Read Ebook: Three Years in Western China A Narrative of Three Journeys in Ssu-ch'uan Kuei-chow and Yün-nan by Hosie Alexander Sir

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UP THE YANG-TSZE TO WESTERN CHINA.

PAGE

Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way thither--An unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at last--Difficulties of navigation--Commercial importance of Ichang--My native passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper, and crew--The navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the Ching T'an Rapid--Up and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch'ung-k'ing. 1

CH'UNG-K'ING TO THE CAPITAL OF KUEI-CHOW.

My overland caravan--Harvesting opium--Field-fishing--Wood-oil--The manufacture of paper--Salt carriers--Silkworms and their food--Rice or Pith paper, and its manufacture--The Kuei-chow frontier--Minerals--First meeting with Miao-tz?--Poetical description of Chinese inns--T'ung-tz?, its poppy valley and tunnelling--Ingenious bamboo water-wheels--Scant population amid ruins of fine houses--Coal-dust as fuel--The Wu Chiang River--Destruction of the iron suspension bridge--Northern Kuei-chow, a Miao-tz? graveyard--Opium-sodden inhabitants--The capital of the Province--An interview with the Governor of Kuei-chow 14

WESTWARD TO Y?N-NAN.

White wax insects--Terrific hailstorm and its effects--Miao-tz? houses and women--An-shun Fu--Limestone cave--Pai-shui waterfall--Reception at Lang-t'ai T'ing--Lang-wang Mountain and the "Cave of the Spirits"--Caught in a thunderstorm--The pebbly strand of the Mao-k'ou River--Pack-animals and their treatment--The Y?n-nan frontier--A cart at last--Exploring a cave--Underground rivers--Exceptional courtesy--Go?tre--Breeding ground of the Y?n-nan pony--Trade route to Tonquin--Marching knee-deep in mud and water--Poverty of inhabitants--Queen's Birthday dinner in a back yard--Chinese inquisitiveness--The Sung-ming Lake--A local escort--A glorious view--Y?n-nan Fu. 35

THROUGH NORTH-EASTERN Y?N-NAN TO THE YANG-TSZE.

The city of Y?n-nan Fu--P'u-?rh tea--Opium-smoking, chair-bearers, and personal care--Exposure of robbers' heads--Chinese school--Rainbow superstition--Entertainment at Tung-ch'uan Fu--A successful ruse--Stopped by a mountain torrent--Lodged in a byre--On the banks of the Niu-lan River--The Chao-t'ung plain and its lakes--Stories of Lolo bloodshed--Down from the plain--Narrow escape of a porter--Back to Ss?-ch'uan--Descent of the Nan-kuang River--Down the Yang-tsze to Ch'ung-k'ing 54

FROM CH'UNG-K'ING TO THE CAPITAL OF SS?-CH'UAN.

Fu-t'ou-kuan--The country and its products--Chinese New Year--Charcoal from bracken--Ramie fibre and grass-cloth--Down a tributary of the T'o--The T'o and its commercial importance--The salt wells of Tzu-liu-ching--Sugar and safflower--The Ch'?ng-tu plain--Beggars--The capital of Ss?-ch'uan 70

THROUGH LOLODOM AND THE VALLEY OF CHIEN-CH'ANG.

A Tibetan criminal in a cage--The armed ruffians of Chiung Chou--A floating bamboo bridge--Brick tea for Tibet--Fraternizing with Tibetan pilgrims on the summit of the Flying Dragon Pass--Chinese originality--Over the Ta Hsiang Ling Pass--A non-Chinese race--Across the Ta-tu River under Sifan protection--In the country of the Lolos--Lolo language--Sifan language--Asbestos cloth--A dangerous country--Lolo rogues--Over the Hsiao Hsiang Ling Pass--Lolo women--The valley of Chien-ch'ang--Ning-yuan Fu 88

THROUGH CAINDU TO CARAJAN.

Earthquakes--The reception of foreigners at Ning-yuan--The fertility of the Ning-yuan plain--Go?tre and the salt supply--Historical hailstorm--A Tibetan caravan--Crossing the Ya-lung River--A riot at Hang-chou--Reception at Yen-yuan and increased protection--Brine wells of Pai-yen-ching--Driven back by mountain barriers--The Y?n-nan frontier--A sight of the Yang-tsze--Results of the Mohammedan rebellion--The Lake of the Black Mist--On the banks of the Golden River--A deserted town--The plague--First glimpse of the snow-capped Tsang-shan--A magnificent view--On the shores of the Erh Hai--Ta-li Fu at last. 112

TA-LI FU TO Y?N-NAN FU.

