Masonry In China.

MASONRY IN CHINA .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 15 , 1865 .

BY BEO . ALEXANDER JAMESON , Sion Chapter ( No . 570 ) , Celestial Encampment , Shanghai ; J . W . Northern Lodge of China ( No . 570 ); late Interpreter to the U . S . Consulate-General in China . Although I have adopted the above heading for this paper , it must be distinctly understood that

none of the many orders and secret associations which exist in China can boast the characteristics Avhieh distinguish " Masonic bodies , " as Ave understand the term . The brotherhoods which have so often been denounced by the reigning dynasty

possess one feature in common Avith Free and Accepted Masonry—they are mutual benefit associations ; but a wide line of distinction between the

members of those societies and ourselves is drawn by the fact that their objects are , without exception , either political or simply malignant . Tims it is not without reason that Chinese legislators regard " lodges" as nuclei of all that is most

dangerous , both , to public and private safety , both to the well-being of the state and to the integrity of private property . Indeed , a brief resume of the history of secret societies in the Celestial Empire will prove how fully justified , both on theoretical

and practical grounds , the government is , in checking , so far as in it lies , the faintest manifestation of a private understanding betAveen either individuals or bodies of men .

The origin of the existing secret associations may be traced to the period immediately succeeding the establishment of the ManchoAV rule . After the Mangol sway , established by Kublai Khan , had , byalong series of glorious Avars , added many

fairprovinces to the empire , and had , by its magnificence , reconciled the people to the presence of foreign invaders , a purely native dynasty , styled Ming- or Bright , started up , and soon obtained a strong hold on the affections of the masses . The Emperors

of the Ming dynasty are noAV looked back to with affectionate awe , and even the few works of art which , dating from the time of the native rule , have been handed down to posterity , are regarded with a reverence to which neither their intrinsic

value nor their moderate age entitles them . Under the Mings the people walked upright—their hair was suffered to grow in all its wild luxuriance , the hateful Tartar tail was unknown , the long sleeved jacket with horse-shoe shaped cuffs , typifying the hopeless character of the servitude into which the

Masonry In China.

subjects of the Tartar kings are plunged , was as yet in the future ; and , if Ave are to believe the many romances and dramas which have descended to us , every man sat under his vine and his figtree , and , while he quaffed the fragrant tea , blessed the

Emperor as his father and friend , and compared him to the all-Avise heroes of remote antiquity . In a country such as China is , it is difficult-to obtain an accurate conception of the state of society at any given period ; bul , as I have said , to the

best of our judgment , based on such materials as are at our disposal , Ave may assume that under the native Emperors the Chinese were as happy as a nation can be under an absolute government . For nearly three hundred years the Mings held

possession of the country , and proved by myriads of architectural monuments , as well as ~ b y great literary productions , the interest they took in the development of the people . When , however , in 1645 , the Manchow rule was finally established ,

the more adventurous spirits naturally flocked together , and gathered to them all the discontented and turbulent which were obtainable from the dregs of the Chinese nation . In different parts of the country there still remained unconcmered tribes .

The mountainous districts of Kuang si Avere inhabited by a hardy race known as the Miao ten ; the west was and has ever since remained disturbed ; Pukien was the scene of constant strnp-o-les between the Tartars and the resolute inhabitants of

the eastern seaboard ; Avhile for a long time Taiwan , or Formosa , held out manifnlly and refused to surrender its independence . The disaffected were necessarily driven to seek shelter within rocky fastnesses and impenetrable mountains , or to

conceal their real sentiments , and seek opportunities for secret intercourse , when they might mature their plans , and perhaps eventually discover a lucky chance of striking abloAV at the government . As an example of the bold conceptions and

perfect organisation of one of the societies thus formed ' —the T'ien U laid , or " Brotherhood of Heaven and Earth "—I may mention that , in 1813 , late in the reign of the Emperor styled Kea King * an attempt Avas made to effect a rising in the northern provinces , and a large party of conspirators would even have gained possession of the Imperial