service. A lady of Hang Chou, finding it impossible to secure
sufficient money by ordinary methods for the support of a school that
she had established, cut a deep gash in her arm and then sat in the
temple court during the day of the fair, with a board beside her on
which was inscribed the explanation of her unusual conduct. This
brought her in some three hundred ounces of silver with which she
provided for her school the first year. When it was exhausted and she
could get no more, she wrote letters to the officials of her province,
in which she asked for subscriptions and urged the importance of female
education, to which she said she was willing to give her life. To her
appeal the officials paid no heed, and she finally wrote other letters
renewing her request for help to establish the school, after which she
committed suicide. The letters were sent, and later published in the
local and general newspapers. Memorial services were held in various
parts of the empire at all of which funds were gathered not only for
her school but for establishing other schools throughout the provinces.
The school of the Third Princess at which this service was held was
profusely decorated. Chinese flags floated over the gates and
door-ways. Beautifully written scrolls, telling the reason for the
service and lauding the virtues of the lady, covered the walls of the
schoolroom. At the second entrance there was a table at which sat a
scribe who took our name and address and gave us a copy of the "order
of exercises." Here we were met by the Third Princess, who conducted us
into the main hall. Opposite the doorway was hung a portrait of the
lady, wreathed in artificial flowers, and painted by a Chinese artist.
A table stood before it on which was a plate of fragrant quinces,
candles, and burning incense, giving it the appearance of a shrine.
Pots of flowers were arranged about the room, which was unusually clean
and beautiful. The Chinese guests bowed three times before the picture
on entering the room, which I thought a very pretty ceremony.
The girls of this school, to the number of about sixty, appeared in
blue uniform, courtesying to the guests. Sixteen other girls' schools
of Peking were represented either by teachers or pupils or both. One of
the boys' schools came en masse, dressed in military uniform, led by a
band, and a drillmaster with a sword dangling at his side. Addresses
were made by both ladies and gentlemen, chief among whom were the Third
Princess and the editress of the Woman's Daily Newspaper, the only
woman's daily at that time in the world, who urged the importance of
the establishment and endowment of schools for the education of girls
throughout the empire.
XV
The Chinese Ladies of Rank
Though your husband may be wealthy,
You should never be profuse;
There should always be a limit
To the things you eat and use.
If your husband should be needy,
You should gladly share the same,
And be diligent and thrifty,
And no other people blame.
--"The Primer for Girls," Translated by I. T. H.
XV
THE CHINESE LADIES OF RANK[2]
[2] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book.
The Manchu lady's ideal of beauty is dignity, and to this both her
deportment and her costume contribute in a well-nigh equal degree. Her
hair, put up on silver or jade jewelled hairpins, decorated with many
flowers, is very heavy, and easily tilted to one side or the other if
not carried with the utmost sedateness. Her long garments, reaching
from her shoulders to the floor, give to her tall figure an added
height, and the central elevation of from four to six inches to the
soles of her daintily embroidered slippers, compel her to stand erect
and walk slowly and majestically. She laughs but little, seldom jests,
but preserves a serious air in whatever she does.
The Chinese lady, on the contrary, aspires to be petite, winsome,
affable and helpless. She laughs much, enjoys a joke, and is always
good-natured and chatty.
One of their poets thus describes a noted beauty:
"At one moment with tears her bright eyes would be swimming,
The next with mischief and fun they'd be brimming.
Thousands of sonnets were written in praise of them,
Li Po wrote a song for each separate phase of them.
"Bashfully, swimmingly, pleadingly, scoffingly,
Temptingly, languidly, lovingly, laughingly,
Witchingly, roguishly, playfully, naughtily,
Willfully, waywardly, meltingly, haughtily,
Gleamed the eyes of Yang Kuei Fei.
"Her ruby lips and peach-bloom cheeks,
Would match the rose in hue,
If one were kissed the other speaks,
With blushes, kiss me too."
