PROGRESS IN CHINA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12121, 30 August 1906, Page 8

PROGRESS IN CHINA.

('. ; Tho revision 'of the penal code of ■ China is:being undertaken by Wu Ting F<ang, -former Minister to the United : States, i ."By it,"- -says ' Dr. Joseph ■Franklin Griggs (medical missionary at Pekihgtor the Presbyterian-Board of iFcreign Missions), in the "Centry" for 'July, "all punishments will be made less severe, descending cue grade in tho severer penalties. Thus, cutting up alive lias been abolished. The last persons executed in this manner perished last spring in a public place in Peking before the eyes of multitudes. One war, a woman who 'had killed her husband, the other was the carter (or coachman) of a Mongol prince who brought his retinue last New Year's' season to pay respects and offer tributo to the throne. I was called to attend professionally the victims of t'hio carter's fury, and "saw the culprit, bound hand and foot, awaiting the soldiers. He had slashed at the prince's head with a butcher's cleaver, cutting cut nearly half his skull. I could, of course, do nothing, nnd tTimed to tho other victims, a bodj'-servant and a Lama priest who had endeavoured to defend their master. Their heads had also suffered pitiably from the ruthless cuts of the heavy cleaver, but they recovered. Subsequent inquiry showed, that it was an act of revenge on the prince, who had violated the carter's .sister, also a. member of the suite. In America there would probably have been returned a verdict of manslaughter, but here in China, because it was a prince, the poor criminal was hacked to pieces. A curious sidelight on Chineso character appears in the fact that after the tedious investigation which followed the crime, an official declaration was published in the court paper, tho 'Peking Gazette,' to the effect that this Mongol prince had 'come to his death by natural means,' and the Empress JJ6wager contributed 500 'taels (about 350d01.) toward his magnificent funeral. It was evidently a question of 'face,' that inscrutable factor in 'Chinese life. -.Photographs of these two cruel executions in various stages are on sale in Peking. "Crimes formerly punished in this way are now expiated by decapitation ; decapitation is replaced by strangling; the last by 'waiting for strangulation,' the delay affording opportunity to prove innocence or to obtain leniency. Among minor punishments, beating is mitigated, branding and tatooing are forbidden. 'Not long ago a young man camo to the dispensary with a wound cf the forearm, self-inflicted. He had attempted to cut out two words tatceed in that spot, but was restrained by his mother, who clutched his hand and fell in a faint. One word had bes?.i ■cut out, and ho begged to have the other removed, .saying he had reformed and had no wish to go through life bearing the mark of thief. It -was done with no anaesthetic, but ho never flinched. For the first offence the tattooing or -branding is upon the forearm, for the second in front of tho ear, and for the third over the cheekbone. Thereafter the offending person is subject to confinement or execu-

tion. The abolition of these barbarous practices ii 3 probably satisfactory to all. Beating to extort confession, and detention after proving innocence, aro no longer permitted. "Five years ago a man seen reading a newspaper, of which very few were then published in the whole empire, wa.s ridiculed tas a follower of the foreign devils. Almost the only paper published in the capital was the 'Peking Gazette,' containing the decrees and doings of the court, subject to such modi float ions of the truth as instanced above. Now there are ten daily papers published in Peking, .among them one of the few women s dailies in the world. This paper is interesting as being largely edited by women, and dealing just now with such topics as popular astronomy, geography, physical geography, the care of infants, and the training of children. The general newspapers are read •by all classes, and are constantly increasing their circulation. They contain Renter's telegrams, news of the country and city, and articles of considerable length and acmen <' on live! topics. , Some- are pledged to tho correction, of old established customs, and. the contents are- extremely interesting,: worthy of ia sepal-ate article. * : ;.-. '"''By'-way'of" (advertisement, or, more/ likely, because of the zeal of reformers who are responsible for the newspapers, copies are posted on blank walls and on boards set up for the purpose, so that their contents may be perused by those who would not buy. In addition, ;a remarkable plan to secure the attention of the masses has been followed. In different places in tho city and suburbs have been fitted up reading-halls, with benches and tables, where tea is served free, and in the evenings capable men are engaged to read and explain the papers. These' men are said to be volunteers, and the halls, over twenty in number, are fitted up and supported by voluntary contributions.

"There seems to be an entire freedom of the press, no censorship being exercised. The papers . are decent sheets, with numerous, advertisements, but ias yet poorly printed, for the most part with, movable lead, types, which rapidly deteriorate, making reading by a foreigner very difficult, even of those sheets which are published in current 'Manchuria, the language of the ma.s-

ses."