Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume LI, No. 2623 [‎731v] (20/32)

JOURNAL OF THE SOCLE TV OF ARTS.
\February 27, 1903.
3‘8
from Laokay to Yunnan Fu. The construction
•of this line, it is thought by some, will “ inter
pose an insurmountable barrier of French
influence between Burma and Western China ”
to the prejudice of British trade. The Indian
Government is, therefore, urged to construct
an opposition line from the Kunlung Ferry to
Tali Fu. The distances as the crow flies are
about equal, but it is not denied that the
engineering difficulties of the British line are J
far greater than those to be overcome by the
French.
The French are greatly favoured in two
respects. Tonkin is much nearer than Burma
to the richest and most populous portions of
the province ; and, owing to the trend of the
•country, the approaches to Yunnan from Ton
kin run parallel with the mountain ranges.
Situated thus, the French are bound to extend
their influence in Yunnan, but the statistics of
the trade of Mengtsz prove, I think, that
commercially, we have no cause to fear their
rivalry.
From Burma the railways suggested would
have to traverse, or dodge, the chains of moun
tains which divide the Mekong and Salween
Rivers and their numerous affluents. I am
aware that, thanks to the action of the Yunnan
Company, and the help accorded them by the
Indian Government, a route has been found
from Kunlung w'hich avoids the steeper gra
dients ; but the railway proposed could be
built only at an immense cost, and even then
as the Western portion of the province is
wretchedly poor, to compete with the French
railway it w'ould have to be carried on over
most difficult country to Yunnan Fu. The
trade possibilities of the province, viewed ever
so optimistically, do not, I think, warrant such
a huge undertaking; and I see in the passive
attitude of the Indian Government, not blind
ness to the political importance of such rail
way schemes, but merely a hesitation to burden
themselves with the financial responsility.
A line that could be built at a comparatively
small cost, and that would pay, is one from
Bhamo, our trade mart on the Irrawaddy, to
Tengyueh, the port of Western Yunnan.
The hostility of the population to railway
schemes was shown in the riots which broke
out at Mengtsz, in June, 1899. A mob attacked
the foreign settlement there in the middle
of the night, and burnt two houses occupied by
the Commissioner and members of my own
service.
For many years to come the Yunnanese will
have to depend on their present means of
transport. Besides the mule, there is the
bullock, also used as a pack animal. The
water buffalo, though strictly speaking an agri
cultural animal, is sometimes harnessed to a
rough cart used, equally, to carry stones, or to
take a party of Yunnanese ladies to some
temple on the hills. In it they also visit their
family graves, an act of piety that more often
develops into a happy picnic.
Reference to family graves brings us to
funerals. The three important occasions of a
Chinaman’s life are his birth, his marriage,
and his death. In Yunnan the last is the event
which calls for most display. On the death of
a relative even the poorest family gives a feast
to which all their friends are invited. The
funeral car used has a paper Stork on top. It
is the emblem of immortality. The Goose is,
similarly, the symbol of conjugal felicity. A
paper one is alw ays stuck up on a pole outside
the house of a newly-wedded couple in Yunnan.
So that the rich man may have every comfort
when he wakes in the Buddhist purgatory,
paper images of what he wall most need are
made, and after being carried in his funeral
procession are burnt at his graveside. There
is for instance his horse, with groom in charge.
Four paper bearers also carry his sedan chair,
ready for him to step into when he lands on
the other side of the Styx. The mourners at
a Yunnanese funeral wear white, not black,
another instance of their topsy-turvydom. To
the principal guests at the funeral two pieces
of white cloth are given, one for the head, the
other for the waist.
From funerals I turn for a moment to other
examples of Yunnanese customs, in which a
procession forms the distinctive feature. There
is the “ Ying Chun” Festival or ceremony of
meeting the Spring. The chief official of the
place is then borne on a special car to a small
temple marking the eastern boundary of his
town. There he meets the plaster figure of a
buffalo, supposed to represent the Spring, with
which after worshipping at the temple he
returns in state to his residence.
At another procession during the year, an
idol (that is presumably in need of an airing)
is borne round the town on the shoulders of
respectable shopkeepers.
But the prettiest processions take place
every spring and autumn to mark the season’s
changes. Then the people make what they
call “ Flower Cars.” Little boys, dressed to
represent the heroes and heroines of antiquity,
are perched up aloft on iron bars, and as the
cars move along, borne on men’s shoulders.