89
CHINA ON THE BRINK OF WAR*
Nanking 1937
P. H. MUNRO-FAURE
In 1937 my business took me to Nanking, to which the government of General Chiang Kai Shek had some time previously removed the capital. His government was now known as the "Central" government, not so much to distinguish it from other governments which might pretend to a share of control at the fringes, but rather to identify it with all China; for the character "chung", which in the past had been translated "middle", as in "Middle Kingdom", was used by the Chinese to represent their country. Thus historically the translation "China" government would have been more accurate than "Central" government.
This government in the ten short years from 1927 had achieved the most astonishing improvements. It had certainly not attained standards of nation-wide control, justice, individual freedom, fair taxation, or even public works, of the excellence taken for granted in the more advanced democracies of the west, but it had given ample proof of a capacity for progress.
One weakness in the Chinese administrative system had been the failure to separate the judicature from the executive. The magistrate who tried a case also prosecuted, and then carried out the sentence. The system, of course, gave rise to many abuses. But now a beginning was made with the establishment of independent courts, known as "Modern" courts, whose officials had purely judicial functions. These courts were still few in number, the judges were inexperienced, and because they were very poorly paid they were open to corruption; but it was a sound beginning.
Similarly the lack of a stable civil service had meant that whenever an official was changed, whether, for instance, the magistrate of a country district, or the Commissioner in charge of the former Concession at Kiu Kiang, or the Minister for War, the new man
* This is the second extract of Col. P.H. Munro-Faure's Memoirs. See the Editor's Note at p 61, Vol. 29. [Editor]
89
CHINA ON THE BRINK OF WAR*
Nanking 1937
P. H. MUNRO-FAURE
In 1937 my business took me to Nanking, to which the government of General Chiang Kai Shek had some time previously removed the capital. His government was now known as the "Central" government. not so much to distinguish it from other governments which might pretend to a share of control at the fringes, but rather to identify it with all China; for the character "chung", which in the past had been translated "middle", as in "Middle Kingdom", was used by the Chinese to represent their country. Thus historically the translation "China" government would have been more accurate than “Central" government.
This government in the ten short years from 1927 had achieved the most astonishing improvements. It had certainly not attained standards of nation-wide control, justice, individual freedom, fair taxation, or even public works, of the excellence taken for granted in the more advanced democracies of the west, but it had given ample proof of a capacity for progress.
One weakness in the Chinese administrative system had been the failure to separate the judicature from the executive. The magistrate who tried a case also prosecuted, and then carried out the sentence. The system, of course, gave rise to many abuses. But now a beginning was made with the extablishment of independent courts, known as "Modern" courts, whose officials had purely judicial functions. These courts were still few in number, the judges were inexperienced, and because they were very poorly paid they were open to corruption; but it was a sound beginning.
Similarly the lack of a stable civil service had meant that whenever an official was changed, whether, for instance, the magistrate of a country district, or the Commissioner in charge of the former Concession at Kiu Kiang, or the Minister for War, the new man
* This is the second extract of Col. P.H. Manio-Faure's Memoirs. See the Editor's Note at p 61, Vol. 29. [Editor]
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