CHINA'S PRESENT AND FUTURE
THE REFORM PARTY'S PLEA FOR BRITISH
BENEVOLENT NEUTRALITY*
Mar. 1897
*This article, which will probably form part of a book we are writ-ting together, is the result of a collaboration between Dr. Sun Yat Senand myself, in which he is responsible for the facts and for the opinionsexpressed; I, only for their selection from the mass of material, for theirarrangement, and for the form in which they now appear.-Edwin Collins. It is generally admitted that China's present condition and fu-ture prospects are far from satisfactory; but, as I venture to think,no European has yet fully realized the extent and far-reaching con-sequences of the corruption which makes China a reproach anddanger among nations, or knows the extent of her latent recuper-ative forces, and of the possibilities that exist for her salvation fromwithin.
By adducing facts which none but a Chinaman can fully knowor adequately interpret, and of which the full significance can onlybecome clear when they are described in detail, I hope to showthat even China's physical evils are of moral origin; and that, nev-ertheless, the apparent inability and unwillingness of the Chineseto develop the country's vast internal resources and to resist ex-ternal attack, are not inherent in the Chinese, but are entirely dueto artificially produced causes and to artificially induced tenden-cies, which the Reform Party exists to remove or counteract. It is too generally forgotten that the Chinese and the ChineseGovernment are not convertible terms; but that the throne and allthe highest offices, military and civil, are filled by foreigners. Thesefacts should always be allowed their due weight in passing judg-ment on the Chinese for conduct and characteristics which the Tar-tars have made prevalent; and, even more especially, whencalculating the chances of internal reform, supposing it possible
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1987 63

to effect the radical change of government for which we, of the Re-form Party, hope. This only by way of parenthesis; but it is worthremembering, when the character of all Chinese official life, whichI am about to delineate is under consideration. Nothing short of the entire overthrow of the present utterlycorrupt regime, and the establishment of good government and apure administration by native Chinese with at first, European ad-vice, and, for some years, European administrative assistance, caneffect any improvement whatever. The mere introduction of rail-ways or any such appliances of the material civilization of Europe,would (even were it as feasible as those who put their faith in LiHung Chang seem to think) rather make matters worse, by open-ing up new channels for extortion, fraud, and peculation. That thisis no overstatement of the case for the Reform Party's contentionwill perhaps only become clear when I have cited concrete exam-ples of such failure in the past, and described, from my own per-sonal knowledge and experience, the public and official life of China,and that with a minuteness of detail which might prove wearisomebut for the startling-nay, almost incredible-nature of the facts tobe revealed.
Since the written law of China is fairly good, and most of theworst abuses are cleverly worked into compatibility with the ob-servance of its strict letter, it is not wonderful that the majority ofEnglishmen whose stay in China is only temporary, and who mostlyhave for their informants members of the very class whose inter-est it is to conceal the truth, gain but a very imperfect knowledgeof the true state of affairs. There are, indeed, Englishmen who knowthe truth; but they have become, for the most part, to all intentsand purposes, Chinese and members of a corrupt official class, who,like many I could name, out-Mandarin the Mandarins. Of myselfit may be sufficient to say that before I adopted the study of med-icine, my early years were spent in intimate association with mem-bers of the Chinese official class, and that my friends were anxious
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 64

for me to purchase an entry into public life, as very many of myacquaintance have done within the last ten years. Thus I have hadevery opportunity and incentive to study the subject on which Iam now writing.
The people of China suffer from four great and chronic afflic-tions: famine, flood, pestilence, and insecurity of life and property.This is a matter of common knowledge. Not so, however, to whatan enormous extent all these troubles-even the first three-are pre-ventible and are secondary as to their causation. There is, in truth,one and one only cause of these-and I may say of all-China's ill:-that is the universal and systematic corruption which is directlyresponsible for famine, flood, and pestilence, no less than for theperennial flourishing of large hordes of armed robbers and banditti. The connection may not by strikingly obvious between offi-cial corruption and such physical evils as pestilence, scarcity of food,and supe abundance of water in the wrong place; yet it is not theless real, and is that of cause and effect. For it cannot be too stronglyinsisted on that none of these is a necessary consequence of thephysical features or climatic characteristics of the country; or evenof indolence and ignorance among the masses; but that they arebrought about mainly by the official corruption, which is also ans-werable, in great measure, for such ignorance and indolence as pre-vail and which may, doubtless, be rightly named among contributingcauses.
Take, first, the case of the floods arising from the overflowingof the Hwang Ho (Yellow River). There is an official known as theHo-tao-tchung-tu(Viceroy of the course of the River), with a largenumber of subordinate officers, whose special duty it is to preserveand keep in order the banks of the river and to guard against ac-cidents, by seeing that the embankments are adequate and sound.These officials are, however, practically without salary * , and havepurchased their positions at immense cost. They must, therefore,
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 65

