Chapter X: Some Chinese Seaports and Commerce 205 (6)

With all the educational and religious and philanthropic institutions to be visited, it was most difficult to find time to see the monuments of the past, but we determined not to miss the beautiful golden-roofed temple, dedicated to Chia Yi, a great statesman of the second century B.C. It is now transformed into a school, and we saw the boys drilling; but they seemed an insignificant handful in those noble courtyards, and there were no signs of proper or even necessary equipment.

Our time at Changsha was all too short, and it ended very pleasantly with an evening spent at the Consulate. By this time many of the Chinese were in full flight, because of the coming Southerners, and the city was supposed to be set on fire by incendiaries at 8 p.m. Our steamer had retired into the middle of the river, because of the rush of passengers clamouring to be taken on board, and the captain was unable therefore to fulfil his engagement to dine at the Consulate. We were promised a fine sight of the blazing city—only happily the show did not come off—from the Consulate garden across the river. We stayed there in the delicious summer air till it was time to go on board, and found it difficult not to step on the slumbering people who covered the deck when we reached the steamer. At midnight we slipped down stream, following in the wake of the departing Governor. The Southern troops came in a few days later, but without the looting and fighting which has so often happened in similar circumstances.

_Chapter VII_

_Present-Day Ironsides—General Feng Yu Hsiang_

“There shall never be one lost good! What was shall live as before;
The evil is null, is nought, is silence implying sound;
What was good shall be good, with, for evil, so much good more;
On the earth the broken arcs; in the heaven the perfect round.

All we have willed or hoped or dreamed of good shall exist;
Not its semblance, but itself; no beauty, nor good, nor power
Whose voice has gone forth, but each survives for the melodist
When eternity affirms the conception of an hour.
The high that proved too high, the heroic for earth too hard,
The passion that left the ground to lose itself in the sky,
Are music sent up to God by the lover and the bard;
Enough that He heard it once: we shall hear it by and by.”

—BROWNING.

_Chapter VII_

_Present-Day Ironsides—General Feng Yu Hsiang_

China is a land full of surprises, and at the present day there is an amazing variety of individual efforts for the regeneration of the country by her patriotic sons and daughters. In some ways the chaotic political state of China makes these individual efforts possible where perhaps a more settled government would not admit of them. For instance, each province is governed by a military or civil governor, or both; and within a province may be found large territories practically controlled by some autocratic military official, the presence of whose army is the potent warrant for his wishes being executed. In the province of Hunan, roughly speaking in the centre of China proper, is such an area, of which Changteh is the army headquarters.

Having travelled for many weeks through districts infested with robbers, where law and order are mainly conspicuous by their absence, where the land is one great poppy garden for the opium trade, it came as a shock of surprise and delight to enter a district where we found the exact reverse of these things.

In 1918 there was fighting between the forces of the North and of the South throughout this district, and as the Northern forces were defeated and the City of Changteh captured by the Southerners, General Feng was sent from the neighbouring province of Szechuan to re-take the city. He had not only defeated the Southern Army there, but had treated them in an entirely new way. Feng disbanded the Southern troops after disarming them, and presented each officer with ten dollars and each private with five dollars, so that they might be able to return to their homes without resorting to pillage, the source of so much sorrow in China. The General led his troops to Changteh and found that the Southern forces had withdrawn, so that he entered the city unopposed, though by no means with the goodwill of the inhabitants. They were only too familiar with the tyranny of ordinary Chinese troops; for it is not by foreigners only that they are evilly spoken of, but by all Chinese.

In the two years which had elapsed since then this attitude was completely changed, for the army was paid regularly and not obliged to prey upon the habitants for sustenance, the strictest discipline was observed, and no soldier was allowed to loaf about the streets. The city itself underwent a wonderful purification: gambling dens, opium-smoking halls, houses of ill repute were swept away, and theatres transformed into schools; now a woman even can walk the streets day or night without fear. A notice of three days to quit was given to the above-mentioned houses, and the order was no dead letter. Severe fines were inflicted on traffickers in opium. The streets of the town became wonderfully clean in another sense of the word; the General is so particular about this that if any of the army mules or horses pass through it they are followed by scavengers in order that no traces of their passage may remain; for as there is no wheeled traffic and the streets are extremely narrow there are no side-walks. There are notices in the centre of the streets with regard to the rule of the road, but this is too recent an innovation to be quite understood as yet. Everywhere one is confronted with signs of the General’s determination to raise the _moral_ of the people. When he closed the opium dens he opened refuges for the cure of the smoker, instead of putting him in prison, as is done in certain parts of the North. The patient was photographed on entering and on leaving (à la Barnardo). General Feng punishes with death the soldier proved to have been trafficking in the sale of opium, while the civilian is punished by being flogged and paraded bare-backed afterwards through the streets, preceded by a notice board stating his offence. The city gaol is the only one in the country which has a chapel and the missionary bodies in the town have charge—a month at a time by turns. As you pass along the streets your eye is attracted by posters of a novel kind. They are pictures descriptive of evil habits to be shunned: a cock is vainly sounding the réveillé to which the sluggard pays no heed; the vain woman on her little bound feet watches from afar the industrious woman doing her task in cheerful comfort with normal feet, and so on. In odious contrast to these pictures are the British and American cigarette posters to be found all over the country, and I was told that one of the leading Englishmen in the trade said regretfully that he thought they had done the country no good turn in introducing cigarettes to China. They are considered a curse by thoughtful Chinese, and at the request of the officers, the General has prohibited the use of them in the army, though there is no embargo on other tobacco-smoking.

