The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-10-20 00:00:00

tottrtnibe Oberber.

SATURDAN, OCrOBER 20th, 1883.

EASTERN and WESTERN CIVILIZATION.

Wheever doubts might have been entertained
as to the wisdom of making a public demonstra-
tion in England in honour of the
Marquis Tseng, the Chinese Ambassador who is
accredited to the Courts of London and Paris,
at this juncture when the French appear so
ready to take umbrage at any or even without
any cause, the speech which the Oriental Am-
bassador delivered at Folkestone on Saturday
must have been read with general interest. The
civilizations of the East and West have so long
been thought to be antagonistic that it is grati-
fying to learn from the Marquis himself that the
middle wall of pertition has been broken down,
or, to use his own words, that the great wall of
China is not intended to prevent corumunication
with the rest of the universe. The strange
differences in the types of the old and the new
civilizations, the remarkable industry and in-
genuity of the population of China, their cunning
in various forms of handicraft,and the exclusive.
uess which the nation has maintained for
thousands of years have tended to invest China
and its people with pe.muliarinterest to Europeans.
The reflection that whilst our remote ancestors
were painting themselves a lively blue, and
were living in houses in which one aperture did
duty for door, window, and chimney, the Chincse
were enjoying a high state of civilization, and
had developed an extensive literature, must im-
press those who pride thtanselves, on the anti-
quity of a family which dates back to a rude
warrior in the train of .William the Conqueror.
Since tea, too, has become the national beverage
every household has a close domestic interest
in the curious people of the far
East. But despite these matters and
the light which has been thrown on the habits
and resources of the Chinese by the explorations
of Colonel Gordon and the few travellers who
have penetrate: any distance into the country,
sufficientjnip rtance has not been attached to
the influence ohich the association of Eastern
and Western civilization has already had and
will continue to have in a rapidiy growing de-
gree. it i iwposslble that the throwing open of
a country, with a population estimated at more
than ten times the number of inhabitants in the
British Isles, can have other than a material
effect on the continents of Europe and America,
and the people of this country in particular.
The United States have already felt the influence
in a partial disorganisation of the labour,narket,
but so far as this country is concerned the effect
has been confined to the introduction of new
ideas and forms in the region of art. There is
scarcely a household but has some trifle of de-
coration which is either Chinese or Japanese in
its origin; and in the more strictly art circks
the influence is still more strongly marked. But
these are only incidentals. The "heathen Cbinee"
as hi has been termed by an American humour.
ist—although the phrase, unfortunately, has
been adopted in all seriousness—will not be long
in discovering that Europe furnishes an excel-
lent field for the exercise of those habits of in-
dustry and economy which enable him to under-
sell the Caucasian in many departments of the
labour market. The prospect, however, is not
without its compensating feature. Some recently
published Blue-books have upset the generally
accepted notion that literature of the cerulean
hue is necessarily dry, for they give a most in-
teresting description of the potentialities of
China in the direction of mineral wealth. The
snperierity of England in all forms of mechanical
and labour-raving appliances supplies the means
of makina China a great field for the employ-
ment of British enterprise and:capital. Of course
it will be a work of time to overcome the exclu-
siveness and suspicion of the natives, but seeing
that so much has been accomplished in that
direction, within a comparatively few years, it is
not too much to expect that another generation
may see the whole of China open to the foreigner.
Whet., the Chinese people realize that we are
pleased to see thew represented in our Fisheries
,xhibit ions and other competitions, and
cordially welcome their diplomatist to our shores,
the barrier between East and West, which has
existed so many centuries stande in imminent
peril of having serious breaches made in it, if
not altogether destroyed.