September 3rd, 1921.]
REPUBLICANISM” IN CHINA.
AFTER TEN YEARS.
BY A DWELLER IN THE INTERIOR.]
IV. THE BUSINESS
Commerce
MAN.
The business man of Kwangtung whether he be engaged in large business or in small, or in manufacture by old or new methods, contrives, in spite of the great military incubus upon him, to maintain his importance. Let it be stated at the outset, that conditions of are very different for two men, one of whom is in Canton and the other in the country. The man in Canton has opportunities and problems bound up with the ever-growing close- ness of intercourse with "the West," which are not yet felt further away. Easy access to Hongkong is a gain in many ways, but it introduces new condi- tions of trade, and inevitably a rise in the scale of costs. The existence of the foreign-managed Chinese Maritime Cus- toms is a great boon to merchants in the treaty-ports, for they are thus en- abled to evade, legitimately, the ham- pering likin system, which lies heavily upon the business man of the interior. An example of this is the fact that a man in the treaty port of Samshui with goods to ship to Nanning (another treaty port) finds it cheaper to load his goods on the down-river steamer Hongkong, and pay the export Customs dues, having his goods remain on the ship to pass through Samshui on
the return Journey, be transhipped at uchow, and so to Nanning, there pay- g the import Customs dues, rather than to send the goods direct to Nanning upriver. By the visit of the goods to Hongkong they become tech- nically "exported " and "imported goods, and are thus dealt with by the Maritime Customs under foreign con- trol, instead of passing through the rapacious hands of the likin men.
The merchant more than saves the extra cost of transport for the double journey be- tween Samshui and Hongkong.
very
to
"
But the man in the country, not in a treaty port, has other difficulties besides the irritating exactions of the likin system. Labour is cheaper, and there are not yet the same organised labour arrangements to hamper manufacturers and merchants. Businesses are not on the same large scale. e.g., General Stores such as those on the Bund at Canton do not exist But transportation is generally by river, and slow, though a few towns in the province are touched by railways. The trader's difficulties arise. very largely, in the interior, from the unspeakably bad arrangements of so- called Government. (Be it remembered this 'article does not deal with Canton or the treaty ports). A merchant com- mences a line of business, and after a while he suddenly finds that some petty military officer thinks a "squeeze" pos- sible, and so demands a royalty on every item dealt with so, of course, the price must go up to his customers, while pos- sibly a rival house remains free from the imposition. Or a large contract is let for labour, and one fine day hardly any of the workmen appear. It turns out that a political move is in the air. and the authorities are impressing as porters every man who dares to show himself in the streets. This condition of affairs may last for two or three weeks.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT
Another effect of the gross misgoveru- | ment is in the prevalence of robber bands who hold the country roads and rivers in their grasp, and either rob or blackmail every party and boat that ventures to pass. Small wonder that communication is uncertain.
""
(6
A principle upon which recent officials work would seem to be this: to encour- age men to commence business and allow them more or less to escape squeez- ing until the early financial difficulties are overcome and a good return is be- ginning. By this time the capital has been sunk and the man or the firm is committed to the scheme. Now comes Mr. General or Mr. Magistrate to begin his "
squeeze, and gradually to increase the unfortunate merchant is obliged to it until he is getting all the profits and
""
close down and cut his loss.
As long as a business is carried on along the
old-fashioned family idea, where the managers and employés are all connected with the same clan, there is freedom from one great source of risk.
interest in seeing prosperity, for all partnership with outside folk, to lend- benefit by it. But when it comes to ing money to other peoples' businesses, then enters in the immovable innate Chinese
All those in the firm have the same
selfishness. Two restaurants were approached for their terms to pro- offered a very good menu and made no vide a feast on private premises. A bones about the difficulty of working at a distance. B. offered a much inferior anywhere but at their own place. A's menu and seemed to object to catering
although B was price was 20 per cent. below B's. established and presumably anxious to a large firm recently build up a business. The great differ- fact that B. was a kind of joint stock ence was explained as being due to the business, while A. was a family business. All the employés at A. would gain by increased trade, but the employés at B. would get just the same and hence they were not likely to incon particular job was undertaken or not,
whether
a
237
sary, and one wonders whether in the course of that, the graceful ideograph and the stranger grass character will not have to yield place to less cumber- some mode of correspondence.
