Reform Club.—Chinese Ladies' Public Dinner.—High School for Girls.—Chinese Lady Doctors insisting on Religious Liberty.—Reformers' Dinner.—The Emperor at the Head of the Reform Party.—Revising Examination Papers.—Unaware of Coming Danger.—Russian Minister's Reported Advice.
改革俱樂部（Reform Club）.—中國女士公開晚宴（Chinese Ladies' Public Dinner）.—女子高級中學（High School for Girls）.—中國女醫生堅持宗教自由（Chinese Lady Doctors insisting on Religious Liberty）.—改革派的晚宴（Reformers' Dinner）.—皇帝（The Emperor）作為改革黨的領袖.—修改考卷（Revising Examination Papers）.—未察覺即將來臨的危險（Unaware of Coming Danger）.—俄羅斯大臣的報告建議（Russian Minister's Reported Advice）.
On February 12th, 1896, a newspaper correspondent wrote from Peking: "The Reform Club established a few months ago, which gave such promise of good things to come, and which has been referred to frequently in the public prints in China, has burst. It has been denounced by one of the Censors, and the Society has collapsed at once. The Club has been searched, the members, some fifty or more Hanlin scholars, have absconded, and the printers have been imprisoned. Such is the end, for the present at least, of what promised to be the awakening of China. It 550was initiated and supported largely at least by three well-known foreigners, two of them well-known missionaries, and it met with much support and encouragement from all classes. Its little Gazette was latterly enlarged and its name changed. One or more translators were engaged to translate the best articles from the English newspapers and magazines, of which some two dozen or more were ordered for the Club. The members contributed liberally, we understand, towards its expenses; and if ever there was hope of new life being instilled into the old dry bones of China, it was certainly confidently looked for from this young, healthy, and vigorous Society. It has been conducted, we believe, with great ability; differences among the leaders have cropped up, but after discussions the affairs of the Club have each time been placed on a more secure and lasting basis. Foreign dinners at a native hotel have been part of the programme; and this element is not to be despised by any means. The Chinese transact nearly all their important business at the tea-shops and restaurants, and certainly a good dinner and a glass of champagne help wonderfully to smooth matters. We regret exceedingly the decease of the Reform Club."
People in general laughed about it a little. There had before been the short statement: "A Censor has impeached the new Hanlin Reform Club, and it has been closed by Imperial rescript."
Thomas Huxley once wrote that "with wisdom and uprightness even a small nation might make its way 551worthily; no sight in the world is more saddening and revolting than is offered by men sunk in ignorance of everything except what other men have written, and seemingly devoid of moral belief and guidance, yet with their sense of literary beauty so keen and their power of expression so cultivated that they mistake their own caterwauling for the music of the spheres."
It was in this strain Europeans in the East meditated. But on returning to China in the autumn of 1897, I found in Shanghai evidences of progress and reform on all sides. A Chinese newspaper, generally spoken of in English as Chinese Progress, was being issued regularly, and newspapers edited by friends of its editor were coming out in Hunan and even in far-away Szechuan. The Chinese "Do-not-bind-feet" Society of Canton had opened an office in one of the principal streets of Shanghai, and was memorialising Viceroys, as also the Superintendents of Northern and Southern trade. Directly on arrival I received an invitation to a public dinner in the name of ten Chinese ladies, of whom I had never heard before. It was to be in the large dining-hall in a Chinese garden in the Bubbling Well Road, the fashionable drive of Shanghai, and by degrees I found all my most intimate friends were invited. We agreed with one another to go, though wondering a good deal what the real meaning of the invitation was, and why we were selected. The hall is a very large one, sometimes used for big balls, with rooms opening off it on either side; and after the English ladies had laid aside their wraps in a room to 552the right—one or two Chinese gentlemen, who had evidently been superintending the arrangement of the dinner, encouraging them to do so—we asked where our Chinese hostesses were. They were already assembled in the rooms opening off the hall to the left, and I still remember the expression of intense anxiety on the Chinese gentlemen's faces as they saw us leave them and advance to join their womenkind, none of whom spoke any English, nor knew anything of English ways and manners. At first the Chinese ladies did not exactly receive us; but when we began to go round and bow to each lady in turn, after the Chinese fashion, one after another stood up and smilingly greeted us. Then those of us who could talked Chinese, and one or two of the Chinese ladies began to move about, exhibiting the ground-plan of a proposed school for the higher education of Chinese young ladies. And thus gradually we began to understand what it was all about. But on that occasion it was the English ladies who were frivolous, the Chinese who were serious. For they were so elaborately dressed, so covered with ornaments, English ladies were always breaking off and saying, "Oh, do allow me to admire that bracelet!" or "What lovely embroidery!" whilst the Chinese ladies very earnestly pointed at their ground-plan, and looked interrogations. It gradually came out that it was the Manager of the Telegraph Company and his friends who were bent upon starting this school; that this being a new departure they thought it well for the ladies interested to confer with the ladies of other nations 553accustomed to education; and that, considering who was likely to be helpful, they had asked a few missionary ladies, and all the officers and committee of the T`ien Tsu Hui ("Natural Feet Society"), thinking that the foreign ladies, who had started that, must be interested in helping Chinese women.
