The Chinese having a great horror of the word “death,” they substitute in its place various periphrases, such as “absent,” “rambling among the genii,” “he being sick, occasioned a vacancy,” i. e., dead. The empress having died during the month of June, 1833, an imperial mandate was published, stating that “her departure took place at four o’clock on the sixteenth of the month.” His majesty says he was married to Tung-kea twenty-six years previously; that she was the principal person in the middle harem, that she was ever full of tenderness, filial piety, and was most obedient—but being attacked by an inveterate dysentery, she had taken the “long departure,” and that it caused him much pain at the loss of his “domestic helper”—his “interior assistant.” His majesty set forth her great virtues, ever since she had been consort to heaven, (i. e. the emperor,) during the thirteen years that she had held the relative situation of earth to imperial heaven. An edict was published at her death, ordering, that no officer should have his head shaved during one hundred days, nor have any marriage in his family during twenty-seven days, nor play on any musical instrument during one year; and that the soldiers and people should not shave their heads for one month, nor engage in marriages during seven days, nor play on any musical instrument during one hundred days.

Other marks of mourning, are the use of blue ink in the public offices in the place of red, and the removal of the red fringe which usually ornaments the Chinese caps.

The following is the translation of the “Order of rites observed in receiving the imperial mandate, raising lamentation, and laying aside the mourning clothes, on occasion of the grand ceremony following the demise of an empress.” It was circulated in Canton as a supplement to the daily court circular. When the imperial mandate, written on yellow paper, comes down the river, an officer is immediately deputed to receive and guard it at the imperial landing place. The master of ceremonies leads the officer, and directs him to receive the mandate with uplifted hands; land and deposite it safely in the dragon dome, (a kind of carriage borne by sixteen or thirty-two men,) and spread it out in proper form. The civil and military officers in plain dresses, then kneel down in order, in the “Sunny-side pavillion,” and so remain until the mandate has passed. When they have risen, the officer leads the procession to the grand gate of the examination court; the civil and military officers then first enter the “most public hall,” and there kneel down, the civilians on the east side, and the military on the west, until the dragon-dome has passed; after which they rise and wait till the dome has entered the hall of the constellation Kwei. In this hall an embroidered yellow curtain and incense-table, must previously be prepared, and an officer be sent to receive, with reverence, the imperial mandate and safely lay it on the table. When this has been done all the officers enter; upon which the master of ceremonies cries out: “Range yourselves in order, perform the ceremony of thrice kneeling, and nine times knocking the head.” He then requests to have the mandate read aloud; and the public official reader raises up the mandate to read it.

Master of Ceremonies. “Officers—all kneel—hear the proclamation read—(and when the reading is concluded he continues)—rise—raise lamentation.” The officers do so accordingly. After the lamentation, the reader places the mandate on the yellow table, and the master of ceremonies calls out: “Deliver the imperial mandate.” An officer is then sent to the yellow table, who raises up the mandate, and delivers it to the governor, kneeling. The governor having received it, rises, and delivers it to the Poo-ching-sze, also kneeling; the latter officer in turn rises, and delivers it to his chief clerk, likewise kneeling. The clerk rises and takes it to the hall of Tsze-wei, (in the Poo-ching-sze’s office,) to be printed on yellow paper.

Master of Ceremonies. “Officers—all put on mourning dresses.” The officers then retire; when they have changed their dresses, the master of ceremonies leads them back, and gives the order: “Arrange yourselves, thrice kneel and nine times knock head—rise—raise lamentation—(after lamentation)—eat.” The officers then go out to the hall of abstinence, where they eat a little, the civil and military each taking their respective sides. The master of ceremonies then cries: “Retire.” They retire to the “public place,” and in the evening reassemble, and perform the same ceremonies. At night, they sleep in the public place, separate from their families. The same ceremonies are performed in the morning and evening of the two following days, after which the officers return to their ordinary duties.

