The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-01
NOT TO BE WESTERNIZED
THE REFORM MOVEMENT IN CHINA
Is NOT PROMISING.
Changes Will Come, but the Ways and
Ideas of Ages Old VIII Remain
Predominant.

come in daily contact with the Chinese, !
any attempt to effect radical changes in |
their habits and modes of thought appears I
10 be fantastical Cinnamon are learning /
how TO make big guns and how to handle |
them, and they are learning other things |
with avdity which will enable them TO pro- !
tect themselves from the foreign DEVILS" |
but they are not making any other changes |
in their methods or habits TO indicate that !
they intend to Europeanize themselves.
In this connection very learned and in
fuentiaI Chnaman said to me recently:
Reform waves are common enough in
China. We have been experiencing them
for several thousand years. They are
phenomena always more or less manifest
in some part of the empire. Once on a time
a socialistic wave, something like that
which is now sweeping Russia, reached
here, and socialism became the dream
of every one who was poor and not few
others besides. The Chinese are great on
ethics, and socialism was an ethical evolu-
ton. The socialistic regime was finally
started and the millennium was on its way,
but alas even in China human nature was
imperfect, and the dream ended in failure,
disgust, and a return to the old order of
things. Since that almost forgotten day,
China has seen many revolutions and many
reform movements started, but they do not
affect a sufficient proportion of the popu-
Iation to be felt to any serious extent.
To-day China is the greatest sociological
problem on the face of the earth She is the
one solitary instance of stationary civiliza-
| ton without deterioration.
Some imagine that the Chinese are a
70 hI,ff ic IoI,
cally the Chinese are the strongest race on
earth in proportion TO the conditions under
which they live. Think of the fact that
sanitation is practically unknown in China
The Chinese live amid foul smells The
water they drink teens with bacteria. 1t is
! just this backwardness of science and this
abuse of sanitation which have maintained
the physical strength of the race From
boyhood upward Chinaman has, by sheer
strength of constitution, to hold his own
against conditions unfavorable to life. The
doctor does not come forward to help him
fight his battles. Naturally the infant
mortality is great; only the sound in con-
stitution pull through. So, when we speak
of stagnation. it will be seen that the
term applies only to our civilization. AS our
population thickens it is probable they grow
which bad sanitation engenders You may
be sure of one thing: the Chinese will never
die out in the presence Of European fire.
| water diseases. We have had fre-water
| for ages and are one of the most sober
nations on earth. Their own method of liv-
| ing has braced them to stand all kinds of
zymotic diseases
IN CHINESE POLITICS.
Nov, as to political reform. OF course,
1 often read the American newspapers, as
do the English newspapers. From them
learn that there is much corruption in poll
tics, especially in America. 1t is the wealthy
there who Cypress the poor. / do not see
why the behavior of wealthy classes
should be criticised under these circum-
stances. You have many dishonest. corrupt
! officials in America, as we have here, but
that does not lead you to change your sys-
tenn of government, of which you appear to
be as proud as we are Of ours. AS mat
ter of fact, China is at least as true a de-
mocracy as is the United States. There is
no class privilege here by birth. The merit
OF the system, which distributes administra-
tive appointments according to educational
tests, is this: that no Chinaman is debarred
In his youth from the hope of rising to the
top of the tree. II he is unable to rise, it
is owing to his own incapacity or lack of
ambition. Education is cheap and any one
who chooses may compete in the series of
examinations which open the way to the
highest appointments in the empire What
institution is better calculated than this sys-
tenn of competitive examinations to make
men patriotic and satisfied with the existing
order of things? 1t is the apotheoss of
equity-the evolution of the most perfect
system of self-government yet practiced
by mankind. The only office not thrown
open to competition is that OF Emperor,
and no Chinaman who understands how
completely that supreme head is a slave of
custom. if not of duty, is apt to covet the
position
THE STOREHOUSE OF MORALS
Nov, as to our educational system in
concomitance with morals. there are the
four books and the five classics, which are
the subjects of study and which form the
basis of the competitive examinations; con-
stitute the great storehouse OF morality and
wisdom to which we are continually refer
ing. All educated Chinese citizens read and
admire these writings Of the wise and old
, and the study of them produces a COM
munity of life, character and ideas which
, is powerful than any freema sonry
: the idea Of which we thoroughly under
stand. The study OF the ancient classics
and the examinations bearing on them hold
the empire together, and are, in addition
a powerful antiseptic that prevents the cor.
ruption of the national life. Can you sug-
gest another place in the world where there
has been a code of law or morals that
has so long remained living influence fol
good? Admitting that Chinese civilization
is below the European product, it must bt
conceded that the Chinese have advanced
long way and that they have shown nc
tendency to recede toward barbarism. Thi:
: is largely due to the extensive study of tn.
great classical authors as well as the fac
: that the whole constitution of Chinese socie
~ seems admirably contrived To proven
a disintegraton and decadence. The family
is the unit OF the empire. There are n,
. isolated individuals, except those who hav.
: been expelled from their families for dis
: graceful conduct. The social unit which
i among Western nations is understood in ;
D less concrete way, is the family. In China
; il includes three or four generations livinl
. ! under one roof. The family council sits ii
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