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(Yunnan). No reply was received to this, or to a further communication in April forwarding the statement of a claim against them for wages by a former employé. The latter letter was returned to me by the Chinese postal authorities at Yunnan-fu, with the endorsement that Borg Brothers had left Hokon some time previously.
In June I received a letter from them, dated Laokay (Tonquin), stating that an earlier letter had probably gone astray in the post, and requesting to be registered; but enclosing neither particulars nor fees for registration. I have now repeated my request for these particulars, and at the same time I have desired to know whether their place of residence is Hokou (Yünuan) or Laokay (Tonquin).
Chinese Hospital.-The Chinese authorities propose to build a hospital for Chinese soldiers. The hospital is designed for 150 beds. The site is being selected outside the city, and will be in the medical charge of Dr. Mazzolani. The doctor is now hard at work with his classes in the military college. He has seventy picked students, and appears to be fairly well satisfied with their intelligence and application. He tells me that the provincial authorities in Szechuan have informed Yunnan that they are not at all pleased with the results of the training received at the medical college at Chengtu, under Dr. Légendre, and that the Yunnan officials intend to be absolutely independent of French medical assistance.
Falling of in attendance at French Dispensary.-Dr. Féray, who is the French consular doctor, tells me that the Chinese soldiers formerly under his care have been taken away, and that his dispensary patients have fallen off in numbers. The French explain this by saying that the Chinese are not yet used to the new French assistant, Dr. Vadon. It is true that Dr. Vadon does not yet understand the Chinese language, but he is an able man, with a kindly sympathetic manuer. The true explanation must, I think, be found in the fact that the Chinese authorities have now opened their own dispensary, and drawn away patients.
Proposed French University and Hospital. The French are anxious to establish a university and a large hospital in the city, but they are uncasy that the Chinese will raise objections. A class has been opened for medical students, but the number attending Dr. Féray's course is small-eight only.
New French Consular Site.---The French consul is endeavouring to purchase a fine site for the consulate outside the city.
Proposal for a Rupee Coinage.--Mr. Wei, the manager of the mint, has informed me that a rupee coinage for Western Yünnan and the Chinese Shan States was in contem- plation. The dies would be ready in a few days. He said that upwards of 300,000 Chinese rupees were issued annually from the Chengtu mint and had penetrated throughout Thibet. The latter remark is not borne out by my own information. Ic hoped that the Burmah Government would permit the free circulation of this rupee in the Burmese Shan States and in Burmah. I did not encourage him in his hope, and I suspect he was sounding the way for the governor-gencral. I have since heard from a good Chinese source that the question is being mooted to offer the importation of salt from Burmab into the Chinese Shan States in exchange for the recognition of the Chinese rupee as legal tender in the Burmese Shan States.
Squeezes at the Mint.--Mr. Chao, the official director of the mint, resigned, and left Yunnan-fu a few days before the departure of the Hsi Liang (25th February). It is now rumoured that he made over 80,000 taels during his eighteen months' tenure of office by debasing the coinage. A few days ago a consignment of dollars, duly scaled with the mint seal, was found by the military authorities to contain a large number of copper coins.
Mint Machinery.-New machinery has arrived for the mint. It was supplied by Messrs. Mandl and Co., whose interests in Chinese Government contracts now appear to have been sold to the German firm of Carlowitz and Co.
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German visitors to Yünnan-fu.-Two German representatives of Carlowitz and Co., Messrs. Crasemann and Schultz, and a special agent of Messrs. Krupp and Co., M. Berger, have arrived and taken a house. They are awaiting the arrival of the new governor-general Li Ch'ing-hsi. M. Berger talks of sending for his family from Germany, but it is probable that the other two will leave as soon as business negotiations are in train. The acting governor-general declines to enter into any contract with them. Crasemann told me that his firm had bought out M. Mandl, and used his Chinese hong name, "Hsin-yi," in military contracts with the Chinese Government. He appeared to regard the interest thus acquired as very valuable, not only in connection with Chinese officials generally, but more particularly in regard to the family of the late Li Hung-chang. Li Ch'ing-hsi, the newly appointed governor-general, is the nephew of the late Li fiung-chang. It cannot be gainsaid that M. Mandl was in the highest
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favour with Li Hung-chang during the China-Japan war. Latterly, I believe, he M. Crasemann acquired considerable influence in Chinese official circles at Canton. further informed me that M. Mandl had obtained the contract for the machinery in all the Government mints in China. Kao erh ch'ien, formerly Administrator for Foreign Affairs at Yunnan-fu, and at present Chinese commissioner on the Macao Boundary Commission, told me one day that he considered M. Mandl the cleverest European in China in his methods of dealing with Chinese. It will thus be seen that the German visitors to Yunnan-fu are well supplied with credentials for getting contracts.
