A Short History of Chinkiang. By the Rov. 8. J. Woodbridge, Sr.
A short history; who would have along history of one of the thousand cities of China? Chinkiang from the beauty of its situation on the highlands of the Yangtze, the more conspicuous after ing the muddy fists at the mouth of the river, deserves more than a passing notice. Less than two thousand years ago Liu Pei, Pret. on the top of Peikushav, exclaimed 2 Thi 0 finest landscape under the Heavens!" Our author first wanders over these hills and then returns to study to gather his material from ancient Chinese history—the annals of the city the wars of the Three States; the travels of Lord -McCartney and the adventures of Sic Harry Parkes. Ho is never dull: always fresh and breezy.
Ho xives us the ancient poetic names of interesting localities. The Foreign Concession was formerly "The Garden of the British Cemetery, golden Island, Floating Jado and Chinkiang, The Guard of the River and "The Key of the It is an old town. "The name Tantu was given to the district about 200 B.
when Chin Shih Huang was on the throne,. He was superstitious and constantly on the watch, as all usurpers are, est some-one should dethrone him. A certain hill said to exist just beyond the present east into of Chinkiang was so pregnant with Imperial influences that whoever had the good fortune to bury a relative in this favourable spot, or to be buried there himself, would have a son to occupy the Imperial Throne. Chin heard of this and ordered his exiled convicts to destroy its influence by cutting a ditch about it. Because these culprits wore red clothes they were called Tan-tu or Red Exiles. and from these the name Tantuhsien is derived."
"The river up to a few centuries ago extended from the hills, where foreign vandals have cut roads, clear across to the present city of Yangchow.. At this Our author turns from the past to the present. If his digression does not seem specially historical he must be excused as 10 discourses on a topic deeply interesting to himself personally. After for a series of years adopting and advocating the native costume he has since the following witty Uress of his nationale: The student of paragraph was penned returned to the
history must ever be on his guard against reading the past entirely by the present, or the present by the past. Seeing so many Chinese wearing the elegant appendage which foreigners have most ineleyantly dubbed the pigtail' but which is called by the natives par excellence the twist, we are apt to fall into the error of supposing' that the Chincvo always wore the queue. This is a tremendous mistake. 'The fact is that the sons of Han "caught a Tartar' a few centuries ago, who compelled them to adopt his customs, twist? and all, We say sons' of Han advisedly, for the term does not embrace the daughters in this case. These refused point blank to submit, justly considering a piece of impertinence on the part of i any man, Tartar or what not, to dictate to them in the matter of wearing apparel. And so stout-hestted were they withal, that the conquerors gave in, and the Chinese Indies ever afterwards set their own fashions."
Mr. Woodbridge gives the official census of the county. In A.D. 1,000 it was 10,000; about 1650 it was 40,000; in 1850 it was 330,000; in 1877, after the Taipings, it was reduced to 130,000. It is now probably as large as it was in 1850.
Lord MeCartney gives his impressions of Golden Island. "About half a mile from the town and nearly in the middle of the river is an insulated, conical rock, -usually called by the people Golden Mountain, of considerable height and extent built from ti the water's edge to the top with temples, urrete, and belvederes, regular terraces, of storeys, one above the other, intermixed with evergreen trees of various volumes shades of verdure, contrasted in so happy a taste, and distributed in such a manner as to give to the whole the air of fairy edifice suddenly raised from the river by the magic of an enchanter. It has a very striking effect, and almost realises the
screens, which I am now inclined to think extravagant paintings on China fans and have been drawn from actual views, and not from the fancy of the arris Our author says: "Fifty years after George McCartney, peacefully sitting in his Chinese yacht' and composing his optimistic diary as he swept rapidly past this historic town (his Lordship was not permitted to land), a fleet of seventy-two ships of war, arranged in five divisions, each division having a frigate at its head, ascended the Yangtze to settle terms with the Emperor Tso Kuang." The harrowing description of the battle of Chinkiang is familiar to all China residents.
Io 1861 Sir Harry Parkes laid out the present British Concession. writer of this short history, who, since his school days, has resided on one of the hills, with the charming panorama of river, city, and mountains in view, gives a pretty picture of this Settlement, which to a visitor seems to have the misfortune of facing the North so as to catch the winds of winter and to be cut off from the summer breezes by a cordon of low hills and Chinese houses on the South, 'The sketch closes with a brief account of the missionary work at this place. The many river lines which pass Chinkiang should for the benefit of the travelling public have' their ste-mer libraries supplied with this booklet, which may be obtained from the aitthor for the reasonable sum of 25 cents, The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, December, 1898. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press.
The far-reaching effects of our proper attitude to the Powers that Be" are illustrated in the old proverb: ' When you obey your superior yon instruct your ior:" but the heading of the first article in this month's Recorder, The Relation of the Missionary and his Work to the Powers that Be" leads us to think that when the Powers that Be" mean the Chinese Government there may necessarily require to be a different definition of the idea of obedience. In fact "Power" seems a misnomer in this connection, whether we consider the word in a philosophical sense as expressing the faculty of doing, or moving, or producing a change in something; or in its mechanical sense as that which produces motion; then if we look at the word as applying.to Government the word is conspicuous! out of place, However, as the Rev.
in opening the article inherited reverence for those whether it be the polished Western, or the scheming Chinese mandarin and such articles as the one before us are helpful in putting our daties as law-loving and law-abiding people in the proper light. For instance a traveller of independent spirit might bink it proper to dispense with the services of soldiers sent by the mandarin for his protection, Although such company may be a'nuisance, subjection ts the Powers that Be may be the gentlemanly attitude. As Mr. McOlay says:
I have no sympathy with those who say we ought to send back the soldiers when sent bya mandarin. I think it is a direct insult. They are sent to sung us on our way, to see us safely to our next place. They are the mandarin's present and good wishes, we send them backitseems we send back resent. He wished us well, and we refused his good intentions, and we are set down by him as a fanjén, a bar-parian, ignorant of the politeness of society.
With regard to the question as to whether we ought not to show our passport unless asked for, or, according to the Chinese idea, report ourselves, the conclusion is reached that it is not necessary to report to the great majority of mandarins whose territory we pass through, but where we think there may be trouble, or when we are going to stay some time, then itis better to send our card to the magistrate, but not our passport unless it is asked for.
In answering the question: Ifa mob attack and steal our personal property. shall we appeal?" Mr, Maclay says Tthink we ought. It seems to me to be reasonable as well as scriptural. Those in authority are there to protect the law-abiding subject. They ought to be a terror to the wicked and a protection to the good.... I think the missionary ought to appeal for protection and li-betty to prosecute his work freely, and when we are in danger of being injured, or our property in danger of being destroyed. They ought to assist us to hold in times of trouble what we have already got; bat we do not seek for ourselves or our converts any special advantages over the heathen, We hold that
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.