Intimate China; The Chinese as I Have Seen Them

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1899. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... chapter V. the coup D'etat. Kang Yii-wei.--China Mait's Interview.--Be-heading of Reformers.--Relatives sentenced to Death.--Kang's Indictment of Empress.--Empress's Reprisals.--Emperor's Attempt at Escape.--Can-tonese Gratitude to Great Britain.--List of Emperor's Attempted Reforms.--Men now in Power.--Lord Salisbury's Policy in China. in considering the recent bolt from the blue, as it seemed to the outside world, at Peking, it is necessary to say a few words more about the Reform leaders. Kang Yii-wei, commonly called the Modern Sage, is a Cantonese. He has brought out a new edition of the ancient Classics, which he contends have been so glossed over by numbers of commentators as to have lost their original significance. In especial he says the personality of God was originally clearly stated in them, that it is the commentators who have hidden this, and that only by a return to the belief in a living God can China once more take her proper place among the nations. He also insists upon the brotherhood of man. Missionaries, who know him, dwell upon his learning and enthusiasm. The only British Consul, I have heard speak of him, dwelt rather upon his want Kang, the Modern Sage of practicality, and described him as a visionary of about forty and impracticable. He saw him, however, at the most agitating moment of his career, during his flight from Peking. When it is considered that he is a man of not large means, who has no official post, who must have devoted his time mainly to study to have passed the examinations he has and revised the Classics, and that at this comparatively early age he is the undoubted leader of the army of youthful literati of China, a man in whom those I have spoken with seem to have unbounded confidence, it is clear that this account of ...