Jan. 16th.-THE friendly intercourse held by the missionaries with the Chinese authorities at Amoy encouraged me to pay 8 visit to the hai-hong, the principal officer in municipal matters, whose jurisdiction, similar to that of a lord mayor, extended over the city and island of Amoy. His predecessor, whom he succeeded a few months ago, was a man of very liberal views, and sometimes visited the missionaries without any ceremony or state, on which occasions he used to take their children on his knee, and play with them in the most friendly manner. The present hai-hong possessed a large measure of his predecessor's liberal views and popular manners, and was at all times accessible. We walked over some rugged, rising ground near the beach, covered with tombs, the masonry of which was in some cases dilapidated through age, so as to expose the decayed coffins to view. We soon arrived at the suburban hamlet of Ha-mun-ka, in which the hai-hong's residence is situated. A couple of long open courts and some flights of steps conducted us at length to the reception rooms and large open halls at the end of a raised area. The hai-hong had just gone to transact some official business with the other mandarins at the te-tok's palace within the city, and, according to annual custom, to seal up the public books and documents, for the purpose of terminating all business during the period of the new-year holydays, which lasted from this, the 19th day of the twelfth moon, to the 20th day of the first moon. Two of his secretaries received us, and conducted us into a little room on the right, where they entertained us with tea and oranges, and continued questioning us for half an hour, till the usual discharge of guns and beating of gongs announced the approach of the hai-bong himself on his return home. Our cards, inscribed with our Chinese names, having been first sent in according to due form, an attendant returned to usher us into the large reception-hall.

Here the hai-hong himself, wearing his cap, surmounted by a crystal button, and adorned with a peacock's feather behind, with ornaments of necklaces, and embroidery on his breast, advanced to welcome us. He shook hands with us, and addressed us separately by our names, affixing to each the appellation of "teacher." He placed himself at the lowest seat, and as we sipped tea together, with about twenty attendants standing around, various questions passed between him and the two American missionaries by whom I was accompanied. A subordinate officer interpreted between them, as the missionaries understood only the local dialect, and the hai-hong spoke the Peking or court dialect. Occasionally a few words, in the court dialect, passed between the hai-hong and myself. Hearing that I was a hung maou seen-sang, "an English teacher," he asked if I was a le pai seen-sang, "a religious teacher." I replied that I was a chuen keaou, "a propagator of religion," and asked if our objects in coming to the Central Kingdom met his approbation? He replied, that as we had come in order to teach men to act virtuously, our object was good and benevolent, and he could not therefore but highly approve of it.

During the rest of the interview, he took frequent occasion to commend our work, though he did not go so far as his predecessor in office, who once expressed his hope to Mr. Abeel that the missionaries would convert the people to Christianity, as they would then become more loyal subjects. The present of a Christian almanac led to an examination of the maps, and to many questions about England and her possessions. He especially asked where India (Yintoo) was situated. He then inquired how long I had been in China, what amount of time I had devoted to Chinese studies, and what parts of the coast I had visited? He then asked to which of the five ports I gave the preference, and whether I liked Fo-keen province as well as Che-keang? In the course of my reply I took an opportunity of acquainting him that my friends were Americans, and I myself was an Englishman; but that the doctrines which we professed in common made all nations brethren and friends. This led to renewed professions of admiration of our religion, and the statement of his wish to be included among the number of our friends. He expressed his hope that, if we wanted any favor, we would not hesitate to convey our wishes to him, and intimated to us that he, also, on his part, should place similar confidence in our willingness to confer acts of kindness on himself. This sounded rather strange to me at the time, but received explanation from the fact, of which I was afterward informed, that the Chinese authorities sometimes send a private messenger to the missionaries for information on various matters affecting their intercourse with foreigners. An instance of this kind lately occurred on the visit of the French ambassador to a city forty miles in the interior, by which the jealous surmises were excited. Their suspicions were removed by the information of the missionaries, who, in reply to the official messenger, stated their opinion that the French were uninfluenced by any sinister designs, and actuated by no other motive than curiosity. The presence of a body of men, whose knowledge of the language enables them to hold free communication with the Chinese, and whose objects form to the mandarins a guaranty for their integrity, can not be regarded otherwise than as an advantage even to the secular interests of Europeans.

