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CHINA AND JAPAN. (Daily Press, September 7th.) It is not only affairs connected with Manchuria that are straining the relations between China and Japan, as mentioned in our Tokyo correspondent's telegram. There is at present a good deal of soreness, on the Chinese side at least, regarding the Japanese attitude toward a long-outstanding boun- dary dispute with Kores. On the north eastern boundary of Korea, marching with a corner of Manchuria, between the Tou. inan river and its tributary, the Tumen, lies Chientan district, (called by the Japanese Kanto') measuring over 260 miles latitudinally and about sixty or seventy miles longitudinally. This section was a very stormy corner during the Russo-Japanese war, and the inhabitants were so harried by one side or the other, and afterwards by bandits, that it seems a pity they cannot enjoy a little peace now It appears, however, that more troubles await them. China and Korea have nev. r
the
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agreed as to the overlordship of this strip of territory. History says that about a. D. 1712 special commissioners from China and Korea erected the boundary stone on the watershed between the Yalu on the weat and the Tumen on the east, on the south eastern slope of the Paitonshan, where it still stands with a legible inscription. But the Chinese say there has been confusion of names, between the Touman and the Tumen, and have regularly re-opened the dispute for many years past. There was to have been another boundary commission three years ago, but the outbreak of war between Russia and Japan prevented it. The Russians were at that time in force there, and the Korean administration of
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
SUPERSTITION.
the district was rendered a farce. About three years before that, a Chinese samen was established at Chientao, and the officials acting under instructions from Peking ignored the Korean officials and governed as if the area were unquestionably Chinese. The Koreans never ceased to protest, how ever, and even snt troops to protect the Korean residents from molestation. They were powerless against the bandits who poured in after the war, as indeed were also the Chinese, and when reports reached the Japanese Resident-Generul at Seoul that certain Japanese settlers had been killed, in addition to the numerous complaints from Koreans, no time was lost in de patching & Japanese officer with a small force, to maintain order. The neighbouring Chinese officials resented this, indication that the Japanese were bent on arbitrarily settling the outstanding b uud- ary dispute, and with characteristic mendacity they alleged that everything was so quiet and peaceful and orderly there that there could be no other reason for the presence of soldiers. There is no doubt whatever, according to information, that the arrival of a force of military police was opportune, and the Japanese Government is unlikely to refuse to discuss the old boua- dary question along with other matters under negotiation. The Chinese jealous dislike of the Japanese shows no abatement, and the reports of ignorant and prejudiced provin
An
cial mandarins are bound to add fuel to the
flames at Peking. It is to be hoped, for China's own sake, that moderate counsels will prevail, and that the advent of Count Okuma will find both sides prepared to argue reasonably. The officialdom of China has been noticeably more uppish" lately, and the Chino-Jap nese negotiations are therefore likely to be protracted. We do not anticipate, however, as is suggested in the extract on our third page, that there will be any "conflict.”
H
[Eeptember 16, 1007.
same box with them, in this connection. Sir THOMAS WADE referred to their rea- diness to laugh at their own superstitions, which however, he says, they dare not disregard. Sir THOMAS WADE knew a græt deal about them, but he was not a very subtle observer. That readiness to laugh is partly intellectual superiority and partly the Oriental form of politeness which has to belittle everything personal, while the thing they dare not disregard is public opinion, not the Josses. In a country where so much is thought of "losing face," where unifor- mity is an end rather than a means, the most intelligent and enlightened Chinaman bas to think twice before he translates his contempt into action. Even in other lands, among people who claim superiority, the fear that fills many pews is not the fear of God but the fear of the respectable neigh- bours. That is why, in China, the small footed woman will persist for a long while yet, long after the crippling fashion is de- clared illegal. Then also, in all races, it must be remembered that superstition has had a long inuings. It is more easily instilled than eradicated. It has been so long with us that it persists, inherent, almost an instinct, amongst the most materially minded an scientifically trained people. It is something of which to be ashamed when present in ourselves, but something at which, in others, we have scarcely the right to laugh, unless it be that by ridicule we hope to drive it away. On the score of its historic cruelty and wastefulnes, it is a thing we should lose no opportunity of attacking.
UNWIELDY EMPIREJ.
