The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-05-24
PROGRESS IN CHINA
A New Spirit Seeming to Guide the Conn.
sells of the Government.

The vast progress of China in recon,
years is set in striking light in an
article, The March of the Monpol !,
by W. B. Dunlop. Mr.. Dunlop dates
the new movement from the period
soon after the suppression of the Tai.
ping rebellion, when the Chinese Gov.
eminent first established the imperial
maritime customs, which, under the
wise and energetic control of Sir Rob
ert Hart, the inspector-general of ems.
toms at Picking. has attained so re-
markable a development. 1t is sip.
nificant of the shrewdness of the Chi.
nese that they perceived the adyan.
tage to be derived from dismissing the
native collectors and appointing trust
worthy foreigners in their room. The
experiment was justified by a large
and immediate rise in the amount of
the revenue from customs duties
which has ever since been steadily in
creasing-a considerable part of the
surplus having been employed in erect
ing lighthouses along the immense
seaboard of China. which has now one
OF the best lighted coasts in the world
1t is sign of the new spirit that
guides the cOunses of the Government
that there have been erected during
the last year or two many thousands
OF miles of telegraph wires radiating
through the Empire. 1t is now DOS
sible to telegraph from London to
Picking or Chung King, the principal
town OF the rich and fertile province
of Szechueh. city nearly fifteen hun
dred miles in the interior of the coun-
try. Meanwhile the extension of the
Chinese telegraph system is, we are
told, proceeding at rate which NAV
shortly astonish even American tele-
graphists. Railway extension is more
di fficult and necessarily slower; bu
against this has to be set the splendid
system Of internal water communion
ton.
The total coast trade in foreign
built vessels outward and inward
amounted in 1886 to the enormous
sum of 17,OOO,0 900 tons. Here again
the Chinese are well aware of the adj
vantages to be gained from employing
foreigners. Only certain portion of
the foreign commerce of the Empire
comes within the Jurisdiction of the
imperial maritime customs; but this
portion reached in 1886 the hitherto
unprecedented amount of f41, 900, 900
still trif1ing amount when we con-
slider that China proper is estimated
by the imperial statisticians. with the
assistance of the best native authori-
ties. to have population of 3S9, OO0,-
900 souls.
The only practical obstacle to trade
of startling dimensions between China
and the outside world seems to be the
old '.Likin" system of internal dues,
some notion of which may be derived
from the fact that on the great west
river trade route between Canton and
Pese, a distance of 900 miles, merchan-
disc is said to have to run the gauntlet
of nearly one hundred customs bar
riers. The Government. however, has
shown significant signs of being alive
to this evil. which it has already NIT
igated to some extent, in the teeth of
vested interests. by allowing the Likin
charges in certain cases to be COM
muted by a fixed payment for
transit pass"
The improvement in the system of
national defense is still more striking.
Huge arsenals under foreign direction
are springing up in various directions.
and the vast army of China is being
gradually supplied with weapons of
the latest pattern, while great battal-
ions are being necessarily drilled and
disciplined by European officers. The
Chinese navy already consists of
twentysix foreign built men-of-war.
some of them large and powerful
iron-clads. and about one hundred
gunboats, built in the arsenals of the
empire. Referring to the notorious
industry and enterprise of the Chinese
abroad, Mr.. Dunlop prophesies that
when the subjects of the Celestial En-
pire enjoy under the new and more
enlightened policy the same privileges
and opportunities at home as are af-
forded to them abroad there will be no
room for doubt as TO what is to be the
dominating power of the future in the
far east of Asia.
The writer of the article on 1.-The
March of the Mongol'' is very far from
being the only authority on Asiatic
affairs who thinks that the solution of
the Eastern question. as far as Russian
aggression in Asia is concerned, will
one day be found in an Anglo-Chinese
alliance. Quarterly Review.