make money, and this they can do in many ways when an em-bankment bursts and has to be reconstructed. Thus it is their con-stant hope that floods may come, and far from taking precautionsto prevent these terrible visitations which lay waste whole provin-ces and cost thousands of lives, they actually take care to producea flood by artificial means if, for the demands of their ruthless cu-pidity. Nature seem too dilatory in the matter. When there is notenough rain to make the river overflow its banks, it is quite com-mon for men to be sent out to damage the embankments and socause "an accident." This is a source of profit in a variety of ways.First, there is the pay received for repairing the breach, then thereis the profit obtained by docking the wages of the workmen em-ployed and by employing fewer workmen than are supposed to bepaid; and, yet another, on the cost of materials, etc.; then the lackof food consequent upon the destruction of rice-fields causes wide-spread distress, and relief funds pour in both from Government andfrom charitable individuals-relief funds which never, in anythinglike their full amount, reach the people for whom they are intended.Finally, there is always a promotion, by way of "recompense forpublic services," conferred on the officers under whom an embank-ment has been repaired.
*Further on it will be seen that nearly all Chinese officials find itpays best not to draw, at all, their small salaries, but to leave them as aset-off against fines.
All this may sound incredible, but so well known is it in Chinathat there is a popular saying which runs;-"The best cure for theHwang Ho, and the best safeguard against floods, would be to be-head all the officials and leave the river to itself." For famine in China, neither over population, nor any scarcityof food due to natural causes, is responsible. It is generally the re-sult of exorbitant local taxation (Liken) added to faulty as well asinadequate means of communication-want of railways and roads
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 66

and imperfectly developed and artificially obstructed water transit.All these tributary causes will presently be seen to rise in the deadsea of corruption whose foul mists form the miasmatic atmosphereof our official life, and whose phosphorescence it is, alone, thatserves to gild the obscurity in which the Court of Peking is veiled. At the present time there is famine in Kwang-si, formerly China'sgreat rice-producing province, whence many others drew their sup-plies. Now the rich rice fields have gone out of cultivation. For soexorbitant have become the duties levied, that the farmers longsince found it did not pay to grow more rice than was actuallyneeded for their own consumption and to meet the immediate lo-cal demand. Even "Free Trade," when only partial and imposed fromwithout, has, in this case, defeated its own object; for before thetreaty of foreign commerce admitted rice duty free from Siam andAnnam, Kwang-tung(Canton) was entirely dependent on Kwang-si for its supply. Now, the foreign rice being admitted free whilethat from Kwang-si has to pay heavy Liken, the latter has been socompletely driven out of the market as to cause fertile land to fallbelow the margin of cultivation. Yet native rice could be grown ata prime cost of far less than that of foreign rice. It is the Liken onlythat has ruined the Kwang-si farmer, and is responsible for thefamine.
Again, often there is famine in one district and a superabun-dance of food in another not far distant; but the people who arestarving cannot for want of railways, or even of proper roads, getat the food which may be wasting a few miles off. Although I shallelsewhere deal fully with the subject, I may here say that it is notnative superstition among the masses, as is generally supposed, butofficial corruption and Tartar fear of reform, added to the notor-ious insecurity of all invested capital, that alone prevents the de-velopment of a proper railway system. Why, however, the excellentnatural facilities for water transit and communication are not furtherdeveloped and are practically useless, may be surmised from the
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 67

