elderly men—men of weight. Such a fact as Pitt becoming prime minister at
the age of twenty-four would have seemed to them grotesque and foolish in
the extreme. That a young man should be a man of weight was unthinkable.
But now you find young Chinamen in most responsible posts, as their
nation’s representatives at the court of St. James, or in Paris or
Washington. It is a young Chinaman who by his eloquence and personality
wins the admission of China to the Council of the League of Nations.
They are men who have all had Western training, but that alone does not
account for their influence.
From one end of China to the other I found that the temper of the youth
was wholly unlike what it was ten years ago (on the occasion of my last
visit), although the change had already begun then. Not only is the
veneration for the aged changing, but also the veneration for antiquity,
which has been one of the greatest hindrances to progress in the past.
Everywhere the young people are taking upon themselves an active share
in local affairs and also in affairs of the State. Sometimes this shows
itself in rather an amusing way and sometimes with regard to matters of
vast importance. Of the latter it will suffice to mention the decision
of the Republican Government to make Confucianism the state religion. No
sooner was the announcement made than from every quarter the Government
was bombarded with telegrams from bodies of students, protesting “we will
not have Confucianism as a state religion”; and they won the day.
As an instance of the authority of students in local matters, I came
across a college, a member of which had gone to study in Japan. He
was engaged to be married to a Chinese girl, but fell a victim to the
charms of a Japanese girl and married her. On his return he decided,
after some difficulties with the family of his fiancée, to marry her
as his secondary wife. Then the students were all up in arms. He had
committed the crime against patriotism of marrying a Japanese, and now,
forsooth, he would add another by taking a Chinese girl as secondary to
the Japanese! They not only forbade him to do this, but also fined him a
heavy sum of money and _made him pay it_.
The Japanese question has roused every student community in this empire,
and they have allied themselves with merchants on the subject—an entirely
new combination. They have not merely shown their feelings by extensive
looting and destruction of Japanese goods, and boycotting of them in
the markets, but after the Treaty of Versailles they rose as one man to
execrate the officials who were concerned with the betrayal of Chinese
interests to Japan, and demanded that they should be dismissed from
office. All the schools and colleges went on strike and hundreds of
students were imprisoned. In vain the Government tried to put down the
movement, but it was so universal, and had so won the support of the
shopkeepers (these put up their shutters with notices that this was done
in support of the students’ demands), that the Government was again
forced to give way and punish the offenders.
While much is known here of the divided political condition of China,
but little is heard of this important solidarity. The importance of
such occurrences lies mainly in the fact that these are the outward
signs of a “Tide of New Thought,” as it has been called in Chinese. This
new vitality is pulsating more or less through the people of the whole
empire, but especially and with intense vigour in the student world.
It has driven them to violent and undisciplined action, so that many
people see in it the germs of revolution. But one must not forget that
the political Revolution has already become an accomplished fact, and
that the new movement is mainly one of educational and social reform, and
that the political faith of students is Republicanism. The anti-Japanese
feeling is due to the determined infiltration of the Japanese into the
country, and more especially their action with regard to Shantung.
Japan lost a priceless opportunity of making alliance with China and
vindicating herself before the world, when she broke faith with regard
to giving back Tsingtau to China at the end of the war. This has had
important results on the student movement by leading the students to
rapid concerted action and showing them their power to control the action
of Government. However, this is but a temporary matter, while the recent
literary and social renaissance is likely to have a permanent influence
on the national life.
The effect of the new movement on literature of all kinds is particularly
interesting. The daily press and the reviews and magazines are full of
new thoughts and reflect all the currents of opinion of the Western
world. The critical spirit leaves no problem unstudied; the political
agitation in India, the Sinn Fein outrages in Ireland, the labour
troubles in England are accurately reported in the Chinese daily press.
Judgment is being passed on the results of our civilization, and the
future shaping of China’s destiny depends largely on that judgment.
One of the most momentous days in all the history of the race was when
the Dowager Empress decided to sweep away the old system of education
after her great defeat by the Western Powers in 1900. It was an amazing
_volte-face_ on the part of one of the most bigoted autocrats that the
world has seen. She saw that the root of all her difficulties in finding
the right kind of officials was lack of well-educated persons in the
social class from which such officials are chosen, so she issued an edict
in 1904 which bore the stamp of Yüan Shih-k’ai and Chang Chih-tung,
destroying at one blow the old educational system. The document is
curious and even a little pathetic. She ordained that graduation in the
new colleges should be the only way to official position, pointing out
that colleges had been in existence more than two thousand five hundred
years ago, and that the classical essay system was quite modern—only
having existed about five hundred years.
