kVason 
 
 BV3415 
 
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 ASIA 
 
 resent=Day Conditions 
 in China 
 
 By MARSHALL BROOMHALL, B.A. 
 
 { EdItoHal Secret ary, China Inlaod Mlssloo 
 
 WITH MAPS. DIAGRAMS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MONGOLIA 
 
 THIBET 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 • 37,000.000 
 
 ITALY 
 
 ■ '32.000.000 
 
 [YELLOW 
 ^SEA 
 
 ■ U.S.A. 
 
 EURQPEAN RUSSIiV 
 
 SPAIN &J PORTUGAL 
 
 FFANCE +ALCZRLA.. 
 
 76,000,000 
 
 9-^.000,000 
 
 23.000.000 
 
 jBURMAH 
 
 TONC-KING 
 
 TUNIS « MADAGASCAR 
 
 AUSTRIA ?a BRAZIL 
 
 47.000.000 
 
 40.000.000 
 
 ANAM 
 
 CHINA 
 SEA 
 
 405,000,000 Total 
 
 13,000,000 
 
 China's Millions equal the Total Population of all the Countries 
 shown on the Map. 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, New York, Chicaj:o, Toronto 
 
 CHINA INLAND MISSION. Philadelphi.i. Toronto 
 
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Present -Day Conditions 
 in China 
 
 Notes Designed to show the Moral 
 
 and Spiritual Claims of the 
 
 Chinese Empire 
 
 BY 
 
 MARSHALL BROOMHALL, B.A. 
 
 EDITORIAL SECRETARY, CHINA INLAND MISSION 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 NEW YORK, CHICAGO, TORONTO 
 
 CHINA INLAND MISSION 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, TORONTO 
 
 1908 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022921310 
 
Cornell University Librai^ 
 BV 3415.B86P9 
 
 3 1924 022 921 310 
 
 PEEFACE 
 
 The object of the following pages is to give in brief outline, 
 not for the specialist but for the general reader, some 
 particulars of the great and rapid movements which are 
 taking place to-day within the Chinese Empire. Nearly 
 every event referred to has happened within the last twelve 
 or fifteen months. This fact alone reveals the rapidity 
 and importance of the changes which are at present in 
 progress. 
 
 The chapters though only notes are designed to show the 
 claims of China upon the sympathy of those who desire the 
 moral and spiritual welfare of the Empire. If they lead 
 the reader to a more careful and thorough study of one of 
 the greatest movements of history, and to deeper interest in 
 and sympathy with the Chinese people, and to efforts and 
 sacrifice for their evangelisation, the object of this publica- 
 tion will have been realised. 
 
 Just as we go to press, the Times of April 15 and 16 
 publish two remarkable telegrams from Dr. Morrison, their 
 correspondent in Peking, stating that the Chinese Govern- 
 ment have cancelled the Imperial rescript of March 15, 
 1899, which granted of&cial rank to the Eoman Catholic 
 hierarchy, the priests to rank as prefect and bishops as 
 Viceroy. This means that 1100 Eoman Catholic priests 
 
 iii 
 
iv PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 and 46 bishops will be deprived of their official rank in 
 China. Few steps taken by China recently are more 
 significant than this. It will be well known that the 
 Protestant Missionary body had previously declined to 
 accept any official status. 
 
 MARSHALL BROOMHALL. 
 
 China Inland Mission, 
 April 16, 1908. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory .... . . . 1 
 
 China Moving, but Whither ? . . . . 4 
 
 The Reform Movement ... -8 
 
 The New Spirit op Nationalism . • . 15 
 
 The Forces op Disorder ... ... 18 
 
 China and the World . . • .21 
 
 From the Chinese Point op View . . . 26 
 
 'To Keep Them Alive in Famine' ■ 35 
 
 The Best Book por China . . .42 
 
 China's Spiritual Destitution . . . . . .47 
 
 A Call to Sacripice 55 
 
ILLUSTEATIONS 
 
 Map of Honan .... 
 
 Historical Chart ..... 
 
 " The Peking Women's Gazette " . 
 Chinese Postal Map .... 
 
 Map showing where Opium is Grown in China 
 Bible Circulation in China .... 
 
 The British Museum Library 
 
 Map of Yunnan ...... 
 
 John Bunyan ...... 
 
 Map showing Location of Missionary Force in China 
 Map of Chihli . . . . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Inside front cover 
 viii 
 5 
 6 
 11 
 45 
 46 
 50 
 52 
 55 
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INTEODUCTOEY 
 
 "And He made of one every nation of men for to dwell upon the face of 
 the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of 
 their habitation ; that they should seek God." — Acts xvii. 26, 27. 
 
 With this summary of the Divine philosophy of history in 
 mind, the story of China becomes one of absorbing interest. 
 If it be true of nations, to adopt Dr. Weymouth's translation, 
 that God has fixed " a time for their rise and fall, and the limits 
 of their settlements," or, according to Dean Alford, that God has 
 " prescribed to each nation its space to dwell and its time of 
 endurance," the history of that nation which comprises nearly 
 one quarter of the human race, and whose " time of endurance " 
 has exceeded that of any other Empire, and which to-day is 
 " rousing itself from the torpor of ages under the influence of 
 new and powerful revolutionary forces," cannot but be of 
 commanding interest and importance. 
 
 What the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were to Europe, 
 the nineteenth and twentieth centuries promise to be for Asia. 
 With the fall of Constantinople before the Turks in 1453, a 
 flood of Greek literature swept over Europe, awakening the 
 sluggish and exhausted intellectual energies of the Middle Ages ; 
 while the recent fall of the exclusive policy of the Far East has, 
 in its turn, opened the flood-gates of Western learning upon the 
 peoples of the Orient. Shall Asia experience merely an 
 Intellectual Eenaissance or a Spiritual Eeformation 1 Shall the 
 East merely conform to Western scientific principles or be 
 
 B 
 
2 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 transformed by the renewing of the Holy Spirit? These are 
 questions which naturally arise in the minds of thoughtful men. 
 That the time of China's visitation has arrived is abundantly 
 clear, and only blindness to God's purpose for the world, and 
 callous indifference to the immortal welfare of countless millions 
 of souls, can permit a spirit of wicked apathy and indifference to 
 exist in presence of such tremendous issues. 
 
 Not only does Scripture warrant the belief that we are 
 approaching the end of the present age, but history also. The 
 early civilisations, limited to centres situated upon the great 
 waterways of the Euphrates and Nile, etc., gave way to the 
 larger world surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and that in its 
 turn to the yet larger world across the Atlantic ; while now 
 man's human horizon is nothing less than the whole of the two 
 hemispheres. 
 
 And with this enlarged horizon has advanced the Church's 
 responsibility. While Dr. Morrison found nearly one hundred 
 years ago a closed China, that country — with all the Far East, 
 if Tibet be excluded — is now open to the Gospel. The present 
 situation would to him have appeared almost incredible, as the 
 limitations and difficulties which he confronted appear almost 
 incredible to us. 
 
 The diagrammatic map on the cover helps one to appreciate 
 what the movement of a nation like China means. Here is a 
 population greater than the combined populations of Japan, 
 Great Britain, Italy, United States of America, European Russia, 
 Spain and Portugal, France, with Algeria, Tunis, and Madagascar, 
 Austria and Brazil, Canada, Norway and Sweden. 
 
 To appreciate the progress of the Gospel and the missionary 
 situation as it exists to-day, some knowledge of the general 
 trend of events in the country is absolutely necessary. The 
 religious awakening has been " set in a framework of political, 
 intellectual, and economic changes, and cannot be disentangled 
 from its surroundings without danger of mutilation." 
 
 The Boxer crisis and the martyrs of 1900; the collapse of 
 China and the successes of Japan, with the defeat of Russia, are 
 events which have deeply affected China. The desire for 
 
INTEODUCTORY 3 
 
 Western learning, the flocking of Chinese students to Japan, 
 the return of these students, and the entry of Japanese Professors, 
 the enormous circulation of modern literature, the building of 
 railways, the extension of telegraph lines, the growing power of 
 the native press, the reform movement, and many other kindred 
 factors have profoundly influenced the national spirit and altered 
 the conditions of missionary activity. 
 
 For this reason the following pages are devoted to a rapid 
 survey of the present situation. What would the story of 
 Nehemiah be without its background of history, or of Daniel 
 and other of God's servants without the knowledge of their 
 difficulties, their enemies, and their temptations. These surely 
 enable us to magnify the grace of God in them. The object of 
 the following pages is to help the reader to see the missionary at 
 work and the native Christian in his real surroundings ; to help 
 him recognise their needs and trials ; to see the convert humbly 
 yet boldly confessing Christ in face of shame and opposition ; 
 and to sympathise with a nation struggling upwards toward 
 better things and battling bravely against the curse of opium 
 and other evils. 
 
 If these pages can do this, then surely they should call forth 
 more intelligent and sympathetic prayer and help for that great 
 country, for its rulers, for the maintenance of peace, for its 
 Christian workers and growing Church. 
 
II 
 
 CHINA MOVING, BUT WHITHEE ? 
 
 ' ' Do you imagine that the period of tutelage is going to pass without seeing 
 the Chinese mind and spirit and heart beset by rival ideas and contending 
 influences ? . . . Never was there a greater opportunity before the Christian 
 Church of turning the energies of a reborn civilisation Godwards ; but the 
 penalty will be terrible in the event of failure to do that." — Rev. Alex. 
 CONNBLL, B.D. 
 
 Old China is passing away for ever. Geography alone is 
 convincing her that she is not the Middle Kingdom and all 
 other nations barbarians. Science is shattering her ancient 
 superstitions and present system of idolatry. History is making 
 it evident that their Emperor, called by them " The Son of 
 Heaven," is not the only ruler. From the downfall of these 
 ancient theories and beliefs, a new China is emerging. But 
 what will that China be 1 
 
 " Civilisation is good and can effect much, but it cannot 
 regenerate character. Philosophy is good : it can teach many 
 things, but it cannot satisfy the mind. The latest discoveries 
 of Science are wonderful ; they may transform man's surround- 
 ings, but they cannot bring peace to his conscience. By all 
 means let a Christian people give of its best, but let the Church 
 see that first and foremost it sends the full Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Eleven years ago China had only 200 miles of railway ; 
 to-day she has 3746 in full use and 1622 under construction, 
 with much more projected. During the past year she has 
 purchased for reconstruction the light military railway running 
 
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 Reduced Facsimile of Part of "The Peking Women's Gazette." 
 
 This is probatly the only daily newspaper in the world for women edited by a woman. The four 
 large characters signityithe title, "The Peking Women's Gazette." This specimen is from the 220th issue. 
 
6 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 from Sinmingfu to Mukden for £160,000. She opened the 
 Shanghai-Nanking Railway as far as Chinkiang on October 15/ 
 and the line to Taiyuanfu, the capital of Shansi, on November 6. 
 The branch line from Kaifengfu, the capital of Honan, to 
 the Peking-Hankow trunk-line was completed earlier, and agree- 
 ments for other railways have been subsequently arranged. 
 
 That these railways may be a blessing to China few would 
 deny, for her resources need development and her means of 
 communication extending for the avoidance of famine. But 
 that these railways will be without evil few would affirm. It is 
 already too abundantly evident that no sooner is a line opened 
 than undesirable elements at once appear. While facilitating 
 much that is for China's good, they also become the ready 
 channels for new evils and aspects of Western civilisation of 
 which none can but be ashamed. The ignorance of the outer 
 world has no doubt been broken down, but it is stiU true 
 of some things, "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be 
 wise." 
 
 In the same way the telegraph wire is being linked up, and 
 new Post Offices opened, throughout all China. More than 
 34,000 miles of wire connect the most distant yamens with 
 Peking, and a Danish engineer has lately been appointed for 
 the extension of the line to Lhassa. More than 2000 Post 
 Offices, which during 1906 handled" 113,000,000 articles, are 
 opened throughout the Empire. 
 
 Some two hundred daily papers are now published where 
 a few years ago none existed, thus making the reader in the far 
 interior acquainted with the latest movements in Europe. The 
 Pehing Gazette itself has been changed in name and enlarged in 
 size, while machinery is being imported into Lhassa for the 
 commencement of a public press. 
 
 The Anti-Footbinding Movement has entered upon a new 
 stage, having passed from the guidance of European and American 
 ladies to the control of a number of enlightened and influential 
 Chinese gentlemen, among whom are Taotai Shen and Admiral 
 Sah. Decrees have been issued permitting change of custom in 
 
 ^ The whole line to Nanking was opened on April 1, 1908. 
 
mM:Hms>f^ 
 
 Reduced Facsimile of the Chinese Postal Map of the Province of Honan. 
 
 In 1906 there were no fewer than 2096 modern post, offices in Chinaj which handled 113 million 
 articles. The courier routes amounted to 51,000 miles, boat routes to 6000 miles, and railway routes to 
 about 4000 miles. * 
 
 To face page 6. 
 
