The Awakening of China by W.A.P. Martin

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It was in Canton that American trade suffered most from the boycott
of 1905, because there the ill-treatment of Chinese in America was
most deeply felt, the Chinese in California being almost exclusively
from the province of Canton.

The viceroy of Canton has also the province of Kwangsi under his
jurisdiction. Mountainous and thinly peopled, it is regarded by
its associate as a burden, being in an almost chronic state of
rebellion and requiring large armies to keep its turbulent inhabitants
in order.

[Page 14]
CHAPTER III

PROVINCE OF FUKIEN

_Amoy--Bold Navigators--Foochow--Mountain of Kushan--The Bridge
of Ten Thousand Years_

Following the coast to the north some three hundred miles we come
to Amoy, the first important seaport in the adjacent province of
Fukien. The aspect of the country has undergone a change. Hills
attain the altitude of mountains, and the alluvial plains, so
conspicuous about Canton, become contracted to narrow valleys.

The people, too, are changed in speech and feature. Taller, coarser
in physiognomy, with high cheek-bones and harsh voices, their dialect
is totally unintelligible to people of the neighbouring province.
As an example of the diversity of dialects in China, may be cited
the Chinese word for man. In some parts of Fukien it is _long_;
in Canton, _yan_ or _yin_; at Ningpo, _ning_; and
at Peking, _jin_.

One is left in doubt whether the people or the mountains which
they inhabit were the most prominent factors in determining the
dividing line that separates them from their neighbours on the
south and west. In enterprise and energy they rival the Cantonese.
They are bold navigators; the grand island of Formosa, now ceded
to Japan, was colonised by them; and by
[Page 15]
them also the savage aborigines were driven over to the east coast.
A peculiar sort of black tea is grown on these mountains, and, along
with grass cloth, forms a staple in the trade of Amoy. The harbour
is not wanting in beauty; and a view from one of the hill-tops, from
which hundreds of villages are visible, is highly picturesque.
Of the town of Amoy with its 200,000 people there is not much to
be said except that several missions, British and American, which
opened stations there soon after the first war with Great Britain,
have met with encouraging success. At Swatow, a district in Canton
Province beyond the boundary, the American Baptists have a flourishing
mission.

Entering the Formosan Channel we proceed to the mouth of the Min,
a fine river which leads up to Foochow (Fuchau), some thirty miles
inland. We do not stop to explore the Island of Formosa because,
having been ceded to Japan, it no longer forms a part of the Chinese
Empire. From the river the whole province is sometimes described
as "the country of Min"; but its official name is Fukien. This
name does not signify "happily established," as stated in most
books, but is compounded of the names of its two chief cities by
taking the first syllable of each, somewhat as the pioneer settlers
of Arkansas formed the name of the boundary town of Texarkana.
The names of some other provinces of China are formed in the same
way; e.g. Kiangsu, Kansuh, and that of the viceregal district of
Yuenkwei.

Kushan, a mountain on the bank of the river, is famed for its scenery;
and, as with mountains everywhere else in China, it has been made
the seat of a
[Page 16]
Buddhist monastery, with some scores of monks passing their time
not in contemplation, but in idleness.

The city of Foochow is imposing with its fine wall of stone, and
a long stone bridge called Wansuik'iao "the bridge of ten thousand
years." It has a population of about 650,000. To add to its importance
it has a garrison or colony of Manchus who from the date of the
conquest in 1644 have lived apart from the Chinese and have not
diminished in numbers.

The American Board and the Methodist Episcopal Board have large and
prosperous missions at this great centre, and from this base they
have ramified through the surrounding mountains, mostly following
the tributaries of the Min up to their sources. In 1850 I was
entertained at Foochow by the Rev. Dr. C. C. Baldwin, who, I am
glad to say, still lives after the lapse of fifty-five years; but
he is no longer in the mission field.

[Page 17]
CHAPTER IV

PROVINCE OF CHEHKIANG

_Chusan Archipelago--Putu and Pirates--Queer Fishers and Queer
Boats--Ningpo--A Literary Triumph--Search for a Soul--Chinese
Psychology--Hangchow--The Great Bore_

Chehkiang, the next province to the north, and the smallest of
the eighteen, is a portion of the highlands mentioned in the last
chapter. It is about as large as Indiana, while some of the provinces
have four or five times that area. There is no apparent reason
why it should have a distinct provincial government save that its
waters flow to the north, or perhaps because the principality of
Yuih (1100 B.C.) had such a boundary, or, again, perhaps because
the language of the people is akin to that of the Great Plain in
which its chief river finds an outlet. How often does a conqueror
sever regions which form a natural unit, merely to provide a
principality for some favourite!

