The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-02-26
OUT-OF-THE-WAY CHINA
Only The Missionaries Are Carving
Thither Western Ideas.

10 most people the word Hsin-hwa
merely conveys something quite un-
pronounceable, but hearing ii / have
a vision of walled city of some 25.-
ooO inhabitants set in a net work of
canals in inland China, girt round on
every side by yellow waters. In and
ABOUT it passes the never-endine
stream of Chinese life; traders. fish,
ers, carriers, faring up and down the
Grand canal and its branches-and
once week for token that China is
awake, putting steam launch. Hsin-
hwa lies some hundred miles or so
north or north and east, of Chinkiang
which you will find on the Yangtze
and Is to be met with on but one
English atlas--which shall be name-
less Yet its population runs into tens
or thousands, and it's trade is by no
means inconsiderable. For the rest.
1t is, If you will, tyl 'caI Chinese
town OF the lesser sort; remote and
sequestered, moved now ami again by
the doings in coast towns and treaty
ports, but for the most part living it's
own life. For its fellows, theil name
Is legion. scattered up and down the
Yangtze valley and the basin of the
Hoangho; unconsidered by the ordi-
nary Englishman, ignored by the
globe-trotter with his Future of
China"
Hsin-hwa is only typical of thou
sands of other cities. and so ones
view Of China must largely be in
huenced by these tiny settlements.
For good or ill they are there, and It
is scarcely likely they will be broken
up, short of that event dear to the
heart of the sensational novelist-a
sudden rising Of the East One has
then 10 reckon with them in forming
any estimate Of the future of China,
and unfortunately they are almost
wholly neglected by the ordinary
writer. He will tell you in perfectly
vague terms that the missionaries are
a nuisance, excite the Chinese, were
the cause of the Boxer" trouble. and
SO forth. Now every one of these
statements is demonstratbly false. The
Boxer" rising was very certainly di-
rected against foreign, not merely
Christian, influences. 1t was precipi-
tated, as anyone who knows China
Will admit, by the system of land
grabbing" which gave Kisao-chow to
G4many and Wei-shai-wei to Eng
land, and it was aggravated by that
commercial jealousy which is so much
in evidence today in the Pacific. And
while it is perfectly possible TO make
out plausible case for the total ex-
clusion Of the foreigner, you must if
you admit anyone, admit the mission
ary. He is not there for selfish mo-
tves; he is, from his principles, op-
posed to any sort of violence, and he
is generally speaking, a man who re-
fuses to support his own converts
against the "unconverted" Chinese.
And, on the whole, setting on one
side the religious question, one feels
certain that these tiny mission stations
are working for good. They are very
slowly but none the less surely bring
ing about that waking Of China"
which is the work, not of one wear.
nor OF two, but Of many decades.
These people living among the Chinese
are gradually accustoming them to
Western ideas, gradually preparing
China for the great change which
must come. So far it is only the great
centers that have really been infiuen-
ced; there are still hundreds of mill
lions who have not yet seen a white
man. 1t is by means of the mission
aries that these inland towns are
brought, in any measure at all. into
contact with the new order. In an
other way, too, they are doing useful
work. If China is to be civilized. it is
well the West should take some part
In 1t. Japan has her agents. and
these foreigners in inland China are
of great importance in reminding the
Chinese that Japan has no monopoly
of energy and enterprise. Where En-
giish goods are scarcely to be met
with, there you will find the mission
ary slowly doing the work Of the pio-
neer. That is to put the case on it's
lowest level, to omit all mention of
the religious element. 1t is only one
side, and the least important of the
missionaries work, but it is a side
the outsider is apt to neglect. And
one may say with absolute confidence
that this quiet, slow work is a factor
of almost supreme Importance in the