CHINA MOVINa, BUT WHITHER 1 7 
 
 funerals, marriage, and dress, and perhaps most strange of all, 
 the Western love of sport has taken possession of the erstwhile 
 decorous Chinese student. 
 
 The well-known and aged Viceroy Chang Chihtung has 
 recently celebrated the Empress Dowager's birthday by a great 
 inter-school field day, when some fifty schools and colleges 
 competed in athletics and sport, while, more remarkable still, 
 the Union Medical College at Peking actually celebrated the 
 birthday of Confucius by a football match. Eevolt from ancient 
 ideals coidd hardly go further. 
 
 Can any Christian contemplate the prospect of this people 
 breaking away from their ancient and cherished past — not 
 knowing whither they are tending, nor who are their best guides, 
 nor what is their safe goal — without being deeply moved 1 Rival 
 voices are calling, rival prospects attracting, and rival claims 
 striving for the mastery of this people, who constitute, in popula- 
 tion at least, the greatest factor in the world's life. 
 
 China is moving — but whither ? Upwards to God or down- 
 wards to evil ; onward to blessing or backward to a worse 
 condition than the past 1 Who shall estimate the possibilities 
 of benefit or loss to China and the world from the present 
 movements, and who shall measure the responsibility of those 
 who can now help to affect China's destiny ? To nations as to 
 men there is a day of visitation. Shall China in this her day 
 know the things that belong unto her peace 1 
 
Ill 
 
 THE REFORM MOVEMENT 
 
 ' ' History knows nothing of reyivals of moral living apart from some new 
 religious impulse. The motive power needed has always come through leaders 
 who have had communion with the Unseen." — Professor T. M. Lindsay. 
 
 So rapidly has the Reform Movement advanced in China, that 
 men who had to flee the country ten years ago as ultra-radicals 
 are to-day, by the advanced reformers, regarded as reactionaries. 
 " China," says Mr. Mott, " has made greater progress in the last 
 five years than any other country in the world. She has made 
 a more radical adjustment to modern conditions than has any 
 other nation in the same period of time.'' For a nation to pass 
 within a few years from the days of the Crusaders to the 
 twentieth century "is a feat of mental and sociological 
 gymnastics not devoid of danger.'' Such a leap is to risk 
 failure, and failure means nothing less than chaos, 
 
 Mr. Lutley, C.I.M. Superintendent in Shansi, writes : " The 
 alarming growth of the spirit of revolution, largely fostered 
 and developed by students in Japan, has led to risings of a 
 serious nature in several parts of the Empire. Revolutionary 
 tracts and pamphlets have secretly been widely disseminated 
 throughout all the provinces. The literary merit of much of 
 this literature has been of a high order, has been widely read 
 and discussed among all classes, and has made a deep impression. 
 So much so that during the summer and early autumn, there 
 was a general spirit of expectancy that a far-reaching revolution 
 was about to take place. 
 
 " The prompt and energetic action of the provincial authorities, 
 combined with the increased efficiency of the national army both in 
 
 8 
 
THE EEFORM MOVEMENT 9 
 
 arms and discipline, have through God's mercy prevented any 
 general outbreak, and have secured to the country a large 
 measure of peace and security." 
 
 The Educational Eeform 
 
 The general disaffection among Chinese students in Japan 
 has led the Chinese Government to cease employing those who 
 return from that country, with the result that a larger number 
 of scholars have, during the past year, gone to Europe and 
 America. The appointment to official posts of a number of 
 students who had completed their course of study in political 
 economy and the modern science of politics in the Chinshih 
 College, founded in 1905, has stimulated others in the pursuit 
 of Western learning. 
 
 A Chinese prince, the son of Prince Ching, has resigned his 
 official post to study in Germany and England, while many 
 other students have come to this and other countries — one party 
 of twenty-five graduates from the Shansi University being among 
 the number. These men had all obtained their M.A. degree, 
 and sailed for England in May 1907 to enter upon a period of 
 six years' study of special subjects. The Viceroy of Nanking has, 
 however, taken the most radical step of all, in the sending of 
 four women students to the Wellesley College in America. These 
 are the first lady Chinese students officially sent abroad for study. 
 
 In China itself the educational programme so eagerly and 
 energetically entered upon some three years ago has not been 
 carried through. Through lack of funds, efficient teachers, and 
 proper discipline, many of the schools have either failed or 
 deteriorated into hot-beds of lawlessness and revolution. It is 
 to be feared that many of them were opened by the officials 
 with the object of self-enrichment through the confiscation of 
 property or the levying of fresh taxes, and no serious attempt 
 has been made to provide for their permanent upkeep. 
 
 Apart from the large coast towns and central cities, education 
 throughout the country is, generally speaking, in a highly 
 unsatisfactory condition, and this fact gives to the Mission 
 school its great opportunity and responsibility. 
 
10 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 Bishop Moule of Mid-China, in A Retrospect of Sixty Years, has 
 some earnest and weighty words on this subject. Speaking of 
 the great change which has taken place in the national system 
 of competitive examination he says : — 
 
 " The great educational system that goes had its faults and 
 the Confucian ethics had their deficiencies, but for the mass of 
 the people at present it is Confucian morality or none, since 
 whatever else is accepted from the West by way of education, 
 it does not embrace our, that is to say, the Christian morality. 
 ... It is on this account that I long far more than I used to 
 do to see the Church in the West, under whatever denomination, 
 roused to the duty of a really generous expenditure of her 
 money and of her best- equipped sons and daughters on the 
 effort to seize the critical moment." 
 
 It may not be out of place here to continue from the same 
 book a further quotation which contains a gentle but serious 
 warning, which all who are concerned in educational work will 
 do well to bear in mind. 
 
 " I confess to the fear," he writes, " that high as our aims have 
 always been in the colleges and medical schools we have been 
 enabled to open, the results have not corresponded to our aims. 
 Good scholars and mathematicians, good schoolmasters, good 
 doctors have been produced, but if I am not mistaken, the 
 earnest and educated evangelist and pastor, the medical 
 missionary, is as rare as he was ten years ago ; rarer perhaps in 
 view of the widening field and the multiplying flocks. Am I 
 mistaken in surmising that the teaching force has been inade- 
 quate, not certainly to impart skill and scholarship, for they are 
 in evidence, but at the same time to impart character and to 
 encourage whole-hearted spiritual devotion by example ? " 
 
 The Opium Eefoem 
 
 The recent anti-opium campaign inaugurated by the edict 
 of September 1906, a campaign, according to the Times, "so 
 formidable that the strongest of Governments might flinch 
 before it," has been steadily and determinedly maintained. By 
 Imperial Edicts in May and June 1907, and more recently 
 
MANCHURIA 
 
 The. Figures represent, thje aruvKUiZ IS.OOO 
 
 prodbuLcUo/i^orpvcuZsot'opiMjm in ^ ^ 
 
 ' ecuJv Provvrux . ^ ■'"^ ) 
 
 ApicuZis133hU)s. ^ J 
 
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 'honan^;$~X ^^ 
 
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 1 ^'--*^_,^^ /^^^ VANHUi^ S.O^S, 
 
 r SZECHUAM ^ 4 000 S / ^^ 
 I 200,000 0------r^^^,^>X^HEKi:p 
 
 / X XVJ "^ HUNAN jKlANGSrS^-y 
 
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 ICj 
 
 ^ English Miles 
 
 
 O 50 rOO 200 300 400 
 
 Map showing where Opium is grown m China 
 
 The map is reproduced from the British Government Whit» Paper, Chma, No. 1, 1008. Piculs are nearly 
 equivalent to chests. The figures represent the annual production of piculs of opium in each province. 
 
 " We English, by the policy we have pursued, are morally responsible for every acre of land in China which 
 is withdrawn from the cultivation of grain and devoted to that of the poppy ; so that the fact of the growth of 
 the drug in China ought only to increase our sense of responsibility. " — Lord Justice Fry. 
 
12 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 in March 1908, the Central Government has reiterated its 
 commands to the Viceroys and officials of the Empire. 
 
 " China has not," to quote a despatch of Sir John Jordan, 
 the British Minister in Peking (see China, No. 1, 1908), 
 "hesitated to deal with a question which a European nation, 
 with all the modern machinery of government and the power of 
 enforcing its decisions, would prohably have been unwilling to 
 face." At a time when she is urgently in need of money she is 
 willingly facing the loss of £6,768,760 in opium revenue, "a 
 far more serious question," adds the British Minister, "at the 
 present state of the (Chinese) national exchequer than the similar 
 problem with which the Indian Government will have to deal 
 in sacrificing the opium revenue." 
 
 Assured of China's lona fides the British Government has at 
 last, reluctantly it must unfortunately be said, consented to an 
 annual reduction for the three years 1908-9-10 of 5100 chests, 
 which is one-tenth per annum of the total quantity of opium 
 shipped from India to China, with the promise, only, of future 
 reductions if China shall prove herself able to carry through her 
 policy of stamping out the internal production and consumption 
 of the drug. 
 
 While this is an advance upon what any other British 
 Government has ever promised, it is surely a lamentable 
 exhibition of our unwillingness to be guided by a righteous 
 policy, for twice in recent years has the House of Commons 
 pronounced the trade to be "morally indefensible.'' 
 
 While reluctantly willing not to make it impossible for 
 China to reform, we are unwilling to lose any possible gain 
 which may yet be obtained through the degradation and ruin 
 of another nation. Though the trade be " morally indefensible '' 
 our country is to be satisfied with a "conditional morality," 
 a heathen nation's reform being our standard as to those 
 conditions. Here is surely cause for shame and confusion of 
 face. 
 
THE EEFORM MOVEMENT 13 
 
 The Government Reform 
 
 In pursuance of the promise of 1906, an Edict of September 
 20, 1907, ordered the establishment at Peking of a National 
 Assembly of Ministers to confer on State matters. This was 
 to be the iirst step towards constitutional government. By 
 another edict issued a few days later, September 30, arrange- 
 ments for local self-government were also sanctioned, these 
 arrangements being the appointment of Town Councils and Local 
 Representatives. 
 
 Finally on October 19, another edict ordered the establish- 
 ment of Provincial Assemblies as the link between the purely 
 Local and National Councils, the members of the Imperial 
 Assembly at Peking to be in the future selected from these 
 provincial assemblies. While the publication of these edicts 
 may be comparatively simple, China is face to face with serious 
 problems in the carrying of them out, and there is much cause 
 to fear, but for the gracious interposition of God, that before these 
 new arrangements are workable there may be serious friction 
 between the Central and Provincial Governments. The Tafsu 
 Maru incident referred to elsewhere will abundantly illustrate 
 this. 
 
 Manohu and Chinese Equality 
 
 For the last 250 years, since the Manchus conquered China, 
 every male Manchu has been either a soldier or an official, and 
 has been in receipt from birth of a pension from the Government. 
 By edicts issued during the past year, the twenty-two Manchu 
 garrisons established throughout China have been abolished, 
 marriage between Manchus and Chinese has been allowed, and 
 the Manchu has been made subject to the Chinese laws and to 
 those taxes from which he had been previously exempted. 
 
 Home, land, and agricultural implements, etc., are to be 
 provided for these Manchus from the sums saved by the 
 abolition of the pensions. These steps have been taken to 
 conciliate the anti-dynasty feeling throughout the country, and 
 the assassination of En Ming, the Manchu Governor of Anhwei, 
 
14 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 by a Chinese official of Taotai rank, is said to have hastened 
 the publication of these edicts. 
 
 En Ming, the assassinated Governor, was in 1900 an expectant 
 Taotai residing in Taiyuanfu. Under false promises of 
 protection it was he who obtained the names and location of all 
 missionaries within the province for the cruel Governor Yii 
 Hsien. 
 
 Official Changes 
 
 Before closing this chapter brief reference may be made 
 to some of the bewildering changes in official appointments 
 during the year. To give even a summary of these would 
 be too lengthy, but the mention of one or two will be a 
 sufficient commentary on the state of the Central Government 
 which ordered them, and upon the country subject to such 
 vicissitudes. 
 
 Of the nine Viceroyalties, if Manchuria be included, only 
 two have retained the same Viceroy throughout the year. One 
 Viceroy, H.E. Tsen, was appointed to no less than five posts, 
 but entered upon none of them. Three Governors were 
 appointed to Heilungkiang during the first three months of its 
 status as a province. H.E. Yiian Shihkai, the Viceroy of 
 Chihli, an able supporter of the Anti-Opium Movement, was 
 appointed Grand Councillor and President of the Foreign Office, 
 while the aged Chang Chihtung was made Grand Secretary and 
 Comptroller-General of the Ministry of Education. 
 
IV 
 
 THE NEW SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM 
 
 " The cry is spreading over Asia, ' Asia for the Asiatics ! ' We can no 
 more resist, even if we would, this rising national and oriental feeling than 
 we can resist the tides of the sea. But we would not resist it. We re- 
 member the nation and the race are as much the creation of God as is the 
 family." — J. E,. Mott. 
 