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Another noticeable feature of the city is the open-air evening school, the sign of which is a blackboard on a wall, sheltered by a little roof which may be seen in many an open space. When the day’s work is over benches are produced from a neighbouring house and school begins. The General has established over forty night schools dotted along the five miles of the city on the river-bank, besides the industrial schools open during the daytime. We visited one large training school for girls and women, which he has established and supports in order to promote industry, and to which workers from the country districts are welcomed. They have six months’ training and one meal a day gratis, and they are taught weaving, stocking-making (on machines), dressmaking and tailoring, etc., and the goods turned out find a ready market. The instructors are all very well paid, and the work done is thoroughly good, despite the disparaging remarks of an elderly overseer who evidently had the conventional contempt for the Chinese woman’s intelligence.

General Feng is a firm believer in women’s education, and has established a school for the wives of his officers, to which they come not altogether willingly, I fear. The unwonted routine and discipline are naturally a trial, especially to women no longer in their _première jeunesse_; and despite the fact that he succeeded in persuading a highly-trained and charming woman to come from the north to take charge of it, there have been many difficulties to surmount. She lunched with us one day and told us an instance of this which makes one realize the situation: a certain lady resented the fact of her teacher being the wife of a veterinary surgeon (lower in rank than her husband), and disregarded her continual efforts to curb her feminine loquacity and make her attend to her studies. Finally there was a complete rupture between the ladies, and the unwilling pupil indignantly left the school. The teacher pondered over this and could not bear the thought of having quarrelled with a fellow Christian. She determined to try and make it up, so she called upon the lady, who refused to see her. Nothing daunted, she tried a second time, and again the lady was “not at home,” but sent her husband to speak to her. The teacher explained to him all she felt—he was so moved by her appeal that he fetched his wife, a complete reconciliation took place, and she returned to school.

The General has a short religious service in his own house every Sunday morning for these ladies, at which he, his wife and some officers are present, and at which he invited me to speak.

Having described in outline the changes effected in Changteh by General Feng, it is time to try and describe the man himself and his past life. He is tall and powerful, with a resolute, masterful air as befits a man who is ruler of men; but his ready smile and the humorous twinkle in his eye reassures the most timid. He was born in 1881 in the northern province of Nganhwei, of humble parentage, and had no educational advantages. He has amply made up for this, however, having a keen sense of the value of knowledge and giving to others what was not given to him. The study of English is being eagerly pursued by himself and his officers, and he will soon pick it up if he comes to England, as he wishes to do.

General Feng entered the army as a common soldier, and in 1900 was present (on duty), but only as an onlooker, at the Boxer massacre of missionaries at Paotingfu. This was his first contact with Christian people, and it made a deep impression on him. This was strengthened by further contact with a medical missionary, who cured him of a poisoned sore and charged nothing, but told him of the love of God, Who had sent him to heal the sick. There is no doubt that medical missions have been one of the best possible instruments for winning the Chinese to Christianity, and one cannot but regret that it is now becoming necessary to abandon the practice of non-payment, except for the most necessitous cases, on account of the terrible rise in prices and the lack of funds for the upkeep of our hospitals. However, it appears to be inevitable.

