Chapter 38

It was fortunate that among the influential advisers of the throne at this time (1905-1908) were Prince Chun (the prince who had visited Germany in 1901), Yuan Shih-kai, the viceroy of Chih-li, and Chang Chih-tung, the viceroy of Hu-kwang (i.e. the provinces of Hu-peh and Hu-nan), all men of enlightened and strong character. In 1907 both the viceroys named were summoned to Peking and made members of the grand council, of which Prince Ching, a man of moderate views, was president. Yuan Shih-kai was an open advocate of a reform of the civil service, of the abolition of Manchu privileges, of education and other matters. He had specially advocated the reconstitution of the military forces of the empire, and in Chih-li in 1905 he demonstrated before a number of foreign military attachés the high efficiency attained by the forces of the metropolitan province. The success achieved by Yuan Shih-kai in this direction incited Chang Chih-tung to follow his example, while a decree from the throne called upon the princes and nobles of China to give their sons a military education. The formerly despised military profession was thus made honourable, and with salutary effects. The imperial princes sought high commands, officers were awarded ranks and dignities comparable with those of civil servants, and the pay of the troops was increased. The new foreign drilled northern army was called upon to furnish a large proportion of a force sent under Prince Su into Mongolia--a country which had been on the point of falling into the hands of Russia, but over which, as one result of the Russo-Japanese War, China recovered control. In 1906 a step was taken towards the formation of a national army by withdrawing portions of the troops from provincial control and placing them under officers responsible to the central government, which also took over the charge of the provincial arsenals. In the years which followed further evidence was given of the earnestness and success with which the military forces were being reorganized. Less attention was given to naval affairs, but in the autumn of 1909 a naval commission under Tsai Hsün, a brother of the emperor Kwang-su, was sent to Europe to report on the steps necessary for the re-establishment of a fleet. Previously (in 1907) societies had been started in several provinces to collect funds for naval purposes.

A parliamentary constitution promised.

The most striking evidence of the change which had occurred was, however, the appointment (in 1905) of an Imperial Commission, headed by Prince Tsai Tse, to study the administrative systems of foreign countries with a view to the possible establishment of a representative government in China. The revolutionary nature of this proposal excited indignation among the adherents to the old order, and a bomb was thrown among the commissioners as they were preparing to leave Peking.[61] After visiting Japan, America and Europe the commission returned to Peking in July 1906.[62] A committee over which Prince Ching presided was appointed to study the commission's report, and on the 1st of September following an edict was issued in which the establishment of a parliamentary form of government was announced, at a date not fixed. To fit the country for this new form of government (the edict went on to declare) the administration must be reformed, the laws revised, education promoted and the finances regulated. This edict, moreover, was but one of many edicts issued in 1906 and following years which showed how great a break with the past was contemplated. In November 1906 two edicts were issued with the object of reorganizing the central administrative offices. Their effect was to simplify the conduct of business, many useless posts being abolished, while an audit board was created to examine the national accounts. In November 1907 another edict was promulgated stating that for the present the formation of Houses of Lords and of Commons to determine all public questions was not practicable, but that it was proposed, as a preliminary measure, to create an Imperial Assembly. At the same time a scheme of provincial councils was ordered to be prepared. A more definite step followed in 1908 when a decree (dated the 27th of August) announced the convocation of a parliament in the ninth year from that date.

The control of the Maritime Customs.

One of the changes made in the public offices brought China into conflict with Great Britain. On the 9th of May 1906 a decree appointed Chinese commissioners to control the Imperial Maritime Customs.[63] This was the only department of the government under European (British) control, and the only department also against which no charge of inefficiency or corruption could be brought. The change decreed by China was in accord with the new national sentiment, but by all the foreign powers interested it was felt that it would be a retrograde step if the customs were taken out of the control of Sir Robert Hart (q.v.), who had been since 1863 inspector-general of the customs. The British secretary of state for foreign affairs (Sir Edward Grey) at once protested against the decree of the 6th of May, pointing out that the continuation of the established system had been stipulated for in the loan agreements of 1896 and 1898. As a result of this and other representations the Board of Control of the Customs was late in 1906 made a department of the Board of Finance. The Chinese controllers-general continued in office, and despite the assurances given to Great Britain by China (in a note of the 6th of June 1906) that the appointment of the controllers-general was not intended to interfere with the established system of administration, the absolute authority of Sir Robert Hart was weakened.[64] Sir Robert Hart returned to England in 1908 "on leave of absence," Sir Robert Bredon, the deputy inspector-general, being placed in charge of the service under the authority of the Board of Control, of which on the 5th of April 1910 it was announced that he had been appointed a member. This step was viewed with disfavour by the British government, for, unless Sir Robert Bredon's post was to be merely a sinecure, it imposed two masters on the maritime customs. On the 20th of April Sir Robert Bredon severed his connexion with the Board of Control. At the same time Mr F.A. Aglen (the Commissioner of Customs at Hankow) became acting Inspector General (Sir Robert Hart being still nominally head of the service). The attempt on the part of the Chinese to control the customs was evidence of the strength of the "young China" or Recovery of Rights party--the party which aspired to break all the chains, such as extra-territoriality, which stamped the country as not the equal of the other great nations.[65]

