地 上 的 利 益 的 , 就是 这 种 租 地 制 。 前 面 已 经 说 过 , “ 裁 判 官 ” 把 永 佃 人 认 为 一 个真 正 的 所 有 人 。 在 被 驱 逐 时 , 他 可 以 用 “ 物 权 诉 讼 ” 来 争取恢 复 , 这 是 所 有 权 的 明 显 的 标 志 , 并 且 只 要 他 准 期 清 偿 租 金( c a n o n ) 就 可 以 受 到 保 护 , 不 受 租 借 人 的 干 扰 。 但 在 同 时 , 我 们 不 能 以 为 租 借 人 的 所 有 权 已 经 消 灭 或 是 停 止 了 。 他 的 所 有权 仍 旧 存 在 , 因 为 他 在 不 付 租 金 时 就 有 权 收 回 租 地 , 在 出 卖时 有 先 买 权 , 并 且 对 于 耕 种 的 方 式 有 一 定 的 控 制 权 。 因 此 , 我们 可 以 把 “ 永 佃 权 ” 作 为 一 个 显 著 的 双 重 所 有 权 的 例 子 ,这种 双 重 所 有 权 是 封 建 财 产 权 的 特 点 , 同 时 , 这 种 例 子 也比法律 的 和 衡 平 的 权 利 并 列 要 简 单 得 多 , 并 且 容 易 摹 仿 得 多 。 可是 。 罗 马 租 地 史 并 不 到 此 为 止 。 我 们 有 明 显 的 证 据 , 证明在沿 莱 因 河 和 多 瑙 河 一 带 是 期 保 卫 着 帝 国 边 疆 以 反 抗 蛮族的各大 堡 垒 之 间 , 有 连 绵 不 断 的 狭 长 的 田 地 , 称 为边界地 ( a g r i l i m i t r o p h i ) 的 , 向 由 罗 马 军 队 中 的 久 戍 的 兵 士 根 据 “ 永 佃权 ” 的 条 件 占 有 着 。 这 里 也 有 一 种 双 重 所 有 权 。 罗 马 国 家 是土 地 的 地 主 , 士 兵 们 只 要 随 时 准 备 着 在 边 境 危 急 时 应 征 入 伍服 役 , 即 能 耕 种 土 地 而 不 受 侵 扰 。 事 实 上 , 一 种 非 常 类 似 奥地 利 - 土 耳 其 边 境 军 队 屯 垦 制 度 的 卫 戍 职 守 代 替 了 普 通“永佃 权 ” 人 应 尽 的 清 偿 租 金 的 义 务 。 我 们 不 可 能 怀 疑 : 这 就 是建 立 封 建 主 义 的 蛮 族 君 主 所 抄 袭 的 先 例 。 他 们 目 睹 这 种 制 度有 百 余 年 , 并 且 我 们 必 须 记 着 , 有 许 多 守 卫 着 边 境 的 老 兵 本身 就 是 蛮 族 的 后 裔 , 他 们 说 的 也 许 是 日 耳 曼 语 言 。 他 们 接 近着 这 样 容 易 模 仿 的 一 个 模 型 , 这 不 但 使 佛 兰 克 和 论 巴 德 的 君主 们 从 此 获 得 了 把 公 有 领 地 划 出 一 部 分 赐 与 其 从 者 以 换 取 军役 的 想 法 ; 同 时 或 许 也 说 明 了 这 种 趋 势 , 即 这 种 “ 采 地 ” 很快 就 成 为 世 袭 的 , 因 为 一 个 “ 永 佃 权 ” 虽 然 可 能 是 根 据 原 来契 约 的 条 件 创 造 出 来 的 , 但 按 诸 常 理 它 却 是 传 给 受 让 人 的 继承 人 的 。 诚 然 , 采 地 的 持 有 人 , 以 及 较 近 时 期 由 采 地 变 成 的那 种 封 地 的 封 建 主 , 似 乎 都 负 有 某 种 为 屯 军 所 不 致 有 的 和“ 永 佃 权 人 ” 所 必 然 不 会 有 的 劳 役 。 例 如 对 于 高 一 级 的 封 建 主有 尊 敬 和 感 恩 的 义 务 , 有 帮 助 他 置 备 女 儿 嫁 奁 和 为 他 儿 子 准备 武 装 的 责 任 , 在 未 成 年 时 受 他 监 护 的 义 务 , 以 及 许 多 其 他类 似 的 租 地 条 件 , 一 定 都 是 从 罗 马 法 中 “ 庇 护 人 ” 和 “ 自 由民 ” 亦 即 是 “ 前 主 人 ” ( q u o n d a m m a s t e r ) 和 “ 前 奴 隶 ” ( q u o n d a m- s l a v e ) 的 相 互 关 系 依 照 字 面 直 接 借 用 来 的 。 然 而 , 我 们 知道 , 最 早 的 采 地 受 益 人 都 是 君 主 的 个 人 随 从 , 这 个 地 位 在 表面 上 是 很 光 荣 的 , 但 在 初 时 一 定 夹 杂 着 某 种 身 分 低 贱 的 意 味 ,这 是 无 可 争 辩 的 。 在 宫 庭 中 侍 奉 君 主 的 人 放 弃 了 某 种 属 于 绝对 个 人 自 由 的 东 西 , 即 自 主 财 产 所 有 人 最 足 以 骄 傲 的 特 权 。
第 九 章 契 约 的 早 期 史
关 于 我 们 所 处 的 时 代 , 能 一 见 而 立 即 同 意 接 受 的 一 般 命
题 是 这 样 一 个 说 法 , 即 我 们 今 日 的 社 会 和 以 前 历 代 社 会 之 间
所 存 在 的 主 要 不 同 之 点 ; 乃 在 于 契 约 在 社 会 中 所 占 范 围 的 大
小 。 这 个 说 法 所 根 据 的 现 象 , 有 些 都 是 常 常 被 提 出 来 受 到 注
意 、 批 评 和 颂 扬 的 。 我 们 决 不 会 毫 不 经 心 地 不 理 会 到 : 在 无
数 的 事 例 中 , 旧 的 法 律 是 在 人 出 生 时 就 不 可 改 变 地 确 定 了 一
个 人 的 社 会 地 位 , 现 代 法 律 则 允 许 他 用 协 议 的 方 法 来 为 其 自
己 创 设 社 会 地 位 ; 真 的 , 对 于 这 个 规 定 有 几 个 例 外 , 不 断 地
在 热 烈 愤 慨 下 遭 到 废 弃 。 例 如 , 黑 奴 问 题 , 到 现 在 仍 被 剧 烈
争 论 着 , 其 真 正 争 执 之 点 是 : 奴 隶 的 身 分 究 竟 是 不 是 属 于 过
去 的 制 度 , 又 如 雇 主 和 工 人 之 间 能 合 乎 现 代 道 德 的 唯 一 关 系 ,
究 竟 是 不 是 完 全 由 契 约 决 定 的 一 种 关 系 。 承 认 过 去 和 现 在 之
间 存 在 这 种 差 别 , 是 最 著 名 的 现 代 思 想 的 实 质 。 可 以 断 言 ,
“ 政 治 经 济 学 ” 是 今 日 有 相 当 进 步 的 唯 一 伦 理 研 究 部 门 , 它 将
会 和 生 活 的 事 实 不 相 符 合 , 如 果 “ 强 行 法 ” 对 它 一 度 占 据 的
领 域 的 绝 大 部 分 不 肯 加 以 放 弃 , 并 且 人 们 不 能 具 有 直 到 最 近
才 允 许 他 们 有 的 决 定 其 自 己 行 为 规 律 的 一 种 自 由 。 受 到 政 治
经 济 学 训 练 的 大 多 数 人 都 有 这 样 一 种 偏 见 , 认 为 他 们 的 科 学
所 根 据 的 一 般 真 理 是 有 可 能 变 为 普 遍 性 的 真 理 的 , 并 且 , 当
他 们 把 它 作 为 一 种 艺 术 而 运 用 时 , 他 们 一 般 都 着 重 于 扩 大“ 契 约 ” 的 领 域 , 缩 小 “ 强 行 法 ” 的 领 域 , 只 有 在 必 须 依 靠 法
律 以 强 制 “ 契 约 ” 的 履 行 时 , 才 是 例 外 。 一 些 思 想 家 在 这 种
思 潮 影 响 下 作 出 的 鼓 动 , 开 始 在 西 方 世 界 中 很 强 烈 地 感 觉 到 。
立 法 几 乎 已 经 自 己 承 认 它 和 人 类 在 发 现 、 发 明 以 及 大 量 积 累
财 富 各 方 面 的 活 动 无 法 并 驾 齐 驱 ; 即 使 在 最 不 进 步 的 社 会 中 ,
法 律 亦 逐 渐 倾 向 于 成 为 一 种 仅 仅 的 表 层 , 在 它 下 面 , 有 一 种
不 断 在 变 更 着 的 契 约 规 定 的 集 合 , 除 非 为 了 要 强 迫 遵 从 少 数
基 本 原 理 或 者 为 了 处 罚 违 背 信 用 必 须 诉 求 法 律 外 , 法 律 绝 少
干 预 这 些 契 约 的 规 定 。
社 会 研 究 , 因 为 它 们 必 须 依 靠 对 法 律 现 象 的 考 究 , 是 在
一 种 非 常 落 后 的 状 态 中 , 因 此 , 我 们 发 现 这 些 真 理 不 为 今 天
流 行 着 的 有 关 社 会 进 步 的 日 常 用 语 所 承 认 , 是 不 足 为 奇 的 。 这
些 日 常 用 语 比 较 符 合 我 们 的 偏 见 , 而 不 符 合 我 们 的 信 念 。 当
“ 契 约 ” 所 根 据 的 道 德 成 为 问 题 的 时 候 , 绝 大 多 数 的 人 都 更 强
有 力 地 不 顾 把 道 德 认 为 是 进 步 的 , 我 们 中 有 许 多 人 几 乎 本 能
地 不 愿 承 认 我 们 同 胞 所 有 的 善 意 和 信 任 , 会 比 古 时 代 更 为 广
泛 传 布 , 也 不 愿 承 认 我 们 当 代 的 礼 仪 中 有 能 和 古 代 世 界 中 的
忠 诚 相 比 拟 的 东 西 。 有 的 时 候 , 这 些 先 人 之 见 的 声 势 为 诈 欺
行 为 所 大 大 加 强 , 这 种 诈 欺 行 为 是 在 它 们 被 目 睹 之 前 所 未 曾
听 到 过 的 , 并 且 以 其 犯 罪 行 为 而 使 人 震 骇 , 更 以 其 复 杂 而 令
人 惊 异 。 但 这 些 欺 诈 行 为 的 性 质 明 白 地 显 示 出 : 在 它 们 成 为
可 能 之 前 , 它 们 所 破 坏 的 道 德 义 务 必 定 已 超 过 了 一 定 比 例 的
发 展 。 由 于 多 数 人 笃 守 信 义 , 就 给 了 少 数 人 不 顾 信 义 的 方 便 ,
因 此 , 当 巨 大 的 不 诚 实 的 事 件 发 生 时 , 必 然 的 结 论 是 , 在 一
般 的 交 易 中 都 显 现 出 审 慎 的 正 直 , 只 在 特 殊 情 形 中 才 予 犯 法者 以 可 乘 之 机 。 如 果 我 们 坚 持 要 从 法 律 学 上 的 反 映 来 看 道 德
史 , 并 且 把 我 们 的 眼 光 向 着 “ 犯 罪 ” 法 而 不 是 向 着 “ 契 约 ” 法 ,
则 我 们 必 须 细 心 谨 慎 , 才 不 致 错 误 。 最 古 罗 马 法 所 处 理 的 唯
一 形 式 的 不 诚 实 , 是 “ 窃 盗 罪 ” 。 在 我 写 本 书 的 时 候 , 英 国 刑
法 中 最 新 的 一 章 , 是 企 图 为 “ 受 托 人 ” 的 欺 诈 行 为 作 出 处 罚
的 规 定 。 从 这 对 比 中 所 可 能 得 到 的 正 当 推 论 , 并 不 是 原 始 罗
马 人 比 我 们 有 更 高 的 道 德 观 念 。 我 们 应 该 说 , 在 他 们 和 我 们
相 隔 开 的 时 代 中 间 , 道 德 已 经 从 一 个 很 粗 浅 的 概 念 进 步 到 一
种 高 度 精 炼 的 概 念 — — 从 把 财 产 权 视 为 绝 对 神 圣 , 发 展 到 把
仅 仅 由 于 片 面 信 用 而 产 生 的 权 利 视 为 有 权 受 到 刑 事 法 律 的 保
护 。
法 学 家 的 各 种 明 确 理 论 , 在 这 一 点 上 , 并 不 比 普 通 人 的
意 见 更 接 近 真 理 。 试 从 罗 马 法 律 家 的 见 解 开 始 , 我 们 发 现 他
们 的 见 解 和 道 德 及 法 律 进 步 的 真 正 历 史 并 不 符 合 。 在 有 一 类
的 契 约 中 , 以 缔 约 两 造 的 善 意 担 保 为 唯 一 要 件 , 这 种 契 约 他
们 特 别 称 之 为 “ 万 民 法 契 约 ” ( C o n t r a c t s j u r i s g e n t i u m ) 。
并 且 , 虽 然 这 些 契 约 无 疑 地 是 罗 马 制 度 中 最 迟 产 生 的 , 但 其
所 用 的 用 语 , 如 果 我 们 可 以 从 中 吸 取 其 含 义 的 话 , 实 包 含 着 :
这 些 契 约 比 在 罗 马 法 中 处 理 的 某 种 其 他 形 式 的 约 定 还 要 古
远 , 在 罗 马 法 中 忽 视 一 个 专 门 手 续 程 序 , 就 要 像 误 会 或 欺 骗
一 样 损 害 到 责 任 。 然 而 所 谓 它 们 是 古 远 的 说 法 , 是 模 糊 的 、 暧
昧 的 , 是 只 能 通 过 “ 现 在 ” 方 能 理 解 的 ; 所 谓 “ 国 际 法 契
约 ” 被 明 白 地 看 作 人 类 在 “ 自 然 状 态 ” 下 所 知 道 的 一 种 “ 契
约 ” , 也 要 到 罗 马 法 律 家 的 用 语 变 成 了 对 罗 马 法 律 家 的 思 想 方
式 已 不 再 能 理 解 的 一 个 时 代 的 用 语 之 后 才 能 理 解 。 卢 梭 兼 有了 法 律 上 的 和 通 俗 的 错 误 。 在 “ 论 艺 术 和 科 学 对 道 德 的 影响 ”— — 这 是 他 作 品 中 引 人 注 意 的 第 一 部 ,并 且 是 他 最 无 保 留 地 申 述 他 的 意 见 使 他 成 为 一 个 学 派 首 创 人的 一 篇 作 品 — — 中 , 他 一 再 指 出 古 波 斯 人 的 诚 实 和 善 意 , 认为 这 些 是 原 始 人 天 真 的 特 征 , 已 经 逐 渐 为 文 明 所 消 灭 了 的 ; 到
一 个 较 后 的 时 期 , 他 把 他 所 有 理 论 完 全 放 在 一 个 原 始 “ 社 会
契 约 ” 学 理 的 基 础 上 。 所 谓 “ 社 会 契 约 ” , 是 我 们 正 在 讨 论 的
错 误 所 形 成 的 最 有 系 统 的 一 种 形 式 。 这 个 理 论 虽 然 为 政 治 热
情 所 抚 育 而 趋 于 重 要 , 但 所 有 它 的 营 养 则 完 全 来 自 法 律 学 的
纯 理 论 。 首 先 受 它 吸 引 的 著 名 英 国 人 士 所 以 重 视 它 , 主 要 是
由 于 可 以 在 政 治 上 利 用 它 , 但 是 , 正 象 我 现 在 解 释 的 , 如 果
政 治 家 不 是 长 期 地 用 法 律 用 语 来 进 行 争 辩 , 则 他 们 将 决 不 可
能 达 到 它 。 同 时 这 个 理 论 的 英 国 著 者 也 不 是 对 于 这 理 论 的 深
远 影 响 茫 然 不 见 的 , 因 为 法 国 人 就 是 经 过 这 种 推 荐 而 承 继 到
它 的 。 法 国 人 的 著 作 显 示 出 : 他 们 认 为 这 个 理 论 可 以 用 来 说
明 一 切 政 治 现 象 , 同 时 也 可 以 说 明 一 切 社 会 现 象 。 他 们 看 到
在 他 们 时 代 中 已 经 非 常 触 目 的 事 实 , 即 人 类 所 遵 守 的 现 实 法
规 中 , 比 较 大 的 部 分 都 是 由 “ 契 约 ” 设 定 的 , 只 有 少 数 是 由
“ 强 行 法 ” 设 定 的 。 但 是 , 他 们 对 于 法 律 学 中 这 两 个 要 素 的 历
史 关 系 , 或 者 是 一 无 所 知 , 或 者 是 漠 不 关 心 。 因 此 , 他 们 提
出 一 切 “ 法 律 ” 源 自 “ 契 约 ” 的 理 论 , 其 目 的 是 在 满 足 他 们
的 尝 试 , 要 把 所 有 法 律 学 归 因 于 一 个 一 致 渊 源 的 纯 理 论 , 同
时 也 在 规 避 主 张 “ 强 行 法 ” 来 自 神 授 的 各 种 学 理 。 在 另 一 个
思 想 阶 段 中 , 他 们 可 能 满 足 于 把 他 们 的 理 论 停 留 在 一 个 巧 妙假 设 或 一 个 便 利 的 口 头 公 式 的 情 况 中 。 但 这 个 时 代 , 是 在 法
律 迷 信 的 统 治 之 下 。 “ 自 然 状 态 ” 已 不 再 是 似 是 而 非 的 东 西 了 ,
因 此 , 在 坚 持 “ 社 会 契 约 ” 是 一 种 历 史 事 实 时 , 就 很 容 易 使
“ 法 律 ” 起 源 于 契 约 的 理 论 获 得 一 种 虚 伪 的 真 实 性 和 明 确 性 。
我 们 自 己 的 一 代 已 经 摈 弃 了 这 些 错 误 的 法 律 理 论 , 部 分
由 于 我 们 已 经 超 过 了 他 们 所 处 的 智 力 状 态 , 部 分 由 于 我 们 已
经 几 乎 完 全 停 止 再 在 这 类 主 题 上 进 行 推 理 。 喜 爱 研 究 的 人 们
在 目 前 所 乐 于 从 事 的 工 作 , 以 及 答 复 我 们 祖 先 对 社 会 状 态 起
源 所 持 纯 理 论 的 工 作 , 是 对 现 在 存 在 和 在 我 们 眼 前 活 动 的 社
会 进 行 分 析 ; 但 是 , 由 于 缺 少 历 史 的 帮 助 , 这 种 分 析 就 时 常
退 化 而 成 为 一 种 徒 然 是 好 奇 心 的 活 动 , 并 且 特 别 容 易 使 研 究
者 不 能 理 解 和 他 所 习 见 的 有 很 大 不 同 的 社 会 状 态 。 用 我 们 自
己 时 代 的 道 德 观 念 来 评 价 其 他 时 代 的 人 们 , 其 错 误 正 如 假 定
现 代 社 会 机 器 中 的 每 一 个 轮 子 、 每 一 只 螺 钉 在 较 原 始 的 社 会
中 都 有 其 相 对 物 的 那 样 错 误 。 在 用 现 代 风 格 写 成 的 历 史 著 作
中 , 这 类 印 象 繁 衍 很 广 , 并 且 都 很 巧 妙 地 掩 盖 着 它 们 自 己 ; 但
是 我 在 法 律 学 的 领 域 中 也 发 现 了 它 们 的 痕 迹 , 如 一 般 对 孟 德
斯 鸠 穿 插 在 其 “ 波 斯 人 信 札 ”中 有 关
“ 穴 居 人 ” ( T r o g l o d y t e s ) 的 小 寓 言 所 作 的 颂 扬 中 。 据 说 “ 穴居 人 ” 是 一 种 人 , 由 于 他 们 系 统 地 破 坏 其 “ 契 约 ” , 因 而 全 部
遭 受 灭 亡 。 如 果 这 个 故 事 表 示 着 著 者 意 中 的 道 德 观 念 , 并 且
是 用 以 暴 露 这 一 世 纪 和 上 一 个 世 纪 曾 受 到 其 威 胁 的 一 种 反 社
会 异 端 , 这 诚 然 是 无 可 指 摘 的 ; 但 如 果 由 它 而 得 到 的 推 论 是 :
一 个 社 会 在 允 约 和 合 意 上 如 果 没 有 给 予 一 种 神 圣 性 , 而 这 种
神 圣 性 与 一 个 成 熟 文 明 所 给 予 的 尊 敬 相 类 似 , 这 个 社 会 就 不可 能 结 合 在 一 起 , 则 它 所 含 有 的 错 误 将 是 非 常 严 重 的 , 它 将使 我 们 对 于 法 律 史 不 能 作 出 正 确 的 理 解 。 事 实 是 , “ 穴 居 人 ”
完 全 没 有 注 意 到 “ 契 约 ” 责 任 , 却 曾 兴 旺 起 来 , 建 立 过 强 有
力 的 国 家 。 在 原 始 社 会 组 织 中 , 必 须 首 先 了 解 的 一 点 是 , 个
人 并 不 为 其 自 己 设 定 任 何 权 利 , 也 不 为 其 自 己 设 定 任 何 义 务 。
他 所 应 遵 守 的 规 则 , 首 先 来 自 他 所 出 生 的 场 所 , 其 次 来 自 他
作 为 其 中 成 员 的 户 主 所 给 他 的 强 行 命 令 。 在 这 样 制 度 下 , 就
很 少 有 “ 契 约 ” 活 动 的 余 地 。 同 一 家 族 的 成 员 之 间 ( 我 们 得
这 样 来 解 释 证 据 ) 是 完 全 不 能 相 互 缔 结 契 约 的 , 对 于 其 从 属
成 员 中 任 何 一 人 企 图 拘 束 家 族 而 作 出 的 合 意 , 家 族 有 权 置 之
不 理 。 诚 然 , 家 族 得 与 其 他 家 族 缔 结 契 约 , 族 长 得 与 族 长 缔
结 契 约 , 但 这 种 交 易 在 性 质 上 和 财 产 的 让 与 相 同 , 并 同 样 地
有 许 多 繁 文 缛 节 , 只 要 在 履 行 时 忽 略 其 中 一 个 细 节 就 足 以 使
义 务 归 于 无 效 。 由 于 一 个 人 对 另 外 一 个 人 的 话 加 以 信 赖 而 产
生 积 极 义 务 , 是 进 步 文 明 最 迟 缓 的 胜 利 品 之 一 。
无 论 是 “ 古 代 法 ” 或 是 任 何 其 他 证 据 , 都 没 有 告 诉 我 们
有 一 种 毫 无 “ 契 约 ” 概 念 的 社 会 。 这 种 概 念 在 最 初 出 现 时 , 显
然 是 极 原 始 的 。 在 可 靠 的 原 始 记 录 中 , 我 们 都 可 以 注 意 到 , 使
我 们 实 践 一 个 允 约 的 习 性 还 没 有 完 全 发 展 , 种 种 罪 恶 昭 彰 不
信 不 义 的 行 为 常 被 提 到 , 竟 毫 无 非 难 , 有 时 反 加 以 赞 许 。 例
如 , 在 荷 马 文 学 中 , 优 烈 锡 士 的 欺 诈 狡 猾 , 好 象 是 和 纳 斯 佗
( N e s t o r ) 的 智 虑 明 达 、 海 克 佗 ( H e - c t o r ) 的 坚 毅 不 拔 以 及亚 济 里 斯 ( A c h i l l e s ) 的 英 雄 豪 侠 处 于 同 等 的 一 种 美 德 。 古 代
法 特 别 使 我 看 到 粗 糙 形 式 的 和 成 熟 时 期 的 “ 契 约 ” 间 存 在 着
一 个 很 远 的 距 离 。 在 开 始 时 , 法 律 对 于 强 迫 履 行 一 个 允 约 , 并不 加 以 干 预 。 使 法 律 执 有 制 裁 武 器 的 , 不 是 一 个 允 约 , 而 是
附 着 一 种 庄 严 仪 式 的 允 约 。 仪 式 不 但 和 允 约 本 身 有 同 样 的 重
要 性 , 仪 式 并 且 还 比 允 约 更 为 重 要 ; 因 为 成 熟 的 法 律 学 着 重
于 仔 细 分 析 据 供 一 个 特 定 的 口 头 同 意 的 心 理 条 件 , 而 在 古 代
法 中 则 着 重 于 附 着 在 仪 式 上 的 言 语 和 动 作 。 如 果 有 一 个 形 式
被 遗 漏 了 或 用 错 了 , 则 誓 约 就 不 能 强 行 , 但 是 , 在 另 一 方 面 ,
如 果 所 有 形 式 经 表 明 已 完 全 正 确 进 行 , 则 纵 使 以 允 约 是 在 威
胁 或 欺 骗 之 下 作 出 为 辩 解 , 也 属 徒 然 。 从 这 样 一 种 古 代 的 看
法 , 转 变 而 成 为 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 熟 习 观 念 , 其 转 化 过 程 在 法
律 学 史 中 是 显 然 可 见 的 。 在 起 初 , 仪 式 中 有 一 个 或 二 个 步 骤
省 略 了 ; 后 来 其 他 的 也 简 化 了 或 者 在 某 种 条 件 下 忽 略 了 ; 最
后 , 少 数 特 殊 的 契 约 从 其 他 契 约 中 分 离 出 来 , 准 许 不 经 任 何
仪 式 而 缔 结 定 约 , 这 种 选 定 的 契 约 都 是 些 社 会 交 往 活 动 和 力
量 所 依 靠 的 。 心 头 的 约 定 从 繁 文 缛 节 中 迟 缓 地 但 是 非 常 显 著
地 分 离 出 来 , 并 且 逐 渐 地 成 为 法 学 专 家 兴 趣 集 中 的 唯 一 要 素 。
这 种 心 头 约 定 通 过 外 界 行 为 而 表 示 , 罗 马 人 称 之 为 一 个 “ 合
约 ” ( P a c t ) 或 “ 协 议 ” ( C o n v e n t i o n ) ; 当 “ 协 议 ” 一 度 视 为
一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 核 心 时 , 在 前 进 中 的 法 律 学 不 久 就 产 生 了 一
种 倾 向 , 使 契 约 逐 渐 和 其 形 式 和 仪 式 的 外 壳 脱 离 。 在 这 以 后 ,
形 式 只 在 为 了 要 保 证 真 实 性 和 为 了 要 保 证 谨 慎 和 细 心 时 才 加
保 留 。 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 观 念 是 完 全 地 发 展 了 , 或 者 , 用 罗 马
人 的 用 语 来 说 , “ 契 约 ” 是 吸 收 在 “ 合 约 ” 中 了 。
罗 马 法 律 中 这 个 变 更 过 程 的 历 史 , 是 非 常 有 启 发 性 的 。 在
法 律 学 的 最 初 曙 光 期 , 用 以 表 示 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 名 词 是 历 史
“ 拉 丁 语 法 ” 学 者 很 熟 悉 的 一 个 名 词 。 这 就 是 “ 耐 克 逊 ” , 契约 的 两 造 称 为 “ 耐 克 先 ” ( n e x i , ) , 这 两 个 用 语 必 须 特 别 注 意 ,
由 于 它 们 所 依 据 的 隐 喻 特 别 持 久 。 在 一 个 契 约 合 意 下 的 人 们
由 一 个 强 有 力 的 ·
约 ·
束 或 ·
连 ·
锁 联 结 在 一 起 , 这 个 观 念 一 直 继 续
着 , 直 到 最 后 影 响 着 罗 马 的 “ 契 约 ” 法 律 学 ; 并 且 由 这 里 顺
流 而 下 , 它 和 各 种 现 代 观 念 混 合 起 来 。 然 则 在 这 耐 克 逊 或 约
束 中 , 究 竟 包 括 些 什 么 ? 从 一 个 拉 丁 考 古 学 家 传 下 来 的 一 个
定 义 , 认 为 ·
耐 ·
克 ·
逊 是 ·
每 ·
一 ·
种 ·
用 ·
铜 ·
片 ·
和 ·
衡 ·
具 ·
的 ·
交 ·
易 ( o m n e q u o d g e r i t u r p e r Es e t l i b r a m ) , 这 些 文 字 曾 引 起 了许 多 疑 惑 。 铜 片 和 衡 具 是 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 的 著 名 附 属 物 , 即在 前 章 中 描 述 过 的 古 代 仪 式 , 通 过 这 种 仪 式 “ 罗 马 财 产 ” 最高 形 式 中 的 所 有 权 就 由 一 个 人 移 转 到 另 外 一 个 人 。 “ 曼 企 帕 地荷 ” 是 一 种让与 , 因 此 就 发 生 了 一 个 困 难 , 因 为 这 样 的 定 义似 乎 把 “ 契 约 ” 和 “ 让 与 ” 混 淆 起 来 了 , 而 在 法 律 哲 学 上 , 它们 不 仅 仅 是 各 别 的 , 而 且 在 实 际 上 是 相 互 对 立 的 。物权 ( j u s i n r e ) 、对世权 ( r i g h t i n r e m ) , 即 “ 对 全 世 界 有 效的 ” 权 利 或 “ 财 产 所 有 权 ” , 在 成 熟 法 律 学 的 分 析 中 是 和 人 权 ( j u s a d r e m ) 、 对 人 权 ( r i g h t i n p e r s o n a m ) , 即 “ 对一 单 独 个 人 或 团 体 有 效 的 ” 权 利 或 债 权 , 有 明 显 的 区 别 的 。
“ 让 与 ” 转 移 “ 财 产 所 有 权 ” , “ 契 约 ” 创 设 “ 债 权 ” — — 然 则,这 两 者 怎 样 会 包 括 在 同 一 的 名 称 或 同 一 的 一 般 概 念 之 下 ? 这
和 许 多 相 似 的 困 难 一 样 , 是 由 于 把 显 然 属 于 智 力 发 展 进 步 阶
段 的 一 种 能 力 , 把 在 实 践 上 混 合 在 一 起 的 各 种 纯 理 论 观 点 加
以 区 别 的 能 力 , 错 误 地 认 为 属 于 一 个 未 成 形 社 会 的 心 理 状 态
而 产 生 的 。 我 们 有 不 可 误 解 的 有 关 社 会 事 务 状 态 的 各 种 迹 象 ,
证 明 “ 让 与 ” 和 “ 契 约 ” 在 实 际 上 是 混 淆 不 分 的 ; 同 时 , 直到 人 们 在 缔 约 和 让 与 中 采 用 一 种 各 别 的 实 践 前 , 这 两 个 概 念的 差 异 从 来 没 有 为 人 们 所 领 会 到 。
这 里 可 以 看 到 , 我 们 对 古 罗 马 法 已 具 有 足 够 的 知 识 , 使我 们 可 以 提 供 一 些 在 法 律 学 萌 芽 时 代 各 种 法 律 概 念 和 法 律 用语 所 遵 循 的 转 化 方 式 的 大 概 。 它 们 所 经 历 的 变 更 似 乎 是 从 一
般 到 特 殊 的 一 种 变 更 ; 或 者 , 换 言 之 , 古 代 的 概 念 和 古 代 的
名 词 是 处 于 逐 渐 专 门 化 的 过 程 中 。 一 个 古 代 的 法 律 概 念 相 当
于 不 仅 一 个 而 是 几 个 现 代 概 念 。 一 个 古 代 的 专 门 术 语 可 以 用
来 表 示 许 多 东 西 , 这 些 东 西 在 现 代 法 律 中 分 别 具 有 各 种 不 同
的 名 称 。 如 果 我 们 研 究 下 一 阶 段 的 法 律 学 史 , 我 们 就 可 以 看
到 次 要 的 概 念 逐 渐 地 被 解 脱 出 来 , 旧 的 一 般 的 名 称 正 为 特 别
的 名 称 所 代 替 。 旧 的 一 般 概 念 并 没 有 被 遗 忘 , 但 它 已 不 再 包
括 它 起 初 包 括 的 一 种 或 几 种 观 点 。 因 此 同 样 的 , 古 代 的 专 门
术 语 依 旧 存 在 , 但 它 只 执 行 着 它 以 前 一 度 具 有 的 许 多 职 能 中
的 一 种 。 我 们 可 以 从 许 多 方 面 来 证 明 这 种 现 象 。 例 如 , 各 式
各 样 的 “ 父 权 ” 在 过 去 曾 一 度 被 认 为 是 属 于 同 一 性 质 的 , 它
也 无 疑 地 被 归 属 于 一 个 名 称 之 下 。 祖 先 所 行 使 的 权 力 , 不 论
它 是 对 家 族 或 是 对 物 质 财 产 — — 对 牛 、 羊 、 奴 隶 、 子 女 或 妻— — 行 使 的 统 是 一 样 的 。 我 们 不 能 绝 对 地 确 定 权 力 的 旧 的 罗马 名 称 , 但 我 们 有 强 有 力 的 理 由 相 信 :曼奴斯 ( m a n u s ) 能 表示 各 种 不 同 程 度 的权力 , 就 可 知 道 古 代 对 于权力 的 一 般 名 词
是曼奴斯 。 但 是 , 当 罗 马 法 稍 稍 进 步 了 后 , 名 称 和 观 念 都 专
门 化 了 。 “ 权 力 ” 按 照 着 它 所 行 使 的 对 象 而 在 文 字 上 或 在 概 念上 明 确 地 区 分 了 。 对 物 质 商 品 或 奴 隶 行 使 的 权 力 , 成 为完全所有权 — — 对 儿 女 , 称 为家父权 — — , 对 那 些 已 被 他 们 的 祖先 把 他 们 的 劳 役 卖 给 了 别 人 的 自 由 人 , 称 为曼企帕因 — — , 对妻 子 , 则 仍 然 是 曼 奴 斯 。 可 以 看 到 , 旧 的 文 字 并 没 有 完 全 废止 , 只 是 限 制 于 它 以 前 表 示 的 权 限 的 一 种 特 定 的 行 使 上 而 已 。
这 个 例 子 可 以 使 我 们 理 解 “ 契 约 ” 和 “ 让 与 ” 在 历 史 上 所 发生 的 关 联 的 性 质 。 一 切 要 式 行 为 在 开 始 时 可 能 只 有 一 种 庄 严的 仪 式 , 在 罗 马 , 它 的 名 称 在 过 去 似 乎 就 是耐克逊 。 过 去 在让 与 财 产 时 所 用 的 同 样 形 式 , 后 来 似 乎 就 恰 恰 被 用 于 缔 结 一个 契 约 。 但 经 过 不 多 时 候 , 我 们 到 达 了 这 样 一 个 时 期 , 当 时一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 观 念 又 被 从 一 个 “ 让 与 ” 的 观 念 中 分 离 了 出来 。 这 样 , 就 发 生 了 一 个 双 重 的 变 化 。 “ 用 铜 片 和 衡 具 ” 的 交易 , 当 它 的 目 的 是 在 移 转 财 产 时 , 采 用 了 一 个 新 的 、 特 殊 的名 称 , “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 。 而 古 代 的 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 则 仍 旧 用 以 表 示原 来 的 仪 式 , 但 这 样 仪 式 只 被 用 于 使 契 约 庄 严 化 的 特 殊 目 的 。
当 我 们 说 : 在 古 代 二 种 或 三 种 法 律 概 念 往 往 混 合 为 一 , 我们 的 意 思 并 不 是 在 暗 示 : 在 这 些 包 括 在 一 起 的 几 个 观 念 之 中
不 可 能 有 一 种 观 念 会 比 其 他 各 种 观 念 古 老 一 些 , 或 者 , 在 几
个 观 念 形 成 时 , 也 不 可 能 有 一 种 观 念 会 较 其 他 观 念 显 著 地 占
优 势 , 并 居 于 它 们 之 上 。 为 什 么 一 个 法 律 概 念 会 继 续 长 期 包
括 几 个 概 念 , 一 个 术 语 会 代 替 几 个 术 语 , 其 理 由 无 疑 地 是 因
为 在 原 始 社 会 中 , 往 往 在 人 们 有 机 会 注 意 或 给 与 适 当 名 称 之
前 , 法 律 在 实 践 上 很 早 已 发 生 了 变 化 。 虽 然 我 们 已 说 过 , “ 父
权 ” 在 最 初 时 并 不 是 因 它 所 行 使 的 对 象 的 不 同 而 有 所 区 分 , 然
我 确 切 地 感 到 , “ 对 子 女 的 权 力 ” ( P o w e r o v e r C h i l d - r e n ) 实 即 是 古 代 “ 权 力 ” 概 念 的 基 础 ; 我 也 深 信 在 最 早 应 用“ 耐 克 逊 ” 时 , 也 即 是 在 原 来 应 用 它 的 人 们 的 心 目 中 , “ 耐 克逊 ” 的 作 用 是 在 使 财 产 的 移 转 有 适 当 的 庄 严 仪 式 。 大 概 “ 耐克 逊 ” 的 略 微 歪 曲 其 原 来 的 职 能 , 最 初 是 为 了 使 它 适 用 于
“ 契 约 ” , 而 由 于 它 改 变 的 程 度 十 分 轻 微 , 所 以 人 们 长 期 没 有
觉 察 或 注 意 到 。 旧 的 名 称 仍 旧 保 留 着 , 因 为 人 们 没 有 感 觉 到
他 们 需 要 一 个 新 的 名 称 。 旧 的 观 念 盘 踞 在 人 们 脑 中 , 因 为 没
有 人 发 现 有 理 由 要 费 心 来 研 究 它 。 这 种 情 况 , 在 “ 遗 嘱 ” 史
中 已 有 了 明 白 的 例 证 。 一 个 “ 遗 嘱 ” 在 最 初 只 是 简 单 的 财 产
移 转 。 只 在 这 种 特 殊 让 与 和 一 切 其 他 让 与 之 间 逐 渐 发 生 了 巨
大 的 实 践 上 的 差 别 , 才 使 这 种 让 与 被 分 别 对 待 , 即 使 是 这 样 ,
也 还 需 要 经 过 几 个 世 纪 以 后 , 法 律 改 良 者 才 把 这 名 义 上 的 曼
企 帕 地 荷 , 作 为 无 用 的 累 赘 而 加 以 清 除 , 并 同 意 在 “ 遗 嘱 ” 中
除 了 “ 遗 嘱 人 ” 的 明 白 意 思 外 , 其 他 一 切 都 非 必 要 。 不 幸 的
是 , 我 们 无 法 以 对 “ 遗 嘱 ” 的 早 期 史 的 绝 对 信 心 来 追 溯 “ 契约 ” 的 早 期 史 , 但 我 们 并 非 完 全 没 有 暗 示 , 说 明 契 约 在 最 初出 现 时 是 把耐克逊 放 在 一 种 新 的 应 用 中 , 后 来 通 过 实 际 试 验获 得 了 重 要 效 果 , 被 承 认 为 一 种 各 别 的 交 易 。 下 述 过 程 的 描写 虽 然 是 出 于 臆 测 , 但 并 非 全 无 根 据 。 我 们 试 以 一 次 现 款 买
卖 作 为 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 的 通 常 形 式 。 出 卖 人 携 带 他 意 欲 处 分 的 财
产 — — 例 如 一 个 奴 隶 — — 买 受 人 带 来 了 他 用 作 金 钱 的 粗 铜 块— — 还 有 一 个 不 可 缺 少 的 助 手 , 即司秤 , 他 带 来 了 一 个 天 平秤 。 通 过 规 定 手 续 , 奴 隶 被 移 交 给 买 受 人 — — 铜 块 经司秤秤过 , 然 后 移 交 给 出 卖 人 。 在 这 交 易 继 续 进 行 的 过 程 中 , 我 们称 之 为耐克逊 , 买 卖 的 双 方 是 耐 克 先 ; 但 一 当 交 易 完 成 后 ,耐克逊 就 告 中 止 , 出 卖 人 和 买 受 人 即 不 再 具 有 他 们 因 这 暂 时 关
系 而 产 生 的 名 称 。 在 这 里 , 我 们 试 再 根 据 商 业 史 的 发 展 向 前跨 进 一 步 。 假 定 奴 隶 是 移 转 了 , 但 没 有 付 钱 。 在这 ·
种 情 况 下 ,
就 出 卖 人 说 , ·
耐 ·
克 ·
逊 是 完 成 了 , 并 且 当 他 已 移 交 其 财 产 后 , 他
已 不 再 是 ·
耐 ·
克 ·
苏 ·
斯 ( n e x u s ) ; 但 就 买 受 人 说 , 耐 克 逊 仍 在 继
续 着 。 就 他 的 部 分 而 论 , 交 易 还 未 完 成 , 他 仍 被 认 为 是 耐 克
苏 斯 。 因 此 , 可 以 看 到 , 这 同 一 名 词 在 一 方 面 是 指 财 产 凭 以
移 转 的 “ 让 与 ” , 在 另 一 方 面 又 是 指 债 务 人 对 于 还 没 有 偿 付 的
买 价 的 个 人 债 务 。 我 们 还 可 以 更 进 一 步 , 假 设 一 种 程 序 是 完
全 属 于 形 式 , 在 这 程 序 中 并 ·
没 ·
有 ·
东 ·
西 移 转 , 也 ·
没 ·
有 ·
东 ·
西 偿 付 ;
这 就 表 明 了 一 种 更 高 级 商 业 活 动 的 交 易 , 一 种 ·
将 ·
来 ·
生 ·
效 ·
的 ·
买
·
卖 ·
契 ·
约 ( e x e c u t o r y C o n t r a c t o f S a l e ) 。
如 果 在 一 般 见 解 和 职 业 见 解 中 , 真 的 都 把 一 个 契 约 长 期
地 认 为 是 一 种 不 ·
完 ·
全 ·
的 ·
让 ·
与 , 这 个 真 理 的 重 要 性 是 有 多 种 理
由 的 。 在 上 一 世 纪 中 , 有 关 人 类 在 自 然 状 态 中 的 各 种 纯 理 论
被 概 括 为 这 样 一 个 学 理 , 即 “ 在 原 始 社 会 中 财 产 是 不 当 什 么
的 , 被 重 视 的 只 有 债 务 ” , 这 并 非 是 完 全 不 适 当 的 ; 但 现 在 可
以 看 到 , 如 果 把 这 个 命 题 颠 倒 过 来 , 可 能 会 更 接 近 于 实 际 。 另
