China and the West

Crane, Stephen. The blood of the martyr. In : New York Press magazine ; 3 April (1898). [Politische Satire].
Sekundärliteratur
The playlet lamppons contemporary German imperialistic initiatives in China in which missionaries were used to further economic interests. The first act takes place in Kiachow, where China had isgned a trety with Germanty granting railway and mining rights as reparations for the murder of German missionaries. Prince Henry of Prussia, his squadron anchored in the bay, is eager to reap martyrs to that through gunboat diplomacy he can garner more railway concessions and ports. He is delighted to hear that the missionary in Yen Hock may be massacred (as Crane explains in Opium's varied dreams), a yen hock is a needle-like instrument used for cooking opium. In the second act, Prince Henry prematurely announces to a group of assembled mandarins that the missionary at Yen Hock has been murdered, and he demands reparations. They respond by offering Germany a monopoly of the Chinese reailway system, but in the third act, Prince Henry is disconcerted when the Yen Hock missionary suddenly appears in Kiachow. Although he remains unimpressed when told that the missionary's parishioners cut off one of his ears, burned off a foot, and sliced out one of his lungs, the missionary's claim that he was also garroted and flayed alive completely mollifies Prince Henry. The railway concessions are ensured.