Chapter XIII: Preface: To the Seventh Volume (12)

Subsequently, however, some difficulty in the readjustment of
business details in the matter arose, which delayed the final
settlement. The motives of the American Government in claiming
a participation in the enterprise were stated as follows by
President Taft in his Message to Congress, December 6, 1909:
"By the treaty of 1903 China has undertaken the abolition of
likin with a moderate and proportionate raising of the customs
tariff along with currency reform. These reforms being of
manifest advantage to foreign commerce as well as to the
interests of China, this government is endeavoring to
facilitate these measures with the needful acquiescence of the
treaty Powers. When it appeared that Chinese likin revenues
were to be hypothecated to foreign bankers in connection with
a great railway project, it was obvious that the governments
whose nationals held this loan would have a certain direct
interest in the question of the carrying out by China of the
reforms in question. Because this railroad loan represented a
practical and real application of the open-door policy through
coöperation with China by interested Powers, as well as
because of its relations to the reforms referred to above, the
Administration deemed American participation to be of great
national interest. Happily, when it was as a matter of broad
policy urgent that this opportunity should not be lost, the
indispensable instrumentality presented itself when a group of
American bankers, of international reputation and great
resources, agreed at once to share in the loan upon precisely
such terms as this government should approve. The chief of
those terms was that American railway material should be upon
an exact equality with that of the other nationals joining in
the loan in the placing of orders for this whole railroad
system. After months of negotiation the equal participation of
Americans seems at last assured. It is gratifying that
Americans will thus take their share in this extension of
these great highways of trade, and to believe that such
activities will give a real impetus to our commerce, and will
prove a practical corollary to our historic policy in the Far
East."

CHINA: A. D. 1905 (August).
New agreement respecting China between Great Britain and Japan.

See (in this Volume)
JAPAN: A. D. 1905 (AUGUST).

CHINA: A. D. 1905 (December).
Treaty with Japan relative to Manchuria.

By a treaty with Japan, concluded December, 1905, China
consented to lease to Japan the Kwangtung peninsula, at the
southern extremity of which are Port Arthur and Dalny,
formerly held by Russia under lease from China, and concede to
Japan the control of the railway on the peninsula northward as
far as Changchin. China also conceded to Japan the right to
build a railway from Antung on the Yalu River to Mukden, the
ancient capital of Manchuria, provided, however, that at the
end of a certain period the road may be purchased by China.
More important is the fact that China agreed in the treaty to
open to the world’s commerce and trade sixteen principal ports
and cities in Manchuria, including Harbin, or Kharbin, the
modern Russian capital of the province and its most important
railway center.

CHINA: A. D. 1905-1908.
The stir of new ideas.
Imperial Commission to study Representative
Systems of Government.
Signs of fruit from it.
Reformative movements.
The Constitutional Programme set forth in August, 1908.
Nine years of approach to a Promised Constitution.

A significant token of the dawning in China of a changed state
of mind respecting the western world of Europe and America,
and its very different development of scientific knowledge and
of social institutions, was afforded in the fall of 1905, when
an imperial commission, headed by Prince Tsai-Tse, was sent
abroad to study representative systems of government. The
Commission returned in the following July, and in August a
committee of high dignitaries, with Prince Ch’ing for its
chairman, was appointed to consider the report it had
submitted on administrative reforms. The outcome, soon
afterwards, was an imperial edict which recognized a "lack of
confidence between the highest and the lowest, between the
throne and ministers and the masses," and went so far as to
say that "foreign countries become wealthy and powerful by
granting a constitution to the masses and allowing suffrage to
all." While intimating that China must look forward to a
similar admission of the masses to some voice in the
government, the edict set forth the prior need of many
reforms, in the official system, in the laws, in education, in
the finances, and in the army and police. To begin the
undertaking of such reforms, Prince Tsai-Tse was put at the
head of a committee for dealing with the official system, and
before the year closed there were several changes of
importance introduced, tending towards more simplicity of
methods in public business and more centering of
responsibilities. Examinations in Western subjects of
knowledge began to replace the old conventional examinations
in classic Chinese literature, as tests for admission and
promotion in official service, and eagerness was shown in the
opening of schools and colleges that approached the European
and American type. Simultaneously with these stirrings of a
new consciousness and purpose in China, a great moral reform
was taken in hand. This was no less than an attempt to rescue
the nation from its opium curse. Some account of the opium
edict issued in September, 1906, will be found elsewhere.

See, (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.

That these reformative steps were actually taken with a view
to the ultimate granting of "a constitution to the masses and
allowing suffrage to all" was proved in the summer of 1908,
when a programme of gradual approach to constitutional
government, by stages which extend through the next nine
years, was promulgated at Peking on August 27th. According to
Western ideas the document lacks definiteness, but it is not
difficult to believe in the sincerity of its intent. There may
be great wisdom of sincerity in the serial planning of
successive measures that are to unfold and introduce a
constitution at the end of nine years.

The edict of August 27 was summarized and partially translated
in a communication to the New York _Tribune_, as follows:

"The preamble alone fills twenty large pages and is written in
an incongruous mixture of Chinese Classical terms and new
Japanese terminology invented to fit Western meanings. The
efforts of the authors have been aimed at conveying to the
Chinese mind an understanding of things hitherto beyond its
comprehension. The explanations often convey nothing to the
Western mind.

{96}

"The subject is approached in an almost prayerful attitude.
The fact that China obtains this constitution ‘by the imperial
will’ is reiterated again and again. It is set forth that the
imperial government, under the constitution, shall not be
criticised, on the principle that the ‘sacred majesty of the
sovereign may not be offended against,’ and that the leaders
of the political parties are to be appointed by the throne.
Full government under this constitution will become effective
at the end of nine years. While the proposed system is called
constitutional, it is far removed from Western constitutional
government.

