Across China on Foot | Page 3

last long voyage to a
last long rest, that the Chinese would never allow me to come out of
China alive. Such is the ignorance of the average man concerning the
conditions of life and travel in the interior of this Land of Night.
Here, then, was I on my way to that land towards which all the world
was straining its eyes, whose nation, above all nations of the earth, was
altering for better things, and coming out of its historic shell. "Reform,
reform, reform," was the echo, and I myself was on the way to hear it.
At the time I started for China the cry of "China for the Chinese" was
heard in all countries, among all peoples. Statesmen were startled by it,
editors wrote the phrase to death, magazines were filled with
copy--good, bad and indifferent--mostly written, be it said, by men
whose knowledge of the question was by no means complete: editorial
opinion, and contradiction of that opinion, were printed side by side in
journals having a good name. To one who endeavored actually to
understand what was being done, and whither these broad tendencies
and strange cravings of the Chinese were leading a people who
formerly were so indifferent to progress, it seemed essential that he
should go to the country, and there on the spot make a study of the
problem.
Was the reform, if genuine at all, universal in China? Did it reach to the
ends of the Empire?

That a New China had come into being, and was working astounding
results in the enlightened provinces above the Yangtze and those
connected with the capital by railway, was common knowledge; but
one found it hard to believe that the west and the south-west of the
empire were moved by the same spirit of Europeanism, and it will be
seen that China in the west moves, if at all, but at a snail's pace: the
second part of this volume deals with that portion of the subject.
And it may be that the New China, as we know it in the more forward
spheres of activity, will only take her proper place in the family of
nations after fresh upheavals. Rivers of blood may yet have to flow as a
sickening libation to the gods who have guided the nation for forty
centuries before she will be able to attain her ambition of standing line
to line with the other powers of the eastern and western worlds. But it
seems that no matter what the cost, no matter what she may have to
suffer financially and nationally, no matter how great the obstinacy of
the people towards the reform movement, the change is coming, has
already come with alarming rapidity, and has come to stay. China is
changing--let so much be granted; and although the movement may be
hampered by a thousand general difficulties, presented by the ancient
civilization of a people whose customs and manners and ideas have
stood the test of time since the days contemporary with those of
Solomon, and at one time bade fair to test eternity, the Government cry
of "China for the Chinese" is going to win. Chinese civilization has for
ages been allowed to get into a very bad state of repair, and official
corruption and deceit have prevented the Government from making an
effectual move towards present-day aims; but that she is now making
an honest endeavor to rectify her faults in the face of tremendous odds
must, so it appears to the writer, be apparent to all beholders. That is
the Government view-point. It is important to note this.
In China, however, the Government is not the people. It never has been.
It is not to be expected that great political and social reforms can be
introduced into such an enormous country as China, and among her
four hundred and thirty millions of people, merely by the issue of a few
imperial edicts. The masses have to be convinced that any given thing
is for the public good before they accept, despite the proclamations, and

in thus convincing her own people China has yet to go through the fire
of a terrible ordeal. Especially will this be seen in the second part of
this volume, where in Yün-nan there are huge areas absolutely
untouched by the forward movement, and where the people are living
the same life of disease, distress and dirt, of official, social, and moral
degradation as they lived when the Westerner remained still in the
primeval forest stage. But despite the scepticism and the cynicism of
certain writers, whose pessimism is due to a lack of foresight, and
despite the fact that she is being constantly accused of having in the
past ignominiously failed at the crucial moment in endeavors towards
minor reforms,