Hubei

“ In 1592, Hideyoshi sent his great army from Japan to conquer Korea. It was under two generals, one a Christian and the other a Buddhist. The invaders wrought great destruction in the unfortunate peninsula. Many of the temples and monasteries in the mountains were destroyed, altars were stripped of treasures, monks and priests driven from their sanctuaries. During this invasion some of the priests showed themselves loyal, thus Hulbert tells us:
Hyu-Chung, known throughout the Eight Provinces as the great teacher of Sosan, was a man of great natural ability as well as of great learning. ”

“ Just as Wu had been quietly submissive to Ts'u until the opportunity came to revolt, so did the still more barbarous state of Yueh, lying to the south-east of and tributary to Wu as her mesne lord, eagerly seize the opportunity of attacking Wu when the common suzerain, Ts'u, required it. The wars of Wu and Yueh are almost entirely naval, and, so far as the last-named state is concerned, it is never reported as having used war-chariots at all. Wu adopted the Chinese chariot as rapidly as it had re- adopted the Chinese civilization, abandoned by the first colonist princes in 1200 B.C. ”

“ Chinese armies entered Korea, and the tide of victory turned against Japan. The retreat of the invaders towards the coast was followed by overtures of peace, which resulted in the suspension of hostilities in 1594. But the negotiations, in which China took a leading part, broke down, and three years later a second Japanese army landed in Korea. On this occasion the Japanese forces 30met with more stubborn resistance. Chinese armies again came to the help of Korea, and when Hidéyoshi died in 1598 the Japanese Government was only too willing to make peace. ”

“ The movement grew rapidly. From all sides recruits came to the rebel ranks, among them two women chiefs, each at the head of about two thousand men. Hung now proclaimed himself as sent by Heaven to drive out the Tartars—whom he declared to be examples of all that was base and vile—and to place a Chinese emperor on his country's throne.
Putting his forces in march, Hung made a remarkable progress of about one thousand miles to Woo-chang on the Yang-tse-Kiang and down that stream, the army fighting its way through all opposition. When towns and cities submitted their people were spared. ”

“ If intellectual culture has directed its course from the east to the west, like the vivifying light of the sun, barbarism at a later period followed the same route, when it threatened to plunge Europe again in darkness. A tawny race of shepherds—of Thon-Khiu, that is to say, Turkish origin—the Hiounguou, inhabited under sheep-skin tents the elevated table-land of Gobi. Long formidable to the Chinese power, a portion of the Hiounguou were driven south in Central Asia. ”

“ In the heart of Wuchang there is a steep hill which cuts the business part of the city into two sections. This hill is so steep that it is practically impossible to carry the traffic over it. Some Chinese claim the hill to be the dwelling place of a tortoise, others of a serpent, and still others of a dragon. Some years ago, when Chang Chih Tung was living in that city as viceroy of Hunan and Hupeh, he caused a tunnel to be cut through the hill so that communication from one business center to the other would be facilitated. ”

“ Hukow, a fortified position at the entrance to the Poyang lake; and on the evening of the third day draw up at the treaty port of Kiukiang, celebrated locally for pottery and silver ware, and enjoying the unenviable reputation of being the hottest of all the Yang-tsze ports. The following morning the houses and factories of Hankow rise on the horizon, and by midday we are landing on the magnificent shaded esplanade which runs along the river's edge the whole length of the British, French, and German concessions. ”

“ The last century of the Koryu dynasty was one swift fall into worse and worse excesses, until the end. One King was so unspeakably infamous that the Mongol Emperor sent for him; and when he arrived at the Mongol court the Emperor said, " I put you on the throne of Koryu, but you have done nothing but tear the skin off your subjects. Though your blood be fed to all the dogs of the world, justice would hardly be satisfied." The Emperor then placed him on a bier, and in this most disgraceful fashion he was carried away into banishment to western China. ”

