The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 2, 1898, Page 17

THE SAN FRANCIS 0 CALL, SUNDAY, o - JANUARY 1898. Marines Seized the City By Oscar Mordhorst, Merchant. ‘A\ | | i | | | | is A promi- § the territory Germany. He nghai at the tim | an men-of-war harbor of K C 1igh Mordhorst st | ll == HOUGH we Gern s were a lit- tie surprised x fleet sailed 1 seized Kiaochau, into.th e i y wants C t coast of « wou t her to oc- cupy nink of the to send out, ing a hostile 1 from three and and the which igh- Chi- any been, force with. a rbarians. e power of back upon if The flag- > Kalser, is a r of 7500 built at gines of ho: driven ren of smaller protected by ss Wilhel and the siz yurth r repara- t N re of two ; v a pre- many, T am sure, had long d on sofe such step, with ing her foothold nd s sur- i that Ger- 1ent with Russia f war in Kis 1 the Chinese 1o Chi themselves don’t think united { riotism no har- and what little to The Chi- wealthier Buropean oc- it would st in a ses would 1 the ause th ost, and-that is wealthi mer- ir Shanghai 1 oth y por Whatever the 1 Hattons may do, there is no y »ility of the Chinese offering any serijus resistance. Look at their navy: it is absolutely worthles The mate There—the men could b iiers if they w i placed under competent officers. hat Chi- nese Gordon did with his e Victor ious army could be done again. by an equally able leader. But as it star Mandarins rob the ‘so! v the men are disco there is absolutely no or t none of the most ordinary re q ent »f military service are at- ., t in the re t war with J .nt after’ regiment was nt field -with cartridges hich would not fit thejr guns. It is true that a nuimber of Germa C ctors have't imported t t only -in the rger cities that troops. The al troops re- old semi-barbarian st > and are irained in the use of primitive weapons. It is impossible {o place any reliance upon them ' when brought against civilized troops. s'to the navy, well, there is not much -of jt left since the war -with} Japan. There are only nine or teh in- | erior cruiser: nd some torpedo-boats, e of them in a condition for -active 7 is'building three new ships e Chinese, and the Armstrongs 1en, these ve s are not ot.paid for, T believe—and out’ of the “question at. the 1omerii. Russians are to -float" the new CHin t, T don’t seé hoiv thé St. Petersburg. Germany or England will-have to man- | age the business, and besides, the | Chinese really hate the Russians. They } are afraid of the great northern power, | finance it Poplar in | tion, oS EIGN Y harz /h/;"}’ ‘'SHAT KWEI” (DEATH TO THE FOREIGN DEVILS) SHOUTED THE BLOODTHIRSTY @ND and it is much more to their inte t to keep in with Germany and England I ar ry much interested in the United. States’ commerte with Chin: I do not see how our business will be affected by the present crisis, unless, indeed, Germany or F cupy large provinces and impose dis- crininating tariffs against foreign goods. England has always adopied ¢ free trade in China and h eolony, s a free port has beconie buting center for ance should oc- policy Hongkong, the distr large part of Chir trade a *“The of the United States in nd domestic calicoes deveicping hore- past gradually opened up to civilization and the means of it improve so does -the market for lass of goods and. ex- ience has proved cotton goods manufactured “rn heir in States are more than able 1o hold the ¥ own agair Then there sere Manch ge bus in kero- oil, lumbér, etc., which is always increasing. “But the most notable busin umph achieved by the United was the contract for the number Baldwin engi Chi e Ilways. Hitherto it ha of ways: been supposed that Ar could not compete with England in the supply of locomoti but this con- tract has decidedly changed traders’ opinions “1 do not see why the United States need feel troubled about. this mat- er. Unl the Government r: cally changes its policy and takes an active part in foreign 4 s it can do fothing more to develop trade with €hina than its own merchants are al- doing. . And the fact that last the United States exported to $7,000,000 worth of goods shows ready a great deal has been done in that direction.” PURSUED (Death to the for- eign dev is the shout that knells the doom of the Caucasians di- | an surrounded by a frenzied mob in | " China. This terrible’ cry has been the last ward heard. on edrth by many a de- voted Chri worker, man or wo- rhai. There was no space for prayer, no §me for pe, the enraged mob was upon them, and though afterward their Government might exact repara- @ martyrs were gone where none could gid them. Yet #uere js one missionary, now liv. ing in %his city, who has had these aw- ful wo ringing in his ears for a | tians managed INFURIATED MOB, AS IT RUSHED UPON THE MISSIONARY BUILDING. whole . By tell the tale of