China

China. — The Chinese Empire, the largest political division of Eastern Asia, extends from 18° 10′ to 53° 45′ N. lat., and from 73° 47′ to 134° 25′ E. long. It includes China proper or the Eighteen Provinces (Shipa-sheng), theoretically a subject territory of Manchuria, the cradle of the present dynasty, and the dependencies: Mongolia, Ili (or Sin-kiang), and Tibet. Its boundaries are on the north, Siberia; west, Russian Turkestan; south, British India; southeast, Burma and Tong-king; east, the Pacific Ocean; northeast, Korea. This article is concerned only with China proper.

AREA AND POPULATION.—Roughly speaking, the Eighteen Provinces occupy nearly one-third of the surface of the empire. The area of China proper is estimated in round numbers at 2,000,000 square miles; Pere Richard gives 1,532,800 square miles. The length is 1860, the breadth 1520, miles. According to the official trade returns for 1906, the estimated population of China was 438,214,000, which includes that of Feng-tien (Manchurian province, 16,000,000). The “Almanach de Gotha” (1904) and the “Statesman’s Year-Book” (1905) give for the Eighteen Provinces 319,510,000 and 407,335,305 respectively, but the Hon. W. W. Rockhill in a careful study (Smithson. Miscel. Col., quart. issue 47, part III) gives so low a figure as 270,000,000. The population at various epochs is as follows: in 1390, 60,545,812; in 1500, 53,281,153; in 1619, 60,692,856; time of Macartney, 333,000,000; in 1842, 419,600,000; in 1894, 421,800,000.

NAMES.—The Chinese called their empire Chung Kwo (Middle Kingdom), a name first applied to Ho-nan, the country of the Chou dynasty; a Chinaman is designated Chung-kwo-jen or man of the Middle Kingdom; in diplomacy China is Ta-ts’ing Kwo (the great empire of Ts’ing, the present dynasty), as it was formerly Ta Ming Kwo (the great empire of Ming). In literature it is called Tien Hia (Under Heaven), Sze Hai [the four (surrounding) seas], Chung Hwa Kwo (the Middle Flowery Kingdom); some names refer to celebrated dynasties, Hwa Hia (glorious Hia), Han-jen or Han-tze (men or sons of Han), T’ang-jen or T’ang-shan (men or mountains of T’ang).

The Arabs called China Sin, Chin, Mahachin, Machin. The Sinoe and Seres of Ptolemy and other classic writers probably represent the Chinese. In the Middle Ages, Europeans made a distinction between Northern (Cathay) and Southern (Manzi) China. It is probable that the name China, from the Ts’in dynasty (third century B.C.), reached the West by way of Burma and India.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.—Coast and Islands.—The Pacific Ocean bears several names; to the south it is called Nan-hai, or South (China) Sea, farther up the coast, Tung-hai, or Eastern Sea, and Hwanghai, or Yellow Sea. The coast forms a semicircle, the islands of the Che-kiang province (123° E. long. Greenwich), extending farthest east; to the north is the Gulf of Chi-li and Shan-tung Peninsula, to the south the Gulf of Tong-king, the Island of Hai-nan, and Lei-thou Peninsula. There are also the Gulf of Liao-tung, Miao-tao Islands, the Chusan Archipelago, with Ting-hai and the celebrated pilgrimage of P’u-tu, the islands of Amoy, Sam-sa, Hai-t’an, Kin-men, T’ung-shan, Tai-wan or Formosa (now Japanese); Nan-hai, Mirs Bay (Ta-p’ong-hai), Hiang-kiang (Hong-Kong), Lappa, and Kwang-chou Bays; the islands of Namoa, Hong-Kong, Lan-tao, Lamma Archipelago, the Ladrones (Lao-wan-than), the Chw’an Islands (Shang-chw’an, also called Sancian or St. John’s, where St. Francis Xavier died in 1552), Hia-ch’wan, and the Paracels (Ts’i-chou).

The first beacon light was kindled at the mouth of the Yang-tze in 1855; the first lighthouse was erected on the island of Kung-tung, near Che-fit, in 1867. In 1907 the coast and ports of China had 116 lighthouses, 5 lightships, 24 lightboats, 137 buoys, 110 beacons, 392 in all.

Rivers.—The chief river is the Yang-tze, called simply Ta-kiang (Great River) or Kiang (River); as far as the Sze-ch’wan bend it is called Kin-sha-kiang; its general course is from west to east and its length about 4000 miles. It is navigable from the ocean to I-ch’ang and semi-navigable, on account of the rapids, from I-ch’ang to P’ing-shan-hien. In the province of Sze-ch’wan its tributaries, on the left, are the Ya-lung-kiang, the Min-kiang (Ch’eng-tu River), and the Kia-ling-kiang; on the right the Ho-kiang and the Wu-kiang; in Hu-pe it receives on the left the Han-kiang; in Kiang-su it crosses the Grand Canal; near its mouth it receives the Hwang-pu or Shanghai River; at its estuary it is divided into two branches by Chung-ming Island; it waters the cities of Chin-kiang, Nan-king, Wu-hu, Ngan-king, Kiu-kiang, Han-kou, I-ch’ang, Ch’ung-k’ing, Sui-fu, and P’ing-shan.

Mention should be made of the following rivers: north of the Yang-tze the Liao-ho which rises in the Great K’ingan, northeast of Dolon-nor, and waters Southern Manchuria; the Pei-ho (Hai-ho) which flows through T’ien-tsin; at its mouth is Taku, formerly with forts at the entrance; the Hwang-ho (Yellow River) or simply the Ho; which is nearly as long as the Yang-tze, and is the scourge of China on account of its floods; in its middle course it forms a large bend, where it runs down between the provinces of Shen-si and Shan-si, encircling regions of the Ordos country; it receives on the right its principal tributary, the large river Wei, and on the left the Fen-ho; at one time it ran into the Yellow Sea, south of the Shan-tung Peninsula, but now it follows the course of the Ts’i-ho and runs north of the peninsula; the basin of the Ho is considered the cradle of China.

South of the Yang-tze are: the Ts’ien-tang-kiang; the Hang-chou River, celebrated on account of its bore; the Min-kiang, formed by the Kien-k’i, the Shao-wu-k’i, and the Ning-hwa-k’i; the Fu-chou River. The Si-kiang (West River) from Yun-nan receives on the right the Yu-kiang, already increased by the influx of the Tso-kiang, the Nan-ning River; on the left the Liu-kiang, the Kwei-kiang, the Pei (North) kiang; just this side of Chao-k’ing-fu, the Si-kiang divides into a number of branches; the north branch which waters Canton is called Chu-kiang or Pearl River and flows into the sea through the Hu-men, also the Bocca Tigris or the Bogue, into which also empties from the east the Tung-kiang. The Grand or Imperial Canal, called the Yu-ho or Yun-ho was begun, it is said, during the sixth century B.C., and was finished only in A.D. 1283 under the Mongol dynasty; it runs from T’ien-tsin to Hang-chou, crossing the Yang-tze at Chin-kiang and is the watercourse of the Great Plain.

Lakes.—The chief lakes are the T’ung-ting in the Hu-nan province and the P’o-yang in Kiang-si, both south of the Yang-tze; the former fed by the Siang, Yuan, and Su, connects with the Yang-tze by the Yo-chou Canal; the latter is fed by the Kan-kiang. Mention should also be made of the Ta-hu near Su-chou (Kiang-su), and the Si-hu, near Hang-chou (Che-kiang) Mountains: The two chief mountain ranges of China, offshoots of the highlands of Tibet, are the Eastern Kwen-lun and the Nan-shan. The Eastern Kwen-lun include the A-la-shan and the Kan-su mountains; the Ts’in-ling, between the Hwang-ho and the Yang-tze; the Min-shan, and the Kiu-lung. The Nan-shan or Nan-ling extend from Yun-nan, Kwei-chou, and Kwang-si, between the Yang-tze and the Si-kiang, to Kwang-tung and Fu-kien, their last spurs appearing in the Chusan Archipelago. Mention should also be made of the O-mi-shan, i.e. Mount O-mi (in Sze-ch’wan), the Wu-t’ai-shan (north Shan-si), and the Dokerla, near Aten-tze, all celebrated pilgrim resorts. The Great Plain of China extends from T’ien-tsin to Hang-chou, forming part of the provinces of Chi-li, Ho-nan, Ngan-hwei, Kiang-su, and western Shan-tung; it may be considered the valley of the Grand Canal. A certain deposit called loess or hwanq-t’u (yellow earth) covers a great part of Kan-su, Shen-si and particularly Shan-si; this tertiary formation is characterized by its tendency to split vertically and by the numerous clefts caused by erosion; the caves in this deposit are easily deepened and often serve as dwellings for the inhabitants; it is exceedingly fertile, for which reason the Shan-si province has been called the “granary of the empire”.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.—The territorial divisions of the Chinese Empire have varied greatly at different times. Under the Emperor Yu the Great and the Hia dynasty, the capital was Yang-hia (in Ho-nan), and China was divided into nine chou: K’e, Ts’ing, Yen, Su, Yu, Yung, Leang, King, and Yang. Under the Shang, the capital was Po, near modern Kwei-te-fu (Ho-nan), and the division remained the same. Under the Chou (1122-660 B.C.) the capitals were successively Hao (Ch’ang-ngan) and Lo-yang (781 B.C.), and there were still nine chou: You, Ping, Yen, Ch’ing, Ch’e, Yung, Yu, Ching, Yang. During the period covered by the “Spring and Autumn Annals” of Confucius (781-519 B.C.) the capital was Lo-yang, and there were the following kingdoms: Chou (1122-249), Loo (1121-248), Wei (1077-413), Ts’ai (1106-446), Tsin (1106-376), Ts’aou (1051-486), Ch’eng (805-374), Woo (1290-472), Yen (863-221), Ch’en (853-478), Sung (1077-285) Ts’e (1076-220), Ts’u (1077-222), Ts’in (908-245). Under the Ts’in dynasty (220-204 B.C.) China was divided into 36 kiun. Under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.—A.D. 25) the capital was Ch’ang-ngan; there were 103 principalities, 241 marquisates, 32 tao or provinces, 1314 hien. Under the Eastern Han dynasty (A.D. 25-220), there were 13 chou and the capital was Lo-yang. The capitals of China were in turn or at the same time Lo-yang (Wei dynasty), ch’eng-tu (Shu of Sze-ch’wan), Kien-kang, or Nan-king (Wu), Hang-chou (Southern Sung, 420-477), Ta-tung (Northern Wei, 386-532), Ch’ang-ngan (Sui, 581-618), Lo-yang (T’ang, 618-907), K’ai-feng and Hang-chou (Sung, 960-1126), Peking, called Yen-king under the Kin, and Cambaluc under the Yuan. During the Mongol period China was divided into ten sheng or provinces; under the Ming dynasty there were fifteen sheng, Kan-su having been taken from Shen-si, Kiang-nan being divided into Kiang-su and Ngan-hwei, and Hu-kwang into Hu-pe and Hu-nan. There are now eighteen provinces. At one time Formosa formed one province; Kiang-hwai, or Northern Kiang-su, was temporarily detached from Kiang-su (1905).

The Eighteen Provinces (Shi-pa-sheng) consist of:—(I) Chi-li (meaning direct rule), in which is Peking (Shun-t’ien-fu), the capital of the empire. The capital is Pao-ting; principal places: Sien-hwa, Cheng-ting; mention should also be made of Shan-hai-kwan, the most important pass throught the Great Wall, Dolon-nor (Lama-miao), the old summer residence of the Mongol emperors; the population is 29,400,000.—(2) Shan-tung (east of the mountain, the Heng-shan); capital Tsi-nan; principal places: Tsi-ning-chou; Ts’ing-chou-fu, chou-ts’un, Lai-chou, Teng-chou, the treaty port Che-fu, the British establishment Wei-hai-wei, the German port Ts’ing-tao (Kiao-chou); the T’ai-shan is a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Confucius and Mencius were born in this province; population, 38,000,000.—(3) Shan-si (west of the mountain); capital, T’ai-yuan-fu; principal products, coal and iron; principal mountain, Wu-t’ai-shan; principal cities: Kwei-hwa-ch’eng (also called Ku-ku-choto or blue city), Ta-tung, P’ing-yang-fu, P’ing-ting-chou; the population of Shan-si, Shen-si, Kan-su, Ho-nan, and Kwei-chou is estimated at 55,000,000.—(4) Ho-nan [south of the river (the Hwang-ho)]; capital, K’ai-feng; near Ho-nan-fu is the sacred mounain Sung, to the west of which is situated the Lung-men defile, whose banks are adorned with ancient sculptures.—(5) Kiang-su [first syllables of Kiang-ning (Nan-king) and Suchou]; capital, Su-thou; principal city, Kiang-ning (Nan-king), formerly capital of the empire, and now residence of the viceroy of the Liang-kiang or Two Kiangs; chief cities: Shanghai, the most important trading mart of China, and Yang-chou, on the Grand Canal; population, 23,980,000.—(6) Ngan-hwei (first syllables of Ngan-k’ing and Hwei-chou); capital, Ngan-k’ing, on the left bank of the Yang-tze; principal places: Wu-hu, a treaty port, Hwei-chou, Fengyang, the birth-place of the Mings; population, 36,000,000.—(7) Kiang-si (west of the Kiang); capital, Nan-ch’ang, on the Kan-kiang, south of the celebrated P’o-yang lake; principal places: Kiukiang, a treaty port, Yachou, King-te-chen, the center of the manufacture of porcelain, with 160,000 workmen; population, 24,534,000.—(8) Che-kiang (crooked river); capital, Hang-thou, on the left bank of the Ts’ien-t’ang, near the celebrated Lake Si-hu; principal places: Hu-thou, Shao-hing, Ning-po, Ting-hai, Lan-k’i-hien, Kin-hwa; population, 11,-800,000.—(9) Fu-kien (first syllables of Fu-thou and of Kien-ning); capital, Fu-thou, on the left bank of the Min; principal places: Ts’ean-chou, Amoy (His,-men), Chang-thou, T’ung-ngan, Yen-p’ing, Kien-ning, Ch’ung-ngan, Lien-kiang, Fu-ning; population, 20,-000,000.—(10) Hu-pe (north of the lake Tungt’ing); capital, Wu-ch’ang, on the right bank of the Yang-tze at the mouth of the Han-ho;opposite, on the right bank of the Han, is Han-yang, on the left, Hankou; other important places: I-ch’ang, Sha-shi, Siang-yang; population, 34,000,000.—(11) Hu-nan (south of the lake); capital, Ch’ang-sha, on the right ‚Ä¢bank of the Siang-kiang; principal places: Heng-chou, Siang-t’an, Siang-yin, Yo-chou, and the great market-city, Ch’ang-te; population, 22,000,000.—(12) Kwang-tung (east of the Kwang); capital, Kwangchou (Canton) after 1664, when it superseded Chaok’ing-fu; principal places: Chao-chou, Fa-chan, Swatow, Pak-hoi, Kiung-chou (Hai-nan); population, 32,000,000.—(13) Kwang-si (west of the Kwang); capital, Kwei-lin, on the Kwei-kiang; principal places: Wu-thou on the Si-kiang, Nan-ning on the Yu-kiang, Lung-thou on the Tso-kiang, Liu-thou on the Liu-kiang, Po-se; population, 8,000,000.—(14) Yun-nan (south of the clouds); capital, Yun-nanfu; principal places: Ta-li-fu, capital of the Mohammedan rebels, Tung-ch’wan, Chao-t’ung, Meng-tze, Sze-mao, Aten-tze, Momein (Teng-yueh); this province has a large foreign population, chiefly Minchia, Lolos, Miao-tze, etc.; population, 8,000,000.—(15) Kweichou (precious region); capital, Kwei-yang; principal places: Tsun-i-fu, Pi-tsieh-hien, Ngan-shun, Hing-i-fu.—(16) Shen-si (west of the Shen T’ung-kwan Pass), capital Si-ngan-fu near the Wei-ho, where the imperial court repaired during the Boxer rebellion (1900); principal places: Han-chung, Hing-ngan.—(17) Kan-su (first syllables of Kan-chou and Su-thou); capital, Lan-thou, on the right bank of the Hwang-ho; principal places; Si-ning; to the southwest the celebrated monastery Gum-bum, Ning-hia, Liang-thou, Kan-thou, Su-thou.—(18) Sze-ch’wan (four rivers, i.e. Yang-tze, Min, Ch’ung, and Kia-ling); capital, Ch’eng-tu, in a large and rich plain, well irrigated; principal places: Ta-tsien-lu, Ya-chou, Kia-ting, Su-chou or Sui-fu, Sh’un-k’ing, Wan, Ling-yuen, capital of Kien-ch’ang, the Lolo region, Li-tang, and Ba-tang; population, 79,500,000; estimated in 1904 by A. Hosie at 45,000,000.

The following abbreviations are used in the customs, postal, and telegraphic services: An., Ngan-hwei; Che., Che-kiang; Chi.. Chi-h; Fu., Fu-kien; Hei., Hei-lungkiang (Manchuria); Ho., Ho-nan; Hun., Hu-nan; Hup., Hu-pe; Kan., Kan-su; Ki., Kiang-si; King., Sheng-king; Kir., Kirin (Manchuria); Ku., Kiangsu; Kwei., Kwei-chou; Man., Manchuria; Sha., Shan-si; She., Shen-si; Sht., Shan-tung; Si., Kwang-si; Sin., Sin-kiang; Sze., Sze-ch’wan; Tung., Kwang-tung; Yun., Yun-nan.

ETHNOGRAPHY.—It would be a great mistake to think that the Chinese people are all of one race. The ordinary Chinaman is of middle size, strongly built, with a round, full face, high cheek bones, a short, depressed nose, thick lips, and fine teeth. His eyes are black and often oblique, his complexion varying between pale white and dark brown, his forehead shaven, and his coarse black hair hanging down his back in a plait; his beard is black and scanty, his feet small. The true Chinaman, that is to say, the native of the central provinces, from the banks of the Hwang-ho and lower Yang-tze, differs greatly from his countrymen of the maritime provinces of Kwang-tung and Fu-kien. Not only are there racial differences between the various types of Chinese, but still further differences arise from the various peoples living on the borders as well as in the provinces. On the north the Tatars, Manchus, and-Mongols, on the west the Tibetans are important groups. The Chinese call the non-Chinese tribes “barbarians” or Yi, Fan, and Man; the term Yi was used to designate Europeans and was prohibited by Article 51 of the British Treaty of T’ien tsiu (1858); Fan-lao or Fan-jen according to S. W. Williams was used at Canton for foreigners; the general names Man and Mantze are employed more particularly in the West and the South and include such non-Chinese tribes as the Yao, Chwang, Tho, Lolo, or Y-kia, Chung-kia, Si-fan, Miao tribes, etc. dispersed throughout Sze-ch’wan and Yun-nan, while the Hakkas reside in Kwang-tung. There are also savage tribes in Formosa, on the western slope of the central range of mountains.

The queue (pien-tze) worn by the Chinese and so characteristic of the race, was imported by Manchu conquerors in 1627. To compress the feet of the females is far from being a universal custom, and has no connection with position or fortune. Manchu ladies (i.e. those of the imperial family) and most of the southern women do not treat their feet in this unnatural way; there are no trustworthy data as to the origin of this torture, which goes back, some say, to 583 A.D. A few years ago some European ladies started an anti foot-binding movement under the name of Tien Tsu Hwei, which seems to have met with a fair amount of success. Some Chinese, especially scholars, wear extraordinarily long nails, which are intended to show that their owners are above manual labor. Sometimes they sheathe their nails with brass or silver.

GOVERNMENT.—Since the beginning of the fifteenth century the seat of the government has been Peking (northern court), its name being Shun-tien-fu in the Chi-li province; the southern court (Nan-king) was Kiang-ning in the Kiang-su province, the capital of the empire in the beginning of the Ming dynasty. The emperor is styled Hwang-ti (emperor); or Hwangshang, Wan-sui Yeh, T’ien-tze, (son of Heaven), T’ien-wang (heavenly prince); the empress is styled Hwang-heu or Chung-kung; where there are two empresses they are designated Tung-kung and Si-kung (respectively eastern and western), according to the part of the palace they live in. The heir-apparent is the Hwang-t’ai-tze; the hereditary imperial nobility include: Ts’in-wang, prince of the first order; Kiunwang, of the second order; Pei-leh (Bei-leh) of the third order; Pei-tze, of the fourth order; Fung-ngen Chen Kwo-kung, duke of the first order; Fung-ngen Fu Kwo-kung, of the second order; Pu-j u, Pa-fen Chen Kwo-kung, of the third order; Pu-ju Pa-fen Fu Kwo-kung, of the fourth order; Chen Kwo Tsiangkiun, Fu Kwo Tsiang-kiun, Fung Kwo Tsiang-kiun, and Fung-ngen Tsiang-kiun, generalissimos of the first, second, third, and fourth classes respectively.

The Tsung-shi are the imperial clansmen, descendants of Hien Tsu (1583-1615), the founder of the Manchu dynasty, and are distinguished by their yellow girdles; all affairs relating to the imperial family are treated by the Tsung-jen-fu, the Imperial Clan Court. There are eight princely families with perpetual inheritance: Li T’sin-wang, Prince of Li; Jui T’sin-wang, Prince of Jui; Yu Ts’in-wang, Prince of Yu; Su Ts’in-wang Prince of Su; Cheng Ts’in-wang, Prince of Cheng; Chwang Ts’in-wang, Prince of Chwang; Shun-ch’eng Kiun-wang, Prince of Shun-ch’eng; K’e-k’in Kiunwang, Prince of K’e-kin. I Ts’in-wang, Prince of I, not included in the eight, is also perpetual.

