The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-11
THE STORM CENTRE :.
 OF THE WORLD
(By Dr. R. Warren Conant.) The Second Largest Empire on
 Earth.
Article !.

ArtlclS \.
 If is an odd paradox that the Chinese know nothing about China! Although they have many names for their coun- try. they never call 1t China. That name is of ancient but uncertain origin; perhaps it came to us through India perhaps it was derived from the On n dynasty which fiourlsneo iohs oeioie Christ.
 One of the favorite names Of the >hinese for their country is Chung Kwoh, or the Middle Kingdom. This apparently innocent name is really an index of the boundless egotism Of the whole nation. which is directly pro- portioned by their ignorance. By call ing themselves the Middle Kingdom, the Chinese mean to signify that they are the center of the world. Thus they surpass the egotism of even the an cient Greeks, who called all others than | themselves barbarians. But then there was some excuse for the Greeks. And yet China really is d beautiful country. To the casual visitor, to be sure. it presents it's least attractive side, for the coasts are generally low | and flat often marshy. But in the in- | terior are grand mountains 1000 feet | high, upward gorges 5000 feet deep, | through which great rivers rage, ana l lovely, peaceful yalleys-all of which | will some day draw tourists the world | over.
 | As China lies between 20 degrees and | 50 degrees north latitude, 1t offers a variety of climate to suit the most ex- ] scting Hong Kong lies almost direct | ly on a line with Calcutta and Havana l shanghai with Jerusalem and New Or | leans Pekin with Constantiu pie, Ma l 5rjd and New York
 l The mean temperatures are lower | han those of corresponding locations | in Europe. Thus the mean tempera- | ture of Pekin. or 50 degrees, Is that ! of Southern England. which is much | further north. Shanghai corresponds | to Marseilles.
 They are making history fast in Chi ma these days. and no one ,ar afford | to be ignorant of that strange coun- | try. The commercial and political cen | tre of the world is rapidly shifting from | the Atlantic to the Pachfc. On those shores are to be fought out the con- flicts. both industrial and military. of | the new century, and the United States has acquired hawaii, Guam and tn ? Philippines just in the n elk of time. The events now taking place on h. east coast of Asia under our very eyes thanks to teleg. -pa, printing press and camera-are more significant to the world than anything which has happened since the downfall of Napo- leon. What We can see is won Ter. ul, what we may surniSe is portent us One thing we can see is this: Europe is l"sing interest in the partition of China" The desperate struggle for Tien Tsin against Chinese armed with | modern weapons, which they used with deadly precision, has raised a new Eastern question" China has walked | Up and is arming herself; in fact, she | has been doing it quietly for at lea st l two years. Before long she will he | abie to meetEurope on equal terms as | to weapons, and at fearful advantage l as Q men. Fer China has one hundred | million of fighting men to draw upon. l indifferent to life or d@ath and fFen- | u-c riiE fanaticai hatred, who can l be drilled to move like a machine. fed | vita a handful of rice, paid with l few cents, and require no baggage or equipment except rifle and ammuni-
 tion. The latter they will quickly learn
 t6 use to perfection. fo3 they ara nat Urllly initiative and ingenious. Against such numbers the armies which :ne European nations maintain at suicidal cost will be poNerless. The question of the near future will be.
 not what is Europe going to do with China. but what will China do with the world? It is not impossible that eye:
 now living shall behold that great and
 dreadful day of ArmaG eddon the day when the kings If the whole earth shall go forth to battle. In any eVent
 the United States will reap the fruit of
 its wise and righteous policy Of rr-
 rusinG to be a uartY to the spo!i1 tion
 of China.
 The first step toward an adequate | understanding of this new Eastern question is to realize that China is d | land of magnificent distances and 3ta- | tistics. So accustomed are We to think | ing of ourselves as the biggest thing | on earth that # comes as a kind of shock to be told that In many respects | tlte Chinese can outclass US. This ln- | accurate view is doubtless due in | large measure also to the fact that
 our maps give to the United States so
 much greater size and prominence than | to Asia
 | Now the fact $ that the Chinese l Empire is moro than one and half
 times the United States or the whole
 of Europe. Of course il Is not possible to obtain exact figures on so vast a | subject, but the area is estimated to
 be about 5.0J0C00 square miles. The distance around the Chinese Elm | pire Is 14,000 miles. Although the ocean washes 1t on thc eastern side only. It's coast line is abou' equal to our own, , being 4400 miles. The Great Dragon could swallow us without any indiges- | tion for they are five to our one. In | age they regard us as the merest rar- venues, claiming with characteristic | modesty that the Chinese always have been and always will be!
 They have a river almost, If not quite, as long as our own boasted Mis- sissppi. the Yang Tse Kiang being | about 5000 miles in length. The Hoang Ho is 2,700 miles long. Every one has heard of the great wall of China, about 1900 mines in length, but not
 every one knows that the Grand Canal
 Is twice as long as the Erie Canal.
 The internal commerce through the
 innumerable waterways Is enormous,
 and the tonnage of it is said to be
 greater than that of all other nations
 combined. Several of the cities are
 said to have a million or more lnhabi-
 tants, though that is difficult to deter
 mine with any accuracy. According to
 some accounts. Pekin is the oldest city
 in the world, cutranking even the
 Eternal City. The first Emperor of
 China is placed at 1000 B. c. At any
 rate. Pekin resembles Rome in that
 the present city stands cn the debris
 of several preceding cities.
 The above figures are so large that
 they convey little definite idea to the ]