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

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At the funeral of Tai-tsung his successor, Kao-tsung, saw Wu, one
of his father's concubines, who pleased him so much that, contrary
to law, he took her into his own harem. Raised to the rank of empress
and left mother of an infant son, she swayed the sceptre after
Kao-tsung's death for twenty-one years. Beginning as regent she
made herself absolute.

A system of civil service examinations which had sprung up with
the revival of learning under the Hans was now brought to maturity.
For good or for evil it has dominated the mind of the Empire for
twelve centuries. Now, however, the leaders of thought have begun
to suspect that it is out of date. The new education requires new
tests; but what is to hinder their incorporation in the old system?
To abolish it would be fraught with danger, and to modify it is
a delicate task for the government of the present day.

That the scholar should hold himself in readiness
[Page 122]
to serve the state no less than the soldier was an acknowledged
principle. It was reserved for the statesmen of T'ang to make it
the mainspring of the government. To them belongs the honour of
constructing a system which would stimulate literary culture and
skim the cream of the national talent for the use of the state.
It had the further merit of occupying the minds of ambitious youth
with studies of absorbing interest, thus diverting them from the
dangerous path of political conspiracy.

Never was a more effective patronage given to letters. Without
founding or endowing schools the state said: "If you acquire the
necessary qualifications, we shall see that your exertions are
duly rewarded. Look up to those shining heights--see the gates
that are open to welcome you, the garlands that wait to crown your
triumphant course!"

Annual examinations were held in every country; and the degree
of S. T. (_Siu-tsai_), equivalent to A. B., was conferred on
3 per cent. of the candidates. To fail was no disgrace; to have
entered the lists was a title to respect. Once in three years the
budding talent of the province convened in its chief city to compete
for the second degree. This was H. L. (_Hiao Lien_, "Filial
and Honest"), showing how ethical ideas continued to dominate the
literary tribunals. It is now _Chu-jin_, and denotes nothing
but promotion or prize man. The prize, a degree answering to A.
M., poetically described as a sprig of the _Olea fragrans_,
was the more coveted as the competitors were all honour men of the
first grade, and it was limited to one in a hundred. Its immediate
effect is such social
[Page 123]
distinction that it is said poor bachelors are common, but poor
masters are rare.

If the competition stopped here it would be an Olympic game on a
grander scale. But there are loftier heights to be climbed. The
new-made masters from all the provinces proceed to the imperial
capital to try their strength against the assembled scholars of
the Empire. Here the prizes are three in a hundred. The successful
student comes forth a Literary Doctor--a _Tsin-shi_, "fit for
office." To all such is assured a footing, high or low, on the
official ladder.

But another trial remains by which those who are good at the high
leap may at a single bound place themselves very near the top.
This final contest takes place in the palace--nominally in the
presence of the Emperor, and the questions are actually issued
by him. Its object is to select the brightest of the doctors for
chairs in the Hanlin Academy--an institution in which the humblest
seat is one of exalted dignity. How dazzling the first name on
that list! The _Chuang Yuen_ or senior wrangler takes rank
with governors and viceroys. An unfading halo rests on the place
of his birth. Sometimes in travelling I have seen a triumphal arch
proclaiming that "Here was born the laureate of the Empire." Such
an advertisement raises the value of real estate; and good families
congregate in a place on which the sun shines so auspiciously.
A laureate who lived near me married his daughter to a viceroy,
and her daughter became consort to the Emperor Tungchi.

What then are the objections to a regulation which is so democratic
that it makes a nobleman of every
[Page 124]
successful scholar and gives to all the inspiration of equal
opportunity? They are, in a word, that it has failed to expand
with the growing wants of the people. The old curriculum laid down
by Confucius, "Begin with poetry; make etiquette your strong point;
and finish off with music," was not bad for his day, but is utterly
inadequate for ours, unless it be for a young ladies seminary. The
Sage's chapter on experiment as the source of knowledge--a chapter
which might have anticipated the _Novum Organum_--having been
lost, the statesmen of the T'ang period fell into the error of
leaving in their scheme no place for original research. This it
was that made the mind of China barren of discoveries for twelve
centuries. It was like putting a hood on the keen-eyed hawk and
permitting him to fly at only such game as pleased his master.