After making some inquiries from the two missionaries respecting a barometer and a telescope, which he had commissioned them to purchase for him, and expressing some strange notions on the subject of land-mists and sea-mists, he exchanged a few words, in a low tone of voice, with an attendant. The latter, watching his opportunity, whispered into the ear of one of our party that the hai-hong had a number of persons outside waiting for him to transact some important business. This hint induced us to hasten our departure, amid the greetings of the hai-hong, who accompanied us to the outer court. Here we found about a hundred officers, police-runners, and lictors, regularly drawn up in files, awaiting his exit. As we passed out of the courts into the neighboring street, our ears were greeted with the sounds of pipes and drums, which form the usual salute to visitors at the houses of the great.

We proceeded thence along the broad causeway, by which the victorious British troops advanced toward the citadel on the capture of Amoy. It had some old triumphal arches and gates, with some temples on either side of the road. We entered into one of these temples, which had no idols, but was completely filled with rows of ancestral tablets, altogether amounting to about three thousand in number. It had been recently erected by the public subscriptions of the officers and people, and was intended to commemorate the unfortunate multitudes who had been swept away by a fearful inundation in the neighborhood. This disastrous occurrence took place in the year 1842, when whole villages were swept away from the vale of Chang-chew on the opposite mainland. Hundreds of bodies were washed down the river, and carried out into the sea by the current. Numbers were also borne alongside the British vessels of war then lying on the other side of Koo-lang-soo. This building was erected to receive the ancestral tablets of those families which had perished in the common disaster. Many of the tablets had been carried away, together with the temples which contained them, by the all-destroying force of the waters. Such of the tablets as had been recovered from the general destruction were carefully placed together in this temple, erected for the purpose. In the inscription above the entrance we behold as positive a proof as could be required of the direct worship paid to departed spirits, and the real demonolatry of the Chinese¡ªYew kew peih ying, "Those who pray will of necessity obtain? a response," tantamount to the words of Scripture, Ask and ye shall receive. Each tablet was inscribed with the number of generations through which the family was traced¡ªsome thirteen, some fourteen, and others seventeen. Although a Chinese regards with superstitious, and even idolatrous veneration, the ancestral tablets of his own family, he does not extend the same feelings of reverential awe to those of other families. It is not uncommon for them to place the tablets of obsolete or extinct families in some little spot, with an idol presiding as a protector. They will, however, suffer them to be removed, and sometimes even encourage their removal by anyone whose curiosity may prompt to the act, and who will not wantonly injure them. A Chinese of my acquaintance readily volunteered to procure me a couple of tablets from this temple. He seemed to consider them as common property, and their removal to involve no act of desecration or dishonesty, as the original owners had no longer any representatives.

In one of the narrow streets we entered an idol shop, where idols of every pattern and quality were procurable, the prices varying from several dollars each to the low sum of six cash, equal to about one farthing. The licensed permission of the mandarins to pursue the vocation of idol-making was visibly depicted on a sign-board in the shop. On another board was a notice that precious Budhhas were there manufactured or repaired. A large number of idols, of every shape and in every stage of manufacture, were lying around. Another idol-manufactory had the sign suspended over the door, "The Golden Budha Shop."

THE FRIENDLINESS OF THE PEOPLE
These shops were to be seen at every quarter of a mile, and presented groups of images, some black with age and sent hither for regilding, and others gaudily painted and finished from the hand of the artist. Some had stern visages; some wore the expression of pleasure; and all looked exceedingly grotesque. The people outside would readily enter into the subject, and laugh heartily as the missionary pointed out to them the unreasonable character of worship paid to such divinities.

The people every where showed the same polite attentions and friendly disposition; and, although the missionaries spoke boldly their sentiments on idolatry, they did not appear to excite any ill-will. Mistakes at the commencement of the mission were sometimes made by the people, as to the objects and motives of missionaries. A Chinese came, soon after their first arrival, and proposed to one of them to effect an expulsion of the present Tartar dynasty, which he demonstrated to be perfectly easy, if they would only bring 4000 men to Amoy, to assist in carrying out his plan! As we passed along the street, in the immediate vicinity of the residences of the missionaries, the frequent salutation greeted our ears, "Have you eaten rice to-day?" ¡°Have you eaten to the full?" A special degree of interest seemed to be produced on their minds by the arrival of a new teacher; and whenever I walked alone through these streets they endeavored, in their simple manner, to make me welcome by many acts of politeness and good humored remarks, the meaning of which I could better understand by their looks than by their language. The rope-makers, who thronged some of the streets, generally called out to me as I endeavored to pass under the lines across the street, and stopped their work that I might be enabled to cross over without having to stoop.

