CHINA AFFAIRS.

Evening Star, Issue 11673, 4 February 1902, Page 6

CHINA AFFAIRS.

A LADIES’ AUDIENCE

THE DOWAGER SOBS,

Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright.

LONDON, February 3.

The Dowager-Empress of China granted an audience to the ladies of the Legations. Responding to Mrs Conger's (wife of the United States Minister) hope that China would join the sisterhood of nations in the grand march of civilisation, the Dowager sobbed, and admitted that the attack on the Legations was a terrible mistake, and one that was bitterly regretted. She was determined to abandon the isolation policy and adopt the best features of the West. All the ladies received valuable presents, the Dowager giving Mrs Conger, doyenne of the Legation ladies, her own bracelets and rings. Edicts have been issued appointing Yung Leu First Grand Secretary, directing Manchurian nobles and princes to study abroad, and recommending the discouragement of foot-binding, on the ground that it is a barbarous custom.

The Edict also appoints Wang* Wen Shao as Second Secretary. [Wang Wen Shao, prior to the outbreak, was President of the Board of Revenue, a member of the Tsung-H-Yamen, and a Commissioner of the Railway and Mining Bureau. He is reported to be Liberal in politics, and the least anti-foreign among his compatriots.]

• THE ENTRY INTO PEKIN,

A GORGEOUS SPECTACLE

[Per Ventura at Auckland.]

PEKIN, January 7. The arrival of the Imperial Court at the Forbidden City was the most brilliantscene Pekin had ever witnessed. The procession consisted of one thousand gor-geously-attired noblemen, mounted on superbly-caparisoned horses. The Emperor and Empress-Dowager, Prince Chun, the Empress, and several Princesses were borne in yellow chairs, the escort carrying hundreds of gay banners and umbrellas. The foreign community assembled on the top of Chiang Gate. The Emperor and Empress entered the temple by this gat’, and burned incense. The Dowager-Em-press, upon emerging from the temple, saw the foreigners peering down, when she bowed. A double row of soldiers, kneeling, lined the four miles of route. The cortege was a bewildering and barbaric exhibition of Oriental splendor. Its chief significance was the complete effacement of the traditional deification of Chinese Royalty. The foreigners were given greater facilities for witnessing the ceremonial than would have been afforded by most European Courts. The scene at the Ching Gate was nothing else than revolutionary, viewed in the light of Chinese customs. The horseshoe forming the gate was crowded with Europeans—displomata, army officers, missionaries, ladies, photographers, and correspondents. When the Emperor and Empress arrived at the temple the procession halted, and their Majesties alighted from their sable-lined chans. The Emperor proceeded to the temple of the God of War, whilst hundred# of foreigners were watching only forty feet above him. Dozens of cameras were focussed upon the Son of Heaven. The Dowager-Empress bowed low and repeatedly. Her expression seemed almost appealing as she faced those who had humbled her, and brought her down from her former arrogance. This confirmed the belief that she returned to Pekin with some anxiety fot her own safety. Althougn the streets along the line of march from the railway station were kept dosed to the people, thousands of natives assemble i on elevations along the line of march—a thing never before permitted. The soldiers ot the American garrison witnessed the spectacle from the parade ground opposite the entrance to the palace. The jlrin.Mi officers and the entire garrison kept in their quarters, and the majority of the foreign Ministers absented themselves.

THE POWER OF THE DOWAGER. PEKIN, January 14. The fust week of the rehabilitation of the Chinese Court has been a season of intense interest to all classes of Chinese and foreigners. That the Empress-Dowager governs absolutely, as before the attempt to crush progress, and that she recognises that foreign interests and opinions must be respected, is apparent. Two powers arc iraiuing ascendancy in the Council of tb« Dowager. The first is Yun Shi Kia, who is piu-ioreign to the extent of appreciating the power of foreign nations and the necessity for China’s adoption of the instruments by which that strength is attained ; and the second is Young-Tu, the Imperial Treasurer, who is most influential among the advisers of the Empress and bitterly hostile to foreigners, though temporarily impressed with the necessity for conciliating them. Yun Shi Kia, Governor of the Chili province, having from ten to twelve thousand of the best troops of the Empire in and about the capital, is a personage the Empress-Dowager must consider. It has not yet appeared that the modernisation of the Court is more than skin deep. All the old methods of intrigue and corruption, the purchase of favors, and bribery to secure audiences have been resumed with vigor, indicating that officialdom is trying to make up for lost time. -