CHINA'S AWAKENING.
In what I have said of the Chinese government, system of education,
religion and superstitions, I have referred to the nation as it has
been for some twenty centuries--chained to tradition, stagnant,
asleep. Society was stratified; those in power seemed to have no
higher aspiration than to live upon the labor of the masses, and
the masses seemed to entertain no thought of emancipation. The life
of the people was occupied with ceremony, but there was no genuine
fellowship or sympathetic connection between them, outside of the
family tie, and even the family was likely to be a storm center
because of the conflicting interests collected under one roof.
Education was monopolized by a comparatively few, and there was no
breadth to such instruction as was given. Superstition took the
place of religion and the placating of the spirits of the deceased
outweighed the nurture and development of those still on earth.
But a change is taking place in China such as has revolutionized
Japan within the last half century. The sleeping giantess, whose
drowsy eyes have so long been shut to the rays of the morning sun,
is showing unmistakable signs of an awakening. There was a vitality
among her people which even two thousand years of political apathy
could not exhaust--a sturdiness which centuries of poverty and
superstition could not entirely destroy. Increasing contact with
Europe and America is having its influence, and the example of Japan
is even more potent, for the people of Japan are not only neighbors,
but are more like them in color and race characteristics. Let me
note some of the evidences of this change.
The government, so long an absolute despotism, is about to become a
constitutional monarchy. In 1898 the emperor, under the influence of
some radical reformers, prepared a program almost revolutionary in
its character. Recognizing that his aunt, the dowager empress, would
oppose him, he prepared to put her under guard while the change was
being made, but the old lady, learning of his plan, promptly took
him in hand and made him a prisoner in his own palace. Since that
time she has been the unquestioned ruler of the empire, the nominal
emperor affixing his signature to the papers which she prepares. But
so rapidly has the situation developed that she is now instituting
the very reforms for the suggestion of which she so recently
imprisoned her nephew. A commission of prominent officials is now
abroad, some in Europe, some in America, studying the constitutions
and governmental institutions of other countries. What a concession,
when we remember the self-sufficiency of China, the characterization
of surrounding nations as "rude tribes" and the use of the term
"barbarians" to designate even those with whom she made treaties!
It is reported that the dowager-empress recently called her
councilors together and asked how long it would take to establish a
constitutional government. When told that it would probably require
twelve or fifteen years, she replied that it must be done sooner
than that as she could not hope to live much longer, and wanted
it in operation before she died. Whether she appreciates the full
importance of the change may be doubted, but the fact that the great
nations, with the exception of Russia, have constitutions, has
doubtless made its impression upon her; and Russia's defeat at the
hands of the Japanese, coupled with present internal disturbances in
the czar's domain, contains its lesson.
As early as 1901, a commission was appointed to examine and
report on all proposed measures affecting the organization and
administration of the government, and in 1904 a general assembly
of the ministers of the principal boards was provided for. While
these newly created bodies have no legislative power, they indicate
the trend toward a more popular government. The constitution, when
adopted, as it ultimately will be, will inaugurate a parliamentary
system. There is, therefore, a distinct advance along governmental
lines, and this in itself means much for China and for the outside
world.
The criminal code is also being revised. The Hon. Wu Ting Fang,
former minister to the United States and now vice-president of the
board of foreign affairs, has been made a member of the board of
punishments. He and Shen Chia Pen, the vice-president of the board
of punishments, have by imperial decree been intrusted with the
revision and codifying of the laws of China. They have established
a bureau with a staff of secretaries and translators and have spent
two years in the examination of the civil and criminal codes of the
different countries in order to select laws which are applicable to
the conditions existing in China. Ex-Minister Wu has taken a deep
interest in this subject and kindly furnished me with the following
list of reforms to which the imperial sanction has been secured:
[Illustration: VICEROY CHANG CHIH TUNG]
1. Ling Chi, slow death by slicing to pieces, has been abolished.
It was the punishment formerly prescribed for one found guilty of
paricide, high treason, wilful murder of husband (the murder of
husband by wife was according to Chinese law a much graver offense
than the murder of wife by husband).
2. The heads of criminals were formerly exposed to the public after
execution. This has also been abolished.
[Illustration: WU TING FANG.]
3. The beheading of a corpse of a criminal who died before execution
is no longer permitted.
4. According to the old law, parents, relatives and friends of one
convicted of serious crimes were subject to punishment; now the
punishment is confined to the guilty party. (While the practice of
including innocent relatives in the sentence seems barbarous in
the extreme, it was, after all, not so different in principle from
the practice of the western nations which in times of war inflict
punishment indiscriminately upon innocent and guilty alike.)