The central government includes: (I) the Kiun-ki Ch’u, Council of State, created by Yung Cheng. in April, 1732, including a few ministers and sixty secretaries, Chang-king; (2) the Nei-ko or Grand Secretariat, including four grand secretaries, Ta-hio-she or Chung T’ang, two Manchus, and two Chinese, each designated by one of the pavilions of the Imperial Palace: Wen Hwa-tien, Wu Ying-tien, T’i Jen-ko, Tung-ko; under the Ming dynasty, the Chung T’ang were called Kolao; this was the title of the celebrated Paul Siu (Siu Kwang-k’i); two assistant grand secretaries styled Hie-pan Ta-hio-she; (3) the ministerial boards or Liu Pu, which, prior to 1906, numbered six: Li Pu, Board of Civil Appointments; Hu Pu, Board of Revenue; Li Pu, Board of Rites; Ping Pu, Board of War; Hing Pu, Board of Justice; Kung Pu, Board of Public Works. The Yo Pu or Board of State Music is a dependency of the Board of Rites. Some of these boards or ministries have been remodeled, and new ones created since 1906, and they now include, besides the Wai-wu Pu, the following boards: Li Pu, the Board of Civil Office; the Min-cheng Pu, Board of Home Affairs; the Tu-chi Pu, Board of Finance; Hio Pu, Board of Education, or of Public Instruction; Fa Pu, Board of Justice; the Lu-kiun Pu, Ministry of War; Nung-kung-shang Pu, Board of Agriculture, Works, and Commerce; the Yu-chw’an Pu, Board of Posts and Communications, including steam navigation, posts, and telegraphs; Li Pu, Board of Rites; Siun-king Pu, Board of Public Safety. Previous to 1906 each board had two presidents (Shang-shu), Manchu and Chinese, two senior vice-presidents (Tso She Lang), and two junior vice-presidents (Yeo She Lang); there are now one president and two vice-presidents. The Tsung-li Ko Kwo-she-wu Yamen, commonly called Tsung-li Yamen, the Foreign Office, was created by Hien Fung, January 20, 1861, after the war with France and England; previously foreign affairs had been dealt with by the Li Fan-yuan, board for the administration of vassal countries, controlling Mongolia, Tibet, etc. and formerly Russia; the Li Fanyuan has now become a ministry of colonies; the Tsung-li Yamen was replaced (July 24, 1901) by the Wai-wu Pu. The Court of Censors or Censorate (Tu Ch’a Yuan) has two presidents, (Tu Yu-she), four vice-presidents, twenty-four supervising censors (Liuk’o), divided into six boards, and thirty-eight censors (Yu-che), distributed over fifteen Tao or circuits. The Han-lin Yuan, college of academicians, has two presidents (Chang-yuan Hio-she). There are also the Kwo Tze Kien or imperial college, and K’in-t’ien Kien, or board of astronomy, etc.

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION.—There are eighteen provinces (Shi-pa-sheng); these sheng are divided into Tao (circuits), Fu (Prefectures), T’ing (independent sub-prefectures), Chou, and Hien; independent thou are called Chi-li Chou. The Eighteen Provinces, together, with Sin-kiang, are under eight governors-general or viceroys (Tsung-tu or Che-t’ai) and twelve governors, three of whom are independent. The eight viceroyalties are the Chi-li, Liang-kiang (including Kiang-su, Nganhwei, and Kiang-si), Min-che (Fu-kien, Che-kiang), Liang-hou (Hu-pe, Hu-nan), Liang-kwang (Kwang-tung, Kwang-si), Yun-kwei (Yun-nan, Kwei-chou), Shen-kan (Shen-si, Kan-su), and Sze-ch’wan. Each province is presided over by a governor (Sinn-fu, Fu-t’ai) except Chi-li, Fu-kien, Kan-su, Sze-ch’wan, Kwang-tung, Yun-nan; and Kan-su; there is one in Sin-kiang; the Fu-t’ai of Shan-tung, Shan-si, and Ho-nan are not under a governor-general but are directly under Peking. Immediately after the governor are the high provincial treasurer (Pu-cheng She-sze or Fan-t’ai), the high provincial judge (Ngan-ch’a She-sze or Nieh-t’ai), the salt controller (Yen-yun She-sze), and the grain intendant (Liang-tao); these various officials constitute each provincial government under the collective name of Tu-fu Sze-tao. Next in order come the Fen-siun Tao: the intendant of a circuit (Tao-t’ai—98 in all), the prefect of a Fu (Che-fu—181), the T’ung-che (170); the T’ung-p’an (141); the Chechou (140); the Che Hien, district magistrate (1290); there is a Hio-cheng (Hio-yuan, Hio-t’ai), or provincial director of instruction in each province, who presides at the prefectural examinations.

The Chinese functionaries known to Europeans as Mandarin (from mandar, command) are called Kwan by the Chinese; there are nine ranks of kwan, divided into civil and military officials, who are distinguished by the button worn on the official hat, by the square embroidered badge on the breast and back of official robes (a bird for the civil, a quadruped for the military), and by the clasp of the girdle. Rank

1

stone

2

3

4

with silver

button

5

button

6

pearl

pearl

7

Duck

8

9

jay

iay A provincial official down to Tao-t’ai inclusive is styled Ta-jen (great man); from Che Fu to Che Hien, the name is Ta Lao-ye (great old father); for the rest Lao-ye (old father). Various forms of distinction are awarded for public services; the principal is the Ling-che (the feather), of which there are three grades corresponding to degrees of distinction: the three-eyed, the two-eyed, and the one-eyed pea-cock feather (K’ung Tsio-ling) and the crow feather (Lan-ling, blue feather). The chief distinction for military men is the Hing-kwa or Hwang-ma-kwa (yellow riding jacket). There are nine degrees of nobility, either transmissible to a certain number of ancestors or descendants (she-si), or hereditary forever (she-si-wang): Kung (duke), Hou (marquis), Pe (earl—together designated as Ch’ao P’in), Tze (viscount), Nan (baron), K’ing-ch’e Tu-yu, K’i-tuyu, Yun-k’i-yu, Ngen-k’i-yu. The translations sometimes given the first five titles are indicated in parentheses. The residence of a mandarin holding a Seal is called a Yamen; that of a mandarin without a Seal, a Kung-su.

EDUCATION.—Formerly Chinese children, after being taught to read and write, had to learn such elementary books as the “San-tze-king” (Three-Character Classic), the “Pe-Ida-sing” (Hundred Family Names), and the “Ts’ien-tze-wen” (One Thousand-Character Classic); later they studied the “Sze Shu”, or “Four Classical Books”. Memory was developed at the expense of the critical faculty, science being almost entirely neglected. A good calligraphy and a thorough knowledge of the Confucian classics were the main requisites for passing an examination, in which an essay on texts selected from these classics, and called wen-chang, played a considerable part. The wen-chang, suppressed in 1898 during the short period of reform, has been definitely abolished. The civil officers were recruited from those who passed the three examinations: Hiang-she (provincial), held triennially in the autumn; Hwai-she (metropolitan), held at Peking, in the spring; Tien-she, the palace examination. The student (T’ung-sheng) took in succession the three degrees: Siu-ts’ai, Ku-jen, and Tsin-she; at the last examination the first four competitors received the titles of Chwang Yuan, Pang Yen, T’an Hwa, and Ch’wan Lu.

After the war with Russia China felt the necessity of a thorough change; Confucianism was no longer a sufficient weapon against Western enterprise. Elementary, higher primary, middle, higher, and special schools were established on foreign principles. A university and a technical school were opened at Peking, while young students were sent abroad, especially to Japan. It must be admitted that the latter brought back from the Empire of the Rising Sun an entirely new spirit. They have been responsible, to a great extent, for the reorganization of the secret societies, which aim not only at reform, but also at the overthrow of the present dynasty. By an imperial decree which was dated September 2, 1905, and went into effect at the beginning of 1906, the former program and methods of examination were abolished, and a new system of education inaugurated. This includes the study of the Chinese language, literature, and composition, the various sciences studied in the West, history, geography, foreign languages, especially Japanese, gymnastic exercises and drills, and in the higher grades the study of political economy, and civil and international law. As a natural consequence new degrees corresponding to B.A., M.A., LL.D., etc. were created. It is evident that the Chinese attitude of mind is undergoing a great change through contact with Western ideas and learning; what is less evident is that the deeper layers of the nation have not been reached.

PHILOSOPHY.—Chinese philosophy, at least in what is fundamental, is embodied in the religious books, or rather in the classical works called “King”. Confucius was more of a collector than a creator; he was a moral teacher, imbued with traditions which he had studied and mastered, and of which he was the ideal representative, but he was no inventor. The man who stamped Chinese philosophy with his strong personality, or rather his genius, was the philosopher Chu Hi (A.D. 1130-1200), born in Fu-kien during the Sung dynasty. He had a retreat for intervals of meditation at the White Deer Grotto in the hills near P’o-yang Lake. The “Book of Changes” (Y-king) begins with the T’ai-ki, the Great Absolute; according to Chu Hi there was in the beginning the primordial principle, the abstract monad called the “absolute nothing”, Wu-ki. When moving, the Great Absolute produced by the congealing of its breath the Yang, the great male principle; when it. finally rested it produced the Yin, or the great female principle; after this great division what was above was heaven, beneath was earth, and during the subsequent evolutions and movement were created in turn, the sun and the moon, the stars and the planets, water and fire, men and animals, vegetables and minerals, etc. Four laws regulate the present movement of the two principles: (I) Hi, the breath of nature, governed not by arbitrary, but by fixed inscrutable, laws; (2) Li, the laws of nature; (3) So, the numbers or numerical proportions of the universe; (4) Ying, the appearance of forms of nature. This philosophical system is represented by diagrams. Sometimes the three powers of nature e an-tsai), i. e. T’ien (Heaven), Ti (Earth), Jen (Man), are indicated by a triangle. The two primitive principles are shown, the first by a straight line _____ which corresponds to Yang, the male principle, heaven, light, etc.; the second by a broken line __ __ which corresponds to Yin, the female principle, earth, darkness, etc. Combinations of these lines give the following four figures:

(I) (2) (3) (4)

(I) T’ai Yang, corresponding to sun, heat, eyes, etc.; (2) The T’ai Yin corresponding to the moon, cold, ears, etc.; (3) The Shao Yang corresponding to the stars, daylight, the nose, etc.; (4) The Shao Yin corresponding to the planets, night, the mouth, etc. A new combination of these figures was revealed to Fu-hi (2852-2738 B.C.), by a dragon-horse which rose from the Yellow River and presented to the gaze of the emperor a scroll upon its back inscribed with mystic diagrams which, being arranged, consisted of eight trigrams or symbols called Pa-kwa :

(I)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)

(I) Corresponds to Heaven and the pure male principle, being entirely composed of whole lines; (2) vapours, watery, exhalations, lakes; (3) fire, heat, light; (4) thunder; (5) wind; (6) water; (7) mountains; (8) earth and the pure female principle, being entirely composed of broken lines. An octagonal arrangement devised by the philosophers of the Sung dynasty gives the figures called Sien-tien :

SIEN-TIEN II-III

Shen-nung, the second of the Five Emperors, is held to have multiplied by eight the original Kwa of Fu-hi, forming sixty-four hexagrams. This number multiplied by 6 gives 384, the maximum to which the calculations can be carried practically, though it is stated that a series of 16,777,216 different forms can be obtained. The two principles forming the Tai-ki were sometimes represented by two opposite semi-circles in a circle, the two portions of the circle in dark and clear respectively; later on a dark disk was inserted in the clear portions and a clear disk in the dark portions.

The male and female principles may also be represented by a circle and a square; for instance at Peking the Temple of Heaven is circular while the Temple of Earth is square; the common coin called cash being round with a square hole in the center is a perfect symbol of Heaven and Earth.

CLASSICS.—The doctrine of Confucius and his school is contained in the classical books called “King”. Five of the classics of the highest grade include: (I) The “Y-king” (Book of Changes) with 24,107 characters; (2) the “Shu-king” (Book of History) in fifty-eight chapters with 25,700 characters, extends from Emperors Yao and Shun to Ping Wang of the Chou dynasty (720 B.C.); (3) the “She-king” (Book of Odes) with 39,234 characters, a collection of popular poetry in use in the petty states of China, collected and arranged by Confucius; (4) the “Li-ki” (Book of Rites) in forty-nine chapters (including the “Ta-hio” and the “Chung-yung”, 99,010 characters); (5) the “Ch’un-ts’ew” (Spring and Autumn), or the annals of Lu, the native State of Confucius, from 722 to 484 B.C. The “Yo-king” (Book of Music) was lost. Next came the lesser “King”: (I) the “Sze-shu” (Four Books), “Ta-hio” (Great Study), “Chung-yung” (Invariable Medium), “Lunyu” (miscellaneous conversations between Confucius and his disciples), and “Meng-tze”, the conversations of the sage Mencius (34,685 characters; with the commentary 209,749); (2) the two rituals, “I-li” and “Chou-li” (45,806 characters); (3) the “Hiao-king” (Book of Filial Piety with 1903 characters); (4) the three ancient commentators of the “Ch’un-ts’ew”: “Tso-shi”, “Kung-yang”, and “Ku-liang”; (5) the “Eul-ya” (Literary Exposition), a dictionary of terms used in the classical writings of the same period. It must be borne in mind that Confucius was an. administrator, a statesman, in a word, a practical man, as well as a moralist, but entirely devoid of originality.

The most distinguished followers of Confucius (b. 551; d. 479 B.C.) were Tsang-shen (506 B.C.), and Meng-tze (Mencius, 372-289 B.C.). The rival of Confucius was Lao-tze or Lao-kiun, a far deeper philosopher, author of the “Tao-teh-king” and of the “Kan-ying-pien”, with his disciples, Kang-sang-tze (570-43 B.C.), Li-tze (500 B.C.), and Wen-tze (500 B.C.). The heterodox philosophers were Meh-ti (450 B.C.) and Yang-chu (450 B.C.); the Taoists, Chwangtze (330 B.C.) and Hwai-nan-tze (second century B.C.). Mention should also be made of Wan-ch’ung, author of the “Lun-hen” (first century A.D.), Han-yu or Han Wen-Kung (A.D. 768-824), and finally, under the Sung, the reformer Wang Ngan-shi (1021-86) and the illustrious Chu-hi (A.D. 1130-1200).

STATE RELIGIONS.—The three state religions of China (San-kiao or three doctrines) are Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.—Confucianism or Ju-kiao (a name adopted by the disciples of Chu-hi in A.D. 1150) is the religion of the literati; from the moral principles taken from the books arranged by Confucius a state religion has been created; the trinity (San-ts’ai), Heaven, Earth, and Man, is represented by the emperor, T’ien-tze, Son of Heaven, the high-priest of the cult, who pays his homage to heaven at the winter solstice at midnight and to earth at the summer solstice. The state worship includes three grades of sacrifices, the victims being things, though persons are not excluded: (I) the great sacrifices offered only to T’ien (Heaven), Ti, (Earth), Tai Miao (great temple of ancestors) and Shieh-tsi (gods of the land and grain); (2) the medium sacrifices, an homage to the sun, the moon, the names of the emperors and kings of foreign dynasties, Confucius, the ancient patrons of agriculture and silk, the gods of heaven, earth, and the cyclic year; (3) the inferior sacrifices (Kiun-sze, crowd of sacrifices), offered to the patron of medicine, the spirits of celebrated men, the clouds, rain, wind, and thunder, the five celebrated mountains, the four seas, four rivers, etc. The supreme ruler of heaven is Shang-ti. There is no priesthood in Confucianism.

Taoism or Tao-kiao was invented by the disciples of Lao-tze, but the lofty theories of this philosopher have degenerated into the grossest superstitions, alchemy, astrology, and the worship of a Pantheon of idols, the highest of which is Yu-hwang Shang-ti; the chief of the Taoists resides at Lung-hu-shan (Kiang-si); most of the hierarchy are extremely ignorant.

Buddhism or Fo-kiao, the religion of Fo (Buddha) comes from India; it is said to have reached China in 221 or 219 B.C., but this is hardly probable. The first certain fact regarding Chinese Buddhism is that it was orally taught in the year 2 B.C. to an ambassador of the Emperor Ngai by the Ta Yue-chi or Indo-Scythians; it was officially recognized by the Emperor Ming-ti (A.D. 61). The search for manuscripts in India led pilgrims like Fa-hian and Sung-yun (Fo-kwo-ki), Hwei-shin, the celebrated Hivan-tsang (seventh century), I-tsing, Wang Hivan-ts’e, Wuk’ung, and others to undertake long voyages which have thrown great light on the geography of Northern India and Central Asia. In spite of their exertions and of the numerous manuscripts they brought home, it was not until 1410 that the Chinese procured a complete copy of the Buddhist canon; some of the Buddhist sanctuaries are famous places of pilgrimage: the island of P’u-tu (Chu-san), the Wu T’ai-shan (Shan-si); the Omei-shan (Sze-chw’an), the Dokerla (Yun-nan). The Buddhist priests gather in monasteries; the superiors of a district or prefecture are called Seng-lu-sze; they are selected from the leading abbots (fang-chang); besides the superiors (Sengkang, Seng-cheng, Seng-hwei), there are preceptors, preachers, expositors, and clerks. Buddhism, with its numerous monks, is the most popular religion of China, though a member of one sect very often borrows practices from the other cults and, if an official, will invariably perform the ceremonies of Confucianism. Whatever be the importance of these three religions, they are insignificant as compared with the real, national religion of all the Chinese—ancestor worship.

Ancestor-worship originated in filial piety which, being of paramount importance in the eyes of the Chinese, is the object of a special book, the “Hiaoking”. Filial piety, however, is not a natural spontaneous feeling, but a well-defined duty, embracing the obligations towards the emperor, princes, officials, parents, and these vary according to the classes and the people. In every house there is a tablet, if not a room; a rich family has a separate building; this is the hall of ancestors; the tablets are called p’ai-wei and the temples tze-t’ang. During the period called tsingming, in the first part of April, a general worship of ancestors takes place in the form of libations, and the burning of candles, paper, and incense; this cult was prohibited the Christians by a Bull of 1742.

Another great and popular superstition is Fungshui (wind and water). To describe this is impossible, though it is the daily guide in a Chinaman’s life. It is a system of geomancy founded on the “Y-king”, systematized in the twelfth century; the date of a marriage, the proper place for a burial ground, a lucky site for a building, etc., the settlement of all these questions depends on the laws of Fung-shui laid down by the professors, who, besides a knowledge of Buddhist and Taoist doctrines, had some superficial ideas regarding natural science, medicine, and astronomy.

MISSIONS.—Ancient Christian.—The introduction of Christianity into China has been ascribed not only to the Apostle of India, St. Thomas, but also to St. Bartholomew. In the third century, Arnobius, in “Adversus Gentes”, speaks of the Seres, with the Persians and the Medes, as among the nations reached by “that new power which has arisen from the works wrought by the Lord and his Apostles“. Though there is evidence that Christianity existed in Mesopotamia and Persia; during the fourth century, as evidenced by the persecutions which began in 345 under Sapor (309-379), there is no proof that it spread to China. After the condemnation of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, at the Council of Ephesus (431) and his banishment, his disciples spread his errors through Asia. They seem to have reached China in the seventh century, according to the Si-ngan-fu inscription. It should be added that, according to Ebedjesus, some thought that Achaeus, Archbishop of Seleucia, had created a metropolitan see in China in 411, while others said that the metropolitans of China dated only from Saliba Zacha, patriarch of the Nestorians from 714 to 728. According to Pauthier, the T’ang Emperor, Hivan T’sung issued in 745 an edict wherein it was stated that the temples of the religion from Ta Ts’in being known popularly as Persian temples, it was ordered that, this being inaccurate, thenceforward the latter name should be changed to Ta Ts’in temples.

Si-ngan-fu Inscription.—In the year 1625, the Jesuits at Peking were informed that a slab referring to the Christian religion had been found not long before, possibly in 1623, at Ch’ang-ngan (Si-ngan-fu). Father Nicolas Trigault was sent to inspect the stone, which had been discovered at Cheu-che, some distance from Ch’ang-ngan. It was one of the monuments called by Chinese antiquaries pei. The French traveller, Grenard, who visited Si-ngan-fu a few years ago gives the following measurements height 7 ft. 9 ins., width 2 ft. 9 ins., thickness 10 ins. At the top a cross is incised, under which nine large characters in three columns form the heading, which reads as follows: “Monument commemorating the introduction and propagation of the noble law of Ta Ts’in in the Middle Kingdom”. According to the text of the inscription, Olopen arrived from Ta Ts’in at Ch’ang-ngan in the ninth year of the period Changkwan (635); Emperor T’ai Tsung sent his minister, Duke Fang Huan-ling, to receive him and conduct him to the palace; the Scriptures were translated, and the emperor becoming convinced of the correctness and truth of Olopen’s religion, gave special orders for its propagation, and in the seventh month of the twelfth year of Chang-kwan (638), in the autumn, issued a proclamation; a Ta Ts’in monastery was built, etc. The conclusion of the inscription runs as follows: “Erected in the second year of the period Kien-chung (781) of the great T’ang dynasty, the year star being in Tso-yo, on the seventh day of the first month, being Sunday“. The inscription consists of 1780 characters; in addition to the Chinese characters, at the foot and on the sides, the stele also exhibits a series of data in the Syriac language, in Estrangelo characters. Sir Henry Yule (Marco Polo, II, 27) thinks that Olopen is only a Chinese form for rabban, a monk, while Prof. Hirth makes Olopen stand for Ruben, or Rupen. It appears from a paper by J. Takakusu (Ts’ung-pao, VII, 589-591) that Adam (King-tsing), who erected the monument under Te-tsung, under the same emperor, translated, with a Buddhist, a Buddhist Sutra, the “Satparamita”, from a Hu text.

The question of the authenticity of the inscription has been formerly often raised, but today no one can doubt the genuineness of this most important document for the history of the propagation of the Faith in the Far East; we fully agree with A. Wylie, who writes: “If the Nestorian tablet can be proved a forgery, there are few existing memorials of bygone dynasties which can withstand the same style of arguments.” This inscription is generally considered as emanating from Nestorians; but this is supported only by circumstantial evidence, for it must be remarked that nothing in it is characteristic of Nestorianism.