She also gave orders that more students should be sent to Europe and
America—some were already going there—instead of to Japan, whose
revolutionary influence she mistrusted.
The greatest difficulty in effecting so great a change was to find
teachers fitted for the task. The seed had happily been planted during
the last half-century in mission schools, and from them a certain small
supply of teachers was obtainable. Chang Chih-tung considered that three
months’ study of textbooks would make a competent teacher! Another
immense difficulty was to find funds for so vast an enterprise. The
gentry were urged to found and support schools, and an official button
was granted to those who did so. Chang Chih-tung worked out the whole
scheme: colleges, schools of various grades, curricula, regulations as
to discipline, etc. etc. All these things are set forth in five official
volumes, and thus the national system of education was inaugurated.
Obviously so great a change could not be wrought without many
difficulties cropping up. The main difficulty was lack of discipline, and
that is the case to-day; the student considers that he, or she (for the
same spirit pervades girls’ schools), ought to dictate to the master,
instead of master to pupil. In the early days of the system it was the
easier for the pupils to succeed, in that so many of the teachers were
wholly inexperienced and were afraid of losing their posts unless they
gave way. Although the above edict professes to train men in China itself
for official positions it was supplemented by provision for sending
students abroad, in order that they might be the better able to bring
their country into line with Western civilization.
With the coming of a Republican Government further progress was made
in the educational system in connexion with change in the language,
of which I have given details in Chapter II. The most important fact
with regard to the educational change is that it found a prepared soil
in which to grow, and there is reason to believe that the roots are
striking deep. The rapidity with which Japan adopted Western ideas is
known to every one, for it has enabled her to become a world power by
developing her army, navy and commerce in an incredibly short space of
time. She has used Western science as the tool to secure military glory
and territorial expansion. These are not the things which appeal to the
Chinese. Their renaissance is on wholly different lines. Their gaze is
turned inward rather than outward, and the things of the foreign world
interest them mainly as shedding light on their own problems. This is the
one characteristic of the old Chinese temper which remains unchanged.
The fierce ray of criticism is turned on their own past; history, art,
philosophy and literature are now being sifted to see what is their
actual value. But the chief object of study in China to-day is man
himself, his progress and welfare, both in this world and in the next.[27]
The decay of the old religions must have a great influence on student
life, and the fact that a large proportion of the temples are now used
as school buildings is proof—if proof be needed—that the use for them as
temples has gone. Many people have thought it a great step in advance
that the old superstitions are being swept away; but what is to take
their place? The Chinese are feeling after a more philosophical form
of religion. Men like Yen Hsi Shan spend time daily in meditation and
worship of the one true God. The tide of rationalism and positivism in
Europe has swept even as far as the shores of China, and has influenced
many thoughtful men. In an important journal called _La Jeunesse_, a
well-known Chinese writer, Peng-I-Hu, says, “I am not a member of any
church, I am not interested in protecting any organization or advocating
the excellency of any particular religious faith. But I have often felt
that religion contains within it the highest ethics, and so I think that
if we want imperfect mankind to make progress towards perfection, we
cannot lightly set religion aside.”
Large numbers of students have come into contact with Christianity, and
at this moment more than ever before they are critically examining what
it is worth. By means of the literature dealing with the higher criticism
(which is to be found in all the cities of China), they are familiar
with the problems confronting students in the West: and these problems
interest them immensely. But in the long run it is not so much theory as
practice that will influence young China in its religious beliefs.
In the past, Chinese students have mainly got their Western education in
Western schools and colleges, where Christian doctrine is an important
part of the curriculum. They have had the opportunity of studying the
lives of their teachers and judging the practical value of Christian
ideals. Where use has been made of such institutions for political or
commercial propaganda, the result is obvious; but this has been the rare
exception in the past, though there seems to be a growing tendency to
it in certain recent institutions. Governments which complain of the
difficulties which missions have brought into international relations,
have often in the past made use of these same difficulties to promote
their own interest. No more cynical statement could be made than that of
the German Government with regard to Shantung about the murder of two
German missionaries: “La Providence a voulu que la nécessité de venger le
massacre de nos missionaires nous amenât a acquérir une place commerciale
de première importance.” The Chinese have long memories, and they will
not forget such things. It is foolish to expect people to discriminate
accurately between the actions of a foreign power and the missions of the
same race.
The worst indictment that can be made against the missionaries and
their institutions, in my opinion, is that their teaching has been in
some cases narrow and in many cases superficial for want of sufficient
teachers and educational requisites, due to lack of funds. The strain
on missionary societies to supply these funds has been far heavier than
the general public is aware of, and the need has been only met by a
small section of the Christian community. Had the community as a whole
realized their responsibility, China would have had better and more
thorough teaching: even now it is not too late to help her in the great
educational enterprise on which she has embarked. America is alive to
the fact, but England is not. One great step in advance is, however, in
course of achievement, and that is the union of the greater number of the
different societies in the work of central colleges and universities,
which is a great gain, both from the educational and the religious point
of view.
