Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-07-29
SATURDAY PRESS.
Chinese VS.. japanese
LNLT n. ~

'S9O w. SdpdHese
Ed. PREss;--Tho Daily Buietin of July
10th says, the Chinese government and
mandarins stand sullenly oloof Except in
military matters) from the ways Of the out.
side barbarians,' etc, and n contrast is
drawn between them aud the bold. intel.
ligent and onterprisng japanese, with their
l52 banks with n circulation amounting to
S35,000,000." The writer probably has
not been in the habit Of reading newspapers
published in China and japan, or he might
have learned that the Chinese government
possessed n very respectable navy, consist
ingof gun boats and revenue cruisers, built
in China, at the Fuhchau and Shanghai
arsenals, and some half dozen or more
very formidable gun boats built in England
(known MS the "Alphabetic" gun boats.
from their being named after the letters of
the Greek apbaboD, and at least two large
wooden frigates, built Mt the arsenal at
Shanghai, and furnished with steel and
rifle guns manufactured by Krupp, and
carrying crews from 500 to 900 men each,
and Differed and navigatod by Chinese.
Ono of these, the I'M IN was sent to
Japan in Dec, 1872, with tho first embassy
in modern times from China to Japan.
The "Chinoso Merchants Steamship Com
pany,' some years since, bought out the
Shanghai Steamship Navigation Company,
and now control the greater part of the
carrying trade on the coast and up the
fang-tszc and Pearl rivers. One of their
steamers, the lilo ChuUg, with the enter
prising manager Of the company, Mr.. Tong
King Sing, called at these Islands about
two years since, and afterwards proceeded
to San Francisco, where its arrival was the
occasion of a proclamation from the Presi.
dent Of the United States, with reference
to commercial intercourse between China
and the United States Another of their
merchant steamers some months since car
ried cargo from Canton TO London via the
Suez Canal. Most people who read Ameri.
can newspapers, have some knowledge of
the educational mission (upder Mr.. Yung
Wing lce himself an alumni and LII. ID. of
Yale College,, in connection with which
some 80 selected students were educated
for several years in the United States.
Many, however, arc ignorant of the exist
enco Of the Tung Wen Kwan or Imperial
College at Picking, under the presidency Of
w. A. Z. Martin, ID. LID. On nephew,
if we arc not mistaken, of well known
missionary to these Islands), where the
Western sciences are taught by American
and European professors, as well as Of the
schools for teaching English, Iele estab-
lished by tho government in Canton, Fuh-
chau and Shanghai. Many pupils have
been instructed in military and naval mat
tors at the Fuhchau arsenal, under NJ.
81 4.
Mr.. Swanson, of II. D. Ms navy. Some
of these pupils have been sent to France,
to complete their studies, and have gained
honors there, by their studiousness and pro-
hciency. At the arsenal at Shanghai, a
corps of foreign translators has been for
more than dozen years employed in trans.
lating American and English scientific
works, some scores of which have been
printed and published by the Chinese gov
crnmont. China, unlike Japan, is not bur-
dened with any national debt, notwitstand.
Jog tho many wars in which she has been
engaged and the heavy indemnities that
have been eXactod from her by European
powers during the last forty years. Un-
like Japan, she has no national banks; but
to those who know the history of the ma
tional banks in Japan, and among intelli-
gent japanese themselves, the japanese
national banks are not among the enter
prises of foreign origin which are considered
any proof of the prosperity of the nation.
Most of them were established by ex-re-
tainers Of the old princes, who got permits
sion from the government to issue bank
notes, by depositing with the government
the bonds which it had issued to them when
it capitalized their pensions. Not one Of all
the banks has been paying dollar of spe-
Gle in many years, and with the exception
of that one bank Whose notes alone are
receivable by the government in payment
of custom dues and taxos), their bank notes
have, for two or three years past, beer
quoted from 1876 to l.87. In educational
matters, the japanese have dono well, ani
many of the residents here would doubtless
DO much surprised were we to lay before
.hem the Calendaro { the Imperial Uni
versity of Toxic, upon seeing tho branches
taught, and the report of the semi-annua
examination of the students. The number
of foreign scientific works which have beer
translated and sold in Japan is marvellous
and the style of their engraved illustration
and of their maps and aliases does then
exceeding great credit. But as to thei
business capacity or their success thus ia
in building up navy, the case is quite diff
lerent Is,