Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-06-01
China Teaching tho World.


the China Society of America TO his
| excellency Kai Flu Shah, China's min
lister to the United States, said in
part:
I'VE are glad to welcome the dis
tinguished representative of the oldest
of nations and the youngest of repuo-
| lies, who has come to make his home
with us for a season and who In MS
person typifies the modern China as
uniting with the knowledge of youth
| the same judgment of years. An old
| proverb of the ancient days OF China
saws that any act whatever can be
| condoned but that violations of COM
mon sense are objectionable. 1t is
! this quality of common sense" that
has always characterized the Chinese
as a people and it is this characters
tic that all of the friends of China are
counting on now to insure her sue
cess in the esta blishment of the new
government on modern lines Emil
nently characteristic of this good
| Judgment has been the attitude of the
large majority of the Chinese during
the troubled days of the last few
years. The Manchu dynasty naturally
following in part the ancient prece-
dents, but also recognizing the advan-
tages to themselves of western repub-
lican ideas. were retaining in the main
the doctrines of the ancient absolute
Empire, although many of their
younger subjects, had travelled abroad
naturally were becoming FESTIVE under
the ancient regime. Although the
] in he lot nj
the credit of his heart and purposes,
had absorbed many of these progress
sive ideas, it was evident to all eY-
perienced students of history and to
all progressive statesmen that a ma
ton cannot be made in a day and that
the education and training of ma
tion--or even the influential part Of
the nation that constitutes the gov
ernment-as a matter of fact calls for
time and patience. There is perhaps
no more noteworthy example in his
tory of sheer mental ability and con-
structive planning than was seen III
the attempts made by the Empress
Dowager to adapt, as quickly as pos
sible, the old institutions to the new
| ideas. For a person Of her years and
! lifelong training in ancient prece-
dents, this f1exibility of purpose in
| itself marks her as one Of the great
characters of history. But, she had
wise progressive advisers, among
whom the present president was the
chief, and it was made clear that the
common sense of China was demand
ing progress. With the passing of
/ that master character, however, there
was no possibility of stopping the
movement and the Manchu dynasty
with its history of age-iong corrup-
| ton and oppression was doomed.
Naturally came then the Wuchang re-
/ bellion and the great changes which
have followed in a remarkably brief
period of time, subjecting the self
control of the Chinese people to as
severe a test as has ever been known
in the whole history Of the world.
1T would not have been at all sur
prising or contrary to presidents in
western history if China's territory Of
over four and a quarter million square
miles and China's approximately 40o,-
| 100000 people had been given over to
a long period of civil war with all its
attendant horrors. II would have been
/ only in accordance with regrettable
/ eastern and western precedents If the
/ infant Manchu emperor had been made
the target of Chinese bullets or Chi
nese knives. Certainly il would not
/ have been extraordinary if the num-
erous powerful leaders of sections of
! the revolutionists had quarreied
among themselves over the division
! of the spoils, and the decision who
+ should be the chief executive of the
nation emancipated, Refrigerated re-
/ born. But none of these things hap
4 pened. After the abdication of the
/ child P'u Vi, on the contrary, Chi
nese and Manchu leaders of all shades
of opinion united their counsel and
/ their voice in favor of peace, to bring
about period Of preparation in
which progress might be defined along
/ practical lines, and to assure for the
nation a president properly progress
sive and at the same time experienced
in administration and wise above all
his contemporaries"
/ A review Of the marvellous strides
made by China in recent years and
the promise of the future would hard
/ ly be complete without the following
comment from Prof jerks:
Step by step the leaders of the
Chinese people have worked Loyalty
and successfully to put these ideals
/ into application. China has opened
her arms wide to receive the foreign
er, his advice, his criticism, his trade
China has manifested a splendid graf
| itude to Americans for past services,
and she has left no stone unturned
to enable Americans to benefit from
the new and vast fields for CONNER
cial and industrial exploitation now
being explored for the first time.
And while China is not rushing
madly or blindly into the adoption of
foreign ideas or foreign ways just be-
cause they are foreign and new to
China, she is showing a remarkab BILE
interest in, and a notable preference
for, American ideas and American
customs of approved merit. Here
again speaks the staid wisdom of
grand old China. She is piercing with
penetrating eye the mists of present
misconceptions to gaze clearly into
the future She realizes that progress
is at last making a great unifying lake