THE NEED OF A UNIVERSITY EXPLAINED (_continued_)
The Committees at Oxford and Cambridge had not been without hope that
the missionary world would accept the scheme readily once it was well
understood.
They had had the advantage of many interviews with missionaries and
others in London at their joint meetings so as to make it a matter of
some certainty that a large portion of the Western educators of China
would agree with them. But they were rather doubtful whether the
scheme would be welcomed by the Chinese official world.
The commercial world in London that had dealings with China was rather
pessimistic. They held the view that you only had to mention the word
Christian or missionary to a Chinese official and it would have the
same effect that the word rats has on a terrier. But as I have before
related, we were agreeably surprised to find at the very outset that
the Chinese official world were far from hostile, and that we were
given, unasked, letters of introduction, whose contents I did not know
except that they procured for us a welcome in China which was as
surprising as it was delightful. I learnt in China that knowledge
{318} and learning is so loved and respected that those whose object is
its dissemination will ever find a ready welcome, and I learnt also
that whatever may have been their sentiments in the past, in the
present the Chinese have no hatred towards Christianity, but they
regard it as one of the least odious parts of the Western civilisation
which has become for them a necessity. I had also the privilege of
seeing His Excellency Tong-Shao-Yi in London, and he did not discourage
the plan.
When we arrived at Harbin we found an official ready to receive us who
had been sent to welcome the scheme to China. His instructions were to
accompany us to Kwangchangtzu and to watch over our comfort. As he
only spoke Chinese, conversation was difficult; but with the aid of a
member of the Imperial Customs we gathered the object of his mission.
At Mukden we met with a similar civility. I was invited to dine at the
Yamen. I shall always remember my drive to that dinner. At Mukden no
carrying chairs are used, but a springless cart, in which the
traveller, or more accurately the sufferer, reclines. I was late for
dinner, so the order was given to the charioteer to drive quick, and as
we bounded over the unpaved streets of a Manchurian town I had an
opportunity of realising one of the minor discomforts of Chinese
missionary life. At the Yamen the same civility was shown to the
scheme, and next day Dr. Ross, my kindly host, took me to see a Manchu
noble of high rank. He was more than encouraging. He first sounded
the note {319} that I found vibrating through the whole of China. He
asked why did not the West concern itself with such things as
education, which benefit man, rather than with war, which produces such
endless suffering and misery.
At Peking I met some great officials who all were favourable, but it
was not till we got south that we encountered what can only be
described as enthusiasm for Western education. One gentleman advised
that such an institution should be started at once, and recommended the
recall of all students studying in Western lands to fill its ranks.
Another who was interpreting was not satisfied with the prudent
official reply I received that the plan was good, but that I must make
inquiries at Peking. He added: "Make inquiries at Peking; but if they
refuse, go on with your scheme all the same." A body of young men who
had been educated at Boone College sent a petition that the scheme
should be forthwith undertaken, but perhaps the most remarkable
experience was that which I had at Shanghai. I was entertained by
thirteen of the gentry who had all received their education in the
West. We discussed every aspect of the plan, and when I pressed upon
them that one of the good results of the University would be that it
would have a healthy moral environment, an old man turned to his
companions and said: "We have ourselves had experience of this. The
environment in which we lived when we were in the West was different
from that in which we found ourselves when we returned {320} to
Shanghai, and did not it largely affect our lives?" After we had
talked some time the question was put plainly to them: "Would they
support such a University?" One of them turned round and said: "Of
course we should. It is obvious that if you will give us in China the
same sort of University as there is in England, if only on the score of
expense, we shall want to send our sons there; besides which no one
likes parting from their children and leaving them in a distant land."
I discussed the matter with a Chinese statesman in Peking. I asked
whether Peking would not be a good centre, but he was very adverse to
the idea, because he said that Peking had such a bad moral tone that
boys would not be able to do any good work, and that he himself far
preferred that Chinese boys should be sent at ten years old to England
to receive their whole education in our country. When we pointed out
to him how, except in the case of a few rich men, such a course would
be quite impossible, he said: "Then put your University right away in
the western hills out of reach of the immoral influences of a town."
