The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-09-02

-. HE war in the F'ast--if war Il
isis certainly a campaign OF
eduratioh" Books about China
are falling from the presses IKE
IL autumn leaves and We are learn
ing from them Il vast amount 81 interest
ing Information about China az y has
seemed 20 other people.
n one cannot travel oneself, Miss scia-
more IL good person 70 50 IN ones
stead. She has been everywhere, and has
written a great deal about the world ~
large. Her new book. China. the Long
Lived Empire" II the result 81 seven VS.
lfs TO China. made during the last NJ
teen years. In her own words. mo one
can cover the whole field. give the only
KEY or utter the last word " y sucn an
Impossible. incomprehensible country that
one Iabors vainly 10 show Il clearly %
others To the hypercritIcal residents OF
treaty ports all writer's have gone as'rhs
among the piainest Chinese facts but az
these same critics often controvert one
another. an outsider can claim certain
privilege. while ut the same time beg
ging their Indulgence for his views"
Miss scidmore begins with survey OF
..the degenerate empire" To her appre-
bens,nn China as a menace TO the Oeci-
dent has not existed since Oriental met
Oriental In the chino-Japanese WAT At
that moment china's measure was taken
and .the yellow peril Of militant Eu-
ropes Nightmares was reiegated TO the
consideration OF comic journals only"
This present breakup OF China
ch-phrase which has lately reused oc-
cidental interest and anxiety IS an old
story. very often repeated IN this eldest
surviving empire OF the world. an old
new subject fttingH dismissed In Col
Yuie's small foot note thirty years ago.
n hns broken M before. -. Defy
Ing age and TIME and progress and the
harsh impact OF Western civilization. Chi
ma continues and viii continue 20 he Chi
na--whether for the Chinese only some
centuries viii tell Tae same shibboleth
OF the handful of refermers today. China
for the Chinese II thousands OF years old,
too. heard each time the empire was ex-
plotted by northern Tatars. each time
native dynasty arose. II is raised nov.
az time-h onored custom ordans when
yet another Tatar cnnaneror advances
from the North and vital TRUSTS are be-
Ing dealt from the South. the East and
the West. There was worse state pre-
vailing when Confudns wandered from
state 10 state, trying to rouse the rulers
and people. and time may have only
swung round again for another great
moral teacher To rise up. scourge and
lead this certainly chosen people. Tho
ovcident II fortunate In assisting Of one
OF the many great downfails but Il need
not assume that this ~ az All the end,
tho absolute and final ruin. the last wreck
and crash OF the old empire. az It's curl
GUS, northumberland civilization.
all because the present parvcnu Manchu
dynasty happens 20 fall II has broken
up before"
Tho descriptive chapters OF the book are
picturesque and vivid Mites scidmore Secs
clearly and reprod0crs the thing seen Ia
words deiiniiely, iucldly. ana without ex.
'ravasence. Her account ~ the attitude
whieh foreign legations have permitted III
the Chinese government az toward thnm.
selves n 20 aofue extent explanatory oi
the recent Siege az Peking How could
the Chinese but despisc ana underestimate
nations which permitted their represents.
tSrs 60 hv treated az n on suneranea III
fcretgw court n Is only forty years
sinee chinas reception " foreign dinio.
mats. and she whole story OF the envoy.
az feklng has been long story 81 tria
arid fruliiasa enart. ef rchAssfs Afd covert