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/ XnFRES3 TSU-H3I
ATARTMEMTS OF the Dowa^bi? IMPKESS
THERE could hardly have been a
more startling announcement to
Western ears than that made by
Sir Chontung I^iang Cheng at the
dinner given Prince Pu Lun at Sherry's
the other day — namely, that the Empire
of China had become a signatory of the
Geneva Convention, and that the, Dowager
Empress had started a Chinese Red Cross
organization, with a subscription of 100,000
taels.
The Dowager Empress of China does not
figure in the popular mind as a person
likely to head Red Cross subscriptions and
commit the government she controls to the
humane practice recommended by Geneva.
Who and what manner of woman is she
win rules where Kwang Su reigns?
T,su Hsi made her debut into high Chl-
neso society as a wife of the fifth class
for the Emperor Hien Feng,who ascended
the throne in ISSI. At that time official
China longed for an heir to the throne.
which commodity the actual Empress did
not succeed in providing. But in 1856 this
lady of the fifth class., in the hierarchy of
foot-warmers, did give a son to her lord
in a manner so satisfactory that in the fol
lowing year she was raised to the rank of
Empress, and from that day to this she
has maintained herself in all the honors
that were then heaped upon her. This of
itself speaks volumes for her personal
charm, cleverness and courage, for in no
country is there more regard for rank and
precedence than in China, and think what
a jump that was — from fifth class com
panion to first class Empress!
The Emperor. Hien Feng, when the al
lied French and English forces invaded
the country in 1860. fled to Jehol. in Mon
golia, where he had a summer palace, and
here he died in 1861, some think from the
effect of wounded pride.
Two Empresses in Charge
ITo Ipft two Empresses in charge of af
fairs—the Imperial Empress and the con
cubine who had provided him with an
heir. It is interesting to note that the
same concubine, after a lapse of forty
yoars. should again havp had to fly Pekin
in consequence of an invasion of English,
French and others approaching her capi
tal over the same road as their predeces
sors of I<W>o.
In 1860 French and English troop? be
tween them managed to reduce the mar
velous summer palace of Yuen Mm Yuen
to a hoap of ruins. In 1900 there was no
such destruction, but a good deal of inci
dental looting. That there was not more
was owing not so much to Christian sol
diers as to the Japanese, who through
out this latter campaign set an example
of moderation, as well as courage.
The two Empresses returned from thetr
Involuntary stay at Jehol on November
1, IS6I. and immediately carried out a
coup d'etat, in which the dowager concu
bine first showed to the world that Napo
leon 111 had much to learn from his col
leagues in the Far East even in the mat
ter of a coup d'etat.
Made Herself Regent
She called the Council of State together,
and read them a paper purporting to rep
resent the mature deliberations of her
six-year-old son—this edict suspended
previous arrangements concerning the re
gency of the child and made her regent,
along with the Imperial. Empress and
Prince Kung. In fact, it made her virtual
ruler of China, and as this was, for many
reasons into which I need not here enter,
contrary to the Constitution governing m
bucli cases, it made a,n immense uproar in
the immediate neighborhood of the pal
ace.
But the concubine mother was equal to
the ocfasion. The three who ventured to
protest against her arrangements were
two Imperial Princes and the. Secretary
of the State, Su Shuen. The Princes were
permitted to hang themselves, while the
public executioner cut off the head of the
Secretary of State on November 8, 1861—
only a week after the return to Pekin.
This was all very sudden, and, from the
standpoint of the constitutional lawyer,
very unjust. But Europeans, at least, had
little reason to complain, for the people
who were put out of the way on this oc
casion were of the ultra-conservative Chi
nese cJass, whose main notion of states
manship Is to exclude foreign ideas from
the country.
Was Thought a Radical
This Empress mother would not be,
amongst us, considered as an advanced
liberal in politics. It gives us some stand
ard by which to gauge the conservative
Chinaman that this particular lady should,
to her own country, have been regarded as
a dangerous radical, if not a revolutionary,
brard.
She has that rare quality of statesman
ship which consists in limiting our efforts
to attain, not a theoretical idea, but the
best that is possible under given cir
cumstances. She was fortunately for China
from a social circle more In touch with
real things than those bred in the poison
of court life. She brought to her task
■uperb physical health, much tact, good
sense, energy and ambition. Such a per
son, after having been chased from Pa
kin with the Emperor by troop* officially
pronounced to be harmless, was not like
ly to return to her official post without
new ideas on the invulnerability of official
residences. Whatever the bulk of Chinese
peasantry might think touching the cow
ardice and helplessness of the "foreign
devils." she at least recognized on their
side a power with wh\ch she would have
in the fuLure to reckon; and while she
might share with others of her race a cor
dial distaste for white man's domination
in China, she was equally convinced that
the white man can be fought only with the
white man's" weapon, and that therefore
China must steadily work toward a high
er level of material, if not intellectual or
moral civilization.
