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

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What was the real object of that strange expedition? Chinese authors
assert that it was sent in search of the "elixir of life," but do
they not distort everything in the history of the First Hwang-ti?
The great monarch was, in fact, a devout believer in the fables
of Taoism, among which were stories of the Islands of
[Page 104]
the Blest, and of a fountain of immortality, such as eighteen centuries
later stimulated the researches of Ponce de Leon. The study of
alchemy was in full blast among the Chinese at that time. It probably
sprang from Taoism; but, in my opinion, the ambitious potentate,
sighing for other worlds to conquer, sent that jolly troop as the
vanguard of an army.

In spite, however, of elixirs of life and fountains of youth, death
put an end to his conquests when he had enjoyed the full glories of
imperial power for only twelve years. His son reigned two years;
and the first of the imperial dynasties came to an end--overturned
by a revolution which placed the House of Han on the vacant throne.

[Page 105]
CHAPTER XX

THE HOUSE OF HAN, 206--B. C.--220 A. D.

(24 Emperors, 2 Usurpers)

_Liu-pang Founds Illustrious Dynasty--Restoration of the Books--A
Female Reign--The Three Religions--Revival of Letters--Sze-ma Ts'ien,
the Herodotus of China--Conquests of the Hans_

The burning of the books and the slaughter of the scholars had
filled the public mind with horror. The oppressions occasioned by
the building of the Great Wall had excited a widespread discontent;
and Liu-pang, a rough soldier of Central China, took advantage of
this state of things to dispossess the feeble heir of the tyrant.
He founded a dynasty which is reckoned among the most illustrious
in the annals of the Empire. It takes the name of Han from the
river on the banks of which it rose to power. When Liu-pang was
securely seated on the throne one of his ministers proposed that he
should open schools and encourage learning. "Learning," exclaimed
the Emperor, "I have none of it myself, nor do I feel the need
of it. I got the empire on horseback." "But can you govern the
empire on horseback? That is the question," replied the minister. To
conciliate the favour of the learned, the Emperor not only rescinded
the persecuting edicts, but caused search to be made for
[Page 106]
the lost books, and instituted sacrificial rites in honour of the
Sage.

Old men were still living who had committed those books to memory
in boyhood. One such, Fu-seng by name, was noted for his erudition;
and from his capacious memory a large portion of the sacred canon
was reproduced, being written from his dictation. The copies thus
obtained were of course not free from error. Happily a somewhat
completer copy, engraved on bamboo tablets, was discovered in the
wall of a house belonging to the Confucian family. Yet down to
the present day the Chinese classics bear traces of the tyrant's
fire. Portions are wanting and the lacunae are always ascribed to
the "fires of Ts'in." The first chapter of the Great Study closes
with the pregnant words, "The source of knowledge is in the study
of things." Not a syllable is added on that prolific text. A note
informs the reader that there was a chapter on the subject, but that
it has been lost. Chinese scholars, when taxed with the barrenness
of later ages in every branch of science, are wont to make the
naive reply, "Yes, and no wonder--how could it be otherwise when
the Sage's chapter on that subject has been lost?"

After the second reign, that of Hwei-ti, we have the first instance
in Chinese history of a woman seizing the reins of government.
The Empress Lu made herself supreme, and such were her talents
that she held the Empire in absolute subjection for eight years.
Like Jezebel she "destroyed all the seed royal," and filled the
various offices with her kindred and favourites. At her death they
were butchered without
[Page 107]
mercy, and a male heir to the throne was proclaimed. His posthumous
title _Wen-ti_, meaning the "learned" or "patron of letters,"
marks the progress made by the revival of learning.

One might imagine that these literary emperors would have been
satisfied with the recovery of the Confucian classics; but no, a
rumour reached them that "there are sages in the West." The West
was India. An embassy was sent, 66 A. D., by Ming-ti to import
books and bonzes. The triad of religions was thus completed.

Totally diverse in spirit and essence, the three religions could
hardly be expected to harmonise or combine. Confucianism exalts
letters, and lays stress on ethics to the neglect of the spiritual
world. Taoism inculcates physical discipline; but in practice it
has become the mother of degrading superstition--dealing in magic
and necromancy. Buddhism saps the foundations of the family and
enjoins celibacy as the road to virtue. Metempsychosis is its leading
doctrine, and to "think on nothing" its mental discipline. It forbids
a flesh diet and deprecates scholarship. Through imperial patronage
it acquired a footing in China, but it was long before it felt at
home there. As late as the eighth century Han Yu, the greatest
writer of the age, ridiculed the relics of Buddha and called on
his people to "burn their books, close their temples, and make
laity of their monks."