Nestorians.—The Nestorians were successful in converting the Keraits to Christianity at the beginning of the eleventh century, as related by the Christian historian, Bar Hebreeus. The Keraits remained Christians till the time of Jenghiz Khan, as is attested by Rashiduddin; their head is spoken of by Rubruck and Marco Polo as Ung Khan (Wang Khan), identified with Prester John; when Wang Khan was defeated by Jenghiz, his niece, Sorhabtani, married Tuli, the fourth son of the conqueror, and became the mother of Kublai. When Kublai removed his capital to Peking, he founded in 1289 the chief Christian consistory, under the name of Ch’ung-futze; the priests of the Nestorian sect were known as Erkeun (Ye-li Ko-wen), but this term was later applied to Christians in general, who were called by the Mohammedans Tersa (transcribed Tie-sie). The last name, however, disappeared with the removal of the capital to Peking. Mar Sergius, a Nestorian, and other Christians are mentioned in a description of Chin-kiang-fu. The Nestorians had a number of bishoprics throughout Asia and two archbishoprics, one at Cambalue (Peking), one at Tangut (Tanchet); there is even a record of a Chinese Nestorian, Mar Jabalaha (b. 1245), a pupil of another Nestorian, Rabban Sauma (b. in Peking), being appointed Patriarch of Persia when Denha died, though he was unacquainted with the Syriac tongue. This is a proof of the influence of the Mongols of China. Buddhism, however, prevailed at court, and two of the Nestorian churches were converted into heathen temples. The prosperity of the Nestorians in China continued throughout the Mongol period. We may judge of their numbers and influence by the fact that Friar Odoric, about 1324, found three Nestorian churches in the city of Yang-Chou, but soon afterwards they fell into decay. Evidence of their existence was found by the Jesuits at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Medieval Catholic Missions.—The great religious crusade in Asia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries dates from the Council of Lyons, held in 1245 by Pope Innocent IV. The interests of Christendom were threatened by the Mongolian conquest, and it became necessary to send ambassadors to the Tatar chief to find out his intentions. Two mendicant orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans, who had been instituted at the beginning of the thirteenth century, were ready to furnish the agents for the mission. John of Plano Carpini, a Franciscan, accompanied by Friar Stephen of Bohemia, left Lyons on April 16, 1245, and was joined at Breslau by Friar Benedict, a Pole. They went by way of Moscow and Kieft, and in February, 1246, reached the camp of Batu, grandson of Jenghiz, on the Volga; thence they went to Karakorum to the court of Kuyuk Khan. On November 13 they began their return voyage with the Mongol chief’s reply to the papal letter and reached Avignon in 1247. As a reward Carpini was appointed Archbishop of Antivari. Four Dominican friars, Anselm of Lombardy, Simon of Saint-Quentin, Alberic, and Alexander, joined at Tiflis by Andrew of Longjumeau and Guichard of Cremona, were sent on a mission to the Mongol general, Baiju, in Persia, but were badly received and dismissed on July 25, 1247, with a haughty letter for the pope. St. Louis, King of France, sent the Franciscan, William of Rubruck (known as Rubruquis), to the court of Mangu Khan, successor of Kuyuk; he returned to his convent at Acre (1255), where he wrote an account of his voyage. Speaking of Carpini and Rubruck, Yule says (Cathay, I, p. CXXIII): “These were the first so far as I know, to bring to Western Europe the revived knowledge of a great and civilized nation lying in the extreme east upon the shores of the ocean. To this kingdom they give the name, now first heard in Europe, of Cathay.” Though the first missionaries were sent to the court of Kublai by Nicholas III (1277-80), the real founder of the mission of Cambaluc was John of Montecorvino, a Franciscan friar (b. at Salerno, 1247), sent by Nicholas IV. Giovanni probably reached the Mongol capital before the death of the Great Khan. In 1307 Clement V sent seven friars having the rank of bishop, who were to consecrate Montecorvino as Archbishop of Cambaluc and Primate of the Far East; only Andrew of Perugia, Gerard, and Peregrinus reached China in 1308 and consecrated Montecorvino; a bishopric was erected at Zaitun in Fukien, which was occupied in turn by Gerard (d. 1313), Peregrinus (d. 1322), and Andrew of Perugia; Montecorvino died in 1333 and was succeeded by Nicholas, a Paris theologian, who arrived in China with twenty-six friars and six lay brothers. A mission was also created at Ili-baluc in Central Asia with Richard of Burgundy as its bishop, but it was destroyed. In 1362 the fifth Bishop of Zaitun, James of Florence, was massacred. In 1370 William of Prato, professor of the University of Paris, was appointed to the See of Peking. An Apostolic legate, Francisco di Podio, with twelve companions, was sent out in 1371, but they were never heard from; all the Christian missions disappeared in the turmoil which followed the fall of the Mongols and the accession of the Ming dynasty (1368).

Modern Missions.—If the Dominican friar, Gaspar da Cruz, was actually the first modern missionary to China where, however, he stayed but a short time, the Jesuits under Matteo Ricci were the first to give a solid basis to the missions in the Celestial Empire. They spread through the Kwang-tung province to the central provinces, Nan-king, Shanghai, Hang-chop, endeavoring to reach Peking. In 1602 the Jesuit, Benedict de Goes, started from Agra in an attempt to reach Peking by land. He arrived at thefrontier town of Su-thou, where he died, March 18, 1606, from the fatigue of his long journey. The Jesuits soon found eager competitors in the Dominicans and the Franciscans, who arrived in 1633, but were expelled from China four years later.

In August, 1635, Lei, Prefect of Kiang-thou, in Shan-si, issued a proclamation which was in reality an apology for the Christian religion, praising Kao (Father Alfonso Vagnoni, b. in the Diocese of Turin, 1566; d. at Kiang-thou, April 19, 1640). In July, 1641, Tsuo, Sub-prefect of Kien-ning-hien in Fu-kien mentions Aleni as a master eminent among the learned men of the West, and speaks in high terms of the Christian religion. The conquest of China by the Manchus (1644) was the cause of great suffering to the Church. The celebrated Jesuit, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, head of the Board of Mathematics, was thrown into prison, but he soon regained favor under the first Manchu emperor, Shun-che. In 1664, during the minority of K’ang-hi, Yang Kwei-lien, a Mohammedan astronomer, in charge of the Board of Mathematics, accused Schall, then old and paralyzed, of hostility to Chinese traditions, and obtained against him a sentence of death (April 15, 1665), which was not carried out; when K’ang-hi took the power in hand, the errors of Yang were discovered, thanks to the Belgian Father, Ferdinand Verbiest, who was appointed in Yang’s place head of the Board of Mathematics. It was Verbiest and not Schall who cast the astronomical instruments of the Peking observatory, some of which date from the Mongol period. The arrival of the priests of the Missions Etrangeres of Paris and of the French Jesuits sent by Louis XIV to Peking gave a new impetus to the Christian missions.

In March, 1692, Ku Pa-tai, President of the Board of Rites and some of his colleagues addressed to the emperor a note to the effect that as Europeans were not guilty of any breach of the laws, it seemed unfair to prohibit their religion; that it would be proper therefore to let churches subsist and to allow persons bearing perfumes and other offerings freedom to enter them. An imperial decree approved of this note, and copies were sent to all the provincial governors. The Jesuits, as astronomers or interpreters, were in high favor at Court and the question of rites which was disadvantageous to other missionaries, did not impair their credit during the reign of K’ang-hi. Matters were different under Yung Cheng, son and successor of K’ang-hi, who in 1724 issued an edict exiling to Canton all missionaries with the exception of those occupying various offices at Court; in 1736, an edict of K’ien Lung, son and successor of Yung Cheng, prohibited the preaching of Christian doctrine under penalty of death. On June 25, 1746, a cruel persecution broke out in Fukien during which the vicar Apostolic, Bishop Sanz, and four other Spanish Dominicans, Serrano, Alcobar, Royo, and Diaz were martyred. The Jesuits Attimis and Henriquez were put to death at Su-Chou on September 12, 1748. A great change was made in the Christian Church at Peking, the Jesuits being replaced by the Lazarists.

During the Kia K’ing period (1796-1820), persecution was very severe. A decree was issued September 4, 1811, prescribing a search for foreign preachers. There were but seven Europeans residing at Court, Ferreira (Fu Wen-kao); Riberio (Li Hung-then); Serra (Kao Sheu-kien), all Portuguese .Lazarists in charge of the observatory; Nan Mi-te, interpreter of the Privy Council; Cajetan Pires (Pei Ho-yuan), a mathematician, and two other missionaries too old to be sent home. Monsignor Dufresse, Bishop of Tabraca and Vicar Apostolic of Sze-ch’wan, was beheaded September 14, 1825; Father Clet, a French Lazarist, was strangled at Wu-ch’ang (Hu-pe), February 18, 1820. On September 11, 1840, Father Jean-Gabriel Perboyre, a Lazarist, was martyred at Wu-ch’ang. Brighter days were looked for after the signing of a treaty at Wham-poa (1844) by the French ambassador, Theodose de Lagrene, expectations which were fulfilled after the Peking Convention of 1860.

In an edict of February 20, 1846, Tao-kwang ordered that the establishments belonging formerly to Christians be restored to their owners and that hence-forward officers searching for and arresting harmless Christians should be tried. The edict was not sent to all the governors, and the same year the missionaries, Hue and Gabet, were arrested at Lhassa and the Franciscan Father Navarro in Hu-pe, and all taken under escort to Canton and Macao; it was not till the war of 1860 that the churches of Peking were surrendered to Bishop Mouly. The murder of Auguste Chapdelaine (Missions Etrangeres de Paris) at Si-lin-hien, in Kwang-si on February 29, 1856, was the pretext chosen by France to join England in a military action against China. Special privileges were awarded to missions by Art. XIII of the French Treaty of T’ien-tsin (1858) and Art. VI of the French Peking Convention (1860). The old churches of the capital were restored to the Lazarists, and passports for inland transit or sojourn issued to twenty-eight missionaries. Korea, already ill-famed on account of the massacre of Monsignor Imbert and Fathers Chastan and Maubant on September 21, 1839, was the scene of a terrible persecution in 1866; Bishop Berneux, with Fathers de Bretenieres, Beaulieu, and Dorie (March 8), Pourthie and Petitnicolas (March 11), the coadjutor Bishop Daveluy, and Fathers Aumaitreand Huin (March 30) were all decapitated. Of the flourishing establishment of the Missions Etrangeres de Paris, there were left only Fathers Ridel, later on vicar Apostolic, Feron, and Calais. This led to an intervention of France in Korea which did not, however, achieve any great degree of success. Things were going from bad to worse in China. In Kwangtung Fathers Verchere (1867), Dejean (1868), Delavay (1868), were persecuted; in Sze-ch’wan, Fathers Mabileau (August 29, 1865) and Rigaud (January 2, 1869) were murdered at Yeu-yang-chou, near Kwei-chou, and Fathers Gilles and Lebrun were ill-treated (1869-70); anti-foreign placards were posted up in Hu-nan (1869); the French Minister, Count de Rochechouart, was nearly murdered at T’ai-yuan, in the Shan-si province (1869). Finally came the massacre of T’ien-tsin, June 21, 1870. Fontanier, the French Consul, Simon, his chancellor, Thomassin, the interpreter and his wife, the Lazarist Father Chevrier and the Cantonese priest Hu, Challemaison, a merchant, and his wife, ten Sisters of St. Vincent of Paul, Bassoff and Protopopoff, Russian merchants, and the wife of the latter—in all twenty-one persons, were put to death with great barbarity.

The Franco-Prussian War prevented France from taking any energetic action in China, but a special mission, headed by the High Commissioner, Ch’ung Hou, was sent to Paris to apologize. The lack of retaliation on the part of France encouraged Prince Kung to send to the foreign ministers at Peking (1871) a memorandum relating to missions and regulations to be applied to Christian missionaries. This circular note met with a protest not only from the French Minister, Rochechouart (November 14, 1871), but also from Mr. Wade, British Minister. The murder of the German missionaries, Nies and Henle (November 1, 1897), in the Shan-tung province led to the occupation of Kiao-chou by the Germans. On October 14, 1898, Chanes was murdered at Pak-tung (Kwang-tung); Victorin Deibrouck, a Belgian, was killed in Hu-pe (December 11, 1898); satisfaction was given by the Chinese for these crimes, which had been perpetrated in the face of two imperial decrees of the same year, dated July 12 and October 6. The Boxer rebellion brought sad days for the missions. The list of martyrs is lengthy. The following bishops were put to death: Fantosati of Northern Hu-nan, Grassi and Fogolla of Shan-si, Italian Franciscans; Guillon, Missions Etrangeres of Manchuria, Hamer (Dutch) of Kan-su (burnt to death), and the Franciscans, Ceseda and Joseph (Hunan); Facchini, Saccani, Balat, and Egide (Shan-si); Ebert (Hu-pe); the Jesuits, Andlauer, Isore, Denn, and Mangin (Chi-li); the Lazarists d’Addosio, Garrigues, Dore, Chavanne (Peking); Emonet, Viaud, Agnius, Bayart, Bourgeois, Leray, le Guevel, Georjon, Souvignet, of Manchuria, all of the Missions Etrangeres of Paris; Segers, Heirman, Mallet, Jaspers, Zylmans, Abbeloos, Dobbe, of Mongolia, all of the Congregation of Scheut.

Mention should be made of the fact that in 1895, the French Minister Gerard made an agreement with the Tsung-li Yamen that all passages in the official codes disadvantageous to the Christian religion should be erased. The Berthemy Convention, finally settled by M. Gerard (spoken of below), and the reorganization of the protectorates and the hierarchy, treated of hereafter, are the chief events of the last few years.

THE QUESTION OF RITES.—Father Ricci, the first superior of the Jesuits in China, had remarkable success in his work of evangelizing because of the great tolerance he showed the cult rendered by the Chinese to Heaven, to Confucius, and to ancestors. Indeed, mandarins being obliged to honor officially Heaven and Confucius on certain days, it would have been difficult to convert any of them if they had not been allowed to carry out the functions of their office. Ancestor worship is, practically, the principal religion of China. Ricci’s successor, Longobardi, was of a different mind and finally in 1628, when Emmanuel Diaz (Junior) was vice-provincial, a meeting was called to study the question, but no decision was reached. Affairs reached a crisis when the Dominican, Moralez, and the Franciscan, Santa Maria, arrived in China (1633). Excess of zeal, ignorance of local customs, or some such reason was the cause of the expulsion of Dominicans and Franciscans (1637). In addition to different views about the religion of the Chinese there was another cause of discord between the Jesuits and the Dominicans. The former were protected by Portugal and their protectors were at Macao. The latter were Spaniards, and they looked for support to Manila. In 1639, Moralez addressed to Diaz Senior, then Visitor of the Jesuit mission, a memorandum in twelve articles regarding Chinese practices. Diaz having delayed his answer, Moralez went to Rome and on September 12, 1645, obtained from Innocent X a decree condemning the Jesuits. The Jesuits thereupon dispatched to Rome Martin Martini, who after a stormy voyage, was carried to the Norwegian coast and was obliged to cross Holland and Germany to Italy. He succeeded in having a contradictory decree issued by Alexander VII (March 23, 1656). Then followed a new memorandum of Moralez to the Sacred Congregation (1661), and a new decree of Clement IX against the Jesuits (November 20, 1669). Moralez died (1664) but his successor as Prefect of the Dominicans in China, Domingo Fernandez Navarrette, published his “Tra tados historicos”; the Dominicans, however, found an adversary among themselves. The Chinese Dominican, Gregorio Lopez, Bishop of Basilea and Vicar Apostolic of Nan-king, sent the Sacred Congregation a memoir in favor of the Jesuits.

New elements were brought into the discussion when French Jesuits and priests of the Missions Etrangeres arrived in China. The publication in Paris, in 1682, of a work entitled “La Morale pratique des Jesuites”, a bitter criticism of the Jesuits, acted as a firebrand. Pere Le Tellier answered with “Defense des Nouveaux Chretiens” (1687), which was later censured at Rome (May 23, 1694). On March 26, 1693, Charles Maigrot, of the Missions Etrangyres, Vicar Apostolic of Fu-kien, and later titular Bishop of Conon, issued a mandate condemning the Chinese Rites. Following the example of the Dominicans, the Missions Etrangeres sent to Rome Louis de Quemener, who presented the pope with Maigrot’s mandate (1696). Nicolas Charmot, Maigrot’s envoy, obtained a Brief from Innocent XII (January 15, 1697) and a decree from the Holy Office (July 3, 1697). The works of the Jesuit Father Le Comte, “Memoires sur la Chine” and “Lettre A. Msgr. le Due du Maine sur lee ceremonies de la Chine”; added fuel to the flame and were censured by the Faculty of Theology of Paris (October 18, 1700), together with the “Hist. de l’edit de l’Empereur de la Chine” by Pere Le Gobieu, S.J. Finally, the Holy Office published a decree prohibiting the Chinese ceremonies (November 20, 1704). This was approved by Clement XI who appointed as legatus a latere Charles Thomas de Tournon, Patriarch of Antioch, to carry the decree to China. Tournon arrived at Canton April 8 and was received at Peking by the Emperor K’ang-hi, who was favorable to the Jesuits (December 31, 1705). After various controversies in which Maigrot and the Jesuit Visdelou sided with the legate, K’ang-hi, who found the Jesuits better informed about China than their adversaries, ordered Tournon to leave Peking (August 28, 1705) and banished Maigrot (December 17, 1705). Tour-non issued a mandate at Nan-king (January 25, 1707). When he arrived at Macao he was thrown into a prison where he died (June 8, 1710) immediately after being named a cardinal. On March 19, 1715, Clement XI issued the Bull “Ex ills die”. A new legate, Mezzabarba, Patriarch of Alexandria, was sent to China. He arrived at Macao (September 26, 1720), went to Peking and was received by the emperor, who refused to accede to his demands. Finally, the whole knotty question was settled (July 11, 1742) by a Bull of Benedict XI V. “Ex quo singulari” condemning the Chinese ceremonies and choosing the expression T’ienchu which was to be used exclusively to designate God. Missionaries to China had to take an oath not to discuss at any time the terms of the Bull. The bitterness of this celebrated quarrel was greatly increased by various causes: the rivalry of Portugal and France for the protectorate of the missions, the disputes between Jansenists and Jesuits, and the Bull “Unigenitus“; while the final decision was delayed as much by the question of episcopal sees in China as by the rites themselves. Rome having spoken, no more can be said here on the question, but it may be noted that the Bull “Ex quo singulari” was a terrible blow to the missions in China; there are fewer Christians than formerly and none among the higher classes, as were the princes and mandarins of the court of K’ang-hi.

CREATION OF VICARIATES APOSTOLIC.—In 1577 Gregory XIII created for China, Japan, and the Far Eastern Islands, the Diocese of Macao, which was divided in 1587 into two dioceses, Macao and Funay (Japan). On September 9, 1659, Alexander VII erected from the territory included within the Diocese of Macao, two vicariates Apostolic, one including besides Tong-king, the Chinese provinces of Yun-nan, Kwei-chou, Hu-kwang (now Hu-pe and Hu-nan), Szech’wan, Kwang-si, and Laos, the other including, in addition to Cochin-China, the Chinese provinces of Chekiang, Fu-kien, Kwang-tung, Kiang-si, and the Island of Hai-nan. In 1690, Alexander VIII, to satisfy the Portuguese, created the Diocese of Peking, including Chi-li, Shan-tung, Shan-si, Shen-si, Ho-nan, Liao-tung, Korea, and Tatary, and the Diocese of Nan-king, both dioceses being under the Archbishop of Goa. By a Bull of October 15, 1696, Innocent XII erected the vicariates Apostolic of Shen-si and Shan-si by taking part of the territory included in the Diocese of Peking (Chi-li, Shan-tung, Liao-tung, Korea, and Tatary), and Iimited the Diocese of Nan-king to Kiang-nan and Ho-nan. The following vicariates were created out of the Diocese of Nan-king (1696): Hu-kwang, Fu-kien, Che-kiang, Kiang-si, Yun-nan, Sze-ch’wan, Kwei-chou; in 1737 these last two provinces were joined into one vicariate, to which Yun-nan was added in 1781. In 1840 Yun-nan was again detached, and in 1846 Kwei-chou became independent. In 1858 Sze-ch’wan was subdivided into Eastern and Western Sze-ch’wan. In 1860 Eastern Sze-ch’wan, with part of Western Sze-ch’wan, was divided into the Vicariates Apostolic of Southern Sze-ch’wan and Eastern Sze-ch’wan. In 1790 Fu-kien, Che-kiang, and Kiang-si were combined into one vicariate, but in 1838 divided into the vicariates of Fu-kien and Che-kiang Kiang-si. In 1883 Amoy was separated from Fu-kien; in 1846

Kiang-si was separated from Chekiang: in 1879 the vicariates of Northern and Southern Kiangsi were erected; in 1885 the Vicariate of Eastern Kiangsi was created. In 1762 Hu-kwan was amalgamated with Shan-si and Shen-si but separated in 1838. Out of Hu-kwang were formed in 1856 the vicariates of Hu-nan and Hupe; in 1879 Hunan was divided into the vicariates of Northern and Southern Hu-nan; in 1876 Hu-pe was divided into Eastern, Western, and Northern Hu-pe. In 1843 Shen-si and Shan-si were separated; in 1885 Shen-si was divided into two vicariates, and in 1890 Shan-si was divided in a similar manner.

From the Diocese of Peking, Korea was detached in 1831, Liao-tung, Manchuria, etc., in 1838, and Shantung in 1839; in 1856 the Diocese of Peking was divided into three vicariates: Northern, South-Western, and South-Eastern Chi-li; from the last named, Eastern Chi-li was separated in 1899. In 1883 Shan-tung was divided into Northern and Southern Shan-tung; Eastern Shan-tung was detached in 1894. In 1840 the vicariates of Mongolia and Kan-su were separated from Manchuria and later subdivided; in 1843 Hong-Kong was taken from Macao; at first a prefecture, it was erected into a vicariate in 1874; the two provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si were detached from Macao in 1856 and formed into a prefecture, but were erected into separate prefectures in 1878. In 1856 Ho-nan was detached from the Diocese of Nan-king, and erected into a vicariate which was later subdivided.