The turning-point in General Feng’s life took place when he was stationed at Peking in 1911, having already risen to the rank of Major. He was feared and disliked by officers and men on account of his fierce temper, which caused him to strike them when he was angry, while his wife also had to submit to being beaten when she displeased her lord and master in the most trivial details. There was as complete a change in his life as in Saul’s when he obeyed the heavenly vision. This was the result of attendance at a meeting by Dr. Mott, and he was assigned to Bishop Morris’s care for further teaching. The strongest influence brought to bear on him at that time, however, seems to have been that of Pastor Liu, of the Wesleyan Mission, who became one of his best friends. It is not easy at the age of thirty-one to conquer an ungoverned temper and tongue, but the fact remains that he is now adored by his troops, and that he has never abused or ill-treated his wife (a General’s daughter) since becoming a Christian. How difficult this is may be judged by the fact that one of the finest characters among the Christian Chinese clergy, Pastor Hsi, says that he found it so impossible to conquer the lifelong habit of abusive language to his wife that he had to make it a special matter of prayer before he could succeed, though he was such a saint. The question of bad language throughout the army is remarkable; an American missionary, after spending a year constantly in and out amongst the men, said he had heard _none_, for the General has a wonderful way of getting his wishes observed, and has been instrumental in winning the bulk of both officers and men to Christianity. He has compiled a treatise on military service, redolent of Christian morality, which every one of his men can repeat by heart. This treatise has been taken as the basis of General Wu Pei Fu’s handbook (a friend of General Feng), who quotes Cromwell’s army of Ironsides as a model for the soldier’s imitation, though he does not profess to be a Christian! It may be thought that the Christianizing of the army is of doubtful reality, but this is certainly not the case; for in the first place the amount of Bible teaching they are undergoing is far beyond what would ordinarily be the case here at home before admitting candidates to Church membership, and the only difficulty about this teaching is to find the teachers necessary for such numerous candidates: they are keen to learn about Christianity. Before baptism they have to submit to a searching examination of their character and behaviour, and must have an officer’s certificate to that effect. In addition each man must sign a statement promising to spend time daily in prayer and study of the Bible, to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and to obey the teaching of the New Testament.

Nevertheless, they have been baptized by hundreds, so that already more than a third of the army (and I think the proportion must be much greater now, as over one hundred were postponed as being not sufficiently ready some time ago) are already members of the Visible Church.

Many of the men have been won to Christianity by a tragic happening of last year. Dr. Logan, of the Presbyterian Mission, was shot by a lunatic whom he had been asked to examine medically in the General’s room. The General flung himself on the man to disarm him and was himself shot in two places. A colonel who rushed into the room on hearing the shots, saw both Dr. Logan and the General on the floor, and asked the latter, “Shall I take the man out and shoot him?” but the answer was “No.” The man, not being responsible for his actions, was only to be put in a place of safety where he could harm no one. Dr. Logan died in about an hour, but the General was taken to hospital and recovered. A day or two later Mrs. Logan was told by one of the officers that the lunatic was in fetters and that he had struck him in the face, and was surprised at her indignation on hearing it. She at once went to headquarters where the lunatic was confined and ordered the astonished officer in charge to take off all the man’s fetters. He naturally demurred, but on hearing who she was, he exclaimed: “This man murdered your husband, and do you mean to say that you want us to treat him kindly?” The result of her deed was that a large number of the soldiers decided to become Christians: they had expected severe reprisals to be demanded and said that no religion could compare with a religion producing such deeds as Mrs. Logan’s. The impression made was profound and widespread.

All we saw and heard of General Feng made us anxious to see so remarkable a man, and the missionaries very kindly arranged an interview which took place about 8.30 a.m. The General and Mrs. Feng received us in their simple home at headquarters, and we had a long talk about China and other matters, for he is an ardent patriot and shares the universal anxiety about the disturbed state of China and the Japanese invasion. On a later occasion he asked what our dresses were made of, and on hearing that it was Chinese silk, he was pleased and said they were very nice. Our hats he did not like, and said we ought to wear straw ones like his wife. She put hers on to show us at his request, and of course we made such polite remarks as the occasion demanded, so he sent out an orderly at once to buy two, and we had to put them on, while our own hats were put in a paper parcel for us to take home! The hat was certainly much more suitable to the time of year than the one I was wearing, and he asked if I should take it back to England: he had been trying to persuade the other _taitais_ (ladies) to wear them, but without much success. Most of the Chinese are extremely keen to have European things, and European headgear as seen in the bazaars is too appalling for words. Often a charming Chinese costume is completely spoiled by some garish woolwork cap, with artificial flowers of varied hues.

The General believes in five things:

(i) Religion;
(ii) Work;
(iii) Education;
(iv) Discipline;
(v) Cleanliness.

These things are not a matter of theory, but of practice. He has taken heed to the words, “Ye that love the Lord HATE EVIL,” and while he puts down all that appears wrong, he is equally energetic in promoting good things. For instance, he requires every officer as well as every private to learn a trade or profession, so that when he leaves the army he will not remain unemployed. We went all over the army workshops where many trades are represented, and found them extremely clean, well-ventilated and attractive. There is a ready sale for all their products and they make all the army clothing, towels, socks, boots, etc. Each soldier is required to do one year’s training in the workshops for seven hours a day. There is also educational work in full swing and special three-months’ courses of instruction. To these one private and one lieutenant are elected for each company at a time, and although no promotion follows special success in the examinations, they are taken cognizance of when there is a question of promotion. Much attention is paid to athletics and physical drill, and efficiency is the hall-mark of every department. They looked to my unprofessional eye the smartest, best-turned-out soldiers in China, and the record of certain route marches I dare not set down because they make too great a demand on our belief, whose physical endurance is infinitely less. Woe betide the man on whom the General’s eagle eye detects lack of polish or scrupulous care in his accoutrements! To anyone who knows China, I must seem rather untruthful in stating that bad smells do not exist in the camp, and every bed is clean and provided with a mosquito net.

