1132 
into the streets to clear them and pre- 
serve order. The people were stampeded 
by the cavalry, which tore along destroy- 
ing the altars and shrines to Kuang Hsu 
and trampling under foot incense, can- 
dles, and offerings. 
Out of the débris, and from their 
homes, men, women, and children gath- 
ered such incense sticks as they could 
find, and with incense in one hand and 
yellow paper tablets to Kuang Hsu in the 
other, pressed toward the viceroy’s place. 
Here the guards took alarm at the 
manifestations and opened fire upon the 
crowd, which was crying “Give us back 
our Loh-lun; give us back our Loh-lun,” 
meaning their leaders. 
The moral effect of the loyalty of the 
soldiers to the viceroy was such that the 
people dispersed, leaving 26 dead and 
many wounded. Some of the soldiers 
were seen to fire over the heads of the 
crowd. Rain began falling and continued 
all night and the next day. The troops 
kept order in the city, but the revolu- 
tionists met them in skirmishes in the 
environs of the capital on the east and 
south, established a position about 16 
miles from the city, and besieged it. 
Fighting was continuous for 12 days, 
when the siege was raised and the revo- 
lutionists dispersed. 
The frequent alarms in the city threw 
the people into panic. Children screamed 
in the streets; voices cried “They are 
coming; they are coming!” and ran 
wildly about to escape the imaginary 
rebel militia. 
“Get the women and children out the 
back way; if they come into the street 
they will be shot,’ was bawled through 
the window of a church during worship. 
Houses were suddenly closed; doors 
banged and bolts rattled in their sockets 
as people vanished. Though these were’ 
false alarms, it was observed that at 
least once during the siege Chengtu had 
a Sunday closing.* 
This is one aspect of the event brought 
about by the reformers that inaugurated 
the present revolution in China, the most 
*For a description of Chengtu, see pp. 1103-7. 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
important from the foreign standpoint 
that China has ever had, and of greater 
consequence to China than the mere 
change of a dynasty. The importance to 
America of political events in China and 
the fate of the dynasty, which may in- 
volve radical changes in the position of 
the Chinese nation, is very great. 
CHINESE CARTOONS 
The newspaper press of the Chinese 
reformers furnishes in its cartoons of 
the three years preceding the revolution 
a comprehensive picture of the Chinese 
reform and revolutionary mind. ‘The 
grievance against the Manchus is singu- 
larly rare in these cartoons and goes to 
show that the Manchu, or “Great Pure” 
dynasty, in its brilliant history, has a 
recognized place of fame among the 
Chinese educated masses. 
Out of 300 successive cartoons pub- 
lished in the reform press during three 
years preceding the rebellion, 81 depict 
the vices of the mandarin, or official; 37 
picture the evils chargeable to the man- 
darinate. The most frequent grievance 
in this category is obstruction of parlia- 
ment. 
Seventy cartoons depict foreign op- 
pression of China through loans, indem- 
nities, and violence. An equal number 
then show China’s shortcomings; 12 out 
of these latter point out the vanity and 
vices of females, one cartoon represent- 
ing wives of the day to be luxuries. The 
ignorance and indifference of the people 
to their condition get 9 cartoons. China’s 
helplessness in general, due to vice, fol- 
lows with 8, and next in order come the 
profligacy of Chinese youths, religious 
darkness, opium, gambling, the money 
evil in other forms, worship of office and 
power, disloyalty, national shame in con- 
duct toward foreigners, etc. Cigarettes 
come last. 
Twenty-six cartoons show the burdens 
of the people and their sick and broken 
condition under them. ‘Taxation heads 
this list, closely followed by press perse- 
cution. 
The Chinese mind is singularly bal- 
