Tianjin

“ The imports of Tientsin include not only European manufactures, but also sugar, salt, and the tribute rice of the southern provinces. From the interior there is a vast export trade in the wood and furs of Manchuria and Mongolia, the teas of Hang–Chow, and the ground–nuts and bristles of Chih–li.
The foreign trade was growing rapidly, and would have [278] increased still more but for the want of water in the Peiho. This river is about the size of the Thames at Richmond, but it used to be deep, with rapid currents, and large ocean–going steamers were able to come up to the settlements to unload. ”

“ Now a railway comes to its very gates. New European-looking buildings are springing up in every direction; the streets are being widened and properly paved, officials drive about in smart broughams, and there is a daily delivery of letters instead of a private post once a fortnight.
I return to Tientsin and take up the thread of my narrative in 1907. No sooner had we arrived there than a Chinese friend, clad in a beautiful maize-coloured silk gown, came to call. He had come from Peking expressly to meet us, and escorted us there next day, being an old friend of my Taiyüanfu days. ”

“ Tientsin and Peking are connected by rail, and since the Russian government has obtained the right of connecting Peking with the Trans-Siberian Railway, it is more than likely that in time Tientsin will become a terminus of that railway. Of "treaty ports" other than Tientsin the principal are Shanghai, Hankow, Foochow, Hangchow, Amoy, and Canton. Shanghai (405,000) exceeds all other ports of China put together in the amount of its foreign trade. Its foreign trade is, indeed, almost three fifths of that of the whole empire. ”

“ On the 4th the native servants and others began to leave the settlement, and several of them besought their masters to go while there was yet time. “For,” they assured them, “the foreigners are to be utterly exterminated on the 19th,” which was, it will be remembered, the date of the last massacre of Tientsin in 1870.
In spite of these gloomy assurances, no general exodus took place from the settlement, and civilians, many of whom held posts under the government, and whose opinions were listened to with respect, were among the most positive that there would be no general rising. ”

“ So they made a contract with a Chinese, who had been recommended to them by the consul as a good man, to carry them to Pekin. It was arranged that they should take an early start, so as to reach a village a little more than half way by nightfall, and they retired early in order to have a good night's sleep. They had time for a little stroll before they went to bed, and so they employed it in visiting the "Temple of the Oceanic Influences," where the treaty of Tien-tsin was signed after the capture of the Taku forts and the advance of the English to the city. ”

“ During my three days in Yunnan-fu, [1] through the kindness of the British Consul-General I was given a chance to make one or two excursions into the surrounding country. An especially charming trip that we took one afternoon was to Chin Tien, or "Golden Temple," a celebrated copper temple about five miles out. Near the town our chairs were borne along the narrow earth balk between the bean- and rice-fields, but farther on our way led over the top of a high dyke lined with trees. ”

“ Abandoning her dream of territory, she is now going hard and fast for the trade, and has many thousands of troops to guard her interests on the Tonking border now that she has her own railway. All through Yunnan a strong feeling exists among the Chinese against the French—the French are not liked, and have been the bone of contention for many years. Taking these facts into consideration, one is inclined to doubt whether China is really the Power to introduce that government into Tibet which will keep the country free from internal strife. ”

“ No district of the empire has so many varied metals as Yunnan. The many races keep the province more disjointed than any other. An authority on these aboriginal races is the British consul at Tongyueh, Yunnan, whose exhaustive articles have appeared in the London Geographical Magazine. In natural scenery Yunnan presents the most sublime panorama in the world.
Tsinan, the capital of Shangtung province, goes back to 1100 B. C., and ethnologically is very interesting, as these are the people of Confucius and Mencius, the descendants of the Tsi State of original China. ”

“ The native population of Tientsin — or Heaven's Ford, according to the English translation — is reputed to tie 1,000,000, but there are no reliable statistics upon which an estimate can be based, for the census taken by the police in 1904 was entirely unsatisfactory. The natives formerly earned the unenviable distinction of being the most violent, as well as the most hostile to the foreigner, of any in the Empire. ”

“ Everybody's eyes were fixed on Peking. There was nothing else spoken of. That made us stronger than anything else. Poor human nature—we are so egotistical!
But there were other items of news. For the first time we learned that Tientsin has had a siege and bombardment of its own; that all Manchuria is in flames; that the Yangtse Valley has been trembling on the brink of rebellion; that Tientsin city has at last been captured by European troops and a provisional government firmly established; and that many of the high Chinese officials have committed suicide in many parts of China. ”

“ Twenty-four thousand troops landed and 19,000 at Tientsin. General Gaselee expected at Taku to-morrow; Russians at Pei-tsang. Tientsin city under foreign government. Boxer power exploded here. Plenty of troops on the way if you can keep yourselves in food. Almost all the ladies have left Tientsin."
I suppose it was cruel to laugh, but laugh I did with a few others. Never has a man been so abused as was [247] that luckless English Consul who penned such a fatuous message. The spy had already marched our troops half way and more; even the pessimistic allowed that they must have started ”

“ Looking for results, it is impossible to find any, except that our name is hated by millions of people who desired to live and trade upon friendly terms with us. Our representative diplomacy at Pekin is a nullity, and there is every chance that, a change of dynasties intervening, we shall have to undo our Manchoo statesmanship, and comply with a very different set of political necessities in the East. Your Chinese are very intelligent fatalists; they rarely quarrel with facts ”

“ The traveler who lets his friends rush him about the foreign concession of Tientsin by trolley or automobile will get an impression of a comfortable Western community in an Oriental land, but he will carry off very little idea of the real China, or even of the real Tientsin, which 106is a swarming Chinese city, none the less so for having had its wall reduced to a street of boulevard width as a punishment for the Boxer uprising. ”

