Present Conditions in China 



671 



occasioned by the reform measures, the 

 rice famine, and other disturbing causes, 

 the past year has been more free than 

 usual from public disorders — would it be 

 an invidious comparison to say, less dis- 

 honored by riots and lynchings than the 

 United States? 



There have been some outbreaks of 

 race hatred, but they have been due in 

 large measure to exceptional and local 

 causes. The Lienchou massacre of the 

 Presbyterian missionaries was a lamenta- 

 ble occurrence ; but the missionaries ex- 

 onerated the authorities from any delib- 

 erate negligence or sympathy with the 

 rioters, and full indemnity has been 

 made for the losses. It appears that 

 there still remain some vestiges of the 

 Boxer organization. A correspondent, 

 writing in August last from the interior 

 province of Shensi, in which the Court 

 took refuge when the allied army occu- 

 pied Peking in 1900, gives an account of 

 the sudden appearance in a small town, 

 the scene of the story, of a band of Box- 

 ers. They assumed a threatening atti- 

 tude, especially toward the foreigners in 

 the town, and the latter were compelled to 

 seek refuge in the yamen or office of the 

 town magistrate. The Boxers followed, 

 demanded food from the magistrate, and 

 also authority to kill the foreigners. By 

 this time the whole town became com- 

 pletely terrorized, the merchants closed 

 their shops, and the people were in a state 

 of panic. After receiving food the Boxers 

 withdrew to a large temple in the town, 

 announcing their intention to kill the for- 

 eigners and Christians the next day. 



Their plan, however, was frustrated 

 by the opportune arrival of a German 

 lieutenant, on his way from Mongolia to 

 Peking. He infused some backbone into 

 the people at the yamen, and on the fol- 

 lowing morning he induced a small force, 

 which could muster only twelve rifles in 

 all, to follow him to the Boxers' quarters. 

 Tn the skirmish which ensued, after a 

 brief parley, eleven Boxers were killed, 

 many others wounded, and the remainder 

 taken prisoners. That put an end to the 

 Boxer troubles in that province. This 



prompts me to say that if at the oppor- 

 tune moment, not a German lieutenant, 

 but a resolute officer of the law had ap- 

 peared at Springfield, Ohio, or Atlanta, 

 Georgia, and laid his hands on or, if need 

 be, shot down the hoodlum leaders, our 

 country and our civilization would not 

 have been disgraced a short time ago 

 with the barbarities there perpetrated. 



REFORM OF FOREIGNERS 



It is true that there does exist in China 

 a certain feeling of resentment against 

 foreigners ; but, in view of the spoliation 

 of their territory, the enormous indemni- 

 ties exacted, and the disposition to es- 

 tablish a foreign monopoly for the ex- 

 ploitation of their industries and mines, 

 it must be admitted that this feeling is not 

 without some justification. Colonel (Chi- 

 nese) Gordon said forty years ago that 

 the Chinese "have suffered much wrong 

 from foreigners who have preyed on their 

 country." The occurrences since that 

 time have intensified this fact. So, also, 

 the conduct of most foreigners, the mis- 

 sionaries excepted, in their intercourse 

 with the natives has been truthfully de- 

 scribed as masterful, high-handed, and 

 generally overbearing. 



An interesting discussion of this sub- 

 ject has been going on recently in the 

 Shanghai News. A native, who signs 

 himself "A long-gowned Chinaman" and 

 is vouched for by the editor as a culti- 

 vated and educated gentleman, has stated 

 the Chinese side of the question so forci- 

 bly that I cannot do better than quote 

 some of his views. In his discussion 

 with the editor he writes : 



"The movement of what you call the 

 Young China party, erratic perhaps now 

 in many ways, has its root in the intense 

 feelings of the Chinese people that they 

 have not been fairly and justly treated by 

 foreigners. The true aspiration at the 

 bottom of this movement which is claim- 

 ing China for the Chinese is to ask for a 

 readjustment of our relations with for- 

 eigners on a fair and just basis. The 

 one true and principal object which the 

 oeoole of China in their hearts want in 



