Full text of "China in transformation /"

See other formats

CHINA

IN TSANSFORMATION

ARCHIBALD R. COLQUHOUN

ot Jr,„ .

■ "X

PRINCETON, N. J. ' '

Purchased by the Hammill Missionary Fund.

Division

Section

1DS709

.C72

Nutnber.

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016

https://archive.org/details/chinaintransform00colq_0

M ni'NC rilANC. ANP TIIF, AI'THUR PISCUSSINf. AFI AIUS

CHINA

IN TRANSFORMATION

ARCHIBALD R. COLOUHOUN

GOLD MEDALLIST, ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; FORMERLY
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, BURMA, ADMINISTRATOR OF
MASHONALAND, AND SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF
“THE LONDON TIMES,” IN THE FAR EAST, ETC.

V/ITH FRONTISPIECE, MAPS
AND DIAGRAMS

NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1 898

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

Introduction vii

I. The Geographical Question i

II. Foreign Relations 28

III. The Economic Question 58

IV. The Question of Communications 80

V. England’s Objective in China 109

VI. Commercial Development 141

VII. Government and Administration 167

VIII. Diplomatic Intercourse 199

IX. The Native Press 228

X. The Chinese People 248

XI. Chinese Democracy 283

XII. Hongkong 304

XIII. The Political Question 321

XIV. The Political Question— 348

Glossary 383

List of Books Consulted 386

Index 389

\tr;

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

LI HUNG CHANG AND THE AUTHOR DISCUSSING

MAP OF EASTERN CHINA At comme7icemeni of volume

THE DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS IN ASIA* lO

LOESS FORMATION THROUGHOUT NORTH CHINA* ... 22

MAP SHOWING ADVANCE OF RUSSIA, TO THE DETRIMENT

OF CHINA 37

THE DENSITY OF POPULATION IN ASIA* 40

THE DISTRIBUTION OF RACES* 4I

THE NAVIGATION LIMITS OF THE YANGTSZE AND ITS TRIBU-
TARIES I3I

SKETCH MAP, SHOWING NAVIGATION LIMITS OF THE SI KIANG

OR WEST RIVER I 37

PROVINCES RAVAGED BY MOHAMMEDAN RISINGS* .... 288

REGIONS DEVASTATED BY THE TAIPING REBELLION* . . . 29I

MAP OF HONGKONG 308

MAP SHOWING KAULUNG CONCESSION OF i860 AND HONG-
KONG EXTENSION OF 1S9S 319

CO.MPARISON OF AREAS AND POPULATIONS OF ENGLAND

AND RUSSIA IN EUROPE AND ASIA 323

M.AP OF MANCHURIA Alendofvolutiie

MAP OF NORTHERN CHINA

MAP OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN CHINA ...

* Reproduced by permission of .MM. Haclictte, Messrs. Virtue, and .Messrs.

D. Appleton & Co., from the Geographic Universelle of E. Reclus.

INTRODUCTION

Recent events in the Far East have drawn the
attention of the world to the condition and pros-
pects of China. The problems which are in course
of solution there, and the forces which are at work
on them, are exciting an unprecedented interest
throughout Europe and America. The moment
seems opportune, therefore, for putting on record
some results of the writer’s observations during sev-
eral prolonged visits to the Ear East, a task w'hich
he has, for some time, had in contemplation. The
work is strictly limited in scope to such an account
of the actual China as may interest the general
reader, and be helpful to men of business, politicians,
travellers, and others who may wish to be further
informed regarding China. It makes no kind of
pretension to be a book for the student. The his-
tory, the literature, the religions, and the manners
and customs of the Chinese are treated in many
works of various degrees of merit, accessible to all
readers. A few indications of the sources of in-
formation on some of these subjects will be found
scattered over the following pages, but only so far

vii

INTRODUCTION

as is necessary to render the actual situation gener-
ally intelligible.

Such, then, being the purpose of the book, it will
be for the public to pronounce on the success of
the attempt. But, whatever may be their verdict, it
seems incumbent on me to explain that the task
has not been undertaken without reasonable quali-
fications and adequate preparation. Indeed, I may
claim to have enjoyed in my life’s training some ex-
ceptional advantages for work of this kind, both in
the way of observing, and of correcting deductions
by comparison with the conditions of other and dif-
ferent countries.

Many years of service in Burma, first as an en-
gineer, and later as Deputy-Commissioner; repeated
visits to Siam, the latter on a Government mission
and in a private capacity ; prolonged stays in China
as explorer, special correspondent of the Times, and,
recently, in connection with important negotiations
concerning railway questions — such, briefly, have
been my qualifications in the Far East. Nor has
my experience been limited to Eastern Asia. As
the first Administrator of Mashonaland, where I had
to deal with the work of colony -making, and on
a special mission to examine the Nicaragua Canal
scheme, and in visits to the United States and Can-
ada, I may claim, and not merely as a student, but
as a man of affairs, to have prepared myself for form-
ing a judgment upon the events which are passing
in the Ear East; for a writer on the Ear Eastern
problem should also have made a study of the West.

viii

INTRODUCTION

In the East it has always been my special aim to
draw upon the best sources of information, and it
has been my privilege to have personally known
Rawlinson and Yule, Alcock and Parkes, Baber and
others, while it has also been my good -fortune to
have been aided in the preparation of this work by
advice from various friends. It will not, therefore,
be for lack of opportunities if I have failed to give
to the reader a fair representation of the state of
China as it now stands in its relation to the Powers
of the world.

The grand international problem presented by
the affairs of China has been approached and treated
from the point of view of the English-speaking and
Teutonic races, because there is an obvious coni-
munity of interest as well as community of senti-
ment among them, which may be expected, in the
long-run, to constitute a permanent factor in the
world’s affairs. But I have endeavored to deal with
facts and probabilities dispassionately, avoiding inter-
national recriminations, which are entirely out of
place in serious discussions. The movements which
are in progress in the Far East are of the gravest
import, and I have not been able to resist the con-
viction that the immediate destinies of mankind are,
to a considerable extent, dependent on the issue of
these movements. And, although no race question
be directly involved, one can scarcely avoid group-
ing the Powers in combinations which will ultimate-
ly place the Teutonic peoples on the one side and
the Slav- Latin on the other. This would leave

INTRODUCTION

Japan as a mediating factor of great influence in
the evolution of the Pacific States. The onward
march of Russia cannot be stopped, even her
own rulers, unless it encounters a solid barrier, while
the unchecked advance of that Power seems certain
to confer on her the mastery of the world. Such is
the general conclusion suggested by the evidence
set forth in this volume, on which every reader can
form his own judgment.

ntaiyi)

[i^RMOSA

E,A,STB‘MM ASIA

SKowin^ spheres of influ-cuce
and existing aoid proposed Railways
V"gl‘«h MiJrft

'Hon^ Kanjl iSr J

-^OK'G

Guir of

E.rtstirLg Raxhirays thus,
"PrOpOStd/ ,r tt

Ire^oty J\jT-ts II

IluifiK' lira*, ftthhuh^ra, NevrYo! kti^l-omioi

CHINA

IN TRANSFORMATION

CHAPTER I

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

The Chinese Empire comprised till lately: China
Proper — composed of eighteen provinces — Man-
churia, Mongolia, Hi, Tibet, Kashgaria or Chinese
Turkestan, and Corea.

It extended over 6o° of longitude and 40° of lati-
tude. The total area was some four and a half
million square miles, and the eighteen provinces
of China Proper, including the islands of Hainan
and Formosa, constituted about one -third of the
whole Empire, containing, however, eleven -twelfths
of the total population and most of the wealth of
the country, the Central Asian dominions forming
a very serious burden on the Chinese exchequer.
Not very long ago the country as far north as the
Yablonoi Mountains belonged to China. In 1858
a large slice of territory — namely, the Amur Prov-
ince, situated between the Yablonoi Mountains on

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the north and the Amur River on the south —
passed into Russian hands, followed, in i860, by a
large and most valuable region, the Maritime or
Coast Province.

The enormous tracts lying outside China Proper,
still almost tcrrcs incognitcs, are, excepting always
Manchuria, beyond the radius of profitable com-
mercial intercourse for England. Tibet, when
opened up, must be approached through India. It
can and should be done ; but if we delay, Tibet will
be occupied by the Russians, crossing the Kirghis
highlands, the necessary steps having already been
taken for the purpose. The hill districts of Koko-
nor, the Gobi Desert, and Mongolia are all unsuited
for advantaofeous trade relations. These table and

high lands are in great part hill and desert, poor
and sparsely peopled ; where fertile and moderately
inhabited, they are too distant. But they have a
great strategical importance. Manchuria is now for
all practical purposes Russian ; Mongolia, Hi, and
Kashiraria are the Tsar’s whenever he chooses to
stretch out his hand for them. Corea no longer
belongs to China, and, whatever her destinies may
be, will never again be ruled by the “Son of Heaven.”

But we are dealing with the China of to-day, and
therefore the region which interests us in our pres-
ent examination is comprised by the eighteen prov-
inces of China Proper. These are Chihli, Shansi,
and Shensi on the north; Yunnan and Kweichau
on the southwest ; Kwangtung and Kwangsi in the
south ; Kansu and Szechuan on the west ; Shan-

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

tung, Kiangsu, Chekiang, and Fukien on the east;
and Honan, Anhwei, Hupei, Hunan, and Kiangsi
in the centre. China Proper, speaking roughly, is
bounded on the east by the Yellow and China Seas,
reaching fronr Corea to the Tongking Gulf; on the
west by Kokonor and Tibet ; on the south by
Tong:kins: and the Shan States; and on the north
by Mongolia and Russia. The principal islands
still remaining to China, of the hundreds which
fringe the coast, are Chusan and Hainan.

The area of China Proper measures about 1,500,-
000 square miles, being about half the size of Eu-
rope, seven times that of France, and seventeen
times that of Great Britain. Each of the eighteen
provinces, therefore, is, on an average, almost as
large as the latter country. Though not so densely
peopled as at one time supposed — mistaken esti-
mates having been circulated by those who had not
penetrated the country away from seaboard or riv-
er— it is yet thickly populated.

Victor Cousin has said, “ Tell me the geography
of a country and I will tell you its future.” For
either theoretical or practical purposes a knowledge
of the topography of a country is a necessity, and
its practical value is at once apparent whenever an
attempt is made at laying down a system of com-
munications, either by road or rail, or when some seri-
ous political question is under examination. Maps
of China are to this day to be found on which
are projected systems of railways carried across
quite impracticable ground, in ludicrous defiance of

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

mountain systems and other obstacles. Our politi-
cal geography, too, seems to be quite as much at
fault. The physical characteristics are as yet but
imperfectly understood, both in Europe and China,
though the Jesuit surveys,* the narratives of many
recent travellers, and especially the masterly studies
of Richthofen, have done much to make the Euro-
pean geographer, if not the general public, acquaint-
ed with the subject. In China Proper itself, dismiss-
ins^ the more or less savas^e tracts forminor a fringe
to the west and north, there still remains a vast
Empire of most varied character. The chief physi-
cal characteristic of China is that, in the region
north of the Yangtsze, it is divided into two
almost equal sections at the iioth degree of longi-
tude, representing, roughly, the level and moun-
tainous country. South of the Yangtsze the in-
terior is shut off from the sea, as regards trade
purposes, by what may be termed a palisade of
very broken hills running generally parallel to
the seaboard. The main features of China include
high table-lands, broken mountainous country, rivers
breaking through stupendous ranges, and the deltas
of the Pei ho, the Yellow, the Yangtsze, and the
Si kiang (or West) rivers. Looking at the map.
it will be seen that the whole country, with the ex-

* In 1708 the Jesuits made a survey of the great wall for Kanghi,
in 1709 they made a map of Manchuria, in 1711 one of Shantung,
and by the end of 1717 they had completed a map of the whole
Empire. A few years later they surveyed Tibet, and the maps pre-
pared by them are practically those still in use to-day.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

ception of the Great Plain and the deltas, is divided
into a number of compartments, each of these being
cased in by impounding hills. The gorges, by
means of which the drainage is carried through
these enclosing ranges, form a marked and imposing
feature in the character of the hill country.

A few words are necessary regarding the gener-
al mountain system of China. Knowing, however,
that, though “geography is good, brevity is better,”
I shall be brief. The ranges that penetrate the
region south of latitude 45° N. may be said to have
their nucleus in the Pamir plateau, the “ Roof of the
World.” From this plateau extend the Tian Shan,
or Celestial Mountains, separating Mongolia from
Chinese Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. To the
south of the Tian Shan the Kuenlun range takes
its exit, and, proceeding due east, separates Chinese
Turkestan, the desert of Gobi, and Kokonor from
Tibet, ultimately striking the Yungling Mountains
near 104° E. At the southeast corner of the
Pamirs a huge range leaves the plateau, and, join-
ing the Kuenlun with a cross spur, forms the west-
ern border of the central Tibetan table-land ; thence,
making a great curve, it continues as a barrier
round the southern and eastern sides of the hiorh

plateau, until it joins the Kuenlun about 95° E.
Under the name of the Himalaya it separates that
portion of Tibet drained by the Sanpo or Bramapu-
tra from India, some of its peaks being" 30,000 feet
in height. East of Assam it is broken through by
the Bramaputra. Continuing in an easterly direc-

CHINA IN TRANSFORAIATION

tion, it throws out a huge arm southward, which
forms, with its plateau and mountain ranges, the
primary base of Indo- China. This arm is cleft
lengthwise by the Salween and Mekong rivers, and
partly in its length and in part transversely by the
Yangtsze and its branches. The Irrawaddy rises
in its western armpit; the Si kiang (West River)
and the Song koi (Red River) in its eastern one.
The main range then continues in a north-north-
east direction, and, under the name of the Yungling,
impinges on the Bayan Kara, which springs in 95°
E., 35° N. from the eastern flank of the hill barrier
that encloses the central Tibetan table-land. Run-
ning nearly due east, and known on most European
maps (but only there, as Richthofen has shown, for
“ling” is applied in China onl}’ to a mountain pass)
as the Pehling and Tsingling ranges, it forms the
water parting between the Yangtsze and Yellow
Riv^er systems. The mountainous belt of the south-
eastern provinces forms the northern water-shed of
the Canton River, and is the divide between it
and the Yangtsze system. All the ranges which
penetrate China Proper, with the exception of the
mountains of Shantung, jutting out south of the
Gulf of Pechili, are connected with the western
Tibetan system. The average heights of the west-
ern China highlands may be roughly given as fol-
lows; the Pamir plateau, 15,000 feet; Tibet, 15,000
feet; Kokonor, 10,500 feet; the Mongolian plain,
4000 feet; the Shansi table-land, 3000 feet to 6000
feet; Yunnan, 5000 feet to 7000 feet.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

The chief rivers of China, from south to north,
are :

The Si kiang (or West River) and its tributaries ;
the Ta kiang (Yang-tsze)*f and its affluent, the Han ;
the Hoang ho (or Yellow River, called “ China’s sor-
row”), and the Pei ho. The Min kiang in Fukien
and the Tsien Tang kiang in Chekiang may also be
mentioned, but they are of quite minor importance.

Regarding the rivers of western China draining
southward, such as the Salween and the Mekong
or Cambodia, nothing need be said here. They are
all mighty in dimension, but quite unnavigable, and
therefore do not come within the present discussion.
Of the Chinese rivers, the Yangtsze is indisputably
the most important, being the main artery, indeed
the only real channel for trade, between eastern and
western China. It has a navigable length of about
1600 miles, of which the 600 between Shanghai and
Hankau are now traversed by large sea-going and
river steamers, while Ichang, some 360 miles beyond,
is regularly reached by light-draught vessels, and
Chungking, another 360 miles farther on, has been
proved to come within the navigation limit. Indeed,
according to Hosie, the obstacles that exist lie be-
tween Ichang and the Szechuan frontier, a distance
of about one hundred miles ; all beyond that being

*The Yangtsze kiang, usually called by the Chinese the Ta kiang
(great river) or Kiang (river), is the “ Ouian ” of Marco Polo. Like
other rivers in China, it bears different names in different parts of
its course, the name Yangtsze being properly applied only to its
lower reaches.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

plain sailing, not only as far as Chungking, but even
to Sui fu, some 20b miles farther west. But of the
Yangtsze I shall have more to say hereafter.

The Hoang ho, the river of northern China which
has so often, and with such terrible results, shifted
its mouth (since 600 b.c., nine times), may be said
to be nearly un navigable. The amount of silt

brought down by it is encroaching on the sea at the
rate of 100 feet annually. The basin of the Pei ho
is formed by a number of streams, flowing mostly in
independent channels to within a short distance of
the coast, where they converge towards the treaty
port of Tientsin. For purposes of navigation it is
only practicable for light-draught boats. Surveys and
travels have enabled us to clearly estimate the value
of the Si kiang (Canton) River,* which traverses the
entire provinces of Kwangsi and Kwangtung and
part of Yunnan. Information regarding this water-
way will be found elsewhere, but, briefly, the river
can be ascended some 350 miles by light - draught
steamers, more than half the distance from Canton
to the navigation limit. On the upper portion junks
can travel 250 miles to the borders of Yunnan. The
importance of this river to China and the advisability
of opening it effectively need not be dilated on here.

The peculiarities of Chinese nomenclature are re-
markable. No river or chain of mountains, as Re-
clus points out, has the same denomination through-
out its length ; no town even keeps its primitive name

Explored and mapped by the author in 1882.
8

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

from one dynasty to another. “ There is no national
term to designate China itself, or its inhabitants,”
he says; “everyone of the names in common use at
different periods has kept its former meaning and
can be replaced by synonymes ; not one has yet been
transformed by use into a purely geographical ap-
pellation. It is the same with the names of moun-
tains, rivers, provinces, and towns; these names are
only epithets — descriptive, historical, military, or
poetical — changing with each regime and replaced
at will by other epithets.”

The population of China Proper has so suffered
from insurrections, famines, and their usual accom-
paniment, pestilence — that it is now generally allow-
ed to comprise no more than 350,000,000. Indeed,
some believe it to be not more populous than India,
and, as it is about the same size, they assume the
population to be under 300,000,000. Knowing
both India and China well, I am inclined to be-
lieve that 350,000,000 will be found no extravagant
estimate.*

*The population in 1887 was estimated at 383,138,000, Szechuan
alone containing 73,178,000, equal to 295 inhabitants to the square
mile. At various periods the population has been estimated as fol-
lows ;

Pere Amiot

'743

150,265,475

Lord Macartney

1792

333,000,000

Official Census

1813

360,279,897

Sacharoff

1842

413,686,994

Vassilivitch

1868

404,946,514

Chinese Customs Reports...

1881

380,000,000

Any statistics based upon the census of 1842, so often quoted, must
be erroneous, on account of the devastating rebellions and terrible
famines which have occurred since then.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

This amount of population at first sight seems a
large one, but it is only twelve times that of Eng-
land, while the area which supports it is thirty times

Christians. Mohammedans. Brahmans. Buddhists. Shamanists. Pagans.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIONS IN ASIA

greater. The extent of population, therefore, is not
excessive, but, as noted by Wingrove Cook, its dis-
tribution is most remarkable. The pressure upon
the eastern seaboard and on the great water-wavs,

O j

where they open out into valleys and deltas, is un-
paralleled elsewhere. Away from these, the popula-
tion diminishes rapidly. The most populous prov-
inces have as much, it is believed, as 800 per square
mile, the average being 270. The most thinly pop-
ulated provinces are Kwangsi, Kweichau, and Yun-
nan. The latter, which, before the Mohammedan
rebellion, counted some 16,000,000 inhabitants, has
now only some 6,000,000, giving 50 to the square
mile. The eastern part of Szechuan is very populous;
but the west, abutting on Tibet, is mountainous
and poorly peopled. The density of the population
will be found to be in some degree an index — but
by no means an accurate one, owing to the defective
communications — to the agricultural capabilities of
the country. We may take half the area of the
eighteen provinces — that is, 650,000 square miles,
or ^00,000,000 of acres — as being land cultivated
and capable of bearing good crops.

The metropolitan province of Chihli, with an area
of about 57,000 square miles, and a population of
probably 36,000,000, is the most northern portion
of the Great (delta) Plain, with the exception of the
ranges defining its northern and western frontiers.
On the east it is bordered by the Gulf of Pechihli
and Shantung, on the south by Shantung and
Honan, on the west by Shansi, and on the north by
Inner Mongolia and Liaotung. This province con-
tains the present capital, Peking, and the chief
northern treaty port, Tientsin, on the Pei ho.

The province of Shansi — the original seat of the

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Chinese people — is bounded on the north by Mon-
golia, on the east by Chihli, on the south by Honan,
and on the west by Shensi. It occupies an area of

66.000 square miles, and contains besides its capital,
Taiyuen fu, eight prefectural cities. The popula-
tion is returned as being 17,000,000. The con-
figuration of Shansi is noteworthy, its southern
portion, including the region down to the Yellow
River — in all an area of about 30,000 square miles —
forming a plateau elevated from 50C0 to 6000 feet
above the level of the sea, the whole being one vast
coal-field. In agricultural products the province is
poor, and, as the means of transport at present ex-
isting are rude and insufficient, it is liable to famine,
and even in good years grows food-stuffs sufficient
for its own wants only.

The province of Shensi is bounded on the north
by the Great Wall, on the west by the province of
Kansu, on the south by the province of Szechuan,
and on the east by Shansi, from which it is separated
bv the Yellow River. It contains an area of some

80.000 square miles, and its population was said to
number upwards of 10,000,000 before the outbreak
of the Mohammedan rebellion of 1860-1875. Its
capital, Sian, is next to Peking in importance, and
enjoys the distinction of having been the capital of
the Empire for a longer period than any other city.
The Wei basin,* in Shensi, is the greatest agricult-

* The cause of the vitality of the Wei basin, remarks Richthofen,
is that " Singan-fu (Sian) occupies a dominant position, such as few
inland cities enjoy that are not built at the places of confluence of

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

ural region of the northwest, and on this account,
as well as its geographical position, has played a
prominent part in the history of China, especially in
its early epochs.* It is well termed by Colonel
Mark Bell the centre of gravity and resistance of
Mid-China. Cut off from the rest of China by the
Yellow River and its bordering mountainous region
to the eastward, and the Tsingling shan range to
the southward, the Taiping rebellion never was able
to cross from the south into northern Shensi, nor
did the Mohammedan rebellion of Kansu and Shensi
ever spread southward. As regards products and
commercial intercourse, the two districts have been
also widely divided. The importance of the region
to China is evident. Railway connection with the
eastern provinces is a necessity, for it requires no
special insight to see that China is open to attack
from Central Asia by the very road which she, in
the past, herself always followed in her invasions.

navigable rivers. It is situated at the confluence of those few roads
of traffic which are the only possible connections for mediating the
intercourse between the Wei basin and the eastern and northern
provinces, and occupy, therefore, indeed, in some measure, the
place of rivers.”

* The antiquarian finds, says Richthofen, nowhere in China such
opportunity for collecting objects of interest as on the classical soil
of the Wei basin. At a comparatively recent epoch of Chinese
history, during the Tang dynasty, arts and sciences flourished at
the Court of Chang- ngan, the present Sian-fu. Dr. W. Williams
says of this celebrated line of princes ; “ During the 287 years they
held the throne, China was probably the most civilized country on
earth, and the darkest days of the West formed the brightest era of
the East.”

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The province of Yunnan lies in the extreme south-
west of the Empire, its southern and western borders
forming the northern frontiers of Tonoking and
Burma respectively. On the north it is bordered
by Szechuan, and on the east by Kweichau and
Kwangsi. It is the third largest province of the
Empire, its area measuring 122,000 square miles,
but, as elsewhere remarked, owing to the devasta-
tions of the Mohammedan rebellion and ensuins:
plague, its population has been greatly reduced, and
now is not more than 6,000,000. Yet its mineral
wealth is greater and more varied than that of
any other province. Its capital is Yunnan, between
which town and Burma a considerable trade is car-
ried on.

The other southwest province, Kweichau, is the
poorest of the eighteen in agricultural products, but
in minerals it is nearly as rich as that of Yunnan.
The population is about the same as Yunnan, in an
area of 64,000 square miles. The means of com-
munication, however, are so defective that its re-
sources have hitherto been almost undeveloped.

The province of Kwangtung lies between Kiangsi
and Hunan on the north, Fukien on the northeast,
Kwangsi on the west, and the ocean on the south.
Its area is over 90,000 square miles, with a popula-
tion numbering 20,000,000. Its capital is Canton,
on the Pearl River, the largest town in China, and
the one best known to the West, as for a long time
it was the only place to which foreigners were al-
lowed access, and is easily visited by the itinerant

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

traveller from Hongkong, while en roitte to Japan.
The natural facilities of the province for internal
navisration and an extensive coastins: trade are con-
siderable, its long line of littoral affording many ex-
cellent harbors, and its waterways, the West River
and its affluents, radiating into the districts in the
west and north, even beyond the provincial frontiers.

The province of Kwangsi extends westward of
Kwangtung to the border of Tongking, and has an
area of over 80,000 square miles and a population
of 8,000,000. Both Kwangsi and Kwangtung are
fairly well watered by the West River and its trib-
utaries, and intercourse is easy. Wuchau and Nan-
ning, on the West River, are the largest trading towns
in the province.

The province of Kansu projects like a wedge
into the Tibetan plateau, and is the largest of the
eighteen provinces, measuring 260,000 square miles,
with a population of some 20,000,000. Its impor-
tance politically is very great, as it commands the
highway between Central Asia and China Proper.

The province of Szechuan, treated fully else-
where, was the largest of the eighteen provinces
before Kansu was extended across the desert, and
is by far the richest and most populous. It is
bounded on the north bv Kansu and Shensi, on
the east by Hupei and Hunan, on the south by
Kweichau and Yunnan, and on the west by Tibet
and Kokonor. Its area is estimated at over 180,000
square miles, and its population at varying amounts:
in 1882 it was 35,000,000 according to the Customs

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Report, but since then it has been generally assumed
to be not under 60,000, ood.

The province of Shantung, the resources of which
are dealt with in another chapter, is bounded on
the east by the Yellow Sea, on the south by Kiangsu
and the Yellow Sea, on the west by the province of
Chihli, and on the north by Chihli and its gulf. A
population variously estimated, but probably num-
bering as many as 30,000,000, is found within its
area of 53,000 square miles. Possessed of enormous
mineral wealth. Shantung is also a great agricultural
province, as is proved by the revenue from the land-
tax, the largest derived from any of the eighteen
provinces — viz., taels 2,600,000.

South of Shantung lies the province of Kiangsu,
between the ocean on the east and Anhwei on the
west, with Chekiang to the south. Its area com-
prises over 40,000 square miles, with a population
of some 40,000,000. A great portion of the province
is covered with lakes and marshes, but it is generally
very fertile. Among its many fine cities are Shang-
hai, Nanking (the capital), and Suchau. From a.d.
317 to 582 Nanking was the metropolis of China, and
once again during the Ming dynasty, from 1368 to
1403. Suchau is situated close to the Tahu Lake,
whence streams and canals place the city in com-
munication witli various parts of the province, espe-
cially with Shanghai, the road between the two cities
being a continuous line of towns and villages. In
1859 Suchau was a city which, for industry and
wealth, was not to be matched in China, and had

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

then a population estimated at over a million.
Siichau and Hangchau in Chekiang represented to
the Chinese the terrestrial paradise. “To be happy
on earth,” said they, “ one must be born in Suchau,
live in Canton, and die in Hangchau.”

Followinof the coast -line southward the next

province is Chekiang, bordered by Anhwei and
Kiangsi on the west and Fukien on the south. It
is the smallest of the eighteen provinces, being only

35.000 square miles in extent, its population num-
bering 8,000,000. Chekiang is renowned alike for
its fertility, its forest and fruit trees, its populous
towns, and its salubrious climate. Hangchau, the
capital, is one of the finest towns in the Empire,
and was described by Marco Polo, who visited it
in 1286, as “beyond dispute the noblest in the
world.”

The next province bordering on the ocean is
Fukien, with Kiangsi on the west and Kiangtung
on the south. Formosa lies opposite Fukien, and
formed part of that province until it passed into the
hands of Japan. The country is in many parts
highly cultivated, and is generally densely peopled,
having a population of 23,000,000 in an area of

45.000 square miles. Among its numerous large
cities are the treaty ports of Fuchau and Amoy.

The province of Honan, containing fertile sec-
tions of the Great Plain, supports a population of
29,000,000 on an area of 67,000 square miles. On
its north lie Shansi and Chihli, on the east Anhwei,
on the south Hupei, and Shensi on the west. The

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

northern part of Honan, next tlie Yellow River, is
level, fertile, and well peopled. Kaifung, the capital,
lying close to the southern bank of that river, was
the metropolis from a.d. 780 to 1 129.

The province of Anhwei is situated in the central
and southern parts of the Great Plain, between
Honan and Hupei on the west, and Kiangsu and
Chekiang on the east and north, with Kiangsi in
the south. The area of the province is 54,000 square
miles, and its population over 36,000,000. The coun-
try is similar to Kiangsu, but has fewer cities and is
less fertile.

The central provinces of Hupei and Hunan were
formerl}" one province. Hupei is the more populous
and fertile but the smaller of the two, its area being
some 70,000 square miles, against 83,000 for Hunan,
the respective populations being 28,000,000 and
20,000,000. The Yangtsze flows through Hupei,
carrying an immense amount of silt into the side
valleys. The southeastern portion of the province
is considered the most fertile portion of China.
The provincial capital, Wuchang, lies on the south-
ern side of the Yangtsze, Hankau and Hangyang
being on the opposite bank and divided by its trib-
utary, the Han. The position of Hankau, situated
as it is on the central portion of the Yangtsze, has
been dwelt on by all travellers in China; it seems
destined to be the port of eastern Central Asia.
The rich province of Hunan, the population of
which was reduced by the Taiping rebellion, is
drained by four rivers whose basins occupy almost

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

the entire province. The people have an evil repu-
tation for roughness and turbulence.

The province of Kiangsi, south of Anhwei and
' Hupei, is bounded by Hunan on the west, Kwang-
tuns: on the south, and Fukien on the east. Its
area is 68,000 square miles, and its population num-
bers 26,000,000. The country is hilly and well
watered, much of it being marsh-land. Its soil is
generally productive, and the inhabitants, like those
of the coast provinces, engage to a considerable ex-
tent in manufactures.

Of the islands belonging to China, two may be
briefly mentioned. Hainan is about 1 50 miles
long by 100 broad. The interior of the island is
mountainous and well wooded. The inhabitants,
said to be racially the same as the mountaineers in
Kweichau, have only partially submitted to the Chi-
nese. Kiungchau fu, the prefectural town, lies at the
mouth of the Himu River; but the port is Hoihau,
where the entrance is so shallow that trade centres
at Pakhoi, the nearest treaty port on the mainland.

Chusan is of particular interest to England, hav-
ing been occupied several times by a British force.
It was captured first in 1840 and again in 1842,
when it was held till 1846 as a guarantee for the
fulfilment of the treaty with China, until the full
payment of the indemnity had been made by the
Chinese Government according to the provisions of
the Treaty of Nanking. It was again occupied in
the war of i860. The length of the island, which
was incorporated with China in the seventh cen-

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tury, is 20 miles, and its greatest breadth 6, its cir-
cumference being 51I. Tinghai, the capital, sit-
uated half a mile from the shore, is surrounded by
a wall three miles in extent. The harbor is well
landlocked, the water varying from four to eight
fathoms, but strong currents run at nine knots an
hour, and there is no secure holding ground. The
population of the island is about 200,000.

Of the two chief features of northern China — the
mountainous region and the Great Plain — the latter
is economically by far the more important, and is
the richest part of China. The Plain extends some
700 miles from the Great Wall and mountain ranges
north of Peking, to the junction of the Poyang
Lake with the Yangtsze River. Of varying breadth,
in its northern part, next Shantung and Shansi,
it has an average of 200 miles ; farther south it is,
roughly, 300 miles broad ; and again, in its southern
section, next to the Yangtsze basin, it is as much as
400 miles in width, stretching from the seaboard
inland. The northern section of the Plain is partly
a deposit of loess, being alluvial elsewhere, and the
region of Kiangsu is low and liable to inundation,
with frequent lakes, the whole covered with a net-
work of watercourses. The population supported
on this plain is colossal, according to the census
of 1812 no fewer than 177,000,000, probably the
most densely populated section of the whole world’s
surface.

Before leaving the subject of the physical aspect,
the loess formation peculiar to the northern prov-

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

inces must be mentioned. Loess is a solid but
friable earth, of brownish - yellow color, differing
from loam by its highly porous and tubular struct-
ure. It is found in most of the northern provinces,
disappearing gradually towards the lower Yangtsze,
thoutrh remnants are found in the lakes south of

that river. No trace of it is found in Szechuan.
How far it extends into Central Asia is as yet un-
known. With the loess, called hwang-tu by the
Chinese, are bound up the distinguishing features
of interior China, not merely in regard to scenery,
but agricultural products, dwellings, and means of
transport. The loess spreads over high and low
ground alike, smoothing the irregularities, and
having often a thickness of as much as looo feet.
Its peculiar feature is its vertical cleavage and
sudden crevices, which are narrow, of vast depth,
and greatly ramified. No scenery presents smoother,
gentler, and more monotonous outlines than a loess
basin if overlooked from some high point of view,
yet, once the traced roads are left, it is impassable
even on foot, and the strayed traveller finds himself
in a labyrinth of vertical walls, irretrievably lost.
It is thus one of the most difficult countries in the
world for either military or engineering purposes.
In the loess region the people dwell mainly in caves.
Agriculture in northern China has been aptly said
to be confined to the alluvial plains and the loess,
in southern China to the alluvial plains and the
terraced hill -sides. Richthofen has s:iven to the
north and south the names of Loess and Non- Loess

2 I

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

AUaviuiu. Veiiow Red Alluvium. Palaeozoic. Metamorphic. Volcanic- Carboniferous

300 MUes.

LOESS FORMATION THROUGHOUT NORTH CHINA

China — no mere pedantic terms, for they accurately
describe the two resfions.

It is a curious fact that, excepting in the loess re-
gions, the Chinese are able to cultivate only a cer-
tain portion of the soil, bearing a direct ratio to the
quantity of manure they are able to supply, and to
the density of population, as proved by the slow rate

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

at which certain districts, left uncultivated in conse-
quence of depopulation caused by the Taiping reb-
els, have been regained to agriculture.

As might be expected from the varied character
of the country, comprising wild mountainous tracts,
table -lands, the loess and non -loess regions, and
alluvial plains, the products vary greatly, as do the
people and their language. From north to south,
from east to west, the races, although now for the
most part welded into one people, are distinguish-
able ; and although there is one written language
and one ofificial dialect, commonly known as the
“ Peking dialect,” obtaining among the educated
classes everywhere, still the number of patois is
great, and in the southwest and south the aboriginal
tribes retain their languages.

The ancient Chinese, who introduced civilization
and subdued the aboriginal tribes, entered China
from the northwest, following the course of the
Hoang ho. The valley of the Yangtsze and the
whole region to the south continued up to the
Christian era to be the abode of savage tribes, which
were gradually and indeed only partially absorbed
and assimilated. The aborigines, who were driven
south as the Chinese moved forward, are still found
on the islands of Formosa and Hainan, and on the
mainland in Kweichau, Szechuan, Yunnan, Kwang-
tung, and Kwangsi, and are some millions in num-
ber. They are divided by the Chinese into a multi-
tude of tribes, but there are really only three races
— the Lolo, the Miao, and the Pai or Shan. They

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

are warlike, and hold their own against the Chi-
nese.

There is probably no family of the human race,
certainly none with such claims to consideration, of
which so little is known as these aboriginal peoples
of southern China, a fact doubtless largely due to
the maze of senseless names given to the tribes by
the Chinese. Bourne made twenty-two vocabularies,
with the result, however, that, exclusive of the Tib-
etans (including Sifan and Kutsung), it is clear
there are but three great non-Chinese races in south-
ern China — the Lolo, the Shan, and the Miao-tzu.*

The Shans are not met northeast of Yunnan
fu, but are found at the lower levels all along the
south Yunnan border, and from Kwangnan fu to
the border of Kweichau they form almost the whole
population. They must have been masters of
Kwangsi before the Chinese.! It appears likely
that the Shans mainly reached Kwangsi across the

* “ Where the Lolo came from is not yet known,” says Bourne,
‘‘but of their present habitat it is possible to get an idea. In the
great bend of the Yangtsze (103° east longitude), between that river
and the An-ning River, the Lolo are at home ; there they live inde-
pendent of China, under their own tribal chiefs and aristocracy —
the ‘black bones’ of Mr. Baber’s fascinating description. Thence
they e.xtend in a scattered manner as far north as Wen-ch'uan
Hsien. . . . To the west they extend to the Mekong: to the south
they are found occupying here and there the higher ground, until
the plateau breaks into the plain ; to the east they are found as far
as Kuei-yang-Fu. They seem to be more numerous as Taliang Shan,
their present home, is approached, and they form much the largest
part of the population in northeastern Yunnan and northwestern
Kueichau.” — China, No. i. 1888.

t “The Yamen at Nanning and the Examination-hall at Kueilin

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

Yunnan plateau; those in southern Kwelchau, how-
ever, are undoubtedly immigrants from Kwangsi,
and did not cross Yunnan.

The Li, the aborigines of Hainan, are, like those
of southwest China, known as “ wild ” and “ civil-
ized,” and are usually in a state of chronic rebellion,
just as the Formosan aborigines always have been.
It is usually assumed that they originally came from
the Malay Peninsula, as their features, dress, and
habits indicate a certain affinity with the Malays.

The proportion of Mohammedans in the popula-
tion of China is large. Even in Peking there are
said to be as many as twenty thousand Mohamme-
dan families, and in Paoting fu, the capital of the
province, there are one thousand followers of the
Prophet. The Mohammedan communities are prob-
ably chiefly due to the gradual infiltration from
Turkestan. Repeated massacres have not served
to arrest their growth. And while Christianity, an
e.xotic, seems to be waning, the change of religion
gives to the Chinese convert of Islam the qualities
he lacks — namely, independence, courage, and devo-
tion. Their principal colonies are in Yunnan and
the three provinces of the northwest, those of the
former being known as Pantais or Panthays, of the
latter as Dunganis. During the period of disturb-
ance succeeding the Taiping rebellion, the Mo-
hammedans in both regions threw off the yoke of
China, but having no co - operation, their risings

are said to have been built upon the site of Shan palaces. — Bourne,
China, No. i. 1888.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

were suppressed after a long and desolating con-
flict. The Moslem population is much larger than
usually supposed, notwithstanding the numerous
rebellions and the devastation of larsfe regions, and
probably is from twenty -five to thirty millions.
From their numbers and character they form an
important factor as regards the future of China.
In appearance little to be distinguished from the
ordinary Chinese, pledged to abstention from in-
toxicating drinks and opium, and united for the
purpose of self-defence, they are really superior to
them. The religion of the Chinese Mohammedans
is lax, and they are said to closely resemble their co-
religionists in Kashgaria, who are so tolerant that
they do not scruple to give their daughters in mar-
riage to the non - Mohammedan Chinese. The old
Moslem spirit, that of the sword, asserts itself, how-
ever, from time to time, when those who will not
embrace the Faith are slaughtered wholesale.

The climate presents many varieties of the tem-
perate, and even of the frigid and torrid zones.
The northern provinces have winters like those of
Siberia, while the heat of Canton is equal to that of
Hindostan. Between these two extremes is found
every variation of temperature and climate. Dur-
ing the months of December, January, and Feb-
ruary the rivers debouching in the Gulf of Pechili
are frozen up, and even the gulf itself is fringed
with a broad border of ice.*

* A landing can usually be effected at Shanhaikwan during
winter-time; the writer landed there last year in midwinter.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL QUESTION

The plain - dwellers of China consider the high-
land provinces, especially the three southwestern
ones — namely, Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan
— to be extremely unhealthy, a reputation in great
part due to mere prejudice, which probably arose
from these provinces being remote, cut-off regions,
whither criminals and political offenders were trans-
ported. The highlanders, on their part, it is to be
noted, look upon the plains as far from healthy.
The central regions are, perhaps, the healthiest —
not so subject to cold as the northern and western
districts, nor so liable to changes as along the
seaboard.

CHAPTER II

FOREIGN RELATIONS

The subject of the earlier foreign relations with
China can only be dealt with here in the briefest
manner possible — merely so far as to enable the
reader to understand the later relations between
China and the outer world. Those readers who
may be anxious to acquire some further knowledge
of this interesting subject will find in the works of
the Jesuit Fathers, of Davis, Yule,* Richthofen, and
other writers, a large fund of information.

At eras far apart, China has been distinguished
by different appellations, says Yule, “ according as

* Vule divides his notes on the intercourse of China and Western
nations as follows:

I. Earliest Traces of Intercourse. Greek and Roman knowl-
edge of China.

II. Chinese knowledge of the Roman Empire.

III. Communication with India.

IV. Intercourse with the Arabs.

Intercourse with .Armenia and Persia, etc.

VI. Nestorian Christianity in China.

VII. Literary information regarding China previous to the
Mongol era.

VIII. China under the Mongol Dynasty, known as Cathay.

IX. Cathay passing into China. Conclusion.

Supplementary Notes. — V'ule, Cathay, i., pp. x.xxiii.-ccliii.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

it was regarded as the terminus of a southern sea
route coasting the great peninsula and islands of
Asia, or as that of a northern land traversing the
longitude of that continent. In the former aspect,
the name applied has nearly always been some form
of the name Sin, Chin, Sinm, China. In the latter
point of view the region in question was known to
the ancients as the land of Seres ; to the Middle
Ages as the empire of Cathay.”*

Besides Ptolemy, Pliny has notices of the Seres,
whose country he places upon the eastern ocean
of the e.xtremity of Asia. The inform.ation con-
tained in these two authors was all that was avail-
able down to the time of Justinian, and though the
account given by them was not of a very compre-
hensive character, their description of the Chinese
of that time is, as Yule remarks, applicable to-day.
The old reputation of the Seres for honesty is fre-
quently referred to by Yule; “Indeed, Marco’s
whole account of the people here (in Kinsay) might
pass for an extended paraphrase of the Latin com-

* “ The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touch-
ing on the east the ocean and the limits of the habitable world ;
and extending west nearly to Imaus and the confines of Bactria.
The people are civilized men, of mild, just, and frugal temper;
eschewing collisions with their neighbors, and even shy of close in-
tercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which
raw silk is the staple, but which include also silk stuffs, furs, and
iron of remarkable quality. It seems probable that relations ex-
isted from the earliest times between China and India, and possibly,
too, between China and Chaldaea. The ‘Sinim’ of the Prophet
Isaiah is by many taken to mean China, and Ptolemy’s ‘ Sinse ’ are
generally understood to have been the Chinese.” — Yule, Cathay.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

monplaces regarding the Seres.” The reputation of
the Chinese for integrity and justice, in spite of much
that has been said against it, must liave had some
solid foundation, he truly says, for it has prevailed to
our own day among their neighbors in various parts
of Asia which are quite remote from one another.
The early Chinese writings make frequent men-
tion of trade relations with a land called Tatsin-
Kwoh, believed to have been the Roman Empire,
and emissaries passed between Rome and China.
The traffic in the rich productions of China and
India was the chief stimulus to trade adventure,
and the gradual springing up of this commerce
led to the Nestorian missionaries penetrating those
regions, which they did from Persia in the seventh
century, seemingly through the northwestern region
of China. These Nestorians disappeared from the
face of history, leaving no trace but that of a stone,
the famous tablet of a.d. 781, which till lately was
to be found in the yard of a temple at Sian fu.
This monument, excavated in 1625, which is held
to have attested the ancient propagation of Chris-
tianity in China, was inscribed partly in Chinese
and partly in Syriac. The story that a holy man
named Olopuen went from the country of Tatsin
to China in the year 636 of our era, and that he
was well received by the Emperor, who caused a
Christian church to be built, is wrongly treated by
Voltaire as the merest fiction. “ II y a assez de
verites historiques,” he says, “ sans y mffier ces ab-
surdes mensonges.”

FOREIGN RELATIONS

In the ninth century China was visited by two
Arabs.* The travels of Buddhist pilgrims from
China to India, notably those of Fahian (399-404),
of Hiuen-tsang (628-645), and Hwui-sing (518),
contain much information regarding the peoples of
Central and Western Asia, and it is possible that
further records may yet be found in the convent
libraries of Tibet, especially of Lhassa. The of-
ficial histories from b.c. 300 to a.d. 900 give useful
information regarding Syria and Persia, Greece and
Parthia; but, as Yule remarks, the information is
fragmentary, the position of places uncertain, and the
generalization from mere outlying borders both in-
correct and unwarranted. A few embassies are
noted by Pauthier, up to the year 1091, and the
Russian Bretschneider has established that the vis-
its of the Arabs were frequent down to the Sung
and Tang dynasties. He gives much interesting in-
formation regarding the Chinese mediaeval travellers
to Western countries between a.d. 1220 and 1260.

The F'ranciscan monks sent on missions to the
Great Khan about the middle of the thirteenth cen-

* “ Abu Zaid (one of the Arabs), like his predecessor,” says Yule,
“ dwells upon the orderly and upright administration of China while
in its normal state. This, indeed, seems to have made a strong
impression at all times on the other nations of Asia, and we trace
this impression in almost every account that has reached us from
Theophylactus downward ; while it is also probably the kernel of
those praises of the justice of the Seres which extend back some
centuries further into antiquity. And the Jesuit historian, Jarric,
thinks that ‘ if Plato were to rise from Hades he would declare that
his imagined Republic was realized in China,’ ”

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tury were the first to bring to Western Europe the
revived knowledge of a great and civilized nation
lying to the extreme east, upon the shores of the
ocean; and a Franciscan monk was made Archbish-
op in Khanbalig (Peking), and the Roman Catholic
faith spread. Friar Odoric niade his way to Cathay
at the commencement of the fourteenth centurv, and
from Zayton journeyed northward to Peking, where
he found the aged Archbishop Corvino and remain-
ed some three years. The journey homeward was
through Lhassa, and probably by a route via Cabul
and Tabriz to Europe, ending at Venice in 1330.
Many now well-known characteristics of the Chinese,
unknown or unnoticed by other travellers of his
time, are given by Odoric.* Ibn Batuta, the Moor,
travelled in China about 1347. The Far East was
frequently reached by European traders in the first
half of the fourteenth century, “ a state of things,”
says Yule, “ difficult to realize when we see how all
those regions, when reopened only two centuries
later, seemed almost as absolutely new discoveries
as the empires which about the same time Cortes
and Pizarro were annexing in the West.” Euro-

* “ His notices of the custom of fishing with cormorants,” says
Vule, “of the habits of letting the finger-nails grow long, and of
compressing the women’s feet, as well as of the divisions of the
Khan’s Empire into twelve provinces, with four chief viziers, are
peculiar to him, I believe, among all the European travellers of the
age. Polo mentions none of them. The names which he assigns
to the Chinese post-stations, and to the provincial Boards of Ad-
ministration, the technical Turki term which he uses for a sack of
rice, etc., are all tokens of the reality of his experience.”

FOREIGN RELATIONS

pean missions and merchants were no longer to be
found in China after the middle of the fourteenth
century, when the Mongol dynasty was tottering
before its fall. The voyage of Nicolo di Conti, the
Venetian, who travelled “quite through India” and
after twenty-five years returned home, is considered
apocryphal. Having made denial of his faith to
save his life, he had to seek absolution of the Pope
in 1444. Much information is given by Mayers
regarding Chinese explorations of the Indian Ocean
during the fifteenth century.

The existence of a Jewish colony in China was
discovered by the Jesuit Fathers in the seventeenth
century, if not even earlier; Kaifung, some four
hundred and fifty miles southwest of Peking, being
the headquarters of this colony. When Martin vis-
ited the place in 1866, he found the synagogue, sup-
posed to have been built in 1 164, in ruins ; the Jews
had dispersed, some having become Mohammedans,
and not one being able to speak a word of tlebrew.
In 1850 certain Hebraic rolls were recovered from
the few remaining descendants of former Jews, but
little really seems to be known regarding this Jewish
colony, and the chief information on record is found
in a memorandum on the subject in the Lettres edi-
Jiantes.

There is no need to deal at length with the won-
derful journeys accomplished by Marco Polo, who
visited the Court of Kublai Khan in 1274. The
Venetian, as is well known, became a favorite with
the Emperor, and spent, in all, some twenty -one
c 33

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

years in the East, returning to Venice in 1295.
In his edition of Marco Polo, Yule has given to the
world the most erudite, and also the most charm-
ing, annotation of the great Venetian traveller’s life-
work. On nearing the provinces of Cathay, Marco
Polo passed through towns containing Nestorian
Christians, who were met with again in Yunnan
and other parts of the Empire.

In 1644 the Manchus completed their conquest of
China. In 1627, while in possession merely of Liao-
tung, an edict was issued compelling their Chinese
subjects, under penalty of death, to adopt their mode
of wearing the hair, as a sign of allegiance, and it is
the custom thus compulsorily established that has
become the fashion now held in such esteem by the
Chinese. It was not only this custom of the coiffure
which was introduced by the Manchus. The gen-
eral opinion prevalent in the West is that the ex-
clusive and anti-foreign feeling now met with in
China is something peculiar to the Chinese charac-
ter and dating from remote antiquity. It is probable,
however, that it was the conquering race, the Man-
chus, who forced this spirit upon the Chinese people,
which led to the attempt, so long maintained, to her-
metically seal the Empire against the intrusion of
the foreigner. Erom the brief summary already
given it will have been seen that before the advent
of the Manchus China maintained constant relations
with the countries of Asia ; traders from Arabia,
Persia, and India trafficked in Chinese ports and
passed into the interior. The tablet of Sian fu, al-

1-' O R E I G N RELATIONS

ready mentioned, shows that missionaries from the
West were propagating the Christian religion in the
eighth century ; in the thirteenth Marco Polo not
only was cordially received, but held oflfice in the
Empire, and at that time the Christian religious
ceremonies were tolerated at Peking, where there
was an Archbishop. To the close of the last Chi-
nese dynasty the Jesuit missionaries were well re-
ceived and treated at the capital, and, as Hue re-
marks, the first Tartar Emperors merely tolerated
what they found existing. This would seem to show
conclusively that the Chinese did not originally have
the aversion to foreigners which is usually assumed.
The explanation given by Hue that it was the Man- ^
chu policy — that of a small number of nomad con-
querors holding in subjection the vast population —
to preserve China for themselves, seems reasonable ;
and Hue rightly shows that this very policy, which
served to establish the Manchu power, would event-
ually lead to its destruction.*

* “ The Mantchoos, it is evident, were, on account of the small-
ness of their numbers in the midst of this vast empire, compelled to
adopt stringent measures to preserve their conquest. For fear that
foreigners should be tempted to snatch their prey from them, they
have carefully closed the ports of China against them, thinking thus
to secure themselves from ambitious attempts from without ; and in
the interior of the empire they have sought to keep their enemies
divided by their system of rapid and constant change of public offi-
cers. These two methods have been crowned with success up to
the present time ; and it is really an astonishing fact, and one, per-
haps, not sufficiently considered, that a mere handful of nomads
should have been able to exercise, for more than two hundred years,
a peaceable and absolute dominion over the vastest empire in the

CHINA IN TRANS FOR AIATION

The history of Russian intercourse with China
may here be briefly recited.

The first record of Russians appearing at Peking
is that of two Cossacks who made their way there
in 1567, and fifty years later another Russian
reached the capital, both visits being without any
result. About the year 1643, at a time when the
Manchus were engaged with the war which ulti-
mately made them masters of China, then in the
throes of rebellion, the commanders of the Russian
settlements north of the Amur valley commenced
e.xploring e.xpeditions, regarded as hostile excur-
sions by the Chinese. In 1649 Chaboroff made
an incursion. The Tsar Alexis sent an envoy in
1653, who refused to perform the act of obeisance,
and was dismissed; and Stepanoff in 1655 made an
incursion into Chinese territory. But, shortly after,
the Manchu-Chinese army, inured to warfare by the
campaigns in China, defeated the Russian troops,
which were then numerically weak. In the years
1658, 1672, and 1677 three trading caravans reached
Peking, and disputes between the Russian and
Chinese soldiers and settlers along the banks of
the Amur became frequent, and hostilities for the
possession of the river were maintained in a very

world, and over a population which, whatever may be the common
opinion respecting them, are really e.xtremely stirring and fond of
change. A policy at the same time adroit, supple, and vigorous
could alone have obtained a similar result; but there is every rea-
son to think that the methods which once contributed to establish
the power of the Mantchoo Tartars will ultimately tend to over-
throw it.” — The Chinese Empire, Hue.

I ' O R E I G N RELATIONS

desultory manner. After a five years’ war, China
imposed peace upon Russia by the Treaty of
Nerchinsk, in 1689, when a frontier between China
and Russian Siberia was agreed on, by which the

Arthur ^
-haiwBi

MAP SHOWING ADVANCE OF RUSSIA, TO THE DETRIMENT OF CHINA

whole of the Amur valley was placed in the hands
of the Chinese Emperor Kanghi, Russia retain-
ing merely one bank of a portion of the Argun
River, an upper affluent of the Amur. The fron-
tier thus decided upon was watched continually, the

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Chinese commander at each frontier post having to
inspect daily the posts on the line of demarcation.
“Only in this manner,” says Plath, “could the
frontier be kept for a hundred years against the
Russians. Across the rivers horse-hair ropes were
drawn for the same purpose.” The Tsar sent a
Russian embassy, in 1692, under Eberhard Ysbrand
Ides, to Peking. In 1715 a considerable number
of Russians, who had been taken prisoners by the
Chinese, were permitted tu settle at Peking, and
four years later Peter the Great sent Ismailoff to
arrange regarding trade. In 1727* the frontier
was again demarcated, leaving the eastern boundary
as it then was, but rectifying that lying westward from
the Argun, and this arrangement remained unaltered
till the middle of the present century. The Russians
were allowed to erect a church and school at Pekins:
in 1727, which developed into a permanent mission.
The early diaries of De Lange,t who accompanied

* “ Commencino; with our Embassy to China in the year 1653,
down to the recent refusal on the part of that Power to ratify the
Treaty of Livadia, all our relations with the Middle Empire have
been based on the much-vaunted friendship of two hundred years’
duration ; in reality, however, on a two-hundred-year-old policy of
subserviency and sycophancy towards her. The only consolatory
e.xceptions during all this long period are the energetic action of
Count Raguzinsky, who in 1727 concluded the treaty which laid the
foundation of our Kiakhta trade; and those similar actions in the
latter portion of the present century on the part of Counts MuraviefT
and IgnatiefT, by which we obtained the Amur country.” — Prje-
VALSKI.

t “ De Lange accompanied Ismailoff, captain of the Tsar’s guards
and envoy extraordinary, to Kanghi, to clear the difficulties regard-
ing trade. Lange remained in Peking until 1722, when Ismailoff

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Ismailoff to Peking, throw light on the first relations
of the Russians. It was under the 1727 treaty that
a caravan was allowed to make its way to Peking
every three years. It appears, however, that these
caravans met with so little success that, though in
the first twenty years six journeys were made, they
became afterwards less frequent. In 1858 Muravieff
obtained for Russia a large territory, the Amur Prov-
ince, and General Ignatieff, in i860, by a dexterous
use of the victory of the Anglo-French troops at
Peking, with a stroke of the pen transferred to
Russia the whole coast of Manchu - Tartary, from
the mouth of the Amur River to the frontier of
Corea.

The Russian overland expansion in Asia began,
therefore, at an early date, though actively prose-
cuted only in the last forty or fifty years. But the
Russians, though they moved chiefly by land, also
navigated the Polar seas and the Siberian rivers.
Like other nations, they, too, sought for Cathay and
Zipangu.

The process of land expansion by means of settle-
ments— “Stanitzas”* as the Russians call them —

left. After the frontiers had been fixed by the Treaty of 1726
Lange was again sent to China with a large caravan, and, on his re-
turn, was made a councillor of Chancellory. In 1736 he paid one
more visit to Peking, and on his return was made Vice-Governor
of Irkutsk.” — Biographic Universelle.

The travels of John Bell, of Antermony, contain, inter alia, part
of a journey through Siberia to Peking, in the years 1719, 1720,
1721, with a map of the author’s two routes between Moscow and
Peking, and a translation of the journal of De Lange.

'■ A fort is like a stone cast upon the field,” says the Circassian

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

differs widely from the over-sea colonial system or
expansion of the Western maritime Powers. The
advantages possessed by Russia are apparent.

Uninhabited. Under 2, 2 to 18. 18to36. 36 to 72. 72 to 144. 144 to 288. 288 and

upwuds.

THE DENSITY OF POPULATION IN ASIA

Given ambitious rulers, great poverty of the mother-
country, an idea to follow, and, as an objective.

simile: “rain and wind may carry it away, or cover it with earth ;
but a Stanitza resembles a plant, which, firmly rooted in the soil,
gradually spreads over the whole field.”

FOREIGN RELATIONS

the wealth of Far Cathay, it is not surprising that
Russian expansion should be restless, active, and
persistent. Neither the Tsar, nor the officials, nor

Caucasians. Eskimo. Africans. Malays. Papuans.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF RACES

even the people are enthusiastic about any Western
foreigners. The party which derides the “decay-
ing West ” fosters national chauvinism, and despises

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

foreign nationalities, has for the present the upper
hand, and believes, as do also the lower classes,
that the Russians are the chosen people. Aspiring
in Europe to the conquest of Constantinople, the
East Roman seat of Empire ; in Asia they consider
themselves the heirs and successors of the great
world - conquerors and rulers, Genghis Khan and
Tamerlane. The resources of the whole empire are
in the hands of one man, who follows a family policy
instituted by Peter the Great. In this expansion there
is one characteristic which deserves to be noticed,
namely, that Russia succeeds in creating a system
which assimilates the natives — a process not met
with elsewhere. The Central Asian Khanates have,
it must be noted, no natural centres, each forming
merely a complement to the other, and in no other
field of expansion or colonization are there so few
germs of secession. The expansion through Siberia
to the Pacific and to China is not thus so great
an achievement — as maintained by certain Russian
and Prench writers — as the exploitation by England
of the countries bordering the Indian Ocean and the
Pacific. Still, it is true that the sea lying between
England and the Far East, however extensive it
may be, “ unites instead of separates.”

The trade of the Dutch with China commenced
after they had achieved their independence in Eu-
rope, when they made war upon the Oriental pos-
sessions of Spain, capturing Malacca, the Spice
Islands, and other positions. In 1622 they were
repulsed at Macao, and established themselves in

FOREIGN RELATIONS

the PesCcadores, and a couple of years later in For-
mosa. The Portuguese first visited a port of China
in 1514, and three years later took place the trading
expedition to Canton under Andrada, conveying the
unfortunate Ambassador Perez, who died in fetters
in China. Besides Macao, Formosa was included
among the Portuguese dependencies, but the former
was the only permanent foothold of Portugal in
China. From 1543, the date of the capture of the
Philippines, the Spaniards carried on a trade be-
tween Manila and the Chinese coasts, and the next
century two Spanish forts were established in For-
mosa (Spain and Portugal being at this time under
one crown). The Dutch drove the Spaniards out
of that island in 1642, but twenty years later were
themselves expelled by the Chinese pirate Koxinga,
and thenceforward they held no possessions in the
Chinese seas. In 1732 Danish and Swedish traders,
in 1736 P'rench, and in 1784 Americans, appeared
at Canton.

The French intercourse with China has been con-
siderable, and both the earlier knowledge of the
West acquired by China, and that of China acquired
by the West, were mainly achieved by French mis-
sionaries. No French Government ever sent a mis-
sion to Peking to seek merely advantages of trade,
as others have done, but as early as 1289 Philip the
Fair received despatches from Persia and China,
suggesting common action against their enemies,
the Saracens. Louis XIV., in 1688, addressed a let-
ter to the Emperor Kanghi, whom he termed “ Most

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

high, most excellent, most puissant, and most mag-
nanimous friend, dearly beloved good friend,” signing
himself “Your most dear and good friend, Louis.”
In 1844 an important mission, under the direction
of M. Lagrene proceeded to Peking, and a treaty
was sig^ned between France and China. The French
treaty of 1858 was supplemented by a Convention
signed at Peking in i860, which led to controversy
between the French and Chinese, culminating^ in an
understanding, in 1865, the formal ratification of
which was procured only in 1894. Further Con-
ventions were concluded in 1885, 1887, and 1895,
the latter two containing important clauses affecting
Southern China.

The initiation of a Chinese policy on the part of
France began seriously with the expedition of Dou-
dart de Lagere in 1867, described in the most
charming manner by the gifted Louis de Came,
when it was first seen that France could acquire in
Tongking one of the keys in China.* The later
phases of that policy are dealt with elsewhere.

The first Prussian expedition was in 1861, under

*“ The force of circumstances, and the weakness of the Chinese
themselves (this was during the Mussulman rebellion in Yunnan).”
wrote M. de Came shortly before his death, “enable us to foresee
the dismemberment of that ancient empire. In the presence of
such an eventuality France should be prepared. Her part is traced
out by the position which she already holds on the Annamite Pen-
insula. It is absolutely necessary that she should e.xercise a para-
mount influence in Tonquin. which is for her tlu’ kty of China, and
that, without hurrying by any impatience the course of events, she
should show her flag to the people whose protectorate may some
day fall into her hands.”

FOREIGN RELATIONS

the Count von Eulenberg. Some years later Ger-
man traders in China suggested that their Govern-
ment should seize a portion of Chinese territory —
Formosa or Corea — in order to found a “ German
Aust’*alia.” Treaties were concluded in i86i and
1880. But nothino: was done in this direction until
Kiaochau was occupied.

The English intercourse with China commenced
later than that of other maritime Powers of the
West, but has grown to great proportions. The
history of British trade with China preceding our
direct connection with India is that of the East In-
dia Company, which in 1613 established a factory in
japan and some two years later opened agencies
in Formosa and Amoy. An attempt was made, in
1627, to commence trade with Canton through
Macao, which proved unsuccessful, owing to the op-
position of the Portuguese, who had been established
there some seventy years. Nominal participation
in the trade of Canton was granted to the British in
1635, but little progress achieved until Oliver Crom-
well concluded the treaty with Portugal by which
free access was obtained throughout the East Indies.
When the Ming dynasty, in 1664, was replaced by
that of the present Ta Tsing, a complete contempt
for trade and strong antipathy to foreigners began
to show themselves as a marked trait of the new
ruling house. The Company’s factory at ’Amoy
was destroyed in 1681; but the agents, in those days
called “supercargoes,” finding that the Manchus
permitted trade to be carried on provided their su-

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

premacy was humbly acknowledged, sent ships to
Macao, re-established the factory at Amoy, and soon
after founded another on the island of Chusan. Till
that time every vessel upon arrival was boarded by
an officer of the Hoppo, the Imperial Superintend-
ent of the native Customs, and by an ofificer of the
Imperial household, who were propitiated by a cum-
shaw, or present, upon the amount of which depend-
ed the extent of the rates and duties to be levied.
When the mutual difficulties had been overcome,
after the employment of arguments usual on such
occasions, the ship proceeded to Whampoa, at that
time the port of Canton, where trade was opened
through the intermediary of a Chinese trader who
was officially recognized.

The East India Company having appointed a
chief supercargo, who was also to act as King’s
Minister or Consul for China, the Manchu Govern-
ment nominated an official to supervise foreign trade,
with the title of the “ Emperor’s Merchant.” This
ofificer was naturally far from being t\. persona grata
with the supercargoes and traders. A contest arose
between the two officials, and every endeavor was
made by the Chinese to depreciate the position of
the King’s Minister and to reduce him to the level
of a mere taipan, or chief manager. The foreigners
had now not merely the Hoppo and his many un-
derlings to placate with cio^tceurs, but the “ Imperial
Merchant ’’and his horde of hangers-on. The Man-
chu commissioner became the intermediary between
the foreigners and the native merchants, and also

FOREIGN RELATIONS

the means of communication between them and the
local Chinese authorities. Thus was established a
powerful Chinese combination, which maintained it-
self by submitting to a heavy “ squeeze ” at the hands
of the Viceroy and Governor of Canton on the one
hand and of the Hoppo on the other. The office of
the latter was a remunerative one, but he in turn
had to purchase his five years’ term for collecting
the Customs, both foreign and native, by a heavy
payment to Peking. Foreign trade was therefore
carried on under great disabilities ; but notwith-
standing all obstacles commerce flourished, and by
the year 1715 British ships commenced to sail direct
to the Bogue, where, after the settlement of fees and
duties, the required “ chop,” or stamped permit, was
obtained, and permission granted to proceed to
W’hampoa to trade.

In 1720 a fresh change was made in the conduct
of foreign trade, the “Emperor’s Merchant ” being
replaced by a body of Chinese traders, known as
the “ Co-Hong,” with power to levy an ad valorem
duty of four per cent, on imports and exports. The
Co- Hong was under the superintendence of the
Hoppo, and responsible to the Viceroy and Governor
for their share of the profits and the solvency of each
member. The members of the corporation, more-
over, were answerable for the payment of all fees
and duties, and even for offences and crimes com-
mitted by the ships’ officers or crews. An import
duty of three taels per pictil was sanctioned by
Imperial edict in 1722, and an attempt made short-

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ly after by the Imperial Government to introduce a
fixed tariff ; but the condition of affairs was not
improved, as the tariff was treated with contempt by
both the Hoppo and the Co-Hong. A special tax
of ten per cent, on foreign imports and exports
followed, concerning which a strong appeal was
made by the foreigners to the Throne — in the
attitude of humble, or rather abject, suppliants, be
it noted — but not till 1736, on the occasion of the
accession to power of the Emperor Kienlung, was
exemption obtained from the impost. The vessels
of nationalities other than the British now com-
menced to trade with Canton.