一 方 面 , 从 历 史 上 考 虑 , “ 让 与 ” 和 “ 契 约 ” 在 原 始 时 代 的 联
系 , 说 明 了 某 些 常 被 学 者 和 法 学 家 认 为 特 别 难 以 解 释 的 东 西 ,
我 的 意 思 是 指 : 极 古 法 律 制 度 中 一 般 都 对 于 ·
债 ·
务 ·
人 非 常 苛 酷 ,
并 给 与 ·
债 ·
权 ·
人 以 过 分 的 权 力 。 当 我 们 一 度 懂 得 了 ·
耐 ·
克 ·
逊 是 被
人 为 地 延 长 了 以 使 债 务 人 有 一 定 的 时 间 , 我 们 就 可 以 更 好 地
理 解 他 在 公 众 和 法 律 之 前 的 地 位 。 他 的 负 债 无 疑 地 被 认 为 是
一 种 变 例 , 而 中 止 付 款 一 般 被 认 为 是 一 种 诡 计 和 对 于 严 格 的
规 定 的 一 种 歪 曲 。 相 反 的 , 凡 是 在 交 易 中 正 当 地 完 成 其 任 务
的 人 , 必 为 人 所 尊 重 ; 那 就 很 自 然 的 要 使 他 掌 握 紧 急 的 武 器以 便 强 使 程 序 完 成 , 这 个 程 序 严 格 地 讲 , 是 决 不 应 该 准 许 展
期 或 迟 延 的 。
因 此 , “ 耐 克 逊 ” 的 原 意 是 一 种 财 产 让 与 , 在 不 知 不 觉 中
也 用 来 表 示 一 个 “ 契 约 ” , 并 且 , 在 最 后 , 这 个 字 和 一 个 “ 契
约 ” 观 念 经 常 发 生 联 系 , 不 得 不 用 一 个 特 定 名 词 即 “ 曼 企 帕
因 ” 或 “ 曼 企 帕 地 荷 ” 来 表 明 真 正 的 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 或 交 易 , 这
样 财 产 是 真 正 的 移 转 了 。 现 在 , “ 契 约 ” 便 从 “ 让 与 ” 中 分 离
出 来 , 它 们 的 历 史 的 第 一 阶 段 于 是 完 成 了 。 但 它 们 发 展 到 这
样 一 个 时 期 , 即 缔 约 者 的 允 约 要 比 附 带 进 行 的 手 续 程 序 有 更
高 神 圣 性 的 时 期 , 则 还 有 很 大 一 段 距 离 。 为 了 说 明 这 一 时 期
中 所 发 生 的 变 化 的 性 质 , 必 须 略 为 越 出 本 文 范 围 之 外 , 研 究
一 下 罗 马 法 学 专 家 关 于 “ 合 意 ” 的 分 析 。 这 种 分 析 , 是 他 们
智 慧 最 美 丽 的 纪 念 碑 , 在 这 分 析 中 , 我 只 须 约 略 提 一 下 , 它
把 “ 债 ” 和 “ 协 议 ” 或 “ 合 约 ” 在 理 论 上 加 以 分 开 。 边 沁 和
奥 斯 丁 先 生 宣 称 , “ 一 个 契 约 有 两 个 要 素 : 首 先 , 要 约 者 一 造
表 示 ·
意 ·
向 , 要 做 他 约 定 要 做 的 行 为 或 遵 守 他 约 定 要 遵 守 的 不
行 为 。 其 次 , 是 受 约 者 表 示 他 ·
预 ·
期 要 约 者 一 造 履 行 其 提 出 的
允 约 ” 。 这 在 实 际 上 是 和 罗 马 法 律 家 的 学 理 完 全 相 同 的 , 但 在
他 们 的 见 解 中 , 这 些 “ 表 示 ” 的 结 果 不 是 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 而 是
一 个 “ 协 议 ” 或 “ 合 约 ” 。 一 个 “ 合 约 ” 是 个 人 相 互 间 同 意 的
极 端 产 物 , 它 显 然 还 不 够 成 为 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 。 它 最 后 是 否 会 成
为 一 个 “ 契 约 ” , 要 看 法 律 是 否 把 一 个 “ 债 ” 附 加 上 去 。 一 个
“ 契 约 ” 是 一 个 “ 合 约 ” ( 或 “ 协 议 ” ) ·
加 ·
上 一 个 “ 债 ” 。 在 这
个 “ 合 约 ” 还 没 有 附 带 着 “ 债 ” 的 时 候 , 它 称 为 ·
空 ·
虚 ( n u d e 或 n a k e d ) 合 约。
什 么 是 一 个 “ 债 ” ? 罗 马 法 律 家 的 定 义 是 : “ 应 负 担 履 行
义 务 的 法 锁 ” ( J u r i s v i n c u l u m , q u o m e c e s s i t a t e a d As t r i n g i m u r a l i c u j u s s o l v e n d E r e i ) 。 这 个 定 义 通 过 它 们 所
根 据 的 共 同 隐 喻 而 把 “ 债 ” 和 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 联 系 起 来 , 并 明 白
告 诉 我 们 一 个 特 殊 概 念 的 体 系 。 “ 债 ” 是 法 律 用 以 把 人 或 集 体
的 人 结 合 在 一 起 的 “ 束 缚 ” 或 “ 锁 链 ” , 作 为 某 种 自 愿 行 为 的
后 果 。 凡 引 起 “ 债 ” 的 效 果 的 行 为 , 主 要 是 那 些 归 类 在 “ 契
约 ” 和 “ 侵 权 ” 、 “ 合 意 ” 和 ” 损 害 ” 等 题 目 之 下 的 行 为 ; 但
是 有 许 多 其 他 行 为 能 造 成 类 似 后 果 的 , 却 不 能 包 括 在 一 种 确
切 分 类 中 。 应 予 注 意 的 是 , 行 为 并 不 是 由 于 任 何 道 德 上 的 必
要 而 使 它 自 己 负 上 “ 债 ” 的 ; 这 是 由 法 律 根 据 其 充 沛 的 权 力
而 附 加 上 去 的 , 这 是 非 常 有 必 要 加 以 注 意 的 一 点 , 因 为 “ 市
民 法 ” 的 现 代 解 释 者 有 时 提 出 了 一 个 不 同 的 学 理 , 并 以 他 们
自 己 道 德 的 或 形 而 上 学 的 理 论 来 作 为 支 持 。 ·
法 ·
锁 的 意 象 沾 染
了 和 渗 透 了 罗 马 “ 契 约 ” 和 “ 侵 权 ” 法 律 的 每 一 个 部 分 。 法
律 把 各 当 事 人 拘 束 在 一 起 , ·
锁 ·
链 只 有 通 过 称 为 ·
清 ·
偿 ( s o l u t i o )
的 程 序 才 能 解 除 , 清 偿 也 是 一 个 借 喻 的 用 语 , 英 语 中 的 “ 支
付 ” 只 偶 尔 地 和 它 的 意 义 相 同 。 这 借 喻 的 意 象 借 以 表 现 其 自
己 的 一 致 性 , 说 明 了 罗 马 法 律 用 语 上 另 一 个 在 其 他 情 况 下 很
难 解 释 的 特 性 , 即 “ 债 ” 既 表 示 权 利 , 也 表 示 义 务 , 例 如 使
债 务 清 偿 之 权 以 及 清 偿 债 务 的 义 务 。 事 实 上 罗 马 人 把 “ 法 律
上 的 锁 链 ” 的 全 貌 放 在 他 们 的 眼 前 , 对 其 一 端 的 重 视 不 多 也
不 少 于 其 他 一 端 。
在 进 步 的 罗 马 法 中 , “ 协 议 ” 在 完 成 以 后 , 几 乎 在 所 有 情
况 下 , 都 立 即 把 “ 债 ” 加 上 去 , 于 是 就 成 为 一 个 “ 契 约 ” ; 这是 契 约 法 必 然 要 趋 向 的 结 果 。 但 为 了 进 一 步 研 究 , 我 们 必 须
特 别 注 意 其 中 间 阶 段 — — 即 除 了 一 个 完 全 的 合 意 之 外 , 还 需
要 某 种 东 西 来 吸 引 “ 债 ” 的 阶 段 。 这 个 时 期 正 是 把 契 约 分 成
四 类 — — 即 “ 口 头 契 约 ” 、 “ 文 书 契 约 ” 、 “ 要 物 契 约 ” 和 “ 诺
成 契 约 ” ( t h e V e r b a l , t h e L i t e r a l , t h e R e a l , a n d t h e
C o n s e n s u a l ) — — 的 著 名 的 罗 马 分 类 法 开 始 应 用 的 时 期 , 在
这 个 时 期 内 , 这 四 类 “ 契 约 ” 也 是 法 律 所 要 强 制 执 行 的 仅 有
的 四 类 契 约 。 这 个 分 类 的 意 义 , 在 我 们 理 解 了 把 “ 债 ” 从
“ 协 议 ” 中 分 离 出 来 的 理 论 后 , 立 即 可 以 理 会 。 每 一 类 的 契 约
实 际 上 都 是 根 据 某 种 手 续 而 命 名 的 , 这 些 手 续 是 除 了 缔 约 两
造 仅 仅 的 合 意 以 外 所 必 需 的 。 在 “ 口 头 契 约 ” 中 , 一 待 “ 协
议 ” 完 成 以 后 , 必 须 要 经 过 一 种 言 辞 的 形 式 才 能 使 法 锁 附 着
在 它 上 面 。 在 “ 文 书 契 约 ” 中 , 登 入 总 帐 簿 或 记 事 簿 能 使
“ 协 议 ” 具 有 “ 债 ” 的 效 力 , 在 “ 要 物 契 约 ” 的 情 况 下 , 送 达
作 为 预 约 主 体 的 “ 物 ” 时 , 才 产 生 同 样 的 结 果 。 总 之 , 在 每
一 种 情 况 下 , 缔 约 的 两 造 必 须 达 到 一 种 谅 解 ; 但 是 , 如 果 他
们 不 再 前 进 , 他 们 在 相 互 之 间 即 不 ·
负 ·
义 ·
务 , 不 能 强 迫 履 行 或
在 违 背 信 约 时 要 求 救 济 。 但 如 果 他 们 遵 守 了 某 种 规 定 的 手 续 ,
“ 契 约 ” 就 立 即 完 成 , 并 以 所 采 取 的 特 殊 方 式 作 为 它 的 名 称 。
至 于 这 种 实 践 的 例 外 , 将 在 下 文 中 加 以 详 述 。
在 前 面 , 我 是 根 据 历 史 顺 序 而 列 举 四 类 “ 契 约 ” 的 , 但
罗 马 教 科 书 的 著 者 并 不 都 是 一 成 不 变 地 按 照 这 个 顺 序 的 。 “ 口
头 契 约 ” 是 四 类 契 约 中 最 古 的 一 类 , 并 且 是 原 始 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 最
早 的 已 知 的 后 裔 , 这 是 毫 无 可 疑 的 。 古 代 采 用 的 “ 口 头 契
约 ” 有 好 几 种 , 但 其 中 最 重 要 的 、 并 为 我 们 的 权 威 学 者 讨 论到 的 唯 一 的 一 种 是 用约 ·
定 的 方 法 来 达 成 的 , 所 谓 约 定 , 就 是
一 “ 问 ” 一 “ 答 ” ; 即 由 要 求 允 约 的 人 提 出 问 题 , 并 由 作 出 允
约 的 人 给 予 回 答 。 这 个 问 题 和 回 答 , 像 我 刚 才 解 释 过 的 , 构
成 了 原 始 观 念 中 除 了 有 关 系 的 人 们 的 单 纯 的 合 意 之 外 所 必 需
的 额 外 要 素 。 它 们 成 为 “ 债 ” 借 以 附 加 上 去 的 媒 介 。 古 代 的
“ 耐 克 逊 ” 现 在 已 经 传 给 较 成 熟 的 法 律 学 的 , 第 一 件 就 是 锁 链
的 概 念 , 它 把 缔 约 两 造 结 合 起 来 , 而 这 就 成 为 “ 债 ” 。 其 次 传
下 来 的 是 仪 式 的 观 念 , 它 伴 随 着 同 时 尊 崇 着 定 约 , 这 个 仪 式
已 变 化 而 成 为 “ 约 定 ” 。 原 来 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 的 主 要 特 点 是 庄 严 让
与 , 这 种 庄 严 让 与 转 变 为 单 纯 的 问 题 和 回 答 , 如 果 我 们 没 有
罗 马 “ 遗 嘱 ” 史 来 启 发 我 们 , 将 始 终 是 一 个 秘 密 。 读 了 那 些
历 史 , 我 们 可 以 懂 得 正 式 的 “ 让 与 ” 怎 样 先 从 和 手 中 交 易 有
直 接 关 系 的 手 续 程 序 中 分 离 开 来 , 后 来 又 完 全 都 省 略 了 。 在
当 时 , “ 约 定 ” 的 问 和 答 既 然 无 疑 地 是 一 种 最 简 单 形 式 的 “ 耐
克 逊 ” , 我 们 可 以 认 为 这 种 问 和 答 实 早 已 带 有 一 种 专 门 形 式 的
性 质 。 如 果 认 为 它 们 所 以 为 早 期 的 罗 马 法 律 家 所 欢 迎 , 完 全
是 由 于 它 们 能 使 协 议 合 意 的 人 们 有 机 会 来 考 虑 和 回 想 , 这 是
错 误 的 。 无 可 否 认 , 它 们 有 这 样 一 种 的 价 值 , 这 是 逐 渐 被 承
认 的 ; 但 根 据 我 们 权 威 著 作 的 陈 述 , 有 证 据 证 明 它 们 有 关
“ 契 约 ” 的 职 能 在 起 先 是 形 式 的 和 仪 式 的 , 并 不 是 每 一 个 问 题
和 回 答 都 是 自 古 以 来 就 足 以 构 成 一 个 “ 约 定 ” 的 , 只 有 用 特
别 适 宜 于 特 定 情 况 的 专 门 术 语 表 白 的 一 个 问 题 和 回 答 , 才 能
构 成 一 个 “ 约 定 ” 。
为 了 正 确 理 解 契 约 法 史 , 虽 然 必 须 把 “ 约 定 ” 理 解 为 : 在
它 被 承 认 为 一 种 有 用 的 担 保 之 前 , 它 只 是 一 种 庄 严 的 形 式 , 但是 , 在 另 一 方 面 , 如 果 对 它 的 真 正 用 度 视 若 无 睹 , 也 将 是 错
误 的 。 “ 口 头 契 约 ” 虽 然 已 不 象 古 代 那 样 重 要 , 但 它 一 直 被 保
存 到 罗 马 法 律 学 的 最 后 时 期 ; 我 们 可 以 视 作 当 然 的 , 在 罗 马
法 上 没 有 一 种 制 度 如 此 长 期 的 保 存 着 , 除 非 它 在 实 践 上 确 有
些 用 处 。 我 在 一 个 英 国 著 者 的 文 章 中 看 到 他 对 罗 马 人 甚 至 在
最 早 时 期 也 满 足 于 这 种 对 忽 忙 和 缺 乏 深 思 熟 虑 之 处 , 如 此 疏
于 防 范 的 情 况 , 表 示 十 分 惊 奇 。 但 是 如 果 把 约 定 详 细 研 究 一
下 , 并 且 记 着 在 我 们 所 涉 及 的 社 会 状 态 里 面 , 书 面 证 据 是 很
不 容 易 得 到 的 , 那 末 我 以 为 , 我 们 必 须 承 认 这 种 专 门 用 以 满
足 它 所 要 求 达 到 的 目 的 的 这 种 问 题 和 回 答 , 可 以 公 允 地 认 为
是 一 种 高 度 巧 妙 的 办 法 。 ·
允 ·
约 ·
人 以 约 定 人 的 资 格 把 契 约 中 所
有 的 条 款 用 一 个 问 题 的 形 式 提 出 , ·
要 ·
约 ·
人 给 予 回 答 。 “ 你 是 否同 意 在 某 某 地 点 某 某 日 期 送 达 给 我 某 某 一 个 奴 隶 ? ” “ 我 同意 。 ” 现 在 , 我 们 试 想 一 想 , 我 们 可 以 看 到 , 这 个 “ 债 ” 把 允约 用 问 句 的 形 式 提 出 来 , 就 把 两 造 的 自 然 地 位 给 颠 倒 过 来 了 ,并 且 由 于 有 效 地 破 坏 了 会 话 的 行 程 , 使 人 注 意 不 到 滑 过 一 个危 险 的 质 权 。 对 于 我 们 , 一 般 说 来 , 一 个 口 头 允 约 是 完 全 从要 约 人 的 话 中 得 来 的 。 在 古 罗 马 法 中 , 另 一 个 步 骤 是 绝 对 需
要 的 , 即 允 约 人 在 达 到 合 意 后 必 须 把 所 有 条 件 综 合 在 一 个 庄
严 的 问 句 中 ; 并 且 , 在 审 判 时 , 必 须 提 出 的 证 据 , 就 是 这 个
问 句 以 及 对 这 问 句 的 同 意 — — 而 ·
不 ·
是 允 约 , 允 约 本 身 是 没 有
拘 束 力 的 。 这 个 看 上 去 无 足 轻 重 的 特 点 , 在 契 约 法 的 用 语 中
竟 有 这 样 大 的 关 系 , 这 是 罗 马 法 律 学 的 初 学 者 迅 速 感 觉 到 的 ,
他 们 最 初 碰 到 的 绊 脚 石 之 一 几 乎 普 遍 地 是 由 它 产 生 的 。 当 我
们 在 英 文 中 提 到 一 个 契 约 时 , 为 便 利 起 见 , 偶 然 把 它 和 契 约两 造 的 一 方 联 系 起 来 时 — — 例 如 , 如 果 我 们 想 一 般 地 提 到 一
个 缔 约 人 — — , 我 们 的 话 所 指 的 总 是 要 约 人 。 但 罗 马 人 的 一
般 用 语 则 转 向 不 同 的 一 面 ; 它 总 是 从 允 约 人 的 地 位 来 看 契 约
的 , 如 果 我 们 可 以 这 样 说 的 话 。 在 谈 到 一 个 契 约 的 一 造 时 , 主
要 谈 到 的 总 是 “ 约 定 人 ” , 即 提 出 问 题 的 人 。 至 于 约 定 的 用 处 ,
其 最 生 动 的 实 例 可 参 见 拉 丁 喜 剧 家 的 集 子 。 如 果 有 这 些 段 落
的 全 部 场 面 经 通 读 一 过 〔 例 如 , 普 罗 塔 斯 ( P l a u t u s ) 的 “ 说谎 者 ” ( P s e u d o l u s ) 幕 一 景 一 ; 幕 四 景 六 ; “ 三 个 铜 钱 ” ( T r i n u m Am u s ) 幕 五 景 二 〕 , 就 可 以 看 到 思 考 允 约 的 人 的 注 意 力 是 如 何
有 效 地 为 问 题 所 吸 引 , 以 及 从 一 个 没 有 预 先 考 虑 好 的 应 承 中
撤 退 的 机 会 是 如 何 的 充 足 。
在 “ 文 书 ” 或 “ 书 面 契 约 ” 中 , 一 个 “ 债 ” 通 过 了 它 而
加 于 “ 协 议 ” 上 的 正 式 行 为 是 把 可 以 明 白 确 定 的 欠 款 数 目 登
入 一 本 总 帐 的 借 方 。 为 了 要 说 明 这 种 “ 契 约 ” , 必 须 了 解 罗 马
的 家 庭 状 态 , 古 代 簿 记 的 有 条 不 紊 性 质 和 非 常 的 有 规 律 性 。 古
罗 马 法 中 有 几 个 小 困 难 , 例 如 , 象 “ 奴 隶 特 有 产 ” 的 性 质 , 只
有 在 我 们 回 想 起 : 在 一 个 罗 马 家 庭 中 , 所 有 成 员 都 严 格 地 对
其 户 主 负 责 , 以 及 家 庭 中 每 笔 收 支 在 登 入 草 帐 后 , 在 一 定 期
间 内 必 须 转 入 家 庭 总 帐 , 只 有 明 了 了 这 些 , 才 能 解 释 清 楚 。 可
是 , 就 我 们 所 看 到 的 “ 文 书 契 约 ” 的 描 写 中 , 是 有 些 不 易 明
了 之 处 的 , 原 因 是 登 帐 的 习 惯 在 后 来 已 不 普 遍 了 , 而 “ 文 书
契 约 ” 的 用 语 成 了 表 示 和 原 来 所 理 解 的 完 全 不 同 的 一 种 定 约
的 形 式 。 因 此 , 我 们 无 法 说 明 , 关 于 原 始 “ 文 书 契 约 ” ,
“ 债 ” 的 设 定 究 竟 是 由 债 权 人 一 方 简 单 的 登 入 簿 据 , 还 是 必 须
获 得 债 务 人 的 同 意 或 在 其 自 己 的 簿 据 中 同 样 登 记 , 才 能 发 生法 律 效 力 。 但 是 有 一 个 主 要 之 点 是 可 以 确 定 的 , 即 在 这 种“ 契 约 ” 中 , 只 要 条 件 遵 守 了 , 所 有 的 手 续 都 可 以 省 却 。 这 是
契 约 法 历 史 中 向 前 推 进 的 另 一 步 。
根 据 历 史 顺 序 , 其 次 一 种 “ 契 约 ” 是 “ 要 物 契 约 ” , 表 示
在 伦 理 概 念 上 向 前 跨 进 一 大 步 。 凡 是 在 任 何 合 意 中 , 以 送 达
一 种 特 殊 物 件 为 其 目 的 的 — — 绝 大 部 分 的 简 单 合 意 都 属 此 类
— — , 一 待 送 达 确 实 发 生 后 , “ 债 ” 即 产 生 。 其 结 果 必 定 是 对
最 古 的 有 关 “ 契 约 ” 观 念 的 一 个 重 大 革 新 ; 因 为 在 原 始 时 代 ,
毫 无 疑 义 , 当 缔 约 的 一 造 由 于 疏 忽 而 没 有 把 他 的 合 意 通 过 约
定 的 手 续 , 则 按 照 合 意 而 做 的 一 切 , 将 不 为 法 律 所 承 认 。 借
钱 的 人 除 非 经 过 正 式 的 ·
约 ·
定 , 是 不 能 诉 请 偿 还 的 。 但 在 “ 要
物 契 约 ” 中 , 一 方 的 履 行 就 允 许 使 他 方 负 担 法 律 责 任 — — 则
显 然 是 基 于 伦 理 的 根 据 。 第 一 次 把 道 德 上 的 考 虑 认 为 “ 契
约 ” 法 中 的 一 个 要 素 , 这 就 是 “ 要 物 契 约 ” 和 前 两 种 不 同 之
处 , 并 不 是 由 于 专 门 形 式 或 由 于 遵 从 罗 马 家 庭 习 惯 而 有 所 不
同 。
我 们 现 在 要 讨 论 第 四 类 或 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” , 这 是 各 种 契 约 中
最 有 趣 和 最 重 要 的 一 种 。 在 这 名 称 下 有 四 种 特 殊 “ 契 约 ” : 委
任 ( M a n d a t u m ) 即 “ 受 托 ” ( C o m m i s s i o n ) 或 “ 代 理 ”
( A g e n c y ) ; “ 合 伙 ( S o c i e t a s ) ; “ 买 卖 ” ( E m t i o V e n d i t i o ) ; 以
及 “ 租 赁 ” ( L o c a t i o C o n d u c t i o ) 。 在 前 面 几 页 说 明 了 一 个“ 契 约 ” 是 附 加 着 一 个 “ 债 ” 的 一 个 “ 合 约 ” 或 “ 协 议 ” 后 ,
我 曾 提 起 通 过 一 些 行 为 或 手 续 法 律 允 许 “ 债 ” 吸 收 入 “ 合
约 ” 内 。 我 这 样 说 , 只 是 为 了 作 一 般 的 说 明 , 但 除 非 我 们 把
这 理 解 为 不 但 包 括 正 面 的 , 而 且 也 包 括 反 面 的 , 则 这 个 说 明不 是 严 格 地 正 确 的 。 因 为 , 实 质 上 , 这 些 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 的 特
点 是 : 从 “ 合 约 ” 中 产 生 这 些 契 约 , 是 ·
无 ·
需 任 何 手 续 的 。 关
于 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” , 很 多 是 难 以 辨 解 的 , 更 多 是 含 糊 不 清 的 , 甚
至 曾 有 这 样 的 说 法 , 即 在 这 些 契 约 中 , 缔 约 两 造 的 ·
同 ·
意 比 在
其 他 任 何 种 类 的 合 意 中 更 为 着 重 。 但 “ 诺 成 ” 的 这 个 名 词 不
过 表 示 : 在 这 里 , “ 债 ” 是 立 即 附 着 于 ·
诺 ·
成 ( C o n s e n s u s ) 的 。
“ 诺 成 ” 或 两 造 的 相 互 同 意 是 “ 协 议 ” 中 最 后 的 和 最 主 要 的 要
素 , 而 属 于 “ 买 卖 ” 、 “ 合 伙 ” 、 “ 委 任 ” 和 “ 租 赁 ” 四 类 之 一
的 合 意 , 它 的 特 点 是 : 一 经 两 造 同 意 提 供 了 这 个 要 素 时 , 一
个 “ 契 约 ” 立 即 成 立 。 “ 诺 成 ” 带 来 了 “ 债 ” , 在 特 种 交 易 中 ,
执 行 着 在 其 他 契 约 中 由 ·
要 ·
物 ( R e s ) 或口头 约 定 ( V e r b a s t i p Au l a t i o n s ) 以 及 由文书 ( L i t e r E) 或 书 面 登 入 总 帐 而 履 行 的 同
样 职 能 。 “ 诺 成 ” 因 此 是 一 个 名 词 , 并 无 细 微 的 变 例 , 而 正 是
和 “ 要 物 ” 、 “ 口 头 ” 及 “ 文 书 ” 完 全 相 类 似 的 。
在 生 活 的 接 触 中 , 最 普 通 和 最 重 要 的 一 种 契 约 无 疑 是 那
称 为 “ 诺 成 ” 的 第 四 种 。 每 一 个 社 会 的 集 体 生 存 , 其 较 大 部
分 是 消 耗 在 买 卖 、 租 赁 、 为 了 商 业 目 的 而 进 行 的 人 与 人 之 间
的 联 合 、 一 个 人 对 另 一 个 人 的 商 业 委 托 等 等 交 易 中 ; 这 无 疑
是 使 罗 马 人 象 大 多 数 社 会 一 样 , 考 虑 到 把 这 些 交 易 从 专 门 手
续 的 累 赘 中 解 脱 出 来 , 并 尽 可 能 使 社 会 运 动 最 有 效 的 泉 源 不
至 阻 塞 。 这 类 动 机 当 然 不 以 罗 马 人 为 限 , 而 罗 马 人 和 其 邻 国
人 通 商 贸 易 , 必 然 使 他 们 有 丰 富 的 机 会 看 到 在 我 们 面 前 的 各
种 契 约 到 处 都 有 变 成 ·
诺 ·
成 ·
的 倾 向 , 即 一 经 表 示 相 互 同 意 立 即
具 有 拘 束 力 。 于 是 , 依 靠 他 们 通 常 的 实 践 , 他 们 就 把 这 些 契
约 称 为 ·
万 ·
民 ·
法 契 约 。 但 我 们 并 不 以 为 它 们 在 很 早 时 期 就 有 这个 名 称 。 一 个 “ 万 民 法 ” 的 最 早 观 念 也 许 在 委 任 一 个 “ 外 事
裁 判 官 ” 之 前 早 就 存 在 罗 马 法 律 家 的 心 中 , 但 只 有 通 过 广 泛
的 和 正 常 的 贸 易 , 罗 马 法 律 家 才 能 熟 悉 其 他 意 大 利 社 会 的 契
约 制 度 , 而 这 类 贸 易 在 意 大 利 获 得 彻 底 平 靖 和 罗 马 的 最 高 权
力 断 然 确 立 之 前 , 是 很 难 达 到 相 当 的 规 模 的 。 虽 然 , 极 端 可
能 , “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 是 罗 马 制 度 中 最 后 出 生 的 , 并 且 虽 然 很 可 能
·
万 ·
民 ·
法 这 个 称 呼 证 明 它 渊 源 并 不 太 古 , 但 把 这 些 契 约 归 属 于
“ 国 际 法 ” 的 这 个 用 语 , 却 在 现 代 产 生 了 它 们 来 自 非 常 古 远 的
年 代 的 看 法 。 因 为 , 当 “ 国 际 法 ” 变 为 “ 自 然 法 ” 时 , 似 乎
就 含 有 了 这 样 的 意 思 , 即 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 是 最 适 合 于 自 然 状 态
的 一 种 合 意 ; 于 是 , 产 生 了 这 独 特 的 信 念 , 即 文 明 愈 年 轻 , 它
的 契 约 形 式 一 定 愈 简 单 。
“ 诺 成 契 约 ” 在 数 量 上 是 极 端 有 限 的 。 但 是 , 毫 无 疑 义 它
在 “ 契 约 ” 法 史 上 开 创 一 个 新 的 阶 段 , 所 有 现 代 契 约 概 念 都
是 从 这 个 阶 段 发 轫 的 。 意 志 的 运 动 构 成 合 意 , 它 现 在 完 全 孤
立 了 , 成 为 另 外 一 种 考 虑 的 主 题 ; 在 契 约 的 观 点 上 , 形 式 全
部 被 消 除 了 , 外 部 行 为 只 是 看 做 内 部 意 志 行 为 的 象 征 。 “ 诺 成
契 约 ” 被 归 类 在 “ 万 民 法 ” 中 , 并 且 这 种 分 类 在 不 久 以 后 即
得 出 了 这 样 一 个 推 理 , 认 为 它 们 是 代 表 定 约 的 一 种 合 意 , 为
“ 自 然 ” 所 认 可 并 包 括 在 自 然 法 典 中 的 。 当 到 达 这 一 点 时 , 我
们 就 可 以 看 到 在 罗 马 法 律 家 中 有 几 个 著 名 的 学 理 和 区 分 。 其
中 之 一 是 “ 自 然 债 ” 和 “ 民 事 债 ” ( N a t u r a l a n d C i v i l O b l i A
g a t i o n s ) 之 间 的 区 分 。 当 一 个 智 力 完 全 成 熟 的 人 有 意 使 其 自
己 受 到 一 个 合 意 的 约 束 , 即 使 他 并 没 有 履 行 某 种 必 要 的 手 续
以 及 由 于 某 种 技 术 上 的 障 碍 , 他 缺 少 了 制 订 一 个 有 效 契 约 的正 式 能 力 , 他 仍 被 称 为 在 一 个 ·
自 ·
然 ·
债 ·
之 ·
下 。 法 律 ( 而 这 就 是
区 分 所 暗 示 的 ) 不 强 制 执 行 债 , 但 它 也 不 绝 对 拒 绝 承 认 它 ; ·
自
·
然 ·
债 在 许 多 方 面 和 纯 粹 是 无 效 的 债 又 有 不 同 , 尤 其 是 在 这 样
的 情 况 下 , 即 如 果 缔 结 契 约 的 能 力 在 后 来 取 得 时 , 自 然 债 就
可 以 在 民 事 上 得 到 批 准 。 法 学 专 家 另 外 一 种 很 奇 怪 的 学 理 , 其
渊 源 不 可 能 早 于 “ 协 议 ” 从 “ 契 约 ” 的 专 门 要 素 中 分 离 出 来
的 时 期 。 根 据 这 些 法 学 专 家 的 意 见 , 虽 然 只 有 “ 契 约 ” 能 作
为 一 个 ·
诉 ·
讼 的 基 础 , 但 一 个 单 纯 的 “ 合 约 ” 或 “ 协 议 ” 可 以
作 为 一 个 ·
抗 ·
辩 的 根 据 。 由 此 推 论 , 虽 然 一 个 人 由 于 在 事 前 没
有 注 意 遵 照 正 当 形 式 使 一 个 合 意 成 熟 为 一 个 “ 契 约 ” 的 话 , 不
能 就 根 据 这 个 合 意 而 提 起 诉 讼 , 但 根 据 一 个 有 效 契 约 而 提 出
的 请 求 , 只 要 经 证 明 有 一 个 还 没 有 超 过 一 个 简 单 协 议 状 态 的
反 合 意 , 就 可 以 癖 驳 了 。 例 如 回 复 债 务 之 诉 可 以 提 供 一 个 仅
仅 放 弃 或 延 期 付 款 的 非 正 式 合 意 作 为 抗 辩 。
上 面 所 说 的 学 理 , 表 示 出 “ 裁 判 官 ” 在 向 其 最 伟 大 的 革
新 前 进 时 所 发 生 的 迟 疑 。 他 们 关 于 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 理 论 必 定 曾
经 引 导 他 们 特 别 偏 爱 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 以 及 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 仅 仅 是
其 中 的 特 殊 例 子 之 一 的 那 些 “ 合 约 ” 或 “ 协 议 ” ; 但 是 他 们 不
敢 立 即 把 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 的 自 由 推 及 一 切 “ 协 议 ” 。 他 们 利 用 了
从 罗 马 法 开 始 时 就 托 付 给 他 们 的 对 于 诉 讼 程 序 的 那 时 特 殊 监
督 权 , 并 且 , 虽 然 他 们 不 准 提 出 不 是 根 据 正 式 契 约 的 一 个 诉
讼 , 但 在 导 演 诉 讼 程 序 的 秘 密 舞 台 中 , 他 们 使 其 新 的 合 意 理
论 有 充 分 活 动 的 余 地 。 但 当 他 们 进 展 到 这 样 的 程 度 后 , 不 可
避 免 地 他 们 一 定 要 向 前 再 进 一 步 。 当 有 一 年 的 “ 裁 判 官 ” 在
“ 告 令 ” 中 宣 称 : 他 将 对 还 没 有 成 熟 为 “ 契 约 ” 的 “ 合 约 ” 赋与 可 衡 平 的 诉 讼 , 只 要 争 执 中 的 “ 合 约 ” 是 根 据 一 个 要 因
( C a u s a ) 的 话 , 在 这 时 候 , 古 代 “ 契 约 ” 法 的 革 命 就 完 成 了 。
这 类 的 “ 合 约 ” 在 进 步 的 罗 马 法 律 学 中 始 终 是 被 强 行 的 。 其
原 则 是 把 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 达 到 其 适 当 后 果 的 原 则 ; 事 实 上 , 如
果 罗 马 人 的 专 门 用 语 具 有 象 他 们 的 法 律 理 论 所 具 有 的 那 样 的
可 塑 性 , 这 些 由 “ 裁 判 官 ” 强 行 的 “ 合 约 ” 就 可 能 称 为 新 的
“ 契 约 ” , 新 的 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” 。 但 , 法 律 语 法 是 最 后 变 更 的 法 律
的 一 部 分 , 而 可 衡 平 地 强 行 的 ” 合 约 ” 继 续 被 简 单 地 称 为
“ 裁 判 官 合 约 ” 。 必 须 注 意 , 除 非 在 “ 合 约 ” 中 有 要 因 , 这
“ 合 约 ” 就 新 的 法 律 学 而 论 , 将 继 续 是 ·
空 ·
虑 的 ; 要 使 它 能 具 有
效 力 , 就 必 须 用 一 个 约 定 来 使 它 变 为 一 个 “ 口 头 契 约 ” 。
我 所 以 这 样 详 细 的 讨 论 它 , 主 要 由 于 我 认 为 这 “ 契 约 ” 史
有 非 常 的 重 要 性 , 它 可 以 用 来 防 止 无 可 数 计 的 误 会 。 在 这 讨
论 中 , 详 细 说 明 了 从 一 个 伟 大 的 法 律 学 里 程 碑 到 另 一 个 里 程
碑 中 各 种 观 念 的 进 程 。 我 们 由 “ 耐 克 逊 ” 开 始 , 其 中 “ 契
约 ” 和 “ 让 与 ” 是 混 杂 在 一 起 的 , 其 中 伴 随 着 合 意 的 手 续 形
式 甚 至 比 合 意 本 身 还 要 重 要 。 从 “ 耐 克 逊 ” , 我 们 转 到 “ 约
定 ” , 这 是 较 古 仪 式 的 一 个 简 单 形 式 。 其 次 发 现 的 是 “ 文 书 契
约 ” , 在 这 里 , 一 切 的 手 续 都 被 放 弃 了 , 如 果 合 意 的 证 据 能 从
一 个 罗 马 家 庭 的 严 格 遵 守 的 习 惯 中 提 出 来 。 在 “ 要 物 契 约 ” 中 ,
第 一 次 承 认 了 一 个 道 德 责 任 , 凡 是 参 加 或 同 意 一 个 定 约 的 部
分 履 行 的 人 们 , 就 不 许 由 于 形 式 上 的 缺 陷 而 否 认 它 。 最 后 , 出
现 了 “ 诺 成 契 约 ” , 其 中 唯 一 被 重 视 的 是 缔 约 人 的 心 理 状 态 ,
至 于 外 界 情 况 除 非 作 为 内 在 企 图 的 证 据 外 是 不 予 注 意 的 。 罗
马 人 的 思 想 从 一 个 粗 糙 的 观 念 到 一 个 精 练 的 观 念 的 这 种 进步 , 究 竟 是 否 能 例 证 人 类 思 想 在 “ 契 约 ” 这 主 题 上 有 了 必 要的 进 步 , 这 当 然 是 无 法 断 定 的 。 除 了 罗 马 人 之 外 , 所 有 其 他古 代 社 会 的 “ 契 约 ” 法 或 者 太 少 了 , 没 有 充 足 的 资 料 , 或 者是 已 经 完 全 失 传 了 ; 至 于 现 代 法 律 学 则 是 如 此 透 澈 地 为 罗 马观 点 所 影 响 , 以 致 我 们 无 法 获 得 对 比 和 类 似 , 并 从 中 吸 取 教训 。 但 是 , 从 我 所 描 写 的 演 变 中 既 缺 乏 任 何 剧 烈 的 、 惊 奇 的以 及 不 易 理 解 的 东 西 , 我 们 就 可 以 合 理 地 相 信 , 在 某 种 程 度
上 , 古 罗 马 “ 契 约 ” 史 是 其 他 古 代 社 会 中 这 类 法 律 概 念 的 历
史 的 典 型 。 但 也 只 是 在 某 种 程 度 上 , 罗 马 法 的 进 步 可 以 被 用
来 代 表 其 他 法 律 学 制 度 的 进 步 。 “ 自 然 ” 法 的 理 论 是 专 属 于 罗
马 人 的 。 ·
法 ·
锁 的 观 念 , 就 我 所 知 , 也 是 专 属 于 罗 马 人 的 。 成
熟 的 罗 马 的 “ 契 约 和 侵 权 ” 法 中 有 许 多 特 点 , 都 来 自 上 述 的
两 种 观 念 , 或 则 来 自 其 一 , 或 则 两 者 兼 而 有 之 , 因 此 , 这 许
多 特 点 也 是 属 于 一 特 定 社 会 的 专 门 产 物 。 这 些 后 期 法 律 概 念
是 重 要 的 , 不 是 因 为 这 些 概 念 代 表 了 在 一 切 条 件 下 思 想 发 展
的 必 然 结 果 , 而 是 因 为 它 们 对 现 代 世 界 的 智 力 素 质 起 了 十 分
巨 大 的 影 响 。
罗 马 法 尤 其 是 罗 马 “ 契 约 法 ” 以 各 种 思 想 方 式 、 推 理 方
法 和 一 种 专 门 用 语 贡 献 给 各 种 各 样 的 科 学 , 这 确 是 最 令 人 惊
奇 的 事 。 在 曾 经 促 进 现 代 人 的 智 力 欲 的 各 种 主 题 中 , 除 了
“ 物 理 学 ” 外 , 没 有 一 门 科 学 没 有 经 过 罗 马 法 律 学 滤 过 的 。 纯
粹 的 “ 形 而 上 学 ” 诚 然 是 来 自 希 腊 而 不 是 来 自 罗 马 的 , 但 是
“ 政 治 学 ” 、 “ 道 德 哲 学 ” 甚 至 “ 神 学 ” 不 但 在 罗 马 法 中 找 到 了
表 意 的 工 具 , 并 且 以 罗 马 法 为 其 最 深 奥 的 研 究 养 育 成 是 的 一
个 卵 巢 。 为 了 要 说 明 这 种 现 象 , 并 没 有 绝 对 必 要 讨 论 文 字 和观 念 之 间 的 神 秘 关 系 , 或 是 说 明 人 类 的 心 神 如 何 从 来 没 有 能
抓 住 任 何 思 想 主 题 , 除 非 它 在 事 前 就 具 有 适 当 丰 富 的 用 语 或
能 掌 握 一 种 适 当 的 逻 辑 方 法 的 工 具 。 只 须 说 明 , 当 东 方 和 西
方 世 界 的 哲 学 兴 趣 分 离 时 , 西 方 思 想 的 始 创 者 都 属 于 讲 拉 丁
语 和 用 拉 丁 语 著 作 的 一 个 社 会 。 但 是 在 西 方 各 省 中 , 能 够 很
精 确 地 用 来 研 究 哲 学 的 唯 一 语 言 是 罗 马 法 的 语 言 , 它 由 于 独
特 的 机 会 , 几 乎 保 留 了 奥 古 斯 多 时 代 所 有 的 纯 洁 性 , 而 地 方