 There is probably no subject which, at the present time, calls 
 for more care, sympathy, and patience, on the part of Statesman, 
 Merchant, and Missionary, than that of the rising spirit of 
 nationalism. Fraught with great dangers, it has also potentialities 
 of great good. 
 
 The spread of railways, the work , of Missions, the recent 
 wars, the opium trade, the exclusion acts of America and 
 Australia, the seizure of territory, the fortifying of the Foreign 
 Legations and other things, have all united to arouse the Chinese 
 to assert his independence and national personality. It is seen 
 in the articles published in the Chinese daily press, in their use 
 of the national flag for decorative purposes, in the singing of 
 patriotic songs, in the boycotting of foreign goods, in the 
 redemption of concessions, and, in fact, is manifest in the 
 atmosphere of all things Chinese to-day. 
 
 " This spirit of nationalism," writes the Eev. A B. Wann, B.D., 
 " is not to be put down ; so I do not think it is our business as 
 Christians to wish it put down, but rather to desire that it should 
 be directed in the right way. What is our duty as Christians ? 
 Is it not to recognise that it is natural that men should desire 
 to have more power and more say in the afiairs of their own 
 
 15 
 
16 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 country? . . . "We have a duty to the mass of the people — a 
 duty to extend them sympathy ... we need to have a spirit 
 of brotherhood given to us ; we need to have the spirit of 
 patience given to us. Patience was a great virtue in the Early 
 Church ; but it was the patience of the weak in presence of the 
 strong. We European Christians need, it seems to me, the 
 higher kind of patience — the patience of the strong in presence 
 of the weak.'' 
 
 China, always naturally proud and for long anti-foreign, has, 
 by reason of the more ready means of communication now 
 afforded by her railways and telegraphs, and the more ready 
 means of public utterance through the rapid expansion of her 
 daily press, begun more palpably to feel and give expression to 
 her national pride and spirit. The nation, so long provincial in 
 sentiment as well as government, is being knit together and 
 being swayed as never before by united impulses and feeling. 
 
 Among the many things wherein China has, during the past 
 year, revealed her growing independence and power, one or two 
 may be mentioned (not to speak of such action as the redemption 
 of the Canton-Hankow Railway rights for £1,350,000 in 1905, 
 etc.). The mining rights of the Peking Syndicate in Shansi 
 have been redeemed by China at a cost of Taels 2,750,000, or 
 about £400,000, a settlement which has relieved a situation of 
 great difficulty in the province of Shansi. 
 
 China has also obtained in the agreement for the Tientsin- 
 Pukow (Nanking) Eailway a considerable modification, in her 
 favour, of the original contract of May 1899, while a compromise 
 has been agreed to in the case of the Chekiang railway dispute 
 so as to conciliate the provincial opposition. China has also 
 purchased the German Camps at Tsingtao and Kaomi for 
 $380,000 ; and has appointed H.E. Yang Shih-chi, Vice- 
 President of the Ministry of Agriculture, as Travelling Com- 
 missioner to visit the Chinese communities in the South Pacific, 
 so as to promote a feeling of Imperial solidarity. 
 
 Within the Church this feeling of national independence has 
 also manifested itself, and while a healthy independence is much 
 to be desired, there is need for much wisdom on the part of the 
 
THE NEW SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM 17 
 
 missionary, that he may, by means of patient and sympathetic 
 influence, prevent a premature and hurtful breaking away from 
 those who have been the Church's leaders and teachers up to the 
 present. 
 
 There is, at present, in the Far East a growing danger of 
 religious eclecticism and immature conceptions of Christian 
 doctrine and experience, so that there is much need for that 
 tactful wisdom on the part of the missionaries which will enable 
 them to retain a loving and helpful control, or at least co-opera- 
 tion, for some years to come. 
 
THE FORCES OF DISORDER 
 
 ' ' Seek ye the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried 
 . . and pray unto the Lord for it : for in the peace thereof shall ye have 
 peace." — Jek. xxix. 7. 
 
 China is undoubtedly passing through a time of great stress. 
 Debased coinage is endangering public confidence and hindering 
 trade, lack of funds and suitable teachers are checking modern 
 education, corrupt officialism is blocking the way of many good 
 schemes, while famine, rice riots, anti-foreign and anti-dynastic 
 agitations threaten the peace of the land. The Gospel, though 
 superior to all adverse conditions, is not, however, unaflFected 
 thereby in its progress. 
 
 Nearly every missionary report from the province of Chekiang, 
 and most of those from south and south-east Kiangsi, tell of 
 widespread trouble and days of storm. In Chekiang the mis- 
 sionaries and Christians have been Uving in the midst of districts 
 seriously affected by bandits, salt-smugglers, and secret societies. 
 In south-west Kiangsi a widespread Boxer outbreak kept many 
 of the workers in constant dread of attack, while at Kanchow 
 the troubles came to a climax in a serious riot. 
 
 Far away to the west, the city of Kaihsien in Szechwan 
 was also the scene of serious disturbances. The storm first 
 broke upon the Government schools and then upon the Roman 
 Catholic premises, which were looted and destroyed, and, finally, 
 upon the C.I.M. property and the homes of many of the Chinese 
 Christians. In Yunnan, Mr. Pollard, of the Bible Christians, 
 
 18 
 
THE FOECES OF DISOEDER 19 
 
 whose work among the aborigines has been so blessed, was at 
 one time savagely attacked and almost beaten to death. 
 
 While in the goodness of God no Protestant missionaries 
 were killed, some of the Christian converts in Kiangsi, at least, 
 suffered martyrdom, one Eoman Catholic priest was killed, and 
 many native Christians suffered both bodily hurt and loss of 
 property. 
 
 Unfortunately, these troubles are not all. The acquisition 
 by the Eoman Catholic bishops and priests in China of official 
 status in 1899 has, it is to be feared, led many of their converts 
 to regard and use the Church as a political weapon. This is a 
 subject about which one would fain not speak, but the following 
 facts ought to be recorded to call forth prayer for those churches, 
 and they are not few, which are passing through times of 
 persecution. Without giving the name of the station we may 
 quote from the Eeport. 
 
 "A terrible Roman Catholic oppression has meant a sad 
 
 set-back for the work at . Very literally has it been a 
 
 sowing of tears. Several armed demonstrations have been made 
 against us. One night the Gospel Hall signboard was smashed 
 and the door slashed with many sword-cuts, which, in the 
 Chinese' eyes, is a crowning insult." 
 
 "The Christians have sustained false accusations in the 
 yamen, have been beaten, and had their shops ransacked. One 
 young widow was carried off to be sold, two days after her 
 husband's death, her uncle and four others being wounded when 
 endeavouring to rescue her. One's heart is sad, indeed, to see 
 how the work in all the districts is at a standstill in conse- 
 quence, and many are afraid to come. The Provincial Confer- 
 ence, when Dr. Lee spoke, was a blessing to us all, and was 
 used of God to prevent two of the evangelists from resigning 
 their posts in desperation. This is no small spiritual triumph, 
 for they are now called to stand face to face with even greater 
 danger, their lives being threatened. One of them was fired at 
 three times, fortunately without injury to himself." 
 
 The strong racial feeling which still exists in China against 
 
20 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 the Manchus was terribly illustrated on July 6, 1907, when 
 H.E. En Ming, the Manchu Governor of Anhwei, was assassi- 
 nated by a Chinese Taotai. Strong provincial feeling also exists 
 against railway development by foreign syndicates or the policing 
 of the West River by foreign gunboats. The temper of the 
 Chinese to-day may, perhaps, best be illustrated by a quotation 
 from a telegram concerning the strained relationships which have 
 existed regarding the release of the Japanese vessel, the Tatsu 
 Maru, seized by the Chinese Government because of its cargo of 
 arms. 
 
 "Over 50,000 persons attended an indignation meeting in 
 Canton in connection with the release of the Tatsu Maru. Many 
 buildings were draped in mourning. Inflammatory speeches were 
 delivered by twenty speakers, including a boy of twelve, whose 
 words, calling for a Japanese boycott, moved his audience to 
 tears. The listeners divested themselves of their Japanese 
 garments, caps, handkerchiefs, and made a huge bonfire of them ; 
 while one man, a dealer in Japanese goods, offered to sacrifice 
 his stock for a similar purpose. It was suggested that posters 
 should be affixed to shop-fronts, appealing to purchasers to taboo 
 Japanese manufactures. The meeting proposed the impeach- 
 ment of Yuan Shih-kai for his weakness in yielding to Japan's 
 demands." 
 
 No one can read these words without realising that there are 
 elements in a meeting such as this which could soon set the 
 country in a blaze of revolution, or, to say the least, involve it 
 in the most serious conflict with other Powers. For years to 
 come China's path will not be an easy one, and there is need for 
 constant prayer that China's programme of reform may be 
 accomplished without bloodshed. Whether China is to experi- 
 ence the horrors of a French Eevolution, or to be saved from 
 such an evil, as England was by the preaching of John Wesley, 
 will depend not a little upon the vigour with which the work of 
 preaching the Gospel is carried on to-day within the Empire. 
 
VI 
 CHINA AND THE WORLD 
 
 " More than seven millions of Chinese reside beyond the boundaries of the 
 Empire, and China's foreign debt is not less than 250 millions sterling. 
 The bonds of finance, commerce, and population are upon us. Our interests 
 are already inseparably united. China's future not only affects herself, 
 it affects the world. " — Preface Pastor SH's Conversion. 
 
 Each year not only brings the countries of the world more 
 closely together geographically, by more easy and rapid means 
 of communication, but each year makes it more evident that no 
 nation liveth unto itself. All are inseparably bound together 
 in the bundle of life, and the rapid development of international 
 politics and commerce makes it the more urgent, in the interests 
 of the vrorld, that those nations which are destined to play so 
 large a part in world-wide history should be brought under the 
 influence of the Gospel. 
 
 The West has broken down the exclusive policy of the East, 
 and it is not possible now for the West to build for itself another 
 wall of exclusion similar to that it has taken such pains to break 
 down. The policy of the "open door'' necessitates egress as 
 well as ingress. 
 
 The growing importance of Far Eastern affairs has been 
 emphasised during the past year by the signing of the Eusso- 
 Japanese and Franco-Japanese agreements in June and July 
 respectively, both of which agreements have important bearings 
 on China. The Anglo-Eussian agreement, while closing Tibet to 
 the missionary and trader for the next three years, has acknow- 
 ledged China's suzerainty over that country. The Anglo- 
 Chinese opium agreement is a step in the right direction, 
 
 21 
 
22 PKESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 though altogether unworthy of the professed Christian name 
 of Great Britain. The willingness of China, Great Britain, 
 Germany, France, Holland, and Japan to accept the proposals 
 of the United States for a joint Commission to investigate the 
 opium question inspires the hope that more stringent steps may 
 yet be taken to stamp out this evil. 
 
 Among the questions which give rise to some uneasiness 
 are the unfortunate friction between China and Japan anent 
 railway matters in Manchuria and the Chientao boundary 
 dispute. Although Manchuria was nominally handed over to 
 China during the past year, April 15, 1907, having terminated 
 the eighteen months provided by the Portsmouth Agreement for 
 the withdrawal of all troops, Russia still retains in Manchuria 
 27,500 Eailway Guards, and Japan 14,675. 
 
 The racial disturbances on the West Coast of America and in 
 the Transvaal, in which China, India, and Japan have all been 
 concerned, foreshadow one of the most serious problems of the 
 twentieth century. Diplomacy may temporise with it, and even 
 postpone the collision of interests, but no permanent solution 
 will be found for these racial difficulties apart from that Gospel 
 which brings peace on earth, goodwill to men. 
 
 Already there are more Chinese living beyond the bounds 
 of their own Empire than the total population of Canada or 
 Australasia. The number is approximately equal to the com- 
 bined populations of Norway and Sweden or the population 
 of Korea. This is a remarkable and noteworthy fact, and if the 
 rapid immigration of Chinese into Manchuria be looked into, 
 it becomes the more abundantly evident that the Chinese are 
 destined to count much in the life of mankind. 
 
 The following table giving the numbers of Chinese in foreign 
 lands is worthy of careful thought. 
 
 [Table 
 
CHINA AND THE WORLD 
 
 23 
 
 Chinese in Foreign Countries i 
 
 1. In U.S.A. and Canada — 
 
 U.S.A. 1900 Census west of Rocky Mountains . 67,729 
 
 „ ,, ,, east of Rocky Mountains . 22,534 
 
 Canada ... . , 11,000 
 
 2. In Hawaii, 1900 U.S.A. Census .... 25,767 
 
 3. American Continent other than U.S.A. and Canada 145,000 
 
 4. Australia . 30,000 
 
 5. Japan (approx.) 20,000 
 
 6. Siberia and Korea 28,700 
 
 7. Philippines 80,000 
 
 8. Indo-China . . 150,000 
 
 9. Singapore and Malay Peninsula 985,000 
 
 10. Dutch Indies (including Borneo) . . 600,000 
 
 11. Siam .... 2,500,000 
 
 12. British India 40,000 
 
 13. Formosa . .... 2,600,000 
 
 14. South Africa, 1906 (being reduced) . 50,000 
 
 7,355,730 
 
 For many years it has been the custom of those using the 
 China Inland Mission's Prayer List to pray every Saturday 
 for Chinese in Foreign Lands. These figures may help in this 
 important subject. 
 