The anti-opium agitation.

In the steps taken to suppress opium smoking evidence was forthcoming of the earnestness with which the governing body in China sought to better the condition of the people. Opium smoking followed, in China, the introduction of tobacco smoking, and is stated to have been introduced from Java and Formosa in the early part of the 17th century. The first edict against the habit was issued in 1729. At that time the only foreign opium introduced was by the Portuguese from Goa, who exported about 200 chests[66] a year. In 1773 English merchants in India entered into the trade, which in 1781 was taken over by the East India Company--the import in 1790 being over 4000 chests. In 1796 the importation of foreign opium was declared contraband, and between 1839 and 1860 the central government attempted, without success, to suppress the trade. It was legalized in 1858 after the second "opium war" with Great Britain. At that time the poppy was extensively grown in China, and the bulk of the opium smoked was, and continued to be, of home manufacture. But after 1860 the importation of opium from India greatly increased. Opium was also imported from Persia (chiefly to Formosa, which in 1895 passed into the possession of Japan). The total foreign import in 1863 was some 70,000 piculs,[67] in 1879 it was 102,000 piculs, but in 1905 had fallen to 56,000 piculs. The number of opium smokers in China in the early years of the 20th century was estimated at from 25 to 30 millions. The evil effects of opium smoking were fully recognized, and Chang Chih-tung, one of the most powerful of the opponents of the habit, was high in the councils of the dowager-empress. On the 20th of September 1906 an edict was issued directing that the growth, sale and consumption of opium should cease in China within ten years, and ordering the officials to take measures to execute the imperial will. The measures promulgated, in November following, made the following provisions:--

(1) The cultivation of the poppy to be restricted annually by one-tenth of its existing area; (2) all persons using opium to be registered; (3) all shops selling opium to be gradually closed, and all places where opium is smoked to discontinue the practice within six months; (4) anti-opium societies to be officially encouraged, and medicines distributed to cure the opium-smoking habit; (5) all officials were requested to set an example to the people, and all officials under sixty were required to abandon opium smoking within six months or to withdraw from the service of the state.

It was estimated that the suppression of opium smoking would entail a yearly loss of revenue of over £1,600,000, a loss about equally divided between the central and provincial governments. The first step taken to enforce the edict was the closing of the opium dens in Peking on the last day of 1906.

During 1907 the opium dens in Shanghai, Canton, Fu-chow and many other large cities were closed, and restrictions on the issue of licences were introduced in the foreign settlements; even the eunuchs of the palace were prohibited from smoking opium under severe penalties. The central government continued during 1908 and 1909 to display considerable energy in the suppression of the use of opium, but the provincial authorities were not all equally energetic. It was noted in 1908 that while in some provinces--even in Yun-nan, where its importance tc trade and commerce and its use as currency seemed to render it very difficult to do anything effective--the governor and officials were whole-hearted in carrying out the imperial regulations, in other provinces--notably in Kwei-chow and in the provinces of the lower Yangtsze valley--great supineness was exhibited in dealing with the subject. Lord William Cecil, however, stated that travelling in 1909 between Peking and Hankow, through country which in 1907 he had seen covered with the poppy, he could not then see a single poppy flower, and that going up the Yangtsze he found only one small patch of poppy cultivation.[68] The Peking correspondent of _The Times_, in a journey to Turkestan in the early part of 1910, found that in Shen-si province the people's desire to suppress the opium trade was in advance of the views of the government. Every day trains of opium carts were passed travelling under official protection. But in the adjoining province of Shan-si there had been complete suppression of poppy cultivation and in Kan-suh the officials were conducting a very vigorous campaign against the growth of the poppy.[69]

