CHINA'S STRONG MAZ

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 908, 30 August 1910, Page 5

CHINA'S STRONG MAZ

YUAN-SHIH-KAPS RECALL. By Telegraph—Prese Aseoclation-Oon/neßi. London, August 2G. E-eutor's Peking correspondent states that terms are'-being nrranged for the return to oSice of Yuan Shih-Kai, tho great Viceroy of Chi-li, wlio was dismissed from all his offices in January of last year. The precarious tenure of office under Oriental autocracy'was well exemplified in the downfall of Yuan Shih-kai, who was dismissed on January 2, 1909, by a cold, curt decree signed by the Emperor and the Eegent. No , man in China, wrote "The Times'" correspondent in describing the event, deserved better of his country. He has l>cen in the forefremt of progress, and is the best administrator China has produced in this generation. When Governor of Shantung in 1900 his action in resisting the Boxer insurrection and in safeguarding foreigners really sav ( ed \ tho Empire from disruption. He created China's modern army, and wns the leader of the modern educational movement in China, and his famous memorial of September 2, 1905, urging the summary abolition of the antiquated system of literary examination ivas epoch-making. Under h\6 Viceroyalty tho Metropolitan province became the most advanced in the Empire." With Tang Shao-yi he led the anti-opium movement. Since he entered the Ministry for Foreign Affairs" China has attained a measure of respect among the Powers which was unknown before. The old Empress-Dowager, with all her defects, knew his worth, and on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, in September, 1908, he was the recipient of an extraordinary manifestation of Imperial favour and popular esteem.