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“...An American Engineer in China...”
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“...PRESENTED to the LIBRARY of the SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES University of London by .China Association-.............................. ..........................................1979..................................................................”
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“...An American Engineer in China...”
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“...An American Engineer in China By Wm. Barclay Parsons NEW YORK McClure, Phillips & Co. M C M...”
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“...11 Preface THE following pages are designed to pre- sent a view of China and the Chinese from the stand-point of industrial development as it exists at present and along the lines it is likely to follow in the future. Such phases of the Chinese question as the missionary problems, and the causes and treatment of the recent politi- cal disturbance, are left entirely to be dealt with by others, as, likewise, are all matters of govern- ment, internal and foreign politics, and personal or national characteristics, except in so far as they may come within the subject scope. In the years 1898 and 1899 the author was in China, under retainer of an American syndicate to ex- amine, survey, and report on an extensive rail- way enterprise, and the duties connected with his professional work placed him in an excep- tional position to study and observe this interest- ing country and its people from a quite different point of view from that taken by other writers. The journey made in the course of the...”
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“...6 Preface official recognition in, Chang-sha, the one large city in China which hitherto had been closed to foreigners. The author was accompanied by a corps of engineers, consisting of Mr. R. C. Hunt, Chief of Staff, and Messrs. A. E. Coulter, H. B. Magor, W. K. Brice, and W. S. K. Wetmoreto whom were added Mr. Charles Denby, Jr., as in- terpreter and manager, and Dr. R. B. Jellison as physician. Sheng Ta-jen, Director General of Imperial Chinese Railways, kindly attached to the party Mr. W. W. Rich, his consulting engineer, and Woo Yung-fo, and Lo Kwok-shui, two of his secretaries. The two last mentioned gentlemen had been educated in the United States, the latter as an engineer. They both had been recalled in the midst of their collegiate studies, and subse- quently Mr. Woo entered the Chinese navy, where he served as flag-lieutenant to Captain Lang, R.N., at that time acting as Chinese Admiral. When Admiral Ting succeeded Cap- tain Lang, Mr. Woo was transferred to the for- mer's staff...”
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“...A Table of the Chapte r s Chapter I. China . Page 15 II. American Concession 44 III. Hu-nan, The Closed Province of China 54 The Entrance . 70 The Interior 90 The Exit 109 IV. My Chinese Impressions . 127 V. Commerce and Commercial Relations . 148 VI. Finances of China . 181 VII. Chinese Construction . 198 VIII. Inland Communication . . 221 IX. Railways . . 245 X. The Yellow Peril . 286 XI. China in the Twentieth Century . . 306...”
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“...of the Tartar City, Peking, with One of the Gate-towers.......214 The Great Wall of China . 216 The Siang Kiang ...... . 224 A Freight-boat Being Poled Against the Stream . 228 A Sail That May Have Seen Better Days, but Which is by no Means a Unique Specimen ..... 230 A Female Skipper ........ 232 The Equality of Sex. A Man and a Woman at the Oar . 233 A Cantonese Slipper Boat ...... 235 Fast Freight by Wheelbarrow . . 237 The Author Travelling in an Official Chair . 238 Boy Carrying Coal from the Mines to the River . 240 A Typical Road on Top of a Dyke between Rice-fields . 241 A Road Paved with Stone Slabs Showing the Groove Cut by Wheelbarrows.......242 The Rocket of China and Mr. Kinder . 248 Khojack Tunnel on the Sind-Peshin Railway, India . 268 Japanese Passenger Train . 270 Typical Large Railway Station in Japan . 272 Typical Small Railway Station in Japan . 274 Passengers Getting on a Train in China . 276 Japanese Railway Freight Station .... 278 Second-class Train on the Imperial...”
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“...Chapter i China EVER since the days when Marco Polo brought back to Europe the seeming fairy tales of the wonder land of the Far East, the country to which we have applied the name of China has been a field more and more attrac- tive for commercial conquest. At the close of the nineteenth century, when the ever-rising tide of industrial development has succeeded in sweeping over Europe, America, the better portion of Africa, Western Asia, and India, it is the Chinese Wall alone that resists its waves. The movement, however, is irresistible, and not even the exclusiveness of the Chinese and their extreme disinclination to change their ways will be a sufficient protection against it. The re- cent so-called "Boxer" outbreak will probably prove to be the death-knell to Chinese resist- ance. Whatever may be the outcome of this out- break, in so far as it affects the government or the political integrity of the country, it can be predicted with safety that the commercial and in- dustrial life...”