To March with Her People
Her violent veto to the reform plans of
the Emperor in 1898 sprang not so much
from her innate Chinese conversatism aa
from a profound statesmanlike apprecia
tion of the fact that a rerorm so sweeping
as had been planned would be followed by
a corresponding reaction. It was her duty,
she argued, to march with her people; not
too far in advance of them.
Any one who has seen the China of 1800
and has been able to compare it with the
China of to-day cannot but note the im
mense progress—relatively speaking. And
at the same time knowing the great
powers which have been wielded by thi3
little Bismarck in petticoats it would be
wholly unfair not to credit her with a full
share in the good wojk that has been done
during her reign—or dominion—or what
ever word is best fitted to describe an as
cendency so complete.
The great power she has ever exerted is
owing, of cours*. mainly to her own innate
force of will and capacity for work. She
was fortunate in having no serious rivals
in her field. Prince Kung was of a sloth
ful and pleasure loving nature, and cheer
fully allowed the energetic Empress
mother to indulge her passion for work—a
passion which distinguished her pre-emi
nently.
Looking Back Over History
booking back over Chinese history of the
past half century we can but wonder that
the vast empire held together under the re
peated blows which it received. That it
held together even tolerably well remains
as a monument to the energy and the sense
of this lady.
In 1881 the Taiping rebellion, which had
risen in 1850, was still a menace to the Pekin
Government, particularly in conjunction
with the European wars of 1858 and 1860.
The Taiping Emperor held court at Nan
kin, and his forces were plundering and
killing up and down the valley of the
Yangtse. Even as late as 1876, when I
applied for a pass to travel in the interior
of China, I had to promise the Chinese
authorities that I would have no dealings
with the rebels, and this sixteen years
after the outbreak of the rebellion!
In Yunnan, a province on the edges of
Tibet and Burmah, there had broken out
in 1856 a serious Mohammedan insurrection,
whirh along with the Taiping and the
foreign invasions kept the Pekin adminis
tration pretty busy, at least with plans for
future residence in case any one of these
troubles should affect Pekin palace. In
the general condition of helplessness and
imbecility that permeated official China
the little Empress Regent saw her oppor
tunity and compelled obedience even
among those who read in Confucius many
paragraphs intended to discourage women
from leaving the nursery.
In 1864 the Taiping rebellion closed by
the capture of Nankin and the suicide of
the Pretender. In 1872 the Mohammedan
uprising, which had spread immensely
since 1856, came to an end. The rebellious
Sultan Soliman poisoned himself and his
head was brought in triumph to Pekin.
While I was in China the last of the reb
els on the Turkestan border were being
dispersed.
Educated in Statecraft
For the first twenty-six years of her
life at court she had been receiving the
rare education which comes from discuss
ing and carrying on measures for the
safety of a State in extreme danger. She
had had ample opportunity before her
accession to actual dominion In 1861 to
measure the relative feebleness of the
different officials who pretended to help
the government, and she must have -been
weak, indeed, If she did not draw courage
from the complete breakdown of the rem
edies proposed by legislators whose only
knowledge of the world was represented
by thousands of second-hand maxims
memorized parrot fashion from the so
called classics.
■» One must have lived in China to ap
preciate the huge task that this - little
Empress has accomplished—the task ot
holding the country together, of holding
at bay the nations of Europe who have
been persistently urging upon her reforms
that might endanger her throne by pre
cipltating civil war. "
In 1873, when Kwang Su was 2 years old,
the Emperor Tung Chi § ascended the
throne, and Immediately was made to feel
the force of the lady's hand, For in 1874
he proposed to restore the famous • Sttm>
mer Palace, which h«4 been flestro in
1860. Germans and French insist that the
destruction was at English hands. Eng
lish officers who were in the campaign
have assured me that the French alone
were responsible for the outrage.
At any rate, in 1874 the co-regent, Kung,
opposed the project of Emperor Tung Chi
on the score of expense. This displeased
his Imperial Higtiness. who immediately
degraded the co-regent from a first-class
to a second-class prince.
Emperor Obeyed Her Will
But on the next day the Emperor was
compelled by the command of this littla
Empress Dowager to reinstate the prince
in all his honors.
That was the only time that this par
ticular Emperor attempted to test his
right to govern. It was a dramatic and
instantaneous failure. He died in 1879,
and was succeeded by the present Em
peror, Kwang Su, at the age of B—he was
born 1871—the same day as Napoleon 111,
August 15, and in the year of Napoleon' 3
complete extinction.
The accession of Kwang Su gave rise to
immense difficulties, for there was much
in the court law touching his birth and
parentage which conflicted with orthodox
Chinesje reasoning. It would be a compli
cated narrative to unravel this here, but
suffice it to say that the little Dowager
desired Kwang Su, and there he is. One
lofty official ventured to pr test on
grounds of precedent, but he promptly
went and hanged himself, and his views
did not spread.
the throne sdom gfthedummer palace .\jp*n cpinih muwQ *£%?
