UPS AND DOWNS IN CHINA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2524, 30 July 1902, Page 71

UPS AND DOWNS IN CHINA.

PAGES FROM THE DIARY OF MR W. S. STRONG. Edited by Eldekd J. D. Herctts, M.A., B.Sc.

(Maps, plans, etc., drawn by Mr Strong.)

NO. VII.— LYING LOW AT ICHANG.

August 20, 1900. — Sat down for a quiet read this morning, but did not manage to get it on account of the (dis) concert outfide my window. There is one child being beaten ; another in the next yard getting a hammering ; a third getting her hair pulled off : while several others are howling, awaiting their diffeient treatments. They are all singing different tunes, with no reference to the rules of harmony. Chinese children crying* need to be heard to be appreciated : they cry till they can cry no more. So with the mothers' cursing : they usually do it in the highest key, at about 20 to the dozen, stopping only vjhen their tongues can wag no mere. So much for pictures of Chinese home life. I turn a deaf ear to noises which are, after all, only the normal condition of things, but with my eyes open I cannot be blind to the good and bad in the Chinese art of painting, as four pictures stars at me. To begin with the good, I think any eye would be struck by the remarkably fine blending of most delicate colours in these four pictures, which aie doubtless the work of one man. The next good thing is the genius that invented all the lovely flowers, of a kind surely never seen in nature. One more good point to the painter's credit is the fine delineation of fern leaves and maidenhuii — perfect, I should say. But now for the ridiculous. ■which, however, may not be cou.'-.dered Bave as belonging to art. The perspective of eaeJi picture is all wrong, of course. There, in the far distance, you see a tiny stalk with most delicate leaves and flowers, bat it reaches ov<-r a big hill, and tVe ships in the foreground are nothing. In the next picture you see a big stork just about to settle on the branches of a fine but tall maidenhair : perhaps the stork is blind, else he would not make the attempt. The third represents some fern plants with a very rich foliage branching out very widely ; some lovely red flowers are just oat, and several birds are steei ing for the lovely fruit, which consists of for^e bunches of grapes, coloured, some bkie and others green. The fourth is a rah collection of flowers hi several colouis with

many and variously -shaped leaves ; but all are grown from one stem ! Here ends my criticism on Chinese art.

As you see, I hava had to letreat to rChang, after having reached Chung King. I hope, however, to remain here till driven out. lam the only missionary in the •fcwn. All the rest, representing three mis--sionary societies, have cleared for Shanghai. Things are not very peaceful, as you ■will know, and one cannot foresee what it will all mean. One's life is indeed worth little. Only yesterday I was graciously preserved from s-udden death. I was. parsing through a crowd, and had got but 10yds or so pasfc them when a very nat,ty piece of rock, the size of half a buck, was thrown, at me, just missing my head. I turned and spoke kindly to the men, but got no satisfaction, save the feeling that they were sorry the stone did not hit me. ■when they would all have been ready to finish me off.

I am living all alone in the Mission Station, and of course thieves are on the alert. They came the other night, but got only my cook's clothing. We are very anxious about our friends who are still inland, and have to travel over very disturbed countiy. Trade is practically at a standstill, and the people just in a state of panic, uncertain as to what will happen. Well, China is now suffering for her sins, .sin«. perliaps, not so much of the people as of those in rule and authority. The edict enforcing the extermination of all Christians is making havoc all over the land.

As I write I cannot help giving another picture, although I feel myself in the wrong tphere when I begin to criticise art. However, from what I have already written, you will admit that there is certainly no "over-perspectiviousness" needed for the mental delineation of a Chinese picture, this one in particular. It ."tares at me every day, for it is pamted on my big Chinese tea basin. There is not veiy much in. it, only three horses: one green, the fleeond yellow, and, to all appearance, conversing ■with his green fellow-creature ; the third is white, but with large purple spots, and he is seemingly standing afar off. ashamed of his coat of many colours.

September 2, 1900.— Still in IChang. WJaat mi wxl xun&m&t, will hi I has:?

no conception. I proposed to the C.I.M. to let me go to Darjellmg, on the southern border of Tibet, a town on the mam road from India to Llassa. As yet I have no reply, but I am perfectly at rest, for the Lord will guide. If things remain quiet I may stay on" here. Every now and then we'have a scare, and one lives, as it weie, on a volcano. I am the only missionary ln this town, and I only stopped here in order to be of some help to missionaries who are yet to come through heie. The only foreigners beside myself are the customhouse staff and cr.nsul, and the crew of the gunboat. All the customs staff live together in the customs compound, and are fully armed. Our C.I. M. hcuse i> a good bit "away from them, and I am here alone in a big house with my cook, who also sleeps away from the house.

