It will have been seen in this volume—and, indeed, no student of Chinese affairs will need to be told—that the nature and extent of the preparations which the progressive Chinese have been carrying on during the last twenty years are simply astounding. They assuredly are. China, equally as she has been immovable for so many centuries, has shown us that now it is not a question of getting her to move so much as keeping her from moving too quickly.
But, on the other hand, I have been in some parts of interior China where not a single sign of reform in the common life is noticeable. Behind in the village, however, there has invariably been found one or two of the scholarly men who have taken into their being a certain spirit of reform despite the fact that they could not work out the Utopian era which had been promulgated in the revolutionary literature they had been reading and with which the country has for many years been flooded. The time now has come when these floodgates may be opened. In a considerable amount of travel in various parts of China I have often been struck with these Revolutionaries, who appeared, under the then prevailing conditions of government, misguided fanatics. It was because of the restraint placed upon them by the Manchu officials that they were slow in openly pursuing their revolutionary tactics and working out the reforms which their party were constantly agitating. In another work on China, published just six days before the Revolution broke out,[[1]] the author in a concluding note wrote the following: "I had come to see how far the modern spirit had penetrated into the recesses of the Chinese Empire.... One must begin again, no matter how dimly, to perceive something of the causes which are at work. By the incoming of the European to inland China a transformation is being wrought, not the natural growth of a gradual evolution, itself the result of propulsion from within, but produced, on the contrary, by artificial means, in bitter conflict with inherent instincts, inherited traditions, innate tendencies, characteristics, and genius, racial and individual. In the eyes of the Chinese of the old school these changes in the habits of life infinitely old are improving nothing and ruining much—all is empty, vapid, useless to God and to man. The tawdry shell, the valueless husk of ancient Chinese life is here still, remains untouched in many places; but the soul within is steadily and surely, if slowly, undergoing a process of final atrophy. But yet the proper opening up of the country by internal reform and not by external pressure has as yet hardly commenced in immense areas of the Empire far removed from the Imperial city of Peking.... I cannot but admit that whilst in most parts of my journey there are distinct traces of reform—I speak, of course, of the outlying parts of China—and some very striking traces, too, and a real longing on the part of far-seeing officials to escape from a humiliating international position, it is distinctly apparent that in everything which concerns Europe and the Western world the people and the officials as a whole are of one mind in the methods of procrastination which are so dear to the heart of the Celestial, and that peculiar opposition to Europeanism which has marked the real East since the beginning of modern history."
To a large extent were I to go to the places where I formed the above opinion I should probably be inclined to write to-day the same opinion—perhaps with one point of difference: that point of difference would be worked out by the noticeable presence of the to-day ubiquitous Revolutionary. He was there before, working silently; to-day he is working openly and without fear of decapitation. And if, standing afar off, we are able to look out across China, if we are able to see a beaconlight of revolutionism (which means reform) and are able to estimate rightly the enormous difference in national opinion which they in their teaching are constantly bringing about, and if we are able also to look into the future and imagine a China concentrated towards one final end of resultant progress, assuredly we shall find a nation great in power as she is now in numbers.
But shall we? The reader for himself must answer the question. Would that I could without hesitancy declare that we shall. I hope that we shall; but never, to attain this end, did a nation require more careful steering.
One cannot conclude this volume, however, without expressing the hope that the Chinese will not prove themselves their greatest enemy. Admiring their many admirable traits of national character, willing to sacrifice much to uplift them in the truest sense, there is many a man in China to-day who cannot but see that in the overbearing attitude of the younger generation is there a great danger to the common weal. China needs strong men: her strong men, many of them young, enthusiastic, inexperienced in great things they now have in hand, need to remain strong, they need to recognise Truth first and last. The responsibility of remoulding the national character of a quarter of the human race remains with them. They can only do this by adhering to Truth and to right principles. If they do, they will go from height to height in national reform and progress of the greatest good. Without it, they will fall and be lost. China's end will then be nearer.[[2]]
[[1]] "Across China on Foot: Life in the Interior and Reform Movement." J. W. Arrowsmith, Ltd. 16s. net.
[[2]] The following is a newspaper interview with Mrs. T. C. White, the Princess Der Ling:—
"'What are the causes of the downfall of the Manchu Dynasty?'
"'That is a long story. This thing was expected long ago. Of course a lot of people in Peking didn't know anything about it, but we did—our family. My father did, at least, since the China-Japanese war. He said: "Within ten or fifteen years there is going to be a revolution in China, and that will be the end of the Manchus. In case they reform the country right away, it may be all right. But otherwise they will be finished by that time." At that time they didn't want it. We tried our best to reform the Court in lots of things. The Empress-Dowager—at that time she ruled—hated reform. She was very conservative. She wouldn't have reform as long as she lived, but, of course, we hoped that in case of her death the Emperor Kwang Hsu would reign. He would have been for reform; but we knew he probably wouldn't live through; he would die before her. That Court is so mysterious in every way—it takes too long to tell.
"'China has been an old, conservative country for so many years. They kept up the old style and of course the old generations like it because it is to their advantage. Just now the young people who have been abroad and educated want the Western civilisation and freedom. If they did not see anything better they would not know. But they begin to see how nice it is in America and how hard life is in their country, and I do not blame them for causing the Revolution. I would myself. I hate the old customs. But our family was one of the first progressive families. In fact, I should say probably there are very few like us among the Manchu families.