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Title: Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton
Author: Barrow, John, Sir, 1764-1848
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton" ***
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[Illustration: _Hickey del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_Portrait of Van-ta-gin_
_Pub. May 2, 1804, by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._]
TRAVELS
IN
_CHINA_,
CONTAINING
DESCRIPTIONS, OBSERVATIONS, AND COMPARISONS, MADE AND COLLECTED IN THE
COURSE OF A SHORT RESIDENCE AT THE IMPERIAL PALACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN, AND
ON A SUBSEQUENT JOURNEY THROUGH THE COUNTRY FROM
PEKIN TO CANTON.
_IN WHICH IT IS ATTEMPTED TO APPRECIATE THE RANK THAT
THIS EXTRAORDINARY EMPIRE MAY BE CONSIDERED TO
HOLD IN THE SCALE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS._
"NON CUIVIS HOMINI CONTINGIT ADIRE _CORINTHUM_."
_It is the lot of few to go to_ PEKIN.
By JOHN BARROW, Esq.
LATE PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, AND ONE OF HIS SUITE AS
AMBASSADOR FROM THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.
_ILLUSTRATED WITH SEVERAL ENGRAVINGS._
_LONDON_:
Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street,
FOR T. CADELL AND W. DAVIES, IN THE STRAND.
1804.
TO
_THE EARL OF MACARTNEY, K. B._
ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY COUNCIL,
_&c. &c. &c._
THIS VOLUME OF TRAVELS IN CHINA, _&c._
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY
HIS MOST FAITHFUL
AND OBLIGED HUMBLE SERVANT,
JOHN BARROW.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
PRELIMINARY MATTER.
_Introduction.--General View of what Travellers are likely to meet
with in China.--Mistaken Notions entertained with regard to the
British Embassy--corrected by the Reception and Treatment of the
subsequent Dutch Embassy.--Supposed Points of Failure in the former,
as stated by a French Missionary from Pekin, refuted._--Kien Long's
_Letter to the_ King _of Holland.--Difference of Treatment
experienced by the two Embassies explained.--Intrigues of
Missionaries in foreign Countries.--Pride and Self-Importance of the
Chinese Court.--List of European Embassies, and the Time of their
Abode in Pekin.--Conclusion of Preliminary Subject._ Page 1
CHAP. II.
Occurrences and Observations in the Navigation of the Yellow Sea, and
the Passage up the Pei-ho, or White River.
_Different Testimonies that have been given of the Chinese
Character.--Comparison of China with Europe in the sixteenth
Century.--Motives of the Missionaries in their Writings.--British
Embassy passes the Streights of Formosa.--Appearance of a_
Ta-fung.--_Chu-san Islands.--Instance of Chinese
Amplification.--Various Chinese Vessels.--System of their
Navigation--their Compass, probably of Scythian Origin--foreign
Voyages of.--Traces of Chinese in America--in an Island of the
Tartarian Sea--in the Persian Gulph--traded probably as far as
Madagascar.--Commerce of the Tyrians.--Reasons for conjecturing that
the Hottentots may have derived their Origin from China.--Portrait
of a Chinese compared with that of a Hottentot.--Malays of the same
descent as the Chinese.--Curious coincidences in the Customs of
these and the Sumatrans.--Cingalese of Chinese Origin.--One of the
Brigs dispatched to_ Chu-san _for Pilots.--Rapid Currents among the
Islands.--Visit to the Governor.--Difficulties in procuring
Pilots.--Arbitrary Proceeding of the Governor.--Pilots puzzled with
our Compass--Ignorance of--Arrive in the Gulph of_
Pe-tche-lee.--_Visit of two Officers from Court, and their
Present--enter the_ Pei-ho, _and embark in convenient
Yachts.--Accommodating Conduct of the two Officers.--Profusion of
Provisions.--Appearance of the Country--of the People.--Dress of the
Women.--Remarks on their small Feet.--Chinese an uncleanly and
frowzy People.--Immense Crowds of People and River Craft at_
Tien-sing.--_Decent and prepossessing Conduct of the
Multitude.--Musical Air sung by the Rowers of the Yachts.--Favourable
in the Chinese Character.--Face and Products of the
Country.--Multitudes of People Inhabitants of the Water.--Another
Instance of arbitrary Power.--Disembark at_ Tong Tchoo, _and are
lodged in a Temple._ 25
CHAP. III.
Journey through the Capital to a Country Villa of the Emperor. Return to
Pekin. The Imperial Palace and Gardens of Yuen-min-yuen, and the Parks
of Gehol.
_Order of Procession from_ Tong-choo _to the Capital.--Crowd
assembled on the Occasion.--Appearance of Pekin without and within
the Walls.--Some Account of this City.--Proceed to a Country Villa
of the Emperor.--Inconveniences of.--Return to Pekin.--Embassador
proceeds to Tartary.--Author sent to the Palace of_
Yuen-min-yuen.--_Miserable Lodgings of.--Visit of the President and
Members of the Mathematical Tribunal.--Of the Bishop of Pekin, and
others.--Gill's Sword-blades.--Hatchett's Carriages.--Scorpion
found in a Cask packed at Birmingham.--Portraits of English
Nobility.--Effects of Accounts from Tartary on the Officers of
State in Pekin.--Emperor's return to the Capital.--Inspects the
Presents.--Application of the Embassador for Leave to
depart.--Short Account of the Palace and Gardens of_
Yuen-min-yuen.--_Lord Macartney's Description of the Eastern and
Western Parks of Gehol.--And his general Remarks on Chinese
Landscape Gardening._ 87
CHAP. IV.
Sketch of the State of Society in China.--Manners, Customs, Sentiments,
and Moral Character of the People.
_Condition of Women, a Criterion of the State of Society.--Degraded
State of in China.--Domestic Manners unfavourable to Filial
Affection.--Parental Authority.--Ill Effects of separating the
Sexes.--Social Intercourse unknown, except for gaming. Their
Worship solitary.--Feasts of New Year.--Propensity to gaming.
Influence of the Laws seem to have destroyed the natural Character
of the People.--Made them indifferent, or cruel.--Various Instances
of this Remark in public and in private Life.--Remarks on
Infanticide.--Perhaps less general than usually thought.--Character
of Chinese in Foreign Countries.--Temper and Disposition of the
Chinese. Merchants. Cuckoo-Clocks.--Conduct of a Prince of the
Blood. Of the Prime Minister. Comparison of the Physical and Moral
Characters of the Chinese and_ Mantchoo _Tartars. General Character
of the Nation illustrated._ 138
CHAP. V.
Manners and Amusements of the Court--Reception of
Embassadors.--Character and private Life of the Emperor--His Eunuchs and
Women.
_General Character of the Court--Of the buildings about the
Palace_--Lord Macartney's _Account of his Introduction--Of the
Celebration of the Emperor's Anniversary Festival--Of a
Puppet-Shew--Comedy and Pantomime--Wrestling--Conjuring and
Fire-Works--Reception and Entertainment of the Dutch Embassadors
from a Manuscript Journal--Observations on the State of the Chinese
Stage--Extraordinary Scene in one of their Dramas--Gross and
indelicate Exhibitions--Sketch of_ Kien-Long's _Life and
Character--Kills his Son by an unlucky Blow--conceives himself
immortal--Influence of the Eunuchs at the Tartar Conquest--their
present State and Offices--Emperor's Wife, Queens, and
Concubines--How disposed of at his Death._ 191
CHAP. VI.
Language.--Literature, and the fine Arts.--Sciences.--Mechanics, and
Medicine.
_Opinion of the Chinese Language being hieroglyphical
erroneous.--Doctor Hager's mistakes.--Etymological Comparisons
fallacious.--Examples of.--Nature of the Chinese written
Character.--Difficulty and Ambiguity of.--Curious Mistake of an
eminent Antiquarian.--Mode of acquiring the Character.--Oral
Language.--Mantchoo Tartar Alphabet.--Chinese
Literature.--Astronomy.--Chronology.--Cycle of sixty
Years.--Geography.--Arithmetic.--Chemical Arts.--Cannon and
Gunpowder.--Distillation.--Potteries.--Silk
Manufactures.--Ivory.--Bamboo.--Paper.--Ink.--Printing.--Mechanics.
--Music.--Painting.--Sculpture.--Architecture.--Hotel
of the English Embassador in Pekin.--The Great Wall.--The Grand
Canal.--Bridges.--Cemeteries.--Natural Philosophy.--Medicine.--Chinese
Pharmacopoeia.--Quacks.--Contagious Fevers.--Small-pox.--Opthalmia.
--Venereal Disease.--Midwifery.--Surgery.--Doctor Gregory's Opinion of
their Medical Knowledge.--Sir William Jones's Opinion of their general
Character._ 236
CHAP. VII.
Government--Laws--Tenures of Land and Taxes--Revenues--Civil and
Military Ranks, and Establishments.
_Opinions on which the Executive Authority is grounded.--Principle
on which an Emperor of China seldom appears in public.--The
Censorate.--Public Departments.--Laws.--Scale of Crimes and
Punishments.--Laws regarding Homicide.--Curious Law Case.--No
Appeal from Civil Suits.--Defects in the Executive
Government.--Duty of Obedience and Power of personal
Correction.--Russia and China compared.--Fate of the Prime
Minister_ Ho-chang-tong.--_Yearly Calendar and Pekin Gazette,
engines of Government.--Freedom of the Press.--Duration of the
Government attempted to be explained.--Precautions of Government to
prevent Insurrections.--Taxes and Revenues.--Civil and Military
Establishments.--Chinese Army, its Numbers and
Appointments.--Conduct of the Tartar Government at the
Conquest.--Impolitic Change of late Years, and the probable
Consequences of it._ 357
CHAP. VIII.
Conjectures on the Origin of the Chinese.--Their Religious
Sects,--Tenets,--and Ceremonies.
_Embassy departs from Pekin, and is lodged in a Temple.--Colony
from Egypt not necessary to be supposed, in order to account for
Egyptian Mythology in China.--Opinions concerning Chinese
Origin.--Observations on the Heights of Tartary.--Probably the
Resting-place of the Ark of Noah.--Ancients ignorant of the
Chinese.--Seres.--First known Intercourse of Foreigners with
China.--Jews.--Budhists.--Nestorians.--Mahomedans.--Roman
Catholics.--Quarrels of the Jesuits and Dominicans.--Religion of
Confucius.--Attached to the Prediction of future Events.--Notions
entertained by him of a future State.--Of the Deity.--Doctrine not
unlike that of the Stoics.--Ceremonies in Honour of his Memory led
to Idolatry.--Misrepresentations of the Missionaries with regard to
the Religion of the Chinese.--The_ Tao-tze _or_ Sons of
Immortals.--_Their Beverage of Life.--The Disciples of_ Fo _or
Budhists.--Comparison of some of the Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, and
Chinese Deities.--The_ Lotos _or_ Nelumbium.--_Story of_ Osiris
_and_ Isis, _and the_ Isia _compared with the Imperial Ceremony of
Ploughing.--Women visit the Temples.--Practical Part of Chinese
Religion.--Funeral Obsequies.--Feast of Lanterns.--Obeisance to the
Emperor performed in Temples leads to Idolatry.--Primitive Religion
lost or corrupted.--Summary of Chinese Religion._ 418
CHAP. IX.
Journey from Tong-choo-foo to the Province of Canton.--Face of the
Country, and its Productions.--Buildings and other Public
Works.--Condition of the People.--State of Agriculture.--Population.
_Attentions paid to the Embassy.--Observations on the Climate and
Plains of_ Pe-tche-lee.--_Plants of.--Diet and Condition of the
People.--Burying-place.--Observation on Chinese Cities.--Trackers
of the Yachts.--Entrance of the Grand Canal. The Fishing
Corvorant.--Approach to the_ Yellow River.--_Ceremony of crossing
this River.--Observations on Canals and Roads.--Improvements of the
Country in advancing to the Southward.--Beauty of, near_
Sau-choo-foo.--_Bridge of ninety-one Arches.--Country near_
Hang-choo-foo.--_City of.--Appearance of the Country near the_
Po-yang _Lake.--Observations in Proceeding through_
Kiang-see.--_The_ Camellia Sesanqua.--_Retrospective View of the
Climate and Produce, Diet and Condition of the People, of_
Pe-tche-lee.--_Some Observations on the Capital of China.--Province
of_ Shan-tung.--_Of_ Kiang-nan.--_Observations on the State of
Agriculture in China.--Rice Mills.--Province of_ Tche-kiang.--_Of_
Kiang-see.--_Population of China compared with that of
England.--Erroneous Opinions entertained on this
Subject.--Comparative Population of a City in China and in
England.--Famines accounted for.--Means of Prevention.--Causes of
the Populousness of China._ 488
CHAP. X.
Journey through the Province of Canton.--Situation of Foreigners trading
to this Port.--Conclusion.
_Visible Change in the Character of the People.--Rugged
Mountains.--Collieries.--Temple in a Cavern.--Stone
Quarries.--Various Plants for Use and Ornament.--Arrive at
Canton.--Expence of the Embassy to the Chinese Government.--To the
British Nation.--Nature and Inconveniences of the Trade to
Canton.--The Armenian and his Pearl.--Impositions of the Officers
of Government instanced.--Principal Cause of them is the Ignorance
of the Language.--Case of Chinese trading to London.--A Chinese
killed by a Seaman of His Majesty's Ship Madras.--Delinquent saved
from an ignominious Death, by a proper Mode of Communication with
the Government._--Conclusion. 591
LIST OF PLATES.
_Portrait of Van-ta-gin_--the Frontispiece. (_v. p. 184_)
_Trading Vessel_ and _Rice Mill_ to face page 37.
_Portraits_ of a _Chinese_ and a _Hottentot_ to face page 50.
_View_ in the _Imperial Park_ at _Gehol_ to face page 128.
_Artillery_, between pages 302 and 303 with a _guard_.
_Musical Instruments_ between pages 314 and 315 with a guard.
_Arch_ of a _Bridge_ to face page 338.
_Chinese Village_, and Mandarin's Dwelling, to face page 545.
ERRATA.
Page 20 line 12. _add_ a between of and crime
23. -- 2. _for_ twice _read_ thrice
39. line last, _for_ Mario _r._ Marco
44. -- 26. _for_ Toftanague _r._ Tootanague
46. -- 18. _for_ Geraffe _r._ Giraffe
81. -- 1. _add_ to between master and which
103. -- 17. _for_ monuments _r._ Monument
122. -- 7. _add_ the between of and palaces
127. -- 3. _for_ ther _r._ their
142. -- 1. _for_ whit _r._ with
183. -- 13. _for_ the _r._ a
186. -- 4. _for_ loose _r._ lose
224. in the note. _for_ A. Calpurnius _r._ T. Calpurnius
239. -- 13. _after_ cross place X
295. -- 20. _for_ numercial _r._ numerical
394. -- 15. _for_ an _r._ in
---- -- 16. _for_ in _r._ on
416. -- 1. _for_ blook _r._ stock
568. -- 12. _for_ from _r._ form
---- -- -- _for_ form _r._ from
583. -- last. _for_ thegr and _r._ the grand
ADVERTISEMENT.
The sentiments advanced in the present Work, and the point of view in
which some of the facts are considered, being so very different from the
almost universally received opinion, and some of them from the opinion
of those to whose friendship the Author is particularly indebted for
various literary communications, he thinks it right to declare, that
they are the unbiassed conclusions of his own mind, founded altogether
on his own observations; and he trusts that the Public, in considering
him alone responsible, will receive them with its usual candour.
TRAVELS
IN
_CHINA_.
CHAP. I.
PRELIMINARY MATTER.
_Introduction.--General View of what Travellers are likely to meet with
in China.--Mistaken Notions entertained with regard to the British
Embassy--corrected by the Reception and Treatment of the subsequent
Dutch Embassy.--Supposed Points of Failure in the former, as stated by a
French Missionary from Pekin, refuted_.--Kien Long's _Letter to the_
King _of Holland.--Difference of Treatment experienced by the two
Embassies explained.--Intrigues of Missionaries in foreign
Countries.--Pride and Self-Importance of the Chinese Court.--List of
European Embassies, and the Time of their Abode in Pekin.--Conclusion of
Preliminary Subject_.
It is hardly necessary to observe that, after the able and interesting
account of the proceedings and result of the British Embassy to the
court of China, by the late Sir George Staunton (who was no less amiable
for liberality of sentiment, than remarkable for vigour of intellect) it
would be an idle, and, indeed, a superfluous undertaking, in any other
person who accompanied the embassy, to dwell on those subjects which
have been treated by him in so masterly a manner; or to recapitulate
those incidents and transactions, which he has detailed with equal
elegance and accuracy.
But, as it will readily occur to every one, there are still many
interesting subjects, on which Sir George, from the nature of his work,
could only barely touch, and others that did not come within his plan,
one great object of which was to unfold the views of the embassy, and to
shew that every thing, which could be done, was done, for promoting the
interests of the British nation, and supporting the dignity of the
British character; the Author of the present work has ventured, though
with extreme diffidence, and with the consciousness of the disadvantage
under which he must appear after that "Account of the Embassy," to lay
before the public the point of view in which _he_ saw the Chinese
empire, and the Chinese character. In doing this, the same facts will
sometimes necessarily occur, that have already been published, for
reasons that it would be needless to mention; but whenever that happens
to be the case, they will briefly be repeated, for the purpose of
illustrating some position, or for deducing some general inference.
Thus, for instance, the document given to the Embassador of the
population of China will be noticed, not however under the colour of its
being an unquestionably accurate statement, but, on the contrary, to
shew that it neither is, nor can be, correct; yet at the same time to
endeavour to prove, by facts and analogy, that, contrary to the received
opinion, the country is capable of supporting not only three hundred
and thirty-three millions of people, but that it might actually afford
the means of subsistence to twice that number. The confirmation, indeed,
of new and important facts, though very different conclusions be drawn
from them, cannot be entirely unacceptable to the reader; for as
different persons will generally see the same things in different points
of view, so, perhaps, by combining and comparing the different
descriptions and colouring that may be given of the same objects, the
public is enabled to obtain the most correct notions of such matters as
can be learned only from the report of travellers.
With regard to China, if we except the work of Sir George Staunton, and
the limited account of Mr. Bell of Antermony, which was not written by
himself, it may be considered as unbeaten ground by Britons. We have
heard a great deal of Chinese knavery practised at Canton, but, except
in the two works abovementioned, we have not yet heard the sentiments of
an Englishman at all acquainted with the manners, customs, and character
of the Chinese nation. The voluminous communications of the missionaries
are by no means satisfactory; and some of their defects will be noticed
and accounted for in the course of this work; the chief aim of which
will be to shew this extraordinary people in their proper colours, not
as their own moral maxims would represent them, but as they really
are--to divest the court of the tinsel and the tawdry varnish with
which, like the palaces of the Emperor, the missionaries have found it
expedient to cover it in their writings; and to endeavour to draw such a
sketch of the manners, the state of society, the language, literature
and fine arts, the sciences and civil institutions, the religious
worship and opinions, the population and progress of agriculture, the
civil and moral character of the people, as may enable the reader to
settle, in his own mind, _the point of rank which China may be
considered to hold in the scale of civilized nations_.
The stability of the Chinese government; the few changes that have been
made in its civil institutions for such a number of ages; the vast
extent of empire and immense population, forming one society, guided by
the same laws, and governed by the will of a single individual, offer,
as Sir George Staunton has observed, "the grandest collective object
that can be presented for human contemplation or research." The customs,
habits and manners, the wants and resources, the language, sentiments
and religious notions, of "the most ancient society and the most
populous empire existing amongst men," are, without doubt most
interesting subjects for the investigation of the philosopher, and not
unworthy the attention of the statesman. But the expectations of the man
of science, the artist, or the naturalist, might perhaps be rather
disappointed, than their curiosity be gratified, in travelling through
this extensive country. It can boast of few works of art, few remains of
ancient grandeur. The great wall, that for a time defended its peaceable
inhabitants against the attacks of the roving Tartars, the walls of its
numerous cities, with their square towers and lofty gates, and here and
there an old pagoda, are its only architectural antiquities; and, when
these are excepted, there is not perhaps a single building in the whole
extent of China that has withstood the action of three centuries. There
are no ancient palaces nor other public edifices, no paintings nor
pieces of sculpture, to arrest the attention of the traveller, unless
it might be from the novelty of their appearance. In travelling over the
continent of Europe, and more especially on the classic ground of Italy
and Greece, every city, mountain, river, and ruin, are rendered
interesting by something on record which concerns them; the theme of
some poet, the feat of some philosopher or lawgiver, the scene of some
memorable action, they all inspire us with the liveliest sensations, by
reviving in the mind those pleasures which the study of their history
afforded in early life. To Europeans the history of China has hitherto
furnished no materials for such recurrence, and the country itself is
therefore incapable of communicating such impressions. In vain should we
here look for the massy and stupendous fabrics that appear in the
pyramids and the pillars of the ancient Egyptians; the beautiful and
symmetrical works of art displayed in the temples of the Greeks; the
grand and magnificent remains of Roman architecture; or that combination
of convenience and elegance of design which characterize the modern
buildings of Europe. In China every city is nearly the same: a
quadrangular space of ground is enclosed with walls of stone, of brick,
or of earth, all built upon the same plan; the houses within them of the
same construction; and the streets, except the principal ones that run
from gate to gate, invariably narrow. The temples are, nearly, all
alike, of the same awkward design as the dwelling-houses, but on a
larger scale; and the objects that are known in Europe by the name of
pagodas, are of the same inelegant kind of architecture, from one
extremity of the empire to the other, differing only in the number of
rounds or stories, and in the materials of which they are constructed.
The manners, the dress, the amusements of the people, are nearly the
same. Even the surface of the country, as far as regards the fifteen
ancient provinces, is subject to little variation, and especially those
parts over which the grand inland navigation is carried; the only parts,
in fact, that foreigners travelling in China have any chance of
visiting.
In this route no very great variety nor number of subjects occur in the
department of natural history. Few native plants, and still fewer wild
animals, are to be expected in those parts of a country that are
populous and well cultivated. Indeed the rapid manner in which the
present journey was made, was ill suited for collecting and examining
specimens even of those few that did occur.
On these considerations it is hoped that the indulgence of the reader
will not be withheld, where information on such points may appear to be
defective. A French critic[1] (perhaps without doing him injustice he
may be called a hypercritic) who happened to visit Canton for a few
months, some fifty years ago, has, with that happy confidence peculiar
to his nation, not only pointed out the errors and defects of the
information communicated to the world by the English and the Dutch
embassies, but has laid down a syllabus of the subjects they ought to
have made themselves completely acquainted with, which, instead of seven
months, would seem to require a residence of seven years in the country.
But the author of the present work rests his confidence in the English
critics being less unreasonable in their demands; and that their
indulgences will be proportioned to the difficulties that occurred in
collecting accurate information. With this reliance, the descriptions,
observations, and comparisons, such as they are, he presents to the
public, candidly acknowledging that he is actuated rather by the hope of
meeting its forbearance, than by the confidence of deserving its
approbation.
[1] Monsieur (I beg his pardon) _Citoyen_ Charpentier Cossigny.
Perhaps it may not be thought amiss, before he enters on the more
immediate subject of the work, to correct, in this place, a very
mistaken notion that prevailed on the return of the embassy, which was,
that an unconditional compliance of Lord Macartney with all the
humiliating ceremonies which the Chinese might have thought proper to
exact from him, would have been productive of results more favourable to
the views of the embassy. Assertions of such a general nature are more
easily made than refuted, and indeed unworthy of attention; but a letter
of a French missionary at Pekin to the chief of the Dutch factory at
Canton is deserving of some notice, because it specifies the reasons to
which, according to the writer's opinion, was owing the supposed failure
of the British embassy. In speaking of this subject he observes, "Never
was an embassy deserving of better success! whether it be considered on
account of the experience, the wisdom, and the amiable qualities of Lord
Macartney and Sir George Staunton; or of the talents, the knowledge, and
the circumspect behaviour of the gentlemen who composed their Suite; or
of the valuable and curious presents intended for the Emperor--and yet,
strange to tell, never was there an embassy that succeeded so ill!
"You may be curious, perhaps, to know the reason of an event so
unfavourable and so extraordinary. I will tell you in a few words.
These gentlemen, like all strangers, who know China only from books,
were ignorant of the manner of proceeding, of the customs and the
etiquette of this court; and, to add to their misfortune, they brought
with them a Chinese interpreter still less informed than themselves. The
consequence of all which was that, in the first place, they came without
any presents for the Minister of State, or for the sons of the Emperor.
Secondly, they refused to go through the usual ceremony of saluting the
Emperor, without offering any satisfactory reason for such refusal.
Thirdly, They presented themselves in clothes that were too plain, and
too common. Fourthly, They did not use the precaution to fee (graisser
la patte) the several persons appointed to the superintendance of their
affairs. Fifthly, Their demands were not made in the tone and style of
the country. Another reason of their bad success, and, in my mind, the
principal one, was owing to the intrigues of a certain missionary, who,
imagining that this embassy might be injurious to the interests of his
own country, did not fail to excite unfavourable impressions against the
English nation."
The points of failure enumerated in this letter of Monsieur Grammont,
were so many spurs to the Dutch factory to try their success at the
court of Pekin the following year. No sooner did Mr. Van Braam receive
this dispatch, by the return of the English embassy to Canton, than he
prepared a letter for the Commissaries General at Batavia, in which he
informed them, that as it was the intention of the different nations who
had factories established in Canton, to send embassadors to the
Capital, for the purpose of congratulating the Emperor on his attaining
the age of eighty-four years, which would be in the sixtieth year of his
reign, he had resolved to proceed on such a mission on the part of the
Batavian Republic, and requested that he might be furnished, without
delay, with suitable credentials. To this application the Commissaries
General, who had been sent out the same year to retrench the expences of
the Company in their Indian settlements, and to reform abuses, returned
for answer, That, "however low and inadequate their finances might be to
admit of extraordinary expences, yet they deemed it expedient not to
shew any backwardness in adopting similar measures to those pursued by
other Europeans trading to China; and that they had, accordingly,
nominated Mr. Titsingh as chief, and himself (Mr. Van Braam) as second
Embassador to the Court of China."
Mr. Titsingh lost no time in repairing to Canton, and these two
Embassadors, determining to avail themselves of the hints thrown out in
Monsieur Grammont's letter, and thereby to avoid splitting on the same
rock which, they took for granted, the British Embassador had done,
cheerfully submitted to every humiliating ceremony required from them by
the Chinese, who, in return, treated them in the most contemptuous and
indignant manner. At Canton they were ordered to assist in a solemn
procession of Mandarines to a temple in the neighbourhood, and there,
before the Emperor's name, painted on cloth, and suspended above the
altar, to bow their heads nine times to the ground, in token of
gratitude for his great condescension in permitting them to proceed to
his presence, in order to offer him tribute. They submitted even to the
demands of the state-officers of Canton, that the letter, written by the
Commissaries General at Batavia to the Emperor of China, and translated
there into the Chinese language, should be broke open, and the contents
read by them; and that they should further be allowed to make therein
such alterations and additions as they might think proper. The
Embassador, resolving not to be wanting in any point of civility,
requested to know when he might have the honour of paying his respects
to the Viceroy; and received for answer, that the customs of the country
did not allow a person in his situation to come within the walls of the
Viceroy's palace, but that one of his officers should receive his visit
at the gate; which visit _to the gate_ was literally made. Mr. Van
Braam, in relating this circumstance in his journal, observes, that the
Viceroy "assured his Excellency, he ought not to take his refusal amiss,
as the same terms had been prescribed to Lord Macartney the preceding
year." Mr. Van Braam knew very well that Lord Macartney never subjected
himself to any such refusal; and he knew too, that the same Viceroy
accompanied his Lordship in a great part of his journey from the
Capital: that he partook of a repast, on the invitation of Lord
Macartney, at the British factory; when, for the first time, both Mr.
Van Braam and the supercargoes of all the European nations had been
permitted to sit down in the presence of one of his rank.
At Pekin they were required to humiliate themselves at least thirty
different times, at each of which they were obliged, on their knees, to
knock their heads nine times against the ground, which Mr. Van Braam,
in his journal, very coolly calls, performing the salute of honour,
"_faire le salut d'honneur_." And they were finally dismissed, with a
few paltry pieces of silk, without having once been allowed to open
their lips on any kind of business; and without being permitted to see
either their friend Grammont, or any other European missionary, except
one, who had special leave to make them a visit of half an hour, the day
before their departure, in presence of ten or twelve officers of
government. On their arrival in this Capital they were lodged,
literally, in a stable; under the same cover, and in the same apartment,
with a parcel of cart-horses. Mr. Van Braam's own words are, "_Nous
voilà donc à notre arrivée dans la célèbre residence impériale, logés
dans une espèce d'écurie. Nous serions nous attendus à une pareille
avanture!_"
After such a vile reception and degrading treatment of the Dutch
Embassy, what advantages can reasonably be expected to accrue from a
servile and unconditional compliance with the submissions required by
this haughty government? It would rather seem that their exactions are
proportioned to the complying temper of the persons with whom they have
to treat. For it appears, not only from Mr. Van Braam's own account of
the Embassy, but also from two manuscript journals in the Author's
possession, one kept by a Dutch gentleman in the suite, and the other by
a native Chinese, that the Embassadors from the Batavian Republic were
fully prepared to obviate every difficulty that might arise from the
supposed points of failure in the British Embassy, as directed to their
notice by M. Grammont. In the first place, they not only carried
presents for the Ministers of State, but they calmly suffered these
gentlemen to trick them out of the only curious and valuable articles
among the presents intended for the Emperor, and to substitute others,
of a mean and common nature, in their place. Secondly, they not only
complied with going through the usual ceremony of saluting the Emperor,
but also of saluting the Emperor's name, painted on a piece of silk, at
least fifty times, on their journey to and from the Capital: which
degrading ceremony they even condescended to perform before the person
of the Prime Minister. With regard to the third point, it certainly
appears that no expence had been spared in providing themselves with
splendid robes for the occasion; but, unfortunately, they had but few
opportunities of making use of them, their baggage not arriving at the
Capital till many days after they had been there. Nor does it seem that
the dress of a foreign Embassador is considered of much consequence in
the eyes of the Chinese; for, when these gentlemen wished to excuse
themselves from going to court, on account of their dusty and tattered
clothes, in which they had performed a most painful journey, the Master
of the Ceremonies observed, that it was not their _dress_, but their
_persons_, which the Emperor, his master, was desirous to see. And, it
can hardly be supposed, they would omit observing the fourth article,
which, Mr. Grammont is of opinion, was neglected by Lord Macartney. And,
in the last place, they stand fully acquitted of any want of _humility_
in the tone and style of their communications, after having allowed
their credentials to be new modelled by the officers of Government at
Canton; from which city they had also an interpreter, a very proper one,
no doubt, appointed to attend them.
Their mission, it is true, was not well calculated for making terms or
rejecting proposals. The Chinese were not unacquainted with the
declining finances of the Dutch; they knew very well that the embassy
had originated in Canton, and that it was accredited only from their
superiors in Batavia. In their journey they were harassed beyond
measure; sometimes they were lodged in wretched hovels, without
furniture and without cover; sometimes they were obliged to pass the
night in the open air, when the temperature was below the freezing
point; frequently for four and twenty hours they had nothing to eat. Van
Braam observes that, owing to the fatigues of the journey, the badness
of the victuals, their early rising and exposure to the cold, he lost
about five inches in the circumference of his body. Being rather
corpulent, and not very expert in performing the Chinese ceremony at
their public introduction, his hat happened to fall on the ground, upon
which the old Emperor began to laugh. "Thus," says he, "I received a
mark of distinction and predilection, such as never Embassador was
honoured with before. I confess," continues he, "that the recollection
of my sufferings from the cold in waiting so long in the morning, was
very much softened by this incident." No man will certainly envy this
gentleman's happy turn of mind, in receiving so much satisfaction in
being laughed at.
The tone of the Emperor's letter, with which they were dismissed, while
it speaks the vain and arrogant sentiments of this haughty government,
shews at the same time how well acquainted they were with the
circumstances that gave rise to the mission, and the degree of
estimation in which they held it. It was written in the Tartar,
Chinese, and Latin languages, from the last of which, as rendered by the
missionaries, the following is a literal translation. The contents were
addressed to the Council of India, but on the outside wrapper, "_To the
King of Holland_." It may serve at the same time as a specimen of
Chinese composition.
"I have received from heaven the sceptre of this vast empire. I have
reigned for sixty years with glory and happiness; and have established
the most profound peace upon the four seas[2] of the said empire, to the
benefit of the nations bordering upon them. The fame of my majesty and
proofs of my magnificence have found their way into every part of the
world, and they constitute the pride and the pleasure of my vast
domains.
[2] This expression alludes to the ancient opinion that China was
surrounded by the sea, and that the rest of the world was made up of
islands. Yet though they now possess a tolerable notion of geography,
such is their inveterate adherence to ancient opinion, that they prefer
retaining the most absurd errors, rather than change one single
sentiment or expression that Confucius has written.
"I consider my own happy empire, and other kingdoms, as one and the same
family; the princes and the people are, in my eye, the same men. I
condescend to shed my blessings over all, strangers as well as natives;
and there is no country, however distant, that has not received
instances of my benevolence. Thus, all nations send to do me homage, and
to congratulate me incessantly. New and successive Embassadors arrive,
some drawn in chariots over land, and others traverse, in their ships,
the immensity of the seas. In fact, I attend to nothing but the good
administration of my empire. I feel a lively joy in observing the
anxiety with which they flock together from every quarter to contemplate
and admire the wise administration of my government. I experience the
most agreeable satisfaction in participating my happiness with foreign
states. I applaud therefore your government, which, although separated
from mine by an immense ocean, has not failed to send me congratulatory
letters, accompanied with tributary offerings.
"Having perused your letters, I observe that they contain nothing but
what I consider as authentic testimonies of your great veneration for
me, from whence I conclude that you admire my mode of governing. In
fact, you have great reason to applaud me. Since you have carried on
your trade at Canton, (and it is now many years,) strangers have always
been well treated in my empire; and they have individually been the
objects of my love and affection. I might call to witness the
Portuguese, the Italians, the English, and others of the same sort of
nations, who are all equally esteemed by me, and have all presented me
with precious gifts. All have been treated, on my part, after the same
manner, and without any partiality. I give abundantly even when those
things I received from them are of no value. My manner of doing these
things is undoubtedly known in your country.
"Concerning your Embassador, he is not, properly speaking, sent by his
King; but you, who are a company of merchants, have supposed yourselves
authorized to pay me this respect. Your Sovereign, however, having
directed you to chuse a favourable moment of my reign, you have now sent
to felicitate me accordingly in the name of your said Sovereign. The
sixtieth year of my reign was about to be completed. You, a company, too
distant from your Sovereign, could not announce it to him. Interpreting
this to be his pleasure, you have undertaken to send, in his name, to do
me homage; and I have no doubt this prince is inspired towards me with
the same sentiments which I have experienced in you. I have, therefore,
received your Embassador as if he had been sent immediately by his King.
And I am desirous you should be made acquainted that I have remarked
nothing in the person of your Embassador, but what bore testimony of his
respect for me, and of his own good conduct.
"I commanded my great officers to introduce him to my presence. I gave
him several entertainments, and permitted him to see the grounds and the
palaces that are within my vast and magnificent gardens of
_Yuen-min-yuen_. I have so acted that he might feel the effects of my
attention, dividing with him the pleasures which the profound peace of
my empire allows me to enjoy. I have, moreover, made valuable presents,
not only to him, but also to the officers, interpreters, soldiers, and
servants of his suite, giving them, besides what is customary, many
other articles, as may be seen by the catalogue.
"Your Embassador being about to return to the presence of his sovereign,
I have directed him to present to this Prince pieces of silk and other
valuable articles to which I have added some antique vases.
"May your King receive my present. May he govern his people with wisdom;
and give his sole attention to this grand object, acting always with an
upright and sincere heart: and, lastly, may he always cherish the
recollection of my beneficence! May this King attentively watch over the
affairs of his kingdom. I recommend it to him strongly and earnestly.
"The twenty-fourth day of the first moon of the sixtieth year of the
reign of Kien Long."
The very different treatment which the English embassy received at the
court of Pekin is easily explained. The Chinese are well informed of the
superiority of the English over all other nations by sea; of the great
extent of their commerce; of their vast possessions in India which they
have long regarded with a jealous eye; and of the character and
independent spirit of the nation. They perceived, in the manly and open
conduct of Lord Macartney, the representative of a sovereign in no way
inferior to the Emperor of China, and they felt the propriety, though
they were unwilling to avow it, of exacting only the same token of
respect from him towards their sovereign, that one of their own
countrymen, of equal rank, should pay to the portrait of his Britannic
majesty. It must, however, have been a hard struggle between personal
pride, and national importance, before they resolved to reject so fair a
proposal, and consent to wave a ceremony which had never, on any former
occasion, been dispensed with. It is easy to conceive how strong an
impression the refusal of an individual to comply with the ceremonies of
the country was likely to make on the minds of the Emperor and his
court; how much they must have suffered in their own opinion, and how
greatly must their pride have been mortified, to find that by no trick,
nor artifice, nor stretch of power, could they prevail on an English
Embassador to forego the dignity and respect due to the situation he
held at their court, whither they were now convinced he had not come, as
was signified in painted letters on the colours of the ships that
transported the embassy up the _Pei-ho_, "_to offer tribute to the
Emperor of China_."
With regard to the intrigues of the Portugueze missionary, mentioned in
Mr. Grammont's letter, Lord Macartney was sufficiently aware of them
long before his arrival in the capital, and took such measures, in
consequence of the information, as were most likely to be effectual in
counteracting any influence that he might secretly exert, injurious to
the interests of the British nation. But the intrigues of churchmen are
not always easily obviated, especially where they are suspicious of
their errors being exposed or their ignorance detected. It is a painful
truth (and is noticed here with reluctance, on account of the many
worthy members of the society) that the ministers of a certain branch of
a religion whose distinguishing feature is meekness and forbearance,
should have so far perverted the intention of its benevolent author, as
to have produced more intrigues, cabals, and persecutions, than even the
relentless Mahomedans, whose first article of faith inculcates merit in
destroying those of a different persuasion. Their political intrigues
and interference in state affairs, have done material injury to the
cause of Christianity in almost every country into which their missions
have extended.
The malignant spirit of this same Portugueze missionary was not confined
to the framing of falsehoods and misrepresentations with regard to the
views of the British embassy, but has continued to exert its influence
at the court of Pekin, in the same secret and dishonourable way,
whenever an opportunity occurred that seemed favourable for raising
unwarrantable suspicions in the minds of the Chinese against the English
nation. Towards the close of the last war, when it was found expedient
to take possession of some of the Portugueze colonies, and an expedition
for this purpose was actually sent out to secure the peninsula of Macao,
this missionary lost no time in suggesting to the Chinese court, that
the designs of the English in getting possession of Macao might be of
the same nature as those they had already practised in India; and that
if they were once suffered to get footing in the country, China might
experience the same fate as Hindostan. Fortunately for the concerns of
the British East India Company this officious interference and the
malevolent insinuations of _Bernardo Almeyda_ took a very different turn
to what he had expected. The intelligence of a hostile force so near the
coast of China coming first from an European missionary, implied a
neglect in the Viceroy of Canton, and an angry letter was addressed to
him from court, ordering him to give immediate and accurate information
on the subject. The Viceroy, nettled at the officious zeal of the
Portugueze, positively denied the fact of any hostile intention of the
English, "who, being a brave people, and terrible in arms, had
intimidated the Portugueze at Macao, though without reason, as their
ships of war, as usual, came only to protect their ships of commerce
against their enemies." When this dispatch of the Viceroy reached Pekin,
the Emperor was so exasperated to think that the Court had suffered
itself to be misled by an European missionary, that he ordered Almeyda
to appear before the master of the household, and on his knees to ask
forgiveness of a crime, which, he was told, deserved to be punished with
death; and he was dismissed with a caution never more to interfere in
the state affairs of China. The whole of this curious transaction is
published in the Pekin Gazette of last year; so that the English have
gained a considerable degree of reputation by it, so much, indeed, that
the Chinese at Canton (and a great deal depends upon their
representations) would have no objection to see the English in
possession of Macao; for they cordially hate, I believe it is not too
much to say they despise, the Portugueze, and they speak with horror of
the French. What a moment then is this for England to turn to its
advantage!
Independent, however, of the machinations of missionaries, such is the
pride and the haughty insolence of the Chinese government, that, in no
instance on record, but that of the British embassy, has it ever relaxed
from its long established customs, nor acquiesced in any demands of
foreign embassadors, whether the tone in which they were made was
supplicating or authoritative. The forms of the court they contend to be
as immutable as were the laws of the Medes and Persians. Every thing
must be conducted by prescriptive usage, and no deviation allowed from
the rules which for ages have been established by law, and registered by
the council of ordinances; much less the remission of any duty that
might derogate from the reverence and respect which are considered to be
due to the person of the Emperor.
It may be imagined, then, that an event so new as a refusal to submit to
the degrading ceremony required from an embassador, at his public
introduction, could not fail of making a very strong impression on the
minds of those about the person of his Imperial Majesty; who, as Mr. Van
Braam says, were (and without doubt they were) much better satisfied
with the complying temper of the Dutch, than with the inflexible
pertinacity of the English. Yet, they did not venture to lodge the
latter in a stable, nor think proper to persevere in demanding
unreasonable homage. Neither was any pique or ill-nature apparent in any
single instance, after the departure of the embassy from the capital,
but very much the contrary. The officers appointed to conduct it to
Canton testified the most earnest desire to please, by a ready attention
to every minute circumstance that might add to the comforts of the
travellers, or alleviate, if not entirely remove, any little
inconvenience. It was a flattering circumstance to the embassador to
observe their anxiety for the favourable opinion of a nation they had
now begun to think more highly of, and of whom, in measuring with
themselves, it was not difficult to perceive, they felt, though too
cautious to avow, the superiority.
The British embassy was a measure which it was absolutely necessary to
adopt, for reasons that are stated at full length in the first chapter
of Sir George Staunton's valuable work, and the foundation it has laid
for future advantages more than counterbalances the trifling expence it
occasioned to the East India Company, which did not exceed two per cent.
on the annual amount of their trade from England to Canton. Those who
had formed immoderate expectations must have little understood the laws
and customs of China, which admit not the system of mutual intercourse
between distant nations, by means of embassadors or resident ministers
at the respective courts. Their custom is to receive embassadors with
respect and hospitality; to consider them as visitors to the Emperor,
and to entertain them accordingly as his particular guests, from the
moment they enter the country till they return to the boundaries of his
empire. This being necessarily attended with an enormous expence[3], the
court of ceremonies has prescribed forty days for the residence of
foreign embassadors, either in the capital, or wherever the court may
happen to be; though on particular occasions, or by accident, the term
may sometimes be extended to double that time.
[3] The expence occasioned to the court of China by the British embassy,
will be stated in a subsequent chapter.
Thus by consulting the accounts of the different European embassies that
have been sent to China in the two last centuries, it will be found
that the residence of none of them was extended to thrice the term fixed
by the court of ceremonies, and two of them did not remain the period
allowed.
The first embassy sent by the Dutch arrived in Pekin the 17th July 1656,
and departed the 16th October following, having remained ninety-one
days.
The second Dutch embassy arrived in Pekin the 20th June 1667, and
departed the 5th August, having resided forty-six days.
The first Russian embassy arrived at the capital on the 5th November
1692, and left it on the 17th February 1693, having remained there one
hundred and six days.
The second Russian embassy arrived at Pekin on the 18th November 1720,
and did not leave it till the 2d March 1721, being one hundred and
fourteen days.
These two embassies were immediately connected with the commercial
concerns of the two nations, which were then transacted in the capital
of China, but now confined to the adjoining frontiers.
The Pope's embassy arrived in Pekin on the 15th December 1720, and
departed the 24th March 1721, being ninety-nine days.
The Portugueze embassy entered Pekin the 1st May 1753, and left it the
8th June following, being only thirty-nine days.
The British embassy arrived in Pekin the 21st August 1793, and departed
the 7th October, being forty-seven days.
The third Dutch embassy entered the capital the 10th January 1795, and
left it the 15th February, being thirty-six days.
On the whole, then, it may be concluded, that neither Monsieur Grammont,
nor they who conceived that an unconditional and servile compliance, on
the part of the British Embassador, would have been productive of more
favourable results, were right in their conjectures. On the contrary, it
may, perhaps, be rather laid down as a certain consequence, that a tone
of submission, and a tame and passive obedience to the degrading demands
of this haughty court, serve only to feed its pride, and add to the
absurd notions of its own vast importance.
CHAP. II.
Occurrences and Observations in the Navigation of the Yellow Sea, and
the Passage up the Pei-ho, or White River.
_Different Testimonies that have been given of the Chinese
Character.--Comparison of China with Europe in the sixteenth
Century.--Motives of the Missionaries in their Writings.--British
Embassy passes the Streights of Formosa.--Appearance of a_
Ta-fung._--Chu-san Islands.--Instance of Chinese Amplification.--Various
Chinese Vessels.--System of their Navigation--their Compass, probably of
Scythian Origin--foreign Voyages of.--Traces of Chinese in America--in
an Island of the Tartarian Sea--in the Persian Gulph--traded probably as
far as Madagascar.--Commerce of the Tyrians.--Reasons for conjecturing
that the Hottentots may have derived their Origin from China.--Portrait
of a Chinese compared with that of a Hottentot.--Malays of the same
descent as the Chinese.--Curious coincidences in the Customs of these
and the Sumatrans.--Cingalese of Chinese Origin.--One of the Brigs
dispatched to_ Chu-san _for Pilots.--Rapid Currents among the
Islands.--Visit to the Governor.--Difficulties in procuring
Pilots.--Arbitrary Proceeding of the Governor.--Pilots puzzled with our
Compass--Ignorance of--Arrive in the Gulph of_ Pe-tche-lee.--_Visit of
two Officers from Court, and their Present--enter the_ Pei-ho, _and
embark in convenient Yachts.--Accommodating Conduct of the two
Officers.--Profusion of Provisions.--Appearance of the Country--of the
People.--Dress of the Women.--Remarks on their small Feet.--Chinese an
uncleanly and frowzy People.--Immense Crowds of People and River Craft
at_ Tien-sing.--_Decent and prepossessing Conduct of the
Multitude.--Musical Air sung by the Rowers of the Yachts.--Favourable
Traits in the Chinese Character.--Face and Products of the
Country.--Multitudes of People Inhabitants of the Water.--Another
Instance of arbitrary Power.--Disembark at_ Tong Tchoo, _and are lodged
in a Temple._
"If any man should make a collection of all the inventions, and all the
productions, that every nation, which now is, or ever has been, upon
the face of the globe, the whole would fall far short, either as to
number or quality, of what is to be met with in China." These, or
something similar, are the words of the learned Isaac Vossius.
The testimony given by the celebrated authors of the _Encyclopédie des
Connoissances humaines_ is almost equally strong: "The Chinese who, by
common consent, are superior to all the Asiatic nations, in antiquity,
in genius, in the progress of the sciences, in wisdom, in government,
and in true philosophy; may, moreover, in the opinion of some authors,
enter the lists, on all these points, with the most enlightened nations
of Europe."
How flattering, then, and gratifying must it have been to the feelings
of those few favoured persons, who had the good fortune to be admitted
into the suite of the British Embassador, then preparing to proceed to
the court of that Sovereign who held the government of such an
extraordinary nation; how greatly must they have enjoyed the prospect of
experiencing, in their own persons, all that was virtuous, and powerful,
and grand, and magnificent, concentrated in one point--in the city of
Pekin!
And if any doubts might have arisen, on consideration that neither the
learned Canon of Windsor, nor the celebrated Authors of the
Encyclopédie, were ever in China; that the first was wonderfully given
to the marvellous, and the latter had no other authorities, than those
of the Jesuits, and other missionaries for propagating the Christian
faith, yet such doubts were more inclined to yield to the favourable
side, as being supported by the almost unanimous concurrence of a
multitude of testimonies, contained in the relations that have, at
various times, been published not only by the missionaries, but also by
some other travellers.
The late Sir William Jones, indeed, who deservedly took the lead in
oriental literature, had observed, in speaking of the Chinese, that "By
some they have been extolled as the oldest and wisest, as the most
learned, and most ingenious, of nations; whilst others have derided
their pretensions to antiquity, condemned their government as
abominable, and arraigned their manners as inhuman; without allowing
them an element of science, or a single art, for which they have not
been indebted to some more ancient and more civilized race of men."
It is true, also, the researches of Mr. Pauw, the sagacious philosopher
of Berlin, and the narrative of the elegant and impressive writer of
Lord Anson's Voyage, convey to the reader's mind no very favourable
ideas of the Chinese character; yet, as the enquiries of the one were
entered upon in a spirit of controversy, and directed to one single
point, and the author, as justly has been observed of him, delights
sometimes to take a swim against the stream, many deductions were
clearly to be made from the conclusions of Mr. Pauw. And with regard to
the Narrative of Mr. Robins, it may be remarked that, to decide upon the
general character of the Chinese, from the dealings Lord Anson had with
them in the port of Canton, would be as unfair, as it would be thought
presumptuous in a foreigner to draw the character of our own nation from
a casual visit to Falmouth, Killybeggs, or Aberdeen. The same remark
will apply to the accounts given of this nation by Toreen, Osbeck,
Sonnerat, and some others, who have visited Canton in trading ships,
none of whom were five hundred yards beyond the limits of the European
factories.
It would also have been highly illiberal to suppose, that a body of men,
remarkable, as the early Jesuit missionaries were thought to be, for
probity, talent, and disinterestedness, should studiously sit down to
compose fabrications for the mere purpose of deceiving the world. Even
Voltaire, who had little partiality for the sacerdotal character, is
willing to admit, that their relations ought to be considered as the
productions of the most intelligent travellers that have extended and
embellished the fields of Science and Philosophy. This remark, with
proper allowances being made for the age in which they were written, may
perhaps be applied to the narratives of the early missions to China,
though not exactly to some others of a more modern date. All the praises
bestowed by the former on this nation, the latter, it would seem, have,
injudiciously, considered themselves bound to justify; without taking
into account the progressive improvements of Europe within the last
century and a half.
That China was civilized to a certain degree before most of the nations
of Europe, not even Greece excepted, is a fact that will not admit of a
doubt; but that it has continued to improve, so as still to vie with
many of the present European states, as the missionaries would have it
supposed, is not by any means so clear. From the middle to the end of
the sixteenth century, compared with Europe in general, it had greatly
the superiority, if not in science, at least in arts and manufactures,
in the conveniences and the luxuries of life. The Chinese were, at that
period, pretty much in the same state in which they still are; and in
which they are likely to continue. When the first Europeans visited
China, they were astonished to find an universal toleration of religious
opinions; to observe _Lamas_ and _Tao-tzes_, _Jews_, _Persees_, and
_Mahomedans_, living quietly together, and each following his own creed
without molestation; whilst most of the countries in Europe were, at
that time, torn in pieces by religious schisms; and man was labouring
with enthusiastic fury to destroy his fellow-creatures, in honour of his
Creator, for a slight difference of opinion in matters of no real
importance, or even for a different acceptation of a word. In China,
every one was allowed to think as he pleased, and to chuse his own
religion. The horrid massacre of the Protestants in Paris had terrified
all Europe. China knew nothing of internal commotions, but such as were
sometimes occasioned by a partial scarcity of grain. The art of
improving vegetables by particular modes of culture, was just beginning
to be known in Europe. All China, at that time, was comparatively a
garden. When the King of France introduced the luxury of silk stockings,
which, about eighteen years afterwards, was adopted by Elizabeth of
England, the peasantry of the middle provinces of China were clothed in
silks from head to foot. At this period, few or none of the little
elegancies or conveniences of life were known in Europe; the ladies'
toilet had few essences to gratify the sense of smell, or to beautify,
for a time, the complexion; the scissars, needles, pen-knives, and other
little appendages, were then unknown; and rude and ill-polished skewers
usurped the place of pins. In China, the ladies had their needlework,
their paint-boxes, their trinkets of ivory, of silver in fillagree, of
mother-pearl, and of tortoise-shell. Even the calendar, at this time so
defective in Europe, that Pope Gregory was urged to the bold undertaking
of leaping over, or annihilating, ten days, was found to be, in China, a
national concern, and the particular care of government. Decimal
arithmetic, a new and useful discovery of the seventeenth century in
Europe, was the only system of arithmetic in use in China. In a word,
when the nobility of England were sleeping on straw, a peasant of China
had his mat and his pillow; and the man in office enjoyed his silken
mattress. One cannot, therefore, be surprized if the impressions made
upon these holy men were powerfully felt, or if their descriptions
should seem to incline a little towards the marvellous. Nor may perhaps
their relations be found to be much embellished, on a fair comparison of
the state of China with that of Europe in general, from the year 1560 to
the close of the same century.
These religious men, however, might have had their motives for setting
this wonderful people in the fairest point of view. The more powerful
and magnificent, the more learned and refined they represented this
nation to be, the greater would be their triumph in the event of their
effecting a change of the national faith. It may also have occurred to
them, that common prudence required they should speak favourably, at
least, of a nation under whose power and protection they had voluntarily
placed themselves for life. There is every reason to suppose, that in
general they mean to tell the truth, but by suppressing some part of it,
or by telling it in such a manner as if they expected it would one day
get back to China in the language of that country, their accounts often
appear to be contradictory in themselves. In the same breath that they
extol the wonderful strength of filial piety, they speak of the common
practices of exposing infants; the strict morality and ceremonious
conduct of the people are followed by a list of the most gross
debaucheries; the virtues and the philosophy of the learned are
explained by their ignorance and their vices; if in one page they speak
of the excessive fertility of the country, and the amazing extension of
agriculture, in the next, thousands are seen perishing by want; and
whilst they extol with admiration the progress they have made in the
arts and sciences, they plainly inform us that without the aid of
foreigners they can neither cast a cannon, nor calculate an eclipse.
Upon the whole, however, the British embassy left England under a
favourable impression of the people it was about to visit. Whether the
expectations of all those who composed it, independent of any political
consideration, were realized, or ended in disappointment, may partly be
collected from the following pages. The opinions they contain are drawn
from such incidents and anecdotes as occurred in the course of an eight
months' visit and from such as seemed best calculated to illustrate the
condition of the people, the national character, and the nature of the
government. A short residence in the imperial palace of Yuen-min-yuen, a
greater share of liberty than is usually permitted to strangers in this
country, with the assistance of some little knowledge of the language,
afforded me the means of collecting the facts and observations which I
now lay before the public; and in the relation of which I have
endeavoured to adhere to that excellent rule of our immortal poet,
----"Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."
And as the qualities of good and evil, excellence and mediocrity, in any
nation, can only be fairly estimated by a comparison with those of the
same kind in others, wherever a similitude or a contrast in the Chinese
character or customs with those of any other people ancient or modern
occurred to my recollection, I have considered it as not wholly
uninteresting to note the relation or disagreement.
The dispatches from China, received by the British Embassador on his
arrival at Batavia, communicated the agreeable intelligence that his
Imperial Majesty had been pleased, by a public edict, not only to
declare his entire satisfaction with the intended embassy, but that he
had likewise issued strict orders to the commanding officers of the
several ports along the coast of the Yellow Sea, to be particularly
careful that Pilots should be ready, at a moment's notice, to conduct
the English squadron to _Tien-sing_, the nearest port to the capital, or
to any other which might be considered as more convenient and suitable
for the British ships.
By this communication a point of some difficulty was now considered to
be removed. It was deemed a desirable circumstance to be furnished with
the means of proceeding directly to Pekin through the Yellow Sea, and
thus to avoid any intercourse with the port of Canton; as it was well
known the principal officers of the government there were prepared to
throw every obstacle in the way of the embassy, and if not effectually
to prevent, at least to counteract, any representations that might be
made at the imperial court, with regard to the abuses that exist in the
administration of the public affairs at that place, and more especially
to the exactions and impositions to which the commercial establishments
are liable of the different nations whose subjects have established
factories in this southern emporium of China. It could not be supposed,
indeed, that their endeavours would be less exerted, in this particular
instance, than on all former occasions of a similar nature.
The navigation of the Yellow Sea, as yet entirely unknown to any
European nation, was considered as a subject of some importance, from
the information it would afford the means of supplying, and which, on
any future occasion, might not only lessen the dangers of an unknown
passage, but prevent also much delay by superseding the necessity of
running into different ports in search of Chinese Pilots, whom, by
experience, we afterwards found to be more dangerous than useful.
We passed through the streight of Formosa without seeing any part of the
main land of China, or of the island from whence the streight derives
its name, except a high point towards the northern extremity. The
weather, indeed, during three successive days, the 25th, 26th, and 27th
July was so dark and gloomy, that the eye could scarcely discern the
largest objects at the distance of a mile, yet the thermometer was from
80° to 83° the greater part of these days. A heavy and almost incessant
fall of rain was accompanied with violent squalls of wind, and frequent
bursts of thunder and flashes of lightning; which, with the cross and
confused swell in the sea, made the passage not only uncomfortably
irksome, but also extremely dangerous, on account of the many islands
interspersed in almost every part of the strait.
On the evening of the 25th the sun set in a bank of fog, which made the
whole western side of the horizon look like a blaze of fire, and the
barometer was observed to have fallen near one third of an inch, which,
in these latitudes and at sea, is considered as a certain indication of
a change of weather. There were on board some Chinese fishermen who had
been driven out to sea in one of the East India company's ships, which
we met with in the straits of Sunda. These men assured us that the
appearance of the heavens prognosticated one of those tremendous gales
of wind which are well known to Europeans by the name of _Ty-phoon_ and
which some ingenious and learned men have supposed to be the same as the
Typhon of the Egyptians or τυφων of the Greeks. The Chinese,
however have made use of no mythological allusion in naming this
hurricane. They call it _Ta-fung_ which literally signifies _a great
wind_. The wind was certainly high the whole of the night and the
following day, the thunder and lightning dreadful, and the variable
squalls and rain frequent and heavy; the depth of the sea from 25 to 30
fathoms.
The charts, however, of this passage into the Yellow Sea, constructed by
Europeans when the Chinese permitted foreign nations to trade to
_Chu-san_, are considered as sufficiently exact for skilful navigators
to avoid the dangerous rocks and islands. By the help of these charts
our squadron ventured to stand through the still more intricate and
narrow passages of the Chu-san Archipelago, where, in the contracted
space of about eight hundred square leagues, the surface of the sea is
studded with a cluster, consisting, nearly, of four hundred distinct
islands.
These islands appeared to us, in sailing among them, to be mostly
uninhabited, extremely barren of trees or shrubs, and many of them
destitute even of herbage, or verdure of any kind. In some of the creeks
we perceived a number of boats and other small craft, at the upper ends
of which were villages composed of mean looking huts, the dwellings most
probably of fishermen, as there was no appearance of cultivated ground
near them to furnish their inhabitants with the means of subsistence.
The squadron having dropped anchor, we landed on one of the largest of
these islands; and walked a very considerable distance before we saw a
human being. At length, in descending a valley, in the bottom of which
was a small village, we fell in with a young peasant, whom with some
difficulty, by means of an interpreter, we engaged in conversation.
Embarrassed in thus suddenly meeting with strangers, so different from
his own countrymen, in dress, in features, and complexion, his timidity
might almost be said to assume the appearance of terror. He soon,
however, gained confidence, and became communicative. He assured us that
the island on which we were, and of which he was a native, was the best
in the whole groupe, and the most populous, except that of _Chu-san_;
the number of its inhabitants being ten thousand souls. It was
discovered, however, before we had been long in the country, that when a
Chinese made use of the monosyllable _van_, which in his language
signifies ten thousand, he was not to be understood as speaking of a
determinate or precise number, but only as making use of a term that
implied amplification. A state criminal, for example, is generally
condemned to undergo the punishment of being cut into _ten thousand_
pieces; the great wall of China is called the _van-lee-tchin_, or wall
of _ten thousand lee_, or three thousand English miles, a length just
double to that which the most authentic accounts have given of it. But
when he means to inform any one that the emperor has _ten thousand_
large vessels, for the purpose of collecting taxes paid in kind, on the
grand canal, instead of the monosyllable _van_ he invariably makes use
of the expression nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, as
conveying a fixed and definite number, and, in this case, he will be
understood to signify literally ten thousand. In this manner, I suppose,
we were to understand the population of the island _Lo-ang_.
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Foreign Trader._]
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Rice Mill._
_Pub. May 2, 1804, by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._]
At the sight of our large ships, so different in their appearance from
any of those belonging to the Chinese, a vast number of boats, issuing
from every creek and cove, presently crowded together, in such a manner,
and with so little management, as to render it difficult to pass
through without danger of oversetting or sinking some of them; a danger,
however, to which they seemed quite insensible. Vessels of a larger
description, and various in the shape of their hulls and rigging, from
twenty tons burden and upwards, to about two hundred tons, were observed
in considerable numbers, sailing along the coast of the continent, laden
generally with small timber, which was piled to such a height upon their
decks, that no extraordinary force of wind would seem to be required to
overturn them. Beams of wood, and other pieces that were too long to be
received upon the deck of a single ship, were laid across the decks of
two vessels lashed together. We saw at least a hundred couple thus laden
in one fleet, keeping close in with the coast, in order to be ready, in
case of bad weather, to put into the nearest port, being ill calculated
to resist a storm at sea. The ships indeed that are destined for longer
voyages appear, from their singular construction, to be very unfit to
contend with the tempestuous seas of China. The general form of the
hull, or body of the ship, above water, is that of the moon when about
four days old. The bow, or forepart, is not rounded as in ships of
Europe, but is a square flat surface, the same as the stern; without any
projecting piece of wood, usually known by the name of cutwater, and
without any keel. On each side of the bow a large circular eye is
painted, in imitation, I suppose, of that of a fish. The two ends of the
ship rise to a prodigious height above the deck. Some carry two, some
three, and others four masts. Each of these consists of a single piece
of wood, and consequently not capable of being occasionally reduced in
length, as those of European ships. The diameter of the mainmast of one
of the larger kind of Chinese vessels, such as trade to Batavia, is not
less than that of an English man of war of sixty-four guns. And it is
fixed in a bed of massive timber laid across the deck. On each mast is a
single sail of matting, made from the fibres of the bamboo, and
stretched by means of poles of that reed, running across, at the
distance of about two feet from each other. These sails are frequently
made to furl and unfurl like a fan. When well hoisted up and braced
almost fore and aft, or parallel with the sides of the ship, a Chinese
vessel will sail within three and a half, or four points of the wind;
but they lose all this advantage over ships of Europe by their drifting
to leeward, in consequence of the round and clumsy shape of the bottom,
and their want of keel. The rudder is so placed, in a large opening of
the stern, that it can occasionally be taken up, which is generally done
on approaching sands and shallows.
The Chinese, in fact, are equally unskilled in naval architecture, as in
the art of navigation. They keep no reckoning at sea, nor possess the
least idea of drawing imaginary lines upon the surface of the globe, by
the help of which the position of any particular spot may be assigned;
in other words, they have no means whatsoever of ascertaining the
latitude or the longitude of any place, either by estimation from the
distance sailed, or by observation of the heavenly bodies, with
instruments for that purpose. Yet they pretend to say, that many of
their early navigators made long voyages, in which they were guided by
charts of the route, sometimes drawn on paper, and sometimes on the
convex surface of large gourds or pumpkins. From this circumstance, some
of the Jesuits have inferred, that such charts must have been more
correct than those on flat surfaces. If, indeed, the portion of the
convex surface, employed for the purpose, was the segment of a sphere,
and occupied a space having a comparative relation to that part of the
surface of the earth sailed over, the inference might be allowable; but
this would be to suppose a degree of knowledge to which, it does not
appear, the Chinese had at any time attained, it being among them, in
every period of their history, an universally received opinion, that the
earth is a square, and that the kingdom of China is placed in the very
center of its flat surface.
The present system of Chinese navigation is to keep as near the shore as
possible; and never to lose sight of land, unless in voyages that
absolutely require it; such as to Japan, Batavia, and Cochin-China.
Knowing the bearing, or direction of the port intended to be made, let
the wind be fair or foul, they endeavour, as nearly as possible, to keep
the head of the ship always pointing towards the port by means of the
compass. This instrument, as used in China, has every appearance of
originality. The natives know nothing, from history or tradition, of its
first introduction or discovery; and the use of the magnet, for
indicating the poles of the earth, can be traced, from their records, to
a period of time when the greatest part of Europe was in a state of
barbarism. It has been conjectured, indeed, that the use of the magnetic
needle, in Europe, was first brought from China by the famous traveller
Marco Polo the Venetian. Its appearance immediately after his death,
or, according to some, while he was yet living, but at all events, in
his own country, renders such a conjecture extremely probable. The
embassies in which he was employed by Kublai-Khan, and the long voyages
he performed by sea, could scarcely have been practicable without the
aid of the compass. Be this as it may, the Chinese were, without doubt,
well acquainted with this instrument long before the thirteenth century.
It is recorded in their best authenticated annals merely as a fact, and
not as any extraordinary circumstance, that the Emperor _Chung-ko_
presented an embassador of Cochin-China, who had lost his way in coming
by sea, with a _Ting-nan-tchin_ "a needle pointing out the south," the
name which it still retains. Even this idea of the seat of magnetic
influence, together with the construction of the compass-box, the
division of the card into eight principal points, and each of these
again subdivided into three, the manner of suspending the needle, and
its diminutive size, seldom exceeding in length three quarters of an
inch, are all of them strong presumptions of its being an original, and
not a borrowed invention.
By some, indeed, it has been conjectured, that the Scythians, in the
northern regions of Asia, were acquainted with the polarity of the
magnet, in ages antecedent to all history, and that the virtue of this
fossil was intended to be meant by the flying arrow, presented to Abaris
by Apollo, about the time of the Trojan war, with the help of which he
could transport himself wherever he pleased. The abundance of iron ores,
and perhaps of native iron, in every part of Tartary, and the very
early period of time in which the natives were acquainted with the
process of smelting these ores, render the idea not improbable, of the
northern nations of Europe, and Asia, (or the Scythians,) being first
acquainted with the polarity of the magnet.
Yet even with the assistance of the compass, it is surprizing how the
clumsy and ill-constructed vessels of the Chinese can perform so long
and dangerous a voyage as that to Batavia. For, besides being thrown out
of their course by every contrary wind, their whole construction, and
particularly the vast height of their upper works above the water, seems
little adapted to oppose those violent tempests that prevail on the
China seas, known, as we have already observed, by the name of
_Ta-fung_. These hurricanes sometimes blow with such strength that,
according to the assertion of an experienced and intelligent commander
of one of the East India Company's ships, "Were it possible to blow ten
thousand trumpets, and beat as many drums, on the forecastle of an
Indiaman, in the height of a _Ta-fung_, neither the sound of the one nor
the other would be heard by a person on the quarter-deck of the same
ship." In fact, vast numbers of Chinese vessels are lost in these heavy
gales of wind; and ten or twelve thousand subjects from the port of
Canton alone are reckoned to perish annually by shipwreck.
When a ship leaves this port on a foreign voyage, it is considered as an
equal chance that she will never return; and when the event proves
favourable, a general rejoicing takes place among the friends of all
those who had embarked in the hazardous enterprize. Some of these ships
are not less than a thousand tons burden, and contain half that number
of souls, besides the passengers that leave their country, in the hope
of making their fortunes in Batavia and Manilla. A ship is seldom the
concern of one man. Sometimes forty or fifty, or even a hundred
different merchants purchase a vessel, and divide her into as many
compartments as there are partners, so that each knows his own
particular place in the ship, which he is at liberty to fit up and to
secure as he pleases. He ships his goods, and accompanies them in
person, or sends his son, or a near relation, for it rarely happens that
they will trust each other with property, where no family connexion
exists. Each sleeping place is just the length and breadth of a man, and
contains only a small mat, spread on the floor, and a pillow. Behind the
compass is generally placed a small temple, with an altar, on which is
continually kept burning a spiral taper composed of wax, tallow and
sandal-wood dust. This holy flame answers a double purpose; for while
the burning of it fulfils an act of piety, its twelve equal divisions
serve to measure the twelve portions of time, which make up a complete
day. It should seem that the superstitious notions inculcated in the
people have led them to suppose, that some particular influence resides
in the compass; for, on every appearance of a change in the weather,
they burn incense before the magnetic needle.
The losses occasioned among the ships that were employed to transport
the taxes paid in kind from the ports of the southern and middle
provinces to the northern capital, were so great, at the time of the
Tartar Conquest, in the thirteenth century, that the successors of
Gengis-Khan were induced to open a direct communication between the two
extremes of the empire, by means of the rivers and canals; an
undertaking that reflects the highest credit on the Mongul Tartars, and
which cannot fail to be regarded with admiration, as long as it shall
continue to exist. The Chinese, however, say, that the Tartars only
repaired the old works that were fallen into decay.
Six centuries previous to this period, or about the seventh century of
the Christian æra, the Chinese merchants, according to the opinion of
the learned and ingenious Mr. de Guignes, carried on a trade to the west
coast of North America. That, at this time, the promontory of Kamskatka
was known to them under the name of _Ta-Shan_, many of their books of
travels sufficiently testify; but their journies thither were generally
made by land. One of the missionaries assured me that, in a collection
of travels to Kamskatka, by various Chinese, the names of the several
Tartar tribes, their manners, customs, and characters, the geographical
descriptions of lakes, rivers, and mountains, were too clearly and
distinctly noted to be mistaken. It is, however, extremely probable
that, as furs and peltry were always in great demand, they might also
have some communication with the said promontory from the isles of
Jesso, to which they were known to trade with their shipping; and which
are only a very short distance from it. Mr. de Guignes, in support of
his opinion, quotes the journal of a bonze, as the priests of Fo have
usually been called, who sailed eastward from Kamskatka to such a
distance as, in his mind, puts it beyond a doubt that the country he
arrived at was no other than the coast of California. The Spanish
writers, indeed, of the early voyages to this country, make mention of
various wrecks of Chinese vessels being found in different parts of the
western coast of the New Continent; and they observe that the natives
here were, invariably, more civilized than in the interior and eastern
parts of America.
Even those on the eastern coast of South America have a very strong
resemblance to the Chinese in their persons, though not in their
temperament and manners. The Viceroy of the Brazils retains a dozen of
these people in his service, as rowers of his barge, with the use of
which he one day honoured us, to make the tour of the grand harbour of
Rio de Janeiro. We observed the Tartar or Chinese features, particularly
the eye, strongly marked in the countenances of these Indians; the
copper tinge was rather deeper than the darkest of the Chinese; but
their beards being mostly confined to the upper lip and the point of the
chin, together with their strong black hair, bore a very near
resemblance.
The island of Tcho-ka, or Saghalien, in the Tartarian sea, opposite the
mouth of the Amour, has evidently been peopled by the Chinese. When
Monsieur la Perouse visited this island, he found the inhabitants
clothed in blue nankin, and "the form of their dress differed but little
from that of the Chinese; their pipes were Chinese, and of Tootanague;
they had long nails; and they saluted by kneeling and prostration, like
the Chinese. If," continues the navigator, "they have a common origin
with the Tartars and Chinese their separation from these nations must be
of very ancient date, for they have no resemblance to them in person,
and little in manners." Yet from his own account it appears that both
their manners and customs have a very close resemblance.
The Chinese at one period carried on a very considerable commerce with
Bussora and other sea-ports in the Persian gulph, particularly _Siraff_,
near which some small islands, as well as several remarkable points and
headlands of the coast, still bear Chinese names. In some of the voyages
it is observed that a Colony of Chinese had apparently settled in the
kingdom of Soffala, the descendants of whom were, in the time of the
writers, easily distinguished from the other natives, by the difference
of their colour and their features. The early Portuguese navigators also
observe that on the island St. Laurence or Madagascar they met with
people that resembled the Chinese. That the celebrated traveller Marco
Polo visited Madagascar in a Chinese vessel there can be little doubt,
unless indeed, like his own countrymen, we chuse rather to reject the
probable parts of his narrative as fabulous, and to believe the miracles
performed by the Nestorian Christians in Armenia as the only truths in
his book.
It is impossible not to consider the notices given by this early
traveller as curious, interesting and valuable; and, as far as they
regard the empire of China, they bear internal evidence of being
generally correct. He sailed from China in a fleet consisting of
fourteen ships, each carrying _four_ masts, and having their holds
partitioned into separate chambers, some containing _thirteen_ distinct
compartments. This is the exact number of divisions into which _all_ the
holds of those sea-faring vessels were partitioned that transported the
presents and baggage from our own ships in the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_
into the river _Pei-ho_; and we observed many hundreds of a still larger
description, that are employed in foreign voyages, all carrying _four_
masts; such vessels, our sailors who are remarkable for metamorphosing
foreign names, usually called _Junks_, from _Tehuan_ which signifies a
ship; the _Tsong-too_ or viceroy of a province is called by them _John
Tuck_.
Not only the form of the ships, but the circumstances of the voyage
taken notice of by this ancient navigator stamp his relation with
authenticity. The strong current between Madagascar and Zanzebar
rendering it next to impossible for ships to get back to the northward;
the black natives on that coast, the products of the country which he
enumerates; the true description of the Giraffe or Camelopardalis, at
that time considered in Europe as a fabulous animal, are so many and
such strong evidences in favour of his narrative, as to leave little
doubt that he either was himself upon the east coast of Africa, or that
he had received very correct information from his Chinese shipmates
concerning it. Yet Doctor Vincent has asserted, in his _Periplus of the
Erythrean Sea_[4], that in the time of this Venetian traveller none but
Arab or Malay vessels navigated the Indian Ocean. With all due deference
to such high authority I cannot forbear observing that the simple
relation of Marco Polo bears internal and irresistible evidence that the
fleet of ships in which he sailed were Chinese, of the same kind to all
intents and purposes as they now are. Nor have we any reason for
doubting the authority of the two Mahomedans who visited China in the
ninth century, when they tell us that Chinese ships traded to the
Persian gulph at that time. In a chart made under the direction of the
Venetian traveller and still preserved in the church of St. Michael de
Murano at Venice, the southern part of the continent of Africa is said
to be distinctly marked down, though this indeed might have been
inserted after the Cape of Good Hope had been doubled by the Portuguese.
[4] In the very next page (202) he however corrects himself, by
observing that _either_ the Chinese or Malays navigated as far as
Madagascar.
Whether the Prince of Portugal had seen or heard of this chart, or
consulted the Arabian Geographers, or had read of the circumnavigation
of Africa in the first translation of Herodotus that made its appearance
but a few years before the discovery of the southern promontory of this
continent by Bartholomew Diaz; or whether the voyages were undertaken at
that time on a general plan of discovery, authors seem not to have
agreed, but the opinion, I understand, among the Portugueze is that
Henry had good grounds for supposing that the circumnavigation of Africa
was practicable.
And whether the Phœnicians did or did not, in the earliest periods of
history, double the Cape of Good of Hope there is abundant reason for
supposing they were well acquainted with the east coast of Africa as far
as the _Cape of Currents_. Nor is it probable that the extent and
flourishing condition of the trade and commerce of _Tyrus_ should have
been limited to that part of the Indian ocean to the southward of the
Red Sea, which is a more difficult navigation than to the northward.
That this commerce was extensive we have the authority of the prophet
Ezekiel, who, in glowing terms, has painted its final destruction, and
who, it may be remarked, is supposed to have lived at the very time the
Phœnicians sailed round Africa by order of Necho. "Thy riches and thy
fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and
the occupiers of thy merchandize, and all thy men of war that are in
thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall
into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin." It is probable
therefore that the navigation of the Eastern Seas was known in the
earliest periods of history, and there seems to be no reason for
supposing that the Chinese should not have had their share in it.
Without, however, making any enquiry into the probability that an
ancient intercourse might have subsisted between China and the East
coast of Africa, either by convention for commercial purposes, or that
Chinese sailors might have been thrown on that coast either in
Phœnician, or Arabian, or their own vessels, I happened to observe in
a former publication of "_Travels in Southern Africa_," as a matter of
fact, "that the upper lid of the eye of a real Hottentot, as in that of
a Chinese, was rounded into the lower on the side next the nose, and
that it formed not an angle as in the eye of an European--that from this
circumstance they were known in the colony of the Cape by the name of
_Chinese Hottentots_." Further observations have confirmed me in the
very striking degree of resemblance between them. Their physical
characters agree in almost every point. The form of their persons in
the remarkable smallness of the joints and the extremities, their voices
and manner of speaking, their temper, their colour and features, and
particularly that singular shaped eye rounded in the corner next the
nose like the end of an ellipsis, probably of Tartar or Scythian origin,
are nearly alike. They also agree in the broad root of the nose; or
great distance between the eyes: and in the oblique position of these,
which, instead of being horizontal, as is generally the case in European
subjects, are depressed towards the nose. A Hottentot who attended me in
travelling over Southern Africa was so very like a Chinese servant I had
in Canton, both in person, features, manners, and tone of voice, that
almost always inadvertently I called him by the name of the latter.
Their hair, it is true, and that only differs. This, in a Hottentot, is
rather harsh and wiry, than woolly, neither long, nor short, but twisted
in hard curling ringlets resembling fringe. I possess not a sufficient
degree of skill in physiology to say what kind of hair the offspring
would have of a Chinese man and Mozambique woman; much less can I
pretend to account for the origin of the Hottentot tribes, insulated on
the narrow extremity of a large continent, and differing so remarkably
from all their neighbours, or where to look for their primitive stock
unless among the Chinese.
I am aware it will appear rather singular to those, who may have
attended to the accounts that generally have been given of these two
people, to meet with a comparison between the most polished and the most
barbarous, the wisest and the most ignorant of mankind; and I am
therefore the less surprized at at an observation made by the writers
of the Critical Review "that the fœtus of the Hottentots may resemble
the Chinese, as the entrails of a pig resemble those of a man; but on
this topic our ingenious author seems to wander beyond the circle of his
knowledge." I hope these gentlemen will not be offended at my taking
this occasion to assure them that the comparison was not even then made
on loose grounds, although no inference was drawn from it, and that on a
closer examination, I am the more convinced of their near resemblance in
mental as well as physical qualities. The aptitude of a Hottentot in
acquiring and combining ideas is not less than of a Chinese, and their
powers of imitation are equally great, allowance being made for the
difference of education; the one being continually from his infancy
brought up in a society where all the arts and conveniences of life are
in common use; the other among a miserable race of beings in constant
want even of the common necessaries of life.
But as assertions and opinions prove nothing, I have annexed the
portrait of a real Hottentot, drawn from the life by Mr. S. Daniell, in
order to compare it with one of a Chinese, taken also from the life by
Mr. Alexander; and I have no doubt that a close comparison of these
portraits will convince the reader, as well as the reviewer, that the
resemblance I remarked to have found was not altogether fanciful.
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Chinese_]
[Illustration: _T. Medland sculp^t S. Daniell del^t_
_A Hottentot_]
Indeed the people that have derived their origins from the same stock
with the Chinese, are more widely scattered over the Asiatic continent
and the oriental islands than is generally imagined. All those
numerous societies, known under the common name of Malays, are
unquestionably descended from the ancient inhabitants of Scythia or
Tartary; and it may perhaps be added, that their connection with the
Arabs and their conversion to Islamism first inspired, and have now
rendered habitual, that cruel and sanguinary disposition for which they
are remarkable; for it has been observed that the natives of those
islands, to which the baleful influence of this religion has not
extended, have generally been found a mild and inoffensive people; as
was the case with regard to the natives of the Pelew islands when
discovered by Captain Wilson.
The perusal of Mr. Marsden's excellent history of Sumatra leaves little
doubt on my mind that a Chinese colony at some early period has settled
on that island. This author observes that the eyes of the Sumatrans are
little, and of the same kind as those of the Chinese; that they suffer
their nails to grow long; that they excel in working fillagree, making
gunpowder, &c. that they register events by making knots on cords; that
they count decimally, write with a style on bamboo; that they have
little hair on their bodies and heads, which little, like the Chinese,
they extract. In their language, many words, I perceive, are similar;
and the corresponding words express the same idea in both languages; but
on etymological comparisons I would be understood to lay little stress,
for reasons which will be assigned in the sixth chapter. The similitude
of a religious ceremony is much stronger ground to build upon; and the
coincidence is sufficiently remarkable, that the manner practised by the
Sumatrans in taking a solemn oath should exactly agree with the same
ceremony which is used in giving a solemn pledge among the common
people of China, namely, by wringing off the head of a cock. Captain
Mackintosh told me that having once occasion to place great confidence
in the matter of a Chinese vessel, and doubting lest he might betray it,
the man felt himself considerably hurt, and said he would give him
sufficient proof that he was to be trusted. He immediately procured a
cock, and, falling down on both knees, wrung off his head; then holding
up his hands towards heaven, he made use of these words: "If I act
otherwise than as I have said, do thou, _o tien_, (Heaven) deal with me
as I have dealt with this cock!"
I have since been informed, from the best authority, that whenever, in
the course of the concerns of the British East India Company with the
merchants of China, it may be necessary to administer an oath to a
Chinese, the same ceremony is gone through of wringing off the head of a
cock, which is by them considered in a very serious light, a sort of
incantation, whose effects upon their minds are not unlike those
produced by supposed magic spells, once common in our own country, by
which the vulgar were persuaded that the Devil was to be made to appear
before them. In a Chinese court of justice an oath is never
administered. In a late affair, where a Chinese was killed by a seaman
of a British man of war, and the Captain was about to administer an oath
to two of his people whom he produced as evidences in a Chinese court of
justice, the chief judge was so shocked, that he ordered the court to be
instantly cleared.
The _Cingalese_ are unquestionably of Chinese origin. Those who are
acquainted with the Chinese manners and character, will immediately
perceive the very close resemblance, on reading Mr. Boyd's relation of
his embassy to the King of Candy. _Sin-quo_, kingdom of _Sin_, (from
whence Sina, or China,) are Chinese words; the termination is European.
So also is the name of the island Chinese, _See-lan_, _See-long_, or
_See-lung_, the Western Dragon, in conformity to an invariable custom of
assigning the name of some animal to every mountain.
Having no intention, however, to investigate minutely the extent of
Chinese navigation and commerce in ancient times, but rather to confine
my observations to their present state, I return from this digression,
in order to proceed on our voyage.
One of the small brigs, attending the expedition, was dispatched without
loss of time to the port of _Chu-san_, to take on board the pilots that,
agreeable to the order contained in the Imperial edict, were expected to
be found in readiness to embark. In some of the passages, formed by the
numerous islands, the currents ran with amazing rapidity, appearing more
like the impetuous torrents of rivers, swelled by rains, than branches
of the great ocean. The depth too of these narrow passages was so great
as to make it difficult, dangerous, and frequently impossible, for ships
to anchor in the event of a calm; in which case they must necessarily
drive at the mercy of the stream. As we approached, in the Clarence
brig, the high rocky point of the continent called _Kee-too_, which
juts into the midst of the cluster of islands, the wind suddenly failed
us; and the current hurried us with such velocity directly towards the
point, that we expected momentarily to be dashed in pieces; but on
coming within twice the length of the ship of the perpendicular
precipice, which was some hundred feet high, the eddy swept her round
three several times with great rapidity. The Captain would have dropped
the anchor, but an old Chinese fisherman, whom we had taken on board to
pilot us, made signs that it was too deep, and, at the same time, that
there was no danger, except that of the bowsprit striking against the
mountain. The Chinese vessels have no bowsprit. At this moment the lead
was thrown, but we got no soundings at the depth of one hundred and
twenty fathoms; yet the yellow mud was brought up from the bottom in
such quantities, that the Nile, at the height of its inundations, or the
great Yellow River of China, could not be more loaded with mud than the
sea was in the whirlpool of _Kee-too_ point. The current, in the Strait
of Faro, setting directly upon the rocks of Scylla, and the whirlpool of
Charybdis, those celebrated objects of dread to ancient navigators,
could not possibly have been more awfully terrific, though perhaps more
dangerous, than the currents and the eddies that boiled tumultuously
round this promontory of the Chinese continent, where,
"When the tide rushes from her rumbling caves
The rough rock roars, tumultuous boil the waves;
They toss, they foam, a wild confusion raise,
Like waters bubbling o'er the fiery blaze."
The second whirl removed us to a considerable distance from the point,
and, after the third, we were swept rapidly along in a smooth uniform
current. Our interpreter, a Chinese priest, who had been educated in the
college _de propaganda fide_ at Naples, was not quite so composed as his
countryman the pilot. The poor fellow, indeed, had nearly been thrown
overboard by the boom of the mainsail, in the first, which was the most
rapid, whirl of the ship; the same blow striking a sailor tossed his hat
overboard; and it afforded some amusement, in our supposed perilous
situation, to hear the different ejaculations of these two persons on
the same occasion. _Sanctissima Maria, est miraculum, est miraculum!_
exclaimed the priest, with great eagerness; whilst the sailor, rubbing
his head, and walking away, with much composure observed, _that the
d--n'd boom had carried away his fore-top-gallant cap!_
The Chinese, it seemed, had already been apprized of our arrival, for we
had not proceeded far before a large vessel bore down towards us, and,
hailing the brig in their own language, desired we would bring her to
anchor, and that they would conduct us early the following morning into
the harbour of Chu-san. Some of the officers came on board, were
extremely civil, and presented us with a basket of fruit; but they
affected to know nothing of the occasion that had brought us thither.
Our old fisherman took out of the sea, (among thousands that had floated
round out vessel) one of those animal substances which, I believe, we
vulgarly call _sea blubbers_ (Mollusca _medusa porpita_). If was at
least a foot in diameter. Having dressed it for his supper, and seeing
it wear the inviting appearance of a transparent colourless jelly, I was
tempted to taste it; but the effect produced by this, or the fruit, or
both, was a severe sickness, which continued for several days.
We weighed anchor at day-break, and, with a pleasant breeze, sailed in
company with the clumsy-looking _junk_, which, however, to the surprise
of our seamen, sailed quite as well as the smart-looking Clarence.
Having anchored before the town, in a spacious bason formed by several
islands, and paid the usual compliment of a salute, a few Mandarines
(officers of government so named by the early Portugueze from _mandar_,
to command) came on board. To every question that led to the main point
of our visit, these people gave us evasive answers, affecting the most
complete ignorance of every thing relating to the affairs of the
embassy. They said the _Tsung-ping_, or military governor of the island,
was then absent, but that he would return in the course of the day, and
would be happy to see us on shore the following morning. Chinese
etiquette, I suppose, required that a day should elapse before our
reception in form.
Accordingly, at an early hour in the morning the gentlemen of the
embassy, who had been sent on this business, went on shore, and were
received by the Governor with great politeness, and abundant ceremony,
in his hall of public audience, which, as a building, had little to
attract our notice. The usual minute enquiries being gone through,
which, it seems, Chinese good-breeding cannot dispense with, such as the
health of his visitors, of their parents and relations, and
particularly the name and age of each person, the object of our visit
was explained to him; and at the same time a hope expressed that there
would be no delay in getting the pilots on board. The old gentleman
appeared to be much surprized at such violent haste, and talked of
plays, feasts, and entertainments, that he meant to give us. Pilots,
however, he said, were ready to take charge of the ships, and to carry
them along the coast to the next province, where others would be found
to conduct them still farther. On being told that such a mode of
navigation was utterly impracticable for the large English ships, and
that such pilots would be of no use to us, he begged to be allowed the
remainder of the day to enquire for others. We little expected to have
met with any difficulties with regard to pilots, in one of the best and
most frequented ports in China, where, at that time several hundred
vessels were lying at anchor. The remainder of the day was spent in a
visit to the city of _Ting-hai_; but the crowd became so numerous, and
the day was so excessively hot, that before we had passed the length of
a street, we were glad to take refuge in a temple, where the priests
very civilly entertained us with tea, fruit, and cakes. The officer who
attended us advised us to return in sedan chairs, an offer which we
accepted; but the bearers were stopped every moment by the crowd, in
order that every one might satisfy his curiosity by thrusting his head
in at the window, and exclaiming, with a grin, _Hung-mau! Englishman_,
or, literally, _Redpate!_ Rather disappointed than gratified, we were
glad, after a fatiguing day, to throw ourselves into our cots on board
the Clarence.
When we went on shore the following morning, we found the military
governor, attended by a civil magistrate, by whom, after the usual
compliments, we were addressed, in a long oration, delivered apparently
with a great deal of solemnity, the intention of which was to convince
us that, as it had been the practice of the Chinese, for time
immemorial, to navigate from port to port, experience had taught them it
was the best. Finding, however, that his eloquence could not prevail on
his hearers to relinquish their own opinions on the subject, the
governor and he consulted together for some time, and at length resolved
that a general muster should be made of all the persons in that place,
who had at any time visited by sea the port of _Tien-sing_.
A number of soldiers were accordingly dispatched, and soon returned,
with a set of the most miserable-looking wretches I ever beheld; who
were thrust into the hall, and dropping on their knees, were examined in
that attitude, as to their qualifications. Some, it appeared, had been
at the port of _Tien-sing_, but were no seamen; others followed the
profession, but had never been at that port; and several were hauled in,
who had never set a foot on board a vessel of any description
whatsoever. In short, the greater part of the day was consumed to no
purpose; and we were about to conclude that we had a great chance of
leaving the central and much frequented harbour of _Chu-san_, without
being able to procure a single pilot, when two men were brought in, who
seemed to answer the purpose better than any which had yet been
examined. It appeared, however, that they had quitted the sea for many
years, and being comfortably settled in trade, had no desire to engage
in the present service; on the contrary, they begged on their knees that
they might be excused from such an undertaking. Their supplications were
of no avail. The Emperor's orders must be obeyed. In vain did they plead
the ruin of their business by their absence, and the distress it would
occasion to their wives, their children, and their families. The
Governor was inexorable; and they were ordered to be ready to embark in
the course of an hour.
This arbitrary proceeding of the Governor conveyed no very exalted ideas
of the justice or moderation of the government, or of the protection it
afforded to the subject. To drag away from his family an honest and
industrious citizen, settled in trade, and to force him into a service
that must be ruinous to his concerns, was an act of injustice and
violence that could not be tolerated in any other than a despotic
government, where the subject knows no laws but the will of the tyrant.
But we are yet on a distant island of the Great Empire, remote from the
fountain of authority; and delegated power, in all countries, is but too
liable to be abused. Besides, a Chinese might be impressed with
sentiments equally unfavourable of our government, were he informed of
the manner in which imperious necessity sometimes requires our navy to
be manned.
One consideration, however, might with safety be drawn from the
occurrences of this day, which was this, that long voyages are never
undertaken where they can be avoided; but that the commerce of the
Yellow Sea is carried on from port to port; and that the articles of
merchandize so transported must necessarily have many profits upon them,
before they come to the distant consumer; which may, in some degree,
account for the high prices many of the products of the country, as we
afterwards found, bore in the capital. In like manner was the inland
commerce of Asia conducted by caravans, proceeding from station to
station, at each of which were merchants to buy or exchange commodities
with each other, those at the limits of the journey having no connection
nor communication whatsoever with one another; which will partly explain
the ignorance of the Greeks with regard to the Eastern countries, from
whence they derived their precious stones, perfumes, and other valuable
articles.
The old Governor was evidently relieved from a load of anxiety at his
success; and the tears and entreaties of the poor men served only to
brighten up his countenance. From civility, or curiosity, or perhaps
both, he returned our visit on board the brig, which had been crowded
with the natives from morning till night, since her first arrival in the
harbour. The want of curiosity, which has been supposed to form a part
of the Chinese character, was not perceived in this instance; but it was
that sort of curiosity, which appeared rather to be incited by the
desire of looking narrowly at the persons of those who were to have the
honour of being presented to their Great Emperor, than for the sake of
gratifying the eye or the mind, by the acquirement of information or new
ideas. The vessel, although so very different from their own, was an
object of little notice; and although eager to get a transient glance
at the passengers, their curiosity was satisfied in a moment, and was
generally accompanied with some vague exclamation, in which the words
_Ta-whang-tee_ occurred; and the main drift of which seemed to imply,
"is this person to appear before our Great Emperor?" This was still more
remarkable in the crowd of _Ting-hai_; nothing scarcely was there heard
but the words _Ta-whang-tee_ and _Hung-mau_, the Emperor and the
Englishman.
The squadron had scarcely got under way, and cleared the narrow passages
between the islands into the Yellow Sea, when it was perceived how very
little advantage it was likely to derive from the Chinese pilots. One of
them, in fact, had come on board without his compass, and it was in vain
to attempt to make him comprehend ours. The moveable card was to him a
paradox, as being contrary to the universal practice with them, of
making the needle traverse the fixed points, and not the points
described on the card to move (by the needle being attached to the
card), as in those of Europe. The other was furnished with a compass,
about the size of a common snuff-box, being an entire piece of wood,
with a circular excavation in the centre, just large enough to admit the
vibration of a very fine steel needle, not quite an inch in length,
which, however, might be found sufficiently useful, in their short
voyages, by means of a peculiar contrivance for preserving the center of
gravity, in all positions of the ship, in coincidence nearly with the
center of suspension. Nor is it necessary, in so short and fine a
needle, to load one end more than the other, in order to counteract the
dip, or tendency that the magnetic needle is known to have, more or
less, towards the horizon in different parts of the world. The Chinese,
however, do not seem to have adopted their small needle from any
knowledge either of the variation, or of the inclination of the magnetic
needle. Although the needle be invariably small, yet it sometimes
happens that the margin of the box is extended to such a size, as to
contain from twenty to thirty concentric circles, containing various
characters of the language, constituting a compendium of their
astronomical (perhaps more properly speaking) astrological knowledge. As
numbers of such compasses are in the museums of Europe, it may not
perhaps be wholly unacceptable to give some notion of what these circles
of characters contain.
1. Central circle, or the needle.
2. 8 mystical characters denoting the first principles of matter,
said to be invented by _Fo-shee_, the founder of the monarchy.
3. The names of the 12 hours into which the day is divided.
4 and 5. Names of the circumpolar stars.
6. Characters of the 24 principal meridians or colures.
7. The 24 subdivisions or seasons of the year.
8. The characters of the cycle of 60 years.
9. Numerical characters relating to the above cycle.
10. Characters denoting the 28 signs of the Zodiac.
11. Certain astrological characters.
12. Eight sentences explanatory of the 8 mystical characters on the
second circle.
13. A different arrangement of the Chinese cycle.
14. Characters of the five elements.
15. Repetition of the characters on the eighth circle.
16. Repetition of the eighth circle.
17, and 18. Characters of obscure mythology.
19. Names of 28 constellations and their places in the heavens.
20. Relates to the sixth and fifteenth circles.
21. The world divided according to the sidereal influences.
22. Corresponds with the eighth and fifteenth circles.
23. Contains the same as the above with the addition of the
fourteenth circle.
24, and 35. Are inexplicable even by the Chinese.
26. An arrangement of certain characters and marks for calculating
lucky, unlucky, and neutral days.
27, is the same as the nineteenth, and surrounds the whole[5].
[5] If any argument were wanting to prove the originality of
the magnetic needle as used in China, the circumstance of their having
ingrafted upon it their most ancient and favourite mythology, their
cycles, constellations, elements, and, in short, an abstract of all
their astronomical or astrological science, is quite sufficient to
settle that point. Those who are acquainted with the Chinese character
will not readily admit that their long established superstitions should
be found incorporated on an instrument of barbarian invention.
The greatest depth of the Yellow Sea, in the track of the ships, did not
exceed thirty-six fathoms, and it was frequently diminished to ten
fathoms. The weather, as usually happens in shallow seas, was generally
hazy. In doubling the projecting promontory of the province of
Shan-tung, the land was hidden in thick fogs. And on these, fortunately,
dissipating, it was perceived that the whole squadron was within four
miles of the main land, and one of the ships close upon a rocky island.
The pilots were as ignorant of our situation as the meanest sailor in
the squadron. Proceeding to the westward, a capacious bay was
discovered. One of the pilots, after a minute examination of the land,
which was now clear, asserted that he knew the place very well; that it
was the bay of _Mee-a-taw_. The confidence with which he spoke, and the
vast concourse of people, crowding down towards the shore, as if
expecting our arrival, induced the Commander to steer directly into the
bay: but the depth of water diminishing to five fathoms, and land
appearing on every side, it was thought prudent to let go the anchor.
Several boats from the shore were presently along-side; and we were soon
convinced how little we had to trust to the knowledge of our pilots,
even within sight of land. We were informed that the bay was called
_Kee-san-seu_, and that _Mee-a-taw_ was, at least, fifteen leagues
farther to the westward.
The hills along this southern coast of the gulph of Pe-tche-lee have a
very peculiar character. They are all of the same form and nearly of the
same size, being regular cones with smooth sides as if fashioned by art,
and entirely detached, each standing on its proper base, resembling in
their shapes the summer caps worn by the officers of government; and
having, as yet, no European names, they were noticed in the journals by
the appellation of the first, second, third, &c., mandarin's bonnets.
Determining now to avail ourselves of the advice given by the magistrate
of _Chu-san_, and to navigate from port to port, we here procured two
new pilots to carry the ships to _Mee-a-taw_. They brought us indeed to
this place, but, instead of a harbour, we found only a narrow strait,
with a rapid tide setting through it, and rocky anchoring ground. On the
shore of the continent was a city of considerable extent, under the
walls of which next the sea was a bason or dock, filled with vessels
whose capacity might be from ten to one hundred tons.
The Governor of this city (the name of which we learned to be
_Ten-tchoo-foo_) paid his respects to the embassador on board the Lion,
and observed in the course of conversation that his orders from court
were to render all the service in his power to the embassy, and to
provide proper means of conveyance, either by land or by sea. He seemed
to be about the age of five and thirty, a man of frank and easy manners,
courteous, intelligent, and inquisitive. He stood higher in the opinion
of all of us than any we had yet seen. The following morning he sent off
what he was pleased to call a trifling refreshment, which consisted of
four bullocks, eight sheep, eight goats, five sacks of fine white rice,
five sacks of red rice, two hundred pounds of flour, and several baskets
of fruit and vegetables.
We have always been taught to believe that the Chinese consider us as
barbarians; but we have hitherto no reason to say that they treated us
as such. At all events it was obvious that the expected arrival of the
British embassy had made no slight impression on the court of Pekin.
Here we once more ventured on another pilot to carry the ships across
the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_ to _Tien-sing_. He was an old man of 70
years, and seemed to possess a perfect knowledge of all the bays and
harbours in the gulph. He drew on paper the sketch of a port on the
western coast to which he undertook to carry the ships. Fortunately,
however, for us, it was considered more safe to send the small brigs
a-head to sound, than to place any confidence in men who had already so
often deceived us. They had scarcely departed before the signal of
danger was made; a new course was steered for the night, and early the
following morning, the same signal was repeated. No land was now in
sight, yet the water had shallowed to six fathoms; it was therefore
deemed prudent to come to an anchor. It was a very unusual situation for
such large ships to ride thus at anchor in the middle of a strange sea,
and out of sight of land, yet liable, in case of blowing weather, to
strike against the bottom.
The commanders of the ships were exasperated against the pilots, and
these on their part were almost petrified with fear. The poor creatures
had done their best, but they possessed neither skill nor judgment, or,
perhaps, it may be more charitable to suppose that they were confused by
the novelty of their situation. It was in vain to endeavour to make them
comprehend the difference in the draught of water between their own
ships and ours, which, in the latter, was as many fathoms as feet in the
former, although they were palpably shewn, by a piece of rope, the depth
that was required.
As it was evidently impracticable to proceed farther with our own ships
towards the land, which was now from twelve to fifteen miles distant,
and so very low as not to be visible the deck, one of the tenders was
dispatched to the mouth of the _Pei-ho_ or white river to report our
arrival. Here two officers from the court had already embarked to wait
on the Embassador, carrying with them a present of refreshments,
consisting of bullocks, hogs, sheep, poultry, wine, fruit, and
vegetables, in such quantities, as to be more than sufficient for a a
week's consumption of the whole squadron, amounting nearly to six
hundred men. It consisted in twenty small bullocks, one hundred hogs,
one hundred sheep, one thousand fowls, three thousand pumpkins, as many
melons, apples, pears, plumbs, apricots, and other fruits, with an
abundance of culinary vegetables. The wine was contained in large
earthen jars whose covers were closely luted. Numbers of the hogs and
the fowls had been bruised to death on the passage, which were thrown
overboard from the Lion with disdain, but the Chinese eagerly picked
them up, washed them clean and laid them in salt.
The number of vessels they had dispatched to take on shore the presents
and the baggage was between thirty and forty, the capacity of each not
being less, and many of them more, than two hundred tons; so imperfect a
judgment had these people formed of the quantity of articles to be
transhipped. These were the vessels whose holds were divided into
thirteen distinct compartments, separated by partitions of two inch
plank, the seams of which were caulked with a preparation of fine lime
made from shells, and fibres of bamboo, in order to render them
water-tight. Their sails, cables, rigging and cordage were all made of
bamboo; and neither pitch nor tar was used on these or any part of the
wood-work.
We detained about fifteen of these vessels to take on shore the
Embassador's suite, the presents for the Emperor, and the baggage; after
which the British ships returned to _Chu-san_ without the assistance of
the Chinese pilots, whose skill in navigation was held very cheap, by
the lowest seamen on board.
On entering the _Pei-ho_ we observed a number of buildings erected on
the right bank, with roofs of matting, but decorated in the most
fantastical manner, with different coloured ribbands and variegated
silks; and about three hundred soldiers in their uniforms (which
appeared to our eye not much adapted to military purposes) were drawn
out, with a band of music, near a temporary landing-place constructed of
wood; all of which we understood had been hastily prepared for the
reception of the Embassador; but as his Excellency was desirous of
reaching the capital without delay, he declined going on shore,
preferring to step into the accommodation yachts at once, that were
ready to receive him, a little higher up the river, the moment that the
presents should be transhipped into the river-craft. The officers who
were deputed to conduct him to the capital observed, that so much haste
was not at all necessary, as the Emperor's birth-day was yet distant;
these people having no other idea of an embassy, as it seemed, than that
of its being a mere compliment to their Sovereign. The yellow flags
displayed at the mast-heads of the river fleet, laden with the
presents, and consisting of seventeen sail, gave, indeed, a more
extended meaning of such a mission. These flags, in broad black
characters, bore the following inscription; _The English Embassador
carrying Tribute to the Emperor of China._
We found the yachts that were destined to convey us exceedingly
convenient, more so indeed than any I have seen on our canals of
England. They are flat bottomed, and draw only about fifteen inches of
water. Their upper works are high, appearing indeed like a floating
house. They have three apartments for the accommodation of passengers;
the first an antichamber for the servants and baggage; the middle a
commodious sitting and dining room, about fifteen feet square; and the
third divided into two or three sleeping rooms. Behind these is the
kitchen; and still farther aft, small places like dog-kennels, for the
boatmen. Sometimes there is a kind of second story, upon the apartments,
divided into little cells, that are just the length and breadth of a
man. A Chinese sailor requires no room for luggage, his whole wardrobe
being generally on his back. In the different operations employed for
making the yachts proceed, they give no interruption to the passengers.
A projecting gangway on each side of the vessel, made of broad planks,
serves as the passage from one end to the other.
The two officers that were sent from court, to conduct the Embassador to
the capital, paid a visit to every yacht, and shewed the most earnest
desire to please and to make us comfortable. Their names were _Van_ and
_Chou_, to which they annexed the title of _Ta-gin_, or _great man_.
_Van_ had the rank of Lieutenant-General in the army, and _Chou_ was the
Governor of a district in _Pe-tche-lee_. We observed in their manners no
indication of that stiff and ceremonious conduct, which custom obliges
them to put on in public. On the contrary, they sat down to table with
us, endeavouring to learn the use of the knife and fork, and made
themselves extremely agreeable; lamented they were not able to hold
conversation with us in our own language; and on going away, shook hands
with us like Englishmen.
Provisions, fruit, and wines (such as the country affords) were sent on
board in such profusion, that I really believe the Chinese boatmen, in
the course of the passage up this river, were enabled to lay by their
winter's stock from the surplus. In truth, as Sir George Staunton has
observed, the hospitality, attention, and respect we hitherto
experienced, were such as strangers meet with only in the Eastern parts
of the world.
