THE FLOWERY KINGDOM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 43, 25 October 1900, Page 4

THE FLOWERY KINGDOM.

BITS OF CHINA, OLD AND NEW.

SOME CHINESE BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS. To wear white is to be in mourning 1 . To take off the hat is an insolent gesture. The place of honor is on the left hand. The needle of the compass points to the south. The seat of intellect is believed to be the stomneh. Chinamen seldom get drunk, but they smoke opium. Infanticide ia a common practice, but girl babies are the ouly victims. The entrance of a grave is kept clear, so that the soul of the parent may pass between it and the household of the children.

THE COST OF CONVERTS.

A letter in a recent issue of the London Times gives some interesting information regarding Ur. Morrison's estimate of missionary successes among the Chinese. Protestantism spreads slowly and expensively. During the year 1893, 1511 Protestant missionaries converted 8127 Chinese at a coat of £3:30,000 I Dr. Morrison also quotes a French missionary to the effect that convert Chrititians are never really Christian till the third generation ; a statement which will surprise no one. But perhaps the most interesting portion of Dr. Morrison's testimony is the following : ' The Chinese attitude towards the Christian missionary is one of perfect friendliness combined with perfect apathy towards his religion,'

A SHREWD CHINAMAN.

A representative of the Washington Catholic Mirror interviewed recently, Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese Minister, in Washington. The Mirror says :—: — Asked about the charge brought forward, that the extraordinary concessions granted to Catholic dignitaries by the Chinese government, and an overbearing attitude assumed by Catholic missionaries in consequence thereof, are responsible for the Boxers' uprising, Minister Wu inquired : ' Who bringa these charges V Being told that a number of Protestant ministers had, the Minister gave vent to a shrewd laugh or chuckle as he asked of the correspondent : ' Then you understand / You see the point V

THE VICARIATE OF PEKIN.

The vicariate of Pekin dates back to 1288, when it was served by the sons of Bt. Francis. About 1582 it was taken over by the Fathers of the Bociety of Jesns. when the renowned Father Ricci and some 12 Fathers made Pekin their headquarters. In 1784, on the suppression of the Society. Pope Clement XIV., at the request of Louis XVI. of France, confided the vioariate to the charge of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Mission, more popularly known as the Lazarists. This community has continued to serve the vicariate ever since.

GENERAL STATISTICS OF CHINESE MISSIONS.

It will not be out of place in view of the present disturbed Btate of China (says the Tablet) to mention that there are some 10 Catholio Missionary Societies now engaged in the progagation of the faith in China. Among these may be mentioned the Society of the Foreign Missions, of the Rue de Bac, Paris, the Franciscans, the

Dominicans, the Jesuits, the Lazarists, and the Society of Mary Immaculate. The total number of vicariates ia 39, the total unmber of European missionaries is SOO, of whom no less than 600 are French, and the number of native Catholics throughout the whole of China is estimated at about 662,000.

NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA.

Statistics concerning foreigners in China are contained in a report on trade relations between China and the United States received at the State department Irom Consul Fowler ul Chef go. The nationality of the foreign element for 1899 is stated as follows :—: — Americans— Residents, 2335, increase over 1898 of 279 • firms, 70, increase of 27. British— Residents, 6562, increase of 414 ; firms 401 increase of three. German— Residents, 1134, increase of HI ; firms, 115 increase of eight. French — Besidents, 1183, increase of 263; firms, 76, increase Of Sij, Spanish— Residents, 448, increase of 53 ; firms, nine, increase of five. Swedish and Norwegian— Residents, 244, increase of 44 : firms, two, increase of two. Dutch — Residents, 106, increase of 19 ; firms, nine, increase of one. Danish— Residents, 128, increase of 11 ; firms, four, increase of one. Russian— Residents, 1621, increase of 1456 ; firms, 19, increase of three. Austrian — Residents, 90, decrease of two ; firms, five, no change. Belgian— Residents, 234, increase of five; firms, nine, no change. Italian — Residents, 124, decrease of 17 ; firms, nine, no change. Japanese — Residents, 2440, increase of 746, firms, 195, inorease of 81. Corean — Residents, 42, increase of two ; no firm 3. Non-Treaty Powers— Residents, 29, increase of two ; no firms. The total number of residents, 17,193, shows an increase of 3772 over 1898. The total number of firms, 933, shows an increase of 160 over 1898.

THE MABTYKDOM OP BISHOP GUILLON.

A correspondent of the Sydney Freeman' t Journal writes: — Few events that have occurred during the present troubles in China have so moved the foreign residents of all denominations as the martyrdom of Bishop Guillon, of Moukden. The one man who ia responsible for this murder, and who will, 1 hope, be made to suffer for it, is the present Viceroy, the successor of the late Viceroy, I-ko-tang-a. He is a Manchu of the Manchus, who has proved himself ever since he was appointed to his present post as distinctly unfriendly to foreigners, and who is now proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that he ia carrying out in Moukden the reactionary policy of the rebel Prince Tuan. For this last few yoara he ha«», as the able Manohurian correspondent of the North Chin* Daily Nun points out. been raising and drilling a vast army in Lower Manchuria, and has been busily engaged since the China New Year in preparing, with the assistance of a foreign military officer, plans for the defence of Moukden When the Boxer placards, threatening all foreigners with death, were posted on the city gates, he allowed them to remain, and even published under his own seal a telegram from the Lieutenant-General of the troops at Shanhaikwan, rejoicing over what was deßcribed as a glorioui victory for the Chinese armn. Two thousand Christians had been killed, and all the foreign fleet sunk at Taku. Two days later fifty unarmed men marched in broad daylight to the largest Protestant church in Moukden and burned it to the ground, the Viceroy offering no objection, though he had a hundred thousand troops at his command. In an hour after the hospitals and mission houses were attacked. The Catholic Cathedral held out for two days, Bishop Guillon sending appeal after appeal for help, but all to no purpose. At length the cathedral fell, and, to use the words of a Protestant writer — a Protestant missionary, I believe — in a Shanghai paper, ' the learned and genial Bishop Guillon, of Moukden, the gentle and pious Pere Emonet, and a brother priest, Sister La Cmix, and another lady of the French Mission had all won the martyr's crown.' Meanwhile the Viceroy, instead of punishing the fanatics who had done this bloody work, aided by his own soldiers and the rabble, shod them and crowned them, put swords in their hands and some strings of cash in their wallets, and sent them to carry out the same work in other places. One derives some consolation from the fact that the Boxerß of Moukden are not acting with the approval of the people, who sincerely admire the missionaries, who have taken advantage of the conveniences offered by their hospitals at the rate of a hundred a day, who have subscribed liberally to their support, have erected memorial tablets in their praise, and who now mourn sincerely over their ruins. They are roughs from other districts, youthe, puppet warriors whose movements are regulated by the man behind the Bcreen. That man is the Viceroy of Moukden.