CHINA GROPING TO THE LIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 77

CHINA GROPING TO THE LIGHT.

There are few countries in the world in which I take a n ere profound interest than Ciuna. I have a persistent idea that \re never Have risan to a tru<3 conception in Europe either oi its tremer.:-ous - and .almost affrighting strength, or of the cxteat of its civilisation rajd the many ; virtna? of its people. Now and then or.c ] ccrv.es across so-m-e per-:-on of fc*rit:s!i b!co-d I who has resided for years in the Celestial | Empire, and who, having b = jCxe inj- tiinaitely acqualst-id vt ith the people in I their daily lives, has brought back to his j 1/uropean home a fealing of admiration ! and affection for the Chinese cihßa^.ctcT, and especially for the character of the j masses. Tiia national spirit has not yet. j risen to its fall height and dignity ; itis even in a very primordial foira in many respects. And yet there o.re abundant signs that this natsorjal spirit Ls^ already on the rrove, and thst tfos world before long, of both West and East, will have to take into <i ccount the four hundred millions ; of Chinese as ons of the governing factors in the future shaping of human destinies. I lemembsr being v-ery much struck as evidon-se of this rise of a new spirit iv j China by a story narratod to me by Mrs Archibald Little, widow oi a great Chinese authority, about a young girl enthusiast who sot herself the mission of improving hsr education a.nd the otb?x conditions of hsr sex in China. The girl founded a big school ; it grew bigger, but it still : w.-.s unequal to the demands upon it. i Ths fcimdress appealed for funds ; th« funds did net come in — at least, not with ths rapidity which she desired — and ?h& saw that it was an occasion for some great and resounding deed which would arrest the attention and rouse the sympathy of the whole Chinese world. So ?h« com-mil-ied suicid« ; and to-day her schools are doing their work, for her deed evoked such an outburst of piety, sympathy, and enthusiasm that she did not die in vain. A nation -n hkh -can produce martyrs cf such high enthusiasm and such patriot 'c fervour cannot long remain devoid of national spirit. — Gi-o^rtii of Nationalism. — In the extremely interesting series of letters which The Times ha« recently been publ'E'hiag from one of ihe best-known members of its staff — a great authevity on all Ji-Cjstern questions — ili-era are some very illuminating i-€marks with regard to the j gfowth of this new Nationalism in China. ' How fao. 1 tiuat growth is necessary, how j recent it has become, is shown br some. ■ references tihe writer noak-es to the" action ! of some of ths Chinese themselves in the-ir last great war — >t"hiat with Japan. Tliat war wps only 14 years agoj and £ct — it would be incredible, if it were not t-rue — in that war China was divided in F-enti-meii't, and this sentiment was conta oiled < by purel}' provincial feeling. Says The Times writer :—: — At the end of tihe w<it between China j and Japan, not IS years ago. the defeat j of the CMne?-& armies and fleets left i Southern and Central China almost en- i trrol^' unmov<ed. It was a matter which , concerned Peking, not th-eim. The Can- ] ton Government calmly invited the i J-apan:«e to leturn one or two Cantorjjse revenue cruisers which hpd been captured at Wei-hai-wcd, on tihe ground ■ tliat tlhey had gona tfc^re "by mistake." j ?,nd that Carjton hdd nothing to do with the war. Thut, as tas been said, is les^s tlusn 15 years a.gp ; and yet to-day what is the state of feeling in Canton? To-day Canrton is a head centre of Cfclne&&" nationalism, and claims to dietats its vjews to the Wai-wu-p:, No- j ■wibOTe is the cry of "China ior the ' Chinese" louder than at Canton, no- < where- has the movement for t'ha "re- ' oov-ccy of China's sovereign rights'' < against- the limitations imposed by ' foreign treaties irexre fei-\-ent and in-trac-i.tble supporters, and as the Can-to-nose are highly intelligent and bc?st a larger proportion of Westorn-cducatcd 'Tefoi-mers" than the Chinese of other provinces, they wield cons-id-erabls i»tluence, even at Peking, though tlisy are as unpopular with the Chinese of ti*3 north, and especially with the Manchu?, as tihe Bsn^Jis are with most of the otho:- races of iLdia. Ci'Citon is largr-ly respon^iole for ths Japar^jse boycott, and in such incidents as ti.e seizure of t.he Japanese .