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34 chapters
PREFACE[1]
PREFACE[1]
M. Leroy-Beaulieu’s work appears in English at a singularly appropriate moment, and I believe that those who know most about the Far East will be the warmest in its praise. Its personal observations are acute, its statistics have been conscientiously gathered and carefully collated, they are scrupulously restricted to the particular matters they are intended to illuminate, while most valuable of all is the author’s political sagacity, and the detachment, so to speak, of his attitude as an observ
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INTRODUCTION[5]
INTRODUCTION[5]
This book is the result of personal observations made in the course of a journey through Siberia, China, and Japan, lasting over a year, and is supplemented by information derived chiefly from official and carefully collated documents. Asia, the largest of the five Continents, is still the most densely populated; but after being the cradle of civilization, it has been for many centuries dead to all progress. It is in the awakening of this vast Continent through the influx of men and ideas from t
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CHAPTER I. THE ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN SIBERIA AND THE NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNTRY
CHAPTER I. THE ORIGINS OF RUSSIAN EXPANSION IN SIBERIA AND THE NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COUNTRY
Antiquity of Russian expansion in Asia, which is contemporary with that of Western Europe in the New World—Analogy between the North of Asia and the North of America—The three natural Zones of Siberia—Their climate, extent and capabilities—The Polar Zone is absolutely sterile and uninhabitable—The Forest Zone—The Meridional Zone, which is both cultivable and colonizable. No sooner had Russia shaken off the yoke of the Tatars which weighed upon her for three centuries, and left its mark so deeply
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CHAPTER II THE LAND OF SIBERIA AND ITS INHABITANTS
CHAPTER II THE LAND OF SIBERIA AND ITS INHABITANTS
Siberia a prolongation of Russia in Europe—Marked resemblance in scenery and climate between the two countries—Insignificance of the indigenous population, especially towards the West—Facilities of colonization—Preponderance of the Russian element in the agricultural zone—Indigenous elements: Polar tribes diminishing; Mongol population increasing, but much more slowly than the Russian—Asiatic immigration to the east of the cultivable zone—Heterogeneous elements imported from Europe—Jews and Rask
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CHAPTER III AGRICULTURAL SIBERIA AND THE RURAL POPULATION
CHAPTER III AGRICULTURAL SIBERIA AND THE RURAL POPULATION
Enormous preponderance of the rural and peasant population in Siberia—Siberian Mujiks—Their rude and primitive manner of life—Excellent quality of the land, and backward methods of cultivating it—Mediocre and irregular manner of raising cereals—The necessity and difficulty of improving agricultural operations—The absence of large and enterprising ownership in Siberia a disadvantage. Siberia resembles Russia not only in the matter of its immensity, its loneliness, the duration of its winters, mon
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CHAPTER IV MINERAL RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER IV MINERAL RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
Importance of the Siberian mines—The gold-mines—Insufficiency of organization principally due to unfavourable climatic influences—Railway extension would bring about an increase in the value of the mining industries—Silver, copper, and iron mines. However productive Siberia may eventually become, it can never solely depend for its prosperity upon its agricultural resources. Happily, the subsoil is richer than the upper crust, on account of the great abundance of ore of various kinds which it con
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CHAPTER V SIBERIAN COMMERCE AND THE TRANSPORT OF TEA
CHAPTER V SIBERIAN COMMERCE AND THE TRANSPORT OF TEA
Special character of trade in Siberia—Importance of the tea transport—Kiakhta—The annual arrival of tea at the Irkutsk Customs-house—Road followed by the tea caravan—Dilatory and expensive methods of transport—Comparison between the land road viâ Kiakhta and the sea-route viâ Odessa—Other articles of commerce, exportation of cereals, etc. Commerce is much more important in Siberia than either agriculture or manufacture, and forms the basis of all the great fortunes that have been made in the cou
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CHAPTER VI SIBERIAN TOWNS
CHAPTER VI SIBERIAN TOWNS
Scarcity of towns and their slight importance—Their administration and commerce—Resemblance to the towns in the Russian provinces—Introduction of telephones and electric light—Intellectual progress—University at Tomsk—The drama at Irkutsk—The crisis through which these towns are passing. The absence of large manufactures doubtless accounts in a measure for the fact that Siberia, according to the census of 1897, only contains eleven towns inhabited by over 10,000 souls. Eight of these (including
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CHAPTER VII IMMIGRATION
CHAPTER VII IMMIGRATION
Causes of Russian emigration to Siberia—Its increasing importance—Absolute necessity for State intervention in the colonization of Asiatic Russia—Roads followed by the emigrants—Land concessions—Provinces towards which they direct themselves—Colonization of the Province of the Amur and the Littoral—Vladivostok—Chinese, Koreans and Japanese—Exiles and convicts—Conditions for the development of Siberia—Favourable and unfavourable elements—Necessity of employing foreign capital. The immigrants who