Lying off its coast is the Chusan archipelago, in which two islands
are worthy of notice. The largest, which gives the archipelago
its name, is about half the length of Long Island, N. Y., and is
so called from a fancied resemblance to a junk, it having a high
promontory at either end. It contains eighteen valleys--a division
not connected with the eighteen provinces, but
[Page 18]
perpetuated in a popular rhyme which reflects severely on the morals
of its inhabitants. Shielded by the sea, and near enough to the
land to strike with ease at any point of the neighbouring coast,
the British forces found here a secure camping-ground in their
first war.

To the eastward lies the sacred Isle of Putu, the Iona of the China
coast. With a noble landscape, and so little land as to offer no
temptation to the worldly, it was inevitable that the Buddhists
should fix on it as a natural cloister. For many centuries it has been
famous for its monasteries, some of which are built of timbers taken
from imperial palaces. Formerly the missionaries from neighbouring
seaports found at Putu refuge from the summer heat, but it is now
abandoned, since it afforded no shelter from the petty piracy at
all times so rife in these waters.

In 1855 Mr. (afterward Bishop) Russell and myself were captured by
pirates while on our way to Putu. The most gentlemanly freebooters
I ever heard of, they invited us to share their breakfast on the
deck of our own junk; but they took possession of all our provisions
and our junk too, sending us to our destination in a small boat,
and promising to pay us a friendly visit on the island. One of
them, who had taken my friend's watch, came to the owner to ask him
how to wind it. The Rev. Walter Lowrie, founder of the Presbyterian
Mission at Ningpo, was not so fortunate. Attacked by pirates nearly
on the same spot, he was thrown into the sea and drowned.

Passing these islands we come to the Ningpo River, with Chinhai,
a small city, at its mouth, and Ningpo,
[Page 19]
a great emporium, some twelve miles inland. This curious arrangement,
so different from what one would expect, confronts one in China with
the regularity of a natural law: Canton, Shanghai, Foochow, and
Tientsin, all conform to it. The small city stands at the anchorage
for heavy shipping; but the great city, renouncing this advantage,
is located some distance inland, to be safe from sea-robbers and
foreign foes.

As we ascend the river we are struck with more than one peculiar
mode of taking fish. We see a number of cormorants perched on the
sides of a boat. Now and then a bird dives into the water and comes
up with a fish in its beak. If the fish be a small one, the bird
swallows it as a reward for its services; but a fish of considerable
size is hindered in its descent by a ring around the bird's neck
and becomes the booty of the fisherman. The birds appear to be
well-trained; and their sharp eyes penetrate the depths of the
water. Another novelty in fishing is a contrivance by which fish are
made to catch themselves--not by running into a net or by swallowing
a hook, but by leaping over a white board and falling into a boat.
More strange than all are men who, like the cormorants, dive into
the water and emerge with fish--sometimes with one in either hand.
These fishermen when in the water always have their feet on the
ground and grope along the shore. The first time I saw this method
in practice I ran to the brink of the river to save, as I thought,
the life of a poor man. He no sooner raised his head out of the
water, however, than down it went again; and I was laughed at for
my want of discernment by a crowd of people who shouted _Ko-ng,
Ko-ng_, "he's catching fish."

[Page 20]
The natives have a peculiar mode of propelling a boat. Sitting
in the stern the boatman holds the helm with one hand, while with
the other he grasps a long pipe which he smokes at leisure. Without
mast or sail, he makes speed against wind or current by making
use of his feet to drive the oar. He thus gains the advantage of
weight and of his strong sartorial muscles. These little craft
are the swiftest boats on the river.

At the forks of the river, in a broad plain dotted with villages,
rise the stone walls of Ningpo, six miles in circuit, enclosing
a network of streets better built than those of the majority of
Chinese cities. The foreign settlement is on the north bank of
the main stream; but a few missionaries live within the walls, and
there I passed the first years of my life in China.

Above the walls, conspicuous at a distance, appears the pinnacle
of a lofty pagoda, a structure like most of those bearing the name,
with eight corners and nine stories. Originally designed for the
mere purposes of look-outs, these airy edifices have degenerated
into appliances of superstition to attract good influences and
to ward off evil.