When the mandate has been copied, an officer is sent with it to the hall of the constellation Kwei, to place it on the yellow table, and another is sent to burn incense and keep respectful charge of it for twenty-seven days; after which it is delivered to the Poo-ching-sze, and sent back to the board of rites. On the twenty-seventh day, the officers assemble as before, and, after the same ceremonies of lamentation have been gone through, the master of ceremonies gives the order: “Take off mourning—put on plain clothes—remove the table of incense.” All then return home and the mourning ceremonies are at an end.

The population contained in the eighteen provinces of the Chinese empire, according to the census taken in the eighteenth year of the emperor Keenlung, (corresponding to the year 1812,) amounted to three hundred and sixty-one millions, six hundred and ninety-eight thousand, eight hundred and seventy-nine souls. This statement is taken from a work called the “Ta-tsing-hwny-teen,” a collection of statutes of the “Ta-tsing dynasty,” published by government, in sixteen duodecimo volumes, for the use of its own officers; it furnishes the data on which the government acts in levying taxes, &c. All the people are included excepting, we believe, those who are employed in the civil and military service of the emperor. The mode of taking the census is very minute and particular; every province is divided into foos and chows; these are subdivided into heens; from the heen the sub-division is carried down to the kea, which consists of only ten families. Ten keas make a paou, or neighbourhood of one hundred families, which has a headman or constable, whose duty it is to watch over the whole; and among other things, to keep a list of all the families and individuals within his jurisdiction; it is also the duty of this constable to report the names of those within his limits to the chief officer of the heen; who reports to the chief officer foo; he again to the treasurer of the province; who in his turn, annually, on the tenth moon, reports to the board of revenue at Peking. Such is the division and the order required by the laws of the land. This system certainly enables the government to know, and to state accurately, the number of individuals, not only in every province, but in any given district of each or any one of the provinces.

The Chinese empire having remained undisturbed by wars, or by internal commotions of much importance, for more than one hundred and twenty years, an accumulation has taken place on a comparatively small spot, of a moiety of all the human beings which are now in existence. On a first view of this immense, this incomprehensible number of living beings, we can scarcely believe the evidence of our senses or conceive how it is possible that sustenance can be procured for such an assemblage; but when we have ascertained that the country is nearly destitute of flocks and herds, that the ground is almost exclusively appropriated to the feeding and clothing of its inhabitants, that there are a less number of souls, by seventy to the square mile, than is found in the dutchy of Lucca, and but five more in the same space than in the Netherlands, which contains two hundred and seventy-five, our wonder in a great degree ceases, and we are compelled to believe that the Chinese government has published as accurate a statement of its population as any European government, or that of the United States: nor can we conceive what object the government can have in deceiving its own subjects, for the work is evidently not published for the use of curious inquirers abroad. It is also well known, that the inhabitants live in the most frugal manner, that a bowl of rice with a few vegetables, or perhaps a little fish or fowl, which is very abundant, is the entire provision of multitudes.

Large portions of the country yield two crops annually, and those generally very abundant; the inhabitants also obtain provisions from the Persian gulf to the bay of Bengal, from Burmah, Siam and Cochin-China, and from every important island throughout the great Indian Archipelago. Every animal and vegetable substance is also an edible with one class or other of the people. Large quantities of vegetable produce, which in any other country would be devoured by the flocks and herds, are here consumed by human beings. If we regard the produce of the soil, and the manner in which the people live, we have strong presumptive evidence of a very numerous population.

The Chinese of the present day are grossly superstitious; they offer sacrifices to the manes of deceased relatives and friends, and emblems of money and clothes are consumed on the supposition that a substantial benefit will be transferred to the individual in the world of spirits.

In their habits they are most depraved and vicious; gambling is universal and is carried to a most ruinous and criminal extent; they use the most pernicious drugs as well as the most intoxicating liquors to produce intoxication; they are also gross gluttons; every thing that runs, walks, creeps, flies, or swims, in fact, every thing that will supply the place of food, whether of the sea, or the land, and articles most disgusting to other people, are by them greedily devoured. The government has a code of laws, written in blood; the most horrid tortures are used to force confessions, and the judges are noted for being grossly corrupt; the variety and ingenuity displayed in prolonging the tortures of miserable criminals who are finally intended to be deprived of life, can only be conceived by a people refined in cruelty, blood-thirsty, and inhuman.