A fresh disability was introduced twenty years
later, making it imperative for ships to obtain the
security of two members of the Co- Hong. The
powers of the combination, too, were extended, all
dealings of foreigners with small traders and pur-
veyors of provisions being prohibited, especially
with native junks before entering the river, as had
been the practice. And this restriction was further
emphasized by an Imperial edict entirely prohibit-
ing trade anywhere outside the Bogue. An attempt
was made by the chief supercargo to avert the ruin
of the Amoy agency thus threatened, but he com-
pletely failed. The interpreter, Mr. Flint, who had
been charged with the Amoy negotiations, proceed-
ed to Tientsin, and laid the whole case, involving
as it did serious reflections on the local authorities
at Canton, before the Throne. The appeal was
nominally successful, and an Imperial Commissioner,

FOREIGN RELATIONS

accompanied by Mr. Flint, was despatched to Can-
ton to remove the Hoppo from office, to abolish
illegal extortion, and to hold a full investigation,
with the inevitable result that the commissioner
was “ squared,” and grave charges were formulated
atjainst Mr. Flint of having set at defiance the Im-
perial edict. He and the supercargoes who had
been summoned to the Yamen were attacked and
maltreated and compelled to perform the kotow.
Mr. Flint was detained in prison, and a special
mission to Canton, to obtain his release having
proved unsuccessful, and a heavy bribe being re-
fused, he was actually kept in confinement till the
year 1762, when he returned to England.

The system of bribery and corruption, coupled
with submission to gross indignities, continued until,
in 1 771, permission was accorded to foreigners to
reside at Canton during the winter, the business
season. At this time the supercargoes gained a
decisive victory over the Co-Hong, obtaining its dis-
solution by means of a cumskaza of 100,000 taels,
the contributions due to the authorities having fallen
into arrears. Some ten years later the old institu-
tion was revived in another form by the creation of
“ Hong merchants,” native brokers who bore the
title of “mandarin.” The sole difference between
the old system and the new was that, in lieu of the
earlier common financial responsibility, there was
now a Consoo, an association or guild fund, to sup-
ply by a special tax on foreign trade the guarantee
provided for.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

A fresh impost to meet the requirements of coasc
defence was imposed in 1805. In the year 1818
there arose a serious difficulty ovxr the “ exportation
of bullion ” question. The balance of trade had
been yearly diminishing as foreign commerce grew,
and the Chinese authorities restricted the exporta-
tion of silver by any vessel to three -tenths of the
excess of imports over exports. In view of the
alarming export of silver, the authorities in 1831
imposed such crushing restrictions that the super-
cargoes threatened to suspend operations altogether,
later, however, submitting to the Chinese officials.

The foreign trading community in Canton were
chafing more and more at what they considered the
weakness of the East India Company, and showing
signs of resentment at their monopoly, while they
evinced an increasing disinclination to tamely sub-
mit to the exactions of the Chinese authorities.
The restrictions were evaded by the vessels outside
the Bogue, where stationary ships were anchored to
serve as warehouses. Smuggling grew apace, and
the emoluments of the local authorities seriously
suffered. It became apparent to the Chinese that
there was a growing determination no longer to play
the earlier submissive role, and that with the cessa-
tion of the East India Company’s monopoly foreign
trade would be placed on an entirely new basis.
Both the Imperial Gov^ernment and the local author-
ities took a serious view of the position, and in 1832
appeared an edict directing the maritime provinces
to place their coast defences and ships of war in re-

FOREIGN RELATIONS

pair, “ in order to scour the seas and drive away
any European vessels (of war) that might make their
appearance on the coast.” Collision with the for-
eigners was felt by the Chinese to be inevitable.

For over two centuries the general relations of
the East India Company towards the Chinese
Government were those of the suppliant trader most
humbly acknowledging the supreme sovereignty of
the “ Son of Heaven.” Commerce was beneath the
contempt not merely of the Court, but of the litei'ati
and officials ; trade was fit only for the lower, or
rather the lowest, classes. Even to the “ outer
barbarians,” however, the Emperor of China was
clement, and they were permitted to trade, under
certain disabilities, being only allowed to reside for
brief periods at intervals in the suburbs of Canton ;
they were neither to enter the city gates nor travel
inland ; they could only entertain in their service
the lowest class of Chinese, the boat population,
who are forbidden to live on shore or to compete at
literary examinations. Under such conditions were
trade and intercourse maintained.

The Chinese certainly saw but little of the better
side of the strangers from the West, whether hailing
from Europe or America. To them the foreigner
was a man thinking of nothing but gain by trade,
gain at any price ; a man of gross material pleasures,
a coarse and vicious-tempered being, with no appre-
ciation of Chinese philosophy or literature or histo-
ry, and not even the most elenientary acquaintance
Avith Chinese etiquette. To the Chinese, therefore,

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the foreigner was densely ignorant — a mere savage ;
he was the “outer barbarian,” the “foreign devil.”
The Chinese had their eyes rudely opened, in 1741,
to the fact that foreigners were possessed of some
superior advantages. In that year the first British
man-of-war, the Centaur, commanded by Commo-
dore Anson, made its appearance. Under circum-
stances of considerable danger. Captain Anson
passed the Bogue and pushed on to Whampoa, and
still further astonished the Chinese by calling, as an
officer of King George II., upon the Viceroy of
Canton, audaciously reminding the Chinese officials
that etiquette must not be overlooked. To the
discomfiture of the Chinese officials, the Viceroy
received him. Fifty years later the situation had
not improved, and when two British ships arrived
at Canton the officials absolutely refused to allow
them to enter the Bogue. Some time later, in 1816,
Captain Maxwell, of the Alccste, made his way to
Whampoa, after returning the fire of the forts which
had opened on his vessel — an incident discreetly
ignored by the Chinese.

The embassies sent with costly gifts by King
George III., and carried out with much pomp,
accomplished nothing. Both the embassy of Lord
Macartney in 1792, and that of Lord Amherst in
1815, were treated as mere “tribute-bearing” depu-
tations. As a concession, Britain was admitted by
the Court chroniclers to an official position in the
roll of “ tributary nations,” a fiction which was main-
tained till quite recent years. Even the reception

FOREIGN RELATIONS

of Ministers by the Emperor at Peking, secured
after protracted struggles, has always been held in
a building associated with the reception of subject
nations. Great changes are occurring, however,
as evidenced by the reception accorded to Prince
Henry of Prussia.

The more frequent visits of British men-of-war,
the protection of Macao against French attack, and
the gradual increase of our naval forces impressed
the Chinese and enabled our countrymen to take a
firmer stand against the Chinese assumption of
political and judicial supremacy. Never formally
acknowledged, though in fact admitted, this was
now formally contested, and the Chinese were in-
formed that foreigners on principle declined longer
to submit to it. From that time no foreigner was
surrendered to the Chinese authorities to be dealt
with.

In view of the impending non -renewal of the
charter, held by the East India Company, which
had been notified to the Viceroy of Canton, in 1831,
that official asked that a British officer should be
sent to Canton to control trade. An Act of Parlia-
ment was passed two years later to regulate trade
with China and India, declaring it expedient “for
the objects of trade and amicable intercourse with
the dominions of the Emperor of China ” to estab-
lish “a British authority in the said dominions.”
Three Superintendents of Trade — Lord Napier,
Mr. Plowden, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) J. F. Davis
— were appointed, one of them to preside over “ a

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

court of justice with criminal and Admiralty juris-
diction for the trial of offences committed by her
Majesty’s subjects in the said dominions, or on the
high sea within a hundred miles from the coast of
China.” The superintendents were forbidden to
engage in trade, a tonnage duty being sanctioned
to defray the cost of their establishment. Extra-
territorial jurisdiction was thus established, and the
China War of 1841 became inevitable. Lord Pal-
merston instructed Lord Napier “to foster and pro-
tect the trade of his Majesty’s subjects in China ;
to extend trade, if possible, to other ports of China ;
to induce the Chinese Government to enter into
commercial relations with the English Government ;
and to seek, with peculiar caution and circumspec-
tion, to establish eventually direct diplomatic com-
munication with the Imperial Court at Peking; also
to have the coast of China surveyed, to prevent dis-
asters and “ to inquire for places where British
ships might find requisite protection in the event
of hostilities in the China Sea,” an injunction which
led to much controversy later on.

A serious mistake was made in associating with
Lord Napier, as joint superintendents, two gentle-
men who had been in the East India Company’s
service, and who, therefore, were most unlikely to
receive consideration at the hands of the Chinese.
The policy adopted was temporizing, vacillating,
and ended in Lord Napier finding himself in a false
position and being abandoned by his Government.
The Cabinet, with all their opportunities, had

FOREIGN RELATIONS

learned nothing from the history of the East India
Company, and committed the additional blunder of
acting under the advice of the directors of that
Company, who had already so gravely mismanaged
affairs. The sad story of Lord Napier’s mission
need not be recapitulated here ; enough that, after
suffering all sorts of indignities at the hands of the
Chinese authorities, he was at last permitted to
leave Canton and proceed to Macao, where he died
— of a broken heart, it is said.

Sir J. F. Davis succeeded Lord Napier, and in
1834 recommended that a despatch should be sent
to the Emperor of China by a small fleet, and, if
that failed, that measures of coercion should be em-
ployed. The British community, supporting this
view, proposed that a plenipotentiary should pro-
ceed, with an armed force, to demand reparation of
the Emperor and to arrange trade questions. Then
followed the “ quiescent policy ” of Davis and his
successor. But gradually the idea grew that we
must acquire an island on the coast as a “colony.”
Chusan was first in favor, later Ningpo, then For-
mosa. The relations between English and Chinese,
however, became more and more strained, the im-
portation of opium being one of the grounds of dis-
pute ; and open hostilities took place in 1839. In
January, 1841, the island of Hongkong was ceded to
the English by the Chinese Commissioner Keshen,
and, though repudiated by the Chinese Government,
the cession was confirmed by the Treaty of Nan-
king, in 1842, whereby five ports — Canton, Amoy,

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Fuchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai — were opened to
British trade. Possession of Hongkong was taken
in 1841, and the next year it w^as proclaimed a free
port, which it has since remained; in 1843 it was
constituted a Crown colony.

The so-called “ opium war ” was really waged to
put a stop to grievances which had been accumulat-
ing for a hundred and fifty years. No protest
against the drug being treated as contraband by Im-
perial decrees was made ; but when commands were
issued to the Queen as a vassal of China, and her
subjects treated with violence, the question entered
upon another phase.

In 1856 war again broke out between Great Brit-
ain and China, in consequence of the capture by the
Chinese of a “ lorcha,” the Arrow, flying the British
flag. Lord Elgin was sent to China as Minister
Extraordinary, and after a series of war-like opera-
tions, including the taking of Canton, the Treaty of
Tientsin was signed in 1858. Peace was only tem-
porary, however. In 1859 the British Ambassador
was obstructed when on his way to Peking to obtain
a ratification of the treaty, and it was only after the
Anglo-French expedition had forced the passage of
the Pei ho, captured the Taku forts, and camped at
Peking, that the Co^nvention of Peking, ratifying
the Tientsin treaty, was signed, in i860. The treaty
and convention form the basis of the present rela-
tions between Great Britain and China. Additional
ports in China were opened to British trade, provi-
sion was made for the permanent residence at Peking

FOREIGN RELATIONS

of a British representative, and Kaulun, opposite
Hongkong, was ceded to Britain. In 1876 negotia-
tions, arising out of the Margary murder, resulted in
the Chifu Convention. The Siam Convention of
January 15, 1896, has an important bearing upon
the relations of England and France towards south-
western China.*

The incidents of the Chino-Japanese War, culmi-
nating in the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895, are so
well known as to require no further mention here.

* Article IV. provides that; “In the provinces of Yunnan and
Szechuan, all the privileges and advantages of any nature conceded
to France in the Agreement of 1895, and which may in the future
be conceded in these two Chinese provinces, either to Great Britain
or to France, shall, as far as rests with them, be extended and ren-
dered common to both Powers and their nationals and dependents,
and they engage to use their influence and good offices with the
Chinese Government for that purpose.”

The work by Mr. C. P. Lucas, A Historical Geography of the Col-
onies, and Dr. Eitel’s Europe in China, as well as other authorities,
have been consulted in this section

CHAPTER III

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

The slumbering factors of an immense industrial
production all exist in China, says Richthofen.
Among the various races of mankind the Chinese
is the only one which in all climates, the hottest and
the coldest, is capable of great and lasting activity.
The Chinaman fulfils in the highest degree the ideal
of an intelligent human machine.* It is evident
that, in many important industries, use will be made
of this still latent activity, and that the seat of many
industries will therefore be transplanted to Chinese
ground. The people themselves may lack the initi-
ative, but foreign capital will utilize the opportunity
for flooding the markets of the world with the prod-
ucts of cheap Chinese labor.!

“The truth is, that a man of good physical and intellectual
qualities, regarded merely as an economical factor, is turned out
cheaper by the Chinese than by any other race.” — Bourne, Report
on the Trade of Central and Southern China, No. 458, 1898.

t “ It is not difficult to guess what they will do when foreign im-
portations cause them serious anxiety,” says Simon. “ They will
erect looms, mills, and steam machinery of all kinds ... if need-
ful obtain European assistance, and dispense with European prod-
ucts. It is to be hoped they will stop there, because the day that
they take a fancy to engage in Western industry will mark a disas-

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

China may be divided into three zones, of which
the temperature and products are very different.
The northern zone comprises the country lying to
the north of the Yellow River. The climate here is
much too severe for tea or rice, and the land is most-
ly sown with millet and barley. The central zone,
stretching: from the Yellow River southward to the
26th degree of latitude, has much milder winters
than the northern, and rice and wheat thrive well
there. It possesses, too, the better kinds of tea, the
mulberry, the cotton -tree, the jujube, the orange-
tree, the sugar-cane, and the bamboo, which has been
applied by the Chinese to a great variety of pur-
poses. The eastern part of this favored zone is cel-
ebrated for its manufactures of silk and cotton ; the
middle of it is the granary of China, and might feed
the whole country from its enormous harvests of
rice; the west abounds in valuable timber. The
southern zone, bordered by the sea, has much the
same natural productions, but not generally of as
good a cpiality, as the temperature is much higher.
Numerous mineral and metalliferous deposits are
distributed throughout all zones — coal and iron in
the north, south, and centre; gold and silver in the
provinces of the north, south, and west ; and copper,
tin, mercury, and lead in many parts. Finally, the
mountains of the southwest, in Yunnan and Kwei-
chau, are rich in metals.

The vast mineral wealth of the country is as yet

trous day for Europe. Free from ta.xes, with cheap and abundant
labor, it will be impossible to compete with them."

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

locked up, and cannot be developed until proper
communications are opened. The population is
only dense along and close to the seaboard and the
main waterways of the interior. Away from these it
becomes sparser, and trade does not penetrate, be-
cause communications are almost entirely wanting,
thus taking away all incentive from the people to
produce beyond their immediate wants. It should
always be borne in mind, in dealing with China, that
paucity of population is a very imperfect index to
the potentialities of any district which is not in
communication with the outer world. Scantiness of
population does not at all imply absence of mineral
and other latent wealth, and affords a poor test of
the character of the soil.

The use of coal in the household and the arts has
been carried to great perfection.* Anthracite is
powdered and mixed with wet clay, earth, sawdust,
or dung, according to the exigencies of the case,
says Williams, in the proportion of about seven to
one, the balls thus made being dried in the sun.
The brick-beds [kang) are effective means of warm-
ing the house, and the hand furnaces enable the poor
to cook with these balls, aided by a little charcoal, at
a trifling expense. Owing to the extremely bad state
of the means of communication, howev^er, only those

* Marco Polo notices its use. “It is a fact,” says the Venetian,
“ that all over the country of Cathay, there is a kind of black stone
existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like
firewood. It is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they
do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost less.” —
Yule’s Marco Polo, vol. i., p. 395.

THE ECONO AIIC QUESTION

who live in close vicinity to coal-mines can derive
benefit from them, while to others, who live at a
day’s walk from the mine, coal is a luxury for which
they can no longer afford to pay. Coal, which costs
in Shansi 13 cents per ton at the mine, rises to 4
taels at a distance of thirty, and to 7 taels at sixty
miles. Thus the price increases i tael per ton in
every ten miles.*

Throughout the north of Chihli coal is plentiful.
At the extensive collieries of Kaiping the mines are
worked on a European model and produce excellent
coal, and the out-turn could be immensely increased.
At one place, Chaitang, Richthofen walked over a
regular procession of coal-bearing strata, the thick-
ness of which he estimated as exceeding 7000 feet.
At Taigan shan the beds are of greater value than
any in the neighborhood of Peking. The coal at
both these places is anthracite.

Regarding the basin of Taiyuen fu, Richthofen
says that coal is abundant everywhere, and in most
places worth little more than the cost of transporta-
tion. All the coal occurring in the vicinity is bitu-
minous and of extremely good quality. The beds
are numerous, those worked being generally from 3
to 5 feet thick, but in some instances 8 and even 10
feet. Owing to their horizontal position, the out.

* “ Where coal is conveyed by land, it soon reaches such a price
as to render its use impossible. Coal production is cheap— about
(id. per ton — and, therefore, improved machinery is not wanted, at
least not so long as the want of means of communication lasts.” — ■
Richthofen.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

croppings being exposed to view on the hill-side,
mining is extraordinarily easy. Most of the coal-
seams, too, are overlain by hard sandstone, forming
a solid roof in the mines, which only needs to be
supported by coal-pillars, thus reducing the expense
for timbering to a minimum.

Of another coal-field, Pingting chau, the same au-
thority says that the present mines constitute a nar-
row and crooked belt, following: the line along- which
the coal measures crop out, and that the coal-bearing
strata extend to the west, southwest, and north, prac-
tically through almost the whole of southern Shansi.
Adits, miles in length, could be driven within the
body of the coal, underneath great thicknesses of
superincumbent strata. It is probable that all, or
nearly all, the anthracite beds would here be worth
extracting. Mining is therefore capable of a practi-
cally almost unlimited extension. These conditions
are altogether abnormal, and when a railroad is built
from the plain to this district, branches will be car-
ried through the body of these beds of anthracite,
among the thickest and most valuable in the world.
In this way the output of the coal-beds will be load-
ed direct on railroad - cars, to be railed to distant
places, and extensive deposits of iron ore and clay
could also be exploited.

Shansi is one of the most remarkable coal and
iron regions in existence. At the present rate of
consumption the world could be supplied with coal
for thousands of years from Shansi alone, in Richt-
hofen’s opinion. And speaking of Professor Dana’s

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

comparison of the proportions in various countries
of the area of coal land to the total area, where the
State of Pennsylvania is given as leading the world
with its 43,960 square miles embracing 20,000 of
coal land, Richthofen says the province of Shansi
will take the palm from Pennsylvania, and by a rela-
tively greater proportion. Nor is its extent the only
advantage possessed by the Chinese coal-field, the
ease and cheapness with which coal can be extracted
being a remarkable feature. This region, however,
labors under the disadvantage of being situated at a
distance from the coast and from navigable rivers ;
and the coal formation lies a few thousand feet above
the adjoining plain, a difficulty which will have to be
overcome by the railroads required for the exploita-
tion of the mineral wealth of Shansi.

At the present moment, since the destruction by
fire of the mines upon which the Hanyang Iron-
works were dependent, there exist practically but
two sources from which a supply for exportation is
drawn — Kaiping and Hankau. In addition to these
a small quantity from Tszechau fu, in Shansi, finds
its way every year to the Yangtsze in spite of the
heavy taxation in transit and difficult transport.
Were the Kaiping mines properly worked under
complete foreign control, they would long since
have secured a share of the trade which now goes to
Japan, for the coal produced is of good quality and
might be laid down at moderate prices in Shanghai.*

* An account of the actual and potential coal resources of some
of the chief districts of China has been given (April, 1898) by the

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

As regards the coal which reaches Hankau from
southeast Hunan, its present price at Shanghai is
9 taels per ton, but neither supply nor price can be
counted upon. The district of Luiyang, from which
the famous coal of this name comes, forms the most
important mining centre of a region which is broadly
estimated as extending over 20,000 square miles. It
is from this source that the future coal supply of
central China must chiefly be drawn, and it is the
existence of this vast field, in addition to the commer-
cial capacities of so populous a region, which renders
the opening of Hunan to foreign enterprise a matter
of such importance. The coal has long been worked
in many localities, under the primitive methods of
Chinese surface-mining, for purposes of local supply,
and a varying quantity (probably some 200,000 tons
a year) is sent to Hankau, four hundred and thirty
miles distant. The Luiyang and Yungling mines
are capable of producing an unlimited supply, the
cost of which would become nominal with good com-
munications and scientific methods of production.

In Honan the fields borderinsf on the line of the
proposed Luhan Railway — i.e., the Peking- Hankau
line— produce an excellent quality of bituminous
coal, sold at about y. at the mines, and iron ore oc-
curs profusely throughout the coal-bearing strata of
this district, while in north Honan there is also an
anthracite belt. Coal from these mines finds its way
to the Yellow River and the Wei, both thirty miles

correspondent of the Times, to whom I am indebted for valuable
information.

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

distant, where it commands a price five times that
paid at the pit-mouth.

In Shansi, still bordering on the Luhan Railway
line, lies the great coal and iron region of Tszechau
fu, favorably situated as a distributing centre. In
northern Shensi, also rich in coal, the difficulties
of transportation place it entirely beyond the reach
of any but the adjacent places. The coal forma-
tion in the bottom of ravines cut through the cover
of loess, is so similar to that of Shansi as, in Richt-
hofen’s opinion, to make it probable that the table-
lands of coal extend over the greater portion of
northern Shensi. Although little is generally known
regarding the minerals of China, a comprehensive
list of these, based on Chinese sources, is given by
Pumpelly.*

The same methods witnessed by Richthofen for
extracting the metals in Tszechau were probably, in
his opinion, applied several thousand years ago.
They bear the character of nearly all Chinese in-
dustry, being primitive and imperfect, and yet pro-
ducing good results. The trains of mules and men
encountered on the road, he says, laden with iron-
ware of the most varied description, prepare the trav-
eller to see the metal manufactured on a large scale ;
and it is surprising, on arrival at the spot, to see hun-
dreds of small establishments, between which the
labor is divided, each of them manufacturing a cer-
tain set of articles for which they may have gained

* Geological Researches in China, Mongolia, and Japan.
Pumpelly.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

a reputation. It is evident that the great success
wliich the iron manufacturers of Tszechau attain, by
application of apparently the rudest methods, must
be due in a great measure to the superiority of the
material they employ. It is the few hundred feet of
productive coal formation which furnishes them with
an abundance of every kind of material they require
— namely, an iron ore of great purity, rich in metal
and easily fusible ; all sorts of clay and sand, such as
are required for crucibles, moulds, etc. ; and an an-
thracite of a superior quality.

The best information regarding the province of
Shantung is in the pages of Williamson, who found
four great coal-fields in this province with mines in
active operation, in addition to several lesser ones ;
he also found places where coal exists, but where
mining is interdicted. The chief among the great
coal-producing districts of Shantung is the valley of
the Laufu ho, which runs north and south, the hills
on the west side being perforated with coal-pits.
Several varieties are extracted — fine bituminous coal,
or partly bituminous and partly anthracite, gas-coal,
and others difficult to classify. This district is fa-
mous throughout the province, and supplies the
neiffiiborinof towns and cities. At Poshan coke is
manufactured in large quantities for exportation, be-
ing used for smelting silver and for purposes where
great heat is required. Another field is a little to
the south of Yichau fu, the coal being of inferior
quality, and a third is the Wei hien district. The
fourth is twelve miles north of Yi hien, where the

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

coal is excellent, coal being also found near the east-
ern gate of Kiaochau. Judging from the direction
of the prevailing mountain ranges and their geologi-
cal features, it is probable that coal exists through-
out the whole of the centre and west of Shantung.

Iron ore and iron-stone of many descriptions have
been found in several places far removed from one
another, and in such positions as to indicate their
wide distribution. Very fine ore — viz., the black
oxide of iron, exists in Shantung. Iron ore of a
somewhat different description has also been pro-
cured from the hill called King-kwo shan, about
fifty //southeast of Tungchau.

Gold is found in many provinces, Manchuria,
Shantung, and the western highlands deserving
special mention. Gold washings on the Han River,
in Hupei, are noticed by Richthofen, where he found
that seven men wash twenty tons of gravel a day,
with an average yield in gold of about three and a
half to four cents a ton.

The mineral wealth of the two southwest prov-
inces, Yunnan and Kweichau, is very great and va-
ried, and is unequalled throughout China.* Coal of
excellent quality occurs in various parts of Yunnan ;
salt is found in the hills — not in wells, as in Szechuan.
Lead, iron, tin, zinc are exported. Iron and coal
are found everywhere in abundance, as well as cop-
per, sulphur, mineral oil, mercury, cinnabar, and
other valuable minerals, which the broken nature of

* See Chapter V.
67

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the ground brings to the surface. Here, as else-
where in China, water is the great difficulty in iron,
coal, and mercury mining, many very productive
mines being hopelessly flooded. But the mines can-
not be successfully worked until there are railways
to convey the output to a market.

The chief copper and lead mines are situated be-
tween the provinces of Hupei and Hunan, in south
China, and besides the metal supplied from these
mines, copper is sent to Peking from Yunnan and
Kweichau. Copper ore has been found east of Chi-
fu, and there is reason to believe that it exists else-
where in Shantung and several other provinces.

The salt-works of Lutswun supply Shansi, north-
ern Shensi, and the greater portions of Kansu and
Honan. The amount extracted yearly, supposing
the figure arrived at to be correct, would hardly ap-
pear, in the opinion of Richthofen, to be sufficient
for the population of those regions. But there are
other sources of supply. In the valleys of Hinchau,
Taiyuen fu, Pingyang fu, Sian fu — in fact, in every
large loess-basin — salt is made, but of very inferior
quality, having a brown color and a bitter taste. It
is sold at a price ranging from seven to twenty cash
a cattie, and is only used by the poor. A portion of
Shansi is also provided with salt from Tientsin.

The salt industry evidences Chinese ingenuity in
a striking way. The sale of salt is a Government
monopoly, the entire revenue from salt raised by the
Chinese Government being about 13,659,000 taels.
The annual consumption for China is estimated to

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

be over 33,000,000,000 lbs., the importation of for-
eign salt being prohibited. The United States Con-
sul-General at Shanghai has recently given an in-
terestins: account, which embodies the information
collected by Baber, Richthofen, and other travellers.

“The ingenuity which, seventeen hundred years ago, bored
through solid rock to the depth of from 2000 to 5000 feet attests
scientific skill that may still interest. The salt wells of China are
found in Szechuan, Yunnan, and Shansi; but the more important
are near the city of Tzelintsing, in the province of Szechuan, about
175 miles west of Chungking and an equal distance southeast of
Chengtu. The salt belt is a triangular tract, having the Min River,
from Chingting fu to its junction with the Yangtsze at Sui fu, for
its base, and its apex near Tzelintsing, an area of some 1500 miles.
The number of wells in this region, officially reported, are 1200, but
the number is larger, and by some estimated as high as 5000. They
average about six inches in diameter, and vary in depth from 700 to
5000 feet, though there is one well reported to be 5900 feet deep.”

Tea is still the largest element in the foreign
trade, although rapidly diminishing on account of
the competition from India. Its use in China is not
so universal as imagined : in the north and west the
people use preparations in which tea forms a small
proportion, or else drink hot water. The “ brick
tea” for the Monorolian and Tibetan markets is

principally prepared at Hankau. For the better qual-
ities the Russians invariably outbid the English,
and the finest kinds are consumed either in China
or in Russia, where the upper classes are prepared
to pay heavily for a fine tea, just as, in the West,
high prices are paid for a choice wine. Tea was
used as a beverage, in the earlier centuries of our era,

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

in China, whence a knowledge of the plant was car-
ried to Japan, where the cultivation was established
in the thirteenth century. The indigenous tea-tree,
believed by botanists to be the parent species, is
found in Assam.

Insect wax is exported to some extent from Sze-
chuan, and the supply from that province, and from
Yunnan and Kweichau, is capable of indefinite ex-
pansion, according to Bourne.

Unlike those of their kind in Szechuan, the wax
insects of Shantung breed and become productive
in the same districts. They are placed upon the
trees in the spring, and at the close of the summer
they void a peculiar substance which, when melted,
forms wax. In the autumn they are taken off the
trees, and are preserved within doors until the fol-
lowing spring.

The history of tobacco in China is very curious,
showing how rapidly a narcotic can spread. Some
three hundred years ago it came from Japan, doubt-
less introduced there by the Portuguese or Dutch,
to Corea. Thence it was introduced into Manchu-
ria, and, when the present Manchu dynasty ascended
the throne (a.d. 1664), thence into China. Its use is
now universal, the Manchurian tobacco being now
famous throughout China.

The question of labor is one of great importance.
A Chinese coolie can be employed for from six to
eight dollars a month, and, considering his greater
strength and endurance, he is a cheaper servant at
these rates, either in or out of his own country, than

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

the ordinary native of India. The people are sturdy
and well built, those of north China being stronger
than those of the south, and more civil to foreigners.
The poorer classes live almost entirely on rice and
vegetables, to which they sometimes add small pieces
of fish and meat. An artisan’s wages vary, accord-
ing to his skill, from 5^/. to lod. per diem. As a rule
they are diligent workmen, being good carpenters,
slow bricklayers, excellent stone-cutters, very fair
navvies, indifferent blacksmiths, and bad at forge-
work and iron-work generally. They do not appre-
ciate the necessity of exactness or of fixing work
truly in a lathe, but they have considerable powers
of imitation. They are indifferent miners. When
working by contract, meals are provided on the
premises. They work generally nine hours a day,
lunching about noon, and dining after the day’s
work is done, usually on rice, fish, and vegetables.

Workmen are divided into guilds, are turbulent
unless kept in subjection, and often combine to raise
their wages. The artisans of the south are superior
to those of north China in skill and activity. The
great bulk of the people (two-thirds) are employed
in productive labor — z>., agriculture and fisheries,
one-tenth of the whole population probably gaining
a livelihood by the latter industry. About one-third
are manufacturers, tradesmen, or are engaged in com-
merce. The extremely overpopulated condition of
certain sections of the country has had a powerful
influence in moulding the national character. Un-
der the existing conditions China cannot support

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

her people ; hence large numbers of the inhabitants
are compelled either to emigrate* or to live in boats
on the rivers and lakes.

The Chinese immigration into Mongol territory,
which commenced some centuries ago, was at first a
purely political measure, the Emperor Kanghi es-
pecially fostering it by deporting criminals and
building fortified cities. But the most rapid prog-
ress in the way of spontaneous colonization appears
to have been made in the last decade. While the
Chinese in Manchuria have succeeded in assimi-
lating themselves by intermarriage with the ruling
race, they can gain upon the Mongols only by push-
ing them back, for no intermarriage takes place,
and the Mongols, unlike the Manchus, do not as-
sume the Chinese language and literature.

As regards opium, the most marked feature and
the one which concerns us most, for it involves the
loss of a large income to England, is the decrease in
the import of the Indian article. There cannot be
any doubt that the foreign drug will be driven, slowly
perhaps, but steadily, by native competition from the
China market. The records of the foreign Customs
and the consular service and the testimony of trav-

* “ Legalized coolie emigration from China,” says Cordier, “ was
first initiated in 1859 by Peh-kwei, Gov'ernor of Kwangtung, acting
under the influence of the British and French authorities then in
military occupation of the city of Canton, and was conducted under
regulations drawn up by the Allies and the Chinese authorities.” It
was not till 1866 that a Code of Regulations, agreed to by Sir
Rutherford Alcock and Prince Rung, was drawn up in the form of
a Convention, and promulgated.

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

ellers and missionaries, supply evidence on this point
which cannot be doubted. The process is seen in
full operation in the north, notwithstanding that the
prices of foreign opium have been greatly reduced.
Szechuan opium is also supplanting the foreign drug
on the Yangtsze, the distribution being largely carried
on through boatmen and land smugglers. In For-
mosa and south China generally, though the decline
of opium imported through the Customs is marked,
the consumption is said to be not greatly on the de-
crease, owing presumably to contraband supplies.
The native article does not as yet interfere largely
with the foreign drug. The reason for this is sim-
ple. The opium of distant Yunnan and Szechuan
cannot yet compete with the adulterated Indian
opium, as sold at the ports of Formosa, Amoy, Swa-
tau, Pakhoi, or Floihau, where it is delivered princi-
pally by means of junks from Singapore and Hong-
kong; mainly, of course, from the latter place. It
resolves itself into a simple question of cost and car-
riage.

Without entering fully into the controversy re-
garding this burning question of opium, too impor-
tant to be discussed hastily, a few words on the sub-
ject are necessary. The truth is to be found in no
violent extremes, but in the happy mean. So far we
have had two quite antagonistic views presented to
us — the missionary view, adopted by the Anti-Opium
League, and the official or consular view, adopted
by the Government of India. Read one, and you
learn that the practice brings ruin to the “teeming

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

millions ” of China. Listen to the other, and you
are told that it is quite a healthful custom, about as
harmless as the use of tobacco, and suited to the
idiosyncrasies of the Chinese constitution. This, of
course, is not the letter but it is the spirit of their
opinions. Now, I shall not sketch the horrors of
the “ black smoke,” nor picture the abominations of
the “ opium-den,” which have been greatly exagger-
ated. I have seen opium-dens in many large Chi-
nese cities, and as bad, if not worse, can be seen any
day in Constantinople and elsewhere. On the other
hand, I am not among those who can defend the
practice, for I have witnessed under exceptional cir-
cumstances— while on the march with soldiers and
muleteers, or living with peasant and trader, when
entertained in the official yamen or lodging in the
common hostelry — the evil effects produced by it
on the people of China.* On the more southern
peoples of Tongking, Annam, Cochin-China, Siam,
Cambodia, and Burma, with all of whom I am ac-
quainted, the result shows itself more rapidly and
the effect is more fatal.! Neither physically nor

* On this subject Hue says : “ They take to it greedily ; and when
once the habit of smoking becomes confirmed, the difficulty of re-
linquishing it is exceedingly great. There has, no doubt, been
much exaggeration in what has been talked and written on this
subject. But on the testimony of Chinamen themselves, the effects
of opium-smoking must be regarded as injurious to health, and de-
structive to all the better parts of man’s nature. Indulging in it
prostitutes the intellectual and moral faculties.”

+ Behn-sah, or opium-smoker, is the greatest term of reproach
that can be applied to a Burman.

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

morally can they, as regards opium, “stay ” like the
Chinaman. That the habit is pernicious, capable of
great abuse, and that it saps away the energies of
body and mind, I arn convinced. But this opinion
is founded merely upon personal observation. To
accurately ascertain the effects of opium, what is
greatly wanted is some precise scientific system of
inquiry.

Sir Robert Hart some years ago evolved an elab-
orate calculation as to the number of opium-smokers
in China, based upon the average number of pipes,
and therefore opium, consumed by the average reg-
ular smoker. In this way he ascertained that only
two-thirds of one per cent, of the population, or only
some 2,000,000 Chinamen, smoked opium. Such an
estimate, however, would hardly appear reasonable
to any one who has travelled in China. The data
were insufficient, the evident weak point being the
degree of adulteration practised, which varies greatly,
thus affecting the average amount consumed.

In discussing the evil effects of opium, we are far
too apt to forget that there is such a thing in our own
country as drunkenness. The Chinaman, like men
of other races, insists upon indulging in some stimu-
lant or narcotic, and he has chosen opium. He is
by no means a teetotaler, as usually assumed ; ab-
stinence societies exist in China. Still, the China-
man generally does not indulge in beer or wine,* and

* According to Dr. Martin, “ liquor makes a man noisy and
furious, opium makes him quiet and rational. The drinker com-
mits crime when he has too much, the opium-smoker when he has

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

his samshu is a weakly substitute. The vice which
it pleases him to indulge is, therefore, opium. We
have not yet succeeded in introducing temperance,
far less abstinence, into England, and one might as
soon expect the average Briton to give up his beer
or spirits as the Chinaman his pipe. In neither case
can man be made moral by Act of Parliament. In
any case, no reform is likely to come from the man-
darinate, who are almost without exception slaves
to the habit, while the few free from it are power-
less against it. Reform must come, if ever it does,
from the people themselves. If not altogether a
sincere belief with Chinamen, it is at least a highly
convenient argument, and much used by them, that
we are largely responsible for the prevalence of the
habit ; and not only the officials and literati, but
even a few foreigners have done their best to foster

the idea. True or not, the charge is one difficult to
meet so long as Government preserves its present
attitude with regard to Indian opium.

That the Chinese are taking any serious steps
towards the suppression of the drug is not to be
credited, least of all by any one who has traversed
the interior of China. Like the Abbe Hue, from
jDersonal experience gained in Chinese travel every

too little. . . . Alcohol imprints on the face a fiery glow; opium an
ashy paleness. Alcoholic drinks bloat and fatten ; opium emaciates.
A drunkard may work well if kept from his cups; an opium-
smoker is good for nothing until he has had his pipe. It takes
years for alcohol to reduce a man to slavery ; opium rivets its fetters
in a few weeks or months. It does not take the place of either to-
bacco or alcoholic drinks.” — A Cycle of Cathay.

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

observer can say : “ Pendant notre long voyage en
Chine, nous n’avons pas rencontre un seul tribunal
oil on ne fumat I’opium ouvertement et impunement,”
It is found in many provinces growing under the
walls of nearly every yamen or court-house. All
travellers are agreed in this, that Yunnan and Sze-
chuan opium is rapidly increasing in quantity and
improving in quality. It is fast forcing its way to
the seaboard, being already brought there and
shipped along the coast, although as yet in small
quantities. The poppy is spreading over other
provinces,* and as the value of the crop is double
that of wheat, it is fast replacing that dry-weather
crop. The use of the Indian drug since the im-
provement of the native article is becoming, slowly
but surely, a luxury only for the more affluent trader
or official. Perfected still more, fashion will give its

* A Chinese censor in 1830 represented to the Throne that the
poppy was grown over one-half the province of Chekiang, and in
1836 another stated that the annual produce of opium in Yunnan
could not be less than several thousand piculs. In 1884 it was esti-
mated that southwest China, including Szechuan, produced not
less than 224,000 piculs, while the entire import from India did not
exceed 100,000. Opium-smoking seemingly commenced in China
forty or fifty years before the English began to import opium into
that country. Referring to Yunnan and Kweichau, Bourne was
told that : “ About five generations here had smoked opium. Culti-
vation of the poppy began on an extensive scale at the end of the
reign of K‘ien-lung (1796). Then opium was worth its weight in
silver." “ If this be true,” Bourne remarks, ‘‘ one can readily
understand how, as the habit spread east, the Canton merchants
would have made inquiry of the East India Company’s factors
in Canton, and how there would have been a trial shipment from
India.”

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

imprimatur to the native article, and then the for-
eign drug will be doomed.

Silk of varying quality is grown in most provinces
of China. Steam filatures, of which there are 25,
having 8040 spindles, have been established under
European management in Chifu, Shanghai, Chin-
kiang, Hankau, and Canton, and have greatly devel-
oped the silk trade.

The cotton-growing country stretches from Shang-
hai to Hankau, and thence to Tchang. Northern
Szechuan also grows cotton. Raw cotton is not
grown cheaply in China. There are at present 13
cotton-mills at work, and the erection of others has
already been commenced. The number of spindles
is 417,000 and of looms 2100. The output of
these mills is large, and already has become one
of the important factors in the industrial develop-
ment of the Far East.

The Western world got many things from China,
and many others were in use in the Chinese Empire
before they were known to us. The mariner’s com-
pass, gunpowder, the use of the umbrella, belong to
the first category, and possibly some of the following
also : The system of civil-service examinations, the
early telegraph (signal -towers), bull-fights, theatres,
novels, the census, the rotation of crops, printing,
incubators, bank-notes, newspapers, and inoculation
for small-pox.

The mineral wealth of China, perhaps the greatest
of any country on the world’s surface, is as yet hardly
touched, while there is a vast store of human energy

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION

in the people of China to develop that wealth. A
great force at present runs to waste in the shape of
the water-power, the numberless water-falls and wa-
ter-ways, at present unutilized.

In reviewing the general economic condition of
the Chinese Empire we cannot fail to be struck by
the fact that, though progress has been at a stand-
still for centuries, many of the products of China
not only hold their own in the markets of the world,
but are in some cases unrivalled. Again, though
the tools used by the Chinese in their manufactures
and arts are as a rule most primitive, the results are
remarkable, and sometimes beyond the reach of the
European with his improved methods and up-to-date
machinery and mechanism. If the Chinese have
been able to accomplish so much with so little ad-
ventitious aid, it surely requires no great foresight
to be able to foretell that, when the spirit of progress
is really abroad in the land, when modern improve-
ments and methods are studied and adopted by the
people, the Chinaman will occupy a leading posi-
tion among his contemporaries in the world of com-
merce and manufacture.

CHAPTER IV

THE QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

The first organic need of all civilized States, and
pre-eminently so in a country so vast and so various
in its terrestrial conditions as China, is arterial com-
munication. This need has been fully recognized by
its rulers, who have from time to time made serious
efforts to connect the most distant parts of the Em-
pire by both land and water routes.

The “ Grand Canal ” or Yun ho, so often spoken
of by travellers in past times, is, in its way, as great
a monument of human industry as the Great Wall,
although perhaps at first sight it may seem less
wonderful. Not a canal in the Western sense of the
word, it is merely, as has been explained, “ a series
of abandoned river-beds, lakes, and marshes, con-
nected one with another by cuttings of no impor-
tance, fed by the Wan ho (or Tawan ho), in Shan-
tung, which divides into two currents at its summit,
and by other streams and rivers along its course.
A part of the water of the Wan ho descends towards
the Hoang ho and Gulf of Pechili ; the larger part
runs south in the direction of the Yangtsze.”*

* Richthofen.
8o

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

It has generally the aspect of a winding river, of
varying width. As related by Marco Polo,* the
Emperor Kublai Khan, towards the end of the thir-
teenth century, created the Yun ho — i.c., “ River of
Transports,” as it was named — chiefly by connecting
river with river, lake with lake. Even before that
epoch goods were conveyed partly by water and
partly by land from the Yangtsze to the Pei ho
basin. The Grand Canal connects Hangchau, in
Chekiang, with Tientsin, in Chihli, where it unites
with the Pei ho, and thus may be said to extend to
Tungchau, in the neighborhood of Peking. After
leaving Hangchau, it skirts the eastern border of
the Tai hu, or Great Lake, surrounding, in its course,
the beautiful city of Suchau, and then runs in a
northwesterly direction through the fertile districts
of Kiangsu as far as Chinkiang, on the Yangtsze.
Thence it passes through Kiangsu, Anhwei, Shan-
tung, and Chihli, to Tientsin. When the canal was
in order, before the inflow of the Yellow River failed,
there was uninterrupted water communication from
Peking to Canton, and to the many cities and towns
met with en route.

P'or many years past, but especially since the car-
riage of tribute-rice by steamers along the coast be-
gan, repairs to the Grand Canal have been practically

* “ You must understand,” says Marco Polo, “that the Emperor
has caused a water communication to be made from this city (Kwa-
chau) to Cambaluc, in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug
between stream and stream, lake and lake, forming, as it were, a
great river on which large vessels can ply.”— Yule’s Marco Polo,
vol. ii., p. 136.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

abandoned. Numberless instances of the manner in
vvhicli the water-ways and the river embankments
are neglected could be given. Nothing is attempted
till too late, and several hundred coolies, sometimes
thousands, are requisitioned and hurried off to un-
dertake what could be done by a few men and a lit-
tle application of mechanical skill, if taken in time.
The his/her waters of the streams and rivers are dif-
ficult to navigate. But the absence of cataracts, the
cheapness of wages, and the small value of time, and
even of life, it may be said, make it possible for the
Chinese to employ boat navigation advantageously
where the difficulty, expense, and risk would make it
a sheer impossibility in any part of Europe. The Chi-
naman drags his boat over rapids that in most coun-
tries would form an absolute barrier to navisfation.

He takes them across shallows only a couple of inch-
es deep and flowing with great velocity over a pebbly
or shingly bottom. The amount of freight carried in
this manner in the face of almost superhuman diffi-
culties is astounding. Little has been attempted to
maintain, nothing has been done to improve, either
by land or water, the inter- provincial communica-
tions, the urgent necessity above all else for China.

The roads in China, confined generally to the
northern and western sections of the country, are
proverbially the very worst in the world. The typi-
cal western China road is a thing to be experienced,
it cannot be described.

“ The paving is of the usual Chinese pattern,” says Baber, “ rough
bowlders and blocks of stone laid somewhat loosely together on the

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

surface of the ground ; ‘ good for ten years and bad for ten thou-
sand,’ as the Chinese proverb admits. On the level plains of China,
in places where the population is sufficiently affluent to subscribe
for occasional repairs, this system has much practical value. But in
the Yunnan Mountains the roads are never repaired; so far from it,
the indigent natives extract the most convenient blocks to stop the
holes in their hovel walls, or to build a fence on the windward side
of their poppy patches. The rain soon undermines the pavement,
especially where it is laid on a steep incline; whole sections of it
topple down the slope, leaving chasms a yard or more in depth ;
and isolated fragments balance themselves here and there, with the
notorious purpose of breaking a leg or spraining an ankle.”*

Where travelling by water is impossible, sedan-
chairs are used to carry passengers,! and coolies
with poles and slings transport the luggage and
goods. The distances covered by the sedan-chair
j3orters across these highland roads are remarkable,
sometimes as much as thirty-five miles daily, even
on a journey extending over a month, and with only
a few days’ halt altogether.

The transport animals — ponies, mules, oxen, and
donkeys — are very strong and hardy, and manage to
drag the carts along the most execrable roads, six
or eight animals being harnessed, often as a mixed

* China. No. 3. 1878.

t “ No traveller in western China who possesses any sense of
self-respect,” says Baber, “ should journey without a sedan-chair,
not necessarily as a conveyance, but for the honor and glory of the
thing. Unfurnished with this indispensable token of respectability,
he is liable to be thrust aside on the highway, to be kept waiting at
ferries, to be relegated to the worst inn’s worst room, and generally
to be treated with indignity or, what is sometimes worse, with fa-
miliarity, as a peddling footpad who, unable to gain a living in his
own country, has come to subsist on China. A chair is far more
effective than a passport.”

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

team, in a cart drawing about a ton. Many descrip-
tions of travel in aspringless Chinese cart have been
attempted, but no pen can reproduce the sensation.
The ponies of western China are admirable, a rougher
edition of the Shan or Burma pony, hardier and more
enduring. The mules are unequalled in any other
country. The distances ponies and mules will cover
are surprising, and this on the very poorest of fod-
der. Their endurance and patience are equalled
only by the coolies. The two-humped or Bactrian
camel met with at Peking, and employed in the
Mongolian trade, is characteristic of Mongolia, where
the one-humped species common in Turkistan is un-
known.

From Peking four high-roads branch in various
directions, one leading to Urga, by way of Suenhwa
fu, which traverses the Great Wall at Chankeakou ;
another which enters Mongolia through the Ku-pei-
kou in the northeast, and after reaching Fungning
proceeds with a northwesterly bearing to Dolonor;
a third going due east by way of Tungchau and
Yungping fu to Shanhaikwan, the point on the shore
of the Gulf where the Great Wall terminates ; and
fourthly, one which leads, in a southwesterly direc-
tion, to Paoting fu and on to Taiyuen fu in Shansi.

The Central Asian trade route from Sian fu, turn-
ing northwest, leaving the fertile loess valley of the
Wei and traversing the once rich but now devastat-
ed and depopulated hills and valleys of Shensi and
Kansu as far as the confines of the Gobi Desert,
passes through a country of great agricultural wealth,

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

possessed of a magnificent coal and probably also iron
supply. The only line of approach for a railway
from Central Asia to central China and the Yangtsze
basin is the present cart-road from Sian, leading
south of the Yellow River to Honan, Funcheng, and
Hankau. From its favorable position, Honan, ac-
cording to Colonel Mark Bell,* is destined to be a
great future railway centre, for thence at least two
good lines can be carried to Hankau, while it is an
easy passage via Kaifong to Peking. The iron and
coal of Shansi can be tapped by a line from Tung-
kwan up the valley of the Fuenho to Taiyuen fu and
beyond. The tunnelling required in the Shansi
hills for a line to Peking could pass through strata
of coal, which is also found in northern Shensi.
Richthofen very properly lays special stress upon the
value of the Tungkwan road, as “ of supreme im-
portance in a political and strategical respect, as it
mediates, without exception, the entire traffic between
the southwest of the Empire (Szechuan, Yunnan, and
Tibet) and Peking, together with the whole north-
east. It is one of the chief roads of travel in China,
and the greatest military road.”

The commercial importance of the Wei Valley is
emphasized by Richthofen and other travellers. It
is the centre of gravity and also resistance of Mid-
China; cut off, however, from the rest of the Em-
pire by mountainous or hilly regions, it is at present
most difficult to reach.

Asiatic Quarterly Review, April, 1890.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The chief causes of the backward and decaying
condition of the northern as compared with the cen-
tral and southern provinces seem to be these : i.
The deterioration of the climate, due to the persist-
ent destruction of the forests, and failure to take any
steps to renew them. In the north, for example,
from Hankau to Peking, mountains and hills are
destitute of trees and shrubs, and present a most for-
bidding appearance. 2. The neglected state of the
means of inter-communication.* When the country
was flourishing, some of the roads were in a fairly
good condition; now they are almost impassable.
Hence the congested state of certain districts in the
north, especially Honan.

The three great enemies of the supreme Govern-
ment in China have been famine, provincial auton-
omy, and rebellion. Famines are caused in China
by various calamities. Locusts and rats may devour
the growing crop of a whole province ; deficient
rainfall may prevent the crops, particularly on the
loess, from coming to maturity ; or unseasonable
snow on the highlands or heavy and continuous rain-
fall may breach the dikes and cause inundation,
thus bringing starvation and its accompanying hor-
rors home to millions. China, however, is a land of
such variety and contrast that, though there may be
famine in one or more provinces, at the same time
there may be abundance in neighboring ones. But

* Coal, in Shansi costing thirteen cents per ton at the mine, is
four taels at thirty miles’ distance, and over seven taels at sixty
miles’.

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

here, as elsewhere, without communications, a failure
of the local crops means famine ; while a bumper
harvest depreciates the value of the produce, so as
scarcely to repay the labor of reaping. It is mainly
the difficulty encountered by the Government in
transporting the food supply that leads to the ter-
rible loss of life. To carry for long distances the
enormous amount of grain required, over terribly de-
fective roads — especially in the north, where no good
water-way exists — is an impossible task.

The story of the 1878 famine illustrates well what
such a calamity means in China. In that year
Shansi and large portions of Chihli, Shensi, Shan-
tung, and Honan were suffering at the same time
from famine. In Shansi it was at its worst. The
people there were hemmed in by a belt of famine-
stricken country which it took weeks to cross. The
poor peasantry clung to their homes until their last
cash was spent, praying each day for rain that nev^er
came, and vainly awaiting the Government relief.
At last, penniless and weakened by starvation, they
started — sometimes with wives and children, some-
times abandoning these— on their march to reach
the food districts. Few succeeded. A consular
officer, despatched on a merciful mission, says that
of the thousands who thus attempted to escape only
those on the outer confines of the famine district suc-
ceeded in doing so. The Chinese Government has
been the subject of considerable opprobrium in con-
nection with famines, but its character for apathy
and incapacity is not altogether deserved. The his-

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tory of Indian famines should make us reflect be-
fore we too severely blame the Chinese Government
for its want of success in famine relief. The system
and appliances were faulty. The Government, find-
ing itself powerless to deal with the transport, was
compelled to attempt relief by distributing money.
The cost of cart transport from the Chihli plain to
Shansi was officially stated to be £\2 per ton! In
addition to want of communications, official corrup-
tion, as usual, found its opportunity. Thus came
about the strange anomaly that, while people were
suffering from starvation, relief was generally given
in money rather than grain. When money began to
fail, and general staiwation set in, the Government
imported silver as fast as it could, impressing into
the service all available carts and animals. But the
official rate of hire is considerably below the ordi-
nary one, and there are other obvious reasons why
Government work is unpopular in China. The
transport owners, therefore, avoided all parts where
“ requisition ” was liable to be enforced, and the
Government scheme of transport was brought to a
stand-still. The rates were then raised to the market
standard, but much time had been lost, and in the
mean time thousands upon thousands died from
want. The wolves attacked not only children but
adults, in broad daylight and in the village streets.
There is no need to dwell further upon the hor-
rible scene ; it is sufficient to state that the
consumption of human flesh became a practice,
and grew to frightful proportions, it being stated

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

that five people out of ten in Shansi learned its
taste.

So long as China was absolutely cut off from the
rest of the world, so long, even, as she was not
impinged upon or hemmed in, as she now’ is, by
Western Pow'ers, it w’as quite possible for the Eni-
pire to hold together, loose as the system was
throughout. But two disintegrating processes have
been at work. While, on the one hand, foreign
nations have closed in upon China both by sea and
land, internal communications have been gradually
falling into greater and greater neglect. The grow’-
ing w’eakness of the Peking Government has, for a
long time past, been becoming more and more ap-
parent to the people and the officials, whose confi-
dence had been completely shaken, even before the
shock of recent events. The enfeebled control exer-
cised over most of the eighteen provinces, especially
over those remote from the capital, is largely due to
Peking being at the extremity of the country and
to the defective condition of the communications.
“Chinese” Gordon laid great stress on the impor-
tance of having the capital central, and he w’as right.
The influence of the Peking Government is ex-
hausted before it can reach the southern and w'est-
ern provinces. The same cause that kills trade on
its w’ay inland paralyzes the authority of Peking a
few hundred miles from the capital. Absence of
communication means failure of control, lack of
power, want of grip ; causes which chiefly contribute
to the frequent occurrence of rebellions.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

If communications are a necessity to the Govern-
ment in checking famine, crushing the secret socie-
ties which sow the seeds of rebellion, and generally
in effecting good government, their value for pur-
poses of defence and in time of war can hardly be
over-estimated. The importance of railways in war-
time has been fully illustrated in Europe, especially
in the Franco-German campaign, and was lately ex-
emplified in Japan. The rapidity and persistency
with which, in face of grave financial difficulties,
Germany, Austria, Russia, and the Indian Govern-
ment have for years been laying down strategic lines
shows the confidence felt in their value. This lesson
should have been taken to heart by China, which
should have adopted organization under Western
guidance. To have had the power at the beginning
of the Chino-Japanese War of concentrating on the
northern border, suddenly and without fear of inter-
ruption, a European -drilled army, however small,
might have prevented things drifting into a serious
war; and Russia might have thought twice before
executing the cotip de main on the Liaotung penin-
sula and Port Arthur.

Much remains to be accomplished by steam
navigation, though the rapid adoption of steamers
along the coast and on the Yangtsze has paved the
way for the railway. Shallow steamers have yet to
traverse the Poyang and Tungting lakes, which lie
next the Yangtsze, and the P^i ho and Canton
rivers, as well as many minor streams. But it is
railways that are the supreme necessity. Except

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

along the Yangtsze, for the thousand odd miles now
covered by steamers, there is no single trade route of
importance in China where a railwa}^ would not pay.
Especially would a line from Peking, carried through
the heart of China to the extreme south, along the
existing trade highways, be advantageous and re-
munerative. The plain-lands, with defective water-
ways, where small craft only are now available ; even
the table-lands, less peopled than the river valleys,
yet often rich, could profitably be covered with rail-
ways. The enormous traffic carried on throughout
the Empire, in the face of appalling difficulties, on
men’s backs, by caravans of mules or ponies, by the
rudest of carts and wheelbarrows, must be some
day undertaken by the railway. It is matter for
regret that the few Chinese apostles of progress
should have laid such importance on the introduc-
tion of the railway for strategic purposes only. In
the interests of Europe and of China herself, such
lines are less to be desired than inter -provincial
trunk-lines, highways designed for administration
and commerce. In such free transit throughout the
Empire, China would have found wiser and safer
means of defence. It was -only by opening the Em-
pire and peacefully developing its resources, thereby
giving to all foreign nations a commercial interest
in the country, that safety was to be found. It is
only by such measures that the sudden dissolution of
China can now be avoided. Nothing, perhaps, can
prevent its eventual break-up.

The basis of railway construction should be the

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

development of the internal or inter-provincial trade
of China, the interchange of the varied products
of a country boasting so many climates and soils.
This would bring prosperity to the people, render
administrative reform possible, and open China “for
the Chinese,” quite as much as for the European
merchant or manufacturer; and this should be the
aim of Chinese statesmen. Thus would be avmided
the enormous waste of capital which has occurred in
England, where double the requisite amount has
been expended owing to want of system. Consider
the advantages to be gained. Here is a country of
marvellous resources, with a population intelligent,
peaceful, industrious, and well-disposed to migration,
and yet the existing means of transport, whether by
road or canal, are failing or disused. Once judi-
ciously begun, who can doubt the rapid and profit-
able extension of the railway throughout China
As regards the Yangtsze basin, what remains to
be done, first by steam navigation and secondly by
railways, will be dealt with later on. It is a mistake
to assume, as is usually done, that where good water
communications exist railways cannot advantage-
ously be laid down. Instances are numerous where
such railways have not only paid, but have even led
to an increase in the river traffic ; for example, on
some American rivers, on the Ganges, the Irrawaddy,
and the Rhine. But it is not necessary now to dis-
cuss this question at length. There are more press-
ing needs, as for instance the “ inter- provincial ”
railways advocated by the writer. The most impor-

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

tant lines for China are two that would connect
Peking, Tientsin, and all northern China with central
and southern China. Through trunk lines can be
carried out for this object without any difficulty.
They would pass along the old-established trade
routes, with populous cities the whole way; through
eastern Shansi and Honan down the Han Valley to
Hankau, on the Yangtsze; through the Great Plain
to Chinkiang, thence to the Si kiang and Canton.
Such lines would be shafts driven through the heart
of China, connecting north and south. For the
entire distance, some thirteen hundred or fourteen
hundred miles, the extent, fertility, and variety of the
soil, through a region happily situated between the
extremes of heat and cold, is remarkable. From the
north, abounding in cotton and varieties of grain
and pulse, to the south, where so many vegetable
products of the East are met, the redundant popula-
tion is the striking feature. A constant succession
of villages, towns, and cities, already the scene of
industry and peddling trade, would soon be trans-
formed into a picture of bustle and business. Han-
kau would be one central terminus of this railway
system and Chinkiang another. Many proposed
lines, such as from Shanghai to Hangchau and
Suchau, and from Canton to Kaulun, would have
various advantages to recommend them, but they
are all local. The trunk lines, alone, would be the
regenerator of China. They would galvanize the
trade of the interior, reveal the landlocked provinces,
and really “ open up ” the Empire.

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The first railway actually opened in China was
the small line from Wusung to Shanghai, laid down
in 1876 by English merchants, and a year later
acquired by the local authorities, the line being
taken up and the materials removed to Formosa
and the north. The next railway had its beginning
in a small line constructed, for conveyance of coal,
from the Kaiping mines to the Petang River, and
was gradually extended, at a very slow rate of
progress, into the present railway system of some
three hundred miles. The distance (twenty-seven
miles) between Tientsin and Tangku, near the Taku
forts at the mouth of the Pei ho, and between the
latter place and Kaiping and Tungshan coal-fields,
and thence beyond Shanghaikwan towards Man-
churia, is now traversed by a well-constructed line
laid down by English engineers. Most important
of all, the railway from Tientsin to Peking, seventy-
three miles in length, was opened to traffic last sum-
mer, and is likely to prove an important factor in
the question of railway construction.

It has been evident to a few of the leading
Chinese that the time was rapidly coming when
foreigners would and must have extended freedom
of intercourse with the interior of China; when,
if the country were not opened up from within by
the Chinese themselves, the spirit of the age, which
demands progress, or what we call progress, would
be too much for her; when what was not conceded
to reason would be wrung from her by the force of
circumstances ; culminating in the dismemberment

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

of the Empire. The vis inertice was too great, how-
ever, and now that the Powers are moving in China,
with Russia pressing forward with rapid strides, the
decision of this and other questions no longer rests
with the Chinese.

Great reliance seems to be placed on the opening
of more treaty ports. But the indefinite multipli-
cation of such ports in China is no panacea for the
stagnation of trade. The insufficiency of the reme-
dy has been clearly shown again and again. China
can only be opened by the introduction of railways
and the adoption of a system of passports, which
would secure all that is requisite for the develop-
ment of the country, obviate the necessity of minor
asfencies for foreign firms, and entail little or no ex-
pense on the part of foreign Governments. The
railways would, of course, require to be managed at
first and for a long time by foreigners, and this might
be done by the creation of another service, such as
the Imperial Customs, which, instead of opposing,
would be a source of strength to the Chinese Gov-
ernment.

The importance of rapid, direct, and practicable
communications that would enable the Chinese to
develop the resources of their territories, and to
open through communication with their neighbors,
thus providing new arteries of commerce, is an
axiom which should need no demonstration. These
communications should satisfy industrial and com-
mercial interests, while meeting political and ad-
ministrative necessities. In the present deplorable

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

position of China, no measure can render her greater
service than the introduction of railways. It is
indispensable to the preservation of the country.
“Steam or anarchy,” as Williamson said thirty years
ago,* are the only alternatives left to the Chinese
people. The people are not only prepared for rail-
ways, but these would no more disorganize Chinese
society than they did that of Western countries, for
it is marvellous how soon men get accustomed to
changes which are for their benefit.

* MeadcKvs, a consular officer, writing forty years ago, indicated
in the most far-seeing and prophetic work yet published on China
the inevitable march of events. .Vnd Williamson, a missionary,
some thirty years back, showed in a clear and comprehensive man-
ner the practicability of railways and the necessity for their intro-
duction : “Great numbers would find employment and good wages
on the construction of the works. The traffic would gradually, as
the rails were laid down, assimilate itself to the habits of the people,
mines and new sources of industry would be brought into operation.
The agricultural resources would be greatly developed, and com-
merce in all its branches would receive a powerful impulse. The
increased lateral traffic would absorb the present carrying trade,
railways would bring the whole Empire under the control of the
Central Government, put an end to rebellions, would place com-
merce on a secure basis, equalize the administration of justice,
modify those famines which so often threaten and so frequently
paralyze portions of the Empire; moreover, they would provide
means for the diffusion of knowledge. They would introduce a
new element of life and activity among the people, stir up dormant
energies, widen the spheres of observation, develop new views,
ev'olve new wants, create new business, and destroy obstructive
prejudices. They would increase the intercourse and harmony
between Europeans and Chinese, bringing buyers and sellers face
to face. They would place the transit duties — that source of so
much mischief— on a satisfactory footing: and in short would, m a
thousand ways, promote the advancement and happiness of the peo-
ple.”— Journeys in North China.

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

The extent and nature of railways for China
should be modelled closely on the Indian system,
which is based on fifty years’ experience, the study
of all known systems, and the employment of the
best technical skill of the United States and Ger-
many. There has been in India an expansion of
commerce which forty years ago would have been
considered impossible. The imports and exports in
that time have risen from 400 to 2000 million ru-
pees (in 1896). In 1858 India was merely a dealer
in drugs, dyes, and luxuries. Now she is one of
the largest merchants in food grains, fibres, and
many other staples. The internal economical con-
ditions of China to-day are very much the same as
those of India when railways were introduced. Con-
trary to expectation, the passenger traffic on the
Indian railways has, from the first, exceeded the
goods traffic.* China is better off per man, and the
Chinese and Indo-Chinese, unlike the natives of In-
dia, are born travellers and traders.!

* The increase in business and passenger traffic on Indian rail-
ways in fifty years is as follows: —

Miles Open

No. of Passengers

Tons of Goods

In 1857

In 1896

288*

20,400

2 millions
160 millions

253,000

32.500.000

t Last year, immediately after its opening, I travelled several
times over the Peking-Tientsin line, and found the new means of
conveyance so much in favor that crowds were travelling to and
fro for the mere novelty of the thing. I was forcibly reminded of
G 97

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

In China, the problem to be solved has been how
to beat down the barriers of superstition and preju-
dice, not insurmountable if the task had only been
undertaken with courage and persistence. Similar
difficulties, some sixty years ago, obstructed the in-
troduction of the first railroad into England, and a
later example offered itself in India, where official
discouragement and passive obstructiveness were
encountered by those who introduced the railway.
And there the mandarins, the were educated

Englishmen. Even to this day it cannot be claimed
that railways find too much encouragement from
the Government of India. Inevitable failure was
foretold there. The floods, the white ants, caste,
the Eastern sun and rains, involving impossibility
of maintenance, the indisposition of the people to
alter their habits, and the consequent danger of re-
bellion— all these arguments, and many others, were
employed. We know the result. The obstacles
assumed to be insurmountable in India melted away
before persistent and judicious effort, as they would
have also in China. It was contended, too, by the
officials, that no passenger traffic could ever be
counted on. Yet, within the first three years the
passenger traffic largely exceeded the goods, and
has developed in an extraordinary degree.

India has been largely developed by guaranteed
lines, the State reserving the power to take over
the railways after twenty-five years, or certain recur-

Biirma, where the people seem positiv'ely to look upon railway
travelling as an added joy of life.

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

ring periods, and retaining a share which varies
from one-quarter to four-fifths of the net earnings.
The advantage of the guarantee system is that,
independently of Government budgets, it promotes
rapid railway development by its ready supply of
funds, which are available even in times of crises,
when, otherwise. Government works would be
stopped and the entire machinery for railway-mak-
ing dislocated. With proper provision made for a
settled rate of progress and with adequate funds, the
establishments are kept at full working power, and
the manifold inconveniences and waste arising from
spasmodic action are avoided.