Jan. 1st (Sunday).-A description of the missionary services of this day will give an idea of the usual course of Sabbath duties at Amoy. At 9 A.M. a Chinese service was held at each of the two missionary chapels, one of which belonged to the American Board of Foreign Missions, and the other to the London Missionary Society. They were commodiously situated among the population, having been rented at a moderate annual sum, and converted, at a small expense, from trading hongs, or warehouses, into chapels capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons, with movable benches for seats. At 10 A.M. a missionary service was held among the Chinese at the hospital by the medical missionary who presided over the institution. At 11 A.M. an English service was held at the house of one of the missionaries, at which two or three other Europeans sometimes were present. At 3 P.M. another Chinese service was held at the two chapels. Besides these services on Sundays, the missionaries generally visited one of the chapels every afternoon, for the purpose of conversing with those whom curiosity might induce to enter. These after-noon visits were intermitted on those days on which they had a Chinese Bible class at their own houses for their teachers, domestics, and constant hearers. On one after-noon in the week there was also a special meeting for women, at the house of the only married missionary, whose wife survived and was able to remain at Amoy. She frequently received visits from her female neighbors, and had continual access to their houses; by which friendly intercourse many prejudices were removed, and their confidence was gained.

At the first public service which I attended the missionary who officiated addressed about fifty Chinese, drawing his comparisons and illustrations from the customs of the approaching new year. He remarked on the scrupulous care with which they settled their accounts, prepared their garments, and made other arrangements for a suitable observance of the holyday. He drew an argument from this their excessive care in unimportant concerns to the greatness of their moral responsibility in the higher matter of preparing to meet their God, and using every effort to secure the salvation of their immortal souls. The regular attendants were very attentive, and listened in silence. The newcomers were much less reverent, and sometimes interrupted the preacher with remarks or questions. One elderly gentleman, attired in a silk gown, entered the room, bowing and nodding to the preacher and the other persons present whom he happened to recognize as he was conducted by a Chinese, who acted as a sexton, to a bench near the place where I was sitting. The old man frequently gave vent to a half-suppressed laugh as the missionary laid open to view the interior scenes and detailed preparations of Chinese families in the prospect of the approaching festival. Again the old man's countenance became grave, and his looks bespoke deep attention, till some pointed remark or happy allusion again drew forth a stifled laugh or an audibly expressed commendation. After the sermon a middle-aged Chinese, of rather shabby exterior, went round and tried to sound our breasts, for the purpose of listening whether our hearts were good or wicked. He made many comments after each experiment, in a way which left doubt whether to regard him as a person of weak mind or eccentric wit, On a previous occasion he once interrupted the preacher for several minutes, in the midst of his sermon, standing up and making a lengthened harangue to those present, in order to prove to them that all this attention and concern respecting the future was unnecessary, and that the best way to happiness was to banish all care and thought about such matters from the mind, At the hospital all the Chinese kneeled down during the prayer. In the chapels, where the congregations consisted of a mixed class of hearers, those only who had been regular in their attendance were observed to kneel. About twenty-five Chinese in all had been for some time under instruction, and came nearly every day to the missionaries. Two of these were old men, who had been four years under a course of daily instruction. Their baptism had been deferred so long, possibly even from an excess of caution unwarranted by scriptural examples, but, nevertheless, under the strong conviction that, in the present circumstances of the mission, delay was far preferable to a premature admission of converts, which, though it might increase the number of professing Christians, was calculated also to lower the standard of spiritual religion in the eyes of the heathen.

