| Show J THE CtINESE CRISIS > By Archibald R Colquhoun I i 1 j Author of China in Transformati on uThe Overland to China i Etc I I 1 4 l All Bights Reserved t > S VII v jt tit v i The Chinese People The two fads which make the Chi nese1 at once the most extraordinary people of whom we have any knowledge knowl-edge are their enormous number an1 their antiquity These added to their Isolated position have combined to form a national character so complex gbstlnate and unlike that of any other nation that the Chinese almost seem to occupy a different planet to themselves them-selves We can see his outward shape hut of the true Chinaman the thinking scheming being the luring soul which I lies behind the Impassive face and dark inscrutable eyes we can form but avery a-very hay idea At the best any esti mate of the Chinese character Is bound lo be full of mistakes The history of the Chinese people emerges partially at all events from the mists of mythology more than a thousand years before Christ Ethnol oglcally they belong to the Mongolian I family and throughout China proper I tho type varies only in the same degree I de-gree us for Instance in the different countries In England There are still left in the southwest provinces remnants rem-nants of races who were the Aborigines of the country and who preserve their dress and certain customs which are entirely distinct from the Chinese They I are far more like the Caucasian than J J the Mongolian type The Manchus be I long to the same family ethnologically 1 1 I but are diuerentlated by an infusion I f of Turkic and Tunguslc blood being one of the races which under Gen hl7 I Khan became known ns the Tartars r The Manchu language originally borrowed bor-rowed its written form from thcI I Mongols but Is entirely different when spoken belonging to the Turanian group of which Turkish Is the most prominent while the Chinese Is a purely pure-ly J Mongolia language monosyllabic I and In Us written form hieroglyphic or pictorial Literature plays an extremely important im-portant part in the life of tho Chinese anil they possess a literature which Is unrivaled In Asia not only for Its antiquity anti-quity but for its comprehensiveness Confucius their great teacher lived no less than 500 yearn before Christ and the basis of all education Is the learning learn-ing by heart of his works and other classics GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENTS AND CHINESE LEARNING All Government appointments are reached through the portals of competitive competi-tive literary examination and the entrance S en-trance examination takes place every three years in the capital of each de o pal tmcnU The successful candidate may hold office but Is called on again and again to go up for examinations until on reaching the highest grade he passes the final at Peking for a doctors doc-tors degree of which only 200 are given JrtJ a year and is thereupon entitled to I immediate promotion I Is no uncommon I i uncom-mon sight to sec three generations t competing In different grades in the I same examination hal and an idea of j r the competition may be gained from 1 the number at one of the triennial sit tings when 10000 bachelors contended for 1000 vacancIes out of whom only t 2CO could reach the highest and final stage o doctor There is i however a back door to Government office and Govcrnmpnt oOce a system Js not unknown by which a substitute Lali sub-stitute Is paid who passes the examination exami-nation in the name of the dcsirious candidate Tlc Government examining official are bribed to wink at such ova sions and many are the stories current in China on this topic The effect of an education at the D Fame time severe and narrow on the Chinese character Is selfevident The chains of superstition and custom which have been growing stronger and stronger for so many thousand years are rivctted on the mind of time youth ful Chinese by an education which insists in-sists solely on memorizing the classics Strings of maxims many wise and L sententious others merely the outcome of gross and Ignorant superstition long and fabulous histories dating from a period when everything was expressed In the language of symbols tiain the t Chinese mind to I habit of thought h both inelastic and tortuous He is accustomed I I ac-customed to double entendre to subtle meanings and twists of rhetoric i at the same time he gains no knowl edge of the modern world of recent science or of contemporary history He 1 Is both highly educated and extremely k ignorant a child and a servant and thin system explains to a great extent the absolute crystallization of Chinese knowledge which makes her once In N the foremost of el t fOJclos civilization now many I I centuries behind the Western world To Yff explain the causes which worl the adoption of such a system and shut oft lhut China from outside Influence after she I ucer 1 had by herself attained Co a high pitch of knoA ledge and refinement would in AoIve an examination of geographical and historical conditions outside the scope of this article RULING INSTINCT OP THE CHINAS CHINA-S MAN We are therefore concerned with a people of unparalleled pioportlons who traditions have 4 tlcltols gathered force and intensity for thousands of years and give a permanence to their nation thel