China
by Edward Rutherfurd
(New York: Doubleday, 2021)
“If you want to succeed, you must take chances.”
Page 2.
“The purpose of the army, in which Colonel Lomond and his class are officers, the reason for its existence, is to protect the trade. You and me. No merchants, no army.”
Pages 7-8.
The members of the Bengal Military Club were rulers. Army officers, judges, administrators of the British Empire, successors to imperial Rome - or so they saw themselves. Like the Roman senators they emulated, these warriors and landowners despised both the professions and, above all, tradesmen.
Pages 8-9.
“We are measured not only by our triumphs, you an, but by our persistence. If we fall, we must try harder.”
Page 17.
“Silver is flowing out of the empire to pay for opium instead.”
Page 17.
No young Chinese wife disobeyed her mother-in-law.
Page 19.
No family in China ever wanted a baby girl. Everyone congratulated the family who had a baby boy. If a girl was born people just said nothing, or maybe something like “better luck next time.”
Page 31.
It was a noble feature of the empire that peasants could rise to the highest office through the education system - if somebody helped them by paying for their studies.
Page 34.
“And the empire is so huge … There is nothing we cannot produce ourselves. The barbarians need what we have, not the reverse.”
Page 37.
“Always remember that the emperor of China sits at the center of the world, and he rules by the Mandate of Heaven.”
Page 38.
“When you serve the emperor, my son, you must always remember that you are obeying the Mandate of Heaven.”
Pages 38-39.
“Be truthful for its own sake. Then you will have a good conscience.”
Page 39.
The love of the young is always a little selfish. It cannot be otherwise.
Page 41.
“A son should obey his father; his father should obey the emperor. If the emperor rules wisely and justly, then this flows down through all his people. It is when the chains of proper conduct are broken that evil and chaos ensue.”
Page 77.
The Chinese frowned upon foreigners who wanted to learn their language.
Page 85.
“We deal in opium and pay China for tea with their own silver.”
“So China’s not getting the silver it wants.”
“Oh, it’s much worse than that. Opium’s addictive. China’s purchases of opium are growing much faster than their sales of tea. Result: More silver is flowing out of China than coming in. far more. They’re bleeding silver.” He shrugged. “The emperor has to do something.”
Pages 91-92.
“It seems,” Lin said reflectively, “that the Lord of Ten Thousand Years can teach virtue even to barbarians.”
Page 105.
The use of torture in the Empire of China was strictly regulated. Only certain procedures were allowed. An official who used a method that was not sanctioned was deemed to have committed a crime and might be prosecuted. Numerous persons were excused form torture, including those who had passed the mandarin examinations, the elderly, and pregnant women.
Page 137.
Torturing people to extract confessions was frowned upon, since it was well understood that people would confess to anything order to stop the pain.
Page 137.
Trader gazed at his kinsman. This was the trouble with being unworldly, the though. Imperfect information.
Page 150.
There were many customs to follow after a Chinese birth. Mei-Ling wouldn’t be allowed out of the house for a month. She mustn’t wash her hair. Or her hands or feet or face. She had nothing to do, really. Her mother-in-law would do everything, including tending to the baby it he woke in the night.
Page 154.
“Very little of what we do, my friend, is necessary.” He nodded. “It’s a humbling thought.”
Page 157.
A war junk was a little floating fortress, full of fighting men. It had perhaps a half-dozen cannon on its deck, whose purpose was to damage the enemy’s masts and rigging and sloe them down. As it closed in, well-trained archers would send volley after volley of arrows to kill the fighting men on the pirate decks. Then they would board.
Page 162.
“When you’ve left a young woman, Trader,” Read said, “don’t go back. You only hurt ‘em more.”
Pages 173-174.
“If your enemy is strong,” Guan answered, “he attacks. If he hesitates, it means that he is weak. Every Chinese commander knows this. The barbarians hesitate because they know that if there’s a battle, they will lose.”
Page 181.
In the great bureaucracy of the Empire under Heaven, no man was likely to rise to high rank if he hadn’t mastered the gentle art of guessing the emperor’s intentions and protecting his back from his friends.
Page 182.
To see men killed in battle was one thing, but to see an entire ship and all the men it carried explode into nothingness before your eyes was another.
Page 184.
The British frigate was not a fortress full of men, but a floating gun battery; and the British Navy gunners were the best in the business.
Pages 186-187.
“If there’s one thing the British are good at, it’s a blockade.”
Page 193.