A view from the walls of Ta-li--The Mohammedan rebellion--A dying patriot's prayer--Tibetan dogs--Amherst pheasants--A visit to the marble quarries--False musk--Min-chia maidens--The Ta-li plain--Playful gusts from the Tsang-shan--Good-bye Ta-li--A folklore hunting ground--The Erh Hai and the Mekong--Trade with Upper Burmah--Canton peddlers--Hsia-kuan, or the "Lower Fortress"--Ruined cities--Wretched roads--Half-starved--The foreigner and the camel--Marked courtesy at Ch'u-hsiung Fu--Y?n-nan salt wells--A sackful of mails--A roadside trial--Across the Y?n-nan lake--Three days in Y?n-nan Fu--Trade with Western China and the introduction of railways. 131

THROUGH THE WEST OF KUEI-CHOW TO THE YANG-TSZE.

TO THE WHITE WAX COUNTRY, THE SACRED MOUNT O-MEI, AND THE HIGHEST NAVIGABLE POINT ON THE YANG-TSZE.

An unfortunate start--North to Ho Chou--Chinese soy--Varnish and its collection--Young trees from the old--Light-hearted peasants--The garden of Ss?-ch'uan--Otter fishing--Man-tz? caves--A great sugar country--Glimpse of O-mei--Chief silk country in Western China--Ascent of O-mei--Sweet tea of O-mei--The Golden Summit--The Glory of Buddha--Pilgrims and their devotions--O-mei beggars--A difficult descent--Official obstruction--Sick followers--On the banks of the Ta-tu--Man-tz? raids--Down with fever--Guerilla warfare--Hard-up for food--An exhausting march--The welcome Yang-tsze--Its highest navigable point--Down the upper rapids--Death of my horse-boy--Back to Ch'ung-k'ing 161

References to Insect White Wax in Europe and China--Area of production--Chief wax insect producing country--The insect tree--The insect "buffalo" beetle, or parasite--The insect scales--The transport of insects to the wax producing districts--Method of transport--The wax tree--How insects are placed on the wax trees--Wax production--Collection of the wax--An ignominious ending--Insect metamorphosis--Uses of the wax--Quantity and value 189

THE TRADE OF WESTERN AND SOUTH-WESTERN CHINA.

The waterways, trade-routes, condition, and commercial prospects of Y?n-nan--Trade-routes to Kuei-chow and the mineral wealth of the province--The waterways of Ss?-ch'uan--General trade of Ss?-ch'uan--Foreign trade of Ss?-ch'uan and how it is conducted--The defects in the present system and the remedy--The rapids and the difficulties they present--Advantages to be gained from the opening of Ch'ung-k'ing--The Yang-tsze the only route--Trade bound to the Yang-tsze 202

THE PH?.

Non-Chinese races of Western and South-Western China--Imperfect knowledge regarding them--A traveller's difficulties--Ph? language approaching extinction--The Miao-tz? rebellion--Relationship of the Miao-tz? tribes--Art among the Ph?--Music and dancing--Characteristics of the Ph? language--English-Ph? Exercises and Vocabulary 224

Note on Opium Cultivation in China and India 287

THREE YEARS IN WESTERN CHINA.

UP THE YANG-TSZE TO WESTERN CHINA.

Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way thither--An unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at last--Difficulties of navigation--Commercial importance of Ichang--My native passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper, and crew--The navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the Ching T'an Rapid--Up and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch'ung-k'ing.

The most interesting part of China, from a geographical and ethnological point of view, is the West--geographically, because its recesses have not yet been thoroughly explored, and ethnologically, because a great part of it is peopled by races which are non-Chinese, and one at least of which, though nominally owing allegiance to the Great Khan, is in reality independent. It was my fortune to be stationed in Western China from 1882 to 1884, and, during these three years, I was enabled, in the performance of my duties, to collect information regarding the country and its people; and it is in the hope that this information may not be unacceptable that I venture to lay the following pages before the public.

Reports of the journeys which I made in Western China during the above years have already appeared in the shape of Parliamentary Papers; but, written as they were without any idea of publication and intended as mere trade notes, strung together from day to day on the march, they are not sufficiently connected to present a fair picture of this remote region.

China, No. 1 ; China, No. 2 ; and China, No. 2 .

That part of Western China, with which I am personally acquainted and with which I propose to deal, lies to the south, and embraces the provinces of Ss?-ch'uan, Kuei-chow and Y?n-nan, which, interesting in themselves, have become of considerable importance since the extension of the Indian Empire to the frontier of China and the absorption of Tonquin by the French.

