The document provides historical context on China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, describing the declining Qing dynasty, the Boxer Rebellion, and warlord rule in the aftermath. It also discusses the social and political challenges of the time including weak central government, conflicts with Western powers, and traditional customs like footbinding. Religions practiced in China such as Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Islam are also summarized.

1. China in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

2. GOVERNMENT

3. For centuries China had Emperors. By the
end of the 19th century, the emperor was losing
control of his country.
The Qing Dynasty had ruled China since 1644 and
would continue until 1911 when the last emperor,
Pu Yi, abdicated.

4. The last years of Imperial China were chaotic; China
had long fought against western innovations and foreign
presence in their country.
In 1900 The Boxer Rebellion took place. At least 250
foreigners were murdered, but eventually the
foreigners defeated the rebellion.
After this, however, the Imperialists realized that they
had, through their isolation, fallen behind the rest of
the world.

5. Tzu-Hsi was the Dowager Empress during the Boxer
Rebellion. When she realized that she was close to
death, she had to choose her successor; she chose
P'u Yi, her three year old nephew.

6. After the Dowager Empress’s death, her young
nephew was to reign. However, he did not like
politics and the people did not support him.
Eventually, General Yuan Shih-k’ai took over
the government and the five year old Emperor
abdicated. He continued to live in the
Forbidden City however.
The Forbidden City was run by eunuchs, and P'u Yi
didn't meet another child until he was seven, when his
brother and sister visited him.

7. When he was nine a warlord named Chang Hsun decided
to restore P'u Yi to the throne. This was unsuccessful, but
life remained the same for P’u Yi.
In 1924 the army of another warlord, Feng Yu-hsiang,
surrounded the Forbidden City. But this warlord did not
want to restore P'u Yi to his throne. Feng was both a
Communist and a Christian, P'u Yi was forced to leave
the Forbidden City for the first time since becoming
emperor.

8. This time was indeed chaotic. Warlords ruled
and robbers (and worse) roamed throughout
the land. This is the setting of The Good Earth.
Farmers such as Wang Lung knew nothing about
politics. The just wanted peace in which to work
on their land and provide for their families.

9. The Family

10. During this time children highly respected
their elders. The oldest man in the family
was in charge of the family. Old women
were also respected (even though they were
females).

11. In general, however, females were
considered to be beneath men. Only
by giving birth to male children could
a woman have any hope for respect. Thus,
she would be called a "mother of sons."

12. And so it went. Families considered
themselves lucky if they had no
daughters at all. In very poor families,
or ones with too many girls, female
infants were often left outside to die
in the elements or sold into slavery.

13. In our society we tend to have the
opposite view. Parents try to give
their children everything they can
and old people are often put
in a nursing home. In China
no one would have been removed
from their home because they were
old. Any family that even considered
something like that would be outcasts.

14. This was not a good time to be a female. Even
in wealthy families females were considered to
be property. If a husband grew tired of his wife
he could simply throw her out and she had
no recourse but to try to go back to her parents. If
she were unable to do this, she was left to fend for
herself in any way she could.

15. RELIGION

16. Many countries at this time were not very
tolerant of diverse religions. However, in
China many people believed in more than
one religion. To be safe, people might
observe more than one religion in order to
avoid angering other "Gods."

17. Religions in China:
Confucianism
Confucius (Kong Zi) lived from 551 to 479 BC in the state of Lu (in
modem Shandong province). He came from a family of officials and
his concern was with the restoration of the Way (Dao) of the ancient
sages. His teaching was therefore related mainly to society and its
government. He advocated strict conformity, and thought that
fostering correct behaviour, within the context of the family, would
produce an ordered society. He was not particularly interested in
religion, except insofar as it related to social life.

18. However, in 59 AD during the Han dynasty, it was decreed that sacrifice
should be made to Confucius and this began a process which was to make
Confucian philosophy into the foundation of the Chinese political order.
Confucius himself had only accepted the legitimacy of sacrifice to one's
own ancestors, but from now on an official Confucian cult emerged, with
its own temples. It gradually became linked with the state cult of the
Emperor.
From the fifth century AD Confucian orthodoxy retreated before the
popularity of Buddhism and Daoism. But a renaissance came during the
Song dynasty when Confucianism responded to the challenge and
developed its own metaphysics. This new trend is known as Neo-
confucianism, and its main exponent was Zhu Xi (1130-1200). It
subsequently became the main orthodoxy of the scholar officials until the
demise of the imperial system in 1912.
In contemporary China, the Confucian cult has disappeared, but the
Confucian approach to government and society retains a powerful hold on
many people.