Nothing that could convey the idea of extraordinary wealth or comfort
among the inhabitants, or of extraordinary abundance and fertility in
the country, (unless in the copious supplies of our provisions) had yet
occurred, either at _Chu-san_ or in the first three days' sail up the
_Pei-ho_ towards the capital. The land on both sides was low and flat,
and instead of hedge-rows, trenches were dug to mark the boundaries of
property. A small proportion only was under cultivation. The greater
part appeared to be sour swampy ground, covered with coarse grass, with
bushes, and the common reed. There were few trees, except near the
villages, which were of mean appearance, the houses generally
consisting of mud walls, one story in height, and thatched with straw or
rushes. Here and there a solitary cottage intervened, but nothing that
bore any resemblance to the residence of a gentleman, or that could even
be called a comfortable farm-house. And although villages were numerous,
no assemblage of houses were perceived, that properly could be classed
under the name of a town, except that of _See-koo_, near the mouth of
the river, and _Ta-koo_, a few miles higher, until we proceeded to the
distance of about ninety miles, when we entered the suburbs of the large
city of _Tien-sing_, stretching, like London on the Thames, for several
miles along each bank of the river _Pei-ho_. But neither the buildings
nor the river would bear any comparison, even with those parts about
Redriffe and Wapping. Every thing, in fact, that we had hitherto seen
wore an air of poverty and meanness. After a long confinement on board a
ship, to those at least who are not accustomed to it, almost any country
appears to possess the charms of a Paradise; yet on our first landing in
this celebrated empire to the present place, which is no great distance
from the capital, I am persuaded, that every individual of the embassy
felt himself rather disappointed in the expectations he had formed. If
any thing excited admiration, it was the vast multitudes of people that,
from our first arrival, had daily flocked down to the banks of the
river, of both sexes and of all ages. Their general appearance, however,
was not such as to indicate any extraordinary degree of happiness or
comfort. The best dressed men wore a sort of velvet cap on their heads;
a short jacket, buttoned close round the neck, and folded across the
breast, the sleeves remarkably wide; the materials cotton cloth, black,
blue, or brown silk, or European camblet; they wore quilted petticoats,
and black sattin boots. The common people were dressed in large straw
hats, blue or black cotton frocks, wide cotton trowsers, and thick
clumsy shoes, sometimes made of straw. Some had coarse stockings of
cotton cloth; the legs of others were naked. A single pair of drawers
constituted indeed the whole clothing of a great portion of the crowd.
Never were poor women fitted out in a style so disadvantageous for
setting off their charms as those who made their appearance on the banks
of the _Pei-ho_, and we afterwards found that the dress of these, with
some slight variations, was the common mode of the country. Bunches of
large artificial flowers, generally resembling _asters_, whose colours
were red, blue, or yellow, were stuck in their jet-black hair, which,
without any pretensions to taste or freedom, was screwed up close
behind, and folded into a ridge or knot across the crown of the head,
not very unlike (except in the want of taste) to the present mode in
which the young ladies of England braid their locks. Two bodkins of
silver, brass, or iron, were conspicuously placed behind the head, in
the form of an oblique cross, which is the common mode of Malay women.
Their faces and necks were daubed with white paint, the eye-brows
blackened, and on the center of the lower lip, and at the point of the
chin, were two spots, about the size of a small wafer, of a deep
vermillion colour. A blue cotton frock, like that of the men, reaching
in some to the middle of the thigh, in others to the knee, was almost
universal. A pair of wide trowsers, of different colours, but commonly
either red, green, or yellow, extended a little below the calf of the
leg, where they were drawn close, in order the better to display an
ankle and a foot, which for singularity at least, may challenge the
whole world. This distorted and disproportionate member consists of a
foot that has been cramped in its growth, to the length of four or five
inches, and an ankle that is generally swollen in the same proportion
that the foot is diminished. The little shoe is as fine as tinsel and
tawdry can make it, and the ankle is bandaged round with party-coloured
clothes, ornamented with fringe and tassels; and such a leg and foot,
thus dressed out, are considered in China as superlatively beautiful.
The constant pain and uneasiness that female children must necessarily
suffer, in the act of compressing, by means of bandages, the toes under
the sole of the foot, and retaining them in that position until they
literally grow into and become a part of it; and by forcing the heel
forward, until it is entirely obliterated, make it the more wonderful
how a custom, so unnatural and inhuman, should have continued for so
many ages, at least such is the opinion, that its origin is entirely
unknown, or explained by such fabulous absurdities as are too ridiculous
to assign for its adoption.
Few savage tribes are without the unnatural custom of maiming or lopping
off some part of the human body, as boring the lips and the cartilege of
the nose, drawing or colouring the teeth, cutting off a joint from the
fingers or toes, and otherwise practising, as they must suppose,
improvements on nature. But on this consideration it would scarcely be
fair to conclude, that maiming the feet of the Chinese ladies derived
its origin from a period of time when they were yet in a savage state,
since we are in the daily habit of observing the most civilized and
enlightened societies studying to find out beauties in defects, and
creating them where nature had intended perfection. The Chinese would no
doubt be equally surprized at, and consider as egregiously absurd, the
custom of circumcision, as practiced by a great portion of Asiatic
nations; nor have we any reason to think they would not condemn the
refinement of docks and crops among our horses as an absurd custom, not
less ridiculous in their eyes, than the little feet of their ladies are
in ours. If they could not refrain from bursting into fits of laughter
on examining the grease and powder with which our hair was disfigured;
and if they sometimes lamented that so much oil and flour had
unnecessarily been wasted, we might, perhaps, in the vanity of
self-importance, affect to pity their taste; but setting custom and
prejudice apart, we had certainly no great reason to despise and
ridicule the Chinese, or indeed any other nation, merely because they
differ from us in the little points of dress and manners, seeing how
very nearly we can match them with similar follies and absurdities of
our own.
The silence of the earliest travellers into China on so extraordinary a
custom, would almost warrant a conjecture that, notwithstanding the
pretended ignorance of the Chinese with regard to its origin, both the
fashion and the sentiment of its being vulgar for ladies to be seen
abroad, were only adopted within the period of a few centuries. The
Venetian traveller, although he makes frequent mention of the beauty
and dress of the women, takes no notice of this singular fashion; and he
observes that on the lake of _Hang-tchoo-foo_ the ladies are accustomed
to take their pleasure with their husbands and their families. The
Embassadors also of Shah Rokh, the son of Tamerlane, who in the year
1419, were sent to congratulate the Emperor of China, state in the
narrative of their expedition that, at their public reception, there
stood two young virgins, one on each side of the throne, with their
faces and bosoms uncovered; that they were furnished with paper and
pencils and took down with great attention every word that the Emperor
spoke. These Embassadors saw also numbers of women in open baths near
the Yellow River; and, in one city, they remark that "there were many
taverns, at the doors of which sat a number of young girls of
extraordinary beauty." Nor do the travels of two Mahomedans into China
in the ninth century, published by Mr. Renaudot, make any mention of the
unnatural smallness of the women's feet; and they are not by any means
deficient in their observations of the manners and customs of this
nation, at that time so very little known to the rest of the world.
Almost every thing they have related concerning China at this early
period is found to be true at the present day, and as they particularly
notice the dress and ornaments worn by the women, one would think they
would not have omitted a custom so singular in its kind as that of
maiming the feet, if it had then been as common as it now is.
This monstrous fashion has generally been attributed to the jealousy of
the men. Admitting this to have been the case, the Chinese must be
allowed to be well versed in the management of the sex, to have so far
gained the ascendancy over them, as to prevail upon them to adopt a
fashion, which required a voluntary relinquishment of one of the
greatest pleasures and blessings of life, the faculty of locomotion; and
to contrive to render this fashion so universal that any deviation from
it should be considered as disgraceful. The desire of being thought
superior to the rest of his fellows sometimes, indeed, leads a man into
strange extravagancies. Upon this principle the men of learning, as they
are pleased to style themselves, suffer the nails of their little
fingers to grow sometimes to the enormous length of three inches for the
sole purpose of giving ocular demonstration of the impossibility of
their being employed in any sort of manual labour; and upon the same
principle, perhaps, the ladies of China may be induced to continue the
custom of maiming their female infants, in order that their children may
be distinguished from those of the peasantry, who, in most of the
provinces, are condemned to submit to the drudgery of the field.
The interior wrappers of the ladies' feet are said to be seldom changed,
remaining, sometimes, until they can no longer hold together; a custom
that conveys no very favourable idea of Chinese cleanliness. This,
indeed, forms no part of their character; on the contrary they are what
Swift would call a _frowzy_ people. The comfort of clean linen, or
frequent change of under-garments, is equally unknown to the Sovereign
and to the peasant. A sort of thin coarse silk supplies the place of
cotton or linen next the skin, among the upper ranks; but the common
people wear a coarse kind of open cotton cloth. These vestments are more
rarely removed for the purpose of washing than for that of being
replaced with new ones; and the consequence of such neglect or economy
is, as might naturally be supposed, an abundant increase of those vermin
to whose production filthiness is found to be most favourable. The
highest officers of state made no hesitation of calling their attendants
in public to seek in their necks for those troublesome animals, which,
when caught, they very composedly put between their teeth. They carry no
pocket handkerchiefs, but generally blow their noses into small square
pieces of paper which some of their attendants have ready prepared for
the purpose. Many are not so cleanly, but spit about the rooms, or
against the walls like the French, and they wipe their dirty hands in
the sleeves of their gowns. They sleep at night in the same clothes they
wear by day. Their bodies are as seldom washed as their articles of
dress. They never make use of the bath, neither warm nor cold.
Notwithstanding the vast number of rivers and canals, with which every
part of the country is intersected, I do not remember to have seen a
single groupe of boys bathing. The men, in the hottest day of summer,
make use of warm water for washing the hands and face. They are
unacquainted with the use of soap. We procured, in Pekin, a sort of
Barilla with which and apricot oil we manufactured a sufficient quantity
of this article to wash our linen, which, however, we were under the
necessity of getting done by our own servants.
On approaching the town of _Tien-sing_ we observed a prodigious number
of large stacks of salt, piled up in sacks of matting. The quantity thus
stored was found, on rough calculation, to be sufficient for the
consumption of thirty millions of people, for a whole year. Such a
surprising aggregate of one of the useful and almost necessary, articles
of life, was a preparative, in some measure, for the vast multitudes of
people which appeared on our passing this northern emporium of China.
The gabelle, or duty on salt, which the government here, as well as
elsewhere, had found convenient to impose on one of the indispensable
articles of life, partly accounted for such an extraordinary
accumulation. The collector of the salt duties of _Tien-sing_ held one
of the most lucrative appointments in the gift of the crown.
The crowds of large vessels lying close together along the sides of the
river; the various kinds of craft passing and re-passing; the town and
manufactories and warehouses extending on each bank as far as the eye
could reach, indicated a spirit of commerce far beyond any thing we had
hitherto met with. The large vessels, the small craft, the boats, the
shores, the walls surrounding the houses, the roofs were all covered
with spectators. Our barges, being retarded in the narrow passages among
the shipping, were at least two hours in reaching the head of the town.
During the whole time the populace stood in the water, the front rank up
to the middle, to get a peep at the strangers. Hitherto among the
spectators there had generally appeared full as many of the fair sex as
of the other; and the elderly dames, in particular, had been so curious
as to dip their little stumps into the water in order to have a peep
into the barges as they glided slowly along; but here, among the whole
crowd, not a single female was visible. Although the day was extremely
sultry, the thermometer of Fahrenheit being 88° in the shade, as a
mutual accommodation their heads were all uncovered, and their bald
pates exposed to the scorching rays of the sun. It was an uncommon
spectacle to see so many bronze-like heads stuck as close together, tier
above tier, as Hogarth's groupe, intended to display the difference
between character and caricature, but it lacked the variety of
countenance which this artist has, in an inimitable manner, displayed in
his picture.
The deep sounding _gong_, a sort of brazen kettle struck with a mallet,
and used in the barges to direct the motions of the trackers on shore,
the kettle-drums and the trumpets in the military band, the shrill music
and squalling recitative in the theatre, which was entirely open in
front, and facing the river in full view of the crowd; the number of
temporary booths and buildings erected for the use of the viceroy,
governor, judges, and other officers of government, and gaily decorated
with ribbands and silken streamers; the buzz and merriment of the crowd
had, altogether, so striking an affinity to the usual entertainments of
Bartholomew fair, that no extraordinary stretch of the imagination was
required to suppose ourselves for the moment to have been transported
into Smithfield. We instantly acquitted the Chinese of any want of
curiosity. The arrival of Elfi Bey in London drew not half the crowd;
and yet the Chinese account us much greater barbarians than we pretend
to consider the mamelukes. The old viceroy of the province, a Tartar of
mild and winning manners, had prepared for us a most magnificent
entertainment with wine, fruits, and great variety of pastry and
sweetmeats, together with presents of tea, silk, and nankins, not only
to the Embassador and his suite, but also to the servants, musicians,
and soldiers.
The cheerful and good-natured countenances of the multitude were
extremely prepossessing; not less so their accommodating behaviour to
one another. There was an innocence and simplicity in their features,
that seemed to indicate a happy and contented turn of mind. This,
however, being a sort of gala day, we might, on account of the
extraordinary occasion, perhaps have viewed them to the best advantage;
yet the same cheerful and willing mind had constantly shewn itself on
all occasions, by all those who were employed in the service of the
embassy. On board the yachts constant mirth and good humour prevailed
among the seamen. When the weather was calm, the vessels were generally
pushed on by means of two large sculls or oars turning upon pivots that
were placed in projecting pieces of wood near the _bow_ of the vessel,
and not the stern, as is the practice of most other nations. From six to
ten men are required to work one of these oars, which, instead of being
taken out of the water, as in the act of rowing, are moved backwards and
forwards under the surface, in a similar manner to what in England is
understood by sculling. To lighten their labour, and assist in keeping
time with the strokes, the following rude air was generally sung by the
master to which the whole crew used to join in chorus:
[Music: AIR.
Solo
by the Master.
Hai-yo hai-yau hai-yo hai-yau
hai-wha de hai-yau hai-yau
Chorus
by the Crew.
Hai-yo hai-yau hai-yo
hai-yau hai-yo hai-yau]
On many a calm still evening, when a dead silence reigned upon the
water, have we listened with pleasure to this artless and unpolished
air, which was sung, with little alteration through the whole fleet.
Extraordinary exertions of bodily strength, depending, in a certain
degree, on the willingness of the mind, are frequently accompanied with
exhilarating exclamations among the most savage people; but the Chinese
song could not be considered in this point of view; like the
exclamations of our seamen in hauling the ropes, or the oar song of the
Hebridians, which, as Doctor Johnson has observed, resembled the
proceleusmatick verse by which the rowers of Grecian galleys were
animated, the chief object of the Chinese chorus seemed to be that of
combining chearfulness with regularity.
"Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound."
Of their honesty, sobriety, and carefulness, we had already received
convincing proofs. Of the number of packages, amounting to more than six
hundred, of various sizes and descriptions, not a single article was
missing nor injured, on their arrival at the capital, notwithstanding
they had been moved about, and carried by land, and transhipped several
times. Of the three state-officers, who had been deputed from court to
attend the embassy, two of them were the most obliging and attentive
creatures imaginable. The third, a Tartar, who first made his appearance
at _Tien-sing_, was distant, proud, and imperious. The Chinese indeed
were invariably more affable than the Tartars. In short, had we returned
to Europe, without proceeding farther in the country than _Tien-sing_, a
most lively impression would always have remained on my mind in favour
of the Chinese. But a variety of incidents that afterwards occurred, and
a more intimate acquaintance with their manners and habits, produced a
woeful change of sentiment in this respect. Of such incidents, as may
tend to illustrate the moral character of this extraordinary people, I
shall relate a few that were the most striking, in taking a general view
of their state of society, to which, and to the nature of the executive
government, all their moral actions may be referred: and by the
influence of which, the natural bent of their character evidently has
undergone a complete change.
Leaving _Tien-sing_ on the 11th of August, we found the river
considerably contracted in its dimensions, and the stream more powerful.
The surface of the country, in fact, began to assume a less uniform
appearance, being now partly broken into hill and dale; but nothing
approaching to a mountain was yet visible in any direction. It was still
however scantily wooded, few trees appearing except large willows on the
banks, and knots of elms, or firs, before the houses of men in office,
and the temples, both of which were generally found at the head of each
village. More grain was here cultivated than on the plains near the
mouth of the river. Two species of millet, the _panicum crus galli_, and
the _italicum_, and two of a larger grain, the _holcus sorghum_, and the
_saccharatus_, were the most abundant. We observed also a few patches of
buck-wheat, and different sorts of kidney-beans; but neither common
wheat, barley, nor oats. A species of nettle, the _urtica nivea_ was
also sown in square patches, for the purpose of converting its fibres
into thread, of which they manufacture a kind of cloth. We saw no
gardens nor pleasure-grounds, but considerable tracts of pasture or
meadow-land intervened between the villages, on which however were few
cattle, and those few remarkably small. Those we procured for the use of
the ships along the coast of the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_, seldom exceeded
the weight of two hundred pounds. The few sheep we saw were of the
broad-tailed species. The cottages of the peasantry were very mean,
without any appearance of comfort, and thinly scattered; seldom standing
alone, but generally collected into small villages.
If, however, cities, towns, villages, and farm-houses, were less
abundant so near the capital, than from the relations of travellers we
had expected to find them, the multitudes of inhabitants whose constant
dwelling was on the water, amply made up the apparent deficiency on
shore. We passed, in one day, upon this river, more than six hundred
large vessels, having each a range of ten or twelve distinct apartments
built upon the deck, and each apartment contained a whole family. The
number of persons in one of these vessels, we reckoned, on an average,
to be about fifty, and we actually counted above one thousand vessels of
this description, that were floating on that part of the river, between
_Tien-sing_ and _Tong-tchoo_. The different kinds of craft, besides
these, that were perpetually passing and re-passing, or lying chained to
the banks of the river, all of which were crowded with men, women, and
children, contained full as many as the large vessels above mentioned;
so that, in the distance of ninety miles, on this small branch of a
river, there were floating on the water not fewer than one hundred
thousand souls.
Among the different cargoes of cotton wool, copper-money, rice, silk,
salt, tea, and other commodities for the supply of the capital, we
observed an article of commerce, in several of the large open craft,
that puzzled us not a little to find out for what it was intended. It
consisted of dry brown cakes, not much larger but thicker than those we
call crumpets. A close examination, however, soon discovered the nature
of their composition, which, it seemed, was a mixture of every kind of
filth and excrementitious substances, moulded into their present shape,
and dried in the sun. In this form they are carried to the capital as
articles of merchandize, where they meet with a ready market from the
gardeners in the vicinity; who, after dissolving them in urine, use them
for manure.
Little occurred that was worthy of note, between _Tien-sing_ and
_Tong-tchoo_, except an instance in the exercise of arbitrary power, not
less cruel than that of the Governor of _Chu-san_, and ill agreeing with
the feelings of Englishmen. Some of our provisions happened one morning
to be a little tainted, which could not be wondered at, considering the
heat of the weather, the mercury, by Fahrenheit's scale, being from 82°
to 88°. The officers, however, who had been commissioned to furnish the
supply of provisions, were instantly deprived of their rank, and all
their servants severely bambooed. The Embassador interceded with _Van_
and _Chou_ in favour of the degraded delinquents, was heard with great
attention, but perceived that little indulgence or relaxation from
strict discipline was to be expected on such occasions.
The whole distance, from the entrance of the _Pei-ho_ to the city of
_Tong-tchoo_ is about one hundred and seventy miles. Here we found two
buildings, that had been erected in the space of two days, for the
temporary purpose of receiving the presents and baggage; and they were
constructed of such large dimensions, that they were capable of
containing at least ten times the quantity. The materials were wooden
poles and mats, and a fence of wooden paling surrounded the whole.
We took up our lodging in a spacious temple in the suburbs, from whence
the priests were turned out without the least ceremony, to make room
for us, consisting in the whole of one hundred persons nearly. And here
it was settled we should remain until every article was landed, and
coolies or porters procured sufficient to carry the whole at once to
Pekin, which was computed to be about twelve miles to the westward from
this place. And although near three thousand men were required for this
purpose, they were supplied the instant the goods were all on shore; nor
did it appear that any difficulty would have been found in raising
double that number, as there seemed to be ten times the number of idle
spectators as of persons employed. The plain between the landing-place
and the temple was like a fair, and cakes, rice, tea, and fruit upon
masses of ice, and many other refreshments were exposed for sale, under
large square umbrellas, that served instead of booths. A slice of
water-melon, cooled on ice, was sold for one _tchen_, a piece of base
copper coin, of the value of about three-tenths of a farthing. Not a
single woman appeared among the many thousand spectators that were
assembled on the plain.
CHAP. III.
Journey through the Capital to a Country Villa of the Emperor. Return to
Pekin. The Imperial Palace and Gardens of Yuen-min-yuen, and the Parks
of Gehol.
_Order of Procession from_ Tong-choo _to the Capital.--Crowd assembled
on the Occasion.--Appearance of Pekin without and within the
Walls.--Some Account of this City.--Proceed to a Country Villa of the
Emperor.--Inconveniences of.--Return to Pekin.--Embassador proceeds to
Tartary.--Author sent to the Palace of_ Yuen-min-yuen.--_Miserable
Lodgings of.--Visit of the President and Members of the Mathematical
Tribunal.--Of the Bishop of Pekin, and others.--Gill's Sword-blades.
--Hatchett's Carriages.--Scorpion found in a Cask packed at
Birmingham.--Portraits of English Nobility.--Effects of Accounts from
Tartary on the Officers of State in Pekin.--Emperor's return to the
Capital.--Inspects the Presents.--Application of the Embassador for
Leave to depart.--Short Account of the Palace and Gardens of_
Yuen-min-yuen.--_Lord Macartney's Description of the Eastern and Western
Parks of Gehol.--And his general Remarks on Chinese Landscape
Gardening._
The presents for the Emperor and our private baggage being all landed,
the packages repaired, and every article minutely noted down by the
officers of government, the porters were directed to fix their bamboo
bearing poles to each package, that no impediment might prevent our
setting out at an early hour in the morning. In doing this, as well as
in landing the articles from the vessels, the Chinese porters shewed
such expedition, strength, and activity, as could not, I believe, be
parallel or procured in so short a time, in any other country. Every
thing here, in fact, seems to be at the instant command of the state;
and the most laborious tasks are undertaken and executed with a
readiness, and even a chearfulness, which one could scarcely expect to
meet with in so despotic a government.
According to the arrangement, on the 21st of August about three o'clock
in the morning, we were prepared to set out, but could scarcely be said
to be fairly in motion till five, and before we had cleared the city of
_Tong-tchoo_, it was past six o'clock. From this city to the capital, I
may venture to say, the road never before exhibited so motley a groupe.
In front marched about three thousand porters, carrying six hundred
packages; some of which were so large and heavy, as to require
thirty-two bearers, with these were mixed a proportionate number of
inferior officers, each having the charge and superintendence of a
division. Next followed eighty-five waggons, and thirty-nine hand-carts,
each with one wheel, loaded with wine, porter and other European
provisions, ammunition, and such heavy articles as were not liable to be
broken. Eight light field pieces, which were among the presents for the
Emperor, closed this part of the procession. After these paraded the
Tartar legate, and several officers from court, with their numerous
attendants; some on horseback, some in chairs, and others on foot. Then
followed the Embassador's guard in waggons, the servants, musicians, and
mechanics, also in waggons; the gentlemen of the suite on horseback, the
Embassador, the Minister Plenipotentiary, his son, and the interpreter,
in four ornamented chairs; the rest of the suite in small covered
carriages on two wheels, not unlike in appearance to our funeral
hearses, but only about half the length; and last of all _Van_ and
_Chou_, with their attendants, closed this motley procession.
Though the distance was only twelve miles, it was thought advisable by
our conductors to halt for breakfast about half-way; for, as heavy
bodies move slowly, what with the delay and confusion in first getting
into order, and the frequent stoppages on the road, we found it was
eight o'clock before the whole of the cavalcade had reached the half-way
house. Here we had a most sumptuous breakfast of roast pork and venison,
rice and made dishes, eggs, tea, milk, and a variety of fruits served up
on masses of ice.
The porters and the heavy baggage moved forwards without halting; and
having ended our comfortable repast, we followed without loss of time.
We had scarcely proceeded three miles, till we found the sides of the
road lined with spectators on horseback, on foot, in small carriages
similar to those we rode in, in carts, waggons, and chairs. In the last
were Chinese ladies but, having gauze curtains at the sides and front,
we could see little of them. Several well-looking women in long silken
robes, with a great number of children, were in the small carriages.
These we understood to be Tartars. A file of soldiers now moved along
with the procession on each side of the road, armed with whips, which
they continually exercised in order to keep off the crowd that increased
as we approached the capital, and, at length, was so great as to
obstruct the road. We observed, however, that though the soldiers were
very active and noisy in brandishing their whips, they only struck them
against the ground, and never let them fall upon the people. Indeed a
Chinese crowd is not so tumultuous and unruly as it generally is
elsewhere.
The excessive heat of the weather, the dustiness of the road, the
closeness of the carriages, and the slow manner in which we moved along,
would have made this short journey almost insupportable, but from the
novelty of the scene, the smiles, the grins, the gestures of the
multitude, and above all, the momentary expectation of entering the
greatest city on the surface of the globe. Those also who had been so
unlucky as to make choice of the little covered carriages, found
themselves extremely uncomfortable, notwithstanding they are the best,
the most easy and genteel sort of carriage that the country affords.
Being fixed on the wheels without springs, and having no seats in the
inside, they are to an European, who must sit on his haunches in the
bottom, the most uneasy vehicles that can be imagined. Father Semedo,
one of the earliest missionaries to China, asserts, that coaches were
anciently in common use in this country, and that they were laid down on
account of the great convenience and little expence of sedan chairs. The
coaches alluded to by the reverend father were, in all probability, the
little carts above mentioned, for not the vestige of any thing better is
to be found among them; not the least appearance of any thing like a
spring carriage. It is more probable that palanquins and chairs have
been in common use here and in India, from the earliest period of their
histories. The _lectica_ of the Romans is supposed to have been brought
to Rome in the time of the Republic from some of the eastern nations.
The great road to the capital lay across an open country, sandy and ill
cultivated, and the few houses on each side were of mean appearance,
generally built with mud, or half burnt bricks, to the very gates of
Pekin. The middle part of the road, for the width of eighteen or twenty
feet, was paved with stones of granite from six to sixteen feet in
length and broad in proportion. Every one of these enormous flag stones
must have been brought, at least sixty miles, the nearest mountains
where quarries of granite are found being those that divide China from
Mantchoo Tartary, near the great wall.
A temple on the right of the road and a bridge of white marble having
the balustrade ornamented with figures, meant to represent lions and
other animals cut out of the same material, were the only objects that
attracted any notice, until the walls and the lofty gates of the capital
appeared in view. None of the buildings within, on this side of the
city, overtopped the walls, though these did not appear to exceed
twenty-five or at most thirty feet in height; they were flanked with
square towers, and surrounded by a moat or ditch. These towers projected
about forty feet from the line of the wall, and were placed at regular
intervals of about seventy yards, being considered as bow-shot distance
from each other. Each had a small guard-house upon its summit. The
thickness of the base of the wall was about twenty-five feet, and the
width across this top within the parapets twelve feet; so that the
sides of the wall have a very considerable slope, much more however
within than without. The middle part was composed of the earth that had
been dug out of the ditch; and was kept together by two retaining walls,
part of which were of brick and part of stone. The famous barrier on the
borders of Tartary, and the ramparts of all the cities in the country,
are built in the same manner.
No cannon were mounted on the walls nor on the bastions; but in the high
building which surmounted the gate, and which was several stories one
above the other, the port-holes were closed with red doors, on the
outside of which were painted the representations of cannon, not unlike
at a distance the sham ports in a ship of war. The gates of a Chinese
city are generally double, and placed in the flanks of a square or
semicircular bastion. The first opens into a large space, surrounded
with buildings, which are appropriated entirely for military uses, being
the depôt of provisions and ammunition, _place d'armes_, and barracks.
Out of this place, in one of the flanks, the second gate, having a
similar high building erected over it as the first, opens into the city.
The first appearance of this celebrated capital is not much calculated
to raise high expectations, nor does it in the least improve upon a more
intimate acquaintance. In approaching an European city it generally
happens that a great variety of objects catch the eye, as the towers and
spires of churches, domes, obelisks, and other buildings for public
purposes towering above the rest; and the mind is amused in conjecturing
the form, and magnitude of their several constructions, and the uses to
which they may be applied. In Pekin not even a chimney is seen rising
above the roofs of the houses which, being all nearly of the same
height, and the streets laid out in straight lines, have the appearance
and the regularity of a large encampment. The roofs would only require
to be painted white, instead of being red, green, or blue, to make the
resemblance complete. Few houses exceed the height of one story, and
none but the great shops have either windows or openings in the wall in
front, but most of them have a sort of terrace, with a railed balcony or
parapet wall in front, on which are placed pots of flowers, or shrubs,
or stunted trees.
This city is an oblong square, the outward boundary of which is forty
_lees_, each _lee_ being six hundred yards, so that the inclosing wall
is near fourteen English miles, and the area about twelve square miles,
independent of the extensive suburbs at every gate. In the south wall
are three gates, and in each of the other sides two, from whence it is
sometimes called _The city with nine gates_; but its usual name is
_Pe-ching_, or the Northern Court. The middle gate, on the south side,
opens into the Imperial city, which is a space of ground within the
general inclosure, in the shape of a parallelogram, about a mile in
length from north to south, and three-fourths of a mile from east to
west. A wall built of large red polished bricks, and twenty feet high,
covered with a roof of tiles painted yellow and varnished, surrounds
this space, in which are contained not only the imperial palace and
gardens, but also all the tribunals, or public offices of government,
lodgings for the ministers, the eunuchs, artificers, and tradesmen
belonging to the court. A great variety of surface, as well as of
different objects, appear within this inclosure. A rivulet winding
through it not only affords a plentiful supply of water, but adds
largely to the beauties of the grounds, by being formed into canals and
basons, and lakes, which, with the artificial mounts, and rocks, and
groves, exhibit the happiest imitation of nature.
Between the other two gates, in the south wall, and the corresponding
and opposite ones on the north side of the city, run two streets
perfectly straight, each being four English miles in length, and about
one hundred and twenty feet in width. One street also of the same width
runs from one of the eastern to the opposite western gate, but the other
is interrupted by the north wall of the imperial city, round which it is
carried. The cross streets can be considered only as lanes branching
from these main streets at right angles; are very narrow; but the houses
in them are generally of the same construction as those in the great
streets. The large houses of the state officers are in these lanes.
Although the approach to Pekin afforded little that was interesting, we
had no sooner passed the gate and opened out the broad street, than a
very singular and novel appearance was exhibited. We saw before us a
line of buildings on each side of a wide street, consisting entirely of
shops and warehouses, the particular goods of which were brought out and
displayed in groupes in front of the houses. Before these were generally
erected large wooden pillars, whose tops were much higher than the eves
of the houses, bearing inscriptions in gilt characters, setting forth
the nature of the wares to be sold, and the honest reputation of the
seller; and, to attract the more notice, they were generally hung with
various coloured flags and streamers and ribbands from top to bottom,
exhibiting the appearance of a line of shipping dressed, as we sometimes
see them, in the colours of all the different nations in Europe. The
sides of the houses were not less brilliant in the several colours with
which they were painted, consisting generally of sky blue or green mixed
with gold: and what appeared to us singular enough, the articles for
sale that made the greatest show were coffins for the dead. The most
splendid of our coffin furniture would make but a poor figure if placed
beside that intended for a wealthy Chinese. These machines are seldom
less than three inches thick, and twice the bulk of ours. Next to those
our notice was attracted by the brilliant appearance of the funeral
biers and the marriage cars, both covered with ornamental canopies.
At the four points where the great streets intersect one another were
erected those singular buildings, sometimes of stone, but generally of
wood, which have been called triumphal arches, but which, in fact, are
monuments to the memory of those who had deserved well of the community,
or who had attained an unusual longevity. They consist invariably of a
large central gateway, with a smaller one on each side, all covered with
narrow roofs; and, like the houses, they are painted, varnished, and
gilt in the most splendid manner.
The multitude of moveable workshops of tinkers and barbers, coblers and
blacksmiths; the tents and booths where tea and fruit, rice and other
eatables were exposed for sale, with the wares and merchandize arrayed
before the doors, had contracted this spacious street to a narrow road
in the middle, just wide enough for two of our little vehicles to pass
each other. The cavalcade of officers and soldiers that preceded the
embassy, the processions of men in office attended by their numerous
retinues, bearing umbrellas and flags, 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 music, brides to their husbands, the troops of
dromedaries laden with coals from Tartary, the wheelbarrows and
hand-carts stuffed with vegetables, occupied nearly the whole of this
middle space in one continued line, leaving very little room for the
cavalcade of the embassy to pass. All was in motion. The sides of the
street were filled with an immense concourse of people, buying and
selling and bartering their different commodities. The buzz and confused
noises of this mixed multitude, proceeding from the loud bawling of
those who were crying their wares, the wrangling of others, with every
now and then a strange twanging noise like the jarring of a cracked
Jew's harp, the barber's signal made by his tweezers, the mirth and the
laughter that prevailed in every groupe, could scarcely be exceeded by
the brokers in the Bank rotunda, or by the Jews and old women in
_Rosemary-Lane_. Pedlars with their packs, and jugglers, and conjurers,
and fortune-tellers, mountebanks and quack-doctors, comedians and
musicians, left no space unoccupied. The Tartar soldiers, with their
whips, kept with difficulty a clear passage for the embassy to move
slowly forwards; so slow, indeed, that although we entered the eastern
gate at half-past nine, it was near twelve before we arrived at the
western.
Although an extraordinary crowd might be expected to assemble on such a
particular occasion, on the same principle of curiosity as could not
fail to attract a crowd of spectators in London, yet there was a most
remarkable and a striking difference observable between a London and a
Pekin populace. In the former the whole attention and soul of the
multitude would have been wrapt up in the novel spectacle; all would
have been idlers. In Pekin, the shew was but an accessary; every one
pursued his business, at the same time that he gratified his curiosity.
In fact, it appeared that, on every day throughout the whole year, there
was the same noise and bustle and crowd in the capital of China. I
scarcely ever passed the western gate, which happened twice, or oftener,
in the week, that I had not to wait a considerable time before the
passage was free, particularly in the morning, notwithstanding the
exertions of two or three soldiers with their whips to clear the way.
The crowd, however, was entirely confined to the great streets, which
are the only outlets of the city. In the cross lanes all was still and
quiet.
Women in Pekin were commonly seen among the crowd, or walking in the
narrow streets, or riding on horseback, which they crossed in the same
manner as the men, but they were all Tartars. They wore long silken
robes, reaching down to their feet; their shoes appeared to be as much
above the common size, as those of the Chinese are under it; the upper
part was generally of embroidered satin, the sole consisted of folds of
cloth or paper, about an inch thick; they were square in front, and a
little turned up. The hair smoothed up on all sides, not very different
from that of the Chinese; and though their faces were painted with white
lead and vermillion, it was evident their skins were much fairer than
those of the former. The Chinese women are more scrupulously confined to
the house in the capital than elsewhere. Young girls were sometimes seen
smoking their pipes in the doors of their houses, but they always
retired on the approach of men.
All the streets were covered with sand and dust: none had the least
pavement. The cross lanes were generally watered, which did not appear
to be the case in the main streets. A large sheet of water, several
acres in extent, within the northern wall, affords to that part of the
city, and to the palace an abundant supply of that element, as does also
a small stream which runs along the western wall to that neighbourhood.
There are besides abundance of wells; but the water of some of these is
so dreadfully nauseous, that we, who were unaccustomed to it, were under
the necessity of sending to a distance to obtain such as was free from
mineral or earthy impregnations. When mixed with tea, the well water was
particularly disgusting.
Although Pekin cannot boast, like ancient Rome, or modern London, of the
conveniences of common sewers to carry off the dirt and dregs that must
necessarily accumulate in large cities, yet it enjoys one important
advantage, which is rarely found in capitals out of England: no kind of
filth or nastiness, creating offensive smells is thrown out into the
streets, a piece of cleanliness that perhaps may be attributed rather to
the scarcity and value of manure, than to the exertions of the police
officers. Each family has a large earthen jar, into which is carefully
collected every thing that may be used as manure; when the jar is full,
there is no difficulty of converting its contents into money, or of
exchanging them for vegetables. The same small boxed carts with one
wheel, which supply the city with vegetables, invariably return to the
gardens with a load of this liquid manure. Between the palace of
_Yuen-min-yuen_ and Pekin, I have met many hundreds of these carts. They
are generally dragged by one person, and pushed on by another; and they
leave upon the road an odour that continues without intermission for
many miles. Thus, though the city is cleared of its filth, it seldom
loses its fragrance. In fact, a constant disgusting odour remains in and
about all the houses the whole day long, from the fermentation of the
heterogeneous mixtures kept above ground, which in our great cities are
carried off in drains.
The medical gentlemen of China are not quite so ingenious, as we are
told the faculty in Madrid were about the middle of the last century,
when the inhabitants were directed, by royal proclamation, to build
proper places of retirement to their houses, instead of emptying their
nocturnal machines out of the windows into the streets. The inhabitants
took it into their heads to consider this order as a great affront, and
a direct violation of the rights of man; but the doctors were the most
strenuous opposers of the measure, having no doubt very cogent reasons
for wishing the continuance of the practice. They assured the
inhabitants, that if human excrement was no longer to be accumulated in
the streets, to attract the putrescent particles floating in the air,
they would find their way into the human body, and a pestilential
sickness would be the inevitable consequence.
The police of the capital, as we afterwards found, is so well regulated,
that the safety and tranquillity of the inhabitants are seldom
disturbed. At the end of every cross street, and at certain distances in
it, are a kind of cross bars, with sentry boxes at each of which is
placed a soldier, and few of these streets are without a guard-house.
Besides, the proprietor or inhabitant of every tenth house, like the
ancient tythingmen of England, takes it in turn to keep the peace, and
be responsible for the good conduct of his nine neighbours. If any
riotous company should assemble, or any disturbances happen within his
district, he is to give immediate information thereof to the nearest
guard-house. The soldiers also go their rounds and instead of crying the
hour like our watchmen, strike upon a short tube of bamboo, which gives
a dull hollow sound, that for several nights prevented us from sleeping
until we were accustomed to it.
It took us full two hours, as I before observed, in passing from the
eastern to the western gate of Pekin. The clouds of dust raised by the
populace were here much denser than on the road, and the smothering heat
of the day, the thermometer in our little carts standing at 96°, was
almost insupportable. Except the great crowd on every side, we saw
little to engage the attention after the first five minutes. Indeed, a
single walk through one of the broad streets is quite sufficient to give
a stranger a competent idea of the whole city. He will immediately
perceive that every street is laid out in the same manner, and every
house built upon the same plan; and that their architecture is void of
taste, grandeur, beauty, solidity, or convenience; that the houses are
merely tents, and that there is nothing magnificent, even in the palace
of the Emperor;--but we shall have occasion to speak on this subject
hereafter. Ask a Chinese, however, what is to be seen that is curious or
great in the capital, and he will immediately enter upon a long history
of the beauties of the palace belonging to _Ta-whang-tee_, the mighty
Emperor. According to his notions, every thing within the palace walls
is gold and silver. He will tell you of gold and silver pillars, gold
and silver roofs, gold and silver vases, in which are swimming gold and
silver fishes. All, however, is not gold that glitters in China, more
than elsewhere. The Emperor, as I shall hereafter have occasion to
notice, has very little surplus revenue at his disposal, and is
frequently distressed for money to pay his army and other exigences of
the state. And, though China has of late years drawn from Europe a
considerable quantity of specie, yet when this is scattered over so vast
an extent of country, and divided among so many millions of people, it
becomes almost as a drop thrown into the sea. Most of the money,
besides, that enters China is melted down, and converted into articles
of luxury or convenience. Few nations are better acquainted with the
value of these precious metals than the Chinese; and few, if any, can
surpass their ingenuity in drawing out the one into thin leaves, and
the other into the finest wire.
We were not a little overjoyed in finding ourselves once more upon the
flagged causeway, and in an open country, after passing a small suburb
beyond the western gate of the city. They brought us to a villa which
was a kind of appendage to one of the Emperor's palaces, about eight
miles beyond Pekin. The buildings, consisting of a number of small
detached apartments, straggling over a surface of ground, about fifteen
acres in extent, were neither sufficiently numerous to lodge the suite,
nor to contain the presents and our baggage; and were moreover so
miserably out of repair and in so ruinous a condition, that the greater
part was wholly uninhabitable. The officers were accordingly told that
these were not accommodations suitable to the dignity of a British
Embassador, and that he would not on any consideration put up with them;
that it was a matter of indifference whether he was lodged in the city
or the country, but that the lodgings should be convenient and proper.
The superintending officers, upon this, caused a large temporary
building to be erected with poles and mats, which, as by magic, was
finished in the course of the night, hoping, by this exertion, to have
removed all objections to the place. His Lordship, however, being
determined not to remain where there was neither a decent room, nor any
kind of comfort or convenience, every building being entirely
unfurnished, and, as I said before, the greater number untenantable,
insisted upon being removed to Pekin, where accordingly it was very soon
announced there was a suitable house ready for his reception.
On returning to the capital we passed through the great street of a town
called _Hai-tien_ in which most of the houses were of two stories, and
before the upper of which was a kind of Véranda full of dwarf trees and
flower-pots. A great proportion of the houses were either butchers'
shops or coffin-makers. From the end of this street was a most extensive
view of Pekin and the surrounding country. The eye from hence took in
the whole length of the high straight wall with its two lofty gates and
numerous square towers. At each angle of the wall is a large square
building rising above the parapet to four heights or stories of
port-holes, and covered with two roofs. In each row of the four fronts
are fourteen windows or port-holes. These I understood to be the rice
magazines or public granaries. Near the north-west angle is a tall
pagoda, another high tower not unlike a glass-house, and towards the
higher western gate appeared the upper part of a pyramidal building that
terminated in a gilded flame, very like the summit of our Monument under
which, instead of a gallery, was a most magnificent canopy or umbrella,
painted and gilt with such brilliant colours, that from certain points
of view, when the rays of the sun played upon it, the glittering
appearance had a very good effect. It was said to be a temple, and
seemed to be of the same kind of architecture as the _Shoo-ma-doo_
described by Col. Symes in his embassy to Ava.
We found our new lodging sufficiently large, but the apartments were
shamefully dirty, having been uninhabited for some time; very much out
of repair, and totally unfurnished. This house, being considered be one
of the best in the whole city, I shall have occasion to take notice of
hereafter, in speaking of the state of their architecture. It was built
by the late _Ho-poo_, or Collector of the customs at Canton, from which
situation he was preferred to the collectorship of salt duties at
_Tien-sing_, where, it seems, he was detected in embezzling the public
revenues, thrown into jail, and his immense property confiscated to the
crown. The officers appointed to attend the embassy told us, that when
it was proposed to the Emperor for the English Embassador to occupy this
house, he immediately replied, "Most certainly, you cannot refuse the
temporary occupation of a house to the Embassador of that nation which
contributed so very amply towards the expense of building it." The
inference to be drawn from such a remark, is, that the court of Pekin is
well aware of the extortions committed against foreigners at Canton.
The Emperor being at this time in Tartary, where he meant to celebrate
the festival of the anniversary of his birth-day, had given orders that
the public introduction of the British Embassador should be fixed for
that day, and should take place at Gehol, a small town 136 miles from
Pekin, where he had a large palace, park, gardens, and a magnificent
_Poo-ta-la_ or temple of Budha. Accordingly a selection was made of such
presents as were the most portable, to be sent forwards into Tartary;
and the Embassador, with part of his suite, several officers of the
court, and their retinue, set out from Pekin on the second of September.
Some of the gentlemen, with part of the guard and of the servants,
remained in Pekin, and Dr. Dinwiddie and myself, with two mechanics, had
apartments allotted to us in the palace of _Yuen-min-yuen_, where the
largest and most valuable of the presents were to be fitted up for the
inspection of the old Emperor on his return from Tartary.
Having already acquired some little knowledge of the language on the
passage from England, by the assistance of two Chinese priests who had
been sent by their superiors to Naples, for the purpose of being
instructed in the Christian religion, I hoped to find this temporary
banishment less irksome, particularly as I had previously stipulated
with the officers belonging to that palace for an unconditional leave to
visit the capital whenever I should find it necessary or proper, during
the absence of the Embassador; and, it is but fair to say, they kept
faith to their engagement in the strictest sense. A horse and one of the
little covered carts were always at my disposal.
The gentlemen left in the city were less agreeably situated. At the
outer gate of their lodgings a guard was stationed with orders to allow
none of them to pass, and all their proceedings and movements were
closely watched. Sometimes they were a little relieved by occasional
visits from the European missionaries; but so suspicious were the
officers of government of any communication with these gentlemen that
they were invariably accompanied by some of them to act as spies,
notwithstanding they could not comprehend one single word that was
exchanged in the conversations they held together. A Chinese has no
knowledge whatsoever of any of the European languages. But he watches
the actions, and even the motions of the eye, and makes his report
accordingly. The courts of the house were constantly filled with the
inferior officers of government and their servants, all of whom had
some post or other assigned to them connected with the British Embassy.
One was the superintendant of the kitchen, another furnished tea, one
was appointed to supply us with fruit, another with vegetables, and
another with milk.
During the time I should be required to reside in _Yuen-min-yuen_, I
particularly wished to have none other than Chinese servants, that I
might be under the necessity of extending the little knowledge I had
already acquired of the spoken language. This is by no means difficult
to learn except in the nice intonations or inflexions of voice, but the
written character is, perhaps of all others, the most abstruse and most
perplexing both to the eye and to the memory. The length of time that is
usually required by the Chinese, together with the intense study and
stretch of the memory which they find necessary in order to obtain a
very small proportion of the characters that form the language, are
serious obstructions to the progress of the arts and sciences, but
favourable to the stability of the government of which indeed the
language may be considered as one of the great bulwarks. But the
observations I have to make on this subject will more properly be
reserved for a separate chapter.
On arriving at _Yuen-min-yuen_ I found a number of Chinese workmen
busily employed in breaking open the packages, some in one place and
some in another, to the no little danger of the globes, clocks, glass
lustres, and such like frangible articles, many of which must inevitably
have suffered under less careful and dexterous hands than those of the
Chinese. As it was intended they should be placed in one large room,
the great hall in which the Emperor gives audience to his ministers, the
first operation was to move them all thither, and carefully to unpack
them; and we had the satisfaction to find that not a single article was
either missing or injured.
We had not been long here, before a gentleman appeared who,
notwithstanding his Chinese dress, I soon perceived to be an European.
He introduced himself by saying, in the Latin language, that his name
was Deodato a Neapolitan missionary, and that the court had appointed
him to act as interpreter, hoped he might be useful to us, and offered
his services in the most handsome manner; and, I have great pleasure in
availing myself of this opportunity to acknowledge the friendly and
unremitting attention I received from him during a residence of five
weeks in this palace, and the very material assistance he afforded in
explaining the nature, value, and use of the several pieces of machinery
to those Chinese who were appointed to superintend them. Signor Deodato
was an excellent mechanic; and in this capacity was employed in the
palace to inspect and keep in order the numberless pieces of clock-work
that had found their way thither, chiefly from London.
The officer appointed to attend us wore a light blue button in his cap,
denoting the 4th degree of rank. When he shewed the apartments that were
designed for us, I could not forbear observing to him, that they seemed
fitter for hogs than for human creatures, and that rather than be
obliged to occupy those, or any other like them, I should for my own
part prefer coming down from the capital every morning, and return in
the evening. They consisted of three or four hovels in a small court,
surrounded with a wall as high as their roofs. Each room was about
twelve feet square, the walls completely naked, the ceiling broken in,
the rushes or stems of _boleus_, that held the plaister, hanging down
and strewed on the floor; the lattice work of the windows partially
covered with broken paper; the doors consisting of old bamboo skreens;
the floor covered with dust, and there was not the least furniture in
any of them, except an old table and two or three chairs in the one
which was intended, I suppose, for the dining-room. The rest had nothing
in them whatsoever but a little raised platform of brick-work, which
they told us was to sleep on, and that they should cover it with mats,
and order proper bedding to be brought upon it. Yet these miserable
hovels were not only within the palace wall, but scarcely two hundred
yards from the great hall of audience. The officer assured us that they
were the apartments of one of their _Ta-gin_ (great men) but that, as I
did not seem to like them, we should be accommodated with others. We
were then carried a little farther, where there was a number of
buildings upon a more extensive scale enclosed also by high walls. The
apartments were somewhat larger, but miserably dirty both within and
without, and wholly unfurnished; but as our attendant took care to tell
us they belonged to one of the _ministers of state_, and that he lodged
in them when the Emperor was at Yuen-min-yuen, we were precluded from
further complaint. Had we refused those that were considered sufficient
for a minister of state, the man might have thought that nothing less
than the Emperor's own would have satisfied us. If the menial servants
of his Britannic Majesty's Ministers were no better lodged than the
ministers themselves of his Chinese Majesty, they would be apt to think
themselves very ill used. We accepted them, however, such as they were,
and caused them to be swept out, an operation which had not been
performed for many months before; a table and chairs were brought in,
with mats, pillows, and silken mattresses; but for these we had no
occasion, having fortunately brought with us from the ships our own
cots.
To make amends for our uncomfortable lodging, we sat down to a most
excellent dinner, wholly prepared in the Chinese style, consisting of a
vast variety of made dishes very neatly dressed, and served in porcelain
bowls. The best soup I ever tasted in any part of the world was made
here from an extract of beef, seasoned with a preparation of soy and
other ingredients. Their vermicelli is excellent, and all their pastry
is unusually light and white as snow. We understood it to be made from
the buck wheat. The luxury of ice, in the neighbourhood of the capital,
is within the reach of the poorest peasant; and, although they drink
their tea and other beverage warm, they prefer all kinds of fruit when
cooled on ice.
The three first days, while the articles were unpacking and assorting,
we remained tolerably quiet, being annoyed only with the interference
and inquisitiveness of an old eunuch, who had in his train about a dozen
of the same kind _simile aut secundum_. But no sooner were they taken
out of their cases, and set up in the room, than visitors of all ranks,
from princes of the blood to plain citizens, came daily to look at the
presents, but more particularly at us, whom I believe they considered by
much the greatest curiosities. All the men of letters and rank, who held
employments in the state, and whose attendance had been dispensed with
at Gehol, flocked to _Yuen-min-yuen_.
Among the numerous visitors came one day in great state the president of
a board in Pekin, on which the Jesuits have conferred the pompous but
unmerited title of the _Tribunal of Mathematics_. He was accompanied by
a Portuguese missionary of the name of _Govea_, who is the titular
Bishop of Pekin, Padre Antonio, and his secretary, both Portuguese, and
all three members of the said tribunal. The particular object of their
visit was to make themselves fully acquainted with the nature and use of
the several presents that related to science, and especially of the
large planetarium, which had already made a great noise in China, in
order that they might be able to give a proper description and
explanation to his Imperial Majesty, both of this instrument, and of all
the others connected with their department, and to answer any question
concerning them that might be asked.
It created no sort of surprize to any of us, on finding that the Chinese
who accompanied these reverend gentlemen were completely ignorant of the
nature of a complicated machine, whose motions, regulated by the most
ingenious mechanism that had ever been constructed in Europe,
represented all those even of the most irregular and eccentric of the
heavenly bodies; nor in perceiving that they seemed to be rather
disappointed in the appearance and operations of this instrument. It was
obvious, from the few questions put by the president of this learned
body, that he had conceived the planetarium to be something similar to
one of those curious pieces of musical mechanism which, in the Canton
jargon, are called _Sing-songs_, and that nothing more was necessary
than to wind it up like a jack, when it would immediately spin round,
and tell him every thing that he wanted to know.
But the difficulty of making the right reverend Bishop and his
colleagues comprehend the principles upon which it was constructed, and
the several phenomena of the heavenly bodies exhibited by it, conveyed
almost as bad an opinion of their astronomical and mathematical
knowledge as of that of their president. The prelate, however, appeared
to be a man of mild and placid temper, pleasing manners, and of a modest
and unassuming deportment. His secretary was a keen sharp fellow,
extremely inquisitive, and resolved not to lose the little knowledge he
might acquire, for he wrote down the answer to every question that was
proposed.
The following day the Bishop came unattended by the Chinese part of
their board, and gave us some account of the nature of their employ. The
astronomical part of the national almanack, such as calculating
eclipses, the times of new and full moon, the rising and setting of the
sun, were, as he informed us, entrusted to him and his colleagues, but
the astrological part was managed by a committee of the Chinese members.
He candidly avowed that neither he nor any of his European brethren
were well qualified for the task, and that they had been hitherto more
indebted to the _Connoissances de tems_ of Paris than to their own
calculations. That having exactly ascertained the difference of
meridians between Pekin and Paris, they had little difficulty in
reducing the calculations made for the latter, so as to answer for the
situation of the former, at least to a degree of accuracy that was
sufficiently near the truth not to be detected by any of the Chinese
members.
The French revolution having put an end to future communications with
that country was to them a severe blow in this respect, though the
secretary thought he could now manage the calculation of an eclipse
sufficiently correct to pass current with the Chinese. Fortunately,
however, Doctor Dinwiddie had provided himself on leaving London with a
set of the nautical almanacks, calculated for the meridian of Greenwich,
up to the year 1800, which they considered as an invaluable present.
The grandsons of the Emperor were almost daily visitors. It seems there
is a kind of college in the palace for their education. Though young men
from the ages of sixteen to five-and-twenty, the old eunuch used
frequently to push them by the shoulders out of the hall of audience;
and, on expressing my surprise to Deodato at such insolence, he informed
me that he was their _aya_, their governor!
We had also a great number of Tartar generals and military officers who
had heard of sword-blades that would cut iron bars without injuring the
edge; and so great was their astonishment on proving the fact, that they
could scarcely credit the evidence of their own eyes. We could not
confer a more acceptable present on a military officer than one of
Gill's sword-blades; and from the eager applications made for them, as
we passed through the country, the introduction of them through Canton,
in the regular course of trade, would, I should suppose, be no difficult
task.
But the two elegant carriages made by Hatchett puzzled the Chinese more
than any of the other presents. Nothing of the kind had ever been seen
at the capital; and the disputes among themselves as to the part which
was intended for the seat of the Emperor were whimsical enough. The
hammer-cloth that covered the box of the winter carriage had a smart
edging, and was ornamented with festoons of roses. Its splendid
appearance and elevated situation determined it at once, in the opinion
of the majority, to be the Emperor's seat; but a difficulty arose how to
appropriate the inside of the carriage. They examined the windows, the
blinds, and the screens, and at last concluded, that it could be for
nobody but his ladies. The old eunuch came to me for information, and
when he learned that the fine elevated box was to be the seat of the man
who managed the horses, and that the Emperor's place was within, he
asked me, with a sneer, if I supposed the _Ta-whang-tee_ would suffer
any man to sit higher than himself, and to turn his back towards him?
and he wished to know if we could not contrive to have the coach-box
removed and placed somewhere behind the body of the carriage.
A remarkable circumstance, not easily to be accounted for, occurred in
opening a cask of Birmingham hardware. Every one knows the necessity of
excluding the sea-air as much as possible from highly polished articles
of iron and steel, and accordingly all such articles intended to be sent
abroad are packed with the greatest care. The casks, or cases, are made
as tight as possible and covered with pitched canvas. Such was the cask
in question. Yet, when the head was taken off, and a few of the packages
removed, an enormous large scorpion was found in the midst of the cask,
nearly in a torpid state, but it quickly recovered on exposure to the
warm air.
"The thing we know is neither rich nor rare,
But wonder how the devil it got there?"
Among the presents carried into Tartary was a collection of prints,
chiefly portraits of English nobility and distinguished persons; and to
make the present more acceptable, they were bound up in three volumes in
yellow Morocco. The Emperor was so pleased with this collection, that he
sent it express to _Yuen-min-yuen_ to have the name, rank, and office of
each portrait translated into the Mantchoo and Chinese languages. The
Tartar writer got on pretty well, but the Chinese secretary was not a
little puzzled with the B, the D, and the R, that so frequently recurred
in the English names. The Duke of Marlborough was _Too-ke Ma-ul-po-loo_,
and Bedford was transformed to _Pe-te-fo-ul-te_. But here a more serious
difficulty occurred than that of writing the name. The rank was also to
be written down, and on coming to the portrait of this nobleman, (which
was a proof impression of the print, engraved from a picture by Sir
Joshua Reynolds, when the late Duke of Bedford was a youth,) I told the
Chinese to write him down a _Ta-gin_, or great man of the second order.
He instantly observed that I surely meant his father was a _Ta-gin_. I
then explained to him that, according to our laws, the son succeeded to
the rank of the father, and that with us it was by no means necessary,
in order to obtain the first rank in the country, that a man should be
of a certain age, be possessed of superior talents, or suitable
qualifications. That these were sometimes conducive to high honours, yet
that a great part of the legislative body of the nation were entitled to
their rank and situation by birth. They laughed heartily at the idea of
a man being born a legislator, when it required so many years of close
application to enable one of their countrymen to pass his examination
for the very lowest order of state-officers. As, however, the
descendants of Confucius continue to enjoy a sort of nominal rank, and
as their Emperor can also confer an hereditary dignity, without
entitling to office, emolument, or exclusive privilege, they considered
his Grace might be one of this description, and wrote down his rank
accordingly; but they positively refused to give him the title of
_Ta-gin_, or great man, asking me, if I thought their Emperor was so
stupid as not to know the impossibility of a little boy having attained
the rank of a _great man_.
About the 14th of September, or three days before the Emperor's
birth-day, _Padre Anselmo_, the procurator for the mission _de
propaganda fide_, delivered me letters from Macao for the Embassador,
which the Chinese refused to send to Gehol, though daily expresses went
to and from that place. _Anselmo_ hinted to me that the late viceroy of
Canton, who was no friend to the English, had arrived, and that he
feared all was not right. That the Tartar legate had been degraded from
his rank for deceiving the Emperor, and particularly for not paying his
personal respects to the Embassador on board his ship when in
_Tien-sing_ roads. That the peacock's feather, which he wore in his cap
as a mark of his master's favour, was exchanged for a crow's tail, the
sign of great disgrace, and that the consideration of his age and his
family had alone saved him from banishment. The Emperor, it seems,
having heard that the Embassador had his picture in his cabin on board
the Lion, asked the legate whether it was like him, upon which it came
out that he had never been near the Lion, as his orders directed him.
On the 17th, being the Emperor's birth-day, all the princes and officers
about the palace assembled in their robes of ceremony, to make their
obeisance to the throne in the great hall of audience. On this occasion
were placed on the floor before the throne, on three small tripods, a
cup of tea, of oil, and of rice, perhaps as an acknowledgment of the
Emperor being the proprietary of the soil, of which these are three
material products. The old eunuch told me that I might remain in the
hall during the ceremony, if I would consent to perform it with them,
and offered to instruct me in it. He said that all the officers of
government, in every part of the empire, made their prostrations to the
name of the Emperor inscribed on yellow silk on that day.
Two days after this, on going as usual in the morning to the hall of
audience, I found the doors shut and the old eunuch, who kept the keys,
walking about in so sullen a mood that I could not get from him a single
word. Different groupes of officers were assembled in the court-yard,
all looking as if something very dreadful either had occurred, or was
about to happen. Nobody would speak to me, nor could I get the least
explanation of this extraordinary conduct, till at length our friend
Deodato appeared with a countenance no less woeful than those of the
officers of government, and the old eunuch. I asked him what was the
matter? His answer was, We are all lost, ruined, and undone! He then
informed me that intelligence had arrived from Gehol, stating, that Lord
Macartney had refused to comply with the ceremony of prostrating
himself, like the Embassadors of tributary princes, nine times before
the Emperor, unless one of equal rank with himself should go through the
same ceremony before the portrait of his Britannic Majesty: that rather
than do this they had accepted his offer to perform the same ceremony of
respect to the Emperor as to his own sovereign. That although little was
thought of this affair at Gehol, the great officers of state in the
tribunal or department of ceremonies in Pekin were mortified, and
perplexed, and alarmed; and that, in short, it was impossible to say
what might be the consequence of an event unprecedented in the annals of
the empire. That the Emperor, when he began to think more seriously on
the subject, might possibly impeach those before the criminal tribunal
who had advised him to accede to such a proposal, on reflecting how much
his dignity had suffered by the compliance; and that the records of the
country might hand it down to posterity, as an event that had tarnished
the lustre of his reign, being nothing short of breaking through an
ancient custom, and adopting one of a barbarous nation in its place.
Deodato thought even that its ill effects might extend to them, as
Europeans, and might injure the cause which was the first object of
their mission.
I found it in vain to put into good humour that day either the officers
of government, or the eunuchs, or even the missionaries; and our table
was very materially affected by it, both in the number and the quality
of dishes;--a criterion from which, more than any other, a judgment may
be formed of the state of mind in which a Chinese happens to be.
Something of the same kind, it seems, occurred at Gehol. From the time
the Embassador began to make conditions, his table was abridged, under
an idea that he might be starved into an unconditional compliance.
Finding this experiment fail, they had recourse to a different conduct,
and became all kindness and complaisance.
The ill-humour occasioned by the news from Gehol gradually wore off, but
I observed that the princes who had hitherto been daily visitors now
kept entirely away; and the old eunuch, when put out of his way, used to
apply to us the epithet of proud, headstrong Englishmen.
On the 26th the Embassador (during whose stay at Gehol in Tartary an
account of all that passed there is given in Sir George Staunton's book)
returned to Pekin, when the remainder of the presents were sent to
Yuen-min-yuen. A number of Tartar princes and great officers of state
came to look at those fitted up in the hall of audience, and seemed
extremely solicitous that the whole should be got ready without delay.
Notice was also given that, on the 30th the Emperor would inspect the
presents. This was the day fixed for his return, and it was notified to
the Embassador that it was an usual compliment for all public officers
to meet him on the road, at the distance of ten or twelve miles from the
capital. Accordingly, about four o'clock in the morning of the 30th, we
were all mounted and arrived at our ground about six. The whole road had
been newly made, rolled as level as a bowling-green, watered to keep
down the dust and, on each side, at the distance of about fifty yards
from each other, were small triangular poles erected, from which were
suspended painted lanterns.
They brought us into a kind of guard-house, where tea and other
refreshments were prepared, after which we took our station on a high
bank on the left of the road. On each side, as far as the eye could
reach, were several thousands of the great officers of state in their
habits of ceremony; Tartar troops in their holiday dresses;
standard-bearers without number, military music, and officers of the
household, lining the two sides of the road. The approach of the Emperor
was announced by a blast of the trumpet, followed by softer music, "and
at that time when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flutes,
harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, then the princes, the
governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors,
the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, that were gathered
together, fell down and worshipped," except certain strangers, who,
being obstinately resolved to do no greater homage to any sovereign than
what is required by their own sovereign, bent one knee only to the
ground.
The Emperor was carried by eight men in a kind of sedan chair, which was
followed by a clumsy state chariot upon two wheels, and without springs.
He bowed very graciously to the Embassador as he passed, and sent a
message to him to say that, understanding he was not well, he advised
him to return immediately to Pekin, and not to stop at Yuen-min-yuen, as
was intended.
The morning being very cold, we were desirous to get home as fast as we
could; and accordingly galloped along with some of the Tartar cavalry.
When we arrived under the walls of Pekin, we turned our horses towards a
different gate to that through which we were accustomed to pass, in
order to see a little more of the city. But one of our conductors, who
had thought it his duty not to lose sight of us, in perceiving us making
a wrong turn, hallowed out with all his might. We pushed forward,
however, and got through the gate, but we were pursued with such a hue
and cry, that we were glad to escape through one of the cross streets
leading to our hotel, where we arrived with at least a hundred soldiers
at our heels.
On the 1st of October the Emperor, attended by a Tartar, inspected the
presents in the hall of audience and examined them with minute
attention. He desired the Tartar prince to tell us, through Deodato,
that the accounts he had received of our good conduct at _Yuen-min-yuen_
gave him great pleasure, and that he had ordered a present to be made to
each of us, as a proof of his entire satisfaction. This present was
brought, after his departure from the hall, by the old eunuch, who took
care to tell us that before we received it we must make nine
prostrations according to the Chinese custom. I made him no answer, but
requested Deodato to explain to the Tartar prince, who was still
present, that being under the orders of the Embassador we did not think
ourselves authorized to do what he had found good to refuse, but that we
had not the least objection to go through the same ceremony that he had
done at Gehol. The Tartar prince immediately answered that nothing
further was required. We accordingly placed one knee on the lowest step
leading to the throne. The present consisted of rolls of silk and
several pieces of silver cast in the form of a Tartar shoe, without any
mark or inscription on them, and each about the weight of an ounce.
The presents being now all delivered, and the Embassador informed by the
missionaries that preparations were making for our departure, the usual
time being nearly expired, his Excellency was desirous of having the day
fixed, and for this purpose dispatched a note to the first minister, who
sent an answer by the Tartar legate to inform him that, to prevent any
likelihood of being surprized by the approaching bad weather, the
Emperor had named the 7th instant for the beginning of our journey; and
had given orders that every honour and distinction should be paid to the
Embassy on the road.
But before I quit these renowned gardens of Yuen-min-yuen, it will
naturally be expected I should say something on their subject. From all
that I had heard and read of the grandeur and beauty of the scenery and
the magnificence of the palaces, I had certainly expected to meet with a
style of gardening and laying out of grounds superior, or at least
equal, to any thing in the same line in Europe; and, perhaps indeed, I
might have been fully gratified in all my expectation provided no
restraint had been thrown upon our walks, which was far from being the
case. All the little excursions I made were by stealth. Even in the
short distance between the hall of audience and our lodgings, which
might be about three hundred paces, we were continually watched. The
idea of being stopped by an eunuch or some of the inferior officers
belonging to the court, was sufficient to put us on our guard against
meeting with any such mortification; pride, in such circumstances,
generally gets the better of the desire, however strong, of gratifying
curiosity. I sometimes, however, ventured to stroll from our lodging in
the evening in order to take a stolen glance at these celebrated
gardens.
The grounds of _Yuen-min-yuen_ are calculated to comprehend an extent of
at least ten English miles in diameter, or about sixty thousand acres, a
great part of which, however, is wastes and woodland. The general
appearance of those parts near where we lodged, as to the natural
surface of the country, broken into hill and dale, and diversified with
wood and lawn, may be compared with Richmond park, to which, however,
they add the very great advantage of abundance of canals, rivers, and
large sheets of water, whose banks, although artificial, are neither
trimmed, nor shorn, nor sloped, like the glacis of a fortification, but
have been thrown up with immense labour in an irregular, and, as it
were, fortuitous manner, so as to represent the free hand of nature.
Bold rocky promontories are seen jutting into a lake, and vallies
retiring, some choaked with wood, others in a state of high cultivation.
In particular spots where pleasure-houses, or places of rest or
retirement, were erected, the views appeared to have been studied. The
trees were not only placed according to their magnitudes, but the tints
of their foliage seemed also to have been considered in the composition
of the picture, which some of the landscapes might be called with great
propriety. But, if an opinion may be formed from those parts of them
which I have seen, and I understood there is a great similarity
throughout the whole, they fall very short of the fanciful and
extravagant descriptions that Sir William Chambers has given of Chinese
gardening. Much, however, has been done, and nothing that I saw could be
considered as an offence to nature.
Thirty distinct places of residence for the Emperor, with all the
necessary appendages of building to each, for lodging the several
officers of state, who are required to be present on court days and
particular occasions, for the eunuchs, servants, and artificers, each
composing a village of no inconsiderable magnitude, are said to be
contained within the inclosure of these gardens. These assemblages of
buildings, which they dignify with the name of palaces, are, however, of
such a nature as to be more remarkable for their number than for their
splendour or magnificence. A great proportion of the buildings consists
in mean cottages. The very dwelling of the Emperor and the grand hall in
which he gives audience, when divested of the gilding and the gaudy
colours with which they are daubed, are little superior, and much less
solid, than the barns of a substantial English farmer. Their apartments
are as deficient in proportion, as their construction is void of every
rule and principle which we are apt to consider as essential to
architecture. The principal hall of audience at Yuen-min-yuen stood upon
a platform of granite, raised about four feet above the level of the
court. A row of large wooden columns surrounding the building supported
the projecting roof; and a second row within the first, and
corresponding with it (the interstices between the columns being filled
up with brick-work to the height of about four feet) served for the
walls of the room. The upper part of these walls was a kind of
lattice-work, covered over with large sheets of oiled paper, and was
capable of being thrown entirely open on public occasions. The wooden
columns had no capitals, and the only architrave was the horizontal beam
that supported the rafters of the roof. This, in direct contradiction to
the established mode in European architecture, was the uppermost member
of what might be called the entablature or frize, which was a broad
skreen of wood, fastened between the upper part of the columns, painted
with the most vivid colours of blue, red, and green, and interlarded
with gilding; and the whole had net-work of wire stretched over it, to
prevent its being defiled by swallows, and other birds frequenting human
dwellings. The length of this room within was one hundred and ten feet,
breadth forty-two, and height twenty feet: the ceiling painted with
circles, squares, and polygons, whimsically disposed, and loaded with a
great variety of colours. The floor was paved with grey marble flag
stones laid chequer-wise. The throne, placed in a recess, was supported
by rows of pillars painted red like those without. It consisted entirely
of wood, not unlike mahogany, the carving of which was exquisitely fine.
The only furniture was a pair of brass kettle-drums, two large
paintings, two pair of ancient blue porcelain vases, a few volumes of
manuscripts, and a table at one end of the room on which was placed an
old English chiming clock, made in the seventeenth century by one Clarke
of Leadenhall-street, and which our old friend the eunuch had the
impudence to tell us was the workmanship of a Chinese. A pair of
circular fans made of the wing feathers of the Argus pheasant, and
mounted on long polished ebony poles stood, one on each side of the
throne, over which was written in four characters, "true, great,
refulgent, splendor;" and under these, in a lozenge, the character of
_Happiness_. In the different courts were several miserable attempts at
sculpture, and some bronze figures, but all the objects were fanciful,
distorted, and entirely out of nature. The only specimen of workmanship
about the palace, that would bear a close examination, besides the
carving of the throne, was a brick wall enclosing the flower garden,
which, perhaps, in no respect is exceeded by any thing of the sort in
England.
With regard to the architecture and gardening of the Chinese, it may be
expected that I should give a more detailed description, or offer some
opinion on those subjects. The little I have to say on the former will
be reserved for another place; and, with respect to the latter, I regret
that I had not an opportunity of seeing so much as I could have wished,
and particularly the Emperor's great park at Gehol, which, from the
description of the Embassador, seemed to be almost unrivalled for its
features of beauty, sublimity, and amenity. But my own deficiency will
be amply filled up with an extract or two from the Journal of his
Lordship, whose taste and skill in landscape gardening are so well
known. I have indeed much to regret that I could not enrich the present
work with more extracts from it, but as it makes a complete picture of
itself the partial selection of detached parts might have been injurious
to it, by conveying wrong impressions, when unconnected with the rest. I
am, therefore, the more obliged (and gladly embrace this opportunity of
expressing the obligations I feel) to his Lordship, for what little he
has allowed me to transcribe.
Speaking of the route from Pekin to Gehol in Tartary, Lord Macartney
observes: "Our journey, upon the whole, has been very pleasant and,
being divided into seven days, not at all fatiguing. At the end of every
stage we have been lodged and entertained in the wings or houses
adjoining to the Emperor's palaces. These palaces, which occur at short
distances from each other on the road, have been built for his
reception, on his annual visit to Tartary. They are constructed upon
nearly the same plan and in the same taste. They front the south, and
are usually situated on irregular ground near the basis of gentle hills
which, together with their adjoining vallies, are enclosed by high walls
and laid out in parks and pleasure grounds, with every possible
attention to picturesque beauty. Whenever water can be brought into the
view it is not neglected; the distant hills are planted, cultivated, or
left naked, according to their accompaniments in the prospect. The wall
is often concealed in a sunk fence, in order to give an idea of greater
extent. A Chinese gardener is the painter of nature, and though totally
ignorant of perspective, as a science, produces the happiest effects by
the management, or rather pencilling, of distances, if I may use the
expression, by relieving or keeping down the features of the scene, by
contrasting trees of a bright with those of a dusky foliage, by bringing
them forward, or throwing them back, according to their bulk and their
figure, and by introducing buildings of different dimensions, either
heightened by strong colouring, or softened by simplicity and omission
of ornament.
"The Emperor having been informed that, in the course of our travels in
China we had shewn a strong desire of seeing every thing curious and
interesting, was pleased to give directions to the first minister to
shew us his park or garden at Gehol. It is called in Chinese
_Van-shoo-yuen_, or Paradise of ten thousand (or innumerable) trees. In
order to have this gratification (which is considered as an instance of
uncommon favour) we rose this morning at three o'clock and went to the
palace where we waited, mixed with all the great officers of state, for
three hours (such is the etiquette of the place) till the Emperor's
appearance. At last he came forth, borne in the usual manner by sixteen
persons on a high open palankeen, attended by guards, music, standards,
and umbrellas without number; and observing us, as we stood in the front
line, graciously beckoned us to approach, having ordered his people to
stop; he entered into conversation with us; and, with great affability
of manner, told us that he was on his way to the pagoda, where he
usually paid his morning devotions; that as we professed a different
religion from his he would not ask us to accompany him, but that he had
ordered his first minister and chief Collaos to conduct us through his
garden, and to shew us whatever we were desirous of seeing there.
[Illustration: _Drawn by W^m. Alexander from a Sketch by Capt. Parish,
Roy^l. Artil^y._
_Engraved by T. Medland._
_View in the Eastern Side of the Imperial Park at Gehol._
_Published by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._
May 2, 1804.]
"Having expressed my sense of this mark of his condescension in the
proper manner, and my increasing admiration of every thing I had yet
observed at Gehol, I retired and, whilst he proceeded to his adorations
at the pagoda, I accompanied the ministers and other great Collaos of
the court to a pavilion prepared for us, from whence, after a short
collation, we set out on horseback to view this wonderful garden. We
rode about three miles through a very beautiful park kept in the highest
order and much resembling the approach to Luton in Bedfordshire; the
grounds gently undulated and chequered with various groupes of well
contrasted trees in the offskip. As we moved onward an extensive lake
appeared before us, the extremities of which seemed to lose themselves
in distance and obscurity. Here was a large and magnificent yacht
ready to receive us, and a number of smaller ones for the attendants,
elegantly fitted up and adorned with numberless vanes, pendants, and
streamers. The shores of the lake have all the varieties of shape, which
the fancy of a painter can delineate, and are so indented with bays, or
broken with projections, that almost every stroke of the oar brought a
new and unexpected object to our view. Nor are islands wanting, but they
are situated only where they should be, each in its proper place and
having its proper character: one marked by a pagoda, or other building;
one quite destitute of ornament; some smooth and level; some steep and
uneven; and others frowning with wood, or smiling with culture. Where
any things particularly interesting were to be seen we disembarked, from
time to time, to visit them, and I dare say that, in the course of our
voyage, we stopped at forty or fifty different palaces or pavilions.
These are all furnished in the richest manner with pictures of the
Emperor's huntings and progresses, with stupendous vases of jasper and
agate; with the finest porcelain and Japan, and with every kind of
European toys and _sing-songs_; with spheres, orreries, clocks, and
musical automatons of such exquisite workmanship, and in such profusion,
that _our_ presents must shrink from the comparison, and _hide their
diminished heads_; and yet I am told, that the fine things we have seen
are far exceeded by others of the same kind in the apartments of the
ladies, and in the European repository at _Yuen-min-yuen_. In every one
of the pavilions was a throne, or imperial state, and a _Eu-jou_, or
symbol of peace and prosperity, placed at one side of it resembling
that which the Emperor delivered to me yesterday for the king.
"It would be an endless task were I to attempt a detail of all the
wonders of this charming place. There is no beauty of distribution, no
feature of amenity, no reach of fancy which embellishes our pleasure
grounds in England, that is not to be found here. Had China been
accessible to Mr. Browne or Mr. Hamilton, I should have sworn they had
drawn their happiest ideas from the rich sources, which I have tasted
this day; for in the course of a few hours I have enjoyed such
vicissitudes of rural delight, as I did not conceive could be felt out
of England, being at different moments enchanted by scenes perfectly
similar to those I had known there, to the magnificence of Stowe, the
softer beauties of Wooburn, and the fairy-land of Paine's Hill.
"One thing I was particularly struck with, I mean the happy choice of
situation for ornamental buildings. From attention to this circumstance
they have not the air of being crowded or disproportioned; they never
intrude upon the eye; but wherever they appear always shew themselves to
advantage, and aid, improve, and enliven the prospect.
"In many places the lake is overspread with the Nenuphar or lotus
(Nelumbium) resembling our broad leaved water lilly. This is an
accompaniment which, though the Chinese are passionately fond of,
cultivating it in all their pieces of water, I confess I don't much
admire. Artificial rocks and ponds with gold and silver fish are perhaps
too often introduced, and the monstrous porcelain figures of lions and
tygers, usually placed before the pavilions, are displeasing to an
European eye; but these are trifles of no great moment; and I am
astonished that now, after a six hours critical survey of these gardens,
I can scarcely recollect any thing besides to find fault with.
"At our taking leave of the minister, he told us that we had only seen
the eastern side of the gardens, but that the western side, which was
the larger part still remained for him to shew us, and that he should
have that pleasure another day.
"Accordingly, on the day of the Emperor's anniversary festival, after
the ceremony was ended, the first or great Collao _Ho-chun-tong_, the
_Foo-leou_, the _Foo-leou's_ brothers _Foo-chan-tong_, and
_Song-ta-gin_, with the other great men who attended us two days since,
in our visit to the eastern garden, now proposed to accompany us to the
western, which forms a strong contrast with the other, and exhibits all
the sublimer beauties of nature in as high a degree as the part which we
saw before possesses the attractions of softness and amenity. It is one
of the finest forest-scenes in the world; wild, woody, mountainous and
rocky, abounding with stags and deer of different species, and most of
the other beasts of the chase, not dangerous to man.
"In many places immense woods, chiefly oaks, pines, and chesnuts, grow
upon almost perpendicular steeps, and force their sturdy roots through
every resistance of surface and of soil, where vegetation would seem
almost impossible. These woods often clamber over the loftiest pinnacles
of the stony hills, or gathering on the skirts of them, descend with a
rapid sweep, and bury themselves in the deepest vallies. There, at
proper distances, you find palaces, banquetting houses, and monasteries,
(but without bonzes) adapted to the situation and peculiar circumstances
of the place, sometimes with a rivulet on one hand, gently stealing
through the glade, at other with a cataract tumbling from above, raging
with foam, and rebounding with a thousand echoes from below, or silently
engulphed in a gloomy pool, or yawning chasm.
"The roads by which we approached these romantic scenes are often hewn
out of the living rock, and conducted round the hills in a kind of
rugged stair-case, and yet no accident occurred in our progress, not a
false step disturbed the regularity of our cavalcade, though the horses
are spirited and all of them unshod. From the great irregularity of the
ground, and the various heights to which we ascended, we had
opportunities of catching many magnificent points of view by detached
glances, but after wandering for several hours (and yet never wearied
with wandering) we at last reached a covered pavilion open on all sides,
and situated on a summit so elevated as perfectly to command the whole
surrounding country to a vast extent. The radius of the horizon I
should suppose to be at least twenty miles from the central spot where
we stood; and certainly so rich, so various, so beautiful, so sublime a
prospect my eyes had never beheld. I saw every thing before me as on an
illuminated map, palaces, pagodas, towns, villages, farm-houses, plains,
and vallies, watered by innumerable streams, hills waving with woods,
and meadows covered with cattle of the most beautiful marks and colours.
All seemed to be nearly at my feet, and that a step would convey me
within reach of them.
"I observed here a vast number of what we call in England _sheet_ cows,
also sheet horses, many pyeballs, dappled, mottled, and spotted, the
latter chiefly strawberry.
"From hence was pointed out to us by the minister a vast enclosure
below, which, he said, was not more accessible to him than to us, being
never entered but by the Emperor, his women, or his Eunuchs. It includes
within its bounds, though on a smaller scale, most of the beauties which
distinguish the eastern and the western gardens which we have already
seen; but from every thing I can learn it falls very short of the
fanciful descriptions which Father Attiret and Sir William Chambers have
intruded upon us as realities. That within these private retreats,
various entertainments of the most novel and expensive nature are
prepared and exhibited by the Eunuchs, who are very numerous (perhaps
some thousands) to amuse the Emperor and his ladies, I have no doubt;
but that they are carried to all the lengths of extravagance and
improbability those gentlemen have mentioned, I very much question, as
from every enquiry I have made (and I have not been sparing to make
them) I have by no means sufficient reason to warrant me in acceding to,
or confirming, the accounts which they have given us.
"If any place in England can be said in any respect to have similar
features to the western park, which I have seen this day, it is Lowther
Hall in Westmoreland, which (when I knew it many years ago) from the
extent of prospect, the grand surrounding objects, the noble situation,
the diversity of surface, the extensive woods, and command of water, I
thought might be rendered by a man of sense, spirit, and taste, the
finest scene in the British dominions."
After the descriptive and interesting detail of the beauties of the two
sides of the imperial park or gardens of Gehol, his Lordship makes a few
general observations on Chinese gardening, and the ornamental edifices
that are usually employed to aid the effect, as well as contribute to
use and convenience. He observes,
"Whether our style of gardening was really copied from the Chinese, or
originated with ourselves, I leave for vanity to assert, and idleness to
discuss. A discovery which is the result of good sense and reflexion may
equally occur to the most distant nations, without either borrowing from
the other. There is certainly a great analogy between our gardening and
the Chinese, but our excellence seems to be rather in improving nature,
theirs to conquer her, and yet produce the same effect. It is
indifferent to a Chinese where he makes his garden, whether on a spot
favoured, or abandoned, by the rural deities. If the latter, he invites
them, or compels them to return. His point is to change every thing from
what he found it, to explode the old fashion of the creation, and
introduce novelty in every corner. If there be a waste, he adorns it
with trees; if a dry desert, he waters it with a river, or floats it
with a lake. If there be a smooth flat, he varies it with all possible
conversions. He undulates the surface, he raises it in hills, scoops it
into vallies, and roughens it with rocks. He softens asperities, brings
amenity into the wilderness, or animates the tameness of an expanse, by
accompanying it with the majesty of a forest. Deceptions and eye-traps
the Chinese are not unacquainted with, but they use them very sparingly.
I observed no artificial ruins, caves, or hermitages. Though the sublime
predominates in its proper station, you are insensibly led to
contemplate it, not startled by its sudden intrusion, for in the plan
cheerfulness is the principal feature, and lights up the face of the
scene. To enliven it still more, the aid of architecture is invited; all
the buildings are perfect of their kind, either elegantly simple, or
highly decorated, according to the effect that is intended to arise,
erected at suitable distances, and judiciously contracted, never crowded
together in confusion, nor affectedly confronted, and staring at each
other without meaning. Proper edifices in proper places. The
summer-house, the pavilion, the pagodas, have all their respective
situations, which _they_ distinguish and improve, but which any other
structures would injure or deform. The only things disagreeable to my
eye are the large porcelain figures of lions, tygers, &c. and the rough
hewn steps, and huge masses of rock work, which they seem studious of
introducing near many of their houses and palaces. Considering their
general good taste in the other points, I was much surprised at this,
and could only account for it, by the expence and the difficulty of
bringing together such incongruities, for it is a common effect of
enormous riches to push every thing they can procure to bombast and
extravagance, which are the death of taste. In other countries, however,
as well as in China, I have seen some of the most boasted feats, either
outgrowing their beauty from a plethora of their owner's wealth, or
becoming capricious and hypocondriacal by a quackish application of it.
A few fine places, even in England, might be pointed out that are
labouring under these disorders; not to mention some celebrated houses
where twisted stair-cases, window-glass cupolas, and embroidered
chimney-pieces, convey nothing to us but the whims and dreams of sickly
fancy, without an atom of grandeur, taste, or propriety.
"The architecture of the Chinese is of a peculiar style, totally unlike
any other, irreducible to our rules, but perfectly consistent with its
own. It has certain principles, from which it never deviates, and
although, when examined according to ours, it sins against the ideas we
have imbibed of distribution, composition, and proportion; yet, upon the
whole, it often produces a most pleasing effect, as we sometimes see a
person without a single good feature in his face have, nevertheless, a
very agreeable countenance."
CHAP. IV.
Sketch of the State of Society in China.--Manners, Customs, Sentiments,
and Moral Character of the People.
_Condition of Women, a Criterion of the State of Society.--Degraded
State of in China.--Domestic Manners unfavourable to Filial
Affection.--Parental Authority.--Ill Effects of Separating the
Sexes.--Social Intercourse unknown, except for gaming.--Their Worship
Solitary.--Feasts of New Year.--Propensity to gaming.--Influence of the
Laws seems to have destroyed the natural Character of the People.--Made
them indifferent, or cruel.--Various Instances of this Remark in public
and in private Life.--Remarks on Infanticide.--Perhaps less general than
usually thought.--Character of Chinese in Foreign Countries.--Temper and
Disposition of the Chinese.--Merchants.--Cuckoo-Clocks.--Conduct of a
Prince of the Blood.--Of the Prime Minister.--Comparison of the Physical
and Moral Characters of the Chinese and_ Mantchoo _Tartars.--General
Character of the Nation illustrated._
It may, perhaps, be laid down as an invariable maxim, that the condition
of the female part of society in any nation will furnish a tolerable
just criterion of the degree of civilization to which that nation has
arrived. The manners, habits, and prevailing sentiments of women, have
great influence on those of the society to which they belong, and
generally give a turn to its character. Thus we shall find that those
nations, where the moral and intellectual powers of the mind in the
female sex are held in most estimation, will be governed by such laws as
are best calculated to promote the general happiness of the people;
and, on the contrary, where the personal qualifications of the sex are
the only objects of consideration, as is the case in all the despotic
governments of Asiatic nations, tyranny, oppression, and slavery are
sure to prevail; and these personal accomplishments, so far from being
of use to the owner, serve only to deprive her of liberty, and the
society of her friends; to render her a degraded victim, subservient to
the sensual gratification, the caprice, and the jealousy of tyrant man.
Among savage tribes the labour and drudgery invariably fall heaviest on
the weaker sex.
The talents of women, in our own happy island, began only in the reign
of Queen Elizabeth to be held in a proper degree of consideration. As
women, they were admired and courted, but they scarcely could be said to
participate in the society of men. In fact, the manners of our
forefathers, before that reign, were too rough for them. In Wales, wives
were sold to their husbands. In Scotland, women could not appear as
evidences in a court of justice. In the time of Henry the Eighth, an act
was passed prohibiting women and apprentices from reading the New
Testament in the English language. Among the polished Greeks, they were
held in little estimation. Homer degrades all his females: he makes the
Grecian princesses weave the web, spin, and do all the drudgery of a
modern washerwoman; and rarely allows them any share of social
intercourse with the other sex. Yet the very foundations on which he has
constructed his two matchless poems are women. It appears also from all
the dramatic writers of ancient Greece, whose aim was "to hold as
'twere the mirror up to nature, to shew the very age and body of the
time its form and pressure," that notwithstanding their extreme delicacy
of taste, and rapid progress in the fine arts, their manners were low
and coarse, and that they were entire strangers to any other
gratification arising from the society of women, than the indulgence of
the sensual appetite. Even the grave Herodotus mentions, in the highest
terms of approbation, the custom of Babylon of selling by auction, on a
certain fixed day, all the young women who had any pretensions to
beauty, in order to raise a sum of money for portioning off the rest of
the females, to whom nature had been less liberal in bestowing her
gifts, and who were knocked down to those who were satisfied to take
them with the least money. This degradation of women would seem to be as
impolitic as it is extraordinary since, under their guidance, the
earliest, and sometimes the most indelible (I believe I may safely add,
the best and most amiable) impressions are stamped on the youthful mind.
In infancy their protection is indispensably necessary, and in sickness,
or in old age, they unquestionably afford the best and kindest relief:
or, as a French author has neatly observed, "_Sans les femmes, les deux
extrémités de la vie seraient sans secours, et le milieu sans
plaisirs._" "Without woman the two extremities of life would be
helpless, and the middle of it joyless."
The Chinese, if possible, have imposed on their women a greater degree
of humility and restraint than the Greeks of old, or the Europeans in
the dark ages. Not satisfied with the physical deprivation of the use of
their limbs, they have contrived, in order to keep them the more
confined, to make it a moral crime for a woman to be seen abroad. If
they should have occasion to visit a friend or relation, they must be
carried in a close sedan chair: to walk would be the height of
vulgarity. Even the country ladies, who may not possess the luxury of a
chair, rather than walk, suffer themselves to be sometimes rolled about
in a sort of covered wheelbarrow. The wives and daughters, however, of
the lower class are neither confined to the house, nor exempt from hard
and slavish labour, many being obliged to work with an infant upon the
back, while the husband, in all probability, is gaming, or otherwise
idling away his time. I have frequently seen women assisting to drag a
sort of light plough, and the harrow. Nieuwhoff, in one of his prints,
taken from drawings supposed to be made in China, yokes, if I mistake
not, a woman to the same plough with an ass. Should this be the fact,
the Chinese are not singular, if we may credit the Natural Historian of
Antiquity[6], who observes that, to open the fertile fields of
_Byzacium_ in Africa, it was necessary to wait until the rains had
soaked into the ground; "after which a little weakly ass, and an old
woman, attached to the same yoke, were sufficient to drag the plough
through the soil," _post imbres vili asello, et a parte altera jugi anu
vomerem trahente vidimus scindi_.
[6] Plin. lib. xvii. cap. 3.
In the province of _Kiang-see_ nothing is more common than to see a
woman drawing a kind of light plough, with a single handle, through
ground that has previously been prepared. The easier task of directing
the machine is left to the husband, who, holding the plough with one
hand, at the same time with the other casts the seed into the drills.
The advantages which those women possess in a higher sphere of life, if
any, are not much to be envied. Even at home, in her own family, a woman
must neither eat at the same table, nor sit in the same room with her
husband. And the male children, at the age of nine or ten, are entirely
separated from their sisters. Thus the feelings of affection, not the
instinctive products of nature, but the offspring of frequent
intercourse and of a mutual communication of their little wants and
pleasures, are nipped in the very bud of dawning sentiment. A cold and
ceremonious conduct must be observed on all occasions between the
members of the same family. There is no common focus to attract and
concentrate the love and respect of children for their parents. Each
lives retired and apart from the other. The little incidents and
adventures of the day, which furnish the conversation among children of
many a long winter's evening, by a comfortable fire-side, in our own
country, are in China buried in silence. Boys, it is true, sometimes mix
together in schools, but the stiff and ceremonious behaviour, which
constitutes no inconsiderable part of their education, throws a
restraint on all the little playful actions incident to their time of
life and completely subdues all spirit of activity and enterprize. A
Chinese youth of the higher class is inanimate, formal, and inactive,
constantly endeavouring to assume the gravity of years.
To beguile the many tedious and heavy hours, that must unavoidably occur
to the secluded females totally unqualified for mental pursuits, the
tobacco-pipe is the usual expedient. Every female from the age of eight
or nine years wears, as an appendage to her dress, a small silken purse
or pocket to hold tobacco and a pipe, with the use of which many of them
are not unacquainted at this tender age. Some indeed are constantly
employed in working embroidery on silks, or in painting birds, insects,
and flowers on thin gauze. In the ladies' apartments of the great house
in which we lived at Pekin, we observed some very beautiful specimens of
both kinds in the pannels of the partitions, and I brought home a few
articles which I understand have been much admired; but the women who
employ their time in this manner are generally the wives and daughters
of tradesmen and artificers, who are usually the weavers both of cottons
and silks. I remember asking one of the great officers of the court, who
wore a silken vest beautifully embroidered, if it was the work of his
lady, but the supposition that his wife should condescend to use her
needle seemed to give him offence.
Their manners in domestic life are little calculated to produce that
extraordinary degree of filial piety, or affection and reverence towards
parents, for which they have been eminently celebrated, and to the
salutary effects of which the Jesuits have attributed the stability of
the government. Filial duty is, in fact, in China, less a moral
sentiment, than a precept which by length of time has acquired the
efficacy of a positive law; and it may truly be said to exist more in
the maxims of the government, than in the minds of the people. Had
they, indeed, considered filial piety to be sufficiently strong when
left to its own natural influence, a precept or law to enforce it would
have been superfluous. The first maxim inculcated in early life is the
entire submission of children to the will of their parents. The tenor of
this precept is not only "to honour thy father and thy mother, that thy
days may be long in the land;" but to labour for thy father and thy
mother as long as they both shall live, to sell thyself into perpetual
servitude for their support, if necessary, and to consider thy life at
their disposal. So much has this sentiment of parental authority gained
ground by precept and habit, that to all intents and purposes it is as
binding as the strongest law. It gives to the parent the exercise of the
same unlimited and arbitrary power over his children, that the Emperor,
the common father, possesses by law over his people. Hence, as among the
Romans, the father has the power to sell his son for a slave; and this
power, either from caprice, or from poverty, or other causes, is not
unfrequently put in force.
A law that is founded in reason or equity seldom requires to be
explained or justified. The government of China, in sanctioning an act
of parental authority that militates so strongly against every principle
of nature, of moral right and wrong, seems to have felt the force of
this remark. Their learned men have been employed in writing volumes on
the subject, the principal aim of which appears to be that of impressing
on the minds of the people the comparative authority of the Emperor over
his subjects and of a parent over his children. The reasonableness and
justice of the latter being once established, that of the former, in a
patriarchal government, followed of course; and the extent of the power
delegated to the one could not in justice be withheld from the other.
And for the better allaying of any scruples that might be supposed to
arise in men's consciences, it was easy to invent any piece of sophistry
to serve by way of justification for those unnatural parents who might
feel themselves disposed, or who from want might be induced, to part
with their children into perpetual slavery. A son, says one of their
most celebrated lawgivers, after the death of his father, has the power
of selling his services for a day, or a year, or for life; but a father,
while living, has unlimited authority over his son; a father has,
therefore, the same right of selling the services of his son to another
for any length of time, or even for life.
Daughters may be said to be invariably sold. The bridegroom must always
make his bargain with the parents of his intended bride. The latter has
no choice. She is a lot in the market to be disposed of to the highest
bidder. The man, indeed, in this respect, has no great advantage on his
side, as he is not allowed to see his intended wife until he arrives in
formal procession at his gate. If, however, on opening the door of the
chair, in which the lady is shut up, and of which the key has been sent
before, he should dislike his bargain, he can return her to her parents;
in which case the articles are forfeited that constituted her price; and
a sum of money, in addition to them, may be demanded, not exceeding,
however, the value of these articles. These matrimonial processions,
attended with pomp and music, are not unlike those used by the Greeks
when the bride was conducted to her husband's house in a splendid car;
only, in the former instance, the lady is completely invisible to every
one.
To what a degraded condition is a female reduced by this absurd custom!
How little inducement, it would be supposed, she could have to appear
amiable or elegant, or to study her dress, or cramp her feet, or paint
her face, knowing she will be consigned into the hands of the first man
who will give the price that her parents have fixed upon her charms. No
previous conversation is allowed to take place, no exchange of opinions
or comparison of sentiments with regard to inclinations or dislikes; all
the little silent acts of attention and kindness, which so eloquently
speak to the heart, and demonstrate the sincerity of the attachment, are
utterly unfelt. In a word, that state of the human heart, occasioned by
the mutual affection between the sexes, and from whence proceed the
happiest, the most interesting, and sometimes also, the most distressing
moments of life, has no existence in China. The man takes a wife because
the laws of the country direct him to do so, and custom has made it
indispensable; and the woman, after marriage, continues to be the same
piece of inanimate furniture she always was in her father's house. She
suffers no indignity, nor does she feel any jealousy or disturbance (at
least it is prudent not to shew it) when her husband brings into the
same house a second, or a third woman. The first is contented with the
honour of presiding over, and directing the concerns of, the family
within doors, and in hearing the children of the others calling her
mother.
It might be urged, perhaps, on the part of the husband, that it would be
highly unreasonable for the woman to complain. The man who purchased her
ought to have an equal right in the same manner to purchase others. The
case is materially different where parties are united by sentiments of
love and esteem, or bound by promises or engagements; under such
circumstances the introduction of a second wife, under the same roof,
could not fail to disturb the harmony of the family, and occasion the
most poignant feelings of distress to the first. But a Chinese wife has
no such feelings, nor does the husband make any such engagements.
Although polygamy be allowed by the government, as indeed it could not
well happen otherwise where women are articles of purchase, yet it is an
evil that, in a great degree, corrects itself. Nine-tenths of the
community find it difficult to rear the offspring of one woman by the
labour of their hands; such, therefore, are neither in circumstances,
nor probably feel much inclination, to purchase a second. The general
practice would, besides, be morally impossible. In a country where so
many female infants are exposed, and where the laws or custom oblige
every man to marry, any person taking to himself two wives must leave
some other without one, unless indeed it be supposed with the author of
_L'Esprit des Loix_, what there seems to be no grounds for supposing,
that a much greater number of females are born than of males. But all
the observations of this lively and ingenious author with regard to
China, and particularly the inferences he draws with respect to climate,
fall to the ground. It is not the vigour of natural propensities, as he
has supposed, that destroys the moral ones; it is not the effect of
climate that makes it to be considered among these people "as a prodigy
of virtue for a man to meet a fine woman in a retired chamber without
offering violence to her,"--it is the effect of studiously pampering the
appetite, nurturing vicious notions, considering women as entirely
subservient to the pleasures of man; and, in short, by fancying those
pleasures in the head, rather than feeling them in the heart, that have
led them to adopt a sentiment which does the nation so little credit.
The climate being every where temperate, and the diet of the majority of
the people moderate, I might say scanty, these have little influence in
promoting a vehement desire for sexual intercourse. It is indeed among
the upper ranks only and a few wealthy merchants (whom the sumptuary
laws, prohibiting fine houses, gardens, carriages, and every kind of
external shew and grandeur, have encouraged secretly to indulge and
pamper their appetite in every species of luxury and voluptuousness)
where a plurality of wives are to be found. Every great officer of state
has his haram consisting of six, eight, or ten women, according to his
circumstances and his inclination for the sex. Every merchant also of
Canton has his seraglio; but a poor man finds one wife quite sufficient
for all his wants, and the children of one woman as many, and sometimes
more, than he is able to support.
The unsociable distance which the law (or custom, stronger than law)
prescribes to be observed between the sexes, and the cool and
indifferent manner of bargaining for a wife, are not calculated to
produce numerous instances of criminal intercourse. These, however,
sometimes happen, and the weight of punishment always fall heaviest on
the woman. The husband finds no difficulty in obtaining a sentence of
divorce, after which he may sell her for a slave and thus redeem a part
at least of his purchase-money. The same thing happens in case a wife
should elope, instances of which I fancy are still more rare; as if she
be of any fashion, her feet are ill calculated to carry her off with
speed; and if a young girl should chance to lose what is usually held to
be the most valuable part of female reputation, she is sent to market by
her parents and publicly sold for a slave. In cases of mutual dislike,
or incompatibility of temper, the woman is generally sent back to her
parents. A woman can inherit no property, but it may be left to her by
will. If a widow has no children, or females only, the property descends
to the nearest male relation on the deceased husband's side, but he must
maintain the daughters until he can provide them with husbands.
The prohibition against the frequent intercourse with modest females,
for there are public women in every great city, is not attended here
with the effect of rendering the pursuit more eager; nor does it
increase the ardour, as among the ancient Spartans who were obliged to
steal, as it were, the embraces of their lawful wives. In China it seems
to have the contrary effect of promoting that sort of connexion which,
being one of the greatest violations of the laws of nature, ought to be
considered among the first of moral crimes--a connexion that sinks the
man many degrees below the brute. The commission of this detestable and
unnatural act is attended with so little sense of shame, or feelings of
delicacy, that many of the first officers of state seemed to make no
hesitation in publicly avowing it. Each of these officers is constantly
attended by his pipe-bearer, who is generally a handsome boy from
fourteen to eighteen years of age, and is always well dressed. In
pointing out to our notice the boys of each other, they made use of
signs and motions, the meaning of which was too obvious to be
misinterpreted. The two Mahomedans, I observe, who were in China in the
ninth century, have also taken notice of this circumstance: and I find
in the journal of Mr. Hittner, a gentleman who was in that part of the
suite who accompanied the British Embassador into Tartary, in speaking
of the palaces of Gehol, the following remark: "Dans l'un de ces palais,
parmi d'autres chefs-d'œuvres de l'art, on voyait deux statues de
garçons, en marbre, d'un excellent travail; ils avaient les pieds et les
mains liés, et leur position ne laissait point de doute que le vice des
Grecs n'eût perdu son horreur pour les Chinois. Un vieil eunuque nous
les fit remarquer avec un sourire impudent."
It has been remarked that this unnatural crime prevails most in those
countries where polygamy is allowed, that is to say, in those countries
where the affections of women are not consulted, but their persons
purchased for gold--a remark which may lead to this conclusion, that it
is rather a moral turpitude than a propensity arising from physical or
local causes. The appetite for female intercourse soon becomes glutted
by the facility of enjoyment; and where women, so circumstanced, can
only receive the embraces of their proprietors from a sense of duty,
their coldness and indifference, the necessary consequence of such
connections, must also increase in the men the tendency to produce
satiety. I think it has been observed that, even in Europe, where
females in general have the superior advantage of fixing their own value
upon themselves, it is the greatest rakes and debauchees, who,
"----bred at home in idleness and riot,
Ransack for mistresses th' unwholesome stews,
And never know the worth of virtuous love."
fly sometimes in search of fresh enjoyment in the detestable way here
alluded to[7].
[7] I should not have taken notice of this odious vice, had not the
truth of its existence in China been doubted by some, and attributed by
others to a wrong cause. Professing to describe the people as I found
them, I must endeavour to draw a faithful picture, neither attempting to
palliate their vices, nor to exaggerate their virtues.
I have already observed that the state of domestic society in China was
ill calculated to promote the affection and kindness which children not
only owe to, but really feel for, their parents in many countries of
Europe. A tyrant, in fact, to command, and a slave to obey, are found in
every family; for, where the father is a despot, the son will naturally
be a slave; and if all the little acts of kindness and silent
attentions, that create mutual endearments, be wanting among the
members of the same family, living under the same roof, it will be in
vain to expect to find them in the enlarged sphere of public life. In
fact, they have no kind of friendly societies nor meetings to talk over
the transactions and the news of the day. These can only take place in a
free government. A Chinese having finished his daily employment retires
to his solitary apartment. There are, it is true, a sort of public
houses where the lower orders of people sometimes resort for their cup
of tea or of _seau-tchoo_ (a kind of ardent spirit distilled from a
mixture of rice and other grain) but such houses are seldom, if at all,
frequented for the sake of company. They are no incitement, as those are
of a similar kind in Europe, to jovial pleasures or to vulgar ebriety.
From this odious vice the bulk of the people are entirely free. Among
the multitudes which we daily saw, in passing from one extremity of the
country to the other, I do not recollect having ever met with a single
instance of a man being disguised in liquor. In Canton, where the lower
orders of people are employed by Europeans and necessarily mix with
European seamen, intoxication is not unfrequent among the natives, but
this vice forms no part of the general character of the people. Whenever
a few Chinese happen to meet together, it is generally for the purpose
of gaming, or to eat a kettle of boiled rice, or drink a pot of tea, or
smoke a pipe of tobacco.
The upper ranks indulge at home in the use of opium. Great quantities of
this intoxicating drug are smuggled into the country, notwithstanding
all the precautions taken by the government to prohibit the importation
of it; but it is too expensive to be used by the common people. The
officers of the customs are not beyond a bribe. After receiving the sum
agreed upon between the importer and themselves they frequently become
the purchasers of the prohibited article. Most of the country ships from
Bengal carry opium to China; but that of Turkey sent from London in the
China ships is preferred, and sells at near double the price of the
other. The governor of Canton, after describing in one of his late
proclamations on the subject the pernicious and fatal effects arising
from the use of opium, observes, "Thus it is that foreigners by the
means of a vile excrementitious substance derive from this empire the
most solid profits and advantages; but that our countrymen should
blindly pursue this destructive and ensnaring vice, even till death is
the consequence, without being undeceived, is indeed a fact odious and
deplorable in the highest degree." Yet the governor of Canton very
composedly takes his daily dose of opium.
The young people have no occasional assemblies for the purpose of
dancing and of exercising themselves in feats of activity which, in
Europe, are attended with the happy effects of shaking off the gloom and
melancholy that a life of constant labour or seclusion from society is
apt to promote. They have not even a fixed day of rest set apart for
religious worship. Their acts of devotion partake of the same solitary
cast that prevails in their domestic life. In none of the different
sects of religion, which at various times have been imported into, and
adopted in China, has congregational worship been inculcated, which, to
that country in particular, may be considered as a great misfortune.
