Chapter LIV: Front Matter (54)

"The origin of the Chinese race is shrouded in some obscurity.
The first records we have of them represent them as a band of
immigrants settling in the north-eastern provinces of the
modern empire of China, and fight their way amongst the
aborigines, much as the Jews of old forced their way into
Canaan against the various tribes which they found in
possession of the land. It is probable that though they all
entered China by the same route, they separated into bands
almost on the threshold of the empire, one body, those who
have left us the records of their history in the ancient
Chinese books, apparently followed the course of the Yellow
River, and, turning south-ward with it from its northernmost
bend, settled themselves in the fertile districts of the
modern provinces of Shansi and Honan. But as we find also that
at about the same period a large settlement was made as far
south as Annam, of which there is no mention in the books of
the northern Chinese, we must assume that another body struck
directly southward through the southern provinces of China to
that country. The question then arises, where did these people
come from? and the answer which recent research [see BABYLONIA
PRIMITIVE] gives to this question is, from the south of the
Caspian Sea. ... In all probability, the outbreak in Susiana
of, possibly, some political disturbance, in about the 24th or
23rd century B. C., drove the Chinese from the land of their
adoption, and that they wandered eastward until they finally
settled in China and the countries south of it. ... It would
appear also that the Chinese came into China possessed of the
resources of Western Asian culture. They brought with them a
knowledge of writing and astronomy, as well as of the arts
which primarily minister to the wants and comfort of mankind.
The invention of these civilising influences is traditionally
attributed to the Emperor Hwang-te, who is said to have
reigned from B. C. 2697-2597. But the name of this sovereign
leads us to suppose that he never sat on the throne in China.
One of his names, we are told, was Nai, anciently Nak, and in
the Chinese paleographical collection he is described by a
character composed of a group of phonetics which read
Nak-kon-ti. The resemblance between this name and that of
Nak-hunte, who, according to the Susian texts, was the chief
of the gods, is sufficiently striking, and many of the
attributes belonging to him are such as to place him on an
equality with the Susian deity.
{417}
In exact accordance also with the system of Babylonian
chronology he established a cycle of twelve years, and fixed
the length of the year at 360 days composed of twelve months,
with an intercalary month to balance the surplus time. He
further, we are told, built a Ling tai, or observatory,
reminding us of the Babylonian Zigguratu, or house of
observation, 'from which to watch the movements of the
heavenly bodies.' The primitive Chinese, like the Babylonians,
recognised five planets besides the sun and moon, and, with
one exception, knew them by the same names. ... The various
phases of these planets were carefully watched, and portents
were derived from every real and imaginary change in their
relative positions and colours. A comparison between the
astrological tablets translated by Professor Sayce and the
astrological chapter (27th) in the She ke, the earliest of the
Dynastic Histories, shows a remarkable parallelism, not only
in the general style of the forecasts, but in particular
portents which are so contrary to Chinese prejudices, as a
nation, and the train of thought of the people that they would
be at once put down as of foreign origin, even if they were
not found in the Babylonian records. ... In the reign of Chwan
Hu (2513-2435 B. C.), we find according to the Chinese
records, that the year, as among the Chaldeans, began with the
third month of the solar year, and a comparison between the
ancient names of the months given in the Urh ya, the oldest
Chinese dictionary, with the Accadian equivalents, shows, in
some instances, an exact identity. ... These parallelisms,
together with a host of others which might be produced, all
point to the existence of an early relationship between
Chinese and Mesopotamian culture; and, armed with the
advantages thus possessed, the Chinese entered into the empire
over which they were ultimately to overspread themselves. But
they came among tribes who, though somewhat inferior to them
in general civilisation, were by no means destitute of
culture. ... Among such people, and others of a lower
civilisation, such as the Jungs of the west and the Teks, the
ancestors of the Tekke Turcomans, in the north, the Chinese
succeeded in establishing themselves. The Emperor Yaou
(2356-2255 B. C.) divided his kingdom into twelve portions,
presided over by as many Pastors, in exact imitation of the
duodenary feudal system of Susa with their twelve Pastor
Princes. To Yaou succeeded Shun, who carried on the work of
his predecessor of consolidating the Chinese power with energy
and success. In his reign the first mention is made of
religious worship. ... In Shun's reign occurred the great
flood which inundated most of the provinces of the existing
empire. The waters, we are told, rose to so great a height,
that the people had to betake themselves to the mountains to
escape death. The disaster arose, as many similar disasters,
though of a less magnitude, have since arisen, in consequence
of the Yellow River bursting its bounds, and the 'Great Yu'
was appointed to lead the waters back to their channel. With
unremitting energy he set about his task, and in nine years
succeeded in bringing the river under control. ... As a reward
for the services he had rendered to the empire, he was
invested with the principality of Hea, and after having
occupied the throne conjointly with Shun for some years, he
succeeded that sovereign on his death, in 2208 B. C. With Yu
began the dynasty of Hea, which gave place, in 1766 B. C., to
the Shang Dynasty. The last sovereign of the Hea line, Kieh
kwei, is said to have been a monster of iniquity, and to have
suffered the just punishment for his crimes at the hands of
T'ang, the prince of the State of Shang, who took his throne
from him. In like manner, 640 years later, Woo Wang, the
prince of Chow, overthrew Chow Sin, the last of the Shang
Dynasty, and established himself as the chief of the sovereign
state of the empire. By empire it must not be supposed that
the empire, as it exists at present, is meant. The China of
the Chow Dynasty lay between the 33rd and 38th parallels of
latitude, and the 106th and 119th of longitude only, and
extended over no more than portions of the provinces of Pih
chih-li, Shanse, Shense, Honan, Keang-se, and Shan-tung. This
territory was re-arranged by Woo Wang into the nine
principalities established by Yu. ... Woo is held up in
Chinese history as one of the model monarchs of antiquity. ...
Under the next ruler, K'ang (B. C. 1078-1053), the empire was
consolidated, and the feudal princes one and all acknowledged
their allegiance to the ruling house of Chow. ... From all
accounts there speedily occurred a marked degeneracy in the
characters of the Chow kings. ... Already a spirit of
lawlessness was spreading far and wide among the princes and
nobles, and wars and rumours of wars were creating misery and
unrest throughout the country. ... The hand of every man was
against his neighbour, and a constant state of internecine war
succeeded the peace and prosperity which had existed under the
rule of Woo-wang. ... As time went on and the disorder
increased, supernatural signs added their testimony to the
impending crisis. The brazen vessels upon which Yu had
engraved the nine divisions of the empire were observed to
shake and totter as though foreshadowing the approaching
change in the political position. Meanwhile Ts'in on the
northwest, Ts'oo on the south, and Tsin on the north, having
vanquished all the other states, engaged in the final struggle
for the mastery over the confederate principalities. The
ultimate victory rested with the state of Ts'in, and in 255 B.
C., Chaou-seang Wang became the acknowledged ruler over the
'black-haired' people. Only four years were given him to reign
supreme, and at the end of that time he was succeeded by his
son, Heaou-wan Wang, who died almost immediately on ascending
the throne. To him succeeded Chwang-seang Wang, who was
followed in 246 B. C. by Che Hwang-te, the first Emperor of
China. The abolition of feudalism, which was the first act of
Che Hwang-to raised much discontent among those to whom the
feudal system had brought power and emoluments, and the
countenance which had been given to the system by Confucius
and Mencius made it desirable--so thought the emperor--to
demolish once for all their testimony in favour of that
condition of affairs, which he had decreed should be among the
things of the past. With this object he ordered that the whole
existing literature, with the exception of books on medicine,
agriculture, and divination should be burned. The decree was
obeyed as faithfully as was possible in the case of so
sweeping an ordinance, and for many years a night of ignorance
rested on the country. The construction of one gigantic
work--the Great Wall of China--has made the name of this
monarch as famous as the destruction of the books has made it
infamous.
{418}
Finding the Heung-nu Tartars were making dangerous inroads
into the empire, he determined with characteristic
thoroughness to build a huge barrier which should protect the
northern frontier of the empire through all time. In 214 B. C.
the work was begun under his personal supervision, and though
every endeavor was made to hasten its completion he died (209)
leaving it unfinished. His death was the signal for an
outbreak among the dispossessed feudal princes, who, however,
after some years of disorder, were again reduced to the rank
of citizens by a successful leader, who adopted the title of
Kaou-te, and named his dynasty that of Han (206). From that
day to this, with occasional interregnums, the empire has been
ruled on the lines laid down by Che Hwang-te. Dynasty has
succeeded dynasty, but the political tradition has remained
unchanged, and though Mongols and Manchoos have at different
times wrested the throne from its legitimate heirs, they have
been engulfed in the homogeneous mass inhabiting the empire,
and instead of impressing their seal on the country have
become but the reflection of the vanquished. The dynasties
from the beginning of the earlier Han, founded, as stated
above, by Kaou-te, are as follows:

