_CHINESE MORALS._
How Chinese look upon Shanghai.--A Viceroy's
Expedient.--Method of raising Subscriptions.--Deserving
Deities.--Trustworthiness.--Hunan-Hero.--Marrying English
Girls.
Missionaries generally say that the Chinese are frightfully immoral.
So do the Americans and Australians, excluding them as far as they can
from their respective countries. But, brought up on the English saying
that "Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue," I always think
virtue must be in the ascendant in China for vice so to slink into
corners and hide its head before it. There certainly is not the
slightest outward appearance of vice in Chinese cities. And I have
always understood that everywhere, except in the foreign settlements,
where it is certainly not the case, very decided repressive measures
are used. Shanghai, once the Model Settlement, is looked upon as a
hotbed of corruption by Chinese fathers up-country, who say gravely
they would not dare to send their sons there, whatever business
advantages are offered, until their principles are quite firmly
established. Up-country it is European morals that Chinese find as
shocking as Australians find theirs. It is impossible for me to enter
into details here; but there are certain things, alas! too customary
among Europeans, which to every Chinaman are an abomination. It is
well to bear this in mind, perhaps; and it is to be hoped that
increased intercourse may lead Europeans to think disgraceful what
Chinese already think so, and Chinese to be bound by the European code
where, if anywhere, it is higher than their own, rather than, as so
often occurs, to lead each nation to accept the other's lower ideas.
As new suggestions however, are always more interesting than trite
generalisms, I must mention the peculiar measure devised in 1891 by
his Excellency the Viceroy at Nanking to keep up the standard of
morality among his writers and the higher class of employés. Shortly
before, one of the composers of memorials had taken to leading a fast
life, frequenting places not over-respectable. One day he leaned out
of a wine-shop, and saw two men, dressed in black, standing quietly by
his horse. He took no notice of the matter, but kept on drinking. When
he left the place and walked up to his horse, the two strangers
retired a pace or two. Climbing into the saddle, he rode slowly along,
cooling himself in the evening breeze. He soon heard footsteps, and
perceived the men were following him. His heated brain imagined
fearful consequences. The mysterious personages might be bandits or
secret society men bent on assassination or plunder. He whipped up his
horse, and made for his official quarters in the residence; but his
pursuers were fleet of foot, and kept up with his not very fast pony.
On reaching the Viceregal residence, the writer called upon the guards
to arrest the two bold men, who came up breathless. But the guards did
not move to obey his orders, and the mysterious beings stepped up,
saluted, and said, "Sir, do not feel angry or apprehensive. We are
members of the Secret Police of his Excellency the Viceroy. We have
received instructions, to follow any and all the officials and
gentlemen connected with the office, and report to our master where
they go, their actions, behaviour, and conduct." Then they turned,
mingled with the crowd, and disappeared. Next day the writer's pony
was reported to be for sale, and since that memorable evening he has
not revisited his former haunts. Possibly this method might be adopted
with advantage by any high official in England, who was as solicitous
about the conduct of his subordinates as this Chinese Viceroy.
Probably no one knows better than Li Hung-chang how to get hold of
other people's money. Here is an idea of his for collecting
contributions to a Famine Relief Fund. He furnishes a long list of
subscriptions, mostly of £150 each, from officials whose generosity
was due to the promptings of their parents or other relatives now
deceased. Each donor had been granted permission to erect an archway
(_pai fang_) to the memory of the person, who first inspired him with
the idea of contributing to the relief of suffering humanity. Among
those to whom this honour was accorded were the President and members
of the Chinese club at Yokohama, whose joint contributions amounted to
£300.
The west of China is exceptionally decorated with these memorial
arches, generally erected to the memory of chaste widows and
incorruptible officials, who, to judge by the arches, seem more
numerous than one would otherwise have thought. I remember the
interest with which we approached one in course of construction. It
was a very hot day, and this _pai fang_ was being erected on a slight
eminence, where the people told us no rain had fallen for forty years,
although thunder-showers refreshed the country all round it. We ate
our luncheon under its shadow, and observed that it was one of Li
Hung-chang's arches, erected to the memory of a dead man, the inspirer
to an act of charity towards the famine-stricken. The Chinese are a
people altogether guided and animated by memories. In the same year
the Governor of Honan submitted a petition from the gentry and
inhabitants of the town of Wensiang, in which they prayed for
permission to erect a memorial temple to the late intendant of their
circuit. This town, it seems, borders upon the Yellow River, from the
ravages of which it had suffered terribly for a long succession of
years. Two years before a movement was started by the local magistrate
and the people for building a breakwater to serve as a barrier against
the floods. "The Taotai, in whose jurisdiction the place was situated,
took an active interest in the enterprise, and even went frequently in
person to superintend the progress of the work. The great
difficulty experienced was the want of sufficiently large stones.
