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 Imperial tutor's
couplets
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The Shuang Lin Monastery in Singapore has a
pair of century old inscriptions composed by Chen Bao Shen, the Imperial Tutor
of Puyi, the last Emperor of China and colleague of Reginald F. Johnston, the
English teacher of Puyi.
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Chen Bao Shen's Couplet
The couplet was composed by Chen Bao Shen
for the Shuang Lin monastery and dated between Feb 1904 to Feb 1905. It is a
very rare example of couplets specially composed by Chen Bao Shen for an
institution in Singapore. Chen Bao Shen was closely associated with
Xi Chan Si
the monastery with whom Venerable Xian Hui, the first Abbot of Shuang Lin Monastery, was connected.
The couplet is engraved onto a pair of
pillars outside the Zhang Zhe Tang (Hall of Elders) in the Shuang Lin Monastery
and compares the founding of the Shuang lin monastery to the building of the
first Buddhist Monastery in India. It is signed off as ¡°Presented by Former
cabinet scholar, Chen Bao Shen of Man Xian (Fujian) in the Jia Shen Year of
Emperor Guangxu¡± (Between Feb 1904 to Feb 1905).
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Chinese calligraphy is considered an art
form and is integrated into Chinese architecture. A pair
of well-composed
couplet reflects the context, symbol and function of a building creating an
unique ambience for the place. To have an Imperial Tutor¡¯s specially composed couplet reflects the importance of the Shuang
Lin monastery to the Chinese society in Singapore as well as cultural and
political links between Chinese in colonial Singapore and Imperial China.
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Chen Bao Shen
 Chen Bao Shen (1848-1935) was born into a
scholarly and mandarin family in Fuzhou (Southern
China). At the age of 19, he
earned his doctorate in the Imperial Examinations and appointed a Hanlin
academician and Grand Secretariat. Chen Bao Shen was an outspoken person and
well known for championing issues even against the opinion of Empress Dowager Cixi. His style incurred the disfavor of
Empress Dowager Cixi who held power at
court. As Puyi described, Chen Bao Shen did not demonstrate ¡°willingness to trim
his sails to the political winds¡±. In 1891, Cixi found a pretext and demoted
Chen Bao Shen by five ranks.
Shortly after this, his mother passed away
and as required by the custom of the time, he returned home to mourn her death.
This event presented him with an ¡°excuse¡± to go into early retirement. During
his ¡°retirement¡±, Chen Bao Shen focused on social issues especially education
where he helped to establish various educational institutions in Fujian that
continue to exist today.
In 1906, he was appointed President of
Fujian Railway Company, the first rail project in Fujian. In the following year,
he visited South East Asia on a fund
raising campaign.
He arrived in Singapore in Feb 1907 and was
received by the Chinese community leaders. Mr Low Kim Pong, founder of Shuang
Lin Monastery contributed $50 000 for 10 000 railway shares. It is likely Chen Bao Shen
visited Shuang Lin Monastery and saw
his inscriptions although there are no material evidence at the
moment.
The railway project was completed in 1910;
28 km stretching from Xiamen (Amoy) to Zhangzhou, the first railway line in the
history of Fujian.
After the death of Empress Dowager Cixi in
1908, the Empress Dowager Longyu recalled Chen Bao Shen to serve in the capital
and appointed him tutor to Emperor Puyi in 1911. By this time, Chen Bao Shen was
a well known personality in China. Puyi mentioned he ¡°had a considerable
reputation as a scholar in his native Fujian¡± while Johnston described him as ¡°a
man of nation-wide celebrity¡±.
Chen Bao Shen passed away in 1935.
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Chen Bao Shen and Puyi
 The Qing dynasty ended on 12 Feb 1912 when
the Qing Imperial Family abdicated in favor of the Nationalist Government. In
returned, they were guaranteed privileges under the ¡°Articles of Favorable
Treatment¡±. Puyi continued to live in the Forbidden City and Chen Bao Shen
entered the palace almost daily to conduct morning lessons; half past five in
summer and six in winter
Chen Bao Shen was officially the Grand
Guardian and Grand Tutor of Puyi. They had a very close relationship and Chen
Bao Shen became Puyi¡¯s teacher, mentor, and advisor. Accordingly to Puyi, Chen
Bao Shen ¡°had the deepest influence¡± on him and was regarded as ¡°the most stable
and careful of the Ching veteran¡± and ¡°one and only authority to whom I (Puyi)
referred all matters whether great or trivial for decision¡±.
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On 5 Nov 1924, Puyi was expelled from the
Forbidden City. He left for his father¡¯s mansion before leaving for Japanese
Concession in TianJin.
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In
1928, the Kuomintang General cum warlord Sun Dian Ying who was assigned to protect the Qing
Imperial tombs desecrated the tombs of Emperor Qian Long and Empress Dowager
Cixi. All the buried treasures were looted by the troops. The pearls
on Empress Dowager Cixi¡¯s crown was presented to Mdm Soong, wife of Chiang Kak
Shiek, and used as ornaments for her
shoe.
