The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-22

cessiou Just named, the Pokin syndicate OF
London has acquired, for mining and rail-
way purposes, all that part OF Honan which
lies north Of the Hoang-ho, and which. geo
logically, is n continuation OF Shansi;
and. also, an agreement by which 1t is to
have similar rights In the mountainous part
Of Honan south Of the Yellow River, as soon
a. work shall have been actually begun on
the ShAnsl plateau. When we point out
that the total area OF these concessions is
equal to that Of Great Britain, and that tho
whole Of It lies outside Of the Yang-tse-
kianR basin, to which, at one time, the
British Foreign ONCE was disposed to con-
fnO It's claims, the extent of the change In
the political situation at Pekln will be APP
preclated.
There is q current saying that nothing
has ever happened in the history OF the
world for which q prototype or analogue
cannot DO found In the annals OF China 1t
Ii certain that there is a precedent more
than two thousand years old for the re-
script issued the other day by the present
Chinese Emperor, In which he avowed his
conviction that his subjects would be bene-
flied by the substitution Of a scheme OF edo
ucation framed upon Western models for
the study Of the Chinese classics, to which
they have been additionally restricted.
To that end he has announced the
purpose Of establishing q central univer-
sity and q number Of secondary colleges
where his people may acquire q knowledge
of the discoveries and inventions Of the
modern world. The effect Of this rescript.
should it be firmly carried out, would be TO
mako the Chinese, like the Japanese, re-
nounce their exclusive devotion to the
works produced or edited by CoNFUoIUs
and MENcIUs, and to the multitude Of COM
mentaries thereon, and to apply themselves,
instead, to works dealing with European
science In all it's various departments.
An educational revolution almost identi-
cal with this, and based upon the same con-
siderations, was undertaken in B. G. 213 by
the Emperor HwANGTI Of the sin dynasty,
sometimes called the NAPOLEON Of China,
who completed the Great Wall, demolished
the feudal system and created the CONSOLE
dated State, which still exists substantially
In the form given to it by him. At a great
council'convoked by him in the year named,
one Of his principal advisers set forth views
Of a merely literary education, which we
have seen adopted by Japan but yesterday,
and which have received official indorse-
ment at Pekin to-day. at must be adj
mitted," said HwANaT1s councillor, THAT
men Of letters are, as a rule, very little &C
quainted with the practical government OF
q country, which consists in keeping men
within the sphere Of their proper duties.
With all their p~retence OF knowledge, they
are In this matter ignorant. They can tell
you by heart everything which has hap
pened In the past back to the most remote
period, but they are, or seem to be, igno-
rant Of what is being done in these later
days, Of what Is passing under their eyes.
Incapable Of discerning hat the thing
which was formerly suitable would be
wholly out Of place to-day, that that which
was useful, perhaps necessary, in the past
would be positively injurious in the time in
which we live, they would AVE everything
arranged in exact imitation Of what they
find written In their books"
The Emperor HwANaTI expressed his
thorough approval of these remarks, and
proceeded to give them practical effect by
prescribing all merely literary books, re-
serving for circulation only those which
dealt with the sciences, pure or applied,
such as astronomy, surveying, medicine,
agriculture, &c. Thu great Tsin sovereign
was many centuries ahead Of his time, and,
not long after his death, the Confucian clas-
sizes regained their hold upon the Chinese peo-
pie. 1t may be that a better fate awaits the
attempt Of the present Manchu dynasty to
follow HwANGTIs example. for public opin-
Ion in China should, by this time, have been
enlightened by the experience Of Japan,
which, in the late war, gave convincing
proofs Of the superiority Of Western ideas
and methods.