BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 11511, 30 March 1901, Page 8

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

‘China’s Only Hope.’ An appeal hr her greatest Viceroy, Chang Ghih lung, with the sanction of the Emperor, Kwang Su. Translated by Samuel J. Woodbridge. Edinburgh*: Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. Dunedin : New Zealand Bible, Tract, and. Book Society.

This is a little book which the publishers say “ astonished (he kingdom, convulsed the Empire, and brought on the war.” ■They, further say that “ ‘ China’s Only Hope’ in the original Chinese is one of the most remarkable if not the most remarkable book written by a Chinese during the past six hundred years. It is said to have been the prime cause of the Emperor's reform movements, Which resulted in the coup d’etat, and culminated in the present uprising. It was advertised by yellow posters being pasted up on every wall along the streets and alleys of the great cities, and reached a circulation inside of two years of not less than a million copies. Its author is China's greatest Viceroy, and, next to Li Hung Chang, her greatest statesman. One cannot read this book without feeling that in China there is a powerful party in favor of progress, and it is tills party that ought to be put in power at the. present time. It was printed by the Tsung-li-Yamen and endorsed by the Emperor, who ordered that copies be sent to the * Viceroys, Governors, and literary examiners of China, in order that they may be extensively published and widely circulated b the provinces.’ ” Any book combg with such credentials is bound to attract a certain amount of attention. Nor do we think that those who purchase and read it are likely to regret their action. Apart from questions of literary merit, it is something out of the ordbary to be given a peep behind the scenes into the actual condition of affairs b Chba, to know the thoughts of educated Chinese upon their own land, policy, and future, and to have laid bare to us the opinions, not of the mere traveller, journalist, or missionary, Who must of necessity view thbgs from the outside, of one who is a loyal and .patriotic native, a high official, a fearless reformer, and a scholar. Our prior conceptions are bound to be Impressed and modified by such a work We feel, as we read, that we have not hitherto regarded the Cbbese as they—that is, many—would have us regard them, and that our wholesale condemnations have been without sufficient warrant and our hasty generalisations too sweepbg and bapplicable. This book was written by an educated and highly-placed Chbese for bis countrymen, not for outsiders. We question if he ever dreamt that it would be translated. It is therefore not written with an eye to effect., and may be accepted as the genube aspiration of an enlightened, cultured official. Commonplace as its demands may appeal to ns, they came with a torpedo shock to the Chbese btellect, and, it is affirmed, proved that last straw which broke the power of the Reformers, led to the Emperor’s virtual imprisonment, the risbg against the foreigners, tho attack on the Legations, and the consequent presence of the Allies in Chba. It speaks more eloquently than volumes of words could possibly do as to the ultra-conservatism of the Chinese that such a little spark should kbdle so great a fire. The Viceroy himself is what many would term a Tory, but he is not blbd to the necessity—nay, the imperious need—of reform. Whilst retaining that which should, b his opinion, be retained, he would yet graft upon Chbese civilisation so much of the Western leambg and ways in relation to trade, wax, education, agriculture, mechanical appliances, etc., as he believes must be introduced m order to save China from collapse and dismemberment. “He rests his hope on two thbgs—the renaissance of Confucianism and the adoption of Western science and methods.” Confucianism, with the Viceroy, is not a dead faith, but a living reality, failure to grasp which, pins false teaching and misinterpretation, have led China into her present parlous plight. The book, which is commended to the Chinese in an Imperial rescript of His Majesty Kwang Su, is divided by its author into two parts—the moral and the practical. The latter is the more bterestbg, bebg a spirited philippic as well as an earnest plea for reform. Tho Viceroy holds that there are three thbgs necessary in order to save Chba from revolution (it must be remembered that the present work was written a year or two before the catastrophe of 1900) —viz., maintain the reignbg dynasty, conserve the Holy Religion, protect the Chinese race; and these he briefly elaborates. Perhaps it is movttable that even such an btellectnal person as Chih Tung should, when treating of the outer world, fall into blunders in instituting comparisons, describmg institutions, and drawing inferences. Some of these are foolish, owing to his facts not being reliable, bub the apparent earnestness of the writer and the surety that he is on the right track outweigh his minor deductions. He glorifies Confucius, and corrects some of the errors into which outsiders have fallen through accepting the mistranslations of inexact bterpreters. He appeals for an absolute submission to and reverence for the Emperor’s person, the overthrow of the vile traffic and consumption of opium, and the utilisation of Western knowledge. “ Of all countries,” he says, “ China alone has for these fifty years proved herself irreclai|nably stupid and nob awake. Many of the officials and people are proud and indolent. They contentedly rest b the belief that the old order of things will suffice for these dangerous times, and in tho end became the easy prey of outsiders. But China is not lacking in men who have begun to arouse themselves for their country's deliverance.” Then, after this stirring cry, his patriotic spirit declares itself as follows:—"A sensible man will not repudiate his country because, forsooth, there are some things in it that he does not like.” The book abounds m smart, epigrammatic touches, elaborates a scheme of education, bsists oii religious toleration, ridicules the “ eight-legged essayists ” (a favorite phrase) and “ the long-robed and begirdled Confucianists,” has a few happy thrusts at the disarmament societies (viewbg tbs idea as an international joke), and concludes,- as he began, by saying that Chba’s salvation will be found in a reform of government, and not in everlastbgly combat mg other religions. ‘ China's Only Hope’ is well worth reading.