It must be added that the army is not all concentrated at Changteh, but there are various camps scattered over the area governed by General Feng, the population inhabiting which is estimated at seven to eight million people. He is aided in the city by an efficient young magistrate who is in sympathy with his aims, and who was appointed by him. He certainly knows how to select men, and is training a valuable body of officers to occupy—one cannot but hope—a much wider sphere of service for the country later on. The achievement of the last two years makes anything seem possible to one who has seen it, and one of the Britishers who has been in close touch with him while he has been in Changteh remarked on the striking development of the General’s personality during that time. He is a practical democrat, shares teaching and work with his men, and has actually succeeded in getting his officers to take part in the meanest work, such as water-carrying, to show that there is nothing contemptible in honest labour. The General attends the English class on Thursday evenings with the other officers and shows no official arrogance of any kind. At the Sunday services he retires to a backless bench at the far end of the hall like any “Tommy.”

This brings me to one of the strangest experiences of my life. The evening after our interview with the General he sent one of his officers to ask me to give the address at the military service on Sunday morning. As he knew I was no missionary and no one could have told him that I had ever preached or was accustomed to speaking in public, the only explanation of the invitation seems to be his intense desire to seize any possible chance of stirring his people to fresh endeavour. His interpreter would act as mine unless I preferred having my own. Having received my answer in the affirmative, next day the officer came again to know what portion of Scripture I wanted read in order that it might be well read. The service took place at 7 a.m. on a lovely summer morning, and was held in a big barrack-like hall with a platform at one end with pots of flowers on it; a gallery ran round the hall, in which was the military band, and beyond that some of the officers’ wives and children, including the General’s family. The Chief of Staff conducted the service, which was just like an ordinary Nonconformist service at home, beginning with the National Anthem by the band. The prayers were led by officers among the audience and were short and impressive, the singing of the hymns was hearty, led by a choir, and many of those present had Bibles as well as hymn-books so as to follow the lesson. A boys’ school of officers’ sons sat at the front. It was a wonderful inspiration to speak to such an audience as they listened in rapt attention to the story of the “Contemptible Little Army”, and other historical instances of God’s use of weak things to confound the mighty; every now and then a little burst of irresistible applause broke from them, and quite a number were taking notes all the time. What would I not have given to speak in their own tongue! for it is just paralysing to speak through an interpreter, and weak words become weaker still. The text comforted my despair.

After service we went with the General to breakfast: it was a cheerful meal, as he is full of humour and devoted to his family. The characteristic Chinese love of children was very evident in the involuntary caresses he bestowed upon the little girls while he was talking, as they nestled against his arm. Rather an amusing instance of his humour was told us by our charming Irish host, a tall, spare man. He was crossing the drill ground one day with a short Chinese officer to speak to the General, who was standing chatting with a group of officers on the further side. As the General watched their approach he made a remark which was greeted with laughter. Our host’s curiosity being aroused, he inquired from one of them afterwards what the joke was. “The General said, ‘Don’t you think the missionary looks as if he ought to be the officer and the officer the missionary?’” The breakfast was entirely Chinese with the exception of knife, fork and spoon being provided for us, but we pleased our host by our use of chopsticks instead. After breakfast we had a little rest in Mrs. Feng’s room, and all the rooms we saw were characterized by simplicity, extreme tidiness and cleanliness. We noticed a bright little servant girl, and heard she had been rescued from slavery some years ago by the General’s wife.

General Feng gave me the photograph of himself and family, and at my request wrote the name of each of the children. His own name is at the right hand of the photo.

What struck me most at the ladies’ meeting which followed was the fact of the General coming to it and taking part, showing his real interest in woman’s welfare; it is remarkable how keenly he is working—not only for the army, but for women in general as well as in particular, and for the whole population of his district. He and his officers have pledged one another to work for the evangelization of the civil population, each one making it a rule to try and win at least one of the official class per annum. In this may be seen the instinct for the continuation of a Christian policy if the Christian army should be ordered elsewhere.

As we were taking leave of the General at the close of the meeting, he said to me: “I think you will speak to my officers this evening,” which meant the five o’clock service for officers. I felt overwhelmed, as the two services had been very exhausting, but my host suggested that I should give them an account of what we had seen of the Chinese Home Missionary Society, and of the work amongst the aborigines, and the General said that would interest them very much. He said that the morning address had been not at all like what he expected, but did not explain the statement. Of course, it was impossible to decline, and I took for granted there would be only a small gathering—perhaps two or three dozen men. At five o’clock we were back at the hall and there must have been from two to three hundred officers present and many ladies in the gallery. Again the same quiet spirit of worship and eager expectancy dominated, and the expression of those upturned faces will never fade from my memory, as I told the story of the missionaries coming to barbarian Britain, delivering their Message and leaving the living Message to fulfil itself, the British Church in its turn becoming the missionary to China, who, in its turn, is now called to take up the task, and is beginning to do so. After the General had seen us out of the hall he turned back, and did not rejoin us for some time, the reason being (as I learned, after leaving Changteh, from my interpreter, who was the friend of the General’s interpreter) that he went back to urge the audience to pay heed to the thing which had been said, and to say a few words about the speaker. In the whole matter he acted with such striking self-forgetfulness and tact as I have rarely, if ever, met.

