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four messengers to the neighbouring camp for soldiers, not one of whom would stir. Eight of the villagers were killed, and when the place was taken sixty were bound and made to ransom themselves. . . . . I found many villages completely walled
up, only a small opening left at the gateways for a single man at a time to go in and out. No stranger would be admitted unless recognized by some of the villagers. Some villages were guarded by men with muskets at the city gates.
The hsien cities are full of rich men who have moved (there for protection. Out of six large villages in one district four had been robbed.
About one-half of the robbers are disbanded and deserted soldiers, and in many places they are in undoubted league with the soldiers sent against them. The officials use this to get money out of the luckless farmer, as the robbers will come and demand food at some farmhouse, and get it, of course, without question. The official runners report this to the official, and the unlucky farmer is haled off to the yamên and fined for being in league with the banditti, and accused of aiding and abetting the same. . . . . It is reported that the military official down here in command of all these troops asked the hsien officials of five of the most turbulent districts to present a Memorial to the Governor, telling him that this said military official had entirely cleared the country of robbers. The country has never been so overrun with bandits since the Taiping rebellion as at the present time.
**
On the 21st December the Rev. H. Mathews, of the Church of England Mission, wrote to me from Ping-yin Hsien, a city about 55 miles up the Huang-ho from hero, regarding the threatening attitude of affairs at that place. The Church missionaries stationed there are Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, Mr. Mawson, Miss (Dr.) Phillips, and Miss Bearder. The mission station is just outside the south gate of the town, and between 2 and 3 miles from the river. Mr. Mathews wrote:-
Ping-yin district is in a very disturbed state just now. There are several strong bands of robbers prowling the three districts of Tung-ping Chou, Tung-ngo, and Ping-yin. They number hardly less than a thousand men in all, and the local officials seem entirely unable to cope with them. On the 17th the whole band attacked a large village called Ta-yang,' about 20 miles from us to the south, just outside this hsien, and in Tung-p'ing Chou. A party of them, about 300 strong, immediately afterwards came to a place 12 miles from us in the Ping-yin Hsien, called Shang Hsin Chuang,' in which we have a little church. Since then we have heard that they have moved westwards into the Tung-ngo Hsien. All the country people who have anything to lose are taking refuge in Ping-yin city, which is now packed full of refugees, while every one is in a state of fear. Our own official seems perfectly help- less, and spends his time in smoking opium. As far as I know nothing has been done to stop the disturbances. The robbers have now been about for three weeks, and constantly increase in numbers and boldness. Of course there is an element of danger for ourselves, and for the time being our work is at a standstill, while our compound might easily be plundered.. The presence of some troops would stop
the danger, which may grow acute unless the authorities do something. As far as can judge, it is the outcome of the floods and famine in Kiangsu, In Tung-ping Chou, too, there are large flooded districts which may account for the persistent lawlessness there."
I got this letter on the afternoon of the 23rd, and had its contents laid before the Governor that evening. Some soldiers from the camp of the 5th division of the Li-chün were dispatched to Ping-yin at once. Others, from the Governor's own corps, had, it seems, already started in that direction some days earlier, but the men who actually broke up the organized gang of which Mr. Mathews writes were yet a third contingent who had been sent up to Tung-p'ing Chou from Yenchou. The telegram about this affair, which the Governor quoted in a letter to me, suggests a regular battle :-
"A number of brigand Chiefs were killed, many were shot, and many more drowned in the river, the rest scattering in all directions."
I heard later that 140 brigands lost their lives in this encounter. Several letters have passed since both with Mr. Mathews and Bishop Iliff, of Tai-an-fu, regarding the state of affairs at Ping-yin. No further disturbance occurred there, the robbers moving off when the troops arrived. The greater part of the fugitives, however, had rallied, by the 27th December, in the south part of Tung-
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ping Chou on a hill called Liang Shan, a strong position almost entirely surrounded by water. By the 31st December about a thousand troops, including infantry, cavalry, and artillery, had passed through Ping-yin, while yet others had gone by way of Fei-ch'êng Hsien, all converging on Liang Shan, that is, between the city of Tung-ping and the junction of the Wen-ho with the Grand Canal. There had been no fresh disturbances, but Mr. Mathews thought that the troops had come only just in time, and that, with the famine raging to the south, only their continued presence would keep the country quiet till the spring. Bishop Iliff, writing on the 2nd January, remarks that Ping-yin seems to have settled down to its normal state again.
These occurrences, being within a comparatively short distance of Chinan-fu, and affecting the safety of British subjects, deserve more than a passing mention, but in fact they are only samples of what has been going on for over a year throughout a large portion of the province. The Governor claims that the brigands in Tsao-chou have been effectually scattered, and would have me believe that the gang that visited the Ping-yiu district in December are merely fugitives from Ts'ao-chou, driven north-east by the success of the troops. Of course it may be so, though a gang of a thousand would, I conceive, be accounted a large one even in Ts'ao-chou. Or it may be that since the crops have been harvested brigandage operations on the scale that was common west of the canal in the summer are no more practicable there, and the gangs, driven from place to place, are now obliged, for want of cover in the plains, to resort to hilly regions where they can entrench themselves in such strongholds as Liang Shan-a place, by the way, which is mentioned as a famous haunt of brigands in the well known Chinese novel called "Shui-hn." By all accounts the south-west of Shantung has never been at peace-the popular saying has it, not since the Tang dynasty!
So that, even if this region be now more disturbed, as Mr. Thompson alleges, than it has been at any time since the Taiping rebellion, it may still be quite truthfully described as being in its normal state.
From time to time encounters with brigands are related in German newspapers, in particular one early in December in the T'ai-an Hsien district, when the courage and promptitude of the Hsien Magistrate had the best results; but it is evident that, if the state of the country is to be really improved, measures will be required on a far more extended scale than has hitherto been attempted.
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