The guiding principle in India has been, and still
remains. Government power of control and of pur-
chase. The States reserves (i) Proprietary rights;
(2) A directing voice in the construction of new
lines ; and (3) A share in the benefits, with power to
protect its own interests and to regulate competition.
In practice, railways, whether in the hands of the
State or of private companies, are bound to become
a monopoly, and in a country like China it is imper-
ative that they should be the State monopoly. The
general good and the safety of the State demand it.

“Military” and “famine” railways have greatly
reduced the average profits on Indian lines. If
ordinary commercial railways had been pushed for-
ward with greater vigor, much of this cost might
have been avoided. The Government of India has
made two serious mistakes — firstly, in adopting a
5' 6” gauge, and, secondly, when they found that too

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

heavy and costly for rapid extension, by deciding on
introducing the metre gauge, and China is well ad-
vised in choosing, from the outset, the standard
gauge of 4' 8V'. She would do well also in her
methods of railway construction to follow the ex-
ample of India, w'here all the lines are extremely
well built. Generally speaking, the difficulties pre-
sented by the physical conditions are no greater in
China than in India.

The Indian railways steadily increase yearly in
value,* and when the lines fall in they will bring a
great and constantly growing revenue to the State.
Financially speaking, this is the brightest prospect
before India. Egypt, too, it should be noted, has
been saved from chaos mainly by its public works,
executed under English control. It thus offers a
valuable object-lesson as regards China. The finan-
cial success of the Burmese railways is almost un-
precedented in railway construction in India, and
as the characteristics of Burma, and still more of its

* The earnings of Indian railways compared with others are as
follows :

India 5.46

Great Britain 3.60

United States 3

.Australian Colonies -~3f

The average dividend of Burma (4 per cent.) would stand well
over 5 but for the large amount of extensions going on, and labor
being scarce and expensive.

Railway companies pay exceedingly well in Japan. On the
Government lines the net profit amounts to more than 10 per cent,
on the capital.

100

QUESTION 01'' COMMUNICATIONS

people, closely resemble those of China, there is
strong presumptive evidence that success will attend
Chinese railway construction.

The tendency in railway building is everywhere
towards permanency, especially in the United States
and India. The American “pioneer” class of rail-
way is quite unsuited to either India or China. It
is only in new, unpeopled countries, such as Austra-
lia and America were, that economy in first cost is a
dominant consideration; in China it should be solid-
ity. The conditions in America on the one hand,
and China on the other, are absolutely different —
especially as regards climate, density of population,
the genius of the people, and the character of the
government. Under the American system, the rail-
way companies, uncontrolled and unassisted by the
State, have not proved a success, even financially.
Such a system would be disastrous for China, for it
leads to combinations against the public interest, rail-
way corporations often controlling the State. India,
which has 20,000 miles of railway, is calculated
to require 60,000 miles, and China should have at
least a similar amount. The United States have
one-third the mileage of the world, and ten times
that of India, but in America railway-making has
been, on the whole, overdone.

A point of importance to China is that, out of
the 260,000 people employed on Indian railways,
95.66 per cent, are native. Only the higher posts
are held by Europeans, and in China these propor-
tions would probably be even more in favor of the

101

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

native element, although Europeans are required to
inspire confidence, to organize an administration,
and to train the natives.

The magnificent coal and iron supply of China
gives her a great advantage in the matter of rail-
ways over India, whose supply is immensely infe-
rior both in quality and extent.

Low rates will be a necessity in China. A man
can travel 400 miles in India within twenty-four
hours for the sum of Si'. 4^/. And the policy of low
charges has answered well, the people on its adop-
tion beginning to travel and send their produce by
rail. The rates are now considered to be “ suffi-
ciently low to promote trade,” but further efforts
to draw more traffic by still lower prices would
doubtless prove effectual. Animal or cart carriage
in India is on an average about twelve times that
by railway. For example, if grain has to travel 6oo
miles by railway and, to reach its destination, 50
miles by road, freight charges would be doubled.
Or, supposing a 1200 miles railway radius to limit
the horizon of a particular commodity from a sea-
port, the radius without railways would be 100
miles. Carriage by cart in Burma is much more
costly than in even India — from 24 to 192 times the
railway charge, according to locality and season,
while in western China for heavy goods such as
salt and pressed cotton it is, on an average, one
shilling per ton-mile. Compare this with the half-
penny charged on Indian railways !

There would seem to be two methods of railway

102

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

policy suitable to China: (i) State construction, un-
der which a “ Railway Fund ” should be raised for a
period of twenty or twenty-five years, and (2) The
Indian guarantee system, under which free land, free
surveys, a certain rate of interest phis a share in
profits, are the chief terms.

This is not the place to discuss at great length
the feasibility of this or that line. It may safely be
asserted, however, that, in order to join Peking or
Tientsin with the Yangtsze basin, and that again
with the extreme south, no unusual difficulties will
have to be overcome. The chief obstacles will be
the bridging of the Yellow River and, in the case of
the western line, some heavy hill work as the Yang-
tsze basin is neared. Between the Yangtsze basin
and the West River no more serious difficulty will
be encountered than the “divide,” at an altitude of
about 1000 feet. The work would be nothing more
than what is yearly being carried out in many parts
of the world. The through line would be about
1400 miles long, and convert the present journey of
eighty or eighty-five days into one of two or three.

Little doubt can exist that, as Richthofen antici-
pated years ago, China will eventually be connected
direct, via Hami, Lanchau, and Sian, with Europe
by rail, “No direct connection of this kind is possi-
ble south of the Wei basin,” he says, “and any road
to the north of it would have to keep entirely north
of the Yellow River, and run altogether through
desert countries.” The same reasons which confined
the commerce of China with the West, during thou-

103

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

sands of years, to the natural route {^ia Kami) will
be decisive as regards railway communications. For
natural facilities, and the supply, at both ends of the
line, of populous, productive, and large commercial
regions, it is the only line. The whole road is well
provided with coal. Kansu rivals Shansi in the rich-
ness and extent of its coal-fields. No department of
the province, north of the Tsungling Mountains, ap-
pears to be deficient in coal, and in some parts a
superabundance of it is said to exist. The coal for-
mation extends, with few interruptions, from eastern
Shansi to Hi, through 30 degrees of longitude, and
is also found near Hi and Yarkhand. There is
scarcely an instance on record, remarks Richthofen,
“ where so many favorable and essential conditions
co-operate to concentrate all future intercourse, on
so long a line, upon one single and definite channel.”
As regards railways within the Empire, the Pe-
king-Hankau line is arranged for with a so-called
Belgian syndicate, and, if properly executed, should
be a good line ; but the best railway under contem-
plation in China would be one from Peking, via
Tientsin and Chinkiang, to Hangchau, with an ex-
tension later to Canton. The line would pass some
forty towns with an average population of 25,000
each, and a large number of villages. The length
of the Grand Canal from Tientsin to Hangchau is
650 miles. No better line exists in the world, from
the point of view of population, resources, and cheap-
ness of construction. It follows the most important
of the actual routes of commerce in the Empire,

104

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

passes the greatest possible number of cities, towns,
and villages, and connects great ports with rich coal
regions of established value.* Coal and iron of Q-reat
value are found in large areas of Shantung, Chihli,
and Shansi, as shown elsewhere, and the coal-mines
at Kaiping, in northern Chihli, have a yearly increas-
ing output and are a decided success. It is probable
that northern Cliina will prove, if not first in rank,
at least not second to any other coal - producing
country in the world.

A few words regarding the chief cities passed on
the proposed line may not be out of place. Tientsin,
the great entrepot of northern China, is situated at
the junction of the Grand Canal with the Pei ho,
and is 8o miles from Peking. Its trade is increas-
ing by leaps and bounds. But there are two great
obstructions to its sea-borne traffic: i. The shallow
bar and exposure to sea-winds, which confine the

* Subjoined is a table showing the provinces, chief cities with
their minimum populations, and the usual estimate of the popula-
tion of provinces which would be traversed by this line :

Provinces

Name of Chief
Cities

Minimum
Population
of Cliief Cities

Usual Estimate of
Population of
Provinces

Chihli ]

Pekincr

800.000 f

400.000 f

200.000
90,000

300.000 1

100.000 !

200.000 I

400.000 J

255.000 /

400.000 s

Tientsin . .

37,000,000

.Shantiino^

C.h i n;i n

29.000. 000

36.000. 000

Anhwei

Wuhu

Kiangsu i

Yangchau

Chinkiang

Nanking

39,000,000

Suchau

Chekiang '

Nincfno

8,000,000

Hangchau

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

trade to small craft and sometimes cause enormous
delays, and danger even, in landing mails. 2. The
three months’ closure in winter, which offers an in-
calculable check to the flow of merchandise. Chin-
kiang is 150 miles from the mouth of the Yangtsze,
at the junction, of that river and the Grand Canal.
It is a most valuable central position for trade, only
requiring communications north and south. Yang-
chau also occupies an important situation for com-
merce, and has nearly the same population as Hang-
chau, the capital of the Chekiang province, also a
great centre of trade. Suchau is more populous
than Hangchau, and a greater commercial city. Be-
fore the Taiping rebellion it was the finest in China,
and is now rapidly recovering its place as a manu-
facturing and trading centre. The grain which
formerly was transported to Peking by canal, now
mostly goes by the “ China Merchants Company ”
steamers, the carriage at fancy prices enabling the
company to compete with British steamers.

The Imperial telegraphs are being rapidly extend-
ed throughout the Empire. There are lines between
Peking and Tientsin, and connecting the capital
with the principal places in Manchuria to the Rus-
sian frontier on the Amur and the Usuri; while
Niuchwang, Chifu, Shanghai, Yangchau, Suchau,
the seven treaty ports on the Yangtsze, Canton, \Vu-
chau, Lungchau, and in fact most of the principal
cities in the Empire, are now connected with one
another and with the capital. The line from Canton
westward passes via Yunnan fu to Manwyne, on the

106

QUESTION OF COMMUNICATIONS

borders of Burma. Shanghai is in communication
with Fuchau, Amoy, Kashing, Shaoshing, Ningpo,
and other places. Lines have been constructed from
Fuchau and Canton, and between Taku, Port Ar-
thur, and Seul ; and the line along the Yangtsze
valley has been extended to Chungking. By an ar-
rangement made with the Russian telegraph author-
ities, the Chinese and Siberian lines in the Amur
valley were joined in the latter part of 1892, and
there is overland communication between Peking
and Europe through Russian territory.

Banking in China is carried on by private bank-
ers, chiefly by Shansi men, established in most
large cities and towns. The system is fairly com-
plete. The banks issue circular letters of credit,
and remittance by draft is fully arranged for, even
to the remotest districts of the Empire. There are
two classes of banks, exchange banks (which sell
drafts on distant places and make advances) and
local banks or cash shops (which borrow money from
the exchange banks and lend it to small traders, and
also act as money-lenders). In China, banks do
not, as a rule, advance against goods, but merely on
personal security.

The postal service of China, a primitive business
from the Western standpoint, is carried on by means
of post-carts and runners. There are, besides, nu-
merous private postal couriers, and during the win-
ter, when the approach to the capital is closed by sea
and river, a service between the office of the Foreign
Customs at Peking and the outports is maintained.

1 07

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The Chinese have always been great believers
in their own postal system, as in everything else
Chinese. Even those who have emigrated to British
colonies adhere to their own system, refusing to use
the duly constituted Government post, except under
compulsion. Both Hongkong and the Straits Set-
tlements have been actually compelled to legislate
in the matter. It is, indeed, remarkable how safe
the native post is, not merely for the carriage of or-
dinary letters, but for the conveyance of money.

The Imperial Chinese Post-Office was opened on
P'ebruary 2, 1897, under the management of Sir
Robert Hart, and China has since joined the Postal
Union.

CHAPTER V

England’s objective in china

There are two ways of attacking the trade of
China, so far as England is concerned. The one is
from the seaboard, entering China by the main
rivers, nptably the Yangtsze, the main artery of
China, and the West River, which passes through
the southern provinces. The other is from Eng-
land’s land base, Burma, through Yunnan. Doubt-
less the sea approach, hitherto the only one, is from
the purely trading point of view incomparably the
more important ; but the other, the land route, is
complementary, and is a necessity if our commercial
and political influence is to be maintained and ex-
tended. The isolation of China oversea has long
since been annulled by steam, and her former com-
plete isolation by land has now also ceased. Hitherto
cut off from all approach by land, she will in the
north shortly be placed in direct railway communi-
cation with Europe, and this fact by itself renders
imperative our advance from the south.

It is now many years since I first advocated the
railway connection of Burma and southwestern
China, first of all with a view to opening Yunnan
and Szechuan, and, secondly, to effect a junction be-

109

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tween those two great waterways, the Yangtsze and
the Irrawaddy. It appeared to me that the connec-
tion of the navigation limit of the Yangtsze with our
most eastern Indian province was a matter of cardi-
nal importance, not merely because it was evidently
desirable, for the purposes of commerce, to connect
the central and lower regions of the Yans^tsze with
Burma, but also for political reasons. And it so
happens that the navigation limit of that river lies
within the province of Szechuan, which, for various
reasons, must be the commercial and political ob-
jective of England. Recent events have empha-
sized the soundness of that view, and should in-
duce us to deal, without delay, with the question
of land communication between Burma and the
Upper Yangtsze, for it is there that must be de-
cided the question of the supremacy of central
China.

Burma is our land-gate to China. The barrier
which blocked our approach from the Indian litto-
ral was broken down by the annexation of Upper
Burma. On our northeastern frontier we are con-
terminous with China, a country offering us great
markets, which afford hope of incalculable extension,
and, through interconnection, promising sources of
future strenerth to both countries. On our north-

western frontier the railways are almost entirely
strategic and political, hardly in any sense intended
to obtain a commercial object; they are defensive,
and lead to barren regions. On the northeast, rail-
ways must be politico-commercial.

1 10

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

Elsewhere* the general position of h'rance tow-
ards China, and the inconvenience, difficulties, and
dangers arising from French aims and aspirations in
that quarter, especially through her connection with
Russia, have been indicated. France, though not a
great Asiatic power, is yet possessed of one-third of
Indo-China, and is determined, at all hazards, not so
much to secure the trade of southern China, as under
the guise of commerce to establish there her politi-
cal influence, which she intends to effect by means
of railways connecting the southern provinces with
the French possessions. The result of such action
upon our prospective trade with these regions, and
upon our political influence in China, has been ap-
parent for many years past. Unless we anticipated
the French, or at any rate took steps similar to
theirs, protectiv'e tariffs everywhere, with the avowed
intention of excluding British trade in order to
benefit that of France, were sure to be the inevit-
able result.

In the entire field of Chinese trade the region of
southern and southwestern China holds an impor-
tant position. Less rich, less populated, as a whole,
than central China and the Great Plain stretching

from the Lower Yangtsze to Peking, still two prov-
inces (Szechuan and Kwangtung) stand in the front
rank, and in the mineral wealth, at least, two other
provinces (Yunnan and Kweichau) are unsurpassed.
So far, little of this territory is reached by European

* See “ Political Question,” Chapters XIII. and XIV.

I I T

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

manufactures, owing to the enormous cost of inland
carriage, which prevents machine-made goods from
entering into competition with hand- made native
manufactures. Politically, too, this region is of the
very highest importance.

Yunnan and western Kweichau constitute an ele-
vated broken plateau with an average height of
about five thousand feet, having no communication
by water with the plains lying to the north, south,
and east. This plateau falls abruptly to the valleys
of the Yangtsze on the north, and of the Irrawaddy,
Mekong, and Red River, on the west and south,
with an easier gradient to the basin of the West
River and the plains of Kwangsi and Hunan, lying
to the south and east. Extending for some six
hundred miles from Indo-China to the Yangtsze, the
plateau has many fine valleys, but no level surface
except an occasional lake basin.

Yunnan is bordered on the west by Burma and
the Shan States ; on the south by the Shan States
and Tongking; on the east by the provinces of
Kwangsi and Kweichau ; and on the north by Sze-
chuan. In the west and southwest its rivers and
streams flow through deep, broad fissures that are
always dangerous and frequently impassable. Sev-
eral important rivers traverse Yunnan from north to
south, the chief ones being the Salween and Mekong,
emptying respectively into the Bay of Bengal and
the China Sea ; on the west are two small water-
ways, the Taping and Shweli, tributaries of the Ir-
rawaddy; in the south and the southeast are the

T I 2

ENGLyVND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

Songkoi and West Rivers. The upper reaches of
the Yangtsze divide Yunnan from Szechuan. Of the
waterways of Yunnan, the Yangtsze is, or could be
made, navigable to the northern borders of the prov-
ince, and in the south the Songkoi and West River
are navigable for light-draught vessels, the first to
the borders of Yunnan, and the latter for over half
its length. From the west, in Upper Burma, com-
munication has been maintained by what is com-
monly known as the Bhamo (caravan) route and
throimh the Shan States.

The Bhamo route was for years in great favor
with the Government of India, and the proposal to
make it a main trade road between Burma and
China consequently obtained considerable support
throughout England. Expedition after expedition
was sent from Burma into Yunnan by this way, but
with no favorable result, for the physical difficulties
are practically insurmountable. Notwithstanding
the unfavorable accounts of this route, given from
time to time by various travellers, it was tenaciously
adhered to by the Indian authorities, who evinced a
singular inacquaintance with the geography of the
region, a fact which doubtless influenced them in
neglecting the opportunities which were ours of
carrying a railway through Siam to southern China,*
which would both have opened the kingdom of Siam
and given us the only natural approach from Burma

* Proposed by myself and Mr. Hallett in 1882: the Assam-
Rurma connection, now in process of construction, having been sug-
gested by us in 1881.

113

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to Yunnan and the Yangtsze. Political difficulties
arose in later years as regards Siam, but these could
and should have been obviated by timely action.
Siam, then, being out of the question, and the
Bhamo route having at last been abandoned, though
very reluctantly, there remained no course open but
to seek a new trace for a railway, and one which
would pass entirely through British territory, for
this had now become a necessity, owing to the
neighborhood of the French in Siam and in the
Shan States.

Such a railway is now being made between Man-
dalay, the former capital of Upper Burma, and the
Kunlon Ferry, on the Salween Riv'er, a distance of
some two hundred and fifty miles, the terminus
being situated close to the southwest corner of Yun-
nan, whence it is proposed to carry the line to Tali
fu, a town of importance in the west of the province.
Unfortunately for the chances of success of any such
railway from Upper Burma, the mountain barriers
running north and south, between the great rivers,
present obstacles of a very serious character. This
railway, though costly, will be useful, and will serv^e
a section of the Shan States and also the valley
system running northward to Tali fu. The country
east of that city is served from the capital, Yunnan
fu, which at present is supplied from Canton via the
W est River and a long overland haul, and from
Shanghai via the Yanotsze and a tedious land

o o

journey.

The province of Yunnan has been described in

114

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

widely differing terms by various travellers and
writers, either as a rich province with immense
potentialities, the population of which had been re-
duced to several millions by the Mohammedan re-
bellion (which began in 1856 and ended in 1873)
and by the ensuing plague and pestilence; or as a
wretchedly poor country, almost uninhabited and
containing nothing of promise for the future. As
the writer belongs to the former category, and is a"
firm believer in the potentialities of Yunnan, it is,
perhaps, as well that he should quote an authority
who has an intimate acquaintance with the question
and is an observer of sound judgment. Speaking of
Yunnan having been described as a “ rich province,”
Mr. Hosie remarks:

“ I have no hesitation in saying that it is, but it contains a poor
population, and, until the condition of the latter is improved, no
great development of trade need be looked for in that direction.
It is estimated to contain a population of from five to six millions,
the great mass of which is engaged in agricultural pursuits. True,
there are copper mines in the north and east, and tin and lead
mines in the south of the province; but mining industries are so
hampered by official interference as to profit little the owners or
the workmen. Agriculture, too, is carried on under a system of
small farms, and the absence of good roads and the impossibility
of greatly improving those that exist, owing to the mountainous
character of the province, do not tend to the enrichment of the
peasantry. Nor is this all; immense tracts in the north and west
of the province have lain waste since the Mohammedan rebellion,
and owing to the antipathy of the Chinese to settle on lands which
they look upon as the property of people who may still be living,
or whose descendants may still be living, it must be many years
before the agriculture of the province is properly developed.”

With the destruction of the old industries of the

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

province — mining, silk rearing, and manufacture —
came an increased demand for opium in Szechuan
and the eastern provinces, which led to poppy cul-
tivation becoming the great industry of Yunnan.
Foreign imports are paid for in opium, both in
Yunnan and Kweichau. Owing to the water
communication by the Yangtsze, a heavier class of
goods is sent to Szechuan than to Y unnan, where
pack animals and porters are exclusively employed,
thus rendering the cpiestion of weight a matter for
serious consideration. Prices are rather hioher at

Yunnan fu, even for goods of lighter texture and
inferior quality, than in Szechuan. Foreign goods
from Hongkong come by way of the West River or
of Pakhoi to Nanning, thence by boat to Pose and
Pongai, and then by caravan through Kwangnan ;
or by one of the French routes through Tongking.

Puerh was for three years in the possession of
the Mohammedan rebels, and has never recovered
its former prosperity ; and at present, although con-
taining a thoroughly Chinese population, the town
does not seem to have much trade. Szumao is a
thriving place, although it will not compare, either
in trade or appearance, with the third-class cities
of Szechuan. Yunnan fu stands on a lake at the
bottom of an extensive depression. At one time
there was no outlet from this basin, and only in the
thirteenth century was the canal cut which now
carries the water from the southwest side of the
lake into a stream flowing north to the Yangtsze.
Yunnan fu is at the centre of three converging

1 16

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

routes, and occupies a position admirable for admin-
istrative purposes. With proper communications it
would become a most important city. The climate
of Yunnan is bad in the valleys, but fairly good in
the open plains, the north being probably as suited
to Europeans as any part of southwest China.

The wealth of Upper Burma, and also the re-
sources of western China and the Shan States,
are incalculable, but they lie fallow at present for
want of connections, both internal and with the
outer world. Without facilitating our communica-
tions we need expect no great expansion of our
commerce in western China, Burma, or any part of
Indo-China. The laying down of a comprehensive
system of railways, and of lateral feeder roads and
light railways, to open up these regions would in-
volve a considerable outlay for some years to come,
but the money thus invested would be richly repaid.
One of the most remarkable facts about Lower
Burma is the rapidity with which the population has
grown. Burma and its Shan States provide an ad-
mirable absorbing ground for the ever-increasing
and dense populations of India and China. There
is ample room for an inctease of scores of millions
to the present population of Burma.

The statement of the resources of Yunnan given
by Hosie seems to me fair, but it is reasonable to
maintain that a province which before the Moham-
medan rebellion supported something like 16,000,-
000, chiefly by mining, and now maintains about
6,000,000, mainly on agriculture, gives promise of

117

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

developing a lucrative trade and regaining its former
prosperity, and even more, provided only that com-
munications are improved. The wealth is in the
minerals ; and this being the case, it is only by com-
munications that the condition of the people can be
greatly altered for the better, and that the security
and order necessary, especially for mining operations,
can be brought about.*

However this may be, the view that Yunnan is
“ worthless ” is untenable. It is not those, it may
be noted, who have had a varied experience of the
province, or who have studied its conditions and
resources, such as Rocher, Bourne, and Hosie, but
rather cyclist commissioners and others who have
merely crossed the northwestern section of Yunnan
from Bhamo to the Yangtsze — the very avenue the
impracticability of which the writer spent years in
demonstrating — who are responsible for this opinion,
which it is hardly necessary to take seriously. I
have always been of the opinion that the configura-
tion of Yunnan is such that no single avenue can
tap the whole trade of the province. To propose
one route for the whole country is like advocating
some quack medicine for a patient who lies ill with
half a dozen ailments. It seemed to me in former
days, as it does now, that the Yangtsze water route
could only deal with the northern part of the prov-
ince, for the physical features precluded the possi-

* In the Kuo chiu tin mines alone, according to Bourne, before
the rebellion there were employed no less than 100,000 men, while
to-day there are not more than 20.000.

1 18

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

bility of trade penetrating, without railways, into the
heart of Yunnan. In referring to Hosie’s apprecia-
tion of the province, I frankly own that my opinion
of the whole question has been modified by the fact
that the northern part is more valuable than was
understood, for it appears that this region is exceed-
ingly rich in copper, and contains some of the most
fertile plains in western China.

Yunnan, then, will be served from three different
quarters — from Burma on the southwest, Tongking
and Hongkong on the southeast, and the Upper
Yangtsze in the north. I can see nothing, how-
ever, to operate against the advisability of effecting
the railway communication so long urged by me,
which would benefit the Yangtsze basin and Shans-
hai, the West River and Hongkong, as well as Bur-
ma and Rangoon. It is not a case of rival, but of
complementary routes, which would be of great mut-
ual advantage. And if this be true of Yunnan, none
the less is it so of Szechuan.

Turning now to the province of Kweichau, we
find that, though a secluded region, and less devel-
oped than even Yunnan, it has the advantage of
the latter in the matter of water communications,
owing to its position as regards the Yangtsze
River. Excepting the Yuan River, the waterways
serving the province pass through Szechuan, which
lies astride the Yangtsze. The Yuan, from the
eastern part of the province, runs east and north-
east to the Tungting Lake, which overflows into the
Yangtsze a little more than a hundred miles above

119

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Hankau; notwithstanding the rapids obstructing its
course, the Yuan is navigable to a point about a
hundred miles from Kweiyang, the capital of Kwei-
chau. This river, therefore, serves the eastern sec-
tion of Kweichau, the remaining portions being inti-
mately connected with Szechuan.

The home of the Miaotzu, a non -Chinese race,
Kweichau has often been the theatre of internecine
struggles between the aboriginal tribes and the
Chinese. The mountainous character of the coun-
try lent itself to the guerilla warfare waged between
the natives of the soil and the newcomers. The
Miaotzu were driven step by step to the southern
section of the province, leaving traces behind of the
ruin and desolation brought about by civil war — too
common a sight in many parts of China. The strug-
gle here, as in Yunnan and in Kansu, was waged
after the usual Chinese fashion, diplomacy and the
silver key playing a much larger part in the conquest
of Kweichau than the prowess of arms. The Chinese
population, especially of the northern half, consists
of emigrants from the neighboring provinces, and
these not of the highest class, for Kweichau, not-
withstandinor its immense mineral wealth in coal and

iron, copper and quicksilver, and its great natural
beauties — it has been well termed the “ Switzerland
of China ” — cannot, in view of its complete isolation,
be pronounced an attractive country for emigrants.

It is unnecessary to recapitulate here the char-
acteristics, treated more fully elsewhere,* of the
* See “The Geographical Question,” Chapter I.

120

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

people of Yunnan and Kweichau, especially the
Mohammedans of Yunnan and the Shans of Kwei-
chau. The main fact to be noted is that, if England
means seriously to substantiate her claim to the
Yangtsze basin, she should make it her aim to en-
courage good relations with these people and with
the aborigines of Szechuan and the Mohammedans
of Kansu, who are bound to play an important part,
and who constitute a factor of the first value. And
even the non - aboriginal and non - Mohammedan
Chinese inhabitants of these provinces are very dif-
ferent from their kinsmen of the plains, as regards
both physique and courage.

Before leaving the southwestern provinces of
Yunnan and Kweichau, it may be pointed out that,
although they are at present so poor that the taxes
do not yield enough for the expense of government
— Kweichau actually requiring an aid of 750,000
taels — yet mining will completely alter this state of
affairs, and will eventually make these provinces
very prosperous.

Let us now turn to the Yangtsze, and see what
this great artery of China — on which Szechuan is
largely dependent for its prosperity — is like from its
cradle in Tibet to its mouth in the Yellow Sea,
where it forms for the Western maritime Powers
“ the gate to China.”

The Yangtsze, usually called the Ta kiang, or
Great River, takes its rise in the high central plateau
of Tibet. It extends from 88° E. to 122° E., cover-
ing in its winding course a distance of some 3000

I 2 I

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

miles, of which about 2000 are navigable. The
main stream is formed by three branches, having
their confluence at longitude 94° E., and latitude 34°
50' N., where its breadth in the dry weather is 750
feet, and in the summer rains over a mile. Its level
here is about 13,000 feet above the sea, and at this
point it is separated from the Hoang ho only by the
Bayan Kara mountains, the melting snows of which
feed both rivers. Curving first in an easterly direc-
tion, it then proceeds southwards through tremen-
dous gorges past the town of Batang. Twisting
again to the east, it passes the town of Likiang,
whence it makes a half-circle and is joined by the
Lalung. After this, making yet another curve, it
proceeds through still more stupendous ravines
northeastwards to Sui fu. Here it is joined by its
large affluent the Min, considered by the Chinese
the main river. The Yangtsze — the Kinsha kiang,
or “ River of Golden Sand,” as it is here called — is
only navigable to Pingshan, about forty miles above
Sui fu, while the Min River can be ascended as far
as Chengtu, the capital of Szechuan.

The mountainous districts in Szechuan, enclosed
southwards by the great bend of the upper Yangtsze,
belong ethnically to Tibet, although politically sepa-
rated from that region; the majority of the people
are of the same stock, and have similar customs and
social institutions. In western Szechuan* and Yun-

* .'\ccording to Baber, the Chien-chang Valley, otherwise the
Prefecture of Ning-yuan, is perhaps the least known part of the
eighteen provinces. “Two or three sentences in the book of Ser

122

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

nan the rivers are crossed by means of iron suspen-
sion-bridges, or in movable seats slung from bank to
bank on bamboo ropes. The contrast between the
Tibetan and Chinese villages is striking, the latter
being generally grouped in compact masses, and the
former scattered over a wide area, so that all the
enclosed towns are Chinese, and the straggling
suburbs Tibetan. The lamasaries, however, where
large numbers of the priests live together in a single
community, are inhabited almost exclusively by
Tibetans.

This magnificent province of Szechuan, from its
size, population, trade, and productions, may, accord-
ing to Mrs. Bishop, truly be called the empire
province, and gives one some idea of the possi-
bilities for trade which exist in western China, and
some perception of the capacities, resourcefulness,
and enterprise of the Chinese themselves.

“ In the mountains,” she says, “there are innumerable horseshoe
corries with narrow entrances, terraced and exquisitely cultivated,
each with its large and handsome farm-house and its cedar and
cypress groves ; and mandarins’ country houses, rivalling some of
our renowned homes in size and stateliness, are frequent. As the
country grows more open there are fortified refuges on rocky
heights, great temples with porcelain fronts in rich coloring, dis-
tilleries, paper and flour mills, and every town and large village has

Marco, to the effect that after crossing high mountains he reached
a fertile country containing many towns and villages and inhabited
by a very immoral population, constitute to this day the only de-
scription we possess of Cain-dii, as he calls the district. The fact
of its being unexplored is sufficient, without the other inducements
held out by the generally sedate Venetian, to make it ‘a very
pleasant country for young fellows to go to.’ ”

123

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

its special industry — silk -weaving, straw- plaiting, hat -making,
dressing hides, iron or brass work, pottery and china, chair-making,
dyeing, carving and gilding idols, making the red paper used for
religious and festive purposes, and the imitation gold and silver
coins burned as offerings, etc. — everything indicates industry and
prosperity and a certain security for the gains of labor. There is
no winter.”

Many of the stone and iron suspension-bridges
existing in Szechuan and Yunnan were wonderful
works at the time they were constructed, and even
now some of them might be regarded as creditable
structures. To illustrate how little is known of
China, I have repeatedly been asked whether it
was physically possible to make such a railway
across Yunnan as I had proposed; and this though
many travellers had described the iron suspension-
bridges spanning the greatest rivers of western
China !*

Chengtu with its population approaching a mill-
ion is justly celebrated throughout China. Every-
thing indicates its wealth and political importance.
The Chengtu plain is thus described by Mrs. Bishop:

“This glorious plain, with its four million inhabitants, its pros-
perous cities and villages, its innumerable ‘palatial’ farm-houses
among cedars, bamboo, and fruit trees, its fine bridges with roofs
decorated in lacquer and gold ; its stately temples, its enormous
wheelbarrow traffic, its water and oil mills, its boundless fertility
and wealth, and its immunity for two thousand years from drought
and floods, are the monument of the engineering genius of one
man, whose temple on a wooded height above the gorge of the

* Illustrations of such bridges across the Mekong, Salween, and
other rivers, reproduced from photographs, may be found in my
Across Chryse, published in 1882.

124

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

Couching Dragon, on the Min, is the most magnificent in China,
bearing his motto incised in stone and lettered in gold in every
conspicuous place, ‘ Dig the bed deep, keep the banks low.' ” *

The whole valley of the Min is a most prosperous
region, the land on either side of the river being
highly cultivated by means of irrigation canals.
Below the junction of the Min the Yangtsze flows
northeast, a distance of some two hundred miles, to
Chungking. Situated at the mouth of the Kialing,
which enters the Yangtsze from the north, Chung-
king is the great commercial city of Szechuan and
the second trade emporium of inland China.! The
province of Szechuan, rich as it is, has the disad-
vantage of being difiicult of access from the rest of
the world, for merchandise can now only reach it
during certain months of the year and after a diffl-
CLilt voyage. Its trade would be increased very
greatly were the navigation of the river rendered
better and safer, thus facilitating the establishment
of effective steam communication not only to Chung-
king but as far as Sui fu.

The popular view of the wealth of Szechuan is

* R. G. Proceedings, 1897.

t Under Article VI. of tlie Shimonoseki treaty, four ports were
opened to foreign commerce — viz., Chungking, in the province of
Szechuan; Shashi, in Hupei; Suchau, in Kiangsu ; and Hangchau,
in Chekiang. Chungking was already open in a fashion. British
subjects were allowed to establish themselves there, and to import
and export merchandise at the same tariff of duties as other ports;
but the right of British vessels to visit the port was not conceded,
the carrying trade being restricted to native junks. Steam naviga-
tion was secured by the Japanese as far as Chungking, and under
the most-favored-nation clause the right accrued to us.

125

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

well illustrated by the Chinese proverb: “You’ll
never see an ill-dressed man in Szechuan.” In the
popular mind Szechuan means plenty. Apart from
its great mineral resources, it produces silk, wax,
tobacco, all of good quality; grass-cloth, grain in
abundance, and tea, plentiful but coarse in quality.
The climate is changeable, necessitating a variety
of clothing. Cotton is grown in Szechuan, but
Bourne states that Indian yarn is driving it out of
cultivation, not, apparently, on account of the enor-
mous saving through spinning by machinery, but
because it can be grown more cheaply in India.
The greater part of the surplus wealth of Szechuan
is devoted to the purchase of raw, native, and for-
eign cottons and woollen goods. All the cotton is
not consumed in the province, for the Szechuanese
manufacture from the imported raw material and
export it to Yunnan and western Kweichau.

Where the division between the western hilly
region and the eastern plain country occurs (at the
noth meridian) we come to the treaty port Ichang.
Here a close succession of precipitous mountains,
through which the Yangtsze breaks in a series of
wild gorges and rapids, extends from the town of
Kweichau, in Szechuan, to Ichang. There are no
roads fit for heavy traffic in these mountains, and
the only merchandise carried across them is opium
from Fuchau, in Szechuan,. to Shashi, a port eighty
miles below Ichang. Difficult as is the navigation
of this part of the Yangtsze, it is the main artery,
indeed the only trade channel, with the exception of

1 26

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

mountain routes such as the one just mentioned,
between the east and west of China, The number
of junks engaged in this through traffic has been
roughly estimated at about 7000 annually. All
these are large craft, carrying from 75 to 150 tons of
cargo. The crews are paid by the trip, as else-
where in China, those of the up-river junks being
double and treble in number those bound down-
stream. No wages are paid for the down trip, and
thus there is no lack of porters to carry the opium
which is exported eastward across the mountains.
If sent down by the river it would have to pay a
heavy duty at both the Kweichau and Ichang bar-
riers ; and it is to avoid these imposts, and from the
fear of losing so precious a cargo through ship-
wreck on the rapids, that the large opium traffic
passes across the hills instead of along the natural
trade route, the river. The strongest and most ac-
tive of the junkmen proceeding to Szechuan carry
baskets ready to be put into use for this opium car-
riage when they leave their boat. It is in these
baskets, peculiarly shaped utensils, strapped on the
back, Alpine fashion, that the opium is packed to
a weight of 1000 ounces. Large bands of these
men may be seen trudging, like beasts of burden,
along the difficult mountain paths to Shashi, each
man receiving a mere pittance of wages for his long
and weary journey.

Ichang, the present limit of the steamer naviga-
tion, is about 1000 miles from the sea, and is chiefly
important as a place of transshipment of goods for

127

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Szechuan, its import trade consisting principally of
cotton goods, and its exports of silk, white wax, and
medicines. The next town of importance, eighty-
five miles below Ichang, is Shashi, which Bourne
calls “ the Manchester of western China.” The na-
tive cotton-cloth which supplies the western prov-
inces is graded, packed, and shipped away at Shashi,
the neighboring country being the greatest centre of
weaving in China. At every village of Szechuan
and Yunnan the Blackburn mission found Shashi
cloth. Goods and produce for Szechuan are brought
to Ichang from all parts of China for transshipment
into Szechuan junks. The greater part comes from
Hankau, a long and tedious journey of thirty to
forty days by river.

The difficulties attendant upon the introduction
of steamers to Ichang, and the results achieved,
furnish a particularly useful lesson. Shortly after
Ichang was opened, a steamer was put on the river
between that port and Hankau. It was anticipated
with confidence that the Szechuan traders would
avail themselves of the expeditious transit thus af-
forded them, but although it was made evident that
goods, which formerly took forty days to reach
Ichang when conveyed in junks, could be brought
by steamer in five days, the Chinese merchants en-
framed in the Szechuan trade held back. Vested in-
terests induced some traders to oppose, but the great
majority were restrained by other reasons. They
were uncertain whether the steamer would be able
to run regularly in winter, when the river is low, and

128

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

they feared the risk, should the vessel stop running,
of having their cargo shut out from transport by the
irritated junk-owners. A “junk ring” was formed,
not only of the owners but of the up-river carriers,
and threats were made against traders shipping by
steamer on the lower reaches of the river. The first
vessel, unfortunately, was a failure, being unable to
•run during the winter, and was withdrawn. A
second attempt, made by the China Merchants’
Company, proved more successful. The steamer ob-
tained support, and the junk ring gradually lost
strength.

Not till 1897, however, was the company able to
keep open communications throughout the winter
by means of a light-draught stern-wheel boat. This
changed the whole complexion of affairs. The Chi-
nese, who had been waiting to see how the sys-
tem would work practically, began to patronize the
steamer largely. Still the steam service is far from
what it should be. In parts of December, January,
February, and March, when the river level is lowest,
the vessel is often unable to run with regularity. It
is hardly necessary to remark that such checks to the
navigation are most damaging to the steady develop-
ment of trade on the Upper Yangtsze. A most per-
sistent attempt to open the Yangtsze to Chungking
by means of a specially constructed steamer has
been made by Mr. Little through a series of years,
and has resulted in final success, and a debt of grati-
tude is due to the plucky pioneer. Whenever and
wherever the advantages of steam traffic, properly
I 129

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

applied, are made apparent to the Chinese, they will
never return to the junk.

We now come to the lower course of the Yang-
tsze, which is lined on both sides, but especially on
its right bank, by numerous marshes and shallow
lakes or reservoirs, which are dry except during in-
undations, when they receive the overflow of the
river and its subsidiary drainage. The Tungting,
the largest of these lakes, lies to the south of the
Yangtsze, just above its junction with the Han Riv-
er, and between the lake and the river an immense
trade passes. At this point the Yangtsze is joined
by its tributary the Siang, the main artery of trade
in Hunan, where are situated the important cities
of Yochau, now opened to trade, Siangyin, Chang-
sha, Siangtan, and Hengchau. Bourne considers
this district one of the most promising for the de-
velopment of British trade, and it is probable that,
when the minerals are properly exploited, it will
prove to be one of the richest regions in China.

Below the Tungting lake the Yangtsze receives
its affluent the Han, flowing from the Tsinling
range, through Shensi and Hupei, to the left bank
of the Yangtsze at Hankau. In summer, but in
summer alone, the Han might be made navigable
for light-draught steamers a distance of some three
hundred miles, throughout the portion which is em-
banked. By means of its tributaries goods are dis-
tributed over an enormous area in Hupei. Shensi,
Honan, and are actually delivered, via the Han,
aided by a five days’ carriage over a mountainous

130

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

route, at Sian fu, the capital of Shensi, a distance of
some seven hundred miles. On one of the affluents
of the Han is situated an e^itrepot for the transport

THE NAVIGATION LIMITS OF THE YANGTSZE AND ITS TRIBUTARIES

of all merchandise between the northwestern prov-
inces on the one hand and the central and south-
western on the other. Thence there exists a con-
tinuous water communication northwest and south-
west to remote regions of the Empire. North and
northwest of the radius of the Han River system
there is no water communication, while to the north-
east this is only found after a long distance is trav-
ersed.

At the confluence of the Han with the Yangtsze
lies the treaty port of Hankau, with an enormous
population; and the city of Hanyang, where are the
cotton-mills and iron -works established by Chang
Chill Tung in 1892. On the southern bank of the

131

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Yangtsze is Wuchang, the populous provincial capi-
tal. The valley of the Han is a central region, where
all advantages are united for the prosperity and in-
crease of the population. There are to be found a
healthy, temperate climate, a fertile soil, an abun-
dant water-supply of excellent quality, varied flora,
marble and building stone, as well as coal. The
importance of Hankau as a central junction for
trade communications and for the future railway
system of western China has been pointed out.*
Below Hankau is the Poyang lake, famous for its
fine scenery, and near the confluence of the Yang-
tsze and a river draining the lake is situated the
treaty port of Kiukiang, an important trade centre.
The Poyang resembles the Tungting lake in its
main features — namely, its vast dimensions and its
importance as a terminus for trade. It receives, by
means of the Fu, Kan, and other lesser streams, the
drainage of the whole Kiangsi province. Inunda-
tions on the Yangtsze raise the surface of the lake at
times as much as thirty feet. Populous towns are
numerous on the wooded hill -sides, as well as on
the islands and peninsulas; and fleets of junks, like
floating towns, are anchored near the ports. What
has been said regarding the Tungting lake and
Hunan, as regards the possible development of
trade by steam, may be applied to the Poyang and
Kiangsi. There is an enormous trade to be de-
veloped by the Han valley, north of the Yangtsze,

* See Chapter IV.

132 '

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

and through the Tungting and Poyang lakes and
their affluents, which radiate in a southerly direc-
tion. These lakes and water-ways present difficulties,
but steam navigation is practicable, and with proper
facilities, and strongly supported by our Govern-
ment, British enterprise could accomplish much.
Where the steamer cannot be applied with advan-
tage, the railway can. Railways traversing the valleys
of the Kan and Fu, the Siang and Yuan rivers,
would open the provinces of Kiangsi and Hunan
effectively. These and other lines would act as
“feeders” to the mighty Yangtsze, and develop a
most important and remunerative stream of com-
merce, which would centre chiefly at Hankau and
Shanghai. Carried across the low “ divide ” between
the Yangtsze and West rivers, railways will some
day be e.xtended to Canton, and be the means of de-
veloping an enormous inter-provincial traffic.

Below the Poyang, in its course through the popu-
lous province of Anhwei, a distance of some two
hundred miles, the Yangtsze passes a succession of
towns, many of them of importance, the treaty port
for this region being Wuhu. It promises to develop
into a great rice-exporting centre, though liable to
suffer seriously from inundations. At Nanking,
the old capital of the Chinese Empire, where the
Yangtsze enters the province of Kiangsu, the delta
and its low flat lands commence, soon opening out
into the estuary of the Yangtsze. Chinkiang, the
port of the Kiangsu province, is situated where the
Grand Canal reaches the Yangtsze. It occupies an

133

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

important position, and one highly favorable for ex-
tending foreign trade, but, owing to the hinderances
of likin barriers and to steamers not being allowed
to ply, the place has not progressed as it might,
though its trade has already reached a value of
nearly ^5,000,000.

The next two open ports, which, though not
situated on the Yangtsze, are on the Grand Canal,
and intimately connected with Shanghai, are Suchau
and Hangchau, the latter the capital of the Chekiang
province. In the opinion of Brenan the opening
of these two cities will make very little difference
to the import trade, and he considers it doubtful
whether Suchau will displace Shanghai as a centre
of distribution even for the neighboring districts,
though he thinks that Hangchau, owdng to its posi-
tion on the Tsientang River, may become the dis-
tributing city for central Chekiang. From Chinki-
ans: to the mouth of the river are still some two
hundred miles to be traversed. At the debouchure
the width is sixty miles, and although the channel is
in places over thirty feet deep, the navigation is
much obstructed by the numerous mud and sand
banks which are constantly forming. The dense
fogs, which so often envelop the whole estuary and
neighboring seaboard, form, however, the greatest
obstacle and the most dreaded, causing every year
the loss of many vessels.

The port of entry to the Yangtsze is Shanghai,
the commercial metropolis of China and the port
of foreign imports for all China north of 25° of lati-

134

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

tude. Fifty-five per cent, of the total value of the
foreign imports at all the treaty ports, and forty-
eight per cent, of the exports to foreign countries,
pass through the port of Shanghai. Of recent
years it has become a manufacturing centre where
silk and cotton are produced by machinery. The
silk filatures are numerous, while the cotton mills
at Shanghai and Hankau are thirteen in number,
containing 417,000 spindles and 2100 looms, with
a large and increasing output.* The total trade
of Shanghai in foreign bottoms, import and export,
amounted in 1895 to ^35,772,006.

Having now dealt with the provinces of Yunnan,
Kweichau, and Szechuan, which form southwestern
China, and with the Yangtsze, the main artery of

* See “The Economic Question,” Chapter III. According to the
Imperial Maritime Customs Returns, the exports of mill products
from Shanghai and Hankau for the years 1892-1896 were ;

SHANGHAI

Goods

1892

1893

1894*

1895

1896

Drills pcs ...

37.930

56,840

4.212

31.090

Sheetings “ ...

58.357

64,661

—

■

48,100

Shirtings “ ...

—

55,526

Yarn piculs...

1,492

—

14.593

12.444

HANKAU

Goods

1892

1893

1894

1895

1896

Drills pcs ...

5.970

4.255

1,560

Shirtings “ ...

—

70,288

94.698

72,980

Yarn piculs...

2,013

4.413

7.263

18,868

* Manufactory burned down.

135

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

trade in the centre of the Empire, we now pass to
southern China and its chief waterway, the Si kiang
or West River, which forms an important channel
of trade for Kwangtung, Kwangsi, Kweichau, and
Yunnan. The account of that river given in Across
Chryse — the narrative of my exploration in 1882 —
conveys the impression that the river flows through
a region not only unruly, but very poor, until it
reaches the recently opened treaty port of Wuchau.
But, as was pointed out, the ruined cities along this
part of the river show signs of former prosperity
and even grandeur that passed away owing to the
Taiping and Mohammedan rebellions, which deci-
mated the population, destroyed trade, or diverted it
into other channels.

The important branch of the West River is the
Liu stream, which is navigable for a long distance
to boats drawing three feet of water. Bourne, who
followed this stream through Kwangsi, states that
the Liutan rapid near Hsiinchau is the only diffi-
culty in the navigation of this stream by light-
draught vessels far past the town of Liu, to the
heart of Kwangsi. The Hung Shui, which joins
the Liu stream, as Bourne shows, is extremely diffi-
cult of navigation and little used for traffic. At
Hsunchau the Liu joins the Hsun or Nan, which is
the main channel of trade, known in its lower sec-
tion as the Si kiang or WTst River. This river
rises in Yunnan, passes Pose, the navigation limit
for boats in Kwangsi, and flows past Nanning. Just
above that city it receives a tributary, the Tso

136

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

River, which rises in Tongking and flows close by
Lungchau, having on its left bank the town of
Taiping. On the main river, twenty miles below
Hslinchau, is situated Chiangkau, an important dis-

SKETCH MAP SHOWING NAVIGATION LIMITS OF SI KIANG OR WEST RIVER

tributing centre. In this part of the West River
is found a striking example of the circuitous routes
to which trade may be driven by taxation. At two
towns a short distance above Wuchau are likin
stations, which has led to the country there being-
supplied with foreign goods from Pakhoi, while
Tang, the next town below, is supplied from \\ u-
chau, a prosperous place situated at the junction of
the Fu and West rivers. Light-draught steamers
ply to Wuchau from Canton and Hongkong, more
than one third the distance to Pose. Close to Can-

'37

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ton, at the mouth of the North River, is Samshui, a
new treaty port.

The Si kiang once opened effectively, the south-
ern provinces would rapidly recover their former
flourishing condition. xAs regards the question of
navigation, much remains to be done in opening the
river thoroughly. And while there is no possibility
of making it navigable to the borders of Yunnan,
it is certain that Nanning, a commercial centre of
great importance, can be opened to steam naviga-
tion. By merely clearing slightly the channel at
the rapids, making better tow-paths in certain parts,
and providing these where they do not exist, much
might be done on the upper reaches of the river.
The road from Yunnan fu, the capital, to Pose,
might be greatly shortened, and, with a properly or-
ganized service of river patrol, such as exists on the
Yangtsze, rendering life and property secure, an im-
portant trade might be developed.

The chief routes along which trade travels in
southern China are: (i) the West River, (2) the
Pakhoi-Nanning-Pose route, (3) the French routes,
from Tongking northward to Lungchau-Nanning,
and on the west via the Red River to Laokai and
Mengtse.

The natural channel of trade between Hongkong
and southwestern China is the West River. Owing,
however, to the obstacles raised by taxation and
the non-enforcement of the transit-pass, trade was
diverted to other channels, such as the Pakhoi-
Nanning route, and later to the Tongking route,

138

ENGLAND’S OBJECTIVE IN CHINA

the French having insisted on the effective carrying
out of the transit-pass system, via Mengtse. At
present British goods are actually sent from Hong-
kong through French territory, via Mengtse, to
within seven days of Bhamo in Burma. The Lung-
chau route, whatever its merits might have been had
the railway line from Pakhoi to Nanning* not been
secured by the French Government, is now of quite
secondary importance. Should the West River not
at once be effectively opened throughout its course,
then the Pakhoi-Nanning-Yunnan route is bound to
command the largest share of the trade of south and
southwestern China.

Having now passed under review the provinces
of south and southwestern China and the great
waterways — the Yangtsze and West rivers — we
may inquire what measures should be adopted to
improve the present state of affairs, in the interest
of China and of foreign trade.

The first step that suggests itself is the improve-
ment of communications by railways and steam navi-
gation. So far as railways are concerned, Burma
should be connected with Tali and Yunnan fu, Yun-
nan fu with Nanning, Canton with Kaulun. This
would effectively open the whole of southern China
lying between Burma and the British colony of
Hongkong. Yunnan fu should also be connected,
to the northeast, with Sui fu, on the Upper Yang-
tsze, the navigation limit of that waterway. The

Proposed by the writer many years ago.
^39

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

south should also be connected with central China
by railways. Steam navigation should at once be
extended to Nanning and to Sui fu, and also,
wherever practicable, throughout all the inland
waters.

Next in importance to the creation of proper
communications is the question of taxation.* All
travellers, in southern China especially, dwell inces-
santly on the obstacles to trade resulting from the
collection of so many various taxes. The British
Government should insist on their treaty rights,
especially the enforcement, so successfully accom-
plished by the French Government, of the transit-
pass system.

It is from Burma, on the one hand, and from
Shanghai and Hono-kons^, on the other, that En^-
land must, by the aid of steam applied overland and
by water, effectively occupy the Upper Yangtsze
region, the key to our position in China. China has
ceased to be a buffer, and England must effectively
occupy the Yangtsze region and southern China, if
she seriously means to hold her own.

See “Commercial Development,” Chapter VI.

CHAPTER VI

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The two chief European competitors in Eastern
Asia are Russia and Great Britain, the former repre-
senting land concjuest, the latter sea trade. Russia
has rapidly moved down from the north, Great Brit-
ain has made her way round the southern coasts and
peninsulas. Russia now borders north China, and
her war ports, Vladivostok, Port Arthur, and Ta-
lienwan, watch the Pacific and dominate the north-
ern waters of the Chinese seas. Russia’s commerce
*

is as yet insignificant. Germany has been a serious
trade competitor in the past, and will be still more
so in the future. The United States and Japan are
certain to develop their trade relations with increas-
ing energy. Finally, France will continue her polit-
ical campaign under the guise of commerce.

All the facts regarding the unsatisfactory condi-
tion of our trade with China tend to teach us one
lesson — how necessary it is to open China, to push
our manufactures into the country, and pay the pro-
ducer direct for his produce with the cottons, broad-
cloths, and other manufactures which we send to
China. The question is one with which our com-
mercial future is so closely connected that it is hard

141

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to understand why a deeper interest is not taken in
it. The British manufacturer at home leaves the
task entirely to his agent abroad, and he, hard-
headed, practical business man, looks only to the
immediate present. At only twelve out of the
eighteen ports* are there British subjects engaged
in any sort of trade, and at only three or four are
they interested in the import trade. The foreign
firms are more and more ceasing to be merchants in
the true sense of the word ; and, rather than push
the interior trade and risk the market in China, they
prefer to settle terms before the merchandise leaves
Europe ; in fact, in yearly increasing numbers, to act
as mere commission agents. Of the textiles im-
ported from England and America, actually as much
as one-half is specially indented for under instruc-
tions from Chinese dealers.

The native has great advantages in disposing of
his goods at the treaty ports. He is in touch with
the up-country dealers, knows the standing of the
people he is dealing with, and is able to obtain in-

* At present British subjects are at liberty to carry on business at
eighteen ports in China. These are : Niuchvvang, Tientsin, Chifu,
on the northern coast; Chungking, Ichang, Hankau, Kiukiang,
Wuhu, Chinkiang, and Shanghai, on the Yangtsze River; Ningpo,
Wenchau, Fuchau, Amoy, Swatau, Canton, Hoihau (Kiungchau),
and Pakhoi, on the coast south of the Yangtsze. To these must be
now added Shashi on the Yangtsze, between Ichang and Hankau;
Hangchau and Suchau, two inland cities near Shanghai ; Wuchau
and Samshui on the West River, and Ssumao and Lungchau in the
south. It is also reported that three other ports have been opened
— Yochau, on the Tungting lake; Chungwang. on the Gulf of Pe-
chihli ; and Tuning in Fukien.

142

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

formation about markets which the foreigner can-
not; moreover, the power of combination, so strong
a feature of the Chinese, enables them to control the
market and to render the business of foreign com-
petitors unprofitable. The business of the British
import merchant, then, being chiefly confined to
Hongkong and Shanghai, the further distribution
of merchandise throughout China is almost entirely
in the hands of Chinese. But the Chinese agency,
however satisfactory once a trade has been estab-
lished, is not a good one for breaking fresh ground
and pushing trade in the interior, for the Chinese
have no initiative.

Perhaps undue stress has always been laid on the
obstructions offered to trade extension by the exac-
tions of the mandarins. That is undoubtedly a
serious barrier, but a still greater one — as shown
nearly thirty years ago in a very able Report of the
delegates of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce*
on the trade of the Upper Yangtsze — is the inertia
of a people of stagnant ideas, who are not enterpris-
ing, and whose means of intercommunication are
very limited.

“ They will not advance towards foreigners to seek their trade
until foreigners have pressed it on them. Foreigners must provide
the means of bringing different parts of the Empire into close
communication ; they must also, to a certain extent, create the
wants which they wish to supply, by offering their goods, and
‘introducing’ them to their customers. Commerce everywhere
requires to be energetically pushed to be successful, and this is
peculiarly true of the trade in foreign manufactures in China;

China, No. i. 1870.

143

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

though the Chinese are themselves incapable of originating any
such improvement, they are very ready to avail themselves of it
when provided for them. But the spirit of enterprise is all on the
side of the foreigners, and the onus of every forward mov'ement in
commerce must necessarily rest on them.”*

A reputation for examining problems which do
not affect the immediate present seems to carry
with it in business certain disadvantages. The man
who does this is set down as wanting in practical
shrewdness, and in time acquires a name for being
a theorist, which means ruin. It is, my business
friends have always told me, a case of future and
theory versus present and practice. The fact is, the
merchant comes to China to make money, and to
retire as soon as possible. His first consideration is
to get orders and contracts, and he is quite indif-
ferent as to the country of origin of the goods he
handles. I once heard the whole question disposed
of thus by a successful business man — need I say he
was a Scotchman } — “ My dear sir, I am not working
for posterity.”

In all matters of patience, and, it must be added,
also of “ push,” of taking trouble and enduring dis-
agreeable experiences, the Britisher compares un-
favorably with the young German. The “ trivial ”

* This view of the situation is fully borne out by Messrs. Brenan
and Bourne, who recently investigated the question of China trade.
“If the interchange of commodities,” says the former, "between
the East and the West is to grow, it is the Western merchant who
must discover what more the Chinaman has to give us in exxhange
for our manufactures. The initiative must come from our side,
and until we can take more from China, she must not be expected
to take more from us.”

144

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

business, involving great detail, is not congenial to
the English merchant. It is not in his “line.” But
somehow, as Brenan well remarks, “ there always
seems to be a German in whose line it is.”*

The Russians, too, like the Germans, are very
painstaking, enterprising, and pushing in business,
not only in Mongolia, but also in the western prov-
inces of China. Caravans from Moscow and To-
bolsk actually find their way by the long overland
route to the city of Lanchau, and it is surely a sig-
nificant fact that Russia is already able to compete
against England in that region. Every one who has
seen anything of western China is struck by the lack
of British commercial enterprise there, as in other
parts of the interior of China; but in the northwest
the traders of Russian Central Asia are gradually
pushing their way and establishing a firmer hold
upon the markets. The British trader works on a
totally different system. He settles at the treaty
port, declines to learn the “ beastly language,” and is
content to intrust his goods to Chinese agencies
for disposal inland. Thus illegal taxes are exacted
during inland transit, which tend to destroy British
trade. Until recently, the only European agent in
northwestern or western China employed by a British
firm to look after their inland trade, was a German.

* To show how anxious the Germans are to meet the wants of
the Chinese, it may be mentioned that there are certain firms in
Hamburg which collect old horseshoes all over Germany, then sort
them and ship them out in bulk. When a Chinaman now gives an
order for old iron, it is always set out in the beginning of the con-
tract that they are to be Hamburg horseshoes.

145

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

There is singularly little intercourse between foreign-
ers and natives, even in matters of business, both
in China and Japan. Among merchants few have
knowledge of the language or have acquaintances
among the business men of good position, and all
are dependent on the “comprador” of China and
the “ banto ” of Japan. Both Bourne and Brenan
emphasize the harm done by trusting implicitly to
the “ comprador ” system.

There can be no doubt that competition in the
northwest, as elsewhere, will, with the improvement
of communication, become keener and keener, and
our merchants will have to exert themselves in a
very different fashion from that hitherto obtaining if
they mean to hold their own. The Russian trader
is always a storekeeper. He is not above serving in
his own store, and does not leave that to a Chinese.
The Russians, in fact, are content to carry on busi-
ness in a very small way and to take small profits,
such as the British trader would scorn. This lofty
stand-point, indeed, seems a characteristic of the
British trader, as compared with the Russian or
German, probably due to the fact that the latter are
relatively much poorer. The stereotyped character
of the foreign trade and the absence of initiative and
enterprise on the part of British manufacturers have
long been matter of comment.

The reasons that the wants of the distant Chinese
consumers are not supplied to a greater extent by
foreign merchants have been inquired into by Brenan,
who thinks that “ the trade would combine against

146

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

the foreigner, and that men of small capital could
not carry on the fight”; that “there is a lack of that
feeling of enterprise which it is necessary to possess
and exercise before the connections in the interior
can be formed.” A third reason, in his opinion, is
supplied in the existence of “misgivings which fill
the minds of the British merchants, lest they should
not receive adequate support and protection from
their own authorities when they are in difficulties
— an apprehension that they will be left to shift
for themselves, and that the British authorities will
allow them to suffer unjust losses.” It is this lack
of confidence in our Government that has discour-
aged the British merchant and caused him to avoid
any venture except such as he knows to be quite
safe.*

It would be to the advantage of foreign merchants
as a body to take trouble to examine patiently the
actual conditions of life among the Chinese, in order
to deduce therefrom some fresh ideas, based on

* “ A long and painful experience of thwarted efforts has had
such a discouraging effect on foreigners in China that a condition
of stagnation has come to be acccepted as in the nature of things.

“ A merchant is not a missionary. He derives little satisfaction
from being assured that his complaint is well founded, and that he
is entitled to reparation ; he looks at his chances of obtaining rep-
aration, and if, as frequently happens, he sees that these are re-
mote, and that his officials can do no more for him than address
futile remonstrances to the Chinese authorities, he retires from the
unprofitable business, and, instead of spending his time and money
in upholding treaty rights, he devotes these to other purposes where
the prospects are more encouraging.”— Brenan, China, No. 1909.
1897.

147

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

something better than mere conjecture, as to how
to supply the wants of the people. How to extend
commercial measures in China peacefully, without
the unnecessary intervention of war, is a problem
to which attention was directed as far back as forty
years ago, and which need not have baffled our
statesmen had they only been guided by an intelli-
gent appreciation of facts. At present we are only on
the fringe of China,* with merely one shaft partially
driven into the heart of the country — the Yangtsze.
Open China, develop internal industries, especially
mining. The more the exports of China are in-
creased the greater will be the foreign import trade.
Bring goods under the eyes of the population in the
interior, and, if you deliver a good and cheap article,
the Chinaman will buy.

The Chinaman is clannish and conservative, but
he is remarkably free from prejudice, religious or
patriotic, especially in matters of tangible interest.
Unlike the Japanese, he has a natural objection to
alter his clothes, for they suit him better than any
other. But he has no objection to purchasing the
article which he judges to be the cheapest and best,
wherever it may come from ; and moreover — an im-
portant point — he has a taste for luxuries, if he can
afford them.f He is very sensible in his economy,

* “ Ouand on parle de la Chine on oublie trop que le contact n’est
encore etabli avec la civilisation occidentale que sur quelques points,
que Ton peut considerer comme perdus dans la masse. L’immense
majorite des Chinois ne connaissent ni I’Europeen, ni les produits
europeens.” — The Lyons Commercial Mission.

t Talking of the non-Chinese inhabitants of China, and of the

148

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

and if he prefers the home-made article, it is because
he finds it cheaper and more enduring. Native
patterns of cloth, both woollen and cotton, will
find buyers, if laid down cheaper than the foreign
article. Though the Chinese are conservative, for-
eign articles are creeping into use. Clocks, watches,
matches, lamps, red blankets are now seen not only
everywhere in the seaport towns and near the coast,
but far inland. But the manufacturer at home is
ignorant of the requirements of the Chinese, and the
merchant abroad dislikes the work of forcing man-
ufactures into the interior. The business is regard-

ed as unprofitable ; and it, of course, requires ex-
traordinary exertion, knowledge of the language,
and study of the country.*

Grave loss of business is caused to English manu-
facturers by an unbending adherence to established
standards. This defect in our system, which has
been so long a trait of our countrymen, has been re-
absence among them of much taste for luxury, Bourne remarks:
" The Chinese everywhere emphatically has [this taste]; he may be
trusted to buy luxuries to the full extent of his means. It is this
quality which will some day make the foreign trade of China of gi-
gantic dimensions.”

* What can be accomplished in this direction has recently been
made clear by the enterprise of Messrs. Coats, the sewing-thread
manufacturers, and their able agent, Mr. Wenyon, who has opened
thirty agencies in the interior, south of the Yangtsze.

Bourne lays special stress upon the importance of commercial
recruits learning colloquial Chinese, “ enough to talk about a very
narrow range of subjects.” Mr. Bell, of the Blackburn Mission,
learned enough Mandarin in six months to make himself understood
on everyday subjects. To make a Chinese scholar of a youth, would,
as Bourne truly remarks, ruin him.

149

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

peatedly dwelt on by consular officers and many
travellers, but so far with but little effect.

Great cheapness is essential for the present, and
until the country is further opened, in order to bring
a commodity within the narrow means of the general
Chinese consumer; and it has been pointed out that
“the general character of the Chinaman, which com-
bines great thrift with minute attention to detail in
business transactions, has the result that a very slight
difference of price in favor of one of two competing
articles gives it, in the Chinese market, a dispropor-
tionately great advantage. The point is of especial
interest in view of the keen competition between
foreign producers for the markets of China which
are now about to be opened up ; it is probable that
relatively slight advantages of trade, whether enjoyed
in respect of railway rates, port dues, transit duties,
or otherwise, would tell more heavily in the Far
East than in any other market of the world.”*

In manufactures the Chinaman could not now
compete with the English market if there were a
proper appreciation of Chinese wants and anything
like reasonable facilities for delivering our goods.
In China, nails, needles, tacks, scissors, razors, all of
the most primitive character, but suitable to the
wants of the people, are produced ; but the process
is slow and comparatively expensive. China is not,
and cannot become, a manufacturing country, until
coal, iron, and other industries, and, above all, the

United States Diplomatic and Consular Reports, 1898.

150

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

communications, are properly developed. When the
cost of coal is diminished by improved methods,
steam and machinery can be used for Chinese man-
ufactures, but not till then. It is in her mineral re-
sources that chiefly lies the future wealth of China,
but there is also much to be done in the direction of
the improvement of the products of the soil.

