The Washington times., 1901-08-25
THE CHINA OF ROMANCE.
The Celestial Empire Once "a Fairy
land of Beauty and Mystery.

In the old days, before the world be-
: came hackneyed through the introduction
of steam and electricity. the Chinese EN-
. pire was regarded as a fairyland of beau
3 ty and mystery. No traveller S tale was
! too incredible for belief, and the few spec
| linens of Chinese art workmanship that
| found their way to the Occident only en-
couraged the Europeans in their idea that
wonderful riches awaited the bold man
| who could penetrate into the t1owery
! Kingdom. Even our grandfathers had
not entirely lost this manner of regarding
! the Orient, and the sight OF piece of
Marking blue porcelain was enough to
call up all sorts of visions of a civiiza-
| ton as strange that of another world.
At present, owing to the familiarity with
Chinese scenes and customs which Occf-
dentals possess, the contrary idea is held.
Where once the foreign devils dreamed
of enchanted cities and islands and gar
dens they now have the impression that
there is little but Woodworking, practi-
cal and miserable people, and land
weighed down by poverty and official OPP
preston. Even the famed yellow City"
in Pekin proves to be but a series of de-
caying buildings, once splendid, but now
gloomy in their dulled colors and cracked
walls and pillars.
But in spite of all this, in spite OF the
multitude Of travels in the Middle
kingdCm-each work of the kind more
matter of fact than the last-the China of
old was not all Imagination, the beauty
and romance have not all vanished from
kwang- Hsu's Empire. There is China
where the foreigners are almost unknown,
where there is no Boxer movement be-
cause there is no need for one; where the
people live as happy, peaceful. and refined
lives as in the days of the good Emperor
Kang-He; where the decorator of porce-
lain still has before him the ideal of the
sky after rain" and the literau spend
their lives in composing exquisite poems
on flowers and birds and the loves of prin-
cesses.
Far from the murder and rapine Of Pc
chilli, from the intrigues and distrust Of
the Yangtse Valley, is this unspoiled, un-
troubled China 1t lies to the west and
southwest of the provinces into which Eu-
ropeans have penetrated, and extends
right up to the T1betan border. The far
ther away from the coast and the Euro
peans, the more picturesque does the
country become.
The best description OF this part of Chi
ma is, strange to say. from the pen of a
woman, who succeeded in penetrating
where many men had failed to go. Mrs.
Bishop travelled through West and South
west China several years ago, and COM
pairing her account Of her journey with
what other accounts have been written
one obtains picture of a country which,
If not the fairyland described by fifteenth
century writers, seems near an ap-
proach TO Utopia as there is on this over
civilized earth.
Think of lacquer bridges over streams
as limipd as the tabled Castalla of pa
godas of porcelain that would drive an
Orrocks or a Hearn green with envy; of
castles on hills shining like gold In the
sun; of temples that are regarded as mod
ern if less than half thousand years old;
of bazaars in which silks, and worries and
enamels, and arms. and porcelain, OF a
quality only possessed in the West by mu-
seums and millionaires, are sold
There is just one draw back to all this
the people are intensely hostile to for
eigners. Mrs. Bishop nearly lost her life
once, and more than one traveller has
gone into that part OF China and never
been heard of again. But the world Is
now beginning to realize that II is possible
that the Chinese may have some 1ustiiica-
ton for their attitude to outsiders At
any rate, were It not for this hostility, 1t
Is certain that the Unknown China
would be known-and spoiied.-New York
Times.