FUTURE OF CHINA

Grey River Argus, 15 December 1937, Page 6

FUTURE OF CHINA

THE MANCHUKUO RULER. WHAT WILL BE HIS ROLE? Watching the terrible struggle in China from the security of his throne upon which he was placed by the Japanese in 1932, his Imperial Majesty, Kang Teh, known to the world as Henry Pu YI, wonders whether his sponsors from Nippon will restore him to the Dragon and Orchid Throne of China, from which he abdicated when a mere child, during the Revolution of 1912 (says a writer in the “Labour Daily.”) Fate has certainly cast a strange destiny for this weak-eyed young man, "last of the Manchu Emperors who lorded it over ancient China for three stormy centuries. Educated by an English tutor, he thinks in Japanese, and worships in accordance with the decrees of Confucianism--whereas Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek is a devout Methodist. Will this 31 years old Emperor of the Puppet State of Manchukuo return after a lapse of 25 years to the Throne of the Manchus in the Forbidden City of Peking—now known as Peiping? Suave Koki Hirota, Foreign Minister of Nippon’s Emperor Hirohito, will be the first to realise the advantages of a restoration of the Manchu dynasty, when that restoration would be under the domination of Japan, so Emperor Kang Teh has every reason' to expect much from a Japanese victory. Henry Pu Yi is not, however, of Chinese race. He belongs to the Manchus. whose ancestors —the Man-chu-Tartars —were Central Asaiatic warrior nomads who overran North China as early as the 12th. century, only to be ousted by the even more ruthless Mongols under Genghis Khan, who swooped down at the head of a horde of wild Asiatic horsemen upon the Manchus. Then, in the 17th. century, there was a revolt against the Ming Dynasty, which had become steeped in Chinese corruption and an enterprising Chinese general invited the Manchus to reenter Pekin to drive out the ruffian Mongols. The Manchus came, they saw and they stayed to the dismay of the Chinese. In the Forbidden City they set up the Dragon and Orchid Throne, and for three centuries they lorded it over China. GRIM DOWAGER EMPRESS. It was under the Manchus that the eunuchs obtained supreme sovereignty. But the last of the Manchu rulers who really dominated Chinese affairs was the grim Dowager Empress, who won for herself the title of The Old Buddha, greatgrandmother of Henry Pu Yi. When a schollgirl, she fell in love with an officer of the Imperial. Guard, but sacrificed her love to answer a call from the Imperial Palace, where, as Orchid, she was selected as the favourite of Emperor Hsien Feng. As such she bore him a son, and that son became Emperor, but did not live long. Now that she had supreme power, the Dowager Empress became the real ruler of China. One of the first acts was to send for her old lover in the Imperial Guard, and order him to marry _ a . bewitching almond-eyed Princess. Henry Pu Yi is the. grandson of that .strangely romantic, union. The Old Buddha was relentless in her power, and even when the Emperor, Kwang-hsu succeeded to the throne, she kept him her prisoner in the Forbidden City, and ' he died an agonising death in 1908 from slow poisoning, believed to have been ad-

ministered by orders of the Old Buddha.

