An American Diplomat in China

by Paul S. Reinsch

There is a phase of Chinese life which I should touch upon if the picture I am trying to give of the China I knew is to be complete.

Brigandage is an established institution in China, where it has operated so long that people have become accustomed to it and take it for granted as a natural visitation. At this time there was a vicious circle around which brigands and troops and rich citizens and villagers were travelling, one in pursuit of the other. The brigands were recruited from disbanded soldiers—men who had lost connection with their family and clan. Often their families had been wiped out by famine, flood, or disease, or had been killed in the revolution. At other times the individual may have lost touch through a fault of his own causing him to be cast out. It is very difficult for an isolated person, without family and clan connections, to reëstablish himself. The easiest way is to enlist in the army. If that cannot be done, he becomes a brigand. Brigands foregather in provinces where the administration is lax or in remote regions difficult to reach. They lie in ambush and seize wealthy persons, who are carried off to the hills and released only when ransom is paid. In this way, a considerable tax is levied on accumulated wealth. This money the brigands spend among the villagers where they happen to be. Meanwhile, the Provincial Governor bethinks himself that a certain brigade or division has not been paid for a long time and therefore might cause trouble, so he announces what is called a "country cleansing campaign." The situation is so intolerable that the general sees himself forced to go to extremes, and to send his troops with orders to exterminate the brigands. They proceed to the infested regions; the brigands, having meanwhile got wind of these movements, depart for healthier climes, leaving the troops to quarter themselves on the villagers, who are by them relieved of the money which they have made out of the brigands. Some brigands may be unfortunate enough to be caught; some will be shot as an example, and others will be allowed to enlist. When the soldiers have dwelt for a while among the villagers, they report that the bands have now been fully suppressed and that the country is cleaned. They are then recalled to headquarters; their general reports to the governor, and is appropriately rewarded. Meanwhile, the brigands return from their safer haunts and begin again to catch wealthy people, whom they relieve of their surplus liquidable property. And so the circle revolves interminably.

A little more efficiency in China would deliver it of much of its intriguing and all of its banditry. Returning to Peking from a trip to the Philippines I found that Mr. Kyle, an American engineer on the Siems-Carey railway survey, and Mr. Purcell, another employé, had been seized by bandits in a remote part of Honan. The bandits took a large sum of silver these men were carrying to pay off the surveying parties farther up toward Szechuan, then they decided to hold Kyle and Purcell for ransom.

Doctor Tenney, the Chinese secretary, was in Kaifengfu, stirring up the provincial governor to hurry the release of the men. The company was quite ready to pay the ransom, and I could easily have induced the Chinese Government to pay it. I was advised that this would be the only certain way of rescuing the men, but I felt it would be a dangerous precedent; as the bandits would then go on taking and holding foreigners for ransom. Mr. Kyle was neither young nor robust. I feared for the strenuous life and the worry he was undergoing, but waited two weeks for the Central and the Provincial Government, which I made responsible, to get them back. One night, Mr. Purcell escaped. I then through Doctor Tenney notified the Governor-General that he must surround the entire region where the bandits were, telling them emphatically that if anything happened to Mr. Kyle the band would be hunted down and exterminated.

The threat was "got across" to the bandits, and with it a promise that those instrumental in restoring the captive would escape punishment and in some way be rewarded. After a week's further suspense Mr. Kyle was delivered to the pursuing troops and forthwith returned to Peking. The chief of the band was rewarded with a commission in the army; his henchmen were enlisted as soldiers. But those who had no part in the delivery were one by one caught and executed. So, in the end, a salutary example was set to keep bandits from interfering with foreigners.

Mr. Kyle moved with the band every night in their mountainous and inaccessible region. Over divides they went from valley to valley. Mr. Kyle kept his normal health, but complained that they had not let him sleep. He snored so loudly, the bandits told him, that they feared he would attract the notice of the troops; so, during the final ten days, he had not had a solid hour of sleep. But he made up his mind that he would keep his mental equipoise and his physical fitness in order to live through the experience.

Two woman missionaries had been taken at about the same time by bandits in Shantung Province. But they were released after a few days. The missionaries of the society they belonged to circulated a pamphlet somewhat later, pointing out the superior efficacy of prayer over diplomatic intervention. In response to prayer these two teachers had been freed within a week; whereas all our diplomatic efforts had not yet secured the release of the American engineer.

Fear of foreign displeasure lost the Chinese the chance to get the services of a great engineer. Before going to the Philippines I had been visited by Mr. Ostrougoff, Minister of Railways in Kerensky's time, who had inaugurated the Russian agreement under which Mr. John F. Stevens was given the task of helping to reorganize the Russian railways. The work had been prevented by disturbed conditions. Admiral Kolchak, together with Alexis Staal, had also called on me, with others who had faith in the beginnings of a representative political organization in Siberia. I recall Kolchak's fine, serious face, and his manner which was that of a man under the strain imposed by duties that transcend any mere personal interest. On my return, John F. Stevens came to Peking for a month. He was discouraged by the Russian and Siberian situation. The general breakdown, the social revolution, and the establishment of soviets had demolished the chances for carrying out his railway plans in Russia. No organized authority had backed him. In Peking he studied the Chinese railway situation. In his quiet, thorough-going way, he looked into the whole question for China; it was not long before he had great confidence in its possibilities. I felt it would be a godsend if a man of his genius for original planning and constructive work, proved in the great Panama Canal project; a man, moreover, who had intimate experience of American railway operation, could work out with the Chinese a systematic plan for developing their railway service. The Chinese would have eagerly welcomed this chance, but they were not free. The engagement of one foreigner would have brought demands to employ many more.

This was in the spring of 1918. I called on Mr. Liang Shih-yi to greet him on his return from exile. "The urgent thing," he said, "is to put a stop to military interference with the civil government. The question of a parliament is not quite so important, but, as it has been put to the fore, it must be solved first. My solution is to elect a new parliament under the old law. Then reduce the army and separate military from civilian affairs."

Liang described to me the characteristics of the nine chief southern leaders. They were rivals, they had their hostilities; no three leaders would agree. Two would come to an understanding, and the rest would turn and rend them. Finally, he predicted that Hsu Shih-chang would be the most likely candidate for President, Tuan having declined.