New Forces in Old China</H1>
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
New Forces in Old China New Forces in Old China Scanned by Charles Keller for Sarah with OmniPage Professional OCR software New Forces in Old China An Inevitable Awakening by ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN To my Friends in China Preface THE object of this book is to describe the operation upon and within old, conservative, exclusive China of the three great transforming forces of the modern world--Western trade, Western politics and Western religion. These forces are producing stupendous changes in that hitherto page 1 / 529 sluggish mass of humanity. The full significance of these changes both to China and to the world cannot be comprehended now. There is something fascinating and at the same time something appalling in the spectacle of a nation numbering nearly one-third of the human race slowly and majestically rousing itself from the torpor of ages under the influence of new and powerful revolutionary forces. No other movement of our age is so colossal, no other is more pregnant with meaning. In the words of D. C. Bougler, ``The grip of the outer world has tightened round China. It will either strangle her or galvanize her into fresh life.'' The immediate occasion of this volume was the invitation of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary to deliver a series of lectures on China on the Student Lectureship Foundation and to publish them in book form. This will account in part for the style of some passages. I have, however, added considerable material which was not included in the lectures, while some articles that were contributed to the Century Magazine, the American Monthly Review of Reviews and other magazines have been inserted in their proper place in the discussion. The materials were gathered not only in study and correspondence but in an extended tour of Asia in the years 1901 and 1902. In that tour, advantage was taken of every opportunity to confer with Chinese of all classes, foreign consuls, editors, business men and American, German and British officials, as well as with missionaries of all denominations. page 2 / 529 Everywhere I was cordially received, and, as I look at my voluminous note-books, I am very grateful to the men of all faiths and nationalities who so generously aided me in my search for information. No one system of spelling Chinese names has been followed for the simple reason that no one has been generally accepted. The Chinese characters represent words and ideas rather than letters and can only be phonetically reproduced in English. Unfortunately, scholars differ widely as to this phonetic spelling, while each nationality works in its own peculiarities wherever practicable. And so we have Manchuria, Mantchuria and Manchouria; Kiao-chou, Kiau-Tshou, Kiao-Chau, Kiau- tschou and Kiao-chow; Chinan and Tsi-nan; Ychou, Ichow and I-chou; Tsing-tau and Ching-Dao; while Mukden is confusingly known as Moukden , Shen-Yang, Feng-tien-fu and Sheng- king. As some authors follow one system, some another and some none at all, and as usage varies in different parts of the Empire, an attempt at uniformity would have involved the correction of quotations and the changing of forms that have the sanction of established usage as, for example, the alteration of Chefoo to Chi-fu or Tshi-fu. I have deemed it wise, as a rule, to omit the aspirate (e. g, Tai-shan instead of T'ai-shan) as unintelligible to one who does not speak Chinese. Few foreigners except missionaries can pronounce Chinese names correctly anyway. Besides, no matter what the system of spelling, the pronunciation differs, the Chinese themselves in various page 3 / 529 parts of the Empire pronouncing the name of the Imperial City Beh-ging, Bay-ging, Bai-ging and Bei-jing, while most foreigners pronounce it Pe-kin or Pi-king. I have followed the best obtainable advice in using the hyphen between the different parts of many proper names. For the rest I join the perplexed reader who devoutly hopes that the various commit- tees that are at work on the Romanization of the Chinese language may in time agree among themselves and evolve a system that a plain, wayfaring man can understand without provocation to wrath. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Preface to the Second Edition THE author gratefully acknowledges the kindness with which his book has been received not only in this country but in England and China. In this edition he has corrected a number of errors that appeared in the first edition and has availed himself of later statistical information. He is under special obligations to the Rev. W. A. P. Martin, D. D., LL. D., of Wuchang, and the Rev. Arthur H. Smith, D. D. LL. D., of Pang-chwang, for valuable counsel. These distinguished authorities on China have been so kind as to study the book with painstaking care and to give the author the benefit of their suggestions. All these suggestions have been incorporated in this edition to the great improvement of page 4 / 529 its accuracy. The result of the Russia-Japan War is noticeably accelerating the new movement in China. The Chinese have been as much startled and impressed by the Japanese victory as the rest of the world and they are more and more disposed to follow the path which the Japanese have so successfully marked out. The considerations presented in this book are therefore even more true to-day than when they were first published. The problem of the future is plainly the problem of China and no thoughtful person can afford to be indifferent to the vast transformation which is taking place as the result of the operation of the great formative forces of the modern world. