The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-12 00:00:00

no respect to diminish the number of those who are left cow's feet.* Father 'Wee mentions that of abandoned
behind. Few ClA:earners leave their country, without a children the Jesuits baptised in Pekin alone net less
feed purpose to return to worship in the ancestral hall than 3,000 yearly. I have seen ponds which are the
—to bring sacrifices to the tombs of their fathers ; but habitual receptical of female infants, whose bodies
it may be doubted if one in ten revisits his native land. lie floating about on their surface.
The loss of life from disease, from bad arrangements, ; "It is by no means unusual to carry persons in a
from shipwreck, and other casualties amounts to a fright- state of exhaustion a little distance-from the cities, to
ful percentage on those who emigrate. give them a pot of rice, and to leave them to perish of
"The multitudes of persons who live by the fisheries starvation when the little store is exhausted. Life and
in China afford evidence not only that the land is culti- death in China, beyond any other region, seem in a state
vated to the greatest possible extent, but that it is install- of perpetuol activity. The habits of the people, their
cient to supply the m cesshies of the overflowing popula. tradition-', the teachings of the sages--all give a power-
tion ; for agriculture is hell in high honour in China, ful impulse to their procreative affections. A childless
and the husbandman stands next in rank to the sage or person is deemed an unhappy, not to say a degraded,
literary man in the social hierarchy. It has been sup- man. The Chinese moralists set it down as a law that
posed that nearly a tenth of the population derive their if a wife give no children to her husband she is bound by
means of support from fisheries. Hundreds and thou- every tie of duty to encourage and to patronise a collet:-
sands of boats crowd the whole coast of China—some. I bine, through whom his name may be preserved, and
times acting in communities, sometimes independent and provision made that when he leaves the world honours
isolated. There is no species of craft by which a fish can will be done to his manes. One of the most popular of
be inveigled which is not practised With success in China Chinese writers says, There are in the world wives who,
—every variety of net, from vast seines, embracing never having borne boys, or nourished girls, even when
miles, to the smallest haudfilet in the care of a child. the husband has reached the age of 40, prohibit his
Fishing by night and fishing by day—fishing in moon- bringing home a concubine or entertaining a handmaid
light, by torchlight, and in utter darkness—fishing in for the purpose of continuing his posterity—they look
boats of all sizes—fishing by those who are Eta- upon such a person with jealous hatred and malig-
tionary on the rock by the seaside, and by those who nant lie will. Alas ! do you know Low fleet is time I
are absent for reeks on the wildest of seas,—fishing by Stretch as you may your months and your .years,
cormorants,—fishing by divers,—fishing with lines, with they fly like arrows ; and when your husband's animal
baskets,—by every imaginable decoy and device. There spirits and vigorous blood shall be exhausted,—then,
fin-
is no river which is not staked to assist the fisherman in deed, he can never beget children, and you, his wife, will
his craft. There is no lake, no pond, which is not have stopped the ancestral sacrifices, and you will
have
crowded with fish. A piece of water is nearly as valuable cut off his generation—then repentance, though you may
as a field of fertile land. At daybreak every city is exhibit it in a hundred ways, will indeed come too late--
crowded with sellers of live fish, who carry their com- his mortal body will die—his property, which you, hue-
modity in buckets of water, saving all they do not sell band and wife, have sought to keep together, will not
to be returned to the pond or kept for another day's ser- descend to his children, but be fought for by multitudes
vice. And the lakes and ponds of China net only supply of kindred and relations ; and you will have injured not
large provisions of fish—they produce considerable quart- one person—not your husband only—but even yourself ;
titles of edible roots and seeds, which are largely con- for who shall take charge of your coffin and your tomb!,
sumed by the people. Among these the esculent arum, Who shall bury you or offer sacrifices ! Alas ! your
the water chestnut ( sc-irpus tuberosus) and the lotus orphaned spirit shall pass nights in tears. It is sorrow-
( stelantbiai ) are the most remarkable. feel to think of. There are some wives who do control.
