Transcriber Note Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=. CHINA AND THE CHINESE China AND THE CHINESE BY EDMUND PLAUCHUT TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY Mrs. ARTHUR BELL (N. D'Anvers) AUTHOR OF 'THE ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF ART,' 'LIFE OF GAINSBOROUGH,' 'THE SCIENCE LADDERS,' ETC. WITH FIFTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED 13 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET 1899 _All rights reserved._ TRANSLATOR'S NOTE This brightly written little book by the well-known French author, Edmund Plauchut, who has spent many years in China, is the first of the new series known as the "Livres d'or de la Science" recently commenced by MM. Schleicher Frères of Paris. It gives in a succinct form a very complete account of the Chinese, both past and present, their religion, their literature, and their time-honoured customs. Touching but lightly on the many vexed questions of modern diplomacy, it yet presents a very true picture of the problems European statesmen have to solve in connection with the inevitable partition of the Celestial Empire, and will, it is hoped, be found of real service to those who wish to be abreast with the times, yet who have not the leisure to read the longer and more exhaustive books on the subject which are continually appearing. Nancy Bell, _Southbourne-on-Sea, May 1899._ CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE The delight of exploring unknown lands--Saint Louis and the Tartars of olden times--The Anglo-French force enters Pekin--Terror of the "Red Devils"--The "Cup of Immortality"--The "Sons of Heaven"--Hong-Kong as it was and is--The Treaty of Tien-tsin--The game of "Morra"--First Tea-party in the Palace of Pekin--Chinese agriculture and love of flowers--Chinese literati--An awkward meeting between two of them--Love of poetry in China--Voltaire's letter to the poet-king--The Chinese army--The _Shu-King_, or sacred book of China--Yao and his work--Chung, the lowly-born Emperor--The Hoang-Ho, or "China's Sorrow"--Yu the engineer and his work--Chung chooses Yu to reign after him--The foundation of the hereditary monarchy in China 1 CHAPTER II