“If the British empire isn’t profitable, there’s not much point in it, is there?”
Page 194.
No girl wants to throw herself at a man. She’d wait for him to make the first move.
Page 212.
“The thing about the opium trade is the amount of money to be made.”
Page 219.
“One of the duties of a wife and mother is to discover everything she can about the people her family may encounter.”
Page 229.
Agnes bowed her head. There could be no mistaking her mother’s meaning. This, she was showing her daughter, is how to be a lady. From a duchess on a great estate in England to a colonel’s wife in some remote hill station in India, it was all the same. Grace under pressure. Considering the feelings of others. Good posture was always a great help. That’s why girls were taught not to droop.
Page 231.
“Virtue is not easy. Honorable conduct is not easy. That is our tradition, the thing for which our education prepares us - to do the thing that is not easy.”
Page 258.
To a Han Chinese, it was his family that mattered, his parents and grandparents who must be honored; and when asked who he was, he gave the family name first, then his personal name. but for a Manchu, the wider clan, the tribe, was everything. The true Manchu did not have a family name. he went proudly by only a single personal name within his clan.
Page 284.
Manchu women did not totter on bound feet, like the fashionable Chinse ladies. Their feet were as nature intended. In their platform shoes, wearing the simple, loose quipa dress with the long slits down the sides, they walked tall and straight and free.
Page 286.
“When people make up lies like that, it’s often because they’re afraid the lie is the everything people might say about them. It’s like transferring an evil spell. You take the ugly spider that’s fallen on you and throw it onto someone else.”
Page 287.
A virtuous woman, the kind the Chinese most admired - the loyal widow.
Page 291.
“In this life, Guanji, you must use every advantage you have.”
Page 297.
Whether one was in a great city or the depths of the country, nearly everyone had some physical flaw. Most adults past a certain age had missing teeth, of course.
Page 317.
The Chinese didn’t like to show their emotion.
Page 326.
People shrink when they get old.
Page 341.
“Normally one doesn’t open a present in front of the giver.”
Page 342.
You never know in life. Sometimes people can mean what they say.
Page 343.
“I heard,” said my father, “that is some barbarian countries, the people are allowed to look at their kings.”
“Which just shows how inferior their kings must be,” the old man replied instantly. And I remember feeling proud to think that the emperor of my country was so like a god that we couldn’t look at him.
Page 344.
“Eunuchs are employed in the palace because there’s no chance of them interfering with any of the royal wives and concubines.”
Page 345.
“The wise man concerns himself only with what he needs. Nothing more. Then you lie will be simple and you will be free.”
Page 345.
“At the start of every new year, I try to find one more thing I can do without. It isn’t always easy, but in the end, I always find something I don’t really need and get ride of it.”
Page 346.
“You can’t get anywhere in life if you don’t learn how to read and write. It’s the key to everything.” … If I wanted the finer things of life, I had to learn to read.
Page 349.
If you want to make money, I thought, you need a teacher; but to hire a teacher, you need money. There didn’t seem a way out of that conundrum.
Page 349.
“A bad hand is painful to look at. It exhibits all the stupidity and vulgarity of the writer. But a fine hand is a pleasure to see. Scholars can identify the great master by their hand, which we do not only look at but study. For that calligraphy is the pure emanation of the writers soul.”
Page 350.
The monks had the coffin already in the house, as you’re supposed to do before someone dies. I looked around to make sure there wasn’t a mirror on any of the walls. I knew that if you saw a coffin in a mirror it means someone else in the family is going to die.
Page 351.
Everything was in proper order. They placed a small gong on the left of the doorway and hung a white cloth form the lintel. They wrapped the old man’s body in a blue sheet, laid a yellow napkin over his face, and put him in the coffin. We set up a little altar at the foot of the coffin. My father stood a white candle on it, and the monks placed an incense burner there. We all wore white. The monks also left a little box near the door so that people could leave contributions for the cost of the burial.
Page 352.
It’s the custom to burn the clothes of the dead, and the monks had already burned the shreds he had on when he died.
Page 353.
The next day, the monks put a little sign by the entrance of the house with red writing on it, to tell the old man’s ghost that this was his house. Why do we think that ghosts will get lost on their way home? I wonder. The idea is that the ghost will find its way home by the seventh day, and people often put powder across the threshold hoping that the ghost will disturb it in passing, so they’ll know it got safely back.
Page 354.