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CHAPTER VIII MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN SIBERIA
CHAPTER VIII MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN SIBERIA
Absolute insufficiency of the present means of transport—Coaches and sleighs—The tarantass: price, length and conditions of travelling by this means of locomotion—Navigation—Scheme for penetrating into Siberia by the Arctic Ocean and its recent success—Absolute necessity of more railways. In order to form a fair idea of the revolution which the Trans-Siberian Railway is likely to bring about in the economical and political conditions of Northern Asia, it will be as well to glance at the actual c
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CHAPTER IX THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
CHAPTER IX THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
Origin of the Trans-Siberian Railway—At first considered only from the strategic and political point of view—Completion of the Ural Railway—Project of utilizing the navigable routes to unite Russia to the Amur—Difficulties encountered owing to the severity of the climate—Alexander III. in 1891 decides to lay a line between the Ural and the Pacific, and determines the conditions of its construction—The various sections of the line and its deviations across Manchuria—Condition of the works in 1892
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CHAPTER X THE RAILWAY THROUGH MANCHURIA
CHAPTER X THE RAILWAY THROUGH MANCHURIA
Concessions granted by China to construct the Manchurian Railway—The East Chinese Railway Company and its statutes—Method of construction and utilization of the waterways—Military and political advantages—Branch to Port Arthur—Rapid progress already made. The completion of the Manchurian Railway will take place in a few years, and if there has been an apparent delay in its construction, it must not be forgotten that the harder work had already been finished on the Trans-Siberian line when the pl
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CHAPTER XI THE ALTERED RELATIONS BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE FAR EAST RESULTING FROM THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
CHAPTER XI THE ALTERED RELATIONS BETWEEN EUROPE AND THE FAR EAST RESULTING FROM THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
The distance between Europe and the Far East by the Trans-Siberian—Diminution of the time and expense of the sea-route—China and Japan within two weeks of Paris and London—Luxury and comfort on board the Far East express—The difficulty of transporting merchandise, which must remain much more expensive than by the sea-route—Importance of the Trans-Siberian Railway as a means of diffusing civilization in the Far East. As already stated, between 1904 and 1905 at the latest, a continuous railroad wi
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CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN AND PAST HISTORY OF JAPAN
CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN AND PAST HISTORY OF JAPAN
Different opinions respecting Japan and the reforms which have been carried out in that Empire within the past few years—Necessity of understanding something of Japanese history in order to appreciate the recent transformation in the country—Origin of the Japanese—Early history—The Mikados—The Japanese adopt Chinese civilization between the fifth and eighth centuries of our era—Inability for the Japanese to accept certain Chinese institutions—Decline of the absolute power of the Mikados—Military
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CHAPTER II JAPAN AND THE REVOLUTION OF 1868
CHAPTER II JAPAN AND THE REVOLUTION OF 1868
Progress demoralized in Japan under the Shoguns Tokugawa—Imperial Court, Mikado and kuges , feudal society, Shogun, Daimios, samourai , and people—Foundation of the political régime—Military preponderance of the Shogun—Seclusion of the Mikado—Divisions among the Daimios—Exclusion of strangers—Artistic development and economy—Progress of civilization—Decline of the Shogunate—Position of Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century—Foreigners begin to re-enter the country in 1854—Scandal created
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CHAPTER III MODERN JAPAN
CHAPTER III MODERN JAPAN
Japan the country of contrasts—The port and town of Nagasaki—The navigation of the Inland Sea—Junks and steamboats—Yokohama—Its population and commerce—Tokio—The telephones and electric lights—The houses and the streets—The people and their costumes—Means of transport at Tokio—Jinrikishas and tramways. The moment the traveller enters the harbour of Nagasaki he finds himself surrounded by the most extraordinary contrasts. In the first place, the scenery is quite charming: the mountains are a deli
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CHAPTER IV JAPANESE INDUSTRY
CHAPTER IV JAPANESE INDUSTRY
Japan the Great Britain of the Far East—Osaka, the centre of Japanese industry—Great and small industries—Increase of certain industries hitherto unknown in Japan: glass and match manufactories, breweries, etc.—Employment of children—Scale of wages—Length of labour hours—Cotton-spinning—The larger industries—Recruiting of workmen and women from the rural districts—Abuses denounced by the press—Increase of wages throughout Japan. Nothing delights the Japanese more than to hear their Empire compar
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CHAPTER V RURAL JAPAN
CHAPTER V RURAL JAPAN
Predominance of agriculture in the economic existence of Japan—Density of the rustic population in the plains and lower valleys—Importance of the Japanese fisheries with respect to the food supply of the people—Principal crops: rice, tea and mulberry-trees—Absence of domestic animals—Returns of Japanese agriculture—Small holdings—Japanese peasantry, their vegetarian or ichthyophagian diet—Their dwellings—Position of women—Their extreme cleanliness, politeness and good nature—Cost of living—Ameli
