THE CHINESE MELODRAMA

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1533, 18 July 1901, Page 54

THE CHINESE MELODRAMA

A TYPICAL. ENGLISHMAN. Mr Clive Bigham, the author of ‘ r A Year in China —1899-1900,” is the kind of Englishman that Anthony Trollope loved to portray. Indeed, some of tiie passages in this hook read almost as if they wer© taken bodily out of one of Trollope’s stories —so like are they ■in tone, idea, and even in incident. In other words, Mr Bigham has the combination of qualities that makes the' Englishman in Eastern lands what he is—the benevolent despot, the clever, adroit, skilled master, who can be so accommodating, so goodhumoured, and so tolerant, and yet so ready to act sternly when the occasion requires. Over and over again we find Mr gham in the tightest of tight jplajes, and over and over again we see him getting out of it with a mingling of Courage, tact, good temper, and prompt and resolute action, which makes one see in him in miniature those extraordinary qualities which have made the British Empire of the. East what it is* Such a man is a delightful cicerone in travels in the East. When he meets with tragedy he can describe it soberly; when he meets the comical and almost farcical side which belongs to everything Oriental he can laugh at it, and make you laugh at it with him. And, above all, in this book he adheres strictly to the line he sets himself; it is a personal record, and pretends to be nothing more; With this result—that you feel a sense of reality and companionship throughout the pages, so that when you rise from them you seem to have got a glimpse at thß Very inner life of China and the East, to an extent you do not feel often even when you have swallowed down the portentous tomes in which less alert and human observers hav© described their ideas of the character of that curious people. THE NEW CHINESE SOLDIER. And first it should be remarked that Mr Bigham, who was hon. attache to the Embassy at Pekin, gives some ideas with regard to the Chinese soldier which are calculated to make us pause, and, perhaps, ©ven to revise our judgment. Nothing came out mor© clearly from th© pitiful struggle of China and Japan than the utter worthlessness of China’s military system, and the cowardice of th© individual Chinese soldier. There are plenty of indications to the observant and shrewd eyes of Mr Bigham—to say nothing of some of his stirring and almost tragical personal adventures that prov e this to be a state of things which will soon pass away. Of course, China, be* fore she becomes a military power, has to get over some of the most rooted ideas of centuries. “The soldier,” says Mr Bigham, “has been immemorially identified with brigands and boors”—“a pecessary evil, hut in no way compatible with Hie great learned bureaucracy that is founded on the teaching of Confucius and the sages.” and in China, too, as indeed in England, the pecuniary prospects of the nfilitary man compare very unfavourably with those of other walks of life. And thus it happens that sometimes when a Chinaman has been educated, drilled, and thoroughly instructed 'in a military academy at the expense of the State, he refuses to take his commission as an officer, preferring to “follow the more lucrative but less bellicose profession of a comprador or mercantile m No Withstanding all this, the soldier who is trained by the foreign officer—who is now an institution in China, and generally comes from Germany—.s »n remarkable contrast with the article of purely native production, as witness the

following passage from Mr Bigliam’s book : “I saw some ‘foreign-drilled’ troops in Wuchang. . . . The comparison between the ordinary slouching, dirty Chinese “brave” and these fine, tall fellows, well set up and smartly dressed, was most remarkable. Militarism had evidently come into fashion throughout th© whole quarter, for even the unclad infant was parading the gutter with a flag and a drum, and saluting the foreigner as he passed in correct Teutonic fashion—a most unusual and unorthodox pastime for the juvenile Celestial. Altogether I was agreeably surprised by the capabilities shown by the troops that were under foreign officers, and when I subsequently fought beside the m«n of our own \Vei-hai-wei regiment, who are nearly all from Shantung, I was still more impressed by their discipline and daring. There is to my mind no doubt whatever that, given proper conditions, a really efficient army could be raised and maintained in China by a foreign power.” THE BOXER, IN ACTION. This is theory, but later on Mr Bigham had an opportunity of seeing his words justified by tragic action. I anticipate a little when I say that he was one of that historic expeditionary force which under Admiral Seymour tried to penetrate from Tientsin to Pekin to relieve the»besieged embassies, and failed in the heroic attempt. In one of the encounters Mr ißgham had an opportunity of seeing the behaviour and temper of the Boxer, and this is his impression . “They came on us in a ragged line, advancing at the doubl© from a viliage some quarter of a mile to the left flank. Not more than a couple of hundred, armed with swords, spears, gingalls and rifles, many of them being quite boysTo anyon© who had been some little time in China it was an almost incredible flight, for there was no sign ol fear or hesitation, and these were not fanatical Hrfiyati/ 1 or the trained soldiers of the Mmprma, hut the quiet, peace-loving pmmmtry the countryside in arms again«t the foreigner. As they approached they dropped on their kuojs, lifting up tneir hands to heaven to invoke the God ol War, the chief of thoir Boxer freemasonry. Then they charged until they dropped again as our volleys began to toll. In twenty minutes thev wero in full retreat, leaving some sixty dead on the field. “The five or six wounded they had not carried away wore brought in and laid in a truck, covorod with blood, almost naked, and two of them were more children, a pitiful sight.’* This passage will tend to confirm 5 ho opinion expressed by Sir Robert Hart that the Boxer movement really represented a patriotic uprising against foreign conquest; and certainly gives one a greater respect for the movement than one was inclined to form before. CORRUPTION AND INCAPACITY. Let me give immediately and in juxtaposition, another passage which brings out the other sid e of China—th© cornution and folly of her rulers : “Peculation (writes Mr Bigham) has so cankered the Chines© bureaucracy that an honest official is to the ordi nary citizen somewhat almost superhuman. Integrity, accordingly, is venerated as the true hall mark of the heavensent ruler who will renew th© golden, age of classical history and restore prosperity to China.” So far for the dishonesty ; now for the incapacity. Mr Bigham gives the following account of an interview between the Foreign Ministers and the Tsung-li-Yamen-—the thing which corresponds in China to our Foreign Office here. It is very funny reading, and undrtreeath its conscious caricature gives