1896年2月12日，一位報紙記者在北京寫道：「幾個月前成立的改革俱樂部，曾經承諾會帶來許多美好的事物，並且經常在中國的報刊上提及，如今已經瓦解。一位御史指責了該俱樂部，社團隨即崩潰。俱樂部被搜查，成員，其中大多數是翰林學者，已經逃匿，印刷工人被捕。目前，這場本來可能是中國覺醒的運動，就此告一段落。該俱樂部主要由三位著名的外國人發起並大力支持，其中兩位是知名的傳教士，並得到了各階層的廣泛支持和鼓勵。其小報最近有所擴展，並更改了名稱。俱樂部還雇用了翻譯，將英國報紙和雜誌中的最佳文章翻譯過來，訂閱的報刊超過二十份。據了解，成員們慷慨解囊，支持俱樂部的運營；如果曾經有希望讓古老而枯燥的中國注入新生命，那麼這個年輕、健康、有活力的社團確實讓人充滿了信心。據我們所知，俱樂部運作得非常出色；領導人之間曾出現過分歧，但在討論後，每次都能使俱樂部的事務更加穩固。俱樂部的計劃中還包括在一家本地酒店舉行外國晚宴；這一環節絕對不可忽視。中國人幾乎所有重要的商務活動都是在茶館和餐館裡進行的，毫無疑問，一頓美餐和一杯香檳能夠極大地促進事情的進展。我們對改革俱樂部的消亡感到極為遺憾。」
人們普遍對此事笑而不語。在此之前，曾有一條簡短的消息：「某位御史彈劾了新的翰林改革俱樂部，並且該俱樂部已經被皇帝的上諭關閉。」
托馬斯·赫胥黎曾經寫道：「憑藉智慧和正直，即便是一個小國也可以光明正大地走出自己的道路；世界上沒有比那些只知人云亦云、幾乎沒有道德信仰和指導，但卻對文學美感有著敏銳觸覺且表達能力極佳的人更讓人悲哀和反感的了。」
歐洲人在東方的沉思大多是這樣的。然而，在1897年秋天回到中國後，我發現上海處處顯示出進步和改革的跡象。一份被英語世界稱為《中國進步》的中文報紙正在定期出版，該報紙編輯的朋友們還在湖南甚至遙遠的四川出版報紙。廣州的「不纏足會」在上海的一條主要街道上開設了辦公室，並向總督以及南北貿易總監遞交了請願書。剛到上海時，我就收到了一份以十位我從未聽說過的中國女士名義發出的公共晚宴邀請。晚宴將在上海時尚駕車道——靜安寺路上的一個中式花園的大餐廳裡舉行，逐漸地，我發現所有我最親密的朋友都受邀了。我們互相同意去參加，但對邀請的真正含義以及為什麼選擇我們感到非常疑惑。那是一個非常大的大廳，有時用來舉辦大型舞會，兩側有房間。我們把外套放在右邊的一個房間裡後，幾位顯然是負責安排晚宴的中國紳士鼓勵我們這樣做，我們問我們的中國女主人在哪裡。她們已經在大廳左邊的房間裡集合了，我至今還記得當這些中國紳士看到我們離開他們，走向她們的女眷時，那臉上流露出的強烈焦慮。這些女士中沒有一個會說英語，也不了解英國的風俗習慣。起初，中國女士並沒有正式接待我們；但當我們開始按照中國的禮儀逐個向每位女士鞠躬時，她們一個個都站起來，微笑著迎接我們。接著，我們中有些人開始用中文交流，並且有一兩位中國女士開始移動，展示一所擬建的中國青年女子高等學校的平面圖。漸漸地，我們明白了這是怎麼回事。但在那次活動中，英國女士們顯得有些輕浮，而中國女士們則很認真。因為她們穿得很精緻，佩戴了很多裝飾品，英國女士們總是打斷她們的講解說：「哦，請允許我欣賞一下那個手鐲！」或者「多麼漂亮的刺繡啊！」而中國女士們則非常認真地指著她們的平面圖，投來詢問的目光。逐漸地，我們了解到，這是電報公司經理和他的朋友們熱衷於創辦這所學校；由於這是一個新的舉措，他們認為讓關心這一問題的女士們與來自其他國家的有教育經驗的女士們交流是很有意義的；並且考慮到誰可能會提供幫助，他們邀請了一些傳教士女士以及「天然足協會」（T`ien Tsu Hui，「自然足會」）的所有官員和委員會成員，因為他們認為發起這個協會的外國女士們一定會對幫助中國婦女感興趣。
Presently we were summoned to dinner by an intimation, "Chinese ladies to the left, foreign ladies to the right!" "Because of the fire," was added sotto voce, for Chinese, in their often triple furs, have naturally a horror of fires; but we refused to be thus summarily separated, as we sat down about two hundred women to a dinner served in the foreign style, with champagne, etc., and were rather alarmed to find our hostesses allowing their little children to drink as freely of champagne as of their own light Chinese wines.
