29
THE HONGKONG DAILY, PRE38, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1913.
BOVRIL
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SHACKELL"
115
THE. POSITION IN CHINA
"QUIET ANARCHY,”
The Globe's "special correspondent" at Peking, writing Inat month," said :-
More than a year has now elapsed since the outbreak of the revolution, and it is | nearly a year sincs the Provisional Re- publican Government was established at Peking. The time originally allotted to the Provisional Government has nearly run its courac, and it is already being considered whether it will not be neces- sary to extend the time of provisional government, as so little has yet been accomplished in the matter of administra- tive reform. If it be asked what has been accomplished, it is hard indeed to point to anything tangible, except an endless series of paper systems and rules and regulations for various Ministers and Government offices, none of which can be put into force for want of funds.
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Amid all the clamour of talk the ery goes up that if the squeeze of the officials under the Manchu Government was bad, the corruption of the new Jacks-in-office is a thousand times worse. Where in former days is was necessary to pay every great man handsomely in order to get things done, it is now necessary to pay a host of little hangera-on. The most important of all the measures introduced by the revolutionaries was the abrogation of the very salutary rule under the Man-
chu dynasty by which the high provincial officials were never allowed to serve in
their own province. This gave the Central authority their chief check on provincial independence, in fact, the appointment of the high provincial officials and military governors was the main link which bound together the various pro- vinces of China under the throno. With the substitution of popular election of those officials for nomination by the Central authority, this centripetal in- flucner was changed info a centrifugal one, as these officials became dependent less on the Central Government and more on the goodwill of their fellow previn- ciais. A recent Presidential mandate makes some attempt to correct this matter by laying it down that the provincial Governors shall recommend for nomina- tion as magistrates of prefectures, dis- tricts, and cities, the most suitable! persona available irrespective of their province of origin; but the most import. ant matter, that the heads of provincial Governments are still liable to be elected by the provinces and are only approved by the President, still remains uncorrect- ed. The other most important reform made so far was that it was intended to finance the provinces through the Central Government.
This was a decided improvement, and had it been persisted in until the pro- vinces were so far reorganised as to be able to borrow money on sound security, subject to the approval of the Central Government at Peking that control over the provinces, and over the public services throughout the country necessary to weld it into a coherent whole. However, the failure of the Government to conclude arrangements for a consolidation loan has resulted in their practically telling the provinces to manage their own finance, regulations have been issued for loans made by the provinces to be sanctioned by the Central Government, and, subject to this slight remaining check, the pro- vinces regain their Gnancial independence of Peking, and are free to go on piling up a load of debt regardless of the day of reckoning. The condition of China may be said to be one of quiet anarchy. Quiet, because with their patriarchal system of government the Chinese have a remarkable capacity for managing their own parochial affairs so long as they are not subject to official oppression-a capacity which may rather be said to be one of stewing in their own juice, living contentedly in filthy towns, contentedly watching roads, bridges, &c., falling into disrepair without insisting on their officials keeping public works in order. And anarchical, because amid all the clamour of talk about what ought to be done, no one has the authority to order anything to be done; and so far all the fine promises of the revolutionaries about opening up the country, developing its resources, welcoming the co-operation of foreign capital, and so forth, have re- mained just promises.
As to the welcoming to foreign capital, the attitude of the Young China Party just as much as of the old school, has so far been that they will gladly welcome foreign capital, always provided that the foreign capitalists will kindly lend: it without any real accurity. Such minor matters as the mutinies at Canton, Nan- king, Peking, &e, and in recent daya at Tungehow, Sianfu, Kalgan, Wuhu, &c., are only manifestations of the state of anarchy prevailing; and by their very mildness have shown how peaceable even the Chinese soldier is until pushed to extremes by being maintained with arms in his hands, but without food and pay in the midst of plenty. The net result of a year's work is that at the present moment the position of the Central Government of the Republic is more insecure than at any time since the 1st May last, and unless the financial question is properly settled it is only a question of how much longer the vast experiment of setting up a Republican form of Government, and it is indeed only a form, in this the most Asiatic" of all countries can endure. Meanwhile. Yuan Shih Kai bides hie time. He is the only man in China who really counts. Whether he intends to make a coup d'état when they are quite at the end of their. tether, or with the help of his chosen friends to continue as a nominal president like Diaz of Mexico, who shall say? Certain it appears that in the event of a coup d'état, Canton and other southern provinces would be bound to separate from the north. Meanwhile it is interesting to note that the more important Ministerial posts are gradually
by chosen
SHACKELL EDWARDS while the revolutionary leaders are being
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17
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