The question of the value of our China trade has
lately been under discussion, and it has been ques-
tioned whether there was reason to hope for any
great expansion. What was the view of Lord
Palmerston, the one English statesman who seems
to have understood the Chinese question.^

“ Everybody must know that on the extension of our commerce,”
he said, in a debate in the House of Commons in 1864, “depend
the prosperity of our country, the accumulation of our capital, the
abundance of our revenues, and the strength and prosperity of the
nation. Any measure, therefore, calculated to increase the com-
mercial relations of the country is deserving of praise, because it
accords with the interests and wishes of the country. It was long
felt that China would open a vast field of commercial enterprise
to us. There can be no doubt that, among other things, the great
expansion of commerce with that Empire has enabled us to meet,
without disaster, the unfortunate obstruction to our commerce and
manufactures occasioned by events still going on in America. . . .
What must be the commercial advantages to this country if it can
have an unimpeded, uninterrupted commerce with one-third of the
human race!”

How different was the view of Bright!

“Lord Palmerston,” he said, “attempted to persuade the House
that the trade with China — the most miserable trade in the world
when compared with the magnitude of the population — was of so
great importance to the working classes of this country that it
was worth while to indulge in the policy which he has carried on,

151

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

and to encounter the greater expenses which have been incurred.
Now I will venture to say that our trade with China — I speak of
our exports from England to China for many years back, I believe
for thirty years— has not left one single farthing of profit.”

Not less emphatic was Cobden in his condem-
nation of the Chinese trade,

“If you look back for the last thirty-five years,” he said, “you
will find that China is the only country that has disappointed you;
that is, that the exports to China have not kept pace with the
natural increase of your trade in other directions. Last year j^our
exports to China were _£3, 800,000, your exports to the whole of
the world 1 46,000,000 ; so that you only send 2^ per cent, of
your exports to China. If you run your eye over the table of
exports you will find that China stands only twelfth in the list of
your foreign customers, that it stands even below Brazil and Egypt.”

Cobden, it will be seen, saw no hope of any e.x-
pansion whatever, just as the political economists of
to-day, the disciples of Cobden, see no hope for the
future. Yet British trade with China in forty years
has increased more than fourfold, and that on a
field unopened, while we are on the eve of an indus-
trial development in China which will revolutionize
the world.

The net total value of imports and exports in
1896 was .^55,768,500; and the total gross value,
.^57,274,000, of which British dominions contrib-
uted .,^39,271,000, leaving for all other nations

1 8,003,000.

Of this amount (according to the Board of Trade fournaiy.

Japan contributed £^,,71^1,000

Rest of Europe 4.585,000

Russia 2.856,000

Other nations 5,767,000

152

18,003,000

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The percentage of carrying trade under foreign flags was :

British 82.04

German 7.49

Japanese 1.34

French 2.00

Russian 0.59

Other nations 5.54

100.00

The percentage of revenue (dues and duties) paid under foreign

flags :

British 76.04

German 10.12

French 2.95

Japanese 2.28

Russian 1.90

Other nations 6.71

100.00

In estimating the commercial interest of foreign
countries as regards China, the foregoing returns are
significant, showing as they do that Great Britain
not only carries 82 per cent, of the total foreign
trade with China, but pays 76 per cent, of the dues
and duties collected in that trade.

It will thus be seen that her interest is very
large. It may safely be asserted that, with the aid
of India, Australia, Hongkong, and Singapore, and
of the British markets of Africa and America, she
has absorbed considerably more than four-fifths of
the whole trade done by China with foreign coun-
tries. Hongkong having no custom-house, no fig-
ures, unfortunately, are available to indicate the vol-
ume of its commerce. As shown elsewhere,* the

See Chapter XII.

153

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ever-increasing prosperity of Hongkong has been
marvellous.

The trade of the chief ports is shown in a con-
venient form:

1896

Gross Value of Trade

Tonnage

Gross

British '

Niuchwang (port of Manchu-

riaj

3.424,000

664,000

349.600

Tientsin (port of N. China)...

9 OCX), 000

1,241,645

583,000

Shanghai (emporium for X.

and C. China)

32,400,000

8,000,000

4,500,000

{Xote. — The British share of the gross

trade

of Shanghai

was / 1 6, 500,000, or

over

50 per cent,, and of the import

trade.

^13,933,000

out of /i 8,585,000,

or 75 per cent.)

Canton

6,669.000

^ Nearly all passing

Kaulun

7,197,000

^ through Hongkong.

Svvatow

4,000,000

1 Largely passing

through Hongkong.

In considering the foreign trade with China it
should be borne in mind that the trade through
Tongking by the Red River route is almost entirely
a transit trade from Hongkong, and that the trade
of Russia is chiefly characterized by its absence.

Since its opening to foreign commerce in 1843,
the growth of Shanghai has been rapid and steady,
though, like Hongkong, subject to vicissitudes, of
which the chief was the Taiping rebellion, which
devastated the adjoining country.

154

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The amount of smuggling by junks along the
coast is known to be very considerable. At the
ports open to foreign trade, the Foreign Customs
take cognizance only of cargoes carried in foreign-
built ships (whether foreign - owned or Chinese) ;
and alongside the Foreign Customs is the native
custom-house, still controlling the trade in native
junks and levying duties according to a tariff of its
own. Besides the ports open to foreign trade, too,
there are also a great number of places, both on the
coast and inland, where the Chinese Government
have, from time immemorial, established custom-
houses.*

The United States are deeply concerned in the
China question, both from the industrial and politi-
cal point of view. Already compelled by the force
of circumstances to embark on a foreign policy and
to look increasingly to foreign markets, they cannot
but feel that the question is of vital importance
to themselves. And it is evident that the Pacific
Slope, though at present playing but a small part,
is more closely concerned in the ultimate develop-
ment of China than any other section of the States.
These Pacific States are possessed of enormous nat-

* “ These are known by the generic name of ‘ kwan,’ and as such
are readily distinguished from the modern likin stations, which are
generally termed ‘ chia ’ or ‘ ka.’ It would be tedious to enumer-
ate all these places, but briefly they include every port of any impor-
tance on the coast and inland waters, and certain passes on the
main trade routes, such as Changchiakou and Shanhaikwan on the
northern frontier, and Taiping and Kanchau between Kwangtung
and Kiangsi.” — Consul-General Jamieson, China.

155

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ural resources : their manufactures, while still of
minor importance, have quadrupled in twenty years,
and will, in the course of time, find the most advan-
tag^eous market in the Far East. And when the
Nicaragua Canal is made, the Atlantic States also
will be brought into close connection with China
and the whole of the Far East.*

The volume of the United States trade with
China represented more than one-seventh the entire
foreign trade of the Empire in 1896. While the
import trade from China has increased slowly, the
export trade to China has increased 126 per cent, in
ten years, and is over 50 per cent, larger than the
German exports.!

The export of cotton cloths amounted to ^1,497,-
000 in 1897, or nearly one-half the entire value of
cotton cloths sent abroad by the United States.
The export of kerosene oil from the States to China
now ranks second in importance to that of cotton
goods, and is likely to increase at a rapid rate.
The Chinese demand is quickly growing, and the

* See The Key of the Pacific, A. R. COLQUHOUN.
t EXPORTS TO CHINA

Products of

Year

Value

United Kingdom...
United States

1896

8,540,000

1897

3,396,000

Germany

1896

2,264,000

— Report on Trade betweeti the United States and China, Hugh
O'Beirne.

156

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMExNT

export from the United States to China has more
than trebled in value in the past ten years.*

The Russian oil has hitherto been the only seri-
ous foreign competitor of the American product, but
the Langkat oil is coming rapidly into use. The
exports of wheat flour reached a value, in 1897, of
^678,000, and chemicals, dyes, etc., ;^20o,ooo.

The United States export to China chiefly cot-
tons and mineral oils. And while England — which
so far practically controls the China trade — has
most to lose by the partition of China, even should
she receive a large share, the United States are
deeply concerned in the question, for their trade is
considerable and of great promise. At present it is
restricted to commodities which would be hard to
sell to any Chinese port not under the conditions of
equal trade, and probably impossible to sell in any
Asiatic port controlled by Russia or France.

Japan as a manufacturing country, as well as one
with political aspirations, is an important factor in
the China question. Year by year the quantity of
raw material imported and of manufactured articles
exported increases steadily. Unsuited for agricult-
ure, and with a dense population, greater than that

* The United States export of kerosene oil to China has been ;

Year

Value

Currency

Sterling

Dollars

1888

1 ,466,000

293,000

1897

4,498,000

899,000

157

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

of some Western lands, Japan is forced to find her
future in industrial development rather than agri-
culture, And everything possible is being done by
Japanese statesmen and publicists to convert Japan
from an agricultural into a manufacturinsf countrv.
Japan has now 1,000,000 spindles running, and
makes matches not only for herself but for China,
the Straits, India, and other countries, and, as regards
cheapness, in many lines she has distanced all com-
petitors.

Enthusiastic politicians and writers in Japan, and
not there alone, were sanguine enough to predict
the time when Japan, “the Eastern England,”*
would supply all the markets of Europe with Euro-
pean articles; but more sober views now prevail, and
the counsel to-day given to Japanese manufacturers
by their leaders is to cultivate the special produc-
tions in which Japan excels other countries, such as
silk, tea, artistic manufactures, and articles requiring
great expertness of fingers. t

* Japan has never been full}' opened to foreign trade. The ports
in Japan open to foreign commerce are six in number — namely,
Yokohama, Kobe (or Hiogo), Osaka, Nagasaki, Hakodate, and
Niigata. There are thirteen other ports where trade with foreign
countries is permitted under certain conditions, but these ports are
only open to the Japanese flag, or to foreign vessels under special
charter to Japanese.

+ “ Japan, they argue, may easily beat the more civilized countries
of Europe and America in articles where artistic skill and hand
labor play a large part, but to compete in their markets with me-
chanical manufactures in which they are themselves so proficient is
in their opinion for the present out of the question. As to the
semi-civilized nations of Asia, Japan’s endeavor should be to supply

158

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The enterprise and self-confidence of the Japanese
led them to believe that they could succeed where
Western nations had done so, and their first attempts
at imitating foreign manufactures attracted attention,
but the general conclusion in this matter now is that
Japan is overrated as a manufacturing country.

A most marked feature of commercial enterprise
in Japan is that commercial morality there is inferior
to that of China. There is always a tendency to
deteriorate in all articles, for as soon as their supe-
riority or cheapness has won for them a place in
trade the standard is lowered and something inferior
is produced. Gradual deterioration, as Brenan re-
marks, seems the inevitable fate of all articles of
Japanese manufacture.

In the matter of adhering to contracts the China-
man stands exceedingly high, but not so the Japanese.
It is impossible to keep the ordinary Japanese to his
contract; when he sees the market groins: ag^ainst
him, he will find some excuse to evade his engage-
ment. The foreign merchants in Japan meet with
difficulties unknown in China. No one would at
present trust to a Japanese merchant either to faith-

them with two classes of merchandise ; first, such articles as Japan
already manufactures for her own use: and. secondly, articles imi-
tated from foreign patterns and designs, which are already in de-
mand in Asiatic countries. Japan must begin with ruder articles,
and gradually advance to better and finer articles. The commer-
cial policy advocated by those in authority is to strive to attain
perfection by assiduous practice, and meantime to sell the work of
their ’prentice hands to those semi-civilized peoples who are satis-
fied with cheap and inferior commodities.” — Brenan,

159

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

fully execute a contract or to draw a bill on shipment
of the goods.

Japan looks to China as her best customer, and
very wisely. But it is unlikely that she will secure
the China market as a whole, for not only is all the
trade between the two countries in Chinese hands,
even in Japan, but the Chinese are establishing
themselves in positions in Japan which the Japanese
have no excuse for allowing them to occupy. China,
also, is already becoming a serious competitor as
regards coal, and at the present rate of increase the
day is not far distant when Chinese coal will be used
in Japan ; this, too, quite apart from the coming
development of the coal fields by means of steam
and railways.

As Japan has to import her raw material from
India and China, it is most unlikely that she will be
able to undersell the product of the Bombay or
Shanghai mills in neutral markets. It is more prob-
able that the Chinese will, under foreign guidance,
prove the superior. Chinese labor is undoubtedly
cheaper and more efficient than Japanese.

Inland taxation in China acts as a great impedi-
ment to foreign trade. Every merchant can bear
testimony to the difficulties, delays, and “ squeezes ”
which have to be submitted to in bringing produce
to market, or getting our manufactures into the
interior.

The question of likin and inland taxation is dealt
with by Brenan and Bourne, and has been exhaust-
ively treated by Jamieson in an extremely able re-

160

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

port. It is in the south that the mischief is most
felt. Bourne gives a striking example of this evil
close to Canton ; he says ;

“ A piece of gray shirtings sent from Canton to Fatshan, a very
large manufacturing town fifteen miles southwest of that city,
would pay —

Amount

At Canton, as above

Tael

0.204

Entry (kwa-hao) paid to Hoppo, 0.072 fael, plus 20 per
cent. “ expenses ” squeeze

0.092

At Fatshan, cancellation, hsiao-hao, a “ squeeze ” that
has gradually increased from a nominal payment
to about

0.18

0.476

or about 25 per cent, ad valorem. This was the amount demand-
ed in June, 1897; no doubt a great deal less was paid on the av-
erage.

“ By taking a transit pass for these goods to Fatshan, of course
a great deal would be saved; but the Canton Government has so
far succeeded in resisting our right to transit passes, helped by the
fact that the import trade is, as I have explained, in the hands of
natives, and by the monopoly ring of likin officials and foreign
compradores.”

There is no need to multiply instances. The
duties, as fixed by tariff, are neither excessive nor
prohibitive ; but, like so many of the Confucian
maxims, they are seldom or never acted on. The
tariff, in fact, is a dead letter. Its provisions, in

161

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

practice, vary according to the squeezing power of
the local mandarins.*

The heavy internal taxation! has always acted
like a paralysis on foreign trade before it could reach
a few miles inland from the treaty ports. Owing to
the increasing absorption of the provincial revenues
by the Imperial Government, the seaboard provinces,
which to a large extent depended on maritime duties,
have resorted to ruinous inland taxation. This has
impoverished and discontented all classes and re-
stricted trade. The turbulent population of Kwang-
tung have with difficulty been restrained from show-
ing their resentment at the exhaustive taxation.

“ Likin,” which used to be regarded as illegal, as
one of the many “ squeezes ” imposed by the man-
darins, is, in Jamieson’s opinion, just as legal as any
other form of taxation, being imposed by Imperial
decree, the highest form of legislation known to
China. Its expediency, he says, is quite another

* “ In estimating the provincial opposition to the scheme, it
must be borne in mind that the effect of the transit-pass system
is not only to reduce and regulate the inland dues, but it is also
to transfer so much rev'^enue from the provincial to the Imperial
Exchequer, and between these departments there is a perpetual
struggle. In agreeing that all the inland charges might be com-
muted by one payment, the Central Gov^ernment made a bargain
profitable to itself, and left the execution of it to those at whose
expense it had been made.” — Brenan, China.

t In the Chifu Convention the following clause occurs: "The
Chinese Government agrees that Transit Duty Certificates shall
be framed under one rule at all ports, no difference being made in
the conditions set forth therein ; and that so far as imports are con-
cerned, the nationality of the person possessing and carrjdng these
is immaterial.”

162

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

matter, being as objectionable as possible. In its
present shape it first appeared about 1853; but it
was not till 1860-61, when the measures adopted
to suppress the Taiping rebellion necessitated in-
creased expenditure, that it became universal.* The
whole of the likin, it may be said, is borne by the
trade of the Yangtsze and the Canton rivers and
their affluents, and this fact indicates in a very
striking manner where the real wealth of the coun-
try lies.

There are many reasons why it would be advan-
tao^eous to have the whole of the taxes on trade
consolidated and put under one system.

At present there are three or four different sets
of officials collecting taxes from the same goods, and
sometimes even competing with one another. This
is well exemplified in the province of Canton, where
there are (i) the Foreign Maritime Customs, (2) the

* The present likin tariff is based upon a notification of July 24,
1865, as a result of certain inquiries made by order of the provincial
Government. Regarding the likin barriers, Jamieson says : “Their
numbers and frequency depend on the amount of the trade, and
the extent to which it will stand taxing without being absolutely
strangled. In some places, as along the lower ports of the Grand
Canal, the barriers follow one another at intervals of twenty miles
or so. In other places, where trade is scanty and the barriers can
be turned by ditours, there are few, if any. A tariff is arranged,
and is supposed to be published for general information, but noth-
ing is more difficult than to get accurate information either from
the merchants or officials on this point. In point of fact neither
party seems to pay much attention to the authorized tariff. Nearly
all boats are passed by a system of bargaining, the officials ask so
much, the merchant makes a bid, and they haggle till they come
to terms,”

163

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Native Maritime Customs under the Hoppo, (3) the
Inland Native Customs, and (4) the likin officials ;
all four levying trade taxes which cover almost ex-
actly the same ground. To these may be added
the salt controller, who has subordinates scattered
over the province. Consolidation would lead to
gain, not only on the part of the merchant, but also
of the Imperial revenue.

The remedy for the present unsatisfactory condi-
tion of our trade with China is the same as for the
political situation. It consists in a revolution of
our methods, whether governmental or private. In-
creased energy, activity, and determination are nec-
essary if we are to hold our own in the commercial
or political contest. The key of the position, which
is a politico- commercial one, is that Government
should be strong, resolute, and inspire confidence.
That is an absolute essential. If that be wanting,
as it has been hitherto, then it is needless to discuss
further steps. But, provided such confidence is es-
tablished, then the British merchant must be en-
couraged and supported through thick and thin.
British enterprise must be pushed inland into every
crevice, and every opportunity must be utilized in
commercial and industrial matters. The construc-
tion of a railway system throughout the country,
the use of steam navigation on all the water-ways,
the opening of mines, will afford scope for our most
strenuous efforts, our highest abilities. On the side
of the manufacturer and merchant the apathy and
want of adaptability which have hindered progress

164

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

must be shaken off, and towards this end it is nec-
essary that they should revolutionize their methods.
First and foremost there must be knowledge of the
country, its conditions, and especially its language ;
there must be the readiness to do the disagreeable
business, to deal with the odds and ends of com-
merce, which hitherto have been left mainly to the
German.*

One reform in our system has been repeatedly
urged — namely, the appointment of a specially com-
missioned official to deal with commercial cjues-
tions.t He should combine in his person special
qualifications for performing the class of work now
inadequately carried on by some twenty consuls,
all working independently ; and the appointment
should take the form of a superintendent of trade,
with powers altogether above those of a mere secre-
tary. That was the original idea in dealing with
China, and it is worthy of adoption now. Such a
superintendent should work in close touch with an
advisory board of merchants, the nucleus for which

* In 1897 three important commercial missions, from the Black-
burn and Lyons Chambers of Commerce and from Germany, vis-
ited China, and investigated on the spot the conditions of trade.
It is understood that the reports of the French and German mis-
sions are not to be made public. Mr. Bourne, who took charge of
the Blackburn mission, has already published a valuable report,
and the reports of the commercial e.xperts, Mr. Neville and Mr.
Bell, are just about to be published.

t Government recently dealt with this question in an almost
Chinese manner, the title of commercial attache being added to an
already overworked official of Shanghai. This incident affords an
admirable example of the art of “ makee-look-see.”

165

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

exists already in the China Association of Shanghai
and its London branch. The Foreign Office and
the British Minister in Peking should also be in
constant consultation with this advisory board, and
be influenced by them, and not merely pay heed to
their counsel when it is too late.

It is of primary importance that the superintend-
ent of trade should be a “live” man, and not the
typical bureaucrat bound in red tape, and that he
should not rest content with compiling statistics
and writing reports, but make it the cardinal point
of his duties to place himself in the closest relation-
ship with traders, British and native, throughout the
length and breadth of China. Such an appointment,
provided only the right man were selected, would
inspire confidence, stimulate initiative, and lead to
substantial results.

CHAPTER VII

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Perhaps the simplest conception of the Govern-
ment of China is to regard it as an ancient theoc-
racy, the Emperor being Pontifex Maximus,* and
ruling by divine right. There is no Church or
priesthood, no dogmas to become obsolete, no ritual
to be corrupted, no scriptures to be perverted or
criticised, but only one Solitary Man standing be-
tween Heaven and Earth. Hence, perhaps, the un-
exampled duration of a system whose ethereal es-
sence, unencumbered with perishable integuments,
is superior to time and change. The Emperor
worships Heaven pure and simple. It is his place
to declare the will of Heaven to the people, which
it must be admitted he does with much modesty and
reserve. He is responsible to Heaven alone, and
bears in his own person the blame of Heaven’s judg-
ments on the people, humbling himself in sackcloth
and ashes to avert the divine wrath. t But as none

* “ A Particle Chine, on verra que I’empereur est le premier pon-
tife, et combien le culte est auguste et simple.” — Voltaire, Dic-
tionnaire Philosophique.

t “ Myriads of innocent people are involved by me, the One man,”
said the Emperor Taukwang, in a penitential memorial to Imperial

167

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

can share his responsibility, so none can share his
authority. Such is what we, with a shade of irony,
call the “ Celestial Empire.”

\hewed from the terrestrial stand-point, we reach
the same result by an inverse process. The Im-
perial structure may, with as much accuracy, be re-
garded as the supreme development of the family
idea. The people are the children, the Emperor
the great father: absolute obedience on the one side,
protection and nourishment on the other; such is
the theoretical relationship. The family, the master-
key to all Chinese polity, is a mighty power in sup-
port of order culminating in the Throne. Parricide
is the most heinous of crimes, and rebellion is parri-
cide, whence it comes about that in a country, where,
in spite of certain appearances to the contrary,
human life is peculiarly sacred, sedition is sup-
pressed by wholesale massacre.

It is of course hard to bring these lofty ideals into
harmony with the grisly reality of Palace intrigues
which place this or that infant in the seat of the Son
of Heaven to the accompaniment of assassination,
but it is convenient nevertheless to bear the theory
in mind, were it of no greater utility than to keep us
from error in interpreting the forms and phraseology
of edicts and other State papers.

More important for practical purposes is the
Chinese civil administration, which may be consid-
ered apart from the abstract theory of government.

Heaven, on the occasion of a drought sent as a punishment for his
shortcomings.

1 68

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

And the first point deserving notice is the position
of the absolute Monarch in the governing machine.
He does not, in practice, govern any more despoti-
cally than a constitutional sovereign or the president
of a Republic: he only says Yes or No to projects
submitted to him or refers them “ to the Board
concerned for further consideration and report.”
Though the power of initiative is vested in the Em-
peror, it is sparingly used. Besides the check au-
tomatically applied by the official mechanism, an
influence less definite though no less effective over
the acts of the Sovereign is exerted by the body of
educated opinion. From the literary oligarchy, in-
deed, Hue considers the Central Government de-
rives its real inspiration and moral authority. The
regular procedure is by memorials, which are ad-
dressed direct to the Throne, and, as has been stated,
are generally sent to the Boards to report upon.
This may cause convenient delay in giving a de-
cision, and the members of the Great Council have
also their final say. In the end the matter may be
approved, dismissed, or deferred by the Emperor on
the advice of the Privy Council. The system is
probably as effective a way of sifting a question as
a parliamentary discussion would be, especially as
the Chinese Government has its own way of making
officials personally responsible for the advice they
give. The operation of this principle of personal
responsibility runs, indeed, through the whole scheme
of Chinese life, and is important to be kept in mind
by all who have dealings with them, whether politi-

1 69

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

cal or commercial. An official who criticises the
conduct of another in a matter of difficulty is often
taken at his word and sent himself to carry out his
own alternative plans. In this way some of the re-
sults of party government are attained by a different
process.

The attempt to classify the Chinese system of ad-
ministration so as to bring it within the group of
governmental forms with which the Western peoples
are familiar is apt to lead to erroneous impressions,
for it cannot be described by any of the names in
common use. If we call it a despotism, we are con-
fronted with facts which would show it to be the
most democratic polity extant, and if we call the
Empire a federation of independent states, we are
met by the absolute power vested in the Throne to
remove the provincial governors at pleasure. It is
best, therefore, to leave the system without a name,
except that it is Chinese; for the “labels” have in
times past sometimes misled Western governments
into assuming what was non-existent, and into basing
their policy on the fallacy.

The ultimate unit, the germ-cell as we may call
it, of the Chinese body, is the family, compact and
indivisible, theoretically living on the soil which con-
tains the family altar and the family tomb.* It is
the first course of the political pyramid, which is but
little affected by the storms that may blast its apex^
and which survives the wreck of dynasties and the

* In dealing with the Chinese this all-important fact is usually
forgotten by Westerners, with whom the individual is the unit.

170

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

march of conquerors. Groups of families constitute
villages, which are self-governing, and the official
who ventures to trench on their immemorial rights
to the point of resistance is, according to an ofificial
code not confined to China, disavowed by his su-
periors, and generally finds a change of scene im-
perative. The family system, with its extension to
village and town groups, the respective heads of
which are responsible, in an ascending series, for all
the individuals, is the cheapest form of government
extant,* for it dispenses with police, while disposing
effectually of offenders against the peace or re-
spectability of the community.

Where the aboriginal gov^ernment, which has
grown, so to say, out of the soil, meets the artificial
rule which has been imposed from above, the line

* So cheap that, according to M. Simon, Chinese taxation amounts
to three francs per head of the population ; and so good that crime
is comparatively rare. In the preservation of order the interested
vigilance of the people themselves goes hand in hand with the offi-
cial organization in the prevention of disturbances or crime. And
both forces receive a vital sanction from the indissoluble tie which
binds every individual to the family, even in exile. As has been
well said : “ The man who knows that it is almost impossible, except
by entire seclusion, to escape from the company of secret or ac-
knowledged emissaries of Government, will be cautious of offending
the laws of his country, knowing, as he must, that though he should
himself escape, yet his family, his kindred, or his neighbors will
suffer for his offence ; that if unable to recompense the sufferers it
will probably be dangerous for him to return home; or if he does,
it will be most likely to find his property in the possession of neigh-
bors or officials, who feel conscious of security in plundering one
whose offences have forever placed him under a ban.” — The Fort-
nightly Review, 1895, p. 578.

171

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

cannot, perhaps, be drawn with absolute precision,
but it may for the purposes of this work be assumed
that the official hierarchy begins with the chi hsien,
who rules a district {hsien) about as large as an
English county. He is usually called by foreigners
the “ district magistrate,” but this title, like that of
an Indian “ collector,” very inadequately represents
his multifarious functions, which are educational, fis-
cal, judicial, and all that belongs to an executive;
indeed, as the last link in the long official chain
which connects the Imperial throne with the peas-
ant’s hut, there is nothing that concerns the life of
the people which does not concern this very hard-
worked officer. As the family is the unit of the
Chinese nation, so may the district be considered
the unit of the administrative system of the Empire.

A group of districts forms a department, or fu,
which is governed by the chi fti, or prefect, whose
place of residence takes rank as a “fu” city, as
Hangchau Fu. The prefect is the court of appeal
from the magistrate.

A group of departments forms a circuit, at the
head of which is an official whose title is very famil-
iar to readers of newspapers — the taoiai, or intendant
of circuit. If the magistrate be the important offi-
cial for the Chinese people, the taotai is the impor-
tant one for foreigners, for he is the pivot on which
all business outside the territorial administration
turns. Meadows tells us* that the taotai is the low-

* Chinese and iheir Rebellions. iSjd.

172

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

est civilian who exercises a direct ex-officio authority
over the military. Though he would naturally re- ^
side in a departmental or “ fu ” city, the exigencies of
business often require him to select one of district
rank, as, for instance, Shanghai or Tientsin, which
are both mere district cities brought into promi-
nence by the course of foreign business. Indeed,
Tientsin is not only the official residence of the ter-
ritorial and other taotais, but has been also the seat
of the vice - regal court of the province of Chihli
ever since 1870, when the great massacre took
place there. Its peculiar position as the gate of the
capital also renders the presence in Tientsin of an
officer of the highest responsibility a necessity of
State.

The next grade in the administrative system is
the province, the chief executive officer of which is the
governor, or fu tai. The number of the provinces
has remained for such a length of time eighteen that
China Proper is usually known to the inhabitants
simply as “ The Eighteen Provinces.” Each prov-
ince is autonomous, with a difference. It is as inde-
pendent as an army corps, possessing the complete
machinery of government, civil and military, educa-
tional and fiscal, judicial and penal. The province
administers its own revenue, provides for its own de-
fence, holds its own competitive examinations, and
performs all State functions without any interference
from the Central Government. But it receives its
governors and officials from Peking, and it has to
remit tribute — or, as it may be called, its quota of the

173

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Imperial revenue — to the capital. This done, the
province is freed from all interference from above.
The whole duty of a governor may be summed up
in two articles : Keep the peace and pay the tribute.
The governor is absolute, the chain of responsibility
in the ranks below him being complete. The pro-
vincial officials next in rank below the governor are
the finance minister, the criminal judge, and the lit-
erary chancellor. The governor, however, is the only
one who in his sole name enjoys the privilege of me-
morializing the Throne, and, as he is thus in a posi-
tion to report on all his subordinates, thereby wields
absolute authority over them. We thus reach the
last link in the chain. The district magistrate con-
nects the official hierarchy with the people ; the gov-
ernor with the Throne. There remains, however,
another high provincial officer, who is not essential
to the system, since in certain cases he is dispensed
with, and that is the tsung tii or chih tai, or gov-
ernor-general, who usually superintends the affairs
of two provinces, each having its own governor, and
sometimes only one, as in the case of Chihli and
Szechuan, while some provinces, as Shantung, have
no governor-general. This high authority is rather
inaptly called “ viceroy ” by foreigners, a word which
finds no equivalent in the Chinese title. Those best
known are : The Viceroy of Chihli, the office held
for twenty-four years by Li Hung Chang; the Vice-
roy of Kiangnan (Kiangsu, Anhw'ei, and Kiangsi
provinces), whose capital is Nanking; the Viceroy of
the Hu Kwang, or Liang Hu (Hunan and Hupei),

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

whose residence is at Wuchang, on the Yangtsze;
the Viceroy of Min-Che (abbreviation for provinces
of Fukien and Che kiang), who resides in Fuchau;
the Viceroy of the Liang Kwang (the two Kwangs,
Kwangtung and Kwangsi), whose capital is Canton ;
of Yun-Kwei (Yunnan and Kweichau), who resides
at Yunnan fu ; of Shen-Kan (Shensi and Kansu),
who resides at Sian fu.

Great as are the powers of governors and govern-
ors-general, that of life and death is not one of them,
except in certain special cases — such as piracy or
crimes which may be construed into seditiousness —
where drum-head court-martial would apply in West-
ern countries. In ordinary cases no death-warrant
can be signed save by the Emperor himself. As is
notorious, the Chinese system in practice does not
protect the accused from the misery of protracted
imprisonment.

Two important characteristics of Chinese official-
dom need to be constantly borne in mind by for-
eigners who desire to have a just appreciation of
the merits and demerits of the man and of the
system. The first is that the aspirant enters the
ranks through the portal of competitive literary
examinations. These examinations form, perhaps,
the most remarkable feature in the whole fabric of
Chinese polity ; they are so ancient, and have taken
such a complete hold of the ambitions of the people.
No part of the administration is so minutely organ-
ized as this. The prize of a literary degree, and
then a higher, and yet a higher, is the blue ribbon

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

for which the whole nation seems to be contending — •
at once an lionorable distinction and a passport to
official appointment. The gaining of the prize is
an occasion of public festivity in the birthplace of
the successful candidate. The results of the system
are, as might be expected, both good and bad ; but
at any rate it secures that every Chinese official
shall be a scholar, and generally an expert in style
and penmanship. Not only on entering the service,
but in his subsequent career, the power of the pen
serves its owner as well as the power of the tongue
does in parliamentary countries. “Junius” would
have risen to high office in China. One of the
most prominent of the present viceroys is such
another master of invective.

The second characteristic follows naturally from
the first, and marks the shade in the picture.
Scholarship being the essential qualification for
office, no other is sought for, nor are the State
functions so differentiated as that a young official
can gain special training for any department of
duty for which he might have particular aptitude.
From the district magistrate upward, one man
has to discharge many duties, as revenue - officer,
literary examiner, coroner, sheriff, prison inspector,
judge. From his first induction into public service
the young official has to be jack-of-all-trades, and
even when in the higher grades some separation
of function takes place, it is a mere chance, or, at
least, it depends on no consideration of special
fitness for the duties, whether one is promoted to

176

GOVERNMENT AND A D xM I N I ST R AT I O N

be provincial judge, literary chancellor, or provincial
treasurer. No doubt this promiscuous experience
sharpens the general intelligence, and it is perhaps,
therefore, not so much a matter of surprise as it is
sometimes thought that Chinese officials thrown
into novel relations with foreigners should acquit
themselves so well. Of course the principal lesson
of their lives is caution, which educates their in-
stinct for evasion and delay. The reality, they
think, will always keep, and it is never too late
for compromise. Hence they become adepts at
plausible representations, which are so ingenious
as to puzzle, and sometimes nonplus, an inex-
perienced foreigner who attempts to follow them
through their mazes of argument. But they are
not at all disconcerted when confronted with their
own false premises. Honor is not stained by what
is euphemistically termed by the Chinese “big-talk,”
in other words untruth. From the point of view of
the efficiency of the Government service, however,
it is obvious that the jack-of-all-trades system must
be fatal whenever an emergency arises. During the
Japanese War its breakdown was conspicuous in the
case of Li Hung Chang. He alone had to conduct
the campaign as Minister of War and as Command-
er-in-Chief of both Army and Navy, while at the
same time he had to carry on his territorial duties
as*Governor-General of a large province, his special
duties as Superintendent of Trade, and numerous
other functions. And all this without any organized
staff! Yet the Emperor and his advisers have prob-

M 177

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ably to this day no real insight into the reasons of
their military collapse, so completely are they wrapped
up in their traditional practices, in military tactics
two thousand years old, and in the bow-and-arrow
exercises of the Manchu garrison in Peking.

Taking the scheme as a whole, and as applicable
to internal affairs, which were the sole concern of
the Empire until fifty years ago, the Chinese admin-
istration was very well thought out. The Govern-
ment neither attempted impossibilities itself nor ex-
pected miracles of its distant agents. It could not
follow out the intricacies of every local question
that might arise in so vast an Empire, so it cut
every such consideration short by simply making
the provincial authorities responsible for success,
which amounted to little more, as has been said,
than keeping the peace and paying the tribute.*
The “ barbarians ” on the coast were, of course, a
serious element of disturbance, and a man who had
a reputation for “soothing and bridling” them had
a good chance of receiving an appointment at a
treaty port. The essential thing always was to pre-
vent the intruders from ever being heard of in the
capital.

* “ Keeping the peace,” however, includes the absolute obligation
to discover and bring to justice an offender, an obligation which
extends in an unbroken chain through all official grades from the
lowest to the highest, who are successively responsible, like the
series of endorsers of a bill of exchange. No excuse for failure is
admissible, and it is on this principle that the governor of a province
is punished for a crime if he has not been vigilant enough to prevent
it or energetic enough to arrest the culprit.

178

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Many precautions were devised to prevent any
kind of malfeasance in the provinces, such precau-
tions, indeed, as must a priori have commended
themselves to any wise ruler. For one thing, the
term of office in one post was limited to three years.
Further, a mandarin could not hold office in the
province of his birth. By such means as these it
was sought to guard against local interests growing
up to compete with Imperial duty, and especially
against territorial attachments which might become
the bases of disloyalty to the Throne. Where dis-
tances were so great and communications so slow,
such checks cannot have been considered to be
superfluous, but the drawbacks to the system are
obvious, for it is the absence of local and territorial
attachments which encourages some of the worst
official abuses. Rapacity makes hay while the sun
shines all the more ruthlessly when there is no tie
of sentiment between the parties, and no forebod-
ings of reprobation in old age or retirement in the
locality where the family of the official is domiciled.
Neither in such a short term of office is an official
likely to interest himself in, still less to spend his
own money on, local improvements, roads, bridges,
etc., in a place which may know him no more during
his whole official career. Some of the worst features
of the Indian “Nabob” system are thereby perpet-
uated.

Checks of various other descriptions have been
devised for keeping the mandarinate in the path of
rectitude. The literary examinations and the grant-

179

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ing of degrees qualify an immense number of can-
didates for whom no immediate employment can be
found, and besides these the number of officials tem-
porarily out of office is always very large. These
together form an army of expectants who congre-
gate about every provincial capital on the chance
of something turning up. They are at the disposal
of the governor to fill chance vacancies pro tern., to
execute commissions, or to spy on the doings of
other officials and make reports. It is in the ranks
of these unemployed scribes that are found the chief
literary assailants of foreign missionaries, and the
fomenters of riots based on gross imputations which
they circulate by placard and pamphlet.

A more organized form of precautionary meas-
ures is the institution of what is generally known
as the Censorate, a body of men, fifty-six in num-
ber, who are appointed to “ censure ” in the various
provinces and the capital itself whatever they see
amiss in the conduct of any official, not even exempt-
ing the highest personages, and to watch over the
welfare of the people. The memorials which these
censors present are often wonderfully outspoken,
and sometimes are efficacious for good. Occasion-
ally, however, a too bold arraignment of the Impe-
rial family draws down a fierce reprimand on the
head of the author, and lucky for him if he escapes
with that.

From the forms in use and the evident care that
has been taken by the Imperial legislators to secure
pure and efficient government, one would be justi-

i8o

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

fied in concluding on theoretical grounds that the
Chinese administration was a supremely good one;
and those Western scholars who are engrossed in
the study of Chinese lore have usually been inclined
to that view. But between the theory and the
practice in politico-ethical affairs there is necessarily
a great difference, which is strongly accentuated in
China by the enormous extent of its public service
and the extraordinary length of time during which
abuses have been propagating themselves. Not
only are exceptions made to all salutary regulations
— for instance, Li Hung Chang held one ofhce for
over twenty years — but evasions have become so
systematized that, as in the giant forests of the Him-
alaya one is puzzled to distinguish between the par-
asite and the tree round which its luxuriant foliaoe

is entwined, so in the Chinese administration the
best principles are lost to view in a rank growth of
false practice. Evasions have become legitimized
by universal recognition. Peremptory orders are
issued in the “ tremble and obey ” style ; they are
received with the profoundest obeisance ; but they
are not obeyed ; and he who issued them forgets or
at least ignores them, and there is an end. The
war operations with Japan were carried on in this
same fashion. Sham is the all-pervading element
which reduces the finest precepts to nought, and as
“ they all do it,” it seems to be considered that no
one need feel aggrieved. Like a debased currency,
it is as fair to buyer as to seller so long as it is cur-
rent and no one is deceived.

i8i

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

To reach the heart of the national weakness, how-
ever, we must come to the apex of the pyramid, the
Central Government itself. In all grades of the
provincial service there is, in spite of the resources
of evasion, a certain sense of responsibility, an ap-
prehension of being called to account, the Argus
eye of a master personated by an army of spies, a
wholesome influence in keeping up efficiency and
even — to a certain extent — purity. But in Peking
these checks fail through sheer familiarity. There,
one has nothing higher to defer to, nothing unseen to
apprehend. A dissolute parent may, notwithstanding
his own lapses, exercise a restraining influence on
his family; but quis C2istodict custodcs? It is in the
action of the Central Government, therefore, that we
should expect to find the greatest inconsequence,
the greatest vacillation, where gravitation has lost
its direction, where the needle has no pole to turn
to. Onlv seclusion could hide the weakness and
rottenness of the Capital and of the Palace. The
most casual visitor is met by proofs that the Gov-
ernment of the City is far behind that of any provin-
cial town. As a town, indeed, it is laid out on a
magnificent scale, and it once had sewers of Titanic
proportions. But the streets are now cesspools,
worn into huge hollows, in which during the sum-
mer rains drowning is no uncommon thing for man
and beast. Such as the streets are, such is the Gov-
ernment. Its heart has also been worn away, and
become a receptacle for waste material.

The normal machinery of government consists of

182

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

six Boards: Revenue, Rites, Civil Office, Punish-
ments, Works, and War. There are over these, and
between them and the Emperor, two Councils, the
Chiin Chi, Grand Council of State, which is really a
Privy Council of the Emperor, in whose presence
its members meet for the despatch of business daily
between four and six o’clock a.m., but, like the Brit-
ish Cabinet, it is not part of the Constitution. Of
the highest rank is the Nei Ko, or Grand Secre-
tariat and Imperial Chancery. This is the Court of
Archives, and admission to its superior ranks con-
fers the highest distinction attainable by Chinese
officials. There are six Grand Secretaries (Chung
T’ang), three being Chinese and three Manchu.
Li Hung Chang enjoys that distinction among his
other titles of rank. More influential than either of
these, however, especially when the Monarch hap-
pens to be weak, are the Ministers of the Presence,
a portion really of the Imperial Household, and al-
ways of the most exalted rank. Nor, when per-
sonal influence over the Emperor is in question, is
it right to ignore the noble order of eunuchs which
fills the crevices of Oriental courts.

As has been well said by Mayers, the scheme of
the Central Government of China is not to assume
any initiative, but to control the action of the pro-
vincial administrators, to register their proceedings,
to remove them, and degrade or promote them as
occasion may require. No legislative change or
progress seems to be contemplated or provided for
by the Constitution. But as change was forced

183

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

upon China from without, when the “barbarians”
would no longer rest satisfied with intercourse with
subordinate provincial officials, some accommodation
had to be made by the Imperial authorities in order
to admit of diplomatic relations in the capital. The
first step in this direction was the establishment of
what is now familiar as the Tsungli Yamen by Im-
perial decree in January, i86i, which was originally
composed of three Ministers who were also mem-
bers of other Boards. Its numbers were increased
from time to time, and now stand at eight — three
Manchus and five Chinese. This new creation
never acquired any status or authority until the
pressure of external events compelled the Em-
peror’s Council to make use of it, and to recognize
it as an integral part of the Government. It was
only in 1890 that it first figured in the Red Book,
a complete record of State departments.

Pressed also by the needs of the time, another
Board was constituted in 1890, which was to take
the control of the navy out of the hands of Li Hung
Chang. But there was no one connected with it
who had any acquaintance with naval affairs, and
when the Japan War broke out in 1894, the mem-
bers of the Board of Admiralty, none of whom knew
a ship’s stem from its stern, were fain to relinquish
the control and let it revert to the one man who
was deemed competent to take it. There was a
talk of abolishing the institution after the war, on
the not unreasonable ground that there was no
navy to manage.

184

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Another office may be mentioned in connection
with the new regime of foreign relations; it is that
of the two Superintendents of Trade, one for the
northern and one for the southern coast. The
former has been held since 1870 by the Viceroy of
Chihli, whose official residence is at Tientsin ; the
latter by the Viceroy of the Liang Kiang, at Nan-
king. The first holder of the office in Tientsin was
not, however, the Viceroy, whose court was located
in the provincial capital, Paoting fu, a city some two
hundred miles inland, but a Manchu of high de-
gree, named Chunghow, known to fame in connec-
tion first with the Tientsin massacre of 1870, and
next with the Livadia treaty, which was repudiated
in Peking, and came near costing the Envoy his
head. The odium incurred by Chunghow in con-
nection with the massacre was scarcely deserved.
He was a genial and conciliatory official. As Su-
perintendent of Customs his official duties lay
much in the sphere of foreign affairs, and in all his
relations with foreigners he made himself popular.
But, although he was of high rank, and the only
official of high standing in Tientsin, his authority
was “ not territorial, but commercial.” The local
officials, local organizations and forces, such as they
were, owed no allegiance to Chunghow. They were
under the Viceroy Tseng Kwo Fan, who was at
Paoting, and, beyond his own personal attendants,
the Superintendent of Customs could not dispose of
a corporal’s guard. In the nature of things, his re-
lations with the Viceroy were delicate; with the

185

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Viceroy’s subordinates still more so, and constant
tact had to be exercised to avoid friction and col-
lision. The imputation against Chunghow was that
he, the highest official in the place, permitted the
massacre, or at least made no effort, so far as was
known, to prevent it. As the Chinese populace
knew that something was brewing, it was universally
believed by foreigners that Chunghow could not be
ignorant of it, and therefore they insisted on his
being held responsible, more Sinico. Whether it
would have been possible for him to have interfered
with the subordinates of so jjreat a magnate as
Tseng Kwo Fan, and averted the mischief they were
plotting, is very doubtful ; but, knowing what we
do of Chinese official circumspection, it would be
unreasonable to expect it. Nor, even allowing that
he could not but be aware that mischief was afoot,
could it be supposed that Chunghow himself imag-
ined the ghastly tragedy in which the inflamed pas-
sion of the mob actually culminated. It was not
Chunghow, but the Viceroy Tseng Kwo Fan, whom
the Imperial Government held responsible for the
massacre. It was he who was sent down to in-
vestigate and punish, after a fashion. Thereafter,
the office of Superintendent of Trade was conferred
on the Viceroy of the Province, who established his
residence, during the business portions of the year,
at Tientsin ; indeed, Li Hung Chang often allowed
sev^eral years to pass without visiting his provincial
capital at all.

The two Superintendents of Trade are the natural

i86

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

referees in matters connected with foreign commer-
cial relations, the arbiters of all proposals involving
innovations in the economic policy of the' Govern-
ment. They check and support each other, irre-
sistible when united, but naturally paralyzing when
opposed. Hence the aim of adventurers has been
to gain the suffrage of each of the two high author-
ities separately, and the most successful schemer
of recent years is ’the one who gained, by various
means, the confidence of both, and was thus able to
combine their forces in his own support.

An interesting circumstance applying to the
whole administrative system is that the officials are
intensely laborious, have hardly ever a holiday ex-
cept in case of serious illness or the time prescribed
for mourning the death of a parent — which is also
liable to be abrogated when the exigencies of the
service demand it — and there is no superannuation.
They work, like a cab-horse, till they drop. Amuse-
ments, also, are denied them. A Minister seen at a
theatre would be promptly denounced by a censor.
This severe regime is necessarily depressing to the
whole official body. Its strictness, of course, leads
to evasion, and the Peking Gazette is sometimes
filled with the tragi-comic memorials of provincial
mandarins, who enter into the minutest details of
their pathological condition in order to obtain a
brief holiday or to be excused from obeying the
Imperial summons to the capital. The success of
such appeals probably depends more on judicious
palmistry than on the actual merits of the case.

187

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Were it possible for us to set up the complete
skeleton of Chinese polit}^ of which we have pre-
sented a very meagre sketch, we should still have
gone but a short way towards a real apprehension
of either its methods or its motives. For that, the
dry bones must be clothed in flesh and blood, and
we should need to know somethin^ of the cerebral

functions of the organism, which experience alone
can teach, and even that slowly and imperfectly.
The closest observer will constantly be obliged to
correct one observation by another, and the longer
he lives the more he will feel the necessity of revis-
ing his generalizations. So much being premised,
a few salient features of Chinese political psychology
may be not unprofitably studied. The machine be-
ing fitted together, the dual question is: What sets
it in motion, and what is it set to accomplish.^ To
this, the general answer must of course be; The
same impulse that sets every political machine in
the world in motion, and for the same ends — indi-
vidual ambition tempered by public spirit. Out of
this combination the best and the worst results are
obtained, depending on the proportions in which the
two elements are blended. In the Government of
China we need not hesitate to affirm that the mixt-
ure is not a favorable one, the personal being un-
duly preponderant over the altruistic factor. That
Government, moreover, exhibits the widest discrep-
ancy of any known system between theory and prac-
tice, the purest ideal cloaking the grossest aims; a
terrible example, in fact, of corruptio optimi pessima.

i88

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

And the preternatural exaltation of the ideal places
it so far beyond the reach of the highest attainment
in real life that the standard of public duty, lost in
the clouds of inflated verbiage, is wholly disconnected
from practical affairs. It would, therefore, be cpiite
in vain to seek the key to the politics of the day in
Peking in any theory which could be deduced from
official utterances, constitutional formulas, or codes
of law. The remark applies, of course, to every
government in the world, but the difference is that,
whereas in other countries there is still some rela-
tion between the profession and the procedure — as,
for instance, when the minor is alleged as the major
reason — this relation has practically disappeared in
China, and the substitution of the false for the true
has become an organized system, already consecrated
by unwritten law.

We have spoken of the reign of sham in the gen-
eral administration ; but it has its roots in the cen-
tral Government. It may be laid down as a general
rule obtaining throughout the public life of the Em-
pire that things are never what they seem. Whether
there may or may not be a real patriotic spirit some-
where in China among officials or people, there has
been no outward evidence of it in the inner circles
of the capital. Instead of defending the Empire and
the Dynasty, the natural defenders seem ready to
sell both, and it is a problem how far even the Dy-
nasty is true to itself. Each individual among the
Ministers of State and the Princes of the Empire
seems intent on “ saving his own skin ” by making

189

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

friends of the strongest invader. For many years
past the politics of Peking have been swayed by a
bitter Palace feud, the young Emperor and his party
on one side, and the Empress-Dowager on the other.
Of a passionate nature and imperious will, inspired
by purely selfish considerations, the late Regent con-
tinues to dominate and even to terrorize the Em-
peror, who is of feeble physique and incapable of
wielding the authority which belongs to him. Into
this quarrel the courtier Li Hung Chang has been
thrust as go-between and factotum for the Empress.
His position nearly cost him his head on his return
from concluding the humiliating treaty with Japan
in 1895, foi' Emperor’s adherents endeavored to
compass his death, first by assassination, and ne.xt
by quasi-judicial process, on the ground of treachery.
These designs were frustrated by the countermin-
ing of the Empress, who struck sudden terror into
the opposite party, and then, to get her protege out
of harm’s way for a while, manoeuvred him into the
post of Special Envoy to Moscow in 1896. Quelled
for the time, however, the conspirators wait an op-
portunity to revenge their defeat. Li Hung Chang’s
fate hangs on the protection of her whom he has
served so long and so faithfully. She is aging and
exposed to accidents. Naturally, an old campaigner
like Li looks out for a second line of defence, and
that is Russia. Is it not obvious, then, that we have
here a shorter road to the key of recent important
transactions than by attempting to balance ordinary
reasons of State, military and political, in order to

190

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

discover how a government could voluntarily sur-
render its territory and itself to an invader without
an attempt at resistance ? Where matters have
come to such a pass as that, we may almost as well
discuss the machinery of the government of Baby-
lon as that of Peking, so far as the practical inter-
ests of the day are concerned. China is like a pear,
most rotten at the core.

The woman factor is a potent one in Chinese
government, but never in a worthy sense. Historic
courtesans become empresses make profitable sub-
jects for literary portraiture and description, but
they have usually marked the debacle of a dynasty;
and in meaner capacities women have played their
part in the intrigues of court and camp. How much
the present collapse of China may be due to the
personal qualities of the real but illegitimate ruler,
the Empress-Dowager, may not be known, but there
seems to be no doubt that every surrender made to
foreigners since she held the reins was dictated by
her and her personal convenience. Remembering
her experience when, as the secondary consort of the
Emperor Hienfung, she followed him in his flight
to Jehol,she resolved rather to yield everything than
risk such an experience again. A threat of the in-
vasion of Peking — if believed in — has always been
sufficient to bring her to terms. When the present
Emperor was prepared to abandon the capital during
the Japanese War and resist to the bitter end, it was
that imperious lady who insisted on peace at any
price ; and it is chiefly on her sensitive feelings

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

that Russian threats take effect, and deprive the
Sovereign of the will and the power to resist their
demands.

Official and political corruption occupies such a
prominent place in most treatises on matters Chi-
nese, that it is commonly regarded as something
peculiar to that nation. The peculiarity, however,
lies rather in the extent and the organization than
in the nature, or even the form, of the Chinese sys-
tem of peculation. In substance it is the same
which prevails in the Western hemisphere, where it
is called perquisites. That this destructive parasite
should have attained a higher development in China
• than elsewhere may very well be accounted for by
the circumstances under which that country itself
has developed. The extent of territory and relative
difficulty of control, multiplied by the number of
centuries during which customs, good and bad, have
been growing, would yield a product adequate to
account for both the magnitude and the methodiza-
tion of Chinese embezzlement.

Though universally condoned, the system is, of
course, illegal, and, just as certain forms of mal-
practice which are winked at in Western countries
come, occasionally, into awkward collision with the
judges, so officials who have enriched themselves in
China continue to be at the mercy of blackmailers.
The liability to denunciation and ruin which thus
hangs over them goes a long way towards account-
ing for the universal timidity of Chinese statesmen.
Yet the individual is as much to be pitied as blamed,

192

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

for against the system which has come down from
venerable antiquity it would be as hard to struggle
as against one’s personal heredity. Fair considera-
tion should be extended to the rank and file impli-
cated in a debasing system which it requires real
heroism to resist; for here, as in the midst of a
slave-owning society, or in the bondage of vice,
there are those who would welcome a way of escape
from the necessity of their lives, as well as those
who revel in the full current of it.

The root of the matter, no doubt, lies in the fact
that Chinese officials are virtually unpaid, their
merely nominal salaries being insufficient for their
necessary expenses. Hence the official naturally
obtains as much gratuitous service as possible, un-
der the tacit understanding that his dependants are
to take care of themselves, while, at the same time,
he must cast about for the wherewithal to maintain
his family and position. From this simple begin-
ning the whole complex system of what we call
peculation may be traced.* The younger officials
begin life, as a rule, in debt : they have frequently
had to pay for their appointments, borrowing for the
purpose at usurious interest, and they have to go on
paying their official superiors on pain of being re-
ported on. The highest personages in the Empire
receive large gratuities from officials gazetted to the
provinces, and become rich from that source. And

* Meadows assumes the highest mandarins to get by means of
“ squeeze ” about ten times, the lowest about fifty times, the amount
of their legal incomes.

193

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

when a term of lucrativ^e service is over, and the
governor or prefect is graciously summoned to Court
— an honor which he strives to escape, as a rule — it
is in order that the sponge which has been absorb-
ing in the provinces may be squeezed in the capital.
The cow has been turned into the green corn, de-
stroying more than she has eaten : she must come
home to be milked. One highly lucrative post —
that of Hoppo, or Collector of Native Customs at
Canton — is specially reserved for some worthy con-
nection of the Imperial family, who is expected to
amass so much in three years as to be able to deal
handsomely by his kinsfolk on his return to the
capital. At every seaport there is a collector of
Customs, whose emolument is assessed with consid-
erable accuracy by public opinion, ranging from
100,000 to 500,000 taels per annum at some of the
more important secondary ports. An official incurs
no odium and loses no good name unless his exac-
tions are excessive or lead to public scandal. In
the rare case of a veteran being made to publicly
disgorge, it is only the computed excess that is dealt
with. But, obviously, when such a matter is left to
the conscience of the interested party, with no fear
of an audit, unless he, from overweening confidence
in his influence, is niggardly towards the censors,
the door is thrown wide open to the most extrava-
gant abuses. As no official is expected to render a
true account, and there is no machinery for check-
ing him that would not itself need, in turn, to be
checked, the sovereign of an oriental country — for

194

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

China is no exception — would get no revenue at all
under a fiduciary system. To meet this case, the
revenue collection is simplified by fixed levies —
taxes are farmed, monopolies are granted, and thus
the most powerful stimulus is supplied to the con-
cessionnaires to raise as large a surplus as possible
for themselves. The provinces are assessed in a
similar manner for their quota of the Imperial reve-
nue.* The whole arrangement is, of course, clumsy
and wasteful in the highest degree. It is beyond
our purpose to follow its ramifications, and show in
detail how extremely injurious it is to the national
interests and how demoralizing to the civil service
itself. A single illustration will show how the sys-
tem operates on public affairs. Foreigners who
serve the Chinese and have to get money for public
purposes are sometimes surprised at the seeming
contradictions in the official temper. They will, for
example, plead in vain for small outlays for repairs
or up-keep of buildings, while the demand for a

* “. . . Each district has a fixed quota, which the magistrate must
produce by hook or by crook, but beyond the minimum all the rest
is practically his own, not to keep, exactly, because if he holds a
lucrath'e appointment he is expected to be extra liberal in his pres-
ents to the Governor, to the Literary Chancellor, to the Provincial
Judge, the Treasurer, and so on, not to mention still higher digni-
taries, if he wishes to get on. But there is no magistracy that does
not at least make up its limits of taxation and leave something
over, while the greater number leave a handsome surplus. To
hand this over to the Imperial Exchequer is about the last thing
that any one would think of doing. It is the fund out of which
mainly the fortunes of viceroys and commissioners have been built
up.” — Jamieson. Foreign Office Reports, 1897.

195

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

large sum to erect new ones is granted readily.
The reason is that no one is interested in the small
expenditure, while the large one affords an oppor-
tunity of intercepting a worthy percentage. The
lower official recommends the outlay, his superior
sanctions it — and they share the profit or commis-
sion. The practice is, of course, ruinous in military
matters, for it starv'es the service, while lavishing
large sums on heavy guns and ships. Thus the
Chinese had at Port Arthur and Talienwan, during
the Japanese War, the heaviest fortress guns, enor-
mously costly, the contracts for which made the
fortunes of certain officials, but the men trained to
use the guns were entirely neglected. The rule is
that the Chinese officials will promote that enter-
prise which will afford them the largest and

the possibilities of material progress in China de-
pend chiefly on the operation of that principle.
Estimates are sometimes made of the loss of public
revenue from wasteful modes of collection, a small
percentage only of what is taken from the people
being returned to the treasury. Yet it is doubtful
whether the pecuniary loss is more ruinous to the
country than the destruction in the governing class
of public spirit, which is the necessary consequence
of the wealth of the country being made the subject
of a scramble in which every official of the Empire,
up to Princes of the Blood, are perpetually engaged.
We know, by our own Western experience, how de-
moralizing is a scramble, no matter what the object
of it may be.

196

GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

The two deductions to be made from these prem-
ises are (i) the vital need of thorough reform in the
fiscal system of China, and (2) the almost insuper-
able difficulty of effecting it. From these considera-
tions the importance of the Foreign Inspectorate of
Customs will be understood. By this organization
one department, at any rate, of the Imperial revenue
has been reduced to order. On the one side smug-
gling has diminished, thus saving much friction and
loss of time to traders and officials at the treaty ports;
and, on the other, all the collections are accounted
for to the Government. The only part of the tradi-
tional Chinese system that has been perpetuated in
the service is the quasi-farming of the ex’penditure,
which affords the Inspector- General a convenient
margin for purposes of emergency, political or other-
wise. But even this slight concession to Chinese

methods keeps the door open to abuses, and, in less
scrupulous hands, might easily be worked so as to
reproduce some of the very evils which the Customs
administration is intended to abolish. The Foreiafn

Inspectorate, as it stands, and as it has been devel-
oped during forty-four years, is the great object-
lesson for Chinese reformers, the working model
for the gradual transformation of chaos into order
throughout the whole field of revenue and e.xpendi-
ture. As yet the system has only been applied to
the trade carried in foreign bottoms generally, and
in Chinese steamers. The whole coasting trade in
native craft propelled by sails remains within the
province of the native Customs, the chiefs of which

197

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

continue to amass fortunes at the treaty ports, along-
side the foreign inspectorates which pay salaries and
render precise accounts of their collections. The
Foreign Customs have supplied the means of secur-
ing the foreign indebtedness of China, and, its rev-
enues having now been completely hypothecated to
foreign creditors, the pressure of necessity has open-
ed the way to an extension of the inspectorate to
other departments of the Chinese revenue system,
and the hope of the future of the Empire rests large-
ly on the leavening of the lump by this foreign fer-
ment.

CHAPTER VIII

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

Although a Minister Plenipotentiary was ap-
pointed by Great Britain after the signature of the
Treaty of Nanking in 1842, the office was merged in
that of Governor of Hongkong, and the diplomatic
function remained practically dormant until after the
Convention of Peking in i860, following the Treaty
of Tientsin in 1858. In fact, the war of 1856-60
might be said to have been undertaken for the pur-
pose of establishing diplomatic relations with the
Central Government. Up to that time there had
been no intercourse except at the five ports open-
ed to trade by the Treaty of Nanking. At four
of these ports, where the influence of one or two
strong men in the newly established Consular Ser-
vice had been stamped on the new relations between
the Chinese and British authorities, and where a
natural development of commerce had taken place,
everything was peaceable and prosperous. But at
the principal port. Canton, where, most of all, firm-
ness and consistency were needed, these qualities
were unfortunately lacking, and the result was that
an intolerable state of things was allowed to grow up.
Taking full advantage of the weakness of the British

199

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

attitude, the Chinese authorities became more and
more insolent and aggressive, until at length, in 1856,
the cup of their iniquity overflowed, and reprisals
had to be undertaken. The right to enter the city,
which is the seat of a Governor and Governor-Gen-
eral, had been waived for a term of seven years, in
deference to what was represented as the uncontrol-
lable turbulence of the people. At the end of that
period the reasons for still further postponing the
privilege had, of course, grown stronger, and entry
into the city and intercourse with the authorities
were still denied to the representatives of Great
Britain. Serious troubles had ensued consequent
on this anomalous situation. There had been assas-
sinations of Englishmen for which no redress was
obtained, insults of every kind accumulated, and the
more submissive the foreigners showed themselves
the more were they treated as savages and slaves.
The whole mercantile community were kept in what
was virtually a prison, their peregrinations being con-
fined within the area of what was somewhat euphem-
istically called a “ garden.” It was only a question
of time as to when this unbearable tyranny must
lead to a catastrophe. The spark that ignited the
gunpowder was the seizure of the crew of a “lorcha”
or schooner belonging to Hongkong and flying the
British ensign.

The consul for Canton, Mr. (afterwards Sir
Harry) Parkes, happened to be a man possessed of
two great qualities — clear insight and iron resolu-
tion. He demanded prompt redress, and received

200

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

insolent replies. The Chinese authorities did not
comprehend the change that was involved in the
succession of a strong man, and were for “continu-
ing the treatment,” as the doctors say in chronic
cases. When the matter was put into the hands of
the British Admiral, he limited himself to a single
demand — i.c., the treaty right of entering the city and
of conferring with the authorities. This being re-
fused with scorn. Sir Michael Seymour made his
own way to the yamen of the Viceroy Yeh, but did
not find his Excellency at home. Thus began the
“war ’’-like operations which dragged on, with inter-
vals of false peace, until they culminated in the oc-
cupation of the Chinese capital. The primary ob-
ject throughout, or, to use the military phrase, the
objective, of the hostilities, which extended over a
space of four years (from October, 1856, till October,
i860), was nothing more nor less than to obtain by
direct intercourse with the Peking Court a remedy
for the grievances which British subjects and officials
had so long and so patiently — pusillanimously would
not be too strong a word — endured in the provincial
capital. Canton. Further extension of trade as an
ulterior object was, of course, never lost sight of by
the British statesmen of that time.

The future of British interests in China being
thus closely bound up in this sovereign remedy, the
inauguration of diplomatic relations acquired a char-
acter of crucial importance. It was by no means a
thing “ to be taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, or
wantonly.” It was an incursion into an unsurveyed

201

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

territory, where the greatest circumspection was
called for. The success of the new experiment de-
pended on the skill with which it was carried out,
and more especially on the first step, which would
give tone and direction to the whole course of fut-
ure international relations. The conditions under
which intercourse was to be conducted were of
course unknown — had, in fact, to be evolved by
actual experience. The Chinese Court was called
upon to break with all its traditions, and to discover
a platform on which it could treat foreign nations
on terms of equality. This was no light matter ; it
was a revolution in the most conservative body in
the known world. The importance of the demand
was felt equally by both negotiants. To the British
envoy access to the Imperial Court was the sine qua
11071 of his mission. To the Chinese it was the last
ditch, the point on which they could make no sur-
render. Both sides understood this ; and when the
Chinese gave way in order to get rid of the British
envoy and the naval squadron supporting him at
Tientsin, it was only to draw him into an ambush.
The Treaty of Tientsin was, from the Chinese point
of view, simply a device to gain time in order to bar
the way of access against the Minister whom they
had covenanted to receive. The temporary success
of this expedient was signalized in the British re-
pulse before the Taku forts in 1859. The resist-
ance to the advent of a British representative was
finally overcome, so far as mere force could over-
come it, by the Anglo-French campaign of i860.

202

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

which resulted in the capture of Peking, causing
the flight, followed soon after by the death, of the
Emperor Hienfung.

Although, therefore, nothing was known of the
machinery or the forms under which the new diplo-
matic intercourse was to proceed, there was no room
for doubt as to the spirit in which the foreign Min-
isters would be received. As they could not be ex-
cluded by material force, tliey would be neutralized
as far as possible by moral expedients. The series
of deceptions which the Chinese — not without justi-
fication, being the weaker party — had practised on
the intruders during successive negotiations, afforded
ample proof that the high officers of the Court dif-
fered in no way from the high officers in the prov-
inces, of whose manners and customs British officials
had had ample experience. The lesson which twenty
years had taught was that the Chinese were friendly
and reasonable under a firm hand, but insolent and
asfsfressive when met with deference and weakness.

It was no new lesson, but simply the teaching of all
human experience since history began.