 After the restoration to China of Manchuria, the three Eastern 
 provinces were formed into a new Vieeroyalty, and eighteen 
 towns opened to foreign trade, while steady immigration has 
 been adopted as China's best and probably only means of 
 strengthening her position in the country. At the same time, 
 schemes concerning Mongolia are in the air, Kashgar has become 
 an open port, and foreign -drilled troops are being sent to 
 garrison Tibet, and a scheme for the colonisation of Eastern 
 Tibet with Chinese has been formulated. 
 
 Perhaps the most astonishing evidence of China's vitality is 
 seen by considering the steady but irresistible flow of Chinese 
 
 ^ It has teen estimated by the Chineae Imperial Customs that these people 
 annually send home about 73 million taels, or more than £10,000,000. 
 
24 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 life northward. They are flocking into Siberia rapidly, and can 
 be found all along the Siberian railway route as far inland as 
 Irkutsk. The following extracts from Mr. Putnam Weale's 
 last work, The Coming Struggle in Eastern Asia, abundantly 
 illustrate this point : — 
 
 "The slow movement northward to the Amur regions of 
 milKons upon millions of hard-headed Chinese settlers, who, by 
 combining with one another and by the very intensiveness of 
 their methods, form a solid phalanx which no Russian moujiks, 
 officially transplanted by their Government, can ever break." 
 
 " The Chinese settling movement is extending along the entire 
 course of the Trans -Manchurian Railway, and has done more 
 than anything else to convince the Russians, who are willing to 
 use their eyes, that it is folly for them to expect to compete 
 with such an enterprising and insistent population. The question 
 of populating the country as a weapon against assimilation is 
 perfectly well understood by the Chinese authorities." 
 
 " All the rich grass-land is being rapidly taken up by Chinese 
 settlers, and so amazing and so quietly has this natural move- 
 ment been going on that there is no doubt that to the south-east 
 of Tsitshar — between the Gobi Desert and Central Manchuria — 
 a new Chinese province is being slowly formed, which will soon 
 have to receive official recognition." 
 
 " Already it is calculated that the Chinese agricultural belt 
 is advancing on the Mongols and their wandering tribes at the 
 rate of ten miles a year. In fifteen or twenty years the spade 
 and the mattock will have captured millions of acres and bound 
 them tight to the Chinese system in bounteous crops." 
 
 In confirmation of the foregoing, the latest Chinese newspapers 
 report that the Chinese Government propose converting the 
 territory of Ch'ahar (Chakhar) in Mongolia into a province, 
 and of creating a Governorship for that territory. The Viceroys 
 and Governors of China Proper have also been commanded to 
 assist in the transporting of the Manchus from the various 
 Manchu garrisons, now abolished, to Manchuria, to cultivate the 
 waste arable lands in Fengtien, Kirin, and Heilungkiang. 
 
 At the same time comes the glad news that the spiritual 
 
CHINA AND THE WORLD 25 
 
 awakening has spread from Korea to Liaoyang and Mukden, 
 names so terribly associated with the recent war. At both these 
 centres God has been visiting His people, and numbers have 
 afresh dedicated themselves, their time and means, to the 
 Lord's service. 
 
VII 
 
 FEOM THE CHINESE POINT OF VIEW 
 
 ' ' Make them (the foreigner) suffer as the Chinese have suffered, and then 
 frankly and conscientiously answer if they would not do as the Chinese have 
 done, and that more quickly. Unless precluded from normal reasoning by 
 mental aberrations, they cannot but answer in the afl5rmative. "— N". L. Nlbn. 
 
 Much has been written about China, but nothing can equal 
 first-hand study. Few things to-day, whether at home or in the 
 country itself, afford a better opportunity of feeling the pulse of 
 the nation than the reading of that which issues from their 
 public press. For this reason, this section will be entirely 
 devoted to extracts from articles written by Chinese for Chinese. 
 The extracts are taken, without note or comment, from editorials 
 or articles which have appeared during the last twelve months 
 in The World's Chinese Students Journal. This is a bi-lingual 
 bi-monthly Magazine. The languages are English and Chinese, 
 and the extracts given are not translations but are taken verbatim 
 from the English text. 
 
 China's Eelation with the West 
 By H.E. Wd Ting-pang 
 
 " The diflferent nations in the West have, within the present 
 century, advanced so much in science, knowledge, and wealth 
 that it has become the fashion to speak of them as the most 
 civilised nations on the face of the earth, and to consider the 
 nations in the East as much below them in civilisation — in fact, 
 as barbarous or semi-civilised. It has been too much the habit 
 
 26 
 
FROM THE CHINESE POINT OF VIEW 27 
 
 to ignore the good points the Eastern nations possess, and to 
 leave out of account what they have done. This is hardly just. 
 The East has also a civilisation of its own. Of that civilisation 
 China is the chief exponent. Among its achievements may be 
 mentioned the invention of the mariner's compass, gunpowder, 
 and printing. It is not a civilisation of mushroom growth. 
 
 "There is not a nation standing to-day that can trace its 
 history as far back as China. She has witnessed the rise and 
 fall of the ancient Egyptian Dynasties, the expansion of the 
 Persian Empire, the conquests of Alexander, the irresistible 
 advance of the Roman legion, the deluge of Teutonic hordes 
 from the North, the dissolution of the Empire of Charlemagne, 
 and the birth of all the modern nations of Europe. During the 
 forty centuries of her existence there have gradually grown up 
 institutions and laws adapted to the needs and character of the 
 people ; a literature as extensive and varied as that of ancient 
 and modern Europe ; a system of morality that can challenge 
 comparison with any other the world has ever produced ; and 
 those useful arts that have never ceased to excite the wonder 
 and admiration of the world. 
 
 " You may ask why Egypt, Persia, Greece, and even mighty 
 Rome have successively succumbed to the ravages of time, while 
 China alone has survived. The answer is not far to seek. It 
 is the survival of the fittest. The working of this inexorable 
 law of nature constantly weeds out those nations that cannot 
 adapt themselves to the ever-changing conditions of life, and the 
 fact that China is standing to-day shows conclusively that she 
 has not outlived her usefulness to the cause of civilisation." 
 
 An Appeal to China's Foreign-Educated Men 
 
 By TONG Kai-son 
 
 " The fear of God and the love of justice are only felt by 
 those who are dealing with powerful antagonists like themselves. 
 To oppress the weak, issue ultimatums to the defenceless, sub- 
 vert the principles of truth and justice, seem to have become 
 the new sport of Emperors, Kings, and Presidents. In short, the 
 
28 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 r61e of a righteous but weak nation is no longer possible in the 
 modern arena of international warfare, strife, and aggressiveness. 
 
 " In the course of a few decades, she [China] has been deprived 
 of her protectorate over Tonking, Burma, and Corea, while she 
 has lost Hong-Kong, the Pescadores, Formosa, the Liuchiu 
 Islands, and what is now known as the Primorvsk Province. 
 In addition, Kuangchouwan, the Kowloon hinterland, Tsingtao, 
 Weihaiwei, and the Liaotung Peninsula are in the firm grip of 
 Foreign Powers. 
 
 " China has also had to pay enormous indemnities, far dispro- 
 portionate to the injuries inflicted. By the indemnity that was 
 wrung out of her as the result of the ' Boxer ' outbreak, certain 
 Powers reaped a clear profit of over one hundred million taels. 
 
 "We need only mention as examples the maintenance of 
 ex-territorial jurisdiction, the enforcement of a fixed tariff, the 
 imposition of the opium trade, the stationing of Legation guards 
 at our national capital, the so-called 'leases' of naval bases 
 along our sea-coast, the usurpation of our coast-carrying trade, 
 and the encroachment on our postal privileges. The late Mixed 
 Court episode is another instance in point. 
 
 " We must remember that it is in the nature of man to seek 
 to take advantage of the weak, and that, were the positions 
 reversed, China might accord even worse treatment to foreign 
 nations. It behooves us, then, not to entertain unworthy 
 thoughts of hatred and resentment, which will be of no avail, 
 but to concentrate all our energies to the setting of our political 
 and economic systems in order. When China shall have become 
 a strong and self-reliant nation, the present unsatisfactory 
 situation will, of course, disappear, and she will at once take 
 her proper place in the family of nations. If China is to be 
 saved, the work must depend greatly upon her foreign-educated 
 sons, who by reason of their practical knowledge, their wide 
 experience, and their broad ideas are more able to grasp the 
 situation and apply the remedy than their brethren of the old 
 school." 
 
FEOM THE CHINESE POINT OP VIEW 29 
 
 The Anti-Asiatic Spirit 
 
 An Editobial 
 
 " Our people are not ignorant of the fact that the agitation 
 on the Pacific coast, Canada, and elsewhere is not so much anti- 
 Japanese as anti-Asiatic, and that the battle that Japan is 
 fighting is more or less the battle that afiects all Asiatics. If 
 Japan, the foremost Asiatic Power and the most progressive of 
 Eastern nations, may not receive fair and equal treatment at 
 the hands of Western nations, what hope can there remain for 
 the less progressive and less powerful ones t 
 
 "To return to the subject of this editorial, we must confess 
 that Japan, if she is wise, might, it seems to us, somewhat change 
 her present policy and revert to the other more natural and 
 dignified one of drawing a little closer to her continental 
 neighbour. She is destined to be, and has the opportunity 
 thrust upon her of being, the leader and teacher of all Asia, and 
 of passing on the benefits and privileges which heaven has so 
 bountifully showered upon her to the less fortunate and en- 
 lightened countries of the same continent. Surely here is a 
 task the successful accomplishment of which will shed eternal 
 lustre on her name in history. Her position is not to push 
 herself forward into places where she is not wanted, or wanted 
 only that she is given an axe to grind, bub to be the unselfish, 
 wise, and glorious leader of peoples of her own race and colour, 
 to hasten their enlightenment and awakening, thus assuring the 
 peace of the world. Let Japan then, instead of choosing to 
 be the pygmy among giants, be the giant among pygmies — 
 pygmies which may in the near future develop into giants also." 
 
 A Eeview of "China and America To-Day" 
 By A Chinese Ebviewer 
 
 "This small volume by the Rev. Dr. A. H. Smith, whose 
 cynical book called the Chinese Characteristics has given him a 
 world-wide celebrity, contains, we must suppose, the ripe fruit 
 
30 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 of his Chinese studies and observations. Dr. Smith, in his 
 previous writings, seems like one attempting every possible 
 way of representing the Chinese as a whimsical and contemptible 
 sort of people, albeit giving them credit in a patronising way 
 for the possession of a few rather good virtues. We have often 
 felt that the author strained every effort to make strong impres- 
 sions on his readers, with the result that many of his so-called 
 Chinese characteristics are not characteristic at aU. Many of 
 the vices, weaknesses, and failings which he so credited the 
 ' heathen Chinese ' with are really, we are afraid, as common 
 amongst his countrymen as they are amongst ourselves. The 
 absurdities and crudities of his previous works rendered his 
 writings very offensive reading to intelligent Chinese who can 
 understand the English language. We must say that the 
 rev. gentleman is largely responsible for the contemptuous 
 opinion held of the Chinese by many of his innocent countrymen. 
 So much for the Chinese Characteristics. 
 
 " Now the volume before us is, in our opinion, both an 
 apologia and a retraction of the prejudiced opinions expressed 
 in his previous work afore - mentioned. In this volume the 
 virtues of a ' great race ' are detailed, and there is not a 
 whisper of those wonderful characteristics which for over a 
 decade have made the Chinese the butt of ridicule in the eyes 
 of foreigners." 
 
 Our Female Education 
 An Editorial 
 
 " Perhaps no nation has yet truly solved this great problem ; 
 for not even England and America, with all their magnificent 
 educational systems and institutions, have arrived at the ideal 
 point as to what female education ought to be. In their eager 
 desire to promote the intellectual welfare of their women, they 
 seem to have overlooked the one fundamental fact that what- 
 ever may be their mental capacity. Nature had by their very 
 constitution intended a different sphere from that of men for 
 them to move in. 
 
FEOM THE CHINESE POINT OF VIEW 31 
 
 " The development of the intellect without the corresponding 
 cultivation of those qualities which make up complete woman- 
 hood in the strictest sense of the word has produced the 
 disastrous consequences from which Western nations are to-day 
 suffering; for not only has the modern woman outgrown the 
 idea of domestic duties, but she has become the dangerous rival 
 of man in almost every line of profession which modern education 
 and the concomitant idea of equality have opened to her. 
 
