The suburban citizen., 1900-08-11
CHINESE FRA'TERNITIES.
SECRET SOCIETIES AT THE BOT,
TOM OF ALL HER REVOLUTIONS.


The Chinese Empire furnishes an
excellent illustration of Herbert Spen-
GERS dictum that an autocratic Gov
ernment fosters secret societies. In
popular Government, where the ma
tional policy is shaped by public opin-
ion, freedom Of speech deprlves the Sc
cret society of its very reason for
being, and where citizens of a repub-
lie form a secret association it must
be from the pure love Of secrecy. But
in Government where the power of
life and death and the pursuit of hap
piness is in the hands Of one, and
where opposition or even remonstrance
is deemed treason, those who desire to
effect reform or achieve revenge must
resort to secrecy until the strength of
numbers gives some assurance Of safe
ty and success.
The first of these associations Of
which we have record is the crimson
Eyebrows Immediately before the
beginning of the Christian era the
great Han dynasty which had ruled
China for 200 years. and was to rule
for POO moro, was temporarily under a
cloud, formed by a too powerful Minis
ter named Wang Mang. who made and
deposed Empcrors at his will, and per-
mitted each monarch TO retain the
crown only so long as it served
the ambition of the Minister; untilhay-
ing by long practice become proficient
in the art of creating Sons Of Heaven,
he brought forth his masterpiece, A.
j.. 6, by himself assuming the purple.
or more accurately the yellow. In no
country has loyalty to n fallen house
been shown more devotedly than in
China in the many dynastic changes
| which have occurred during her his
tory of 5000 years
The new Emperor had to meet re-
| bellion on all sides. but was able to do
so successfully, and executions fol-
lowed his victorious arm until it
seemed that 10 oppose the usurper
was to court death. Here was legit-
mate opportunity for the Chinaman's
genius for conspiracy. Fan Chong, an
adhcrent of the Hans, organized
band in the Province Of Shantung
which quickly grew into an army
said to number 100000 men. Each
member Of the Land had his eyebrows
! painted crimson to signify that he ded-
icated the last drop Of his blood to The
cause, and it was, without doubt this
symbolism, 50 effective upon the child
ish mind of half-clvllized man, which
determined the issue Of the conquest
The 100000 fiery eyes struck terror
into the soldiers of Wang Mang, and
brought inspiration TO the forces OF
Han, and the usurper was defeated
and slain
In 1879, after desperate struggle Of
nearly half a century, China passed
under the rule Of the Mongols, and
Kublai Kahn. the successor of the
great Genghis, founded the Yuen dy-
nasty. The Chinese were most unwill-
ing subjects, and after a rule of nine
/ ty years the foreigners were driven
back across the northern border
whence they had come. Strange to
say the leader of the patriots was a
Buddhist monk, and one most power
full factor in accomplishing the happy
result was the Society for Gazing on
the Moon. The ostensble purpose OF
this association was to promote the
worship of the Queen Of Heaven, and
| whether anything more inimical to the
reigning house than this most innocent
! diversion was intended by the found
ers Of the society is not known. The
Chinese dignity the most trivial affairs
Of life with sentiments borrowed from
! the ancients. and cover the most dan
| gerous conspiracies with the moral
! precepts of Confucius. Whatever its
! origin, the society became n potent
ally TO the political plottcrs who We're
! striving to restore n native rule TO the
( Empire, The annual festival for the
| worship Of the moon became n gather
ing OF consplrators, and the cakes
which it was the custom to eat in
| honor Of the lunar goddess were made
to do duty as envoys most eXtraordi-
nary. A summons 20 rise against the
Mongols on set day was inclosed in
! the cakes, which We're sent from place
to place throughout the Empire.
We hcar nothing Of such societies
! during the succeeding Ming dynasty.
but with the Manchu conquest in 1644
! The secret cOnclave was revived with
increased yigor. Tho Manchus and
Chinese have never amalgamated, and
have hardly mingled; the conquered
still regard the conquerOrs as an in
ferior race of barbarians. Every
large town has its Manchu city and its
Chinese city, and i'm every town there
Is Manchu garrison. The native
brotherhood which has, under various
names, religously set itself to the task
of Ousting the Manchu or Using dy
nasty was attended In its origin by a
miracle. The Emperor Yung Ching
Q722-1735) directed or allowed severe
persecution against both Christianity
and Buddhism, and in one of the reli-
glous outbreaks the Shaolin Buddhist
monastery was sacked and burned and
many of the monks were killed. A
foNv pspanpd brpathiu ypupnoppp