Part 7 (1/2)
7 My Dear Mother, These are most troublous times, and thy son is hara.s.sed to the verge of sickness. Shanghai is filled with Chinese who come seeking foreign protection. Within the narrow confines of the foreign settlements, it is said, there are nearly a million Chinese, half of them refugees from their home provinces, fearing for their money or their lives, or both.
The great red houses on the fas.h.i.+onable streets, built by the English for their homes, are sold at fabulous prices to these gentlemen, who have brought their families and their silver to the only place they know where the foreign hand is strong enough to protect them from their own people. There are many queer tales; some are simply the breath of the unkind winds that seem to blow from nowhere but gain in volume with each thing they touch. Tan Toatai, who paid 300,000 taels for his position as Toatai of Shanghai, and who left for his home province with 3,000,000 taels, as the gossips say, was asked to contribute of his plenty for the help of the new government. He promised; then changed his mind, and carefully gathered all his treasures together and left secretly one night for Shanghai. Now he is in fear for his life and dares not leave the compound walls of the foreigner who has befriended him.
It makes one wonder what is the use of these fortunes that bring endless sorrow by the misery of winning them, guarding them, and the fear of losing them. They who work for them are as the water buffalo who turns the water-wheel and gets but his daily food and the straw-thatched hut in which he rests. For the sake of this food and lodging which falls to the lot of all, man wastes his true happiness which is so hard to win.
These Chinese of the foreign settlements seem alien to me. Yuan called upon thy son the other day, and had the temerity to ask for me-- a most unheard-of thing. I watched him as he went away, dressed in European clothes, as nearly all of our younger men are clothed these days, and one would never know that he had worn his hair otherwise than short. There are no more neatly plaited braids hanging down the back, and the beautiful silks and satins, furs and peac.o.c.k feathers are things of the past. These peac.o.c.k feathers, emblems of our old officialdom, are now bought by foreign ladies as a tr.i.m.m.i.n.g on their hats. Shades of Li Hung-chang and Chang Chih-tung! What will they say if looking over the barriers they see the insignia of their rank and office gracing the glowing head-gear of the tourists who form great parties and come racing from over the seas to look at us as at queer animals from another world?
It is not only the men who are copying the foreign customs and clothing. Our women are now seen in public, driving with their husbands, or walking arm in arm upon the public street. I even saw a Chinese woman driving that ”devil machine,” a motor-car, with her own hands. She did not seem a woman, but an uns.e.xed thing that had as little of woman-hood as the car that took her along so swiftly. I promised to send Tah-li the new hair ornaments, but there are no hair ornaments worn now. The old jewels are laid aside, the jade and pearls are things of the past. The hair is puffed and knotted in a way most unbecoming to the face. It is neither of the East nor of the West, but a half-caste thing, that brands its wearer as a woman of no race.
Dost thou remember the story over which the Chinese in all the Empire laughed within their sleeves? Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager, was on most friendly terms with the wife of the Minister of the United States of America, and on one occasion gave her as a gift a set of combs enclosed within a box of silver. The foreign lady was delighted, and did not see the delicate sarcasm hidden within the present. Combs-- the foreign ladies need them! We Chinese like the locks most smoothly brushed and made to glisten and s.h.i.+ne with the scented elm, but they, the foreign ladies, allow them to straggle in rude disorder around their long, grave faces, which are so ugly in our eyes.
Thou hast asked me for the latest style in dress. It is impossible to say what is the latest style. Some women wear a jacket far too short and trousers tight as any coat sleeve. The modest ones still cover them with skirts; but I have seen women walking along the street who should certainly stay within the inner courtyard and hide their shame.
For those who wear the skirt, the old, wide-pleated model has gone by, and a long black skirt that is nearly European is now worn. It is not graceful, but it is far better than the trousers worn by women who walk along so stiffly upon their ”golden lilies.” These tiny feet to me are beautiful, when covered with gay embroidery they peep from scarlet skirts; but they too are pa.s.sing, and we hear no more the crying of the children in the courtyards. I am told that the small-footed woman of China is of the past, along with the long finger-nails of our gentlemen and scholars; and I am asked why I do not unbind my feet.
