SUN YAT-SEN

Evening Star, Issue 18502, 8 December 1923, Page 8

SUN YAT-SEN

REPORTED LANDING OF MARINES. Press Association—By Telegraph —Copyright. HONGKONG, December 6. It is reported that marines with machine guns from the foreign gunboats ,nt Canton have landed and taken possession of the Customs-house. Seven foreign gunboats are anchored off Shamien, comprising four British ships under the command of Admiral Sir Arthur Leveson, two Japanese, and one French. Admiral Frochat is on board the latter.—Reuter. AMERICAN WARSHIPS ASSIST. PEKING, December 6. (Received December 8, at 1 a.ra.) American naval vessels joined those of Japan, Italy, Britain, and France in the concentration at Canton to prevent Sun Yet-sen’s threatened sei/aire of the Cus-toms-house, whoso foreign control lie has long resented. Meanwhile British marines reinforced the French landing party, which fortified the building while other foreign gunboats standing by support the disembarkation.—A. and N.Z. Cable. CHAOS IN CHINA. A LAND WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT. MILITARY DICTATORS AND THEIR WAYS. PROSPECTS OF RECOVERY. It could have been said of China up till the middle of last week that it had no Government (writes a special correspondent of the ‘ Observer '). Its President, Li-Yuaii-hung, was exiled in Shanghai. It had no legislative body, no Premier, no Cabinet, no Executive Bureau, Ministry rf Justice, tax-collectors, or any of the governmental appendages common to most civilised countries. Yet it called itself a republic, and it was so recognised by foreign Powers. What can bo said of a country in this predicament? Aro the Chinese civilised? Is their governmentlese condition a menace to other highly organised peoples ? Will they drift into anarchy, or return to monarchy? Will their internal disorders become to tho Powers that have legitimate interests there so intolerable a. 4 to justify further foreign regulation ? It is, perhaps, best in dealing with a subject which has both a good and an evil side to deal with tho evil first. Frankly, then, China is in a bad way. It has been confronted with the necessity of adopting Wes'tern methods without in the least being prepared or keenly desirous of the change. Japan saw that its only hopo to compete with Europe, its only safeguard against becoming a vassal of Europe, was to adopt Europe’s ways, and tlie Japanese people, whether they liked it or not, lost no time in effecting tho change. China, on the other hand, not to be outdone, adopted the formula for tho spirit, and established at Peking tho fiction of a republic. Now wo have this anomaly in the Orient: Japan with a monarchial form of government, but a republic in spirit, and China with a republican form of government, but, a feudal state in spirit. Some allowance must, of course, he made for the difference between the two countries; Japan is small mui compact, and therefore, easily welded into a new form of national unity, while China is, and always has been, a heterogeneous conglomeration of disunited States, separated by differences of climate and differences in dialect. 1 do not mean to say that the Chinese people are not democratic, or to intimate, that they are anxious for the return of monarchy. 1 am convinced, after living among them for almost a year, that they are as democratic as any people, and that their republic, when once they have acquired a sense of national cohesion, will triumph. But tho fact, remains that they have not yet emerged from the feudalism under which they lived during the empire. “ TAXATION." It is, perhaps, incorrect to say that tho Chinese aro exempt from taxcollectors. While there is in operation no organised and odicial taxation system, other than that controlled by foreigners to protect foreign debts, there is in operation a taxation on the people of the most impressive sort. It is imposed by tho Tucbuns, or military overlords, who exact it in the form of bribes, by confiscations, and by plain stealing through raids on shopkeepers and homes. Tho money thus extorted, far from finding its way to Peking to support a central Government or any Government, goes into the private pockets of the military chiefs; so that while Peking is bankrupt the. chiefs invariably are wealthy. A public official in China who was honest would bo considered eccentric.

