CONCERNING THE "HEATHEN CHINEE."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 179, 30 July 1900, Page 2

CONCERNING THE "HEATHEN CHINEE."

(By Morrison Davidson.) ______

"Tsze-Kung asked, saying, 'What So you say of a man who is loved by his whole village?' "Confucius answered, 'We may not for that accord our approval of him.' "" 'And what do you say of him who is hated by all the people of his village?1 "The Master said, 'We may not for that conclude that he is bad. It Is better than either of these casea that the good in the village love him and the bad hate him—'Analects of Confucius. "Travellers talk of the midnight view down.into, the burning and boiling crater of Cotopaxl as the most tremendous spectacle presented by our planet in the physical world; but we are Inclined to think that the spectacle of China, the oldest Empire in the world, as now melting in the crucible of time, presents an analogous if not superior, grandeur."-Sir William D. Geddes.

The authentic records of China beem with the Chau Dynasty, in B.C. 1100- but even then the stamp ot immemorial antiquity was on most things Celestial. The Chau Kindred had a long: spell of nearly 900 years in the saddle. But they were superseded at last by the Tsin family, circa 200 B.C. The Tsin Dynasty had even a longer innings—down to 960 A.D., or a penod of 1,160 years. The original Tsin was the builder of' the mighty Wan-li-Chang, or My-riad-Mile Wall, as a barrier to the ceaseless inroads of the Huns, or Manchus. The Tsins also called the Middle Kingdom after their own name— Tsina.

In A.l>. 960 the Sung Dynasty came upon the scene, -and eventually troublous times ensued. In 1269 A.D. a Sung Emperor, in a weak moment, invoked the aid of the Head Khan of the Western Tartars to aid him in repelling- a recrudescence .of Mandhii marauding1. Kublai Khan came, but, like the esteemed "Anglo-Saxon," in similar circumstances, he ■ came to stay. He was the first foreign ruler of 'China, and founder of the Yun Dynasty. He added to the Middle Kingdom Manchuria and other vast territories beyond the Wall. His dominions extended from Korea to Kho-Kfl-n, and from Taimyr to Singapore. About 1300 A.D., however, the foreign usurpation succumbed, and in 1.168 the native Ming Dynasty succeeded to the Dragon Throne. The Mings ruled for 246 years. Then canie civil war. The Emperor was deposed, and one of his generals repeated the folly of 1269. After a seven years' struggle the Manchus made the whole immense realm their own. That is to say, 5n 1646, the present Tsing, or second foreign Dynasty, commenced to rule from Peking

The injury inflicted on China, and the world by the Manchw was from the first incalculable. The native Ming- Dynasty, which the Marclui supplanted, was friendly to foreigners, to Western learning1, and missionaries. The Manchus were the reverse. They pretender! that they were not foreigners at all, but" "Hea-ven-descended Rulers of the World!"

And this extraordinary imposture they contrived to propagate by the most inhuman means. They massacred the whole of native literati of China and expelled or strangled all the Christians. They made it a capital offence either to teach or study Geography or History, particularly the history of the Marietta Dynasty. Law also wag forbidden and Science, especially Military Science. r ,

• But "from the hour that this'strange Eevolution of 1646—synchronising- as it did with our own abortive attempt to establish a Republic—was effected by a mers handful of Tartars, the more intelligent native Chinese have never ceased to protest, sometimes in active, but always in latent, revolt ftgainst the Manchu yoke. The country, in point of fact, from the Seventeenth Century downwards, has been riddled with Secret Societies, aiming at the recovery 6f "China for the Chinese. One Sect has for its sufficiently explicit watchword: "Fu Mingl Fau Ching!"—Long live the Mmg1! Down with the Ching! The names of some of the better known Societies axe not, without a touch of the picturesque, e.g., the White Water-Lilies,-the Green WaterLilies, the Triads, the Association of Heafven and Earth, the Green Tea Society, the Little Dagger Society, the Perfume-breathing Association, the Yellow Bonnets, the Red Suns, the White Clouds, etc. As for the "Boxers" —the Society in more immediate evidence—they are stated to be proManchu and Anti-Foreign Devil in their leanings; but for the moment it is impossible to label them' with any degree of assurance. Historically, by far the most famous of all the Societies of China is the Shang-Ti-Hwei or "Secret • Society pt God." Its Founder was none other than Hung Sin Tsun, Otherwise TaiPing or "Perfect Peace" —the renowned leader of the Taiping Insurrection, which convulsed China from "1850 to 1864.