The earlier Han Dynasty B. C. 206-A. D. 25;
the late Han A. D. 25-220;
the Wei 220-280;
the western Tsin 265-317;
the eastern Tsin 317-420;
the Sung 420-479;
the Ts'e 479-502;
the Leang 502-557;
the Ch'in 557-589.
Simultaneously with these--
the northern Wei A. D. 386-534;
the western Wei 535-557;
the eastern Wei 534-550;
the northern Ts'e 550-577;
the northern Chow 557-589.
The Suy 589-618;
the T'ang 618-907;
the later Leang 907-923;
the later T'ang 923-936;
the later Tsin 936-947;
the later Han 947-951;
the later Chow 951-960,
the Sung 960-1127;
the southern Sung 1127-1280;
the Yuen 1280-1368;
the Ming 1368-1614;
the Ts'ing 1644.
Simultaneously with some of these--
the Leaou 907-1125;
the western Leaou 1125-1168;
the Kin 1115-1280.

_R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 1._

ALSO IN
_D.C. Boulger, History of China, volume 1-2._

CHINA:
The Religions of the People.
Confucianism.
Taouism.
Buddhism.

"The Chinese describe themselves as possessing three
religions, or more accurately, three sects, namely Joo keaou,
the sect of Scholars; Fuh keaou, the sect of Buddha; and Taou
keaou, the sect of Taou. Both as regards age and origin, the
sect of Scholars, or, as it is generally called, Confucianism,
represents pre-eminently the religion of China. It has its root
in the worship of Shang-te, a deity which is associated with
the earliest traditions of the Chinese race. Hwang-te (2697 B.
C.) erected a temple to his honour, and succeeding emperors
worshipped before his shrine. ... During the troublous times
which followed after the reign of the few first sovereigns of
the Chow Dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew
indistinct and dim, until, when Confucius [born B. C. 551]
began his career, there appeared nothing strange in his
atheistic doctrines. He never in any way denied the existence
of Shang-te, but he ignored him. His concern was with man as a
member of society, and the object of his teaching was to lead
him into those paths of rectitude which might best contribute
to his own happiness, and to the well-being of that community
of which he formed part. Man, he held, was born good, and was
endowed with qualities which, when cultivated and improved by
watchfulness and self-restraint, might enable him to acquire
godlike wisdom and to become 'the equal of Heaven.' He divided
mankind into four classes, viz., those who are born with the
possession of knowledge; those who learn, and so readily get
possession of knowledge; those who are dull and stupid, and
yet succeed in learning; and, lastly, those who are dull and
stupid, and yet do not learn. To all these, except those of
the last class, the path to the climax reached by the 'Sage'
is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, understand, and
obey the moral sense implanted in him by Heaven, and the
highest perfection is within his reach. ... In this system
there is no place for a personal God. The impersonal Heaven,
according to Confucius, implants a pure nature in every being
at his birth, but, having done this, there is no further
supernatural interference with the thoughts and deeds of men.
It is in the power of each one to perfect his nature, and
there is no divine influence to restrain those who take the
downward course. Man has his destiny in his own hands, to make
or to mar. Neither had Confucius any inducement to offer to
encourage men in the practice of virtue, except virtue's self.
He was a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who was quite
content to occupy himself with the study of his fellow-men,
and was disinclined to grope into the future or to peer
upwards. No wonder that his system, as he enunciated it,
proved a failure. Eagerly he sought in the execution of his
official duties to effect the regeneration of the empire, but
beyond the circle of his personal disciples he found few
followers, and as soon as princes and statesmen had satisfied
their curiosity about him they turned their backs on his
precepts and would [have] none of his reproofs. Succeeding
ages, recognising the loftiness of his aims, eliminated all
that was impracticable and unreal in his system, and held fast
to that part of it that was true and good. They were content
to accept the logic of events, and to throw overboard the
ideal 'sage,' and to ignore the supposed potency of his
influence; but they clung to the doctrines of filial piety,
brotherly love, and virtuous living. It was admiration for the
emphasis which he laid on these and other virtues which has
drawn so many millions of men unto him; which has made his
tomb at Keo-foo heen to be the Mecca of Confucianism, and has
adorned every city of the empire with temples built in his
honour. ... Concurrently with the lapse of pure Confucianism,
and the adoption of those principles which find their earliest
expression in the pre-Confucian classics of China, there is
observable a return to the worship of Shang-te. The most
magnificent temple in the empire is the Temple of Heaven at
Peking, where the highest object of Chinese worship is adored
with the purest rites. ... What is popularly known in Europe
as Confucianism is, therefore, Confucianism with the
distinctive opinions of Confucius omitted. ... But this
worship of Shang-te is confined only to the emperor. The
people have no lot or heritage in the sacred acts of worship
at the Altar of Heaven. ... Side by side with the revival of
the Joo keaou, under the influence of Confucius, grew up a
system of a totally different nature, and which, when divested
of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the
practically-minded Chinamen to a code of morals, was destined
in future ages to become affiliated with the teachings of the Sage.
{419}
This was Taouism, which was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a
contemporary of Confucius. An air of mystery hangs over the
history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know nothing, and
the historians, in their anxiety to conceal their ignorance of
his earlier years, shelter themselves behind the legend that
he was born an old man. ... The primary meaning of Taou is
'The way,' 'The path,' but in Laou-tsze's philosophy it was
more than the way, it was the way-goer as well. It was an
eternal road; along it all beings and things walked; it was
everything and nothing, and the cause and effect of all. All
things originated from Taou, conformed to Taou, and to Taou at
last returned. ... 'If, then, we had to express the meaning of
Taou, we should describe it as the Absolute; the totality of
Being and Things; the phenomenal world and its order; and the
ethical nature of the good man, 'and the principle of his
action.' It was absorption into this 'Mother of all things'
that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be attained to by
self-emptiness, and by giving free scope to the uncontaminated
nature which, like Confucius, he taught was given by Heaven to
all men. ... But these subtleties, like the more abstruse
speculations of Confucius, were suited only to the taste of
the schools. To the common people they were foolishness, and,
before long, the philosophical doctrine of Laou-tsze of the
identity of existence and non-existence, assumed in their eyes
a warrant for the old Epicurean motto, 'Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die.' The pleasures of sense were substituted
for the delights of virtue, and the next step was to desire
prolongation of the time when those pleasures could be
enjoyed. Legend said that Laou-tsze had secured to himself
immunity from death by drinking the elixir of immortality, and
to enjoy the same 'privilege became the all-absorbing object
of his followers. The demand for elixirs and charms produced a
supply, and Taouism quickly degenerated into a system of
magic. ... The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiarised the
Chinese mind with philosophical doctrines, which, whatever
were their direct source, bore a marked resemblance to the
musings of Indian sages, served to prepare the way for the
introduction of Buddhism. The exact date at which the Chinese
first became acquainted with the doctrines of Buddha was,
according to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial
Encyclopædia, the thirtieth year of the reign of She Hwang-te,
i. e., B. C. 216. The story this writer tells of the
difficulties which the first missionaries encountered is
curious, and singularly suggestive of the narrative of St.
Peter's imprisonment."

_R. K. Douglas, China, chapter 17._

ALSO IN:
_R. K. Douglas, Confucianism and Taouism._

"Buddhism ... penetrated to China along the fixed route from
India to that country, round the north-west corner of the
Himalayas and across Eastern Turkestan. Already in the 2nd
year B. C., an embassy, perhaps sent by Huvishka [who reigned
in Kabul and Kashmere] took Buddhist books to the then Emperor
of China, A-ili; and the Emperor Ming-ti, 62 A. D., guided by
a dream, is said to have sent to Tartary and Central India and
brought Buddhist books to China. From this time Buddhism
rapidly spread there. ... In the fourth century Buddhism
became the state religion."

