Chapter IV: Introduction (2)

Of the religions of the Chinese we will speak in a succeeding chapter, but it must be said here that during the Chow dynasty was born the most famous of Chinese teachers, Confucius. He was preceded about the middle of the dynasty by Lao-tzu, the founder of an abstruse system of ethical philosophy which was destined to develop into the Taoism of to-day. Closely following, and partially a contemporary, came Confucius, “a teacher who has been equalled in his influence upon masses of the human race by Buddha alone and approached only by Mahomet and Christ.” Confucius devoted his life chiefly to the moral amelioration of his fellow men by oral teaching, but he was also an author of many works. A hundred years later came Mencius, the record of whose teachings also forms an important part of the course of study of a modern student in China. His pet theory was that the nature of man is good, and that all evil tendencies are necessarily acquired from evil communications either by heredity or association. It was during this same period that the literature of the Chinese language was founded. Of this subject, and some of the famous works, more will be said in a succeeding chapter devoted to literature and education.

In their campaign against the prevailing lawlessness and violence, neither Confucius nor Mencius was able to make any headway. Their preachings fell on deaf ears and their peaceful admonitions were passed unheeded by men who held their fiefs by the strength of their right arms, and administered the affairs of their principalities surrounded by the din of war. The feudal system and the dynasty of the Chows were tottering when Confucius died although it was more than two hundred years after when Ch’in acquired the supremacy.

The nine centuries covered by the history of the Chows were full of stirring incidents in other parts of the world. The Trojan war had just been brought to an end and Æneas had taken refuge in Italy from the sack of Troy. Early in the dynasty Zoroaster was founding in Persia the religion of the Magi, the worship of fire which survives in the Parseeism of Bombay. Saul was made king of Israel and Solomon built the temple of Jerusalem. Later on Lycurgus gave laws to the Spartans and Romulus laid the first stone of the Eternal City. Then came the Babylonic captivity, the appearance of Buddha, the conquest of Asia Minor by Cyrus, the rise of the Roman Republic, the defeats of Darius at Marathon and of Xerxes at Salamis, the Peloponnesian War, the retreat of the Ten Thousand, and Roman conquests down to the end of the first Punic war. From a literary point of view the Chow dynasty was the age of the Vedas in India; of Homer, Æschylus, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Aristotle and Demosthenes in Greece; and of the Jewish prophets from Samuel to Daniel; and of the Talmud as originally undertaken by the scribes subsequent to the return from the captivity in Babylon.

It has been stated that the imperial rule of the Chows over the vassal states which made up the China of those early days, was gradually undermined by the growing power and influence of one of the latter, the very name of which was transformed into a byword of reproach, so that to call a person “a man of Ch’in” was equivalent to saying in vulgar parlance, “He is no friend of mine.” The struggle between the Ch’ins and the rest of the empire may be likened to the struggle between Athens and the rest of Greece though the end in each case was not the same. The state of Ch’in vanquished its combined opponents, and finally established a dynasty, short-lived indeed, but containing among the few rulers who sat upon the throne, only about fifty years in all, the name of one remarkable man, the first emperor of the united China.

On the ruins of the old feudal system, the landmarks of which his three or four predecessors had succeeded in sweeping away, Hwang Ti laid the foundations of a coherent empire which was to date from himself as its founder. He sent an army of 300,000 men to fight against the Huns. He dispatched a fleet to search for some mysterious islands off the coast of China; and this expedition has since been connected with the colonization of Japan. He built the Great Wall which is nearly fourteen hundred miles in length, forming the most prominent artificial object on the surface of the earth. His copper coinage was so uniformly good that the cowry disappeared altogether from commerce with this reign. According to some, the modern hair pencil employed by the Chinese as a pen was invented about this time, to be used for writing on silk; while the characters themselves underwent certain modifications and orthographical improvements. The first emperor desired above all things to impart a fresh stimulus to literary effort; but he adopted singularly unfortunate means to secure this desirable end. For listening to the insidious flattery of courtiers, he determined that literature should begin anew with his reign. He therefore issued orders for the destruction of all existing books, with the exception of works treating of medicine, agriculture and divination and the annals of his own house; and he actually put to death many hundreds of the literati who refused to comply with these commands. The decree was obeyed as faithfully as was possible in case of so sweeping an ordinance and for many years a night of ignorance rested on the country. Numbers of valuable works thus perished in a general literary conflagration, popularly known as “the burning of the books;” and it is partly to accident and partly to the pious efforts of the scholars of the age, that posterity is indebted for the preservation of the most precious relics of ancient Chinese literature. The death of Hwang Ti 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 peasant leader who adopted the title of Kaou Ti, and named his dynasty that of Han, with himself its first emperor.