拉 丁 则 正 在 退 化 为 怪 异 的 不 纯 正 的 一 种 方 言 。 如 果 罗 马 法 律
学 提 供 了 语 言 上 唯 一 的 正 确 的 媒 介 , 更 重 要 的 , 是 它 同 时 提
供 了 思 想 上 唯 一 的 正 确 、 精 密 深 邃 的 媒 介 。 因 为 哲 学 和 科 学
在 西 方 不 能 立 足 , 至 少 有 三 个 世 纪 之 久 ; 并 且 虽 然 大 多 数 罗
马 人 的 精 力 都 集 中 在 形 而 上 学 和 形 而 上 学 的 神 学 上 面 , 但 这
些 热 情 的 研 究 中 所 用 的 语 法 完 全 是 希 腊 的 , 而 它 们 的 活 动 场
所 是 帝 国 的 东 半 部 。 有 时 , 东 方 争 论 者 所 获 得 的 结 论 非 常 重
要 , 以 致 不 论 是 同 意 或 是 不 同 意 这 些 结 论 的 人 都 必 须 把 它 们
记 录 下 来 , 后 来 东 方 争 论 的 结 果 就 被 介 绍 到 西 方 来 , 对 于 这
些 结 果 , 西 方 一 般 都 予 以 默 认 , 不 赞 许 亦 不 拒 绝 。 在 这 时 候 ,
有 一 个 研 究 部 门 , 虽 是 最 勤 劳 的 人 也 感 到 困 难 , 最 精 细 的 人
也 感 到 深 奥 , 最 精 巧 的 人 也 感 到 细 致 的 , 但 对 于 西 方 各 省 受
过 教 育 的 阶 级 却 从 来 没 有 失 掉 过 它 的 吸 引 力 。 对 阿 非 利 加 、 西
班 牙 、 高 卢 和 北 意 大 利 的 有 教 养 的 公 民 , 正 是 法 律 学 , 并 且
也 只 有 法 律 学 , 代 替 了 诗 歌 和 历 史 、 哲 学 和 科 学 。 西 方 思 想
在 其 最 早 的 对 于 明 显 的 法 律 面 貌 的 努 力 中 不 但 毫 无 一 些 神 秘
之 处 , 并 且 , 如 果 我 们 以 为 它 会 有 其 他 任 何 色 彩 , 也 将 是 令
人 惊 奇 的 。 我 所 认 为 可 怪 的 是 , 由 于 一 种 新 要 素 的 出 现 而 在西 方 和 东 方 观 念 之 间 、 西 方 和 东 方 神 学 之 间 引 起 的 区 别 , 竟
然 很 少 人 注 意 。 正 是 由 于 法 律 学 的 影 响 开 始 变 得 非 常 有 力 , 才
使 君 士 坦 丁 堡 的 建 立 和 后 来 的 西 罗 马 帝 国 从 东 罗 马 帝 国 分
离 , 成 为 哲 学 史 中 的 两 个 新 纪 元 。 但 是 , 由 于 来 自 “ 罗 马 法
律 ” 的 各 种 观 念 已 和 日 常 的 观 念 非 常 密 切 地 混 杂 在 一 起 , 大
陆 思 想 家 无 疑 地 不 容 易 体 会 到 这 个 重 要 关 头 的 重 要 姓 。 另 一
方 面 , 英 国 人 对 这 一 点 也 是 视 若 无 睹 的 , 这 是 由 于 他 们 对 于
他 们 自 己 承 认 的 现 代 知 识 潮 流 的 最 丰 富 渊 源 和 罗 马 文 明 的 一
个 智 慧 的 成 果 , 极 端 无 知 。 在 同 时 , 一 个 费 尽 心 力 熟 悉 古 典
罗 马 法 的 英 国 人 , 由 于 其 本 国 人 对 这 主 题 向 来 极 少 兴 趣 , 对
于 我 胆 敢 提 出 的 主 张 , 他 比 起 法 国 人 或 德 国 人 来 也 许 是 一 个
更 好 的 鉴 定 家 。 任 何 一 个 知 道 罗 马 法 律 学 是 怎 样 一 回 事 的 人 ,
知 道 确 实 由 罗 马 人 实 践 的 罗 马 法 律 学 的 人 , 并 且 要 观 察 最 古
的 西 方 神 学 及 哲 学 在 那 些 特 点 上 不 同 于 它 们 之 前 的 思 想 状 态
的 人 , 对 于 这 已 经 开 始 透 入 和 支 配 着 纯 理 论 的 新 要 素 究 竟 是
什 么 , 都 可 以 有 资 格 加 以 说 明 。
罗 马 法 中 对 其 他 研 究 主 题 有 最 广 泛 影 响 的 部 分 是 “ 债 ”
法 , 或 是 接 近 于 “ 债 ” 法 的 部 分 , 即 “ 契 约 和 侵 权 ” 法 。 罗
马 制 度 中 这 一 部 分 丰 富 的 术 语 , 它 所 能 用 以 履 行 的 职 能 , 罗
马 人 本 身 并 不 是 不 知 道 的 , 这 从 他 们 把 这 个 特 别 形 容 词 准 字
用 在 “ 准 契 约 ” 和 “ 准 侵 权 ” 等 名 词 中 , 就 可 以 得 到 证 明 。
“ 准 ” 在 这 样 的 用 法 中 , 完 全 是 一 个 分 类 的 名 词 。 英 国 评 论 家
常 认 为 “ 准 契 约 ” 就 是 默 约 , 但 这 是 错 误 的 , 因 为 默 约 是 真
的 契 约 而 准 契 约 则 不 是 契 约 。 在 默 约 中 , 行 为 和 情 况 是 用 作
为 某 些 要 素 的 象 征 , 这 些 要 素 在 明 约 中 是 用 文 字 来 象 征 的 ; 就合 意 的 理 论 而 论 , 一 个 人 所 用 的 究 竟 是 这 一 套 象 征 还 是 另 一
套 象 征 , 是 毫 无 关 系 的 。 但 是 一 个 “ 准 契 约 ” 完 全 不 是 一 个
契 约 。 这 类 准 契 约 中 最 普 通 的 例 子 , 象 一 个 人 误 以 金 钱 给 付
另 一 个 人 因 而 在 这 两 人 之 间 存 在 的 关 系 。 法 律 为 了 顾 全 道 德
上 的 利 益 , 使 受 领 人 负 有 偿 还 的 责 任 , 但 根 据 这 交 易 的 性 质 ,
表 示 出 这 并 不 是 一 个 契 约 , 因 为 , 在 这 中 间 , 缺 乏 作 为 “ 契
约 ” 最 重 要 要 素 的 “ 协 议 。 ” “ 准 ” 这 个 字 放 在 罗 马 法 的 一 个
名 词 之 前 , 含 有 这 样 一 种 意 思 , 即 用 它 作 为 标 志 的 概 念 和 其
原 来 的 概 念 之 间 , 在 比 较 上 有 着 一 种 强 有 力 的 表 面 类 比 或 相
似 。 它 的 意 思 并 不 是 说 , 这 两 种 概 念 是 同 样 的 , 或 是 属 于 同
一 种 类 的 。 相 反 地 , 它 否 定 了 在 它 们 之 间 存 在 着 同 一 性 的 观
念 ; 但 是 它 指 出 它 们 有 充 分 的 相 似 之 处 , 可 以 把 其 中 之 一 归
类 为 另 一 个 的 连 续 , 以 及 从 法 律 的 一 个 部 门 中 取 来 的 用 语 可
以 移 用 到 法 律 的 另 外 一 个 部 门 , 并 加 以 应 用 , 而 不 致 对 规 定
的 说 明 有 强 烈 的 歪 曲 , 而 这 些 规 定 在 另 一 种 情 况 下 是 很 难 完
善 地 加 以 说 明 的 。
有 人 这 样 乖 巧 地 提 出 , “ 默 约 ” 是 真 正 的 契 约 , “ 准 契
约 ” 完 全 不 是 契 约 , 在 这 两 者 之 间 所 存 在 的 混 淆 不 清 , 和 把
政 治 上 的 权 利 和 义 务 归 因 于 被 统 治 者 和 统 治 者 之 间 的 一 个
“ 原 始 契 约 ” ( O r i g i n a l C o m p a c t ) 的 这 个 著 名 错 误 , 有 很
多 共 同 之 点 。 早 在 这 理 论 获 得 定 形 之 前 , 罗 马 契 约 法 的 用 语
大 部 分 用 来 描 写 人 类 所 常 常 设 想 的 存 在 于 君 主 和 臣 民 之 间 的
权 利 和 义 务 上 的 相 互 关 系 。 当 世 界 上 充 满 了 各 式 各 样 的 格 言 ,
极 端 断 然 地 提 出 国 王 的 主 张 应 该 绝 对 服 从 , — — 这 些 格 言 佯
称 来 自 “ 新 约 全 书 ” , 而 实 际 上 却 是 来 自 凯 撒 暴 政 的 难 忘 回 忆— — 如 果 罗 马 “ 债 ” 法 没 有 提 供 一 种 言 语 , 能 隐 约 表 示 当 时
还 没 有 完 全 发 展 的 一 种 观 念 , 则 被 统 治 者 应 该 享 有 相 关 权 利
的 思 想 , 将 完 全 没 有 表 达 的 可 能 。 我 认 为 国 王 的 特 权 和 国 王
对 其 臣 民 的 义 务 两 者 之 间 的 互 不 相 容 , 自 从 西 方 历 史 开 始 以
来 是 从 来 没 有 忘 却 过 的 , 但 在 封 建 制 度 继 续 盛 行 之 际 , 除 了
纯 理 论 著 作 家 外 , 这 是 绝 少 为 人 所 注 意 的 , 因 为 封 建 制 度 通
过 明 白 的 习 惯 有 效 地 控 制 着 欧 洲 多 数 君 主 , 使 不 能 有 过 分 的
理 论 上 的 权 利 。 但 是 当 封 建 制 度 衰 亡 、 中 世 纪 的 组 织 脱 出 工
作 常 规 、 以 及 宗 教 改 革 使 教 皇 的 权 威 不 复 为 人 所 信 任 时 , 国
王 有 神 权 的 学 理 就 显 著 地 立 即 提 高 到 它 以 前 从 来 没 有 达 到 过
的 重 要 地 位 。 它 所 获 得 的 声 价 必 须 常 常 求 助 于 罗 马 法 的 用 语 ,
而 原 来 带 有 神 学 面 貌 的 一 科 争 论 逐 渐 一 天 天 地 取 得 了 一 种 法
律 争 辩 的 色 彩 。 于 是 出 现 了 一 种 曾 在 意 见 史 中 不 断 重 复 出 现
的 现 象 。 正 当 君 主 权 主 张 逐 渐 发 展 而 成 为 菲 尔 美 的 学 理 时 , 从
“ 契 约 法 ” 中 借 用 来 的 原 来 作 为 保 护 臣 民 权 利 的 用 语 竟 成 为 国
王 和 人 民 间 一 个 现 实 的 原 始 契 约 的 学 说 , 这 一 个 学 说 首 先 在
英 国 人 手 中 , 后 来 、 特 别 是 在 法 国 人 手 中 发 展 成 为 社 会 和 法
律 一 切 现 象 的 一 种 广 博 的 解 释 。 但 是 政 治 学 和 法 律 学 之 间 仅
有 的 真 正 的 联 系 , 是 在 后 者 把 其 独 特 地 有 可 塑 性 的 术 语 的 好
处 给 与 了 前 者 。 罗 马 “ 契 约 ” 法 律 学 对 君 主 和 臣 民 关 系 上 所
作 出 的 贡 献 , 正 和 在 一 个 比 较 狭 小 范 围 内 、 它 对 于 为 一 个
“ 准 契 约 ” 责 任 拘 束 在 一 起 的 人 们 的 关 系 上 所 作 出 的 贡 献 完 全
相 同 。 罗 马 “ 契 约 ” 法 律 学 提 供 了 一 套 文 字 和 成 语 , 充 分 正
确 地 接 近 当 时 对 于 政 治 责 任 问 题 所 具 有 的 各 种 观 念 。 一 个
“ 原 始 契 约 ” 学 理 所 处 的 地 位 , 从 未 能 高 过 怀 威 尔 博 士 (W h e w e l l ) 所 提 出 的 , 他 的 意 见 是 : 这 个 学 理 虽 然 是 不 够 健 全
的 , 但 “ 它 可 能 是 表 示 道 德 真 理 的 一 种 ·
方 ·
便 ·
的 形 式 ” 。
在 “ 原 始 契 约 ” 发 明 之 前 把 法 律 用 语 广 泛 应 用 于 政 治 主
题 上 以 及 “ 原 始 契 约 ” 这 个 假 定 在 后 来 所 发 生 的 有 力 影 响 , 充
分 说 明 了 在 政 治 学 中 有 着 大 量 的 为 罗 马 法 律 学 所 独 特 创 造 的
文 字 和 概 念 。 它 们 也 大 量 地 存 在 “ 道 德 哲 学 ” 中 , 这 可 能 有
不 同 的 解 释 , 这 是 由 于 罗 马 法 比 政 治 理 论 受 到 伦 理 著 作 更 直
接 的 贡 献 , 而 这 些 伦 理 著 作 的 著 者 也 更 加 自 觉 到 他 们 责 任 的
范 围 。 在 谈 到 道 德 哲 学 特 别 应 该 归 功 于 罗 马 法 律 家 时 , 我 所
指 的 应 该 是 未 经 康 德 ( K a n t ) 中 断 其 历 史 以 前 的 道 德 哲 学 , 即
研 究 人 类 行 为 规 则 的 一 种 科 学 , 适 当 地 解 释 这 些 规 则 的 科 学 ,
以 及 这 些 规 则 应 受 的 限 制 的 科 学 。 在 “ 批 判 哲 学 ” ( C r i t i c a l P h i l o s o p h y ) 兴 起 后 , 道 德 学 的 旧 有 意 义 几 乎 完 全 丧 失 , 除 了由 罗 马 天 主 教 神 学 者 仍 旧 研 究 的 诡 辩 学 中 用 一 种 降 格 的 形 式
保 留 着 之 外 , 道 德 学 似 乎 已 普 遍 被 认 为 只 是 本 体 论 研 究 ( o n At o l o g i c a l i n q u i r y ) 的 一 个 部 门 了 。 除 怀 威 尔 博 士 一 人 外 , 我
在 当 时 的 英 国 著 者 中 找 不 到 一 个 人 , 他 把 道 德 哲 学 理 解 为 在
它 被 形 而 上 学 所 吸 收 之 前 以 及 在 它 的 规 定 的 基 础 变 成 为 比 其
规 定 本 身 更 为 重 要 的 问 题 之 前 , 为 人 们 所 理 解 的 那 样 。 可 是 ,
只 要 伦 理 科 学 涉 及 行 为 的 实 际 统 治 时 , 它 就 多 少 受 到 罗 马 法
的 浸 润 。 象 现 代 思 想 中 一 切 巨 大 主 题 一 样 , 它 是 原 来 合 并 在
神 学 中 的 。 最 初 曾 经 被 称 为 、 以 及 现 在 仍 为 罗 马 天 主 教 神 学
者 称 为 “ 道 德 神 学 ” 的 科 学 , 无 疑 地 是 在 著 者 明 知 之 下 采 用
了 教 会 制 度 中 的 行 为 原 则 而 构 成 的 , 并 且 是 用 了 法 律 学 中 的
用 语 和 方 法 为 其 表 现 和 扩 张 的 。 在 这 个 过 程 继 续 进 行 的 中 间 ,法 律 学 虽 然 只 是 准 备 成 为 发 表 思 想 的 工 具 , 但 它 不 可 避 免 地
会 把 它 的 特 色 传 给 思 想 本 身 。 由 于 和 法 律 概 念 相 接 触 而 感 染
到 的 特 点 , 在 现 代 世 界 最 早 的 伦 理 文 献 中 完 全 可 以 看 到 , 我
以 为 这 是 很 明 显 的 , 以 权 利 和 义 务 完 全 的 相 互 关 系 和 不 可 分
解 的 关 系 为 基 础 的 “ 契 约 法 ” 曾 被 用 为 矫 正 著 者 们 某 种 倾 向
的 东 西 , 因 为 这 些 著 者 如 果 听 其 自 然 , 就 有 可 能 把 一 个 道 德
责 任 完 全 看 做 “ 神 国 ” ( C i v i t a s D e i ) 中 一 个 公 民 的 公 共 义 务 。
但 是 当 伟 大 的 西 班 牙 道 德 学 家 们 研 究 道 德 神 学 时 , 罗 马 法 在
道 德 神 学 中 的 分 量 已 显 著 减 少 。 用 博 士 评 论 博 士 的 法 学 方 法
发 展 起 来 的 道 德 神 学 有 它 自 己 的 一 套 用 语 , 而 亚 里 士 多 德 的
推 理 和 表 现 的 特 征 , 由 于 大 部 分 无 疑 地 是 吸 收 自 学 院 派 的
“ 道 德 论 ” ( D i s p u t a t i o n s o n M o r a l s ) 的 , 便 代 替 了 凡 是 精通 罗 马 法 的 人 决 不 会 误 会 的 那 种 特 殊 的 思 想 方 式 和 言 语 形
式 。 如 果 道 德 神 学 家 的 西 班 牙 学 派 的 势 力 继 续 着 , 则 伦 理 学
中 的 法 律 要 素 就 有 可 能 成 为 完 全 不 重 要 , 但 是 下 一 代 研 究 这些 主 题 的 罗 马 天 主 教 著 者 在 应 用 他 们 的 结 论 时 , 几 乎 把 他 们的 影 响 完 全 加 以 毁 灭 。 道 德 神 学 降 格 成 为 诡 辩 学 , 不 再 为 欧洲 纯 理 论 的 领 袖 们 感 到 兴 趣 ; 完 全 操 在 基 督 新 教 徒 手 中的新的 道 德 哲 学 , 大 大 超 出 了 过 去 道 德 神 学 家 的 成 就 。 其 结 果 是使 罗 马 法 对 伦 理 研 究 的 影 响 为 之 大 大 增 加 。
在 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 之 后 不 久 , 我 们 发 现 有 两 大 思 想 学 派 在这 一 个 主 题 上 划 分 开 来 。 这 两 大 学 派 中 最 有 势 力 的 一 派 最 初我 们 称 之 为 诡 辩 学 派 , 他 们 都 是 些 和 罗 马 天 主 教 会 有 神 交 的人 , 并 且 他 们 几 乎 都 是 分 属 于 这 一 个 或 另 一 个 宗 教 教 团 的 。 在另 一 方 面 , 则 有 另 外 一 批 著 者 , 他 们 是 以 在 学 识 上 共 同 来 自“ 战 争 与 和 平 法 规 论 ” 的 伟 大 著 者 嚣 俄 · 格 罗 修 斯 而 相 互 结 合在 一 起 的 。 几 乎 所 有 的 后 一 派 人 都 是 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 的 信 徒 , 虽然 不 能 说 他 们 是 正 式 地 、 公 开 地 和 诡 辩 学 派 发 生 冲 突 , 但 他们 体 系 的 起 源 和 目 的 显 然 是 和 诡 辩 学 派 有 着 本 质 上 的 不 同的 。 这 个 区 别 有 必 要 加 以 重 视 , 因 为 它 涉 及 到 罗 马 法 和 对 这两 个 体 系 都 有 关 系 的 那 个 思 想 部 门 的 影 响 问 题 。 格 罗 修 斯 的著 作 虽 然 在 每 一 页 中 都 接 触 到 纯 粹 “ 伦 理 学 ” 的 各 个 问 题 , 并且 虽 然 它 是 无 数 有 关 形 式 道 德 学 的 书 籍 的 近 的 或 远 的 根 源 ,但 众 所 周 知 , 它 不 是 “ 道 德 哲 学 ” 的 一 本 专 著 : 它 是 决 定
“ 自 然 法 ” 的 一 个 尝 试 。 现 在 , 无 须 研 究 这 个 问 题 , 即 一 个
“ 自 然 法 ” 的 概 念 是 否 罗 马 法 学 专 家 的 一 种 独 有 创 造 , 我 们 可
以 断 言 , 甚 至 格 罗 修 斯 本 人 也 承 认 罗 马 法 律 学 的 格 言 说 , 有
些 已 知 的 现 实 法 应 该 认 为 是 “ 自 然 法 ” 的 一 部 分 , 这 个 格 言
纵 使 不 是 毫 无 错 误 , 仍 应 该 受 到 极 端 的 尊 敬 而 加 以 接 受 的 。 因
此 , 格 罗 修 斯 体 系 在 其 基 础 上 就 是 和 罗 马 法 牵 涉 在 一 起 的 , 而
这 种 关 系 就 不 可 避 免 地 使 他 — — 这 是 著 者 所 受 法 律 训 练 的 必
然 结 果 — — 在 每 一 章 节 中 自 由 地 应 用 着 罗 马 法 中 专 门 术 语 ,
以 及 各 种 推 理 、 定 义 和 例 证 的 方 式 , 而 这 些 辩 论 的 意 义 , 特
别 是 辩 论 的 说 服 力 , 有 时 是 被 隐 藏 着 的 , 是 不 熟 悉 于 它 们 来
源 的 读 者 所 不 知 道 的 。 在 另 一 方 面 , 诡 辩 学 很 少 借 用 罗 马 法 ,
而 其 所 主 张 的 道 德 观 念 和 格 罗 修 斯 所 断 言 的 全 不 相 同 。 在 诡
辩 学 的 名 称 下 成 为 著 名 的 或 是 不 名 誉 的 有 关 是 和 非 的 哲 学 ,
它 的 渊 源 来 自 “ 不 可 赦 之 罪 ” 和 “ 可 赦 之 罪 ” ( M o r t a l a n d V e n i a l sin) 间 的 区 分 。 迫 使 诡 辩 哲 学 的 著 者 发 明 一 套 精 密的 规 范 体 系 , 以 便 在 尽 量 把 不 道 德 行 为 从 不 可 赦 犯 罪 的 范 畴中 移 出 来 , 并 把 它 们 定 为 可 赦 之 罪 , 其 动 机 之 一 是 出 于 一 种自 然 的 渴 望 , 想 要 避 免 把 一 种 特 定 行 为 定 为 不 可 赦 罪 的 可 怕后 果 , 另 一 种 动 机 是 出 于 一 种 同 样 地 可 以 体 会 的 愿 望 , 就 是
为 天 主 教 会 解 除 一 种 不 便 的 理 论 , 来 帮 助 罗 马 天 主 教 会 在 和
基 督 新 教 进 行 的 冲 突 中 取 得 胜 利 。 这 种 试 验 的 命 运 , 应 属 于
普 通 史 的 范 围 。 我 们 知 道 , 诡 辩 学 派 使 僧 侣 辈 有 权 对 各 色 人
等 的 性 格 加 以 精 神 上 的 约 束 , 这 样 也 就 使 它 对 诸 侯 、 政 治 家
和 将 军 们 有 着 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 时 代 以 前 所 从 未 听 到 过 的 一 种 影
响 , 并 且 也 真 的 对 基 督 新 教 初 步 成 就 发 生 遏 制 和 缩 小 作 用 的
那 个 巨 大 反 动 作 出 了 重 大 贡 献 。 但 在 其 开 始 的 企 图 中 , 它 不
是 在 建 立 而 是 在 规 避 , — — 不 是 在 发 现 一 条 原 则 而 是 在 逃 避
一 个 假 定 — — 不 是 在 确 定 是 和 非 的 性 质 而 是 在 行 为 的 决 定 在
一 个 特 殊 性 质 中 哪 些 是 不 错 的 , — — 诡 辩 学 就 是 这 样 用 了 它
的 巧 妙 的 高 论 继 续 发 展 下 去 , 直 到 它 最 后 过 分 地 削 弱 行 为 的
道 德 特 征 , 过 分 地 诽 谤 了 我 们 人 类 的 道 德 本 能 , 以 致 最 后 人
类 的 良 心 突 然 起 来 反 抗 它 , 并 把 这 体 系 和 其 博 士 们 埋 葬 在 一
个 共 同 的 废 墟 中 。 在 长 期 不 断 的 打 击 中 , 最 后 的 一 击 来 自 巴斯 噶 ( P a s c a l ) 的 “ 书 翰 集 ” ( P r o v i n c i a l L e t t e r s ) , 在 这 些可 纪 念 的 “ 文 件 ” 出 现 后 , 就 没 有 一 个 即 使 影 响 最 小 、 声 望最 微 的 道 德 学 家 敢 于 公 开 踏 着 诡 辩 学 家 的 足 迹 前 进 。 这 样 一来 , 全 部 伦 理 学 的 领 域 便 完 全 留 归 追 随 格 罗 修 斯 的 著 者 们 控
制 了 ; 它 在 很 大 程 度 上 仍 表 现 出 和 罗 马 法 纠 缠 在 一 起 的 迹 象 ,这 有 时 被 认 为 是 对 格 罗 修 斯 理 论 的 一 种 过 失 , 但 有 时 则 被 认
为 是 对 它 的 最 高 贡 献 。 自 从 格 罗 修 斯 时 代 以 来 , 许 多 研 究 者
已 变 更 了 他 的 原 则 , 并 且 在 “ 批 判 哲 学 ” 兴 起 以 后 , 当 然 有许 多 人 已 完 全 抛 弃 了 他 的 原 则 ; 但 即 使 是 那 些 远 离 其 基 本 假
设 的 人 们 , 也 继 承 了 很 多 他 的 陈 述 方 法 、 他 的 思 思 路 线 以 及
他 的 例 证 方 式 ; 而 对 于 不 懂 罗 马 法 律 学 的 人 , 这 些 是 绝 少 意
义 并 且 也 是 绝 无 妙 处 的 。(以上部分是 作 者 在 1 8 5 6 年 投 寄 “ 剑 桥 论丛 ” 的 一 篇 论 文 , 转 录 时 曾 略 加 修 改 )
我 已 经 说 过 , 在 自 然 科 学 之 外 , 没 有 一 门 知 识 会 象 形 而
上 学 那 样 受 罗 马 法 的 影 响 如 此 之 少 的 。 因 为 , 有 关 形 而 上 学
主 题 的 讨 论 始 终 是 用 希 腊 文 进 行 的 , 最 初 是 用 纯 粹 希 腊 文 , 后
来 是 用 特 意 用 来 表 现 希 腊 概 念 的 拉 丁 方 言 。 现 代 语 言 只 有 在
采 用 拉 丁 方 言 或 在 模 仿 了 原 来 在 其 结 构 上 所 用 的 程 序 之 后 ,
才 能 适 合 于 形 而 上 学 的 研 究 。 现 代 形 而 上 学 论 文 中 所 常 用 的
用 语 , 其 来 源 是 亚 里 士 多 德 的 拉 丁 译 文 , 其 中 , 不 论 是 否 来
自 阿 拉 伯 译 文 , 翻 译 者 的 计 划 并 不 是 要 从 任 何 部 分 的 拉 丁 文
献 中 找 寻 类 似 的 言 语 , 而 是 要 从 拉 丁 字 根 上 重 新 创 造 一 套 相
当 于 希 腊 哲 学 观 念 辞 句 的 成 语 。 在 这 样 一 个 过 程 中 , 罗 马 法
的 用 语 可 能 仅 仅 发 生 绝 少 的 影 响 ; 至 多 , 也 只 有 少 数 变 形 的
拉 丁 法 律 名 词 进 入 形 而 上 学 的 言 语 中 。 同 时 , 必 须 注 意 , 当
有 些 形 而 上 学 的 问 题 成 为 西 欧 最 激 烈 的 问 题 时 , 在 其 思 想 中 ,
如 果 不 是 在 言 语 中 , 一 定 泄 露 出 来 一 种 法 律 的 本 源 。 在 纯 理
论 史 中 , 很 少 事 物 有 比 下 列 事 实 给 人 以 更 深 的 印 象 , 即 凡 是
用 希 腊 语 言 的 人 民 从 来 没 有 严 重 地 感 觉 到 为 “ 自 由 意 志 ” 和
“ 必 然 性 ” 的 大 问 题 所 困 扰 过 。 我 不 想 对 这 一 点 作 出 任 何 概 括
的 解 释 , 但 这 样 说 明 似 乎 并 不 是 离 题 太 远 的 , 即 不 论 是 希 腊
人 或 是 用 希 腊 语 讲 话 和 思 想 的 任 何 一 个 社 会 , 都 没 有 显 示 出
来 有 产 生 一 种 法 律 哲 学 的 最 小 的 能 力 。 法 律 科 学 是 罗 马 人 的
一 种 创 造 , “ 自 由 意 志 ” 的 问 题 是 当 我 们 在 一 个 法 律 观 点 下 研
究 一 个 形 而 上 学 的 概 念 时 发 生 的 。 为 什 么 会 发 生 这 样 的 问 题 :
不 变 的 顺 序 是 否 和 必 要 的 联 系 相 一 致 ? 我 只 能 说 , 罗 马 法 的
随 着 它 的 发 展 而 日 益 增 强 的 趋 势 , 是 认 为 法 律 后 果 是 通 过 一
种 坚 决 的 必 然 性 而 和 法 律 原 因 相 结 合 着 的 , 这 一 种 趋 势 在 我
反 复 引 用 过 的 如 下 的 “ 债 ” 的 定 义 中 得 到 最 明 显 的 证 明 : “ 应
负 担 履 行 的 义 务 的 法 锁 ” 。
但 是 “ 自 由 意 志 ” 问 题 在 它 成 为 哲 学 问 题 之 前 , 是 一 个
神 学 上 的 问 题 , 如 果 它 的 名 词 曾 受 到 法 律 学 的 影 响 , 这 是 由
于 法 律 学 早 已 渗 入 了 神 学 的 缘 故 。 这 里 所 要 提 出 并 加 以 研 究
的 大 问 题 过 去 从 来 没 有 被 满 意 地 阐 述 过 。 我 们 必 须 决 定 的 是 :
法 律 学 究 竟 有 没 有 被 用 来 作 为 通 过 它 而 观 察 神 学 上 各 项 原 则
的 媒 介 ; 它 究 竟 有 没 有 提 供 一 种 特 殊 的 言 语 , 一 种 特 殊 的 推
理 方 式 , 以 及 解 决 许 多 生 活 问 题 的 特 殊 方 法 从 而 开 辟 新 的 通
道 , 使 神 学 上 的 纯 理 论 通 过 它 顺 流 而 下 并 得 到 扩 展 。 为 了 要
得 到 一 个 答 案 , 有 必 要 回 忆 一 下 关 于 神 学 最 初 吸 收 的 理 智 粮
食 最 著 名 的 著 者 们 已 经 一 致 同 意 的 究 竟 是 什 么 。 各 方 面 都 一
致 同 意 , 基 督 教 会 最 古 的 语 言 是 希 腊 语 , 而 它 最 初 所 从 事 的
各 种 问 题 是 那 些 希 腊 哲 学 在 其 后 期 形 式 中 为 它 们 开 辟 了 道 路
的 问 题 。 人 类 从 中 获 得 从 事 于 深 奥 争 论 , 如 有 关 “ 神 人 ” 、
“ 神 质 ” 和 “ 神 性 ” ( t h e D i v i n e P e r s o n s , t h e D i v i n e S u b As t a n c e , a n d t h e D i v i n e N a t u r e s ) 等 等 问 题 的 手 段 的 唯 一的 文 字 和 观 念 的 宝 库 , 是 希 腊 形 而 上 学 文 献 。 拉 丁 语 以 及 贫乏 的 拉 丁 哲 学 是 不 足 以 胜 任 的 , 因 此 , 帝 国 中 西 方 或 操 拉 丁
语 的 各 省 对 于 东 方 的 结 论 , 就 毫 无 争 议 或 不 加 审 查 而 采 用 了 。
弥 尔 曼 教 长 ( D e a n M i l m a n ) 说 : “ 拉 丁 基 督 教 接 受 了 拉 丁 的
狭 隘 肤 浅 的 语 彙 所 无 法 用 适 当 名 词 加 以 表 示 的 信 条 。 但 是 , 自
始 至 终 , 罗 马 和 西 方 之 间 的 紧 密 粘 固 , 是 对 于 东 方 神 学 者 较
深 奥 的 神 学 所 精 制 出 来 的 教 条 制 度 的 一 种 被 动 的 默 从 , 并 不
是 它 自 己 对 那 些 神 秘 事 物 加 以 有 力 的 和 有 创 造 性 的 研 究 的 结
果 。 拉 丁 教 会 是 阿 塔 纳 细 阿 ( A t h a n a s i u s ) 的 弟 子 , 同 时 也 是
他 的 忠 实 信 徒 ” 。 但 是 , 当 东 方 和 西 方 的 分 离 一 天 天 地 扩 大 ,
操 拉 丁 语 的 西 罗 马 帝 国 开 始 生 活 在 其 自 己 的 精 神 生 活 中 时 ,
它 对 东 方 的 谦 逊 突 然 为 东 方 理 论 所 完 全 不 熟 悉 的 许 多 问 题 的
议 论 所 代 替 。 “ 当 希 腊 神 学 〔 弥 尔 曼 : ‘ 拉 丁 基 督 教 ’ ( L a t i n C h r i s t i a n i t y ) 序 , 第 5 页 ] 用 更 精 致 的 技 巧 来 为 ‘ 神 格 ’ ( G o d Ah e a d ) 和 基 督 的 性 质 下 定 义 时 ” — — “ 当 无 休 止 的 争 辩 仍 旧 不
断 地 延 续 , 并 从 这 陷 于 衰 弱 的 社 会 中 一 个 宗 派 跟 着 一 个 宗 派
传 布 出 来 时 ” — — 西 方 教 会 以 非 常 的 热 诚 投 身 于 一 类 新 的 辩
论 中 , 这 种 辩 论 , 从 那 时 候 起 一 直 到 现 在 , 是 包 括 在 拉 丁 教
会 中 的 任 何 时 候 的 任 何 人 类 所 从 来 没 有 失 去 过 兴 趣 的 。 “ 罪
过 ” ( S i n ) 的 性 质 和 它 的 可 以 由 继 承 而 转 让 — — 人 所 欠 的 债 务以 及 其 代 替 的 偿 还 — — “ 赎 罪 ” ( A t o n e m e n t ) 的 必 要 和 能 力— — 最 重 要 的 是 “ 自 由 意 志 ” 和 “ 神 意 ” ( D i v i n e P r o v i d e n c e ) 之 间 的 显 然 互 不 相 容 — — , 这 些 是 西 方 开 始 进 行
辩 论 的 问 题 , 并 且 辩 论 时 象 东 方 在 讨 论 其 比 较 特 殊 的 信 条 的
条 款 时 同 样 的 热 烈 。 然 则 , 在 这 个 把 希 腊 语 各 省 从 拉 丁 语 各
省 分 离 开 来 的 分 界 线 的 两 边 , 为 什 么 竟 会 存 在 这 样 显 著 不 同的 两 类 神 学 上 问 题 ? 教 会 历 史 家 说 过 , 新 的 问 题 比 曾 把 东 方
基 督 教 扯 得 粉 碎 的 那 些 问 题 更 多 “ 实 际 ” , 更 少 绝 对 理 论 , 他
们 的 这 种 解 释 , 虽 已 接 近 答 案 , 但 就 我 所 注 意 到 的 , 他 们 中
实 在 没 有 一 个 人 完 全 达 到 了 全 部 答 案 。 我 敢 毫 不 踌 躇 地 断 言 ,
这 两 个 神 学 体 系 间 的 不 同 , 主 要 是 由 于 这 样 一 个 事 实 , 就 是
神 学 理 论 由 东 方 传 到 西 方 时 , 它 是 由 希 腊 的 形 而 上 学 的 气 氛
移 转 到 罗 马 法 的 气 氛 中 。 在 这 些 争 辩 成 为 有 压 倒 重 要 性 以 前
的 几 个 世 纪 中 , 西 方 罗 马 人 的 一 切 智 力 活 动 都 完 全 花 费 在 法
律 学 上 。 他 们 都 忙 于 把 一 套 特 殊 的 原 则 适 用 于 生 活 情 况 可 被
安 排 的 一 切 结 合 中 。 没 有 任 何 外 来 的 工 作 或 风 尚 曾 把 他 们 的
注 意 力 从 这 全 神 贯 注 的 事 情 上 转 移 开 来 , 并 且 为 了 继 续 这 样
做 , 他 们 有 一 个 丰 富 而 精 确 的 词 汇 , 一 个 严 格 的 推 理 方 法 , 一
批 多 少 已 为 经 验 所 证 实 的 有 关 行 动 的 通 则 , 和 一 个 严 正 的 道
德 哲 学 。 因 此 他 们 也 就 不 可 能 不 从 基 督 教 记 录 的 各 项 问 题 中
选 择 那 些 接 近 于 他 们 习 惯 的 纯 理 论 制 度 的 问 题 , 他 们 处 理 这
些 问 题 的 态 度 也 就 不 可 能 不 来 自 他 们 的 法 庭 的 习 惯 。 几 乎 每
一 个 对 罗 马 法 有 足 够 知 识 的 人 , 能 够 理 解 罗 马 刑 法 制 度 , 罗
马 人 由 “ 契 约 或 侵 权 ” 创 设 的 债 的 理 论 , 罗 马 人 对 于 “ 债
务 ” 以 及 对 于 “ 债 务 ” 产 生 、 消 灭 和 移 转 的 方 式 的 见 解 , 罗
马 人 对 于 通 过 “ 概 括 继 承 ” 而 个 人 继 续 生 存 的 观 念 的 人 , 都
可 以 说 明 : 西 方 科 学 问 题 经 证 明 对 它 非 常 意 气 相 投 的 心 境 是
来 自 什 么 地 方 的 , 用 以 说 明 这 些 问 题 的 用 语 是 来 自 什 么 地 方
的 , 以 及 应 用 于 其 解 决 中 的 推 理 方 法 又 是 来 自 什 么 地 方 的 。 必
须 回 忆 一 下 , 这 逐 渐 渗 入 西 方 思 想 中 的 罗 马 法 既 不 是 古 城 市
的 古 制 度 , 也 不 是 “ 拜 占 廷 皇 帝 ” 的 经 过 删 改 的 法 律 学 ; 当然 , 更 不 是 几 乎 埋 没 于 以 “ 现 代 民 法 ” 名 义 通 行 于 世 的 现 代
纯 理 论 学 理 的 象 寄 生 物 那 样 的 过 度 发 展 中 的 大 量 规 则 。 我 所
谈 的 , 只 是 指 由 安 托 宁 时 代 伟 大 法 律 思 想 家 所 研 究 出 来 的 、 部
分 地 由 查 斯 丁 尼 安 的 “ 法 学 汇 纂 ” 加 以 转 载 的 法 律 哲 学 , 这
个 体 系 很 少 缺 点 , 除 了 它 所 要 达 到 的 高 度 的 优 雅 、 明 确 和 精
审 , 已 超 过 了 人 类 事 务 所 许 可 以 及 人 类 法 律 所 能 限 制 的 范 围 。
许 多 英 国 著 名 的 和 有 信 誉 的 著 者 , 由 于 对 罗 马 法 的 无 知
( 这 是 英 国 人 不 得 不 立 即 承 认 , 但 有 时 不 以 为 耻 , 反 以 自 夸
的 ) , 对 罗 马 帝 国 时 期 内 人 类 智 力 状 态 提 出 了 最 不 足 取 的 奇
论 。 他 们 常 常 这 样 主 张 , 并 且 是 毫 不 踌 躇 地 、 好 象 在 提 出 这
命 题 时 毫 不 卤 莽 似 的 , 认 为 从 奥 古 斯 多 时 代 终 了 的 时 候 起 一
直 到 一 般 对 于 基 督 信 仰 开 始 发 生 兴 味 时 , 文 明 世 界 的 心 力 遭
受 到 瘫 痪 症 的 猛 烈 侵 染 。 这 时 有 两 个 思 想 主 题 , — — 也 许 是
除 了 自 然 科 学 之 外 仅 有 的 两 个 — — 可 以 供 人 们 所 具 有 的 一 切
能 力 作 专 心 致 志 的 研 究 。 其 中 之 一 是 形 而 上 学 的 研 究 , 这 只
要 人 愿 意 继 续 钻 研 是 没 有 限 制 的 ; 另 一 个 是 法 律 , 这 是 和 人
类 的 事 务 同 样 地 广 大 的 。 恰 巧 在 上 述 的 时 期 中 , 操 希 腊 语 的
名 省 专 心 从 事 于 其 一 , 而 操 拉 丁 语 的 各 省 又 专 心 于 另 一 种 问
题 。 我 不 想 谈 亚 历 山 大 城 和 东 方 在 纯 理 论 研 究 方 面 的 成 果 ) 但
我 大 胆 地 断 言 , 在 罗 马 和 西 方 的 手 中 有 一 件 工 作 , 足 以 补 偿
在 其 他 智 力 上 的 欠 缺 , 并 且 我 要 附 带 说 明 一 句 , 他 们 所 获 得
的 结 果 , 就 我 们 所 知 而 论 , 对 于 他 们 所 花 费 的 坚 毅 的 专 门 的
劳 力 , 并 不 是 不 值 得 的 。 除 了 一 个 职 业 法 律 家 外 , 也 许 没 有
人 能 完 全 了 解 “ 法 律 ” 能 吸 收 个 人 的 多 少 精 力 , 但 是 一 个 普
通 人 也 不 难 理 解 为 什 么 罗 马 集 体 智 力 的 一 个 不 平 常 部 分 会 被法 律 学 所 独 占 。 “ 一 个 特 定 社 会 的 精 通 法 律 学 , 它 所 依 靠 的 条
件 , 和 它 在 任 何 其 他 种 类 研 究 中 所 依 靠 的 条 件 终 久 是 完 全 相
同 的 ; 而 条 件 中 最 主 要 的 是 全 国 智 力 花 费 的 比 例 , 以 及 时 间
的 长 短 。 当 促 使 一 种 科 学 前 进 和 完 善 的 一 切 直 接 的 和 间 接 的
原 因 结 合 在 一 起 时 , 这 种 结 合 在 从 ‘ 十 二 铜 表 法 ’ 到 两 个 帝
国 分 裂 时 候 为 止 的 这 个 长 时 期 内 继 续 对 罗 马 的 法 律 学 发 生 作
角 , — — 并 不 是 不 规 则 的 和 间 断 的 , 而 是 力 量 继 续 不 断 地 增
长 , 数 量 继 续 不 断 地 增 加 的 。 我 们 可 以 看 到 , 一 个 年 轻 国 家
最 早 的 智 力 活 动 是 研 究 它 的 法 律 。 一 当 人 们 的 智 力 第 一 次 有
意 识 地 努 力 要 作 出 概 括 时 , 首 先 包 括 在 一 般 通 则 和 包 含 丰 富
的 公 式 中 的 是 日 常 生 活 中 的 事 务 。 年 轻 共 和 国 集 中 一 切 精 力
专 心 从 事 法 学 研 究 的 声 势 , 在 开 始 时 是 毫 无 限 制 的 ; 但 不 久
