J
CHINA
607
(as the Hankow-Peking line is called), and also a line from Soochow via Hangchow to Ningpo. The Shanghai-Nanking line is now in course of construction, and a short section is already opened to traffic. A line from Canton to Chengtu, the provincial capital of Szechuen, has also been mentioned. Surveys have been conducted with a view of finding a practicable route for a railway to connect Burmah with the Yangtsze region in Szechuen, and it is anticipated that a definite project for such a line will shortly be launched. A French syndicate is making a line from Laokay, near the Tonkin frontier, to Yunnan, The French also secured concessions for lines from Lungchow to Nanning and from Nanning to Pakhoi, but it is doubtful whether these will be carried out, as their tendency would be to divert trade from the French colony to the West River route. Indeed, the proposed railway from Pakhoi to Nanning appears to have been abandoned, and it is probable that one from Kwanchouwan, through the Yulin district to the nearest point on the West River and thence to Nanning will take its place. An Anglo-Italian Syndicate has been authorised to work coal and iron mines in the province of Honan and to build railways connecting the mines with navigable rivers; under this contract a line from Taiyuen to Singanfu and a branch to Siangyang are projected. Unsuccessful attempts were made in 1899 to induce the Chinese Authorities to introduce the Russian guage on their northern lines from the Manchurian border to Peking. The paper inception of a new line from Peking to Katcha and thence to Irkutsk viâ Kalgan has also been made. The British Commercial Attaché in his report for 1902 observed: "The old prejudices against railways would appear to be gradually dying out, and the example given by the Court, in ordering a special line to be built for the conveyance of the Emperor on his visit to the Western Tombs, will be of no little assistance in finally knocking them on the head. The most conservative native can hardly resist the joys of travelling in a fire cart' or steamer; and, provided he is not made unduly uncomfortable or charged too high a fare, he is sure to prove a constant patron. Passenger rates on the German railways in Shantung are 005 Mexican dol. per mile 2nd class, 0·025 Mexican dol. 3rd class, and 00125 Mexican dol. 4th class. Freight on the stretch from Wei-hsien to Ts'ing-tao, 120 miles, is carried for 0:40 Mexican dol. per 15 kilos. per kilom. (1d. per ton per mile). Rates on the 132 miles of the Pei-han line, open to regular traffic, are slightly higher as regards freight (14. per ton per mile), and lower as regards passengers-2nd class 0032 Mexican dol., 3rd class 0'016 Mexican dol. The most highly organised system of cartage in the Empire is carried on in Manchuria, where the rate is 2. per ton per mile, and in South-Western China pack animals carry at the rate of 24d. per ton per mile. In order to secure the bulk of the freight traffic, railways must be prepared consider- ably to underbid native modes of conveyance, or the latter will be used in preference. While the Imperial Chinese Railways in North China were under foreign military control, rates were raised and the Chinese Administration maintained the same scale of charges on taking the line over. The result is that, as compared with the earnings before the troubles, there has been a falling-off." A telegraph line between. Tientsin and Shanghai was opened in December, 1882, and lines now connect all the impor- tant cities of the empire.
The year 1900 will ever be memorable in the history of China. It witnessed the last and a most determined attempt to break away from foreign influence and to revert to the exclusiveness of twenty centuries. The causes of the great social and political upheaval are not far to seek, though from their interaction and overlapping they are by no means easy to set forth in the sequence of their importance. The associations brought about by an expanding trade, by missionary effort, and by reciprocated diplomatic representation have not in any way lessened the hostile mental attitude engendered by alien civilizations, literatures, and moral standards: there are still gaps between the Western and Chinese mind that no sympathy can bridge. The whole trend of Chinese education is especially calculated to ensure a hostile bias towards change, towards reform of abuse, and towards the adaptation of environment to new conditions, on which depends the continued existence of men and governments alike. The governing and influential classes have an enormous vested interest in retaining things as they are in every phase of Chinese life. There can be but one issue to a policy like theirs in these days, though the Chinese, unlike their more nimble-minded neighbours in the East, are unable to see it. As in all countries where an enormous population lives on the narrow ledge that divides poverty from famine, there is ever a large element of social discontent ready to be moulded to whatever end crafty or plausible leaders may determine. In many places this has been directed against Missionary converts and the Christian propaganda, and has given rise to a wide-spread idea that the Christian religion is in itself
Page 690Page 691