It was not to be expected that such a happy state of affairs would be allowed to continue more than a limited time; for the forces of evil do not accept tamely such a defiance. As in the old days at Ephesus, seeing the source of their wealth attacked, there were plenty of people ready to counter-attack by fair means or foul. A few months later General Feng got his orders to leave Changteh. No sooner had he done so than the Southern troops swarmed back into the undefended city. The houses of ill fame were at once reopened, under military sanction, with soldiers posted at the doors. A time of much unrest followed, and no one knows from day to day what will happen. There is great disorder among the ill-paid troops, and shooting among themselves took place in the streets. An officer was shot close beside the mission premises where we stayed. The schools have been closed and the opium dens and theatres reopened. The Southern troops now hold all the important part of the province, a serious loss to the Government at Peking. Business is at a standstill.

Since Sun Yat Sen has been chosen President of the Southern Government, there is a split among the Southern provinces. The man who was looked on with such hopes by many as a sincere patriot, has proved very much the reverse; he is now a fresh source of discord, and bitter fighting is going on between the provinces of Kwang-Tung and Kwang-si.

And what, meanwhile, of General Feng and his army? They were ordered to go to Chu-ma-tien in Honan. This is on the railway line from Peking to Hankow, and is some hundred and fifty miles north of the latter. It was formerly a place of no importance, but since the coming of the railway its trade has increased rapidly, and it is becoming a big market for the agricultural produce of the surrounding country. As there is a large depôt for railway material and water tanks, it is no doubt important that the place should be properly guarded. But Honan is under military governorship, and the present Tuchun, General Chow Ti, is a bitter opponent of General Feng, and is working hard to get rid of him. He has succeeded in getting the Provincial Assembly to accuse Feng to the authorities at Peking of illegally extorting money at a place called Hsuchow. There are at present three military leaders at Peking, who so far have refused to act in this matter, and they are trying to bring the two generals to an agreement. They are afraid of fresh conflicts arising in the province. The Honanese are not the easiest people to govern, the province is densely populated. “They are of an independent turn of mind,” says one who knows them well, “and will not brook reproof; very conservative, they do not welcome foreign innovation.”

Meanwhile the troops are starving and urgent demands for arrears of pay have no effect upon the War Lords at Peking.

What the outcome of the controversy will be, time will soon reveal.

_Chapter VIII_

_The New Chinese Woman—Miss Tseng, B.Sc. (Lond.)_

“There can be no question at all that the education of women
is, in every grade, quite as important as the education of
men, and that educational training is quite as important in
the case of women teachers as in the case of men. Indeed in
view of the fact that character is largely determined in the
early years and by the influence of the mother in the home, the
education of women acquires a place of first importance.... All
the women’s educational work in a district should be planned
in co-ordination with the corresponding work for men and
boys.”—_World Missionary Conference Report on Education, 1910._

_Chapter VIII_

_The New Chinese Woman—Miss Tseng, B.Sc. (Lond.)_

Unlike the women of other races of the East, the Chinese woman has always shown a marked strength of character, and evidently, as Mrs. Poyser so truly remarked, “God made ’em to match the men.” That the men did not approve of this is equally plain, for, looking back some thousands of years, we find the great Confucius teaching the best way of counteracting this inborn self-will and strength of character.

“It is a law of nature,” he says, “that woman should be kept under the control of man and not allowed any will of her own. In the other world the condition of affairs is exactly the same, for the same laws govern there as here.”

“Women are as different from men as earth is from heaven.... Women are indeed human beings, but they are of a lower state than men, and can never attain to a full equality with them. The aim of female education therefore is perfect submission, not cultivation and development of the mind.”

Not only Confucius spoke thus strongly about the education of women, but all through the centuries Chinese writers of note refer to the subject of woman’s duty and education, and her attitude towards man. This is graphically set out in the important work, _The Ritual of Chau_—What a revelation of Chinese home life it is!

