THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 September 1929, Page 6

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA.

ANTIQUE CIVILISATION GIVING PLACE TO WESTERN IDEAS.

FORMER HUNTING GROUND OF

THE FOREIGNER

To China the western world owes the magnetic needle, gun-powder, ragpaper, and printing. It is also indebted to that mysterious nation for the foundations of wisdom and the first gropings of science. These points Avere mentioned by the Levin W.E.A. tutor Rev. Wm. Beckett, by way of introduction to the seventh of his lectures on “International Relations,” the subject being “China.” A summary of the lecture is given below.

The Chinese are among the oldest of peoples. Even in 1800 8.C., China ioked back over more than a thousand years of earlier kings. Before Greece knew Socrates, China- had already a highly developed civilisation pretty much like that under which she still lives. The old societies of Babylon, Egypt, Rome and Athens have perish;od, but China remains. In 546 B.C. she had a League of Nations, in which no fewer than 14 States met together to enter into a covenant to bring wars to an end. China reigned supremo in the working of bronze and hardwood, in the weaving of silks, and in the art of embroideries. It stood, in the past, •at the head of civilisation, and at the time when the first official publication of the western world, the Gazette do France, appeared in 1631, China had already had its Peking Gazette for more than six hundred years. STABILITY AND STAGNATION. China is essentially civilised. Her common literature and ancient tradition keep her people one. In the past she has been divided again and again, always to unite. She has become oldfashioned by reason of her very stability. She has lagged behind most of the world in the development of her resources and in the industrial capacity of her steady and intelligent population. China has nearly three times the population of the United States ,cr of Franco and Great Britain combined, and has more undeveloped wealth than any other single people in the world. It is only in the last century or so that China- has lagged behind. Only a few centuries ago it was as civilised as Europe and politically more stable, in a century or so China may be again the most civilised and intelligent power in the world, flourishing in fellowship and perfect understanding with the great States of America and Europe.

FOREIGN OPPRESSION AND ITS FRUITS,

. The earliest authentic record of foreign influence in China goes back to about the beginning of the Christian era, when Buddhism was introduced. There is evidence of trade in silk with Greece and Rome in the 2nd century A.D. At the beginning of the 13th century, during the Mongol dynasty, there was a large influx of Arab traders. who brought their Mohammedan religion with them; but 'Mohammedanism has not exerted any gre;(t influence upon, the Chinese or upon their customs. In 15 Hi the first vessel flying a European ling reached Canton; it was Portuguese, and three Portuguese settlements were established. An Italian, .Marco Polo, of Yeuice, teas in China from 1275 to 1292, and enjoyed the hospitality and confidence of the people, in 1543 .Spain seized the Philippine Islands and cruelly treated th(! Chinese inhabitants there. , r l he Spaniards, in 1(502 and 1639, massacred 40,000 Chinese settlers in the Philippines, merely on the suspicion of plots. Fifty years' later the Chinese, in consequence of insolent and licentious conduct by Portuguese, attacked ami killed in Kingpo,' 12,000 Christians, including 800 Portuguese. The Dutch plundered important Chinese towns, and seized Formosa, only to bo driven out 30 years later. Not without excuse, therefore, did the Chinese style all Europeans “barbarians” and treat them as dangerous iiitrudeis. Thus was bred the spirit of contempt, which, a eeuturv ago, treated with contumely the noble envoys of the East India Company and of the British King, and which brought about, in 1842, the socalled Opium War—a war m which opium was the accident, albeit an accident unsavoury and discreditable. At bottom the real cause of the war was the Chinese word for “barbarian and the spirit of contempt engendered |,v it. Bv the Opium War, China was vigorously persuaded officially to taboo the' obnoxious word “barbarian, though it toU the rest of the cenlury to change public opinion, the I rent) of Nanking concluded this war of 184 • Britain asked for and took the island of Hong Kong, which has remained British territory ever since. ports wore thrown open—Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningjio and Shanghai. 1 he Treaty was signed by the ( lunese because the force of arms was again M them; the old question of equality remained unsettled. TRADE IN OPIUM AND DRUGS. Opium is still a menace to China. Tn response to public demand, the State Council at Nanking has embarked upon a programme of immediate suppression. An Act promulgated on September 10th, 1928, and now m force prohibits absolutely the cultiya tion, transportation, sale and smoking of opium. The drug menace h;is occupied much time and thought ot a committee of the League of Nations; they are seeking to suppress the trade. ReHeatedly the Chinese have pointed out to the League the fact that European Powers supply much, if not most, of the opium consumed in China, as well as the more dangerous opium derivations. Each nation has now to «übmit a report on the amount of the drug imported, and if. in the opinion of the League committees, the amount is excessive- —over and above what h required for medicinal and scientific oxplim:itioii i» The second Anglo-Chinesi Wai, 18. u CO was the inevitable result of the unsettled question of equality. Can tort was captured in December, 1857; then the Expedition sailed north and took fiie Taku forts, at the entrance to the river which leads to Tientsin, and so Pekin (the capital), was occupied. The result of the war was: (1) The pa* meat of an indemnity of £4,000,000; C>) the opening of fresh treaty ports;