For, independent of religions considerations, the sabbatical institution
is attended with advantages of a physical as well as of a moral nature;
and humanity is not less concerned than policy in consecrating one day
out of seven, or some other given number, to the service of the great
Creator, and to rest from bodily labour. When the government of France,
in the height of her rage for innovation, fell into the hands of
atheistical demagogues, when her temples were polluted and every thing
sacred was invaded and profaned, the seventh day was considered as a
relic of ancient superstition and the observance of it accordingly
abolished; and, about the same time, it became the fashion among a
certain description of people to use specious arguments against its
continuance in our own country; as being, for example, a day for the
encouragement of idleness, drunkenness, and dissipation. Such a remark
could only be applied to large cities and towns; and in crowded
manufacturing towns the mechanic, who can subsist by working three days
in the week, would be at no loss in finding opportunities, were there no
sabbath day, in the course of the other four to commit irregularities.
And who, even for the sake of the mechanic and artificer, would wish to
see the labouring peasant deprived of one day's rest, out of seven,
which to him is more precious than the wages he has hardly earned the
other six? What man, possessed of common feelings of humanity, in
beholding the decent and modest husbandman, accompanied by his family in
their best attire attending the parish-church, does not participate in
the smile of content which on this day particularly beams on his
countenance, and bespeaks the serenity of his mind? Having on this day
discharged his duty to God, refreshed his body with rest, enjoyed the
comfort of clean clothing, and exercised his mind in conversing with his
neighbours, he returns with double vigour to his daily labour; having,
as Mr. Addison observes in one of his Spectators, rubbed off the rust of
the week.
The first of the new year in China, and a few succeeding days, are the
only holidays, properly speaking, that are observed by the working part
of the community. On these days the poorest peasant makes a point of
procuring new clothing for himself and his family; they pay their visits
to friends and relations, interchange civilities and compliments, make
and receive presents; and the officers of government and the higher
ranks give feasts and entertainments. But even in those feasts there is
nothing that bears the resemblance of conviviality. The guests never
partake together of the same service of dishes, but each has frequently
his separate table; sometimes two, but never more than four, sit at the
same table; and their eyes must constantly be kept upon the master of
the feast, to watch all his motions, and to observe every morsel he puts
into his mouth, and every time he lifts the cup to his lips; for a
Chinese of good-breeding can neither eat nor drink without a particular
ceremony, to which the guests must pay attention. If a person invited
should, from sickness or any accident, be prevented from fulfilling his
engagement, the portion of the dinner that was intended to be placed on
his table is sent in procession to his own house; a custom that strongly
points out the very little notion they entertain of the _social_
pleasures of the table. It is customary to send after each guest the
remains even of his dinner. Whenever in the course of our journey we
visited a governor or viceroy of a province, we generally found him at
the head of a range of tables, covered with a multitude of dishes, which
invariably were marched after us to the yachts. Martial, if I mistake
not, has some allusion to a similar custom among the Romans. Each
carried his own napkin to a feast, which being filled with the remains
of the entertainment was sent home by a slave; but this appears to have
been done more out of compliment to the host, to shew the great esteem
in which they held his cheer, than for the sake of the viands; for the
Romans loved conviviality.
The Chinese also, like the ancient Egyptians as exemplified in the
enormous mess which Joseph gave to little Benjamin above the rest of his
brothers, testify, on all occasions, that they consider the measure of a
man's stomach to depend more upon the rank of its owner than either his
bulk or appetite. The Embassador's allowance was at least five times as
great as that of any person in his suite. In this particular, however,
these nations are not singular, neither in ancient nor in modern times.
The kings of Sparta, and indeed every Grecian hero, were always supposed
to eat twice the quantity of a common soldier; and the only difference
with regard to our heroes of the present day consists in their being
enabled to convert quantity into quality, an advantage for which they
are not a little indebted to the invention of money, into which all
other articles can be commuted.
Whatever may be the occasion of bringing together a few idlers, they
seldom part without trying their luck at some game of chance for which a
Chinese is never unprepared. He rarely goes abroad without a pack of
cards in his pocket or a pair of dice. Both of these, like almost every
thing else in the country, are different from similar articles
elsewhere. Their cards are much more numerous than ours, and their games
much more complicated. Nor are they at any loss, even if none of the
party should happen to be furnished with cards or dice; on such an
emergency their fingers are employed to answer the purpose, which are
all that is required to play the game of _Tsoi-moi_, a game of which the
lower class of people is particularly fond. Two persons, sitting
directly opposite to each other, raise their hands at the same moment,
when each calls out the number he guesses to be the sum of the fingers
expanded by himself and his adversary. The closed fist is none, the
thumb one, the thumb and forefinger two, &c. so that the chances lie
between 0 and 5, as each must know the number held out by himself. The
middling class of people likewise play at this game when they give
entertainments where wine is served, and the loser is always obliged to
drink off a cup of wine. At this childish game two persons will
sometimes play to a very late hour, till he who has had the worst of the
game has been obliged to drink so much wine that he can no longer see
either to count his own or his adversary's fingers. I have thus
particularly noticed the Chinese _Tsoi-moi_, on account of the
extraordinary coincidence between it and a game in use among the Romans,
to which frequent allusion is made by Cicero. In a note by Melancthon on
Cicero's Offices it is thus described. "_Micare digitis_, ludi genus
est. Sic ludentes, simul digitos alterius manus quot volunt citissime
erigunt, et simul ambo divinant quot simul erecti sint; quod qui
definivit, lucratus est: unde acri visu opus est, et multa fide, ut cum
aliquo in tenebris mices." "_Micare digitis_, is a kind of game. Those
who play at it stretch out, with great quickness, as many fingers of one
hand each, as they please, and at the same instant both guess how many
are held up by the two together; and he who guesses right wins the game:
hence a sharp sight is necessary, and also great confidence when it is
played in the dark."
The Chinese have certainly the _acer visus_, but I doubt much whether
they have faith enough in each other's integrity to play at the game of
fingers in the dark, which, in the opinion of Cicero, was a strong test
of a truly honest man. The same game is said to be still played in Italy
under the name of _Morra_.[8]
[8] Adam's Roman Antiquities.
The officers about Yuen-min-yuen used to play a kind of chess, which
appeared to me to be essentially different from that game as played by
the Persians, the Indians, and other oriental nations, both with regard
to the lines drawn on the board, the form of the chess-men, and the
moves, from which I should rather conclude it to be a game of their own
invention, than an introduction either from India or by the army of
_Gengis-khan_, as some authors have conjectured.
The spirit of gaming is so universal in most of the towns and cities,
that in almost every bye-corner, groupes are to be found playing at
cards or throwing dice. They are accused even of frequently staking
their wives and children on the hazard of a die. It may easily be
conceived that where a man can sell his children into slavery, there can
be little remorse, in the breast of a gamester reduced to his last
stake, to risk the loss of what the law has sanctioned him to dispose
of. Yet we are very gravely assured by some of the reverend
missionaries, that "the Chinese are entirely ignorant of all games of
chance;" that "they can enjoy no amusements but such as are authorized
by the laws." These gentlemen surely could not be ignorant that one of
their most favourite sports is cock-fighting, and that this cruel and
unmanly _amusement_, as they are pleased to consider it, is full as
eagerly pursued by the upper classes in China as, to their shame and
disgrace be it spoken, it continues to be by those in a similar
situation in some parts of Europe. The training of quails for the same
cruel purpose of butchering each other furnishes abundance of employment
for the idle and dissipated. They have even extended their enquiries
after fighting animals into the insect tribe, in which they have
discovered a species of _gryllus_, or locust, that will attack each
other with such ferocity as seldom to quit their hold without bringing
away at the same time a limb of their antagonist. These little creatures
are fed and kept apart in bamboo cages; and the custom of making them
devour each other is so common that, during the summer months, scarcely
a boy is seen without his cage and his grasshoppers.
I have already had occasion to observe that the natural disposition of
the Chinese should seem to have suffered almost a total change by the
influence of the laws and maxims of government, an influence which, in
this country more than elsewhere, has given a bias to the manners,
sentiments, and moral character of the people; for here every ancient
proverb carries with it the force of a law. While they are by nature
quiet, passive, and timid, the state of society and the abuse of the
laws by which they are governed, have rendered them indifferent,
unfeeling, and even cruel, as a few examples, which among many others
occurred, will but too clearly bear evidence; and as the particular
instances, from which I have sometimes drawn an inference, accorded with
the common actions and occurrences of life, I have not hesitated to
consider them as so many general features in their moral character; at
the same time I am aware that allowances ought to be made for particular
ways of thinking, and for customs entirely dissimilar from our own,
which are, therefore, not exactly to be appreciated by the same rule as
if they had occurred in our own country. The public feasts of Sparta, in
which the girls danced naked in presence of young men, had not the same
effect on the Lacedemonian youth, as they might be supposed to produce
in Europe; nor is the delicacy of the Hindoo women offended by looking
on the Lingam. Thus the Chinese are entitled to our indulgence by the
peculiar circumstances under which they are placed, but I leave it in
the breast of the reader to make what allowance he may think they
deserve.
The common practice of flogging with the bamboo has generally been
considered by the missionaries in the light of a gentle correction,
exercised by men in power over their inferiors, just as a father would
chastise his son, but not as a punishment to which disgrace is attached.
However lightly these gentlemen may chuse to treat this humiliating
chastisement, to which all are liable from the prime minister to the
peasant, it is but too often inflicted in the anger and by the caprice
of a man in office, and frequently with circumstances of unwarrantable
cruelty and injustice. Of the truth of this remark we had several
instances. In our return down the _Pei-ho_, the water being considerably
shallower than when we first sailed up this river, one of our
accommodation barges got aground in the middle of the night. The air was
piercing cold, and the poor creatures belonging to the vessel were busy
until sun-rise in midst of the river, using their endeavours to get her
off. The rest of the fleet had proceeded, and the patience of the
superintending officer at length being exhausted, he ordered his
soldiers to flog the captain and the whole crew; which was accordingly
done in a most unmerciful manner and this was their only reward for the
use of the yacht, their time and labour for two days. The instance of
degrading an officer and flogging all his people, because the meat
brought for our use was a little tainted when the temperature was at 88°
in the shade, I have already had occasion to notice.
Whenever the wind was contrary, or it was found necessary to track the
vessels against the stream, a number of men were employed for this
purpose. The poor creatures were always pressed into this disagreeable
and laborious service, for which they were to receive about six-pence a
day so long as they tracked, without any allowance being made to them
for returning to the place from whence they were forced. These people
knowing the difficulty there was of getting others to supply their
places, and that their services would be required until such should be
procured, generally deserted by night, disregarding their pay. In order
to procure others, the officers dispatched their soldiers to the nearest
village, taking the inhabitants by surprize and forcing them out of
their beds to join the yachts. Scarcely a night occurred in which some
poor wretches did not suffer the lashes of the soldiers for attempting
to escape, or for pleading the excuse of old age, or infirmity. It was
painful to behold the deplorable condition of some of these creatures.
Several were half naked and appeared to be wasting and languishing for
want of food. Yet the task of dragging along the vessels was far from
being light. Sometimes they were under the necessity of wading to the
middle in mud; sometimes to swim across creeks, and immediately
afterwards to expose their naked bodies to a scorching sun; and they
were always driven by a soldier or the lictor of some petty police
officer carrying in his hand an enormous whip, with which he lashed them
with as little reluctance as if they had been a team of horses.
The Dutch Embassy proceeded by land to the capital, in the middle of
winter, when the rivers and canals were frozen. The thermometer was
frequently from 8 to 16 degrees below the freeing point, and the face of
the country was mostly covered with ice and snow; yet they were often
under the necessity of travelling all night; and the peasantry, who
were pressed to carry the presents and their baggage, notwithstanding
their heavy loads, were obliged to keep up with them as long as they
could. In the course of two nights, Mr. Van Braam observes, not less
than eight of these poor wretches actually expired under their burdens,
through cold, hunger, fatigue, and the cruel treatment of their drivers.
It had been the practice of some of the gentlemen of the British
embassy, in their return through the country, to walk during a part of
the day, and to join the barges towards the hour of dinner. One day an
officer of high rank took it into his head to interrupt them in their
usual walk, and for this purpose dispatched after them nine or ten of
his soldiers, who forced them in a rude manner to return to the vessels.
Our two conductors _Van_ and _Chou_, coming up at the time, and being
made acquainted with the circumstance, gave to each of the soldiers a
most severe flogging. One of these, who had been particularly insolent,
had his ears bored through with iron wire, and his hands bound to them
for several days. The viceroy of Canton was at this time with the
embassy, and being in rank superior to the offending officer, he ordered
the latter to appear before him, gave him a severe reprimand, and
sentenced him to receive forty strokes of the bamboo as a _gentle
correction_. Our two Chinese friends were particularly pressing that the
gentlemen insulted should be present at the punishment of the officer,
and it was not without difficulty they could be persuaded that such a
scene would not afford them any gratification. It happened also, in the
Dutch embassy, that an inferior officer was flogged and disgraced by
their conductors for not having in readiness a sufficient number of
coolies or porters to proceed with the baggage, and to carry the sedan
chairs in which they travelled.
The tyranny that men in office exercise over the multitude, and each
other, is perfectly agreeable to the systematic subordination which the
law has sanctioned. But as authority is a dangerous deposit in the hands
of the wisest, and leads sometimes the most wary to
"Play such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep,"
what must the effects of it be when vested in an illiterate Chinese or
rude Tartar who has no other talent or recommendation for his authority
than the power alone which his office allows him to exercise?
Several instances however occurred in the course of our journey through
the country, which seemed to mark the same unfeeling and hard-hearted
disposition to exist between persons of equal condition in life, as in
men in office over their inferiors. One of these afforded an
extraordinary trait of inhumanity. A poor fellow at Macao, in the employ
of the British factory there, fell by accident from a wall and pitched
upon his skull. His companions took him up with very little appearance
of life and, in this state, were carrying him away towards the skirts of
the town, where they were met by one of the medical gentlemen belonging
to the embassy. He interrogated them what they meant to do with the
unfortunate man, and was very coolly answered, they were going to bury
him. Having expressed his astonishment that they should think of putting
a man into the grave before the breath was out of his body, they replied
that they were of opinion he never could recover, and that if they
carried him home he would only be a trouble and expence to his friends
so long as he remained in a situation which rendered him unable to
assist himself. The man, however, by the humanity and attention of
Doctor Scott, was restored again to his family and to those friends who
knew so well to appreciate the value of his life.
The doctor however was not aware of the risk he ran in thus exercising
his humanity, as by a law of the country, which appears to us
extraordinary, if a wounded man be taken into the protection and charge
of any person with a view to effect his recovery, and he should happen
to die under his hands, the person into whose care he was last taken is
liable to be punished with death, unless he can produce undeniable
evidence to prove how the wound was made, or that he survived it forty
days. The consequence of such a law is, that if a person should happen
to be mortally wounded in an affray, he is suffered to die in the
streets, from the fear (should any one take charge of him) of being made
responsible for his life.
A striking instance of the fatal effects of such a law happened at
Canton lately. A fire broke out in the suburbs and three Chinese, in
assisting to extinguish it, had their limbs fractured and were otherwise
dreadfully wounded by the falling of a wall. The surgeon of the English
factory, with all the alacrity to administer relief to suffering
humanity, which characterizes the profession in Britain, directed them
to be carried to the factory, and was preparing to perform amputation,
as the only possible means of saving their lives, when one of the Hong
merchants having heard what was going on ran with great haste to the
place, and entreated the surgeon by no means to think of performing any
operation upon them, but rather to suffer them to be taken away from the
factory as speedily as possible; adding that, however good his
intentions might be, if any one of the patients should die under his
hands, he would inevitably be tried for murder, and the most mitigated
punishment would be that of banishment for life into the wilds of
Tartary. The wounded Chinese were accordingly removed privately, and, no
doubt, abandoned to their fate.
The operation of such a barbarous law (for so it appears to us) will
serve to explain the conduct of the Chinese in the following instance.
In the course of our journey down the grand canal we had occasion to
witness a scene, which was considered as a remarkable example of a want
of fellow-feeling. Of the number of persons who had crowded down to the
banks of the canal several had posted themselves upon the high
projecting stern of an old vessel which, unfortunately, breaking down
with the weight, the whole groupe tumbled with the wreck into the canal,
just at the moment when the yachts of the embassy were passing. Although
numbers of boats were sailing about the place, none were perceived to go
to the assistance of those that were struggling in the water. They even
seemed not to know that such an accident had happened, nor could the
shrieks of the boys, floating on pieces of the wreck, attract their
attention. One fellow was observed very busily employed in picking up,
with his boat-hook, the hat of a drowning man. It was in vain we
endeavoured to prevail on the people of our vessel to heave to and send
the boat to their assistance. It is true, we were then going at the rate
of seven miles an hour, which was the plea they made for not stopping. I
have no doubt that several of these unfortunate people must inevitably
have perished.
Being thus insensible to the sufferings of their companions and
countrymen, little compassion is to be expected from them towards
strangers. From a manuscript journal, kept by a gentleman in the suite
of the Dutch Embassador, it appears that, on their route to the capital,
the writer felt an inclination to try his skaits on a sheet of ice that
they passed by the road-side; he was also urged to it by the conducing
officers. Having proceeded to some distance from the shore, the ice gave
way and he fell in up to the neck. The Chinese, instead of rendering him
any assistance, in the absence of his own countrymen who had gone
forwards, ran away laughing at this accident and left him to scramble
out as well as he could, which was not effected without very great
difficulty.
But, if further proofs were wanting to establish the insensible and
incompassionate character of the Chinese, the horrid practice of
infanticide, tolerated by custom and encouraged by the government, can
leave no doubt on this subject.--I venture to say encouraged, because
where the legislature does not interfere to prevent crimes, it certainly
may be said to lend them its countenance. No law, however, allows, as I
observe it noticed in a modern author of reputation, a father to expose
all the daughters and the third son. I believe the laws of China do not
suppose such an unnatural crime to exist, and have therefore provided no
punishment for it. It is true, they have left a child to the entire
disposal of the father, concluding, perhaps, that if his feelings will
not prevent him from doing an injury, no other consideration will. Thus,
though the commission of infanticide be frequent in China, it is
considered as more prudent to wink at it as an inevitable evil which
natural affection will better correct than penal statues; an evil that,
on the other hand, if publicly tolerated, would directly contradict the
grand principle of filial piety, upon which their system of obedience
rests, and their patriarchal form of government is founded.
It is, however, tacitly considered as a part of the duty of the police
of Pekin to employ certain persons to go their rounds, at an early hour
in the morning, with carts, in order to pick up such bodies of infants
as may have been thrown out into the streets in the course of the night.
No inquiries are made, but the bodies are carried to a common pit
without the city walls, into which all those that may be living, as well
as those that are dead, are said to be thrown promiscuously. At this
horrible pit of destruction the Roman Catholic missionaries, established
in Pekin, attend by turns as a part of the duties of their office, in
order, as one of them expressed himself to me on this subject, to chuse
among them those that are the most _lively_, to make future proselytes,
and by the administration of baptism to such of the rest as might be
still alive, _pour leur sauver l'âme_. The Mahomedans who, at the time
that their services were useful in assisting to prepare the national
calendar, had a powerful influence at Court, did much better: these
zealous bigots to a religion, whose least distinguishing feature is that
of humanity, were, however, on these occasions, the means of saving the
_lives_ of all the little innocents they possibly could save from this
maw of death, which was an humane act, although it might be for the
purpose of bringing them up in the principles of their own faith. I was
assured by one of the Christian missionaries, with whom I had daily
conversation during a residence of five weeks within the walls of the
Emperor's palace at _Yuen-min-yuen_, and who took his turn in attending,
_pour leur sauver l'ame_, that such scenes were sometimes exhibited on
these occasions as to make the feeling mind shudder with horror. When I
mention that dogs and swine are let loose in all the narrow streets of
the capital, the reader may conceive what will sometimes necessarily
happen to the exposed infants, before the police-carts can pick them up.
The number of children thus unnaturally and inhumanly slaughtered, or
interred alive, in the course of a year, is differently stated by
different authors, some making it about ten and others thirty thousand
in the whole empire. The truth, as generally happens, may probably lie
about the middle. The missionaries, who alone possess the means of
ascertaining nearly the number that is thus sacrificed in the capital,
differ very materially in their statements: taking the mean, as given by
those with whom we conversed on the subject, I should conclude that
about twenty-four infants were, on an average, in Pekin, daily carried
to the pit of death where the little innocents that have not yet
breathed their last are condemned without remorse,
"----to be stifled in the vault,
To whose foul mouth no healthsome air breathes in,
And there die."
This calculation gives nine thousand nearly for the capital alone, where
it is supposed about an equal number are exposed to that of all the
other parts of the empire. Those, whose constant residence is upon the
water, and whose poverty, or superstition, or total insensibility, or
whatever the cause may be that leads them to the perpetration of an act
against which nature revolts, sometimes, it is said, expose their
infants by throwing them into the canal or river with a gourd tied round
their necks, to keep the head above water, and preserve them alive until
some humane person may be induced to pick them up. This hazardous
experiment, in a country where humanity appears to be reduced to so low
an ebb, can only be considered as an aggravation of cruelty. I have seen
the dead body of an infant, but without any gourd, floating down the
river of Canton among the boats, and the people seemed to take no more
notice of it than if it had been the carcase of a dog: this, indeed,
would in all probability have attracted their attention, dogs being an
article of food commonly used by them; the miserable half-famished
Chinese, living upon the water, are glad to get any thing in the shape
of animal food, which they will even eat in a state of putrefaction.
Yet, little scrupulous as they are with regard to diet, I am not
credulous enough to believe the information of a Swedish author[9] to be
correct in his statement of a cure for a certain disease, though "he has
no reason to doubt of the fact," _per τεκνοφαγιαν alternis
diebus, alternis jejunio--by eating children every other day!_
[9] Mr. Torreen.
A picture so horrid in its nature as the exposing of infants presents to
the imagination is not to be surpassed among the most savage nations.
The celebrated legislator of Athens made no law to punish parricide,
because he considered it as a crime against nature, too heinous ever to
be committed, and that the bare supposition of such a crime would have
disgraced the country. The Chinese, in like manner, have no positive law
against infanticide. The laws of the rude and warlike Spartans allowed
infanticide, of which, however, the parents were not the perpetrators,
nor the abettors. Nor, among these people, were the weak and sickly
children, deemed by the magistrates unlikely ever to become of use to
themselves, or to the public, thrown into the αποθηκη, or
common repository of the dead bodies of children, until life had been
previously extinguished, we will charitably suppose, by gentle and the
least painful means.
The exposing of children, however, it must be allowed, was very common
among the ancients. The stern and rigid virtues of the Romans allowed
this among many other customs, that were more unnatural than amiable,
and such as in civilized societies of the present day would have been
considered among the most atrocious of moral crimes. A Roman father, if
his infant was meant to be preserved, lifted it from the ground in his
arms; if he neglected that ceremony, the child, it would seem, was
considered as doomed to exposure in the highway. Thus, in the Andrian of
Terence, where, though the scene is not laid in Rome, Roman customs are
described, "quidquid peperisset, decreverunt tollere." "Let it be boy or
girl they have resolved to lift it from the ground." Nor indeed is
secret infanticide unknown in modern Europe, although it may be owing to
a different principle. In such cases, the sense of shame and the fear of
encountering the scorn and obloquy of the world have determined the
conduct of the unhappy mother, before the feelings of nature could have
time to operate. For I am willing to hope that none who had ever
experienced a mother's feelings and a mother's joy would consent by any
means, direct or indirect, or under any impression of fear of shame, of
scorn, or biting penury, to the destruction of a new-born babe. And I
may venture to say with confidence, that a British cottager, however
indigent, would divide his scanty pittance among a dozen children rather
than consent to let some of them perish, that he and the rest might fare
the better, were even our laws as tacit on this subject as those of
China.
Some of the Christian missionaries, in their accounts of this country,
have attempted to palliate the unnatural act of exposing infants, by
attributing it to the midwife, who they pretend to say, from knowing the
circumstances of the parents, strangle the child without the knowledge
of the mother, telling her that the infant was still-born. Others have
ascribed the practice to a belief in the metempsycosis, or
transmigration of souls into other bodies, that the parents, seeing
their children must be doomed to poverty, think it is better at once to
let the soul escape in search of a more happy asylum, than to linger in
one condemned to want and wretchedness. No degree of superstition, one
would imagine, could prevail upon a parent to reason thus, in that most
anxious and critical moment when the combined efforts of hope and fear,
of exquisite joy and severe pain, agitate by turns the mother's breast.
Besides, the Chinese trouble themselves very little with superstitious
notions, unless where they apprehend some personal danger. Nor is it
more probable that the midwife should take upon herself the commission
of a concealed and voluntary murder of an innocent and helpless infant,
for the sake of sparing those feelings in another, of which the
supposition implies she could not possibly partake; and if she should be
encouraged by the father, whose affections for an infant child may be
more gradually unfolded than the mother's, to perpetrate so horrid an
act, we must allow that to the evidence of unnatural and murtherous
parents must be added that of hired ruffians; so that Chinese virtue
would gain little by such a supposition.
It is much more probable that extreme poverty and hopeless indigence,
the frequent experience of direful famines, and the scenes of misery and
calamity occasioned by them, acting on minds whose affections are not
very powerful, induce this unnatural crime which common custom has
encouraged, and which is not prohibited by positive law. That this is
the case, and that future advantages are not overlooked, will appear
from the circumstance of almost all the infants that are exposed being
females, who are the least able to provide for themselves, and the
least profitable to their parents; and the practice is most frequent in
crowded cities, where not only poverty more commonly prevails, but so
many examples daily occur of inhumanity, of summary punishments, acts of
violence and cruelty, that the mind becomes callous and habituated to
scenes that once would have shocked, and is at length scarcely
susceptible of the enormity of crimes.
I am afraid, however, it is but too common a practice even in the
remotest corners of the provinces. A respectable French missionary, now
in London, who was many years in _Fo-kien_, told me that he once
happened to call on one of his converts just at the moment his wife was
brought to-bed. The devoted infant was delivered to the father in order
to be plunged into a jar of water that was prepared for the purpose. The
missionary expostulated with the man on the heinousness of an act that
was a crime against God and nature. The man persisted that, having
already more than he could support, it would be a greater crime to
preserve a life condemned to want and misery, than to take it away
without pain. The missionary, finding that no argument of his was likely
to divert him from his purpose, observed "that, as a Christian, he could
not refuse him the satisfaction of saving the infant's soul by baptism."
During the ceremony, as the father held the infant in his arms he
happened to fix his eyes on its face, when the missionary thought he
perceived the feelings of nature begin to work; and he protracted the
ceremony to give time for the latent spark of parental affection to
kindle into flame. When the ceremony was ended; "Now," says the
missionary, "I have done my duty in saving a soul from perishing." "And
I," rejoined the man, "will do mine, by saving its life," and hurried
away with the infant to deposit it in the bosom of its mother.
How very weak then, in reality, must be the boasted filial affection of
the Chinese for their parents, when they scruple not to become the
murderers of their own children, towards whom, according to the
immutable laws of nature, the force of affection will ever be stronger
than for those whom the laws of China, in preference, have commanded to
be protected and supported when rendered incapable of assisting
themselves. The truth of this observation, which I believe few will call
in question, is a strong proof that, as I have already remarked, filial
piety among the Chinese may rather be considered in the light of an
ancient precept, carrying with it the weight of a positive law, than the
effect of sentiment.
It is right to mention here (what however is no palliation of the crime,
though a diminution of the extent of it) a circumstance which I do not
recollect to have seen noticed by any author, and the truth of which I
have too good authority to call in question. As every corpse great and
small must be carried to a place of burial at a considerable distance
without the city, and as custom requires that all funerals should be
conducted with very heavy expences, people in Pekin, even those in
comfortable circumstances, make no hesitation in laying in baskets
still-born children, or infants who may die the first month, knowing
that they will be taken up by the police. This being the case, we may
easily conceive that, in a city said to contain three millions of
people, a great proportion of the nine thousand, which we have supposed
to be annually exposed, may be of the above description. According to
the rules of political arithmetic, and supposing half of those who died
to be exposed, the number would be diminished to about 4000. The expence
attending a Chinese funeral is more extravagant than an European can
well conceive. A rich Hong merchant at Canton is known to have kept his
mother near twelve months above ground, because it was not convenient
for him to bury her in a manner suitable to his supposed wealth and
station.
I am informed also that foundling hospitals do exist in China, but that
they are on a small scale, being raised and supported by donations of
individuals, and their continuance is therefore as precarious as the
wealth of their charitable founders.
These unfavourable features in the character of a people, whose natural
disposition is neither ferocious nor morose; but, on the contrary, mild,
obliging, and cheerful, can be attributed only to the habits in which
they have been trained, and to the heavy hand of power perpetually
hanging over them. That this is actually the case may be inferred from
the general conduct and character of those vast multitudes who, from
time to time, have emigrated to the Philippine islands, Batavia, Pulo
Pinang and other parts of our East Indian settlements. In those places
they are not less remarkable for their honesty, than for their peaceable
and industrious habits. To the Dutch in Batavia they are masons,
carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, shopkeepers, bankers, and, in short,
every thing. Indolence and luxury are there arrived to such a height
that, without the assistance of the Chinese, the Dutch would literally
be in danger of starving. Yet the infamous government of that place, in
the year 1741, caused to be massacred, in cold blood, many thousands of
these harmless people who offered no resistance; neither women nor
children escaped the fury of these blood-hounds.
In these places it appears also, that their quickness at invention is
not surpassed by accuracy of imitation, for which they have always been
accounted remarkably expert in their own country. Man is, by nature, a
hoarding animal; and his endeavours to accumulate property will be
proportioned to the security and stability which the laws afford for the
possession and enjoyment of that property. In China, the laws regarding
property are insufficient to give it that security: hence the talent of
invention is there seldom exercised beyond suggesting the means of
providing for the first necessities and the most pressing wants. A man,
indeed, is afraid here to be considered as wealthy, well knowing that
some of the rapacious officers of the state would find legal reasons to
extort his riches from him.
The exterior deportment of every class in China is uncommonly decent,
and all their manners mild and engaging; but even these among persons of
any rank are considered as objects worthy the interference of the
legislature; hence it follows that they are ceremonious without
sincerity, studious of the forms only of politeness without either the
ease or elegance of good-breeding. An inferior makes a sham attempt to
fall on his knees before his superior, and the latter affects a slight
motion to raise him. A common salutation has its mode prescribed by the
court of ceremonies; and any neglect or default in a plebeian towards
his superior is punishable by corporal chastisement, and in men in
office by degradation or suspension. In making thus the exterior and
public manners of the people a concern of the legislature, society in
many respects was considerably benefited. Between equals, and among the
lower orders of people, abusive language is very unusual, and they
seldom proceed to blows. If a quarrel should be carried to this
extremity, the contest is rarely attended with more serious consequences
than the loss of the long lock of hair growing from the crown of the
head, or the rent of their clothes. The act of drawing a sword, or
presenting a pistol, is sufficient to frighten a common Chinese into
convulsions; and their warriors shew but few symptoms of bravery. The
Chinese may certainly be considered among the most timid people on the
face of the earth; they seem to possess neither personal courage, nor
the least pretence of mind in dangers or difficulties; consequences that
are derived probably from the influence of the moral over the physical
character. Yet there is perhaps no country where acts of suicide occur
more frequently than in China, among the women as well as the men: such
acts being marked with no disgrace, are not held in any abhorrence. The
government, indeed, should seem to hold out encouragement to suicide, by
a very common practice of mitigating the sentence of death, in allowing
the criminal to be his own executioner. The late viceroy of Canton,
about two years ago, put an end to his life by swallowing his stone
snuff-bottle, which stuck in the oesophagus; and he died in excruciating
agonies.
In a government, where every man is liable to be made a slave, where
every man is subject to be flogged with the bamboo at the nod of one of
the lowest rank of those in office, and where he is compelled to kiss
the rod that beats him or, which amounts to the same thing, to thank the
tyrant on his knees for the trouble he has taken to correct his morals,
high notions of honour and dignified sentiments are not to be expected.
Where the maxims of the government commanding, and the opinions of the
people agreeing, that corporal punishment may be inflicted, on the
ground of a favour conferred upon the person punished, a principle of
humiliation is admitted that is well calculated to exclude and
obliterate every notion of the dignity of human nature.
A slave, in fact, cannot be dishonoured. The condition itself of being
dependent upon and subject to the caprice of another, without the
privilege of appeal, is such a degraded state of the human species, that
those who are unfortunately reduced to it have no further ignominy or
sense of shame to undergo. The vices of such a condition are
innumerable, and they appear on all occasions among this people
celebrated (rather undeservedly I think) for their polished manners and
civilized government. A Chinese merchant will cheat, whenever an
opportunity offers him the means, because he is considered to be
incapable of acting honestly; a Chinese peasant will steal when ever he
can do it without danger of being detected, because the punishment is
only the bamboo, to which he is daily liable; and a Chinese prince, or a
prime minister, will extort the property of the subject, and apply it to
his private use, whenever he thinks he can do it with impunity. The only
check upon the rapacity of men in power is the influence of fear,
arising from the possibility of detection: the love of honour, the dread
of shame, and a sense of justice, seem to be equally unfelt by the
majority of men in office.
It would be needless to multiply instances to those already on record of
the refined knavery displayed by Chinese merchants in their dealings
with Europeans, or the tricks that they play off in their transactions
with one another. They are well known to most nations, and are
proverbial in their own. A merchant with them is considered as the
lowest character in the country, as a man that will cheat if he can, and
whose trade it is to create and then supply artificial wants. To this
general character, which public opinion has most probably made to be
what it is, an exception is due to those merchants who, acting under the
immediate sanction of the government, have always been remarked for
their liberality and accuracy in their dealings with Europeans trading
to Canton. These men who are styled the _Hong_ merchants, in distinction
to a common merchant whom they call _mai-mai-gin_, _a buying and selling
man_, might not unjustly be compared with the most eminent of the
mercantile class in England.
But as traders in general are degraded in all the state maxims, and
consequently in public opinion, it is not surprising they should attach
so little respect to the character of foreign merchants trading to their
ports, especially as several knavish tricks have been practised upon
them, in spite of all their acuteness and precaution. The gaudy watches
of indifferent workmanship, fabricated purposely for the China market
and once in universal demand, are now scarcely asked for. One gentleman
in the Honourable East India Company's employ took it into his head that
cuckoo clocks might prove a saleable article in China, and accordingly
laid in a large assortment, which more than answered his most sanguine
expectations. But as these wooden machines were constructed for sale
only, and not for use, the cuckoo clocks became all mute long before the
second arrival of this gentleman with another cargo. His clocks were now
not only unsaleable, but the former purchasers threatened to return
theirs upon his hands, which would certainly have been done, had not a
thought entered his head, that not only pacified his former customers
but procured him also other purchasers for his second cargo--he
convinced them by undeniable authorities, that the cuckoo was a very odd
kind of bird which sung only at certain seasons of the year, and assured
them that whenever the proper time arrived, all the cuckoos they had
purchased would once again "tune their melodious throats." After this it
would only be fair to allow the Chinese sometimes to trick the European
purchaser with a wooden ham instead of a real one.
But as something more honourable might be expected in a prince of the
blood, a grandson of the Emperor, I shall just mention one anecdote
that happened during my abode in the palace of _Yuen-min-yuen_. This
gentleman, then about five-and-twenty years of age, having no ostensible
employment, came almost daily to the hall of audience, where we were
arranging the presents for the Emperor. He had frequently desired to
look at a gold time-piece which I wore in my pocket; one morning I
received a message from him, by one of the missionaries, to know if I
would sell it and for what price. I explained to the missionary that,
being a present from a friend and a token of remembrance, I could not
willingly part with it, but that I would endeavour to procure him one
equally good from our artificers who I thought had such articles for
sale. I soon discovered, however, that his Royal Highness had already
been with these people, but did not like their prices. The following
morning a second missionary came to me, bringing a present from the
prince consisting of about half a pound of common tea, a silk purse, and
a few trumpery trinkets, hinting at the same time, that he was expected
to carry back the watch in return as an equivalent. I requested the
missionary immediately to take back the princely present, which he did
with considerable reluctance, dreading his Highness's displeasure. The
poor fellow happened to have a gold watch about him, which he was
desired to shew; and the same day he had a visit from one of the
prince's domestics to say, that his master would do him the honour to
accept his watch; which he was not only under the necessity of sending,
but was obliged to thank him, on his knees, for this extraordinary mark
of distinction. He told me, moreover, that this same gentleman had at
least a dozen watches which had been procured in the same honourable
way.
In the list of presents carried by the late Dutch Embassador were two
grand pieces of machinery, that formerly were a part of the curious
museum of the ingenious Mr. Coxe. In the course of the long journey from
Canton to Pekin they had suffered some slight damage. On leaving the
capital they discovered, through one of the missionaries, that while
these pieces were under repair, the prime minister _Ho-tchung-tang_ had
substituted two others of a very inferior and common sort to complete
the list, reserving the two grand pieces of clock-work for himself,
which, at some future period, he would, perhaps, take the merit of
presenting to the Emperor in his own name.
These examples but too clearly illustrate a great defect in the boasted
moral character of the Chinese. But the fault, as I before observed,
seems to be more in the system of government than in the nature and
disposition of the people. The accession of a foreign power to the
throne, by adopting the language, the laws, and the customs of the
conquered, has preserved with the forms all the abuses of the ancient
government. The character of the governors may differ a little, but that
of the governed remains unchanged. The Tartars, by assuming the dress,
the manners, and the habits of the Chinese, by being originally
descended from the same stock, and by a great resemblance of features,
are scarcely distinguishable from them in their external appearance. And
if any physical difference exist, it seems to be in stature only, which
may have arisen from local causes. The Chinese are rather taller, and of
a more slender and delicate form than the Tartars, who are in general
short, thick, and robust. The small eye, elliptical at the end next to
the nose, is a predominating feature in the cast of both the Tartar and
the Chinese countenance, and they have both the same high cheek bones
and pointed chins, which, with the custom of shaving off the hair, gives
to the head the shape of an inverted cone, remarkable enough in some
subjects, but neither so general, nor so singular, as to warrant their
being considered among the _monsters_ in nature, _Homo monstrosus_,
_macrocephalus_, _capite conico_, _Chinensis_[10]. The head of our
worthy conductor _Van-ta-gin_, who was a real Chinese, had nothing in
its shape different from that of an European, except the eye. The
portrait of this gentleman, drawn by Mr. Hickey, is so strong a
likeness, and he was deservedly so great a favourite of every Englishman
in the train of the British Embassador, that I am happy in having in
opportunity of placing it at the head of this work.
[10] Linn. Systema Naturæ.
The natural colour both of the Chinese and Tartars seems to be that tint
between a fair and dark complexion, which we distinguish the word
_brunet_ or _brunette_; and the shades of this complexion are deeper, or
lighter, according as they have been more or less exposed to the
influence of the climate. The women of the lower class, who labour in
the fields or who dwell in vessels, are almost invariably coarse,
ill-featured, and of a deep brown complexion, like that of the
Hottentot. But this we find to be the case among the poor of almost
every nation. Hard labour, scanty fare, and early and frequent
parturition, soon wither the delicate buds of beauty. The sprightliness
and expression of the features, as well as the colour of the skin, which
distinguish the higher ranks from the vulgar, are the effects of ease
and education. We saw women in China, though very few, that might pass
for beauties even in Europe. The Malay features however prevail in most;
a small black or dark brown eye, a short rounded nose, generally a
little flattened, lips considerably thicker than in Europeans, and black
hair, are universal.
The Mantchoo Tartars would appear to be composed of a mixed race: among
these we observed several, both men and women, that were extremely fair
and of florid complexions: some had light blue eyes, straight or
aquiline noses, brown hair, immense bushy beards, and had much more the
appearance of Greeks than of Tartars. It is certainly not improbable
that the Greeks of Sogdiana, whose descendants must have blended with
the western Tartars and with whom the Mantchoos were connected, may have
communicated this cast of countenance. _Tchien-lung_, whose nose was
somewhat aquiline and complexion florid, used to boast of his descent
from _Gengis-khan_: these, however, are exceptions to the general
character, which is evidently the same as that of the Chinese.
But although their appearance and manners are externally the same, a
closer acquaintance soon discovers that in disposition they are widely
different. Those who are better pleased with a blunt sincerity bordering
on rudeness than a studied complaisance approaching to servility; who
may think it better to be robbed openly than cheated civilly, will be
apt to give the preference to the Tartar character. Yet those Tartars of
distinction, who fill some of the higher situations in the state, soon
lose their native roughness and are scarcely distinguishable in their
manners and demeanour from the Chinese.
The ease, politeness, and dignified carriage of the old viceroy of
_Pe-tche-lee_, who was a Mantchoo, could not be exceeded by the most
practiced courtier in modern Europe: the attention he shewed to every
thing that concerned the embassy, the unaffected manner in which he
received and entertained us at _Tien-sing_; the kindness and
condescension with which he gave his orders to the inferior officers and
to his domestics, placed him in a very amiable point of view. He was a
very fine old man of seventy-eight years of age, of low stature, with
small sparkling eyes, a benign aspect, a long silver beard, and the
whole of his appearance calm, venerable, and dignified. The manners of
_Sun-ta-gin_, a relation of the Emperor and one of the six ministers of
state, were no less dignified, easy, and engaging; and _Chung-ta-gin_,
the new viceroy of Canton, was a plain, unassuming, and good-natured
man. The prime minister _Ho-chang-tong_, the little Tartar legate, and
the ex-viceroy of Canton, were the only persons of rank among the many
we had occasion to converse with that discovered the least ill-humour,
distant hauteur, and want of complaisance. All the rest with whom we had
any concern, whether Tartars or Chinese, when in our private society,
were easy, affable, and familiar, extremely good-humoured, loquacious,
communicative. It was in public only, and towards each other, that they
assumed their ceremonious gravity, and practised all the tricks of
demeanour which custom requires of them.
The general character, however, of the nation is a strange compound of
pride and meanness, of affected gravity and real frivolousness, of
refined civility and gross indelicacy. With an appearance of great
simplicity and openness in conversation, they practise a degree of art
and cunning against which an European is but ill prepared. Their manner
of introducing the subject of the court ceremonies in conversation with
the Embassador is no bad specimen of their sly address in managing
matters of this sort. Some of them observed, by mere accident as it
were, how curious it was to see the different modes of dress that
prevailed among different nations: this naturally brought on a
comparison between theirs and ours, the latter of which they pretended
to examine with critical attention. After a good deal of circumlocutory
observations, they thought their own entitled to the preference, being
more convenient, on account of its being made wide and loose and free
from tight ligatures; whereas ours must be exceedingly uneasy and
troublesome in any other posture than that of standing upright; and
particularly so in making the genuflections and prostrations which were
customary and indeed necessary to be performed by all persons whenever
the Emperor appeared in public. No notice being taken of this broad
hint, so artfully introduced, they proceeded to compare their wide
petticoats with our breeches, and to contrast the play and freedom of
their knee-joints with the obstruction that our knee-buckles and garters
must necessarily occasion. This brought them directly to the point, and
they finished by recommending, in the warmth of their friendship, that
we should disencumber ourselves of our breeches, as they would certainly
be inconvenient to appear in at court.
Of perseverance in negociation, or more properly speaking, _in driving a
bargain_, the Tartar legate gave no bad specimen of his talent. Having
in vain practiced every art to obtain from the Embassador an
unconditional compliance with the court ceremony, he was sent at length
by the Prime Minister to inform him, that the important point was
finally decided and that the English mode was to be adopted; but, he
observed, that as it was not the custom of China to kiss the Emperor's
hand, he had something to propose to which there could be no objection,
and which was that, in lieu of that part of the English ceremony, he
should put the second knee upon the ground and, instead of bending one
knee, to kneel on both. In fact, they negociate on the most trifling
point with as much caution and preciseness, as if they were forming a
treaty of peace, and with more address than some treaties of peace have
been negociated.
As a direct refusal to any request would betray a want of good breeding,
every proposal finds their immediate acquiescence; they promise without
hesitation, but generally disappoint by the invention of some sly
pretence or plausible objection. They have no proper sense of the
obligations of truth. So little scrupulous indeed are they with regard
to veracity, that they will assert and contradict without blushing, as
it may best suit the purpose of the moment.
The vanity of an usurped national superiority and a high notion of
self-importance never forsake them on any occasion. Those advantages in
others which they cannot avoid feeling, they will affect not to see. And
although they are reduced to the necessity of employing foreigners to
regulate their calendar and keep their clocks in order, although they
are in the habit of receiving yearly various specimens of art and
ingenuity from Europe, yet they pertinaciously affect to consider all
the nations of the earth as barbarians in comparison of themselves. A
Chinese merchant of Canton, who, from the frequent opportunities of
seeing English ships, was not insensible of their advantages over those
of his own nation which traded to Batavia and other distant ports,
resolved, and actually began, to construct a vessel according to an
English model; but the _Hoo-poo_ or collector of the customs being
apprized of it, not only obliged him to relinquish his project but fined
him in a heavy penalty for presuming to adopt the modes of a barbarous
nation. So great is their national conceit that not a single article
imported into the country, as I have elsewhere observed, retains its
name. Not a nation, nor person, nor object, that does not receive a
Chinese appellation: so that their language, though poor, is pure.
The expressions made use of in salutation, by different nations, may
perhaps be considered as deriving their origin from features of national
character. _Lau-ye_, _Old sir_, is a title of respect, with which the
first officers of state may be addressed, because the maxims of
government have inculcated the doctrine of obedience, respect, and
protection to old age. The common salutation among the lower orders of
people in some of the southern provinces is _Ya fan_, _Have you eaten
your rice?_ the greatest happiness that the common class of people in
China can hope to enjoy consisting in their having a sufficiency of
rice. Thus also the Dutch, who are considered as great eaters, have a
morning salutation which is common among all ranks, _Smaakelyk eeten!_
_May you eat a hearty dinner!_ Another universal salutation among this
people is, _Hoe vaart uwe?_ _How do you sail?_ adopted no doubt in the
early periods of the Republic, when they were all navigators and
fishermen. The usual salutation at Cairo is, How do you sweat? a dry hot
skin being a sure indication of a destructive ephemeral fever. I think
some author has observed, in contrasting the haughty Spaniard with the
frivolous Frenchman, that the proud steady gait and inflexible solemnity
of the former were expressed in his mode of salutation, _Come esta?_
_How do you stand?_ whilst the _Comment vous portez vous?_ _How do you
carry yourself?_ was equally expressive of the gay motion and incessant
action of the latter.
The Chinese are so ceremonious among themselves, and so punctilious with
regard to etiquette, that the omission of the most minute point
established by the court of ceremonies is considered as a criminal
offence. Visiting by tickets, which with us is a fashion of modern
refinement, has been a common practice in China some thousand years; but
the rank of a Chinese visitor is immediately ascertained by the size,
colour, and ornaments of his ticket, which also varies in all these
points according to the rank of the person visited. The old Viceroy of
_Pe-tche-lee's_ ticket to the Embassador contained as much
crimson-coloured paper as would be sufficient to cover the walls of a
moderate-sized room.
CHAP. V.
Manners and Amusements of the Court--Reception of Embassadors--Character
and private Life of the Emperor--His Eunuchs and Women.
_General Character of the Court--Of the Buildings about the
Palace--_Lord Macartney's_ Account of his Introduction--Of the
Celebration of the Emperor's Anniversary Festival--Of a
Puppet-Shew--Comedy and Pantomime--Wrestling--Conjuring and
Fire-Works--Reception and Entertainment of the Dutch Embassadors from a
Manuscript Journal--Observations on the State of the Chinese
Stage--Extraordinary Scene in one of their Dramas--Gross and indelicate
Exhibitions--Sketch of_ Kien-Long's_ Life and Character--Kills his Son
by an unlucky Blow--conceives himself immortal--Influence of the Eunuchs
of the Tartar Conquest--their present State and Offices--Emperor's Wife,
Queens, and Concubines--How disposed of at his Death._
After the sketch I have exhibited of the state of society among the
different ranks in China, a tolerable notion may be formed of the
general character and complexion of the court. It is, as Lord Macartney
has justly observed, "a singular mixture of ostentatious hospitality and
inbred suspicion, ceremonious civility and real rudeness, shadowy
complaisance and substantial perverseness; and this prevails through all
the departments connected with the Court, although somewhat modified by
the personal disposition of those at their head; but as to that genuine
politeness, which distinguishes our manners, it cannot be expected in
Orientals, considering among other things the light in which they are
accustomed to regard the female part of society." Whether the great
ministers of state, who have daily intercourse in the different
tribunals, sometimes relax from the stiff and formal deportment observed
towards each other in public, I am not able to say, but when at Court
they invariably observe certain stated forms and expression as studied
and ceremonious as if they had never met before. It appeared to us
highly ridiculous to see our friends, the two colleagues _Van-ta-gin_
and _Chou-ta-gin_, on meeting in the precincts of the palace, performing
to each other all the genuflexions and motions of the body which the
ceremonial institutes of the empire require.
I rather suspect, however, that where any degree of confidence prevails
among these people they sometimes enjoy their moments of conviviality.
Our two worthy conductors met at Canton an old acquaintance who was
governor of a city in Fo-kien. He gave them an evening entertainment on
the river in a splendid yacht to which I was privately invited. On
entering the great cabin I found the three gentlemen with each a young
girl by his side very richly dressed, the cheeks, lips, and chin highly
_rouged_, the rest of the face and neck whitened with a preparation of
cerate. I was welcomed by a cup of hot wine from each of the ladies who
first sipped by way of pledging me. During supper, which for number and
variety of dishes exceeded any thing I had hitherto met with in the
country, the girls played on the flute and sung several airs, but there
was nothing very captivating either in the vocal or instrumental part
of the music. We passed a most convivial evening free from any reserve
or restraint, but on going away I was particularly desired by _Van_ not
to take any notice of what I had seen, apprehensive, I suppose, that
their brother officers might condemn their want of prudence in admitting
a barbarian to witness their relaxation from good morals. The yacht and
the ladies it seemed were hired for the occasion.
The incalculable numbers of the great officers of state and their
attendants, all robed in the richest silks, embroidered with the most
brilliant colours, and tissued with gold and silver, the order, silence,
and solemnity with which they arrange and conduct themselves on public
court-days are the most commanding features on such occasions.
This sober pomp of Asiatic grandeur is exhibited only at certain fixed
festivals; of which the principal is the anniversary of the Emperor's
birth-day, the commencement of a new year, the ceremonial of holding the
plough, and the reception of foreign embassadors, most of whom they
contrive to be present at one or other of those festivals. The birth-day
is considered to be the most splendid; when all the Tartar princes and
tributuaries, and all the principal officers of government both civil
and military, are expected to be present.
For reasons of state, which will be noticed hereafter, the Emperor
rarely shews himself in public among the Chinese part of his subjects,
except on such occasions; and even then the exhibition is confined
within the precincts of the palace from which the populace are entirely
excluded. Consistent with their system of sumptuary laws there is little
external appearance of pomp or magnificence in the establishment of the
Emperor. The buildings that compose the palace and the furniture within
them, if we except the paint, the gilding, and the varnish, that appear
on the houses even of plebeians, are equally void of unnecessary and
expensive ornaments. Those who should rely on the florid relations, in
which the missionaries and some travellers have indulged in their
descriptions of the palaces of Pekin and those of _Yuen-min-yuen_, would
experience on visiting them a woful disappointment. These buildings,
like the common habitations of the country, are all modelled after the
form of a tent, and are magnificent only by a comparison with the others
and by their number, which is sufficient, indeed, to form a town of
themselves. Their walls are higher than those of ordinary houses, their
wooden columns of greater diameter, their roofs are immense, and a
greater variety of painting and gilding may be bestowed on the different
parts; but none of them exceeds one story in height, and they are
jumbled and surrounded with mean and insignificant hovels. Some writer
has observed that the King of England is worse lodged at Saint James's
palace than any sovereign in Europe. Were I to compare some of the
imperial palaces in China to any royal residence in Europe it would
certainly be to Saint James's; but the apartments, the furniture, and
conveniences of the latter, bad as they are, infinitely transcend any of
those in China. The stone or clay floors are indeed sometimes covered
with a carpet of English broad-cloth, and the walls papered; but they
have no glass in the windows, no stoves, fire-places, or fire-grates in
the rooms; no sofas, bureaux, chandeliers, nor looking-glasses; no
book-cases, prints, nor paintings. They have neither curtains nor sheets
to their beds; a bench of wood, or a platform of brick-work, is raised
in an alcove, on which are mats or stuffed mattresses, hard pillows, or
cushions, according to the season of the year; instead of doors they
have usually skreens, made of the fibres of bamboo. In short, the
wretched lodgings of the state-officers at the court of Versailles, in
the time of the French monarchy, were princely palaces in comparison of
those allotted to the first ministers of the Emperor of China, in the
capital as well as at _Yuen-min-yuen_.
When attending the court, on public occasions, each courtier takes his
meal alone in his solitary cell on a small square table crowded with
bowls of rice and various stews; without table-linen or napkins, without
knife, fork, or spoon; a pair of small sticks, or the quills of a
porcupine, are the only substitutes for these convenient articles:
placing the bowl under his chin, with these he throws the rice into his
mouth and takes up the pieces of meat in his soup or stews. Having
finished his lonely meal, he generally lies down to sleep. In a
government so suspicious as that of China, if parties were known to meet
together, the object of them might be supposed something beyond that of
conviviality, which however mutual jealousy and distrust have prevented
from growing into common use.
As the ready compliance of the late Dutch Embassadors with all the
degrading ceremonies required by the Chinese, added to their constant
residence in the capital, gave them more opportunities of observing the
manners and the amusements of the court than occurred to the British
embassy, I shall here avail myself of that part of a journal relating to
this subject, which was kept by a young gentleman in the suite of the
former, and whose accuracy of observation may be depended on. The
account given by him of the New Year's festival, added to Lord
Macartney's description of his introduction and the birth-day
solemnities, which his Lordship has obligingly permitted me to extract
from his journal, together with my own observations at the palace of
_Yuen-min-yuen_, will serve to convey a tolerably exact idea of the
state, pleasures, and amusements of the great Monarch of China.
"On the 14th September," observes his Lordship, "at four o'clock in the
morning we set out for the court, under the convoy of _Van-ta-gin_, and
_Chou-ta-gin_, and reached it in little more than an hour, the distance
being about three miles from our hotel. We alighted at the park gate,
from whence we walked to the Imperial encampment, and were conducted to
a large handsome tent prepared for us, on one side of the Emperor's.
After waiting there about an hour, his approach was announced by drums
and music, on which we quitted our tent and came forward upon the green
carpet. He was seated in an open Palankeen, carried by sixteen bearers,
attended by numbers of officers bearing flags, standards, and umbrellas;
and as he passed we paid him our compliments, by kneeling on one knee,
whilst all the Chinese made their usual prostrations. As soon as he had
ascended his throne I came to the entrance of his tent, and holding in
both my hands a large gold box, enriched with diamonds, in which was
enclosed the King's letter, I walked deliberately up and, ascending the
steps of the throne, delivered it into the Emperor's own hands, who,
having received it, passed it to the Minister by whom it was placed on
the cushion. He then gave me, as the first present from him to his
Majesty, the _Eu-shee_, or symbol of peace and prosperity, and expressed
his hopes that my Sovereign and he should always live in good
correspondence and amity. It is a whitish agate-looking stone, perhaps
serpentine, about a foot and a half long, curiously carved, and highly
prized by the Chinese; but to me it does not appear in itself to be of
any great value.
"The Emperor then presented me with an _Eu-shee_ of a greenish-coloured
serpentine stone, and of the same emblematic character; at the same time
he very graciously received from me a pair of beautiful enamelled
watches, set with diamonds which, having looked at, he passed to the
Minister.
"Sir George Staunton (whom, as he had been appointed Minister
plenipotentiary, to act in case of my death or departure, I introduced
to him as such) now came forward, and after kneeling upon one knee, in
the same manner as I had done, presented to him two elegant air-guns,
and received from him an _Eu-shee_ of greenish stone nearly similar to
mine. Other presents were sent, at the same time, to all the gentlemen
of my train. We then descended from the steps of the throne, and sat
down upon cushions at one of the tables on the Emperor's left hand. And
at other tables, according to their different ranks, the chief Tartar
princes and the Mandarins of the court at the same time took their
places; all dressed in the proper robes of their respective ranks. These
tables were then uncovered and exhibited a sumptuous banquet. The
Emperor sent us several dishes from his own table, together with some
liquors, which the Chinese call wine; not however expressed from the
grape, but distilled or extracted from rice, herbs, and honey.
"In about half an hour he sent for Sir George Staunton and me to come to
him and gave to each of us, with his own hands, a cup of warm wine,
which we immediately drank in his presence, and found it very pleasant
and comfortable, the morning being cold and raw. Among other things he
asked me the age of my Sovereign and, being informed of it, said he
hoped he might live as many years as himself which were then
eighty-three. His manner was dignified, but affable and condescending;
and his reception of us was very gracious and satisfactory.
"The order and regularity in serving and removing the dinner was
wonderfully exact, and every function of the ceremony performed with
such silence and solemnity as in some measure to resemble the
celebration of a religious mystery.
"There were present on this occasion three Embassadors from _Ta-tze_ or
Pegu, and six Mahomedan Embassadors from the Kalmucs of the south-west,
but their appearance was not very splendid. During the ceremony, which
lasted five hours, various entertainments of wrestling, tumbling,
wire-dancing, together with dramatic representations, were exhibited
opposite the Emperor's tent, but at a considerable distance from it.
"The 17th of September, being the Emperor's birth day, we set out for
the court at three o'clock in the morning, conducted by _Van-ta-gin_,
_Chou-ta-gin_, and our usual attendants. We reposed ourselves about two
hours in a large saloon at the entrance of the palace enclosure, where
fruit, tea, warm milk, and other refreshments were brought to us. At
last notice was given that the festival was going to begin, and we
immediately descended into the garden, where we found all the great men
and mandarins in their robes of state, drawn up before the Imperial
pavilion. The Emperor did not shew himself, but remained concealed
behind a screen, from whence I presume he could see and enjoy the
ceremonies without inconvenience or interruption. All eyes were turned
towards the place where his Majesty was imagined to be enthroned, and
seemed to express an impatience to begin the devotions of the day. Slow,
solemn music, muffled drums, and deep-toned bells, were heard at a
distance;--on a sudden the sounds ceased, and all was still--again they
were renewed, and then intermitted with short pauses; during which
several persons passed backwards and forwards, in the proscenium or
foreground of the tent, at if engaged in preparing some _grand
coup-de-theatre_.
"At length the great band, both vocal and instrumental, struck up with
all their powers of harmony, and instantly the whole court fell flat
upon their faces before this invisible Nebuchadnezzar, whilst
"He in his cloudy tabernacle shrined
Sojourned the while."
"The music might be considered as a sort of birth-day ode, or state
anthem, the burthen of which was, '_Bow down your heads all ye dwellers
upon earth, bow down your heads before the great Kien-long, the great
Kien-long_.' And then all the dwellers upon China earth there present,
except ourselves, bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves upon
the ground at every renewal of the chorus. Indeed, in no religion either
ancient or modern has the divinity ever been addressed, I believe, with
stronger exterior marks of worship and adoration than were this morning
paid to the phantom of his Chinese majesty. Such is the mode of
celebrating the Emperor's anniversary festival, according to the court
ritual. We saw nothing of him the whole day, nor did any of his
ministers, I imagine, approach him, for they all seemed to retire at the
same moment that we did.
"In the course of a tour we made in the gardens with the prime minister
and other great officers of state, whom the Emperor had directed to
attend us, we were entertained at one of the palaces with a collation of
petitpatis, salt relishes, and other savoury dishes, with fruits and
sweetmeats, milk and ice-water; and as soon as we rose from table, a
number of yellow boxes, or drawers, were carried in procession before
us, containing several pieces of silk and porcelain, which we were told
were presents to us from the Emperor, and we consequently made our bows
as they passed. We were also amused with a Chinese puppet-shew which
differs but little from an English one. There are a distressed princess
confined in a castle, and a knight-errant, who, after fighting wild
beasts and dragons, sets her at liberty and marries her; wedding-feasts,
jousts, and tournaments. Besides these, there was also a comic drama, in
which some personages not unlike punch and his wife, Bandemeer and
Scaramouch performed capital parts. This puppet-shew, we were told,
properly belongs to the ladies' apartments, but was sent out as a
particular compliment to entertain us; one of the performances was
exhibited with great applause from our conductors, and I understand it
is a favourite piece at court.
"On the morning of the 18th September we again went to court, in
consequence of an invitation from the Emperor, to see the Chinese comedy
and other diversions given on occasion of his birth-day. The comedy
began at eight o'clock and lasted till noon. The Emperor was seated on a
throne, opposite the stage, which projected a good deal into the pit.
The boxes were on each side without seats or divisions. The women were
placed above, behind the lattices, so that they might enjoy the
amusements of the theatre without being observed.
"Soon after we came in, the Emperor sent for Sir George Staunton and me
to attend him, and told us, with great condescension of manner, that we
ought not to be surprised to see a man of his age at the theatre, for
that he seldom came there except upon a very particular occasion like
the present, for that, considering the extent of his dominions and the
number of his subjects, he could spare but little time for such
amusements. I endeavoured, in the turn of my answer, to lead him towards
the subject of my embassy, but he seemed not disposed to enter into it
farther than by delivering me a little box of old japan, in the bottom
of which were some pieces of agate and other stones much valued by the
Chinese and Tartars; and at the top a small book written and painted by
his own hand, which he desired me to present to the king my master as a
token of his friendship saying, that the old box had been 800 years in
his family. He, at the same time, gave me a book for myself also written
and painted by him, together with several purses for Areca nut. He
likewise gave a purse of the same sort to Sir George Staunton, and sent
some small presents to the other gentlemen of the embassy. After this
several pieces of silk or porcelain, but seemingly of no great value,
were distributed among the Tartar princes and chief courtiers, who
appeared to receive them with every possible demonstration of humility
and gratitude.
"The theatrical entertainments consisted of great variety, both tragical
and comical; several distinct pieces were acted in succession, though
without any apparent connexion with one another. Some of them were
historical, and others of pure fancy, partly in _recitativo_, partly in
singing, and partly in plain speaking, without any accompaniment of
instrumental music, but abounding in battles, murders, and most of the
usual incidents of the drama. Last of all was the grand pantomime which,
from the approbation it met with, is, I presume, considered as a
first-rate effort of invention and ingenuity. It seemed to me, as far as
I could comprehend it, to represent the marriage of the ocean and the
earth. The latter exhibited her various riches and productions, dragons,
and elephants, and tygers, and eagles, and ostriches, oaks and pines,
and other trees of different kinds. The ocean was not behind hand, but
poured forth on the stage the wealth of his dominions, under the figures
of whales and dolphins, porpesses and leviathans, and other sea
monsters, besides ships, rocks, shells, spunges, and corals, all
performed by concealed actors, who were quite perfect in their parts,
and performed their characters to admiration. These two marine and land
regiments, after separately parading in a circular procession for a
considerable time, at last joined together and, forming one body, came
to the front of the stage when, after a few evolutions, they opened to
the right and left, to give room for the whale, who seemed to be the
commanding officer, to waddle forward; and who, taking his station
exactly opposite to the Emperor's box, spouted out of his mouth into the
pit several tons of water, which quickly disappeared through the
perforations of the floor. This ejaculation was received with the
highest applause, and two or three of the great men at my elbow desired
me to take particular notice of it; repeating, at the same time, '_Hao,
kung hao!_'--'_charming, delightful!_'
"A little before one o'clock in the afternoon we retired, and at four we
returned to court to see the evening's entertainments, which were
exhibited on the lawn, in front of the great tent or pavilion, where we
had been first presented to the Emperor. He arrived very soon after us,
mounted his throne, and gave the signal to begin. We had now wrestling
and dancing, and tumbling and posture-making, which appeared to us
particularly awkward and clumsy, from the performers being mostly
dressed according to the Chinese _costume_, one inseparable part of
which is a pair of heavy quilted boots with the soles of an inch thick.
The wrestlers, however, seemed to be pretty expert and afforded much
diversion to such as were admirers of the _Palæstra_.
"A boy climbed up a pole or bamboo thirty or forty feet high, played
several gambols, and balanced himself on the top of it in various
attitudes, but his performance fell far short of what I have often met
with in India of the same kind.
"A fellow lay down on his back, and then raised his feet, legs, and
thighs from his middle, perpendicularly, so as to form a right angle
with his body. On the soles of his feet was placed a large round empty
jar, about four feet long and from two and a half to three feet
diameter. This he balanced for some time, turning it round and round
horizontally, till one of the spectators put a little boy into it, who,
after throwing himself into various postures at the mouth of it, came
out and sat on the top. He then stood up, then fell flat upon his back,
then shifted to his belly, and after shewing a hundred tricks of that
sort, jumped down upon the ground and relieved his coadjutor.
"A man then came forward and after fastening three slender sticks to
each of his boots took six porcelain dishes of about eighteen inches
diameter, and balancing them separately at the end of a little ivory
rod, which he held in his hand, and twirling them about for some time,
put them one after the other upon the points of the six bootsticks
abovementioned, they continuing to turn round all the while. He then
took two small sticks in his left hand, and put dishes upon them in the
same manner as upon the other, and also one more upon the little finger
of his right hand, so that he had nine dishes annexed to him at once,
all twirling together, which in a few minutes he took off one by one and
placed them regularly on the ground, without the slightest interruption
or miscarriage.
"There were many other things of the same kind, but I saw none at all
comparable to the tumbling, rope-dancing, wire-walking, and straw
balancing of Sadler's-Wells; neither did I observe any seats of
equitation in the style of Hughes's and Ashley's amphitheatres, although
I had been always told that the Tartars were remarkably skilful in the
instruction and discipline of their horses. Last of all were the
fire-works which, in some particulars, exceeded any thing of the kind I
had ever seen. In grandeur, magnificence, and variety, they were, I own,
inferior to the Chinese fire-works we had seen at Batavia, but
infinitely superior in point of novelty, neatness, and ingenuity of
contrivance. One piece of machinery I greatly admired; a green chest of
five feet square was hoisted up by a pulley to the height of fifty or
sixty feet from the ground; the bottom was so constructed as then
suddenly to fall out, and make way for twenty or thirty strings of
lanterns inclosed in the box to descend from it, unfolding themselves
from one another by degrees so as at last to form a collection of at
least five hundred, each having a light of a beautifully coloured flame
burning brightly within it. This devolution and developement of lanterns
(which appeared to me to be composed of gauze and paper) were several
times repeated, and every time exhibited a difference of colour and
figure. On each side was a correspondence of smaller boxes, which opened
in like manner as the others, and let down an immense network of fire,
with divisions and compartments of various forms and dimensions, round
and square, hexagons, octagons and lozenges, which shone like the
brightest burnished copper, and flashed like prismatic lightning, with
every impulse of the wind. The diversity of colours indeed with which
the Chinese have the secret of cloathing fire seems one of the chief
merits of their pyrotechny. The whole concluded with a volcano, or
general explosion and discharge of suns and stars, squibs, bouncers,
crackers, rockets, and grenadoes, which involved the gardens for above
an hour after in a cloud of intolerable smoke. Whilst these
entertainments were going forward the Emperor sent to us a variety of
refreshments, all which, as coming from him, the etiquette of the court
required us to partake of, although we had dined but a short time
before.
"However meanly we must think of the taste and delicacy of the court of
China, whose most refined amusements seem to be chiefly such as I have
now described, together with the wretched dramas of the morning, yet it
must be confessed, that there was something grand and imposing in the
general effect that resulted from the whole _spectacle_. The Emperor
himself being seated in front upon his throne, and all his great men and
officers attending in their robes of ceremony, and stationed on each
side of him, some standing, some sitting, some kneeling, and the guards
and standard-bearers behind them in incalculable numbers. A dead silence
was rigidly observed, not a syllable articulated, nor a laugh exploded
during the whole performance."
Such was the reception and the entertainment of the British Embassador
at the court of Gehol, in _Mantchoo_ Tartary, during the days of the
festival of the Emperor's anniversary. I now proceed to give some
account of the manner in which the Dutch Embassadors were received, and
the entertainments that took place on the occasion of the festival of
the new year, as related in the manuscript journal above alluded to.
This journalist observes that, on approaching the capital of the empire,
they were not a little astonished to find that the farther they advanced
the more miserable and poor was the apparent condition of the people,
and the face of the country; the clay-built huts and those of ill-burnt
bricks were crumbling to dust; the temples were in ruins, the earthen
gods were demolished, and their fragments strewed on the ground; and the
district was thinly inhabited. The following day they entered Pekin but
were turned out again to take up their lodgings in the suburbs, in a
sort of stable. From this place they were ordered to proceed to the
palace in their old travelling dresses, as their baggage was not yet
arrived. They were drawn in small carts as crazy and as much out of
order as their own dresses. Sitting in the bottom of these carts,
without any seats, they waited within the walls of the palace a full
hour, while an empty room was swept out for their reception. Having
remained here for some time, a few planks were brought in, on which were
arranged a number of dishes of meat and fish, stewed in different ways.
Having finished their repast, thus ended their first day's visit.
The following morning, at five o'clock, they were again summoned to
court, and ushered into a small room like that of the preceding day,
without any kind of furniture. The weather being extremely cold, the
thermometer many degrees below the freezing point, the Embassadors
prevailed on the people to make a little fire which after some time was
brought in, not however without letting them understand that it was an
extraordinary mark of favour, it being the custom of the Chinese to let
all Embassadors wait the arrival of the Emperor in the open air.
At length the Emperor made his appearance, carried by eight men in a
yellow sedan chair. On his approaching the place where the Embassadors
and their suite were standing, they were directed by the master of the
ceremonies to fall down on their knees, and in this posture the first
Embassador was instructed to hold in both his hands, above his head, the
gold box in which was contained the letter for the Emperor: the second
minister then stepped forwards, and took the letter out of his hands,
which he delivered to the Emperor; and, at the same time, they were
directed to bow their heads nine times to the ground, in token of
acknowledgment for the gracious reception they had met with from his
Chinese Majesty.
This ceremony being ended, they were desired to follow the Emperor's
chair, which was carried to the side of a pond or bason in the gardens,
then frozen over. From this place the Emperor was drawn on a sledge to a
tent pitched on the ice, whilst the Embassador and his suite were
conducted into a dirty hovel little better than a pig-stye, where they
were desired to sit down on a sort of bench built of stone and mortar;
for, like the room they were put into on a former day, it was destitute
of the least furniture; and they were told that something presently
would be brought for them to eat. On complaining to their conductors
that this was not the manner in which they were accustomed to sit down
to meat, and that they did not conceive such apartments to be at all
suitable to the situation they had the honour to hold, they were shortly
afterwards conducted into another room, little better however than the
first, but partly furnished with a few old chairs and tables. The
candlesticks were small blocks of wood, to which the candles were
fastened with a couple of nails. A few dishes of stewed meat were served
up and, as a great delicacy from the Emperor's table, were brought in,
without any dish, a pair of stag's legs, which the Chinese threw down
upon the naked table; and for this mark of imperial favour they were
required to make the customary genuflections and nine prostrations.
Van Braam, in the journal which he or some of his friends published in
Paris, gives a curious account of the manner in which they were fed from
the Emperor's table: "La viande consistait en un morceau de côtes sur
lequelles il n'y avait point un demi-pouce d'épaisseur d'une chair
maigre, en un petit os de l'épaule ou il n'y avait presque pas de chair,
et en quatre ou cinq autres ossemens fournis par le dos ou par les
pattes d'un mouton, et qui semblaient avoir été déja rongés. Tout ce
dégoûtant ensemble était sur un plat sale et paraissait plutôt destiné à
faire le regal d'un chien que le repas d'un homme. En Holland le dernier
des mendians recevrait, dans un hôpital, une pittance plus propre, et
cependant c'est une marque d'honneur de la part d'un Empereur envers un
Ambassadeur! Peut-être mème etait-ce le reste du Prince, et dans ce cas,
selon l'opinion des Chinois, c'était le dernier terme de la faveur,
puisque nous pouvions achever l'os que sa Majesté avait commencé à
nettoyer."--"The meat consisted of a small piece of the ribs, on which
there was not half an inch in thickness of lean flesh, and a small
shoulder-blade almost without any upon it; and in four or five other
pieces of bones from the back, or the legs of a sheep, which appeared to
have been already gnawed. The whole of this disgusting mess was brought
upon a dirty plate, and seemed much rather intended to feast a dog than
as a refreshment for man. In Holland the meanest beggar would receive in
an hospital his allowance in a neater manner; and yet it was intended as
a mark of honour on the part of an Emperor towards an Embassador!
Perhaps it was even the remains of the Sovereign, and in that case,
according to the opinion of the Chinese, it was the greatest possible
act of favour, since we should then have had an opportunity of finishing
the bone which his Imperial Majesty had begun to pick."
The Dutch gentlemen, equally disgusted with the meanness and filthiness
of the place, and with the pride and haughtiness of the people, became
now reconciled to the shabby appearance of their old travelling dresses,
which they began to consider as fully good enough for the occasion.
Having finished their elegant repast, the amusements of the day
commenced on the ice. The Emperor made his appearance in a sort of
sledge, supported by the figures of four dragons. This machine was moved
about by several great Mandarins, some dragging before, and others
pushing behind. The four principal ministers of state were also drawn
upon the ice in their sledges by inferior mandarins. Whole troops of
civil and military officers soon appeared, some on sledges, some on
skaits, and others playing at football upon the ice, and he that picked
up the ball was rewarded by the Emperor. The ball was then hung up in a
kind of arch, and several mandarins shot at it, in passing on skaits,
with their bows and arrows. Their skaits were cut off short under the
heel, and the forepart was turned up at right angles. Owing to this
form, or to the inexpertness of the skaiters, they could not stop
themselves on a sudden, but always tumbled one over the other whenever
they came near the edge of the ice, or towards the quarter where the
Emperor happened to be.
Leaving this place, they were carried through several narrow streets,
composed of miserable houses, forming a surprising contrast with the
proud walls of the palace. They were conducted into a small room of one
of these houses, almost void of furniture, in order to pay their
compliments to _Ho-tchung-tang_, the Collao, or prime minister, whom
they found sitting cross-legged on a truckle bedstead with cane bottom.
Before this creature of fortune, whose fate I shall have occasion
hereafter to notice, they were obliged to go down on their knees. Like a
true prime minister of China, he waved all conversation that might lead
towards business, talked to them of the length of their journey, was
astonished how they bore the cold weather in such scanty clothing, and
such like general topics, which, in fact, signified nothing. From the
first minister they paid their visit to the second, whom they found
lodged in a similar manner; after which they returned to their mean
apartments in the city, more satisfied on a comparison with the
miserable little chambers in which they had found the two first
ministers of this far-famed empire lodged, and the mean hovels which
they met with in the very center of the space shut in by the walls of
the imperial palace. The impressions that the events and transactions of
this day made on the minds of the visitors were those of utter
astonishment, on finding every thing so very much the reverse of what
they had been led to expect.
The following day they were again drawn to court in their little carts,
before four o'clock in the morning, where, after having waited about
five hours in empty rooms, similar to those of the preceding day, two or
three great men (_Ta-gin_) called upon them, but behaved towards them in
a distant, scornful, and haughty manner. "We had once more," observes
the Dutch journalist, from which I quote, "an occasion to remark the
surprising contrast of magnificence and meanness in the buildings, and
of pride and littleness in the persons belonging to the imperial
palace."
After these interviews, they were suffered to remain a day or two at
home; but on a bag of dried grapes being brought by a mandarin from the
Emperor, they were required to thank him for the present with nine
prostrations, as usual. Another time a little pastry from the imperial
kitchen demanded the same ceremony. In short, whether at home or in the
palace, the Chinese were determined they should be kept in the constant
practice of the _koo-too_, or ceremony of genuflexion and prostration.
On the 26th of January, the Embassadors received notice that it was
expected they should attend the procession of the Emperor to the temple,
where he was about to make an offering to the God of Heaven and of
earth. Having waited accordingly by the road side, from three o'clock in
the morning till six, the weather dismally cold, Fahrenheit's
thermometer standing at 16° below the freezing point, the Emperor at
length passed in his chair, when they made the usual prostrations and
returned home.
The next morning they were again required to proceed to the same place,
and at the same early hour, to witness his return and again to go
through the usual ceremony.
On the 29th, they were again summoned to attend by the road side to do
homage before the Emperor, as he passed them on his way to a pagoda or
_Poo-ta-la_, a kind of temple or monastery, where a great number of
priests, clothed in yellow, lived together in a state of celibacy; and
here he made his burnt-offerings. The mystical rates performed, presents
were brought out for the Embassador and suite, and also for the _King_
of _Holland_, consisting of little purses, flimsey silks, and a coarse
stuff somewhat similar to that known by seamen under the name of
_bunting_; and, in token of gratitude for this mark of imperial
kindness, they were directed again to _bow down their heads to the
ground_.
On the 30th, it was announced to them that the Emperor intended to pay a
visit to his palace at _Yuen-min-yuen_, and that it would be necessary
for them to follow him thither; after having, as usual, paid their
respects in the Chinese manner by the road side as he passed.
On the 31st, they were conducted round the grounds of _Yuen-min-yuen_ by
several Mandarins, and received great satisfaction in viewing the vast
variety of buildings, and the good taste in which the gardens and
pleasure grounds were laid out, and which wore an agreeable aspect, even
in the depth of winter. In one of the buildings they saw the several
presents deposited, which had been carried the preceding year by the
Earl of Macartney. They were stowed away with no great care, among many
other articles, in all probability never more to see the light of day.
It seems the elegant carriages of Hatchett, that were finished with so
much care and objects of admiration even in London, were here carelessly
thrown behind one of their mean and clumsy carts, to which they
pretended to bestow a preference. Capricious as children, the toy once
played with must be thrown aside and changed for something new; or, in
this instance, it would not be out of character to suppose, that the two
vehicles had designedly been placed together to point out to Europeans
of how little estimation the Chinese considered their articles of
ostentation, when they could perform the same services by simpler and
less expensive means.
The Dutch Embassadors and their suite were now to have a specimen of the
court entertainments, and the polite amusements of this grand empire.
They consisted chiefly of the contortions of the human body, practiced
by posture-masters; of rope-dancing, and a sort of pantomimic
performance, the principal characters of which were men dressed in
skins, and going on all-fours, intended to represent wild beasts; and a
parcel of boys habited in the dresses of mandarins, who were to hunt
them. This extraordinary chace, and the music, and the rope-dancing, put
the Emperor into such good humour, that he rewarded the performers very
liberally. And the Empress and the ladies, who were in an upper part of
the house concealed behind a sort of venetian blinds, appeared from
their tittering noise to be highly entertained. The whole concluded,
though in the middle of the day, with a variety of fire-works; and the
Chinese part of the company departed seemingly well satisfied with these
diversions.
An eclipse of the moon happening on the fourth of February gave occasion
to the Embassadors to enjoy a little rest at home, though they were
summoned to attend the palace at a very early hour in the morning. The
Emperor and his mandarins were engaged the whole day in devoutly praying
the gods that the moon might not be eaten up by the great dragon that
was hovering about her. Recovered from their apprehensions, an
entertainment was given the following day, at which the Embassadors were
required to be present. After a number of juggling tricks and infantine
sports, a pantomime, intended to be an exhibition of the battle of the
dragon and the moon, was represented before the full court. In this
engagement two or three hundred priests, bearing lanterns suspended at
the ends of long sticks, performed a variety of evolutions, dancing and
capering about, sometimes over the plain, and then over chairs and
tables, affording to his Imperial Majesty and to his courtiers the
greatest pleasure and satisfaction.
On the fifteenth of February the Dutch Embassadors left Pekin, having
remained there thirty-six days, during which they were scarcely allowed
to have a single day's rest, but were obliged, at the most unseasonable
hours, in the depth of winter, when the thermometer was seldom higher
than 10 or 12 degrees below the freezing point, to dance attendance upon
the Emperor and the great officers of state, whenever they might think
fit to call upon them; and to submit to the degrading ceremony of
knocking the head nine times against the ground, at least on thirty
different occasions, and without having the satisfaction of gaining by
this unconditional compliance any one earthly thing, beyond a compliment
from the Emperor, _that they went through their prostrations to
admiration_! And they were finally obliged to leave the capital without
being once allowed to speak on any kind of business, or even asked a
single question as to the nature of their mission, which, indeed, the
Chinese were determined to take for granted was purely complimentary to
their great Emperor.
The manuscript I quote from describes minutely all the pantomimic
performances, the tricks of conjurors and jugglers, and the feats of
posture-masters, but as they seem to be pretty much of the same kind as
were exhibited before the British Embassy in Tartary, as described by
Lord Macartney, I forbear to relate them. Enough has been said to shew
the taste of the court in this respect, and the state of the drama in
China.
I suspect, however, that the amusements of the theatre have in some
degree degenerated at court since the time of the Tartar conquest.
Dancing, riding, wrestling, and posture-making, are more congenial to
the rude and unpolished Tartar than the airs and dialogue of a regular
drama, which is better suited to the genius and spirit of the
ceremonious and effeminate Chinese. I am led to this observation from
the very common custom among the Chinese officers of state of having
private theatres in their houses, in which, instead of the juggling
tricks above mentioned, they occasionally entertain their guests with
regular dramatic performances. In the course of our journey through the
country and at Canton, we were entertained with a number of exhibitions
of this kind; and as "the purpose of playing," as our immortal bard has
observed, "both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold as 'twere
the mirror up to nature," it may not be foreign to the present subject
to take a brief notice of such performances.
The subjects of the pieces exhibited are for the most part historical,
and relate generally to the transactions of remote periods, in which
cases the dresses are conformable to the ancient _costume_ of China.
There are others, however, that represent the Tartar conquest, but none
built on historical events subsequent to that period. But the ancient
drama is preferred by the critics. They have also comic pieces, in which
there is always a buffoon, whose grimaces and low jests, like those of
the buffoons in our own theatres, obtain from the audience the greatest
share of applause. The dialogue in all their dramas, whether serious or
comic, is conducted in a kind of monotonous recitative, sometimes
however rising or sinking a few tones, which are meant to be expressive
of passionate or querulous cadences. The speaker is interrupted at
intervals by shrill harsh music, generally of wind instruments, and the
pauses are invariably filled up with a loud crash, aided by the sonorous
and deafening gong, and sometimes by the kettle drum. An air or song
generally follows. Joy, grief, rage, despair, madness, are all attempted
to be expressed in song on the Chinese stage. I am not sure that a
vehement admirer of the Italian opera might not take umbrage at the
representation of a Chinese drama, as it appears to be something so very
like a burlesque on that fashionable species of dramatic entertainment;
nor is the Chinese stage wanting in those vocal warblers, the nature of
whom, as we are told by the ingenious and very entertaining Martin
Sherlock, a French lady explained to her little inquisitive daughter, by
informing her, that there was the same difference between them and men,
as between an ox and a bull. Such creatures are indeed more necessary to
the Chinese theatre, as the manners of the country prohibit women from
appearing in public.
The unity of action is so far preserved, that they have actually no
change of scene; but change of place must frequently be supposed. To
assist the imagination in this respect, their management is whimsical
enough. If it be necessary to send a general on a distant expedition, he
mounts a stick, takes two or three turns round the stage, brandishes a
little whip, and sings a song; when this is ended, he stops short, and
recommences his recitative, when the journey is supposed to be
performed. The want of scenery is sometimes supplied by a very
unclassical figure, which, just the reverse of the _prosopopoeia_ or
personification of grammarians, considers persons to represent things.
If, for instance, a walled city is to be stormed, a parcel of soldiers,
piling themselves on a heap across the stage, are supposed to represent
the wall over which the storming party is to scramble. This puts one in
mind of the shifts of Nick Bottom. "Some man or other must present
wall," and, "let him have some plaister, or some lome, or some
rough-cast about him to signify wall."
The audience is never left in doubt as to the character which is
produced before it. Like the ancient Greek drama and, in imitation
thereof, all our old plays, the _dramatis personæ_ introduce themselves
in appropriate speeches to the acquaintance of the spectators.
As to the time of action, a single drama will sometimes include the
transactions of a whole century, or even of a dynasty more than twice
the length of that period; which, among other absurdities, gave Voltaire
occasion to compare what he thought to be a literal translation of the
_Orphan of the House of Tchao_, "to those monstrous farces of
Shakespear, which have been called tragedies;" farces, however, which
will continue to be read by those who understand them, which _he_ did
not, with heartfelt emotion and delight, when his _Orphan of China_
shall have sunk into the neglect even of his own admiring countrymen.
In this miserable composition of _Father Prémare_, for it can scarcely
be called a translation, there is neither diction, nor sentiment, nor
character; it is a mere tissue of unnatural, or at least very improbable
events, fit only for the amusement of children, and not capable of
raising one single passion, but that of contempt for the taste of those
who could express an admiration of such a composition. The denouement of
the piece is materially assisted by means of a dog: but this part of the
story is told, and not exhibited; the Chinese taste not being quite so
depraved, in this instance, as to admit the performance of a four-footed
animal on the stage.
This drama, with ninety-nine others, published together in one work, are
considered as the classical stock-pieces of the Chinese stage; but like
ourselves, they complain that a depraved taste prevails for modern
productions very inferior to those of ancient date. It is certainly
true, that every sort of ribaldry and obscenity are encouraged on the
Chinese stage at the present day. A set of players of a superior kind
travel occasionally from Nankin to Canton; at the latter of which
cities, it seems, they meet with considerable encouragement from the
Hong merchants, and other wealthy inhabitants. At these exhibitions the
English are sometimes present. The subject and the conduct of one of
their stock pieces, which being a great favourite is frequently
repeated, are so remarkable, that I cannot forbear taking some notice of
it. A woman being tempted to murder her husband performs the act whilst
he is asleep, by striking a small hatchet into his forehead. He appears
on the stage with a large gash just above the eyes, out of which issues
a prodigious effusion of blood, reels about for some time, bemoaning
his lamentable fate in a song, till exhausted by loss of blood, he
falls, and dies. The woman is seized, brought before a magistrate, and
condemned to be flayed alive. The sentence is put in execution; and, in
the following act, she appears upon the stage not only naked, but
completely excoriated. The thin wrapper with which the creature (an
eunuch) is covered, who sustains the part, is stretched so tight about
the body, and so well painted, as to represent the disgusting object of
a human being deprived of its skin; and in this condition the character
sings or, more properly speaking, whines nearly half an hour on the
stage, to excite the compassion of three infernal or malignant spirits
who, like Æacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus, sit in judgment on her future
destiny. I have been informed that it is scarcely possible to conceive a
more obscene, indelicate, and disgusting object, than this favourite
exhibition, which, if intended "to hold the mirror up to nature," it is
to nature in its most gross, rude, and uncivilized state, ill-agreeing
with the boasted morality, high polish, refined delicacy, and
ceremonious exterior of the Chinese nation; but it tends, among other
parts of their real conduct in life, to strengthen an observation I have
already made with regard to their filial piety, and which, with few
exceptions, may perhaps be extended to most of their civil and moral
institutions, "that they exist more in state maxims, than in the minds
of the people." As, however, a Chinese might be led to make similar
reflexions on the exhibition of Harlequin Skeleton, and those numerous
representations that of late years have crept upon our own stage, where
ghosts, hobgoblins, and bleeding statues are called in aid of the
_spectacle_, I should hesitate to draw any general conclusion, with
regard to their taste, from the particular exhibition of a woman flayed
alive, were they not in the constant practice of performing other pieces
that, in point of immorality and obscenity, are still infinitely worse;
so vulgarly indelicate and so filthy, that the European part of the
audience is sometimes compelled by disgust to leave the theatre. These
are such as will not bear description, nor do I know to what scenic
representations they can with propriety be compared, unless to those
gross indecencies of Theodora, which Procopius has described to have
been exhibited on the Roman stage, in the reign of Justinian[11]. The
people who encourage them must be sunk very deep in intellectual
grossness, and have totally lost sight of all decency. These and similar
scenes may be considered among the ill effects of excluding women from
their due share of influence in society.
[11] See _Gibbon_, under Emperor Justinian; and _Menagiana_, in which is
given the translation of a very extraordinary passage from _Procopius_.
It would be impossible to compliment the court of Pekin on the elegance
and refinement of its entertainments, but at the expence of truth and
reason. Those of Tartar origin will no more bear a comparison with the
noble contests of strength and agility displayed by the old hardy Romans
in the Circensian games, than the regular drama of the Chinese will
admit of being measured by the softer, but more refined and rational
amusements of a similar kind in Europe. It is true the scenic
representations in the decline of the Roman empire, as they are
described to us, appear to have been as rude and barbarous as those of
the Chinese. They began by exhibiting in their vast amphitheatre the
rare and wonderful productions of nature. Forests enlivened with
innumerable birds; caverns pouring forth lions, and tygers, and
panthers, and other beasts of prey; plains covered with the elephant,
the rhinosceros, the zebra, the ostrich, and other curious animals,
which the wilds of Africa furnished, were all brought together within
the circuit of the _arena_. Not satisfied with the rich productions of
the earth, the sea must also become tributary to their amusements. The
arena was convertible into a sheet of water; and, at length, the two
elements concluding a marriage, as on the Chinese theatre, produced a
race of monsters which, according to the Latin poet's[12] description,
might vie with those of China.
"Non solum nobus sylvestria cernere monstra
Contigit, æquoreos ego cum certantibus ursis
Spectavi vitulos, et equorum nomine dignum
Sed difforme genus."----
Where Sylvan monsters not alone appear,
But sea-cows struggle with the shaggy bear,
And horses of the deep, a shapeless race.----
[12] T. Calpurnius.
In short, the greater part of the amusements of the Chinese are, at the
present day, of a nature so very puerile, or so gross and vulgar, that
the tricks and the puppet-shews which are occasionally exhibited in a
common fair of one of the country towns of England, may be considered as
comparatively polished, interesting, and rational. In slight-of-hand, in
posture-making, rope-dancing, riding, and athletic exercises, they are
much inferior to Europeans; but in the variety of their fire-works they,
perhaps, may carry the palm against the whole world. In every other
respect the amusements of the capital of China appear to be of a low and
trifling nature, neither suited to the affected gravity of the
government nor to the generally supposed state of civilization among the
people.
The old Emperor, as he observed to Lord Macartney, seldom partook of
such amusements. Considering, indeed, all the circumstances connected
with the reign of the present dynasty on the throne, the government of
an empire of such vast magnitude, stored with an almost incalculable
population, must necessarily be a task of inconceivable vigilance and
toil; a task that must have required all the time, the talents, and the
attention of the four sovereigns to ensure the brilliant and
unparalleled successes that have distinguished their long reign. _Tchien
Lung_, at the age of eighty-three, was so little afflicted with the
infirmities of age, that he had all the appearance and activity of a
hale man of sixty. His eye was dark, quick, and penetrating, his nose
rather aquiline, and his complexion, even at this advanced age, was
florid. His height I should suppose to be about five feet ten inches,
and he was perfectly upright. Though neither corpulent nor muscular at
eighty-three, it was not difficult to perceive that he once had
possessed great bodily strength. He always enjoyed a vigorous
constitution, which the regularity of his life did not impair. Like all
the Mantchoo Tartars he was fond of hunting, an exercise that during the
summer months he never neglected. He had the reputation of being an
expert bowman, and inferior only in drawing this weapon to his
grandfather _Caung-shee_, who boasts, in his last will, that he drew a
bow of the weight or strength of one hundred and fifty pounds.
Nor were the faculties of his mind less active, or less powerful, than
those of his body. As prompt in conceiving as resolute in executing his
plans of conquest, he seemed to command success. Kind and charitable, as
on all occasions he shewed himself to his subjects, by remitting the
taxes, and administering relief in seasons of distress, he was no less
vindictive and relentless to his enemies. Impatient of restraint or
reverses, he has sometimes been led to act with injustice, and to punish
with too great severity. His irascible temper was once the cause of a
severe and lasting affliction to himself, and the circumstances
connected with it are said to have produced a gloom and melancholy on
his mind which never entirely forsook him. About the middle part of his
reign, he made a circuit through the heart of his empire. At
_Sau-tchoo-foo_, a city that is celebrated for its beautiful ladies
which, being purchased when infants, are educated there for sale to the
opulent, he was captivated with a girl of extraordinary beauty and
talents, whom he intended to carry back with him to his capital. The
Empress, by means of an eunuch, was made acquainted with his new amour,
and dreading his future neglect, her spirits were depressed to such a
degree, that a few days after receiving the intelligence she put an end
to her existence with a cord. The Emperor, on hearing this melancholy
news, was greatly distressed and repaired without delay to Pekin. One of
his sons, a very amiable youth, fearful of incurring his father's
displeasure, had entertained some doubts whether it would be most
proper to appear before him in deep mourning for his mother, which
might be construed as an insult to the father, who had been the cause of
her death, or in his robes of ceremony, which would be disrespectful to
the memory of his deceased mother. In this dilemma he consulted his
schoolmaster, who, like a true Chinese, advised him to put on both. He
did so and, unfortunately for him, covered the mourning with the
ceremonial habit. _Tchien-Lung_, whose affection had now returned for
his deceased Empress, and whose melancholy fate he was deeply lamenting,
on perceiving his son at his feet without mourning, was so shocked and
exasperated at the supposed want of filial duty that, in the moment of
rage, he gave him a violent kick in an unfortunate place which, after
his languishing a few days, proved fatal.
None of his four surviving sons ever possessed any share of his
confidence or authority which, of late years, were wholly bestowed on
his first minister _Ho-chung-tong_. He had a due sense of religious
duties, which he regularly performed every morning. Having made a vow at
the early part of his reign that, should it please heaven to grant him
to govern his dominions for a complete cycle, or sixty years, he would
then retire, and resign the throne to his successor, he religiously
observed it on the accomplishment of the event. The sincerity of his
faith may partly be inferred from the numerous and splendid temples he
built and endowed in different parts of oriental Tartary, of which the
_Poo-ta-la_, or convent of Budha at Gehol, is the most magnificent. It
is said indeed, from the circumstance of his long and fortunate reign,
he had, in his later years, entertained an idea, that the Lama, or
Budha, or Fo, for they are all the same personage, had condescended to
become incarnate in his person. "However wild and extravagant," observes
Lord Macartney, "such a conceit may be regarded, we know from history
how much even the best understandings may be perverted by prosperity,
and that human nature, not satisfied with the good things of this world,
sometimes wishes to anticipate the condition and felicity of the next.
If Alexander scorned to own less than Jupiter Ammon for his father, if
many Roman Emperors extorted altars and sacrifices in their lifetime,
if, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, an English nobleman[13]
encouraged the belief of his descent from a swan, and was complimented
in a dedication upon his feathered pedigree, a similar infatuation may
be the less inexcusable in _Kien-Long_, a monarch, the length and
happiness of whose reign, the unlimited obedience of whose incalculable
number of subjects, and the health and vigour of whose body, have
hitherto kept out of his view most of those circumstances that are apt
to remind other men of their misery and mortality."
[13] Duke of Buckingham. See the notes on this character in Shakespear's
Henry VIII. Act. i, Scene 2.
Till his last illness he continued to rise at three o'clock in the
morning, both in winter and summer. He usually took some cordial to
fortify his stomach, and then repaired to his private devotions at one
of his temples. After this he read the dispatches of his great officers,
both civil and military, who from their different stations were ordered
to write to him directly, and not to the tribunals as had usually been
the case. About seven he took his breakfast of tea, wines, and
confectionary, when he transacted business with the first minister,
consulting with, or directing, him in the weighty matters of state,
previous to their appearing in regular form before the respective
departments to which they belonged. He had then a kind of levee, which
was usually attended by the Collaos, or ministers, and the presidents of
the departments or public boards. At eleven refreshments were again
served up and, after business was over, he either amused himself in the
women's apartments, or walked round his palace or gardens. Between three
and four he usually dined, after which he retired to his private rooms
and employed himself in reading or writing till bed-time, which was
always regulated by, and seldom later than, the setting of the sun.
He was fully persuaded that his uninterrupted health was chiefly owing
to his early retiring to rest, and early rising; an observation, indeed,
that in our country has grown into a maxim, and maxims are generally
grounded on truth. The late Lord Mansfield made a point for many years
of enquiring from all the aged persons, that at any time appeared before
him to give evidence, into their particular mode of living, in order
that he might be able to form some general conclusion with regard to the
causes of their longevity. The result of his observations was, that he
could draw no inference from their intemperance or abstemiousness with
regard to diet or drinking, but that they all agreed in one point, that
of being early risers.
_Tchien-Lung_ resigned the throne of China to his fifteenth son, the
present _Kia-king_, in February 1796, having completed a reign of sixty
years; and he died in the month of February 1799, at the advanced age of
eighty-nine years.
When the Tartars conquered China, they found all the great offices of
state filled by eunuchs, and the palace swarmed with these creatures;
the greater part was immediately displaced, and other Chinese of talent
and education were put into their places. Having, however, adopted the
laws and customs of the conquered, it became necessary to keep up the
usual establishment of women in the palace, the inevitable consequence
of which was the retention of a certain number of eunuchs to look after
them. And they are at this moment as numerous, perhaps, in all the
palaces, as they were at the conquest, but none of them are dignified
with any office of trust or importance in the state. They consider
themselves, however, as elevated far above the plebeian rank; and a
bunch of keys or a birch broom gives them all the airs and insolence of
office.
Of these eunuchs there are two kinds. The one is so far emasculated as
never to have the consolation of being a father; the other must submit
to lose every trace of manhood. The first are entrusted with the
inspection and superintendance of the buildings, gardens, and other
works belonging to the imperial palaces, which they are required to keep
in order. The _Rasibus_, as the missionaries call them, are admitted
into the interior of the palace. These creatures paint their faces,
study their dress, and are as coquettish as the ladies, upon whom
indeed it is their chief business to attend. The greatest favourite
sleeps in the same room with the Emperor, to be ready to administer to
his wishes; and in this capacity he finds numberless opportunities to
prejudice his master against those for whom he may have conceived a
dislike; and instances are not wanting where the first officers in the
state have been disgraced by means of these creatures.
They are equally detested and feared by the princes of the blood who
reside in the palace, by the court officers, and by the missionaries in
the employ of government. The latter find it necessary to make frequent,
and sometimes expensive, presents to those in particular about the
person of his Imperial Majesty. Should any of these gentlemen happen to
carry about with him a watch, snuff-box, or other trinket, which the
eunuch condescends to admire, there is no alternative; the missionary
takes the hint, and begs his acceptance of it, knowing very well that
the only way to preserve his friendship is to share with him his
property. An omission of this piece of civility has been productive of
great injury to the European. The gentleman who regulates and keeps in
order the several pieces of clock-work in the palace assured me, that
the old eunuch, who was entrusted with the keys of the rooms, used to go
in by night and purposely derange and break the machinery, that he might
be put to the trouble and expence of repairing it. This happened to him
so often that, at length, he became acquainted with the secret of
applying the proper preventive, which although expensive was still less
vexatious than the constant reparation of the mischief done to the
articles of which he had the superintendance.
The Chinese eunuchs are addicted to all the vices that distinguish these
creatures in other countries. There is scarcely one about the palace,
whether of the class of porters and sweepers, or of that which is
qualified for the inner apartments, but have women in their lodgings,
who are generally the daughters of poor people, from whom they are
purchased, and are consequently considered as their slaves. It is
difficult to conceive a condition in life more humiliating, or more
deplorable, than that of a female slave to an eunuch; but happily for
such females, in this country the mental powers are not very active.
Several of the missionaries assured me of the truth of this fact, which
indeed I have strong reasons for believing even of the _Rasibus_. The
keeper of the hall of audience once took me to his lodgings, but on
coming to the door he desired me to wait till he had made some
arrangements within; the meaning of which was, until he had removed his
lady out of the way; nor was he in the least displeased at my hinting
this to him. Being one of the favourite attendants of the ladies of the
court, he was of course a _black eunuch_. He was the most capricious
creature in the world; being sometimes extremely civil and
communicative, sometimes sullen, and not deigning to open his lips: and
whenever he took it into his head to be offended, he was sure to
practice some little revenge. I fancy he was clerk of the kitchen, for
the quality and the quantity of our dinner generally depended on the
state of his humour. When the report of the Embassador's making
conditions with regard to the ceremony of introduction first reached
_Yuen-min-yuen_, he was more than usually peevish, and conceived, as he
thought, a notable piece of revenge. Some pains had been taken to
arrange the presents in such a manner in the great hall as to fill the
room well, and set them off to the best advantage. The old creature,
determined to give us additional trouble and to break through the
arrangement that had been made, desired that the whole might be placed
at one end of the room. On my objecting to this he pretended to have
received the Emperor's order, and that at all events it must be obeyed;
and the reason he assigned for the change was, "that his Majesty might
see them at once from his throne, without being at the trouble of
turning his head."
The great number of these creatures about the palace of _Yuen-min-yuen_
made my residence there extremely disagreeable. They seemed, indeed, to
be placed as spies on our conduct. If I attempted to move ever so little
beyond the court of our apartments, I was sure of being watched and
pursued by some of them; to persist in my walk would have thrown the
whole palace in an uproar. I one day happened inadvertently to stray
through a thicket, which it seems led towards the apartments of the
ladies, but I had not proceeded far before I heard several squalling
voices in the thicket, which I soon recognised to be those of eunuchs.
They had run themselves out of breath in seeking me, and my old friend
of the kitchen was not to be pacified for putting him to the hazard, as
he pretended, of losing his head by my imprudence.
The eunuchs and the women are the only companions of the Emperor in his
leisure hours: of the latter, one only has the rank of Empress, after
whom are two Queens and their numerous attendants, which constitute the
second class of the establishment; and the third consists of six Queens,
and their attendants. To these three ranks of his wives are attached one
hundred ladies, who are usually called his concubines, though they are
as much a legal part of his establishment as the others. They would seem
to be of the same description, and to hold the same rank as the
handmaids of the ancient Israelites. Their children are all considered
as branches of the Imperial family, but the preference to the succession
is generally given to the male issue of the first Empress, provided
there should be any. This however is entirely a matter of choice, the
Emperor having an uncontrouled power of nominating his successor, either
in his own family or out of it. The daughters are usually married to
Tartar princes, and other Tartars of distinction, but rarely, if ever,
to a Chinese.
On the accession of a new Emperor, men of the first rank and situation
in the empire consider themselves as highly honoured and extremely
fortunate, if the graces of their daughters should prove sufficient to
provide them a place in the list of his concubines; in which case, like
the nuns in some countries of Europe, they are doomed for ever to reside
within the walls of the palace. Such a fate, however, being common in
China in a certain degree to all women-kind, is less to be deplored than
the similar lot of those in Europe, where one sex is supposed to be
entitled to an equal degree of liberty with the other; and as the
custom of China authorizes the sale of all young women by their parents
or relations to men they never saw, and without their consent previously
obtained, there can be no hardship in consigning them over to the arms
of the prince; nor is any disgrace attached to the condition of a
concubine, where every marriage is a legal prostitution. At the death of
the sovereign all his women are removed to a separate building, called
by a term which, divested of its metaphor, implies the _Palace of
Chastity_, where they are doomed to reside during the remainder of their
lives.
CHAP. VI.
Language.--Literature, and the fine Arts.--Sciences.--Mechanics, and
Medicine.
_Opinion of the Chinese Language being hieroglyphical erroneous.--Doctor
Hager's mistakes.--Etymological Comparisons fallacious.--Examples
of--Nature of the Chinese written Character.--Difficulty and Ambiguity
of.--Curious Mistake of an eminent Antiquarian.--Mode of acquiring the
Character.--Oral Language.--Mantchoo Tartar Alphabet.--Chinese
Literature.--Astronomy.--Chronology.--Cycle of sixty Years.--Geography.
--Arithmetic.--Chemical Arts.--Cannon and Gunpowder.--Distillation.
--Potteries.--Silk Manufactures.--Ivory.--Bamboo.--Paper.--Ink.
--Printing.--Mechanics.--Music.--Painting.--Sculpture.--Architecture.
--Hotel of the English Embassador in Pekin.--The Great Wall.--The Grand
Canal.--Bridges.--Cemeteries.--Natural Philosophy.--Medicine.--Chinese
Pharmacopoeia.--Quacks.--Contagious Fevers.--Small pox.--Opthalmia.
