C/3-'-' ■>.', vo
PKEFACE
The object of the following pages is to give in brief outline,
not for the specialist but for the general reader, some
particulars of the great and rapid movements which are
taking place to-day within the Chinese Empire. Nearly
every event referred to has happened within the last twelve
or fifteen months. This fact alone reveals the rapidity
and importance of the changes which are at present in
progress.
The chapters though only notes are designed to show the
claims of China upon the sympathy of those who desire the
moral and spiritual welfare of the Empire. If they lead
the reader to a more careful and thorough study of one of
the greatest movements of history, and to deeper interest in
and sympathy with the Chinese people, and to efforts and
sacrifice for their evangelisation, the object of this publica-
tion will have been realised.
Just as we go to press, the Times of April 15 and 16
publish two remarkable telegrams from Dr. Morrison, their
correspondent in Peking, stating that the Chinese Govern-
ment have cancelled the Imperial rescript of March 15,
1899, which granted official rank to the Eoman Catholic
hierarchy, the priests to rank as prefect and bishops as
Viceroy. This means that 1100 Eoman Catholic priests
iii





MERCASi'l iLE LibKARY.
NEW YORK.
INTRODUCTORY
'' And He made of one every nation of men for to dwell upon the face of
the earth, haying determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of
their habitation ; that they should seek God."—Acts xvii. 26, 27.
With this summary of the Divine philosophy of history in
mind, the story of China becomes one of absorbing interest.
If it be true of nations, to adopt Dr. Weymouth's translation,
that God has fixed "a time for their rise and fall, and the limits
of their settlements," or, according to Dean Alford, that God has
"prescribed to each nation its space to dwell and its time of
endurance," the history of that nation which comprises nearly
one quarter of the human race, and whose "time of endurance"
has exceeded that of any other Empire, and which to-day is
"rousing itself from the torpor of ages under the influence of
new and powerful revolutionary forces," cannot but be of
commanding interest and importance.
What the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were to Europe,
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries promise to be for Asia.
With the fall of Constantinople before the Turks in 1453, a
flood of Greek literature swept over Europe, awakening the
sluggish and exhausted intellectual energies of the Middle Ages;
while the recent fall of the exclusive policy of the Far East has,
in its turn, opened the flood-gates of Western learning upon the
peoples of the Orient. Shall Asia experience merely an
Intellectual Renaissance or a Spiritual Reformation 1 Shall the
East merely conform to Western scientific principles or be
B


INTRODUCTORY 3
Western learning, the flocking of Chinese students to Japan,
the return of these students, and the entry of Japanese Professors,
the enormous circulation of modern literature, the building of
railways, the extension of telegraph lines, the growing power of
the native press, the reform movement, and many other kindred
factors have profoundly influenced the national spirit and altered
the conditions of missionary activity.
For this reason the following pages are devoted to a rapid
survey of the present situation. What would the story of
Nehemiah be without its background of history, or of Daniel
and other of God's servants without the knowledge of their
difficulties, their enemies, and their temptations. These surely
enable us to magnify the grace of God in them. The object of
the following pages is to help the reader to see the missionary at
work and the native Christian in his real surroundings; to help
him recognise their needs and trials ; to see the convert humbly
yet boldly confessing Christ in face of shame and opposition;
and to sympathise with a nation struggling upwards toward
better things and battling bravely against the curse of opium
and other evils.
If these pages can do this, then surely they should call forth
more intelligent and sympathetic prayer and help for that great
country, for its rulers, for the maintenance of peace, for its
Christian workers and growing Church.


IV
THE NEW SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM
"The cry is spreading over Asia, 'Asia for the Asiatics!' We can no
more resist, even if we would, this rising national and oriental feeling than
we can resist the tides of the sea. But we would not resist it. We re-
member the nation and the race are as much the creation of God as is the
family."—J. R. Mott.
There is probably no subject which, at the present time, calls
for more care, sympathy, and patience, on the part of Statesman,
Merchant, and Missionary, than that of the rising spirit of
nationalism. Fraught with great dangers, it has also potentialities
of great good.
The spread of railways, the work of Missions, the recent
wars, the opium trade, the exclusion acts of America and
Australia, the seizure of territory, the fortifying of the Foreign
Legations and other things, have all united to arouse the Chinese
to assert his independence and national personality. It is seen
in the articles published in the Chinese daily press, in their use
of the national flag for decorative purposes, in the singing of
patriotic songs, in the boycotting of foreign goods, in the
redemption of concessions, and, in fact, is manifest in the
atmosphere of all things Chinese to-day.
"This spirit of nationalism," writes the Rev. A B. Wann, B.D.,
"is not to be put down; so I do not think it is our business as
Christians to wish it put down, but rather to desire that it should
be directed in the right way. What is our duty as Christians 1
Is it not to recognise that it is natural that men should desire
to have more power and more say in the affairs of their own
15