h little chilc missior miracle, he lives to w he and his wife and together with another couple, aped the frantic maddened Canton mob. In the midst. of Chinatown you will ra find Dr. Masters, still carrying on his work among the Mongolians, though under happier circumstances, and with pro In his quiet little study on Washington street he sits surtound- ed by his books, many of them printed in the nsible Chinese char- acte his window he can omp: nd fre m watch the yellow-skinned people hurry- ing to and fro. They are his flock, he has dev lvation of their so amply in 1883, just after the French aded Tonquin and all the worst passions of the Chinese were aroused. I was living at Canton, outside the Eu- ropean s ement or concession. In- flammatory placards denouncing for- s and declaring that the French was about to bombard Canton had n distributed all over the city, and urged on by its leaders the fanati- cal mob rose. ‘Tong kwei’ (or Butcher the foreign devils) was the watchword as the maddened people made a rush for the gat of the concession. The guard was n beaten down, and in a few minutes fifteen of the finest merchant in the quarter had been sacked e in flames. “The whole thing was so sudden that we were cut off from the rest of the English people, and though the Consul sent word telling us to make for the boats and save our lives we were too late to take refuge with the other for- eigne “There we were, entirely unprotect- ed, in the midst of the native quarter, the streets filled with a bloodthirsty, infuriated mob, and it seemed as if nothing could save us. “Help came, however. One of our Chinese Christians left his own peo- ple, and knowing our peril came to seek us out. to every danger and risked his own life by his action, but he was loyal. “I1 pointed this out to him and urged him to save himself. ‘You are my teacher,” he replied simply; ‘come, and 1 will save you.’ “The noble fellow kept his word. We were smuggled over a wall and into his house, and there from early morn- ing until dusk we lay concealed. Over and over again we were on the point of being discovered; the awful cries, ‘Shat kwei!’ and ‘Tong kwei’ rang all around us, but the Chinese Chris- to keep our retreat Sixteen native mem- fleet undiscovered. bers of my church stood guard throughout the whole day and threw the pursuers off the scent, while they also kept up communica- He abandoned his family | | of the societies are the Methodist, Pres- | the tion between us and our friends in the Toward evening the Viceroy sent troops to quell the riot, but this only ed our danger, since the mob, from the concessfon, with its tempting opportunities for looting, swarmed more thickly than ever in the native quarter. “At last, just at nightfall, a steam launch manned by l'hil'w‘l‘ sailors, managed to safely approach the place where we lay hid We were smug- gled aboard and saved. English and foreign gunboat: me up the river, and peace was restored. driven “No, our home wa not destroyed after our escape. That is another re- e feature of our escape. My and all that was in it was left intact, through the devotion and read- iness of my Chinese cook. “In the morning, when the riots be- gan, I told him to go, as he might en- danger his life by staying with me. No, he would not go. All through that day he kept the mob at bay, telling them that I had left the place, and that the property had been sold to native Chinese. “The story would never have been believed but for a singular coincidence. A few months before, wishing to as- certain the value of the property, I had put up a placard announcing that | the house for sale by private treaty. I learned all that I wished, and long since the placard had been taken down, but luckily some. of rioters remembered having seen the announcement and' they went away satisfied that the house belonged to one of their countrymen. “Thus our lives and property were ved, but the shock and stress of the proved too much for the American sionary’s wife who was with us. I shall never forget,” concluded Mr. M was my own countrymen deserted me. It was only through the devotion of my Chinese Christians that all our lives were saved.” There are more than thirty American missionary societies represented in China and hundreds of missionaries employed. Among the most important byterian,- American Board of Missions, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, South- ern Presbyterian, Christian Alliance, etc. The Methodist Episcopalian Mis- sionary Society alone has a hundred men and forty women scattered throughout a vast territory. Scorning the safe protection of the treaty ports, where foreigners are tolerated, these brave workers for Christ, men and wo- men, scatter themselves all over the country, subject to constant abuse and ridicule from the