Yet Buddhism seems to have met a want. It has fostered a sympathy
for animal life, and served as a protest against the Sadducean tenets
of the lettered class. It long ago became so rooted in the minds of
[Page 108]
the illiterate, who form nine-tenths of the population, that China
may be truly described as the leading Buddhist country of the globe.[*]

[Footnote *: THE APOTHEOSIS OF MERCY

A LEGEND OF KUANYIN PUSA--IN NORTHERN BUDDHISM

Two images adorn this mountain shrine,
Not marble chiselled out by Grecian art,
But carved from wood with Oriental skill.
In days of yore adored by pilgrim throngs,
They languish now without a worshipper.

High up a winding flight of stony steps
See Gautama upon his lotus throne!
More near the gate, her lovely face downcast,
Sits Mercy's Goddess, pity in her eye,
To greet the weary climbers and to hear
Their many-coloured tales of woe and want.

The Buddha, in sublime repose, sees not
His prostrate worshippers; and they to him
No prayer address, save hymns of grateful praise.[1]
'Twas he who for a blinded world sought out
The secret of escape from misery;
The splendour of a royal court resigned,
He found in poverty a higher realm!
Yet greater far the victory, when he broke
The chain of Fate and spurned the wheel of change.
To suffering humanity he says,
"Tread in my steps: You, too, may find release."

[Footnote 1: Such as _Om mani padmi hum_ ("O the jewel in the lotus")]

Like him, the Pusa was of princely birth,
But not like him did she forsake a throne,
Nor yet like him did she consent to see
Nirvana's pearly gates behind her close.
A field for charity her regal state.
Her path with ever-blooming flowers she strewed,
Her sympathy to joy a relish gave,
To sorrows manifold it brought relief,
Forgetting self she lived for others' weal
Till higher than Meru her merit rose.[2]

[Footnote 2: Mt. Meru, the Indian Olympus.]

At length a Voice celestial smote her ear.
"Nirvana's portal to thee open stands,
The crown of Buddhaship is thine by right.
No wave of care that shore can ever reach,
No cry of pain again thine ear assail;
But fixed in solitary bliss thou'lt see
The circling ages rolling at thy feet!"

"Shall I then have no tidings of mankind?
Such heaven a throne of glittering ice would be.
That changeless bliss to others thou may'st give.
Happiest am I th' unhappy to upraise.
Oh for a thousand hands[3] the task to ply!
To succour and relieve be mine," she said,
"Bought though it be by share of suffering.
Turn then the wheel,[4] and back to earth again."

[Footnote 3: She is often so represented, as the symbol of present
Providence.]

[Footnote 4: _Lunhui_, the wheel of destiny, within which birth
and death succeed without end or interval.]

From out the blue came down the Voice once more:
"Thy great refusal wins a higher prize;
A kingdom new thy charity hath gained.[5]
And there shalt thou, the Queen of Mercy, reign,
Aloof from pain or weakness of thine own,
With quickened sense to hear and power to save."

[Footnote 5: She escapes the wheel, but remains on the border of
Nirvana, where, as her name signifies, she "hears the prayers of
men."]

Fair image thou! Almost I worship thee,
Frail shadow of a Christ that hears and feels!

W. A. P. M.

PEARL GROTTO, NEAR PEKING, August 8, 1906.]

Buddhist monasteries are to be seen on every hand. They are often
subsidised by the state; and even at the tomb of Confucius a temple was
erected called the "Hall of the Three Religions." In it the image of
[Page 109]
Buddha is said to have occupied the seat of honour, but prior to
the date of my visit it had been demolished.

Each of these religions has a hierarchy: that of Confucius with
a lineal descendant of the Sage at its head; that of Lao-tse with
Chang Tien-shi, the arch-magician, as its high priest; and, higher
than all, that of Buddha with the Grand Lama of Tibet.

Under the house of Han a beginning was made in the institution
of civil service examinations--a system which has continued to
dominate the Chinese intellect down to our time; but it was not
fully developed until the dynasty of T'ang. Belles-lettres made
a marked advance. The poetry of the period is more finished
[Page 110]
than that of the Chous. Prose composition, too, is vigorous and
lucid. The muse of history claims the place of honour. Sze-ma Ts'ien,
the Herodotus of China, was born in this period. A glory to his
country, the treatment Sze-ma Ts'ien received at the hands of his
people exposes their barbarism. He had recommended Li Ling as a
suitable commander to lead an expedition against the Mongols. Li
Ling surrendered to the enemy, and Sze-ma Ts'ien, as his sponsor, was
liable to suffer death in his stead. Being allowed an alternative,
he chose to submit to the disgrace of emasculation, in order that he
might live to complete his monumental work--a memorial better than
sons and daughters. A pathetic letter of the unfortunate general,
who never dared to return to China, is preserved amongst the choice
specimens of prose composition.