19. Daoism (Taoism)
The origins of Daoism are obscure, but it is first seen as a rival to
Confucianism. The teachings of early Taoism are ascribed to Lao
Zi (Lao Tze) in the fifth century BC who is the reputed author of
the most influential Taoist text, the Dao De Jing (The Way and its
Power). Where the Confucian stressed ethical action, the Taoist
spoke of the virtue of Wu Wei (non-action), going with the flow of
things.
Like the Confucianists, Daoists looked back to a golden age. The
good ruler, they thought, guided his people with humility, not
seeking to interfere with the rhythms of social life conducted
within the larger patterns of the natural world and the whole
cosmos.
The Daoist adept was concerned to achieve 'immortality', seen as
transmuted earthly existence. This led to the development of
alchemy and to methods of meditation aimed at reaching material
immortality.

20. As time passed Daoism found itself in
direct competition with the foreign
teachings of Buddhism. It borrowed
Buddhist practices and also drew on folk
religious traditions to create its own
religious form and ethos. It secured an
essential place in popular religious life,
but in this form it has ceased to bear much
resemblance to the philosophical precepts
of the early teachers. The earlier, more
philosophical Daoism has continued to
inspire Chinese painters and poets through
the ages and its teachings appealed to
many a scholar official who adhered to a
strictly Confucian ethic in public life.

21. Buddhism
Buddhism is the only foreign religion that has been widely accepted in
China. It first entered China in the second century AD and by the Tang
dynasty was the most dynamic and influential of all religions. However,
its very success led to a severe curtailment of its activities in the late
Tang, since officials began to see its power as a threat, both to their
own power and to the order and prosperity of society. After this it
remained an important element in Chinese life, but took its place
alongside Daoism and a revitalised Confucianism.
Both Confucian and Daoist teaching were 'non-dualistic' - matter and
spirit formed a continuum within a cosmos that was self-generating and
impersonal. Buddhism, however, taught a radical dualism. Through a
long process of adaptation, various Chinese schools emerged such as
Chan (Zen) and the Pure Land school, which were far more congenial
to traditional Chinese thought. Zen, with its meditative techniques, and
Pure Land with its stress on faith in the Amitabha Buddha as the way to
salvation, became the dominant forms of Chinese Buddhism. These
teachings with their focus on sudden enlightenment and on salvation
through grace rather than through ascetic practices appealed to many
ordinary Chinese.

22. Islam
Islam first came to China in the seventh century AD (during the
Tang dynasty). It was brought by Arab traders to the ports on the
South-East coast and by Arab traders and soldiers to the North-
West. It remains the religion of minorities to this day.
In later centuries many of the various nationalities in the North
and North-West converted to Islam from Buddhism and
Nestorianism and as these peoples were incorporated into China
during the Qing dynasty, China acquired a sizeable Muslim
population. Meanwhile male Muslim settlers from the Middle East
married Chinese women but retained their distinctive customs.
Thus the community was formed which came to be known as the
Hui people, who have since also settled in other parts of China,
along trade routes and in major cities, even as far as Yunnan and
Lhasa.
There are perhaps as many as 15 million Muslims in China today,
of whom over seven million are Hui. Politically, Islam is
important both because China seeks good relations with Muslim
countries and because the non-Hui Muslims live in strategically

23. CUSTOMS

24. In China, happy occasions were
associated with the color red.
Brides dressed in red for their
weddings and eggs were dyed
red to celebrate the birth of a son.

25. White was the color of mourning.
When someone died, an astrologer
Was consulted to determine a
“lucky” day for the burial.

26. Another custom in China at that time was footbinding.
At about the age of 5, girls’ feet were bound in order to
shape them into tiny “lotus feet.” This custom went
on for over a thousand years. At the beginning, only
wealthy girls and women had bound feet, but eventually,
this custom spread to all of the levels of society.

27. The smaller a woman’s feet were, the more attractive
she was. Men looked at a woman's feet before looking at
her face. A woman with bound feet often had to
have help in order to walk and it was impossible to run.
Some say that men wanted women’s feet bound so
that they could not run away!

28. Footbinding was a very painful process
and sometimes even resulted in death.
As the circulation was cut off from the
toes, they sometimes died and fell off.
Another result might be that the foot
might become infected and gangrene
would set in. This would,
most likely, result in death.

31. Not even a woman's husband ever
saw her bare feet. We can certainly
see why!

32. Links to More Information
on Footbinding:

33. The following slides contain
information about
Pearl Buck, the author of
The Good Earth
After reading this information, it will be time for you
to take the quiz linked to the next slide.

34. One of the most popular American authors of her
day, humanitarian, crusader for women's rights,
editor of Asia magazine, philanthropist, noted for her
novels of life in China. Pearl S. Buck was awarded
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. The decision
of the Swedish Academy stirred controversy,
especially among critics who believed that Buck
lacked the stature the Nobel Prize was intended to
confirm. Nowadays Buck's books are generally
considered dated although attempts have been
made to rehabilitate her work.

