THE CHINAMAN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1741, 5 May 1913, Page 6

THE CHINAMAN.

BUMMED UP IN INTERVIEW, ' INSCRUTABLE AS EVER. WHAT WILL 1 HAPPEN TO HIM NOW? On a. visit to Wellington at the present time is Mt. Frank Allen (brother of Mr. H. P. Alien 1 , of tliis city), of the "Eastern Extension Cable Company's staff, who for two years past has been stationed. at Tientsin, in North China. He has been, connected with tlio servico for 23 years, having joined it as a cadet in I New Zealand in 1890. During that timo he has eorved at Wakapuaka, Port Dar- [ win, Penang, Capo St. James (near S'ai'gon, in. French Cochin China), Batavia, and Tientsin. In the course of conversation yesterday 'with a Dominion representative, Mr. . 'Allen, talked very interestingly on Chinese ' matters, at the same time confessing that it was difficult to form any definite opinion as to the coming events. In tlio first instance, this this so becauso of the in- ■' scrutabie cliaTaoter of the Chinese, who ' do not think in the same way as Europeans, and, secondly, because he was convinced that the great mass of tho Chinese '•—even the educated class—knew little of what was going on. The Eternal Puzzle of the Chinaman. "It is difficult to estimate the-outcome •of any movement in China," said v Mr. Allen. "Even living amongst them, "Xme might think of nine things that might , corns about, and then they find a tenth outside your calculations. "I liavo talked vrith our own Chinese clerks—educated, men—to see whether they know anything about what was likely to follow the establishment of tho Republic, • but th'ey haven't got an idea. All they say 'is, *We Republican now—allee same Arnelika!' Further than that their minds are n blank, or seemingly so. This is tho outcome, I fancy, of tho neglect for countpless generations. They know nothing about government at all. It is just lik° handing over the control of the city of Wellington to a lot of school childreu. • Yuan-Shih-Kai and Dr. Morrison are iho powers that be—they are working in .concert to establish constitutional government, but it will be a long time beforo they will be able to train the minds of the '•■people to think about the many big questions that face tho. country. No One Can Guess what is Coming. One immenso problem is to bring Korfli and South China together. These tiro great sections—each an fempire in itself— oi. tho country aro very jealous of one another. .Antipathies which, aro generations old will have to ■be smoothed away. Then there aro hundreds of-districts, each 'with' an entirely .different dialect and. conflicting interests. These, too, have to be brought into line. I am sure the Chinese themselves cannot even remotely guess what is going to happen. " They are not altogether convinced that life under a Republican Government will be an improvement on life , undor a monarchy, and though, most of up our way havo cut of? their queues, signifying their approval, of the new order of things, they have carefully kept them safe, not knowing when it might be incumbent upon them to resume wearing them." Tien-tsin on Fire in the Moonlight. , "As for tho revolution, I don't know tut w-hat tho Revolutionary party was ' Hot tho most "Surprised of alt at its success. This came about chiefly, I beliovo, because the Treasury could not find suough money to pay the Imperial troops. They were sent out to fight the Revolutionaries, but, when they found that no pay was forthcoming, they deserted, and roamed about in small parties foraging and' looting all over the country. Wo wero not troubled much in Tien-tsin; though there wero rumours in plenty. "Wo heard that they were waiting for a nice full moon (for good luck) to declare the Republic established, aiul it came on » beautiful Saturday night. That evening ]'. got a ring to say that thero were some good fires in progress, so I jumped into a rickshaw and went down \lo the river-bank and' saw seven great fires flaming straight up in the still night air. These hail been caused by some of tlio ex-Imperial soldiery, who had squared tho rickshaw coolies to point out the big silk merchants (silk is always realisablo in China), the pawnshops, curio-stores, and. tlio mint, and these places wero looted anil burnt that night.

Marauders Led to Execution. "It caused a big sensation in the Chinese quarter,' and when we got ou to tlie main road wo wero mel! by a solid proccssion of rickshaws piled high with the goods and chattels of the places round about the tires. Of course, the coolies got to work and looted also, so things wero pretty lively for a time. A number of the marauders were captured by tho authorities, and. suffered tho extreme penalty in-the brilliant sunshine the next, morning (Sunday). "The unhappy lot were conveyed to 1 tho outskirts of the city, each one being marked by a large paper sword stuck in tho back of the rickshaw, which he was being .carried in. This was to signify to tho populace that ho was to bo beheaded. 'When they reached the spot, the official .dropped the paper sword on the ground, and tho condemned man was bidden to kneel. AVhat followed you can imagine. About a dozen were beheaded that morning, and their bodies wore ordered to lie exposed there for twenty-four hours as a warning to evil-doers." . When Mr. Allen left Tien-tsin, Dr. Sun Ynfc Sen, who was the leading spirit .in tho revolution, had gone to Japan to pick up'some ideas on. constitutional government—at least, so it was alleged—and -probably to confer with the Japanese Government authorities. Hatters wero then very quiet in the north. The Plunge into European Clothes. "One elfect of the revolution," said Mr. Allen, "has been the general adoption of tho'European styles of dress among tho better-class Chinese, in which they have followed, the example of Japan. One merchant wlui saw this movement coining imported a shipload of tweed suits and caps from Vienna, and cleared the lot in a few days. Just before I left I saw a Chinese wedding, at which everyone present wore European clothes—frock coats, and tall hats, in many eases, and, to niako tho illusion complete, I'm blessed if Mendelssohn's 'Wedding March' wasn't played at the conclusion!" At. Tien-tsin the officials of the Eastern Extension Company reside in ono or other nf the "concessions." ATi-. Allen's houso was ip tho German concession, which was guarded by German troops. These "concessions" are blocks of land within tho eity ceded to the various Powers at tho time of tho Boxer trouble, and are to nil intents and purposes bits of the Empires which hold tho concessions. England, Trance, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Anicrica all lutvo concessions in Tion-tsiii. ■