But compared with the questions which have their roots in calibre of the moral character of individuals, whether officials or coolies, other pressing difficulties in the way of progress in this Tenth Year of the Republic fade into insignificance.
V. THE COOLIE.
The ordinary labouring man in China was not so much befooled during the period of preparation for the 1911 Re- volution as was the case with some of
his fellow
citizens of higher class. Magnificent promises of the Golden Republic when all would be free of taxes and the like left him, speaking gene- rally, in the cold. Whilst, therefore, the rude mental shocks and disappointments more educated classes have had some during the past ten years, which the far wrong if we say that of all grades coolie has escaped, yet we shall not be
least by the change in the nature of China's Government. of society the coolie has perhaps gained
Essentially of a contented disposition, willing to live and let others live, the labouring classes have found themselves
The price of living in the country, based gradually more and more enclosed in a network
within the past ten to fifteen years. The on the staple rice, has risen enormously internal disorder from Wars, Rumours of Wars, and Robbers, has restricted the normal growth of commerce. course, China's Customs returns compare the import and export values one year with another, which in these days of vast variations in exchange is by no means
of restrictive circumstances.
the same
moved:
(Of
its
as quantities of materials the reliable Customs figures moreover, are not an index of the state Darker than these clouds, however, in of trade in the interior of the Provinces.)
venience themselves over the matter.
the coolie's sky is the relentless and Industrial development, at least along interminable oppression of the military occidental lines, is to some
This reaches extent governing classes. hampered by Mr. Chairman's moral bitterest for those unfortunates whose character, and will be indefinitely post-native region is the scene of the absurd poned until he realises that prosperity civil Wars which occur with such de- does not come from seizing every op-
pressing iteration. portunity to benefit himself at whatever expense to others. lt is a strange- ly
"
short-sighted policy that will induce a carpenter to put a piece of bad wood into some article, and thereby squeeze fifty cents, when a really satis- factory job may be the means of getting a lot of work in the future. And neither the trade nor the government of the country can reach a very high place until the individuals learn to forget the "face" that is now so dear to them. (Were
>> face synonymous with good character or straight dealing, how grand an institution it would be?) Until that universal love of "
"} face is diminished, Chinese will not learn the difference i makes whether a thing is done properly or not. Face must be saved at pre- sent even for the lazy coolie. He may be gently dismissed on some collateral pretext, but he must not be told off for his half-done job.
66
"
An interesting question is the re- lationship to prosperity or otherwise of the complicated written language. As long as each little area remained self- contained, it did not much matter how deeply the business people had gone in their literary studies. But with the in- creasing contact with distant towns and the growing consumption of foreign goods a wider education becomes neces-
In such an area, the coolie's lot is indeed pitiable. A War is declared and soldiers are moved in from the attacking force. They assume the right of entry into every man's house and require that he supply their needs: in the best of circumstances they may pay for their requisitions. After a day or two they move further. But the soldier does not exist to carry the impedimenta, and the maintenance of a system of transport would be much too large a risk and expense for the Armies to undertake, so the troops and the police begin to seize men to carry goods. Resistance is useless, the man seized must go. If he refuses he is beaten and then made to go. If laden with an impossible load he flags, he is beaten again. If he tries to run away, the guard fires at him. He is compelled to go where he is bid, and that may mean three, five, ten days' march: he is given his rice on the journey and 18 enough money to pay for his food on the generally promised
way back-and the promise has been known to be redeemed. There is no wage. When he is at last able to go home, his way very likely lies through a land infested with brigands, who may likewise hold him up and compel him to work for them for an indefinite period. He has no notion how things are going