« tamper Tu<su yiani for , Hcged smuggling of arms, and in tho Pratas IsLand questicn, t-he v.nc^mpronuisin; attitude of th-e Cani # nore has already pivived a source of periods esnbarras.sment to Chir.3=e diplomacy. — Financial Coriuption. — These conditions in Cantor are symptomatic of what is takinig place elsewhere in China as w?ll. 'Tho same spiiit," f bu-yb the correspondent of The 'lime:-, "is rife in many ofhar provinces, and tha « authority of t-he Centra.! Government over t'ha Pro^ancial Governimc-nts — always much J less effective than foreign diplomacy has 1 chosen to recognise — lips piobr.bly ncvc>r * been so weak a& at the pre.icrjt moment." c The bE-guiining of this state of tilings — ?.s ' of the wrongs and misfortunes of so many £ nataons ai all times — as finance, or. to put < ib moie plainly, finan-cial corru]-tion on ' the part of th 3 govem.inj authoriuien. The l relations between the Cer.^.nal Chine? 2 c Government at Peking and the Govern- * meats 'of-the Eighteen Provinces into ■■ which the Empire- is ddvided are almoat purely financial, and 1 again that word may * be translated into the relations between cni3 set of corrupt officials and another. I ( had no id«A till I read these articles in The TisiiiS 15 how loa-e were the relations between the.«-e two different aiithoutios. i """be loo?'?nt-5S almost amounts to inde- I

j peniacise, except in purely financial rela- j j tkms, ' Tvhcre ths power of the Central , Government is able to exercise pressure on the power of the Provincial Governments. The relations of the two authori- [ 1 tis« are well sumianed up in this passage ■ of the article : j There is^ a Central Government in I China, but there has never been a ; centralised system of government. The j ! two chief functions of Government in ! j China are to keap things fairly quiet j j r.nd to collect revenue The business < of the Central Government is to pro.- j vide ways and means for the Court and ' tha il-n-jhu ciar..s who cams in with the j I reigning dynasty, to supply the great I Pefcing Boards or public departments j which presfcß? o-v©r the administioiion of the Empire, and to ' ; madu'ain the dj-nastic dependencies oufc?Jdi3 tha Eighteen Provinces. The business of th.3 Provincial Governlriiii'Ls is to maintain public order in the Eighteen Proirivces, and to remit to Peking so much of the revenue whioh they collect as tibe Central Government requires for the purposes above set forth. So long as they discharge those obligations the Central Government asks very few questions. It seldom attempts to exercise any strict control eith'3i over their methods of admic-iistraticu or their mode ■of levying reveftue. Peeking tries to get as irrudh, and the provinces to give as Little, as they can. The burdens imposed upon the provinces are not^a fixed quantity, ai'jd every provinte seeks to shift a portion of ; ts burdens on to another. — Borrowing.— Thus far the situation remained apparer/ly hopeless, birL, fortunately for the people of China, the .growth of tha Aaticiiail demands for nMMy has b«gun to interfere with the freedom, and enjoyments of the corrupt officials. China, has be-co.r-3 in -recent years a consiieir'able borrower. This has necessitated on the part of the Central Chico.-a Government the rr.'dng of .funds to pay the intefrcst on the National Debts, r«.nd tha iiiteres.l on the h Fjtdcnal Debts, added to the ot<her deffariis up^n the money sent from tha Provincial Governments, is gicdually d&minuaing, a.:id efen bringing to the vanishing pent, the "ncccgir " which, prior to these new chaTg-es upon the re\-ctiKie. was still sufiitiient to go round among the different corrupt claimants upon I'he national taxes. And tiluis skuatiion, then, has arisen : At no time do the funds annually remitted to Peking from the provinces appea.T to have amounted to more than about 90 million taels (at tha pre-f-ent rate of exchange a. little fiver £11,000,000)— a sum that would be very mode-rate, considering that China has a population of bstwe-sn three and four hundred millions, if it conveyed my r.decjuoie id>aa of the arc-ount of taxation that it represents.'