1918

President Li Yuan-Hung.

PREFACE

This volume tells everything that the student or the casual reader needs to know about the Chinese Question. It is sufficiently exhaustive to show very clearly the new forces at work, and to bring some realisation of the great gulf which separates the thinking classes of to-day from the men of a few years ago; whilst, at the same time, it is sufficiently condensed not to overwhelm the reader with too great a multitude of facts.

Particular attention may be devoted to an unique feature—namely, the Chinese and Japanese documentation which affords a sharp contrast between varying types of Eastern brains. Thus, in the Memorandum of the Black Dragon Society (Chapter VII) we have a very clear and illuminating revelation of the Japanese political mind which has been trained to consider problems in the modern Western way, but which remains saturated with theocratic ideals in the sharpest conflict with the Twentieth Century. In the pamphlet of Yang Tu (Chapter VIII) which launched the ill-fated Monarchy Scheme and contributed so largely to the dramatic death of Yuan Shih-kai, we have an essentially Chinese mentality of the reactionary or corrupt type which expresses itself both on home and foreign issues in a naïvely dishonest way, helpful to future diplomacy. In the Letter of Protest (Chapter X) against the revival of Imperialism written by Liang Ch'i-chao—the most brilliant scholar living—we have a Chinese of the New or Liberal China, who in spite of a complete ignorance of foreign languages shows a marvellous grasp of political absolutes, and is a harbinger of the great days which must come again to Cathay. In other chapters dealing with the monarchist plot we see the official mind at work, the telegraphic despatches exchanged between Peking and the provinces being of the highest diplomatic interest. These documents prove conclusively that although the Japanese is more practical than the Chinese—and more concise—there can be no question as to which brain is the more fruitful.

Coupled with this discussion there is much matter giving an insight into the extraordinary and calamitous foreign ignorance about present-day China, an ignorance which is just as marked among those resident in the country as among those who have never visited it. The whole of the material grouped in this novel fashion should not fail to bring conviction that the Far East, with its 500 millions of people, is destined to play an important rôle in postbellum history because of the new type of modern spirit which is being there evolved. The influence of the Chinese Republic, in the opinion of the writer, cannot fail to be ultimately world-wide in view of the practically unlimited resources in man-power which it disposes of.

In the Appendices will be found every document of importance for the period under examination,—1911 to 1917. The writer desires to record his indebtedness to the columns of The Peking Gazette, a newspaper which under the brilliant editorship of Eugene Ch'en—a pure Chinese born and educated under the British flag—has fought consistently and victoriously for Liberalism and Justice and has made the Republic a reality to countless thousands who otherwise would have refused to believe in it.

PUTNAM WEALE.

PEKING, June, 1917.

[I.—GENERAL INTRODUCTION]
[II.—THE ENIGMA OF YUAN SHIH-KAI]
[III.—THE DREAM REPUBLIC]
(From the Manchu Abdication to the dissolution of Parliament)
[IV.—THE DICTATOR AT WORK]
(From the Coup d'état of the 4th Nov. 1913 to the outbreak of the
World-war, 1st August, 1914)
[V.—THE FACTOR OF JAPAN]
[VI.—THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS]
[VII.—THE ORIGIN OF THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS]
[VIII.—THE MONARCHIST PLOT]
1^o The Pamphlet of Yang Tu
[IX.—THE MONARCHY PLOT]
2^o Dr. Goodnow's Memorandum
[X.—THE MONARCHY MOVEMENT IS OPPOSED]
The Appeal of the Scholar Liang Chi-chao
[XI.—THE DREAM EMPIRE]
("The People's Voice" and the action of the Powers)
[XII.—"THE THIRD REVOLUTION"]
The Revolt of Yunnan
[XIII.—"THE THIRD REVOLUTION" (continued)]
Downfall and Death of Yuan Shih-kai
[XIV.—THE NEW RÉGIME—FROM 1916 TO 1917]
[XV.—THE REPUBLIC IN COLLISION WITH REALITY: TWO TYPICAL INSTANCES OF
"FOREIGN AGGRESSION"]
[XVI.—CHINA AND THE WAR]
[XVII.—THE FINAL PROBLEM:—REMODELLING THE POLITICO-ECONOMIC
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHINA AND THE WORLD]
[APPENDICES—DOCUMENTS AND MEMORANDA]