Not only has this section of the province a dialect of its own,
of the mandarin type, but its people possess a finer physique than
those of the south. Taller, with eyes less angular and faces of
faultless symmetry, they are a handsome people, famed alike for
literary talent and for commercial enterprise. During my residence
there the whole city was once thrown into excitement by the news
that one of her sons had won the first prize in prose and verse
in competition, before the emperor, with the assembled scholars
of the empire--an
[Page 21]
an honour comparable to that of poet laureate or of a victor in
the Olympic games. When that distinction falls to a city, it is
believed that, in order to equalise matters, the event is sure
to be followed by three years of dearth. In this instance, the
highest mandarins escorted the wife of the literary athlete to
the top of the wall, where she scattered a few handfuls of rice
to avert the impending famine.

My house was attached to a new church which was surmounted by a
bell-tower. In a place where nothing of the sort had previously
existed, that accessory attracted many visitors even before the bell
was in position to invite them. One day a weeping mother, attended
by an anxious retinue, presented herself and asked permission to
climb the tower, which request of course was not refused.

Uncovering a bundle, she said: "This is my boy's clothing. Yesterday
he was up in the tower and, taking fright at the height of the
building, his little soul forsook his body and he had to go home
without it. He is now delirious with fever. We think the soul is
hovering about in this huge edifice and that it will recognise
these clothes and, taking possession of them, will return home with
us."

When a bird escapes from its cage the Chinese sometimes hang the
cage on the branch of a tree and the bird returns to its house
again. They believe they can capture a fugitive soul in the same
way. Sometimes, too, a man may be seen standing on a housetop at
night waving a lantern and chanting in dismal tones an invitation
to some wandering spirit to return to its abode. Whether in the
case just mentioned the poor
[Page 22]
woman's hopes were fulfilled and whether the _animula vagula
blandula_ returned from its wanderings I never learned, but I
mention the incident as exhibiting another picturesque superstition.

Chinese psychology recognises three souls, viz., the animal, the
spiritual, and the intellectual. The absence of one of the three
does not, therefore, involve immediate death, as does the departure
of the soul in our dual system.

But I tarry too long at my old home. We have practically an empire
still before us, and will, therefore, steer west for Hangchow.

In the thirteenth century this was the residence of an imperial
court; and the provincial capital still retains many signs of imperial
magnificence. The West Lake with its pavilions and its lilies,
a pleasance fit for an emperor; the vast circuit of the city's
walls enclosing hill and vale; and its commanding site on the bank
of a great river at the head of a broad bay--all combine to invest
it with dignity. Well do I recall the day in 1855 when white men
first trod its streets. They were the Rev. Henry Rankin and myself.
Though not permitted by treaty to penetrate even the rind of the
"melon," as the Chinese call their empire, to a distance farther
than admitted of our returning to sleep at home, we nevertheless
broke bounds and set out for the old capital of the Sungs. On the
way we made a halt at the city of Shaohing; and as we were preaching
to a numerous and respectful audience in the public square, a
well-dressed man pressed through the crowd and invited us to do
him the honour of taking tea at his house. His mansion exhibited every
[Page 23]
evidence of affluence; and he, a scholar by profession, aspiring
to the honours of the mandarinate, explained, as he ordered for
us an ample repast, that he would have felt ashamed if scholars
from the West had been allowed to pass through his city without
anyone offering them hospitality. What courtesy! Could Hebrew or
Arab hospitality surpass it?

Two things for which the city of Shaohing is widely celebrated
are (1) a sort of rice wine used throughout the Empire as being
indispensable at mandarin feasts, and (2) clever lawyers who are
deemed indispensable as legal advisers to mandarins. They are the
"Philadelphia lawyers" of China.

As we entered Hangchow the boys shouted _Wo tsei lai liao_,
"the Japanese are coming "--never having seen a European, and having
heard their fathers speak of the Japanese as sea-robbers, a terror
to the Chinese coast. Up to this date, Japan had no treaty with
China, and it had never carried on any sort of regular commerce
with or acknowledged the superiority of China. Before many years
had passed, these youths became accustomed to Western garb and
features; and I never heard that any foreigner suffered insult or
injury at their hands.

In 1860 the Rev. J. L. Nevius, one of my colleagues, took possession
of the place in the name of Christ. He was soon followed by Bishop
Burden, of the English Church Mission, whose apostolic successor,
Bishop Moule, now makes it the seat of his immense diocese.

