CHINA OLD AND NEW.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 8, 9 July 1909, Page 2

CHINA OLD AND NEW.

THE "YELLOW PERIL"— "A MERE BOGEY." LECTURE BY THE CHINESE CONSUL. The Karori Borough Council Chambers were comfortably filled last night by an appreciative and attentive audience, assembled under the auspices of the Karori Literary and Debating Society, to hear the Chinese Consul, Mr. Hwang, deliver an interesting lecture. In tho absence of the president (Rev. A. L. Hansell), Councillor C. Cathie presided. Mr. Hwang firsL referred to the fact of China being so little known. Lack of direct communication with China, until lecently, her customs, and her slowness in opening her doors were to a great extent responsible for this. The leading ■ factor, however, was that while most of the great languages of the world had sprung from . a common origin, China's was distinct, and, therefore, her literature, history, and philosophy were not known to the West. Language was the great factor in .promoting sympathy and doing away with racial feeling. Today China was the only one of the older nations still preserving its national existence. Her antiquity stretched back thirty centuries before tho Christian era. Twenty-eight centuries before Christ agricultural implements were invented, the marriage laws established, the rough system of government had been founded, and silk manufactured. All these old thiugs had been preserved by the people with little change. The Chinese loved the ancient, teachings and things. Confucius had been, is, and will be- the teacher of China. "I am a lover and learner of the ancient" was the embodiment of the Chinese character. Tho changing periods in Western literature could bo distinctly detected, but in China,., from Confucius to now, there was no change. The best literature to-day was that of Confucius. It was, therefore, natural for the Chinese mind to be conservative and love the old. Despite this, the Chinese mind was anxious to-day for the best that others could give. Even ten or fifteen years ago this, was not so ; though her doors had long been open by treaty they hated and did not want the foreigner. To-day was the transitional period, and students agreed that in no nation had so many and great changes been accomplished in so short a time. China's greatest need to-day was the knowledge and 'earning of the West. As the first step to this, the whole of the old educational system had been abolished. They had found that their own poetry, literature, and essays were not enough, and to-day in the schools, modfarn (languages and sciences were being taught. Then, students had been sent out to gain knowledge of the rest of the world and to come back and teach. There were 10,000 in Japan, 350 in America, 200 in England, 350 in Germany, 350 in Scandinavia — all supported by the Government and their own people. The ambition and desire for learning were supreme, and the position of the teacher in tho community Avas one of the most honoured of all. Continuing, Mr. Hwang said China Mould never be a curse to the world. To those vho knew the Chinese character the "Yellow Peril" was a mere bogey. The character of the race was to love justice, to love peace, to love learning, and to love laws ; they were not a fighting nation. Study her history from the earliest, and it had always been the same. Further, China did not fear tho West. Her markets were open, and they welcomed businesb ability, statesmen, financiers, that they might learn China would provide the voild's biggest market. Passing on to the family system, Mr. Hwang said that the Chinese loved home and home life, even more than the Western peoples. In China to-day with her 400,000,000 there were only a little over 100 families. All the&e clans bore the same surname, and every' family carefully kepi its record or history. His secretary's name, Mr. Shah, was one of the five earliest names in China. He could trace his family history and re cord back 25 centuries. Mr. Hwang's own family could trace it back 600 years authentically ; prior to that, tradition was hardly reliable. In the family court or temple, the ancestral tablets were kept, and at certain seasons these were worshipped. There were two courts, the family and the judicial. Both had the right to pronounce the extreme penalty, and a suppliant had the right to choose either court. Mr. Hwang concluded his address, by giving a few impressions of New Zealand, the chief of which referred to its beautiful climatic conditions, and the vigorous activity of the New Zealander. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded tho lecturer on the motion of Mr. Tustin. J