An interesting aftermath of the Boxer massacres in 1900 was the strange
disappearance of the Manchu prince, Liang Chow, who was condemned to
be strangled in private with the silver cord, which two unseen friends
were to tighten behind two holes bored in a wall. Prince Liang fled
to America, where he became a pauper, and was buried in the Alamosa,
Colorado, cemetery. At the request of the Manchu throne his body was
exhumed on November 25, 1910, and started on its way to China to the
tombs of the Manchu emperors west of Peking (not the Ming tombs, which
are northwest). A splendid, dragon-gilded coffin was furnished, and
the Manchus sent magnificent mandarin robes, a yellow jacket, peacock
feather and pearl button of honor. The Chinese whom Prince Liang found
in America were not Manchus, but republican Cantonese of southern
Kwangtung province.
Hongkong, the dean of foreign settlements, Shanghai, Tientsin,
Singapore, Hankau, Harbin, etc., all have volunteer military companies
and inter-port rifle matches. Every man in a settlement can be
impressed for the protection of life and property. All these uniformed
companies have seen hard active service in the taking of Kowloon,
the various riots at Shanghai, the Peking Relief Expedition and the
revolution which broke out at Hankau in October, 1911. The companies
cover infantry, machine and field gun, bicycle and garrison corps
trained in the use of cannon. Hongkong’s uniformed contingent at
King George’s coronation in London attracted much attention for the
smartness of their swinging march. “We didn’t think the jaded tropics
could turn out such ambition,” was the remark of many onlookers.
The English historian, Creasy, who lived in the Far East, in writing
his book, _Decisive Battles of the World_, as early as 1852 recognized
the importance of America’s mission across the Pacific. These are his
words: “The conquests of China and Japan by the fleets and armies
of the United States are events which many now living are likely to
witness. Compared with the magnitude of such changes in the dominion
of the old world, the certain ascendancy of the Anglo-Americans over
central and southern America seems a matter of secondary importance.”
If we change Creasy’s favorite idea of physical conquest to that of
moral, educational and commercial, with physical power only as an
auxiliary in the case of the heinous jealousy of those not concerned,
we shall agree with him as to America’s advance across the Pacific.
It was nevertheless a wonderful prophecy, made as long ago as 1852,
when the tide of America’s western advance, with the exception of one
meager settlement, had not yet risen over the Rockies. All the Chinese
leaders, republican and conservative, look for the growing evidence
of America’s interests across the Pacific, and American affairs and
history are keenly studied.
Some of the Chinese proverbs on international politics are the
following:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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