Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-29

was instantly turned INTO oemonstrauon
of grief 1t was the seyerest blow the old
man ever suffered. and his friends feared
that he would never recover from it.
The nephew OF Ia Lien Ying. chief eunuch
personal attendant Of the empress dowager
for thirty years, IL also attached to the
Chinese legation at Washington.
The Noblest Chinese Martyr.
1t Is pity that Chang Yin-hoon, one OF
the greatest and noblest characters in mod
ern Chinese history. could not live to
see the changes that have taken place IN
the policy OF the government and the prog
ress his people are making these days. He
was minister to the United States during
the Harrison administration and was the
representative OF the emperor at the two
tubilees Of Queen Victoria In 1881 and 1877.
He stopped In the United States on his
journeys on both occasions and visited old
friends, for whom he had great affection.
There was never an ADLER or a more pop
ufar man at the head of the Chinese Legal
ton than he, and his influence at home was
always good.
He was not a radical reformer, but was
In favor of progress and exerted o power
full influence in favor of the Introduction
Of modern methods into China. He encour-
aged the emperor in his efforts at reform
and made no secret Of the fact. Therefore;
when the empress dowager recovered
power he was one Of her first victims. He
was condemned to DEATH but through the
intercession of influential friends among
the conservatives. who respected his ability
and integrity, his sentence was committed
to Punishment. and he was sent into the
bleak deserts of Turkestan to work on the
roads like an ordinary coolie, where, after
q few months. his death was reported.
There has always been a mystery about
his last days. There are several versions
OF his death story. Some Of his friends
believe that he was shot by order Of the
empress; others are sure that he commit
a. thn~ yyDy.,v t,~fl,,
mand of that wicked old woman. But, how
ever he may have died, he was the noblest
martyr to progress in Chinese history.
Some years ago Rev. DR.. Sheffield a
invented typewriter for the Chinese Ian
guage, which was remarkable because
there is no alphabet like ours, but q Sc
ries of many thousand symbols, represent
field was ingenious enough to arrange a
machine by which several thousand of
these characters could be reproduced, and
thus effect great saving In time and la
Dor.
Portrait Of the Empress.
At the close of the st. Louis exposition
the portrait of the Empress Dowager Of
China, now hanging in the art building at
st. Louis. will be brought to Washington
and presented to the government of the
United States by Sir Cheng- Tung, the
Chinese minister, in the name of his i'm
perial mistress. 1t has not been decided
whether the presentation will be attended
by any formal ceremonies, but 1t probably
will be. No instructions have come from
Peking. 1t is probable, also, that the pic
ture will be hung permanently in the Cor
coran Art Gallery. as that Is more suit
able place for it than the White House or
the Capitol or any of the department build
ings. 1t Is a montrous affair, the frame,
which is made Of teak wood Weighing more
than a thousand pounds, and the canvas
q q Loo CT fnv, Nv ,{xr co. t. -
altogether too large for any private house.
The painting, both as a portrait and q
work or art, Is commonplace and fndiffer-
emit but that is not the fault Of the artist.
The vanity of the empress who will be
seventy years old In few months was
not satisfied until four portraits had been
painted. and the last represented her as a
blooming damsel of sweet sixteen. Ac-
cording to the gossip Of Picking, the artist,
Miss Carl OF Kentucky, who agreed to
paint the picture for 1900 taels, sent in
her bill for four portraits at that price-a
total Of $4,000 taels. Her majesty refused
to pay for more than one, and there was
lively dispute over the matter for several
days. which was happily terminated by
three of the princes at court accepting the
discarded portraits and paying a generous
price for them. They are now hanging in
the yamels of those gentlemen.
This may seem to US a simple incident,
but 1t marks an epoch in the history of
China. Until now the face and form of the
sovereigns of China have been considered
too sacred to be reproduced. No sovereign
of China was ever painted or even photo
graphed before. The pictures we have seen
In the Illustrated papers and magazines
have been sketched from memory by some
OF the attaches of the foreign legations
at Picking, who have had the privilege of
attending court. Up till the boxer troubles
few years ago the persons of the empress
and the emperor were too sacred for their
subjects to look upon, and when they made
their annual pilgrimage from the forbidden
M md
to the temple of the dragons that guard
the imperial throne. curtains were sus-
pended from the roofs of all the houses on
both sides of the streets through which
they passed. and the inhabitants were COM
PEELED to retire to other parts of the city
After the Boxer Troubles
But when the empress dowager returned
from the ancient capital in the interior
after the boxer troubles were over, she en-
tered Picking and rode through the streets
in an open carriage, so that hundreds of
thousands of her subjects were able to
stare at her as much as they liked. This
was an extraordinary innovation; the paint
Ing of her portrait is even a greater con-
cession to modern ideas. and to permit the
duplicates to be sold is almost incredible
to those who understand Chinese etiquette.
There Is good deal of curiosity as to
how the owners of the portraits will be-
have about them. Before the picture was
foreign office In Picking, and all the princes
of the court, the nobility and mandarins in
official position were allowed to inspect it.
Every one of them fell upon his knees
before the counterfeit of her majesty and
touched his forehead nine times to the
floor. If the portrait should be brought
to the Chinese legation in this city, Sir
Cheng-Tung and his staff of secretaries at
taches and servants would be in horrible
predicament. Etiquette would require the
kowtow every time they passed the room
in which the portrait was placed and they
could not sit or lie down or do anything
but stand upright upon their feet as long
as 1t was in the legation Hence it will be
great relief for them to send it to the
CorcOran Gallery.
The empress is a very small woman She
is no larger than an ordinary child of ten
or twelve years. but in the portrait she is
represented of full stature and of very
youthful appearance. She took the greatest
possible interest In the picture While it
was being painted Miss Carl, the artist, was
a guest Of the imperial palace. and thus en-
joyed privilege and received an honor that
was never before conferred upon any woman
of foreign birth. 1t Is said, too, that in ad-
dition to the contract price the empress be-
slowed upon her several souvenirs of great
intrinsic as well as artistic value. Miss
Carl Is now in ST. Louis, and has received a
good deal of attention. When the portrait
was finished to the satisfaction of her maj
esty the ladies of the different foreign lega-
tons at Picking were invited to inspect ii.
OF course. they all responded, and expressed