PROGRESS IN CHINA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2477, 16 April 1909, Page 3

PROGRESS IN CHINA.

A RECENT VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS.

The number of books on tho For East increases year by year, and fresh light is continually being thrown upon the less accessible parts of China and the adjourning countries. One of tho latest visitors to that portion of tho world is tho Earl of Ronaldshay, son of the Marquis of Zetland, a much-tra-velled young nobleman, who recently made a journey through the heart of. China from Shanghai to.Burmaiu following the course of the Yang-tseKiang during the greater part- of the way. He recorded the'results of his.observations in two instructive volumes, eni itied “A Wandering Student in the Far East.” After some remarks on the new order brought about in the Far Eastern countries, lie gives an interesting account of his journey, and then discusses a number of questions bearing upon the relation between the East and the West. They include the development of China--under the new conditions, especially the construction of railways; the prospects of trade between China and Great Britain, with reference to the provinces of Western China ; and the settlement of frontier problems arising out of the juxtaposition of China with British Bimunli; the opium traffic; tho future of Japan as a great power in the Orient. During part of his journey, the English traveller was accompanied by Mr. F. W. Belt, an Australian, who for many years had found wandering in many lands the most satisfactory method of, as lie explained it, “killing time and myself.” ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPREADING. To form an adequate idea of China, says Lord Ronaldshay, the inquirer must leave the foreign settlements which dot the coast line, and travel into tho interior of tho empire. He must live among the Chinese people, and learn the nature of their requirements and their ability to satisfy them. -He will come in contact with a belief new to China, the belief of a people in a national destiny. The Chinese have' their own ideas as to the relative value of foreign languages, and it is a striking fact noticeable throughout the empire that a Chnese will pay to learn English,, but will seldom take lessons in other languages for nothing. . In tho Peking University, where instruction in one foreign language is obligatory, our traveller found over 300 of the total number of 500 students learning Eng- : )Lsh. In one class be found the students composing an essay on education in English. CHINESE SCHOOL. SPORTS.

At the newly-erecte<l college at Sui Fu, on the Yangtsc, close to the point of contact of the three provinces— Snch’uan, Kweieliau, and Yunnan—horn Ronaldshay witnessed an entertain in ent that shows in a remarkable way the extent to which Western reforms have gained entrance into the interior of China. It was the first annual sports meeting of the newly-establish-ed local college. From Bin the morning till 4 in the afternoon a crowd oi at least 10,000 onlookers watched and applauded a full programme of .keenlycontested races. “The victors in feats of bodily prowess were the heroes of tho day, and this in the heart of a country in which, but yesterday, the ideal scholar was a literary fusil, with clans on his hands several inches in length, incapable of doing any one tiling (except to teach at school) by which he could keep -]iis soxil “Truly,” remarks the writer, ‘Trere a new China with a vengence. THE OPIUM QUESTION.

On September 20. 1906. the Chinese Government issued the following edict: in a period of "ten years the evils arisi;w from foreign and native opium be Mv and completely eradicated. Let the Government Council frame such measures as may be suitable and necessary for strictly forbidding the consumption of the drug and the cultivatioiDof the poppy,, and let them submit .their proposals lor our approial. The reform thus lightly undertaken by the Chinese Government, the eradication in ten years of ite insidious vice of opium-smoking, which, on its own showing, affects 40 per cent, oi a popu - ation estimated at 400,000,000,, is a tas.v characterised by the British Ministei at Peking, -as one “rarely attempted with success in the course of -History. The importation of opium from India _is a very small factor in the question. It is admitted by the most eager Chinese advocate for the suppression of the vice that China produces ten times as much opium as she imports, namely,. o(XK) tons as against 300 tons. It i* estimated that the province of Such uan alone produces approximately tour times as much opium as is imported from India into the whole ox China. In Western China Indian opium is practically unknown. f