Another claim to distinction not to be overlooked is that its river
is a trap for whales. Seven or eight years ago a cetaceous monster
was stranded near the
[Page 24]
river's mouth. The Rev. Dr. Judson, president of the Hangchow Mission
College, went to see it and sent me an account of his observations.
He estimated the length of the whale at 100 feet; the tail had been
removed by the natives. To explain the incident it is necessary
to say that, the bay being funnel-shaped, the tides rise to an
extraordinary height. Twice a month, at the full and the change of
the moon, the attractions of sun and moon combine, and the water
rushes in with a roar like that of a tidal wave. The bore of Hangchow
is not surpassed by that of the Hooghly or of the Bay of Fundy.
Vessels are wrecked by it; and even the monsters of the deep are
unable to contend with the fury of its irresistible advance.

[Page 25]
CHAPTER V

PROVINCE OF KIANGSU

_Nanking--Shanghai--The Yang-tse Kiang--The Yellow River_

Bordering on the sea, traversed by the Grand Canal and the Yang-tse
Kiang, the chief river of the Empire, rich in agriculture, fisheries,
and commerce, Kiangsu is the undisputed queen of the eighteen provinces.
In 1905 it was represented to the throne as too heavy a burden for
one set of officers. The northern section was therefore detached and
erected into a separate province; but before the new government was
organised the Empress Dowager yielded to remonstrances and rescinded
her hasty decree--showing how reluctant she is to contravene the
wishes of her people. What China requires above all things is the
ballot box, by which the people may make their wishes known.

The name of the province is derived from its two chief cities,
Suchow and Nanking. Suchow, the Paris of the Far East, is coupled
with Hangchow in a popular rhyme, which represents the two as paragon
cities:

_"Shang yu t'ien t'ang hia yu Su-Hang."_

"Su and Hang, so rich and fair,
May well with Paradise compare."

[Page 26]
The local dialect is so soft and musical that strolling players from
Suchow are much sought for in the adjacent provinces. A well-known
couplet says:

"I'd rather hear men wrangle in Suchow's dulcet tones
Than hear that mountain jargon, composed of sighs and groans."

Farther inland, near the banks of the "Great River," stands Nanking,
the old capital of the Ming dynasty. The Manchus, unwilling to
call it a _king_, _i.e._ seat of empire, changed its
name to Kiangning; but the old title survives in spite of official
jealousy. As it will figure prominently in our history we shall
not pause there at present, but proceed to Shanghai, a place which
more than any other controls the destinies of the State.

Formerly an insignificant town of the third order (provincial capitals
and prefectural towns ranking respectively first and second), some
sapient Englishman with an eye to commerce perceived the advantage
of the site; and in the dictation of the terms of peace in 1842 it
was made one of the five ports. It has come to overshadow Canton;
and more than all the other ports it displays to the Chinese the
marvels of Western skill, knowledge, and enterprise.

On a broad estuary near the mouth of the main artery that penetrates
the heart of China, it has become a leading emporium of the world's
commerce. The native city still hides its squalor behind low walls
of brick, but outside the North Gate lies a tract of land known
as the "Foreign Concessions." There a beautiful city styled the
"model settlement" has sprung up like a gorgeous pond-lily from
the muddy,
[Page 27]
paddy-fields. Having spent a year there, I regard it with a sort
of affection as one of my Oriental homes.

Shanghai presents a spectacle rare amongst the seaports of the
world. Its broad streets, well kept and soon to be provided with
electric trolleys, extend for miles along the banks of two rivers,
lined with opulent business houses and luxurious mansions, most of
the latter being surrounded by gardens and embowered in groves
of flowering trees. Nor do these magazines and dwelling-houses
stand merely for taste and opulence. Within the bounds of the
Concessions is the reign of law--not, as elsewhere in China, the
arbitrary will of a magistrate, but the offspring of freedom and
justice. Foreigners live everywhere under the protection of their
own national flags: and within the Concessions. Chinese accused of
crimes are tried by a mixed court which serves as an object-lesson
in justice and humanity. Had one time to peep into a native
_yamen_, one might see bundles of bamboos, large and small,
prepared for the bastinado; one might see, also, thumb-screws,
wooden boots, wooden collars, and other instruments of torture,
some of them intended to make mince-meat of the human body. The
use of these has now been forbidden.[*]

[Footnote *: In another city a farmer having extorted a sum of money
from a tailor living within the Concession, the latter appealed
to the British consul for Justice. The consul, an inexperienced
young man, observing that the case concerned only the Chinese,
referred it to the city magistrate, who instantly ordered the tailor
to receive a hundred blows for having applied to a foreign court.]