- But though only the scarcest pro-vision, if any, is made, eii-tcer at Peking or in the protineas, for exp?E-dit<*j/re for pnrposes of public utility as we understand them in the West, ample provision is undoobtedHy made. tho;:g'i it d-oes not ap2^ear in oay public accounts, for the vast army of officials ar.<ct tb«?sr countless in the provinces and in Ifae capital. To-day the Ceatral Governnjent, instead of being able to dispose of whatever sums are reettttted from the provinces for tba purposes for which tiudi Kinuttattce was originally intended or for otbsr less avowable purposes, has to assign, in the fiivst place, about 60 million taeis to tbs service of the foreign loans. It tries, of <ourse, to extract a proportionately larger siun from the provinces, and so far, no donbt, the provisoes have to soma extent met ihess new d-3mar.iis, but only by a series of ruinous devices — the imposition of rew direct taxes upon toade, the sale of official titles, Che systematic debasement first of ths cop^?r and then of the silver currency — in the Province of Chib-li even the silver "sh^s, 1 ' the ark of the currer-j^y covenant in China for centaries past.haS bsen tor p:a>ed with — and lasMy, tihe circulation of paper money wit.h as little rca.l security 'b-shind it a« the pities: at s of the Fre.nrh Eevchiti-on. But djvkei of this bind can only postpon?, t.h?y cannot, avert, the day of recycling. In soxe respscts they must agtjiavata it. For besides drainii 1 .? tho iv.-ourci-;s of the ocaivAvt, every cn-a of the~e de^v ;oes has be?n a'-compani-ed by .-h-s creat : cn of a fossh legi-on of n.sedy of3'.rjals to work it. and incidentally to absorb a larg3 part of the proceeds. Thus the mass of vested interests con-co-ned in the maintenance of the ancient methods goes on increasing, and wh'lst tlica*e is less to go round, there ars more hurajry appetites to feed. — Two Tendencies. — So then we have two tendencic-- — strcrjT;ly in conflkt, and yot, both jnaking towiudus tih-3 F-ame end — vnork-ing themselvo*; ou.t in Chiri3. On the one hand ive have the^ growth of taxation, the growth of corruption, ths increase of the lumber of petty and corrupt officials ; ».nd on the other hand we have th« growth jf impatience of taxation in the population). The official world and the nonjfficial world stand in antagonism one to he other, and both are making steadily or the same end—namely, some gigantic •efcim, whether through peaceful methods >r through revolutionary methods, in the ?ntir« system of government in, China. iov the moment the situation seems pretty i-opeless. "The whole question of reorm." writes The Times correspondent, 'tendfc inevitably to turn in a vicious ■iicle." No constitutional or admiastrative or judicial or mililary reforn"« can be really effoctiv-e until- the whole financial sys-tc-m of tho- Eir.pire has b-cen renioclelled

and the relations between tho Central and the* Provincial' Governments placed on a sound and definite basis In a country with the immense natural resources of China and a population so industrious and tlmnty — where, according to Sir Robert * Hart, the land tax alone, if levied on the same lines ag in India,' should yield 400,000,000 tails per annum irntead of 25,000,000 — it should' certainly be no impossible task to provide an ample revenue bot'li.for the Central and the Provincial Governments. ■ But no far-r caching measure of fiscal reform oa.n be attempted until the long-suffering people of China h-ave had some assurance that a new system of taxation will cot, like ihe old, serve merely to ennich an army of corrupt officials and still more corrupt hangers-on, and that assurajioa cannot I>e giv«en. until- Chinese offiei&ldccn has learnt to display in the interests of piiblic 'honesty and' of the national welfare a spirit of unselfishness of whi<& there is as yet but a Very slight promise either ir the capital or in tlie provinces. ' ' — Summing Up. — ' . . This again means that China must be wor.'