Show I filE CtJINIESE CRISIS 5 By Archibald R Colguhoun S Author of China In Transformation The Overland to China Etc S S IIP HOW CHINA is GOVERNED The Government of the Celestial empire 5 em-pire to quote from China in Transformation Trans-formation is on the model of an ancient theocracy the Emperor ruling by divine right without church or piJesthoocl with no dogmas to become obsolete no ritual to be corrupted no 1 scriptures to be perverted or criticised 1 onlr one solitary man standing between S i S be-tween heaven and earth The EmperorS Emperor-S stands as a mediator between divine I l authority and his people and is alone responsible to heaven In return for s whIch burden he Is Invested with complete com-plete and absolute authority Such Is bC the ideal of Chinese monarchy but ItS S It-S must be noted that should the Emperor not govern in accordance with what S Mcms to his people the divine wish he may he supplanted and if his dynasty L is decadent and effete another must be j raised up This provision allows license F li-cense for Innumerable divergencies oC 5i upiniojion the subject of divine com hriands or wishes and makes revolution h revolu-tion not only possible but invests It with a sort of sanctity l The Idea of family life which Is so important in China is the foundation S of government Tho Emperor Js tne jjreat father bound to give protection j and nourishment to his people and 1 they on their side to yield the complete mlbmls3ion of children This thought runs through all state papers and diets and the sacred duty of filial 5b obediLnce j s Insisted upon Rebellion 2 thor fore is regarded as parricide and j IViriJuidu is considered as the most vinous ot crimes To illustrate the 45 Mriss uhlih is i laid on this view we 1 jiuty quote an Instance of such a crime in which a man and his wife caused 1 the death of his mother ot only wcic t they punished by l death but the whole district in which they lived was placc1 1 nndoi a ban scholars were not allowed to Mimpcte in thc examinations magi St tiatcs uere deprived of their nfiicew Si everything was done to impress allS all-S vho should hear of IL with the absolute h sacivdncss of family life nnd the dire r vengeance of the Government on all who by outlawing It outrage also the S family life of which the Emperor Is the sole head qa Despite all this China is the classic ground of rebellion and the country isS hardly ever free from disturbances in S e tine part or another This anomaly S is only one of many which confront us in I this land of paradoxes but the dif w ference between theory and practice Is not perhaps con lined to the Celestial empire As a matter of fact the i Oilnese under an axi oerat are perhaps r per-haps the most loosely governed people in the world and are accustomed to manage their local affairs without interference il in-terference from the central Government 7 Govern-ment Yt hlle theoretically believing mci and acknowledging the ineffable supremacy su-premacy of the son of heaven the it Chinaman is practically a Jaw unto himself and ready at the slightest ii S provocation to declare his conviction S that the Emperor is no longer acting in accordance with divine wishes and 1 that therefore his allegiance is tot cited The elaborate and high flown Chinese method of speech has about asS as-S much relation to the thought Jt cm 4 bodies or tOflCCftiUSfl8 the theory and 55 q Ideal of government in China has to c its actual enforcement To turn from the abstract to the S ti concrete The Chinese civil administration i adminis-tration has at its bead the Emperor S 10 as the apex of the government pyramid pyra-mid in effect however he no more governs absolutely than a constitutional i constitu-tional sovereign or the president a ti republic and though he is supposed too IlCi to-o < Jess the power of Initiative ho Is practically only able to pass or veto fL the measures presented to him or he can return them to the boards for reconsideration re-consideration The method of procedure S S proced-ure is by memorials addressed to the I 1 throne which must pass through the various boaids and be llnally considered S consid-ered by the great council The country is divided Into a large I number of districts each about as large as an English county known as Hsienj in each is stationed u magistrate S magis-trate who has in his own hands nil the functions civil and military the i civil Is always supremo In China relating re-lating to the district This hard worked officer Is the unit of the administrative I admin-istrative system and Is always Chinese His task Is no light one and I if he fails to get on with his people he can expect little J support from tho Government and may end his career by having his ofliclal boots pulled oilS oil-S fthe grossest Insult that can be paid I him and being thrown into the nearest I near-est ditch After such a degradation future employment Government is out of the question Poorly paid and I with a host of hangoruon whom he Is bound to maintain if I he would preserve his popularity he Is obliged to have resource to systematic peculation and S bribetaking The Chinese language Is full of proverbs about the corruption of i magistrates and other olllcials and the t science officialdom Is well expressed I by the saying Bijy fish eat little fish S < little fish eat shrimps shrimps cat I I > S mud while the underlines i it is said Scent money asa My scents blood e A grpup of districts makes a department depart-ment governed by a prefect who is the court of appeal from the magistrates magis-trates a group of departments forms a circuit at the head of which Is an in tendant of circuit or TaotaS Then I comes he I province whose chief executive execu-tive officer Is called GovernorTherc are oijrhioon of these provinces in Chini and their sxe may be imagined when ve remember that their area is more than thirty times that of Great Britain and that each province on an average contains a population equal to about half that of the United Kingdom Each S province Is I autonomous having within itself i all the machinery of government itS administers its own revenue provides pro-vides < for its own defense holds its own examinations and performs all I its functions without Interference from S the I central Government There Is S however one proviso of great Import lance Its Governors and chief ofll c ills are appointed from the capital to which it has to remit tribute as it share of the revenue While theoretically I theo-retically literary examination is the only avenue to Official employment in China the dominion at Peking of the Manchus an ulion race has been the occasion of evasion of this qualification qualifica-tion and the appointment of men who have not passed the examination test at nil This Is l how tho IManchus have I retained