Death of an Emperor | Chapter 1 | Chinese Sketches | Herbert Allen Giles

Section 1. Death of an Emperor. His Imperial Majesty, Sai Shun, deputed by Heaven to reign over all within the Four Seas, expired on the evening of Tuesday, the 13th of January, 1875, aged eighteen years and nine months. He was erroneously known to foreigners as the Emperor Tong Chi. But Tong Chi was merely the style of his reign, adopted in order that the people should not profane by vulgar utterance a Footnote. Until the new monarch, the late Emperor's cousin, had been duly installed, no word of what had taken place was breathed beyond the walls of the palace, for dangerous thoughts might have arisen had it been known that the state was drifting rudderless, a prey to the wild waves of sedition and lawless outbreak. The ascension of a child to reign under the style of Quang Su was proclaimed before it was publicly made known that his predecessor had passed away. On the personal history of the ill-fated boy, who has thus been prematurely cut off just as he was entering upon manhood and the actual government of four hundred million souls, we know next to nothing. His ascension as an infant to the dignities of a sensual, dissipated father, attracted but little attention either in China or elsewhere, and from that date up to the year 1872, all we heard about his majesty was, that he was making good progress in Manchu, or had hit the target three times out of ten shots at a distance of about twenty-five yards. He was taught to ride on horseback, though up to the day of his death he never took part in any great hunting expeditions, such as were frequently indulged in by earlier emperors of the present dynasty. He learnt to read and write Chinese, though what progress he made in the study of Chinese was, of course, only known to his teachers. Painting may or may not have been an imperial hobby, but it is quite certain that the drama received more perhaps than its full share of patronage. The ladies and eunuchs of the palace are notoriously fond of whiling away much of their monotonous existence in watching the grave antics of professional tragedians, and laughing at the broad jokes of the low comedy man, with his comic voice and funnily painted face. Listening to the tunes prescribed by the Book of Ceremonies, and dining in solemn solitary grandeur off the eight precious kinds of food set apart for the sovereign. These are bear's paws, deer's tail, duck's tongues, torpedo's roe, camel's hump, monkey's lips, carp's tails and beef marrow. His late majesty passed his boyhood, until in 1872, he married the fair, A-lu-ti, and practically ascended the dragon throne of his ancestors. Up to that time the Empress Dowager, hidden behind a bamboo screen, had transacted business with the members of the Privy Council, signing all documents of state with the vermilion pencil for and on behalf of the young Emperor, but probably without even going through the formality of asking his assent. The marriage of the Emperor of China seemed to wake people up from their normal apathy, so that for a few months European eyes were actually directed towards the flowery land, and the Illustrated London News, with praiseworthy zeal, sent out a special correspondent, whose valuable contributions to that journal will be a record for ever. The ceremony, however, was hardly over before a bitter drop rose in the imperial cup. Barbarians from beyond the sea came forward to claim the right of personal interview with the sovereign of all under heaven. The story of the first audience is still fresh in our memories. The trivial difficulties introduced by obstructive statesmen at every stage of the proceedings, questions of etiquette and precedence raised at every turn, until finally the kowtow was triumphantly rejected, and five bows substituted in its stead. Every one saw the curt paragraph of the Peking Gazette, which notified that on such a day, and at such an hour, the foreign envoys had been admitted to an interview with the Emperor. We all laughed over the silly story so sedulously spread by the Chinese to every corner of the empire, that our minister's knees had knocked together from terror when, Phaeton-like, he had obtained his dangerous request. That he fell down flat in the very presence, breaking all over into a profuse perspiration, and that the haughty prince who had acted as his conductor chide him for his want of courage, bestowing upon him the contemptuous nickname of chicken-feather. Subsequently, in the spring of 1874, the late Emperor made his great pilgrimage to worship at the tombs of his ancestors. He had previous to his marriage performed this filial duty once, but the mausoleum containing his father's bones was not then completed, and the whole thing was conducted in a private, unostentatious manner. But on the last occasion great preparations were made and vast sums spent, on paper, that nothing might be wanting to render the spectacle as imposing as money could make it. Royalty was to be seen humbly performing the same hallowed rites which are demanded of every child, and which can under no circumstances be delegated to any other person, as long as there is a son or daughter living. The route along which his majesty was to proceed, was lined with closely packed crowds of loyal subjects, eager to set eyes for once in their lives upon a being they are taught to regard as the incarnation of divinity. And when the sacred person really burst upon their view, the excitement was beyond description. Young and old, women and children, fell simultaneously upon their knees, and tears and sobs mingled with the blessings showered upon his majesty, by thousands of simple-minded, affectionate people. The next epoch in the life of this youthful monarch occurred a few months ago. The Sun of Heaven. Such terms as, Brother of the Sun and Moon, are altogether imaginary, and are quite unknown in China. Had not availed himself of western science to secure immunity from the most loathsome of the long category of diseases. He had not been vaccinated, in spite of the known prevalence of smallpox at Peking during the winter season. True, it is but a mild form of smallpox that is there common. But it is easy to imagine what a powerless victim was found in the person of a young prince, enervated by perpetual cooping in the heart of a city, rarely permitted to leave the palace, and then only in a sedan chair, called out of his bed at three o'clock every morning, summer or