The face of China

by E. G. Kemp

We were much disappointed to find nearly all the shops closed, owing to its being the Chinese New Year, but we managed to find a few small things of interest to buy. What particularly charmed us was a set of painted scrolls. There was a whole series of different designs of birds, some of them beautifully coloured, which we bought for the modest sum of 10s. for the set of eight. Throughout China scrolls are hung on the walls for decorative purposes as we use pictures, and sometimes you find quite charming designs either hung up or painted on the walls of unpretentious inns. When we were in the main street standing chatting together at a short distance from our host, who was making a bargain for us, a woman came along and eyed us up and down attentively. She then began to speak to us, and although we did not understand anything she said, the subject was very obvious, as she pointed at her own waist (or rather the place where it should be visible) and then at ours, after which she made a small circle with her fingers and said, pointing at us, “Very pretty.” Who would have dreamt that such a thing could have happened in China, where a visible waist is considered so extremely improper!

We found the most amusing time to be in the streets, however, was in the evening, when there were nightly exhibitions of Chinese lanterns, as ingenious as they are effective. A tiny lady’s shoe made of coloured paper, with half an egg-shell for the heel and a few drops of oil to hold the floating wick in it, makes a charming little lantern. Large fishes with movable heads and tails look extremely pretty, and grotesque lions are made to promenade above the heads of passengers with life-like palpitations. Their eyes are also made of egg-shells, which were effectively used in many other lanterns also. Some of the more elaborate lanterns were hung outside the shops; others were for sale. For a few “cash” you can get little toy theatres, within which the warmth of the candle sets in motion revolving figures whose shadows are thrown on the front of the stage. There was an infinite variety of lanterns exhibited, and we much regretted that they were too flimsy to carry home; for they are all made on the lightest bamboo frames with thin coloured paper. Later on we saw the most interesting of all the lanterns, a large dragon which is many yards in length and of which the sections are carried by men; but as there had been considerable disturbances lately when this had been carried about the city, the authorities refused to allow it for the time being. It is at the time when people are holiday-making that they seem difficult to manage, but their vices are not such as to make them troublesome to travellers. Opium-smoking and gambling are certainly the worst of these vices, and they are the curse of this place.

TEMPLE OF THE GOD OF LITERATURE

Yünnan is surrounded by pretty places for excursions, so we set off one fine morning in our chairs to visit a metal temple about five miles distant, called “Gin Tien”—namely, “Golden Temple.” As we passed through the sweet-scented bean-fields we saw many children enjoying swings, a sight we had not met before in any other part of the country. Soon we reached the foot of the hills and ascended through woods filled with a delicious aromatic scent; but the trees were quite unfamiliar to us, and whether it was from them or the brushwood that the scent came we could not determine. The temple was beautifully situated on the hillside, and the courts rose one above the other, with long flights of steps leading from one to another. At the top of the first flight was an archway surmounted by a temple containing a small wooden “god of literature.” The design on the cover of “The Face of China” is the god of literature: in one hand he holds the brush and in the other a tablet, and he stands on one foot on a fish. Doolittle explains it thus: “There are two stars which the Chinese profess to have discovered to have the supervision of the affairs of this world relating to ‘literature and the pencil.’ One of these, Kue Sing, is said to be the fifteenth star of the twenty-eighth constellation, answering to parts of Andromeda and Pisces.”

A miscellaneous collection of gods lined the sides of the court in open corridors, but they were much neglected and in a ruinous-looking condition. At the top of the steps was a terrace on which was a fine camellia tree in full bloom, and other shrubs, while chattering groups of white-and-black starlings lent animation to the scene. Another flight of steps led to a court in which was the fine copper temple, painted black and gold, standing on a platform made of the celebrated Tali marble. A metal flag and bells that tinkled in the wind hung from an adjoining flagstaff, and another camellia tree was a sheet of pink blossom standing in glorious contrast behind the temple close to a gateway. This gateway led into another courtyard, where there were rooms which could be hired by any one who wishes to spend a few days there. Europeans often make use of these hill temples in the hot weather, even inhabiting sometimes the same rooms as the gods, of whom a new use is made as pegs on which to hang clothes in lieu of wardrobes—a proceeding which in nowise shocks the Chinese worshippers.