不久，我們被通知去用餐，「中國女士往左，外國女士往右！」隨後低聲補充道：「因為火災。」中國人經常穿著三層毛皮，自然對火災有恐懼。然而，我們拒絕被如此草率地分開，於是約兩百名女士一起坐下來，享用按照外國風格準備的晚餐，包括香檳等。我們發現我們的女主人讓她們的小孩像喝自己輕盈的中國葡萄酒一樣，自由地喝香檳，這令我們頗為擔憂。
MR. KING, MANAGER OF THE CHINESE TELEGRAPH COMPANY AND FOUNDER OF HIGH SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS. 金先生（Mr. King），中國電報公司（Chinese Telegraph Company）經理兼女子高級中學（High Schools for Girls）創始人。
That dinner was the beginning of an interchange of civilities between foreign and Chinese ladies such as had never occurred before. The daughter of Kang, commonly called the Modern Sage, after the title given to Confucius, was naturally one of these ladies. She wore Manchu dress, which puzzled us, as she is Cantonese. Her father had never allowed her feet to be bound, and she had herself written an article against binding, which had appeared in a Chinese newspaper; thus she, like several other Chinese ladies, considered the dress of the Manchus, who never bind feet, the most convenient. The relations of Mr. Liang, editor of Chinese Progress, were also present. At the subsequent meetings some of the Chinese ladies pleaded earnestly 554that Europeans should take shares in the school. They did not want their money, they said, but feared that unless there were European shareholders their Government might seize all the funds. The European ladies, however, could never quite satisfy themselves as to the various guarantees necessary. There were, indeed, many difficulties about starting this new school, as may be seen by the following letter, written by two Chinese lady doctors, who had been asked in the first instance to undertake its management. They had been educated in America, where they had passed all the necessary examinations very brilliantly; and it was the idea of the lustre they had thus conferred upon their own nation in a foreign land, that had first led a wealthy ship-owner, running steamers on the Poyang Lake, to conceive the idea of a school for girls. It had been warmly taken up by the late tutor of the ladies of the Imperial Household, who had been dismissed from his post because of his radical notions, 555and was thus free to devote himself to advancing education generally. The Manager of the Telegraph Company then became the leader, and the prospectus of the school was published in the North China Herald, with the names of the two Chinese lady doctors as its managers. On which they wrote the following letter to the editor, which, as I afterwards ascertained, was bonâ fide written by themselves, not at foreign instigation. They even refused to accept any corrections, saying if they wrote it at all it must be their own letter. It is so striking as the composition of Chinese women, that I am sure I shall be pardoned for giving it in extenso.
"Sir,—In your issue of December 24th appeared a translation of the prospectus of a school in Shanghai for Chinese girls; and since our names were given to the public as would-be teachers, we hope you will permit a word of much-needed explanation. If you, Mr. Editor, give such welcome to this sign of progress as is expressed in your editorial, then much more should those of our own people, who may be prepared to appreciate its possibilities. Yet the joy might not be without alloy.
"Several months ago the prospectus was brought to us as yet in an unfinished state, and parts of the first and last clauses referring to the establishment of Confucianism did not appear. Had these been there, we should not have allowed our names to go down as teachers. In making this statement, we realise that we only escape the charge of 'narrow-mindness' by the fact that we decidedly are not foreigners. We love 556our native China too much to fail to realise the truth in your admission 'that a slavish adherence to Confucianism alone has done far too much to limit and confine the Chinese mind for centuries,' and it is because we are not hopeful of the result 'when reverence for Confucianism is to be combined with the study of Western languages and sciences' that we cannot lend ourselves to the project as it seems to be drifting. It was with the express understanding that there should be entire religious liberty, that we consented to take up this work, and religious liberty would admit all who found moral and spiritual support in Confucianism to avail themselves of it. The tablets, that Confucianism cherished, might be set up by its supporters near the school, but not in the grounds: as might Christian churches be opened, if friends were found to build them. Such a course would conserve liberty of conscience.