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47 - Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill · Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls

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  Speaker 1: Chapter forty seven of the Story of the World A
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  Speaker 1: Simple History for Boys and Girls. This easy LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
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  Speaker 1: by silver Wolf. The Story of the World, A Simple
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  Speaker 1: History for Boys and Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill, Chapter forty
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  Speaker 1: seven The Story of China and Japan. It was not
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  Speaker 1: until the nineteenth century that the countries of Europe had
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  Speaker 1: annual connection with the two great countries of Asia, China
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  Speaker 1: and Japan. Yet the Chinese had a civilization older than
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  Speaker 1: any in Europe. Their country is larger than all the
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  Speaker 1: countries of Europe put together, and more than four hundred
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  Speaker 1: millions of people live in it. The Chinese are a
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  Speaker 1: Mongolian people, like the Turks. They have yellow skins and
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  Speaker 1: straight black hair, which until lately hung in long plates
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  Speaker 1: down their backs from the center of their hats, the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the head being shaven. The children's hats are
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  Speaker 1: shaven too, and until their hair has grown long enough
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  Speaker 1: to be put into a pigtail, it stands up in
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  Speaker 1: little tufts from the middle of their hats. But now
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  Speaker 1: most of the Chinese have had their pigtails cut off
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  Speaker 1: to show their liking for the new freedom which is
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  Speaker 1: finding its way into their land. We may often see
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  Speaker 1: chinamen in the streets of our big towns to day,
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  Speaker 1: but before the nineteenth century this never happened, for the
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  Speaker 1: Chinese had got to a certain state of civilization, and
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  Speaker 1: for hundreds of years they had gone no further. They
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  Speaker 1: wanted to have nothing to do with foreigners and to
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  Speaker 1: live their own life in their own way. Yet hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of years before the birth of Christ, the Chinese knew
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  Speaker 1: how to write. Before that time too, they could build
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  Speaker 1: suspension bridges, and had made the wonderful Great On fifteen
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  Speaker 1: hundred miles long with towers and fortifications. The wall was
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  Speaker 1: really a road on top, and along it the caravans traveled,
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  Speaker 1: which traded between Siberia and China. They had silk manufactures
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  Speaker 1: and made beautiful China, and they had discovered the art
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  Speaker 1: of printing five hundred years before it was discovered in Europe.
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  Speaker 1: But China had never gone much further, and Europe knew
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  Speaker 1: little about her except the stories which Marco Polo told
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  Speaker 1: after his famous journey to the curt of the Great
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  Speaker 1: Khan and these people had not believed. Picture caption a
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  Speaker 1: Chinese emperor of the ninth century examining the governors of
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  Speaker 1: cities from an ancient Chinese painting and caption. In the
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  Speaker 1: sixteenth century, traders from Portugal stopped at places on the
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  Speaker 1: Chinese coast, and later the English followed. In the seventeenth century,
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  Speaker 1: tea was brought from China to Europe. No one had
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  Speaker 1: ever seen it before, but the Chinese would not let
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  Speaker 1: people go far into their country. When in the sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: century a curious Portuguese succeeded in getting to thee King,
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  Speaker 1: the capital of China, he had his head cut off,
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  Speaker 1: And still in the nineteenth century it was the same.
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  Speaker 1: The Chinese took no notice of all the wonderful things
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  Speaker 1: which were happening in Europe, but went quietly on in
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  Speaker 1: their own way. Japan, too, when people began to be
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  Speaker 1: interested in it in the nineteenth century, was just as
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  Speaker 1: anxious to keep itself free from the foreigners. But the
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  Speaker 1: Japanese soon showed that they were very different people from
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  Speaker 1: the Chinese. Their history does not go so far back.
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  Speaker 1: They are probably a people of mixed race, but they
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  Speaker 1: must have some Chinese blood in their veins and are
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  Speaker 1: rather like the Chinese to look at. Picture caption a
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  Speaker 1: great Battle in Japanese history, painted by a Japanese artist.
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  Speaker 1: From a great painting twelve feet long of the Battle
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  Speaker 1: of Ogaki by a famous Japanese artist. This was one
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  Speaker 1: of the greatest battles in Japanese history. It was fought
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  Speaker 1: in the seventeenth century and gave the shogun, a kind
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  Speaker 1: of hereditary prime minister, the supreme power in Japan, even
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  Speaker 1: over the Mikado, which he held until the wakening of
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  Speaker 1: Japan to Western ideas in the nineteenth century. And caption
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  Speaker 1: some people think that there is a large Aryan element
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  Speaker 1: in their blood. We know that the Japanese had taken
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  Speaker 1: possession of their beautiful highlands at least in the first
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  Speaker 1: century after the birth of Christ. Their history was not
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  Speaker 1: unlike that of the peoples of Europe. In the early
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  Speaker 1: Middle Ages, there was an emperor called the Mikado over
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  Speaker 1: all the land, but a kind of feldalism grew up
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  Speaker 1: in which great lords got all power. The Portuguese traders
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  Speaker 1: went to Japan also ended sixteenth century, and the Jesuits
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  Speaker 1: sent their missionaries to teach the people Christianity, but not
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  Speaker 1: much progress was made. Japan, like China, did not like foreigners.