_T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, chapter 9._

ALSO IN
_J. Legge, The Religions of China._

_J. Edkins, Religion in China._

_J. Edkins, Chinese Buddhism._

_S. Beals, Buddhism in China._

_S. Johnson, Oriental Religions: China._

CHINA: A. D. 1205-1234.
Conquest by Jingis Khan and his son.

"The conquest of China was commenced by Chinghiz [or Jingis
Khan], although it was not completed for several generations.
Already in 1205 he had invaded Tangut, a kingdom occupying the
extreme northwest of China, and extending beyond Chinese
limits in the same direction, held by a dynasty of Tibetan
race, which was or had been a vassal to the Kin. This invasion
was repeated in succeeding years; and in 1211 his attacks
extended to the Empire of the Kin itself. In 1214 he ravaged
their provinces to the Yellow River, and in the following year
took Chungtu or Peking. In 1219 he turned his arms against
Western Asia; ... but a lieutenant whom he had left behind him
in the East continued to prosecute the subjection of Northern
China. Chinghiz himself on his return from his western
conquests renewed his attack on Tangut, and died on that
enterprise, 18th August. Okkodai, the son and successor of
Chinghiz, followed up the subjugation of China, extinguished
the Kin finally in 1234 and consolidated with his Empire all
the provinces north of the Great Kiang. The Southern provinces
remained for the present subject to the Chinese dynasty of the
Sung, reigning now at Kingssé or Hangcheu. This kingdom was
known to the Tartars as Nangkiass, and also by the
quasi-Chinese title of Mangi or Manzi, made so famous by Marco
Polo and the travellers of the following age."

_H. Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither.
Preliminary Essay, section 91-92._

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1153-1227.

CHINA: A. D. 1259-1294.
The Empire of Kublai Khan.

Kublai, or Khubilai Khan, one of the grandsons of Jingis Khan,
who reigned as the Great Khan or Supreme lord of the Mongols
from 1259 until 1294, "was the sovereign of the largest empire
that was ever controlled by one man. China, Corea, Thibet,
Tung-King, Cochin China, a great portion of India beyond the
Ganges, the Turkish and Siberian realms from the Eastern Sea
to the Dnieper, obeyed his commands; and although the chief of
the Hordes of Jagatai and Ogatai refused to acknowledge him,
the Ilkhans of Persia ... were his feudatories. ... The
Supreme Khan had immediate authority only in Mongolia and
China. ... The capital of the Khakan, after the accession of
Khubilai, was a new city he built close to the ancient
metropolis of the Liao and Kin dynasties."

_H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, volume 1,
pages 216-283._

"Khan-Bálig (Mong., 'The Khan's city'), the Cambalu of Marco,
Peking ... was captured by Chinghiz in 1215, and in 1264
Kublai made it his chief residence. In 1267 he built a new
city, three 'li' to the north-east of the old one, to which
was given the name of Ta-tu or 'Great Court,' called by the
Mongols Daïdu, the Taydo of Odoric and Taidu of Polo, who
gives a description of its dimensions, the number of its
gates, etc., similar to that in the text. The Chinese accounts
give only eleven gates. This city was abandoned as a royal
residence on the expulsion of the Mongol dynasty in 1368, but
re-occupied in 1421 by the third Ming Emperor, who built the
walls as they now exist, reducing their extent and the number
of the gates to nine. This is what is commonly called the
'Tartar city' of the present day (called also by the Chinese
Lau-Chhing or 'Old Town'), which therefore represents the
Taydo of Odoric."

_H. Yule,
Cathay and the Way Thither, volume 1, page 127, footnote._

ALSO IN
_Marco Polo, Travels, with Notes by Sir H. Yule, book 2._

See, also, MONGOLS: A. D. 1229-1294,
and POLO, MARCO.

{420}

CHINA: A. D. 1294-1882.
Dissolution of the Empire of Kublai Khan.
The Ming dynasty and its fall.
The enthronement of the present Manchu Tartar Dynasty, of the
Tsings or Ch'ings.
The appearance of the Portuguese and the Jesuit Missionaries.

"The immediate successors of Kublai, brought up in the
luxuries of the imperial palace, the most gorgeous at that
time in the world, relied upon the prestige with which the
glory of the late emperor invested them, and never dreamed
that change could touch a dominion so vast and so solid. Some
devoted themselves to elegant literature and the improvement
of the people; later princes to the mysteries of Buddhism,
which became, in some degree, the state religion; and as the
cycle went round, the dregs of the dynasty abandoned
themselves, as usual, to priests, women, and eunuchs. ... The
distant provinces threw off their subjection; robbers ravaged
the land, and pirates the sea; a minority and a famine came at
the same moment; and in less than ninety years after its
commencement, the fall of the dynasty was only illumined by
some few flashes of dying heroism, and every armed Tartar, who
could obtain a horse to aid his flight, spurred back to his
native deserts. Some of them, of the royal race, turning to
the west, took refuge with the Manchows, and in process of
time, marrying with the families of the chiefs, intermingled
the blood of the two great tribes. The proximate cause of this
catastrophe was a Chinese of low birth, who, in the midst of
the troubles of the time, found means to raise himself by his
genius from a servile station to the leadership of a body of
the malcontents, and thence to step into the imperial throne.
The new dynasty [the Ming] began their reign with great
brilliance. The emperor carried the Tartar war into their own
country, and at home made unrelenting war upon the abuses of
his palace. He committed the mistake, however, of granting
separate principalities to the members of his house, which in
the next reign caused a civil war, and the usurpation of the
throne by an uncle of the then emperor. The usurper found it
necessary to transfer the capital to Peking, as a post of
defence against the eastern Tartars, who now made their
appearance again on this eventful stage. He was successful,
however, in his wars in the desert, and he added Tonquin and
Cochin China to the Chinese dominions. After him the fortunes
of the dynasty began to wane. The government became weaker,
the Tartars stronger, some princes attached themselves to
literature, some to Buddhism or Taoism: Cochin China revolted,
and was lost to the empire, Japan ravaged the coasts with her
privateers; famine came to add to the horrors of misrule."

