TRAVELLER IN THE EAST

Otago Witness, Issue 3098, 30 July 1913, Page 80

TRAVELLER IN THE EAST

THE EVOLUTION OP THE ORIENT. (Specially written bv the Rev. William Hat.) The past of the Orient has always been interesting, and even fascinating to _ a degree. Its history is well worth learning for the sake of knowledge itself, but still mure because of the impossibility ol knowing the movement and development of the World's life currents without it. Recognition of this is particularly evident just now in special efforts to study and conserve it more carefully. At Nanking I came across that famous ai'chajologist, Professor Sayce, and was delighted to sit for even one evening at the feet of this_ great savant as he talked of China’s history, and especially of China’s art. It was not, by any moans. In's first visit to the Par East; but be is still on the track of Oriental archaeology in that old, old land that has such an old, old race. A comprehensive movement for the study Oi anthropology, civilisation, and the ancient arts and crafts of China is taking shape in Washington under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institute. The foundations have recently been laid of what is to be l known as the American School of ArclucI o'ogv in China. It is proposed that a school shall he established on the sod of 1 China as well as in the C nited States, j and lh" work to be carried on will be of international scope. A preliminary survey I of the new Republic is to be made by I Lungdon Warner, of the Boston Museum of Pine .Arts. ■ Hut while the ancient history of the Orient has its own great interest and importance, the modern evolution of the Par Past has a fascination unequalled to any but the archaeological specialist, at least, to any who are at all interested in ! the tendencies and developments of racial j forces in the world. Not for centuries has the Orient been so intensely interesting, or so stimulating to thought, or so fruitful in questions and problems. THE MODERN STIMULUS IN EASTERN LIFE. Eastern life has been a life of langour and of dreams. Has it not been written that Earth has no cure Por the nervous guest, The te.uso unrest, 'I he hurrying haste of fate, Like the soothing balm Of’the tropic palm, And the laud where things can wait ! It is significant that the Tagalog word in the Philippines commonly used for work is “ majoria,” which also means “ trouble.” The two are s‘o closely allied as to be united iu his speech. Nervous | prostration is unknown. | The dreaminess of the least touches | one with its spell, when travelling from 1 the Southern Hemisphere, as soon as the j Isles of Coral lift before one’s eyes their j I’rondc-d palms against the amethyst and I gold of a tropical evening sky. One need | not be surprised that the East has furI nidled the world with the victim of the I poppy plant. Some vision of the future I railin', in far-off days, liave caused the | mystic hand that bore the cup of Lethe i to tremble, and so to spill some drops ion its soothing tincture into the potion : of Eastern thought and life. Iho Chinese j are exceedingly industrious, but the j dreaminess of tile East cast its spell upon | them, and for centuries they have toiled : and dreamed of the past in their toil, and | the opium temptation found the j Chinaman on rapport for its bane- | ful effect. But the poppy plant is i passing, and the opium smoker is made ; l>v an unsympathetic Government to I undertake, during its pleasure, a service to UK- Stale that is a hitter medicine for the | poppy plant malaria. The Filipino is ! catching, through wakened eyes, visions i f j progress that he has never had before, I thanks to the American, who is moving tilings “some” in the Filipinos Homeland. ! Tli,. Chinaman is realising that his eyes ( have been turned behind Ids buck too long, I and is eagerly clutching at the possibili- | ties he had' almost lost the power of I - ealiisii!‘ T . In a previous article I attributed to Confucius the fact that the vision j of the Chinese had been .so exclusively directed to the past, and that con.sej quentlv China had not grown for ceaj tunes,’ until recently, except in popuhi--1 lion. I also attributed the degeneration j of the race to the dominant repressiveness that culminated in the Manchu dynasty. In the unsettled conditions of travel one is likely to write disjointedly. After learning much more of China, 1 have no reason to make any alteration in my statements, but only to harmonise them, as, perhaps, 1 then tailed to do. Had the vision of the Chinaman been, in earlier •.•■•ar», as broad and forward and stimulating a vision as it had been during recent years, the revolt against repression and isolation would undoubtedly have taken place before it did. A backward vision and a living in the past make for inertness and want of initiative. But a new vision has thrown off a good deal of the Inertness and produced considerable initiative. The Korean is awakening (some have been rather rudely awakened) to the fact that lie no longer lives in a “Hermit Kingdom,” and that there is a rush < f uncomfortably strong air from the •“Land of the Rising Sun” into the “Land of Morning Calm.” The Japanese lias led the wav in the education of a race into material advancement at least. While across the mountains and plains of Central Asia a veritable whirlwind has sprung up that, bv a straT irony of circumstances, has made the wakefulness of the East the nightmare of the W est. “ GO SLOWLY.” This does not mean that “ hustle” is to take the place ’of the old languor of the East. Hustle will never just suit the normal life and temperament and methods of the races of the Orient. The progress of Japan since her renaissance is marvellous. The forest of chimney stacks in Osaka pours out a great volume of smoke reminding one of Birmingham or Bradford,

as one approaches it, the mills have been working night and day to respond to the demand for modern manufactures, and there is a momentum behind many phases o; Japanese life that makes for strenuous movement; but with all the progressiveness there is, generally speaking, nothing of the stirring excitement of American hustle. That they On hurry when occasion calls for it has bean proved in commercial development, and bv their campaigns in Manchuria and on 'the seas that lie between Port Arthur and Nagasaki. Ihe Chinese have given similar evidence, ihe ’Revolution "went through with a speed that would have done credit to anv wild-cat South American Republic. But tlie Chinese have feu many centuries held the Confucian idea of correct living, which is best represented by the word "moderation. Moderation and dignity are the constituent elements of a Confucian gentleman ; and although formal Confucianism ;s lax and passing, yet its principles and ideals, that have been woven into the natmal fabric of the race for so many centuries, must continue to have considerable _ effect upon the life of the people. I ho Japanese have Confucian- . i-;m. ton, but they have a further disciplining and restraining element in their life, which is also in China, but which appears to be more vivid and impressive in Japan. The other day I stood and studied ihe face of their famous Daihutsu the great bronze image of Buddha at Kamukura, so oft described by travellers to Japan,—and the cairn of Nirvana written upon the great face of the Daihatsu is suggestive of an unnatural selfrepression—a calm that cannot fuse with human personality. I walked to the back of the great image, arid found it—hollow. The calm was superficial. Ordinarily, therefore, there is a moderating, controlling power; but because it is so unnatural and superficial the forces beneath may at any moment become violently volcanic. This is evident just now in individual cases in Japan, due to resentment of the Californian Land Bill, which is discriminatingly aimed against the Jaanese. The Hon. Chester Halcombs, who was for many years Secretary of Legation for the United States at Peking, says that “ Patience, quietness, docility, are virtues found to a remarkable extent among the Chinese. But human nature, the same in China as elsewhere, must have some outlet for the escape of stipes fluous energy and feeling. Confucianism furnished none. Unquestionably it elevated the Chinese far above the level of all surrounding tribes and races; but it was uniform, unvaried repression; and./ hence, nowhere else so sudden and dangerous, are seen in China those blind, inexplicable whirlwinds of frenzy that have made China a cyclone country in respect of human passion as well as the winds of heaven.” The normal genius of progressiveness in the Par Past, however, is likely to he of the steady, resolute perseverance Jhat lias made the Scottish part of our Briitsh race so prominent in the fields of statesmanship and prowess and industry and commerce. Max O’itell •once said that in all his travels —and he had travelled widely—he had found Scotsmen occupying all the best seats in this world, and trying hard to secure all the best ones in the next. But hustle is scarcely their normal element! Steady, resolute progress has, at any rate, characterised Japan from the time of her renaissance. Por the last 30 years Japan has been trying to get the control of ail the foreign trade of ihe country, and get rid 'of the foreign middleman. If it takes another 30 years to acquire this complete control there will be the same determined effort to the last. When wo part from a friend we say “Good-bye!” (“ God be with you. ’) When the Chinese part from theirs they say, “Mini mun Ison!” (“Co slowly”). If there is not a world of meaning in the words there is at least a Chinese I‘.nip ire full in them. We need to remember this, i and not lapse into despair if there is not a continuous typhoon kind of hustle. Evolution is not a juggling process that ' whisks the new into existence from no- j where, and at the same time whisks the ' old into the same uncanny place. The new is pushing off the’old as .Nature casts , her lifeless elements. Dead leaves wiil cling to a. dead tree, but the living tree pushes them off to make way lor other growths. The most vigorous life, however, does not push them all off simultaneous! v. Many a sunrise and many a I'utkless * blast do their respective work between the falling of the first leaf and the farewell of the last. A TRAGIC LEGEND. One day, some weeks since, I stood beneath the famous old boll in the Beil | Tower at Peking. This bell lias a romantic legendary historv. It is said to weigh 120,00011). is 18ft in height, and its walls ( of metal are 9in thick. The native legend , is that the Emperor VTmg Lab, of the ■ Ming dynasty, in the fifteenth century, I had among his court officials one named Kvvanksu, who, for his skill and knowledge ; of the blending and fusing of metals, was commanded to make a casting oi this partii niar bell. In h:s chore, to obey J tile Koval command Kwangan twice failed, j which made his Imperial Majesty so fun- ( ous that he threatened Kwangsii_ with , death if another failure occurred. Kwang- < s.i had an old and very beautiful daughter upon whom all Ins hopes in life were ; centred : Eyebrows like the willow’s leaf, cheeks of 1 ivory whiteness, Mellowed by the gentlest tint of rose, Teeth like pearls of purest water between j ruby lins. Hair of jetty blackness and silkiest texture. Her form was such as poets loVo to dwell | upon and artists paint. , Seeing plainly upon his face her father’s ] despair, she questioned him, and told him 1 that success must crown his efforts. Upon i consulting a celebrated astrologer, site was > horrified to bo told that the next casting I must also bo a failure if the blood of the ] maiden were not mixed in the metal. Yet ' she continued to cheer her father, and on the appointed day told him she would go , with him to exuft in his success. There (

was an immense concourse to witness the third casting. At a given signal, to the sound of music, the molten metal escaped its furnace ready for the huge mould prepared. Suddenly there was a shriek, a cry, “For my father's sake!” and the beautiful girl threw herself headlong into the seething mass of metal. Someone tried to seize her in the act, but succeeded only in catching hold of one of her shoos. Her father had to bo held back by force from following her, and he was taken home a raving lunatic. But the bell—was perfect. And when later it was hung up, and rang out clearly for the first time, the Emperor stood by to listen to its deep rich tone. All were horror-stricken, when, after the heavy clank of the tongue as it struck the thick wall of metal had died away came a low wail as of a girl in agony, distinctly saying the word “hsioh”—shoe, and even to-day when the bell is rung people say ‘‘There’s poor Koai’s voice calling out for her shoe.” _As this historic bell peals out its deep rich tone to-day it is ringing cut the old and ringing in the new, and with every peal there seems to come a voice from the centuries that have gone crying out for that which China retained as the centuries passed, but which now has passed, or is parsing in the evolution of the Orient. One can almost hear the voice of Conf lie ins owing out for the homage within his temples, a voice from the Imperial tombs for the prestige of the throne, and a voice from its classic halls for a learning that was once regarded as its greatest inheritance; but the real life of these things must have passed away long before, and left but the shoe behind, or they would not be demolished so easily now, and though that life were once as beautiful to the Chinese mind as old Kwa.ngsu s daughter, may it not be that it was cast into the molten metal of the bell of a new national life that shall yet, though even in distant days, ring with a richer tone and more in tune with the truest progress of the Orient ?