One thing about living where we did, we always got all the news. … Because we were almost on the Grand Canal, there was constant news coming up from the port as well. The canal lock-keepers always knew everything.
Page 354.
It’s amazing how people can just disappear and be forgotten after a single generation.
Page 354.
Most craftsmen prefer to work by natural light.
Page 356.
I was always deferential to everyone. People should know their place.
Page 359.
Lacquer takes so long to make that it cannot possibly be sold at a price any modest person can afford.
Page 360.
“The joy of the craftsman is greater than the pleasure of the owner.”
Page 360.
“Pretty women are trouble.”
Page 361.
It’s strange how people can preach brotherly love one day and tear I to bits the next.
Page 363.
Our kingdom is eternal. When you think of the thousands of years of our history, the wisdom we’ve learned, our arts and inventions … Why, even our writing’s a miracle: Every character is like a little world. And when it comes to the finer things of life, everything’s made to last.
Page 364.
You can’t destroy a great idea. That’s what I believe.
Page 364.
“However attached you are to a child, you will lose some of them. We all do. Just reassure them all the more while they are here.”
Page 366.
“Never ask a man for a favor in public - because if he does it for you, then everyone else will want the same from him. So if ever you need to ask a favor, son, always do it in private.”
Page 369.
“It doesn’t really matter why people do things, does it, as long as they do them?”
Page 371.
For the first time I realized that my father wasn’t actually lazy - it was just that he hated repetitive work. There wasn’t much scope for a man like that in a village; but in a big city, he could survive quite well.
Page 373.
A city is a vast collection of villages. And just like in any village, a craftsman employs his own family or the son of a friend.
Page 378.
I’d already learned how to tell somebody’s status in Beijing by the doorway of their house. Royalty and nobles had gateways flanked by stone lions - and you could tell their exact rank by the size of gate they were allowed.
Page 380.
“As a eunuch, you can’t be buried with our family in hold ground, as self-mutilation is considered a sin. You’ll be buried in the eunuch’s graveyard outside the city.”
Pages 382-383.
Walls have two purposes: They keep strangers out, of course; but they also protect the fortunate within.
Page 388.
In the Forbidden City, each building belonged to a particular rank.
Page 390.
“The rule of the emperor is dedicated entirely to the maintenance of harmony, justice, and peace within the kingdom.”
Page 391.
“Everyone in the palace, including the emperor himself, is watched all the time.”
Page 391.
“If the palace isn’t perfectly ordered, with everything in its proper place and rank, and morally correct, how can we expect the kingdom to be ordered?”
Page 392.
“The closer you are to the royal family, the greater your danger.”
Page 392.
“Once China is at peace and open for trade, I predict the huge wealth of the Yangtze will flow though Shanghai.
So the South China trade will be conducted in Hong Kong, the Yangtze trade in Shanghai.
Page 399.
British merchants still believed, correctly or not, that they could sell huge quantities of cotton goods to the vast population of China - which might be four hundred million people, though nobody knew.
Page 399.
On no account do we want a China that is powerful enough to inconvenience us.
Page 412.
“To see another man in front of you, looking straight into your eyes, and know that only one of you is going to live. That’s the moment of truth.”
Page 414.
“It’s not the open battles where most of the lives are lost. It’s in the cities.”
Page 418.
There were two things to watch: the point of your opponent’s weapon and his feet.
Page 432.
“If you’re going to be a general,” said Genghis, “you’d better learn something. Never miss a chance to claim a victory for yourself. It’s the only thing people want to hear.”
Page 434.
Some people imagine being castrated makes you look like a woman, but it really doesn’t. No matter how well the operation’s been done, it’s not a pretty sight.
Page 441.
“You should always listen to old people. They know so much.”
Page 442.
The minute someone thinks they don’t have to work, you can never get the notion out of their head again.
Page 446.
They say that we’re all made by our previous lives. Our affinities for each other were made in the deep past, and when we meet people who become important in our lives, it may seem like a chance accident - no more significant than the flapping of a butterfly’s wing - but in fact a hidden force is drawing us together across the surface of the stream of life. Yuanfen, they call it.
Page 448.
Fashionable Manchu ladies at that time often had fingernails whole inches long. Proof they didn’t have to work.
Page 448.
People often change their names several ties as they move up in rank.
Page 449.
If the empress, his official wife, had been able to give the son of Heaven children, things would have been different. But for some reason the empress, who was a gentle, rather timid young woman, seemed unable to have them. So it was up to the concubines.
Page 449.
