The Portland daily press., 1901-01-07
Some Causes for Anti
Foreign Sentiment.
Why China Has Not Kept Pace
With March Of Nations.

llhsJ eNGuluks hEs ShoAACH -
who has for many years been represen-
tativs of the American Bible Society in
China, delivered another interesting lec-
ture on China, the land on which the
eyes of the civilized world have been con-
centratsd during the past year. Mt st.
Stephens church. Mr.. Cannon is
fluent talKer, and his lectures are brim-
full OF interesting and instructive matter.
He is Portland boy, with remarkable
powers OF observation, and has had an
opportunity OF gaining clear insight In
60 the lives and customs of this mysteri-
ous people, ana having lived in China
during the years preceding the outbreak
OF the Boxers is most familiar with it's
causes and its results.
His lecture last evening was on this
crisis in China, and 1t 10 Unnecessary TO
add that it was followed with great in.
terest by his audience. He began by say
ing that no reference to the present
troubles In China should be made without
a sketch Of some OF the characteristics of
the Chinese In order to understand China's
powsriess and conservative position, We
must consider to some extent her past
history. Ths Chinese are a complex. con
Trajectory and almost unknowa Die peo-
pie, Com bined with an exhaustive code
OF Ioliteness, and many admirable traits.
they have IDEAS, customs and institutions
diametricaliy opposed to those of western
peoples,
The speaker went on to say that not
withstanding the pIodding nature Of the
Chinese, their extreme patience and po-
lite forms, they sometimes exhibit the
nature and instinct of the wild least anu
the savage, and Impress Europeans as
having nerveless bodies and unfeeIing
hearts. As we lead OF the horrors of the
last few months in China, we regard
these people as lost and hopeless horde.
Yet the Chinese have civilization, the
beginning of which Is fairly lost in an
tiquity; civilization which was well
marked when the rest OF the world was
In darkness.
The speaker gave brief, though high
ly interesting sketch of the history OF the
Chinese, of their Development from cave
dwellers to civilization or semi-civiliza-
tiOus anu u tuS kJOWbu anu pEOBESsS VI
the nation up to the 18th century.
But from the l7th century there has
heen nothing but stagnation and decay,
and almost every nation has left China
behiud In the advance and pursuit of
knowledge. The speaker compared China
with an immense tree which, having
reached its full growth could no longer
- hx kwt ~ 4xasr e.
deeper into the soil 1t retained Its ap-
pearanoe of solidity for time, but when
the gale came Its inward decay was
manifested, and 1t fell. Why did this de-
cav 80. ine MIR. Cannon found an
answer to this question in the fact that
China has kept to herself, has not held
with other nations, and
has, therefore, not taken advantage Of
their progression. He satd that by nature
China has been isolated from the rest OF
the world. China had intercourse with
the people in her part of the world previ-
Gus to the advent of the Europeans, but
she found them to bs more savage and
less civilizsd than her own people, and
learned nothing from them. Much Of
the arroganced an self conceit of the
Chinaman is dus to the fact that during
her early history China dealt only with
inferior nations, and the people OF today
have been taught from early times to
look down upon all foreigners as IN ferior
Then, when the Europeans did
come to China's coasts. they abused the
Chinese hospitality by disgraeeful aots,
and the proud ana strong nation with
drew in its she'll and remained there for
centuries. In China, all institutions, all
customs, ali ideas, oome from the sages
OF antiquity. The Chinese see and hear
with eyes and ears three Thousand years
old. They neither loo k to the future nor
live in the present, but are bound in
thought and custom to the distant past.
Then came the missionariens and the
gradual wakening Of q few Chinese
Difficult as mission work In that land
has seemed. the seeds OF enlightenment
were being s0wn, and not altogether up
on a stony soil It's fruits have beeD
visible always, but the great movement
for reform, which resulted in the martyr
dom OF many, the overthrow 81 the EN-
peror, and the present crisis, offer the
most striking testimony of the working
of Gods spirit on the darkened minds Of
the people, for while we cannot say that
sl reformers were Christians. we do
know that all Christians were reformers
necessarily. and that mission work and
teaching brought about largely the de-
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