Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1904-03-05
WHY THE CFiINAMAN
WEARS HIS Queue,

n N ANCHUR1A has been a fateful
MI possession for China, and the
Nv move Of Russia toward its &C.
quirement Is likely to be fateful
ior that power, too, Even II China
should be deprived Of It and the tombs
OF the Manchu emperors should pass to
foreign sovereignty, the Manchus are
hKely TO continue to bear sway In Chi
ma.
The queue that every Chlnaman
wears Is the badge Of his seryltude TO
the Manchus, for they, in the conquest
oil Peking and the replacement OF the
dynasty of the Mings with their own
prineely house, imposed their own ma
tlonal headdress on the people Of all
China.
Bound up with this conquest is one Of
the finest and iiercest love stories ever
told This story Is related in Consul
General Rounseville Wildman's book,
"China's Open Door,"
A TIME OF REBELLION.
II all happened in the years 1888 and
1914, The Ming emperor, Chwang Llch
I'll, had two rebellions on his hands then
mot n very unusual condition In China.
One OF the rebel chiefs, Ii. had pro-
claimed himself emperor and was
marching VIGOROUSLY on Picking. At his
approach the emperor went out and
hanged himself on a tree In his gar
den, Everything seemed propitious for
LIS triumph and his assumption OF the
imperial crown.
But In the north there was n power
which was greater than that OF Iii. Il
was that Of WI Sankwei, a mighty
Chinese general, who commanded the
fortress Of Nlng-Quen, and who had
long held al bay the Manchu tribes I'm
that quarter, WI Sankwei, with an
army OF veterans, was on his way to
the capital 10 fight for the lawful au-
thority when he received n letter from
his father, WI, urging him to submit
to III.
1t is every Chlnaman's duty to obey
his father at whatever cost and WI
sankwei would certainly have obeyea
In this case, and kept a Chinese dynasty
on the throne, II a stronger love than
the flial had not dominated his heart,
Sankwei was on the point of rendering
his allegiance to III when he heard that
a beautiful slave girl, belonging to him,
10 whom he was wholly devoted had
been seized and presented to one OF
Lis officers. Then his fury against the
victorious rebel chleftaIn rose, and
knew no bounds.
sANKWETs MIGHTY PASSION.
In his love for this girl, says the his.
torlan, WI SankweI forgot illial obedl.
ence, his own future, the safety OF his
family and every consideration OF patri-
otism. He was possessed only by
mighty passion Of grief and anger, lie
wrote one letter TO his father, upbrald-
ing him for not protecting the girl. and
another to Dorgun, the prince regent OF
the Manchus, inviting him 10 Join him
(SankweD IN the subjugatIon Of the cm-
plre,
The Manohua did not hesitate a mo-
ment They pushed their army forward
by forced marches to n junction with
Sankwcl. ILL., astonishcd at the turn OF
affairs and determined to crush the man
who dared dispute his title advanced
rapidly with 100000 picked infantry and
10000 cavalry In the front line he
marched WI, the aged father Of Sank.
wei, who by all the DEGREES Of Con-
fuclus, Sankwel was bound 10 obey,
even to the sacrifice Of his own life
and honor
FATHERS PLEA IN VAIN
The father not only ordered him, but