From that day to this, with occasional interregnums, the empire has been ruled on the lines laid down by Hwang Ti. 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 a homogeneous mass inhabiting the empire, and instead of impressing their seal upon the country, have become but the reflection of the vanquished. The stately House of Han ruled over China for four hundred years, approximately from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. During the whole period the empire made vast strides towards a more settled state of prosperity and civilization, although there were constant wars with the Tartar tribes to the north and the various Turkish tribes on the west. The communications with the Huns were particularly close, and even now traces of Hunnish influence are discernible in several of the recognized surnames of the Chinese. This dynasty also witnessed the spectacle, most unusual in the east, of a woman wielding the imperial sceptre; and hers was not a reign calculated to inspire the people of China with much faith either in the virtue or the administrative ability of the sex. In Chinese history however, her place is that of the only female sovereign who ever legitimately occupied the throne.

It was under the Han dynasty that the religion of Buddha first became known to the Chinese people, and Taoism began to develop from quiet philosophy to foolish superstitions and practices. It was also during this period that the Jews appear to have founded a colony in Honan, but we cannot say what kind of a reception was accorded to the new faith. In the glow of early Buddhism, and in the exciting times of its subsequent persecution, it is probable that Judaism failed to attract much serious attention from the Chinese. In 1850 certain Hebrew rolls were recovered from the few remaining descendants of former Jews; but there was then no one left who could read a word of them, or who possessed any knowledge of the creed of their forefathers, beyond a few traditions of the scantiest possible kind.

But the most remarkable of all events connected with our present period, was the general revival of learning and authorship. The Confucian texts were rescued from hiding places in which they had been concealed at the risk of death; editing committees were appointed, and immense efforts made to repair the mischief sustained by literature at the hand of the first emperor. Ink and paper were invented and authorship was thus enabled to make a fresh start, the very start indeed, that the first emperor had longed to associate with his own reign, and had attempted to secure by such impracticable means. During the latter portion of the second century B. C., flourished the “Father of Chinese History.” His great work, which has been the model for all subsequent histories, is divided into one hundred and thirty books, and deals with a period extending from the reign of the Yellow emperor down to his own times. In another branch of literature, a foremost place among the lexicographers of the world may fairly be claimed for Hsu Shen, the author of a famous dictionary. Many other celebrated writers lived and prospered during the Han dynasty. One man whose name must be mentioned insured for himself, by his virtue and integrity, a more imperishable fame than any mere literary achievement could bestow. Yang Chen was indeed a scholar of no mean attainments, and away in his occidental home he was known as the “Confucius of the west.” An officer of government in a high position, with every means of obtaining wealth at his command, he lived and died in comparative poverty, his only object of ambition being the reputation of a spotless official. The Yangs of his day grumbled sorely at opportunities thus thrown away; but the Yangs of to-day glory in the fame of their great ancestor and are proud to worship in the ancestral hall to which his uprightness has bequeathed the name. For once when pressed to receive a bribe, with the additional inducement that no one would know of the transaction, he quietly replied—“How so? Heaven would know; earth would know; you would know and I should know.” And to this hour the ancestral shrine of the clan of the Yangs bears as it name “The Hall of the Four Knows.”

It was in all probability under the dynasty of the Hans that the drama first took its place among the amusements of the people.

It is unnecessary to linger over the four centuries which connect the Hans with the T'angs. There was not in them that distinctness of character or coherency of aim which leave a great impress upon the times. The three kingdoms passed rapidly away, and other small dynasties succeeded them, but their names and dates are not essential to a right comprehension of the state of China then or now. A few points may, however, be briefly mentioned before quitting this period of transition. Diplomatic relations were opened with Japan; and Christianity was introduced by the Nestorians under the title of the “luminous teaching.” Tea was not known in China before this date. It was at the close of this transitional period that we first detect traces of the art of printing, still in an embryonic state, and it seems to be quite certain that before the end of the sixth century the Chinese were in possession of a method of reproduction from wooden blocks. One of the last emperors of the period succeeded in adding largely to the empire by annexation toward the west. Embassies reached his court from various nations, including Japan and Cochin China, and helped to add to the lustre of his reign.

The three centuries A.D. 600-900, during which the T'angs sat upon the throne, form a brilliant epoch in Chinese history, and the southern people of China are still proud of the designation which has descended to them as “men of T’ang.” Emperor Hsuan Tsung fought against the prevailing extravagance in dress; founded a large dramatic college; and was an enthusiastic patron of literature. Buddhism flourished during this period in spite of edicts against it. Finally, it gained the favor of the emperors and for a time overpowered even Confucianism. It was during the reign of the second emperor of the T'angs and only six years after the Hegira that the religion of Mahomet first reached the shores of China. A maternal uncle of the prophet visited the country and obtained permission to build a mosque at Canton, portions of which may perhaps still be found in the thrice restored structure which now stands upon its site. The use of paper money was first introduced by the government toward the closing years of the dynasty; and it is near to this time that we can trace back the existence of the modern court circular and daily record of edicts, memorials, etc., commonly known as the Peking Gazette.