naton al character agtlnst which AVO may clash in vain our own superior qiuill tlcs of mind and heart supelor takeS I wi tn1c I centuries even to modify this national B character which to Las appears natonal once S HO childish and enigmatical Meanwhile Jet uu take the Chinaman as he Is and discover if possible some modus vl vendi with him The great point which 4 the Britisher and Chinaman have in common Is the commercial instinct nstinct t1Sc The Chinaman Is seldom a politician oltclnn T5 sa e In a local sense never from choice choie cI 1 soldier time military profession being ft held in contempt and being entirely 5 Jtibordlnated to the civil officials evenS even-S Jt Ine priesthood 1 Is looked upon aM a low i I rffrade of life and outside official ranks < rank h the merchant even the petty trader pety 5 13 hold in the greatest repute In a provincial town the leading banker ranks next to the prefect HardAvork 1 ing Ingenious economical the genius I of the Chinese Is preeminently for trade The very games of the children i chldrcn arc all about buying and selling and 1j the first words a baby Is taught to lisp t r4 are tho names of coins A Chinaman < to quote China in Transformation lansformnton SI thinks in money Ills first Idea on S being shown any object Is how much It cost and his Intimate conversation Is 1 almost entirely connected with the commercial side of affairs ReligionS Religion-S plays a very small part In his Inner 1c life though superstition governs hlu lightest actions Commercial S 1 actons Integrity j S Is both high and universal In China although al-though honesty Is not counted as a vlr I tuc In private dealing affording an instance In-stance of the curious paradoxes HO > common in this country of lopsy tur veydoni The Chinese par excellence is l a Mhopkeepcr and no better descrip ll4i Hon of him can be found than that IIl given bv the Abbe Hue who describes u him silting behind his counter waiting patiently for customers and beguiling S the time AVlth calculations of possible i1 profits on his little arithmetical machine 1jtj ma-chine When the cuftomer comes tho I r merchant accepts eagerly the opportunity t t oppor-tunity of the slightest bargain while 5 S in the evening his great Joy when ho o 11R barricaded his shop is to count upi c up-i 011 earnings and calculate the days j ii 5 profits 1 is not mere greed which Inspires In-spires this passion J for commerce it Is tho fascination of the actual sport the hazard the give and lake of commcr cal l life and the opportunities for individual indi-vidual skill in the actual bargaining Even wealthy men like the Viceroys have the same instinct and are there I fore open to bribes which indeed playa play-a most Important part In official life The system of bribing Is so general and widespread as to have attained n certain cer-tain respectabllltj I Is a regular source of income to a large number whose pay Is inadequate The Chinese I love for money gives Impetus to this system of corruption and it Is I difficult to imagine aij thing that a Chinaman would not do short of dishonoring his ancestors for a sulliciesitly large bribe He is not however mean He Is generous gen-erous almost to a fault when the mood takes him lends freely with lit llo expectation of return takes small account of trifles in settling a bill and seldom sue for a debt The Japanese who are often by reason rea-son of their more picturesque qualities compared favorably with the Chinese I ore wholly lacking in this distinctive feature of commercial moValltv nnd I uu hcrcjis the spoken agiocmcnl is evrry where binding between traders in I Chimi the smallest transaction in Japan must t be reduced to writing 3 I I THE TWO SPIRITS OF THE RACE While on the subject of Chinese vlr I tues It must be said that the estimate I of f their character which makes them out barbarians devoid of softer feelings feel-ings is totally inaccurate The Chi j nese have several Ideals which are not j I I unworthy of the highest civilization Their selfcontrol to which they arc trained from earliest Infancy is akin to the stoicism of Sparta or to the I conventional Impassibility cultivated by I the youth of our own country Like ourselves only in a far greater degree I the open display of emotion Js considered consid-ered Illbred and the Chinese have cared il car-ed this principle 1 to a point where speech itself Is made literally to con teal the thoughts This is the outside Within lies dormant dor-mant the soul ut an ignorant child halt a savage The courtliness of the mandarin man-darin who is master of an etiquette rigorous and elaborate beyond that of any other people does not proceed from any Inner consciousness of the meanIng mean-Ing or worth of ouch ceremonial but from long u age and from an accretion of customs < Sometimes the slumbering olcano fed during the meetings of the secret societies to which every Chinaman belongs and by the press whose influence Is strong Is roused by some act which affects his private or se communal rights and bursts Into aflame a-flame Then rebellion strikes through the land nnd once he has given rein to his passion the peaceable orderly Chinese is a veritable fiend I is the I same In domestic life OrdlnarllyXa S good husband despite the inferior position S posi-tion of woman which makes the