-e before sb.e can be better. She is certainly In a vcay 4)ad condition at. this mc:iient. .For tibis- is the summing up of the- position b,y this -'mpartoal.; and fricjidly counsellor: — > So whilst eTery Chioaouan is ready to praise refoini with, bis ton«ue, "a&d whilst nrisgoveirnment is undoubtedly beginning to breed a new spirit of impatience acd almost of revolt amongst a. Jaipge con-official section of the nation, the official world is still bop^les-sly tgluctant to look facts in tihe face.. The Central Govecmn«nt and tihe Provincial G overr-oie-nts carry on more feverishly than ever the old game of pull devil, puJl baker, at the expense of the csmmunity at large ; the Htmreaucracy sinks cteeper ?.nd deeper into the quagmire of corruption and indobtedne.'-s the trade of Cliin.i, which has been for years past the orly source o| revenue capable of expaaision. is b-aing hampered' and throttled by daily increasing enactions ; the currency, recklessly depreciated by official rapaaity, has lapsed into a state of vnparaJteled ahsos ; ever the muchvaunted cc«nnrc?--cial integrity of the Chinese trader is giving way. to the s.raln. asd though the credit of China. s bill sLtud3 at a hijph onotat'on en ihe Stock Exchanges of Europe, and financial groups jostle on& anothti- in their aniiety to float Chinese loa.ns, to those who can and wall read th« wrttic.2 on the wa^l -is as clear as it is ominous. Lhe suggestion of t>!ie writer in The Tini^s is that C'blna, like Jaj(an, should be str-ong, enough to subarnt for a time to the tutelage of foreign experts, and* to apply tc the- intarftal questions of China tibrf ETJme TP.stbcds winch proved such a triumphiani success in tihe "hands of Sir Robart Ha-rt witih regard to the Customs Department. A few Kobert Harts spread over China, witli ample powers, m%ht ejfeot a gr&at deal of good. But tho ■vVriber immediaiely goes on to point out tliat this is the last solution which > the p.re?ejit rulers of China show Ihe least inclination to adopt : — . In the liTspMial Maritirc* Customs, Tihe one xdiniinistrafirve deportment built up on sound principles of efficiency and iotegnity — and built, tip for them by foreignere — vrhidi has been the bulwark of Chinese financial credit abroad,- theChinese have a Bj>lei»idid, object-fejeon before them, but when I referred to it m conversation wiith a high Chinese official who has had all the «.4y^^t-ages of a tbsr-ough. Western odupation, and is 'regarded as one of the xaost earnest champions of progress and reform, he raplkd ,with some asperity that China ' nrad &ti& : .ni:d> now to a aafSciept consciousness of her sovereign rights never agacn to tdor^tof the creation of such an admi'reistrE*ive imperium in 'mjjerio. — Salf-saox'ifice. — I shouild r.orfc like to end this article in a tone o/ pei-Lmis-m. And therefor© I fall back on the illustration with which I started— ruvnely, the cxtrsordinary pD'n'Krs of ; elf-K.acL'ifice Mboh lie inherent in the Chinas cliaracter. And there may be growing up even at this moment a new iace of Chinese politicians who will, in their dtic sea?-^n. uiKierniuw ar.d destroy th» old corrupt system w^iicl' is eating into the. vit.ak of this mis'hty Empire and this laborious and honest population. i'orra yer.is a,go I was present at a dinner in the*Houi«D of Cammons given to a n-um-bsr of Chinese repredantatives by Ml" Jos. Walton, so well known for his interest in all things Chinese, and there sat opposite to me a young man who, somehow or r, 'her. scorned to be quite different frcm all ths other Ohin-ose figirres around' him. H« spoke English vei-y well, but that was r;.>t the difference ; and- after a while I realised that the reason Vv'hy he stood o^it from the rest el his countrymen was that he wore" his hair like a European and did not have it shaved except for the top-knot which is still tho nead-4xe^> of ■mast Chinese. He avowed that this difference was intentional, and marked in the most distinct manner the parting of the ways between the old China and the new. Perhaps I was talking to some future apostle of freedom and purity who may bring to OhLma her long-delayed message of emanoipa-tion. — T. P., in T. P.'s Weekly.