RELIGIOUS ORDERS.—The Society of Jesus.—The Jesuits are the true founders of the missions in China. St. Francis Xavier, after evangelizing India and Japan, died in December, 1552, on the Island of Shang-ch’wan (Saint John’s), before he could reach Macao or Canton. His successors, Alessandro Valignani (d. January 20, 1606), Michele Ruggieri (d. May 11, 1607), and Francisco Pasio (d. August 30, 1612) did not penetrate beyond these two places and Chao-k’ing in the same province. Matteo Ricci had the honor of being the pioneer missionary at Peking; he was born at Macerata, Italy, October 6, 1552, and arrived at Macao in 1583, meeting there Ruggieri. From Chaok’ing Father Ricci went to Nan-ch’ang in the Kiangsi province (1588), thence to Nan-king (1595); he visited Peking twice (1595 and 1598), where he finally settled, leaving Nan-king for the last time May 18, 1600. He left behind him Lazzaro Cattaneo and Joao da Rocha, who in 1603 baptized, under the name of Paul, the celebrated Siu Kwang-k’i. The latter on going to Peking showed himself a stanch supporter of Ricci, who died May 11, 1610. Ricci was the first superior of the Peking mission. His two successors, Nicoll Longobardi (1610) and Joao da Rocha (1622) held the same office; Emmanuel Diaz (Junior) was the first vice-provincial. Ricci under the Chinese name of Li Ma-teu, wrote many works still appreciated by the Chinese, among them “T’ien-chu Shi-yi” (the true doctrine of God), published in 1601, translated into Manchu, Korean, Japanese, and French; “Ki-ho Yuan-pun”, the first six books of Euclid, etc. The following are the names of some of the best known members of this mission: Emmanuel Diaz Junior (Yang Ma-no), b. in Portugal, 1574; arrived in China, 1610; d. at Hang-thou, March 4, 1659; author of “T’ang-king Kiao-pei-sung-cheng-ts’iuen”, a translation of the celebrated inscription of Si-ngan-fu. Nicolas Trigault (Kiu Ni-ko), b. at Douai, March 3, 1577; arrived in China, 1610; d. at Hang-thou, November 14, 1628; author of the life of Ricci (De Christian, Expeditione apud Sinas, 1615), a dictionary (Siju-eul-mu-tze), and a translation of Esop’s Fables (Hwang-yi). Giulio Aleni (Ngai Ju-lio), b. at Brescia, 1582; arrived in China, 1613; d. at Fu-thou, August 3, 1649; author of no less than twenty-five works in Chinese, including a life of Christ. Johann Adam Schall von Bell (T’ang Jo-wang), b. at Cologne, 1591; arrived in China, 1622; d. at Peking, August 15, 1666; a celebrated mathematician. Luigi Buglio (Li Lei-sse), b. at Mineo (Sicily) January 26, 1606; arrived in China, 1637; d. at Peking, October 7, 1682; author of twenty-one works in Chinese, of which a “Missale romanum” (Mi-sa King-tien, 1670), a “Breviarium romanum” (Ji-k’o Kai-yao, 1674), a “Manuale ad Sacramenta ministranda” (Shengsse-li-tien, 1675), still remain. Gabriel de Magalhaens (Ngan Wen-sse), b. at Pedrogao, 1611; arrived in China, 1640; d. at Peking, May 6, 1677; author of a good description of China which was translated into English (1688). Martino Martini (Wei Kwang-kwo), b. at Trent, 1614; arrived in China, 1643; d. at Hangchou, June 6, 1661; who published in 1655 the first good atlas of China. Ignacio da Costa (Kouo Natsio), b. at Fayal, Azores, 1599; arrived in China, 1634; d. at Canton, May, 1666; the translator, with Intorcetta, of the “Lun-yu” and “Ta-hio” of Confucius (1662). Prospero Intorcetta (In To-che), b. at Piazza, Sicily, August 28, 1628; arrived in China, 1659; d. at Hang-thou, October 3, 1696. Philippe Couplet (Pe Ing-li), b. at Mechlin, May 31, 1622; arrived in China in 1659; died at sea., May 16, 1693; he made known to Europeans the works of Confucius (1672). Albert Dorville and Johann Gruber, who visited Tibet. Ferdinand Verbiest (Nan Hwai-jen), b. at Pitthem, October 9, 1623; arrived in China, 1659; d. at Peking, January 29, 1688; a great astronomer, who cast some of the instruments of the Peking observatory and guns for the war against the Eleuths. Francois Noel (Wei Fang-tsi); b. at Hesdrud (Hainault), August 18, 1651; arrived in China in 1687; d. at Lille, September 17, 1729; astronomer and translator of the Confucian classics. Ignaz Kugler (Tai Tsin-hien), b. at Landsberg, May 11, 1680; arrived in China, August 30, 1716; d. at Pe-king, March 29, 1746. Augustin von Hallerstein, b. at Laibach, August 2, 1703; arrived, in China in 1738; d. October 29, 1774. The two last named were mathematicians.

Most of the Jesuits of this mission were Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Swiss, or Belgian; but few were French. In 1685, however, Louis XIV, King of France, sent six French Jesuits to the Far East; Guy Tachard remained in Siam, but Jean de Fontaney, Joachim Bouvet, Louis Le Comte, Jean-Francois Gerbillon, and Claude de Visdelou, who reached China, July 23, 1687, laid the foundation of the celebrated French Peking mission, which lasted till the suppression of the Society. Their mission under the protectorate of the French king was distinct from the mission of the other Jesuits, who were known in a general manner as “Portuguese”, to distinguish them from their French brethren. The superiors of the French mission were: Jean de Fontaney (1687), Gerbillon (1699), Dentrecolles (1706), Julien-Placide Hervieu (1719), Joseph Labbe (1736), Hervieu, a second time (1740), Valentin Chalier (1745), Jean Sylvain de Neuvialle (1747), Louis-Marie Du Gad (1752), Neuvialle, a second time (1757), Joseph-Louis Le Febvre (1762), Jean-Baptiste de la Roche (1769), and Francois Bourgeois.

The following are the names of the most remarkable among these French Jesuits: Jean-Francois Gerbillon (Chang Ch’eng), b. at Verdun, January 21, 1654; arrived in China, 1687; d. at Peking, March 22, 1707. Having been superior of the house at Peking he was appointed, November 3, 1700, superior of all the French Jesuits in China. He was the interpreter for the treaty signed with Russia at Nerchinsk in 1689, and the author of a Manchu grammar. Claude de Visdelou (Liu-in), b. August 12, 1656, in Brittany; d at Pondicherry, November 11, 1737. He arrived in China in 1687. He left the Society, was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Kwei-chou and Bishop of Claudiopolis (February 12, 1708). His very valuable “Histoire de la Tartarie” was published as an appendix to B. d’Herbelot’s “Bibliotheque orientate” (1780). Joachim Bouvet (Pe-tsin), b. at Mans, July 18, 1656; arrived in China in 1687; d. at Peking, June 28, 1730; a man of great activity. Francois-Xavier Dentrecolles (In Hong-siu), b. at Lyons, February 5, 1663; arrived in China in 1698; d. July 2, 1741; author of various papers of scientific value. Joseph-Marie de Premare (Ma Jo-shi), b. at Havre-de-Grace, July 17, 1666; arrived in China in 1698; d. at Macao, September 17, 1736; author of the well-known “Notitia Linguae Sinicae”, published at Malacca in 1831 at the expense of Lord Kingsborough. Dominique Parrenin (Pa To-ming), b. at Russey, September 14, 1665; arrived in China in 1698; d. at Peking, September 29, 1741; a learned and influential man, author of the Chinese lives of St. Aloysius Gonzaga (Tsi-mei-pien) and St. Stanislaus Kostka (Te-hing-p’u). Antoine Gaubil (Sung Kiun-yung), b. at Gaillac, July 14, 1689; arrived in China in 1722; d. at Peking, July 24, 1759; remarkable as astronomer, historian, and geographer. Pierre d’Incarville (T’ang), b. August 21, 1706; arrived in China in 1740; d. at Peking, May 12, 1757; well known as a botanist. Joseph-Marie-Anne de Moyria de Mailla (Fung Pin-cheng), b. at Moirans (Isere), December 16, 1669; arrived in China in 1703; d. at Peking, June 28, 1748; translator into French of the huge Chinese historical work “T’ung-kien-kang-mu” (ed. Grosier, 13 vols. 4to, Paris, 1777-1785). Jean-Joseph-Marie Amiot (Tsien Teh-ming), b. at Toulon, 1718; arrived in China in 1750; d. at Peking, October 9, 1793; the most active contributor to the “Memoires concernant les Chinois” and a regular correspondent of the French Minister Bertin.

Numerous and important works were compiled or written by these hard-working missionaries. Among these are: (I) Maps of China. This labor was undertaken by order of the Emperor K’ang-hi and executed between 1708 and 1718, under the direction of Father Jartoux, by Bouvet, Cardoso, Bonjour (Augustinian) Mailla, Hinderer, de Tartre, and especially Fridelli and Regis. They were the basis of d’Anville’s celebrated maps issued between 1729 and 1734 (2) “Description geographique de la Chine” by J. B. Du Halde (Paris, 1735), compiled from materials sent by twenty-seven missionaries in China. (3) “Lettres edifiantes et curieuses”, a collection of letters from missionaries in all parts of the world, begun in 1702 by Charles Le Gobien, and after his death by Du Halde, Patouillet, and Marechal (34 vols., 1703-76). This work was reprinted in 1780-83 by Yves-Mathurin-Marie de Querbeuf. There have been numerous editions and translations since. (4) “Memoires concernant l’histoire, les sciences…des Chinois” (Paris, 1776-1814), containing a mass of information sent mainly by Amiot and Cibot, and edited by Brotier, Brequigny, and others; the last volume, containing the end of the history of the T’ang dynasty, was edited by Silvestre de Sacy. (5) Sixteen plates drawn by order of Emperor K’ien-lung to commemorate his conquests in Central Asia. The artists at Peking were Jean-Denis Attiret (d. December 8, 1768), Jean Damascene, Giuseppe Castiglioni, Ignaz Sichelbarth, all Jesuits except Damascene, an Augustinian. The plates were engraved at Paris under the direction of C. N. Cochin. Besides Attiret there was another Jesuit painter at the imperial court, Giuseppe Panzi (b. at Cremona, May 2, 1734).

The Jesuits had four churches at Peking: The Northern or French church (Pe-t’ang), the Southern or Portuguese church (Nan-t’ang), the Western church (Si-t’ang), and the Eastern church (Tung-t’ang), the old house of Adam Schall. The two beautiful cemeteries of the Jesuits outside the walls of Peking, one Portuguese (Sha-la-eul or Teng-kong-cha-lan), the other French. (Ch’eng-fu-sse), were destroyed by the Boxers in 1900. The Jesuits had residences in the provinces of Chi-li, Shan-si, Shen-si, Shan-tung, Ho-nan, Sze-ch’wan, Hu-kwang, Kiang-si, Kiangnan, Che-kiang, Fu-kien, Kwang-tung, and Kwangsi. The Jesuits, on their suppression in 1773, were replaced at Peking by the Lazarists. The Jesuit Archbishop of Nan-king, Xavier von Laimbeckhoven, an Austrian, died May 22, 1787, near Su-thou. There were but few fathers at Peking when the news of the suppression of the Society reached the Chinese capital in September, 1774. Hallerstein and Benoit died of grief; the last member, Louis de Poirot, died before October, 1815.

In 1841 Luigi de Besi, Vicar Apostolic of Shantung and Ho-nan, was also placed temporarily in charge of the Diocese of Nan-king. The work was too heavy for one man, and Monsignor de Besi wrote to the General of the Jesuits (September 18, 1841), asking him that some missionaries be sent to help him as soon as possible. The Christians of Kiang-nan had already applied to the general, the Very Rev. Father Roothaan (April 25, 1832), to the Queen of Portugal (1838), and to Pope Gregory XVI (1840). At last two Jesuits, Claude Gotteland (b. in Savoy, June 12, 1803; d. at Shanghai, July 17, 1856) and Eugene-Martin-Francois Esteve (b. at Paris, March 26, 1807; d. at Zi-ka-wei, July 1, 1848), arrived at Shanghai, June 12, 1842. Soon afterwards they were joined by Benjamin Brueyre (b. May 20? 1810; d. at Hien-hien, February 24, 1880) who had remained in the Chusan Islands, then held by the British. Monsignor de Besi had as successors Monsignor Maresca (d. 1855), and Monsignor Spelta, transferred in 1856 to Hu-pe. The diocese was left in charge of the French Jesuit, Andre Borgniet (b. February 14, 1811; d. July 31, 1862, at Hien-hien), who was finally consecrated titular Bishop of Berisa and appointed vicar Apostolic, October 2, 1859. The mission of Kiang-nan suffered much during the T’ai-p’ing rebellion when Fathers Luigi Massa and Victor Wuillaume were massacred.

An important magnetic and meteorological observatory has been erected in the neighborhood of Shanghai, at the village of Zi-ka-wei, so called in the local dialect on account of the proximity of the tomb of the celebrated convert Paul Siu, under the direction of Fathers Augustin Colombel (1873-74), Henri Le Lee (1875-76), Marc Dechevrens (1877-87), Bernard Ooms (1888, 1891), Stanislas Chevalier (1889-97) Louis Froc (1888). Here are published valuable bulletins and memoirs which render the greatest service to navigators by forecasts of the weather, special study being made of typhoons. A yearly calendar full of useful data is also issued. An astronomical observatory was established at Zo-se (Che-shan) in 1899 by Father de Beaurepaire. Since 1901 annals have been published; in 1897-98 the director, Stanislas Chevalier, surveyed the Upper Yang-tze from I-ch’wng to P’ing-shan-hien and published a fine folio atlas of the great river, consisting of sixty-four sheets (1899). Under the direction of Pierre Heude (b. at Fougeres, Brittany, June 25, 1836; d. at Zi-ka-wei, January 3, 1902), a museum of natural history was started, in connection with which were issued “Memoires concernant l’histoire naturelle de l’empirechinois” which are of great interest. Mention should also be made of the valuable series of monographs (twenty-five up to 1908) printed under the general heading “Varietes sinologiques”; in this work Henri Havret took the leading part after 1892. These monographs treat of various provinces, of examinations, of the Grand Canal, of landed property, of the Jews etc. It may be added that Fathers Couvreur, Debesse, and Petillon published good guides or dictionaries of the Chinese language, and Angelo Zottoli compiled the “Cursus Litteraturae sinica”. The Jesuits of this mission belong to the province of France. Since 1903, a quarterly under the title of “Relations de Chine” has been issued at the headquarters in Paris.

In 1856 part of the Chi-li province was also entrusted to the care of the Jesuits, and Adrien Languillat (b. September 28, 1808; d. at Zi-ka-wei, November 29, 1878) was consecrated March 22, 1857, Bishop of Sergiopolis, and was the first Vicar Apostolic of South-Eastern Chi-li. This mission suffered greatly during the Boxer rebellion. Some of its members have distinguished themselves by their publications: e.g. Seraphin Couvreur (b. January 14, 1835), who compiled large dictionaries and made translations of the Chinese classics; Leo Wieger (b. July 9, 1856), author of “Rudiments de la langue chinoise”. The Jesuits of this mission belong to the province of Champagne, the headquarters being at Amiens. Since November, 1898, they have edited a periodical entitled “Chine, Ceylan, Madagascar.”

Dominicans.—The first missionary to arrive in China in modern times was the Portuguese Dominican, Gaspar da Cruz (1555), whose successors were expelled by the mandarins, the latters’ fears having been aroused. Gaspar da Cruz wrote a book entitled “Tractado … da China” (1569). The Dominican mission was created in 1631 and 1633 in the Fukien province by Angelo Coqui and Thomas Serra. The well-known Dominican, Juan Bautista de Moralez (b. at Ecija, Spain, 1597; d. in Fu-kien, September 17, 1664), who took an energetic part in the question of the Rites, arrived in 1637. In 1747 the Dominican Bishop Sanz, of Maurocastrum, was martyred with Fathers Alcobar, Royo, Diaz, and Bishop Francisco Serrano. Francisco Varo (Wan Tsi-kwo), who arrived in China in 1654, published the “Arte de la lengua mandarina” (Canton, 1703), which was the basis of Fourmont’s “Grammatica Duplex”. Beginning in 1866, the Dominicans printed for many years at Manila “El Correo Sino-Annamita”, which embodied the letters from their missionaries in China, Formosa, and Tong-king. The Dominicans have but two vicariates in China: Fukien and Amoy (the latter embracing Formosa), the Philippine Islands being the center of their activity.

Franciscans.—In 1579, Pedro d’Alfaro, Guardian of the province of St. Joseph, in the Philippine Islands, with Giovanni Battista of Pesaro, Sebastian de Baera (or of Saint Francis), and Agustin de Tordesillas, made a stay of seven months in China, but the first Franciscan with a special mission to China was Antonio de Santa Maria (Li, b. at Baltanas, Palencia, Spain; died at Canton, May 13, 1669), who was sent to China in May, 1633, and took an active part in the discussion over the Rites. Among the most remarkable of these friars, should be mentioned Basilic) Brollo, better known as Basile de Glemona (Ye T’sung-hien, b. at Gemona, Italy, March 25, 1648; d. in the Shen-si province, August 13, 1703), who went to China in 1680, became Vicar Apostolic of Shen-si in 1700; compiler of the Chinese-Latin dictionary “Han-se-tze-yi”, copied by De Guignes in his great work published in Paris in 1813, by order of Napoleon I. Also Carlo Orazio Castorano (eighteenth century), author of many works. Most of the Franciscans of China are Italian, though Eastern Shantung was made a separate vicariate Apostolic in 1894, for French Friars Minor.

Augustinians.—In 1577 two Spanish Augustinians, Pedro Martin de Herrada and Geronimo Marin, came to Fu-kien, where they remained but four months and sixteen days. The first general work on China was written by the Augustinian Juan Gonzalez de Mendoca (Rome, 1585) and translated into most languages. It was not till 1680 that Alvaro de Benevente arrived in China; he was consecrated titular Bishop of Ascalon and placed at the head of the newly created Vicariate of Kiang-si (1699), with his residence at Kan-thou. He died suddenly at Macao in 1705 and was not replaced, the Vicars Apostolic of Fu-kien taking charge also of Kiang-si and Chekiang. The Augustinians had been absent from China for some time, when, in 1879, they sent from Manila Elias Suarez and Agustin Villanueva to take charge of part of Hu-nan, which on September 19 was erected into a vicariate under Saturnin de In Tone.

Societe des Missions Etrangeres.—The creation in 1622 of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide made it possible to centralize the work of missions in order that their wants might be studied and their field of action broadened. No apostle was more eager than Alexandre de Rhodes, S.J. (b. at Avignon, March 15, 1591; d. at Ispahan, November 5, 1660) in appealing to Rome to make known the want of priests for the numerous missions. He had thoroughly studied the question and travelled extensively in China, Cochin-China, Tong-king, and Persia. Pope Innocent X wished to consecrate Pere de Rhodes bishop, but through modesty the missionary declined this honor. His reward was to consist in the success of the cause he so warmly advocated.

On August 7, 1651, Propaganda begged the pope to appoint a patriarch, two or three archbishops, and twelve bishops to the various churches of Eastern Asia. By a Brief of August 17, 1658, Alexander VII nominated Francois Pallu, Canon of St. Martin of Tours, and titular Bishop of Heliopolis, and Pierre de la Motte Lambert, titular Bishop of Berytus, to take charge of the missions of China and the neighboring countries, with the power of choosing a third vicar Apostolic. Their choice fell on Cotolendi, vicar of Sainte-Madeleine at Aix-en-Provence. The vicars Apostolic asked Propaganda for authority to found a seminary for the conversion of infidels and the training of missionaries. Jean Duval, in religion Dom Bernard of St. Teresa, a Barefooted Carmelite, Vicar Apostolic of Persia and titular Bishop of Babylon, donated a suitable site in Paris (March 16, 1663), and the directors took possession October 27, 1664. This was the beginning of the Societe des Missions Etrangeres. The first superiors were Vincent de Meurs of Treguier (1664-68) and Michel Gazil of Tours (1668-70). The first directors were Michel Gazil (d. January 14, 1697), and Armand Poitevin (d. 1682). Pierre de la Motte Lambert and Jacques de Bourges were the first missionaries who left Paris. The first departure from the Paris seminary took place November 8, 1665. The missionaries embarked at La Rochelle, March 14, 1666. The Missions Etrangeres had priests at Nan-king (Cotolendi died on the journey; Laneau, who resided at Siam); in the province of Fu-kien (Pallu, 1679-84; Charles Maigrot, 1697-1707); in the province of Szech’wan (Arius de Lyonne, 1697-1713); in the province of Yun-nan (Philibert le Blanc, 1697; Enjobert de Martillat, 1727-02). Notwithstanding the hostility of Portugal, the Missions Etrangeres continued to flourish, and today they are spread over a great portion of the Chinese Empire, besides having missions in Japan, Tong king, Cochin-China, Cambodia, Siam, Malacca, Burma, and India. There is a procurator at Hong-Kong and one at Shanghai, and a sanatorium (Bethanie) at Hong-Kong. In the island of Hong-Kong the society conducts a printing office at Pokfulum, called “Imprimerie de Nazareth“, where books are issued not only in French and Latin, but also in Chinese, Annamite, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Bahnar, Malay, and Tibetan. The priests of the Missions Etrangeres have made a special study of languages and have published the following dictionaries: Pigneaux and Taberd, “Dict. Anamito-Latinum” (Serampore, 1833); Taberd, “Dict. Latino-Anamiticum” (Serampore, 1838); “Vocabulaire Cochinchinois” (1838); Theurel, “Dict. Anamitico-Latinum” (Ninh phu, 1877); Ravier, “Dict. Latino-Anamiticum” (Ninh-phu, 1880); Pallegoix, “Dict. Unglue Thai” (Paris, 1854); “Dict. coreen-francais” (Yokohama, 1880); “Dict. chinois-francais” (dialect of Western China, Hong-Kong, 1893); Dourisboure, “Dict. bahnar-francais” (Hong-Kong, 1889); Desgodins, “Dict. thibetain-latin-francais” (Hong-Kong, 1899).

