FIFTY YEARS OF CATHAY.* HALF a century ago China was

in the throes of the great Tai-ping Rebellion. The most fertile and populous parts of the Empire had been laid waste. Huge areas had been almost depopulated. The outlook for the Empire seemed almost inconceivably dark. To-day under our own eyes this great nation is undergoing what can only be spoken of as a rebirth. She has not only shown extraordinary recuperative powers after the devastation of fifty years ago, but is also proving herself able to deal with great national evils, such as foot- binding and opium-smoking, and to reconstruct her army, her educational system, and her constitution.

It goes without saying that the reminiscences of any acute observer who has lived through this period will be of excep- tional interest. Two recently published works give us, from different points of view, many valuable side-lights thereon. The earliestexperiences recorded in each work deal with the Tai-ping Rebellion, while travel in China, Chinese legends, retrospect

• (I) Gleanings from Fifty Years in China. By (the late) Archibald Little. London Sampson Low, Marston and Co. [7e. 6d. net.)—(2) Half a Century in M.A. B7 Archdeacon Monte, B.D. London : Hodder and Stoughton. Us, M. sot.)

and prospect, and the position and work of Christian missions ire topici common to both volumes. Both are collectiois of unconnected essays, making no attempt to deal systematically with the situation. Their value lies chiefly in the personal interest and the first-hand impressions of life in this rapidly changing empire.

Most of Mr. Little's papers have already been published in periodicals in China, England, and America. Their value would be materially increased if the date of publication were given with each. Some statements are brought up to date by editorial footnotes, but in other cases this has not been done. Certain inaccuracies have crept in also which would doubtless have been corrected had the author been revising his own proofs. Should a second edition be called for we hope that these points will be noted, and also that a map may be added, especially for the sake of the chapters dealing with travel. The value of the work would be enhanced by a, reference to the pages where quotations may be found.

Writing as a merchant it is, perhaps, not unnatural that Mr. Little should seem to gauge China's welfare largely by material standards, and on the assumption that true progress will be found in the increase of " treaty ports," and therefore of trade with the West.

"A 'treaty port' established in this region means a new centre of activity, higher wages, and vastly increased employment for the labouring classes ; to the surrounding country it means an increased outlet for their production and a steady rise in value. To the officials and gentry' it means a concrete example of the , gains to be derived from Western methods of progress as opposed to the stagnation involved in fixing their ideals in the past. . . . To the people generally our settlements yield a specimen of order and cleanliness in a wilderness of dirt and discomfort which they do nothing to alleviate until stimulated by our contact " (p. 34).

It is not, however, always patent that the treaty port means

simply the raising of the East by the West, and the author seems to recognize this fact when he says : " The most effective propagandism in China would, we all know, be the Christian conduct of the lay' foreigner " (p. 298).

Nevertheless we cannot question the importance of China developing her own resources and her foreign trade, if moral as well as material progress is to be achieved; and here Mr. Little has a right to be beard. After the experience of a life- time he lays down the following propositions :—

"Good roads, liberty to mine, and free internal traffic—these are the three essentials to a really appreciable increase in our present trade. . . . I do not think that any great reform in our business methods in China is needed unless it were the training of young English merchants to be fluent Chinese scholars. . Another weighty hindrance to our trade, and one which it lies in our own hands to remove, is our absurd repugnance to adopt the metric system. . . . In China we must take care of the exports, and the imports will take care of themselves " (pp. 44-8).

Russia he regards as the enemy of a true development of trade, and he supports the view by a reference to her action, not only in Manchuria, but also in Hankow. For himself, while maintaining that American competition is "far more serious than German," he says :—

" There is no necessary conflict of international interests in China ; the field is so immense that there is room for the occupa- tion of all the spare capital of both Europe and America for a century to come in exploiting the undeveloped resources of this huge empire " (p. 69).

The section of the book devoted to travel occupies nearly a hundred pages, and is full of interest. Having travelled our.

selves over almost the whole of the route described in the chapters on Szechwan, we can speak with confidence of the general accuracy of the descriptions, a few small errors in the names of places and persons having, however, found their way into the text. We should like strongly to emphasize Mr. Little's insistence on the importance of a trustworthy interpreter.

" I think myself," he says, " that a consul should not be empowered to grant a passport for travel in the remote interior without an assurance that the applicant either speaks the

language himself or is accompanied by an interpreter of some social standing." The opinion is supported by an instance fully demonstrating the importance of the point.