and (3) the destruction of the Summer Palace. INFLUENCE OP THE DOWAGER. Shortly after the capture of Peking, in 1860, the Emperor died, and his favourite concubine managed to get herself made joint regent with her son, the new Emperor. For the next 50 years, thig remarkable woman held the- Manchu .dynasty together. She claimed, at the end of hei life, to have made only one mistake, and that was, that when the Boxer rising became serious, she supported the Boxers. The Empress Dowager, who was called “the Old Buddha,” maintained comparatively stable relations between the Chinese and the British. Foreign trade gradually developed, and Chinese industry and trade grew up. British and Chinese merchants learned to know and respect, and above all to tfust, each other. The Manchu dynasty finally failed, owing to idleness and luxury, and the Chinese Republic came into being, almost by accident, in .1911. China has always been a land of secret societies, and their influence has generally been baneful. Their murders of foreigners led to reprisals, in which fresh hold was gained by other nations over portions of China and her dependencies. In 3897 China yielded rights in Shantung for mining, giving Germany a 99 years’ lease of Kiauchow. Other nations took their cue from Germany, and China was parcelled out into “spheres of influence” which different countries could exploit without interference from others. A sense of her own inner weakness has been responsible for China’s troubles. This she is seeking to remedy. China is waking up.

JAPANESE WAR,

Japan’s war with China arose over a difference regarding responsibility for the murder of 66 natives of Ryukyu — a, chain of islands lying between Japan and Formosa —who were wrecked on the south coast of Formosa. The Byukyuans, the Chinese said, were Chinese subjects, an assertion which the Japanese promptly denied. Japan landed 3(500 men in Formosa, and several engagements took place. China finally" agreed ito admit that Japan was justified in sending over a punitive expedition, and to pay 100,000 taels for the families of tin- injured people and 400,000 taels for the roads and buildings constructed by Japan in Formosa. The Treaty was signed on October 31st, .1874, but China was not happy over the matter. In 1875 a party of Japanese seamen engaged in surveying the coast were Hied upon, and in retaliation a fort was destroyed. The war was carried into Korea, and the Japanese were entirely successful. They expelled .the Chinese’ troops from Korea.

THE BOXER RISING. The Boxer movement, due to a secret society, had by May, 1900, assumed :i serious aspect, but the Chinese Government seemed unable or unwilling to suppress it. At the end of the month a .small force of marines arrived to guard the Legations in Peking. When a. larger force tried to reach the city in June, it was driven back by combined lin per ia 1 and Boxer forces. The Taku Girts had been taken by Allied warships while the expedition was on its way towards Peking. Chinn now considered herself at war with all the Rowers. On June 25th the siege of the Legations in Poking began. On August 4Hi a relieving force, left for Peking, composed of 8000 Jajiane.se, 2500 American, 3000 British, 4500 Russian, and 800 French troops. This, in many ways, was a most remarkable expedition. Never before ‘had the armed forces of Europe, Asia and America, co-operated in so humane a cause. After ten days of stiff lighting, the SO miles were traversed and Peking was entered on August 14th. Two days later the Jajianese led the forces which relieved, the heroic missionaries and their Chinese converts in the Pehtang Cathedral. The Legations were relieved and disorders suppressed. Indemnity was finally lixed at 450 million taels (about 90 million pounds), of which Russia, Germany and France received far more than Great' Britain, Japan and the United Stales —far more, in fact, than could have been justly claimed.

MANCHURIA AND KOREA.

Russia, while protesting that she had no territorial designs in China, turned and over-ran Manchuria, capturing the capital, Mukden, on October 2nd. Shortly afterwards, Admiral Alexieff, at Port Arthur, negotiated a convention with Tsing Chi, the Tartar general, which would have made Manchuria a Russian protectorate. The interposition of other Powers, however, prevented the execution of the treaty.