state of affairs of which the following experience of my own is onlya typical example:-
I was staying in the city of Siukwan on the North River of Can-ton, and wished to go, by boat, to the next city, Ying-Tak-a dis-tance of from thirty to forty English miles, the regular fare for thejourney being about 5 or 6 tael (15s. or 18s.). Yet the boatmen,one and all, refused to take me, even when offered 20 tael (£3),because of their well-justified fear of detention by the river policefor the purpose of levying blackmail. To understand this it mustbe explained that all boatmen can legally be called upon to assistthe Government by the transport of prisoners with their escort,from town to town, upon the rivers. They are also bound to waituntil the prisoner and his guard are ready to start. This practiceis made the excuse for a most vexatious system of blackmail. Thepolice do not ask for money- they simply order the boatmen to"wait, as there is a prisoner to take back" to the port whence theycame. There may be no prisoner at all, but that does not matter;the boatmen, unless they offer a sufficiently large bribe for per-mission to return, are kept waiting for perhaps a month or moreuntil there is one. That fear of this system was the only reason ofmy being refused by the boatmen is proved by the fact that, as soonas I could convince them I was a persona grata with the magistrateof Ying-Tak, and could guarantee immunity from the river police,a boat took me thither for the small sum of 4 tael (12s.)! There are cargo boats, chartered by merchants who have alreadybribed the Customs (under whom are the river police), which areexempt from this kind of blackmail; but they have to pay very heavyduties as well as bribes, the combined burden of which is so greatas to totally paralyse all trade-foreign as well as native. Nominally, the duties are not very high, but when it is remem-bered that the same article has to pay duty many times over, andthat each douane is a centre of complex bribery, it can be easily
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 68

imagined how the cost is enhanced long before the consumer isreached. Between places as near to each other as Fatshan and Can-ton (about twelve English miles), there are one regular douane forthe collection of duty, and at least four or five "searching stations"where, unless satisfactory bribes are paid, goods are wilfully de-stroyed in the process of "examination" and delays, detentions andvexatious charges make the life of the merchant a misery, and pro-fitable trade an impossibility. Suppose, for instance, a bottle con-taining oil be found on which duty has been paid; if the certificateonly mentions the oil, the merchant to whom it belongs will becharged with attempting to smuggle "lassware", and may be im-prisoned for attempting to defraud the Customs, until he pays abribe.
Not only is famine in China caused by this interference withinternal communication and traffic on the rivers, but also the lossinflicted upon European trade is very great indeed. China has, atpresent, much commerce at her treaty ports on the sea coast andon the Yangtze River; but this only affects a narrow strip of landadjacent to these ports, and foreign goods rarely reach the inter-ior. Imagine the effect on trade in England if goods sent from Lon-don to Brighton not only had to pay duty several times over, butinvolved their dealers in a risk of imprisonment and exposure toall kinds of extortion at four or five intermediate stations. The ef-fect on English trade in China, produced by the working of the inter-nal customs system, may be judged by noting what happens to goodsof English manufacture sent, say, from Canton to Siukwan, a dis-tance of about 200 miles. Before entering Canton they have paid5 per cent maritime duty. They have then to pay Liken to the Can-ton authorities before being sent out of the city. At Fatshan (12miles out) they have to pay duty, and again at Sinam, about 30 milesfurther on, and again on entering the North River at Lupau, afteronly another 30 or 40 miles they have to pay duty, and yet againdestination duty) on reaching Siukwan. In addition to these fiveregular stations for the collection of dues, there are numerous
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 69

"inspection stations" where bribes are also exacted, as above de-scribed. Naturally, by the time the goods reach the interior, theirprice has been increased by considerably over 100 per cent, andno less naturally, except in the case of articles absolutely neces-sary to life, they are practically unsaleable.
Since, even in these circumstances, China is regarded as a goodmarket for English goods, how would not the trade of England ben-efit if these exorbitant duties and the system of bribery were al-together abolished?
If floods and famine result from artificial, rather than from nat-ural causes, this can certainly be shown to be no less true of pes-tilence, which need not be more common at present in China thanelsewhere. The climate is not unhealthy-at any rate for natives-and in the country districts the health of the people is generallyexcellent. It is in the towns and cities only that pestilence arises,owing to the total lack, in them, of anything like sanitation or of-ficial organization of preventive means. In almost every part of theChinese Empire the country districts are entirely free from pes-tilence until disease is imported from the towns which are over-crowded, filthy in the extreme, and supplied with unspeakablypolluted water.
That official corruption is solely responsible for the insanitarycondition of the towns may readily be seen from the case of thewater supply. In the European sense of the term there is no watersupply in the whole of the Chinese Empire. In Canton and Shang-hai, for instance, where things are somewhat better than else-where, the sewage flows direct into the river, and from the veryplace of the outflow the people take their drinking water! In Can-ton, about ten years ago, a Chinese company was formed for thepurpose of establishing waterworks to supply the city with uncon-taminated water. For such a scheme, quiescent toleration, at least,might have been expected from the authorities; but official greed
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 70