She combs her hair in a neat coil on the back of her head, uses few
flowers, but instead prefers profuse decorations of pearls. Her upper
garment extends but little below her knees, and her lower garment is an
accordion-plaited skirt, from beneath which the pointed toes of her
small bound feet appear as she walks or sways on her "golden lilies,"
as if she were a flower blown by the wind, to which the Chinese love to
compare her. Her waist is a "willow waist" in poetry, and her "golden
lilies," as her tiny feet are often called, are not more than two or
three inches long--so small that it not infrequently requires the
assistance of a servant or two to help her to walk at all. And though
she may not need them she affects to be so helpless as to require their
aid.
Until very recently education was discouraged rather than sought by the
Manchu lady. Many of the princesses could not read the simplest book
nor write a letter to a friend, but depended upon educated eunuchs to
perform these services for them. The Chinese lady on the contrary can
usually read and write with ease, and the education of some of them is
equal to that of a Hanlin.
Socially the ladies of these two classes never meet. Their husbands may
be of equal rank and well known to each other in official life, but the
ladies have no wish to meet each other. One day while the granddaughter
of one of the Chinese Grand Secretaries was calling upon me, the
sisters of Prince Ching and Prince Su were announced. When they entered
I introduced them. The dignity of the two princesses when presented led
me to fear that we would have a cold time together. I explained who my
Chinese lady friend was, and they answered in a formal way (wai t ou
tou jen te, li to'u k'e pu jen te) "the gentlemen of our respective
households are well acquainted, not so the ladies," but the ice did not
melt. For a time I did my best to find a topic of mutual interest, but
it was like trying to mix oil and water. I was about to give up in
despair when my little Chinese friend, observing the dilemma in which I
was placed, and the effort I was making to relieve the situation, threw
herself into the conversation with such vigour and vivacity, and
suggested topics of such interest to the others as to charm these
reserved princesses, and it was not long until they were talking
together in a most animated way.
One of the Manchu ladies expressed regret at the falling of her hair
and the fact that she was getting bald. "Why," said my little Chinese
friend, "after a severe illness not long since, I lost all my hair, but
I received a prescription from a friend which restored it all, and just
look at the result," she continued turning her pretty head with its
great coils of shiny black hair. "I will be delighted to let you have
it." The Manchu princesses finally rose to depart, and in their
leave-taking, they were as cordial to my little Chinese friend, who had
made herself so agreeable, as they were to me, for which I shall ever
be grateful.
After they had gone I asked:
"Why is it that the Manchu and Chinese ladies do not intermingle in a
social way?"
"The cause dates back to the beginning of the Manchu dynasty," she
responded. "When the Chinese men adopted the Manchu style of wearing
the queue, it was stipulated that they should not interfere with the
style of the woman's dress, and that no Chinese should be taken to the
palace as concubines or slaves to the Emperor. We have therefore always
held ourselves aloof from the Manchus. Our men did this to protect us,
and as a result no Chinese lady has ever been received at court,
except, of course, the painting teacher of the Empress Dowager, who,
before she could enter the palace, was compelled to unbind her feet,
adopt the Manchu style of dress and take a Manchu name."
"Is not the Empress Dowager very much opposed to foot-binding? Why has
she not forbidden it?"
"She has issued edicts recommending them to give it up, but to forbid
it is beyond her power. That would be interfering with the Chinese
ladies' dress."
"Do the Manchus consider themselves superior to the Chinese?"
"It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Have you never noticed
that in his edicts the Emperor speaks of his Manchu slaves and his
Chinese subjects?"