The chief requirement was superficial polish in prose and verse.
The themes were taken exclusively from books, the newest of which
was at that time over a thousand years old. To broach a theory
not found there was fatal; and to raise a question in physical
science was preposterous. Had anyone come forward with a new machine
he might have been rewarded; but no such inventor ever came because
the best minds in the Empire were trained to trot blindfold on
a tread-mill in which there was no possibility of progress. Had
the mind of the nation been left free and encouraged to exert its
force, who can doubt that the country that produced the mariner's
compass might have given birth to a Newton or an Edison?

After Wu none of the monarchs of this dynasty
[Page 125]
calls for notice. The last emperor was compelled to abdicate; and
thus, after a career of nearly three centuries bright with the
light of genius and prolific of usages good and bad that set the
fashion for after ages, this great house was extinguished.

[Page 126]
CHAPTER XXIII

THE SUNG DYNASTY, 960-1280 A. D.
(18 Emperors)

_The Five Philosophers--Wang Ngan-shi, Economist--The Kin Tartars--The
Southern Sungs--Aid of Mongols Invoked to Drive Out the Kins--Mongols
Exterminate Sungs_

On the fall of the house of T'ang, a score of factions contended for
the succession. During the fifty-three years preceding the establishment
of the Sungs, no less than five of them rose to temporary prominence
sufficient to admit of being dubbed a "dynasty." Collectively they
are spoken of as the "Five Dynasties" (907-960).

Their names are without exception a repetition of those of former
dynasties, Liang, T'ang, Ts'in, Han, Chou with the prefix
"Later"--suggesting that each claimed to be a lineal successor
of some previous imperial family. Their struggles for power, not
more instructive than a conflict of gladiators, are so devoid of
interest that the half-century covered by them may be passed over
as a blank. It may, however, be worth while to remind the reader
that as the House of Han was followed by the wars of the "Three
Kingdoms," and that of Ts'in by a struggle of North and South under
four states, so the House of T'ang was now
[Page 127]
succeeded by five short-lived "dynasties," with a mean duration of
scarcely more than ten years. The numerical progression is curious;
but it is more important to notice a historical law which native
Chinese writers deduce from those scenes of confusion. They state
it in this form: "After long union the empire is sure to be divided;
after long disruption it is sure to be reunited."

So deep an impression has this historical generalisation made on
the public mind that if the empire were now to be divided between
foreign nations, as it has been more than once, the people would
confidently expect it to be reintegrated under rulers of their
own race.

The undivided Sung dynasty held sway from 960 to 1127; that of
the southern Sungs from 1127 to 1280. The founder of the house was
Chao-kwang-yun, an able leader of soldiers and an astute politician.
So popular was he with his troops that they called him to the throne
by acclamation. He was drunk, it is said, when his new dignity was
announced, and he had no alternative but to wear the yellow robe
that was thrown on his shoulders. Undignified as was his debut,
his reign was one continued triumph. After a tenure of seventeen
years, he left his successor in possession of nearly the whole of
China Proper together with a fatal legacy of lands on the north.

The two main features of the Sung period are the rise of a great
school of philosophy and the constant encroachment of the Tartars. The
two Chengs being brothers, the names of the five leading philosophers
fall into an alliterative line of four syllables, _Cheo,
[Page 128]
Cheng, Chang, Chu_. Acute in speculation and patient in research,
they succeeded in fixing the interpretation of the sacred books,
and in establishing a theory of nature and man from which it is
heresy to dissent. The rise of their school marks an intellectual
advance as compared with the lettered age of the T'angs. It was an
age of daring speculation; but, as constantly happens in China,
the authority of these great men was converted into a bondage for
posterity. The century in which they flourished (1020-1120) is
unique in the history of their country as the age of philosophy.
In Europe it was a part of the Dark Ages; and at that time the
Western world was convulsed by the Crusades.

The most eminent of the five philosophers was Chu Fu-tse. Not the
most original, he collected the best thoughts of all into a system;
and his erudition was such that the whole range of literature was
his domain. Chu Hi, the Coryphaeus of mediaeval China, stands next
in honour after that incomparable pair, Confucius and Mencius.
Contemporary with the earlier members of this coterie appeared Wang
Ngan-shi, an economist, of rare originality. His leading principle
was the absorption by the state of all industrial enterprises--state
ownership of land, and in general a paternal system to supersede
private initiative. So charming was the picture presented in his
book "The Secret of Peace" (still extant) that the Emperor gave him
_carte blanche_ to put his theory into practice. In practical
life however it was a failure--perhaps because he failed to allow
for the strength or weakness of materials and instruments. His
book is a Chinese
[Page 129]
Utopia, nearly akin to those of Plato and Sir John More.