Lazarists (Cong. Missionis).—The first Lazarists were sent to China by Propaganda: Luigi Antonio Appiani (Pie), Johann Mullener (Mo) in 1699, T. Pedrini (Te) in 1710. Appiani (b. at Dogliani, March 22, 1663; d. August 29, 1732), was vice-visitor in China. Mullener (b. at Bremen, October 4, 1673; d. December 17, 1742), titular Bishop of Myriopolis, was the second Vicar Apostolic of Sze-ch’wan. Pedrini (born at Fermo, Italy; d. at Peking, December 10, 1746) took a very active part in the discussion over the Rites. However it was not until they replaced the Jesuits at Peking, that the Lazarists got a firm footing in China. When the Society of Jesus was suppressed by Clement XIV, the offer of the succession was declined by the Missions Etrangeres of Pans, and was finally accepted, though not without reluctance, by the Lazarists, and confirmed by a Roman decree of December 7, 1783, approved of by King Louis XVI of France at Versailles, January 25, 1784. The superior general, Antoine Jacquier, chose for the new missions Nicolas-Joseph Raux (b. at Ohain, Hainault, April 14, 1754; d. November 16, 1801), Jean-Joseph Ghislain (b. at Salles, Diocese of Cambrai, May 5, 1751; d. August 12, 1812), and Brother Charles Portis. They arrived at Canton, August 29, 1784. Peking, however, had to be abandoned during the greater part of the nineteenth century, and was finally recovered after the war of 1860, by Bishop Joseph-Martial Mouly (b. at Figeac, August 2, 1807; d. December 4, 1868), Vicar Apostolic of Northern Chi-li. Monsignor Alphonse-Pierre Favier, a Lazarist, titular Bishop of Pentacomia (b. September 22, 1837), Vicar Apostolic of Peking during the Boxer rebellion, was one of the successors of Bishop Mouly. Among the remarkable Lazarists of China mention may be made of Joachim-Affonso Gonsalves (b. in Portugal, March 23, 1781; d. October 3, 1844), a great sinologist, author of “Arte China” and several grammars and dictionaries, and the celebrated naturalist Armand David (b. at Espalette, September 7, 1826; d. in Paris, November 10, 1900). The well-known traveller in Tibet, Evariste-Regis Hue (b. at Caylus, June 1, 1813; d. March, 1860), was also a Lazarist. In the vicariates administered by the Lazarists are a number of Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, who are devoted nurses in the hospitals. The Lazarists also have charge of the Work of the Holy Childhood, for the redemption of forsaken native children, with headquarters at Ting-hai (Chusan Island). The Lazarists have a procurator at Shanghai. Since 1832 they have published the “Annales de la Congregation de Ia Mission”. The headquarters of the mission are at Paris.

The Belgian Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Imm. Cord. B. M. V. de Scheutveld).—This congregation was established at Brussels by a retired military chaplain, Theophile Verbist (b. at Antwerp, 1823; d. in Mongolia, February 24, 1868). His first companion was Van Segvelt, and he was soon joined by Franccois. Vranckx and Verlinden, and later by Jacques Bax and Ferdinand Hamer, who were afterwards vicars Apostolic. The Belgian missions extend over Mongolia, Kan-su, and Central Asia. In February, 1889, this congregation established the periodical “Missions en Chine et au Congo”, published at Brussels in both French and Flemish. The headquarters of the missions are at Scheutveld near Brussels.

Foreign Missions of Milan (Sem. Mediol. Miss. Ext.).—A new seminary was established at Milan, July 31, 1850, by Monsignor A. Ramazzotti, later Bishop of Pavia, and Patriarch of Venice, with the help of Fathers Reina, Mazzucconi, Salerio, Ripamonti, and Giuseppe Marinoni (b. at Milan, October 11, 1810; d. January 27, 1891). The last named was the real founder of the order and its first director. The headquarters are at Milan.

Priests of Steyl (Sem. Steylen. pro Miss. Ext. Soc. Verbi Divini).—This congregation was founded in 1875 by Arnold Janssen, a priest of the Diocese of Munster (Westphalia), chaplain of the Ursuline sisters at Kempen (Rhenish Prussia), and editor of the “Kleiner Herz Jesu Bote”, at Steyl (Holland), near Tegelen and Venloo. The new German congregation obtained from the Franciscans the cession of part of Shan-tung of which Johann Baptist Anzer was appointed pro-vicar, January 2, 1882, and vicar Apostolic, December 22, 1885. When Bishop Anzer of Telepta died (November 24, 1903), he was replaced by Bishop Henninhaus. This mission is under German protectorate, with headquarters at Steyl.

The Seminary of Sts. Peter and Paul (Sem. SS. Apost. Petri et Pauli de Urbe), founded in Rome by Pius IX in 1874, has a small mission in Southern Shen-si.

PROTECTORATE.—The partition of the newly-found lands by the Holy See, at the end of the fifteenth century, assigned Asia to Portugal, which had the control of missionaries in China, by a Bull of Nicholas V (January 8, 1454). The first blow struck at this protectorate was the creation of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, by Gregory XV, June 22, 1622, and the appointment of two French vicars Apostolic in 1658. The next was the sending of five Jesuits to China, in 1685, by Louis XIV, who pledged himself to protect his subjects. The rivalry of Portugal and France in this mission field was no slight factor in the failure of the special mission of Cardinal de Tournon. Lazarists took the place of Jesuits at Peking, with the agreement of France. When the Portuguese bishop, Gaetao Pires, died at Peking, November 2, 1838, his country did not name a successor, and the place was taken by the French Lazarists and their bishop, Mouly. The French ambassador, Th. de Lane, signed a treaty at Whampoa, October 24, 1844, in which it is stipulated (art. XXIII) that the French shall have the right to establish churches, hospitals, schools, and cemeteries. Again in art. XIII of the French Treaty of T’ien-tsin, it was stipulated that protection should be granted to missionaries travelling with regular passports in the interior of China, and that all edicts against the Christian religion should be abrogated. By art. VI of the French Peking Convention of 1860, it was agreed that all the buildings confiscated by the Chinese should be restored to the Christians through the French Legation at Peking. The four churches of the capital (or their sites) were then surrendered to the French ambassador, Baron Gros, who issued passports to twenty-eight missionaries of various congregations and nationalities. Portugal did not protest or interfere, leaving France undisturbed in the exercise of her protectorate over all the missions in China.

On February 20, 1865, M. Berthemy, the French Minister at Peking, had a correspondence with the Tsung-li Yamen, with regard to the purchase of lands and houses by French missionaries. The question was definitely settled by M. Gerard, April 14, 1895, and the agreement is known as the “Berthemy Convention”. In 1885 an attempt was made to send a papal nuncio or legate to Pekin, but when France observed that it would interfere with her protectorate, Rome did not insist. In 1890-91, after lengthy negotiations with the Holy See and the German Bishop Anzer of Shan-tung, the German Government succeeded in having German missions placed under its protectorate. Of course France could not object to the protection given by a sovereign to his own subjects. Arrangements have also been made with Italy for the protection of Italian subjects, but the matter is not so simple in this case on account of the relations between the Italian Government and the Holy See. These claims have no practical effect on the protectorate of France, which, with the Missions Etrangeres of Paris, the Lazarists, and the French Jesuits, has the lion’s share in this immense field of evangelization.

HIERARCHY.—An important imperial decree of March 15, 1899, established on an official basis the relations between the Catholic clergy and the local authorities of China; the bishops were placed on an equal footing with the viceroys and the governors, the vicars-general ranked with the treasurers, provincial judges, and Tao-t ‘ai, priests with prefects. This decree was signed at the suggestion of Bishop Favier of Peking, but its wisdom has been much disputed.

PRESENT STATE OF THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS.—On April 27, 1879, the pope gave his approval to a resolution of Propaganda dividing the Chinese Empire into five ecclesiastical regions.

First Region, including the following vicariates Apostolic: In the Chi-li province: (I) South-Eastern Chi-li, erected 1856; under the care of the Jesuits, residence, Chang-kia-chwang, in the prefecture of Hokien; Vicar Apostolic Henri Maquet, appointed titular Bishop of Amathus in 1901; 49 priests, 20 native priests, 62,454 Christians, 8036 catechumens, 332 churches and chapels. (2) Northern Chi-li, erected 1856; under the Lazarists; residence, Peking; vicar Apostolic, Stanislas Jarlin, appointed titular Bishop of Pharbaetus in 1900; 43 priests, 54 native priests, 105,170 Christians, 20,000 catechumens, 456 churches and chapels. (3) South-Western Chi-li, erected 1856; under the Lazarists; residence, Cheng-ting; vicar Apostolic, Monsignor Brugniere, titular Bishop of Cina (d. 1907); 19 priests, 22 native priests, 44,500 Christians, 6530 catechumens, 344 churches or chapels. (4) Eastern Chi-li, erected December 23, 1899; under the Lazarists; residence, Yung-p’ing; vicar Apostolic, Ernest Francis Geurts, appointed titular Bishop of Rhinocolura in 1900; 9 priests, 1 native priest, 5823 Christians, 1000 catechumens, 25 churches and chapels. In the Ho-nan Province: Northern Ho-nan, erected 1869; under the priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan; residence, Wei-hwei; vicar Apostolic, Giovanni Menicatti, appointed titular Bishop of Tanis in 1903; 12 priests, 2 native priests, 5432 Christians, 3827 catechumens, 70 churches and chapels. In Manchuria: Southern Manchuria, erected 1898; under the priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris; residence, Mukden; vicar Apostolic, Felix-Marie Choulet, appointed titular Bishop of Zela in 1901; 32 priests, 8 native priests, 20,628 Christians, 6950 catechumens, 90 churches and chapels. (7) Northern Manchuria, erected May 10, 1898, under priests of the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris; residence, Kirin; vicar Apostolic, Pierre-Marie Lalouyer, appointed titular Bishop of Raphaneae in 1898; 25 priests, 8 native priests, 15,823 Christians, 8725 catechumens, 93 churches and chapels. In Mongolia: (8) Eastern Mongolia, erected December 21, 1883; priests of Scheutveld, Brussels; residence, Sung-tsoei-tze; vicar Apostolic, Conrad Abels, appointed titular Bishop of Lagania in 1897; 39 priests, 9 native priests, 17,466 Christians, 7100 catechumens, 47 churches and chapels. (9) Central Mongolia, erected December 21, 1883; priests of Scheutveld; residence, Si-wan-tze; vicar Apostolic, Jerome Van Aertselaer, appointed titular Bishop of Zarai in 1898; 47 priests, 23 native priests, 23,776 Christians, 6244 catechumens, 125 churches and chapels. (10) South-Western Mongolia, erected December 21, 1883; priests of Scheutveld; residence, San-tao-ho-tze; vicar Apostolic, Alphonse Bermyn, appointed titular Bishop of Stratonicea, in 1901; 47 priests, 1 native priest, 11,430 Christians, 4094 catechumens, 37 churches and chapels.

Second Region, including the following vicariates Apostolic: (I) Northern Kan-su, erected May 21, 1878; priests of Scheutveld; residence, Liang-chou; vicar Apostolic, Ubert Otto, appointed titular Bishop of Assur in 1891; 20 priests, 1 native priest, 2702 Christians, 233 catechumens, 23 churches and chapels. (2) Southern Kan-su (Pref. Ap.), erected April 28, 1905; priests of Scheutveld; residence, Ts’in-chou; prefect Apostolic, Evrard Terlaak; 12 priests, 3 native priests, 1106 Christians, 626 catechumens, 13 churches and chapels. (3) I-li or Kuldja (Mission), erected October 1, 1888; priests of Scheutveld; residence, I-li; superior of the mission, Jean-Baptiste Steeneman; 6 priests, 300 Christians, 2 churches and chapels. (4) Northern Shen-si, erected 1844; Franciscans; residence, Kaolin-hien, near Si-ngan-fu; vicar Apostolic, Athanasius Goette, appointed titular Bishop of Lampa in 1905; 14 priests, 26 native priests, 24,100 Christians, 5000 catechumens, 203 churches and chapels. (5) Southern Shen-si, erected July 6, 1887; priests from the Seminary of Sts. Peter and Paul, Rome; residence, Ku-lu-pa; vicar Apostolic, Pio Giuseppe Passerini, appointed titular Bishop of Achantus in 1895; 16 priests, 2 native priests, 11,489 Christians, 6305 catechumens, 56 churches and chapels. (6) Northern Shan-si, erected February 3, 1844; Franciscans; residence, T’ai-yuan; vicar Apostolic, Agapito Augusto Fiorentini, appointed titular Bishop of Rusaddir in 1902; 15 priests, 16 native priests, 18,200 Christians, 7302 catechumens, 174 churches and chapels. (7) Southern Shan-si, erected June 17, 1890; Franciscans; residence, Lu-ngan, vicar Apostolic, Albert Oderic Timmer, appointed titular Bishop of Drusipara in 1901; 26 priests, 6 native priests, 14,316 Christians, 7926 catechumens, 133 churches and chapels. (8) Northern Shan-tung, erected 1839; Franciscans; residence, Tsi-nan; vicar Apostolic, Ephrem Giesen, appointed Bishop of Paltus in 1902; 26 priests, 19 native priests, 23,568 Christians, 15,735 catechumens, 187 churches and chapels. (9) Eastern Shan-tung, created February 16, 1894; Franciscans; residence, Chefu; vicar Apostolic, Casar Schang, appointed titular Bishop of Vaga in 1894; 26 priests, 5 native priests, 9900 Christians, 1500 catechumens, 153 churches and chapels. (10) Southern Shan-tung, erected December 22, 1885; priests of Steyl; residence, Yen-thou; vicar Apostolic, August Henninghaus, appointed titular Bishop of Hypaepa in 1904; 46 priests, 12 native priests, 35,301 Christians, 36,367 catechumens, 131 churches and chapels.

Third Region, including the following vicariates Apostolic: (I) Che-kiang, erected 1696; reestablished 1845; Lazarists; residence, Ning-po; vicar Apostolic, Paul-Marie Reynaud, appointed titular Bishop of Fussola in 1884; 30 priests, 16 native priests, 25,126 Christians, 8633 catechumens, 153 churches and chapels. (2) Southern Ho-nan, erected August 28, 1882; priests from the Seminary of Milan; residence, Nan-yang; vicar Apostolic, Angelo Cattaneo, appointed titular Bishop of Hippus in 1905; 13 priests, 13 native priests, 12,000 Christians, 6000 catechumens, 83 churches and chapels. (3) Western Ho-nan (Pref. Ap.), erected January 22, 1906; Congregation of St. Francis Xavier of Parma; residence, Siang-ch’eng; prefect Apostolic, Lodovico Calza; 8 priests, 1055 Christians, 2000 catechumens, 8 churches and chapels. (4) Southern Hu-nan, erected 1856; Franciscans; residence, Sean-sa-van, near Heng-thou; vicar Apostolic, Pellegrino Luigi Mondaini, appointed titular Bishop of Synaus in 1902; 15 priests, 6 native priests, 6499 Christians, 1000 catechumens, 22 churches and chapels. (5) Northern Hu-nan, erected September 19, 1879; Augustinians; residence., She-men, near Li-chu; vicar Apostolic, Lodovico Perez y Perez, appointed titular Bishop of Corycus in 1896; 24 priests, 2 native priests, 2677 Christians, 3317 catechumens, 32 churches and chapels. (6) North-Western Hu-pe, erected 1870; Franciscans; residence, Lao-ho-k’ou; vicar Apostolic Fabiano Landi, appointed titular Bishop of Taenarum in 1904; 16 priests, 14 native priests, 17,211 Christians, 9400 catechumens, 75 churches and chapels. (7) South-Western Hu-pe, erected 1870; Franciscans; residence, I-ch’ang; vicar Apostolic, Modestus Everaerts, appointed titular Bishop of Tadama in 1904; 20 priests, 8 native priests, 10,546 Christians, 6384 catechumens, 75 churches and chapels. (8) Eastern Hu-pe, erected 1870; Francis-cans; residence, Wu-ch’ang; vicar Apostolic, Epifanio Carlassare, appointed titular Bishop of Madaura in 1884; 23 priests, 18 native priests, 24,792 Christians, 20,000 catechumens, 105 churches and chapels. (9) Kiang-nan or Nan-king, erected 1660; reestablished 1856; Jesuits; residence, Shanghai; vicar Apostolic, Prosper Paris, appointed titular Bishop of Silandus in 1900; 131 priests, 60 native priests, 164,088 Christians, 95,013 catechumens, 984 churches and chapels. (10) Northern Kiang-si, erected 1845; Lazarists; residence, Kiu-kang; vicar Apostolic, Paul-Louis Ferrant, appointed titular Bishop of Barbalissus in 1898; 18 priests, 4 native priests, 11,397 Christians, 8861 catechumens, 110 churches and chapels. (11) Southern Kiang-si, erected 1879; Lazarists; residence, Ki-ngan; vicar Apostolic, Auguste Coqset, appointed Bishop of Cardica in 1887; 15 priests, 6 native priests, 8637 Christians, 2932 catechumens, 43 churches and chapels. (12) Eastern Kiang-si, erected August 14, 1885; Lazarists; residence, Fu-thou; vicar Apostolic, Casimir Vic, appointed titular Bishop of Metellopolis in 1885; 21 priests, 10 native priests, 16,295 Christians, 3500 catechumens, 56 churches and chapels.

Fourth Region, including the following vicariates Apostolic: (I) Kwei-chou, erected 1708; reestablished 1847; priests of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Paris; residence, Kwei-yang; vicar Apostolic, Francois-Mathurin Guichard, appointed titular Bishop of Torone in 1884; 49 priests, 17 native priests, 24,018 Christians, 22,825 catechumens, 106 churches and chapels. (2) North-Western Sze-ch’wan, erected 1680; priests of the Paris seminary; residence, Ch’eng-tu; vicar Apostolic, Marie-Julien Dunand, appointed titular Bishop of Caloe in 1893; 39 priests, 45 native priests, 40,000 Christians, 8,672 catechumens, 105 churches and chapels. (3) Eastern Sze-ch’wan, erected 1860; priests of the Paris seminary; residence, Ch’ung-k’ing; vicar Apostolic, Celestin-Felix Chouvellon, appointed titular Bishop of Dansara in 1891; 48 priests, 41 native priests, 34,800 Christians, 17,000 catechumens, 103 churches and chapels. (4) Southern Sze-ch’wan, erected 1860; priests of the Paris seminary; residence, Sui-fu; vicar Apostolic, Marc Chatagnon, appointed titular Bishop of Chersonesus in 1887; 46 priests, 14 native priests, 26,000 Christians, 6000 catechumens, 40 churches and chapels. (5) Yun-nan, erected 1702; reestablished 1843; priests of the Paris seminary; residence, Yun-nan; 29 priests, 13 native priests, 10,390 Christians, 13,097 catechumens, 71 churches and chapels. (6) Tibet, erected 1846; priests of the Paris seminary; residence, Ta-tsien-lu (Sze-ch’wan); vicar Apostolic, Pierre-Philippe Giraudeau, appointed titular Bishop of Thynias in 1901; 15 priests, 1 native priest, 2050 Christians, 1000 catechumens, 14 churches and chapels.

Fifth Region, including the following vicariates Apostolic: (I) Fu-kien, erected 1696; Dominicans; residence, Fu-thou; vicar Apostolic, Salvator Masot, appointed titular Bishop of Avara in 1884; 37 priests, 16 native priests, 44,799 Christians, 25,806 catechumens, 116 churches and chapels. (2) Amoy, erected December 3, 1883; Dominicans; residence, Amoy; vicar Apostolic, Isidoro Clemente Gutierrez, appointed titular Bishop of Augila in 1900; 18 priests, 1 native priest, 4242 Christians, 4773 catechumens, 57 churches and chapels. (3) Hong-Kong, erected 1874; priests from the Seminary of Milan; vicar Apostolic, Domenico Pozzoni, appointed titular Bishop of Tavia in 1905; 12 priests, 10 native priests, 14,-195 Christians, 1000 catechumens, 73 churches and chapels. (4) Kwang-tung (Pref. Ap.), erected 1850; priests from the Seminary of Paris; residence, Canton; prefect Apostolic, Jean-Marie Merel, appointed titular Bishop of Orcistus in 1901; 67 priests, 15 native priests, 56,355 Christians, 480 churches and chapels. (5) Kwang-si (Pref. Ap.), erected August 6, 1875; priests of the Seminary of Paris; residence, Nan-ning; prefect Apostolic, Joseph-Marie Lavest, appointed titular Bishop of Sophene in 1900; 28 priests, 4 native priests, 3610 Christians, 4312 catechumens, 47 churches and chapels.

In the headquarters (procures) of the various missions twenty-three priests officiate in eight chapels and churches. There are six foreign and five native Trappists. Macao is the seat of a diocese. There are 38 vicariates Apostolic; 4 prefectures Apostolic, 1 mission (I-li), 1 diocese (Macao), with 1280 foreign and 577 native priests for 1,014,266 Christians. Mention should also be made of the Marist Brothers (Maristae) and many sisters, both foreign and native: Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul, of St. Joseph, of Providence of Portieux, of the Third Order of St. Francis, of Canossa, of St. Paul of Chartres; Servants of the Holy Ghost, Daughters of Purgatory, etc.; in the Vicariate of Kiang-nan there are 32 Carmelite Sisters (one house); 91 (33 native) Helpers of the Souls in Purgatory (3 houses); 31 Sisters of Charity; 9 Little Sisters of the Poor, and 173 Chinese girls. There is at Hong-Kong a Procurator General of Propaganda for Chinese and Indo-Chinese missions.