Not content with the Great Wall for their northern limit nor with
the "Great River" for their southern boundary, the Hans attempted to
advance their frontiers in both directions. In the north they added
the province of Kansuh, and in the other direction they extended
their operations as far south as the borders of Annam; but they
did not make good the possession of the whole of the conquered
territory. Szechuen and Hunan were, however, added to their domain.
The latter seems to have served as a penal colony rather than an
integral portion of the Empire. A poem by Kiayi, an exiled statesman
(200 B. c.), is dated from Changsha, its capital.[*]

[Footnote *: See "Chinese Legends and Other Poems," by W. A. P.
Martin.]

In the south the savage tribes by which the Chinese
[Page 111]
were opposed made a deep impression on the character of the people,
but left no record in history. Not so with the powerful foe encountered
in the north. Under the title of Shanyu, he was a forerunner of
the Grand Khan of Tartary--claiming equality with the emperors of
China and exchanging embassies on equal terms. His people, known
as the Hiunghu, are supposed to have been ancestors of the Huns.

[Page 112]
CHAPTER XXI

THE THREE KINGDOMS, THE NAN-PEH CHAO, AND THE SUI DYNASTY, 214-618
A. D.

_The States of Wei, Wu, and Shuh--A Popular Historical
Romance--Chu-koh Liang, an Inventive Genius--The "three P's," Pen,
Paper, Printing--The Sui Dynasty_

After four centuries of undisputed sway, the sceptre is seen ready
to fall from the nerveless hands of feeble monarchs. Eunuchs usurp
authority, and the hydra of rebellion raises its many heads. Minor
aspirants are easily extinguished; but three of them survive a
conflict of twenty years, and lay the foundation of short-lived
dynasties.

The noble structure erected by the Ts'ins and consolidated by the
Hans began to crumble at the beginning of its fifth century of
existence. In 221 A. D. its fragments were removed to three cities,
each of which claimed to be the seat of empire. The state of Wei
was founded by Tsao Tsao, with its capital at Lo-yang, the seat
of the Hans. He had the further advantage, as mayor of the palace,
of holding in his power the feeble emperor Hwan-ti, the last of the
house of Han. The state of Wu, embracing the provinces of Kiangsu,
Kiangsi, and Chehkiang, was established by Siun Kien, a man of
distinguished ability
[Page 113]
who secured his full share of the patrimony. The third state was
founded by Liu Pi, a scion of the imperial house whose capital
was at Chingtu-fu in Szechuen. The historian is here confronted
by a problem like that of settling the apostolic succession of
the three popes, and he has decided in favour of the last, whom
he designates the "Later Han," mainly on the ground of blood
relationship.

Authority for this is found in the dynastic history; but reference
may also be made to a romance which deals with the wars of those
three states. Composed by Lo Kwan-chung and annotated by Kin Sheng
Tan, it is the most popular historical novel in the whole range
of Chinese literature. Taking the place of a national epic, its
heroes are not of one type or all on one side, but its favourites
are found among the adherents of Liu Pi. It opens with a scene
in which Liu, Kwan, and Chang, like the three Tells on Gruetli,
meet in a peach-garden and take vows of brotherhood--drinking of a
loving-cup tinged with the blood of each and swearing fidelity to
their common cause. Of the three brothers the first, Liu Pi, after
a long struggle, succeeds in founding a state in western China. The
second, Kwan Yue, is the beau-ideal of patriotic courage. In 1594 he
was canonised as the god of war. The gifted author has, therefore,
the distinction, beyond that of any epic poet of the West, of having
created for his countrymen their most popular deity. Chang-fi, the
youngest of the three brothers, is the inseparable henchman of
the Chinese Mars. He wields a spear eighteen feet in length with
a dash and impetuosity which no enemy is able to withstand.

[Page 114]
Other characters are equally fixed in the public mind. Tsao Tsao,
the chief antagonist of Liu Pi, is not merely a usurper: he is a
curious compound of genius, fraud, and cruelty. Another conspicuous
actor is Lue Pu, an archer able to split a reed at a hundred paces,
and a horseman who performs prodigies on the field of battle. He
begins his career by shooting his adopted father, like Brutus perhaps,
not because he loved Tung Choh less, but China more.