In the northeast beyond the Wall were two Tartar kingdoms, one
of which was the Kin or "Golden Horde"--remote ancestors of the
Manchu dynasty. A constant menace to the settled population of the
"inner land," they obtained possession of Peking in 1118. For a
time they were kept at bay by a money payment which reminds one of
the _Danegeld_ paid by our forefathers to the sea-robbers of
northern Europe. Payments not being punctual, the Tartars occupied
portions of the northern provinces, and pushed their way as far south
as K'ai-fung-fu, the capital of the Empire. The Emperor retired
to Nanking, leaving in command his son, who, unable to resist the
Tartars, made a disgraceful peace. A heavy ransom was paid to avert
the sacking of the city; and all the region on the north of the
Yellow River passed under Tartar sway.

Repenting of their hard bargain, the Chinese provoked a renewal
of hostilities, which resulted in a heavier downfall. The capital
surrendered after a severe siege, and the Emperor with his court
was carried into captivity. The next emperor acknowledged himself
a vassal of the Tartars; but peace on such conditions could not
be of long duration. An intermittent warfare was kept up for more
than a century, in the course of which Nanking was pillaged, and
the court fell back successively on Hangchow and Wenchow. When
there was no longer a place of safety on the mainland the wretched
fugitives sought refuge on an island. Fitting out a fleet the Tartars
continued the
[Page 130]
pursuit; but more used to horses than ships, the fleet was annihilated,
and the expiring dynasty obtained a new lease of life.

This was about 1228. The Mongols under Genghis Khan and his successors
had carried everything before them in the northwest. Thirsting for
revenge, the Chinese appealed for aid to this new power--and the
Mongols found an opportunity to bag two birds instead of one. As
a Chinese fable puts it: "A sea-bird failing to make a breakfast
on a shellfish was held in its grip until a fisherman captured
both."

The Kins were driven back into Manchuria; and the Chinese without
asking leave of their allies reoccupied their old capital. But
the revival of the Sungs was no part of the Mongol programme. The
Sungs declining to evacuate K'ai-fung-fu and to cede to the Mongols
the northern half of the empire, the latter resolved on a war of
extermination. After a bitter struggle of fifteen years, the infant
emperor and his guardians again committed their fortunes to the sea.
The Mongols, more lucky than the other Tartars, were victorious
on water as well as on land; and the last scion of the imperial
house drowned himself to escape their fury (1280).

[Page 131]
CHAPTER XXIV

THE YUEN OR MONGOL DYNASTY, 1280-1368
(10 Emperors)

_Kublai Khan--First Intercourse of China with Europe--Marco Polo--The
Grand Canal_

Parts of China had been frequently overrun by foreign conquerors;
but the Mongols were the first to extend their sway over the whole
country. The subjugation of China was the work of Kublai, grandson
of Genghis, who came to the throne in 1260, inheriting an empire
more extensive than Alexander or Caesar had dreamed of. In 1264
the new khan fixed his court at Peking and proceeded to reduce the
provinces to subjection. Exhausted and disunited as they were the
task was not difficult, though it took fifteen years to complete.
Ambition alone would have been sufficient motive for the conquest,
but his hostility was provoked by perfidy--especially by the murder
of envoys sent to announce his accession. "Without good faith,"
says Confucius, "no nation can exist."

By the absorption of China the dominions of Kublai were made richer,
if not greater in extent, than those of his grandfather, while the
splendour of his court quite eclipsed that of Genghis Khan.

Unknown to the ancient Romans, China was revealed to their mediaeval
successors by the Mongol
[Page 132]
conquest. In 1261 two Venetian merchants, Nicolo and Matteo Polo,
made their way to Bokhara, whence, joining an embassy from India,
they proceeded to Kublai's capital at Xanadu (or Shangtu) near
the site of Peking. They were the first white men the Grand Khan
had ever seen, and he seems to have perceived at once that, if not
of superior race, they were at least more advanced in civilisation
than his own people; for, besides intrusting them with letters to
the Pope, he gave them a commission to bring out a hundred Europeans
to instruct the Mongols in the arts and sciences of the West.