35. "One does not live half a life in Asia
without return. When it would be I did not
know, nor even where it would be, or to
what cause. In our changing world nothing
changes more than geography. The friendly
country of China, the home of my childhood
and youth, is for the time being forbidden
country. I refuse to call it enemy country.
The people in my memory are too kind and
the land too beautiful." (from A Bridge for
Passing, 1963)

36. Pearl S. Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia.
She spent her youth in China, in Chinkiang on the
Yangtse River. She learned to speak Chinese before
she could speak English. Her parents were
missionaries. Buck's father, Absalom Sydenstricker,
was a humorless, scholarly man who spent years
translating the Bible from Greek to Chinese. Her
mother, the former Caroline Stulting, had travelled
widely in her youth and had a fondness for literature.
Buck's life in China was not always pleasant. When
she was only a child, the family was forced to flee
from the rebel forces of the Boxer Rebellion.

37. After being educated by her mother and by a
Chinese tutor, who was a Confucian scholar, Buck
was sent to a boarding school in Shanghai (1907-
09) at the age of fifteen. She also worked for the
Door of Hope, a shelter for Chinese slave girls and
prostitutes. Buck continued her education in the
United States at Randolph-Macon Woman's
College in Virginia, where she studied psychology.
After graduating in 1914, she returned to China as
a teacher for the Presbyterian Board of Missions.
Her mother was seriously ill and Buck spent two
years taking care of her.

38. Buck married Dr. John Lossing Buck, an
agricultural expert, devoted to his work. When
her mother recovered, they settled in a village
in the North China. Buck worked as a teacher
and interpreter for her husband and travelled
through the countryside. During this period
China took steps toward liberal reform,
especially through the May 4th Movement of
1917 to 1921. In the 1920s the Bucks moved to
Nanking, where she taught English and
American literature at the university. In 1924
she returned to the United States to seek
medical care for her first daughter, who was
mentally retarded. In 1926 she received her
M.A. in literature from Cornell University.

39. The Bucks went back to China in 1927. During the
civil war, they were evacuated to Japan - Buck
never returned to China. In 1935 Buck divorced her
first husband and married her publisher and the
president of John Day Company, Richard Walsh,
with whom she moved to Pennsylvania.
As a writer Buck started with the novel EAST
WIND: WEST WIND (1930), which received critical
recognition. She had earlier published
autobiographical writings in magazines and a story
entitled 'A Chinese Woman Speaks' in the Asia
Magazine. Her breakthrough novel, THE GOOD
EARTH, appeared in 1931. Its style, a combination
of biblical prose and the Chinese narrative saga,
increased the dignity of its characters. The book
gained a wide audience, and was made into a
motion picture

40. In 1936 Buck was made a member of the National
Institute of Arts and Letters. She became in 1938
the third American to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature, following Sinclair Lewis and Eugene
O'Neill. In 1951 she was elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Letters. During World War II
she lectured and wrote on democracy and
American attitudes toward Asia. Through her
personal experiences, Buck had much first-hand
knowledge of the relationships between men and
women from different cultures. In her books one of
the major themes was interracial love. In THE
ANGRY WIFE (1949) she wrote about the love of
Bettina, a former slave, and Tom, a southerner who
fought for the army of the North. In THE HIDDEN
FLOWER (1952) a Japanese family is overset
when the daughter falls in love with an American
soldier.

41. Buck and Walsh were active in humanitarian
causes through the East and West Association,
which was devoted to mutual understanding
between the peoples of Asia and the United
States, Welcome House, and The Pearl Buck
Foundation. A friend of Eleanor Roosevelt,
Margaret Mead, and Paul Robeson, she also
advocated the rights of women and racial
equality before the civil rights movement. As a
consequence of these activities, the F.B.I. kept
detailed files on her for years.

42. After the communist revolution in China, Buck
became disillusioned about the chances for
international cooperation. THE PATRIOT (1939)
focused on the emotional development of an
university student, whose idealism is crushed by the
brutalities of war. Buck gradually shifted her
activities to a lifelong concern for children. She
coined the word ''Amerasian'' and raised millions of
dollars for the adoption and fostering of Amerasian
children, often abandoned by their American fathers
stationed in the Far East.

43. Buck's own family included nine adopted children as
well as her biological daughters. THE CHILD WHO
NEVER GREW (1950) told a personal story of her
own daughter, whose mental development stopped at
the age of four. The subject is also dealt with in Buck's
famous novel The Good Earth. The book was filmed in
1937. Irving Thalberg had wanted to produce the
novel since the 1931 publication. Thalberg employed
many Chinese as extras and authentic background
shots were made in China. Luise Rainer won an
Academy Award for best actress. Buck did not first
complain her small royalty, until years later, when
MGM ignored her plea for a substantial donation to
help Amerasian children
This ends the presentation.