"Broadly speaking, the document follows the constitution of
Japan. Some of its most striking clauses follow:

"‘We beg, as the condition of the country is perilous, and the
hearts of the people are uneasy—trouble within and calamity
from without, danger threatening, and no parliament at the
side to investigate matters—that urgent measures may be taken
to overcome half-heartedness and procrastination, that there
may be peace above and completion below.

"‘We have therefore laid down the general principles of the
constitution and the programme for the work of getting
everything in readiness in nine years. These may not be
changed in the least particular.

"‘There will be boundless daily improvement. May the "silken
sounds" descend to inform the empire and fix the road for ten
thousand years, comforting the hopes of the myriads who long
for peace.’

"Fourteen laws are then submitted, as follows:

"1. The Ta Ch’ing Emperor will rule supreme over the Ta Ch’ing
Empire for one thousand generations in succession, and be
honored forever.

"2. Majesty of the sovereign.

"3. Right of promulgating laws.

"4. Convocation, suspension, extension and dissolution
of parliament.

"5. Appointment, payment, promotion, degradation of officials.

"6. Command over army and navy.

"7. Power to make war, peace, treaties; to receive and appoint
ambassadors.

"8. Martial law.

"9. Rewards and pardons.

"10. Right over judges and the administration of laws.

"11. Injunction.

" 12. Right of raising funds when parliament is not in session.

"13. Right of fixing the expenses of the imperial household.

"14. Respecting authority over the imperial clan.

"‘We look to our Empress Dowager and Emperor and see that they
take the measure of heaven and earth as their measure and the
heart of the people as their heart. The officials and people
within the wide seas are reverently grateful.

"‘The people should earnestly fulfil all the duties without
selfish reservations, which would hinder the public welfare,
and without rash impatience, which would confuse the
regulation; not looking on the matter as too easy, so that the
deliberations become empty wrangling, not failing to
understand the limitation of powers, so as to make laws which
overstep authority.

"‘The sovereign has absolute power, which he exercises in
constitutional form.’

"It is then set forth that on the dissolution of parliament
the people shall be called on to elect a new parliament, and
the document continues:

"‘Mercy is from above; officials, below, may not arrogate it
to themselves.

"‘Officers and people who keep within the law will have
freedom of speech, of the press and of assembly. They shall
not be disturbed without cause in their possession of
property, nor interfered with in their dwellings; and they
have the obligation to pay taxes and render military service
and the duty of obedience to the law of the land.

"‘Members of parliament shall not speak disrespectfully of the
court or slander others. Violation of this law will be
punished.’

"The nine year programme is as follows:

"‘Thirty-fourth year of Kwang Hsu, or 1908—Local
self-government; rules for reorganization of finance; fusion
of the Manchu and Chinese military; revision of criminal code.

"‘Thirty-fifth year, or 1909—Election of provincial
assemblymen; election to constitutional commission; local
self-government bureaus established; census; provincial
budgets; determination of functions of Peking officials;
issuing of school books.

"‘Thirty-sixth year, or 1910—Provincial assemblies opened;
local self-government established; census reports; tax rate
fixed; organization of provincial officials; courts of law at
provincial capitals and treaty ports; publishing criminal
code; extension of schools; preparation for organization of
sub-prefecture; department and district police.

"‘Thirty-seventh year, or 1911—Local self-government
continued; public account; imperial budget; rules on imperial
taxation; rules governing appointments and salaries of civil
officials; extension of schools; codes of municipal and
commercial laws and civil and criminal procedure drawn up.

"‘Thirty-eighth year, or 1912—Completion of general
arrangement of urban self-government; census reports;
publication of taxation laws of empire; perfection of
arrangements for provincial and lesser courts; extension of
schools.

"‘Thirty-ninth year, or 1913—Police registration; imperial
trial budget of variable expenses; Supreme Court; courts of
law in prefectures, sub-prefectures, departments and
districts; criminal code promulgated; urban self-government
established; rules for rural self-government; rules for urban
police.

"‘Fortieth year, or 1914—Imperial trial budget of fixed
expenses; publication of system of national accounts; rural
self-government established; rules for lower courts.

"‘Forty-first year, or 1915—Imperial household expenses fixed;
organization of the Banners’ controller’s office; public
accounting enforced; lower courts established; municipal and
commercial laws and civil and criminal procedure rules
established; police system complete.

"‘Forty-second year, or 1910—Promulgation of full constitution
and the laws of the imperial clan; parliamentary rules and
rules for parliamentary elections; budget for consideration of
parliament; reorganized official system; appointment of a
premier.’

"The document concludes with these words:

{97}

"'In the forty-third year of Kwang Hsu, or 1917, China will
be, by following this plan, a parliamentary country like Japan
or Russia.'"

_China's Constitution
(New York Tribune, October 19, 1908)._

Prince Ito, the veteran statesman of Japan, regards the
constitutional experiment in China with more anxiety than
hopefulness. Speaking on the subject in August, 1909, he
expressed doubt of its success, and thought failure would
imperil peace in the Far East. His reasoning in brief was
this:

"First—the enormous area of the Empire and the defective
facilities for communication would greatly impede the
assembling of a Parliament, especially in time of emergency.

Secondly, the immovable character of Chinese conservatism
forbade a change even of the system of taxation,
notwithstanding the State’s urgent need of funds, and there
was, therefore, still greater difficulty in effecting the
radical alterations required by a constitutional system.

Thirdly, the Chinese were untrained in local administration,
the institution of which was an essential prelude to a
national Assembly. He said he was astonished at the silence of
Occidental publicists on this question so vital to the peace
of the Orient."

CHINA: A. D. 1905-1908.
Chinese Exclusion Laws of the United States.
Boycott of American goods in the Empire.

See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: UNITED STATES: A. D. 1905-1908.

CHINA: A. D. 1905-1909.
Disputes with Japan.
The Fa-ku-menn Railway and the Antung-Mukden Railway questions.
Settlement of the latter by Japanese ultimatum.

