5
THE ANTI-FOREIGN SPIRIT IN HUNAN.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
The affair lasted several “minutes, during which time not one of all "the many civil and military mandarins, "writers, soldiers, runners, &c., present uttered a word to stop it, but laughed, some of them, till the teams ran down their "cheeks."
From the account given by this gentleman, it is very plain that the capital of Hunan is still a very undesirable place for a foreigner to visit, and that there is no amelioration in the frantic feeling of scorn and dislike with which the foreigners are regarded by the officials and literati. Any attempt by Europeans to travel through the country would probably be met with a new outbreak of fanatical hatred from the natives, and the prospect of any improve- ment in these feelings seems remote.
The anti-foreign spirit which a few years since was so signally manifested by a long" series of riots and outrages including some atrocious murders of foreigners-in the valley of the Yangtsze still lives and flourishes in Hunan. That province, hitherto carefully secluded from foreign presence or defilement, has always been the special home of prejudice and race antipathy. The Hunanese fondly believe themselves superior to all the other Chinese races, and more particularly look down with contempt and pity upon the sheep-like natives of Kiangsu. The hated fan-kwei is, however, the special object of their aversion, and they appear resolved to keep him at a distance The fact is much to be regretted, and by all and any means in their power. more especially so as the British Govern- There are no Treaty ports in this province, ment had it so recently in their power to no points of contact with the peoples of the demand the opening of this province to trade West, and the natives seem determined that and residence as punishment and reparation there shall be none. Even the telegraph, for the mischief wrought by the anti-foreign as being an invention of foreign origin, literature issued from the presses of Chang- they would not admit within their bounds, sha and other Hunan towns. Those incen- and that through the solemn official diary pamphlets and books undoubtedly assurance that the institution would benefit were the main agents in stirring up the the country it was at length allowed to anti-foreign feeling which found vent in the enter it was only after they had been
massacres of Wusueh and subsequently at persuaded that the innovation would Kucheng. Had the British Government bring wealth
into the province and firmly insisted upon the punishment of the construction of the lines would afford CHOU HAN, the degradation of the Viceroy, work for the people. These facts having and the opening of the river Siang been impressed upon the officials, they and of Changsha to foreign trade brought pressure to bear on the gentry, the opposition of the people of Hunan-more who then ceased to incite the rabble seeming than real-would soon have died against the intending wires.
out and much ignorant prejudice been ment that the notorious CHOU HAN, quickly dissipated. But for some inscrutable the expectant taotai who, possessing a mar- reason the British Government neglected the vellously fluent pen had been the chief opportunity, probably over-rating the oppo- author of numerous anti-foreign books, pam- sition that would be offered, and it has been '. phlets, &c., which early in the nineties flooded lost for the present. The worst of it all. is the Yangtsze Valley, had been converted that the Chinese officials have been en- from the error of his ways and assumed his couraged to persevere in their obstructive right mind, turns out to be a pious. fraud. tacties, and it will be more difficult than CHOU.is still flourishing in Hunan, safe from ever to invade this stronghold of Chinese Western justice, and still the hero of a officialism. As our readers are no doubt credulous and foolish populace. Changsha, aware, Hunan not only furnishes the largest the capital of Hunan, is as ever, the strong-proportion of officials, but also provides some hold of Chinese conservatism, and is as of the best troops in China. The people are rigidly closed as before to the unwelcome really superior in character and spirit to foreigner.
those of most provinces, and if not misled by the upper classes would probably prove the most progressive race in the Central Kingdom. It is therefore the greater pity that they should be allowed to close their gates against foreigners. Some of the ports on the Siang would, moreover, soon become centres of a thirving trade. It is to be hoped that if ever another opportunity offers, Sir CLAUDE MACDONALD who has shown himself to be a prompt and vigorous diplo- matist-will not fail to take advantage of it to open up this important province to foreign trade and navigation,
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The state-
THE LIGHT DUES.
A correspondent of our Shanghai morning Contemporary, who has recently visited this seat of Celestial culture, gives very un- satisfactory account of his reception there. On the arrival of the party, the boat was at once detained, and the magistrates who at length went off to them assured them the people "would not have them there; << they must go away.
