33 chapters
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33 chapters
CHINA REVOLUTIONIZED
CHINA REVOLUTIONIZED
Copyright, 1913. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. The Honorable Yuan Shih Kai, confirmed as president of China by the National Assembly, January, 1913. A middle province type (Honan). He is wearing the uniform of the General-in-Chief of the northern army. A forceful progressive leader of the New China. CHINA REVOLUTIONIZED By JOHN STUART THOMSON AUTHOR OF The Chinese, Bud and Bamboo, Etc. ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, April, 1913 The
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I THE GENESIS OF THE REVOLUTION IN CHINA AND ITS HISTORY From October 10, 1911, to Yuan Shih Kai’s Acceptance of the Provisional Presidency
I THE GENESIS OF THE REVOLUTION IN CHINA AND ITS HISTORY From October 10, 1911, to Yuan Shih Kai’s Acceptance of the Provisional Presidency
A republic in place of the oldest monarchy! Preposterous. It would involve making a yellow man think as a white man, and that had never occurred, not even in the case of the prodigy, Japan. It would involve free intercourse with the whole wide world, and China had opposed such an innovation stubbornly for 400 years. It meant that the proudest and most self-contained nation should treat others as equals and interchange with them. It involved throwing 4,000 years of continuous history and agglomer
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II WIT AND HUMOR IN CHINA
II WIT AND HUMOR IN CHINA
In his book Alone in China , Julian Ralph, the New Yorker, wrote in 1898 the following sentence: “The men and women of China will live in my mind forever, here and in heaven, as the jolliest, kindest, most sympathetic and generous souls I ever found in such profusion anywhere in my roving.” I have lived and traveled three years in China, and have found that the Chinese influence the foreigners and that the foreigners influence the Chinese, sharpening each other’s wit, and smoothing each other’s
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III INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL CHINA.
III INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL CHINA.
The eastern states of America and Great Britain have a new slogan: “Get ready for the Panama Canal.” The western states of America, and indeed all America, should have another slogan: “Get ready for the China trade.” It is not far off; it is already on the horizon, “arising a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand”. It may come with a rush any year and thousands of companies will have their headquarters at New York. There are many things to arrange, internally and externally, in currency
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IV FINANCE AND BUDGET IN CHINA
IV FINANCE AND BUDGET IN CHINA
With a reformed system of tax collection the following budget is quite feasible, and will, without any greater pressure on the individual than at present, lift China out of the slough of despond. This proposes $330,000,000 a year for 400,000,000 people, against Japan’s $350,000,000 a year for only 55,000,000 population. This plan wipes out the obnoxious opium and likin taxes. The taxes proposed are less than half per capita what poorer India is paying, and one-tenth of what Japan is paying, and
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V BUSINESS METHODS OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
V BUSINESS METHODS OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
The British national board of trade, partly on the advice in Admiral Lord Beresford’s book, has appointed commercial attachés separate from the diplomatic and consular bodies to work as specialists and free lances in China. In contrast with the diplomatic and consular departments, they are free to use the helpful publicity of the home newspapers in order to correct and create interest. Canada in a small way has followed Britain’s example. A consular officer is fixed to his post on account of his
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VI RAILWAYS IN CHINA
VI RAILWAYS IN CHINA
In the third book of Paradise Lost , Milton humorously discussed transportation in China as follows: but the matter has now reached a development worthy of being discussed seriously. China had in 1912 about 5,500 miles of railway in operation, new main lines having been built from Tientsin to Nanking (Pukow) by German and British contractors, and from Nanking to Shanghai by British contractors, so that it is now possible to take cars at Shanghai and go through to Calais, France, by rail. Branch
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VII SHIPPING AND WATER ROUTES IN CHINA
VII SHIPPING AND WATER ROUTES IN CHINA
The larger steamship lines now supplying the China ports are the following: When the Panama Canal opens, many more Atlantic lines, such as the Royal Mail, International Marine, German lines, etc., will probably extend their service in time to China, and many trans-Pacific lines, especially Japanese and the Pacific Mail, will extend to America’s eastern coast, not to speak of new lines which may be formed. The British-India Steamship Company intends to extend its Calcutta line across the Pacific
