THE UNKNOWN NATION

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 972, 12 November 1910, Page 10

THE UNKNOWN NATION

CHINA AWAKENING INTO SELFCONSCIOUSNESS. ,DR- ARtHUU"SMITH'S VIEWS. . ;Tbe extraordinary self-realisation and development of-China -'.within the last generation has had no parallel on tho same, scale, in .history, and few things, are more essohtial than that tho. evolution of tho great Eastern Empire should he properly estimated and understood by-- the.*Western>" '<

Among the comparatively small nuipI|er. .of; ■for/jignei's have lived for more than a. generation iir China is Dr. Arthur H. Smith, of Peking, who gave a striking adddess on "The New China" to a crowded ' gathering at tho men's .meeting at Wbiteljelds,London, re-.' cently. A member of the American Board of Missions, ho,has known . China from' personal observation .since 1872, is'the. author of a well-known ,book, ;"The and shared with Dr. Cainpflell (Ji'bson, of Swatow, : the.chairmanship of tho Shanghai Conference in 1907. ... Tho Chlof causes. "What would you point to as the chief causes of the great awakening .01 China .in tbo. last : thirty years?" Dr. Smith was asked by a "Daily News" re-' prcsontat^e,, "In the main, of'course,'contact with ■Western eivilisatipu.. -But the awak-ening-is not.really'as .rapid as it seems. It has been going on for centuries, and progress has. been gradual. Lately the development has been far more rapid, as China lias begun to. compare herself with the' Western-world. "But, ,of .course, to talk of the progress 'of China at all almost argues a misconception of the whole subject. It is just lilto talking of' the process ,of Europe. , You must look at the progress of individual countries like England .or Russia; _. and: China ypu : must look at by provinces." ' . : ."You mean that, there is 110 cohesion?" ;

"None at all. China is ruled by a foreigu dynasty, the Manchus, who are represented by possibly tea millions out of nearly four hundred millions of the population. There is no shred of loyalty to the reigning house to provide a motive for cohesion.

"It was the Mauohiis, by tho way, who. introduced the' queue._ The .Chinese'lnever used to wear it,, but the Manchu Emperor ordered men to grow pigtails, and cut off tho heads of those ]vho disobeyed, till they realised that it' was' bpttgr..tp^ear .vflnjenee z o ' l their heads than to have np' lieads to wear them on." impossible to Know China. '■'And were the recent disturbances in Hunan anti-dynastic?" "Probably they were. Bnt in China, to know the cause? of things', is next to Something .happens, as a result''"of "perhaps .contributory causes. I'ou know'half a cause, .you' think you know the other, half, ,; yo)i guess two more, but about the ;otlfer seven -you are 'absolutely in'tho dark. It is only newspaper correspondents and people •plip cpme for a,visit and go home and jviite liedk§ all about tho; country 2 JjJre there you rekliie" that'.totkn'oSf. <&£a is impossiblo. '.' : But, 'as ti'the the fact is that the Manchusi are not fit for the position. There have been in the past two able, emperors, but the Throne inspires little respect or confidence to-tlay." "And what is to bo said of the progress :of education?" "'"The old arid the now is npt yet'established. Clijna lias recognised tier need, but anything liko an adequate national system of .educa-* ,tipn must lie very many decades ;.al,ie.a.d J ''_ V 1 '^Where-"does' —China" get ' her teachers?" ---- —

teachersr — --./"A great mapy-, from-Japan.. But she is' rapidly .beepming more self-reliant. Her 'young men are going in large numbers to tho universities of Europe , end America.- -Jt, is fact, ,by "tho \yay,"tK(ife tlie''Cliitieso student y wtiß'gti.es' ; t'o tho West comes back witlj standard raised. If he goes-to .Japan,- it is •imme'asura'bly lowered." -/4'. l '.Tlien,--wliatas,«tha-general influence of Japan,. Dr. .Smith?" ; "It-; stimulates China to self-develop-ment." She sees in Japan an efficionoy in which she is absolutely, lacking herself and which- not '„a .'single .Western nation can equal. Japan as a military Power is -fan aheadvof '.-England pr America. : 'Se<i how'you "muddled ' the Boer War, and we the Cuban War. China sees this' at,herl.dppr, and it has made her think apd act." Crpwt.h .of fjlllltiarisjm. ~ ;"Does great- growth of militarism in: China 1 "Well, military servic.p.hnsbeen raised to the level of the Civil Service, Till recently it stood far. below it. The first thing China sees, wlien she looks at foreign nations, is ; a furious contest as to who. shall have'..tho deadliest gun? and.the .biggest fleet, and she feels that jier existence depends on taking the same course."

"Is China arming"for.aggression?" "Unquestionably-nbi:." 'Wliat should she attack? She has immense resources, and there r.re vast tracts of imdeveloped 'territory in Central Asia. She is arming, as she Bees, every other nation in the' world doing. But it is for defence. .She.never knows, for example, what move Russia may make on lior northern frontier.". "As to the suppression of the opium traffic, China is really ill earnest, is she not?"

; ! 'Ycs, she is in earnest because she sees how fatgljy the national, habit militates' against efficiency. But thero pre great difficulties in the way. It is fiot : merely a question of your' Govcrnjnent and Inditi.- There is probably no? tilling that can-be inore easily pmugglcd thaiV opium, and"' I hear .' that largo quantities arc - already com jng across tlio 'Russian frontier. - -.■■■- . . "As to the 'talk' that is sometimes heard," Dr. Smith, "about China boiug ' within measurable distance of thorough . .constitutional reform,- it is absolute nonsense."