I say, ”I am too old; I have suffered in the binding, why suffer in the unbinding?” I have conceded to the new order by allowing unbound feet to all my girls, and everywhere my family is held up as an example of the new Chinese. They do not know of the many bitter tears I have shed over the thought that my daughters would look like women of the servant cla.s.s and perhaps not make a good marriage; but I was forced to yield to their father, whose foreign travel had taught him to see beauty in ugly, natural feet. Even now, when I see Wan-li striding across the gra.s.s, I blush for her and wish she could walk more gracefully. My feet caused me many moons of pain, but they are one of the great marks of my lady-hood, and I yet feel proud as I come into a room with the gentle swaying motions of the bamboo in a breeze; although my daughter who supports me takes one great step to five of mine.
The curse of foot binding does not fall so heavily upon women like myself, who may sit and broider the whole day through, or, if needs must travel, can be borne upon the shoulders of their chair bearers, but it is a bane to the poor girl whose parents hope to have one in the family who may marry above their station, and hoping thus, bind her feet. If this marriage fails and she is forced to work within her household, or, even worse, if she is forced to toil within the fields or add her mite gained by most heavy labour to help fill the many eager mouths at home, then she should have our pity. We have all seen the small-footed woman pulling heavy boats along the tow-path, or leaning on their hoes to rest their tired feet while working in the fields of cotton. To her each day is a day of pain; and this new law forbidding the binding of the feet of children will come as Heaven's blessing. But it will not cease at once, as so many loudly now proclaim. It will take at least three generations; her children's children will all quite likely have natural feet. The people far in the country, far from the noise of change and progress, will not feel immediately that they can wander so far afield from the old ideas of what is beautiful in their womanhood.
I notice, as I open wide my cas.e.m.e.nt, that the rain has come, and across the distant fields it is falling upon the new-sown rice and seems to charm the earth into the thought that spring is here, bringing forth the faint green buds on magnolia, ash, and willow. Dost thou remember the verse we used to sing:
”Oh she is good, the little rain, and well she knows our need, Who cometh in the time of spring to aid the sun-drawn seed.
She wanders with a friendly wind through silent heights unseen, The furrows feel her happy tears, and lo, the land is green!”
I must send a servant with the rain coverings for the children, that they may not get wet in returning from their schools.
We greet thee, all.
Kwei-li.
8 My Dear Mother, Last night I heard a great wailing in the servants' courtyard, and found there the maid of thy old friend, Tang Tai-tai. She came from Nanking to us, as she has no one left in all the world. She is a Manchu and has lived all her life in the Manchu family of Tang within the Tartar city of Nanking. It seems the soldiers, besieging the city, placed their guns on Purple Hill, so that they would cause destruction only to the Tartar city, and it was levelled to the ground. No stone remains upon another; and the family she had served so faithfully were either killed in the battle that raged so fiercely, or were afterward taken to the grounds of Justice to pay with their life for the fact that they belonged to the Imperial Clan. She is old, this faithful servant, and now claims my protection. It is another mouth to feed; but there is so much unhappiness that if it were within my power I would quench with rains of food and drink the anguish this cruel war has brought upon so many innocent ones. A mat on which to sleep, a few more bowls of rice, these are the only seeds that I may sow within the field of love, and I dare not them withhold.
I am most sorrowful for these poor Manchus. For generations they have received a pension from the government; to every man-child an allowance has been made; and now they find themselves with nothing. Even their poor homes are piles of stone and rubbish. What will they do to gain their food in this great country which is already full to over-flowing? They are so pitiful, these old men and women thrown so suddenly upon the world. Their stories pierce my marrow, and I would that my sleeve were long and wide enough to cover all the earth and shelter these poor helpless ones. One old man-- his years must have been near eighty-- came to our door for help. I talked to him and found that, until his sons were killed before his eyes, his home torn to the ground, he had never been without the city's walls. He said, just like a child, ”Why should I go? My wife, my sons, my home, my all, were within the walls; why go outside?”
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mylady17.]