The correspondent goes on to add:-"They would protect us "of course, and had brought with them a "lot of soldiers and runners for the purpose, "but all the same on attempting to reach "the shore we were driven back by a yelling "crowd and volleys of stones, which things "the officials professed themselves utterly
The Committee of the Hongkong General powerless to prevent. How much of this
Chamber of Commerce," in its letter to the was a spontaneous tribute of disesteem on the part of the Changsha people and how Government in support of the memorial of much of it was got up for the occasion by the shipping companies and firms with re- the officials themselves we could not say,ference to the light dues question, says "the " but seeing. that the shore in question was “a barren sandb nak, and the hostile crowd numbered about fifty persons, chiefly "boys, while on our side there was twice that number of able-bodied soldiers, I must say it looked remarkably odd. Per- sonally I suffered no harm, but one of my men who contrived to effect a landing had his books taken from him and torn to pieces, "his clothes torn, and himself thrown into the river right under our eyes without the slightest effort being made to help him
Jan
1897
"every item of expend closely watched, and a "difference in the expend
may determine the course of a vesse age. Steamers coming ou "Shanghai are no longer "pelled to call at Hongkong "stores. The great increase "diminution in the consumption
46
essels to
greater bunker capacity enable "make the voyage direct to Yokohama or Shanghai without coming into Hongkong. "The inducement to call is often very slight. Frequently it is a question, even with 'big steamer, of taking in or disc "little na 100 to 200 tons of
"
11
ng as
light dues to be paid may make all the "difference between a profit and a loss on "small quantities of cargo, and may decide "the steamer to avoid the port. If she "does not call then her expenditure here is "entirely lost to the residents, and a per-
<
manent injury done to the trade of the "'colony." This is a plain.. business argument that we think must carry convic tion to the minds of the Governor and those of the unofficial members who re- For Hongkong commended the tax. to levy a tax on shipping in order, to swell the general revenue of the colony is almost as suicidal a course as it would be for a tradesman to make a charge for admission to his shop. We have few exports of our own and our import requirements are small, but with a strict preservation of the freedom of the port, the colony is well adapted to serve as an emporium of trade for the sur- rounding regions.. It is our policy to at- tract shipping by all possible means, for it is on the shipping trade that the prosperity of the colony depends; but the natural tendency of placing a tax on shipping is to neutralise the natural advantages we enjoy and to induce vessels to pass by the port when they are not absolutely compelled to call. As pointed out in the petition, with heavy light dues to pay vessels cannot afford to put in to discharge or load small quan- tities of cargo. It is to the interest of the colony that all vessels should call here, whether their cargo be large or small.
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the governuR'S REPORT ÅND THE TRADE OF THE COLONY. The British Trade Journal in its. Decem- ber issue has the following paragraph
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Absolutely nothing, as to th
the general con- "dition of trade will be found in the latest "Colonial Office report from Hongkong. "It deals with the year 1895, the year "after the war; and it is, perhaps, not "unreasonable to expect that the com- "mercial effect of that struggle upon the "trade of Hongkong might have been men- ❝tioned. Sir WILLIAM ROBINSON
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the
"Governor, confines his remarks almost wholly to the bubonic plague and the "coolies' strike. The finances of the colony appear to be in a satisfactory condition "the shipping of the port on the in
and we gather crease; "larger importations of lour, rice "and timber. Imports of
“
vere
Jugar
how
ever, declined from 100,867 to 67 051 a mere amount of the light dues is not re-
remarkable change, for whiol
niches garded so much as is the principle involved" "in the practical retention of the special “nation is given. – The "another piece of evid Gap Rock tax.” We must confess we
“needed" of the imper perused that sentence with some astonish- ment, as it seems to reduce the whole matter to "appointing intelligent_com the level of a merely sentimental grievance."sentatives in our colon The petition itself, however, shows that the porary has for some time past tax is a substantial burden and is calculated on a useful campaign against the to seriously prejudice the trade of the port.. Under the conditions at present prevailing Colonies, in the shipping trade, the petition states, the Governor of Hongko
on preva in the
Our
the Crown.
bova
nted.
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