The Rev. D. Z. Sheffield writes of a journey during October and November, as follows: Lin-ching is a city of upwards of 200,000 inhabitants, I should. judge. It is on the Grand Canal, at the point of divergence from the Wei river. The people were very civil to us, the merchants often inviting us into their shops. From one fourth to one third of the population is Mohammedan. There are three large mosques near the city, but in bad repair. From Linching we took carts for Tung-chang, 130 li from Lin-ching. The land was low for the entire distance, and had been flooded in the summer. South of Tung chang there was a wide extent of water, flooding a hundred or more villages Water surrounded Tung-chang on three sides. It is a much smaller city than Lin-ching, and with much less business. summer floods the country. Wheat is cultivated quite extensively, I presume because it is the most certain crop. From Tai-ming the river is navigable for 200 miles to Wei-kui-fu in Ho-nan, and even beyond. That general region is densely populated, and could be occupied with ease-as regards accessibility-by a number of mission stations. We hope to begin a new work at some point in the near future. I incline to Lin-ching as a first station. THE CHINESE IN BURMA. The Rev. Wm. Kidd of the Presbyterian Church of Rangoon, has just issued an appeal on behalf of mission work among the Chinese in Rangoon. We quote from the circular issued by him. He says "There are many Chinese in Rangoon, for whose conversion to Christianity practically nothing is being done. According to the Besides census taken in 1881, there are 12,962 Chinese in British Burma, and 3,752 in Rangoon. these, there are about 1,000 Burmese Chinese in Rangoon, who might be reached through Chinese as well as through Burmese." Mr. Kidd has now engaged, as a Catechist, a Cantonese Chinaman, a member of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria, Australia. Both this man and his wife, trained in a mission school in Hongkong, seem to be true Christians, and we wish Mr. Kidd and our Chinese friends every blessing in their work. SCHOOLS IN HONGKONG. The Rev. S. C. Stanley recently passed through Hongkong and reported regarding the Government Schools, which he visited by invitation of Dr. Eitel, the Government Inspector: We attended the Examination of one of Dr. Chalmer's girls' schools. He has fifteen such for boys and girls. There are six grades, superficiality in general, as compared with the other schools. "The "Berlin Foundling Hospital," under Pastor Hartman's care, has about eighty girls of varying ages, most of whom come from the mainland, having been cast away by their parents and picked up by missionaries and sent to the Hospital. I was much pleased with what I saw there. It is a real work for the Master, lovingly done in His name. The school of the Institution receives Government aid, as other schools, the rest is covering six years of study. In The "Chinese Hospital and Dispensary," is interesting, carried on in purely Chinese ways, but neat and clean as it has to be here under police inspection. The drugs of medicines given are kept that in case a patient dies, and his friends complain, reference can be had to these to vindicate the treatment. The endowment of the institution came principally from a fund raised by the Colonial Government by licensing gambling houses. When the facts were known, the Home Government refused to admit such money into its exchequer; so it was given back to the Chinese for charitable uses, mainly for this. President of Tungwen College, Peking, North China. THE Great Wall which forms the northern boundary of China proper tells of a conflict of races. Extending for fifteen hundred miles along the verge of the Mongolian plateau, it presents itself to the mind as a geographical feature boldly marked on the surface of the globe. Winding like a huge serpent over the crests of the mountains, it seems, in the words of Emerson, as if "The sky Bent over it with kindred eye, It divides two stages of civilization to-day, as it did two thousand years ago. On one side are vast plains unbroken by the plough, and occupied only by tribes of wandering nomads; on the other are fields and gardens, rich with the products of agricultural industry. Between the two, a state of perpetual hostility is inevitable, unless restrained by the power of some overshadowing government. This natural antagonism has never failed to show itself at every point of contact, the world over. Schiller hints-not in his poems, but in a course of historical lectures-that this endless strife of shepherd and cultivator was foreshadowed in the conflict of Cain and Abel. History, unhappily, Egypt fell a prey to supplies us with an abundance of illustrations. the shepherd kings; and in Asia as in Europe, the inhospitable north has always been ready to disgorge its predatory hordes on lands more favored by the sun. [We reprint this valuable article from the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. XI, No., 2, which can have been seen by but every few of our readers. Editor Chinese Recorder.] The Chinese of the border provinces were in the earlier ages compelled to divide their time between war and work, under pain of losing the fruits of their labors. Like the pioneers of the Western continent, they never allowed themselves to be parted from their defensive weapons, and enjoyed life itself only at the price of perpetual vigilance. Experience proved that a line of military posts, no matter how closely they might be linked together, afforded no adequate security against the incursions of homeless wanderers. The Great Wall was built, not as a substitute for such posts, but as a supplement to them. That it served its end there can be no reasonable doubt. So effectually indeed did it protect the peaceful tillers of the soil, that an ancient saying describes it as the ruin of one generation and the salvation of thousands. From time to time, however, the spirit of rapine, swelling into the lust of conquest, has swept over the huge barrier, as an earthquake wave sweeps over the artificial defenses of a seaport. It was not intended or expected to guarantee the whole empire against the occurrence of such emergencies. Twice has the whole of China succumbed to a flood of extra-mural invaders: the Mongols under Genghis Khan having been aided in passing the Great Wall in the province of Shangsi by the treachery of Alakush, a Tartar chief whose duty it was to defend it; and the Manchus, who are now in possession of the throne, having entered at its eastern extremity, on the invitation of Wu San-kwei, a Chinese general, who sought their aid against the rebel Li Tsze-ch'eng. Beside the three and a half centuries of Tartar* domination under these two great dynasties, we find, prior to the first of them, three periods of partial conquest. From 907 A. D. to 1234, a large portion of the northern belt of provinces passed successively under the sway of the Ch'itan and Nuchent Tartars; and, from 386 to 532, an extensive region was subjected to the Tartar hordes of Topa, under the dynastic title of Peiwei. How or where these invaders passed the barrier, it is not worth while to pause to enquire; the foregoing examples being sufficient to show that, in a time of anarchy, some friend or ally can always be found to open the gates. Chung‡ che cheng cheng, says the Chinese proverb, The name Tartar is incapable of very precise definition. Throughout this paper it is applied in a general sense to all the wandering tribes of the North and West. +☀☀ ☀I, Nuchen or Juchih-also called Kin Tartars. The Manchus claim them as their ancestors, the reigning house having Aischin=kin 'gold' for its family name. *United hearts form the best of bulwarks." |