It could hardly have been possible for cordially friendly
relations to be maintained between China and Japan, in the
circumstances which transferred to the latter the extensive
rights and privileges in Southern Manchuria, which Russia had
acquired in that Chinese province by treaty and lease. By a
protocol of December, 1905, after the closing of the
Russo-Japanese War, there was an attempt, between Peking and
Tokyo, to define the effects of the Treaty of Portsmouth,
especially in the bearings of that article of the Treaty which
ceded to Japan, "with the consent of the Government of China,
the lease of Port Arthur, of Talien, and of the adjacent
territories and territorial waters, as well as the rights,
privileges and concessions connected with this lease or
forming part thereof," and likewise, of "all the public works
and property within the territory over which the above lease
extends"; but misunderstandings and differences of opinion
were sure to arise. Whether it has been more by the fault of
Japan than of China that they arose and increased until, in
the past year, they became a serious estrangement, is a
question on which the judgment of foreign observers is
conflicting. The veteran representative of the London Times at
Peking, whose friendship for the Chinese is fast-fixed by long
residence among them, lays the greater weight of
responsibility on Japan, though he finds a lack of
reasonableness on both sides. Japan, he says (writing July 19,
1909), was welcomed in China with open arms after her
victorious war. "No nation ever had a greater opportunity, and
faulty must have been the policy which in so short a time has
wrought so great a change. Japan is now regarded with a
comprehensive distrust that is most disquieting.
Not long ago more than 1,000 Japanese of different classes
were employed in China, in schools and colleges, in the army
and police, in law and prison reform, in agriculture and
sericulture, in telephone and electric light companies, on
railways, and in many other capacities. At present there are
fewer than 400, 52 of whom are in Peking, and these numbers
will be further reduced as existing contracts expire. Similar
reductions are noted in the number of Chinese being educated
in Japan. Three years ago there were more than 20,000; last
year there were more than 10,000. The number now is 5,125, and
only yesterday it was arranged that in the case of a body of
300 Government students just returned to China, only 88 would
be sent to take their places."

"At present each country, through its Press, is protesting
against the unreasonableness of the other. Contradictory
statements on questions of fact are made on almost every point
at issue."

The main contention has related to the projected extension by
China of a railway to Fa-ku-menn from the terminus of an
existing line at Hsin-min-tun, west of Mukden. It was in the
agreement of December, 1905, that no railways in competition
with the South Manchurian line, which Japan took from Russia,
should be built. The Japanese assert that they had in view
this very Fa-ku-menn extension when that stipulation was
inserted. The Chinese declare that the negotiation on their
part had reference solely to the area east of the Liao River.
Japan made two alternative proposals for the settlement of
this question: "One that the Chinese should build a railway
from Fa-ku-menn to the South Manchurian Railway instead of to
Hsin-min-tun, or that the Japanese should build a railway from
the South Manchurian line to Fa-ku-menn and thence to the
North, in which case Japan would withdraw her objection to the
Fa-ku-menn-Hsin-min-tun railway, provided that China undertook
not to extend the line beyond Fa-ku-menn without a previous
agreement with Japan." China is said to have declined
discussion of these proposals, but offered arbitration of the
whole matter. Japan objected to arbitration without previous
discussion of her new proposals. And so the dispute seemed
deadlocked.

Another dispute turned on the interpretation of a clause in
the Agreement of December, 1905, which reads: "China agrees
that Japan has the right to improve the Antung-Mukden Railway
so as to make it fit for the conveyance of commercial and
industrial goods of all nations." Japan undertook, as a
necessary "improvement" of the road, to reconstruct it, with a
change of gauge to connect it with the standard gauge of the
South Manchuria and Korean roads. China denied that the
agreement gave a right to reconstruction. Several other
questions arising between the two peoples have helped to raise
hard feeling on both sides; but these have seemed to be at the
front.

At length on the 6th of August, 1909, Japan brought discussion
of the Antung-Mukden Railway question to a summary ending, by
a note to the Chinese Government which announced that "the
Imperial Government is now compelled to take independent
action, and to proceed to carry out the necessary work of
reconstruction and improvement according to treaty rights."
{98}
Before taking this decisive step, the Japanese Government is
said to have consulted Great Britain and other powers, and to
have had approval of her action from London, if not from
elsewhere. China yielded to the ultimatum, and this leading
cause of quarrel between the great nations of the East was
removed on the 4th of September by the signing, at Mukden, of
a memorandum of agreement, reported in substance as follows:

China agrees, first, not to construct the
Hsin-min-tum-Fa-ku-men Railroad without consulting Japan;
second, that half the capital required to extend the Kirin
Railroad shall be borrowed in Japan; third, that Japan will be
permitted to extend the Yinkow and improve and modernize the
Antung-Mukden Railroads, to which China was bitterly opposed;
fourth, that Japan may work the mines in the Fushun and Yentai
districts, and have joint exploitation of the mines reached by
the Antung and Manchurian Railroad lines.

In the Chientao boundary dispute Japan agrees to recognize
China’s sovereignty, while China agrees to open four trade
marts in the district.

In a letter to a London journal, a few days before this
settlement of the Antung-Mukden Railway question, Lord
Stanhope said:

"The Chinese have surely deeper reasons for opposing this
scheme than the mere fact of reconstruction. They well realize
that this railway, crossing narrow valleys, can have no
commercial future, but is virtually a strategic railway to
strengthen the Japanese grip on Manchuria."

CHINA: A. D. 1906.
A Commission sent to America and Europe for the study of
political and other institutions.

The new spirit astir in China was manifested in the early
months of 1906 by the sending of a large Commission of
carefully chosen men to the United States and Europe, for
observations that would be helpful toward reforms in their own
country. It was headed by two High Commissioners of
distinction, Tai Hung-chi and Tuan Fang, and they were
attended by thirty-five scholars and functionaries of note.
They received much attention during their stay of five weeks
in the United States, and were placed by the Government under
the special charge of Professor J. W. Jenks. Writing
subsequently of their mission Professor Jenks said:

"The purpose of the commission is, primarily, to make such a
study of the political institutions of the various countries
visited that they will be able, on their return, to offer
valuable suggestions for the improvement of their own. There
is even serious talk among the high officials in China of some
form of a constitution. In consequence, the commissioners are
as eager to learn regarding the working of some of our
institutions as regarding their form of organization. Inasmuch
as political reform necessarily involves social reform, even
as a condition precedent, the commission is devoting special
attention to the study of education, in universities and
schools, and to methods of social amelioration, in prisons and
asylums for the insane and the poor. They, however, are not
neglecting the study of our large manufacturing plants, and
have clearly in mind, also, the improvement of the industrial
conditions of China. It is a matter of peculiar interest that
the Empress-Dowager charged them to inquire especially into
the education of girls in the United States, since she hoped,
on their return, to be able to found a school for the
education of the daughters of the princes."

CHINA: A. D. 1906.
Sixty cities being opened to foreign settlement.

A memorandum on the subject of the foreign settlements at the
open ports of China, prepared by the Chinese Secretary of the
American Legation at Peking, was transmitted to the State
Department at Washington in December, 1906. It conveyed the
following information:

"In China proper and in Manchuria 46 cities and towns have
been thrown open already to foreign residence and
international trade. This does not include Dalny, in
Manchuria, leased to Japan; Wei-hai-wei, in Shantung, leased
to Great Britain; Kiaochow, in Shantung, leased to Germany;
Kowloon, in Kuangtung, leased to Great Britain; nor
Kuang-chou-wan, in Kuangtung, leased to France. Besides the
above, there are 3 cities in Tibet thrown open to trade,
making 49 ports in the Empire. In addition to these already
declared open, there are 13 cities whose opening in the
immediate future is arranged for, and 3 others whose opening
depends upon the acceptance by other treaty powers of the
provisions of Article VIII. of the last commercial treaty
between China and Great Britain. No account is taken of the
cities of Turkestan, Mongolia, and the Amur region, in which
Russian subjects have for many years enjoyed privileges of
trade and consular jurisdiction. It will be seen, therefore,
that in the immediate future foreigners will enjoy the right
of residence for purposes of trade at more than 60 cities of
the Chinese Empire."

CHINA: A. D. 1906.
Edict against the use of opium.

See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.

CHINA: A. D. 1906 (January).
Chinese students in Japan.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1906.

CHINA: A. D. 1906-1907.
Flood and famine in the region traversed by the Grand Canal.

One of the frequent destructive floods in China which produce
famine befell the region that is traversed by the Grand Canal
in the summer of 1906. Heavy rains covered its vast plains
with lakes of water, which drowned out the crops throughout an
area estimated at 40,000 square miles. From ten to fifteen
millions of people were reduced to famine, and could only be
kept alive until the harvests of another year by the
generosity of the outside world. It was not vainly appealed
to; but the suffering and death in the afflicted country were
appallingly great.

CHINA: A. D. 1906-1907.
Christian Missions.

See (in this Volume)
MISSIONS: CHINA.

CHINA: A. D. 1907-1909.
Restriction on Chinese immigration to Canada.
Labor hostility.
Riotous attacks.
Lately modified regulations.

See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: CANADA.

CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Expansion of the Postal Service.

According to a report from Peking on the working of the
Imperial Chinese Post Office in 1908, "the operations show an
unprecedented expansion." The postal routes cover 88,000
miles, of which 68,000 are courier lines. The number of post
offices open in 1901 was 176. There were 2,803 open in 1907,
and 3,493 in 1908. The number of postal articles handled in
1901 was 10,000,000. The number was 168,000,000 in 1907, and
252,000,000 in 1908. The number of parcels was 127,000,
weighing 250 tons, in 1901; 1,920,000, weighing 5,509 tons, in
1907; and 2,445,000, weighing 27,155 tons, in 1908.

CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Administration of the Department of Education.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1908.

{99}

CHINA: A. D. 1908.
Chinese students in the United States.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1908.

CHINA: A. D. 1908 (November).
Death of the Emperor, Kuang-hsu,
and of the Empress-Dowager, Tze-Hsi.
Accession of the child-Emperor, Hsuan-Tung (Pu-Yi).

The circumstances of the death, almost simultaneously, of the
late Emperor, Kuang-hsu, and of the Dowager-Empress, Tze-Hsi,
who had been the real ruler of the Empire, are involved in
considerable obscurity. The Emperor is said to have died on
the 14th of November, 1908, and the Empress on the following
day. The announcement of their decease was preceded by the
publication of two imperial edicts, one of which made Prince
Chun, of the royal family, Regent of the Empire, while the
other named Pu-Yi, the Prince’s son, three years old, as the
heir presumptive to the throne. As communicated later to
foreign governments, the Regent was given, by another imperial
rescript, full power over the civil and military departments
of government, and the entire appointment and dismissal of
officials. The promised creation of a Parliament was
anticipated in the prescription of his duties, among which
were the following:

"When a Parliament has been established the Prince Regent
shall attend the same in place of the Emperor, but he need not
attend the ordinary sessions. When the Constitutional
Commission meets, the Prince Regent shall likewise represent
the Emperor there.

"The Prince Regent shall have full authority in negotiating
treaties and in appointing representatives abroad.

"The Prince Regent shall enter and leave his chair at the
Ch’ien Ch’ing gate. The yamens, according to their duty, shall
draw up and report on regulations modelled on the precedent
established by Prince Jui-Chung regarding the equipage,
escort, and general preparations for movements of the Prince
Regent outside the palace.

"Every year the Board of Finance shall transfer to the
Department of the Imperial Household the sum of taels 150,000
for disbursement. When the Emperor comes of age, his studies
being completed, and his marriage takes place, the official
body shall unite in asking him to assume personal direction of
the government."