 " Our modern female education, conducted by enthusiastic but 
 ignorant reformers, has the fatal elements which have produced 
 the effects as above-mentioned ; only, while in Western countries 
 personal conduct is to a great extent regulated by strict, 
 conventional social rules, our women, disregarding traditional 
 customs, with no new moral codes to substitute them, are fast 
 losing those virtues which have been the healthy forces of our 
 society. 
 
 "The real object of our female education is not to develop 
 manly qualities out of the girls, but to evolve those character- 
 istics which make an ideal womanhood. Hence it is not merely 
 the development of the mind that should be striven after, but the 
 cultivation of those finer sensibilities and the evolution of those 
 more practical qualities which make them a true woman, a model 
 housewife, and an ideal mother." 
 
 A National Anthem 
 
 An Editorial 
 
 " In Western countries to-day, the national anthem occupies 
 a prominent position in the life of the nation. Next to the 
 national flag nothing, perhaps, contributes a larger share in the 
 keeping alive of national sentiment and the perpetuation of 
 patriotic ardour than the patriotic song. Alluding as it does to 
 the land of their fathers and to the ruler of their country, it 
 thus not only keeps the people in constant remembrance of the 
 allegiance which they owe to their fatherland and to their 
 
32 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 sovereign, but it also serves as a powerful instrument of binding 
 them together as a nation, thus creating the national unity and 
 solidarity which can be effected only by the direct appeal to the 
 highest emotion of man. 
 
 "The importance with which it is held in every civilised 
 community is attested by the fact that, whether in peace or war, 
 the national anthem has always been an indispensable and 
 inseparable part of a public demonstration. 
 
 " It was only after the assimilation by Japan of Western ideas 
 and civilisation that the national anthem in that country has 
 sprung into existence and has become a part of the national life. 
 
 "In the face of the rapid growth of national sentiment among 
 our people, the time is certainly ripe enough for some one to 
 develop a national anthem, which will become the heritage of 
 the coming generations of our Empire, whose glorious history 
 has extended for more than 4000 years." 
 
 America and China 
 An Editorial 
 
 " America has shown herself to be particularly friendly to our 
 people in the past two years, her munificent contribution of over 
 a million dollars to the Kiangpeh Famine Relief Fund and the 
 relinquishment to our Government of over thirty million taels, 
 the larger portion of the indemnity awarded to her as damages 
 for the Boxer outbreak in 1901, having created a very favourable 
 impression on the intelligent portion of our people. It was but 
 natural, therefore, that when the proposal for giving a cordial 
 reception to Secretary Taft was suggested, the Chinese residents 
 of this city greeted it with warm approval. The Garden Party 
 itself and the speeches delivered have been so fully recorded in 
 the daily papers, that it is unnecessary for us to give any further 
 description. 
 
 " In view of the dangerous position of our country from the 
 standpoint of international politics, it is indeed a great relief to 
 
FROM THE CHINESE POINT OF VIEW 33 
 
 know that at least one great Power will see to it that our 
 country receives fair-play and justice. The sympathetic attitude, 
 too, of the American people towards our efforts in measures of 
 reform should act as an incentive towards still greater efforts, so 
 that the day will soon arrive when China and America, the one 
 on the Western and the other on the Eastern coast of the Pacific 
 Ocean, will appear before the world as equal and friendly Powers, 
 the champions of right and justice and of peace in the Far East." 
 
 The Value of Studying English 
 Ak Editorial 
 
 "The English language, let us assert, is the best foreign 
 language, and should be accorded the first place in our schools, — 
 all others are of secondary importance. We do not say this 
 because we happen to know the language (for one's sympathies 
 naturally incline towards the country whose language one speaks), 
 but there are logical grounds for our assumption. As surely 
 as the power of political institutions has been instrumental 
 in making the English language dominant as an international 
 language, so the fact is equally patent that the foreign language 
 spoken by most people of a country like China influences 
 immensely the character of her budding political institutions. 
 
 " From this the inference may be drawn that the political 
 institutions worked out in England have influenced modern 
 thought more powerfully than those of other countries. Those 
 acquainted with American history know the spirit of personal 
 initiative and individual independence of the early English 
 settlers; these traits still characterise their descendants, the 
 Americans of to-day. The Anglo-Saxons carry their political 
 and social institutions with them wherever they go, and guard 
 most jealously against any attempts calculated to infringe upon 
 their liberties — instances of which we have witnessed even in 
 China. 
 
 " It is for these reasons, far from being sentimental, that we 
 consider the English language as superior to all others. Aside 
 from the fact that its mastery furnishes one the key to the 
 
 D 
 
34 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 world's richest store of learning and -wisdom, the language itself 
 abounds in words and phrases which it is impossible to utter 
 without remembering the love of liberty and country, devotion 
 to conscience and principle, and without calling to mind the 
 political institutions of the English and American peoples. 
 Magna Charta, Parliament, Bunker Hill, Lexington, Congress — 
 these are some of the words that mark the various epochs in 
 the glorious career of the Anglo-Saxon race." 
 
 Chinese Students and the World's Evangelisation 
 
 From an Addebss by C. T. Wang at Tokio Students' Confekbnce 
 
 " The students of the Orient are responsible for the world's 
 evangelisation, because Our Lord was an Oriental. This may 
 sound a little strange in the ears of Occidentals ; but to Orientals 
 a statement like this carries much weight. That Orientals have 
 their own way of thinking and acting is their singular character- 
 istic. They do not readily take in things that are not Oriental, 
 but among themselves they copy one another freely. Buddhism 
 was introduced from India, yet the Chinese and other Oriental 
 countries have never regarded it as a foreign religion. Con- 
 fucianism was taken up by the Japanese and Koreans without 
 even a thought that it was a foreign religion. But Christianity 
 is eyed with grave suspicion that it is a foreign or Western 
 religion. Much hindrance to the propagation of the blessed 
 Gospel is the outcome of this prejudice. The Oriental students 
 are, therefore, responsible for the exposition of their Lord's 
 teachings in the Oriental way, for He was in His teachings, 
 environment, customs, and expressions an Oriental." 
 
VIII 
 
 'TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN FAMINE' 
 
 " If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul ; 
 then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity shall be as the mid- 
 day : and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry 
 places, and make strong thy bones ; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, 
 and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." — Isaiah Iviii. 10-11. 
 
 Amid the rivalry of nations and the too frequent exploiting of 
 the weaker nation by the stronger, the following brief account 
 of united action on the part of peoples of different countries and 
 creeds in a work of mercy will be read with gratitude and 
 pleasure. While the names of C.I.M. workers may be mentioned, 
 it is with no intention of overlooking the equally self-sacrificing 
 labour of members of other Societies. 
 
 Not since the dreadful famine of 1877, when some nine 
 million persons are computed to have perished, has China been 
 called to face such harrowing conditions as prevailed last year 
 in the north of Kiangsu and parts of Anhwei and Honan. 
 Through abnormal rains and neglect of provision for drainage 
 possible by modern engineering skill, the canals, which in some 
 places are twenty feet above the level of the surrounding country, 
 burst their banks and flooded a tract of land almost equal in 
 area to the whole of England. 
 
 Words altogether fail to picture the utter helplessness and 
 misery which immediately prevailed, nor would we portray 
 things as they were even if we could. Captain Walter Kirton, 
 a hardened campaigner, writes in his book The Silent War as 
 
 follows : — 
 
 36 
 
36 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 " The appearance of the refugees beggars description." (Here 
 follows a passage too realistic to quote.) "Never before have I 
 seen or even imagined such beings as I saw here. I have seen 
 life and death in their crudest forms : battle, murder, sudden 
 death — and worse — but never before have I seen such concen- 
 trated misery, such indescribable horrors as were to be witnessed 
 in the streets and in the camps outside the city of Tsingkiangpu." 
 
 Into this living sea of misery the missionaries nobly plunged, 
 assisted and supported by the munificent generosity of many 
 both in China and the home lands, especially America. Early 
 in the day the Ghinkiang Missionary Association foresaw the 
 coming sorrows and speedily organised a Committee, their 
 example being followed in Shanghai, where Mr. E. S. Little 
 formed a Central China Famine Eelief Committee, while the 
 Chinese on their part were stimulated and provoked to generous 
 action. '.' 
 
 The Chinkiang Committee raised $450,000, the Central 
 China Eelief Fund amounted to 704,279 taels, while the Chinese 
 Government, the Shanghai Chinese Chamber of Commerce, etc., 
 contributed $1,678,819, making in all a sum roughly equal to 
 £315,000. 
 
 Unfortunately the appeal made to the Lord Mayor of London 
 failed through pressure of other claims, but President Eoosevelt 
 nobly responded with a call to his country at the Christmas 
 season. His appeal, dated "The White House, Washington, 
 December 24, 1906," contained the following words: — 
 
 " Amid our abounding prosperity, and in this holiday season 
 of goodwill to men, assuredly we should do our part to aid the 
 unfortunate and relieve the distressed among the people of China." 
 
 Two-thirds of the funds raised by the Central China Famine 
 Committee came from America ; the Christian Herald of New 
 York collected and forwarded no less than $450,000 gold; and 
 Congress authorised the employment of two transports to carry 
 corn given by the American farmers. Surely, says the official 
 report, this " was a blessed anticipation of the time when armies 
 shall beat their spears into pruning-hooks, and nations shall learn 
 war no more.'' 
 
'TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN FAMINE' 37 
 
 The difficulties, however, of doing good were not small nor 
 easily overcome. Diplomatic, religious, and racial obstacles 
 threatened at times to make aid impossible. H.E. Tuan Fang, 
 a man who at considerable risk saved the lives of many 
 missionaries during 1900, showed great reluctance in granting 
 liberty for foreigners to engage in relief work. Fears that it 
 might be used by missionaries as an aid to proselytising, that 
 hungry mobs might kill the workers and indemnities greater 
 than the benefit might be demanded, were all employed as 
 arguments against permission being granted. To reassure the 
 Viceroy, the Protestant missionaries promised that in the event 
 of death no indemnity should be claimed (the Roman Catholics 
 demurred); and with a maladroitness almost culpable, notifications 
 were sent by the Viceroy to the local officials stating that no 
 redress would be sought if foreigners were killed, an intimation 
 in China tantamount to a desire for anti-foreign disturbances. 
 
 These difficulties were, however, surmounted. A protest to 
 the Viceroy secured the needed protection, and from that time 
 onward nothing but the utmost gratitude was shown to the 
 missionaries throughout the famine district. 
 
 The methods adopted by the workers were those of giving 
 food, not money, and of employing labour to prevent pauperisa- 
 tion, and also to accomplish needed work. To have given money 
 would but have enriched those who sought to corner grain, 
 whereas the importation of food prevented such cruel speculation 
 and released the supplies which some were keeping in hopes of 
 higher prices. 
 
 To tell of all the work accomplished and the good done 
 would be impossible. A few extracts from letters and reports 
 are all that is possible. The following from Mr. Burgess's pen 
 gives a good idea of the labour undertaken. 
 
 " Miss Eeid has been the pen-holder and I the spade-holder. 
 Our first work with 1500 men was the filling of the Temple 
 swamp close to the East Gate. We used the Shanghai funds 
 from the sales of flour for the first part of that work. About 
 three acres are filled and to the depth of eight to ten feet. 
 
 "The second work was the making of a high-road outside the 
 
38 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 East Gate, and running around the houses to the Yellow River 
 bank, and west over the swamp across the stone bridge to the 
 direct road going north. This latter part was built through the 
 water. After this we employed some 3000 men to dig ten 
 miles of the Min Tien River, which runs in a northerly direction 
 from the city. 1500 men continued road-making inside the city 
 at the same time. 
 
 " Our next great work was to reduce the flood of water bottled 
 up inside the city, and to commence the new canal, which runs 
 from the North Gate to the West Gate, and on through a 
 swamp, and across the line of a branch dyke of the Yellow 
 River, and down the old bed of the Pan River into the Salt 
 River. 
 
 " We have built a road all round the city wall ; another from 
 the West Gate to the Magistrate's residence and Court. This 
 road was under two or three feet of water. Another road from 
 the West Gate to the South Gate, and some four roads running 
 south across to the north main roads, two roads by the pagoda, 
 two roads east and west of the Court. We have also re-dug, 
 widened, and deepened every main drain of the city. The flour 
 temple - courtyards were filled and raised. Four feet of flood 
 water has been run out of the city and scores of acres of land 
 recovered. The roads from the East Gate to the North Gate, 
 and from the Court House to the West Gate have been paved 
 with stone, and large stone surface drains laid on the East Street 
 into the swamp. One stone well and two underground drains 
 were made. We are building up the broken city wall. You 
 will see, on the enclosed photo, the road which I threw up over 
 the top of the city wall. This allowed the passage of thousands 
 of men daily with loads for the making of the central city roads. 
 We also made a back-street road from the North Gate around to 
 the back of the main city street, and extending west as far as the 
 houses occur. This allows barrows of wood, reeds, etc., to reach 
 the back door of the merchants' houses without blocking the 
 traffic on the main streets. 
 