_Leitch Ritchie, History of the Oriental Nations,
book 7, chapter 1 (volume 2)._

"From without, the Mings were constantly harassed by the
encroachments of the Tartars; from within, the ceaseless
intriguing of the eunuchs (resulting in one case in the
temporary deposition of an Emperor) was a fertile cause of
trouble. Towards the close of the 16th century the Portuguese
appeared upon the scene, and from their 'concession' at Macao,
some time the residence of Camoens, opened commercial
relations between China and the West. They brought the
Chinese, among other things, opium, which had previously been
imported overland from India. They possibly taught them how to
make gunpowder, to the invention of which the Chinese do not
seem, upon striking a balance of evidence, to possess an
independent claim. About the same time [1580] Rome contributed
the first instalment of those wonderful Jesuit fathers, whose
names may truly be said to have filled the empire 'with sounds
that echo still,' the memory of their scientific labours and
the benefits they thus conferred upon China having long
survived the wreck and discredit of the faith to which they
devoted their lives. And at this distance of time it does not
appear to be a wild statement to assert that had the Jesuits,
the Franciscans, and the Dominicans, been able to resist
quarrelling among themselves, and had they rather united to
persuade Papal infallibility to permit the incorporation of
ancestor worship with the rites and ceremonies of the Romish
church--China would at this moment be a Catholic country, and
Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism would long since have
receded into the past. Of all these Jesuit missionaries, the
name of Matteo Ricci [who died in 1610] stands by common
consent first upon the long list. ... The overthrow of the
Mings [A. D. 1644], was brought about by a combination of
events, of the utmost importance to those who would understand
the present position of the Tartars as rulers of China. A
sudden rebellion had resulted in the capture of Peking by the
insurgents, and in the suicide of the Emperor who was fated to
be the last of his line. The Imperial Commander-in-chief, Wu
San-kuei, at that time away on the frontiers of Manchuria,
engaged in resisting the incursions of the Manchu Tartars, now
for a long time in a state of ferment, immediately hurried
back to the capital, but was totally defeated by the insurgent
leader, and once more made his way, this time as a fugitive
and a suppliant, towards the Tartar camp. Here he obtained
promises of assistance, chiefly on condition that he would
shave his head and grow a tail in accordance with Manchu
custom, and again set off with his new auxiliaries towards
Peking, being reinforced on the way by a body of Mongol
volunteers. As things turned out Wu San-kuei arrived at Peking
in advance of these allies, and actually succeeded, with the
remnant of his own scattered forces, in routing the troops of
the rebel leader before the Tartars and the Mongols came up.
He then started in pursuit of the flying foe. Meanwhile the
Tartar contingent arrived; and on entering the capital, the
young Manchu prince in command was invited by the people of
Peking to ascend the vacant throne. So that by the time Wu
San-kuei re-appeared he found a new dynasty [the Ch'ing or
Tsing dynasty of the present day] already established, and his
late Manchu ally at the head of affairs. His first intention
had doubtless been to continue the Ming line of Emperors; but
he seems to have readily fallen in with the arrangement
already made, and to have tendered his formal allegiance on
the four following conditions:

{421}

(1.) That no Chinese woman should be taken into the Imperial
seraglio.

(2.) That the first place at the great triennial examination
for the highest literary degrees should never be given to a
Tartar.

(3.) That the people should adopt the national costume of the
Tartars in their everyday life; but that they should be
allowed to bury their corpses in the dress of the late
dynasty.

(4.) That this condition of costume should not apply to the
women of China, who were not to be compelled either to wear
the hair in a tail before marriage (as the Tartar girls do) or
to abandon the custom of compressing' their feet.