The selection of Ichang as an open port has frequently been called in question, and it has been pointed out that Sha-shih, a town farther down the river and one of the six calling stations for steamers, would have been a preferable choice. Much may be said for Sha-shih, which is the principal terminus of the junk traffic between Ss?-ch'uan and the eastern provinces of China, but statistics clearly prove that Ichang has after all been a success. Although it is neither a producing nor a consuming district of any importance itself, the net value of the trade which has gravitated towards it has risen from ?18,000 in 1878 to over ?1,000,000 in 1888. This, it should be remembered, represents the trade in vessels of foreign build only.

After a few days bargaining at Ichang--passage by steamer being no longer available--I succeeded in hiring a native passenger-boat to convey myself, servants, and baggage the four hundred miles that still lay between me and my destination for the exorbitant sum of one hundred and eighty taels, or forty-five pounds. A larger sum was at first demanded, and, there being only two or three boats of this class in port, whose owners combined to "squeeze" me, I was ultimately obliged to pay about a third more than the customary price. Travelling boats on the Upper Yang-tsze are, as a rule, very roomy and comfortable. They can usually be divided off into as many as four or five small rooms by wooden partitions; and, travelling as I was in winter, I had a stove fitted up, regulating the temperature by the windows which run along the sides of what is really an oblong house placed on the boat's deck. In a good boat, the roof is over six feet in height, so that one can walk about comfortably from end to end. A mast is shipped right in front of and against the deckhouse, and this is utilized both for sailing and tracking--the tracking line running through a noose fixed near the top. In front of the mast is a broad deck, contracting towards the bows, accommodating from ten to a dozen rowers, and convertible at night into sleeping quarters for the crew. Over a well in the bows, and attachable to the deck by a noose, hangs a long heavy spar by which the boat can be speedily steered in any required direction--an absolute necessity where, tracking being carried on, sunken rocks close in-shore have to be avoided, or the tracking line gives way in a strong current.

In the agreement entered into between the skipper of the boat and myself, it was stipulated that there should be seven of a crew and fifteen trackers. The crew consisted of the skipper, the bowsman or pilot, who stood at the bows all day long and sounded continually with a long iron-shod bamboo, the steersman, three deck hands, and the cook, who exercised his culinary art in a primitive kitchen constructed in an opening in the deck near the bows.

The skipper, being a confirmed opium-smoker, proved of little use; and it was not until the second night from Ichang that I discovered his smoking propensities. I lay with my head towards the bows and, being awakened during the night by someone crying, I saw a light shining through the chinks of the partitions. On calling my servant to see what was the matter, I learned that the light was the light of an opium lamp, and that the wife of the skipper was crying because her husband would not come to bed. I got up and found him lying at full length alongside his lamp. I bundled him into the little room which he, his wife, and two children occupied over the stern, and blew out his lamp.

After this episode, the smoking was never carried on in any place likely to attract my attention, although the sickening odour frequently penetrated to my rooms from deck and stern, several of the crew being also addicted to the drug. I had repeated conversations with the skipper as to the craving he had contracted; and, one morning, I overtook him on shore walking rapidly and in rather an excited state. I asked him what was the matter, and he replied that the weather was so cold that it was necessary to lay in a supply of coal at once, and that in order not to delay the boat, he was hurrying to the next village to make the purchase. I left him there and continued my walk.

The trackers, too, deserve a word of mention. They were, with the exception of the musician and the diver, almost all lithe young fellows, always willing to jump on shore, never spending more than a quarter of an hour over their rice and vegetables, and never out of temper. The musician and the diver were somewhat aged. When there was no tracking ground, and the oars had to be called into requisition, the former used to sing his boat songs, the whole crew joining loudly in the choruses, the echoes reverberating from cliff to cliff in the gorges. If the tracking line got entangled among the rocks off the shore, the diver would doff everything, slip overboard, and swim to the rescue. I pitied this individual very much; he used to scramble on board chattering with cold, and had no sooner got warm than his services were again in demand. The boat was always moored before dark, and, until supper was ready, the crew were busy rigging up the roof-mats to form their night quarters. Then the beds with their coir mattresses were produced from under the deck; and, with the exception of two or three opium-smokers, these hard-working fellows dropped off into well-earned sleep until daybreak, when the same round of toil awaited them.