Greatly to the astonishment of the whole community, a heavy storm of
wind and rain deluged the country, and brought down an endless
quantity of huge stones exactly suited to the purpose. The people
naturally regarded the strange occurrence as a direct manifestation of
divine power in aid of a great public undertaking, which they and
their forefathers had been unable to complete during several
centuries. The Taotai fell a victim to fatigue and over-exertion, and
his death was deeply bewailed by the whole district. The Governor, in
supporting the petition, mentioned a fact which proves the
supernatural origin of the phenomenon. One of the stones, which was as
large as a house, and shaped like a tortoise, was inscribed with seal
characters, only two of which, denoting 'work' and 'stone'
respectively, could be made out. The breakwater was completed, and the
safety of the district secured. As a token of their gratitude for the
services of the Taotai, the petitioners begged that they might be
permitted to erect a temple to his memory, at which the usual
sacrifices should be offered.--_Granted by Rescript._"
[Illustration: MEMORIAL ARCH.
_By Mrs. Archibald Little._]
But it is not only public benefactors and deserving officials who are
rewarded by memorials. Deserving deities or patron saints also meet
with recognition. Thus in 1891 an application was made to the Throne
for two Imperial tablets, bearing his Majesty's sign-manual, to be
suspended in the temples of the dragon-king and the god of fire at
Chiwan-chow. The latter district, consisting of six villages, which
contribute to the Exchequer some 10,000 taels, had no proper water
system, and was entirely dependent for its supply of that precious
commodity on the periodical rains. Of late years, whenever rain had
not fallen in due season, prayers offered up at these two shrines had
ever been graciously answered. Moreover, in the seventh moon of the
previous year, just when the crops were ready for harvesting, a heavy
fall of rain came on, and threatened to submerge the fields. But a
visit on the part of the gentry and people of the neighbourhood to the
temple of the god of fire had the effect of dissipating the clouds and
causing the rain to cease, so that the grain could be gathered in in
due season. Two months later, when about to sow the second crop, a
thorough soaking rain was necessary to prepare the ground for the
seed; but for days no rain fell, and the people greatly feared that
they would be unable to sow. A visit to the temple of the dragon-king,
however, had the desired effect, and dispelled all gloomy prospects of
a dearth of food.
It was in recognition of these gracious favours of the gods that the
memorialist ventured to prefer this request, which was accordingly
granted. Many people may laugh at this. It seems to me rather an act
of faith of which we might find many parallels in Europe in the Middle
Ages, and of which individually I should be glad to find further
examples now. "Whom we ignorantly worship" will be a true description
of man's part as long as he lives upon this earth with darkened eyes.
But it is only when he ceases to worship that there seems to be little
hope for him. There is little enough of worship in China as it is, and
what there is naturally seems to us of Europe somewhat superstitious;
for the religions of China appear to have had their day, to have
effected what they could for China, and to be passing away. Is it true
that the youthful Emperor Kwang-shü was considering with his adviser
Kang whether Christianity should not be adopted as the national
religion, when he was precipitated from the throne by the woman who
rules China single-mindedly for her own advantage?
That crime is not very rife in China is sufficiently shown by their
having no police force. Foreigners are sometimes shocked by the
severity of Chinese punishments, not realising that it is our
excellent police that enable us to mitigate our scale of punishments.
But the Chinese are like women in this respect also. They afford an
extraordinarily small percentage of criminals to the world's criminal
roll, and of these the most part are for petty theft. In business
dealings, unlike the Japanese, the Chinese keep to their word, even
when it is to their own disadvantage to do so. And merely saying,
"Puttee book," without any signed and sealed written entry, held good
as a legal transaction all through China, till, alas! an
old-established English firm, probably already foreboding the failure
that afterwards overwhelmed it, repudiated a transaction of which
there was no further record than the till then two sacred words. Since
then Chinese, like other nations, have recourse to written documents;
but so high always is the sense of business obligation among them,
that each China New Year many men, unable to discharge their
obligations, commit suicide rather than live disgraced. This is the
more remarkable among a nation that adulterates everything it knows
how to, resorts to every business subterfuge, thinks not to lie
foolish, and to be found out only stupid, not disgraceful. When,
however, we denounce Orientals for want of truth, do we realise how
untruthful we are ourselves, and that what shocks us is rather the
different kind of falsity from that to which we are accustomed? I have
yet to find the English bootmaker or worker in fur, who can be relied
upon to keep to his word as to the day on which he has promised
anything; whilst I have met with more than one Chinese tailor, who may
be relied upon to appear with his work finished to the very day and
hour, his given word being sacred to him. The English tradesman thinks
it wrong to lie about the past, the Chinese about the future.