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VIII AMERICA IN CHINA
VIII AMERICA IN CHINA
Where the Happy Valley Road branches off, one part leading to the Royal Golf Club, and the other to the Mohammedan, Parsee and European cemeteries, and Wong Nei Chong valley, Hongkong, on a spot where Secretary William Henry Seward stood in 1869, there is a monument which has particular interest for Americans and Britons, and possibly it is a prophecy of their united work in the future in developing China. The monument tells its own story of brothers in arms in the dangers of the Far Eastern sea
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IX THE NATIVE LEADERS
IX THE NATIVE LEADERS
In the revolution chapter of this book we have given many names of the new leaders. Others who have attained prominence are the following. Most of them have seen foreign service, or been educated in America, Britain, Germany or Japan. In March, 1912, a descendant of the Ming emperors came forward at Peking to add to the complexity of the situation. He endeavored to obtain the allegiance of Yuan’s rebelling northern troops, who seemed loyal to no cause or person. He was the so-called “Marquis” Ch
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Treaties Affecting China
Treaties Affecting China
1899. Britain-Russia—Britain not to interfere with Russia north of great wall, and Russia not to interfere in Yangtze valley. 1899. America to Powers (John Hay’s Note)—“Open door” for all in China, and preservation of territorial integrity. 1905. Portsmouth Treaty (Russia-Japan)—Japan takes Korea and part of Manchuria. 1905. Britain-Japan—Alliance and assuring integrity of China. 1907. Russia-Japan—Recognize territorial integrity of China. 1907. Britain-Russia—Britain to support China in Tibet.
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XI CHINESE INTERNAL POLITICS
XI CHINESE INTERNAL POLITICS
Almost the oldest book in China, the Chou Li , provided for village management at the same time that sacrifices were instituted, thousands of years before the Christian era. The oldest man of the clan-village, bearing the title of “hsiang lao” (village old-one) takes charge at a salary of about one hundred and fifty dollars a year, and hires say twenty police in the smaller villages. This “hsiang lao”, when necessary, deals with the district “siunkian”, who is the government’s lowest mandarin. T
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XII SOME PUBLIC WORKS IN OLD CHINA
XII SOME PUBLIC WORKS IN OLD CHINA
Will the spirit which instituted the ancient notable public works of China revive again? That is the question. The greatest irrigation work in the world, 2,100 years old, is in China at Chingtu. It was invented by Li Ping, the engineer-governor, B. C. 250. A plain seventy-five miles by forty miles is irrigated. It supports nearly 4,000,000 people. The water is taken from the Min River at Kwan Hien above Chingtu in April, and is permitted to run in the thousands of channels until November. Then t
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XIII THE INFLUENCE OF JAPAN
XIII THE INFLUENCE OF JAPAN
In 1911 Japan’s tariff agreements expired and a new high tariff was put into effect in the effort to raise $300,000,000 a year as the state’s revenue. The same result was experienced as in India. Home manufacturers operated in the smaller industries, and many larger foreign capitalists opened Japanese branches. For instance, the Lever Soap Company, of England, came to Osaka, and the Armstrong-Vickers-Maxim Company, of Newcastle, the gun-founders and warship builders, came to Muroran in Ezo Islan
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XIV PRESSURE OF RUSSIA AND FRANCE ON CHINA
XIV PRESSURE OF RUSSIA AND FRANCE ON CHINA
Many books have been written on the Russian advance to the Pacific, and they eventually induced Britain to hurl Japan on the aggressor. These volumes include Putnam Weale’s fervid volumes, works by Lord Beresford, Senator Beveridge, Norman, Chirol, Colquhoun, Alexandria Hosie, Younghusband, Krausse, Lord Curzon and others. That advance has been pushed back as far as the borders of Shingking, the southernmost of Manchuria’s three provinces, and out of the Korean Peninsula, but it is marking time
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XV SOME FOREIGN TYPES IN CHINA, AND THEIR INFLUENCE
XV SOME FOREIGN TYPES IN CHINA, AND THEIR INFLUENCE
The mainstay of Chinese revenue, and the main security as yet for foreign loans, is the National (formerly Imperial) Customs of five per cent. duty ad valorem. The organization was started at Canton in 1859 by Sir Robert Hart, an Armagh Irishman who was transferred from the British consular service. He served as head from that year until his retirement with a fortune of $500,000 in 1910. Sir Robert Hart lived in princely style at Peking and managed the service honestly. He has been criticized fo
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XVI THE MANCHU
XVI THE MANCHU