The two closing sections deal with " drama and legend" and " religion and philosophy" respectively, and each has its own peculiar value. They reveal the author as much more than a merchant and traveller—as one who entered with deep sympathy into Chinese ideals and aspirations, a kind though candid critic of missionary work, and a warm admirer of the

Chinese, whom be knew so well. While rightly emphasizing the folly of adopting the iconoclastic attitude towards China's ancient religions and the importance of presenting Christianity as a fulfilment of all that is noble in her past, he adds :-

"That missionary work as now carried on in China has im- mensely benefited the Chinese it is impossible for any student of Chinese conditions to contest. The common sarcasms upon mis- sionary effort are made by men who have no practical experience of the work actually done. The genuine Chinese Christian, certainly among the lower classes of Chinese, is as superior to the man whose religion consists alone in the punctual performance of outward ceremonies as is the genuine Christian under similar cir- cumstances at home. . . . But the educated classes," he thinks, "can never be expected to adopt the Christianity of our Churches " (p. 323).

Space forbids us to deal at great length with the missionary's book. Here again, however, we have a man of wide experience, sympathetic and observant, and we find much of present interest and not a little of permanent value. The account of the siege of Ningpo by the Tai-pings and the sub- sequent events are given with all the vividness of an eye- witness. While recognizing the noble aspirations in some of the earlier leaders, Archdeacon Moule shows chiefly the darker side of the picture--the cruelty, the devastation, and the law- lessness that accompanied that so-called reformation. Of China's " eminent power of cohesion and recuperation " as shown after this period he writes :—

" Only those who have seen with their own eyes China's life and activities almost silenced, her cities and plains desolate and scorched, her educational system paralysed, and her power and rule so completely shattered that a tripartite division of the land by the three leading European Powers seemed the kindest thing for a country already apparently in a state of dissolution— those eyewitnesses, and they alone perhaps, can appreciate the wonder of China's revival and the restoration of the activities of education, agriculture, handicraft, and commerce, . . . which after a pause, necessitated by the awful fatigues of fourteen years of civil strife, renewed their existence" (pp. 97-8).

A less hopeful side of Chinese character, and one to which we must ourselves bear a reluctant testimony, is given when he says, " It was strange and disappointing to note how readily the people and the Government forgot what they themselves had been so loud in proclaiming—their debt to foreigners for delivering them from their oppressors, and for saving so many of them from slavery, starvation, and death " (p. 101).

In speaking of China's future it is clear that we have here one who is looking at the whole problem primarily from the moral point of view. The following words should be read in conjunction with those quoted already from Mr. Little's book:

"The only warning I should like to sound is that we from the West may be running a double risk first, in suggesting to China change where she needs no change, simply because the great East happens to differ from the great West ; secondly, in tacitly assuming, or loudly proclaiming, that what suits the bustling West must be the one remedy for the wants and woes of the more deliberate and tranquil East" (p. 305).

The thought is carried farther, perhaps, than we should be prepared to carry it ourselves, more particularly where it is urged that a patriarchal or paternal government is more suited to China than a democratic one. The question is carefully presented and supported by well-chosen extracts from Chinese classics, and is well worthy of debate. Perhaps, however, sufficient weight is not given to those elements in the national character which seem to us to mark out the Chinese as essentially suited to wary on satisfactorily democratic institutions.

With the author's urgent insistence on the necessity of maintaining the teaching of and reverence for the writings of China's sages we are in hearty accord.

"I emphasize here the grave importance of retaining subjects and methods of education which have been in vogue for eighteen hundred years in China as indispensable to a Chinese programme for the nation's future education. . . . It will preserve that whole- some and intelligent regard for antiquity, for authority, and for years which is slipping away so fast from Chinese life and character, as from the whole hurrying world" (pp. 284-5).

We cannot do better, in closing this notice, than to place together two extracts, which show how each author looks upon the future :-

" China,' says Mr. Little, 'has the seeds of reform in herself, and, if given time and an assurance of protection, will surely if slowly bring them to maturity; and the wise policy is to help her to reform herself " (p. 103).

"`The expansion of China's influence,' says Archdeacon Motile, 4 cannot be compassed by shutting her up within her own borders

and excluding Western enterprise and legitimate oo-operation. On the other hand, it is not only folly but mischievous ignorance which leads some too keen Western educators to minimize or despise Chinese learning and scholarship, and her great achieve- ments in the arts of peace in past ages, with the implication that the ancient wisdom is dead, and that all wisdom will die for China if she fails to conform to Western ideals ''' (p. 77).

These two books form an interesting comparison and con- trast, and throw not a little light on the present situation in China. We welcome them as indicating from different stand- points the necessity of revising the once true thought expressed by Lord Tennyson : "Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay."