Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. I. 2ed edition.pdf/48

 CANTON.

CANTON is the capital of Kwang-tung, the most southerly of the maritime provinces of China, and the province which, above all others, has engrossed the attention of foreign nations. The first authentic notice of Kwang-tung occurs in the native writings of the Chow dynasty, B.C. 1122. The name Kwang-tung was not applied till the fifth century, when the Sung family were in possession of the imperial throne. The Buddhist bonzes, who arrived towards the close of the first century with their religious classics from India, besides being the pioneers of a new faith which has taken deep root in the empire, appear also to have led to the opening of commercial relations between their native country and China. Foreign intercourse with China is supposed to have begun with the reign of the Han emperor Hwan, a. d. 147. It is recorded, however, that a practice of bringing tribute of spices from India commenced some seventy years before this. The intercourse which China has from that time held with outer nations has been subject to periodical interruptions, and its history has been one of endless strife and contention—the Chinese, on the one hand, adhering steadfastly to their policy of exclusiveness, and throwing all kinds of barriers in the way of foreign trade, while nations outside have with equal persistence applied a pressure to which the Chinese have gradually given way, and thus the mutually advantageous treaty-relations have by tardy steps been established.

Canton is situated on the north bank of the " Chu-kiang," or Pearl River, about ninety miles inland, and is accessible at all seasons to vessels of the largest size. Communication between the capital and the other parts of the province is afforded by the three branches which feed the Pearl River, and by a network of canals. A line of fine steamers plies daily between the city and Hong-Kong, and the submarine telegraph at the latter place has thus brought the once distant Kathay into daily correspondence with the Western World. It is a pleasant trip from Hong-Kong up the broad Pearl River. From the deck of the steamer one may view with comfort the ruins of the Bogue forts, and think of the time and feelings of Captain Weddell, who, in 1637, anchored the first English fleet of merchant vessels between what the Chinese, in their ignorance of the outer barbarians, regarded as the jaws of death. From this point the gallant captain, through the jealousy, misrepresentation, and slander of the Portuguese, had to fight his way up to Canton, where he was ultimately supplied with cargoes for his ships, but at such unprofitable rates that the trade was abandoned for more than twenty-five years.

The Portuguese of the Kwang-tung province had done much by their own duplicity to damage the reputation of foreigners, and to confirm the Chinese maxim, that " The barbarians are like beasts, and not to be ruled on the same principle as citizens. Were any one to attempt to control them by the great maxims of reason, it would tend to nothing but confusion. The ancient kings well understood this, and accordingly ruled barbarians by misrule. Therefore, to rule barbarians by misrule is the true and the best way of ruling them." If the Chinese tried our patience by the application of the above maxim, we have returned the compliment with interest by our hard blows, and by a persevering determination which has forced them to throw open their country to the benefits of foreign trade and intercourse— benefits now beginning to show themselves in the gradual development of the natural resources of the country, and in the various branches of native industry which supply our wants. Japan has recently abandoned its long-cherished principle of isolation, courts the friendship of Western nations, adopts their arts, studies their sciences, and even remodels its religion. As the Chinese will find it inconvenient, before the lapse of many years, to have a nation so accomplished so contiguous to their shores, one is almost safe in predicting a like change in the Chinese policy, and that before the end of this century the " Great Middle Kingdom " will have been brought within the pale of that higher civilization whose existence it has so sedulously ignored.

1 Bowra's " Kwang-tung Province," p. 3. a Ibid. p. 8. ' "The Chinese," Davis, n. 28.