Such was the boat and crew with which I ascended from Ichang into Western China, reaching Ch'ung-k'ing on the 24th of January, 1882, after a passage of a month. It is unnecessary for me to describe this journey in detail. Blakiston, Gill, Little, and others have given their experiences; they have painted living pictures of the grand, majestic gorges; they have brought the world within earshot of the hissing, seething rapids; and it only remains for me to say a few words on a subject which has of late years received no little attention--the navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by steamers. The question is about to be put to the test in accordance with clauses in the Agreement of Chefoo, which state that "British merchants will not be allowed to reside at Ch'ung-k'ing, or to open establishments or warehouses there, so long as no steamers have access to the port. When steamers have succeeded in ascending the river so far, further arrangements can be taken into consideration."

Ever since I ascended the Upper Yang-tsze, I have not ceased, both in China and England, to advocate the advisability, from a commercial point of view, of steamers attempting the navigation of these waters. Difficulties have been pointed out, but I have endeavoured to show that these have been greatly exaggerated; and the "Upper Yang-tsze Steam Navigation Company," lately formed, would appear to be of like mind. The obstacles that exist lie between Ichang and the Ss?-ch'uan frontier, a distance of about one hundred miles: beyond the frontier, all is plain sailing, not only as far as Ch'ung-k'ing but even to Hs?-chou Fu, some two hundred miles further west. They consist of a series of rapids, which prove very trying to native craft when the river is low, that is, from the middle of November to the middle of March or a little later--the very time when junks are best able to ascend; as, during the rest of the year, the increased volume of water, although obliterating the rapids altogether, flows with a strong current, which renders tracking very difficult and frequently impossible.

I have described the descent of the Ch'ing T'an Rapid in this place, in order to show the different phases which it presents at the same season in different years, for when I ascended it on almost the same day in 1881, not a rock was visible above water, and we had little difficulty, with the aid of some fifty additional trackers, in being dragged over it. Were this rapid a race, as it is not, I should have more hesitation in describing it as insuperable for a steamer during low water; but I consider it extremely doubtful whether the slow fall would be sufficiently powerful to raise a steamer's bows off the sunken rocks. It has been said that, if the Upper Yang-tsze were navigated by steam, collisions would be of frequent occurrence, but not more so than in the section between Hankow and Ichang. In ascending, junks are tracked as close to the banks as possible, while in descending, they keep to the middle of the river. In fact, collisions should be of rare occurrence. West of the Ch'ing T'an Rapid, there is nothing to interfere with the ascent of a steamer for more than five hundred miles.

The city of Ch'ung-k'ing, in lat. 29? 33? 50? N. and long. 107? 2? E., occupies the apex of the peninsula caused by the attempt of the Yang-tsze on its north bank to pierce the sandstone cliffs under the little walled town of Fu-t'ou-Kuan, and join its turbid waters with the clear flow of the Chia-ling Chiang some four miles from the actual junction of the two rivers. It is built on a slope which extends from hill-tops overlooking the Chia-ling to the bed of the Yang-tsze. Outside the walls there are no suburbs of any importance. A bird's-eye view from the opposite hills shows that there is scarcely a patch of ground which is not built upon. One or two plots of vegetables inside the north-west corner of the wall, and a few trees here and there, are the only exceptions to the grey mass of buildings clinging firmly to the hill-side. It contains a population estimated at some 200,000 souls, and may be described as the commercial metropolis of Western China. This was the spot chosen for the residence of a Consular Officer, to watch the conditions of British trade in Ss?-ch'uan; and it was here that I took up residence in January, 1882. I do not intend to weary my readers with trade statistics; those who are interested in commerce will find some of the results of my enquiries and observations in a subsequent chapter specially devoted to that subject. What I propose to do is to carry them with me in my wanderings through Western China, with Ch'ung-k'ing as a base, and endeavour to show them the country and its people as they appeared to my eyes.

CH'UNG-K'ING TO THE CAPITAL OF KUEI-CHOW.

My overland caravan--Harvesting opium--Field-fishing--Wood-oil--The manufacture of paper--Salt carriers--Silk-worms and their food--Rice or Pith paper, and its manufacture--The Kuei-chow frontier--Minerals--First meeting with Miao-Tz?--Poetical description of Chinese inns--T'ung-tz?, its poppy valley and tunnelling--Ingenious bamboo water-wheels--Scant population amid ruins of fine houses--Coal-dust as fuel--The Wu Chiang river--Destruction of the iron suspension bridge--Northern Kuei-chow, a Miao-tz? graveyard--Opium-sodden inhabitants--The capital of the Province--An interview with the Governor of Kuei-chow.