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Missionaries.-The French consul has lately consulted me informally as missionary cases. He complains that his hands are full of these, and that he cannot get them settled. The Chinese authorities, he declares, are becoming more and more obstructive, especially in cases connected with missionary landed property. It would be positively disastrous for this consulate-general to work in concert with the French consulate in missionary cases, and I could only say that I was thankful that I had not yet been met by similar difficulties.
Colonial Opinion in Tonquin.-Colonial opinion in Tonquin, judging by the views of visitors to Yunnan-fu, seems to have taken the credit for having effected the transfer of Hsi Liang, whose dismissal was demanded at Peking in connection with the Weigand incident (P.G. No. 28 of 1908).
M. Bacot.-M. Bacot, a French traveller of independent means, who was recently given the Garnier Award by the French Geographical Society for his travels in Thibet, He told me that he had been very passed through in May last en route for Tachieniu.
kindly received by the India Office at London. He was thinking of crossing the Thibetan province of Poyul and descending the Brahmaputra River--a somewhat ambitious programme.
Local Troubles.-The trouble at Hsüan-wei-chou (Eastern Yünnan) has been nipped in the bud, owing to the prompt measures taken by the acting governor-general. What threatened to be a wide-spread rising in Chiu-pei-hsien (Eastern Yünnan) has been crushed without apparent effort, owing to the energy and courage of the magistrate. That district is inhabited by large numbers of Sha-yi, a tribe of whom very little is known. They live remote from the towns, and appear to occupy themselves principally Their hair is bound into a chignon, and they as wood-cutters and charcoal burners.
wear a sort of sarong or cotton kilt twisted into a knot at the side of the waist. A few brought into contact with the Chinese have the queue, and wear the ordinary clothing of a Chinese coolie. The leader of the rising claimed to have discovered a taħlet buried in the forest bearing an inscription interpreted to mean that he was a descendant of the Ming Royal Family, and that his son would become Emperor. He gathered 5,000 to 6,000 followers together and proceeded to Chiu-pei-hsien. The magistrate had no soldiers, but he closed the city gates and sent to Yünnan-fu for assistance, which was promptly forthcoming. In the meantime, the magistrate had collected a small body of They occupied the villages in proximity to men and kept the Sha-yi out of the city. the town, but were attacked by 300 soldiers with two guns. The Sha-yi were armed A hundred of them were killed without with nothing but clubs, knives, and stones. loss to the Chinese, and sixty prisoners were beheaded. The remainder have dispersed. The leader was killed. His son, a little boy of 9 years, was brought to Yunnan-fu in a cage. He is now in the new prison. I visited this establishment a short while ago in company with the judge, and the demeanour of the juvenile pretender towards his gaoler was evidence that they were not harsh with him. The judge, to whose kindheartedness he owes his humane treatment, tells me that he is now being taught Chinese, and that it is proposed to set him free when he is of age, provided his conduct has been satisfactory.
Railways. It is now confidently expected that the French railway will reach Yunnan-fu before the close of this year. The construction train has reached Liu-feng- ts'un, 100 kilom. (64 miles) from Yunnan-fu. The earthquake on the 21st May did only trifling damage to one of the tunnels, and dislodged a large quantity of débris on to the track at Po-hsi. Three or four Lolo villages in the vicinity of Po-hsi were partially destroyed and six or seven natives killed. The shock was a sharp one at Yunnan-fu, lasting for seven or eight seconds (11:30 P.M.), but no damage was done. The French consul tells me that the Chinese authorities at Yünnan-fu have denied to him that the Chinese Government intends to buy back the French railway. This railway will have cost not less than $,000,0001. by the time it reaches Yunnan-fa, and I doubt if the Chinese at Yünnan-fu would recommend the purchase, for this large amount, of a railway which they regard as doomed to financial loss.
The subject of a light Decauville railway, to cost 300,000 taels, from Yunnan-fu to
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