“In conversation a woman should not be forward and garrulous, but observe strictly what is correct, whether in suggesting advice to her husband, in remonstrating with him, in teaching her children, in maintaining etiquette, in humbly imparting her experience and in averting misfortune. The deportment of females should be strictly grave and sober, and yet adapted to the occasion; whether in waiting on her parents, receiving or reverencing her husband, rising up or sitting down, in times of mourning or fleeing in war, she should be perfectly decorous. Rearing the silkworm and working cloth are the most important of the employments of a female; preparing and serving up the food for her husband and setting in order the sacrifices follow next, each of which must be attended to. After them _study_ and _learning_ can fill up the time.” This last detail shows clearly that it was no unusual thing for the women to have a knowledge of literature, and there is no mean list of women writers in the field of belles-lettres, while one even wrote on the sacrosanct subject of dynastic history in the fifth century. The first treatise on the education of women was written by a Chinese woman some eighteen centuries ago, and it is rather interesting to see what her ideal for womanhood was, and to compare it with the present-day ideal. “The virtue of a female does not consist altogether in extraordinary abilities or intelligence, but in being modestly grave and inviolably chaste, observing the requirements of virtuous widowhood, and in being tidy in her person and everything about her; in whatever she does to be unassuming, and whenever she moves or sits to be decorous. This is female virtue.” In the _Rules for Women_, written by Lady Tsao, the heading of no less than five out of the seven chapters refers to the attitude of woman towards her menfolk, which shows that she was wise in her generation: and this work naturally became a classic and has been studied by all succeeding generations down to the present day!

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After this reference to the past, we come to a consideration of the present-day Chinese woman, and it has been my good fortune to meet some of the finest of the new school. They are taking a high place and winning the respect and consideration not only of their own countrymen, but of British, French and Americans by their ability, their singleness of purpose and undaunted determination. In the law school in Paris lately a Chinese girl took her degree; doctors who have studied in America and England have attained great distinction in their homeland after their return, and have overcome all the opposition aroused, in early days last century, by their foreign training and innovations.

Chinese women have evinced a keen patriotic spirit, sometimes shown in strange ways. When we were at Changteh they had demonstrated against the Japanese aggression by cutting their hair short! This did not meet the approval of the civil authorities, and they sent round the town crier, beating his drum, to prohibit women from doing this, under pain of receiving six hundred stripes! If the girls’ action was ill judged, it meant at all events a great sacrifice, so the penalty seems severe.

Perhaps the best way of showing the new trend of thought is to give a sketch of one of the most remarkable of the new generation, and who may be known to some of my readers, as she spent five years in England and took a London degree in science, with honours in botany, in 1917. Miss Pao Swen Tseng belongs to one of the great families whose genealogies have been carefully kept for the last twenty-five hundred years or so, and whose notable men have left their mark on the page of history. In the sixth century B.C. a philosopher of the family was one of the exponents of Confucian teaching, another was a great general at the time of the Taiping Rebellion and was largely instrumental in putting an end to it. For these services he received a beautiful estate with buildings, temple, lake and gardens in it from the Emperor, and also gifts from the guilds of Changsha, in Hunan, where the estate is situated. Here his descendant the Marquis Tseng lived, who became a well-known figure at the court of St. James, being Chinese minister here and afterwards at the Russian court. Even before he left Hunan—the most foreign-hating province of China—he was an ardent student of the English language, although he had no teacher and was obliged to study it only from most inadequate books. The family library was housed in a larger building than the family, which indicates the family tradition; but as may be supposed, it was no easy task that the Marquis had undertaken. When he lived in Peking he defied all precedent, and allied himself with the foreign British community; although his English was naturally most difficult to understand he persevered, and continually entertained Englishmen at his house and received their hospitality in return. This was done contrary to the strong feeling of opposition then existing at the court of Peking, where no Chinaman, even in a subordinate position, would be seen in company with a European or entering his house. I mention these facts because they reappear so vividly in the history of his granddaughter, Pao Tseng.

Miss Tseng’s education began at an early age: she had a tutor when she was three years old and two tutors by the time she was five. No wonder that she rebelled, and history relates that one day she took refuge in a tree, from which she was finally cajoled by one of her Chinese teachers to come down by promises which he forthwith ignored. It may be a source of surprise that she was able to climb a tree, but happily for Pao Tseng she had an enlightened grandmother, who, at a time when such a thing was unheard of, had the strength of mind to save the girls of her family from the torture and disablement of bound feet, knowing in her own person the cost of such disablement.

At ten years old Pao Tseng was a keen student of Chinese history, and the seed was sown, which later sprang up into an ardent patriotism and desire for the ancient glory of her race to be restored. She injured her eyesight by too close study, and two years later had become a Chinese classical scholar, a feat of which it would be impossible for anyone to realize the magnitude unless they knew something of the classics. She then begged leave to go and study Western knowledge, and was sent to one of the new Government schools at Hangchow, some thousand miles distant, to reach which there was no railway in those days. The tone of the school was so displeasing to her, that she soon left it and went to the (C.M.S.) Mary Vaughan High School for girls, where she found a sympathetic friend as well as teacher in the head mistress, Miss Barnes. In the turmoil and distress of mind caused by the condition of her country she found comfort in the study of the Christian faith and wrote to her father that she wished to become a Christian. He was evidently a man of rare wisdom, and stipulated that before taking so important a step she should study the writings of its European opponents. It is strange to think of such a child being set down to a course of Herbert Spencer, Frederick Harrison, and other leading non-Christian writers: her views were not changed by it. She again wrote to her father to this effect, and he gave his consent to her open profession of Christianity, coupled with the wise advice that she should become the best possible type of Christian. She decided to join no particular sect, looking forward to the time when China would have a church suitable to her needs and character.