" The enormous river population of China, who live their jealousies, and allow their husbands to take concise
only in boats, who are born and educated, who marry, blues to themselves ; but they do so (ungenerously) as if
rear their families, and die— who, in a word, begin and they were drinking vinegar, and eating acids—they beat
end their Existence on the water, and never have or Betty by way of scolding Belinda-)•—there is no peace to
dream of any shelter other than the roof, and who the inner house. But fbeseech you to act as a prudent
seldom tread except on the deck or boards of their and virtuous woman. If you have no children,
provide
sampans—show to what an (latent the land is crowded, with openness and honesty a concubineet for your bus-
and how inadequate it is to maintain the cumberers hand. If she bear him children, to you he will owe that
of the soil. Tn the city of Canton alone it is esti- the arteries and veins of his ancestral line are continued;
mated that 304;000 persons dwell upon the surface of his children will honour you as your mother, and will
the river; the boats, sometimes twenty or thirty deep, not this comfort you I Give not way to the malignant
cover some miles, and have their wants supplied by jealousy of a wicked woman ! Prepare not a bitterness
ambulatory salesmen, who wend their way through which you yourself must swallow.'§
every accessible passage, Of this vast population some " Generally, however, the wife willingly coincides with
dwell in decorated river boats used for every purpose of the husband in introducing into the household any nuw'
license and festivity—for theatres—for concerts—for bee of concubines whom he is able to maintain, since she
feasts—for gambling—for lust—for solitary and social exercises over them an undoubted authority, and the
recreations ; some craft are employed in conveying goods child of a concubine is bound to pay higher respect to
and passengers, and are in a state of constant activity ; the first wife than to its own mother. The Chinese illus.
others are moored, and their owners are engaged as ser- trate all the domestic relations by imagery, and are went
vents or labourers on shore. Indeed, their pursuits are to say that, as the husband is the sun, and the wife the
probably nearly as various as those of the land popula- moon, so the concubines are the planets and the stared
tion. The immense variety of boats which are found in the domestic &manse.
Chinese waters has never been adeqaately described. "And it has been often truly observed that, thong?
Some are of enormous size, and are used as magazines the Chinese may be called sensualists, there is no deifi'
for salt or rice—others have all domestic accommocla- cation of the grosser sensualities such as is found in the
tions, and are employed for the transfer of whole families, classical pantheons, and in many of the oriental forms Of
with all their domestic attendants and accommodations, faith. Tales of the amours of their gods and heroes
from one place to another,—some, celled centipedes, from seldom figure in their historical books or traditional le'
their being supposed to have 100 rowers, convey with gends. The dresses and external habits of the women
extraordinary rapidity the more valuable cargoes from in China are invariably modest; and on the whole the
the inner warehouses to the Lroign shipping ire the ports social arrangements must be considered friendly to an
—all these from the huge and cumbrous junks, which augmentation of the human race. The domestic Alfa;
remind one of Noah's ark, and which represent the rude tions are strong. Parents are generally fond and proud
and coarse constructions of the remotest age-, to the of their children, and children obedient to their parents.
fragile planks upon which a solitary leper hangs upon Order is, indeed, the first law of Confucius—authority
the outskirts of society —boats of every form and applied and submission the apex and basis of the social pyramid'
to every purpose—exhibit an incalculable amount of "The sentiment of dishonour attached to the extinetiori
population, which may be called amphibious, if not of a race by the want of descendants through whom the
aquatic. whsle 1 ne of reverential services ("kith some have
tailed
"Not only are land and water crowded with Chinese, religious worship) rendered to ancestors is to be pee.
but many dwell on artificial islands which float upon the tual is by no means confined to the privileged classes is
lakes—islands with gardens and houses raised upon the China. One of our female servants—a nominal Chris"
rafters which the occupiers have bound together, and on tian—expressed her earnest desire that her husband:
which they cultivate what is needful for the supply of should hava another wife in her absence, and Beanied
life's daily wants. They have their poultry and their quite surprised that any one should suppose such an
vegetables for use, their flswers and their scrolls for or- arrangement to be in any respect improper.
nen:lent, their household gcds fur protection and worship. " The marriage of children is one of the great 00:
, "In all parts of China to which we have access we corns of families. Scarcely is a child born in the higher
find not only that every foot of ground is cultivated ranks of life ere the question of its future espousal b;
which is capable of producing anything, but that, from comes a frequent topic of discussion. There is a 1010
the value of land and the surplus of labour, cultivation body of professional matchmakers, whose business
is rather that of gardeners than of husbailmen. The to put all the preliminary arrangements iu train, to settle
sides of Lille in their natural declivity often unavailable, questions of dowry, to accommodate differences, tfce
are, by a succession of artificial terraces, turned to pro- report on the pros and cons of projected allian.
h'.