is not to be daunted even by the fear of pestilence. A well-knownofficial demanded such an enormous bribe before he would allowany work to be begun, that the company, unable to pay it, had togive up the undertaking. Another company was formed a few yearsago in Canton, also by native merchants. It was called the "FertiliserCompany," and had as its object the contracting for sweeping andcleansing all the streets of the city and the conversion of the re-fuse, so obtained, into manure. So enamoured of the scheme werethe masses of the people that they called meetings of their guilds,and through their representatives, expressed their willingness topay for the proposed work of scavenging; and, as the company wouldhave also made a profit on the sale of its fertilisers, it would doubt-less have proved a flourishing concern. Here, again, however, theMandarins interfered and demanded bribes to such an impossiblefigure that this undertaking had also to be dropped. When even financial and industrial enterprises, undertakenmore in the interests of public health than in those of the share-holders, are made abortive by the corrupt greed of the civil author-ities, it is hardly to be wondered at that purely commercialenterprise should meet with a similar fate, and that would be ca-pitalists should fear to risk their money in a country where the rightsof property are as little regarded as are those of life and public health,by the authorities who should safeguard both.
But the effects of corruption in making property and life in-secure throughout the country, are more directly felt through thecreation of robber-bands already alluded to. Most of these robbersare disbanded soldiers, left armed and starving, often thousands ofmiles away from their homes. The Government, it is true, allowseach soldier a certain sum to pay his expenses home; but this moneyis generally kept by the officers who simply turn the soldiers loosewhen done with to shift for themselves, and shifting for themselvesmeans preying on the public. But there are other banditti as wellwho are regularly protected by each district magistrate so long as
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 71

they confine their depredations to districts outside that over whichhe rules. Did the space allotted to me permit I could give some cur-ious details illustrative of this statement. I must, however, pass onto the consideration of other matters, merely noting here that someof the worst robbers are soldiers, still in the Imperial service, whogo on their marauding expeditions with their coats turned insideout, and then, when pursued, again turn their coats so that, beingin uniform, no one dare molest them. Both in the cities and in therural districts, rich people keep their own guards, while the largemanufacturers, and the owners of plantations, passenger boats, etc.,not only have to pay the Government taxes, but also a regular an-nual tribute to the robber chiefs in return for immunity and pro-tection from attack. The police, or rather those city soldiers whoare supposed to do the work of the police, are often the organizersof daring and extensive robberies. An incident of this kind occur-red quite recently in Canton, when the police superintendent andhis men robbed the local silk weaving factory of all they could layhands on, and the Governor when appealed to for redress, punishedthe leaders, not of the robbers, but of his petitioners. So universal and deeply rooted is the corruption from whichall these evils spring, that partial and gradual reform is impossibleand no change for the better can be hoped for except from a ra-dical alteration in the administrative system. For under the presentregime any official who wishes to be honest is, nevertheless, com-pelled to follow in the footsteps of the dishonest ones, or retire frompublic life altogether. He must accept bribes in order to pay thebribes exacted of him by his superiors; and he must connive at allkinds of corruption both in his subordinates and in those who holdhigher rank or office than his own.
How inevitable is all this will be obvious when some accounthas been given of the paths by which official life can be enteredupon, and of the different methods of promotion.
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 72

