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 464 CHINA CHINA (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) of the Taipings were little else than incursions to obtain contributions of money and pro- visions. The imperialists gradually closed in upon them, and at the end of 1859 their pros- pects were very gloomy. But in the spring of 1860 they attacked and routed the besieg- ing army. The occupation of Chinkiang, Soo- chow, and the wealthy country lying between Shanghai and Ningpo, followed. The former city was threatened, but, being defended by foreigners, held out against the efforts of the insurgents. Ningpo fell into their hands. Had the Taipings displayed vigor and discretion, it is not impossible that they might yet have mastered the empire. But their government was one which built up not at all ; it only ravaged the districts which it occupied, pass- ing on to other districts when the first were exhausted. Unsatisfactory as had been the course of relations with the imperial govern- ment, foreign officials could not but feel that it represented law and order, and that its overthrow by the insurgents would be a dis- aster to native and foreign interests. Acting in accordance with this belief, the foreign gov- ernments determined to protect the ports open to trade. These became the bases of operations against the insurgents, in which the imperial armies were supplemented in some instances by detachments from the British and French forces, and by native troops drilled and com- manded by foreign officers and armed with foreign weapons. Soochow and the other cities of the delta plain were reconquered in rapid succession, and in July, 1864, the Taiping capital succumbed. From thence a detach- ment of the insurgent troops found their way southward to the region where the rebellion had originated fourteen years before, and were dis- persed. Other important revolutionary move- ments were the Mohammedan rebellions in Yunnan and in the northwest, both of which originated in an attempt to extort from the government security against local oppressions. Notwithstanding a general massacre of the Mohammedans in Yunnan by the provincial authorities, the rebels gained strength, and in April, 1857, took Talifoo, the second city of the province, and in 1858 conquered the capital. Their leader, Tu-wen-si, assumed the title of Wen-soay (King or Sultan Suleiman), and suc- ceeded in establishing his rule over an area of 65,000 sq. m. and a population of over 4,000,- 000. Only about a tenth of these were Mo- hammedans, who were called by the Chinese Kwei-tseu, but by themselves Pansi, which the English corrupted into Panthay. In 1866 the Chinese government agreed to recognize his independence, provided that he would make no further conquests, but he refused. In 1872 he sent his son Hassan to Europe to endeavor to establish friendly relations ; but before any results were reached the Chinese took Talifoo and killed Suleiman. The conquest of the ter- ritory and the extinction of the empire of the Panthays followed. The rebellion in the northwest originated in 1862 at Singanfoo, capital of the province of Shensi, among the Mohammedan Dungenes, called by the Chinese Khoi-khoi or Khui-khui. It spread rapidly through the province of Kansuh and over the frontier of China proper into Dzungaria, and extended thence into E. Turkistan. Before the close of 1864 Khamil, Aksu, and Yarkand were taken, and soon after the Chinese evacuated the whole country. Dissensions broke out among the rebels, and an Uzbeck chief, Yakub Kush- begi, gradually subjected the whole of E. Tur- kistan and part of Dzungaria, and established a government which still enjoyed independence at the end of 1873. In 1871 the Russians took possession of Kulja and the entire basin of the Hi. The territory thus lost by China em- braces an area of about 600,000 sq. m., with 2,000,000 inhabitants. The mission of Mr. Burlingame left Peking in the autumn of 1867. It had its origin in the desire of the government to demonstrate to western powers its friendli- ness, and to forestall demands 'of an extreme character which it anticipated would be made during the revision of the treaties of 1858 then about to take place. Its chief seized the op- portunity to place before the world the indica- tions of a marked change of policy on the part of the government, and to demonstrate that the old system of recourse to local authorities for the redress of grievances should be aban- doned in favor of representation to the imperial authorities at Peking. The facts of his ap- pointment to represent China, and of his being accredited to western states on terms of equal- ity, afforded an indication of the marvellous change which had ensued since the war, and a more complete justification of the wisdom of the allies in insisting upon residence at the capital. On June 24, 1870, a popular outbreak against foreigners occurred at Tientsin, result- ing in a deplorable massacre. Its victims were the French consul, the vice consul, the inter- preter of the French legation at Peking and his wife, a Catholic priest, nine sisters of charity, a French subject engaged in trade and his wife, and three Russians. The French consulate, the cathedral, and the missionary hospital in which the sisters were engaged, were destroyed. The most revolting barbarities were perpetrated before and after the deaths of the victims. The local officials cannot be held blameless for the massacre, but it has not been demonstrated that they intentionally promoted it, and the attempts made in some quarters to fasten re- sponsibility for the event upon the government have been futile. The local officials were ban- ished to a remote part of the empire, 15 of the rioters were executed, a large indemnity was paid for the destruction of property and for the families of those who had perished, and a special mission was sent to France to declare the regret of the government. CHINA, Language and Literature of. I. THE COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE. On the first access of Europeans to some knowledge of the Ian-