Another unimportant transition period, sixty years in duration, forms the connecting link between the houses of T'ang and Sung. It is known in Chinese history as the period of the five dynasties, after the five short-lived ones crowded into this space of time. It is remarkable chiefly for the more extended practice of printing from wooden blocks, the standard classical works being now for the first time printed in this way. The discreditable custom of cramping women’s feet into the so-called “golden lilies” belongs probably to this date, though referred by some to a period several hundred years later.

It has been said before that the age of the T'angs was the age of Mahomet and his new religion, the propagation of which was destined to meet in the west with a fatal check from the arms of Charles Martel at the battle of Tours. It was the age of Rome independent under her early popes; of Charlemagne as emperor of the west; of Egbert as first king of England; and of Alfred the Great.

The Sung dynasty extended from about A.D. 960 to 1280. The first portion of this dynasty may be considered as on the whole, one of the most prosperous and peaceable periods of the history of China. The nation had already in a great measure settled down to that state of material civilization and mental culture in which it may be said to have been discovered by Europeans a few centuries later. To the appliances of Chinese ordinary life it is probable that but few additions have been made even since a much earlier date. The national costume has indeed undergone subsequent variations, and at least one striking change has been introduced in later years, that is, the tail, which will be mentioned later. But the plows and hoes, the water wheels and well sweeps, the tools of artisans, mud huts, junks, carts, chairs, tables, chopsticks, etc., which we still see in China, are doubtless approximately those of more than two thousand years ago. Mencius observed that the written language was the same, and axle-trees of the same length all over the empire; and to this day an unaltering uniformity is one of the chief characteristics of the Chinese people in every department of life.

The house of Sung was not however without the usual troubles for any length of time. Periodical revolts are the special feature of Chinese history, and the Sungs were hardly exempt from them in a greater degree than other dynasties. The Tartars too, were forever encroaching upon Chinese territory and finally overran and occupied a large part of northern China. This resulted in an amicable arrangement to divide the empire, the Tartars retaining their conquests in the north. Less than a hundred years later came the invasion of the Mongols under Genghis Khan, with the long struggle which eventuated in a complete overthrow of both the Tartars and the Sungs and the final establishment of the Mongol dynasty under Kublai Khan, whose success was in a great measure due to the military capacity of his famous lieutenant Bayan. From this struggle one name in particular has survived to form a landmark of which the Chinese are justly proud. It is that of the patriot statesman Wen T'ien-hsiang, whose fidelity to the Sungs no defeats could shake, no promises undermine; and who perished miserably in the hands of the enemy rather than abjure the loyalty which had been the pride and almost the object of his existence.

Another name inseparably connected with the history of the Sungs is that of Wang An-shih who has been styled “The Innovator” from the gigantic administrative changes or innovations he labored ineffectually to introduce. The chief of these were a universal system of militia under which the whole body of citizens were liable to military drill and to be called out for service in time of need; and a system of state loans to agriculturists in order to supply capital for more extensive and more remunerative farming operations. His schemes were ultimately set aside through the opposition of a statesman whose name is connected even more closely with literature than with politics. Ssu-ma Kuang spent nineteen years of his life in the compilation of “The Mirror of History,” a history of China in two hundred and ninety-four books, from the earliest times of the Chow dynasty down to the accession of the house of Sung.

A century later this lengthy production was recast in a greatly condensed form under the superintendence of Chu Hsi, the latter work at once taking rank as the standard history of China to that date. Chu Hsi himself played in other ways by far the most important part among all the literary giants of the Sungs. Besides holding, during a large portion of his life, high official position, with an almost unqualified success, his writings are more extensive and more varied in character than those of any other Chinese author; and the complete collection of his great philosophical works, published in 1713, fills no fewer than sixty-six books. He introduced interpretations of the Confucian classics, either wholly or partially at variance with those which had been put forth by the scholars of the Han dynasty and received as infallible ever since, thus modifying to a certain extent the prevailing standard of political and social morality. His principle was simply one of consistency. He refused to interpret certain words in a given passage in one sense and the same words occurring elsewhere in another sense. And this principle recommended itself at once to the highly logical mind of the Chinese. Chu Hsi’s commentaries were received to the exclusion of all others and still form the only authorized interpretation of the classical books, upon a knowledge of which all success at the great competitive examination for literary degrees may be said to entirely depend.