Among my lady friends is one whose father died when she was a child,
and she was brought up in the home of her grandfather who was himself a
viceroy. She had always been accustomed to every luxury that wealth
could buy. Clothed in the richest embroidered silks and satins,
decorated with the rarest pearls and precious stones, she had serving
women and slave girls to wait upon her, and humour her every whim. One
day when we were talking of the Boxer insurrection she told me the
following story:
"Some years ago," she said, "my steward brought me a slave girl whom he
had bought from her father on the street. She was a bright intelligent
and obedient little girl, and I soon became very fond of her. She told
me one day that her grandmother was a Christian, and that she had been
baptized and attended a Christian school. Her father, however, was an
opium-smoker, and had pawned everything he had, and finally when her
grandmother was absent had taken her and sold her to get money to buy
opium. She asked me to send a messenger to her grandmother and tell her
that she had a good home.
"I was delighted to do so for I knew the old woman would be distressed
lest the child had been sold to a life of shame, or had found a cruel
mistress. Unfortunately, however, my messenger could find no trace of
the grandmother, as the neighbours informed him that she had left
shortly after the disappearance of the child.
"As the years passed the child grew into womanhood. She was very
capable, kind and thoughtful for others and I learned to depend upon
her in many ways. She was very devoted to me, and sought to please me
in every way she could. She always spoke of herself as a Christian and
refused to worship our gods. When the Boxer troubles began I took my
house-servants and went to my grandfather's home thinking that the
Boxers would not dare disturb the households of such great officials as
the viceroys. But I soon found that they respected no one who had
liberal tendencies.
"One day there was a proclamation posted to the effect that all
Christians were to be turned over to them, and that any one found
concealing a Christian would themselves be put to death. My grandmother
came to my apartments and wanted me to send my slave girl to the
Boxers. We talked about it for some time but I steadfastly refused.
When the Boxers had procured all they could by that method they
announced that they were about to make a house-to-house search, and any
household harbouring Christians would be annihilated."
"But how would they know that your slave was a Christian?" I inquired.
"Have you not heard," she asked, "that the Boxers claimed that after
going through certain incantations, they could see a cross upon the
forehead of any who had been baptized?"
"And did you believe they could?"
"I did then but I do not now. Indeed we all did. My grandmother came to
me and positively forbade me to keep the slave in her home. After she
had gone the girl came and knelt at my feet and begged me to save her!
How could I send her out to death when she had been so kind and
faithful to me? I finally decided upon a plan to save her. I determined
to flee with her to the home of an uncle who lived in a town a hundred
miles or more from Peking, where I hoped the Boxers were less powerful
than they were at the capital.
"This uncle was the lieutenant-governor of the province and had always
been very fond of me, and I knew if I could reach him I should win his
sympathy and his aid. But how was this to be done? All travellers were
suspected, searched and examined. For two women to be travelling alone,
when the country was in such a state of unrest, could not but bring
upon themselves suspicion, and should we be searched, the cross upon
the forehead would surely be found, and we would be condemned to the
cruel tortures in which the Boxers were said to delight.
"After much thought and planning the only possible method seemed to be
to flee as beggars. You know women beggars are found upon the roads at
all times and they excite little suspicion. Then in the hot summer it
is not uncommon for them to wrap their head and forehead in a piece of
cloth to protect them from the fierce rays of the sun. In this way I
hoped to conceal the cross from observation in case we came into the
presence of the Boxers. We confided our plans to a couple of the women
servants whom we could trust, and asked them to procure proper outfits
for us. They did so, and oh! what dirty old rags they were. The
servants wept as they took off and folded up my silk garments and clad
me in this beggar's garb."
"But your skin is so soft and fair, not at all like the skin of a woman
exposed to the sun; and your black, shiny hair is not at all rusty and
dirty like the hair of a beggar woman. I should think these facts would
have caused your detection," I urged.
"That was easily remedied. We stained our faces, necks, hands and arms,
and we took down our hair and literally rolled it in dust which the
servants brought from the street. Oh! but it was nasty! such an odour!
It was only the saving of the life of that faithful slave that could
have induced me to do it. I had to take off my little slippers and wrap
my feet in dirty rags such as beggars wear. We could take but a little
copper cash with us. To be seen with silver or gold would have at once
brought suspicion upon us, while bank-notes were useless in those days.