In 1912 Pao Tseng obtained the family’s consent that she should go to England for further training. She had accepted as her vocation the call of her country to a life of educational work in China. Her family would not allow her to go abroad without a guardian, and Miss Barnes undertook the post, relinquishing the head mistress-ship of the High School in order to do this. Pao Tseng entered the Blackheath High School, and from there passed to Westfield College. It was at this time that I had the pleasure of making her acquaintance, having already heard of the impression she had made at the college. No one could be with her without being aware of the deep seriousness of her nature, and she was greatly liked by her fellow-students. Chinese girls always seem to get on well in England, and to fit in easily with our idiosyncrasies. There is nothing like the gulf between them and us which seems to separate us in our ways of thinking and of looking on life from our Indian fellow-subjects.

After taking her degree and studying educational methods and training at St. Mary’s College, Paddington, she returned to China at the age of twenty to begin her life work at her old home in Changsha, the capital of Hunan.

When the monarchy was overthrown in 1911, the new republic confiscated the property of many of the gentry, amongst others that of the Tseng family, using the buildings as barracks for the troops: they caused great havoc in them. It was only after much difficulty and many delays that the family succeeded in getting the property restored to them, though a part of it is still requisitioned for the soldiers, and a flimsy partition put up to screen it from the rest. This might prove a danger to the school, but so far, Miss Tseng told me, they had behaved extremely well, their only misdeed being to cut down two trees. It was necessary to rebuild the house for a school. The garden is really charming, in true Chinese style, with carved bridges over the winding stretch of water, shady paths and quaint rockery; dazzling golden orioles and kingfishers make their home in the classic willow trees that overhang the lake, and the stillness which broods over all makes it an ideal spot for study.

But study is not the only thing in education, and Miss Tseng has adopted English ideals with regard to the value of sport in a girl’s education as well as in a boy’s. Since my visit the stillness of the tiny lake is joyously broken by girls learning the art of boating, under the coaching of Mr. and Miss Tseng, and they have two boats. They also study American games, and were recently challenged by a boys’ school to a match at lacrosse. They had only been learning a very short time and knew themselves too weak for their opponents, but a sporting instinct prevented their declining the challenge. As may be supposed, they sustained a severe beating, but bore it so gallantly that the onlookers said that they were like the British: they had learnt to take defeat smiling!

It is difficult to believe that some of these girls did not know their alphabet two years ago; that discipline, as we understand it, was unknown to them. They all learn English and some had got on amazingly well with it. They have a “Round Table,” at which meetings all must take a share in whatever is the subject under discussion: this is to teach them how to take part in public meetings and how to express themselves.

The spirit of service is strongly developed. In a three days’ public holiday the girls set themselves to collect money from their friends for the famine relief in the north. Their aim was five hundred dollars, but they collected double the amount. Christianity is taught as the basis of social service, as it is at the root of this fine piece of educational work. The whole staff is united in this bond, and they have already succeeded in setting a new standard among the schools at Changsha.

In 1918 Miss Tseng opened her school, under the guardianship (if one may so call it) of Miss Barnes, and splendidly helped by two of her men cousins, whom I knew as fine students in London, and both of whom are honorary workers. All the élite of Changsha were present, including the Minister of Education, the British consul and the missionary community. This was the planting of the mustard seed destined one day to grow into a tree. There were but eight pupils, varying in age from fourteen to twenty-two, a number which was increased fivefold in two years. As befits a Chinese school, it has a poetic name, I-Fang—“The Garden of Fragrance,” and the school motto is “Loyalty and Sympathy,” the two words by which the philosopher Tseng had summed up the teaching of Confucius some two thousand five hundred years ago.

It was at a garden party in honour of the King’s birthday held at the British Consulate that we met Miss Tseng last summer, and she most kindly bade us to lunch next day, and asked me to speak to her students. I had no idea at the time of what she had done since we parted in London, or even that she lived at Changsha. It was with a shock of delighted surprise that we passed from the hot, busy, dusty street into the cool loveliness of the garden. Our time was woefully limited, and I should like to have sketched all day as well as talked, but there was so much to see and hear that it is impossible to do justice to it in this brief account. If the Tseng family can leave their impress on the charming bevy of girls we saw, they will have rendered the greatest possible service to their country, and I feel confident that such will be the case. When I reflect on the state of unrest which existed during the birth of this school and the masterly way in which Miss Tseng has overcome all the difficulties of the situation, I find no words adequate to express my admiration.