16 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA
country? . . . We have a duty to the mass of the people—a
duty to extend them sympathy ... we need to have a spirit
of brotherhood given to us; we need to have the spirit of
patience given to us. Patience was a great virtue in the Early
Church; but it was the patience of the weak in presence of the
strong. We European Christians need, it seems to me, the
higher kind of patience—the patience of the strong in presence
of the weak."
China, always naturally proud and for long anti-foreign, has,
by reason of the more ready means of communication now
afforded by her railways and telegraphs, and the more ready
means of public utterance through the rapid expansion of her
daily press, begun more palpably to feel and give expression to
her national pride and spirit. The nation, so long provincial in
sentiment as well as government, is being knit together and
being swayed as never before by united impulses and feeling.
Among the many things wherein China has, during the past
year, revealed her growing independence and power, one or two
may be mentioned (not to speak of such action as the redemption
of the Canton-Hankow Railway rights for £1,350,000 in 1905,
etc.). The mining rights of the Peking Syndicate in Shansi
have been redeemed by China at a cost of Taels 2,750,000, or
about £400,000, a settlement which has relieved a situation of
great difficulty in the province of Shansi.
China has also obtained in the agreement for the Tientsin-
Pukow (Nanking) Railway a considerable modification, in her
favour, of the original contract of May 1899, while a compromise
has been agreed to in the case of the Chekiang railway dispute
so as to conciliate the provincial opposition. China has also
purchased the German Camps at Tsingtao and Kaomi for
$380,000; and has appointed H.E. Yang Shih-chi, Vice-
President of the Ministry of Agriculture, as Travelling Com-
missioner to visit the Chinese communities in the South Pacific,
so as to promote a feeling of Imperial solidarity.
Within the Church this feeling of national independence has
also manifested itself, and while a healthy independence is much
to be desired, there is need for much wisdom on the part of the


THE FORCES OF DISORDER 19
whose work among the aborigines has been so blessed, was at
one time savagely attacked and almost beaten to death.
While in the goodness of God no Protestant missionaries
were killed, some of the Christian converts in Kiangsi, at least,
suffered martyrdom, one Roman Catholic priest was killed, and
many native Christians suffered both bodily hurt and loss of
property.
Unfortunately, these troubles are not all. The acquisition
by the Roman Catholic bishops and priests in China of official
status in 1899 has, it is to be feared, led many of their converts
to regard and use the Church as a political weapon. This is a
subject about which one would fain not speak, but the following
facts ought to be recorded to call forth prayer for those churches,
and they are not few, which are passing through times of
persecution. Without giving the name of the station we may
quote from the Report.
"A terrible Roman Catholic oppression has meant a sad
set-back for the work at . Very literally has it been a
sowing of tears. Several armed demonstrations have been made
against us. One night the Gospel Hall signboard was smashed
and the door slashed with many sword-cuts, which, in the
Chinese' eyes, is a crowning insult."
"The Christians have sustained false accusations in the
yamen, have been beaten, and had their shops ransacked. One
young widow was carried off to be sold, two days after her
husband's death, her uncle and four others being wounded when
endeavouring to rescue her. One's heart is sad, indeed, to see
how the work in all the districts is at a standstill in conse-
quence, and many are afraid to come. The Provincial Confer-
ence, when Dr. Lee spoke, was a blessing to us all, and was
used of God to prevent two of the evangelists from resigning
their posts in desperation. This is no small spiritual triumph,
for they are now called to stand face to face with even greater
danger, their lives being threatened. One of them was fired at
three times, fortunately without injury to himself."
The strong racial feeling which still exists in China against


CHINA AND THE WORLD 25
awakening has spread from Korea to Liaoyang and Mukden,
names so terribly associated with the recent war. At both these
centres God has been visiting His people, and numbers have
afresh dedicated themselves, their time and means, to the
Lord's service.