It might have been expected that there would be
no repetition, on the new stage of Peking, of the
mistaken policy which had been followed for so
many years, with such unhappy results, at Canton:
that the Ministers who filled the new posts would
never forego the advantage which they had derived
from following in the suite of an irresistible military
force. The plain fact is, however, that they actually
did these very things, and in establishing themselves

203

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

in the Chinese capital they ignored not only the
results of all the experience gained at Canton and
the other open ports, and of their own personal ex-
perience in the negotiations at which they had as-
sisted, but also that knowledge of the laws of human
action which every man of the world possesses.
They assumed, and acted as if they believed, that a
miracle had suddenly reversed the Chinese char-
acter, turning negative to positive, and positive to
negative; and to this initial error may be traced
thirty-eight years of a policy of hallucination, which
has been one of the efficient factors in brinsrintr the

O O

Chinese Empire to disruption and British interests
there to imminent peril. It is not always easy to
isolate the acts of British diplomacy from that of
the other Powers; but it is fair to hold British pol-
icy responsible, because Great Britain possessed and
maintained the lead until a few years ago. Beyond
all doubt, the false move made, the false direction
taken at the beginning, was chiefly due to the Brit-
ish line of action at Peking. Whether it was a
kind of remorse for the act of vandalism committed
in the destruction of the Chinese art treasures in
the Summer Palace, or a peculiar and misdirected
sentiment on the part of individuals, the attitude of
the British Minister in Peking; was more that of the
representative of a defeated Power than of a victo-
rious one. For a long time Peking was treated by
him as a sacred place wliich would be profaned by
the intrusion of travellers or visitors, and severe
regulations were promulgated for the restraint, un-

204

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

der penalty, of inquisitive British subjects. The
motive, of course, was unimpeachable, but the idea
of obliterating the memory * of the burning and
pillage of the Summer Palace, the whole justifica-
tion and utility of which depended on the memory
of it being kept fresh, by punishing an inoffensive
tourist for looking at the ruins, was not very practi-
cal. Nor were the obsequious efforts to conciliate
the Chinese, of which this was but a type, calculated
to haye any other effect than to inflate them with
an already too confident conceit, and to render all
rational business with them impracticable. This is
the result which was naturally to be expected, and
it is precisely what hapj^ened, the circle of evil con-
sequences having gone on widening during all the
SLibsecjuent years. The metropolitan ministers have
never, indeed, resorted to the offensive language to
which the provincials had become addicted, for the
Manchu is by nature a gentleman, but the evasive-
ness of the P"oreign Board has, if possible, exceeded
that of the provincial yamens, while their superior

* “The opinion that during the last Anglo-French war with China
the Europeans, and not the Chinese, were the vanquished, is uni-
versal throughout the whole of Inner Asia, wherever we travelled.
Certainly to the Asiatic mind an enemy who appears beneath the
walls of a hostile city and does not destroy it, is no victor, but rather
the conquered party. The Chinese Government took advantage of
this circumstance to spread the report among their faithful subjects
of their victory over the Europeans. Yet they can scarcely have
suppressed the knowledge of the destruction of the Emperor’s
Summer Palace, and that just act of the English chiefs which raised
so unreasonable a clamor finds in the circumstances here stated a
new justification.” — Prjeval.ski.

205

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

manner of imitating a non possumus has been no
less exasperating. The urbanity of the Peking
Yamen, indeed, has been carried to almost comical
excess at times, as when sitting placidly and listen-
ing to the objurgations of a foreign Minister driven
to despair by their impassiveness, they would help
him out with the opprobrious expressions which
came with difficulty to his tongue. It is not de-
sirable to concentrate on any one name the blame
which should be shared by many; but as the first
accredited Minister to China after the war of 1856-
60 was one whose prestige was quite exceptional, he
had a free hand to shape his course in Peking with-
out the guidance of the Home Government. It is
Sir Frederick Bruce, therefore, who is mainly re-
sponsible for the truckling policy, and he was him-
self the first to feel and deplore its disastrous results.
No doubt a Minister placed as he was, and as any
Minister to China is to-day, is laigely dependent on
his secretaries and sinologues, just as the Home
Government is dependent on him ; but if he is to
elude responsibility by sheltering himself behind a
subordinate, it were better to make the secretary
Minister, so that the public might have the satis-
faction of knowing who is responsible for its affairs.

The lesson of our twenty years’ experience was as
clear as the day. It was simply that the Chinese
Government should be compelled to fulfil its engage-
ments, not only in the interest of foreigners, but in
its own. This policy had never failed of success in
the hands of British consuls of the stamp of Alcock,

206

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

Parkes, Medhurst, Alabaster, and one or two others.
The yielding policy had always failed, both in the
object aimed at and in retaining the friendship of
the Chinese officials to whom we yielded. No more
favorable conditions could be conceived for impress-
ins: and influencincj the Government of China than
those which existed at the close of the campaign of
i860. They had been routed, the Emperor had fled
to Jehol, those who were left to carry on the govern-
ment were trembling for their heads. They were in
the condition of a horse that has been strapped up
and thrown by a horse-breaker. Anything could
have been done with them. This is testified to by
Mr. H. N. Lay, who was present, and in a better posi-
tion to know than any one else who has yet chosen
to utter his opinion. This is what he says;

“ When I left China the Emperor’s Government, under the press-
ure of necessity, and with the beneficial terror established by the
allied foray to Peking in i860 fresh in their recollection, was in the
best of moods, willing to be guided, thankful for counsel, grateful
for help, and in return for that help prepared to do what was right
by the foreigner.”

And within two years this was the state of things:

“ What did I find on my return ? The face of things was entirely
changed. There was the old insolent demeanor, the nonsensical
language of exclusion, the open mockery of all treaties. ... In
short, all the ground gained by the treaty of 1858 had been frittered
away, and we were thrust back into the position we occupied before
the war — one of helpless remonstrance and impotent menace, . . .
the labor of years lost through egregious mismanagement. The
Foreign Board looked upon our European representatives as so
many rots faim'ants. . . . Prince Rung was no longer accessible,
... he professed to be engaged with more important matters.”

207

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

We have dwelt on the opening of foreign diplo-
matic intercourse at some length because it consti-
tutes the substratum of subsec|uent history, including
all crises in Chinese affairs ; and what follows in this
chapter will require constant mental reference to the
forecjoins: remarks, in order to make it intellicrible.

o o o

The omission to implement the Treaty of Tientsin
of 1858 by at once placing a representative in Peking,
an omission which caused the naval disaster at Taku
in 1859 and necessitated the campaign of i860, was
not repeated in that year. The Minister himself did
not remain during the winter, there being no suitable
quarters for his accommodation, but a junior official
in the Consular Service, Mr. Atkins, was left in charge.
The Legations were formally opened in the spring of
1861, Sir Frederick Bruce, younger brother of the
Lord Elo;in who had negotiated both the treaties,
representing Great Britain. In the Chinese govern-
ment departments no provision existed for the totally
unforeseen contingency of receiving foreign repre-
sentatives otherwise than as tribute-bearers ; but the
necessity for doing so having been at last recognized
by the Imperial Government, the board or office
known as the Tsungli Yamen was established in
January, 1861, and was ready to transact business
on the arrival of the foreign Ministers. It did not
take, and never has taken, rank with the Six Boards,
and bore at first a tentative character. It has been
aptly called a species of Cabinet, composed of mem-
bers of certain State departments. The head of the
institution then, as until the day of his decease, was

208

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

Prince Kung, the sixth son of the Emperor Tauk-
wang — who was brother of the Emperor Hienfung,
then in retirement at Jehol, where he died in October,
1 86 1 — and uncle of the present reigning monarch.
The Prince was from the first a reasonable and sober
man of affairs, courteous in manner, whose character
inspired hopes of the regeneration of the Chinese
State. But probably the member of the Tsungli
Yamen who approached nearer to the ideal of a
patriot, was serious and intelligent, and had almost
more than an ordinary statesman’s grasp of affairs
and their possibilities, was Wensiang, between whom
and the foreign Legations a greater intimacy sprang
up than has ever been possible with any Chinese or
Manchu statesman since his death, which occurred
in 1875.

The intercourse between this enlightened and
patriotic man and the foreign representatives, more
especially the British, who in this connection may be
held to include the head of the Imperial Maritime
or Foreign Customs, was fruitful in an exchange of
views of a highly interesting character, both oral and
written, which, if collected, might form the basis of
a new political philosophy. Whoever studies the
works of Buckle, Spencer, or other writers who
endeavor to generalize from world-wide data, is con-
stantly reminded of a great gap in their chain of
reasoning, because a fourth of the human race is
virtually excluded. Dr. Pearson is an exception to
this, but he also fails to master his Chinese data.
For the first time a genuine representative of the

209

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ethnic consciousness of China, with four thousand
years of continuous accumulated history and tradition
behind him and a practical problem of extreme exi-
gency in front of him, was brought into sympathetic
communion with wise men from the West, bringing
in their persons the mellow fruit of their two thousand
years of strife and progress ; and the result of the
contact, if given to the world, could not fail to be
highly instructive. But this was unfortunately a
mere episode, which led to nothing but disappoint-
ment, felt the more deeply on account of the high
hopes which had been not unreasonably raised.
There was no successor to Wensiang. The Tsungli
Yamen fell into the condition of an ordinary gov-
ernment department, with special vices of its own,
an institution for the prevention of business. The
number of its members, originally three, increased,
and varied from seven to nine, but its fatal incapacity
lay in the fact that it was a body without a head ;
for, though there was always a nominal president,
he absented himself when he chose from the daily
attendance. The principle of responsibility being
carried to such lengths in China as cannot be under-
stood by the mere use of the same word in the West,
the vice which detracts so much from efficiency
among Western officials, the habit of evading respon-
sibility, is so fully developed there that it seemed
as if the new Foreign Board in Peking had no other
reason for its existence. The Yamen, until forced
into greater activity by the pressure of events result-
ing from the Japanese War, served merely as the cold

210

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

water which extinguished the hot irons thrust into

it by the ardor of the foreign agents. To transact
business with the Board was declared by Sir Harry
Parkes to be a physical tour de force. Sir R. Alcock
more minutely described it in the Fortnightly Revieu),
May, 1876 :

“ It is beating the air to talk to them of treaty rights and ob-
ligations, the claims of justice, or the benefits that would accrue
to them, as to us, by a more progressive and liberal policy. The
tyro in such work is at first charmed with the courtesy and pa-
tience shown in listening to what he hopes may prove convincing
arguments. They are even met, in reply, with a certain show of
appreciative intelligence and willingness to be convinced or better
informed. When, however, many such interviews and interminable
correspondence in further elucidation have e.xhausted the subject,
and the time has arrived for action or definite result, the disillusion
quickly follows. Perhaps at a final meeting for the purpose of set-
tlement, when there is nothing more apparently to be said on
either side, his proposal to settle the terms of agreement is met by
a request in the blandest accents, and with a perfectly unmoved
countenance, to explain what it is that is wanted, as he is ready
to hear! — all that passed in weeks of discussion is as though it
had never been. It is simply ignored, and the whole argument, in
which days or weeks have been consumed, has to be begun de ncrvo,
or abandoned as hopeless. What diplomacy can avail against such
adversaries ?”

And the modus opcrandi was still more minutely
depicted by a correspondent of the Times in 1884,
cited in the Life of Sir Harry Parkes, by Stanley
Lane Poole :

“ They commence by the delicate plaisantcrie o{ offering refresh-
ments which they know their visitor will not touch, and the attend-
ants know the art of killing time by bringing in the repast, dish by
dish, with infinite fuss and ceremony. The visitor sits meanwhile,
more or less patiently, on a hard seat in a cheerless room, grimy

2 1 1

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

with venerable dirt, the north wind moaning through the crevdces.
Fortunately the etiquette of the country permits the hat to be kept
on, and necessity compels the visitor to wear a thick ulster with the
fur-lined collar turned up to cov'er the ears, if it be winter. At last,
when the melon-seeds and sugar-plums have been distributed in sau-
cers all over the only table on which the foreigner would have liked
to spread his papers, business is supposed to commence, half an
hour having been happily consumed in arranging sweetmeats. ‘ And
now,’ observes the visitor, ‘ what is your answer about the robbery
of merchandise belonging to Mr. Smith at Nam-kwei, and the beat-
ing of his serv'ants for refusing to pay the illegal e.xtortions of the
officials.^’ One of their rules is that no one shall speak first. So
they take sidelong glances at each other and keep silence until
one, bolder than the rest, opens his mouth, as much to the surprise
as relief of his comrades, who watch the reckless man in the hope
that he will drop something which may serve hereafter to put a
sting into some surreptitious charge against him. What he does
say is, ‘ Take some of these walnuts: they come from the prefecture
of Long- way, which was celebrated for the excellence of its fruit!’
Then follows a discussion on the merits of walnuts, which is, how-
ever, not nearly such excellent fooling as Lord Granville’s dis-
course on tea-roses to the gentleman who sought an intervdew on
some important question connected with China, but it fulfils the
same purpose. When they do speak, they all speak at once, and,
like Mr. Puff’s friends, their unanimity is something wonderful,
and their courage rises to heroism. What they do say can of
course be neither understood nor answered ; so much the better,
since time has been killed, with the arrow of controversy still in
the quiver. The Foreign Minister’s lips begin to grow pale, and
other signs of exhaustion warn the courageous ones that it is time
to shout louder if haply they may stun their auditor with their
noise.”

Obviously, then, the so-called Foreign Office of
China was a negative quantity, having neither the
faculty of initiation nor appreciation. Its attitude
towards foreign ideas was that of a deaf person in
regard to sounds or of a blind man in regard to
colors. The phenomenon is not so very uncommon

2 12

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

even among men of Western race and education,
when strange subjects are for the first time ex-
pounded. A delusive grammatical comprehension
of the phraseology is constantly mistaken for a real
intelligence of the matter, which, however often ex-
plained, still leaves the auditor, who lacks the nec-
essary faculty, puzzled to know what it is all about.
The impossibility of imparting to even highly
trained and eagerly receptive minds in the West a
conception of the life of the Chinese and of their
cogitations on matters of national policy or sociol-
ogy, might have suggested to foreign Ministers pos-
sible mitigating circumstances in judging of Chi-
nese obstructiveness. It was not a simple quantity,
but a mixture of mulishness, blankness, and dread of
personal responsibility. The fact, however, remains
that a stone wall would have been about as effective
an instrument of policy as this coterie of Chinese
statesmen; and an early recognition of the true
state of the case might have saved much gratuitous
heart-burning in the first, and more fatalistic cal-
lousness in the later incumbents of diplomatic posts.
Moreover, a more general recognition of the facts
would have saved foreign Governments, the British
in particular, from profound misguidance in their
Far Eastern policy. These have all, except one,
lived on delusions which events of the most drastic
character have failed altogether to dispel. In the
incompetence and impracticability of the officially
appointed medium is to be found the reason, though
not the excuse, for trusting to unorthodox substi-

213

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tute channels of communication which have led to
no satisfactory results, and in the nature of things
could never do so.

Diplomatic intercourse in China opened under a
cloud, which exercised a most adverse influence
over its early, and by consequence over its whole,
development. That was the absence of the Emperor,
who had fled before the invadinsf host in i860 and
had not been induced to return to his capital when
he died in the autumn of 1861. The Government
was in commission, and consequently weak. In one
way this fact rendered it pliable, while in another it
disposed the foreign representatives to a forbear-
ance which proved fatal to good working relations.
There was no sovereign to whom Ministers could
deliver their credentials ; hence the question of au-
dience was postponed. Matters were not improved
when the Throne became occupied by a child, and
the Regents were two women. Neither did the
“audience question” improve by keeping; in fact,
international relations were stamped with a pro-
visional character during the whole time of the
minority. The first audience granted by the Em-
peror Tungchih was in 1873; it was purely formal,
everything being done on the Chinese side to mini-
mize its importance, and its practical effect on busi-
ness was absolutely nil. All the hopes of improved
relations which have been based on it proved il-
lusory; there was only the Tsungli Yamen, with
the imbecility of age grafted on to the ignorance of
youth, as at this day.

214

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

There was another cloud which cast a depressing
shadow on Chinese affairs, the Taiping rebellion,
which from trivial beginnings in 1849 or 1850 had
spread havoc over the richest and most populous
provinces of the Empire. How near the Dynasty
came to be shaken by this movement is only a
matter of speculation, but the paralysis of order in
the provinces, added to the humiliation of the
Emperor by foreigners, formed a combination which
was anything but speculative. It was not only the
Chinese Government that was paralyzed by these
calamitous circumstances; the foreign representa-
tives in Peking and their Governments at home
found themselves in what may be well called an
impossible situation. While they ought to have
been pressing and moulding the Central Govern-
ment into the forms which were calculated to insure
good relations in the future, they were as much
concerned as the Chinese themselves in checkinsf

the ravages of the rebellion, and both directly and
indirectly the Erench and British Governments
assisted in the final suppression of the movement.
The patient had first to be cured of his disease
before being corrected in his manners, but the con-
valescence was so protracted that the opportunity
for correction never came.

An incident in connection with the rebellion, and
one which brought into sudden prominence certain
features in the new international relationship, deserves
a passing notice. That was the commissioning of a
steam flotilla manned by British seamen and officered

215

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

and commanded by British naval officers, known as
the Lay-Osborne fleet. The ships were ordered by
Prince Rung through Sir Robert, then Mr., Hart,
the lociim tenens of Mr. Lay, the first Inspector-
General of Customs, who was in England on leave
from 1 86 1 to 1863. The immediate purpose of the
fleet was the suppression of the Taiping rebellion by
the capture of Nanking and other cities on the banks
of the Great River. The ships arrived in command
of Captain Sherard Osborne, R.N., but the contracts
which Mr. Lay had made with Captain Osborne and
tlie officers under the direct sanction and supervi-
sion of the British Government of the day were not
ratified by the Chinese, and the force was disbanded
and the ships sold, while Mr. Lay decided to resign
the Chinese service. It is not necessary to enter
into the merits of this abortive transaction, but it is
interesting to note what was the cause of the dif-
ference between Prince Rung and Mr. Lay which
led to the break-up of the scheme. It was precisely
the same kind of misunderstanding which twenty-
seven years later, with all our added experience, led
to the resignation of Captain Lang from the Chinese
service. Mr. Lay had acted on the belief that, as his
authority came from Peking, he was organizing an
Imperial fleet for China; he refused, therefore, to have
it placed under the orders of provincial mandarins,
and he testified to the sincerity of his convictions by
throwing up a promising career rather than sanction
the employment of such a military weapon at the
pleasure of local officials. Had Mr. Lay not been

216

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

affected as others also were by tlie glamour of a cen-
tral government, he would perhaps have suspected
from the first that Prince Kung could not really
intend what he said in the sense in which he (Mr.
Lay) received the communication. It was a case of
words being understood in different senses, not,
perhaps, without a secret intention of misleading.
But Mr. Lay’s misjudgment was venial compared
with that of the British officials responsible for the
engagement of Captain Lang, whose services were
lent, some twenty years later, by the British to the
Chinese Government for the special purpose of or-
ganizing the Chinese Fleet. He was not only placed
under the orders of Li Hung Chang, but by him
made subordinate to the Chinese Admiral, with
whom Captain Lang was induced to believe he was
associated on equal terms. The whole Lay-Osborne
incident was promptly disposed of in the summer of
1863, and ceased to disturb the even flow of diplo-
macy; and Captain Lang, having found his position
untenable, sent in his resignation. That these two
separate incidents, involving such important issues
conneeted with naval supremacy in the Far East,
should have ended so disastrously, illustrates the
strange fatality which has attended our dealings
with China.

It is important to observe that the sapping of
foreign influence in Peking, through the deferential
tactics of the diplomatists there, ran for a number of
years parallel with the remarkably clear and strong
policy of the British Government at home. From

217

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the time when its assertion was rendered necessary
by the insults at Canton, in 1856, until several years
after the suppression of the rebellion by Gordon, our
Government followed a course both in China and
Japan which was at once bold and prudent, eminent-
ly conducive to the best interests of Great Britain
and the civilized world, and to the peace and welfare
of the Chinese Empire. The rebellion in China was
really put down by Lord Palmerston, for it was in
full faith of his loyal support that the British officers
on the spot were emboldened to take the decided
course which led to such great results as the practi-
cal opening of the river Yangtsze to the commerce
of the world, the suppression of piracy and all
other forms of disorder, and the covering with
myriads of white sails of that vast expanse of
water which, in 1861, was as desolate as the Arctic
Ocean. This resolute and compact policy was most
exhilarating to all foreigners engaged in commercial
pursuits or mission work in China — not to those of
British nationality alone, nor even to foreigners ex-
clusively, but to all Chinese — and there are vast num-
bers of them — who came within the influence of the
British system. It was a wholesome, manly, and in-
spiring influence, and to the men of that generation
it seemed as permanently established as if it were
part of the order of nature. They even ceased to
be thankful for it, taking it all as a matter of course,
like light and air and water. The policy, indeed,
was attacked on party grounds, and on grounds
which, narrow as they were, went beyond mere

218

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

party controversy, by Bright and Cobden, who ad-
vocated our retirement from the Chinese ports to
some peaceful island whence we could conduct our
trade, represented by them as of a very petty nature.
But the straightforward and business-like expositions
of Lord Palmerston, his perfect mastery of the whole
question, and his lusty large-heartedness easily swept
away opposition, and the country settled down com-
fortably in the feeling that, however little it under-
stood of these far-distant affairs, their management
was in competent hands. This happy state of things
came to an end, and it is sad to have to look back
upon so recent a period as a golden age little under-
stood by the generation then living. It is now easy
to see how the mere progress of the world must in
any case have brought about changes in the balance
of power in the Far East, but it is also not difficult
to assign a date when British supremacy there re-
ceived its death-blow: it was on the 23d of October,
1865, when Lord Palmerston expired. It is true he
left behind him that most experienced Foreign Sec-
retary, Lord Clarendon, who was able to indite de-
spatches which cannot even to this day be surpassed
for literary finish and absolute correctness of doc-
trine. But the soul had departed from the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, as was seen within three short
years — a.s soon, in fact, as Lord Clarendon was con-
fronted with a test ; and, with the exception of a very
short interval, it has remained absent.

This brings us to another singular phenomenon
which appeared in Peking towards the end of 1867.

219

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The representative of the United States, Mr. Anson
Burlingame, accepted an appointment from the Chi-
nese Government as special Envoy to Western
countries, having resigned by telegraph his post as
American Minister. He was accompanied by two
Chinese officials, who were no doubt really the en-
voys, Mr. Burlingame being the attendant. His mis-
sion was to persuade the governments of the West
that China was not in a condition to be pressed, that
if left entirely to her own devices she would do every-
thing that was proper. In particular, he inveighed,
with the turgid eloquence of which he was a master,
aqainst anv coercion beinsf resorted to for the re-
dress of injuries in the provinces — “the throat poli-
cy,” as he termed this process. He also made exten-
sive promises on behalf of China, with one eye
directed towards the mercantile and the other tow-
ards the missionary sentiment of the English-speak-
ing nations. “ The Shining Cross,” in his glowing
phraseology, was to be planted on every hill and
throughout China. It so happened, however, that
while Mr. Burlingame was on tour outrages on mis-
sionaries and on merchants in widely separated por-
tions of China had been adequately and effectively
redressed after a very slight display of force, follow-
ing, but by a long interval, the vigorous action which
had proved so salutary in Shanghai two decades
earlier. Lord Clarendon, apparently without con-
sulting his own paid and responsible agents in
China, seemed to accept Mr. Burlingame’s inspira-
tion without a grain of salt, and addressed severe

220

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

reprimands to certain consuls, who, in the opinion of
all foreign residents in China, had rendered valuable
services to humanity while defending the immunities
of British subjects. It was the first public pro-
nouncement of the death of the Palmerstonian tradi-
tion, and of the relapse of Great Britain into an
effeminate, invertebrate, inconsequent policy, swayed
by every wind from without or within, and opposed
to the judgment of her own experienced represen-
tatives— the policy which has beyond doubt led to
the decline of British prestige in Asia. The gene-
sis of the Burlingame mission is somewhat obscure,
its precise object scarcely less so ; but its putative
parents and actual sponsors are believed to have
deprecated its consequences as having gone far
beyond what was hoped or intended when it was
despatched.

The new departure of the British Government in
1869 received with consternation by the foreign
communities in China. Instructions were sent out
forbidding her Majesty’s ships to land their men
under any circumstances, except to take the British
residents on shipboard when they were threatened
with danger. The dismay of the residents was tem-
pered with mirth provoked by the impracticable
nature of the new order, which was scarcely less ab-
surd than would be one to embark the population of
Brighton on board a couple of channel steamers.
The alarming feature in the case — for there was no
officer in the British Navy who would have carried
out the instructions — was the ignorance displayed

22 1

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

by the British Government of the actual conditions
of life in China, ignorance which would have been
impossible in the lifetime of Lord Palmerston, who
was never at fault in his appreciation of the com-
mon facts of the Chinese cpiestion. That the same
inaccpiaintance with facts has prevailed till now
there is reason to believe, notwithstanding a succes-
sion of highly paid representatives in China, with an
extensive and capable staff of consuls, all possessing
a knowledge of the language. Once our Govern-
ment entered on the course of taking its information
from every source but the legitimate one, it necessa-
rily landed itself in a perpetual fog, in which it be-
came more and more dependent on such information
as might be volunteered from extraneous and not
always disinterested sources.

From what has been said it may be inferred that
diplomatic intercourse in Peking has always been
of a hidebound character. There was never any
give-and-take in it, because such a thing as equality
of standing could not enter into the conception of
the Chinese Ministers, and they could not in their
hearts either extend fair treatment to foreigners or
expect such at their hands. Hence the attitude of
the Chinese has been mere resistance tempered by
fear. For some years indeed, with a few exceptions,
until the Audience deliberations of 1891, the diplo-
matic body acted together ; and had they always
done so their will would have been irresistible. But
their unity could never carry them very far: in the
nature of things their interests began to differ, and

2 2 2

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

their policy still more. Then the Chinese saw their
opportunity of pitting one Power against the other,
and of profiting, in their shortsighted manner, by the
mutual jealousies, not always of the Powers them-
selves, but of their local representatives. These
divisions in the aims and policy of the foreign Pow-
ers, which began to show themselves as cracks and
fissures not very perceptible from a distance, have
now widened into yawning chasms. For many
years, too, the Chinese Ministers were naturally ac-
customed to rely, especially in their controversies
with Great Britain, on the advice and mediation of
their own paid servant, the Inspector - General of
Customs, who has often succeeded in blunting, if
not breaking, the weapon levelled against his prin-
cipals. The touchstone of all discussions has been
force ; and the Chinese have remained true to the
character which the late Lord Elgin gave them, of
“yielding nothing to reason but everything to fear.”
The same testimony has been borne by his succes-
sors in the representation of Great Britain in Peking.
Accordingly, whenever a question reached the point
of urgency, they would simply ask their referee,
“ Does it mean war?” If the answer was Yes, they
would instantly yield, and if No, they refused to give
way. Had foreign Powers understood the true state
of the case — and it was often enough e.xplained to
them by their agents — their diplomacy might have
been greatly simplified. Anything could have been
obtained at any time during the past thirty-seven
years, just as we see anything can be obtained to-

223

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

da}', by threats in which the Chinese Gov'ernment
believes ; for there had been a settled determination
during the whole of that period that under no cir-
cumstances would the Court risk an invasion. Japan
might have had all she wanted in Korea without
firing a shot had she been so disposed, but, wishing
to gratify the military party, the opportunitv of re-
fusint^ an ultimatum was not even granted to China.
The nearest approach to a threat of war was when,
failing to obtain redress for the murder of Margary
on the Burmo-Chinese frontier. Sir Thomas Wade
left Peking. He was promptly followed to Chifu
by Li Hung Chang, and a settlement was come to.
It was a settlement injurious to the interests of
Great Britain, the state of affairs in Europe in 1876
operating greatly in favor of the Chinese negotiator,
for, though the British Minister was supported by a
naval demonstration, his antagonist had private in-
formation that no coercive action would be taken.
It was purely a cpiestion of force, nevertheless, and
but for the natural reluctance of Li Hung Chang to
return empty-handed to Peking, and the desire on
both sides to put an end to a troublesome contro-
versy, no treaty at all might have been concluded at
Chifu.

The unreasoning resistance of the Chinese was
never, of course, so absolute but that some impres-
sion could be made upon it by foreign Ministers
who combined ability with perseverance. There
have been one or two such personalities among the
various legations, and some who inspired the Chinese

224

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

Government with confidence. General Vlangali,
who represented Russia in the seventies, was more
than once appealed to in after-years, when he was
in office in St, Petersburg, by Li Hung Chang, as
man to man, and he never uttered an uncertain
sound. Herr von Brandt, who represented Ger-
many for an unusully lengthy period, gained great
influence with the members of the Tsungli Yamen,
and was one of the few who was able to cultivate
personal relations with some of those highest in
rank, who visited him privately at his residence. It
has always been one of the obstacles in the way of
a good understanding that private intercourse was
barred by custom and etiquette, and that all conver-
sations and negotiations had to be carried on with
a group, each member more concerned to make the
approved pose before his own jealous colleagues
than to clear up the business in hand. Even in re-
turning official calls, the Chinese Ministers were ac-
customed to hunt in couples, like sisters of charity
collecting subscriptions; hence it was an important
step to get in touch with a single individual, a thing
not unknown in the provinces, but virtually pro-
scribed in the metropolis. Some of the most impor-
tant of the recent concessions, the foundation of all
that have followed, were extorted from Prince Kung,
who was induced, against his own wish, to accept
the hospitality of the Russian legation, where he
passed an evening between Count Cassini and M.
Gerard — with tragic consequences for China,

It was only by, so to say, capturing a single re-

225

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

sponsible Minister and withdrawing him entirely
from his colleagues that anything like secrecy could
be secured for any negotiation. Business transacted
at the Tsungli Yamen might almost as well be
conducted in the market-place, and the foreign
Ministers who take the trouble are able to inform
themselves accurately and promptly of all that passes
between Chinese and foreign diplomatists. They
are not all equally well served in this matter, mainly
because they are not equally liberal in the use
of means. Russia takes first rank with her Intelli-
gence Department, and employs the most infallible
methods. The “ travelling rouble ” works marv^els.
Most Chinese officials of any utility are in the pay
of Russia, the amount being graduated according to
rank and circumstances. The very man sent to
St. Petersburg in March, 1898, to make an appeal
to the Tsar on behalf of Port Arthur is a stipendiary
of Russia in his capacity of sinecure director of the
Russo-Chinese Bank. To those who know anything
of the modus opa^andi in Peking, the idea that a
British newspaper correspondent there could ever
transmit a piece of important news not known in
the Russian les;ation is altogether absurd.

Of course, since the Japan War, which ceased in
1895, there has been less and less diplomacy, and
more and more force, applied to the Government of
China. As was said by a Russian official, “ It is not
a question what China will grant, but what foreign-
ers will take ” — a question of force and that alone.
The progress of the Audience question is only

226

DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE

another illustration of the same thing. Most reluc-
tantly, and by the slowest steps, have the doors of
the Imperial Palace been open to the foreign repre-
sentatives ; points of ceremony have been yielded
with rigid parsimony, beginning with the function
of 1873, suspended, during the long minority of the
present Emperor, until 1891 ; and now, after the
harshest possible treatment by the “ mailed fist ” of
Germany, the full honors have been for the first
time accorded to Prince Henry of Prussia.

CHAPTER IX

THE NATIVE PRESS

In the state of ferment into which the Chinese
nation has been thrown by the pressure of recent
events, it is reasonable to expect that new social
forces will come into play, while old ones may as-
sume a new development. The future is therefore
full of interest, and there may be many surprises in
store for us in the process of adjustment to new
conditions on which China has now entered.
Among the factors in the new evolution none de^
serves more attention than the Chinese Press, which,
though only in its infancy as yet, has shown such
signs of vitality that its influence on the course of
events in the Empire must henceforth be taken
seriously into account.

Although of Western origin, for the most part
owned by foreigners, and printed with foreign ap-
pliances, there is no civilized institution that has so
really commended itself to the non-ofiicial classes of
the Empire as the modern daily paper. The Chi-
nese Peking Gazette, however, is the oldest news-
paper in the world, compared with whose hoary age
the Times with its hundred summers is but of yes-
terday. This doyen of newspapers began and is still

22S

THE NATIVE PRESS

carried on with the special object of supplying the
people with news regarding the acts of the Govern-
ment. More valuable illustrations of political and
social institutions may be gathered, as Sir Ruther-
ford Alcock contended, and a clearer insight may be
obtained of tlie actual working of the governing
machinery, by a careful study of the Peking Gazette
than from any other source. And the glimpses it
affords into Chinese life, manners, and customs
make it singularly valuable as a guide to further
inquiry.

“ If the visitor at Peking,” says Sir Rutherford, “ extend his re-
searches into the Chinese city, and even penetrate into one of the
narrow side-streets near Lieti-li-chang, the Paternoster Row of the
capital, he may pass the door of one of the offices whence the
printed copies are issued. This is the quarter of booksellers and
their associate instruments, bookbinders and wood-engravers. On
entering the shop, cases of wooden cut characters may be seen
ranged against the wall, and sorted according to the number of
strokes in each. Some of frequent occurrence together are ar-
ranged as double characters, such as ‘ Imperial edict,’ mandarin
titles, the official title of the reign, etc. About a dozen of these
printing-offices suffice to issue several thousand copies, from whence
they are distributed, as in London, to their customers, or despatched
in batches to the different provinces. But these offices are all pri-
vate, and trust to the sale of copies for their reimbursement and
profits. For six dollars a year the Pekingese may keep himself
posted up in all that the Government thinks it desirable he should
know as to its acts, or the course of events in the provinces. Or he
may hire his Gazette for the day. and return it if he does not ap-
prove of the cost of purchasing.” *

Although in origin and aim somewhat similar to
our own newspaper, in one respect there is a vast

* Fraser s Magazine, 1873,
229

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

difference. Never was there need in China for men
like Dr. Johnson to listen to debates in Parliament
and carry them home in their retentive memories to
be furbished up, for the Government itself orders
copies of Imperial decrees, rescripts, and papers that
have been presented before the Imperial Council to
be placarded upon boards every morning for the in-
formation of the people. These papers are per-
mitted to be printed and circulated, but without
comment, and, as was to be expected, constituted,
before the advent of the regular newspaper, the
staple news and almost only subject of discussion
among literary men throughout the Empire, the
veto against written criticism doubtless giving all
the greater zest to criticism by the living voice.

One would have thought that the next step would
be the general newspaper; but, as in the case of sev-
eral of the arts and inventions, the Chinese seem to
have been suddenly arrested on the threshold of a
great discovery and forced to bide their time until
circumstances bade them take a fresh departure.
There has, however, always been in the hands of the
people, through the anonymous proclamation and
placard, an effective instrument by which popular
wrongs are ventilated and the objects of popular
hatred denounced. During times like those of the
Franco-Chinese and Japanese wars, scjuibs and pas-
quinades, written with endless satiric force and fun,
were freely pa.ssed from one to another ; and illegal
placards, in which official corruption and incapabil-
ity are exposed to the indignant people, are found on

230

THE NATIVE PRESS

many a blank wall. There is no doubt that the
burning and looting of Shameen by the Canton
rowdies, the anti-Christian riots in Hunan instigated
by Chou Han, and the destruction of chapels. Cath-
olic and Protestant, in various parts of the coun-
try, were caused by those potent though irrespon-
sible appeals. Their publication is evidence of a
greatly e.xcited state of popular feeling, and to ig-
nore their power in Chinese politics would be a
profound mistake. A single placard has been
known to suddenly change the atdtude of a whole
district towards foreigners.

“ When it is desired,” Hue says, “ to criticise a Government, to
call a mandarin to order, and show him that the people are dis-
contented with him, the placards are lively, satirical, cutting, and
full of sharp and witty sallies . the Roman pasquinade was not to
be compared to them. They are posted in all the streets, and
especially on the doors of the tribunal where the mandarin lives
who is to be held up to public malediction. Crowds assemble
round them, they are read aloud in a declamatory tone, while a
thousand comments, more pitiless and severe than the te.xt, are
poured forth on all sides, amid shouts of laughter. ‘We Chinese,’
they say, ‘print whatever we like — books, pamphlets, circulars,
and placards — without any interference from Government. We
may even print for ourselves, at discretion, provided we do not
find it too troublesome, and have money enough to get the types
carved.’ ”

As it was a combination of historical and other
circumstances that led to the successful adoption of
the discovery of Gutenberg or Faust in the West,
so in Far Cathay the native newspaper is the out-
come and legitimate result of foreign intercourse
and of the moral pressure exerted, often uncon-

231

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

sciously, by consular agents, merchants, and mis-
sionaries who have resided along the coast since the
time of the Treaty of Nanking. Without this press-
ure, and without the mechanical appliances of the
foreigner, the native Press would not have come into
existence. One difficulty in its w'ay was the Chinese
method of printing from wooden blocks, employed as
early as a.d. 581. This was practically surmounted
by the East India Company, which defrayed the cost
of casting successfully a font of movable metallic
type, in the year 1815, for the use of their factory
at Macao, but more particularly for the printing of
Dr. Morrison’s invaluable dictionaries, and other
works bearing on Chinese subjects. This font
was destroyed by fire in 1856. It is said that
movable metallic types were made in China and
Japan centuries ago — as far back as a.d. 1040 — but
they were articles de luxe, not intended for popular
use. The cost of casting fonts of movable Chinese
type prevented the more extended use of what has
since proved to be a success. The task of provid-
ing cheap type was reserved for another class of
men. The more enlightened missionary bodies
being fully alive to the fact that most of the grosser
superstitions of the Chinese were due to ignorance,
to an incorrect apprehension of “ natural truth,”
began, soon after their settlement in China, to issue
works of useful knowledge ; but as the cutting of
blocks and printing from them was both costly and
tedious, not to mention other inconveniences con-
nected therewith, means had to be devised to print

232

THE NATIVE PRESS

from metallic type; and the result is that, through
the enterprise of British and American missionaries,
elegant fonts of type of every description are pro-
duced by electrotype and other processes with ease
and cheapness, in every way suitable for the purpose
of a daily newspaper.

As, however, every governor in his province, in-
deed every prefect in his department, is almost an
independent satrap, invested with vast powers to
crush any attempt at independent criticism of the
acts of the Imperial or the local Government — for
such a proceeding is against the letter though not
the spirit of Chinese law and institutions^ — -some
position was necessary from which papers could be
published wuth safety; near enough to be sent into
the Empire, but yet beyond the jurisdiction of its
t^^^officers.* Such a position was found in our colonies
of Hongkong and the Straits Settlements, and in
the foreign concessions at Shanghai ; the fact, too,
that the papers were in many cases owned by for-
eign capitalists being an additional element of se-
curity.

Such are the successive steps that have accom-
panied the establishment of a native Press, in our
sense of the term. As has already been said, the

* In discussing the native Press in China, Mr. Curzon says in
his Problems of the Far East : “The absence of party politics in
China is itself a discouragement to the e.xistence of an organized
Press. On the other hand, the absence of such a Press is a welcome
preventive to the dissemination of novel or revolutionary ideas, or
to the spread of any propaganda at which the Government would
look askance.”

233

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

newspaper, from the first, commended itself to the
people, conservative though they are in education
and character, and has become one of the neces-
saries of life to every intelligent and thoughtful
native at the treaty ports and provincial yamens,
but especially at Rangoon, Singapore, and Saigon,
and in California, Peru, Australia, Cuba, Mauritius
— in fact, wherever Chinamen do congregate.

The issue of the first independent Chinese news-
paper, while it heralded the dawn of a brighter day
for the whole Chinese people, held out hopes espe-
cially for one class which individually, though not
collectively, has always deserved our sympathy —
the disappointed “ scholars of fortune.” These men
collectively constitute the “ literati,” a class that
wields enormous power in virtue of the deference
spontaneously accorded to letters, and of its being
socially at the head of the four classes — namely,
scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants — into
which the population of the Empire is divided.
Impecunious though they generall}^ are, they are
still able to wield with effect the power thus placed
in their hands — a power that has been likened, and
with some truth, to the influence exerted by the
squirarchy and country clergy in Britain before
Reform Acts disturbed the repose of rural parishes.
When all the possibilities of the newspaper Press
dawn upon the minds of this hungry horde of
educated paupers, this poverty-stricken, restless, in-
tellectual class, who is there dare venture to foretell
the results upon an active and inquisitive race like

234

THE NATIVE PRESS

the Chinese? It seems likely that the story of the
Japanese nativ^e Press will be again repeated, but
with a power in direct ratio to the vastly greater
forces that are sure to be exerted in China. It will
be remembered that after the abolition of the feudal
system in Japan thousands of the lieutenants and
retainers of the Daimios, the very flower of the in-
tellect, the pick of the prowess of the country, un-
able to procure employment under the altered con-
ditions violently introduced by the new system,
found themselves homeless and helpless. They
could not dig, to beg they were ashamed. The
native Press, brought into existence with the Res-
toration, was a God -sent gift to such men. Old
Samurai of bluest blood, who had lived lives of
lettered ease in feudal castles, wielded the pen in
the editor’s sanctum ; and swordsmen, who had
made stand with their lord for Mikado or Shogun,
now stood at the composing-case and printing-press,
admitting and permitting no loss of dignity, con-
scious that they were working, as of yore, for the
glory and advancement of Dai Nippon. It was a
wonderful revolution, of which only some of the
results are as yet apparent. So may it be in the
slow but certain revolution which the forces of
modern civilization are effecting in China, though
the results may be very different.

The number of literary men, graduates, aspirants
for offlce, who, out at elbow, throng every city and
village — some years ago there were at Lanchau, in
Kansu, nearly a thousand such “ expectants ” — will,

235

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

it is to be hoped, find in journalism something more
useful, more honorable, and more conducive to self-
respect than writing odes on fans or composing
scrolls for some native Maecenas. And as, while
waiting for office, they constitute the unrecognized
Opposition, and by far the ablest critics of those
in office, the newspapers will afford them an open-
ing for their talents and energies, and an unfailing
means of criticising measures before they have been
confirmed for good or evil and have passed beyond
recall. Such action is quite in harmony with ex-
isting Chinese institutions, and is merely a popular
extension of what has obtained in China for as;es.
And here the mind recurs not merely to Confucius
and Mencius, who are nothing if not political critics,
but to the College of Censors, their legitimate de-
scendants, from whose animadversions the Emperor
himself is not free. It may be expected that a
growing public opinion will hedge in these journal-
ists with privileges, as the Government have fully
recognized the prerogatives of the Censorate ; but
only so long as literary ability is applied to public
and moral ends, and to the support and reform of
existing institutions, will it find countenance. The
time for liberal ideas and the spontaneous adoption
of other reforms of government, on Western or re-
publican lines, is yet to come. If China had only
been permitted to work out her salvation in her
own way, under the tutelage of the free English-
speaking races, she might, in the course of time,
have adopted as much of our systems as could be

236

THE NATIVE PRESS

incorporated into her own without obliterating her
individuality.

It has been my endeavor to indicate the possi-
bilities open to newspaper enterprise in the vast
field of China as soon as the people may be able to
override the high-handed proceedings of the man-
darins, and to insist that this growth of freedom
should be directly grafted on a plant grown on
Chinese soil. That a Chinese Press would, if alto-
gether left to itself, be moral in tone, and endeavor
to elevate the people, might be assumed from the
almost unsullied purity of Chinese classic literature
from the days of Confucius to the present time ; but
the street literature, it must be confessed, hardly jus-
tifies this assumption. The influence of the “ liter-
ati,” and particularly the attitude of the Censorate,
have been alluded to elsewhere, and the episode
there cited, that between the celebrated Censor
Sung and the Emperor Kiaking, shows that even
censors may be bold, and at the risk of life, and that
outspoken criticism will always exist.

Apart from local intelligence, advertisements, and
other items, we may divide the contents of native
papers into four chief divisions: articles on purely
Chinese affairs ; leaders on international relations,
and, if there be a war on hand, of course also war
news ; translations from the foreign Press ; and
precis from the Peking and provincial Gazettes.
Considered as a whole, they are truly strange amal-
gams of ancient political and philosophical maxims
and curiously distorted statements of modern facts.

237

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

reflecting closely, indeed, the Chinese method of
dealing with matters — accepting words for facts, the
shadow for the substance. y

It is, however, in criticism of purely native affairs
that the Chinese journalist is at his best, that his
previous training tells, that he is on solid ground.
As his readers, like himself, have read the very
same books, in the very same order, elucidated by
the very same orthodox commentators, the writer
can easily sway their minds by reference to the well-
known but never-worn-out principles laid down by
the Sages, according to which kings reign and
princes decree justice. He appeals frequently, in-
deed almost in every passage, to the teachings of
history, stimulating his readers’ feelings by calling
to witness their long line of ancestors who have dis-
tinguished themselves in a not inglorious past.

From a literary point of view these articles are
the most valuable, as they are the most difficult, part
of the paper. The simplex mundiiiis, the simple ele-
gance of the classics, is the point aimed at. The
theme of an able Chinese literary man, by means
of the monosyllabic form of the language and its
ideographic writing, acquires a concentrated energy
exceedingly difficult to describe, indeed impossible
to convey to the Western mind, appealing, as it does,
to the eye, the ear, and the intellect. Chinese prose
style sparkles with epigram, antitheses, and the
other figures of speech depending on brevity for
their force. It abounds with ctiriosa felicitas ; and
nothing delights writer and reader more than the

238

THE NATIVE PRESS

suggested quotation aptly hidden in the text, just
apparent enough to give a delicate archaic aroma
to the period. As Mr. Stewart Lockhart states in
his Ma7iual of Chinese Quotations :

“ One of the chief characteristics of the written language of
China is its love of quotation. The more frequently and aptly a
Chinese writer employs literary allusions, the more is his style
admired. Among the Chinese it might almost be said that style
is quotation. With them to quote is one of the first canons of
literary art, and a Chinese who cannot introduce even into his
ordinary compositions phrases borrowed from the records of the
past might as v/ell try to lay claim to literary attainments as a
European unable to spell correctly or to write grammatically.
Letters on the most common subjects, and newspaper paragraphs
detailing ordinary items of intelligence, are seldom written without
the introduction of quotations, and, if these quotations are not
understood, it is impossible to grasp the meaning of the writer.”

And what have been the practical results of all
the newspaper criticism of the officials.? At first
the mandarins by no means liked this outspoken
expression of opinion, and it took them rather by
surprise to find their acts, hitherto above open criti-
cism, subjected to hostile comment. The newspaper,
much to the chao-rin of the hanq-ers-on about the
yamen, was at first forbidden; but when the great
man learned that his brother j^refect in the adjacent
department was also coming in for a share of the
lash, under which he himself had been writhing,
curiosity and the appreciation of the misfortune of
one’s friends got the better of dignity, and the paper

was restored — and there it still remains.

The history of the Shcn Pao, or the Shanghai

239

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Gazette, started in 1870, is instructive. This, the
leading native paper in China, has distinguished it-
self in successfully exposing official abuse. It has
spoken out manfully against torture, no matter by
whom inflicted, whether by high-placed mandarin or
underling of low degree; and, more than this, it has
succeeded in securing the reversal of unjust decrees
of provincial governors by the supreme authorities
at Peking, in spite of the eticpiette and dilatoriness
of Chinese law, and, above all, of the obstructiveness
at the capital of the friends of the officers attacked,
for every official has his band of friends — they are
necessary to his existence. In another direction it
did excellent work in encouraging liberality by pub-
lishing the names of the donors to relief funds, as,
for instance, when the famine ravaged the provinces
of Chihli and Shantung, and on other similar occa-
sions. During the twenty-six years of its existence
it has shown the way to many reforms, and by
means of its ability and independence has acquired
a comparatively large circulation, attaining to a
position of real influence unequalled by any other
native paper.

It has not, however, been all plain sailing with
the Shell Pao. Many attempts have been made to
suppress or ruin it by subsidizing official rivals, but
in vain. A special effort was made by the Governor
of the Chekiang Province, who had been attacked
in the paper for being involved in a disgraceful case
of judicial murder. He appealed to Prince Rung,
then head of the Tsungli Yamen, to suppress it.

240

THE NATIVE PRESS

The Prince’s reply was a snub to the Governor and
a vindication of the raison d'etre of the paper. He
intimated that it was rather a ticklish thing for him
to deal with a foreign-owned concern published in a
foreign settlement; and pertinently added, “We
rather like to read it in Peking.” It is an open se-
cret, too, that in the recesses of the Forbidden Palace
the Empress Regent, than whom few abler women
exist, and the higher Court functionaries, partake of ;
this “forbidden fruit” from the tree of knowledge.

The native papers in Hongkong have been exert-
ing a similar though a far inferior influence in south
China. The Tsiin-Wan Yat-Po, or Universal Cir-
eiclating Herald, while under the editorship of the
Chinese “ teacher ” Dr. Legge, late Professor of Chi-
nese at Oxford, was remarkable for the emphatic
and almost savage way in which it attacked official
abuse and misconduct. - — v

Reform is steadily making its way by means of I
the Press, directed by the right class, the younger [
educated men. When the Reform Club was closed
at Peking in the winter of 1895-96, the spirit of re-
form, which exists in China as elsewhere, had not
been killed, as was assumed ; it had merely been
scotched. Suppressed at Peking, the leaders moved
their headquarters to Shanghai, where an active
propaganda is conducted, chiefly by means of a
magazine entitled Chinese Progress. Until recently
published every ten days, this journal is about to
become a daily paper. It commands a large staff
of writers, and is supported by some three hundred
Q

241

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

students, and eighty benevolent societies pledged to
support the reform movement. Nor is this support
merely from the younger and non-official classes ;
even viceroys and lesser officials subsidize the society
by subscriptions and letters of recommendation, not
always, it is true, without some ulterior motive, for
there is such a thing, or will be, as “capturing” the
Press in China. The tiny paper of earlier days,
with its four narrow pages, has already grown into
thirty broad leaves, with a circulation of ten thousand
throughout the provinces, as against the former edi-
tion of one thousand chiefly sold at the capital.
Besides Chinese Progress, there are in Shanghai
alone no fewer than twenty secular magazines and
papers, while before the Chino-Japanese war there
were only four. The reform movement has four
branch centres — in Macao, Hunan, Szechuan, and
Kiangsi.

In their treatment of international questions and
of matters connected with the Franco-Chinese and
Japanese wars, the writers of native papers are seen
at their worst. Here it is that their insufferable
literary conceit, which begets in them a contempt
for everything outside their own literature, stands
in the way of progress. Refusing to recognize the
altered conditions around them, and shutting their
eyes to what has been actually accomplished within
their own borders, many of them continue to treat
any matter in which foreign interests are concerned
as if no foreigner had permanently settled along
their coast-line — as if China, s-ecure in its isolation,

THE NATIVE PRESS

were still the suzerain of all the many lands once
hers. Incredible as it may seem, the British colony
of Hongkong, even in 1898, is still marked in many
Chinese maps as part of the Empire of China.

In the Franco - Chinese campaign of 1884 the
French were considered merely “outside intruders”
or filibusters egging on traitorous Tongkingese
vassals to rebellion, and in the Chino-Japanese war
the Japanese were the “little dwarfs” attacking the
Chinese “ Goliath,” and were to be driven into the
sea at one fell swoop of the Chinese army. The
British are still commonly known as “ the red-furred
devils,” while Europeans generally are termed Ktiei
Tszc, “ devils.”

The military tactics recommended to Chinese
generals are to this day abstracted from works of
a thousand years ago — while archers were still effec-
tive soldiers — when not borrowed from the alto-
gether impossible “stratagems” (on a par with the
Trojan horse) of the heroes of the remotest antiq-
uity. The attitude of the Chinese Press in time of
war is one of uncompromising chauvinism, which
neither disaster nor incapacity seems to modify. It
may be merely an easy method of earning a reputa-
tion for patriotism, or it may arise from a desire to
“save face” — that universal trait of the Chinese
character, at all times and under all circumstances —
but probably there is a complexity of causes to ac-
count for it. How was the Franco - Chinese war
fever kept alive ? Both newspapers and officials
concealed the truth and pandered to the popular

243

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

taste. They described battles — always a pet sub-
ject with literary men in China, as elsewhere — that
had never been fought ; they sang paeans of con-
gratulation over victories that were never won ; and
illustrations of the audacious “ barbarians ” being
driven back pell-mell at the point of the Chinese
trident were widely circulated among eager pur-
chasers. They raised enough fervor of patriotic en-
thusiasm to make it dangerous for a Chinaman to
even hint at the possibility of victory being on the
other side. The populace were unanimous in allow-
ing themselves to be fooled — they seemed to like
the process. At the suggestion of the Press, in
1884, a patriotic fund was established to be sub-
scribed to by Chinese emigrants over-sea. Large
sums were at once raised from men who had already
contributed to war expenses through the representa-
tives of their clans in the villages of their own
country. From Cuba and Peru and elsewhere con-
tributions came pouring in from those who were the
survivals of the fittest of the nefarious and despised
“coolie trade.”* The rich “companies” of San
Francisco also subscribed most liberally for the de-
fence of the Canton Province. The editors were
not slow in driving home the lesson. “ These men,”
wrote one, “ have encountered the wind and waves
for thousands of li to earn a living in a foreign land.
Yet when they hear that their country is involved in
war, intolerant of delay, they at once raised a sub-

See Chapter XII.

244

THE NATIVE PRESS

scription to aid the Government and assist the reve-
nue. Alas! when men living outside the border-
line act in this way, what should we do that live
within the country itself.^ We respectfully write
this appeal, urging all public-spirited men to go and
do likewise.” “ I should add that there is no decep-
tion,” continues the writer, “as to the amounts, as
the list of donors is published, and the committee of
management are all honorable men.” Not only did
the editors do their best in sober prose to stir up the
war feeling, but the aid of song was also invoked,
one of the poets being no less a personage than a
CO mi m an d e r- i n-ch i ef .

In international questions the Chinese editor relies
on the sentiments of foreign papers. Articles on
contrabrand, blockades, duties of neutrals, and so
forth, can all, as a rule, be traced to a foreign source.
The opinions of the Twies during the Franco-Chi-
nese and Chino-Japanese wars were well known, and
were referred to with respect, our newspapers gen-
erally being alluded to as “Western friend” — the
equivalent of “our contemporary.” It is in the de-
partment of the paper dealing with foreign matters
that grave mistakes are made, mainly through the
sheer ignorance of the translators, who are too often
incompetent for their posts. Except the Shen Pao,
and one or two other papers which have a foreigner
to advise on all foreign questions, the translations on
which the editor bases his “ leaders ” are made, for
the most part, by English-speaking Chinese who
have never been out of China. Their ideas of thines

' O

245

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

foreign are inaccurate, but not quite so inaccurate,
perhaps, as many of our ideas regarding matters
Chinese. The newspaper translator handles the
most abstruse and delicate subjects, those requiring
special knowledge, with the utmost assurance, and
as he sees most things through the spectacles of his
own prejudice, the accuracy and value of the transla-
tion may be estimated. The less conceited carefully
omit difficulties altogether and confine themselves
to what is plain sailing.

Some of the high officials are fully aware of the
unreliability of native newspaper accounts of foreign
affairs, and have engaged more competent transla-
tors to give them the news direct from the English
Press. On the whole, there is some improvement
in the native Press; and, as the Chinese now know
that there is money to be made through a successful
newspaper, it may be anticipated that ere long, when
communications open the country, the better-class
papers will engage foreigners to advise on foreign
affairs. Telegraphic information is “conveyed”
from their “Western friends,” though not infrequent-
ly Chinese versions of foreign affairs are written by
secretaries or hangers-on of the yamens, who in-
crease their scanty pay by forwarding their render-
ing of some telegram to the papers in Shanghai or
H ono-konsr.

o o

Along the upper border of the newspapers, whe
in the West is placed the title and date, is written
the exhortation, “ Please respect written paper, the
merit is boundless ” — an exhortation always heeded.

246

THE NATIVE PRESS

for papers are carefully filed in shop and office, and
are read and reread until at last they almost fall to
pieces. Then comes the man from the society that
makes written paper its special care — for there is in
China a society for this, as for everything else under
the sun — and takes away the well-thumbed printed
rags and tatters, to be reverently burned in a cre-
matorium attached to the JVeu MiaOy the Literary
Temple. These usages are mentioned as instances
of the delicate regard of the Chinese for their sacred
letters. The native news-sheet, though printed on
paper with foreign appliances, already receives
welcome wherever it goes in China.

What will be the evolution of the native Press in
China it would be rash to prophesy. It may yet
rouse a nation which has been too long under the
spell of the dead hand and the dead brain ; may
teach it to break away, not from the characteristics
stamped on them by nature and environment, but
from the benumbing conservatism which has suc-
ceeded so long in preventing the progress of liberal-
ism ; may teach the people to understand that there
is an intellectual and moral life more active and
more restless than their own ; may teach the most
literary nation in the whole world — too long spell-
bound by past great names and great reputations —
to at last think for itself. And when such a nation
once begins to think — !

CHAPTER X

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

The manners and customs of the Chinese, and
their social characteristics, have employed many
pens and many tongues, and will continue to furnish
an inexhaustible field for students of sociology, of
religion, of philosophy, of civilization, for centuries
to come. Such studies, however, scarcely touch the
province of the practical, at least as yet, for one
principal reason — that the subject is so vast, the data
are so infinite, as to overwhelm the student rather
than assist him to sound generalizations. Writers
on this theme may be classified more easily than the
subjects on which they write. Two groups at least,
are sufficiently distinct to admit of being labelled —
the censorious and the picturesque. Both approach
Chinese portraiture with a bias which distorts their
pictures. The one set go up and down among this
great people with a Diogenes lantern, and fail to
find any good thing in them. They are weighed in
the balance against other nations, notably the Japan-
ese, and are found wanting.* Their virtues are vices,

* “The sickly praises lavished by passing travellers upon Japan
and her fitful civilizations ; the odious comparisons drawn by super-
ficial observers to the disparagement of China, of her slowly chang-

248

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

their customs odious, their religions abomination,
and all their practices brand them as a lost race.
These catalogues of vileness recall a class of adver-

tisements now very common, which from a tale of
unutterable woe lead up to a sovereign remedy.

The second class of writers seek, legitimately
enough for their own purpose, to catch the excres-
cences of Chinese life, with a view to caricature,
and through their exertions the European public is
possessed of a series of impressions which, though
true in themselves, are out of setting, and, for want
of a natural background, constitute distorted pict-
ures. A few philosophical observers like Sir John
Davis and Taylor Meadows address serious readers,
but are little known, though they are most authentic.
The Abbe Hue touched with an artist’s pen the
dry bones and made them live. Dr. Williamson has
left us many sound and practical observations. But
the reading public of our day are chiefly indebted to
the two American missionary writers, Justus Doo-
little and Arthur H. Smith, for the most laudable
attempts to cover the whole range of Chinese life,
the one relating with great circumstantiality of de-
tail the social customs of the Chinese, and the other
their moral and mental characteristics. That these
two conscientious writers have done their best to
repress natural prejudices cannot be doubted ; and

ing institutions, and of her massive national characteristics ; these
are gall and wormwood to all who know under whose tuition it was
that Japan first learned to read, to write, and to think.” — Gems of
Chinese Literature, by Heruert A. Giles.

249

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

that one of them has succeeded, at least in his second
edition, may be readily admitted, which is the more
creditable since it is obvious that the very raison
d'etre of the Christian missionary would be gone if
the Chinese were acknowledged to be a nation of
exemplary livers ; for they that are whole need not
the physician. One may specially commend Mr.
Smith as at once terse and fascinating, calm and
cultured — his modest volume* bears the impress of
accurate original observation in every line. Readers
whose tastes incline them to follow up this interesting
subject will thus find abundant food for reflection in
the recorded observations of a host of writers, from
the early Jesuits, whose works have borne the test
of two or three centuries of subsequent experience,
down to the shoal of ephemeral paragraphists and
photographers of our own day. This is not the
place, either for abridged discussion or for summa-
rizing conclusions on questions which do not fall
within the scope of the present volume. Only one
observation need be made, which ought to be borne
in mind, alike in judging of their traditional customs
and of their potential efficiency in the life of to-day.
The two orreat facts which differentiate the Chinese

from every other people of whom we have any
knowledge are their unprecedented duration. With-
out discussing the causes of one or the other feat-
ure, the bare facts are there, staring us in the
face, and they surely explain much that strikes the

Chinese Characteristics. Kegan Paul. 1895.
250

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

foreigner as paradoxical. There has never been
any such accumulated experience in the world’s his-
tory ; never such accumulation of custom, of cere-
monial, of superstition. The early contemporaries
of China have all fallen to pieces, some of them
many times, and the continuity of tradition has been
broken. But if we, instead of gathering their social
history painfully from potsherds or paintings on
tombs, or their religion from survivals of poetical
mythology, found tlie Assyrians, Babylonians, an-
cient Egyptians, and ancient Greeks alive at the
present day, should we not expect to find the same
maze of folk-lore as in China, the same confused
and contradictory superstitions, layer upon layer,
survivals from the oldest mingling with the newest
accretions.^ The product resulting from duration
multiplied by numbers must be immense, and if to
that we add a third factor, isolation, we have no
right to be surprised either at the complex charac-
ter of Chinese civilization or at its peculiarly con-
servative form. Indeed, whatever may have been
the cause of the long life of the nation has probably
also been the cause of its crystallization. And that
is what gives so hazardous a character to all innova-
tions forced on China from without.

Leaving aside, for the moment, all these specu-
lative questions, it may be profitable and practica-
ble to consider in what relation the Chinese people
stand to the outward and workaday world of our
own time. What part are they capable of playing
in the drama of mechanical progress, in which they

251

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

are left no option but to join? To arrive at a just
opinion on this subject, it will be better to consider
the Chinese from the point of view of their likeness
to ourselves, rather than from that of their unlike-
ness, which is the picturesque view. No nation can
be fairly judged by its books, for there will always
be a gulf fixed between aspiration and achievement,
between the maxims of tlie study and the manners
of the forum. For practical purposes we must take
the Chinaman of real life, of active life. We have
known him intimately for about sixty years — a
cycle of Cathay — and can speak of his doings, if
not of his thinkings. His predominant quality, that
which marks the Chinese, as a race, whether at
home or abroad, is beyond doubt his industry. He
has almost a passion for labor: in search of it he
compasses sea and land. He seems born to be the
hewer of wood and the drawer of water for human-
ity, but not as a slave. The Chinaman is always a
merchant, and sells his labor for a price. In those
countries where the race is persecuted it is his in-
dustry which offends, because it competes with the
more desultory work of white men, who deem them-
selves entitled to dissipate half their time. Com-
bined with the appetite for hard work the China-
man has two highly important qualities — docility
and temperance. The latter enables him to profit
by a double economy — that of time and that of
money; the former enables him to “stoop to con-
quer.” There is, indeed, no end to his patience.
He is content to exploit worked-out claims for an

252

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

infinitesimal gain, and as ready to be kicked out
whenever it pleases his superior white brother to
come along and “jump” them. A valuable agent
is the Chinaman, therefore, for sweeping up the
“tailings” of human industry. He demands no
comfort, still less luxury ; but though he can do
with rough and scanty fare, he never starves his
body when he can afford nutritious and well-cooked
food. For sentinient, as we understand the term,
the Chinaman has no sympathy. His outward life
is conducted on a “ cash basis,” so much so that
when wages are very low he will sometimes strike a
balance between work and food, calculating that, as
a certain amount of exertion will necessitate so
much food, the game may not always be worth the
candle. He works outrageously long hours with
very moderate inducement; the clink of the arti-
san’s hammer and the whir of the spindle are
heard in the streets at all hours of the night, and
the dawn finds the laborer already at work. The
faculty of endurance and of patience is well evinced
to foreigners in such occupations as domestic ser-
vice and nursing, in both of which capacities the
Chinaman excels. However late the master or
mistress may come home, the servants are in wait-
ing, and are as ready for a call in the early morning
as if they had had twelve hours’ good sleep. As
nurses, Chinamen are quiet, light-handed, and inde-
fatigable : no need, with them, to reckon day and
night shifts; such snatches of sleep as can be picked
up at odd moments satisfy them.

253

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

In addition to robust muscularity the Chinese
physique is endowed with great refinement. Their
hands and feet are well made, and their fingers are
remarkable for suppleness and delicacy of touch.
Their skill in the minutest kinds of handicraft, such
as intricate carving in wood or ivory, miniature
painting, and fine embroidery, are well known, and
when European manufactures are introduced into
China they will find no lack of the manual dexterity
needed for the most delicate productions. Ample
experience has shown the aptitude of Chinese arti-
sans and mechanicians to fabricate in wood and
metal and to become experts in the use of labor-
saving machinery. Not only in workshops and
building-yards has the skill of their artificers been
tested and approved, but in the responsible positions
of engine-drivers on steamboats and locomotives the
Chinese, under proper training, are found to answer
all requirements.

The intellectual capacity of the Chinese may rank
with the best in Western countries. Their own lit-
erary studies, in which memory plays the important
part, prove the nation to be capable of prodigious
achievements in that direction. It is stated in
Macaulay’s Life that had “ Paradise Lost ” been
destroyed he could have reproduced it from mem-
ory. But even such a power of memory as he
possessed is small compared with that of many Chi-
nese, who can repeat by heart all the thirteen clas-
sics ; and it is as nothing to that of some Chinese,
who, in addition to being able to repeat the classics,

254

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

can memorize a large part of the general literature
of their country. A Chinese acquaintance of mine
was able, at the age of sixty-five, to reproduce, ver-
batim^ letters received by him in his youth from
some of his literary friends famous as stylists.
When pitted against European students in school
or college, the Chinese is in no respect inferior to
his Western contemporaries, and, whether in mathe-
matics and applied science or in metaphysics and
speculative thought, he is capable of holding his
own against all competitors.

In considering the future of the Chinese race,
therefore, we have this enormous double fund of
capacity to reckon with — capacity of muscle and
capacity of brain ; and we have only to imagine the
quantitative value of such an aggregate of nervous
force, when brought into vital contact with the ac-
tive spirit and the mechanical and mental appliances
of the West, to picture to ourselves a future for
China which will astonish and may appall the w'orld.