To-day the only serious objection to
Kwang Su Is that he haa not presented
his country with a successor—and In the
eyes of a true Chinaman this Is a serious
defect.
J From this and the other causes; good
Chinamen are ap^ to shake their heads
ever Kwang So. His reign, has been full of
calamity; The: French war, the. war
wtttr Japan, tfc* BosarSprfsia^ a Ore la
the palace, the partial destruction of the
famous Temple of Heaven in Pekin, the
loss of Kiaochau, Weihaiwei and Port
Arthur, nearly everything he has done
has been by the old school of Chinamen
traced to certain unorthodox circum
stances attending: his accession—notably
to his not having given the counuy a child
successor.
But the climax of his wickedness ap
peared to hay« been reached t when, in
1893, he actually attempted to minimize the
Importance of the Chinese sa^ea by com
pelling StaU official* to know something
mere ol adenc* than wh&t la coataloeA
•*-•••» was****- ■" •» »-—--'.V^.*— " ' ""-* ■ ** ■" -■
In the tomes of Confucius. Perhaps it
will illustrate the conservatism of the Chi
nese official mind if I mention that on the
occasion of a visit to the Jesuit mission
of Zikawel I was shown the drill regula
tions of the Chinese army, a work more
than 2000 veara old.
The little lady Bismarck is in her way a
reformer—so she says. But she begs you
to bear In mind that she has to aocom-
plish the reformation not merely of her sla
ters and cousins about the palace, but
some 300.U00.000 of. Chinamen, who regard
innovation and iniquity as interchange
able terms.
WfcUe in China in 1876 I had a pretty pic
ture of Chinese conservatism as inter-
woven with dislike of the foreigner. In
that year was laid a railway connecting
Shanghai with the mouth of the Wu-
sung river, a distance of some eighteen
miles. This railway was^of immense Im
portance to the trading^ community, for
many ships anchored at Wusung and
lightered there, and it was of obvious ne
cessity to have rapid and frequent com
munication between the anchorage and th«
town. Under a variety of pretexts, how
ever, this railway was suppressed, bought
up by the government.
This was done ostensibly to allay pubJic
clamor-to propitiate the dead who could
not rest while the surface of the earth
was profaned by the machinery of foreiga
devils..
But the Chinaman is not half so eareft*
of his gods and manes as some would
have us think, for in the next year 1877
Li Hung Chang found no difficulty fri giv
ing to a Chinese company a concession
for a.rail way which opened up som? mine,
in which he was interested. This railway
was subsequently expanded into the pres
ent system connecting Pekin with the sea.
We may reasonably conclude that the Chi
nese objected ro the railway at Shanghai,
not so much because it disturbed the re
pose of Chinese spirits, as that this re
pose was being disturbed under European
auspices. The religious element found no
fault with a railway when controlled by
Chinamen—and since that railway has
proved of commercial value and was not
followed by a calamity we may reasona
bly look to the day when we shall buy a
ticket direct from Canton to Pokin. and
thence across the great wall to Europe.
The railway that was destroyed and
shipped to Formosa in 1876 was reopened
for traffic in im~ and this time no ont
heard anything about offended spirits.
The little Bismarck lady was right
she wanted railways, but she wanted th»
public mind prepared for them, that ther*
might not be riots connected with their
construction. ,
Tsu Hsi 67 Years Old
The little lady is now 67 years old and
naturally disposed to repose. She may
have many more years to live, for, meas
ured by the standard of Queen Victoria
and Bismarck and old Emperor William,
she is but at the beginning of her career.
At the age of 16, in the year 1551, sh«
became the concubine of an Emperor, and
as such an influence in the ruling of hia
empire. Since that day has happened al
most every great event that has pro
foundly modified the position of China
toward the outside world. She has lived
to see ports like Hong Kong and Shanghai
develop from insignificant trading sta
tions to commercial centres rivaling Lon
don and New York. Shanghai, which
even in 1876 was a purely trading com
munity, is to-day a city of factory chim
neys conspicuous from afar.
Mediaevalism to Modernity
In Tlong Kong to-day there are ship
yards where iron steamers are being con
tinually launched. The little Imperial
Lady has seen her countrypeople not only
learn manufacturing trades from .Euro
peans in China, hut she has seen them
erect factories of thefr own and run them
in competftfon with Europeans. .
This transformation could not have been
made had she opposed it with the vigor
of which we know h^r capable. To be
sure, the portion of China affected by
modern ways is not very j?reat, but stij)
the modern ways are there. We have seat
them a sample, and they seem pleased
with it. Much of this transformation has
occurred between the occasion of my two
visits, and if we limit ourselves to merely
that which has happened between 183*
and IS9S we have a change almost as
extraordinary as that which came over
Europe through the use of steam far
transportation at the beginning of the
nineteenth century.
China advances slowly. It has been ad
vajicing for some ten thousand year*,
and it has yet far to go. China has much
to learn from Western nations, but
Western nations have also much to leant
from an empire that has seen the birth,
bloom, and burial of many a white man's
nation.