“ Hwei took a seat and talked, with his one eye on the visitors. "The fan is my master's, and holds a secret which means much to him. It was lost. We invoked the god Kwang-ho. By the mouth of his priest the gods said that two men should search for it. I was to search for Lo-Keong, and Tung-yu for Hop Sing the enemy of my master. Hop Sing's emmissary was to buy the fan at a large price, I was to kill the person who held it. Thus, said the god, justice would be done. The person who held the fan would be rewarded for virtue or slain for evil. One day is mine and the next day is Tung-yu's. ”

“ The mention of “the Liaotung peninsula” in the protest of the three Powers is the first we hear of the term. It was not used by the Chinese, nor did it occur in the Shimonoséki Treaty. There the ceded territory is called “the southern portion of the province of Fêng-t’ien” (otherwise known as Shengking, and Moukden, though the latter is really the name of the provincial Capital) , the Treaty frontier (never delimited) running roughly from Yingkow on the river Liao to the Yalu river, and to the north of the towns of Fenghwangcheng and Haicheng. ”

“ Hwei went to the shrine and brought forth a joss stick. "The god Kwang-ho is all powerful," said he solemnly, "if you lie, he will not spare you. Burn this joss before him and swear."
"No," said Rupert drawing back. "I am a Christian."
Hwei's eye flashed with fury. "You are lying," said he, "you will never leave this place alive."
"Oh I guess so," said Clarence easily, "neither I nor Ainsleigh has the fan, and you can't kill either of us unless the god grows angry. You've got to climb down before him."
"That is true," said Hwei dropping the joss-stick, and sat in his chair with a puzzled face. ”

“ So it happened that the Chinese forces fell back from the fierce defense of the Japanese. Many of them contemplated a general retreat and started to leave the field, but Gen. Yi, who was always found where most needed, saw the defection of his men and, pursuing them, struck off the heads of a few as an example to the rest. Then he turned and cried, “Fifty ounces of silver to the first man to set foot upon the battlements of P’yŭng-yang.” This was doubtless a more powerful appeal than he could have made had he called upon their patriotism or love of glory. Immediately the tide of battle turned. ”

“ Every tong in China would have torn at the vitals of any one rash enough to exercise against Sing Kung Yah a social ostracism contrary to his wish. And so the unprecedented festivity of the kinswoman’s widowhood was tolerated even by the Chinese whom it both shocked and affronted.
But anything more, or kindlier, than tolerance, even the great Wu was powerless to win for her—at least from the Chinese. And both he and she knew this, and it was the one fly in her very nice amber. She would have been ostracized fiercely if those of their own caste had dared ”

“ I am Wu, and the house of Wu shall be avenged. I shall live for that and for China. My venerable grandfather, three thousand times wise, did well to send me to England. And he bade me study Englishmen closely. But I did ill to take to myself too much of their custom. We have learned too much of Europe. It is well to learn of every nation, but to accept too much from inferior peoples is a hideous crime; and in that crime I have shared to China’s hurt—and yours. You are undone. China is threatened with the loss of all that has made her for thousands of years paramount and exquisite. ”

“ A powerful army of the Japanese started for Seoul by the western route, but they were met in Chiksan by the allied Koreans and Chinese, and so severely whipped that they never again attempted to march on the capital. For a time the war dragged on, neither side scoring any considerable victories, and in truth for part of the time there was so little fighting that the Japanese settled down like immigrants and tilled the soil, and even took wives from among the peasant women. ”

“ The knowledge of this boast, Hwa-mei continued to relate, had spread to the inner chambers of the yamen, where the lesser ones vied with each other in proclaiming the merit of the captive minstrel. Amid this eulogy Hwa-mei moved craftily and played an insidious part, until she who was their appointed head was committed to the claim. Then the maiden raised a contentious voice.
“Our lord’s trout were ever salmon,” she declared, “and lo! here is another great and weighty fish! Assuredly no living man is thus and thus; or are the T’ang epicists returned to earth? ”