“ The soldiers of Yulu and Yuhien [governors of Shantung and Chihli] are an our men. When we have finished killing in Tientsin, we shall go to Peking. All the officials high and low will welcome us. Whoever is afraid let him quickly escape for his life."]
With a view to protect the foreign settlement at Tientsin, then threatened by Boxers, the combined naval forces stormed the forts at the mouth of the river, and advanced to that rich emporium. The Court denounced this as an act of war, and ordered all foreigners to leave the capital within twenty-four hours. ”

“ Details of the formation and development of the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha will be found in the Hongkong section of this volume. The Tientsin branch was established in 1885, and the first manager, Mr. Sasaki, was appointed Consul for Japan. The district sub-offices, such as Peking and Kalgan, are under the supervision of the Tientsin branch, whose business has grown to such an extent that eighteen assistants are employed. The present manager, Mr. Y. Yasukawa, was born at Kyoto in 1870, and received his education at Osaka Commercial College. ”

“ Beginning in 1850, it had by 1853 swept over and occupied the provinces south of the Yang-tse-Kiang, except the open ports, had captured the Chinese city of Shanghai and the ancient capital Nankin, had crossed the great river, was threatening Tientsin, and even Peking was in danger of falling into rebel hands. It constitutes one of the most extensive, bloody, and curious insurrections in the annals of time. It threatened the existence of the oldest and most populous empire of the world; it is estimated that twenty millions of lives were sacrificed by it ”

“ The memory of the sack of Pekin by the Anglo-French forces was still fresh, and the hatred of the foreign devils was fiercer and if possible more bitter in Tien-tsin than elsewhere, for so far its people had had very little intercourse with Europeans. Only amongst the more enlightened of the Chinese was the fact recognized that the time for opposition to the entry of foreigners was gone by, and that if the country were not opened from within, it would be forced from without, and the dismemberment of the Empire become inevitable. ”

“ On account of its flat surroundings, Tientsin is the least picturesque city of China. There is a recreation ground, Victoria Gardens, native gardens, a race course around a graveyard, a jockey club, much society, naval and military life, theatricals, and facilities for the many athletic, swimming, boating and skating clubs. Except in summer the climate is charmingly dry; the wind and sand storms are greatly feared, however. The loess dust is as penetrating as the alkali dust of Arizona. ”

“ While directing the second attack upon the small town of Tse-kie, some ten miles inland from Ningpo, on the 21st of September, 1862, Ward, the American filibuster, and the first foreigner to take military service under the Manchoo, was mortally wounded by a Ti-ping musket ball. This adventurer originated the [586] force that finally was the principal instrument in driving the Ti-pings from the dominions they had established as "Ti-ping tien kwoh." By such apparently insignificant means does the Great Ruler of the Universe overthrow the efforts and establish the destinies of man! ”

“ In general trade there have been remarkable advances, and the prospects for the future are of the brightest, for Tientsin is practically the only sea outlet for the provinces of Chihii, Shansi, Sliensi, Kansu, and part of Honan, which have a combined population not far short of 100,000.000. The exports include coal (the output of the Kaiping collieries is about 700,000 tons a year) , wool, bristles, straw-braid, goat-skins, furs, wine, &c. ”

“ The Imperial Government, with all its weakness, is as far removed above that established at Nankin, as the true religion of our Saviour is above that set up by the impostor Tien-wang.” He confirms the fact that no man of worth or station in China has joined the movement; and after describing all the ruin, crime, and nastiness of the interior of the Taeping stronghold, he urges his countrymen to assist the better classes of Chinese in sweeping away the abomination, because it is the barrier to true progress in China. ”

“ It was at this exceedingly critical moment that Tien Wang showed himself an able leader of men by coming to the momentous decision to march out of Kwangsi, and invade the vast and yet untouched provinces of Central China. If the step was more the pressure of dire need than the inspiration of genius, it none the less forms the real turning-point in the rebellion. ”

“ A few good bungalows and a large and well‐built hotel mark where the future Brighton of North China has already begun to claim a recognition; for in the summer months the European residents of Tientsin, Pekin, even of Shanghai are commencing to congregate there in search of cool breezes and a healthy climate. High up above all towers the chain of rugged hills from whose summits the victorious Japanese gazed down on the wrecked Chinese fleet and the battered forts of the island. Behind it, forty miles away, lies the little‐known treaty port of Chifu with its prosperous foreign settlement. ”

“ Dear Harriet:
We've been at Tientsin quite a while now, and I must say it is nothing like so interesting as Peking. It is more like a European city, you know. There are shops, of course, when you know where to look for them; and they have some nice things. I bought a beautiful Mandarin coat--an old red one. And then there is very nice raw silk lace that the Chinese girls make in the French Convent. It is astonishingly cheap. I picked up a lot of it, it goes so wonderfully with the piece of natural Assam silk that Aunt bought at Shanghai to make me a dress out of. ”

“ In this way he came to the open space known as the Space of the Eight directions, where Ko'en Cheng and his nobles were assembled.
"One comes alone," they cried. "This guise is as a taunt." "Naked to a naked town—the analogy is plain." "Shall the mocker be suffered to return?"
Thus the murmur grew. Then one, more impetuous than the rest, swung clear his sword and drew it. For the first time Tian understood that treachery was afoot. ”

“ Those who have been attacking Tientsin are still in that neighbourhood, but you may come across other parties marching down to join them. They are terrible people. If anyone refuses to give them all that they ask for, they will kill everyone in the house and burn it afterwards. They make most of the young men go with them to fight the whites in Tientsin. It is a terrible time. I can remember the Taiping rebellion, and this seems to me to be quite as bad. They all say that the Empress is in their favour, but I cannot believe it. They tell terrible tales about the missionaries ”