CHINA OF MANY PERSONS
Yuan Shih-kai, a ruler whose power was personal, whose theories of
government were those of an absolute monarch, who believed that
in himself lay the hope of his people; China itself a nation of
individualists, among whom there was as yet no unifying national sense,
no inbred love of country, no traditions of personal responsibility
toward their government, no sense that they themselves shared in the
making of the laws which ordered their lives--these, I think, were the
first clear impressions I had of the land to which I came as envoy in
the early days of the Republic.
Even the rivers and cities through which we passed on our way to Peking
seemed to deepen this feeling for me. The houseboats jammed together in
the harbour at Shanghai visualized it. Each of these boats sheltered
a family, who lived and moved and had their being, for the most part,
on its narrow decks. Each family was quite independent of the people
on the next boat. Each was immersed in the stern business of earning
bread. These houseboat people (so it seemed) had little in common with
each other, little in common with the life of the cities and villages
which they regularly visited. As a class they lived apart; and each
family was, for most of the time, isolated from the others. Their
life, I thought, was the civilization of China in miniature. Of course
such a figure applies only roughly. I mean merely to suggest that the
population of this vast country is not a homogeneous one in a political
sense. The unit of society is--as it has been for many centuries--the
family, not the state. This is changing now, and changing rapidly.
The seeds of democracy found fertile soil in China; but a civilization
which has been shaping itself through eighty centuries cannot be too
abruptly attacked. China is, after all, an ancient monarchy upon which
the republican form of government was rather suddenly imposed. It is
still in the period of adjustment. Such at least were my reactions as
we ascended the Hwang-pu River, on that October day in 1913, and drew
into the harbour basin which lies at the centre of Shanghai.
In one of the hotels of the city we found the "Saturday Lunch Club" in
session. I was not a little surprised that this mid-day gastronomic
forum, which had but lately come into vogue in America, had become
so thoroughly acclimated in this distant port. But despite the many
nationalities represented at this international gathering, the language
was English. As to dress, many of the Chinese at the luncheon preferred
their dignified, long-flowing robes to Western coats and trousers.
Dr. Wu Ting-fang was present in Chinese costume and a little purple
skull cap, and we sat down to talk together. He related the moves
made by President Yuan against the democratic party (Kuo Min Tang)
in parliament and said: "Yuan Shih-kai's sole aim is to get rid of
parliament. He has no conception of free government, is entirely a man
of personal authority. The air of absolutism surrounds him. Beware,"
Dr. Wu admonished, "when you get behind those high walls of Peking.
The atmosphere is stagnant. It seems to overcome men and make them
reactionary. Nobody seems to resist that power!"
Later I was accosted on a momentous matter by an American missionary.
He was not affiliated with any missionary society, but had organized
a so-called International Institute for a Mission among the Higher
Classes. His mien betrayed overburdening care, ominous presentiment,
and he said he had already submitted a grave matter to the Department
of State. It concerned the Saturday Lunch Club. Somewhat too
precipitately I spoke with gratification of its apparent success. "But,
sir," he interposed, "it was established and set in motion by the
consul-general!"
As still I could not see wherein the difficulty lay, my visitor became
emphatic.
"Do you not realize, sir, that my institute was established to bring
the different nationalities together, and that the formation of such a
club should have been left to me?"
When I expressed my feeling that there was no end of work to be done
in the world in establishing relationships of goodwill; that every
accomplishment of this kind was to be received with gratitude, he
gave me up. I had thought, at first, that he was about to charge the
consul-general, at the very least, with embezzlement.
That afternoon I inspected the student battalion of St. John's
University. This institution is modern, affiliated with the
Episcopalian Church, and many of its alumni are distinguished in public
life as well as in industrial enterprise and commerce. Of these I need
only mention Dr. W.W. Yen, Dr. Wellington Koo, Dr. Alfred Sze, and
Dr. Wang Chung-hui, later Chief Justice of China. Dr. Hawks Pott, the
president, introduced me to the assembled students as an old friend
of China. There I met Dr. Pott's wife, a Chinese lady, and several of
their daughters and sons, two of whom later fought in the Great War.
A newspaper reporter brought me back abruptly to local matters. He
was the first to interview me in China. "Will you remove the American
marines," he queried, "from the Chienmen Tower?"
A disturbing question! I was cautious, as I had not even known there
were marines posted on that ancient tower. Whether they ought to
be kept there was a matter to look into, along with other things
affecting the destiny of nations.