Thus Henry Pu Yi became Manchu Emperor of China and ascended the Dragon Throne of his forefathers for the first time at the age of four years. He was then known as the ismperor Hsuen Tong. But the Chinese people were in revolt against the oppression and the taxes of the Manchus. Every year there was a rising against the Manchus, and Sun Yat Sen was rallying the nation to the flag of revolution. THE ■ ABDICATION. The country was actually under a Regency, headed by Prince Chun, who was unable to withstand the attacks of rebellious troops. The Regent was displaced and the widow oi poisoned Emperor Kuang-hsu became’ Empress Regent to look after the affairs of the infant Emperor. But the revolutionaries were too strong, and on January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat Sen assumed the post of President. One of the first conditions of the new regime was that the Manchus must abdicate. Dr. Sun took his oath of office at the grave [of the founder of the Ming Dynasty, t in itself a challenge to the alien Manchus. Following the receipt of a roundrobin from the generals of the Imperial Army, the Empress Regent agreed to the abdication of the infant Emperor. But she postulated a number of conditions upon which the. abdication was to take place. Shrewdly, the Empress Regent obtained consent to her conditions. The worship of the Imperial Ancestors was to be kept up; the babv Emperor was to keep his title; provision was to be made for the proper support of the Imperial family, for the completion of the tomb of her late husband and, lastly, for the proper treatment of all Imperial Servants. Then the edicts of the Abdication were to be placed in a frame and set up under a rich canopy at the gate of the Imperial City. So even the face of the infant Manchu Emperor was saved by the Chinese revolutionaries. IN OBSCURITY. Henry Pu Yi remained in obscurity within the Forbidden City undisturbed for several years. This Forbidden City of the Manchus consisted of the palace buildings, covering approximately one square mile, surrounded by a high grey wall and a mediaeval moat. Around the Forbidden City, extended the Imperial City. with such buildings as the Temple to Imperial Ancestors, which in its turn was surrounded by a “purple wall.” Then around the Imperial City there was another city known as the Tartar City, inhabited by the Manchu nobles and surrounded by a moat and a grey wall 50 feet thick and 50 feet in height. On the south there was a gate reserved exclusively for the Emperor, while all others had to use either the east or west gates. Through this Gate of Imperial Prowess early one • winter morning Henry Pu Yi passed on November 5, 1924, after being elected by. Chiang Kai-shek. That was the last occasion that he was ■. in the Forbidden City. His exile was spent at Tientsin, where he made his contacts with the Japanese. Assiduously he studied for the day when he would be restored to the Dragon Throne of his ancestors. Naturally a studious young man, he was plastic material in the hands of his tutors. Then Japan added Manchuria and Jehol to Korea and set up, in 1932, its first Continental Empire under the name of Manchukuo, or the Kingdom of the

Manchus, and Henry Pu Yi was nominated as Puppet Emperor of the new State.

On March 1, 1934, Henry Pu Yi was formally installed as Emperor Kang Teh of Manchukuo. Since that time Japan has planned for the day when the last of the Manchus would again ascend the Dragon Throne in Pekin. North China has, bit by bit, fallen into the hands of Japan, and the Forbidden City today has the Rising Sun flaunting ovei’ its walls.

Already Japan has set up Prince Teh, Wang as its puppet in Inner Mongolia as a buffer against- the Society advance from Outer Mongolia, and Prince Teh Wang, acknowledged on behalf of the Mongol chiefs, has made his obeisance to Henry Pu Yi. So the race of Genghis Khan has made its peace with the Manchus and has combined against the Chinese.

Peiping is no longer Peiping, but Has reverted to its Manchu designation of Pekin. Pekin means “Northern Capital,” and for that reason its name was changed to Peiping, meaning "Northern Peace,” by decree of Chiang Kai-shek nine years ago. Now, by decree of the Japanese invaders, it has had. restored to it the proud title of “Northern Capital,” resulting in great rejoicing on the part of its inhabitants, who see in this move a restoration to its former greatness. -> The next move of the Japanese was to restore the ancient Confucian rites of the Manchu Imperial Court as a counter-irritant to the New Life Methodism of Chiang and his wife. A ceremony was conducted in the Confucian Hall of Perfection, to which the Japanese gave their i patronage. Obviously the next move is to bring Henry Pu Yi back in state to

the Dragon and Orchid Throne of the Northern Capital from which he abdicated in 1912. So, with infinite guille, the Japanese programme of penetration is being pushed forward. They realise that they could never hold China as a Japanese colony, but they might hold it by restoring the monarchy and setting' up a puppet Emperor. For that role Henry Pu Yi is a heav-en-sent gift from his venerable ancestors.