They say the huge central spaces of the Forbidden city are treeless because the emperors were afraid of assassins hiding behind tree trunks. But there were all manner of fragrant and flowering trees in the smaller palaces.
Pages 449-450.
Every gardener knows: Contain a space inside a wall and it seems larger. Contain a character, and its symmetry grows fearsome.
Page 451.
People with privilege and power are often cold. They have to be.
Page 453.
If you have talent and your entire existence is focused on a single object, you can learn ten times as fast as a normal student will.
Page 456.
“People who get to the to always want to keep learning.”
Page 458.
“You think you’re someone special. It’s a common delusion.”
Page 459.
People talk about yin and yang as the two forces of the universe. We say that yang is the male force, the bright sun, the blue heavens, and so forth, while yin is the female, the earth, the moon, shadow. Like man and wife, yang and yin complement each other; each needs the other to exist. And our sages showed great wisdom when they also declared that there is a little yin in yang and a little yang in yin. For inside the famous yin-yang circle, we see that each of the two interlocking shapes contains a dot of the opposite color. Yang and yin must be in balance, or there can be no harmony in the world.
Page 462.
“Some women” … “use red paint on their lower lip, in the middle, and smear it down into a little red square toward their chin.”
Page 464.
“If you want to rise in the world, you need a lot of friends”
Page 470.
“Chinese diplomacy. Ryle number one: Flatter the barbarian. Rule two: Give him hope. Rule three: Keep him waiting.”
Page 477.
“The art is to be polite and treat them well so they have nothing to complain of. Then gradually, like a man in love with an unattainable woman, hope deferred acquires a beauty all its own.”
Page 477.
It’s strange. When the great lords of the world are discussing weighty matters, they never seem to worry about the servants being present. Maybe they trust us. Maybe they forget that we exist or think wee just part of the furniture. Or maybe they like an audience.
Page 477.
Generally it’s amazing what one can hear at court.
Page 478.
Does a woman blame herself when her man ceases to be a man?
Page 481.
I’ve always had difficulty telling one barbarian from another. Some are tall, some are short.
Page 486.
The temple, which stood in a pond, had a very unusual shape - for its floor plan was in the form of a cross with an extension at a right angle on the end of each arm. This was the character we call “wan,” which signifies the peaceful Heart of Buddha. I’ve heard that the western barbarians call this sort of cross a swastika, though I believe in their lands the extensions point the other way.
Page 486.
Out ancestors built the great wall to protect us from the north, and now the emperor’s running to the other side of it to hide from barbarians coming form the south. Everything’s topsy-turvy.
Page 489.
“The greatest and most difficult are in government … is to keep a clear conscience.”
Page 492.
People often think of the palace eunuchs as simpering weaklings, but it’s not true. The palace people fought as bravely as any soldiers.
Page 499.
It’s always a good rule in life to be as honest with people as you can, but never tell them where the money is.
Page 505.
I suppose that’s how it is with war. Some people are killed for a good reason, some for a bad reason, and others for no reason at all.
Page 507.
Love is conditional in palaces.
Page 508.
“We have been wrong to cut ourselves off from the world t has made us ignorant.”
Page 528.
I was always pleased that the prince encouraged the employment of skilled barbarians in matters of finance and trade. For together with the use of men with Gordon in our army, it let all the people see that the barbarians of the west were being tamed and becoming obedient servants of the empire.
Page 528.
A great king must constantly desire to improve his kingdom by leaning new things. And to learn, he must be curious and also humble. For a proud man never learns anything.
Page 528.
There had been a lot of weddings that summer, because the rule was that when an emperor died, the nation had to go into mourning, and nobody in the capital could marry for a hundred days. So anyone who wanted to get married just then was in a hurry.
Page 529.
There were twenty-five great seals with which imperial decrees were stamped.
Page 530.
In my opinion, Prince Sushun was arrogant, where Prince Gong was humble - and the humble man has an advantage over the arrogant man. And why was Prince Sushun so arrogant? It may have been because he was so rich. Rich people are used to getting their own way all the time. So they get arrogant and make mistakes.
Page 535.
“Things are never completely right.”
Page 554.
She felt anger towards him for leaving her like this, as the living often do towards the dead.
Page 556.
He might not feel that he was loved, but he had no wish to cause his wife more pain.
Page 569.
Now that he had this little period of freedom, he had just wanted to find her again, to see id she was how he remembered. He was quite ready to find her changed or find her magic gone in the broad daylight, so to speak.
