THE FAR EAST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 736, 8 February 1910, Page 6

THE FAR EAST.

CHINA IN 1909. (From Our Own Correspondent. Hong-Kong, January 8. Events of a character likely to have an important bearing on'the future history of China have been occurring with almost monotonous regularity during the past year. Hardly had the last Emperor-and .the Empress Dowager been'laid out.'in state than the young Prince Edgent created a sensation'by ordering the; retiraiieht of-Yuan Shih-kai,-.probably the strongest ; man in ,the ISmpirej the, man certainly who gave China a real, army-.and. not .'an imitation chess-board, and,"above all,, the man who had won the confidence of the .foreign"Powers in his integrity and zeal for -reform. "Another shifting of the limelight and Chang' Chih-tung also 'sought the seclusion of his yamen, and steadfastly declined all requests' to leave. -He pleaded illness, but as that, is the invariable- excuse of ■ Chinese : officials, ' it. was put ; dora as another of those hackneyed inexactitudes, which 'are permissible in high . life. His ■ Excellency, however, had contracted a fatal .disease, .and died out of harness. -

Old arid Now Ideas, It was to ■ Chang Chih-tung that beloiiged the credit for 'advocating in the first instance tli© construction of railways throughout the; land«'„\Vh6re most of his contemporaries; saw. .nothing ..but ail at tempt on' the part of the Europeahs-to. send hordes of "foreign-devils"'into'.the sacro-sanct places' of "the .Empire," to dominate and parcel 'out ; the .'land .'among them'selves,' and' to introduce; blazing"dragons'in the form of steam engines, which disturbed feng-chui, the Gbd of the Earth", the Viceroy saw" a' method 'by', which_ the .Chinese' might be, brought into' line ' with the "advanced: countries' of the' West.. But, .of coarse, 'the Chinese.will not be bustled -even 'by" those '.whom . they :k*nbw , to "be 1 their-bost,friends, and it was long, before the opinions of the'departed:Minister were shared by the majority of his associates. "The, re.verse is the case to-day, for .China's' wliole- object is.-' to' : 'buUd";railways— but ■with her-own money and her "own tools, for , , foreign ..interference, ".that-, bugbear which" crops. upin the most unexpected' places',and at the 1 most tantalising mo"ment,'is not to be endured. Without going into any argument" on the; point, it may be! laid' down as a cardinal principle, that until, China",is;capable; ,of managing her own affairs, "with: anything like business acunjeri/'ehe'-wjll- be' lost without "foreign advice.; And as far'as. foreign capital "is concerned,-"China','is 'none , the worse ■in bprrbwing cbeapty' for reproductive works,, rather than, borrow from', her own pfeople on teriqs which "would inevitably lead io corruption, .nepoHsin.^and'all"the evils asso'ciated'with" the,'besmirched; fliandarinate.

Two Important Matters.

The . question "of - railways i v naturally leads to'.the consideration'of'two. matters which have been well before "the public eye during .1909: these . are; the' CantonHankow". and Central: Chinese; Eailways Loan .on' the one hand, and the "KowloonCanton :Bailway on' : the' other.. The eircumstanoes: regarding' the' first are too recent ,to: have - been forgotten, 'but as they marked 1 a new ; era in the' development, of China, it may be well: to regard them"for!'a moment. A German syndicate .tried- to ,induce -.'Grand: Secretary Chang Chih-tiiig.. to ae'oept a loan l of .£3,000,000 'for the' construction' of the northern section of : the Canton-Hankow line. on "certain terms; Whdnthiscame to" the eara' ' of : the Briti6h. and French financiers' 'the'!, fat.: whs"inim'ediatelyi !in the 'fire,\ because' the .terms far; less substantial than it h'a'd l ..been -! 'agreed among",the 'parties should -be 'accepted;"in the case of .the' security for railway -loans. Subsequently,,' a'.compromise *was arrived'. 'it;.wherebj:"the ! ! 'lo'aii. was, to be increased to 500,000.' And .so. the - matter rested; comfortably settled' apparently,'.' when * a bolt - from the' 'blue was sprung, by 'the American, who!; demanded the right to have a. share in the loan.- 1 President. Taft deolared. • himself: to • be .-heart' and soul with' the! American syndicate,; which includes Mr.' Pierpont Morgan, Jl.essra. Kuhn,. Loeb and Co.;' and others,"'and-it"was' evident that, the United States 'Govern-'! in'ent would not be- ousted 'from the. position they had'adopted..-, In the.end,;negotiations- r were: started . between , yie four, groups, although America"wanted to' treat 1 with China direct; '.and"it * was .proposed to increase'.the'Joan' -.to. i6,000,000-•'■"■or' t£7,200j000 in orderi to- let ■ America into the;paot;, ■ -"' v"-■ !' -:.V:

