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The National Geographic Magazine 



doubtedly try to claim them through 

 illegitimate channels." 



The criticism most strongly empha- 

 sized against the practicability of a cen- 

 tralized representative government is the 

 present independent character of the vice- 

 roys and governors of provinces, who 

 will be found unwilling to surrender their 

 power. But it is to be remembered that 

 these officials are not hereditary rulers 

 like the Japanese daimios, but are ap- 

 pointed and removed at will by the im- 

 perial government, and the rule is that 

 no one shall be appointed to a province 

 of which he is a native or in which he 

 has local attachments. If the viceroys 

 are found to be resisting the policy of a 

 constitutional regime, they may be re- 

 moved and others more in harmony with 

 the new policy appointed in their places. 



WELCOMED BY THE PEOPLE 



Let us turn from the foreign critics 

 and see how the Chinese people have re- 

 ceived the promised constitution. It is 

 too early for reports from the interior 

 provinces, but we have news from many 

 of the great cities and centers of popula- 

 tion. At Tientsin, Hankow, Nanking, 

 Shanghai, Canton, and a number of other 

 places a general holiday was declared, 

 and the guilds, societies, and especially 

 the schools and educational associations, 

 united in processions and mass meetings, 

 with patriotic addresses, and thanks tele- 

 graphed to the government at Peking, 

 expressing their hearty appreciation of 

 the act. It may be of interest to notice 

 more in detail the action of the people of 

 Canton, the most populous and wealthy 

 city of the Empire, the farthest removed 

 from the capital, and where it has been 

 understood revolts and the anti-dynastic 

 spirit are most rampant. The report 

 states that a general holiday was ar- 

 ranged, business was suspended, and "the 

 celebration called forth the loudest ac- 

 clamations of rejoicing." The chamber 

 of commerce took the lead, and was sup- 

 ported by the various guilds and socie- 

 ties. The shops and houses were gavly 

 decorated, processions paraded the 



streets, with bands of music and fire- 

 works, and the guild houses and public 

 halls were crowded with people, who 

 made their obeisances before the imperial 

 tablets, bearing the names of the Em- 

 peror and Empress Dowager, as a mark 

 of gratitude for the gracious acts of their 

 majesties in proposing a constitutional 

 government for the Empire. 



Afterwards the crowds listened to pa- 

 triotic songs from the students of the 

 public schools and to addresses from 

 prominent persons. In these the hearers 

 were exhorted to use their best endeavors 

 and influence toward the spread of mod- 

 ern education, without which the country 

 never could understand the meaning of 

 constitutional government and the re- 

 sponsibility therefrom which rested upon 

 all, male and female ; and they were 

 warned that impatience and haste in try- 

 ing to bring about such government 

 would only ruin the hopes of those who 

 w r ere working for the welfare of the 

 country. Telegrams were also sent to 

 Peking, addressed to the princes and high 

 ministers in charge of the reform meas- 

 ures, congratulating them on their im- 

 portant labors and asking them to convey 

 to their imperial majesties the assurances 

 of their most loyal devotion. It is re- 

 ported from Peking that their majesties 

 have manifested great pleasure in reading 

 the accounts of these celebrations held in 

 the principal cities of the Empire. With 

 such a spirit animating the people, the 

 editor of the foreign journal may well 

 characterize the step as the acme of wise 

 statesmanship. 



THE OPIUM CRUSADE 



The imperial government, not content 

 with undertaking the important reforms 

 which I have noticed in education, juris- 

 prudence, industries, and politics, has 

 also grappled with the great moral vice 

 of its people — the opium habit. It has 

 within the past hundred years become 

 the crying social evil of the country, and 

 it is a gigantic struggle which has been 

 inaugurated for its eradication. No one 

 who has not passed through the interior 



