Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-02
CHINA IS HES|TAT|NG
SWayed Between Western and
Eastern Ideas.
UPRISING AGAIN POSSIBLE
Legations Are Now Equipped With
Wireless Instruments.
EXPLOITS OF THE PIRATES
May Be Stirring Times When the
Dowager Empress Dies-Progres-
sive Ideals of Kwang Su.


vices received here from Hongkong and
vicinity the troubles with pirates only
just beginning.
One story has it that series of raids
commenced when ten men who appeared
to be harmless aborers boarded the Brit
ish steam launch Fienam just below WI
chow. They had been on board only lit
tie time when they suddenly produced re-
volvers and with the revolvers covered the
passengers and the crew.
Two of the pirates Systematically search
ed and bound the passengers while their
eight comrades held all in terror with their
weapons. Next the members of the crew
were overpCwered, robbed and pinoned,
and the pirates took charge of the vessel.
Their captain took the rudder and de-
liberately collded while going al high
speed with a larger Chinese launch, the
Chanfook. The robbers were flung On deck
by the force of the collision. but instantly
sprang up and boarded the Chanfook.
Again the crew and the passengers were
carefully searched. robbed and bound. This
done they were thrown headlong on the
captiveS lying on the bottom of the Fienam.
The pirate leader then returned on board
the latter and quickly wrecked the ma
chinery. The Fenam, helpless and with
her helpless cargo, was soon cut adrift.
These exploits. however, were thrown
completely in the shade by the audacty
of the next step. Steaming up in the dark
with no lights showing, the pirate launch
attacked commissioners armed launch, on
board of which was a guard of eight SOL
diers watching a valuable cargo. There was
sudden noise as the Chanfook, with her
engines stopped, glided up to the other
vessel and rasped along her side sharp
fusillade and an attempt to rush the guards
followed. But the latter were on the alert
and better armed. They fired hastily at
the looming figures and met the rush of the
pirates stoutly. They fought hand-to-hand
in the dark for a few minutes. Then the
pirate loudly called his men back to the
Chanfook the engines throbbed, and the
vessel was quickly lost in the darkness.
Several had been wounded on both sides in
the darkness; the result of the liberal use
of knives and revolvers.
Still unsa ted the pirate leader cruised
about searching for new victims. At
o'clock in the morning he found the launch
Saiyik. The same plan of campaign was
adopted and met with the customary sue
cess. The Chanfook was steered right
into the unsuspecting vessel. the pirates
loaded on board. and the crew and the pas
sengers were robbed. TINS time the roo-
bers did not transfer their captives, the
Chanfook apparently being the better YES
sci.
When dawn came the pirates ran their
vessel on the beach near Fongchaien and
made off unframed Their nights work
had brought them at least $1,000 Some of
them were wounded and this will make
capture and Identification possible. Two
of the pirates launches are badly dam
aged.
RACES of this kind before the advent of the
Chinese new year
New Legation Quarter.
The legation quarters in Picking be-
ing transformed. The Boxer uprising left
scars everywhere. On the outer wall one
sees whole strips of the parapets swept
away. The stones were Communicated by
the soldiers of one of the powers during the
occupation to build their legation. The ia
nous astronomical instruments on the wall
disappeared when the foreign troops came,
and several of them now add to the orna-
mentation of the museums of Berlin Some,
however, which were taken away by the
French have been restored by the French
government and are now being put IN
their places again. The splendid white
marble palaces around the Altar of
Heaven where the emperor goes to Wor-
ship are today stripped, for white soldiers
live in them. Even the famous Lama Tenn
pie IS now open.
After the great siege of Picking the pow
ers determined not to be caught mapping
again. A large part of the indemnity
money obtained from China has been spent
in erecting the most elaborate Legations
and barracks for troops. Germany has
real fortress with moated sides and sloping
walls and abundant artillery; Italy rivals
France and countries like Holland have
raised palaces. America can boast the
ugliest and the most unsuitable legation,
while England has the most artistic and
best. England Is content, and wisely, with
the beautiful Chinese palace which has so
long served that country as legation
headquarters Even some of the mission
aries have caught the fever of display. The
great Catholic cathedral erected as repara-
ton by the Chinese Is a grief to every
loyal Manchu One American missionary
society has even builded for itself hos
pital and homes which rival the legations.
Future of Kwang Su.
The Marconi mast showing above the
Italian legal ton, the many soldiers Of
many nations in the streets, the heavily
guarded gateways of the ministerial
quarters all tell their tale of uncertain out
look. The west is in Picking by sufferance,
and evidently knows it even at this late
date. very little, short spell of fam
inc, the rise of a real leader for the
anti-Manchu party, the uncertainty follow
ing the death of a personality like the
dowager empress, or something as yet I'M
expected may again bring to the front the
anti-foreign movement. And then would
come into play the Marconi towers and
an appeal to the nations for more troops.
\ The schools that one sees in the main
streets, the movements of the newsmen,
the publication of the reform journals, and
even the rise of European trained officials
into favor-all these things would be swept
away in the twinkling Of an eye in case
such an outburst should come.
The sights Of the Forbidden City, the
home of the dowager empress and the en-
peror may well make one pause. The fine
wall facing the British legation-only yes
terday, as it were, the center of the hottest
fighting-the beautiful pagodas on the ris-
ing mounds and the yellow roof of the i'm
periaI buildings make picture of impress
sive beauty. Behind these walls rests one
of the most tragic figures in modern his
tory, Kwang Su, Emperor Of China, the
man who tried to hustle the east and who
made failure Of 1t.
f,,f,, hiStn af.C nfnrc
around the personality of this one man.
Today he remains practically a prisoner,
held in bondage by the strong and domi-
| mating dowager empress. But when she
l. ho,, de- ofra acci