Evening star., 1907-08-31
The AWAKENING OF CHINA
GIANT NATION COMING OUT OF
ITS LONG SLEEP.
Reform Making Progress - Building
Railways-Looking to West
ern Peoples.
Chow Tszchi Charge a. 'Anair,s OF China IN Va.
Nor,ien Magazine " "'"h' :" va"

""s al Iast taken hold OF China.
| A''efnpts 10 galvanIze the giant out of
MS sleep OF ages have been made MANY
| .ifnes' but until recently they failed be-
cause the giant was not ready 10 avalxe
NOW he has reused himself stretched him
sell ana begun to put his house in OF.
| "ei' II was time. Had he not awakened
"heh ne did he would have found his house
IN possession of strangers, and tho
strangers would perhaps be quarrelins
among themselves over the right OF possess
| sion.
| The lamp OF reform. which was lirb,oa
more more than ten years ago. and nickercd fit
iuiy, now blazing up into a flame that
au.a,, aUonvu IKE conhagration. now dying
away or being stamped down until only
the Wisest could see that the embers stlil
burned, Is at last burning steadily, its glow
,.efdeas,ng raed,s daY by day. China is getting
reauy 10 take her place among the great
elvilzed nations of the world
Large bodies move slowly and il is n
more lno ', tedious and difficult work TO reform
oooWoVoo OF people, spreading over half a
continent. than IL is to reform n smaller
hauon linen you must remember that un-
LEV ,ii rev years ago We had no railways, no
teiesraphs. In China. Our only means OF
communication between widely distant
places was by boat and cars or by mail
carriers on horseback.
Another most important condition 70 ha
taken INTO consideration in discussing the
reform of China is the age of the peonle
ana a, tneir reverence for tradition. 1t is q
TO comprehend this condition TO the fiill ex-
tent of Its Importance, but every or entail
Understands 1t. China, you See has grown
upon seven thousand years of tradition: her
authentic history begins before Abraham
ived In Palestine, before the Greeks be-
sleged Troy; her greatest philosophers lived
anu anu tausnt the most perfect philosophy
that has ever been given to man more than
o;oVo years ago This philosophy has been
the sole mental diet of China all these
years. 1t was sufficient food for our
10
paiates; such is the principle that is born
ana bred In every Chinese. Education we
nave ever had, but our education has baen
pased upon a different principle from that
or the rest of the world. We had little or
no communication with outside countries
until very recently; consequently we had
no need to know anything about them: We
were happy In our own simple way because
we were philosophers, and we taught our
children to be philosophers in order that
.hey might be happy. We had no ma
Chlnery; our people lived on the land as
farmers. and as time was object it was
tnelr delight to conceive and to make beau
tifui things; hence the art that has made
US Famous the world over. q;
This tradition, this philosophy this edu.
cation have made Of us the most conserva-
tive people on earth Had we been able to
prevent foreigners from coming into China
we should have continued on down the
ages, happy in our own way and at peace
with all our neighbors. l do not say 1t
would have been good for U.S. but had not
quite sure should have thought, as many
millions Of my fellow countrymen still
think that 1t Is thousand pities the for
egners came, like the serpent, into the
Eden of your Bibles, and tempted us away
from our innocence. But the foreigners
came: We could not keep them out. The
results Of these efforts are history, full OF
wars, rebellions and slaughter Of innocents.
who had no idea what the trouble was all
about.
Report Of Imperial Commission.
/ will not attempt to trace the history of
the awakening of China, the instilling into
our people Of the knowledge that things
were done differently and perhaps better
elsewhere; that railways were more rapid
than junks, that teegraphs saved endless
trouble, that machinery could do in a few
hours what human hands required months
to perform, and all the other ideas of prog
ress which were the result of the influx OF
foreigners
The imperial commission which visited
this country and Europe one year ago, upon
their return submitted elaborate report
of all they had seen and of all they had
gathered to the throne. After studying the
report and giving 1t due reflection, his mai
esty, the Emperor Kwang Hsu, issued an
imperial edict, the most remarkable docu-
ment ever emanating from a sovereign Of
China. Its salient and strongest points read:
I'VE have been instructed by her majesty.
the empress dowager, to make 1t known
throughout our country that the laws and
statutes of the present dynasty have been
changed from time to time by our wise and
august predecessors, and have been grad.
ually nodded into their present excellent
form. But now being in communication
and harmony with other countries of the
world, and learning that their constitutions
and laws have been derived also from other
countries while our country has remained
steadfast to it's traditions OF many CEN
turies, we realize that we are retrograding
rather than progressing. Unless we proht
by the example Of other and more en-
lightened nations and change the laws on
our books we cannot hope to satisfy our
people nor give satisfaction to the levered
memory of our ancestors Therefore We
have sent special commissioners to foreign
countries to note, observe and study their
wisest laws and report to the throne"
The first immediate result of this remark.
able utterance was the establishment or
several new departments, or boards, may
call them. of administration. The most
important of these is the ministry of trans
portation and communications to manage
the railroads navigation, post offices and
telegraphs, at the head of which ministry
we find II. E. Tong Shoa VI, who was form
erly vice president Of the ministry Of for
eign affairs. He Is a graduate of - Amer
lean college, and his chief assistant is Shao
Ki Alfred SEE, graduate of Cornell, who
has been selected by the government to be
adviser on railroad AFFAIRS or the Doard OK
communications
Board Of Agriculture.
Another new and important board is that
at the head Of which Is Prince Chen, son Of
Prince Ching, the prime minister. Prince
Chen is one Of the most Travelled members
of the imperial family, and has visited the
United States, Europe and Japan several
times. With his distinguished father he
stands In the front rank Of the modern
reform movement in China.
A third important department Of recent
birth Is that of education, which has al
ready made immense progressive strides.
The education of women is also already
making itself felt. The Chinese have al
ways kept their women at home, and their
main education, until recently. was mostly
and generally in housework and domestic
duties Now the Viceroy Yuan Shi kai has
provided funds for the building and opening
of a women's college. and many of the
more enlightened mandarins, as well as the
Weather merchants, are sending their
daughters to the new women's college IN
the city of Tientsin. The empress dowager
has also granted a large fund for endow-
ment Of several girls colleges, one OF
which in Peking, is exclusively for the
daughters of the nobility. She has likewise
ordered the provincial governors to give the
widest range to the education of girls.
The judicial department has also been