--Venereal Disease.--Midwifery.--Surgery.--Doctor Gregory's Opinion of
their Medical Knowledge.--Sir William Jones's Opinion of their general
Character._
If no traces remained, nor any authorities could be produced, of the
antiquity of the Chinese nation, except the written character of their
language, this alone would be sufficient to decide that point in its
favour. There is so much originality in this language, and such a great
and essential difference between it and that of any other nation not
immediately derived from the Chinese, that not the most distant degree
of affinity can be discovered, either with regard to the form of the
character, the system on which it is constructed, or the idiom, with any
other known language upon the face of the globe. Authors, however, and
some of high reputation, have been led to suppose that, in the Chinese
character, they could trace some relation to those hieroglyphical or
sacred inscriptions found among the remains of the ancient Egyptians;
others have considered it to be a modification of hieroglyphic writing,
and that each character was the symbol or comprehensive form of the idea
it was meant to express, or, in other words, an abstract delineation of
the object intended to be represented. To strengthen such an opinion,
they have ingeniously selected a few instances where, by adding to one
part, and curtailing another, changing a straight line into a curved
one, or a square into a circle, something might be made out that
approached to the picture, or the object of the idea conveyed by the
character as, for example, the character 田, representing
_a cultivated piece of ground_, they supposed to be the picture of an
inclosure, turned up in ridges; yet it so happens that, in this country,
there are no inclosures; the character, 口 a _mouth_, has
been considered by them as a very close resemblance of that object;
上 and 下 _above_ and _below_, distinctly marked these points of position;
the character 人, signifying _man_, is, according to their opinion,
obviously an abbreviated representation of the human figure; yet the
very same character, with an additional line across, thus 大, which by
the way approaches nearer to the human figure, having now arms as well
as legs, signifies the abstract quality _great_; and with a second line
thus 天 the material or visible _heaven_, between either of which and
_man_ it would be no easy task to find out the analogy; and still less
so to trace an affinity between any of them, and 犬 which signifies _a
dog_.
It is true certain ancient characters are still extant, in which a rude
representation of the image is employed; as for instance, a circle for
the sun, and a crescent for the moon, but these appear to have been used
only as abbreviations, in the same manner as these objects are still
characterized in our almanacks, and in our astronomical calculations.
Thus also the _kingdom of China_ is designed by a square, with a
vertical line drawn through the middle, in conformity perhaps with their
ideas of the earth being a square, and China placed in its center; so
far these may be considered as symbols of the objects intended to be
represented. So, also, the numerals one, two, three, being designed by
一 二 三, would naturally suggest themselves as being fully as convenient
for the purpose, and perhaps more so than any other; and where the first
series of numerals ended, which according to the universal custom of
counting by the fingers was at _ten_, the very act of placing the index
of the right hand on the little finger of the left would suggest the
form of the vertical cross 十 as the symbol or representation of the
number ten.
I cannot avoid taking notice in this place of a publication of Doctor
Hager, which he calls an "_Explanation of the Elementary Characters of
the Chinese_." In this work he has advanced a most extraordinary
argument to prove an analogy between the ancient Romans and the Chinese,
from the resemblance which he has fancied to exist between the numeral
characters and the numeral sounds made use of by those two nations. The
Romans, he observes, expressed their numerals one, two, three, by a
corresponding number of vertical strokes I. II. III. which the Chinese
place horizontally 一 二 三. The Romans designed the number ten by an
oblique cross X, and the Chinese by a vertical one 十. This resemblance
in the forming of their numerals, so simple and natural that almost all
nations have adopted it, is surely too slight a coincidence for
concluding, that the people who use them must necessarily, at some
period or other, have had communication together. The Doctor however
seems to think so, and proceeds to observe, that the three principal
Roman cyphers, I. V. X. or one, five and ten, are denoted in the Chinese
language by the same sounds that they express in the Roman alphabet.
This remark, although ingenious, is not correct. _One_ and _five_, it is
true, are expressed in the Chinese language by the _y_ and _ou_ of the
French, which it may be presumed, were the sounds that the letters I.
and V. obtained in the ancient Roman alphabet; but with regard to the
_ten_, or X, which, he says, the Chinese pronounce _xe_, he is entirely
mistaken, the Chinese word for _ten_ in Pekin being _shee_, and in
Canton _shap_. This error the Doctor appears to have been led into by
consulting some vocabulary in the Chinese and Portuguese languages; in
the latter of which the letter X is pronounced like our _sh_. But
admitting, in its fullest extent, the resemblance of some of the
numerals used by the two nations, in the shape of the character, and of
others in the sound, it certainly cannot be assumed to prove any thing
beyond a mere accidental coincidence.
The earliest accounts of China, after the doubling of the Cape of Good
Hope, being written by Portuguese missionaries, and the Chinese proper
names still remaining to be spelt in the letters of that alphabet, have
led several etymologists into great errors, not only with regard to the
letter X, but more particularly in the _m_ final, and the _h_ incipient,
the former being pronounced _ng_, and the latter with a strong aspirate,
as _sh_. Thus the name of the second Emperor of the present dynasty is
almost universally written in Europe _Cam-hi_, whereas it is as
universally pronounced in China _Caung-shee_.
The learned Doctor seems to be still less happy in his next conjecture,
where he observes that, as the Romans expressed their _five_ by simply
dividing the X, or ten, so also the ancient character signifying _five_
with the Chinese was X or ten between two lines thus [Illustration]
indicating, as it were, that the number ten was divided in two; the
Doctor seems to have forgotten that he has here placed his cross in the
_Roman_ form, and not as the Chinese write it; and it is certainly a
strange way of cutting a thing in two, by enclosing it between two
lines; but the learned seldom baulk at an absurdity, when a system is
to be established. The Chinese character for five is 五.
Of all deductions, those drawn from etymological comparisons are,
perhaps, the most fallacious. Were these allowed to have any weight, the
Chinese spoken language is of such a nature, that it would be no
difficult task to point out its relationship to that of every nation
upon earth. Being entirely monosyllabic, and each word ending in a vowel
or a liquid, and being, at the same time, deprived of the sounds of
several letters in our alphabet, it becomes necessarily incapable of
supplying any great number of distinct syllables. Three hundred are, in
fact, nearly as many as an European tongue can articulate, or ear
distinguish. It follows, of course, that the same sound must have a
great variety of significations. The syllable _ching_, for example, is
actually expressed by fifty-one different characters, each having a
different, unconnected, and opposite meaning; but it would be the height
of absurdity to attempt to prove the coincidence of any other language
with the Chinese, because it might happen to possess a word something
like the sound of _ching_, which might also bear a signification not
very different from one of those fifty-one that it held in the Chinese.
The Greek abounds with Chinese words. κυον, a _dog_, is in
Chinese both _keou_ and _keun_, expressive of the same animal; ἐυ,
_good_, is not very different from the Chinese _hau_, which
signifies the same quality; and the article τὸ is not far
remote from _ta_, _he_, or _that_. Both Greeks and Romans might
recognise their first personal pronoun έγω or _ego_ in _go_,
or as it is sometimes written _ngo_. The Italian affirmative _si_ is
sufficiently near the Chinese _shee_, or _zee_, expressing assent. The
French _étang_, and the Chinese _tang_, a pond or lake, are nearly the
same, and their two negatives _pas_ and _poo_ are not very remote.
_Lex_, _loi_, _le_, _law_, compared with _leu_, _lee_, _laws_ and
_institutes_, are examples of analogy that would be decisive to the
etymological inquirer. The English word _mien_, the countenance, and the
Chinese _mien_, expressing the same idea, are nothing different, and we
might be supposed to have taken our _goose_ from their _goo_. To _sing_
is _chaung_, which comes very near our _chaunt_. The Chinese call a cat
_miau_, and so does the Hottentot. The Malay word _to know_ is _tau_,
and the Chinese monosyllable for the same verb is also _tau_, though in
conversation they generally use the compound _tchee-tau_, each of which
separately have nearly the same meaning. The Sumatrans have _mau_ for
mother, the Chinese say _moo_. On grounds equally slight with these have
many attempts been made to form conclusions from etymological
comparisons. If I mistake not, the very ingenious Mr. Bryant makes the
word _gate_ a derivative from the Indian word _ghaut_, a pass between
mountains. Surely this is going a great deal too far for our little
monosyllable. Might we not with as great a degree of propriety fetch our
_shallow_ or _shoal_ from China, where _sha-loo_ signifies a flat sand,
occasionally covered with the tide? A noted antiquarian has been led
into some comical mistakes in his attempt to establish a resemblance
between the Chinese and the Irish languages, frequently by his having
considered the letters of the continental alphabets, in which the
Chinese vocabulary he consulted was written, to be pronounced in the
same manner as his own[14].
[14] For the curiosity of those who may be inclined to speculate in
etymological comparisons between the Chinese and other languages, I here
subjoin a short list of words in the former, expressing some of the most
striking objects in the creation, a few subjects of natural history, and
of such articles as from their general use are familiar to most nations,
these being of all others the most likely to have retained their
primitive names. The orthography I have used is that of the English
language.
The Earth _tee_
The Air _kee_
Fire _ho_
Water _swee_
The Sea _hai_
A River _ho_
A Lake _tang_
A Mountain _shan_
A Wilderness _ye-tee_
The Sun _jee-to_
The Moon _yué_
The Stars _sing_
The Clouds _yun_
Rain _yeu_
Hail _swee-tan_
Snow _swé_
Ice _ping_
Thunder _luie_
Lightning _shan-tien_
The Wind _fung_
The Day _jee_ or _tien_
The Night _ye_ or _van shang_
The Sky or Heaven _tien_
The East _tung_
The West _see_
The North _pee_
The South _nan_
Man _jin_
Woman _foo-jin_
A Quadruped _shoo_
A Bird _kin_
A Fish _eu_
An Insect _tchong_
A Plant _tsau_
A Tree _shoo_
A Fruit _ko-ste_
A Flower _wha_
A Stone _shee_
Gold _tchin_
Silver _in tse_
Copper _tung_
Lead _yuen_
Iron _tié_
The Head _too_
The Hand _shoo_
The Heart _sin_
The Leg _koo_
The Foot _tchiau_
The Face _mien_
The Eyes _yen-shing_
The Ears _cul-to_
The Hair _too fa_
An ox _nieu_
A Camel _loo-too_
A Horse _ma_
An Ass _loo-tse_
A Dog _kioon_
A Frog _tchoo_
A Sheep _yang_
A Goat, or mountain Sheep _shan-yang_
A Cat _miau_
A Stag _shan loo_
A Pidgeon _koo-tse_
Poultry _kee_
An Egg _kee-tan_
A Goose _goo_
Oil _yeo_
Rice _mee_
Milk _nai_
Vinegar _tsoo_
Tobacco _yen_
Salt _yen_
Silk _tsoo_
Cotton _mien-wha_
Flax Plant _ma_
Hemp _ma_
Wool (Sheep's Hair) _yangmau_
Coals _tan_
Sugar _tang_
Cheese, they have none but thick Milk _nai-ping_, or iced milk
A House _shia_
A Temple _miau_
A Bed _tchuang_
A Door _men_
A Table _tai_
A Chair _ye-tzé_
A Knife _tau_
A Pitcher _ping_
A Plough _lee_
An Anchor _mau_
A Ship _tchuan_
Money _tsien_
I must observe, however, for the information of these philologists, that
scarcely two provinces in China have the same oral language. The
officers and their attendants who came with us from the capital could
converse only with the boatmen of the southern provinces, through the
medium of an interpreter. The character of the language is universal,
but the name or sound of the character is arbitrary. If a _convention of
sounds_ could have been settled like a convention of marks, one would
suppose that a commercial intercourse would have effected it, at least
in the numeral sounds, that must necessarily be interchanged from place
to place and myriads of times repeated from one corner of the empire to
the other. Let us compare then the numerals of Pekin with those of
Canton, the two greatest cities in China.
Pekin. Canton.
1. Ye yat
2. ul ye
3. san saam
4. soo see
5. ou um
6. leu lok
7. tchee tsat
8. pas pat
9. tcheu kow
10. shee shap
11. shee-ye shap-yat
12. shee-ul shap-ye
20. ul-shee ye-shap
30. san-shee saam-shap
31. san-shee-ye saam-shap-yat
32. san-shee-ul saam-shap-ye
100. pe paak
1000. tsien tseen
10,000. van man
100,000. she-van shap-man
If then, in this highly civilized empire, the oral language of the
northern part differs so widely from the southern that, in numerous
instances, by none of the etymological tricks[15] can they be brought to
bear any kind of analogy; if the very word which in Pekin implies the
number _one_, be used in Canton to express _two_, how very absurd and
ludicrous must these learned and laboured dissertations appear, that
would assign an oriental origin to all our modern languages?
[15] Such as the addition, deduction, mutation, and transposition of
letters, or even syllables. Thus Mr. Webbe thinks that the derivation of
the Greek γυνὴ _a woman_, from the Chinese _na-gin_, is
self-evident.
Whatever degree of affinity may be discovered between the sounds of the
Chinese language and those of other nations, their written character has
no analogy whatsoever, but is entirely peculiar to itself. Neither the
Egyptian inscriptions, nor the nail-headed characters, or monograms,
found on the Babylonian bricks, have any nearer resemblance to the
Chinese than the Hebrew letters have to the Sanscrit; the only analogy
that can be said to exist between them is, that of their being composed
of points and lines. Nor are any marks or traces of alphabetic writing
discoverable in the composition of the Chinese character; and, if at any
time, hieroglyphics have been employed to convey ideas, they have long
given way to a collection of arbitrary signs settled by convention, and
constructed on a system, as regular and constant as the formation of
sounds in any of the European languages arises out of the alphabets of
those languages.
The history of the world affords abundant evidence that, in the dawn of
civilization, most nations endeavoured to fix and to perpetuate ideas by
painting the figures of the objects that produced them. The Egyptian
priesthood recorded the mysteries of their religion in graphic emblems
of this kind; and the Mexicans, on the first arrival of the Spaniards,
informed their prince Montezuma of what was passing by painting their
ideas on a roll of cloth. There is no way so natural as this of
expressing, and conveying to the understanding of others, the images
that pass in the mind, without the help of speech. In the course of the
present voyage, an officer of artillery and myself were dispatched to
make observations on the small island of _Collao_, near the coast of
_Cochin-China_. In order to make the natives comprehend our desire to
procure some poultry, we drew on paper the figure of a hen, and were
immediately supplied to the extent of our wants. One of the inhabitants
taking up the idea drew close behind the hen the figure of an egg, and a
nod of the head obtained us as many as we had occasion for. The
Bosjesmen Hottentots, the most wild and savage race perhaps of human
beings, are in the constant habit of drawing, on the sides of caverns,
the representations of the different animals peculiar to the country.
When I visited some of those caverns I considered such drawings as the
employment of idle hours; but, on since reflecting that in almost all
such caverns are also to be seen the figures of Dutch boors (who hunt
these miserable creatures like wild beasts) in a variety of attitudes,
some with guns in their hands, and others in the act of firing upon
their countrymen; waggons sometimes proceeding and at others standing
still, the oxen unyoked, and the boors sleeping; and these
representations generally followed by a number of lines scored like so
many tallies; I am inclined to think they have adopted this method of
informing their companions of the number of their enemies, and the
magnitude of the danger. The animals represented were generally such as
were to be met with in the district where the drawings appeared; this,
to a people who subsist by the chace and by plunder, might serve as
another piece of important information.
The Chinese history, although it takes notice of the time when they had
no other method of keeping their records, except, like the Peruvians, by
knotting cords, makes no mention of any hieroglyphical characters being
used by them. If such were actually the case, the remains of symbolical
writing would now be most discoverable in the radical, or elementary
characters, of which we shall presently have occasion to speak, and
especially in those which were employed to express some of the most
remarkable objects in nature. Out of the two hundred and twelve, or
thereabout, which constitute the number of the radical signs, the
following are a few of the most simple, in none of which, in my opinion,
does there appear to be the least resemblance between the picture and
the object.
人 _gin_, man
口 _koo_, a mouth
土 _tee_, earth
子 _tsé_, a son
艸 _tsau_, a plant
山 _shan_, a mountain
心 _sin_, a heart
手 _shoo_, a hand
方 _fang_, space, or a square of ground
月 _yué_, the moon
日 _jee_, the sun
木 _moo_, a tree
水 _swee_, water
火 _ho_, fire
石 _shee_, a stone.
The rest of the elementary characters are, if possible, still more
unlike the objects they represent. There seems, therefore, to be no
grounds for concluding that the Chinese ever made use of hieroglyphics
or, more properly speaking, that their present character sprung out of
hieroglyphics. They have a tradition, which is universally believed,
that their prince _Fo-shee_ was the inventor of the system upon which
their written character is formed, and which, without any material
alteration, there is every reason to suppose has continued in use to
this day. To _Fo-shee_, however, they ascribe the invention of almost
every thing they know, which has led Mr. Baillie ingeniously to
conjecture that _Fo-shee_ must have been some foreigner who first
civilized China; as arts and sciences do not spring up and bear fruit in
the life of one man. Many changes in the form of characters may have
taken place from time to time, but the principle on which they are
constructed seems to have maintained its ground. The redundancies of
particular characters have been removed for the sake of convenience; and
the learned in their epistolary writing have adopted a sort of running
hand, in which the form is so very materially altered, by rounding off
the angles, connecting some parts and wholly omitting others, as to make
it appear to a superficial observer a totally different language. But I
may venture to observe, that it has not only not undergone any material
alteration for more than two thousand years, but that it has never
borrowed a _character_, or a syllable, from any other language that now
exists. As a proof of this, it may be mentioned, that every new article
that has found its way into China since its discovery to Europeans has
acquired a Chinese name, and entirely sunk that which it bore by the
nation who introduced it. The proper names even of countries, nations,
and individuals are changed, and assume new ones in their language. Thus
Europe is called _See-yang_, the western country; Japan _Tung-yang_, the
eastern country; India _Siau-see-yang_, the little western country. The
English are dignified by the name of _Hung-mou_, or _Red-heads_, and the
French, Spanish, Portuguese, and others, who visit China, have each a
name in the language of the country totally distinct from that they bear
in Europe. This inflexibility in retaining the words of their own poor
language has frequently made me think, that Doctor Johnson had the
Chinese in his mind when, in that inimitable piece of fine writing which
prefaces his dictionary, he made this remark: "The language most likely
to continue long without alteration, would be that of a nation raised a
little, and but a little, above barbarity, secluded from strangers, and
totally employed in procuring the conveniences of life."
The invention of the Chinese character, although an effort of genius,
required far less powers of the mind than the discovery of an alphabet;
a discovery so sublime that, according to the opinion of some, nothing
less than a divine origin ought to be ascribed to it. It may, however,
be considered as the nearest approximation to an universal character
that has hitherto been attempted by the learned and ingenious of any
nation; each character conveying at once to the eye, not only simple,
but the most combined ideas. The plan of our countryman, Bishop Wilkins,
for establishing an universal character is, in all respects, so similar
to that upon which the Chinese language is constructed, that a reference
to the former will be found to convey a very competent idea of the
nature of the latter. The universal character of our countryman is,
however, more systematic, and more philosophical, than the plan of the
Chinese character.
Certain signs expressing simple objects or ideas may be considered as
the roots or primitives of this language. These are few in number, not
exceeding two hundred and twelve, one of which, or its abbreviation,
will be found to compose a part of every character in the language; and
may, therefore, be considered as the _key_ to the character into which
it enters. The eye soon becomes accustomed to fix upon the particular
key, or root, of the most complicated characters, in some of which are
not fewer than sixty or seventy distinct lines and points. The right
line, the curved line, and a point are the rudiments of all the
characters. These, variously combined with one another, have been
extended from time to time, as occasion might require, to nearly eighty
thousand different characters.
To explain the manner in which their dictionaries are arranged will
serve to convey a correct notion of the nature of this extraordinary
language. All the two hundred and twelve roots or keys are drawn fair
and distinct on the head of the page, beginning with the most simple, or
that which contains the fewest number of lines or points, and proceeding
to the most complicated; and on the margins of the page are marked the
numeral characters one, two, three, &c. which signify, that the _root_
or _key_ at the top will be found to be combined on that page with one,
two, three, &c. lines or points. Suppose, for example, a learner should
meet with an unknown character, in which he perceives that the simple
sign expressing _water_ is the _key_ or _root_, and that it contains,
besides this root, _six_ additional points and lines. He immediately
turns over his dictionary to the place where the character _water_
stands on the top of the page, and proceeding with his eye directed to
the margin, until the numeral character _six_ occurs, he will soon
perceive the one in question; for all the characters in the language,
belonging to the _root water_, and composed of _six_ other lines and
points, will follow successively in this place. The name or sound of the
character is placed immediately after it, expressed in such others as
are supposed to be most familiar; and, in the method made use of for
conveying this information, the Chinese have discovered some faint and
very imperfect idea of alphabetic writing, by splitting the monosyllabic
sound into a dissyllable, and again compressing the dissyllable into a
simple sound. One instance will serve to explain this method. Suppose
the name of the character under consideration to be _ping_. If no single
character be thought sufficiently simple to express the sound _ping_,
immediately after it will be placed two well-known characters _pe_ and
_ing_; but, as every character in the language has a monosyllabic sound,
it will readily be concluded, that _pe_ and _ing_, when compressed into
one syllable, must be pronounced _ping_. After these, the meaning or
explanation follows, in the clearest and most easy characters that can
be employed.
When, indeed, a considerable progress has been made in the language, the
general meaning of many of the characters may be pretty nearly guessed
at by the eye alone, as they will mostly be found to have some
reference, either immediate or remote, though very often in a figurative
sense, to the signification of the _key_ or _root_; in the same manner
as in the classification of objects in natural history, every species
may be referred to its proper genus. The signs, for instance, expressing
the _hand_ and the _heart_, are two _roots_, and all the works of art,
the different trades and manufactures, arrange themselves under the
first, and all the passions, affections, and sentiments of the mind
under the latter. The root of an _unit_ or _one_ comprehends all the
characters expressive of unity, concord, harmony, and the like. Thus,
if I observe a character compounded of the two simple _roots_, _one_ and
_heart_, I have no difficulty in concluding that its signification is
_unanimity_, but, if the sign of a _negative_ should also appear in the
same character, the meaning will be reversed to _discord_ or
_dissention_, literally _not one heart_. Many proper names of persons
have the character signifying _man_ for their key or root, and all
foreign names have the character _mouth_ or _voice_ annexed, which shews
at once that the character is a proper name employed only to express
sound without any particular meaning.
Nor are these keys or roots, although sometimes placed on the right of
the character, sometimes on the left, now at the top, and then at the
bottom, so very difficult to be discovered to a person who knows but a
little of the language, as Doctor Hager has imagined. This is by far the
easiest part of the language. The abbreviations in the compound
characters, and the figurative sense in which they are sometimes used,
constitute the difficulty, by the obscurity in which they are involved,
and the ambiguity to which they are liable.
The Doctor is equally unfortunate in the discovery which he thinks he
has made of a want of order in classing the elements according to the
number of lines they contain. The instances he gives of such anomaly are
in the two characters of 母 _moo_, mother; and 田 _tien_, cultivated
ground: the first of which he is surprised to find among the elementary
characters of _four_ lines, and the latter (which he asserts to be still
more simple) among those of _five_. The Chinese, however, are not quite
so much out of order as the Doctor seems to be out of his province in
attempting a critique on a language, of which he really possesses a very
superficial knowledge. The first character 母 _moo_ is composed of
[Illustration: strokes] and the second 田 _tien_ of [Illustration:
strokes]; the one of four and the other of five lines according to the
arrangement of Chinese dictionaries, and their elementary treatises.
Among the roots or primitives that most frequently occur are those
expressing the _hand_, _heart_, _mouth_, and the five elements, _earth_,
_air_, _fire_, _wood_, and _water_. _Man_ is also a very common root.
The composition of characters is capable of exercising a very
considerable degree of ingenuity, and the analysis of them is extremely
entertaining to a foreigner. As in a proposition of Euclid it is
necessary to go through the whole demonstration before the figure to
which it refers can be properly understood, so, in the Chinese
character, the sense of the several component parts must first be known
in order to comprehend the meaning of the compound. To endeavour to
recollect them without this knowledge would be a laborious and almost
impossible effort of the mind. Indeed, after this knowledge is acquired,
the sense is sometimes so hid in metaphor, and in allusions to
particular customs or ways of thinking, that when all the component
parts of a character are well understood, the meaning may yet remain in
obscurity. It may not be difficult to conceive, for instance, that in a
figurative language, the union of the _sun_ and _moon_ might be
employed to express any extraordinary degree of _light_ or _brilliancy_;
but it would not so readily occur, that the character _foo_ or
_happiness_, or _supreme felicity_, should be designed by the union of
the characters expressing a spirit or demon, the number _one_ or
_unity_, a _mouth_, and a piece of _cultivated ground_, thus 福.
This character in the Chinese language is meant to convey the same
idea as the word _comfort_ does in our own. The character implying the
_middle_ of any thing, annexed to that of _heart_, was not inaptly
employed to express _a very dear friend_, nor that with the _heart_
surmounted by a _negative_, to imply _indifference_, _no heart_; but it
is not so easy to assign any reason why the character _ping_, signifying
rank or order, should be expressed by the character _mouth_, repeated
thrice, and placed like the three balls of a pawnbroker, thus 品,
or why four of these mouths arranged as under, with the character
_ta_, _great_, in the center, should imply an instrument, or piece of
mechanism. 器. Nor would it readily occur why the character
男 _nan_, _masculine_, should be made up of _tien_, a _field_,
and _lee_, _strength_, unless from the idea that the _male sex_
possesses _strength_, and only can inherit _land_. But that a
_smoothness_ or _volubility_ of _speech_ 唫 should be designed
by _koo_, _mouth_, and _kin_, _gold_, we can more easily conceive, as we
apply the epithet _silver tongue_ pretty nearly on the same occasion.
If the Chinese had rigidly adhered to the ingenious and philosophical
mechanism they originally employed in the construction of their
characters, it would be the most interesting of all languages. But such
is far from being the case. New characters are daily constructed, in
which convenience, rather than perspicuity, has been consulted.
It will follow from what has been said, that every compounded character
is not only a word, but also a _definition_, comprehending in visible
marks its full explanation; but no character, however compounded, can
have more than a monosyllabic sound, though each part when alone has a
distinct sound, as well as sense. Thus, "Happiness," though compounded
of four distinct characters, _shee_, a demon; _ye_, one; _koo_, a mouth,
and _tien_, a piece of cultivated ground, has only the simple
monosyllabic sound _foo_, which is unlike that of any one of its
compounds.
The sounds and various inflexions incidental to languages in general,
are not necessary to be attended to in the study of the Chinese
characters. They speak equally strong to a person who is deaf and dumb,
as the most copious language could do to one in the full enjoyment of
all his senses. It is a language addressed entirely to the eye, and not
to the ear. Just as a piece of music laid before several persons of
different nations of Europe would be played by each in the same key, the
same measure, and the same air, so would the Chinese characters be
equally understood by the natives of Japan, Tunquin, and Cochin-China;
yet each would give them different names or sounds, that would be wholly
unintelligible to one another. When, on the present voyage, we stopped
at Pulo Condore, the inhabitants, being Cochin-Chinese, had no
difficulty in corresponding, by writing, with our Chinese interpreters,
though they could not interchange one intelligible word.
Although, with the assistance of a good dictionary and a tolerable
memory, a knowledge of such of the Chinese characters, as most
frequently occur, may be obtained by a foreigner; yet the ambiguity to
which they are liable, on account of the frequent figurative expressions
and substitution of metaphor for the literal meaning, renders their best
compositions extremely obscure. Another, and not the least, difficulty
to a learner of this language arises from the abridgment of the
characters for the sake of convenience, by which the eye is deprived of
the chain that originally connected the component parts. In short, it is
a language where much is to be made out that is not expressed, and
particularly so in what is called fine writing; and a thorough knowledge
of it can only be acquired from a familiar acquaintance with the
manners, customs, habits, and opinions of the people. Those missionaries
even, who have resided in the country the best part of their lives, and
accepted employments about the palace, are frequently at a loss in
translating and composing the official papers that are necessary to be
made out on the occasion of an European embassy.
It is, however, a matter of surprize that, after all that has been
published in Europe by the Jesuits of the grandeur, the magnificence,
the learning, and the philosophy of the Chinese, so very few persons
should have taken the trouble to make themselves acquainted with the
language of this extraordinary nation. So little was a _professor_ of
Chinese, at Rome, versed in the language he professed to know, that he
is said[16] to have mistaken some characters found on a bust of Isis for
Chinese, which bust and the characters were afterwards proved to be the
work of a modern artist of Turin, made after his own fancy. In Great
Britain we have known still less of the Chinese language and Chinese
literature than on the continent. It is not many years ago, that one of
the small copper coins of China, stamped in the reign, and with the
name, of the late _Tchien-lung_ (or as he is usually called in the
southern dialect of China _Kien-long_) was picked up in a bog in
Ireland, and being considered as a great curiosity, was carried to an
indefatigable antiquary, whose researches have been of considerable use
in investigating the ancient history and language of that island. Not
knowing the Chinese character, nor their coin, it was natural enough for
him to compare them with some language with which he was acquainted; and
the conclusion he drew was, that the four following characters on the
face were ancient Syriac; and that the reverse (which are Mantchoo
letters) appeared to be astronomical, or talismanic characters, of which
he could give no explanation.
[16] By Mr. Pauw.
[Illustration: Face. _Tchien-lung._ (Emperor's name.) _Pao-tung._
Current value.]
[Illustration: Reverse. _po tchin._ House, or dynasty, of _Tchin._]
The Mantchoo Tartar characters of another coin he supposed to signify
_p u r_, which is construed into _sors_, or lot; and it is concluded,
that these coins must either have been imported into Ireland by the
Phœnicians, or manufactured in the country; in which case, the Irish
must have had an oriental alphabet. "In either case," it is observed,
"these medals contribute more to authenticate the ancient history of
Ireland than all the volumes that have been written on the subject."
I have noticed this circumstance, which is taken from the _Collectanea
Hibernica_, in order to shew how little is known of the Chinese
character and language among the learned, when so good a scholar and
eminent antiquary committed so great a mistake.
The youth of China generally begin to study the language when they are
about six years of age. Their first employment is to learn by name a
certain number of easy characters, without any regard to the
signification, or without understanding the meaning of one of them,
consequently, without adding to the mind one single idea, for five or
six years, except that of labour and difficulty. For the _name_ of a
character, it may be recollected, has no reference whatsoever to its
_meaning_. Thus fifty-one different characters, of as many distinct
significations, have the same name of _ching_; and if ten or a dozen
characters, bearing the sound of _ching_, should occur in the same page,
the learner, in this stage of his education, is not instructed in the
several meanings; his object is to acquire the sound, but to neglect the
sense. I have been told, that a regular-bred scholar is required to get
by heart a very large volume of the works of Confucius so perfectly,
that he may be able to turn to any passage or sentence from hearing the
sound of the characters only, without his having one single idea of
their signification. The next step is to form the characters, commencing
by tracing, or going over, a certain number that are faintly drawn in
red ink. As soon as they are able to cover these with tolerable
accuracy, without deviating from the lines of the original, they then
endeavour to imitate them on fresh paper. These operations employ at
least four years more of their life. Thus, a young man of fourteen or
sixteen years of age, although he may be able to write a great number of
characters, for each of which he can also give a name, yet, at the same
time, he can affix no distinct idea to any one of them. The contrary
method would appear advisable of teaching them first the signification
of the simple roots, and the analysis of the compound characters, and
afterwards the sounds, or, perhaps, to let the one accompany the other.
Objections of a similar nature to those now mentioned against the mode
of Chinese education, have, it is true, been frequently stated with
regard to the plan of educating youths in the public grammar schools of
our own country; that some of the most precious years of their lives,
when the faculties were in growing vigour, and the plastic mind most
susceptible of receiving and retaining impressions, are wasted in poring
over the metaphysics of a Latin Grammar, which they cannot possibly
comprehend; and in learning by heart a number of declinations,
conjugations, and syntax rules, which serve only to puzzle and disgust,
instead of affording instruction or amusement: that the grammar, or
philosophical part of a language, is useful only for the niceties and
perfection of that language, and not a subject for boys. In all
instances, perhaps, where the language to be learned is made the common
colloquial language of the pupil, the objections stated against the use
of the grammar may have some weight. But as this is not the case with
regard to the Greek and Latin languages in Europe, nor to the written
character in China, which differs widely from the colloquial, long
experience may, perhaps, in both cases, have led to the adoption of the
most eligible method[17].
[17] That the Chinese method, however, is defective, may be inferred
from the circumstance of the present Sir George Staunton having not only
acquired, in little more than twelve months, and at the age of twelve
years, such a number of words and phraseology as to make himself
understood, and to understand others on common topics of conversation,
but he also learned to write the characters with such facility and
accuracy, that all the diplomatic papers of the Embassy addressed to the
Chinese government were copied by him (the Chinese themselves being
afraid to let papers of so unusual a style appear in their own
hand-writing) in so neat and expeditious a manner as to occasion great
astonishment. It may be observed, however, that few youths of his age
possess the talents, the attention, and the general information with
which he was endowed.
But a youth of Europe has a very material advantage over one of China,
during the time in which he is said to be poring over his Latin Grammar.
He is in the daily habit of acquiring new ideas, from his knowledge of
other languages. His mother-tongue supplies him with books, which he is
able to comprehend, and from which he derives both entertainment and
instruction. Without enumerating the great variety of these that daily
engage his attention, I deem it sufficient to observe, that his
Robinson Crusoe (the best book, with few exceptions, that can be put
into a boy's hand) shews the numberless difficulties to which he is
liable in the world, when the anxious cares of his parents have ceased
to watch over him; it is there pointed out to him that, arduous as many
undertakings may appear to be, few are insurmountable; that the body and
the mind of man are furnished with resources which, by patience,
diligence, prudence, and reflexion, will enable him to overcome the
greatest difficulties, and escape the most imminent dangers. His Tom
Jones, however exceptionable in those parts where human failings are
represented under an amiable and alluring dress, leaves, upon the whole,
a lively impression in favour of generosity and virtue, and seldom fails
to excite an indignant glow against perfidy, selfishness, and brutality.
The young Chinese has no such relief from his dry study of acquiring the
names and representations of things that to him have as yet no meaning.
He knows not a word of any language but his own.
The last step in the education of a Chinese is to analyse the
characters, by the help of the dictionary, in the manner already
mentioned, so that he now first begins to comprehend the use of the
written character. Extracts from the works of their famous philosopher
_Cong-foo-tse_ (the Confucius of the missionaries) are generally put
into his hands; beginning with those that treat on moral subjects, in
which are set forth, in short sentences, the praises of virtue, and the
odiousness of vice, with rules of conduct to be observed in the world.
The _eternal mean_, in the style and manner of the maxims of Seneca,
next follows; and the art of government, with an abridgment of the
laws, completes him for taking his first degree, which generally happens
when he has attained his twentieth year; but in order to be qualified
for any high employment, he must study at least ten years longer.
From this view of the written character, and the mode of education, it
will readily occur, that little progress is likely to be made in any of
the speculative sciences; and more especially as their assistance is not
necessary to obtain the most elevated situations in the government. The
examinations to be passed for the attainment of office are principally
confined to the knowledge of the language; and as far as this goes, they
are rigid to the utmost degree. The candidates are put into separate
apartments, having previously been searched, in order to ascertain that
they have no writing of any kind about them. They are allowed nothing
but pencils, ink, and paper, and within a given time they are each to
produce a theme on the subject that shall be proposed to them. The
excellence of the composition, which is submitted to the examining
officers, or men of letters, depends chiefly on the following points.
That every character be neatly and accurately made.
That each character be well chosen, and not in vulgar use.
That the same character do not occur twice in the same composition.
The subject and the manner of treating it are of the least
consideration, but those on morality, or history, are generally
preferred. If the following story, as communicated by one of the
missionaries, and related, I believe, by the Abbé Grozier, be true,
there requires no further illustration of the state of literature in
China. "A candidate for preferment having inadvertently made use of an
abbreviation in writing the character _ma_ (which signifies a _horse_)
had not only the mortification of seeing his composition, very good in
every other respect, rejected solely on that account; but, at the same
time, was severely rallied by the censor, who, among other things, asked
him how he could possibly expect his horse to walk without having all
his legs!"
The construction of the colloquial, or spoken language, is extremely
simple. It admits of no inflexion of termination, either in the verb, or
in the noun, each word being the same invariable monosyllable in number,
in gender, in case, mood, and tense; and, as most of these monosyllables
begin with a consonant and end with a vowel, except a few that terminate
in _l_, _n_, or _ng_, the number of such sounds, or simple syllables, is
very limited. To an European they do not exceed three hundred and fifty.
But a Chinese, by early habit, has acquired greater power over the
organs of speech, and can so modulate his voice as to give to the same
monosyllable five or six distinct tones of sound; so that he can utter
at least twelve or thirteen hundred radical words, which, with the
compounds, are found to be fully sufficient for expressing all his
wants.
On this curious subject I am enabled to speak with great accuracy,
through the kindness of Sir George Staunton, to whom, indeed, I am
indebted for more information in this work than I am allowed to
acknowledge. From the best manuscript Chinese dictionary in his
possession, he has obligingly taken the trouble to draw out the
following abstract of all the simple sounds, or words, in the Chinese
language, together with their inflexions or accentuations, by which they
are extended as far as any tongue can possibly articulate, or the nicest
ear discriminate. The first column shews all the initial letters, or
their powers in the language; the second, the number of terminations, or
the remaining part of the monosyllable beside the initial; and the
third, expresses the number of monosyllabic sounds that may be given to
each by inflexion, or modulation of voice, and by making use of
aspirates.
| Initials. | Number of terminations| Number of inflexions
| Power. | to each. | or accentuations.
| | |
--|--------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------
1 | Ch. as in Child. | 20 | 131 including aspirates.
2 | F. | 10 | 30 no aspirates.
3 | G. | 11 | 32 no aspirates.
4 | between H. & S. | 36 | 114 all strong aspirates.
5 | Y. | 16 | 61 no aspirates.
6 | J as in French | |
|_Jour_ | 14 | 34 no aspirates.
7 | K. | 37 | 206 including aspirates.
8 | L. | 25 | 66 no aspirates.
9 | M. | 22 | 58 no aspirates.
10| N. | 23 | 56 no aspirates.
11| O. | 1 | 2 no aspirates.
12| P. | 21 | 104 including aspirates.
13| S. | 29 | 86 no aspirates.
14| T. | 17 | 105 including aspirates.
15| Ts. | 28 | 147 including aspirates.
16| between V. and W. | 13 | 39 no aspirates.
17| Sh. | 19 | 60 no aspirates.
--|--------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------
| | |
17| | 342 |1331
So that in the whole colloquial language of China, an European may make
out 342 simple monosyllabic sounds, which by the help of aspirates,
inflexions of voice, or accentuations, are capable of being increased by
a Chinese to 1331 words. And as the written language is said to contain
80,000 characters, and each character has a name, it will follow, that,
on an average, 60 characters, of so many different significations, must
necessarily be called by the same monosyllabic name. Hence, a
composition if read would be totally unintelligible to the ear, and must
be seen to be understood. The monosyllabic sound assigned to each
charter is applied to so many different meanings, that in its
unconnected state it may be said to have no meaning at all.
In the business of common life, the nice inflexions or modulations, that
are required to make out these thirteen hundred words, may amply be
expressed in about fifteen thousand characters, so that each
monosyllabic sound will, in this case, on an average, admit of about
twelve distinct significations. This recurrence of the same words must
necessarily cause great ambiguity in conversation, and it frequently
indeed leads to ridiculous mistakes, especially by foreigners. Thus, a
sober missionary, intending to pass the night at a peasant's house,
asked as he thought for a _mat_, but was very much surprised on seeing
his host presenting him with a _young girl_; these two objects, so very
different from one another, being signified by two words whose
pronunciations are not distinguishable, and consequently one or the
other requires to be used with an adjunct.
It was a source of daily amusement to our conductors, to hear the
_equivoques_ we made in attempting to speak their language. A Chinese,
when the sense is doubtful, will draw the character, or the root of it,
in the air with his finger or fan, by which he makes himself at once
understood.
But as some of these monosyllabic words, as I have observed of _ching_,
have not less than fifty distinct significations, which the nicest tones
and inflexions, even of a Chinese voice, are not able to discriminate,
such words are generally converted into compounds, by adding a second
syllable, bearing some relative sense to the first, by which the meaning
is at once determined. Among the significations, for instance, of the
monosyllable _foo_ is that of _father_, to which, for the sake of
distinction, as _foo_ has many significations beside that of father,
they add the syllable _chin_, implying _kindred_; thus, a Chinese in
speaking of his parents invariably says _foo-chin_ for father, and
_moo-chin_ for mother; but, in writing, the character of _chin_ would be
considered as an unnecessary expletive, that of _foo_ being very
differently made from any other called by the same name.
The grammar of this language may briefly be explained. The noun, as
observed, is indeclinable; the particles _te_ or _tié_, mark the
genitive, and always follow the noun; _eu_ the dative, which it
precedes, and _tung_ or _tsung_ the ablative, before which they are also
placed. As for example,
Nom. _gai_ love.
Gen. _gai-te_ of love.
Dat. _eu-gai_ to love.
Acc. _gai_ love.
Abl. _tung_ or _tsung gai_, from or by love. And the same in the plural.
Give me _your_ book,
_Keu go_ NE-TE _shoo_.
Dear _to_ men,
_Quei_ EU _jin_.
Come you _with_ him,
_Ne-lai_ TUNG _ta_.
The adjective is also formed from the genitive of the noun as _pai_,
whiteness; _pai-tié_ white; _je_ heat; _je-tié_ hot; _lee_, reason;
_lee-tié_, rational; _hau_ goodness; _hau tié_, good. But when the
adjective precedes the noun, as it generally does, the particle _tié_ is
omitted as,
_hau jin_, a good man.
_pai-ma_, a white horse.
_je-swee_, hot water.
The plural of nouns is expressed by prefixing some word signifying
plurality, as _to-jin_, many men; _to-to jin_, a multitude of men;
_chung jin_, all men; and sometimes by a repetition of the word as
_jin-jin_, men.
Adjectives are compared by placing the particle _keng_ before the
comparative, as
_yeou_, soft; _keng yeou_, softer.
_hau_, good; _keng hau_, better.
My book is _newer_ than yours,
_Go-te shoo_ KENG _sin ne-te_.
The superlative is marked by various particles, sometimes preceding, and
sometimes following, the adjective, and it is also formed by repeating
the positive, as
_hau, hau tié_, very good.
_whang-whang-tié_, very yellow.
The personal pronouns are,
_ngo_ (nasal) or _go, ne, ta, go-men, ne-men, ta-men._
I, thou, he, we, ye, they.
And they become possessives, in the same manner as nouns are changed
into adjectives, by the addition of _te_ or _tié_, as
_go-te, ne-te, ta-te, go-men-te, ne-men-te, ta-men-te_.
mine, thine, his, ours, yours, theirs.
The verb has likewise neither conjugation nor inflection; and the
tenses, or times of action or passion, are limited to three; the
present, the past, and the future. The present is signified simply by
the verb, as _go lai_, I come; the past, is expressed by the particle
_leo_, as _go lai leo_, I did come, or I have come; and the future is
formed by placing the particle _yau_ before the verb, as _go yau lai_, I
will come; or, when something very determined is meant to be expressed,
the compound _yuen-y_ precedes the verb, as _go yuen-y-lai_, I am
determined to come. It may be observed, however, that although these,
and other particles signifying the time and mode of action, are
necessary in common speech, yet, in fine writing, they are entirely
omitted, which is another cause of the obscurity and difficulty that
occur to strangers in the study of the Chinese character.
The two negatives _mo_ and _poo_, are of great use in the spoken
language. The first is generally used with the verb _yeu_ to have, and
always implies a want or deficiency, as, _mo yeu nai_, there is no milk;
_mo yeu tcha_, you can have no tea, I have no tea, there is no tea, &c.
_Poo_ is generally used to express qualities of an opposite nature, as,
_hau_, good, _poo hau_, bad; _je_, hot; _poo je_, cold; _ta_, great;
_poo ta_, little. The usual salutation between friends is _hau-poo-hau_,
well, or not well?
The limits I have prescribed for the present work will not allow me to
enter into a more detailed account of this singular language. What has
been said may serve to convey a general idea of the written character,
and the simple construction of the spoken language. I shall now
endeavour, in a few words, to explain the nature and construction of the
Mantchoo Tartar character, which, if the present family continue on the
throne for a century longer, will, in all probability, supplant the
Chinese, or will at least become the court language. In the enunciation
it is full, sonorous, and far from being disagreeable, more like the
Greek than any of the oriental languages; and it abounds with all those
letters which the Chinese have rejected, particularly with the letters B
and R. It is alphabetic, or, more properly speaking, syllabic, and the
different parts of speech are susceptible of expressing number, case,
gender, time, modes of action, passion, and other accidents, similar to
those of European languages. This is effected either by change of
termination, preposition, or interposition. The character is extremely
beautiful, and it is written, like the Chinese, in perpendicular
columns, but beginning on the left side of the paper instead of the
right, as is the case in writing the former language.
The elements of the language are comprized in twelve classes of simple
sounds or monosyllables, from the different combinations of which all
the words of the Mantchoo language are formed.
These classes are distinguished by the terminations.
The first class ends in a, e, i, o, u, pronounced exactly as the
Italian.
The second, in ai, ei, iei, oi, ui.
The third, in ar, er, ir, or, ur, air, &c.
The fourth, in an, en, in, &c.
The fifth, in ang, eng, ing, &c.
The sixth, in ak, ek, ik, &c.
The seventh, in as, es, is, &c.
The eighth, in at, et, it, &c.
The ninth, in ap, ep, ip, &c.
The tenth, in au, eu, iu, ou.
The eleventh, in al, el, il, &c.
The twelfth, in am, em, im, &c.
The initials are, A. E. F. H. I. K. L. M. N. O. P. R. S. T. U. Y.
To give some idea of the character, I subjoin the written elements.
1st Class. a e i o u
[Manchu letters]
2d Class. ai ei iei oi ui
[Manchu letters]
3d Class. ar er ir or ur
[Manchu letters]
4th Class. an en in on un
[Manchu letters]
5th Class. ang eng ing ong ung
[Manchu letters]
6th Class. ak ek ik ok uk
[Manchu letters]
7th Class. as es is os us
[Manchu letters]
8th Class. at et it ot ut
[Manchu letters]
9th Class. ap ep ip op up
[Manchu letters]
10th Class. au eu iu ou uu
[Manchu letters]
11th Class. al el il ol ul
[Manchu letters]
12th Class. am em im om um
[Manchu letters]
The initial characters are represented by respective marks, which being
joined to these elementary terminations, generally at the upper
extremity, give all the monosyllabic sounds, and the junction of these
according to their various combinations all the words in the Mantchoo
language. One example will be sufficient to shew the nature of such
composition; thus the initials P. T. L. S. F. set before the 12th class
of radicals, will stand as follows:
Pam Tem Lim Som Fum
[Manchu letters]
And if each of these syllables be respectively added to the 5th class,
they will stand thus:
Pamang Temeng Liming Somong Fumung
[Manchu letters]
Of the state of their literature, and progress in science, I have little
to observe. The nature of the language will almost itself determine
these points. With respect to any branch of polite literature, or
speculative science, little improvement seems to have been made in the
last two thousand years. Indeed, there are no works in the whole empire,
modern or ancient, that are so much esteemed, so much studied, and I may
perhaps add, so little comprehended, as the five classical books
collected and commented upon by their great philosopher _Cong-foo-tse_,
who lived about 450 years before the Christian æra; and these certainly
are very extraordinary productions for the time in which they were
written. These works and a few writings of their favourite master,
according to the annals of the country, escaped the general destruction
of books, when the barbarous _She-whang-te_ ordered all the monuments of
learning to be burnt, except such as treated of medicine and
agriculture, about 200 years before Christ, for the absurd purpose, as
they state, that he might be considered by posterity as the first
civilized Emperor which had governed China, and that the records of its
history might, by this mean artifice, appear to commence with his
reign.
Admitting such an event to have happened which, however, may be
considered as doubtful, the supposition involves in it this necessary
consequence, that the stock of learning at that time must have been very
confined. It is scarcely possible, otherwise, how one person, near the
end of his reign, could have contrived to assemble together all the
works of art and literature, dispersed through so large a tract of
country and so enlightened as it was then supposed to be. There were,
besides, other independent sovereigns in the country, over whom he had
little or no controul, so that it is very probable the commonwealth of
letters suffered no great loss by the burning of the Chinese books. When
the Caliph Omar commanded the Alexandrian library to be destroyed, which
the pride and the learning of the Ptolemy family had collected from
every part of the world, literature sustained an irreparable loss; but,
although the tyrant had the power to consign to eternal oblivion the
works of science, yet he had no power over the principles upon which
these works were constructed. These principles had spread themselves
wide over the world. The expedition of Alexander carried the learning of
the Egyptians and the Greeks into various countries of Asia, where they
continued to flourish. And when the tyranny and oppression of the
seventh Ptolemy (Physcon) forced the Alexandrians to abandon a city that
was perpetually streaming with the blood of its citizens, they found an
asylum in the Grecian states and in different parts of Asia. And as this
sanguinary tyrant, in the midst of his cruelties, pretended and indeed
shewed a fondness for literature, the arts and the sciences flourished
even in his reign: the migrations, therefore, at this time, from the
capital of Egypt, were of the greatest importance and use to those
nations among whom the refugees settled. Unluckily for China, the wild
mountainous forests towards the south, and the wide sandy deserts to the
north, that render any communication extremely difficult between this
empire and the rest of Asia, together with their dislike for foreigners,
seem, at this time, to have checked the progress of those arts and
sciences which had long flourished in Europe and in Africa. Their
history, at least, is silent as to any communication with India, till a
century nearly after the commencement of the Christian æra, when the
religion of Budha found its way from Thibet into China.
Whether the burning of the works of the learned in China did or did not
happen, appears, as already observed, to admit of some doubt; but the
antiquity, and the authenticity, of the five _king_, or classics, seem
to be sufficiently established. And considering the early periods in
which they were written, they certainly demonstrate a very superior
degree of civilization. It has been observed that, in this country, the
arts, the sciences, and literature, are not progressive; and the five
_king_ would lead one to conclude, that they have rather even been
retrograde than stationary. The names of these works are:
1. _Shoo-king._ A collection of records and annals of various
princes, commencing more than 2000 years before Christ.
2. _Shee-king._ Odes, sonnets, and maxims; most of them so abundant
in metaphor, and so obscure, that much of the sense is to be made
out by the translator.
3. _Ye-king._ The perfect and the broken lines of _Fo-shee_; the
most ancient relict in China, and perhaps the first attempt at
written language: now perfectly incomprehensible.
4. _Chung-choo._ Spring and autumn. The history of some of the kings
of _Loo_: the work principally of _Cong-foo-tse_.
5. _Lee-kee._ Ceremonies and moral duties. A compilation of
_Cong-foo-tse_.
The lines of _Fo-shee_ puzzled even the great philosopher of the
country, who declared himself dissatisfied with all the explanations of
the commentators. The learned and ingenious Leibnitz fancied he
discovered in them a system of binary arithmetic, by which all the
operations and results of numbers might be performed, with the help of
two figures only, the cypher or zero 0, and an unit 1, the former being
considered as the constant multiple of the latter, as 10 is of the unit.
Thus 1 would stand for 1, 10 for two, 11 for three, 100 for four, and so
on. It is unnecessary to observe, with how many inconveniences such a
system would be attended when reduced to practice. This discovery of the
binary series, which the mathematician, in all probability, considered
only as a philosophical plaything, was communicated to Father Bouvet the
Jesuit who, happening at that time to be engaged in decyphering the
lines of _Fo-shee_, caught the idea and in an extacy of joy proclaimed
to the world that Leibnitz had solved the _Fo-sheean_ riddle.
The missionaries of the Romish church are so accustomed to the mysteries
with which their religion abounds, that every thing they meet with, and
do not understand, among a strange people, is also resolved into a
mystery. Thus, the following figure, which the Chinese, in allusion to
the regular lines described on the back-shell of some of the tortoises,
metaphorically call the mystic tortoise, has been supposed by some of
these gentlemen to contain the most sublime doctrines of Chinese
philosophy; that they embrace a summary of all that is perfect and
imperfect, represent the numbers of heaven and earth, and such like
jargon, which, it obviously appears, is no less unintelligible to
themselves than to their readers.
These famous lines, supposed to be found on the back of a tortoise, are
the following:
[Illustration]
Who does not perceive, at a single glance, in this figure the common
schoolboy's trick of the magic square, or placing the nine digits so
that they shall make the sum of fifteen every way, thus,
+---+---+---+
| 2 | 9 | 4 |
+---+---+---+
| 7 | 5 | 3 |
+---+---+---+
| 6 | 1 | 8 |
+---+---+---+
and what are the perfect and imperfect numbers, but the odd and even
digits distinguished by open and close points? In like manner, I am
inclined to believe, the several ways of placing these open and close
points that occur in Chinese books are literally nothing more than the
different combinations of the nine numerical figures, for which they are
substituted.
Most of the other _king_ have been translated, wholly or in part, and
published in France. It may be observed, however, that all the Chinese
writings, translated by the missionaries, have undergone so great a
change in their European dress, that they ought rather to be looked upon
as originals than translations. It is true, a literal translation would
be nonsense, but there is a great difference between giving the meaning
of an author, and writing a commentary upon him. Sir William Jones
observes that the only method of doing justice to the poetical
compositions of the Asiatics, is to give first a verbal and then a
metrical version. The most barren subject, under his elegant pen,
becomes replete with beauties. The following stanza, from one of the
odes of the _Shee-king_, is an instance of this remark. It is calculated
to have been written about the age of Homer; and it consists of fifteen
characters.
1 2 3 4 5 6
The peach-tree, how fair, how graceful, its leaves, how blooming
7 8 9 10 11
how pleasant; such is a bride, when she enters her bridegroom's
12 13 14 15
house, and attends to her whole family.
This is a fair translation, as no more expletives are inserted than such
as were necessary to make up the sense, and it is thus paraphrased by
Sir William Jones.
"Gay child of Spring, the garden's queen,
Yon peach-tree charms the roving fight;
Its fragrant leaves how richly green!
Its blossoms, how divinely bright!
"So softly smiles the blooming bride,
By love and conscious virtue led,
O'er her new mansion to preside,
And placid joys around her spread."
The late Emperor _Kien-Long_ was considered among the best poets of
modern times, and the most celebrated of his compositions is an ode in
praise of Tea, which has been painted on all the teapots in the empire.
The following is a verbal translation, with such auxiliaries only as
were necessary to make the sense complete.
"On a slow fire set a tripod, whose colour and texture shew its long
use; fill it with clear snow water, boil it as long as would be
necessary to turn fish white, and crayfish red; throw it upon the
delicate leaves of choice tea, in a cup of _yooé_ (a particular sort of
porcelain). Let it remain as long as the vapour rises in a cloud, and
leaves only a thin mist floating on the surface. At your ease, drink
this precious liquor, which will chase away the five causes of trouble.
We can taste and feel, but not describe, the state of repose produced
by a liquor thus prepared."
He wrote, likewise, a long descriptive poem on the city and country of
Moukden, in Mantchoo Tartary, which has been translated by some of the
missionaries, and appears to possess much more merit than his ode on
tea, of which, however, it is difficult to judge without a thorough
knowledge of the language, as the ode may owe its chief beauties and its
fame more to the choice of the characters than to the sounds, literal
sense, or versification. To an European the Chinese language appears to
have few elegancies: it wants all the little auxiliaries that add grace
and energy to those of Europe. In the Chinese the beauty of an
expression depends entirely on the choice of the character, and not on
any selection or arrangement of the monosyllabic sounds. A character
uniting a happy association of ideas has the same effect upon the eye of
the Chinese, as a general theorem expressed in symbols has on a
mathematician; but in both cases a man must be learned to feel the
beauties of the concise expression. Even in speaking the language has
few expletives. "English good, Chinese better,"--"to-day go, to-morrow
come,"--"sea no bound, Kiang no bottom;"--"well, not well;"--are modes
of expression in which an European will not find much elegance.
In addition to the defects of the language, there is another reason why
poetry is not likely ever to become a favourite pursuit, or to be
cultivated with success, among the Chinese. The state of society we have
seen to be such as entirely to exclude the passion of love. A man, in
this country, marries only from necessity, or for the sake of obtaining
an heir to his property, who may sacrifice to his manes, or because the
maxims of the government have made it disgraceful to remain in a state
of celibacy. The fine sentiments that arise from the mutual endearment
of two persons enamoured of each other can therefore have no place in
the heart of a Chinese: and it is to the effusions of a heart thus
circumstanced, that poetry owes some of its greatest charms. Nor can
they be considered as a nation of warriors; and war, next to love, has
ever been the favourite theme of the muses.
The language is much better adapted to the concise style of ethics, than
the sublime flights of poetry. The moral precepts of Cong-foo-tse
display an excellent mind in the writer, and would do honour to any age
and nation. The following will serve as a specimen of his subjects,
style, and manner.
"There is one clear rule of conduct: to act with sincerity; and to
conform with all one's soul, and with all one's strength, to this
universal rule--do not any thing to another, that you would not wish
another should do to you."
How conformable is this sentiment as well as the words in which it is
expressed, to that of the great Author of our religion; a religion whose
"ways are ways of pleasantness, and all whose paths are peace."
"Five things ought to be well observed in the world: Justice between the
prince and the subject; affection between father and son; fidelity
between man and wife; subordination among brothers; concord among
friends."
"There are three radical virtues: prudence to discern; universal
benevolence to embrace (all mankind); courage to sustain."
"What passes in a man's mind is unknown to others: if you are wise, take
great care of what none but yourself can see."
"Examples are better for the people than precepts."
"A wise man is his own most severe censor: he is his own accuser, his
own evidence, and his own judge."
"A nation may accomplish more by bravery than by fire and water. I never
knew a people perish, who had courage for their support."
"An upright man will not pursue a crooked path; he follows the straight
road, and walks therein secure."
Having taken this short view of their language and literature, I shall
now proceed to shew the present state of the arts and sciences, as far
as the communications I had not only with the missionaries, but also
with some of the most learned Chinese, will allow me to pronounce on
these points. The observations I have to make must of course be very
general; minute particulars will not be expected in a work of this
nature. There is no branch of science which the Chinese affect to value
so much, and understand so little, as astronomy. The necessity indeed of
being able to mark, with some degree of precision, the returns of the
seasons and certain periods, in so large a community, must have directed
an early attention of the government to this subject; and accordingly we
find, that an astronomical board has formed one of the state
establishments from the earliest periods of their history. Yet so little
progress have they made in this science, that the only part of its
functions, which can be called astronomical, has long been committed to
the care of foreigners, whom they affect to hold in contempt and to
consider as barbarians. The principal object of this board is to frame
and to publish a national calendar, and to point out to the government
the suitable times and seasons for its important undertakings. Even when
the marriage of a prince or princess of the blood is about to take
place, the commissioners of astronomy must appoint a fortunate day for
the celebration of the nuptials, which is announced in form in the Pekin
Gazette.
In this important almanack, as in the Greek and Roman calendars, are
inserted all the supposed lucky and unlucky days in the year,
predictions of the weather, days proper for taking medicine, commencing
journies, taking home a wife, laying the foundation of a house, and
other matters of moment, for entering upon which particular times are
assigned. To the superintendency of the Chinese members of this august
tribunal is committed the astrological part, a committee of whom is
selected annually for the execution of this important task. Whether the
men of letters, as they call themselves, really believe in the
absurdities of judicial astrology, or whether they may think it
necessary to encourage the observance of popular superstitions, on
political considerations, I will not take upon me to decide. If,
however, they should happen to possess any such superior knowledge,
great credit is due to them for acting the farce with such apparent
earnestness, and with so much solemnity. The duration of the same system
has certainly been long enough for them to have discovered, that the
multitude are more effectually governed by opinion than by power.
The phenomena of the heavenly bodies, to an enlightened and intelligent
mind, furnish the most grand and sublime spectacle in nature; to the
ignorant and superstitious, the most awful. The common people of all
countries, and in all ages, have considered the occasional privation of
the light of the two great luminaries of heaven as the forerunners of
some extraordinary event, whilst the more intelligent part of the
community have turned these superstitious notions to their advantage.
Thales is said to have been able to calculate the returns of eclipses
six hundred years before the birth of Christ; of course, he was well
acquainted with the causes by which they were produced; yet his
countrymen were always filled with superstition and terror on the event
of an eclipse. Plutarch has observed that Pericles learned from
Anaxagoras to overcome the terrors which the various phenomena of the
heavens inspired into those who knew not their causes; and he mentions a
striking proof which he gave of this knowledge, on his expedition
against Peloponnesus, when there happened an eclipse of the sun. The
sudden darkness, being considered as an omen unfavourable to the object
of the expedition, occasioned a general consternation. Pericles,
observing the pilot of his own galley to be frightened and confused,
took his cloak and placed it before his eyes, asking him at the same
time if he found any thing alarming, or of evil presage, in what he then
did? and upon his answering in the negative: "Where then is the
difference," said Pericles, "between this covering and the other, except
that something of greater extent than my cloak deprives us of the light
of the sun?" Nor can it be doubted that Alexander when, on a like
occasion, previous to the battle of Arbêla, he commanded a sacrifice to
be made to the sun, the moon, and the earth, as being the three powers
to which eclipses were owing, did it merely to appease the superstitious
notions of his army. To suppose him ignorant of their causes, would be
paying an ill compliment to his great master. Thus it might have been
with regard to the Chinese government, which, whether through ignorance
or policy, still continues to observe with the greatest solemnity the
same ceremonies, or nearly so, on the event of an eclipse, which were in
use among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, near two thousand years
ago. When the moon was darkened by an eclipse, their drums and clarions
and trumpets were sounded, under the notion that, by their shrill and
loud noise, they might assist in relieving the labouring goddess.
"A vast eclipse darkens the neighbouring planet,
Sound there, sound all our instruments of war;
Clarions and trumpets, silver, brass, and iron,
And beat a thousand drums to help her labour."
The brazen gong is violently beat by the Chinese on the same occasion;
and that such an event may not pass unobserved, and the luminary thereby
be deprived of the usual assistance of music, to frighten away or to
charm the dragon, which they suppose to have seized upon it, the great
officers of state in every city and principal town are instructed to
give public notice of the time it will happen, according to the
calculations of the national almanack. A rude projection of a lunar
eclipse, that happened whilst we were at _Tong-choo_, was stuck up in
the corners of the streets; all the officers were in mourning, and all
business was suspended for that day. When the Dutch Embassadors were in
Pekin, the sun was eclipsed on the 21st of January 1795, which happened
to be the first day of their new year: a day observed through the whole
empire with the greatest festivity and rejoicing; and almost the only
day on which the bulk of the people refrain from their respective
occupations. The Embassador and his suite were summoned to court at the
usual hour of three in the morning. On arriving at the palace they were
told that, in consequence of an eclipse of the sun, which was about to
happen on that day and which was a most unfortunate event, portending an
unhappy year to their country, the Emperor would not be visible for
three days, during which time the whole court would go into mourning;
that the amusements, feasts, and entertainments usual on this
particular day would be suspended from one end of the empire to the
other.
Before an eclipse happens, the members of the mathematical board and
other learned men in office assemble near the palace, each having in his
hand a sketch of the obscuration, in order to witness the truth of the
astronomer's calculation. But if these people were not all interested in
making the calculation to agree with the time and other circumstances of
the eclipse, the astronomers would run no great hazard of being detected
in an error, provided it was not a very glaring one, as they have no
instruments for measuring time with any tolerable degree of accuracy.
The moment the eclipse begins, they all fall down on their knees, and
bow their heads nine times to the ground, during which is struck up a
horrible crash of gongs, kettle-drums, trumpets, and other noisy
instruments, intended to scare the devouring dragon.
From the observance of such extravagant ceremonies it would not be fair
to infer their total ignorance of the principles of astronomy; but that
such is really the case, the latter part of their history furnishes
abundant testimony. In the thirteenth century, when Gengis-Khan the
Mongul Tartar first entered China, and his successor Kublai-Khan
effected the conquest of the country, the greatest disorder and
confusion prevailed in their chronology. They were neither able to
regulate the reckoning of time, nor to settle the limits of the
different provinces, nor even to ascertain the divisions of lands as
allotted to the several districts. Kublai, according to their own
annals, held out encouragement for learned men to frequent his court
from every part of the world, and through the means of the missionaries,
both of the Christian and Mahomedan faith, but principally the latter,
and perhaps still more through the descendants of the Greeks, who
anciently settled in Bactriana, many important improvements were then
introduced into China. He caused a regular survey to be taken of the
whole empire. He adjusted their chronology, and corrected the errors of
their astronomical observations; he imported various mathematical and
astronomical instruments from Balk and Samarcand; such as were then in
use among the Chinese being of a rude construction, and unfit to make
observations of the heavenly bodies with any tolerable degree of
accuracy; and he repaired the grand communication by water that connects
the northern with the southern extremities of the empire, a work, in the
contemplation of which the mind is not more strongly impressed with the
grandeur and magnitude of the object, than with the pleasing sense of
its important utility.
In some of the early accounts of China, published in Europe, we find the
description of certain instruments, said to have been discovered on a
mountain near the city of Nankin, and afterwards placed by the Chinese
partly in that capital and partly in Pekin. On a more accurate
examination of those instruments it appeared, that they had all been
constructed for some particular place lying under the 37th parallel of
latitude; from whence it followed, that all the observations made with
them at Pekin, which is in 39° 55'. north, as well as all those made at
Nankin in 32° 4'. north, must have been entirely false: and the very
act of placing them so distant from the parallel for which they were
constructed, is in itself a sufficient proof of the ignorance of the
Chinese in matters of this kind. Mr. Pauw has given the most probable
conjecture respecting those instruments. He supposes them to have been
made at Balk, in Bactriana, by some of those Greeks who obtained the
government of that province under the successors of Alexander, and that
they had passed into China during the period of the Mongul government.
The death of Kublai-Khan was speedily followed by the total expulsion of
the Tartars from China; and most probably, at the same time, of all
those learned men they had been the means of introducing into the
country; for when the empire was again subdued by the Mantchoo Tartars,
whose race now fills the throne, _Sun-chee_, the first Emperor of the
present dynasty, observes in an edict published by him in 1650, that
since the expulsion of the Monguls, the Chinese had not been able to
make a correct almanack; and that error had been accumulating on error
in their astronomical observations and chronology. At this time, some
Mahomedans were again found to superintend the construction of the
calendar; but the office devolving, at length, upon a Chinese, the
unfortunate almanack-maker happened to insert a false intercalation,
assigning thirteen months to the year 1670, when it should have
contained no more than twelve. This mistake was an event too fortunate
to be overlooked by some Catholic missionaries who, at that time,
happened to be in the capital. They saw the advantages to be derived
from convincing the Tartars of the ignorance of the Chinese in a matter
of the last importance to the government, and they had little doubt of
success, where prejudice was already operating in their favour. In
short, the Europeans succeeded; the almanacks of that year were declared
defective, were called in, a new edition printed off, and the poor
almanack-maker is said to have been strangled.
Four German Jesuits were then appointed to fill the vacant places in the
tribunal of mathematics; and, being men of learning, they proved of no
small use at court. After these the Portuguese succeeded to the
appointments of regulating the calendar, three of whom, as already
observed, are now entrusted with this important office. Fortunately for
these gentlemen, the Chinese have no means of detecting any little
inaccuracies that may happen in their calculations. I saw, and conversed
with, numbers of their learned men at the palace of _Yuen-min-yuen_, but
I can safely say, that not a single Chinese, nor a Tartar, who shewed
themselves there, were possessed of the slightest knowledge of
astronomy, nor one who could explain any of the various phenomena of the
heavenly bodies. Astronomy with them consists entirely in a certain
jargon of judicial astrology; and they remain firmly attached to the
belief of the doctrines of their great philosopher, delivered more than
two thousand years ago, which teach them that "the heaven is round, the
earth a square fixed in the middle; the other four elements placed at
its four sides: water to the north; fire to the south; wood to the east;
and metal to the west:" and they believe the stars to be stuck, like so
many nails, at equal distances from the earth, in the blue vault of
heaven.
As to the numerous eclipses taken notice of in the records of the
country, they are mere registers, noted down whenever they happened, and
not predictions or the result of calculations. It does not appear,
indeed, that the Chinese were, at any time, able to predict an eclipse,
notwithstanding all that has been said in their favour on this subject.
The reputed Chinese tables, published by Father Couplet, have been
detected to be those of Tycho Brahe; and Cassini found the chronology of
their eclipses, published by Martinus, to be erroneous, and their
returns impossible. It could not indeed be otherwise; the defectiveness
of the calendar must necessarily falsify all their records as to time.
Had the missionaries been disposed to confer a real service on the
Chinese, instead of misleading the world by their strange and wonderful
accounts of this people; instead of bestowing so much time in
translating into Chinese a set of logarithm tables for the use of
_Kaung-shee_, the second Emperor of the present dynasty, of which they
pretend he was so fond that he always carried them about with him
suspended to his girdle, they should rather have taught them the use,
and the convenience, of the Arabic numbers, of whose combinations and
results their own language is not capable, and have instructed a few of
their youth in the principles of arithmetic and the mathematics. For
such an omission, however, human nature can readily find an excuse. It
would be too great an instance of self-denial, to relinquish the
advantages and the credit which their superior skill had gained them
over a vast empire, by making the individuals of that empire participate
in their knowledge.
When we reflect, for a moment, how many perplexities and difficulties
were occasioned by the irregular coincidences of the solar and lunar
periods, in the calendars of Europe, from the time of Julius Cæsar to
the altering of the style by Pope Gregory, we may readily conceive how
great must be the errors in the chronology of a country, where the
inhabitants are entirely ignorant even of the first principles of
astronomy, and where they depended on the adventitious aid of
foreigners, to enable them to carry into execution one of the most
important concerns of the government.
Every thing of their own invention and discovery carries with it such
strong marks of originality, as cannot easily be mistaken. The language
declares itself to be most unquestionably the production of the country;
so does the mariner's compass; and they have a cycle, or period, to
assist their chronology, of which I think none will dispute with them
the invention. In their records it is carried back to the time of the
Emperor _Whang-tee_, the third from _Fo-shee_. This cycle, consisting of
sixty years, has no reference to the periods of the motions or
coincidences of the sun and moon, as one of the same period among the
Hindus, but is used merely as our century, to distinguish time into eras
or ages. Instead of denominating any given year the first, second, or
third year of such a cycle, they have assumed two sets of characters,
one set consisting of ten, and the other of twelve; the first are called
the ten roots, and the second the twelve branches. The combination of a
root and a branch gives a name for the year; and the different
permutations, of which they are capable, supply them with sixty
distinct titles, making the complete cycle of sixty years. The nature of
this period may be rendered familiar to such as are not conversant with
the combination of numbers, by assuming the numerals from 1 to 10 for
the ten roots, and the letters of the alphabet from _a_ to _m_, for the
twelve branches, and by placing them in a circle, in the following
manner, where the cycle begins with the letter _a_.
[Illustration]
Supposing these letters and figures to be Chinese characters, the first
year of any cycle would be called 1_a_, the second 2_b_, the third 3_c_,
and so on to 10_k_, the tenth year; the eleventh would be 1_l_, the
twelfth 2_m_, the thirteenth 3_a_, and the sixtieth 10_m_, when the
whole revolution would be completed. This cycle, though always used in
the records of their history, never appears in the date of public acts.
These only specify the time of the reign under which they are given, as
the 1st. 2d. or 3d. day of the 1st. 2d. or 3d. moon, of the 1st. 2d. or
3d. year of the reign of such or such an Emperor.
Little progress as they appear to have made in the science of astronomy,
their knowledge of geography, which supposes indeed an acquaintance with
the former, is equally limited. Their own empire was considered to
occupy the middle space of the square surface of the earth, the rest of
which was made up of islands. When the Jesuits first entered China, they
found the charts, even of their own country, rude and incorrect
sketches, without any scale or proportion, wherein a ridge of mountains
covered a whole province, and a river swept away half of another. At
present they have neat and accurate maps of the country, copied after
the original survey of the whole empire, undertaken and completed by the
Jesuits, after several years of indefatigable labour.
Although the Chinese language be unfavourable for numerical combinations
it is admirably adapted for the concise operations of algebra, and the
terse demonstrations of geometry, to neither of which, however, has it
ever been made subservient, both the one and the other being totally
unknown in the country. Their arithmetic is mechanical. To find the
aggregate of numbers, a machine is in universal use, from the man of
letters, to the meanest shopman behind his counter. By this machine,
which is called a _Swan-pan_, arithmetical operations are rendered
palpable. It consists of a frame of wood, divided into two compartments
by a bar running down the middle: through this bar, at right angles, are
inserted a number of parallel wires, and on each wire, in one
compartment, are five moveable balls, and in the other two. These wires
may be considered as the ascending and descending powers of a numeration
table, proceeding in a tenfold proportion; so that if a ball upon any of
the wires, in the larger compartment, be placed against the middle bar,
and called unity or one, a ball on the wire next above it will represent
ten, and one on the next one hundred; so, also, a ball on the wire next
below that expressing unity will be one-tenth, the next lower one
hundredth, and the third one thousandth, part of an unit; and the balls
on the corresponding wires in the smaller compartment will be five,
fifty, five hundred, five-tenths, five hundredths, five thousandths; the
value or power of each of these, in the smaller division, being always
five times as much as of those in the larger. In the following figure,
suppose X be assumed as the line of units, the lines to the right will
be integers decimally increasing, and those to the left fractional parts
decimally decreasing; and the _Swan-pan_ in the present position of the
balls, will represent the number 573916 0705/10000.
[Illustration]
This is clearly a system of decimal arithmetic, which, for the ease,
simplicity, and convenience of its operations, it were to be wished was
generally adopted in Europe, instead of the endless ways in which the
integer is differently divided in different countries, and in the
different provinces of the same country. The _Swan-pan_ would be no bad
instrument for teaching to a blind person the operations of arithmetic.
Yet, paradoxical as it may seem, these operations, as performed by the
Chinese, like their written characters, require more the exercise of the
eye than of the mind. The simple addition or subtraction of the little
balls to, or from, the middle bar, shews at once by their disposition on
the board the result of any required combination. The invention of it I
think may fairly be attributed to the Chinese; though it has been
compared, how justly I cannot pretend to say, to the Roman _abacus_.
It has been observed, and perhaps with a great deal of truth, that the
arts which supply the luxuries, the conveniences, and the necessaries of
life, have derived but little advantage in the first instance from the
labours and speculations of philosophers; that the ingenuity of artists,
the accidental or progressive discoveries of common workmen, in any
particular branch of business, have frequently afforded _data_, from
which, by the reasonings and investigations of philosophers, hints have
sometimes been struck out for arriving at the same ends by a shorter
way; that the learned are therefore more properly to be considered as
improvers than inventors. Of this mortifying truth, the Chinese afford
many strong examples in their arts and manufactures, and particularly in
some of those operations that have a reference to chemistry, which
cannot here be said to exist as a science, although several branches
are in common practice as chemical arts. Without possessing any theory
concerning the affinities of bodies, or attractions of cohesion or
aggregation, they clarify the muddy waters of their rivers, for
immediate use, by stirring them round with a piece of alum in a hollow
bamboo; a simple operation which, experience has taught them, will cause
the clayey particles to fall to the bottom: and having ascertained the
fact, they have given themselves no further trouble to explain the
phenomenon.
In like manner, they are well acquainted with the effect of steam upon
certain bodies that are immersed in it; that its heat is much greater
than that of boiling water. Yet, although for ages they have been in the
constant practice of confining it in close vessels, something like
_Papin's digester_, for the purpose of softening horn, from which their
thin, transparent, and capacious lanterns are made, they seem not to
have discovered its extraordinary force when thus pent up; at least,
they have never thought of applying that power to purposes which animal
strength has not been adequate to effect. They extract from the three
kingdoms of nature the most brilliant colours, which they have also
acquired the art of preparing and mixing, so as to produce every
intermediate tint; and, in their richest and most lively hues, they
communicate these colours to silks, cottons, and paper; yet they have no
theory on colours.
The process of smelting iron from the ore is well known to them; and
their cast ware of this metal is remarkably thin and light. They have
also an imperfect knowledge of converting it into steel, but their
manufactures of this article are not to be mentioned with those of
Europe, I will not say of England, because it stands unrivalled in this
and indeed almost every other branch of the arts. Though their cast-iron
wares appear light and neat, and are annealed in heated ovens, to take
off somewhat of their brittleness, yet their process of rendering cast
iron malleable is imperfect, and all their manufactures of wrought iron
are consequently of a very inferior kind, not only in workmanship but
also in the quality of the metal. In most of the other metals their
manufactures are above mediocrity. Their trinkets of silver fillagree
are extremely neat, and their articles of tootanague are highly
finished.
With the use of cannon they pretend to have been long acquainted. When
Gengis-Khan entered China, in the thirteenth century, artillery and
bombs and mines are said to have been employed on both sides; yet when
the city of Macao, in the year 1621, made a present to the Emperor of
three pieces of artillery, it was found necessary to send along with
them three men to instruct the Chinese how to use them. The introduction
of matchlocks, I am inclined to think, is of no very ancient date; they
wear no marks of originality about them, like other articles of Chinese
invention; on the contrary, they are exact models of the old Portugueze
matchlock; and differ in nothing from those which still continue to be
carried, as an article of commerce, by this nation to Cochin-China.
There can be no doubt, however, of the use of gunpowder being known to
the Chinese long before the Christian era.
In a very ancient treatise on the military art, there is a detailed
account of the manner how to annoy an enemy's camp, by springing a mine
with gunpowder; but this treatise makes no mention of cannon.
Fire-works, made generally of gunpowder, filings of zinc, camphor, and
other ingredients, are described in various old tracts. It is easily
conceived, that the deflagration of nitre was likely to be first noticed
in those countries where it is the spontaneous and abundant production
of the earth, which is the case on the elevated desarts of Tartary and
Thibet, and on the low and extensive plains of India and China. The
gunpowder, however, made by the Chinese is extremely bad. They have no
particular manufactory, but each individual makes his own. It is in fact
one part of the soldier's employment to prepare his own gunpowder. The
usual proportions, according to _Van-ta-gin's_ information are,
50 pounds of nitre,
25 ---- sulphur,
25 ---- charcoal.
They know not the art of granulating the paste, as in Europe, but use it
in a coarse powder, which sometimes cakes together into a solid mass;
and from the impurity of the nitre, (no means appearing to be employed
for extracting the common salt it usually contains) the least exposure
to the air, by attracting the moisture, makes it unfit for service. This
may be one reason for their objection to firelocks.
It has been remarked, that the three great discoveries of the magnetic
needle, of gunpowder, and of printing, in Europe, followed close upon
the return of the famous traveller Marco Polo. It was the boast indeed
of _Caung-shee_ to the Jesuits, when they instructed him in some of the
sciences of Europe, that the latter country was neither acquainted with
the mariner's compass, nor with the art of printing, nor with gunpowder,
till they had been in common use in China near two thousand years. As to
gunpowder, it is pretty obvious, that our countryman Roger Bacon was
well acquainted with the ingredients that enter into its composition. In
more than one part of his works he observes, that with saltpetre and
other articles may be made a fire that will inflame to a great distance;
and in one place he states, that with sulphur, saltpetre, and something
else, which he disguises under two or three barbarous words, a
composition may be made, by which the effects of thunder and of
lightning may be imitated. Bacon died in the year 1292, and Marco Polo
returned to Europe in 1295; so that he could not possibly have received
any hint to lead towards the discovery through the channel of the
Venetian traveller[18].
[18] The invention, in Europe, is usually attributed to one Schwartz, a
German Monk, about the year 1354, which, however, is very doubtful, as
there is every reason to believe that cannon was made use of at the
battle of Cressy, which happened in the year 1346. And Mariana, in his
account of the siege of Algeziras by the Spaniards, in the year 1342, or
1343, as quoted by Bishop Watson, observes, "that the Moors very much
annoyed the Christians with their iron shot;" and he further adds, that
"this is the first mention made in history of the use of gunpowder and
ball." It is therefore extremely probable, that the first introduction
of gunpowder into Europe was by some Mahomedans from the eastward, and
that Schwartz was not the inventor, although he might perhaps have been
the first publisher of the discovery.
If the Chinese had, at any period of their history, been acquainted with
the art of casting large cannon, and of making use of them in their
wars, it is scarcely probable they would ever have lost it. Yet it is
very certain the two Jesuits, Schaal and Verbiest, took great pains to
instruct them in the method of casting cannon; in which, however, they
have not made any progress or improvement. I observed, near one of the
gates of Pekin, a few rude, ill-shapen, and disproportionate pieces,
lying unmounted on the ground, and these, with some of the same kind on
the frontiers of Canton, and a few pieces, apparently twelve pounders,
at _Hang-tcheu-foo_, which had wooden pent-houses erected over each,
were the only cannon that we noticed in the whole country. Whether the
specimens, exhibited in the annexed plate, which were drawn by the late
Captain Parish of the Royal Artillery, be originally of Chinese
invention, or borrowed from some other nation, I cannot take upon me to
decide; but such are the pieces which are sometimes found, scattered
about the gates of some of their cities.
Mr. Bell, who visited China in the suite of the Russian Embassador, near
a century ago, remarks, that "towards the western extremity of the Great
Wall, he observed some hundreds of old cannon piled up in one of the
towers, each composed of three or four pieces of hammered iron, joined
and fastened together with hoops of the same metal." It is probable
indeed that the Chinese, like the Hindoos, before the time of Schaal and
Verbiest, made use of cannon of wrought iron, which were hooped together
like those mentioned by Mr. Bell.
[Illustrations: _Sketches of Chinese Artillery._
References.
_Fig. 1 Iron four Pounder about 8 feet long at Han cheu Fou 2. Iron four
Pounder about 8 feet long at Chong san chien 3. A Field Piece about the
Calibre and length of our Wall Piece but of much greater thickness of
Metal 4. Half Pounder Field Piece 5. A Platform of Masonry with
irregular Pieces about 2 pounders probably for throwing stones. They are
thus placed in the open Spaces at the Gate Ways at =PEKIN= and Ton cheu
6. A Stand for Field Pieces at Cou pe keou_
_Fig. 1_
_Fig. 2_
_Fig. 3_
_Fig. 4_
_Fig. 5_
_Fig. 6_
_Published May 1^st. 1804 by Cadell & Davies Strand._
_Neele sculp. 352 Strand._]
In making their salutes, of which they are not sparing, they invariably
employ three small petards, or pistol-barrels rather, which are stuck
erect in the ground; and in firing these small pieces the soldiers are
so afraid, that they are discharged by a train laid from one to the
other. When Captain Parish caused a few rounds to be fired from two
field-pieces, which were among the presents for the Emperor, in as quick
succession as possible, the Chinese officers very coolly observed, that
their own soldiers could do it just as well, and perhaps better. And
when Lord Macartney asked the Ex-viceroy of Canton if he would wish to
see his guard go through the different evolutions as practised in
Europe, he replied with equal indifference, "That they could not
possibly be new to him, who had been so much engaged in the wars on the
frontiers of Tartary;" though the chances are, that he had never before
seen a firelock: with such ridiculous affectation of superiority, and
contempt for other nations, does the unconquerable pride of this people
inspire them. It seems, indeed, to be laid down as a general principle,
never to be caught in the admiration of any thing brought among them by
foreigners. Whenever a man of rank came to look at the presents, if
observed by any of us, he would carelessly glance his eye over them, and
affect as much indifference as if he was in the daily habit of viewing
things of the same kind.
A French physician, who travelled in China, says he never saw an alembic
or distillatory apparatus in the whole country. The art of distillation,
however, is very well known, and in common practice. Their _Sau-tchoo_,
(literally burnt wine), is an ardent spirit distilled from various
kinds of grain, but most commonly from rice, of a strong empyreumatic
flavour, not unlike the spirit known in Scotland by the name of whiskey.
The rice is kept in hot water till the grains are swollen; it is then
mixed up with water in which has been dissolved a preparation called
_pe-ka_, consisting of rice-flour, liquorice-root, anniseed, and garlic;
this not only hastens fermentation, but is supposed to give it a
peculiar flavour. The mixture then undergoes distillation. The
_Sau-tchoo_, thus prepared, may be considered as the basis of the best
arrack, which in Java is exclusively the manufacture of Chinese, and is
nothing more than a rectification of the above spirit, with the addition
of molasses and juice of the cocoa-nut tree. Before distillation the
liquor is simply called _tchoo_, or wine, and in this state is a very
insipid and disagreeable beverage. The vine grows extremely well in all
the provinces, even as far north as Pekin, but the culture of it seems
to meet with little encouragement, and no wine is made from the juice of
the grape, except by the missionaries near the capital.
The manufacture of earthen ware, as far as depends upon the preparation
of the materials, they have carried to a pitch of perfection not
hitherto equalled by any nation, except the Japanese, who are allowed to
excel them, not only in this branch, but also in all articles of
lacquered and varnished ware, which fetch exorbitant prices even in
China. The beauty of their porcelain, in a great degree, depends upon
the extreme labour and attention that is paid to the assortment, and the
preparation of the different articles employed. These are in general a
fine sort of clay called _Kao-lin_ which is a species of Soap-rock, and
a granite called _Pe-tun-tse_, composed chiefly of quartz, the
proportion of mica being very small. These materials are ground down and
washed with the greatest care; and when the paste has been turned or
moulded into forms, each piece is put into a box of clay before it goes
into the oven; yet with every precaution, it frequently happens (so much
is this art still a work of chance) that a whole oven runs together and
becomes a mass of vitrified matter. Neither the Chinese nor the Japanese
can boast of giving to the materials much elegance of form. With those
inimitable models from the Greek and Roman vases, brought into modern
use by the ingenious Mr. Wedgwood, they will not bear a comparison. And
nothing can be more rude and ill-designed than the grotesque figures and
other objects painted, or rather daubed, on their porcelain, which
however are generally the work of the wives and children of the
labouring poor. That they can do better we have evident proof; for if a
pattern be sent out from England, the artists in Canton will execute it
with scrupulous exactness; and their colours are inimitable.
The manufacture of glass was totally unknown among them until the last
century when, at the recommendation of the Jesuits, a family was engaged
to go from France to Pekin, for the purpose of introducing the art of
glass-making into the country. The attempt failed of success, and the
concern, at the death of the manager, was broken up. In Canton they melt
old broken glass and mold it into new forms; and they have been taught
to coat plates of glass with silver, which are partially used as
looking-glasses; but their common mirrors are of polished metal, which
is apparently a composition of copper and zinc.
The pride, or the policy, of the government affecting to despise any
thing new or foreign, and the general want of encouragement to new
inventions, however ingenious, have been greatly detrimental to the
progress of the arts and manufactures. The people discover no want of
genius to conceive, nor of dexterity to execute; and their imitative
powers have always been acknowledged to be very great. Of the truth of
this remark we had several instances at _Yuen-min-yuen_. The complicated
glass lustres, consisting of several hundred pieces, were taken down,
piece by piece, in the course of half an hour, by two Chinese, who had
never seen any thing of the kind before, and were put up again by them
with equal facility; yet Mr. Parker thought it necessary for our
mechanics to attend at his warehouse several times to see them taken
down and again put together, in order to be able to manage the business
on their arrival in China. A Chinese undertook to cut a slip of glass
from a large curved piece, intended to cover the great dome of the
planetarium, after our two artificers had broken three similar pieces in
attempting to cut them with the help of the diamond. The man performed
it in private, nor could he be prevailed on to say in what manner he
accomplished it. Being a little jagged along the margin, I suspect it
was not cut but fractured, perhaps by passing a heated iron over a line
drawn with water, or some other fluid. It is well known that a Chinese
in Canton, on being shewn an European watch, undertook, and succeeded,
to make one like it, though he had never seen any thing of the kind
before, but it was necessary to furnish him with a main spring, which he
could not make: and they now fabricate in Canton, as well as in London,
and at one third of the expence, all those ingenious pieces of mechanism
which at one time were sent to China in such vast quantities from the
repositories of Coxe and Merlin. The mind of a Chinese is quick and
apprehensive, and his small delicate hands are formed for the execution
of neat work.
The manufacture of silks has been established in China at a period so
remote, as not to be ascertained from history; but the time when the
cotton plant was first brought from the northern parts of India into the
southern provinces of China is known, and noticed in their annals. That
species of the cotton plant, from which is produced the manufacture
usually called nankin cotton, is said to loose its peculiar yellow tint
in the course of two or three years when cultivated in the southern
provinces, owing, in all probability, to the great heat of the weather
and continued sunshine. I have raised this particular species at the
Cape of Good Hope where, upon the same plant, as well as on others
produced from its seed, the pods were as full and the tint of as deep a
yellow in the third year as in the first. As is generally the case in
most of their manufactures, those of silk and cotton do not appear to
have lately undergone progressive improvement. The want of proper
encouragement from the government, and the rigid adherence to ancient
usage, have rendered indeed all their fabrics stationary.
Of all the mechanical arts that in which they seem to have attained the
highest degree of perfection is the cutting of ivory. In this branch
they stand unrivalled, even at Birmingham, that great nursery of the
arts and manufactures where, I understand, it has been attempted by
means of a machine to cut ivory fans and other articles, in imitation of
those of the Chinese; but the experiment, although ingenious, has not
hitherto succeeded to that degree, so as to produce articles fit to vie
with those of the latter. Nothing can be more exquisitely beautiful than
the fine open work displayed in a Chinese fan, the sticks of which would
seem to be singly cut by the hand, for whatever pattern may be required,
or a shield with coat of arms, or a cypher, the article will be finished
according to the drawing at the shortest notice. The two outside sticks
are full of bold sharp work, undercut in such a manner as could not be
performed any other way than by the hand. Yet the most finished and
beautiful of these fans may be purchased at Canton for five to ten
Spanish dollars[19]. Out of a solid ball of ivory, with a hole in it not
larger than half an inch in diameter, they will cut from nine to fifteen
distinct hollow globes, one within another, all loose and capable of
being turned round in every direction, and each of them carved full of
the same kind of open work that appears on the fans. A very small sum of
money is the price of one of these difficult trifles. Models of temples,
pagodas, and other pieces of architecture, are beautifully worked in
ivory; and from the shavings, interwoven with pieces of quills, they
make neat baskets and hats, which are as light and pliant as those of
straw. In short, all kinds of toys for children, and other trinkets and
trifles, are executed in a neater manner and for less money in China,
than in any other part of the world.
[19] I am aware that those laboured pieces, of Italian make, of ivory
cut into landscapes, with houses, trees, and figures, sometimes so small
as to be comprehended within the compass of a ring, may be quoted
against me; but the work of a solitary and secluded monk to beguile the
weary hours, is not to be brought in competition with that of a common
Chinese artist, by which he earns his livelihood.
The various uses, to which that elegant species of reed called the
bamboo is applied, would require a volume to enumerate. Their chairs,
their tables, their skreens, their bedsteads and bedding, and many other
household moveables, are entirely constructed of this hollow reed, and
some of them in a manner sufficiently ingenious and beautiful. It is
used on board ships for poles, for sails, for cables, for rigging, and
for caulking. In husbandry for carts, for wheelbarrows, for wheels to
raise water, for fences, for sacking to hold grain, and a variety of
other utensils. The young shoots furnish an article of food; and the
wicks of their candles are made of its fibres. It serves to embellish
the garden of the prince, and to cover the cottage of the peasant. It is
the instrument, in the hand of power, that keeps the whole empire in
awe. In short, there are few uses to which a Chinese cannot apply the
bamboo, either entire or split into thin laths, or further divided into
fibres to be twisted into cordage, or macerated into a pulp to be
manufactured into paper.
That "there is nothing new under the sun," was the observation of a wise
man in days of yore. Impressed with the same idea an ingenious and
learned modern author[20] has written a book to prove, that all the late
discoveries and inventions of Europe were known to the ancients. The
discovery of making paper from straw, although new, perhaps, in Europe,
is of very ancient date in China. The straw of rice and other grain, the
bark of the mulberry-tree, the cotton shrub, hemp, nettles, and various
other plants and materials, are employed in the paper manufactories of
China, where sheets are prepared of such dimensions, that a single one
may be had to cover the whole side of a moderate sized room. The finer
sort of paper for writing upon has a surface as smooth as vellum, and is
washed with a strong solution of alum to prevent the ink from sinking.
Many old persons and children earn a livelihood by washing the ink from
written paper, which, being afterwards beaten and boiled to a paste, is
re-manufactured into new sheets; and the ink is also separated from the
water, and preserved for future life. To this article of their
manufacture the arts in our own country owe so many advantages, that
little requires to be said in its favour. The Chinese, however,
acknowledge their obligations to the Coreans for the improvements in
making ink, which, not many centuries ago, were received from them.
[20] Mr. Dutens.
As to the art of printing, there can be little doubt of its antiquity in
China, yet they have never proceeded beyond a wooden block. The nature,
indeed, of the character is such, that moveable types would scarcely be
practicable. It is true, the component parts of the characters are
sufficiently simple and few in number; but the difficulty of putting
them together upon the frame, into the multitude of forms of which they
are capable, is perhaps not to be surmounted.
Like the rest of their inventions the chain-pump which, in Europe, has
been brought to such perfection as to constitute an essential part of
ships of war and other large vessels, continues among the Chinese nearly
in its primitive state, the principal improvement since its first
invention consisting in the substitution of boards or basket-work for
wisps of straw. Its power with them has never been extended beyond that
of raising a small stream of water up an inclined plane, from one
reservoir to another, to serve the purposes of irrigation. They are of
different sizes, some worked by oxen, some by treading in a wheel, and
others by the hand.
The great advantages attainable from the use of mechanical powers are
either not understood or, purposely, not employed. In a country of such
vast population, machinery may perhaps be considered as detrimental
especially as, at least, nine-tenths of the community must derive their
subsistence from manual labour. It may be a question, not at all decided
in their minds, whether the general advantages of facilitating labour,
and gaining time by means of machinery, be sufficient to counterbalance
the individual distress that would, for a time, be occasioned by the
introduction of such machinery. Whatever the reason may be, no such
means are to be met with in the country. Among the presents that were
carried out for the Emperor were an apparatus for the air pump, various
articles for conducting a set of experiments in electricity, and the
models of a complete set of mechanical powers placed upon a brass
pillar. The Emperor, happening to cast his eye upon them, enquired of
the eunuch in waiting for what they were intended. This mutilated
animal, although he had been daily studying the nature and use of the
several presents, in order to be able to say something upon them when
they should be exhibited to his master, could not succeed in making his
Imperial Majesty comprehend the intention of the articles in question.
"I fancy," says the old monarch, "they are meant as playthings for some
of my great grandchildren."
The power of the pulley is understood by them, and is applied on board
all their large vessels, but always in a single state; at least, I never
observed a block with more than one wheel in it. The principle of the
lever should also seem to be well known, as all their valuable wares,
even silver and gold, are weighed with the steelyard: and the tooth and
pinion wheels are used in the construction of their self-moving toys,
and in all their rice-mills that are put in motion by a water wheel. But
none of the mechanical powers are applied on the great scale to
facilitate and to expedite labour. Simplicity is the leading feature in
all their contrivances that relate to the arts and manufactures. The
tools of every artificer are of a construction the most simple that it
should seem possible to make them, and yet each tool is so contrived as
to answer several purposes. Thus, the bellows of the blacksmith, which
is nothing more than a hollow cylinder of wood, with a valvular piston,
beside blowing the fire, serves for his seat when set on end, and as a
box to contain the rest of his tools. The barber's bamboo basket, that
contains his apparatus, is also the seat for his customers. The joiner
makes use of his rule as a walking stick, and the chest that holds his
tools serves him as a bench to work on. The pedlar's box and a large
umbrella are sufficient for him to exhibit all his wares, and to form
his little shop.
Little can be said in favour of the state of the fine arts in this
country. Of their poetry, modern and ancient, I have given a specimen;
but I think it right once more to observe that, with regard to Asiatic
compositions, Europeans cannot form a proper judgment, and more
especially of those of the Chinese, which, to the mysterious and obscure
expressions of metaphor, add the disadvantage of a language that speaks
but little to the ear; a whole sentence, or a combination of ideas,
being sometimes shut up in a short monosyllable, whose beauties are most
studiously addressed to the sense of seeing alone.
Of the other two sister arts, painting and music, a more decided opinion
may be passed. Of the latter I have little to observe. It does not seem
to be cultivated as a science: it is neither learned as an elegant
accomplishment, nor practiced as an amusement of genteel life, except by
those females who are educated for sale, or by such as hire themselves
out for the entertainment of those who may be inclined to purchase their
favours. And as the Chinese differ in their ideas from all other
nations, these women play generally upon wind instruments, such as
small pipes and flutes; whilst the favourite instrument of the men is
the guittar or something not very unlike it, some of which have two
strings, some four, and others seven. Eunuchs, and the lowest class of
persons, are hired to play; and the merit of a performance should seem
to consist in the intenseness of the noise brought out of the different
instruments. The gong or, as they call it, the _loo_ is admirably
adapted for this purpose. This instrument is a sort of shallow kettle,
or rather the lid of a kettle, which they strike with a wooden mallet
covered with leather. The composition is said to be copper, tin, and
bismuth. They have also a kind of clarinet, three or four different
sorts of trumpets, and a stringed instrument not unlike a violoncello.
Their _sing_ is a combination of uneven reeds of bamboo, not unlike the
pipe of Pan; the tones are far from being disagreeable, but its
construction is so wild and irregular, that it does not appear to be
reducible to any kind of scale. Their kettle drums are generally shaped
like barrels; and these, as well as different-sized bells fixed in a
frame, constitute parts in their sacred music. They have also an
instrument of music which consists of stones, cut into the shape of a
carpenter's square, each stone suspended by the corner in a wooden
frame. Those which I saw appeared to belong to that species of the
silicious genus usually called Gneiss, a sort of slaty granite. In the
Keswick museum are musical stones of the same kind, which were picked up
in a rivulet at the foot of Skiddaw mountain; but these seem to contain
small pieces of black shorl or tourmaline. It is indeed the boast of
their historians, that the whole empire of nature has been laid
under contribution in order to complete their system of music: that the
skins of animals, the fibres of plants, metals, stones, and baked
earths, have all been employed in the production of sounds. Their
instruments, it is true, are sufficiently varied, both as to shape and
materials, but I know of none that is even tolerable to an European ear.
An English gentleman in Canton took some pains to collect the various
instruments of the country, of which the annexed plate is a
representation, but his catalogue is not complete.
[Illustrations:
_A sheet of bell Metal_
_A pot of bell Metal_
_The Great Bell of Canton 20 feet diameter 8-16 Inches thick._
_A Barrel drum sometimes of Wood & sometimes Metal._
_A Log of Wood shaped like a Skull and used in Temples._
_A Metal Bell._
_A Lyre of silken Strings._
_A small Flute._
_A Muffled Drum._
_The Metal Gong or Loo_
_Cymbals._
_Uncertain_
_A Pair of Rattles or Castanets._
_Cymbals struck with a rod._
_Alommon Flute._
_Two Stringed Violins_
_A Three Stringed Guitar._
_A Pipe of inequal reeds or bamboos._
_Four Stringed Guitars._
_Three Trumpets._
_A Lyre of 11 Metallic Strings._
_Metal Plates an Instrument used in Sacred Music._
_A small barrell Drum._
_A fixed Drum used in Sacred Music._
_A small Gong or Loo._
_Published May 10^th, 1804 by Cadell and Davies Strand._
_Neele sc. Strand_]
A Chinese band generally plays, or endeavours to play, in unison, and
sometimes an instrument takes the octave; but they never attempt to play
in separate parts, confining their art to the melody only, if I may
venture to apply a name of so much sweetness to an aggregation of harsh
sounds. They have not the least notion of counter-point, or playing in
parts: an invention indeed to which the elegant Greeks had not arrived,
and which was unknown in Europe as well as Asia, until the monkish ages.
I never heard but one single Chinese who could be said to sing with
feeling or plaintiveness. Accompanied with a kind of guittar, he sung
the following air in praise of the flower _Moo-lee_, which it seems is
one of the most popular songs in the whole country. The simple melody
was taken down by Mr. Hittner, and I understand has been published in
London, with head and tail-pieces, accompaniments, and all the refined
arts of European music; so that it ceases to be a specimen of the plain
melody of China. I have therefore given it in its unadorned state, as
sung and played by the Chinese, together with the words of the first
stanza, and their literal translation.
[Music: MOO-LEE-WHA.
I.
1 2 3 4 5
_Hau ye-to sien wha,_
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
_Yeu tchau yeu jie lo tsai go kia_
14 15 16 17 18 19
_Go pun tai, poo tchoo mun_
20 21 22 23 24 25
_Twee tcho sien wha ul lo._
II.
1 2 3 4 5 6
_Hau ye to Moo-lee-wha_
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
_Man yuen wha kai soy poo quee ta_
15 16 17 18 19 20
_Go pun tai tsai ye ta_
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
_Tai you kung kan wha jin ma._
_Literal Translation._
I.
1 2 3 4 5
How delightful this branch of fresh flowers
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
One morning one day it was dropped in my house
14 15 16 17 18 19
I the owner will wear it not out of doors
20 21 22 23 24 25
But I will hold the fresh flower and be happy.
II.
1 2 3 4 5 6
How delightful this branch of the _Moo-lee_ flower
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
In the full plot of flowers blowing freely none excels it
15 16 17 18 19 20
I the owner will wear this gathered branch
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Wear it yet fear, the flower seen, men will envy.]
I have thought it not amiss to subjoin a few other airs of the popular
kind, which were written by the same gentleman at Canton, who made the
drawings of their musical instruments.
CHINESE POPULAR AIRS.
[Music: No. I.]
[Music: No. II.]
[Music: No. III.]
[Music: No. IV.]
[Music: No. V.]
[Music: No. VI.]
[Music: No. VII.]
[Music: No. VIII.]
[Music: No. IX.]
They have no other notion of noting down music than that of employing a
character expressing the name of every note in the scale; and even this
imperfect way they learned from Pereira the Jesuit. They affected to
dislike the Embassador's band which they pretended to say produced no
music, but a confusion of noises; yet the Emperor's chief musician gave
himself a great deal of trouble in tracing out the several instruments
on large sheets of paper, each of its particular size, marking the
places of the holes, screws, strings, and other parts, which they
conceived necessary to enable them to make others of a similar
construction.
It would be difficult to assign the motive that induced Father Amiot to
observe, that "the Chinese, in order to obtain their scale of notes or
gamut perfect, were not afraid of submitting to the most laborious
operations of geometry, and to the most tedious and disgusting
calculations in the science of numbers;" as he must have known, that
they were altogether ignorant of geometry, and that their arithmetic
extended not beyond their _Swan-pan_. Of the same nature is the bold and
unfounded assertion of another of the Jesuits, "that the musical system
of the Chinese was borrowed from them by the Greeks and Egyptians,
anterior to the time of Hermes or Orpheus!"
With regard to painting, they can be considered in no other light than
as miserable daubers, being unable to pencil out a correct outline of
many objects, to give body to the same by the application of proper
lights and shadows, and to lay on the nice shades of colour, so as to
resemble the tints of nature. But the gaudy colouring of certain
flowers, birds, and insects, they imitate with a degree of exactness and
brilliancy to which Europeans have not yet arrived. To give distance to
objects on canvas, by diminishing them, by faint colouring, and by
perspective, they have no sort of conception. At _Yuen-min-yuen_ I found
two very large paintings of landscapes which, as to the pencilling, were
done with tolerable execution, but they were finished with a minuteness
of detail, and without any of those strong lights and masses of shade,
which give force and effect to a picture; none of the rules of
perspective were observed, nor any attempt to throw the objects to their
proper distances; yet I could not help fancying that I discovered in
them the hand of an European. The old eunuch, who carried the keys of
the room, frequently asked me, when looking at these pictures, if I did
not think his countrymen were excellent painters; and having one day
expressed great admiration for the talents of the artist, he led me into
a recess of the room, and opening a chest, supported upon a pedestal, he
observed, with a significant look, he was now going to produce something
that would astonish me. He then took out several large volumes, which
were full of figures, drawn in a very superior style and tinted with
water colours, representing the several trades and occupations carried
on in the country; but they seemed to be stuck against the paper, having
neither shadow nor foreground, nor distance, to give them any relief. On
the opposite page to each figure was a description, in the Mantchoo
Tartar and the Chinese languages. Having turned over one of the volumes,
I observed, on the last page, the name of _Castaglione_, which at once
solved the riddle. On re-examining the large pictures in the hall, I
found the same name in the corner of each. While going through the
volume, the old eunuch frequently asked, if any one in Europe could
paint like the Chinese? but, on my pointing to the name, and repeating
the word _Castaglione_, he immediately shut the book and returned them
all into the chest, nor, from that time, could I ever prevail upon him
to let me have another sight of them. On enquiry, I found that
Castaglione was a missionary in great repute at court, where he executed
a number of paintings, but was expressly directed by the Emperor to
paint all his subjects after the Chinese manner, and not like those of
Europe, with broad masses of shade and the distant objects scarcely
visible, observing to him, as one of the missionaries told me, that the
imperfections of the eye afforded no reason why the objects of nature
should also be copied as imperfect. This idea of the Emperor accords
with a remark made by one of his ministers, who came to see the portrait
of His Britannic Majesty, "that it was great pity it should have been
spoiled by the dirt upon the face," pointing, at the same time, to the
broad shade of the nose.