The great Ming dynasty was now at an end, though not destined
wholly to pass away. A large part of it may be said to remain
in the literary monuments which were executed during its three
centuries of existence. The dress of the period survives upon
the modern Chinese stage; and when occasionally the present
alien yoke is found to gall, seditious whispers of
'restoration' are not altogether unheard. ... The age of the
Ch'ings is the age in which we live; but it is not so familiar
to some persons as it ought to be, that a Tartar, and not a
Chinese sovereign, is now seated upon the throne of China. For
some time after the accession of the first Manchu Emperor
there was considerable friction between the two races, due,
among other natural causes, to the enforced adoption of the
peculiar coiffure in vogue among the Manchus--i. e., the tail,
or plaited queue of hair, which now hangs down every
Chinaman's back. This fashion was for a long time vigorously
resisted by the inhabitants of southern China, though now
regarded by all alike as one of the most sacred
characteristics of the 'black-haired people.' ... The
subjugation of the empire by the Manchus was followed by a
military occupation of the country, which has survived the
original necessity, and is part of the system of government at
the present day. Garrisons of Tartar troops were stationed at
various important centres of population. ... Those Tartar
garrisons still occupy the same positions; and the descendants
of the first battalions, with occasional reinforcements from
Peking, live side by side and in perfect harmony with the
strictly Chinese populations. These Bannermen, as they are
called, may be known by their square, heavy faces, which
contrast strongly with the sharper and more astute
physiognomies of the Chinese. They speak the dialect of
Peking, now recognised as the official language par
excellence. They do not use their family or surnames--which
belong rather to the clan than to the individual--but in order
to conform to the requirements of Chinese life, the personal
name is substituted. Their women do not compress their feet,
and the female coiffure and dress are wholly Tartar in
character. Intermarriage between the two races is not
considered desirable, though instances are not unknown. In
other respects, it is the old story of 'vida victrix;' the
conquering Tartars have been themselves conquered by the
people over whom they set themselves to rule. They have
adopted the language, written and colloquial, of China. ...
Manchu, the language of the conquerors, is still kept alive at
the Court of Peking. By a State fiction, it is supposed to be
the language of the sovereign. ... Eight emperors of this line
have already occupied the throne, and 'become guests on high;'
the ninth is yet [in 1882] a boy less than ten years of age.
Of these eight, the second in every way fills the largest
space in Chinese history. K'ang Hsi (or Kang Hi) reigned for
sixty-one years. ... Under the third Manchu Emperor, Yung
Cheng [A. D. 1723-1736], began that violent persecution of the
Catholics which has continued almost to the present day. The
various sects--Jesuits, Dominicans, Franciscans--had been
unable to agree about the Chinese equivalent for God, and the
matter had been finally referred to the Pope. Another
difficulty had arisen as to the toleration of ancestral
worship by Chinese converts professing the Catholic faith. ...
As the Pope refused to permit the embodiment of this ancient
custom with the ceremonies of the Catholic church, the new
religion ceased to advance, and by-and-by fell into
disrepute."

_H. A. Giles, Historic China, chapter 5-6._

ALSO IN
_S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom,
chapter 17, and 19-20 (volume 2)._

_C. Gutzlaff, Sketch of Chinese History,
volume 1, chapter 16, volume 2._

_J. Ross, The Manchus._

_Abbé Hue, Christianity in China, volume 2-3._

CHINA: A. D. 1839-1842.
The Opium War with England.
Treaty of Nanking.
Opening of the Five Ports.

