FROM CHINA

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2259, 19 September 1914, Page 9

FROM CHINA

EVOLUTION & REVOLUTION BEAUTIFUL KIAO-CHAU HEALTH RESORT OF THEEAST

Visiting Wellington nt the present time is the Rev. Win. 10. vSouter, of Glasgow, a Presbyterian Church missionary, who for the past eight years has been. v ery actively engaged in missionary work all over China, and w]io intends after a rest to return to China. Mr. Kouter, who is to occupy the pulpit of St. John's Church to-morrow, has traversed the length and breadth of China, from Canton in the south to Mongolia in the north, and from Wai-hai-wei in the east away back to mysterious Tibet, His last station was Chung-King, a district 1800 miles up the Yang-tse-Ejang River from the coast, where the fight to establish Christianity goes bravely on. although a little upset by the. general unrest that prevails consequent upon the transition state of matters political in China. Still, the country has ma'do great advances of recent years, and the missionaries have met with nothing save the utmost friendliness, on the part of the Chinese people themselves. The only danger that exists for the traveller in China is that from the depredatory hordes of robbers and bandits who infest certain parts of the country'. The Yang r tse-Kiang River is a. wonderful water-way into the interior, and , above a certain point, when travelling m a junk, the master would never dream of tying up for the night unless there were twenty or thirty junks together, owing to the raids these bandits made. •And what do you think will arise out of the present condition of things politically? ."What do I think? Well, it is very difficult to prophesy anything about a country like China," said the visitor, "but I should imagine that another at: tempt will be made by the student class and reformors to establish a proper Republic. They only consider the present one a makeshift, and only recogniso Yuan-Shi-Kai as the dictator because he has- the backing of the Powers, llwt means the backing as far as finance is concerned. Dr. Sun Yat Seu started a counter-revolution Bome time ago, hut it failed badly, and he had to leave the country. I believe he is now in Japan. No, China is a peculiar country—it was best described by Arthur Smith, who likened to a number of cats inside a'bag." Klao-ctiau. Mr. Soutar kuows Kiao-chau—the German territory just north of the British station of Wei-Hai-Wei—very . well. Kiao-chau is tho district, but the city of that name is not within German territory. The chief German city is TsingTap, which the visitor describes as a very beautiful city, built on modern German lines, with a beautiful harbour that is very strongly fortified—far more so than Wei-Hai-Wei. , Tsing-Tao being u beautiful placo, and well to the north, has quite a reputation in China as a health resort, and in July, August, and September plenty of people from all accessible parts visit tho place. Mf. Souer was wondering whether any of his friends had been caught there by the investment of tlio place by Japanese warships. Tho colony, as a colony| was not a liUccniia. The' Gormans wore not good colonisers, though thoy were admirable citizens in British colonies. The reason, he thought, was that German people who immigrated wished to get away from 'he iron-bound lestrictions imposed on them under the semi-mili-tary nilo in-the Fatherland, and wiion they found that they were no better off in a German colony—indeed, sometimes much worse —they soon left it. All the Powers were represented by bodies of troops on Chinese soil. Ihere was a British general and a regiment of troops in barracks at Tientsin, and there was always a Legation guard at Peking. Germany, Franco, Russia, Japan, and Italy were also represented by armed forces in the chief centres. That had been the case since Wie infamous Boxer troubles. Progress of the Country. Still China progressed. Mr. Souter said he had noticed that China's Postal Department.had handled 421,000,000 letters and parcel last year. It was really a wonderful sorvice, largely carried out in the back country by a pony express, like they had in Western America not so very long ago. Ho had a friend who resided away up in the north-west .province of Ghan-Su, who fifteen years ago used to get four mails a year—now he got one every day. There were now 90,000 miles of telegraph line, including one which entered the mysterious city of Lhassa, the capital of Tibet. There are also 6000 miles of railroad, and another 2000 miles in course of construction. On the Yang-tse-Kiang Rivor there were two British, one Chinese, and two or three Japanese lines of steamers, which gave an excellent service. Education was rapidly developing. China had adopted the English university system, and there were universities in all the big centres. A fine one had recently been established in Hong-Kong, through the liberality of a Parsee backed by She British Government. It 6 degree now ranked with that of the London University, though the examinations at Hong-Kong were.said to be stiff er. He had found the-Chinese possessed of extraordinary brain power and wonderful memories. A Moral Nation. Last year 45,224 Chinese had been admitted to Christian Churches, as against 30,000 tho previous year, and everywhere schools were being established for the training of the young. He attributed the greatness of China as a nation—it had "stood through the ages when all other nations had gone to pieces—to their sterling moral character, and to the reverence they paid to I their parents. "Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may he long in the land which the Lord thy God hath given thee" is a Commandment observed absolutely-.by the Chinese, and the days of the Chinese nation had been longer than those of any other nation. It was very remarkable how the opium evil was being dealt with in China. It h now illegal to grow the poppy, and illegal to use opium in any form. Any one found to be using opium is first warned, on the second offence he was fined and probably some of his property was confiscated. Then, if he still persisted, ho was subject to capital punishment. What a change had been effected b;, , those drastic laws which were supported to the letter by Yiian-Shi-Kai. Four years ago there were opium shops and dens everywhere—they were part of the ordinary conventional lifo of the Chinese city and*town. Now they wero hidden away- in some darkened cellar in an . out-of-the-way alley. Opiumsmoking was now a dying vice, and tho people were much happier and brighter for its loss •