5. The branding of criminals has been abandoned.
6. Corporal punishment of criminals is also abolished.
7. The torturing of accused persons during trial, except where
the accused is charged with murder, and where the evidence of
guilt is clear, has also been abolished. According to the Chinese
law a person convicted of murder cannot be put to death until he
confesses, and torture has been retained in a case of this kind as
a means of compelling confession when the guilt has been otherwise
established, but Mr. Wu expresses the hope that torture in such
cases will be abolished in the near future.
The revision commission has also succeeded in obtaining an imperial
decree ordering the construction of more modern prisons, requiring
the inspection of prisoners and compelling humane treatment.
Formerly relief from cruel treatment could only be secured by paying
the official in charge.
The commission is now working upon a code of procedure and intends
among other things the recommendation of a system of trial by jury,
the admission of lawyers to practice in the courts and the relieving
of prisoners and witnesses from the humiliating practice of kneeling
in court.
In order to secure competent judges and lawyers for the carrying
out of the new code, the commission has obtained the sanction of
the government for the establishment of a law school at Pekin (the
site has already been purchased), and the high schools and colleges
of the various provinces have been instructed to add law to the
curriculum of their studies.
Minister Wu called attention to other reforms which have been
introduced into China within the last few years, among which may
be mentioned the construction of railways, the establishment of
a government board of commerce, the formation of a police force,
municipal and provincial, the promulgation of incorporation laws and
the establishment of mints.
At first the railroads were built by concessions issued to foreign
companies, but because of the constant difficulties which grew
out of such concessions, there is a growing sentiment in favor of
government railroads. It was in the pursuance of this policy that
the government acquired the rights of the American company which
was projecting a road from Hankow to Canton. Some of the Americans
residing in China have expressed regret that this road should have
passed out of American hands, but I am satisfied that it is better
for the United States that China should own the road than that
it should be in the hands of foreigners or even in the hands of
Americans. It would be impossible to operate the road without more
or less friction, which would involve the countries in diplomatic
controversies. If China operates the road herself, we will have
equal rights with foreigners without the risks involved in private
ownership. And, speaking of roads, the city of Pekin is passing
through an era of street improvement. Some eleven miles of pavement
have been laid within three years, and concrete sidewalks are making
their appearance.
The finances of China have been in a miserable condition. Cash
is the money in common use, and these brass coins, running about
one thousand to the dollar, are too heavy for any excepting the
smallest transactions. Think of doing business with money so heavy
that you must carry a hundred pounds of money to make a ten dollar
purchase. Some complained of silver in the United States because
of its weight, but the silver certificates completely answered
this argument, for a silver certificate is as convenient as a
gold certificate and more convenient than gold coin; but in China
paper money is not used among the masses. The monetary unit is
called a tael and, if coined, would weigh about one and one-third
times the Mexican dollar, but no coins of this denomination are in
circulation. The Mexican dollar is in common use, and in some of the
provinces there are fractional silver coins. But the Mexican dollar
is so often counterfeited that it is customary to test each coin
as it passes from hand to hand. I secured one of the "three piece
dollars," as they are called. These are made by sawing a thin disc
from each side of the dollar; the silver is then removed from the
center and the cavity filled with lead and the two faces soldered
on. The work is done so skillfully that the counterfeit can only
be detected by the ring. Several of the banks issue paper notes
payable in Mexican dollars, but they are discounted in the various
cities so that a traveler's currency is always undergoing a shave.
The government has decided to establish a uniform system of currency
consisting of gold, silver and copper, the silver tael to remain the
unit.
Patent laws and trade mark laws are now being prepared; in fact,
China is being quickened in many ways by the increasing knowledge
which she is acquiring. They are even considering a change in the
alphabet and characters in order that the language may be more
easily learned.
[Illustration: CHINESE CART AT PEKIN]
I have already referred to the fact that China has until recently
been practically without newspapers. There is no better evidence
of the progress which China is making than is to be found in the
increase in the number of her newspapers. While the circulation of
these papers is small as compared with the circulation of similar
papers in the United States and Japan, still the growth is constant
and the colloquial dialect sometimes employed brings the news and
editorial pages within the comprehension of those who cannot read
books. Many of these newspapers are published in the interest
of reforms. One of the papers started at Hong Kong opposed the
examination system by which civil officials were selected, the
foot-binding custom and the habit of wearing the queue. The editor
cut off his own queue as an example and is now encouraged by the
fact that the soldiers are gradually adopting a like course. He is
able to note progress in the matter of foot-binding. An imperial
edict has been issued exhorting the people to abandon the practice,
and numerous societies are engaged in spreading literature upon this
subject.