We were by no means the only visitors to the temples. There was quite an array of chairs waiting in the courtyards. Some of the people were gambling, others having their midday meal, others lying on couches smoking opium or admiring the view; but of worship there was no sign whatever. While I sketched some women came to look on, and had a little conversation (strictly limited, owing to my ignorance). They carried beautiful orchids which they said they had gathered in the mountains. In fact, Gin Tien is to Yünnan Fu what Richmond is to London.

Another interesting excursion which we made was to the Rock Temples above the lake of Yünnan. There is a canal, about two miles long, leading directly from the city to the lake, and our host sent to hire a boat the day previous to our excursion. The arrangement made was that we were to have a crew of four men, in order to convey us as rapidly as possible to our destination; but when we got on board we found that our four men were represented by a woman and her three boys, aged approximately sixteen, ten, and three. We remonstrated, but it was so comic that we could do nothing but laugh; and finally she hired a man to come and row, paying him about twopence a day, whereas we paid her five shillings. Arrived at the farther side, we had a steep climb through pine woods to the temples, which are impartially Buddhist and Taoist. They must have been hewn out of the cliffs with an immense amount of labour and cost, for the approach to the upper ones was through winding galleries cut in the solid rock. The gods themselves are in shrines cut in the rock, and at the top of all is a little temple dedicated to the “god of literature,” which was also carved out of stone; and there were other gods carved above the entrance. From the little platform in front of it there is a marvellous view of the lake and plain stretched far below, where fishing-boats looked like insects, and over which floated the shadows of the clouds.

On our way down our servant had prepared tea at a Buddhist temple, where we sat on stools (on a platform) at a low table. At an adjoining table there was a large family party of men and boys also having a meal, the ladies and girls of the family taking theirs in an inner room. We could not help admiring the charming sets of baskets in which they had brought their provisions, and we found them very friendly and talkative. They had many questions to ask of us, and informed us that they were jewellers in the city, finally suggesting that we should all go home together! We felt that this would be far too slow a process when we saw the ladies with their tiny feet laboriously toiling downwards, with the help of walking-sticks to steady them. So we made our excuses and hastened back, as the sun was already getting low.

We dedicated our last day at Yünnan to shopping, for the shops were beginning to reopen after their long inaction for the New Year. This place was in former times a happy hunting-ground for bronzes, but there are not many to be had now, and none of any value, while all the prices have gone up, many of them a hundred per cent. Copper work is the special industry of Yünnan, though all the copper is supposed to go direct to Peking. There are two families who for many generations have had the monopoly of making beautiful little copper boxes inlaid with silver. The work is very fine, and some of the designs are particularly attractive. Skin boxes are a speciality of this place, and we found it necessary to get some in which to carry our purchases; we also added a coolie to our party, as the loads carried here are not allowed to exceed eighty pounds per man. If we could fly, how quickly should we reach Bhamo!—only 360 miles through the air, instead of 967 miles by the road, with a total ascent of 26,000 feet. This is a computation in Hosie’s book, “Three Years in Western China,” but I think the distances are decidedly over-estimated. When we left Yünnan Fu our party numbered twenty-four, and our chairs looked much more dignified than on arrival. The poles were all carefully bandaged with bright-blue cotton like a mandarin’s chair, because of the winds, as our head coolie informed us that otherwise the poles were apt to crack. We were told to expect high winds all the rest of our journey through this province, for they are prevalent at this time of year. The prospect sounded discouraging, for the sun was hot, and we were obliged to wear large hoods, as the sun and the wind together had nearly skinned our faces. However, like all our previous information about the journey, the difficulties proved much less serious than we expected. In fact, so far we had had nothing to complain of beyond the inevitable disagreeables one encounters on travelling away from the beaten track. As we left the city we noticed a curious mingling of the past and present at the city gate: on the one side a dismantled cannon made by, or under the direction of, the French Jesuit Fathers, and stamped with the Christian symbol; on the other side of the gate, a notice-board warning passengers to keep to the right side of the road.