Blue waters and green and the Far East today . 29] CANTON. It was a considerable city two thousand years ago,and its authentic history dates back so far. Formore than a thousand years it has been the most im-portant town in South China, and is pure Chinese,body and bone, as distinguished from Pekin, which isManchu, the race of the conquerors, a branch of theKin Tartars, from whom Manchuria takes its name. The Ming or Bright dynasty, the last of theChinese emperors, was overthrown by the Manchusabout the middle of the seventeenth century, and theyhave since held the throne. The present Emperor,
Blue waters and green and the Far East today . 29] CANTON. It was a considerable city two thousand years ago,and its authentic history dates back so far. Formore than a thousand years it has been the most im-portant town in South China, and is pure Chinese,body and bone, as distinguished from Pekin, which isManchu, the race of the conquerors, a branch of theKin Tartars, from whom Manchuria takes its name. The Ming or Bright dynasty, the last of theChinese emperors, was overthrown by the Manchusabout the middle of the seventeenth century, and theyhave since held the throne. The present Emperor,Kuang Hsui, is childless, nearly imbecile, and, aseveryone knows, that extraordinary woman Tsi An,the Dowager Empress, born a slave, rules while theEmperor plays with American clocks or amuses him-self in his abundantly stocked harem. The Yangste river is the dividing-line: south is pure Chinese; north, Manchu. In Canton we shall see a city purely Chinese; nothing else save the soldiers and policemen^who are Manchu. In Pekin we shall [. 130 ]. CANTON see nothing but Manchus, save a few officials. TheCantonese are the merchants and traders, the Man-chus the warriors. Confucius was from the south, andhis abhorrence of war, contempt for soldiers, andadmiration for the arts of peace, have stamped allSouth China. In the south has always been great disaffectiontoward the reigning family. Here the Taiping rebelsmade head in 1860, held Nanking and Old Shanghaiand all the south, and practically divided the empirein half. Had it not been for Ward and Burlingame,two American adventurers, who organized the Im-perial forces into the Ever Victorious Army, andChinese Gordon, who later commanded and led it tovictory, there would probably be two Chinas , a Christian fanatic, a very great man, madehis reputation before the walls of Nankin, and gavehis life at Khartoum, a victim to the bitter prejudiceand cowardly foreign policy of Gladstone. By the way, how many of my readers know of
Size: 1341px × 1864px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauth, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu31924023279866