It would be a lengthy task to merely enumerate the names in the great phalanx of writers who flourished under the Sungs and who formed an Augustan Age of Chinese literature. Exception must however be made in favor of Ou-Yang Hsiu, who besides being an eminent statesman, was a voluminous historian of the immediately preceding dynasties, an essayist of rare ability, and a poet; and of Su Tung-p'o whose name next to that of Chu Hsi fills the largest place in Chinese memorials of this period. A vigorous opponent of “The Innovator,” he suffered banishment for his opposition; and again, after his rival’s fall, he was similarly punished for further crossing the imperial will. His exile was shared by the beautiful and accomplished girl “Morning Clouds,” to whose inspiration we owe many of the elaborate poems and other productions in the composition of which the banished poet beguiled his time; and whose untimely death of consumption, on the banks of their favorite lake, hastened the poet’s end, which occurred shortly after his recall from banishment.

Buddhism and Taoism had by this time made advances toward tacit terms of mutual toleration. They wisely agreed to share rather than to quarrel over the carcass which lay at their feet; and from that date they have flourished together without prejudice.

The system of competitive examinations and literary degrees had been still more fully elaborated, and the famous child’s primer, the “Three Character Classic,” which is even now the first stepping stone to knowledge, had been placed in the hands of school boys. The surnames of the people were collected to the number of four hundred and thirty-eight in all; and although this was admittedly not complete, the great majority of those names which were omitted, once perhaps in common use, have altogether disappeared. It is comparatively rare nowadays to meet with a person whose family name is not to be found within the limits of this small collection. Administration of justice is said to have flourished under the incorrupt officials of this dynasty. The functions of magistrates were more fully defined; while the study of medical jurisprudence was stimulated by the publication of a volume which, although combining the maximum of superstition with the minimum of scientific research, is still the officially recognized text book on all subjects connected with murder, suicide and accidental death. Medicine and the art of healing came in for a considerable share of attention at the hands of the Sungs and many voluminous works on therapeutics have come down to us from this period. Inoculation for small-pox has been known to the Chinese at least since the early years of this dynasty if not earlier.

The irruption of the Mongols under Genghis Khan, and the comparatively short dynasty which was later on actually established under Kublai Khan, may be regarded as the period of transition from the epoch of the Sungs to the epoch of the Mings. For the first eighty years after the nominal accession of Genghis Khan the empire was more or less in a state of siege and martial law from one end to the other; and then in less than one hundred years afterwards the Mongol dynasty had passed away. The story of Ser Marco Polo and his wonderful travels, familiar to most readers, gives us a valuable insight into this period of brilliant courts, thronged marts, fine cities, and great national wealth.

At this date the literary glory of the Sungs had hardly begun to grow dim. Ma Tuan-lin carried on his voluminous work through all the troublous times, and at his death bequeathed to the world “The Antiquarian Researches,” in three hundred and forty-eight books, which have made his name famous to every student of Chinese literature. Plane and spherical trigonometry were both known to the Chinese by this time, and mathematics generally began to receive a larger share of the attention of scholars. It was also under the Mongol dynasty that the novel first made its appearance, a fact pointing to a definite social advancement, if only in the direction of luxurious reading. Among other points may be mentioned a great influx of Mohammedans, and consequent spread of their religion about this time.

The Grand Canal was completed by Kublai Khan, and thus Cambaluc, the Peking of those days, was united by inland water communication with the extreme south of China. The work seems to have been begun by the Emperor Yang Ti seven centuries previously, but the greater part of the undertaking was done in the reign of Kublai Khan. Hardly so successful was the same emperor’s huge naval expedition against Japan, which in point of number of ships and men, the insular character of the enemy’s country, the chastisement intended, and the total loss of the fleet in a storm, aided by the stubborn resistance of the Japanese themselves, suggests a very obvious comparison with the object and fate of the Spanish Armada.

The age of the Sungs carries us from a hundred years previous to the Norman Conquest down to about the death of Edward III. It was the epoch of Venetian commerce and maritime supremacy; and of the first great lights in Italian literature, Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio. English, French, German and Spanish literature had yet to develop, only one or two of the earlier writers, such as Chaucer, having yet appeared on the scene.

The founder of the Ming dynasty rose from starvation and obscurity to occupy the throne of the Chinese empire. In his youth he sought refuge from the pangs of hunger in a Buddhist monastery; later on he became a soldier of fortune, and joined the ranks of the insurgents who were endeavoring to shake off the alien yoke of the Mongols. His own great abilities carried him on. He speedily obtained the leadership of a large army, with which he totally destroyed the power of the Mongols, and finally established a new Chinese dynasty over the thirteen provinces into which the empire was divided. He fixed his capitol at Nanking, where it remained until the accession of the third emperor, the conqueror of Cochin China and Tonquin, who transferred the seat of government back to Peking, the capitol of the Mongols, from which it has never since been removed.

For nearly three hundred years, from 1370 to 1650, the Mings swayed the destinies of China. Their rule was not one of uninterrupted peace, either within or without the empire; but it was on the whole a wise and popular rule, and the period which it covers is otherwise notable for immense literary activity and for considerable refinement in manners and material civilization.

