THE RISING IN CHINA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 152, 23 December 1911, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE RISING IN CHINA

PREDICTIONS OF MORRISON, OF I'liKlN. The Englishman who knows China best will not lie wholly surprised by the present crisis. Dr. G. E. Morrison, the famous Pckin correspondent of the Times, and one of the most faithful iiiul outspoken friends of the nation, has long foreseen that social progress such as has swept over the Far East cannot for long continue peaceably with mediaeval corruption and incompetence. Time after time ho has risked his popularity with the Manc.hu Government by his warnings that the progress of Western education and reform must sooner or Inter bring the newly enlightened masses into sharp opposition with the old and corrupt regime. Early this year, when be was in London (says a writer in the London Daily Mail), I had many conversations with ■him, which resulted in some striking statements, which appeared in the London Magazine. We had been talking at length about the miraculous social progress of China. We had discussed the new army, with its quick-firing guns. German drill, and balloon corps, the transformation in the position of women, the coming of the railways, and the new passion for modem education. He was enthusiastic and optimistic.

THE NEW SPIRIT IN CHINA. But when we turned to the progress of political reform' his tone changed. He dwelt on the coming of self-government, first the formation of the Provincial Assemblies, and then the election of the Constitutional Assembly of the Empire. The Provincial Assemblies that he had seen were conducted with dignity and decorum, and transacted their business on Western lines in the most thorough fashion. The members were advised to act boldly and not to fear averse criticism. They acted on the counsel.

What would be the result of this new spirit on the old system of corruption and favoritism?

"I am confident," he said, "that the coining of constitutional government will make for administrative reform. Corruption cannot continue unchecked' when exposed to the light of publicity. No records kept, no accounts presented—that happy state must cease in the presence of public enquiry and public condemnation. The growth of the popular press—in itself one of the most remarkable signs of the new movement—is already having its effect. So rapidly has the Press gained influence that the officials have sought by purchase to throttle and control the free expression of public opinion. This, is one stage of development from which the press may be expected to emerge. When the Constitutional Assembly gets to work it will want to know many things. It will demand information. Publicity for wrongdoing and an aroused public opinion will be the best weapons for fighting corruption. Already there has been an improvement in public administration," Much of the new spirit of progress and the growth of national aspirations Dr. Morrison traced to the coming of railways.

"Friendly understanding lias been aided by visible evidence of the material benefits of Western innovations. The Chinese are coming to know us better. Railways were a foreign innovation long bitterly opposed. Now along the lines of railway the new prosperity shows itself. The trains are crowded with passengers; caravanserai, inns and hotels spring up; when a house is pulled down it is to make room for a bigger. The railway has made the country people travellers. Travel means broadened ideas and the breaking down of old prejudices. One district sees how another benefits from railways and clamors for them. Hence the demand for railways that has sprung up in all parts of the Empire. Many lines liavo been laid. Many more arc in course of construction.

"The coming of the railway has done more than break down the prejudice against (lie foreigner. Tt has helped to create a new national sentiment and to strengthen the central Government. Formerly. owing to the vast distances and the slowness and difficulty of communication, actual power largely rested in the hands of the Viceroys and the provincial Governors. A provincial rather than a national patriotism was observed. To-day, l.hanks to improved communications, no provincial capital, save Lancliow, is more than twenty-one days' journey from Pekin. The provincial seats of administration are in constant touch with Pekin by telegraph. The Chinese have awakened to a consciousness of nationality." Those who are fearful that the natives. aroused by rebellion, may repeat the excesses of the Boxer trouble, may well ponder on another part of the same interview:

''There lias boon a significant change in llio attitude of the people towards the foreigner. Before the Boxer rising, antiforeign placards and public insults wove all too common, and culminated in one of (lie most remarkable upheavals over known in history. There was little social intercourse between high officials and Europeans. To-dav this district ancj enmity have almost wholly disappeared'. T have travelled during the past, few years in every province in China. Everywhere I have boon received by all classes with civility and kindness, and this is the common experience of present-day travellers in China."

A HOPEFUL VTFAV OF THE FUTURE. Tn a speech last year at the Authors' Club. Dr. Morrison declared: "If T wore a Chinaman I would take a hopeful view of the future of my country." Tie wont, on. however, to add a list of the abuses which still continue: abuses which have pressed heavily on the minds of the reformers who are making the present uprising. "There were still great, blots upon the administration. The maladministration of justice and the deplorable condition of the prisons throughout the Empire, the employment of eunuchs, the sanction of domestic slavery, and the almost universal prevalence of foot,-hindin£» were facts which stood in the way of China's recognition as a reformed Plate. "Prison molliods wore as degraded as they wove in Europe in. the Dark Ages. China was (lie only country among Powers claiming recognition as civilised Powers which sanctioned si slave traffic in its own subject's. Foot-binding was a more widely spread curse than opium. A society founded bv a philanthropic lailv. Airs. Archibald Little, was making a wollsushiined effort, to check the awful =uffci'intr that was caused bv this cruel custom. The groat, hope for the amelioration of all lh"«o conditions lav ;u the growth of public opinion, and its unfettered expression in the daily Tress." TT.-'i'f is another extract from nn earlier snoecli that, niiiv well bo borne in mind: •'There is much to blame in China, but. Iliovo is far move to praise, and the substantial progress that, is being made in manv directions that go for greater J notional efficiency was a point that, cannot, bo disputed. The development of the national snirit,. or the awakening of a consciousness of nationality: the spread of AVest.orn education: the growth in power of the native Press; the stimulation of military ardor and growth in efficiency and economy in the Chinese Army; the attempt, imperfect as it naturally is, to bring reforms into many ■departments of the administration, are

all features of modem China full of promise for this future." pi'rty, 'heartily hoping that the rebek will win, but maintaining the strictest neutrality. Deprived of servant labor, tlicry are compelled to fetch and carry for themselves and do menial housework, with which they have never been ac<jna in ted. No attempt has been made to harm the Concessions, but, as is only natural, shells and bullets occasionally fall about, to the danger of pedestrians, liven from this source nothing serious ■has happened, and the foreigners congratulate themselves accordingly. Commerce has been absolutely stopped.