PATERNAL LEGISLATION. Drastic regulations have been enacted to reduce the area under poppy cultivation and to put a stop to opiumsmoking. No liew land may be sown with the poppy, certificates are to bo issued for all land given up to its cultivation, and the owner is to reduce trio area bv one-ninth every year, and substitute” other crops. All officials, gentry, and literati ary to be compelled to give up the habit- of- smoking, hut ohi-d’i-als over 60 years old are to be treated leniently. Officials of high rank and title may a: k for a given time to break themselves of the habit, and to be ielioved bv an acting official during that period. ‘Officials of lower rank are to be allowed six months. Teachers, scholars, officers, and warrant officers in the army and navy* if addicted to too vice are to be dismissed within three months. For the general public stringent regulations have been drawn up. An opium-smoker must repart Imnseli to the nearest Yameu. anct fill in n Ly ,n giving his name, address, occupation, hod daily allowance of opium He will then be* given a license, and it undoi Q 0 years old a limit will be placed upon the quantity he may'consume, to be reduced yearly by from /0 to 30 pet cent On becoming a total abstamei his license will be cancelled. No new licenses will be issued alter the mst inquisition, and severe penalties will be inflicted for smoking without a license. Strong measures are also to be taken to limit the facilities for smoking. Six months is the limit placed upon the lives of opium dens, and shops tor tne ; saffi of the drug -in existence after •ten years are to be summarily closed. Batin" houses are to be prohibited. ti,om providing, opium, and shops ror the* saJo of smoking accessories are to l)e,.clqsea in a vear. The anti-opium, laws o! China arc one of tb.e nrnst remaitcah e instances of paternal legislation recorded in history.

•EFFECT OF’-THE -EEGEIjATIONS-. ' What steps have been taken to enforce these regulations i In 190, thousands of opium dens, were closed, piles of opium pipes wore burned on»<l*t entjiiwiastir and popular rejoicing, a*-.P 1-

and other high dignitaries who failed to break off the habit within the prescribed time were removed from office. On the other hand it has been found necessary to relax some of the regulations because men holding high positions have died through being suddenly derived of the drug. As a consequence those past 50, instead of 60 years of age are to be allowed to continue smoking. There is also evidence of tho existence of strong forces in opposition to the restrictive regulations. The . Consolidated Opium Tax Bureau, an official institution, issued a proclamation urging tho cultivation of the poppy for the sake of the revenue. In some districts, subterfuges have been resorted to. Thus, at Lofan, a town in Kwangtung, it is said, licenses have been freely issued, practically certifying that the entire smoking population is over 60 years of age, and, therefore, entitled to clemency. In Kansu more poppy is grown than over. In one district an official urged the people to plant it for all they were worth, the consequence being that five times as much as before was sown. More serious is tho evidence that morphia and other drugs are taking the place of opium. Dr. Main, of the Church Missionary Hospital at Hanchow, reports that “anti-opium pills containing morphia and other drugs in soino form have been freely distributed by the gentry, and that shops for the sale of these pills are opened 'everywhere and doing a roaring trade. Some have boon cured, hut most of thoso who- frequented the opium dens have simply replaced the. pipe by morphia pills, and the last state is worse than the first.” There has been much discussion as to the effect ol opium smoking if indulged in in moderation. Lord Ronaldshay says that an absurdly exaggerated language is frequently used. He states that his coolies in Such’uan carried loads of 1331 b each and marched from 20 to 30 miles a day. Every one of them smoked opium, but he could detect no sign of undermined constitutions or impaired health. Lotd Ronaldshay is of oninion that the immediate. abolition of the importation of Indian opium into China would no., make it easier for the Chinese Government to stamp out the vice, as it would give a great stimulus to production in Ohiua. The other chief factors in the situation, besides thoso already mentioned, are that China derives a revenue of between £6,000,000 and £7,000, : 000 from home-grown opium, and oi £830,000 from imported opium; that the value of the opium crop to its cultivators is considerably greater than that of an equal crop of cereals; and that a large proportion of officials arc not only opium smokers- themselves, but pecuniarily interested in its production.