就 终 止 了 。 智 力 不 再 为 法 律 所 垄 断 。 早 晨 集 合 在 伟 大 罗 马 法
学 专 家 那 里 的 听 众 减 少 了 。 英 国 ‘ 法 学 院 ’ 的 学 生 数 从 几 千
人 减 少 到 了 几 百 人 。 艺 术 、 文 学 、 科 学 和 政 治 在 全 国 的 知 识
界 取 得 了 它 们 的 分 额 ; 而 法 律 学 的 实 践 则 限 制 于 一 个 职 业 界
的 范 围 之 内 , 虽 然 并 不 是 有 限 的 或 是 无 关 重 要 的 , 但 它 所 以
能 有 吸 引 力 , 一 方 面 是 由 于 这 一 门 科 学 的 固 有 的 引 人 之 处 , 另
一 方 面 亦 是 由 于 因 此 而 可 能 获 得 的 酬 报 。 这 一 系 列 的 变 化 在
罗 马 甚 至 比 在 英 国 表 现 得 更 为 显 著 。 到 共 和 国 时 代 的 末 期 , 法
律 是 除 了 有 将 军 的 特 殊 天 才 的 人 以 外 一 切 有 才 干 的 人 的 唯 一
天 地 。 但 是 到 了 奥 古 斯 多 时 代 , 一 个 新 的 智 力 发 展 的 阶 段 开
始 了 , 正 象 我 们 的 伊 利 萨 伯 时 代 开 始 一 样 。 我 们 都 知 道 它 在
诗 歌 和 散 文 上 的 成 就 ; 但 必 须 说 明 , 有 些 迹 象 表 明 在 其 装 饰
文 学 的 光 辉 灿 烂 以 外 , 它 已 到 了 在 自 然 科 学 中 作 出 新 征 服 的前 夕 。 但 是 到 这 个 时 候 , 罗 马 国 家 中 智 力 的 历 史 已 不 再 和 智
力 进 步 到 这 时 为 止 所 追 求 的 道 路 平 行 前 进 。 罗 马 文 学 严 格 讲
起 来 只 能 说 是 昙 花 一 现 , 它 在 各 式 各 样 的 影 响 下 突 然 终 止 , 这
些 影 响 虽 然 有 一 部 分 是 可 以 探 索 的 , 但 在 这 里 加 以 分 析 是 不
适 当 的 。 古 代 的 知 识 界 有 力 地 被 推 囘 到 其 老 路 上 去 , 而 法 律
又 成 为 专 属 于 天 才 的 正 常 范 围 , 正 和 罗 马 人 把 哲 学 和 诗 歌 蔑
视 为 一 种 幼 稚 民 族 的 玩 具 的 时 代 一 样 。 在 帝 政 时 代 , 使 一 个
有 天 才 的 人 从 事 于 法 学 专 家 的 事 业 的 外 因 , 其 性 质 究 竟 是 怎
样 的 , 要 理 解 这 一 点 , 最 好 的 方 法 是 考 虑 他 在 选 择 职 业 时 所
面 对 的 抉 择 。 他 可 能 成 为 一 个 修 辞 学 教 师 , 一 个 边 境 哨 地 的
司 令 官 , 或 是 一 个 颂 词 的 职 业 著 者 。 此 外 , 能 容 纳 他 的 仅 有
的 现 实 生 活 中 的 其 他 职 业 是 法 律 职 业 。 通 过 了 这 , 可 以 到 达
财 富 、 名 誉 、 官 职 、 君 主 的 会 议 室 — — 甚 至 可 以 达 到 王 位 的
本 身 。 ” (“ 剑 桥 论丛 ” , 1 8 5 6 年)
学 习 法 律 学 的 报 酬 是 巨 大 的 , 所 以 在 帝 国 境 内 到 处 都 有
法 律 学 校 , 甚 至 在 形 而 上 学 的 领 域 内 也 是 如 此 。 虽 然 帝 国 首
都 迁 到 拜 占 廷 显 而 易 见 地 推 动 了 它 在 东 方 的 研 究 工 作 , 但 法
律 学 从 没 有 能 推 翻 和 它 相 竞 争 的 各 种 学 问 。 它 所 用 的 语 言 是
拉 丁 , 这 是 帝 国 东 半 部 的 一 种 外 来 方 言 。 只 是 对 西 方 我 们 可
以 说 , 法 律 不 但 是 有 野 心 的 和 有 抱 负 的 人 的 精 神 食 粮 , 并 且
是 一 切 智 力 活 动 的 唯 一 滋 养 。 对 于 罗 马 的 知 识 界 , 希 腊 哲 学
仅 不 过 是 一 个 短 促 的 风 尚 , 并 且 当 新 的 东 方 首 都 建 立 , 帝 国
分 裂 为 二 , 西 方 各 省 就 比 以 前 更 明 白 地 和 希 腊 纯 理 论 相 分 离 , 更 明 白 地 专 心 于 法 律 学 。 当 他 们 这 样 不 再 听 命 于 希 腊 人 , 并
开 始 自 行 建 立 其 神 学 时 , 这 个 神 学 经 证 明 渗 透 了 法 律 的 观 念
并 在 其 措 辞 中 用 了 法 律 的 用 语 。 当 然 , 在 西 方 神 学 中 , 这 个
法 律 的 基 体 是 十 分 深 厚 的 。 一 套 新 的 希 腊 理 论 , 即 亚 里 士 多
德 哲 学 , 后 来 流 入 西 方 , 并 且 几 乎 完 全 掩 没 了 土 著 的 学 理 。 但
到 “ 宗 教 改 革 ” 、 它 部 分 地 摆 脱 了 它 们 的 影 响 时 , 它 立 即 用“ 法 律 ” 来 补 足 它 们 的 地 位 。 在 喀 尔 文 ( C a l v i n ) 和 阿 明 尼 阿斯 ( A r m i n i u s ) 两 种 宗 教 体 系 中 究 竟 哪 一 个 有 更 显 著 的 法 律性 质 , 这 是 很 难 说 的 。
罗 马 人 的 特 殊 的 “ 契 约 ” 法 律 学 对 现 代 “ 法 律 ” 中 相 当部 门 所 发 生 的 巨 大 影 响 , 似 不 属 于 本 文 范 围 , 应 属 于 成 熟 的法 律 学 史 。 这 种 影 响 要 直 到 波 罗 诺 学 派 创 立 了 现 代 欧 洲 法 律学 后 才 感 觉 到 。 但 罗 马 人 在 帝 国 衰 亡 前 曾 把 “ 契 约 ” 概 念 发展 得 非 常 完 全 的 事 实 , 在 比 上 述 时 期 更 早 的 一 个 时 期 就 具 有重 要 性 。 我 曾 不 止 一 次 地 说 过 , “ 封 建 制 度 ” 是 古 代 蛮 族 习 惯和 罗 马 法 的 一 种 混 合 物 ; 其 他 任 何 解 释 都 是 不 足 信 的 , 甚 至是 不 可 领 会 的 。 封 建 时 代 最 早 的 社 会 形 式 和 原 始 人 类 到 处 结合 在 其 中 的 一 般 社 团 很 少 区 别 。 一 个 “ 封 地 ” 是 一 些 财 产 权利 和 人 身 权 利 不 可 分 解 地 混 合 在 一 起 的 一 种 有 机 的 、 完 全 的结 合 。 它 和 一 个 印 度 “ 村 落 共 产 体 ” 以 及 一 个 苏 格 兰 高原部族 社 团 有 许 多 共 同 之 处 。 但 封 建 社 会 仍 具 有 某 种 现 象 ,是我们 从 文 明 初 创 者 自 发 形 成 的 社 团 中 找 不 到 的 。 真 正 的古代共产 体 不 是 由 明 白 的 规 定 而 是 依 靠 情 绪 , 或 者 , 我 们 应 该 说 , 依靠 本 能 , 结 合 在 一 起 的 ; 凡 是 新 来 者 都 虚 假 地 装 做 有 血 统 关系 而 就 在 这 个 本 能 的 范 围 之 内 被 纳 入 社 团 的 。 但 是 最 早 的 封建 社 会 既 不 是 仅 仅 由 情 绪 结 合 起 来 的 , 也 不 是 靠 一 种 拟 制 来补 充 其 成 员 的 。 把 他 们 结 合 在 一 起 的 纽 带 是 “ 契 约 ” , 他 们 用和 新 伙 伴 缔 结 一 个 契 约 的 方 法 来 获 得 新 伙 伴 。 封 建 主 和 属 臣的 关 系 原 来 是 用 明 白 的 定 约 来 确 定 的 , 一 个 愿 意 把 自 己 用推荐或分封土地 的 方 法 接 纳 在 同 族 之 内 的 人 , 对 于 他 被 接 纳 的各 项 条 件 是 明 白 了 解 的 。 因 此 , 把 封 建 制 度 和 原 始 民 族 纯 粹惯 例 加 以 区 分 的 主 要 东 西 是 “ 契 约 ” 在 它 们 中 间 所 占 的 范 围 。封 建 主 具 有 一 个 宗 法 家 长 的 许 多 特 点 , 但 他 的 特 权 为 多 种 多样 确 立 的 习 惯 所 限 制 , 这 种 习 惯 来 自 分 封 土 地 时 经 过 同 意 的
明 确 的 条 件 。 使 我 们 不 能 把 封 建 社 会 和 真 正 的 古 代 社 会 归 属
一 类 , 其 主 要 的 不 同 之 点 就 是 由 此 而 来 的 。 封 建 社 会 比 较 持
久 , 比 较 多 种 多 样 ; 它 们 所 以 持 久 , 是 因 为 明 确 的 规 定 比 本
能 的 习 惯 不 容 易 毁 灭 , 其 所 以 多 种 多 样 , 是 因 为 它 们 所 根 据
的 契 约 是 依 照 交 出 或 授 与 土 地 的 人 的 具 体 情 况 和 具 体 要 求 而
调 节 的 。 这 最 后 的 理 由 可 以 用 来 说 明 那 在 我 们 中 间 流 行 的 关
于 现 代 社 会 渊 源 的 通 俗 意 见 是 如 何 大 大 地 需 要 修 正 。 人 们 常
说 , 现 代 文 明 的 外 貌 所 以 如 此 地 不 规 则 和 多 样 化 , 主 要 是 由
于 日 耳 曼 民 族 的 丰 富 而 易 变 的 天 才 , 这 和 罗 马 帝 国 那 种 迟 钝的 常 规 是 完 全 不 同 的 。 真 相 是 , 罗 马 帝 国 把 法 律 概 念 遗传给了 现 代 社 会 , 而 这 种 不 规 则 正 是 来 自 那 些 法 律 概 念 ; 如 果 说蛮 族 的 习 惯 和 制 度 有 一 个 特 点 比 另 一 个 特 点 更 为 显 著 , 那 末这 个 特 点 就 是 它 们 的 极 端 一 致 。
第 十 章 侵 权 和 犯 罪 的 早 期 史
“ 条 顿 法 典 ” ( T e u t o n i c C o d e s ) 包 括 我 们 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克逊 的 法 典 在 内 , 是 流 传 到 我 们 手 里 的 唯 一 的 古 代 世 俗 法 律 , 关于 它 原 来 的 规 模 我 们 可 以 形 成 一 个 明 确 的 概 念 。 虽 然 罗 马 和希 腊 法 典 的 现 存 片 断 足 以 证 明 它 们 的 一 般 性 质 , 但 残 存 的 数
量 不 多 , 还 不 够 使 我 们 十 分 确 切 地 知 道 它 们 到 底 有 多 大 的 篇
幅 以 及 各 个 部 分 相 互 的 比 重 。 但 大 体 而 论 , 所 有 已 知 的 古 代
法 的 蒐 集 都 有 一 个 共 同 的 特 点 使 它 们 和 成 熟 的 法 律 学 制 度 显
然 不 同 。 最 显 著 的 差 别 在 于 刑 法 和 民 法 所 占 的 比 重 。 在 日 耳
曼 法 典 中 , 民 事 部 分 的 法 律 比 刑 事 部 分 范 围 要 狭 小 得 多 。 德
累 科 法 典 科 处 血 刑 的 传 统 , 似 乎 表 明 它 也 有 同 样 的 特 点 。 只
有 在 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” ( 这 是 一 个 具 有 伟 大 法 律 天 才 和 一 个 温 良
风 俗 的 社 会 的 产 物 ) 中 , 它 的 民 事 法 律 才 有 些 象 其 现 代 的 先
例 ; 但 是 损 害 救 济 方 式 所 占 的 地 位 , 虽 然 不 是 异 常 巨 大 , 但
却 是 相 当 大 的 。 我 以 为 可 以 这 样 说 , 法 典 愈 古 老 , 它 的 刑 事
立 法 就 愈 详 细 、 愈 完 备 。 这 种 现 象 常 常 可 以 看 到 , 并 且 这 样
解 释 无 疑 地 在 很 大 程 度 上 是 正 确 的 : 由 于 法 律 初 次 用 文 字 写
成 时 , 社 会 中 经 常 发 生 强 暴 行 为 。 据 说 , 立 法 者 按 照 野 蛮 生
活 中 某 一 类 事 件 发 生 次 数 的 多 少 以 分 配 其 工 作 的 比 重 。 但 我
认 为 这 个 说 法 并 不 十 分 完 全 。 应 该 囘 想 一 下 , 在 古 代 的 蒐 集
中 民 事 法 律 比 较 缺 少 是 和 本 文 中 所 讨 论 的 古 代 法 律 学 的 其 他特 征 相 一 致 的 。 文 明 社 会 所 施 行 的 法 律 的 民 事 部 分 , 有 十 分
之 九 是 由 “ 人 法 ” 、 “ 财 产 和 继 承 法 ” 以 及 “ 契 约 法 ” 组 成 的 。
但 是 很 显 然 , 当 我 们 越 接 近 社 会 的 萌 芽 时 代 , 这 一 切 法 律 学
领 域 就 愈 缩 小 到 更 狭 小 的 范 围 之 内 。 既 然 一 切 身 分 形 式 都 共
同 从 属 于 “ 父 权 ” 之 下 , 既 然 “ 妻 ” 对 其 “ 夫 ” 没 有 任 何 权
利 , 子 对 其 父 也 没 有 任 何 权 利 , 以 及 婴 儿 “ 受 监 护 人 ” 对 作
为 其 “ 监 护 人 ” 的 “ 宗 亲 ” , 也 没 有 任 何 权 利 , 这 个 等 于 是
“ 身 分 法 ” 的 “ 人 法 ” 即 被 限 制 在 最 狭 小 的 限 度 内 。 同 样 地 ,
有 关 “ 财 产 ” 和 “ 继 承 ” 的 规 定 决 不 会 很 多 的 , 既 然 土 地 和
财 物 是 在 家 族 内 授 受 , 并 且 , 如 果 真 要 分 配 的 话 , 也 是 在 家
族 的 范 围 内 进 行 的 。 但 是 , 古 代 民 法 中 最 大 的 缺 口 始 终 是 由
于 缺 少 “ 契 约 ” 而 造 成 的 , 在 有 些 古 代 法 典 中 完 全 不 提 到
“ 契 约 ” , 而 在 另 一 些 古 代 法 典 中 则 用 一 种 精 细 的 “ 宣 誓 ” 法
律 来 代 替 “ 契 约 ” , 这 足 以 证 明 “ 契 约 ” 所 依 据 的 道 德 观 念 还
没 有 成 熟 。 至 于 刑 法 , 则 并 没 有 同 样 的 使 它 贫 乏 的 理 由 , 因
此 , 纵 使 我 们 不 应 冒 昧 地 宣 称 在 国 家 的 幼 年 时 代 总 是 一 个 无
法 抑 制 的 强 暴 时 期 , 我 们 仍 旧 应 该 懂 得 为 什 么 刑 法 和 民 法 的
现 代 关 系 竟 在 古 代 法 典 中 颠 倒 过 来 。
我 曾 认 为 : 原 始 法 律 学 曾 以 近 代 所 不 知 道 的 优 先 给 与 ·
犯
·
罪 法 。 这 种 说 法 完 全 是 为 了 方 便 起 见 , 但 事 实 上 , 对 古 代 法
典 的 仔 细 考 察 使 我 们 知 道 , 它 们 以 非 常 的 数 量 揭 示 的 法 律 并
非 真 正 的 犯 罪 法 。 所 有 文 明 制 度 都 一 致 同 意 在 对 国 家 、 对 社
会 所 犯 的 罪 行 和 对 个 人 所 犯 的 罪 行 之 间 , 应 该 有 所 区 别 , 这
样 区 别 的 两 类 损 害 , 我 称 之 为 ·
犯 ·
罪 ( c l i m i n a ) 和 ·
不 ·
法 ·
行 ·
为( d e l i c t a ) , 虽 然 我 并 不 认 为 这 两 个 名 词 在 法 律 学 上 是 始 终 这样 一 致 应 用 的 。 古 代 社 会 的 刑 法 不 是 “ 犯 罪 ” 法 ; 这 是 “ 不
法 行 为 ” 法 , 或 用 英 国 的 术 语 , 就 是 “ 侵 权 行 为 ” 法 。 被 害
人 用 一 个 普 通 民 事 诉 讼 对 不 法 行 为 人 提 起 诉 讼 , 如 果 他 胜 诉 ,
就 可 以 取 得 金 钱 形 式 的 损 害 补 偿 。 我 们 试 参 考 该 雅 士 在 “ 评
释 ” 中 根 据 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 对 刑 事 法 律 学 所 作 的 讨 论 , 可 以
看 到 , 在 罗 马 法 所 承 认 的 民 事 不 法 行 为 的 开 头 有 ·
窃 ·
盗 ·
罪 ( F u r At u m ) 。 我 们 在 习 惯 上 认 为 专 属 于犯 ·
罪 的 罪 行 被 完 全 认 为 是不
· 法 ·
行为 , 并 且 不 仅 是 窃 盗 , 甚 至 凌 辱 和 强 盗 , 也 被 法 学 专 家
把 它 们 和 扰 害 、 文 字 诽 谤 及 口 头 诽 谤 联 系 在 一 起 。 所 有 这 一
切 都 产 生 了 “ 债 ” 或 是 ·
法 ·
锁 , 并 都 可 以 用 金 钱 支 付 以 为 补 偿 。
但 这 个 特 点 , 最 有 力 地 表 现 在 日 耳 曼 部 落 的 统 一 法 律 ( t h e
c o n s o l i d a t e d L a w s o f G e r m a n i c t r i b e s ) 中 。 它 们 对 杀 人罪 也 不 例 外 有 一 个 庞 大 的 用 金 钱 赔 偿 的 制 度 , 至 于 轻 微 损 害 ,
除 少 数 例 外 , 亦 有 一 个 同 样 庞 大 的 金 钱 赔 偿 制 度 。 垦 布 尔 先
生 ( M r . K e m b l e s ) 〔 在 “ 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 ” ( A n g l o -
S a x o n s ) 卷 一 , 第 1 7 7 页 中 〕 写 道 : “ 根 据 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 法
律 , 对 于 每 一 个 自 由 人 的 生 命 , 都 可 以 按 照 他 的 身 分 而 以 一
定 金 钱 为 赔 偿 , 对 于 其 身 受 的 每 一 个 创 伤 , 对 于 他 的 民 权 、 荣
誉 或 安 宁 所 造 成 的 几 乎 每 一 种 损 害 , 都 可 以 用 相 当 的 金 钱 为
赔 偿 ; 金 额 按 照 偶 然 情 势 而 增 加 ” 。 这 些 和 解 费 明 显 地 被 认 为
是 收 入 的 一 种 有 价 值 的 来 源 ; 一 套 高 度 复 杂 的 规 则 规 定 着 申
请 它 们 的 权 利 和 负 担 它 们 的 责 任 ; 并 且 象 我 在 前 面 已 经 说 过
的 那 样 , 如 果 它 们 在 所 属 的 人 死 亡 时 还 没 有 清 偿 , 它 们 常 根
据 一 些 特 殊 的 规 定 而 遗 传 下 去 。 因 此 , 如 果 一 种 ·
侵 ·
权 ·
行 ·
为 或
·
不 ·
法 ·
行 ·
为 的 标 准 是 : 被 认 为 受 到 损 害 的 是 被 损 害 的 个 人 而 不是 “ 国 家 ” , 则 可 断 言 , 在 法 律 学 幼 年 时 代 , 公 民 赖 以 保 护 使
不 受 强 暴 或 诈 欺 的 , 不 是 “ 犯 罪 法 ” 而 是 “ 侵 权 行 为 法 ” 。
于 是 , 在 原 始 法 律 学 中 “ 侵 权 行 为 ” 被 大 量 地 扩 大 了 。 必
须 说 明 , 原 始 法 律 学 也 涉 及 “ 罪 过 ” 。 对 于 条 顿 法 典 , 我 们 几
乎 是 毋 庸 作 这 样 的 说 明 的 , 因 为 我 们 所 接 受 到 的 这 些 法 典 的
形 式 , 是 经 基 督 教 立 法 者 编 纂 或 改 写 过 的 。 但 是 , 在 非 基 督
教 的 古 代 法 律 中 , 对 于 某 类 行 为 和 不 行 为 也 往 往 因 为 违 背 了
神 的 指 示 和 命 令 而 加 以 刑 罚 。 雅 典 “ 阿 勒 乌 柏 果 斯 元 老 院 ”
( S e n a t e o f A r e o p a g u s ) 所 适 用 的 法 律 也 许 是 一 个 特 殊 的宗 教 法 典 , 而 在 罗 马 , 显 然 从 很 早 的 时 期 起 , 教 长 法 律 学 就
对 通 奸 罪 、 渎 神 罪 以 及 谋 杀 罪 加 以 刑 罚 。 因 此 , 在 雅 典 和 在
罗 马 各 省 中 , 法 律 处 罚 ·
罪 ·
过 。 他 们 也 有 处 罚 ·
侵 ·
权 ·
行 ·
为 的 法 律 。
触 犯 “ 上 帝 ” 的 罪 行 的 概 念 产 生 了 第 一 类 的 律 令 ; 触 犯 邻 居
的 概 念 产 生 了 第 二 类 的 律 令 ; 但 触 犯 国 家 或 集 成 社 会 的 观 念 ,
并 没 有 一 开 始 就 产 生 一 个 真 正 的 犯 罪 法 律 学 。
但 是 我 们 不 能 就 因 而 假 定 , 对 国 家 做 出 不 法 行 为 这 样 一
种 简 单 而 基 本 的 概 念 , 是 在 任 何 原 始 社 会 中 都 缺 乏 的 。 很 可
能 在 最 初 阻 止 犯 罪 法 律 发 展 的 真 正 原 因 , 正 是 由 于 这 个 概 念
被 理 解 得 很 清 楚 明 白 。 无 论 如 何 , 当 罗 马 社 会 认 为 它 本 身 受
到 了 损 害 时 , 它 即 绝 对 按 照 字 面 地 类 推 适 用 当 一 个 个 人 受 到
不 法 行 为 时 所 发 生 的 后 果 , 国 家 对 不 法 行 为 的 个 人 就 用 一 个
单 一 行 为 来 报 复 。 其 结 果 是 , 在 共 和 国 的 幼 年 时 代 , 对 于 严
重 妨 害 国 家 安 全 或 国 家 利 益 的 每 一 种 罪 行 , 都 由 立 法 机 关 制
定 一 个 单 独 法 令 来 加 以 处 罚 。 这 就 是 对 于 一 个 ·
犯 ·
罪 ( c r i m e n )的 最 古 概 念 — —犯 ·
罪 是 一 种 涉 及 重 要 结 果 的 行 为 , 对 于 这 种行 为 , 国 家 不 交 给 民 事 法 院 或 宗 教 法 院 审 判 , 而 专 对 犯 罪 者
制 定 一 个特 ·
别法 ·
律 ( p r i v i l e g i u m ) 加 以 处 理 。 因 此 , 每 一 个 起
诉 都 用 一 种 痛 苦 和 刑 罚 状 ( a b i l l o f p a i n s a n d p e n a l At i e s ) 的 形 式 , 而 审 判 一 个 犯 人 ( c r i m i n a l ) 所 用 的 一 种 诉 讼 程序 是 完 全 非 常 的 、 完 全 非 正 规 的 、 完 全 离 既 定 的 规 则 和 固 定
条 件 而 独 立 的 。 一 方 面 由 于 执 行 正 义 的 法 院 就 是 主 权 国 家 本
身 , 另 一 方 面 由 于 不 可 能 把 规 定 的 或 禁 止 的 行 为 加 以 分 类 , 因
此 , 在 这 个 时 代 中 , 就 没 有 任 何 的 犯 罪 ·
法 ·
律 、 任 何 的 犯 罪 法
律 学 。 所 用 的 程 序 和 通 过 一 条 普 通 法 令 的 形 式 完 全 相 同 ; 它
是 由 同 样 的 人 物 提 议 , 并 且 用 完 全 同 样 的 仪 式 来 进 行 的 。 可
以 注 意 的 是 , 当 一 种 犯 罪 法 律 连 同 执 行 它 的 一 套 “ 法 院 ” 和
官 员 们 在 后 来 出 现 时 , 旧 的 程 序 可 能 是 由 于 它 符 合 于 理 论 , 仍
旧 严 格 地 适 用 着 ; 由 于 这 一 种 方 法 不 复 为 人 所 信 任 , 罗 马 人
民 常 对 触 犯 国 家 尊 严 的 人 保 留 着 用 一 种 特 别 法 律 加 以 处 罚 的
权 力 。 凡 是 古 典 派 的 学 者 都 能 知 道 , 雅 典 的 ·
痛 ·
苦 ·
和 ·
刑 ·
罚 ·
状
( Cι σ α γ γ CKι α ) 正 是 完 全 同 样 地 , 在 正 式 法 院 成 立 后 还 继 续 存
在 。 我 们 也 知 道 , 当 条 顿 民 族 的 自 由 人 集 会 立 法 时 , 他 们 也
主 张 有 权 刑 罚 特 别 凶 残 的 罪 行 , 或 刑 罚 占 有 崇 高 地 位 的 犯 人
所 犯 的 罪 行 。 具 有 这 种 性 质 的 , 是 “ 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 国 会 ”
( A n g l o - S a x o n W i t e n a g e m o t ) 的 刑 事 管 辖 权 。
也 许 有 人 以 为 , 我 所 说 的 古 代 和 现 代 关 于 刑 法 观 念 上 所
存 在 的 不 同 , 只 是 在 口 头 上 存 在 。 可 以 这 样 说 , 社 会 除 了 用
立 法 的 方 法 来 处 罚 犯 罪 外 , 从 最 早 的 时 代 起 , 它 就 用 它 的 法
院 来 进 行 干 预 , 强 迫 不 法 行 为 人 补 偿 其 不 法 行 为 。 如 果 它 是
这 样 做 了 , 那 就 始 终 可 以 假 定 社 会 在 某 些 方 面 由 于 他 造 成 的罪 行 而 受 到 了 损 害 。 但 是 , 不 论 这 个 推 论 在 今 天 的 我 们 看 来是 如 何 严 格 , 它 是 否 真 正 由 原 始 古 代 的 人 们 所 作 出 , 依 旧 是
一 个 疑 问 。 国 家 在 最 早 时 代 ·
通 ·
过 ·
其 ·
法 ·
院 而 进 行 干 涉 , 很 少 是
由 于 国 家 受 到 了 损 害 这 个 观 念 , 这 从 下 述 的 情 况 中 可 以 看 出 ,
即 在 原 来 的 司 法 行 政 中 , 它 所 采 用 的 程 序 , 主 要 是 摹 仿 私 人
生 活 中 可 能 要 做 的 一 系 列 的 行 为 , 即 人 们 在 生 活 中 发 生 了 争
执 , 但 在 后 来 不 得 不 把 他 们 的 争 执 提 交 和 解 。 高 级 官 吏 谨 慎
地 仿 效 着 临 时 被 召 唤 来 的 一 个 私 人 公 断 者 的 态 度 。
为 了 要 表 明 这 个 说 法 不 仅 仅 是 一 种 幻 想 , 我 将 提 出 它 所
依 据 的 证 据 。 我 们 所 知 道 的 最 古 的 司 法 程 序 是 罗 马 人 的 “ 誓
金 法 律 诉 讼 ” ( L e g i s A c t i o S a c r a m e n t i ) , 所 有 后 期 的 罗 马“ 诉 讼 法 ” ( L a w o f A c t i o n s ) 都 是 从 它 发 展 来 的 。 该 雅 士曾 详 尽 地 描 述 它 的 仪 式 。 初 看 起 来 , 这 好 象 是 毫 无 意 义 甚 至荒 谬 的 , 但 稍 加 注 意 , 就 可 使 我 们 了 解 它 的 意 义 。
涉 讼 的 标 的 一 般 认 为 是 应 该 存 缴 到 法 院 中 的 。 如 果 是 动
产 , 就 用 原 物 。 如 果 是 不 动 产 , 就 以 碎 片 或 样 品 为 代 替 ; 例
如 土 地 用 一 块 泥 , 房 屋 用 一 块 砖 作 代 表 。 在 该 雅 士 所 选 的 例
子 中 , 诉 讼 是 为 了 一 个 奴 隶 。 当 诉 讼 开 始 时 , 原 告 手 持 一 竿
前 进 , 这 一 根 竿 子 据 该 雅 士 的 说 明 是 象 征 着 一 支 枪 。 他 抓 住
了 奴 隶 , 并 用 下 述 语 句 主 张 他 的 权 利 , “我根据公民法的规定主张这个人是我所有的 ” ( H u n c e g o h o m i n e m e x J u r e Q u i r i t i u m m e u m e s s e d i c o s e c u n d u m s u a m c a u s a m s i c u t d i x i ) ; 接 着 他 用 竿 触 他 , 说 , “现在把枪放在他身上 ” ( E c c e t i b i V i n d i c t a m i m p o s u i ) 。 被 告 进 行 着 同样 的 一 系 列 的 行 为 和 动 作 。 这 时 裁 判 官 进 而 干 涉 , 他 吩 咐 诉讼 两 造 放 手 , “ 放开枪 ” ( M i t t i t e a m b o h o m i n e m ) 。 他 们 服从 了 , 原 告 就 要 求 被 告 提 出 其 干 涉 的 理 由 , “ 我请求这物件,你有什么理由主张权利 ” ( P o s t u l o a n n e d i c a s g u a J e x c a u s a J v i n d i c a v e r i s ) , 对 这 个 问 题 所 给 与 的 回 答 是 一 个 新 的权 利 的 主 张 , “我已主张这物件是我所有,所以把枪放在他身上 ” ( J u s p e r e g i s i c u t v i n d i c t a m i m p o s u i ) 。 到 这 时 , 第一 个 请 求 人 提 出 一 笔 称 为 “ 誓 金 ” 的 金 钱 , 作 为 他 提 出 案 件正 当 的 赌 注 , 并 说 , “你的权利主张没有根据,我愿以誓金决胜负 ” ( Q u a n d o t u i n j u r i a J p r o v o c a s t i , D Er i s S a c r a m e n A
t o t e p r o v o c o ) , 被 告 于 是 说 “ 我也给 ” ( S i m i l i t e r e g o t e ) , 接 受 赌 注 。 这 以 后 的 程 序 已 不 再 是 一 种 正 式 需 要 的 了 , 但 须 注 意 , 裁 判 官 从 誓 金 中 提 取 保 证 金 , 这 些 保 证 金 常 被 解 入国 库 。
这 是 每 一 个 古 罗 马 诉 讼 的 必 要 的 开 端 。 有 人 认 为 这 就 是
一 个 戏 剧 化 的 “ 公 道 的 起 源 ” , 我 以 为 , 这 个 意 见 是 很 难 不 予
同 意 的 。 两 个 带 武 器 的 人 为 了 某 种 引 起 纠 纷 的 财 产 而 争 吵 着 。
裁 判 官 ,一个因恭敬谨慎和功绩而受尊敬的人 ( v i r p i e t a t e
g r a v i s ) , 恰 巧 经 过 , 居 间 要 求 停 止 争 执 。 争 吵 的 人 就 把 情况 告 诉 他 , 同 意 由 他 公 断 , 他 们 一 致 同 意 失 败 的 一 方 除 了 放 弃 争 执 的 标 的 物 外 , 并 应 以 一 定 数 量 的 金 钱 给 付 公 断 八 , 作 为 麻 烦 和 时 间 上 损 失 的 酬 报 。 如 果 不 是 由 于 一 个 意 外 的 巧 合,该 雅 士 所 描 写 的 一 个 “ 法 律 诉 讼 ” 中 必 要 的 诉 讼 程 序 , 实 质
上 是 和 荷 马 所 描 写 的 给 “ 火 及 金 属 工 作 之 神 ” ( G o d H e p h Es t u s ) 铸 造 为 亚 济 里 斯 盾 牌 的 第 一 格 ( F i r s t C o m Ap a r t m e n t o f t h e S h i l e d o f A c h i l l e s ) 的 两 个 主 题 之 一完 全 相 同 , 则 这 个 解 释 将 不 象 它 表 面 上 那 样 地 可 信 。 在 荷 马所 描 写 的 审 判 剧 内 , 似 乎 为 了 特 意 要 表 明 原 始 社 会 的 特 证 , 争
议 不 是 为 了 财 产 , 而 是 为 了 一 个 杀 人 罪 的 和 解 费 。 一 个 人 说
他 已 经 付 了 , 另 一 个 人 说 他 从 来 没 有 收 到 过 。 但 是 使 这 幅 图
画 成 为 古 罗 马 实 践 的 复 本 的 细 节 就 是 指 定 要 交 给 法 官 的 酬
金 。 两 个 塔 仑 ( t a l e n t ) 的 黄 金 放 在 中 间 , 这 些 黄 金 要 付 给 那个 能 把 判 决 的 理 由 解 释 得 使 听 众 感 到 极 为 满 意 的 人 。 这 个 数
额 , 和 “ 誓 金 ” 的 细 小 相 比 , 显 得 十 分 巨 大 , 这 在 我 看 来 , 表
示 着 变 动 中 的 惯 例 和 已 经 巩 固 为 法 律 的 惯 例 之 间 的 差 别 。 这
被 诗 人 认 作 是 英 雄 时 代 城 市 生 活 中 一 个 显 著 的 、 特 有 的 、 但
仍 旧 只 是 偶 然 的 特 点 而 加 以 介 绍 的 一 幕 , 在 民 事 诉 讼 的 历 史
开 始 时 , 就 被 固 定 而 成 为 一 种 正 式 的 、 通 常 的 诉 讼 手 续 。 因
此 , 很 自 然 , 在 一 个 “ 法 律 诉 讼 ” 中 , “ 法 官 ” 的 酬 劳 会 减 低
到 一 个 合 理 的 数 额 , 并 且 不 再 用 公 决 的 方 法 把 它 公 断 给 许 多
公 断 人 中 的 一 个 人 , 而 视 为 当 然 地 把 它 付 给 裁 判 官 所 代 表 的
国 家 。 但 我 毫 不 怀 疑 , 荷 马 如 此 生 动 地 加 以 描 写 并 由 该 雅 士
用 了 比 平 常 粗 劣 的 术 语 精 美 得 多 的 术 语 来 描 写 的 这 些 事 件 ,
在 实 质 上 它 们 的 意 义 是 完 全 一 致 的 ; 为 了 肯 定 这 个 见 解 , 应
该 附 加 说 明 , 许 多 观 察 现 代 欧 洲 最 早 司 法 惯 例 的 观 察 者 都 认
为 “ 法 院 ” 加 于 罪 人 的 罚 金 原 来 就 是 誓 金 , “ 国 家 ” 并 不 因 为
被 告 对 它 做 了 任 何 不 法 行 为 而 取 得 和 解 费 , 但 从 给 与 原 告 的
赔 偿 中 取 得 一 分 作 为 时 间 和 麻 烦 的 公 平 代 价 。 垦 布 尔 先 生 明
白 地 认 为 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 的 b a n n u m 或 f r e d u m 具 有 这 种 性质 。
古 代 法 律 还 提 供 了 其 他 证 据 , 证 明 最 古 的 司 法 官 吏 模 仿着 私 人 争 执 中 人 们 的 可 能 行 为 。 在 决 定 陪 偿 损 害 时 , 他 们 以
在 该 案 件 的 情 况 下 一 个 被 害 人 可 能 要 采 取 报 复 的 程 度 作 为 他
们 的 指 南 。 这 就 说 明 了 为 什 么 古 代 法 律 对 于 现 行 犯 或 犯 罪 后
不 久 被 捕 的 犯 人 以 及 经 过 相 当 时 间 后 被 捕 的 犯 人 处 以 很 不 同
的 刑 罚 的 原 故 。 在 古 罗 马 的 “ 盗 窃 法 ” 中 有 几 个 有 关 这 个 特
点 的 奇 怪 例 证 。 “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 似 将 “ 盗 窃 罪 ” 分 为 “ 显 然
的 ” 和 “ 非 显 然 的 ” 两 种 , 并 根 据 罪 行 归 类 的 不 同 而 处 以 显
著 不 同 的 刑 罚 。 “ 显 然 的 窃 盗 ” 是 指 在 行 窃 的 屋 子 里 被 捕 的 人
或 是 携 带 赃 物 向 安 全 处 所 逃 避 中 被 捕 的 人 ; 如 果 他 原 来 是 一
个 奴 隶 , “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 判 处 他 死 刑 , 如 果 他 是 一 个 自 由 人 ,
“ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 判 处 他 为 财 产 所 有 人 的 奴 隶 。 “ 非 显 然 的 窃
盗 ” 是 指 在 上 述 以 外 其 他 任 何 情 况 下 被 发 现 的 人 ; 对 这 一 类
的 罪 人 , 旧 法 典 只 是 简 单 地 要 求 他 双 倍 偿 囘 他 所 偷 窃 的 价 值 。
在 该 雅 士 时 代 , “ 十 二 铜 表 法 ” 对 “ 显 然 的 窃 盗 ” 的 过 度 严 酷 ,
大 大 减 轻 了 , 但 是 法 律 仍 维 持 旧 的 原 则 , 处 以 四 倍 于 偷 窃 价
值 的 罚 金 。 至 于 “ 非 显 然 的 窃 盗 ” 则 仍 旧 继 续 给 付 双 倍 。 古
代 立 法 者 无 疑 地 认 为 , 如 果 让 被 害 的 财 产 所 有 人 自 己 处 理 , 则
在 他 盛 怒 之 下 所 拟 加 的 刑 罚 必 将 和 窃 盗 在 一 个 相 当 时 期 后 发
觉 时 , 他 所 能 满 意 的 刑 罚 , 完 全 不 同 ; 法 律 刑 罚 的 等 级 就 是
根 据 这 个 考 虑 而 调 整 的 。 这 里 边 的 原 则 和 盎 格 鲁 - 撒 克 逊 及
其 他 日 耳 曼 法 典 所 遵 循 的 原 则 完 全 相 同 , 这 些 法 典 规 定 人 赃
并 获 的 窃 盗 应 当 场 绞 杀 或 斩 首 , 但 对 于 追 捕 已 经 中 断 而 仍 把
他 杀 死 的 人 , 则 规 定 要 处 以 杀 人 罪 的 刑 罚 。 古 代 法 律 中 的 这
些 区 别 有 力 地 证 明 一 个 改 进 的 和 一 个 粗 糙 的 法 律 学 之 间 的 距
离 。 现 代 司 法 行 政 者 公 认 为 最 感 困 难 的 , 是 对 属 于 同 一 专 门类 型 的 各 种 罪 行 , 把 它 们 的 犯 罪 程 度 加 以 区 别 。 我 们 很 容 易
说 一 个 人 犯 了 过 失 杀 人 罪 、 窃 盗 罪 或 重 婚 罪 , 但 如 果 要 确 定
他 所 犯 道 德 罪 过 的 程 度 , 从 而 确 定 他 所 应 受 刑 罚 的 轻 重 , 则
常 常 是 最 感 困 难 的 。 如 果 我 们 企 图 正 确 地 解 决 这 个 问 题 , 我
们 在 决 疑 上 , 或 在 动 机 的 分 析 上 , 必 将 遇 到 困 难 ; 因 此 , 我
们 今 日 的 法 律 就 开 始 了 一 种 日 益 增 长 的 倾 向 , 尽 可 能 对 这 问
题 不 在 现 实 法 上 加 以 规 定 。 在 法 兰 西 , 当 陪 审 团 认 为 有 罪 时 ,
究 竟 这 个 罪 是 否 有 可 以 减 轻 的 情 况 , 听 由 陪 审 团 加 以 决 定 ; 在
英 格 兰 , 准 许 法 官 对 于 刑 罚 的 选 择 有 几 乎 无 限 的 伸 缩 范 围 ; 所
有 的 国 家 都 对 误 用 法 律 保 留 着 叫 做 “ 赦 免 特 权 ” 的 一 种 最 后
补 救 办 法 , 这 种 权 力 一 般 都 归 “ 元 首 ” ( C h i e f M a g i s t r a t e ) 掌握 。 很 奇 怪 , 原 始 时 代 的 人 们 很 少 受 到 这 些 踌 躇 的 若 恼 , 他
们 完 全 确 信 被 害 人 的 冲 动 是 他 有 权 要 求 报 复 的 正 当 标 准 , 并
且 他 们 正 确 地 摹 仿 他 情 感 的 升 降 以 确 定 他 们 的 量 刑 标 准 。 我
希 望 能 够 这 样 说 , 他 们 的 立 法 方 法 是 已 过 时 效 的 。 但 有 些 现
代 法 律 制 度 , 在 遇 到 严 重 不 法 行 为 时 , 承 认 不 法 行 为 者 在 当
场 被 捕 时 其 所 受 被 害 人 过 度 的 惩 罚 是 有 正 当 理 由 的 — — 这 一
