The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-11
The Problem
of China's
Language
The New Republic Now
Wants a Unified Tongue
and Simpler Writing.
ny PROF. JEREMIAH ". jerks.

NV ~ 'fNBoohhSs
with the assistance of China's Board
Of Education, is taking steps to
unity the spoken language of China.
China's written language, while It
battles most o~ccidentals. is In many
respects the most wonderful that man
has known.
Based absolutely upon biography,
and absolute as the radicals are in
most instances, yet II Is not arbitrary,
and I am old by friends Of mine who
have devoted years to its study that
its florescence in mind gripping meta
phor is so marvellous as to reduce
even the most cultured occidental
translator to despair. So 1t has come
that a great deal of confusion has
arisen through TRANSACTIONS from some
Of the great Chinese classics not a..
ways perfectly accomplished. some
times because Of lack of capacity to
appreciate the subtlety of the ancient
Oriental philosophers. and sometimes
a of poverty in power of inter-
probation after the meaning had been
mentally visualized.
But the Chinese written language il
one thing. the spoken languages of
China another. IL is not merely the
survival of the ~vernacular speech Of
the Mantle and other aborigines OF
what vas the Middle Kingdom. of
what Is till the Chinese southland,
and the ruder tongue Of the children
OF those septs which sprans into
rnuyar thtnttph tho nnstx.,t,. 80 49,.
hachu and his bannermen, nor 20
speak OF the tongues of the Tartars
and those of the Goloks and the men
OF the Tibetan plateauA. VINO We're kin
at one time, possibly. to Pathan md
Afghan. China. a vast land, naturally
became the repository of divers
tongues, n that they have remained
preserved through many centuries is
indeed a tribute to the forbearnncc Of
the five races, while unquestionably IL
has had much to do with what is coE-
monty called the "backwardness' OF
China.
Yuan Shih-k'ai's determination to
give the hundreds of millions compos-
ing the Chinese people a uniform
spoken language is a very important
indication OF the new national spirit
which is now breathing over Cathay.
And it should be taken in conjunction
with other important steps toward
Che complete u%nification and n~ationali.
cation of the Chinese people.
First, Yuan unified the national
government-not without protest. not
without arousing enmity and sus-
picion. 1t will he recalled how. in the
summer Of 1913. "a howl went up from
the camps Of iuan's enemies and into
the field went an armed force bent on
furnishing him for what was charac-
terized as IAN act of usurpation."
Yuan, who combines in his character
many of the traits of our own Andrew
Jackson. promptly put his foot down
on these malcontents. So that to-day
the rebellious element. SO called, Is re-
stricted to a very few irreconcilables
who sulk within tents Of exile while
the real Chinese patriots are laying
the foundations of a stable govern
ment at home.
Yuan found China a conglomera-
ton Of eighteen rival, disunited prov
inces. not to speak of vast regions
over which the Manchus had exercised
more oil less nominal control. Yuan,
a. Resident General in Corea, as Gov
hho hisN VI dS lNtTDy TullIlk
Shantung and Chilli, and the visible
right hand Of the empire in China, had
learned the necessity for cooperation
and consolidation in effective admins
tration. To his credit 1t must be said
that II his intention has been to give
the Chinese people a solid framework
upon which they can build up II gem
timely national democracy he could
mt haN,o taEan vn1,. uz ---
necessary steps than those which
have marked his tenure of office as
first actual President of the Chinese
republic.
A year ago n howl went up from
Yunnan to ~Heilungliang because
Yuan decreed the abolition of the old
provincial boards with their graft,
their chicane, their petty %tyrannies,
their unwillingncss to reform. In "A
most characteristic mandate he told
the Chinese people that the a%lterna-
tive lay before them of going forward
as n body in support of their own
government or OF abolishing. piece by
piece. its discordant elements. His
victory over what might he called the
Chinese states right" party on that
occasion marked the turning point in
Ale C1IeCI dS ITtSluent. |
With one stroke he had broken
down the barriers which for centuries
kept the people in the Chinese
provinces absolutely part from the
Government In Pekin. Mandarin ex-
tortion and oppression. the swarms of
drones hic chung to the skirts of
succeeding viceroys and lesser Off
Gals In the provincial yamens, oper-
ated as so many great walls, e~ffectu-
ally alternating sympathy and suppo
while they were technically supposed
to be the very pillars of empire In
China.
After the abolition Of the provin-
cial boards and barriers came the
unification of finance, justice, educa-
ton. The passing OF the provincial
educational funds into the hands of
the central Government wal regarded
In several provinces as "a very seri-
Gus grievance.
No doubt there were instances of
much hardship in the actual OPERA
ton OF Yuan's far reaching decree.
This was bound 10 be so. you can |
not make an omelet without break
ing eggs and you cannot make "A ma
tion without breaking hearts. Yuan
had to smash presidents right and
left In the elaboration OF his plans for
the naturalization OF China, and few
people VINO are not Chinese can an
preciate what II means to fly in the
face or precedent IN China,