In another chapter I have dealt with the student movement, which produced strikes all over the Chinese empire: not a school or university escaped its influence. Miss Tseng explained to her students her feelings with regard to the movement, and told them to reflect on the subject, and discuss it among themselves before deciding whether they would strike. She brought no pressure to bear on them, while very strong pressure was brought to bear on them from outside, but their unanimous decision was to “carry on,” and this school alone out of thirty-six in the city continued its work steadily and continuously, while the others—both boys and girls—were on strike. Miss Tseng wrote a letter to the _Central Chinese Post_, a paper published in English, which won widespread admiration. The editor of the paper wrote to her: “Allow me to congratulate you on the sane and patriotic views which you hold, and on your splendid mastery of the English language. Your letter is by far the best thing which has appeared on the subject of the students’ boycott.” When it is considered that it is written by one so young it is indeed remarkable, and I make no apology for quoting part of it, with the explanation that the mistress-ship to which she refers was one that she had been persuaded to accept by strong governmental pressure—that of the first Normal School for Girls: she soon found herself obliged to resign the post.

To the Editor, _Central China Post_.

DEAR SIR,—You would have known by this time the details of the
extraordinary developments of the student activities in Hunan.
Perhaps you would allow me the use of your valuable columns to
make a few criticisms and an appeal in connexion therewith.

The frank opinion, in Hunan at any rate, of every unbiased
observer is that the primary wrong rested with the Provincial
Government. As I have just sent in my resignation of the
Principalship of the first Provincial Normal School for Girls—a
post I was invited to fill by the educationists here only a few
months ago—I feel I can speak more freely and with a certain
amount of authority. The Government has neglected education
so much that all the schools dependent on Government funds
have been confronted with starvation and bankruptcy in growing
proportions for the last two or three months. This absolute
poverty has reduced the none too perfect education in Hunan to
the mere shadow of a name. Satan always finds evil work for
every idle hand, so no wonder discontents will foment.

The actual thunderbolt came on the 3rd inst., when the
Government interfered in the burning of Japanese goods by
students. There in front of hundreds of students and thousands
of onlookers, Chang Chingtang, the Governor’s brother, forbade
the destruction at the eleventh hour. He struck with his own
fist the secretary of the Chang Chun Middle School, who had
dared to show impatience at the abusive language that was
being poured out. At the same time his soldiers welcomed the
students with the butt-ends of their rifles. Then of course the
glove was down and the students took it up. All the pent-up
hatred against the Government broke out with redoubled force.
A secret meeting was held on the 5th among the students, and
by Sunday, the 7th, all the schools excepting one or two began
to disperse, declaring that they would never return till Chang
Ching-yao is driven out of Hunan. To-day only the Fang Siang
School and our School are in regular work. Even the Yale and
Hunan Yale medical colleges are given official “holidays.”
The Government has succeeded in wrecking the entire fabric of
education in the most masterly fashion, that even surprised its
ardent admirers.

In view of the foregoing one cannot but deeply sympathize
with the motive of the students, but their method of making a
protest will, I am afraid, have certain undesirable effects.
Etc. etc.

I was much struck with the frank, pleasant tone of the girls: some were able to talk English. In connexion with the student strike a master of one of the other schools said to one of the girls:

“Your Principal has managed splendidly to keep her students from striking.”

“Yes, indeed,” she replied, “but our Principal did not _force_ us, we all agreed unanimously with her not to strike.”

This detail is characteristic of both teacher and taught—Liberty and Frankness. The Christian temper of “sweet reasonableness” irradiates the place, but no one will be urged to become Christian. Brightness, cleanliness and gaiety rule everywhere, and the dormitories and classrooms are thoroughly attractive. What a pleasant sphere for any English girl who goes as teacher there, and the growing needs of the school demand such help at once; a B.Sc. is required, and none but highly qualified teachers are suitable for such educational posts in China.

It seemed passing strange to realize that Changsha was the storm-centre of fighting between Northern and Southern troops, and the very next day the latter were expected to invade the city.

“Girls,
Knowledge is now no more a fountain seal’d:
Drink deep.”

_Page 184_]

“Nor soul helps body more
Than body soul.”

_Page 184_]

It may be thought that educational work is specially suitable for Chinese women, and perhaps something of it is already known in England, while other forms of activity are less known and less approved, but from the time of the opening of China’s doors to Western influence they have been eager to seize the new opportunities, and have become an important factor in the national life. “While not yet numerous, modern Chinese women,” says Dr. Rawlinson, “are beginning to exert a tremendous influence” (_China in Contemporaneous Literature_). The first woman’s newspaper in the world was written and edited by Chinese women, and in Peking the ladies of the gentry some nine or ten years ago organized a club under the leadership of Princess Kalachin, called the “Women’s Mutual Improvement Club,” and this is entirely unconnected with foreigners. The special object of this club is discussion, and Chinese women have proved themselves already to be excellent speakers, having very pleasant voices and a good self-possessed manner, which inspires respectful attention. They have appeared on platforms where such a thing would have been scouted with horror not twenty years ago.