MANICHAEANS.—The Manichaeans were called by the Chinese Mo-ni, a transcription of Mani; they are mentioned as early as 631, and were intimately connected with the Uigurs, who suffered a crushing defeat, February 13, 843. No doubt as a result of this defeat, in the edict of 845, prohibiting all foreign religions, the Mo-ni are not mentioned. Probably it is the language of the Mo-ni, not that of the Nestorians or of the Mohammedans that is mentioned in the Kara-Balgasun inscription of the first half of the ninth century. However, a passage of the Chinese work, “Fo-tsu-t’ung-ki”, mentions the Mo-ni as “still existing in the Three Mountains”, on the right bank of the Yang-tze above Nan-king.

PROTESTANT MISSIONS.—The first Protestant (Ye-au-klao) worker among the Chinese was Joshua Marshman, though he did not go to China, his labors being carried on in Bengal, at Serampore, where he died December 7, 1837. The actual founder of the Protestant Missions to the Chinese was Robert Morrison (Ma Li-sun), born of Scottish parents at Buller’s Green, in Northumberland, January 5, 1782; he entered the London Missionary Society in 1805, commenced the study of Chinese in London with a Chinaman, Yong Sam-tak, and on January 31, 1807 he embarked for China via America. On September 4, he reached Macao, whence he proceeded to Canton, where he died, August 1, 1834. He published many works in Chinese and English, the best known of which is “A Dictionary of the Chinese Language”, published at Macao at the press of the East India Co. (1815-23). Morrison was followed by William Milne (b. 1785; d. June 2, 1822), principal of the Anglo-Chinese College of Malacca and Walter Henry Medhurst (b. April 29, 1796; d. January 24, 1857). In 1827 Karl Friedrich Giitzlaff (b. at Pyritz, Prussia, July 8, 1803; d. at Hong-Kong, August 9 1851) was sent to China by the Nederlandsch Zendelinggenootschap. On February 19, 1830, Elijah Coleman Bridgman (b. April 22, 1801, at Belchertown, Mass.; d. November 2, 1861) arrived, the first agent of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Then came (1834) William Dean, for the American Baptist Missionary Union; Henry Lock-wood (1835) for the Board of Foreign Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States; G. Tradescant Lay (1836), for the British and Foreign Bible Society; Edward B. Squire (1836) for the Church Missionary Society. In 1847 the German missions of Basle and the Rhine sent representatives. The China Inland Mission which is still in full vigour was started in 1862 by James Meadows. During the last few years American and Scandinavian missions have greatly increased.

Among the more noteworthy of Protestant missionaries not already named, the following may be mentioned; Americans: David Abeel (b. New Brunswick, N. J., June 12, 1804; d. September 4, 1846); S. W. Bonney (b. March 8, 1815, at New Canaan, Conn.; d. July 27, 1864); William Jones Boone (d. July 17, 1864), the first missionary bishop; Justus Doolittle (b. June 23, 1824; d. June 15, 1880); W. A. P. Martin, late President of the Peking University; Peter Parker (b. 1804; d. January 10, 1888), at one time American Minister to China; Samuel Wells Williams (b. at Utica, N. Y., September 22, 1812; d. February 16, 1884, at New Haven), the greatest of American sinologists, at one time U.S. Charge d’Affaires at Peking and towards the end of his life, Professor of Chinese at Yale University. British: Carstairs Douglas (b. December 27, 1820; d. at Amoy, July 20, 1877); Joseph Edkins (d. April 23, 1905), the author of innumerable books and papers on China; Griffith John (b. 1831); James Legge (b. at Huntly, Aberdeenshire, December 20, 1815; d. November 29, 1897), the great scholar, and translator of the Chinese classics; Arthur Evans Moule (arrived in China in 1861); J. Hudson Taylor (b. May 21, 1832; d. June 3, 1905), who gave a great impulse to the China Inland Mission; Alexander Wylie (b. April 6, 1815; d. February 6, 1887), bibliographer and historian; the German, Ernst Faber (b. April 25, 1839; d. September 26, 1899); the Swede, Th. Hamberg (d. May 13, 1854).

Medical missions, including the establishment of general and ophthalmic hospitals have no doubt greatly helped to develop Protestant missions. These were at first established at the treaty ports only, but now they have spread into the interior of the country, mainly through the medium of the China Inland Mission.

The Protestant missions suffered greatly during the Boxer rebellion (1899-1900), losing 188 members, (100 Englishmen, 56 Swedes, 32 Americans): in Shan-si and beyond (159), Chi-li (17), Che-kiang (11), and Shan-tung (I). These provinces belonged mainly to the China Inland Mission, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the American Board, etc. At various times no less than 111 societies have had representatives in China, more than half having begun their work between 1887 and 1907. In 1876 there were 29 societies working in China, which by 1906 had risen to 82. The question of Rites has been raised among the Protestant missionaries under the name of the “Term Question”, because of the lack of unity in the choice of a term to express the Deity: Shin, T’ien-shin, T’ien-chu, etc. being proposed. Shang-ti seems to meet the approval of the majority. The Bible or portions of the Bible have been translated under the auspices of the three Bible societies, British and Foreign, American, and the National Society of Scotland, into the following dialects: Mandarin, Fu-chou, Canton, Shanghai, Su-thou, Hakka, Swatow (printed in Chinese characters); Ning-po, Fuchou, Amoy, Mandarin, Kien-ning, T’ai-chou, Shanghai, Hakka, Swatow, Hai-nan, Hing-hwa, Wen-thou, Kien-yang, Canton, Peking, Shan-tung, Su-chou (in Roman characters). In 1900 the publications of the Chinese agencies of the three Bible societies amounted to 1,523,930 copies of the whole Bible or portions thereof (991,300 in Mandarin, 291,900 in simple Wen-li, 187,000 in classical Chinese, etc.). The well-known periodical “The Chinese Repository” was edited from May, 1832 to December, 1851 (20 vols.), at Canton, by two American missionaries, E. C. Bridgman and his successor, S. W. Williams. The “Chinese Recorder”, started in May, 1868, at Fu-chou by the Rev. S. L. Baldwin has been conducted at Shanghai since January, 1874. On the January 1, 1903, according to “The Encyclopaedia of Missions” (Dwight, Tupper, and Bliss), Protestant missions in China (including Manchuria) included 2708 foreign missionaries, 5700 native workers, 3316 places of religious worship, 1570 elementary schools, 129 high schools, 138 hospital dispensaries, 24 printing establishments, 144,237 professing Christians. According to the “Shanghai Mercury” the number of foreign workers (men and women), which in 1876 had been 473, was on December 31, 1907, 3833; the total number of baptized Christians and catechumens being 256,779.

RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION.—This mission was begun by thirty-one Russians, made prisoners at the time of the first siege of Albasin (July 7, 1684), and taken to Peking with the “Pope” Maxim Leontieff. The first mission was started in 1715 by the Archimandrite Hilarion, accompanied by a “pope” and a deacon; the mission is first mentioned in a diplomatic document, Article 5 of the treaty signed in 1727 by Count Vladislavitch; the “popes” never tried to make converts; they simply acted as chaplains to the Albasin refugees and later also to the Russian embassy. Between 1852 and 1866 the members of this mission issued four volumes of memoirs relating to various Chinese subjects; two of the “popes” have left a name in Chinese studies, Father Yakluf Bichurin and the Archimandrite Palladius, compiler of a very valuable dictionary. The Russian mission suffered much during the Boxer rebellion, and its valuable library was destroyed.

JEWS IN CHINA.—The first mention of Jews (Tiaokin-kiao) in China is found in the records of the Jesuit missionaries of Peking. At the beginning of the seventeenth century a young Israelite, Ngai, on paying a visit (1605) to Matteo Ricci, declared that he worshipped one God, and seeing at the mission a picture representing the Virgin with the Child Jesus, he believed it was Rebecca with Esau or Jacob. He stated that he came from K’ai-feng, the capital of Ho-nan, where his brethren resided. However, the Jews, often taken for the Hwei-hwei, or Mohammedans, had been mentioned under the name of Chu-hu in the Chinese Annals (Yuan-shi) of 1329, for the first time, and again in 1354. Ricci sent to K’aifeng a Chinese Jesuit, who was followed later on by Giulio Aleni (1613), Gozani (1704), Gaubil, and Domenge. Finally it was discovered that these Jews had a synagogue (Li-pai-sze), looking to the East, and possessed many books. Facsimiles of some of the books were made at Shanghai in 1851. Three tablets bearing inscriptions have been found at K’aifeng: (I) The oldest, dated 1489, commemorated the reconstruction of the synagogue Ts’ing-chen-sze, states that seventy Jewish families arrived in China at the court of the Sung (960 to 1278). (2) The second, dated 1512, placed in the synagogue Ts’uenchong-tao-king-sze, was taken to China under the Han dynasty. (3) The third, dated 1663, commemorating the rebuilding of the synagogue Ts’ingchen-sze, says that the Jewish religion had its origin in India and was introduced into China at the time of the Chou (1122-955 B.C.), which is manifestly wrong. The Jews came to China through Persia after the capture of Jerusalem by Titus, during the first century of the Christian Era, under the Emperor Ming-ti of the Han dynasty. This statement is based upon oral tradition. Professor Chavannes writes that the Jews came to China from India by sea under the Sung dynasty, between 960 and 1126 (Revue de Synthese historique, December, 1900). Father Joseph Brucker, after reading carefully Ricci’s original manuscripts, finds that his informer, Ngai, stated that there were but ten or twelve families at K’ai-feng, where they had been settled but five or six hundred years, and that they were much more numerous at Hangchou (Etudes, November 20, 1907). This seems to confirm the theory of Chavannes and the text of the inscription of 1489: the arrival of the Jews at the court of the Sung, which was Lin-ngan, or Hangchou. The Jews call themselves Tiao-kin-kiao (the sect which extracts the sinew), referring to the struggle of Jacob with the Angel (Genesis, xxxii, 32); they suffered greatly and were scattered during the T’aip’ing rebellion (1857). They have since gone back to their old seat, but they are neither numerous nor prosperous.

MOHAMMEDANS (Hwei-hwei-kiao).—The first mention of the Arabs, called Ta-shi, is found in the annals of the T’ang dynasty (618-907); in 713 there is a record in China of a Ta-shi ambassador. In 758 a large Mohammedan colony, settled at Canton, rebelled, burnt their houses, and fled by sea. They had a large mosque (Hwei-sheng-sze), built under the T’ang dynasty, which was destroyed by fire in 1343, and rebuilt in 1349-51; only the ruins of a tower mark the site of the first building. Two inscriptions of the sixteenth century refer to the mosques of Nan-king; one of the same date was found at Si-ngan-fu, as well as the following which is considered apocryphal by some savants. Palladius writes (Russian Mission, IV, 438) that a Mohammedan tablet was discovered at Si-ngan-fu bearing the date A.D. 742, and recording the fact that during the reign of the Sui emperor, K’aihwang (581-600) Islamism penetrated into China. The difficulty is to make this date tally with the Hegira (622). It is the belief of the writer that the introduction of Islam was gradual. The adherents were first known as Ta-shi (Arabs), but have since been known as Hwei-hwei. They paid tribute to the chief of the Si Liao or Kara K’itai and in the twelfth century there was a regiment of Hwei-hwei in the Kin army. Many distinguished Mohammedans served in the Mongol armies, among them Nasruddin, who was governor of Yun-nan. In the fourteenth century some of the Mongol chiefs, Barak Khan, Kabak Khan, and finally the Khakan Tughluk Timur, embraced Islamism. The influence of Mohammedanism in Central Asia rose as the Mongol authority was declining. The Arab geographer, Abu’lfeda, mentions the following cities of China (Sin): Khanfu (Hang-chou), Khandju, Yandju (Yang-chou), Zaitun (Ts’ean-chou), Khangu, Sila (Korea), Khadjou, Sankdju (Su-chou). The city of Si-ngan was called Khamdan. Ibn Batuta (fourteenth century) visited Sin Kalan (Canton), and remarks that in every city of China there was always a sheikh ul islam and a cadi to act as judges among the Mussulmans. The Arabs called the Chinese emperor Faghfur, an alteration of the Persian Baghpur (Son of God), equivalent to “Son of Heaven“. China was Chin or Mahachin, sometimes Tung-t’u, “Land of the East”.

An imperial edict, dated May 4, 1729, says of the Mohammedans: “They muster strongest in Shen-si, and there they are persecuted more than anywhere else, on account of their clubbing together to gamble, their secreting weapons, and various other illegal acts. There they also give expression unreservedly to their wrath about the imperial decrees forbidding the slaughter of horned cattle, which are so indispensable to agriculture. They should therefore be constantly reminded to be kind and tolerant” (De Groot). In 1648 a rebellion broke out in Kan-su in the part west of the Hwang-ho, and the Mohammedans occupied the fus of Kan-thou, Liang-chou, Min-chou, etc. Su-thou was retaken in 1649 by the imperial troops and the rebel leader, Ting Kwo-tung, was killed with his followers. In 1781 the black-turbaned Salar Mussulmans dwelling at Si-ning, east of Ku-ku-nor, killed the prefect of Kan-chou, took Ho-chou, and besieged Lan-chou. Imperial troops were called from all parts of the empire, and after a fierce resistance and great bloodshed, the chief, Tien Wu, was killed and other leaders were exiled (1784) to Hai-nan. New difficulties arose in August, 1789, and a number of Moslems were sent to Hehlung-kiang, as slaves to the Tatars. They rebelled again in 1861, 1862, and 1895. In this region they are divided into “white-capped” Hwei-hwei, who burn incense as the other Chinese do, and the “black capped” Hwei-hwei, or Salar, who condemn this practice as pagan, and are more fanatical. These live at Salar Pakun, in the vicinity of Ho-chou.

In 1855 a quarrel between Mussulmans and Chinese miners working near Ta-li in the Yun-nan province, was the occasion of a general rising of all the Mohammedans of the region under two chiefs, Ma Te-sing and Ma-hien, who submitted in 1860, though they were victorious. However, a young chief, Tu Wensiu, established himself as a sultan in the stronghold of Ta-li, where he resisted the imperial troops until January 19, 1873, when a wholesale massacre of Mohammedans took place. In 1863 another great rebellion broke out in the T’ien-shan region, or Ili, which had been conquered for the empire by K’ien Lung in 1759. Burzuk Khan, a descendant of the ancient chieftains, with the help of Yakub, an adventurer, taking advantage of the difficult position of the Chinese, captured the territory south of T’ien-shan. Eventually Yakub replaced his chief, assumed his title of Ameer, and founded a short-lived empire which came to an end with the death of Yakub and the capture by General Tso Tsung-tang of Aksu, the capital (October 19, 1877), Yarkand (December 21, 1877), Kashgar (December 26, 1877), and Khotan (January 4, 1878).

Though some Chinese Mohammedan pilgrims probably visited Mecca between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, there is no mention of them in Chinese literature dealing with Islam. This does not date further back than 1681. The land-route of later hadjis (pilgrims) to Arabia ran through Kia-yukwan, Hami, Turfan, Aksu, Andijan, Khokand, Samarkand, Bokhara, Charjui, Meshed, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Bagdad, Mossul, Diarbekir, Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo. Some embarked at-Jaffa; others in Mekran. After leaving Bokhara they passed through Balkh, Tash-kurgan, Kabul, Kandahar, Kelat. The sea routes were through Ava to Rangoon, or Po-se and the Si-kiang. Of course with the facilities of modern navigation the sea-route is much used. The writer has known one of these hadjis. He could recite the Koran, though he did not understand what he said, nor could he read Arabic. Mohammedans have many mosques in the large cities of the empire, some of great importance at Peking, Si-ngan, Hang-chou, Canton, etc. In form they are much like Chinese temples, Arabic inscriptions being their characteristic feature. Many Moslems are officials of the empire, some occupying high positions, especially in the army. No accurate statistics are obtainable. According to M. Dabry, who is, however, a very unreliable author, there are in China between twenty and twenty-two million Mussulmans, of whom 8,350,000 are in Kan-su, 6,500,000 in Shen-si, 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 in Yunnan. According to A. H. Keane, the numbers reach 30,000,000. Sara Chandra Das places them at 50,000,000, while the late Dr. Andrew Rapper brings the figures down to 3,000,000.

HISTORY.—The question of the origin of the Chinese has been discussed by several foreign savants: J. Edkins (China’s Place in Philology) seeks in Armenia or Mesopotamia a common origin of European and Asiatic languages. Gust. Schlegel (Sinico-Aryaca) made a comparison between the primitive roots of the Chinese and Aryan languages; the theory of an Egyptian origin has found favor with Kircher, Mairan, De Guignes, and Pauthier. Terrien de Lacouperie has pushed to the limit the theory of so-called Bak tribes migrating from Elam to the banks of the Hwang-ho, 2500 B.C., and taking with them the civilization of what was later China. The foundations of these clever and lightly-built theories are slight; the only alternative is to follow Chinese tradition with its legends.

The first man was P’an-ku, the Chinese Adam, followed by the thirteen celestial kings, T’ien-wang, the eleven terrestrial kings, Ti-wang, and the nine human kings, Jen-wang. These ages comprise the first eight of the ten periods or K’i, into which Chinese historians divide the early history of their country. Next come the Five Sovereigns: Fu-hi, inventor of the art of writing; Shin-nung, who invented the plough and taught the art of husbandry; Hwang-ti, inventor of the fine arts, of ships, etc., whose wife taught men to raise silk worms and to weave silk; Shao-hao, who established the different classes of civil and military officials; Chuen hiu, author of the calendar. These were followed by the two great emperors, the sages of China, Yao (2357-2257 B.C.), during whose reign occurred the great flood, and Shun. Yu; chosen by Shun as his successor, founded the first or Hia dynasty (2205 B.C.), which comprised seventeen sovereigns, under whom the monarchy became hereditary. The last emperor, Ti-kwei, fled to Nan-chao.—The second dynasty, known first as the Shang (1766 B.C.) and after 1401 B.C. as the Yin, comprised twenty-eight sovereigns, and was founded by Ch’eng-t’ang. The last prince, Chou, was burnt to death (1122).—The third or Chou dynasty, which began in 1122 B.C. and comprised thirty-eight sovereigns, was founded by Wu-wang, son of Wen-wang, and brother of Chou-kung. Under this dynasty appeared Confucius, Mencius, and Lao-tze. At the end of this dynasty China was divided into nine small states. Of these states only Han and Ts’in lasted for any length of time. The dynasty of Ts’in prevailed over the other states.—The fourth or Ts’in dynasty, dating from 249 B.C. and comprising four sovereigns, was founded by Chwan Siang-wang, who reigned but three years. His son, Prince Cheng (246), in the twenty-sixth year of his reign assumed the title of Shi Hwang-ti (first universal emperor), the sovereign having been hitherto styled Wang. Shi Hwang-ti may be considered as having consolidated China, doing away with the old feudal states, and dividing the empire into thirty-six kiun. To stop the incursions of the Hiung-nu he built the Great Wall of China (Wan-li-ch’ang-ch’eng, or wall 10,000 lis long), which extends from Chi-li to Kan-su. The three principal passes through the Great Wall are the Shan-hai-kwan Pass, at the eastern extremity, the Chang-kia-k’ou (Kalgan) Pass, and the Kia-yu Pass at the extreme west. Shi Hwang-ti ordered all books to be burnt, to suppress all traces of former dynasties.—His house was short-lived, and Liu-pang, Prince of Han, under the dynastic title of Kao-ti or Kao Tsu, founded the fifth or Han dynasty (206 B.C.), which comprised twenty-five sovereigns. This was a period of reconstruction. The classics were collected again; Buddhist works were introduced into the empire; relations were begun with the Roman Empire; the penal code was compiled; and examinations established. In A.D. 25 Kwang Wu-ti (Kien-wu) transferred the capital from Ch’ang-ngan to Lo-yang, and the dynasty called the Former Han (Ts’ien Han) or Si Han (Western Han) became the Hou Han (After Han) or Twig Han (Eastern Han).—Sixth dynasty: In 220, under the reign of Chao Lieh-ti, the empire was divided into three kingdoms (San-kwo-chi).—The three dynasties include: (I) the Minor Han in Shu (Sze-ch’wan); (2) the Wei, at Lo-yang; and (3) the Wu at Kien-kang (Nan-king). General Se Ma-shao having subjugated China, his son under the title of Wu-ti founded at Lo-yang the Western Tsin (265).—The eighth dynasty, which became the Eastern Tsin (317), or ninth dynasty, when the capital was removed to Nan-king. These Tsin dynasties comprised fifteen sovereigns. Emperor Kung Ti having been killed by Liu Yu, the murderer established at Nan-king the Sung dynasty (420).