winter, to transact business that must have had few charms for a boy, and possessed of no other means of amusement than such as he could derive from the society of his wife or concubines. Occasional bulletins announced that the disease was progressing favorably, and, laterly, it was signified that His Majesty was rapidly approaching a state of convalescence. His death, therefore, came both suddenly and unexpectedly. Happily, at a time when China was unfettered by war or rebellion, and when all the energies of her statesmen could be employed in averting either one catastrophe or the other. For one hundred days the court went into deep mourning, wearing capes of white fur with the hair outside, over long white garments of various stuffs, lined also with white fur, but of a lighter kind than of the capes. Mandarins of high rank used the skin of the white fox for the latter, but the ordinary official is content with the curly fleece of the snow-white Mongolian sheep. For one hundred days no male in the empire might have his head shaved, and women were supposed to eschew for the same period all those gaudy head-ornaments of which they are so inordinately fond. At the expiration of this time the court mourning was changed to black, which color, or at any rate something somber, will be worn to the close of the year. For twelve long months there may be no marrying or giving in marriage, that is, among the official classes. The people are let off more easily. One hundred days being fixed upon is their limit. For a whole year it is illegal to renew the scrolls of red paper pasted on every door-post, and inscribed with cherished maxims from the sacred books, except again for non-officials, whose penances once more cut down to one hundred days' duration. In these sad times the birth of a son, a Chinaman's deepest wish on earth, elicits no congratulations from thronging friends, no red eggs are sent to the lucky parents, and no joyous feast is provided in return. Merrymaking of all kinds is forbidden to all classes, and for the full term of one year, and the familiar sound of the flute and the guitar is hushed in every household and in every street. The ordinary Chinese visiting card, a piece of red paper about six inches by three, inscribed with its owner's name in large characters, changes to a dusky brown, and the very lines on letter-paper, usually red, are printed of a dingy blue. Official seals are also universally stamped in blue, instead of the vermilion or mauve otherwise used according to the rank of the holder. Red is absolutely tabooed. It is the emblem of mirth and joy, and the color of every Chinese maiden's wedding dress. It is an insult to write a letter to a friend or stranger on a piece of plain white paper with black ink. Etiquette requires that the column should be divided by red lines, or, if not, that a tiny slip of red paper be pasted on in recognition of the form. For this reason it is that all stamps and seals in China are red, to enable tradesmen, officials, and others to use any kind of paper, whether it has already some read about it or not, and every foreigner in China would do well to exact on all occasions the same formalities from his employees as they would consider a matter of duty toward one of their own countrymen, however low he might be in the social scale. Certain classes of the people will suffer from the observance of these ceremonies far more The peasant may not have his head shaved for one hundred days—inconvenient, no doubt, for him, but mild as compared with the fate of thousands of barbers, who for three whole months will not know where to look to gain their daily rice. Yet there is a large section of the community much worse off than the barbers, and this comprises everybody connected in any way with the theatres. Their occupation is gone. For the space of one year neither public or private performance is permitted. During that time actors are outcast upon the face of the earth, and have no regular means of getting a livelihood. The lessees of theatres have most likely feathered their own nest sufficiently well to enable them to last out the prescribed term without serious inconvenience. But with us, actors are proverbially improvident, and even in frugal China they are no exception to the rule. Officials in the provinces, besides conforming to the above customs in every detail, are further obliged, on receipt of the sad announcement, to mourn three times a day for three days in a particular chapel devoted to that purpose. There they are supposed to call to mind the virtues of their late master, and more especially that act of grace which elevated each to the position he enjoys. Actual tears are expected as a slight return for the seal of office which has enabled its possessor to grow rich, at the expense too often of a poor and struggling population. We fancy, however, that the mind of the mourner is more frequently occupied with thinking how many friends he can count among the imperial censors, than in dwelling upon the transcendent bounty of the deceased emperor. We sympathize with the bereaved mother who has lost her only child, and the hope of China, but on the other hand, if there is little room for congratulation, there is still less for regret. The nation has been deprived of its nominal head, a vapid youth of nineteen, who was content to lie purdue in his harem without making an effort to do a little governing on his own responsibility. During the ten years that foreigners have resided within half a mile of his own apartments, in the palace at Peking, he has either betrayed no curiosity to learn anything at all about them, or has been wanting a resolution to carry out such a scheme, as we can well imagine would have been devised by some of his bolder and more vigorous ancestors. And now once more the scepter has passed into the hands of a child, who will grow up, like the late emperor, amid the intrigues of a court composed of women and eunuchs, utterly unfit for anything like energetic government. The splendid tomb which has been for the last twelve years in preparation to receive the imperial coffin, but which, according to Chinese custom, may not be completed until death has actually taken place, will witness the last scene in the career of an unfortunate young man who could never have been an object of envy, even to the meanest of his people, and who has not left one single monument behind him by which he will be remembered hereafter. End of Section.