“ It was in 1592 that Hideyoshi launched his armies at Korea. He was unable to come himself, but he put his forces under the command of Hideyi as chief, while the actual leaders were Kato and Konishi. The Korean and Japanese accounts agree substantially in saying that the Japanese army consisted of approximately two hundred and fifty thousand men. They had five thousand battle-axes, one hundred thousand long swords, one hundred thousand spears, one hundred thousand short swords, five hundred thousand daggers, three hundred thousand firearms, large and small, but no cannon. ”

“ The Emperor Wu-ti eagerly desired an alliance with the Yué-Chi against their common enemy the Hiung-nu. With this view he sent his general Chang-Kien on an embassy to the prince, accompanied by a suite of a hundred attendants. The envoy, however, had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Huns while traversing their territory, and escaped only after a ten years’ imprisonment. On joining the Yué-Chi, he found them employed in driving the Sakas out of Soghdiana. He accompanied them on a victorious expedition, and then returned to China, with two followers, sole survivors of his cortege. ”

“ But far beyond the riches he amassed he amassed power and influence. The ramifications of his influence were endless and tortuous. Tze-Shi felt Wu’s influence as she decreed policies, signed edicts and enacted laws of tremendous reach, weaving and fraying out the destiny of China, and there was not a coolie in Hong Kong but felt and obeyed it. No one in China—unless it was Tze-Shi herself—wielded more power than Wu.
He held the Chinese in Shanghai, in Penang and in Rangoon, in Bentick Street and in Yokohoma, in the hollow of his hand. ”

“ Yet it is evident that the ruling caste of Wu considered itself superior to the surrounding tribes, for in the year 493 it was remarked: "We here in Wu are entirely surrounded by savages"; and in 481 the Emperor himself sent a message through Tsin to Wu, saying: "I know that you are busy with the savages you have on hand at present." In the year 482, when the orthodox princes of Sung, Wei, and Lu were holding off from an alliance with Wu, the prince of Wei was detained by a Wu general, but escaped, and set to work to learn the language of Wu. ”

“ Katsura, pushed still further west, defeated the Chinese in three successive engagements in the neighbourhood of Newchwang and occupied that port, the Chinese retreating northwards along the course of the Liao river. Meanwhile an expeditionary force despatched from Ta-lien-wan in January had landed in Yung-chêng bay to the east of Weihaiwei, and, acting in co-operation with the Japanese fleet, had laid siege to that place. Its gallant defence by Admiral Ting was for China the only redeeming feature of the war. ”

“ The boat people of the port are famous for their courage and skill, and the mountain coolies are noted for their endurance. Much of the blood of the race is from Hupeh, which means a strong strain of “China for the Chinese”. The city is surrounded440 with hills and ranges, and there are many mountain health resorts used by natives and foreigners, which are exceedingly welcome in the moist hot summer. There is the Golden Buddha range to the south, with its fine temples and many aborigine dwellers. ”

“ From these same records, nevertheless, as well as from scanty Chinese sources, we glean certain general facts bearing on the early development of Japan. Chinese culture is seen trickling in at a very early date; we hear of the adoption at some time in the fifth century of Chinese ideographs, the Japanese following in this respect the example of their Korean neighbours, who, like themselves, had originally no written language of their own; and we learn of the introduction of Buddhism a century later. The advent of Buddhism 18was a notable factor in Japan’s progress. ”

“ To Europeans, an almost complete knowledge of the working and ceremonies of the Society, has been to a certain extent attainable, by the publication in 1866, of M. Gustave Schlegel's "Thian-Ti-Hui, or the "Hung League," which treats very exhaustively of the subject of this great Chinese brotherhood.
Amongst the Chinese themselves, unless a man be a member of the Society, he seldom or never knows anything at all about the always suspected, and often dreaded "Hui." ”

“ A few years later a man named Chumong is said to have fled from his home in the far north near the Sungari River and to have come across the Yalu into Korea. The Chinese rule in those regions had become very weak, and Chumong found no difficulty in welding the scattered people into a strong kingdom. It was this man who, it is said, crossed the river on the fish which came to the surface and laid their backs together to make a bridge for him. The kingdom which he founded was called Koguryu, and it comprised all the northern portion of the peninsula. ”