I could not stop to see Shanghai then, but did so later. If one looks
deeply enough its excellences stand out. The private gardens, behind
high walls, show its charm; acres covered with glorious plants, shrubs,
and bushes; rows and groves of springtime trees radiant with blossoms;
the parks and the verandas of clubs where people resort of late
afternoons to take their tea; the glitter of Nanking Road at night, its
surge of humanity, the swarming life on river and creeks. This is the
real Shanghai, market and meeting place of the nations.
Nanking came next, visited the 4th of November. Forlorn and woeful the
old capital lay in gray morning light as we entered. The semi-barbarous
troops of Chang Hsun lined its streets. They had sacked the town,
ostensibly suppressing the last vestiges of the "Revolution." General
Chang Hsun, an old imperialist, still clinging to ancient customs, had
espoused the cause of President Yuan. A rough soldier quite innocent
of modernity, he had taken Nanking, not really for the republican
government, but for immediate advantage to himself, and for his
soldiers to loot and burn. There they stood, huge, black-uniformed,
pig-tailed men, "guarding" the streets along which the native dwellers
were slinking sullenly and in fear. Everywhere charred walls without
roofs; the contents of houses broken and cast on the street; fragments
of shrapnel in the walls--withal a depressing picture of misery.
Nanking, immense and primitive, had reverted partly to agriculture, and
for miles the houses of farmers line extensive fields. Three Japanese
men-of-war rode at anchor in mid-river; they had come to support the
representations of the Japanese consul over an injury suffered by a
Japanese barber during the disturbances. General Chang Hsun, forced to
offer reparation, had among other things to call ceremoniously on the
Japanese consul to express his formal regrets. This he did, saving his
face by arranging to call on all the foreign consuls the same day.
Another bit of local colour: We were driven to the American consulate,
modestly placed on the edge of the agricultural region of Nanking, with
barns in the offing. The consul being absent on leave, the official in
charge greeted us. His wife related that a few days before thirty of
Chang's braves, armed to the teeth, had come to the house to see what
they might carry off. In her husband's absence Mrs. Gilbert met them
at the door and very quietly talked the matter over with them as to
what unending bother it would occasion everybody, particularly General
Chang, if his men should invade the American consulate, and how it
would be far better to think it over while she prepared some tea for
them.
The men, at first fierce and unrelenting, looked at one another
puzzled, then found seats along the edge of the veranda. When the tea
came in, their spokesman said they recognized that theirs had been a
foolish enterprise. With expressions of civility and gratitude they
consumed their tea and went away--which shows what one American woman
can do in stilling the savage breast of a Chinese vandal by a quiet
word of reason.
After the exhibition his men had made of themselves in Nanking, I had
no wish to call on His Excellency Chang Hsun. We arranged to take the
first train for Tientsin. Crossing the broad river by ferry, from its
deck friends pointed out Tiger Head and other famous landscapes, the
scenes of recent fighting and of clashes during the Revolution of
1911. In the sitting room of our special car on the Pukow railway, the
little company comprised Dr. Stanley K. Hornbeck, who went on with me
to Peking; Mr. Roy S. Anderson, an American uniquely informed about
the Chinese, and a Chinese governmental representative who accompanied
me. In a single afternoon Mr. Anderson gave me a complete view of
the existing situation in Chinese politics, relating many personal
incidents and characteristics.
In Chinese politics the personal element is supreme. The key to the
ramifications of political influence lies in knowledge of persons;
their past history, affiliations and interests, friendships, enmities,
financial standing, their groupings and the interactions of the various
groups. Intensely human, there is little of the abstract in Chinese
social ethics. Their ideals of conduct are personal, while the remoter
loyalties to principle or patriotic duty are not strongly expressed
in action. In this immediate social cement is the strength by which
Chinese society has been able to exist for ages.
The defect of this great quality is in the absence of any motive
whereby men may be carried beyond their narrower interests in
definitely conceived, broad public aims. When I came to China these
older methods prevailed more than at present; hence Mr. Anderson's
knowledge of the Chinese, wide as the nation and specific as to the
qualities of all its important men, enabled me to approach Chinese
affairs concretely, personally, and to lay aside for the time any
general and preconceived notions. It enabled me to see, also, how
matters of such vast consequence, as, for example, the Hwai River
famines, had been neglected for the short-sighted individual concerns
of Chinese politics.
That afternoon we passed through the Hwai River region. An apparently
endless alluvial plain, it is inexhaustibly rich in depth and quality
of soil--_loess_, which has been carried down from the mountains and
deposited here for eons. Fitted by Nature to be one of the most fertile
garden spots on earth, Nature herself has spoiled it. The rivers,
swollen by torrential rains in the highlands, flood this great area
periodically, destroying all crops; for many years only two harvests
have been gathered out of a possible six, in some years there have been
none at all.
