Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. III.pdf/33



NANKING became the imperial capital during the fourth century of our era. China was split up at that time into a Northern and a Southern Empire; but Yang-Kien, an emperor of the Soui dynasty, united the two divisions, and removed his court to Peking. Hung- Woo, the first of the Ming emperors, made Nanking again the imperial capital, and restored it to its former glory. This monarch was one of the most remarkable rulers which China has ever possessed. Before his advent, the empire groaned under the yoke of the successors of KubU Khan, and longed to get itself free. Then Choo-Yuen-Chang, better known as Hung-Woo, arose, and was accepted as the deliverer of his country. His name is still much revered as a wise and just ruler, under whose sway the kingdom prospered. He had raised himself from the lowest ranks of the people, his father having been nothing more than a poor labourer. He was succeeded by his grandson, who, after a troubled reign of four years, was driven from the throne by Hung-Woo's son, Yung-Io, "the Successful," and the latter again removed the court to Peking. Since Yung-lo's time Nanking has had a troubled career. It once more enjoyed the honour, this time a questionable one, of being raised to a capital by the Tien-Wang, the Heavenly King, or, to call him by his most familiar title, the Taipmg rebel chief. This event occurred in 1853. Probably the past twenty years have, on the whole, been the most notable in the history of the city, yet thirty years ago it was the scene of the signing of the treaty which secured the opening of a number of ports to foreign trade. The ground in front of No. 19 has been inch by inch contested between the imperial forces and the rebels, and it is strewn with the graves and bones of Taipings and Imperialists, mingled together in kindred dust. Here in 1864 the rebellion received the decisive blow, and the city, in the background of the picture, fell into the hands of the conquerors. When things were at the worst for the rebels, the Tien- Wang sat calmly within the city walls, confident in the Divine origin of his own mission, and assured that deliverance would, therefore, be sent from above. He believed in God, in Christ as a messenger from Heaven to mankind, and in himself as an instrument appointed by the Almighty to work out the redemption of China. He built himself a sumptuous palace in the imperial quarter of Nanking, and there he dwelt in sublime serenity, looking down upon his enemies with pity and disdain, as they mustered in the tombs of the great Ming rulers for the final attack upon his capital. When his soldiers were famishing around him, he still trusted in God; and when they asked for bread, he filled their mouths with a new doxology, enjoining them to sing it until heaven should send relief. One of the last commands of this prince of peace was, that in the wording of all documents his generals and others should use the terms, " Heavenly Father, Heavenly Brother, and Heavenly King." This was his heavenly Trinity, and according to his own modest estimate he was himself the last person of the three. Whoever disobeyed this command was to be drawn asunder by horses — a truly mild and merciful way of disposing of unruly heavenly subjects. The state of the city became hourly more like hell than heaven, and at length, three days before its capture, the king is said to have perished by his own hand. The Imperialists laid the town waste, and devoted three days to the slaughter of the rebels. But many had already committed suicide before the Imperialist troops were in possession, and the bodies of numbers of the women of the Tien-Wang's household are said to have been found outside the palace gate. The son of the rebel emperor is supposed to have been cut to pieces in attempting to make his escape.

The photograph numbered 19 was taken from a hill outside the southern gate. The wall, it will be perceived, is of great height here, in some places seventy feet, and thirty feet at its base. Very prominent among the groups of buildings seen above the wall are those towering over the south gate, restored to their ancient splendour, while outside the ramparts an extensive suburb has sprung up around the Arsenal, on the site once occupied by the "Porcelain Tower." The most conspicuous object among those which still remain in connection with the " Monastery of Gratitude," is a huge white marble tablet on the back of a tortoise. This is seen in the picture just below the south gate, outside the wall, and about half an inch to the right of the gate. The wall has a circumference of about twenty-two miles, being nearly two miles greater than the circuit of the walls which enclose the Imperial and Chinese cities at Peking. But in Nanking a considerable part of the space within the wall is under cultivation. Much of the city has been restored, and its old trade was reviving during the time of my visit, but there was still a wilderness of ruin in the Tartar quarter nearest the Ming tombs, bearing a deplorable aspect of desolation. I saw a brace of pheasants rise from the ruins of an old homestead. The people were building new streets of the old material in the places furthest from the wall. Nanking is still celebrated for the rich quality of its silks and satins.