Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-01


tho sovereignty of China or which are
with the principle of equal
opportunity'-ie.. the open door.
BY article ~, Russia and Japan mu-
obstacle in the way of general measures
which apply equally to all nations. and
which China might adopt for the develop |
ment of commerce and industry in Man.
churia''
M. Jean Rodes has been writing from
China since the last six months series
of letters to LIE Temps, under the title OF
THE New China" He says: Progress
has been decreed in China, but there Is no
country in the world where the differ
ence is greater between decree and Its
execution. between the law and the Gus
tom, than in China In fact. II we ex-
anime these reforms one after another,
we may see quickly that except for opin-
ion. the army, and in certain measure,
instruction, nothing of all that is said to
have been accomplished exists, except on
paper"
And NJ. Rodes proceeds at length to
give his impressions. The schools nave
been organized and students attend In
great numbers. for the better classes have
a real fever to learn. On the other hand
there is a great lack of professors. whom
the mandafins try to supply from the
Catholic and Protestant missions.
In the village of Yangete. the project.
greatly embarrassed for lack of teachers
caused a Chinaman to be brought from
Shanghai simply because he had been In
the Laundry business in America! Students
have required bad reputation in the re-
cent revolutionary movement, and re-
action has set in against too much edu-
cation. Recently the VicerOy Toan Fank
closed the high schools because the
scholars had bad principles"
The judicial reform is less than all else
a reality. One of the things that wounds
the amour propre Of the
Judicial Chinaman Is the law of
exterritoriality by which
"' the foreigner is amenable
only to the consul. The suppression of
torture and the limitation Of the death
penalty to decapitation are applied only
at Pel1ing and Tientsin. Elsewhere the
ancient and horrible practices persist. Be-
sides, the viceroys and governors declare
that they had great difficulty in maintain
ing order under the old system, but they
would not be responsible If the new sys-
tenn was imposed upon them imperatively:
Decapitation without previous torture?
The operation would be positive provo
cation to crime.
The constitutional reform is considered
everywhere as an infallible panacea
against the maIady of revolution. At Tien-
tsin, Yuan Sic Kwai. in order to establish
the electoral lists, caused three to four
hundred thousand blanks to be distributed
containing series Of questions to which
replies were required. Three thousand
only responded. Yuan tried again; the
result was even worse. The truth Is the
Chinaman has a distrust of those who
govern him, and who will say that he is
not wise? So long, however. as this atti-
tude is maintained, it will be difficult, IL
mn ironncSfhlo RI admit faf
regime.
The recent revolutions In the south of
China were due to the extra contributions
imposed upon the people by the manda-
rims, oStensibly for the construction of
schools. The secret is not a mystery for
any one in China. Not tenth of the money
collected reached the public treasury. This
question of the Chinese functionary is in
deed one Of the gravest. In China it is
well known the officials purchased his
place. For example, one may read any
day in the Chinese press some such
notice as the following:
His excellency Tame Koh. marshal of
Kiriu, having remarked that the office Of
marshal in the three
Business northern provinces has
n.. been suppressed. and not
""eAon' knowing IL the court will
give another place to him. has sent to
Picking his intimate friends with 300 600
taels with which to purchase a good Of
fee"
With what joy the infiuentials who have
pull at Picking welcomed the friends
of Tame Koli!
1t is very we'll understood that such
sums are not paid for an Office for the
H>.,< f1r 49,
made out Of 1t. So long as this system
prevails, SO long as the principle Of
squeeze" shall not have been taken from
the brain and marrow of the Chinese
functionary, nothing serious can come of
the so-called reforms in China. Squeeze"
is the poison that destroys patriotism in
China, and elsewhere. wherever 1t exists.
Anarchy and corruption above, latent re-
volt below. AS for reforms: Many de-
crees. but few realizations.
A writer in the Celestial Empire" re-
e'ring to Chinese reforms. writes thus:
There are emphytic airs in Chinese
society which are showing themselves in
the poisoning of mems minds toward not
only what is good in foreign assistance,
but what is commendable in the promise
of the Manchu dynasty.
THE spirit of rebellion which never
quite dies down in China is just now
very mischievously alive. and it is quite
certain that to this is to be attributed
not little Of the violence of the anti
foreign movement which is causing so
much trouble to the authorities and to
those who have legal rights in the way of
railway and other concessions. This is
the serious side of the Chinese awakening.
1t is heard of in Shantung. 1t is ablaze in
Shanzi 1t is f1aring up in Kiang-su and
Chah Kiang. 1t has already broken out
into riot and rebellion I'm the south. 1t is
a matter which is giving and must con-
tinue to give the Picking authorities many
an anxious moment. since it contains
what is now the germ of the greatest of
Chinese internal problems: Who is to rule
in China, the capital or the province"
The Sino-Japanese war, the spoliations
of territory and the disastrous affair of
1900 have taught China that she exists. |
Before 1895 China was sort of huge
block. systematically opposed to occi-
dental civiliZation-asleep so far as the
world without was concerned The shock
of her defeat by Japan reused her from
her slumber. The subsequent defeat of
the Russians by the japanese vibrated as
the sound Of a gong and awakened en-
tirely not only China, but all Asia and
India. But China awakens as child, !
and needs for many years to come the |
careful care of a trained nurse-an hon. |
est, friendly nurse-a place that admirably |
becomes China's big brother.
CH. CHAILLE-LONG.
THE MOTOR GRACE"