Our safety here seems to depend greatly upon a battle pending between a band of rebels, numbering 5000. and a company of 600 soldiers. The former are holding a pass not very far from here, but are badiy armed, whereas the Chinese soldiers are well equipped with Mausers. The country round about is in a very troubled s-tate r the spirit of rebellion is in the air, and although the city is quiet, that is only due to the presence of the gunboat in the river. Tint the R.CVs are to suffer .=eetns certain. A small company of Chinese soldiers are camped near them to protect them. I preached this morning at the Scots Church, when about 70 or 80 Christians- came together, with h kom I Lad a very happy time. Seveial sailois came up this afternoon. If I urn staying on heie I shall try to get a good organ, for they all like miis.c. and it will be tin attraction for them. I shall try to make them feel at home bere. and ab-o give them a place where the}- may come and go as they like, with writing material j:>rovided foi thpjr use. We have plenty of room in this house, and of course this is the nearest work at hand, and must be done.

What lioinble things are being committed in this country just now . We have lost some of our best men. aud a large number of workers — cruelly murdered ; then there is tLe terrible persecution against the native ChrUtians. In some parts it seems as if it meant extermination. It is a terrible shock to missioiurles some of whom are seeing their work broken ip and the fruit of it swept away. We may well pray much for them that their faith fail not. In s-orne places, everyone who has or has had anything to do m ith foreigners is a dead man. One-man the other day lo«t bis he;>d because he had a foreign straw hat on. During the past week a force of 3500 soldiers parsed through here en route for Peking, but the most amusing part is that they don't know

for whom or against m .Lioin they are to fight. We aie hoping that peace may be secured in the Yang Tsi Valley. We have still some 40 missionaries to come through here, but sad news hits reached me concerning feome of the parties, w hich makes me fear that they aie cut off in their journeyings, and, if not kdled, suffering much just now. It is very hard to hear about all this — yea, it is heart-rending The cruelties practised are too horrible to descr.be.

September 5 — Dining 1.-st week I received the last Si Ch'mn missionaries, who, after long and trying journeys, arnved h«ie lafely — viz.. Bishop Ca-sels and family, Mr and Mis Platt, and six single ladie 1 -. They .stayed with me a few days waiting for the steamer, but all left last Friday morning. The weather h;i« been much cooler, and we have had it down to 85deg in the morning. The Kuei-Cbeo and KanSuh missionaries, and some of iho=e from Sh-ensi, are still to come this way, though from native repoits one fear« muJi for the safety of some of then. Locally . everything seems quiet, though the R.C •« are taking extra pietautiwn?, and have a company of Chinese soldiers camptd m front of their gates. S.-me of the C'hiistians are still assembling for wor-lup. and yesterday about 80 or 90 were present in the Scotch Church, when I conducted worsh.p Besides leading, exposition, .sermon, etc., we hud a good many hymns, ■which I both played and led in singing The singing in that church is the best I have heaid by Chinese.

September 4. — We had good news last night in this town, in that a company of soldieis returned from i'-'ang-lang-Hsien after capturing 30 rebel chiefs. I have as yet had no details of the battle, but the 1 aolciers give the number of rebels there ! as about 7000 under arms.

September 9 —It appears that out of the 30 captured 20 were killed straight off and 10 brought into town. One of these was decapitated last Wednesday, and the iest ' are to follow suit w hen the feast days are [ over. To-day, the 16th of the Chinese eighth moon, i-s the last of the four feast days observed. This i a really the month, oi rather the feast, in which China, irrespective of interference by outside Powers, leaked ioy son^tJiiait dlgadiul to hap^a.

The year itself i? regarded as very unlucky owing to its having two eighth moons (one intercalary). However, troubles came before the time fixed, and the country finds itself pretty deeply involved, and will doubtless take some time to get free of them. The fact of a few foreigners still remaining in a place like this is to some of the secret societies a great thorn in the flesh, for they are still of the opinion that if foreigners were once exterminated China would never be troubled again. Hence, in their ignorance, the*e people are alw ays busy planning and fixing dates for ridding the" town of the barbarians. List night and to-night were fixed on. a beginning to bs made with the R.C.s, as is the general practice. I did nofr" leave the place last night, though I kept on the lookout up to 12. As it was moonlight, though a little croudy, I could see the people in crowds in several places, mostly gathered together burning crackeis and making a general noise. As midnight drew on the noise grew le c s, and I went to bed.

T<.-day people have come in from the country" to attend the various theatrical performances held at some of the temples . they will all. of course, be only too ready to join any rabble that may secure them loot. From even a human po t of view, theie seem*, however, to be iio cause of fear unless the mob were joined by the troops. We have plenty of that commodity here at present, and are glad to have got" rid of 3500 during the last week — viz., those who came down from Chen Tv, en route for Peking. They weie to all appe.uance kept well m hand, and pot allowed to move about in town. Even the authol^ties themselves were afraid of disaffection, and were anxious to get them off as soon a* possible ; so they well might, as they had to feed them. The whole company left here, each man carrying his gun, frtn, and (in most cases) umbrella, with a little- bundle of rags on his back As a substitute for commis»aiiat, they take the liberty of oppropriatmg anything that will be of any good to them. They have a loner walk before them, and I pity the towns and villages on that road. While here, two lost their heads, and one had one of his ears cut off as a reminder that he would lose the other if he did not obey.