"In the early morning, before any one was astir we were let out of a
back gate. It was the first time I had ever walked on the street. I had
always been accustomed to going in my closed cart with outriders and
servants. I shrank from staring eyes, and thought every glance was
suspicious. My slave was more timid than I and so I must take the
initiative. I had been accustomed to seeing street beggars from behind
the screened windows of my cart ever since I was a child and so I knew
how I ought to act, but at first it was difficult indeed. Soon,
however, we learned to play our part, though it seems now like a
hideous dream. We kept on towards the great gate through which we
passed out of the city on to the highway which led to our destination.
"The first time we met a Boxer procession my knees knocked together in
my fear of detection but they passed by without giving us a glance. We
met them often after this, and before we finished our journey I learned
to doubt their claim to detect Christians by the sign of the cross.
"We ate at the roadside booths, slept often in a gateway or by the side
of a wall under the open sky, and after several days' wandering, we
reached the yamen of my uncle. But we dare not enter and reveal our
identity, lest we implicate them, for we found the Boxers strong
everywhere, and even the officials feared their prowess. We hung about
the yamen begging in such a way as not to arouse suspicion, until an
old servant who had been in the family for many years, and whom I knew
well, came upon the street. I followed him begging until we were out of
earshot of others, and then told him in a singsong, whining tone, such
as beggars use, who I was and why I was there, and asked him to let my
uncle know, and said that if they would open the small gate in the
evening we would be near and could enter unobserved.
"At first he could not believe it was I, for by this time we indeed
looked like veritable beggars, but he was finally convinced and
promised to tell my uncle. After nightfall he opened the gate and led
us in by a back passage to my aunt's apartments where she and my uncle
were waiting for me. They both burst into tears as they beheld my
plight. Two old serving women, who had been many years in the family,
helped us to change our clothes and gave us a bath and food. My feet
had suffered the most. They were swollen and ulcerated and the dirty
rags and dust adhering to the sores had left them in a wretched
condition. It took many baths before we were clean, and weeks before my
feet were healed.
"We remained with my uncle until the close of the Boxer trouble, and
until my grandfather's return from Hsian where he had gone with the
Empress Dowager and the court, and then I came back to Peking."
"Your grandmother must have felt ashamed when she heard how hard it had
gone with you," I remarked.
"We never mentioned the matter when talking together. That was a time
when every one was for himself. Death stared us all in the face."
"Where is your slave girl now? I should like to see her," I remarked.
"After the troubles were over I married her to a young man of my
uncle's household. I will send for her and bring her to see you."
She did so. I found she had forgotten much of what she had learned of
Christianity, but she remembered that there was but one God and that
Jesus Christ was His Son to whom alone she should pray. She also
remembered that as a small child she had been baptized, and that in
school she had been taught that "we should love one another"; this was
about the extent of her Gospel, but it had touched the heart of her
charming little mistress and had saved her life.
There were sometimes amusing things happened when these Chinese ladies
called. My husband among other things taught astronomy in the
university. He had a small telescope with which he and the students
often examined the planets, and they were especially interested in
Jupiter and his moons. One evening, contrary to her custom, this same
friend was calling after dark, and when the students had finished with
Jupiter and his moons, my husband invited us to view them, as they were
especially clear on that particular evening.
After she had looked at them for a while, and as my husband was closing
up the telescope, she exclaimed: "That is the kind of an instrument
that some foreigners sent as a present to my grandfather while he was
viceroy, but it was larger than this one."
"And did he use it?" asked my husband.
"No, we did not know what it was for. Besides my grandfather was too
busy with the affairs of the government to try to understand it."
"And where is it now?" asked Mr. Headland, thinking that the viceroy
might be willing to donate it to the college.
"I do not know," she answered. "The servants thought it was a pump and
tried to pump water with it, but it would not work. It is probably
among the junk in some of the back rooms."
"I wonder if we could not find it and fix it up," my husband persisted.
