March 18, 1907.]
THE CHINA JELLY.
The
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
sapiently
are
that
11
6.
that
171
how amend matters? Would-be statesmen | administration known to mankind." It is suffered, so that equal treatment may be like Mr. LLOYD GEORGE Cry,--Stick a knife in it and let the machine burst itself up.
not done by forc^, our contemporary accorded to the relatives of the unfortunate Wiser men say amend the governor; in
observes, referring to le sufferers. this doubtless most are agreed, but how is it bodies of foreign-trained troops."
notorious insignificance of the
The Viceroy also takes a differ- few small ent view about the punishment of the former to be done? That is a point on which there in any case, are a modern innovation; the Governor designate of Peking) of Shanghai, These, Customs Taotai (YUAN CHU-HSUN, now nre as many opinions as there are speakers. problem that puzzles the Times existed and other Chinese officials, because they Perhaps the larger number would make it before them. representative; but how make it representa- force
Decidedly it is not physical were entirely powerless to deal with the tive, and representative of what? Here acquiescence.
accounts for the Chinese rioters in the foreign settlement." This is again the divergence far exceeds the con- religion," the Times goes on, meaning, and
"It is not any positive a repetition of the artful reminder that it gruity. The time is eminently one demand. expressing its meaning later, the absence of
the foreigners will not allow native troops ing a statesman, but Great Britain has of dogmatic beliefs. It must be, our contem- the Chinese authorities to assume responsi-,
to over-run Shanghai, they cannot expect late years been wofully lacking in states-porary decides, "immemorial custom" and ability for what Chinese desperadoes may do men; and certainly at the moment no traditional code of ethics," which, we must heaven-sent ruler of men seems looming on admit, is by way of explanation somewhat those who remember the circumstances will there. It is artful because plausible, but the political horizon.
thin and inconclusive. To a certain extent it is habit, of course, and in a way it is also There were the clearest indications of official not need to be told that it is also impudent, the result of religious training, Govern- sympathy and connivance; and there have ments have always been better served by been innumerable evidences that the Chinese (Daily Press, 12th March.)
priests than by soldiers, whenever for any regard the Mixed Court and its jurisdiction A Shanghai correspondent of the Times in ruling the majority. Our theory would occupied by foreigners.
length of time a minority has succeeded from a vastly different point of view to that has hit upon a happy phrase. the Chinese Government," he says,
"To deal with be that the Chinese submissiveness is a this sort of thing is made easy by the unique Unfortunately, hitherto been like trying to fasten a jelly indifference. The average Chinaman knows, There is nothing but prejudice or sentiment "has product of pessimism, a shrewdly acquired nature of the Settlement and the Court. on to a wall with tacks." The older members of the China Association, and
or has been taught, the ir eritibility of evil, to sway most people's opinion in the matter. diplomats past and present, will appreciate is the uselessness of struggling to change culties
many and his prevailing thought when in trouble The Treaties hardly cover all the diffi. that. It conveys the point of the story one ev I for another. In Hongkong, advised puzzle even SOLOMON with all his wisdom of SISYPHUS much more effectively than
arise, and it would that old history of hopelessness. It is petty official who has been
to complain t› the authorities about some to decide on principles of equity, su cun- also a pleasing variation of the picture of him, he will reply: "To what good pur- bauds.
aqueezing" aingly presented are the pleas on both the old lady who tried to sweep back the pose ? Atlantic with a broom, although that succeeded by another, who may be worse." and
This bad man, if dismissed, will be recognise the necessities of the situation; Few people, however, fail to reminds us more of the Hongkong Sanitary This is not merely an isolated, individual
it seems A Board fighting imported disease than of perception, but is
pity that extraneous ar almost irrelevant negotiators with Peking.
considerations a general habit of should arise to retard a analogy is distinctly good, and fits Peking phenomenon that has puzzled the Times, It Municipal Council, the Consular Body and jelly thought, and it seems to account for the all the difficulties. Between the Shanghai settlement of without a crease. Hitherto the mention of jelly has been associated with weakness; of the Taoists, whose philosophy is wide-misunderstandings that interfere with such is fairly in accordance with the teachings the Diplomatic Body, there seem to be we say of an invertebrate man that he or it is as weak and unstable as a
or policy spread, even if the creed be not, and there jelly.
