Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-09
PROGRESS IN CHINA
{
A Man Who Works for Re-
form.
PRICE ON HIS HEAD
EMPRESS DOWAGER OFFERS
100000 FOR HIM ALIVE.
His Talk to a Star Reporter Of His
Work and Tim for His
People.
PRICE ON HIS HEAD

'front.' OF the progressive movement in
China. on whose head the dowager en-
press has placed a price, is now in WASH
iEgtop in the person of his excelency
Kang Yu Wei of Hong Kong. He arrived
in the city yesterday evening and took
quarters at the Arlington Hotel. He IS
here for the purpose of studying American
conditions at first hand. He is engaged
in making a tour of the world in order to
study the political economy and philosophy
OF government of all countries and peoples
for the benefit of China. He is travelling
leisurely, with a small retinue, and intends
to put in a year or two going over the
United States and the South and Central
American states. Kang Yu Wei is deter
mined to leave nothing undone that will
help him to inform himself as to the man
ner in which the peoples of the so-called
civilized countries conduct themselves and
the business of their nations.
He is the head and front of the Chinese
Reform Association, which has over 2,OOO,-
600 members enrolled In 100 organizations
throughout the world, outside of China.
Because of his activities on behalf of this
association and because of his actions dur
ing the brief term of 100 days that the En-
peror of China actually held sway over his
people, the empress dowager has offered
any person bringing him into her presence
with him by the empress if she catches
him he does not care to contemplate. She
has captured and beheaded or imprisoned
almost every member of his family because
of their connection with him and she has
dealt severely with many of his followers
A Tutor of the Emperor.
kang Yu Wei is a Chinaman of the high
est caste and most intelligent type He was
tutor to the present emperor and inter-
Sta6
people He is the author of a number of
books, one of which dealt with the life of
Peter the Great. He has written much on
political economy and has translated into
Chinese many works of value relating to
the government of the various progressive
nations of the world. He has written his
tories of the reformation movements in
Japan, Russia, England, Germany, France
and other countries.
All of these books have been printed in
cheap form for distribution among the
people. Thus was the propaganda of re-
form started. The emperor became an
ardent advocate of the measures proposed
by his tutor When he assembled the throne
at the time he reached his ma jority he
instantly set about instituting the re-
forms his tutor had suggested to him.
with the result that the conservative
mandarins took fright, appealed to the
empress for aid and Kang Yu Wei was
forced to flee for his life. The emperor
remained his friend and is still his friend.
Kang Yu exchanges letters and messages
with the emperor even now, the members
of his suite declare, and it was through a
warning sent him by the emperor that
the tutor was able to escape with his life.
During the short time the emperor occu-
pied the throne untrammeled by the
dowager empress kang Yu was practi
cally his prime minister.
Kang Yu does not talk English, but
through an interpreter, Mr.. Chew Kok
Hean, a member of his suite, he made an
extended statement to a reporter for The
Star this morning of his hopes and aims
for China.
1T is our desire to establish in the en-
pire a progressive government of the
type of the English parliamentary sys-
tenn" he said. The movement for reform
In China has the support of large per-
centage of the better educated and more
intelligent of the Chinese. We are anx-
ious to see our nation go forward. we
have been standing still while all the rest
of the world has been progressing. Tween
ty years ago l addressed a memorial to
the throne in which prayed for the In
stitution of reforms. 1 pointed out the
progress of the remainder of the world
and of Japan, our neighbor.
II stated that unless some attempt was
made to relieve ourselves from the slough
of ignorance into which we had fallen we
would lose Korea, our territory would be
encroached upon by foreign powers ana
that eventually Japan would humlllate US
on the field of battle. My words were re-
ceived with jeers by the members of the
conservative party. The people said was
mad and that a statement that Japan
would accomplish our downfall as mil
itary power was sufficient evidence OF my
insanity, and yet, see how my prophecies
were fulfilled. We did lose Korea, our ter
ritory has been encroached upon, and Japan
did humiiate u.s. All these things came to
pass within the short space of a decade
and a half, and still we did nothing.
Empress in the Way of Progress.
1.-The empress stands in the way of all
progress Until we can dispose of her our
work will be only preparatory. But we are
preparing Before 1 was driven from China
I had organized societies and had practi-
cally accomplished the enlightenment of
thirteen out of the eighteen provinces of
the empire; 1 had established newspapers
and distributed many pamphlets and books
that were read with interest by the people.
And right here 1 might say that we must
not be represented as being revolutionary
party.
1--WE are not revolutionary in the least,
and our literature is not of that character.
We do not want to overthrow the dynasty,
but we do want to overthrow the dowager
empress. She is not qualified by birth or
breeding to rule the Country. She was not
the legal wife of the late emperor, only his
concubine, and she assumed the reins of
state during the infancy of her son. The
pamphlets and books we distributed advO-
Gated progress. They called on the people
and sciences, to study agriculture and make
themselves proficient to take the place in
the world the Chinese people are entitled to
take. We want to build railroads, establish
schools, publish newspapers and have a
legislature Our association has the SYM
pathy and support of vast majority of
the educated men of the empire. We num-
Der among our members or adherentS as 1t
Is dangerous for a man to belong to our
organization in China, some of the highest
mandarins of the state. The late Ii Hung
Chang was an intimate friend and ardent
supporter, and so are many others well
known to the public. Before l was driven
from China l established forty-three soci-
cites, which included among their members
only the men of higher education and cul-
ture, the literatti of the empire, as it were.
These men spent their time preparing books
and papers on the subject of reform and
distributing them among the people. Each
convert we made to our cause was made to
work for it.
I'VE built up a large membership. This,
OF course, was broken up, but 1t accom-
plished much good. Among the reforms is
the success of the efforts to prevent the
h nf ba foot of fI1a far, 10 ohiI