On the 21st of November the members of the Diplomatic Corps at
Peking were received in a body at the palace, to present the
condolences of the Governments they represent on the deaths of
the late Emperor and Empress. As reported to the Associated
Press, there were present on the occasion "every official or
member of the imperial family who recently has been reported
ill, dead by his own hand or estranged from the government,
and the desired impression of official stolidity at Pekin
which, it was most evident, this occasion was intended to
convey, was imparted successfully. This was the answer of the
government to the rumors of suicides and deaths current in
Pekin for the last week.

"Prince Ching, for the first time since the passing away of
their majesties, appeared officially as the head of the
foreign board. The heads of the various governmental
departments were present, with the members of the imperial
clan, and, in addition, several thousand minor officials, all
in white, had assembled at imperial command. At the conclusion
of the functions, in honor of the dead, the diplomats paid
homage to Prince Chun, the regent."

On the 2d of December the strict mourning observed at Peking
was suspended briefly, to permit the ceremonies attending the
ascension of the dragon throne by the child-Emperor, Pu-Yi,
who, as Emperor, took the name of Hsuan-Tung. The ceremonies,
described to the Associated Press, lasted but half an hour.
"The function began by the princes of the imperial family and
the high officials of the empire kowtowing to the memorial
tablets of their late majesties. After this they all kowtowed
in turn to Pu-Yi: Pu-Yi then offered a sacrifice before the
tablets of the Emperor and the Dowager Empress. After this he
was relieved of his dress of mourning and clad with much care
in a diminutive imperial garment, embroidered with the
imperial dragon. His nurses performed this duty with great
attention and care. Thus arrayed, the toddling Emperor
ascended the throne amid a fanfare of drums, bells and
firecrackers. He made his way alone and showed no need of the
assistance which willing hands would have given him had his
little feet faltered. From the throne Pu-Yi kowtowed to his
stepmother, the Dowager Empress Yiahonala. He then received
the kowtows, while still on the throne, of all the princes and
officials present. This over, he descended from the throne and
was again clad in his little dress of mourning.

"The ceremony took place in the throne hall of the Forbidden
City. The officials present were selected with great care and
were the highest men in the empire. According to an old
established custom, a number of humble coolies, men from the
lowest walks of life, were brought into the sacred precincts
of the Forbidden City to act as witnesses. The soldiery played
but an inconspicuous part in the proceedings."

Following the ceremony, an imperial edict proclaiming the
ascension was issued. This edict grants amnesty for certain
specified offences; rewards all the imperial princes,
princesses, and dukes; promotes all officials by one degree
and bestows honors on their parents; erases the demerits
entered against minor officials; advances the degree of
scholars; dismisses all pending petty criminal cases; excuses
certain liabilities, and grants bounties to the soldiers in
the service of the empire.

CHINA: A. D. 1908 (December).
Decree reaffirming the Constitutional Programme of the late
Empress Dowager.

An imperial edict reaffirming the determination of the new
government of China to carry out in its entirety the
Constitutional programme laid down by the late Empress Dowager
of China in August, 1908, was promulgated on the 4th of
December. A literal translation was made public at Washington
in January as follows:

"On the first day of the 8th moon (August 27, 1908), the late
Emperor reverently received the excellent decree of the late
great Empress Dowager strictly ordering the officials and
people of Peking and of the provinces to carry out completely
by the ninth year all the preparatory work, so that at the
appointed time the Constitution may be proclaimed. Also
proclamations for the members of Parliament to assemble, and
other decrees brightly manifested the sacred instructions, and
all between the seas applauded.
{100}
From ourselves down to the officials and people high and low
all must sincerely obey the excellent decree previously
issued. The eighth year of Hsuan T’ung [whose first year dates
from January 22, 1909] is the limit of time. Let there be no
‘reabsorption of sweat’ in this matter. Our hope is that this
will certainly be carried out. Let the officials of Peking and
the provinces on no account look idly on, and procrastinate,
delaying the opportune time. Let patriotism be shone forth.
Exert yourselves that constitutional government may be
established. And court and ‘wilds’ (people) may have peace;
and so we may comfort the spirits of the late great Empress
Dowager and the late Emperor in heaven, and make firm the
foundations of countless years of peaceful government."

CHINA: A. D. 1909.
Progress in the opium reform.

See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.

CHINA: A. D. 1909.
Progress in technical education.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1909.

CHINA: A. D. 1909.
Existing treaties with United States and existing laws in the
latter country relative to the admission of Chinamen.
The question of their consistency with each other.
Present status of the question.

See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS: IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (January).
Abrupt dismissal of Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai from his offices.

Much disturbance of feeling and apprehension of a troublesome
reaction in Chinese policy was excited among the foreign
representatives in China, on the 2d of January, 1909, by the
sudden dismissal of the able and powerful Viceroy of Chi-li,
Yuan Shih-kai, from all his offices. He had been looked upon
as the great leader of progress in China,—the statesman to be
counted on for the most and best influence in the government
of the Empire for some years to come. He had the confidence of
foreign powers, and was supposed to have acquired a sure
footing in the councils at Peking. Latterly, however, it is
said to have become known in Peking that "a powerful Manchu
cabal was working for his downfall, led by Tieh-liang, the
Minister of War, and supported by the aged doctrinaire and
Chinese ex-Viceroy, Chang Chih-tung," and the stroke which
overthrew him at the beginning of the new year was ascribed to
that source. "The cabal has been successful," was the wired
message of the Peking correspondent of the London _Times_
to his paper; and he summarized the merits of the fallen
statesman thus: "No man in China deserved better of his
country. He has been in the forefront of progress, and is the
best administrator China has produced in this generation. When
Governor of Shantung in 1900 his action in resisting the Boxer
insurrection and in safeguarding foreigners really saved the
Empire from disruption. He created China’s modern army and was
the leader of the modern educational movement in China, and
his famous memorial of September 2, 1905, urging the summary
abolition of the antiquated system of literary examination was
epoch-making. Under his Viceroyalty the Metropolitan province
became the most advanced in the Empire. With Tang Shao-yi he
led the anti-opium movement. Since he entered the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs China has attained a measure of respect among
the Powers which was unknown before."