All these and others too numerous to mention may be seen any day
on the boards of the theatre, an institution which, in China at
least, serves as a school for the illiterate.[*]

[Footnote *: The stage is usually a platform on the open street
where an actor may be seen changing his role with his costume,
now wearing the mask of one and then of another of the contending
chieftains, and changing his voice, always in a falsetto key, to
produce something like variety.]

Liu Pi succeeds, after a struggle of twenty years, in establishing
himself in the province of Szechuen; but he enjoys undisturbed dominion
in his limited realm for three years only, and then transmits his
crown to a youthful son whom he commends to the care of a faithful
minister. The youth when an infant has been rescued from a burning
palace by the brave Chang-fi, who, wrapping the sleeping child in
his cloak and mounting a fleet charger, cut his way through the
enemy. On reaching a distant point the child was still asleep.
The witty annotator adds the remark, "He continued to sleep for
thirty years."

The minister to whom the boy had been confided, Chu-koh Liang,
is the most versatile and inventive genius of Chinese antiquity.
As the founder of the house of Chou discovered in an old fisherman a
[Page 115]
counsellor of state who paved his way to the throne, so Liu Pi
found this man in a humble cottage where he was hiding himself in
the garb of a peasant, _San Ku Mao Lu_, say the Chinese. He
"three times visited that thatched hovel" before he succeeded in
persuading its occupant to commit himself to his uncertain fortunes.
From that moment Chu-koh Liang served him as eyes and ears, teeth
and claws, with a skill and fidelity which have won the applause
of all succeeding ages. Among other things, he did for Liu Pi what
Archimedes did for Dionysius. He constructed military engines that
appeared so wonderful that, as tradition has it "he made horses
and oxen out of wood."

Entrusted by his dying master with the education of the young prince,
he has left two papers full of wise counsels which afford no little
help in drawing the line between fact and fiction. Unquestionably
Chu-koh Liang was the first man of his age in intellect and in such
arts and sciences as were known to his times. Yet no one invention
can be pointed to as having been certainly derived from Chu-koh
Liang. The author of the above-mentioned romance, who lived as
late as the end of the thirteenth century, constantly speaks of
his use of gunpowder either to terrify the enemy or to serve for
signals; but it is never used to throw a cannon-ball. It probably was
known to the Chinese of that date, as the Arab speaks of gunpowder
under the designation of "Chinese snow," meaning doubtless the
saltpetre which forms a leading ingredient. The Chinese had been
dabbling in alchemy for many centuries, and it is scarcely possible
that they
[Page 116]
should have failed to hit on some such explosive. It is, however,
believed on good authority that they never made use of cannon in
war until the beginning of the fifteenth century.

There are, however, three other inventions or improvements of the
known arts, which deserve notice in this connection, namely, the
"three Ps"--pen, paper and printing--all preeminently instruments
of peaceful culture. The pen in China is a hair pencil resembling
a paint-brush. It was invented by Mung-tien in the third century
B. c. Paper was invented by Tsai Lun, 100 B. c., and printing by
Fungtao in the tenth century of the present era. What is meant
by printing in this case is, however, merely the substitution of
wood for stone, the Chinese having been for ages in the habit of
taking rubbings from stone inscriptions. It was not long before they
divided the slab into movable characters and earned for themselves
the honour of having anticipated Gutenberg and Faust. Their divisible
types were never in general use, however, and block printing continues
in vogue; but Western methods are rapidly supplanting both.

The three states were reunited under the Tsin dynasty, 265 A. D.
This lasted for a century and a half and then, after a succession
of fifteen emperors, went down in a sea of anarchy, from the froth
of which arose more than half a score of contending factions, among
which four were sufficiently prominent to make for themselves a
place in history. Their period is described as that of the Nan-peh
Chao, "Northern and Southern Kingdoms." The names of the principals
were Sung, Wei, Liang and Chin. The first
[Page 117]
only was Chinese, the others belonging to various branches of the
Tartar race. The chiefs of the Liang family were of Tibetan origin--a
circumstance which may perhaps account for their predilection for
Buddhism. The second emperor of that house, Wu Ti, became a Buddhist
monk and retired to a monastery where he lectured on the philosophy of
Buddhism. He reminds one of Charles the Fifth, who in his retirement
amused himself less rationally by repairing watches and striving,
in vain, to make a number of them keep identical time.

It may be noted that behind these warring factions there is in
progress a war of races also. The Tartars are forever encroaching
on the Flowery Land. Repulsed or expelled, they return with augmented
force; and even at this early epoch the shadow of their coming
conquest is plainly visible.