This is the “period of division between North and South” (Nan Pe Ch’ao), and there were various dynasties: the Sung (420) at Hang-thou; the Ts’i, at Nan-king, the Liang, the Ch’en, the Northern Wei (House of Toba, 386-532 at Ta-tung and later at Lo-yang), the Western Wei, Eastern Wei (end of dynasty, 550), the Northern Ts’i, and Northern Chou. Finally, the minister Yang-kien restored order, destroyed the Ch’en (583), and under the name of Wen-ti founded at Ch’ang-ngan the Sui dynasty (590), which comprised three kings. In 618 Kung Ti T’ung was deposed by Li Yuan, who established at Ch’ang-ngan (Shensi) the great dynasty of T’ang (620-907), comprising twenty sovereigns, restored order, and gave to the empire a period of unrivalled prosperity. The Empress Wu-hou (684-705) who usurped the government, under Jui Tsung, was followed by a long series of weak princes, which led to the fall of this once brilliant dynasty. Then came the period of anarchy and civil wars called Wu-tai (five generations) or Ten States: Posterior Liang (907-21) at Lo-yang; Posterior T’ang (923-34), at Lo-yang; Posterior Tsin (936-44), at Pien-liang (K’ai-feng); Posterior Han (947-48), at Pien-liang; Posterior Chou (951-60), at Pai-liang. Finally, after the death of Kung-ti, Chao Kwang-in was proclaimed emperor, and founded the Sung dynasty (960-1280), which comprised eighteen sovereigns. The Sung were attacked by the Eastern Tatars or K’itans of Tungusic (Tatar) origin, who founded in Northern China a dynasty, under Ye-liu A-pao-ki (907), which assumed in 937 the dynastic title of Liao. The capital of the Liao was at first Liao-yang, in Liao-tung, and was transferred by A-pao-ki to Yen-king (Pe-king). They were expelled by another Tungusic tribe, the Ju-chen or Niu-chen (1125), and retired to Kashgaria, where they created the empire of Karak’itai or Si-liao from the territory of the Karakhanides; the Niu-chen, at first vassals of Korea, became independent under Hien-phu. Their chief, Aguda (O-ko-ta), founded the Kin dynasty (1113) His successor compelled the Sung to leave their capital K’ai-feng, and their emperor Kao Tsung retired to Hang-thou, called Lin-ngan (1129). China was then divided into two empires. The northern, or Kin, with the capital at Yen-king (Peking) was Cathay; the southern was the Nan-sung. The latter was also known as Manzi (Man-tze). The Mongols destroyed both empires, the Kin in 1234, and the Sung in 1280.

The Mongol or Yuen dynasty (1280-1368) comprised ten sovereigns. Jenghiz, the first great Khan, established his capital at Karakorum (Ho-lin); he died August 18, 1227. His successors were Ogotai, Cuyuk (1246), Mangku (1251), Kublai (1260). The first real Chinese emperor of the dynasty (1280) was Kublai, known also under the names of Chung T’ung and Che-yuan. He transferred his capital to Cambaluc (Peking) and undertook an unsuccessful war against Japan, but was more fortunate against Mien (Burma). This is the period of successful Catholic missionaries, such as John of Montecorvino, and of great travellers like Marco Polo. In 1356, Chu, a Buddhist monk, rebelled, took Nan-king (1356), and under the title of Hung Wu founded the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), which included sixteen sovereigns. The third emperor, Yung-lo, transferred the capital from Nan-king to Peking. In 1514 the Portuguese arrived in China. The weakness of the last Ming emperors caused rebellions. One of the rebel chiefs, Li Tze-ch’ing, who had subjugated Ho-nan and Shen-si, captured Peking, and Emperor Ts’ung Cheng hanged himself in despair (1643). But the faithful general, Wu San-kwei, who was at the head of the imperial troops in Liao-tung, called the Manchus to the rescue. For many years the Tatars had threatened the empire. Their chief; Ts’ung Teh, son of T’ien Ming, defeated Li. Shun Che, the son of Ts’ung Teh, entered Peking and founded the Ts’ing dynasty, the dynasty now reigning over China. Shun Che, the first emperor, was succeeded in 1662 by his son, the illustrious K’ang-hi, who after a short minority took charge of the empire. He had many struggles to sustain in Fu-kien and Formosa against Koxinga, the rebellious Wu San-kwei, and the Kalmuks (Eleuths). Arts and letters were prosperous during this reign. In 1716 K’ang-hi published the celebrated dictionary “K’ang-hi Tze-tien”, including 44,449 characters, classed under 214 radicals. K’ang-hi died December 20, 1722, and was succeeded by his fourth son, Yung Cheng (1723-36), who persecuted the Christians. The fourth emperor, K’ien Lung (1736-96), son of Yung Cheng, annexed T’ien shan (1759), carried on an unsuccessful war against the Burmese, subjugated the Miao-tze (1775), and established Chinese power in Tibet. He abdicated on February 8, 1796, in favor of his son, Kia K’ing, and died February 7, 1799. Kia K’ing’s reign (1796-1820) was marked by internal troubles; the members of the secret society of Pei Lien-kiao seized the imperial palace at Peking, July 18, 1813. Kia K’ing died September 2, 1820, and was succeeded by Tao Kwang (1821-51), during whose reign began the T’ai P’ing rebellion. This reign and the following, those of Hien Fung (1851-61), T’ung Che (1861-75), and Kwang Siu (b. August 15, 1871), will be treated in the section on the foreign relations of China.

FOREIGN RELATIONS.—Some commentators have found China in this passage of Isaias (A. V., xlix, 12): “these from the land of Sinim”. Ptolemy divides Eastern Asia into the country of Singe and Serice, north of Sinm, with its chief city Sera. Strabo, Virgil, Horace, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ammianus Marcellinus, speak of the Seres, and they are mentioned by Florus among the nations which sent special embassies to Rome at the time of Augustus. The Chinese called the eastern part of the Roman Empire (Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor) Ta Ts’in, Fu-lin during the Middle Ages. The monk Cosmas had a correct idea of the position of China (sixth century). The Byzantine writer, Theophylactus Simocatta (seventh century), gives an account of China under the name Taugas. There is a Chinese record of a Roman embassy in A.D. 166. The sea voyages of Arabs and the pilgrimages of Chinese Buddhists to India have thrown considerable light on the geography of Asia during the Middle Ages.

The voyage of Vasco da Gama (1497) and the capture of Malacca by Albuquerque opened the Far East to the Portuguese, who arrived at Canton in 1514; Perestrello came in 1516; Fernao Perez de Andrade followed in 1517 with Thomas Pires, but the misconduct of Simon de Andrade caused the expulsion of the Portuguese from Canton (1521) and the destruction of the fleet of Coutinho (1522); the Portuguese establishments of Liampo (1545) and Changchou (1549) were completely destroyed, and the inhabitants massacred. Finally, the Portuguese settled on the island of Hiang-shan at Macao, either in 1553 or in 1557. The Dutch commander, Cornelis Reyersz, took the Pescadore Islands in 1624; but after an agreement made with the Chinese (February 19, 1625), Martin Souk, the governor, transferred the Dutch colony to Tai-wan (Formosa), where it was captured by the Chinese pirate, Koxinga (1661). The capture in 1592 of the Portuguese carrack, Madre de Dios, gave the English the secret of the East-Indian Trade. In 1596 three ships, the Bear, the Bear’s Whelp, and the Benjamin, under the command of Benjamin Wood, were fitted out at the expense of Robert Dudley, and Queen Elizabeth wrote a letter (July 16) to the Emperor of China in favor of the London merchants Richard Allen and Thomas Broomfield. The expedition, however, never reached China. The first English vessel that visited China reached there by accident. It was the Unicorn which, going from Bantam to Japan, was cast by a storm on the coast of Macao at the end of June, 1620. In 1634 Captain Weddell explored the Canton River. The first English Company organized for the purpose of trading with India, commonly called the “Old Company”, was incorporated by Queen Elizabeth, December 31, 1600, under the title of “The Governour and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies”. The “English Company (or General Society) trading to the East Indies” also called the “New Company” was incorporated by William III, September 5, 1698, and the two were amalgamated in 1708-9 by Queen Anne, under the title of “The United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies”, commonly known as “the Honorable East India Company”.

The Russians crossed the Ural Mountains in the middle of the sixteenth century under Ivan IV, and subjugated Siberia; from the Lena River they passed, in 1642, into the basin of the Amur. Stepanof, one of their chiefs, met the Chinese for the first time in 1654, when exploring the Sungari River. After withstanding two sieges of their principal fort, Albasin, the Russians signed a treaty with the Chinese at Nerchinsk (August 27, 1689), which destroyed their influence in the region of Amur, and from which they did not recover until the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1727 Count Sava Vladislavitch signed a treaty regulating the inland trade between the two countries.

In 1660 the French organized a “Compagnie de Chine” which in 1664 was amalgamated with the “Compagnie des Indes”, which gave up its China privileges in 1697-98 to “Compagnie Jourdan, la Coulange et Cie”, which made Canton a trading center. New companies were organized for the commerce of China in October, 1705, and November, 1712. Finally, in 1719, all the companies were merged into the “Compagnie des Indes”, whose privilege was suspended in 1769, and which was finally dissolved April 6, 1770. A new “Compagnie des Indes” was incorporated April 14, 1785, and dissolved April 3, 1790. A French consulate was established at Canton February 3, 1776. The Danes had two companies organized in 1612 and 1670. Austria was represented by the Ostend Company, incorporated December 17, 1722, and the Triest Company: Prussia had the Emden Company. In 1627 a Swedish company was organized; in 1655 Nils Matson Kioping visited China. On June 14, 1731, a charter was granted by King Frederick of Sweden to a company organized at Gothenburg. The first American commercial expedition to China was undertaken by the Empress of China, a vessel commanded by John Green, which sailed from New York for Canton, February 22, 1784.

Trading was carried on at Canton through privileged merchants called Hong merchants, whose council, called Co-hong, was incorporated in 1720. Their number varied, but never exceeded thirteen. The foreign merchants traded in thirteen hongs, or factories, extending about 300 feet from the banks of the Pearl River, and about 1000 feet broad. The Hong merchants, hard pressed by the Hoppo, or custom mandarin, ran into debt with the foreign merchants. A visit of Commodore Anson (1742), a special mission of Captain Panton, even a transfer of business to another part of the empire, did not remedy the numerous grievances of Europeans, who were not allowed to reside permanently at Canton, but were compelled to retire to Macao when business was done. The English sent an embassy, headed by Lord Macartney, in the Lion and the Hindostan. Macartney reached Peking, August 21, 1793, but did not obtain permission for the English to trade at Chusan, Ning-po, and T’ien-tsin, or to have a warehouse at Peking for their goods. Macartney’s voyage cost £80,000 (about $380,000), but was without result. Still less successful was the embassy of Lord Amherst (1816). Lord Napier, who was sent on a special mission in 1833-4, died worn out by his negotiations. Grievances continued to increase year after year, until the destruction (June, 1839) of 20,283 chests of opium by Commissioner Lin brought matters to a climax.

On June 9, 1840, a blockade of the Canton Riverwas proclaimed by Admiral Sir John Gordon Bremer Ting-hai (Chusan) was captured, July 7, 1841. Sir Henry Pottinger was now appointed plenipotentiary, and Sir William Parker commander-in-chief. Amoy was captured August 27, Ning-po October 13, 1841, Shanghai, June 16, 1842, and the British squadron entered the Ta-kiang (Yang-tze). Finally a treaty of thirteen articles was signed at Nan-king by Pottinger and Ki-ying, August 29, 1842, on board the Cornwallis. Canton, Amoy, Fu-thou, Ning-po, and Shanghai were to be opened to trade, and consuls appointed to reside at each of these cities. The island of Hong-Kong was ceded to Great Britain, and indemnities were paid: $6,000,000 for the opium seized, $12,000,000 for the expenses of war, and $3,000,000 for the debts of the Hong merchants, whose guild was abolished. The United States and France followed the example of Great Britain. A treaty was signed with the United States at Wanghia, near Macao, July 3, 1844, by Caleb Cushing, and one with France by Theodose de Lagrene at Whampoa, October 24, 1844. An agreement with Belgium was signed at Canton, July 25, 1845, and a treaty with Norway and Sweden, March 20, 1847. The Chusan Archipelago was surrendered to the Chinese in 1847 by Sir John F. Davis, governor of Hong-Kong. Hong-Kong had been declared a free port, February 6, 1842 to the great damage of Macao.

The advantages, however, obtained through the Treaty of Nan-king were soon found insufficient. The murder of the French priest Chapdelaine in Kwang-si (February 26, 1856) and the seizure at Canton of the lorcha Arrow (October 8, 1856) by the Chinese furnished the pretext for a joint action of England and France against China. The bombardment of Canton (27-October 29, 1856), the great rebellion in India (May, 1857), the appointment of Lord Elgin and Baron Gros as envoys to China by the two belligerents, the capture of Canton (December 29, 1857) and of the Taku forts (May 20, 1858), are the chief events which preceded the signing of the English (June 26) and French (June 27, 1858) treaties of T’ien-tsin. These treaties permitted the appointment of French and English ambassadors to Peking, and allowed the Chinese a like privilege of appointing ambassadors at the Court of St. James and the Court of Paris, provided for the opening of the ports of New-chwang, Tang-thou (Che-fu), Tai-wan (Formosa), Chao-chou (Swatow), and Kiung-chou (Hai-nan), granted an indemnity of 2,000,000 taels for damages to the British and a like sum to both powers for war expenses, besides an indemnity to French subjects for the loss sustained through plunder, when Canton was taken, and guaranteed the punishment of the murderer of Father Chapdelaine.

On the 25th of June, 1859, the plenipotentiaries, Bruce and Bourboulon, who were on their way to Peking to have these treaties ratified, were fired upon by the Taku forts. A second war ensued. Elgin and Gros were appointed special envoys to China; Sir Hope Grant and Admiral Hope, General de Montauban and Admiral Charner were placed in command of the British and French land and naval forces. The forts of Taku were recaptured (August 21, 1860). The allies marched past T’ien-tsin, and, after withstanding a treacherous attack by the Chinese at Tung-chou (September 18, 1860), they forced a passage across the Pa-li-k’iao bridge (September 21), and captured the Summer Palace (Yuan-ming-yuan), October 6, which was plundered. Wan-shou-shan, another part of the imperial summer resort, was burnt by order of Lord Elgin (October 18) on account of the barbarous treatment inflicted upon the European prisoners taken in the dastardly attack at Tung-chou. The emperor fled to Shehol, and his brother, Prince Kung, who had remained at Peking, signed the Conventions of 24 and October 25, 1860, with the allies. The indemnity was raised to 8,000,000 taels, and Kow-loon, opposite Hong-Kong, was ceded to England as a dependency of this island. A like indemnity was to be paid to France, and T’ien-tsin was to be opened to trade. Meanwhile a treaty had been made at T’ientsin with the United States (June 18, 1858), signed by William B. Reed, and one with Russia (June 13, 1858) signed by Admiral Putiatin, and another treaty was made with Russia at Peking (9-November 14, 1860), and signed by General Ignatiev. A still earlier treaty had been made with Russia at Aigun (May 16, 1858) and signed by Muraviev. The final result of these various treaties was a rectification of the frontier between Russia and China, the Amur and Usuri rivers forming the new boundary lines.

The wretched Hien Fung, who had replaced Taokwang in 1851, died August 22, 1861, and was succeeded by his son T’ung-chi (b. November 17, 1834), under the regency of the two dowager empresses, Tze-ngan and Tze-hi, and Prince Kung. With the help of foreigners, the American, Ward, the English general, Gordon, and the “Ever Victorious Army”, the French admiral Protet, Lebrethon, and others, the T’aip’ing rebels, who had captured Nan-king (March 19, 1853) and made a raid on T’ien-tsin, were expelled from Su-chou (December 4, 1863) and Nan-king (July 19, 1864), and their power completely destroyed. Treaties were signed with Prussia and the German States (T’ien-tsin, September 2, 1861), Portugal (T’ien-tsin, August 13, 1862), though not ratified, Denmark (T’ientsin, July 13, 1863), Spain (T’ien-tsin, October 10, 1864), Holland (T’ien-tsin, October 6, 1863), Belgium (Peking, November 2, 1865), Italy (October 26, 1866), and Austria (Peking, September 2, 1869). A new convention, negotiated by the British minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock (Peking, October 23, 1869), was not ratified by the British Government. In 1868 a special embassy headed by Anson Burlingame, formerly American Minister to Peking, was sent to the Western countries. They went first to the United States, and additional articles to the Treaty of 1858 were signed at Washington (July 28, 1868); thence they proceeded through Europe. Burlingame died at St. Petersburg. A few months afterwards news was received of the awful massacre of French and Russian subjects by the Chinese at T’ien-tsin, June 21, 1870. A mission under Chung-hou was sent to Versailles to apologize for this. T’ung-chi married October, 1872, and being of age, received in audience the foreign envoys; Japan, France, Great Britain, Russia, the United States, and Holland were represented by their ministers, and Germany by an interpreter (June 29, 1873). Relations were strained between Japan and China, owing to an attack made by the aborigines of southern Formosa on the wrecked crew of a Luch’uan junk, and for a time war seemed inevitable. Through British intervention, however, satisfaction was obtained by Japan, and an agreement between the two Asiatic nations was signed at Peking, October 31, 1874. T’ungchi died January 12, 1875.

The situation in China at this time presented many difficulties. There were grave questions to be settled with England, Russia, and France. On February 21, 1875, the English interpreter, A. R. Margary, was murdered at Manwyne (Yun-nan), and an attack was made on the British exploring party from Burma headed by Col. Horace A. Browne, which Margary had preceded. Protracted and knotty negotiations conducted by the British minister, Thomas F. Wade, led to the conclusion of the convention signed at Che-fu, September 13, 1876. According to this: regulations were to be framed for the frontier trade of Yun-nan; British officials were to be stationed at Tali, or some other suitable place in Yun-nan, for a period of five years; the Viceroy of India was given permission to send a mission to this province; the indemnity was fixed at 200,000 taels; China was to establish missions and consulates abroad; the ports of I-ch’ang, Wu-hu, Wen-chou, and Pak-hoi were to be opened to trade; British officers might be sent to Ch’ung-k’ing, which was to be opened to trade when steamers succeeded in ascending the river. A special mission, including the Hon. T. G. Grosvenor, A. Davenport, and E. C. Baber, was sent to Yun-nan to witness the trial and the punishment of the murderers of Margary. On August 28, 1875, Kwo Sung-tao was appointed envoy extraordinary to the Court of St. James.

The Russians, who had signed a treaty with China, July 25, 1851, at Kuldja, took possession of this region (July 4, 1871), during the rebellion of Yakub. When the Mohammedan rising was crushed by Tso Tsung-tang (1877-78), China claimed the territory occupied temporarily by Russia. A special Chinese mission with Ch’ung-hou as chief was sent to Russia and concluded a treaty at Livadia (October, 1879). The contested territory was ceded, together with the Muzart Pass, to Russia, and great inland commercial facilities were also granted to the Muscovite merchants. Ch’ung-hou was denounced by the censor, Chang Chi-tung, and sentenced to death; his treaty came to naught. It was a casus belli, but the intervention of England and France prevented the war. Tseng Ki-tze, the Chinese minister in Paris, was sent to St. Petersburg, where he signed a treaty restoring to China the greater part of the Ili and the Muzart Pass (12-February 24, 1881).

The third difficulty arose through the occupation of Tong-king by France. China interfered, as the suzerain power of Annam. A treaty was signed at T’ientsin by Commodore Fournier (May 11, 1884), but was soon followed by the Bacle affair (June 23, 1884), and hostilities were resumed. Admiral Courbet bombarded the Fu-thou arsenal (August 23, 1884); Ki-lung in northern Formosa was captured (October 1, 1884); the Pescadores were taken (March 29, 1885); finally the Billot-Campbell peace protocol, signed in Paris (April 4, 1885), was followed by a treaty signed at T’ien-tsin (June 9, 1885) by Patenotre, minister, a commercial convention (T’ien-tsin, April 25, 1886) by Cogordan, minister, and an additional convention (June 26, 1887) under Constans, minister. France retained possession of Tong-king.

Emperor Kwang Siu became of age February 7, 1887, and took control of the government March 4, 1889. On February 26, 1889, he married Ye-ho-na-la-shi, daughter of Kwei-siang. The imperial audience took place March 5, 1891. For a long time matters had gone from bad to worse between China and Japan, Korea being the coveted prey of both nations. The murder of the Korean Kim-ok Kyum, a friend of the Japanese, by his countryman, Hung Tjung-wu, at Shanghai (March 28, 1894), and the attack made on the steamship Kow-shing by the Japanese at the mouth of the Ya-lu River (July 25, 1894) were the starting points of a war. The principal events during the course of this war were: the battle of Sei-kwan (July 29, 1894); a declaration of war (August 1); a convention between Korea and Japan (August 26); the battles of Ping-yang (September 16), and the Ya-lu (September 17); the capture of Port Arthur (November 21) and Wei-hai-wei (January 30, 1895) by the Japanese; the occupation of New-chwang by the Japanese (March 6); the landing of the Japanese at Formosa. The negotiations between Li Hungchang, who had been wounded by a fanatic Japanese, and Ito and Mutsu, resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 17, 1895). The principal articles of this treaty were the eession of Liaotung, Formosa, and the Pescadores to the Japanese, an indemnity of 200,000,000 Kuping taels to be paid by China, the opening to Japanese trade of Sha-shi or Kin-chou (Hu-pe), Chung-k’ing, Su-chou, and Hang-thou, etc. On the interference of France, Russia and Germany, Liao-tung was retroceded to China by the convention of November 8, 1905. Korea fell entirely into the hands of the Japanese. Ostensibly to obtain satisfaction for the murder of two missionaries, the Germans seized Kiao-chou Bay (Shan-tung) (November 14, 1897), which was granted to them on long lease (March 6, 1898). Following the example of Germany, Russia obtained a similar lease of Ta-lienwan and the adjacent waters (March 27, 1898); England, Wei-hai-wei (April 2, 1898); France, Kwangchou-wan (May 27, 1898). On June 9 the territory of Kow-loon ceded to Great Britain was extended to include Deep Bay and Mir’s Bay; moreover, various declarations stipulated the non-alienation by China of the Yang-tze valley (February 11, 1898), the provinces bordering on Tong-king (April 10, 1898), and Fu-kien (April, 1898). Prince Kung died May 29, 1898.

From June 10, 1898, until September 20, 1898, when a coup d’etat of Empress Tze-hi deprived Emperor Kwang Siu of all his power, he made a strong attempt to reform the administration of his empire with the assistance of K’ang Yu-wei and others. Then followed a terrible reaction, which culminated in the Boxer rebellion. This began in Shan-tung and extended to Chi-li, secretly fostered by the empress dowager and her camarilla, Prince Twan, and General Tung Fu-Siang. Everywhere missionaries were murdered. The German minister, Von Ketteler, was murdered (June 20); the legations at Peking were besieged by the troops and the infuriated mob. A relief column, under the command of the English admiral, Sir Edward Seymour, failed to reach the capital. The allied fleet captured the Taku forts (June 17, 1900). Finally a strong international army entered Peking (August 14, 1900), relieving the legations and the Catholic cathedral (Pe-tang), while the emperor, the empress dowager, and the court fled to Si-ngan-fu (Shen-si). Peking was looted and left in ruins.