When the republicans rebelled against the dynasty, the following was the indictment issued to the world’s press, and signed by Foreign Minister Wu Ting Fang and Assistant Foreign Secretary Wen Tsung Yao, at Shanghai. Wu, all the world knows as the Jefferson of the new republican China. Wen is a very able modern lawyer, who made his name as a resourceful amban at Lhasa. 1. Incapacity. 2. Reactionary. 3. Benighted and barbaric. 4. Opposes modern knowledge, science and industry. 5. Favors a closed
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XVII CHINA’S ARMY AND NAVY
XVII CHINA’S ARMY AND NAVY
The revolution of 1911 made known to the world the Chinese generals on the northern and southern sides, who were really able to command a modern army in action as well as in field maneuvers. Generals Li, Ling, Ho, Hwang, Hsu, etc., were the leading southerners. Generals Feng, Chang, Chao and Sheng were among the leading northerners in active service. All of these are Chinese. The much-heralded Manchu generals proved a failure, and few of the old-style Tartar generals, like Chiang and Chen of Pec
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XVIII MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA
XVIII MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA
There are twelve modern universities available for the education of the four hundred millions of people in China, located respectively at Hongkong, Shanghai, Nanking, Changsha, Wei Hsien (Shangtung province), Tientsin, Suchow, Tai Yuan, Peking, Hangchow, Wuchang and Canton. One of these is British, nine Mission, one Chinese, and one American Collegiate. Hongkong University counts among its former law students Wu Ting Fang, foreign minister of the Nanking republicans; among its medical students D
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XIX NOTES ON CHINESE LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
XIX NOTES ON CHINESE LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
Among the treasures of Buddhist monasteries are the stone tablets called “Pei Tze.” It used to be the custom of celebrated visitors to write an epigram, a witticism, a poem, or a sentence of philosophy, which the monks had a stone-cutter engrave as near the beautiful chirography as possible on these tablets, which constitute through the empire a great literary treasure which is not likely now to be renewed. Not a little of the sententiousness is humorous. A sign hanging up in a celebrated Buddhi
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XX LIFE OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
XX LIFE OF FOREIGNERS IN CHINA
I know of no place where music, lanterns, romantic mountain scenery, seascapes far below and delightful society in an alien setting combine more pleasantly than at the Peak Club, Hongkong. Above the passing clouds which now and then whirl around as in Rubens’ pictures, over the purple Pacific Ocean which foams around hilly islands, over the high hills as you ascend from the royal colony of Victoria, on a terrace, they have graded a velvet lawn. Here the military and naval bands are brought for a
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XXI FOREIGN CITIES OF CHINA
XXI FOREIGN CITIES OF CHINA
At all the great treaty port cities and colonies, such as Hongkong, Shanghai, Canton, Macao, Tientsin, etc., the stranger is accosted by crowds of rickshaw coolies, venders, fortune-tellers, flower sellers, etc., urging his patronage. Efforts are being made to limit this noise, which is at present like the reception that a football hero gets when he wins a game. The Chinese think we like the attention, because so many of us smile, and if one looks cross, a native wit will call out: “Don’t ask Ho
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XXII NATIVE CITIES OF CHINA
XXII NATIVE CITIES OF CHINA
Singan or Sian (meaning “Chinese”), the capital of Shensi province, dates back to the twelfth century, B.C. The whole valley is full of the monuments, mounds and relics of kings of many ancient dynasties. As its name appropriately shows, Singan was the original capital of China, when the tribes first united in mutual recognition of kinship, and it is a shrine, therefore, appealing to antiquarians. Out on the plain the Emperor Tsin, builder of the Great Wall, “burned the books” of China, and buri
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XXIII RELIGIOUS AND MISSIONARY CHINA
XXIII RELIGIOUS AND MISSIONARY CHINA
Buddhism, the religion of China which owns most of the finer pagodas and temples, celebrated in 1912 the 2500th anniversary of Buddha. They do not celebrate Buddha’s birth in the body, but rather birth in the mind or soul, the celebration being called “the anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment.” Despite the troubles that Buddhism has encountered at the instigation of the government’s amban in Tibet, the celebration occurred there with avidity, as it did also in Mongolia, at Kuren, etc. Throughou
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XXIV LEGAL PRACTISE AND CRIME IN CHINA
XXIV LEGAL PRACTISE AND CRIME IN CHINA
Books and articles that have thrown light on this dark question include those of Wu Ting Fang, once minister to America; Mr. Jernigan’s China in Law ; Sir G. T. Staunton’s Penal Code ; Sir C. Alabaster’s Chinese Criminal and Property Law ; Parker’s Chinese Family Law ; Mayer’s Chinese Government ; lengthy notes in the Middle Kingdom , by the learned American, S. Wells Williams; Dyer Ball’s Things Chinese ; Professor Giles’ Historic China ; Sir Henry Maine’s commentaries; and the old Chinese Repo