There are four ways of entering public life in China, and of se-caring promotion:-
Through examination.
Through military service.
Through obtaining recognition of "distinguished merit." By purchase pure and simple.
The first of these avenues to public life is the oldest, and, inevery way, the purest and the best. In former years, even since theManchu Dynasty began their rule in China, the literary examina-tions were, generally speaking, honestly conducted and the offi-cial did not begin his career of corruption until after the end of hiscourse of study and examination. But, even here, corruption has,of recent years, crept in; so that now it is not at all uncommon forthe "students" to be personated at the examinations by learned butdishonest professors who make a living by being examined, underdifferent names, over and over again. The examiners are also notinfrequently bribed.
When the student has in his own district, passed the exami-nations entitling him to take the first degree, he must present him-self, at intervals of three years, to be examined for the second andthird degrees, at the provincial centre and at the capital, respec-tively. When the third degree has been conferred the candidate isa Mandarin, and is eligible for an official position. At this point, how-ever, begins the bribery, without which the most brilliant exam-inee might just as well have remained an ignoramus or stayed athome, for all the chances he has of holding any office, howeverhumble, in the State. There is, however, one more examinationto pass at Peking, after the third degree has been conferred. Thisis the Imperial Examination, as a result of which the Emperor di-vides the candidates into three classes:-- (1) Fellows of the Imper-ial College, to remain in Peking; (2) the Magistrate class; (3) thosewhom the Emperor rejects altogether. The third class must either
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 73

retire into private life or enter official life by one of the more cor-rupt avenues indicated above. It is from the second class that thedistrict magistrates and all the local officials outside Peking-so faras they have entered by way of examination-are drawn. Each ofthese is at once sent off to the capital of one of the provinces, dig-nified by the rank of "district magistrate," and eligible for any ap-pointment which the provincial authority may see fit to confer onhim.
Immediately on arrival he has to bribe the Viceroy and his sub-ordinates, and since many candidates may be sent to the same dis-trict at the same time, the few vacant appointments are, of course,conferred upon those who pay the highest bribes. But even werethere no competition for posts, the candidate would have to bribethe Governor; for if he refused to do so, the latter could indefin-itely postpone giving him a berth. Even the Emperor's special war-rant, assigning him a special district, would not save him. A candidatewith great family influence might succeed in prevailing upon theOfficial Board at Peking to protest; but even then the governor needonly reply that so-and-so "is too young," or "too inexperienced,"and "that a deputy has been temporarily (i.e., for an indefinite per-iod) appointed to allow the magistrate time to make a further studyof official and administrative business." If he be at once successfulin obtaining a position, promotion follows, automatically, at the endof three years. There is also, however, a triennial "general calcu-lation of merit" in each district; so that promotion for recorded meritmay fall to the lot of a magistrate who has only been appointedone or two years. This triennial calculation of merit is a very pro-fitable affair for the Governor. The officials under him are"meritorious" in proportion to the amount they pay him, and any-one who refused altogether to bribe the Governor would certainlybe declared "unfit to continue in office," and dismissed; and fromthe decision of the Governor there is no appeal. In such circum-stances an honest man disgusted with the corruption of official life,would retire; a bad one would simply make a fresh start, re-entering
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 74

public life by purchase.
Prior to each promotion the official has to be received in au-dience by the Emperor. But this is a very costly affair. For no one'spresence in the Capital City is recognised until he has bribed thegatekeeper to register his name as having passed into the city andduly report his advent. That Li Hung Chang had to pay an enor-mous sum in tips and bribes-over one million sterling-at his lastvisit to Peking is a matter of common knowledge; but the narra-tion of two instances that have come directly under my notice, mayperhaps serve to make the English reader realise, even more vi-vidly, how inexorable and how shamelessly open, is the systema-tic corruption.
The governor of Kiang-su Province, who was an intimate friendof Prince Kung, thought to take advantage of his great influenceby coming into the city without bribing the gatekeeper. When hecalled upon his royal friend, Prince Kung exclaimed: "When didyou come? I cannot possibly recognise your presence, for I havenot seen your name in the Chung-Wen Men Report," and he hadto return and pay double the usual bribe to the gate keeper beforePrince Kung would receive him. Even more remarkable is the caseof Tso Tchung Tong, one of the greatest of our generals, who hav-ing suppressed the Mahommedan rebellion in Turkestan, had ac-quired for the Celestial Empire territory about half as large as Chinaitself. The Emperor, who held him in high esteem, wished to seehim, and sent a special sommons calling him to an audience at Pek-ing. When on his coming to the city, the Chung-Wen Men, or gate-keeper, demanded 80,000 tael, he refused to pay anything. But evenhe was not officially reported, and after he had remained severalmonths in Peking, waiting for an audience, the Emperor issued an-other edict, asking why he had never come. Tso Tchung Tong re-sponded by telling the whole story, adding that having spent allhis own and his family's money on the support of soldiers duringthe war, he had no means with which to pay such a bribe. He
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 75

