CHINA'S PAST AND FUTURE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 15

CHINA'S PAST AND FUTURE.

"China’s 'Past:and Future.” by the. Hon. Chester Holcombe. *33ri tain’s Sin and Folly.” By B. Broomhall. London: Morgan and •Scott. book which deals -with great inter■ixational relations and the historical development ofamighty people is neoes'«axily -one which appeals to thinking ■yen. When, as in the case of the work ■•■ before -us, it also comes under the name dof an author with exceptional know- ' ledge,-and is certified by unbiassed per•sons ’ with /special information as being indubitably correct, its appeal becomes : ’irresistible. In the ,n?ain,'-Mr Holeombe’s’-portion <y£- the present work is a revised reprint •;<©f his former book, “The Heal-Chinese "Question,” whieli was published about '•the time of the Boxer outbreak. Events have moved rapidly since that, time, and cm any-political changes which the author i;then pointed out -as mere probabilities, Care -daily becoming realities. The prevsent issue brings the story up to quite Recent times, an 1 <is -supplemented by ijpome sixty or seventy pages by Mr B. \lsroomhall. which should be read by •every person who wishes t-o get a glimpse of the extent of England’s in*4erest in and -responsibility for China’s “present political position. Mr Holcombe’s section of the book is written with the H+imeice acquaintance gained by him during many ..years’ -residence in China- in . an official position, and with the true understanding of Chinese ideas which comes through a nerfect knowdledge of the language. Taking up the position that the only true course of .conduct towards the Chinese in their own land is “to treat them as we ex-, pect other.men to treat us,” the author .proves that nearly aP along the line of the last six years’ .noptical contact bertween China and the Powers the reverse of th:\s iust and .-honest policy has, in most oases, been followed. iTbe sections of exploitation of China by foreign traders, the question ~of labour .and food supply, and the opposition to machinery, are all full of imformative matter. The hivstorieal'portion. though brief, is brightly written, and condenses-into a. few pages all that ■•is essential to a fair understanding of the present political posit‘on of the country.'The division into- social classes, the domination of the Chinese intellect by the teachings of Confucius, and the con\sequent mental stagnation of the people .resulting from these/ are lucidly sketch-:-ed. As illustrating this, the following extract may he quoted : “The Chinese recognise four grades ?4n the soeial scale. These are - called the -fshih, nung, kung, eha'Tg,’ or translated, t.«cholars, farmers, labourers, and merchants. -The rfshdh,' educated men or literati, rank at the ten, because brains . are better than' thebodv. The ‘nung,’ . embracing-all who till .the -soil ,■ rank secPnd. because they are valuable to the ■ xjommunity as- producers. The ‘kune,’ in 'which class are included all skilled ■ and Unskilled labourers, is placed third in “the list, because the members of this -'Class, by their hands and brains, transform the less -useful into that which is >of greater value and service The ‘shang,’ which covers all men engaged in the immense variety of-commercial operations, 4s- placed -at. the bottom of the social MSeale, because men thus- employed add fJaothrirg to the common wealth. They ■neither produce nor “transform, but 'trade upon the labour and needs 6f mothers. They* are simply the medium of -’ ‘The close struggle for existence which goes on continuously is shown to extend to all classes. There is in China no leisured section of the people which feels itself secure from want or the danger of it. The fact that the unem- ■ ployed problem is at all times acute,

•and involves chiefly the educated and intellectual classes who will not and cannot work in any position derogatory to their attainments is dealt with at length. "One -of the strange and dangerous consequences of the existence of a poverty•vßtncken and unemployed aristocracy is thus told:— “The vast majority of them wait and and wait on, forming a body of dissatisfied, and hence dangerous, unem-

ployed, not as in Western lauds, in the lower orders of society, but among these

who form and control public opinion, among the leaders of men. They are sharp, angry, and selfish in their criticisms of those in power, eagerly watching for any misstep or indiscreet act, by means of which the happy occupant of place may be pulled down, and some one hi them step into, his shoes. It is safe to say that every '"office-holder in the CShinese Empire, from the Cabinet Min-

ister to the obscure Police Magistrate, is watched _by a hundred hungry eyes, and clutched at by a hundred eager hands, all seeking, by fair means or foul, to compass his disgrace and their preferment. A large proportion of the lack of vigour and energy and of decided action, of timidity (strange to us), on the part of Chinese officials, is due to -their bitter knowledge of this hostile environment, and of their danger from it.”

Mr. Holcombe’s chapter on the opium trade is one which no person of. any sense of right or justice can read without a feeling of indignation and impatience. The fact that our own great nation. in pursuit of its policy of mercantile expansion, forced with blood and fire, upon an unwilling but helpless people, <a traffic of the most soul-blasting description, may be 'news to some even at this late date. The fact that it yet maintains that traffic and reaps from it an enormous profit while utterly callous to the evils which it has Wrought and is still working on the Chinese people, is one upon which all may profitably reflect. Mr Broomhall s contribution to the book is devoted wholly to' the opium trade. It is an appeal to the people of Great Britain once and for all to put an end to their Government’s complicity in an accursed trade. It marshals facts and figures, and opinions of leading politicians, clergymen, writers, and philanthropists, and in the name of Christianity and all that is good in Great Britain, appeals for justice to China and an exercise, however tardy, :of that righteousness which exalteth a nation.