Each hour brings us fresh rumours of the actions of the rebels, Poor Liang Tai-tai was here and in the sorest trouble. Her husband and her brother were officers in the army of Yuan, and when in Ranking were shot along with twenty of their brother officers, because they would not join the Southern forces. To add to China's trouble, the Southern pirates are attacking boats; and I am glad to say, although it sounds most cruel, that the government is taking measures both quick and just. Ten men were captured and were being brought by an English s.h.i.+p to Canton, and when in neutral waters it is said a Chinese gunboat steamed alongside with an order for the prisoners. As they stepped upon the Chinese boat, each man was shot. The English were most horrified, and have spoken loudly in all the papers of the acts of barbarism; but they do not understand our people. They must be frightened; especially at a time like this, when men are watching for the chance to take advantage of their country's turmoil.
These pirates of Canton have always been a menace. Each village in that country must be forever on the defensive, for no man is safe who has an ounce of gold. When father was the prefect of Canton, I remember seeing a band of pirates brought into the Yamen, a ring of iron around the collarbone, from which a chain led to the prisoner on either side. It was brutal, but it allowed no chance of escape for these men, dead to all humanity, and desperate, knowing there awaited them long days of prison, and in the end they knew not what.
In those days imprisonment was the greatest of all evils; it was not made a place of comfort. For forty-eight long hours, the man within the clutches of the law went hungry; then, if no relative or friend came forth to feed him, he was allowed one bowl of rice and water for each day. A prison then meant ruin to a man with money, because the keepers of the outer gate, the keepers of the inner gate, the guardian of the prison doors, the runners in the corridor, the jailer at the cell, each had a hand that ached for silver. A bowl of rice bought at the tea-shop for ten cash, by the time the waiting hungry man received it, cost many silver dollars. Yet a prison should not be made a tempting place of refuge and vacation; if so in times of cold and hunger it will be filled with those who would rather suffer shame than work.
Another thing the people who cry loudly against our old-time Courts of Justice do not understand, is the crus.h.i.+ng, grinding, naked poverty that causes the people in this over-crowded province to commit most brutal deeds. The penalties must match the deeds, and frighten other evil-doers. If the people do not fear death, what good is there in using death as a deterrent; and our Southern people despise death, because of their excessive labour in seeking the means of life. But-- what a subject for a letter! I can see thee send for a cup of thy fragrant sun-dried tea, mixed with the yellow flower of the jessamine, to take away the thoughts of death and evil and the wickedness of the world outside thy walls. It will never touch thee, Mother mine, because the G.o.ds are holding thee all safe within their loving hands.
Thy daughter, Kwei-li.
9 My Mother, I have most joyful news to tell thee. My father has arrived! He came quite without warning, saying he must know the changing times from word of mouth instead of reading it in papers. He has upset my household with his many servants. My father keeps to his old ways and customs and travels with an army of his people. His pipe man, his hat man, his cook, his boy-- well, thou rememberest when he descended upon us in Sezchuan-- yet he could bring ten times the number, and his welcome would be as warm. The whole town knows he is our guest, and foreigners and Chinese have vied one with the other to do him honour. The foreign papers speak of him as ”the greatest Chinese since Li Hung-chang,” and many words are written about his fifty years' service as a high official. The story is retold of his loyalty to Her Majesty at the time of the Boxer uprising, when he threatened the foreigners that if Her Majesty was even frightened, he would turn his troops upon Shanghai and drive the foreigners into the sea. I wonder if the present government can gain the love the Dowager Empress drew from all who served her.
My father was the pioneer of the present education, so say the papers, and it is remembered that his school for girls in the province where he ruled, nearly caused him the loss of his position, as His Excellency, Chang Chih-tung, memorialised the throne and said that women should not have book learning; that books would only give them a place in which to hide their threads and needles. It is also said of him that he was always against the coming of the foreigners. They could obtain no mine, no railway, no concession in a province where he was representing his Empress. China was closed, so far as lay within his power, to even men of religion from other lands. It was he who first said, ”The missionary, the merchant, and then the gunboat.”
My father will not talk with men about the present trials of China; he says, most justly, that he who is out of office should not meddle in the government. When asked if he will give the results of his long life and great experience to the Republic, he answers that he owes his love and loyalty to the old regime under which he gained his wealth and honours; and then he shakes his head and says he is an old man, nothing but wet ashes. But they do not see the laughter in his eyes; for my father ”is like the pine-tree, ever green, the symbol of unflinching purpose and vigorous old age.”