There can be few more eloquent testimonies to the necessity of another
University; nothing but a Christian University could succeed in
creating the moral atmosphere, which this wise man saw was the power of
the West. In the same conversation he gave a further testimony to the
power of Christianity, all the more striking that it was uttered by a
man who was not a Christian. He said: "Yes, {321} I have no doubt that
all that is good in the West comes from Christianity."
All the officials we interviewed always ended their encomiums on the
suggested scheme by a saving clause to the effect that, before we did
anything, we must ask his Excellency Chang-Chih-Tung. When we passed
through Peking the first time we failed to see him, and it was
therefore with some anxiety I sought an interview with him on our
return journey.
Chang was a figure in the politics of China whose importance it would
be hard to over-estimate. Not that he had the reputation for being a
peculiarly able man; in fact, some of the Europeans spoke slightingly
of his mentality. His force and influence came rather from his moral
qualities. He was the perfect type of Confucian scholar.
Wonderfully well versed in all the knowledge of the literati of China,
he was far from despising any form of knowledge; in fact, he was one of
the first of the statesmen of China to recognise the importance of
Western education. When we were discussing with some leading merchants
the want of integrity of many of the officials, they claimed Chang as
an exception with enthusiasm. He had held the highest offices and
still remained comparatively poor. His reputation for clean-handedness
was enhanced by his age. In China the old are greatly reverenced, and
an old, honest, and learned statesman combined three of the qualities
most admired in China.
It was therefore with some trepidation that I {322} found myself going
to see a man whose moral authority was so great that he could with a
word mar or make the University scheme as far as the power of the
Chinese officials extended, and in his case this was very far. I was
alone, for owing to the rather heated debates that divided the British
and Chinese Governments over the Canton-Wuchang Railway, it was thought
advisable that no member of the Legation should come with me. I drove
down to the north end of the city, and turning down a by-lane, scarcely
wide enough for the carriage to pass, we drew up opposite a very modest
dwelling. I was received by His Excellency's nephew, a man of
extremely courtly manners; and as he conducted me across the yard I was
struck by the simplicity of the house. The room, for instance, into
which I was ushered had a brick floor, and was separated from the
courtyard only by a paper and wood screen. Imagine what the intense
cold must be in a Peking winter when the thermometer is somewhere below
zero! The furniture of the room was equally simple. Two Chinese
chairs of the Chinese guest-room pattern, standing on each side of the
usual Chinese table, were supported on the other side of the room by a
token of the ever-encroaching West in the shape of a common round table
and some mongrel-looking stools, which looked as if they were
productions of Japan palmed off as European.
As we sat and talked (for I was too early for my interview) my host
told me all about his uncle's {323} family, and the while I wondered at
the austerity of the dwelling of the greatest man in China after those
of royal blood.
His Excellency was then ready to receive me, and we adjourned to
another equally simple room where the usual table with tea, sweetmeats,
and wine was laid out. Chang during the whole interview smoked a long
pipe, which required all the efforts of what I took to be two boys, but
who really were slave-girls, to keep alight. He wanted to know where
the money was to come from. I assured him that there are many generous
people in England and America who, desiring to leave a good name behind
them, and convinced that education confers on humanity incalculable
benefits, are willing to give largely to such a cause.
Then he inquired what line we should take with regard to Confucian
learning; I said Christianity and Confucianism need not be opposed, and
we should respect and encourage the teaching of the sage. He clearly
approved, and gave me advice as to the course of study to be
followed--first, Chinese letters, then foreign languages; and he
advised as the site for the University some place near Wuchang and not
Peking.
He then assured me that I might tell my countrymen that he approved of
the scheme. "Who," said he, "could but approve of such a scheme?"
As I left he accompanied me across the courtyard, though I protested,
and I felt I had been honoured {324} by this interview with one of
China's greatest men. He was the embodiment of all that was fine in
China. He belonged to an age that is passing away. The Chinese
statesman of the future will learn Western luxury with Western
knowledge.
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