The most regular attendants on the services were the following individuals, many of whom (as will be perceived) were those who, from their situation or employment, were in some measure dependent on the missionaries, and whose sincerity might, on that account, be exposed to suspicion. There were the two old men, who were soon to be admitted to baptism, Hok que-peh and Un sea-pai, both of whom keep small shops, and rigidly abstain from trade and other secular business on the Sabbath. There was also a rich old merchant, engaged in the tea trade with Canton, whose son had been advanced to the literary degree of keu-jin, and was then at Peking, waiting for political preferment. The old gentleman was generally known by the title of ta-laau-yay, or "his lordship," this being a title of salutation given to mandarins of some of the intermediate ranks, and also conferred by conventional usage on the fathers of the higher classes of literary graduates. China is probably the only country in the world where a son can thus, by his own individual merits, ennoble a father with a title of honor. Another, also, of the daily hearers, was an old, reclaimed opium-smoker, named Lim-pai, who subsisted on his own small independent means, and passed a great deal of his time in the society of the missionaries, according to his own professions, in order to avoid the ensnaring influence of his former boon-companions, and to be removed out of the way of temptation. Among the regular attendants there were also two old men, nearly blind, named-Ma sing-hea and Shwui lo, the latter being a keeper of one of the chapels, in an upper room of which he resided. Another old man, Ban hea, who was formerly inclined to embrace the Roman Catholic religion, but was deterred by fear of persecution, was also a consistant visitor of the missionaries. Among the middle-aged and younger men were Khey cheong, a manufacturer of idol-paper for offerings, who professed to be troubled in conscience at the sinfulness of his calling, and wished to change his trade; Hok ha, a ropemaker of very promising character; Ching han, a medical student attached to the missionary hospital; and An jean, a leper who had been for some time a patient in the hospital. There were also the six teachers of the missionaries, two of them being graduates of the first or lowest degree. All of the teachers appeared to be intellectually well acquainted with the doctrines of Christianity, and assented to the excellence and truth of the Gospel. One of them, Tan seen-sang, after receiving preparatory instruction from a missionary during the morning, frequently accompanied him in the afternoon to the chapel and to other places, where he took his turn in addressing the assembled Chinese. Of the expediency of this course different persons may possibly take opposite views: much, however, depends on the wisdom and judgment exercised by the individual missionary on such occasions. There were also eleven other Chinese attached to the families of missionaries, or to the hospital, whose daily opportunities had enabled them to gain an insight into the more prominent doctrines of Christianity, but who had not yet shown any decided proofs of a change of heart. All these persons had ceased to worship idols; but, with the exception of the two old men about to be admitted to baptism, they had not generally adopted the decided course of expelling the images from their household. The old ta laou-yay adopted the custom of burning incense sticks on a household altar, from which he had recently expelled the idol and on which he said that he offered incense to the one true God. Notwithstanding the frequent censures of the missionaries on this part of his conduct, he still availed himself of every opportunity of attending the services, and might be seen every day at one of the chapels, with his Chinese Testament and hymnbook. He sometimes expressed a desire to be baptized, and appeared to be sincerely convinced of the? superiority of the Christian religion; but his self-righteous views, and love of the material worship of incense, pointed him out as on the broad road to Popery, whenever he might be brought into contact with a ritual form of worship so studiously addressed to the senses and the imagination. The largest attendance which I witnessed at either of the chapels was about one hundred.

At the religious meetings for women, men were not generally admitted: on one or two occasions, however, I was present. A missionary and his wife, with one Chinese teacher and about twenty women, formed our little assembly. The teacher addressed them with much animation, and the missionary concluded with a suitable prayer, during which all knelt. At the close, the women made remarks on the doctrines being good; and after some further conversation, and taking tea together, departed to their homes.

The initials
L. M. S. = London Missionary Society.
A. B. C. F. M. = American Board for Conduction Foreign Missions
A. B. B. F. M. = American Baptist Board for Conducting Foreign Missions.
Am. Ep. Ch. = American Episcopal Church
A. G. A. B. = American General Assembly¡¯s Board
C. M. S. = Church (of England) Missionary Society
E. B. M. S. = English Baptist Missionary Society.

A Narrative of an Exploratory Visit to each of the Consular Cities of China, and to the Islands of Hong Kong and Chusan, in Behalf of the Church Missionary Society, in the years 1844, 1845, 1846, by the Rev. George Smith, M.A., of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and Late Missionary in China

New York, Harper and Brothers Publishers, 52 Cliff Street, 1847

Scanned by Dr. Bill Brown Xiamen University MBA Center

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