Ancient Chinese books in speaking of their character, say: “Their natural disposition is light and ostentatious, fond of talk, artfully specious, with little truth or sincerity—the people of Canton are silly, light, weak in body and in mind, and without any ability to fight. The Chinese believe in sorcery and demons, and lay stress on a multiplicity of sacrifices—they have tattooed bodies, and short hair.” Of these ancient features of their character, they still retain a fondness of talk, are specious, crafty and insincere; their timidity and weakness, also still remain; they believe in sorcery and demons, and lay stress on a multiplicity of sacrifices. Sir Thomas Herbert in his quaint language, says: “The Chinese are no quarrellers, albeit voluptuous, costly in their sports, great gamesters, and in trading, too subtle for young merchants; oft-times so wedded to deceiving, that after they have lost their whole estate, wife and children are staked; yet in a little time, Jewlike, by gleaning here and there, they are able to redeem their loss; and if not at the promised day, wife and children are then sold in the market.” The Chinese settlers throughout the Indian Archipelago, are described as being at once enterprising, keen, laborious, luxurious, sensual, debauched, and pusillanimous; they are generally engaged in trade, in which they are equally speculative, expert, and judicious. Their superior intelligence and activity have placed in their hands the management of the public revenue, in almost every country of the Archipelago, whether ruled by native or European: the traffic of the Archipelago, with the surrounding foreign states, is almost wholly conducted by them.

There is scarcely a government gazette published at Peking; almost daily, placards are posted at the principal places about Canton and its suburbs, giving accounts of murders, and insurrections, robberies, shocking and unnatural crimes of kidnapping, infanticides, suicides, and of all the beastly and unnatural crimes of which the world ever heard or read. The various modes of punishment resorted to by the government, and the unequal distribution of justice, are revolting to humanity, and most disgusting and loathsome in the recital. I will relate one case to show, that, in modern times, the Chinese are not less refined in their cruelties, than when Ta-he, the queen of Chow, among many other horrible inventions, caused brazen rollers to be heated, and then smeared with an unctuous matter, so that she might have the supreme pleasure of seeing miserable culprits, fruitlessly endeavouring to pass this burning bridge, and continually slipping into a tremendous fire, there to meet with a death horrible in the extreme. The case to which I have alluded, took place in the year 1813, when the emperor of China convicted a eunuch of being concerned in a treasonable conspiracy. The victim had been a favourite servant of the emperor’s father, Keen-lung, who had conferred upon him many favours. The poor wretch was bound round with cords and canvass, to which was added a quantity of tallow and other combustible matter, so as to convert him into a gigantic candle, and he was slowly consumed at his father’s grave: the wretched being died in tortures the most excruciating that imagination can conceive!

As our departure from hence will be for the kingdoms of Cochin-China, and Siam, to effect suitable commercial treaties with those countries, and as similar court ceremonies are there used as at the court of Pekin, I herewith present a memoir, written by a most worthy and highly respectable clergyman, the Reverend Doctor Morrison of Canton, upon the subject of court ceremonies, observed from the lower to the higher dignitaries throughout the Chinese empire, from the simple joining of the hands and raising them before the breast, to the climax of all that is debasing, the ceremony called the San-kwei-kew-kow, or “kneeling three different times, and at each time knocking the head thrice against the ground.”—“What are called ceremonies, sometimes affect materially the idea of equality. They are not always mere forms, but revelations of a language, as intelligible as words. Some ceremonies are perfectly indifferent, as whether the form of salutation be taking off the hat and bowing the head, or keeping it on and bowing it low, with the hands folded below the breast; these, the one English, and the other Chinese, are equally good. There is, however, a difference of submission and devotedness, expressed by different postures of the body; and some nations feel an almost instinctive reluctance to the stronger expression of submission. Standing and bending the head, for instance, are less than kneeling on one knee, that is less so than kneeling on both knees; and the latter posture less humiliating than kneeling on two knees, and putting the hands and forehead to the ground; doing this once, is, in the apprehension of the Chinese, less than doing it three, six, or nine times.