a settlemeat. numerous competent observers who of the Mixed Court are now about to be The inherent strength of Man-have remarked on this individualistic in- promulgated, after several years of more or New rules for the regulation darindom becomes apparent, however, when difference and absence of patriotism. Schools less circular discussion. The Municipal efforts are made to nail it up. The nails and newspapers and railways will make a pierce it easily enough, it is not hard to difference, but despite the optimists, these affected, naturally takes a keen interest in Council, on behalf of the population chiefly move, but when we pause to observe the things have not yet had time to do more effect, we find the jelly apparently intact, than touch the fringe. So the individual been tactless in asserting its interest, or these forthcoming rules, but whether it has and by no means in the position we expected Chinaman plays jelly to the Manchu tack to find it. The ideal policy of LAQTBZE just as the Mandarin jelly slips around and
whether the Diplomatic Bidy is composed was illustrated by the qualities of water; away from the foreign tack. Anti-foreign prestige as of more importancs than the of men who regard official prerogatives and the sage would probably have thanked the prejudice exists, and is not inconsistent public weal, the fact remains that the Shanghai writer for this newer simile. One with the indifference we have postulated, Municipal Council's views and opinions of Peking's gelatinous performances has for it requires no effort. lately been to plead inability to
The jelly dislikes the provinces, or
coerce being handled. Beyond slithering always attention and
have not received from the diplomats the rather, to responsibility when the provincial officials, not be expected to do anything.
repudiate and stinging sometimes, the jelly need
consideration they would seem to deserve. In the acting on the nod, have done things for pattern passive resister. It floats with the Municipal Council and the Consular Body
It is the
course of a which Peking is called to account.
correspondence that passed between the Times correspondent says:-
The tide, merely rising or falling in the current
reformer is not as self-interest dictates.
of Shanghai the latter state-l in a letter The jelly as A Yellow peril prophets are afraid of the eleven new rules based upon
dated June 1. 1905 (published in the to be depended upon. Municipal Keport for that year), that acaleph developing into an octopus, but tion made by the Municipal Council come either for goud or ill, evolution is slow time ago and approved by the Consular here. The case of Japan is one of those Body have been placed before the Chinese disconcerting exceptious that may be over. worked as
Government by the point is that Chica is in the medusa stage,
an argument The immediate The Senior Consul added that Ministers Diplomatic Body." and reformers must either abandon the directed first to obtain sanction for these idea of fixing the jelly to the wall, or use
ware of opinion that all efforts should be
some means other than the tack hammer.
rules and to have them put into force before any ne▾ proposali were made. Accordingly be asked the Municipal Council
"to drop the question of further new rules for the present." In acquiescing in this request the Council expressed itself
content to await the issue of the present negotiations in the confident anticipation that, should the proposed foron without materially improving the eleven rules be sanctioned and put into status and morale of the Court, the Cousefl Diplomatic Bodies in a further application will have the support of the Consular and for revision." At the same time the
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"How far the Central Government is sincere in ita plea of insufficient authority over the pro- vinces is a question difficult for say foreigner to answer. Simultaneously with incomprehensible exhibitions of weakness, when the provincial gentry clamour for the boycotting of foreign railway enterprise, we find the Throne sternly forbidding any change in the national costume or removal of the queue, and ordering the pro- vincial authorities to deal severely with any attempt on the part of Young China to depart from the sacred traditions of the dynasty in the matter of its clothes. It would not be unreason. able to expect that a Government which can impose its uncompromising will on the student class in such a matter as their hairdressing, should be able to dietate its policy for the con- struction and administration of Imperial rail-
(Daily Press, 13th March.) ways, and the plain man is therefore apt to con-
The anomalous character of what Shang. clude that, while the
hai calls its allt ged opposition may have some real existence,
Mixel Court" continues to provincial
it occasion concern and could never become a serious factor in the Great
trouble politics. Britain's representative 18 situation, unless encouraged by the Government negotiating with the Chinese with regard to still Discussing this, our London contemporary December 1905.
the damage done by the Shanghai riots of wonders what causes the comparatively holds that if Sir J. JORDAN insists on the Viceroy TOAN FANG peaceful and submissive acquiescence of payment of a monetary indemnity, then four hundred million intelligent people in
itself.
SHANGHAI MIXED COURT.
44
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the
sugges-
"the most unwieldy and corrupt system of proper investigations should also be made | Council pointed out that the phrase "rules
into the number of Chinese subjects who' based upon the suggestion made by the
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