 " We planted about 2000 willow trees ; you can see the row 
 from the East to the West Gate of the city. Alas ! the poor 
 
'TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN FAMINE' 39 
 
 destitute folk tore the majority of the saplings up for firewood. 
 We built three large bridges inside the city ; nine drain bridges 
 and one large bridge two and a half miles down the Min Tien 
 River. We built the stone block lock on the canal. My 
 carpenters, besides the bridges, have built four sets of gymnastic 
 bars, a large covered scaffold for trapeze, stirrups, and swing 
 bars, and one water-wheel. 
 
 " With Mission funds we raised the ground-floor of our station 
 some two feet higher, paved it over with stones, relaid the 
 drains, and put in a door and rain-cover. 
 
 " The North Gate Temple was handed over to me, and the idol 
 moved out (his head roUed off in the exertion). The Temple 
 was renovated and turned into a public market. We filled in 
 the whole of that corner and placed the two bridges there ; this 
 will give them ample ground for a market. The local gentry 
 were to complete the scheme, by covering and cleaning the 
 Temple and building rain-sheds round. In ancient times this 
 corner was the salt market, and in restoring it to its original 
 use the local officials and gentry are sure that we have the 
 spirit of the ancients. 
 
 " We dug up scores of old coffins, but no bones remained 
 within, and we had to bury twenty loads of refugee skeletons. 
 The latter part of the work engaged 11,000 men, and the 3000 
 to 4000 mud-carriers employed perhaps half that number as 
 assistants to bring the earth a part of the way for them, the 
 assistants generally being their own relatives. 
 
 " Men, miles, and mud. It seems to me in retrospect that 
 this is all there is to record of the relief work in Antung." 
 
 Amongst those in the C.I.M. who have laboured in this 
 merciful work are Miss M. A Eeid, Miss E. Triidinger, 
 Messrs. 0. Burgess, R. A. M'CuUoch, W. E. Tyler, H. J. 
 Mungeam, A. Gracie, C. J. Jenson, C. H. Parsons, and others. 
 We may be pardoned for quoting a few lines from the Official 
 Report issued by the Central China Famine Relief Committee 
 which make some kind acknowledgment of these missionaries' 
 labours. 
 
 Speaking of the ladies who bravely faced the worst, the 
 
40 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 Report says : " The distress of these ladies when they saw the 
 sufferings of the starving peasantry was very deep ; their joy in 
 the distribution of relief was correspondingly great. But such 
 relief work involved prolonged physical exertion of the most 
 exhausting kind, and necessitated that, for months, they lived 
 breathing the same air and being in intimate personal contact 
 with a mass of humanity degraded almost to the level of the 
 brute." Miss M. A. Eeid was unfortunately subsequently laid 
 low with typhoid, but in the mercy of God recovered. 
 
 Of Mr. Burgess the Official Eeport says : " In Mr. Oliver 
 Burgess of the C.I.M. we happily found a man peculiarly 
 qualified to organise and direct large bodies of workmen. Mr. 
 Burgess has lived in the interior of China for nearly twenty 
 years, and is familiar with the people and their language. He 
 was on his way to Chefoo seeking rest and quiet when the call 
 for workers reached him, and instead of going to the Sanatorium 
 he plunged into the relief work and endured a physical and 
 mental strain of the most exacting nature." 
 
 Somewhat humorously the Eeport proceeds : 
 
 " If the Viceroy of Nanking knew of the valuable public 
 works carried out by Mr. Burgess, and could be persuaded to 
 appoint that energetic missionary Taotai of the conservancy of 
 the Yellow Eiver, that wayward torrent, so long as Mr. Burgess 
 had office, would have to keep within its bounds." 
 
 What those valuable public works are may be seen by a 
 glance at the following summary prepared by the Eev. A. E. 
 Saunders of the C.I.M. : — 
 
 "I have carefully tabulated, from actual measurements, the 
 amount of work done, feeling that the kind contributors to the 
 fund would be interested in the statement as below : — 
 
 30 miles of road repaired in the country. 
 
 13,000 square yards of swamp (3 feet deep) within the city filled in. 
 The earth for filling in was carried about three-quarters of a mile. 
 
 12,744 yards of roads (4 yards wide) made in the city on the re- 
 claimed land. 
 
 9460 yards of ditches dug, 9 feet wide by 4 feet deep. 
 
 34,364 yards (about 20 miles) of canal dug, re-dug, or deepened. 
 
'TO KEEP THEM ALIVE IN FAMINE' 41 
 
 8444 yards (nearly 5 miles) of this is an entirely new canal, and 
 connects the city of Antung with the Salt River. These canals 
 are about 30 yards wide." 
 
 The price paid in this famine relief has been more than 
 money and hard labour. It has been life for life. Four brave 
 workers have laid down their lives in their toil for the perishing 
 either through famine, fever, or over-exertion : Dr. J. E. Williams 
 of the C.I.M. ; Dr. J. Lynch, the Chinkiang port doctor; Rev. 
 W. S. Farris and Rev. J. R. Jones, both of the American 
 Presbyterian Mission. 
 
 With them it is Far Better; but to the widows and the 
 bereaved loved ones left behind the sorrow remains : 
 
 'Tis these, not they, that tasted death. 
 
 May "the blessing of him that was ready to perish" come 
 upon them and cause " the widow's heart to sing for joy " ! 
 
IX 
 
 THE BEST BOOK FOE CHINA 
 
 "I apeak to missionaries : read the Bible, for you have nothing worthy 
 of your life-long exile in a strange land, nor to communicate to its people, 
 hut the contents of these divine pages. . . . Kead it . . . and you will 
 inevitably attract, and he attracted by, those who under other denominations 
 are doing likewise, you and they alike converging more and more towards 
 Jesus Christ as the focus of your common interest and affection. There is 
 no such edifying, there is no such unifying source of sacred influence as your 
 Bible, 'magnified by God above all His Name.' " — The Centenary Sermon 
 by Bishop G. E. Mottle. 
 
 With the exception of the Jews, there are probably no people 
 who have cherished with such veneration the written or printed 
 page as the Chinese. To them the very characters are sacred, 
 and " respect for printed paper " leads many to engage in the 
 meritorious work of collecting and reverently burning in some 
 shrine any stray pieces of printed paper found lying about. 
 
 Dr. Morrison, writing from Canton as early as September 
 14, 1808, remarked: "The professed esteem of my people for 
 Confucius is unbounded. In reading with me the ' Four Books ' 
 they seem quite enraptured. In his ' Great Science ' (Great 
 Learning) there are but 205 characters. In the comment by 
 his pupil Tsang-tsze, who collected his sayings, there are 1546, 
 and to these they give the most unlimited assent, as though 
 inspired of God. 
 
 "There is not in them, they say, one jot or tittle that is 
 erroneous. The very particles, moreover, which in other books 
 are mere expletives, are here full of meaning ; and there is in 
 the reasoning of the philosopher, they affirm, a depth which 
 
 42 
 
THE BEST BOOK FOR CHINA 43 
 
 reqmres the utmost sagacity to fathom, and a fulness which 
 demands a long paraphrase to unfold." 
 
 It was surely eminently desirable that a people thus devoted 
 to literature should have given them the Sacred Book, which 
 alone is able to make them wise unto salvation. But added to 
 this reverence for their own literature there was a contempt for 
 any other — a contempt which is only now beginning to yield, 
 and concerning which another quotation from Dr. Morrison's 
 diary of July 15, 1808, may be given. 
 
 " My two people," he writes, " agreed in considering it alto- 
 gether useless to be at any trouble to know anything of 
 foreigners. The Celestial Empire has everything in itself that it 
 is desirable either to possess or to know. As the most learned 
 never acquire the whole of the literature of China, why then 
 concern themselves about that which is exotic 1 With regard to 
 religion and morality, the depths of knowledge contained in the 
 ' Four Books ' have never been fathomed ; and till that is done 
 it is folly to attend to any other." 
 
 Thus was Dr. Morrison confronted with at once the most 
 literary of peoples and yet the most bigoted and contemptuous. 
 These words, written by Dr. Morrison one hundred years ago, 
 would with almost equal exactness have described the Chinese 
 mental attitude only a few years ago. But to-day the situation 
 is rapidly changing. With the publication of China's Only Hope 
 by H.E. Chang Chihtung, which book was a strong appeal to 
 the nation to study foreign methods, it became apparent that 
 China was beginning to move. 
 
 For so vast and so conservative a people the change has been 
 remarkable. From an analysis of foreign works translated into 
 Chinese made three or four years ago, it appeared that over one 
 thousand Western publications were already in wide circulation 
 throughout China, and a more recent statement shows that the 
 number of Western novels translated into Chinese has advanced 
 from 21 in 1904 to no less than 120 to-day. 
 
 Not only is the variety of Western literature increasing in 
 China, but astonishingly large editions are being called for, one 
 book having an jedition of 350,000 and another of 150,000 
 
44 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 "within eighteen months. It will be readily recognised, in the 
 light of Dr. Morrison's statement made above, that these facts 
 indicate a tremendous mental revolution. 
 
 In bringing about this great change the Bible has held the 
 first and pre-eminent place throughout, and now that not a little 
 pernicious literature is entering the country and finding an all- 
 too-ready sale, there is great need that every effort be put 
 forth to enlarge the circulation of the Scriptures and Christian 
 literature. 
 
 While not forgetting the work of the Nestorians and early 
 Eoman Catholics, which, however, were not put into public 
 circulation, the Bible was the first book in modern times to be 
 translated into Chinese '^ and to be circulated among that people. 
 Previous to this there were not a few who even held that such 
 a translation was an impossibility. 
 
 Who shall measure the boon and blessing this has already 
 been to China. " To have Moses, David, and the prophets, 
 Jesus Christ and His apostles, using their own words and thereby 
 declaring to the inhabitants of the land the wonderful works of 
 God, indicates, I hope, the speedy introduction of a happier era 
 into these parts of the world ; and I trust that the gloomy 
 darkness of pagan scepticism will be dispelled by the Dayspring 
 from on high." Thus wrote Dr. Morrison when announcing 
 the completion of the great task of translating the whole Bible 
 into Chinese. 
 
 Thank God, no book recently introduced into China has had 
 a circulation comparable to that obtained by the Bible, though 
 probably many Buddhist works — not to speak of the Confucian 
 classics — are far more widely known. Is it too much to hope 
 that the day may not be long delayed when the Holy Bible 
 shall be as widely read as the Confucian classics ? It is stated 
 that should every copy of the Confucian classics be destroyed 
 
 1 " The religious books of the Buddhists, which are miserably done,' and of the 
 Romanists, some of which are elegant, are the only works they have rendered 
 into Chinese ; for the scientific books printed under the direction of the Jesuit 
 missionaries were not translations of any whole treatise, but works containing, 
 generally, European ideas, composed in Chinese by natives. " — Dr. Morrison, see 
 his Memoir, vol. ii. pp. 6, 7. 
 
Scripture Portions circulated in 1878, about 100,000. 
 
 Average number of 
 Scripture Portions 
 circulated annually 
 during 40 years, 1814- 
 1855, about 4000. 
 
 From a photo of Bibles 
 taken at the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society, 
 specially photographe(l 
 by kind permission. 
 
 Scripture Portions circulated in 1905, 2,663,626. 
 
 Diagram showing the Circulation op the Schiptuees in Chinese ; each book in the 
 diagram represents 1000 copies of scripture portions. 
 
 To face page 45. 
 
THE BEST BOOK FOE CHINA 45 
 
 to-day, the letter is so engraven upon the minds and memories of 
 the scholars of China that one million persons could to-mon-ow 
 reproduce the whole. When shall the word of Christ thus richly 
 dwell in the hearts and aifections of this people 1 
 
 During the year 1906 the circulation of the Scriptures in 
 China as provided by the three great Bible Societies was as 
 follows : — 
 
 The British and Foreign Bible Society . 1,084,311 
 
 The National Bible Society of Scotland 948,007 
 
 The American Bible Society . 497,65& 
 
 Total . . 2,529,977 
 
 These bring the total circulation of the Word of God in China 
 from the commencement up to 1907 to 379,243 Bibles, 2,347,057 
 New Testaments, and 31,128,939 portions, or 33,855,239 in all. 
 
 During 1907 the British and Foreign Bible Society circulated 
 1,212,409 Scriptures and the National Bible Society of Scotland 
 909,167, so that, with the American Bible Society, the total 
 figures up to date will be about 36,500,000. 
 
 From Shanghai on the east to the borders of Tibet on the 
 west, from Canton on the south to the extremes of Manchuria 
 and Mongolia, the Bible Societies' colporteurs and the Missionary 
 Societies have spread broadcast the Word of God. 
 
