The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 29. THE AWAKENING OF CHINA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 349, 29 March 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 29. THE AWAKENING OF CHINA.

The cablegram from Berlin stating that General Ying Chang, the new Minister of War for China, contemplates introducing universal military service in China, is a news item of exceptional importance and interest. Eminent Chinese leaders invariably mention thnt China desires only peace; tout the history of the ancient Empire shows that the various peoples under the sway of the Empire nave in the dim past fought persistently and with incredible doggedness and courage. The Chinese is a fatalist, •and as far as he himself and his leader is concerned iie will die in heaps without making the fuss that is a part of the Western system. The Chinese is equal both in physique and mental power to his relative the Japanese, but the point to be considered is that he outnumbers the Japanese in the proportion of ten to one. China has a {population of about four hundred millions, and froifi this could be drawn the largest army that ever took the field. The Chinese ■is as imitative as the Jap, his 'country is incalculably rich; (but of .more importance .than these points is the one that he is absolutely controlled by authority, and there would be no gainsaying the Emperor's edict if that powerful monarch ordered universal military service. China is the world's best example of the oneness of a people. There is absolute cohesion. On a question of policy the Empire is a, single mind. How China can fight is shown frequently by the united boycots against the goods of countries that have offended her. A common cause would serve to bring out ■She dogged qualities of the race. Throughout the Empire at the moment there is great progress both in commerce and in modern development. The prejudices of the common coolie are being overcome; German and Scotch soldiers are drilling troops; engineers of European and even colonial repute are building great railways; and where villagers object to the great reforms, the Emperor simply sends a regiment of soldiers to quell them until the railway, the bridge, or other public work is finished. We lately received from a New Zealand engineer in South China a num"ber of interesting letters showing that the progressive policy was to be carried on in spite of every opposition. This gentleman showed that education on the Western plan was advancing, that the all-powerful provincial viceroys were combining to. carry out Western schemes, and that the acute business 'mind of the high-caste Chinese was of sufficient breadth and depth to grapple with the commercial problems set them by German, French, American, and British traders, who see in the Chinese markets unexampled opportunities ol wealth. We are rather apt to scorn the Chinese we know, imagining that the Chinese we do' not know is of similar •calibre. But it is only necessary to 'observe the coolie who runs a business in New Zealand to be convinced that s he is a hard man to ibeat. The fact that a large number of coolies every year buy entrance into New Zealand by paying the poll-tax is evidence that he has £reat earning power, especially as he does not pay his own poll-tax, and recoups his merchant-employer for the expenditure, in unremitting toil. The ■same qualities of perseverance shown in the conduct of a market garden or the running of a fruit shop are shown in China; and it is reasonable to suppose the universal military service ideal of th« general mentioned in the cable may become one of the most potent moves of modern times. Physically, at least nowadays, the Chinese is not aggressive, tout, being attacked, he will bring his cunning and age-old perseverance to bear. A river overflows its banks in China and sweeps eight million people to death. A typhoon upsets ten thousand house-boats, for millions of Chinese families live in 'boats. • A few months sees another aggregation of boats in the same waters. .Justice is harsh and instant in the great Empire. The magistrates ' have power over life and death, and the village executioner plies his calling anywhere. He may even decapitate his victim in the public street. When the edict for compulsory military service goes forth there will be no disobedience, and the habit of obedience is the first necessity for a soldier. The Chinese have before to-day swept resistlessly across Europe, and there is no army now existing, or a combination of armies, that could stem such a torrent if the resource of China's manhood was under arms. Maybe China merely intends to hold her country against aggression. She 'has during the past two decades permitted many insults from civilised powers, and having learned from civilisjwl 'Powers, and, having' learned her lesson, seems to be preparing to pay her insulters in tteir own coin. The stupendous nature of the project shortly mentioned in the cable I may well make the nations ponder.