种 宽 纵 , 虽 然 在 表 面 上 看 来 似 乎 是 可 以 理 解 的 , 但 据 我 看 来 ,
在 实 际 上 是 根 据 于 一 种 很 低 微 的 道 德 观 念 。
我 曾 说 过 , 最 后 引 导 古 代 社 会 形 成 一 个 真 正 犯 罪 法 律 学
的 理 由 , 是 非 常 简 单 的 。 国 家 自 以 为 是 受 到 损 害 了 , “ 人 民 议
会 ” 就 用 伴 随 着 立 法 行 为 的 同 一 行 动 直 接 打 击 犯 人 。 最 古 犯
罪 法 院 只 是 立 法 机 关 的 一 部 分 或 委 员 会 — — 虽 然 在 现 代 并 不
完 全 是 如 此 , 我 将 有 机 会 指 出 — — 在 古 代 世 界 , 确 实 是 如 此
的 。 无 论 如 何 , 这 是 最 大 的 两 个 古 国 的 法 律 史 所 指 出 的 结 论 ,在 一 个 情 况 中 是 相 当 清 楚 的 , 而 在 另 一 个 情 况 中 是 绝 对 明 白
的 。 雅 典 的 原 始 刑 法 把 犯 罪 的 惩 罚 一 部 分 委 托 给 “ 执 政 官 ”
( A r c h o n s ) 作 为侵权行为 而 加 以 处 罚 , 一 部 分 委 托 给 “ 阿 勒乌 柏 果 斯 元 老 院 ” , 作 为 罪 过 而 加 以 处 罚 。 这 两 个 管 辖 权 在 最
后 都 移 转 给 “ 希 黎 亚 ” ( H e l i Ea ) 即 平 民 高 等 法 院 ( t h e H i g h C o u r t o f P o p u l a r J u s t i c e ) , 而 “ 执 政 官 ” 和 “ 阿 勒 乌柏 果 斯 ” 的 职 能 便 成 为 只 是 行 政 的 或 竟 完 全 无 意 义 的 了 。 但
“ 希 黎 亚 ” 只 是 “ 议 会 ” 的 一 个 古 字 ; 古 典 时 代 的 “ 希 黎 亚 ”
只 是 为 了 司 法 目 的 而 召 集 的 “ 人 民 议 会 ” , 著 名 的 雅 典 “ 迪 卡
斯 德 黎 ” ( D i k a s t e r i e s ) 只 是 它 的 一 部 分 或 是 陪 审 官 。 在 罗 马 ,也 发 生 过 相 应 的 变 更 , 这 更 容 易 加 以 解 释 , 因 为 罗 马 人 把 他
们 的 试 验 限 于 刑 法 , 他 们 和 雅 典 人 不 同 , 并 不 使 普 通 法 院 既
有 民 事 的 又 有 刑 事 的 管 辖 权 。 罗 马 犯 罪 法 律 学 的 历 史 开 始 于
古 “ 平 民 法 院 ” ( J u d i c i a P o p u l i ) , 据 说 是 由 国 王 主 持 的 。 这
些 全 然 是 在 立 法 形 式 下 对 大 罪 人 的 庄 严 审 判 。 但 似 乎 从 一 个
很 早 的 时 期 起 , “ 民 会 ” 有 时 把 它 的 犯 罪 管 辖 权 委 托 一 个 “ 审
问 处 ” ( Q u Es t i o ) 或 “ 委 员 会 ” , 它 和 “ 议 会 ” 的 关 系 , 正 和
“ 众 议 院 ” 的 一 个 “ 委 员 会 ” 与 “ 议 院 ” 本 身 的 关 系 一 样 , 只
是 罗 马 的 “ 委 员 ” 或 “ 审 问 官 ” ( Q u Es t o r e s ) 不 仅 对 “ 民
全 ” 提 送 ·
报 ·
告 , 并 且 也 行 使 该 团 体 本 身 习 惯 上 行 使 的 一 切 权
力 , 甚 至 包 括 对 “ 被 告 人 ” 判 刑 。 这 样 的 一 个 “ 审 问 处 ” 只
被 指 定 审 判 一 种 特 殊 犯 人 , 但 并 没 有 规 定 不 许 可 二 个 或 三 个
“ 审 问 处 ” 在 同 时 进 行 审 判 ; 很 可 能 , 当 有 几 件 对 社 会 的 严 重
不 法 案 件 同 时 发 生 时 , 有 几 个 “ 审 问 处 ” 在 同 时 受 到 委 派 。 也
有 迹 象 表 明 , 有 时 这 些 “ 审 问 处 ” 非 常 近 似 我 们 “ ·
常 ·
设 委 员会 ” ( S t a n d i n g C o m m i t t e e s ) 的 性 质 , 因 为 它 们 是 定 期 委 任
的 , 不 必 等 待 某 种 严 重 犯 罪 行 为 的 发 生 。 在 很 古 的 时 代 的 议
事 录 中 被 提 到 过 的 , 旧 的 “ 弑 亲 审 问 官 ” ( Q u Es t o r e s P a r r i Ac i d i ) 有 权 审 判 ( 或 如 有 的 人 认 为 的 那 样 , 有 权 搜 索 和 审 判 )一 切 弑 亲 和 谋 杀 案 件 , 他 们 似 乎 是 正 规 地 每 年 选 派 的 ; 而 审判 对 共 和 国 有 严 重 危 害 的 二 人 委 员 会 或 “ 叛 逆 二 人 委 员 会 ” ( D u u m v i r i P e r d u e l l i o n i s ) , 大 多 数 著 者 也 相 信 是 定 期 指 派
的 。 把 这 些 权 力 委 派 给 这 些 官 吏 , 使 我 们 又 前 进 了 一 步 。 不
再 是 在 对 国 家 犯 罪 发 生 时 , 才 被 委 派 , 而 是 在 有 ·
可 ·
能 发 生 时 ,
就 已 具 有 一 般 的 、 虽 然 是 暂 时 的 审 判 权 。 这 时 已 很 接 近 一 种
正 规 的 犯 罪 法 律 学 , 这 也 可 以 从 “ 弑 亲 ” 和 “ 判 逆 ” 这 些 一
般 用 语 上 显 示 出 来 , 这 些 用 语 标 志 着 已 临 近 彷 彿 是 犯 罪 分 类
的 那 种 东 西 。
但 真 正 的 犯 罪 法 要 到 纪 元 前 1 4 9 年 才 开 始 产 生 , 当 时 古
尔 潘 尼 斯 · 披 梭 ( L . C a l p u r n i u s P i s o ) 实 行 了 所 谓 “ 古 尔潘 尼 亚 贪 污 律 ” ( L e x C a l p u r n i a d e R e p e t u n d i s ) 的 制 定
法 。 这 个 法 律 适 用 于 有 关 盗 用 金 钱 ( R e p e t u n d a r u m P e c u A
n i a r u m ) 的 案 件 , 这 就 是 , 各 “ 省 民 ” ( P r o v i n c i a l s ) 对 总 督
( G o v e r n o r - G e n e r a l ) 不 正 当 征 收 的 金 钱 有 偿 还 的 请 求 权 , 但
这 个 制 定 法 的 最 大 和 永 久 重 要 性 在 于 它 建 立 了 第 一 个 “ 永 久
审 问 处 ” ( Q u Es t i o P e r p e t u a ) 。 一 个 “ 永 久 审 问 处 ” 是 一 个
·
永 ·
久 的 委 员 会 , 和 那 些 临 时 的 以 及 那 些 暂 时 的 是 有 区 别 的 。 它
是 一 个 正 规 的 刑 事 法 院 , 它 的 存 在 从 创 设 它 的 制 定 法 通 过 时
候 起 , 一 直 继 续 到 废 弃 它 的 另 一 个 制 定 法 通 过 时 候 为 止 。 它
的 成 员 不 是 象 较 早 的 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 成 员 那 样 特 别 任 命 的 , 而是 在 组 成 它 的 法 律 中 规 定 由 特 种 法 官 中 选 任 并 按 照 明 确 的 规
定 进 行 更 换 。 它 有 权 审 理 的 罪 行 也 是 在 条 例 中 明 白 规 定 和 明
白 下 定 义 的 , 新 的 “ 审 问 处 ” 有 权 在 将 来 审 判 一 切 人 , 如 果
他 的 行 为 符 合 于 法 律 所 规 定 的 犯 罪 的 定 义 。 因 此 , 它 是 一 个
正 规 的 犯 罪 司 法 机 关 , 行 使 一 种 真 正 的 刑 事 法 律 学 。
因 此 , 原 始 犯 罪 法 史 可 分 为 四 个 阶 段 。 我 们 可 以 了 解 犯罪 的 概 念 和不法行为或侵权行为以及罪过 的 概 念 是 有 区 别的 , 在 犯 罪 的 概 念 中 包 括 着 对 国 家 或 社 会 集 体 所 加 损 害 的 概 念 , 我 们 首 先 发 现 的 是 , 共 和 国 按 照 这 概 念 的 字 面 意 义 由 它 自 己 直 接 干 预 或 由 它 用 单 独 行 为 对 那 些 损 害 国 家 的 人 给 予 报
复 。 这 是 我 们 的 出 发 点 ; 每 一 个 公 诉 状 就 是 一 个 痛 苦 和 刑 罚
状 , 这 是 一 个 特 别 法 律 , 指 明 犯 人 的 姓 名 , 并 规 定 他 的 刑 罚 。
当 犯 罪 种 类 增 加 , 使 立 法 机 关 不 得 不 把 权 力 委 托 给 特 别 “ 审
问 处 ” 或 “ 委 员 会 ” , 它 们 都 有 权 对 一 个 特 定 的 控 告 进 行 调 查 ,
并 在 控 告 经 证 明 属 实 后 有 权 对 特 定 犯 人 加 以 处 罚 。 这 时 , ·
第
·
二 ·
步 方 告 完 成 。 当 立 法 机 关 不 再 等 待 一 个 犯 罪 发 生 以 后 方 才
委 托 “ 审 问 处 ” , 而 在 某 种 犯 罪 有 发 生 的 可 能 以 及 预 防 这 些 犯
罪 将 要 发 生 时 , 定 期 的 任 命 象 “ 弑 亲 审 问 处 ” 和 “ 叛 逆 二 人
委 员 会 ” 那 样 的 “ 委 员 ” 时 , 它 又 作 了 ·
另 ·
一 ·
次 运 动 。 至 ·
最 ·
后
阶 段 , “ 审 问 处 ” 从 定 期 的 或 临 时 的 变 为 永 久 的 法 院 — — 法 官
们 不 再 由 指 派 委 员 会 的 特 定 法 律 加 以 指 定 , 而 是 规 定 在 将 来
用 一 种 特 定 方 法 和 从 一 个 特 定 阶 级 中 选 任 — — , 并 把 某 种 行
为 用 普 通 文 字 加 以 说 明 和 宣 布 为 有 罪 , 如 果 触 犯 了 , 就 将 处
以 适 合 于 每 一 种 犯 罪 的 刑 罚 。
如 果 “ 永 久 审 问 处 ” 有 一 个 较 长 的 历 史 , 它 们 将 无疑 的会 被 认 为 是 一 个 各 别 的 制 度 , 它 们 和 “ 民 会 ” 的 关 系 将 不 会比 我 们 自 己 的 法 院 和 君 主 之 间 的 关 系 更 为 密 切 , 君 主 在 理 论上 是 公 道 的 泉 源 。 但 帝 国 暴 政 在 它 们 的 渊 源 被 完 全 忘 却 前 就把 它 们 全 部 摧 毁 , 并 且 , 在 它 们 存 续 的 时 期 内 , 这 些 “ 永 久
委 员 会 ” 被 罗 马 人 视 为 仅 仅 是 一 种 委 托 权 的 受 托 人 。 犯 罪 的
审 判 权 被 认 为 是 立 法 机 关 的 一 种 自 然 属 性 , 而 公 民 的 心 理 总
是 要 从 “ 审 问 处 ” 回 复 到 “ 民 会 ” , 是 民 会 把 它 不 可 分 割 的 职
能 的 一 部 分 委 托 给 “ 审 问 处 ” 执 行 的 。 甚 至 在 “ 审 问 处 ” 成
为 永 久 机 关 时 也 认 为 它 只 是 “ 平 民 议 会 ” 的 “ 委 员 会 ” — —
只 是 为 一 个 较 高 的 权 威 服 役 的 机 关 — — , 这 个 看 法 有 重 要 的
法 律 后 果 , 其 痕 迹 留 在 犯 罪 法 中 一 直 到 最 近 的 时 期 。 它 的 直
接 结 果 之 一 是 在 “ 审 问 处 ” 成 立 了 很 久 之 后 , “ 民 会 ” 仍 继 续
通 过 痛 苦 和 刑 罚 状 而 行 使 刑 事 管 辖 权 。 虽 然 立 法 机 关 为 了 便
利 起 见 , 同 意 把 其 权 力 委 托 于 其 自 身 以 外 的 机 关 , 我 们 并 不
能 就 认 为 它 已 经 完 全 放 弃 了 这 些 权 力 。 “ 民 会 ” 和 “ 审 问 处 ”
继 续 平 行 地 审 判 犯 人 ; 在 平 民 发 生 任 何 不 平 常 的 大 公 愤 时 , 直
到 共 和 国 消 灭 时 为 止 , 必 然 地 要 在 “ 部 落 民 会 ” ( A s s e m b l y of t h e T r i b e ) 前 对 其 对 象 提 起 控 诉 。
共 和 国 各 种 制 度 中 最 显 著 的 特 征 之 一 也 来 自 始 “ 审 问
处 ” 的 依 附 于 “ 民 会 ” 。 罗 马 共 和 国 刑 法 制 度 中 “ 死 ” 刑 的 消
灭 一 向 是 上 一 世 纪 中 著 者 们 最 喜 爱 的 题 目 , 他 们 经 常 利 用 它
指 出 罗 马 人 的 性 格 和 现 代 社 会 组 织 的 学 说 。 这 种 断 然 地 提 出
的 理 由 , 认 为 它 纯 粹 是 出 于 偶 然 的 。 在 罗 马 立 法 机 关 陆 续 采
取 的 三 种 形 式 中 , 为 众 所 习 知 的 一 种 , 即 “ 兵 员 民 会 ” ( C o m i t i a C e n t u r i a t a ) , 是 专 门 在 行 军 中 代 表 国 家 的 。 因 此 “ 兵 员 民众 ” 就 具 有 一 个 军 队 指 挥 官 所 应 有 的 一 切 权 力 , 它 有 权 使 所
有 的 犯 过 失 的 人 , 遭 受 一 个 士 兵 在 违 犯 纪 律 时 所 应 得 的 同 样
惩 戒 。 因 此 , “ 兵 员 民 会 ” 可 以 科 处 死 刑 。 但 “ 贵 族 民 会 ” 或
“ 部 落 民 会 ” ( C o m i t i a T r i b u t a ) 则 不 然 。 罗 马 城 中 的 罗 马 公
民 是 由 宗 教 和 法 律 赋 与 神 圣 性 的 , 由 于 这 一 点 , 这 两 种 民 会
就 都 受 到 了 束 缚 , 并 且 , 就 这 后 一 种 “ 部 落 民 会 ” 而 论 , 我
们 确 知 : 根 据 确 定 的 原 则 , “ 部 落 民 会 ” 最 多 只 能 科 处 罚 金 ,
既 然 刑 事 审 判 权 专 属 于 立 法 机 关 , 而 “ 兵 员 民 会 ” 和 “ 部 落
民 众 ” 却 继 续 行 使 着 平 列 的 权 力 , 于 是 很 容 易 就 会 把 比 较 严
重 的 犯 罪 向 科 处 较 重 刑 罚 的 立 法 机 关 起 诉 ; 但 在 这 时 , 比 较
民 主 的 民 会 即 “ 部 落 民 会 ” 几 乎 已 完 全 代 替 了 别 的 民 会 , 成
为 后 期 共 和 国 的 普 通 立 法 机 关 。 共 和 国 的 衰 落 , 正 当 “ 永 久
审 问 处 ” 设 立 的 时 候 , 因 此 设 立 它 们 的 制 定 法 都 是 由 一 个 立
法 机 关 通 过 , 而 过 个 立 法 机 关 本 身 在 通 常 开 会 时 也 不 能 对 一
个 犯 人 判 处 死 刑 。 所 以 , 具 有 受 委 托 权 威 的 “ 永 久 司 法 委 员
全 ” ( P e r m a n e n t J u d i c i a l C o m m i s s i o n s ) , 在 其 权 力 和 能 力
上 , 受 到 委 派 权 力 给 它 的 团 体 所 具 有 的 权 力 限 度 的 限 制 。 它
们 不 能 做 “ 部 落 民 会 ” 所 不 能 做 的 事 ; 既 然 “ 民 会 ” 不 能 判
处 死 刑 , “ 审 问 处 ” 也 就 同 样 的 无 权 判 处 死 刑 。 这 样 达 到 的 变
例 在 古 代 并 不 象 现 代 一 样 用 赞 成 的 眼 光 来 看 它 , 并 且 , 真 的 ,
罗 马 人 的 性 格 是 否 会 因 此 而 变 好 , 是 个 疑 问 , 但 可 以 肯 定 的
是 , “ 罗 马 宪 法 ” 竟 变 得 更 坏 。 正 如 每 一 个 跟 随 着 人 类 历 史 一
直 流 传 到 今 日 的 制 度 一 样 , 死 刑 在 文 明 过 程 的 某 一 些 阶 段 中
对 社 会 是 必 需 的 。 有 一 个 时 期 , 废 弃 死 刑 的 企 图 挫 败 了 作 为
一 切 刑 法 根 源 的 两 大 本 能 。 如 果 没 有 了 死 刑 , 社 会 将 感 觉 到它 对 罪 人 没 有 获 得 充 分 的 报 复 , 同 时 也 将 以 为 刑 罚 的 赦 免 将
不 足 以 阻 止 别 人 的 仿 效 。 罗 马 法 院 不 能 判 处 死 刑 , 显 然 地 、 直
接 地 引 入 一 个 恐 怖 的 革 命 时 期 , 即 称 为 “ 公 敌 宣 言 ” ( P r o s c r i p At i o n s ) 的 , 在 这 期 间 内 , 一 切 法 律 都 正 式 停 止 执 行 , 只 因 为
党 派 暴 行 不 能 为 它 所 渴 望 的 报 复 找 到 其 他 的 出 路 。 这 种 法 律
的 间 歇 的 中 止 , 是 使 罗 马 人 民 政 治 能 力 衰 败 的 最 有 力 的 原 因 ;
并 且 , 一 旦 到 达 这 样 境 地 , 我 们 可 以 毫 不 迟 疑 地 说 , 罗 马 自
由 的 毁 灭 仅 仅 是 一 个 时 间 问 题 , 如 果 “ 法 院 ” 的 工 作 能 使 人
民 的 热 情 有 一 个 适 当 的 出 口 , 司 法 诉 讼 的 形 式 将 无 疑 地 被 罪
恶 昭 彰 地 滥 用 , 象 在 我 国 后 期 斯 图 亚 特 ( S t u a r t s ) 的 各 个 朝代 一 样 , 但 国 民 性 格 将 不 致 于 象 它 在 实 际 上 那 样 深 受 其 害 , 罗马 制 度 的 稳 定 也 不 致 于 象 它 在 实 际 上 那 样 严 重 受 到 削 弱 。
我 还 要 提 一 提 罗 马 刑 事 制 度 中 由 这 同 一 的 司 法 权 的 理 论
产 生 的 另 外 两 个 特 点 。 这 两 个 特 点 是 : 罗 马 刑 事 法 院 的 非 常
众 多 以 及 犯 罪 分 类 的 变 化 繁 多 和 极 不 规 则 , 这 是 罗 马 刑 事 法
律 学 全 部 历 史 中 一 贯 的 特 色 。 据 说 , 每 一 个审问处 , 不 论 是否 永 久 的 , 都 以 一 个 各 别 的 制 定 法 为 其 创 始 的 来 源 。 它 从 创
设 它 的 法 律 得 到 权 力 ; 它 严 格 遵 守 其 特 许 状 所 规 定 的 范 围 , 对
于 特 许 状 所 没 有 明 白 规 定 的 各 种 犯 罪 是 不 能 过 问 的 。 由 于 组
成 各 种 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 制 定 法 都 是 为 了 适 应 特 种 紧 急 需 要 , 事
实 上 每 一 种 制 定 法 都 是 为 了 惩 罚 当 时 的 情 况 特 别 令 人 憎 恶 和
特 别 危 险 的 一 类 行 为 , 这 些 立 法 在 相 互 之 间 丝 毫 没 有 关 系 , 并
且 也 没 有 共 同 原 则 把 它 们 联 系 起 来 。 同 时 存 在 的 不 同 犯 罪 法
共 有 二 三 十 种 , 由 数 目 完 全 相 等 的 “ 审 问 处 ” 来 执 行 它 们 ; 在
共 和 国 时 期 内 , 并 没 有 作 过 任 何 企 图 要 把 这 些 各 别 的 司 法 机关 合 而 为 一 , 或 是 要 把 委 任 它 们 和 规 定 它 们 责 任 的 各 种 制 定
法 中 的 规 定 加 以 匀 称 。 这 个 时 期 罗 马 犯 罪 管 辖 权 的 情 况 在 某
些 方 面 有 些 象 英 国 的 民 事 救 济 行 政 , 当 时 英 国 普 通 法 院 还 没
有 把 那 种 拟 制 的 证 言 引 用 到 它 们 的 令 状 , 使 它 们 得 相 互 侵 入
彼 此 的 特 殊 的 领 域 中 。 正 和 “ 审 问 处 ” 一 样 , 后 座 法 院 ( C o u r t of Q u e e n ’ s B e n c h ) 、 民 事 高 等 法 院 ( C o m m o n P l e a s ) 和 理 财 法 院 ( E x c h e q u e r ) 在 理 论 上 都 是 从 一 个 较 高 的权 威 分 出 来 的 机 关 , 并 且 每 一 个 机 关 都 分 别 主 管 一 类 特 种 案件 , 这 类 案 件 被 假 定 是 由 其 管 辖 权 的 泉 源 委 托 给 它 的 ; 不 过当 时 罗 马 “ 审 问 处 ” 在 数 量 上 远 不 止 三 个 , 如 要 把 分 属 于 每
一 个 “ 审 问 处 ” 审 判 权 的 各 种 行 为 加 以 区 别 , 远 不 及 把 韦 斯
敏 斯 德 三 种 法 院 的 范 围 加 以 划 分 那 样 便 当 。 在 各 个 不 同 的
“ 审 问 处 ” 的 范 围 之 间 划 一 条 正 确 分 界 线 是 有 困 难 的 , 因 此 这
样 多 的 罗 马 法 院 有 时 造 成 了 许 多 不 便 ; 我 们 很 惊 异 地 读 到 , 当
一 个 人 所 犯 的 罪 行 不 能 立 即 明 了 究 竟 应 属 哪 一 个 类 别 时 , 他
可 同 时 或 连 续 地 在 几 个 不 同 的 “ 委 员 会 ” 中 被 提 出 控 诉 , 以
至 有 一 个 “ 委 员 会 ” 宣 布 它 有 权 来 认 定 他 有 罪 ; 并 且 , 虽 然
某 一 个 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 定 罪 可 以 排 斥 其 他 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 审 判 权 ,
但 某 一 个 “ 审 问 处 ” 所 作 的 无 罪 开 释 不 能 作 为 另 一 个 “ 审 问
处 ” 提 出 控 告 时 的 辩 护 。 这 和 罗 马 民 事 法 律 的 规 定 直 接 相 反 ;
我 们 并 且 可 以 确 定 , 象 罗 马 人 那 样 对 法 律 学 中 的 变 例 ( 或 者用 他 们 的 意 义 深 长 的 成 语粗野 ) 十 分 敏 感 的 人 民 , 是 不 会 长期 容 忍 这 种 情 况 的 , 如 果 不 是 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 忧 郁 的 历 史 使 它们 被 认 为 是 党 派 手 中 的 暂 时 武 器 , 而 不 是 惩 治 犯 罪 的 常 设 机构 。 皇 帝 不 久 就 消 除 了 这 种 审 判 权 的 重 复 和 冲 突 的 现 象 ; 但可 以 注 意 的 是 他 们 并 没 有 消 除 犯 罪 法 中 的 另 一 个 特 点 , 这 是和 “ 法 院 ” 的 数 量 有 密 切 关 系 的 。 甚 至 包 括 在 查 斯 丁 尼 安“ 民 法 大 全 ” 中 的 犯 罪 分 类 也 是 非 常 反 复 多 变 的 。 事 实 上 每 一
个 “ 审 问 处 ” 都 把 自 己 局 限 于 由 其 特 许 状 委 托 给 它 审 判 的 各
种 罪 行 。 但 这 些 罪 行 在 原 来 制 定 法 中 所 以 归 类 在 一 起 , 只 是
因 为 在 这 一 项 制 定 法 通 过 时 这 些 罪 行 恰 巧 同 时 需 要 法 律 加 以
惩 罚 。 因 此 , 在 这 些 罪 之 间 未 必 一 定 有 任 何 共 同 之 点 ; 但 是
它 们 在 一 个 特 定 “ 审 问 处 ” 中 构 成 一 特 定 的 审 判 题 目 , 这 一
个 事 实 很 自 然 地 会 给 群 众 以 深 刻 的 印 象 , 同 时 在 同 一 制 定 法
中 所 提 到 的 各 种 罪 行 之 间 的 联 系 又 是 如 此 的 根 深 蒂 固 , 甚 至
在 西 拉 和 奥 古 斯 多 皇 帝 正 式 企 图 整 理 罗 马 犯 罪 法 时 , 立 法 者
还 是 保 留 着 旧 的 分 类 方 法 。 西 拉 和 奥 古 斯 多 的 制 定 法 是 帝 国
刑 事 法 律 学 的 基 础 , 这 些 制 定 法 所 传 给 法 律 学 的 有 些 分 类 是
非 常 特 别 的 。 我 试 举 一 个 简 单 的 例 子 ,伪证 是 始 终 和割伤 以及毒杀 归 类 在 一 起 , 这 无 疑 是 由 于 一 条 西 拉 法 律 即 “ 哥 尼 流暗 杀 和 毒 杀 律 ” ( L e x C o r n e l i a d e S i c a r i s e t V e n e f i Ac i s ) 曾 把 这 三 种 形 式 的 罪 行 的 审 判 权 给 与 同 一 个 “ 永 久 委 员会 ” 。 同 时 可 以 看 到 , 这 种 罪 行 的 任 意 归 类 也 影 响 到 罗 马 人 的方 言 。 人 民 自 然 地 养 成 这 样 一 种 习 惯 , 即 把 列 举 在 一 条 法 律中 的 各 种 罪 行 用 单 子 上 的 第 一 个 名 称 来 称 呼 它 , 而 这 个 名 称也 就 用 来 称 呼 授 权 审 判 这 些 罪 行 的 法 院 。 凡 是 由 “ 通 奸 审 问处 ” ( Q u Es t i o D e A d u l t e r i s ) 审 判 的 罪 行 便 都 称 为 “ 通 奸罪 ” ( A d u l t e r y )。
我 对 罗 马 “ 审 问 处 ” 的 历 史 和 特 征 所 以 不 厌 其 详 地 加 以说 明 , 是 因 为 一 个 刑 事 法 律 学 的 形 成 从 没 有 在 任 何 其 他 地 方这 样 有 启 发 地 例 证 过 。 最 后 的 一 批 “ 审 问 处 ” 是 由 奥 古 斯 多皇 帝 加 设 的 , 从 这 时 候 起 , 罗 马 人 可 以 说 已 具 有 一 个 相 当 完
全 的 犯 罪 法 了 。 和 它 发 展 的 同 时 , 类 推 的 过 程 继 续 进 行 着 , 我
把 这 个 过 程 称 为 把 “ 不 法 行 为 ” 改 变 为 “ 犯 罪 ” , 因 为 , 虽 然
罗 马 法 立 机 关 对 于 比 较 凶 暴 的 罪 行 并 没 有 废 止 民 事 救 济 , 它
给 被 害 人 提 供 了 他 一 定 愿 意 选 择 的 一 种 赔 偿 。 但 是 , 即 在 奥
古 斯 多 完 成 其 立 法 以 后 , 有 几 种 罪 行 仍 继 续 被 视 为 “ 不 法 行
为 ” , 而 这 些 罪 行 在 现 代 社 会 看 起 来 , 是 应 该 作 为 犯 罪 的 ; 直
到 后 来 , 在 一 个 不 能 确 定 的 时 期 , 当 法 律 开 始 注 意 到 一 种 在
“ 法 学 汇 纂 ” 中 称 为非常犯罪 ( c r i m i n a e x t r a o r d i n a r i a ) 的 新的 罪 行 时 , 它 们 才 成 为 刑 事 上 可 以 处 罚 的 罪 行 。 无 疑 的 , 有 一 类 行 为 , 罗 马 法 律 学 理 论 是 单 纯 地 把 它 们 看 做 不 法 行 为 的 ;但 是 社 会 的 尊 严 心 日 益 提 高 , 反 对 对 这 些 行 为 的 犯 罪 者 在 给 付 金 钱 赔 偿 损 失 以 外 不 加 其 他 较 重 的 处 罚 , 因 此 , 如 果 被 害 人 愿 意 时 , 准 许 把 它 们 作 为 非 常 ( e x t r a o r d i n e m ) 犯 罪 而 起诉 , 即 通 过 一 种 在 某 些 方 面 和 普 通 程 序 不 同 的 救 济 方 式 而 起诉 。 从 这 些非常犯罪 第 一 次 被 承 认 的 时 期 起 , 罗 马 国 家 的 犯 罪 表 一 定 和 现 代 世 界 任 何 社 会 中 所 有 的 同 样 地 长 。
我 们 没 有 必 要 详 细 描 写 罗 马 帝 国 执 行 犯 罪 司 法 的 方 式 ,但 须 注 意 , 它 的 理 论 和 实 践 都 对 现 代 社 会 发 生 有 力 的 影 响 。 皇帝 们 并 不 直 接 废 弃 “ 审 问 处 ” , 在 开 始 时 , 他 们 把 一 种 广 泛 的 刑 事 审 判 权 交 给 “ 元 老 院 ” ( S e n a t e ) , 虽 然 事 实 上 它 其 中 可 能显 得 很 卑 贱 , 但 在 这 个 “ 元 老 院 ” 中 皇 帝 在 名 义 上 也 和 其 余的 人 一 样 只 是 一 个 “ 议 员 ” ( S e n a t o r ) 。 皇 帝 在 开 始 时 就 主 张 要 有 某 几 种 并 行 的 犯 罪 审 判 权 ; 这 种 审 判 权 跟 着 对 自 由 共 和国 的 记 忆 日 益 衰 退 而 坚 定 地 扩 大 着 , 它 占 取 了 古 法 院 的 权 力 。 逐 渐 地 , 对 犯 罪 的 惩 罚 权 移 转 给 直 接 由 皇 帝 委 派 的 高 级 官 吏 , “ 元 老 院 ” 的 特 权 移 转 到 “ 帝 国 枢 密 院 ” ( l m p e r i a l P r i v y C o u n c i l ) , “ 帝 国 枢 密 院 ” 也 就 成 了 一 个 最 后 刑 事 上 诉 法 院 。 在 这 些 影 响 下 , 现 代 人 所 熟 悉 的 学 理 在 不 知 不 觉 中 形 成 了 , 即 君 主 是 一 切 “ 公 道 ” 的 泉 源 , 是 一 切 “ 美 德 ” 的 受 托 人 。 帝国 在 这 时 候 已 达 到 完 善 的 地 步 , 这 不 是 不 断 增 长 阿 谀 和 卑 贱的 结 果 , 而 是 帝 国 集 权 的 结 果 。 事 实 上 , 刑 事 公 道 的 理 论 已几 乎 回 到 了 它 开 始 的 出 发 点 。 它 开 始 时 相 信 应 该 由 集 合 体 用其 自 己 的 手 来 报 复 其 自 己 的 不 法 行 为 ; 它 最 后 所 采 的 学 理 则以 为 犯 罪 的 惩 罚 在 一 种 特 殊 方 式 中 属 于 君 主 , 他 是 人 民 的 代表 和 受 托 人 。 这 种 新 的 见 解 和 旧 的 见 解 不 同 , 主 要 在 于 公 道 监 护 所 给 予 君 主 个 人 的 敬 畏 和 庄 严 气 概 。
罗 马 人 对 于 君 主 和 公 道 关 系 的 一 个 较 近 的 见 解 , 当 然 有助 于 使 现 代 社 会 可 以 无 须 经 过 这 一 系 列 的 变 化 , 象 我 在 “ 审问 处 ” 的 历 史 中 已 经 例 证 过 了 的 。 在 居 住 于 西 欧 的 几 乎所有民 族 的 原 始 法 律 中 , 都 有 这 样 一 个 古 代 概 念 的 迹 象 ,即犯罪的 处 罚 属 于 自 由 人 的 议 会 , 在 有 些 国 家 中 — — 据 说 苏 格兰是其 中 之 — — 现 存 司 法 机 关 的 渊 源 可 以 追 溯 到 立 法 机 关的一个“ 委 员 会 ” 。 但 犯 罪 法 普 遍 由 于 两 种 原 因 而 得 到 更 快 的 发 展 , 这两 种 原 因 , 即 罗 马 帝 国 的 回 忆 和 教 会 的 影 响 。 一 方 面 , 凯 撒的 威 严 传 统 由 于 查 理 曼 王 朝 的 暂 时 得 势 而 被 保 全 , 使 君 主 具有 一 个 蛮 族 酋 长 所 决 不 能 获 得 的 一 种 威 望 , 并 使 最 小 的 封 建主 也 有 了 社 会 保 护 人 和 国 家 代 表 人 的 资 格 。 另 一 方 面 , 教 会急 于 控 制 凶 暴 残 忍 行 为 , 对 比 较 严 重 的 恶 行 树 立 惩 罚 的 权 威 ,在 “ 圣 经 ” 的 有 些 章 节 中 , 有 些 语 句 同 意 以 刑 罚 之 权 授 与 民事 高 级 官 吏 。 “ 新 约 全 书 ” 认 为 世 俗 统 治 者 的 存 在 是 为 了 使 作恶 之 人 有 所 恐 惧 ; “ 旧 约 全 书 “ 认 为 “ 流 人 血 者 , 人 亦 流 其血 ” 。 我 以 为 , 毫 无 疑 问 , 对 于 犯 罪 问 题 的 各 种 现 代 观 念 都 根据 “ 黑 暗 时 代 ” 教 会 所 主 张 的 两 种 假 定 — — 第 一 , 每 一 个 封建 统 治 者 在 他 的 地 位 上 得 比 拟 于 圣 · 保 罗所谈 到 的 罗 马 高 级 官 吏 ; 其 次 , 他 所 要 惩 罚 的 罪 行 是 “ 摩 西 十诫 ” ( M o s a i c C o m m a n d m e n t s ) 中 规 定 要 禁 止 的 , 或 是 教 会并 不 保 留 在 其 自 己 审 判 权 之 内 的 。 “ 异 端 ” ( H e r e s y ) ( 被 假 定为 包 括 在 “ 第 一 诫 ” 和 “ 第 二 诫 ” 中 的 ) 、 “ 通 奸 ” 和 “ 伪证 ” 是 宗 教 罪 行 , 教 会 只 允 许 世 俗 权 力 在 发 生 非 常 严 重 案 件时 才 予 以 合 作 以 便 课 以 较 重 的 刑 罚 。 同 时 , 它 教 导 我 们 , 各式 各 样 的 谋 杀 和 强 盗 案 件 之 所 以 都 属 于 民 事 统 治 者 的 管 辖 ,这 不 是 由 于 他 们 地 位 的 偶 然 结 果 , 而 是 由 于 上 帝 的 明 白 命 令 。在 关 于 阿 尔 弗 烈 德 国 王 ( K i n g A l f r e d ) ( 垦 布 尔 , 卷 二 ,第 2 0 9 页 ) 的 著 作 中 , 有 这 样 一 段 , 特 别 明 显 地 说 明 在 他 的时 代 关 于 刑 事 审 判 权 的 起 源 流 行 着 的 各 种 观 念 的 争 论。可 以看 到 , 阿 尔 弗 烈 德 认 为 它 半 属 于 教 会 权 威 , 半 属 于 “ 国 会 议员 ” ( W i t a n ) , 他 明 白 主 张 反 叛 地 主 罪 可 以 不 受 普 通 规 定 的 管辖 , 正 和 罗 马 “ 大 法 ” ( L a w o f M a j e s t a s ) 规 定 反 叛 凯 撒罪 应 不 受 普 通 规 定 管 辖 相 同 。 “ 在 这 以 后 ” , 他 说 , “ 有 许 多 国家 接 受 了 对 基 督 的 信 仰 ( 有 许 多 宗 教 会 议 遍 及 地 球 各 处 , 在英 国 人 中 当 他 们 接 受 了 基 督 信 仰 , 不 论 对 神 圣 主 教 的 , 或 是对 崇 高 的 ‘ 国 会 议 员 ’ 的 ) 之 后 , 也 是 如 此 。 他 们 于 是 规 定 ,由 于 基 督 的 慈 悲 之 心 , 世 俗 的 君 主 们 在 取 得 他 们 的 许 可 后 , 得不 犯 罪 过 而 对 每 一 恶 行 取 得 他 们 所 规 定 的 以 金 钱 表 现 的 · 博脱( b o t ) ; 除 了 反 叛 君 主 外 , 对 于 这 种 情 形 , 他 们 是 不 敢 给 与 任何 慈 悲 的 , 因 为 ‘ 全 能 的 上 帝 ’ 对 于 藐 视 ‘ 他 ’ 的 , 不 为 定罪 , 基 督 对 于 把 ‘ 他 ’ 出 卖 致 死 的 , 也 不 为 定 罪 , ‘ 他 ’ 命 令一 个 君 主 应 该 受 人 爱 戴 , 象 ‘ 他 自 己 ’ 受 人 爱 戴 一 样 。 ”
GREYE:胡安焉《我在北京送快递》
首都北京,约有28.8万名快递员。
他们是物流业的末梢神经,承担着物品抵达顾客前的最后环节。网购时代,每个人都与快递员产生连接,却从未注意过他们的世界。
43岁的胡安焉曾是28.8万人中的一员。2019年前后,他在北京送了两年快递。在效率的催逼下,他的世界被缩小到5公里范围内,像日复一日推石头上山的西西弗斯,还要推得又快又好。
2023年年初,快递员胡安焉成了作家。他出版书籍《我在北京送快递》,引发热议。边缘人第一次被公众关注,人们惊叹于他敏锐的洞察,也被他的故事吸引。
胡安焉不善言辞,这个特质让他在生活中被频频绊倒。社会对他来说,是一套不适应的价值系统,他从未融入其中,却不得不接受它的评判与筛选,结果则是一连串的失败与失望。
这是一个普通人幸与不幸的故事。在黯淡无光的漫长岁月里,他不服输、不沉沦,写作是他唯一的光,他靠此杀出一条血路。01 我在北京送快递
2019年11月25日,这是胡安焉当快递员的最后一天。
手上要送的快递只有寥寥几件,早上装好车后,他甚至跟同事聊了会儿天再出发。时间一下子变得宽裕,“就像穷光蛋一夜暴富”。
过去两年间,他每天要派送一百多个快件,旺季时数量还要翻个两三倍。“双11”后的几天里,他在站点卸完货后,“快件漫到我的腰部,并向门外淌出。”为了完成额度,他每日心急火燎,疲于奔命。
他负责的地盘位于北京通州,方圆约5公里,包括八个住宅小区、两个商场、两栋写字楼和两个创业园区。胡安焉的送快递路线
以往,他早上8点开着三轮车从站点出发,按一个固定的路线派件,这是他摸索出来的最高效的路线,如果不按这个路线走,就完不成当天的工作。
时间的紧迫感总是如影随形。到了早上9点,如果只送出20个快件,他就会焦虑,因为昨天同样时间他已经送出25个;如果已经送出30个,他心里就会宽慰。对效率的苛刻成了本能反应。
与工作量相匹配,他的平均工资是7000元,最多的一个月拿到了一万出头。
得到公司遣散的消息,他不意外,苗头早就出现。
从年初开始,公司就将派件费下调,派一个件的收入从2元降到1.8元,后来又降到1.6元。由于业务被转移到其他快递公司,快件量也日渐减少。
既然时间充裕,他试着把路线反过来走。
他才发现,自己从未见过早上八九点钟的某小区,这个小区他过去总在傍晚抵达,而他已经为这里的居民送了一年多快递。
结束工作后,他坐在自己负责派件的一个商场内,打量店铺里的售货员,看送餐员跑来跑去,他猜测,他们大多数人都是麻木的,脑子里什么也没想——和他一样。
下了班之后,他重新拿起书来读,穆齐尔的《没有个性的人》、乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》,都是大部头。
工作变清闲之后,他变得更温和、更平实,对人更有耐心。而此前在工作量的重压下,他很容易烦躁、满腹牢骚,对人莫名生出怨恨。
胡安焉不擅长与客户沟通。主管要求他们送出快件后,要请客户帮忙打个五星好评,站点还做了统计表贴在墙上,好评数靠后的人在开会时要被揪出来检讨。
对着客户,他开不了这个口。
于是每天下了班,他就在手机里编辑短信,请当天服务过的客户给他打个好评,每天要发二三十条短信。对他来说,文字表达要比面对面口头表达容易得多。
矛盾也时有发生。有一位客户公司搬迁了,却忘记修改收货地址,不知情的胡安焉把快件送到了他的旧地址。第二天,客户气冲冲地打来电话,不提自己留错地址的事,只理直气壮地要求胡安焉取回快件,重新派送到他的新地址。
胡安焉气炸了,但还是忍气吞声,自掏腰包付了8元转寄费。
还有一位客户,态度亲切,语调温柔。她有一件退货需要快递员上门取件,但她晚上7点才下班,而快递平台不接受夜间取件的预约。
在电话里,她向胡安焉提出建议:何不你晚上吃过饭,到我的小区里散散步,顺便把我的退货取了。
但实际上,胡安焉的住处距离她的小区往返需要一小时,谁会这样散步?他想回敬她:不如你吃过晚饭后,出门散步,顺便找个快递站把退货寄了。但这句话终究没有说出口。
同事在快递车里休息胡安焉手机里有个“报复备忘录”,里面记了两个名字,都是让他气得牙痒痒的、蛮不讲理的客户。离职后,他把备忘录删了,一个都没报复。
曾有一位客户批评他说:“顾客就是上帝,难道你不懂吗?”