 But the task of giving the Bible to the Chinese is greater 
 than most people imagine. If the British and Foreign Bible 
 Society, which has been founded for over 100 years, and the 
 American Bible Society and the National Bible Society of 
 Scotland, had decided from their foundation to neglect every 
 other country in the world and to concentrate their energies on 
 China alone, the total of their circulation from the commence- 
 ment of their labours would not have done more than give the 
 Bible to one-fifth of the Chinese people, and one Gospel to three 
 out of every four. 
 
 Let the famous British Museum Library be taken as an 
 illustration. In this library there are some 44 miles of book- 
 
46 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 shelves, containing in all some 2,000,000 volumes. If every book 
 were a Chinese Bible, it would take 200 such libraries to give 
 to every Chinese man, woman, and child one copy of the Holy 
 Scriptures. Although the circulation of the Scriptures in 
 China has recently exceeded 2^ millions per annum, 160 years 
 would be needed at this rate to give the whole of the Chinese 
 people one Scripture portion. £3,000,000 would be needed to 
 give one Gospel to every Chinese throughout the Empire. 
 
 To quote the words of an American journalist who has lately 
 been engaged in the study of Missions, "This big task calls 
 for large measure. The brains which have created the vast 
 commercial enterprises of the twentieth century must attack this 
 work with equal adequateness. This undertaking is too great 
 to be maintained on a basis of pretty, pathetic, or heroic stories. 
 Unless it be established on a firm basis of principle and purpose, 
 by men who have the vision and courage and resourcefulness 
 to plan tremendously and persist unfalteringly, the missionary 
 work that the conditions imperatively demand cannot be success- 
 fully accomplished." 
 
Photo iy] 
 
 [The Artists' Illiistration Co. 
 
 The Bkitish Museum Reading Room. 
 
 This famous Reading Room contains 70,000 volumes, while the whole Library, wliicli is built around the 
 Reading Room, contains some 44 miles of book-shelves (shelves, not cases), containing in all about 2,000,000 
 volumes. If every book were a copy of one of the Scriptures in Chinese, the number would not equal the 
 circulation of the Scriptures in China last year. If every book were a copy of the Chinese Bible it would need 
 200 such libraries to supply each Chinese man, woman, and child with a Bible. It would cost £3,000,000 to 
 give one Scripture poi'tion only, to every Chinese throughout the Empire. 
 
 To face page 46. 
 
CHINA'S SPIEITUAL DESTITUTION 
 
 " Resolved — (a) that the new political and social conditions in China 
 render it possible that every individual in the Empire may now be reached 
 with such a knowledge of the world-saving mission, the redeeming death 
 and resurrection, and the heart-transforming power of Jesus Christ as will 
 suffice for the acceptance of Him as a personal Saviour. " 
 
 "(6) That we appeal to the whole Christian world to rise in its might, 
 and, trusting to the guidance of Almighty God, realise more adequately 
 its responsibility in this gigantic undertaking." — Rbsoltjtion of the 
 Shakghai Confbeencb, 1907. 
 
 Thb preceding chapters will have altogether failed in their 
 purpose if they have not impressed the reader with the urgent 
 necessity for a great advance, at the present juncture, in 
 Christian effort. "Mere civilisation," wrote the late Bishop 
 Hoare, "is not sufficiently powerful to effect the necessary 
 changes in the moral and social life of the Chinese. Civilisation 
 may lead them to adopt for their own use, and even to develop, 
 the products of Western science. Civilisation may lead them to 
 change some of their habits of life, to wear different clothes or to 
 eat different food in a different way. But history gives us no 
 instance of civilisation changing the moral nature of a nation. 
 It did not do so in G-reece ; it did not do so in Rome ; it has 
 not done so in modern nations which have adopted civilisation 
 without Christianity. Nor has it done so, so far as the 
 experiment has been tried, among those Chinese who have more 
 or less adopted Western civilisation, while still untouched by 
 the Divine life of Christianity." 
 
 47 
 
48 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 The workers on the field have fully recognised the truth of 
 Bishop Hoare's statement and the critical importance of an 
 immediate advance, and therefore resolved, as mentioned above, 
 to appeal to the whole Christian Church for a more worthy- 
 response to the unparalleled opportunities which exist. " The 
 secret of victory," Napoleon said, "is to bring up the reserves 
 when the struggle is at its crisis." That is unquestionably the 
 situation and the wise policy of to-day. 
 
 It is this truth that has given to the workers in China the 
 great ambition to inaugurate a united effort so as to secure the 
 evangelisation of China within the next twenty years ; and to- 
 secure this a Committee was appointed to collate and tabulate 
 such information as should be necessary to organise such a. 
 movement. 
 
 As the magnitude of this undertaking is not easily grasped, 
 the following pages are devoted to a brief consideration of what 
 has been done and what yet needs to be accomplished. The 
 diagram on the cover illustrates the greatness of China's- 
 population. What would it be thought if there were only 1443 
 ordained ministers for the united populations of Japan, Great- 
 Britain, Italy, United States of America, European Russia, Spain 
 and Portugal, France, Austria, and Canada. Yet that is the 
 total number of male missionaries of all nationalities and aU 
 denominations at work in China. 
 
 As the task of reviewing the whole field is too great for so 
 small a pamphlet as this, three provinces — characteristic of all — 
 have been selected for consideration. What is true of these is 
 true of all. With the diagram maps to refer to there will not 
 be need for many words. 
 
 The Province of Honan 
 
 Honan is in area, as the figures on the map (see inside of front 
 cover) will show, somewhat larger than England and Wales, or 
 than Scotland and Ireland combined ; while its population is 
 greater than that of England and Wales and nearly equal to that 
 of France. Protestant Missions were commenced in the province 
 
CHINA'S SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION 49 
 
 in 1875, by the China Inland Mission, though no permanent 
 foothold was secured until 1884. There are now some ten 
 Societies labouring tbere,^ with a total of 1 1 2 foreign missionaries 
 including wives and single lady workers. The total number 
 of communicants on December 31, 1905, was 1624, of which 
 number 1058 were connected with the C.I.M. and 406 with 
 the Canadian Presbyterians. 
 
 The 112 missionaries are located at twenty-nine central 
 stations, of which twenty -six are walled cities and three 
 important towns. A glance at the map may do what words 
 will fail to accomplish. On that map no fewer than 1846 
 cities, towns, and important villages are located, while there are, 
 in addition, countless numbers of hamlets and villages which 
 cannot be marked. Though it is now more than a generation 
 since the first Protestant missionaries entered the province, and 
 over twenty years since the first permanent station was opened, 
 the total number of centres occupied by all Societies (out-stations 
 not being counted) does not exceed twenty-nine. Here lies 
 part of the problem of the evangelisation of China, and let it be 
 remembered that this is but one of the nineteen provinces of 
 China Proper. 
 
 A Contrast 
 
 If, for the sake of illustration, the Mission force, now 112 
 persons, could be equally divided into small groups of three, 
 each group comprising a married man with his wife and one 
 single lady worker, there would be thirty-eight such groups in 
 all. Were these little bands of workers equally distributed 
 throughout the province, each band would have a parish of 1788 
 square miles, or a district larger than Somerset or nearly equal 
 to Lancashire, in area. Each such parish would contain a 
 population of 929,389 souls, or a population equal to that of 
 Birmingham and Leeds combined. 
 
 How totally inadequate such a staff is for the evangelisation 
 of the province, there is no need to discuss. England and 
 
 1 For particulars see The Chinese Empire, published by the C.I.M. and Morgan 
 and Scott, Ltd, 7s. 6d. net. 
 
 £ 
 
50 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 Wales, which, roughly speaking, are together equal in area and 
 population to Honan, have no fewer than 32,897 ordained 
 ministers, assisted by 52,341 local preachers; while the average 
 parish of each ordained minister, if overlapping were avoided, 
 would be one and three-quarter square miles with an average 
 population of one thousand souls. 
 
 The Province of Yunnan 
 
 Having rapidly reviewed the situation in the central province 
 of Honan, we may now turn to one of the most westerly of 
 China's provinces — viz. Yunnan. 
 
 A glance at the figures given with the map (see inset) and at 
 the table on next page will make it plain that Yunnan is in area 
 more than twice that of England and Wales with a population 
 of over twelve millions. 
 
 Settled Protestant missionary work commenced in this great 
 and needy province in 1881, when Mr. George Clarke secured 
 premises at Talifu ; Mr. John M'Carthy having travelled through 
 the province to Burma four years earlier. In 1886 the Bible 
 Christian Mission — then associated with the C.I.M., but now 
 federated with the United Methodist Church — also commenced 
 work in Yunnan, and up to the present time these are the only 
 two Protestant Societies seeking to evangelise the twelve millions 
 of this south-west portion of China. 
 
 From the map it will be seen that though the province has 
 eighty walled official cities, with thousands of towns and villages, 
 the total number of central Mission stations is limited to six. 
 (Bhamo in Burma is not included.) 
 
 The average parish of each missionary is in area equal to 
 Wales, whereas a comparison in the matter of population would 
 necessitate one considering the people of Wales with only three 
 ministers, or the people of Scotland with only nine. 
 
 In Scotland itself there are 1386 parishes, with 1809 churches 
 connected with the Church of Scotland ; 1795 ordained ministers 
 connected with the United Free Church, and 328 clergy con- 
 nected with the Episcopal Church; making at the least 3500 
 

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CHINA'S SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION 
 
 51 
 
 ordained ministers without counting the small Nonconformist 
 bodies. Instead of this 3500 ministers, the same population in 
 the province of Yunnan has only 9. What are these among so 
 many 1 There is surely cause here to ask Him Who multiplied 
 the loaves and fishes to multiply and bless these few workers. 
 
 A Contrast 
 
 
 England and Wales. 
 
 Yunnan. 
 
 Area ... 
 Population . 
 Ordained Ministry 
 
 Local Preachers . 
 Average Parish 
 
 58,309 aq. miles 
 
 32,526,075 
 
 32,897 
 
 52,341 
 C 1 J sq. miles. 
 
 [lOOO souls. 
 
 146,680 sq. miles. 
 
 12,324,574. 
 
 21 men (12 wives, 7 
 
 single ladies). 
 9 
 r6S85 sq. miles- 
 equal to Wales. 
 1 586,884 souls— equal 
 1^ to Birmingham. 
 
 The Province of Chihli 
 
 Few provinces, if any, are of greater interest and importance 
 than the coast province of Chihli, the seat of the Central 
 Government of China. 
 
 Chihli is in area 115,800 square miles, with a population 
 computed at 20,937,000, which is approximately equal to 
 Austria. Missionary efi"ort is chiefly directed to the more 
 densely populated plains of the south rather than to the 
 scattered Mongols in the north. Of the 155 walled ofiicial 
 cities, the majority are south of the Great Wall. 
 
 While the Eoman Catholics entered this district in the 
 thirteenth century, and the Greek Church some two hundred 
 years ago, Protestant Missions may be said to have commenced 
 in 1860, when Dr. Blodget, of the American Board, began to 
 preach in the streets of Tientsin, if a brief visit of Dr. GutzlafF 
 in 1831 be excepted. 
 
 To-day there are some 15 Protestant Societies, with a united 
 staff of about 250 missionaries, working in the province. Of 
 the workers, 120 are men, including 17 doctors. Of the 130 
 ladies, 71 are wives and 9 lady physicians. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 After nearly fifty years of work, only 22 of the 155 walled 
 oflBcial cities have missionaries (see map, inside of back cover), 
 while the total number of communicants is, roughly, 10,000. If the 
 120 male missionaries were equally distributed, each man would 
 have a parish of 965 square miles, with a population of 174,475 
 souls. This is, approximately, equal to one minister to the 
 population of Bedfordshire, residing in an area twice as large as 
 that county ; for Bedford, the well-known home of John Bunyan, 
 has an area of 473 square miles, with a population of 171,700. 
 
 Let one of these unknown parishes of Chihli — one out of 
 120 similar areas — be compared with the more favoured and 
 far-famed Bedfordshire. Placing the figures in parallel columns, 
 they are as follows : — 
 
 
 Bedfordshire. 
 
 One Parish 
 T Jj of Chihli. 
 
 Population 
 Area (sq. miles) 
 Ordained Ministry . 
 Area of Parish (sq. miles) 
 Population of Parish . 
 
 171,700 
 473 
 3101 
 
 li 
 
 554 
 
 174,475 
 
 965 
 
 1 
 
 965 
 
 174.475 
 
 From these figures it will be noted that the proportion is 
 as 310 to 1 ; for while the Chinese helpers have not been 
 mentioned, they are more than equalled by the army of local 
 preachers and Sunday School teachers in the home country. 
 