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“...16 An American Engineer in China fitting time to survey the field of industrial enter- prise by examining into what has been done, and to ascertain the sort of foundation that has been prepared 011 which the Chinese people, aided at first by foreigners, will eventually of themselves erect their own industrial structure. In the consideration of this very interesting land there seems to be a surprise at every turn, and one of the most peculiar is that we are met at the outset by the curious circumstance that it is a country without a name. The Chinese themselves have no fixed designation for their country, using, as a general thing, either the Middle Kingdom," or the Celestial Kingdom," or the Great Pure Kingdom." The interpretation of the first is that the people consider China to be the centre of the world, all the other countries surrounding and be- ing tributary to it; although the term probably originated when, what is now the Province of Ho-nan was the central kingdom of several other...”
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“...Chapter I : China 17 is of uncertain origin, but it is supposed to mean the land of Chin or Tsin, a family that ruled about 250 b.c.; and even this name is used indiscrimi- nately as covering two areas very different in size. When we use the word China it may mean the Chinese Empire proper, the Empire of the eigh- teen provinces; or it may mean the eighteen provinces and the dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet, whose bond of attachment to the Empire, in strength, is in the above order. The eighteen provinces comprise in area about 1,500,000 square miles, or an area about equal to that portion of the United States lying east of Colorado. The shape of the Empire proper is substantially rectangular, extending from the latitude of eighteen degrees north, or the latitude of Vera Cruz, to forty-two degrees north, which is about that of New York. When the depen- dencies are included under the title of China the northern boundary is carried to the forty- eighth parallel, or say the latitude...”
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“...18 An American Engineer in China tiguous conglomeration of people under one rul- er. Racially speaking, they are a conglomeration. Who the Chinese were originally is not known. It is generally believed that they came from Western or Central Asia, and, conquering the scattered nomadic tribes inhabiting what is now China, seized their country. In the dependencies and China proper we find distinctly different peoples, with diverse customs; while scattered about the Empire proper are set- tlements of strange tribes, whose origin is abso- lutely unknown, but who are believed to be relics of the aboriginal inhabitants. Lack of intercommunication has allowed the language of the Chinese to become locally varied, and to such an extent that, although the written characters are the same, the spoken dialects of the North and South are so different as to* be mutu- ally unintelligible. There are said to be in the Empire proper eight dialects, each again being many times subdivided by local colloquialisms...”
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“...Chapter I : China 9 being the oldest continuing nation in the world. Fairly authentic records trace back the course of events to about 3,000 B.C., so that China rightly claims an existence of at least 5,000 years. Re- lating to the time previous to this period there is a vast amount of legendary matter, in which probability and fiction have not yet been separ- ated. China's own historians, with characteristic con- ceit, make out their country's history to be con- temporaneous with time. Owing to her seclusion and isolation from the affairs of other nations, the history of China possesses a local rather than a world interest, and for the most part is a record of the rise and fall of the several tribes or peoples composing the nation, each such change estab- lishing a new dynasty. However, there are cer- tain epochs of general interest and certain salient points in the nation's development and growth that should be understood and kept in mind if any study of China or of things Chinese is...”
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“...26 An American Engineer in China In the Chau Dynasty, which lasted from B.C. 1122 to B.C. 249, we find the great period in Chi- nese literature, an era comparable with that of Elizabeth in our records. In 550 B.C. Confucius was born, whose philosophical reasonings, ow- ing to the long time he antedated the spread of Christianity and Mohammedanism, have affected the thought of more human beings than the writ- ings or sayings of any other man, with the possi- ble exception of Buddha. Although Confucius is the central figure of the epoch, there are at least two other men sub- stantially contemporaneous with him, who are only a little less prominent: Liao-tze, who pre- ceded him fifty years, and Mencius, who followed him one hundred years. The former was a religious philosopher, on whose writings has been founded the doctrine of Taoism. This phi- losophy is based on Reason (Tao) and Virtue (Teh), and is of interest in that it leans toward an eternal monotheism. According to his theory the visible...”
