THE DANGER IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 836, 7 June 1910, Page 5

THE DANGER IN CHINA

FOREIGNERS IN NANKING. By Tclecrapa—Press Association—Copyright Peking, June 5. British residents of Nanking (who were recently warned, along with other foreigners, of tho danger of an antiManchu outbreak) havo taken refuge in tho suburbs of Hsi-Kwan, between the city wall and the river. Foreign men-o'-war are protecting them. ORDER MAINTAINED. UNTRUSTED TROOPS DISARMED. (Rec. June C, 10.15 p.m.) Peking, June 6. Seven thousand local troops at Nanking have been disarmed, and eight thousand others have been substituted. Order is being maintained. MANCHUS AND CHINESE. Writing on the position of the Manchus, Professor E. H. Parker, Professor of Chinese, at, the, Victoria University of Manchester, says :— Absorbing Their Conquerors. For some years past it has been repeatedly suggested by those who have had long experience in China that tho ono possible way of saving the dynasty "is to abolish all distinction between Manchus and Chinese, to do away with the wasteful Banner Fund—the Banner troops are the Manchu soldiery,— to sanction marriages between Manchus and non-Banner Chinese, and to throw open mercantile and industrial careers to the idle Bannernien. It must be explained that ever since the truly historical period, which begins in 841 8.C., China has been in constant struggle with the various' Tartar tribes, who, it may not generally be known, have during the past 2000 years at least as often actually ruled in North China a3 have native Chinese dynasties, v It has always been with much the same result. The warlike conquerors, after one or two generations of. vigour, have invariably, in a.greater or less degree, succumbed to the enervating effects of luxury and effeminacy. The Mongol dynasty of Genghis and Kublai Khan (1200-1368) was the first to embrace South China too, and was the one which perhaps yielded least to these sensuous blandishments; and when the sturdy Manchu Tartars, after several generations of manoeuvring for position on the northern frontiers, at last saw their opportunity and took it, they firmly resolved that theys at any rate, would for ever maintain their own manly and warlike traditions, and would never allow themselves to be "pacifically penetrated," as their predecessors, the Scythians, tho Turks, the Kitans, the Nuchens, and, to a certain extent, the Mongols had always done. This was in 1044 and onwards. The Burdensome Bannermen. There, wero never more. than 200,000 effective' Manchu soldiery, and from the time of the Manchu conquest until now this remained roughly tho figure at which the Manchu Bannermen, whether in Peking or at the provincial garrisons, are computed. The Manchu organisation has always been purely military; there are eight Banners or Flags, three of them ranking abovo the other live, and overy living Manchu, Emperor included, is registered as belonging to a. Banner, under his own paternal "uiuiu," or "colonel," instead of being, like u Chinese, registered as belonging to a city district under his own paternal _ magistrate. 'When the Mongols wero conquered or conciliated by the -Manchus they also wero ranged under eight Banners after Manchu fashion, and the adherents of those "loyal" (that, is,.traitor; ous) Chinese generals who assisted tho Manchus.to conquer China were similarly ranged, under eight Banners. - Thus, to this day we havo under the general head of "Bannermen" the- Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese subdivisions, all enjoying pensions or pay, and all.more or less ex-, empt from the laws and regulations which govern the rest of China. There never were, and probably are not now (apart from the uncivilised and hunting tribes), more than one million genuine Manchus all told, counting in that number wives and families, unemployed expectants, and others. To feed these idlers, most ol whom, whether in Peking or in the provinces, have long since lost their military vigour and capacity, ono good quarter of tho availablo Chinese revenues go. Every year 8,000,000 taels have to be sent from the provinces promptly, as a very first charge on the general revenues, to provide what Europeans usually call the "Peking Contingent Fund." In addition, under _ such specious modern names as

"Provision for Pay Needs," "Rootstrengthening Fund," and so on, several more millions of tacls have to be sent to- Peking with,almost equal promptitude, in order td satisfy the further needs of these same idle Bannermen, supposed to be in the field; the provincial Banner garrisons are paid, apart from this, directly from provincial funds, and for a century at least they have never done a stroke of work, except, perhaps, in defending Chinkianj; against the British in 1841. Besides being withdrawn from the operation of common law, llanchtis have never been allowed to engage in commerce or organised industry. Some Points of View. Tho intelligent Chinese naturally ask themselves: "Why should we, in these times of stress, pay 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 of our hard-earned money to support a pack of idle Tartars who can no longer even defend us from other external foes?" On the other hand, the Mnnchus say: "If we are no longer to receive pensions and to occupy ft privileged position, why should wo rally round tho Throne at all? At any rate let us trade and marry where wo will; let us move about tho Empire as freely as a Chinese can do, if we are to bo deprived of ouimonthly pay and rice." The princes of tho dynasty, in their turn, say: "Our dynasty has been.in the past one of the best, and our former Manchu Emperors have left honourable names behind them second to none in our past ages. Why should we basely ahandon our dynastic rights? What Chinese family exists with moral claims equal to ours?" Finally, tho Chinese-born statesmen say: "You certainly belong to the Imperial stock, and wo_ are grateful to such Emperors as K'ang-hi and Kienlung for raising China to such a pitch of prosperity as the Empire enjoyed for a century or more. But your languago has disappeared; you have no learning or literature except what you derive from us - . We are loyal to the ruling house, and will continue so (in the absence of a better) if the ruling house only treats us fairly. But the majority of Manchu military men arc incompetent to maintain China's dignity; capable > civilians are rare now, and men like Twanfang are the exception. It is we who practically, defend you now, rather than you who defend us. , Saddled with foreign debt, we can no longer afford to pay a quarter of our available revenue to support' idlers who are no source of strength even to themselves."

This is the situation. However inept in other matters, the Manchus are, and always have been, superb in diplomacy. The absence of any prominent Chinc'fo family, the jealousy between the incapacity to mnintain secrecy—all theso are weak points in tho Chinese position.