*2SO 



CHINA. 



Modrrn 

 Chiun* 



i- 



:or* of the Gazette would be subjected to censure 



v to debate its pages by any 



s rrtpect: Notwithstanding 



ndnesi of the Chinese for theatrical ex- 



its, the office of comedian it so much dcspi.ed by 



the people in general, that the managers of tin ir thea- 



tre*, or rather leaders of tri Uing companies, experience 



great difficulty in procuring a -i.flitu.-iit number of ac- 



tor*, and are frequently obliged to purchase, and to 



bring up children for the purpose. 



Their critics maintain, that the Chinese theatre has 

 ffreatly degenerated since the Tartar conquest ; and lament, 

 like European censors, the depraved taste of mod. rn times. 

 It i* said, that the principal personages f the empire have 

 frequently private theatre* in their houses, where they oc- 

 ally entertain their guests with more regular and 

 established pieces ; but the chief part of their public ex- 

 hibition*, even in the presence of the court, consists of 

 dancing, riding, wrestling, posture-making, and juggling 

 trick*. The following description, by l.i.ul Macartney, 

 of the exhibition* on the emperor's birth-d.iy, n ay be 

 considered as a specimen of their higher otyle of per- 

 formance. " The comcdv began at eight o'clock, and 

 lasted till noon." " The theatrical entertainments con- 

 mted of a great variety, both tragical and comical. Se- 

 veral distinct pieces were acted in succession, though 

 without any apparent connection with one another. Some 

 of them were historical, and others of pure fancy, pailly 

 in recitative, partly in song, and partly in plain speak- 

 ing, without any accompaniment of instrumental music ; 

 but abounding in battles, murders, and most of the usual 

 incidents of the drama. Last of ail, w:is the grand 

 pantomime, which, from the approbation it met with, 

 is I presume considered as a first rate effort cf invention 

 and ingenuity. It fcemed to me, as far aa I could com- 

 prehend it, to represent the marriage of the ocean and 

 the earth. The latter exhibited her various riches and 

 productions, dragons, and elephants, and tygers, and 

 eaglet, and ostriches, oaks, and pines, and other trees of 

 different kinds. The ocean was not behind hand, but 

 poured forth on the stage the wealth of his dominions, 

 under the figure* of whales and dolphins, porpoises and 

 leviathan*, and other tea monsters, besides ships, and 

 rocks, shells, ipongcs, and corals, all perloimed by con- 

 cealed actors, who were quite perfect in tluir parts, and 

 performed their characters to admiration. These two 

 marine and land regiments, after separately parading in a 

 circular procession foi a considerable time, at last joined 

 together and forming one body, came to the front of the 

 stage, when, after a few evolutions, they opened to the 

 right and ! ft, to give room for the whale, who seemed to 

 be the commanding officer, to waddle forward, and who, 

 taking his station exactly opposite the emperor's box, 

 (pouted out of his mouth into the pit several tons of 

 water, which quickly disappeared through the perfora- 

 tions of the floor. Thi* ejaculation was received with 

 the highest applause ; and two or three of the great 

 men at my elbow desired me to take particular notice 

 of it, repeating, at the same time, " Hao knr.g ha6, 

 charming, delightful." " We had now wrestling and 

 dancing, tumbling and posture-making, which appeared 

 to us particularly awkward and clumsy, from the per- 

 formers being mostly dressed according to the Chinese 

 etutume ; one inseparable part of which 19 a pair of 

 heavy quilted boots, with the 'i.l.-s of an inch thick. 

 The wrestlers, however, seemed to be pretty expert, and 

 afforded much diveriioii to such a* were admirer* of the 

 I'ulirtlra. A boy climbed up a pole or ban.i.oo 

 40 feet high, played several gambol*, aud balanced him* 



v 



self on the top of it in various attitudes; but hit per- Literature. 



formance fell far short of what I have often met with in """"" !~~~ 



India of the tame kind. A fcl'ow lay down on hii 



back, and then iaiid hi> frit, li-g.-. and tliighs, from his 



middle per; !y, 50 as to (orm a right am;le with 



his bvdy. On tiif soles of his feet was placed a large 



round empty \:-r, about four feet long, and from two and 



a half to tl'iec f rt liianirtfr. This he balanced for some 



time, turning it round and round horizontally, till one 



ol the speotaturii put a boy into it, win.-, after throwing 



himself into various posture-* at the mouth of it, came 



out and tat on the top. He then stood up, then fell 



flat upon hiit back, thru shifted to his belly ; and, after 



shewing a hundied tricks of that sort, jumped down up- 



on the ground, and relieved his coadjutor." " A man 



came forwards, and after fastening tune slender stick* 



to each of his boots, took MX p. rc< lain dishes ot a 1 - out 



18 inches diameter, and balancing them separately at the 



end if a little ivory rod which he held in his hand, and 



twirling them about for some time, put them, one after 



the other, upon the points ot the six boot-stick- above- 



mentioned, they continuing to turn round all the v. i ;le. 



He then took two small sticks in his left hand, and put 



dishes upon tht-m in the same manner as upon the other, 



and also one more upon the little linger of his right 



hand, so that he had nine dishes annexed to him at once, 



all twirling together ; which in a few minutt s he took 



off one by one, and placed them regularly on the ground 



without the slightest interruption or miscarriage." But 



in all these performances, and many others of the i-ame 



kind, his Lordship declares, th?.t he witnessed none at 



all comparnhle to the tumbling, rope dancing, wire- 



walking, and straw- balancing at Sadie; '.s Well;. ; nor 



any feats < f equitation in the style of Hughes and Ast- 



leys' amphitheatres. It is in lire-works alone, that the 



Chinese seem to excel all other nations in neatness, 



magnificence, and ingenuity of contrivance. " One- 



piece of machinery," says Lord Macartney, " I great- 



ly admired. A green chest, of five feet square, was 



hoisted up by a pulley to the height of 50 or (id feet 



from the ground. The bottom was so constructed as 



then suddenly to fall out, and make way for '20 or SO 



strings of lanterns, inclosed in the box, to descend from 



it, unfolding themselves from one another by degrees, 



so as at last to form a collection of at least 500, each 



having a light of a beautifully coloured llame burning 



brightly within it. This devolution and developemcnt 



of lanterns (which appeared to me to be composed of 



gauze and paper) w> re M -veral times repeated, and every 



time exhibited a difference of colour and figure. On 



each side was a correspondence of smaller boxes, which 



opened in like manner as the others, and let d.iwn an 



immense net-work ot fire, with divisions and compart- 



ments of various forms and dimensions, round ,md 



square, hexagons, octagon?, and Irzenges, wh cti t-hotie 



like the brightesi burnished copper, and flashed like [) is- 



matic lightning, with every impulse of the wind. The 



diversity of colours, indeed, with which the Chinese 



have the secret ot clothing firr, seems one of the chief 



merits of their pyrotechny." 



.Similar exhibitions and theatrical entertainments were 

 witnessed by the gentlemen of the Dutch embassy in 

 I'.'.t.'i ; in some of which, the officers of the court were 



themselves the pi-rtoimers. About the season ot the 

 new year the emperor made his appearance upon the ice 

 in a sort of sledge, supported by figures of four dra- 

 j;on., ;:nd m. % .i al)< in hv some of his chief mandarins, 

 :ume dritj.'^ , and others pi. .liii.j;' b- hind. The 



four principal ministers ot state were also drawn in hko 