But while there are here the elements of an im-
mense subordinate success — the success of muscular
and intellectual force directed by a master — it does
not follow, and there are many to be found who will
deny, that the Chinese can ever play the leading
role. Experience, it must be admitted, so far as it
goes, gives its verdict against this, though the ver-
dict is by no means final. And it is to be noted
that Dr. Pearson, in his learned and well-thought-
out work on N^ational Character and Devclop7ncnt,
ignores altogether the assumed disability of the

255

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Chinese to cope with the creative genius of the
world. In favor of Dr, Pearson’s hypothesis of the
latent power of the Chinese race, their mere numbers
are a telling fact, since if the percentage of original
initiating and directing minds among them were but
a tithe of that of the Caucasian races, it would con-
stitute them a real energizing force in the future
progress of the world. And, though the Chinese
copy and do not originate, may there not be in
them, nevertheless, a latent talent which is waiting
for favorable circumstances to cause it to blossom
into action ? Before answering such a question as
that, we should have to solve a few preliminary ones —
as, for instance, the true cause of Chinese stagnation
and of the sameness of their life routine.

Here, however, it may be appropriate to indicate
briefly some traits of character and effects of hered-
itary training which militate against their success in
the pursuits which have built up the power of the
modern Christian states. Only a few of the more
obvious need be noted. One is universally acknowl-
edged : it is the indifference to truth, as such. A
lie is no disgrace ; it is only disgraceful not to put a
good “face” on things. Combine these two ideas, and
the natural result is universal mistrust, which places
co-operation, without which even a pin cannot be
economically made, largely out of the c|uestion.
The entire absence of natural science, and of any
definiteness of conception or arrangement in matters
not rigidly prescribed by traditional etiquette, coin-
cides with the unconsciousness of the value of accu-

256

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

racy; but the question is whether the general intro-
duction of science as part of the educational curricu-
lum, followed by its extensive application to the busi-
ness of life, will not cure this radical defect in the
moral equipment of the nation. That such a result
would be, at the least, a protracted affair, the most
sanguine can hardly doubt, nor will the process be
rendered the more easy by the fact that the Chinese
have discovered certain working substitutes for fact-
ual truth. Meadows has pointed out that personal
probity is not relied upon, because the business of
life, mercantile and domestic, is carried on under a
chain of guaranties, infidelity to which is of very
rare occurrence. In a general reform of the code of
honor, this time-honored institution would have to
be uprooted, rendering the whole operation doubly
difficult, and indeed impossible, except as a result of
protracted evolution.

Closely allied with untruthfulness is the looseness
of conscience in the handling of money. The proc-
ess known as “ robbing Peter to pay Paul,” of
patching a hole by a piece cut out of the garment,
forms a part of the Chinese practice, from the Em-
peror downward. Even in the returns of the Im-
perial revenue* the authorities seem to prefer that

* Generally four-tenths of the Foreign Customs duties are appro-
priated directly by the Peking Government. From the remaining
si.x-tenths there are first paid out the indents for the Peking Govern-
ment as above stated, which are most specifically charged on the
si.x-tenths ; then there are the local costs of collection and numerous
fixed allowances ; then 15 per cent, is set apart and remitted to the
Shanghai Taotai for expense of foreign legations ; and the balance

257

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

deductions be made from disbursements before re-
mittances are forwarded, rather than that the full
revenue be shown on one side of the account and
the full expenditure on the other. Such a system
invites peculation, which is carried on wholesale
throughout every government department. The
shifty tendency pervades every relation of life ;
shameless malversation is tolerated as a mere pec-
cadillo where a breach of filial etiquette would be
punishable as a crime. With such a code of finan-
cial morality it would apparently be impossible to
develop joint-stock enterprise, for no confidence
would be felt in the integrity of the management.
Some such companies do, however, exist in Hong-
kong. Mines do not pay the proprietors because the
laborers pilfer the production ;* cotton factories, be-

is apportioned from time to time by the Board between Imperial
and provincial needs. — Geo. Jamieson, C.M.G., Foreign Office Re-
ports, 1897.

* In a memorial to the Throne, Fang Chiung, Director of Mines
in Yunnan, reports that “ a great deal of illicit mining is carried on
by the people, and the officials are afraid of the consequences of as-
serting their rights despotically. A plan has, however, been devised
of buying up the copper privately mined by the natives at a low
price, and thus taking advantage of the extra labor by a measure at
once profitable and popular. In this way the memorialist thinks
the mines will work well.” In a postscript memorial the Director
informs the Emperor that 10,000 catties of copper are bought
monthly from the illicit mines, and that the laborers are “ not paid
wages, but are supplied with oil and rice,” — Peking Gazette, quoted
by A. H. Smith, who adds : “ It is not every day that a governor
officially informs an emperor that the laws of his empire are habit-
ually violated by persons with whom the magistrates dare not inter-
fere, but whom, on the other hand, they mollify with oil and suffi-
cient money to induce them to part with their stolen copper.”

258

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

cause the mill-hands carry off the raw material stowed
away in their clothes. The most important Chinese
companies are machines for wholesale misappropria-
tion of funds, a state of things which is always aggra-
vated in cases where an official has a hand in the ma-
nipulation. While such an all-sufficing explanation
exists, it seems needless to seek for more speculative
reasons for the want of enterprise of the Chinese, or
for the well-known fact that they are willing to place
their funds at low interest with foreign banks rather
than trust their own countrymen on more tempting
terms. This preference for foreign security, based
on foreign integrity, is the principal lever by which
the commercial, industrial, and financial resources of
China will hereafter be developed. It is only by
organized probity that we can compete with the
Chinese. I do not advance this as a principle or a
theory of Chinese morals, but merely as an empiri-
cal observation, for it is in flat contradiction of other
facts equally well known. The probity of Chinese
merchants and bankers is proverbial and is no doubt
the basis of their success in these enterprises. As
the Chinese have no separate castes, it is hard to
account for such apparently contradictory phenome-
na as exceptional fidelity in certain walks of life and
systematic fraud in others, the line of demarcation
being moreover sharply drawn.

That some general cause is in operation to pro-
duce such disparate results seems evident, and the
explanation may possibly be found in the special
training which is required by different avocations,

259

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

and the selection of the men who are to follow^ them.
Every profession has its own code of honor and
rule of practice, and every society its law of self-
preservation. Commerce cannot be carried on with-
out confidence, and the continuous e.xperience of
many centuries has burned this law into the hearts
of those who are enrolled under its banner. Natu-
ral selection will tend constantly to the rejection of
individuals who do not obey the law by wdiich alone
a commercial community can live, and the heredi-
tary principle lends its potent aid towards keeping
the body pure. Traditions handed down from father
to son, not so much in formal maxims as in daily
practice, enter deeply into the character; and chil-
dren follow unconsciously and automatically the
w^avs of their fathers and families, in contact with
w'hom they have grown up. They would find it
difficult to do otherwise.

The different code of honor which prevails in
official circles, on the other hand, may equally be
pleaded as a necessity of existence. No govern-
ment official in China can possibly live on his pay;
his necessary expenses many times exceed it. What
is he to do.? Immemorial tradition points out the
way. The ox is not muzzled that treads out the
corn. Of course official corruption is an insidious
poison, not only as affecting the efficiency of the
public service but also the personal character of the
individual. Once admit bribery or malversation as
a justifiable means of living, and it is impossible to
draw the line. Necessity soon becomes rapacity,

260

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

and rapacity grows by what it feeds upon. It is
astonishing that any vestige of character is left in
men who have graduated in the official school.
Some, indeed, there are who resist the common
temptation, and are regarded as a kind of mon-
strosity of virtue — a sort of “ white elephant ” — who
for this reason may claim unlimited indulgence.
Such officials must either be themselves wealthy,
have wealthy friends, or be financed by some shrewd
man of business, who manages everything behind
the back of his principal.

The danger of new enterprises lies in the circum-
stance that they fall outside the tradition, and there-
fore outside the protection, of the professional code
which is so efficacious within its own sphere. If an
official personage has any concern in the undertak-
ing, his dominant idea is to make it a milch cow for
himself; his whole habit of mind would militate
against his paying any regard to the rights of share,
holders.

Wdiere the commercial morality of the Chinese is
at its worst is where it comes in contact with West-
ern legality. They are shown in an unfavorable
light when, for example, they are called upon to pay
up calls on their shares in limited companies regis-
tered abroad. This is one of those cases where
their tradition fails to support them in a right
course, the whole thing being alien from their own
customs. Neither family honor nor public opinion
concerns itself with such stranore devices as foreifrn
legal forms, which are as unintelligible to the Chi-

261

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

nese as to the unlettered peasantry of Europe.
There is no sanctity attaching to them, and if their
terms can be successfully evaded, and without prej-
udicing one’s interest in other ways, it is considered
permissible, the mere moral sanction counting for
little. Rectitude of conduct between man and man
is secured among themselves in an entirely different
manner: everything is regulated by custom, which
possesses greater vitality than judge-made or statute-
made law. A mercantile contract, for example,
drawn up and signed, is held of quite secondary
validity; but if bargain-money has been paid it is
unimpugnable, and bargain-money without the pa-
per is of greater efficacy than the paper without bar-
gain - money. It is not, therefore, to be expected
that a people living and moving in such an atmos-
phere of tradition and custom should adapt them-
selves easily to the machinery of foreign legislation,
which in its subject-matter is necessarily altogether
uncouth to their ideas, varies more or less in each
nationality with which they have to deal, and is sub-
ject to change in each new session of some foreign
parliament which to them has not even the consist-
ency of a myth.

“ Respect for the law,” as a virtue of civilized
peoples, cannot apply to exotic regulations which are
alien in their nature as well as in their source. The
sentiment bred in the bone of the Chinese people is
not respect but reverence for law; it is more than
reli2;ion to them. But the foreign-manufactured
article is as a strange god introduced into their pan-

262

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

theon ; it takes no hold of their moral sense. The
whole attitude of the Chinese towards this kind
of law, therefore, differs fundamentally from that of
the peoples of the West, and this should be taken
into account by all who have business with the peo-
ple of China. The Chinese look to quite other
safesruards in commercial dealinefs than Encrlish-
men do, who have always a solicitor at their elbow
and learned counsel to consult on every clause and
shade of meaning of a contract. In the first place,
the Chinese merchant or banker places no reliance
whatever on litigation, but takes his measures as if
there were no such thing to fall back upon. His
first line of defence against fraud or misunderstand-
ing is to select his clientele on the most rigid principle,
and deal only with men of known character and
untainted connections, in such a manner as to be
able to follow him into all the transactions he may
undertake. It is this perfect mutual knowledge
which cements the confidence between men of busi-
ness, and the customs which are better known to
them than any legal enactments can possibly be to
the people of Europe rule every transaction that
is doubtful. Written contracts have scarcely any
place in the Chinese system, whereas they are the
very essence of ours. Our jurists place the ver-
bal construction of an agreement before everything,
while in China the whole stress is laid on the obvious
and reasonable intention of the parties; the one re-
gards only the documentary contract, the other the
thing contracted for. The difference between the

263

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

two points of view is almost irreconcilable, and it is
as erroneous for us to test Chinese equity by means
of our standard, as for the Chinese to judge us want-
ing in good faith because we take advantage of a
technicality to avoid a disadvantageous obligation.
The moral to be drawn from this state of things

would seem to be that each party should take the
other on its own ground — that foreigners should rely
on Chinese time-consecrated sanctions to bind the
Chinese commercial conscience, and that the Chinese
should trust foreigners only so far as they can
have written contracts signed, sealed, and delivered.

An element of distrust between Chinese and for-
eigners— which is really a phase of that natural in-
stinct of resting on the substance and not on the
form — is the looseness and disregard of punctuality
which characterize the Chinese. Except in banking
transactions, time with them has not the same recog-
nized value as it has with us, and their habits are
easier and more slovenly. This leads to irritation
and sometimes needless suspicion when an important
engagement is not kept, and when either no excuse
is thought necessary or the most ridiculous reasons
are given. Much should be allowed for mere habit
in such matters, and a great deal more for the
complex life Chinamen lead. It is alleged against
them that they are superstitious, but it is scarcely
possible for a foreigner to conceive how completely
their lives are enveloped in cobwebs of necromancy,
geomancy, witchcraft, animal worship, luck, evil eye,
and a thousand influences w'hich seem to us grotesque

264

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

and childish. This is a natural result of the long
duration of the people, whieh has permitted the
aecretions of three thousand years to be preserved
in a gigantie aceumulation, whereas the primitive
beliefs and folk-lore of Western peoples have been
broken up by their migrations, wars, and commo-
tions. Almost every coneeivable action of a China-
man’s life is preseribed by a minute etiquette which
no one dreams of disre2;ardin2:. BeinG! unintelligible
to foreigners, this necessarily creates frietion in their
mutual relations. But in addition to this the Chinese,
even the most reasonable and most practical, are
under the dominion of sorcerers and fortune-tellers
and the reign of “ luck ” to such an extent that they
are in constant apprehension of doing or saying
things at the wrong time, the wrong plaee, in the
wrong way, or in company with the wrong people.
A promising combination may be spoiled by some
oeeult warning, and a Chinaman may often have
bad faith imputed to him when he is really under
the constraint of some influence which he dare not
avow, and whieh causes him to make a shuffling and
mendacious e.xcuse.

What is most mysterious in Chinese ways would
probably be simple enough if we were in sympathy
with the explanation. Probably the fundamental
principle of their national and private life, the fam-
ily idea, if well understood, would supply the key to
many seeming peeuliarities. To dub them idolaters
beeause they worship their aneestors is begging the
question. It were more to the purpose to examine

265

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

into the relationship which is called “worship”
and see what an important part these ancestors
play in Chinese life. Their authority seems to be
the power which keeps the nation together ; they
are one with their posterity, and the ancestral tomb
is the family altar.

Hear Carlyle on the matter:

“ He (the Emperor) and his three hundred millions visit yearly
the Tombs of their Fathers ; each man the Tomb of his Father
and his Mother ; alone there, in silence, with what of worship or
of other thought there may be, pauses solemnly each man ; the
divine Skies all silent over him ; the divine Graves, and this
divinest Grave, all silent under him ; the pulsings of his own soul,
if he have any soul, alone audible. Truly it may be a kind of
worship. Truly if a man cannot get some glimpse into the
Eternities, looking through this portal — through what other need
he try it ?”

The ancestors assist at the family council and
sanction its proceedings. The effect on the practi-
cal or business life of the people of the ancestral cult
is various. The family being the unit of the State,
there is a collective responsibility for the behavior
of each member, in consequence of which order is
kept in every village and city without the supervision
of military or police. This alone is no slight gain.
The family responsibility in financial matters, too,
gives security in business, for a debt is never can-
celled except by payment, and descends as a burden
from father to son. A bad side of the system is the
moral obligation which rests on any one who is
rich to support all the members, for obviously such
a principle discourages enterprise and industry.

266

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

It stands seriously in the way of material progress,
for no sooner does a man by his own energy es-
tablish some promising industry than he is pounced
upon by all the ne’er-do-wells of his family, who
live upon him and whom he is obliged to employ
to the exclusion of useful men, even to the ruin
of his enterprise. It is impossible for a Chinaman
to emancipate himself from this family incubus, and
the fact must be reckoned with in all schemes for
co-operation with Chinese.

In all estimates of the social system, a practical
distinction must be made between the Chinese peo-
ple in their individual and their public capacity ;
between their utility as material to be moulded and
managed by others, and their power to organize and
lead their own forces — industrial, commercial, politi-
cal, and military. In what has gone before, the for-
mer forces have been glanced at; we will now refer
briefly to the latter.

The Chinese in public life, as we conceive the
idea, is as yet an unknown cjuantity. The nation
does not concern itself with political affairs any
more than, on the advice of Confucius, it concerns
itself with theological affairs. The popular maxim
is that, as the mandarins are paid (and pay them-
selves) for attending to public administration, it is
their business to do it, while the public cultivates its
garden and pays its taxes. As this is not a philo-
sophical treatise we are not tempted to speculate on
the development of this state of feeling, or on its
significance, further than to make the obvious re-

267

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

mark that a faculty that has never been used, or
that has fallen out of use, is virtually non-existent.
We may conclude, accurately enough for practical
purposes, that public spirit is an unknown senti-
ment to the Chinese people. To our appreciation
the Chinese as a nation exhibit no patriotism; but
this may be the effect of our own prejudice and
want of insight into the true relation between the
subject and object of what we call patriotism. In-
stances of the loftiest and purest devotion are not
rare, nor in these cases does the ideal appear very
different from our own. Speaking, however, only
of what operates on the masses as we see them, and
not as they may be intrinsically, we should perhaps
be justified in saying that what represents the feel-
ing of patriotism in China is a survival of clannish-
ness which affects small segregated areas — not a
provincial or even a civic patriotism, but rather a
local village spirit which on occasion is capable of
combiningr to resist extortion or resent interference.

We have elsewhere shown how this great political
vacuum in the Chinese social organism is partly
supplied by secret societies, as in the commercial
sphere the juridical gap is supplied by trade guilds.
The officials them.selves possess their defensive com-
binations, each province having in the capital a
society, which we call a “club,” where gatherings
are held daily to discuss public affairs. These
clubs are managed with considerable strictness, and
the very highest officials may be expelled when ac-
cused of conduct derogatory to the character of the

268

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

society. It is interesting to note that the particular
offence which has led to a sentence of expulsion
in conspicuous cases has been “ truckling to for-
eigners.” For this the most respected and influ-
ential offlcial in the last two generations, Tseng
Kwo Fan, father of the late Marquis Tseng, was
expelled from the Hunan Club in Peking, and many
years and many sacrifices were required before he
could gain readmission. This general, perhaps uni-
versal, feeling — a most natural and proper feeling,
we must admit — against foreigners is by some main-
tained to be the only article in the Chinese code
which may fitly be called patriotic. But, though
general, it is not centralized, nor does it lead to any
common action. The whole Empire may have
one feeling while each locality stands separate from
all the others, and thus the country may always be
conquered in detail. Reverence for the Throne un-
doubtedly exists as the apex of that great pyramid,
the family system, but is rather a sublimated relig-
ious than a political sentiment. There is no vital
attachment in it, no loyalty which commands sacri-
fice, and among the officials even the genuine feel-
ing of devotion to the Imperial service has probably
been absorbed into and dissipated by the hyperbolic
formulas prescribed for their memorials and ad-
dresses.

Associated with the political are the military sen-
timents of the Chinese people: there we find the
same general principle prevailing — that of aloofness
or indifference. If they ever were war-like, the Chi-

269

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

nese have ceased for very many centuries to be so.
The nation has survived the military age, and the
only treatises extant on strategy date from before
the Christian era. When forced to fight, which
they will seldom do if there is a chance of running
away, their tactics are more primitive than those of
Zulus. There is no concentration: each regiment

or battalion fights for itself exclusively. None will
assist another, still less will any section of a force
sacrifice itself for the general success.

The personal courage of Chinese soldiers is usually
estimated at a low value, but there are extenuating
and explanatory circumstances. The manner in
which a Chinese force is levied, the way it is treated,
paid, and led should excuse much in the private sol-
dier. When sent unarmed, as they virtually were in
the late Japanese War, against highly disciplined
and well-armed hosts, the only sensible thing to be
done was to retreat, and, as in that movement at
least their commanders could generally be counted
on to set a good example, they fell back in greater
or less disorder before the invaders. But when they
were paid, fed, and disciplined, and armed, as was
the case in the Chinese navy, the men left little to
be desired in the way of courage. Even then, how-
ever, they needed leading. Under a European offi-
cer there was no forlorn hope or desperate service
for which they would not volunteer; and they ral-
lied round the brave Admiral Ting, whom they
were ready to follow to a heroic death, when he was
shut in a trap in his own port, Wei-hai-wei. It has

270

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

always been the personal qualities of a man, rather
than a cause, which attracted the Chinese. Gordon
could have led them anywhere. So, no doubt, could
Admiral Ting.

It is probably a mere question of organization
with the Chinese, as with the Egyptians. The Chi-
nese have shown themselves apt learners, and they
are capable of drill and discipline. Confidence will
do the rest, confidence in their leaders and — in their
pay.

Distinction may be justly drawn between the
populations of different parts of the vast Empire.
The Cantonese have always been of a daring char-
acter, which for many years unfortunately expended
itself in wholesale piracy on the coast. The natives
of Shantung, however, where the Germans have
established themselves, and whose overflow has
peopled the rich lands of Manchuria, enjoy the
finest record for both physical and moral qualities.
It was from them the Chinese navy drew its best
recruits; it is they w'ho have proved their prowess
either as brigands or as self-reliant and self-defended
exploiters of the resources of Liaotung and Man-
churia. Consequently, the power of assimilating
these war-like, industrious, and intelligent people is
an advantage to Russia no less important than her
territorial acquisitions.

When all is said, however, it must still be con-
ceded that it is not military, or scientific, or politi-
cal, but commercial genius that has characterized
the Chinese in the past, and is therefore most likely

27 1

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to distinguish them in the future. They are the
original, true, and only real shopkeepers, and in ev-
ery position of life, even the farthest removed from
the atmosphere of commerce, the Chinese may be
said to think in money. As with the Jew, their
instinctive habit is one of perpetual appraisement.
No matter what object may be shown to them for
their instruction or admiration, their first and last
thought is what it cost ; and conversations over-
heard among boatmen, coolies, and laborers turn
invariably on the same topic — money. This trait
of character cannot be better described than in the
words of the Abbe Hue, in his Chinese Empire:

“ The Chinese has a passionate love for lucre ; he is fond of all
kinds of speculation and stock -jobbing, and his mind, full of
finesse and cunning, takes delight in combining and calculating
the chances of a commercial operation.

“The Chinese, excellence, is a man installed behind the
counter of a shop, waiting for his customers with patience and
resignation, and in the intervals of their arrival pondering in his
head and casting up on his little arithmetical machine the means
of increasing his fortune. Whatever may be the nature and im-
portance of his business, he neglects not the smallest profit ; the
least gain is always welcome, and he accepts it eagerly ; greatest of
all is his enjoyment when, in the evening, having well closed and
barricaded his shop, he can retire into some corner, and there
count up religiously the number of his sapecks, and reckon the
earnings of the day.

“The Chinese is born with this taste for traffic, which grows
with his growth and strengthens with his strength. The first thing
a child longs for is a sapeck ; the first use that he makes of his
speech and intelligence is to learn to articulate the names of coins ;
when his little fingers are strong enough to hold the pencil, it is
with making figures that he amuses himself, and as soon as the
tiny creature can speak and walk he is capable of buying and
selling.”

2 y 2

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

Nor is it the mere gain that inspires the passion
for merchandising. In common with Orientals gen-
erally, the Chinese are fascinated by the sport of
bargaining, as a cat is by playing its mouse or a
fisherman his salmon. It is said that the great
Li Hung Chang derived a purer pleasure from
“doing” an employe out of half a month’s pay, as
the result of an afternoon’s contest, than if he had
saved a province of the Empire — a weakness which
has no doubt often been turned to profitable account
by those who had important transactions with that
eminent statesman. It is held to be a maxim of
wisdom for an undergraduate to let his rich uncle
have the better of him at chess. Human nature is
essentially the same everywhere ; the point of dif-
ference to be noted here between Oriental and Oc-
cidental is that time seems to be of no account to
the one, while to the other it is a synonyme for
money, which is of prime value to both.

And in connection with money-making there is
another point to be noticed and kept in mind in re-
gard to the Chinese, in which they are distinguished
from the races of the West, and perhaps of the East
as well. Though parsimonious, the Chinaman is
not mean. He is generous almost to a fault when
the humor takes him — has a supreme disregard of
trifles in settling an account, for example, takes a
loss stoically, lends freely with small expectation of
return, and rarely sues for a debt. The ease of the
Chinese in money dealing contrasts strongly with
the exigence with which they are treated by for-
s 273

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

eigners with whom they traffic. And yet in the
essence of things there may be no real superiority
or inferiority ; for the liberality in the one case may
be referred to the general laxity of Chinese reckon-
ing and to the margin of perquisites on which the}"
instinctively fall back, while the severity in the
other case belongs to the precision of accounts and
the absence of any margin of debatable ground
where generosity might find pasture. In the West
the open-handed man too often comes to penury,
while in the East “ there is that scattereth and yet
increaseth.”

The combination of the qualities of avarice and
profusion sometimes produces results which, though
entirely natural in themselves, are both comical and
paradoxical when viewed from a foreign stand-point
Once upon a time the agent at one of the minor
]3orts for a wealthy firm in Shanghai lived in the
somewhat lordly style which had been inherited
from the East India Company. His “boy” or but-
ler and his whole domestic staff made a good thing
out of the establishment Times changed, and the
bie fii'm ceased business. Left stranded, the a^ent
decided to set up for himself and work the connec-
tions he had formed among natives and foreign
merchants. But the old scale of expenditure could
not be supported. Summoning his faithful “ boy,”
he explained the situation to him: — impossible to
keep up the old expensive style of living, very sorry
to part with such a good old servant, and so forth.
The boy rose to the occasion in a somewhat sur-

274

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

prising manner. “ What for masta too muchee
sollee.^ My too sollee masta no catchee good
chance. My like stay this side. Masta how much
can pay ?” (Why is master so sorrowful ? I am
very sorry that master is not doing well. I should
like to stay in master’s service. How much can
master afford to pay ?) The master scratched his
forehead and paused, then named a sum which was
just two-thirds of what his house bills had hitherto
amounted to, “ Maskee, masta; masta talkee so
muchee, can do” (Never mind, master; whatever
you say will do), said the accommodating serving-
man. So the menage proceeded, everything exactly
as before — table as bountiful, servants as smart and
as respectful, but the monthly charge thirty per
cent. less. A year passed ; the new business had
been uphill work, as new businesses are wont to
be; the emolument was disappointing. Again the
master had to make an explanation to the servant;
again the solution of the difficulty was to reduce
the establishment. “Never mind, master; tell me
how much you think you can pay,” was the sub-
stance of his boy’s reply. The master was seri-
ously taken aback, but he named a figure which
was just one-half of what he had originally been
paying. The boy accepted as cheerfully as before
and went on his way rejoicing, and the menage pro-
ceeded, not a salad leaf or a partridge or a mush-
room the less ; only the cost was reduced to very
modest proportions. Of course it is open to remark
that the wily Chinaman had been extortionate in

275

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the high old time — but what elasticity of accommo-
dation, what fellowship in misfortune!

Take a converse case of more recent occurrence
in Peking. A French gentleman there keeping
house with his wife had gone on smoothly and
economically for many years, no ripple disturbing
the surface of their domestic felicity. By and by
they found a substantial increase in their monthly
budget. They remonstrated with their head servant,
but in vain. Stolidly, month after month, he brought
in the same bill, until at last the master resolved to
part with the servant, and did. When the successor
came and was being inducted he observed to the
master, “ What thing masta talkee ? How can ?
Spose that piecee man have talkee so fashon, that
b’long tlue. My no can makee more plopa. He
b'long welly good man,” which, being interpreted,
meant that he could not manage any cheaper than
his predecessor. The master was surprised at this
speech, argued the matter for a little, but could make
nothing more out of the new servant. At the end
of the first month, sure enough, the account came
to within a fraction of what it had been. Remon-
strance from master respectfully received, but the
following month the same old charge. The master
gave it up, and went on resignedly as if in the
clutches of P'ate. But when some time had elapsed,
and all controversy had ceased, the master, disputing
no longer, begged the servant, merely to satisfy curi-
osity, to explain to him how it had come about that
the scale of charge which had gone on the same

276

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

for so many years had suddenly risen without
any change in market prices or any other apparent
reason. Taken into confidence in this way, the boy
looked blandly at his master and said, “ Masta six
moon fore time have catchee good chance. Alio
man too muchee glad. Masta have catchee good
chance, alio man can catchee too,” which means
that, the master having had a piece of good-fortune
six months before, all the servants considered them-
selves entitled to their share.

We should not do the Chinese justice without
carrying the money test of character a stage higher,
almost into the region of pure ethics. It is not un-
common to impute ingratitude to them. But the
rule applies East and West alike, that a bad master
never had a good servant, and those who most
loudly cry out against ingratitude are usually those
who have merited nothing else. There are two
sides to all human relations ; sentiments are not
self-existent, but, like vertebrates, are the product of
two parents. All foreigners who have studied the
Chinese in a human, sympathetic manner, like
Meadows, Smith, and others, testify to their devo-
tion and gratitude. So many instances of this are
recorded that it must be taken as natural to the
Chinese to attach themselves heart and soul to any
one, be he native or foreigner, who once gains their
confidence. And the way to do that is explained
by Meadows ; it is to show them, not by words, but
by acts, that you are thinking of their w^elfare as
much as your own. There is no mystery in this; it

277

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

holds good of all races and of all periods. But the
gratitude of Orientals, Africans, and others, has freer
play than that of our own people because of the ac-
commodating cjuality of their social relations and
the extraordinary supply which their numbers af-
ford. Stereotyped as are the Chinese relations in
certain respects, they admit of great elasticity in
others, thanks to the family and clan system, which
makes it easy and common to find substitutes for
almost any occasion. This enables a man to attach
himself to a master or follow a leader whom he
appreciates, and to detach himself from his family,
and even from business engagements, for indefinite
periods. There are many foreigners who can speak
from experience of such proofs of devotion and
gratitude.

That the family spirit expands and perpetuates
the individual sentiment the following illustration
will show:

It happened to an Englishman once to revisit
China after the lapse of many years. One day he
was surprised to receive a call from some Chinese
whom he did not know. They were well dressed
and most respectful. After the usual conventional
preliminaries the principal man of the party, which
seemed like a deputation, explained that he was the
son of a Chinese orentleman who had died more than

twenty years before, while the speaker w^as still a
child ; that he had been told by his relatives of the
kindness which the Englishman had shown to his
father in those old days, but had never, since he

278

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

grew up, had any means of expressing his gratitude.
Now it had come to his ears that a person bearing
the name of his father’s friend had recently arrived
in the town, but he could not tell if it was the same.
So he paid this visit merely to find out, was over-
joyed to have discovered him, and begged to be al-
lowed to pay his homage on another occasion. Ex-
change of family news naturally took place, and on
his next visit the Chinese gentleman came laden
with valuable presents specially selected for the re-
spective children of his casually discovered English
friend.

Instances of large-heartedness in money matters
in which foreigners have been the beneficiaries are
indeed comparatively common. In the last genera-
tion they were still more so, for commerce, especially
that portion of it which was centred in Canton, was
conducted in a grander, more merchant-prince-like
fashion than the circumstances of our day admit of.
Complete trust was the rule between the old Hong
merchants and the European and American traders,
and business was transacted in whole ship-loads.
The friendly relations then established subsisted for
a generation after the destruction of the “factories,”
in 1856, and the inauguration of the new era, which
is of a more individualized and retail character.
One well - known survivor of the old regime, an
American gentleman, Mr. X., who was alive in Can-
ton in 1884, had, in consequence of the collapse of
his firm, fallen from affluence to penury, and was
personally deeply in debt to certain of the repre-

279

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

sentatives of the old “ co-hong.” Seeing that the
veteran remained on in Canton, never visiting his
home and family, his Chinese friend asked him why
he denied himself the natural solace of his old a2;e
— permanent separation from the family home being
specially intolerable to a Chinese — and, guessing the
reason, it is said he produced Mr, X.’s note of hand
for a large amount, and tore it up before the maker,
saying, “Now are you free to return to your home.'^”
Whether literally accurate in its details or not, the
mere currency of such a story goes a long way tow-
ards proving the contention.

Of course it may be said these are exceptional
cases, and so they are. But the question is, on
which side is the exception — on that of the Chinese
or that of the foreigners ? If more of the latter en-
deavored to gain the confidence of the former in
the natural way, would not the experience of grate-
ful, devoted, and trustworthy Chinese be greatly e.x-
tended ? And, considering the race antipathy that
keeps them apart, the fact that any instances at all
of such kindly relations ever come within the expe-
rience of foreigners affords strong presumption that
among themselves the Chinese maintain a more
than friendl}^ a really generous, intercourse.

One of the most valuable qualities of the Chinese
people, considered with reference to their utility in
the future development of their country, is their
marvellous tolerance of things disagreeable, and
their invincible contentment under all circumstances.
Every traveller, every one who has had opportuni-

280

THE CHINESE PEOPLE

ties of observing them, testifies to their unfailing
trood - humor under every kind of discomfort and
under the severest bodily toil. Their cheerfulness
is undaunted : neither cold nor heat, neither hunger
nor fatigue, has power to depress them, nor does
misfortune, or natural calamity, or sickness provoke
them to repine. As Giles says, “ They seem to
have accjuired a national habit of looking upon the
bright side.”

According to A. H. Smith, “ To be happy is more
than they expect, but they are willing to be as
happy as they can.” Possibly they follow Carlyle
unknowingly, and do not recognize “ happiness ” at
all as an object in life, and therefore they enjoy the
more of it — enjoy all they get, instead of vexing
themselves about what they lack. Smith tells us of
a Chinese who was employed by a foreigner — no
doubt himself — in pushing a heavy wheelbarrow on
journeys, often months in duration.

“Upon these trips it was necessary to start early, to travel late,
to transport heavy loads over steep and rugged mountains, in all
seasons and in all weathers, fording chilling rivers with bare feet
and legs, and at the end of every stage to prepare his master's food
and lodging. All this laborious work was done for a very moderate
compensation, and always without complaint; and at the end of
several years of this service his master testified that he had never
once seen this servant out of temper !”

I may venture to add, on my own account, that this
description seems to me typical. Now, to put the
merits of such a placid temper on the lowest utilita-
rian grounds, consider what an economy of nervous
friction is implied in a working life passed in such a

281

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

happy frame of mind. Is it not alone a source of
wealth to the people who possess it ?

Smith adds his experience of the Chinaman in
sickness.

“ Their cheery hopefulness,” he says, “ often does not forsake
them in physical weakness and in extreme pain. We have known
multitudes of cases where Chinese patients, suffering from every
variety of disease, frequently in deep poverty, not always adequately
nourished, at a distance from their homes, sometimes neglected or
even abandoned by their relatives, and with no ray of hope for the
future visible, yet maintained a cheerful equanimity of temper
which was a constant, albeit unintentional, rebuke to the nervous
impatience which,” etc.

He concludes his chapter with the observation,
which may also fitly conclude the present one: “ If
the teaching of history as to what happens to ‘ the
fittest ’ is to be trusted, there is a magnificent future
for the Chinese race.”

CHAPTER XI

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

It is natural that every serious observer of Chinese
life should exercise his mind on the causes of the
nation’s longevity. Several of our best writers,
including the more philosophical, have, with a con-
siderable amount of confidence, assigned quasi-
scientific grounds for the perpetuity of China in
defiance of what over the rest of the earth’s surface
has been the “ law of nations” — the succession of
youth, maturity, and decay. It is due to the form of
government, say some, the principles of govern-
ment, the principle of the selection of officials, the
chain of responsibility, the literature, the maxims
of Confucius and Mencius, filial piety, and the
promise attached to the fifth commandant (the
only “ commandment,” the other nine being pro-
hibitions) of the Mosaic decalogue, and so on. We
cannot consider any one or all of these, or sundry
other explanations, as satisfactory ; neither do we
presume to offer one. The true cause of Chinese per-
manence is probably very complex, and it will require
a good deal more of sympathetic and persevering
study before the philosophy of the Chinese race and
policy can be formulated in any acceptable manner.

283

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Bat of the contributory causes of a national
vitality which has vanquished all conquerors, cer-
tainly not the least interesting is the faculty of
local self-government which runs in the Chinese
blood.* While it may help to prevent the develop-
ment of nationality in its wide sense, this quality of
the race keeps alive the constituents of nationality
in separate small communities, and in a form as
indestructible as protoplasm, which cannot in fact be
broken up except by extermination. Or they may
be likened to an infinite multitude of water-tight
cells, which keep the whole mass afloat in the most
turbulent sea. And supplementing the family and
village groups which lie at the bottom of the
national life, which are rooted in the soil and
have their fixed rallying-points visible to the public
eye, are an indefinite number of other groupings —
special, variable, not territorially attached — which
are the spontaneous outcome of felt needs, wherein
professions, classes, interests, and aims form the
organic pivot. This disposition of the Chinese

* “Amid all political convulsions the people have remained un-
changed, and that mainly because they are a non-political people.
They are indifferent to affairs of State, but intent on their own
business. Yet the}' have the faculty of self-government developed
in an eminent degree. They are quiet, orderly, and industrious;
averse to agitation of any kind, and ready to endure great sacrifices
for the sake of peace. Such a people are easily governed, and their
instinct of self-government is one important element in their longevity
as a nation ; it has enabled successive dynasties, often weak and
vacillating, arbitrary and corrupt, to control three hundred millions
of people. This constitutes the elasticity by which they regain lost
ground.” — The Siberian Overland Route, by A. Michie. 1864.

284

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

people to arrange themselves in special organiza-
tions or coteries is clearly congenital and its action
automatic, as in the elective affinity of crystals ; for
they carry it with them wherever they go ; and of
them it may be truly said that wherever two or
three are gathered together they will promptly form
themselves into a “ society ” of some sort.

In treating of the Chinese Government in a pre-
vious chapter, the two heterogeneous departments —
that which is indigenous to the soil and that which
has been imposed from without or from above —
were indicated. There can be little doubt which of
the two is the more ancient, and, paradox though
the statement may seem, there is equally little doubt
which is the more authoritative. It is the peasant who
rules, by a human right which no “ Son of Heaven ”
dares to question. When he does, he forfeits his own
right, and another will soon occupy his seat. It has
been the wisdom of successive dynasties to respect
this “ law of the land,” to protect the people in
all their privileges, and to base on this universal
suffrage their own right to reign. In the “ Shuking”
— that most ancient classic — three canons of gov-
ernment are laid down, of which one is “ That
the people have the right to depose a sovereign
who either from active wickedness or vicious indo-
lence gives cause to oppressive or tyrannical rule.”
“Public opinion,” says Hue, “is always ready to
check any excesses on the part of the Emperor,
who could not, without exciting general indigna-
tion, dare to violate the rights of any of his sub-

285

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

jects and again, though “ they are in general sub-
missive to authority, when it becomes too tyran-
nical or merely fraudulent, the Chinese sometimes
rise and bend it to their will.” Confucius represents
the sovereignty as a sacred mission intrusted for
the time being to the “ Son of Heaven,” but a success-
ful revolutionary easily becomes the Elect of Heaven.

The rights of the people are primarily the
possession of their land, freedom of industry and
trade, and the control of their local affairs. As
to the land, the Emperor is in theory the sole pro-
prietor of the soil — a convenient legal fiction ; but in
practice his right is limited to the collection of the
land-tax, except in case of rebellion or other cause
of forfeiture. And it is a fundamental law of the
Empire that the land-tax can never be increased.
No people in the world, says Richthofen, are more
exempt from official interference.

Nevertheless, the two great systems, a centralized
autocracy and a democratic self-government, are far
from homogeneous ; they resemble two extensive
alien territories possessing a long common frontier.
With the greatest submissiveness on the one side
and the most prudent accommodation on the other,
there must be friction and occasional aggressions.
The benevolence of the Emperor, when filtered
down through nine grades of officials, may be
turned to vexation and sheer tyranny when it
reaches the last rank, which is in contact with the
people. The question must therefore be never
absent from consideration how the people are to

286

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

defend themseh'es from arbitrary officials ; and, as
the question must have arisen in primitive times, it
has of course been long since answered by expe-
rience. In public affairs the people have no share
whatever; the elective principle does not operate
above the village or group of villages, whose head-
man is the go-between, the joint, between the people
and the Government. But it is a weak joint, quite
inadequate to the duties expected of it, and is only
maintained in working order by being spared, as
much as possible, the strain of actual use. Having
no representative system through which their griev-
ances could be made known, the censors would ap-
pear to be the sole constitutional machinery for the
protection of the people from rapacity or tyranny.
But they number only two to a province as large as
a kingdom, and they share in the common corrup-
tion, so that there is practically no means provided
by the State whereby the oppressed may obtain a
hearing in the superior courts. This seems a serious
defect in a system which is so elaborate and which
is based on popular content. But what the framers
of the Constitution have failed to supply in a regu-
lar manner the exigencies of their life have com-
pelled the nation to provide by irregular means. In
the absence of a tribunal they simply take the law
into their own hands — a rough-and-ready, cruel, and
often disastrous remedy for grievances. In small
local questions the populace will sometimes resent
an imposition by seizing the official sent to enforce
it, dragging him by the heels out of his sedan-chair,

287

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

pulling his official boots off — a great indignity — and
throwing him into the nearest ditch. That ends the
matter — it is the last court of appeal. The magis-
trate who has failed is reprimanded as incompetent,

Centres of Mohammedan
Revolt.

Tracts wasted by the
Insurrection of 1870 — 75.

Range of the
Miaotze Insurrection.

PROVINCES RAVAGED BY MOHAMMEDAN RISINGS

and sent to another part of the country, although
the governor who thus condemns him be himself
the culpable party. In this we see how much
officialism in China resembles that in Christian
countries.

When the grievance is more wide-spread and is
long continued, and the officials are obstinate, there

288

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

may be what is called a local rising, which has to be
put down by massacre ; else the smoking llax may
spread to a conflagration. And this, the ultimate
remedy in the West, is the proximate remedy in the
East, for want of any adequate intermediate machin-
ery of redress.

Thus the sacred “ right of rebellion ” has asserted
itself in China. Meadows, writing in the midst of
the Taiping devastation and in immediate touch
with its horrors, justified it by elaborate arguments,
and showed historically that such outbreaks had
been an essential feature in the nation’s develop-
ment. China has, indeed, been called the classic
ground of revolutions, as many as twelve having
occurred between 420 and 1644 a.d. ; but rebellions
have been innumerable. The Empire is never, in-
deed, free from them ; they are of all dimensions,
and of varied durations. During the past forty
years there have been many important ones. The
province of Yunnan has been depopulated by them;
likewise Kweichau ; several times have serious re-
bellions, besides that of Yakub Beg, arisen among
the Mohammedans in the northwest of China proper
itself; the great Taiping calamity was followed by
numerous smaller insurrections in the province of
Shantung and in Kansu and Shensi.

In the rebellions of 1865 — when China lost con-
trol of Shensi, Kansu, and Kashgaria — the opera-
tions were carried on in the usual desultory Chinese
fashion. Tso, who crushed the rebellion, had as
many as 100,000 troops under his command, and was

T 289

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

more energetic than is usual ; but it was by making
roads, by starving out the towns, and especially by
the employment of diplomacy — namely, by the judi-
cious use of “ rewards,” and by winning over the
Mohammedan religious leaders through titles and
buttons — that the Chinese “ strategy ” eventually was
successful.

The rebellion in Kansu, in 1896, was conducted
in much the same fashion, but the Mohammedans
were in smaller numbers and showed a less decided
front. In their risings the Moslems have always
failed for want of concerted action ; they worked in
isolated bands, and therefore were only able to de-
vastate the country, cut off straggling bodies of the
Chinese troops, or massacre the inhabitants of out-
lying villages. Nothing could possibly have demon-
strated more clearly in recent times the total ab-
sence, on the part of the Chinese, of the organization
and discipline, necessary in modern warfare, than the
campaign conducted by the Chinese in Kansu. And
yet for all particulars of that civil war we are in-
debted to the missionaries, the whole episode hardly
obtaining a paragraph in the Western Press.

Whatever provocation there may have been for
the original outbreaks in any or all of these cases,
it was completely eclipsed by the atrocities of the
insurgents; and the conclusion that the average
man would probably arrive at in balancing the pros
and cojis would be the very obvious one that the
remedy was worse than the disease. Yet these
scourges do serve a purpose — that of holding up to

290

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

Original Seat of the Insurrection,
one of the Greatest Devastation.

C Perron.

Zones of the Spread of the InsuiTectioa,

REGIONS DEVASTATED BY THE TAIPING REBELLION

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the authorities the risk of an uprising wherever
there is misgovernment — a fear which weighs on all
provincial officials, and imbues them with their guid-
ing principle of action, peace-at-any-price.

The Chinese people, however, have other and less
tragic methods of expressing themselves, and of
maintaining democratic rights as against the aggres-
sions of despotism. The most notorious are their
secret societies. Some of these aim at revolution,
as the great Triad Society (Heaven, Earth, and
Man), which seeks more “light” (ming); but, as
“ ming ” was also the appellation of the last native
dynasty, Giles suggests that the word is used in the
latter sense. It is not easy to get at the real objects
or the actual working of this and other “ secret ”
societies, else w^ere the epithet a misnomer. They
are proscribed by Government, and secrecy is main-
tained even as to membership. Some facts, how-
ever, are obtainable respecting them wffiere large
bodies of Chinese happen to settle in British or
Dutch colonies. Even there, also, the Triads were
at one time feared and proscribed by law; but for
many years past they have been recognized, as trade-
unions have been in Great Britain ; and perfectly
good relations now subsist between them and the
Colonial Governments of Hongkong and Singapore.
Mr. W. A. Pickering, who, as Protector of Chinese
in the Straits Administration, had special opportu-
nities of informing himself regarding the organiza-
tions of the brotherhood, has given many interesting
particulars concerning them. Some account of the

292

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

establishment of the Triad Society in 1674 is given
in tlie introductions to its manuals, and in a sketch
of the history of the society since its creation, which
Mr. Pickering had occasion to study. In its origin
it was a purely political society, but it has in recent
times become the refuge for doubtful characters,
who use the organization for their own purposes,
lawless and otherwise — for prosecuting vendetta
warfare, and so forth. The funds are raised by
general subscription, levied chiefly upon the gam-
bling establishments in the various districts, and the
“ lodges ” or branches are in effect so many rival
organizations.

Whatever the original aim of these societies, they
have all wandered far from it, in the process of time
and under changing circumstances, and they tend to
become the mere tools of private schemers or the
hobbies of busybodies and agitators. As the reason
for their existence disappears, as is the case in
British colonies, they become more and more de-
graded. But so long as the organization is kept up,
and the ritual is carried out, the society is ready to
be put to any use which may tempt its leaders. In
the mean time, while waiting for higher game, the
wire-pullers busy themselves in plots to obstruct the
execution of the laws, whether in China or in foreign
countries where the Chinese cono^reo-ate.

An initiatory ceremony in one of the lodges of
Singapore was witnessed by Mr. Pickering, which
lasted from 10 p.m. until three in the morniufr. The-
oretically the meetings of the League are held in

293

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

“the mountains,” and new members, when asked
where they were initiated, are instructed to reply,
“ In the mountains, for fear of the ‘ Cheng’ officials.”
In the Straits the Grand Lodge has a superior build-
ing, where, twice a year, the “ Five Ancestors ” are
worshipped, and feasts are held in their honor by
the nine branches of the “Ghee Hin” Society. The
office of Grand Master has fallen into abeyance, but
each branch is managed by four office - bearers —
the General Manager, a Master of Lodge, a “ Van-
guard,” a “Red Baton” or Executioner — and a
varying number of Councillors and district head-
men, who have to carry out orders.

The character of the society in the Straits is
illustrated by an address made by the Grand Master
of the Lodges in Mr. Pickering’s presence :

“ Many of our oaths and ceremonies are needless and obsolete,
as, under the British Government, there is no necessity for some of
the rules, and the laws of this country do not allow us to carry out
others ; the ritual is, however, retained for old custom’s sake.

“The real benefits you will receive by joining our society are,
that if “outsiders” oppress you, or in case you get into trouble, on
application to the head-men they will, in minor cases, take you to
the Registrars of Secret Societies, the Inspector-General of Police,
and the Protector of Chinese, who will certainly assist you to ob-
tain redress; in serious cases, we will assist you towards procuring
legal advice.”

hlr. Pickering was informed by old office-bearers
of the society that as late as 1840 the punishments
of the League were inflicted without remission, and
that, on one occasion, several strangers — “ draughts
of wind,” as they are termed — were beheaded for

294

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

merely being present at a secret meeting held in the
jungle.

China Vs, par exccllmce, a country “honeycombed
with secret societies,” and with many which are not
secret. What has been said about the Triad applies
in the main to the “ White Lily,” the Kolao, and
others, which give their attention to politics in their
intervals of mummery. Some societies may be
properly termed sects, seeing that they require a
strict observance of certain rules of private conduct.
Vegetarian societies are common, and the Tsai li
sect, in Northern China, which enjoins abstinence
not only from animal food but from alcohol and
narcotics, is said to number 200,000 members. Even
these, however, on occasion play a political part,
and an outbreak in Mongolia in 1S91, which be-
came an insurrection, originated in a misunder-
standing between the Tsai li sect and the Catholic
converts and priests — a quarrel which had no rela-
tion to religion or morals, but to purely mundane
interests.

As a political agency it must be owned that the
secret societies are not very efficacious in China;
indeed of politics, as the term is used in Europe, the
Chinese seem to have no conception. They only
feel where the shoe pinches, and resent local injuries
by local weapons — such as mobbing a mandarin or
lampooning him. The common vehicle for convey-
ing the sense of the community is the placard, which
Hue rightly calls “a very powerful organ of public
opinion.”

29s

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The great fact to be noted, as between the Chi-
nese and their Government, is the almost unex-
ampled liberty which the people enjoy, and the
infinitesimally small part which Government plays
in the scheme of national life. It is the more
necessary to emphasize this, that a contrary opin-
ion is not uncommon among those who are unac-
cpiainted with the country. The Chinese have per-
fect freedom of industry and trade, of locomotion,
of amusement, and of religion, and whatever may
be required for regulation or protection is not sup-
plied by Act of Parliament or by any kind of Gov-
ernment interference, but by voluntary associations;
of these the Government takes no cognizance, though
it may sometimes come into collision with them —
never to the disadvantage of the popular institution.
Every trading interest has its own guild, which
maintains order among the members, acting as a
Court of Arbitration, and for breach of regulations
enforcing penalties, which usually take the form of
payment for a theatrical representation or a feast.
When the local authorities propose to put a new or
increased tax on merchandise, it is usually made the
occasion for a conference and bargain between the
parties; and when these cannot agree, the particular
trade affected brings the officials to terms by simply
closing business until satisfaction is obtained. For-
eign merchants also come occasionally into collision
with the guilds, whose decisions in case of dispute
sometimes appear to them arbitrary and unjust; but
this notion may be attributed to the opposite points

296

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

of view from which the question is approached by
the respective parties, as has been noted in a pre-
vious chapter. But it would appear that experience
renders the foreign commercial bodies more tolerant
of the Chinese guilds, as the Colonial Governments
become more tolerant of the Triad Society; and in
several instances the local guilds have even been
appealed to by Chambers of Commerce in a fair
and friendly spirit.

Thus, in all practical matters — politics not being
considered such — the Chinese genius for association
has the freest play and achieves most useful results.
So thoroughly national, or racial, is the institution,
that individual isolation is unknown. Nobody stands
alone, says Hue; and no commercial firm or bank
stands alone. The system of association here fits
in with the principle of linked responsibility, and
provides a guarantee most valuable for business.
As the London bankers came to the rescue of
Barings, so do the Chinese sometimes unite to sup-
port a member of the guild. In the case of bankers,
indeed, the guarantee is in constant action, all those
who belong to the inner circle being strictly bound
to aid each other in emergency, and prevent catas-
trophe. This makes it virtually impossible for a
bank of the first class to fail, except by some flagrant
breach of propriety.

Benefit and tontine societies of all sorts abound
throughout the country — anti -gambling societies,
associations for protection from thieves, associations
of girls who forswear marriage and agree to take

297

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

poison rather than be forced into that “honorable
estate,” vigilance committees, and hundreds of others.
In a word, the country is full of societies of every
kind, which fill up a very important space in the
life of the Chinese people.

Even the poor, as Hue tells us.

“are formed into companies, regiments, and battalions, and this
great army of paupers has a chief, who bears the title of ‘ King of
the Beggars,’ and who is actually recognized by the State. He is
responsible for the conduct of his tattered subjects, and it is on
him the blame is laid when any disorders occur among them that
are too outrageous and dangerous to public peace to be endured.
The ‘King of the Beggars’ at Peking is a real power. . . . While
they swarm about like some devastating insects, and seek by their
insolence to intimidate every one they meet, their King calls a
meeting of the principal inhabitants, and proposes, for a certain
sum, to deliver them from the hideous invasion. After a long dis-
pute, the contracting parties come to an agreement, the village pays
its ransom, and the beggars decamp, to go and pour down like an
avalanche upon some other place.”

Doolittle explains the diplomacy of the “ King,”
who is enriched by the industry of his subjects :

“ A head-man of the beggars may make an agreement with the
shopkeepers, merchants, and bankers within his district that
beggars shall not visit their shops, warehouses, and banks for
money for a stipulated time, and the beggars are obliged to con-
form to the agreement. Religious mendicants or refugees from
other provinces do not come under these regulations. The head-
man receives from each of the principal business firms with which
he comes to an agreement a sum of money, from a few to ten or
twenty dollars per annum, as the price of e.xemption from the im-
portunities of beggars, and in proof of the agreement he gives a
strip of red paper on which is written or printed, The brethren
must not come here to disturb or annoy."

298

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

The beggars, in their rags and loathsomeness,
are unpleasant objects, but they know that however
aggressive they may be, even to pawing a smart
foreigner with their scaly fingers, they are immune
from chastisement, and they naturally presume on
their immunity. They may be abused with the full
artillery of Chinese objurgations, but that makes no
impression on them. Yet even they are ruled by
etiquette, and have their professional code, like all
other sections of society. They must not call at
private houses, except on certain special occasions
of mourning or festivity, but that privilege may be
also compounded for by a covenant between the
head of the family and the chief of the beggars.
The roadside is always free to them, and visitors to
Peking know how the main approaches to the city
are lined with the whining fraternity. They are
sometimes really enterprising, and Doolittle relates
the circumstance of the burial of a native Christian
in Fuchau, when “a company of beggars and of
lepers gathered round the grave and demanded
20,000 cash as the condition of allowing the coffin
to be lowered. One of the rabble actually got down
into the grave, and thus prevented the lowering of
the coffin.” They eventually compromised for 800
cash.

Nor does the faculty of association end with the
Beggar Guild. The thieves are also organized, and
have their codes of honor, more elaborate than Dick
Turpin’s. There are certain matters in which igno-
rance is more affected than knowledge, at least by

299

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the respectable Chinese, and no one of them can be
found to boast of his acquaintance with the articles
of association of the fraternity of thieves ; but these
are known by their fruits. Even foreigners, who
know so little of the real life of the Chinese, have
observed some curious phenomena in connection
with their own residence in China. It is customary
to keep a door-keeper and a night-watchman. The
duty of the latter is to jog round the premises at
long intervals, beating the watches on a rattle or
gong; then he subsides into the sleep of the man
who has done his duty, for half an hour or an hour,
as the case may be. Every opportunity and encour-
agement is thus offered to the house-breaker, but he
does not take advantage of it. Let the householder,
however, seeing — what is perfectly evident — that his
watchman does “ watch,” only part with that func-
tionary, and then it is ten to one if the burglar does
not promptly make his presence felt. A blind and
deaf old dotard may prove an economical form of
insurance !

The potency of the Thief Guild is felt in many
ways. In the north of China, for example, highway
robbery is not unknown — indeed, is sometimes
alarmingly prevalent. But there is a valuable traffic
on wheels, a very slow traffic, over exceedingly bad
roads, most favorable for attack. Between Peking
and Tientsin, in particular, there is a constant ex-
change of silver bullion for gold, and large amounts
of treasure are conveyed on Government and mer-
cantile account. The conveyance is the common

300

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

travelling cart of the country, the custodian an ill-
paid driver. There may sometimes be an extra man,
with a rusty spear or an antiquated musket, riding
on the shaft of the cart. But no harm ever comes
to those expeditions of the precious metals. Whence
comes their security? The livery-stable, or “cart
company,” which undertakes the conveyance, makes
none of those exceptions to its liability about “ acts
of God and Queen’s enemies,” and a host of other
matters, which make the modern bill of lading such a
voluminous document. The Chinaman undertakes
absolutely to deliver the treasure. He guarantees
it against all accidents whatever; and the remark-
able feature in the transaction is that, for the trans-
port, including plenary insurance, the charge is ri-
diculously small — not a per “centage,” but a per
“mileage” on the value. Yet the business is remu-
nerative, the owners of carts and mules prosper, and
are men of substance sufficient to make good any
loss that may be brought home to them. But evi-
dently they make no losses. Out of their fractional
charge they no doubt spare a trifle for some occult
personage, as one would pay to gain the favor of the
King of the Fairies, and thus all the world is con-
tent. Weird stories are sometimes heard of the
diplomacy of the King of the Thieves, and the ef-
ficacy of a dingy little flag to protect untold wealth
in silver and gold, but it is a subject on which it is
precisely those who know the most who have the
least to say.

It is only fitful glimpses which strangers are able

301

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to obtain of the inner \vorking of Chinese national
life — quite insufficient to form a coherent theory of
the whole, except by supplementing what is known
by inferences drawn as to the mass which remains
unknowii. But the data ascertained seem sufficient
to warrant the inference of a vast, self - governed,
law-abiding society, costing practically nothing to
maintain, and having nothing to apprehend save
natural calamities and national upheavals. Perhaps
the least-understood feature in the Chinese democ-
racy is the sentiment by which the innumerable
societies are held together, and by which, in fact, the
whole scheme of self-s:overnment is sustained. That
is a proposition which is, pj'ima facie, contradictory
of many observed facts ; it is opposed to the com-
mon opinion which has been so well illustrated by
Arthur H. Smith, in his chapter on the “Absence
of Altruism”; }'et it is established on no less incon-
trovertible evidence than this, that the principle of
self-sacrifice is an essential element in the preserva-
tion of Chinese social institutions. It is often cited
as an example of Chinese eccentricity that a sub-
stitute may be hired to undergo capital punishment.
But if we consider the number of occasions on which
self-immolation is practised to gain an object, we can
hardly dispose of them all as eccentric freaks. They
proceed from some principle which we do not as
yet understand. Suicide, which is penal under Eng-
lish law, is meritorious in China. The sacrifice
of a widow on her husband’s demise, whether by
hanging, poisoning, or drowning, still exists, and

302

CHINESE DEMOCRACY

such widows receive posthumous honors. The de-
votion of a daughter who, in despair of other rem-
edy, gives her sick father her own flesh to eat, is
always highly commended in the Peking Gazette.
To be avenged on his adversary, a man will commit
suicide on his enemy’s threshold. It is related of
Cheo and Chang, leaders of a riot in Ningpo to re-
duce taxation, that they surrendered themselves to
certain death — although they defeated the Govern-
ment forces — in order to gain their object and put
an end to the contest without the further shedding
of blood. And so we find, running like a thread
through the complicated web of Chinese social life,
a constant readiness to die when the need arises,
and one cannot but consider this an element of
strength and stability in the Chinese nation, espe-
cially if we regard this spirit of sacrifice in its rela-
tion to the family cult, which is to the Chinese the
realization of immortality.

CHAPTER XII

HONGKONG

The present moment is a fitting one to sur-
vey the history and consider the characteristics of
Hongkong, and to note the lessons contained there-
in. Hongkong is usually regarded as merely a fine
port through which passes yearly an immense
amount of shipping, and which has a vast distribut-
ing commerce ; in fact, it is looked upon as only a
vast cnti'epbt of trade. Steamship lines, it is known,
place the island in direct communication with Great
Britain, Australasia, and \"ancouver, and also with
Japan, Tongking, the Straits, Siam, the Philippines,
Corea, and China — in fact, with the entire field of
the Far East. But Honcrkons: is something: more
than a mere entj'epbt of trade. From the very first,
there was never any intention of creating a colony
there. Besides an emporium of commerce, it was
meant to be -x place d'armes. “We occupy Hong-
kong,” said Lord Derby, at the time of its cession
to England, “ not with the object of colonizing, but
of using it from a commercial and military point of
view.” The island was chosen not without the full-
est consideration as to the most suitable position
for occupation on the China coast. The advantages

304

HONGKONG

of Chusan, among other places, had been fully
weighed, as evidently commanding a more central
position ; but the situation of Hongkong with refer-
ence to Canton, then the great trading city of China,
d.ecided the question, for considerations of trade
were then not merely of greater importance than
they now are, but were paramount.

Though officially classed as one of the Crown
colonies,* Hongkong is not a colony in which the
British race is perpetuated — as in Australasia, for
instance. It is not even a settlement with resources
of its own, but merely a station, partly military,
partly gommercial, deriving its sole importance from
the trade passing through its port. There is much
to admire, much to marvel at, in the magnificent
commerce which has been built up on a barren
rock — a mere dot in the China Sea ; and the place
affords a great object-lesson as to what can be
achieved by the Chinese under the guidance and
rule of a Western Power. It is, in fact, a Chinese
colony under the auspices of the British Govern-

* British colonies have been divided into three categories; i.
Crown colonies, such as Ceylon, which are subject to the control of
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to which the Home
Government supplies laws and officials ; 2. Colonies, such as Bar-
badoes, which possess representative institutions, but not a respon-
sible Government, the Home Government reserving the right of
vetoing legislative measures and of appointing public functionaries;
3. Colonies, such as Canada, which have both representative insti-
tutions and a responsible Government which fills up all appoint-
ments, the Home Government merely reserving the right (rarely
exercised) of vetoing legislative measures and of nominating the
Governor.

305

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

ment, and a colony, too, so close to the coast of
China and to Canton — the chief commercial city of
the Empire — as to almost form part of the main-
land itself. In the Straits Settlements, in Labuan,
in North Borneo, and in Burma there are large and
increasing Chinese communities, as there are also in
Australia, British Columbia, and other British colo-
nies. But it is only in Hongkong that a purely
Chinese population is found living under the British
rule, and that Britain finds herself in direct relation
with China. If any lesson is to be learned from the
history of Hongkong, it is the clear indication af-
forded of what can be accomplished in China itself
when the great resources of that country come to be
developed by the Western Powers.

The island of Hongkong, one of a scattered
group known as the Ladrones, situated at the
mouth of the Canton River, stands at the base of
a sector embracing in its curve Yokohama, Shang-
hai, Singapore, Java, and Australia. It is the end
of the chain of British dependencies dotting the
south coast of Asia, of which Singapore is a pow-
erful link, and is the easternmost post in the circle
of British possessions, divided by the Pacific Ocean
from the extreme western point, Vancouver Island.
It occupies a unique position, therefore, with regard
to China and Japan, and, situated as it is, must take
a leading part in the development of the Pacific,
where history is being rapidly made. The Pacific
must occupy an increasingly important position in
the evolution of the world’s history. Not merely

306

HONGKONG

the leading countries of Europe, but also the United
States, have entered upon a struggle to obtain the
control of countries adjacent to this ocean, and of
the neiehborinfj islands. In this shifting of the
balance of power, in this commercial and political
contest, and in the working out of the destinies of
the Far East, Hongkong, the pivot of British opera-
tions in that part of the world, will play no unim-
portant part.

The history of a place like Hongkong is a curi-
ous study. The European population is constantly
changing, for foreigners remain as short a period as
possible — they come to make a fortune or compe-
tency, and then return to the mother-country. It is
this continual change of local leaders \yhich makes
it so difficult to trace any distinct evolution of local,
as distinguished from imperial, policy. The same
mistakes, the same criticisms, the same apprehen-
sions, recur again and again; the experiences of those
who have left the place being too rapidly lost sight of.

The proximity of Hongkong to China, and the
fact that the colony includes a promontory of the
mainland, creates special difficulties as regards the
maintenance of law and order. Owing to its posi-
tion, Hongkong may be regarded as a mere suburb
of Canton, not only the richest and most populous,
but also one of the most disorderly cities of the
Chinese Empire. It has always been a favorite re-
sort for the criminal classes of the Canton province,
and is the starting-point for the Chinese emigrants,
men from the southern provinces, on their way to

307

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Western lands. Special ordinances have, therefore,
been enforced from time to time to check the influx
of criminals, to prevent the undue influence of the

secret societies, and to insure that coolie emigration
does not reproduce, as it has a strong tendency to
do, the evils of the slave-trade.

Many are the vicissitudes, in the early years, of a
place like Hongkong, with the early enthusiasm fol-
lowed by intense depression ; the strenuous efforts
succeeded by intervals of inactivity; and, finally, the
revival of enthusiasm and the establishment of solid
prosperity.

308

HONGKONG

In its infancy Hongkong failed to attract the bet-
ter class of Chinese, and was an Alsatia, seemingly
of the most pronounced description. It is recorded
that only one Chinaman of any respectability vent-
ured to Hongkong at that time, after a few months
returning to his native place, Canton. The authori-
ties on the mainland did all they could to prevent
Chinese settling on the island. “ The island of
Hongkong,” said an English official in 1841, “will
probably become the favorite resort of the smugglers
and debauchees of that quarter of the globe,” and
the forecast was fulfilled to the letter. Opium dens,
gaming-houses, and other places still worse, ffour-
ished.

At one time, in 1849, the fortunes of the place
were at a very low ebb ; indeed, it seemed to be
doomed. The cost of administration had risen to as
much as ^250,000 annually, while the receipts did
not exceed ^12,000, and at the same time the trend
of Chinese trade was towards Shanghai, which was
rapidly developing. The business transacted with
the open ports by European countries was then dis-

tributed as follows :

I. Canton: British imports ^1,646,000

Exports 2,300,000

(Figures referring to the business of other Powers, which was al-
together insignificant, are not to be had.)

II. Amoy: Imports ^1,496,000

Exports 277,006

Shanghai : British imports 974,000

Those of other countries 1,209,000

British exports 1,438,000

Those of other countries 1,754,000

309

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

The abandonment of the colony was recommend-
ed from many quarters, especially by Montgomery
Martin, then an authority on colonial questions, who
led a fierce attack in England on the Home Gov-
ernment. It was admitted that it would have been
better never to have gone there.