胡安焉听了一愣,随即为自己辩解道:“可是上帝应该只有一个,我每天却要伺候很多个啊。”02 格格不入
1979年,胡安焉出生在广州,但父母都不是广州人。
爸爸是粤东汕尾人,妈妈出生在上海,他们下乡时在海南省认识,结婚后搬到广州海珠区新港西路。当时新港西路还是一片泥地,后来才铺上沥青。
胡安焉记得,小时候过年都是孤零零的,家里没有亲戚可以串门,他也没有同龄人可以一起玩耍。
爸爸的性格内向孤僻,沉默寡言,跟单位的同事不太往来,“从头到尾,他跟社会都是脱节的。”
(胡安焉的家就在中山大学南校区对面,小时候校园是他的游乐园)
在他看来,父母非常压抑自己的情感,凡事都是退让,对他的要求也很严格。
在那个道德主义流行的年代,父母总是怕他做错事,告诉他这不好那不好,炒股是不好的,投机倒把做生意也是不好的,好像所有私人的价值追求都是负面的。
在这样的家庭教育下,他成了不太会表达自己的人。
中专毕业后,他到夜校读广告设计,进了一家漫画杂志社做美编,工资1500元。
试用期过后转正,当时的劳动合同内容他已记不清,只记得有一种强烈的被冒犯的感觉——合同违反了一堆劳动法,他没有签,但也没有离职。
这些事情触发了他的思考。
以前他觉得,社会肯定是对的,他无非就是怎么打磨自己,让自己能嵌入社会。但这份工作让他发现,原来社会不像他以为的那么正确。
对他产生更大冲击的,是漫画社里的同事们。
同事们都有点艺术家气质,他们听摇滚乐、听金属朋克,身上有文身和耳钉,发型也非常叛逆、有个性。胡安焉崇拜这群朋友。
进漫画社时,胡安焉已经24岁,做过六七份工作了。由于性格内向、温驯,他的工作经历都不太愉快,并且渐渐发现自己与社会格格不入,心里有点惶恐。
但是在漫画社里,他的惶恐得到了安慰、缓和。他看到这样一群充满理想主义的同龄人,他们拒绝把自己塞进社会模板里,主动逃离主流价值,但他们照样过得很积极、很开心。
没多久,这群朋友就辞去工作,到北京追求“流浪与创作”的生活。胡安焉也跟着去了。
为了节省房租,他们租住在燕郊,房租平摊到每个人头上才一百多元。最窘迫的时候,他们买不起菜,于是用面粉和水做成煎饼吃。他们花在画画和创作上的时间很少,多数时候在到处闲逛、聊天。
一天下午,他们在外面游荡,路过一个批发市场时,朋友冷不丁地对胡安焉说了一句:我觉得你更适合写作。
朋友为什么会说那句话,胡安焉没有追问。但他一直记得这句话,后来成了他决定写作的动机之一。
在北京的那段时间,胡安焉还读了很多书,波德莱尔的诗、美国“垮掉的一代”艾伦·金斯堡的诗、凯鲁亚克的小说……
虽然内容都忘得差不多了,但这种多元化的,甚至是有点边缘的价值观,给他造成了一种很深的刺激。慢慢地,他不再觉得,人一定要遵循社会的主流价值去生活。
“前面的工作经历,无论取掉其中哪一段,都不会对今天的我产生影响。但是假如没有在北京的这段经历,今天的我肯定会是一个和现在很不同的人——它塑造了最初的我,给了我一个起点。”
03 不断地逃离
都说性格决定命运。胡安焉觉得,性格确实多次左右了他的人生选择。
从青少年时代开始,他就意识到自己比同龄人更单纯、更迟钝。踏入社会后,这种不适应感越来越强烈。
看着身边的同学蜕变为成人,他不明白他们是怎么做到的,“我怀疑他们早在还是个学生时,身体里就已经藏了一个成人。”而胡安焉的身体里,还是一个学生。
读中专的时候,学校安排整个班级到酒店实习,实际上是做廉价劳工。在宴会厅撤场的时候,他一次多码了几张椅子,身边的同学就围拢过来调侃他,说活是干不完的,如果他干活太卖力,领班就会以同样的标准要求他们。他害怕得罪人,就不再在同学面前卖力干活。
酒店的班次分两种,普通班和两头班。所谓两头班,就是早上上四小时,晚上再上四小时,意味着要花费双倍的通勤时间和费用,大家都不想上。
有位同事因家里有事,用两头班换了胡安焉的普通班。下次应该要用普通班换回他的两头班,这样才公平。
但胡安焉怕显得自己斤斤计较,就跟同事说,不用换回来了。
没想到同事得寸进尺,下次又来找他换班。另一位同事看不过去,帮胡安焉出了头。
他渐渐地意识到,自己是一个不懂得拒绝,经常逆来顺受的人,而大多数人都不会站在他人的角度考虑问题。如果他不想继续吃亏,要不变得和别人一样自私,要不就选择和所有人保持距离——后一种通常容易得多。
后来,他做过十几份零工,人际相处难免出现问题。每次他克服不了,第一反应就是逃离。
他幻想着,换一个环境,如果运气好的话,就会遇到不同的人,他们会公平地、友善地对待他,自觉地把他应得的给他。然而这是一种妄想。
28岁那年,他不想打工了,向父母借了两万元,和朋友合伙开女装店。
店铺开在广西南宁一家商场里的六楼。
楼层大约只有三个篮球场大小,却挤了170个店面。朋友负责在广州的服装市场拿货、发货,他则负责在南宁看店。每天十几个小时地待在暗无天日的商场里,他的社恐变得更严重了。有客人进店,他的反应不是振奋,而是厌烦和恐惧,更不会主动拉客和销售。偶尔与人起争执,他会止不住地发抖、打寒战。
生意场上残酷的竞争,让这座拥挤狭隘的商场暗流涌动。店主们连跟顾客谈价格,都是把数字敲在计算器上,唯恐被隔壁听见。
大家抬头不见低头见,表面客客气气,背地里却互相中伤、搬弄是非。有个店主看不惯胡安焉的店铺生意好,于是到处散播流言,说他卖的衣服都是假货。有一次,胡安焉的合伙人来南宁,还跟另一个店主大打出手。
经营女装店两年后,胡安焉退出了。离开那个充满是非的环境后,他才意识到自己的精神受到了创伤。他变得畏光、怕人、疑神疑鬼。走在路上,他觉得街上的人都在看他、议论他,他朝路人回瞪过去,才发现对方根本没有在看他。
积累了太多负面情绪无法释放,他只想惩罚自己。
2009年8月,没做太多准备,他就骑着爸爸平时买菜的自行车,从广州骑到北京,骑了26天。
这辆车给他带来了很多麻烦,它平均两天要坏三次,后来三分之二的零件都换掉了。自行车的坐垫也不能调,只能在最低的高度,他骑的时候腿是屈着的,导致半月板撕裂,留下了后遗症。
吃饭在路边的小吃店解决,晚上睡在几十块一晚的旅馆里。一路上,他摔过车,掉进山路边挺深的排水沟里;也骑上过高速,时速100多公里的汽车贴在身边呼啸而过。
他没去任何名胜景点,沿途经过的都是小县城和乡镇。他在陌生的城市里东张西望,听不同的方言,看不同的风俗,这给了他很大的精神满足。
骑行结束后,他回到广州,把自己困在家里大量地阅读。
这一年他30岁。也就是这时,他开始写作。
04 生活的惯性
写作与打工,在胡安焉的生活里,是两种无法相容的状态。
“当我去工作的时候,我就无法写作。工作极大地占用我的时间,同时还透支我的情绪,令我在下班后只想放松和减压,而无力思考其他……当我要写作的时候,我就辞去工作,专心地在家写。”
他也尝试过靠写作养活自己。但把小说投到各家杂志社,总是石沉大海,偶尔发表一篇,也只有千字几十的稿费。逐渐见底的存款,让他放弃了这个想法。
33岁那年,他搬到大理找工作。
大理优美的自然环境以及好天气治愈了他,那段日子他过得自由自在。他到一家商场做保安,新同事不知道他的底细、他的过去,他因此可以卸下心理负担,随性地生活,“就像把生活格式化了一遍。”
(胡安焉在大理还摆过一阵子地摊,卖文具)
许多人都追求安稳的生活,但安稳对胡安焉来说没有太大吸引力。同样的工作、同样的生活环境,会让他变得越来越迟钝,感知会退化,甚至会有窒息的感觉。他渴望新鲜感,渴望对生活一直保持敏锐的感知力。
这种流浪的底气也源于他的无欲无求。
父母在广州有房,有退休金,不需要他养老。他自己物欲也很低,平时不抽烟不买名牌,剪头发去路边5元的摊子,出行可以骑车就不坐车,日常开支很低。
出门在外,他租的都是小单间,一张床一张桌子,带个厕所就够了。
他认为,很多人在一个地方扎根,是因为他们工作上的积累、人际关系的积累都在这里,离开了就要从零开始。而他本身没有任何积累,没车没房,自然也就没有牵挂。
打工和写作交替的生活模式,成了一种惯性。多年里,他每次打工存到一点钱,就辞职写作;写作写不下去了,就又出门打工。
2017年,他到广东顺德一家物流园,从事夜间分拣工作。做这份工作,首先是因为不用面试,谁来了都能做。其次,每个月的工资有接近五千,比他之前的工作都要高一点。
所谓夜间分拣,就是把各地收来的货物从货车上卸下,按照目的地分拣、打包,再重新装车。
他们晚上7点上班,早上7点下班,连续工作12个小时。被送到这里分拣的,很多是大件的货物,重的高达五六十斤。很多人吃不了这个苦,做不长久。胡安焉做了10个月,掉了快20斤体重。
这些工作的细节,后来被胡安焉写进文章里。
到了2020年4月,他从快递公司离职后没多久,新冠疫情就爆发了。疫情形势严峻,快递员不让进小区,物流业也受到很大影响,他就没有去找工作。当时他有一定的存款,就想待在家里重启写作,写小说。
写小说前,他想写点随笔作为热身。他回忆起那份夜间分拣的工作,就花了一个下午写下来。
在这篇随笔里,他细致地描写了日夜颠倒的作息,对身体和精神造成的折磨:
“每次到了凌晨四五点,我都困得不行,只要让我躺下,五秒内就可以睡着;即使不躺下,我也已经摇摇欲坠,经常眼前一黑就要失去知觉,可是随即又惊醒过来。”
他随文附上一张照片——那是他的手,拇指的骨头由于长期从事重体力劳动,已有些变形,其他手指缠有胶布,手上布满了汗水和灰尘凝结而成的灰色斑点。
文章一发出来,立刻被大量转发、阅读。很多人在留言里表达自己的惊讶,他们感到匪夷所思,原来社会上还有这样的工作。胡安焉这才发现,“这部分人的生活内容,大多数人是一无所知的。”
做体力劳动不要求学历。他的同行里极少有文字表达能力的,很多人小学都没读完,除了自己的名字外写不了几个字。在大众层面,他们是不被留意到的群体,也没有能力去表达、去发声。
一下子涌来的关注,让胡安焉感觉像中奖了一样。
随后,稿约、文章发表的机会、出版的机会都纷至沓来,他的生活有了翻天覆地的变化。他觉得自己是幸运的。虽然还没因此赚到很多钱,但反正他生活也很俭朴,他已经感到满足。
现在,他和妻子搬到成都生活,日子过得安静、平和。
他们在成都三环租了一个60平米的房子,租金才1800,家里有快1000本书,都堆在纸箱子里。成都物价很低,中午他买菜做饭,吃完就步行10分钟到附近的图书馆,一整个下午都花在里面,读书、写东西。晚上则看看书,看看电影。
但成都不是终点,他和妻子计划以后搬到大理。生活总是在变换。
05 用写作超越自己
刚开始写作时,胡安焉对写作的看法仍是功利的。
他心里想,我30岁了,如果能在写作中获得一些成绩,确立我不是一事无成的人,我就不会惶恐于这辈子是白过的。如今想来,他觉得当年的自己太稚嫩了。
“今天我认为这完全就是放屁,根本就不成立。一个人,最重要的是他本质是什么,而不是他创造了什么,或者得到了什么。当然创造什么也很重要,但这还是建立在你本质是什么的基础上,它只是你本质的一种投射。”过了不惑之年,胡安焉有了更稳固的价值观,不会再被外界的评价影响。
但有些东西始终没有变,比如他的诚实与自省。
《我在北京送快递》出版后,收到很多好评,有读者夸赞是“真诚而克制的写作”。胡安焉自己重看,觉得文字仍未达到自己的标准,不少部分有自我维护的成分在里面。这段时间,不少记者找过来要采访,他没有经验。有记者问他存款多少,他也和盘托出。后来才意识到,这是他的隐私,不回答也可以。
他认为,一个人的生活与写作是离得很近的。你如何感知世界,如何处理生活,都会体现在你的语言里。“对待生活不能做到真诚,他的生命感受必然是虚饰和雷同的。但写作必须刺穿这层虚饰,把真实的自己袒露出来。这只是第一步,但也是必不可少的一步。”
通过写作,他也不断地回溯自己过去的经历,试图去理解,他人生中的各种际遇,到底以何种方式影响了他,让他成为了今天的自己。
2008年,他在南宁经营女装店的时候,曾经遇到一个“疯女人”。
女人穿着奇怪的衣服,搭配一只大得过分的包包。“她表情紧张,甚至有些害怕,脚步迟迟疑疑,但又竭力保持镇静。”胡安焉不认识她,只知道她精神有点问题。
那天,女人走进他的店内,挑选了一条短裤,她没有走进试衣间,而是撩起短裙,直接套在自己的腿上。照了照镜子后,她没有脱下短裤,而是又套了第二条短裤在身上,接着是第三条。
胡安焉看着眼前的女人,以及她身上挂着的三条短裤,突然有点难过,“从她的脸上,我清清楚楚地看到了自己,她就是另一个我——惊慌,恐惧,孤独,委屈。”
多年后,他把这个“疯女人”写进自己的小说。
这个萍水相逢的人,为何会给他留下如此深刻的印记,他没有答案,这毕竟不是一道数学题。这种模模糊糊的感觉,他只能通过小说去表达。
年轻时,他初读塞林格的《麦田上的守望者》,从中获得了很多感动。他希望读者读了他的小说,也能体会到这种隐晦的、用言语说不出的滋味及感受。
在小说的创作上,胡安焉野心不小。
能有一本拿出来不脸红的,复杂性和丰富性都达到一定水平的代表作,是他当下的创作目标。但他明白,如果没有时间上的积淀,以及不断的自我进步,这是不可能实现的。
“就像卡夫卡说的,唯一的美德是耐心。在写作上唯一需要的就是耐心。”
现在,胡安焉没有固定的经济来源,靠偶尔到账的稿费度日。以后是否会拮据到需要去打工,甚至是做回快递员,重新过上那种西西弗斯推石头上山的日子,他自己也不确定。
这个问题他也问过自己,如果西西弗斯没有石头,会怎样?
如果说推石头上山,是一种机械的、徒劳的盲目;但没有石头,似乎又会失去目标感,陷入虚无之中。他以前的生活,好像只在这两种状态中摇摆。
如今,他不再认为人生只有这两种可能。
生活应该有更高的意义。“你可以把一生都投入到对这两种状态的克服之中,最后超越它。”王 鑫,张慧琴,孙昌璞:用科学精神抵御学术滑向灰色地带
科技创新是推动人类社会进步的关键动力,在我国社会经济发展中扮演着日益重要的作用。而科学精神则是激励科技创新产生价值的行动规范,是一切科学活动的思想源泉,其求真、诚信、创新、怀疑、宽容等精神内核是科技创新健康发展的基本保证。
改革开放以来,我国科技创新能力持续加强,科技创新水平显著提高,实质的科技创新成果也日渐增长。但在取得这些科技进步的同时,也出现了一些有违科学精神的现象。一些人受各种利益驱使,迅速滑向科研诚信的灰色地带,甚至走向学术不端,挑战科技界的学术底限(见图1)。学术不端行为是显而易见、容易判断的违规行为,而游走于学术不端和诚信科研之间的灰色地带的行为却贻害更深,比如说盲目追逐研究热点、挑选研究数据、过度解读研究结果等行为,长此以往它们对科技创新会产生严重危害。这些屡禁不止的行为主要源于不断滋生的趋利之风,同时也有科学创新自身属性带来的问题。科技创新本质上是创造前所未有的新东西,短期内很难评判其真正的价值。对于其价值的评价和评估难以完全客观,这或许是科技创新中学术灰色地带存在的内在因素。
图 1 处于诚信科研和学术不端之间的灰色地带
为了杜绝学术不端行为,我国相关部门和机构相继出台了一系列文件和规定,科技管理部门也三令五申,但实际上这些举措起不到令行则止的作用。与此同时,科学家群体也不断发出呼吁,希望科学研究要回归学术本源,用科学精神对科研不端和游走于灰色地带的行为进行约束并坚决说“不”。
一、什么是科学研究的灰色地带?
“科学研究的灰色地带”是介于诚信科研(responsible conduct of research)和学术不端(Research Misconduct)①[1]之间灰色地带的科研行为,也被称为“有问题的科研行为”(Questionable Research Practices)。这类行为虽然看上去可能并不严重,但它们违背了学术界传统价值观,对科学研究可能造成损害[2]。
科学研究的灰色地带涉及研究数据的规范性、完整性、可靠性,研究方法的科学性和逻辑性,以及对待科研人员的公正性和恰当性等方面[2]。有研究者具体列举了34种处于科研诚信灰色地带的行为[1],我们在此基础上将其归纳为四大类问题(见表1),即:在选题方面可能存在追逐流行或有利可图的题目、“过份地钻薄木板”等情况;在确定研究目的时可能存在违背伦理原则、利益相关关系不透明等情况;在研究方法上可能存在研究材料重复使用、无目的收集数据和挑选数据等情况;在论证过程中缺乏批判思维、过度解读结果或其影响力以及原创性不足等问题也值得关注。
表 1 34种有问题的科研行为[1]
资料来源:作者根据Ravn和Sørensen(2021)论文归纳整理。
需要注意的是,一些理论和实验密切联系的研究存在着操纵数据以迎合理论的不良现象。这种粗暴地解释实验结果的行为,大大降低了理论内在的严谨性和实验求真的严肃性。最近,马约朗纳粒子研究领域的大量撤稿事件(见表2)正是这方面典型的例证,后文将详细阐述。
表 2 马约朗纳粒子研究领域的撤稿情况
学术界应该关注科学研究灰色地带问题。通常,对于学术不端行为(如伪造、篡改和剽窃),学术界已有广泛的共识和明确的定义,然而,在诚信科研和学术不端之间存在的一些灰色地带行为,它们既不像诚信科研那样“光明磊落”,也不像学术不端行为那样明确定义。由于对这些行为存在认知上的模糊,其种类和数量均要高于明确定义的学术不端行为。法内里.D(Fanelli D)的一项荟萃分析(meta-analysis)[3]表明,承认自己或同事有灰色地带科研行为的人员比例(分别为34%和72%),要高于承认自己或同事有学术不端行为的人员比例(分别为2%和14%)。
国内外科学界事实上很早就注意到了这类科研灰色地带的研究。1958年,美国公共舆论研究学会的学术论文集中首次提到了有问题的科研行为,即不要为了证明一些预先确定的结果而进行有问题的科学研究[4]。我国也有很多科学家注意到了类似科研行为的危害。庆存瑞分析了病态科学(主观期望、一厢情愿的科学)产生的根源[5],认为科学研究上存在过于急于求成和存在投机心理,以及科学共同体没有充分发挥同行评议的作用。郝柏林[6]提醒学术界在揭露伪科学的同时还要警惕赝科学(即基于一定的事实,辅以各种联想和推论,却没有用现代科学方法证实或证伪的科学研究)的危害。他提出了赝科学的一些特点:一是某些在自己领域内有建树的科学家在其他领域搞赝科学具有迷惑性;二是从事赝科学的人士往往热衷于借助媒体宣传扩大影响而不真正下功夫在理论和实验上证明自己的主张;三是从事赝科学的人士热衷于提出新名词和新学科,却不花精力将新学科发展为真正的科学;四是从事赝科学的人士更容易获得支持。显而易见,病态科学和赝科学都处于科研灰色地带,这些研究往往会损害公众和政府对于科学的信任。
二、历史上灰色地带“科学研究”的案例
在众多处于灰色地带的科学研究中,有一些经典案例。
1919年5月29日,英国科学家爱丁顿率领的日食观测队,通过对日全食时太阳周围恒星位置的观测,验证了爱因斯坦广义相对论。需要注意的是,爱丁顿当时测得的三组数据中,有两组数据支持爱因斯坦理论,而另一组数据则符合牛顿理论[7]。但爱丁顿认为那一组数据出现了系统误差,并未采用,也没有令人信服地解释产生误差的原因。几年后美国天文学家坎贝尔评论到“这项研究的逻辑似乎并不完全清晰”。
另一个经典案例是密立根油滴实验。罗伯特·安德鲁·密立根(Robert Andrews Millikan)进行了175次测量基本电荷值的油滴实验,只公布了58次观测数据。有人认为他故意选取数据,但大卫·古斯丁(David Goodstein)并不这么认为[8]。古斯丁通过考证原始数据材料发现,密立根舍弃的那些是他认为不符合研究标准、且没有经历完整实验流程的油滴数据(例如油滴体积过大或者过小等),保留了经历完整实验过程的油滴数据,并全部公布了这些数据。在后人重复密立根的一系列实验中,却存在一个有趣的现象:在密立根之后的所有测量数据随着时间慢慢增长,最终稳定到一个数值。费曼在1974年的演讲中解释道:“当获得比密立根的数值更高的结果时,科学家们会拼命寻找错误原因;相反地,当获得与密立根相仿的结果时,便不会那么用心去检讨”。费曼称之为“草包族科学”(Cargo cult science)。这类类似科学的研究,遗漏了“科学的品德,也就是进行科学思考时必须遵守的诚实原则”。这种实验研究是在理论预设结果的“导向”下开展的,很显然是处于灰色地带的研究。当然,我们尚不能判断出密立根是否有意造假,因为我们不知道他是否知晓此前人们对电荷电量理论的推断。
在我国科学发展历史上,有些科学家因为各种原因忽视了理论计算的适用条件和与实际误差之间的关系,在某些科学问题上提出了有问题的结论[9]。这类研究逐渐损害了科学共同体内部以及公众和政府中对科学研究声誉的认可。
三、警惕灰色地带的科研行为
1. 科学研究不是建造“空中楼阁”,警惕科学研究中的明星与“爆炸性成果”
科学史告诉我们,科学研究不是一下子爆发出明星式的成果,而是通过长期奋斗逐步取得的。例如,开普勒三定律的提出是基于第谷终身积累的天文观测数据,屠呦呦发现青蒿素则源自阅读、整理数百本古代药物书籍和数百次实验。这些默默无闻、看似枯燥乏味却至关重要的基础工作需要极大耐心、大量时间和精力以及对科学研究的高度热情。虽然最终成果会被广泛认知,但其背后科研人员长期坚持不懈地工作却常常不为学术界外的人士所知。
与之形成鲜明对比的是,处于灰色地带的科学研究往往被媒体大力宣传,有明星式的人物和所谓爆发出来的“成果”。例如,1989年有关冷聚变的研究掀起了轩然大波[5],当时美国犹他大学的科学家斯坦利·庞斯(Stanley Pons)和英国南安普顿大学的马丁·弗莱西曼(Martin Fleischmann)声称“发现”了室温下的氘-氘聚变反应,并且在论文投稿之前,美国犹他大学便召开新闻发布会进行宣传。该论文在未通过同行评议的情况下,犹他州州长就公开表示要提供500万美元资助。随后,全球众多科学家重复了这项实验,但冷聚变现象却始终没有得到确切的证据证实。值得注意的是,两位科学家拒绝公布实验细节和分享数据,并将客观可重复性问题变成一个主观的信仰问题。冷聚变事件游走于学术不端渐现的灰色地带,导致许多科学家花费时间、精力及资源去验证其真伪而造成浪费。
类似事件在我国也曾发生。2016年,一位科学工作者的基因编辑论文被撤回,尽管最终没有证实其有主观造假行为。然而,从该论文发表时媒体大肆宣传到后来科学界对其结果提出质疑所引起的争议,再到全球科学家验证实验未能证明该论文结论,这个事件以论文撤搞而暂时平息。在论文成果还没有最终定论之前(尽管论文通过同行评议发表在高水平期刊上),媒体的大肆宣传、地方政府随之而来的资金和资源的投入,使得这一事件像冷聚变事件一样轰动但充满争议。相比之下,在实际应用中取得巨大成功的CRISPR(Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)基因编辑工具,始于1987年日本科学家的偶然发现,此后经过一批科学家二三十年默默无闻的深入研究,科学家们才真正明确了CRISPR的生物学机理并揭示了其巨大应用价值。CRISPR持久受欢迎源自其被广泛认可的科学价值,而非媒体的推波助澜。
在抵制学术灰色地带的事件中,同行评议通常发挥着维护科学客观性和严谨性的作用。然而,并非所有事件中同行评议都能及时发挥作用。此外,需要注意的是,由于各种因素的影响,同行评议可能存在滞后性。正如庆存瑞教授在对病态科学进行评价时所强调的那样,病态科学与同行评议未能充分发挥作用有一定关系。这也引起了人们对于当前科研中同行评议制度是否已经失效的争论[10]。
2. 自由探索不是“百科全书”式的研究,警惕原创水平不高的“伪自由探索”研究
蒂尼·拉文(Tine Ravn)和麦兹·索伦森(Mads Søensen)认为,“无原创性”(unoriginality)的科学研究也处于灰色地带。在他们的文章中,一位物理学家表示“大家只是简单地制造过多且相似的论文,这些研究只是现有研究的装饰品,几乎没有原创性贡献。”这种基于前人研究而进行无实际价值或者盲目探索的“研究”结果,可能会在同行评议后发表在某些期刊上,并且作者可以将其研究冠以“自由探索”的名号。然而,这种做法异化了自由探索的概念,成为了“伪自由探索”,既不是研究自由,也不是科学探索。“伪自由探索”的另一种表现形式是开展“百科全书”式的科研,即在没有资源约束条件下,研究团队从事没有明确科学目标、肆意扩张的大型“研究”,研究方向就是整个热点领域,覆盖广却没有特色。
1945年,范内瓦·布什(Vannevar Bush)在《科学——无尽的前沿》报告中传达了一种理念:好奇心驱动的科学研究必须能够在未来某个时候以某种方式对科学发展和技术应用产生影响。然而,在当前全球竞争环境下,麻省理工学院前校长雷欧·拉斐尔·莱夫(Leo Rafael Reif)认为,美国不能仅仅依赖这种理念下的基础研究发挥作用,还需要依靠面向需求的基础研究,有针对性地取得科学突破[11]。莱夫认为,布什所说的基础研究就像是一个小而美丽的自然花园(wild garden),但国家需要的科学更像是农场(farm),需要一群人共同凝练研究方向以满足国家乃至人类的需求。实际上,真正的好奇心驱动、自由探索式的科学研究只占基础研究很小的一部分,其目的是为未来培育和创造更多的可能性。对于自由探索研究的投入应该是有限的,对其较大的投入是需要深思熟虑的,其关键是严格选择最合适的人选。冠以“自由探索”的“伪自由探索”虽然侵占的资源可能不大,但其坏处不止于产出的价值微薄,它还会带坏风气,败坏科学作风,其潜在的破坏性不可估量。
3. 灰色地带的科学研究浪费了时间和资源,造成科技创新体系无意义空转
科学研究应是严谨和富有逻辑的。科学研究成果不仅能真实地展示客观世界、揭示其运行规律,更重要的是能真正地应用于现实,推动人类文明和生产力进步。然而,处于灰色地带的科学研究可信度低,这类研究越多就越损害科学研究的公信力。可能产生的后果便是,科学共同体互相间信任度降低,造成理论和实验脱节。进一步地,会使科学共同体外部(政府、企业等资助机构)对科学共同体的信任度降低,造成研究端与应用端的脱节。
坚持科学研究的严谨性和逻辑性是“有代价”的,需要花费很多的时间、资源和精力来保证。因而,取得有价值的科研成果,需要科学工作者的长期奋斗。游走于科学研究灰色地带的行为当然是一种投机取巧,当有人靠着这种行为获得了事业上所谓的“进步”,受损害的是那些扎扎实实、实事求是的科研工作者对于科研体系乃至对我们社会的信心。科学共同体整体乃至这个社会信任度的降低及科研工作者个体信心的丧失,毫无疑问造成整个科技创新体系的低效。
4. 灰色地带的科学研究行为的实质是缺少科学严谨性和实事求是的精神
缺乏逻辑严谨性和实事求是的精神,是科学研究滑入灰色地带的根本原因。历史经验告诉我们,只有坚持科学的严谨性和发扬实事求是的科学精神,科学才能真正的进步。原子弹研发过程中的“九次计算”是体现科学严谨性的典型案例。1960年,在验证苏联专家提供的原子弹教学模型一个关键参数时,第一次计算耗时20天,但计算结果与苏联专家给出的结果不符。为了获得准确的结果,邓稼先带领九院的科学家们开展了艰苦的计算。三个月内,科学家们三班倒工作,进行了3次计算,结果仍然与苏联专家的不一致。于是科学家们又进行了5次计算。直到1961年,周光召用“最大功原理”证明了苏联专家的参数有误,验证了我国科学家“九次计算”结果的准确性。如果当时科学家们不坚持科学的严谨性,简单地认为苏联专家的参数是正确的,将极大影响原子弹的研发。
四、从灰色地带到学术不端的典型案例:天使粒子如何妖魔化四
如果实验科学家不能充分理解科学理论和实验之间的相互关系,他们可能会盲目地相信“理论”,并可能导致科学研究滑向学术灰色地带甚至堕入学术不端。
在物理学中,当实验物理学家知道了“理论”的预言结果,在某些情况下,他们处理实验数据时会产生主观倾向,导致实验以一种不那么令人信服的方式“验证”了理论。1956年,李政道、杨振宁发现宇称不守恒并建立中微子二分量理论,预言μ子到正负电子衰变的实验分支比是3/4。此前相关实验发现的分支比在一定范围内几乎是随机的。此后10年,不同研究组的多次实验测量结果显示分支比稳定到3/4,而每一次实验的误差都落在前一个实验的误差范围内。这个事例告诉大家,单次实验观察不一定能完全独立于理论去无偏地验证理论预言,仅凭一次和少数几次实验检验理论的正确性是不可靠的,只有多次重复实验才能逼近理论描述的“客观实在”。
此外,实验物理学家有时相信的“理论”预言,有可能只是某种简化模型和低阶近似的结果,而事实上模型和近似成立的条件可能十分苛刻,最近关于Majorana零模实验的激烈争论和批量撤稿(见表2)正是这一现象的典型案例。Majorana零模系统被认为可以应用于超导拓扑量子计算机中,因此成为研究热点。具体来说,理论上超导-纳米线(拓扑绝缘体-超导)紧邻复合系统一定会约化到Kitaev模型,从而具有Majorana零模,使其拥有拓扑保护的潜力。然而,在实验采用的强场(或强表面能隙)条件下,这些系统并不能约化到理想Kitaev模型。这时即使观察到的强度为2e2/h的零偏压信号,也不能代表Majorana零模的出现。最近,我们通过更加精确的分析和严格的计算表明[12],在过强或者过弱的磁场条件下,系统不会出现零偏压峰;事实上出现强度为2e2/h的零偏压峰只是Majorana零模的必要但非充分条件,不能用于判断体系是否是Majorana零模。然而,实验家为了迎合有效模型理论预言,甚至在误差范围外有取向地处理数据,“得到”了与理论相符合的错误结论。这也就是最近Majorana实验大量文章被撤稿的原因。
上述问题出现的深层次原因在于一些人不能正确地理解和处理理论与实验之间的关系,他们有意无意地忽略理论预言成立的条件,将理想模型当实际系统来处理。同时,他们不能客观地分析和使用实验数据,而是为了迎合严格的或不严格的“理论”,人为地处理实验数据。为了拟合已有的理论,置反证的实验数据于不顾。这些做法很有可能导致科学研究滑向灰色地带甚至堕入学术不端。正如本文作者之一孙昌璞在《物理学报》上发表文章[13]所说:“一个好的理论-实验的结合工作,必须是双盲的、背靠背的,否则的话就会出现互相人为拟合趋同的科学诚信问题”。
五、形成科学精神价值体系,拒绝学术灰色化
由于科学本身的内在规律,科技创新的灰色地带问题的发现和判断有根本性的困难,有时外人很难区分科技成果是初创时的不完美,还是学术研究或价值取向的灰色地带。一旦不加区分,“错杀一千也不放过一个”就会扼杀正在成长的创新。创新的东西不仅和传统的有外在的不一样,而且其内在价值的评价体系也有异于传统。此时,科学精神就变得至关重要。正如社会学所述,在良序社会中,除了法律法规约束外,还需要道德价值观来约束那些法力不逮的地方。同样地,对于科学创新中出现的问题而言,仅靠有形的、刚性的科学规则规范是不够的,还需要无形的、内化于心的科学精神。我们充分相信一个拥有科学精神的学者,是绝不会在人所不知的地方放松自己对科学严谨性的追求。
当前,全球科技发展和科技竞争进入了新的阶段。与其他科技强国一样,我国面临着一些人类发展的共同难题;同时随着科技创新水平逐渐接近世界前沿,我国又面临着越来越多的“无人区”探索;在越来越大的外部竞争压力下,我国必须在很多领域主动、自主地探索,开展自主可控的研究[14]。在这三重因素的影响下,我国正在不断拓展和深入“无人区”的探索,并遇到了很多在过去追赶状态中没有遇到过的新问题。
在以追赶为主的科学发展态势下,多数科学研究的方向及其价值判断标准是确定的,我们可以跟踪国外的科学研究进展,在他人已有的工作基础上做一些创新,完全开放的同行评议也能很好地发挥作用。而在当前深入“无人区”探索的新阶段,科学研究的方向及其价值判断标准不像以往那么明确。传统的同行评议可能难以发挥应有作用(同行评议倾向于支持已有的研究方向),甚至会扼杀创新。同时,新的研究价值判断方法尚未建立起来。旧有价值判断准则的部分失效和新的价值判断准则的暂时缺位,容易导致学术不端或者学术灰色地带的行为发生。同时我们也要看到,科研竞争的不断加剧在客观上会导致学术不端及游走于学术灰色地带的行为发生[15]。因此,当我国科技创新进入新阶段,“无人区”探索逐渐拓展和深入时,特别需要注重对基础研究价值判断的革新。基础研究的有用性和基础性在短期内很难有一个明确的判断标准,所以需要依靠具有科学家精神(即科学精神和爱国主义)的价值判断。
科学研究需要实事求是的精神。参与“两弹一星”的老一辈科学家以自己的实际行动阐释了严谨、实事求是的科学态度,这种科学态度应该始终坚持,并成为我国新时期科技创新文化的重要组成部分。于敏先生在巨大的政治压力下坚持科学真理,实事求是,充分体现了科学家精神。“文革”期间,实验工作队设计的一个小型化型号在一个关键动作上出了毛病,军事管制委员会的领导蓄意要把这次技术问题变为政治问题,于敏坚决拒绝按他们的意图说话:“如果我说假话,我现在可以轻松过关,但我经受不了历史和真理的考验。我宁愿现在挨整,决不说对不起历史的话,不说违背真理的话。”胡思得院士回忆到“于敏同志这种大义凛然的态度,在当时的政治环境下,确实是难能可贵,对我们是极大的教育和鼓舞,也免使科研工作走入歧途,我从此把于敏当作自己处世立业的学习榜样。”
科学研究的实事求是精神还体现在以科研诚信规范正确处理研究中的错误。著名理论物理学家、“两弹一星”元勋彭桓武先生生前在正式科学刊物上发表的最后一份文字[16]便是他自己论文的一封更正信。刘寄星研究员曾在一次访问[17]中提到:“这封信足以反映彭先生一生严谨求实的科学态度”。2019年,中共中央办公厅、国务院办公厅印发《关于进一步弘扬科学家精神 加强作风和学风建设的意见》,对弘扬科学家精神、加强作风和学风建设做出了全面系统部署。孙昌璞等10位科学家共同向广大科技工作者发出了“弘扬科学家精神,树立良好作风学风”倡议书[18],呼吁:自觉践行新时代科学家精神;坚守科研诚信底线和科研伦理规范;反对浮夸浮躁、急功近利;加强科研数据及成果管理;反对科研领域“圈子”文化;积极履行社会责任。他们呼吁:更要持续加强科研诚信建设、深入践行良好作风学风,呼吁要遵照科研诚信要求,负责任地开展科研活动,抵制学术不端和处于灰色地带的有问题的科研行为。
基础科学研究应该面向国家重大需求与挑战,围绕社会、经济和产业发展中的共性问题,凝练关键科学问题并组织开展研究。绝不能在“自由探索”口号的庇护下,开展覆盖面广却不深刻的“百科全书”式的科学研究。不能不顾资源约束条件,做一些“豪华”的科学研究。不能一味追逐热点,为了一些利益(例如获得资助等)做一些所谓的“高显示度”的工作。我们需要科学家们能够在一个方向上深耕,“坐稳冷板凳”(或者说有战略定力),对基础理论形成深刻的理解,并将其运用到实际领域中去。
① 学术不端行为主要指伪造(falsification)、篡改 (fabrication)、剽窃(plagiarism)。
参考文献
[1] Ravn T, Sørensen M. Exploring the Gray Area: Similarities and Differences in Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) Across Main Areas of Research. Science and Engineering Ethics 27, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00310-z [2] Institute of Medicine. Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process: Volume I. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.1992. https://doi.org/10.17226/1864. [3] Fanelli D. How many scientists fabricate and falsify research? A systematic review and meta-analysis of survey data. PloS one, 2009, 4(5): e5738. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005738. [4] Riley J. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Conference on Public Opinion Research. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 1958, 22(2): 169-216. [5] 庆承瑞. 病态科学, 冷聚变及其它. 自然辩证法研究, 1991(1): 47-53. DOI: 10.19484/j.cnki.1000-8934.1991.01.009. [6] 郝柏林. 伪科学与赝科学. 科学, 2002, 54(2): 40+2. [7] 迈克尔·斯特雷文斯. 知识机器. 北京: 中信出版社, 2022: 31-33. [8] Goodstein D. In Defense of Robert Andrews Millikan. American Scientist, 2001, 89(1): 54-60. DOI: 10.1511/2001.14.724. [9] 吴明喻. 科技政策研究二十年——吴明瑜口述自传. 湖南: 湖南教育出版社, 2015: 73. [10] Mastroianni A. The rise and fall of peer review. https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review [2023-2-27]. [11] Reif R. How to Turn Vannevar Bush’s “Wild Garden” Into a Farm that Cultivates Solutions to Human Needs. Issues in Science and Technology. https://issues.org/vannevar-bush-wild-garden-science-policy-reif/ [2023-2-27]. [12] Qiao, Li, Sun. Do Majorana zero modes emerge in the hybrid nanowire under a strong magnetic field?arXiv: 2112.13568 PRB. [13] 孙昌璞. 当代理论物理发展趋势之我见 —杨振宁学术思想启发的若干思考. 物理学报, 2022, 71(1): 7-16. DOI: 10.7498/aps.71.20212307. [14] 刘仓理. 如何确保国防科技领域科技链人才链安全. https://www.workercn.cn/c/2022-06-08/6972725.shtml
[2023-2-27].[15] 丹尼尔·格林伯格. 纯科学的政治. 上海: 上海科学技术出版社, 2020: V [16] 彭桓武. 来信. 科学, 2007, 59(1): 52. [17] 刘寄星. 严谨求实的物理学大师. https://www.cas.cn/zt/jzt/yszt/ldyxphw/mtbd/200703/t20070306_2671515.shtml [2023-2-27]. [18] 中国科学报. 10院士专家发起“弘扬科学家精神、树立良好作风学风”倡议 https://www.nsfc.gov.cn/csc/20340/20289/44932/index.html [2023-2-27] 金庸:中国最大的历史教训是闭关锁国和思想控制[节]
本文为金庸1994年10月3日至29日北京大学访问期间的演讲。
中国文明不断消长
大家希望听我讲小说,其实写小说并没有什么学问,大家喜欢看也就过去了。我对历史倒是有点兴趣。今天我想简单地讲一个问题,就是中华民族如此长期地、不断地发展壮大,到底有何道理,有哪些规律?这几年我常在英国牛津大学,对英国文学、英国历史和中国历史很有兴趣。大家都知道,英国对二十世纪影响最大的一位历史学家名叫汤因比,他写了一部很长很长的《历史研究》。他在这部书中分析了很多世界上的文明,说明世界上的很多文明都在历史进程中衰退或消亡了,直到现在仍真正兴旺发达的文明只有两个,一个是西方的欧美文明,一个是东方的中国文明。