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XXV CHINESE DAILY LIFE
XXV CHINESE DAILY LIFE
The happy Leigh Hunt, who was half American by blood, in one of his incomparable Addisonian essays, Tea Drinking , wrote as follows of the daily life and surroundings of the Chinese: “The very word tea, so petty, so infantine, so winking-eyed, so expressive, somehow or other, of something inexpressibly minute and satisfied with a little (tee!) resembles the idea one has (perhaps a very mistaken one) of that extraordinary people of whom Europeans know little or nothing, except that they sell us t
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XXVI CLIMATE, DISEASE AND HYGIENE
XXVI CLIMATE, DISEASE AND HYGIENE
In the last two years China has surprised the world by carrying out her agreement to extirpate quickly opium smoking and poppy growing. It is the most spectacular abatement of a gigantic nuisance that the world has known. Among the heroes of the reform was Lin Ping Chang, a grandson of the famous Commissioner Lin who destroyed the chests of opium at Canton and brought on the war with Britain in 1840. Heredity obtains in China! It would have taken England and America possibly fifty years to bring
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XXVII CHINESE WOMANHOOD
XXVII CHINESE WOMANHOOD
On the last of our August the women of China celebrate the festival of the goddess of needlework. The interesting legend told to the daughters of the house is as follows: This goddess, because of her wonderful skill, was given by the great god Tien to a worthy farmer. After this life she incurred the wrath of the god and was removed from her husband’s star. Once a year, when her star comes round again, magpies conduct her back to her husband’s star home, across the carpet of the Milky Way, where
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XXVIII AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY IN CHINA
XXVIII AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY IN CHINA
Agriculture has always been a leading calling in China. The farms are small and are intensively worked. They have been too small, and the immense population has been crowded into the river plains only of the vast country. Not one quarter of China and its territories is worked as it might be. The adopting of machinery and the application of the single tax to some of the unworked land by the new régime will make possible the enlargement of farms, and the consequent stocking with meat, milk, egg, w
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XXIX CHINESE ARCHITECTURE AND ART
XXIX CHINESE ARCHITECTURE AND ART
“The glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome” are unearthed a foot at a time to the wondering eyes of the world by the tireless antiquarian-architect. China has some extensive ruins that show the death struggle of a dynasty with the tooth of the destroyer, Time. Near Singan, in Shensi province, are the ruins of the tombs, arches and palaces of the builder of the Great Wall. On the left bank of the Orkhon River in Mongolia, southwest of Kuren, are the ruins of the Uigur empire, seven
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XXX SOCIOLOGICAL CHINA
XXX SOCIOLOGICAL CHINA
When America was as yet undiscovered, and Europe was largely a forest inhabited by hunting tribes, China had taken up an advanced position on sociology. She has long been the world’s clearest and bravest economical thinker, from whom even Germany has consciously or unconsciously copied, and for thousands of years she has followed a thorough civil service in political appointments. It is not surprising therefore that Doctor Sun Yat Sen, the organizer of the revolution of 1911–12, the first presid
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XXXI AWAKENED INTEREST IN AMERICA
XXXI AWAKENED INTEREST IN AMERICA
Three recent manifestations, selected from many, will indicate the awakened interest in America in things Chinese and the New China. Like the ostrich which pushed its head in the sand, and concluded that the world that was not seen, did not exist, our stage has for centuries persisted in ignoring Sinim-histrionics. Now Chinese plays are not uncommon. One in particular is worthy of mention. William Winter, the dean of the American critics, says of The Daughter of Heaven , playing at the Century T
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PRESS COMMENTS
PRESS COMMENTS
New York Sun : “Fresh and seeing eyes; a flowing pen; that human sympathy which counts greatly in gaining sympathetic readers; an astonishing quantity of facts presented with so light a hand as to invite the reader on almost every page; ... brilliantly clear photographs; Mr. Thomson’s text itself is almost pictorial.” Chicago Journal : “The only readable book ever written about that weirdly interesting people.” Columbus Journal : “A book that is believed to be the best English definition yet giv
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