From without, the Mings were constantly harrassed by the encroachments of the Tartars; while from within the ceaseless intriguing of the eunuchs was a fertile cause of trouble.

Chief among the literary achievements of this period, is the gigantic encyclopedia in over twenty-two thousand books, only one copy of which, and that imperfect, has survived out of the four that were originally made. Allowing fifty octavo pages to a book, the result would be a total of at least one million one hundred thousand pages, the index alone occupying no fewer than three thousand pages. This wonderful work is now probably rotting, if not already rotted beyond hope of preservation, in some damp corner of the imperial palace at Peking. Another important and more accessible production was the so-called “Chinese Herbal.” This was a compilation from the writings of no fewer than eight hundred preceding writers on botany, mineralogy, entomology, etc., the whole forming a voluminous but unscientific book of reference on the natural history of China. Shortly after the accession of the third emperor, Yung Lo, the imperial library was estimated to contain written and printed works amounting to a total of about one million in all. A book is a variable quantity in Chinese literature, both as regards number and size of pages; the number of books to a work also vary from one to several hundred. But reckoning fifty pages to a book and twenty or twenty-five books to a work, it will be seen that the collection was not an unworthy private library for any emperor in the early years of the fifteenth century.

The overthrow of the Mings 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 Manchooria engaged in resisting the incursions of the Manchoo-Tartars, now for a long time in a state of ferment, immediately hurried back to the capitol but was totally defeated by the insurgent leader and once more made his way, this time as a fugitive and a suppliant, toward 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 Manchoo custom, and again set off with his new auxiliaries toward Peking, being reinforced on the way by a body of Mongol volunteers. As things turned out, the commander arrived in 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 capitol the young Manchoo prince in command was invited by the people of Peking to ascend the vacant throne. So that by the time Wu San-kuei reappeared, he found a new dynasty already established and his late Manchoo 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:

That no Chinese woman should be taken into the imperial seraglio; that the first place at the great triennial examination for the highest literary degrees should never be given to a Tartar; 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; 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. The dress of the period survives upon the modern Chinese stage; and when occasionally the alien yoke has galled, seditious whispers of “restoration” are not altogether unheard. Secret societies have always been dreaded and prohibited by the government; and of these none more so than the famous “Triad Society,” in which heaven, earth, and man are supposed to be associated in close alliance, and whose watchword is believed to embody some secret allusion to the downfall of the present dynasty.

In the latter part of the sixteenth century, the civilization of western Europe began to make itself felt in China by the advent of the Portuguese, and this matter will be returned to in the following chapter.

In other parts of the world, eventful times have set in. In England we are brought from the accession of Richard II. down to the struggle between the king and the commons and the ultimate establishment of the commonwealth. We have Henry IV. in France and Ferdinand and Isabella in Spain. In England, Shakspeare and Bacon; in France, Rabelais and Descartes; in Germany, Luther and Copernicus; in Spain, Cervantes; and in Italy, Galileo, Machiavelli and Tasso; these names to which should be added those of the great explorers, Columbus and Vasco de Gama, serve to remind one of what was meanwhile passing in the west.

FROM FIRST CONTACT WITH EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION
TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR.

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How the Western Nations Formed the Acquaintance of China—First Mention of the Orient by Grecian and Roman Historians—Introduction of Judaism—Nestorian Missionaries Bring Christianity—Marco Polo’s Wonderful Journey—Roman Missionaries in the Field—Dissentions among Christians Discredit their Work—Work of the Jesuits—The Dynasty of the Chings—Splendid Literary Labors of Two Emperors—England’s First Embassy to China—The Opium War—Opening the Ports of China—Treaties with Western Nations—The Tai-Ping Rebellion—The Later Years of Chinese History.

The works of several Greek and Roman historians, principally those of Ptolemy and Arian, who lived in the second century, contain references of a vague character to a country now generally believed to be China. Ptolemy states that his information came from the agents of Macedonian traders, who gave him an account of a journey of seven months from the principal city of eastern Turkestan, in a direction east inclining a little south. It is probable that these agents belonged to some of the Tartar tribes of Central Asia. They represented the name of this most eastern nation to be Serica, and that on the borders of this kingdom they met and traded with its inhabitants, the Seres. Herodotus speaks of the Isadores as a people in the extreme north-east of Asia. Ptolemy also mentions these tribes as a part of Serica and under its sway. Ammianus Marcellinus, a Roman historian of the fourth century, speaks of the land of the Seres as surrounded by a high and continuous wall. This was about six hundred years after the great wall of northern China was built. Virgil, Pliny, Ricitus and Juvenal refer to the Seres in connection with the Seric garments which seem to have been made of fine silk or gauze. This article of dress was much sought after in Rome by the wealthy and luxurious, and as late as the second century, is said to have been worth its weight in gold. From the length and description of the route of the traders, the description of the mountains and rivers which they passed, the character of the people with whom they traded and the articles of traffic, the evidence seems almost conclusive that the nation which the Greeks and Romans designated by the name of Serica is that now known to us as China. The particular countries visited by the caravans which brought the silk to Europe, were probably the dependencies or territories of China on the west, or possibly cities within the extreme north-west limit of China proper.