[Illustration: CHOU FU, VICEROY OF NANKING.]
But more important still is the recent abolition of the
examinations. This is a revolution which has shaken the ancient
empire to its foundation, for the examination system not only
affected the government but moulded the educational system as
well. In the larger cities elaborate provisions were made for
these examinations, in some places from ten to fifteen thousand
stalls being constructed. These stalls are about three feet by six
deep, and high enough to permit the student to stand erect. The
only furniture was a board for a seat and another for a desk. At a
given hour the students entered these stalls and were given their
themes; they were then kept in their stalls without communication
until their tasks were finished. Now the stalls stand idle and the
officials are chosen from the graduates of the newly established
schools.
We visited the examination stalls at Pekin and found them in
ruins. They had been occupied by the Boxers in 1900, who tore out
the rafters and used them for fuel. After the roofs fell in the
unprotected walls rapidly crumbled.
The conservatives have been very much incensed by the abandonment of
the examinations, but the reformers regard it as a long step in the
right direction.
On every hand one sees signs of intellectual development. As
stated in another article, the private school was for centuries
the only source from which instruction in books could be gained.
Now a complete system of schools is being established, consisting
of primary, middle and high schools, with colleges in the larger
cities. Viceroy Yuan Shih Kai, who presides over the district in
which Pekin is situated, and whom, through the courtesy of Minister
Rockhill, I had an opportunity to meet, informed me that he had
established four thousand schools within his jurisdiction within
the past five years. The viceroy is the successor of Li Hung Chang
and is considered the most influential man in the empire. He is
about forty-six years old and impresses one as a man of great mental
ability and alertness. He seems to take a deep interest in the
reforms now being worked out, and is cordial in his treatment of
Americans.
Consul General Rodgers, of Shanghai, happened to be in Nanking
during our visit there, and we paid our respects to Viceroy Chou Fu.
This viceroy is quite old and feeble but he is grappling with the
new problems and is a patron of education. He has established one
thousand schools during the last few years, and estimated the number
of Chinese students in Japan at this time at five thousand.
At Shanghai there is a government university, the buildings of
which cost two hundred and ten thousand dollars. We learned that in
some places Buddhist temples are being converted into schools and
that girls' schools are already being provided for. This is even a
greater evidence of progress than the opening of schools for boys,
because of the inferior position which woman has occupied in the
celestial empire.
Besides the government schools there are numerous missionary schools
in which instruction is given to both boys and girls. We visited
some of these schools at Pekin, Nanking and Shanghai, and found the
instructors encouraged by the attendance and the interest taken.
A number of Americans, and a still larger number of Japanese, are
teaching in the government schools.
But enough has been said to indicate the regeneration through
which the Flowery Kingdom is passing. What will be the effect of
the change upon the world? Who is wise enough to peer into the
future and outline the record of the next century? Japan furnishes
the nearest parallel. Compare the Japan of fifty years ago with
the Japan of to-day and some conception can be formed of China
fifty years hence. As Japan's commerce increased, so is China's
commerce increasing; as Japan sent statesmen abroad to investigate
the methods of other governments, so China is now sending inquirers
abroad; as Japan turned her attention to schools and colleges, so
China is learning the advantage of universal education; as Japanese
students journeyed into distant lands in search of knowledge, so
Chinese students are in increasing numbers studying in foreign
colleges. Even in the enlargement and training of her army she is
patterning after Japan and employing Japanese drill masters.
It need not be thought strange that there is an anti-foreign
sentiment in China. Was there not an anti-foreign sentiment in
Japan forty years ago? The Shimonoseki affair was not unlike the
Boxer trouble, except that it was less fatal to life, but it
exerted a large influence in the overthrow of the shogun and in the
restoration of the emperor. Just as in Japan the old finally gave
way to the new, and progress took the place of stagnation, so in
China the old must give way to the new.
Advance is inevitable and the world need not fear the result. If
China were strong enough to give effect to the hostility which some
of her people now feel, she might be a menace to the peace of the
world, but she cannot grow in strength faster than she grows in
knowledge, and as she grows in knowledge she will learn, as other
nations have learned, that nations help rather than injure each
other by the material, intellectual and moral development of their
people.
[Illustration: A CANTON BRIDGE.]