Here the visitations of famine and plague are immemorial. The liberal
and effective assistance which the American Red Cross gave during
the last famine, in 1911, is gratefully remembered by the Chinese.
Beholding this region, so richly provided and lacking only a moderate,
systematic expenditure for engineering works to make it the source of
assured livelihood for at least twenty millions more than its present
population, I resolved that one of my first efforts would be to help
reclaim the vast estate.
We arrived after dark in the province of Shantung--Shantung, which
was destined to play so large a part in my official life in China!
The crowds at stations were growing enormous, their greetings more
vociferous. An old friend appeared, Tsai Chu-tung, emissary of the
Provincial Governor and of the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs; he
had been a student under me, and, for a time, my Chinese secretary.
Past the stations with their military bands and metallic welcomes
and deputations appearing with cards, at all hours of the night, we
arrived at length at Tsinan, Shantung's capital. Here, in behalf of
the Governor, the young Commissioner Tsai, together with an official
deputation, formally greeted me; thence he accompanied me to Peking,
affording me another chance to hear from a very keen and highly trained
man an account of China's situation.
Reaching Tientsin that afternoon, we were met by representatives of the
Civil Governor and by his band. There the American community, it seems,
had been stirred prematurely by news of my coming, and had visited
the station for two days in succession. The manager of the railway, a
Britisher, had confused the Consul-General by his error in date of my
arrival, starting too soon the entire machinery of reception, including
a parade by the Fifteenth United States Infantry.
We had dinner that evening with Civil Governor Liu at his palace. Miles
of driving in rain through dark, narrow streets, ending with a vision
of huge walls and lantern-illuminated gates, found us in the inner
courts, and, finally, in the main hall of the antique, many-coloured
structure where the fat and friendly Governor received us. The heads
of the various provincial departments attended, together with the
President of the Assembly and the military aides. Young Mr. Li, the
Governor's secretary and interpreter for the after-dinner speechmakers,
performed the rare feat of rendering into either language an entire
speech at a time--and the speeches were not short. My Chinese secretary
commented on his brilliant translations, the perfect renderings of
the English into Chinese, and I could myself admire his mastery of
the English idiom. Such talent of translation is seldom displayed;
the discourse of speakers is usually limited to brief paragraphs,
continually checked by the renderings of the interpreters. Of course,
this interrupts the flow of thought and contact with one's hearers.
But the interpreter at this dinner even managed to translate jokes
and witticisms without losing the point. A play on words is most
difficult to carry into a foreign tongue, but the Chinese is so full
of opportunities for puns that a nimble interpreter will always find a
substitute. To the telling of a really funny situation the Chinese can
be relied on to respond. Their humour is not unlike the American, which
delights particularly in exposing undue pretensions. Interpreters, in
translating speeches to the general public, have sometimes resorted
to something of their own invention, in order to produce the expected
laugh. When they despair of making the foreign joke hit the bull's-eye,
they occasionally help things along by making personal remarks about
the speaker, whose gratifications at the hilarity produced is usually
unclouded by a knowledge of the method employed.
Our departure from Tientsin was signalized by an unusual mark of
Chinese governmental courtesy. For the trip to Peking we found assigned
the palace car of the former Empress Dowager, and I was told that it
had not been used since her reign came to an end. Adapting a new
invention to old custom, the car's interior had been arranged as a
little palace chamber. The entrance doors were in a double set. Those
in the centre were to be opened only when the sovereign entered or
departed, the side doors being for ordinary use. Opposite the central
doors at the end of the salon stood a little throne, high and wide,
upholstered in Imperial yellow. The draperies and upholsteries of the
car were all of that colour, and it made, in its way, quite a showing
of splendour and departed greatness.
As one approaches the capital city, the beautiful mountain forms of
the so-called Western Hills, which rise suddenly out of the plain
about ten miles beyond Peking and attain an altitude of from six to
seven thousand feet, present a striking contrast to the flat and
far-stretching Chihli plain. The towers and city walls of Peking, an
impressive and astounding apparition of strength and permanence, befit
this scene. Solemn and mysterious, memorable for their size, extent,
and general inevitableness of structure, they can be compared only with
the Pyramids, or with great mountains fashioned by the hand of Nature
herself. Looking down upon these plains, where so many races have
met, fought, worked, lived, and died, where there is one of the chief
meeting points of racial currents, these walls are in themselves the
symbols of a memorable and long-sustained civilization.