The introduction of Judaism into China is evidenced by a Jewish synagogue which existed until quite recently in Kai-fung-foo, a city in the province of Honan. Connected with this synagogue were some Hebrew manuscripts, and a few worshippers who retained some of the forms of their religion, but very little knowledge of its real character and spirit. There is a great deal of uncertainty as to when the Jews came to China, though they have, no doubt, resided there for many centuries.

Nestorian missionaries entered China some time before the seventh century. The principal record which they have left of the success of their missions is the celebrated Nestorian monument in Fen-gan-foo. This monument contains a short history of the sect from the year 630 to 781, and also an abstract of the Christian religion. The missionaries of this sect have left but few records of their labors or of their observations as travelers, but the churches planted by them seem to have existed until a comparatively recent period. The Romish missionaries who entered China in the beginning of the fourteenth century, found them possessed of considerable influence, not only among the people, but also at court, and met with no little opposition from them in their first attempts to introduce the doctrines of their church. It seems to be true that during the period of nearly eight hundred years in which Nestorian Christianity maintained its foothold in China, large numbers of converts were made. But in process of time the Nestorian churches departed widely from their first teachings. After the fall of the Mongolian empire they were cut off from connection with the west, and not having sufficient vitality to resist the adverse influences of heathenism the people by degrees relapsed into idolatry or took up the new faiths that were introduced.

The first western writer, whose works are extant, who has given anything like full and explicit explanation respecting China is Ser Marco Polo. He went to China in the year 1274, in company with his father and uncle, who were Venetian noblemen. At this time, the independent nomad tribes of central Asia being united in one government, it was practicable to reach eastern Asia by passing through the Mongolian empire. Marco Polo spent twenty-four years in China, and seems to have been treated kindly and hospitably. After his return to Europe he was taken prisoner in a war with the Genoese, and during his confinement wrote an account of his travels. The description he gives of the vast territories of China, its teeming population, and flourishing cities, the refinement and civilization of its people, and their curious customs, seemed to his countrymen more like a fiction of fairyland than sober and authentic narrative. It is said that he was urged when on his death bed to retract these statements and make confession of falsehood, which he refused to do. He was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable travelers of any age.

During the period of the Mongolian empire which comprehended under its sway the greater part of Asia from China on the east to the Mediterranean on the west, an intense desire was kindled in the Roman church to convert this powerful nation to its faith. Among the first and the most noted of the missionaries sent to China at this time, was John of Mount Corvin, who reached Peking in 1293. He was afterward made an archbishop. From time to time bishops and priests were sent out to re-enforce this mission, but they met with indifferent success; and when the Mongols were driven from China the enterprise was abandoned as a complete failure. After the fall of the Mongolian empire, direct overland communication with eastern Asia was interrupted, and for about two hundred years China was again almost completely isolated from the western world.

The use of the magnetic needle, and improvements in navigation, made a new era in intercourse with the Orient. It is supposed that the first voyage from Europe to China was made by a Portuguese vessel in 1516. From this period commercial intercourse with China became more frequent, and various embassies were sent to the Chinese court by different nations of Europe. Unfortunately the growing familiarity of the Chinese with western nations did not increase their respect and confidence in them. This was due partly to the servility of most of the embassies to Peking, but principally, no doubt, to the want of honesty and the general lawlessness of most of the traders from the west. The consequence was that the Chinese became desirous of restricting foreign intercourse, and exercising as strict surveillance over their troublesome visitors as possible.

Immediately after connection was established between Europe and the far east by sea, another and a more successful effort was made by the Roman church to propagate its faith in the Chinese empire, this being coincident with the growth of the exchange of business. Francis Xavier, in his attempt to gain an entrance into the country, died on one of the islands of the coast in 1552. Toward the close of the Sixteenth century the Portuguese appeared upon the scene, and from their “concession” at Macao, at one 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 Rome contributed the first installment of those wonderful Jesuit fathers whose names yet echo in the empire, the memory of their scientific labors and the benefits they thus conferred upon China having long survived the wreck and discredit of the faith to which they devoted their lives. 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 quarreling 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 stands by common consent upon the long list. He established himself in Canton in the garb of a Buddhist priest in 1581. He was a man of varied intellectual gifts and extensive learning, united with indomitable energy, zeal and perseverance, and great prudence. In 1601 he reached Peking in the dress of a literary gentleman. He spent many years in China. He associated with the highest personages in the land. He acquired an unrivalled knowledge of the book language, and left behind him several valuable treatises of a metaphysical and theological character, written in such a polished style as to command the recognition and even the admiration of the Chinese. One of his most intimate friends and fellow workers was the well-known scholar and statesman, Hsu Kuang-chi, the author of a voluminous compendium of agriculture, and joint author of the large work which introduced European astronomy to the Chinese. He was appointed by the emperor to co-operate with other Jesuit missionaries in reforming the national calendar, which had gradually reached a stage of hopeless inaccuracy. He wrote independently several small scientific works; also a severe criticism of the Buddhist religion, and finally, not least in importance, a defense of the Jesuits, addressed to the throne, when their influence at court had begun to excite envy and distrust. Hsu Kuang-chi forms the sole exception in the history of China of a scholar and a man of means and position on the side of Christianity.