an extraordinarily clear idea of what Chinese diplomacy is like : “After compliments, as they say in dispatches, the subiect in hand, whatever it is, is opened by the Minister or Charge d’Affaires, and translated aloud by his interpreter. One of the members may respond, and if he does a long discussion on both sides ensues. The Chinese arguments are usually an extraordinary mixture of childish folly, abysmal diplomacy and naked truth. “Suppose, for instance, the proposal of a British company to build a railway from Pekin to tne North Pole is under consideration. The Chines© objections (for there are always objections) are somewhat as follows : “(1) The south aspect of the Confucian gate at Kalgan would be subjected to a hot, unbeneficial, not to say blighting influence by the engines passing near it. “(2) The Patagonian Envoy would be angry. “(3) The honourable inns in Peking would b© so crowded by poor ignorant people coming in to see the new magnificent railway that there might be a devastating famine. “(4) It would be necessary to obtain th© consent of all the Mongol princes along the route selected. This would take time and cost money. Who would pay for it? “(5) The feelings of many other people (not stated who) would certainly be hurt if they were not asked to take a share in the construction (and th© profits). “And so on. This is the usual class of opposition one has to deal with. And as fast as one argument is met another equally futile is advanced. Frequentlv, however, the answer is that the particular Minister who deals with such questions is away worshipping his ancestors, and that therefore the matter must stand over. Or if that will not satisfy the foreigner then an effusive consent is given. Next time, however, that the question is alluded to, a week after, it is alleged that the consent was a complete dissent, and that the interpreter made a mistake, or else the infallible card is played of ‘the Throne.’ ‘The Throne regrets, but . . .’ and after that a fresh beginning has to be made.” THE HARD WAY GF THE CONCESSIONAIRE. And here is a passage which shows how the hatred of th© foreigner is often produced and aggravated by the dishonesty of native officials. The passage also contains a useful word of caution to the army of concessionaires that is now over-running them : “The task of building a new railway in a country like China is not, it may be imagined, an easy or a very grateful one. However honest and painstaking the concessionaires may be, they have continually to fight against the vested interests of both governors and governed. Attempts to buy the land piecemeal are very difficult. “No sooner is the purchase of one field arranged for and the price paid for it, than a dozen other proprietors with equally good title deeds appear on the scene, and the position becomes highly complicated. To obviate this the Russians contract with the small local officials to get all the land they want in a particular district for a lump sum. The mandarin receives th e money, and may or may not hand it over to the owners of the soil. That is his business, say the Russians. If the peasants are cheated they naturally consider themsolves wronged, and equally naturally they set it down to the debit of the foreigner that the transaction was ever initiated.” I hav© to stop ; and yet I have only touched the fringe of the book. I have had to leave untouched perhaps its most interesting portions. I have read fewer mor© thrilling narratives than that of the expedition of Admiral Seymour. Your blood runs feverishly hot and chilly cold, as you follow its vicissitudes of victory and defeat, hope and despair, and ever-present bravery and resource. —“M. A. P.”