Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-08
MYSTERIES OF CHINA
Writer Finds That Buddhism Is the
Force That SdOes China from Rum
BY Means of It, Says This Observer, Rebellion Dynasc VI
oisstIdes and the Wear and Tear of Ages Have Been
Defed by the Vast Nation.

/ each Weighing forty-eight ounce.
one Of his objects Of virtu, a rock d
JADE eight feet long. carved and en-
gIaVeo, part Of the disgraceful loot %
1900, is now in the Metropoiifan
Museum Of Art, in New York citv
The most notable figure OF the
Msnchu line is Chi En- Lung. who. n
MS extreme old age, received the
embassy Of Lord Mccartney, the first
european legate sent to China. n
Lord Macartneyss account of this
| embassy, a copy of which is IN the
possession Of the writer, there Is .
me copper plate portrait of the en-
peIor- The face shows the dignity
ana grand character Of the sovereign.
IN the volumes are published the en-
perors mandates" to King George
III. They decline proposals for COM
iherclal and diplomatic relations. and
are cuflously like. and yet unlike tie
magnlloquent illusions of later
period
Chin En- Lunge. Of course. writes
oe haut en- has. George III is rep
resented as yearning after the bene-
ms OF our civilization. and as SHOW
ing respectful humility thar i
| highly praisewortny. But the
phraseoiogy is digniied and not neees-
sarlly insulting. and the reasons
given for not desiring closer rela-
tons are. as far as they go, eAeenen1
reasons.
The aged sovereign betrays a COM
plete Indifference to gauds and TOYS.
strange and costly Objects" he says.
10 not interest me. 1 have no use
Tor your eountry's manufactures for
upon strange and Ingenious objects
set no value"
After Chi En- Lunge's death de-
cadence was swift. Soon entirely de-
generate became the Manchu rulers
ana arlstocrats may be cleaned from
many curious narratives which
Messrs. Bland and Boekhonse have
gathered from various sources.
A year or two before the Revolution
the princes. it seems, were fond OF
visiting IN disguise the lowest haunts
In Peking, whore they reveIled in riot
and debauchery. There is a striking
account of a young man. his face
oiackened with charcoal and his form
disguised in miserable greasy rags.
engrossing the attention Of the
walters at restaurant, and his con-
verSation was full of vulgar oatha
and the West Pekingese slang"
Suddenly a smart official carriage
arrived; the young man washed and
changed his dress. and drove Off 70
dinner at Prince Kung's palace, re-
splendent in the jeweled buttoned hat
which princes wear. decorated with
the triple eyed peacoclxs feather.
The tales Of this kind recall the
freaks of the French nobility from
the Regency to the Revolution. with
sinister admixture of the darker
vices of the italian "reminiscences. with
its poisonings and assassinedons.
Cause of Manchu Downfall.
The book. indeed. lays great stress
on the vices OF rulers. the intrigues
of favorites, and the emascuiating
effect Of luxury on the imperial race,
as the more immediate cause OF the
downfall Of the Manchus But. still
after reading this book one is far
from understanding the true causes
Of the decline of the Chinese state
| and the process of deterioration
which seems really to have affected
! the Chinese people during the last
| few centuries.
As the British Review says. the
ascendancy of the palace favorites
may well explain the downfall of q
| single monarch or dynasty. but does
not so well explain the slow decay
| Of civilization. In English history
there are numerous instances Of
| kings being undone by their favor
| ties. but the English people have
gone their way just the same.
France suffered much more from the
vices and weaknesses OF its rulers
Yet Dubarrydom, after all. only ex-
posed the French nation TO temper
airy humiliation. France did not 60
decisively down hill simply because
many of its kings were held in bond
age by worthless men and women
Reginald Fleming johnson. the aa1-
thor OF Buddhist China" does sue-
lgest some explanation why the process
of decay has not gone much further.
why China has not split up into frag-
ments, and why the hope OF regenera-
ton can still be entertained. He
finds in Buddhism a great unifying
influence which, supplementing and
vitalizing the merely moral precepts
of Confucianism. has stamped Its
character on the millions of the Chi
nese empire, or republic, from Can
ton to the confines of Manehuria.
A common conception OF duty, a
common outlook upon life, a common
literary vehicle, a common religious
lideal-these IN combination have been
able to resist the shocks of rebellion
and dynastic vicissitudes and the
wear and tear of centuries.