 The Greatness of the Soul 
 
 ■What shall we say to these things? Are the souls of the 
 men of China of less value than the souls in Bedford ? What 
 would John Bunyan himself say ? Let us hear his estimate of 
 an immortal soul as revealed in his little-known work entitled 
 The Greatness of the Soul and the Unspeakahleness of the Loss thereof. 
 " The soul," said John Bunyan, " and the salvation of it, are 
 such great, such wonderful great things : nothing is a matter of 
 that concern as is and should be the soul of each one of you. 
 
 1 Being 206 clergy with 135 ecclesiastical parishes and 104 Free Church 
 ministers and missioners. Census 1901. 
 
)*^ 
 
 j^-rn^ 
 
 '■J*'»"Ji»;^^a&'' 
 
 7'Qi^'' 
 
 Statue of John Bunyan in Bedford. 
 
 Bedfordshire, John Bunyan 's county, has 310 ordained clergy and ministers. The 
 province of Chihli has 120 parishes, each equal in population to Bedfordshire, but 
 each with only one ordained minister. The area of each parish in Bedfordshire is 
 1^ square miles ; the area of each parish in Chihli is 965 square miles. 
 
 To face, page 52. 
 
CHINA'S SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION 53 
 
 Houses and land, trades and honours, places and preferments, 
 what are they to salvation, to the salvation of the soul 1 . . . 
 
 "If ever a lamentation was fit to be taken up in this age 
 about, for, or concerning anything, it is about, for, or concerning 
 the horrid neglect that everywhere puts forth itself with 
 reference to eternal salvation. Where is one man of a thousand 
 — yea, where are there two of ten thousand ? — that do show by 
 their conversation, public and private, that the soul, their own 
 souls, are considered by them t . . . 
 
 " Solomon tells us of a great waster, and saith also that he 
 that is slothful in business 'is brother to such an one.' Who 
 Solomon had his eye upon, or who it was that he counted so 
 great a waster, I cannot tell ; but I will challenge all the world 
 to show me one for wasting and destroying compared to him 
 that, for the lusts and pleasures of this life, wiU hazard the loss 
 of his soul. 
 
 "I have heard of some who would throw away a farm, a 
 good estate, upon the trundling of one single bowl ; but what 
 is that to the casting away of the soul 1 I say what is this 
 to the loss of the soul, and that for less than the trundling of a 
 bowl ? Nothing can for badness be compared to sin ; it is the 
 vile thing ; it cannot have a worse name than its own ; it is 
 worse than the vilest man, than the vilest of beasts — yea, sin is 
 worse than the devil himself, for it is sin, and sin only, that hath 
 made the devil's devils; and yet for this, for this vile, this 
 abominable thing, some men, yea most men, will venture the 
 loss of their soul — yea, they will mortgage, pawn, and sell their 
 souls to sale for it. ' Be astonished, ye heavens, at this, and 
 be ye horribly afraid.' Yea, let all the angels stand amazed at 
 the unaccountable prodigality of such an one." 
 
 Who shall say what Bedford has gained — ^yea, what the 
 world has gained — through John Bunyan's views on the value 
 of the soul 1 The value of the soul made him dream of the one 
 who "wept and trembled," who "broke out with a lamentable 
 cry, saying. What shall I do to be saved," and putting his 
 fingers in his ears, ran on, crying, " Life ! Life ! Eternal Life ! " 
 
 The value of the human soul made him write his Soly War, 
 
54 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 and tell how Prince Emmanuel could say, " When Mansoul had 
 sinned indeed, I put in and became a surety to My Father, body 
 for body, and soul for soul, that I would make amends for 
 Mansoul's transgressions ; and my Father did accept thereof. 
 So when the time appointed was come, I gave body for body, 
 soul for soul, life for life, blood for blood, and so redeemed my 
 beloved Mansoul." 
 
 Let John Bunyan speak to us of the value of the human 
 soul ; let Bedfordshire, his favoured county, with its more than 
 three hundred ordained ministers to-day, by its very contrast 
 with the one province of China with which it has been brought 
 into comparison, have a message for us, and brace us to more 
 earnest prayers and eiforts, that those who dwell, as Pilgrim did, 
 in the City of Destruction, may, by Evangelist, be pointed to 
 the wicket gate and to the Cross, where relief from the burden 
 of sin, and the joy of salvation, may be found. 
 

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XI 
 
 A CALL TO SACEIFICE 
 
 " We must serve God even to the pain of suffering, and each one ask him- 
 self, ' In what degree am I extending by personal suffering and self-denial to 
 the point of pain the Kingdom of Christ?" Wha.t costs little is worth 
 little." — J. Hudson Taylok. 
 
 On the map inserted here will be_ found a careful summary of 
 the forces at work in China and their present disposition. The 
 following table shows the number of cities stillVithout resident 
 missionaries : — 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Net Number of Cities 
 in Province. 
 
 Cities with 
 Missionaries. 
 
 Cities without 
 Missionaries., 
 
 Kwangturig 
 Fukieu . 
 Chekiang 
 Kiangsu . 
 Shantung 
 Chihli . 
 Hupeh 
 Kiangsi . 
 Anhwei . 
 Honan . 
 Hunan 
 Kansu 
 Shensi 
 Shansi 
 Szechwan 
 Yunnan . 
 Kweiehow 
 Kwangai . 
 Sinkiang . 
 
 93 
 
 60 ; 
 
 79 
 
 71 
 107 
 155 
 
 69 
 
 81 
 
 60 
 106 
 
 76 
 104 
 
 89 
 101 
 414 
 
 80 
 134 
 116 
 
 38 
 
 29 
 
 45 
 
 52 
 
 24 
 
 34 
 
 23 
 
 29 
 
 34 
 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 19 
 
 13 
 
 26 
 
 34 
 
 45 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 64 
 15 
 27 
 47 
 73 
 
 132 
 40 
 47 
 39 
 80 
 57 
 91 
 63 
 67 
 
 369 
 73 
 
 128 
 
 109 
 36 
 
 Total 
 
 2033 
 
 476 
 
 1557 
 
 55 
 
56 PEESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 These are facts which perhaps, by the unimaginative and 
 the callous, may be lightly dismissed as dry statistics, but to 
 the serious reader they cannot but afford food for solemn 
 reflection. Nineteen hundred years after the Lord commis- 
 sioned His disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature, and 
 one hundred years after Dr. Morrison began his work, three- 
 quarters of the total number of walled cities in China are 
 still not occupied as central stations for the spread of the 
 truth. 
 
 Will the reader look carefully into the maps 1 Let the thou- 
 sands of places marked speak for the tens of thousands which no 
 map is large enough to show. Let him think of each place as 
 a spot where thousands are born, live, and die " without a hope 
 to cheer the tomb." Let him think of the missionary's reflec- 
 tions, " sad with shades of awe and sorrow,'' as he passes through 
 or by these places where thousands dwell without hope and 
 without Grod. Above all, let him think of how Christ, who 
 died for these people as much as for any, must regard tbe 
 apathy and culpable neglect of those who have been entrusted 
 with the Gospel. 
 
 Never have Missions been so carefully studied and the needs 
 of the world so well understood as to-day, and in this there is 
 cause for thankfulness. Yet this fact gives rise to grave fears, 
 for " to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him 
 it is sin." It is not possible to see the need, to recognise the 
 responsibility, to hear the call, to feel the inward movings of 
 sympathy, and then to allow these to become inoperative without 
 quenching the Spirit of God within and allowing the spirit of 
 the hypocrite to take possession. Better not to have known the 
 need than to have known and not respond. Better not to have 
 heard the call than to have heard and not obey. What would 
 be thought of the hardened mortal who could study through his 
 glass the dangers of some poor inmates in a house on fire or 
 shipwrecked mariners on the rocks, and yet lend no helping hand 
 to save them from their impending doom. Yet is it not true 
 that we are strangely unmoved when the loss of the soul is at 
 stake and not the body? 
 
A CALL TO SACRIFICE 57 
 
 " Tell me," wrote the late Adolphe Monod, " how it is that 
 
 you and I, who have so many tears for physical maladies, tears 
 
 for family disappointments, tears for public calamities, find their 
 
 source dried up when we contemplate the loss of souls, and of 
 
 the glory of God." Do we not need to pray with Charles 
 
 Wesley ; 
 
 Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart 
 
 With boundless charity divine ! 
 So shall I all my strength exert. 
 
 And love them with a zeal like Thine ; 
 And lead them to Thy open side, 
 The sheep for whom their Shepherd died ? 
 
 The work is one which calls for consecrated men and women 
 to go ; for consecrated parents to devote their sons and daughters ; 
 and for all who can to give and pray. 
 
 The mother of Morosini, the best-loved of all the Lombard 
 youths who stood by Garibaldi at the defence of Rome, said, 
 when urged not to let her boy go to the war, "I give my 
 country the best I have, my only and dearly loved son." She 
 did not bargain for his return. It was in such mothers and 
 such sons that Italy revived. 
 
 Garibaldi, when compelled for a time to leave Rome, before 
 the overwhelming forces of the alien armies, appealed to those 
 who were fighting with him in the following terms : " I am going 
 out from Rome. Let those who wish to continue the war 
 against the stranger come with me. I offer neither pay nor 
 quarters nor provisions ; I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, 
 battles, and death. Let him who loves his country in his heart 
 and not with his lips only follow me." Four thousand men 
 sprang to his side, claiming it an honour to follow him as leader ; 
 and then began that retreat from Rome, that prelude to ultimate 
 victory, which will ever be famous in the annals of modern 
 European history. 
 
 A greater than Garibaldi, in a greater cause, has said, " If any 
 man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
 cross, and follow Me." And He has promised to those who 
 leave home and country for His sake, what Garibaldi could not 
 
58 PRESENT-DAY CONDITIONS IN CHINA 
 
 offer, even an hundred-fold in this life, and eternal life in the 
 world to come. 
 
 Shall we venture less for the Kingdom of God than patriot 
 for his country ? Shall we be less devoted and loyal to the 
 King of Kings than the soldier to his leader 1 Unless Calvary 
 be other than we believe, it speaks of immeasurable loss to the 
 sinner who needs, yet knows not of its salvation; it speaks of 
 unutterable love and sacrifice on God's part to make such salva- 
 tion possible to man ; and it appeals with deepest pathos, and 
 yet with the commanding awe of God Himself, to those men and 
 women who profess His name to do all, and to count no sacrifice 
 too great, to let this mystery of Christ's dying love be made 
 known to every creature. 
 
 Oh let Thy love my heart constrain ! 
 
 Thy love for every sinner free, 
 That every fallen son of man 
 
 May taste the grace that found out me ; 
 That all mankind with me may prove 
 Thy sovereign everlasting love. 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh, 
 
CHINA INLAND MISSION 
 
 FOUNDED 186S. 
 
 Founder: The Late J. HUDSON TAYLOR, M.R.C.S. 
 
 General Director : D. E. HOSTE. 
 
 OBJECT. 
 
 THE China Inland Mission was formed under a deep sense 
 of China's pressing need, and with an earnest desire, 
 constrained by the love of Christ and the hope of His coming, 
 to obey the command to preach the Gospel to every creature. 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 The Mission is Evangelical, and embraces members of all 
 the leading denominations of Christians. 
 
 METHODS. 
 
 Duly qualified candidates are accepted without restriction 
 as to denomination, provided they are sound in all the funda- 
 mental truths of the faith. 
 
 All missionaries go forth in dependence upon God for 
 supplies, without any guarantee of income from the Mission. 
 
 The Mission is entirely supported by the free-will offerings 
 of God's people, no personal solicitation or collections being 
 authorised. No more is expended than is thus received, going 
 into debt being considered inconsistent with the principle of 
 entire dependence upon God. 
 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 On 1st January 1907 there were in connection with the 
 Mission, 875 missionaries and associates (including wives), 988 
 paid Native Helpers, i.e. Chinese Pastors, Assistant Preachers, 
 Chinese School Teachers, Colporteurs, and Bible Women ; also 
 443 unpaid Chinese helpers, 16,969 communicants, 24,669 
 having been baptized from the commencement. There are 204 
 stations, 719 out-stations, 915 chapels, 520 organised churches, 
 scholars (boarding) 1501, (day) 2157; 45 dispensaries, 106 
 opium refuges, and 9 hospitals. 
 
 " (Tbilta'S /IDUUOnS," the organ of the Mission, pub- 
 lished monthly. Illustrated, id.; is. 6d. or 50 cents per 
 annum, post free. 
 
 Headquarters of the Mission, 
 
 LONDON . . . Newington Qreen, N. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA . 235 W. School Lane, Qermantown. 
 
 TORONTO . . . 507 Church Street. 
 
 MELBOURNE . . 267 Collins Street. 
 
 All donations and other correspondence should ie addressed to the 
 Secretary, at any of the above addresses. 
 
VJtllN 
 
 LIDKAKY, - LIRCULATION 
 J;^ATEPUE 
 
 JIH4^ 
 
 iwro^i^^^Jgi^^ji^ 
 
 i^«iafr.,i ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CAVLORD 
 
 
 
 PRINTCOINU.a.A. 
 

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