CHINA AWAKENING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2713, 30 November 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

CHINA AWAKENING.

Akotiik.U indication that Chin , '. i« awakening from tbo slumber of centime.may bo seen iu the adoption by Imperial sanction of n policy of ruihviiy construction. The celestial contempt I'ov Llio arts Ol ! tho wontoru barbarians in piissing away, ami among the moot oulightoued of C'hinoo .statesmen there is u growing conviction that the Km piro to be .strong must bu content to imitate Western enterX>riao. Vur years Li Hung Chang, too most powerful of Chinese Viceroys, has urged that railways should bo made, but tho power of crusted conservatism was not easily to be overcome. Only this year a propositi to cxtouil thu railway from Tientsin to Tunirehowou tin; LViho, a iuw miles from l>. kin, was aiimuiurily stopped by tho ihlluuiiCi: of the " censors,' an.l tho .voiiiiif Kmpuror wad i.idur.ed to a cleeieo forbidding railway enterprise alto.'/i.ther. Tins discouragement, great as "it fueuv-A, has ueverthel' , -:' bfou onlyot u temporary ehiraeir. Tintriumph of the obstructives ha* I'utii short. Yielding to cl-.uno.ir for the limo, tho advocates of tho forward policy stremrthi:ii"(l their position by inducing tho Kmporor to obtain )vp<irts im theconstruction oi railways in U'uin.i troni :i number of tin) hiirheat provincial olhcial.-. Thuir replies have led to ■«. reconsideration of the position, and the arguments of tho most influential ruler* have led the Kmperor to give hi.', consent to a liirsrt Btihomo of construction at once. An Imperial (ieeree hart been i-Mir-d, orderin:.' l.liu building of a trunk linn from l'okin across the country to 11-ini;ow, >i treaty port on the VatiL'isz. , , "el thegreatest trade mart in (J.mtial Quwi. Last year the fon;i-rn trn;!o of llank-uv amounted to about CI I .-.iOU.UOO -sterling. The dist...i>.-..< i- ov.:v 700 rr.iks, turn

acutm'iiii',' l> r,|i-. of the limes it will p-is-s throu;; , ! T.e-.rr.u and entet the vast plain of' lii-' llo;iiiyhu almost entirely U(.l:.n.iv.'n Id Europeans, passing a hundred towns of \vhos« very names we ai-o ignorant, before it finally strike the great ceulral river at Hankow. Other railways must follow this " new cleparturc." Pilty, and even ibiny years will, in tin! opinion of tin: Times, see ;w etiornioiis change. \\ itli lii!L' teeming popnlation, which will supply not only cheap labour to build railways, S.lult trailit: to maintain them, China can without dißicnlty borrow tin: monyy required for construction.