32 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA
sovereign, but it also serves as a powerful instrument of binding
them together as a nation, thus creating the national unity and
solidarity which can be effected only by the direct appeal to the
highest emotion of man.
"The importance with which it is held in every civilised
community is attested by the fact that, whether in peace or war,
the national anthem has always been an indispensable and
inseparable part of a public demonstration.
"It was only after the assimilation by Japan of Western ideas
and civilisation that the national anthem in that country has
sprung into existence and has become a part of the national life.
"In the face of the rapid growth of national sentiment among
our people, the time is certainly ripe enough for some one to
develop a national anthem, which will become the heritage of
the coming generations of our Empire, whose glorious history
has extended for more than 4000 years."
America and China
An Editorial
"America has shown herself to be particularly friendly to our
people in the past two years, her munificent contribution of over
a million dollars to the Kiangpeh Famine Relief Fund and the
relinquishment to our Government of over thirty million taels,
the larger portion of the indemnity awarded to her as damages
for the Boxer outbreak in 1901, having created a very favourable
impression on the intelligent portion of our people. It was but
natural, therefore, that when the proposal for giving a cordial
reception to Secretary Taft was suggested, the Chinese residents
of this city greeted it with warm approval. The Garden Party
itself and the speeches delivered have been so fully recorded in
the daily papers, that it is unnecessary for us to give any further
description.
"In view of the dangerous position of our country from the
standpoint of international politics, it is indeed a great relief to


36 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA
"The appearance of the refugees beggars description." (Here
follows a passage too realistic to quote.) "Never before have I
seen or even imagined such beings as I saw here. I have seen
life and death in their crudest forms: battle, murder, sudden
death—and worse—but never before have I seen such concen-
trated misery, such indescribable horrors as were to be witnessed
in the streets and in the camps outside the city of Tsingkiangpu."
Into this living sea of misery the missionaries nobly plunged,
assisted and supported by the munificent generosity of many
both in China and the home lands, especially America. Early
in the day the Chinkiang Missionary Association foresaw the
coming sorrows and speedily organised a Committee, their
example being followed in Shanghai, where Mr. E. S. Little
formed a Central China Famine Relief Committee, while the
Chinese on their part were stimulated and provoked to generous
action. *
The5 Chinkiang Committee raised $450,000, the Central
China Relief Fund amounted to 704,279 taels, while the Chinese
Government, the Shanghai Chinese Chamber of Commerce, etc.,
contributed $1,678,819, making in all a sum roughly equal to
£315,000.
Unfortunately the appeal made to the Lord Mayor of London
failed through pressure of other claims, but President Roosevelt
nobly responded with a call to his country at the Christmas
season. His appeal, dated "The White House, Washington,
December 24, 1906," contained the following words:—
"Amid our abounding prosperity, and in this holiday season
of goodwill to men, assuredly we should do our part to aid the
unfortunate and relieve the distressed among the people of China."
Two-thirds of the funds raised by the Central China Famine
Committee came from America; the Christian Herald of New
York collected and forwarded no less than $450,000 gold; and
Congress authorised the employment of two transports to carry
corn given by the American farmers. Surely, says the official
report, this "was a blessed anticipation of the time when armies
shall beat their spears into pruning-hooks, and nations shall learn
war no more."


'TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN FAMINE' 37
The difficulties, however, of doing good were not small nor
easily overcome. Diplomatic, religious, and racial obstacles
threatened at times to make aid impossible. H.E. Tuan Fang,
a man who at considerable risk saved the lives of many
missionaries during 1900, showed great reluctance in granting
liberty for foreigners to engage in relief work. Fears that it
might be used by missionaries as an aid to proselytising, that
hungry mobs might kill the workers and indemnities greater
than the benefit might be demanded, were all employed as
arguments against permission being granted. To reassure the
Viceroy, the Protestant missionaries promised that in the event
of death no indemnity should be claimed (the Roman Catholics
demurred); and with a maladroitness almost culpable, notifications
were sent by the Viceroy to the local officials stating that no
redress would be sought if foreigners were killed, an intimation
in China tantamount to a desire for anti-foreign disturbances.
These difficulties were, however, surmounted. A protest to
the Viceroy secured the needed protection, and from that time
onward nothing but the utmost gratitude was shown to the
missionaries throughout the famine district.
The methods adopted by the workers were those of giving
food, not money, and of employing labour to prevent pauperisa-
tion, and also to accomplish needed work. To have given money
would but have enriched those who sought to corner grain,
whereas the importation of food prevented such cruel speculation
and released the supplies which some were keeping in hopes of
higher prices.
To tell of all the work accomplished and the good done
would be impossible. A few extracts from letters and reports
are all that is possible. The following from Mr. Burgess's pen
gives a good idea of the labour undertaken.
"Miss Eeid has been the pen-holder and I the spade-holder.
Our first work with 1500 men was the filling of the Temple
swamp close to the East Gate. We used the Shanghai funds
from the sales of flour for the first part of that work. About
three acres are filled and to the depth of eight to ten feet
"The second work was the making of a high-road outside the