364
THE QUESTION OF CHINA'S CAPITAL.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[May 4, 1901. face, he probably would not hesitate long | aptitude for personal rule, it is nevertheless to transfer the Court to what he con- the case that in each case where we have gidered a more secure resting place. And had to govern communities largely composed (Daily Press, 27th April.)
though Hsian-rang is decayed and fullen of Chinese the difficulty of rule has become The intimations received from time to time now, it still has great historic memories and an important factor. In the Straits Settle. as to the intentions of the Chinese Court associations. According to a correspondentments the clannish habits of the Chinese with regard to its place of residence are of our Shanghai morning contemporary, the settlers, and their custom of perpetually mest conflicting, and either indicate a great principal historic associations of this city seeking to form an imperium in imperio has want of accurate information on the part of are with the era of the Three Kingdoms from the very foundation of the Colony been the news-purveyors or an amazing amount (circa A. D. 200), the heroes of which yield a source of not only trouble but danger. of indecision on the part of the Emperor, to those of no other period in the popular In Hongkong a similar source of danger Empress Dowager, and their advisers. estimation Around it armies encamped, is over present. First it was reported that they would leave and both within and without its walls pro-to the history of opposition amongst We need ouly point Esianfu for Kansu, then for Chengtu.digies of valour were performed, on which the Chinese population to the measures then that they would return to Peking, next the Chinese love to dwell in stor, song, or taken for the repression of plague, and the that they would constitute the city of Hsian-drama. Under a vigorous and reforming desertion of the Colony by the natives in yang in Northern Hupeh, as the capital; monarch the ancient glories of the place thousands in response to the commands of and now once again that, though the Court might be revived, and Hsian-vang again some mysterious authority. In Shanghai, has made arrangements to leave Hsianfu become a great and busy city. It is not where the local government prides itself on at once, thier destination is kept secret. unfavourably placed for trivde, and if brought being in complete touch with its Chinese This would seem rather to strengthen the into regular and speely communication with population, on the outbreak of trouble in the report that Peking is to be abandoned as the the Yangtsze Valley would no doubt speedily North, the native residents cleared out by capital. The present temporary capital, regain a great deal of its former importaucer thousands daily, apparently in response to Hsianfu, is of course out of the question, The Treaty Powers, with the exception sono similar, though unknown, mandate. though it possesses some of the qualifications perhaps of Russia, would be glad to see a necessary for the seat of Government of a transfer of the capital to some place nearer
From Chihli, information of the same kind great Empire. It is a large walled city, the centre of the Empire and more in touch Partly from the very difficulty of the task comes down in daily augmenting fører. built on a vast plain and laid out in the, with the great marts than Peking, which is they have set before them, but mainly shape of a parallelogram, the walls being quite isolated from all important trade from the absence of any trustworthy intel massive and well built, flanked by lofty centres with the exception of Tientsin. The ligence department, Chihli under military towers, and about ten miles in circumference scheme to fortify the Iegations at Peking rule is quickly lapsing into a state nearly It contains about a quarter of a million in- and to keep open the lines of communien bordering on anarchy. habitants and is the seat of a considerable tion between the metropolis and the sea writing to us complains that the German A correspondent trade, mainly, however, of a retail character. į would not be an easy The south-western section contains the to carry out, and it would involve a very organisat on have not succeeded in creating que effectively Headquarters while destroying the old residences of numerous opulent families and; considerable initial outlay as well persons of rank, many of them retired heavy cost annually. for
a new that they are supplied with a lot of officials. In the western section of the Possibly at a new capital, away from the much money as possible out of their occupa
maintenance. interpreters whose only aim is to mike as city is settled a large number of Mahome-anti-foreign influences which obtain in❘tion: and that between the leries of the military and the squeezes and falsehoods of the men placed in the position of interpre ters. all justice bas departed, and robbery and license rules through the land. As we have heard these sume complaints from entirely different and perfectly independent sources, to which we alluded last week. we feel bound to believe them. It is the case likewise that personally our authorities completely exonerate the German Comman- der and his Staff; the result they agres is due to the prevailing want of in- formation, and the tainted which the Headquarter Staff relies. ~ At the same time it is only right to acknow- ledge that some of the worse abuses have been in part at least remedied. Probably the worst of these was the manner in which on the information of informers requisitions were levied on the towns under the allega. tion that they had been affording aid to Boxe:s." Similar charges on equally unsubstantial evidence were in too many cases made against smaller towns or villages, and the people afforded no opportunity of showing their innocence. Even when the informants in such a case are above suspicion it is a dangerous thing to place irresponsibla power in the hands of individuals in the present case it has undoubtedly led tɔ'a reaction amongst the Chinese, and a general refusal to work with the powers that be. Amongst people so clannish as the. Chinese such a system is sure to lead to the worst results, and to turn the natural aptitude for good government into a means for the pro- motion of anarchy and disorder.
