CONCLUSION 201 



Many students of things Chinese fully expected that an up- 

 heaval would follow immediately upon the death of their 

 Majesties, the late Empress Dowager and Emperor Kwang 

 Hsii. During the period of nearly three years of grace which 

 followed their demise, the Central Government became more 

 and more inept, puerile, and rotten ; the provincial gentry and 

 the student class more openly rebellious. The sanctioning of 

 a foreign loan by the Central Government, which, among other 

 purposes, provided for the construction of the Hankow- 

 Szechuan Railway and the employment of foreign engineers, 

 was merely the last straw. It is difficult to see how anything 

 could have saved the late Dynasty short of a complete renova- 

 tion of its system of government and the installation of a 

 totally new class of officials capable of honestly conducting 

 the necessary reforms. Such a change was an impossibility, 

 but the Dynasty's life was prolonged a few months by a succes- 

 sion of fair promises which, if made in good faith, it had not 

 the strength to carry into effect. 



The late Manchu Dynasty has been equal to any of the 

 long line of Dynasties that have ruled China. But it outlived 

 itself and became an effete anachronism. In accordance with 

 natural law it had to disappear and make way for another more 

 in accord with the times. This Dynasty reached its zenith 

 during the reign of the Emperor Kien-lung (a.d. 1736-96), 

 and on his death it commenced to wane and wane rapidly. 

 But for foreign intervention it would probably have dis- 

 appeared during the great Tai-ping rebellion (a.d. 1850-64). 

 With the merits or demerits of this foreign intervention we 

 are not concerned. The fact remains that the time was only 

 postponed. It gave the Dynasty a lease of life, but all to no 

 purpose, as the recent disasters amply prove. There is, after 

 all, nothing fundamentally new in the present unfortunate 

 condition of affairs. During her long history China has been 

 through it all before, and many times. But the forces which 

 have induced the present rebellion are novel, since in her past 

 rebellions she has not felt the power of Western civilization 

 in the sense that she is feeling it now. The oldest of existing 

 nations, China is attempting to attune herself anew in order to 

 maintain her position as a nation, and to successfully compete 