Ghirrardini, an European painter, published an account of his voyage to
China, where, it appears, he was so disgusted that, having observed how
little idea they possess of the fine arts, he adds, with rather more
petulancy than truth, "these Chinese are fit for nothing but weighing
silver, and eating rice." Ghirrardini painted a large colonnade in
vanishing perspective, which struck them so very forcibly that they
concluded he must certainly have dealings with the Devil; but, on
approaching the canvas and feeling with their hands, in order to be
fully convinced that all they saw was on a flat surface, they persisted
that nothing could be more unnatural than to represent distances, where
there actually neither was, nor could be, any distance.
It is scarcely necessary to add any thing further with regard to the
state of painting in China. I shall only observe, that the Emperor's
favourite draughtsman, who may of course be supposed as good or better
than others of the same profession in the capital, was sent to make
drawings of some of the principal presents to carry to his master, then
in Tartary, as elucidations of the descriptive catalogue. This man,
after various unsuccessful attempts to design the elegant time-pieces
of Vulliamy, supported by beautiful figures of white marble, supplicated
my assistance in a matter which he represented as of the last importance
to himself. It was in vain to assure him that I was no draughtsman; he
was determined to have the proof of it; and he departed extremely well
satisfied in obtaining a very mean performance with the pencil, to copy
after or cover with his China ink. Every part of the machines, except
the naked figures which supported the time-piece and a barometer, he
drew with neatness and accuracy, but all his attempts to copy these were
unsuccessful. Whether it was owing to any real difficulty that exists in
the nice turns and proportions of the human figure, or that by being
better acquainted with it we more readily perceive the defects in the
imitation of it, or from the circumstance of the human form being
concealed in this country in loose folding robes, that caused the
Chinese draughtsman so completely to fail, I leave to the artists of our
own country to determine: but the fact was as I state it; all his
attempts to draw these figures were preposterous.
As to those specimens of beautiful flowers, birds, and insects,
sometimes brought over to Europe, they are the work of artists at Canton
where, from being in the habit of copying prints and drawings, carried
thither for the purpose of being transferred to porcelain, or as
articles of commerce, they have acquired a better taste than in the
interior parts of the country. Great quantities of porcelain are sent
from the potteries to Canton perfectly white, that the purchaser may
have them painted to his own pattern: and specimens of these bear
testimony that they are no mean copyists. It has been observed,
however, that the subjects of natural history, painted by them, are
frequently incorrect; that it is no unusual thing to meet with the
flower of one plant set upon the stalk of another, and having the leaves
of a third. This may formerly have been the case, from their following
imperfect patterns, or from supposing they could improve nature; but
having found that the representations of natural objects are in more
request among foreigners, they pay a stricter attention to the subject
that may be required; and we found them indeed such scrupulous copyists,
as not only to draw the exact number of the petals, the stamina, and
pistilla of a flower, but also the very number of leaves, with the
thorns or spots on the foot-stalk that supported it. They will even
count the number of scales on a fish, and mark them out in their
representations, and it is impossible to imitate the brilliant colours
of nature more closely. I brought home several drawings of plants,
birds, and insects, that have been greatly admired for their accuracy
and close colouring; but they want that effect which the proper
application of light and shade never fails to produce. The coloured
prints of Europe that are carried out to Canton are copied there with
wonderful fidelity. But in doing this, they exercise no judgment of
their own. Every defect and blemish, original or accidental, they are
sure to copy, being mere servile imitators, and not in the least feeling
the force or the beauty of any specimen of the arts that may come before
them; for the same person who is one day employed in copying a beautiful
European print, will sit down the next to a Chinese drawing replete with
absurdity.
Whatever may be the progress of the arts in the port of Canton, they are
not likely to experience much improvement in the interior parts of the
country, or in the capital. It was the pride rather of the monarch, and
of his ministers, that made them reject the proposal of Castaglione to
establish a school for the arts, than the apprehension, as stated by the
missionaries, that the rage for painting would become so general, as to
be prejudicial to useful labour.
In a country where painting is at so low an ebb, it would be in vain to
expect much execution from the chissel. Grotesque images of ideal
beings, and monstrous distortions of nature, are sometimes seen upon the
ballustrades of bridges, and in their temples, where the niches are
filled with gigantic gods of baked clay, sometimes painted with gaudy
colours, and sometimes plastered over with gold leaf, or covered with a
coat of varnish. They are as little able to model as to draw the human
figure with any degree of correctness. In the whole empire there is not
a statue, a hewn pillar, or a column that deserves to be mentioned.
Large four-sided blocks of stone or wood are frequently erected near the
gates of cities, with inscriptions upon them, meant to perpetuate the
memory of certain distinguished characters; but they are neither objects
of grandeur nor ornament, having a much closer resemblance to a gallows
than to triumphal arches, as the missionaries, for what reason I know
not, have thought fit to call them.
The intention of these monumental erections will appear from some of
their inscriptions.
I.
_Honour granted by the Emperor._
_The grateful odour of one hundred years._
_Retirement._ _Tranquillity._
II.
_Emperor's order._
_Peace and Happiness,_
_The balm of Life._
_On a fortunate day, in the 8th month of the 50th year of the
reign of Kien-Long, this monument was erected by the
Emperor's order, in honour of Liang-tien-pe, aged
102 years._
The two following are inscriptions on monuments that have been erected
to chaste women, a description of ladies whom the Chinese consider to be
rarely met with.
III.
_Honour granted by the Emperor._
_Icy coldness._ _Hard frost._
IV.
_The Emperor's order._
_The sweet fragrance of piety and virginity._
_Sublime chastity._ _Pure morals._
The whole of their architecture, indeed, is as unsightly as unsolid;
without elegance or convenience of design, and without any settled
proportion; mean in its appearance, and clumsy in the workmanship. Their
pagodas of five, seven, and nine rounds, or roofs, are the most striking
objects; but though they appear to be the imitations or, perhaps, more
properly speaking, the models of a similar kind of pyramids found in
India, they are neither so well designed, nor so well executed: they
are, in fact, so very ill constructed that half of them, without any
marks of antiquity, appear in ruins; of these useless and whimsical
edifices His Majesty's garden at Kew exhibits a specimen, which is not
inferior in any respect to the very best I have met with in China. The
height of such structures, and the badness of the materials with which
they are usually built, contradict the notion that they assign as a
reason for the lowness of their houses, which is, that they may escape
being thrown down by earthquakes. In fact, the tent stands confessed in
all their dwellings, of which the curved roof and the wooden pillars (in
imitation of the poles) forming a colonnade round the ill-built brick
walls, clearly denote the origin; and from this original form they have
never ventured to deviate. Their temples are mostly constructed upon the
same plan, with the addition of a second, and sometimes a third roof,
one above the other. The wooden pillars that constitute the colonnade
are generally of larch fir, of no settled proportion between the length
and the diameter, and they are invariably painted red and sometimes
covered with a coat of varnish.
As custom and fashion are not the same in any two countries, it has been
contended by many that there can be no such thing as true taste. The
advocates for taste arising out of custom will say, that no solid reason
can be offered why the pillar which supports the Doric capital should be
two diameters shorter than that which sustains the Corinthian; and that
it is the habit only of seeing them thus constructed that constitutes
their propriety. Though the respective beauties of these particular
columns may, in part, be felt from the habit of observing them always
retaining a settled proportion, yet it must be allowed that, in the most
perfect works of nature, there appears a certain harmony and agreement
of one part with another, that without any settled proportion seldom
fail to please. Few people will disagree in their ideas of a handsome
tree, or an elegant flower, though there be no fixed proportion between
the trunk and the branches, the flower and the foot-stalk. Proportion,
therefore, alone, is not sufficient to constitute beauty. There must be
no stiffness, no sudden breaking off from a straight line to a curve;
but the changes should be easy, not visible in any particular part, but
running imperceptibly through the whole. Utility has also been
considered as one of the constituent parts of beauty. In the Chinese
column, labouring under an enormous mass of roof, without either base or
capital, there is neither symmetry of parts, nor ease, nor particular
utility. Nor have the large ill-shapen and unnatural figures of lions,
dragons, and serpents, grinning on the tops and corners of the roofs,
any higher pretensions to good taste, to utility, or to beauty.
"The architecture of the Chinese," says one of their encomiasts, "though
it bears no relation to that of Europe; though it has borrowed nothing
from that of the Greeks, has a certain beauty peculiar to itself." It is
indeed peculiar to itself, and the missionaries may be assured they are
the only persons who will ever discover "real palaces in the mansions of
the Emperor," or to whom, "their immensity, symmetry, and magnificence,
will announce the grandeur of the master who inhabits them."
The house of a prince, or a great officer of state, in the capital, is
not much distinguished from that of a tradesman, except by the greater
space of ground on which it stands, and by being surrounded by a high
wall. Our lodgings in Pekin were in a house of this description. The
ground plot was four hundred by three hundred feet, and it was laid out
into ten or twelve courts, some having two, some three, and others four,
tent-shaped houses, standing on stone terraces raised about three feet
above the court, which was paved with tiles. Galleries of communication,
forming colonnades of red wooden pillars, were carried from each
building and from one court to another, so that every part of the house
might be visited without exposure to the sun or the rain. The number of
wooden pillars of which the colonnades were formed was about 900. Most
of the rooms were open to the rafters of the roof; but some had a slight
ceiling of bamboo laths covered with plaster; and the ladies apartments
consisted of two stories; the upper however had no light, and was not so
good as our common attics. The floors were laid with bricks or clay. The
windows had no glass; oiled paper, or silk gauze, or pearl shell, or
horn, were used as substitutes for this article. In the corners of some
of the rooms were holes in the ground, covered over with stones or wood,
intended for fire-places, from whence the heat is conveyed, as in the
houses of ancient Rome, through flues in the floor, or in the walls, the
latter of which are generally whitened with lime made from shells and
imported from the sea coast. One room was pointed out to us as the
theatre. The stage was in the middle, and a sort of gallery was erected
in front of it. A stone room was built in the midst of a piece of water,
in imitation of a passage yacht, and one of the courts was roughened
with rocks, with points and precipices and excavations, as a
representation of nature in miniature. On the ledges of these were meant
to be placed their favourite flowers and stunted trees, for which they
are famous.
There is not a water-closet, nor a decent place of retirement in all
China. Sometimes a stick is placed over a hole in a corner, but in
general they make use of large earthen jars with narrow tops. In the
great house we occupied was a walled inclosure, with a row of small
square holes of brick-work sunk in the ground.
Next to the pagodas, the most conspicuous objects are the gates of
cities. These are generally square buildings, carried several stories
above the arched gateway and, like the temples, are covered with one or
more large projecting roofs. But the most stupendous work of this
country is the great wall that divides it from northern Tartary. It is
built exactly upon the same plan as the wall of Pekin, being a mound of
earth cased on each side with bricks or stone. The astonishing
magnitude of the fabric consists not so much in the plan of the work, as
in the immense distance of fifteen hundred miles over which it is
extended, over mountains of two and three thousand feet in height,
across deep vallies and rivers. But the elevations, plans, and sections
of this wall and its towers have been taken with such truth and accuracy
by the late Captain Parish, of the Royal Artillery, that all further
description would be superfluous. They are to be found in Sir George
Staunton's valuable account of the embassy to China.
The same Emperor, who is said to have committed the barbarous act of
destroying the works of the learned, raised this stupendous fabric,
which has no parallel in the whole world, not even in the pyramids of
Egypt, the magnitude of the largest of these containing only a very
small portion of the quantity of matter comprehended in the great wall
of China. This indeed is so enormous, that admitting, what I believe has
never been denied, its length to be fifteen hundred miles, and the
dimensions throughout pretty much the same as where it was crossed by
the British Embassy, the materials of all the dwelling-houses of England
and Scotland, supposing them to amount to one million eight hundred
thousand, and to average on the whole two thousand cubic feet of masonry
or brick-work, are barely equivalent to the bulk or solid contents of
the great wall of China. Nor are the projecting massy towers of stone
and brick included in this calculation. These alone, supposing them to
continue throughout at bow-shot distance, were calculated to contain as
much masonry and brick-work as all London. To give another idea of the
mass of matter in this stupendous fabric, it may be observed, that it is
more than sufficient to surround the circumference of the earth on two
of its great circles, with two walls, each six feet high and two feet
thick! It is to be understood, however, that in this calculation is
included the earthy part in the middle of the wall.
Turning from an object, which the great Doctor Johnson was of opinion
would be an honour to any one to say that his grandfather had seen,
another presents itself scarcely inferior in point of grandeur, and
greatly excelling it in general utility. This is what has usually been
called the imperial or grand canal, an inland navigation of such extent
and magnitude as to stand unrivalled in the history of the world. I may
safely say that, in point of magnitude, our most extensive inland
navigation of England can no more be compared to the grand trunk that
intersects China, than a park or garden fish-pond to the great lake of
Winandermere. The Chinese ascribe an antiquity to this work higher by
many centuries than to that of the great wall; but the Tartars pretend
it was first opened in the thirteenth century under the Mongul
government. The probability is, that an effeminate and shameful
administration had suffered it to fall into decay, and that the more
active Tartars caused it to undergo a thorough repair: at present it
exhibits no appearances of great antiquity. The bridges, the stone piers
of the flood-gates, the quays, and the retaining walls of the earthen
embankments are comparatively new. Whether it has originally been
constructed by Chinese or Tartars, the conception of such an
undertaking, and the manner in which it is executed, imply a degree of
science and ingenuity beyond what I suspect we should now find in the
country, either in one or the other of these people. The general surface
of the country and other favourable circumstances have contributed very
materially to assist the projector, but a great deal of skill and
management, as well as of immense labour, are conspicuous throughout the
whole work.
I shall endeavour to convey, in a few words, a general idea of the
principles on which this grand undertaking has been carried on. All the
rivers of note in China fall from the high lands of Tartary, which lie
to the northward of Thibet, crossing the plains of this empire in their
descent to the sea from west to east. The inland navigation being
carried from north to south cuts these rivers at right angles, the
smaller streams of which terminating in it afford a constant supply of
water; and the three great rivers, the _Eu-ho_ to the north, the _Yellow
River_ towards the middle, and the _Yang-tse-kiang_ to the south,
intersecting the canal, carry off the superfluous water to the sea. The
former, therefore, are the _feeders_, and the latter the _dischargers_,
of the great trunk of the canal. A number of difficulties must have
arisen in accommodating the general level of the canal to the several
levels of the feeding streams; for notwithstanding all the favourable
circumstances of the face of the country, it has been found necessary in
many places to cut down to the depth of sixty or seventy feet below the
surface; and, in others, to raise mounds of earth upon lakes and swamps
and marshy grounds, of such a length and magnitude that nothing short of
the absolute command over multitudes could have accomplished an
undertaking, whose immensity is only exceeded by the great wall. These
gigantic embankments are sometimes carried through lakes of several
miles in diameter, between which the water is forced up to a height
considerably above that of the lake; and in such situations we sometimes
observed this enormous aqueduct gliding along at the rate of three miles
an hour. Few parts of it are level: in some places it has little or no
current; one day we had it setting to the southward at the rate of one,
two, or three miles an hour, the next to the northward, and frequently
on the same day we found it stationary, and running in opposite
directions. This balancing of the level was effected by flood-gates
thrown across at certain distances to elevate or depress the height of
the water a few inches, as might appear to be necessary; and these
stoppages are simply planks sliding in grooves, that are cut into the
sides of two stone abutments, which in these places contract the canal
to the width of about thirty feet. There is not a lock nor, except
these, a single interruption to a continued navigation of six hundred
miles.
The most remarkable parts of this extraordinary work will be noticed in
a following chapter, descriptive of our journey through the empire.
Over this main trunk, and most of the other canals and rivers, are a
great variety of bridges, some with arches that are pointed not unlike
the gothic, some semicircular, and others shaped like a horse-shoe: some
have the piers of such an extraordinary height that the largest vessels,
of two hundred tons, sail under them without striking their masts. Some
of their bridges, of three, five, and seven arches[21], that cross the
canal, are extremely light and beautiful to the eye, but the plan on
which they are usually constructed does not imply much strength. Each
stone, from five to ten feet in length, is cut so as to form a segment
of the arch, and as, in such cases, there is no key-stone, ribs of wood
fitted to the convexity of the arch are bolted through the stones by
iron bars, fixed fast into the solid parts of the bridge. Sometimes,
however, they are without wood, and the curved stones are morticed into
long transverse blocks of stone, as in the annexed plate, which was
drawn with great accuracy by Mr. Alexander.
[21] A bridge with ninety-one arches will be noticed in a subsequent
chapter.
In this Plate,
No. 1. Are stones cut to the curve of the arch 10 feet long.
2. An immense stone, 2 feet square, of the whole
depth of the arch.
3. Curved stones, 7 feet long.
4. Ditto, 5 feet.
5. Ditto, 3-1/2 feet.
6. Ditto, 3 feet.
7. Ditto, 3 feet.
8.8. Stones similar to No. 2. being each one entire
piece running through the bridge, and intended,
it would seem, to bind the fabric together as the
pillars 9.9. are morticed into them.
[Illustration: _Construction of the Arch of a_ CHINESE BRIDGE
_Pub. May 10^th., 1804, by Cadell, & Davies Strand._
_Neele sc. 352, Strand._]
There are, however, other arches wherein the stones are smaller and
pointed to a centre as in ours. I have understood from the late
Captain Parish, that no masonry could be superior to that of the great
wall, and that all the arched and vaulted work in the old towers was
exceedingly well turned. This being the case, we may probably be not far
amiss in allowing the Chinese to have employed this useful and
ornamental part of architecture before it was known to the Greeks and
the Romans. Neither the Egyptians nor the Persians appear at any time to
have applied it in their buildings. The ruins of Thebes and of
Persepolis have no arches, nor have those of Balbec and Palmyra; nor do
they seem to have been much used in the magnificent buildings of the
Romans antecedent to the time of Augustus. The grand and elegant columns
of all these nations were connected by straight architraves of stone, of
dimensions not inferior to the columns themselves. In the Hindoo
excavations are arches cut out of the solid mountain; but when loose
stones were employed, and a building was intended to be superstructed on
columns, the stones above the capitals were overlaid like inverted
steps, till they met in a point in the middle above the two columns,
appearing at a little distance exactly like the gothic arch, of which
this might have given the first idea. If then the antiquity be admitted
which the Chinese ascribe to the building of the great wall, and no
reason but a negative one, the silence of Marco Polo, has been offered
against it (an objection easily refuted), they have a claim to the
invention of the arch founded on no unsolid grounds.
The cemeteries, or repositories of the dead, exhibit a much greater
variety of monumental architecture than the dwellings of the living can
boast of. Some indeed deposit the remains of their ancestors in houses
that differ in nothing from those they inhabited while living, except in
their diminutive size; others prefer a square vault, ornamented in such
a manner as fancy may suggest; some make choice of a hexagon to cover
the deceased, and others of an octagon. The round, the triangular, the
square, and multangular column, is indifferently raised over the grave
of a Chinese; but the most common form of a monument to the remains of
persons of rank consists in three terraces, one above another, inclosed
by circular walls. The door or entrance of the vault is in the centre of
the uppermost terrace, covered with an appropriate inscription; and
figures of slaves and horses and cattle, with other creatures that, when
living, were subservient to them and added to their pleasures, are
employed after their death to decorate the terraces of their tombs.
"Quæ gratia currûm
Armorumque fuit vivis, quæ cura nitentes
Pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos."
Virgil, Æneid vi.
"Those pleasing cares the heroes felt, alive,
For chariots, steeds, and arms, in death survive."
Pitt.
It may be considered as superfluous, after what has been said, to
observe, that no branch of natural philosophy is made a study, or a
pursuit in China. The practical application of some of the most obvious
effects produced by natural causes could not escape the observation of a
people who had, at an early period, attained so high a degree of
civilization, but, satisfied with the practical part, they pushed their
enquiries no farther. Of pneumatics, hydrostatics, electricity, and
magnetism, they may be said to have little or no knowledge; and their
optics extend not beyond the making of convex and concave lenses of rock
crystal to assist the sight in magnifying, or throwing more rays upon,
small objects and, by collecting to a focus the rays of the sun, to set
fire to combustible substances. These lenses are cut with a saw and
afterwards polished, the powder of crystal being used in both
operations. To polish diamonds they make use of the powder of adamantine
spar, or the corundum stone. In cutting different kinds of stone into
groups of figures, houses, mountains, and sometimes into whole
landscapes, they discover more of persevering labour, of a determination
to subdue difficulties, which were not worth the subduing, than real
ingenuity. Among the many remarkable instances of this kind of labour,
there is one in the possession of the Right Honourable Charles Greville,
that deserves to be noticed. It is a group of well formed, excavated,
and highly ornamented bottles, covered with foliage and figures, raised
in the manner of the antique _Cameos_, with moveable ring-handles,
standing on a base or pedestal, the whole cut out of one solid block of
clear rock crystal. Yet this laborious trifle was probably sold for a
few dollars in China. It was bought in London for about thirty pounds,
where it could not have been made for many times that sum, if, indeed,
it could have been made at all. All their spectacles that I have seen
were crystal set in horn, tortoise-shell, or ivory. The single
microscope is in common use, but they have never hit upon the effect of
approximating objects by combining two or more lenses, a discovery
indeed to which in Europe we are more indebted to chance than to the
result of scientific enquiry. I observed at _Yuen-min-yuen_ a rude kind
of magic lantern, and a camera obscura, neither of which, although
evidently of Chinese workmanship, appeared to wear the marks of a
national invention. I should rather conclude, that they were part of
those striking and curious experiments which the early Jesuits displayed
at court, in order to astonish the Emperor with their profound skill,
and raise their reputation as men of learning. Of the _ombres Chinoises_
they may, perhaps, claim the invention, and in pyrotechny their
ingenuity may be reckoned much superior to any thing which has hitherto
been exhibited in that art in Europe.
A convex lens is among the usual appendages to the tobacco pipe. With
these they are in the daily habit of lighting their pipes. Hence the
great burning lens made by Mr. Parker of Fleet-Street, and carried out
among the presents for the Emperor, was an object that excited no
admiration in the minds of the Chinese. The difficulty of making a lens
of such magnitude perfect, or free from flaw, and its extraordinary
powers could not be understood, and consequently not appreciated by
them: and although in the short space of four seconds it completely
melted down one of their base copper coins, when the sun was more than
forty degrees beyond the meridian, it made no impression of surprize on
their uninformed minds. The only enquiry they made about it was, whether
the substance was crystal; but being informed it was glass, they turned
away with a sort of disdain, as if they would say, Is a lump of glass a
proper present to offer to our great _Whang-tee_? The prime minister,
_Ho-tchung-tang_, in order to convince us how very familiar articles of
such a nature were to him, lighted his pipe very composedly at the
focus, but had a narrow escape from singeing his sattin sleeve, which
would certainly have happened had I not given him a sudden push. He
seemed, however, to be insensible of his danger, and walked off without
the least concern.
Indeed, in selecting the many valuable presents relating to science,
their knowledge and learning had been greatly overrated. They had little
esteem for what they could not comprehend, and specimens of art served
only to excite their jealousy, and to wound their pride. Whenever a
future embassy shall be sent to Pekin, I should recommend articles of
gold, silver, and steel, children's toys and trinkets, and perhaps a few
specimens of Derbyshire spar, with the finest broad-cloth and
kerseymeres, in preference to all others; for in their present state,
they are totally incapable of appreciating any thing great or excellent
in the arts and sciences.
To alleviate the afflictions of mankind, and to assuage the pains which
the human frame is liable to suffer, must have been among the earliest
studies of civilized society; and accordingly, in the history of ancient
kingdoms, we find the practitioners of the healing art regarded even to
adoration. Chiron, the preceptor of Achilles, and the master of
Æsculapius, was transferred to the heavens, where he still shines under
the name of Sagittarius. Among these nations, indeed, which we call
savage, there is usually shewn a more than ordinary respect for such of
their countrymen as are most skilled in removing obstructions, allaying
tumours, healing bruises, and, generally speaking, who can apply relief
to misery. But the Chinese, who seem to differ in their opinions from
all the rest of mankind, whether civilized or savage, pay little respect
to the therapeutick art. They have established no public schools for the
study of medicine, nor does the pursuit of it lead to honours, rank, or
fortune. Such as take up the profession are generally of an inferior
class; and the eunuchs about the palace are considered among their best
physicians. According to their own account, the books on medicine
escaped the fire, by which they pretend the works of learning were
consumed, in the reign of _Shee-whang-tee_, two hundred years before the
Christian era; and yet the best of their medical books of the present
day are little better than mere herbals, specifying the names and
enumerating the qualities of certain plants. The knowledge of these
plants and of their supposed virtues goes a great way towards
constituting a physician. Those most commonly employed are Gin-sing,
rhubarb, and China-root. A few preparations are also found in their
pharmacopœia from the animal and the mineral kingdoms. In the former
they employ snakes, beetles, centipedes, and the aureliæ of the silk
worm and other insects; the meloe and the bee are used for blisters. In
the latter, saltpetre, sulphur, native cinnabar, and a few other
articles are occasionally prescribed. Opium is taken as a medicine, but
more generally as a cordial to exhilarate the spirits. Though the
importation of this drug is strictly prohibited, yet, as I have before
observed, vast quantities are annually smuggled into the country from
Bengal and from Europe, through the connivance of the custom-house
officers.
The physiology of the human body, or the doctrine which explains the
constitution of man, is neither understood, nor considered as necessary
to be known; and their skill in pathology, or in the causes and effects
of diseases, is extremely limited, very often absurd, and generally
erroneous. The seat of most diseases are, in fact, supposed to be
discoverable by feeling the pulse, agreeably to a system built upon
principles the most wild and extravagant. Having no knowledge whatsoever
of the circulation of the blood, notwithstanding the Jesuits have made
no scruple in asserting it was well known to them long before Europeans
had any idea of it, they imagine, that every particular part of the
human body has a particular pulse assigned to it, and that these have
all a corresponding and sympathetic pulse in the arm; thus, they suppose
one pulse to be situated in the heart, another in the lungs, a third in
the kidneys, and so forth; and the skill of the doctor consists in
discovering the prevailing pulse in the body, by its sympathetic
pulsations in the arm; and the mummery made use of on such occasions is
highly ludicrous.
By eating too freely of unripe fruit at _Chu-san_ I had a violent attack
of _cholera morbus_, and on application being made to the governor for a
little opium and rhubarb, he immediately dispatched to me one of his
physicians. With a countenance as grave and a solemnity as settled, as
ever was exhibited in a consultation over a doubtful case in London or
Edinburgh, he fixed his eyes upon the ceiling, while he held my hand,
beginning at the wrist, and proceeding towards the bending of the
elbow, pressing sometimes hard with one finger, and then light with
another, as if he was running over the keys of a harpsicord. This
performance continued about ten minutes in solemn silence, after which
he let go my hand and pronounced my complaint to have arisen from eating
something that had disagreed with the stomach. I shall not take upon me
to decide whether this conclusion was drawn from his skill in the pulse,
or from a conjecture of the nature of the complaint from the medicines
that had been demanded, and which met with his entire approbation, or
from a knowledge of the fact.
Le Compte, who had less reason to be cautious, from his having left the
country, than other missionaries who are doomed to remain there for
life, positively says, that the physicians always endeavour to make
themselves secretly acquainted with the case of the patient, before they
pronounce upon it, as their reputation depends more on their assigning
the true cause of the disorder than on the cure. He then proceeds to
tell a story of a friend of his who, being troubled with a swelling,
sent for a Chinese physician. This gentleman told him very gravely, that
it was occasioned by a small worm which, unless extracted by his skill,
would ultimately produce gangrene and certain death. Accordingly one day
after the tumour, by the application of a few poultices, was getting
better, the doctor contrived to drop upon the removed poultice a little
maggot, for the extraction of which he assumed to himself no small
degree of merit. Le Compte's stories, however, are not always to be
depended on.
The priests are also a kind of doctors, and make plaisters for a variety
of purposes, some to draw out the disease to the part applied, some as
charms against the evil spirit, and others which they pretend to be
aphrodisiac; all of which, and the last in particular, are in great
demand among the wealthy. In this respect the Chinese agree with most
nations of antiquity, whose priests were generally employed as
physicians. The number of quacks and venders of nostrums is immense in
every city who gain a livelihood by the credulity of the multitude. One
of this description exhibited in the public streets of Canton a powder
for sale as a specific for the bite of a snake; and to convince the
crowd of its immediate efficacy, he carried with him a species of this
reptile, whose bite was known to be extremely venemous. He applied the
mouth of the animal to the tip of his tongue, which began to swell so
very rapidly, that in a few minutes the mouth was no longer able to
contain it. The intumescence continued till it seemed to burst, and
exhibited a shocking sight of foam and blood, during which the quack
appeared in extreme agonies, and excited the commiseration of all the
bye-standers. In the height of the paroxysm he applied a little of his
powder to the nose and the inflamed member, after which it gradually
subsided, and the disorder disappeared. Though the probability in the
city of any one person being bit with a snake was not less perhaps than
a hundred thousand to one, yet every person present bought of the
miraculous powder, till a sly fellow maliciously suggested that the
whole of this scene might probably have been performed by means of a
bladder concealed in the mouth.
But the usual remedy for the bite of a snake is a topical application of
sulphur, or the bruised head of the same animal that gave the wound. The
coincidence of such an extravagant idea among nations as remote from
each other as the equator from the pole is sufficiently remarkable. A
Roman poet observes,
"Quum nocuit serpens, fertur caput illius apte
Vulneribus jungi: sanat quem sauciat ipsa."
_Q. Serenus de Medicina._
If to a serpent's bite its head be laid,
'Twill heal the wound which by itself was made.
The naked legs of the Hottentots are frequently stung by scorpions, and
they invariably endeavour to catch the animal, which they bruise and
apply to the wound, being confident of the cure; the Javanese, or
inhabitants of Java, are fully persuaded of the efficacy of such
application; and the author above quoted observes with regard to the
sting of this insect,
"Vulneribusque aptus, fertur revocare venenum."
Being applied to the wound, it is said to draw out the poison.
As it is a violation of good morals for a gentleman to be seen in
company with ladies, much more so to touch the hands of the fair, the
faculty rather than lose a fee, though it commonly amounts only to fifty
_tchen_, or the twentieth part of six shillings and eight-pence, have
contrived an ingenious way of feeling a lady's pulse: a silken cord
being made fast to the wrist of the patient is passed through a hole in
the wainscot into another apartment where the doctor, applying his hand
to the cord, after a due observance of solemn mockery, decides upon the
case and prescribes accordingly. About court, however, a particular
class of eunuchs only are entrusted with feeling the pulse of the
ladies.
The crowded manner in which the common people live together in small
apartments in all the cities, the confined streets and, above all, the
want of cleanliness in their persons, beget sometimes contagious
diseases that sweep off whole families, similar to the plague. In Pekin
incredible numbers perish in these contagious fevers, which more
frequently happen there than in other parts of the empire,
notwithstanding the moderate temperature of the climate. In the southern
provinces they are neither so general, nor so fatal as might be
expected, owing, I believe, in a very great degree, to the universal
custom among the mass of the people of wearing vegetable substances next
the skin which, being more cleanly, are consequently more wholesome than
clothing made from animal matter. Thus, linen and cotton are preferable
to silk and woollen next the skin, which should be worn only by persons
of the most cleanly habits. Another antidote to the ill effects that
might be expected from want of cleanliness in their houses and their
persons, is the constant ventilation kept up in the former both by day
and night: during warm weather, they have no other door but an open
matted skreen, and the windows are either entirely open or of thin paper
only. Notwithstanding their want of personal cleanliness, they are
little troubled with leprous or cutaneous diseases, and they pretend to
be totally ignorant of gout, stone, or gravel, which they ascribe to the
preventive effects of tea. In favour of this opinion, it has been
observed by some of our physicians, that since the introduction of tea
into common use, cutaneous diseases have become much more rare in Great
Britain than they were before that period, which others have ascribed,
perhaps with more propriety, to the general use of linen; both, however,
may have been instrumental in producing the happy effect.
The ravages of the small-pox, wherever they make their appearance, are
attended with a general calamity. Of these they pretend to distinguish
above forty different species, to each of which they have given a
particular name. If a good sort breaks out, inoculation or, more
properly speaking, infection by artificial means becomes general. The
usual way of communicating the disease is by inserting the matter,
contained in a little cotton wool, into the nostrils, or they put on the
clothes of, or sleep in the same bed with, such as may have had a
favourable kind; but they never introduce the matter by making any
incision in the skin. This fatal disease, as appears from the records of
the empire, was unknown before the tenth century, when it was perhaps
introduced by the Mahomedans of Arabia who, at that period, carried on a
considerable commerce with Canton from the Persian gulph, and who not
long before had received it from the Saracens, when they invaded and
conquered the Eastern Empire. The same disease was likewise one of those
blessings which the mad crusades conferred upon Europe; since which
time, to the close of the eighteenth century, not a hope had been held
out of its extirpation when, happily, the invaluable discovery of the
cow-pock, or rather the general application of that discovery, which
had long been confined to a particular district, has furnished abundant
grounds to hope, that this desirable event may now be accomplished.
In some of the provinces the lower orders of people are said to be
dreadfully afflicted with sore eyes, and this endemic complaint has been
supposed to proceed from the copious use of rice; a conjecture,
apparently, without any kind of foundation, as the Hindus and other
Indian nations, whose whole diet consists almost exclusively of this
grain, are not particularly subject to the like disease: and in Egypt,
both in ancient and modern times, the opthalmia and blindness were much
more prevalent than in China; yet rice was neither cultivated nor known
in that part of Africa until the reign of the caliphs, when it was
introduced from the eastward. The disease in China, if prevalent there,
may more probably be owing to their living in crowded and low
habitations, wherein there is a perpetual smoke from the fire, from
tapers made of sandal wood dust employed for marking the divisions of
the day, from the general use of tobacco, and from the miasma or noxious
vapours exhaling from the dirt and offals which are collected in or near
their habitations. The organ of sight may also be relaxed, and rendered
more susceptible of disease, by the constant practice of washing the
face, even in the middle of summer, with warm water. I must observe,
however, that in the course of our long journey, we saw very few blind
people, or persons afflicted with sore eyes.
It will readily be inferred, from the short view which has been taken of
the state of society, that the disease occasioned by an unrestrained and
promiscuous intercourse of the sexes cannot be very common in China. In
fact, it is scarcely known, and the treatment of it is so little
understood, in the few cases which do occur, that it is allowed to work
its way into the system, and is then considered by them as an incurable
leprosy. On arriving at the northern extremity of the province of
Canton, one of our conductors had imprudently passed the night in one of
those houses where, by the license of government, females are allowed to
prostitute their persons in order to gain a livelihood. Here, it seems,
he had caught the infection, and after suffering a considerable degree
of pain, and not less alarm, he communicated to our physician the
symptoms of his complaint, of the nature and cause of which he was
entirely ignorant. He was a man of forty years, of a vigorous
constitution and a gay cheerful temper, and had served as an officer in
several campaigns from the different provinces of northern Tartary to
the frontiers of India, yet such a disease did not consist with his
knowledge. From this circumstance, and many others of a similar kind, I
conclude that, although it may sometimes make its appearance in the
capital, and even here but very rarely, it has originally, and no long
time ago, found its way thither through the ports of Chu-san, Canton,
and Macao, where numbers of abandoned woman obtain their subsistence by
selling their favours to such of every nation as may be disposed to
purchase them. It is, in fact, sometimes called by the Chinese the
_Canton-ulcer_.
No male physician is ever allowed to prescribe for pregnant women; and
they consider it so great a breach of delicacy for a man to be in the
same room with a woman when in labour that, whatever difficulties may
occur, the case is left entirely to the woman who attends her. There is
not a man-midwife in all China, and yet the want of them does not appear
to be injurious to population. They could scarcely believe it possible
that, in Europe, men should be allowed to practice a profession which,
in their minds, belonged exclusively to the other sex.
As a due knowledge of the organization of the human body, of the powers
and functions of the several parts, is attainable only by the study of
practical anatomy, a study that would shock the weak nerves of a timid
Chinese, it will not be expected that their surgical operations should
either be numerous or neatly performed. The law indeed which I have had
occasion to notice, and the effects produced by it in two or three
instances that occurred to our knowledge, will sufficiently explain the
very low ebb of chirurgical skill. No one will readily undertake to
perform the most simple operation, where not only all the direct
consequences, but the contingencies for forty days must lie at his door.
They sometimes succeed in reducing a dislocation, and in setting a
simple fracture; but in difficult and complicated cases, the patient is
generally abandoned to chance. Amputation is never practised. In the
course of our whole journey, wherein we passed through millions of
people, I do not recollect to have seen a single individual that had
sustained the loss of a limb, and but very few in any way maimed; from
whence I conclude, that accidents are uncommon, or that serious ones
usually terminate in the loss of life. A Chinese is so dreadfully afraid
of a sharp cutting instrument, that he has not even submitted to the
operation of blood-letting; though the principle is admitted, as they
are in the practice of drawing blood by scarifying the skin, and
applying cupping vessels. In certain complaints they burn the skin with
small pointed irons made hot, and sometimes, after puncturing the part
with silver needles, they set fire to the leaves of a species of
Artemisia upon it, in the same manner as the Moxa in Japan is made use
of to cure and even prevent a number of diseases, but especially the
gout and rheumatism, the former of which is said to be unknown in China.
Cleansing the ears, cutting corns, pulling the joints till they crack,
twitching the nose, thumping on the back, and such like operations, are
annexed to the shaving profession, by which thousands in every city gain
a livelihood. In short, the whole medical skill of the Chinese may be
summed up in the words of the ingenious Doctor Gregory from the
information he obtained from his friend Doctor Gillan. "In the greatest,
most ancient, and most civilized empire on the face of the earth, an
empire that was great, populous, and highly civilized two thousand years
ago, when this country was as savage as New Zealand is at present, no
such good medical aid can be obtained among the people of it, as a smart
boy of sixteen, who had been but twelve months apprentice to a good and
well employed Edinburgh Surgeon, might reasonably be expected to
afford." "If," continues the Doctor, "the Emperor of China, the absolute
monarch of three hundred and thirty-three millions of people, more than
twice as many as all Europe contains, were attacked with a pleurisy, or
got his leg broken, it would be happy for him to get such a boy for his
first physician and serjeant-surgeon. The boy (if he had seen his
master's practice in but one or two similar cases) would certainly know
how to set his Imperial Majesty's leg, and would probably cure him of
his pleurisy, which none of his own subjects could do."
Having thus given a slight sketch of the state of some of the leading
branches in science, arts, and manufactures, omitting purposely that of
agriculture, which will be noticed among the subjects of a future
section, I think, upon the whole, it may fairly be concluded, that the
Chinese have been among the first nations, now existing in the world, to
arrive at a certain pitch of perfection, where, from the policy of the
government, or some other cause, they have remained stationary: that
they were civilized, fully to the same extent they now are, more than
two thousand years ago, at a period when all Europe might be considered,
comparatively, as barbarous; but that they have since made little
progress in any thing, and been retrograde in many things: that, at this
moment, compared with Europe, they can only be said to be great in
trifles, whilst they are really trifling in every thing that is great. I
cannot however exactly subscribe to an opinion pronounced on them by a
learned and elegant writer[22], who was well versed in oriental
literature, as being rather too unqualified; but he was less acquainted
with their character than that of any other Asiatic nation, and totally
ignorant of their language. "Their letters," says he, "if we may so
call them, are merely the symbols of ideas; their philosophy seems yet
in so rude a state, as hardly to deserve the appellation; they have no
ancient monuments from which their origin can be traced, even by
plausible conjecture; their sciences are wholly exotic; and their
mechanical arts have nothing in them characteristic of a particular
family; nothing which any set of men, in a country so highly favoured by
nature, might not have discovered and improved."
[22] Sir William Jones.
CHAP. VII.
Government--Laws--Tenures of Land and Taxes--Revenues--Civil and
Military Ranks, and Establishments.
_Opinions on which the Executive Authority is grounded.--Principle on
which an Emperor of China seldom appears in public.--The
Censorate.--Public Departments.--Laws.--Scale of Crimes and
Punishments.--Laws regarding Homicide.--Curious Law Case.--No Appeal
from Civil Suits.--Defects in the Executive Government.--Duty of
Obedience and Power of personal Correction.--Russia and China
compared.--Fate of the Prime Minister_ Ho-chang-tong_.--Yearly
Calendar and Pekin Gazette, engines of Government.--Freedom of the
Press.--Duration of the Government attempted to be
explained.--Precautions of Government to prevent Insurrections.--Taxes
and Revenues.--Civil and Military Establishments.--Chinese Army, its
Numbers and Appointments.--Conduct of the Tartar Government at the
Conquest.--Impolitic Change of late Years, and the probable Consequences
of it._
The late period at which the nations of Europe became first acquainted
with the existence even of that vast extent of country comprehended
under the name of China, the difficulties of access to any part of it
when known, the peculiar nature of the language which, as I have
endeavoured to prove, has no relation with any other either ancient or
modern, the extreme jealousy of the government towards foreigners, and
the contempt in which they were held by the lowest of the people, may
serve, among other causes, to account for the very limited and imperfect
knowledge we have hitherto obtained of the real history of this
extraordinary empire: for their records, it seems, are by no means
deficient. For two centuries at least before the Christian era, down to
the present time, the transactions of each reign are amply detailed
without any interruption. They have even preserved collections of copper
coins, forming a regular series of the different Emperors that have
filled the throne of China for the last two thousand years. Such a
collection, though not quite complete, Sir George Staunton brought with
him to England.
Before this time, when China consisted of a number of petty states or
principalities, the annals of the country are said to abound with
recitals of wars and battles and bloodshed, like those of every other
part of the world. But, in proportion as the number of those distinct
kingdoms diminished, till at length they were all melted and amalgamated
into one great empire, the destruction of the human race by human means
abated, and the government, since that time, has been less interrupted
by foreign war, or domestic commotion, than any other that history has
made known. But whether this desirable state of public tranquillity may
have been brought about by the peculiar nature of the government being
adapted to the genius and habits of the people, which in the opinion of
Aristotle is the best of all possible governments, or rather by
constraining and subduing the genius and habits of the people to the
views and maxims of the government, is a question that may admit of some
dispute. At the present day, however, it is sufficiently evident, that
the heavy hand of power has completely overcome and moulded to its own
shape the physical character of the people, and that their moral
sentiments and actions are swayed by the opinions, and almost under the
entire dominion, of the government.
These opinions, to which it owes so much of its stability, are grounded
on a principle of authority which, according to maxims industriously
inculcated and now completely established in the minds of the people, is
considered as the natural and unalienable right of the parent over his
children; an authority that is not supposed to cease at any given period
of life or years, but to extend, and to be maintained with undiminished
and uncontrouled sway, until the death of one of the parties dissolves
the obligation. The Emperor being considered as the common father of his
people is accordingly invested with the exercise of the same authority
over them, as the father of a family exerts on those of his particular
household. In this sense he takes the title of the _Great Father_; and
by his being thus placed above any earthly controul, he is supposed to
be also above earthly descent, and therefore, as a natural consequence,
he sometimes styles himself the _sole ruler of the world_ and the _Son
of Heaven_. But that no inconsistency might appear in the grand fabric
of filial obedience the Emperor, with solemn ceremony at the
commencement of every new year, makes his prostrations before the
Empress Dowager, and on the same day he demands a repetition of the same
homage from all his great officers of state. Conformable to this system,
founded entirely on parental authority, the governor of a province is
considered as the father of that province; of a city, the father of that
city; and the head of any office or department is supposed to preside
over it with the same authority, interest, and affection, as the father
of a family superintends and manages the concerns of domestic life.
It is greatly to be lamented that a system of government, so plausible
in theory, should be liable to so many abuses in practice; and that this
fatherly care and affection in the governors, and filial duty and
reverence in the governed would, with much more propriety, be expressed
by the terms of tyranny, oppression, and injustice in the one, and by
fear, deceit, and disobedience in the other.
The first grand maxim on which the Emperor acts is, seldom to appear
before the public, a maxim whose origin would be difficultly traced to
any principle of affection or solicitude for his children; much more
easily explained as the offspring of suspicion. The tyrant who may be
conscious of having committed, or assented to, acts of cruelty and
oppression, must feel a reluctance to mix with those who may have
smarted under the lash of his power, naturally concluding that some
secret hand may be led, by a single blow, to avenge his own wrongs, or
those of his fellow subjects. The principle, however, upon which the
Emperor of China seldom shews himself in public, and then only in the
height of splendor and magnificence, seems to be established on a policy
of a very different kind to that of self-preservation. A power that acts
in secret, and whose influence is felt near and remote at the same
moment, makes a stronger impression on the mind, and is regarded with
more dread and awful respect, than if the agent was always visible and
familiar to the eye of every one. The priests of the Eleusinian
mysteries were well acquainted with this feature of the human character,
which is stronger in proportion as the reasoning faculties are less
improved, and which required the enlightened mind of a Socrates to be
able to disregard the terror they inspired among the vulgar. Thus also
_Deiōces_, as Heredotus informs us, when once established as king in
Ecbatana, would suffer none of the people, for whom before he was the
common advocate, to be now admitted to his presence, concluding that all
those who were debarred from seeing him, would easily be persuaded that
his nature, by being created king, was transformed into something much
superior to theirs. A frequent access indeed to men of rank and power
and talents, a familiar and unrestrained intercourse with them, and a
daily observance of their ordinary actions and engagements in the
concerns of life, have a tendency very much to diminish that reverence
and respect which public opinion had been willing to allow them. It was
justly observed by the great Condé, that no man is a hero to his
valet-de-chambre.
Considerations of this kind, rather than any dread of his subjects, may
probably have suggested the custom which prohibits an Emperor of China
from making his person too familiar to the multitude, and which requires
that he should exhibit himself only on particular occasions, arrayed in
pomp and magnificence, and at the head of his whole court, consisting of
an assemblage of many thousand officers of state, the agents of his
will, all ready, at the word of command, to prostrate themselves at his
feet.
The power of the sovereign is absolute; but the patriarchal system,
making it a point of indispensable duty for a son to bring offerings to
the spirit of his deceased parent in the most public manner, operates as
some check upon the exercise of this power. By this civil institution,
the duties of which are observed with more than a religious strictness,
he is constantly put in mind that the memory of his private conduct, as
well as of his public acts, will long survive his natural life; that his
name will, at certain times in every year, be pronounced with a kind of
sacred and reverential awe, from one extremity of the extensive empire
to the other, provided he may have filled his station to the
satisfaction of his subjects; and that, on the contrary, public
execrations will rescue from oblivion any arbitrary act of injustice and
oppression, of which he may have been guilty. It may also operate as a
motive for being nice and circumspect in the nomination of a successor,
which the law has left entirely to his choice.
The consideration, however, of posthumous fame, would operate only as a
slender restraint on the caprices of a tyrant, as the history of this,
as well as other countries, furnishes abundant examples. It has,
therefore, been thought necessary to add another, and perhaps a more
effectual check, to curb any disposition to licentiousness or tyranny
that might arise in the breast of the monarch. This is the appointment
of the Censorate, an office filled by two persons, who have the power
of remonstrating freely against any illegal or unconstitutional act
about to be committed, or sanctioned by the Emperor. And although it may
well be supposed, that these men are extremely cautious in the exercise
of the power delegated to them, by virtue of their office, and in the
discharge of this disagreeable part of their duty, yet they have another
task to perform, on which their own posthumous fame is not less involved
than that of their master, and in the execution of which they run less
risk of giving offence. They are the historiographers of the empire; or,
more correctly speaking, the biographers of the Emperor. Their
employment, in this capacity, consists chiefly in collecting the
sentiments of the monarch, in recording his speeches and memorable
sayings, and in noting down the most prominent of his private actions,
and the remarkable occurrences of his reign. These records are lodged in
a large chest, which is kept in that part of the palace where the
tribunals of government are held, and which is supposed not to be opened
until the decease of the Emperor; and, if any thing material to the
injury of his character and reputation is found to be recorded, the
publication of it is delayed, out of delicacy to his family, till two or
three generations have passed away, and sometimes till the expiration of
the dynasty; by that indulgence they pretend, that a more faithful
relation is likely to be obtained, in which neither fear nor flattery
could have operated to disguise the truth.
An institution, so remarkable and singular in its kind in an arbitrary
government, could not fail to carry with it a very powerful influence
upon the decisions of the monarch, and to make him solicitous to act, on
all occasions, in such a manner, as would be most likely to secure a
good name, and to transmit his character unsullied and sacred to
posterity. The records of their history are said to mention a story of
an Emperor, of the dynasty or family of _Tang_, who, from a
consciousness of having, in several instances, transgressed the bounds
of his authority, was determined to take a peep into the historical
chest, where he knew he should find all his actions recorded. Having
made use of a variety of arguments, in order to convince the two censors
that there could be nothing improper in the step he was about to take,
as, among other things, he assured them, he was actuated with the desire
only of being made acquainted with his greatest faults, as the first
step to amendment, one of these gentlemen is said to have answered him
very nobly, to this effect: "It is true your Majesty has committed a
number of errors, and it has been the painful duly of our employment to
take notice of them; a duty," continued he, "which further obliges us to
inform posterity of the conversation which your Majesty has this day,
very improperly, held with us."
To assist the Emperor in the weighty affairs of state, and in the
arduous task of governing an empire of so great an extent, and such
immense population, the constitution has assigned him two councils, one
ordinary, and the other extraordinary; the ordinary council is composed
of his principal ministers, under the name of Collao, of which there are
six. The extraordinary council consists entirely of the princes of the
blood.
For the administration of the affairs of government, there are six
boards or departments, consisting of,
1. The Court of Appointments to vacancies in the offices of government,
being composed of the minister and learned men, qualified to judge of
the merits of candidates.
2. The Court of Finance.
3. The Court of Ceremonies, presiding over the direction of ancient
customs, and treating with foreign Embassadors.
4. The Court for regulating military affairs.
5. The Tribunal of Justice.
6. The Board of Works.
These public functionaries resolve upon, recommend, and report to the
Emperor, all matters belonging to their separate jurisdictions, who,
with the advice of his ordinary and, if considered to be necessary, of
his extraordinary council, affirms, amends, or rejects their decrees.
For this purpose, the late Emperor never omitted to give regular
audience in the great hall of the palace every morning at the hours of
four or five o'clock. Subordinate to these supreme courts held in the
capital, are others of similar constitution established in the different
provinces and great cities of the empire, each of which corresponds
with its principal in Pekin.
It would far exceed the limits of the present work, were I to enter into
a detail of their code of laws, which indeed I am not sufficiently
prepared to do. They are published for the use of the subject, in the
plainest characters that the language will admit, making sixteen small
volumes, a copy of which is now in England; and I am encouraged to hold
out a reasonable hope, that this compendium of the laws of China may,
ere long, appear in an able and faithful English translation, which will
explain, more than all the volumes that have hitherto been written on
the subject of China, in what manner a mass of people, more than the
double of that which is found in all Europe, has been kept together
through so many ages in one bond of union. This work[23] on the laws of
China, for perspicuity and method, may justly be compared with
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. It not only contains
the laws arranged under their respective heads, but to every law is
added a short commentary and a case.
[23] It is called the _Ta-tchin Leu-Lee_, the laws and institutes under
the dynasty _Ta-tchin_, which is the name assumed by the present family
on the throne.
I have been assured, on the best authority, that the laws of China
define, in the most distinct and perspicuous manner, almost every shade
of criminal offences, and the punishment awarded to each crime: that the
greatest care appears to have been taken in constructing this scale of
crimes and punishments; that they are very far from being sanguinary:
and that if the practice was equal to the theory, few nations could
boast of a more mild, and, at the same time, a more efficacious
dispensation of justice. Of all the despotic governments existing, there
is certainly none where the life of man is held so sacred as in the laws
of China. A murder is never overlooked, except in the horrid practice of
exposing infants: nor dares the Emperor himself, all-powerful as he is,
to take away the life of the meanest subject, without the formality at
least of a regular process, though, as will be seen in the case of the
late prime minister of _Kien-Long_, the chance of escaping must be very
slender, where he himself becomes the accuser. So tenaciously however do
they adhere to that solemn declaration of God delivered to Noah--"At the
hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,"--that the good
intention is oftentimes defeated by requiring, as I have elsewhere
observed, from the person last seen in company with one who may have
received a mortal wound, or who may have died suddenly, a circumstantial
account, supported by evidence, in what manner his death was occasioned.
In attempting to proportion punishments to the degrees of crimes, indeed
of awarding the same punishment for stealing a loaf of bread and taking
away the life of man, the Chinese legislators, according to our notions,
seem to have made too little distinction between accidental manslaughter
and premeditated murder. To constitute the crime, it is not necessary to
prove the intention or malice aforethought; for though want of intention
palliates the offence, and consequently mitigates the punishment, yet
it never entirely excuses the offender. If a man should kill another by
an unforeseen and unavoidable accident, his life is forfeited by the
law, and however favourable the circumstances may appear in behalf of
the criminal, the Emperor alone is invested with the power of remitting
the sentence, a power which he very rarely if ever exercises to the
extent of a full pardon but, on many occasions, to a mitigation of the
punishment awarded by law. Strictly speaking, no sentence of death can
be carried into execution until it has been ratified by the monarch. Yet
in state crimes, or in acts of great atrocity, the viceroy of a province
sometimes takes upon himself to order summary punishment, and prompt
execution has been inflicted on foreign criminals at Canton when guilty
only of homicide. Thus, about the beginning of the last century, a man
belonging to Captain Shelvocke had the misfortune to kill a Chinese on
the river. The corpse was laid before the door of the English factory,
and the first person that came out, who happened to be one of the
supercargoes, was seized and carried as a prisoner into the city, nor
would they consent to his release till the criminal was given up, whom,
after a short inquiry, they strangled. The recent affair of the
unfortunate gunner is well known. An affray happened in Macao a few
years ago, in which a Chinese was killed by the Portuguese. A peremptory
demand was made for one of the latter, to expiate the death of the
former. The government of this place, either unable or unwilling to fix
on the delinquent, proposed terms of compromise, which were rejected and
force was threatened to be used. There happened to be a merchant from
Manilla then residing at Macao, a man of excellent character, who had
long carried on a commerce between the two ports. This unfortunate man
was selected to be the innocent victim to appease the rigour of Chinese
justice, and he was immediately strangled[24].
[24] Various accidents having happened at different times to
Chinese subjects in the port of Canton, which have generally led to
disagreeable discussions with the Chinese government, the supercargoes
of the East India Company thought proper, on a late occasion of a person
being wounded by a shot from a British ship of war, to make application
for an extract from the criminal code of laws relating to homicide, in
order to have the same translated into English, and made public. This
extract consisted of the following articles:
1. A man who kills another on the supposition of theft, shall be
strangled, according to the law of homicide committed in an affray.
2. A man who fires at another with a musquet, and kills him
thereby, shall be beheaded, as in cases of wilful murder. If the
sufferer be wounded, but not mortally, the offender shall be sent
into exile.
3. A man who puts to death a criminal who had been apprehended, and
made no resistance, shall be strangled, according to the law
against homicide committed in an affray.
4. A man who falsely accuses an innocent person of theft (in cases
of greatest criminality) is guilty of a capital offence; in all
other cases the offenders, whether principals or accessaries, shall
be sent into exile.
5. A man who wounds another unintentionally shall be tried
according to the law respecting blows given in an affray, and the
punishment rendered more or less severe, according to the degree of
injury sustained.
6. A man who, intoxicated with liquor, commits outrages against the
laws, shall be exiled to a desert country, there to remain in a
state of servitude.
In this clear and decisive manner are punishments awarded for every
class of crimes committed in society; and it was communicated to the
English factory from the viceroy, that on no consideration was it left
in the breast of the judge to extenuate or to exaggerate the sentence,
whatever might be the rank, character, or station of the delinquent.
The process of every trial for criminal offences, of which the
punishment is capital, must be transmitted to Pekin, and submitted to
the impartial eye of the supreme tribunal of justice, which affirms or
alters, according to the nature of the case. And where any peculiar
circumstances appear in favour of the accused, an order for revising the
sentence is recommended to the Emperor, who, in such cases, either
amends it himself, or directs the proceedings to be returned to the
provincial court, with the sentiments of the supreme tribunal on the
case. The proceedings are then revised, and if the circumstances are
found to apply to the suggestions of the high court, they alter or
modify their former sentence accordingly[25].
[25] The following law case, which is literally translated,
from a volume of reports of trials, published in the present reign of
_Kia-King_, and with which I have been favoured by a friend (who was
himself the translator), will serve to shew the mode of proceeding in
criminal matters of the provincial courts of judicature. The
circumstances of the transaction appear to have been enquired into
fairly and impartially, and no pains spared to ascertain the exact
degree of criminality. Being given to me about the time when the trial
took place of Smith, for the murder of the supposed _Hammersmith ghost_,
I was forcibly struck with the remarkable coincidence of the two cases,
and with the almost identical defence set up by the Chinese and the
English prisoners, and on that account it excited more interest than
perhaps it might otherwise be considered to be entitled to.
_Translation of an Extract from a Collection of Chinese Law Reports,
being the Trial, Appeal, and Sentence upon an Indictment for Homicide by
Gun firing._
At a criminal court held in the province of Fo-kien, upon an indictment
for shooting, and mortally wounding a relation; setting forth, that
_She-fo-pao_, native of the city of _Fo-ngan-sien_, did fire a gun, and
by mischance, wound _Vang-yung-man_, so that he died thereof.
The case was originally reported, as follows, by _Vu-se-Kung_,
sub-viceroy of the province of Fo-kien:
The accused _She-fo-pao_, and the deceased _Vang-yung-man_, were of
different families, but connected by marriage, were well known to each
other, and there had always been a good understanding between them.
In the course of the first moon, of the 25th year of _Kien-long_,
_She-fo-pao_ cultivated a farm on the brow of a hill belonging to
_Chin-se-kien_, and which lay in the vicinity of certain lands
cultivated by _Vang-yung-man_ and _Vang-ky-hao_, inasmuch as that the
fields of _Vang-yung-man_ lay on the left of those of _She-fo-pao_,
which were in the center, and those of _Vang-ky-hao_ on the right side
of the declivity of the hill. It occurred that on the 7th day of the 9th
moon of the same year, _She-fo-pao_ observing the corn in his fields to
be nearly ripe, was apprehensive that thieves might find an opportunity
of stealing the grain; and being aware, at the same time, of the danger
which existed on those hills from wolves and tygers, armed himself with
a musquet, and went that night alone to the spot, in order to watch the
corn, and seated himself in a convenient place on the side of the hill.
It happened that _Vang-ky-hao_ went that day to the house of
_Vang-yung-man_, in order that they might go together to keep watch over
the corn in their respective fields. However _Vang-yung-tong_ the elder
brother of _Vang-yung-man_, conceiving it to be yet early, detained them
to drink tea, and smoke tobacco until the second watch[26] of the night,
when they parted from him, and proceeded on their expedition, provided
with large sticks for defence.
_Vang-ky-hao_ having occasion to stop for a short time upon the road,
the other _Vang-yung-man_ went on before, until he reached the boundary
of the fields watched by _She-fo-pao_.
_She-fo-pao_, on hearing a rustling noise among the corn, and perceiving
the shadow of a person through the obscurity of the night, immediately
hailed him, but the wind blowing very fresh, he did not hear any reply.
_She-fo-pao_ then took alarm, on the suspicion that the sound proceeded
from thieves, or else from wild beasts, and lighting the match-lock,
which he held in his hand, fired it off, in order to repel the invaders
whoever they might be.
_Vang-yung-man_ was wounded by the shot in the head, cheeks, neck, and
shoulder, and instantly fell to the ground. _Vang-ky-hao_ hearing the
explosion, hastened forward, and called aloud to enquire who had fired
the gun. The other heard the voice, and going to the place from whence
it proceeded, then learned whom he had wounded by the mischance. The
wounds of _Vang-yung-man_ being mortal, he expired after a very short
interval of time had elapsed.
_She-fo-pao_, being repeatedly examined by the magistrate, acknowledged
the fact without reserve, and, upon the strictest investigation and
enquiry being entered upon, deposed, That it was really during the
obscurity of the night that he had ascended the hill, in order to watch
the corn, and on hearing a noise proceed from a quarter of the field
that was extremely dark, and in which the shadow of some person was
discernable, he had called out, but received no answer:--That the
suspicion then arose in his mind, that they were either thieves or wild
beasts, and alarmed him for the security of his person, being then
entirely alone, he therefore fired the gun to repel the danger, and
wounded _Vang-yung-man_ by mischance, so that he afterwards died.
That he, the deponent, was not actuated by any other motive or intention
on this occasion, nor desirous of causing the death of an individual.
The relations of the deceased being then examined, give a corresponding
evidence, and raised no doubts in other respects to the truth of the
above deposition. In consideration, therefore, hereof it appears that,
although _She-fo-pao_ is guilty of homicide by gun-firing, yet, since he
was upon the watch over the fields, in the darkness of the night, and
perceived the shadow of a man, whom he hailed, and from whom he received
no answer, and had in consequence apprehended the approach of thieves or
wild beasts, to prevent which, he fired the gun that occasioned the
wounds whereof the man is now dead--It follows, that there did not exist
any premeditated intention of murder.--The act of which _She-fo-pao_
stands convicted may be, therefore, ranked under the article of homicide
committed in an affray, and the sentence accordingly is, to be strangled
upon the next ensuing general execution or gaol delivery.
The above report being transmitted to the supreme criminal tribunal at
Pekin,--They rejoin,
That, on investigation of the laws we find it ordained, that homicide by
gun-firing shall receive a sentence conformable to the law against
intentional murder; and that the law against intentional murder gives a
sentence of decapitation on the next ensuing public execution, or gaol
delivery. It is likewise found to be ordained by law, that whoever shall
unwarily draw a bow, and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so
that any person unperceived therein shall be wounded, and die therefrom,
the offender shall receive a hundred blows with the bamboo, and be
banished to the distance of three thousands lys (near a thousand miles).
In the case now before us, _She-fo-pao_, being armed with a musquet,
goes to watch the corn, hears a noise in the fields, and calls aloud,
but, receiving no answer, suspects it to proceed from thieves or wild
beasts, and fires the gun, by which _Vang-yung-man_ was wounded, and is
now dead. But in the deposition given in by the defendant, the
declaration that he saw the shadow of some person does not accord with
the suspicion afterwards expressed, that the noise arose from wild
beasts. If, in truth, he distinguished traces of a man, at the time of
his calling out, notwithstanding that the violence of the wind prevented
his hearing the reply, _She-fo-pao_ had ocular proof of the reality of
the person from the shadow he had seen. Continuing our investigation, we
have further to notice, that when _She-fo-pao_ took his station in order
to guard the middle ground, _Vang-yung-man_ was engaged in watching his
fields in a similar manner, and would have occasion to go near the
limits of the middle ground in his way to his own farm, and which could
not be far removed from the path leading to the middle ground; on which
account it behoved _She-fo-pao_ to hail the person repeatedly, previous
to the firing of the gun, whose effect would be instantaneous, and
occasion the death of the unknown person from whom the sound proceeded.
_She-fo-pao_ not having repeatedly hailed the person from whom the noise
had arisen to disturb him, and proceeding to the last extremity upon the
first impulse or alarm, are grounds for suspecting that there exists a
fallacy and disguise in the testimony given in this affair, in which
case, a sentence conformable to the law against homicide, committed in
an affray, would afford a punishment unequal and inadequate to the
possible aggravation of the offence.
On the other hand, it would appear, in confirmation of his statement,
that these fields were, according to the custom of the neighbouring
villages, understood to be guarded at that time in a the manner
aforesaid, and that circumstance proving true, the accident that
followed might still be considered solely as the effect of apprehension
of wild beasts by night, inducing the accused to fire towards fields or
tenements, so as to wound a man mortally by the mischance.
Should a strict examination admit of this interpretation of the offence,
the sentence may be awarded according to the law, immediately applicable
to the subject, and not in conformity with the law against homicide
committed in an affray. As the life or death of the offender rests on
the preference to be shewn towards either of those expositions of the
case, it is resolved to hold any immediate decision as premature, and we
issue our directions to the said sub-viceroy to revise the prior
decision; and, with the assistance of a renewed investigation, finally
to determine and report to us the sentence which he may conceive most
agreeable to the spirit of our laws.
After a second investigation, and reconsideration of the affair, the
sub-viceroy sent in the following report to the supreme tribunal:
Pursuant to the order for revisal issued by the supreme criminal
tribunal, _She-fo-pao_ has been again examined at the bar, and deposes,
That on hearing a noise in the corn fields, he conceived it to proceed
from thieves, and called out in consequence, but, receiving no answer,
and finding the noise gradually to approach him, he then suspected it to
have arisen from a wolf or tyger; and, in the alarm thus excited for his
personal safety, had fired the gun, by which _Vang-yung-man_ had been
mortally wounded; That, since the event happened in the second watch of
the night, after the moon had set, and while clouds obscured the faint
light of the stars, it was really a moment of impenetrable darkness; and
that it was only at the distance of a few paces that he distinguished
the approach of the sound that had alarmed him, but, in fact, had never
seen any shadow or traces whatsoever; That he had perceived any traces
or shadow of that description, he would not have ceased to call out,
though he had failed to receive an answer the first time, nor would he
have had the temerity to fire the gun, and render himself guilty of
murder.
That, on the preceding examination, the severity and rigour of the
enquiry regarding the grounds upon which he suspected the approach of
thieves, so as to induce him to fire, had overcome him with fear, being
a countryman unused to similar proceedings, and produced the apparent
incongruity in his deposition, but that the true meaning and intent was
to express his absolute uncertainty whether the alarm arose from thieves
or wild beasts and nothing farther, and that from such deposition he had
never intentionally swerved in the course of the investigation.
According, therefore, to the amendment suggested by the supreme
tribunal, it appears indeed, that when the noise was first perceived in
the fields, _She-fo-pao_ had called out, and on being prevented by the
wind from hearing a reply, had taken alarm as aforesaid.
And whereas it was likewise deposed by _She-fo-pao_, That the grain
being ripe at that season, the stems were exceeding high and strong, so
as to render it difficult to walk amongst them, it seems that
_Vang-yung-man_, in walking through the corn, had produced a rustling
noise very audible to _She-fo-pao_, who was sitting on the declivity of
the hill, and in a direction in which the wind favoured the progress of
the sound; but when the latter called out, the wind, on the contrary,
prevented him from being heard, and consequently from receiving an
answer; this mischance, therefore, gave rise to his suspicion of the
approach of wild beasts, which appears to have been the sole and
undisguised motive for firing the gun.
This statement of facts being narrowly investigated, in compliance with
the supreme tribunal's order for revisal, may be confided in as
accurate, and worthy of credit; the result, therefore, is that the
offender during the darkness of the night, and under the apprehension of
the approach of a wolf or tyger, had fired a musquet in a spot
frequented by men, and had mortally wounded a man by the mischance,
which corresponds with the law suggested in the order for revisal issued
by the supreme tribunal; namely, that law against an offender who should
unwarily draw a bow and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so
that any person unperceived therein should be wounded and die therefrom.
The prior decision, conformably to the law against homicide committed in
an affray, subsequent investigation does not confirm; and _She-fo-pao_
is, therefore, only punishable with banishment.
This second report being received by the supreme criminal tribunal, they
declare that,
The sentence having been altered on a revision by the sub-viceroy, and
rendered conformable to the law, which ordains that, whoever shall
unwarily draw a bow and shoot an arrow towards fields or tenements, so
that any person unperceived therein may be wounded, and die therefrom,
the offender shall receive a hundred blows with the bamboo, and suffer
banishment to the distance of 3000 lys.
We confirm the sentence of a hundred blows of the bamboo, and banishment
to the distance of 3000 lys; and further prescribe, that ten ounces of
silver (3_l._ 6_s._ 3_d._) shall be paid by the offender to the
relations of the deceased for the expences of burial.
The sentence, being thus pronounced on the 19th day of the 5th moon, of
the 27th year of _Kien-Long_, received the Imperial sanction on the 21st
day of the same moon, in the following words: Pursuant to sentence be
this obeyed.
KHIN-TSE.
[26] Each watch is two hours, and the second watch begins at eleven
o'clock.
As in some of the Grecian states, and other nations of modern times, the
punishment of treason was extended to the relations of the criminal, so
in China, even to the ninth generation, a traitor's blood is supposed
to be tainted, though they usually satisfy the law by including only the
nearest male relations, then living, in the guilt of the culprit, and by
mitigating their punishment to that of exile. Nothing can be more
unjust and absurd, however politic, than such a law, absurd, because it
considers a non-entity capable of committing a crime; and unjust,
because it punishes an innocent person. The lawgiver of Israel, in order
to intimidate his stiff-necked and rebellious subjects, found it
expedient to threaten the visitation of God on the children, for the
sins of the fathers, unto the third and fourth generation, a sentiment
however which, it would seem, lapse of time had rendered less expedient,
for the prophet Ezekiel, who on this subject had more elevated notions
of moral right than either the Greeks or the Chinese, spurns it with
great indignation. In allusion to such an idea, which it seems had
become a proverb among the Jews, he breaks out into this sublime
exclamation: "What mean ye that ye use this proverb concerning the land
of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord, ye shall
not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold all
souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son,
is mine. The soul that sinneth, _it_ shall die. The son shall not bear
the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon _him_, and
the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon _him_."
In most causes, except those of high treason, it may be presumed, the
high tribunal of Pekin will act with strict impartiality. And it is
greatly to be lamented, that all civil causes have not been made subject
to a similar revision as those of a criminal nature, which would strike
at the root of an evil that is most grievously felt in China, where the
officers of justice are known, in most cases, to be corrupted by
bribery. They have, however, wisely separated the office of judge from
that of the legislator. The former, having found the fact, has only to
refer to the code of laws, in which he is supplied with a scale of
crimes and their punishments. Such a mode of distributing justice is not
however without its inconveniences. Tender as the government has shewn
itself, where the life of a subject is concerned, having once
established the proportion of punishment to the offence it has supposed
an appeal, in civil causes and misdemeanors, to be unnecessary. The
sentence in such causes being thus left in the breast of a single judge,
how great soever may be the nicety by which the penalty is adapted to
the offence, the exclusion from appeal is in itself a bar to the just
and impartial administration of the laws. The subject being refused the
benefit of carrying his cause into a higher, and on that account more
likely to be a more impartial, court, has no security against the
caprice, malice, or corruption of his judge.
It may not perhaps be thought unworthy of notice that the legislators of
China, among the various punishments devised for the commission of
crimes, have given the criminal no opportunity, either by labouring at
any of the public works, or in solitary confinement, to make some
reparation for the injury he has committed against society. Confinement
in prison, as a punishment, is not known. Exile or personal
chastisement are decreed for all irregularities not approaching to
capital offences.
Executions for capital crimes are not frequently exhibited; when found
guilty the criminals are remanded to prison till a general gaol
delivery, which happens once a year, about the autumnal equinox. In
adopting such a measure government may perhaps have considered, how
little benefit the morals of the people were likely to derive from being
the frequent spectators of the momentary pain that is required to take
away the existence of a fellow mortal. All other punishments, however,
that do not affect the life of man, are made as public as possible, and
branded with the greatest degree of notoriety. The beating with the
bamboo, in their ideas, scarcely ranks under the name of punishment,
being more properly considered as a gentle correction, to which no
disgrace is attached, but the cangue or, as they term it, the _tcha_, a
kind of walking pillory, is a heavy tablet of wood, to which they are
fastened by the neck and hands, and which they are sometimes obliged to
drag about for weeks and months; this is a terrible punishment, and well
calculated to deter others from the commission of those crimes of which
it is the consequence, and the nature of which is always inscribed in
large characters upon it.
The order that is kept in their jails is said to be excellent, and the
debtor and the felon are always confined in separate places; as indeed
one should suppose every where to be the case, for, as Sir George
Staunton has observed, "To associate guilt with imprudence, and
confound wickedness with misfortune, is impolitic, immoral, and
cruel[27]."
[27] A debtor is released when it appears that the whole of his property
has been given up for the use of his creditors.
The abominable practice of extorting confession by the application of
the torture is the worst part of the criminal laws of China; but they
pretend to say this mode is seldom recurred to, unless in cases where
the guilt of the accused has been made to appear by strong
circumstantial evidence. It is however a common punishment to squeeze
the fingers in cases of misdemeanour, and is particularly practised as a
punishment of those females who purchase licences for breaking through
the rules of chastity.
By the laws relating to property, women in China, as in ancient Rome,
are excluded from inheriting, where there are children, and from
disposing of property; but where there are no male children a man may
leave, by will, the whole of his property to the widow. The reason they
assign for women not inheriting is, that a woman can make no offering to
deceased relations in the hall of ancestors; and it is deemed one of the
first ideal blessings of life for a man to have some one to look up to,
who will transmit his name to future ages, by performing, at certain
fixed periods, the duties of this important ceremony. All their laws
indeed respecting property, as I have already observed, are insufficient
to give it that security and stability which alone can constitute the
pleasure of accumulating wealth. The avarice of men in power may
overlook those who are in moderate circumstances, but the affluent
rarely escape their rapacious grasp. In a word, although the laws are
not so perfect as to procure for the subject general good, yet neither
are they so defective as to reduce him to that state of general misery,
which could only be terminated in a revolution. The executive
administration is so faulty, that the man in office generally has it in
his power to govern the laws, which makes the measure of good or evil
depend greatly on his moral character.
Such are indeed the disposition and the habits of the people, that so
long as the multitude can procure their bowl of rice and a few savory
sauces, that cost only a mere trifle, there will be less danger of a
revolt; and the government is so well convinced of this, that one of its
first concerns is to lay up, in the public magazines erected in every
part of the empire, a provision of grain, to serve as a supply for the
poor in times of famine or scarcity. In this age of revolutions, a
change, however, seems to be taking place in the minds of the people,
which I shall presently notice.
The system of universal and implicit obedience towards superiors
pervades every branch of the public service. The officers of the several
departments of government, from the first to the ninth degree, acting
upon the same broad basis of paternal authority, are invested with the
power of inflicting the summary punishment of the bamboo, on all
occasions where they may judge it proper, which, under the denomination
of a fatherly correction, they administer without any previous trial, or
form of inquiry. The slightest offence is punishable in this manner, at
the will or the caprice of the lowest magistrate. Such a summary
proceeding of the powerful against the weak naturally creates in the
latter a dread and distrust of the former; and the common people,
accordingly, regard the approach of a man in office, just as schoolboys
observe the motions of a severe master; but the fatherly kindness of the
Emperor is recognised even in punishment; the culprit may claim the
exemption of every fifth blow as the Emperor's _coup-de-grace_; but in
all probability he gains little by such remission, as the deficiency in
number may easily be made up in weight.
This practical method of evincing a fatherly affection is not confined
to the multitude alone, but is extended to every rank and description of
persons, ceasing only at the foot of the throne. Each officer of state,
from the ninth degree upwards to the fourth, can, at any time,
administer a gentle correction to his inferior; and the Emperor orders
the bamboo to his ministers, and to the other four classes, whenever he
may think it necessary for the good of their morals. It is well known
that the late _Kien Long_ caused two of his sons to be bambooed long
after they had arrived at the age of maturity, one of which, I believe,
is the present reigning Emperor.
In travelling through the country, a day seldom escaped without our
witnessing the application of the _Pan-tsé_ or bamboo, and generally in
such a manner that it might be called by any other name except a
_gentle_ correction. A Chinese suffering under this punishment cries out
in the most piteous manner; a Tartar bears it in silence. A Chinese,
after receiving a certain number of strokes, falls down on his knees, as
a matter of course, before him who ordered the punishment, thanking
him, in the most humble manner, for the fatherly kindness he has
testified towards his son, in thus putting him in mind of his errors; a
Tartar grumbles, and disputes the point as to the right that a Chinese
may have to flog him; or he turns away in sullen silence.
Ridiculous as it may appear to a foreigner, in observing an officer of
state stretching himself along the ground for the purpose of being
flogged by order of another who happens to rank one degree above him;
yet it is impossible, at the same time, to suppress a glow of
indignation, in witnessing so mean and obsequious a degradation of the
human mind, which can bring itself, under any circumstances, patiently
to submit to a vile corporal punishment, administered by the hand of a
slave, or by a common soldier; and when this is done, to undergo the
still more vile and humiliating act of kissing the rod that corrects
him. But the policy of the government has taken good care to remove any
scruples that might arise on this score. Where paternal regard was the
sole motive, such a chastisement could not possibly be followed with
dishonour or disgrace. It was a wonderful point gained by the
government, to subject every individual, the Emperor only excepted, to
the same corporal correction; but it must have required great address,
and men's minds must have been completely subdued, or completely
convinced, before such a system of universal obedience could have been
accomplished, the consequence of which, it was obvious, could be no
other than universal servility. It could not fail to establish a most
effectual check against the complaints of the multitude, by shewing
them that the same man, who had the power of punishing them, was equally
liable to be corrected in his turn, and in the same manner, by another.
The punishment of the bamboo must, I suspect, be one of the most ancient
institutions of China. Indeed we can scarcely conceive it ever to have
been introduced into a society already civilized; but rather to have
been coeval with the origin of that society.
A similar kind of personal chastisement for light offences, or
misconduct, was inflicted in Russia on persons of all ranks, but with
this difference, that the correction was private and by order of the
Sovereign alone. The Czar Peter, indeed, generally bestowed a drubbing
on his courtiers with his own hand; who, instead of being dishonoured or
disgraced by such a castigation, were supposed, from that very
circumstance, to be his particular favourites, and to stand high in his
confidence. The great Mentzikoff is said to have frequently left his
closet with a black eye or a bloody nose; and seemed to derive
encreasing importance from the unequivocal marks of his master's
friendship. Even at the present day, or till very lately, little
disgrace was attached to the punishment of the _knout_, which was a
private flagellation by order of the court; but this abominable practice
either is altogether discontinued, or in its last stage of existence.
Such arbitrary proceedings could not long remain in force among an
enlightened people.
These two great empires, the greatest indeed that exist in the world,
dividing between them nearly a fifth part of the whole habitable globe,
each about a tenth, exhibit a singular difference with regard to
political circumstances. One century ago Russia was but just emerging
from a state of barbarism, and in a century hence, in all human
probability, she will make a conspicuous figure among European nations,
both in arts and arms. Two thousand years ago China was civilized to the
same degree, or nearly so, that she is at present. The governments were
both arbitrary, and the people were slaves. The natural genius of the
Russian, cramped perhaps in some degree by his frozen climate, is less
susceptible of improvement than that of the Chinese. Whence then, it may
be asked, proceeds the very great difference in the progressive
improvement of the two nations? principally, I should suppose, from the
two following reasons. Russia invites and encourages foreigners to
instruct her subjects in arts, sciences, and manufactures. China, from a
spirit of pride and self-importance, as well as from jealousy, rejects
and expels them. The language of Russia is easily acquired, and her
subjects as easily learn those of other countries, whilst that of China
is so difficult, or their method of learning it so defective, as to
require the study of half the life of man to fit him for any of the
ordinary employments of the state, and they have no knowledge of any
language but their own. The one is in a state of youthful vigour,
advancing daily in strength and knowledge; the other is worn out with
old age and disease, and under its present state of existence is not
likely to advance in any kind of improvement.
To the principle of universal obedience the Chinese government has added
another, which is well calculated to satisfy the public mind: the first
honours and the highest offices are open to the very lowest of the
people. It admits of no hereditary nobility; at least none with
exclusive privileges. As a mark of the Sovereign's favour a distinction
will sometimes descend in a family, but, as it confers no power nor
privilege nor emolument, it soon wears out. All dignities may be
considered as merely personal; the princes of the blood, even, sink
gradually into the common mass, unless their talents and their
application be sufficient to qualify them for office, independent of
which there can be neither rank nor honours, and very little if any
distinction, not even in the imperial family, beyond the third
generation. On public days the Emperor, at a single glance, can
distinguish the rank of each of the many thousand courtiers that are
assembled on such occasions by their dress of ceremony. The civilians
have a bird, and the military a tyger, embroidered on the breast and
back of their upper robe; and their several ranks are pointed out by
different coloured globes, mounted on a pivot on the top of the cap or
bonnet. The Emperor has also two orders of distinction, which are
conferred by him alone, as marks of particular favour; the order of the
yellow vest and of the peacock's feather.
The influence that, in nations of Europe, is derived from birth,
fortune, and character, is of no weight in the Chinese government. The
most learned, and I have already explained how far the term extends,
provided he be not of notorious bad character, is sure to be employed;
though under the present Tartar government, the Chinese complain that
they never arrive at the highest rank till they are advanced in years.
Learning alone, by the strict maxims of state, leads to office, and
office to distinction. Property, without learning, has little weight,
and confers no distinction, except in some corrupt provincial
governments, where the external marks of office are sold, as in Canton.
Hence property is not so much an object of the laws in China as
elsewhere, and consequently has not the same security. In the
governments of Europe, property seldom fails to command influence and to
force dependence: in China, the man of property is afraid to own it, and
all the enjoyments it procures him are stolen.
Sometimes, indeed, the highest appointments in the state are conferred,
as it happens elsewhere, by some favourable accident, or by the caprice
of the monarch. A striking instance of this kind was displayed in the
person of _Ho-tchung-tang_, the last prime minister of the late
_Kien-long_. This man, a Tartar, happened to be placed on guard in the
palace, where his youth and comely countenance struck the Emperor so
forcibly in passing, that he sent for him to the presence; and finding
him equally agreeable in his conversation and manners, he raised him
rapidly, but gradually, from the situation of a common soldier, to the
highest station in the empire. Such sudden changes, from a state of
nothingness to the summit of power, have frequently been observed to be
attended with consequences no less fatal to the man so elevated, than
pernicious to the public: and thus it happened to this favourite
minister. During the life of his old master, over whom, in his later
years, he is said to have possessed an unbounded influence, he availed
himself of the means that offered, by every species of fraud and
extortion, by tyranny and oppression, to amass such immense wealth in
gold, silver, pearls, and immoveable property, that his acquisitions
were generally allowed to have exceeded those of any single individual,
that the history of the country had made known. His pride and haughty
demeanour had rendered him so obnoxious to the royal family that, at the
time we were in Pekin, it was generally supposed, he had made up his
mind to die with the old Emperor, for which event he had always at hand
a dose of poison, not chusing to stand the severe investigation which he
was well aware the succeeding prince would direct to be made into his
ministerial conduct. It seems, however, when that event actually
happened, the love of life, and the hope of escaping, prevailed on him
to change his purpose and to stand the hazard of a trial. Of the crimes
and enormities laid to his charge he was found, or rather he was said to
have pleaded, guilty. The vast wealth he had extorted from others was
confiscated to the crown, and he was condemned to suffer an ignominious
death[28].
[28] The circumstances attending the downfal of this minister are
curious, and shew, in its true light, the despotic nature of the Chinese
government, notwithstanding their salutary laws. The new Emperor,
determined on his ruin, makes a public declaration wherein, after
apologizing for not abstaining agreeably to the laws of the empire from
all acts of innovation, for the space of three years after his father's
death, he observes, that the crimes and excesses of _Ho-tchung-tang_ are
of so horrid a nature, as to preclude him from acting towards him with
any pity or indulgence. He then exhibits about twenty articles of
accusation against him, the principal of which are,
_Contumacy_ towards his father (the late Emperor) by riding on horseback
to the very door of the hall of audience at _Yuen-min-yuen_.
_Audacity_, under pretence of lameness, in causing himself to be carried
to and from the palace through the door set apart for the Emperor.
_Scandalous behaviour_, in taking away the virgins of the palace, and
appropriating them to his own use.
_Pride and insolence_, in countermanding his (the new Emperor's) order,
for all the princes of Tartary to be summoned to Pekin, those who had
not had the small-pox excepted, to assist at the funeral of his father,
and by issuing a new one, in which _none_ were excepted.
_Bribery and partiality_, in selling and giving away appointments of
weight to persons totally unqualified to fill them.
_Arrogance_, in making use of the wood _Nan-moo_ (cedar) in his house,
which is destined exclusively for royal palaces; and in building a house
and gardens in the style and manner of those belonging to the Emperor.
For having in his possession more than two hundred strings of pearls,
and an immense quantity of jewels and precious stones, which his rank
did not allow him to wear, and among which was a pearl of such wonderful
magnitude, that the Emperor himself had no equal to it.
For having in gold and silver alone, which has been already discovered
and confiscated, the amount, at least, of ten million taels (about
3,300,000_l._ sterling).
One article is singularly curious. For having been guilty of the deepest
treachery in informing him (the new Emperor) of his father's intention
to abdicate the government in his (the new Emperor's) favour, _one day_
before his father made it public, thinking by such means to gain his
favour and affection!
After enumerating the several articles of accusation, the Emperor
states, that this minister being interrogated by a Tartar prince on
several points, had confessed the whole to be true, and, therefore,
without further evidence, he commands the presidents and members of the
several courts in Pekin, the viceroys of provinces, and governors of
cities, on these articles of accusation being laid before them, to pass
a proper sentence on the said _Ho-tchung-tang_. According to the
majority, he was condemned to be beheaded; but as a peculiar act of
grace and benevolence on the part of the Emperor, this sentence was
mitigated to that of his being allowed to be his own executioner. A
silken cord being sent as an intimation of this mark of the Emperor's
favour, he caused himself to be strangled by some of his attendants.
Who could escape when the Emperor of China is himself the accuser? It
will readily occur, from the fate of _Ho-tchung-tang_, that there is not
that line of independence drawn between the executive and juridical
authority, which the ingenious author of the Spirit of Laws has clearly
proved to be the grand foundation of a just, legal, and efficient
security of the life and property of the subject. In fact, in all state
crimes, the Emperor becomes both the accuser and the judge. In the case
of _Ho-tchung-tang_ he may likewise be said to have been the only
evidence.
But _Ho-tchung-tang_, if guilty of inordinate ambition, or acts of
injustice, is far from being the only instance of such conduct in men
thus raised from humble situations. The officers of government in
general, though intended by the constitution as a kind of barrier
between the prince and the people, are the greatest oppressors of the
latter, who have seldom any means of redress, or of conveying their
complaints to the Imperial ear. There is no middle class of men in
China: men whose property and ideas of independence give them weight in
the part of the country where they reside; and whose influence and
interest are considered as not below the notice of the government. In
fact, there are no other than the governors and the governed. If a man,
by trade, or industry in his profession, has accumulated riches, he can
enjoy them only in private. He dares not, by having a grander house, or
finer clothes, to let his neighbour perceive that he is richer than
himself, lest he should betray him to the commanding officer of the
district, who would find no difficulty in bringing him within the pale
of the sumptuary laws, and in laying his property under confiscation.
Sometimes, indeed, the extortions that the officers practise upon the
people, as in the case of _Ho-tchung-tang_, meet the hand of justice.
Other magistrates keep a steady eye upon their proceedings, and, in
proper time, transmit the necessary information to court. Spies also are
detached from court into the provinces, under the name of inspectors.
Jealous of each other, they let no opportunity slip of making
unfavourable reports to their superiors. Notwithstanding which, with all
the precautions taken by government in favour of the subject, the latter
finds himself most dreadfully oppressed. It is true, for very slight
offences preferred against men in office, the court directs a public
reprimand in the official Gazette; for those of a more serious nature,
degradation from rank; and every officer so degraded is under the
necessity of proclaiming his own disgrace in all his public orders; not
only to put him in mind of his past conduct, but likewise to shew the
people how watchful the eye of government is over the actions of its
servants. The last stage of public degradation, which amounts to a
sentence of infamy, is an order to superintend the preparation of the
Emperor's tomb, which implies that the person so sentenced is more fit
to be employed among the dead than the living. _Tchang-ta-gin_, the late
viceroy of Canton, was condemned to this degrading service[29].
[29] Among the various customs of China, particularized in the accounts
of the two Mahomedan travellers in the ninth century, this remarkable
one is noticed, affording, with the rest, equally singular and peculiar
to this nation, an proof of the authenticity of these two relations.
The viceroy of a province can remain in that office no longer than three
years, lest he might obtain an undue influence. No servant of the crown
can form a family alliance in the place where he commands, nor obtain an
office of importance in the city or town wherein he was born. Yet with
these, and other precautions, there is still little security for the
subject. He has no voice whatsoever in the government, either directly
or by representation; and the only satisfaction he possibly can receive
for injuries done to him, and that is merely of a negative kind, is the
degradation or the removal of the man in power, who had been his
oppressor, and who perhaps may be replaced by another equally bad.
The ingenious Mr. Pauw has observed, that China is entirely governed by
the whip and the bamboo. To these he might have added the yearly
calendar and the Pekin Gazette, both of which, as engines in the hands
of government, contribute very materially to assist its operations. By
the circulation of the first is kept alive the observance of certain
superstitions which it is, apparently, the study of government to
encourage. The second is a vehicle for conveying into every corner of
the empire the virtues and the fatherly kindness of the reigning
sovereign, shewn by punishing the officers of his government, not only
for what they have done amiss, but for what they may have omitted to do.
Thus, if a famine has desolated any of the provinces, the principal
officers are degraded for not having taken the proper precautions
against it. This paper, in the shape of a small pamphlet, is published
every second day. The missionaries have pretended that immediate death
would be the consequence of inserting a falsehood in the Imperial
Gazette. Yet it is famous for describing battles that were never fought,
and for announcing victories that were never gained. The truth of this
observation appears from several proclamations of _Kaung-shee_, _Tchien
Long_, and the present Emperor, warning the generals on distant stations
from making false reports, and from killing thousands and ten thousands
of the enemy, sometimes even when no engagement had taken place[30]. The
reverend gentlemen only mean to say, that the editor would be punished
if he ventured to insert any thing not sent to him officially by the
government.
[30] The words of _Kaung-shee's_ proclamation, repeated by _Kia-king_,
are: "At present when an army is sent on any military service, every
report that is made of its operations, contains an account of a victory,
of rebels dispersed at the first encounter, driven from their stations,
killed, and wounded, to a great amount, or to the amount of some
thousands, or, in short, that the rebels slain were innumerable."
_Pekin Gazette, 31st July, 1800._
The press in China is as free as in England, and the profession of
printing open to every one, which is a singular circumstance, and
perhaps the only instance of the kind, in a despotic government. It has
usually been supposed that, in free countries only where every person is
equally under the protection, and equally liable to the penalties, of
the law, the liberty of the press could be cherished; and that it was a
thing next to impossible, that power, founded on error and supported by
oppression, could long be maintained where the press was free. It was
the press that in Europe effected the ruin of priestly power, by
dispelling the clouds that had long obscured the rays of truth; and by
opening a free access to the doctrines of that religion which, of all
others, is best calculated for the promotion of individual happiness and
public virtue[31].
[31] When the art of printing was first introduced into England, and
carried on in Westminster Abbey, a shrewd churchman is said to have
observed to the Abbot of Westminster, "If you don't take care to destroy
that machine, it will very soon destroy your trade." He saw at a single
glance of the press, the downfal of priestly dominion in the general
diffusion of knowledge that would be occasioned by it, and had the rest
of the clergy been equally clear-sighted, it is probable the dark ages
of superstition and ignorance had still continued, or at least had been
greatly protracted.
In China the liberty of the press seems to excite no apprehensions in
the government. The summary mode of punishing any breach of good morals,
without the formality of a trial, makes a positive prohibition against
printing unnecessary, being itself sufficient to restrain the
licentiousness of the press. The printer, the vender, and the reader of
any libellous publication, are all equally liable to be flogged with the
bamboo. Few, I suppose, would be hardy enough to print reflexions on the
conduct of government, or its principal officers, as such publications
would be attended with certain ruin. Yet, notwithstanding all the
dangers to which the printing profession is liable, daily papers are
published in the capital, circulating, something like our own, private
anecdotes, domestic occurrences, public notices of sales, and the
wonderful virtues of quack medicines. We were told that, in one of these
papers, the Portuguese missionary mentioned in Mr. Grammont's letter got
a paragraph inserted, purporting the great neglect of the English in
having brought no presents for the princes of the blood, nor for the
Emperor's ministers. This false and malicious paragraph was said to be
followed by another, insinuating that those for the Emperor were common
articles of little value. Another pretended to give a catalogue of them,
and included an elephant about the size of a rat, giants, dwarfs,
wishing pillows, and such like nonsense. These, however, and other
publications, were industriously kept from our sight. Under the
generous idea of being the Emperor's guests, we were not allowed to
purchase any thing. He alone was to supply our wants, but his officers
took the liberty of judging what these wants should consist in.
It is a singular phenomenon in the history of nations, how the
government of an empire, of such vast magnitude as that of China, should
have preserved its stability without any material change, for more than
two thousand years; for, dropping their pretensions to an extravagant
antiquity, for which however they have some grounds, there can be no
doubt they were pretty much in the same state, regulated by the same
laws, and under the same form of government as they now are, four
hundred years before the birth of Christ, about which time their
renowned philosopher flourished, whose works are still held in the
highest reputation. They contain indeed all the maxims on which their
government is still grounded, and all the rules by which the different
stations of life take their moral conduct; and the monarchy is supposed
to have been established two thousand years before his time.
If the test of a good government be made to depend on the length of its
continuance, unshaken and unchanged by revolutions, China may certainly
be allowed to rank the first among civilized nations. But, whether good
or bad, it has possessed the art of moulding the multitude to its own
shape in a manner unprecedented in the annals of the world. Various
accidents, improved by policy, seem to have led to its durability.
Among these the natural barriers of the country, excluding any foreign
enemy, are not to be reckoned as the least favourable; whilst the
extreme caution of the government in admitting strangers kept the world
in ignorance, for many ages, of the existence even of the most
extensive, powerful, and populous empire among men. Secluded thus from
all intercourse with the rest of the world, it had time and leizure to
mould its own subjects into the shape it wished them to retain; and the
event has sufficiently proved its knowledge in this respect.
A number of fortunate circumstances, seldom combined in the same
country, have contributed to the preservation of internal tranquillity
in China. The language is of a nature well calculated to keep the mass
of the people in a state of ignorance. They are neither prohibited from
embracing any religion of which they may make a choice, nor coerced to
contribute towards the support of one they do not approve. The pains
that have been taken to inculcate sober habits, to destroy mutual
confidence, and render every man reserved and suspicious of his
neighbour, could not fail to put an end to social intercourse. No
meetings were held, even for convivial purposes, beyond the family
circle, and these only at the festival of new year. Those kind of
turbulent assemblies, where real or imagined grievances are discussed
with all the rancour and violence that malicious insinuations against
government, added to the effects of intoxicating draughts, too
frequently inspire, never happen among the Chinese. Contented in having
no voice in the government, it has never occurred to them that they have
any rights[32]: and they certainly enjoy none but what are liable to be
invaded and trampled on, whenever the sovereign, or any of his
representatives, from interest, malice, or caprice, think fit to
exercise the power that is within their grasp. The doctrine of employing
resistence against oppression, applied to the people and the government,
is so contrary to every sentiment of the former, that the latter has
little to fear on that score.
[32] When the mischievous doctrines of _Tom Paine_, expounded in his
"Rights of Man," were translated into various languages, and
industriously attempted to be propagated among the eastern nations, by
means of French emissaries; when one of those assiduous disturbers of
the peace of mankind had actually succeeded in furnishing the Seiks with
an abstract of this precious work in their own language, he next turned
his attention to the vast empire of China, a glorious theatre for those
zealous cosmopolites to play their parts in, if they could once contrive
to suit their drama to the taste of the people. The experiment, however,
failed of success. The golden opinions of _Tom Paine_ could not be
transfused into the Chinese language; and these unfortunate people
understood no other but their own; so that three hundred and
thirty-three millions were doomed to remain in ignorance and misery on
account of their language being incapable of conveying the enlightened
doctrines of _Tom Paine_.
Partial insurrections occasionally happen, but they are generally owing
to the extreme poverty of the people which, in seasons of scarcity and
famine, compels them to take by violence the means of subsisting life,
which otherwise they could not obtain. To this cause may be referred the
origin of almost all the commotions recorded in their history, through
some of which, when the calamity became general, the regular succession
has been interrupted, and even changed. We were told, however, by our
Chinese attendants, that certain mysterious societies did exist in some
of the provinces, whose chief object was to overturn the Tartar
government; that they held secret meetings, in which they gave vent to
their complaints against Tartar preponderancy, revived the memory of
ancient glory, brooded over present injuries, and meditated revenge. If
even this be the case, the present state of society is little favourable
to their views. Nor indeed would a revolution be a desirable event for
the Chinese themselves. It could not fail of being attended with the
most horrible consequences. The Tartar soldiers would be tired with
slaying, and millions that escaped the sword must necessarily perish by
famine, on the least interruption of the usual pursuits of agriculture;
for they have no other country to look to for supplies, and they raise
no surplus quantity in their own.
In order to prevent as much as possible a scarcity of grain, and in
conformity to their opinion, that the true source of national wealth and
prosperity consists in agriculture, the Chinese government has in all
ages bestowed the first honours on every improvement in this branch of
industry. The husbandman is considered as an honourable, as well as
useful, member of society; he ranks next to men of letters, or officers
of state, of whom indeed he is frequently the progenitor. The soldier in
China cultivates the ground. The priests also are agriculturists,
whenever their convents are endowed with land. The Emperor is considered
as the sole proprietary of the soil, but the tenant is never turned out
of possession as long as he continues to pay his rent, which is
calculated at about one-tenth of what his farm is supposed capable of
yielding; and though the holder of lands can only be considered as a
tenant at will, yet it is his own fault if he should be dispossessed. So
accustomed are the Chinese to consider an estate as their own, while
they continue to pay the rent, that a Portuguese in Macao had nearly
lost his life for endeavouring to raise the rent upon his Chinese
tenants. If any one happens to hold more than his family can
conveniently cultivate, he lets it out to another on condition of
receiving half the produce, out of which he pays the whole of the
Emperor's taxes. A great part of the poorer peasantry cultivate lands on
these terms.
There are, in fact, no immense estates grasping nearly the whole of a
district; no monopolizing farmers, nor dealers in grain. Every one can
bring his produce to a free and open market. No fisheries are let out to
farm. Every subject is equally entitled to the free and uninterrupted
enjoyment of the sea, of the coasts, and the estuaries; of the lakes and
rivers. There are no manor lords with exclusive privileges; no lands set
apart for feeding beasts or birds for the profit or pleasure of
particular persons; every one may kill game on his own grounds, and on
the public commons. Yet with all these seeming advantages, there are
rarely three successive years without a famine in one province or
another.
As in the Roman Empire examples were not wanting of the first characters
in the state glorying to put their hands to the plough, to render the
earth fertile, and to engage in the natural employment of man; as,
In ancient times the sacred plough employ'd,
The kings and awful fathers,
So, in China, the Emperor at the vernal equinox, after a solemn offering
to the God of Heaven and Earth, goes through the ceremony of holding the
plough, an example in which he is followed by the viceroys and governors
and great officers in every part of the empire. This ceremony, though,
in all probability, the remains of a religious institution, is well
calculated to give encouragement to the labouring peasantry, whose
profession, thus honourably patronized, cannot fail to be pursued with
more energy and cheerfulness than where it receives no such marks of
distinction. Here merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics, are considered
far beneath the husbandman. So far from obtaining the honours attendant
on commerce in the ancient city of Tyre, "whose merchants were princes,
whose traffickers were the honourable of the earth"--or the ancient
immunities granted in Alfred's reign, by which an English merchant, who
had made three foreign voyages by sea, was raised to the rank of
nobility, the man who, in China, engages in foreign trade is considered
as little better than a vagabond. The home trade only is supposed to be
necessary, and deserving the protection of government. It allows all
goods and manufactures, the produce of the country, to be interchanged
between the several provinces, on payment only of a small transit duty
to the state, and certain tolls on the canals and rivers, applied
chiefly to the repairs of flood-gates, bridges, and embankments. This
trade, being carried on entirely by barter, employs such a multitude of
craft of one description or other, as to baffle all attempts at a
calculation. I firmly believe, that all the floating vessels in the
world besides, taken collectively, would not be equal either in number
or tonnage to those of China.
Foreign trade is barely tolerated. So very indifferent the court of
Pekin affects to be on this subject, that it has been hinted, on some
occasions, and indeed serious apprehensions have been entertained in
Europe, that they were half disposed to shut the port of Canton against
foreigners. The treatment, indeed, which strangers meet with at this
place, from the inferior officers of government, is of itself sufficient
to exclude them, and such as could only be tolerated in consideration of
the importance of the trade, and especially in the supply of tea; an
article which, from being about a century ago a luxury, is now become,
particularly in Great Britain, one of the first necessities of life.
The taxes raised for the support of government are far from being
exorbitant or burthensome to the subject. They consist in the tenth of
the produce of the land paid usually in kind, in a duty on salt, on
foreign imports, and a few smaller taxes, that do not materially affect
the bulk of the people. The total amount of taxes and assessments which
each individual pays to the state, taken on an average, does not exceed
four shillings a year.
With such advantages, unknown in most other countries, and such great
encouragement given to agriculture, one would be led to suppose that the
condition of the poor must be less exposed to hardships here than
elsewhere. Yet in years of scarcity many thousands perish from absolute
want of food. And such years so frequently occur in one province or
another, either from unfavourable seasons of drought or inundations, the
ill effects of both of which might probably be counteracted by proper
management, or by an honest application of the sums of money voted for
the purpose out of the public revenue, that government has seldom been
able to lay up in store a sufficient quantity of grain to meet the
necessities of the people in seasons of general calamity; and they have
no other relief to depend on but this precarious supply, seldom
administered with alacrity, on account of the number of hands it has to
pass through. This leads them to commit outrages against their wealthier
neighbours. There are few public charities; and it is not a common
custom to ask alms. I did not observe a single beggar from one extremity
of China to the other, except in the streets of Canton. Nor are there
any poor-laws griping the industrious husbandman and labourer, to feed
the lazy, and to feast those who have the care of them; no paupers of
any description, supported from funds that have been levied on the
public. The children, if living and, if not, the next of kin, must take
care of their aged relations; and the parents dispose of their children
in what manner they may think best for the family interest. As several
generations live together, they are subsisted at a much cheaper rate
than if each had a separate household. In cases of real distress the
government is supposed to act the parent; and its good intentions in
this respect cannot be called in question; whenever it appears that any
of its officers, through neglect or malice, have withheld grain from the
poor, they are punished with singular severity, sometimes even with
death.
Another great advantage enjoyed by the Chinese subject is, that the
amount of his taxes is ascertained. He is never required to contribute,
by any new assessment, to make up a given sum for the extraordinary
expences of the state, except in cases of rebellion, when an additional
tax is sometimes imposed on the neighbouring provinces. But in general
the executive government must adapt its wants to the ordinary supplies,
instead of calling on the people for extraordinary contributions. The
amount of the revenues of this great empire has been differently stated.
As the principal branch, the land-tax, is paid in kind, it is indeed
scarcely possible to estimate the receipt of it accurately, as it will
greatly depend on the state of the crop. An Emperor who aims at
popularity never fails to remit this tax or rent, in such districts as
have suffered by drought or inundation. _Chou-ta-gin_ gave to Lord
Macartney, from the Imperial rent-roll, a rough sketch of the sums
raised in each province, making them to amount in the whole to about
sixty-six millions sterling; which is not more than twice the revenue of
the state in Great Britain, exclusive of the poor's-rate and other
parochial taxes, in 1803, and which gives, as I before observed, if
reduced to a capitation, the sum of about four shillings for each
individual, whilst that of Great Britain, by an analogous computation,
would amount to about fifteen times that sum. I should suppose, however,
that a shilling in China, generally speaking, will go as far as three in
Great Britain.
From the produce of the taxes the civil and military establishments, and
all the incidental and extraordinary expences, are first paid on the
spot where they are incurred, out of the provincial magazines, and the
remainder is remitted to the Imperial treasury in Pekin to meet the
expences of the court, the establishment of the Emperor, his palaces,
temples, gardens, women, and princes of the blood. The confiscations,
presents, tributes, and other articles, may be reckoned as his privy
purse. The surplus revenue remitted to Pekin, in the year 1792, was
stated to be about 36,000,000 ounces of silver, or 12,000,000_l._
sterling. It is a general opinion among the Chinese part of his
subjects, that vast sums of the surplus revenue and such as arise from
confiscations are annually sent to Moukden, the capital of Mantchoo
Tartary; but this should appear to be an erroneous opinion founded on
prejudice. Notwithstanding the enormous wealth of _Ho-tchung-tang_, that
filled the Imperial coffers, the present Emperor found it necessary the
same year to accept an offering, as it was called, of 500,000 ounces of
silver, or 166,666_l._ sterling, from the salt merchants of Canton, and
sums of money and articles of merchandize from other quarters, to enable
him to quell a rebellion that was raging in one of the western
provinces. He even sent down to Canton a quantity of pearls, agates,
serpentines, and other stones of little value, in the hope of raising a
temporary supply from the sale of them to foreign merchants. The Emperor
of China, therefore, has not so much wealth at his disposal as has
usually been imagined. He even accepts of patriotic gifts from
individuals, consisting of pieces of porcelain, silks, fans, tea, and
such-like trifling articles, which afterwards serve as presents to
foreign embassadors, and each gift is pompously proclaimed in the Pekin
gazette.