In their endeavours to suppress opium smoking the Chinese government appealed to the Indian government for help, and in 1907 received a promise that India would decrease the production of opium annually by one-tenth for four years and subsequently if China did likewise. The Indian government also assented to Indian opium being taxed equally with Chinese opium, but China did not raise the duty on foreign opium. In 1908 the Indian government undertook to reduce the amount of opium exported by 5100 chests yearly. In the same year the opium dens in Hong-Kong were closed. In February 1909, on the initiative of the United States, an international conference was held at Shanghai to consider the opium trade and habit. At this conference the Chinese representative claimed that the consumption of opium had already been reduced by one-half--a claim not borne out by the ascertained facts. The conference was unable to suggest any heroic measures, but a number of proposals were agreed to (including the closing of opium dens in the foreign settlements), tending to the restriction of the opium trade. The conference also dealt with another and growing habit in China--the use of morphia.[70] Japan agreed to prohibit the export of morphia to China, a prohibition to which the other powers had previously agreed.

Education.

The attempts to reform the educational system of China on a comprehensive scale date from the year of the return of the court to Peking after the Boxer troubles. In 1902 regulations were sanctioned by the emperor which aimed at remodelling the methods of public instruction. These regulations provided among other things for the establishment at Peking of a university giving instruction in Western learning, a technical college, and a special department for training officials and teachers. A much more revolutionary step was taken in September 1905 when a decree appeared announcing as from the beginning of 1906 the abolition of the existing method of examinations. The new system was to include the study of modern sciences, history, geography and foreign languages, and in the higher grades political economy and civil and international law. Thousands of temples were converted to educational purposes. In Canton, in 1907, the old examination hall was demolished to make way for a college with every appliance on Western lines. Equal zeal was noticeable in such conservative cities as Si-gan-fu, and in remote provinces like Kan-suh. By May 1906 fifteen so-called universities had been founded. Moreover, many young Chinese went abroad to acquire education--in Japan alone in 1906 there were 13,000 students. In the same year primary schools for girls were established.[71] Perhaps the most striking evidence of the new spirit regarding education was the tenour of a communication to the throne from the head of the Confucian family. On the 31st of December 1906 an imperial edict had appeared raising Confucius to the same rank as Heaven and Earth--an action taken to indicate the desire of the government to emphasize the value of ethical training. In thanking the throne for the honour conferred on his ancestor the head of the family urged that at the new college founded at the birth-place of Confucius the teaching should include foreign languages, physical culture, political science and military drill.[72]

While China, with the consent of the emperor and the empress-dowager, and under the guidance of Prince Ching, Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung, was endeavouring to bring about internal reforms, her attitude to foreign powers was one of reserve and distrust. This was especially marked in the negotiations with Japan and with Russia concerning Manchuria, and was seen also in the negotiations with Great Britain concerning Tibet. It was not until April 1908, after four years' negotiations, that a convention with Great Britain respecting Tibet was signed, Chinese suzerain rights being respected. In September the Dalai Lama arrived in Peking from Mongolia and was received by the emperor, who also gave audience to a Nepalese mission.[73]

Death of the emperor and of the dowager empress.

The emperor Kwang-su had witnessed, without being able to guide, the new reform movement. In August 1908 an edict was issued in his name announcing the convocation of a parliament in nine years' time. In November he died. His death occasioned no surprise, as disquieting reports about his health had been current since July, but the announcement that the dowager empress died on the 15th of November (the day after that on which the emperor was officially stated to have died) was totally unexpected. She had celebrated her birthday on the 3rd of November and appeared then to be in good health. The empress dowager had taken part in the choice of a successor to the throne, Kwang-su's valedictory edict had been drawn up under her supervision, and it is believed that the emperor died some days previous to the date officially given for his death. Kwang-su died childless and was succeeded by his infant nephew Pu-Yi (born on the 8th of February 1906), a son of Prince Chun, who was appointed regent. Prince Chun--himself then only twenty-six years old--had exercised considerable influence at court since his mission to Germany in 1901, and was one of the most enlightened of the Manchu princes. The death of the dowager empress removed a powerful obstacle to a reformed regime, and with her passed away the last prominent representative of the old era in China.

Accession of Hsuan Tung.