“ If it could have been foreseen,” wrote Lord Grey, Secretary
of State for the Colonies in Lord John Russell’s Administration,
“what the total expenses would amount to, and what limited ad-
vantages this place would possess for our trade, it would not have
been thought worth while to occupy it. But that had already been
done long before our administration was formed ; it only remained
for us to endeavor to diminish the cost of an establishment which
had been instituted on a scale worthy of the supposed importance
of Hongkong at a time when it was confidently expected that it
would become the great emporium of the trade with China. In
1846 it had already become evident that this would not be the case,
and that the greater portion of our commerce would pass through
the ports into which our merchants are admitted.”*

One of Martin’s chapters was actually headed,
“ Hongkong, its position, prospects, character, and
utter worthlessness in every point of view to Eng-
land.” Eortunately, Hongkong was not abandoned.
Works were systematically carried out gradually,
rendering the malarious climate less unhealthy ; the
Chinese of the better class were drawn to the place;
and the erstwhile deserted port and settlement be-
came, step by step, more flourishing, and showed
signs of becoming what it is to-day, one of the most
prosperous spots in the world.

* The Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell’s Adminisiration (2
vols., 8vo. London : R. Bentley. 1853). Second edition, p. 265.

310

HONGKONG

It is hard to believe that so much can have been
accomplished in so short a time. The gi'Avait praya,
or esplanade, the public buildings, the merchant
houses and wharves, the harbor crowded with
steamers and craft of all kinds — all these denote
affluence and activity ; while the public gardens,
and the successful system of afforestation which
has covered the once bare hills with timber, have
worked a complete transformation in the appear-
ance of the place.

To-day Victoria, lying on the north of the island
at the foot of a high range of hills, is a city of
closely built houses stretching for some four miles
along the island shore, and rising, tier over tier, up
the slopes of the mountain ; while on the shore of
the opposite peninsula (Kaulung), until recently an
uninhabited waste of undulating red rock, are now
seen a mass of buildings and docks, great ware-
houses, and other accompaniments of a prosperous
city. In the Kaulung warehouses may be seen
merchandise worth over half a million sterling. Of
the several docks, one is constructed entirely of
granite, and can take, with a few exceptions, the
larsrest vessels now ailoat. The silent and deserted
basin has become a harbor covered with shipping,
a sight hardly to be matched in the whole world.
The shipping entering and clearing the port in 1897
amounted to over 17,000,000 tons, the tonnage re-
turns showing it to be the third port of the British
Empire and probably of the world. The aggregate
burden of shipping is greater than that of the four

3”

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

leading Australian colonies. At anchor may be seen
as many as fifty ocean steamers, including ships of
war, large European and American sailing vessels,
and hundreds of sea-going junks; while in the har-
bor are many thousand boats, containing mostly a
floating population, with more than a hundred steam
launches, for which Hongkong is famous.

In an interesting account of Hongkong written
some years ago by Sir \V. des Voeux, he said there
mifjht be seen

“Long lines of quays and wharv'es, large warehouses teeming with
merchandise, shops stocked with all the luxuries as well as the
needs of two civilizations; in the European quarter a fine Town
Hall, stately banks, and other large buildings of stone ; in the
Chinese quarters houses, constructed after a pattern peculiar to
China, of almost equally solid materials, but packed so closely to-
gether and thronged so densely as to be in this respect probably
without parallel in the world (100,000 people live within a certain
district not exceeding half a square mile in area), and finally streets
stretching for miles, abounding with carriages (drawn for the most
part not by animals but by men), and teeming with a busy popula-
tion, in the centre of the town chiefly European, but towards the
west and east almost exclusively Chinese.”

Higher up are found churches, public buildings, and
many houses of European design, generally detached
and fronted with stone arched verandas.

“Hongkong has indeed changed its aspect; and when it is re-
membered that all this has been effected in Her Majesty’s reign, and
indeed during a space of less than fifty years, on ground in immedi-
ate contact with the most populous Empire in the world, by a com-
paratively infinitesimal number of an entirely alien race separated
from their homes by nearly the whole earth, and, unlike their coun-
trymen in Australia and Canada, living in an enervating and trying
climate ; and when it is further remembered that the Chinese,

312

HONGKONG

whose labor and enterprise under British auspices have largely
assisted in this development, have been under no compulsion, but
have come here as free men, attracted by liberal institutions, equi-
table treatment, and the justice of our rule; when all this is taken
into account, it may be doubted whether the evidences of material
and moral achievement, presented as it were in a focus, make any-
where a more forcible appeal to eye and imagination, and whether
any other spot on earth is thus more likely to excite, or much more
justifies, pride in the name of Englishman.” *

The climate of Hongkong has always been a great
drawback to the place, and the mortality in the early
years of the occupation was something terrible, es-
pecially among the troops. The malignant fever
of the early days, however, was alleged to be due to
the upturning of the soil (a disintegrated granite).
Of late years Hongkong has again been afflicted,
this time by the bubonic plague, which is said to
have spread to the island from the mainland. This
disease, the mortality of which is appalling, has
proved a severe strain on the resources of the colony.
In the early period of our possession the climate of
the lower valleys was so bad that “ abandon hope ”
might have been written up over the barrack gate-
way. Not ten men of the 59th regiment remained
of those who eight years before had landed there,
and the place acquired the name of “ The White
Man’s Grave.” It was intended at one time to move
the colony to the higher ground, so as to avoid the
dangerous fever common among the troops and set-

* Report on the Condition and Prospects of Hongkong, by H. E.
Sir G. William des V^oeux, Governor, etc, Hongkong, October 31,
1889.

313

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tiers, a step that was strongly recommended by
Sir Henry Pottinger. But the moving of a colony,
even at an early stage of its existence, proved an
impossible task.

During the summer months, from April to Sep-
tember inclusive, when the southwest monsoon pre-
vails, the heat and rain are great, and Victoria loses
the benefit of the wind. From October to April the
northeast monsoon prevails, and little rain falls. The
air is cool and bracing, fires being in common use
until the end of February. The temperature varies
from about 40° to 90°, the coolest month being Jan-
uary and the hottest August. The average annual
rainfall is about eighty inches, mainly contributed
by the summer months. From time to time Hong-
kong is visited, usually about the date of the autumn
equinox, by typhoons, which work havoc among the
shipping in the harbor and occasionally among the
buildinfTS on the land.

Smuggling still exists, though it has been reduced
to small dimensions, and there have been recently but
few acts of piracy. A proportion of the police force
finds its duties on the water, scouring the harbor
waters in swift police launches and pinnaces. The
natives of the islands and of the mainland, whose
shallow creeks afford safe refuge for light craft,
have always been in complete sympathy with the
smugglers; in fact, every one in the earlier days,
from the highest mandarin to the lowest in rank,
was banded together by mutual self-interest and by
sentiment to oppose the suppression of the pirates.

314

HONGKONG

That grave difficulties occurred in putting down
piracy is not to be wondered at when we recollect
the great obstacles encountered in suppressing brig-
andage wherever the authority enforcing order is
in the hands of the countrymen of the people of the
district. The pirates were so successful that they
scoured the sea in fleets, carrying guns and attack-
ing steamers.

Special measures and organized e.xpeditions, sys-
tematically carried out, and the development of
communications and commerce, have combined to
put an end to piracy. The Chinese officials, even,
have found it politic and profitable no longer to
protect the evil-doers. As recently as 1885, how-
ever, a British steamer, the Greyhound, was captured
by pirates, who had embarked as passengers, within
si.xty miles of Hongkong. And again, in 1887, three
piratical attacks were made within a week. In 1890
the steamer Namoa was captured under circum-
stances which created a great sensation in China.*'

The success of British rule over Asiatics is no-
where better exemplified than in Hongkong, where,
as in the Straits, or Rangoon, the Chinaman has
proved himself to be most successful as a colonist,

* The Namoa left Hongkong on December lo, 1890, having on
board two hundred and twenty Chinese deck-passengers, emigrants
returning to China with the savings they had accumulated at Sing-
apore. At a given signal some fifty of them, clothed in a kind of
uniform, rushed upon the crew and the ship’s officers, wounded
them, and seized the vessel and everything of value. It was not
until some time later that the Chinese authorities discovered their
whereabouts, and took them prisoners.

315

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

trader, and merchant. Beginning usually without
any means, often as a mere coolie, he starts life as
a peddler, or in the smallest of booths or shops. He
gradually makes his way, the shop becomes larger
and the operations more extensive. Some join
European firms, in which they are most useful,
sometimes indispensable ; and by indomitable in-
dustry, business capacity, and daring ventures — and
it must be understood that there is in the world no
more determined speculator than the Chinaman —
they rise to the position of wealthy men, perhaps
of merchant princes. Much more than apparent is
his success, for, caring less for the external appear-
ance than for the solid reality, he is content to re-
main in the background. The Chinese merchant,
by reason of his shrewdness, perseverance, abilit}^
and honesty, stands very high in the commercial
world, and is the most formidable rival of the Anglo-
Saxon race. In the colony of Hongkong most of
the wealth is in the hands of the Chinese, and in all
the chief business houses and financial institutions
the Chinese hold positions of great responsibility.

In 1849 thousands of Chinese poured into Hong-
kong, to procure employment in America in the
gold mines, through English intermediary. Thus
was established an exceedingly profitable industry —
the transport of coolies — which helped to turn the
fortunes of the colony. This transport system soon
attained large dimensions. The earlier emigration
to Singapore, Peru, and the Antilles was now aug-
mented by a greater volume to California, at that

316

HONGKONG

time isolated from the Eastern States of the Union.
Australia, too, was a great field for labor. No peo-
ple accommodate themselves to the idea of expa-
triation more readily than the Chinese — but always
with repatriation in view. All countries, all climates,
all surroundings seem to suit them ; they adapt
themselves to any circumstances, and are to be seen
in many quarters of the world. There is no colo-
nist in existence like the Chinaman. He is equally
at home in Siberia or the Philippines, in Burma or
India, in Central America or Canada. To those
countries that will receive them the Chinese are
ever ready to go, even to such a death-trap as Pan-
ama proved to be.

The chief features, then, in the progress of Hong-
kong seem to be the following;

The emigration of the Chinese through Hong-
kong, first to America and Australia, and later to
the Malay Peninsula and the Pacific Islands, which
has led to a large increase of business generally, and
to the establishment of regular lines of steamers to
America and Australia; the unforeseen circum-
stance of the Taiping rebellion, which threatened
southern China, compelling the leading Chinese
traders to seek refuge in the English colony; the
opening of the Suez Canal, which gave an immense
impulse to the Ear Eastern trade ; and, generally,
the increasing willingness of the Chinese to settle
in an English colony, after experience of the justice
to be obtained under British rule.

How to attract colonists and, still more, how to

317

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

retain them, is a most complicated and interesting
problem. That the British do not seem to be ap-
prehensive of the success accomplished by the Chi-
nese in places like the Straits or Rangoon is a mat-
ter of constant surprise to our Continental neighbors,
especially the French, who do not understand that
our treatment of the Chinese is really a matter of
general policy, and that nowhere has our dealing
with Asiatics been more successful than in China.
The English are aware that, while the Chinese could
accomplish nothing without them, on the other
hand they themselves could accomplish nothing
without the Chinese : they are mutually necessary.
The policy of encouraging the Chinese, under a
liberal yet firm administration, has been eminently
satisfactory, and has succeeded in inspiring the Chi-
nese with confidence in English rule. The system
of government and administration may not contain
anything to specially excite admiration, as has been
pointed out by French writers, and any French legis-
lator might be competent to devise an equally well-
arranged and no doubt more logical and more me-
thodical form of administration — on paper. But,
then, it would be on paper only. The essential dif-
ferences, in fact, between the English and Erench
systems are well illustrated in English colonies like
Hongkong and Singapore on the one hand, and
Tongking and Cochin-China on the other. The
English begin in a loose and rough-and-ready fash-
ion, adapting themselves to circumstances as they
arise; the French commence with a complete code,

3*8

HONGKONG

from which they permit no divergence, and endeavor
to make the circumstances fit the code.

Since the above account of Hongkong was writ-
ten, a considerable extension has been made to the
colony. A Convention was signed on the 9th of

Kkulung concession. 1860 DH Area of 1898 concession

EnglisK Miles,
o 5- 10 20

MAP SHOWING KAULUNG CONCESSION OF i860 AND HONGKONG EXTENSION

OF 1898

June, 1898, between Great Britain and China, under
which a lease for ninety-nine years has been grant-
ed to the former of the territory on the mainland
opposite Victoria, and of the adjacent islands and
waters as far as Deep Bay on the west and Mirs

319

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Bay on the east, China retaining its jurisdiction in
the native city of Kaulung, and the right to use
the waters for her ships. The total area leased, in-
cluding the waters, amounts to about two hundred
square miles. It is hoped that this extension will
enable the colony to be more securely defended,
and will aid its commercial development and indus-
trial expansion. Now that Hongkong is brought
closer than ever to Canton, it is to be hoped that
the long- talked - of railway between that city and
Kaulung will be no longer delayed.

Such as I have briefly described it is the Hong-
kong of to-day, after little more than fifty years of
British rule.

CHAPTER XIII

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

Thirteen years ago I predicted that the Franco-
Chinese War had opened a new chapter of inter-
national history, which it was safe to presume was
not in the contemplation of either party to the
struggle, and thus I described the situation :

“ What was sure to happen some day in the ordinary course of
commercial and colonial development has been accelerated by the
French proceedings in Tonquin and China, and by the movements
of Russia — the shifting of the political centre of gravity, the open-
ing of a new and larger Eastern question, and the resumption in
the Pacific of the struggle for pre-eminence which was carried on a
century ago in the Atlantic. It is inevitable that the question of
supremacy in Asia will be shortly decided in favor of one or other
of the Powers, Russia or Britain. In the coming strife England
must in spite of herself play a leading part, since the material
interests of the British Empire are by far the heaviest stake in the
game. It is even probable that the fate of the Empire itself may
be eventually decided in the Eastern seas. It is therefore a question
that concerns all Englishmen in the mother-country and India and
the colonies, and, indeed, all English-speaking people throughout
the world, whether English statesmen will rise to the occasion,
bringing courage, faith, and intelligence to bear on the direction of
affairs, whether they will instruct the people in their true interests
and responsibilities, teach them the vital importance of foreign af-
fairs and national defence, or whether, calling upon the people to
centre their attention on drastic semi - socialistic ‘reforms,’ in a
lukewarm, vacillating, and cowardly spirit they will continue as of
X 321

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

late years to embroil England and humble her before the nations,
and finally cause her to drop out of the rank of Great Powers.”

The years that have elapsed since this was written
have not rendered these propositions obsolete.

That Britain is an Asiatic Power is a truism.
But how little realized by our countrymen ! Eng-
land’s Asiatic dominions and dependencies cover
more than 1,600,000 square miles. She has nearly
300,000,000 of souls under her rule, speaking some
twenty languages. Her European military strength
in Asia is 75,000 men, with 150,000 native auxilia-
ries, while her naval force, thanks to recent rein-
forcements, is stronger than that of any other single
Power, excepting Japan.* She has 21,000 miles of
railway and 47,000 miles of telegraph on land in
Asia, and some 20,000 miles of submarine cable.
She has invested in her territories, either in State
loans or railways under the State, over ^250,000,-
000, besides scores of millions sterling invested in
private enterprise — agricultural, commercial, indus-
trial— which cannot be exactly estimated. The
foreio-n trade of these territories is more than

^160,000,000 annually. The trade of other Asiatic
countries with Europe is over ^60,000,000, of which
four-fifths is English, while an enormous coasting
trade, growing yearly with giant strides, is mainly in

•

* The normal strength is — one first-class battle-ship, four first-
class cruisers, four second-class cruisers, two third-class cruisers,
eight first-class gunboats, three torpedo-destroyers, and some gun-
boats for river service. Two first-class battle-ships and a first-class
cruiser have lately been added.

322

COMPARISON OF AREAS AND POPULATIONS OF ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN
EUROPE AND ASIA

323

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

our hands. The trade between eastern Asia and
our Australian colonies, still in its infancy, is in-
creasing and has a great future before it.

But the point to which attention should be direct-
ed is the unique position occupied by China and the
Far East in the whole range of trade fields. The
British share of China’s total foreiijn trade is above
eighty per cent., or more than ;^32,ooo,ooo per
annum ; while British trade with the Straits Settle-
ments, Siam, China, Corea, the Philippines, Japan,
and Hongkong combined exceeds ^130,000,000 per
annum. The British capital invested in the Far
East is computed by the best authorities to run into
several hundred millions sterling. And this on a
field for the greater part unopened and capable of
indefinite expansion! These facts should be in-
scribed on the walls of every school-room and every
politician’s study throughout the country.

The Asiatic dominions or dependencies of Russia,
measured by area, are close upon four times as
great as our own, and contain over 6,000,000 square
miles, but they have only a population of some
13,000,000 — not onc-thirtccnth of oitr Asiatic popu-
lation— -scattered over this enormous region, which
in economic wealth is extremely poor compared with
our own. It is these simple facts which make the
rapid advance of Russia towards India and China in
the present generation so significant. From the
shores of the Caspian as her base she has, at enor-
mous sacrifice of life and treasure, thrown forward a
vast net-work of communications through central

324

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

Asia towards India, while in Siberia and the Amur
region she is making great efforts not merely to
consolidate herself and to perfect the communica-
tions between the Pacific and European Russia, but
to reach China’s eighteen provinces. She is every
year occupying a stronger position, from which she
can put in practice her policy of pressure upon India
and China, and thus gain what she first wants —
strategic positions inland and on the seaboard in the
East and West. The completion of the Siberian
Railway and its branches will mark a most impor-
tant epoch in her advance. Her trade with eastern
Asia, consisting almost entirely of tea from China, is
altogether insignificant.

The force which is constantly, silently at work in
this Eastern question — this Drang nach Osten — the
factor which can always be reckoned on with cer-
tainty, is the irrepressible but natural ambition of
Russia, which impels her incessantly from the Arctic
frosts towards the open sea, the rich plains and the
vast populations of Asia — a movement which presses
on Turkey, on India, and on China, and in a minor
degree on Persia, in a continuous line of front ex-
tending 7600 geographical miles right across Asia —
from the Bosporus to the Yellow Sea. There is
no need to trace here the history of the Russian ad-
vance across the barren and thinly populated wastes
of central Asia and Siberia ; enough to bear in
mind that she is now on the frontiers of India
and China, the objectives of the movement — ob-
jectives in a sense that will appear later. Obsta-

325

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

cles may retard, but centuries do not change that
movement.

Russia obeys a law of sunward and seaward gravi-
tation, accelerated by the ambitions of her statesmen
and officials, and resulting in a course of develop-
ment which must progress until it encounters the
opposition of a nation stronger and better than her-
self.* Hers is not the case of an over- populated
country throwing off its surplus population. She is
engaged on a purely political and military conquest,
which, after enormous expenditure, has already
placed her in an advantageous position for in-
fluencing, for menacing, and perhaps even attack-
ing, one if not both of the two richest and most
populous countries in Asia — one already belonging
to us and the other the chief trading field yet open
to our energies. She means eventually to build up
a commerce, but the seaboard and ports she wants
in the first instance for strategic purposes.

Russia is bordered in central Asia by soft or-
ganisms, countries without military knowledge, with-
out roads or railroads, almost without government ;
and, following the law of nature, she absorbs them

* In reply to the inquiry as to where the aggression of Russia is
to stop, Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace says: “Russia must push for-
ward her frontier until she reaches a country possessing a govern-
ment which is able and willing to keep order within its boundaries,
and to prevent its subjects from committing depredations on their
neighbors.” {Russia, p. 596.) But China keeps order within her
boundaries. My contention is that Russia will move forward until
she encounters, in place of a soft organism, a hard one, which
should be England.

326

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

one after the other. She has nearly destroyed
Turkey, has devoured and digested, at no slow rate,
the effete central Asian States well within her reach ;
and, if permitted, she will devour the whole of China,
bit by bit, as she can digest them. The duty of
Britain is to preserve Afghanistan and Persia, and,
above all, China — and this at all hazards.

The Mongol Empire once included Russia, and
extended from the Pacific to Germany, and from the
Arctic to the Indian Ocean. It fell to pieces through
want of organization. Russia rose and is rising
from its ruins. The advantages possessed by Russia
arise chiefly from her geographical position and
from a certain affinity of race. By her advance she
menaces Britain’s power in Asia, while the exten-
sion of the British Empire from India does not
menace Russia, though it doubtless interferes with
her ambitions.

The Trans-Siberian Railway and its branches will
be one of the chief factors in shifting the centre of
gravity of the world’s trade. Its effects seem to
be viewed with complacency on our part, because it
is thought the existing trade with China will not be
greatly diverted. Considerable changes, however,
must from the first result, though slowly and im-
perceptibly. The eventual effect will be colossal,
for the railway will open up enormous undeveloped
regions, and will give facilities for the conveyance
of passengers, correspondence, and the lighter class
of goods ; a most important matter when it is a
question of connecting within a fortnight’s time the

327

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

capitals of Europe with those of China, Japan, and
Corea — countries with a population of four hundred
millions, one-third the world’s total. A great por-
tion of the eastern section of the line will pass
through a splendid country — Manchuria — a white
man’s country, and full of valuable resources.

French interests in Asia consist of her possessions:
Cochin-China, covering an area of 22,000 square
miles, with a population of 1,800,000; Cambodia,
62,000 square miles, and a population of 1,000,000;
Annan (including Tongking), 250,000 square miles,
with a population of about 20,000,000 — in all a pop-
ulation of some 23,000,000. The total trade repre-
sents something under ^10,000,000 sterling annu-
ally, of which a considerable amount is in British
hands. But if France has little trade she has aspi-
rations, aims — an idea.

The ambition of P'rance, though continuous in in-
tention, is spasmodic and incoherent in action. Its
motive is political and antagonistic, not commercial
and peaceful. Commerce is merely the stalking-
horse. Her population is stationary, her finances are
in an unsatisfactory condition. She has no colonies
that are “white man’s ” lands. Her military occupa-
tion has everywhere been a failure, except perhaps
in Algeria, where she has a base close by, in Mar-
seilles. The view generally held is that French-
men cannot colonize. But when one considers the
marvellous success obtained by France under the
old colonial methods, by which she gained so many
magnificent possessions, rendering it doubtful, even

328

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

in the eighteenth century, whether France or Brit-
ain would prove to be the colonizing nation of the
world, it must be admitted that France has been
in the past, if she is no longer to-day, capable of
colonial work. It would seem that, in the great
upheaval at the latter end of the century, the old
colonial system, which had been built up under the
former regime^ was lost. The colonial genius of
France disappeared and left nothing in its place.
Englishmen are too apt nowadays to think of them-
selves as the only colonizing people. One has only
to think of what was accomplished under the great
Minister Colbert, and by Frenchmen like Dupleix
and Labordonnais in India, by Champlain and
Montcalm in Canada, to recognize that even Eng-
land has never produced the superiors of these
men.* In some respects the French have proved
themselves well suited for colonizing. They have
never been found wanting in enterprise or in fight-
ing qualities. Their past history, in the East and
West alike, proves that, unlike the Spaniards, they
did not degenerate into intermarrying with Indians
and adopting native ways and modes of life. Their
leaders showed a definite policy in dealing with na-
tive races — they organized them, formed alliances

* “ Elle(l:i France) ne vit dans le Canada, comme, helas ! Voltaire
lui-meme, que ‘ des arpents de neige.’ File perdit la Louisianie
aussi gaiement qu’elle avail perdu I’lnde. Fn cette meme annee
1763, le grand homme qui avail devance I’Angleterre dans la con-
quete de I’empire des Indes, Dupleix, mourait a Paris pauvre el
surtout impopulaire." — Le Tonkin ct la Mcre-Patrie. JULES
Ferry.

329

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

and counter-alliances, and carried the spirit of Euro-
pean politics into Asia and America.

But they have not the power of adapting them-
selves to new peoples and to new countries. They
will not go abroad to the Far East as colonists,
or even as traders; nor is this specially to be won-
dered at, seeing that France has no overflow popu-
lation such as other countries have. Still she will,
however dangerous we think it may prove to her-
self, elect to play a prominent part in this Eastern
struggle, as Gambetta and Skobeleff contemplated,
and as under Ferry she was inclined to do. Tong-
king has a rich delta, but is for the most part jun-
gle-covered hill country, and is unhealthy and un-
inhabitable for French settlers or traders. France
administers the government with a great yearly def-
icit, merely for the benefit of — excepting a multi-
tude of fonctionnaires — natives and strangers, more
especially the traders of southern China.

Recruited at random, the French colonial offlcials
are seldom either competent or trustworthy. Per-
haps one out of ten may be reliable and efficient.
The majority of these colonial officials, according
to Chailley- Bert, set about the work of governing
by bringing with them that passion for uniformity,
that mania for routine, that love for making regula-
tions, that dread of initiative and of responsibility,
which crush the mother-country as well as the most
vigorous of her colonies. The French codes are
applied without change in every quarter of the
world, and in the modern Eastern possessions ex-

330

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

actly as they were in the old colonies of France.
The cost of administration is enormous and out of
all proportion to the work accomplished, the estab-
lishment charges being invariably heavier than the
cost of the public works themselves. The conse-
quence is that the sole advantage that the West can
give to the East, as a distinct advance in civilization,
and the sole means which can make colonies pros-
perous— communications, roads, railways, canals,
ports, hospitals, schools, in fact all the machinery
of modern Western progress — are wanting. Some
years ago a caricature appeared in a colonial French
journal which represented not inaccurately the whole
French colonial system. An Annamite workman,
in not too vigorous a fashion, was moving a few
bricks to place upon a wall, and his work was being
superintended by a row of French fonctionnaircs —
a dirccteur-g'eneral and numerous assistants, ending
with a supervisor of works. Such colonies are not a
source of strength but of weakness to the vici'e-patrie.
Instead of being so many outlying bulwarks, each
contributing its quota of industry and wealth, these
“ uncolonized colonies,” these laneiuishinc: and arti-
ficially maintained possessions, are merely so many
hostages to fortune.

The colonies and possessions of Britain are in
marked contrast to those of France, whether, on
the one hand, in “ white man’s countries,” such as
Australasia, Canada, South Africa ; or, on the other,
in our Eastern possessions and dependencies. The
Anglo-Saxon understands how to adapt himself to

331

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

circumstances (as witness India, the Straits Settle-
ments, and Hongkong); and, apart altogther from
the material advantages obtained, our country has
spread its ideas and even its language throughout
the whole world.

Whether it be to the advantage of France to make
the sacrifices she does for purely political purposes
is not for us to judge. The French have a saying:
Lcs nations ne se servcnt que de dc2ix langtics — la
guerre et le eo7nmerec. In our colonial expansion we
begin with trade, and sometimes end wdth war. The
French commence with war and seem unable to get
beyond it. Russia begins and ends with diplomacy:
she assimilates, gaining her way without conflict if
possible, though when driven to it she wages war in
a ruthless spirit. The French views with regard to
Indo-China and southern China are now well known,
and are not concealed by the French themselv'es.*

* The Report of the Lyons Mission to southern China urges
activity. Inter alia it says: “ A country which last year imported
192,000,000 of francs' worili of cotton goods must be well worth an
effort, and an annual demand for 100,000 tons of cotton thread is
considered a tempting prospect for the French thread manufactory
in Indo-China.” But as in the Chinese Customs returns no single
article of French textile is mentioned, what the Lyons delegates
mean is tliat the British trade in these articles is to be transferred
to France. The Report vividly paints the advantages for France of
the political objectives, Yunnan and Szechuan, and the advantageous
position in Tongking. The French plan is to drive a wedge in
between Burma and the Upper Yangtsze, just as they tried in
Burma and Siam to bar our access to China, and just as they are
now attempting to do in West Africa, and, to go back a hundred
years, as they attempted to do in America. It is, in fact, the secu-

332

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

The Russian plans, notwithstanding “ assurances ”
which, though taken at face value nowadays, were
valued aright by Lord Palmerston,* are also evident.
What has never been properly understood, however,
is that “ the theatre of European jealousies and rival-
ries has been extended from Turkey and the Levant

lar French policy, which is as constant and as calculable as the
movement of Russia.

“ But Englishmen who have followed the course of events; who
have watched, year after year, the shadow of the Russian eclipse
sweeping across Persia and Central Asia until it has reached the
frontiers of India and Afghanistan; and who now see France re-
viving her old ambition of an Eastern Empire, and fanning in every
direction the hatred and jealousy of England among her ignorant
and passionate people, realize with sufficient distinctness that the
alliance of Russia and France is directed as much against England
and her Eastern Empire as against the powers of the Triple Alliance,
. . . the supremacy of Britain in Southern Asia, in which are bound
up the freedom of the Mediterranean, our predominance in Egypt,
and the maintenance of the Suez Canal route to India.” — “ England
and France in Asia,” by Sir Lepel Griffin, Nineteenth Century,
November, 1893.

*“Tlie policy of the Russian Government,” Lord Palmerston
wrote in 1851, “has always been to proceed with its conquests as
rapidly as the apathy or want of firmness of other Governments
permitted, but to retire if it encountered determined opposition, and
then to await the next favorable opportunity to renew the onslaught
on its intended victim ” “In January, 1873, Count Schouvaloff had
been sent on a special mission to pacify England with regard to the
expedition against Khiva, and had then declared that ‘ not only was
it far from the intention of the Emperor to take possession of Khi-
va, but positive orders had been prepared to prevent it, and direc-
tions given that the conditions imposed should be such as would
not in any way lead to the prolonged occupation of Khiva.’”
“Communication of an intention,” it was after explained, “ did not
amount to an absolute promise.” — Englatid and Russia in the East,
Sir Henry Rawlinson, p. 317.

333

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to the China seas ; and the Eastern problem of the
future for England is Russia on the west and
Erance on the east, closing in on her Indian fron-
tiers,” as I wrote in 1885. Was this realized recent-
ly? Is it even now understood ? Yet the Franco-
Russian alliance foreshadowed thirteen years ago
has gradually grown into existence and is now
in active operation, rendering our position on
the northeast frontier of India one of serious
anxiety.

In describing at the time the outcome of the
Franco-Chinese War, I passed briefly over the pos-
sibility of a Franco-Russian alliance, because, in the
then unsatisfactory condition of politics in France
and unfortunate position of affairs in Tongking, it
seemed hardly fair to dwell on this subject. But it
was shown that at any time a Franco-Russian entente
was quite within the range of possibilit}^ It was
clear as noonday that, if the Tongking Expedition
had not turned out as it did, if everything had only
gone smoothly — if, in fact. Ferry’s brilliant scheme
for a French Indo-Chinese Empire had met with
anything like the success that he anticipated —
we should at once have had a Franco-Russian
alliance, and that actively engaged against our-
selves.

The policy of Russia, it was evident, was to place
herself in an advantageous position alongside the
two most populous countries in the world, the two
richest empires of Asia, for the purpose not of
violently “ attacking ” those empires by rough mili-

334

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

tary methods, but of being able at the convenient
season to exercise influence and pressure, by menace
and coercion if necessary, and by such means gain
what she wanted elsewhere. The basis of Russian
policy must always be kept clearly in mind. The
positions she desires elsewhere are as yet to be
found not on the Indian littoral or on the coast of
China itself, but in the Extreme West and Extreme
East; in the neighborhood of Asia Minor and the
Levant, in the Persian Gulf, and in the Japan and
China seas — dominating bases for territorial aggres-
sion. The attention of British statesmen, military
authorities, and politicians who take an interest in
national defence has been concentrated entirely on
the northwestern frontier of India. But has Britain
no other Indian frontier.^ It has been obvious that
whenever Russia chose to seize another opportunity
to move forward, she would do so in the direction
of the China or Japan seas, and always in alliance
with Erance. Russia has lately practically obtained
Manchuria, holds Corea in a vise and at her mercy,
and has secured an immense length of littoral, with
not one but many “ ice-free ” ports — some of them
purely strategic. More than that, she to all intents
and purposes dominates China at and from Peking.
There is no disguising that fact. Those who have
followed the history of the conquests of China, nota-
bly that accomplished under the Manchu dynasty,
will not need to be told that this domination of
China by Russia at the capital w^ould seriously affect
British rule in India, and might even create a grave

■335

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

danger for the Empire.* How much more now
that France is the close ally of Russia! Never
should we lose sight of the facts that India is a
conquered country, where discontent smoulders
which may be fanned into conflagration by the
neighborhood of rival European Powers ; that, as
Rawlinson said, if England has a vulnerable heel it
is in the East; and that the stronger the position
of Russia in Asia, “ the higher will be the tone she
can command is discussing with us any question of
European policy.”

The truth is, the people of this country have been
content to remain in ignorance of the whole history
of this Far Eastern movement. Geography is un-
popular, the region is remote, the points at issue
are complicated, our interests are not realized ; and
not only is it the business of no one to preach the
truth, but it is the metier of many to conceal it.
When it is remembered, however, that not only has
Britain a great and growing commerce with China
and the whole Far East, but that growth of trade
is an absolute necessity, with her rapidly increas-
ing population, with foreign competition becoming
fiercer every day and markets being closed against
her, the importance of commanding strategical po-
sitions in the China Sea ought to become more and
more evident. It is to China alone that we can
look in the future not merely for any great expan-

* The military question has been ably treated by Colonel Mark
Bell {Asiatic Quarterly Review, April, 1895), who has had exceptional
opportunities for studying the question from personal observation.

336

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

sion of our commerce,* but for any considerable
strengthening of our general position in Asia. And
we are now in such a position that retreat or in-
action will be fatal. For Russia’s advanee and oc-
cupation of strategical positions, enabling her to
throw a lasso round the throat of China and to
endanger Japan, are not merely a standing menaee
to our enormous and rapidly growing interests in
those regions. They may mean the utilization of
China as an industrial and political force to be
equipped and used for our destruction. And the
possibility of having those masses organized and
wielded against us, setting aside altogether the mere
military aspect, is serious enough to rouse us from
our lethargy. Once in possession of the long-
coveted seaboard with its “ice -free” ports, and of
Manchuria — the territory said to be required for her
railways to the Pacific — the immediate incentive to
a forward policy on the part of Russia will be re-
moved, we are constantly assured, for she would
then have no desire for war. More likely is it to
strengthen that incentive. It is less an invasion of
India, less an open attack, immediate or even proxi-
mate, than the rise of Asiatic Russia, a rival Power

* How vital is its maintenance, not merely for the sake of our
Empire, but for the sustenance of our people, no arguments are
needed to prove. It is only in the East, and especially in the Far
East, that vve may still hope to keep and to create open markets for
British manufactures. Every port, every town, and every village
that passes into French or Russian hands is an outlet lost to Man-
chester, Bradford, or Bombay. — Problems of the Far East (p. 415),
by Hon. G. N. Curzon.

337

CHINA IN TRANSFORM at! ON

utilizing the resources of China, and with ambitious
allies, that we have to apprehend. In no spirit of
hostility is it that Russia or any other Power is
spoken of ; far from that — rather in a spirit of ad-
miration. They are justified in pushing their in-
terests in their own way. What I wish to empha-
size is that, in place of being supine, we should be
doing the same in our \\7iy. Years ago the justice
of Russia’s wish for an ice-free port on the Pacific
was admitted, but the danger to ourselves involved
in her coming south was at the same time clearly
indicated.*

The importance of promoting intercourse between
the two most populous countries in the world, India
and China, so widel}^ different in their circumstances,
yet having so many and such vital interests in com-
mon, should recjuire no argument. The idea has
its foundations in the actual circumstances of the
two empires. While essentially commercial and
peaceful, both are endowed, though in varied degree,
with the complementary resources which, united,
would make them not merely a serious antagonist,
but dominant in southern Asia. The interests of
both and the existence of one are immediately
threatened by a common enemy, Russia, engaged
upon a purely military conquest — a Power that, if

* A series of most luminous articles, marking the v'arious stages
of the Russian advance and the evolution of the Far Eastern ques-
tion generall)', will be found in Blackwood, from 1893 onward, from
the pen of Mr. Alexander Michie, a writer of the highest authority
on all matters connected with China.

338

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

unchecked by such a combination, will, at no distant
period, effect the disintegration of one Empire and
eventually bring about the downfall of the other.
With so much in common, the fundamental inter-
ests of both are one. Such an entente should and
could have been cemented by inter-acquaintance and
inter- communication. In such an understanding
would have been and might still be found the best
guarantee for the preservation of the truest interests
of the two empires, the surest means of preserving
the peace of Asia. China knows that the policy of
England, whatever it may have been, is now one of
commercial expansion and development only, un-
tainted by any ulterior designs, and that while Eng-
land wants Chinese trade, Russia wants Chinese
provinces ; and as China is compelled by. circum-
stances to take a new departure in the direction of
industrial and defensive enterprise, she is disposed
to look to England as her most efficient guide and
her safest ally. Better far than “disinterestedness”
in international relations is an interest which is mut-
ual, clearly avowed, and understood, and such is the
bond which should cement British India with China.
The unique opportunity so long enjoyed for devel-
oping our relations with our Imperial neighbor,
bound to us by geographical and other ties, has
been neglected.

It was our duty to take China into tutelage, to
strengthen her by insisting upon reforms. Instead
of that, England has blindly counted on China as
an ally against Russia — China, in fact, was to play

339

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

the part of buffer. Our diplomacy was devoted to
seeking her good-will, even at the cost of undue
deference in the questions of Sikkim, Tibet, and
Burma; slights and affronts were met with humility,
claims remained unsatisfied or were shelved, and
“ treaty rights ” became the s}monyme for “ treaty
wrongs.” At the same time China was encouraged
against Russia, vague promises of help were held
out, and hopes were raised which were doomed to
bring nothing but disappointment in their train, un-
til English promises became, as a Chinese states-
man in my presence termed them, “from the teeth
outward.” After some forty years of discussion
and “ consideration ” by our Government at home
and in India, while Russia has pushed her way
across 5000 miles of Siberia, and is fast closing in
on China, while the Russians with audacious cour-
age have made progress which must compel the ad-
miration of the world, we have been supine; and
China to-day leans on Russia — not on Great Brit-
ain, which she was for years anxious to do.

To India the further opening of China offers a
considerable expansion of her commerce, while to
England it is a matter of national importance to in-
crease her influence and regain the leadership in the
various new enterprises — financial and industrial —
which China will be obliged shortly to undertake.
To China a closer relationship with India, and
therefore with England, would be a considerable
aid towards the internal development of the Em-
pire. To promote these objects increased inter-

340

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

course and mutual acquaintance are necessary. Ex-
perience in China, as elsewhere, has taught us that
the chief obstacle to commerce and international re-
lations, in fact to progress generally, is ignorance of
the country and its conditions; and the growth of
trade which has followed the treaties of 1858-60
is mainly due to the opening of the interior by
communications and the better acquaintance thus
brought about. Apart from the question of trade,
the alliance would be a pledge of tranquillity through-
out the whole Far East. If the present position
be such as has been indicated, it should have been
the policy of the Indian and Imperial Governments,
and also of the neighboring colonial authorities, to
avail themselves of every opportunity of improving
their communications with the vast Empire of Chi-
na, and by all natural, silent, and unobtrusive means
to draw closer the bonds of intimacy, and thus es-
tablish intercourse on solid and immovable grounds.
Yet how little has been accomplished in this direc-
tion! how little even attempted!*

* “ Let Great Britain, then, take the lead, as she has hitherto al-
ways fearlessly done. Let her persevere in the task of educating
China, and not, as if unfitted for it, resign it to others. China is
one of our Imperial neighbors, bound to us by ties of commerce and
geographical position ; we cannot neglect her without injury to our
Imperial interests. The decay of empire can ever be traced to a
failure to correspond to its environments, that is, to actively sympa-
thize with its neighbors, and we decline to acknowledge that the
Empire is declining. The latent wealth of China is undoubted.
She is of greater value than many Indias; her peoples are peaceful,
tractable, and easily ruled.” — Colonel Mark Bell, V. C., C. B.,
Asiatic Quarterly Review, April, 1895.

341

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Our possessions furnish us with most admirable
bases for commercial expansion in Asia, such as are
not now, and never can be, in the power of any other
nation, unless our supremacy be wrested from us.
We maintain along the avenues of our Eastern
trade, as points d'appui, the Suez Canal, Aden,
Ceylon, India, Singapore, Hongkong.* Especially

* “ In Asia the area of British rule comprises the peninsula of
Aden and the island of Perim ; the great peninsula of India, with
the Burmese provinces and the outlying groups of Andamans, the
Nicobars, and the Laccadives; Ceylon, with which the Maidive
Islands are nominally connected ; the islands of Hongkong and
Labuan ; the Straits Settlements, including the two islands of
Singapore and Penang, and the territories of Province Wellesley,
the Bindings, and Malacca on the main Malay peninsula; and the
Keeling Islands, far out in the Indian Ocean, now a little dependency
of the Straits Settlements. Scattered as these possessions are, they
have all a common character. They all consist of peninsulas or
islands, for British power and influence in Asia are confined to the
outskirts of the continent accessible from the Southern Ocean, and
have not penetrated into the great mass of the interior. They are
all in or near the tropics. They all must be classed, not as settle-
ments, but as dependencies, held either, as India and Ceylon, direct-
ly for their own value, or, as the smaller Eastern colonies, partly as
military stations, partly as emporia of trade. Aden, for instance, is
at once a link in the chain of stations on the way to India and a
place of outlet for the Arabian trade; Singapore taps the trade of
the Malay peninsula, is a place of junction for Eastern and Austra-
lian traffic, and is also an outpost of the empire in the Malay seas;
Hongkong is a half-military, half-commercial station on the borders
of the Chinese empire ; Labuan, a foothold off the coast of Borneo.
In these Asiatic dependencies, far more than in any other part of
the world, the English have been called to the task of governing
native races. To speak of British colonization in this quarter of
the globe is really a misuse of terms — the climate is not for the
English breed, and the waste places of the earth are not to be found
in the East Indies. The Englishman came to Asia, and has held his

342

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

valuable is our land base, Burma, which is our gate-
way to China. It cannot be gainsaid that upon
the political supremacy of England in the East,
upon the possession and extension of India and
our Eastern possessions, chiefly depend the continu-
ance of our commercial prosperity, and, as a sequitiir,
the ability to support the dense and rapidly increas-
ing population of England. To actually part with
any of our colonies, or any of these English posses-
sions, there is now no longer any desire, and there
is less indifference to their value than there was.
But the country has not yet realized what is at
stake, nor how strong our position is if we choose to
use it, and that to shirk our duty now will mean
our being gradually ousted by rivals, who are not
averse to undertake the necessary responsibilities,
from the greatest market we possess and from a
commanding position of the world. We are now at
the parting of the ways, and the failure to take the
right course will mean the loss of the commercial
supremacy of England, and eventually the disinte-
gration of the Empire.

Since November i6, 1896, when the German
Government, in connection with the Bismarck rev-
elations, through its Foreign Secretary,* was corn-

ground in Asia, not as a settler, but as a merchant, a conqueror,
and a ruler.” — Historical Geography of the British Colonies, LuCAS.

* Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, in the Reichstag — a remark-
able statement. This affirmation of an understanding, based on
common interests, between Germany and Russia in the Far East,
was treated with contempt in this country. Yet it contained the
master-key to recent events. The extra-continental interests of the

343

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

pelled in self - defence to “ give away ” the trend
of its future policy, it has been apparent that there
was an increasing tendency towards a working un-
derstanding— on the “live and let live ” principle
— in the Near and Far East between Germany and
Russia, and therefore also with France (Russia’s
ally), for lovers in the red heat of a liaison are not
to be separated. This entente was based upon
mutual interests — territorial in the case of Russia,
commercial in that of German}-, and political in the
case of France — the corner-stone of the combination
being Russia, whose favor has been cultivated at
all costs by France, in lesser degree by Germany,
and latterly even by Austria-Hungary. Its chief
raison detre was the reduction of England.

In China, England has been completely isolated.*
Her efforts to achieve something had for years past
been rendered futile by a systematic process of
thwarting, practised as a fine art, by Russia and
France. These two countries, and later also
Germanv, were securing for themselves solid ad-
vantages. Japan was watching silently, anxiously
preparing for eventualities. Our official optimists
talked then, as they do now, of the “ concessions ”
to England — the “rectification of the Burmo- China

two Powers “ will in all probability furnish us with an opportunity of
acting in harmony with the Power with which we co-operated last
year,” Baron Marschall told the world. The occasion was one
when the truth had to be revealed, and the declaration should have
been noted and acted on.

* Mr. Chamberlain stated the matter clearly in his speech of
May 20, 1898.

344

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

frontier ” and the incomplete “ opening ” of the
West River. We had done little or nothing to
establish overland railway communication from
Burma to China — to reach China “from behind,”
as Lord Salisbury called it — and the Upper
Yangtsze, the main artery of China, remained
practically unopened. Such was the situation a
few months ago.

To understand the present situation, the natural
sequel to 1895, it is first of all necessary to rec-
ognize the fact that Russia is actually the protector
of China against all comers, and that France sup-
ports her solidly, while Germany, having taken the
decisive step of placing herself alongside Russia,
is likely to follow the Russian lead, for two sufficient
reasons — for fear of displeasing Russia, the ally
of France, and because “concessions” are not likely
to be got in China by Germany in direct and open
opposition to Russia. Russian influence has for
some time past been all-powerful at Peking, mainly
through the timely assistance rendered to China in
1895, followed up by a persistent policy, cemented
by an understanding, offensive and defensive. The
fundamental fact of a close understanding between
Russia and China has for some time been patent to
all the world except ourselves, the chief features
being: i. An alliance offensive and defensive.

2. Branch railways through Manchuria. 3. The
refortification of Port Arthur and Talienwan, and
the fortification of Kiaochau, all to be paid for
by China — any or all of the three war harbors

345

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

to be placed at the disposal of Russia whenever
required. parole cC Jwimeur, of course, denied

everything save the northern Manchurian railways,
but Russia has never denied anything except, and
that very vaguely, the accuracy of the so - called
“ Cassini ” Convention as published by a Shanghai
paper. But what charming naivete, to be moved
one way or the other by dementis from either
Russia or China ! Apart from any written con-
tract, however, “ facts speak for themselves,” as M.
Hanotaux said of the Franco-Russian alliance. If
Russia had a claim on Kiaochau, does it not follow
that Germany cannot be now acting in opposition to
Russia.^ And what is there to prevent Germany
some day from finding that Kiaochau does not
“ meet her requirements,” in case she should want
another port; and in that case what should prevent
Russia stepping in? Provision has, in fact, been
made enabling Germany to treat Kiaochau as a
negotiable bill of exchange.

That Russia has been exceptionally active at
Peking during the past few years was evident to
those who chose to see ; but our leaders would
not see; our role was that of the little - concerned
spectator. In view of what was occurring it re-
quired some audacity to vaunt our concessions, the
“ rectification ” of the Burmo - Chinese frontier, and
the “opening” of the West River, especially as the
latter stopped short at Wuchau, instead of including
the river to its navigation limit, with right of railway
to Yunnan. And while we made so much of our

346

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

concessions, which are certain to be contested,
there are not a few ready to demonstrate the un.
importance of Russia’s being at Port Arthur and
Talienwan.*

* Describing what he terms the “contingent interest” in Co-
rea, Mr. Curzon says: “A country so well provided with harbors,
which could both supply and shelter large flotillas, and so richly
endowed with many potential sources of wealth, might involve a
serious menace to British commerce and interests throughout the
China seas, and even in the Pacific Ocean, if held by a hostile State.
A Russian port and fleet, for instance, in the Gulf of Pechili, would,
in time of war, constitute as formidable a danger to British shipping
on the Yellow Sea as they would to the metropolitan province and
the capital of China. Permanent Russian squadrons at Port Laz-
areff and Fusan would convert her into the greatest naval Power
in the Pacific. The balance of power in the Far East would be
seriously jeopardized, if not absolutely overturned, by such a de-
velopment; and England is prohibited alike by her Imperial ob-
jects and her commercial needs from lending her sanction to any
such issue.” — Problems of the Far East, second edition, p. 213.

CHAPTER XIV

THE POLITICAL QUESTION — Continued

The fact is that our diplomacy as against Russia
has been a failure in Asia. The whole history of
the Russian advance teaches us that lesson. What
is wanted on our side is a plan solidly backed,
and a man. Instead, we have trusted to phrases
and have lived on illusions. But how can there
be any plan when our Government has no real
Intelligence Department, when it is uninformed?
How dare we entertain the idea of force, when we
shun the responsibility attaching to alliances, and
while our only idea of strengthening ourselves is to
multiply the number of our war vessels? And under
such a system how can we expect to have efficient
agents? In the one field where of late years we
have been successful — Egypt — we had our plan:
we had the twelve thousand bayonets, and we had
the man. In China we have never had the three, and
seldom even the last. How few are the Cromers,
the Nicholsons, the Sandemans in the service of
Britain ! It is not that she cannot produce them —
no country in the world has them in such profu-
sion— but that the system, or rather the want of

348

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

system, does not tolerate, still less encourage, them,*
The diplomatist, the frontier officer, is ever afraid
of being disavowed, has always to think of the
“question in the House.” And how can it be
otherwise with the feeling abroad that British Gov-
ernments are seldom strong, are seldom firm and
consistent, and are only too ready to sacrifice a
scapegoat.^ Any positive plan, too, is hard to con-
ceive, and irksome to carry out. For this reason
British Governments fall back on ncG;otiation, which
as Popowski says, “ has the appearance of doing the
utmost to check the Russians and at the same
time appeases popular opinion. No party, no group
of talented persons, enters a sufficiently vigorous
protest against these futile negotiations.” Russia’s
policy both in Europe and Asia is active and per-
sistent, while England would be only too glad to
secure the maintenance of the status quo.

* It is notorious to all those having any knowledge of the inner
springs and workings of affairs in the Far East that the Germans
and Russians are pre-eminently better supplied than ourselves in
this respect. We cannot, in fact, seriously profess to have any
Intelligence Department. So long as we are fortunate to have at
Calcutta and Peking men such as we now have (Dufferin and
Parkes) all may go smoothly; but a real reform in this matter of
intelligence is imperative. Is it then to be wondered at that, with
such a system in force for many years, our once paramount in-
fluence has gradually decayed throughout the whole Far East.^ If
the diplomatic and consular services require to be revivified and
to have a fresh spirit infused into them, it is at the head-centre
that reform must begin. Without going to the root of the evil no
real reform is possible. — English Policy in the Far East, by A. R.
COLQUHOUN. Special Correspondence to the Times, 1884.

349

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

“The English would even submit quietly to Russia’s forward
movement,” says Popowski, “were its pace less rapid, as in that
case the fight for India would in all probability be forced on a
later generation. From this state of things Russia reaps great
benefit. She holds the initiative, and can suit her action to cir-
cumstances ; and should she now and again, swayed by public
opinion or the temperament of her statesmen, be induced to
advance somewhat too boldly, she can, as in 1878, purchase peace
by surrendering a portion of her acquisitions. Russia will, there-
fore, doubtless attain her ultimate object if the Powers concerned
be not convinced of the need for energetic resistance.”*

There is nothing unforeseen in the recent develop-
ment of affairs in the Far East. On the contrary,
it has been clearly indicated by various writers in
the past fifty years. As far back as 1850, Meadows
wrote :

“ China will not be conquered by any Western Power until she
becomes the Persia of some future Ale.xander the Great of Russia,
the Macedon of Free Europe. England, America, and France
will, if they are wise, wage severally or collectively a war of ex-
haustion with Russia rather than allow her to conquer China, for
when she has done that she will be A/is/ress of the World.”

And in reply to those who ridiculed our “guarding
against imaginary Russian dangers in China,” he
said :

“ Many may suppose the danger to be too remote to be a
practical subject for the present generation. The subject is most
practical at the present time, for as the English, Americans, and
French deal with China and with her relations with Russia, so the
event will be. For those to whom ‘ it will last our time ’ is a word
of practical wisdom, this volume is not written.”

Again, a few years later, he wrote:

* The Rival Powers in Asia. JOSEF POPOWSKI.

350

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

“ The greatest, though not nearest, danger of a weak China lies
precisely in those territorial aggressions of Russia which she began
to attempt two centuries ago, . . . which, if allowed to go on, will
speedily give her a large and populous territory, faced with Svea-
borgs and Sebastopols, on the seaboard of Eastern Asia. . . . Let
England, America, and France beware how they create a sick giant
in the Far East China is a world necessity.”*

Foreshadowing the gradual extension of Russia
into China, and the time when she would become
mistress of Peking, when, with all Manchuria organ-
ized behind her, she could occupy the Yellow River
basin. Meadows rightly expresses the opinion that,
should that occur, no combinations of Powers would
then be able to oppose Russia. “With 120,000,000
of Chinese to work or fight for her, nothing could
stand between Russia and the conquest of the Em-
pire ; not China alone, but Europe itself, would then
be dominated, and it would cost the Russian Em-
peror of China but little trouble to overwhelm the
Pacific States.” No extravagant opinion this, but a
sound, far-seeing judgment from a writer whose
name is to-day unknown to his countrymen.

No British policy in the Par East can be success-
ful unless it forms part of a world-policy, and unless
we are able to apply to the centre of gravity of a
European combination force enough to control its
balance. Our diplomacy must, in short, be sup-
ported by force, naval and military.

Unless supported by Britain, Japan dared not en-

* The Chinese and their Rebellions. By Thomas Taylor Mead-
ows. 1856.

351

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

tertain the idea of opposing Russia, still less Russia
and her friends, in their schemes for utilizing the
resources of China. Without a definite alliance,
Japan could do nothing, and trusted to Britain to
maintain the balance of power in the Far East, just
as Britain seemed inclined to unduly depend on
Japan to perform that same useful office. To rely
overmuch on Japan would not be the course of
wisdom, valuable ally as she certainly would be
under certain circumstances, and possessing, as she
does, many interests in common with us.

And this leads us to a brief consideration of alli-
ances generally. Within the past few months we
have been counselled to come to an understanding
with Russia, with France, with Japan, with Ger-
many, each in turn. The question of national alli-
ance is still treated by us as until lately was that of
the Navy — as a matter which could always be dealt
w'ith when an emergency arose. But alliances are
not thus extemporized on the instant; far from
being fruits to pluck at will, they are of slow
crrowth. And while it might suit Britain to come
to an arrangement with Russia, for example, what
has that Power to gain ? Our difficulty is her op-
portunity. If we are serious, we must remodel our
institutions on the basis that the foreign policy of a
country must be judged from the naval and military
stand -points, as well as from the commercial and
diplomatic. They are essential to each other. Yet
not only have we no such supreme co-ordination
in national policy as other countries have, but the

352

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

different departments of State with us are treated
as if they were quite unrelated to each other. In
most Continental States foreign affairs fall within
the province of the monarch, or that of a select
number of bureaucrats; but in England nothing
worthy the name of a “ policy ” can be seriously un-
dertaken or pursued until public opinion has first
been thoroughly enlisted in its favor. Therefore it

O ✓

is of infinitely greater importance for Britain than
for other Powers that public opinion and the Gov-
ernment should be well informed on all subjects
connected with foreign policy. Continental Gov-
ernments, too, are infinitely better informed on mil-
itary and political matters than our own, in which
the War Minister is not even a military man. ■ Can
there be any more complete condemnation of our
system than the fact that even now, after the com-
plete collapse of our conduct of Asiatic affairs,
Great Britain, more an Asiatic Power than Russia,
still possesses no Asiatic Department.

The position of Russia with regard to China
seems not yet to be realized. Russia, herself semi-
Asiatic, thoroughly understands how to deal with
an Asiatic Government and to make herself feared.
The Russian spokesmen claim that they are work-
ing for civilization — not for Russia alone, but for
the whole of Europe; and we are assured that as
soon as Russia is stroner enoimh to declare P'ree

O O

Trade, she will do so. There is no need to e.xpress
doubt of the sincerity of such professions. But
they are only to be understood on the hypothesis

353

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

that Russia seriously contemplates an eventual su-
preme domination, which, once firmly established,
would enable her to deal with all the Powers of
Europe as generously as, for instance, she is now
doing with France. Russia poses in Europe as the
“bulwark of Christianity” against the Yellow Peril;
while in China she is the “ protector ” of her weak
kinsman against the wave of Western aggression.
This doctrine (the pro-Asiatic) is preached with as
great ability and persistency at Peking as is the other
(the pro -European) doctrine in England, through
the Press, with the view to influence public opinion.

The Chinese people in the north, at the capital
especially, undoubtedly discriminate between Rus-
sians and other foreigners. Like other Orientals,
they only believe what they see; and Russia is seen
and realized on the northern frontiers. This con-
tact, and the gift possessed by Russia of dealing
with the Chinese, lead them to believe in her. In
the south the same may be said to a certain e.xtent
of the British, though they have the habit, contrary
to that of the Russians, of holding aloof from the
Chinese, with whom Russians of all grades miss no
opportunity of ingratiating themselves.

The analogies and contrasts which the Russians
and Chinese mutually present have been admirably
depicted by Michie :

“Analogies in the manners, customs, and modes of thought of
the two races are constantly turning up; and their resemblance to
the Chinese has become a prov'erb among the Russians themselv^es.

“The Russians and the Chinese are peculiarly suited to each
other in the commercial as well as in the diplomatic departments.

354

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

They have an equal regard for truth, for the Russian, spite of his
fair complexion, is at the bottom more than half Asiatic. There is
nothing original about this observation, but it serves to explain how
it is that the Russians have won their way into China by quiet and
peaceable means, while wm have always been running our head
against a stone wall, and never could get over it without breaking
it down. The Russians meet the Chinese as Greek meets Greek :
craft is encountered with craft, politeness with politeness, and pa-
tience with patience. They understand each other’s character thor-
oughly, because they are so closely alike.

“ When either Russian or Chinese meets a European, say an
Englishman, he instinctively recoils from the blunt, straightforward,
up-and-down manner of coming to business at once ; and the Asiatic
either declines a contest which he cannot fight with his own weap-
ons, or, seizing the weak point of his antagonist, he angles with him
until he wearies him into acquiescence. As a rule, the Asiatic has
the advantage. His patient equanimity and heedlessness of the
waste of time are too much for the impetuous haste of the Euro-
pean. This characteristic of the Russian trading classes hqs en-
abled them to insinuate themselves into the confidance of the Chi-
nese ; to fraternize and identify themselves with them, and, as it
were, make common cause with them in their daily life ; while the
European holds himself aloof, and only comes in contact with the
Chinese when business requires it; for in all the rest a great gulf
separates them in thoughts, ideas, and the aims of life.” — Siberian
Overland Route. 1864.

Comprehending, therefore, the Chinese character,
seeing clearly that China is unable to perform the
elementary functions of society, that Peking is an-
other Teheran or Constantinople, that, while the
people are sound, the Court and the officialdom are
corrupt, Russia has studied and gained over certain
influential people, and applied the maxim Divide et
impera with skill.* What China is taught night and

* The following observations, written nearly forty years ago by
Lockhart, the missionary, after a long residence in China, show how

355

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

day is that Russia is a land Power, and therefore
alone can protect China; that she keeps her promises
and threats; that with England it is always a case
of vox ct pr(cte7'ca nihil. In short, Russia protects
China in a peculiar sense — that is, for a price, to be
paid to Russia or even to her friends — a fact which
clearly shows how powerless is the Chinese Govern-
ment and how powerful that of the Tsar. The dom-
inating idea instilled into the Chinese Court and
officialdom, which, in the absence of a strong policy
on our part, are in a hypnotized condition, is to be
saved from Japan. The great object of Russian

history repeats itself, and how little we, as a nation, have learned :
“The Russian Government anticipated us — not in the knowledge of
the advantages of close commercial and political relations with an
Empire so enormous in its resources, but in the employment of
those arguments that alone could render a vain and effeminate State

sensible of their value The map of All the Russias, published

at St. Petersburg, now includes that vast portion of Central Asia
heretofore the outlying Provinces of the Chinese Empire beyond
the Great Wall. Having placed a Mission in the Chinese capital,
and organized an overwhelming army in Chinese Tartary, with
magazines of warlike resources, Russia easily secured a perma-
nent footing in region after region, till she had dominated over, and
then obtained the cession of, all the intervening space, leaving the
conquest of the entire Chinese Empire to the time when it should
please the reigning Tsar to order his Cossacks to take possession.
It is impossible to state with any precision the amount of moral or
material support that the Chinese Emperor received from his Im-
perial brother and formidable neighbor, which encouraged him to
so obstinate a resistance to the demands of England and France
(in i860); but a slight acquaintance with Russian policy must satisfy
any one that, having established itself as a favored nation, Russia
could not regard with complacency any attempt made by another
nation to share such advantages.”

356

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

policy is to utilize China for purposes of territorial
and political expansion.

What the utilization of China would mean can
only be realized by a full appreciation of the ex-
traordinary resources of that country judged from
various points of view. She has the men to create
armies and navies ; the materials, especially iron and
coal, requisite for the purposes of railways and steam
navigation — all the elements, in fact, to build up a
srreat livinGf force. One thino^ alone is wantinsr —

o o o o

the will, the directing power — which, absent from
within, is now being applied from without. That
supplied, there are to be found in abundance in
China the capacity to carry out, the brains to plan,
the hands to w^ork. And when it is understood that
not merely is the soil rich and fertile, but that the
mineral resources — the greatest, perhaps, in the
whole world — are as yet practically untouched, the
merest surface being scratched ; when we consider
the extent of China’s population ; the ability and en-
terprise, and, above all, the intense vitality, of the
people, as strong as ever after four millenniums ;
when we reflect on the general characteristics of the
race, is it not clear that the Chinese, under direction,
are destined to dominate the whole of Eastern Asia,
and maybe to play a leading part in the affairs of
the world ? Even although the Empire appears to
be now breaking up,* it is capable, under tutelage,

* “ The theory that China's decadence is due to the fact that she
has long since reached maturity, and has outlived the natural term
of national e.xistence, does not hold good. The mass of the people

357

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

of becoming reconsoliclated. Often before now,
when conquered, has China either thrown off the
yoke or absorbed its conquerors. But never before
has the conqueror come, as does the Tsar to-day, as
a great organizing force — as entraineur d' homines.

In peaceful pursuits, in agriculture, the arts and
manufactures, no limit can be placed to the capabili-
ties of China; and in the paths of war it is difficult
to foretell what, under direction, may not be accom-
plished. Conquered by Russia, organized, disci-
plined, and led by Russian officers and Russian ad-
ministrators, an industrial and military organization
would be developed which India could not face, and
which would shake to its foundations the entire fa-
bric of the British Empire.

As regards the excellent quality of the raw mate-
rial for military purposes, high testimony has been
borne by travellers and military critics. Wdngrove
Cooke, the Times correspondent with the Allied
P'orces in 1857-8, one of the best critics of Chinese
men and affairs ; Count d’Escayrac de Lauture, one
of the Peking prisoners in 1859-60; Chinese Gordon,

have not degenerated ; they are as fresh and vigorous as ever they
were; it is the Government only that has become old and feeble;
and a change of Dynasty may yet restore to China the lustre which
legitimately belongs to so great a nation. The indestructible vital-
ity of Chinese institutions has preserved the country unchanged
throughout many revolutions. The high civilization of the people,
and their earnestness in the pursuit of peaceful industries, have en-
abled them to maintain their national existence through more dy-
nastic changes than, perhaps, any other country or nation has ex-
perienced.”— Michie, Overland Siberian Route.

358

THE POLITIC AL QUESTION

and Lord Wolseley, have all spoken highly of the
courage and endurance of the Chinese soldier, and
an excellent resume of his qualities has been given
by one who had experience with Gordon’s “ Ever
Victorious Army.”* Prjevalski says, a propos of the
Tongking campaign :

“She (China) lacks the proper material ; she lacks the life-giv-
ing spirit. Let Europeans supply the Chinese with any number of
arms that they please ; let them exert themselves ever so energeti-
cally to train the Chinese soldiers; let them even supply leaders ;
the Chinese army will, nevertheless, even under the most favorable
conditions, never be more than an artificially created, mechanically
united, unstable organism. Subject it but once to the serious
trial of war, speedy dissolution will overtake such an army, which
could never hope for victory over a foe animated with any real
spirit."

If the Chinese failed to profit by tlreir numerical
superiority and their power of movement in Tong-
king, it must be remembered that they were as ill
equipped and supplied, and nearly as unorganized

* “ The old notion is pretty well got rid of that they are at all a
cowardly people, when properly paid and efficiently led ; while the
regularity and order of their habits, which dispose them to peace in
ordinary times, gives place to a daring bordering upon recklessness
in time of war. Their intelligence and capacity for remembering
facts make them well fitted for use in modern warfare, as does also
the coolness and calmness of their disposition. Physically, they
are, on the average, not so strong as Europeans, but considerably
more so than most of the other races of the East ; and, on a cheap
diet of rice, vegetables, salt fish, and pork, they can go through a
vast amount of fatigue, whether in a temperate climate or a tropical
one, where Europeans are ill fitted for exertion. Their wants are
few; they have no caste prejudices, and hardly any appetite for in-
toxicating liquors.”

359

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

and unofficered, as they were in the Chino-Japanese
Wffir. Transport, commissariat, tents, medical ser-
vice— all the paraphernalia employed in organized
army work — were then, as in the late campaign,
absolutely unknown.