The chief officers in the civil departments of government, independent
of the ministers and the different boards in Pekin, according to the
statement of _Tchou-ta-gin_, with their salaries and allowances reduced
into silver, will be seen from the following table, which, with that of
the military establishment, is published in the appendix to the
authentic account of the embassy by Sir George Staunton; and as they
differ very little from the court calendar published in 1801, and as I
have occasion to make a few remarks on them, as well as on that of the
population, which will be given in a subsequent chapter, I have not
hesitated to introduce them into the present work.
+---------------------------------------+---------+----------+-----------+
| | |Salaries | |
| Quality. | Number. |in ounces | Total. |
| | |of silver.| |
+---------------------------------------+---------+----------+-----------+
|Viceroys over one or more provinces | 11 | 20,000 | 220,000 |
|Governors of provinces | 15 | 16,000 | 240,000 |
|Collectors of revenue | 19 | 9,000 | 171,000 |
|Presidents of criminal tribunals | 18 | 6,000 | 108,000 |
|Governors of more than one city of the | 85 | 3,000 | 258,000 |
| first order | | | |
|Governors of one city only of the | 184 | 2,000 | 368,000 |
| first order | | | |
|Governors of a city of the second | | | |
| order | 149 | 1,000 | 149,000 |
|Governors of a city of the third | | | |
| order | 1305 | 800 | 1,044,000 |
|Presidents of literature and | 17 } | | |
| examinations | } | 3,000 | 402,000 |
|Inspectors general | 117 } | | |
| +---------+----------+-----------+
| Total oz. 2,960,000 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The inferior officers acting immediately under the orders of these, and
amounting to many thousands, together with the salaries and expences of
the different boards in the capital, all of which are paid out of the
public treasury, must require a sum at least equal to the above; so that
on a moderate calculation, the ordinary expences of the civil
establishment will amount to the sum of 5,920,000 ounces, or
1,973,333_l._ sterling.
Some idea may be formed of the numerous appointments, and the frequent
changes in administration, from the circumstance of the Court Calendar,
or red book, being published every three months making four tolerable
large volumes, or sixteen volumes every year.
The fatherly attention, the wise precautions, and the extreme jealousy
of the government, have not been considered as alone sufficient for the
internal and external protection of the empire, without the assistance
of an immense standing army. This army, in the midst of a profound
peace, was stated by _Van-ta-gin_ to consist of eighteen hundred
thousand men, one million of which were said to be infantry, and eight
hundred thousand cavalry. As this government, however, is supposed to be
much given to exaggeration in all matters relating to the aggrandisement
of the country, and to deal liberally in hyperboles, wherever numbers
are concerned, the authenticity of the above statement of their military
force may perhaps be called in question. The sum of money, that would be
required to keep in pay and furnish the extraordinaries of so immense an
army, is so immoderate that the revenues would appear to be unable to
bear it. If the pay and the appointments of each soldier, infantry and
cavalry one with another, be supposed to amount to a shilling a day, the
sum required for the pay alone would amount to 33,000,000_l._ sterling a
year!
To come nearer the truth, let us take the calculation drawn up by Lord
Macartney from the information of _Van-ta-gin_.
+-----------------------------------------+--------+-----------+---------+
| | | Salaries, | |
| Rank | Number | oz. | Total |
+-----------------------------------------+--------+-----------+---------+
|Tau-ton, | 18 | 4000 | 72,000|
|Tsung-ping | 62 | 2400 | 148,800|
|Foo-tsung | 121 | 1400 | 157,300|
|Tchoo-tsung | 165 | 800 | 132,000|
|Tchoo-tze | 373 | 600 | 223,800|
|Too-tze | 425 | 400 | 170,000|
|Sciou-foo | 825 | 320 | 264,000|
|Tsien-tsung | 1680 | 160 | 268,800|
|Pa-tsung | 3622 | 130 | 420,370|
|Commissaries of provisions of first | | | |
|rank | 44 | 320 | 14,080|
|Commissaries of provisions of second | 330 | 160 | 52,800|
|rank +-------+-----------+----------+
| Total 1,974,450|
| |
|1,000,000 infantry, at two ounces of silver each } 24,000,000 |
| _per_ month, provisions included } |
| 800,000 cavalry, at four ounces each, } 38,400,000 |
| provisions and forage included } |
| 800,000 horses, cost at twenty ounces each, } |
| 16,000,000 oz. the annual wear and } 1,600,000 |
| tear at 10 _per cent._ will be } |
|Uniforms for 1,800,000 men once a year, at four } 7,200,000 |
| ounces } |
|Yearly wear and tear of arms, accoutrements, and } 1,800,000 |
| contingencies, at one ounce _per_ man } |
| 73,000,000|
| --------------|
| Total ounces 74,974,450|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
And as no allowance is made in the above estimate for the expence of
artillery, tents, war equipage, nor for vessels of force on the
different rivers and canals, the building and keeping in repair the
military posts, the flags, ceremonial dresses, boats, waggons, musical
bands, all of which are included in the extraordinaries of the army,
these may probably be equal to the ordinaries; thus the whole military
establishment would require the sum of 149,948,900 ounces, or
49,982,933_l._ sterling.
The disposal of the revenues will then stand as follows:
Total amount of the revenue - £. 66,000,000
Civil establishment - £. 1,973,333
Military ditto - 49,982,933
__________ 51,956,266
__________
Surplus, being for the Emperor's establishment £. 14,043,734
which accords pretty nearly with the sum said to be remitted to Pekin in
the year 1792.
It will appear then that if the revenues be admitted as accurate, and I
see no just reason for supposing the contrary, they are more than
sufficient to meet the expences of so apparently an enormous
establishment. If, however, the King of Prussia, the Monarch of a small
indistinguishable speck on the globe, when put in comparison with the
empire of China, can keep up an army of one hundred and eighty or two
hundred thousand men, I can perceive nothing either extravagant or
extraordinary in supposing that a Sovereign whose dominions are eight
times the extent of those of France, before her late usurpations, should
have ten times as great a force as that of the King of Prussia. It may
perhaps be asked in what manner are they employed, seeing the nation is
so little engaged in foreign war? The employments for which the military
are used differ materially from those among European nations. Except a
great part of the Tartar cavalry, who are stationed on the northern
frontier and in the conquered provinces of Tartary, and the Tartar
infantry, who are distributed as guards for the different cities of the
empire, the rest of the army is parcelled out in the smaller towns,
villages, and hamlets; where they act as jailors, constables,
thief-takers, assistants to magistrates, subordinate collectors of the
taxes, guards to the granaries; and are employed in a variety of
different ways under the civil magistracy and police. Besides these, an
immense multitude are stationed as guards at the military posts along
the public roads, canals, and rivers. These posts are small square
buildings, like so many little castles, each having on its summit a
watch-tower and a flag; and they are placed at the distance of three or
four miles asunder. At one of these posts there are never fewer than six
men. They not only prevent robberies and disputes on the roads and
canals, but convey the public dispatches to and from the capital. An
express sent from post to post travels between the capital and Canton in
twelve days, which is upwards of one hundred miles a day. There is no
other post nor mode of conveying letters for the convenience of the
public.
A great part then of the Chinese army can only be considered as a kind
of militia, which never has been, and in all human probability never
will be, embodied, as a part of the community not living entirely on the
labour of the rest, but contributing something to the common stock.
Every soldier stationed on the different guards has his portion of land
assigned to him, which he cultivates for his family, and pays his quota
of the produce to the state. Such a provision, encouraged by public
opinion, induces the soldier to marry, and the married men are never
removed from their stations.
It will not be expected that men thus circumstanced should exhibit a
very military appearance under arms. In some places, where they were
drawn out in compliment to the Embassador, when the weather happened to
be a little warm, they were employed in the exercise of their fans,
instead of their matchlocks; others we found drawn up in a single line,
and resting very composedly on their knees to receive the Embassador, in
which posture they remained till their commanding officer passed the
word to rise. Whenever we happened to take them by surprize, there was
the greatest scramble to get their holyday dresses out of the
guard-house, which, when put on, had more the appearance of being
intended for the stage than the field of battle. Their quilted
petticoats, sattin boots, and their fans, had a mixture of clumsiness
and effeminacy that ill accorded with the military character.
The different kinds of troops that compose the Chinese army consist of
Tartar cavalry, whose only weapon is the sabre; and a few who carry
bows.
Tartar infantry, bowmen; having also large sabres.
Chinese infantry, carrying the same weapons.
Chinese matchlocks.
Chinese Tygers of war, bearing large round shields of basket-work,
and long ill-made swords. On the shields of the last are painted
monstrous faces of some imaginary animal, intended to frighten the
enemy, or, like another gorgon, to petrify their beholders.
The military dress varies in almost every province. Sometimes they wore
blue jackets edged with red, or brown with yellow; some had long
pantaloons; some breeches, with stockings of cotton cloth; others
petticoats and boots. The bowmen had long loose gowns of blue cotton,
stuffed with a kind of felt or wadding, studded all over with brass
knobs, and bound round the middle with a girdle, from which the sabre
was appended behind, hanging with the point forwards, and on the right,
not the left, side as in Europe. On the head they wore a helmet of
leather, or gilt pasteboard, with flaps on each side that covered the
cheeks and fell upon the shoulder. The upper part was exactly like an
inverted funnel, with a long pipe terminating in a kind of spear, on
which was bound a tuft of long hair dyed of a scarlet colour.
The greatest number we saw at any one place might be from two to three
thousand, which were drawn up in a single line along the bank of a
river; and as they stood with an interval between each equal to the
width of a man, they formed a very considerable line in length. Every
fifth man had a small triangular flag, and every tenth a large one; the
staffs that supported them were fixed to the jacket behind the
shoulders. Some of the flags were green, edged with red; others blue,
edged with yellow. I never saw the Chinese troops drawn out in any other
way than a single line in front; not even two deep.
The Tartar cavalry appear to be remarkably swift, and to charge with
great impetuosity; but the horses are so small and are broken into so
quick and short a stroke that the eye is deceived. Their real speed, in
fact, is very moderate. Their saddles are remarkably soft, and raised
so high both before and behind, that the rider cannot easily be thrown
out of his seat. The stirrups are so short that the knee is almost as
high as the chin. They have very little artillery, and that little is as
wretched as it well can be. I suspect it is borrowed from the
Portugueze, as the matchlock most unquestionably has been.
When our fellow-traveller _Van-ta-gin_ was asked the reason of their
pretending to give a preference to the clumsy matchlocks over the
firelocks now in use among European troops, he replied, it had been
found, after a severe engagement in Thibet, that the matchlocks had done
much more execution than the firelocks. It is difficult to combat
prejudices; but it was not very difficult to convince _Van_ that the
_men_ might probably have been quite as much in fault as the _musquets_,
and that the superior steadiness of the fire from the matchlocks might
possibly be owing to their being fixed, by an iron fork, into the
ground. The missionaries have assigned a very absurd reason for
firelocks not being used in China; they say the dampness of the air is
apt to make the flint miss fire. With equal propriety might these
gentlemen have asserted that flints would not emit fire in Italy. Their
want of good iron and steel to manufacture locks, or the bad quality of
their gunpowder, might perhaps be offered as better reasons; and as the
best of all their want of courage and coolness to make use of them with
that steadiness which is required to produce the effects of which they
are capable. Their favourite instrument is the bow, which, like all
other missile weapons, requires less courage to manage, than those
which bring man to oppose himself in close contest with man.
Although the Tartars have found it expedient to continue the Chinese
army on the old footing, it may naturally be supposed they would
endeavour to secure themselves by all possible means in the possession
of this vast empire, and that they would use every exertion to recruit
the army with their own countrymen, in preference to the Chinese. Every
Tartar male child is accordingly enrolled. This precaution was
necessary, as their whole army, at the time of the conquest, is said not
to have exceeded eighty thousand men. At this time, in fact, a weak
administration had suffered the empire to be torn asunder by
convulsions. Every department, both civil and military, was under the
control of eunuchs. Six thousand of these creatures are said to have
been turned adrift by the Tartars on taking possession of the palace in
Pekin.
The conduct of the Mantchoo Tartars, whose race is now on the throne,
was a master-piece of policy little to be expected in a tribe of people
that had been considered but as half civilized. They entered the Chinese
dominions as auxiliaries against two rebel chiefs, but soon perceived
they might become the principals. Having placed their leader on the
vacant throne, instead of setting up for conquerors, they melted at once
into the mass of the conquered. They adopted the dress, the manners, and
the opinions of the people. In all the civil departments of the state
they appointed the ablest Chinese, and all vacancies were filled with
Chinese in preference to Tartars. They learned the Chinese language;
married into Chinese families; encouraged Chinese superstitions; and, in
short, omitted no step that could tend to incorporate them as one
nation. Their great object was to strengthen the army with their own
countrymen, whilst the Chinese were so satisfied with the change, that
they almost doubted whether a change had really taken place.
The uninterrupted succession of four Emperors, all of whom were endowed
with excellent understandings, uncommon vigour of mind, and decision of
character, has hitherto obviated the danger of such an enormous
disproportion between the governors and the governed. The wisdom,
prudence, and energy of these Emperors have not only maintained the
family on the throne, the fifth of which now fills it, but have enlarged
the dominions to an extent of which history furnishes no parallel. The
present Emperor, _Kia-king_, is said to possess the learning and
prudence of his father, and the firmness of _Kaung-shee_; but it is
probable he will have a more difficult task in governing the empire than
either of his predecessors. In proportion as the Tartar power has
increased, they have become less felicitous to conciliate the Chinese.
All the heads of departments are now Tartars. The ministers are all
Tartars; and most of the offices of high trust and power are filled by
Tartars. And although the ancient language of the country is still
preserved as the court language, yet it is more than probable that
Tartar pride, encreasing with its growing power, will ere long be
induced to adopt its own.
The Emperor _Kaung-shee_ indeed took uncommon pains to improve the
Mantchoo language, and to form it into a systematic _Thesaurus_ or
dictionary; and _Tchien-Lung_ directed that the children of all such
parents as were one a Tartar, the other a Chinese, should be taught the
Mantchoo language; and that they might pass their examinations for
office in that language. I could observe, that the young men of the
royal family at _Yuen-min-yuen_ spoke with great contempt of the
Chinese. One of them, perceiving that I was desirous of acquiring some
knowledge of the Chinese written character, took great pains to convince
me that the Tartar language was much superior to it; and he not only
offered to furnish me with the alphabet and some books, but with his
instructions also, if I would give up the Chinese, which, he observed,
was not to be acquired in the course of a man's whole life. I could not
forbear remarking, how very much these young princes enjoyed a jest
levelled against the Chinese. An ill-natured remark, for instance, on
the cramped feet and the hobbling gait of a Chinese woman met with their
hearty approbation; but they were equally displeased on hearing the
clumsy shoes worn by the Tartar ladies compared to the broad
flat-bottomed junks of the Chinese.
Although the ancient institutes and laws, the established forms of
office, the pageantry of administration, were all retained, and the
dress, the manners, and external deportment of the vanquished were
assumed by the victors, yet the native character remained distinct; and
now, in the higher departments of office especially, it bursts through
all disguise. The conscious superiority of the one checks and overawes
the other. "Most of our books," observes Lord Macartney, "confound the
two people together, and talk of them as if they made only one nation
under the general name of China; but whatever might be concluded from
any outward appearances, the real distinction is never forgotten by the
sovereign who, though he pretends to be perfectly impartial, conducts
himself at bottom by a systematic nationality, and never for a moment
loses sight of the cradle of his power. The science of government in the
_Eastern_ world, is understood by those who govern very differently from
what it is in the _Western_. When the succession of a contested kingdom
in Europe is once ascertained, whether by violence or compromise, the
nation returns to its pristine regularity and composure: it matters
little whether a Bourbon or an Austrian fills the throne of Naples or of
Spain, because the sovereign, whoever he be, then becomes to all intents
and purposes, a Spaniard or Neapolitan, and his descendants continue so
with accelerated velocity. George the First and George the Second ceased
to be foreigners from the moment our sceptre was fixed in their hands;
and His present Majesty is as much an Englishman as King Alfred or King
Edgar, and governs his people not by Teutonic, but by English laws.
"The policy of Asia is totally opposite. There the prince regards the
place of his nativity as an accident of mere indifference. If the parent
root be good, he thinks it will flourish in every soil, and perhaps
acquire fresh vigour from transplantation. It is not locality, but his
own cast and family; it is not the country where he drew his breath,
but the stock from which he sprung; it is not the scenery of the
theatre, but the spirit of the drama, that engages his attention and
occupies his thoughts. A series of two hundred years, in the succession
of eight or ten monarchs, did not change the Mogul into a Hindoo, nor
has a century and a half made _Tchien-Lung_ a Chinese. He remains, at
this hour, in all his maxims of policy, as true a Tartar as any of his
ancestors."
Whether this most ancient empire among men will long continue in its
stability and integrity, can only be matter of conjecture, but certain
it is, the Chinese are greatly dissatisfied, and not without reason, at
the imperious tone now openly assumed by the Tartars; and though they
are obliged to cringe and submit, in order to rise to any distinction in
the state, yet they unanimously load them with
"Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath[33]."
[33] The last accounts, indeed, that have been received from China, are
rather of an alarming nature. A very serious rebellion had broken out in
the western provinces, which had extended to that of Canton, the object
of which was the overthrow of the Tartar government. It was known for
some years past, as I before observed, that certain secret societies
were forming in the different provinces, who corresponded together by
unknown signs, agreed upon by convention, but they were not considered
to be of that extent as to cause any uneasiness to the government. It
appears, however, that not fewer than forty thousand men had assembled
in arms in the province of Canton, at the head of whom was a man of the
family of the last Chinese Emperor, who had assumed the Imperial Yellow.
These rebels, it seems, are considerably encouraged in their cause by a
prophesy, which is current among the people, that the present Tartar
dynasty shall be overturned in the year 1804. The existence of such a
prophecy may be more dangerous to the Tartar government than the arms of
the rebels, by assisting to bring about its own accomplishment.
Whenever the dismemberment or dislocation of this great machine shall
take place, either by a rebellion or revolution, it must be at the
expence of many millions of lives. For, as is well observed by Lord
Macartney, "A sudden transition from slavery to freedom, from dependence
to authority, can seldom be borne with moderation or discretion. Every
change in the state of man ought to be gentle and gradual, otherwise it
is commonly dangerous to himself, and intolerable to others. A due
preparation may be as necessary for liberty, as for inoculation of the
small-pox, which, like liberty, is future health but, without due
preparation, is almost certain destruction. Thus then the Chinese, if
not led to emancipation by degrees, but let loose on a burst of
enthusiasm, would probably fall into all the excesses of folly, suffer
all the paroxysms of madness, and be found as unfit for the enjoyment of
rational freedom, as the French and the negroes."
CHAP. VIII.
Conjectures on the Origin of the Chinese.--Their Religious
Sects,--Tenets,--and Ceremonies.
_Embassy departs from Pekin, and is lodged in a Temple.--Colony from
Egypt not necessary to be supposed, in order to account for Egyptian
Mythology in China.--Opinions concerning Chinese Origin.--Observations
on the Heights of Tartary.--Probably the Resting-place of the Ark of
Noah.--Ancients ignorant of the Chinese.--Seres.--First known
Intercourse of Foreigners with China.--Jews.--Budhists.--Nestorians.
--Mahomedans.--Roman Catholics.--Quarrels of the Jesuits and Dominicans.
--Religion of Confucius.--Attached to the Prediction of future Events.
--Notions entertained by him of a future State.--Of the Deity.--Doctrine
not unlike that of the Stoics.--Ceremonies in Honour of his Memory led to
Idolatry.--Misrepresentations of the Missionaries with regard to the
Religion of the Chinese.--The_ Tao-tze _or_ Sons of Immortals.--_Their
Beverage of Life.--The Disciples of_ Fo _or Budhists.--Comparison of
some of the Hindu, Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese Deities.--The_ Lotos
_or_ Nelumbium.--_Story of_ Osiris _and_ Isis, _and the_ Isia _compared
with the Imperial Ceremony of Ploughing.--Women visit the
Temples.--Practical Part of Chinese Religion.--Funeral Obsequies.--Feast
of Lanterns.--Obeisance to the Emperor performed in Temples leads to
Idolatry.--Primitive Religion lost or corrupted.--Summary of Chinese
Religion._
The suspicious and watchful conduct of the Chinese government towards
strangers was ill suited to the free and independent spirit of Britons.
Confined within the limits of their hotel, the populous capital of China
was to them little better than a desert. It was, therefore, less
painful to be obliged to quit a place which they could consider in no
other light than as an honourable prison, and to take leave of a people,
whose general character seemed to be strongly marked with pride,
meanness, and ignorance. After having passed some time in a nation,
where every petty officer is a tyrant, and every man a slave, how doubly
precious do the blessings of that true liberty appear, which our happy
constitution affords to every one the means of enjoying at home; where
property is secured from violence, and where the life of the meanest
subject is equally protected with that of the prince. Let those
visionary men, who amuse themselves in building Utopian governments, and
those who, from real or fancied injury or neglect, feel the chagrin of
disappointment, visit other countries, and experience how justice is
administered in other nations; they will then be taught to confess that
real liberty exists only in Great Britain--in that happy island where,
to use the expression of an eminent writer on the laws of nations[34],
"an enlightened piety in the people is the firmest support of lawful
authority; and in the sovereign's breast, it is the pledge of the
people's safety, and excites their confidence."
[34] Vattel.
Impressed with such sentiments, on the evening of the 7th of October I
rode through the streets of Pekin, for the last time, in company with
Mr. Maxwell. We were quite alone, not a single Chinese servant, nor
soldier, nor officer to conduct us; yet we had no difficulty in finding
our way. We passed through the broad streets of this capital from one
extremity to the other without the least molestation, or, indeed, the
least notice. We could not forbear remarking the extraordinary contrast,
that the two greatest cities in the world exhibited at this hour of the
day. In the public streets of Pekin, after five or six o'clock in the
evening, scarcely a human creature is seen to move, but they abound with
dogs and swine. All its inhabitants, having finished the business of the
day, are now retired to their respective homes to eat their rice and,
agreeably with the custom of their great Emperor, which to them is a
law, to lie down with the setting sun; at which time in London, the
crowd is so great, from Hyde Park corner to Mile End, as to interrupt
each other. In Pekin, from the moment the day begins to dawn, the buzz
and the bustle of the populace is like that of a swarm of bees; whilst,
on the contrary, the streets of London at an early hour in the morning
are nearly deserted. At eight in the evening, even in summer, the gates
of Pekin are shut, and the keys sent to the governor, after which they
cannot be opened on any consideration.
The Embassador and the rest of the suite, with the soldiers, servants
and musicians had, several hours before us, set out in a sort of
procession, in which an officer of government on horseback took the
lead, with the letter of the Emperor of China to the King of England
slung across his shoulders, in a wooden case covered with yellow silk.
At a late hour in the night, we joined the rest of the party in the
suburbs of _Tong-tchoo-foo_, where we were once more lodged among the
gods of the nation, in a temple that was consecrated to the patronizing
deity of the city. There are no inns in any part of this vast empire;
or, to speak more correctly (for there are resting-places), no inhabited
and furnished houses where, in consideration of paying a certain sum of
money, a traveller may purchase the refreshments of comfortable rest,
and of allaying the calls of hunger. The state of society admits of no
such accommodation, and much less such as, in many countries, proceeds
from a spirit of disinterested hospitality; on the contrary, in this
country, they invariably shut their doors against a stranger. What they
call inns are mean hovels, consisting of bare walls where, perhaps, a
traveller may procure his cup of tea for a piece of copper money, and
permission to pass the night; but this is the extent of the comforts
which such places hold out. The practice indeed of travelling by land is
so rare, except occasionally in those parts of the country which admit
not the convenience of inland navigations, or at such times when these
are frozen up, that the profits which might arise from the entertainment
of passengers could not support a house of decent accommodation. The
officers of state invariably make life of the conveniences which the
temples offer, as being superior to any other which the country affords;
and the priests, well knowing how vain it would be to resist, or
remonstrate, patiently submit, and resign the temporary use of their
apartments without a murmur.
In most countries of the civilized world, the buildings appropriated for
religious worship and the repositories of their gods, are generally held
sacred. In the monasteries of those parts of Europe, where inns are not
to be found, the apartments of the monks are sometimes resorted to by
travellers, but in China the very _sanctum sanctorum_ is invaded. Every
corner is indiscriminately occupied by men in power, if they should
require it. Sometimes, also, the whole building is made a common place
of resort for vagrants and idlers, where gamblers mix with gods, and
priests with pick-pockets. In justice, however, it must be observed,
that the priests of the two popular religions which predominate in the
country shew no inclination to encourage, by joining in, the vicious
practices of the rabble; but having no pay nor emolument from
government, and being rather tolerated than supported, they are obliged
to submit to and to overlook abuses of this nature, and even to allow
the profane practices of the rabble in the very hours of their devotion.
Yet there is a decency of behaviour, a sort of pride and dignity in the
deportment of a Chinese priest, that readily distinguish him from the
vulgar. The calumnies, which some of the Roman Catholic missionaries
have so industriously circulated against them, seem to have no
foundation in truth. The near resemblance of their dress and holy rites
to those of their own faith was so mortifying a circumstance, that none
of the missionaries I conversed with could speak with temper of the
priests of China. I could not even prevail on our interpreter of the
_propaganda fide_, who still manifested a predilection for the customs
of his country in every other respect, to step into the temple where the
altar was placed; nor could he be induced, by any persuasion, to give or
to ask an explanation of their mysterious doctrines.
There is no subject, perhaps, on which a traveller ought to speak with
less confidence, than on the religious opinions of the people he may
chance to visit, in countries out of Europe, especially when those
opinions are grounded on a very remote antiquity. The allegorical
allusions in which they might originally have been involved, the various
changes they may since have undergone, the ceremonies and types under
which they are still exhibited, in their modern dress, render them so
wholly unintelligible that, although they may have been founded in truth
and reason, they now appear absurd and ridiculous; equally inexplicable
by the people themselves who profess them, as by those who are utter
strangers. The various modes, indeed, under which the Creator and Ruler
of the Universe is recognised by various nations, all tending to one
point, but setting out in very different directions, can only be
understood and reconciled by a thorough knowledge of the language, the
history, and the habits of the people; of their origin and connections
with other nations; and, even after such knowledge has been obtained, it
is no easy task to separate fable from metaphor, and truth from fiction.
For these reasons, the religion of China appears to be fully as obscure
and inexplicable as that of almost any other of the oriental nations.
The language of the country, added to the jealousy of the government in
admitting foreigners, have thrown almost insuperable obstacles in the
way of clearing up this intricate subject; and those few, who only have
had opportunities of overcoming these difficulties, were unfortunately
men of that class, whose opinions were so warped by the prejudices
imbibed with the tenets of their own religion, that the accounts given
by them are not always to be depended upon. As I have already observed,
they cannot bring themselves to speak or to write of the priests of
China with any degree of temper or moderation.
It would be presumptuous in me to suppose, for a moment, that I am
qualified to remove the veil of darkness that covers the popular
religion of China. But as, in the practice of this religion, it is
impossible not to discover a common origin with the systems of other
nations in ancient times, it may not be improper to introduce a few
remarks on the subject, and to enquire if history will enable us to
point out, in what manner they might have received or communicated the
superstitions and metaphysical ideas that seem to prevail among them.
The obvious coincidence between some parts of the mythological doctrines
of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, with those of China, induced the
learned Monsieur de Guignes and many of the Jesuits to infer, that a
colony from Egypt, at some remote period, had passed into China. This
however does not appear probable. The Chinese are not a mixed but a
distinct race of men; and their countenance has nothing of the ancient
Egyptian in it. Nor indeed is it necessary to suppose any such
connection, in order to explain the vestiges of Egyptian mythology that
may appear in their temples. We are informed by history that when
Alexander marched into India, about three centuries before the birth of
Christ, many learned Greeks accompanied him on this memorable
expedition; and we are further informed that, two centuries after this
period when the persecutions and cruelties of Ptolemy Physcon expelled
great numbers of learned and pious Greeks and Egyptians from the city of
Alexandria, they travelled eastward in search of an asylum among the
Persians and the Indians; so that there is nothing extraordinary in
meeting with Greek and Egyptian superstitions among nations of the East;
even where no vestige of their language remains. For it may be observed
that, whenever colonies emigrate from their own country and settle among
strangers, they are much more apt to lose their native language, than
their religious dogmas and superstitious notions. Necessity indeed may
compel them to adopt the language of the new country into which they
have emigrated, but any compulsive measures to draw them to another
religion serve only to strengthen them in their own. The French refugees
at the Cape of Good Hope totally lost their language in less than
seventy years; and, singular as it may appear, I met with a deserter
from one of the Scotch regiments, on the borders of the Kaffer country,
who had so far forgot his language, in the course of about three years,
that he was not able to make himself intelligible by it. Many languages,
we know, have totally been lost, and others so changed as scarcely to
preserve any traces of their original form[35].
[35] This consideration on the transient nature of languages, and
especially of those whose fleeting sounds have never been fixed by any
graphic invention, makes it the more surprizing how Lord Kames, in his
sketch on the origin and progress of American nations, after observing
that no passage by land had been discovered between America and the old
world, should have given it as his opinion, that an enquiry, much more
decisive at to the former being peopled by the latter, might be pursued,
by ascertaining whether the same language be spoken by the inhabitants
on the two sides of the strait that divides the northern regions of
America from Kamskatka. And that, after finding this not to be the case,
he should conclude that the former could not have been peopled by the
latter. Had not Lord Kames written upon a system of a separate and local
creation, pre-established in his own mind, he would unquestionably have
laid more stress upon a resemblance in their physical characters, in
their superstitions and religious notions, than on similarity of
language; which, among the many acquirements of the human species, or of
human institution, is not the least liable to change by a change of
situation, especially where no written character has been employed to
fix it. His Lordship's conclusion is the more extraordinary, as he had
already observed that the resemblance between them was perfect in every
other respect.
Mr. Bailly, with some other learned and ingenious men, was of opinion,
that many fragments of the old and absurd fables of China are
discoverable in the ancient history of the Hindus, from the birth of
_Fo-shee_, the founder of the empire (_Fo-hi_, as the French write the
word,) until the introduction of Budha, or Fo. Like the Hindus, it is
true, they have always shewn a remarkable predilection for the number
_nine_. Confucius calls it the most perfect of numbers. But the
Scythians, or Tartars, have also considered this as a sacred number. It
is true, likewise, they resemble some of the Indian nations, in the
observance of solstitial and equinoxial sacrifices; in making offerings
to the manes of their ancestors; in the dread of leaving no offspring
behind them, to pay the customary obsequies to their memory; in
observing eight cardinal or principal points of the world; in the
division of the Zodiac, and in a variety of other coincidences, which
the learned Mr. Bryant accounts for by supposing the Egyptians, Greeks,
Romans, and Indians, to be derived from one common stock, and that some
of these people carried their religion and their learning into China. No
proof however is adduced, either by him or others, of such a
communication; and an assertion directly the contrary might have been
made with equal plausibility.
That the Chinese do not owe their origin to the same stock, their
physical character is of itself a sufficient proof. The small eye,
rounded at the extremity next the nose, instead of being angular, as is
the case in that of Europeans, its oblique instead of horizontal
position, and the flat and broad root of the nose, are features or
characters entirely distinct from the Hindu, the Greek, or the Roman;
and belong more properly to the natives of that vast extent of country,
which was known to the ancients by the name of Scythia, and, in modern
times, by that of Tartary. There is scarcely in nature two of the human
species that differ more widely than a Chinese and a Hindu, setting
aside the difference of colour, which however modern enquiries have
determined to have little or no relation to climate, but rather to some
original formation of the different species. The Mantchoo, and indeed
all the other Tartar tribes bordering upon China, are scarcely
distinguishable from the Chinese. The same colour, except in a few
instances as I have elsewhere observed, the same eyes, and general turn
of the countenance prevail, on the continent of Asia, from the tropic of
Cancer to the Frozen Ocean[36]. The peninsula of Malacca, and the vast
multitude of islands spread over the eastern seas, and inhabited by the
Malays, as well as those of Japan and Lieou-kieou, have clearly been
peopled from the same common stock. The first race of people to the
northward of Hindostan, that possess the Tartar countenance, so
different from that of the Hindus, are the inhabitants of Bootan. "The
_Booteeas_," says Captain Turner, "have invariably black hair, which it
is their fashion to cut short to the head. The eye is a very remarkable
feature of the face; small, black, with long pointed corners[37], as
though stretched and extended by artificial means. Their eye-lashes are
so thin as to be scarcely perceptible, and the eye-brow is but slightly
shaded. Below the eyes is the broadest part of the face, which is rather
flat, and narrows from the cheek-bones to the chin; a character of
countenance appearing first to take its rise among the Tartar tribes,
but is by far more strongly marked in the Chinese."
[36] It is sufficiently remarkable, that the Emperor _Kaung-shee_, in
giving, by public edict, some account to his subjects of the different
nations of Asia and Europe, should make the following observation. "To
the southward of the _Cossack_ country a horde of _Hoo-tse_ (Turks) is
established, who are descended from the same stock with _Yuen-tay-tse_,
formerly Emperors of China."
[37] The _exterior_ angles are here meant which, in the Chinese also,
are extended in the same or a greater proportion than the _interior_
ones are rounded off.
The heights of Tartary, bulging out beyond the general surface of the
globe, have been considered, indeed, by many as the cradle of the human
species, or still more emphatically, and perhaps more properly, as _the
foundery of the human race_. This opinion did not arise solely from the
vast multitudes of people corresponding with the Tartar character, that
are spread over every part of the eastern world, and who in countless
swarms once overran all Europe, but was grounded on a supposition, that
the whole surface of the globe, or the greater part of it, has at one
time been submerged in water, and that Tartary was the last to be
covered, and the first that was uncovered; and the place from whence, of
course, a new set of creatures were forged as in a workshop, from some
remnant of the old stock, to be the germs of future nations.
Almost every part of the earth, indeed, affords the most unequivocal
indications that such has actually been the case, not only in the
several marine productions that have been discovered in high mountains,
at a distance from any sea, and equally deep under the surface of the
earth; but more especially in the formation of the mountains themselves,
the very highest of which, except those of granite, consisting
frequently of tabular masses piled on each other in such regular and
horizontal strata, that their shape and appearance cannot be otherwise
accounted for, or explained by any known principle in nature, except by
supposing them at one time to have existed in a state of fluidity, by
the agency of fire or of water, a point which seems to be not quite
decided between the Volcanists and the Neptunists. The heights of
Tartary are unquestionably the highest land in the _old_ world. In
America they may, perhaps, be exceeded. _Gerbillon_, who was a tolerable
good mathematician and furnished with instruments, assures us, that the
mountain _Pe-tcha_, very inferior to many in Tartary, is nine Chinese
_lees_, or about fifteen thousand feet, above the level of the plains of
China. This mountain, as well as all the others in the same country, is
composed of sand stone, and rests upon plains of sand, mixed with rock
salt and saltpetre. The _Sha-moo_, or immense desert of sand, which
stretches along the north-west frontier of China and divides it from
western Tartary, is not less elevated than the _Pe-tcha_, and is said to
resemble the bed of the ocean. Some of the mountains starting out of
this _sea of sand_, which its name implies, cannot be less than twenty
thousand feet above the level of the eastern ocean.
The formation of the earth affords a wide field for speculation; and,
accordingly, many ingenious theories have been conceived to explain the
various appearances which its surface exhibits. The best modern
naturalists seem, however, to agree, that water has been one of the
principal agents to produce these effects. The great Linnæus, whose
penetrating mind pervaded the whole empire of nature, after many and
laborious enquiries, acquiesced in the truth of the sacred writings,
that the whole globe of the earth was, at some period of time, submerged
in water, and covered with the vast ocean, until in the lapse of time
one little island appeared in this immense sea, which island must have
been of course the highest mountain upon the surface of the earth. In
support of his hypothesis, he adduces a number of facts, many of which
have fallen within his own observation, of the progressive retreat of
the sea, the diminution of springs and rivers, and the necessary
increment of land. Among the most remarkable of these are the
observations made by the inhabitants of Northern Bothnia upon the rocks
on the sea coast, from whence it appeared that, in the course of a
century, the sea had subsided more than four feet; so that six thousand
years ago, supposing the rate of retiring to have been the same, the sea
was higher than at present by two hundred and forty feet. Such great and
sensible depression of the water of the sea must, however, have been
only local, otherwise, as I have elsewhere observed, the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean would have joined within the period of history. The sea,
it is true, in some parts of the world, gains upon the land, and in
others the land upon the sea, but these effects arise from a different
cause to that which is supposed to produce a general retreat. It is
true, also, that in the neighbourhood of mountains and great rivers,
very material changes have taken place in the course of a few ages. The
fragments of the former, worn away by the alternate action of the sun
and rains, are borne down by the torrents of the latter, and deposited
in the eddies formed by the two banks of the rivers where they join the
sea, producing thus alluvious land as, for example, the Delta of Egypt,
which has gradually been deposited out of the soil of Abyssinia and
Upper Egypt; the plains of the northern parts of China, which have been
formed out of the mountains of Tartary; and those of India from the
Thebetian mountains, and the other high lands to the northward and
westward of the peninsula. As, however, a much greater proportion of the
fragments borne down by rivers must be deposited in the bosom of the
deep than on its shores, the sea by this constant and effective
operation ought rather to advance than to retreat. We may therefore,
perhaps, conclude that, whatever the changes may have been which the
surface of the earth has undergone, with regard to the proportion and
the portion of land and water, the appearances we now behold in various
parts of the globe can only be explained by supposing some temporary and
preternatural cause, or else by assuming an incalculable period of time
for their production.
But to return from this digression to the more immediate subject of the
present section. It is sufficiently remarkable, and no inconsiderable
proof of the truth of the Sacred Writings, that almost every nation has
some traditionary account of a deluge, some making it universal, and
others local: presuming, however, the former to be correct, which is
not only justified by the testimony of the author of the Pentateuch, but
by natural appearances, it might perhaps be shewn, with no great
deviation from the generally received opinion, that, instead of Persia
being the hive in which was preserved a remnant of the ancient world for
the continuation of the species, those who have supposed Tartary to be
the cradle, from whence the present race of men issued, have adopted the
more plausible conjecture. If it be borne in mind that, in every part of
the Bible history, the expressions are accommodated to the
understandings of those for whom they were intended, rather than
strictly conformable to facts, and more consonant to appearances than
realities, it may be supposed, without any offence to the most rigid
believer, that by the mount Ararat was not strictly meant the identical
mountain of that name, which has been recognised in Armenia, but rather
the highest mountain on the face of the globe; for, if this were not the
case, the Mosaic account would be contradictory in itself, as we are
told that, "all the high hills that were under the whole Heaven were
covered." This concession being allowed, we may suppose that the ark,
instead of resting in Armenia, first struck ground in that part of
Tartary which is now inhabited by the Eleuths, as being the most
elevated tract of country in the old world. From these heights large
rivers flow towards every quarter of the horizon. It is here that the
sources of the Selenga are found, descending to the northward into the
lake Baikal, and from thence by the Enesei and the Lena into the Frozen
Ocean: of the Amour, which empties its waters to the eastward into the
gulph of Tartary: of the two great rivers of China flowing to the
southward, and of numberless lakes and rivers discharging their waters
to the westward, some burying themselves in deserts of sand, and others
working their way to the great lake of Aral and the Caspian sea.
From such a situation, admitting the earth to have been peopled in
succession, the two great rivers which took the southerly direction and
crossed the fertile and extensive plains of China, were fully as likely
to direct the few survivors of the deluge to this country, as that they
should follow any of the other streams; and probably more so, as these
led to a warmer and more comfortable climate, where fewer wants were
felt and those few more easily supplied. Considered in this point of
view, the opinion of the Jesuits will not appear so ill founded, which
supposes that Noah, separating from his rebellious family, travelled
with a part of his offspring into the east, and founded the Chinese
monarchy; and that he is the same person as the _Foo-shee_[38] of their
history. The words of scripture _from the east_, an ingenious
commentator has observed, ought more properly to be translated, _at the
beginning_. At all events, the fact I conclude to be irresistible, that
the Tartars and the Chinese have one common origin, and the question
then is simply this, whether the fertile plains of China were abandoned
for the bleak and barren heights of Tartary, or that the wandering and
half-famished Scythians descended into regions whose temperature and
productions were more congenial to the nature of man.
[38] As a corroborating proof of the Chinese being of Scythic origin, it
may be observed, that the adjunct character _Shee_ (to the family name
_Foo_) is composed of a _sheep_, _rice_, an _arrow_, and the conjunctive
character _also_, from whence may be inferred that he united the
occupations of _shepherd_, _agriculturist_, and _warrior_.
If, however, we allow China to have been among the first nations formed
after the flood, it does not appear to have kept pace in learning and in
arts with the Chaldeans, the Assyrians, or the Egyptians. Before the
time of Confucius, its progress in civilization seems to have been very
slow. He was the first person who digested any thing like a history of
the kings of Loo; for, in his time, the country was divided among a
number of petty princes, who lived at the head of their families, much
in the same manner as formerly the chiefs of the clans in the Highlands
of Scotland; or, perhaps, more properly speaking, like the German
princes, whose petty states are so many parts of one great empire. It is
now about two thousand years since the several monarchies were
consolidated in one undivided and absolute empire. There are several
reasons for supposing that, before this period, China made no great
figure among the polished nations of the world, although it produced a
Confucius, some of whose works demonstrate a vigorous and an enlightened
mind. From the commentaries of this philosopher on one of their
classical books[39], it would appear that a regular succession of
Emperors could be traced near two thousand years back from his time, or
more than four thousand years from the present period. The duration of
the dynasties, with their several Emperors, which he enumerates, and the
detail of occurrences in each reign, make the truth of the history
sufficiently plausible, though the chronology, from their total
ignorance of astronomy, must necessarily be defective. It is still an
extraordinary circumstance, that none of the ancient classical authors
should have had the least knowledge of such a nation. Homer neither
mentions them nor makes any allusion to such a people; and Herodotus
seems to have been equally ignorant of their existence; and yet,
according to the best chronologists, Herodotus and Confucius must have
been contemporaries. It may fairly be concluded then, that the early
Greeks had no knowledge of the Chinese. Even more than a century after
the father of history flourished, when the Persian empire was overthrown
by Alexander, it does not appear that the Chinese were known to this
nation; which in all probability would have been the case,
notwithstanding their aversion to any intercourse with foreigners, had
they constituted, at that time, a large and powerful empire; perhaps,
indeed, the ignorance of the Persians might arise from the intervention
of the civilized nations of India, whose numbers might have made it
prudent in the former to direct their arms constantly towards the west
rather than to the east.
[39] The _Shoo-king_.
It has been an opinion pretty generally adopted, that the people known
to the ancients by the name of _Seres_ were the same as the Chinese,
partly on account of their eastern situation, and partly because the
principal silk manufactures were supposed to be brought from thence,
which gave the Romans occasion name the country _Sericum_. The Romans,
however, received the trifling quantity of silk made use of by them from
Persia, and not from China, nor from the country of the Seres. Nor is it
probable, that the latter should be the Chinese, who are said to have
sent an embassy to Augustus, in order to court the friendship of the
Romans, it being so very contrary to their fundamental laws, which not
only prohibit any intercourse with strangers, but allow not any of the
natives to leave the country. The fact, indeed, of this embassy rests
solely upon the authority of Lucius A. Florus, who wrote his history, if
it may so be called, nearly a century after the death of Augustus: and,
as none of the historians contemporary with that Emperor, take any
notice of such an event, it is more than probable that no such embassy
was sent to Rome[40].
[40] Ptolemy, the Geographer, places Serica adjoining to Scythia, _extra
Imaum_, corresponding with Cashgar, Tangut, and Kitai, countries famous
for the cultivation of the cotton plant. It would seem, indeed, from all
the passages which occur in ancient authors concerning the Seres, that
cotton was the substance alluded to, rather than silk, and that these
people were not the present Chinese, but the Tartars of Kitai.
_Quid nemora Æthiopum molli canentia lana?
Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres?_
Virg. Georg. ii. v. 120.
_----Primique nova Phaethonte retecti
Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis._
Sil. Ital. 1. 6. v. 3.
_----Quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
Frondea lanigeræ carpentes vellera Silvæ._
Claudian.
_Seres lanificio Sylvarum nobiles perfusam aquá depectentes frondium
canitiem._
Plin. 1. 6. 17.
Horace makes the Seres expert in drawing the bow, a weapon in the use of
which the Scythians were always famous.
_Doctus Sagittas tendere Sericas
Arcu paterno?_
Hor. lib. i. Od. 29. v. 9.
It certainly cannot be inferred that by the _Seres_, in any of the above
quotations, was meant the same people as the present Chinese; on the
contrary, the probability is that it did not allude to this nation, and
that the ancients had not the least knowledge of its existence. It
appears from another passage in Pliny, that the best iron in the world
was in _Sericum_, and that the Seres exported it with their cloths and
skins. The iron of the Chinese, as I have had occasion to observe, is
remarkably bad, and all their articles of peltry are imported.
The first people that we know to have travelled into China was a colony
of Jews who, according to the records kept by their descendants, and
which I understood from some of the missionaries are corroborated as to
the time by Chinese history, first settled there shortly after the
expedition of Alexander had opened a communication with India. Nor is it
at all improbable that this adventurous and industrious people were the
first to carry with them, into their new country, the silk worm and the
mode of rearing it, either from Persia, or some of the neighbouring
countries. The Emperor _Kaung-shee_, in his observations on natural
history, takes notice that the Chinese are greatly mistaken when they
say that silk was an exclusive product of China, for that the upper
regions of India have a native worm of a larger growth, and which spins
a stronger silk than any in China. Although indeed ancient authors are
silent as to the article of silk, there are grounds for supposing it was
not unknown in Tangut and Kitai. Several expressions in the Bible
warrant the opinion that silk was used in the time of Solomon, and the
_vestes perlucidæ ac fluidæ Medis_ of Justin seem to convey a
description of silken robes. This mode of the first introduction of silk
into China is offered as mere conjecture, for which I have no other
authority in support of, than what is here mentioned, with the
circumstance of the Jews being settled chiefly in the silk provinces,
and of their being at this time in considerable numbers near
_Hang-tchoo-foo_, where they carry on the principal trade in this
article, and have acquired the reputation of fabricating the best stuffs
of this material that are made in China; nor do I know in what other way
they could recommend themselves to the Chinese, so far as to have
obtained the protection of this jealous government, and to be allowed to
intermarry with the women of the country. It is true they have practised
no underhand attempts to seduce the natives from their paternal
religion, and to persuade them to embrace their own; and although they
are not very famous for the cultivation of the sciences, yet they might
have rendered themselves extremely useful in suggesting improvements in
many of the arts and manufactures. Many of them, indeed, forsake the
religion of their forefathers, and arrive at high employments in the
state. Few among them, I understand, except the Rabbis, have any
knowledge of the Hebrew language, and they have long been so intermixed
with the Chinese, that the priests at the present day are said to find
some difficulty in keeping up their congregations. So different are the
effects produced by suffering, instead of persecuting, religious
opinions.
One of the missionaries has given an account of his visit to a synagogue
of Jews in China. He found the priests most rigorously attached to their
old law: nor had they the least knowledge of any other Jesus having
appeared in the world, except the son of Sirach, of whom, he says, their
history makes mention. If this be really the fact, their ancestors could
not have been any part of the ten tribes that were carried into
captivity, but may rather be supposed to have been among the followers
of Alexander's army, which agrees with their own account of the time
they first settled in China. They possessed a copy of the Pentateuch and
some other fragments of the Sacred Writings, which they had brought
along with them from the westward, but the missionary's information is
very imperfect, as he was ignorant of the Hebrew language[41].
[41] All our enquiries, in passing the city of Hang-tchoo-foo, were
fruitless with regard to these Israelites. We had hitherto entertained a
hope of being able to procure, in the course of our journey, a copy of
this ancient monument of the Jewish history, which the late Doctor
Geddes considered as very desirable to compare with those already in
Europe; but the hasty manner in which we travelled, and the repugnance
shewn by our conducting officers, _Chou_ and _Van_ excepted, who had
little power or influence in the provinces, to enter into any of our
views that might appear to occasion delay, prevented the fulfilment of
those hopes. It were much to be wished, that the reverend missionaries
would so far lay aside their antipathy against opinions, not exactly
coinciding with their own, and enter into such a correspondence with the
Jews, as would obtain from them, which they are no doubt possessed of,
an account of the progress made by the Chinese in civilization and arts,
since their first settling in that country, and of other particulars
noted down by them. The circumstance of their carrying with them their
code of laws, and the history of their tribes, is a sufficient proof
that they understood a written language which there can be no doubt,
they would use the utmost caution not to lose. Such an account would be
more authentic than the Chinese annals, the best of which abound in
hyperbole, and contain facts so disguised in metaphor, that it is no
easy matter to extract from them the simple truth. At all events, the
comparison of the two histories would serve to verify each other.
Although a very great similarity is observable between many of the
ancient Jewish rites and ceremonies and those in use among the Chinese,
yet there seems to be no reason for supposing that the latter received
any part of their religion from the ancestors of those Jews that are
still in the country. This, however, is not the case with regard to the
priests of Budha, who, according to the Chinese records, came by the
invitation of one of their Emperors from some part of India, near
Thibet, about the sixtieth year of the Christian era. These priests
succeeded so well in introducing the worship of Budha, that it continues
to this day to be one of the popular religions of the country; and that
no traces of the original name should remain is the less surprising, as
they could not possibly pronounce either the B or the D; beside, they
make it an invariable rule, as I have already observed, not to adopt any
foreign names.
In some part of the seventh century, a few Christians of the Nestorian
sect passed from India into China where, for a time, they were tolerated
by the government. But, having most probably presumed upon its
indulgence, and endeavoured to seduce the people from the established
religions of the country, they were exposed to dreadful persecutions,
and were at length entirely extirpated, after numberless instances of
their suffering martyrdom for the opinions they had undertaken to
propagate to the "utmost corners of the earth." When Gengis-Khan invaded
China, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, a number of
Christians of the Greek church followed his army into this country; and
they met with such great encouragement from the Tartars, that when
Kublai-Khan succeeded to the government and built the city of Pekin, he
gave them a grant of ground within the walls of the city for the purpose
of building a church, in order to retain in the empire men of so much
learning and of abilities so much superior to those of the Chinese;
who, however, on their part, have affected, in their history, to
consider the Monguls as the greatest barbarians, for turning their
horses into the apartments of the palaces, while they themselves were
contented to pitch their tents in the courts or quadrangular spaces
surrounded by the buildings. Father Le Compte, in his memoirs of China,
says, but I know not on what authority, that at the taking of the city
of Nankin the Tartars put all the Chinese women in sacks, without regard
to age or rank, and sold them to the highest bidder; and that such as,
in thus "buying the pig in the poke," happened to purchase an old, ugly,
or deformed bargain, made no ceremony in throwing it into the river. If
Father Le Compte was not the inventor of this, among many other of his
pleasant stories, it certainly tells as little in favour of the Chinese,
who must have been the purchasers, as of the Tartars; but we will
charitably suppose the thing never happened. It seems, however, that the
overthrow of the Chinese empire by the Mongul Tartars, was an event not
to be regretted by the nation at large. By means of the learned and
scientific men, who accompanied the expedition from Balk and Samarcand,
astronomy was improved, their calendar was corrected, instruments for
making celestial observations were introduced, and the direct
communication between the two extremities of the empire was opened, by
converting the streams of rivers into an artificial bed, forming an
inland navigation, not to be paralleled in any other part of the world.
It was about this period when the celebrated Venetian traveller Marco
Polo visited the Tartar Khan, then sitting on the throne of China; and
who, on his return, gave the first accounts of this extraordinary
empire; which appeared indeed so wonderful that they were generally
considered as his own inventions. His relations of the magnificent and
splendid palaces of the Emperor, of his immense wealth, of the extent of
his empire, and the vast multitudes of people, were held to be so many
fabrications; and as, in speaking of these subjects, he seldom made use
of a lower term than millions, his countrymen bestowed upon him the
epithet of _Signor Marco Millione_--Mr. Mark Million. They had no
hesitation, however, in giving credit to the only incredible part of his
narrative, where he relates a few miracles that were performed, in the
course of his journey through Persia, by some Nestorean Christians.
Young Marco is said to have accompanied three missionaries of the
Dominican order, sent from Venice to the capital of China, at the
express desire of Kublai-Khan; but, whether they met with little
encouragement in the object of their mission, on account of being
preceded by the Christians of the Greek church, or their zeal at that
time was less ardent than in later days, is not stated; but it seems
they did not remain long in the East, returning very soon to their
native country much enriched by their travels.
During the continuance of the Tartar government, which was not quite a
century, great numbers of Mahomedans likewise found their way from
Arabia to China. These people had long, indeed, been in the habit of
carrying on a commercial intercourse with the Chinese; which, however,
as at the present day, extended no further than the sea-ports on the
southern coast. They now found no difficulty in getting access to the
capital, where they rendered themselves particularly useful in adjusting
the chronology of the nation, and making the necessary calculations for
the yearly calendar. Having acquired the language and adopted the dress
and manners of the people, by degrees they turned their thoughts to the
extending of their religious principles, and bringing the whole country
to embrace the doctrine of their great prophet. For this end, they
bought and educated at their own expence such children of poor people as
were likely to be exposed in times of famine; and they employed persons
to pick up, in the streets of the capital, any infants that should be
thrown out in the course of the night, and who were not too much
weakened or otherwise injured to be recovered.
About the middle of the sixteenth century, several Roman Catholic
missionaries, of the order of Jesus, penetrated into the East; and the
indefatigable zeal of one of these, Francis Xavier, carried him as far
as _San-Shian_, a small island on the coast of China, where he died in
the year 1552, in consequence of the uncommon fatigues he had undergone.
His brother missionaries have calculated that he travelled, on foot, not
less than one hundred thousand English miles, a great part of which was
over mountains and desarts and forests and burning sands. Since a more
easy communication with India and China has been effected by the way of
the Cape of Good Hope, numbers of missionaries of the Catholic religion
have volunteered their services into those countries; and although the
sole object of their mission is the propagation of the Christian faith,
they find it necessary, in order to forward that object, to make
themselves useful to the government. In China, they are occasionally
employed as astronomers, mathematicians, mechanics, and interpreters.
"It must have appeared a singular spectacle," observes Sir George
Staunton, "to every class of beholders, to see men actuated by motives
different from those of most human actions, quitting for ever their
country and their connexions, to devote themselves for life to the
purposes of changing the tenets of a people they had never seen; and in
pursuing that object to run every risk, suffer every persecution, and
sacrifice every comfort; insinuating themselves, by address, by talent,
by perseverance, by humility, by application to studies foreign from
their original education, or by the cultivation of arts to which they
had not been bred, into notice and protection; overcoming the prejudices
of being strangers in a country where most strangers were prohibited,
and where it was a crime to have _abandoned the tombs of their
ancestors_, and gaining, at length, establishments necessary for the
propagation of their faith, without turning their influence to any
personal advantage."
Most of those, however, who were established in Pekin, to the spiritual
consolation of having laboured in the vineyard of the gospel not
altogether in vain (for they do sometimes gain a proselyte) add the
substantial satisfaction of not having neglected their worldly concerns.
Besides the emoluments arising from their several communities, they have
shops and houses in the capital, which they rent to Chinese. They have
also their country villas and estates, where they cultivate the vine
and other fruits, and make their own wine. The revenues of the two
Portuguese seminaries are stated to amount to twelve thousand ounces of
silver, or four thousand pounds a year. The mission _de propaganda fide_
is poor. The French Jesuits were once rich; but their property was
dissipated on the dissolution of their society. The French _missions
étrangères_ drew on their superiors at Paris before the revolution, but
since that event are reduced to a most deplorable situation. And it
seemed to me, from what I could perceive at _Yuen-min-yuen_, that they
were not much disposed to assist one another. Each nation had its
separate interest, and they were not willing to lose any opportunity of
calumniating their fellow-labourers. The French and Italians were the
most moderate and liberal; the Portuguese the most inveterate. The
missionaries of this nation appeared to be inspired with a jealousy and
hatred, more than theological, against the rest. It is said indeed that
their rich possessions, and the high situations they unworthily hold in
the board of mathematics, render them jealous of all other Europeans;
and they use every means of excluding them from the country.
From the frequent dissensions, indeed, among the different orders, and
their perpetual broils, originated the persecutions which they and their
proselytes suffered in China. The most violent of these disputes was
carried on between the Jesuits and the Dominicans. The Jesuits
endeavoured to assimilate their doctrines and their opinions to those of
the Chinese, at least as far as they conscientiously could venture to
do, in conformity to the nature of their mission; by which means,
together with their apparently disinterested conduct, they soon
collected a numerous set of followers, half Christians and half Pagans.
Unluckily for the cause of Christianity, a different sect of the same
religion, but with principles more austere and of course less tolerant
of others that deviated from their own, speedily followed the Jesuits
into the East. The Dominicans, meeting with some of the
half-christianized converts, soon gave them to understand that nothing
less than eternal damnation would be the lot of all such as did not
forsake their ancient superstitious and idolatrous practices; and
especially that of sacrificing to their deceased relations in the Hall
of Ancestors. The Franciscans having joined the Dominicans they
represented to the Pope the abominable practices of the Jesuits, who had
persuaded the Chinese they were come among them for the sole purpose of
restoring their ancient religion to its original purity, as delivered by
their Great Philosopher Confucius. The Pope, upon this, sent over a
bull, interdicting all the missionaries in China from admitting any
extraneous ceremonies or idolatrous worship, to be blended with those of
Holy Catholic Church.
The Jesuits, however, by their superior talents, having made themselves
useful at court, and obtained the notice and protection of _Caung-shee_
the ruling monarch, and the greatest perhaps that ever filled the throne
of China, treated this bull with contempt, and continued to make
converts in their own way. They even obtained from the Emperor a sum of
money and a grant of land, towards building a church in Pekin. And they
further managed their affairs so well as to procure, from the succeeding
Pope, a dispensation in favour of their mode of proceeding to convert
the Chinese to Christianity. The Dominicans and Franciscans, piqued
beyond measure at the success of the Jesuits, represented them to the
Pope, in the strongest terms, as the greatest enemies to the Christian
faith. The Jesuits, in their turn, transmitted to Rome a manifesto,
signed by the Emperor himself, attesting that the ceremonies of homage
to the dead, retained by the Chinese Christians, were not of a religious
but a civil nature, agreeable to the long established laws of the
empire, which could not, on any consideration, be dispensed with. In
short, their disputes and quarrels ran so high, and proceeded to such
lengths; and Bulls and Embassadors were sent from Rome, with such
imperious and threatening commands for the Chinese Christians to desist
from all ceremonies that were not warranted by the Catholic church, that
the Emperor began to think it was high time to interpose his authority,
and to interdict the Christian religion from being preached at all in
his dominions. And his son and successor _Yung-chin_ commenced his reign
with violent persecutions against the missionaries. He ordered many of
them immediately out of the empire; others were thrown into prison[42],
where they lingered out a miserable life; and some were put to death by
the bow-string. Those few, who were found necessary to assist in the
astronomical part of the calendar, he allowed to remain in the capital.
[42] In the year 1785, Kien Long liberated, by a public edict, twelve
missionaries out of prison, who, being detected in privately seducing
the Chinese from the religion and customs of the country, had been
condemned to perpetual imprisonment. This edict, of which I procured a
copy in Pekin, does great honour to the humane and benevolent mind of
the Emperor. After stating their crime, apprehension, and trial, he
observes, "Had they made known their arrival to the officers of
government, they might have proceeded to the capital and found
protection. But as transgressors of the law, which forbids the entrance
of strangers, they have stolen into the country, and secretly
endeavoured to multiply converts to their way of thinking, it became my
duty to oppose a conduct so deceitful, and to put a stop to the progress
of seduction. Justly as they were found to deserve the punishment to
which they have been condemned, touched, nevertheless, with compassion
for their imprudence, it was not without injury to my feelings that I
ratified the sentence. But recollecting afterwards that they were
strangers--strangers perhaps ignorant of the laws of my empire, my
compassion increased for them, and humanity suffers on account of their
long confinement. I will, therefore, and command that these twelve
strangers be set at liberty."
Notwithstanding the persecutions that, in every reign, have been
violently carried on against them by the officers of government in the
several provinces, numbers of new missionaries have continued, from time
to time, to steal into the country. At Macao we found two young
missionaries, who had been waiting there a long time, in vain, for an
opportunity of getting privately into the country. They accused the
Portuguese of throwing every obstacle in their way, while pretending to
afford them assistance; but, on application to the British Embassador,
he found no difficulty in procuring them leave to proceed to the
capital; and as one of these gentlemen had been a pupil of the
celebrated La Lande, his services may probably supersede those of the
right reverend bishop who at present directs the astronomical part of
the important national almanack.
From the short view that has here been taken of the different people
who, at various times, have gained admission into China, and some of
them for no other purpose than that of disseminating their religious
tenets, it may be concluded, that the primitive worship of the country
has experienced many changes and innovations, especially since the mass
of the people, from the nature of the language, the maxims of the
government, and other circumstances, have always been kept in a state of
profound ignorance. Jews, Christians, Indians, and Mahomedans, have
severally met with encouragement. The Jesuits had but one obstacle to
overcome, the law that directed offerings to be made to deceased
relations, and by giving way to this, which they were inclined to do had
they not been thwarted by the more rigorous Dominicans, they might have
converted the whole nation and Christianity would have become, in all
probability, the prevailing religion, instead of that introduced from
India. The paraphernalia and almost all the mummeries of the Romish
church, the bells, the beads, the altars, the images, the candles, the
dress, and the sanctimonious deportment of the priests in the hours of
devotion, their chaunting and their incense, were already made familiar
to the people in every temple of _Fo_. But, as Lord Macartney has
observed, "the prohibition or restriction of sensual gratifications in a
despotic country, where there are so few others, is difficult to be
relished. Confession is repugnant to the close and suspicious character
of the nation, and penance would but aggravate the misery of him whose
inheritance is his labour, and poverty his punishment. Against it also
is the state of society in China, which excludes women from their proper
share of influence and importance. A religion which requires that women
should at stated times communicate to priests, in private, their
thoughts and actions, must be particularly disgusting to a Chinese
husband, who had not himself been suffered to see his wife till the day
of his marriage; and who but seldom allows her afterwards to see even
her near relations of another sex. A religion like that of Mahomet can
only be extended by violence and terror; for the natural stubbornness of
men does not readily give way to novel impressions; but the mild spirit
of the gospel is alone to be infused through the means of gentleness,
persuasion, and imperceptible perseverance. These are the proper
instruments of conversion, and peculiarly belong to the fair sex, whose
eloquence, on such occasions, gives charms to devotion and ornaments to
truth. The earliest stages of Christianity received no small support
from female agency and example; and for what shew of religion still
appears in _our_ churches, we are surely not a little indebted to the
piety and attendance of women." Nothing, in fact, more tended to alarm
the Chinese than the imprudent practice of the Romish missionaries of
seducing the Chinese women to their churches whom, as they avow in their
correspondence, they sometimes coaxed out of their jewels and money;
adding, by way of justification, that it was to promote the service of
God.
The primitive religion of China or, at least, those opinions, rites, and
ceremonies that prevailed in the time of Confucius, (and before that
period all seems to be fable and uncertainty) may be pretty nearly
ascertained from the writings that are ascribed to that philosopher. He
maintains in his physics, that "out of nothing there cannot possibly be
produced any thing;--that material bodies must have existed from all
eternity;--that the _cause_ (_lee_, _reason_) or principle of things,
must have had a co-existence with the things themselves;--that,
therefore, this cause is also eternal, infinite, indestructible, without
limits, omnipotent and omnipresent;--that the central point of influence
(_strength_) from whence this cause principally acts, is the blue
firmament (_tien_) from whence its emanations spread over the whole
universe;--that it is, therefore, the supreme duty of the prince, in the
name of his subjects, to present offerings to _tien_, and particularly
at the equinoxes, the one for obtaining a propitious seed-time, and the
other a plentiful harvest."
These offerings to the Deity, it may be observed, were always placed on
a large stone, or heap of stones, erected on the summit of a high
mountain, on the supposition, probably, that their influence would be so
much the greater, in proportion as they should approach the seat and
fountain of creative power; like the ancient Persians who, according to
Herodotus, considered the whole circle of the Heavens to be the great
ruling power of the universe, to which they also sacrificed on high
mountains. Thus Tacitus, in speaking of the practice of worshipping the
gods on high mountains, observes, that the nearer mortals can approach
the heavens, the more distinctly will their prayers be heard; and on the
same principle, Seneca says, that the people always strove for the seat
next to the image of the deity in the temples, that their prayers might
be the better heard. Thus also Noah, after quitting the ark, built an
altar on the mountain where it rested, and made a burnt-offering, whose
smoke ascending to heaven was pleasing to the Lord. And Abraham was
commanded to offer his only son Isaac on a mountain in the land of
Moria; and Balak carried Balaam to the top of Mount Pisgah to offer a
sacrifice there, and to curse Israel. Thus, indeed, all nations in their
infancy adopted the natural idea of paying adoration to Heaven from high
places.
The large stones, or the heaps of stones, that have been appropriated
for religious uses at different times, in almost every part of the
world, might have been introduced, as Lord Kames supposes, from the
custom among savage nations to mark with a great stone the place where
their worthies were interred: that such worthies being at length
deified, in the superstitious notions of their votaries, the stones that
were dedicated to their memory became essential in every act of
religious worship performed in honour of their new deities. The very
particular homage, that for time immemorial has been paid to the memory
of the dead by the Chinese, renders the above explanation extremely
probable as to the origin of their altar of four stones which in their
language are called _Tan_, and which in former times were erected on
most of their high mountains; and it is singular enough that, at the
present day, the _tan_ should be represented, upon many of the altars
erected in their temples, by four loose stones placed on the four
corners of the altar, as the horns were in the corners of the Jewish
altars. When population increased, and the people were spread wide over
the empire, the inconvenience of ascending any particular mountain must
necessarily be felt, and the _tan_ was then transferred to places that
were better suited for general accommodation. The same idea indeed is
still retained in our churches, the _altar_ and _high place_ being
synonimous words. In the city of Pekin, which stands on a sandy plain,
the _tien-tan_, or altar of Heaven; the _tee-tan_ or altar of earth; and
the _sien-nong-tan_ or altar of ancient agriculturists, are erected upon
artificial mounts within the walls of the palace; and here the Emperor
continues, to this day, to sacrifice at appointed times, exclusively, as
the son of Heaven, and the only being on earth worthy to intercede for
his people. The same doctrine prevailed in the time of Confucius, who
observes, that the distance between the all-creative power, or cause of
all things, and the people is so immeasurably great, that the king or
ruler, as high priest, can alone offer such a sacrifice; and that this
power is best satisfied when man performs the moral duties of life; the
principal of which he makes to consist in filial piety, and unlimited
obedience to the will of the prince.
His religious notions and morals do him great credit, but his
metaphysics are so obscure as not to be intelligible which, however, may
partly be owing to the nature of the language. In his writings appears a
strong predilection for a kind of fortune-telling, or predicting events
by the mystical lines of _Fo-shee_. By the help of these lines, and the
prevailing element at the commencement of the reign of a prince, he
pretended to foretel the events that would take place and the length of
its continuance; but, at the same time, he was cautious enough to wrap
them up in such ambiguous and mysterious expressions that, like most
prophecies of the kind, they might admit of a variety of
interpretations. This manner of expounding the lines of Fo-shee by
Confucius, the supposed system of binary arithmetic by Leibnitz, laid
the foundation of consulting future destiny, at this day universally
sought after by the Chinese[43].
[43] The government even grants licences to certain persons, under the
abused name of astronomers, who pretend to predict events, and cast out
evil spirits by a charm, consisting of some character written by them,
according to the supposed prevailing planet. The national almanack, not
less minute in its predictions than those of Francis Moore or Vincent
Wing, or even Partridge, points out the changes of the weather in every
month, with the lucky and unlucky days for undertaking most of the
important concerns of life. And that the fallacy of these is not
detected, may afford less matter for surprize, on recollection that, in
the wise and enlightened countries of Europe, and among very intelligent
people, the state of the weather is pretended to be predicted by the
phases of the moon, that is to say, they will prognosticate a change of
weather to happen at the new moon, or the first quarter, or the full, or
the last quarter, or, at all events, three days before, or three days
after one or other of these periods; so that the predictor has, at the
least, eight and twenty days out of a lunar revolution, in favour of his
prediction being right, and the whole lunation is only twenty-nine and a
half. He has also another great advantage: the accidental coincidence of
one single prophecy with the event, establishes his fame for ever,
whilst his blunders are either overlooked, or considered only as those
of the person, and not the defect of the science.
Predestination in all ages, and in all nations, has formed one of the
leading features of religion; and, in consideration perhaps of popular
opinion, has been foisted into the articles of the Christian faith,
though unwarranted by any passage in the holy scriptures. It is a
doctrine little calculated for the promotion of good morals, and still
less so for conveying spiritual consolation. The Chinese, however,
confine the influence of lots to the events of this life. It would
perhaps be doing injustice to the understanding of Confucius to suppose,
that he really believed in the doctrine of fatality. Being prime
minister of one of the kings of China, it was necessary for him to act
the politician as well as the philosopher; and he could not fail to
know, that the superstitions of the people were among the best supports
of the government. He might have been aware of the folly and absurdity
of such a doctrine, and yet found it prudent to enforce the observance
of it; just as the Greeks thought proper to continue their _Lots_.
These, instead of sticks, as used by the Chinese, were three stones
that, according to some, were first discovered and presented to Pallas
by the nymphs, the daughters of Jupiter, who rejected an offering that
rather belonged to Apollo, and threw them away;--an excellent moral,
observes Doctor Tytler, the learned translator of the hymns and epigrams
of Callimachus, shewing that those persons who are guided by Pallas, or
Wisdom, will improve the present time, without being too anxious to pry
into futurity. The Greek poet, however, like the Chinese philosopher,
ascribed to the possessor of the Lots, the talent of reading future
destiny.
"By him the sure events of Lots are given;
By him the prophet speaks the will of Heaven."
Tytler.
The Romans had also their lots to determine future events, which were a
kind of wooden dice, and their priests examined the marks and
interpreted the signification of the throw. And the ancient Germans,
according to Tacitus, made use of little sticks, notched at the ends
which, like the Chinese, they threw three times in case they did not
approve of the first throw. Herodotus traces the custom of predicting
future events to the ancient Egyptians, and seems to think the Greeks
had it from them. But is not the desire of prying into futurity to be
ascribed rather to a weakness in human nature, than as a custom borrowed
by one nation from another? Are we entirely free from it in modern
Europe? However humiliating the reflection may be, yet it is certainly
true, that men of the strongest minds and soundest judgments have
sometimes, towards the close of an useful life, devoted their time to
the exposition of old prophecies without meaning, or applicable only to
events that were already in train to be accomplished when the prediction
was made. Among many others, the great _Napier_, the inventor of
logarithms, might be produced as an instance of this remark. From the
Apocalypse of Saint John he predicted the day of judgment; but his
calculations in this instance not being founded on _data_ equally solid
with those on which he constructed his tables, he unfortunately survived
the day he had named to blush at his own weakness.
Other parts of the doctrine of Confucius were well calculated to keep
alive the superstitious notions that still prevail among the multitude.
He taught them to believe that the human body was composed of two
principles, the one light, invisible, and ascending; the other gross,
palpable, and descending; that the separation of these two principles
cause the death of man; that at this awful period the light and
spiritual part of the human body ascends into the air, whilst the gross
and corporeal matter sinks into the earth. The word _death_, in fact,
never enters into the philosophy of Confucius; nor, indeed, on common
occasions is it employed by the Chinese at the present day. When a
person departs this life, the common expression is, _he has returned to
his family_. And although the body resolves itself in the course of
time into its primitive elements, and becomes a part of the universe;
yet, he contended, the spirits of such as had performed their duty in
life were permitted to visit their ancient habitations, or such places
as might be appointed for receiving the homage of their descendants, on
whom they had the power of conferring benefactions. On this ground it
became the indispensable duty of every good man to observe a strict
obedience of the performance of sacred rites in the temple consecrated
to the memory of ancestors. He maintained that all such as neglected
this great branch of moral duty would be punished for their neglect,
after death, by their spiritual part being deprived of the privilege of
visiting the hall of ancestors; and, consequently, of the pleasure
arising from the homage bestowed by their descendants. Such a system
could not fail to establish a belief in good and evil genii, and of
tutelar spirits presiding over families, towns, cities, houses,
mountains, and other particular places. It afterwards required no great
stretch of the imagination to give to these "airy nothings a local
habitation and a name."
It does not appear, however, that either Confucius or any of his
disciples attached the least idea of a _personal being_ to the deity;
nor does it seem ever to have entered into their minds to represent the
_great first cause_ under any image or personification. They considered
the sun, moon, stars and the elements, with the azure firmament, as the
creative and productive powers, the immediate agents of the Deity and
inseparably connected with him, and they offered adoration to these
agents, united in one word _tien_ (Heaven). It cannot be supposed, after
what has already been observed in the sixth chapter, that I should lay
any stress on the similarity of words in different languages, or on the
analogy of their signification, in order to prove a common origin; but
if the conjecture of the learned Bos be right, that Θεος may
be derived from Θεειν to move forward, in allusion to the
motion of the heavenly bodies which the ancient Greeks, as well as the
Persians, worshipped, _tien_ certainly comes very near the Greek both in
sound and signification; nearer it could not come in sound, as the
Chinese by no effort could pronounce the Θ _th_. The word
_tien_ not only signifies _heaven_, but a revolution of the heavenly
bodies, and is in common use both in writing and conversation for _day_,
as _ye, ul, san tien_, one, two, three days.
The Confucionists, like the Stoics, seem to have considered the whole
universe as one animated system, made up of one material substance and
one spirit, of which every living thing was an emanation, and to which,
when separated by death from the material part it had animated, every
living thing again returned. In a word, their conceptions of the Deity
might be summed up in those two beautiful and expressive lines of Pope,
"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul."
But that which is most surprizing is, that the enthusiastic followers of
Confucius have never erected any statue to his memory, nor paid him
divine honours as erroneously has been supposed. In every city is a
public building, a kind of college, wherein examinations are held for
degrees of office, and this building is called the house of Confucius.
Here, on certain appointed days, the men of letters assemble to pay
respect to the memory of their esteemed philosopher. In the great hall
appropriated for this ceremony a plain tablet is erected, on which is
painted an inscription, in gilt characters, to this effect: "O
_Cong-foo-tse_, our revered master, let thy spiritual part descend and
be pleased with this our respect which we now humbly offer to thee!"
Fruit and wine, flowers, perfumes and other articles are then placed
before the tablet, during which are also burning various kinds of
scented gums, frankincense, tapers of sandal wood and gilt paper. This
ceremony, which in every respect is the same to that which he taught as
an observance towards the manes of departed relations, they are
persuaded is agreeable to the invisible spirits of those to whom it is
offered, who delight in hovering over the grateful odour of flowers, of
fruit, and the smoke of incense. Thus, in like manner, did the Romans on
their birth-days offer flowers and fruit and wine, and burn incense to
invisible spirits, whom they called the _genii_,
"Funde merum genio."
"Fill a glass to Genius."
But the priests, who, in all ages and in most nations, have been crafty
enough to turn to their own account the credulity and superstitions of
the people, having once established as a religious duty the offering of
sweet-smelling herbs and other perfumes, found little difficulty in
persuading the multitude, that that the tutelar spirits could eat as
well as smell, and that sacrifices and meat-offerings would be
acceptable to the gods. The priests of China lost no time in introducing
sacrifices, even of living creatures, and offerings of corn and rice and
wine and precious metals upon their altars, not however to that extent
which was practised in the temples of Greece and Rome, whose gods were
the most mercenary of all nations, being rarely induced to grant a
favour without a fee. Nor in modern days have the monks and priests of
the Catholic faith been backward in this respect particularly in
sanctioning the doctrine of _composition for sins_, for the absolution
of which the rate was not even fixed in proportion to the magnitude; and
what is still more astonishing, this impious practice of bargaining with
the Almighty has survived the dark ages, and exists to a certain degree
at this moment.
The moral and religious opinions of Confucius were, in fact, too sublime
and too metaphysical to preserve their purity among a people so
unprepared, as his countrymen were, to receive and cherish them. The
attention of the multitude would seem, indeed, in all nations to require
being fixed on something gross and material. How difficult was it for
the priest and the leader of the Jews, to restrain their people from
practices of idolatry. In the short absence even of Moses on Mount
Sinai, they made for themselves a molten calf of gold as an object of
divine worship, in imitation, probably, of what they had beheld in the
temples of Egypt. The invisible god made little impression on their
gross and untutored understandings. Nor was Numa more successful than
Moses or Confucius, in his attempt to establish among the people the
worship of an ideal or mental object of adoration. Thus also it happened
with the Chinese. The sublime conceptions of their great philosopher,
too refined indeed for untutored human nature, they could not
comprehend. They required some visible object on which they might fix
their attention. It was not enough merely to imagine that the spirits of
men, who had done their duty in this life, were permitted to haunt the
places where their bodies were interred, or where their surviving
friends should assemble to do them honour: it was necessary to give them
a form and substance. In the same manner was the purity of the Christian
religion contaminated by the multitude of images that were invented in
the monkish ages, when every city, town, and church, and even
individuals, provided they could pay for them, had their particular
patron, or tutelar saint.
Like the temples of Confucius, those of the ancient Egyptians are
supposed to have been entirely free from statues; and Herodotus seems to
be of opinion, that Hesiod and Homer were the first who introduced the
genealogy of the gods among the Greeks; imposed names upon each,
assigned their functions and their honours, and clothed them in their
several forms. And we learn from Silius Italicus, that the ancient
temple of Hercules at Gades had no visible type of the Deity.
"Sed nulla effigies, simulacrave nota deorum,
Majestate locum, et sacro implevere timore."
"No statues of the gods appear within,
Nor images; but rev'rend horror round,
And gloom majestic guard the sacred ground."
Tytler's MS.
The missionaries in their writings have endeavoured to impress the world
with an idea that the Chinese, and particularly the Confucionists, are
atheists; that they disbelieve in a future state of existence; and that
they are the victims of a senseless superstition. Nothing can be more
unjust than such an accusation. Could _Caung-shee_ be an atheist, when
he inscribed with his own hands the Jesuit church in Pekin,
"To the only true principle of all things," &c.
And can a people be justly accused of a disbelief in a state of future
existence, when the whole nation, of what sect soever, presents its
offerings at stated seasons to the _spirits_ of its departed ancestors?
Does the ejaculation, "Let thy spiritual part descend and be pleased
with this our respect which we now humbly offer to thee!" convey any
such supposition? And of all others, the missionaries ought to have been
the last to accuse the Chinese of senseless superstitions. Surely it is
not more repugnant to reason, nor less consonant with human feelings, to
offer grateful gifts to the manes of deceased parents and friends, than
to fall down before the Virgin Mary and the thousand saints whom caprice
or cabal have foisted into their calendar, and of whose history and
actions even their votaries are totally ignorant? Chinese superstition,
in this respect is, to say the worst of it, an amiable weakness. If the
supposition be allowed that beings who have departed this life may
possess an influence over remaining mortals, it is surely more natural
to address those whose care and kindness had already been felt, than
those of whom we have no further knowledge than the name. There is
perhaps no stronger incentive to virtuous actions, nor a more effectual
check against vicious pursuits, than the idea that the departed spirit
of a beloved parent may continue to watch over and direct our conduct.
The Chinese, at all events, are not illiberal in their superstitions:
they made not the least difficulty in allowing the corpse of one of our
artists, who died at _Tong-tchoo_, though a Christian and consequently
in their opinion a heretic, to be deposited in the midst of their public
burying ground. With as little reason does an angry missionary complain
of the dresses and ceremonies of their priests, as they certainly
borrowed nothing from the Catholics, who, on their part, are much
indebted to the heathen Greeks for a great part of the paraphernalia of
their own religion. "There is no country," says he, "where the devil has
so successfully counterfeited the true worship of the holy church. These
priests of the infernal spirit wear long loose gowns, exactly resembling
those of some of the fathers of the church; they live in temples like so
many monasteries, and they chaunt in the same manner as with us."
Another religion, much better calculated to gain popularity, sprung up
about the time of, or very shortly after, the death of Confucius. A man
of the name of _Lao-Kung_, having travelled into Thibet, became in part
acquainted with the worship of the priests of Lama, which he thought
would suit his countrymen, and might also be the means of raising his
own reputation. He accordingly established a sect, under the name of
_Tao-tze_, or "Sons of Immortals." He maintained, like Epicurus, that to
live at his ease and to make himself happy were the chief concerns of
man: that, to seize the present moment, regardless of the past and of
that to come, was the business of life,
"Carpe diem, quàm minimum credula postero."
"----Swift the fleeting pleasure seize,
Nor trust to-morrow's doubtful light."
But as ills would come, and disease and death seemed to be the common
lot of mankind, the beverage of immortal life was a glorious idea to
hold out to mortal man. In fact, immortality was one of the attributes
of the _Delai Lama_, who is supposed never to die; the soul of the
reigning Lama passing immediately into the person of his successor. This
doctrine, a branch of the Metempsycosis, was converted by _Lao-Kung_
into the art of producing a renovation of the faculties in the same
body, by the means of certain preparations taken from the three kingdoms
of nature. The infatuated people flew with avidity to the fountain of
life. Princes even sought after the draughts that should render them
immortal, but which, in fact, brought on premature death. Numerous
instances are said to be on record, wherein the eunuchs have prevailed
on the sovereign to swallow the immortal liquor which seldom failed to
dispatch him. Father Trigault, who was in Pekin when the Tartars took
possession of it, speaking of the propensity of the upper classes for
the beverage of life, observes, "Even in this city, there are few of the
magistrates or eunuchs or others in office free from this insanity; and
as there are plenty who wish to learn the secret, there is no want of
professors." This seems to be the only species of alchemy to which the
Jesuits have said the Chinese are addicted. The preparation of the
liquor of life is their philosopher's stone; and, in all probability, is
composed of opium and other drugs which, by encreasing the stimulus,
gives a momentary exhilaration to the spirits; and the succeeding
languor requiring another and another draught till at length, the
excitability being entirely exhausted, the patient "puts on
immortality."
How much soever we may find ourselves disposed to censure the absurdity
of the Chinese beverage of life, we are not a great way behind them in
this respect, or the _Perkinses_, the _Solomons_, the _Velnos_, and the
_Brodums_, with an innumerable host of quacks, whose indecent
advertisements disgrace our daily prints, would not derive their
subsistence, much less rise to affluence, by the credulity of
Englishmen; for many of these pests of society are foreigners, too
contemptible in their own country to meet with encouragement. What
conclusion would a Chinese be apt to draw of our national character, if
he had only a smattering of our language, just sufficient to enable him
to read these daily effusions that are forced upon public notice[44]?
And what must he think of the reveries of Condorcet, and of his English
disciples, whose monstrous doctrines (under the abused name of
philosophy) would persuade him that sleep was a disease! That
"Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, fore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast"----
was a bodily infirmity, which the _perfectibility of the human mind_
(so happily commenced by the French subversion) would completely
eradicate! Let us not altogether condemn the ignorant, perhaps
designing, priests of _Tao-tse_, and the still more ignorant multitude,
when the strong and enlightened mind of a _Descartes_ could amuse itself
with the fanciful hope of being able to discover the secret of
prolonging the life of man far beyond the usual limits which seem to be
assigned to the human species.
[44] And which, together with their pernicious practices and infamous
pamphlets, addressed chiefly to youth of both sexes, it may be added,
have done more mischief than "plague, pestilence, or famine." Among the
numerous societies that have been formed for the amendment of public
morals and the suppression of vice, it is surprizing that no plan has
been thought of for the suppression of impudent quacks.
Consistent with the principle of "taking no thought for the morrow," the
priests of _Lao-Kung_ devoted themselves to a state of celibacy, as
being more free from cares than the incumbrances which necessarily
attend a family connexion; and the better to accomplish this end, they
associated in convents. Here they deal out to their votaries the decrees
of the oracle agreeably to the rules prescribed by Confucius; and they
practice also a number of incantations, magic, invocations of spirits,
and other mystical rites that are probably as little understood by
themselves as by the gazing multitude. In performing these magic tricks
they march in procession round the altar, on which the sacred flame is
supposed to be kept perpetually burning, being a composition of wax and
tallow mixed up with sandal wood shavings and other perfumes; they
chaunt in unison a kind of recitative, and they bow their heads
obsequiously every time they pass before the front of the altar. The
great _Gong_ is struck at intervals, accompanied by tinkling sounds
emitted by gently striking small metal plates suspended in a frame as in
the plate of musical instruments. Their temples are crowded with large
and monstrous figures, some made of wood, some of stone, and others of
baked clay daubed over with paint and varnish, and sometimes gilt. To
such figures however they do not seem to pay any kind of homage. They
are intended merely to represent the good and evil genii under the
various passions to which human nature is liable. The good genii, or
pleasing affections, are placed on one side of the temple, and their
opposites on the other. Thus the personifications of mirth and
melancholy, love and hatred, pleasure and pain, are contrasted together.
The conditions of men are also represented, and their figures opposed to
one another. In this light at least they appeared to us; though the
priest at _Tong-tchoo_ informed us they were intended to pourtray the
different characters of the monks that had belonged to the monastery. In
some temples also are met with the statues of such Emperors or ministers
of state as had shewn themselves favourable to any particular convent.
If, for instance, a great man should occupy the apartments of a temple
and at his departure leave a considerable sum of money, the priests, out
of gratitude, would place his image in a niche of the temple. In looking
into one of these edifices a stranger would be apt to conclude that they
were Polytheists, which I do not understand to be the case. Like the
saints of the Catholics the great _Fo_, of whom I shall presently speak,
with _Poo-sa_, _Shing-moo_, and many others, are considered only in the
light of agents and intercessors, or as emanations of one creating,
destroying, and renovating power, whose good providence has divided
itself into a number of attributes for the better government of the
universe[45].
[45] Thus among the inscriptions written over the doors of
Temples, some are dedicated
_To the Holy Mother, Queen of Heaven; the Goddess of peace and power,
descended from the island of_ Moui-tao, _who stills the waves of the
sea, allays storms, protects the empire._
Another has
_The ancient temple of the goddess (Kin-wha) of the golden flower,
through whose influence fields are green and fertile like a grove of
trees, and benefits are diffused as the frothy wave of the sea, that
shines like splendid pearls._
Next to this religion of the immortals, was introduced another of nearly
the same growth which, from being patronized by the court, soon became
no less popular than the former. The priests of _Fo_, coming by
invitation from India, imported with them a great portion of the Hindu
mythology, which some learned men have supposed to be the origin from
whence the Polytheism of Egypt and Greece had its source; and others the
direct contrary. Be that as it may, the affinity seems to be too strong
not to ascribe them to a common parent; and the representations and the
histories of many of the gods of these nations were imported, in all
probability, with the religion of _Fo_, from India into China. This will
better appear by comparing a few as they are observed in the different
nations.
The _Budha_ of the Hindus was the son of _Ma ya_, and one of his
epithets is _Amita_: the _Fo_ of China was the son of _Mo-ya_, and one
of his epithets is _Om-e-to_; and, in Japan, whose natives are of
Chinese origin, the same god _Fo_ is worshipped under the name of
_Amida_. I could neither collect from any of the Chinese what the
literal meaning was of _Om-e-to_, nor could I decypher the characters
under which it is written, but it appeared to be used as a common
ejaculation on most occasions, just as we Europeans are too apt to make
a familiar and impious use of the name of God. Perhaps it might not seem
inconsistent in considering it to be derived from the Hindu mystic word
_Om_.
Since the accession of the Tartar princes to the throne of China, the
court religion, or at least the Tartar part of the court, which before
adhered to the tenets of Confucius, has been that of _Fo_ or _Budha_.
The priests are numerous, mostly dressed in yellow gowns, live in a
state of celibacy in large convents or temples, which the Chinese call
_Poo-ta-la_, evidently derived from _Budha-laya_, or habitation of
_Budha_, this name being adopted by the Tartars, which the Chinese have
been under the necessity of following as nearly as their organs of
speech would admit. They wear a sort of chapelet round their necks,
consisting of a number of beads. In some of their ceremonies they march,
like the _Tao-tses_, in procession round the altar, counting their
beads, repeating at every bead _Om-e-to-fo_, and respectfully bowing the
head. The whole string being finished, they chalk up a mark, registering
in this manner the number of their ejaculations to _Fo_. This counting
of their beads was one of the ceremonies that very much exasperated the
missionaries.
The _Ganesa_ of the Hindus, the _Janus_ of the Romans, and the
_Men-shin_, or guardian spirit of the door of the Chinese, are obviously
one and the same deity. Sometimes he is painted with a club in one hand,
and a key in the other, representing the protector of the house. On
almost every door in China, where the inhabitants profess the religion
of _Fo_, is drawn the figure of _Men-shin_, or otherwise the two
characters of this word, agreeing exactly with what Sir William Jones
has observed of the new town of Gayá in Hindostan, "that every new built
house, agreeably to an immemorial usage of the Hindus, has the name of
_Ganésa_ superscribed on its door: and in the old town his image is
placed over the gates of the temples."
The _Vishnu_ of the Hindus, riding on an eagle, and sometimes attended
by an eagle, has been considered as the _Jupiter_ of the Greeks; and the
_Lui-shin_ of the Chinese, or spirit of thunder, is figured under a man
with the beak and talons of an eagle, sometimes surrounded with kettle
drums, carrying in one hand a batoon and in the other a flame of fire.
The _Osiris_ of the Egyptians, from whence the Greeks had their
_Jupiter_, comes still nearer to the _Lui-shin_ of the Chinese. When
represented as the emblem of the sun, he was drawn under the figure of a
man with an eagle's beak, carrying in his hand a batoon on which was
painted an eye. The ingenious and fertile imagination of the Greeks
separated the emblem from the god, and made the bird of prey the
attendant of the divinity, which the Egyptians and the Chinese united
under one symbol. It is a curious coincidence of opinion, if it be not
founded on fact, that the Chinese should assign the same reason for
giving an eagle's face to their _Lui-shin_, that Pliny has for the
consecration of that bird to _Jupiter_, namely, that no instance was
ever known of an eagle being destroyed by lightning. The Chinese have
also an observation with regard to this bird, which has been made by
other nations, and which is, that the eagle, in a thunder storm, always
mounts above the clouds.
The _Varuna_ of the Hindus, riding on a fish, the _Neptune_ of the
Greeks, and the Chinese _Hai-vang_, or king of the sea, reposing on the
waves, with a fish in his hand, are unquestionably one and the same
personage.
The giant _Briareus_, with his hundred hands, is truly in China of a
most stupendous and colossal stature, being commonly from fifty to sixty
feet in height, and sometimes as tall as eighty feet. But the largest of
all their deities is a woman of the family of _Poo-sa_[46], apparently a
personification of nature. This goddess is modelled in a variety of
ways; sometimes she is to be found with four heads, and forty or fifty
arms, the heads looking towards the four cardinal points of the compass,
and each arm holding some natural product of the earth subservient to
the use of man. Sometimes each arm produces several smaller arms, and on
the head stands a pyramidal groupe of smaller heads. Van Braam mentions
his having seen a statue of this goddess that was ninety feet high,
having four heads and forty-four arms. It is no uncommon thing to meet
with temples in ruins, in the midst of which these monstrous gods and
goddesses are seen entire, exposed to the elements. It seems the
inferior temples are generally upheld by the voluntary gifts of the
people; and that, whenever any unusual calamity befals a town or
village, such as severe famine, epidemic disease, inundations, or the
like, whose dire effects cease not on repeated applications to the
protecting saint, by way of punishing the gods, they literally pull down
the temple over their heads, and leave them sitting in the open air. The
grotesque and barbarous manner of representing the manifold powers of
nature, or the goddess of nature, by a plurality of heads and hands in
one idol, is by no means favourable to the supposition of a refined or
superior understanding in the people who adopt them into their religious
worship. It can be considered only as a very short step beyond the
conceptions of savages, who have no other idea than that of supplying by
number, or a repetition of the same thing, what may be wanting in power.
The same figure, with numerous arms, appears in the Hindu temples that
are excavated out of solid granite mountains, the most ancient and among
the most wonderful monuments of art and persevering labour that have
hitherto been discovered on the face of the globe, the fountain perhaps
from whence the arts, the sciences, and the religious mysteries of the
Egyptians and the Greeks derived their origin.
[46] _Poo-sa_ comprehends a class of superintending deities
inferior to those of _Fo_, who are consulted on trivial occasions, and
the ordinary affairs of life. Of course the greater number of temples
are called by the general name of _Poo-sa miau_, _temple of Poo-sa_. The
name implies _all-helping_. The character _poo_ signifies _support_, and
_sa_ has the character of _plant_ for its root or key united to that of
_preservation_; the _plant-preserving_, or _plant-supporting_ deity;
from whence it may perhaps be concluded, that _Poo-sa_ is the offspring
of the _Holy Mother_ of whom I am about to speak.
But the most common of all the female deities in China is the
_Shing-moo_, or holy mother, or rather the mother of _perfect
intelligence_[47]. This lady is the exact counterpart of the Indian
_Ganga_ or goddess of the river, the _Isis_ of the Egyptians, and the
_Ceres_ of the Greeks. Nothing shocked the missionaries so much on their
first arrival in China as the image of this lady, in whom they
discovered, or thought they discovered, the most striking resemblance to
the Virgin Mary. They found her generally shut up with great care in a
recess at the back part of the altar, and veiled with a silken screen to
hide her from common observation; sometimes with a child in her hand, at
other times on her knee, and a glory round her head. On hearing the
story of the _Shing-moo_ they were confirmed in this opinion. They were
told that she conceived and bore a son while yet a virgin, by eating the
flower of the _Lien-wha_ (the _Nelumbium_) which she found lying upon
her clothes on the bank of a river where she was bathing: that, when the
time of her gestation was expired, she went to the place where she had
picked up the flower and was there delivered of a boy; that the infant
was found and educated by a poor fisherman; and, in process of time,
became a great man and performed miracles. Such is her story, as told by
the Chinese priests. When the image of this goddess is standing, she
generally holds a flower of the Nelumbium in her hand; and when sitting,
she is usually placed upon the large peltate leaf of the same plant.
[47] The character _shing_ is compounded of _ear, mouth_, and _ruler_ or
_king_, intending perhaps to express _the faculty of hearing all that
ear has heard and mouth uttered_.
The Egyptian Lotos, not that esculent plant from the use of which the
_Lotophagi_ had their name, but another of a very different genus
consecrated to religious purposes, is said[48] to have been ascertained
from a statue of _Osiris_, preserved in the Barberini palace at Rome, to
be that species of water lilly which grows in abundance in most parts of
the eastern world, and which was known to botanists under the name of
_Nymphæa Nelumbo_; but I understand it is now considered as a new
_genus_, distinguished under a modification of its former specific name,
by that of _Nelumbium_. This plant, however, is no longer to be found
in Egypt. The two species that grow, at present, on the banks and canals
of the Nile are totally different, which furnishes a very strong
presumption that, although a sacred plant and cultivated in the country,
it might nevertheless be of foreign growth. In China, few temples are
without some representation of the Nelumbium; sometimes the _Shing-moo_
is painted as standing upon its leaves in the midst of a lake. In one
temple I observed the intelligent mother sitting upon the broad peltate
leaf of this plant, which had been hewn out of the living rock.
Sometimes she holds in her hand a cornucopia filled with the ears of
rice, of millet, and of the capsule or seed-vessel of the Nelumbium,
these being articles of food which fall to the share of the poorest
peasant. This very beautiful water lilly grows spontaneously in almost
every lake and morass, from the middle of Tartary to the province of
Canton; a curious circumstance, when we consider the very great
difficulty with which it can be preserved, even by artificial means, in
climates of Europe, whose temperature are less warm and less cold than
many of those where, in China, it grows in a state of nature, and with
the greatest degree of luxuriance. On the heights of Tartary it is found
in an uncultivated state where, in winter, the thermometer frequently
stands at, and generally far below, the freezing point. But here the
roots strike at the bottom of very deep waters only, a circumstance from
which we may perhaps conclude, that the plant may rather require
uniformity of temperature, than any extraordinary degree either one way
or other. Not only the seed of the Nelumbium, which is a kind of nut
nearly as large as an acorn, but the long roots, jointed like canes,
furnish articles of food for the table. In the capital, during the whole
summer season, the latter are sliced and laid on ice, and in this state
serve as part of the desert; the taste differs very little from that of
a good juicy turnip, with a slight degree of astringency.
[48] By Mr. Pauw.
There is something so very striking and remarkable in this plant, that
it is not surprizing the Egyptians and the Indians, fond of drawing
allusions from natural objects, should have considered it as emblematic
of creative power. The leaves of the succeeding plant are found involved
in the middle of the seed, perfect, and of a beautiful green. When the
sun goes down, the large leaves that spread themselves over the surface
of the water close like an umbrella, and the returning sun gradually
unfolds them. Now, as these nations considered water to be the primary
element, and the first medium on which creative influence began to act,
a plant of such singularity, luxuriance, utility and beauty, could not
fail to be regarded by them as a proper symbol for representing that
creative power, and was accordingly consecrated by the former to
_Osiris_ and to _Isis_, the emblems of the sun and moon, and by the
latter to _Ganga_, the river goddess, and to the sun. The coincidence of
ideas between those two nations, in this respect, may be drawn from that
beautiful Hindu hymn, addressed to Surya or the sun, and translated by
Sir William Jones--
"Lord of the Lotos, father, friend and king,
O Sun! thy powers I sing."--&c.[49]
[49] Captain Turner found the name of the Lotos inscribed over most of
the temples in Bootan and Thibet, and Colonel Symes, in the account of
his embassy to the kingdom of Ava, which with Pegu, Aracan, and Laos,
now constitute the Birman empire, describes the people as Budhists or of
the sect of Fo; indeed their customs and appearance, as well as their
religion, seem to indicate a Chinese or Tartar origin.
Whether the Chinese, like the Hindus, entertained the same notions of
creative power, or its influence upon water as the primary element, I
could not learn. No information as to the ground-work of their religion
is to be looked for from the priests of the present day, who are
generally very ignorant; but I suspect the dedication of the Lotos to
sacred uses to be much older than the introduction of Hindu mythology by
the priests of Budha. They even ascribe the fable of eating the flower
to the mother of their first Emperor _Foo-shee_; and the Lotos and the
lady are equally respected by all the sects in China; and even by the
Mantchoo Tartars, whose history commences with the identical story of a
young virgin conceiving and bearing a son, who was to be the progenitor
of a race of conquerors, by eating the flower of a water lilly. If,
indeed, any dependence is to be placed on the following well known
inscription found on an ancient monument of Osiris, Egyptian rites may
be supposed to have made their way into the east and probably into
China, or, on the other hand, those of the east adopted by the
Egyptians, at a period of very remote antiquity. "Saturn, the youngest
of all the gods, was my father. I am Osiris, who conducted a large and
numerous army as far as the deserts of India, and travelled over the
greatest part of the world, &c. &c."
It may not, perhaps, be thought improbable (I offer it, however, merely
as conjecture) that the story of _Osiris_ and _Isis_ was known in China
at a very early period of the history of this country. _Osiris_, king of
Egypt, and husband of _Isis_, was worshipped under the form of an ox,
from his having paid particular attention to the pursuits of
agriculture, and from employing this animal in the tillage of the
ground.
"Primus aratra manu solerti fecit Osiris."
Osiris first constructed ploughs with dext'rous skill.
Historians say, that _Isis_, on the murder of her husband, enjoined the
priests of Egypt, by a solemn oath, to establish a form of worship in
which divine honours should be paid to their deceased prince; that they
should select what kind of animal they pleased to represent the person
and the divinity of _Osiris_, and that they should inter it with solemn
funeral honours when dead. In consideration of this apotheosis, she
allotted a portion of land to each sacerdotal body. The priests were
obliged to make a vow of chastity; their heads were shaven and they went
barefooted. Divine honours were likewise conferred on _Isis_ after her
death, and she was worshipped under the form of a cow.
Now, although the festival in China, at which the Emperor holds the
plough in the commencement of the spring, be considered at this day as
nothing more than a political institution, and continued as an example
to the lower orders of people, an incitement for them to pursue the
labours of agriculture as the most important employment in the
state;--yet, as this condescension of the sovereign militates so
strongly against all their maxims of government, which place an immense
distance between him and the first of his people, it may not, perhaps,
be much amiss in supposing it to have originated in some religious
opinion. Indeed he still continues to prepare himself for the solemn
occasion, by devoting three days entirely to pious ceremonies and rigid
devotion. On the day appointed by the tribunal of mathematics, a _cow_
is sacrificed in the _Tee-tan_, or temple dedicated to the earth; and on
the same day, in some of the provinces, the figure of a cow of baked
clay, of an immense size, is carried in procession by a number of the
peasantry, followed by the principal officers of government and the
other inhabitants. The horns and the hoofs are gilded and ornamented
with silken ribbons. The prostrations being made and the offerings
placed on the altar, the earthen cow is broken in pieces and distributed
among the people. In like manner the body of _Osiris_, worshipped
afterwards under the form of an ox, was distributed by _Isis_ among the
priests; and the _Isia_[50] were long celebrated in Egypt in the same
manner as the festival of holding the plough is at this day observed in
China, both being intended, no doubt, to commemorate the persons who
had rendered the most solid advantages to the state, by the
encouragement they had held out for the cultivation of the ground.
[50] No festivals, perhaps, were so universally adopted and so
far extended, as those in honour of _Isis_. They not only found their
way into every part of the East, but from Greece they were also received
by the Romans, and from these they passed into Gaul. It has even been
conjectured, that the modern name of Paris has its derivation from a
temple that was dedicated to this goddess, ϖαρα ισιν, not very
distant from this ancient capital of Gaul. The city arms are a ship,
which _Isis_ was depicted to hold in her hand, as the patroness of
navigation. In fact, a statue of _Isis_[51] is said to have been
preserved with great care in the church of Saint Germain until the
beginning of the sixteenth century, when the zeal of a bigotted cardinal
caused it to be demolished as an unsanctified relick of pagan
superstition.
[51] Encyclopédie des Connoissances Humaines.
The disputes, quarrels, persecutions and massacres, that have happened
at various times among the different sects of Christianity in Europe,
have not been much less violent, nor productive of less dreadful
consequences, between the sect of immortals and that of Fo, in China,
whenever the court, or rather the intriguing eunuchs, seemed to favour
the opinions of one sect in preference to those of the other.
Persecutions never failed to begin whenever either party was fortunate
enough to gain over to its side the chief of the eunuchs, who had always
sufficient influence with the reigning monarch to prevail upon him to
espouse the same cause. They were, however, wars of priests alone in
which the people remained neutral, or took no active part. Whole
monasteries have been levelled with the ground, and thousands of priests
put to death on both sides. Since, however, the accession of the present
Tartar dynasty, they have met with no particular marks of favour or
distinction; and, on that account, are apparently reconciled to each
other; indeed, they are scarcely distinguishable either by their temples
or by their dress. The prediction of future events being best suited to
the minds of the multitude, and most sought after, the oracle of fate
may be consulted in any temple, whether of _Fo_ or of _Tao-tze_. The
government interferes not in religious opinions, and it gives no support
to any particular sect, except that of the Lama, whose priests are paid
and maintained as a part of the Imperial establishment. The Tartar
officers of state are likewise attached to the faith of the Lama,
without the absurdities that have been mixed with it by the immortals.
However strictly the women may be kept at home by the customs of the
country, they are nevertheless permitted, on certain occasions, to
consult their destiny at the altar, without being exposed to the censure
of vulgarity or impropriety. Barren wives are even encouraged to visit
the temples, not so much for the purpose of knowing their destiny, as
under a firm belief that, by rubbing the bellies of certain little
copper gods, they shall conceive and bear children. But, the women in
general who, from habit, feel little inclination to stir abroad, except
on very pressing occasions, encourage a set of fortune-tellers,
mountebanks and jugglers, who thus pick up a livelihood by travelling
the country and telling fortunes from house to house. They are known by
a wretched squalling flute on which they play, and are beckoned to call
where their art is required. By being made acquainted with the day and
hour of a person's birth, they pretend to _cast his nativity_, which is
called _Swan-ming_, or the art of discovering events by means of
numbers. A Chinese, even in the higher ranks, has no great idea of a
man's learning, if he be ignorant of the _Swan-ming_. I was very
frequently applied to at _Yuen-min-yuen_, by persons in office, to know
if I could tell them their fortune; and it was difficult to persuade
them I had any knowledge of the astronomical instruments intended for
the Emperor, after professing my ignorance in _casting a nativity_.