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Contents PART I OLD CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE I. THE ANCIENT EMPIRE . 15 II. DO WE RIGHTLY VIEW THE CHINESE . 25 page 5 / 529 III. ATTITUDE TOWARDS FOREIGNERS-CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS . 35 IV. A TYPICAL PROVINCE . 45 V. A SHENDZA IN SHANTUNG. 52 VI. AT THE GRAVE OF CONFUCIUS. 65 VII. SOME EXPERIENCES OF A TRAVELLER-FEASTS, INNS AND SOLDIERS . 84 PART II THE COMMERCIAL FORCE AND THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION VIII. WORLD CONDITIONS THAT ARE AFFECTING CHINA101 IX. THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION IN ASIA. .111 X. FOREIGN TRADE AND FOREIGN VICES. .121 XI. THE BUILDING OF RAILWAYS . .130 PART III THE POLITICAL FORCE AND THE NATIONAL PROTEST XII. THE AGGRESSIONS OF EUROPEAN POWERS . .145 XIII. THE UNITED STATES AND CHINA. .154 page 6 / 529 XIV. DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS-TREATIES. .165 XV. RENEWED AGGRESSIONS. .174 XVI. GROWING IRRITATION OF THE CHINESE--THE REFORM PARTY . .184 XVII. THE BOXER UPRISING . .193 PART IV THE MISSIONARY FORCE AND THE CHINESE CHURCH XVIII. BEGINNINGS OF THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE--THE TAI-PING REBELLION AND THE LATER DEVELOPMENT. .217 XIX. MISSIONARIES AND NATIVE LAWSUITS . .228 XX. MISSIONARIES AND THEIR OWN GOVERNMENTS . .236 XXI. RESPONSIBILITY OF MISSIONARIES FOR THE BOXER UPRISING . .249 XXII. THE CHINESE CHRISTIANS . .268 XXIII. THE STRAIN OF READJUSTMENT TO CHANGED ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. .280 XXIV. COMITY AND COOPERATION . .290 PART V page 7 / 529 THE FUTURE OF CHINA AND OUR RELATION TO IT XXV. IS THERE A YELLOW PERIL. .305 XXVI. FRESH REASON TO HATE THE FOREIGNER . .320 XXVII. HOPEFUL SIGNS. .333 XXVIII. THE PARAMOUNT DUTY OF CHRISTENDOM. .351 INDEX. .371 List of Illustrations Facing Page Railway Station, Paoting-fu. .Title View of Canton, Showing House Boats. 22 H. I. H. Prince Su and Attendants. 32 A Rut in the Loess Region. 46 Germans Building Railway Bridge in Shantung. 56 A Shendza in Shantung. 56 Climbing Tai-shan, the Sacred Mountain . 70 The Grave of Confucius . 70 Part of the Author's Escort of Chinese Cavalrymen. 92 Watching the Author writing in his Diary at a noon stop A Snap Shot . 92 The Bund, Shanghai . .112 American Cigarette Posters on a Chinese Bridge . .112 The Chinese Cart . .130 The Old and The New. .130 French Military Post, Saigon . .150 page 8 / 529 German Soldiers on the Bund, Tien-tsin . .150 The British Legation Guard, Peking . .174 The Temple of Heaven, Peking . .198 Memorial Arch, Hall of the Classics, Peking. .228 Graduating Class, Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Canton, 1904. .268 Approach to the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City, Peking. .320 Two of China's Great Men Yuan Shih Kai and Chang Chih-tung . .344 Map. .370 PART I Old China and its People I THE ANCIENT EMPIRE HE must be dead to all noble thoughts who can tread the venerable continent of Asia without profound emotion. Beyond any other part of the earth, its soil teems with historic associations. Here was the birthplace of the human race. Here first appeared civilization. Here page 9 / 529 were born art and science, learning and philosophy. Here man first engaged in commerce and manufacture. And here emerged all the religious teachers who have most powerfully influenced mankind, for it was in Asia in an unknown antiquity that the Persian Zoroaster taught the dualism of good and evil; that the Indian Gautama 600 years before Christ declared that self-abnegation was the path to a dreamless Nirvana; that less than a century later the Chinese Lao-tse enunciated the mysteries of Taoism and Confucius uttered his maxims regarding the five earthly relations of man, to be followed within another century by the bold teaching of Mencius that kings should rule in righteousness. In Asia it was 1,000 years afterwards that the Arabian Mohammed proclaimed himself as the authoritative prophet. There the God and Father of us all revealed Himself to Hebrew sage and prophet in the night vision and the angelic form and the still, small voice; and in Asia are the village in which was cradled and the great altar of the world on which was crucified the Son of God.