The face of China

by E. G. Kemp

“As to the prohibition of plantation, Viceroys or Governors, the Governor of the Imperial Prefecture of Shuntienfu, and Military Governors are commanded to direct their subordinates to carry out the suppression with care and thoroughness. They should also cause other grains to be planted in place of the pernicious drug, and they will be rewarded according to the degree of success they attain. The Ministry of the Interior will supervise these measures being put in operation.

“In regard to devising means to fill the deficit of duties and likin, the Ministry of Finance is desired carefully to consider the question. It is, undoubtedly, an important point to be dealt with, but it may be disposed of by weighing advantages and drawbacks and considering all possible resources. Viceroys and Governors who may have valuable suggestions on the question are ordered to memorialise the Throne for their adoption, so that those carrying out the suppression need not be hampered by financial considerations. Though the Government is in straitened circumstances, it will neither seek to satisfy its hunger nor quench its thirst at the expense of this harmful poison, so that it may rid its people of this great bane.

“Dividing, in this way, the responsibilities and actions, no evasion of burden will be permitted, and all concerned are commanded to put forth their best energies to aid us in securing prosperous rule by taking natural advantages to ameliorate the conditions of life among our people. After receipt of this Edict each office in the capital or provinces is commanded to make a careful report of its plan of operation in this affair.”

[The above edict is sealed by the Prince Regent, and is signed by the Grand Councillors Prince Ching, Shih Hsü, Chang Chih-tung, and Lu Ch’uan-lin.]

This decree leads us to another problem the solution of which will task the ablest of her statesmen, namely, the financial problem. It may well be that she would be wiser to seek foreign expert knowledge to grapple with it, rather than to tide over present difficulties by having recourse to foreign loans.

There seems no reasonable doubt that China possesses untold mineral wealth, and that railway enterprise ought also to become a valuable source of income. Foreign nations have realised it only too well, and railway and mining concessions have been granted, which China is now trying to win back into her own hands. She has not been altogether faithful to her agreements, and the foreign Powers remind one of a pack of snarling hounds quarrelling over the booty. It is certain that China cannot dispense at the present time with foreign assistance, but she would probably find it more profitable in the long run to obtain the best expert knowledge, and to pay for it, rather than to try and make bargains and to obtain quick returns. At the present time the mineral wealth of the country can only be successfully developed under the direction of trained Europeans, but the Chinese—not unnaturally, one must admit—are suspicious of foreign aid. The mining concessions already granted to foreign nations are a constant source of friction, and entail perpetual controversy. Misunderstandings inevitably arise.

Perhaps the most important of all the changes taking place in China to-day is in its system of education. It has been somewhat unfairly said that the only things she cared for in her old educational scheme were Scholarship and Style. Had there not been some more vital quality in it, it could hardly have held on so securely for many hundred years. That vital element may have been the love of morals so inseparably connected with scholarship in China. Now the old system has been completely abolished, and the Chinese classics are in danger of being relegated to the background. As soon as the change was commenced by the abolition of the triennial examinations thousands of students flocked to Japan, eager to absorb the new learning which was to replace the old. This was no difficult task in one way, for the cultivation of the memory was the main object of the former education, and they learnt what was taught them with a readiness which naturally led them to suppose that they had mastered a subject when they had committed its terms to memory. The result was as unsatisfactory as might have been anticipated; for they merely brought home with them a second-hand, unassimilated collection of information without any satisfactory foundation. Japanese influence, which was paramount after the amazing success of Japan during the recent war, soon waned, and even the Japanese themselves have deplored the rashness of their policy with regard to China.[10] The returned students were by no means fitted for the position of becoming teachers of “Young China.” The impossibility of obtaining competent teachers of Western science for so vast an empire as China must be obvious to every one, and the appointment of unqualified teachers has brought much confusion into the schools. The spirit of unrest and insubordination has been steadily growing, and the Government has tried to check this by enjoining a stricter worship of Confucius.

In mission schools the influence of this spirit has also been felt, although in a less degree. It is of the utmost importance that all missions should do their best to counteract this feeling and to inculcate loyalty and obedience, while endeavouring as far as possible to correlate the education with that given in the Government schools. They are seriously handicapped by the much larger salaries now offered by Government in order to get capable teachers, and the missions must be prepared to make large sacrifices if they are to continue the educational work which they have so successfully inaugurated. They have at least 1500 primary schools, in which there are not less than 30,000 scholars. In these the teaching is usually superior to that of the Government schools, but the equipment is very inferior.

It would be out of place to describe here the various schemes which are now being put before the British public for carrying on the education of those trained in mission schools into the higher branches of knowledge implied in a college training, but it is of supreme importance that the education which is given by Europeans—whether in mission or in other schools—should be first-rate in quality. It were better, if need be, to restrict the scope of operations rather than allow any defect in the quality of the work. It has been the tendency of most missions to undertake more work than they could successfully cope with; and while admiring the results they have achieved, often under a heavy strain, I cannot but hope that in the future a more generous support, especially in the matter of increased staff, will be given to those who are labouring for the educational regeneration of China.

An increasing number of students are going to Great Britain and America for education, but it is recognised that there are difficulties and dangers in this course. One of the most far-sighted of China’s statesmen, H.E. Tuan Fang has instituted a wise scheme of preparation for such students. There is an annual examination held at Nanking for all students going abroad under Government auspices. In 1907 eighty-four candidates presented themselves, of whom seventy-two were men and twelve women. They were examined in the following subjects: English composition, translation from English into Chinese and vice versa, Latin, French, German, chemistry, physics and physiology, history, geography, Chinese composition, geometry, trigonometry, algebra. The only failures were in languages.