Evening star., 1898-01-04
TOMB OF CONFUCIUS,
Spot Which All CelestiaIs Regard
With ycneratiOn,

With VcneratiOn.
From the st. Louis Globe Democrat,
NO greater mistake could possibly be
made than to imagine that the Chinese peo-
pie Will ever acquiesce to Germany's occu-
patton of kiao Chou bay. and of the ada
cent territory. Averse as they are to con-
cession of any Of their soil to the detested
foreigner, they would gladly concede to the
Kaiser some infinitely richer and more ad-
vantageously situated port If he would con-
sent to withdraw his troops from Kiao
Chou bay, for in the immediate vicinity of
the latter, and within the sphere claimed
by Germany, Is situated a temple which the
Chinese regard as the most sacred spot in
the whole of their vast empire 1t is the
temple In which lies entombed in a double
coffin, and arrayed In twelve different cos
tunes, the body Of Confucius, the founder
OF that religion, or, rather school of philos-
ophy on which the entire system of Chinese
civilization. science, literature and mode of
llfe Is based. 1t is a spot so sacred that no
provincial governor, no mandarin, no Off
cial dignitary of any importance ever en-
ters upon his duties without having first
made pilgrimage to it, the small town in
which the tomb Of 'Confucius is located he
ing regarded with the same degree of ven
Grafton by the Chinese as Mecca is by the
Mohammedans, and as Jerusalem used to
be In olden times by the Christians.
The Chinese are not what can be called a
reverence for the tombs, not only of their
ancestors. but Of the great men of their ma :.
ton, and the idea that the last resting
place OF the great Confucius should be de-
MED by the presence or propinquity of the
abhorred foreign devils is exasperatine nom
ular feeling throughout China to such a de-
gree against the Germans in particular that
european and American massacres may be
looked for at any moment to add still fur
ther complications to the situation The
coast line of China is not hundreds, but
thousands of miles in length, and if the
kaiser has searched from one end to tho
other thereof he could not possibly have
picked out spot the occupation of which
would be more likely to exasperate the Chi
nese than Kiao Chou bay. By fully
tanning the evaporation and at the same
time by training and equipping the soldiers
of the Emperor Kwangsu the Russians
may yet find 1t possible to force the retreat
Of the Germans from kiao Chou bay with
out being themselves compelled to draw the
sword.
The family of Confucius, who died nine
years before the birth Of Socrates. and.
therefore, about four centuries before
Christ, Is still In existence, and the only
one in China that bears the title of duke.
or, rather, the Chinese equivalent thereof.
1t was but the other day that an edict in
the Imperial Gazette at Pekin proclaimed
that 'inasmuch as through wars, floods and
rebellionS the lands granted for the SUD-
port of the dukedom of Kunz have become
alienated and lost the imperial government
has decided to make to the present duke.
and to the future bearers of the title. an
annual allowance equivalent to the sum
originally yielded by the ducal estates at
the time when they were granted" The
present duke is the seventy-seventh in di-
rect line from Confucius. and, strange to
relate, his face and figure presents a strik-
ing resemblance to the portraits that the
old craven stones still present of the found
er of Chinese civilization. The duke bears
the hereditary title of Yen Shing Kung.
which means Ever Sacred Duke" and
like all his seventy-six ancestors before
him. has lived in a palace situated in the
immediate vicinity Of the tomb and memori-
al temple of his illustrious ancestor
1t must be thoroughly understood that
anything which can possibly be Construed
as a proclamation of this tomb will fill the
hearts of at least two-thirds Of the 400 GOO
600 members Of the Chinese race with such
feelings of horror and fury that they will
cheerfully sacrifice their lives in order to
be revenged for the indignity upon the first
foreigner they encounter. If / call atten-
tion of the readers of the Globe-Democrat
to this circumstance. 1t is because 1t is des-
tined to become very important fac or in
the present situation in China, is certain to
influence the policy of the Chinese, and has
been entirely lost sight Of until now.