THE AWAKENING OF CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13369, 26 December 1906, Page 10

THE AWAKENING OF CHINA.

THE MOVEMENT IN THE EAST.

GREAT AND SIGNIFICANT

CHANGES

Me. F. A. McKknzie is contributing an interesting series of articles to the London Daily Mail on the great changes which are in progress in China. China, he writes, has at last awakened from the sleep of centuries. The great empire of the East, the oldest, the most populous, and he most-highly-organised on earth, is about to modernise itself.

For untold years the Land of the Dragon lived its own life, haughty, exclusive, and indifferent to the rest of the world. England forced it many years ago to open some of its ports to commerce, with the hard persuasion of brown boss and cold steel. But England could not compel it to open its mind to Western influence.

1 he Chinaman; serene in his ancient civilisation, despised us. In his heart lie mocked at our inventions. He scorned the idea that the nitre contraction of distance by rapid transit and telegraph was any real benefit to humanity, and lie hail a decided conviction that the substitution of machinery for hand-labour was a curse. He doubted our morals, and lie regarded our family ..ife, with its weak bonds between. parents and children, as disgraceful. Our lack of reverence for old age was to him as horrible as the cannibalism of the Pacific Islander is to us. It seemed no more than an odd jest to him that English people, a nation of today, should attempt to instruct him, whose ancestors had great empire and good government in the year when Abraham led his flocks into Egypt. DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN. While Japan was as wax before Western teaching, China was marble. This state of affairs continued unchanged up to a.s recently as the Boxer rising, six years ago. As a case in point, English enterprise laid down a railway near Shanghai. The Chinese authorities paid heavy compensation took over the line, and at once tore it up. Our aid was employed for such affairs as naval organisation, but for little more. In 1898 a small party of officials fell under Western influences, and they won the Emperor over to their side. The officials lost, their heads, and the Emperor lost power. This was followed in 1900 by a great uprising of the people against the West. They did not want us, and they resolved to kill every Westerner iu their* borders. How they tried and failed is a matter of history. Now, as though by magic, all has changed. The hour of the apparent failure of Western influence was the dawn of the day of its success. The scorn and contempt for foreign ways and foreign learning are definitely over. Forced by hard experience, the dominant brains-of the Empire have come to see that the upstart and parvenu West has something to teach them. The old-style warrior, armed with bow and arrow, and drilled in making ugly faces to frighten his foe. is being swept away to make room for the khaki-clad soldier with magazine rifle. The railway, the telegraph, and the newspaper are spreading all over the Empire. Woman, long confined to her home, is now taking her place in public life. Footbinding, the supreme device for the sub-, jection of the weaker sex, is passing out of fashion. Schools are springing up as though by magic, and Western science and learning are taught in them. The idols are being removed from temples, and schoolmasters installed. Young Chinese are going to other lands by the ten thousand. An industrial revolution lias begun, and factories have come to stay. Here we have a movement charged with greater issues for both East and West than were the conquests of Alexander or the campaigns of N,apoleon. At first glance, such language mAy sound nothing but. crude exaggeration. A little consideration will show that it is a restrained statement of sober fact. The Land of the Dragon is so vast that nothing which moves it can fail to affect the whole earth. THE CHINESE ARMY. Twelve years ago the Chinese soldier was a relic of the Middle Ages. He was armed with bow and arrow, double-handled sword, oxhide buckler, and two-man jingal; one important part of his drill was the making of ugly faces and the shouting of blood-curd-ling cries to dispirit his foes; his officers had a deserved reputation for corruption and cowardice; his food was "bad, his training was absurd, and his discipline Mas slight. To-day one finds him—and 70,000 of him in the single province of Chi-li—dressed in. khaki, clean, well shod, and with peaked cap shielding his eyes from the sun. He carries a useful rifle, Mannlicher or Mauser, and lie knows how to use it. He is well fed, well clothed, and well housed, and is led by officers of his own race who have absorbed something of the methods and discipline of the Germany army. Quick-firing Krupp and Creusot guns are in his train. China is resolutely attacking the problem of creating a force that will make her capable of holding her own against outside aggression.

