INTER OCEAN CYCLISTS GUESTS AT A CHINESE WEDDING--TORTURES OF A
NATIVE PRISON REVEALED--JOLLY CELEBRATION OF THE NEW YEAR.
The statement made by someone that man's birth, marriage and death
are the three important epochs in his brief career, find support
in the custom of the Chinese. Births are heralded by fireworks,
fetes and rejoicings, and weddings and funerals are marked by lavish
outlay of money and great display. The wedding of a Chinese woman is
a complicated affair, but is conducted upon the same principles as
are the weddings of the American Indians. The bride marries into the
groom's family, not the groom into the bride's family; the wedding
occurs at the groom's home and the presents are his property. Although
a Chinese may marry as many wives as his income will permit him to
support, the first wife is the only one that has an extensive ceremony
performed over the nuptials, the succeeding wives entering the life
of the husband with as little ceremony as a domestic or a new piece
of furniture. In fact as such the additional wives are regarded,
being bartered for and bought like merchandise. Mrs. McIlrath and I
were fortunate in being present at the elaborate wedding ceremony of a
Chinese couple. I fancy that if some of my American friends had their
wedding march played by a Chinese orchestra, they would be taken from
the altar raving lunatics. A boiler yard or a saw mill would not take
"show money" with a Chinese wedding orchestra as a peace disturber. But
with all the queer ideas dominant in China, there are a few very sound
customs and laws, one, particularly, governing marriage and the duties
involved. It may be said truthfully that no race of people on earth
possess more loyal wives than the Chinese. Infidelity is punishable
by horrible death, and even the mildest of flirtations is a serious
offense and a pastime unknown among the more gentle sex of China. The
women, though occupying a low plane in the estimate of their liege
lords, are devoted to their husbands and homes, laboring zealously
for the welfare of their rising generations, but are repaid only
by condescending approbation and often neglect. Among the men, the
rules of morality are more lax, and the time spent among the slaves,
bought of depraved fathers, is limited only by the husband's income
and leisure from the absorbing occupation of money-getting.
We sought the darkest side of life in China and found in it all the
barrenness, yet hideous cunning, ferocity and cruelty of the middle
ages. The foreign concessions of Shanghai are guarded by municipal
police, composed of Chinese, Europeans and Indians (Sepoys or Seiks),
and these minions of the law are controlled by a superintendent,
captain and corps of inspectors. The headquarters of the municipal
government, police and other departments are located in a large brick
building on the Foo Chow Road, and toward the edifice Mrs. McIlrath,
a Mr. Burton, an Englishman, who had joined us, and myself directed our
steps on Feb. 12. We were met by Superintendent McKenzie and Inspector
Ramsey, both gentlemen who had served Great Britain for many years
in various capacities as crime suppressors, and they at once showed
us the workings of the system as applied in China. Mr. Ramsey placed
a Chinese detective at our service to accompany us to one of the
native prisons of the old city. Our guide was Kin Lung, a silk-robed,
long-cued celestial, who spoke English fluently and smoked cigarettes
incessantly. He was the best we could have selected, and thoroughly
did he perform his duties. We entered the city by a route never
selected by professional guides to conduct tourists, and passed
through alleys and streets where the presence of foreigners was as
strange a sight as in the far interior. There were few prisoners in
durance on that day, as the morrow was the Chinese New Year and all
who could obtain bail had been released for the occasion. Those who
remained were pacing back and forth in the long, steel-rod cages which
formed a sort of outside porch to each row of cells. Each prisoner
was bound to a mate by a long chain, riveted to a steel band about
his waist. The interior of the prison was dark, gloomy and foul. The
floor was covered with damp straw and no light found its way into
this tomb, save through the bars at the front door. There were more
than two hundred prisoners confined here, a building 15 × 60 feet,
and not a bed, blanket or bench to be seen. Food was not furnished,
not even uncooked rice, the incarcerated ones being fed by friends
upon the outside and by the charitable visitors.
