PROBLEMS IN CHINA 305 



of the falsity of the assertion of such a motive in endeavoring to 

 Christianize a heathen people. 



What is to be the end of the contest now being waged in northern 

 China? To this question there is but one answer that can be made 

 with any degree of confidence. Pekin must fall into the hands of the 

 allied powers. Whether or not the present rulers of the country will 

 be captured with it remains to be seen, though all the probabilities are 

 against it. But if they fly to the ancient Chinese capital, Singan Fu, 

 in the province of Shensi, 750 miles inland, and set up the govern- 

 ment there, what then? In other words, can the powers, either 

 unitedly or singly, conquer China or any considerable part of it not 

 adjacent to the sea? If the Chinese are united in their opposition to 

 the powers, I believe this to be an impossibility from the physical 

 character of the country and the number and disposition of the peoi)le. 



China proper — that is, excluding Mongolia, Manchuria, Tibet, and 

 Turkestan — is, in round numbers, 1,500 miles in extent from east to 

 west and 1,400 miles from north to south. It is, roughly speaking, 

 divided into three great river basins, which are separated from each 

 other by ranges of mountains. The northernmost is that of the Yel- 

 low River and consists in large part of a plain, subject to terrible in- 

 undations from the fact that it lies below the level of the river, which 

 now and then l)ursts its banks and makes for itself a new channel. 

 It is unnavigable and apimrently would afford no aid to an invading 

 army. This is not true of the second or Yangtze River, which is 

 navigable for nearly 2,000 miles and has numerous tributaries navi- 

 gable for small craft. This is the richest part as well as the most 

 l)opulous of the empire. The deltas of these two rivers are connected 

 by the Grand Canal, formerly a great avenue of trade, upon whose 

 Ijanks were important cities. Sections of it are now in ruins, and 

 even if it were in good re[)air it runs throughout its entire length so 

 near the coast as to be useless to an army invading the interior. The 

 third river is the West, in the extreme southeastern part of China. It 

 is navigable for some 200 miles and would give access only to two 

 provinces, only one of which, Kuangtong, is of any importance. 



These river basins were formerly connected by imperial roads, con- 

 structed before the Tatar conquest, and oven in their ruins excite tlie 

 admiration of travelers and attest tiie height to wiiich Chinese civil- 

 ization once reached. The present rulers have suffered them to fall 

 into decay and comparative disuse, as rapid and easy communication 

 between tiie diffure'.it parts of the empire was considered dangerous, 