There is not one united army in China, but 19 separate armies, one for each of the 18 provinces and one for Manchuria. Nominally the Board of-War in Pekin has supreme military control, and lays down regulations which the viceroys and governors of the provinces carry out. But, as a matter of fact, each local ruler does what seems right in his own eyes. The recruiting, the purchasing of weapons, the payment of troops, and the' general efficiency of the service all depend on the viceroy. For all practical purposes there is only an effective force in one province, Chi li, where the Viceroy Yuan controls seven divisions. THE LORD OF COUNTLESS MILLIONS. In the great palace on the river bank at Tientsin, with daemonic figures painted on the outer gates to tell of stern justice within, lives Yuan, Viceroy of Chi li, leader of the reform movement, and the most powerful man in"6hina. As becomes one who is the over-lord of many millions, he is surrounded by great state. The. splendours of the ' Viceregal Yam en, with its gorgeously-coloured walls, its variegated adornments, its myriad electric lights, and its army of officials in wonderfully embroidered robes of gold and crimson and blue, might well exhaust powers of description. The entrance ways | are guarded by modem troops, and in the court-yards you can hear the hoarse voices of drill-sergeants busy shaping their squads. Outside one of the doors you will likely come across a few minor offenders, with cangues around their necks—rough wooden squares about 2ft 6in each way—and with notices on them proclaiming their offence. Do not fail to notice the towering wireless telegraph pole Marconi system —a little, way outside the Yamen. By means of his wireless mast Yuan can keep up constant communication with his army at Paotingfu and his agents in the Imperial palufce of Pekin. On one side of the Yamen is a magnificent macadamised road fringed by the palaces of rich Chinese traders, palaces which enable one to realise the fact that there are great native business houses in China to-day that can rival our wealthiest bankers in their command of money. A KING AMONG MEN. It is not the Yamen, however, that attracts attention so much as the Viceroy in it. Yuan could never be taken for anything but a king among men. With strong body and big frame, with an immense head and piercing eyes, he bears with him the sense of power. This is the man who has cut a clear way through the entrenched conservatism of his people. Yuan is still young—barely 50. So far back as 13 years ago he was prominent in the ranks of Chinese diplomats. He was in charge of Chinese, interests in Coreu before the outbreak of war with Japan, and played a great part in the negotiations. But for that experience lie might have continued as an official of the old type. But he emerged from those days of defeat and

disaster with one lesson burned into his brain. He realised that China could never hope to hold her own until she had acquired the knowledge of the est. Immediately after his return to China he to apply his knowledge. He w<s then taotai. a high mandarin. In Chinese administration it is held that a clever man ought to be able to adapt .himself to anything. whether it is the command of a battleship or'the administration of a province. A new force of modern trained soldiers had been gathered together at Haiehenw'. Yuan, although he had no military experience, was made general. He proved to be a born commander. He was honest, and he demanded honesty in his subordinates. The regulation in the new Chinese military code that " generals are expected not to steal " was unnecessary for him. He employed foreign instructors freely. He himself laboured almost day and night, and he worked his soldiers as men had never been worked before under Chinese discipline. Soon the little army became famous < ' a really efficient force, the only one in C'dna.

In his personal life Yuan is quiet and. so far as his position allows, simple. Like all high Chinese officials he. has several wives, the number being variously stated at from six to 11. He is a voracious worker, and, although only speaking Chinese, he keeps in touch, with Western thought by the aid of translators. He is specially keen on iniltary books, which he bus freely put into Chinese for him. Naturally, he chiefly goes to German military text-books. The Viceroy's palace is the centre of 1000 intrigues, national and international. He has, of course, hosts of enemies, hut the master of many legions can bid them defiance. Seventy thousand armed men are at his back, men who have been taught that j their primary duty is loyalty to the Viceroy of Clii-li. Yuan's life work has only begun. He will still do much for new China. INFLUENCE. OF THE JAPANESE. This brings me to a more delicate question. How far is the Chinese army under Japanese control? It is only necessary to consider two forces, those of Viceroy Chang Chili Tung and those of Viceroy Yuan. Chang is undoubtedly a pronounced and unreserved pro-Japanese, and both his soldiers and his arsenals are under Japanese direction. But I doubt if Chang could put two good divisions on the field. He lias recently made very large purchases from Japan of cast-off weapons, and some of the old guns he has bought have been brought up to date by having the year engraved on them taken out. and a later year put in its place. Great though Chang is, and well as he has deserved of his country, he is old. and his influence is declining. The star of Yuan is ever on the rise. There are a limited number of Japanese assistants in Yuan's army, but they are kept in positions where they can plan and advise, but have little actual control. One Japanese colonel is on Yuan's personal staff. Japanese planned the entire autumn manoeuvres of his united forces, but the execution of the plans was left to Chinese. I found the Chinese military authorities exceedingly sensitive on this matter of Japanese direction.

Fifteen months ago the Japanese had the opportunity of securing predominance in the Chinese military organisation. But they played their cards badly. They showed themselves somewhat grasping, and too eager for their own gain. Yuan bought several millions' worth of arms and ammunition from them. When I was in Tientsin, 0110 batch of 800,000 cartridges was being returned to Japan, as it was said that only about one cartridge in three would lire. The Chinese army of to-fiior-row will be Chinese led.

The soldiers are, and will be, conscripts. They are supposed' to serve for three years with the colours, three years with the first reserve, and four years with the second reserve— 10 years in all. In the f case of the army of Chi-li, this means that when it is fully formed with 10 divisions and reserves there will be about 100,000 fighting men in barracks, and a-quarter of a million ready to be called up. The soldiers are paid a nominal four or four and' a-half taels a month (12s to 14s) — good pay for China. Recently various deductions have been made, which reduce the actual money handed over to about two taele.