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“...Chapter I : China 21 King, Book of Records ; Shi-King, the Book of Odes; Li-Ki, the Book of Rites; and Chun- Tsiu, a continuation of the Shu-King. Of the above, the second, third and fourth, although long antedating Confucius, were edited by him, while the fifth is from his pen. The four lesser classics are Ta-Hioh, Great learning; Chung-Yung, the Just Medium; the Analects of Confucius; and the writings of Mencius. The last is the great production of Mencius, while the first three are a digest of the moralizings of Confucius as gathered by his disciples. On these nine books are founded Chinese phi- losophy, morals, thought, religion, education, ethics, and even etiquette. The spirit of the mat- ter in the classics is essentially lofty, moral, and good. In China, learning transcends all else in impor- tance, and as Confucius is considered the foun- tain head of literature and learning, so he has come to be regarded as saints were regarded by Europeans in the Middle Ages, and temples to his...”
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“...22 An American Engineer in China dom. He was not the founder of a religion, nor was he a religious writer, although his sentiments have become woven in the complicated fabric of Chinese faith. The name by which foreigners Stairway Leading to Temple of Confucius, Peking know him is a latinized corruption o -tze, the Master Kung, the last being his family natne, as Mencius is a similar corruption of Mang-tze, the Master Mang. Following the Chau dynasty comes that of Tsin, which was noted for supplying the foreign appel- lation of the country and for the great works, both good and bad, of its name-giving Emperor....”
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“...Chapter I : China 23 It was he who united the various peoples of East- ern Asia under one sway, laid the foundation for at least internal commerce by beginning the con- struction of the Chinese system of canals, started the construction of the Great Wall, and succeeded in raising his country to a point of material great- ness not before reached. Then, with a view to make all records begin with him, he ordered burned all books and writings of every descrip- tion, including those of Confucius and the other philosophers. Fortunately, in spite of an ener- getic attempt, this sacreligious act was not com- pletely consummated. From this period to the Tang dynasty in 618 a.d. the history of this country is a succession of different reigning houses, internal wars, rebellions, more or less successful, and during which the capital was frequently moved ; part of the time being located at Nan-king on the Yang-tze, which many of the Chinese to-day regard as the prop- er site. The great single event...”
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“...24 An American Engineer in China rate the embassy found its way to India and re- turned thence with the doctrines of Buddhism, which at once became the established religion of the country, spreading over the whole of China and eventually Japan. It makes an interesting speculation to consider what the effect on the world would have been if the embassy had taken a more northern route, bringing it to Palestine instead of to India. The Tang dynasty a.d. 618 to 908 marks per- haps the zenith of Chinese development, when, there is no doubt, its civilization and cultivation outshone those of Europe at the same period. Literature flourished; trade was nurtured, the banking system developed, laws were codified and the limits of the Empire were extended even to Persia and the Caspian Sea. The art of printing was discovered, certainly in block form and prob- ably by movable type. The fame of China reached India and Europe, whence embassies were dispatched bearing salutations and presents. Monks of...”
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“...Tombs forty miles northwest of the city, and where he and his successors of Ming lie buried in solitary grandeur. He established also the laws under which China is governed to-day, and under Wan-leih the seeds of Christianity were perma- nently planted in China in 1582 by the Jesuit mis- sionary Matteo Ricci. About two hundred and fifty years earlier a temporary foothold had been gained by the same order. The first effort had...”
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“...Chapter I : China 27 lasted, for only seventy-five years, and then, like the Nestorian movement, quietly died without practi- cal results. It was also during this dynasty that the first foreign settlement was made on Chinese soil, in the Portuguese port of Macao in 1557. In the seventeenth century the northern tribes set up a rebellion. Gaining adherents to their cause they captured Peking in 1644, swept away Chinese rule and established the Manchu dynasty, to which they gave the name of Ta Tsing" or the Great Pure." The principal effects of this change were to establish the northern races in control of the government, and to stamp upon the whole people their most striking outward dis- tinguishing mark, in the queue, which was a dis- tinctly Manchu custom, the Chinese having pre- vious^ cut their hair like Western people. On their establishment the Manchu rulers ordered all people to wear the queue as a token of subjugation. This the Chinese natives still do, although the Ti- betans and...”