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Normal conditions are reported to prevail at Nanking, though from time to time prominent persons receive letters threatening a rising with the object of exterminating the Manchus. The modern troops have all been rearmed and the city is no longer patrolled.
A sign of the emancipation of women which is silently proceeding in China was manifested in a meeting of the "Women's Association for Fostering National Resources" which was held in October in the exhibition grounds at Nanking. It was attended by over 1,000 persons of both sexes, and several ladies made speeches advocating extended use of native-made articles and deprecating the partiality of Chinese women for foreign goods, especially jewellery, tobacco, and wines.
At Chinking a disturbance occurred in December owing to the municipality unwisely attempting to disturb ancient custom and oblige native water carriers to draw water at the municipal pump station instead of the river frout. The motor pump broke down, and a hostile crowd invaded the concession. Serious consequences were, however, averted by timely reversion to the old system in agreement with the local authorities.
It was mentioned in the previous summary that parts of northern Kiangsu and Anhui had suffered greatly from floods. Large numbers of starving refugees have begged their way south to Chinkiang, Kiukiang, and Wuhu. The affected regions are that part of Anhui which lies north of the Huai River and the adjoining districts of Kiangsu. The Grand Canal on the east, the Huai and Ko Rivers on the south and Over west approximately mark the boundaries of the worst part of the famine area. some 7,000 square miles the autumn crops were a total failure, and only about half the usual amount of wheat land could be sown for the spring crops. The population is entirely agricultural and is estimated at 3,000,000. Troops were moved to the distressed region to preserve order and suppress brigandage.
Shantung, generally considered a poor province, owing to its arid climate, also suffered from rains far in excess of the average, and all low-lying lands were swamped. In addition to this calamity, the Yellow River burst its banks in the Li Ching district, and caused more damage than has occurred there for the last six years.
His Majesty's consul at Hangchow reports that the native press has shown less animosity towards foreigners, but the attitude of the officials remains unfriendly. Piracies on junks carrying foreign goods along the coast have occurred repeatedly during the year, and their recurrence at short intervals in the same neighbourhood shows that very little energy is displayed by the officials to check them. In Amoy city robberies increased to such an extent that the question was discussed in the Provincial Assembly and special measures were taken. More police were engaged, and a proclamation was issued that shops were to close at midnight. A proposal to institute water police to be paid for by a tax on passengers on steam launches fell through, as the launch owners asserted that their passengers refused to pay the tax.
The Kwangtung Provincial Government have experienced difficulties in carrying out the census in outlying districts owing to the suspicions of the ignorant natives, who fear that it foreshadows increased taxation. Several small outbreaks occurred, the most serious being at Lien-Chou, where the mob attacked certain houses and subsequently demolished the schools and houses of foreign missionaries. No lives were lost and no British interests were involved.
Some alarm was occasioned at Macao at the end of November by a trifling military disturbance. The affair was magnified by the Chinese of the adjoining district of Hsiang-shan with a view to inducing the Chinese Government to descend on the Portuguese colony with armed forces under the pretext of protecting Chinese lives and property. Six Chinese gun-boats were rumoured to have entered the harbour and large bodies of Chinese troops to have camped near the frontier, and two British gun-boats were actually dispatched to Macao to safeguard British interests. They found the Chinese gun-boats anchored outside the harbour limits and failed to verify the reported movements of Chinese troops. Nothing occurred, and His Majesty's ships were withdrawn a fortnight later.
His Majesty's consul at Kiungehow reports that the local Self-Government Society is showing signs of a growing spirit of independence and an increasing disregard of proper authority. A newly arrived and unpopular magistrate was mobbed in the streets of Kiungchow and his chair was broken to pieces. A report from Pakhoi states that the circuit of Ch'in Lien, on the Tonquin border, formerly noted for the depredations of robber bands, has been entirely pacified and the district is being regenerated by a patriotic, intelligent, and energetic official named Taotai
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Kuo Jen-chang. Draft regulations for the better preservation of order on the frontier, drawn up by the Viceroy of Liang Kuang, the Viceroy of Yunnan, and the Board of Foreign Affairs has been submitted to the French Minister, whose modifications have been sent to the above-mentioned taotai for annotation.
His Majesty's consul at Wuchow reports the occurrence of no less than ninety cases of robbery and piracy during the quarter. The worst case was the looting of the market, pawnshops, and forty-one houses at Yang-So, in Ping-lo-fu. There were several skirmishes between the soldiers and the robbers, but they eventually effected their escape. His Majesty's consul-general at Yunnan-fu reports the murder of a French missionary, the Rev. Father Mérigot, by Chinese at a place called Ching-yü, in Yung-pei Ting, north of the Yang-tsze. A dispute about land is supposed to have been the cause of the attack.
Provincial Assemblies and Self-government Socielies.
The organisation of local self-government societies was carried on during the quarter in Hupei, but the general public showed no signs of active interest in them. Even the regular sittings of the provincial assembly were rarely attended by more than half its members, The general impression seems to prevail that the assembly is too much concerned with questions of personal interest to its members and to similar bodies in other provinces. One successful motion, bowever, put an end to the custom of purchasing supplies for yamên use at official rates, a practice that was detrimental to petty market dealers. The assembly lacks a proper sense of the need for economy, and expensive schemes of development of communications, education, famine prevention, &c., are freely advocated.
In September elections were held for the Nanking Self-Government Society and much dissatisfaction was expressed at the manner in which they were conducted by the two responsible officials. According to the native press many self-government societies have been constituted in the Soochow district and the delegates have met and deliberated upon a variety of matters such as come within the sphere of municipal bodies in England. The Provincial Assembly commented on the progress made in this direction in the Soochow district as compared with the apathy displayed by the officials in the portion of the province administered from Nanking.
Reforms.
Judicial.
The intelligence reports from His Majesty's consuls indicate that active steps are being taken in several provinces to introduce the new judicial system advocated by the Committee of Constitutional Reform. In the revised programme published in January it is laid down that shenpantings of all grades shall be established in 1912. More or less complete steps towards the new system are reported by the provinces of Kiangsu, Honan, Hupei, Kuangsi, Shantung, Chekiang, Fukien, Szechuan, and Fengfien, and His Majesty's consuls state that courts are being built or now law officers appointed at Chengtu, Chungking, Ichang, Tsinan, Tsinan settlement, Chefoo, Hangchow settlement, Ningpo, Wenchow, and Wuchow.
The main feature of the new system is the complete separation of the judicial from the administrative and executive powers. It deprives the provincial officials of a great weapon of authority and fortile source of revenue, while it creates a new class of officials under the direct orders of the Board of Justice in Peking and independent of the provincial authorities. The change can only be distasteful to the latter who will be ready to criticise the parallel position of the new law officers as well as their work. The future alone can show whether the people will benefit and whether Chinese justice will be any less venal or more real than it was under the old system.
The prominent position given in the introduction of judicial reform to the opening of shenpantings in the open ports suggests that one of its main objects is to deal with international cases, and experience of the sheupanting at Tien-tsin shows that foreign interests are likely to be seriously affected. Every effort will probably be made to deny to foreign consular officials their treaty right effectually to watch proceedings in court, sitting as assessors and intervening on behalf of the foreign plaintiff when necessary. From this point of view the new system may be regarded as an attempt to
[2023 y―6]
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