“Waiving the question, whether it be proper for one human being to use such strong expressions of submission to another or not; when any, even the strongest of these forms are reciprocal, they do not destroy the idea of equality, or of mutual independence; if they are not reciprocally performed, the last of the forms expresses in the strongest manner, the submission and homage of one person or state to another; and, in this light, the Tartar family, now on the throne of China, consider the ceremony called San-kwei-kew-kow thrice kneeling, and nine times beating the head against the ground. Those nations of Europe who consider themselves tributary and yielding homage to China, should perform the Tartar ceremony; those who do not so consider themselves, should not perform it. The English ambassador, Macartney, appears to have understood correctly the meaning of the ceremony, and proposed the only alternative which could enable him to perform it; viz., a Chinese of equal rank performing it to the king of England’s picture.

“Perhaps a promise from the Chinese court, that should an ambassador ever go from thence to England, he would perform it in the king’s presence, might have enabled him to do it. These remarks will probably convince the reader that the English government acts as every civilized government ought to act, when she endeavours to cultivate a good understanding, and liberal intercourse with China, while, using those endeavours, she never contemplates yielding homage, and wisely refuses to perform by her ambassador, that ceremony which is the expression of homage.

“The lowest form by which respect is shown in China at this day, is kung-show, that is, joining the hands and raising them before the breast. The next is tsa-yih, that is, bowing low with the hands joined. The third is ta-tseen, bending the knee as if about to kneel. The fourth is kwei, to kneel. The fifth is ko-tow, kneeling and striking the head against the ground. The sixth, san-kow, striking the head three times against the earth before rising from the knees. The seventh, luh-kow, that is, kneeling and striking the forehead three times; rising on the feet, kneeling down again, and striking the head, again, three times on the earth. The climax is closed by the sun-kwei-kew-kow, kneeling three different times, and at each time knocking the head thrice against the ground. Some of the gods of China are entitled only to the san-kow; others to the luh-kow; the teen (heaven) and the emperor, are worshipped with the san-kwei-kew-kow.”

Beggars are licensed by the government, confined within particular districts, and are under the control of certain officers. If any are found wandering beyond their designated limits, they are liable to be punished by the officer who has charge over them; in addition to this, they seldom escape being severely beaten by the mendicants whose district they invade. They are all registered, and receive a small monthly allowance of rice, which, together with the alms they obtain, barely suffices to keep them from starving. Great numbers die in the streets, in the winter, from cold and want of food, and are buried at the public expense. A beggar is seldom forcibly driven away from a door; for, should that occur, a complaint would be instantly made to the proper officer, and the offender would be punished, or be squeezed, as the Chinese term it, or mulct in a heavy fine. On the 28th November, 1832, public notice was given, for the beggars of a certain district, to assemble in front of the foreign factories, “upon important measures, touching the interests of the fraternity.” It was stated, that certain impostors, from other districts, had been guilty of the great crime of begging within their limits; and it was therefore necessary that the name of each person should be ascertained, that he might be brought before the proper officer for punishment, and be driven into his own proper district. Great numbers assembled, toward sunset, after the regular begging hours were over. I had the curiosity to visit this horrible group of unfortunates for a few moments, and the recollection of the scene can never be effaced from my memory. The blind, halt, and lame, were there, of all ages and of both sexes; a more motley group, or a more disgusting spectacle, was never before seen. They were squalid and ragged, filthy, and covered with vermin. Many a blind Bartelmy, and many a Lazarus, were lying there, literally covered with sores. I returned home, sincerely thanking God that I was not thus wretched, and that I stood in no need of a temporal physician to cure me of any loathsome disease.

Blindness is a very common misfortune in China; it is said to be caused generally by depriving the head of almost its entire natural covering, by being closely shaven, and using no effectual guard to protect it from the extremes of the weather: none wear turbans, and but few hats or umbrellas; slight paper fans being in general use. We were informed, that many a child was made blind by the use of caustic, applied by its parents, or by those who purchased it, for the purpose of exciting compassion, in order to increase their gains in the practice of soliciting alms. There are few sights so ridiculously amusing, in the suburbs of Canton, as these untiring vagabonds: they are an excessive annoyance to shop-keepers: a stranger cannot walk without seeing a number of them assembled in the shop of some obstinate fellow, who apparently seems determined to tire them out.

