WÆBER, Acting Consul-General for Russia to Li Hung-Chang, May 15, 1875

The Consuls to Governor Chang.

We, the undersigned consuls, have the honor to inform your excellency that a picture, presumably intended to portray the Tien-tsin massacre of the 21st June, 1870, was exhibited in a peep-show at a public fair held at the beginning of last month in the town of Ching-chia-wu, in the Ning-tsin district. In this picture the Chinese mob is represented as attacking foreigners under the leadership of Chen-kuo-jui, whose banner is depicted with the characters-upon it. Many other mandarins, decorated with red buttons, yellow jackets, and peacock’s feathers, are also represented as being present, and over the head of one of these waves a flag inscribed with the character “Brigadier-general.” In the upper story of a house, one foreigner is pictured as scooping out the eye of a Chinese woman, a second foreigner standing by and holding a vessel to receive it, whilst in an adjoining room another foreigner is cutting out a China woman’s heart. Now, it is evident that the public exhibition of such a picture as this is calculated to exasperate the ignorant multitude against foreigners. The disgusting and atrocious lies about the scooping out of eyes and cutting out of hearts, which have so often been repeated against them in anonymous placards, are now brought by this picture more vividly before the imagination of the populace, and the belief that attacks upon our nationals are approved, if not instigated, by the mandarins, is strengthened. We therefore request your excellency to take steps to discover and punish the exhibitor and painter of this picture; also, to cause a proclamation to be posted up in the town of Ching-chia-wu, and district city of Ningtsin, stating why such punishment has been inflicted. We trust, too, that your excellency, with the view of preserving friendly relations between China and the treaty-powers, will see the necessity of enjoining the local officials to exert themselves in dissipating the ignorance which unhappily prevails about the pursuits of foreigners and their position in your country; but, at the same time, we cannot refrain from expressing our regret that inflammatory placards or pictures have never, in any case which we are aware of, been brought to the notice of high Chinese officials by Chinese official agency. In conclusion, we would request that your excellency will be good enough to state, for the information of our respective ministers, what steps you have deemed it expedient to take upon the receipt of this communication.

We have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servants,