The execution and punishment ground was next visited and entered
by a small door at the back end of the jail. The area was simply a
clayed-floor space, one end devoted to a canopied stand from which the
officials viewed the punishment. Stakes and pillars standing upright
in the soil told of horrors often perpetrated in the name of justice,
and at one side was a bamboo fence inclosure, which concealed something
I divined was of import. When I started for this inclosure a warning
call from the jailer notified me not to attempt to approach nearer,
but tossing him a silver piece I walked behind the fence. I beheld
an iron cage about ten feet square, in which hung a half naked
coolie. His head was held upright by a chain about his neck, and
his cue was fastened to the bars above. His body was supported by an
iron bar, upon which he sat astride, but to each foot was attached a
bamboo basket which contained a heavy load of bricks. The arms were
outstretched by chains, fastened to the sides of the cage, and these
were drawn taut by twisting them with a bamboo pole. At first sight
I thought the man was dead. The tendons on the back of the legs and
under the knees stood out in rigid lines; the abdomen was caved in,
and in sharp outlines the ribs and chest bones looked as if covered
with parchment; the face, yellow in color, was deathly, the eyes
sunken, the lips purple and the lower jaw dropped. As I glanced at
this horrible sight I called to my wife to keep away. At the sound
of my voice, the eyelids of the tortured wretch raised slowly. For a
moment the gaze seemed to rest upon us, and the parched and swollen
lips made an effort to form some words. Then the lids fell heavily,
as if in despair. The body had given up its fight against death,
and the soul had departed on its long journey.
In less than two months the Inter Ocean cyclists were participants in
the celebration of three distinct New Years, the Japanese New Year,
on Dec. 25; the Christian on Jan. 1, and the Chinese celebration on
Feb. 13. There is no greater holiday in China than the first day of the
year. So religiously are the festivities observed that the natives put
aside their absorbing passion of money-earning and all business ceases
on the night of Feb. 12, until the morning of the 20th. Shops, even
to the cigar, drug and candy stores, close, and supplies for house,
ship and hotel must be purchased beforehand to last a week. Vessels
which arrive must remain in port, for custom-house and consulate are
closed, and as for loading and unloading, the lowest coolie would feel
insulted if a gold dollar were offered him for an hour's work during
the festal week. The holiday garb of men and women is beyond my power
to describe, but this pen picture of one lady of fashion whom we saw,
is by Mrs. McIlrath, and I think it worthy of reproduction:
"She was extremely pretty," says Mrs. McIlrath, "just like a fantastic
doll. She was painted a dead white, her cheeks tinted pink, her lips
brightly reddened and her eyebrows penciled black. Her eyes were
as dark and pretty as a baby's. Her hair was smoothed back from her
forehead and descending in a curve in front of her ears, was coiled
neatly in a polished ball at one side on the back. Around the upper
part the coil was a coronet of tiny white flowers, and fastening the
coils were four ivory stick-pins. Six little ornaments of tinsel
danced from gilt pins thrust in her hair, and large gold and jade
earrings were fastened in her ears. Her blouse was beautiful. The
body was of blue brocaded satin, with a collarette of gold and silver
braid stitched upon yellow silk, which fell like a cape, and the
sleeves, cut large and loose, were ornamented to the elbow with the
same beautiful designs. Her trousers were of pale pink satin with
apple-green figures, and her tiny shoes, no longer than my finger,
were of blue satin with ermine around the borders at the top. She had
fully a dozen bracelets on one arm and bells on her ankles. Her gloves
were of black silk, fingerless mitts, the back stitched with gold wire
in beautiful scrolls, and her umbrella was carried by two servants."
Our Chinese passports from Pekin arrived on March 1, and from the
date of their reception till the time we left China, I ceased to be
H. Darwin McIlrath, becoming Mo Chee Sah, at least so the impressive
document stated, with all the rights and privileges of a low-class
Chinese mandarin. The letter from Minister Denby, which accompanied
the passport, advised me to go exclusively by that name and use
while in the Empire the Chinese form of card printed in Chinese
characters. Accordingly I visited a Chinese printer, presented my
passport and asked that he print me an appropriate card. The next day
a coolie left at our room a package of red paper slips, each two and
a half by six inches, bearing three black characters. They were my
"visiting cards." On inquiry it developed that this was the proper
fashion.