Some weeks after the blow had fallen, and when the peculiarly
Oriental manner of its infliction had been learned, a letter
from Peking to the New York _Evening Post_ told of it as
follows:

"At 11 a. m. on Saturday, January 2, the grand councillors
were summoned by the regent. Prince Ching had evidently heard
a whisper of what was to come, and he pleaded illness. The
other grand councillors answered the summons promptly, but
when Yuan reached the door of the council chamber he was told
that he was not wanted. Three grand councillors therefore went
in and found the regent awaiting them with the edict
dismissing Yuan Shih-kai already drawn up. ‘I want no
discussion. Sign this edict!’ said the regent. Chang Chih-tung
turned to reply. The regent repeated his words impressively,
and the edict was signed without further demur.

"Within the next hour, while Yuan Shih-kai was hastily making
plans for his personal safety, the news flew around Peking and
the city throbbed with excitement. Every one but his immediate
councillors was astounded at Prince Chun’s temerity. Never in
the history of China had such a man as Yuan been thrown out of
office at such short notice. To the Western mind, however,
there was nothing very harsh in the edict; it said simply:

"‘Yuan Shih-kai, a member of the Grand Council and president
of the Waiwupu, formerly received repeated offices and
advancement under the late Emperor. After our enthronement we
gave him great honors, because we considered that his talent
certainly was one that could be made use of, if he exerted
himself in the public service. Unexpectedly Yuan Shih-kai has
now contracted rheumatism in the foot, which makes it hard for
him to walk and difficult for him to attend to the duties of
his offices. Yuan Shih-kai, therefore, is ordered to vacate
his posts and return to his native place to nurse his
disorder. Thus is our great mercy to him manifested.’"

Yuan Shih-kai left Peking in haste, evidently in fear of his
life, and it was expected that his whole following of friends
and supporters would be swept out of their offices and
employments. But no such result followed, and credit began to
be given to the assurances of the Imperial Government that the
dismissal of Yuan meant no reversal of policy or reaction
whatever. He was distrusted, it was intimated, because he had
been disloyal to the late Emperor in 1898, when the latter
attempted great reforms.

See, in Volume VI. of this work,
CHINA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER), and after.

Yuan Shih-kai was then the chief agent and instrument of the
Dowager-Empress in overcoming the well-meaning but weak
sovereign and annulling his reformative work. Hence, it was
claimed, the present Government’s distrust of him.

The Ministers of Great Britain and the United States had
ventured some questions as to the significance of the act, but
their colleagues did not join them, and no further discussion
of the matter diplomatically took place.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (February).
Meeting of the International Opium Commission at Shanghai.

See (in this Volume)
OPIUM PROBLEM.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (May).
New Russo-Chinese Agreement concerning the
Chinese Eastern Railway.
Municipalities on the Line.
The Kharbin question.

The Chinese Eastern Railway, so named, is the line which
Russia, by Convention with China in August, 1896, obtained
permission to construct, from a point on her Trans-Siberian
Railway, through Northern Manchuria, to Vladivostok.
{101}
Under that agreement the Russian authorities claimed a right
to institute certain organizations of municipal administration
at Kharbin and other towns of rising importance on the line.
This right was challenged in 1908 by the American Consul at
Kharbin (sometimes written Harbin), Mr. Fisher, who refused to
recognize some ordinances of the Russian administration, on
the ground that he was accredited to China, only, and could
know no other sovereignty in Manchuria than the Chinese. This
led to a new Russo-Chinese Agreement, signed at Peking on the
10th of May, 1909, distinctly authorizing the "organization of
municipalities on the lands" of the Chinese Eastern Railway.
The "sovereign rights of China" are "not to be prejudiced in
any way," says the new Agreement; but "municipal bodies are to
be established in the commercial centres of a certain
importance situated on the lands of the railway. The
inhabitants of these commercial centres, according to the
importance of the localities and the number of the residents,
shall elect delegates by vote, who shall choose an Executive
Committee; or else the residents themselves shall take part in
the business of the municipality and a representative shall be
elected from amongst them who will take upon himself to carry
out the resolutions decided upon by meeting of all the
residents.

"No difference shall be made on the lands of the railway
between the Chinese population and that of other
nationalities; all residents shall enjoy the same rights and
be subject to the same obligations.

"The right to vote shall belong to every member of the
community who owns real estate of a fixed value or who pays a
fixed annual rental and taxes."

Reading no farther in the Agreement than this, imperial Russia
and China would seem to have jointly planted a seed of
democratic municipalities in Manchuria; but that impression is
destroyed by qualifying provisions, such as this:

"The President of the Chiao-She-Chu [a Mixed Russo-Chinese
Court, formerly created] and the director of the railway,
occupying a position superior to the Presidents of the
assemblies of delegates and of committees, have a right of
control and personal revision, which they may exercise
whenever they think fit. … in the event of decisions by the
assembly of delegates not being approved by the President of
the Chiao-She-Chu or the director of the railway, these
decisions shall be returned to the assembly for further
consideration. If the original decision is adopted by a
majority of three-quarters of the members present, it becomes
binding."

