THE NEW CHINA.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18724, 22 June 1926, Page 5

THE NEW CHINA.

BIRTH OF A NATION. PAST AND PRESENT. '•Western Civilisation," said Professor J. B. Condliffo last night in a lecture at Canterbury College, "is present in China not because the Chinese wanted Europeans there, but because Europeans wanted to get there. For tho nations to withdraw now, however, is riot a feasible solution, but the responsibility for contemporary complications in China rests upon the Western, nations." Tho attitude of China was expressed by the Emperor Cliien Lung to Lord .Macartney in 1793. "Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundauco and lacks no product within its own borders. There was therefore no need to import tho manufactures of outside barbarians in exohango for our own produce. But as the tea, silk, and porcelain which tho Celestial Empiro produces are absolute necessities to European nations and to yourselves, tho limited trado hitherto permitted at Canton is to continue." lie would Imvo shown less favour to Lord Macartney, but "I do not forget tJio lonely remoteness ofyour island, cut off from tho world by intervening wastes of sea, nor do I overlook your excusable Ignorance of tho usages of our Celestial Empire." But in one respect China fell shortrin tho applied sciences, in industry, commerce, and war. The original cause of Western interference was cornmerciql and industrial. The immense productivity of Groat Britain at the Indus* trial Revolution was the cause of the search for new markets and political and economic aggression. War With Britain. In 1840 came the war with Great Britain and China, connected partly with opium but more with general trade, ending in tho Treaty of Nanking, by which Hong Kong became British and five treaty ports were opened. The outward cause of war was the desire of Chinese government to restrict the importation of opium by Great Britain. This was only tho pact, not the whole.. General trade was the real issue nt stake. On the basis of the Treaty of Nanking bad developed oil tho present trouble in China. Tariff autonomy was the right en winch China, claimed to fix its own duty on imported goods. By the Treaty of Nanking the tariff could not he fised higher than 5 per cent, on goods imported through the treaty ports. Until the tariff restrictions wero lifted, China cculd never got sufficient money for Hie treasury, m Another bone of contention from the Treaty of Nanking was the question of extra-territorial privjlogos. "Extraterritorial privileges" was the claim x>( Europeans not to have European traders tried in Chinese Courts. The Russians under tho Soviet Government trained immense prestige (not to mention trade concessions) in China by piving up their extra-territorial privileges. J.OBS of Territories. 1 The Chinese Empire had steadily been shorn of its outside possessions. Great Britain had Burma, France had i Indo-China,, tho Russians had northern territory, and finnllytbe Japanese took the suzerainty of Korea and a largo part of Manchuria. There was no longer a Korea and the Japanese wero proceeding to "Japanese" Korea with tin iron hand more heavy than any with which England tried to Anglicise Iroland, . In 189 W Japan first asserted her position as a rival of tho Western Powers in n, war with China, which gave her (a) prestige; (b) the virtual control of Korea (annexed 1910); (o) formosa and the southern islands; (d) the diplomafcio support of Britain, because of Britain's fear of Russia's mpidly-swolling power. A further result of this war was the treaty between Russia and China, which gave railway and territorial privileges in Manchuria, to which Japan succeeded in 1905 In 1897 Germany used tho murder of two missionaries as a pretext for establishing railway, mining, and naval rights in Shantung, these exacerbated European rivalries, and were followed by a Russian base at Port Arthur and a British base at Woi-hni-wei. Both Russian and German bases and concessions had now passed to JapanTho scrnmblo in China was stopped fe-i™f l T a 4 / ,ri . tll t,w support of H.ritaurt by the American "Open-door" doctnne. described. by tho Chinese as honour among thieveg." It was an agreemenUhat no European Power was StrS l^ ,l, ? re «"S h j3 in China to tJie fiotriment oF other European Powers, {since this time no actual territories IILu C u , Kfested > m *l» Chinese Kp'aJKS Mm,Cpo^trmtfal,, - 8d Boser Rebellion. In 1000 tho pathetic weakness of u v a w™»l«a in the Boxer reJ, l 0"' The Bo«r rebellion of 1900 turfcnor strengthened the hold of foreigncrsj but the American use of indem«rS^ uW h& ?° kwewtog lafluence in promoting nationalism. The scramble Z„ II " 7 T as sto PP°<2; hut the prosZ! J "J VMt » e «* «»«. trading interests, tho financial flight of the Chinose Treasury and tho growing woakness ot-tliQ Mnnchu dynasty, • brought sud- *!*• ™:? h > t '?» in 'Wll. For a short period the dictatorship of Yuan-shi-kai & c comparative stability; but after IJI7 the govornmont of. China had steadily disintegrated into factions. The impact on China of European I'te is important economically and industrially, but more important bv far was the impact of Western ideas, Philosophy, and religion. Tho divorco between the ideal and practical ways j of Wostorn countries were being watched by critical Chinese eyos, In mo the attempt of Japan to take Chantung, stung China into nationalism. In 1917 a spoken dialect was adopted by tho Government instead of the old difficult clasical tongue (owing to tho offorts of a band of students and professors). These students again wero loading a party to boycott Japaneso and British goods. "The plight of China," said the lecturer, "is neither political nor indusbut cultural in the last analysis. The irruption of a consciously nationalistic China into a troubled post-war world was the most important international development for centuries,"