New-York tribune., 1900-07-08
CHINA AWAKENING.

1t seems to have been high time for Prince
Tuan and his Boxers to begin their revolution
and coup detat if they were ever to check the
rising tide of progress in China. We do not
mean the Chinese Empire at large but the Mid
die Kingdom Ever since the war with Japan
there has been an awakening process there,
gaining speed and strength with every new
year. until it began seriously to menace the
barriers of Tartar ignorance and despotism.
Not only have foreign teachers been spreading
the light, but the Chinese themselves have been
joining in the work. seeking to gain intelligence
for themselves and to distribute it among their
neighbors The defeat and humiliation whicn
they suffered at the hands of Japan opened their
eyes to the superiority of Western civilization
and filed them with a desire to acquire it for
themselves.
The result was great demand for books and
papers, and especially for translations Of stand
ard European and American works on history,
geography and the general sciences. In supply
ing this demand the Society for the Diffusion
''of Christian and General knowledge Among
1.-The Chinese" has played a leading part. 1t
was founded a few years before the Japanese
war. Down to the date of that war 1t did little,
and the outlook for it was not encouraging. But
since the war the demands made upon it have
been often greater than its ability to supply
them. Thus in 1898 it managed to sell only
SSH worth of books while in 1898 it sold
$1S.457 worth. OF its edition of Mackenzies
Nineteenth Century more than four thousand
copies were taken in fortnight. Down to the
present time it has published more than one
hundred and twenty standard works on history,
science and religion. Nor is that the sole meas
ure of its beneicence. There being no copyright
in China native publishers have brought out
pirated editions of these works, of which thou
sands of copies have been sold A similar in
crease in periodical publications is observable,
In 1898 there were only nineteen native news
papers, and in 1895 there were eighty.
These figures may seem small in themselves.
But the ratio Of increase is not small. On the
contrary it is enormous. Moreover IT is to be
borne in mind that scarcely 10 per cent of the
popula ton of China can read. so that this dis
trlbution of literature is not among the
40OOOO000 of the whole Empire. but among
one-tenth Of the 375,OOO000 of China proper
saw. 81 100000. Such an extension of knowledge
among these was enough TO alarm the Empress
DOwager. who last fall issued an edct against
it practically forbddng the further circulation
of foreign books and papers. Despite her pro
hibition. however. the good work went on, and
indeed is still going on in the southern provinces.
It is against it that Prince Tuan and his Boxers
are arrayed To them all knowledge that is not
derived from Confucius is accursed. To what
extent the awakened and enlightened Chinese
would he able TO resist their savage onset is
problematir But it is a problem that must
never be left to solution. 1t is incumbent upon
the civilized Powers TO take hand in the mat
ter and turn back the tide of barbarSm that
menaces not only all foreigners, but all Chinese
who seek to place themselves in line with
human progress.