而中国文明历史悠久且连续不断,则又是世界唯一的。虽然古代有的文明历史比中国早,有的文明范围比中国大,如巴比伦的文明、埃及的文明、希腊罗马的文明,但这些文明却因遇到外力的打击,或者自己腐化而逐渐衰退、消亡了。
他说:一种文明总会遇到外来的挑战,如果该文明能很好地应付这个挑战,就能继续发展;如果不能很好地应付挑战,就会衰退,甚至消亡。这里也有多种情况:一种是遇到强大外族的打击,整个民族被杀光杀尽,消灭了;一种是民族内部长期僵化,没有改革,没有进化,象活的木乃伊,结果衰落了;有的则因自己的腐化而垮台;还有一种就是分裂,国家内战不休。
我们的国歌中有一句:“中华民族到了最危险的时候”,这句话是在抗战前后写的,它表示了一种忧患意识。那时候我国遭受外族敌人的侵略,处境确实非常危险。在座的各位同学年纪轻,不知道,你们的爸爸妈妈就知道了。我同在座的雷洁琼大姐、周南社长等都经历过这段艰难而危险的时刻。就我看来,我国历史上遭受外族侵略的危险时期有七个:第一是西周末年到春秋战国时期东西南北受到的外族进攻;第二是秦汉时期匈奴的进攻,时间长达四百年之久;第三是魏晋时鲜卑等五胡的进犯,时间也有四百年;第四是隋唐时期突厥和吐蕃的侵犯,时间约三百年;第五是五代、南北宋时期契丹、女真及西夏的侵犯,时间大概也是四百年;第六是元、明、清时期蒙古、满族的侵犯;第七是近代西方帝国主义和日本帝国主义的侵略。
中国历史发展规律
纵观中国历史,大概可以看到这样一个规律,我们的民族先是统一强盛,后来慢慢腐化,组织力量衰退。此时如果出现一些改革,那么就会中兴。如果改革失败了,或者自己腐化了,那么外族敌人就会入侵。在外族入侵的时候,我们民族有个很特殊的现象,就是外族的入侵常常是我们民族的转机。以上所讲的我们民族七次大的危机,又都是七次大的转机。历史上常常是外族人来了之后,我们华夏民族就跟它同化、融合,一旦同化、融合了,我们华夏民族就壮大起来,统一起来。
之后可能又腐化了,衰退了,或者分裂了,外族人来了,我们民族再融合,又壮大,如此循环往复。其他国家民族遇到外族入侵,要么打赢,要是打不赢,这个国家或民族就会垮台。我们中华民族遇到外族入侵时,常常能把外族打退,打不退的情况也很多,但却很难被征服。这是因为一方面我们有一股韧力,一股很顽强的抵抗力量;一方面我们又很开放,在文化上同它们融合在一起,经过一段时间,大家变成一个民族,我们的民族从此又壮大起来。
我在温哥华英属哥伦比亚大学获颁名誉教授时也曾讲到这个问题,以及其他一些中国的历史问题。加拿大的一些教授觉得我的这些观念比较新,并讨论为什么中国可以融合外族,而西方就融合不了。我想其中第一个原因是我国一开始就是农业社会,生产力比较高、技术比较先进,有强大的经济力量可以发展文化;第二个原因是从西周开始,我们已有了一个严密的宗法社会制度,后世讲到中国封建社会,总认为封建的宗法制度很束缚人的思想,很束缚人的行为,其实这种宗法制度也有它的历史作用,我们民族由于有了严密的继承制度,从而避免了内部的争斗和战争。
一些游牧民族本来很强盛,但往往在关键的时候闹分裂。父亲死后,他的两个儿子或者三个儿子抢父亲的位子坐,罗马也有这种情况。一抢位子,就要打架,就要内乱。本来很强盛的部落、部族或者民族,一分裂,就要自己打自己。我们民族从西周开始,虽然自己内部斗争也不断有,但基本上还是遵循世袭制度,即父亲死了,嫡长子继位,这是当时中华民族发展的一个重要制度。一个社会的基本法律制度固定了,社会就会很稳定,内部斗争就会大大减少,这也是民族强盛的重要环节。还有一个重要环节,就是我们对外族是很开放的。
从历史上看,中国很长很长的时候是外族统治的,如北魏。其实隋唐也有很大很大的少数民族的成份,主要是鲜卑人。有一个情况不知各位想到没有,我的小说中写过一个人叫“独孤求败”,独孤求败很骄傲,他一生与人比剑比武从没有输过,所以他改个名叫求败,希望失败一次,但却总没有败过。这个“独孤”就是鲜卑人。“鲜卑”这两个字,有些学者说“西伯利亚”就是“鲜卑利亚”,鲜卑人原本住在西伯利亚那一带。但这不是很一致的意见。
北周的时候,有个人叫独孤信,他有很多女儿,其中大女儿嫁给了北周的皇帝,第四个女儿嫁给了唐高祖的父亲,第七个女儿嫁给了隋文帝。所以唐高祖和隋炀帝是表兄弟,唐太宗李世民则应叫隋炀帝为表叔。他们都有鲜卑的血统。唐太宗李世民的妈妈姓窦,是鲜卑人。唐太宗的皇后姓长孙,长孙和窦都是鲜卑人的姓。
皇后的哥哥长孙无忌是唐朝很有名的宰相,他也是鲜卑人了。据我初步统计,唐朝宰相至少有2、3人是胡人,其中主要是鲜卑人。那时候说“胡人”就象我们现在说“洋人”一样,没有歧视的意思。在唐朝,有2、3个外国人当“国务院总理”,可见唐朝对外国人一点也不歧视。再说汉朝,汉武帝与匈奴交战,匈奴分裂投降了。其中一个匈奴王子叫金日石单,很受汉武帝重用。汉武帝死后,他的身后大事交给两个人,一个是霍光,一个就是金日石单。由此可见,我们民族壮大的重要原因就是非常开放。
我在武侠小说里写了中国武术怎样厉害,实际上是有些夸张了。中国人不太擅长打仗,与外国人打仗时,输的多,赢的少,但是我们有耐力,这次打不赢没关系,我们长期跟你干,打到后来,外国人会分裂的。如匈奴很厉害,我们打他不过。汉高祖曾在山西大同附近被匈奴人围困,无法脱身。他的手下便献了一条妙计,去向匈奴皇后说,汉人漂亮的女人很多,你如果把汉朝皇帝抓来,把汉人打垮了,俘虏了大批汉人中的漂亮女人,你这个皇后就要糟糕了。匈奴皇后中了这个诡计,便退兵了。
匈奴后来分为南北,南匈奴投降了汉朝,北匈奴则向西走,一部分到了英国,以至灭亡了整个西罗马帝国。有意思的是,匈奴的一半被中国抵抗住了,投降了,另外一半却把整个欧洲打垮了。
隋唐时期的突厥也是如此,他们分为东突厥和西突厥。东突厥向隋唐王朝投降了。慢慢地被华夏民族所融合。西突厥则向西行。来到了土耳其。后来土耳其把东罗马帝国打垮了,把整个君士坦丁堡占了下来,直到现在。所以我们不要一提起历史就认为我们民族不行,其实我们民族真正不行,只是16世纪以后的三、四百年的事情。
最近我在牛津大学的一次聚餐会上遇到一位很有名的研究东亚经济的学者,他和我谈到中国经济的发展前途时说,中国的经济自古以来就很发达,人均收入一直是全世界第一,只是到了16世纪以后才慢慢被英国赶上去。而国民总收入却是到了1820年才被英国超过。中国国力居世界领先的地位竟保持了二、三千年之久。那位学者对中国经济前途非常乐观,他说大概到2020年时,中国的国民经济收入又会是全世界第一,并能长期保持下去,恐怕至少在那之后的四、五十年内没有任何国家能够赶得上。我听了之后很兴奋,问他是否有数据?他列举了很多统计数字。他是专家,不会随口乱说。我觉得他的分析是很有道理的。
实际上我们中国古代在科学技术方面一直是很先进的,到宋朝尤其先进,大大超过了欧洲。那时我们的科技发明,欧洲是远远赶不上的。如造纸、印刷、火药、罗盘等在宋朝已经非常兴旺发达了。现在大家用的钞票也是中国发明的,在宋朝时代就已经开始使用了。那时我们的金融制度相当先进,货币的运用相当成熟。那么欧洲人什么时候才开始转机呢?应该说是到了中国的明朝,从那时起,中国开始落后了。
我想其中原因,一个是政治上的专制,对人民的思想控制很严,一点也不自由开放,动不动满门抄斩,株连九族,吓得人们不敢乱说乱动,全部权力控制在皇帝一人手里。另一个原因就是明朝对付不了日本倭寇的入侵,便异想天开,实行所谓海禁,把航海的船只全部烧掉,以为如此一来就能断绝与倭寇的来往,饿死倭寇。这是对日本完全不了解。这种愚蠢的禁令,当然是永乐皇帝之后、郑和下西洋之后的事情了。
明朝一实行封锁,整个国力便开始衰退。与此同时,西方科学却开始发展,工业革命也开始了。有一个有趣的时间值得注意,那就是16世纪初的1517年,德国马丁路德公然否定教皇的权威,反对神权控制,就在这个时候,我国明朝的正德皇帝下江南。
正德皇帝是个很无聊、很腐化的昏君,他下江南干了许多荒淫无耻的勾当。大家知道,在隋朝、唐朝,中国是很富强的,到了宋朝、元朝也还可以,那时候科学发达交通方便、对外开放。而欧洲正是封闭的时候,一切都由教廷控制,学术思想不自由。你说地球围绕太阳转,他却要你坐牢,一切都是封闭的。
到了16世纪,欧洲自由开放了,科学发明开始了,可中国反而长期封锁起来了。这是最大的历史教训。
今天讲了这么多,无非是要大家明确两个观念,那就是改革和开放。中华民族之所以这样壮大,靠的就是改革和开放。当我们遇到困难的时候,内部要积极进行改革,努力克服困难,改革成功了,我们的民族就会中兴。同时我们还要对外开放,这点更为重要,因为中国人有自信心,我们自信自己的民族很强大,外来的武力或外来的文化我们都不害怕。
另有一个重要观念,今天没有时间详谈。我认为过去的历史家都说蛮夷戎狄、五胡乱华、蒙古人、满洲人侵略中华,大好山河沦亡于异族等等,这个观念要改一改。我想写几篇历史文章,说少数民族也是中华民族的一分子,北魏、元朝、清朝只是少数派执政,谈不上中华亡于异族,只是“轮流做庄”。满洲人建立清朝执政,肯定比明朝好得多。这些观念我在小说中发挥得很多。希望将来写成学术性文字。
上面我讲到的那位英国历史学家汤因比在他初期写《历史研究》这部大著作的时候,并没有非常重视中国。到他快去世的时候,他得出一个结论:世界的希望寄托于中国文明和西方文明的结合。他认为西方文明的优点在于不断地发明、创造、追求、向外扩张,是“动”的文化。中国文明的优点在于和平,就好象长城,处于守势,平稳、调和,是“静”的文化。
现在许多西方学者都认为,地球就这样大了,无止境地追求、扩充,是不可能的,也是不可取的。今后只能接受中国的哲学,要平衡、要和谐,民族与民族之间要相互协作,避免战争。由于科学的发展,核武器的出现,今后的世界大战将不可思议。一些疯狂的人也许执意要打核战争,殊不知,这种战争的结局将是人类的同归于尽。这种可能性不能说没有,我所接触到的西方学者目前对打核战争都不太担心,他们最担心的是三个问题:第一是自然资源不断地被浪费;第二是环境污染;第三是人口爆炸。这三个问题将关系到人类的前途。
所以,现在许多西方人把希望寄托于中国,他们希望了解中国,了解中国的哲学。他们认为中国的平衡、和谐、团结的哲学思想、心理状态可能是解决整个人类问题的关键。
最近牛津有一个十分盛大的宴会,伦敦《泰晤士报》前总编辑李斯。莫格勋爵也参加了,他曾谈到,十九世纪世界的经济中心在伦敦,二十世纪初转到了纽约,到了战后七十年代、八十年代则转到了东京,而二十一世纪肯定要转到中国。至于这个中心是中国的北京还是上海。依我看,在北京或在上海都不是问题,只要是在中国就很好。
湖北省博物馆(武汉):曾候乙尊盘
它出自2400年前战国时期的工匠之手,精巧得无以复加,至今无法进行3D扫描建模。
夏冰镇 冬温酒
尊盘,由尊与盘两件器物组成;尊是盛酒器,盘一般作盛水器。
冬天盘内盛装热水 可以加热尊中酒水,夏天盘中盛冰则可起到冰镇作用,可谓冬夏两相宜,相当于一个巨型“保温杯”,或宴飨xiǎng、祭祀之美器。
铜尊重9千克,铜盘重19.2千克。玲珑剔透、极尽奢华,铸造技术水平精妙至极。
盘底刻有铭文“曾侯乙作持用终(曾侯乙一直使用到最后)”,曾侯乙墓中出土的器物刻有这一铭文的共有208处,但只有此尊盘内的铭文有后期打磨补刻痕迹,即便是2400年后,打磨痕迹仍是清晰可辨。据考证,此处铭文显示曾侯乙并非尊盘最初主人,而是传了三代曾侯。
尊口沿远看像云朵,实际是龙蛇盘旋环绕的镂空花纹。
尊的颈部攀附四只反首吐舌、向上爬行的豹,豹身也以镂空的龙蛇装饰,尊的腹部和圈足满是蟠pán螭chī(虎形龙相物)纹和浮雕的龙。
整个尊体共装饰有28条龙、32条蟠螭。
盘的制作更为复杂,盘身的四个抠手,也是由无数条龙蛇组成的镂空花纹,抠手下有八条镂空夔kuí龙。
盘足为四条圆雕的双身龙。
整个盘体装饰龙56条、蟠螭48条。
从尊口到盘足,还盘踞着上千只蟠pán虺 huǐ(蜷曲的小蛇),无处不精美,处处有装饰。
失蜡法代表作中国古代青铜器的巅峰,曾侯乙尊盘造型复杂精美,尤其是透空装饰层层堆叠,表层却又彼此独立且互不连接,只靠铜梗支撑。
科学鉴定表明,曾侯乙尊盘集浑铸、分铸,焊接和失蜡法等多种工艺为一体,尊、盘各有34个、38个部件,分别通过56处和44处,铸、焊连成一体,部件之多 焊接之繁,十分罕见。
而失蜡法在尊和盘口沿的镂空附饰制作上的运用,更是佐证了在2000多年前,我国已经开始使用失蜡法铸造青铜器,而且造型艺术、铸造技术都已臻于完美。
时光从不停滞,而匠人之心却以青铜为载体,永久流传。
张爱玲:烬余录
我与香港之间已经隔了相当的距离了几千里路,两年,新的事,新的人。战时香港所见所闻,唯其因为它对于我有切身的、剧烈的影响,当时我是无从说起的。现在呢,定下心来了,至少提到的时候不至于语无伦次。然而香港之战予我的印象几乎完全限于一些不相干的事。
我没有写历史的志愿,也没有资格评论史家应持何种态度,可是私下里总希望他们多说点不相干的话。现实这样东西是没有系统的,像七八个话匣子同时开唱,各唱各的,打成一片混沌。在那不可解的喧嚣中偶然也有清澄的,使人心酸眼亮的一刹那,听得出音乐的调子,但立刻又被重重黑暗上拥来,淹没了那点了解。画家、文人、作曲家将零星的、凑巧发现的和谐联系起来,造成艺术上的完整性。历史如果过于注重艺术上的完整性,便成为小说了。像威尔斯的《历史大纲》,所以不能跻于正史之列,便是因为它太合理化了一点,自始至终记述的是小我与大我的斗争。
清坚决绝的宇宙观,不论是政治上的还是哲学上的,总未免使人嫌烦。人生的所谓“生趣”全在那些不相干的事。
在香港,我们初得到开战的消息的时候,宿舍里的一个女同学发起急来,道:“怎么办呢?没有适当的衣服穿!”她是有钱的华侨,对于社交上的不同的场合需要不同的行头,从水上跳舞会到隆重的晚餐,都有充分的准备,但是她没想到打仗。后来她借到了一件宽大的黑色棉袍,对于头上营营飞绕的空军大约是没有多少吸引力的。逃难的时候,宿舍的学生“各自奔前程”。战后再度相会她已经剪短了头发,梳了男式的菲律宾头,那在香港是风行一时的,为了可以冒充男性。战争期中各人不同的心理反应,确与衣服有关。譬如说,苏雷珈。苏雷珈是马来半岛一个偏僻小镇的西施,瘦小,棕黑皮肤,睡沉沉的眼睛与微微外露的白牙。像一般受过修道院教育的女孩子,她是天真得可耻。她选了医科,医科要解剖人体,被解剖的尸体穿衣服不穿?苏雷珈曾经顾虑到这一层,向人打听过。这笑话在学校里早出了名。
一个炸弹掉在我们宿舍的隔壁,舍监不得不督促大家避下山去。在急难中苏雷珈并没忘记把她最显焕的衣服整理起来,虽然许多有见识的人苦口婆心地劝阻,她还是在炮火下将那只累赘的大皮箱设法搬运下山。苏雷珈加入防御工作,在红十字会分所充当临时看护,穿着赤铜地绿寿字的织锦缎棉袍蹲在地上劈柴生火,虽觉可惜,也还是值得的。那一身伶俐的装束给了她空前的自信心,不然,她不会同那些男护士混得那么好。同他们一起吃苦,担风险,开玩笑,她渐渐惯了,话也多了,人也干练了。战争对于她是很难得的教育。
至于我们大多数的学生,我们对于战争所抱的态度,可以打个譬喻,是像一个人走在硬板凳上打瞌盹,虽然不舒服,而且没结没完地抱怨着,到底还是睡着了。
能够不理会的,我们一概不理会,出生入死,沉浮于最富色彩的经验中,我们还是我们,一尘不染,维持着素日的生活典型。有时候仿佛有点反常,然而仔细分析起来,还是一贯作风。像艾芙林,她是从中国内地来的,身经百战,据她自己说是吃苦耐劳,担惊受怕惯了的。可是轰炸我们邻近的军事要塞的时候,艾芙林第一个受不住,歇斯底里起来,大哭大闹,说了许多可怖的战争的故事,把旁的女学生一个个吓得面无人色。
艾芙林的悲观主义是一种健康的悲观。宿舍里的存粮看看要完了,但是艾芙林比平时吃得特别多,而且劝我们大家努力地吃,因为不久便没的吃了。我们未尝不想极力撙节,试行配给制度,但是她百般阻挠,她整天吃饱了就坐在一边啜泣,因而得了便秘症。
我们聚集在宿舍的最下层,黑漆漆的箱子间里,只听见机关枪“忒啦啦拍拍”像荷叶上的雨。因为怕流弹,小大姐不敢走到窗户跟前迎着亮洗菜,所以我们的菜汤里满是蠕蠕的虫。
同学里只有炎樱胆大,冒死上城去看电影——看的是五彩卡通——回宿舍后又独自在楼上洗澡,流弹打碎了浴室的玻璃窗,她还在盆里从容地泼水唱歌,舍监听见歌声,大大地发怒了。她的不在乎仿佛是对众人的恐怖的一种讽嘲。港大停止办公了,异乡的学生被迫离开宿舍,无家可归,不参加守城工作,就无法解决膳宿问题。我跟着一大批同学到防空总部去报名,报了名领了证章出来就遇着空袭。我们从电车上跳下来向人行道奔去,缩在门洞子里,心里也略有点怀疑我们是否尽了防空团员的责任。——究竟防空员的责任是什么,我还没来得及弄明白,仗已经打完了。——门洞子里挤满了人,有脑油气味的,棉墩墩的冬天的人。从人头上看出去,是明净的浅蓝的天。一辆空电车停在街心,电车外面,淡淡的太阳,电车里面,也是太阳——单只这电车便有一种原始的荒凉。
我觉得非常难受——竟会死在一群陌生人之间么?可是,与自己家里人死在一起,一家骨肉被炸得稀烂,又有什么好处呢?有人大声发出命令:“摸地!摸地!”哪儿有空隙让人蹲下地来呢?但是我们一个磕在一个的背上,到底是蹲下来了。飞机往下扑,砰的一声,就在头上。我把防空员的铁帽子罩住了脸,黑了好一会,才知道我们并没有死,炸弹落在对街。一个大腿上受了伤的青年店伙被抬进来了,裤子卷上去,少微流了点血。他很愉快,因为他是群众的注意集中点。门洞子外的人起先捶门捶不开,现在更理直气壮了,七嘴八舌嚷:“开门呀,有人受了伤在这里!开门!开门!”不怪里面不敢开,因为我们人太杂了,什么事都做得出。外面气得直骂“没人心。”到底里面开了门,大家一哄而入,几个女太太和女佣木着脸不敢做声,穿堂里的箱笼,过后是否短了几只,不得而知。飞机继续掷弹,可是渐渐远了。警报解除之后,大家又不顾命地轧上电车,唯恐赶不上,牺牲了一张电车票。
我们得到了历史教授佛朗士被枪杀的消息——是他们自己人打死的。像其他的英国人一般,他被征入伍。那天他在黄昏后回到军营里去,大约是在思索着一些什么,没听见哨兵的吆喝,哨兵就放了枪。
佛朗士是一个豁达的人,彻底地中国化,中国字写得不错,(就是不大知道笔划的先后),爱喝酒。曾经和中国教授们一同游广州,到一个名声不大好的尼庵里去看小尼姑。他在人烟稀少处造有三幢房屋,一幢专门养猪。家里不装电灯自来水,因为不赞成物质文明。汽车倒有一辆、破旧不堪,是给仆欧买菜赶集用的。
他有孩子似的肉红脸,瓷蓝眼睛,伸出来的圆下巴,头发已经稀了,颈上系一块暗败的蓝字宁绸作为领带。上课的时候他抽烟抽得像烟囱。尽管说话,嘴唇上永远险伶伶地吊着一支香烟,跷板似的一上一下,可是再也不会落下来。烟蒂子他顺手向窗外一甩,从女学生蓬松的鬈发上飞过,很有着火的危险。
他研究历史很有独到的见地。官样文字被他耍着花腔一念,便显得非常滑稽,我们从他那里得到一点历史的亲切感和扼要的世界观,可以从他那里学到的还有很多很多。可是他死了——最无名目的死。第一,算不了为国捐躯。即使是“光荣殉国”,又怎样?他对于英国的殖民地政策没有多大同情,但也看得很随便,也许因为世界上的傻事不止那一件。每逢志愿兵操演,他总是拖长了声音通知我们:“下礼拜一不能同你们见面了,孩子们,我要去练武功。”想不到“练武功”竟送了他的命——一个好先生,一个好人。人类的浪费……围城中种种设施之糟与乱,已经有好些人说在我头里了。政府的冷藏室里,冷气管失修,堆积如山的牛肉,宁可眼看着它腐烂,不肯拿出来,做防御工作的人只分到米与黄豆,没有油,没有燃料。各处的防空机关只忙着争柴争米,设法喂养手下的人员,哪儿有闲工夫去照料炸弹?接连两天我什么都没吃,飘飘然去上工。当然,像我这样不尽职的人,受点委曲也是该当的。在炮火下我看完了《官场现形记》。小时候看过而没能领略它的好处,一直想再看一遍,一面看,一面担心能够不能够容我看完。字印得极小,光线又不充足,但是,一个炸弹下来,还要眼睛做什么呢——“皮之不存,毛将焉附?”
围城的十八天里,谁都有那种清晨四点钟的难挨的感觉——寒噤的黎明,什么都是模糊,瑟缩,靠不住。回不了家,等回去了,也许家已经不存在了。房子可以毁掉,钱转眼可以成废纸,人可以死,自己更是朝不保暮。像唐诗上的“凄凄去亲爱,泛泛入烟雾”,可是那到底不像这里的无牵无挂的虚空与绝望。人们受不了这个,急于攀住一点踏实的东西,因而结婚了。
有一对男女到我们办公室里来向防空处长借汽车去领结婚证书。男的是医生,在平日也许并不是一个“善眉善眼”的人,但是他不时的望着他的新娘子,眼里只有近于悲哀的恋恋的神情。新娘是看护,矮小美丽、红颧骨,喜气洋洋,弄不到结婚礼服,只穿着一件淡绿绸夹袍,镶着墨绿花边。他们来了几次,一等等上几个钟头,默默对坐,对看,熬不住满脸的微笑,招得我们全笑了。实在应当谢谢他们给带来无端的快乐。
到底仗打完了。乍一停,很有一点弄不惯,和平反而使人心乱,像喝醉酒似的。看见青天上的飞机,知道我们尽管仰着脸欣赏它而不至于有炸弹落在头上,单为这一点便觉得它很可爱,冬天的树,凄迷稀薄像淡黄的云;自来水管子里流出来的清水,电灯光,街头的热闹,这些又是我们的了。第一,时间又是我们的了——白云,黑夜,一年四季——我们暂时可以活下去了,怎不叫人欢喜得发疯呢?就是因为这种特殊的战后精神状态,一九二○年在欧洲号称“发烧的一九二○年”
我记得香港陷落后我们怎样满街的找寻冰淇淋和嘴唇膏。我们撞进每一家吃食店去问可有冰淇淋。只有一家答应说明天下午或许有,于是我们第二天步行十来里路去践约,吃到一盘昂贵的冰淇淋,里面吱格吱格全是冰屑子。街上摆满了摊子,卖胭脂,西药、罐头牛羊肉,抢来的西装,绒线衫,素丝窗帘,雕花玻璃器皿,整匹的呢绒。我们天天上城买东西,名为买,其实不过是看看而已。从那时候起我学会了怎样以买东西当作一件消遣。——无怪大多数的女人乐此不疲。
香港重新发现了“吃”的喜悦。真奇怪,一件最自然,最基本的功能,突然得到过份的注意,在情感的光强烈的照射下,竟变成了下流的,反常的。在战后的香港,街上每隔五步十步便蹲着个衣冠济楚的洋行职员模样的人,在小风炉上炸一种铁硬的小黄饼。香港城不比上海有作为,新的投机事业发展得极慢。许久许久,街上的吃食仍旧为小黄饼所垄断。渐渐有试验性质的甜面包,三角饼,形迹可疑的椰子蛋糕。所有的学校教员,店伙,律师帮办,全都改行做了饼师。
我们立在摊头上吃滚油煎的萝卜饼,尺来远脚底下就躺着穷人的青紫的尸首。上海的冬天也是那样的罢?可是至少不是那么尖锐肯定。香港没有上海有涵养。
因为没有汽油,汽车行全改了吃食店,没有一家绸缎铺或药房不兼卖糕饼。香港从来没有这样馋嘴过。宿舍里的男女学生整天谈讲的无非是吃。
在这狂欢的气氛里,唯有乔纳生孤单单站着,充满了鄙夷和愤恨。乔纳生也是个华侨同学,曾经加入志愿军上阵打过仗。他大衣里只穿着一件翻领衬衫,脸色苍白,一绺头发垂在眉间,有三分像诗人拜伦,就可惜是重伤风。乔纳生知道九龙作战的情形。他最气的便是他们派两个大学生出壕沟去把一个英国兵抬进来——“我们两条命不抵他们一条。招兵的时候他们答应特别优待,让我们归我们自己的教授管辖,答应了全不算话!”他投笔从戎之际大约以为战争是基督教青年会所组织的九龙远足旅行。
休战后我们在“大学堂临时医院”做看护。除了由各大医院搬来的几个普通病人,其余大都是中流弹的苦力与被捕时受伤的乘火打劫者。有一个肺病患者比较有点钱,雇了另一个病人服侍他,派那人出去采办东西,穿着宽袍大袖的病院制服满街跑,院长认为太不成体统了,大发脾气,把二人都撵了出去。另有个病人将一卷绷带,几把手术刀叉,三条病院制服的裤子藏在褥单底下,被发觉了。
难得有那么戏剧化的一刹那。病人的日子是修长得不耐烦的。上头派下来叫他们拣米,除去里面的沙石与稗子,因为实在没事做,他们似乎很喜欢这单调的工作。时间一长,跟自己的伤口也发生了感情。在医院里,各个不同的创伤就代表了他们整个的个性。每天敷药换棉花的时候,我看见他们用温柔的眼光注视新生的鲜肉,对之仿佛有一种创造性的爱。
他们住在男生宿舍的餐室里。从前那间房子充满了喧哗——留声机上唱着卡门麦兰达的巴西情歌,学生们动不动就摔碗骂厨子。现在这里躺着三十几个沉默,烦躁,有臭气的人,动不了腿,也动不了脑筋,因为没有思想的习惯。枕头不够用,将他们的床推到柱子跟前,他们头抵在柱子上,颈项与身体成九十度角。就这样眼睁睁躺着,每天两顿红米饭,一顿干,一顿稀。太阳照亮了玻璃门,玻璃上糊的防空纸条经过风吹雨打,已经撕去了一大半了,斑驳的白迹子像巫魔的小纸人,尤其在晚上,深蓝的玻璃上现出奇形怪状的小白魍魉的剪影。
我们倒也不怕上夜班,虽然时间特别长,有十小时。夜里没有什么事做。病人大小便,我们只消走出去叫一声打杂的:“二十三号要屎乒。(“乒”是广东话,英文Pan的音译)”或是“三十号要溺壶。”我们坐在屏风后面看书,还有宵夜吃,是特地给送来的牛奶面包。唯一的遗憾便是:病人的死亡,十有八九是在深夜。
有一个人,尻骨生了奇臭的蚀烂症。痛苦到了极点,面部表情反倒近于狂喜……眼睛半睁半闭,嘴拉开了仿佛痒丝丝抓捞不着地微笑着。整夜他叫唤:“姑娘啊!姑娘啊!”悠长地,颤抖地,有腔有调。我不理。我是一个不负责任的,没良心的看护。我恨这个人,因为他在那里受磨难,终于一房间的病人都醒过来了。他们看不过去,齐声大叫“姑娘”。我不得不走出来,阴沉地站在他床前,问道:“要什么?”他想了一想,呻吟道:“要水。”他只要人家给他点东西,不拘什么都行。我告诉他厨房里没有开水,又走开了。他叹口气,静了一会,又叫起来,叫不动了,还哼哼:“姑娘啊……姑娘啊……哎,姑娘啊……”
三点钟,我的同伴正在打瞌盹,我去烧牛奶,老着脸抱着肥白的牛奶瓶穿过病房往厨下去。多数的病人全都醒了,眼睁睁望着牛奶瓶,那在他们眼中是比卷心百合花更为美丽的。
香港从来未曾有过这样寒冷的冬天。我用肥皂去洗那没盖子的黄铜锅,手疼得像刀割。锅上腻着油垢,工役们用它煨汤,病人用它洗脸。我把牛奶倒进去,铜锅坐在蓝色的煤气火焰中,象一尊铜佛坐在青莲花上,澄静,光丽。但是那拖长腔的“姑娘啊!姑娘啊!”追踪到厨房里来了。小小的厨房只点一只白蜡烛,我看守着将沸的牛奶,心里发慌,发怒,像被猎的兽。
这人死的那天我们大家都欢欣鼓舞。是天快亮的时候,我们将他的后事交给有经验的职业看护。自己缩到厨房里去。我的同伴用椰子油烘了一炉小面包,味道颇像中国酒酿饼。鸡在叫,又是一个冻白的早晨。我们这些自私的人若无其事的活下去了。
除了工作之外我们还念日文。派来的教师是一个年轻的俄国人,黄头发剃得光光地。上课的时候他每每用日语问女学生的年纪。她一时答不上来,他便猜:“十八岁?十九岁?不会超过廿岁罢?你住在几楼?待会儿我可以来拜访么?”她正在盘算着如何托辞拒绝,他便笑了起来道:“不许说英文。你只会用日文说:‘请进来。请坐。请用点心。’你不会说:‘滚出去!’”说完了笑话,他自己先把脸涨得通红。起初学生黑压压拥满一课堂,渐渐减少了。少得不成样,他终于赌气不来了,另换了先生。
这俄国先生看见我画的图,独独赏识其中的一张,是炎樱单穿着一件衬裙的肖像。他愿意出港币五元购买,看见我们面有难色,连忙解释:“五元,不连画框。”
由于战争期间特殊空气的感应,我画了许多图,由炎樱着色。自己看了自己的作品欢喜赞叹,似乎太不像话,但是我确实知道那些画是好的,完全不像我画的,以后我再也休想画出那样的图来。就可惜看了略略使人发糊涂。即使以一生的精力为那些杂乱重叠的人头写注解式的传记,也是值得的。譬如说,那暴躁的二房东太太,斗鸡眼突出像两只自来水龙头;那少奶奶,整个的头与颈便是理发店的电气吹风管;像狮子又像狗的,蹲踞着的有传染病的妓女,衣裳底下露出红丝袜的尽头与吊袜带。
有一幅,我特别喜欢炎樱用的颜色,全是不同的蓝与绿,使人联想到“沧海月明珠有泪,蓝田日暖玉生烟”那两句诗。
一面在画,一面我就知道不久我会失去那点能力。从那里我得到了教训——老教训:想做什么,立刻去做,都许来不及了。“人”是最拿不准的东西。
有个安南青年,在同学群中是个有点小小名气的画家。他抱怨说战后他笔下的线条不那么有力了。因为自己动手做菜,累坏了臂膀。因之我们每天看见他炸茄子,(他只会做一样炸茄子)总觉得凄惨万分。
战争开始的时候,港大的学生大都乐得欢蹦乱跳,因为十二月八日正是大考的第一天,平白地免考是千载难逢的盛事。那一冬天,我们总算吃够了苦,比较知道轻重了。可是“轻重”这两个字,也难讲……去掉了一切的浮文,剩下的仿佛只有饮食男女这两项。人类的文明努力要想跳出单纯的兽性生活的圈子,几千年来的努力竟是枉费精神么?事实是如此。香港的外埠学生困在那里没事做,成天就只买菜,烧菜,调情——不是普通的学生式的调情,温和而带一点感伤气息的。在战后的宿舍里,男学生躺在女朋友的床上玩纸牌一直到夜深。第二天一早,她还没起床,他又来了,坐在床沿上。隔壁便听见她娇滴滴叫喊:“不行!不吗!不,我不!”一直到她穿衣下床为止。这一类的现象给人不同的反应作用——会使人悚然回到孔子跟前去,也说不定。到底相当的束缚是少不得的。原始人天真虽天真,究竟不是一个充分的“人”。医院院长想到“战争小孩”(战争期间的私生子)的可能性,极其担忧。有一天,他瞥见一个女学生偷偷摸摸抱着一个长形的包裹溜出宿舍,他以为他的噩梦终于实现了。后来才知道她将做工得到的米运出去变钱,因为路上流氓多,恐怕中途被劫,所以将一袋米改扮了婴儿。
论理,这儿聚集了八十多个死里逃生的年轻人,因为死里逃生,更是充满了生气:有的吃,有的住,没有外界的娱乐使他们分心;没有教授,(其实一般的教授们,没有也罢),可是有许多书,诸子百家,诗经,圣经,莎士比亚——正是大学教育的最理想的环境。然而我们的同学只拿它当做一个沉闷的过渡时期——过去是战争的苦恼,未来是坐在母亲膝上哭诉战争的苦恼,把憋了许久的眼泪出清一下。眼前呢,只能够无聊地在污秽的玻璃窗上涂满了“家,甜蜜的家”的字样。为了无聊而结婚,虽然无聊,比这种态度还要积极一点。
缺乏工作与消遣的人们不得不提早结婚。但看香港报上挨挨挤挤的结婚广告便知道了。学生中结婚的人也有。一般的学生对于人们的真性情素鲜认识,一旦有机会刮去一点浮皮,看见底下的畏缩,怕痒,可怜又可笑的男人或女人,多半就会爱上他们最初的发现。当然,恋爱与结婚是于他们有益无损,可是自动地限制自己的活动范围,到底是青年的悲剧。
时代的车轰轰地往前开。我们坐在车上,经过的也许不过是几条熟悉的街衢,可是在漫天的火光中也自惊心动魄。就可惜我们只顾忙着在一瞥即逝的店铺的橱窗里找寻我们自己的影子——我们只看见自己的脸,苍白,渺小:我们的自私与空虚,我们恬不知耻的愚蠢——谁都像我们一样,然而我们每人都是孤独的。
陈韦伶(广东):女性后花园
陈韦伶来自广东揭阳,是一位90后的女插画师、画家,作品关注女性,其《女性后花园》等系列作品,令人印象深刻。
《柔情似水》
《在你的江河里流淌》
《欲之七》
陈韦伶是一个单亲家庭长大的孩子,她回忆,因为潮汕地区大多人的思想都很保守,在身边的家庭,会一直想要生个儿子传承香火,在看到她是女孩子时,亲生父亲就和母亲离婚了,她跟着妈妈、外婆一起生活。在读三年级时,她离开了揭阳,和舅舅家人在佛山生活。
《瞧一瞧》
《白雪与魔镜》
她现在生活在广州一栋40多年的老楼里,有一间36㎡的自己的房子。
立此存照
2023.4.26 徐跋骋抄袭
中国美术学院绘画艺术学院油画系第二工作室教师徐跋骋被曝光抄袭国外艺术家的画作,尤其是艺术家希娜·加文(Seana Gavin)和吉姆·卡赞赞(Jim Kazanjian)两人的作品。大量对比图显示徐抄袭国外艺术家作品时间长达十年。希娜·加文在ins上发文表示自己很震惊,徐一副抄袭的作品居然售价高达10万美元,她号召大家揭露这一行径,不要购买徐的作品。
4月26日,中国美术学院就此前该校教师徐跋骋被曝作品涉嫌抄袭问题回应称,学校成立专门调查组,依规开展调查。根据调查组调查,经校院两级学术委员会认定,徐跋骋学术不端行为属实。给予降低岗位等级、撤销专业技术职务的处分,并决定与其终止聘用关系。
2023.4 钟海燕贪污2亿元
钟海燕,女,生于1963年,1996年开始担任校长,2009年调任贵阳实验小学任校长至案发,兼任贵州省教育学会第五届理事会副会长,2020年获“全国先进工作者”称号。据称其贪污受贿的金额高达2.2亿,还涉嫌多项违法违纪行为。
贵阳市实验小学是贵州省重点小学,集团化办学,有10多个分校,共有130个教学班,6000多名学生。权谋私、暗箱操作、接受贿赂就成了她的日常。要想进这样的小学,一个指标大概就要十万块。
其最大的贪腐来自于贪污学生学费、课本费、辅导教材费、补课费、学校招标采购、基建维修等,其中一个校区修个游泳池就花了1.2亿,同时还在学校内高价售卖物品。2023.4.23 袁久红在工作群发不雅照
4月24日,东南大学称,网传我校马院负责人袁某某在某微信群里发不雅图片,学校对此高度重视,立即开展调查。根据初步调查结果,情况属实,学校决定免去其院长职务。
袁久红,男,1966年出生,江西兴国人,东南大学首席教授,博士生导师,曾任东南大学宣传部部长、东南大学马克思主义学院院长,第十五届校委员会委员,2014年教育部社会科学司“全国高校思想政治理论课教学能手”2023.4.18 钟阳接受调查
2023.4.18消息:贵州省黔南州委副书记、州政府党组书记、州长钟阳涉嫌严重违纪违法接受纪律审查和监察调查。钟最后一次公开露面是在4月14日,参加了当天黔南州委的几场重要会议。4月17日,黔南州一家国有资本运营有限公司的党委委员雷钱龙已被带走。
钟阳,女,1972年生,布依族;历任贵阳市团委组织部干部、部长助理、组织部部长等,在老部长的指点和帮助下,2002年5月被任命为共青团贵阳市委副书记;后在同乡刘文新帮助下,2005年升为贵阳市委秘书长;2009年调任息烽县委副书记,后为息烽县县长;2015年调回贵阳任国家经济技术开发区党工委副书记、管委会主任,花溪区委书记;2018年,其情人李再勇晋升为贵州省副省长,钟调任黔南州担任副州长,2021年任州长
据悉,钟常胁迫男性下属,包养情人;其情人太多,其中一人举报了她。2023.1.24 赵明被女博士生举报
大年初三,西南大学一位网名为“西南大学唯泉雪声”的女博士生公开举报其导师,西南大学政法学院的博士生导师赵明教授,称赵以“你毕业论文不合格,你就不能顺利毕业,想要顺利毕业,就得与其发生性关系,必须随叫随到,否则这辈子都别想毕业”,作为要挟理由该名女博士与其保持了长达3年之久的不正当关系。
据学校通告:2022年9月16日,这位博士生就曾向学校反映其导师赵的相关问题,当时学校调查认定属实,确认导师存在严重师德师风问题。在此之后,作出取消研究生导师资格、调离教师岗位、降低岗位等级、报请主管部门批准撤销教师资格等处分决定。只是女博士发现自己的导师依然是赵明,于是她认定学校只是想着息事宁人,将事件控制在校内,这也彻底激怒了女博士,这才决意公开举报。2022.7 方岱宁视频会议被吻
2022年7月初,中科院院士、北京理工大学教授方岱宁在参加一个视频会议时,一名年轻女子突然进入镜头连续亲吻他的脸,方岱宁提醒对方正在视频连线后,女子随即离开镜头。
2022年12月7日,北京理工大学就此事发布情况通报,主要内容如下:
经查核,视频内容是方岱宁今年7月初在线参加学术会议时发生的事情,因其行为失范,造成严重不良影响,根据有关规定,学校决定免去方岱宁的校学术委员会主任、校务委员会副主任职务,停止其研究生招生资格。视频中出现在方岱宁身边的女性为北京某公司职员,未曾在我校有过任何学习进修及工作经历。2019.3 王胜战贪污3亿
王胜战,1967年出生,浙江宁海人。1986年考入浙江农村技术师范专科学校农学系园艺专业,1989年毕业分配至宁海第二职业中学任教,并担任团总支负责人,1991年到余姚市一中学担任教师,2006年任余姚市第五中学校长,2010年成为余姚中学校长,2018年王胜战被中国教育报评为“最受读者欢迎的校长”,2020年被任命为余姚市教育局党委书记、局长。
王东窗事发的缘由是因为学校食堂配餐,余姚市一共有288所各级学校,这些学校的配餐水准全部由王一人决定。经查,王涉嫌金额高达3亿元,包养2个校长,祸害18名学生,还同103个女老师发生了实质性的关系。“早上到单位醒酒,中午陪情妇,晚上KTV”。
2019年7月,王胜战被开除党籍、开除公职,2020年1月被判处死缓,剥夺政治权利终身,并被没收个人全部财产。天才捕手计划:在北京,超过6000人住在厕所里
北京有一项有意思的世界之最,它是世界上公厕最多的城市之一,一共有12769间市政公厕,还不包括数量众多的商场、饭店公厕。
这些马路边的公厕里,经常可以看到有一个管理间,那也是公厕环卫工人的家,很多人吃住都在那里。
不久前我在北京的很多胡同转了转,去体验了一下住在公厕里的生活。
这是一个我从没见过的北京。厕所里的家
刘军的家在雍和宫附近一间公厕里。
家只有两平方米,放一张半人高的柜子,留下一个过道,就挤满了。如果要睡觉,他得踩着梯子爬上阁楼,那里更局促,顶多能坐起来。
家里没有空调,阁楼有扇窗户和一台电扇,天热了就靠它们。
刘军的全部家当,除了衣服就是柜子里塞的电磁炉、电水壶和电饭锅,此外便无其他。他是一个环卫工,和媳妇一起住在公厕的管理间,关上门就很难和真正的厕所区分开。
相比之下,另一个环卫工张元民的家宽敞些,但也只有五平方米,床板是拼起来的,床和置物柜中间留下一人宽的过道,不用每天爬上爬下睡在阁楼里。
北京是世界上拥有公厕最多的城市之一,共有12769间市政公厕。
这些公厕按等级分为一类、二类、三类和三类以下,其中一类和二类公厕都是可以住人的,要求24小时有服务,一共有7354间。
但不管一类还是二类公厕,住人的管理间都差不多大,不会超过一张床加一个柜子的面积。
条件稍好一点的,比如景山旁的一个厕所,前两年给管理间也装了空调,让冬天和夏天不再难熬。对住在这里的人来说,最麻烦的是洗澡。刘军两口子来了两个月,至今没有洗澡,只有晚上没人的时候,躲在厕所里擦擦身子。
吃饭也在厕所的家里。刘军两口子每天买菜,最常见的是土豆和白菜,偶尔会有辣椒和菠菜,总之什么便宜买什么。
其实环卫工人也有食堂,每天五块钱,但吃得很差,“我们每天吃的,萝卜、白菜、土豆、豆芽,就这几样,还咬不动”,张元民一边吃一边把碗里的豆芽都挑了出来。张元民和媳妇都是公厕环卫,他每月工资三千九,媳妇四千,两口子每个月除了吃饭,花不了钱。
原本张元民一个月话费也只有8元,现在因为每天要给厕所拍照片汇报工作,才多充了20块的流量。
刘军两口子也都是公厕环卫工,除了刘军抽烟喝酒花点钱,都存起来,两口子一个月至少能存六千。
像刘军和张元民一样,来自全国各地的几千名环卫工人,把24小时的全部衣食住行,都藏在一个又一个这样的家里。打扫了北京15年
15年前,张元民刚来北京就住在厕所里。
他不是没有想过干别的,在甘肃老家时,张元民卖了十年水果,但他太实诚了,从不缺斤少两,被同行排挤,挣不到钱,最少的一年连2000块都没有。
为了养家,2008年7月1日,39岁的张元民带着媳妇第一次到了北京。
当时的北京沉浸在迎接奥运的火热气氛中,也在进行第四次“公厕革命”,北京市政府为迎接奥运会,3年里新建公厕1891间,改造3118间。
张元民夫妻投入到了首都的厕所建设事业里,在长安街的长安商场门口,他们当上了“所长”,一人负责男厕,一人负责女厕,一个月一共挣两千块钱。
也是从那时起,北京对公厕的卫生要求开始变得严格,“在公共厕所里,任何时段都应做到苍蝇少于两只,废弃物停留时间不超过半小时。”2012年,离开公厕后,张元民两口子又开始在西城区扫地下通道。
在张元民眼里,这份工作至今令他怀念:有社保,一天只用干8个小时,虽然没有休息日,但节假日三薪,逢年过节还发几百块钱,两口子发了100斤大米根本吃不完。
每天下午下了早班,张元民还会去做兼职,在西单管理自行车停放。这也是另一种意义的环卫,把杂乱的马路变得干净。
做这份兼职时,张元民一人管着十几个人,拿了块“先进个人荣誉证书”的奖牌和两箱饮料,奖牌至今还留在老家。
靠这两份工作,张元民最多的时候一个月能拿六千块,让他可以花钱在鼓楼租房住。他以为自己的日子会这样一直下去,但他错了。
2018年,这份扫大街的工作因为要给北京人干,单位把他们三十几个外地人遣散了。
之后,他和媳妇先是去了金融街一栋大厦做保洁,然后去了一所学校做保洁。但随着年纪变大,媳妇已经拖不动沉重的垃圾袋,他们又离开了那里。
北漂15年,他们无路可去,所以今年又回到了公厕。
张元民去过北京很多景点,但提到北京,他最想说的除了工作还是工作。
胡同里的人常把污物泼得到处都是,便池里总出现各种异物,尿不湿、卫生巾甚至是各种生活垃圾,反复提醒也没用,每次都是张元民捞出来。
这让他觉得自己没有受到尊重,因此不和任何人说话。“人家本来就看不起我们,还跟他聊啥呢?”
