CHINA'S AWAKENING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1736, 29 April 1913, Page 7

CHINA'S AWAKENING.

THE PRIMITIVE FAITH,

"FATHER OF HEAVEN."

By Telegraph—Press Aesociation—Copyright

London, April 27. Bishop\ Montgomerj-, secretary to the Society for the Propagation of tlie Gospel, interviewed, referred to the marble Altar of Heaven at Peking, that has been used for centuries on one day each year, the Emperor standing on the steps and prny.ing for liis people. ' There was a tablet behind the altar inscribed: "Father of Heaven." The altar represented the Mongolians' primitive faithr-ono God— which faith was older than that of Confucius. China would be thrilled if the Government and ministers of to-day prayed to the Father of Heaven in .the immemorial manner. Prayers by all denominations in Britain to-day, including the Roman Catholics, were very general. CHINESE PEOPLE GRATEFUL. London, April 27. President Yuan-Shui-Kai lias telegraphed to the.London Missionary Society thanking it for its kindly act, and adding: "I pray for the prosperity of your religion. ■ All the Chinese people arc grateful." . CRUSADE AGAINST OPIUM. • Peking, April 27. General Chang, one of President Yuan-Shih-liai's military advisers, is going to England to support tho movement to terminate the export of Indian opium. FINANCING THE COUNTRY. .£25,000,000 LOAN CAUSES DISSEN-. SION„ (Rec. April 29, 0.55 a.m.) Peking, April 28. The Chinese loan of twenty-five million sterling, bearing interest at five per cent., lias been duly signed. Two mil-lion'-will be advanced before the flotation. : ' The deputies of the Ivnomingtang, o: Southern Party in the Chinese Parliament, are seeking to cancel the loan. Adviccs from Shanghai arc to the effect that Dr. Sun Yat Sen warned the Consuls that the completion of the loan without reference to the National Assembly would provoke e breach between the North and .South leaders. The Knomingtang declare ~ that the South will repudiate the loan, and fight unless Yuan-Shih-Kai retires. Poking, April 27. The price of the five Powers' loan is .£9O, but the banks will recognise the Belgian option of three million sterling, issuing at .£94. The banks will advance China half a million immediately, and practically finance the country afterwards. ' PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. SOME REMARKABLE FACTS. ' (3y Joseph Mede.) The request by the Government of China to aill the Christian, churches in the Republic . and also to the Churches in the outer world to offer prayer for blessing ' upon 'j- the Republic is surely unprecedented in history. It seems a j strangely- unexpected request from'a c^{l iltiy■ '"V^lU(ilv''h;fe''Hi'c l ll ''eo ! e£-! clusively heathen, and wßich within the present generation has witnessed massacres of Christian missionaries'. But .after {til it is not surprising 'when it is realis: ed that Christianity exorcised a great inr flu?nco on the reform propaganda of'recent years and on tho actual Revolution. Without going into tho many and various channels through which Christianity is finding its way into the minds of the Chinese, it is sufficient to.mention that both in the leaders of the Revolution and also in. the Republican .Government, Chinese Christians are to bo found in considerable liumbc-r. Dr. Sun Yat Sen, tho organiser of the Revolution., and'the provisional President of the Republic, is an earnest Christian. His Excellency general Yuan Shi Kai, the present President, has placed his own family under tho tuition of missionaries and in mission schools. General Yuan, though still a Confucian, paid out of his own purse for the erection of a wing. of tho Anglo-Chinese Missionary College at Tientsin. He also last year, by his personal persuasion, prevented the departure from China of Dr. Lavington Hart,'a well-knowm missionary, whose counsels it is considered the President means to utilise in carrying out the great educational schemes his Excellency has projected. Tho ex-Premier, Tang Shao-Yi, and several othor members of the Cabinet, follow tho President's example in having their children educated) ana brought up as Christians.

Amongst leading officials of Government Departments, the following, notably, are Christians:—Dr. W. W. Yen, secretary and aide de camp to the President; Mr. Tanj Kai-son, of the Foreign Office; Mr. C. IV Wang, formerly a secretary of tho Chinese Y.M.C.A. In the Board of Education, Mr. Chang, Director of Education for Chilhi; and Mr. Chung, Director cf Education for- Canton. Amongst these, Dr. Yen, Mr. C. T. Wan", and Mr. Chung, until tho Revolution, called then; to Government positions, have been active teachors, solely occupied in promoting the Christian religion. Dr. 01mm Seen Chan, Director of Agriculture in Manchuria, is, with all his family, Christian. ! Little more than a hundred years ago a law was passed in China making it illegal'to print Christian books or preach the Christian faith.\ Now the Christian Sunday is included in the official calendar issuedyby the Government for the guidance of its subjects. This publication is more than an. almanac; it is regarded; by the Chinese'as a guide to correct conduct. During tho process of tho Revolution, notwithstanding tho inevitable disorder, the, Christian missions proceeded without let or hindrai:o in tho pursuit of their ordinary work as if nothing untoward was happening, the Revolutionary soldiery in every known instance assuring the mission authorities of protection and giving them confidence and a. sense of security wliile the disturbing changes wero being effected. ' The declaration made by Br Sun Yat Sen on assuming the Presidency was no less remarkable than tho request of last wcok for Christian prayer. Dr. Sun Yflt Sen. then said. "Oiir greatest hope is to mako the Biblo and education the means of conveying to city unhappy fellow countrymen what blessings may lie in tho way of just laws, and what relief from sufferings may be found through civilisation."