In 1275 they returned to Peking without other Europeans, but accompanied
by Marco Polo, the son of Nicolo. They were received with more
honour than on their first visit, and the young man was appointed
to several positions of trust in the service of the monarch. After
a sojourn of seventeen years, the three Polos obtained permission
to join the escort of a Mongol princess who was going to the court
of Persia. In Persia they heard of the death of their illustrious
patron, and, instead of returning to China, turned their faces
homeward, arriving at Venice in 1295.

Having been captured by the Genoese, Marco Polo while in prison
dictated his wonderful story. At first it was looked on as a romance
and caused its author to receive the sobriquet of "Messer Millione";
but its general accuracy has been fully vindicated.

The chief effect of that narrative was to fire the imagination
of another Italian and lead him by steering to the west to seek
a short cut to the Eldorado.
[Page 133]
How strange the occult connection of sublunary things! The Mongol
Kublai must be invoked to account for the discovery of America!
The same story kindled the fancy of Coleridge, in the following
exquisite fragment, which he says came to him in a vision of the
night:

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man,
Down to a sunless sea."
--_Kubla Khan._

Still another Italian claims mention as having made some impression
on the court of Kublai. This was Corvino, a missionary sent by the
Pope; but of his church, his schools, and his convents, there were
left no more traces than of his predecessors, the Nestorians.

The glory of Kublai was not of long duration. The hardy tribes of
the north became enervated by the luxury and ease of their rich
patrimony. "Capua captured Hannibal." Nine of the founder's descendants
followed him, not one of whom displayed either vigour or statesmanship.

Their power ebbed more suddenly than it rose. Shun-ti, the last
of the house, took refuge behind the Great Wall from the rising
tide of Chinese patriotism; and after a tenure of ninety years,
or of two centuries of fluctuating dominion, reckoning from the
rise of Genghis Khan, the Yuen dynasty came to an untimely end.

The magnificent waterway, the Grand Canal, remains an imperishable
monument of the Mongol
[Page 134]
sway. As an "alimentary canal" it was needed for the support of
the armies that held the people in subjection; and the Mongols
only completed a work which other dynasties had undertaken. A
description of it from personal observation is given in Part I of
this work (page 31). It remains to be said that the construction
of the Canal, like that of the Great Wall, was a leading cause of
the downfall of its builders. Forced labour and aggravated taxation
gave birth to discontent; rebellion became rife, and the Mongols
were too effeminate to take active measures for its suppression.

[Page 135]
CHAPTER XXV

THE MING DYNASTY, 1368-1644 A. D.
(16 Emperors)

_Humble Origin of the Founder--Nanking and Peking as Capital--First
Arrival of European Ships--Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch
Traders--Arrival of Missionaries--Tragic End of the Last of the
Mings_

Humble as was the origin of the founder of the House of Han, spoken
of as _Pu-i_, "A peasant clothed in homespun," that of the
Father of the Mings was still more obscure. A novice or servant
(_sacrificulus_) in a Buddhist monastery, Chu Yuen Chang felt
called to deliver his people from oppression. At first regarded as
a robber chief, one of many, his rivals submitted to his leadership
and the people accepted his protection. Securing possession of
Nanking, a city of illustrious memories and strong natural defences,
he boldly proclaimed his purpose. After twenty years of blood and
strategy, he succeeded in placing the Great Wall between him and
the retreating Mongols. Proud of his victory he assumed for the
title of his reign _Hungwu_, "Great Warrior," and chose
_Ming_, "Luminous," for that of his dynasty.

Leaving his son, the Prince of Yen, at Peking, to hold the Tartars
in check, Hungwu spent the remaining
[Page 136]
years of his reign at his original capital, and then left the sceptre
to his grandson. The Prince of Yen, uncle of the youthful emperor,
feeling the slight implied in his father's choice, raised an army
and captured Nanking. A charred corpse being shown to him as that
of the emperor, he caused it to be interred with becoming rites,
and at once assumed the imperial dignity, choosing for his reigning
title _Yungloh_, "Perpetual Joy." He also removed the seat of
government to Peking, where it has remained for five centuries. The
"Thesaurus of Yungloh," a digest of Chinese literature so extensive
as to form a library in itself, remains a monument to his patronage
of letters.

A tragic episode in the history of the Mings was the capture of the
next emperor by the Mongols, who, however, failed to take Peking.
It was easier to make a new emperor than to ransom the captive.
His brother having been proclaimed, the Tartars sent their captive
back, hoping that a war between the brothers would weaken their
enemy. Retiring into private life he appeared to renounce his claim;
but after the death of his brother he once more occupied the throne.
What a theme for a romance!