In Shanghai there are schools of all grades, some under the foreign
municipal government, others under missionary societies. St. John's
College (U. S.
[Page 28]
Episcopal) and the Anglo-Chinese College (American M. E.) bear the
palm in the line of education so long borne by the Roman Catholics
of Siccawei. Added to these, newspapers foreign and native--the
latter exercising a freedom of opinion impossible beyond the limits
of this city of refuge--the Society for the Diffusion of Christian
Knowledge and other translation bureaux, foreign and native, turning
out books by the thousand with the aid of steam presses, form a
combination of forces to which China is no longer insensible.

Resuming our imaginary voyage we proceed northward, and in the
space of an hour find ourselves at the mouth of the Yang-tse Kiang,
or Ta Kiang, the "Great River," as the Chinese call it. The width
of its embouchure suggests an Asiatic rival of the Amazon and La
Plata. We now see why this part of the ocean is sometimes described
as the Yellow Sea. A river whose volume, it is said, equals that of
two hundred and forty-four such rivulets as Father Thames, pours
into it its muddy waters, making new islands and advancing the
shore far into the domain of Neptune.

Notice on the left those long rows of trees that appear to spring
from the bosom of the river. They are the life-belt of the Island
of Tsungming which six centuries ago rose like the fabled Delos
from the surface of the turbid waters. Accepted as the river's
tribute to the Dragon Throne, it now forms a district of the province
with a population of over half a million. About the same time,
a large tract of land was carried into the sea by the Hwang Ho,
the "Yellow River," which gave rise to the popular proverb, "If
we lose in Tungking we gain in Tsungming."

[Page 29]
The former river comes with its mouth full of pearls; the latter
yawns to engulf the adjacent land. At present, however, the Yellow
River is dry and thirsty, the unruly stream, the opposite of Horace's
_uxorius amnis_, having about forty years ago forsaken its
old bed and rushed away to the Gulf of Pechili (Peh-chihli). This
produced as much consternation as the Mississippi would occasion
if it should plough its way across the state that bears its name
and enter the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay. The same phenomenon
has occurred at long intervals in times past. The wilful stream
has oscillated with something like periodical regularity from side
to side of the Shantung promontory, and sometimes it has flowed
with a divided current, converting that territory into an island.
Now, however, the river seems to have settled itself in its new
channel, entering the gulf at Yang Chia Kow--a place which foreign
sailors describe as "Yankee cow"--and making a portentous alteration
in the geography of the globe.

[Page 30]
CHAPTER VI

PROVINCE OF SHANTUNG

_Kiao-Chao--Visit to Confucius's Tomb--Expedition to the Jews
of K'ai-fung-fu--The Grand Canal--Chefoo_

In Shantung the people appear to be much more robust than their
neighbours to the south. Wheat and millet rather than rice are
their staple food. In their orchards apples, pears and peaches take
the place of oranges.

At Kiao-chao (Kiau-Chau) the Germans, who occupied that port in
1897, have built a beautiful town opposite the Island of Tsingtao,
presenting a fine model for imitation, which, however, the Chinese
are not in haste to copy. They have constructed also a railway from
the sea to Tsinan-fu, very nearly bisecting the province. Weihien
is destined to become a railroad centre; and several missionary
societies are erecting colleges there to teach the people truths
that Confucius never knew. More than half a century ago, when a
missionary distributed Christian books in that region, the people
brought them back saying, "We have the works of our Sage, and they
are sufficient for us." Will not the new arts and sciences of the
West convince them that their Sage was not omniscient?

In 1866 I earned the honours of a _hadji_ by visiting the tomb
of Confucius--a magnificent mausoleum surrounded by his descendants
of the seventieth generation,
[Page 31]
one of whom in quality of high priest to China's greatest teacher
enjoys the rank of a hereditary duke.

On that occasion, I had come up from a visit to the Jews in Honan.
Having profited by a winter vacation to make an expedition to
K'ai-fung-fu, I had the intention of pushing on athwart the province
to Hankow. The interior, however, as I learned to my intense
disappointment, was convulsed with rebellion. No cart driver was
willing to venture his neck, his steed, and his vehicle by going
in that direction. I accordingly steered for the Mecca of Shantung,
and, having paid my respects to the memory of China's greatest sage,
struck the Grand Canal and proceeded to Shanghai. From K'ai-fung-fu
I had come by land slowly, painfully, and not without danger. From
Tsi-ning I drifted down with luxurious ease in a well-appointed
house-boat, meditating poetic terms in which to describe the contrast.

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