"I am afraid not," she answered. "The last I saw of it, the servants
had taken the glass out of the small end and were using it to look at
insects on the bed."
One day when one of my friends came to call I said to her: "It is a
long time since I have seen you. Have you been out of the city?"
"Yes, I have been spending some months with my father-in-law, the
viceroy of the Canton provinces. His wife has died, and I have returned
to Peking to get him a concubine."
"How old is he?" I inquired.
"Seventy-two years," she replied.
"And how will you undertake to secure a concubine for such an old man?"
"I shall probably buy one."
A few weeks afterwards she called again having with her a good-looking
young woman of about seventeen, her hair beautifully combed, her face
powdered and painted, and clothed in rich silk and satin garments, whom
she introduced as the young lady procured for her father-in-law. She
explained that she had bought her from a poor country family for three
hundred and fifty ounces of silver.
"Don't you think it is cruel for parents to sell their daughters in
this way?" I asked.
"Perhaps," she answered. "But with the money they received for her,
they can buy land enough to furnish them a good support all their life.
She will always have rich food, fine clothing and an easy time, with
nothing to do but enjoy herself, while if she had remained at home she
must have married some poor man who might or might not have treated her
well, and for whom she would have to work like a slave. Now she is
nominally a slave with nothing to do and with every comfort, in
addition to what she has done for her family."
While we were having tea she asked to see Mr. Headland, as many of the
older of my friends did. I invited him in, and as he entered the
dining-room the young woman stepped out into the hall.
My friend greeted my husband, and with a mysterious nod of her head in
the direction of the young woman she said: "Chiu shih na ke,--that's
it."
XVI
The Social Life of the Chinese Woman
The manners and customs of the Chinese, and their social
characteristics, have employed many pens and many tongues, and will
continue to furnish all inexhaustible field for students of sociology,
of religion, of philosophy, of civilization, for centuries to come.
Such studies, however, scarcely touch the province of the practical, at
least as yet, for one principal reason--that the subject is so vast,
the data are so infinite, as to overwhelm the student rather than
assist him in sound generalizations.--A. R. Colquhoun in "China in
Transformation."
XVI
THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE WOMAN
The home life of a people is too sacred to be touched except by the
hand of friendship. Our doors are closed to strangers, locked to
enemies, and opened only to those of our own race who are in harmony
and sympathy with us. What then shall we say when people of an alien
race come seeking admission? They must bring some social
distinction,--letters of introduction, or an ability to help us in ways
in which we cannot help ourselves.
In the case of a people as exclusive as the Chinese this is especially
true, so that with the exception of one or two women physicians and the
wife of one of our diplomats no one has ever been admitted in a social
as well as professional way to the women's apartments of the homes of
the better class of the Chinese people.
A Chinese home is different from our own. It is composed of many
one-story buildings, around open courts, one behind the other, and
sometimes covers several acres of ground. Then it is divided into men's
and women's apartments, the men receiving their friends in theirs and
the women likewise receiving their friends by a side gate in their own
apartments, which are at the rear of the dwelling. A wealthy man
usually, in addition to his wife, has one or more concubines, and each
of these ladies has an apartment of her own for herself and her
children,--though all the children of all the concubines reckon as
belonging to the first wife.
I have heard Sir Robert Hart tell an amusing incident which occurred in
Peking. He said that the Chinese minister appointed to the court of
Saint James came to call on him before setting out upon his journey.
After conversing for some time he said:
"I should be glad to see Lady Hart. I believe it is customary in
calling on a foreign gentleman to see his lady, is it not?"
"It is," said Sir Robert, "and I should be delighted to have you see
her, but Lady Hart was in England with our children, and has not been
here for twenty years."
"Ah, indeed, then perhaps I might see your second wife."
"That you might, if I had one. But the customs of our country do not
allow us to have a second wife. Indeed they would imprison us if we
were to have two wives."
"How singular," said the official with a nod of his head. "You do not
appreciate the advantages of this custom of ours."