(Daily Press, 9th September.) The typhoon signals were up, and her menfolk were not yet returned. The old woman hobbled down to the beach, and lit a small fire of sticks and josspaper. Joss sticks were stuck upright in the sand, and set a-amouldering, while she spread out a semicircular row of lit le bowls. From a bottle she pourel a libation, partly into the sea and partly on the strand, incanting all the while. Rice was sprinkled broadcast, and a few of the commoner sort of cakes broken into fragments. There was still an elaborately ornamented cake and a slice of fat pork left, and the observer, reflecting on the comparative costliness of these things, sighed over the wastefulness of Chinese superstition. But the old woman, casting a furtive glance at some sampan women a little way off, ceased her incantation for just long enough to cram the cake into her mouth, first making a motion as if she had thrown it also to the sea. Whether to deceive the Water Joss or her neighbours, more probably the latter, it was clear that while superstitious, she was not absolutely & slave to superstition. There is a good deal said about the Chinese and their superstitions, and sometimes more than is warranted. There are superstitions that govern people thoroughly, and superstitions that touch little more than the fringe of their fancy. The educated European who, after spilling the salt, flicks a pinch over bis left shoulder, will giggle and tell you that be or she does not really believe in bad luck of that kind, but they always follow the prescribed practice for averting it, to make sure, so to speak. Then there are supersti- tions which the people believe to be nonsense, but because they are conventional, their scorners follow them in fear of public opinion. Unless the furtive behaviour of the old woman on the beach was misinter- preted, she feared her neighbours more than she feared the Water Joss. Lately there has been a good deal said about the comet and the amusing fuss it has created in Chinese circles. The pit has been calling the kettle black, most industriously. One commutator refers scorafuily to the Peking superstition that confers upon a comet the power of creating rebellions. That, how ever, is not so foolish as it looks. The officials at Peking, who know from the astronomers, that a comet is just as natural reckon that it can cause rebellions, for the an eclipse, may still mass of the people are easily excited by any unusual and to them inexplicable event. The Emperor does not explain it to his Then at Shanghai, we note that Mr. Ke13 foolish children, but magnanimously offers HARDIE "made particular enquiries with himself as
a sacrifice, and thus, when regard to what the Chinese hid accomplished the event passes without harm to them, in the matter of municipalities, and ex- strengthens his position. The comet takes pre sad the opinion that proceeding from the place of the miracle in convincing these organizations, if they were wisely unbelievers. The reported "alarm" of the guided, the Chinese could scarcely fail to Imperial Court circle is probably fictitious, strike the right road to the attainment of and published with a purpose.
The ap rfect constitutional system. From the circumstance does not, at any rate, call for family circle to the village community; foreign astonishment at "the state of min from the village community to the urban which urges the Government of a vast corporation; thence to the elective, natural phenomenon, which its own a empire to public self-abasement before a national legislative assembly; these were the lines, he thought, upɔa which tronomers are capable of predicting." We their political development ought and have only to remember the public prayers
destined was
and he progress, for rain, good harvest, or the recovery of a royalty's health, to find the same super- this great and generous people, the Chinese, was very hopeful indeed, of the future of stitious attitude toward natural phenomena whose real dignity and importance in the in the most civilized and enlightened com- family of nat o ia they themselves were only munity in the world. While that sort of now beginning t› raalis.." For ages, 48 cannot any averagely reul persoa ought to know, thing retains our approval, we decently laugh at the Chinese. Practically, the Chinese have had the opportunity of denominator, we find that we are in the family circle, the village elders, the district, when everything is reduced to its lowest politically developing along those lines, the
a phenomenon as
(Daily Press, September 10th.) Travel is supposed to broaden the mind and widen the understanding, and Wa hastily assumed, when referring to Mr. KEIR BARDIE, M.P., that his voyage round the world would free bin from some of his blunders and foolish notions. But after all, it occurs to us, the truth of the supposition depends upon the quality of the mind and the nature of the understanding. A globe. trotter's gallop round does not do much good, as we have had opportunities of noting in the plethoric globetrotteriana on which so much good printer's ink is waste.!. For
one thing, we notice Mr. Keie Hardie is
taking home the threadbare saying that and Japanese merchants the reverse. It is makes Chinese merchants universally honest pitiful to find any publicist able to dwell for a moment on such self-evident no sense.
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