As we approach more closely, the walls tower immediately above us as
the train skirts them for several miles, crosses a number of busy roads
leading to the southern gates of the city, and then suddenly slips
through an opening in the walls to the inside. We first pass through
the so-called Chinese city; this particular corner is no longer densely
populated, but is now left to gardens, fields, and burial places with
their monuments and pagodas. We only skirt the populous part of the
Chinese city. Soon we are brought immediately under the lofty walls
which separate the Chinese from the Manchu city, adjacent to it on
the north, but separated from it by an enormous wall one hundred feet
high, with a diameter of eighty feet. Where the two encircling walls
meet, towering bastions soar upward, and above the roadways rise high
gate-houses of many stories. The impassivity of these monumental
structures contrasts sharply with the swarming human life that surges
in the streets below.
From Mr. Willys R. Peck, Chinese Secretary of the Legation, who had
met us at Tientsin and accompanied us to Peking, I learned more about
the recent events in the capital and the fight which Yuan Shih-Kai
was waging against the Parliament. At the station we were greeted by
a large concourse of civilian and military officials, and Mr. E.T.
Williams, Chargé d'Affaires since Mr. Calhoun's departure, acted as
introducer. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sun Pao-chi, a tall,
benevolent-looking man, wearing European dress and long chin whiskers,
and speaking a little English with more French and German, offered
his welcome and felicitations. Other high officials were there, many
members of the American community, and several representatives of
the parliament. It was a delight to see the fine-looking companies
of American marines, who among all troops in Peking are noted for
their well-groomed, smart, and soldierly appearance. Included for the
official welcome was a company of stalwart Chinese infantry, and one
of the Peking gendarmerie, which also is military in its organization.
The several bands vied with each other in playing national airs and
salutes, while thousands of spectators congregated.
The central Tartar city gate (the Chienmen), was still in its original
form, and in passing through or under it one received an indelible
impression of the stupendous majesty and dignity which characterize
this unique capital. The curtain walls connecting the inner and outer
gates have since been removed. We drove through a side gate in the
curtain wall, finding ourselves in an impressive plaza overtowered by
the two lofty and beautiful gate-houses. Two small picturesque antique
temples flank the main entrance; one, dedicated to the God of War, was
a favourite place with the Empress Dowager, who stopped her cortège
there whenever she passed. From the flag-poles of these temples huge,
brilliantly coloured banners floated in the air. Atop the wall from
which the Chienmen Tower arises were American marines on guard and
looking down upon us. These, then, were the men whose presence up there
seemed to be interesting people so much.
From the main gateway one looks straight up the avenue which forms the
central axis of Peking; it leads through many ornamental gates and
between stately buildings to the central throne halls of the Imperial
Palace. The city plan of Peking is a symmetrical one. This central
axis, running due north and south, passes through a succession of
important gateways, monuments, and seats of power. From it the city
expands regularly east and west; on the south the Chinese city, the
symmetry of its streets and alleyways more broken; and the Manchu city
on the north, with broad avenues leading to the principal gates, while
the large blocks between them are cut up more regularly by narrower
streets and alleyways.
From the main south gate of the Chinese city the central line passes
along the principal business street to the central south gate of the
Tartar city--the imposing Chienmen--while eighty rods beyond this
stands the first outer gate of the Imperial City. Thence the central
line cuts the large square which lies immediately outside of the
Forbidden City, forming the main approach to the Imperial City. The
line then passes between pillars and huge stone lions through the
Forbidden City's first gate, cutting its inner parade ground and inner
gate, above which stands the throne from which the Emperor reviewed
his troops. Through the central enclosures, with the throne rooms
and coronation halls, three magnificent structures in succession,
the line passes, at the point where the thrones stand, into the
residential portion of the Forbidden City where the present Emperor
lives, and strikes the summit of Coal Hill, the highest point in
Peking. It bisects the temple where the dead bodies of Emperors reposed
before burial, and proceeds from the rear of the Imperial City by
its north gate through the ancient Bell Tower and Drum Tower. A more
awe-inspiring and majestic approach to a seat of power is not to be
seen in this world. We can well imagine, when tribute bearers came to
Peking and passed along this highway beset with imposing structures and
great monuments, that they were prepared to pay homage when finally
in the presence of the being to whose might all this was but an
introduction.
But we did not follow along this path of sovereign power. After passing
through the Chienmen we turned directly to the right to enter the
Legation Quarter and to reach the American Legation, which nestles
immediately inside the Tartar wall in the shadow of the tall and
imposing Chienmen Tower. It is the first of the great establishments
along Legation Street, which is approached through a beautiful
many-coloured pailu, or street arch.