In the house here I had to get new servants, and not being Christians, they believe a man can only be called a thief when he is caught. Even with that definition, I managed to label one with his right name

a few days ago. Having to pay away some silver, and not having any weighed, I i-ent one of the anen off to tLe pubhi 1 scales tv get three p.eces weighed. He leturned. but on seeiug the weight niaiked in a differert hand I felt .suspicious. As I sal down to think out a plan of action the man's son came in saying that his father siad plenty of copper cash, and asking me to kindly buy it from him with the silvpf just weighed. "Yes." I answeicd. "with grealc-t pleisme." While he went to get the cash I went into town ami got the silver weighed: it w,m 80c heavier than it was marked. On my return, a little sopne. but he could not even .s.jve in* face I did not discharge him, but exhorted him, and he always looks very uneasy ,v moinmg praveis when I spe ik of unfaithful i-eivants.

I have been plagued with y.inien undo 1 - lings lately coming v anting rrionev , w Inch I only pay out when due to people — and it is never due to yamen lunner-. But a few days ago three very well-diu-.-cd fellows, in white, with buttoned hats, tame and told me that tliev were whit one in.iv call mv

"representatives' at the Magistiate'*- Court. They '•aid that they -poke "Tiao hiu" ("good worls') on my behalf, though their good words lire always spelt "lie.-" in English They weie \ fry polite, and so was I. till I had lv invite them to leave the plate, saving that I would inquire at headquarters, and that if I owed them any money they would get it. To thi<- they could say nothing, and so withdrew, smiling as they went: I smiled too. These, however, ai-j men who would send the lubbers to yoin place, and of cours-e get their It now appears that my predecessor occasionally satisfied them, but I cannot stoop to encourage this class of men. who are nothing more or le-s than sharper", aud that of the worst kind.

A» yet one Las not been able to do any public speaking ; the Consul, and ako the Chine-e authorities, think it best that anything tLat would draw a crowd should be 'avoided. A large number of soldiers are p trading the streets, and will not allow the people tv congregate. People are not even allowed to discu».= the present situation : secret service men are everywhere to be found to biifißress even conversations. The

Consul here is not so very sanguine about the safety of the place. He believes that the Red Lanterns Society has a large number of followers here, and although 52 of the leaders were caught and beheaded at Hankow a few weeks ago on the very eve of an uprising tLere he thinks that they have plenty more able men, and are only waiting ior another chance. The three cities — Hankow, Han Yong, aud I-Chang — are to vise all at the same time. I think, however, that the officials are on their heels.

Except Mr Hyslop. in Ghimg-King, tliere is now not another missionary left in the great province of Si-Chuan. However, the Kuei-Cheo friends, numbering. 12, and those from W. Kan«uh, numbering 21, have still to come through Chung-King. The s.s-. Pioneer has returned to that city equipped as a gunboat. I hope. D.V. , to stay on here at least till all the missionaries have parsed down, and longer, if 1 see a chance of taking up Gospsl work here. What hardships, sufferings, tortures, cruelties many of the missionaries have bad to endure during their travels to the coast ! The most unseemly and barbarous things have been committed towards God's servants, not only by the mob, but by the authorities. It has resulted in the loss of many Hve« of women and children, not counting the many massacres already known, and those not known, of which no accounts hav.e ns vet reached tLe coast. There is iio doubt that a. "horrible thing" has been committed. As to any comparison, well, it is most like the persecutions in the early cent uues. Hundreds, if not thousands, of rative Christians have been murdered ; a larger number have been cruelly treated and have lo^t ail their possessions, ; while others, less strong in faith, have, when it has come to the question of life or death, publicly renounced Christianity. Others again, 'have fled, and thus sought refuse in far-off places. The scar lee woman who, with her followers, has thus been fighting against God and His elect has had to flee, but she cannot flee from God. She may yet (and we pi ay it may be so) be m\de to fee! in her own heart the pangs of remorse and sorrow which come to hearts awakened to crimes committed. Her blood-stained hands may yet in this day of grace be lifted up, in agony of soul tc a merciful Gcd. If such a transition should be hers, what must it be but suffering, both mental and physical, for the mind reacts upon the body, and at her age she cannot possibly boast of too much vitality. May the Lord do what seemeth be^t unto Him !

T am left fieie with very little of everything ; as for books, besides my Bible, a few small dictionaries (Greek, Tibetan, and Fvench). However, 1 found here FairbaiinV valuable -Typology of the Scriptures," in winch I lose mj'self a-t tunes. Tnen I have been enjoying much Roger's "Life of John FLiwe,' and his compilation of Howe's worL<. which he lias mads a btt m<'ie readable than the original. Beside:- tLat, I ha\e again been dipping into Brouu - "Second Advent,"' which, for its school, will long hold its place.

(To bo continued.)