The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-07-04
TWO BOXER ~PLACARDS.
Anti-Forcign Literature" That Is
Scattered in China.

A Tien-Tsin letter to the London Stand
ard. bearing date of April 80. gives an &C
count of the anti-foreign propaganda then
in progress in northern China, reference 10
which has already been made in these col
umns. The writer remarks that similar
literature as politicians would call 1t,
was circulated largely in Hoo-Nan ten
years ago and led TO the serious riots or
that period.
"A the present time he continues, I'VE
are having a not dissimilar, If less violent,
recrudescence of anti-foreign literature, or
which the following are very good samples.
The first of them is in rhyme OF a peculiar
ly attractive form, the meter throughout
representing two lines of three characters
each and one line of seven characters. rms
is particularly easy 10 memOrize. L know
some Chinese Christians whose families can
repeat il by heart after one or two read
ings, and they assure me that IL Is a style
of placard which would be universally
memori2ed, whereas the prose placardS are
read, but make no lasting impression. L
append a literal translation OF the poem
without any attempt at rhyme for Tear OF
destroying the effect:
Gods assist the Boxers,
The Patriotic Harmonious Corps;
1t is because the Foreign Devils disturb the
Urging the people to join their religion
To turn their backs on Heaven;
Venerate not the Gods and forget the An
cestors.
Men violate the human obligations;
Women commit adultery.
Foreign Devils are not produced by man.
kind.
If you doubt this,
Look at them carefully;
The eyes of all the Foreign Devils are
blush.
No rain falls,
The earth is getting dry,
This is because the Churches stop the
Heaven.
The Gods are angry,
The Genii are Vexed;
Both are come down from the mountains to
deliver the doctrine.
This is not hearsay,
The practice will not be in vain
To recite incantations and pronounce magic
words.
Burn up the yellow written prayers:
Light incense sticks;
erottoes CHalls).
The Gods will come out of the grottoes.
The Genii will come down from the noun
tains,
And support the human bodies to practice
the boxing.
When all the military accomplishments or
tactics
Are fully learned,
1t will not be difficult to exterminate the
Foreign Devils then.
Push aside the railway tracks,
Pull out the telegraph poles.
Immediately after this destroy the steam
The great France
Will grow cold and downhearted;
The English and Russian will certainly dis
perse.
Let the various Foreign Devils all be
killed.
May the whole elegant Empire of the Great
Ching dynasty be ever prosperous
THE translation of one of the prose pla-
cards is as follows:
notice recently that members of the Prot
estant and Roman Catholic religions poi
son the wells with poisonous powder, and
that whoever drinks the water have their
lungs nnd infeCtinnc rattan within niohf-
cen days. Two men have been arrested
by us at Liu-Li-Chuang, and we find they
have poison all over their bodies. They
are silent when questioned, and bold when
tortured. Those who smell the poison will
die Immediately. You must be very cautious
IN drinking water. Those who see this no.
tice must make it known; it will avoid
calamity Detailing the people. 1t must by
all means be done
Both these placards were posted UP in a
district called Taicheng, in this tChih-LD
province, six days ago-i. e.. since the last
proclamation. Taicheng is about one and
forty Ii, or fifty miles, south of Tien-Tsin.
The dense and universal ignorance of the
people makes these placards, silly and
childish as they may appear to us, very
dangerous and highly calculated to excite
the widest ideas and promote trouble. The
people are just now peculiarly in the mood,
moreover, to be so excited. The autumn
and spring rains have not fallen; the earth
is lying hard and parched. and starvation
stares them in the face. They cannot ex-
plain it. nor understand why the clouds
gather but produce no refreshing showers.
In their blindness they blame the foreigner.
To illustrate the public temper of the day,
I may mention that the widest supersti-
tions are now extant current about kero-
sene oil. Several large fires have occurred
through the breakin of lamps. and the
people are now discovering that kerosene
promotes scarlet fever. smallpox and
pla que, injuries the eyesight and otherwise
brings calamity. Upon this overwrought
state of mind such placards as the above
act very strongly"
The correspondent adds that there is no
doubt that these infammatory placards
have Official sanction.