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  Speaker 1: But in eighteen fifty three, the United States sent some
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  Speaker 1: warships under Commodore Perry with a letter from the President
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  Speaker 1: to the Mikado asking him to make friends with the
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  Speaker 1: United States. He pointed out to them how near the
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  Speaker 1: two countries really were. The Japanese did not like the idea,
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  Speaker 1: but when a few months later the Americans came for
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  Speaker 1: their answer, the Japanese said yes, for they knew that
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  Speaker 1: they had no fleet to fight against the nations of
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  Speaker 1: Europe and America if they chose to fight them. Soon, America,
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain, Russia, and Holland all had permission to trade
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  Speaker 1: at certain port with Japan. In eighteen sixty two, some
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  Speaker 1: Japanese were sent to journey through Europe and America. Everything
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  Speaker 1: was new and wonderful to them. Their own land was
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  Speaker 1: very charming, full of flowers. It was from Japan that
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  Speaker 1: chrysanthiums were first brought to Europe. The people themselves were small,
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  Speaker 1: but quaint and pretty, and wore graceful clothes of cotton
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  Speaker 1: or silk with great white sashes. Their's is the land
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  Speaker 1: of sunshine, so the top of the great mountain Fujiama
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  Speaker 1: is covered with snow. They were fine artists, and everything
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  Speaker 1: in Japan then as now seemed pretty and clean. But
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  Speaker 1: in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Japanese knew
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  Speaker 1: nothing of modern inventions. And these first men from Japan
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  Speaker 1: who came to Europe were full of enthusiasms when they
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  Speaker 1: went back. But there were many men in Japan who
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  Speaker 1: still hated the idea of imitating Western ways. These men
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  Speaker 1: joined together and overthrew the power of the great lords.
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  Speaker 1: The emperor got all power again, and they hoped he
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  Speaker 1: would send the foreigners away, but he did not. The
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  Speaker 1: old Mikado died, and the new one was full of
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  Speaker 1: enthusiasm too for the things which were to be learned
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  Speaker 1: from the West. Soon Japan had a navy and an
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  Speaker 1: army imitated from those of the countries of Europe. A
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  Speaker 1: new system of education was set up, and every child
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  Speaker 1: in Japan was sent to school. Tokyo, the capital of Japan,
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  Speaker 1: became the largest city in Asia and one of the
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  Speaker 1: greatest in the world. It has electric light, telephones, and telegraphs,
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  Speaker 1: all learned from the West. By degrees too. Japan has
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  Speaker 1: won a parliament through which the people can use their power. Thought,
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  Speaker 1: the mikado is still more powerful and important in some
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  Speaker 1: ways than most constitutional kings. The Japanese people have great
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  Speaker 1: respect and reverence for those above them and for old people. Generally,
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  Speaker 1: they are very honorable too, and very brave in some ways.
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  Speaker 1: They are the most wonderful people of our modern world
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  Speaker 1: for the quick, eager way they have learned so many
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  Speaker 1: new things in so short a time. Japan, a small
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  Speaker 1: nation after all, about as big as Great Britain, first
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  Speaker 1: proved a new fond strength in a struggle with China.
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  Speaker 1: All this time, China remained as obstinate as ever, hating
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  Speaker 1: all new things. In eighteen forty she had been obliged
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  Speaker 1: to open up some of her ports to British trade,
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  Speaker 1: and had given up the city of Hong Kong to
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  Speaker 1: Great Britain. But this was only afterward between the English
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  Speaker 1: and Chinese, called the Opium War, British traders carried opium,
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  Speaker 1: which they got from the poppy fields of North India,
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  Speaker 1: into China. Now, opium is a drug which makes people
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  Speaker 1: sleepy and stupid when they eat it, and ruined the
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  Speaker 1: health of people who get into the habit of using it.
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  Speaker 1: It makes people intoxicated in the worst way, even than
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  Speaker 1: too much wine or beer. Some of the Chinese people
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  Speaker 1: grew very fond of opium, and the emperor tried to
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  Speaker 1: prevent the British from bringing it into China. A short
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  Speaker 1: war took place, and then the Chinese had to give in.
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  Speaker 1: A few years later there was another war in which
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  Speaker 1: France and England together destroyed sam of the Chinese forts
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  Speaker 1: and marched to Peking. The Chinese emperor had put some
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  Speaker 1: English in prison. These were released, but to give the
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  Speaker 1: Chinese a lesson, the wonderful summer palace of the Emperor
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  Speaker 1: at Peking was destroyed by the soldiers. More ports were
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  Speaker 1: then opened. Soon afterwards, the English helped the Chinese soldiers
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  Speaker 1: to put down a rebellion of thousands of Chinese who
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  Speaker 1: had risen against the government, following their leader with the
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  Speaker 1: madmen who thought it was a prophet and ought to
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  Speaker 1: rule over China. This time English and Chinese soldiers marched
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  Speaker 1: together against the rebels, and peace was made at last.