Page 569.
“When you’re young,” she said carefully, “we expect people to be good or bad. But they’ aren’t, you know. We’re all just somewhere in between.”
Page 586.
“One has to be careful. If you nag a man too much or hurt his pride, he’ll walk away. Most of the time it’s wiser to accept him as he is.”
Page 586.
Since British planters had recently learned to grow tea in India and the British public had acquired a taste for the darker Darjeeling brew, the need for tea from China had become less urgent.
Page 595.
“You may win a war quickly, but earning trust takes far longer. And one way to make a start is to show respect for local customs.”
Page 600.
“How do the people know there’s order in the empire? Only by ceremony. Because ceremony is what they see.”
Page 615.
“People like parades. They like the emperor and his servants to make a fine show - just as they like their temples to be full of beauty and scented candles, and gleaming gold. It makes them feel good. The emperor shows them their land is great; the temples bring them closer to the heavens.”
Page 615.
“They like to be entertained. That’s part of the art of ruling. You mustn’t let the people starve, but they’ll forgive you almost anything else if you keep them entertained.”
Page 615.
He always felt that announcing things in advance would bring bad luck.
Page 623.
There was nothing stiff or formal about the Chinese ritual of serving tea. The aim was to make the guest feel welcome at home, at peace. Every move was simple and practical.
Page 635.
Men of rank, in her experience, liked to talk about themselves.
Page 639.
“Why does everything have to be a lie?”
Page 645.
“Everything will pass.”
Page 656.
He liked tending his ancestors’ tombs. It gave him a sense of peace.
Page 661.
“You have far to go, but you are on the path.”
Page 667.
“As we grow older, we become more aware of the larger flow of life … . Our individual lives become less large in our minds.”
Page 667.
“In my opinion,” said Mr. Gu, “Confucius is important for the young. He gives them moral rules by which to live, without which society falls apart. Young people need to believe. If they don’t believe in Confucius, they’ll only believe in something worse.”
Page 668.
“The true Confucian order rests not upon power but upon morals.”
Page 676.
“Commercial knowledge, any knowledge, without a moral foundation is useless. Worse than useless. Dangerous. Even engineers need a philosophy.”
Page 678.
Those about to die, he thought, should keep good accounts.
Page 681.
No gentleman of the Victorian age traveled without a good supply of formal evening clothes.
Pages 690-691.
“War and intelligence never march together.”
Page 710.
“To substantiate your claim to the moral high ground, you’ll probably need to tell a pack of lies, which is bad for you.”
Page 742.
The first thing you’ve got to do in all business - or diplomacy - is discover the other fellow’s point of view and what he needs. Then you’ve got to find a way to make it in his self-interest to act as you wish. It takes patience, but any other course of action will be counterproductive in the long run.
Pages 742-743.
It was better to leave before people were glad to see you go.
Page 744.
It was time to move on.
Page 744.
In no time the British and French, the Russians, the Japanese, and the Germans were all setting up railways to suit themselves.
Page 748.
The two times she’d seen an emperor actually ruling, it had been a disaster. The first emperor had deserted his post and run away to the north; the second had nearly brought down the administration. The only governments she knew that worked - however badly - in nearly fifty years were regencies. Perhaps she’d come to think that this was a natural state. With Puyi on the throne, she’d guarantee another dozen years of regency, at least.
Page 753.
She’d ruled for half a century. She’d been the one to defend the old order - braver and bolder than any of the men. And more cunning. And now she was ushering in the news world. No more emperors after her. She’d be the last to rule. A heroine, perhaps. The most extraordinary woman, certainly. An enigma. … If you want to fascinate historians, then you must be an enigma.
Page 754.
People say that the Empress Cixi herself went to see the emperor on nis deathbed and watched him die. But it’s not true. I was the one with him. Only me. It was me who took the life of the last reigning emperor of China.
Page 755.
But the succession was decided. Puyi was the infant boy emperor and his father was regent.
Page 756.
That very evening, she laid herself out in the correct posture, with her face turned towards the south, and died. She willed it.
There was never any woman like her.
Page 756.
The arrangements Cixi made for the succession collapsed. At the time of what we now call the revolution, the little boy king was removed form the throne and Dr. Sun Yat-sen was elected president. But that didn’t last long, either. Then General Yuan took over and tried to found a new dynasty. But no one wanted that, and soon the republic dissolved into scores of little territories under the control of local warlords.
Page 757.