In the confused strife of North and South the preponderance is
greatly on the side of the Tartars. The pendulum of destiny then
begins to swing in the other direction. Yan Kien, a Chinese general
in the service of a Tartar principality, took advantage of their
divisions to rally a strong body of his countrymen by whose aid
he cut them off in detail and set up the Sui dynasty, The Tartars
have always made use of Chinese in the invasion of China; and if
the Chinese were always faithful to their own country no invader
would succeed in conquering them.

Though the Sui dynasty lasted less than thirty years (589-618,
three reigns), it makes a conspicuous figure on account of two events:
(1) a victorious expedition in the north which reached the borders of
[Page 118]
Turkestan, and (2) the opening of canals between the Yellow River
and the Yang-tse Kiang. The latter enterprise only hastened the
fall of the house. It was effected by forced labour; and the
discontented people were made to believe, as their historians continue
to assert, that its chief object was to enable a luxurious emperor
to display his grandeur to the people of many provinces. We shall
see how the extension of those canals precipitated the overthrow
of the Mongols as we have already seen how the completion of the
Great Wall caused the downfall of the house of Ts'in.

Yang-ti, the second emperor of the Sui dynasty, though not wanting
in energy, is notorious for his excesses in display and debauch.
He is reported to have hastened his accession to the throne by
the murder of his father. A peaceful end to such a reign would
have been out of keeping with the course of human events. Li Yuen,
one of his generals, rose against him, and he was assassinated
in Nanking.

By wisdom and courage Li Yuen succeeded in setting up a new dynasty
which he called _T'ang_ (618 A. D.): After a long period of
unrest, it brought to the distracted provinces an era of unwonted
prosperity; it held the field for nearly three hundred years, and
surpassed all its predecessors in splendour.

[Page 119]
CHAPTER XXII

THE T'ANG DYNASTY, 618-907 A. D.
(20 Emperors)

_An Augustan Age--A Pair of Poets--The Coming of Christianity--The
Empress Wu--System of Examinations_

I have seen a river plunge into a chasm and disappear. After a
subterranean course of many miles it rose to the surface fuller,
stronger than before. No man saw from whence it drew its increment
of force, but the fact was undeniable. This is just what took place
in China at this epoch.

It is comforting to know that during those centuries of turmoil the
Chinese were not wholly engrossed with war and rapine. The T'ang
dynasty is conspicuously the Augustan Age. Literature reappears
in a more perfect form than under the preceding reigns. The prose
writers of that period are to the present day studied as models
of composition, which cannot be affirmed of the writers of any
earlier epoch. Poetry, too, shone forth with dazzling splendour.
A galaxy of poets made their appearance, among whom two particular
stars were Tufu and Lipai, the Dryden and Pope of Chinese literature.

The following specimen from Lipai who is deemed the highest poetical
genius in the annals of China, may
[Page 120]
show, even in its Western dress, something of his peculiar talent:

ON DRINKING ALONE BY MOONLIGHT[*]

Here are flowers and here is wine,
But where's a friend with me to join
Hand in hand and heart to heart
In one full cup before we part?

Rather than to drink alone,
I'll make bold to ask the moon
To condescend to lend her face
The hour and the scene to grace.

Lo, she answers, and she brings
My shadow on her silver wings;
That makes three, and we shall be.
I ween, a merry company

The modest moon declines the cup,
But shadow promptly takes it up,
And when I dance my shadow fleet
Keeps measure with my flying feet.

But though the moon declines to tipple
She dances in yon shining ripple,
And when I sing, my festive song,
The echoes of the moon prolong.

Say, when shall we next meet together?
Surely not in cloudy weather,
For you my boon companions dear
Come only when the sky is clear.

[Footnote *: From "Chinese Legends and Other Poems," by W. A. P.
MARTIN.]

The second emperor, Tai-tsung, made good his claims by killing
two of his brothers who were plotting against him. Notwithstanding
this inauspicious beginning
[Page 121]
he became an able and illustrious sovereign. The twenty-three years
during which he occupied the throne were the most brilliant of
that famous dynasty.

At Si-ngan in Shensi, the capital of the T'angs, is a stone monument
which records the introduction of Christianity by Nestorians from
Syria. Favoured by the Emperor the new faith made considerable
headway. For five hundred years the Nestorian churches held up
the banner of the Cross; but eventually, through ignorance and
impurity, they sank to the level of heathenism and disappeared.
It is sad to think that this early effort to evangelise China has
left nothing but a monumental stone.

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