Rice and vegetables, supplemented occasionally by a little fish, or pork and sauce, constitute the daily food of the Chinese; but they do not commend themselves to the European palate. To ensure a fair measure of comfort, therefore, I took with me some tinned provisions, to be broached as necessity demanded.

April the 19th was the day fixed for our departure, and at daylight we groped our way through the mist which, in Spring, hangs continually over the city, and descended to the Great River--the local name of the Yang-tsze--across which we were ferried in a couple of large flat-bottomed boats. The river at this point is about eight hundred yards in breadth, and flows with a current of from four to five knots. The most conspicuous objects on the south or right bank, which consists of a range of hills from seven to eight hundred feet in height, are the temple of Lao-ch?n Tung, nestling amidst a grove of trees, and Blakiston's "Pinnacle Pagoda," crowning the highest peak of the range. The high-road to Kuei-chow winds up the bank between them, and, after a slight descent, enters a limestone valley beyond. The bank itself is composed of coal and lime, both of which were being quarried for use in Ch'ung-k'ing.

In this valley, which extends for miles, I first made acquaintance with the poppy in full bloom. Fields of white and purple equalled in number the patches of wheat, barley, and rape. Where the flowers had fallen, the peasants, principally women and children, were busy harvesting the juice. The tools used in the operation are simple but effective. Towards evening, the peasants may be seen moving in the poppy fields, each armed with a short wooden handle, from one of the ends of which protrude three and sometimes four points of brass or copper blades, firmly inserted in the wood. Seizing a capsule with the left hand, the operator, with his right hand, inserts the points of the blades near the top of the capsule, and draws them downwards to the stem of the plant. From the incisions thus made a creamy juice exudes, which gradually becomes of a dark brown colour. This is scraped off in the early morning by means of a short curved knife, and deposited in an earthenware bowl, the contents of which are afterwards fired or left in the sun to dry. In this way, the weight is reduced about one half, and the opium is then ready for boiling. The whole process is simple, and may be accomplished by the women and children of the family, thereby permitting the more able-bodied to attend to the other farm duties, thus reducing the price of labour and consequently the cost of the drug. The bleeding of the capsule is continued until the flow of juice is exhausted.

The remainder of the valley was occupied by rice fields, submerged in preparation for the summer sowing. Sometimes they are allowed to soak for months, their surfaces being frequently covered with floating water-plants, which are afterwards utilized as manure. They are likewise stocked with fish; in the early spring, reeds and rank grass are cut from the hill sides and made up into small bundles, which are then strung on bamboos, laid down in shallow water in the Yang-tsze, and weighted with stones. Here the fish spawn, and the ova adhere to the grass and reeds, which are then taken up and sold. The grass is afterwards scattered in the higher fields, between which and the lower, water-communication is kept up by digging small outlets, which can easily be filled up at a moment's notice. Here the ova are hatched, and good fishing may be had after a few months.

Between Ch'ung-k'ing and Ch'i-chiang Hsien, the first city of any importance on the southern road to Kuei-chow, there are a number of factories for the manufacture of the ordinary coarse Chinese paper. Here, too, the process is exceedingly simple. There is an entire absence of machinery for washing and shredding rags; there are no troughs of pulp, chemicals for bleaching, resin for watering, wire moulds for receiving, and drums for firming the paper as it comes from the pulp-troughs. Bamboo stems and paddy straw are steeped with lime in deep concrete pits in the open air, and allowed to soak for months. When nothing but the fibre remains, it is taken out and rolled with a heavy stone roller in a stone well until all the lime has been removed. A small quantity of the fibre is placed in a stone trough full of water and the whole stirred up. A close bamboo mould is then passed through the mixed fibre and water, and the film which adheres to it emerges as a sheet of paper, which is stuck up to dry on the walls of a room kept at a high temperature. The sheets are afterwards collected and made up into bundles for market.

Ch'i-chiang Hsien is a city somewhat irregularly built along the foot and on the slope of a hill which rises from the left bank of a river, a tributary of the Yang-tsze and bearing the city's name. It is of very considerable importance as a trade dep?t for north-eastern Kuei-chow, and, being in water communication with the Yang-tsze, it is a valuable inlet for the Ss?-ch'uan salt trade with that province. Kuei-chow, unlike Ss?-ch'uan and Y?n-nan, is unprovided with salt wells within its borders, at least they have not yet been discovered, and the Lu Chou junks have their terminus at Ch'i-chiang, whence the mineral is distributed on the backs of bipeds.

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