The effect of the whole agreement would undoubtedly be to give
the Russian railway officials supreme authority in the
so-called municipalities. Remonstrances against it by the
Government of the United States have been supported by Great
Britain, Germany, and Austria. The question remains open and
troublesome. Dr. Morrison, of _The Times_, wrote of the
situation in November as follows:

"The situation in Manchuria is receiving close attention from
the Legations because of the increasing difficulty of the
problems created by Russian and Japanese claims to territorial
and administrative jurisdiction in connexion with their
respective railways, claims which conflict with China’s
unimpaired sovereignty and with the treaty rights of other
nations. A tentative proposal was recently submitted to the
consideration of the Diplomatic Body, with the approval of the
Wai-wu-pu and M. Korostovetz, to create an international
settlement at Kharbin on a separate site adjoining the railway
settlement. The proposal was unacceptable to the Powers
interested because it implied a fundamental discrimination in
favour of the railway company, leaving it to exercise, in an
important trade centre, powers which are incompatible with
treaties and which are not conferred by its charter. …

"The Chinese Government entirely fails to avail itself of its
opportunities at this juncture. The local authorities are
unable, and the Peking Government is unwilling, to take any
initiative. The Wai-wu-pu adheres to its policy of shifting
opportunism, as shown by its proposal to the Russian Minister
to cancel, in deference to the protests of the Powers, the
agreement with regard to the Kharbin municipal regulations
concluded on May 10, a proposal unaccompanied by any practical
alternative whereby political requirements might be reconciled
with the undeniable vested interests of the railway. In this
connexion it is interesting to note that, whereas England,
America, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary refused
an unqualified assent to the Kharbin agreement, yet no
exception has been taken to the regulations of the Japanese
railway settlements, although, without any reference to China,
they confer the widest powers on the Japanese authorities,
including the right of arbitrary taxation and forcible
expulsion."

The Russian side of the question was presented in a
semi-official statement, made public in October, 1909, as
follows:

"The representatives of certain Powers which have trade
interests in China have, both in Peking and St. Petersburg,
expressed doubts as to the rights of authority exercised by
the Kharbin municipality. These representatives have
endeavoured, in notes presented to the Chinese and Russian
Governments on the matter, and in verbal communications, to
prove that certain paragraphs of the treaty which was signed
at Peking on May 10, 1909, violated the extra-territorial
rights granted to their nationals by treaty with China, and
further that some of the measures taken by the Kharbin
authorities were opposed to the regulations of the
international concession which, in their opinion, has been
recently established at Kharbin.

"It is easy to demonstrate that such a point of view is based
on a misunderstanding. Extra-territorial rights, so far as
they are secured by treaty, comprise exclusively the right of
every foreigner to be judged by his own Consul. They do not,
however, in any way exempt him from the obligation to pay town
and other taxes, or to submit to established regulations. The
difference between the pure Chinese open ports where there are
no foreign concessions and places which lie in the territorial
zone of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and are open to foreign
trade, consists solely in the fact that in the former the
Chinese authorities have the power to make administration
rules at their own discretion, while in places in the
territorial zone of the Eastern Railway the Chinese Government
has, by the concession agreement signed on August 28, 1896,
and the convention of May 10, 1909, transferred the rights of
administration to the Chinese Eastern Railway Company, as a
private concession, so that the company acts as the agent of
the Chinese Government in supervising the administration of
Kharbin and other places.

{102}

"Another misunderstanding has evidently given rise to the
statement that Kharbin has recently been converted into an
international concession. The contracting parties never had
any such intentions. By reason of legal acts, as well as of
traditions and conditions of a local character, under which
Kharbin originated, it is clear that this is a special kind of
concession, which is distinguished from other concessions by
its exceptionally liberal and exceedingly hospitable
regulations in regard to foreigners."

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (October).
Naval plans.

See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE PREPARATIONS FOR: NAVAL: CHINESE.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (October).
Opening of the Peking-Kalgan Line of Railway.
A purely Chinese undertaking.

See (in this Volume)
RAILWAYS: CHINA.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (October).
Death of Chang Chih-Tung.

Chang Chih-Tung, Grand Councillor of the Empire of China, died
on the 4th of October, 1909, and Tai Hung-tze, President of
the Board of Justice, was appointed his successor in office.

CHINA: A. D. 1909 (October-November).
Election and opening of Provincial Assemblies.
Beginnings of the institution of Constitutional and
Representative Government.

The following, from the Peking reports to _The Times_,
London, narrates the actual beginning of the series of
proceedings planned and promised for the gradual institution
of representative constitutional government. The first is of
the date of October 14, 1909:

"To-day marks an era in the establishment of constitutional
government in China. In obedience to the Imperial decrees of
October 19, 1907, and of July 22, 1908, ordering the
establishment, within one year of the latter date, in each of
the 22 provinces of China proper and in Manchuria and the New
Dominion of provincial deliberative assemblies, elections have
been in progress for some time past, and the assemblies meet
in accordance with the regulations for the first time to-day,
the first day of the ninth moon. …

"The elections have taken place according to the regulations,
and halls have been erected for the assemblies to sit wherever
a Viceroy or a Governor has his seat. The number of members
varies from 140 in Chih-li, 114 in Che-kiang, to 30 each in
Kirin, Lchlun-chiang, and Hsin-kiang. The incomplete returns
which have been published show nearly 1,000 voters for each
representative.

"For weeks past reports have been coming in from provincial
authorities asking for instructions and information concerning
this new departure. An edict issued last night renews the
Imperial admonitions to members of the assemblies as to their
deliberations, and to Viceroys and Governors as to their
supervision of the deliberations, and exhorts all to display a
loyal patriotism so that the country may attain strength and
prosperity. The event may be one of great historical
importance."