"The first Chinese war [of England] was in one sense directly
attributable to the altered position of the East India Company
after 1833. [See INDIA: A. D. 1823-1833.] Up to that year
trade between England and China had been conducted in both
countries on principles of strict monopoly. The Chinese trade
was secured to the East India Company, and the English trade
was confined to a company of merchants specially nominated for
the purpose by the Emperor. The change of thought which
produced the destruction of monopolies in England did not
penetrate to the conservative atmosphere of the Celestial
Empire, and, while the trade in one country was thrown open to
everyone, trade in the other was still exclusively confined to
the merchants nominated by the Chinese Government. These
merchants, Hong merchants as they were called, traded
separately, but were mutually liable for the dues to the
Chinese Government and for their debts to the foreigners. Such
conditions neither promoted the growth of trade nor the
solvency of the traders; and, out of the thirteen Hong
merchants in 1837, three or four were avowedly insolvent.
(State Papers, volume 27, page 1310.) Such were the general
conditions on which the trade was conducted. The most
important article of trade was opium. The importation of opium
into China had, indeed, been illegal since 1796. But the
Chinese Government had made no stringent efforts to prohibit
the trade, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons had
declared that it was inadvisable to abandon an important
source of revenue to the East India Company. (State Papers, volume
29, page 1020.) The opium trade consequently throve, and grew
from 4,100 chests in 1796 to 30,000 chests in 1837, and the
Chinese connived at or ignored the growing trade. (Ibid., p.
1019). ... In 1837 the Chinese Government adopted a fresh policy.
{422}
It decided on rigourously stopping the trade at which it had
previously tacitly connived. ... Whether the Chinese
Government was really shocked at the growing use of the drug
and the consequences of its use, or whether it was alarmed at
a drain of silver from China which disturbed what the
political arithmeticians of England a hundred years before
would have called the balance of trade, it undoubtedly
determined to check the traffic by every means at its
disposal. With this object it strengthened its force on the
coast and sent Lin, a man of great energy, to Canton [March,
1839] with supreme authority. (State Papers, volume 29, page
934, and Autobiography of Sir H. Taylor, volume 1, appendix,
page 343.) Before Lin's arrival cargoes of opium had been
seized by the Custom House authorities. On his arrival Lin
required both the Hong merchants and the Chinese merchants to
deliver up all the opium in their possession in order that it
might be destroyed. (State Papers, volume 29, page 936.) The
interests of England in China were at that time entrusted to
Charles Elliot. ... But Elliot occupied a very difficult
position in China. The Chinese placed on their communications
to him the Chinese word 'Yu,' and wished him to place on his
despatches to them the Chinese word 'Pin.' But Yu signifies a
command, and Pin a humble address, and a British
Plenipotentiary could not receive commands from, or humble
himself before, Chinese officials. (State Papers, volume 29,
pages 881, 886, 888.) And hence the communications between him
and the Chinese Government were unable to follow a direct
course, but were frequently or usually sent through the Hong
merchants. Such was the state of things in China when Lin,
arriving in Canton, insisted on the surrender and destruction
of all the opium there. Elliot was at Macao. He at once
decided on returning to the post of difficulty and danger;
and, though Canton was blockaded by Chinese forces and its
river guarded by Chinese batteries, he made his way up in a
boat of H. M. S. 'Larne,' and threw himself among his
imprisoned countrymen. After his arrival he took the
responsibility of demanding the surrender into his own hands,
for the service of his Government, of all the British opium in
China, and he surrendered the opium which he thus obtained,
amounting to 20,283 chests, to the Chinese authorities, by
whom it was destroyed. (Ibid., pages 945, 967.) The imminent
danger to the lives and properties of a large number of
British subjects was undoubtedly removed by Elliot's action.
Though some difficulty arose in connection with the surrender,
Lin undertook gradually to relax the stringency of the
measures which he had adopted (ibid., page 977), and Elliot
hoped that his own zealous efforts to carry out the
arrangement which he had made would lead to the raising of the
blockade. He was, however, soon undeceived. On the 4th of
April Lin required him, in conjunction with the merchants, to
enter into a bond under which all vessels hereafter engaged in
the opium traffic would have been confiscated to the Chinese
Government, and all persons connected with the trade would
'suffer death at the hands of the Celestial Court.' (Ibid.,
page 989.) This bond Elliot steadily refused to sign (ibid.,
page 992); and feeling that 'all sense of security was broken
to pieces' (ibid., page 978), he ordered all British subjects
to leave Canton (ibid., page 1004), he himself withdrew to the
Portuguese settlement at Macao (ibid., page 1007), and he
wrote to Auckland, the Governor-General of India, for armed
assistance. (Ibid., page 1009.) These grave events naturally
created profound anxiety. A Select Committee of the House of
Commons had formally declined to interfere with the trade. The
opium monopoly at that time was worth some £1,000,000 or
£1,500,000 a year to British India (ibid., page 1020); and
