Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 January 1915 — HOW CHINA SAVED ITSELF FROM ANNIHILATION [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOW CHINA SAVED ITSELF FROM ANNIHILATION

JOME seventeen hundred years ago when not one of the present powers of Europe was in existence, when the few who dared say they were Christians were being persecuted in Rome, when the Germans were still a crowd of tribes, when the Slavic race was still unknown and Mohammedanism was undreamed of, a great war was in progress in Asia, for the existence of a nation already centuries old. In those days people doubtless were urged to enlißt to save their country Just as they are urged to fight for their fatherland in Europe today. On one side were the Tartars, classed by their opponents as barbarians. On the other side were the Chinese. Little is known about the Tartars except that they were expert in war and that they later turned their forces westward into Europe. While the Chinese to this day contend that the Tartars were barbarians we, would judge* they the art of war. They had the most modern weapons and ‘they had the most perfect military machine. Emperor Che Hwang Te of China realised that unusual defensive measures were needed to save his nation. He organised an army of 3,000,000 men and decisively defeated the Tartars. He knew, however, that they would return to the battle. Emperor Che, or Chin, as he is sometimes called, had served as a youth in the Tartar army. When he learned their methods he returned to his own country and overthrew all the other chieftains and established the first united empire of China. He realised he was a Bismarck among the Chinese and feared his successor would not be able to fight well. So he planned for the defense of his people for all time by building a 'gigantic wall, now known as the Great Wall of China, the greatest wonder of the world, and the only work of man aelde from the pyramids of Egypt, which would be visible to the man in the moon. The building of the wall was at a propitious time. The credit of the country was paralyzed and the people were facing a financial panic. China had been engaged in civil wars for centuries when it was not engaged in wars with the Tartars. The Tartars were temporarily defeated. They retreated to their homes in the interior of Asia and rested for a generation. In their own country they could not be attacked even by the great Emperor Che. They were 5,000 miles from Che’s military center and as such were absolutely impervious to attack. Che not only was looking after the welfare of future Ching, he had to have something for his soldiers to do.

"I will have them biiild a, great fence,” he told his counsellors. And it is written in the book of history of the Chinese and is told in the legends of the wise men of that most ancient of all people that Che did that very thing. He took the arms from the soldiers and put- picks and spades in their hands. He called the greatest of his engineers together and started to build the Great Wall of China, the wonder of the world. The wall, which is 3,000 miles long, started at the sea and was built in a westerly direction north of Peking Into the heart of Asia. When the Tartars started on their next advance on China thirty years later they found the wall a barrier too great for them to cross. In despair they retreated from the half-built wall and in succeeding years when they returned to the attack they found the wall higher than ever. The Tartars never learned that the wall had aa end. They only knew that for a thousand miles or more they could tiot get across. So after 200 years qf defeat the Tartars with-

drew into their old Asiatic home and finally set their faces westward. It is believed that the invasion of the Huns was the direct result of the building of the Chinese wall. The Huns are believed to be descendants ofthe same people, who fought so unsuccessfully with ChinA. The building of the Chinese wall gave the Chinese a sense of sectirity, which turned them Into an unwarlike nation. The "wall is so broad that in places six horsemen can ride abreast along it. It can accommodate a great body of fighting men. At intervals on the hilltops guards were placed and they remained there for hundreds of years. When a hostile army was seen approaching the signal would be given and the people would rush to the wall. There they would shoot such harmless explosives down on the invaders as firecrackers and stink pots. These pots resembled our bombs. They were made of brilliant clay. They burst on striking the ground. When they burst they would let loose vile smelling gas, much like hydrogen sulphide. Naturally they learned to fight without endangering their own lives. Even to this day that is the way the Chinaman fights. The Chinese war with Japan was an excursion trip for the Japs. The Boxer "uprising shows the inferiority of the Chinese as fighters. Although China has a population greater than all of Europe, any Euro- j pean country could beat her in a straight fight. The Boxers fought only when they had superior numbers. Even when the Chinese are well equipped they cannot fight foreign devils. While the wall saved the country from financial troubles 1,700 years ago. yet it made the Chinese a nonresistant people. By enabling the people to go their way, the wall has made of CJiina the most populous nation in the world. Probably one-third of the world's inhabitants live in China. Not less than one-fourth of the world’s people live there. Not until modern times did China go to war of any consej quence after the building of the wall. | That was when the Manchus, who lived north of the wall, swarmed over the barricade and captured Peking. | The Manchus became the ruling people and were reigning in China when the Europeans entered. The Manchus continued in power until the establishment of the Chinese republic, i The stupendous work of the Great Wall of China can be understood when one considers that at one point it crossed the peak of a mountain 10,000 feet high. The wall followed the 1 mountain ridges wherever there.were any. The stones were sometimes picked from the ground near the wall. When there were no stones there they were brought a great distance if need be to make the wall strong. When one looks at the wall he cannot help but be 'struck with the curves In the vast structure. These curves are due to the theory that devils cannot walk in anything but straight lines. * , _ In the Boxer uprising of 1900 the - 4 '•

Chinese wall was a protection to Christian missionaries, who hid In its recesses as the early Christians of R'ome hid in the catacombs from the pagan leaders. With these missionaries many native Christians took refuge. The story of their hardships shows that heroism is as strong in the human heart today as it was in the days of the Roman persecutions. Many were found by the Boxers. To the white missionaries death was the only end. To the Chinese there was a chance for life if they would renounce Christianity and accept any of the Chinese beliefs. Reports say many of the Chinese converts renounced the God of the foreign devils and accepted the gods of the Chinese, but there were many who refused to renounce their God and their heads were stricken off. First the white Christians were killed. Then the yellow Christiana were compelled under torture to drink the blood of their white leaders before they died. The Chinese wall Is a fitting emblem of the endurance of the CHinese nation. Built of the finest building stone in the world It has endured through 17 centuries as a mockery to the seven wonders of the world enumerated by the Greeks. The Chinese wall was unknown to the Greeks or it certainly would have been included in the list of wonders. It was more wonderful than them All. Furthermore, it was built for the service of man, whereas the pyramids, the hanging gardens of Babylon and other wonders were built for the vftnity of man. The Chinese wall h«e_done much to keep back the advance of civilization in China. Since its construction the nation has advanced little in the arts and sciences. Only in the last ten years have the young Chinese admitted western civilization. The Chinese are a scholarly people, but their education Is limited to the study of the classics. They are philosophers, but their philosophy runs in grooves. They invented gunpowder, but did not develop it. Tha Chinese would point to the wall of China and say that they should not go beyond .its bounds. They were bounded on the north by the Great Wall, on the east by the sea of the rising sun, on the south by the land of tropical diseases and on the West bv the ereat interior plateau. The first Chinese to leave their native land were not allowed to return. Until the last decade a Chinaman who cut off his braid of hair was ostracized. 1 . The Chinese are adepts at oruelty. They havq severe punishments, but they cannot be said to be bloody. Few Chinese go armed and murders are rare. They have had fewer wars than any other country on earth; until the Chines e-Japanese war they had been at peace since the invasion of the Manchus.