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In a cultural system where descent line is a
source of political power and social prestige, the desecrationon of ancestral
tombs is an extreme insult. The Qing house protested but the nationalist government hardly paid any
attention. This incident and the perceived hostilities
of the nationalist government made Puyi determined to react. During this period,
Puyi started contacts with the Japanese; start of a turbulent relationship
leading to Puyi became the chief Executive and finally Emperor of Manchukuo, Japan¡¯s
puppet state in Manchuria in 1934.
Chen Bao Shen believed in the Chinese
classical model of civil rule and was extremely skeptical of Japanese military¡¯s
intentions. On various occasions, he discouraged Puyi from co-operating with
Japanese. This made him unpopular with the pro Japanese elements and the
Japanese agents.
On 10 Nov 1931, Puyi left for Northeast
without Chen Bao Shen. The pro Japanese elements and the Japanese agents
prevented Chen Bao Shen from meeting Puyi. In 1932, Chen Bao Shen was allowed to
visit Puyi in Lushun but was sent away 3 days later.
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Friendship with Sir
Reginald Fleming Johnston
On March 4, 1919, Puyi was introduced to Sir
Reginald F. Johnston (1874-1938) at the Yu Ching Palace in the Forbidden City. Puyi was rather nervous about meeting Johnston as the Palace eunuchs had told
him ¡°foreigner¡¯s moustaches were so stiff that one could hang lanterns from the
ends of them and that their legs were rigid¡±. Chen Bao Shen dispelled Puyi¡¯s
misconceptions but Johnston¡¯s blue eyes made Puyi uneasy.
Johnston was a Scottish British Colonial
official, academic and an admirer of Chinese culture. Born in 1874 and studied
at Edinburgh and Oxford, he became a ¡°Hong Kong cadet¡± in the Colonial
Service in 1898. In 1906, he was appointed Senior District Officer for
Weihaiwei¡¯s Southern Division. He was given leave of absence in 1919 to become
Puyi¡¯s English tutor, a role he held till 1924 when Puyi was expelled from the
Palace. Johnston returned to UK and became a professor at the School of Oriental
Studies, University of London. The Johnston Road in Hong Kong, is named after
him.
Chen Bao Shen was 72 years old when he met
Johnston. Johnston described him as ¡°¡±a man
of most charming and courtly manners, vigorous in mind and body, a famous poet,
greatly admired for his delicate calligraphy, and a highly accomplished
scholar¡±.
They became very close friends and often
organize outings to natural spots around Beijing. Chen Bao Shen even composed a
poem on his first visit to the ¡°Cherry Glen¡±, Johnston¡¯s private garden in
Beijing.
They saw each other for the last time in
October 1931 when Johnston visited Puyi just before he left for Manchuria.
In his book "Twilight in Forbidden City",
Johnston described Chen Bao Shen as ¡°One who in the evening of his life
sacrificed the happiness and tranquility that he had been enjoying for twenty
years among the beloved hills and streams of his native province, solely from
motives of loyalty to his sovereign and to his Confucian principles¡±
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Significance of the
couplets
When Singapore was founded in 1819, the
first wave of Chinese migrants (mainly merchants) arrived in search of
opportunities. By 1836, Chinese became the largest ethnic group in Singapore
accounting for 46% of total population. Major growth of Chinese population happened after the Treaty
of Peking in 1860.
Treaty of Peking was signed between China
and UK, China and France and China and Russia. The treaty was the direct
consequences of The Second Opium War. At the time of the Second Opium War, the Old Summer Palace in Beijing was
burned and looted by British and French forces to pressure the Qing government.
The ruins of the Old Summer Palace can still be seen in Beijing today.
One section of the treaty allowed colonial
powers to recruit laborers from China. As a result, Singapore became the transit
point for Chinese migrants to South East Asia. These developments led to a sharp
increase in Chinese population in Singapore and South East Asia.
The migrants left a socially disintegrated
China torn by civil war and foreign aggression. They came to Singapore and South
East Asia in search of work to support their families back in China. When they
arrived in Singapore, they established institutions to serve their social needs.
These institutions became the embodiment of cultural identity and cultural
spaces where migrant reconstruct relationships among themselves and between them
and home in China.
Chen Bao Shen¡¯s visit to Singapore
illustrated the significance of overseas Chinese in the economic and political
development of Imperial China. At the same time, his visit
reinforced cultural
links between Chinese in Singapore and China. Chen Bao Shen¡¯s couplets needs
to be contextualized in the larger social political framework to understand its
historical significance.
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The pillars with Chen Bao Shen¡¯s couplets
continue to stand today in the Shuang Lin Monastery and have become valuable
material culture for us to understand the history, society and social
aspirations of that period.
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Please send your
feedback, comments to
ccw@culturalcompass.org
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To see old pictures of Shuang Lin Monastery,
visit:
http://www.culturalcompass.org/tns.htm
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