The age of the Chings 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 on the throne in China. For some time after the accession of the first Manchoo emperor, there was considerable friction between the two races. The subjugation of the empire by the Manchoos was followed by a military occupation of the country, which survived the original necessity, and has remained part of the system of government until the present day. The dynasty thus founded, partly by accident as it seems, as was related in the last chapter, has remained in power through the entire period of intercourse with western nations. The title adopted by the first emperor of the line was Shun-che. It was during the reign of this sovereign that Adam Schaal, a German Jesuit, took up his residence at Peking and that the first Russian embassy, 1656, visited the capital. But in those days the Chinese had not learned to tolerate the idea that a foreigner should enter the presence of the Son of Heaven unless he were willing to perform the prostration known as the Ko-t’ow, and the Russians not being inclined to humor any such presumptuous folly left the capital without opening negotiations.

Of the nine emperors of this line, from the first to the present, the second in every way fills the largest space in Chinese history. Kang Hi, the son of Shun-che, reigned for sixty-one years. This sovereign is renowned in modern Chinese history as a model ruler, a skillful general and an able author. During his reign Thibet was added to the empire, and the Eleuths were successfully subdued. But it is as a just and considerate ruler that he is best remembered among the people. He treated the early Catholic priests with kindness and distinction, and availed himself in many ways of their scientific knowledge. He promulgated sixteen moral maxims collectively known as the “Sacred Edict,” forming a complete code of rules for the guidance of every day life, and presented in such terse, yet intelligible terms, that they at once took firm hold of the public mind and have retained their position ever since. Kang Hi was the most successful patron of literature the world has ever seen. He caused to be published under his own personal supervision the four following compilations, known as the four great works of the present dynasty: A huge thesaurus of extracts in one hundred and ten thick volumes; an encyclopedia in four hundred and fifty books, usually bound in one hundred and sixty volumes; an enlarged and improved edition of a herbarium in one hundred books; and a complete collection of the important philosophical writings of Chu Hsi in sixty-six books. In addition to these the emperor designed and gave his name to the great modern lexicon of the Chinese language, which contains over forty thousand characters under separate entries, accompanied in each case by appropriate citations from the works of authors of every age and every style. The monumental encyclopedia contains articles on every known subject, and extracts from all works of authority dating from the twelfth century B.C. to that time. As only one hundred copies of the first imperial edition were printed, all of which were presented to princes of the blood and high officials, it is rapidly becoming extremely rare, and it is not unlikely that before long the copy in the possession of the British museum will be the only complete copy existing. A cold caught on a hunting excursion in Mongolia brought his memorable reign of sixty-one years to a close, and he was succeeded on the throne by his son Yung Ching.

The labors of the missionaries during the years of this last reign have been effective in establishing many churches and bishoprics, and in making many thousands of converts. But the suspicions in the minds of the Chinese rulers that the Christians were leagued with rebels, as well as the controversies between the different sects, antagonized the authorities. Under the third Manchoo emperor, Yung Ching, began that violent persecution of the Catholics which continued almost to the present day, and in the year 1723 an edict was promulgated prohibiting the further propagation of this religion in the empire. From this time the Roman Catholics were subjected to this persecution except for a few alternate periods of comparative toleration. They have retained their position in the face of great difficulties and trials, and since the late treaties with China the number of their converts has rapidly increased.

After a reign of twelve years, Yung Ching was gathered to his fathers, having bequeathed the throne to his son Kien Lung. This fourth emperor of the dynasty enjoyed a long and glorious reign. He possessed many of the great qualities of his grandfather, but he lacked his wisdom and moderation. His generals led a large army into Nepaul and conquered the Goorkhas, reaching a point only some sixty miles distant from British territory. He carried his armies north, south, and west, and converted Kuldja into a Chinese province. But in Burmah, Cochin China, and Formosa his troops suffered discomfiture. During his reign, which extended over sixty years, a full Chinese cycle, the relations of his government with the East India Company were extremely unsatisfactory. The English merchants were compelled to submit to many indignities and wrongs; and for the purpose of establishing a better international understanding Lord Macartney was sent by George III. on a special mission to the court of Peking. The ambassador was received graciously by the emperor, who accepted the presents sent him by the English king, but owing to his ignorance of his own relative position, and of even the rudiments of international law, he declined to give those assurances of a more equitable policy which were demanded of him.