No other American representative abroad has quite so easy a time
upon arrival at his post. We were going to a home prepared for
our reception, adequately furnished, and with a complete staff of
servants and attendants who were ready to serve luncheon immediately,
if required. In most cases, unfortunately, an American diplomatic
representative will for weeks or months have no place to lay his head
except in a hotel. Many American ministers and ambassadors have spent
fully one half the time during their first year of office in making
those necessary living arrangements which I found entirely complete at
Peking. That is the crucial period, too, when their minds should be
free for observing the situation in which they are to do their work.
May the time soon come when the nation realizes more fully the need of
dignified representation of its interests abroad.
The residence of the minister I found simple but handsome, in stately
colonial renaissance style, its interior admirably combining the
spaciousness needed for official entertaining with the repose of a
real home. It is made of imported American materials, and a government
architect was expressly sent to put up the legation buildings. He had
been designing government structures in America, and the somewhat
stereotyped chancery and houses of the secretaries were popularly
called "the young post offices." But the minister's house, largely
due to the efforts of Mr. Rockhill, who was minister at the time, is
a masterpiece of appropriateness--all but the chimneys. It is related
that the architect, being unfamiliar with the ways of Chinese labourers
and frequently impatient with them, incurred their ill-will. When
Mr. Rockhill first occupied the residence, it was found the chimneys
would not draw; the disgruntled masons had quietly walled them up, in
order that the architect might "lose face," and the chimney from the
fireplace of the large dining room was so thoroughly blockaded that it
remained permanently out of commission.
At a distance from the "compound," or enclosure, which surrounds the
minister's residence, fronting on a central plaza, there is a veritable
hamlet of additional houses occupied by secretaries, attachés, consular
students, and the clerical staff. It is a picturesque Chinese village,
with an antique temple and many separate houses, each with its garden
enclosed within high walls--a rescued bit of ancient China in the midst
of the European monotony of the Legation Quarter. It adjoins the Jade
Canal, opposite the hotel called "Sleeping Cars" by some unimaginative
director, but more fitly known as the Hotel of the Four Nations. At the
Water Gate, where the Jade Canal passes under the Tartar wall, is the
very point where the American marines first penetrated into the Tartar
city in 1900.
The Chinese are remarkably free from self-consciousness, and therefore
are good actors; as one sees the thousands passing back and forth on
the streets, one feels that they, too, are all acting. Here are not
the headlong rush and elbowing scramble of the crowded streets of a
Western metropolis. All walk and ride with dignity, as if conscious of
a certain importance, representing in themselves not the eager purpose
presently to get to a certain place, but rather a leisurely flow of
existence, carrying traditions and memories of centuries in which
the present enterprise is but a minor incident. Foreign women have
sometimes been terrified by these vast, surging crowds; but no matter
how timid they be, a few rickshaw rides along the streets, a short
observation of the manners of these people, will make the faintest
hearted feel at home. Before long these Tartaric hordes cease to be
terrifying, and even the feeling that they are ethnological specimens
passes away; it is remarkable how soon one feels the humanity of it
all among these multitudes that seem to engulf but that never press or
crowd.
Looking down upon a Chinese street, with multitudes of walkers and
runners passing back and forth, mingled among donkey carts, riders on
horse- or donkey-back, mule litters, rickshaws, camel caravans, flocks
of animals led to sale and slaughter, together with rapidly flying
automobiles--all gives the impression of perfect control of motion and
avoidance, of crowding and scuffling, and recalls the movements of
practised dancers on a crowded ballroom floor. A view of the crowds
which patiently wait at the great gateways for their turn to pass
through affords a constant source of amusement and delight. The line
slowly pushes through the gate like an endless string being threaded
through a needle. If there is mishap or collision, though voices of
protest may arise, they will never be those of the stoic, dignified
persons sitting in the rickshaws; it is against etiquette for the
passenger to excite himself about anything, and he leaves that to the
rickshaw man. All humanity and animaldom live and work together in
China, in almost undisturbed harmony and mutual understanding.
Only occasionally a hubbub of altercation rises to the skies. In
these days the pigtails had only just been abolished. Under the old
conditions, the technique of personal combat was for each party to
grab the other by the cue and hold him there, while describing to him
his true character. During the first years of the reform era one might
still see men who were having a difference frantically grabbing at the
back of each other's heads where there was, however, no longer anything
to afford a secure hold.
A great part of Chinese life is public. It is on the streets with
their innumerable restaurants; their wide-open bazaars of the trades;
their ambulent letter-writers and story-tellers with the curious ones
clustered about them; their itinerant markets; their gliding rickshaws;
their haphazard little shops filled with a profusion of ageless,
precious relics. There is the charm of all this and of the humanity
there swarming, with its good-natured consideration for the other
fellow, its constant movement, its excited chatter, its animation and
its pensiveness, and its occasional moments of heated but bloodless
combat.