A Quandary. But there .has. been .no', settlement yet, and as the people of Hupeh are petitioning, memorialising, every- other begging the, Grand Council to have nothing to: do with- foreign loan's, and promising', to.raise, the.money in ;the.'province.'.the"lmperial .Government .is ,in : a ul ' quandaxy."; ;It; was the • question 'of "this 1 loan;' however, "which -led to- the"' appointment ..'of Charles Crane; of. Cliicago, -. to : the post .'of -Minister to China,. a port from which he .was called to resign before he had left"the. shores;oi, America.'- * Mr. , Crane ! was' doubtl^s. a great business" man, - and followed ' the' President's hint, to give' out his opinions "red hot," but : he was evidently no diplomat,'. or the. Japanese were, too many for him. With" regard to the'.'Kowloo»M3aii-. ton .Eailway, it is ahficipated ;th'at"!the British 'section will 'be' o'peu' tliis' summer, and. the -through" line' will 'be - ;cbmplete'd by • next year., ; Nobody pretends' to know what . advantage Great.: Britain or- the colony of -Hong-Kong is, to.. derive . from this '' ( "'which'-,, runs through a "6par6ely;pppulated ;■ region, and before,'it 'is-'completed will have* cost in' immense amount "of • money. .'. Sir Mat-' thew '■ Nathan, our■ last"Governor, 6eem'ed. to - look" upon strategic niove ;'coinmercial men. regard it-as a plan': to bring Peking- into direct' contact with HongKong :; whin ' the Cariton-Hariko w-Pekihg .line is completed;! and the, average Chinaihan who is expected to use the line and i enable it 'to . pay interest on the, heavy ,capi-" tal/expendituTe,',' does not' give.,'the' subjeet..a second;thought.' One thing is cer-tain,-it -will be real's, before the British section; whioh is "only 23 miles' long,- pays its way. ..." ■; . ,*',r ;'

The. Opium Habit : . As usual, opium has.,'figured largely among'the,topical;.erents'of-.the year,' and there have,-been commissionssand conferenoes .to..decide;;how tie.habit ;is;to: be suppressed,'.' but so'. far' nothing ..tangible hasv resulted..' When the;; International Commission' met. at Shanghai in ' February last, year the-members ;were. received, by his .ixceilency ;Trian Fang, who;' in reply to an address, very sarcastically: told them that • China could look, after her own- in-: teresfe, , and' was in> no . need vof advice from, ■ outsiders.' :Then" the ."commissioners started "to waijkviand after elaborate:.discussions : arrived 'at: a series of ,innocuous resolutions with which nobody . could find fault. 1 The; fact -of _ the'matter "is ,that 'no reliable :. ■ information has yet ;' become available:;to ;.show whether China' ;• has Keen 'maKng'ahy 'serious,attempt :to carry' into'effect; her. promise to gradually diminish,■ and finally to suppress the .cultivation of the poppy.'. On the other hand, Indian opium shows a reduction in the . quantity, exported,; arid 'prices. oro rising, which- is: a sure sign of .the: lessenings of. supply. In. Hong-Kong, and Shanghai the opium divans have'either been closed or are under, orders, to .1 put up "their :shut : tors,", arid the Government of Hong-Kong has received 'a.' reduced ,'tender, for. the lease, of the. opium farm, tho reduction' being roughly.;;£2s,oDo.- In Hong-Kong it is hoped that the British Government will ' fulfil' its l ' promise : and ; grant ' .that "substantial' compensation"' which was' § remised ■ by ■ Lord - Crewe on account of ie ; loss caused, by the oompulsory closing of . the divans, before the views' of the colony had been submitted to the ■House of- Commons; But feajs are entertained, that- it is a forlorn'hope;:: A Bold and Truculent Viceroy. ; One incident which shows. how. tenaciously China clings to old wayß occurred in' connection with the deposition of Viceroy Tuan Fang. -It: seems that on the day' of; the funescal. of, the.late Empress Dowager, the lady who,rnled China with a ,rod of iron, he had the temerity to order photographs of . the procession to" be taken. It a , even .hinted that he snapshotted the funeral - cortege himself. And to add to' his 'indiscretion he rode ecrcss the line 'of - route .befofe ...the procession came in sight. - For lek than these; evidences of lese, majeste a man has. lost hi 6 head in China before now. but tlio nobles contented themselves: with merely, cashiering the. bold.and truculent'Vioeroy; It is also said that the three widows of Kuna, r Chih tod something to ' do with 1

Tuan Fang's. downfall, but there is no proof. of . that. Still it is evident : that medieval; ideas continue to prevail in the 'Middle Kingdom.. Reform. "It is needless to say that there has.been 'no reform in the -currency system, although the question has been repeatedlv "mooted of late -months. ' A start,- halfhearted,'has been made with what is generally described '.as . Constitutional ernment"'but. the members have not yet even got the "length' of quarrelling. A - commission, consisting of Prince Hsun, of the blood royal, arid Admiral Sah, is touring Europe and America; with the object of trying to understand the subtleties of naval.mechanics, but they have left no orders for new vessels. As far as boy-' cotts were concerned, there w;ere fewerof these-'last"year, than in 1908j ,and none was of 'any importance. ' One. was'■ directed against' the.-British ' at Chukia;ng, but it was promptly'' sqnelched ' .by the Taotai. ': So - far" -Hong-Kong is concerned, the principal. event .'of tho year, has been , the collection of a. million and a' half of dollars towards the equipment and endowment of a university, tnestruc'-' ture of which vlias' been- provided by : a; local Parsee gentleman, while the site has been provided by the Government. The work of erecting the. building has already commenced, and provision, is'to be, made' at- the outset for,';the teaching', of ■ 500 students. ' : •