Great Britain was described by a Roman as "almost cut off from the
whole world" because it was not accessible by land. China had long
been cut off from the Western world because it was not accessible
by sea. The way to India was opened by Diaz and Gama in 1498; and
the first Portuguese ships appeared at Canton in 1511. Well-treated
at first, others came in greater numbers. Their armaments were so
formidable as to excite suspicion; and their
[Page 137]
acts of violence kindled resentment. Under these combined motives
a massacre of the foreign traders was perpetrated, and Andrade, a
sort of envoy at Peking, was thrown into prison and beheaded. The
trading-posts were abolished except at Macao, where the Portuguese
obtained a footing by paying an annual rent.

After the Portuguese came the Spaniards, who appear to have been
satisfied with the Philippine archipelago, rather than provoke a
conflict with the Portuguese. The Chinese they had little reason
to dread, as the superiority of their arms would have enabled them
to seize portions of the seacoast, though not to conquer the Empire
as easily as they did the Mexicans and Peruvians. Perhaps, too,
they were debarred by the same authority which divided the Western
continent between the two Iberian powers. The Chinese becoming too
numerous at Manila, the Spaniards slaughtered them without mercy,
as if in retaliation for the blood of their cousins, or taking a
hint from the policy of China.

In 1622 the Dutch endeavoured to open trade with China, but their
advances being rejected, doubtless through secret opposition from
the Portuguese, they seized the Pescadores, and later established
themselves on Formosa, whence they were eventually expelled by
Koxinga, a Chinese freebooter.

The church founded by Corvino at Peking perished in the overthrow
of the Mongols. The Portuguese traders disapproved of missions,
as tending to impose restraint on their profligacy and to impart
to China the strength that comes from knowledge. The narrow
[Page 138]
policy of the Mings, moreover, closed the door against the introduction
of a foreign creed. Yet it is strange that half a century elapsed
before any serious attempt was made to give the Gospel to China.
In 1552 St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, arrived
at Macao. He and his fellow Jesuits were indirect fruits of the
Protestant Reformation--belonging to an order organised for the
purpose of upholding and extending the power of the Holy See. After
wonderful success in India, the Straits, and Japan, Xavier appeared
in Chinese waters, but he was not allowed to land. He expired on
the island of Shang-chuen or St. John's, exclaiming "O rock, rock,
when wilt thou open?"

Ricci, who came in 1580, met with better success: but it cost him
twenty years of unceasing effort to effect an entrance to Peking.
Careful to avoid giving offence, and courtly in manners, his science
proved to be the master-key. Among the eminent men who favoured
his mission was Sue of Shanghai, whom he baptised by the name of
Paul. Not only did he help Ricci to translate Euclid for a people
ignorant of the first elements of geometry, but he boldly came to
the defence of missionaries when it was proposed to expel them.
His memorial in their favour is one of the best documents in the
defence of Christianity. Among the converts to the Christian faith
there are no brighter names than Paul Sue and his daughter Candida.

The Ming dynasty compares favourably in point of duration with
most of the imperial houses that preceded it; but long before the
middle of its third century it began to show signs of decay. In Korea
[Page 139]
it came into collision with the Japanese, and emerged with more
credit than did its successor from a war with the same foe, which
began on the same ground three centuries later. In the northeast
the Mings were able to hold the Manchus at bay, notwithstanding
an occasional foray; but a disease of the heart was sapping the
vigour of the dynasty and hastening its doom. Rebellion became
rife; and two of the aspirants to the throne made themselves masters
of whole provinces. One depopulated Szechuen; the other ravaged
Shansi and advanced on Peking. Chungchen, the last of the Mings,
realising that all was lost, hanged himself in his garden on the
Palatine Hill, after stabbing his daughter, as a last proof of
paternal affection (1643).

[Page 140]
CHAPTER XXVI

THE TA-TS'ING DYNASTY, 1644--

_The Manchus, Invited to Aid in Restoring Order, Seat their Own
Princes on the Throne--the Traitor, General Wu San-kwei--Reigns of
Shunchi and Kanghi--Spread of Christianity--A Papal Blunder--Yung-cheng
Succeeded by Kienlung, who Abdicates Rather than Reign Longer than
his Grandfather--Era of Transformation_

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