Perfect Peace was born in 1812, and commenced life as a. Shcoolmaster, Somehow, the great truths of thtf Christian Teligion became known to him. Indeed, a leaven of Christianity, assuming somewhat grotesque forms, is known to have lurked in isolated parte of China from the Fifth Century downwards-. ••:•■•

Anyhow, Perfect Peace essayed, with much ability* to emancipate his countrymen, hot merely from the yoke of Manchu Imperialism, but from the yet more retrogressive fetters of Ancestor-worship, fossilised Confucian Agnosticism, and a sorelycorrupted Bhuddism. He, indeed, saw Christ in some strikingly original lights; but he.evidently grasped the essentials of the Faith—the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.

The story of the Taiping Bebellion is inexpressibly saddening. For a time the "Society of God" made enormous headway. IrL 1853 the Taipings captured Nankin, and Perfect Peace was crowned 'Heavenly King' of the Flowery Land. I was then sanguine that the salvation of the Yellow Man was within a measurable distance of realisation.

But, alas, alas, our wretched Government of the . "Classes," as usual, "put their money on the wrong horse," and the Press applauded nemine contradicente. That most singular of Dugald Dalgettys, •'Chinese" Gordon, of pious memory, was sent to prop up the tottering Manchu Throne, to crash the "Society of God" and, if possible, to extirpate the great national movement in the direction of ' Christianity. Gordon and the "Ever Victorious Army", eventually overwhelmed the Taipin'g uprising in an ocean of blood.. Perfect Peace declined to survive the wreck of his 'hopes for the regeneration .of his country. He committed suicide in Nankin in 1864, and our blood-stained Empress-Dowager and her unscrupulous associate, . our late yisiijpr, 14,

Hung Chang, the' matchless guile, rejoiced and were exceeding glad. But China is nothing if not the land of wonders. Less than a couple of years ago, Kwang Su, the Moung Manchu Emperor, Sun of Heaven, did his best to step into the shoes of Perfect Peace and. to head a fresh Eeform movement, so far as one can discern, on pretty touch the old Taiping lines! He was thoroughly Occidental in his ideas and methods of Government; while his sympathies were norotiously pro - Chinese, proBritish or Anglo-American, anti-Man-darin and anti-Muscovite. He made an honest effort, there can be no doubt, to give China a Free Press and to compel the thieving Mandarins to publish, coram populo, monthly accoimts of their "squeezes." Fancy old Li, reputed to be the richest man in the world, being seriously asked, to publish a balance-sheet! It was truly magnificent, but politics it was not. The Sun of Heaven had not so much as a, Pretorian Guard to protect his person! . What happened? The crafty old scoundrel Li brought his body-guard in the seene —he keeps a small army of his own—to strengthen the hands of the Emperor's tigress aunt, the Dowager - Empress, and by its aid a Palace Revolution was promptly achieved. Six of the ablest and most genuine Reformei-s in. China, the young Emperor's trusted Ministers, were shamefully done to dclth, while the eminent scholar, Kang-Yu-Wei, his chief friend and adviser, with difficulty escaped with his life, under escort of a British man-of-war. Tffat the captive Emperor's own life has not yet been taken by the conspirators is an indication of prudence on their part, certainly not of humanity. The very English tongue has of late been put under aban —and, but for the ferment of the Secret Societies, Muscovite-Manchu influence is omnipotent where ours was wont to be supreme. So much for the foresight of British Jingo statesmanship with its suppression of Taiping Rebellions, its policy of "open doors" and the rest of it!

But deplorable us is the immediate outlook in the Far East there are on the horizon gleams of light and hope. Let us not forget that there exists a "Young China" or Reform Party which deserves the utmost sympathy, and encouragement at our hands. The Vernacular Press is rapidly becoming a-power in the land. Native newspapers sell for one-tenth of a penny and, though so wondrous "cheap," they are by no means "nasty," everything considered. • The chief journal in Shanghai is, like "Reynold's Newspaper," a strong and intelligent advocate of Republican institutionsv To escape the censorship is happily comparatively easy by registering in the name of some European or Jap

Moreover, even as matters stand, there are problems of the greatest magnitude, of which we "civilised" Britons,have scarcely yet touched the fringe, that, to our shame, have practically been solved by the "Heathen Chinee" many centuries ago. Take the Land Questions for one, and I, could cite not a few others if space permitted. It is not generally known that Georgeism and Intensive Agriculture have been in effective operation in the Fowery Land for ages. Apart from the abominable system of "squeezing" practised by the Mandarins, and the Lakin or Provincial Customs illegally levied on imported goods, the Chinese are the most lightly, taxed people in the world. All the land belongs lo the State, and a trifling sum per acre —about 2/6 per annum—is paid' as Rent or National Eevenue. There is no other tax, and no occasion for any other. Tenants whose tillage of the soil is found on inspection to be negligent, or wasteful, are visited with the "stick."