The Child in Human Progress

by George Henry Payne

“‘The Tiger and the Wolf are very cruel but they understand the relations that should exist between the parent and its offspring. Why then should man, gifted as is no animal, show himself to be on a lower plane? Our infants, boys and girls, are equally the fruit of our bodies. I have heard that the sad cry uttered by these girl babies as they are plunged into a vase of water and drowned is inexpressible. Alas! that the heart of a father or a mother should be so cruel.’”

Choen Tche then makes an appeal to his subjects asking them not to tolerate further this barbarous custom, dwelling on the superior and more gentle quality of daughters over sons, citing historical instances of the good fortune that many daughters had brought to their parents, and concluding by promising the benediction of Heaven on those who would protect the lives of the little females.

Choen Tche (or Shun Chih) was the ninth son of T’ien Ts’ung and was left to the care of his uncle as regent. His reign was marked by an endeavour to consolidate the newly acquired empire. His biographers speak of his magnanimity as a ruler and he was much praised by his contemporaries. The fact that he treated the Catholic missionaries with favour may also partially explain his horror over the conditions of which he was apparently ignorant until the protest.

Choen Tche’s reign also marked the beginning of many modern things in the history of China. It was during his life that there took place the first diplomatic intercourse between the government of the Middle Kingdom and the European nations, both the Dutch and the Russians having had an embassy resident at Pekin during 1656, but although both were treated most politely, neither achieved the substantial gains they sought.[89] It was during his reign too that tea was first introduced to England and a substitute produced for the quart of ale with which even Lady Jane Grey washed down her morning bacon.

It was, however, under the reign of Kang Hi, the son of Choen Tche, that the modern attitude toward children was approximated. The great works of Kang Hi and his long reign have obscured the wisdom and moderation of Choen Tche. One of Kang Hi’s first acts was to abolish for all time the eunuchs, a law being passed and engraven on metals that it might stand the ravages of time, forbidding for all time the employment in public service of this class of person, and the Manchus, until the time they gave up the sceptre a few years ago, held to their word. Thus passed out of Chinese history its most industrious class of trouble makers.

But two years after the death of Choen Tche, a writer named Li Li Ong collected the edicts that were being issued by mandarins to show the spread of vice among the people. Among this collection was the following addressed to the governor of the province of Tche Kiang by the mandarin, Ki Eul Jia, prefect of Yen Tcheou:

“The Heaven and the Earth love to shower benefits on man and to conserve life. But alas! the inhabitants of this prefecture of Yen Tcheou have the habit of drowning their girl babies. The rich as well as the poor have been found to be guilty of this crime. The tiger, despite his cruelty, does not devour his young, and it is hard to think that man should be insensible to the cries of his drowning infant. I myself have witnessed such drownings and that is why I ask that you send into my six districts a proclamation strictly prohibiting infanticide. It will be printed on stone. If any one should then be guilty of the crime, his neighbours should be encouraged to notify the magistrates that he might be dealt with according to law. As you are charged to maintain morality among the people, I propose that you use this means.”

Whether this suggestion was taken or not, it is known that in that particular province infanticide increased instead of diminished. The particularly interesting part of this document is that it brings to light the fact from an official source that the rich as well as the poor were the offenders and that it was not lack of food alone that made this practice so common in China.

Even in modern times this is so, a midwife who was asked in recent years to become a Christian saying that it was impossible inasmuch as it interfered with her business. She said that frequently she was asked by wealthy people to drown the female children which the parents had not the courage to kill themselves.[90]