fanatical natives, never knowing from day to day when an outbreak may occur which will sweep them out of existence before FEuropean aid can arrive. The great trouble is that the educated Chinamen, the *literati.” do not want Later some | ers, with an earnest look in his | ce, “that on this terrible day, when | | it was sauve qui peut for Europeans, | B i ; | | Missionaries in Kiaochau, Where the Recent Massacres Occurred That Gave the Germans an Excuse for Seizing the Territory. From a photograph. | | i i | to be converted. Their own religion, the Confucian, is, they argue, much older than Christianity, and for all practical purposes quite as good. “What would you think,” they say, “if large parties of Chinese priests, sup- plied with funds from their own coun- try, should invade the United States and set up joss houses in all the prin- cipal towns, endeavoring to induce every one to burn punks and worship before their hideous idols?” Missionaries have been working | steadfastly in China since 1807, when | Morrison, the heroic pioneer, braved in- numerable dangers to, establish the first mission in Canton. And after the treaty of Tientsin opened many of the ports of China to foreigners, missionaries from all parts of the world poured in. From their own standpoint it is no wonder that the “literati” are indig- nant. As these gentlemen, after pass- ing the most elaborate civil service ex- | amination known, hold all the principal official posts, it is easy for them to in- fluence the ignorant fanatical mob whenever they may think it desirable. Though there are sects in China, as everywhere else, they are prepared to sink all differences in their antagonism to the hated “Yang Yen,” the foreign- ers, or “Sea Men,” who come from ['strange parts to disturb their ancestral worship. Confucianists, Buddhists, Taoists, join hands when the cry of “Shat kwei” (Death to the foreign dev- ils) is raised. Missionaries attribute these massa- cres to the fact that the central Chi- nese administration at Peking has ab- solutely no control of the outlying provinces. However sincere it. may be in its protestations of regret and how- ever willing it may be to make repara- tion for these awful,crimes, it cannot control the doings of the provincial | Governors. The mobs rise too quickly, communication in this undeveloped | country is too slow, and the mischief is always done before aid-can reach the victims. The devoted temerity of the mis- sionaries frequently does much to bring about this lamentable result. Men and women alike venture, in spite of the warnings of Consuls, far into the interior, away from the treaty ports, where European protection alone can avail. Sometimes, as with the workers of the China Island mission, native costume is adopted, with a view to minimizing the risks and plac- ing the missionaries more on a footing of equality with the natives. The Chinese cannot understand the freedom from sex restrictions which characterizes the American woman. Take a lady of the most perfect re- finement and breeding, dress her a la Chinoige, set her down in a Chinese vil- lage, and the chances are that, in the course of a day, she will.commit a hundred acts which the ignorant vil- lagers will regard as impolite, .if not | indelicate. It is even / considered a breach of morality for a wife to take her husband’s arm, and missionaries living in the interior are compelled to refrain from the most harmless trib- utes of affection toward their spouses ! while under the public gaze. The Chinese word for religion is “Kian,” so the Roman Catholic faith came to be known as the “Tien Chu Kian.” Now “Chu” also means pig, and “Kian” to squeak, so that the “Re- ligion of the Lord of Heaven” was travestied into the “Religion of the Squeaking - Pig.” . The Chinese pharmacopeia contains many prescriptions ' compounded from various parts of the human body. Thus eyes taken from living people are sup- posed to be remarkably efficient in the treatment of ocular disease, while the flesh of an infant is held to possess the most valuable tonic powers. When the missionaries, with the aid of mod- ern drugs, succeeded in making many wonderful cures it was an easy thing | to persuade the ignorant populace that | unholy acts were committed to obtain | these remediés. Was a child lost? | Then the missionaries weére at once ac- cused of having kidnaped it. Dr. Greig in Manchuria once nearly - for- | feited his life because a little one hap- pened to stray after his carriage and | lose itself. Only the opportune reap- pearance of the child saved him. | nese. | made. vesting crops are primitive: MISSIONARIES IN KIAOCHOW, Life of the Mis- sionaries in the Territory. By Dr. Charles F. Johnson. Orient. { Dr. Charles F. Johnson spent eight years in missionary work in Kiaochau, the place