The accession to the throne of Pu-Yi, who was given as reigning title Hsuan Tung ("promulgating universally"), was unaccompanied by disturbances, save for an outbreak at Ngan-king, easily suppressed. Prince Chun had the support of Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung,[74] the two most prominent Chinese members of the government at Peking--and thus a division between the Manchus and Chinese was avoided. On the 2nd of December 1908 the young emperor was enthroned with the usual rites. On the day following another edict, which, it was stated, had had the approval of the late dowager empress, was issued, reaffirming that of the 27th of August regarding the grant of a parliamentary constitution in nine years' time, and urging the people to prepare themselves for the change. Other edicts sought to strengthen the position of the regent as _de facto_ emperor. Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Chih-tung received the title of Grand Guardians of the Heir, and the year 1908 closed with the chief Chinese members of the government working, apparently, in complete harmony with the regent.

Dismissal of Yuan Shih-kai.

Agreement with Japan.

On the 1st of January 1909, however, the political situation was rudely disturbed by the dismissal from office of Yuan Shih-kai. This step led to representations by the British and American ministers to Prince Ching, the head of the foreign office, by whom assurances were given that no change of policy was contemplated by China, while the regent in a letter to President Taft reiterated the determination of his government to carry through its reform policy. The dismissal of Yuan Shih-kai was believed by the Chinese to be due to his "betrayal" of the emperor Kwang-su in the 1898 reform movement. He had nevertheless refused to go to extremes on the reactionary side, and in 1900, as governor of Shan-tung, he preserved a neutrality which greatly facilitated the relief of the Peking legations. During the last years of the life of the dowager empress it was his influence which largely reconciled her to the new reform movement. Yet Kwang-su had not forgotten the _coup d'état_ of 1898, and it is alleged that he left a testament calling upon his brother the prince regent to avenge the wrongs he had suffered.[75] During the greater part of the year there was serious estrangement between China and Japan, but on the 4th of September a convention was signed which settled most of the points in dispute respecting Manchuria and Korea. In Korea the boundary was adjusted so that Chientao, a mountainous district in eastern Manchuria regarded as the ancestral home of the reigning families of China and Korea, was definitely assigned to China; while in Manchuria, both as to railways and mines, a policy of co-operation was substituted for one of opposition.[76] Although Japan had made substantial concessions, those made by China in return provoked loud complaints from the southern provinces--the self-government society calling for the dismissal of Prince Ching. In northern Manchuria the Russian authorities had assumed territorial jurisdiction at Harbin, but on the 4th of May an agreement was signed recognizing Chinese jurisdiction.[77]

The control of railways.

The spirit typified by the cry of "China for the Chinese" was seen actively at work in the determined efforts made to exclude foreign capital from railway affairs. The completion in October 1909 of the Peking-Kalgan railway was the cause of much patriotic rejoicing. The railway, a purely Chinese undertaking, is 122 m. long and took four years to build. It traversed difficult country, piercing the Nan K'ow Pass by four tunnels, one under the Great Wall being 3580 ft. long. There was much controversy between foreign financiers, generally backed by their respective governments, as to the construction of other lines. In March 1909 the Deutschasiatische Bank secured a loan of £3,000,000 for the construction of the Canton-Hankow railway. This concession was contrary to an undertaking given in 1905 to British firms and was withdrawn, but only in return for the admittance of German capital in the Sze-ch'uen railway. After prolonged negotiations an agreement was signed in Paris on the 24th of May 1910 for a loan of £6,000,000 for the construction of the railway from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen, in which British, French, German and American interests were equally represented. In January 1910 the French line from Hanoi to Yunnan-fu was opened;[78] the railway from Shanghai to Nanking was opened for through traffic in 1909.

Provincial Assemblies constituted. A senate formed.

The progress of the anti-opium movement and the dispute over the control of the Imperial Maritime Customs have already been chronicled. A notable step was taken in 1909 by the institution of elected assemblies in each of the provinces. The franchise on which the members were elected was very limited, and the assemblies were given consultative powers only. They were opened on the 14th of October (the 1st day of the 9th moon). The businesslike manner in which these assemblies conducted their work was a matter of general comment among foreign observers in China.[79] In February 1910 decrees appeared approving schemes drawn up by the Commission for Constitutional Reforms, providing for local government in prefectures and departments and for the reform of the judiciary. This was followed on the 9th of May by another decree summoning the senate to meet for the first time on the 1st day of the 9th moon (the 3rd of October 1910). All the members of the senate were nominated, and the majority were Manchus. Neither to the provincial assemblies nor to the senate was any power of the purse given, and the drawing up of a budget was postponed until 1915.[80]

Anti-dynastic movements. Riots in Hu-nan.