The Southern Cross. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, Feb. 12. CHINA’S WEAKNESS.

Southern Cross, Volume 5, Issue 45, 12 February 1898, Page 8

The Southern Cross. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. Invercargill, Saturday, Feb. 12. CHINA’S WEAKNESS.

The Chinese Empire is an immense area, no inconsiderable part of the world, with a population probably of about five hundred millions. China proper, excluding Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet, covers a surface eighteen times as large as Great Britain. That this great empire should be beaten a few years ago in a fair stand up fight by little Japan, seems as ridiculous as a lion being worsted by a common poodle. And now she is at the feet of- Britain, Germany, and Russia, prepared to concede, with little show of resistance, whatever they will to demand. The only difficulty lies in any disagreement between the three western powers as to the concessions which they shall suffer each other to exact from China. If the three agreed they might largely divide the Celestial Empire amongst themselves, as far as any tangible resistance on the part of China itself went. The sole reason for this marvellous state of things is found in the utterly corrupt state of all civic, political, and military government in the country. Bribery and corruption are not the exceptions, but almost the normal state of things everywhere. The result is, national paralysis. And it is very questionable if China be left to herself whether this chronic state evil will not go on indefinitely. It might be a mercy to the mass of the people if the power passed out of the bands of the now ruling class, and were weilded gby foreigners, which would carry with, it emancipation from the long reign of bondage. There appeared some time ago, in the Fortnightly Review, an able article on the State of China, by Sun Yat Sen, an unquestionable authority on the subject, which has been a revelation to many. No one who has read it will wonder at the humiliating position occupied by that empire at the present hour. In the article it is shown that the Mandarians, or rulers, are all Tartars—from the throne downwards. There are four things from which the people constantly suffer, viz., flood, plague, famine, and insecurity to life and property. Taking these by way of illustration, they will afford the means of i bowing how bribery and corruption work, and are mainly the cause of the four national evils. The Yellow River overflows its banks now and again, flooding the country, and causing great loss and distress. There is an official, with a large staff of subordinates, whose duty it is to see that the embankments are kept in an efficient state. These officials are without salary, practically, and have bought their positions. They must make money to live ; and when an embankment gives way and has to be reconstructed they make a harvest. When the flood refuses to come and do the damage, art is called into play to do the same business. The rice fields are destroyed and there is distress, and it may be, famine. The guardians of the river make their money by these calamities, so the calamities have to come. They share in the pay received to repair the breach. They dock and pocket part of the pay received for the workmen. Fewer men are employed than are represented, and they retain the difference. They make a gain on the cost of materials bought for repairs. And the fifth source of gain is here : the flood that destroys the rice fields and creates a famine brings relief from the government and from charitable persons in other countries, and as this comes into the hands of the officials, only a part of it goes further to relieve the distressed. This is so notoriously the case, that it is a common saying among the people that, “ the best cure for the

floods would be to behead the officials and le.afe the river to itself.’ ’ „/ \ a'- There was a famine lately in -one of China’s richest rice-producing districts due entirely to the exorbitant duties levied upon the farmer rendering the industry unprofitable ; the result being that just enough was grown to meet immediate local demands. Famine may be raging in one district, with abundance of rice in another district near by; but for want of roads and railways, it cannot be transported. Even the river communication, which is often good, is nearly useless by corruption. The customers and owners of the boats have to be bribed on every hand before the water service is available.

The insanitary state of the towns and cities of China is well-known, giving rise to oft recurring pestilence. There is not a city water supply in the whole of China. The sewage flows into the river, and from the same place the people obtain their drinking water. Fortunately they are tea drinkers and have to boil their water, otherwise the country would have been depopulated by plague long ago. This, too, is due to bribery and corruption. For example, some years ago a company was formed in Canton to secure an adequate supply of pure water for the city. Such a needful thing, one would think, would have the good will of the authorities. Official greed was greater than the fear of plague, and the bribe they demanded before they would allow the work to go on, was so great that it had to be abandoned. In the same city another company was formed for the purpose of cleansing the streets, and collecting all refuse, and converting the same into manure, that would have been sold at a clear profit on the concern. The idea was immensely popular with the mass of the people. Mandarian cupidity strangled it. The bribes demanded were too high. The country abounds with bands of robbers. They are disbanded soldiers. When discharged they are supposed to receive money from the Government to enable them to reach their homes. This is mostly retained by the officials, and the men being comparatively destitute turn their coats out side in, and take to the work of banditti. If pursued, they reverse their coats, and, being in uniform, are protected. Promotion to office is generally by examination, or purchase. Corruption here meets us again. Candidate students are personated by dishonest professors, who make a living by being examined repeatedly under different names. A young man seeking office entered by a successful exam, can pay a clever rogue to personate him, and so he secures his place by a bribe. There are servants and waiters in some restaurants in England and the Continent who live by tips. This is a miniature image of all official life in China. Officers reach command in the army by payment of bribes, and as soon as they are there they commence to sell positions to others. In the article we have referred to the writer says — ‘ The officers enrol any men they like, and always draw pay for more men than are in the army. About 70 per cent of the men nominally serving, and for whom pay is drawn, is the average strength of the force, even under Li Hung Chang’s comparatively honest officers, while elsewhere 100 men on paper means about 4p or 50 in the flesh. On review days the officers engage a sufficient number of soldiers by the day to make the army look all right.’ Companies are even formed for the sole purpose of paying bribes and other expenses connected with the purchase of official positions. So general and deep-rooted is this evil in China that anything like immediate deliverance must come from without. Anything ending the present rule would be a boon to the mass of the people.