Directory_and_Chronicle_1912 — Page 824

CHINA

The great revolution aiming at the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty as being responsible for the misgovernment of the country was still in progress when these pages went to press. Fourteen out of the eighteen provinces of China having declared their independence of Manchu rule, a Central Republican Government had provisionally been formed with Dr. Sun Yat Sen as its President. Negotiations had been opened for a restoration of peace, but were almost immediately interrupted when it was made clear that the Revolutionists were unwilling to compromise on their demand for the abolition of the monarchy. Meanwhile the opposing armies are massed in the neigh- bourhood of Hankow, where much blood has been shed already, awaiting a termination of the armistice. The Emperor still reigns at Peking, though his father has resigned the regency, but it may be that before this book is issued from the press the informa- tion given in the next few paragraphs relating to the Imperial Family and the Govern- ment will be but of purely historical interest.

REIGNING SOVEREIGN AND FAMILY

Hsuen Tang, the Emperor of China, is the son of Prince Ch'un, brother of the late Emperor Kwang Su, and was called to the throne on the death of the Emperor Kwang Su on the 14th November, 1908. At the time of his accession the Sovereign was barely three years of age.

The present sovereign is the tenth Emperor of China of the Manchu dynasty of Ta-tsin (Sublime Purity), which succeeded the native dynasty of Ming in the year 1644. There exists no law of hereditary succession to the throne, but it is left to each Sovereign to appoint his svecesor from among the members of his family. The late Emperor, Kwang Su, like his predecessor, died childless. Twice during his reign an heir-apparent had been proclaimed and shortly afterwards deposed. The proclamation of the present Sovereign as the successor of the Emperor Kwang Sü was made as the latter lay dying, in compliance with what the document described as "the benign mandate" of Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, and at the same time Prince Ch'un, the child-Emperor's father, was appointed to act as Regent during the Sovereign's minority.

GOVERNMENT AND REVENUE

The fundamental laws of the Empire are laid down in the Ta-tsing Huei-tien, or Collected Regulations of the Great Pure Dynasty, which prescribe the government of the State as based upon the government of the family. The Emperor is spiritual as well as temporal sovereign, and, as high priest of the Empire, can alone, with his immediate representatives and ministers, perform the great religious ceremonies. No ecclesiastical hierarchy is maintained at the public expense, nor any priesthood attached to the Confucian or State religion.

The administration of the Empire is under the supreme direction of the Interior Council Chamber, comprising four members, two of Manchu and two of Chinese origin, besides two assistants from the Han-lin, or Great College, who have to see that nothing is done contrary to the civil and religious laws of the Empire, contained in the Ta-tsing Huei-tien and in the sacred books of Confucius. These members are denominated