New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable AwakeningBrown, Arthur Judson
History
New Forces in Old China: An Inevitable Awakening
Brown, Arthur Judson
China -- Commerce; China -- Foreign relations; China -- Politics and government; Missions -- China
``It sends a thrill of horror through every white man's bosom to learn
that forty missionary women and twenty-five little children were butchered
by the Boxers. But in Tung-chou alone, a city where the Chinese made
no resistance and where there was no fighting, 573 Chinese women of the
upper classes committed suicide rather than survive the indignities they
had suffered. Women of the lower classes fared similarly at the hands of
the soldiers, but were not unwilling to survive their shame. With what
show of consistency is the Occident to denounce the barbarity of the Chinese,
when Occidental soldiers go to China and perpetrate the very acts
which constitute the very basis of barbarity?''
When I asked the Rev. Dr. D. Z. Sheffield, for many years
a missionary of the American Board in Tung-chou, whether
this statement was accurate, he replied that it was not only true,
but that it was an understatement of the truth.
Fay Chi Ho, an intelligent and reliable Chinese Christian,
gives the following account of what he personally saw:--
``I travelled with a British convoy going by boat, occupying quarters
on a Major's boat with his Sikh soldiers and cook. I know that the
Major was not a Christian man, for he smoked and drank all day long
and was constantly cursing, striking and kicking his men, especially his
cook. He also gave his orders in loud tones, with fierce mien and glaring
eyes, and we all feared him exceedingly. Every day at noon the
Major would take four Sikhs and go to villages several miles from the
river for loot, always compelling me to accompany him as interpreter.
He would catch the first man whom he saw in a village and compel him
to act as guide to the homes of the rich. So successful was he on these
raids that by the time he reached Tung-chou, he had three new carts,
three donkeys, five or six sheep, and much clothing and bric-a-brac.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account