Newspaper Page Text
* r
10 * THE PRESBYTERIA1
Missionary
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN CHINA.
To the Men's League,
First Presbyterian Church,
Richmond. Ya.
Dear Friends: Perhaps a few lines as to what is going
on in China during these epoch making days may be of
some interest to you. No doubt you have had plenty of
telcgrapic news, but that is usually brief, often sensational
and sometimes unreliable. The world will be
rriipcciuo- 1 '
.ui u iung time just vviiat lias been taking
place in Peking in the royal palace. You, who are ten
thousand miles away, know about as much of the inwardness
of the situation as those of us who are near
at hand. The gates of the Inner City arc carefully
guarded, and it is wonderful l ow affairs inside are so
secretly kept from the world outside. However, we
know that the Emperor Kuang Hsu has, as the Chinese
say, "ascended 011 the dragon to be guest 011 high." The
Empress Dowager has also departed this life. The official
announcement states that the Emperor died 011 November
14, and the Empress dowager on November 15.
Both had been reported ill, but their real condition
had not been revealed. It seems very strange that they
should have passed away at the same time, and there
are various explanations given bv the neonle. nnne r>f
which explain anything. The only thing to do is to
accept the fact that both arc gone and make the best
of it.
The following is a part of the notification sent out
from Peking re the Imperial mourning as translated in
the North China Daily News:
"Whereas their Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress
Grand Dowager, have ascended upon the dragon
to be guests on high, it is therefore proper that their
nnrtinrr -t 1 1 1
r? ?...6 ..uuMLduuiis Miouia we issued The notification
will he given to the Ministry of War to he issued
to the governors of each province. On the day
that the proclamation arrives in each province the civil
and military officials, in conjunction with the gentry
and literati, old and young, the fringe taken off from
their hats and in mourning clothes, will go to the suburbs,
and, kneeling on the ground, reverently receive
it. On their return to their Yamens, they will kneel
three times and kowtow nine times, and still kneeling
will listen to the reading of the proclamation. When it is
finished, they will rise, and, lamenting, will again perform
three kneelings and nine kowtows. The civil and
military officials will thenceforward wear complete
mourning dress for twenty-seven days, and for three
J ?? ?
uays win lament morning and evening in conjunction
. with the gentry and literati. The wives of the officers
will also wear mourning clothes for twenty-seven days,
and all the officers of the provinces will refrain from
marrying during the year. Neither must they have any
music. All the military and the people of the provinces
will wear mourning for twenty-seven days; for one
month they will not marry, and for one hundred days
they will not have music. The officials, military and
N OF THE SOUTH. January 20, 1909. *
people will not shave their heads for one hundred days.
The Viceroys and Governors and such officials will refrain
from burning incense before the gods facts of public
worship)."
In accordance with the above, the rites and ceremonies
of official mourning were observed here in Kashing.
1 went to the temple to see the ceremony, but, unfortunately,
arrived too late for that day and had no opportunity
to go again. Tablets to the Emperor and the Empress
Dowager were placed on a table and incense was
burning: before them: the offirial? nmcinto.i
^ , j.ivon uiv-u in^iuaciVCb
before these on the ground and lamented the death of
China's rulers. All the schools in the city, including
our mission school, were closed for three days. On
Sunday in our mission chapel, a special sermon was
preached on the duty of Christian Chinese in the present
crisis and prayers were offered for the government,
the church officers leading in these prayers. On the
night before the public mourning began, the city was
alive with weddings. All night long we heard the firing
of crackers and the sound of music and at 11 o'clock
saw two wedding processions on the street. No more
weddings can take place for twenty-seven days, and even
then there ran Iia ?k~? *
in nan until uie nunarea
days have gone by. A Chinese gentleman docs not consider
that he is respectable unless he shaves his head
about once in seven days; think of his shaggy appearance
after one hundred days without shaving. No
doubt many of our school boys will rejoice over not having
to shave as they do not care so much for their personal
appearance. I understand that the government
will pay the barbers a small stipend during these idle
Uo-.o t- ? -
Ua;a, muugii .nicy say iney nave to "eat a great deal of
bitterness,," as the stipend is not sufficient to support
them. It is safe to say that the barbers are sincerely
sorry for the calamity that has come to the country.
As the late emperor had no sen, ^n heir to the throne
was chosen by the empress dowager. The new emperor
is a child only two years of age; his father, a younger
brother of the deceased emperor, is regent for his son.
The regent, though only twenty-five years of age, is
said to be very progressive and wide awake. He is the
prince who was sent to Germany to apologize for the
murder of the German minister by the Boxers. The
papers report that he is taking into his counsel Chang
Chih-tung and Yuan Hsih-kai, two of the wisest of
China's statesmen. Many thought that the Chinese
would take advantage of the opportunity to seize the
throne for a Chinaman, thus wresting it from the Manchus,
but so far there has' been no disturbance at all and
there is every reason to think nnw i?
? -- -w .1 ?.iiut HIv* Itaucia
against the Manchu dynasty do not consider that the
time has come to make a change. There is a great desire
throughout the country for the constitutional government
which has been promised. As the regent will
likely favor this and other reforms, a revolution will no
doubt be averted. It is reported that all is quiet and
orderly at Peking.^ An attempted mutiny ^ of soldiers
at Anking, a city up the Yang-tse river, is the only disturbance
that has occurred, and affairs in the capital do
not seem to have had anything to do with that. I do
not know what sort of reports news agencies may be