wife I merely her husbands servant a loving SS lov-ing i father a devoted son f single moments S mo-ments passion may rouse a man to deeds l of cruelty unworthy of a savage S The domestic lie is however the strongest factor In Chinese life and asa I I as-a rule is seldom outraged There are two spirits as It were inhabiting in-habiting each Chinese body The one makesfor peace and industryi Servants Ser-vants are not only hard working and skillful but faithful and devoted They Ire I a I-re clever at expedients quick to de f 1 A Ise and on the whole dependable If I YOU cook takes a day off without leave he will nevertheless provide an efficient substitute from his numerous relations I and H I your dinner has gone wrong ho j Ibc able to bOIrow something quite Ins I-ns good from a friend This model ser I Taut childlike and bland to whom you feel such conscious Superiority In I every way Is at the same lime capable I of turning In one moment Into an unreasoning un-reasoning unthinking creature mad with passion thirsting only for blood I It Is the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde phase of character ami can only be worked on by a steady course of con duct which will convince the man of S your real desire for his welfare The Chinese arc notwithstanding muih assertion as-sertion to the contrary capable of this lonvUtlon and once heir t confidence Is gained there Is little chance that their evil genius Avlll turn them against those whom from a commercial as well as a social point of view they regard ns friends This possibility I I Is not only personal but l national and In It lies the great hope for China In the future HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS CHIN CHI-N JS Unfortunately their dealings hitherto with European powers have not led them to I a belief In the disinterestedness disinterested-ness or even the good will of those powers WlmteAcr the outcome of the present I 1r crisis may be there cal be no permanent perma-nent settlement of the Chinese question ques-tion which disregards these salient features of the national character nnd I I treating them ns savages taking hem I at their lowest level punishes their I treachery and ignorance wIth fire and 2 sword and the tion heel 1 Were they 1 I 1 really savages this might be an cffcc 4 1 live if I hardly a Christlan method of reducing them to order But they area I are-a nation a gigantic and by no means effete nation We cannot dispose of them summarily f Enoujh has been said even in this brief sketch to show that the Chinese nation is not a barbarian horde but a people of distinct and powerful char actcilstlcs capable not only of evil but with the virtue of commercial morality moral-ity of endurance nnd of Industry of much good I composes onefifth of the Avorlds population oncffh possesses unequalled resources Whether it Is to be portioned porLoned out among the powers 01 maintained ns an independent empire does not affect the fact that this great moss of people have Ideals and theories of life quite opposed to those of the nations who aiu squabbl hug for the prior 1 right to direct an attack on them We cannot dragoon the Chinese into friendship with us and without their r friendship Ave can do little To gain their friendship we must not make the mistake of truckling to their peccadil loes but show thorn that they will gain and not lose by 11 = an alliance with us Next and last article The Break artcJe rie Up of the Chinese Empire Copyright in the United States of America by D T Pierce II SHORT STORIES I I I Of the males of voting ago In Porto Rico 73OtO or 2C 3 per cent are colored In Ponce Porto Rico the native whites are moro than whies three times us numerous as the foreign clement and IUlerOU5 colored nro double thin mimbei Jr J Vhlttn ton of Washington an official of the United Stales commission who hns been hi Duluth for some days was taken home violently In nn H0l0 dinS An official bulletin says two t additional bubonic plague cases huvc been admitted to the GlusKow hospital and that nine additional 1 persons IHIVO been placed un der observation place Excellent rain hns fallen In all the Cam Inc districts of Indian and tho winter sowlnga are practically assured Tho number nou receiving relief IP something under 000000 in oncourasrhig rolicllon I I Tho miles of voting age In Porto Rico number 1M1201 1 and but 3S per cent are of foreign birth Of tho white persons of Porto Rican birth 2913 per cent JlIS can read or write while lll per cent colored popu lation are literate Marcus Daly the copper king I and turf < man of Montana arrived In New York yesterday on board tho steamer Etri rla He was accompanied by his wife and two aons ant private physician Dr Turner Mr Daly is In feeble health I healh While exorcising the race horse Happy I John at the full grounds St Louis George Crisp the Icier ireil 5 was I I thrown Ills foot hung In the stirrup and he was dragged a lone distance before ln the animal could be slopped lie was terribly mangled and soon died G W Ritchie simprlntendent of tho slIprintel1ent Chicago Inlversltv observatory has per fected a device which makes It possible for astronomers to use the ordinary visual telescope for photographic purposes This means that a tremendous adanco will bo made In photographic astronomy |
