CHINA TO-DAY: AN INTERVIEW

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 817, 14 May 1910, Page 12

CHINA TO-DAY: AN INTERVIEW

Strange, what a potent spell the East has for tho Western mind, even in' those days, when much that has been jealously guarded and kopt from the desecrating, restless mind of tho white raco has been ruthlessly dragged to light, misunderstood, and often held up to ridicule. No matter what part of the East may bo mentioned, India, China, Japan, Malay, it is all the same —ono's mind instinctively conjures up pictures of the country, of the poopjo, and of their conceptions of tho different values in life, so different to ours (at least until lately), and often so much higher. Mrs. Connor, a lady who has spent many years in China, and who haß just brought a visit to New Zealand to a close, has somo very interesting things to say of her lifo in that country. Tho way in which it is becoming European-

ised is most striking. If one wore visiting, say, Penang, or Singapore, the very lifo of the East is brought beforo one, in tho sights, the scents, and tho sounds, but in the Chinese seaports many of the distinctive features have been lost, or else it may be, as Mrs. Connor says, that many years of living there have blinded one to them.

It was h) tho English concession of tho town of' Tientsin, away in the north of China, that she lived. There is tho Chinese" town proper, and then a short distance away from it are tho various concessions granted to the foreign Powers—America, Franco, Russia, Gorman, and Japan, tho two last-named being the latest comers in the field. The English concession ia not kept exclusively for tho British: there aro Chinese inhabitants as well, but it is quite otherwise with the German quar-

tor. No native of China undor any pretext is allowed to live there, which sooms unjust, seeing that these people are in tho country on sufferance Shortly before Mrs. Connor left China a house became vacant in this concession, and a Chinese official of some standing applied for it, offering £20 a month for it, which was considered a high rental thoro. Ho was refused poiut blank. Of all tho foreign concessions, tho Gorman, though tho latest one, is by far tho finest, both in its buildings, its planning ont, and' its roads.

A thing which is' a constant affront to- the Chinese inhabitants of Tientsin is that in tho English concession aro most beautiful public gardens, which they aro not allowed to enter. To everyone else they aro thrown open, oven to the lowest Japanese coolie, and yet to tho Chinese pcoplo of birth, of education, and of standing thoy arc utterly barred. It seems strange that tho missionaries havo not taken the matter up*

The seclusion in which Chinese women were kept is gradually giving way to the Western modes of life, and they appear far more freely in publio places. In the afternoon they are often to bo seen taking thoir usual drive, and it is a remarkable thing that it is the Chinese who keep the finest horses, beantifnl creatures, always wfth flowing manes and tails, and nearly always of Russian or Australian breed. Many of tho womon even rido bicycles, and oven motor-cars are to bo seen driven by their Chinese owners. In Shansi not so long ago an entertainment was arranged entirely by Chinese women, in which every item was performed by thom .alono. The object was a benevolent one —to raise funds to assist an earthquake-stricken district. Even dioir charitablo methods are becoming much akin. Europoanising- surely cannot go much further. Every year there aro one or two big festivals, and a large function is held bv tho Viceroy, to, which many of tho European residents aro invited. Usually it is only men who go, but if they should be accompanied by their womenfolk tho latter are received by tho wife of the Viceroy in her quarters of tho palaco. Ever since one can remember one has always associated Chinese women with tho binding of feet, but, after all, it ia not a general custom. The Hanchu dynasty have never encouraged it, and do not do it themselves, one is told. Nor do the Cantonese. When the Dowager Empress died it was thought that there would be plots and rebellions among the -people, as the Manchu dynasty had been so long upon the Throne, but so far thero appears to have been no trouble. In regard to European education, the Chinese are making gigantic strides, both men and women. Colleges have sprung up in all directions,, and alrealy women are entering into the professions, principally as yet teaching' and nursing. They are keen and most receptive pupils. The Japanese are doing all they can to gain a foothold in the country, anc wherever there is trouble it is often found that they are, directly or indirectly, at tho bottom of the trouble. Many of the Chinese students who go to Japan as students como back m many cases bitter anti-foreigners, but, Btrange to Bay, such is not tho case when, they go to America or England. At present thero is a scarcity of beef in tho north, because huge mobs of cattle, sometimes eight thousand head, are being imported into Russia, and sometimes into Japan. The trouMo is qnito serious, Thero are missions everywhere about —in the towns , and away in • the interior of tho country. In spite of tho fact that they are the most colonising people in the world, tho British missionaries have vory uphill work. Tho Chinese are of tho opinion that the English, moro than any othor race, regard them as being on a much lower plane than themselves, oven if they aro of tho upper classes, and naturally enough tney Tesent it. Ono certainly knows that such is tho case in India, and it would not be surprising if the same idea wero carried into practico in China. In any case, whether they gain by conversion or no, one cannot help thinking much would be lost them by throwing asido the teachings of tionfucius and Laou-tsze.