their hold upon a vast empire whose people are far from friendly toward I to-ward them I I The Governor of a province is the only olllclal who has the right of 1110 morallsslnF the throne in his own name I and this gives him the enormous ad I vantage of being able to report secret I I 3y on his subordinates His power I thevofoie is immense and his au tlmbii ty nearly absolute There remains still one officer between I I f r tween the Governor and the throne namely the GovernorGeneral termed I I Viceroy by the foreigners who has sometimes one and sometimes two F I provinces under his jurisdiction Enormous as are the powers of these 1 Governors I and GovernorGenerals they have not except in the case uf piracy or of sedition the absolute I poucr of life or death All death warrants war-rants in ordinary cases have to be signed by the Emperor himself > The official class in China Is not recruited re-cruited from any particular rank the only qualification being scholarship sufficient to pi > ss the competitive exam inatlono The subjects studied are the classics only and though an enormous amount of learning by rote is required no practical knowledge is inculcated 1 and no specialization is allowed the same examination qualifying a man to be the head of a fiscal naval Judicial or amy other department It Is Justly said by the ChIn sc themselves that their country Is j governed by maxims I and the official incapacity of a man I whose equipment Is merely a long string of the sayings of Confucius leads him to save face by circumlocution by polite and meaningless ceremonial by i shifty evasions by anything indeed which relieves him from the necessity of decision or action for the time being Tho impossibility for one man especially espe-cially one man with such a training combining so many functions in hls on person Is obvious and in the face of any serious difficulty the Govern irrent generally brooks downand the ofllclals unable longer prevaricate I prove their Incapacity and are piompt Ty degraded An example oC this will 1 be remembered In the case of LI Hung Chang In the ChlnoJapanese war when he was expected to conduct a campaign while still carrying on his I duties as GovernorGeneral as super I intcndent of northern trade and various vari-ous other functions This without any organized staff and merely with the I I S assistance of such men foreigners or natives as he was able locally to pickup I pick-up upWith the twofold object of maintaining maintain-ing their dependence on Peking and preventing corruption the term of office of-fice of all the higher officials is limited to three years and a sort of general I post is constantly kept I up which I while doubtless preventing the establishment I estab-lishment of territorial interests likely to be Inconvenient to the central Government Govern-ment also prevents the officials from S getting any real insight into the affairs of their province or department and effectually debars them from taking any real Interest in the progress and development of that section Of the s country Their one idea Is to get through the three years with as little friction as possible This law however how-ever like most in China Is frequently I S evaded Another regulation prevents a mandarin man-darin from holding office in his nativeS native-S province the reason being that he might establish territorial ascendancy or Influence Independent of Peking En passant It may be remarked that the term mandarin applied by for I eigners to officials has no Chinese equivalent and is derived I believe from the Portuguese At the head ot the enormous adminIstrative 1 admin-istrative machine the Emperor is assisted as-sisted by two councils the Cabinet or i Imperial Chancery and the General Council in some respects resembling I tho Ministries of Western nations I Both these bodies are chosen by the Emperor from the leading oMlelnfs and I from the Manehu functionaries of the I court Under thc two Councils are six 1 boards Civil Office Kovenue Rites War Punishment Works and a Naval boaid was nominally ndded n few years I I ago Outside these stands a a very important I im-portant body time Consorau whose I members constitute a sort 01 advisory > critical board They arc appointed to I i watch over the welfare of the people 1 I and to ccnhure whatever they see amlss In the conduct of ofliclals and IAVOH of 1 I tho Emperor Their memorials are often exceedingly outspoken and contain con-tain audacious arraignments of the sovereign and the imperial family o o o S The Maritime Customs department hi China is under foreign supervision this being the outcome of a temporary arrangement ar-rangement at the time of he TalPlng rebe lon when maritime customs were taken under foreign protection The system worked so well that it was finally adopted and the Chinese Government I Gov-ernment allows a certain sum for the upkeep of the department whose head I is i styled InspectorGene The body whose name Is best known In the West the LsunglI Ynmcn Is a I creation of recent times not more than forty years ago and was constituted I as a gobetween for the Kmperor and foreigners whocame to the capital and j i who hitherto had been treated merely as tributebearers OsioJisIblj created for tIme furtherance of relations with foreign powers the TsungllYamen has rather acted as an Impenetrable barrier between those powers and China One of the canons of Chinese ofllclal dom is that every Minister Is person Ian I-an responsible for the advice lie gives and this has engendered a not unnatural I unnat-ural desire to avoid the expression of any decided opinion An Interview I with lif I TsungllYamen therefore a very considerable exorcise in patience I r for the foreign Minister who desires 55 I an answer to some qudstion Refresh mcnts of a nature not very grateful to j Western palates melon seeds and sugar su-gar plums probably are brought In with much deliberation and must be partaken of with ceremony Even when this Is over and the question asked there is no attempt to answer one of tho most rigid points of etiquette I eti-quette being that no one shall speak Ural When they do speak all at once and their dexterity in passing the question ques-tion from oie to another has been compared com-pared to that of Rugby forwards with the football Very llttle satisfaction has ever been had from these confer t S S ences Such in brief outline arc tho salient zrnI I I features of the plan on which the Government I Gov-ernment of the HOO000000 of Chinos la I conducted The decay of the Manehu I dynasty rotten at the I core has spread I I through every rank of their servants I I I and dependents and It is obvious that if China is over to maktf u fresh start a complete reorganization will be nci S oHary Copyright In the Initcd States of America by D T Pierce 1 |