The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-01
regard it as a long step in the right di-


On every hand one sees signs of in-
tellectual development. AS stated in
another article, the private school was
for centuries the only source from
which instruction in books could ba
gained. Now a complete system Of
schools is being established, consisting
of primary, middle and hi 9Th schools,
with colleges in. the larger cities. Vice.
roy Yuan Shih Kai, who presides over
the district in which Picking is stu
ated, and whom, thru the courtesy Of
Minister Rockhill, had an oppor.
tunity to meet, informed me that he had
established 5000 schools within his
jurisdiction within the past four years
The viceroy is the successor of Ii
Hung Chang and is considered the
most influential man in the empire.
He is about 46 years old and impresses
one as man of great mental vigor
and alertness. He seems to take
| deep interest in the reforms now being
worked out and is cordial in his treat.
| ment Of Americans.
Consul General Rodgers of Shanghai
happened to be in Marking during our
visit there, and we paid our respects
to Viceroy Chou Flu. This viceroy is
quite old and feeble, but he is crap.
ping with the new problems and is
patron of education. He has estab-
lished 1000 schools during the last few
years and estimated the number Of
chinese students in Japan at this time
at 5000.
At Shanghai there is a government
university, the buildings of which cost
$2l0,OOO. We learned that in some
places Buddhist temples were being
converted into schools; that girls
schools are already being provided FOR.
lhs is even greater evidence Of
progress than the opening of schools
Tor boys, because of the inferior posi-
zion which woman has occupied in the
celestial empire.
| Besides the government schools,
tnere are numerous missionary schools
IN which instruction is given to both
boys and girls. We visited some Of
these schools at Picking, Marking and
Shanghai, and found the instructors en-
, couraged by the attendance and the in
: terest taken. A number of Americans,
and still larger number of japanese,
) are teaching in the government schools.
, But enough has been said to indicate
the regeneration thru which the fiowery
kingdom is passing. What will be
the effect of the change upon the
| world? Who is wise enough to peer
into the future and outline the record
OF the next century, Japan furnishes
the nearest parallel. Compare the
Japan of fifty years ago with the Japan
OF today and some conception can be
formed of China fifty years hence. As
Japan's commerce increased. so is Chi
IS commerce increasing; as Japan
sent statesmen abroad to investigate
the methods of other governments. SO
China is now sending inquirers abroad;
as Japan turned her attention to
schools and colleges, so China is learn
ing the advantage of universal educa-
ton; as japanese students iourneyed
into distant lands in search of knowl-
edge, SO Chinese students are in increas-
ing numbers studying in foreign col
leges. Even in the enlargement and
training of her army she is patterning
after Japan and employing japanese
drillmasers.
It need not be thought strange that
there is an antiforeign sentiment in
China. Was there not an antiforeign
sentiment in Japan forty years ago 2
The Shimoneseki affair was not unlike
the Boxer trouble, except that it was
less fatal to life, but it exerted a large
influence in the overthrow of the sho-
t gun and in the restoration of the en-
e peror. just as in Japan the old family
q gave way to the new and progress took
/ the place of stagnation, SO in China the
l. old must give way to the new.
|. Advance is inevitable and the world
i need not fear the result If China
were strong enough to give effect to
It the hostility which some of her people
y now feel, she might be menace to the
n peace of the world, but she Cannot
q grow in strength faster than she
d grows in knowledge, and as she grows
y in knowledge she will learn, as oshe,
nations have learned, that nations help
y rather than injure each other by the
# material, intellectual and moral devel.
s opment of their people.