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CHAPTER VI DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE COMMERCE
CHAPTER VI DEVELOPMENT OF JAPANESE COMMERCE
Progress of Japanese commerce in the last fifteen years—Remarkable increase of exports and of the importation of raw material—Importation of capital in the form of machinery for native manufactories—Countries interested in Japanese commerce—Japanese merchants accused of occasionally producing inferior articles and not fulfilling their contracts—The reasons for the excess of imports over exports in the years 1894–98. Nothing can better illustrate the rapid progress made in Japanese commerce durin
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CHAPTER VII THE FINANCES OF JAPAN
CHAPTER VII THE FINANCES OF JAPAN
Flourishing condition of Japanese finance on the eve of the war with China—Present Japanese financial problem the result of the important military, naval, and public works undertaken by the Government at the close of the war—Enormous expense of this programme, demanding a loan of £24,000,000—Gradual method of paying off this debt in nine instalments—Impossibility of floating the loan on the home market, all Japanese capital being locked up in the various newly-created industries—Debts incurred i
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CHAPTER VIII THE DOMESTIC POLITICS AND PARLIAMENT OF JAPAN
CHAPTER VIII THE DOMESTIC POLITICS AND PARLIAMENT OF JAPAN
Present social organization—The nobles, or kwazoku ; the shizoku , or ancient samurai ; and the heimin —Equal civil rights for all citizens—Preponderance of the samurai in politics since the Restoration—Survival of the clan spirit—Japan governed during the past thirty years by the Choshiu and Satsuma clans—Creation in 1889 of a Constitution modelled on that of Prussia—Parliamentary struggles against Cabinets governed by Southern clans—Frequent crises and dissolutions—A Ministerial crisis in Japa
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CHAPTER IX JAPAN’S FOREIGN POLICY AND HER MILITARY POWER
CHAPTER IX JAPAN’S FOREIGN POLICY AND HER MILITARY POWER
The military forces of Japan—The part they may play in the Far East—Japanese army and navy—Excellent qualities and sound instruction of the troops—Remarkable power of organization displayed during the war with China—Importance of a Japanese alliance for the Powers interested in China—The feeling of Japan towards foreign countries—Her conservative policy in China since the war—Her policy hostile to Russia and favourable to England—The Korean Question—Motives which might lessen her feeling of host
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CHAPTER X THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN JAPAN—RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPANESE AND FOREIGNERS
CHAPTER X THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION IN JAPAN—RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPANESE AND FOREIGNERS
Questions which are raised by the recent evolution in Japan—Can the Japanese assimilate the civilization of peoples of a different race?—Precedents and analogies—Up to what point does Japan wish to resemble Europe?—Character and degree of the changes which have taken place in Japan from the social, political, and economical point of view—Adaptation of Western institutions in Japan—Feeling of the Japanese towards foreigners—The revision of treaties with foreign Powers—The absolute necessity for J
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CHAPTER I THE CHINESE PROBLEM
CHAPTER I THE CHINESE PROBLEM
Actual position of the Far Eastern Question—The Sick Man of Peking—The wealth of his heritage—The immense resources of the soil and subsoil of China, the latter of which is still virgin—The results which may be expected from the opening up of China—Change in the attitude of the Powers towards the Celestial Empire since the Japanese victories revealed its weakness—The origins of the Far Eastern problem. The decisive victory which Japan obtained over China five years ago revealed to the civilized
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CHAPTER II THE CAPITAL OF CHINA
CHAPTER II THE CAPITAL OF CHINA
The coasts of Pe-chi-li and the mouth of the Pei-ho—Ta-ku and Tien-tsin—From Tien-tsin to Peking by rail—Peking: the Forbidden, Imperial, Tatar and Chinese cities; the walls, streets, houses, shops and monuments—Behaviour of the natives towards foreigners—Decadence of the capital and of the whole Empire. If one enters China from Eastern Siberia by the Gulf of Pe-chi-li after a long voyage round the Korean Peninsula, the first impression of the Celestial Empire is distinctly unattractive. The con
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CHAPTER III THE COUNTRY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PEKING—NUMEROUS SIGNS OF THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER III THE COUNTRY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PEKING—NUMEROUS SIGNS OF THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE
From Peking to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall of China—The temples in the hills—Striking neglect of monuments and public works—Remains of ancient and well-paved highroads, now replaced by wretched ones, which are only temporarily repaired when the Emperor or the Empress Dowager passes—The manner in which useful works are neglected in China, and her treasure wasted. A tour in the environs of Peking, to the Great Wall and to some of the temples built on the hills to the west of the town, confir
