| Show THE PEKING GOVERNMENT i Mr E II Parker who has served In various consular and academic capacities ca-pacities for more than n quartor of a I century and on modern China writes from firsthand knowledge lie shows strikingly In his recent book how vague 1 entity the Chinese Government Govern-ment is and to do something to explain ex-plain the irritating delays that have complicated recent negotiations with thc empire The Peking Government writes Mr Parker makes no new laws does nothing noth-ing of any kind for any class of persons per-sons leaves each province to its own devices and like the general staff cf iin army organization both absorbs successful men and gives out needy or able men to go forth and do likewise like-wise Hence overy man be he squcecr middleman or squeezed has or hopes to have a finger in the pe There IB I no snobbery in China though there Is plenty of plgglshness Any peasant or greengrocer can study or bribe his way up and no Chinaman 4 Is I ashamed of his poor relations ThuS there is a sort of fooling or live and let live all 1 around The fat is there and the fire is there it if for each man to burn his fingers or feast withal with-al as luck and wriggling may have It There arc no passports no restraints on liberty no frontiers no caste prejudices preju-dices no food scruples no sanitary measures no laws except popular customs cus-toms and criminal statutes China Is in many senses one vast republic In which personal restraints have no existence ex-istence The Manchus as thp ruling race have certainly n few privileges but on the other hand they suffer just as many disabilities Barbers play actors and policemen are under a mild tabu more theoretical than real hut < aboriginal barbarians can easily become be-come Chinese by reading books and putting on breeches Indeed there t Is an official oppression for this trans mogrlficationrcalled changlng the autochthonous au-tochthonous into the curront All men are equal before the Emperor and all have fairly equal chances of his smiles and frowns The only thing Is I to adhere to custom and not to overdo things above all to respect the person of the Emperor as ropresented by the official uniform always worn In public of a mandarin be he great or small This being the happygo lucky condition o high ofllre in China there is apart from special causes no jealousy or class feeling in the country coun-try It is simply a question of big fish feeding on little fish unless and until the little fish can keep out of the way cat their way up and become big fish themselves |
