SOME VIEWS OF CHINA'S FUTURE.

Grey River Argus, 23 December 1911, Page 8

SOME VIEWS OF CHINA'S FUTURE.

HOW WILL IT END. Nothing like this Westernising- move ment 'im China, writes the. Rev. Lord William Gascoyhc-Cccil, in the "Daily Mail," has .been since th& Reformation altered the whole 'history • of Europ. A. few years ago, if you had told an old China hand that China was goin>g to^ follow Western and not Confucian teaching he would have laughed. Then it seemed as improbable as it now seams that, a Mohammedan should eat pork chops or a Sikh should have his beard, or a Brahmin should embrace an outcast. Yet 'the improibaible his once more come to pass in the history of the world. I told an American missionary that in tho university' scheme (which, I hope, will shortly bo am actuality) Confucian learning would Ibe encouraged," as not. inconsistent with Christianity. lie answered that I .might! say that in England tout amon.g tihe young -Chinese- "Con-' fucius cuts no ice." What -is going to be the end ? AftCT having just pointed out how wrong all prophets halve ibecn, I am not .going to prophesy, but wo can see what others expect the end to be. Young China expects that a Western nation will «be born an ,a day, and that China will 'be a.ble to Westernise with as imuch ease as a Chinaman can cut off his queue, and put on a Western dress; that his country is:to__ be a Republic, Western fashion;- w^h aMaigna "Charter," a declaration ''of indepcndenice, a summoning of the States-General— in fact, I with. all the incidents of Western consitiutional' history that all Young China, has learntj to admire and to confuse 'in the Western college. His ~ future ideal is to have a Prc-s-dcnt, or a Prime Minister whose efforts will 'be neutralised by a Leader of Opposition, and who will carry on ithc government with all the loquacity that .modern democracy adores. But he mainly hopes that this Westernised China will defeat Japan and Russia, ye.s; and •even. France and Germany, tooi, -till China shall again belong- to the Chinese. Young Japan, on 'the o'iiher ■ hand. I will not say experts," -but I thirok I may say hopes, that somehow or other Japan will find herself mistress of a large part of China if not i of all, with a purse ifaig- enough .to buy | a Navy which will make the Pacific Ocean her Hake, and make -Australia and New Zealand rather anxious and very loyal to England. Tho German Colonial Party now aspects Shan rung- t o 'be th« foundation of a German-Chinesa Emipirc. Russia perhaps thinks 'that Tientsin would do nicely as an outlet for Siberian commerce, A Factor in Western Civilisation..Those and many other Contingencies, seem possible. Lut it seems coriahi' that '-China- .in one. way 'or another will become Western ; she may maka mistakes, she may Jail under the complete or partial domination' of other countries, tbut /she will never again be fthc Oriental country to whom the West was a matter' of indifference, and who had no effect on Western life", except to teach them to make porcelain, and co drink tea. New China is going to' be a factor : in the hostory of Western civilisation for good or for evil, and it is certain ' she Will (be a factor 'for evil if she | fails to understand it; if she regards J a telephone wire or an aeroplane as ; its most beautiful production or the invention of death-dealing .shells, a& its greatest benefit to humanity, if ! she looks on sweated industry as a-, necessary and healthy feature of com j mei'cial development, she will depress | th^i world iby her mighty weight', and to avoid such ■'■.'misunderstanding- she must ibe efficiently taught. A .misunderstanding will produce a mongrel civilisation having" the vices of \ the EasH and West. What China needs at the present critical juncture, of 'Her history, i.s,a university where her youth may attain to a thorough knowledge of Western thought. From that -university will go out! light to all China. China must be taught iby the Chinese, but the teachers must themselves first learn. The momenij is important, for the whole world; the yellow man is entering »into the wh'itc man's civilisation ; what has 'begun in Japan is being completed in China. It is in the interest of all ' nations that at this crisis in ths histon* of civilisation Chinese thought shall receive every enlightenment. - When Japan accepted Western civilisation, the world ' was incredulous. Russia greeted' her action with scbr^'i. ful laughter' Russia does not laugh now; neither will Europe be indifferent to what is happening in China . in a decade or .so.