recently seized by the Germans. He is now on a visit to this country, after a long series of labors in the TAOCHAU has a population of 80,000 sou.s, but the foreigners liv- ing there consist of nine adults and several children. s ‘What little news the outside world: . learns of that Chinese city is brought: out by members of this little colony of Americans who have been ministering to the ailments of the Chinese.there. for eight or ten years. A : Those men and women are members: of the Presbyterian Medical Mission, and they are devoting the best days. of their lives to the work of minister- - : ing to the bodily ailments of the Chi- The mission has a free “dis~ pensary anu the pauper as well as the wealthiest nabob secures what medi- cal attendance and medicine.are need- ed without cost. - - Mudhuts, one story in height, make-. up the city, the only exceptions béing the mission, which is a story -and -a half high and, strange as it may- seem, the pawn shops, which rise to the dig- nity of two stories. Candles and wicks’ dipped in oil afford the dwellers-light and heat, for lamps and cookstoves: are practically unknown. The Chinese do " what little cooking their necessities de-. mand in old cans partly filled with: dirt which serve as fireplaces.. - - Such a thing as a street”car is-.un- " known there. There are three modées of tramsporting freight and passengers. The donkey carries most of the .traffic. The most unique thing in thé Wway of a vehicle is the wheelbarrow. ' - Iti§ a huge affair, the “body”" of- the .barrow; -being built long and wide enough.to allow of two passengérs reclining ‘at’’ ease. It is drawn and pushed by Ch/ nese who control the barrow: by . t handles which project from the front and rear. Only the very wealthy can afford this luxury. oo The other method of traveling-is by a big-wheeled cart and.is resorted. to, when long distances are to be traveied or much preduce transported; the bar 7~ | row and the burro being brought into requisition when trips for pleasure aré. The inhabitants of Kiaochau : aré farmers; but unlike the farmers. of: . this country, they do. not.live on' : their farms, but go to and from work from the city. Most of the farms are small, few of them being more than twenty acres in extent;:the: greater number being about five and. ten:acres. The methods of planting and har- The ‘Chi- nese do all the work by hand. _A"sort of crude plow is used to break the ground. A horse or a meek . faced cow is generally hitched to t plow, al- though. it is mot an uncommon thing to see boys taking the place of those animals. & > I One curious custom which previils in Kiaochau and which is.indulg in by nearly all is that of'pawning goods or tools to get money.- The Chinesé re-. gard the pledging of their effects as-a:. business transaction.” So general is the custom ‘that the business of ‘a pawn- broker is the most flourishing of all. In the spring the thritty farmer pawns his winter clothing and redeems ° the tools he pawned in the fall. This: process is kept up from year to year. The business often aggregates $1000 a day, and few pledges go unredeemed.. About 80 per cent of the pledges were redeemed. There is a great deal of poverty in the city, and the mission seeks to re- lieve the wants of the poor by distrib- uting alms twice a month. On the 1st and 15th of each month the old, lame, crippled and feeble poor to the num- ber of 250 stand in a line in front of the mission headquarters and receive a coin which is equivalent to a quarter of a cent. Though but a trifle, it en- ables the recipient to purchase a meal, { which usually consists of a millet cake. The “almsgiving days” are looked for= ward to by the poor with joy. The way of the transgressor is par- ticularly hard in Xiaochau, for the laws are stringent, and an infraction of them is visited by speedy and se- vere punishment. Robbery is a capital - offense. The culprit when caught is taken before the magistrate, tried, and if proven guilty, taken out and be- headed. For crimes that are peculiarly’ atrocious the Chinese have special punishment. One of the ways in which they punish persons guilty of an atrocious crime is to tie them up and slice them to pieces. The Presbyterian Medical Mission numbers among its clientele 20,000 Chi- nese. The first years of the mission work were very -difficult, as the super- stitions of the Chinese had to be over- come before they would accept of med- icine or medical aid. At present tie Chinese prefer the foreign doctors to those of their own race, and seek their aid when the ills of the body assail them. A few good cures had much to do with this change, and there are numbers of Chinese whose faith in the medical missionaries is such that they believe the power of the doctors does not stop short of raising the dead.