The priests of both sects are supposed to be no less attentive in
keeping up a perpetual fire burning upon the altars than the Roman
Vestals were in this respect; but no expiation nor punishment being
considered necessary, as in the latter case, they cannot boast that
"flames unextinguish'd on their altars shine." They are, in fact,
frequently extinguished by carelessness or accident. No virgins attend
this holy flame, but the charge of it is committed generally to young
boys under training for the priesthood. Like the Greeks and the Romans,
the Chinese have also their penates or household gods, which are not
represented under any particular personification, but generally by a
tablet bearing a short inscription and a taper burning before it. Every
ship, however small, has its tablet and its taper; and within the
compass-box or binnacle a taper is continually kept burning.
In every city, town and village, sometimes in the midst of woods, in the
mountains and most lonely places, are small temples, the doors of which
are continually left open for the admittance of such as may be desirous
of consulting their destiny. The practical part of Chinese religion may,
in fact, be said to consist in predestination. A priest is not at all
necessary for unravelling the book of fate. If any one be about to
undertake a journey, or to purchase a wife, or to build a house, or,
above all, to bury a deceased relation, and any doubt should arise in
his mind as to the fortunate result of such undertaking, he repairs to
the nearest temple; and, if he should not be able to read himself, he
takes a friend by the hand who can. On the altar of every temple is
placed a wooden cup, filled with a number of small sticks, marked at
the extremities with certain characters. Taking the cup in his hands he
shakes it till one of the sticks falls upon the ground and, having
examined the character upon it, he looks for the corresponding mark in a
book which is generally appended to the wall of the temple. The lot, in
this manner, is cast several times, and if one lucky flick in three
should happen to turn up, he is willing to consider the omen as
favourable; and, if the event should answer the expectation he has been
led to form from the book of fate, he considers it as a duty to return
to the temple and to burn a sheet or two of painted paper, or of paper
covered with tin foil, and to deposit a few pieces of copper money on
the altar, in token of gratitude for the favour he has received[52]. In
this manner is consumed the greatest part of the tin that is carried to
China by the trading companies of Europe. I have already observed that
they have no communion of worship to offer up, in a public manner, their
prayers or thanksgivings.
[52] The present Emperor shewed his gratitude for his prayers
having been heard, by granting in a public edict an additional title to
the temple in which they were offered.
IMPERIAL EDICT.
"_The gracious protecting temple of the king of the dragons_, on the
mountain of _Yu-chun_, has on every occasion of drought proved
favourable to our prayers offered up there for rain, as duly observed on
our sacred registers. From the summer solstice of the present year, a
great want of rain has been experienced, on which account we were
induced, on the 17th of this moon, to offer up our prayers and
sacrifices in person at the said temple. During the very same day, a
fall of small rain or dew was observed, and, on the day following, the
country was relieved by frequent and copious showers. This further proof
of efficacy in granting our requests, augments our veneration and, in
testimony whereof, we direct that the temple of the propitious divinity
shall receive an additional title, and be styled on all future
occasions,
"_The gracious in protecting, and efficacious in preserving, the temple
of the king of the dragons._
"_Be our will obeyed._"
_Pekin Gazette, 23rd day of 5th Moon,
of 6th year of Kia-King._
Formerly it was the custom to bury slaves with emperors and princes and
sometimes also their concubines alive; but this cruel practice has given
way, in modern times, to the more harmless one of burning
representations of their domestics in tin foil, cut into the shape of
human beings, and of placing their statues in wood or stone upon their
graves; this seems to be the remains of a Scythian or Tartar custom,
which, according to Herodotus, was commonly observed at the funerals of
their sovereigns, when their horses, their slaves, and their concubines
were impaled alive and placed in order round the tyrant's tomb. The last
remains of a relation are interred with all the honours that the family
can afford. I never passed between the capital and _Yuen-min-yuen_
without observing numbers of funeral processions. Those of great
officers of state would sometimes extend for nearly half a mile. The
train was usually arranged in the following order. In front marched a
priest uncovered, next a group of musicians with flutes, trumpets, and
cymbals; after these the male relations of the deceased in long white
frocks and behind them the chief mourner, supported by two friends,
whose exertions to prevent him from tearing his cheeks and hair appeared
to be truly ridiculous. Then followed the coffin, covered by a
magnificent canopy and borne generally by four men, sometimes by eight.
After the canopy the female relations proceeded in chairs, or more
generally in the little covered carts, wearing white frocks like the
men, their hair dishevelled, and broad white fillets bound across their
foreheads. On approaching a bridge or a temple the procession always
halted while the priest burned little images of tin foil, or let off a
few crackers, upon which the noisy _gong_ and the rest of the band made
a flourish.
The famous feast of lanterns, when the whole empire is lighted up from
one extremity to the other, in every possible way that fancy can
suggest, is an ancient religious usage of which, at the present day,
they can give no plausible account. It is just possible that, among
other Egyptian ceremonies, this may be one derived from a common origin
with an annual illumination of the same kind mentioned by Herodotus;
which was generally observed, from the cataracts of the Nile to the
borders of the Mediterranean, by hanging lamps of different kinds to the
sides of the houses. On this day the Chinese not only illuminate their
houses, but they also exercise their ingenuity in making transparencies
in the shape of different animals, with which they run through the
streets by night. The effect when perfectly dark is whimsical enough.
Birds, beasts, fishes, and other animals are seen darting through the
air, and contending with each other; some with squibs in their mouths,
breathing fire, and others with crackers in their tails: some sending
out sky-rockets, others rising into pyramids of party-coloured fire, and
others bursting like a mine with violent explosions. But the most
ingenious are those that, Proteus-like, change their shape from time to
time, and under every form exhibit a different display of fire-works.
I have observed, at the beginning of this chapter, that the temples are
occasionally appropriated to the use of state-officers, embassadors and
other public characters, when travelling through the country, there
being no other houses affording accommodations equally suitable. On
quitting the temple it is generally thought necessary to perform an act
of reverence bordering on devotion, not however to the Deity, but to the
name of the Emperor inscribed on the altar. This custom, together with
that of depositing rice and other grain, tea and oil at certain seasons,
especially on the day of his nativity, although perhaps, in the first
instance, a token only of respect and gratitude, and in the other an
acknowledgment of his being the sole proprietary of the soil, are
nevertheless acts that tend, from the sanctity of the place where they
are performed, to the encouragement of idolatry. By thus associating the
offerings made to the Deity and to the Monarch, the vulgar become apt to
magnify the power of the latter and to raise it on a level with that of
the former. A Chinese in speaking of a propitious event occurring,
either in his own or any other country, generally attributes it to the
joint Will of Heaven and the Emperor of China.
The conversion of the temples into lodging-houses is attended with some
temporal advantages to the priests, by the donations that are generally
made on such occasions. Most of them being supported entirely by
voluntary contributions and trifling legacies that may be left by pious
persons, they are thankful for the smallest gifts: for as there is
little or no connection between the church and the state, they derive no
pay, nor emolument, nor preferment from the latter. The Emperor pays
his own priests, which are those of all his Tartar subjects; the Chinese
Confucionists, or men of learning, and the state officers contribute to
the maintenance of theirs, whether of _Fo_ or _Tao-tze_, and the mass of
the people, from the prevailing propensity of enquiring into futurity,
afford the means of support to many thousands, I might perhaps say
millions of priests, by the offerings carried to the altars whenever
they find it necessary to consult the book of fate, which is done on
most of the common occurrences in life.
From the short view I have here taken of the different sects, I think it
may justly be concluded that the primitive religion of China no longer
exists, or exists only in a corrupted state; that there is at present no
national nor scarcely a state religion: and that the articles of faith
are as various as the modes of worship; in all of which the people
appear to be rather actuated by the dread of evil in this life, than by
the fear of punishment in another: that the duties they perform are more
with a view to appease an angry deity and to avert impending calamities,
than from any hope of obtaining a positive good: that they rather
consult or enquire of their gods what may happen, than petition them to
accomplish or avert it; for a Chinese can scarcely be said to pray; he
is grateful when the event proves favourable to his wishes; petulant and
peevish with his gods when adverse.
Little as the priests, or the numerous noviciates that are found in all
the principal temples, are employed in the duties of their office, or
in worldly concerns, they are not less uncleanly in their persons and
their apartments than those are whose time is taken up in providing for
the necessities of life. The room, in which some of us _should_ have
slept, was so full of scorpions and scolopendras, and they crept in such
numbers into our beds, that we were fairly driven out and obliged to
swing our cots in the open air between two trees. Here we were not much
less annoyed by myriads of musquitoes and the unceasing noise of the
chirping cicadas, which continued without intermission until the still
more noisy _gong_ announced the break of day, and summoned the holy men
to their morning devotions.
CHAP. IX.
Journey from Tong-choo-foo to the Province of Canton--Face of the
Country, and its Productions.--Buildings and other Public
Works.--Condition of the People--State of Agriculture.--Population.
_Attentions paid to the Embassy--Observations on the Climate and
Plains of Pe-tche-lee--Plants of--Diet and Condition of the
People.--Burying-place--Observation on Chinese Cities--Trackers of the
Yachts--Entrance of the Grand Canal.--The Fishing Corvorant--Approach to
the Yellow River--Ceremony of crossing this River.--Observations on
Canals and Roads--Improvements of the Country in advancing to the
Southward--Beauty of, near Sau-choo-foo--Bridge of ninety-one
Arches--Country near Hang-choo-foo.--City of--Appearance of the Country
near the Po-yang Lake.--Observations in Proceeding through
Kiang-see.--The Camellia Sesanqua--Retrospective View of the Climate and
Produce, Diet and Condition of the People, of Pe-tche-lee--Some
Observations on the Capital of China--Province of Shan-tung--Of
Kiang-nan.--Observations of the State of Agriculture in China--Rice
Mills--Province of Tche-kiang.--Of Kiang-see.--Population of China
compared with that of England--Erroneous Opinions entertained on this
Subject.--Comparative Population of a City in China and in
England--Famines accounted for.--Means of Prevention.--Causes of
Populousness of China._
On the 8th of October we embarked, for the second time, on the Pei-ho in
yachts, however, that were very different from those on which we had
ascended the river, being much smaller but broader in proportion to
their length, and so shallow and flat-bottomed, that they required
little depth of water; yet we found them sufficiently commodious. Of the
necessity of such a change in the accommodation yachts, on account of
the low state of the river, we were speedily convinced, which, previous
to our embarkation, had been by some attributed to a different cause. It
was supposed that the men in office throughout the country, piqued at
the refusal of the Embassador to submit to their degrading ceremony,
would not fail to retaliate the affront by depriving us of every little
comfort and convenience, and by otherwise rendering the long journey
before us extremely unpleasant. The character of the people at large
justified such a conclusion; and, I believe, every individual had laid
his account of meeting with difficulties and disagreeable occurrences on
the journey to Canton. In justice, however, to those who had the
superintendence of the embassy, and particularly to the two most worthy
characters _Van_ and _Chou_, who were more immediately connected with
its concerns, it is but fair to observe that no attention was wanting,
nor expense spared, to render our situation as easy and comfortable as
possible. Supplies of every kind were sent on board in the greatest
profusion and with the most scrupulous punctuality. And as a singular
proof of attention shewn to us in the commencement of this journey, our
conductors, having observed that we used milk with our tea, had
purchased two fine cows in full milk, which were put on board a yacht
prepared for their reception, for a supply of that article. And, it was
observed, that whenever the chief officers of the provinces, through
which the embassy was to pass, prepared an entertainment in honour of
the occasion, they had given themselves all possible trouble to render
it more acceptable, by endeavouring to serve it up, as they thought, in
the English style. In some of those feasts we had hogs roasted whole,
that could not have weighed less than fifty pounds; quarters of mutton,
geese, ducks, and fowls roasted or boiled whole, a mode of cookery
altogether different to the practice of the country, which is chiefly
confined to that of stewing small morsels of meat with greens or rice.
The awkward manner in which they were prepared, being generally burnt
and glazed over with oil, was entitled to and found an ample excuse in
the desire thus testified of pleasing.
From the time that we first embarked in August at the mouth of the
Pey-ho, or White River, until our return, we experienced only a single
shower of rain. It is observed, indeed, that during the autumnal months
the northern provinces enjoy a cloudless sky; an advantage of which they
avail themselves in thrashing out the different kinds of grain in the
field, thus saving the labour of bearing it into barns or piling it into
stacks. It is either thrashed out on clay floors with flails, similar to
our own, beat out of the ear against the edge of a plank, or trodden by
oxen or buffalos. The grain that we had noticed just striking into the
ear, on ascending the river, was now generally reaped. It consisted
principally of the different species of millet, as before observed, and
a small proportion of _polygonum fagopyrum_ or buck-wheat. A species of
_Dolichos_ or bean, that had been sown between the drills of the Holcus,
or tall millet, was now in flower.
The range of Fahrenheit's thermometer in the province of _Pe-tche-lee_,
during the month of August, was from 80° to 88° in the middle of the
day, and during the night it remained generally about 60° to 64°. In
September, the medium temperature at two o'clock was about 76°; and in
October about 68°; but in the latter month, it decreased in the night
sometimes to 44°.
In the neighbourhood of the _Pei-ho_ a light sandy soil chiefly
prevails, with a mixture of argillaceous earth and slimy matter,
interspersed with shining particles of mica: but not a stone of any
magnitude, nor pebbles, nor even gravel occur in the whole extent of
country through which this river is navigable. The surface, indeed, is
so flat and uniform, that the tide, which rises only nine or ten feet in
the gulph of _Pe-tche-lee_, flows to the distance of thirty miles beyond
_Tien-sing_, or one hundred and ten miles from the mouth of the river;
and it frequently submerges the whole country, notwithstanding the great
pains bestowed by the inhabitants in raising and keeping in order
artificial banks. Such inundations, although frequently the causes of
great fertility, are sometimes productive of general calamity,
especially if they happen at a season when the crop is too far advanced.
These plains exhibit the appearance of a more than ordinary incroachment
of the land upon the sea. The general level of the face of the country,
at high water, is not more elevated than two feet above the surface of
the river, of which not only the bed, but also the substratum of the
enclosing banks, are composed entirely of fine sand similar to that on
the shore of the sea. The deepest part of the wide gulph of
_Pe-tche-lee_ exceeds not twelve fathoms, and the prodigious number of
small sandy islands, just appearing above the surface, are said to have
been created within the records of history. A great portion of the
enormous mass of mud that is perpetually wafted down the Yellow River,
and which was found by experiment to exceed two million solid feet in an
hour, is borne by a strong current from the Yellow Sea into the gulph of
_Pe-tche-lee_, where the stillness of the water allows it to subside. In
the map of Marco Polo, which was most probably copied by him from one in
the possession of Gengis-khan, or some of the learned men about his
court, _Tien-sing_ is placed upon the sea coast; and a branch of the
Yellow River, after traversing the provinces _Kiang-nan_, _Shan-tung_,
and part of _Pe-tche-lee_, in the direction nearly of the present canal,
discharges itself into the gulph near the _Pei-ho_. Were this branch of
the river actually turned, the rapidity with which the gulph of
_Pe-tche-lee_ is filling up is the less surprising, as the only stream
to keep its waters in motion at present is the _Pei-ho_. It has been
calculated that, by the simple turning of the great river that falls
from Winandermere-lake, the estuary of Morecombe Bay, which it now
crosses, would, in the natural course of events, be converted in a few
years into a green meadow. If the abovementioned chart be correct, it
would prove also that the Mongul Tartars did actually first bring the
grand navigation of China to the state in which it now appears.
This uniform plain of China afforded little interest to the traveller.
Few trees appeared, except now and then a clump of firs surrounding a
temple, or the plantations contiguous to the dwelling of some officer
of government. In such situations were also large elms, willows, and a
species of ash unknown in Europe. There were no hedge-rows. Property
here is divided only by narrow ditches, serving at the same time for
drains, or by ridges of unploughed ground, as in the common fields of
England, which answer the purpose of foot-paths. These ridges were
generally well covered with that family of running trefoil, known by the
name of _Melilotos_, intermixed with a species of _Poa_ or meadow grass,
_Avena_ or wild oats, and _Briza_ or quaking grass. In the ditches,
beside the common reed the _Arundo phragmites_, were growing two species
of _Cyperus_, and a _Scirpus_ or club-rush. None of the artificial
grasses, usually so called, are cultivated by the Chinese. It is not an
object with them to fodder their cows for the sake of obtaining a
greater quantity of milk, this nutritive article of food being very
sparingly used either in its raw state or in any preparation; and they
are either ignorant of the processes of converting it into butter and
cheese, or, for certain reasons, prefer to employ the little they make
use of in its original state. Horses are rarely kept for luxury or for
labour; and the few animals employed in agriculture, which are mostly
asses, mules, or buffalos, subsist in the winter season on chaff and
straw; and their chief support in the summer is derived from the strong
grasses that grow in the ditches and the common reed, with which, in
this part of the country, large tracts of swampy ground are covered.
On approaching _Tien-sing_, we observed several large fields cultivated
with a vegetable called by the Chinese the _Pe-tsai_, or white herb,
apparently a species of _Brassica_ or cole; though insipid in its
taste, being not unlike that of the cos-lettuce, it is held in
preference to all other vegetables; and the capital is most abundantly
supplied with it in the summer season fresh from the gardens in its
vicinity and, in the winter, salted and prepared somewhat in the same
manner as the _Sour-Krout_ of the Germans. We observed also in the
gardens, carrots, turnips, black radishes, a species of asparagus, the
_Solanum Melongena_, a species of _physalis_ or winter-cherry,
water-melons and musk-melons, pumpkins and cucumbers. Onions and garlic
were common vegetables planted near every peasant's house. The _Trapa_
or water-caltrops grew in the ditches, the nuts of which, with the seeds
and the roots of the Nelumbium, generally furnished out our desert; to
which, indeed, sometimes were added tolerably good peaches, dry spongy
apples not unlike quinces in appearance, and pears of an immense size
but of a harsh and austere taste.
However unfavourable the country might be for an extended cultivation,
which did not appear to be the case, the proximity to the capital would
have led one to expect a corresponding population. Nothing of the kind
appeared; the vast numbers we had observed in ascending the river were
drawn from the distance of many miles out of mere curiosity; the
inhabitants only of the vicinity now shewed themselves; and we were
rather surprized at the fewness of these, as well as at the very ruinous
and miserable condition of almost all the cottages. These mean huts were
built, some of half-burnt bricks and others of clay, and they were
thatched with the straw of grain or with reeds. Some were enclosed
within walls of mud, or with a kind of course matting made of reeds, or
the stalks of the _holcus sorghum_, which enclosure generally contained
the families of two or three generations, the cattle, pigs, poultry, and
all the living creatures belonging to the establishment. The Chinese
have a common saying, that "although there be poverty without Pekin,
there is plenty within its walls." The appearance, indeed, of all the
peasantry in this province was marked with every indication of poverty;
nor was the condition much better of those who were employed about the
vessels which carried the Embassador and his train. With the greatest
thankfulness they received the offals of our allowance; and the
tea-leaves, which we had used, were sought after by them with avidity
and boiled up for their beverage. A little boiled rice, or millet, with
a few vegetables, commonly the _Pe-tsai_, and onions fried in oil,
constituted their principal meals, of which they made only two regular
ones in the day, one about ten o'clock in the morning, and the other at
four or five in the afternoon. They generally however had the frying-pan
on the fire at three or four o'clock in the morning. The wine or liquor,
which we received in large jars, and which was so miserably bad as not
to be used, afforded a great treat to the poor people, whose
circumstances seldom allowed them to taste it. This liquor is brewed
from a mixture of rice and millet, and from its quickly turning sour
seems to have little strength, and to have undergone a very imperfect
degree of fermentation. Their _hot wine_ is seldom used except by the
upper class of people who, not satisfied with the strong empyreumatic
flavour communicated in the distillation, drink it boiling hot in the
midst of summer.
At _Tien-sing_ our principal conductor _Sun-ta-gin_ had prepared for us
a sumptuous entertainment, consisting of excellent mutton, pork,
venison, and poultry of all kinds, a great variety of confectionary, of
fruits then in season, peaches, plumbs, grapes, chesnuts, walnuts, and
water-caltrops. We very soon found indeed that we were treated with more
studied attention, with a more marked distinction, and with less
constraint, than when we ascended the river. Our dignified conductor
made no difficulty in allowing us to walk on shore as much as we
pleased; but recommended us not to quit the banks of the river for fear
of retarding the yachts or of being left behind. He hinted to us, at the
same time, that the officers _Van_ and _Chou_ would be responsible at
court for any accident that might happen to us, so long as we were under
the protection of the Emperor.
In passing _Tien-sing_ we found considerable difficulty in getting our
fleet through the immense crowds of shipping of every description that
were collected there to remain for the winter; among which were about
five hundred of the Emperor's revenue vessels with grain for the
capital. The _Eu-ho_, or precious river, called also the _Yun-leang-ho_,
or river upon which grain is transported, falling from the westward,
forms, at the head of this city, a confluence with the _Pei-ho_. Our
barges were at least four hours in getting through the multitude of
vessels that were moored, for their winter-quarters, in this small
river; which, however, is rendered important by its communication with
the grand artificial canal.
Having passed the fleet of shipping and the suburbs, a plain extending
beyond the reach of sight opened out on the left of the river, upon
which were observed many thousands of small sandy tumuli, of a conical
form, resembling those hillocks which in myriads are thrown up on the
continent of Africa by the _Termites_, or white ants. In several parts
of this plain were small buildings, in the form of dwelling-houses, but
not exceeding four or five feet in height; in other places were
circular, semicircular, and square enclosures of stonework, and here and
there were interspersed small pillars of stone or brick and other
erections of every variety of form. This was the first common
burying-ground that we had observed, except a very small one at
_Tong-tchoo_; and the tumuli and the different erections marked out the
mansions of the dead. In many parts of this extensive enclosure we met
with massy coffins lying upon the surface, some new, others newly
painted, but none in a mouldering state. It was explained to us, by our
interpreter, that some of these coffins had been deposited there, until
the proper advice should be obtained from the priest or the oracle
consulted, or from casting lots, as to the most propitious place of
interment, and the most favourable day for performing the obsequies;
some were placed there till the pecuniary circumstances of the surviving
relatives would enable them to bestow a suitable interment, and others
were left to dry and moulder, to a certain degree, in order to be burnt
and the ashes collected and put into stone jaw or other receptacles[53].
On no occasion do the Chinese bury their dead within the precincts of a
city or town, much less within the walls of their temples; but always
deposit them at a proper distance from the dwellings of the living, in
which respect they have more discretion than the Europeans; who not only
allow the interment of dead bodies in the midst of their populous
cities, but have thrust them also into places of public worship, where
crowded congregations are constantly exposed to the nauseous effluvia,
and perhaps infection, arising from putrid carcases. Yet so tenacious
are the people of the privilege of interment within the walls of the
church, in some countries of Europe, that any attempt to discontinue the
imprudent custom would be attended with some degree of danger, as
happened to the late Grand Duke of Tuscany who, having built a
commodious and spacious cemetery without the city of Florence, to which
it was intended to remove the coffins out of the vaults of the church,
had nearly raised a rebellion among his subjects. In _Render's_ tour
through Germany, an instance is given of the fatal effects of burying in
churches, the relation of which makes one shudder with horror.
[53] From a passage in the manuscript journal of a Chinese who
accompanied the Dutch embassy it would appear, that the art of embalming
the dead was once known and practiced in this country. He observes, that
at _Ou tebé_ there is a temple or pagoda inhabited by a number of
priests, who shew the body of a very ancient bonze, prepared in such a
manner, and filled with such ingredients, that it does not decay, but
remains perfectly entire. He is dressed in his robes of ceremony, and in
his hand he holds a machine which was invented by him for cleaning rice.
The bank of the river, being one of the enclosing fences to the
burying-ground, was ornamented with beautiful weeping willows which,
with a few solitary cypresses interspersed among the tombs, were the
only trees that appeared in this part of the country.
In a corner of the cemetery was a temple, built after the usual plan,
with an altar in the center; and a number of deities moulded in clay
were ranged on each side on stone pedestals. We observed no priests; but
an elderly lady was very busily employed in throwing the sticks of fate,
in order to obtain a lucky number in which, however, she failed. During
the operation of shaking the cup, her countenance betrayed a greater
degree of eagerness and anxiety than usually appears on the face of a
Chinese; and she left the temple in a peevish and muttering tone,
sufficiently expressive of the greatness of her disappointment which, it
seemed, was no less than a refusal, on the part of the oracle, to hold
out the hope of her being blessed with a second husband. Till this
circumstance had been explained to us by the keeper of the temple, it
was concluded that the old lady had been muttering imprecations against
us for disturbing her in the midst of her devotions.
After two days' sail from _Tien-sing_ we arrived at a city of the third
order[54] called _Tchien-shien_. The surface of the interjacent country
had continued the same uniform plain, without a pebble in the soil: the
extent of cultivation by no means extraordinary; and the few scattered
villages of mean houses indicated no great degree of population; the
dwellings that floated on the water were numerous and crowded with
inhabitants. We observed several plots of young wheat rising in drills a
few inches above the ground. Buck-wheat was in full flower and several
plantations of the cotton plant, _gossypium herbaceum_, were in pod,
some of them perfectly ripe. Fahrenheit's thermometer on the 14th, 15th,
and 16th of this month stood at 52° and 53° in the morning, and about
70° in the middle of the day.
[54] For the convenience of collecting and distributing the taxes raised
in kind, the districts, and cities within them, are divided into three
classes, distinguished by the adjuncts _foo_, _tchoo_, _shien_. The
_shien_ is answerable to the _tchoo_; the _tchoo_ to the _foo_; and the
_foo_ to the board of revenue in the capital.
On the 17th, beside a great number of towns, villages and military
posts, which are regularly placed at intervals of about three miles, we
passed two cities of the third order, one of which, from the length of
its walls, appeared to be of very considerable importance. No true idea,
however, can be formed of the population and magnitude of a Chinese city
by the extent of its enclosing walls. Few are without large patches of
unoccupied ground within them which, in many instances, far exceeds the
quantity of land that is built upon. Even in that part of the capital
called the Chinese city, several hundred acres are under cultivation.
The Imperial city, containing the palace and buildings for the officers
of state, the eunuchs and artificers, occupies very nearly a square
mile, more than two-thirds of which is a kind of park and pleasure
grounds; and under the north wall of the Tartar city there is a pond or
swamp covered almost with the Nelumbium, which appeared to be fully
twice the dimensions of Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, or four times their space,
namely near fifty acres. Such spaces of unoccupied ground might perhaps
have been reserved for the use of the inhabitants in case of siege, as
the means of supplying a few vegetables of the pungent kind, as onions
and garlic, for the besieged, which are the more necessary for a people
who use so small a portion of animal food, and little or no milk. Thus
the cities of Babylon and Nineveh, which were so frequently exposed to
the calamities of war and siege, had gardens and corn-lands within their
walls.
On the 18th we passed two cities and a great number of towns and
villages. The face of the country still level and entirely open; not a
hedge-row appearing on any side and very few trees. Almost all the
vessels that we met in the course of the day were laden with sacks of
cotton wool. This being the night of full moon, we were allowed to enjoy
very little rest. The observance of the usual ceremonies, which consist
of firing their small petards, beating at intervals the noisy gong,
harsh squalling music and fire-works, required that our vessels should
remain stationary, and these nocturnal orgies ceased only with the
appearance of the sun. There was, however, another cause of detention at
this place. In sailing against the stream of the _Eu-ho_, it was
necessary the barges should be tracked by men and these men were to be
pressed or forced into this laborious service from the villages
bordering upon the river. The usual way of doing this was to send out
the soldiers or attendants of the officers before the vessels, in the
dusk of the evening, to take the poor wretches by surprize in their
beds. But the ceremony of the full moon, by retarding their usual hour
of retiring to rest, had put them on their guard; and, on the approach
of the emissaries of government, all that were liable to be pressed into
this service had absconded, so that, in addition to the noise of the
gongs and the trumpets and crackers, our ears were frequently assailed
by the cries and lamentations of persons under the punishment of the
bamboo or the whip, for claiming their exemption from joining the yachts
and acting as trackers. When the groupe that had been collected for this
purpose was brought together in the morning, it was impossible not to
regard it with an eye of pity. Most of them consisted of infirm and
decrepit old men, and the rest were such lank, sickly-looking,
ill-clothed creatures, that the whole groupe appeared to be much fitter
for an hospital than for performing any kind of labour. Our companions
pretended to say that every farmer, who rented lands upon the public
rivers or canals, was obliged, by the tenure on which he held his lease,
to furnish such a number of men to track the vessels in the service of
government whenever it might be required; but that, on the present being
an extraordinary occasion, they had resolved to pay them, as they called
it, in a handsome manner, which was at the rate of something less than
seven-pence a day, without any allowance for returning to their homes; a
price for labour which bore no sort of proportion to that of the
necessaries of life; and it was even doubtful if this pittance was ever
paid to them.
Having cleared the fleet of shipping that was assembled at this place, a
favourable breeze relieved our invalids and rendered their slender
exertions unnecessary for the greater part of the day, in the course of
which we entered the province of _Shan-tung_. In this province nothing
worthy of notice occurred until the 22d, when we quitted the _Eu-ho_ and
turning towards the south entered the grand canal, out of which we
observed a gentle current flowing into the river. At this point of
junction the pagoda of _Lin-tsin_, an octagonal pyramid, was erected,
perhaps as a monument of this great and useful undertaking, which,
however, in its present state, apparently had not stood many ages. In
the hope of finding within it some inscription, that might point out its
designation, we mounted with some difficulty upon the first of its nine
stages or roofs (for the little door on a level with the ground was
walled up with bricks) but it contained only the bare walls, not even a
stair-case remained nor any possible means of ascending to the top, and
the lower part was choaked up with rubbish. These pagodas (or as the
Chinese name them _Ta_) that so frequently occur in the country, seem to
be intended only as embellishments to particular grounds, or objects to
terminate villas or prospects. Sometimes, it is true, they appear as
appendages to temples, but are never appropriated for the purposes of
sacred worship. Whatever their intention might have been, it would seem
the rage of building them no longer exists, not one of a late erection
having appeared in the whole country, and more than two-thirds of those
we saw being in ruins.
At the junction of the canal with the _Eu-ho_ there was no lock nor
flood-gate; the gentle current of the former was interrupted only from
place to place, by loose planks let down in grooves cut in stone piers.
These dams seldom occasioned the difference of a foot in the level of
the water; and at each was a guard-house with double the usual number of
soldiers stationed, to assist in drawing up or letting down the planks,
as occasion might require. The canal, which at the commencement was from
sixty to one hundred feet in width, was contracted at such places by the
stone piers of the flood-gates to about thirty feet.
Towards the evening of the 23d, as we approached the city
_Tong-tchang-foo_, we were much amused with a military manœuvre,
which was evidently intended to astonish us. Under the walls of this
city about three hundred soldiers were drawn out in a line, which,
however, the darkness of the night had rendered invisible. But just as
we were coming to anchor, each soldier, at the sound of the gong,
produced from under his cloak a splendid lantern with which he went
through a regular manual exercise. The following morning we observed,
for the first time, a few hillocks breaking the line of the horizon to
the eastward. The country appeared to be in a tolerable state of
cultivation; but the mode of tillage exhibited no extraordinary degree
of skill or of labour. Villages of considerable extent were erected
along the banks of the canal, at intervals of about three miles from
each other; and, in the gardens contiguous to these, grew in abundance
the tobacco plant whose leaves were small, hairy, and viscous, and the
flowers of which were of a greenish yellow passing into a faint rose
colour at the edges of the petals. We observed also small patches of
hemp. A greater use is made of the seeds and leaflets of this plant, as
a substitute for or to mix with tobacco, than of its fibres for cloth, a
purpose to which it is as rarely converted by the Chinese as by the
Hindoos, being little esteemed for those valuable uses to which, since
its introduction into Europe, it has been applied. The number of
lateral branches, which in a warm climate each stem throws out close
above the surface of the ground, breaks the length of fibre and renders
it unfit for those purposes for which, in the northern regions of
Europe, its tall branchless stem is so well adapted. The sow thistle, a
plant that occurs in almost every part of the world, was nothing
different here from its usual habit in Europe. We observed also a
species of _Chenopodium_ and of _Artemisia_ or wormwood; abundance of
the _Pe-tsai_, and other common culinary vegetables. In the small flower
gardens, without which we scarcely observed a single cottage, were
balsams, several kinds of beautiful asters, holy-hocks, two species of
_Malva_, an _Amaranthus_, and the showy and handsome shrub the _Nerium
Oleander_.
Having passed on the 26th October the walls of the city _Tsie-ning_,
where a multitude of small craft were lying at anchor, we came to an
extensive lake of the same name, navigated by a great number of sailing
boats. From the east side of this lake the canal was separated only by
an immense mound of earth. To the westward the whole country, beyond the
reach of sight, was one continued swamp or morass, upon which were
interspersed pools or ponds of water abounding with the Nelumbium, at
this time in full flower. The morass being several feet below the
surface of the water in the canal afforded the means of regulating the
quantity; and, accordingly, at certain distances, we observed stone
arches turned in the earthen embankment to let off the superfluous water
that might be occasioned by the swelling of the feeding rivers. About
this place also, it was remarked, that the bed of the canal was carried
in a line so nearly horizontal, that the water had a gentle current
either to the northward or the southward, according as these sluices
were kept shut or thrown open; this line being ascertained, perhaps,
rather by the surface of the lake than by the assistance of instruments;
for it was sufficiently remarkable, that no opportunity had been omitted
in carrying this great work along the side, or through the middle, of
lakes or other pools of water wherever it could be done.
The nature of the country admitted of such management for three days'
journey, or about eighty miles from _Tsie-ning_. The whole of this
extensive plain consisted in lakes or swampy ground half covered with
water. On the former were constantly seen moving about vessels with
sails and boats of every description, conveying an animated picture of
activity, industry, and commerce. Almost all the lakes were studded with
islands and these were covered with villages, that were chiefly
inhabited by fishermen. Here, for the first time, we observed the
_Leu-tzé_ or fishing corvorant, the _Pelicanus Sinensis_, diving after
the finny tribe and seemingly no less anxious than its master to take
them. This bird is so like another species of the pelican, called the
_Carbo_ or common corvorant which in England, as naturalists inform us,
was formerly trained for fishing, that it has usually been considered
the same, but from several specimens brought home with us it appears to
be a different species. The usual practice is to take ten or twelve of
these birds, in the morning when fasting, upon a raft of bamboo poles
lashed together, and to let one or two at most at a time dive for fish,
which are taken from them the moment they bring them to the surface.
These birds, not much larger than the common duck, will seize and gripe
fast fishes that are not less than their own weight. When the proprietor
judges the first pair to be pretty well fatigued, they are suffered to
feed by way of encouragement on some of the fish they have taken, and a
second pair are dispatched upon the water. The fish we observed them to
take was a species of perch. In the course of three days' navigation, we
saw several thousand boats and rafts employed in this kind of fishing.
Except on the water and the islands, the whole of the swampy country
might be said to be uninhabited and totally void of any kind of
cultivation. Sometimes, indeed, a few miserable mud huts appeared on the
small hillocks that here and there raised their heads out of the dreary
waste of morass; but the chief inhabitants were cranes, herons,
guillemots and a vast variety of other kinds of birds that frequent the
waters and swamps. Here too are great numbers of that singular and
beautiful bird, the _Anas Galericulata_, usually known by the name of
the _Mandarin duck_ which, like the gold and silver fishes, is caught
and reared as an article of sale to the opulent and curious. The great
extent of water had a sensible effect on the temperature of the air,
especially in the mornings and evenings, when Fahrenheit's thermometer
was sometimes below 40°.
Having passed the lakes and swamps, we entered suddenly, on the 31st,
upon a most delightful part of the country, crowded with temples and
villages and towns and cities, near all of which, and on every part of
the canal, were vast numbers of the revenue vessels, collecting the
surplus taxes paid in kind, in order to transport them to the capital.
Wheat and cotton appeared to be the two principal articles of culture.
The surface of the country was now broken into hill and dale, every inch
appeared to be under tillage, except the summit of the knolls, which
were generally crowned with forest trees, and few of the detached houses
or temples were without extensive gardens and orchards. Apples, pears,
plums, peaches, apricots and pomgranates, were the common kinds of
fruit, and the culinary vegetables were the same as those of
_Pe-tche-lee_. The canal at this place is, perhaps, the grandest inland
navigation in the whole world, being nearly a thousand feet in width and
bordered on each side by stone quays, built with massy blocks of grey
marble mixed with others of granite; and this immense aqueduct, although
forced up several feet above the surface of the country by embankments
thrown up by the labour of man, flowed with a current of three miles an
hour nearly towards the Yellow River, to which we perceived we were fast
approaching, by the bustle and activity both on shore and on the
numberless canals that branched out in every direction from the main
trunk; on whose banks, for several miles on either side, one continued
town extended to the point of junction with this large river, celebrated
in every period of the Chinese history. A village was particularly
pointed out by the bargemen, whose name was derived from a miracle,
which is most sacredly believed by the Chinese. Tradition says, that the
famous astronomer _Heu_ was carried up to Heaven in his house, which
stood at this place, leaving behind him an old faithful servant who,
being thus deprived of his master and his habitation, was reduced to
beggary; but happening by accident to throw a little prepared rice into
the ground, it immediately grew and produced grain without chaff for his
sustenance; from whence the place is called _Sen-mee_, _rice growing
ready dressed_, to this day.
Before our barges launched into the stream of the Yellow River, which
rolled in a very rapid torrent, certain ceremonies were conceived to be
indispensably necessary. In the practical part of religion (which indeed
may be considered as nearly the whole) a Chinese is not less solicitous
to avert a possible evil, than to procure an eventual good; and of all
evils personal danger is most apprehended. It was therefore deemed
expedient, that an oblation should be made in every vessel of the fleet
to the genius of the river. The animals that were sacrificed, on this
occasion, were different in different yachts, but they generally
consisted of a fowl or a pig, two animals that were very common in
Grecian sacrifices. The blood, with the feathers and the hair, was
daubed upon the principal parts of the vessel. On the forecastle of some
were placed cups of wine, oil and salt; in others, tea, flour and salt;
and in others, oil, rice and salt. The last article appears to be
thought by the Chinese, as well as by the Hebrews, a necessary
accompaniment to every sacrifice. "Every oblation of thy meat-offering
shalt thou season with salt: neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the
Covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy _meat_-offering." As,
however, the high priest and his friends were to feast on those parts
of the meat-offering, which were considered as unworthy the acceptance
of heaven, which parts, by the way, were always the best of the victim,
one might, perhaps, assign a reason for the strong injunction of
offering salt, this being a scarce article in many countries of the East
and the best preservative of meat against putrefaction[55].
[55] The _Far et mica salis_ were parts of most of the Roman sacrifices,
and salt, in particular, was held in such veneration, and in such
general use, that when any one obtained a salary or pension, he was said
to have got his _Salarium_, or something to procure his salt, in the
same sense, as we say, to get one's bread, and a common expression in
India, denoting service, is, _I eat the salt of such a one_, and the
Dutch in speaking of a dependent say, _he owes his salt to such a one_.
These coincidences of opinion, or custom, among remote nations, however
difficult they may be to explain, are nevertheless extremely interesting
and are on that account here noticed.
The cups, the slaughtered animal and several made-dishes remained on the
forecastle, the Captain standing over them on one side and a man with a
gong in his hand on the other. On approaching the rapid part of the
stream, at the signal given by the gong, the Captain took up the cups
one by one, in order that, like the Greeks of old, he might "perform the
rites and pour the ruddy wine," which he did by throwing their contents
over the bow of the vessel into the river. The libation performed, a
quantity of crackers and squibs and gilt tin foil were burnt, with
uplifted hands, whilst the deep-sounding gong was incessantly struck
with increasing violence as the vessels were swept along with the
current. The victim and the other dishes were then removed for the use
of the Captain and crew, and the ceremony ended by three genuflexions
and as many prostrations. The Emperor is never satisfied with less than
nine.
Our fleet consisted of about thirty sail, and from each vessel there
proceeded, on its launching into the stream, such a din of gongs and
crackers and such volumes of smoke from the burnt offerings, that the
deity of the river must have been in a very surly humour if he was not
pleased with such a multitude of oblations. The safe arrival, on the
opposite bank, of the whole squadron was a proof of his having accepted
the homage, and accordingly he was again addressed in a volley of
crackers as a token of thanks for his propitious and friendly aid.
The width of the river at this place was full three quarters of a mile;
and the stream, where strongest, ran with the rapidity of seven or eight
miles an hour; and the water was as thick and muddy as if the heaviest
torrents of rain had just descended, whereas, in fact, there had not
fallen a shower for many months.
The length of that part of the canal which lies between the _Eu-ho_ and
the Yellow River, and which we had now sailed over, is about two hundred
English miles. The natural slope of the country being from North to
South, the projectors of this work seem to have fixed upon the middle
point, or nearly so, between these two rivers for the commencement of
their operations: so that from this middle point to the northward, or
rising part of the country, they have been under the necessity, in order
to preserve their level, of cutting down to the depth of thirty, forty,
and even to seventy feet, below the surface; whilst from the same point
to the southward, or descending part of the country, they have been
obliged to force up the water between immense banks of earth and stone,
far above the level of the flat surface; consisting almost entirely of
lakes, swamps, and morass. The quantity of human labour that must have
been employed, in amassing together the different materials that compose
this immense aqueduct, could not have been supplied, in any reasonable
length of time, except in a country where millions could be set to work
at the nod of a despot. The greatest works in China have always been,
and still continue to be, performed by the accumulation of manual
labour, without the assistance of machinery, except on very particular
occasions, where some mechanical power may be absolutely necessary to be
brought in aid of human strength. Thus, where canals are carried over
surfaces that are too hilly and uneven to admit of one continued level,
they descend from place to place, as it were by steps, at each of which
is an inclined plane; the height from the upper canal to the lower being
generally from six to ten feet; and the angle of the plane from
forty-five to fifty degrees. All vessels navigating such canals must be
hoisted up these planes by the assistance of upright capstans, without
which it would scarcely be possible to get those of large demensions,
together with their cargo, out of one canal into the other; and they are
gently lowered in the same manner. This awkward contrivance may,
perhaps, less imply the ignorance of locks or other methods practised
elsewhere, than the unwillingness of the government to suffer any
innovation that might be the means of depriving many thousands of
obtaining that scanty subsistence, which they now derive from their
attendance at these capstans. However slightly such a notion may be held
in Europe, there can be no doubt that a general introduction of
machinery into China, for the purpose of facilitating and expediting
labour would, in the present state of the country, be attended with the
most pernicious and distressing consequences; were it only for this
simple reason that, despising, as they affect to do, all foreign
commerce, the demand for the products of machinery, however much they
might be reduced in price, would not be encreased, whilst that of manual
labour would considerably be diminished.
Sensible as the Chinese seem to be of the advantages derived from an
easy communication between the different parts of the empire, by means
of canals, it is the more surprizing what the motives could have been
that, till this moment, have restrained them from facilitating an
intercourse by means of good roads, in such parts of the country as have
no inland navigations. In this respect they fall short of most civilized
nations. Except near the capital, and in some few places where the
junction of the grand canal with navigable rivers is interrupted by
mountainous ground, there is scarcely a road in the whole country that
can be ranked beyond a foot-path. Hence it happens that in the northern
provinces, during winter, it is impossible to travel with any degree of
ease, convenience, or safety; all the canals to the northward of the
Yellow River, which runs from 34° to 35° latitude being frozen up. It is
equally surprizing that their ingenuity has not extended itself to the
invention of sledges or some sort of carriages suitable for travelling
on ice, which other nations have converted into the best of roads[56].
[56] I infer that such is not the practice in China, from the manner in
which the Dutch Embassadors were conveyed to and from the capital in the
middle of winter. The inconveniences they suffered on this occasion are
such as can scarcely be conceived to have happened in a civilized
country. The perusal of the manuscript journal I have elsewhere noticed
conveyed to my mind the idea of a country dreary and desolate, and of a
people indigent and distressed; without humanity, and without
hospitality. They travelled in little bamboo chairs, carried by four
men, who were generally so weak and tottering that they could not go
through the day's journey, but were obliged, frequently, in the middle
of the night, to halt in an open uninhabited part of the country, where
not a hovel of any description was to be met with to shelter them from
the inclemency of the weather. And it most commonly happened, that the
lodgings appointed for their reception, at the different stages were in
such a miserable condition, admitting on every side the wind, rain, or
snow, that they generally preferred taking a little rest in their bamboo
chairs. They were surprized to find so few cities, towns, or villages in
their route, and not less surprized at the ruinous condition in which
these few appeared to be. Near the capital a whole city exhibited only a
mass of ruins. In many places they found the country under water, and
the mud hovels completely melted down. Sometimes they passed extensive
wastes, where not a trace was visible of any kind of cultivation, nor a
single dwelling occurred in the distance of eight or ten English miles.
And it was not before they had crossed the Yellow River that they
perceived the marks of wheel-carriages imprinted on the roads, which
were so little travelled upon that they could with difficulty be traced.
Here they met old men and young women travelling in wheelbarrows; and
litters carried by asses, one being fixed between the poles before, and
one behind. The rivers had no bridges over them; and such as were too
deep to be forded, they were under the necessity of crossing on rafts of
bamboo. In short, before they arrived at the capital, the fatigue and
hardships they had undergone considerably impaired their health, and the
condition of their clothing was such as to excite the compassion of the
mandarines, who made them a present of twenty sheep-skin jackets,
dressed with the wool upon them; which, like the Hottentots, they wore
inwards. One of these gentlemen assured me, that having satisfied his
curiosity, no earthly consideration should tempt him to undertake a
second journey by land to the capital; for that he believed the whole
world could not furnish a like picture of desolation and misery. What a
contrast is here exhibited to the ease and convenience with which our
journey was made! But the whole treatment of the Dutch embassy seems to
have been proportioned to the degree of importance which the Chinese
attached to the political condition of this nation.
The continuation of the Grand Canal, from the Yellow River to the
_Yang-tse-kiang_, was constructed upon the same principles as that part
between the Yellow River and the _Eu-ho_. The country being level and
abounding with lakes and marshy grounds, it was carried upon a mound of
earth kept together by retaining walls of stone the whole distance,
which is about ninety miles, being in parts not less than twenty feet
above the general level of the country; and the sheet of water it
contained was two hundred feet in width, running sometimes at the rate
of three miles an hour. Canals of communication supplied it from the
westward; and the superfluous water was let off upon the low marshes.
The tops of the walls of _Pao-yng-shien_ were just on a level with the
surface of the water in the canal, so that if the bank opposite to it
were to burst, the whole city must inevitably be inundated. Very little
cultivation appeared in this low marshy country, but abundance of towns
and villages, the inhabitants of which subsisted by fishing. A
prodigious extent of low country on each side of the Yellow River,
perhaps not much less than the surface of all England, is liable to
inundations. The Chinese say, the overflowing of this river has been
more fatal to the country than war, pestilence, or famine. The Emperor
_Kaung-shee_, in order to distress a rebel in the province of _Honan_,
ordered a bank to be broken down behind a city he had got possession of;
but the inundation was so great, that not only the rebel forces were
destroyed, but almost half a million of people were completely swept
away; and among these were several European missionaries. Vast sums of
money are expended in confining this river within its banks. The same
Emperor in his last will declares, that the sums of money issued
annually from the Imperial treasury for the embankments to prevent
inundations, were never less, during his whole reign, than 3,000,000
ounces of silver, equivalent to one million sterling.
On approaching the _Yang-tse-kiang_ the appearance of the country
improved, just as it had done in the vicinity of the Yellow River. The
town of _Sau-poo_, extending along the quay of the canal, consisted of
houses that were generally two stories high, apparently well built,
white-washed with lime and kept in neat and clean order. The inhabitants
were also better cloathed than we had hitherto been accustomed to see
them. The women were less shy in their advances; their complexions were
much fairer and their features more soft and handsome than any we had
yet observed in the northern provinces.
The walls and gates of _Yang-tchoo-foo_ bore marks of great antiquity,
being partly in ruins and almost entirely overgrown with moss and
creeping plants. A thousand vessels, at least, of different descriptions
were lying under its walls. Here we remained for the night; and the
following morning, being the 5th of November, we launched into the grand
and beautiful river called the _Yang-tse-kiang_, which at this place was
about two miles in width; but the current was so gentle, that no
oblation to the presiding deity was thought to be necessary. The
numerous islands rising out of the river and covered with verdure, the
multitude of ships of war, of burden and of pleasure, some gliding down
the stream, others 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, presented a prospect more varied and
cheerful than any that had hitherto occurred. Nor was the canal, on the
opposite side, less lively; for two whole days we were continually
passing among fleets of vessels of different constructions and
dimensions, those belonging to the revenue department being the largest,
each capable of carrying, at least, two hundred tons. Cities, towns and
villages were continued along the banks without intermission: and vast
numbers of stone bridges were thrown across the canal, some having one,
some two, and others three arches. The face of the country was
beautifully diversified with hill and dale and every part of it in the
highest state of cultivation. The chief produce was that particular
species of cotton, of a yellowish tinge, known in Europe by the name of
nankin.
The suburbs of _Sou-tchoo-foo_ employed us full three hours in passing
before we reached the walls of the city, where a multitude of vessels
were lying at anchor. The numerous inhabitants that appeared upon and
without the walls of this extensive city, were better dressed and seemed
to be more contented and cheerful, than we had yet observed them in any
other place. For the most part they were cloathed in silk. The ladies
were here dressed in petticoats and not in trowsers, as they had
hitherto appeared to the northward. The general fashion of the
head-dress was a black satin cap with a triangular peak, the point
descending to the root of the nose, in the middle of which, or about the
centre of the forehead, was a crystal button. The whole face and neck
were washed with a preparation of white lead and the cheeks highly
rouged; and two vermillion spots, like wafers, were particularly
conspicuous, one on the centre of the under lip and the other on the
chin. Their feet were universally squeezed down to an unnatural size.
Few females were seen among the immense crowds that the novelty of the
sight had brought together, but great numbers had assembled in the
houses and particularly on board the pleasure or passage yachts, with
the intention of satisfying their curiosity. The superior style of dress
and the appearance of the women in public at this place, so different
from the general custom of the country, could only be explained to us by
the writings of the Christian missionaries, who observe that the
concubines of mandarins and men of property are chiefly procured from
the cities of _Yang-tchoo_ and of _Sou-tchoo_, where they are educated
in the pleasing arts of singing, music and dancing and every other
accomplishment suitable to women of superior rank, in order to render
them the more agreeable and fascinating. That such women are generally
purchased by persons engaged in the trade, in different parts of the
country, and trained in these cities, where they are disposed of to the
highest bidder, "_this being the principal branch of trade that is
carried on in those two cities_." How do these holy men reconcile so
infamous a traffic among a people whom they have adorned with every
virtue? a people whom they have rendered remarkable among nations for
their filial piety! Is there on earth a crime more revolting against
civilized nature, or more detestable to civilized society, than that of
a parent selling his own child and consigning her, expressly and
voluntarily, into a state of prostitution? Those unfortunate wretches
who, in Europe, have by any accident reduced themselves to that degraded
and deplorable condition of becoming subservient to the pleasures of a
man, whom they probably detest, are generally the objects of pity,
however their conduct may be disapproved; but a parent, who should be
the cause of reducing them to such a state, would be execrated; but the
assertion is as absurd as ridiculous, and the writer must have been very
credulous to suppose, that the _principal trade_ of one of the largest
cities in the world, whose population cannot be less than a million of
souls, should consist in buying and selling ladies of pleasure. Buying
females in the legal way is certainly the greatest branch of trade
throughout China, as every woman there is bought and sold. These
reverend gentlemen likewise inform us, with great indifference, that if
a man be desirous of having a male child and his wife should happen to
be barren, he will purchase one of these concubines for the sole purpose
of getting an heir; and, when this is accomplished, he either provides
her with a husband, or turns her adrift. Such are the moral virtues of
the Chinese, compared with whom all other nations have been accounted
barbarous[57].
[57] It may be observed of almost all the writings of the
missionaries concerning China, that virtues of so trifling a nature as
hardly to deserve the name, have met their unqualified praise, whilst
enormous vices have either been palliated or passed over in silence.
To the west of _Sau-tchoo-foo_ is a range of mountains higher than any
we had yet seen, well covered with wood; and an extensive lake stretches
along their base, famed in China for its picturesque beauties and for
its fish. We would gladly have made a party of pleasure to this
delightful spot, but innumerable objections, as usual, were started by
our conductors, on the score of delay that such an excursion would
occasion.
The two great products of this part of the country are rice and silk;
the former of which, at this time, they were busily employed in reaping.
Plantations of the mulberry tree were extended on both sides of the
canal and into the country beyond the reach of sight. They appeared to
be of two distinct species; the one, the common mulberry, _morus nigra_,
and the other having much smaller leaves, smooth and heart-shaped, and
bearing a white berry about the size of the field strawberry. The latter
had more the habit of a shrub, but the branches of neither were suffered
to run into strong wood, being frequently pruned in order that the trunk
might annually throw out young scions, whose leaves were considered to
be more tender than such as grew from old branches. Another reason was
also assigned for this operation. A tree, when left to itself, throws
out the greatest part of its leaves at once, in the spring of the year,
but if the thick wood be cut out from time to time, new leaves will
continue to push below the parts so cut off during the whole season;
and, accordingly, the Chinese are particularly attentive to prune afresh
in the autumn, in order to obtain a supply of young leaves in the after
spring. The thermometer at this place, on the 9th of November at
sun-rise, stood at 64°, and at noon in the shade at 70° degrees.
It was in this part of the canal where the bridge of ninety-one arches,
mentioned in the sixth chapter, was thrown across the arm of a lake that
joined the canal. I lament exceedingly that we passed this extraordinary
fabric in the night. It happened to catch the attention of a Swiss
servant who, as the yacht glided along, began to count the arches, but
finding them increase in number much beyond his expectation and, at the
same time, in dimensions, he ran into the cabin calling out with great
eagerness, "For God's sake, gentlemen, come upon deck, for here is a
bridge such as I never saw before; it has no end." Mr. Maxwell and I
hastened upon deck and, by the faint light, could sufficiently
distinguish the arches of a bridge running parallel with the eastern
bank of the canal, across the arm of a vast lake, with which the
navigation thus communicated. From the highest point, or what appeared
to us to be the central arch, I counted forty-five to the end; here they
were very small, but the central arch I guessed to be about thirty feet
high and forty wide; and the whole length of the bridge I calculated to
be about half a mile. The construction of such a bridge, in such a
situation, could obviously have been employed for no other purpose than
that of opening a free communication with the lake; and, at the same
time, of avoiding the labour and expence of accumulating materials
sufficient for making a solid embankment.
After sailing a great part of the day through a forest of mulberry
trees, planted with much regularity, we arrived on the 10th at the city
of _Hang-tchoo-foo_, the capital of the province of _Tche-kiang_. Here
that branch of the grand canal which communicates with the
_Yang-tse-kiang_ terminates in a large commodious bason, at this time
crowded with shipping. From this bason a number of smaller canals,
passing through arches turned in the walls and intersecting the city in
every direction, are finally united in a lake beyond the western wall
called the _See-hoo_. The natural and artificial beauties of this lake
far exceeded any thing 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 vallies were richly
cloathed 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 _Laurus Camphora_ or camphor tree, the _Croton
sebiferum_ or tallow tree, and the _Thuia Orientalis_ or arbor vitæ. The
bright shining green foliage of the first, mingled with the purple
leaves of the second, and overtopped by the tall and 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 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, supported on
white colonnades which, on examination, were also found to be mansions
of the dead. Naked coffins of extraordinary thickness were every where
lying upon the surface of the ground.
The lake that extended from the walls of the city to the feet of the
mountains, and threw its numerous arms into the wooded vallies, was the
seat of pleasure, as well as of profit, to the inhabitants of
_Hang-tchoo-foo_. These amusements, however, of floating upon barges in
the lake are principally confined to one sex. Few women, except those
of loose character, join in the parties of men. How miserable or, at
best, how little interest can be raised in that state of society where
no social intercourse of the sexes exists; where sentiment, nice feeling
and the sport and play of the softer passions are totally unknown, and
where reason and philosophy are at so low an ebb! In more enlightened
countries, when age may have weakened the ardour of joining in the
sprightly female circle, or inclination lead to more serious
conversations, numberless resources are still left to exercise the
faculties of the mind, and society may always be had for such as can
relish
"The feast of reason and the flow of soul."
But in China the tenor of their conversation must be always nearly the
same, turning chiefly on the affairs of the neighbourhood, the injustice
of the magistrates, the tricks and stratagems of the crafty merchant, or
of the low mechanic. In entertainments given by those who can afford to
drink wine, it is seldom served round as in other countries, but a
number of puerile contrivances are practised to determine which of the
party is to drink, as in the case I have already noticed of _the game of
the fingers_. Thus, a nosegay is passed round from hand to hand, whilst
a man in an adjoining room beats a drum or the gong, and he who happens
to hold the nosegay when the instrument ceases must drink a cup of wine.
Many other methods still more childish are resorted to, in order to pass
the time and to give a zest to their wine; but the usual resource here,
as well as elsewhere, against the tediousness of time, is gaming. An
attachment to this vice accompanies the lowest Chinese wherever he
goes. It is said that in one of our eastern colonies, where Chinese are
encouraged to settle, they pay to the government the annual sum of ten
thousand dollars for a licence to keep gaming tables and sell opium.
Our route being necessarily delayed for two days at this place, on
account of an intervening neck of land over which all the baggage was to
be transported, I prevailed upon our good natured companion _Van-ta-gin_
to make a party to the lake _See-hoo_, to which he readily assented; and
this was the only excursion that we had in the course of the whole
journey. We had a splendid yacht and another made fast to it to serve as
a kitchen; the dinner began the instant we went on board and ceased only
when we stepped a-shore. It consisted of at least a hundred dishes in
succession, among which were excellent eels, fresh caught in the lake
and dressed in a variety of ways; yet the water was clear as crystal.
Vast numbers of barges were sailing to and fro, all gaily decorated with
paint and gilding and streaming colours; the parties within them
apparently all in pursuit of pleasure. The margins of the lake were
studded with light aereal buildings, among which one of more solidity
and of greater extent than the rest was said to belong to the Emperor.
The grounds were enclosed with brick walls and mostly planted with
vegetables and fruit trees; but in some there appeared to be collections
of such shrubs and flowers as are most esteemed in the country. Among
the fruits we got at this place was the _Jambo_ or rose apple; and, for
the first time, fresh from the tree, but not yet perfectly ripe, two
species of oranges, the common China and the small one usually called
the Mandarin orange; pomgranates, bananas very indifferent and melons
equally bad; apricots far from being equal to those of our own country;
a large plumb, resembling the egg plumb, also indifferent, and peaches
that might have been much improved by judicious culture; apples and
pears that in England we should have no hesitation in pronouncing
execrably bad; and a species of fruit unknown to all of us which the
Chinese called _Zee-tsé_, of a sweet sickly taste when ripe, otherwise
most insufferably astringent. Some of the gentlemen thought they saw
hazel nuts among the shruberry, but it is more than probable they were
mistaken. A few bad grapes were sometimes brought to us, but the party
who went from hence to _Chu-san_ met with abundance of this fruit, and
of very good quality, growing upon standards erected in the several
canals and forming a shade under which the barges could pass.
Among the most conspicuous of the shrubs, on the borders of the lake
_See-hoo_, was the _Hibiscus mutabilis_, the _Hibiscus Syriacus_, the
_Syringa Vulgaris_ or common lilac, and the paper mulberry; we observed
also a species of _Mimosa_, a _Crotularia_, _Cratægus_, _Rosa_,
_Rhamnus_, _Sambucus_, _Juniper_ and the cotton plant. Of flowers we
particularly noticed a large purple-coloured double poppy which, with
the _Nelumbium_ that grew here in all the ponds and a species of
_pæonia_, appear most frequently on the large sheets of painted paper
used for covering the walls of their apartments. A great variety of
beautiful balsams were also in flower, a species of _Amaranthus_, a
_Xeranthemum_ and _Gnaphalium_. I mention only such plants as caught the
eye in passing, for our Chinese companions, who had a much better
appetite for the eels of the lake and other goods things they had taken
care to provide than for botany, had no notion of being detained by a
bush or a flower.
The next day Lieutenant Colonel, now General, Benson, Doctor Gillan, and
myself, accompanied by a military officer and his orderly, rode over the
neck of land to look at the yachts that were preparing for our future
journey. As it was rather late before we returned, I proposed that we
should pass through the city as I had done the day before with our
conductor _Van_, which would save us half the distance. The officer
perceiving our intention endeavoured to draw us off to the right, but
finding us persevere he whispered the orderly, who immediately pushed
forward towards the gate. Aware that the intention of this measure was
to shut the gate against us, we spurred our horses and followed him,
upon which the officer and his orderly set up such a hue and cry that
the whole suburbs were presently in a state of commotion. The gates were
instantly shut and surrounded by a crowd. Within all was confusion.
Message after message was dispatched to the Governor, the gongs were
beat and the guards were drawn out in every part of the city. I assured
them there was nothing to fear; that we were only three, and had no
other design but to pass to our yachts. During this time our _mandarin
of war_, in presence of the whole populace, was down on his knees in the
dirt, first before one and then another, intreating us to give up the
point; so mean and despicable have the maxims of the government made
these people. At length our friends _Van_ and _Chou_, with the
interpreter and a numerous train of soldiers and attendants, made their
appearance, and pretended to enjoy the joke of three Englishmen having
caused so much alarm to one of their strongest cities, which at that
time had a garrison of three thousand men within its walls. On
expressing our surprise at such unnecessary precaution, _Van_ observed,
that our conductor did not know us so well as he did, and, as he was
responsible for our safe return, he would rather have travelled us all
night through the country than brought us among the crowd in the
streets. When the new viceroy of Canton (who travelled with us from
hence) heard of this affair, and understood from our conductors that the
English found great pleasure in walking and looking about them (a
pleasure of which a Chinese can form no idea) he immediately gave orders
that the gentlemen in the train of the Embassador should walk whenever
they pleased without any molestation.
In the city of _Hang-tchoo-foo_, being particularly famed for its
silk-trade, we were not surprized to meet with extensive shops and
warehouses; in point of size and the stock contained within them they
might be said to vie with the best in London. In some of these were not
fewer than ten or twelve persons serving behind the counter; but in
passing through the whole city not a single woman was visible, either
within doors or without. The crowd of people, composed of the other sex,
appeared to be little inferior to that in the great streets of Pekin.
Here, though mostly narrow they had in other respects much the advantage
of those in the capital, being paved with broad flagstones, resembling
the Merceria of Venice or courts of the Strand; Cranburn-Alley is rather
too wide for a Chinese street, but those of this city were equally well
paved. They appeared to be kept extremely neat and clean. In every shop
were exposed to view silks of different manufactures, dyed cottons and
nankins, a great variety of English broad-cloths, chiefly however blue
and scarlet, used for winter cloaks, for chair covers and for carpets;
and also a quantity of peltry intended for the northern markets. The
rest of the houses, in the public streets through which we passed,
consisted of butchers and bakers' shops, fishmongers, dealers in rice
and other grain, ivory-cutters, dealers in laquered ware, tea-houses,
cook-shops, and coffin makers; the last of which is a trade of no small
note in China. The population of the city alone, I should suppose, from
its extent and appearance, to be not much inferior to that of Pekin; and
the number of inhabitants in the suburbs, with those that constantly
resided upon the water, were perhaps nearly equal to those within the
walls.
Here our conductor _Sun-ta-gin_ took his leave, after having introduced
to the Embassador the new Viceroy of Canton, who was now to accompany
the Embassy to the seat of his government. His manners appeared to be no
less amiable than those of the Minister. He had travelled post from
Pekin and, with many assurances on the part of the Emperor of the
highest satisfaction he had derived from the embassy, he brought an
additional present from him to His Majesty, consisting of gold tissued
silks, purses taken from his own person and the _Card of Happiness_.
This is an ornamented piece of paper, neatly folded up and having in the
centre the character _foo_ or happiness inscribed by the Emperor's own
hand, and is considered as the strongest mark a sovereign of China can
give to another prince of his friendship and affection. Another card was
given to the Embassador of a similar import, as a testimony of his
approbation of the conduct of the embassy, which was further confirmed
by a present of silks, tea, fans and other trinkets to every individual
of it.
A few miles beyond the city we again took shipping on the river
_Tcheng-tang-chiang_, which might properly be called an estuary, the
tide rising and falling six or seven feet at the place of embarkation,
which was not very distant from the Yellow Sea. After seven days of
tedious navigation, if dragging by main strength over a pebbly bottom on
which the boats were constantly aground and against a rapid stream,
could be so called, we came to its source near the city of
_Tchang-san-shien_. But its banks were not deficient in beautiful views
and picturesque scenery. The general surface of the country was
mountainous and romantic, but well cultivated in all such places as
would admit the labours of the husbandman. One city only occurred in the
course of seven days; but we passed numerous villages, situated in the
valleys and the glens between the ridges of mountains; and fishermen's
huts were constantly in view. There was here no want of trees, among
which the most common were the tallow-tree and the camphor, cedars, firs
and the tall and majestic arbor vitæ. Groves of oranges, citrons and
lemons were abundantly interspersed in the little vales that sloped down
to the brink of the river; and few of the huts were without a small
garden and plantation of tobacco. The larger plains were planted with
the sugar-cane. We had thus far passed through the country without
having seen a single plant of the tea-shrub, but here we found it used
as a common plant for hedge-rows to divide the gardens and fruit groves,
but not particularly cultivated for its leaves.
At the city of _Tchang-san-shien_ we had again a neck of land to cross,
in order to join the barges that were prepared on another river falling
towards the westward, by which a connexion was formed with the usual
route from Pekin to Canton, from whence we had deviated at the
_Yang-tse-kiang_ river, on account of some of the suite being intended
to join the Hindostan in the harbour of _Tchu-san_. We were the less
sorry for this deviation, as it gave us an opportunity of seeing a part
of the country over which there is no general communication with the
grand route. In passing this neck of land, on a very fine causeway,
judiciously led through the defiles of the mountains, we first observed
the terrace system of agriculture, so frequently mentioned in the
writings of the missionaries. The Chinese seem to entertain a particular
aversion against sowing or planting on sloping ground and, accordingly,
when such occurs, they level it into a number of terraces one rising
above the other, which they support by stone walls, if the earth should
not be thought sufficiently strong for the purpose. The great
conveniency of leading the water from the uppermost to the lowest
terrace, without losing any of its nutritive effects by a rapid course,
seems to have suggested this mode of preparing the ground. In a hot and
dry country, vegetation becomes languid without the command of water;
and I observed that on the uppermost terrace there was invariably a tank
or reservoir to collect the waters falling from the upper parts of the
hills. The expense of labour, that had evidently been employed on such
terraces, was so great as to make any suitable return to the husbandman
apparently impossible; and still less so in other places where the hills
were completely dug away to the skeleton rocks, and the soil carried
upon the marshy ground at their feet.
With all this industry it might be concluded, from the general
appearance of the people, that they merely gained a subsistence. It was
with the utmost difficulty that the officers of government could
procure, in the whole city which we last departed from, a sufficient
number of chairs for themselves and those gentlemen of the embassy who
preferred to be thus carried, and horses for the rest. For the soldiers,
indeed, that composed his Excellency's guard, they had prepared a sort
of open bamboo chair, fixed between two poles and meant to be carried
shoulder-height. But the soldiers, squeezed into these little chairs and
elevated in the air, with their feathers and their firelocks, soon
perceived that they cut such ridiculous figures and that the soon
wretches who carried them were in so miserable a condition, both with
regard to their clothing and their habit of body, that, ashamed to be
thus dragged along, they presently dismounted and insisted, in their
turn, upon carrying the Chinese. Our conductors affected to consider
this as a good joke, but others were evidently nettled at it, supposing
it might have been meant as a kind of oblique reflection on the
indifferent accommodations that had been provided at this place for the
Embassador and his retinue; which were however the best that it was
possible for them to procure by any exertions.
Having finished this land journey, of about twenty-four miles, in the
course of the day, we lodged at _Eu-shan-shien_, a small city of mean
appearance and the following day embarked on flat-bottomed barges,
remarkably long and narrow, on the river _Long shia-tong_; but two
complete days of heavy rain obliged us to remain quietly at anchor.
On the 24th of November we dropped down the river, which by the rains
was swelled to an enormous size and in some places had overflowed its
banks, though in general high and rocky composed of a deep
brown-coloured freestone. Several rice mills were so completely
inundated, that their thatched roofs were but just visible above the
surface of the water; others were entirely washed away; and the wrecks
of them scattered upon the banks of the river. A vessel of our squadron
was upset upon the roof of one of these mills.
During two days' sail the surface of the country was hilly and well
wooded with camphors, firs, and tallow-trees; but as we approached the
_Po-yang_ lake, a small inland sea, it began to assume the uniform
appearance of an extended marsh, without any visible signs of
cultivation: here and there a few small huts, standing on the brink of
pools of water, with twice the number of small boats floating or drawn
up on shore, sufficiently indicated the occupation of the inhabitants.
In this part of the country we had an opportunity of seeing the various
means practised by the Chinese to catch fish: rafts and other floating
vessels with the fishing corvorant: boats with moveable planks turning
on hinges, and painted so as to deceive fishes on moonlight nights and
entice them to leap out of the water upon the planks; nets set in every
form; and wicker baskets made exactly in the same manner as those used
in Europe. Large gourds and blocks of wood were floating on the water,
in order to familiarize the various kinds of water-fowl to such objects,
which gave the Chinese an opportunity, by sticking their heads into
gourds or earthen pots and keeping their bodies under water, to approach
the birds in a gentle manner sufficiently near to take them by the legs
and draw them quietly under the water; a method which is said to be
practised by the natives of South America.
The nearer we approached the great lake _Po-yang_, the more dreary was
the appearance of the country; and for the distance of ten miles around
it, or at least on the south and west sides, was a wild waste of reeds
and rank grasses, such as the _Scirpus_, _Cyperus_, and bulrushes,
interrupted only by stagnant pools of water. Not a human dwelling of any
description was to be seen. This place may justly be considered as the
sink of China, into which rivers fall from every point of the compass.
It is scarcely possible for the imagination to form to itself an idea of
a more desolate region than that which surrounds the Po-yang lake. The
temperature was so reduced, by the circumambient waters, that on the
27th November, with drizzling showers, the thermometer was down to 48°
in the forenoon. We sailed near four whole days over the same kind of
country and came, towards the evening of the last, to the city of
_Nan-tchang-foo_, the capital of _Kiang-see_, where we observed from
four to five hundred of the revenue vessels lying at anchor. We waited
at this place a few hours to take in the necessary provisions and to
receive a present of silk, tea, and some other trifles from the viceroy.
We were told of a famous temple in the neighbourhood of the city, but we
had no curiosity to go out of the way to see it, which was dedicated to
the man who, as we have already observed, made his _apotheosis_
comfortably in his own house; that there was a well belonging to this
temple full of large snakes, whom the priests venerate and to whom they
admonish the people to make sacrifices, as being children of the dragons
which, if not constantly appeased by oblations to these their offspring,
would destroy the whole world. Thus, in all countries where votaries of
superstition are to be found, will knaves be met with to take advantage
of their weakness. The priests of this temple are said to have made one
observation, which is perhaps no superstition, that when these water
snakes appear on the surface, rains and inundations are sure to follow.
I took advantage, however, of the short delay, to go on board one of the
revenue vessels and to measure the capacity of its hold. It was in
length 115 feet, breadth 15 feet, and depth 6 feet; the sides streight
and the width nearly the same fore and aft; so that the burden might
fairly be estimated at 250 tons. Independent, therefore, of the
innumerable small craft, there were lying before this city 100,000 tons
of shipping.
The city of _Nan-tchang-foo_ is situated upon the left bank of the river
_Kan-kiang-ho_ falling from the southward into the _Po-yang_ lake. It
was here about five hundred yards in width, against the stream of which
we made a rapid progress with a brisk breeze. For the first sixty miles
the country was flat and uncultivated, except in places where we
observed a few fields of rice. But there was no want of population.
Towns and villages were constantly in sight, as were also manufactories
of earthen ware, bricks and tiles. The farther we advanced up the river,
the more populous was the country, the more varied and agreeable the
surface, and the more extended the cultivation. The banks were skirted
with large trees, that cast a cool and comfortable shade on the walks
beneath. Of these, some were willows, others camphors, but by far the
greatest number were the _Yang-tchoo_, a large spreading tree that threw
its branches down to the ground where, like the _Ficus Indicus_, of
which indeed it was a variety, they took root and became stems.
At the city _Kei-shui-shien_, which like most cities in China offered
little worthy of remark, the river divided into two branches; and at
_Kin-gan-foo_, a city of the first order, which we passed the same
night, by the river contracting suddenly the current became stronger and
of course our progress slower. To track the barges it was necessary
again to press a number of men; here, however, it may be observed, they
undertook the service with more willingness than to the northward. The
river meandered through a mountainous and barren country, rich only in
picturesque beauty which, though pleasing to the eye of the artist and
the connoisseur, has less charms for the philosopher, who finds more
real beauties to exist in a soil, however tame and uniform, that can be
rendered subservient to the uses of man.
On the 3d of November we approached that part of the river which, on
account of the numerous ship-wrecks that have happened there, is held in
no small degree of dread by the Chinese. They call it the _Shee-pa-tan_,
or the eighteen cataracts: which are torrents formed by ledges of rock
running across the bed of the river. They have not, however, any thing
very terrific in them, not one being half so dangerous as the fall at
London bridge about half-tide. But the Chinese have no great dexterity
in the management of their vessels. They are so easily alarmed, that
they frequently miscarry through timidity, when a little recollection
and resolution would have secured them success. The mountains between
which the river was hemmed in were covered with forests of the larch
fir; the glens and vallies abounded with the bamboo, of which we here
observed two species, one the same that is common in other parts of the
East, and the second much smaller in its growth, seldom exceeding the
height of ten feet; and the fibres of its small stem are more hard and
solid than those of the other species. The Chinese use it in the finer
parts of such household furniture and other articles as are constructed
of bamboo. From the margins of the river to the feet of the forests the
lower parts of the mountains were covered with coppice, among which the
most common shrub bore a close resemblance to the tea plant, and
accordingly the Chinese called it the _Tcha-wha_, or flower of tea. It
was the _Camellia Sesanqua_ of Thunberg, to which they had given the
same name (not being very nice in specific distinctions), as to the
_Camellia Japonica_ of Linnæus. From the nut of the former not unlike
to, though somewhat smaller than, the chesnut, a very pleasant oil is
expressed and used for similar purposes to the Florence oil in Europe.
This intricate part of the river, where innumerable pointed rocks
occurred, some above, some even with, and others just below the surface
of the water, required two long days' sail with a fair breeze; and the
falls became more rapid and dangerous the farther we advanced. At the
fifteenth cataract we perceived two or three vessels lying against the
rocks with their flat-bottoms uppermost; a terrible sight for our
bargemen who, like the countryman in the fable, instead of applying the
shoulder to the wheel, began to implore the assistance of the river god
by sounding the gong, in order to rouse his attention and by regaling
his olfactory nerves with the smoke of sandal-wood matches; so that had
we been dropping down the stream, instead of going against it, there was
every reason to apprehend that our barge would have shared a similar
fate; for it received many a gentle rub against the rocks.
The appearance of the country in the neighbourhood of the cataracts was
extremely beautiful. The transparency of the stream, the bold rocks
finely fringed with wood, and the varied forms of the mountains called
to mind those delightful streams that are discharged from the lakes of
the northern counties of England. Like these too, the _Kan-kiang-ho_
abounded with fish, not however with the delicious trout but one of much
less flavour, a species of perch. Great numbers of rafts were floating
on the river with the fishing corvorant, and we observed that he seldom
dived without success. For the whole distance of three days' journey,
the hilly country bordering on the river produced very little but the
_Camellia Sesanqua_, which appeared to be every where of spontaneous
growth.
We halted on the 6th of December, late in the evening, before the city
of _Kan-tchoo-foo_, which is remarkable for nothing that I could learn
except for the great quantity of varnish trees the _Rhus vernix_ I
suppose, that are cultivated in the neighbourhood. In the course of the
journey we had picked up two varieties of the tea plant, taken out of
the ground and potted by our own gardener; and which, being in good
growing order, were intended to be sent to Bengal as soon as occasion
might serve after our arrival at Canton. Knowing we should be hurried
away, as usual, in the morning and wishing to procure a few young plants
of the varnish tree, I prevailed on our good friend _Van-ta-gin_ to
dispatch some person for that purpose, to add to those of the tea plant
and the _Camellia Sensanqua_. _Van_ made application to the men in
office at this place, with the best intention of serving us, but these
gentry, either conceiving that their compliance might be treason to the
state, or else, in the true spirit of the nation, determined to play a
trick upon the strangers, certainly procured the plants and sent them on
board in pots, just as we were departing the next morning. In a short
time they all began to droop, the leaves withered and, on examination,
it was found that not a single plant among them had the least portion of
a root, being nothing more than small branches of trees which, from the
nature of the wood, were not likely nor indeed ever intended to strike
root.
From _Kan-tchoo-foo_ the face of the country became more uniform and
suitable for the labours of agriculture; and, accordingly, we found a
very small portion of it unoccupied. Wheat about six inches above ground
and extensive plantations of the sugar cane fit for cutting, were the
chief articles under cultivation: and the farther we advanced to the
southward, the more abundant and extended were those of the latter. The
canes were remarkably juicy and their joints from six to nine inches in
length. To express the juice from them and convert it into a consistent
mass, temporary mills were erected in different places among the
plantations. The process was very simple. A pair of cylinders, sometimes
of stone but more generally of hard wood, placed vertically, were put in
motion by oxen or buffalos and from the foot of these the expressed
juice was conveyed, by a tube carried under the floor, into a boiler
that was sunk in the ground at the end of the apartment; where it was
boiled to a proper degree of consistence the expressed canes serving as
fuel. Though unacquainted with the process of refining sugar, the
natural tendency that the syrup possesses of forming itself into
crystals in cooling had suggested to them the means of obtaining very
fine and pure sugar-candy which, in the market of Canton, is sold in a
pulverized state as white as the best refined sugar. The coarse syrup,
usually called treacle or molasses, and the dregs, are not employed, as
in the West India islands, in the distillation of rum, but are sometimes
thrown into the still with fermented rice, in order to procure a better
kind of _Seau-tchoo_ or _burnt_ wine; the chief use, however, of the
molasses is to preserve fruits and other vegetable productions; and
particularly the roots of ginger, a conserve of which the Chinese are
remarkably fond.
The bed of the river having, in the lapse of ages, settled to the depth
of twenty, thirty, or even forty feet below the general level of the
country, it became necessary to employ some artificial means of
obtaining the water for the purpose, of irrigation. The contrivance made
use of to raise it to the height of the banks was simple and ingenious;
and from hence it was conveyed in small channels to every part of the
cane plantations. Of the useful machine employed for this purposes
consisting of a bamboo wheel which I understand has been adopted in
America, a view and section may be seen among the plates accompanying
Sir George Staunton's authentic account of the embassy. I shall
therefore content myself with observing in this place that, the axis
excepted, it is entirely constructed of bamboo, without the assistance
of a single nail or piece of iron; that the expence of making it is a
mere trifle; that in its operations it requires no attendance, and that
it will lift, to the height of forty feet, one hundred and fifty tons of
water in the course of twenty-four hours[58]. Every plantation near this
part of the river had its wheel and some of them two; and the water
raised by them was sometimes conveyed at once into the plots of canes
and some times into reservoirs, out of which it was afterwards pumped,
as occasion might require, by the chain-pump and carried to those places
where it might be wanted along small channels coated with clay.
[58] The water-wheels still used in Syria differ only from
those of China, by having loose buckets suspended at the circumference,
instead of fixed tubes. "The wheels of Hama," says Volney, "are
thirty-two feet in diameter. Troughs are fastened to the circumference,
and so disposed as to fall in the river, and when they reach the vertex
of the wheel, discharge the water into a reservoir."
The women of this province were more robust than ordinary and well
suited, by their strength and muscular powers, to endure the hard labour
and drudgery of the field, which seemed to be their chief employment.
This sort of labour, however, might be the cause, rather than the
consequence, of their extraordinary strength and masculine form. The
habitual use of hard labour, to which the women are here brought up,
fits them best to become the wives of the peasantry in the neighbouring
provinces; and accordingly, when a Chinese farmer is desirous of
purchasing a working wife he makes his offers in _Kiang-see_. It was
here that we saw a woman yoked literally by traces to a plough, whilst
the husband or master had the lighter task of holding it by one hand and
drilling in the seed with the other. The exertion of labour together
with the constant exposure to the weather, in a climate situated under
the twenty-fifth to the twenty-ninth parallel of latitude, have
contributed to render more coarse and forbidding the features of the
fair sex of _Kiang-see_, in the formation of which, indeed, Nature had
not been too bountiful. Like the women of the Malay nation, with whom
they most probably are derived from one common stock, they fixed their
strong black hair close to the head by two metal skewers. Their dress,
in other respects, was the same as that of the men, and like these they
wore straw sandals on their feet. Thus far, by avoiding the pain
attendant on fashionable feet, and enjoying the free use of their limbs,
they might be said to have the advantage of the city ladies. It was,
indeed, observed that even such as were not employed in the labours of
the field, but kept constantly at home for domestic purposes, were, in
this province, equally exempted from the barbarous fashion of cramping
the feet.
On the 9th we again entered a narrow defile and here with difficulty the
vessels were forced along against a strong current; and over the pebbly
bottom, against which they were constantly striking. At _Nan-gan-foo_,
where we arrived in the evening, the river ceases to be navigable.
Indeed the whole of the three last days' navigation might, with
propriety, in England be called only a trout stream; upon which no
nation on earth, except the Chinese, would have conceived the idea of
floating any kind of craft; they have however adapted, in an admirable
manner, the form and construction of their vessels to the nature and
depth of the navigation; towards the upper part of the present river
they drew only, when moderately laden, about six inches of water. They
were from fifty to seventy feet in length, narrow and flat-bottomed, a
little curved, so that they took the ground only in the middle point.
Yet, in several places, the water was so shallow that they could not be
dragged over until a channel had been made, by removing the stones and
gravel with iron rakes. The length of this river, from its source at
_Nan-gan-foo_ to the _Po-yang_ lake, is nearly three hundred English
miles. The banks in the low part of the province of _Kiang-see_
consisted of a deep soil of black earth, supported on clay of a dark
red or brown colour; denoting the presence of iron. The mountains were
chiefly of red sand-stone; and the soil of the hills, producing the
_Camellia_, was a brown loam mixed with particles of mica.
We had now before us another land-journey, over the steep and lofty
mountain of _Me-lin_, whose summit is the boundary between the two
provinces of _Kiang-see_ and _Quan-tung_; on the south side of which
commences the river _Pei-kiang-ho_ that flows by the port of Canton; and
whose mouth is familiarly known in Europe by the name of the _Bocca
Tigris_. The ascent of this mountain, which some undertook on horseback
and others in chairs, was made by a well-paved road, carried in a
zig-zag manner over the very highest point, where a pass was cut to a
considerable depth through a granite rock; a work that had evidently not
been accomplished with any moderate degree of labour or expence. In the
middle of the pass was a military post, much stronger than ordinary, and
it was defended or, more correctly speaking, it was supplied with two
old pieces of cannon, that had been cast, in all probability, near two
hundred years ago, perhaps by the Jesuits who first taught them an art
which they seem already to have forgotten or neglected.
The view from the summit towards the southward, over the province of
Canton, was as rich and enchanting as that on the opposite side was
dreary and barren. In descending the gradual slope of about twelve
miles, before the mountain had blended with the general surface of the
country, there was a constant succession of dwellings; so that this
whole distance might almost be considered as one continued street. Half
of the buildings consisted, however, of places of convenience to which
passengers might retire to obey the calls of nature, and the doors, or
rather the openings into such erections, were always invitingly fronting
the street. To each single dwelling, whether alone or joined with
others, was annexed a fabric of this description. Each was constructed
upon a large terrace cistern, lined with such materials that no
absorption could take place; and straw and other dry rubbish are thrown
in by the owners, from time to time, to prevent evaporation. In one of
the streets of Canton is a row of buildings of this kind which, in so
warm a climate, is a dreadful nuisance; but the consideration of
preserving that kind of manure, which by the Chinese is considered as
superior for forcing vegetation to all others, has got the better of
both decency and prudence.
All the passengers we met upon this road were laden with jars of oil
expressed from the Camellia. In the course of eighteen miles, which is
about the distance from the summit of _Me-lin_ to the city of
_Nan-sheun-foo_, we passed at least a thousand persons on their way to
_Nan-gan-foo_, each bearing ten or twelve gallons of oil and among these
were a number of women.
Having now traversed five of the provinces of China, that are considered
among the most populous and productive in the empire, a general sketch
may be drawn, by taking a retrospective view, of the state of
agriculture and the condition of the people; of their habitations,
dress, diet and means of subsistence; and some conclusion drawn as to
the population of the country.
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_A Village and Cottages_]
[Illustration: _W. Alexander del^t T. Medland sculp^t_
_Dwelling of a Mandarin or Officer of State_
_Pub. May 2, 1804, by Mess^rs. Cadell, & Davies, Strand, London._]
It was a remark too singular to escape notice that, except in the
neighbourhood of the _Po-yang_ lake, the peasantry of the province in
which the capital stands were more miserable, their houses more mean and
wretched, and their lands in a worse state of cultivation, than in any
other part of the route--a remark which also agrees with the accounts
given by the Dutch embassy of that part of _Pe-tche-lee_, on the
south-west side of the capital, through which they passed. Four mud
walls covered over with a thatch of reeds, or the straw of millet, or
the stems of holcus, compose their habitations; and they are most
commonly surrounded with clay walls, or with a fence made of the strong
stems of the _Holcus Sorghum_. A partition of matting divides the hovel
into two apartments; each of which has a small opening in the wall to
admit the air and light; but one door generally serves as an entrance,
the closure of which is frequently nothing more than a strong mat. A
blue cotton jacket and a pair of trowsers, a straw hat and shoes of the
same material, constitute the dress of the majority of the people.
Matting of reeds or bamboo, a cylindrical pillow of wood covered with
leather, a kind of rug or felt blanket made of the hairy wool of the
broad-tailed sheep, not spun and woven but beat together as in the
process for making hats, and sometimes a mattress stuffed with wool,
hair, or straw, constitute their bedding. Two or three jars, a few
basons of earthen-ware of the coarsest kind, a large iron pot, a
frying-pan and a portable stove, are the chief articles of furniture.
Chairs and tables are not necessary; both men and women sit on their
heels; and in this posture they surround the great iron pot, with each a
bason in his hands, when they take their meals. The poverty of their
food was sufficiently indicated by their meagre appearance. It consists
chiefly of boiled rice, millet, or other grain, with the addition of
onions or garlic, and mixed sometimes with a few other vegetables that,
by way of relish, are fried in rancid oil, extracted from a variety of
plants, such as the _Seffamum_, _Brassica orientalis_, _Cytisus Cadjan_,
a species of _Dolichos_, and, among others, from the same species of
_Ricinus_ or _Palma-Christi_, from which the Castor is drawn, and used
only in Europe as a powerful purgative. Its drastic qualities may
probably be diminished by applying less pressure in extracting the oil,
or by habit, or by using it fresh, as it does not appear that the
Chinese suffer any inconvenience in its application to culinary
purposes. As well as I could understand, the seeds were first bruised
and then boiled in water, and the oil that floated on the surface was
skimmed off. Our Florence oil they affected not to admire having, as
they said, no taste. The Chinese, like the inhabitants of the South of
Europe, seem to attach a higher value on oils, in proportion as age has
given to them a higher degree of rancidity.
Fish of any kind, in this part of the country, is a great rarity; few
are caught in the rivers of _Pe-tche-lee_. We met with none in the whole
province, except at _Tien-sing_ and in the capital, whose market, no
doubt, like that of London, draws to its center the choice products of a
very extensive circuit. Salt and dried fish, it is true, are brought
from the southward as articles of commerce, but the poor peasantry
cannot afford to purchase them for general use. They obtain them only
sometimes by bartering millet or vegetables in exchange. A morsel of
pork to relish their rice is almost the only kind of meat that the poor
can afford to taste. They have little milk and neither butter, nor
cheese, nor bread; articles of nourishment to which, with potatoes, the
peasantry of Europe owe their chief support. Boiled rice, indeed, and
not bread, is considered as an article of the first necessity, the staff
of life in China. Hence the monosyllable _fan_, which signifies boiled
rice, enters into every compound that implies eating; thus _tche-fan_,
the name of a meal in general, is to eat rice; breakfast is called the
_tsao-fan_ or morning rice, and supper the _ouan-fan_ or evening rice.
Their principal and indeed their best beverage is bad tea, boiled over
and over again as long as any bitter remains in the leaves, taken
without milk or sugar, or any other ingredient except, in cold weather,
a little ginger. In this weak state the only purpose it seems to answer
is that of carrying down the sediment of muddy water that abounds in all
the flat provinces of China, which the leaves of tea (as I fancy those
of any other plant would) are found to do. These poor creatures,
however, are instructed by popular opinion to ascribe to it many
extraordinary qualities[59].
[59] The simple boiling of the water indeed contributes greatly
to the quick deposition of earthy particles, which may have been one
cause of the universal practice of drinking every thing warm in China.
They were surprised to see our soldiers and servants drinking the water
of the Pei-ho cold, and told them it was very bad for the stomach and
bowels. This complaint, in fact, attacked almost all the inferior part
of the embassy, which Doctor Gillan did not hesitate to ascribe to the
great impurity of the water. But the Chinese argued the point with the
Doctor with regard to taking it cold, asking him why all the fluids of
the body were warm, if nature had intended us to drink water and other
liquids in a cold state! They seemed to have forgotten that all the
warm-blooded animals, except man, must necessarily drink cold water.
It would require a more familiar acquaintance with the people and a
longer residence among them, than was allowed to us, to explain the true
reason of such real poverty among the peasantry in the vicinity of the
capital. Perhaps, indeed, it may be owing, in a great degree, to the
proximity of the court, which in all countries has the effect of drawing
together a crowd of people to consume the products of the soil, without
contributing any portion of labour towards their production. The
encouragement that is here given to idleness and dissipation is but too
apt to entice the young peasantry in the neighbourhood from their
houses, and thus rob the country of its best hands. The soil, likewise,
near the capital is barren and sandy, producing few supplies beyond the
wants of the several tenants; and all other necessaries of life not
raised by them must be purchased extravagantly dear. It is, indeed,
surprizing how this immense city, said to contain three millions of
inhabitants, is contrived to be supplied at any rate, considering the
very sterile and unproductive state of the country for many miles around
it. It might not, however, be a matter of less astonishment to a
Chinese, nor less difficult for him to conceive, in what manner our own
capital receives its daily supplies, especially after he had observed
that there is not a single road, by which London can be approached,
that is not carried over vast tracts of uncultivated commons and waste
grounds.
The vallies of Tartary furnish beeves and broad-tailed sheep for Pekin,
and grain is brought by water from every part of the country, of which
the government takes the precaution to lay up in store a sufficient
quantity for a twelvemonth's consumption. Of animal food, pork is mostly
consumed. Few peasants are without their breed of hogs; these animals,
indeed, are likewise kept in large cities, where they become public
nuisances. Bad beef in Pekin sells for about six-pence the pound; mutton
and pork eight-pence; lean fowls and ducks from two to three shillings;
eggs are generally about one penny each; small loaves of bread that are
boiled in steam, without yeast or leaven, are about four-pence a pound;
rice sells usually at three-halfpence or two-pence the pound; wheat
flour at two-pence halfpenny or three-pence; fine tea from twelve to
thirty shillings a pound; that of the former price, at least such as was
procured clandestinely for us, not drinkable, and the latter not near so
good as that of about six shillings in London[60]. There are, indeed,
plenty of tea-houses in and near the capital, where the labouring people
may purchase their cup of tea for two small copper coin (not quite a
farthing) but it is miserably bad. A tolerable horse and a man-slave are
usually about the same price, being from fifteen to twenty ounces of
silver. The article of dress worn by the common people is not very
expensive. The peasantry are invariably clad in cotton; and this article
is the produce of most of the provinces. The complete dress of a peasant
is about fifteen shillings; of a common tradesman three pounds; an
officer of government's common dress ten pounds; of ceremony about
thirty pounds; and if enriched with embroidery and gold and silver
tissue, between two and three hundred pounds: a pair of black satin
boots twenty shillings; and a cap or bonnet about the same sum. The
price of labour, however, and particularly in Pekin, bears no sort of
proportion to the price of provisions. A mechanic in this city thinks
himself well paid if he gets a shilling a-day. A common weaver, joiner,
or other tradesman earns a bare subsistence for his family; and the best
servants may be hired for an ounce of silver a-month. Many are glad to
give their services in exchange for their subsistence, without any
consideration in hard money. Tobacco being an indispensable article for
all ranks of every age and sex bears of course a high price in the
capital. It is singular enough, that this plant should have found its
way into every part of the world, among savage as well as civilized
nations, even into the deserts of Africa, where it was found in constant
use among the Booshuanas, a people, till very lately, totally unknown;
and it is equally singular, that an herb of so disagreeable a taste
should, by habit, obtain an ascendency so far over the appetite, as not
easily to be relinquished.
[60] As these teas however were purchased by Chinese, I have no doubt
they reserved to themselves a very large profit on the commission, for
it is scarcely possible that this article, the growth and produce of the
middle provinces, should bear a price so far beyond what the very best
sells for in London.
The climate of the northern provinces is unfavourable to the poor
peasantry. The summers are so warm that they go nearly naked and the
winters so severe that, what with their poor and scanty fare, their want
of fuel, clothing, and even shelter, thousands are said to perish from
cold and hunger. In such a condition the ties of nature sometimes yield
to self-preservation, and children are sold to save both the parent and
offspring from perishing for want; and infants become a prey to hopeless
indigence. We have seen in the notes taken by the gentleman in the Dutch
embassy, how low the temperature is at Pekin in the winter months; and
they have no coals nearer than the mountains of Tartary, which are all
brought on the backs of dromedaries; of course, they are extravagantly
dear. In fact, they are scarcely ever burned pure, but are crumbled to
dust and mixed up with earth, in which state they give out a very strong
heat, but no flame, and are suitable enough for their small close
stoves.
Although it is a principle of the Chinese government to admit of no
distinctions among its subjects, except those that learning and office
confer; and although the most rigid sumptuary laws have been imposed to
check that tendency to shew and splendor, which wealth is apt to assume;
and to bring as much as possible on a level, at least in outward
appearance, all conditions of men; yet, with regard to diet, there is a
wider difference 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 in the purchase
of dainties to pamper the appetite. Their famous _Gin-sing_, a name
signifying _the life of man_ (the _Panax quinquefolium_ of Linnæus) on
account of its supposed invigorating and aphrodisiac qualities was, for
a length of time, weighed against gold. The sinewy parts of stags and
other animals, with the fins of sharks, as productive of the same
effects, are purchased by the wealthy at enormous prices: and the nests
that are constructed by small swallows on the coasts of Cochin-China,
Cambodia, and other parts of the East, are dearer even than some kinds
of _Gin-sing_. Most of the plants that grow on the sea-shore are
supposed to possess an invigorating quality, and are, therefore, in
constant use as pickles or preserves, or simply dried and cut into soups
in the place of other vegetables. The leaves of one of these, apparently
a species of that genus of sea-weed called by botanists _fucus_, after
being gathered, are steeped in fresh water and hung up to dry. A small
quantity of this weed boiled in water gives to it the consistence of a
jelly, and when mixed with a little sugar, the juice of an orange, or
other fruit, and set by to cool, I know of no jelly more agreeable or
refreshing. The leaf is about six inches long, narrow and pointed,
deeply serrated, and the margins ciliated; the middle part smooth,
semi-transparent, and of a leathery consistence. The Chinese call it
_Chin-chou_.
The great officers of state make use of these and various other
gelatinous viands for the purpose of acquiring, as they suppose, a
proper degree of corpulency[61], which is considered by them as
respectable and imposing upon the multitude; of a great portion of whom
it may be observed, as Falstaff said of his company, "No eye hath seen
such scare-crows." It would be rare to find, among the commonalty of
China, one to compare with a porter-drinking citizen or a jolly-looking
farmer of England. They are indeed naturally of a slender habit of body
and a sickly appearance, few having the blush of health upon their
cheeks. The tables of the great are covered with a vast variety of
dishes, consisting mostly of stews of fish, fowl and meat, separately
and jointly, with proper proportions of vegetables and sauces of
different kinds. Their beverage consists of tea and whiskey. In sipping
this ardent spirit, made almost boiling hot, eating pastry and fruits,
and smoking the pipe, they spend the greatest part of the day, beginning
from the moment they rise and continuing till they go to bed. In hot
weather they sleep in the middle of the day, attended by two servants,
one to fan away the flies and the other to keep them cool.
[61] An old Frenchman (_Cossigny_) but a disciple of the new school, has
found out that the Chinese are in possession of a new science, the
existence of which was not even suspected by the enlightened nations of
Europe. As he has the merit of making this wonderful discovery, it is
but fair to announce it in his own words: "Je pense que nous devrions
prendre chez eux (les Chinois) les premiers elements de la
_spermatologie_, science toute nouvelle pour l'Europe, science qui
intéresse l'humanité en général, en lui procurant des jouissances qui
l'attachent à son existence, en entretenant la santé et la vigeur, en
réparant l'abus des excès, en contribuant à l'augmentation de la
population. Il feroit digne de la sollicitude des gouvernemens de
s'occuper des recherches qui pourroient donner des connoissances sur une
science à peine soupçonnée des peuples éclairés de l'Europe." He then
announces his knowledge in preparing "des petites pastilles qui sont
aphrodisiaques et qui conviennent sur-tout aux veillards, et à ceux qui
ont fait des excès:" and he concludes with the mortifying intelligence
that he is not permitted to reveal the important secret, "qui intéresse
l'humanité en general."
The province of _Pe-tche-lee_ embraces an extent of climate from 38° to
40-1/2° of north latitude. The temperature is very various. In summer
Fahrenheit's thermometer is generally above 80° during the day,
sometimes exceeding 90°; and, in the middle of winter, it remains for
many days together below the freezing point, descending occasionally to
zero or 0. But it generally enjoys a clear pure atmosphere throughout
the whole year.
In the practical part of agriculture, in this province, we observed
little to attract attention or to commend. The farmer gets no more than
one crop off the ground in a season, and this is generally one of the
species of millets already mentioned, or holcus, or wheat; but they
sometimes plant a _Dolichos_ or bean between the rows of wheat, which
ripens after the latter is cut down. They have no winter crops, the hard
frosty weather usually setting in towards the end of November and
continuing till the end of March. The three different modes of sowing
grain, by drilling, dibbling, and broadcast, are all in use but chiefly
the first, as being the most expeditious and the crop most easy to be
kept free from weeds; the last is rarely practised on account of the
great waste of seed; and dibbling is used only in small patches of
ground near the houses when they aim at neatness. The soil, being in
general loose and sandy and free from stones, is worked without much
difficulty, but it seemed to require a good deal of manure; and this
necessary article from the paucity of domestic animals is extremely
scarce. Very few sheep or cattle were observed, yet there was an
abundance of land that did not seem for many years to have felt the
ploughshare.
The draught cattle most generally in use are oxen, mules, and asses.
Horses are scarce and of a small miserable breed, incapable of much
work; a remark, indeed, which will apply to every province of the
empire; though those of Tartary, which composed the Emperor's stud,
according to the Embassador's description, were not wanting in point of
size, beauty, or spirit. No pains, however, are bestowed to effect, nor
do they seem to be sensible of the advantages to be derived from, an
improvement in the breed of cattle. Nor indeed is any care taken of the
bad breed which they already possess. It would be supposed that, where a
regular establishment of cavalry is kept up to an amount that seems
almost incredible, some attention would be paid to the nature and
condition of their horses. This, however, is not the case. A Scotch
poney, wild from the mountains, which has never felt the teeth of a
currycomb and whose tail and mane are clotted together with dirt, is in
fit condition to join a regiment of Tartar cavalry. Those kept by men in
office are equally neglected. The Chinese have no idea that this noble
animal requires any attention beyond that of giving him his food; and of
this, in general, he receives a very scanty portion.
That part of the province of _Shan-tung_ through which we travelled
exhibited a greater variety of culture than _Pe-tche-lee_; but the
surface of the northern parts especially was equally uniform. The soil,
consisting generally of mud and slime brought apparently by the
inundations of rivers, contained not a single pebble. The season was too
late to form any estimate of the crops produced upon the immense plains
of _Shan-tung_; but the young crops of wheat, standing at this time
(the middle of October) a few inches above the ground, looked extremely
well. Little waste ground occurred, except the footpaths and the
channels which served as division marks of property. Some attempts
indeed were here made at the division of grounds by hedge-rows, but with
little success; the plant they had adopted, the _Palma-Christi_, was
ill-suited for such a purpose. As we advanced to the southward, in this
province, the proportion of wheat under cultivation diminished, and its
place was employed by plantations of cotton, whose pods were now ripe
and bursting. The plant was low and poor in growth, but the branches
were laden with pods. Like the wheat it was planted or dibbled in rows.
The cotton produced the second year was said to be considered as equally
good with that of the first, but being found to degenerate the third
year, it was then rooted out and the ground prepared for fresh seed[62].
[62] In the tenth volume of a very extensive agricultural work, is
detailed the whole process of cultivating the cotton from the seed to
the web. The author observes, "The cotton in its raw state affords a
light and pleasant lining for clothes; the seed yields an oil, which,
being expressed from them, the remainder is serviceable as manure; the
capsules or pods, being hard and woody, are used for firing, and the
leaves afford nourishment to cattle, so that every part of the vegetable
may be appropriated to some useful purpose.
"The soil most favourable to this plant is a white sand, with a small
proportion of clay or loam. The plant affects an elevated open
situation, and cannot endure low marshy grounds.
"After all the cotton pods are gathered, the remaining stems and
branches should be cleared away without loss of time, and the ground
carefully ploughed up, to expose a new surface to the air and renew the
vigour of the soil.
"When the plough has passed through the ground three times, the earth
should be raked level, that the wind may not raise or dry up any part of
it.
"----When there is an abundance of manure, it may be laid on previous to
the use of the plough, but if it be scarce, &c. it will be preferable to
apply it to the soil at the time of sowing the seed.
"The manure should be old and well prepared, and among the best
ingredients for the purpose, is the refuse of vegetable substances, from
which an oil has been expressed.
"In the southern provinces the cotton plant will last for two or three
years, but to the northward the seed must be sown annually."
The author then enumerates nine distinct varieties and their comparative
qualities; after which he proceeds to the choice of seed, under which
head he observes, that if the seed be steeped in water, in which _eels_
have been boiled, the plant will resist the attack of insects. He then
describes the three methods of broadcast, drilling, and dibbling, and
gives a decided preference of the last, though it be the most laborious.
"The ground being well prepared, holes are to be made at the distance of
a cubit from each other, and the lines a cubit apart. A little water is
first to be poured in, and then four or five seeds, after which each
hole is to be covered with a mixture of soil and manure, and firmly
trodden down with the foot. In the other methods a roller is to be
used."
The next process is weeding, loosening, and breaking fine the earth.--He
then observes, "After the plants have attained some degree of strength
and size, the most advanced and perfect plant should be selected and all
the rest rooted out, for if two or more be suffered to rise together,
they will increase in height without giving lateral shoots; the leaves
will be large and luxuriant, but the pods will be few." He next proceeds
to the pruning of the plants to make them bear copiously--gathering the
pods--preparing and spinning the wool--weaving the cloth.--This abridged
account I have given to shew, that they are not deficient in writings of
this kind.
The southern parts of _Shan-tung_ are composed of mountains and swamps.