At the present time the one vital requisite for China is to have a
thoroughly efficient training in all branches of education, especially,
of those men who are to be her leaders. Statesmen, lawyers, doctors,
engineers, bankers, men of science, literature and art are needed,
and all must, above all things, be men of high purpose and spotless
integrity. It is the corruption of men in authority which has brought
China to so low a condition, and which hinders her taking her place among
the ruling nations. Obviously she is not in a position to-day to do
this without help. The students in training to-day number roughly eight
millions, not to mention the vast number of boys employed in agriculture
and industry, who also have a claim to teaching. One interesting feature
of the student movement is the sense of obligation now growing up amongst
the students to share their knowledge with their poorer neighbours. Night
schools are being established by them (in which they teach) not only for
poor children, but also for farmers, labourers, etc., in all parts of the
country. They also give popular lectures on such subjects as hygiene,
patriotism and politics.
During the terrible famine raging last winter, numbers of students
did relief work, and not only helped the sufferers, but had valuable
practical training in organized social service. Another feature of the
movement is this social service; here again trained leaders are urgently
needed. The experience which we have so painfully gained during the last
century we ought surely to share with them.
There are very few purely Chinese educational institutes of the highest
grade. The most important of any is without doubt the National University
of Peking, founded twenty-three years ago. Under the influence of the
present Chancellor, Tsai Yuanpei, it has become an efficient school and
centre of the new educational movement. He has collected a staff of men
trained in Western thought to replace the former inefficient elderly
staff. The present Minister of Education, Fan Yuen Zien, made a trip to
Europe and America in 1918, and as a result of it has initiated a scheme
for having special scholars from the West to become annual lecturers at
the university. The first appointment was John Dewey, from Columbia,
U.S.A., then Bertrand Russell, from Cambridge, England, and now it
seems likely that Bergson will be invited from France and Einstein from
Germany. This suggests the spirit of the new learning. Such a Minister
of Education has much influence, and is promoting a liberal educational
policy. The university has departments of Law, Literature and Science.
Its influence is felt not only in Peking, but throughout the country.
The Hong Kong University is of considerable importance, but as the
teaching is entirely in English, that is still a bar to many students.
It was started by Sir Frederick Lugard, and with the generous help of
many Chinese and a wealthy Parsee merchant, not to mention the grant of
a magnificent site by the Government of Hong Kong, the university was
launched in 1912. It was established mainly for the use of the Chinese,
but open to “students of all races, nationalities and creeds,” and was
to promote the “maintenance of good understanding with the neighbouring
Republic of China”—so runs the Hong Kong Government ordinance of 1911.
The first three chairs established were Medicine, Applied Science, and
Arts. In order to meet the needs of men adopting an official career in
China, the requisite Chinese subjects are included.
A new university has been already planned by a Chinese merchant at Amoy,
Mr. Dan, and I visited the site on which it is to be built. The donor is
a man of humble birth. He has already founded boys’ and girls’ schools
near Amoy on most generous and modern lines, of which further details are
given in the following chapter. Although not a member of any Christian
body, he is most generous in lending the buildings for Christian
conferences and allowing absolute liberty to Christian teachers in his
schools to give religious teaching to the scholars out of school hours.
Having referred to one of the most important non-religious educational
institutions for the Chinese, I will mention the most important
missionary ones. Of these St. John’s College, Shanghai, is one of the
oldest and most efficient, and is responsible for the training of some of
the leading men in China to-day. Recently the college has added Medicine
to the subjects taught in what has now become the St. John’s University.
It grants degrees, and is in close touch with American universities.
There are two other American denominational universities, and five union
and interdenominational universities, also many important colleges, such
as the Anglo-Chinese College at Tientsin, the Trinity College at Foochow,
the Canton Christian College, the Hangchow College, the Shanghai Baptist
College, etc. etc.; but what are these in comparison with the millions of
China?
One very grave drawback to the present state of educational affairs is
that our British universities have made no attempt to recognize the
degrees and diplomas granted by these colleges and universities with the
exception of the Hong Kong University, which has a special charter to
that effect. Whereas in America every university of importance welcomes
Chinese students for post-graduate study and grants them diplomas, not
one of our universities does this. All the students study the English
language, and every year sees them more prepared to make use of training
in our universities; but those educationists who know China best are
convinced that it is far better for her sons and daughters to study in
their own land till they have got a good sound general education, and
then come to England, say at the age of about twenty; they will then be
able to gain much more from what they see and learn than they could do
at an earlier age. With a mature judgment they will not be so apt to get
false impressions, as they are otherwise likely to do, and will know how
to select from the wealth of knowledge to which they have access.