fitable account. Every little bit of soil, though it be There being no hereditary honours in Chinet:.l
only a few feet in length and breadth, is turned to ac- except those which reckon upwards from the If
count ; and not only is the surface of the land thus cared tinguished son to the father, the grandfather, and the
~
for ,hut every device is employed for the gaqierina toge- whole line of ancestry, which may be ennobled by
• tiler of every article that can serve tor manure. Seaven- literary or martial genius of a descendant—the disurg
gees are constantly clearing the streets of the stercorace- tions of caste are unknown, and a successful student even
ass filth ; the cloacae are farmed by opecul hors in human of the lowest origin would be deemed a fit match for the
ordures ; the most populous pl ices are often made most opulent and distinguishable female in the corn.n3.tu,
offensive by the means taken to prevent the precious de- nity. The severe laws which prohibit marriages within
posits from being lost. The fields in China have almost certain degrees of affinity (they do not, however, ititerdll
always large earthenware vessels for the reception of the it with a deceased wife's sister) tend to make marriagie
contributions of the peasant or the traveller. You can- more prolific, and to produce a healthier race of children
not enter any of their great cities without meeting mul- So strong is the objection to the marriage of blood relP
titudes of men, women, and children conveying liquid tions that a man and woman of the same Sing or famill
manure into the fields and gardens around. The stimu- name cannot lawfully wed.
ants to production are applied with most untiring in. "Soldiers a nsl sailors are in no respect prevented from
dustry. In this c, luny of Hong Kong I scarcely ever marrying. I exp:ct there is, from the number of male
ride out without finding some little bit of ground either emil;rants—fr,,iu the greater loss of men by the various
newly cultivated or clearing fur cultivation. accidents of life, and their abstraction in many circtinl4
"Attention to the sail—not only to make it produc- stances from intercourse with women—a great silt
title, but as ranch productive as possible—is inculcated proportion between the sexes, tending naturally enoa6:
as a political and social duty. One of the most ad. to the lower appreciation of woman ; but correct eta
mired sages of China (Yung-chin) says Lot there tics are wanting in this, as indeed in every other part 0
be no uncultivated spot in the country—no unem- the field of inquiry.
ployed person in the city ;' and the fourth maxim of " The proportion of unmarried to married poets)
it
the sacred edict of Kane-hi, which is required to be (as would be deduced from the foregoing observatietc:
read through the empire on the let and 15th day of exceedingly small. To promote marriages seems ev":7l,
every moon, in the presence of all the officers of body's affair. Matches and betrothings naturally enoileti
State, is to the three/kg effect:—' Let husbandry occupy the attention of the young, but not less thattavt
occupy the principal piece, and the culture of the the middle-aged and the old. A marriage is the has'
mulberry-tree, so that there may be sufficient supply event in the life of man or woman, and in China is.
_0
cln
,
of food and clothing.' Shin Nung, the name of one of sociated with-more of preliminary negotiations, ceretr
the most ancient and honoured of the Chinese Empe- vials at different steps of the negotiations, written Yo,
tors, means the Divine Husbandman.' respondence, visitings, protocols, and conventions,
" The arts of draining and irrigating—of preserving, in any other part of the world."
preparing, and applying manure in a great variety of
shapes, of fertilising seeds, indeed, all the details of
Chinese agriculture, are well deserving of note, and all
display evidence of the inadequate proportion which
the produce of the soil bears to the demands for the con-
') gumption of the people.*
"The Chinese, again, have no prejudice whatever as
regards food ; they eat anything and everything from
which they con derive nutrition. Dogs, especially
puppies, •
•I re habitually sold for food ; and I have seen
in the butchers' shops, large dogs skinned and hanging
with their viscera by the side of pigs and goats. Even
to rats and mice the Chinese have no objection—neither
to the flesh of monkeys and snakes ; the sea slag is an
aristocratical and costly delicacy which is never wanting
and mere than tLe edible birds' nests, at a feast where
honour is intended, to be done to the guests. Unhatched
ducks and chickens are a favourite dish. Nor do the
early stages a putrefaction' create any disgust ; rotten
eggs are by no meting condemned to perdition ; fish is
Ithe more acceptable when it has a strong fragrance and
flavour to give more gusto to the rice.
" As the food the Chinese eat is for the most part hard,
coarse, and of little cost, so their beverages are singu-
larly economical. Drunkenness is a rare vice in China,
and fermented spirits or strong drinks are seldom used.
Tea may be said to be the national, the universal beve-
rage; and t'neugh that employed by the multitude does
not cost more than from 3d. to 6d. per lb., an infusion
of less costly leaves is commonly employed, especially in
localities remote from the tea districts. B ,th in eating
and drinking the Chinese are temperate, and are satisfied
with two daily meals—'the morning rice' at about 10
a.m., and the evening rice' at 1 p.m. The only repug-
nance I have observed in China is to the use of miik—
an extraordinary prejudice, especially considering the
Tartar influences which have been long dominant in the
land ; but I never saw or heard of butter, cream, milk,
or whey bring introduced at any native Chinese table.
