SOS 



Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



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CAN CHINA BE A REPUBLIC? 

 A Japanese Answer. 

 (^UTE one of the most striking and important 

 articles of tiie month is that contributed to the \l'i)ild's 

 Work bv l'ro(e>sor lyenaga on China and the chances 

 of a repubhcan form of i;overnment. Here we have a 

 .-crious study of a (juestion largely misundersiuod by 

 the Western world, and yet one which may be fraught 

 with endless effects upon every Western nation. 

 This fapanese Professor of History is no enemy of 

 < liina ; in fact, he states : " I am one of those who 

 have a firm faith in China's future. As her past has 

 been glorious, so we expect her future to be no less 

 ureat. China saw her foundation-stone laid before 

 the Pyramids were built. -She had already developed 

 her own civilisation, her admirable ethics, her 

 Miluminous literature, her practical art, with a 

 modicum of science, when the ancestors of modern 

 Anglo-.Saxons were roving with painted faces in the 

 woods and swamps of Scandinavia. . . During her 

 long life China has witnessed kingdoms and empires 

 rise and fall ; nation upon nation born, wax, and 

 wane, then disappear. l'-g\pt, her only compeer in 

 t;e, is but a husk. The Empire of Darius is no more. 

 . . . Proud Greece, too, is gone. Glorious Rome is 

 but an episode in the pages of history. Xay, even the 

 splendour of some modern nations is already perceptibly 

 waning. Amidst such a wreck of nations China still 

 stands." 



" A DEMOCRACY UNDER A THEOCR.\CY." 



No wise prophet, says the writer, will risk his 

 reputation by prediction about China. There are, 

 however, " certain fundamental principles governing 

 the growth of political institutions, from which China 

 cannot free herself if she would." He points out that 

 while China has been under a monarchical form of 

 government since the beginning of her history, there 

 have been many changes of dynasty, and these changes 

 of dynasty have been accepted or acquiesced in by 

 ' he people on the ground that the rulers were orilained 



. Heaven. And the nomination of a king by the 

 .11 clamation of Uie people is, in principle, not many 

 miles apart from that of election of a president by 

 the votes of the people. China has been described a.s 

 /' a democracy living under a theocracy " ; — 



In fact, the grc.it susLTiiiini; principle of llic Chincst Sl:ilc is 

 sinsiilnrly liko lli.il of the .Xnicricin democracy. There is no 

 position timiir " Ihc Son of Heaven" lo which men of the 

 l.uml)lc»t origin anri p.iriiilaf;<- may not aspire, or to whicli 



om time to time liiuy have nut reached. Tliis demoiralic 



Tuctiirc of her society puts t'hina in n dificrent category from 



lit of Knyland or Japan. 

 The cxiraoiilinary "hitalimi and ttahilily of (he Chinese 



iiinn nnisl h.ive dtpi i ' ' "■•■ ly Upon theii remaikahle roll. 



• vorniiii; lapaciiy. I! of Chin.i\ |M)liliriil oi^.ihiMii 



ihe IX 'il). Upon III' "lit up the cdili' e of ltie-lal<'. 



\. eailiN. lily IS govcrneil in accordance with in own im- 



;'nuiii,il \ .|om», 90 each village, n composite of fainilie-, is 



ivcrncd likewise by its headman and cidcis. 



A number of villages anil towns grouped together make a 

 district, which is the unit of the Chinese administrative system. 

 At its head is the CAiA-Asmi, or district m.igistrate, who com- 

 bines in his person the various functions arising in a modern 

 municipality. But most of the business of the district is con- 

 ducted by its elders and headmen nominated by the Chih-hsicn. 



.\ group of districts forms a prefecture, whose head is the 

 Clii-Ju, or prefect. All these administrative divisions combined 

 constitute a province, which is under a governor. Some pro- 

 vinces are grouped together under a governor -general or viceroy. 

 But every village, every district, every province, every viceroy- 

 ally, is self-contained and autonomous. 



Professor lyenaga thus sums up the case for the 

 possibility of the republic : — 



The power of cohesion and the «clf-governing capacity of the 

 Chinese being thus highly developed, so far as the governing of 

 a state like one of the United States is concerned, we can see 

 no reason why '.he Chinese cannot successfully carry on this 

 process of state government. 



THE MONARCHICAL lUEA DOMINANT. 



When, however, he turns to the other side, it is at 

 once .seen that the leaders of the revolution are " indeed 

 confronted with tremendous problems." " Can the 

 monarchical idea in China be wiped out of existence or 

 replaced by the republican idea without disrupting the 

 nation ?- For centuries the monarchical idea has been 

 the dominant principle of China." The Emperor was 

 regarded as semi-divine, the " Son of Heaven," 

 representing the Deity, and ruling the people in His 

 behalf. He was the Patriarch of the great patriarchal 

 stale ; the Father and High Priest of the people. 

 In short, the " .Son of Heaven " " was the focussing 

 point in the social, religious, and political life of China." 



■' The Imperial thread is deeply interwoven into the 

 fabric of the Chinese state " : — 



Kurlhermore, " the root idea of democratic Government is 

 that of individual responsibility and liberty" ; but individualism 

 is a theory which is entirely l^oroign to the CJiinese. The unit 

 of Chinese society is not (he individual, but the family, and it 

 is lo l)e remembered that the Chinese family includes the dead 

 as well as the living. It is built upon, ^and sustained by, 

 a'lcestor worship 



Can the theories of individualism grow in such a soil within 

 .1 night? I have said that Chli,L-.e society is democratic ; but 

 China has not been ilcmocratic in ;i political sense. Ilcr polity 

 has been inonaichical, and well h;i> 11 lilted to the genius of the 

 nation. 



The revolution has been " .1 revolt of the Chinese 

 against the domination of an alien race. The Hag 

 of a republic was hoisted simply as a means to attain 

 an end." It is probable that tjie mass of the Chinese 

 would prefer a Chinese monarch replacing the Manchu 

 monarch to a president of a republii-. The .Manchus 

 fell because they were weak and showed their weakness. 

 The republic tame and continues, according lo this 

 eminent uulhority, because there was no Chinese 

 Napoleon ready to hand. 



DIFHCUI.TIES IN THE WAV OK A REI't:BLIC. 



He slates several of the greatest ol the diiruullics 

 in the way of success lor the republic. He applies 

 Montc-i|uieu's axiom that a big country is not fit fur 



