Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-12
JAPAN'S AWAKENING
Moral Progress Of the Empire Within
a Generation.
CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED
Effect Upon Political and Social
Conditions.
Z THICAL DEV ELOPME n T
Written Tor The Eye:ing Star by Dr. William Elliot

Written Tor The Eye..ing Star by Dr. William Elliot
| The mystery of mysteries in Chinese Asia
| is the face of a thing So far from being
an index of reality, it is the cover for con-
ceament. A Chinese convicted of crime
will willingly suffer torture, death, loss of
| property and all the comforts OF life, pro-
vided he can save the face of his reputa-
ton. The empress dowager and court
would today gladly agree to the full in
demnity demanded and return to Pekin to
! live in sheds. provided they could save their
face Let the people believe that the
siege and rescue of the legation by foreign
armies was simply misunderstanding or a
dream, and all would be well-that is, go on
as before. No wonder that China is a land
of lies. Her very first need Is truth. The
whole Chinese nation dwells in the age of
nominalism. Hence the righteousness Of the
| Chinaman's mind To see things as they
| are will prove his salvation.
| So 1t was in old Japan. Pretty much ev-
erything on the surface was sham. Nom
| fnalism and Observation-Disclosures ruled the
| day. Even the government in Yeddo was
fraudulent. Offices and titles bore about as
much relation to reality as did the figures
| on playing cards to actual kings, queens
and knaves. Almost every one Of lofty
/
low rank We're hidden. No wonder that
Townsend Harris, our first American minis
ter declared that the Japanese were 1.-The
! greatest liars on EARTH This false face"
| in high places was at once the cause and
! effect of the falsehood that everywhere pre-
| vailed In Japanese society, etiquette, GUS
toms and speech, even as it prevails in Chi
ma to this very hour. Religion and philos-
| ophy We're also to blame, for nominalism
ruled and reality was secuted. Such a
thing as personality in deity and individu-
alism In man were ruled out In the pro-
| fessions all science was tradition, and
! facts had to bend to theory. THE master s
favorite red cap settled every case. Scales
and scalpel We're nothing. Criticism was
dead or in prison.
Old Order Changed.
Such was the actual state of affairs In
Japan half century ago, and no one
knew this better than the reformers who
! demanded reality. These brave men, mar
| tyrs, first wrote out their convictions and
| then, of propriety and necessity committed
| hara-kiri. Those young men knew it, who
| drove the wedge of the revolution of 1868
| to Its logical conclusion, demanding as did
Ito IN 1864 NOW. in 1900. for the fifth time.
! premier). that everything should be re-
| formed.
Yes, new Japan has changed the old or
DER or Chinese Asia Her makers knew
| that lasting success in business, diplomacy
and national life must rest on reality. In
! science they dug up and dissected a decapi-
! tated Indicators body to see whether
Chinese theory and the actual facts of an
atomy agreed. In war they threw away
/ their masked helmets and fans, their UNI
brellas and their armor of hide and iron
and, dressing lightly. adopted American
| rifles and tactics. They eschewed hunks and
! bought steamers They believe now in the
very best rifles, battle ships, commissarat
! and discipline. They have taught the So
| called Christian nations that if they cannot
be respected for their aesthetics and Ell
! Guette they must be because able to show
| their teeth.
Moral Progress.
A mighty crop of books on japan has
/ sprouted up, but few show the wonderful
i moral progress Of the nation since 1890
! The average writer is more concerned with
/ things the surface than at the roots.
| Before the young reformers of 1868 over
| turned the old government the mikado had
| for ten centuries squatted on mats and
/ lounged on cushions behind screens and in
the harem. They made him stand up and
| walk the earth like a man. In his name
| they ratified thu treaties negotiated in the
fifties with that big fgurehead, the Tycoon.
| They made education the basis of progress.
| Once it meant prison death for Jap
| ancse to sell map give information
to foreigner. Now. on the contrary the
Japanese government in an annual volume
, publishes to the world everything about
| the population. national and local admins
| tration. social and vital statistics, reveal
| ing at once Japan's glory and her shame.
| In this Resume StatiStique we learn not
| only of her splendid army and navy, post
| office and school system. but even her
| skeleton Is dragged out of it's closet. We
can read of her sham family life now pass
ing away. of her curious domestic system,
| in which a collection of individuals In part
| nership passes for family. where adop-
| ticn does not mean benevolence, but bust
| ness, where marriage does not signify we'd
| lock. but only living together where pros
ttution is not only legal. but safeguarded
| on every side by law. where there three
| divorces to every marriage, besides thou
| sands of cOncubinal unions known with
| slight scandal, and where legitimacy means
simple registry, and nothing more. The
| Japanese now hides nothing. Truth has
| come ont of the well.
An Astounding Revolution.
| This simple fact Of publicity speaks vol
umes. Indeed, more astonishing revou-
ton than that noted by the world at large
has taken place in Japan. Her moral
| progress is far more wonderful than any
thing she has been able to accomplish by
| borrowing so largely from the west, adopt
ing nothing, but adapting everything" The
| growth of ethical sentiment is marvellous
and the increase Of her genuine religious
sentiment and power is none the less
| Whether we realize it or not, one of the
| best elements working toward the recogni-
| ton by Japan of the moral standards pre-
| vailing in the west was her religious ind.f
ference. The imported Chinese philosophy
| Deity to something unknowabe a mere
fasc!culum of laws and principles Shnto-
| ism, the Indigenous faith. had become
Mythology, fairy tales and bric-a-brac.
| The last doctrinal evolutions of Buddhism
had given the better class of believers
travesty on Shakas original teachings and
the lower classes a composite of local SUI
| perstition
| One of the first blessings that came to
| Japan through foreign missionary propa-
| gandism was the awakening Of Buddhism
TO new life. Moreover. the morals of the
Buddhist clergy improved their system
was politically disestablshed. Serious
minded men carried forward Il revival and
revision of Buddhism, which wrought for
| the ethical improvement of the people. 1t
lsfs to the everlasting credit of the propa-
gators of the alien faith that ti.ey sue
ceeded in stirring up the old forms of reli
gion as to make native profession mere of
| a reality. for Buddhism. whatever its sys-
tenn, dogmas and philosophy may be, is
| superb in its moral code and philanthropy.
Be the religion of the Japanese what It
may. practice, not theory, is the nations
| vital need.
Legislation and Social Life.
There can be no doubt that the new faith
of the west compelled the Japanese to