Here, lakes of various magnitudes occur and large tracts of country
similar to those which are known to us by the name of peat-moss. In such
places the population could not be expected to be excessive; and,
accordingly, we met with few inhabitants, except those who subsisted
their families by fishing. So great were the numbers engaged in this
employment, who lived entirely in floating vessels, that we judged the
waters to be fully as populous as the land. No rent is exacted by the
government, nor toll, nor tythe, nor licence-money for permission to
catch fish; nor is there any sort of impediment against the free use of
any lake, river or canal whatsoever. The gifts that nature has bestowed
are cautiously usurped by any power, even in this despotic government,
for individual use or profit; but are suffered to remain the free
property of all who may chuse by their labour to derive advantage from
them. But even this free and unrestrained use is barely sufficient to
procure for them the necessaries, much less any of the comforts, of
life. The condition of the peasantry, in the northern parts of this
province, was much more desirable. Their clothing was decent; their
countenances cheerful, indicating plenty; and their dwellings were built
of bricks or wood, appearing more solid and comfortable than those of
the province in which the capital is situated. But the poor fishermen
carried about with them unequivocal marks of their poverty. Their pale
meagre looks are ascribed to the frequent, and almost exclusive, use of
fish; which is supposed to give them a scrophulous habit of body. Their
endeavours, however, are not wanting to correct any acid or unwholesome
humours that this sort of diet may produce, by the abundant use of
onions and garlic, which they cultivate even upon the waters. Having no
houses on shore, nor stationary abode, but moving about in their vessels
upon the extensive lakes and rivers, they have no inducement to
cultivate patches of ground, which the pursuits of their profession
might require them to leave for the profit of another; they prefer,
therefore, to plant their onions on rafts of bamboo, well interwoven
with reeds and strong grass and covered with earth; and these floating
gardens are towed after their boats.
The women assist in dragging the net and other operations of taking
fish; but the younger part of the family are sometimes employed in
breeding ducks. These stupid birds here acquire an astonishing degree of
docility. In a single vessel are sometimes many hundreds which, like the
cattle of the Kaffers in southern Africa, on the signal of a whistle
leap into the water, or upon the banks to feed, and another whistle
brings them back. Like the ancient Egyptians, they use artificial means
of hatching eggs, by burying them in sand at the bottom of wooden boxes,
and placing them on plates of iron kept moderately warm by small
furnaces underneath. Thus the old birds which, provided they hatched
their eggs themselves, would only produce one brood, or at most two, in
the course of the year, continue to lay eggs almost every month. Hogs
are also kept in many of the fishing craft. In fact, ducks and hogs
affording the most savory meat, most abounding in fat and, it may be
added, best able to subsist themselves, are esteemed above all other
animals. The ducks being split open, salted, and dried in the sun, are
exchanged for rice or other grain. In this state we found them an
excellent relish; and, at our request, they were plentifully supplied
during the whole progress through the country.
The province of _Shan-tung_ extends in latitude from thirty-four and a
half to thirty-eight degrees. The mean temperature, from the 19th of
October to the 29th of the same month, was about fifty-two degrees at
sun-rise, to seventy degrees at noon. A constant clear and cloudless
sky.
The numerous canals and rivers, that in every direction intersect the
province of _Kiang-nan_, and by which it is capable of being flooded to
any extent in the dryest seasons, render it one of the most valuable and
fertile districts in the whole empire. Every part of it, also, having a
free communication with the Yellow Sea by the two great rivers, the
_Whang-ho_ and the _Yang-tse-kiang_, it has always been considered as
the central point for the home trade; and, at one time, its chief city
Nankin was the capital of the empire. That beautiful and durable cotton
of the same name is here produced and sent to the port of Canton; from
whence it is shipped off to the different parts of the world. The
Chinese rarely wear it in its natural colour, except as an article of
mourning; but export it chiefly, taking in return vast quantifies of
unmanufactured white cotton from Bengal and Bombay, finding they can
purchase this foreign wool at a much cheaper rate than that at which the
nankin sells. For mourning dresses and a few other purposes white cotton
is made use of, but in general it is dyed black or blue: among some of
our presents were also pieces of a beautiful scarlet. Near most of the
plantations of cotton we observed patches of indigo; a plant which grows
freely in all the middle and southern provinces. The dye of this shrub
being no article of commerce in China is seldom, if ever, prepared in a
dry state, but is generally employed to communicate its colouring matter
from the leaves, to avoid the labour and the loss that would be required
to reduce it to a solid substance. We observed that, in the cotton
countries, almost every cottage had its garden of indigo. As in ancient
times, in our own country, when every cottager brewed his own beer; kept
his own cow for milk and butter; bred his own sheep, the wool of which
being spun into yarn by his own family was manufactured into cloth by
the parish weaver; and when every peasant raised the materials for his
own web of hempen cloth; so it still appears to be the case in China.
Here there are no great farmers nor monopolists of grain; nor can any
individual nor body of men, by any possibility, either glut the market,
or withhold the produce of the ground, as may best suit their purpose.
Each peasant is supposed, by his industry, to have the means of
subsistence within himself; though it often happens that these means,
from adverse circumstances which hereafter will be noticed, fail of
producing the desired effect.
In the province of _Kiang-nan_ each grows his own cotton; his wife and
children spin it into thread and it is woven into a web in his own
house, sometimes by his own family, but more frequently by others hired
for the purpose. A few bamboos constitute the whole machinery required
for this operation. Money he has none; but his produce he can easily
barter for any little article of necessity or luxury. The superfluities
of life, which those in office may have occasion to purchase, are paid
for in bars of silver without any impression, but bearing value for
weight, like the Roman _as_ or the Hebrew _shekel_. The only coin in
circulation is the _tchen_, a piece of some inferior metal mixed with a
small proportion of copper, of the value of the thousandth part of an
ounce of silver; with this small piece of money the little and
constantly demanded necessaries of life are purchased, such as could not
conveniently be obtained by way of barter. Silver is rarely lent out at
interest, except between mercantile men in large cities. The legal
interest is twelve per cent. but it is commonly extended to eighteen,
sometimes even to thirty-six. To avoid the punishment of usury, what is
given above twelve per cent. is in the shape of a _bonus_. "Usury, in
China," observes Lord Macartney, "like gaming elsewhere, is a
dishonourable mode of getting money; but by a sort of compact between
necessity and avarice, between affluence and distress, the prosecution
of a Jew or a sharper is considered by us as not very honourable even in
the sufferers."
The greater the distance from the capital, the better was the apparent
condition of the people. The Viceroy, when he received his Excellency on
the entry of the embassy into this province, happened to cast his eye
upon the half-starved and half-naked trackers of the boats; and being
either ashamed of their miserable appearance, or feeling compassion for
their situation, he ordered every man immediately a suit of new cloaths.
In the morning, when our force was mustered, we were not a little
surprized to see the great alteration that had taken place in the
appearance of our trackers: every man had a blue cotton jacket edged
with red, a pair of new white trowsers, and a smart hat with a high
crown and feather. The natural fertility of the country, its central
situation commanding a brisk trade, the abundance of its fisheries on
the large rivers and lakes were incentives to industry, for the vast
population that seemed to be equally distributed over every part of the
province.
Rice being the staple of China was abundantly cultivated, in all such
places as afforded the greatest command of water. The usual average
produce of corn-lands is reckoned to be from ten to fifteen for one; and
of rice, from twenty-five to thirty; commonly about thirty. Those
corn-lands that will admit of easy irrigation are usually turned over
with the plough immediately after the grain is cut; which, in the middle
provinces, is ready for the sickle early in June, about the same time
that the young rice fields stand at the height of eight or ten inches.
These being now thinned, the young plants are transplanted into the
prepared wheat lands, which are then immediately flooded. Upon such a
crop they reckon from fifteen to twenty for one. Instead of rice one of
the millets is sometimes sown as an after-crop, this requiring very
little water, or the _Cadjan_, a species of _Dolichos_ or small bean,
for oil, requiring still less. Or, it is a common practice, after taking
off a crop of cotton and indigo, in the month of October, to sow wheat,
in order to have the land again clear in the month of May or June. Such
a succession of crops, without ever suffering the land to lie fallow,
should seem to require a large quantity of manure. In fact, they spare
no pains in procuring composts and manures; but they also accomplish
much without these materials, by working the soil almost incessantly and
mixing it with extraneous matters as, for instance, marle with light and
sandy soils, or if this is not to be had, stiff clay; and on clayey
grounds they carry sand and gravel. They also drag the rivers and canals
and pools of water for slime and mud; and they preserve, with great
care, all kinds of urine, in which it is an universal practice to steep
the seeds previous to their being sown. If turnip-seeds be steeped in
lime and urine, the plant is said not to be attacked by the insect. Near
all the houses are large earthen jars sunk in the ground, for collecting
and preserving these and other materials that are convertible, by
putrefactive fermentation, into manure. Old men and children may be seen
near all the villages with small rakes and baskets, collecting every
kind of dirt, or offals, that come in their way. Their eagerness to pick
up whatever may be used as manure led to some ridiculous scenes.
Whenever our barges halted and the soldiers and servants found it
necessary to step on shore, they were always pursued to their place of
retirement by these collectors of food for vegetables. It may literally
be said in this country, that nothing is suffered to be lost. The
profession of shaving is followed by vast numbers in China. As the whole
head is shaved, except a small lock behind, few, if any, are able to
operate upon themselves. And as hair is considered an excellent manure,
every barber carries with him a small bag to collect the spoils of his
razor.
The common plough of the country is a simple machine and much inferior
to the very worst of ours. We saw one drill plough in _Shan-tung_
different from all the rest. It consisted of two parallel poles of wood,
shod at the lower extremities with iron to open the furrows; these poles
were placed on wheels: a small hopper was attached to each pole to drop
the seed into the furrows, which were covered with earth by a transverse
piece of wood fixed behind, that just swept the surface of the ground.
The machine usually employed for clearing rice from the husk, in the
large way, is exactly the same as that now used in Egypt for the same
purpose, only that the latter is put in motion by oxen and the former
commonly by water. This machine consists of a long horizontal axis of
wood, with cogs or projecting pieces of wood or iron fixed upon it, at
certain intervals, and it is turned by a water-wheel. At right angles to
this axis are fixed as many horizontal levers as there are circular rows
of cogs; these levers act on pivots, that are fastened into a low brick
wall built parallel to the axis, and at the distance of about two feet
from it. At the further extremity of each lever, and perpendicular to
it, is fixed a hollow pestle, directly over a large mortar of stone or
iron sunk into the ground; the other extremity extending beyond the
wall, being pressed upon by the cogs of the axis in its revolution,
elevates the pestle, which by its own gravity falls into the mortar. An
axis of this kind sometimes gives motion to fifteen or twenty levers.
This machine[63], as well as the plough, still in use in modern Egypt,
which is also the same as the Chinese plough, have been considered by a
member of the French Institute to be the same instruments as those
employed in that country two thousand years ago; and judging from the
maxims of the Chinese government, and the character of the people, an
antiquity equally great may be assigned to them in the latter country.
The bamboo wheel for raising water, or something approaching very near
to it, either with buckets appended to the circumference, or with
fellies hollowed out so as to scoop up water, was also in use among the
ancient Egyptians; and, as I have before observed, continue to be so
among the Syrians; from these they are supposed to have passed into
Persia, where they are also still employed, and from whence they have
derived, in Europe, the name of Persian wheels. The chain-pump of China,
common in the hands of every farmer, was likewise an instrument of
husbandry in Egypt.
[63] See the plate facing page 37.
A very erroneous opinion seems to have been entertained in Europe, with
regard to the skill of the Chinese in agriculture. Industrious they
certainly are, in an eminent degree, but their labour does not always
appear to be bestowed with judgment. The instruments, in the first
place, they make use of are incapable of performing the operations of
husbandry to the greatest advantage. In the deepest and best soils,
their plough seldom cuts to the depth of four inches, so that they sow
from year to year upon the same soil, without being able to turn up new
earth, and to bury the worn-out mould to refresh itself. Supposing them,
however, to be supplied with ploughs of the best construction, we can
scarcely conceive that their mules and asses and old women, would be
equal to the task of drawing them.
The advantage that large farms in England possess over small ones
consists principally in the means they afford the tenant of keeping
better teams than can possibly be done on the latter, and consequently
of making a better _tilth_ for the reception of seed. The opulent
farmer, on the same quantity of ground, will invariably raise more
produce than the cottager can pretend to do. In China nine-tenths of
the peasantry may be considered as cottagers, and having few cattle
(millions I might add none at all) it can scarcely be expected that the
whole country should be in the best possible state of cultivation. As
horticulturists they may perhaps be allowed a considerable share of
merit; but, on the great scale of agriculture, they are certainly not to
be mentioned with many European nations. They have no knowledge of the
modes of improvement practised in the various breeds of cattle; no
instruments for breaking up and preparing waste lands; no system for
draining and reclaiming swamps and morasses; though that part of the
country over which the grand communication is effected between the two
extremities of the empire, abounds with lands of this nature, where
population is excessive and where the multitudes of shipping that pass
and repass create a never failing demand for grain and other vegetable
products. For want of this knowledge, a very considerable portion of the
richest land, perhaps, in the whole empire, is suffered to remain a
barren and unprofitable waste. If an idea may be formed from what we saw
in the course of our journey, and from the accounts that have been given
of the other provinces, I should conclude, that one-fourth part of the
whole country nearly consists of lakes and low, sour, swampy grounds,
which are totally uncultivated: and which, among other reasons hereafter
to be mentioned, may serve to explain the frequent famines that occur in
a more satisfactory way, than by supposing, with the Jesuits, that they
are owing to the circumstance of the nations bordering upon them to the
westward being savage and growing no corn. Their ignorance of draining,
or their dread of inundations, to which the low countries of China, in
their present state, are subject, may perhaps have driven them, in
certain situations, to the necessity of levelling the sides of mountains
into a succession of terraces; a mode of cultivation frequently taken
notice of by the missionaries as unexampled in Europe and peculiar to
the Chinese; whereas it is common in many parts of Europe. The mountains
of the _Pays de Vaud_, between _Lausanne_ and _Vevay_, are cultivated in
this manner to their summits with vines. "This would have been
impracticable," says Doctor Moore, "on account of the steepness, had not
the proprietors built strong stone walls at proper intervals, one above
the other, which support the soil, and form little terraces from the
bottom to the top of the mountains." But this method of terracing the
hills is not to be considered, by any means, as a common practice in
China. In our direct route it occurred only twice, and then on so small
a scale as hardly to deserve notice. The whole territorial right being
vested in the sovereign, the waste lands of course belong to the crown;
but any person, by giving notice to the proper magistrate, may obtain a
property therein, so long as he continues to pay such portion of the
estimated produce as is required to be collected into the public
magazines.
When I said that the Chinese might claim a considerable share of merit
as horticulturists, I meant to confine the observation to their skill
and industry of raising the greatest possible quantity of vegetables
from a given piece of ground. Of the modes practised in Europe of
improving the quality of fruit, they seem to have no just notion. Their
oranges are naturally good and require no artificial means of
improvement, but the European fruits, as apples, pears, plums, peaches
and apricots are of indifferent quality. They have a common method of
propagating several kinds of fruit-trees, which of late years has been
practised with success in Bengal. The method is simply this: they strip
a ring of bark, about an inch in width, from a bearing branch, surround
the place with a ball of fat earth or loam bound fast to the branch with
a piece of matting; over this they suspend a pot or horn with water
having a small hole in the bottom just sufficient to let the water drop,
in order to keep the earth constantly moist; the branch throws new roots
into the earth just above the place where the ring was stripped off; the
operation is performed in the spring, and the branch is sawn off and put
into the ground at the fall of the leaf; the following year it bears
fruit. They have no method of forcing vegetables by artificial heat, or
by excluding the cold air and admitting, at the same time, the rays of
the sun through glass. Their chief merit consists in preparing the soil,
working it incessantly, and keeping it free of weeds.
Upon the whole, if I might venture to offer an opinion with respect to
the merit of the Chinese as agriculturists, I should not hesitate to say
that, let as much ground be given to one of their peasants as he and his
family can work with the spade, and he will turn that piece of ground to
more advantage, and produce from it more sustenance for the use of man,
than any European whatsoever would be able to do; but, let fifty or one
hundred acres of the best land in China be given to a farmer, at a mean
rent, so far from making out of it the value of three rents, on which
our farmers usually calculate, he would scarcely be able to support his
family, after paying the expence of labour that would be required to
work the farm.
In fact there are no great farms in China. The inhabitants enjoy every
advantage which may be supposed to arise from the lands being pretty
equally divided among them, an advantage of which the effects might
probably answer the expectations of those who lean towards such a
system, were they not counteracted by circumstances that are not less
prejudicial, perhaps, to the benefit of the public, than monopolizing
farmers are by such persons supposed to be in our own country. One of
the circumstances I allude to is the common practice, in almost every
part of the country, of assembling together in towns and villages,
between which very frequently the intermediate space of ground has not a
single habitation upon it; and the reason assigned for this custom is
the dread of the bands of robbers that infest the weak and unprotected
parts of the country. The consequence of such a system is, that although
the lands adjoining the villages be kept in the highest state of
cultivation, yet those at a distance are suffered to remain almost
useless; for having no beasts of burden, it would be an endless task of
human labour to bear the manure that would be required, for several
miles, upon the ground, and its produce from thence back again to the
village. That such robbers do exist who, in formidable gangs, plunder
the peasantry, is very certain: _She-fo-pao_ was watching his grain to
prevent its being stolen, when he had the misfortune of shooting his
relation, who had also gone out for the same purpose. They are sometimes
indeed so numerous, as to threaten their most populous cities. The
frequency of such robberies and the alarm they occasion to the
inhabitants are neither favourable to the high notions that have been
entertained of the Chinese government, nor of the morals of the people.
Another, and perhaps the chief, disadvantage arising from landed
property being pretty equally divided, will be noticed in speaking of
the population and the frequent famines.
The province of _Kiang-nan_ extends from about 31° to 34-1/2° of
northern latitude; and the mean temperature, according to Fahrenheit's
thermometer, from the 30th of October to the 9th of November, was 54° at
sun-rise and 66° at noon; the sky uniformly clear.
The province of _Tche-kiang_ abounds in lakes and is intersected with
rivers and canals like _Kiang-nan_; but the produce, except that of a
little rice, is very different, consisting principally of silk. For
feeding the worms that afford this article, all the fertile and
beautiful vallies between the mountains, as well as the plains, are
covered with plantations of the mulberry-tree. The small houses, in
which the worms are reared, are placed generally in the centre of each
plantation; in order that they may be removed as far as possible from
any kind of noise; experience having taught them, that a sudden shout,
or the bark of a dog, is destructive of the young worms. A whole brood
has sometimes perished by a thunder storm. The greatest attention is,
therefore, necessary; and, accordingly, they are watched night and day.
In fine weather, the young worms are exposed to the sun, upon a kind of
thin open gauze stretched in wooden frames; and at night they are
replaced in the plantation houses. The trees are pruned from time to
time, in order to cause a greater quantity and a constant succession of
young leaves. The inhabitants of this province, especially in the
cities, are almost universally clothed in silks; this rule among the
Chinese of consuming, as much as possible, the products of their own
country, and receiving as little as they can avoid from foreign nations,
extends even to the provinces; a practice arising out of the little
respect that, in China, as in ancient Rome, is paid to those concerned
in trade and merchandize.
Besides silk _Tche-kiang_ produces camphor, tallow from the _Croton_, a
considerable quantity of tea, oranges, and almost all the fruits that
are peculiar to the country. Every part of the province appeared to be
in the highest state of cultivation and the population to be immense.
Both the raw and manufactured silks, nankins and other cotton cloths,
were sold at such low prices in the capital of this province, that it is
difficult to conceive how the growers or the manufacturers contrived to
gain a livelihood by their labour. But of all others, I am the most
astonished at the small returns that must necessarily be made to the
cultivators of the tea plant. The preparations of some of the finer
kinds of this article are said to require that every leaf should be
rolled singly by the hand; particularly such as are exported to the
European markets. Besides this, there are many processes, such as
steeping, drying, turning, and packing, after it has been plucked off
the shrub leaf by leaf. Yet the first cost in the tea provinces cannot
be more than from four-pence to two shillings a pound, when it is
considered that the ordinary teas stand the East India Company in no
more than eight-pence a pound; and the very best only two shillings and
eight-pence[64]. Nothing can more clearly point out the patient and
unremitting labour of the Chinese, than the preparation of this plant
for the market. It is a curious circumstance that a body of merchants in
England should furnish employment, as might easily be made appear, to
more than a million subjects of a nation that affects to despise
merchants, and throws every obstacle in the way of commercial
intercourse.
[64] The East India Company pays from thirteen to sixty tales per pecul
for their teas; some tea of a higher price is purchased by individuals,
but seldom or ever by the Company. A tale is six shillings and
eight-pence, and a pecul is one hundred and thirty-three pounds and one
third.
The mean temperature of _Tche-kiang_, in the middle of November, was
from fifty-six degrees at sun-rise, to sixty-two degrees at noon. The
extent from North to South is between the parallels of twenty-eight and
thirty-four and a half degrees of northern latitude.
The northern part of _Kiang-see_ contains the great _Po-yang_ lake, and
those extensive swamps and morasses that surround it, and which, as I
have already observed, may be considered as the sink of China. The
middle and southern parts are mountainous. The chief produce is sugar
and oil from the _Camellia Sesanqua_. In this province are the principal
manufactories of porcelain, whose qualities, as I have in a former
chapter observed, depend more on the care bestowed in the preparation
and in the selection of the materials, than in any secret art possessed
by them. There are also, in this province, large manufactories of coarse
earthen ware, of tiles, and bricks.
The extent of _Kiang-see_ is from twenty-eight to thirty degrees, and
the temperature, in November, was the same as that of the neighbouring
province of _Tche-kiang_.
I have now to mention a subject on which much has already been written
by various authors, but without the success of having carried conviction
into the minds of their readers, that the things which they offered as
facts were either true or possible; I allude to the populousness of this
extensive empire. That none of the statements hitherto published are
strictly true, I am free to admit, but that the highest degree of
populousness that has yet been assigned may be possible, and even
probable, I am equally ready to contend. At the same time, I acknowledge
that, prepared as we were, from all that we had seen and heard and read
on the subject, for something very extraordinary; yet when the following
statement was delivered, at the request of the Embassador, by
_Chou-ta-gin_, as the abstract of a census that had been taken the
preceding year, the amount appeared so enormous as to surpass
credibility. But as we had always found this officer a plain,
unaffected, and honest man, who on no occasion had attempted to deceive
or impose on us, we could not consistently consider it in any other
light than as a document drawn up from authentic materials; its
inaccuracy, however, was obvious at a single glance, from the several
sums being given in round millions. I have added to the table the extent
of the provinces, the number of people on a square mile, and the value
of the surplus taxes remitted to Pekin in the year 1792, as mentioned in
the seventh chapter.
+-----------------+--------------+----------+---------+------------+
| | | | No. on | Surplus |
| | | | each | taxes |
| | | Square | square | remitted |
| Provinces. | Population. | Miles. | Mile. | to Pekin. |
------------------+--------------+----------+---------|------------+
| | | | | oz. silver.|
|Pe-tche-lee | 38,000,000 | 58,949 | 644 | 3,036,000 |
|Kiang-nan | 32,000,000 | 92,961 | 344 | 8,210,000 |
|Kiang-see | 19,000,000 | 72,176 | 263 | 2,120,000 |
|Tche-kiang | 21,000,000 | 39,150 | 536 | 3,810,000 |
|Fo-kien | 15,000,000 | 53,480 | 280 | 1,277,000 |
| {Hou-pee | 14,000,000} | | | {1,310,000 |
|Houquang{Hou-nan | 13,000,000} | 144,770 | 187 | {1,345,000 |
|Honan | 25,000,000 | 65,104 | 384 | 3,213,000 |
|Shan-tung | 24,000,000 | 65,104 | 368 | 3,600,000 |
|Shan-see | 27,000,000 | 55,268 | 488 | 3,722,000 |
|Shen-see} one | 18,000,000} | | | {1,700,000 |
|Kan-soo }province| 12,000,000} | 154,008 | 195 | { 340,000 |
|Se-tchuen | 27,000,000 | 166,800 | 162 | 670,000 |
|Quan-tung | 21,000,000 | 79,456 | 264 | 1,340,000 |
|Quang-see | 10,000,000 | 78,250 | 128 | 500,000 |
|Yu-nan | 8,000,000 | 107,969 | 74 | 210,000 |
|Koei-tchoo | 9,000,000 | 64,554 | 140 | 145,000 |
+-----------------+--------------+----------+---------+------------+
| Totals | 313,000,000 |1,297,999[65] --- | 36,548,000 |
+-----------------+--------------+--------------------+------------+
[65] The measurement annexed to each of the fifteen ancient provinces
was taken from the maps that were constructed by a very laborious and,
as far as we had an opportunity of comparing them with the country, a
very accurate survey, which employed the Jesuits ten years. I do not
pretend to say that the areas, as I have given them in the table, are
mathematically correct, but the dimensions were taken with as much care
as was deemed necessary for the purpose, from maps drawn on a large
scale, of which a very beautiful manuscript copy is now in his Majesty's
library at Buckingham-house, made by a Chinese, having all the names
written in Chinese and Tartar characters.
Considering then the whole surface of the Chinese dominions within the
great wall to contain 1,297,999 square miles, or 830,719,360 English
acres, and the population to amount to 333,000,000, every square mile
will be found to contain two hundred and fifty-six persons, and every
individual might possess two acres and a half of land. Great Britain is
supposed to average about one hundred and twenty persons on one square
mile, and that to each inhabitant there might be assigned a portion of
five acres, or to each family five-and-twenty acres. The population of
China, therefore, is to that of Great Britain as 256 to 120, or in a
proportion somewhat greater than two to one; and the quantity of land
that each individual in Great Britain might possess is just twice as
much as could be allowed to each individual of China. We have only then
to enquire if Britain, under the same circumstances as China, be capable
of supporting twice its present population, or which is the same thing,
if twelve and an half acres of land be sufficient for the maintenance of
a family of five persons? Two acres of choice land sown with wheat,
under good tillage, may be reckoned to average, after deducting the
seed, 60 bushels or 3600 pounds, which every baker knows would yield
5400 pounds of bread, or three pounds a day to every member of the
family for the whole year. Half an acre is a great allowance for a
kitchen-garden and potatoe bed. There would still remain ten acres,
which must be very bad land if, besides paying the rent and taxes, it
did not keep three or four cows; and an industrious and managing family
would find no difficulty in rearing as many pigs and as much poultry as
would be necessary for home consumption, and for the purchase of
clothing and other indispensable necessaries. If then the country was
pretty equally partitioned out in this manner; if the land was applied
solely to produce food for man; if no horses nor superfluous animals
were kept for pleasure, and few only for labour; if the country was not
drained of its best hands in foreign trade and in large manufactories;
if the carriage of goods for exchanging with other goods was performed
by canals and rivers and lakes, all abounding with fish; if the catching
of these fish gave employment to a very considerable portion of the
inhabitants; if the bulk of the people were satisfied to abstain almost
wholly from animal food, except such as is most easily procured, that of
pigs and ducks and fish; if only a very small part of the grain raised
was employed in the distilleries, but was used as the staff of life for
man; and if this grain was of such a nature as to yield twice, and even
three times, the produce that wheat will give on the same space of
ground; if, moreover, the climate was so favourable as to allow two such
crops every year--if, under all these circumstances, twelve and a half
acres of land would not support a family of five persons; the fault
could only be ascribed to idleness or bad management.
Let us then, for a moment, consider that these or similar advantages
operate in China; that every product of the ground is appropriated
solely for the food and clothing of man; that a single acre of land,
sown with rice, will yield a sufficient quantity for the consumption of
five people for a whole year, allowing to each person two pounds a-day,
provided the returns of his crop are from twenty to twenty-five for one,
which are considered as extremely moderate, being frequently more than
twice this quantity; that in the southern provinces two crops of rice
are produced in the year, one acre of which I am well assured, with
proper culture, will afford a supply of that grain even for ten persons,
and that an acre of cotton will clothe two or three hundred persons, we
may justly infer that, instead of twelve acres to each family, half that
quantity would appear to be more than necessary; and safely conclude,
that there is no want of land to support the assumed population of three
hundred and thirty-three millions. This being the case, the population
is not yet arrived at a level with the means which the country affords
of subsistence.
There is, perhaps, no country where the condition of the peasantry may
more justly be compared with those of China than Ireland. This island,
according to the latest survey, contains about 17,000,000 English acres,
730,000 houses and 3,500,000 souls; so that, as in Great Britain, each
individual averages very nearly five acres and every family
five-and-twenty. An Irish cottager holds seldom more than an Irish acre
of land, or one and three-quarters English nearly, in cultivation, with
a cow's grass, for which he pays a rent from two to five pounds. Those
on Lord Macartney's estate at Lissanore have their acre, which they
cultivate in divisions with oats, potatoes, kale, and a little flax;
with this they have besides the full pasturage of a cow all the year
upon a large waste, not overstocked, and a comfortable cabin to inhabit,
for which each pays the rent of three pounds. The cottager works perhaps
three days in the week, at nine-pence a-day; if, instead of which, he
had a second acre to cultivate, he would derive more benefit from its
produce than from the product of his three days' labour _per_ week; that
is to say, provided he would expend the same labour in its tillage. Thus
then, supposing only half of Ireland in a state of cultivation and the
other half pasturage, it would support a population more than three
times that which it now contains; and as a century ago it had no more
than a million of people, so within the present century, under
favourable circumstances, it may increase to ten millions. And it is not
unworthy of remark, that this great increase of population in Ireland
has taken place since the introduction of the potatoe, which gives a
never-failing crop.
I am aware that such is not the common opinion which prevails in this
country, neither with regard to Ireland nor China; on the contrary, the
latter is generally supposed to be overstocked with people; that the
land is insufficient for their maintenance, and that the cities stand so
thick one after the other, especially along the grand navigation between
Pekin and Canton, that they almost occupy the whole surface. I should
not, however, have expected to meet with an observation to this effect
from the very learned commentator on the _voyage of Nearchus_, founded
on no better authority than the crude notes of one _Æneas Anderson_, a
livery servant of Lord Macartney, vamped up by a London bookseller as a
speculation that could not fail, so greatly excited was public curiosity
at the return of the Embassy. I would not be thought to disparage the
authority on account of its being that of a livery servant; on the
contrary, the notes of the meanest and dullest person, on a country so
little travelled over, would be deserving attention before they came
into the hands of a _book-dresser_; but what dependence can be placed
on the information of an author who states as a fact, that he saw tea
and rice growing on the banks of the _Pei-ho_, between the thirty-ninth
and fortieth parallels of latitude, two articles of the culture of
which, in the whole province of _Pe-tche-lee_, they know no more than we
do in England; and who ignorantly and impertinently talks of the
shocking ideas the Chinese entertained of English cruelty, on seeing one
of the guard receive a few lashes, when, not only the common soldiers,
but the officers of this nation are flogged most severely with the
bamboo on every slight occasion. If Doctor Vincent, from reading this
book, was really persuaded that the cities of China were so large and so
numerous, that they left not ground enough to subsist the inhabitants, I
could wish to recall his attention for a few moments to this subject, as
opinions sanctioned by such high authority, whether right or wrong, are
sure, in some degree, to bias the public mind. We have seen that if
China be allowed to contain three hundred and thirty-three millions of
people, the proportion of its population is only just double that of
Great Britain. Now if London and Liverpool and Birmingham and Glasgow,
and all the cities, towns, villages, gentlemen's villas, farm-houses and
cottages in this island were doubled, I see no great inconvenience
likely to arise from such duplication. The unproductive land, in the
shape of gentlemen's parks and pleasure grounds, would, I presume, be
much more than sufficient to counterbalance the quantity occupied by the
new erections; and the wastes and commons would perhaps be more than
enough to allow even a second duplication. But the population of an
English city is not to be compared with, or considered as similar to,
the populousness of a Chinese city, as will be obvious by considering
the two capitals of these two empires. Pekin, according to a measurement
supposed to be taken with great accuracy, occupies a space of about
fourteen square miles. London, with its suburbs, when reduced to a
square, is said to comprehend about nine square miles. The houses of
Pekin rarely exceed a single story; those of London are seldom less than
four; yet both the Chinese and the missionaries who are settled in this
capital agree that Pekin contains three millions of people; while London
is barely allowed to have one million. The reason of this difference is,
that most of the cross streets of a Chinese city are very narrow, and
the alleys branching from them so confined, that a person may place one
hand on one side and the other on the other side as he walks along[66];
that the houses in general are very small, and that each house contains
six, eight, or ten persons, sometimes twice the number. If, therefore,
fourteen square miles of buildings in China contain three millions of
inhabitants, and nine square miles of buildings in England one million,
the population of a city in China will be to that of a city in England
as twenty-seven to fourteen, or very nearly as two to one; and the
former, with a proportion of inhabitants double to that of the latter,
will only have the same proportion of buildings; so that there is no
necessity of their being so closely crowded together, or of their
occupying so great a portion of land, as to interfere with the quantity
necessary for the subsistence of the people.
[66] One of the streets in the suburbs of Canton is emphatically called
_Squeeze-gut-alley_, which is so narrow that every gentleman in the
Company's service does not find it quite convenient to pass.
I have been thus particular, in order to set in its true light a subject
that has been much agitated and generally disbelieved. The sum total of
three hundred and thirty-three millions is so enormous, that in its
aggregate form it astonishes the mind and staggers credibility; yet we
find no difficulty in conceiving that a single square mile in China may
contain two hundred and fifty-six persons, especially when we call to
our recollection the United Provinces of Holland, which have been
calculated to contain two hundred and seventy inhabitants on a square
mile. And the United Provinces have enjoyed few of the advantages
favourable to population, of which China, for ages past, has been in the
uninterrupted possession.
The materials for the statement given by Father Amiot of the population
of China appear to have been collected with care. The number of souls in
1760, according to this statement
was 196,837,977
In 1761 198,214,553
-----------
Annual increase 1,376,576
This statement must however be incorrect, from the circumstance of some
millions of people being excluded who have no fixed habitation, but are
constantly changing their position on the inland navigations of the
empire, as well as all the islanders of the Archipelago of _Chu-san_ and
of Formosa. Without, however, taking these into consideration, and by
supposing the number of souls in 1761, to amount to 198,214,553, there
ought to have been, in the year 1793, by allowing a progressive
increase, according to a moderate calculation in political arithmetic,
at least 280,000,000 souls.
Whether this great empire, the first in rank both in extent and
population, may or may not actually contain 333 millions of souls, is a
point that Europeans are not likely ever to ascertain. That it is
capable of subsisting this and a much greater population has, I think,
been sufficiently proved. I know it is a common argument with those who
are not willing to admit the fact, that although cities and towns and
shipping may be crowded together in an astonishing manner, on and near
the grand route between the capital and Canton, yet that the interior
parts of the country are almost deserted. By some of our party going to
_Chu-san_, we had occasion to see parts of the country remote from the
common road, and such parts happened to be by far the most populous in
the whole journey. But independent of the small portion of country seen
by us, the western provinces, which are most distant from the grand
navigation, are considered as the granaries of the empire; and the
cultivation of much grain, where few cattle and less machinery are used,
necessarily implies a corresponding population. Thus we see from the
above table, that the surplus produce of the land remitted to Pekin from
the provinces of
Oz. silver.
Honan } remote from the grand { 3,213,000
Shan-see } navigation, were { 3,722,000
Shen-see } { 2,040,000
Whilst those of
Pe-tche-lee } on the grand navigation, { 3,036,000
Shan-tung } were { 3,600,000
Tche-kiang } { 3,810,000
chiefly in rice, wheat, and millet. There are no grounds therefore for
supposing that the interior parts of China are deserts.
There are others again who are persuaded of the population being so
enormous, that the country is wholly inadequate to supply the means of
subsistence; and that famines are absolutely necessary to keep down the
former to the level of the latter. The loose and general way in which
the accounts of the missionaries are drawn up certainly leave such an
impression; but as I have endeavoured to shew that such is far from
being the case, it may be expected I should also attempt to explain the
frequency of those disastrous famines which occasionally commit such
terrible havock in this country. I am of opinion then, that three
principal reasons may be assigned for them. First, the equal division of
the land: Secondly, the mode of cultivation: and Thirdly, the nature of
the products.
If, in the first place, every man has it in his option to rent as much
land as will support his family with food and clothing, he will have no
occasion to go to market for the first necessities; and such being
generally the case in China, those first necessities find no market,
except in the large cities. When the peasant has brought under tillage
of grain as much land as may be sufficient for the consumption of his
own family, and the necessary surplus for the landlord, he looks no
further; and all his neighbours having done the same, the first
necessities are, in fact, unsaleable articles, except in so far as
regards the demands of large cities, which are by no means so close
upon one another as has been imagined. A surplus of grain is likewise
less calculated to exchange for superfluities or luxuries than many
other articles of produce. This being the case, if, by any accident, a
failure of the crops should be general in a province, it has no relief
to expect from the neighbouring provinces, nor any supplies from foreign
countries. In China there are no great farmers who store their grain to
throw into the market in seasons of scarcity. In such seasons the only
resource is that of the government opening its magazines, and restoring
to the people that portion of their crop which it had demanded from them
as the price of its protection. And this being originally only a tenth
part, out of which the monthly subsistence of every officer and soldier
had already been deduced, the remainder is seldom adequate to the wants
of the people. Insurrection and rebellion ensue, and those who may
escape the devouring scourge of famine, in all probability, fall by the
sword. In such seasons a whole province is sometimes half depopulated;
wretched parents are reduced, by imperious want, to sell or destroy
their offspring, and children to put an end, by violence, to the
sufferings of their aged and infirm parents. Thus, the equal division of
land, so favourable to population in seasons of plenty, is just the
reverse when the calamity of a famine falls upon the people.
In the second place, a scarcity may be owing to the mode of cultivation.
When I mention that two-thirds of the small quantity of land under
tillage is cultivated with the spade or the hoe, or otherwise by manual
labour, without the aid of draught-cattle or skilful machinery, it will
readily be conceived how very small a portion each family will be likely
to employ every year; certainly not one-third part of his average
allowance.
The third cause of famines may be owing to the nature of the products,
particularly to that of rice. This grain, the staff of life in China,
though it yields abundant returns in favourable seasons, is more liable
to fail than most others. A drought in its early stages withers it on
the ground; and an inundation, when nearly ripe, is equally destructive.
The birds and the locusts, more numerous in this country than an
European can well conceive, infest it more than any other kind of grain.
In the northern provinces, where wheat, millet and pulse are cultivated,
famines more rarely happen; and I am persuaded that if potatoes and
Guinea corn (_Zea-Mays_) were once adopted as the common vegetable food
of the people, those direful famines that produce such general misery
would entirely cease, and the encrease of population be as rapid as that
of Ireland. This root in the northern provinces, and this grain in the
middle and southern ones, would never fail them. An acre of potatoes
would yield more food than an acre of rice, and twice the nourishment.
Rice is the poorest of all grain, if we may judge from the slender and
delicate forms of all the people who use it as the chief article of
their sustenance; and potatoes are just the contrary[67].
[67] The great advantage of a potatoe crop, as I before observed, is the
certainty of its success. Were a general failure of this root to take
place, as sometimes happens to crops of rice, Ireland, in its present
state, would experience all the horrors that attend a famine in some of
the provinces of China.
As Dr. Adam Smith observes, "The chairmen, porters, and coal-heavers in
London, and those unfortunate women who live by prostitution, the
strongest men and the most beautiful women perhaps in the British
dominions, are said to be, the greater part of them, from the lowest
rank of the people in Ireland, who are generally fed with this root; no
food can afford a more decisive proof of its nourishing quality, or of
its being peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution."
The Guinea corn requires little or no attention after the seed is
dropped into the ground; and its leaves and juicy stems are not more
nourishing for cattle than its prolific heads are for the sustenance of
man.
Various causes have contributed to the populousness of China. Since the
Tartar conquest it may be said to have enjoyed a profound peace; for in
the different wars and skirmishes that have taken place with the
neighbouring nations on the side of India, and with the Russians on the
confines of Siberia, a few Tartar soldiers only have been employed. The
Chinese army is parcelled out as guards for the towns, cities, and
villages; and stationed at the numberless posts on the roads and canals.
Being seldom relieved from the several guards, they all marry and have
families. A certain portion of land is allotted for their use, which
they have sufficient time to cultivate. As the nation has little foreign
commerce there are few seamen; such as belong to the inland navigations
are mostly married. Although there be no direct penalty levied against
such as remain batchelors, as was the case among the Romans when they
wished to repair the desolation that their civil wars had occasioned,
yet public opinion considers celibacy as disgraceful, and a sort of
infamy is attached to a man who continues unmarried beyond a certain
time of life. And although in China the public law be not established of
the _Jus trium liberorum_, by which every Roman citizen having three
children was entitled to certain privileges and immunities, yet every
male child may be provided for, and receive a stipend from the moment of
his birth, by his name being enrolled on the military list. By the equal
division of the country into small farms, every peasant has the means of
bringing up his family, if drought and inundation do not frustrate his
labour; and the pursuits of agriculture are more favourable to health,
and consequently to population, than mechanical employments in crowded
cities, and large manufactories, where those who are doomed to toil are
more liable to become the victims of disease and debauchery, than such
as are exposed to the free and open air, and to active and wholesome
labour. In China there are few of such manufacturing cities. No great
capitals are here employed in any one branch of the arts. In general
each labours for himself in his own profession. From the general poverty
that prevails among the lower orders of people, the vice of drunkenness
is little practised among them. The multitude, from necessity, are
temperate in their diet to the last degree. The climate is moderate and,
except in the northern provinces where the cold is severe, remarkably
uniform, not liable to those sudden and great changes in temperature,
which the human constitution is less able to resist, than the extremes
of heat or cold when steady and invariable, and from which the
inconveniences are perhaps nowhere so severely felt as on our own
island. Except the small-pox and contagious diseases that occasionally
break out in their confined and crowded cities, they are liable to few
epidemical disorders. The still and inanimate kind of life which is led
by the women, at the same time that it is supposed to render them
prolific, preserves them from accidents that might cause untimely
births. Every woman suckles and nurses her own child.
The operation of these and other favourable causes that might be
assigned, in a country that has existed under the same form of
government, and preserved the same laws and customs for so many ages,
must necessarily have created an excess of population unknown in most
other parts of the world, where the ravages of war, several times
repeated in the course of a century, or internal commotions, or
pestilential disease, or the effects of overgrown wealth, sometimes
sweep away one half of a nation within the usual period allotted to the
life of man.
"What a grand and curious spectacle," as Sir George Staunton observes,
"is here exhibited to the mind of so large a proportion of the whole
human race, connected together in one great system of polity, submitting
quietly and through so considerable an extent of country to one great
sovereign; and uniform in their laws, their manners, and their
language; but differing essentially in each of these respects from every
other portion of mankind; and neither desirous of communicating with,
nor forming any designs against, the rest of the world." How strong an
instance does China afford of the truth of the observation, that men are
more easily governed by opinion than by power.
CHAP. X.
Journey through the Province of Canton.--Situation of Foreigners trading
to this Port.--Conclusion.
_Visible change in the Character of the People.--Rugged
Mountains.--Collieries.--Temple in a Cavern.--Stone Quarries--Various
Plants for Use and Ornament.--Arrive at Canton--Expence of the Embassy
to the Chinese Government.--To the British Nation--Nature and
Inconveniences of the Trade to Canton--The Armenian and his
Pearl.--Impression of the Officers of Government instanced.--Principal
Cause of them is the Ignorance of the Language.--Case of Chinese trading
to London.--A Chinese killed by a Seaman of His Majesty's Ship
Madras.--Delinquent saved from an ignominious Death, by a proper Mode of
Communication with the Government_--Conclusion.
We had no sooner passed the summit of the high mountain _Me-lin_, and
entered the province of _Quan-tung_, or Canton, than a very sensible
difference was perceived in the conduct of the inhabitants. Hitherto the
Embassy had met with the greatest respect and civility from all classes
of the natives, but now even the peasantry ran out of their houses, as
we passed, and bawled after us _Queitze-fan-quei_, which, in their
language, are opprobrious and contemptuous expressions, signifying
_foreign devils_, _imps_; epithets that are bestowed by the enlightened
Chinese on all foreigners. It was obvious, that the haughty and
insolent manner in which all Europeans residing at, or trading to, the
port of Canton are treated, had extended itself to the northern frontier
of the province, but it had not crossed the mountain _Me-lin_; the
natives of _Kiang-see_ being a quiet, civil, and inoffensive people. In
_Quan-tung_ the farther we advanced, the more rude and insolent they
became. A timely rebuke, however, given to the governor of
_Nau-sheun-foo_ by _Van-ta-gin_, for applying the above mentioned
opprobrious epithets to the British Embassy, had a good effect on the
Canton officers, who were now to be our conductors through their
province.
This contempt of foreigners is not confined to the upper ranks, or men
in office, but pervades the very lowest class who, whilst they make no
scruple of entering into the service of foreign merchants residing in
the country, and accepting the most menial employments under them,
performing the duties of their several offices with diligence,
punctuality, and fidelity, affect, at the same time, to despise their
employers, and to consider them as placed, in the scale of human beings,
many degrees below them. Having one day observed my Chinese servant
busily employed in drying a quantity of tea-leaves, that had already
been used for breakfast, and of which he had collected several pounds, I
inquired what he meant to do with them: he replied, to mix them with
other tea and sell them. "And is that the way," said I, "in which you
cheat your own countrymen?" "No," replied he, "my own countrymen are too
wise to be so easily cheated, but your's are stupid enough to let serve
you such like tricks; and indeed," continued he, with the greatest
_sang froid_ imaginable, "anything you get from us is quite good enough
for you." Affecting to be angry with him, he said, "he meant for the
_second sort_ of Englishmen," which is a distinction they give to the
Americans[68].
[68] In the Canton jargon, _second chop Englishmen_; and even this
distinction the Americans, I understand, have nearly forfeited in the
minds of the Chinese.
The city of _Nan-sheun-foo_ was pleasantly situated on the high bank of
the river _Pei-kiang-ho_. The houses appeared to be very old, the
streets narrow, large tracts of ground within the walls unbuilt, others
covered with ruins. While the barges were preparing to receive on board
the baggage, we took up our lodgings in the public temple, that was
dedicated to the memory of Confucius, being, at the same time, the
college where the students are examined for their different degrees. It
consisted of a long dark room, divided by two rows of red pillars into a
middle and two side aisles, without furniture, paintings, statues, or
ornaments of any kind, except a few paper lanterns suspended between the
pillars; the floor was of earth, and entirely broken up: to us it had
more the appearance of a large passage or gang-way to some manufactory,
as a brewhouse or iron foundery, than of the hall of Confucius. On each
side, and at the farther extremity, were several small apartments, in
which we contrived to pass the night.
The barges in which we now embarked were very small, owning to the
shallowness of the river. The officers, assembled here from different
parts of the country, detained us a whole day in order to have an
opportunity of laying their several complaints before our physician, at
the recommendation of _Van-ta-gin_, who had felt the good effects of his
practice. Here, for once, we had an instance of Chinese pride giving way
to self-interest, and usurped superiority condescending to ask advice of
barbarians. We sailed for two days in our little barges, through one of
the most wild, mountainous, and barren tracts of country that I ever
beheld, abounding more in the sublime and horrible, than in the
picturesque or the beautiful. The lofty summits of the mountains seemed
to touch each other across the river and, at a distance, it appeared as
if we had to sail through an arched cavern. The massy fragments that had
fallen down from time to time, and impeded the navigation, were
indications that the passage was not altogether free from danger. Five
remarkable points of sand-stone rock, rising in succession above each
other with perpendicular faces, seemed as if they had been hewn out of
one solid mountain: they were called _ou-ma-too_, or the five horses'
heads. The mountains at a distance on each side of the river were
covered with pines, the nearer hills with coppice wood, in which the
Camellia prevailed; and in the little glens were clusters of fishermen's
huts, surrounded by small plantations of tobacco.
Within the defile of these wild mountains, we observed several extensive
collieries, which were advantageously worked by driving levels from the
river into their sides. The coals brought out of the horizontal _adits_
were immediately lowered from a pier into vessels that were ready to
receive and transport them to the potteries of this province, and of
_Kiang-see_. Coal is little used in its raw state, but is first charred
in large pits that are dug in the ground. Coal dust, mixed with earth,
and formed into square blocks, is frequently used to heat their little
stoves, on which they boil their rice.
At the city of _Tchao-tchoo-foo_, where we arrived on the 13th, we
exchanged our flat-bottomed boats for large and commodious yachts, the
river being here much increased by the confluence of another stream. The
boats before this city were mostly managed by young girls, whose dress
consisted of a neat white jacket and petticoat and a gipsey straw hat.
Having for so great a length of time scarcely ever set our eyes upon a
female, except the heads of some at a distance, peeping from behind the
mud walls that surround the houses, or labouring in the grounds of
_Kiang-see_, the ferry girls, though in reality very plain and
coarse-featured, were considered as the most beautiful objects that had
occurred in the whole journey. To the occupation of ferrying passengers
over the river it seemed they added another, not quite so honourable,
for which, however, they had not only the consent and approbation of
their parents, but also the sanction of the government, or perhaps, to
speak more correctly, of the governing magistrates, given in
consideration of their receiving a portion of the wages of prostitution.
In this mountainous district a few fishermen's huts and those of the
colliers were the only habitations that occurred; but the defect of
population was abundantly supplied by the number of wooden dwellings
that were floating on the river. Small huts, to the number of thirty or
forty, were sometimes erected upon a single floating raft of fir baulks,
lashed together by the ends and the sides. On these rafts the people
carry on their trade or occupation, particularly such as work in wood.
Our conductors directed the yachts to halt before a detached rock,
rising with a perpendicular front from the margin of the river to the
height of seven hundred feet. In this front we observed a cavern, before
which was a terrace that had been cut out of the rock, accessible by a
flight of steps from the river. Proceeding from the terrace into the
cavity of the rock, we ascended another flight of stairs, also cut out
of solid stone, which led into a very spacious apartment. In the centre
of this apartment sat the goddess _Poo-sa_ upon a kind of altar,
constituting a part of the rock, and hewn into the shape of the
_Lien-wha_ or Nelumbium. A small opening, next the river, admitted a
"dim religious light," suitable to the solemnity of the place, which we
were told was a temple consecrated to _Poo-sa_, and a monastery for the
residence of a few superannuated priests. On the smooth sides of the
apartment was inscribed a multitude of Chinese verses, some cut into the
rock, and others painted upon it. The lodgings of the priests were small
caves branching out of the large temple. A third flight of steps led
from this to a second story, which was also lighted by a small aperture
in front, that was nearly choaked up by an immense mass of stalectite
that had been formed, and was still increasing, by the constant oozing
of water holding in solution calcareous matter, and suspended from a
projection of the upper part of the rock. But the light was sufficient
to discover a gigantic image with a Saracen face, who "grinn'd horrible
a ghastly smile." On his head was a sort of crown; in one hand he held a
naked scymeter, and a firebrand in the other; but the history of this
colossal divinity seemed to be imperfectly known, even to the votaries
of _Poo-sa_ themselves. He had in all probability been a warrior in his
day, the Theseus or the Hercules of China. The cave of the Cumæan Sibyl
could not be better suited for dealing out the mysterious decrees of
fate to the superstitious multitude, than that of the _Quan-gin-shan_,
from whence the oracle of future destiny, in like manner,
"Horrendas canit ambages, antroque remugit,
Obscuris vera involvens."
"The wond'rous truths, involv'd in riddles, gave,
And furious bellow'd round the gloomy cave."
Lord Macartney observed that this singular temple brought to his
recollection a Franciscan monastery he had seen in Portugal, near Cape
Roxent, usually called the _Cork Convent_, "which is an excavation of
considerable extent under a hill, divided into a great number of cells,
and fitted up with a church, sacristy, refectory, and every requisite
apartment for the accommodation of the miserable Cordeliers who burrow
in it. The inside is entirely lined with cork: the walls, the roofs, the
floors, are covered with cork; the tables, seats, chairs, beds, couches,
the furniture of the chapel, the crucifixes, and every other implement,
are all made of cork. The place was certainly dismal and comfortless to
a great degree, but it wanted the gigantic form, the grim features, the
terrific aspect which distinguish the temple of _Poo-sa_, in the rock
of _Quan-gin-shan_." Dismal as this gloomy den appeared to be, where a
few miserable beings had voluntarily chained themselves to a rock, to be
gnawed by the vultures of superstition and fanaticism, it is still less
so than an apartment of the Franciscan convent in Madeira, the walls of
which are entirely covered with human skulls, and the bones of legs and
arms, placed alternately in horizontal rows. A dirty lamp suspended from
the ceiling, and constantly attended by an old bald-headed friar of the
order, to keep the feeble light just glimmering in the socket, serves to
shew indistinctly to strangers this disgusting _memento mori_. It would
be difficult to determine which of the three were the most useless
members of society, the monks of _Poo-sa_, the monks of the Cork
convent, or the monks of Golgotha.
In several places among the wild and romantic mountains through which we
were carried on this river, we noticed quarries of great extent, out of
which huge stones had been cut for sepulchral monuments, for the arches
of bridges, for architraves, for paving the streets, and for various
other uses. To obtain these large masses, the saw is applied at the
upper surface, and they work down vertically to the length required.
Each stone is shaped and fashioned to the size that may be wanted,
before it is removed from the parent rock, by which much difficulty is
avoided and less power required in conveying it to its destination. Rude
misshapen blocks, requiring additional labour for their removal, are
never detached from the rock in such a state. In this respect they are
more provident than the late Empress of Russia who, at an immense
expense and with the aid of complicated machinery, caused a block of
stone to be brought to her capital, to serve as a pedestal for the
statue of the Czar Peter, where it was found expedient to reduce it to
two-thirds of its original dimensions.
Between the city of Canton and the first pagoda on the bank of the
river, there is a continued series of similar quarries, which appear not
to have been worked for many years. The regular and formal manner in
which the stones have been cut away, exhibiting lengthened streets of
houses with quadrangular chambers, in the sides of which are square
holes at equal distances, as if intended for the reception of beams; the
smoothness and perfect perpendicularity of the sides, and the number of
detached pillars that are scattered over the plain, would justify a
similar mistake to that of Mr. Addison's Doctor of one of the German
universities, whom he found at Chateau d'Un in France, carefully
measuring the free-stone quarries at that place, which he had conceived
to be the venerable remains of vast subterranean palaces of great
antiquity.
Almost all the mountains that occurred in our passage through China were
of primæval granite, some few of sand-stone, and the inferior hills were
generally of lime-stone, or coarse grey marble. Except the Ladrone
islands on the south, and some of the _Chu-san_ islands on the east, we
observed no appearances in the whole country of volcanic productions.
The high mountains, indeed, that form great continental chains are
seldom, if ever, of volcanic formation. The presence of a vast volume
of water seems to be indispensably necessary to carry on this operation
of nature and, accordingly, we find that volcanic mountains are
generally close to the sea coast, or entirely insulated. Thus, although
a great part of the islands on the coast of China are volcanic, we met
with no trace of subterranean heat, either in volcanic products or
thermal springs, on the whole continent. Yet earthquakes are said to
have been frequently felt in all the provinces, but slight and of short
duration.
About seven miles to the southward of the temple in the rock, the
mountains abruptly ceased, and we entered on a wide extended plain
which, to the southward and on each side, was terminated only by the
horizon. This sudden transition from barrenness to fertility, from the
sublime to the beautiful, from irregularity to uniformity, could not
fail to please, as all strong contrasts usually do. The country was now
in a high state of tillage; the chief products were rice, sugar-canes,
and tobacco; and the river was so much augmented by the tributary
streams of the mountains, which we had just left behind, that it was
nearly half a mile in width. Canals branched from its two banks in every
direction. At the city of _San-shwee shien_, we observed the current of
the river receding, being driven back by the flux of the tide.
On the 10th, we halted before a village which was just within sight of
the suburbs of Canton. Here the Embassador was met by the Commissioners
of the East India Company, whom the Chinese had allowed to proceed thus
far from the factory, and to which place the servants of the Company
are occasionally permitted to make their parties of pleasure. In the
neighbourhood of this village are extensive gardens for the supply of
the city with vegetables. In some we observed nurseries for propagating
the rare, the beautiful, the curious, or the useful plants of the
country; which are sent to Canton for sale. On this account we were not
sorry to be obliged to spend the remainder of the day at this place.
Among the choice plants we noticed the large _Peonia_ before mentioned,
white, red, and variegated; the elegant _Limodorum Tankervilliæ_, and
that singular plant the _Epidendrum flos aeris_ so called from its
vegetating without the assistance of earth or water; the _Hybiscus
mutabilis_, the _Abelmoschus_, and other species of this genus; the
double variegated _Camellia Japonica_; the great holly-hock; the scarlet
_amaranthus_ and another species of the same genus, and a very elegant
_Celosia_ or cock's comb; the _Nerium Oleander_, sometimes called the
Ceylon rose, and the _Yu-lan_, a species of magnolia, the flowers of
which appear before the leaves burst from the buds. Of the scented
plants the _plumeria_ and a double flowering jasmine were the most
esteemed. We observed also in pots the _Ocymum_ or sweet Basil,
_Cloranthus inconspicuous_, called _Chu-lan_, whose leaves are sometimes
mixed with those of tea to give them a peculiar flavour; the _Olea
fragrans_, or sweet scented olive, said also to be used for the same
purpose; a species of myrtle; the much esteemed _Rosa Sinica_; the
_Tuberose_; the strong scented _Gardenia florida_, improperly called the
Cape Jasmine; the China pink and several others, to enumerate which
would exceed the limits of this work.
Of fruits we noticed a variety of figs, and three species of mulberries;
peaches and almonds; the _Annona_ or custard-apple; the _Eugenia
Jambos_, or rose-apple; the much-esteemed _Lee-tchee_ or
_Sapindus-edulis_; and the _Kœlreuteria_, another species of the same
genus; the _Averhoa Carambola_, an excellent fruit for tarts; and the
_Ou-long-shoo_, the _Sterculia platanifolia_. Besides these were
abundance of oranges and bananas.
As vegetables for the table, was a great variety of beans and
calavances, among which was the _Dolichos Soja_ or soy plant, and the
_polystachios_, with its large clusters of beautiful scarlet flowers;
the _Cytisus Cadjan_, whole seed yields the famous bean-milk, which it
is the custom of the Emperor to offer to Embassadors on their
presentation; large mild radishes, onions, garlic, _Capsicum_ or
Cayenne-pepper; _convolvulus batatas_, or sweet potatoes; two species of
tobacco; _Amomum_, or ginger, in great quantities, the root of which
they preserve in syrup; _Sinapis_, or mustard, and the _Brassica
orientalis_, from which an oil is expressed for the table.
Of plants that were useful in the arts, we observed the _Rhus vernix_,
or varnish-tree, and two other species of the same genus; _Curcuma_, or
turmeric; _Carthamus_ used as a dye, and the _polygonum Chinense_ for
the same purpose; the _Rhapis flabelliformis_, the dried leaves of which
are used for fans among the common people, and particularly by those who
live in vessels; _Corchorus_ whose bark, in India, is used as flax; but
not, I believe, to any extent in China, the white nettle being here
preferred. The only medicinal plants were the _Rheum palmatum_,
_Artemisia_, and the _Smilax_ or China root.
To make our _entré_ into Canton the more splendid, a number of superb
barges were sent to meet us, carrying flags and streamers and umbrellas
and other insignia of office; and in some were bands of music. About the
middle of the day we arrived before the factories, which constitute a
line of buildings in the European style, extending along the left bank
of the river, where the Embassador was received by the _Song-too_, or
Viceroy, the Governor, the _Ho-poo_, or collector of the customs, and
all the principal officers of the government. From hence we were
conducted to the opposite side of the river, where a temporary building
of poles and mats had been prepared for the occasion; within which was a
screen of yellow silk bearing the name of the Emperor in gilt
characters. Before this screen the Viceroy and other officers performed
the usual prostrations, in token of gratitude to his imperial Majesty,
for his having vouchsafed us a prosperous journey.
It is but doing justice to the Chinese government and to the individuals
in its employ who had any concern in the affairs of the embassy, to
observe, that as far as regarded ourselves, their conduct was uniformly
marked by liberality, attention, and an earnest desire to please. Nor is
there any vanity in saying that, after observing us closely in the
course of a long journey and daily intercourse, the officers of
government gradually dismissed the prejudices imbibed against us, as
foreigners, from their earliest youth. Gained by our frank and open
manners, and by little attentions, they seemed to fly with pleasure to
our society as a relief from the tedious formalities they were obliged
to assume in their official capacity. _Van_ and _Chou_ constantly passed
the evenings in some of our yachts. It is impossible to speak of those
two worthy men in terms equal to their desert. Kind, condescending,
unremitting in their attentions, they never betrayed one moment of
ill-humour from the time we entered China till they took their final
leave at Canton. These two men were capable of real attachments. They
insisted on accompanying the Embassador on board the Lion, where they
took their last farewell. At parting they burst into tears and shewed
the strongest marks of sensibility and concern. Their feelings quite
overcame them, and they left the Lion sorrowful and dejected. Early the
following morning they sent on board twenty baskets of fruit and
vegetables, as a farewell token of their remembrance. We had the
satisfaction to hear, that immediately on their arrival at Pekin they
both were promoted. _Chou_ is at present in a high situation at court,
but _Van_, the cheerful good-humoured _Van_, has paid the debt of
nature, having fallen honourably in the service of his country. On the
conduct of _Lee_, our Chinese interpreter, any praise that I could
bestow would be far inadequate to his merit. Fully sensible of his
perilous situation, he never at any one time shrank from his duty. At
Macao he took an affectionate leave of his English friends, with whom,
though placed in one of the remotest provinces of the empire, he still
contrives to correspond. The Embassador, Lord Macartney, has had several
letters from him; the last of which is of so late a date as March 1802;
so that his sensibility has not been diminished either by time or
distance.
It is the custom of China to consider all Embassadors as guests of the
Emperor, from the moment they enter any part of his dominions, until
they are again entirely out of them. The inconvenience of this custom
was severely felt by us, as it prevented us from purchasing, in an open
manner, many trifling articles that would have been acceptable. The very
considerable expence, incurred by the court on this account, may be one
reason for prescribing the limited time of forty days for all
embassadors to remain at the capital. To meet the expences of the
present Embassy, _Van-ta-gin_ assured me, that they were furnished with
an order to draw on the public treasuries of the different provinces
through which we had to pass, to the amount of five thousand ounces of
silver a-day, or about one thousand six hundred pounds sterling: and
that fifteen hundred ounces a-day had been issued out of the treasury at
Pekin for the support of the Embassy during its continuance there.
Supposing then these data to be correct, and I see no reason for calling
their authenticity in question, we may form an estimate of the whole
expence of this Embassy to the Chinese government.
From the 6th of August (the day we entered
the Pei-ho) to the 21st (when we arrived in Oz.
Pekin) inclusive 16 days, 80,000
From the 22d August to the 6th October (in
Pekin and in Gehol) 46 days, 69,000
From the 7th October to the 19th December
(when we arrived at Canton) 74 days, 370,000
---------
Total ounces of silver 519,000
Or one hundred and seventy-three thousand pounds sterling; three Chinese
ounces being equal to one pound sterling.
It is hardly possible that this enormous sum of money could have been
expended on account of the Embassy, though I have no doubt of its having
been issued out of the Imperial treasury for that purpose. One of the
missionaries informed me, in Pekin, that the Gazette of that capital
contained an article stating the liberality of the Emperor towards the
English Embassador, in his having directed no less a sum than fifteen
hundred ounces of silver to be applied for the daily expences of the
Embassy, while stationary in the capital and at Gehol. The same
gentleman made an observation, that the great officers of government, as
well as those who had the good luck to be appointed to manage the
concerns of a foreign embassy, considered it as one of the best
wind-falls in the Emperor's gift, the difference between the allowances
and the actual expenditure being equivalent to a little fortune.
_Van-ta-gin_, indeed, explained to us, that although the Imperial
warrant was signed for those sums, yet that having a number of offices
to pass through, in all of which it diminished a little, the whole of it
was not actually expended on the Embassy. He gave to the Embassador an
excellent illustration of the manner in which the Imperial bounty was
sometimes applied. An inundation had swept away, the preceding winter, a
whole village in the province of _Shan-tung_, so suddenly, that the
inhabitants could save nothing but their lives. The Emperor having once
lodged at the place immediately ordered 100,000 ounces of silver for
their relief, out of which the first officer of the treasury took
20,000, the second 10,000, the third 5,000, and so on, till at last
there remained only 20,000 for the poor sufferers. So that the boasted
morality of China is pretty much the same, when reduced to practice, as
that of other countries.
The real expence, however, of the British Embassy, could not have been a
trifle, when we consider what a vast multitude of men, horses, and
vessels were constantly employed on the occasion. _Van-ta-gin_ assured
me, that there were seldom fewer than one thousand men, and frequently
many more, employed one way or other in its service; and I am persuaded
he did not intend to exaggerate. In the first place, from the mouth of
the _Pei-ho_ to _Tong-tchoo_, we had forty-one yachts or barges, each on
an average, including boatmen, trackers, and soldiers, having on board
fifteen men; this gives six hundred and fifteen men to the boats only.
Caterers running about the country to collect provisions, boatmen to
bring them to the several barges, the conducting officers, and their
numerous retinue, are not included in this estimate. From _Tong-tchoo_
near three thousand men were employed to carry the presents and baggage,
first to _Hung-ya-yuen_, beyond Pekin, and then back again to the
capital, which took them three days. In our return from _Tong-tchoo_ to
_Hang-tchoo-foo_, we had a fleet of thirty-vessels, with ten men at
least and, for the greatest part of the journey, twenty additional
trackers to each vessel; this gives nine hundred people for the yachts
alone.
From _Hang-tchoo-foo_ to _Eu-shan-shien_ and from _Hang-tchoo-foo_ to
_Chu-san_, there might probably be employed about forty vessels, with
twelve men to each, or four hundred and eighty in the whole. And,
besides the people employed by the officers of government to purchase
provisions, numbers were stationed in different parts of the rivers to
contract the stream, by raking together the pebbles where, otherwise,
the water would have been too shallow for the boats to pass; and others
to attend at all the fluices on the canals to assist the vessels in
getting through the same.
From _Tchang-shan-shien_ to _Eu-shan-shien_, overland, we had about
forty horses, and three or four hundred men to carry the baggage.
From the _Po-yang_ lake to Canton, we had generally about twenty-six
vessels with twenty men to each, including boatmen, soldiers, and
trackers, which gives five hundred and twenty men for these alone.
The Embassy consisted of near one hundred persons, but as for the
several officers and their numerous retinue of guards, attendants, and
runners, I have not the least idea to what their numbers might amount;
all of whom, being on extraordinary service, were supported at the
public expence.
The whole expence of the Embassy to this country, including the
presents, did not exceed eighty thousand pounds; an inconsiderable sum
for such a nation as Great Britain on such an occasion, and not more
than a fourth part of what has been generally imagined.
Although the British factory was in every sense more comfortable than
the most splendid palace that the country afforded, yet it was so
repugnant to the principles of the government for an Embassador to take
up his abode in the same dwelling with merchants, that it was thought
expedient to indulge their notions in this respect, and to accept a
large house in the midst of a garden, on the opposite side of the river,
which was fitted up and furnished with beds in the European manner, with
glazed sash windows, and with fire grates suitable for burning coals. On
our arrival here we found a company of comedians hard at work, in the
middle of a piece, which it seemed had begun at sun-rise; but their
squalling and their shrill and harsh music were so dreadful, that they
were prevailed upon, with difficulty, to break off during dinner, which
was served up in a viranda directly opposite the theatre.
Next morning, however, about sun-rise, they set to work afresh, but at
the particular request of the Embassador, in which he was joined by the
whole suite, they were discharged, to the no small astonishment of our
Chinese conductors, who concluded, from this circumstance, that the
English had very little taste for elegant amusements. Players, it seems,
are here hired by the day and the more incessantly they labour, the more
they are applauded. They are always ready to begin any one piece out of
a list of twenty or thirty, that is presented for the principal visitor
to make his choice.
The nature of the trade carried on by foreign nations at the port of
Canton is so well known, that it would be superfluous for me to dwell
on that subject. The complaints of all nations against the extortions
practised there have been loudly and frequently heard in Europe, but the
steps that have hitherto been taken have proved unavailing. The common
answer is, "Why do you come here? We take in exchange your articles of
produce and manufacture, which we really have no occasion for, and give
you in return our precious tea, which nature has denied to your country,
and yet you are not satisfied. Why do you so often visit a country whose
customs you dislike? We do not invite you to come among us, but when you
do come, and behave well, we treat you accordingly. Respect then our
hospitality, but don't pretend to regulate or reform it." Such is the
language held to Europeans by all the petty officers of government with
whom they have to deal.
With such sentiments one cannot be surprized that foreign merchants
should be received with indifference, if not handled with rudeness, and
that the fair trader should be liable to extortions. This is still more
likely to happen from the complete monopoly of all foreign trade being
consigned to a limited number of merchants, seldom, I believe, exceeding
eight, who are sanctioned by government. The cargoes of tin, lead,
cotton, opium, and large sums of Spanish dollars, sent to Canton from
Europe, India, and America, all pass through the hands of these Hong
merchants, who also furnish the return cargoes. As the capital employed
is far beyond any thing of the kind we can conceive in Europe by so few
individuals, their profits must be proportionally great, or they could
not be able to bear the expence of the numerous and magnificent
presents which they are expected to make to the superior officers of
government at Canton, who, in their turn, find it expedient to divide
these with the Emperor and his ministers in the capital. The various
toys, automatons, moving and musical figures from Coxe's museum, the
mathematical and astronomical instruments, clocks, watches, machinery,
jewellery, all made in London, and now in the different palaces of the
Emperor of China, are said to be valued at no less a sum than two
millions sterling, all presents from Canton. The principal officers of
this government are invariably sent down from Pekin; they arrive poor
and, in the course of three years, return with immense riches. How much
of the enormous wealth of _Ho-tchung-tang_ came from the same quarter it
is difficult to say, but the great influence he possessed over the
Emperor, and his intimacy with the viceroy of Canton, who was superseded
in 1793, leave no doubt, that a very considerable part of it was drawn
from this port. The large pearl, which forms one of the charges
preferred against him, was a present from Canton, of which I have been
told a curious history by a gentleman who was on the spot at the time it
happened. An Armenian merchant brought this pearl to Canton, in the
expectation of making his fortune. Its size and beauty soon became known
and attracted the attention of the officers and the merchants, who paid
their daily visits to the Armenian, offering him prices far inadequate
to its value. At length, however, after minute and repeated
examinations, a price was agreed upon and a deposit made, but the
Armenian was to keep possession of the pearl till the remaining part of
the purchase-money should be ready; and in order to obviate any
possibility of trick, the box in which it was kept was sealed with the
purchaser's seal. Several days elapsed without his hearing any thing
further from the Chinese; and, at length, the time approached when all
foreign merchants are ordered down to Macao. The Armenian, in vain,
endeavoured to find out the people who had purchased his pearl, but he
contented himself with the reflection that, although he had been
disappointed in the main object of his journey, he still had his
property, and that the deposit was more than sufficient to defray his
expences. On reaching his home, he had no longer any scruple in breaking
open the seal; but his mortification may easily be supposed, on
discovering that his real pearl had been exchanged for an artificial
one, so very like as not to be detected but by the most critical
examination. The daily visits of these people, it seems, were for no
other purpose than to enable them to forge an accurate imitation, which
they had dexterously substituted for the real one, when they proposed
the cunning expedient of sealing the box in which it was inclosed. The
Armenians, however, were determined not to be outdone by the Chinese. A
noted character, of the name of _Baboom_, equally well known in Bengal
and Madras as in Canton, just before his failure in about half a million
sterling, deposited a valuable casket of pearls, as he represented them,
in the hands of one of the _Hong_ merchants, as a pledge for a large sum
of money, which, when opened, instead of pearls was found to be _a
casket of peas_.
It has always been considered that a foreigner has little chance of
obtaining justice at Canton. The import and export duties, which by the
law of the country ought to be levied _ad valorem_, are arbitrarily
fixed according to the fancy of the collector. And although the court is
at all times ready to punish, by confiscation of their property, such as
have been guilty of corruption and oppression, yet by accepting their
presents, it seems to lend them its encouragement. Besides, the distance
from Canton to the metropolis is so great, the temptations so strong,
and the chances of impunity so much in their favour, that to be honest,
when power and opportunity lend their aid to roguery, is a virtue not
within the pale of Chinese morality. A striking instance of their
peculation appeared in a circumstance that was connected with the
British Embassy. In consideration of the Hindostan having carried
presents for the Emperor, an order was issued from Court that she should
be exempt from duties at any of the ports where she might take in a
cargo. It happened that the Hong merchants had already paid the
Hindostan's duties with those of the other ships, of which her
particular share was 30,000 ounces of silver. The _Hoo-poo_ or collector
was therefore requested to return this sum agreeably to the order from
court, but he refunded only into Mr. Browne's hands 14,000 dollars,
which can be reckoned as little more than 11,000 ounces, observing, that
so much was the exact amount of the Emperor's duties. As in this
instance of a public nature the collector could not be supposed to act
without circumspection, we may conclude how very small a proportion of
the duties, extorted from foreigners trading to Canton, finds its way
into the Imperial treasury.
Thus the taxes, which, if we may judge of them from those paid by their
own countrymen, are extremely moderate, by the abuses of the
administration become serious grievances to the foreign merchant who,
however, has never hitherto employed the only probable mean of obtaining
redress--that of making himself acquainted with the language of the
country, so as to be able to remonstrate to the high officers of state,
against the oppressions and impositions of those who act in inferior
capacities; for, however rapacious and corrupt the first in authority
may be, his timid nature would shrink immediately from a bold,
clamorous, and able complainant, who possessed the means of making his
delinquency notorious. This observation has been verified by a recent
occurrence. A fraudulent suppression of a bankruptcy, for which the
government stood responsible, and by which the interests of the East
India Company, as well as of several individuals in India and Canton,
would materially have suffered, was completely frustrated by the simple
circumstance of Mr. Drummond, the chief of the factory, rushing into the
city of Canton, and repeating aloud a few words which he had got by
heart whilst, at the same time, he held up a written memorial; the
consequence of which was, that the memorial was immediately carried to
the viceroy, and the grievance complained of therein redressed. It would
have been in vain to convey it through any of the inferior officers or
the Hong merchants, as they were all interested in keeping it from the
knowledge of government.
The supposed difficulty of acquiring the Chinese language has hitherto
intimidated the residents in Canton from making the attempt. Satisfied
in transacting the Company's concerns through the medium of a jargon of
broken English, which all the Hong merchants and even the inferior
tradesmen and mechanics find it worth their while to acquire, they have
totally neglected the language, as well as every other branch of
information respecting the most interesting and extraordinary empire on
the face of the globe. The attainment in fact of four or five thousand
characters, which are sufficient to write clearly and copiously on any
subject, is much less difficult than usually has been imagined, but it
would require great attention and unremitting perseverance, such perhaps
as few are willing to bestow, who are placed in situations which enable
them to calculate, almost to a certainly, on realizing a fixed sum in a
given number of years. The climate may also be adverse to intense
application, but if the foundation was laid in England, much of the
difficulty would thus be obviated. The French, aware of the solid
advantages that result from the knowledge of languages, are at this
moment holding out every encouragement to the study of Chinese
literature; obviously not without design. They know that the Chinese
character is understood from the Gulph of Siam to the Tartarian Sea, and
over a very considerable part of the great Eastern Archipelago; that the
Cochin Chinese, with whom they have already firmly rooted themselves,
use no other writing than the pure Chinese character, which is also the
case with the Japanese. It is to be hoped therefore that the British
nation will not neglect the means of being able to meet the French, if
necessary, even on this ground. The method of accomplishing this
desirable object appears to be extremely simple. If the Directors of
the East India Company were to make it a rule that no writer should be
appointed to China until he had made himself acquainted with five
hundred or a thousand characters of the language[69], I will be bold to
say that, where the number sent out is so few (the establishment not
exceeding twenty) and the emoluments so very liberal, there would be as
little danger as at present, by such a regulation, of the appointments
being made out of their own families. The noble Marquis at the head of
their affairs in India has established an institution, which seems to
bid fair for producing a mutual benefit to the parent state and the
native Indians. The exertions of Sir William Jones and a few others had,
indeed, long before this, been productive of the happiest effects; and
great numbers, both on the civil and military establishments of the
Company, made themselves acquainted, in a certain degree, with the
different languages spoken in the country. In fact, it became a matter
of necessity, in order to remove prejudices imbibed against us and to
meet those of the natives. The Portuguese and the Dutch adopted a
different policy; and, like our residents at Canton, communicated only
with the natives in a jargon of their own languages. Mr. Thunberg tells
a story of a Dutch gentleman, who had resided as chief of their factory
in Japan for fourteen years, during which period he had been four times
in the capacity of Embassador to the court, yet, on being asked the
name of the Emperor of Japan, freely avowed that it had never occurred
to him to ask it. In fact, his grand object was the accumulation of so
many millions of florins in a given time; in the pursuit of which he had
completely lost sight of the Emperor of Japan and his millions of
subjects.
[69] There are several good manuscript Chinese dictionaries in England;
one of which is under publication by Doctor Montucci; who, I understand
from good authority, by many years of indefatigable application, had
succeeded in writing the characters with great neatness and accuracy;
and is well qualified in other respects for the undertaking, in which,
it is to be hoped, he may meet with suitable encouragement.
If then, by neglecting to study the language of the Chinese, we are
silly enough to place ourselves and concerns so completely in their
power, we are highly deserving of the extortions and impositions so
loudly complained of. If the trade of London was exclusively vested in
the hands of _eight merchants_, and if the foreigners who visited its
port could neither speak nor write one single word of the language of
England, but communicated solely on every subject with those eight
merchants, through a broken jargon somewhat resembling the languages of
the several foreigners, it might fairly be questioned, without any
disparagement to the merchants of London, if those foreigners would have
less reason of complaint than the Europeans have who now trade to China?
Even as things are, would a Chinese arriving in England find no subject
of complaint, no grievances nor vexations at the custom-house, which,
for want of knowing our language, he might be apt to consider as
extortions and impositions? Two years ago two Chinese missionaries
landed in England, in their way to the college _de propaganda Fide_ at
Naples. Each had a small bundle of clothes under his arm and, according
to the custom of their country, a fan in his hand. Being observed by one
of those voracious sharks who, under the pretext of preventing frauds
on the revenue, plunder unprotected foreigners and convert the booty to
their own advantage, the poor fellows were stripped by him of the little
property they carried in their hands, and were not, without difficulty,
allowed to escape with the clothes on their backs. Can we blame these
people for representing us as a barbarous, unfeeling, and inhospitable
nation, however undeserving we may be of such a character?
Our case at Canton is pretty nearly the same as that of the two Chinese
missionaries. Every petty officer of the government knows he can
practise impositions on our trade with impunity, because we have not the
means of bringing his villainy to the knowledge of his superiors. For,
how great soever may be the propensity of the Chinese people to fraud
and extortion, I have little doubt of the justice and moderation of the
Chinese government, when the case is properly represented. A recent
circumstance may be mentioned in support of this opinion. In the year
1801, a sailor on board his Majesty's ship the Madras fired upon and
mortally wounded a Chinese who was passing in a boat. A discussion, as
usual, took place with the Chinese government; but it was conducted in a
very different manner from what had hitherto been usual on similar
occasions. Instead of entering into any explanation or defence through
the medium of the Hong merchants, who tremble at the lowest officer of
government, a memorial was addressed to the Viceroy, drawn up in a
proper and becoming manner by the present Sir George Staunton, the only
Englishman in the Company's service who was skilled in the Chinese
language. Several conversations were also held on the subject with the
officers of justice, from which the Hong merchants were excluded.
Captain Dilkes setting up a plea of recrimination on the ground of some
Chinese having cut his cable with an intent to steal it, the government
assented to have the matter tried in the supreme court of justice in the
city of Canton. By the law of China, if the wounded person survive forty
days, the sentence of death is commuted for that of banishment into the
wilds of Tartary; yet so favourably did the court incline to the side of
the accused in this instance, that although the time was not expired,
and there was little hope of the wounded man recovering, they allowed
Captain Dilkes to take the seaman into his own custody, requiring only
that he should leave in court a written promise to produce him in case
the wounded should not survive the time prescribed by law. The man
lingered near fifty days and then died, upon which a message was sent by
the court, intimating to the Captain, that the court saw no impropriety,
in this instance, in leaving it to him to punish the delinquent
according to the laws of his own country; thus, for the first time,
assenting to set aside a positive law in favour of foreigners. By this
proper mode of interference an English subject was saved from an unjust
and ignominious death, which would otherwise inevitably have happened,
as on all former occasions of a similar kind, had the affair been left
in the hands of men whose interest it is to represent us as barbarians,
and who, however well they might be disposed, have not the courage to
plead our cause. Hitherto the Chinese have invariably made a point of
executing immediately, and without a regular trial, any foreigner who
should kill a Chinese, or some substitute in the place of the actual
criminal, as I have already instanced in the seventh chapter. One of the
most intelligent of the East India Company's servants at Canton,
speaking on this subject, in answer to certain queries proposed to him
about the time of the Embassy, remarks, "I cannot help observing, that
the situation of the Company's servants and the trade in general is, in
this respect, very dangerous and disgraceful. It is such that it will be
impossible for them to extricate themselves from the cruel dilemma a
very probable accident may place them in, I will not say with _honour_,
but without _infamy_, or exposing the whole trade to ruin." Yet we have
just now seen, on the recurrence of such an accident, that by the
circumstance of a direct and immediate communication with the
government, the affair was terminated, not only without disgrace or
infamy, but in a that was honourable to both parties.
CONCLUSION.
I have now gone over most of the points relative to which I have been
able to recollect the remarks and observations which arose in my mind
during my attendance on this memorable Embassy. The comparisons I have
made were given with a view of assisting the reader to form in his own
mind some idea what rank the Chinese may be considered to hold, when
measured by the scale of European nations; but this part is very
defective. To have made it complete would require more time and more
reading, than at present I could command. The consideration of other
objects, those of a political nature, which are of the most serious
importance to our interests in China, is more particularly the province
of those in a different sphere, and would, therefore, be improper for me
to anticipate or prejudge, by any conjectures of my own. It belongs to
other persons, and perhaps to other times[70]; but it is to be hoped
that the information, reflections, and opinions of the Embassador
himself, may one day be fully communicated to the public, when the
present objections to it shall cease, and the moment arrive (which is
probably not very distant) that will enable us to act upon the ideas of
that nobleman's capacious and enlightened mind, and to prove to the
world that the late Embassy, by shewing the character and dignity of the
British nation in a new and splendid light, to a court and people in a
great measure ignorant of them before, however misrepresented by the
jealousy and envy of rivals, or impeded by the counteraction of enemies,
has laid an excellent foundation for great future advantages, and done
honour to the wisdom and foresight of the statesman[71] who planned the
measure, and directed its execution.
[70] This was written at the close of the year 1803.
[71] The Lord Viscount Melville.
INDEX.
A
_Abaris_, the flying arrow of, 40
_Africa_, coast of, known to the Phenicians, 48
_Agriculture_, an honourable profession, 397
of _Pe-tche-lee_, 554
of _Shan-tung_, 554
of _Kiang-nan_, 561
terrace system of, 568
_Air_ sung by Chinese boatmen, 81
_Almanack_, national, 284
_Almeyda_, a Portuguese Jesuit, malignant spirit of, 19
_Alphabet_ of the Mantchoo language, 272
_American_ Indians resemble the Chinese, 44
traders, how considered at Canton, 593
_Amplification_, Chinese example of, 36
_Ancients_ unacquainted with China, 435
_Anniversary_ of the Emperor of China's birth-day, 196
_Anson's_ voyage, character of Chinese in the account of, 27
_Antiquary_, curious mistake of one, 258
_Appeal_, none in civil causes, 277
_Arbitrary power_, instance of, 85
_Arch_, very ancient in Chinese architecture, 339
those called triumphal, 95
_Archipelago of Chu-san_, violent currents in, 54
_Architecture_ of the palace of _Yuen-min-yuen_, 124
style of, in landscape gardening, 135
general observations on, 330
monumental, 339
_Arithmetic_, 196
_Armenian_ and his pearl, 611
_Army_ establishment, 405
how employed, 408
_Astronomy_, 284
ignorance of the Chinese in, 290
_Authority_, parental, basis of Chinese government, 359
B
_Baboom_, an Armenian, trick played by him at Canton, 612
_Bamboo_, the practice of flogging with, instanced, 161
general utility of this plant, 309
reflexions on the punishment of, 380
compared with that of the _knout_ in Russia, 383
_Bedford_, Duke of, his portrait in China, 115
_Beverage_ of life, 464
_Bishop_ of Pekin, his visit to _Yuen-min-yuen_, 110
_Books_, ancient ones of China, 276
_Breakfast_, Chinese, 89
_Briareus_ of China, 471
_Bridges_, 337
one of ninety-one arches, 520
_Budha_, compared with _Fo_, 468
_Burying-ground_, 497
C
_Calendar_, national, an engine of government, 391
_Camellia Sesanqua_, 536
_Camelopardalis_, noticed by Marco Polo, 46
_Canal_, Imperial, 335
observations on, 506-512
_Cannon_, 299
_Canton_, reasons for the Embassy avoiding it, 33
situation of foreigners trading to it, 610
_Carriages_ of the Chinese described, 90
those made by Hatchett puzzle them, 113
_Cavalry_, Tartar, 410
_Censorate_, 363
_Ceremony_ of the Court, 21
_Chain-pump_, 311
_Character_, physical, as given by Linnæus not correct, 184
moral, of Chinese and Tartars, 186
_Characters_ of the Chinese language, 248
keys or roots of, 251
examples of the composition of, 255
_Chastity_, palace of, 235
_Chemical Arts_, 298
_Checks_ to the absolute power of the Emperor, 362
_Children_ still-born exposed in the streets, 176
_Chou-ta-gin_, 70
_Chou-ta-gin_, kind attentions of, 604
_Christian Religion_ might once have been introduced, 449
_Churchmen_, intrigues of, not easily obviated, 18
_Cingalese_, of Chinese origin, 53
_Cities of China_, walls, towers, and gates of, 91
observations on, 500
_Cleanliness_ no part of the Chinese character, 77
_Cock-fighting_, 159
_Coffins_, splendid appearance of, 95
_Collieries_, 594
_Commerce_ of the Yellow Sea, how carried on, 60
_Comedy_ described, 201
extraordinary scene in one, 221
_Comparison_ of China and Europe, 29
of a Chinese and a Hottentot, 49
_Compass_, an original invention of Chinese, 39
observations on, 61
explanation of the circles on, 62
_Conclusion_, 621
_Conduct_ of Chinese prepossessing, 80
_Confucius_, religion of, 451
no statues to the memory of, 458
hall of, 459
_Cork Convent_, 597
_Corvorant_, the fishing, 506
_Cottons_, manufactures of, 307
cultivation of the plant, 556
_Court of China_, forms of, immutable, 21
manners and amusements of, 191
_Crimes and punishments_, 367
_Criminal offences_, mode of trial for, 370
_Crowd of persons_ at _Ting-hai_, 57
at _Tien-sing_, 78
at _Tong-tchoo_, 86
in _Pekin_, 96
_Cruelty_, instance of, 161
_Crystal lenses_, 341
_Cuckoo-clocks_, 181
_Currents_, violence of, in _Chu-san_ Archipelago, 54
_Custom_ respecting Embassadors, 22
_Customs_ and dress not subjects of ridicule, 74
_Cycle_ of sixty years, 293
D
_Daughters_ always sold, 145
_Day of rest_, policy of observing one, 154
_Decimal Arithmetic_, 297
_Deity_ not personified in China, 457
_Deluge_, universal tradition of, 432
_Deodato_, an Italian missionary, 107
_Departments_, public, 365
_Descartes_, his idea of prolonging life, 466
_Dignities_, personal, 385
_Dispositions_, natural, altered by influence of laws, 160
_Distillation_ of _Seau-tchoo_, 303
_Drama_, state of the, 218
extraordinary subject of one, 222
obscenities of, compared to those of Theodora, 223
absurdities of, similar to those of the amphitheatres, 224
_Dress_ of the Chinese, 71
_Dutch_ Embassadors, humiliating conduct of, 9
their missions not calculated to make terms, 13
_Duties_ levied at Canton, 613
E
_Ebriety_, not a Chinese vice, 152
_Eclipse_ of the moon, observance of, 216
ceremony on occasion of, 285
_Egpytian_ mythology in China explained, 424
deities compared with Chinese, 477
_Embassador_, English, proceeds to Gehol, 104
refuses to submit to the ceremony, 117
his introduction at court, 196
his hotel in Pekin, 332
_Embassadors_, Dutch, treatment of, at Canton, 9
lodged in a stable at Pekin, 11
reception of, at court, 208
visit _Yuen-min-yuen_, 215
_Embassies_, Dutch and English, different treatment of, explained, 17
from Europe in the last century, 23
_Embassy_, English, a necessary measure, 22
attention of the Chinese to, 604
expence of, to the Chinese government, 605
expence of, to the British government, 608
_Emperor of China_ laughs at Van Braam's aukwardness, 13
considers Embassadors as his guests, 22
an observation of, 104
obeisance to, on his birth-day, 116
inspects the presents, 119
life and character of, 226
causes the death of his Empress and son, 226
conceives the deity to be incarnate in him, 228
his ode in praise of tea, 280
observations of, on the mechanical powers, 312
maxims on which he acts, 360
checks to the absolute power of, 362
patronizes agriculture, 399
instances of gratitude in, 482
_Encyclopedists_, French, their testimony of the Chinese character, 26
_Espirit des Loix_, false conclusions drawn in, 148
_Etymological_ deductions fallacious, 241
_Eunuchs_, bad character of, 230
_Expence_ of the Embassy, to the English and Chinese governments, 605
_Eye_ of the Chinese remarkable, 49
F
_Face_ of the country near the _Pei-ho_, 70
_Failure_ of the Embassy, supposed reason of, stated, 8
_Famines_ attempted to be explained, 584
_Feet_ distorted of Chinese women, 73
not noticed by early travellers, 75
difficult to account for, 76
_Feasts_, 155
_Ferry-girls_, 595
_Fevers_, contagious, not frequent, 349
_Filial duty_, a precept rather than a sentiment, 143
_Fire-works_ described, 206
_Fishing_, various modes of, 533
_Fishermen_, condition of, 558
_Fo_ religion of, 468
_Formosa_, strait of, 34
_Four seas_, an ancient expression, 14
_Fo-shee_, the lines of, 277
_Franciscan_ convent in Madeira, 598
_Fruit-trees_, how propagated, 569
_Funerals_, 483
G
_Games_ of Chance, 157
_Ganesa_ compared with Janus and _Men-shin_, 469
_Ganga_ compared with Egyptian and Chinese deities, 472
_Gardening_, general account of, by Lord Macartney, 131
_Gardens_ of _Yuen-min-yuen_, some account of, 122
_Gates_ of Chinese cities, 92
_Gehol_, appointed for the celebration of the birth day, 104
park of, described by Lord Macartney, 126
_Geological observations_, 429
_Geometry_ and geography little understood, 295
_Gill's_ sword-blades, acceptable presents, 113
_Giraffe_, or Camelopardalis, noticed by Marco Polo, 46
_Glass_, 305
_Government_, the pride of, 20
stability of, accounted for, 359
_Governor_ of _Chu-san_, arbitrary proceeding of, 49
_Grammar_ of Chinese language, 267
_Grammont_, Monsieur, his letter to the Dutch, 7
_Great Britain_ and China, compared as to their extent and population, 576
_Gunpowder_, 300
H
_Hager_, Doctor, remarks on the publication of, 239
mistake of, 253
_Hang-tchoo-foo_, alarm created in, by three Englishmen, 526
_Hatchett's_ carriages puzzle the Chinese, 113
_Herodotus_ approves the custom of selling women, 140
_Hieroglyphical_ writing, Chinese characters different from, 237
_Hills_ of _Pe-tche-lee_, character of, 64
_Hindoo_ and Chinese features totally different, 427
_History_ of China, why so little known, 357
_Homer_ degrades women, 140
_Homicide_ punished with death, 368
_Honour_, high notions of, incompatible with despotism, 179
_Ho-tchung-tang_, the minister, anecdote of, 183
trial and condemnation of, 387
_Hottentots_, resemblance of, to the Chinese, 48
portrait of one, compared with Chinese, 50
_Humiliation_ of the Dutch Embassadors, 9
I
_Ice_, a luxury enjoyed by the poor near Pekin, 109
_Idolatry_, one cause of, 485
_Jewish_ law punishing children for their fathers, 375
_Jews_ might have carried the silk worm to China, 437
remarks on these people, 438
_Immortals_, sons of, a sect in China, 463
_Imprisonment_ not known as a punishment, 378
_Incense_ burnt before the Chinese compass, 42
_Infanticide_, remarks on, 168
extent of, in China, 169
common among the ancients, 171
probable causes of, 173
_Inns_, none in China, 421
_Inscription_ on the flags of the yachts, 69
those on monuments, 326
_Inundation_, 515
_Jones_, Sir William, his opinion of the Chinese, 27
of their arts, sciences, &c., 356
_Ireland_, peasantry of, compared with those of China, 578
_Iron-ware_, 298
_Italian opera_, Chinese drama a burlesque on, 219
_Ivory_, cutting of, 308
K
_Kamskatka_, known to the Chinese, 14
_King of Holland_, Emperor's letter addressed to, 43
L
_Lake_ of _Hang-tchoo-foo_, 523
_Lama_, religion of, in China, 464
_Language_,
Chinese
written character of, 236
method of studying, 259
colloquial, 264
number of words in, 265
grammar of, 267
Mantchoo Tartar, 270
sooner lost than religious opinions, 405
inconvenience attending our ignorance of, at Canton, 615
_Lanterns_, feast of, 484
_Law_, one of an extraordinary nature, 165
effects of this law, 166
a curious case of, 373
_Laws_, code of, 366
_Lens_ of Mr Parker, 342
_Leibnitz_, binary arithmetic of, 277
_Letter_ of M. Grammot to the Dutch factory, 7
of the Emperor of China to the _King of Holland_, 14
_Literature_, 274
_Lowang_, one of the _Chu-san_ islands, 36
_Lowther-hall_, grounds of, compared to the park of Gehol, 134
M
_Macao_, surmise with regard to, 20
_Macartney_, Lord, his account of Chinese gardening, 126
of the birth-day ceremonies, 196
his observations on the Tartars and Chinese, 415
_Madagascar_, a people on, resembling the Chinese, 45
_Madrid_, strange notion of the inhabitants of, 99
_Mahomedans_ visit China in the ninth century, 47
get into the interior in the thirteenth century, 442
_Malays_ of Scythian origin, 51
_Man-midwives_, none in China, 353
_Manners_ of domestic life, 142
a concern of the legislature, 178
and amusements of the court, 191
_Mansfield_, Lord, his observation on early risers, 229
_Mantchoo Tartars_, probably a mixed race, 185
a language of, 270
policy of, 412
_Manure_, an article of commerce, 84
_Marco Polo_, supposed to have brought the compass from China, 40
_Match-locks_, why preferred to firelocks, 411
_Mechanical_ powers, 311
_Medicine_, state of, 344
_Meetings_ of the people rare, 396
_Merchants_, how considered in China, 180
_Micare digitis_, a Roman game, 158
_Michael de Murano_, chart in the church of, 47
_Military_, establishment of, &c., 405
curious manœuvre of, 504
_Minister of State_, miserable lodgings of, 10
_Missionaries_, remarks on the communications of, 3-28-31
accompanied by spies when they visited the English, 105
story of an infant saved by one, 174
condition of those in the capital, 445
cause their own persecutions, 446
unjustly accuse the Chinese of superstitions, 462
_Mollusca-medusa_, an article of food, 55
_Mongul Tartars_, benefit derived by their conquest of China, 43
_Monuments_, inscriptions on, 329
erected over the dead, 340
_Mountains_ ascended for religious purposes, 451
nature of those of China, 599
_Music_, 314
specimens of, 318
_Musical instruments_, plate of, 315
N
_Nations_, who had early intercourse with China, 440
_Navigation_ of the Yellow Sea unknown, 33
of the Chinese unskillful, 38
inland, improved by the Tartars, 43
_Nautical Almanack_, a valuable present to the missionaries in Pekin, 112
_Nelumbium_, or water lilly, 473
_New-year's-day_, the only holiday in China, 155
_Noah_, supposed by the Jesuits to have travelled into China, 433
ark of, where it probably rested, 432
O
_Oar song_ of the Chinese, 81
_Oath_, form of, among the Chinese and Sumatrans, 52
never administered in a Chinese court of law, _ib._
_Objects_ that occur in China, 4
_Occurrences_ in the Yellow Sea, 25
_Office_ obtained only by learning, 386
of government, civil, 404
military, 406
_Officers_ of Canton, conduct of, towards the Dutch, 10
_Opium_ much used in China, 153
_Opthalmia_, 351
_Ornamental_ buildings in landscape gardening, 129
_Orphan_ of China, remarks on, 220
P
_Pagodas_, observations on, 503
_Paine, Tom_, his doctrines too sublime for the Chinese language, 396
_Painting_, 323
_Palaces_ of China worse than Saint James's, 194
_Pantomime_ described, 203
_Paper_, manufacture of, 310
_Park_ of Gehol described by Lord Macartney, 129
_Pauw_, his opinion of the Chinese, 27
_Peasantry_, condition of, 310
_Pearl_, story of one belonging to an Armenian, 611
_Pei-ho_, entrance of, 68
second embarkation on, 488
_Pekin_, approach to, 91
some account of, 93
uncommon bustle in the great streets of, 96
populace of, compared with that of London, 97
police of, 100
uniformity of, 101
hotel of the British Embassador in, 103
appearance of, from _Hai-tien_, _ib._
hue and cry raised in, 120
gazette of, 391
contrasted with London, 420
prices of provisions in, 549
buildings and population of, compared with those of London, 581
_Perouse de la_, his account of a people resembling Chinese, 44
_Pilots_, difficulty of procuring them at _Chu-san_, 58
_Plants_, in _Pe-tche-lee_, 493
near _Hang-tchoo-foo_, 525
near Canton, 601
_Plough_, ceremony of, compared with the _Isia_, 487
_Poetry_, 280
_Polarity_ of the magnet known to the Scythians, 41
_Police_ of Pekin, 100
_Polo Marco_, valuable testimony of, 35
_Polygamy_ an evil of small extent, 147
_Population_ of floating craft, 84
and extent of China, 575
compared with those of Great Britain, 576
as given by Father Amiot, 582
_Populousness_ of China, causes of, 587
_Poor laws_, none, 401
_Porcelain_, 304
_Portraits_ of a Chinese and Hottentot, 50
among the presents, difficulty respecting, 114
_Portuguese_ missionary, intrigues of, 18
_Posture-masters_, feats of, 204
_Potatoes_ a certain crop, 585
_Poverty_ of the Chinese, 495
_Predestination_, 454
_Present_ of the governor of _Ten-tchoo-foo_, 65
_Present_ of the officers deputed from court, 67
_Press_, liberty of, in China, 392
_Prince_ of the blood, anecdote of, 182
_Printing_, 311
_Procession_ from _Tong-tchoo_ to Pekin, 85
of, 146
_Property_ not secured by law, 177
laws respecting, 379
_Prophecy_, folly of being guided by, 456
_Pulse_, 345
_Punishments_, capital, not frequent, 378
_Puppet-shew_ described, 201
Q
_Quacks_, tricks of, 347
great pests in England, 465
_Quarries_ of stone, 598
R
_Red-book_, Chinese, 405
_Religion_, primitive, of China, 450
no longer exists, 486
_Religious_ opinions, difficult sometimes to explain, 423
_Revenues_, 403
application of them, 407
vessels to collect them, 534
_Rice_ erroneously supposed to cause opthalmia, 351
the staff of life in China, 547
mill for cleaning, 565
a precarious crop, 586
_Road_ from _Tong-tchoo_ to Pekin, 91
_Roads_ neglected in China, 513
_Romans_, amphitheatres of, 224
_Russia_ and China compared, 324
S
_Sabbatical_ institution, none in China, 154
_Sacrifices_, 509
_Salt_, stacks of, near _Tien-sing_, 78
remarks on the use of, 510
_Salutation_, mode of, 108
expressions of, mark a national character, 189
_Sameness_ throughout China, 5
_Savages_, custom of maiming the human body among, 73
_Scenic_ representations of the Romans, 224
_Scythians_ probably acquainted with the polarity of the magnet, 40
_Scorpion_, remarkable circumstance concerning one, 114
_Scott_, Doctor, saves a man from being buried alive, 165
_Sculpture_, 328
_Seres_ not the same as Chinese, 436
_Shing-moo_, or holy mother, 473
_Ships_ of the Chinese, 37
_Silk_, probably known to the ancients, 437
cultivation of, 571
_Simplicity_ the leading feature of the Chinese, 312
_Skating_, amusement of, 211
_Small-pox_, when introduced, 450
_Snake_, bite of, how cured, 348
_Society_, state of, 138
domestic, 151
_Soffala_, Chinese found at, 45
_Song_ of _Moo-lee-wha_, 316
_Streets_ of Pekin, 94
_Steam_, effects of, known to the Chinese, 298
_Sugar_-mills, 539
_Suicide_ seemingly encouraged, 178
_Surgery_, state of, 353
_Sumatrans_ of Chinese origin, 51
_Sword-blades_ of Gill much admired, 113
_Swan-pan_, 296
T
_Tan_, or Chinese altar, 452
_Tao-tze_, or immortals, sect of, 466
_Tapers_ burnt on altars, 481
_Tartar_ women, dress of, 97
Mantchoo, scarcely distinguishable from Chinese, 184
_Tartary_, heights of, remarks on, 438
_Taste_, 331
_Taxes_, moderate, 400
fixed, 402
_Tcho-ka_, an island in the Tartarian sea, 44
_Tea_ a supposed preventive of certain disorders, 350
_Tea_-plant, trick played by the Chinese concerning, 538
observations on the culture of, 572
_Temple_, Embassy lodged in a, 421
in a cavernous rock, 596
_Terrace_ system of agriculture, 530
_Ten-tchoo-foo_, present of the governor of, 65
_Tien-sing_, approach to the city of, 71
_Ting-hai_, visit to the city of, 57
_Ting-nan-tchin_, name of the Chinese compass, 40
_Titsingh_ Dutch Embassador to Pekin, 9
_Towers_ of the walls of Pekin, 91
_Trackers_ of the yachts pressed into this service, 162
_Trade_ discouraged, 399
how conducted at Canton, 610
_Tranquillity_, internal, 395
_Travellers_ see objects differently, 3
_Treason_ punishable in the 9th generation, 372
_Trial_ of an English seaman for killing a Chinese, 618
_Tribunal_ of Mathematics, 110
some account of, 111
_Ty-phoon_, what, 34
strength of one, 41
_Tyrus_, commerce of, described by Ezekiel, 48
V
_Van Braam_, application of, to Batavia, 8
happy turn of mind of, 13
his account of an Imperial banquet, 210
_Vanity_, national, of the Chinese, 189
_Van-ta-gin_, 70
kind attentions of, 604
_Varuna_ compared with Neptune and _Hai-vang_, 470
_Venereal_ disease not common, 352
_Viceroy_ of Canton, haughty conduct of, 10
swallows his snuff-box, 179
_Villa_ belonging to the Emperor, 102
_Virgin Mary_ and _Shing-moo_ compared, 472
_Vishnu_ compared with Jupiter and _Lui-shin_, 470
_Visiting Tickets_ very ancient in China, 190
_Visitors_ at _Yuen-min-yuen_, 110
_Vocabulary_, brief one of Chinese words, 243
_Volcanic_ products not found in China, 600
_Vossius_, Isaac, his opinion of the Chinese, 26
W
_Wall_ of China, 333
of Pekin, 91
_Watch_ made by a Chinese, 306
_Wealth_ expended to pamper the appetite, 552
_Weather_, stormy in the Streight of Formosa, 34
_Wheel_ to raise water, 540
_Women_, dress and appearance of, at _Tien-sing_, 72
Tartar commonly seen in the capital, 97
reflexions on the condition of, 138
condition of in China, 140
employments of, 143
on the Imperial establishment, 234
not prohibited from frequenting temples, 480
of _Sau-tchoo-foo_, appearance of, 517
articles of sale, 518
course features of those of _Kiang-see_, 541
_Words_, number of, in the Chinese language, 265
Y
_Yachts_, trackers of, 501
_Yellow Sea_, observations on, 25
commerce of, 60
river, ceremonies used in crossing, 509
_Yuen-min-yuen_, miserable apartments at, 108
gardens and buildings of, 122
_THE END._
Printed by A. Strahan,
Printers-Street.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton" ***
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