The negotiations were long and involved, and on their completion a final protocol was signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, by the representatives of the ten foreign powers. The principal clauses included: a mission of reparation to Berlin and an expiatory monument to Baron von Ketteler on the spot where he was assassinated; the punishment of the principal authors of the outrage; the rehabilitation of officials executed for being favorable to foreigners; the suspension of official examinations for five years in all cities where foreigners had been massacred or ill-treated; missions of reparation to Japan for the assassination of Sugiyama of the Japanese legation; expiatory monuments in cemeteries where foreign tombs had been desecrated; prohibition of the importation of arms; a total indemnity of 450,000,000 Haikwan taels (about $360,000,000), special quarters for the legations at Peking; the destruction of the forts of Taku; the reorganization of the foreign office. An imperial edict of July 24, 1901, trans-formed the Tsung-li Yamen into a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Wai-wu Pu), which takes precedence over the other ministries of State. Treaties were signed at Shanghai by China with Great Britain (September 5, 1902), with Japan (commercial, October 8, 1903), and with the United States for the extension of commercial relations (October 8, 1903).

The great victories gained by Japan over Russia and the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth (August 23, September 5, 1905), the various agreements signed by European nations with the victorious power, the tremendous effect produced on all Asiatic peoples by the triumph of one of them, the latent discontent in China, the delusive and superficial attempts at reform in the Middle Kingdom, leave to the future prospects which are anything but encouraging for the Western countries.

CUSTOMS.—The imperial maritime customs were started in Shanghai in 1854 when, the city being threatened by rebels, the collection of dues on foreign trade became impossible. Representatives of the three consuls from Great Britain, France, and the United States, were placed in charge of the custom service, which was inaugurated on July 12, 1854. The American and the French delegates having retired in the course of years, the British delegate, Horatio N. Lay, remained in charge until he was superseded in November, 1863, as inspector general, by Robert Hart (b. February 20, 1835, at Portadown, Ireland). The Shanghai system was extended to Canton (October, 1859) and afterwards to the other treaty ports. The importance of the service has grown with years and now includes also the postal service. It is divided into four departments: (I) revenue department (Indoor, Outdoor, and Coast staff), with 957 foreigners of various nationalities, the majority being British, and 4138 Chinese (1903); (2) marine department; (3) educational department; (4) postal department. An imperial decree of May 9, 1905, placed at the head of the custom service two high mandarins.

At the end of 1906, 2096 localities were open to postal business, and in 1907 the number of articles dealt with increased to nearly 113 millions. The number of parcels reached 1,383,000, and money transactions taels 1,539,000. Moreover, there are some foreign (British, German, French, Japanese, American, Russian) postal agencies at some of the treaty ports. On November 6, 1906, a new Chinese ministry was created, styled the Yu-ch’wan Pu (Board of Posts and Communications) with a president and two vice-presidents.

TELEGRAPH SYSTEM.—In 1905 the Imperial Company had 379 stations throughout China, Manchuria, and Mongolia. Other companies are the Imperial German Telegraph Co., through Shanghai, Tsing-tao, and Che-fu; the French Telegraph Co., from Amoy to Tourane; the Great Northern Telegraph Co., through Shanghai, Gutzlaff, Nagasaki, Vladivostock, Amoy, and Hong-Kong; the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co:, connecting Shanghai, Gutzlaff, Fu-Chou, Hong-Kong, Indo-China, and the Philippines; the Deutsch-Niederlandische Telegraphengesellschaft, three cables connecting Yap (Carolines) and Shanghai, Menado (Celebes), and Guam (Mariannes); the Commercial Pacific Cable Co., connecting San Francisco, Honolulu, Midway, Guam, Manila, and Shanghai with a branch line between Guam and Yokohama; the Japanese Telegraph Co., connecting Sharp Peak (Fu-thou), Formosa, Ishigakishima, Naha, Oshima, Japan, and Korea.

TRADE.—The revenue of the customs in 1906 was Haikwan taels 36,068,595 (I Haikwan tael=$0.80, U.S.), as against Haikwan taels 22,742,104 in 1897. It included import duties, taels 16,100,954; export duties tls. 9,825,706; coast trade duties, tls. 2,208,192; tonnage dues, tls. 1,326,619; transit dues incoming, tls. 1,831,934; transit dues outgoing, tls. 445,167; opium Likin, tls. 4,330,083. The gross value of the foreign trade was Ilk. tls. 682,767,231 in 1906, as against Ilk. tls. 385,142,721 in 1897, the net value being Ilk. tls. 646,726,821, as against, tls. 366,329,983 in 1897. The value of the direct trade: Continent of Europe (Russia excepted), tls. 82,677,826; Russian European ports, tls. 5,757,036; Russia and Siberia by land frontier, tls. 2,565,904; Russia, Pacific ports, tls. 11,018,087; Korea, tls., 1,811,037; Japan (including Formosa), tls. 94,357,287; Philip-me Islands, tls. 2,536,704; Canada, tls. 5,192,127;

United States, including Hawaii, tis. 70,107,657; Mexico and Central America (including Panama), tls. 54,142; South America, tls. 27,309; Australia, New Zealand, etc., tls. 1,014,469; South Africa (including Mauritius), tls. 58,136, a total of tls. 646,-726,821 (net imports, tls. 410,270,082; exports, tls. 236,456,739). The chief imports are: opium, tls. 32,285,377 (weighing 54,225 piculs); cotton goods, tls. 152,727,845; woollen and cotton mixtures, tls. 2,269,812; woollen goods, tls. 4,382,958; miscellaneous piece goods, tls. 3,062,711; copper, iron, steel, etc., tis. 17,289,855; cigarettes, tls. 5,846,781; cigars, tls. 408,081; fish and fishery products, tls. 8,125,721; flour, tls. 6,295,753; matches, tls. 5,139,808; machinery, tls. 5,730,221; medicines, tls. 2,137,134, etc. The chief exports are: beancake, tls. 7,064,108; beans, tls. 3,158,394; bristles, tls. 2,756,262; camphor, tls. 1,310,791; cattle, tls. 3,357,924; raw cotton, tls. 11,631,138; firecrackers, tls. 3,585,733; matting, tls. 3,064,458; medicines, tls. 2,430,-322; raw white silk, tls. 16,485,481; steam filature raw white silk, tls. 29,614,449; yellow silk, tls. 3,214,873; wild silk, tls. 6,372,970; silk cocoons, tls. 1,089,-872; silk waste, tls. 3,208,162; silk cocoons, refuse, tls. 450,254; silk piece goods, tls. 8,474,750; Shantung pongees, tls. 1,279,104; silk products, unclassed, tls., 1,105,610; undressed skins and hides of cows and buffalos, tls. 5,491,908; of horses, asses, and mules, tls. 5,129; of goats, Us. 4,382,138; sheep, tls. 476,567; unclassed, tls. 33,509; straw braid, Us. 8,650,861; vegetable tallow, tis. 1,057,401; black tea, tls. 12,252,518; green tea, tls. 7,645,121; black brick tea, Us. 4,392,064; green brick tea, Us. 2,083,-641; tea tablet, tls. 254,958; tea dust, tls. 1028; sheep’s wool, tls. 4,847,015; chinaware, tls. 1,579,204, etc. In 1906, 87,949 steamers (70,117,628 tons), and 120,598 sailing vessels (5,702,260 tons), in all 208,547 vessels (75,819,888 tons) entered and cleared Chinese ports, of which Chinese shipping vessels (foreign type) numbered 45,847 (12,212,373 tons), Chinese junks 93,457 (3,974,378 tons), British 28,192 (33,450,560 tons), Japanese 25,108 (11,376,430 tons), French 5514 (3,125,749 tons), German 6315 (7,477,518 tons), American 582 (I,351,200 tons), Norwegian 1978 (I,616,460 tons), Portuguese 976 (183,908 tons), Danish 108 (172,826 tons), Swedish 75 (65,992 tons), etc.

TREATY PORTS.—I. Northern Ports: (I) New-chwang, Sheng-king province, Manchuria, in accordance with British Treaty of T’ien-tsin, 1858; custom office opened May 9, 1864; Chinese population 74,000. (2) Ching-wang-tao, Chi-li, in accordance with imperial decree, March 31, 1898; opened December 15, 1901; Chinese population, 5,000: (3) T’ien-tsin, Chi-li, in accordance with British and French Peking Conventions, 1860, opened May, 1861; Chinese population, 750,000. (4) Che-fu, Shan-tung, in accordance with British and French treaties of T’ien-tsin, 1858; opened March, 1862; Chinese population, 100,000. (5) Kiao-chou, Shan-tung, German Convention, March 6, 1898; opened July 1, 1899. II. Yangtze Ports: (6) Ch’ung-k’ing, Sze-ch wan; opened November, 1890; Chinese population, 702,000. (7) I-ch’ang, Hu-pe, in accordance with Che-fu Convention, 1876; opened April 1, 1877; Chinese population, 50,000. (8) Sha-shi, Hu pe, Treaty of Shunoneseki, 1895; opened October 1 1896; Chinese population, 85,000. (9) Changsha, Hu-nan; opened July 1, 1904; Chinese population, 230,000. (10) Yo-thou, Hu-nan, imperial decree of March 31, 1898; opened November 13, 1899; Chinese population, 20,000. (11) Han-kou, Hu-pe, provincial regulations, 1861; opened January, 1862; Chinese population, 530,000. (12) Kiu-kiang, Kiangsi; same regulations; opened January, 1862; Chinese population, 36,000. (13) Wu-hu, Ngan-hwei, Che-fu Convention, 1876; opened April 1, 1877; Chinese population, 123,000. (14) Nan-king, Kiang-su, French Treaty of T’ien-tsin, 1858; opened May 1, 1899; Chinese population, 261,000. (15) Chin-kiang, Kiang-su, British Treaty, 1858; opened April, 1861; Chinese population, 170,000. III. Central Ports: (16) Shanghai, Kiang-su, Nan-king Treaty, 1842; opened officially November 17, 1843; Chinese population, 651,000. (17) Su-thou, Kiang-su, Shimon-oseki Treaty; opened September 26, 1896; Chinese population, 500,000. (18) Hang-chou, Che-kiang, Shimonoseki Treaty; opened September 26, 1896; Chinese population, 350,000. (19) Ning-po, Che-kiang, Nan-king Treaty, 1842; opened May, 1861; Chinese population, 260,000. (20) Wen-thou, Che-kiang, Che-fu Convention, 1876; opened April, 1877; Chinese population, 80,000. IV. South Coast Ports: (21) San-tuao, Fu-kien, imperial decree of March 31, 1898; opened May 1, 1899; Chinese population, 8000. (22) Fuchou, Fu-kien, Nan-king Treaty, 1842; opened July, 1861; Chinese population, 624,000. (23) Amoy, Fu-kien, Nan-king Treaty, 1842; opened April, 1862; Chinese population, 114,000. (24) Swatow, Kwang-tung, English, French, and American Treaties of T’ien-tsin, 1858; opened January, 1860; Chinese population, 65,000. (25) Canton, Kwang-tung, Nan-king Treaty, 1842; opened October, 1859; Chinese population, 900,000. (26) Kow-loon, Kwang-tung; opened April, 1887; (27) Lappa, Kwang-tung; opened June 27, 1871; (28) Kong-moon, Kwang-tung; opened March 7, 1904; Chinese population, 55,000. (29) San-shui, Kwang-tung, Anglo-Chinese Convention, February 4, 1897; opened June 4, 1897; Chinese population, 5000. (30) Wu-thou, Kwang-si, same convention; opened June 4, 1897; Chinese population, 59,000. (31) Kiung-thou (Hoi-hou), Hai-nan, Kwangtung, French and English Treaties of T’ien-tsin, 1858; opened April, 1876; Chinese population, 38,000. (32) Pak-hoi, Kwang-tung, Che-fu Convention, 1876; opened April, 1877; Chinese population, 20,000. V. Frontier Ports: (33) Lung-thou Kwangsi, French Treaty, June 26, 1887; opened June 1, 1899; Chinese population, 12,000. (34) Meng tze, Yun-nan, French Treaty, 1887; opened April 30, 1889; Chinese population, 15,000. (35) Sze-mao, Yun-nan, French Convention, 1895; British, 1896; opened January 2, 1897; Chinese population, 15,000. (36) Teng-yueh or Momein, Yun-nan, Convention of February 4, 1897; opened May 8, 1902; Chinese population, 10,000. (37) Ya-tung, Tibet; opened May 1, 1894.

As yet, Nan-ning, Kwang-si, opened by imperial decree, February 3, 1899, has not a custom office. According to the customs statistics (1906), 6,917,000 Chinese inhabit the treaty ports. The foreign population include 1837 firms and 38,597 persons (Americans 3447, British 9256, Japanese 15,548, French 2189, Germans 1939; Portuguese 3184, Italians 786, Spaniards 389, Belgians 297, Austrians 236, Russians 273, Danes 209, Dutch 225, Brazilians 16, Koreans 47, Norwegians 185, Swedes 135, subjects of non-treaty powers 236).

RAILWAYS.—The first railroad was built in 1876, from Wu-sung to Shanghai, but was purchased by the Chinese and taken by them to Formosa in 1877. The following is a list of the railways completed and under construction at the end of 1906: in Manchuria (I) from Irkutsk through Manchuria, Harbin, Pogranichaya to Vladivostock, 925 miles; (2) from Harbin to Kwang-cheng-tze (not completed), 147 miles; (3) from Kwang-cheng-tze through Mukden, Sinmin-fu, Liao-yang, New-chwang, Talien, to Port Arthur, 481 miles (in addition to 36 miles under construction); (4) from Mukden to Antung (narrow gauge), 187 miles under construction; (5) from Kowpangtze to Sin-min-fu, 70 miles. Chi-li and Manchuria: Peking through T’ien-tsin, Shan-hai-kwan, Kewpang-tze, to New-chwang, 600 miles. Chi-li: Peking to Tung-thou, 13 miles. Chili and Mongolia: Peking through Nan-kou, to Kalgan, 33 miles (in addition to 92 miles under construction). Chi-li, Ho-nan, and Hu-pe: Peking, through Pao-ting-fu, Cheng-ting, Weihwei, Cheng-chou to Han-kou, 754 miles. Ho-nan: Tao-kou, through Wei-hwei, to Ching-hwa, 93 miles. Chi-li and Shan-si: Cheng-ting to Tai-yuan-fu, 87 miles (in addition to 68 under construction). Ho-nan: Kai-feng, through Cheng-chou, to Ho-nan-fu, 41 miles (in addition to 75 miles under construction). Shantung: Tsing-chou, through Tsi-nan, to Po-shan, 270 miles; Hwang-tai-kiao to Lo-kou, 4 miles. Kiang-su: Shanghai, through Su-chou, Chin-kiang, to Nan-king, 90 miles (in addition to 113 miles under construction). Che-kiang: Hang-thou City to Hang-thou Settlement, 3 miles, under construction. In Kiang-si and Hunan: Yuen-thou to Shui-chou, 64 miles. Kwang-tung: Swatow to Chao-thou-fu, 25 miles; Kung-yik through Sun-ning, to Sam-ka-hoi, 55 miles under construction; Canton to Sam-shui, 30 miles. Kwang-tung, Hu-nan, and Hu-pe: Canton, through Chang-sha, to Han-kou, 720 miles. Yun-nan: Ho-kou, through Meng-tze to Yun-nan-fu, 19 miles (in addition to 273 under construction).

Projected Railways.—Han-kou to Ch’eng-tu via Ch’ung-k’ing; Su-thou to Hang-thou and Ning-po; Chang-sha to Chenn-chou-fu; Shanghai to Kia-sing; Amoy to Yen-ping, Tsean-chou-fu, Fu-thou-fu; Singan-fu to Tung-kwan (Shen-si); Tai-yuan-fu to Pingyang-fu (Shan-si); Tse-chou to Tao-kou; Ta-tung-fu to Kalgan; T’ien-tsin to Te-chou and Chin-kiang; Canton to Kow-loon; Wu-hu to Kwang-te-chou (Ngan-hwei); Canton to Amoy; Canton to Kan-thou (Kiang-si); Chenn-chou-fu to Chang-te (Northern Hunan); Heng-chou-fu to Yung-thou-fu (Hu-nan); Tung-kwan to Pu-chou-fu (Shen-si, Shan-si); Kiukiang to Nan-chang (Kiang-si); Sin-ning to Yungkiang (Kwang-tung); Kalgan to Kulun (Mongolia); Lan-thou-fu to Ili (Sin-kiang).

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.—Measures of length: one foot (chih), 141 inches = 10 tsun; 1 tsun = 10 fen; 10 feet = 1 chang; 10 chang = 1 yu. One li = 360 kung or 867 yards. The land measures are the mao (mow) = 240 pu or 26.73 sq. ft.; 100 mao = one k’ing or 16.7 acres. The t’ou = 10 cheng or 2.269 gallons. Measures of weight: The tan or picul = 100 kin or catties = 133 lbs.; 1 kin (pound or catty) = 16 taels or 1 lb.; 1 tael (ounce or Jiang) = 24 thou or 17 oz.; 1 Jiang = 10 tsien; 1 tsien = 10 fen; 1 fen = 10 li. Money: 1 tael or Jiang = 10 tsien (mace); 1 mace = 10 fen (candareen); 1 candareen = 10 li or cash (in French sapeque). The tael is a weight of silver which varies considerably in value; in 1906 the Haikwan tael, in which the custom revenues and all values are given, was equivalent to 2.46 Indian rupees, 1.60 Japanese yen, Mexican $1.54, English 3s. 3d., 15. S. $0.80. Chinese lump silver, called sycee (fine silk), is made into ingots resembling in shape a shoe. The silver experts are called shroff.

CALENDAR.—The common year has twelve lunar months. In a period of 19 years there are seven intercalary years, each of 13 months. Years are reckoned either from the beginning of the reign of the emperor, or from their place in the cycle of 60 years. The sexagenary cycle was devised by Ta-nao, Minister of Hwang-ti, the sixty-first year of whose reign (2637 B.C.) was taken for the first cyclical sign. A common civil year consists of 354 or 355 days, and the intercalary year of from 383 to 385 days. Since the time of Emperor K’ang-hi the day is divided into 96 k’o, or quarters, sub-divided into 15 fen, or minutes, the minute into 60 miao, or seconds, each second into 60 wei; these in turn are divided into 12 shih, sub-divided into 2 siao-shi (ch’u and cheng).

SOCIAL LIFE.—The family name of a Chinaman is sing. China is called Pe-kia-sing, the “hundred families”. The prenomen is ming-tze; the Christian name sheng-ming; the name given to children by parents neti-ming; the official name kwan-ming. An emperor, besides his personal name, has a title as a ruler nien-hao, and a dynastic title or posthumous name miao-hao; some of the emperors have had several nien-hao. Thus Hiuan-yi was the personal name of the emperor, whose nien-hao (period) was K’ang-hi, and his miao-hao was Sheng Tsu.

The marriage ceremonies include the visit to the prospective bride’s father and brother by an intermediary (mei-jin) sent by the prospective bridegroom’s father and brother to inquire her name, which is to be examined by the horoscope; if the horoscope be auspicious, the mei-jin is sent to make an offer of marriage which, if accepted, is confirmed in writing; presents are sent to the parents of the bride; a lucky day is selected for the wedding, and the bridegroom sends some of his friends to bring the bride to his house. The seven valid grounds for divorce are: talkativeness, wantonness, theft, barrenness, disobedience to a husband’s parents, jealousy, and inveterate infirmity; to these infidelity has been added.

The burial ceremonies are more or less varied, short or long according to the wealth of the deceased, and the dead are buried in graves. The graves of the Ming emperors at Nan-king and in Mongolia are famous. The emperors of the present dynasty are buried in Chi-li in mausoleums called Tung-ling and Si-ling; their ancestors rest at Mukden. The period of mourning for a father is three years, which is reduced in practice to twenty-seven months. White is the mourning color in China; it is blue for the emperor, and the seals are inked blue instead of vermilion.

The main food is rice (fan), and as it does not grow in Northern China, great quantities are transported from the southern provinces and Cochin-China. Among Chinese delicacies are birds’ nests (Yen-wo), nests of the collocalia brevirostris, which are made of a sea-weed (gelidium); dried shark’s fins, black or white (pe-yu-chi or he-yu-chi); beche-de-mer (Haisan); preserved eggs (pi-tan, sung-hwa-tan). The Chinese use a great deal of oil (hiang-yu) extracted from the sesamum orientale, the Arachis hypogcsa, or the Brassica sinensis. The Chinese drink tea (cha) and fermented liquors (sam-shoo and others). They eat with small wooden or ivory sticks, called chop-sticks (kwai-tze); they know the use of the fork (cha-tze), the spoon (piao-keng), and the knife (tao).

FESTIVALS.—The first day of the first moon (Yuan-tan) or New Year’s Day, is the occasion of great festivity. Houses are decorated with paper flowers and small strips of gilt and red paper; debts are paid, and accounts are settled. The first full moon of the year is the Feast of Lanterns (Shang-yuan-tsieh), when lanterns of various forms, colors, and materials are suspended before each door. The fifth day of the fifth moon is the Feast of the Dragon’s Boats (T’ien-chung-sieh), instituted in the memory of the statesman K’iu Yuan, who drowned himself in the river Mi-lo, an affluent of the Tung-ting lake, in the fourth century B.C. Other festivals are those of the village gods (T’u-ti-tan), of the god of literature (Wench’ang-tan), of Sakyamuni, Kwan-yn, Confucius, etc.

On October 9, 1907, an imperial edict was issued in Peking, ordering the Board of Revenues and Commerce forthwith to introduce a uniform system of weights and measures throughout the Chinese Empire, the standards to be fixed within six months.

HENRI CORDIER