但张元民并不是一个不善言辞的人,他说自己以前也是个很幽默很爱聊天的人,“现在叫生活弄得话也不会说了,啥也没心情了,干啥都没心情。”最大的愿望
跟张元民不同,刘军大部分时间都在哈尔滨农村种地。种地越来越存不下钱,他两口子就在附近打零工,因为没有技术,只能做些纯体力活。
如今他59了,体力活干不动时,在网上刷到北京中介在招保洁,一个月有四千块。今年2月,刘军背着一个大兜子,媳妇推着行李箱,坐着火车来到北京,住进了公厕。
他觉得这份工作并不累,只不过除了吃饭,就几乎不能离开厕所。
到北京的第一个月,他的媳妇哪儿都没去过,就守着厕所。刘军负责的厕所就在胡同另一头,她也只去过一次。
第二个月,她才在晚上休息的时候出去看看,能找到胡同的超市,也能走到胡同口再找回来。
没有什么人会和他们说话,即便同事之间也是点头之交。离他们家最近的公厕,只有不到一百米,住了一对河南夫妻,但因为口音太重听不懂,双方平时只是打个招呼。
胡同里的人也让刘军紧张。一次,他穿着工作服,在一个胡同里找厕所,被一个老太太一直盯着。她警惕地说,这里没厕所,让他赶紧出去。刘军感觉自己被当成了小偷。
至于北京的那些著名景点,跟他们更是毫无关系,即使他们的家步行到雍和宫只需要五分钟,却从没想过去哪。
刘军只尝试去过一回天安门。那是下午1点左右,厕所没啥人,他穿着工作服,偷偷骑着自行车就往天安门那边去了。
以前,他只在手机直播里看过升国旗、降国旗,那天他想去看看真国旗。
但骑到天安门附近时,他被交警拦下来,说是逆行,再往里走还要刷身份证。刘军没见过这阵仗,怕惹麻烦,又骑回了公厕。
北京还有很多东西刘军也没见过。他住的厕所对面,是一个神秘的四合院,没有牌子,大门紧闭,总有一个穿着得体的年轻人接待偶尔开来的轿车。
在拥挤的胡同里,这个四合院甚至拥有一个车库,卷闸门轰隆隆升起又放下。
刘军不知道里面是干什么的,穿着得体的年轻人也不跟他说,唯一的共同点是,他们俩都是打工的。
再过一年,刘军就要60岁了,到时候他可以领养老金,每个月一百多。两口子要为自己的未来做打算,因此打算继续留在北京。
张元民也还得多干几年,为未成家的两个儿子攒钱。没有别的本事,张元民只能认认真真地把厕所擦了一遍又一遍。
刚来的时候,地板上、便池里、墙壁上全是黄色的尿碱和各种冲洗不掉的污物,张元民只能用最传统的解决办法——钢丝球,趴在地上一点一点刮干净。
小便池里不通水,厕所里也没有洗手的水池,他只能用5升的水瓶去接大便池里的水,再用来清洗小便池。
还有一些并不太常见的污渍,前几天胡同里有人把吃完的火锅汤倒在了便池里,等张元民看到的时候已经凝固住了,还是只能用钢丝球,弄完这一个便池就花了半个多小时。“这活干得特别憋屈,他们就检查厕所卫生,也不检查我们个人卫生。”
但他并不因此而对工作松懈,他怕连扫厕所的工作也失去了,”既然干上了就再勤一点,跟洗碗一样,人家擦两遍,我擦四遍,人家转两圈,我转四圈。自己别给自己找事。”
每晚8点半以后,张元民依次检查完三个厕所的情况,拍完照发到群里,这一天的工作才算告一段落。
无人时,他拿起车篓里的两块红砖快速挥动,锻炼臂力,再趴在环卫小车上做几个俯卧撑。这是枯燥繁复的日子里,为数不多的放松时间。
他不想让别人知道他是谁,尤其是老乡,不想让自己“失败又狼狈的一生”和现在的身份,影响到两个还没有成家的儿子。
“我现在最大的愿望就是一个8小时制4个工休的待遇,很想,做梦都想。我这点想法是不是很幼稚,太离谱,太奢侈,是我吃多了还是喝多了,我也搞不懂,但是这点想法不过分吧?”我认识刘军的那一天,他们两口子留我在家里吃了一顿饭。
他们从柜子里取出了小电饭锅和大米,特意用桶装的矿泉水煮了这锅饭。电磁炉放在地上,阿姨蹲在地上,炒了一盘西红柿鸡蛋。
我去附近的凉菜店买了一点牛肉、鸡爪和一瓶二锅头。
开饭的时候,我们围坐在厕所门口,在椅子上垫上报纸,摆好菜肴。
阿姨很快就吃完了,我和刘军几乎喝完了一瓶酒,我的头晕乎乎的。
我走的时候,阿姨似乎和我说了什么,我记不清了,也许是我喝大了。
但我希望,他们的声音并不是真的那么微小,而是可以被更多人听到。(应故事讲述者要求,文中部分人物系化名)
深深一笑
塔纳岛是太平洋西南部的瓦努阿图群岛中的一个,面积556平方千米,岛上生活着约1.2万土著。千年之前,那玛人的祖先来到岛上,从此与世隔绝。
二战爆发后,小岛成为美军中转站。士兵们用登陆舰、货船和运输机,源源不断地把建筑材料、军火和给养从本土运送到小岛上。他们锯木头、拉电线、建军营和机场,接受货轮和飞机运来的货物,出操、吃罐头、喝饮品、看书、听音乐、打猎……,也会将食物分享给远处围观的土著人。
几年后,美军胜利撤离,岛上的基地很快就被遗忘了。
而土著们看到的是:白色(部分黑色)皮肤的神明的眷顾者每天排列整齐在空地上走来走去(操练),反复翻动装订成册的东西(看文件、书籍),头戴奇怪的东西一边念咒语一边对着小盒子不停地敲打(收发电报)。每隔一段时间就会有大船(神明)和怪鸟(神明)给他们送来大批吃的用的。最后他们又随着神明走了。
土著们的结论是:眷顾者的那些动作是在向神祷告,神就会送来丰富的食物。眷顾者中有黑色皮肤的,是自己逝去的祖先,他们也能成为神的眷顾者。
于是,在特定的某天,不分男女老少,全岛的土著都用红色染料在身上涂写USA字符,扛着削尖的长棍整齐地行进、用树枝和椰壳制造飞机、修出类似飞机跑道的平整地面、用木头搭建西式办公室和食堂、用椰子和稻草造出收音机、用树干造起十字架(模仿美军用来埋葬死去战友的十字架)、戴眼镜对着盒子讲话,地位较高的土著还会穿上被遗留下来的军服,虔诚的用仪式来召唤神的再次降临。
从而,岛上产生了一种叫作“约翰.弗鲁姆(可能是当时分给土著食物的士兵或者军官的名字)”的宗教。斯金纳在《鸽子的迷信行为》一文中展示了一个实验:实验对象是8只鸽子,连续几天对这些鸽子喂少于他们正常进食量的食物,使它们处于饥饿状态。
实验箱里的食物分发器被设定为每隔15秒掉落一粒食物,不管动物当时在做什么。
让每只鸽子每天在实验箱里待几分钟,对其行为不作任何限制。两个独立的观测者记录了鸽子在箱中的行为。
斯金纳在报告中写道:“ 8只鸽子中的6只产生了非常明显的条件反射,两名观察者得到了完全一致的记录。一只鸽子形成了在箱子中逆时针转圈的条件反射,在距离下一次投食时转2-3圈;另一只反复将头撞向箱子上方的一个角落;第三只鸽子只显现出一种上述反应,把头放在一根看不见的杆下面并反复抬起。还有两只鸽子的头和身体呈现出一种类似摇摆的动作,它们头部前伸,并且从右向左大幅度摇摆,接着再慢慢地转过来,它们的身子也顺势移动,动作幅度过大时还会向前走几步。还有一只鸽子形成了不完整地啄击或轻触的条件反应,动作直冲地面但并不接触。”
上述的行为和鸽子得到食物毫无联系。然而,它们表现得就好像行为会产生食物似的;也就是说,它们变得迷信了。
接下来,选择一只摇头的鸽子,把两次投放食物的时间间隔慢慢增加到1分钟。这时,鸽子表现得更加精力充沛,直到最后在两次强化间的1分钟内,这只鸽子像在表演一种舞蹈(“鸽子食物舞”)。
最后是消除鸽子的这种“迷信”行为。这意味着在测试箱中的强化不再出现(也就是不再投放食物)。值得注意的是,这只“跳舞”的鸽子在完全消退这种迷信行为之前,卖力地表演了超过了1万次“它自创的讨取食物的舞蹈”,迷信行为才完全消失。
斯金纳解释道:“这一实验可以说是证明了一种迷信。鸽子行为的依据是行为和食物之间的因果关系,虽然这种联系实际上并不存在。”
当某种行为只是偶然地被强化一次,它就会变得非常难以消除。如果每种联系每次出现,然后突然消失,那么行为就会很快停止。
对人类而言,偶然的强化通常要过很长时间才能再次发生,因此,迷信行为也常常持续一生。心理学中有一个“管道相遇”实验:一根很狭窄管子仅容许一只老鼠通过,然后从两头各放入一只老鼠,它们相遇后只有一只老鼠从管道里退出来,另一只才能通过。
老鼠是有社会等级的,等级的位置决定了哪只老鼠需要往后退。
这时,实验人员做了一个干预,他们把处于从属地位的老鼠后面的出口堵住了,于是,这只老鼠不能后退只能前进,使之前占优势等级地位的老鼠被迫后退,并输掉了比赛。
连续四天输给之前低地位的老鼠之后,之前地位靠前的老鼠在争夺资源时表现得很顺从,这表明它们的社会地位降低了。而且,与对照组的老鼠相比,它们对甜水的偏好也降低了,这表明它们处理快乐的能力受到了损害——它们的大脑对此出现了反应,LHb神经元被激活,导致了mPFC神经元的抑制。
实验显示:不仅老鼠,这种行为模式可能出现在所有物种中——习得性无助。(当个体反复暴露于一种不可避免的厌恶情境时,就会失去逃离其他可避免的厌恶情境的能力)
除非,在这一个个“管道”中,有人将一头堵住。笛卡尔一直认为“我思故我在。”
一次他约了一位女士来到一家豪华餐馆,侍酒师把酒单递给他们,在女士点了酒单上最昂贵的葡萄酒之后,笛卡尔嘟囔了一句“我没思考过这个。”
于是,他就真的消失了。黑格尔在他的《法哲学原理》一书中写道:“中国的历史从本质上看是没有历史的,它只是君主覆灭的一再重复而已。任何进步都不可能从中产生。”
马克斯·韦伯则断言古代:“中国无城市。”(没有市民自治权利的共同体)人类学家马林诺斯基,1914年在太平洋的巴布亚与当地食人族聊天。马林诺斯基提到了战争——也就是第一次世界大战。
“现在欧洲在打仗,每一天都要死几万人。”
食人族疑惑不解:“你们怎么吃得了那么多人?”
马林诺斯基解释说,“欧洲人不吃人肉……”
食人族震惊:“不吃肉,为什么要杀人?你们太野蛮了!”托克维尔对查理十世是这样评价的:“我们在历史中见过不少领导人,他的知识结构、文化水平、政治判断力和价值选择,会停留在青少年时期的某一阶段。然后不管他活多久,也不管世上发生多少变化,他都表现为某一时刻的僵尸。如果有某个机缘,让他登上大位,他一定会从他智力、知识发展过程中停止的那个时刻去寻找资源,构造他的政治理念、价值选择和治国方略。这种人的性格一般都执拗、偏执,并且愚蠢地自信,愚而自用,以为他捍卫了某种价值,能开辟国家发展的新方向。其实,他们往往穿着古代的戏装,却在现代舞台上表演,像坟墓中的幽灵突然出现在光天化日之下,人人都知道他是幽灵,他却以为自己是真神。但是,他选择的理念,推行的政策,无一不是发霉的旧货。”
王小波在《花剌子模信使问题》中讲述了一个故事:“中亚古国花剌子模有一古怪的风俗,凡是给君王带来好消息的信使,就会得到提升,给君王带来坏消息的人则会被送去喂老虎。于是将帅出征在外,凡麾下将士有功,就派他们给君王送好消息,以使他们得到提升;有罪,则派去送坏消息,顺便给国王的老虎送去食物。”
英文中也有对应的一个短语,叫“射杀信使”(shoot the messenger)。每天早上拿破仑理发修面时,都喜欢看报。但看的主要是英国和德国报纸,对法国报纸则根本不感兴趣。有人问他为什么要这样,他回答说:“我国报刊上登的东西,全是按我的旨意写的。
拿破仑连年征战,给法国带来一系列社会问题,为转移舆论的注意力,他设立了名目繁多的科学和文学特别奖,规定每10年颁一次。为了获奖,法国知识界展开了激烈争夺,甚至形成了互相敌对的宗派和阵营。报上还连篇累牍地发表文章进行煽动,更如火上加油。
这种情况使一般读者大为开心,但最开心的还是拿破仑本人。有一天,拿破仑问航海家布于维尔:“您对这些争斗有何高见?”
布于维尔回答:“古代是让野兽打架来使聪明人开心,现在则是让聪明人争吵来使傻瓜开心。”(在法语中,‘野兽’与‘傻瓜’是同一个词)拿破仑非常渴望青史留名。有一次早上散步,他得意的地对秘书说:“布里昂,你也将永垂不朽了。”布里昂听了这句话,不知是什么意思。
拿破仑看着他,解释道:“你不是我的秘书吗?”
布里昂是一个非常有自尊心的人,他不愿意接受子虚乌有的恩惠,但又不便直接对拿破仑的话加以反驳或者拒绝。于是,他反问道:
“请问亚历山大的秘书是谁?”一次宴会上,达尔文恰好和一位美貌的女士坐在一起,女士以戏谑的口吻说:
“达尔文先生,听说你断言人类是猴子变来的,我也是属于你的断言之列吗?”
达尔文彬彬有礼地回答道:
“当然。只不过您不是一般的猴子变的,您是由长得非常迷人的猴子变的!”秋天到了,美国保留地的印第安人问他们的新酋长,这个冬天是不是会很冷?
这位新酋长太年轻了,缺乏在山里面生活的经验,所以不是很清楚今年的冬天是冷还是暖,但他想还是保险起见,就打赌今年比较冷,多搜集点木材总没错,万一不冷的话,后面一年还能用,于是大家就听了他的命令,去搜集了很多木材。
搜集了几周以后,酋长需要思考一下木材是不是搜集够了,于是就致电气象局:“站在气象局的立场上,你们认为今年的冬天会不会很冷?”
气象局说:“我认为今年的冬天会极为寒冷。”
听完以后酋长心想我太保守了,就把所有部落里的人找过来了,继续搜集木材。
又过了几周,酋长再打一次电话给气象局,他再问气象局:“今年的冬天会不会很冷呢?”
气象局说:“我们前面的估计恐怕还太保守了,现在的估计是,这可能是美国最近半个世纪以来最冷的一个冬天。”
酋长说:“怎么一次比一次说得严重,你有什么凭据能够证明这一点呢?”
气象局说:“我们的凭据是,根据我们的观察,附近印第安保留地的印第安人正在疯狂地囤积木头。”在一場語言学的演讲会上,J. L. Austin解释自己的最新发現︰双重否定句在一些語言里表达否定的意思,在另外一些語言里則表达肯定的意思。而且,沒有任何一个語言会使用双重肯定來表达否定的意思。
听众席的一个角落里,Sidney Morgenbesser于是以戏谑的口气回道︰“是啊,是啊!”哥伦布发现美洲后 , 许多人认为他只不过是凑巧看到, 其他任何人只要有他的运气 , 都可以做到 。 于是, 在一个盛大的宴会上 , 一位贵族向他发难道:“哥伦布先生 , 我们谁都知道 , 美洲就在那儿 , 你不过是凑巧先上去了呗!如果是我们去也会发现的 。 ”
哥伦布拿起了桌上一个鸡蛋,对大家说:“诸位先生女士们 , 你们谁能够把鸡蛋立在桌子上?”
大家跃跃欲试,却一个个败下阵来 。
哥伦布微微一笑,拿起鸡蛋, 在桌上轻轻一磕, 就把鸡蛋立在那儿。一位男子走进了宠物店要去看鹦鹉的价格,店主给他看了两只漂亮的鹦鹉,说:“先生这只鹦鹉五千美元,那只一万美元。”
“这只五千美元,它能干什么?”
“它有一个小小的技能,能唱出莫扎特写的所有的咏叹调。”
“这叫小小的技能啊?另外一只呢?”
“另外一只一万美元,它可以把瓦格纳的整部《尼伯龙根的指环》默唱出来,所以它就更贵一点。”
“这两只我都不买,太贵了。还有第三只,这只也挺漂亮的。标价是多少?”
“三万美元。先生,你恐怕买不起。”
“等一下,我买不起,但我想长长知识,前面两只鹦鹉已经很牛了,三万美元一只的鹦鹉有什么技能呢?”
“它会要求另外两只唱莫扎特和瓦格纳。”半夜,Holmes唤醒了Watson说:“Watson,抬头仰望天空,告诉我所见。”
“亲爱的Holmes,我看到了数百万颗星星。”
“您从这些星星中得出什么?”
“好吧,有很多事情,”他一边点燃烟斗一边说道:
“从天文学角度来看,我发现有数百万个星系以及数十亿个恒星和行星。从占星术的角度,我观察到土星在狮子座。从统计学上讲,我推断时间大约是三点四十分。气象方面,我希望天气晴朗。你呢,福尔摩斯?”
“Watson,有人偷了我们的帐篷!”雅鲁泽尔斯基时期的波兰,当时军事变局刚结束。那个时期,军队的巡逻兵在宵禁(十点)以后,有权不加警告地射击路上行人。两个士兵在巡逻,其中一个看到有人在十点差十分的时候急匆匆地走在路上,马上向其开了枪。他的同伴问他为什么开枪,毕竟还差十分十点,他答道:“我知道那个家伙——他住得离这儿很远,无论如何十分钟内也到不了家,所以为了省事,我就现在射了他。”
“绝对知识”作为一种概念性整体怪物,会吞噬了所有的偶然性。生物老师对一个小学生进行测试,考他各种动物,小学生每次回答时,总能把答案转到“马”。
老师问,“ 什么是大象?”
“生活在丛林里的一种动物,那儿没有马。马是一种驯化的哺乳动物,有四条腿,被用来骑,在地里干活或者拉车。”
“什么是鱼?”
“一种没有腿的动物,不像马。马是一种驯化的哺乳……”
“什么是狗?”
“一种不像马的动物,会叫。马是一种驯化的哺乳……”
如是反复,直到最后,绝望的老师问小学生:“好吧,那什么是马?”某哲学系大学生放假回家,家里为他准备了一桌丰盛的饭菜,还有一只鸡。吃饭时,父亲问儿子:“你在大学里学的什么?”
“哲学。”
“学这有什么用?”
儿子说:“学了哲学,看问题和别人就不一样。比如,拿咱们桌子上的这只鸡来说,普通人看来呀,它就是一只鸡,一只具体的鸡。但在我们学过哲学的人看来,是两只鸡,除了一只具体的鸡以外,还有一只抽象的鸡。”
一直听他们谈话的妹妹插嘴说:“那好,我和爸爸吃这只具体的鸡,你一个人去吃那只抽象的鸡吧。”澳洲大学委员会决定不再向澳洲所有大学的哲学系提供经费支持,因为“他们每年制造成千上万的问题,却不能解决任何一个”。
委员会成员W对此深感失望,他举了个例子:他曾经向澳洲国立大学哲学系提出一个问题:“给我们一个让你们存在的理由。”结果哲学系反问他们:“你们怎么知道你们存在?”“于是我们这回解决一个哲学问题,他们现在不存在了。”
另一个委员也补充了一个论据。哲学系最不应该得到经费支持,其次是英语系。“我们每年要砸上百万在英语系上。后来我们发现,他们招收的学生本来就会说英语。”这个委员感慨说:“真不如把这笔钱给商学院。我发现商学院这些年真的让许多外国学生学会了说英语。”有效议事三原则:约定性,对事不对人;工具性,尽量以工具性而非道德手段来解决问题;价值中性,以文明式讨论来辩论、说服、妥协,而非对持不同意见者进行连带打压。
J. Holmes法官就“言论自由”的边界提出一个所谓“明显而即刻的危险原则(Clear and Present Danger)”,即:1. 在特殊情况下,2. 存在巨大、潜在的危险。可惜的是该法官没有注意到危险的对象的内涵。
如果尖锐的批评完全消失,温和的批评将会变得刺耳。如果温和的批评也不被允许,沉默将被认为居心叵测。如果沉默也不再允许,赞扬不够卖力将是一种罪行。如果只允许一种声音存在,那么,唯一存在的那个声音就是谎言。
美国华盛顿州沃尔玛枪击案中凶手被在场民众当场击毙,击毙持枪歹徒的男子在击毙歹徒后又对受重伤受害人实施了急救。这位男子是个教会工作人员、志愿消防员、认证靶场安全官,出于同一个理由,他总随身携带着经书、急救包和枪。
英国威斯敏斯特教堂地下室里的一块墓碑上面写了这样一段话:
在我年轻的时候,曾梦想改变这个世界。
可当我成熟以后,我发现我不能改变这个世界。于是,我将目光缩短一些,那就只改变我的国家吧。
可当我到了暮年的时候,我发现我根本没有能力改变我的国家。于是,我的最后愿望仅仅是改变我的家庭,可是这也不可能的。
当我躺在床上,行将就木的时候,我突然意识到,如果当初我仅仅是从改变自己开始,也许我就能改变我的家庭。
在家人的帮助和鼓励下,也许我就能为我的国家做一点事情;然后谁知道呢,说不定我能改变这个世界。柏林牧师Martin Niemller写过一首诗《我没有说话》:起初,他们抓共产党人,我没说话,因为我不是共产党人。
随后,他们抓社会民主人,我没说话,因为我不是社会民主党人。
接着,他们抓工会成员,我没说话,因为我不是工会成员。
然后,他们抓犹太人,我没说话,因为我不是犹太人。
最后,他们来抓我,再也没有人站起来为我说话了。统治者的那些冗长头衔:
沙皇尼古拉二世至1906年的头衔全称为:奉天承运,全俄罗斯的皇帝;莫斯科、基辅、弗拉基米尔、诺夫哥罗德的沙皇和独裁者;喀山沙皇,阿斯特拉罕沙皇,波兰沙皇,西伯利亚沙皇,克里米亚(Tauric)和南克里米亚(Chersonesos)沙皇,格鲁吉亚沙皇;普斯科夫领主;斯摩棱斯克大公,立陶宛大公,沃里尼亚(西乌克兰)大公,波多利亚(中乌克兰)大公,芬兰大公;爱沙尼亚亲王,立窝尼亚亲王,库尔兰和塞米加利亚(拉脱维亚)亲王,萨莫吉提亚(东立陶宛)亲王,比亚韦斯托克亲王,卡累利阿亲王,特维尔亲王,尤格拉亲王,彼尔姆亲王,弗拉特卡亲王,保加利亚以及其他领地的亲王;下诺夫哥罗德、切尔尼戈夫、梁赞、波罗茨克、罗斯托夫、雅罗斯拉夫尔、别洛热尔斯克、乌多尔、奥勃多尔、康迪亚、维捷布斯克、姆斯季斯拉夫和所有北方地区的领主和大公;伊弗里亚(南格鲁吉亚)、卡提里亚(东格鲁吉亚)、卡巴尔达和亚美尼亚所有省份的领主和君主;切尔克斯人和山地高加索人的领主;土耳其斯坦领主;挪威王位继承人,石勒苏益格-荷尔斯泰因、斯托尔曼因、迪特马申和奥尔登堡公爵,等等,等等,等等
伊迪·阿明·达达曾是乌干达一位半文盲的统治者,最喜欢的称号是:乌干达全体人民的救星、国父,胜利大十字勋章、杰出服务勋章和军事十字勋章获得者,大英帝国的伟大征服者、陆军元帅、共和国总统阿明博士
英国女王的头衔:承上帝洪恩,大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国与其属土及领地之女皇伊丽莎白二世,英联邦元首,信仰的保护者,爱丁堡公爵夫人、梅里奥内斯女伯爵,格林尼治女男爵、兰开斯特公爵,马恩岛领主,诺曼底公爵、最尊贵的嘉德勋位骑士团领主、最尊贵的巴斯勋位骑士团领主、最古老和最尊贵的苏格兰勋位骑士团领主,最光辉的圣帕特里克勋位骑士团领主、最杰出的圣迈克尔和圣乔治勋位骑士团领主、最卓越的英帝国勋位骑士团、优异服务勋位骑士团领主、帝国服务勋位骑士团领主、最崇高的印度宝星勋位骑士团领主、最杰出的印度帝国勋位骑士团领主、英属印度勋位骑士团领主、印度功勋勋位骑士团领主、缅甸勋位骑士团领主、皇家维多利亚和阿尔伯特勋位骑士团领主、英王爱德华七世皇家家庭勋位骑士团领主、功勋勋位骑士团领主、荣誉勋位骑士团领主、皇家维多利亚勋位骑士团领主、最威严的耶路撒冷的圣约翰医院骑士团领主、加拿大勋位骑士团领主、澳大利亚勋位骑士团领主、新西兰勋位骑士团领主、巴巴多斯勋位骑士团领主、忠勇勋位骑士团领主、军功勋位骑士团领主、皇家功勋勋位骑士团领主……等
苏丹是奥斯曼帝国的最高统治者,头衔内容自然非常丰富:奥斯曼家族的最高统治者、众苏丹之苏丹、众汗之汗、忠诚的哈里发、麦加、麦地那和耶路撒冷的仆人、伊斯坦布尔、埃迪尔内和布尔萨三城以及沙姆和埃及的所有城市、全阿塞拜疆、马格里斯、巴尔卡、凯鲁万、阿勒颇、伊拉克、阿拉比亚、阿吉姆、巴士拉、哈萨、迪兰、拉卡、摩苏尔、帕提亚、迪亚巴克尔、奇里乞亚、埃尔祖鲁姆省、锡瓦斯省、阿达纳省、卡拉曼省、凡城省、巴尔巴里亚、哈贝什、突尼斯、的黎波里、沙姆、塞浦路斯、罗得岛、克里特岛、摩里亚、地中海、黑海、安纳托利亚、罗马利亚、巴格达、库尔德斯坦、希腊、突厥斯坦、塔尔塔里、切尔克西亚、卡巴尔达的两个地区、格鲁吉亚、钦察草原、鞑靼人的所有土地、凯法和所有邻近地区、波斯尼亚及其属地、贝尔格莱德城、塞尔维亚省及其所有要塞和城市、全阿尔巴尼亚省、全伊夫拉克和波格达尼亚、以及所有附属国和边疆和其他所有地区和城市的帕迪沙
哈里发的称号:真主在大地上的影子,真主使者的继承人,哈里发,奥斯曼最高统治者,众苏丹之苏丹,众可汗之可汗,两圣地之仆,罗马之凯撒,君斯坦丁堡、亚德里安堡和布尔萨三城之皇帝,大马士革和开罗之苏丹,巴格达、阿勒颇、巴士拉、摩苏尔、伊拉克、阿塞拜疆、格鲁吉亚、柏柏尔、切尔克斯、鞑靼、库尔德、的黎波里、塞浦路斯、希腊、莫里亚、鲁米尼亚、波斯尼亚、阿尔巴尼亚诸地之国王和苏丹
弗朗茨.约瑟夫:受上帝护佑的奥地利皇帝;匈牙利和波希米亚、达尔马提亚、克罗地亚、斯洛文尼亚、加利西亚和洛多梅里亚王国、伊利里亚、伦巴第和威尼斯的国王;耶路撒冷国王;奥地利公爵;托斯卡纳和克拉科夫大公;洛林、萨尔茨堡、施蒂利亚、克恩滕、卡尼鄂拉和布克维纳公爵;尼伯龙根大侯爵;摩拉维亚伯爵;上、下西里西亚,摩德纳、帕尔马、皮亚琴察、瓜斯塔拉、奥斯威辛和扎托尔,拉古萨公爵
费利佩六世:西班牙国王;卡斯蒂利亚国王;莱昂国王;阿拉贡国王;两西西里国王;耶路撒冷国王;塞浦路斯国王;纳瓦拉国王;格拉纳达国王;马略卡国王;托莱多国王;塞维利亚国王;巴伦西亚国王;加利西亚国王;撒丁尼亚国王;科尔多瓦国王;科西嘉国王;梅诺卡国王;穆尔西亚国王;哈恩国王;阿尔加维人的国王;阿尔赫西拉斯国王;直布罗陀国王;加那利群岛国王; 东、西印度及附属岛屿、美洲大陆及四海之王!地利大公;勃艮第公爵;布拉班特公爵;林堡公爵;洛泰尔公爵;米兰公爵;卢森堡公爵;雅典公爵;尼奥帕特拉斯公爵;哈布斯堡伯爵;佛兰德斯伯爵;勃艮第伯爵;埃诺伯爵;那慕尔伯爵;阿图瓦伯爵;夏洛莱伯爵;蒂罗尔伯爵;鲁西荣伯爵;塞尔达尼亚伯爵;巴塞罗那伯爵;赫罗纳伯爵;奥索拉伯爵;贝萨卢伯爵;科瓦东加伯爵;比斯开领主;莫利纳领主
哈布斯堡王朝的查理五世:托上帝鸿福,神圣罗马帝国皇帝、永远的奥古斯都、罗马人民的国王、意大利国王、卡斯蒂利亚、阿拉贡、莱昂、纳瓦拉、格兰纳达、托莱多、巴伦西亚、加利西亚、马略卡、塞维利亚、科尔多瓦、穆尔西亚、哈恩、阿尔加维、阿尔赫西拉斯、直布罗陀、加那利群岛(现西班牙地区的国王)、西西里国王、那不勒斯国王、萨丁尼亚与科西嘉国王、耶路撒冷国王、东与西印度群岛国王、奥地利大公、勃艮第公爵、布拉班特公爵、洛林公爵、施蒂里亚公爵、卡林西亚公爵、卡尔尼奥拉公爵、林堡公爵、卢森堡公爵、海尔德兰公爵、阿尔萨斯领地伯爵、那慕尔藩侯、弗兰德伯爵、哈布斯堡伯爵、蒂罗尔伯爵、戈里齐亚伯爵、巴塞罗那伯爵、夏洛莱伯爵、阿瓦图伯爵、勃艮第-普法尔茨伯爵、埃诺伯爵、荷兰伯爵、聚特芬伯爵、鲁西永伯爵
刚果总统蒙博托:全名为蒙博托·赛赛·赛科·库库·恩本杜·瓦·扎·邦加,即扎伊尔河边一位不可战胜的勇士;终身总统、执政党“人民革命运动”的终身领袖、班加拉族大酋长、元帅;其称号包括“国家之父”、“人们的大救星”、“超级战士”、“大战略家”等等
明世宗朱厚熜自我加封的三次道号:凌霄上清统雷元阳妙一飞元真君+九天宏教普济生灵掌阴阳功过大道思仁紫极仙翁一阳真人元虚玄应开化伏魔忠孝帝君+太上大罗天仙紫极长生圣智昭灵统三元证应玉虚总管五雷大真人玄都境万寿帝君塞尔维亚有一则谚语:
在战争中,政治家提供弹药,富人提供食物,穷人提供孩子!
当战争结束后,政治家们取回剩余的弹药,富人种更多的粮食,穷人们只能寻找孩子的坟墓。战场是一个互不相识、互不仇恨的年轻相互残杀的地方,由互相认识、互相仇恨的老年人决定,但老年人不互相残杀,他们只是在战争结束时握手。
《西线无战事》里有这样的一段话:我们会在一声令下之后把他们当成敌人,又可能因一声令下而与他们结为朋友。那些人轻轻地拿笔在桌上写了几行字,就让我们过去所认为的世人不耻的卑鄙的手段,成为了新的追求方式。
《资治通鉴 · 隋纪 · 隋纪五》载:
帝(隋炀帝杨广)以诸蕃酋长毕集洛阳,丁丑(610年,大业六年),于端门街盛陈百戏,戏场周围五千步,执丝竹者万八千人,声闻数十里,自昏达旦,灯火光烛天地;终月而罢,所费巨万。自是岁以为常。
诸蕃请入丰都市交易,帝许之。先命整饰店肆,檐宇如一,盛设帷帐,珍货充积,人物华盛,卖菜者亦藉以龙须席。胡客或过酒食店,悉令邀廷就坐,醉饱而散,不取其值,绐之曰:“中国丰饶,酒食例不取直。”胡客皆惊叹。
其黠者颇觉之,见以缯帛缠树,曰:“中国亦有贫者,衣不盖形,何如以此物与之,缠树何为?”
市人惭不能答。《清史通鉴》记载:多尔衮对进攻中原犹豫不决,比起人口,清人口百不及一,兵十不及一。范文程谏:掠其亲人忍,毁其宗祠忍,夺其地屋忍,此等芥民何惧?多尔衮猛然醒悟,挥兵入关。
老佛爷慈禧太后读书不多,知识来源主要是戏曲和故事,她留下的名言不少:
在《辛丑条约》签订过程中,老佛爷颁布懿旨:“昨据奕劻等电呈各国和议十二条大纲,业已照允。仍电饬该全权大臣将详细节目悉心酌核,量中华之物力,结与国之欢心。”
1894年,老佛爷六十大寿,正好碰上甲午中日战争爆发,经费吃紧。有大臣劝谏把钱省下来,给海军做军费。慈禧不悦,说道:“今日令吾不欢者,吾亦将令彼终身不欢。”
张之洞问慈禧,俄国和美国相比,您更恨哪国?慈禧回答:俄国只要大清的土地,给他们一点地什么都解决了,咱有的是土地。美国虽然不要大清的土地,但是,美国总想要大清下台,支持成立同他们一样体制的国家,还权于民,我和美国势不两立。这段话的来源可能是:1898年9月29日(戊戌六君子被处决的第二天),《上谕档》记录有光绪依照慈禧吩咐给军机处写的一段指示:“……因时事紧迫,未俟复奏。又有人奏,若稽时日,恐有中变。细思该犯等自知情节较重,难逃法网,倘语多牵涉,恐有株连。是以将该犯等即行正法。又闻(保守派官员文悌:“……曾令其将忠君爱国合为一事,勿徒欲保中国而置我大清于度外,康有为亦似悔之……”《清史稿》的《文悌传》)该乱党等立保国会,言保中国不保大清……”
梁启超在《戊戌政变记》中记叙:“大学士刚毅尝语人曰:‘改革者,汉人之利,而满人之害也!我有产业,吾宁赠之于朋友,而必不使奴隶分其润也!’”塔拉·刚毅是老佛爷的重要支持者,可能因而这句话就变成了老佛爷的意思:宁赠友邦,不予家奴。
光绪三十四年,慈禧弥留之际遗言,“此后,女人不可预闻国政。此与本朝家法相违,必须严加限制。尤须严防,不得令太监擅权。明末之事,可为殷鉴!”中国首任驻外公使郭嵩焘曾总结晚清政府在外交上的表现:中国之于夷人,可以明目张胆与之划定章程,而中国一味怕。夷人断不可欺,而中国一味诈。中国尽多事,夷人尽强, 一切以理自处,杜其横逆之萌,而不可稍樱其怒,而中国一味蛮。彼有情可以揣度,有理可以制伏,而中国一味蠢。真乃无可奈何。
也即:一味怕,一味诈,一味蛮,一味蠢。
两广总督叶名琛不战、不和、不守、不死、不降、不走,最后身败被俘,客死异乡,或许是一个例子。谭嗣同在批评晚晴时期的君主制和暴力行为时说:“幸而中國之兵不強也,向使海軍如英、法,陸軍如俄、德,恃以逞其残賊,豈直君主之禍愈不可思议,而彼白人焉,紅人焉,黑人焉,〈梭〉色人焉,將为准噶尔,欲尚存瞧類焉得乎?故東西各國之壓制中國,天宜使之,所以曲用其仁愛,至于极致也。”
许子东回忆:干部从公社回来紧急召集开会,告诉大家美国那个总统叫尼克松,过几天来中国。一时大家没反应过来。部又说:“毛主席决定了,这一次不杀他!”打谷场上一片哗然,各种气愤和不理解!
樊建川:1972年,我在宜宾县柏溪镇读初中,因为“才高八斗、学富五车”,在小伙伴中享有“崇高威望”。一次,大家围拢,向我“请教”:为啥子要邀请美国总统尼克松来耍哎?为啥子还要整国宴请他喝好酒哎?为啥子毛主席周总理还要笑嘻嘻见他哎?为啥子还要放尼克松回美国去哎?我认真思考之后,指出了三种可能:1.请尼克松来为了侦察情报,我们可能要出兵解放美国了。2.尼克松可能已经被我们发展成内线特工了。3.如果尼克松顽固不化,我们也不能斩杀来使,可能给他下了慢性毒药。戈培尔问希特勒:元首,为什么我们总要树立一个外部敌人,为什么我们要长期不断的反复宣传这个敌人?
希特勒缓缓的回答:因为外部敌人一旦消失,人们就会发现,我们才是他们真正的敌人……一位男士找到神职人员:您听我说,我想向您忏悔,因为……
神职人员:说吧,我的孩子,我以一个神职人员应有的慈爱听你的忏悔。
男士:那好吧,在战争期间,我……我掩护过一个被纳粹追捕的人。
神职人员:这是好事,不是罪过。
男士:我是说……我把他藏在我的地窖里,每天让他付1500法郎的租金。
神职人员:你为了这件事……
男士:是的……而且……你明白吗?问题是现在我很后悔。 我……我一直没有告诉他战争已经结束。诺姆·乔姆斯基在《平静战争的无声武器》中列出操纵公众的十项策略:
1.分散注意力。社会控制的首要因素是制造大量而持续的娱乐和无关紧要的信息,将公众的注意力从重要问题和政治与经济精英决定的变革中移开。转移注意力战略在阻止公众关心科学、经济、心理学、生物神经学和控制学等领域的基础知识方面同样是不可或缺的。保持公众的注意力分散,远离真正的社会问题,被没有真正意义的问题所困。
2.制造问题,然后提出解决办法。制造一种会引起公众某种反应的可预见“形势”,使公众主动要求政府去采取某些原本准备施加于大众身上的措施。例如,引发或加剧城市暴力,或者组织血腥的恐怖袭击,促使公众自愿提议有损公民自由的政策。或者制造一场经济危机,令社会权利倒退以及破坏公共服务。
3.渐进战略。要想使一项不可接受的措施被接受,只要持续多年循序渐进地执行这项措施就足够了。
4.延迟战略。让某项不得人心的决定获得接受的另一种方式是将其解释为“痛苦的和必要的”,暂时获得公众的接受,以便未来实施。接受未来的牺牲比马上牺牲要容易得多。首先,因为这项努力不用马上付出。其次,因为公众总是倾向于天真地以为“明天一切都会好的”,所要求的牺牲也许可以避免。这就使公众有更多的时间去习惯于变革的思想,并在那一刻到来的时候忍痛接受。
5.将公众当作三岁孩童。针对公众的大部分广告宣传都利用一些孩子气的说法、论据、人物和语调,很多时候更接近于弱势,好像观众是幼小的孩童或有心理缺陷的人。越想欺骗观众,就越倾向于采取孩子气的语调。为什么?如果一个人对另一个人说话的时候就好像对方只有12岁或更小,那么在催眠暗示的作用下,对方很可能会倾向于给出不合情理的回答或反应,就像一个12岁或更小的孩子一样。
6. 利用情绪多于思考利用情绪因素是造成理性分析短路,并最终造成逻辑丧失的传统方法。另一方面,利用情绪也有助于打开下意识之门,以便植入一些思想、愿望、恐惧和强制,或诱导一些行为。
7.使公众保持无知和平庸的状态使公众没有能力理解用来控制和奴役他们的技术和方法。提供给社会下层的教育质量应该是最可怜的,尽可能平庸,让底层和上层之间的无知距离对于底层人来说是遥不可及的。
8.诱导公众因平庸而喜悦。诱导公众相信,愚蠢、粗俗和没文化是一种时尚。
9.加强自责感。让人相信只有自己才是自身不幸的罪魁祸首,因为自己不够聪明,没有能力,不够努力。这样,他们就不会起来反抗经济制度,而是自怨自艾,造成一种抑郁的状态,而行动抑制就是后果之一。没有行动就没有革命。
10比人们更了解他们自己。