I have frequently seen from three to six assembled, some sitting in the doorway, some lying down, and others standing at the counter, each of them beating most violently on two stout pieces of bamboo, and making a most insufferable noise.

Occasionally, a whole family of “singing beggars” are met with, making the most horrible discord, and singing at the very top of their voices; the rough music from marrow-bones, cleavers, and frying-pans, is vastly preferable to it. Again, others are seen, who are either more rich, or possess greater privileges of annoyance, being allowed to carry all sorts of musical instruments, viz.: a drum, secured to the waist; a small gong, suspended from the neck; and a trumpet, in the mouth. Now and then, a sturdy, self-willed shopman, would pay no attention to the vile pest: forthwith a loud thump was given on the drum, then a thundering noise from the gong, followed by a horrible blast from the trumpet. It would provoke the risibles of a saint, to see the gravity of countenance exhibited by both parties. The shopman, attending to his goods, apparently unconscious of the presence of the other, while the beggar is pursuing his vocation as though his very existence depended upon his making such a noise, as would awake the seven sleepers of Christendom. As no customer is willing to enter a shop where he cannot be heard, the master is at length, most unwillingly, compelled to give him one cash, (about the eight-hundredth part of a dollar;) if this should not be perfect in every respect, it is returned, and a good one absolutely demanded, or a repetition of all that is horrible in discord, and all that is unbearable in vile sounds is repeated. So it proceeds from early dawn to setting-sun: as fast as one beggar-customer is gone, another and another make their appearance; but the donor can expel them if they call oftener than once a day.

Near the entrance of Old China-street, between Minqua’s hong, and the American hong of Messrs. Oliphant & Co., called, “Kwan yueng hang,” or, “The factory of wide fountains,” (where I had the pleasure of spending a couple of months,) there is the mart for the sale of cats and dogs. The venders regularly meet, daily, from one to three, (high-change hours being about two.) Here may be seen, arranged along the pavement in regular order, baskets and cages of these animals, the latter being used for poor puss only, who seemed always to be out of place.

Being within a half dozen steps of the venders, I overlooked them from the balcony, and saw their daily operations; and, as trifling as it may seem to others, I acknowledge that I was much amused with the examinations that the poor animals underwent. Poor puss, as a sailor would say, was “thoroughly overhauled, from clue to ear-ring,” to see if she was sound in health; if she had a handsome, smooth, glossy coat, suitable for ornamenting some garment; if she was free from “cow-licks,” or the hair growing the wrong way; if her limbs were sound, and suitable for making penny whistles, and other small articles; and if she was plump, well-fatted, fit for culinary purposes, and not blown out by injecting air into the body: a common Chinese trick, and which is not tolerated by fair, grave merchants. Young she-cats were preferred for breeders, and commanded double the price of tom-cats. The puppies (for there were but few full grown dogs offered for sale) were likewise thoroughly examined, to ascertain if their outward garment was in good condition—if they were fat, sleek, free from a musky or strong smell, and fit to make a rich press-soup, of which the Chinese are extravagantly fond; if their limbs were sound and not distorted, and if they were the true Chinese breed of prick-eared curs, having black palates and black tongues, with a well-curved feathery tail. The sluts brought generally, I found, more than double the price of the males. The pedigree (being an important matter always in monarchical governments) was also particularly inquired into.

It may perhaps, by some, be thought that I have been unnecessarily particular in making the above statements, in reference to an insignificant portion of the brute creation; but, as I was anxious to give every particular in reference to the internal, as well as external commerce of China, the reader will perhaps excuse the detail given above.