The privileges of spoliation on a grand scale are divided among the superTuchuns. Chang Tso-lin, the overlord oi tho three provinces of Manchuria, is the most powerful of them. .Although defeated by the army of Wu I’oi-fu eighteen months ago, lie has recovered, and ho, is indisputably tho strongest man in China. Ho virtually is an independent king. His army, equipped, fod, and clothed properly, numbers 150,000; his treasury is reputed to contain £10,000,000; his domains are prosperous, industrially and agriculturally; his is tho only organised civil unit in China, and his personal authority alone is law. Tsao-Kun (inaugurated as President the other day) is the military dictator in Central China. Ho levies tribute, directly or through smaller dictators, on 20,C00,000 persons. Ho is no leas a king than his Manchurian compatriot. Wu Pei-fu controls the regions of tho Yangtze-kiang. Further south, Sun Yat-sen, although professing altruism and planning visionary schemes for tho unification of his country, is as much of an autvocrat at Canton and in Kwantung province as tho rest of them. PEKING POWERLESS. China thus is split into hostile camps, none of which has been loyal to Peking. Peking has been a vast empty space so far as government in concerned. The foreign Powers, for convenience of their own, pretended that a united Government did exist there, and that it was a Government responsible for the whole of China; but this was a fiction invented for expediency. . Altogether 1,000,000 Chinese boar arms. Not one of them ever considered that be bore arms in tho interest of Ids homo and fireside. Most of them, poorly, or never, paid, find it easy to thrive by looting, and some of them resort to kidnapping foreigners. Kidnapping brings sure relief, for tho foreign Powers pounce upon the Tuchuns, who are compelled to yield to the bandits’ demands, which usually are for back pay or, in the case of discharged soldiers, for re-incorporation into tho army. You can hardly blame tho soldiers when you know that their rations of rice are sometimes weighted with sand or hind, and they seldom have a copper to jingle in their pockets. China’s worst enemy is its low standard of living. Engrossed in earning a livelihood, the unmilitary class, who are overwhelmingly in the majority, have little time to consider their country’s affairs, even if they wore so inclined. Unskilled in civil questions, they how to any demagogue who assumes power over them. AN INVASION OF CANTON. Nothing better illustrates the utter helplessness of the Chinese under adversity than the condition of Canton when I was there a few months ago. Canton is tho busiest mart in tho south. The Cantonese silks are obtainable in all parts of the world. Yet, when I was there, the merchants were terrified. Their shops wore closed and barricaded. Most of them were in hiding. Gambling booths occupied the centre of the streets. Filth everywhere threatened an epidemic, iorcign gunboats anchored warningly in the Pearl River. Why ? Because the military chiefs of Kwantung and of provinces adjoining, with a horde of ragged soldiers, had invaded the city to fight for its con- 1 trol, Sun Yet-sen having previously (led to Shanghai. I saw soldiers in rikslias, on the running boards of motor cars, or

walking in tho .streets with revolvers held ready to snap into tho faces of anyone who opposed them. Not only were tho shopkeepers awed, but they were glad to yield part of their belongings to prevent being looted of all of them. EVERYTHING " ILLEGAL.” Everything in China was “ illegal.” If a temporary Premier was appointed to deni with foreign affairs his acts were illegal. Parliament itself was illegal, and its illegality was tho cause of all other illegalities. It never until last week had legalised itself by tho creation of a permanent Constitution. As the only body which could possibly represent the whole of China it has signally failed. Its members, never able to convene a quorum, engage in throwing ink bottles. Such problems as tho disarming of China’s useless soldiers, tho expurgation of graft in office, and tho termination of the Tuchnn system have never been discussed seriously by tho Parliament, whoso members are utterly discredited. Conditions in China ‘will remain chaotic until the formation of a Parliament unselfishly devoted to China’s welfare.

Compared with Europe's plight, China’s seems not hopeless. Its debts are not so heavy as those of some European Powers. It is not threatened with war, and it has no present need of a largo standing army. Its people are happy, industrious, and intelligent. There are no more beggars in Peking than there are in some European cities. The standard of living is slowly rising. Moreover, tho Chinese people are doing what no other people on earth have ever done —thriving, with a minimum of disorder, without a Government. I travelled 5,000 miles in .interior China, and I ran testify that the wheels of industry make more noise than tho pops of bandits’ guns.