Notwithstanding the judgment of Prjevalski that
they are animated by neither military nor patriotic
spirit, my opinion is that, however undisciplined
they proved themselves in the Chino-Japanese
War ; however badly the undrilled, unfed, unled
Chinamen in uniform compared with the highly
organized troops of Japan, their capabilities as a
fighting machine may be rated exceedingly high.
The apparent inconsistencies of the Chinese can,
perhaps, be reconciled. That they offer excellent
military material, when shaped and guided by for-
eigners, is certain. No doubt whatever should be
entertained on this subject. If from the Manchuri-
an provinces, mainly Shantung men, they are steady,
willing to be taught, and amenable to discipline ; of
splendid physique, and able to bear hardships and
cold without a murmur. If from Hunan, they pos-
sess many of the best characteristics of highland
races — dash, courage, and loyalty to their own lead-
ers— but they are more difficult to manage, and are
not so steady in any sense of the word. Recruits
from the Shantung province would prove the best :
their physique and their docility would certainly
leave nothing to be desired. The Southerners seem
to be generally held in low esteem, but we must not
forget that the best fighters of the Taiping armies

360

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

were the men from the Canton province, and as sea-
men the coast populations of southern China are un-
equalled— a point to be borne in mind.* The west-
ern highlanders, whether Mohammedans or not, are
men of good physique, and would make good fight-
ing material. The Mongolians are horsemen from
their early years, and doubtless have the qualities
for the making of light cavalry of the Cossack type.
Russia knows this well, and has for many years
flattered the chiefs in small ways, and accustomed
them to look up to her as a great overshadowing
power at their doors. The tribes will act as the

*“ It may be that it would not be impossible to find in China all
the elements necessary for organizing the most formidable army in
the world. The Chinese are intelligent, ingenious, and docile. They
comprehend rapidly whatever they are taught, and retain it in their
memory. They are persevering, and astonishingly active when they
choose to exert themselves, respectful to authority, submissive and
obedient, and they would easily accommodate themselves to all the
exigencies of the severest discipline. The Chinese possess also a
quality most precious in soldiers, and which can scarcely be found
as well developed among any other people — namely, an incompar-
able facility for supporting privations of every kind. We have often
been astonished to see how they will bear hunger, thirst, heat, cold,
the difficulties and fatigues of a long march, as if it were mere play.
Thus both morally and physically they seem capable of meeting
every demand.

“China would present also inexhaustible resources for a navy.
Without speaking of the vast extent of her coasts, along which the
numerous population pass the greater part of their lives on the sea,
the great rivers and immense lakes in the interior, always covered
with fishing and trading junks, might furnish multitudes of men,
habituated from their infancy to navigation, nimble, experienced,
and capable of becoming excellent sailors for long expeditions.” —
The Chinese Empire. Huc.

361

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

chiefs direct, for there is no tie of national feeling
between them and the Chinese. The Manchii, who
settles down as a married man, and passes his time
in eating, sleeping, and smoking opium, as a soldier
is now despised, while the Hunan “brave” is re-
garded as the warrior who does any hard fighting
which is on hand.

Like the Central Asian peoples, the Chinese pos-
sess, in a high degree, the virtue of passive bravery.
At first the Russians expended much time and
wasted many lives in besieging and storming towns
in Central Asia, acting with caution, throwing up
approaches and opening trenches. But this method
was abandoned for that of open escalade — for in-
stance, at Tashkend, Khojand, and Uratapa. Then
was adopted the plan of storming the breaches, to
effect which breaching batteries were thrown up
at very close quarters, when, choosing a favorable
time, the place was carried by storm. From every
point of view this proved to be the best plan. The
Chinaman, as has been proved repeatedly, is like
the Central Asian in the respect that under cover
he sustains the heaviest fire with indifference ; he
never surrenders except under bold assault, which
he cannot withstand — he cannot bear the cold
steel.

That China was confronted with a dilemma from
which there was no escape has long been seen.
Two courses were open to her : either, as Prjevalski
says, to “plunge headlong into the vortex of absolute

362

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

and complete reform and change in all branches of
her institutions, social and political, or elect to re-
main under the dominion of all her old traditions,
parrying as best she may the pressure of the Euro-
peans.” The second alternative, as was inevitable,
failed irretrievably in China, as it had done in Siam.
China attempted the impossible in trying to defend
herself, not by reform and active measures for de-
fence, but by playing off the mutual rivalries and
adverse interests of the European Powers who
threatened her — and therein lies a lesson for our-
selves. Such a policy peculiarly commends itself to
the crafty Chinaman, who, in the crooked paths of
diplomacy, has little to learn.*

Tlie eastern advance of Russia has been towards
the Pacific, but that movement was always made
with a main eye southward on China — on the rich
plains, the commanding seaports, and the ine.x-
haustible resources of her sleeping and unconscious
neighbor. She has recently succeeded in taking,
per saltum, a step of immense consequence towards
the domination of China. The next move will be,
there can be no doubt, the conquest of Chinese

*“ Simulating where necessary liberalism; adopting in appear-
ance the policy now of this, now of that power, according as the one
or the other coincided with her own immediate interests ; fawning
on the strong and bullying the weak — in a word, cleverly exploiting
both friend and foe, while secretly laughing at both in her sleeve,
China may yet continue for a long time to exist as an independent
and self-sufficient power ; and, while extending this hypocritical
policy to an indefinite extent, may very likely one day form for
Europe a new ‘Sick Man.’ " — Prjevalski.

363

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

Turkestan and Mongolia, for which purpose admin-
istrative steps have already been taken by Russia;
and the process has been rendered immeasurably
easier by the Russian occupation of the Liaotung
Peninsula in southern Manchuria. It is not difificult
to foresee what is about to occur in the near future.
Following upon Chinese Mongolia and Turkestan
will come Tibet ; and this is a matter of real conse-
quence for England as an Asiatic Power ; for
Lhassa is the spiritual centre of the Buddhist world,
and it is from Lhassa that Mongolia, as well as
Tibet, is politically controlled. That Russia recog-
nizes the importance of this question may be judged
from the sacrifices she has made in studying the
Tibetan borderlands. Year by year have Russian
“ scientific expeditions ” persistently examined all the
routes to Lhassa, whether from Kashgaria on the
one hand, or western China on the other. Russia
evidently means to reach Lhassa before Britain
does. It is, perhaps, hopeless to e.xpect a country
that viewed with apathy and indifference the course
of recent events in China to attach much importance
to such a question as Tibet. No large trade is
there in view, and few results could be shown to
satisfy the political economist; but none the less will
the domination of Tibet drive another nail into the
coffin of China. Now that Russia is established in
northern China, the control by Britain of Tibet and
of southwestern China is necessary for the protec-
tion of India and Burma on the one hand, and for the
command of central China on the other. Not only

364

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

is China, who has proved herself unable to defend
her own territory, quite unable to control Tibet, but
there has already been danger to China herself from
that quarter — a danger made clear by the fact that
frontier Tibetans actually disputed with China, not
long ago, territory lying to the east of their country.
With Russia in command of Tibet, the danger, which
under present circumstances is but slight, would at
once assume an entirely different character.

Although the greater portion of the Mongolians
have become degraded, there are still among them,
especially the northern Mongols, tribes retaining
some of the old spirit, and it is these and the people
of Manchuria who will first be em.ployed in China.
Russians are never tired of being reminded by their
military leaders and political writers that it was the
Mongol hordes that overthrew the Roman Empire
and carried devastation into the heart of India.
Under Russian leadership, what may not be expected
from the organization, first of these tribes, and later
of the Chinese, is their constant theme.

In view, then, of the enormous amount of work
yet to be accomplished in the settlement of her
vast territories, simultaneously with the laying down
of a network of railway communications — not to
speak of Mongolia and the extreme portion of north-
ern China (of which Peking is the centre), to be
dealt with later — the Russians were not altogether
indisposed to see a powerful, accommodating, and safe
neighbor and friend in Europe established in the Shan-
tung Peninsula, conterminous with Russia, and com-

365

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

mitted, as they hoped, to support the Russian posi-
tion against any one who would be likely to assail it.
Russia, expert in putting a “face” on things, has
also succeeded in placing China completely at her
ease, while occupying her territories and war ports.

The combination at work in China takes the form
then, of a three-cornered pact, — China, Russia, and
France — the last somewhat fidgety, doubtless; and
to this pact Germany feels bound under existing cir-
cumstances to subscribe.* The French “ sphere” —
the South, with Yunnan and Szechuan as objectives,
is not adversely affected, for none of the “ spheres ”
of Russia, Germany, and France clash. f The time
for the late coup was certainly well chosen, for
neither Britain nor Japan was ready to oppose. The
former was preoccupied in various parts of Africa
and on the northwest frontier of India; the latter
was seriously embarrassed financially, while her
armament, which she is straining every nerve to
complete, remained unfinished. Our rivals had
diagnosed the situation. They had their plan and
the machinery for carrying it out. And it was all
done on the principle of de I'aiidace ct tojijours de
I'audacc, while they were themselves still in a weak
position in the Far East.

Presumably to inculcate philosophical resigna-
tion, we heard a good deal of the “ favored-nation ”

* A well-known German statesman said in 1897: “Germany is
ready to follow the English lead, but there is no English lead to
follow.”

t See Herr von Billow’s speech on February 7, 1898.

366

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

formula being applied in China — every fresh port
was to be regarded as a “ treaty port.” But the
doctrine has already been shown to be inapplicable
in cases like Port Arthur and Talienvvan. Could
we claim equal rights either there or at Kiaochau,
with “ lease ” and sovereign powers, with railways
and mining rights, and hinterland under practically
military control It was asserted, too, that the
value of Port Arthur and Talienwan was not great,
and that Russia had not strengthened herself by
goino; there. A dangerous delusion this to enter-
tain ! With a hinterland full of resources and with
a splendid race of men, such as both possess, in the
hands of protectionist Powers, the result is clear.
Kiaochau and its hinterland were also pronounced
valueless. One argument used to demonstrate how
little could be done there is that Hongkong has
made but little impression on the interior. But
there we are merely on an island, on the very outer
fringe, with no hinterland which we were deter-
mined, coute qiii coute, to develop. With roads, rail-
ways, and mines systematically worked ; with the
back country, in fact, opened up, we shall soon have
an object-lesson in Shantung as to the potential
value of at least one part of China.* And as to that

* “ When one considers how much energy is being displayed in
mapping out and apportioning the waste places of the earth, and
how much heat is occasionally evolved over some trifling piece of
hinterland of no great value to any one, one wonders that the Far
East claims so little of public attention in this country. For there
we have not only enormous tracts of territory as yet almost unde-
veloped, as for instance great parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, and

367

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

of Manchuria, I never met in China any one of au-
thority who entertained the slightest doubt on the
subject. If the insular Englishman cannot realize
its value, let him ask the opinion of some British-
Columbians — men of his own race inhabitingr a sim-

ilar country. There were people also, by-the-way,
who thought British Columbia “ worthless.”

Recent events in China have, at least, done Brit-
ain one service : they have in some degree dispelled
the mists which obscured the real China from our
vision. If we have not yet made up our mind as to
the policy that ought to be pursued, we begin at
least to perceive what our interests are. It is now
universally recognized that our interests are, so long
as possible, “ commercial, and not territorial,” that
all we claim is equal participation ; and that we
mean not to be excluded. We have at last got a
definition of the “ room-for-all ” doctrine which, ad-
mirable in the abstract, remains a mere empty for-
mula unless followed up in practice. And to have
the formula applied is what the country should in-

northern Corea, all white man’s land and all capable of bearing
rich harvests, but the whole of China proper is as yet unexploited
by the engineer and the railway contractor. China is about the
only part of the world where the engineer has not set foot, and yet
there is no part of the world where his services are more needed or
would be better rewarded. . . . These facts are, I think, much more
clearly perceiv'ed on the continent of Europe, and it is not sur-
prising that there should be an eagerness displayed among our
commercial rivals to be the first in the field for the privilege of
introducing into China the modern improvements of steam and
electricity.” — Mr. Consul-General Jamieson, Address to Lo7idon
Chamber of Commerce, October, 1897.

368

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

sist on, leaving the Government to devise the special
machinery for its accomplishment. That British
policy has been lamentably invertebrate of late
years, and will be again unless the country wakes
up, is clear.* Not for the first time is it that some-
thing like a true perception of British interests has
been reached, only to be followed by a relapse into
the previous apathy. Macaulay’s description of
England’s national character — that she acts by fits
and starts, collecting all her energy once in twenty
years, and then falling back into the rich man’s lassi-
tude— is too true. Britain should not adopt the
Chinese idea of successful government — Chih tsai
pu wei — which may be freely rendered, “ The secret
of government is inaction.” What has been and is
still wanting is a vigorous but, above all, a sustained
pursuit and defence of those interests. It is only
because she has been neglected by Britain that
China has yielded to the sustained pressure of
Russia, just as Persia has done. Our treaties would
have enabled us to perfectly safeguard and advance
our interests, but we failed to give them prac-
tical effect. British enterprise has never, in fact.

* Not to mention Madagascar and Tunis, Siam furnishes an
object-lesson apposite to this China question as regards the defence
of our interests. There 87 per cent, of the shipping and twelve-
thirteenths of the imports and exports are British. France had
recently only one steamer running between Saigon and Bangkok.
Yet our predominant interests did not insure their defence, nor did
forbearance secure immunity from attack. In Siam we had a
simple problem — only France to face. In China we have a very
different and infinitely more difficult question to deal with.

2 A 369

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

been supported as it should be since Palmerston’s
time.

The doctrine of “ equal trade,” as a principle to be
fought for, is theoretically admirable from our point
of view, but how about its application ? If meaning
anything, it involves our refusal to permit any for-
eign Power to acquire further territory unless it
adopts “ equal trade ” in such territory — even at the
cost of war. Foreign Powers, seeing this, will nego-
tiate and temporize with us in the future, as they
have done in the past. They will promise, and they
will respect their assurances just as long as it suits
them — no longer. They understand that for the
present their distant possessions are far from secure ;
but ten years hence, even sooner, Russia at least
will be independent of our sea power. She will
then be invulnerable on land, while she will be
much stronger for offence at sea.

Notwithstandinjj manv warnings, England refused
to recognize that “spheres of influence” were com-
ing into operation. We had several important state-
ments on this subject from France and Germany,
and the more signiflcant silence of Russia.* And
“ facts speak for themselves.” Clearly this reliance
on our theoretical treaty rights is completely illusory ;
it merely gives the Russian domination of China

* We had the statement of Herr von Billow, “The spheres do not
clash”; the significant reference of M. Decrais to Nanning and
Talienvvan, which turned out to be prophetic ; and the utterance of
M. Hanotaux as to the reservation of southern China for French
exploitation.

370

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

time to take root, for, since we so ostentatiously rely
on verbal security, they are not likely to use the set
form of words which might alarm us. They need
not openly advance pretensions or formulate claims,
yet may possess the substance while we please our-
selves with the shadow. No sphere of influence
which stops short of actual annexation could give
the right to establish exclusive control, we were con-
stantly assured. But the Russian “ utilization,” not
merely of Manchuria and Corea, but of Northern
China, will continue until the Tsar converts his
present indefinite into a specific domination of China
at and from Peking. The capital itself is disadvan-
tageously situated. Formerly, having only to fear
the incursions of the Mongols or the risings of the
Chinese, it occupied a good strategic position, in
the neighborhood of the fortified mountains pro-
tecting it from the northwest, near the Grand
Canal which carried its supplies, and not far from
the Manchu tribes, who were ready, at a given
signal, to come to the assistance of their menaced
kinsmen. But to-day Peking and Northern Clii-
na are practically at the mercy of Russia, and will
be completely so once Manchuria is fairly devel-
oped.

The one “ ice-free [commercial] port ” on the
Pacific which might have contented Russia a year
or two ago will not satisfy her now that she is in
possession of Port Arthur and the Liaotung Penin-
sula. She wants all the ports and hinterlands, in
fact everything, in Northern China and Corea, and

371

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

after that the further steps are easy to foresee. Ob-
viously, it was hopeless to try to arrest Russia by
words and phrases. Paper concessions are no
solid barrier ; and the control of the sea-borne Cus-
toms, seemingly the alpha and omega of our pol-
icy, will be of little value if our influence on
land is destroyed. Is trade not generated on land,
and is not Russia in potential possession of the
land ?

In view, then, of the present position — the move-
ment of Russia in the north, and of France in the
south, and now with Germany also established on
the mainland between the two and flankincj the

Russian position ; with a Russian system of railways*
being pushed forward with feverish haste (the Si-
berian Railway! 'to be completed in four years, and

* Plans for the construction of an important through line of rail-
way from the frontiers of European Russia in the Ural to Tashkend
in Central Asia are engaging the careful consideration of the St.
Petersburg War Office. The existing Trans-Caspian Railway, when
carried as far as Tashkend, is to be connected with the Trans-
Siberian road. Two alternative routes have been surveyed, and are
now under the consideration of the War Minister. One starts from
Chelyabinsk — the point where the Trans-Siberian line begins — and
runs by way of Troitzk, Nikolaievsk, Turgai, Turkestani, and
Chimkend to Tashkend ; the other makes a junction with the
Siberian line at Ishim, and goes via Petro-Paulovsk, Kokchetov,
Albasar, and Turkestani to Chimkend and Tashkend. This con-
necting line will be of great strategic value to Russia ; it will enable
her to send troops without break from Moscow and European
Russia to Central Asia, and also allow men to be moved from
Turkestan to Eastern Siberia and Manchuria, and vice versa.

t The Siberian Railway is now open to Kansk, the distances being
as follows :

372

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

the Manchurian railways* in six) ; with Russian in-
fluence all-powerful at Peking, and dominating her
working partner, practically a hostage to Russia —
what is to be done ? After all, fhat is the crux of
the whole problem.

It is useless for this country to talk of safeguard-
ing our interests in the Far East if we are bent on
empire - making in Central Africa. Its most san-
guine advocates hope only to create in the Dark
Continent another, an inferior, India — viimis the
population and the civilization. But the deadly cli-
mate and the status of the negro race preclude all
idea of our ever founding such an empire. I am in
favor of “ white man’s ” countries, and also of purely
trading markets, but Equatorial Africa promises
neither.! Yet Britain thinks it good business to
make railways to Uganda, while she has actually
not seen her way to connect India and China, the

Moscow to Tcheliabinsk 2058 versts

Tcheliabinsk to Krasnoiarsk 2037 "

Krasnoiarsk to Kansk 228 “

Total 4323

The line will be open to Irkutsk this autumn.

The Russians are confident that Peking will, one day, be theirs.
“ We will conquer China by railways,” said a young Russian in my
presence at Peking— language constantly heard among Russians.

* See the admirable description of the Trans-Manchurian Rail-
way, by the special correspondent of the Times, in the issue of
March 7, 1898.

+ We have heard a great deal of the creation of African domin-
ions which" will form fresh markets for our British manufacturers,
and new homes for our surplus population, whether the overflow
proceed from the British Isles or from British India.”

373

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

two most populous empires in the world. We have
only a certain reserve fund to draw upon, and we
ha\e to choose between objects to which we shall
apply it. Our enterprises in Central Africa are
mainly territorial, the very elements of commerce in
such a savage country being necessarily non-existent.
So long as our resources, moral and material, are
drained off to found an Equatorial African Empire,
so long, in my opinion, will our substantial interests
all over the world, but more especially in the Ear
East, be neglected. Presuming, however, as an
absolute preliminary to effective action in China,
that the country seriously means to devote to its
interests in China a fair proportion of its attention,
we have two agencies ready for use at our command,
— financial resources and sea-power.

In certain critical situations — such as the present
— we possess the power to assist China and lay
down conditions, and the opportunity should be
taken advantage of ; but we must beware that we
do not expend our resources merely to secure
another creditor. To rely on diplomacy alone will
be entirely futile, for our diplomacy, which has
failed in the past, is not likely to alter for the
better. We must make up our minds w’hat we mean
to strive for, and how we are going to get it. The
old days of monopoly, when we “ stumbled into
success,” are gone forever, and we have entered
upon an era of politico-commercial competition of
a very fierce nature. The pursuit of trade and
empire will not relax, but will increase, and we

374

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

must readjust our antiquated machinery, employing
all the methods of modern education, modern disci-
pline, and modern government. The line of conduct
to be pursued by the mercantile maritime nations is
clear. Their policy is to strengthen their position
and influence at Peking, with a view to keeping open
a market of three hundred and fifty millions ready
for development, and towards that ‘end to induce
China — by pressure, if necessary — to adopt measures
which would be of advantage to all the world, includ-
ing herself. The position is difficult, but it has to be
faced. Foremost among these measures is the open-
ing of the country to foreign enterprise and capital
by means of communications, railways, and water-
ways, for they are the necessary preliminaries to
administrative reforms, which it is useless to attempt
until efficient communications exist. These once
established, administrative reforms will follow as a
natural consequence. That China can have no insu-
perable objection to giving way on this cjuestion of
internal communications is made clear by the con-
cessions she has already granted to Russia for an
immense network of railways within Chinese terri-
tory; the granting of similar railway rights even to
France in the south ; the arrangement made last
year with a so-called “ Belgian ” syndicate for the
Peking- Hankau line; the important railway and
mining rights granted to Germany, and, quite re-
cently, the concessions made in northern and central
China. The Chinese have attempted to carry out
railway schemes without foreign control and by

375

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

means of Chinese capital, and have failed com-
pletely. In the matter of mining enterprises the
same may be said, though in a minor degree.

Now is the time to press on China a comprehen-
sive policy of opening the country. In pressing such
measures the mercantile Powers would be on solid
ground, more especially if what was urged were not
e.xclusive, but for the evident security of China and
the prosperity of her entire foreign trade. The
Chinese are, on their part, not unwilling to have a
counterbalance pressed on them, but they must be
strengthened and stiffened. No surer method of
supporting China can be devised than the introduc-
tion of the capital of Britain, the United States, and
Germany, the chief commercial nations of the world.
Railways must connect our land-base, Burma, and
our sea-base, Hongkong, with the Upper Yangtsze;
for such a connection is necessary both for the safety
of China and of India. The waterways must be
opened by steam in every direction. The mines of
central and southern China must be exploited.
Capitalists, manufacturers, and merchants must be
alert, and should be supported by their governments
in every possible manner. The interest of our colo-
nies in this question should by no means be over-
looked. It is right that they should co-operate in
the question of colonial defence, but in all Imperial
concerns it is the mother-country that must lead.
Should she not recognize her duty, it may be safely
predicted that Australians and Canadians will yet
bitterly resent the neglect of their obvious interests.

376

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

Through Canada lies the all - British route to the
Far East,* and the natural destiny of Australia, as
of the United States, is to enjoy the freedom of the
Pacific.! Our colonial kinsmen rightly look to us
to see that the vast trading regions of China and
Japan are kept open.

The general position with which we have to deal
in its salient features is as follows :

A few years hence European Russia will be linked
to the Pacific. Her Siberian and Manchurian prov-
inces will be joined through southern Manchuria
with the Liaotung Peninsula. The hinterland of
that peninsula will be traversed by railways, its great
mineral wealth will have entered upon the initial
stage of development. The strategic positions —
Port Arthur, Talienwan, and Kincliau — held by
Russia, o;uarding[ this hinterland and commanding:
the inland Chinese waters, and dominating Peking
and northern China absolutely, will have been com-

* In view of the European competition with ourselves in China
and Japan our all-British service for mails, passengers, and samples
via Canada should be boldly developed. The route is a great circle,
in temperate regions, a short Atlantic link, a fast train link, and a
ten days’ Pacific voyage by the magnificent steamers of the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company. A weekly and “ first-class ” service would
be a powerful aid to our supremacy in the Far East.

t “ Amid the uncertainties which are gathering round us at home,
a future so obscure that the wisest men will least venture a con-
jecture what that future will be, it is something to have seen with
our own eyes that there are other Englands besides the old one,
where the race is thriving with all its ancient characteristics. . . .
Let Fate do its worst, the family of Oceana is still growing, and
will have a sovereign voice in the coming fortunes of mankind.” —
Oceana, J. A. Froude.

377

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

pleted. Corea will be held in a vice, to be dealt with
later, Japan being meanwhile placated by an illusory
free hand there, and being pushed southward on
the “ room for both ” theory. Germany will develop
her hinterland from Kiaochau, and, by reason of her
position in Europe and in China, will be a hostage
to fortune at that place, unless a fundamental change
occurs bringing about an active working understand-
ing between herself and England. Erance, in the
south, the junior partner in the Eranco - Russian
alliance, will continue her political programme, which
is to drive in a wedge — not necessarily a territorial
one — between Burma and the Upper Yangtsze.
She will also endeavor to hinder our connections,
throimh the western and northern hinterlands of

Hongkong, with Yunnan on the west and the Cen-
tral Yangtsze on the north. Japan having come to
an arrangement with Russia regarding Corea, has
acquired a hold upon Fukien province, with aspira-
tions to a hinterland for that province, encouraged
always by Russia.

The next stage will be the Russian domination of
Mongolia, and, unless arrested by Britain, of Tibet
also; and, should this come to pass, nothing can
save northwestern China down to the Yangtsze
basin.

Under such circumstances it is a question of vital
importance — a matter of life and death — for England
to maintain and consolidate herself absolutely in
the Yangtsze basin, which cannot possibly be done
except by an effective occupation of the Upper

378

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

Yangtsze, and by developing in every possible way
our communications, along that waterway, and by
the West River, from Hongkong, and by railway
connection between Upper Burma, and through that
province between India and central China.

It is time that countries like England, the United
States, Australasia, and Germany, too, set themselves
to study these F'ar Eastern movements. It would
be well to reflect on the history of the ancient king-
doms formed by Genghiz and his successors, for
history is repeating itself. Russia is conquering by
modern methods the kingdom of Genghiz ; and the
Russian Tsar, once Emperor of China, will take the
place of the Tartar conquerors who carried fire and
sword throughout Europe and Eastern, Western, and
Southern Asia.*

Let the mercantile nations be under no illusions.
Should Russia be allowed to push her railways
southward through Manchuria and Mongolia, with-
out a corresponding movement on the part of Britain
in the south, we shall have lost our Chinese buffer;
and, with the Russian frontiers conterminous with
those of India, from the Upper Oxus to the Yangtsze
basin, unless we have effectively occupied and sol-
idly established ourselves in southwestern China, no
Power will then be able to save India.

The scheme of universal empire may never reach

* Napoleon I., at St. Helena, speaking of dangers which menaced
Europe by Russia, said: “Si un tsar, brave, hardi, doue de belles
qualites, monte sur le trone Russe, il pourra conquerir toute
I’Europe.”

379

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

its consummation. Gigantic bubbles of the Imperial
order have ere now burst by their own expansion.
Yet is there one elem.ent of endurance in the Rus-
sian dream which was wanting in those which have
passed away into the vistas of history. It does not
depend on the genius of one man, of an Alexander
or a Napoleon ; nor on the politics of one genera-
tion. Russian ambition is a permanent plant, with
its roots struck in the sentiments of over one hun-
dred millions of people. It requires no originality
in statesmanship, but proceeds like a cosmic move-
ment, by its own laws working automatically, the
particular men who seem from time to time to be
guiding it being but the accidents of the movement.
Fast or slow makes no difference in the ultimate
progress. Moreover, the Russian Empire is built
territorially on more solid foundations than any
other, ancient or modern. Every addition goes to
enlarge its compact mass, leaving no interstice for
hostile lodgment on its flanks. Nor need we search
deeply into the history of nations to learn what
advantages belong to the people who fight with
their back to the north wind. To parley with such
a force is like parleying with the tidal wave. Only
a sea-wall of solid construction can set bounds to
its inflow. The saying of Cobden, that we could
crumple up Russia like a piece of paper, has, like
some other sayings of that earnest but ill-instructed
man, fostered some costly delusions on the part of
his countrymen ; and there are still followers of his
who are as deaf to the warnings of history, and as

380

THE POLITICAL QUESTION

wilfully blind to the signs of the times, as those who
married and "ave in marria2:e in the time of Noah.
It is not on their heads that the misery will fall, and
it will be a poor consolation to their posterity to re-
flect that their fathers let in the flood, through at-
tachment to opinions spun in the air, with a sov-
ereign contempt for what was visible and tangible.

It has been shown what are the relative values of
Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet as regards China
Proper. If England means to hold her position —
which can only be accomplished by the same strong
and resolute forward policy by which she attained
it — she would be wise to take up an impregnable
position in Afghanistan on the “ defensive-offensive ”
principle, always keeping herself strong in India by
means of a sufficiency of European troops, in case
the overwhelming numbers of her Indian subjects
may at some inconvenient moment be turned against
her; she should prepare the needed bases of opera-
tions and lines of communication to counterbalance
the great and growing Eastern menace.

For three hundred years we fought France, and
built up our Empire in the process. And shall we
not face Russia now, rather than allow ourselves to
be first replaced by her in China and then engulfed
in the resulting deluge.^ For, with China Russian,
Asia would soon be the Tsar’s, and the whole world
would in due course of time be subjugated by Russia.
If Britain be but true to herself, and draw the Anglo-
Teutonic races to her side, she has still the means
of averting this danger, which threatens the whole

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION

of those races through the domination of the world
by the Slav power.

“Since first the dominion of man was asserted over the ocean,
three thrones, of work beyond all others, have been set upon its
sands: the thrones of Tyre, Venice, and England. Of the First of
these great powers only the memory remains ; of the Second, the
ruin; the Third, which inherits their greatness, if it forget their
example, may be led through prouder eminence to less pitied
destruction.” — Ricskin.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Boy, a male personal attendant or general servant.

Canguc, or “ wooden collar,” the Chinese form of pillory, in which
the neck and hands are confined.

Cash, the Chinese copper coin, with a square hole in the centre,
used for stringing.

Cathay, the mediaeval name for China.

Cat tie, — lbs.

Chifii, a prefect.

Chihtai, Governor-General, usually superintending the affairs of two
provinces.

Chin Chin, commonly supposed to be a corruption of the Chinese
sounds Ching Citing, now generally used by Europeans as a
form of greeting.

Chop, a mark ; a term generally applied to a trade-mark and to a
stamped official document.

Chtin Chi, the Grand Council of State.

Chung T’ang, a Grand Secretary of State, of whom there are si.x.

Comprador, the chief Chinese employe in a foreign firm ; the middle-
man between the firm and the Chinese.

Coolie, a laborer or porter.

Ban Kivei, “ foreign devil,” foreigner.

Fan tai, provincial treasurer.

Feng shui, “ wind and water,” a system of geomancy.

Fu, a prefecture.

Fiitai, a governor of a province.

Ginseng, a root, greatly prized by the Chinese for medicinal pur-
poses, found in Manchuria and imported from America.

Godosun, a place for storing goods.

Haikvjan, Chinese Maritime Customs, also applied to Hoppo.

Hanlin, the National Academy of Peking, admission to which is
gained by competitive examination, conferring great distinction
on those who are successful.

383

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Ho, a river.

Hong, a mercantile firm, a building used as an office.

Hoppo, a Palace favorite appointed to certain provinces as head of
the Native Maritime Customs.

Hsiang, a village.

Hsien, a district.

Hsiu tsai, first literary degree.

Hii, a lake.

Hui, a club or association.

Hut Hui, a Mohammedan.

Kiang, a river.

Kiao, a seat.

Kitai, the Russian name for China.

Kowtow, literally hitting the head on the ground, an act of prostra-
tion formerly demanded by the Chinese from foreign envoys.
Kh jen, second degree of literary rank.

Lamas, the Buddhist priests of Tibet, who live together in lama-
series.

Li, a Chinese mile of an English mile.

Likin, an inland tax, well known from its being imposed on foreign
goods in transit.

Ling, a hill, peak, a pass.

Lingchi, the punishment of slicing to death, inflicted on parricides
and others.

Loess, called by the Chinese hwang-tu, is a brownish-yellow earth,
and is the chief physical characteristic of Northern China.

Loti Shui,2, terminal tax, imposed on goods arriving at their des-
tination.

Mafii, horse-boy or groom.

Mandarin, a Chinese official.

Miaotsu, the aborigines of certain provinces.

Nei Ko, Grand Secretariat and Imperial Chancery.

Nie tai, provincial judge.

Pailau, commemorative gateway or arch.

Peking Gazette, the official gazette published at the capital.

Picul, — 133 lbs.

Pu, a Board of Government, of which there are six — Revenue, Rites,
Civil Office, Punishment, Works, and War.

Red Book, a quarterly publication containing the names, titles, sala-
ries, etc., of all officials.

Sanishu, Chinese spirits, distilled from rice or millet.

Shan, a mountain.

S/ieng, a province.

Shihye, a secretary — a great power in all yamens.

Squeeze, a generic term for extortion — official and otherwise.

384

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Sycee, ingots of silver.

Ta Tsing Kivo, “great pure kingdom” — the Empire of China, the
present dynasty being known as the Ta Tsitg, or “ great pure ”
dynasty.

Tael, I J ounces of silver in weight ; now about 3r. ^d. in value.

Tao, a circuit or group of departments.

Taoiai, an intendant of circuit.

Tientzu, “ Son of Heaven,” the Emperor.

Tsinshih, third literary degree.

Tsung Tti, Governor-General, usually superintending the affairs of
two provinces.

Tsungli Ya!Hen,x.h.& bureau at the capital which is supposed to deal
with foreign affairs; eight ministers belong to this board.

Va!)ie>t, an othcial residence.

LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED

Ball, Dyer . . .
Bishop, Mrs. . . .

Boulger, D. C.
Brandt, M. Von .
Chirol, Valentine
COLQUHOUN, A. R.

Cooke, Geo. Wingrove
Cordier, Henri . . .
CURZON, G. N. ...
Davis, Sir J. F. . . .
Doolittle, Justus .
Douglas, R. K. . . .
Dubois, Marcel . .
Ferry, Jules . . .
Fu el, E. J

Giles, H. A

Gundry, R. S. ...

IIosiE, A

Hake, A. E

Hue, Abbe ....

Kreitner, Lieutenant G.
Leroy-Beaulieu, Anatole

“ Things Chinese.”

“A Journey in W. Szuchuan,” Geo-
graphical Journal, 1897, No. i.
“Short History of China.”

“ Die Zukunft Ostasiens.”

“The Far Eastern Question.”

“ Across Chryse.”

“Amongst the Shans.”

“ English Policy in the Far East.”

“ Key of the Pacific.”

“ Report on Railway Connection of
Burma and China.”

“ China.”

“ Bibliotheca Sinica.”

“ Problems of the Far East.”

“ China.”

“Social Life of the Chinese.”

“ History of China.”

“ Systemes Coloniaux.”

“ Le Tonkin.”

“Europe in China; the History of
Hongkong.”

“ Gems of Chinese Literature.”

“ China and her Neighbors.”

“Three Years in Western China.”

“ Events in the Taiping Rebellion.”
“Travels in Tartar}', Tibet, and
China.”

“The Chinese Empire.”

“ Im fernen Osten.”

“ Etudes Russes.”

“The Empire of the Czars.”

386

LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED

Leroy - Beaulieu, Paul

Pierre

Lcttrcs Edifiantcs

Lockhart, Dr

Lockhart, J. H. Stewart .
Lucas, C. P

Martin, Dr

Mayers, W. F

jMeadows, Thomas Taylor

Medhurst, Sir Walter
Michie, a

Norman, H

Oliphant, Lawrence .

Pauthier

Pearson, Prof

Poole, S. L

PopowsKi, Joseph . . .

Prjevalski, Colonel

PUMPELLY, R

Reclus, Elisee

Remusat

Richthofen, F. Von . . .

Rocher, Emile . . . .
Simon, G. E

“ De la Colonization chez les Peuples
modernes.”

“ Medical Missionary of China.”

“A Manual of Chinese Quotations.”
“ H istorical Geography of the British
Colonies.”

“ A Cycle of Cathay.”

“ The Chinese Government.”

“ Desultory Notes on the Govern-
ment and People of China.”

“ The Chinese and their Rebellions.”
“The Foreigner in Far Cathay.”

“ Report to Shanghai Chamber of
Commerce (1870).”

“The Siberian Overland Route from
Peking to Petersburg.”

“ People and Politics of the Far
East.”

“ Lord Elgin’s Mission to China and
Japan.”

“Histoire des Relations Politiques
de la Chine.”

“ National Life and Character.”
“Life of Sir Harry Parkes.”

“ The Rival Powers.”

“ Que deviendront les Colonies dans
I’eventualite d’un conflit Franco-
Russe avec la Triple Alliance ?”
" England and the Triple Alliance.”
“Travels in Mongolia.”

“ From Kulja across the Tien shan
to Lob-nor.”

“Geological Researches in China”
(Smithsonian Institution).

“ Across America and Asia.”

“ Geographic Universelle.”

“ Nouveaux Melanges.”

“China, Ergebnisse eigener Reisen
unddaraufgegriindeterStudien.”
“ Letters to the Shanghai Chamber
of Commerce.”

“ La Province ChinoiseduYiin-nan.”
“ China : its Social, Political, and
Religious Life.”

387

LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED

Smith, A. H “Chinese Characteristics.”

Williams, S. Wells . . . “ Middle Kingdom.”

Williamson, Rev. A. . . . “ Journeys in North China.”

WoLSELEY, Col. G. J. . . . “ Narrative of the War with China.”

Yule, Col. H “ Cathay and the Way Thither.”

“ “ “ Marco Polo.”

INDEX

Aborigines, The, 24.

Administration, Chinese, 167.

Alcock, Sir K., On the Tsungli
Yamen, 21 1 ; On the Chinese
Press, 229.

Amherst Mission, The, 52.

Amur Province, The, i.

Ancestral worship, 265.

Anglo - Cliinese War of 1856-60,
Object of the, 201.

Anhwei, Province of, iS.

Apathy of British policy in China,
368.

Asiatic Power, Britain as an, 322 ;
Russia as an, 324; France as an,
328.

Association, Chinese faculty of, 297.

Audience Question, The, 226.

Australasia, Interest of, in China,
377-

Autonomy, Chinese system of, 89.

Baber, E. C., On Chinese roads,
82, 83 ; On sedan-chair travelling,
83 ; On Chien-chang Valley, identi-
fied with the Cciin-du of Marco
Polo, 122, 123.

Banking in China, 107.

Banto, The, of Japan, Bourne and
Brenan on, 146.

Bayan Kara Mountains, The, 6.

Beggars, The organization of, 299.

Bishop, Mrs., On Szechuan, 123 ;
Description of Chengtu plain, 124.

Bourne, On the Lolo, 24 ; On indus-
trial China, 58 ; On opium, 77 ;
On necessity of commercial re-
cruits acquiring knowledge of

colloquial Chinese, 148, 149 ; On
question of Likin, 160, 161.

Brandt, Ilerr von. Influence at
Peking, 225.

Brenan, On Suchau and llangchau,
134 : On reasons for supineness
of foreign merchants, 147 ; On
Japanese manufactures, 158, 159 ;
On transit-pass system, 162.

Bridges, Stone and iron suspension,
in Szechuan and Yunnan, 124.

Bright on British trade with China,

151-

Britain, As an Asiatic Power, 322 ;
Position of, iu Asia, 336 ; Policy
of, in China, considered, 339 ;
Diplomacy of, in Asia, considered,
348 ; Policy of, in Far East, 351 ;
Empire - building policy in Equa-
torial Africa involves neglect of
Far East, 373 ; “ Forward move-
ment ” on part of, in China, es-
sential, 379.

British Colonies, Interest of, in
China, 376.

British method of trading, 142.

British Policy in China, Errors of,
204, 206 ; In Hongkong, Success
of, 318 ; Apathy of, 368 ; Steps
necessary to safeguard British In-
terests, 374.

British trade in China, English
merchants compared with Ger-
man, 144 ; with Russian, 145 ;
Lord Palmerston on, 151 ; Bright
on, 151 ; Cobden on, 152 ; Rem-
edies for present unsatisfactory
condition of, 164.

INDEX

British and Russian Policy, “ Theory
and practice” as exemplified in,

370.

Buddhist pilgrims. Travels of, 31.

Burlinghame Mission, The, 220.

Burma, characteristics of, and China
compared re railways, too, lOl ;
Land base for England's occu-
pation of Upper Yangtsze, lOg ;
Position of, as regards China, con-
sidered, no ; Absorbing ground
for overflow population of India
and China, 117.

Canada, ‘ ‘ all- British ” route through.
Importance of, 377.

Carlyle on ancestral worship, 266.

Came, Louis de, on French Indo-
China, 44.

Cathay, Name applied to China,
29.

Censorate, The, 180, 236.

Camel, Bactrian, employed in Mon-
golian trade, 84.

Carrying trade. Percentage under
various flags, 153.

Central Asia, Principal trade route
of, 84.

Central capital, Gordon on, 89.

Central Government, The, 182 ; Six
Hoards of, 183.

Cheapness of manufactured goods,
an essential for development of
trade, 1 50,

Chekiang, Province of, 17.

Cliengtu, City of, 124; Plan of, de-
scribed by Mrs. Bishop, 124.

Chifu Convention, The, 57.

Chihli, Province of, ii ; Coal in, 61.

China, Area of, 3 ; Population of,
9 ; Vis inert ice of, 95 ; How to
be opened, 95 ; Railway system
of, should be modelled on Indian
system, 97 ; Compared with India,
97; Low railway rates necessary
in, 102 ; Postal service in. 107 ;
Banking in, 107 ; England’s ob-
jective in, 109; Two ways for
England to reach inland trade of,
109 ; Southwestern provinces con-
sidered as a trading field, lli;
The general position of France

towards, considered, in; No
longer a buffer, 140; Treaty ports
in, 142 ; Wants of market should
be studied, 150 ; Total value of
Imports and exports of, in 1S96,
152 ; Trade of, with United States,
156 ; Labor of Chinese, as com-
pared with Japanese, 160; View
held in, of Russians and British,
354 ; General resources of, under
Western direction, considered,
357 ; General position in, a few
years hence, 377.

Chinese Characteristics : — Ancient
reputation for Integrity, 30 ;
Taste for luxuries, Bourne on,
148 ; Industry, 252 ; Endurance,
253 ; Mechanical Skill, 254 ; In-
tellectual Capacity, 254 ; Com-
mercial Morality, 257 ; Mili-
tary Qualities, 270; Commercial
Genius, 27 1 ; Generosity, 273 ;
Gratitude, 277 ; Cheerfulness,
281 ; Self-sacrifice, 302; Analogies
and Contrasts between Chinese
and Russians, Michie on, 354;
Vitality, Michie on, 358 ; Qualifi-
cations for Military Purposes, 358 ;
Passive Bravery, 362.

“Chinese” Gordon, on central capi-
ta], 89.

Chinkiang, one central railway ter-
minus, 93.

Chungking, first commercial city of
Szechuan, 125.

Chusan, 19.

Clarendon, Lord, and decline of
British prestige in China, 220-221.

Climate, 26.

Coal, Areas of, 60.

Cobden, on British trade with China,
152-

Code of Honor, 260.

Co-Hong, The, 47.

Colonial systems of England, France,
and Russia contrasted, 332.

Commercial Development, 141.

Commercial morality in Japan, as
compared with that of China, 159.

Communications, General character
of, 81 : Absence of, 90; Value of,
90; Wealth of Upper Burma,

390

INDEX

Western China, and Shan States,
fallow for want of, 117; Railways
required in S. and S.W. China,
140.

Competitive examinations, 175.

Comprador, Bourne and Brenan on
the, 146.

Coolies, Wages of, 70; Traffic in, 316.

Cordier on Coolie Emigration, 72. '

Corea, 2.

Corruption, Official, considered, 192.

Court, Conservatism of, 202.

Curzon, Mr., On the Native Press,
233 ; On dangers involved in a
Russian occupation of a port in
Gulf of Pechili, 347.

Custom-houses, Native, “ Kwan,"
155-

Customs, Foreign, Limitations of,
155-

Davis, Sir J. F., 55.

De Lange, Accompanies Ismailoff to
Peking, 39.

Development of trade. How to be
effected, 14S; Cheapness an essen-
tial, 150.

Diagrams and Maps ; Distribution of
Religions in Asia, 10; Loess For-
mation throughout North China,
22 ; Advance of Russia, to det-
riment of China, 37; Density of
Population in Asia, 40 ; Distribu-
tion of Races in Asia, 41; Navi-
gation-limits of the Yangtsze and
its Tributaries, 131 ; Navigation-
limits of Si Kiang or West River,
137; Provinces ravaged by Mo-
hammedan Risings, 2S8 ; Regions
devastated by the Taiping Rebel-
lion, 201 ; Map of Hongkong, 308;
Map showing extension of Hong-
kong, 319; Comparison of Euro-
pean and Asian populations of
England and Russia, 323.

Diplomatic Intercourse, Opening of,
208.

Distribution of Religions in Asia,
The, diagram, 10.

Doolittle on beggars, 29S.

Dunganis, The, 25.

Dutch intercourse with China, 42.

East India Company and China,
45-

Elgin’s Mission, Lord, 56.

Emperor of China, Position of, in
the Chinese governing machine,
169.

Empire of China, Area of. Causes of
duration of, 283.

Empress - Dowager, The, and the
Government, 190.

England, Objective of, in China,
109 ; Must effectively occupy Yang-
tsze region and Southern China,
140.

English, Intercourse with China, 45 ;
Manufacturers, adherence of, to es-
tablished standards, causes loss of
business, 149.

“English Policy in the Far East,”
Prediction in 1884 by Author, 349.

“ Equal trade,” Doctrine of, referred
to, 370.

Etiquette, Importance attached to,
265.

Examinations, Competitive, 175.

Exports, Total value of, in 1896, 152.

F.vmine, The, 1878, 87.

Famines, Characteristics of, 86.

Far East, The general situation in,
early in 189S, 344 ; Neglected by
Britain for empire - building in
Equatorial Africa, 373.

Foreign intercourse with China, and
Chinese vis inertia, 95.

Foreign merchants. Supineness of,
commented on by Brenan, 147.

Foreign Customs, limitations of,
155; An object-le.sson for China,
197.

Foreign Policy, Treatment of, by
Britain and Continental States,
353-

Forward movement of Britain in
China essential, 379.

France, Early intercourse with China,
43 ; The general position of, tow-
ards China, considered, in; As
an Asiatic Power, 328 ; The co-
lonial policy of, 328 ; Probable
position of, in China, 378.

39'

INDEX

Franco-Russian alliance foreshadowed
in 1SS5, 334.

Franciscan Monks in China, 31.

Fukien, Province of, 17.

German trader compared with Brit-
ish, 144, 145.

German statesman. A, on English
policy in China (1897), 366.

Germany, Intercourse witli China,
45; The policy of, in Asia, 343;
Probable position of, in China,

378.

Giles, H. A., on comparisons between
China and Japan, 248.

Glossary of Terms, 383.

Government and Administration,
Chinese, 167.

Grand Canal, 'Phe (Yun-ho, “ River
of Transports ”), 81.

Great Plain, 20.

Grey, Lord, on Hongkong, 310.

Guilds, 296.

Hainan, 19.

Han River, Navigation of, consid-
ered, 130; Valley of, 132.

Hangchau, 17; Brenan on, 134.

Hankau, One central railway - ter-
minus, 93 ; Treaty port of, 132.

Hanyang, City of, 132.

Hart, Sir Robert, on number of opi-
um smokers in China, 75.

High-roads from Peking, 84.

Hoang ho. The, 8.

Honan, Province of, 17; Coal in, 64.

Hong Merchants, The, 49.

Hongkong and Shanghai, Sea -bases
for England’s occupation of Upper
Vangtsze, 140.

Hongkong, An object-lesson, 305 ;
Unique position of, 306; Map of,
30S ; Climate of, 313; Extension
of, 319.

Hoppo, Origin of the, 46 ; At Can-
ton, 194.

Hosie, On Navigation of Yangtsze,
71 ; On Yunnan, 1 15.

Hue, On Manchu policy, 35; On
Opium, 74; On placards, 231; On
commercial genius of Chinese, 272 ;
On Chinese societies, 298 ; On

qualifications of Chinese for mili-
tary and naval purposes, 361.

Hunan, Province of, 18 ; Coal in, 64.

Hupei, Province of, i8.

Ichang, Description of, 127, 128 ;
Introduction of steamers on Yang-
tsze to, 128.

Ignatieff, 39.

Imports, Total value of, in 1896,
152.

India, Expansion of commerce in,
through railways, 97 ; Compared
with Cliina, 97 ; Increase of
traffic on railways in fifty years,
97 ; Official discouragement of
railways in, gS ; Guiding principle
of railways in, 99; Military”
and “commercial” railways, 99;
Break of railway gauge in, 99 ;
Earnings of railways in, compared
with other countries, 100 ; Posi-
tion considered, together with
China, 337 ; Menaced by Russian
domination of China, 379.

Indo- China, Railways formerly pro-
posed in, 1 14.

Initiative, Lack of, a hinderance to
trade with China, 143.

Inspector-General of Customs relied
on by Chinese, 223.

Insurance, Chinese method of, 301.

Jamieson, On questions of Likin,
163 ; On imperial revenue, 195 ;
On revenue of China, 257 ; On
China as a field for exploitation,
367-

Japan, Considered with reference to
the China question, 157, 158 ; Com-
mercial morality of, compared with
that of China, 159; Brenan on
manufactures of, 158, 159; Prob-
able position of, in China, 378.

Japanese labor, as compared with
Chinese, 160.

Jesuits, The, maps of China by, 4.

Jews in China, 33.

Journalism in China, 238.

Kaiping collieries. The, 61, 63 ;
Line to Petang, 94.

INDEX

Kansu, Province of, 15 ; Ivlohamme-
dans of, a factor of value, 121.

Kaulung, Growth of, 31 1 ; Map of,

319-

Kiangsi, Province of, ig.

Kiangsu, Province of, 16.

Kublai Khan, Emperor, creator of
Grand Canal, 81.

Kuenlun Mountains, 5.

Kung, Prince, head of Tsungli
Yamen, 2og ; DilTerence with Mr.
Lay, 217.

“Kw'an,” or native Custom-houses,
155-

Kwangsi, Province of, 15.

Kwangtung, Province of, 14.

Kvveichau, Province of, 14 ; Physical
features of, iig; General descrip-
tion of, 120; Shans of, value of
for England, 121 ; Without mining,
poor, 121.

Labor, Price of, 70, 71.

Lagree, Doudart de, 44.

Lagrene Mission to Peking, 44.

Lang, Captain, 216.

I.anguage, Knowledge of Chinese,
necessary, 146.

Lay, Mr. IL N., on British policy,
207.

Lay-Osborne incident, The, 215, 216.

Liberty enjoyed by the Chinese, 296.

Li, The aboriginal, 25.

Li Hung Chang and the Government,
igo; At Chifu in 1S76, 224; His
love of bargaining, 273.

Likin Question, Bourne on, 161, 162;
Jamieson on, 162.

I.iterati, The, 234.

Lockhart, Mr. Stewart, on Chinese
love of quotation, 239.

Lockhart, Dr., the missionary, on
Russian policy in China, 355.

Loess formation, 20, 21 ; Diagram
showing, 21.

Lolo, The, 24.

l.ucas, C. P., On Britain in Asia, 342.

Lungchau route, of secondary im-
portance, 139.

Lutswun, Salt-works of, 68.

I.yons Mission to Southern China,
Report of, quoted, 14S, 332.

Macartney Mission, 52.

Manchus, contempt for trade, 45 ;
Edict of the, 34.

Manchuria, 2.

Mandarins, E.xactions of, a barrier to
trade, 143.

Manufactures of China, Silk and
Cotton, 135 ; Of Japan, Brenan
on, 158, 159.

Manufacturers, English, Adherence
of, to established standards, causes
loss of business, 149, 150.

Maritime Province, The, 2.

Martin, Dr., On opium, 76.

Meadows, Prophetic work on China,
96; On Income of Mandarins, 193;
On Rebellions in China, 289 ; On
the Russian “ forward movement,"

350.

Merchants, Chinese, at Hongkong,
316.

Miao-tzu, A non-Chinese race, 24;
found in Kweichau, 120.

Michie, A., On faculty of self-gov-
ernment, 2S4 ; On analogies and
contrasts presented by Russians
and Chinese, 354.

Mining, Required to improve condi-
tion of Yunnan and Kweichau, 121.

Mohammedans in China, 25 ; Re-
bellions, 288.

Mongolia, Chinese immigration into,
72 ; Probably one of the next ac-
quisitions of Russia, 364.

Mules of China, 84.

Muravieff, 39.

Namoa, Capture of the, 315.

Nanking, Treaty of, 55 ; Old capital
of Empire, 133.

Napier, Lord, appointed Superintend-
ent of Trade, 53.

Napoleon L, On domination of
Europe by Russia, 379.

Native Custom-houses, “'kwan,” 155.

Navy Board established, 1S4.

Nestorians in China, 30.

Nicaragua Canal, Importance of, for
United States trade with China,
156-

Northern provinces. Backward con-
dition of the, 86.

393

INDEX

Officials, Titles and duties of, 172 ;
Two chief characteristics of, 175 ;
Few amusements and holidays of,
187; Virtually unpaid, 193; Exac-
tions of, 194 ; Aggressiveness of,
200.

Opening of China, Necessity of, 141.
Opium Question, The, 72.

“ Opium War,” The, 56.

Pacific States and China question,

156.

Pakhoi to Nanning railway, 139.
Palmerston, Lord, On British Trade
with China, 151.

Palmerston, Policy of, with regard to
China, 218.

Palmerston on Russian policy, 333.
Panthays, The, 25.

Parkes, Sir Harry, 200.

Pei ho, The, 8.

Peking, Convention of, 56.

Peking dialect. The, 23.

Peking, Four high-roads from, 84;
Railway to Tientsin, 94 ; Inner
politics of, 189.

Peking Gazette, The Age of, 228 ;
Quoted, 258.

Peking Government, Enfeebled con-
trol of. Reasons for, 89.

Pickering, Mr., On the Triad Society,
293-

Piracy near Hongkong, 315.

Placards, Anti-foreign, 231.

Policy of China, 363.

Political Question, The, 321.

Polo, Marco, On use of coal, 60 ;
On Grand Canal, 81 ; On Cain-du,
123.

Ponies of China, 84.

Popowski on Russian ‘ ‘ forward
movement,” 350.

Population of Asia, Density of, 40.
Population of China Proper, 9 ; Dis-
tribution of, II.

Ports, Chief, trade of, 1896, 154.
Portuguese intercourse with China,
43-

Postal service in China, 107.

Poyang Lake, 132.

Prediction in 1S85, at end of Franco
Chinese war, by author, 321.

Press, Development of, 241.

Printing, 232.

Prjevalski, On Russian intercourse
with China, 38 ; On Anglo-French
war with China, 205 ; On Chinese
qualifications for military pur-
poses, 359 ; On Chinese policy,

363-

Provinces, The eighteen, 2.

Puerh, occupied by Mohammedan
rebels, 1 16.

R.'tCES of Asia, Distribution of, 41.

Railways, The supreme necessity for
China, 90; China as a field for, 91-
92 ; Basis of construction of, 92 ;
Inter - provincial, 92 ; Proposed
local lines, 93 ; Present northern
system, 94 ; Tientsin to Peking,
94; Trunk lines, 94; Wusung to
Shanghai, first railway opened, 94;
Foreign management required,
95 ; Williamson on, 96 ; System
of China, should be modelled on
Indian system, 97 ; Peking-Tient-
sin line, popularity of, 97 ; Ob-
stacles to introduction of, India
and Cliina compared, g8 ; Official
discouragement of, in India, 98 ;
Guarantee system in India, advan-
tages of, 98 ; Guiding principle of
construction in India, 99 ; Break
of gauge in Indian, 99 ; Earnings
of, in various countries, compared,
100 : “Military” and “commer-
cial,” in India, 100 ; Characteris-
tics of Burmese and Chinese coun-
tries and peoples compared, 100-
loi ; Comparison of various sys-
tems, loi ; Coal and iron supply of
China gives great advantage over
India, 102; Percentage of natives
employed in India, bearing on
China, loi ; Two methods suitable
for China, 102-103 ; From north
to south, generally considered, 103;
Direct communication with Europe
considered, 103 ; Peking - Hankau
line, 104; Tientsin - Chinkiang -
Hangchau line, with extension to
Canton, considered, 104: Connec-
tion of Burma and S.W. China

394

INDEX

considered, log ; Frontier, N.W.
and N.E., considered, no; In
Yunnan considered, 112; Manda-
lay-Kunlon F'erry line, Character
of, 1 14 ; The overland railway
from Burma, and Yangtsze wa-
ter-route, complementary, 119;
I’akhoi - Nanning line considered,
139; Communications by means
of, required in S. and S.W. China,

140.

Rawlinson on the relative positions
of England and Russia in Asia,

336.

Rebellions in China, 289.

Reforms necessary in S. and S.W.
China, 139, 140.

Revenue, Percentage of dues and
duties paid under various flags,
153 ; Collection of, 195.

Richthofen, On the Wei Basin, 12 ;
On conveyance of coal, 61 ; On
Tungkwan Road, 85.

Roads in China, General character
of, 82.

Ruskin quoted, 3S2.

Russia — Intercourse with China,
36 ; Advance on China {map), 37 ;
Britain's chief competitor in East-
ern Asia, 141 ; Intelligence De-
partment, methods of, 226 ; As an
Asiatic Power, 324; The “for-
ward movement " of, 324 ; The
Trans-Siberian Railway, 327 ; The
Asiatic policy of, considered, 334 ;
And China, understanding be-
tween, 345 ; The position of, in
China, and in Europe, 353 ; Un-
derstands the Chinese, 353 ; The
policy of, at Peking, 355 ; Method
of storming Towns in Central
Asia, 362 ; Probable next moves
of, 363 ; And British policy, “the-
ory and practice” exemplified in,
370 ; And Europe, Napoleon I.
on, 379 ; Probable position of, in
China, a few years hence, 377 ;
Domination of China by, menaces
India, 379.

Russian trader. Compared with Brit-
ish, 145.

Russians and Chinese, The analogies

and contrasts presented by, Michie
oil. 354-

Salt industry. The, 63.

Secret Societies, 292.

Sedan-chair, Travelling by, 83.

Seymour, .Sir Michael, 201.

Sham, The reign of, in China, 189.

Shan States, Wealth of, fallow for
want of communications, 117;
Absorbing ground for overflow
population of India and China, it 7.

Shanghai, Silk and cotton manu-
factures of, 135 : Commercial im-
portance of, 135 ; Foreign trade
of. 135-

Shanghai and Hongkong, Sea-bases
for England’s occupation of Upper
Yangtsze, 140.

Shankaikwan, 26.

Shansi, Coal in, 62, 65.

Shansi, Province of, 12.

Shans, The, 24.

Shantung, Province of, 16 ; Coal in,
67 ; Gold in, 67 ; The natives of,
271.

Shashi, Description of, 128.

Shell Pao, The, or Shanghai Gazette,
239.

Shensi, Province of, 12.

Shimonoseki, Treaty of, 57, 125.

Siam Convention, The, 57.

Si Kiang, or West River, 8 ; The
chief channel of trade in South,
136.

Simon, On industrial future of
China, 58 ; On Chinese taxation,
171.

Smith, A. II., On endurance and
eipiability of Chinese, 2S1 ; On
their cheerfulness, 282.

Societies abundant in China, 29S.

Southern China, Trade routes in,
133.

Spanish intercourse with China, 43,

Steam navigation. Much yet to be
accomplished, 90 ; Trade develop-
ment possible by means of, on Han
Valley, Tsingting and Poyang lakes,
132, 133 ; Measures required, in
Yangtsze and West River basins,
140.

395

INDEX

Suchau, Position of, 17 ; Brenan on,
134-

Superintendent of trade, British,
should be appointed, 165.

Superintendents of Trade, Chinese,

185-

Szechuan, Province of, 15 ; General
description, 122, 123 ; l.amas and
lamasaries of, 123; Description of,
by Mrs. Bishop, 123; Stone and
iron suspension - bridges in, 124;
The Min Valley, 125 ; Wealth of,
126 ; Chinese proverb regarding,
126.

Szumao, 116.

Taiyuen fu. Basin of, 61.

Taiping Rebellion, The, 215 ; Re-
gions devastated by the, 2gi,

Taxation, Striking example of effects
of, on West River, 137 ; Enforce-
ment of transit -pass imperative,
140 ; Internal, on foreign trade,
has a paralyzing effect, 162 ; Con-
solidation advisable, 163.

Tea, 6g.

Telegraphs, Chinese Imperial, 106.

“Theory and practice,” as exem-
plified by British and Russian
policy in China, 370.

Thieves, Organization of, 299.

Tian Shan Mountains, 5.

Tibet, one of the next intended ac-
quisitions of Russia, 3C4 ; Domi-
nation of, by Russia ; Bearing on
China, 37S.

Tientsin, Railway to Peking, 94 ;
Treaty of, 56, 202.

Trade, The Central Asian route ; 84 ;
Stagnation of, treaty ports no
panacea for, 95 ; Routes in
Southern China, 138 ; Chinese
inertia a hinderance to, 143 ; Re-
quires “pushing” in interior, to
“introduce” foreign goods and
manufactures, 143 ; Initiative must
come from the Western merchant,
144 ; How to develop, 148 ; De-
velopment of, cheapness an essen-
tial, 150 ; British, compared with
other countries in 1896, 152 ;

Carrying, percentage under va-

rious flags, 153 ; Proportions of
dues and duties paid under various
foreign flags, 153; Of chief ports,
1S96, 154 ; via Tongking almost
entirely transit trade from Hong-
kong, 154; Of United States with
China, 156; Internal taxation on
foreign, has a paralyzing effect,
162; British, with China, remedies
for unsatisfactory condition of,
164 ; Chinese Superintendents of,
185 ; British share of, in China and
Far East, 324.

Trader, the native and British com-
pared, 142; British compared with
Germans, 144; With Russian, 145.

Trading, British method of, 142.

Trans-Manchurian railways, 373.

Trans-Siberian railway, 327 ; Prog-
ress of, 372.

Transit - pass. Enforcement of, im-
perative, 140 ; Brenan on system,
162.

Transport, Means of, 83; In the
Far East, cost by road and rail
compared, 102.

Treaty ports. Multiplication of, no
panacea for trade stagnation, 95 ;
List of, 142.

Triad Society, The, 293.

Tseng Kwo Fan, 269.

Tsungli-Yamen established, 184; Ur-
banity of, 206 ; Obstructiveness of,
210-21 1 ; Modus ojrcmtidi oi, 211.

Tszechau, 65.

Tungkwan road, Richthofen on, 85.

Tungting lake, 130.

Turkestan, Chinese, probably one of
the next acquisitions of Ru.ssia,

363-

United States, The conditions of,
compared with China, as regards
railways, loi ; And China question,
155 ; Trade of, v ith Chinn, 156.

Upper Burma, Wealth of, fallow for
want of communications, 117.

Upper Yangstze, Key to England’s
position in China, 139.

Vi.ANGAU, General, 225.

Voeux, Sir W. des, on Hongkong, 312.

396

INDEX

Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, on the
Russian “ forward movement,” 326.

Wei Basin, Importance of the, 12.

Wei Valley, centre of gravity of Mid-
China, 85.

W ensiang, 20g.

Western China, Wealth of, fallow
for want of communications, 117.

Whampoa, 46.

Williamson, On railway question, 96.

Woman, Influence of, in Chinese
Government, igi.

Wuchang, 132.

Wuhu, Treaty port of, 133.

Wusung railway, first line opened in
China, 94.

Yangtsze Kiang, 7; General descrip-
tion of Upper, 121; Characteristics
of, near Ichang, 126 ; Junk traffic
on, 127 ; Overland transport of
opium on Upper, 127 ; Introduc-
tion of steamers to Ichang on, 128 ;
Lower course of, 130; Navigation
limits of, considered, 131 ; The
mouth of the, 134.

Yangtsze basin, effective occupation
of, by Britain essential, 37S.

Yangtsze region and southern China
must be effectively occupied by
England, 140.

Yule, On intercourse between China
and Western nations, 28 ; On an-
cient Chinese, 29 ; On Eriar Odor-
ic, 32.

Yun - ho, “River of Transport,”
Grand Canal, 81.

Yunling Mountains, 5.

Yunnan, Province of, 14 ; Mineral
wealth of, 67 ; Main physical feat-
ures of, 112 ; Considered from
point of view of railways, 112 ;
Routes of communication with,
considered, 113; Two widely dif-
ferent estimates of, 114-115; Ilosie
on, 115; Opium grown in, the great
industry, 116; Routes and prices
considered, 116; The capital of
the province, the centre of three
converging routes, 116; Apprecia-
tion of, 117 ; Mineral wealth of,
iiS; Routes to, 118 ; Mohamme-
dans of, value of, for England,
121 ; Without mining, poor, 121 ;
Stone and iron suspension-bridges
in, 124.

THE END

,<rv«IUU''

T^farv^

^PiVladir

.h/yn V

,u>«y« '

plin.IWW

-■kku»o

Hu0^

'i4l-u-ioter

MTfA

CiunejrLi, 250- /i)<

?8u»-lfrin.*niif^^

'^c\UoUiyv>\uo>

Kui dill

*jtCy<kL,

>fOiihH

1 Ai-cliau
\ n'’yu'

\ Rui'-»»

APJflu-

tg->DJtilgB

Of PE-CHIULI

IShRUm.

Sketch Map of

i"” MANCHURIA

and. adjoiriing' Co\i«tTi.»

MAIf€HUIRlIA

»/, T»../-/._X. ». v: _1- .« r _» _

^Chi .

rKlNC

<g-kixg'

kN-CHANC'

^*56'

:ilANC-SH>

PHONGKONC

LIEN-

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN

— € Hllf A —

J&Uthft. Z.

NAN-CHANG

Ur\tlr^n»d-

‘-4 ion

■ ■■ ,

//%»>=»■, — ic-

NORTHERN

Complied from tke latest documents

PE CllUILl

.10

. -i

"y on

htJ -jf

lianwnJiHr .

^POKT AB-li

Vtfuu> too P 1

~ • VT^mjp iSort 7T

ijtA;^ Tint a,#

i.'^i

Ax> M t [

^ U 1

1 \7

y v5/ ^ T*’ •'' ' - M ''

!p^ Si

7 \ •,.

!iWwhk\ laKs'iiS

\K^ fiii, B/> ^ V. , j/ yV

■i '■ '

i .

7:'"

f-.

'1 ■

r**’

•,r"

•O’

>•'

L' ..

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "China in transformation /"

See other formats