ABSTRACT
The centuries were creeping on and alien influences creeping in, but the seepage was slow because Ch'ing fears of a changing China acted as an effective damp course against capillary action. And here was the heart of the matter: the Manchu might not marry Chinese women, but he had married Chinese civilization. This barbarian had been digested. The Python could still retort, however, that in serving the Ch'ing emperor in Peking, he was defending the interests of the Chinese gentry by defending the entire Confucian fabric itself. For there were barbarians and barbarians. The Manchus had venerated Confucius even before they poured through the Great Wall. Chinese men were obliged to wear Manchu clothes, Chinese women were barred from the imperial harem, and marriage between Chinese and Manchus was forbidden. The Manchus had set Chinese to fight Chinese– and to add to the irony, while both sides were indeed fervently Chinese, both were compromised with foreigners.