[Illustration: SHOES TO MEND.]
One of the most remarkable things about Chinese is that, whilst of
course it is usual for people of other nationalities to denounce their
bad qualities as a nation, there is hardly a European living in China
who has not one or more Chinese whom he would trust with everything,
whom he would rely upon in sickness or in danger, and whom he
really--if he spoke out, as we so seldom do--regards as the embodiment
of all the virtues in a way in which he regards no European of his
acquaintance. We rarely believe in one another's Chinaman; but we are
each of us absolutely convinced of the fidelity, trustworthiness,
_and_ shrewdness of our own particular Chinaman. Whilst among
missionaries life in China is generally sweetened by the recollection
of some one Chinaman, at least, whose sincerity and holiness of life
shine out to them as a bright example and beautiful memory.
The merchants look askance at the missionaries' saints, and
missionaries are very suspicious of the merchants' business employés
and butlers. But a nation, that all through the land produces men, who
so thoroughly satisfy their employers, cannot be called a decadent
race; nor, indeed, are any of the signs of decadence with which I am
acquainted to be discovered among the great Chinese people, who
appear always hard-working, good-humoured, kindly, thrifty,
law-abiding, contented, and in the performance of all duties laid upon
them astonishingly conscientious. I have never known a servant shirk
any task imposed upon him, because he was tired or ill, or because it
was late at night. Let unexpected guests arrive, the Chinese servant
always rises to the occasion, and the honour of the family is safe in
his hands. "Oh, but we have always heard Chinese were good servants,"
some one remarks. Let me relate a story of another kind of virtue!
A Hunan man living at Hankow, and a Christian, was greatly troubled
because his wife would bind their little girl's feet. At last he sent
the child away to an American mission-school at a distance. While she
was there, a great wave of anti-footbinding enthusiasm passed over the
school, and all the girls unbound their feet, his daughter among them.
When she came home, he was delighted to find her able to walk, and to
stand on her feet, and with healthy, rosy cheeks. After a while,
however, he became aware that each day she was walking worse, and that
it must be that once more her mother was inflicting the torture of
binding upon her, worse than ever now the girl was older. Yet they had
so often gone over the matter together with always the same result,
that he shrank from remonstrating with his wife, till one day in a
neighbouring cottage a woman said: "A nice one you are to talk, you
who are seeing your own daughter daily lamed before your eyes!" Then
he went home, and said to his wife: "This thing must have an end. Not
only have I the pain of seeing my daughter daily lamed, but I can no
longer speak out for God; my mouth is stopped by your handiwork." His
wife replied, as so often before: "If you will cut off your queue, I
will unbind our daughter's feet--yes, and my own too." "Do you mean
what you say?" he asked quietly. Again and again she repeated her
declaration that they must conform to custom if he did, and that if he
gave it up so would they; regarding it always as a thing impossible
that he should part with that glory of a Chinaman, his long, glossy,
plaited tail of hair. At last, when she had said it seven times, each
time with increasing vehemence, her husband took up the large pair of
Chinese scissors lying on the table, and there and then before her
astonished eyes cut off his queue. The neighbours, in horror at what
he had done, carried it off, and in high excitement proceeded to
unroll it like a great black serpent at the feet of one of the
missionaries, who at first thought the Hunan man must have been in
such violent anger as to lose all control over himself, or he would
never have done what he had. But the man explained that it was not in
anger, but because he saw no other way to save his child, having all
in vain tried argument and entreaty with his wife. "It is true it is
contrary to the law of the land," he said; "but it is better I should
offend against that than offend against my God." When I last saw him,
he had the shock of upstanding hair, that generally indicates in a
Chinaman a desire to add to his queue. His wife had unbound her feet,
and their daughter's feet had never been bound again. When last heard
of, the three had all been out for a walk together. But people must
have lived in China to know what heroism this sacrifice of a pigtail
really means. So far it has had no imitators, and other Chinese
hearing of it remain simply astounded.
Before dismissing this subject of morals, it is as well to add that
any Englishwoman marrying a Chinaman in England would do well to
ascertain first that he was unmarried, which is most unlikely, as a
Chinese father considers it a disgrace not to find a wife for his son
so soon as he is marriageable. Further, that even where this is the
case, the life that would lie before an English girl married to a
Chinaman, if he were to take her into real Chinese life, is such as
one does not like to contemplate: she must in any case prepare to
become the servant of her mother-in-law. In December, 1898, there
were, however, four young English girls, the youngest only seventeen,
brought out by mail-steamers as the wives of Chinamen, and deserted in
Shanghai, all without money, one even without clothes. Whilst sorry
for the girls, I must own that in cases like this I feel more
indignation against their parents than against the Chinamen. There is
a degree of carelessness that seems worse than a crime.