India, engaged in war with Afghanistan and already involved in
a serious deficit, could not afford to part with so large an
amount of its revenue (ibid., page 1020). Nine-tenths of the
British merchants in China were engaged in the illegal trade
(ibid., page 1030), while Elliot, in enforcing the surrender
of the opium, had given the merchants bonds on the British
Government for its value, and the 20,000 chests surrendered
were supposed to be worth from 600 to 1,200 dollars a chest
(ibid., page 987), or say from £2,400,000 to £4,800,000. ...
As the summer advanced, moreover, a fresh outrage increased
the intensity of the crisis. On the 7th July some British
seamen landed near Hong Kong, and engaged in a serious riot. A
native was unfortunately killed on the occasion, and though
Elliot, at his own risk, gave the relations of the victim a
large pecuniary compensation, and placed the men engaged in
the riot on their trial, Lin was not satisfied. He moved down
to the coast, cut off the supplies of British subjects, and
threatened to stop the supplies to Macao if the Portuguese
continued to assist the British. (Ibid., pages 1037-1039.) The
British were in consequence forced to leave Macao; and about the
same time a small schooner, the 'Black Joke,' was attacked by
the Chinese, and a British subject on board of her seriously
wounded. Soon afterwards, however, the arrival of a ship of
war, the 'Volage,' in Chinese waters enabled Elliot to assume
a bolder front. He returned to Macao; he even attempted to
procure supplies from the mainland. But, though he succeeded
in purchasing food, 'the Mandarin runners approached and
obliged the natives to take back their provisions,' and
Elliot, exasperated at their conduct, fired on some war junks
of the Chinese, which returned the fire. A week afterwards
Elliot declared the port and river of Canton to be in a state
of blockade. (Ibid., page 1066.) The commencement of the
blockade, however, did not lead to immediate war. On the
contrary, the Chinese showed considerable desire to avert
hostilities. They insisted, indeed, that some British sailor
must be surrendered to them to suffer for the death of the
Chinaman who had fallen in the riot of Hong Kong. But they
showed so much anxiety to conclude an arrangement on this
point that they endeavoured to induce Elliot to declare that a
sailor who was accidentally drowned in Chinese waters, and whose
body they had found, was the actual murderer. (State Papers,
volume 30, page 27.) And in the meanwhile the trade which Lin
had intended to destroy went on at least as actively as ever.
Lin's proceedings had, indeed, the effect of stimulating it to
an unprecedented degree. The destruction of vast stores of
opium led to a rise in the price of opium in China. The rise
in price produced the natural consequence of an increased
speculation; and, though British shipping was excluded from
Chinese waters, and the contents of British vessels had to be
transferred to American bottoms for conveyance into Chinese
ports, British trade had never been so large or so
advantageous as in the period which succeeded Lin's arbitrary
proceedings.
{423}
Elliot was, of course, unable to prevent war either by the
surrender of a British sailor to the Chinese, or by even
assuming that a drowned man was the murderer; and war in
consequence became daily more probable. In January, 1840,
operations actually commenced. Elliot was instructed to make
an armed demonstration on the northern coasts of China, to
take possession of some island on the coast, and to obtain
reparation and indemnity, if possible by a mere display of
force, but otherwise to proceed with the squadron and thence
send an ultimatum to Pekin. In accordance with these orders
the Island of Chusan was occupied in July, and the fleet was
sent to the mouth of the Peiho with orders to transmit a
letter to Pekin. But the sea off the Peiho is shallow, the
ships could not approach the coasts, and the Chinese naturally
refused to yield to an empty demonstration. The expedition was
forced to return to Chusan, where it found that the troops
whom they had left behind were smitten by disease, that one
out of every four men were dead, and that more than one-half
of the survivors were invalided. Thus, throughout 1840, the
Chinese war was only attended with disaster and distress.
Things commenced a little more prosperously in 1841 by the
capture of the Chinese position at the mouth of the Canton
river. Elliot, after this success, was even able to conclude a
preliminary treaty with the Chinese authorities. But this
treaty did not prove satisfactory either to the British
Government or to the Chinese. The British saw with dismay that
the treaty made no mention of the trade in opium which had
been the ostensible cause of the war. The Whig Government
accordingly decided on superseding Elliot. He was recalled and
replaced by Henry Pottinger. Before news of his recall reached
him, however, the treaty which had led to his supersession had
been disavowed by the Chinese authorities, and Elliot had
commenced a fresh attack on the Chinese force which guarded
the road to Canton. British sailors and British troops, under
the command of Bremer and Gough, won a victory which placed
Canton at their mercy. But Elliot, shrinking from exposing a
great town to the horrors of an assault, stopped the advance
of the troops and admitted the city to a ransom of £1,250,000.
(Sir H. Taylor's Autobiography, volume 1, appendix, pages
353-363.) His moderation was naturally unacceptable to the
troops and not entirely approved by the British Government. It
constituted, however, Elliot's last action as agent in China. The
subsequent operations were conducted under Pottinger's
advice."