The next was sent from Peking on the 6th of the following
November:

"Already, in the opening debates of these Provincial
Assemblies, one apprehends the coming chaos, one hears the
first whispering of the approaching storm. Peking, panoplied
in ignorance and petrified in medieval statecraft, trifles
with Demos at its doors, evidently hoping that the Assemblies
will consume their own smoke, and that the Mandarin may be
preserved by the time-honoured device of holding the balance
between contending classes. But the spirits which the
Vermilion Pencil has called from the Celestial deep, though
elected with all possible precautions of ‘silkcoated’
franchise, and under the close direction of Viceroys and
Governors, show signs of scant respect for the Central
Government and of little sympathy for its difficulties.
Already, within a fortnight of their birth, many of the
Assemblies have passed resolutions denouncing several of the
Government’s pet proposals—e. g., the opium monopoly, the
stamp tax, and the foreign loan for the Hankau-Canton and
Hankau-Szechuan Railways. In the case of the stamp tax, 15
provinces have expressed the opinion, and have induced the
local officials in many cases to endorse it, that the proposed
levy is impracticable, so that, in the words of the native
Press, 'its imposition is deferred and the Ministry of Finance
is at its wits’ end.’ Concerning the vexed question of the
railway loan, the Hupei Assembly is reported to have endorsed,
without a dissentient, their chairman’s declaration that the
Government’s scheme should be resisted ‘to the death.’

"The spirit which animates these Assemblies is evidently very
similar to that which speaks through the vernacular Press;
iconoclastic, patriotic—in the sense that it denounces
everything foreign—but lacking, so far, in intelligent
leadership and constructive policy. Their attitude towards the
Central Government is generally one of scarcely veiled
contempt. I cannot illustrate better its general tendency than
in the words of a native journalist who, in a recent criticism
of the Grand Council, congratulated these rulers of China on
their remarkable longevity, but observed that ‘there is little
hope of longevity for an Empire that is governed by such
incompetent survivals.’"

A few weeks later, after the forty days’ session of the new
Provincial Assemblies had ended, this writer had changed his
view. Writing on the 22d of December, he said: "A study of the
reports of the proceedings so far available of the first
session of the Provincial Assemblies supports the contention
that the Throne has been justified in granting the subjects of
the Empire a limited right of speech through their chosen
representatives. The programmes of debate have been strictly
in accordance with the Imperial edict, and the proceedings
have been marked with dignity and decorum. The net result
justifies the declaration made by a high authority, who has
been given special opportunity of forming a judgment, that the
‘members have fulfilled their appointed task of working in
harmony with the executive authorities in the interests of
their respective provinces.’"

CHINA: A. D. 1909-1910.
Proposal of the United States for the neutralization of
Manchurian Railways.
Proposed Chinchow-Aigun Railway.

Late in December, 1909, the United States Government submitted
to that of China, and to the interested Powers, a proposition
which contemplated the neutralization of the railways in
Manchuria, now partly under Russian and partly under Japanese
control, and which looked, also, to an international
undertaking of the construction of a Chinchow-Aigun line, to
tap the Russian Trans-Siberian road at Tsitshar.
{103}
In a published statement subsequently, the American Secretary
of State, Mr. Knox, explained that his Government, during the
recent railway loan negotiations, had pointed out to the
interested Powers that the greatest danger to the policy of
the open door in China and the development of her foreign
trade arose from disagreements among the great Western
nations, and had expressed the opinion that nothing would
afford so impressive an object-lesson to China and the world
as the spectacle of the four great capitalist nations—Great
Britain, Germany, France, and the United States—standing
together for equality of commercial opportunity. The American
Government believed that one of the most effective steps to
this end in order to secure for China the enjoyment of all
political rights in Manchuria and to promote the normal
development of the Eastern provinces was to take the
Manchurian railroads out of Eastern politics and to place them
under an economic and impartial administration by vesting in
China herself the ownership of the railways. Such a policy
would require the cooperation, not only of China, but of
Russia and Japan, both of whom it would enable to shift their
onerous responsibilities in connexion with those railways on
to the shoulders of the combined Powers, including themselves,
and would effect a complete commercial neutralization of
Manchuria.

The proposal of a neutralization of the existing Manchurian
railways was not received with favor in either Japan or
Russia, and the other Powers concerned have manifested a
disposition to defer to the view taken by those two
Governments, which are most immediately touched by it. The
position of the Japanese Government on the question was stated
publicly in an address to the Diet on the 27th of January by
Baron Komura, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who said:

"The United States government recently proposed a plan
regarding the neutralization of Manchurian railways. The
Imperial government, in view of the important Japanese
interests involved, and considering that the proposal came
from a friendly Power with which the empire was on terms of
close intimacy, submitted the question to the most careful
examination. While determined to adhere scrupulously to the
policy of the open door and equal opportunity, it should be
recognized that the realization of the proposed plan would
involve radical changes in the condition of affairs in
Manchuria which were established by the treaties of Portsmouth
and Peking. The change must be attended by serious
consequences. In the region affected by the South Manchurian
Railway numerous undertakings have been promoted in the belief
that the railway would remain in our possession. As a
consequence, the Imperial government, with regret, was obliged
to announce its inability to consent to the proposal. I trust
that the United States will appreciate our position and that
the other Powers will equally recognize the justice of Japan’s
attitude."

The Russian Government is understood to have taken
substantially the same ground, on the general question of a
neutralization of Manchurian railways. There and elsewhere,
however, there is said to be a readiness to consider the
incidental proposition of an internationally financed
Chinchow-Aigun road.

----------CHINA: End--------

CHINA EMERGENCY APPEAL COMMITTEE.

See (in this Volume)
EDUCATION: CHINA: A. D. 1909.

CHINCHOW-AIGUN RAILWAY, Proposed.

See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1909-1910.

CHINESE HIGHBINDER ASSOCIATIONS:
Their dangerous character.

See (in this Volume)
SAN FRANCISCO: A. D. 1902.

CHINESE IMMIGRATION:
The Resistance to it in America, Australia, and South Africa.

See (in this Volume)
RACE PROBLEMS.

CH’ING, Prince of.

See (in this Volume)
CHINA: A. D. 1901-1908.

CHOATE, Joseph H.:
Commissioner Plenipotentiary to the Second Peace Conference.

See (in this Volume)
WAR, THE REVOLT AGAINST: A. D. 1907.