Like his illustrious ancestor, Kien Lung was a generous patron of literature, though only two instead of five great literary monuments remain to mark his sixty years of power. These are a magnificent bibliographical work in two hundred parts, consisting of a catalogue of the books in the imperial library, with valuable historical and critical notices attached to the entries of each; and a huge topography of the whole empire in five hundred books, beyond doubt one of the most comprehensive and exhaustive works of the kind ever published. Kang Hi had been a voluminous poet; but the productions of Kien Lung far outnumber those of any previous or subsequent bard. For more than fifty years this emperor was an industrious poet, finding time in the intervals of state duties to put together no fewer than thirty-three thousand nine hundred and fifty separate pieces. In the estimation however of this apparently impossible contribution to poetic literature, it must always be borne in mind that the stanza of four lines is a favorite length for a poem and that the couplet is not uncommon. Even thus a large balance stands to the credit of a Chinese emperor, whose time is rarely his own, and whose day is divided with wearisome regularity, beginning with councils and audiences long before daylight has appeared. We gain a glimpse into Kien Lung’s court from the account of Lord Macartney’s embassy in 1795, which was so favorably received by the venerable monarch a short time previous to his abdication, and three years before his death, and forms such a contrast with that of Lord Amherst to his successor in 1816. In 1795, at the age of eighty-five years, Kien Lung abdicated in favor of his fifteenth son who ascended the throne with the title of Kea King.

During the reign of Kea King, a second English embassy was sent to Peking, in 1816, to represent to the emperor the unsatisfactory position of the English merchants in China. The envoy, Lord Amherst, was met at the mouth of the Peiho and conducted to Yuen-ming-yuen or summer palace, where the emperor was residing. On his arrival he was officially warned that only on condition of his performing the Ko-t’ow would he be permitted to behold “the dragon countenance.” This of course was impossible, and he consequently left the palace without having slept a night under its roof.

Meanwhile the internal affairs of the country were even more disturbed than the foreign relations. A succession of rebellions broke out in the western and northern provinces and the sea-boards were ravaged by pirates. While these disturbing causes were in full play the emperor died, in 1820, and the throne devolved upon Tao Kuang, his second son. It was during the reign of Kea King that Protestant missionaries initiated a systematic attempt to convert the Chinese to Christianity; but the religious toleration of these people, which on the whole has been a marked feature in their civilization of all ages, had been sorely tried by the Catholics and but little progress was made. In another direction some of the early Protestant missionaries did great service to the world at large. They spent much of their time in grappling with the difficulties of the written language; and the publication of Dr. Morrison’s famous dictionary and the achievements of Dr. Legge were the culmination of these labors.

Under Tao Kuang both home and foreign affairs went from bad to worse. A secret league known as the Triad Society, which was first formed during the reign of Kang Hi, now assumed a formidable bearing, and in many parts of the country, notably in Honan, Kwang-hsi, and Formosa, insurrections broke out at its instigation. At the same time the mandarins continued to persecute the English merchants, and on the expiration of the East India Company’s monopoly in 1834 the English government sent Lord Napier to Canton to superintend the foreign trade at that port. Thwarted at every turn by the presumptuous obstinacy of the mandarins, Lord Napier’s health gave way under the constant vexations connected with his post, and he died at Macao after but a few months’ residence in China.

The opium trade was now the question of the hour, and at the urgent demand of Commissioner Lin, Captain Elliot, the superintendent of trade, agreed that all opium in the hands of English merchants should be given up to the authorities. On the 3rd of April, 1839, twenty thousand two hundred and eighty-three chests of opium were, in accordance with this agreement, handed over to the mandarins, who burnt them to ashes. This demand of Lin’s, though agreed to by the superintendent of trade, was considered so unreasonable by the English government that in the following year war was declared against China. The island of Chusan and the Bogue forts on the Canton river soon fell into the English hands, and Commissioner Lin’s successor sought to purchase peace by the cession of Hong Kong and the payment of an indemnity of $6,000,000. This convention was, however, repudiated by the Peking government, and it was not until Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Shanghai, Chapoo and Chin-keang Foo had been taken by the British troops, that the emperor at last consented to come to terms, now of course far more onerous. By a treaty made by Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842 the cession of Hong Kong was supplemented by the opening of the four ports of Amoy, Foochow Foo, Ningpo, and Shanghai to foreign trade, and the indemnity of $6,000,000 was increased to $21,000,000.