" While so many elements of vitality are in a state of
activity for the production and sustenance of the human
race, there is probably no part of the world in which the
harvests of mortality are more sweeping and destructive
than in China., producing voids which require no ordi-
nary appliances to fill op. Multitudes perish absolutely
from want of the means oft xisteuce—inundations destroy
towns and villages and all their inhabitants ; it would
not be easy to calculate the loss of life by the typhoons
or hurricanes which visit the coasts of China, in which
boats and junks are sometimes sacrificed by hundreds
and by thousands. The late civil wars in China must
have led to the loss of millions of lives. The sacrifices
of human beings by executions alone are frightful. At
the moment at which I write it is believed that from
400 to 500 victims fall daily by the hands of the
headsman in the province of Kwang-tueg alone.
Reverence for life there is none' as life exists in
superfluous abundance. A dead body is an ohjsct of so
little concern that it is sometimes not thought worth
while to remove it from the spot where it putrefies on
the surface of the earth. Often have I seen a corpse
under the table of gamblers ; often have I trod over a
putrid body at the threshold of a door. In many parts
of China there are towers of brick or stone where tooth-
less—principally female—children are thrown by their
parents into a hole made iu the side of the wall. There
are various opinions as to the extent of infanticide in
China, but that it ;s a common practice in many pro-
vinces admits of no doubt. Oue of the most elo-
quent Chinese writers against infanticide, Kwei Chung
Fu, professes to have been specially inspired by 'the.
God of literature' to call upon the Chinese people to e-
frain from the inhuman practice, and declares that the
God' had fi led his house with honours, and given him
literary descendants as the recompense for his expions.
Yet his denunciations scarcely go further than to pro-
nounce it wicked in those to destroy their female
children who have the means of bringing them rp ;
and some of his arguments are strange enough To
destroy daughters,' he says, is to make war upon Hea-
ven's harmony' (in the equal number of the ete.s) ; 'the
more daughters you drown, the more daughters you
will have ; and never was it known that the drowning of
dauciaters led to the birth of sons. He recommends
abandoning children to their fate on the waysiCe' as
u e ean d
preferable to drowning them, and then says, There are
s
instances of childre,nsvvsaohneedxrepusoihosoed
mothers
we having
have been
been,' nursed
s heed asks, had been drowned in
if rearedour bygr
atni gd
raerso.t'h r
their infancy.' And he quotes two instances of the pu-
nishment of mothers who had destroyed their infants,
one of whom had a blood-red serpent fastened to her
thigh, and the other her four extremities turned into

•
* Doubt has been sometimes expressed es to the Prac
of infanticide in China on any great scale ; but abundanc-40
evidence of the extent of the usage may be found in
books. The following is a translation of a decree of
Emperor Kanghi, entitled,—
I/
" Edict prohibiting the drowning of Children.--wt" --e„fr•
mother mercilessly plunges beneath the water the tender
'
spring to which she has given birth, can it be said thotist
owes its life to her who thus takes away what it has Joe
begun to enjoy. The poverty of the parents iS
ca e 0
cause of this wrongdoing ; they have difficulty in ert 0
inn subsistence for themselves, still less can they
,pay n" co,
'
and undertake all the necessary expenses for their
Thus driven to despair, and unwilling to cause the death
rat
two persons to preserve the life of one, it comes to pass ti,er
a mother to save her husband's life consents to destroy Pat
children. Their natural tenderness suffers ; but they
length determine to take this part, thinking themselves
liberty to dispose of the life of their children, in order to P'o,
long their own. If they exposed theso children in some 03.
frequented spot their cries would move the hearts of the Pt,
rents, What, then, do they ? They cast the unfortaliloso
babe into the current of a river that they may at once :,e0
sight of it and in au instant deprive it of life. You have V: 01
ma the name of father of the people, Though I cannot Te
for these infants the tenderness of the parents to whom tbeas
owe their being, I cannot refrain from declaring to you
the most painful feelings, that I absolutely forbid such he'lf
elites. The tiger, says one of our books, though it be a tit;
childre
does not rend its own young ; towards them it has a feeling
breast, and continually cares for them. Poor as you '-f
be, is it possible that you should become the murderer!. 01
your own children ? It is to show yourselves more unaabl:L
than the very beasts of prey."—Lcttres Edifmutes, vol.
pp. 101-!. •
f Chang for Lee,
i.e.—they punish the coucubine'S if
vants to be revenged on the concubine.
Gones:s xxx , 1-13.
§ From the Perfect Collection of Household Gems.