The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02

. Martins Book About CHINA

volume entitled The Awakening Of China.
BIZ W. A. p. MARTIN. DID,; LID, formerly
president OF the Chinese Imperial University
doubleday, Page & co.,. DR.. Martin 10, OF
course, well known in the United States,
not only 70 educators but also to general
readers, by reason Of his former writings
Il Cvois OF Cathay.= sThe Lore OF Cathay,=
IN. Speaking from the breadth and depth
OF an experience with which. in his particu-
lar field, no European or American can vie,
he expresses In q preface the conviction that
China IL now the theatre Of the greatest
movement taking place on the face OF the
globe. He submits that in comparison the
current agitation in Russia shrinks TO insig-
linoance, for China's upheaval Is not ,po-
litical but social. Its object 10 nc mere
change of dynasty. nor simply a revolution
in the form of government; with higher aim
and ~profounder motive 1t promises nothing
ehort Of the complete renovation of the old
est, most populous and most conservative
uf empires. II there. he asks, in either
hemisphere q people that can AFFORD TO be-
hold such a phenomenon with indifference
Or. Martin reminds us that when Japan
some thirty or forty years ago adopted the
outward forms Of Western civilization her
action was regarded by many onlookers as
n stage trick-a sort OF travesty employed
for q temporary purpose. What, he in
quires. do-they think now. when they see
cabinets and chambers Of COM
PEELED TO reckon with the British OF the
North Paci6c2 He Is convinced that the
awakening OF Japan's huge neighbor is
likely to yield results even more startling,
because on a scale vastly more extensive.
Long experience and careful observation
" IT - 49, H. ,~AaARNN aNrtaI
movement in China has IL origin in sub
terranean forces such as raise continents
from the bosom Of the deep. To explain
thoee forces is his object.
II was, we learn, the fascination OF the
Rreat spectacle now beginning TO be un-
folded IN the Middle Kingdom that brought
Or. Martin back to China after a visit 10
his native land-and TO Pekin. after a So
journ OF some years in the central prov
ihcea. Had the people, he says. continued
70 be as inert and immobile as they APP
peared when first he knew them half a
century ago he would have been nclined
10 despair Of their future. When he sees
them, however. as they are to-day, united
in a firm resolve TO break with the past
and to seek new life by adopting the essen
tials Of Western civilization, DIR. Martin
feels that his hopes as TO their future are
already more than half fulfilled, and he re-
joices to help them onward with his voice
and pen. 1t is true that for the ONE
Chinese patriotism is tinged with hostility
10 foreiRners-not without cause-but our
author believes that 1t will gain in breadth
and liberation with growing intelligence
md that ere long the Chinese will perceive
that their interests are inseparable from
those Of the great and enlightened family
into which they are seeking admission.
Among the proofs OF progress is cited
the fact that last autumn China was able
by means Of her railways to assemble for
m%anuuvre a body OF trained troops num-
berinR 100, 600 men, and that not content
with this nucleus Of a formidable land force
the Pekin Government has ordered the con-
~struction of the germ Of a navy to consist
Of eight armored cruisers and two battle
ships, five Of which vessels. together with
!, three naval stations, are TO be equipped
with the wireless telegraph apparatus.
Not less but even more significant than this
rehabilitation Of army and navy is another
fact adduced by DR.. Martin, namely. that in
October, 1905, a number OF young Chinese
who had completed their studies at foreign
universities were admitted to the third
degree in the Chinese scale OF literary
honors, a degree which carries appointment
20 some important post in the active man
Adarinate. II the booming Of cannon at last
autumn's review proclaimed that the age
of bows and arrows was past, does not this
second fact announce with equal clearness
that in the educational field rhyming and
caligraphy must henceforth give place to
science and a comparative study OF Ian
Ruages? Still more surprising to many
American readers will be the information,
which we owe to DR.. Martin, that steps have
recently been taken toward the intellectual
emancipation Of women in China. ON OF
the leading Ministers of Education assured
our author not long ago that he was pushing
the establishment Of schools for girls. The
shaded hemisphere OF Chinese life will thus
be brought into the sunshine. and in years
10 come the education Of Chinese youth
will begin at the mothers knee,
IL was by the absorption Of small States
that the Chinese people grew to greatness.
In the book before us is traced their his
torv. as they emerged like a rivulet from
the highlands Of central Asia and, increas-
lnR in volume. flowed like a stately river
toward the Eastern Ocean. Revolutions
many and startling are recorded in these
pages; some, like the ~upheaval which took
plaoe in the epoch Of the Great Wall, stamped
the impress OF unity upon the entire popu-
lation; others, like the Manchu conquest
Of 1914, brought a whole or a part Of the
Chinese under the sway Of a foreign dyn-
nsty. Finally, the contemporary history
Of China is treated by DR.. Martin at some
length, and the Transformation which the
empire il now undergoing is faithfully
depicted in lite relations to Western in
+ Buences within the fields Of religion, CON-
MERGE and arms.
That the parent stock to which the
Chinese nation should trace its origin waf
4 small migratory people like the Tribes
Of Israel and that the emigrants entered
he land Of promise from the northeast
DR.. Martin considers tolerably certain.
Nsas ho holds that to try to follow their
previous wanderings back to Shinar, India
or Persia would be a waste OF time, as the
necessary data are lacking. Even within
/ The domain which the emigrants were
Inmtined 70 occupy the accounts given