The passport was written upon a sheet of coarse paper three by four
feet in size, the characters being traced in black and red ink,
the edges profusely decorated with signatures of Pekin officials. In
the center was a column of characters representing cities and towns,
around which a red circle was painted. The cities inside and touched
with the circle were those I had permission to visit. Those outside
were excluded. We had been long enough in China to learn of the
lamentable lack of hotels and inns in the interior. Knowing that
for the most part we should have to carry our own bedding and food,
we purchased and added to the outfit with which we left Chicago
two flannel blankets, a shallow frying pan, a tin plate, which also
formed a cover to the frying pan, a knapsack and canteen. My "battery"
of three guns was augmented by a double-barrel hammerless shotgun,
the barrels and stock of which were sawed off, and, in addition,
I carried a short, heavy knife resembling the Cuban machete. A case
of beef tea had a place in our luggage, and as we had an abundance
of an American brand of malted milk already with us, we were assured
that we would pass no such hungry days as we often experienced in
our ride to the Pacific Coast.
The afternoon of March 3 Mrs. McIlrath and I mounted our luggage-laden
wheels, and, after shaking hands with friends, rolled out upon the
broad Bund upon the third stage of our long ride. By March 6 we were
a hundred miles from the civilized coast, and already we appreciated
the fact that our journey across the walled empire would not be "a
thing of beauty and a joy forever." The cries of the natives as they
caught sight of us silently gliding by on our wheels was strange. The
first impression they received from the unusual sight seemed that
of superstitious dread. Not a few were angry and made threatening
gestures, pointing in the direction of Shanghai, as if warning us to
turn back. Our cyclometers showed the distance to be 28 miles when
our first difficulty presented itself. It was that of a wide and
deep creek, without bridge and without ferry. After a quarter of an
hour spent in exploring the banks in vain search for the boatman,
we came across a house-boat hidden in the brush. It was owned by
two French gentlemen, who were having a pleasure ride as far as Su
Chow. Canals are the highways of China, and in going overland from
place to place, one must follow these filthy, stagnant streams. Our
friends from France, with the politeness and courtesy characteristic
of their nation, invited us to become their guests upon the house-boat
as far as Su Chow, assuring us that the journey on wheel was almost
impossible. The Inter Ocean tourists boarded the trim craft, their
wheels stowed forward, and relieving their backs of the blankets and
luggage, made themselves at home.
Our hosts had had considerable experience in China shooting and
trading, and with anecdote of adventure and travel the time passed
rapidly until the supper hour. An expert Chinese cook prepared
a hearty meal of duck, pheasant and bamboo sprouts, and after an
hour's smoking Mrs. McIlrath retired to the only "state room" on
board, while the owners of the boat and I, rolled up in blankets,
slept on the floor of the cabin. The coolies towing the boat did not
cease their labors until after 10 o'clock, and as they resumed towing
before daylight, when I woke at 7 the next morning we had covered
almost 30 miles. Breakfast over, with our hosts we took a short walk
on the banks of the canal, made a few side trips into the brush, and
returned to the boat enriched by a dozen pigeons and a pheasant. After
our return to the boat I brought forth the great red-sealed document
which the Chinese magistrate had given me in Shanghai, and asked if any
of the natives in the crew could decipher the purport of the document
as written on the envelope. It was this document which had caused us
to travel by way of Su Chow, otherwise we should have taken steamer
to Chin Kiang, about 60 miles up the Yang-tse-kiang proper, and there
begun our ride. I had inquired at Shanghai of foreigners acquainted
with the Chinese mandarin language, but all I could learn was that
the document was addressed to the Tao Tai at Su Chow, and friends
advised me to deliver it. The mystery did not please Mrs. McIlrath,
but after deliberation I decided to take chances. Su Chow is a great
dumping ground for criminals, and the document was an order intended
to reveal to me more of Chinese customs.