On January 30th, 1902, the AngloJapanesc Alliance wa s signed in London. The two contracting parties recognised the independence of China and Korea, and declared that they had no aggressive tendencies in cither country. THE NATIONALIST AWAKENING China has been startled out of her long slumber by many wars and by her contact with the Western world. The spirit of modern science and democracy has begun to work, and China has made a complete surrender to the Western spirit. She lies a People’s Party, known as the Kuo-ming-tang. The anti-Christian movement seen in some quarters is the expression oiP Nationalistic feelings, of China’s desire to emancipate horsolf from foreign aggression. China is said to have 100 million illiterates between the ages of 16 and •SO. Mr Y. C. James Yen, a Y.M.C.A. secretary serving with the coolies in France during the War, discovered that those coolies might be taught within a few hours enough of the ancient Chinese characters to make it possible for them to read simple pamp--1 hlcts and write simple letters. With that experience as a base, he has worked out in China itself a course of study which includes slightly more than a thousand ideographs, which can be taught to the average adult illiterate in 96 hours of class-room study. The education of the masses, begun only a few years ago, has already reached the proportions of a national moveanient. Despite the chaotic conditions I of the country, Mr Yen now has between five and six million adults studyjing in the schools he has established. [Within a generation China’s illiterates may be taught to read and write. It

is said that less than 20,000 out of the 300,000 Labour unionists are able to read.

CONCESSIONS BY THE THRONE. Following the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Empress perceived that the demand of the people for a larger share in the government of the country could no longer be ignored. The reactionary Nationalism which had culminated in the Boxer movement gave place to an enthusiasm for Western learning and Western methods. Decrees appeared condemning fort-building, recommending inter-marriage with Manchus and Chinese, abolishing the system of literary examinations for official employment, and forbidding torture and mutilation. Railways were built and schools were opened. Japanese instructors were engaged, and large numbers of students went to study abroad. A commission was sent to Europe in 190(5 to examine the systems of government, and on its return the Regent announced her intention to grant a constitution. PROGRAMME OF THE PEOPLE’S

PARTY. In 1908 the Empress and the puppet Emperor died within a day of each other. Provincial Assemblies were set up, and a National Assembly was formed, of which Dr, Sun Yat Sen was the first, President. The programme of the Kuo-ming-tang is that of Sun—viz: The abrogation of treaties which’ infringe the sovereignty of China; the cancellation of all extra-territorial privileges; the recovery to China of all foreign settlements; the extension of railroad construction for the building of harbours and bridges. It was for announcing this programme, in the last years of his life, that Dr. Sun was laughed at as a visionary and denounced as Red. But it is a vision that is going to be realised, and the day is ever drawing nearer. In China we are dealing with a revolution; an immense area is being brought under new authorities —not only the authority of new officials, but the authority of new ideas. The most significant fact is the establishment of the National Government of China, which occurred in 1911, There is no name more honoured in China than that of Sun Yat Sen. Recently his body was removed to an. honoured place of burial in the new capital, Nanking. iNTERNAL STRIKE.

The Avars within China that are rather puzzling to the foreign reader are just personal forays of individual generals or combinations of generals against other generals, the prize being some territory to be taxed. The trouble in China grows out of the attempt of the Chinese to regain control of their own Customs, to eliminate the status of foreigners whereby they are beyond the reach of the Chinese law, and to end the anomaly of .foreign territorial concessions within the boundaries of a sovereign State. A new and unified China is in process of emerging from the chaos of civil war and turmoil which has distressed the country for many years. BEGIXXLNG OF A NAVY.

On July Ist this year an agreement was signed providing for ; the training of Chinese naval cadet's in Great Britain, and for a British naval mission to assist the Chinese Government in naval development. it is understood that the Chinese Government litis a. comprehensive programme for the building of a substantial navy. Most of the existing Chinese . naval units are of the coast defence gunboat type. Aviation in China, is still in its ( infancy. However, .she has awakened to the possibility of starting a gigantic aerial scheme in the development of commercial and air mails throughout, the length and breadth of the whole country. LX I)UHTRIAL GJROWTii. The process of industrialisation goes on steadily, although the bulk of the Chinese people are still living under old economic and -social institutions. The dominant economic system of (Thin a is still that of the agricultural village. The industrialisation is as yet conlined to coastal cities and the Yang-tse Valley, but its influence has penetrated and is being felt throughout the Chinese economic world. Western nations made war on China to open her ports, but now they will have to meet the Chinese in the open markets of the world.