The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-11 00:00:00

A PHASE OF CHINESE LIFE.

Ti., Timer' Correspondent at Shanghai, In another of his
interesting letters, gives the following insight into a phase of
Chinese life

To premise, the stage is in China the lowest of pro
fesaions. Play actors share with barbers the pain of
exclusion from competition at literary examinations.
Every other than in the Empire can ct onpete, and every
successful candidate is a probable Mandarin. Play
actors anti barbers only ran never attain to the privilege.
There has recently been acting in Shanghai a cele-
brated tragedian named Yang Yeh-lin. Young, hand-
some, and clever, this man is reputed to have worked
havoc in the hearts of his female auditors. At length
he created a grande passion which has resulted in his
ruin. A young Cantonese lady, the daughter of a
well-to-do Chinaman living in Shanghai, saw and ad-
mired him, pined, grew sick, and refused to be com-
forted. The father washed his hands of the affair and
went south, with the knowledge, it is alleged by the
damsel, of what would follow. However this may be,
the girl's mother at once opened negotiations for matri-
mony, went through all formalities prescribed by
Chinese custom, and eventually handed over her
daughter to the actor as his wife.
One would have thought this ended the affair, and
that social ostracism was the worst the lady and her
husband had to encounter. But thai would be to
calculate without China and Chinese Mandarins. It
chances that the Che-Hsien, or magistrate, of Shanghai
is a Cantonese, and therefore, of course, sympathizes
with that elms of the Shanghai population.
No sooner was the news abroad than Cantonese
society here flew, metaphorically, to arms, accused
Yang Yeh-lin of abduction, procured his arrest and
torture, and the punishment and imprisonment of
his wife, who persisted that there was no abduction
at all, that the marriage was formal and proper,
and that she liked and meant to stick to her hus-
band. Scandal says the Carden Guild went so far
as to offer 20,000 Vida to the magistrate to de-
capitate a man who had brought disgrace upon a
family with whirls many of them were connected.
So far, however, the Che-Hsien dared not go, but
what he might—and the might for evil of a Chinese
Mandarin is great —he did. He ordered the
wretched Yang 100 blows with the heavy bamboo
on the ankle bone the tortere of which may be
conceived by tappirc ~aulti own ankle lightly with
one's cane—ha:l hisn strung up for 12 hours by the
thumbs wish the arms reversed and drawn up behind
the back, the effect being, of course, to strain and
partly dislocate the shoulders, and he allowed to he
fixed round his neck an ingenious collar, which presses
on the apple of the throat and produces a constant
sense of choking and irritatiors, aggravated continually
by the inevitable eesugh. Scandal further says that
Nang was 'Are io bribe his gaolenr with £2OO to free
fr,arr the last encumbrance; but your readers will
admit that the first two punishments were enough for
marrying a handsome girl on her own proposal. The
girl herself got 100 blows on the face with a leather
strap, the effect of which is, of course, to reduce the
features temporarily to pulp.
The Tim,s' Correspondent goes on to MY that a native
newspaper., the Shanpao, joined worthily with the
foreign Press in denouncing the iniquity of the magis-
trate and the cruelty of the torture, and found sup-
porters and contributors among all the Northern men,
who hate the Cantonese, and among whom judicial
torture is infrequent. The Cantonese raved and re-
plied, but the Shunpao and its Northern friends
denounced the proceedings with renewed emphasis.
The magistrate made common cause with his country-
men, but the Taotai was reported to sympathise with
the Northerners and to blame the conduct of the Che-
Hsien. The Cantonese swore that they would burn
down the premises of the offending paper, and
they deenauded the arrest and punishment of
the native staff; but the f, -sign municipality
put on two or three extra policemen in the
neighbourhood, end the Consul informed the offi-
cials that ajopektier was the bond fide editor of
the paper, and by English law the editor was re-
sponsible. They must proceed against him if they had
aught for which to seek redress. The Taot?.; stair
delighted with a reply which chimed with his
own party feeling, and the ;,.,a,mtrate and the
Cantonese, metaphorical'j ecee their hair with rage and
despair.
They di.; use execute their threat of ineendiariarn ;
nc rroubt it was only intended front the beginning, as
so much pressure, to help their project of arresting the
Shunpao writers. But they have decided to start an
opposition paper, which they will distribute gratis till
the Shunpae is cruthed ; and in the meantime they
refer to the Viceroy, at Nankin, their request for the
punishment of its native staff. Yang Yelii-lin and his
wife, lathe meantime, lie in gaol, the victims of con•
vent:amid dislike to actors,