_S. Walpole, History of England from 1815, Note, volume 5,
pages 287-291._

"Sir Henry Pottinger, who arrived as Plenipotentiary on the
10th of August, took the chief direction of the affairs. ...
To the end of 1841 there were various successes achieved by
the land and naval forces, which gave the British possession
of many large fortified towns, amongst which were Amoy,
Ting-hai, Chin-hai, Ning-po, and Shang-hai. The Chinese were
nevertheless persevering in their resistance, and in most
cases evinced a bravery which showed how mistaken were the
views which regarded the subjection of this extraordinary
people as an easy task. ... The British fleet on the 13th of
June [1842] entered the great river Kiang, and on the 6th of
July advanced up the river, and cut off its communication with
the Grand Canal, by which Nanking, the ancient capital of
China, was supplied with grain. The point where the river
intersects the canal is the city of Chin-Kiang-foo. ... On the
morning of the 21st the city was stormed by the British, in
three brigades. The resistance of the Tartar troops was most
desperate. Our troops fought under a burning sun, whose
overpowering heat caused some to fall dead. The obstinate
defence of the place prevented its being taken till six
o'clock in the evening. When the streets were entered, the
houses were found almost deserted. They were filled with
ghastly corpses, many of the Tartar soldiers having destroyed
their families and then committed suicide. The city, from the
number of the dead, had become uninhabitable."

_C. Knight, Popular History of England., volume 8, chapter 25._

"The destruction of life was appalling. ... Every Manchu
preferred resistance, death, suicide, or flight, to surrender.
Out of a Manchu population of 4,000, it was estimated that not
more than 500 survived, the greater part having perished by
their own hands. ... Within twenty-four hours after the troops
landed, the city and suburbs of Chinkiang were a mass of ruin
and destruction. ... The total loss of the English was 37
killed and 131 wounded. ... Some of the large ships were towed
up to Nanking, and the whole fleet reached it August 9th, at
which time preparations had been made for the assault. ...
Everything was ready for the assault by daylight of August
15th;" but on the night of the 14th the Chinese made overtures
for the negotiation of peace, and the important Treaty of
Nanking was soon afterwards concluded. Its terms were as
follows: "1. Lasting peace between the two nations. 2. The
ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuhchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai [known
afterwards as the Treaty Ports] to be opened to British trade
and residence, and trade conducted according to a
well-understood tariff. 3. 'It being obviously necessary and
desirable that British subjects should have some port whereat
they may careen and refit their ships when required,' the
island of Hongkong to be ceded to her Majesty. 4. Six millions
of dollars to be paid as the value of the opium which was
delivered up 'as a ransom for the lives of H. B. M.
Superintendent and subjects,' in March, 1839. 5. Three
millions of dollars to be paid for the debts due to British
merchants. 6. Twelve millions to be paid for the expenses
incurred in the expedition sent out 'to obtain redress for the
violent and unjust proceedings of the Chinese high
authorities.' 7. The entire amount of $21,000,000 to be paid
before December 31, 1845. 8. All prisoners of war to be
immediately released by the Chinese. 9. The Emperor to grant
full and entire amnesty to those of his subjects who had aided
the British." Articles 10 to 13 related to the tariff of
export and import dues that should be levied at the open
ports; to future terms of official correspondence, etc. The
Treaty was signed by the Commissioners on the 29th of August,
1842, and the Emperor's ratification was received September
15th.

_S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapter 22-23._

ALSO IN
_D. C. Boulger, History of China, volume 3, chapter 5-7._

_E. H. Parker, Chinese Account of the Opium War._

{424}

CHINA: A. D. 1850-1864.
The Taiping Rebellion.

"The phrase 'Taiping Rebellion is wholly of foreign
manufacture; at Peking and everywhere among those loyal to the
government the insurgents were styled 'Chang-mao tseh,' or
'Long-haired rebels,' while on their side, by a whimsical
resemblance to English slang, the imperialists were dubbed
'imps.' When the chiefs assumed to be aiming at independence
in 1850, in order to identify their followers with their cause
they took the term 'Ping Chao,' or 'Peace Dynasty,' as the
style of their sway, to distinguish it from the 'Tsing Chao,'
or 'Pure Dynasty' of the Manchus. Each of them prefixed the
adjective 'Ta' (or 'Tai,' in Cantonese), 'Great,' as is the
Chinese custom with regard to dynasties and nations; thus the
name Tai-ping became known to foreigners."

_S. W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom, chapter 24 (volume 2)._