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dans, and from them the ranks of the military officers are mainly recruited. Some of the buildings have a good deal of an- tiquarian interest, and there are many places of interest in the city. Bu', on the other band, Hsiaufu is a great distance from the other centres of population, and is difficult to reach. The latter objection would, of course, fade
away it railway com. munication were once established across the great intervening plains from the coast, but the time for such enterprises has not yet arrived, and even if it had come, it is doubtful whether the position of the city would be deemed suitable from a strategic point of view.
110
pressure.
THE ALLIES' MISTAKES IN
CHIALI,
Peking, it might not be considere l necessary to fortify the Tegations against attack, However that may be, it is obviously in the interests of progress and reform that the seat of Government should be transferred to some other centre than Peking, some city more representative of the Chinese nation, and more open to the civilising in- fluences of the Western world. It may he added, to, that it is not the interest of the Western Powers to see the Chinese Court falling under the domination of Russia, as will inevitably prove to be the case if Man- churia is absorbed by that Power, Even now, with Port Arthur a Russiau arsenal and the Manchurian railways worked by Hsian-yang, so far as position goes, Russian engineers and guarded by Cossack's does, on the other hand, recommend in number, Peking cannot fail to prove very itself 18 very suitable for the seat of | susceptible to Muscovite Government. Although now only a pre- fectural city of shrunken size and great trade, it is well situated in Northern Hupeh on the banks of the river. Han, about one hundred and eighty miles from!
(Daily Press, 30th April.) the junction of that waterway with the On the 16th March, waiting of the state of Yangteze at Hanyang and Hankow. The affairs under the German occupation of Han is naviguble for light-draft boats Chibli province, we made the following re- probably up to Hsian-yang, and is there- marks: fore fairly accessible from the great Yang-
All our most recent advices go to "show that the tendency of the recent tsze ports, while it is sufficiently remote to afford the Imperial Court a certain measure
measures being taken is to raise up of the seclusion desired. Hsian-yang may
the millions. In all a feeling of wrong and injustice amongst this she has been be said to lie almost in the core of the Empire, and without being near the sea
but playing Russia's part; and has un. doubtedly beau earning the gratitude coast to be within easy access of the great of such enemies of their country's best centres of population of Mid-China. Seated "interests as there, the Emperor and Court would at any
LI IIUNG-CHANG and his " crew."
We said so, not out of any un- rate be far removed from the greit uor-friendly feeling towards Germany, but as an thern neighbour whose pressure is already instance of the evil of imperfect information. beginning to be felt so inconveniently. It is a common saying that the Chinese are Naturally the prices of the present dynasty would be loch to leave Peking, which lies so near the Manchurian provinces, the ancient patrimony of the Manchu Emperors. But safety is usually preferred to senti- ment, and if the Emperor cannot feel that he is free to act as he pleases while living in the capital of his
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an easily governed people, and that they are so conscious of the advantages of good government in their own persons that they readily consent and submit to all necessary rules and regulations. While it is true that the Chinese do to a very considerable extent appreciate the principles of good govern- ment, and have themselves a considerable
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sources on
the name has been from the beginning o the This want of any intelligence system worth
trouble the main cause of our difficulties; and
and German Legations. with none so markedly as with the English remain as a condemnation of the methods It must ever
adopted that up to the very last moment the Legations, led astray by false informa- tion, were confirmed in the belief that the outrages taking place around them had no deeper origiu than mere local feelings; the
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