Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-07-06


the Chinese city is an excrescence and
Joins. but does not encircle, the re-
mainder. Originally the Chinese had
to be kept at safe distance In sub
lection to the Mantchoo conqueror.
but such a precautiOn is now super
fuous, although there survives per
ceptible variety of type. in spite or
the mixture of blood, and the Mant-
choO women dress their hair in differ
ent fashion. secured at the back by a
long bar that is turned down after
marriage. Within the Chinese city is
a vast open space, the two great in
closures of which are green with trees
and dedicated respectively on the north
and south OF the temple of Agricul-
ture and the temple of Heaven. In
the middle Kingdom there are three
great systems of religion, Of worship
and of philosophy working together in
harmony with a government which
patroniZeS and conforms to each with
out friction and without fusion.
OF all three the founders lived abou:
the sixth century B. c., but Taoism
has had the popular advantage Of be-
ing able to identify itself with every
object of the wonder or veneration OF
men. If the official classes, by reason
of their training, are mainly Confu-
cianist - that is to say. agnOstic - in
their intellectual sympathies, that does
not absolve them or their imperial
master from the regular and elaborate
observance of the great state services
of the year. The mighty spirits of
earth and heaven are invoked by the
-frr, -
ecclesiastic and. by deputy, through
civil officers throughout every prov
ince. To the powers of earth and
heaven lie processes himself subject
He styles himself Son of Heaven by
imperial succession" and he asks for
the efficient aid of the imperial
spirits of earth and heaven" by sacri-
flee and oblation.
In Sir y. Lyalls words, he IS the
high steward of the mysteries Once
q year, at dead of night, he goes i'll
solemn procession, with his kinSmen
and high mandarins, to the temple OF
Heaven, fasts until the morning and
then makes the kotow by striking his
head ON the floor of the marble plat
form, which he aScendS and three
times kncelS to the deity. The Sacri-
fce is performed by himself without
the ministration Of priests and aided
only by his officials, and he invokes
the good offices of the supernatural
without the intervention of priests be-
tween the majesty on earth and the
majesty on high. AS the hereditary
father of his people he associates three
of the greatest of his predecessors in
1,s L.
piety and a lesson of dynastic rever-
ence.
Foreigners are rigidly excluded from
this place, and the gates are kept
closed to all but the duly
qualified. 1t was not always SO, and
there are old Picking residents who
have in days gone by entered the pre-
cinctS i'll Chinese dress, one in particu-
lar being Ii Hung Changes popular sec
rotary, Mr.. Pethick, an American gem
tleman who has lived in China for
many years. An exception was made
in the case of Prince Henry of Prussia,
but happily the result has been, ac-
cording to Chinese logic, to insure con-
tinuance Of last years drought and to
hold up rainclOuds, to the utter i'm
of the land.
In the Forbidden city, which con-
tains the imperial palaces, no foreigner
ever sets foot except when the STATS Of
the legations carry their congratula-
tons to the emperor on the New Year |
day, the 9th of February of the Chi
lese calendar, and in the rare cases of |
special audience, one of which took |
place when Prince Henry of Prussia
was personally received by the emper-
Or at the very door. This question Of |
audience has for the last hundred years |
been of the highest political impor- |
lance. First came the demand for the |
performance of the kotow; then the |
light of audience. completely conceded |
n 1873; lastly the place of audience, |
toward the satisfactory solution of |
which much was done when Sir Mich
)las O'COnnor was received, not, as for
nerly, in the Hall of Tributary Nations,
)ut at n palace within the Forbidden
,ity.
Chinese prejudice never disappears
before the light, but 1t is daily being
broken down by its own weight under
External pressure. In years to come
wen the horrors of the Peking cart
nay be discarded by foreign residents
n favor of the foreign rickshaw, but
his depends more on the mending of
roads than on the mending of
'hinese manners. How long will the
Try bones live? Bat for the interfer-
ng hand of the barbarian certainly
would they live in ssecula seculorum.