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  Speaker 1: The United States and the Great European countries were allowed
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  Speaker 1: to send ambassadors to live in Peking, as they do
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  Speaker 1: to all the capitals of other countries. The China Japanese
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  Speaker 1: War broke out in eighteen ninety four. It was about
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  Speaker 1: the peninsul of Korea, which lies between the two countries.
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  Speaker 1: It did not belong to either, but the Japanese heard
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  Speaker 1: that the Chinese were making ready to invade it. The
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  Speaker 1: Japanese sent word to China that this must not be,
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  Speaker 1: but the Chinese went on with their preparations. Then war came.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody thought that japan would be crushed by the great
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  Speaker 1: power of China, but the Japanese won on land and sea.
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  Speaker 1: The Japanese fleet won a great victory over the Chinese
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  Speaker 1: in Korea Bay, and then the Chinese ships sailed off
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  Speaker 1: to Port Arthur in Manchuria, but the Japanese landed and
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  Speaker 1: took the town, which is now one terminus of the
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  Speaker 1: Trans Siberian Railway. Then China begged for peace. The Japanese
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  Speaker 1: were admired by all Europe. Her young soldiers had fought
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  Speaker 1: like heroes. A story is told of one boy was
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  Speaker 1: blowing the bugle as he stood by his captain. A
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  Speaker 1: bullet struck him in the chest, but still he blew
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  Speaker 1: till he dropped dead. But the Japanese had never really
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  Speaker 1: feared China. They knew that Russia wanted to take China
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  Speaker 1: for herself, and indeed, no sooner was the Treaty of
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  Speaker 1: Peace signed between China and Japan than Russia got Friends
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  Speaker 1: and Germany to join her in taking all that Japan
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  Speaker 1: had won. The Japanese waited their time. Meanwhile, in the
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  Speaker 1: year nineteen, many Chinese, angry at the way in which
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  Speaker 1: the European countries had interfered in China, rose to attack
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  Speaker 1: the houses in Peking where the European ambassadors lived. The
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  Speaker 1: German ambassador was murdered in the street. Many missionaries were
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  Speaker 1: trying to convert China to Christianity, were murdered in the
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  Speaker 1: same way or burnt in their houses with their wives
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  Speaker 1: and children. Many of the ambassadors were besieged in Peking,
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  Speaker 1: but were saved when the armies of six countries, with
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  Speaker 1: Japan amongst them, marched to their help. So far, the
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  Speaker 1: relations between China and Europe have not been a success yet.
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  Speaker 1: The Chinese are a splendid people in many ways, full
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  Speaker 1: of energy and industry. When they become Christians, they are
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  Speaker 1: splendid men indeed, and just lately, men in China have
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  Speaker 1: risen to demand's freedom too. Like the peoples of the West.
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  Speaker 1: A new constitution has been planned. We do not yet
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  Speaker 1: know how it will work. But the Chinese sent a
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  Speaker 1: touching request for prayers to be said in England for
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  Speaker 1: their success in their new way of life. On Sunday,
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  Speaker 1: twenty seventh April nineteen thirteen, prayers were said in most
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  Speaker 1: of the churches throughout Great Britain, for, in the words
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  Speaker 1: of the Chinese message, the newly established government, for the
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  Speaker 1: president yet to be elected, for the constitution of the Republic,
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  Speaker 1: that the government may be recognized by the powers, that
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  Speaker 1: peace may reign within our country, that strong virtuous men
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  Speaker 1: may be elected to office, that the government may be
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  Speaker 1: established on a strong foundation. With Japan, as we have seen,
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  Speaker 1: things are quite different. In the year nineteen o four,
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  Speaker 1: the Japanese felt themselves strong enough to demand their rights
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  Speaker 1: from Russia, and the Russo Japanese War begun. Before this,
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  Speaker 1: every one had feared Russia. People had believed that she
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  Speaker 1: had a wonderful army, but neither her army nor her
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  Speaker 1: navy was a match for those of Japan. At the
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  Speaker 1: beginning of the war, the Japanese defeated the Russian fleet
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  Speaker 1: and landed their armies in Korea. Terrible battles followed, in
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  Speaker 1: any one of which the Russians lost more soldiers than
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  Speaker 1: were killed altogether in the Warrior War. When peace was made,
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  Speaker 1: Korea was given to Japan. Before this, Japan and England
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  Speaker 1: had made the Treaty of Friendship. Both were determined to
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  Speaker 1: prevent the power of Russia from growing. England feared that
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  Speaker 1: Russia might attack her empire in India, and both were
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  Speaker 1: determined that Chinese should be left with the Chinese. For
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  Speaker 1: this and other reasons, the friendship between England and Japan
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  Speaker 1: is very close. Both are island nations and have very
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  Speaker 1: much in common. End of Chapter forty seven