Nowadays the question of child labour is being considered, and this is
the more important because factories are springing up everywhere. Field
labour is hard on child life, but not nearly so injurious as factory
life. A large part of this industrial expansion is American and European;
therefore it is a grave responsibility for such firms to ensure that
the Chinese shall see Western industrialism at its best, especially as
regards the welfare of children and women.
It would be neglecting a matter of great potential importance to the
future of young China if the history of the Scout Movement were omitted.
Curiously enough it seems to have been started at New York, by the
Chinese Students’ Club, in 1910, and from there to have been carried to
China itself about a couple of years later. In 1915 there was a special
rally of scout troops from Canton and Shanghai, in which three hundred
boys took part, and Chinese boys figured at the great scout Jamboree
in England in 1920, when twenty thousand boys of all races met in one
great Brotherhood. The movement has been so far mainly promoted by
missionary institutions, who have wisely recognized its attractiveness
and importance to Chinese boys. The great difficulty has been to find
suitable scoutmasters, but time should mend this. The Scout Rule is the
same here as elsewhere, and membership is open to every class of the
community. Its international value is a matter of no small importance.
A natural question arises in every one’s mind with regard to the
possibility of maintaining the same high spirit in a troop of Oriental
boys as in an English troop, where tradition already helps this so
tremendously. I make no apology for quoting a striking illustration from
a recent magazine article of the fact that the Scout spirit of honour,
of preparedness, of active goodwill and of physical fitness is found
in Chinese scouts. “The young captain of the ‘soccer’ team was visibly
nettled. The game was a stiff one. His team were all, like himself,
Chinese boys at the Griffith John College, in Central China. But a
forward had ‘muffed’ an open shot at goal and a half-back had ‘funked’
tackling a big fast forward of the opposing team, while one or two of the
opponents had run perilously near to fouling.
“So his nerve had got ‘rattled.’ One of the English masters was watching
the game. He was also Scoutmaster of the troop in which the Chinese boy
was a scout of some standing. He saw the boy fast losing his temper.
Suddenly, in a momentary lull in the game, the master from touch whistled
the refrain of the Scout Call.
“In a flash the Chinese boy-captain realized the childishness of his
action and recovered himself. His face broke into its old customary
smile. With a laugh he rallied his side and swung forward with them. They
won the match.” (_Outward Bound._)
To sum up the main points of the student situation: their actual demands
at the present time are for self-determination, self-government and the
abolition of the Tuchun system, namely the military government of the
provinces. If these are their demands, it is well to consider what they
have already accomplished: they have created a student organization, with
unions in every part of the country; they have broken down sex prejudice
in an extraordinary way; they have aroused the interest of the masses of
the common people; and they have proved strong enough to alter Government
action. These are things which certainly justify their title to serious
consideration of their demands.
There is a wonderful spirit of hope and courage growing up, and it is
worth noting that this new nationalism has been singularly free from
the outrages to be found in popular movements in the West. The natural
ebullience—to use an ugly but expressive word—of youth has on the whole
shown itself wiser and more keen-sighted than could have been expected
under the circumstances, and gives great hope for the future. The special
stress laid on social service and voluntary work is of great promise, and
missions may justly claim that it is the outcome of their work for the
sick, the insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the orphans and the poor.
They have put an ideal before the race, and the young are accepting it.
[Illustration: A medical student.]
_Chapter X_
_Some Chinese Seaports and Commerce_
“The problems of the Pacific are to my mind the world problems
of the next fifty years or more. In these problems we are, as
an Empire, very vitally interested. Three of the dominions
border on the Pacific; India is next door; there, too, are
the United States and Japan. There, also, in China the fate
of the greatest human population on earth will have to be
decided. There Europe, Asia and America are meeting, and
there, I believe, the next great chapter in human history
will be enacted. I ask myself, what will be the character of
that history? Will it be along the old lines? Will it be the
old spirit of national and imperial domination which has been
the undoing of Europe? Or shall we have learned our lesson?
Shall we have purged our souls in the fires through which we
have passed? Will it be a future of peaceful co-operation, of
friendly co-ordination of all the vast interests at stake?
Shall we act in continuous friendly consultation in the true
spirit of a society of nations?”—GENERAL SMUTS.
_Chapter X_
_Some Chinese Seaports and Commerce_
[Illustration: RAIN AT AMOY.]