Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-07-07
THE MAN TO SAVE CHINA.
Kong Yo Wal, Once The Emperor's Ad-
wiser, Now Leader Of the Chinese Re-
form Party.

wiser, Now Leader Oh the Shihose NO.
form Party.
Ainslee's Magazine.
"It is probably fortunate that there
existed at this time the very energetic,
scholarly and able Kong Yo Wal,
whom the Emperor had taken into his
confidence. Kong had been educated
abroad. He was master of political
history and an adept in statecraft.
His brilliant mind foresaw the disso-
luton of the empire, which would fol-
low the war with Japan. Prior to the
war be had addressed many petitions
to the emperor urging him to take
radical steps to prevent the fatal pro-
cess, and the emperor, struck with the
wisdom of the man, summoned him to
his council. What was done through
the guidance of the new statesman is a
matter of history. Reforms of the
most sweeping character were inaugu-
rated and Kong Yo Wal fell from pow
er, along with his superiors. Through
shrewd planning, and by aid of the
self.sacri6cing loyalty of the emperor,
Kong escaped from the plots of the
empress dowager and her adherents,
and at once turned his restless and
determined ambitions for the good OF
his country into new lines of activity.
Through Kong Yo Wai's genius the
Po Wong Woey, or Reform party, was
organized. Seemingly, the influence
that had touched the emperor and
opened bis eyes to the possibilities OF
modern civilization had touched thou.
sands of other individuals in similar
manner. For many years education
and enlightenment had been making
steady, although very slow, progress
through the nation. The missionary,
the traders, the traveller and the
sportsman had been almost every
where among the people, and their in
fuence had created vague yearning
for better things than those of the
ancient exclusiveness. Many China
men had been abroad for education.
Many had been abroad in America and
Europe in mercantile adventure, and
returned to their homes filled with
ideas more or less modern. Many
more had felt the effect of the imme-
diate neighborhood of Hong Kong and
Macao, Portugal's little island near
Canton. When, therefore, Kong Yo
Wal was 80 dramatically deposed, q
spontaneous sympathy for both him
and for his ideas came to life in
all the eastern portions of the en-
pire. He became at once the nat
ural leader. Cinnamon rallied to
him from everywhere. He had
but to appear in the neutral port
of Macao and make bis purposes
known in order to gather about him
the nucleus of the great movement
now known as the Pc Wong Woey.
This organization aims to be all that
its name implies. 1t proposes to re-
form the Celestial empire, overturn the
traditions and seclusions that have ex-
listed for five thousand years, open the
door of the nation to the civilized
world, build public schools, construct
a great navy, organize merchant ma
rine and make the nation one of the
great factors in modern institutions
and advancement. The programme is
an ambitious one. People older in the
ways of civilization than China might
we'll balk at it. But there seems to be
tremendous determination in this in
stance which grows greater with every
reverse. Already the membership of
the society has extended to over 25,-
100000 subjects of the empire, and its
influence ramifes through all prov
inces and all courts. Despite the de-
position of the emperor, who was prac-
tically an element of the society, the
power of the organization presses more
closely upon the throne, and it looks
as if it might be only a question of
time before the empress dowager either
puts into the deposed youths place a
successor chosen by the Po Wong
Woey, or submits to the same fate she
has inflicted upon Kwaug Hsu."