I cannot take my leave of the canine species, without relating a provoking loss which befel Dr. M. B—ghs, of Philadelphia, during my stay in China. The gentleman had purchased, at a high price, a fine pup, on Change, for the purpose of carrying it to the United States. The dog being rather troublesome in running about the house, he told a Chinese servant, who spoke English, to tie him up. The doctor went out, as usual, in search of curiosities, such as rare birds, &c., which he skinned and prepared. On his return, he inquired of the servant if he had tied up the dog and secured him. “Yez,” said he, “hab done, hab done.” Well, said the doctor, where is he “Up loom, up loom,” meaning up in the doctor’s room; for a China-man cannot pronounce the letter r. He immediately ushered the way up stairs, threw open the chamber-door suddenly, and exhibited the dog tied up, but strangled, having hung him! “Can do? can do?” said he, with an air perfectly unconscious of having done wrong. “Can do?” said the doctor, echoing back his words in a tone which indicated any thing rather than satisfaction, “I wish you were there tied up in his stead.”

In front of the foreign factories, there are assembled regularly, every morning, at an early hour, the “Barbers,” with their basins and snug seats, for the use of their customers. They wield a very short, clumsy razor, having a round wooden handle, without a particle of superfluous wood about it: the blade is two and a half inches long, one and a half inches broad at the end, and tapering to less than half an inch toward the handle; it is three eighths of an inch in thickness, for about an inch and a half of its length; the handle is of wood, round, and three eighths of an inch in diameter, and the length of the instrument is six inches.

Strict economy is observed in shaving; water only being used to soften the hair. The head is shaved, leaving only a long lock, which is plaited or braided, and if the tail fails to reach the heels, it is eked out with black riband. Generally speaking, all the hair is shaved from the face, nose, and the eye-lids; for a China-man will always have the full worth of his money, although he pays but three or four cash (equal to about a half cent) to the operator; the eyebrows are then adjusted, and the hair eradicated from the ears and nostrils with tweezers; the nail and corn cutter is then resorted to, who repairs and polishes the nails of the hands and feet: the China-man is in prime order—a small scull-cap, or palm-leaf pointed hat, is then put on, or he protects his head with an ordinary looking paper fan, having on it some moral sentences. At ten and at four he goes to his dark hole, where he exercises his “chop-sticks” with great dexterity, regaling himself with rice and vegetables, deluged with the fat of pork, if he can obtain it. A draught of water, and a dram of shewhing, (arrack,) a pipe of tobacco, and a piece of areca-nut, place him at once among the celestials; but if to these, a pipe or two of refined opium be added, not that exquisite of all pleasures, in the opinion of the country bumpkin, of swinging on a gate all day, and eating bountifully of mush and molasses, can bear any comparison with this care-killing and unparalleled pleasure.

Of all uncouth figures, that strut their little hour upon the stage of life, a China-man is surely the most grotesque animal. A loose shirt for his outer and principal garment—his bagging breeks, added to his white slouching stockings, made of cotton cloth, filled with wrinkles—his black cloth slippers, with a white sole half an inch thick—his shaved head, with his long plaited cue, streaming out when he runs, like a ship’s pennant in a brisk breeze—his elongated and stupid eyes; a fan in one hand, and a long wooden pipe in the other—his enormous spectacles, without bows, astride on the tip of his nose, and his mouth upon the full gape, standing for hours in front of the factory of “wide fountains,” looking at the fan-kweis, (the foreign white devils,) present him as the most unprepossessing figure ever beheld—the most awkward looking biped in the universe.

Chang-ling, the great hero of Cashgar, has memorialized his majesty, and informed him, that, during the late attack of the rebels on that city, they endeavored to inundate it by cutting a channel and entering the course of the adjoining river; but the Lung-shin, (Dragon-god,) who presides over rivers and seas, prevented the design from being effected. For this “divine manifestation” in favour of the imperial cause, the emperor has ordered a new title to be given to the god, a new temple to be built, and a new tablet to adorn it. Slavery, in China, presents its worst features; the children of the slaves are born slaves; and the children of free masters enjoy their rights over them throughout all generations. There have been cases in which the masters have become poor, and allowed their slaves to go and provide for themselves; they have become rich, but being again found by their masters, the latter have seized all the property. There are slaves of another class, who are not bought outright, but with the condition that they may be redeemed. Good masters admit the claim, when made agreeably to contract; but bad ones use every expedient to prevent the claim of redemption.