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CHAPTER IV THE LITERARY AND MANDARIN CLASS—PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER IV THE LITERARY AND MANDARIN CLASS—PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE
The literati or governing class—How it is recruited from the mass of the people through examinations—Bachelors, Masters of Arts and Doctors—Enormous number of candidates—The functionaries exclusively selected from the literati—Most of the posts sold—The syndicate for the exploitation of public offices—The gravest defect of the system, the examinations, the subjects selected being merely exercises in rhetoric and memory about an immense quantity of nonsensical matter supplied by the Chinese class
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CHAPTER V THE CHINESE PEOPLE AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
CHAPTER V THE CHINESE PEOPLE AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
Great antiquity of China’s national existence—Stagnation of her organization as well as of her social, religious and administrative institutions—Unity of Chinese civilization notwithstanding varied surroundings, differences of language and of racial origin, it being much more inflexible than that of the Western world—Some of the principal characteristics of the Chinese—Love of false appearances—Gulf that divides the theoretical from the practical in all matters of Chinese administration—Corrupti
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CHAPTER VI FOREIGNERS IN CHINA—THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHINESE TOWARDS WESTERN CIVILIZATION
CHAPTER VI FOREIGNERS IN CHINA—THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHINESE TOWARDS WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Concessions successively made by China to foreigners after the Wars of 1842, 1858–60, and 1895–98—Increasing tension between the Chinese and Europeans in consequence of the latter desiring to extend their action—Refusal of Europeans to conform to Chinese usages—Frequent breaches made by them against the rules and traditional customs of the Chinese—Contempt in which Western civilization is held by the Chinese notwithstanding their acknowledgment of its power and material advancement—This hostile
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CHAPTER VII THE POSITION AND WORK OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
CHAPTER VII THE POSITION AND WORK OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
The privileges of foreigners in China—The open ports and the concessions—Great extension of privileges granted to foreigners by the treaty of Shimonosaki (1895)—Opening of fresh ports—Facilities conceded to commerce, and the right of establishing factories in the Treaty Ports—The speedy effects of these concessions—Silk industries—Chinese workmen: rise in their salaries—Prospects of Chinese industry—Fresh concessions granted in 1898—Opening of the waterways—Railways and mines—Great expectations
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CHAPTER VIII CHINA AND THE POWERS
CHAPTER VIII CHINA AND THE POWERS
The Question of the Far East unexpectedly brought to an issue by the defeat of China—Foreign misconception of Chinese power, and the amazement of European diplomacy at its collapse—The new state of affairs created by Japanese victories—The aims of the various Powers in the Far East and their policy—England seeks an ally against Russia—Her sudden change of policy in 1895—She abandons China for Japan—Russia covets the whole of Northern China—Japan’s wish to conquer the Celestial Empire—The treaty
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CHAPTER IX RUSSIA, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND IN THE FAR EAST IN 1895–97
CHAPTER IX RUSSIA, FRANCE, AND ENGLAND IN THE FAR EAST IN 1895–97
The immediate results of the war—Issue of an important Chinese loan—Russia becomes guarantee for China, and in return obtains the right to construct the Manchurian Railway—Ability of Russian diplomacy in Korea—Faults and abuses of the Japanese in that country—Revolution in the Korean palace at Seoul—The King of Korea under the protection of Russia—Preponderance of Muscovite influences in the Far East at the beginning of 1897—Important advantages obtained by the Tsar’s allies—Apparent disinterest
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CHAPTER X CHINA AND THE POWERS, 1897–99—‘SPHERES OF INFLUENCE,’ AND THE ‘OPEN DOOR’
CHAPTER X CHINA AND THE POWERS, 1897–99—‘SPHERES OF INFLUENCE,’ AND THE ‘OPEN DOOR’
Political calm in the Far East during the summer of 1897—Provisionary regulation of the questions that divided the Powers, and the maintenance of old Chinese methods—Landing of the Germans at Kiao-Chau in Shan-tung in 1897—England’s anger at this act, and her efforts to avert the probable action of Russia in Pe-chi-li—Anglo-Chinese Convention of February, 1898—Opening of all the waterways to European navigation—The policy of the ‘open door’—China recognises in March, 1898, the occupation of Kiao
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CHAPTER XI THE FUTURE OF CHINA—MAINTENANCE OR PARTITION OF THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE?
CHAPTER XI THE FUTURE OF CHINA—MAINTENANCE OR PARTITION OF THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE?
Necessity of proceeding slowly with the Reform movement in China, if the overthrow of the Empire is to be averted—Weakness of the Government at Peking—The Emperor and the Reformer, Kang-Yu-Wei—The Empress Dowager and Li Hung-chang—Palace revolution in September, 1898—Enormous obstacles in the way of the Celestial Empire reforming itself—Reasons why it cannot follow the example of Japan in 1868—The possibility of partition—The interests of Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, partizans of
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