appealed to the Emperor graciously to relieve him of the impo-sition. In reply the Emperor said: "This (the feeing of the gatekeeper) is a general and ancient usage, and the viceroy and gen-eralissimo must submit to it like another"; and as Tso Tchung Tongreally had not the money, his friends raised a subscription, the Dow-ager Empress herself contributing half the required sum. This lengthy digression may, perhaps, be excused for the sakeof the light it throws on the imperial attitude towards corruptpractices.
Of course no newly-promoted magistrate even attempts to evadepayment of the bribes that alone can open the way into thepresence of the Emperor, and after feeing and bribing a whole armyof court officials, he has his audience and takes his new title of-say, Taotai or Prefect Magistrate. A process, similar to that indi-cated above, only each time more costly than before, has to be gonethrough with every promotion, and all this to obtain appointmentsthat are practically unsalaried. it is true that, nominally, there isa salary attached to each appointment. Not only, however, are thesesalaries small out of all proportion to the mere expenses inciden-tal to holding office, but they are hardly ever claimed at all, for re-asons, the force of which it will not be difficult to appreciate. Thesalary of any official, before it can be drawn at the Provincial Trea-sury, has had to pass through so many hands and pay so manycommissions that the payee would only receive about 30 or 40 percent, of the original amount. Now it is quite common for an officialto be fined a whole year's salary. This he would have to pay in full,unless he could show that his past year's salary still lay unclaimedat the office of the Provincial Treasury. Thus an official with £100a year, on being fined a year's salary, would lose about £60 or £70by having drawn his pay.

Thus, although there are salaries and even a fund for expenses-called "a support of purity"-attached to all the offices of State, civil
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 76

and military, it is no exaggeration to say that the officials, one andall, are somewhat similarly placed to the waiters at some Englishrestaurants, who pay liberally and work without wages, only for theprivilege of being in a position to receive tips. It will be readily seen that as soon as the new Taotai is backin his district he must begin "squeezing" all those below him; notonly to recoup himself for the expenses incurred, and to live him-self and support his numerous relatives, clansmen, and dependants,but also to meet the expenses of his next promotion at the endof another three years.
If all this is true of the section of the official class that has en-tered public life through the comparatively clean and narrow wayof hard work, genuine, if useless study, and literary examination,with how much more force must it apply to the men who have comein by the other more devious paths?
Promotions for military service are perhaps the most rapid. It was in this way that Li Hung Chang entered public life. Im-mediately on passing his third examination, instead of becoming"an outside officer" (District Magistrate) or an "inside officer"(Member of the Imperial College at Peking) he returned home, ent-ered the army through the influence of Marquis Tseng's father, andwas, in a few months, promoted to be Taotai of Fukien, to reachwhich position by the regular method of promotion would havetaken six years. He never even visited Fukien at all, and yet in an-other month or so he was again promoted; this time to be Futai(Governor) of Kiang-su. It was while he was military adviser, or Sec-retary to Marquis Tseng (General-in-Chief) that, the former Gov-ernor of Kiang-su having been killed, Li Hung Chang had theopportunity of recommending himself for the vacant appointment.The General, who liked and admired him, forwarded a memorialto the Emperor craving the appointment for him, but, on
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 77

reflection, saw that this was perhaps stretching favoritism too far,since it meant the transformation of a Taotai straightway into a Fu-tai, a process that should take at least nine years. A second mes-senger was, therefore, dispatched to recall the memorial. Too late,however; for Li, anticipating that this might happen, had taken careto induce the first messenger to travel post haste. With the aid of General Gordon and other foreigners Li suc-ceeded in freeing his new province from the Tai Ping, and was soonpromoted to the position of Viceroy. How immense a fortune Lihas been able to amass is too widely known to need farther men-tion here. One source of official wealth I had ample opportunityof observing when I was in Tientsin just before the beginning ofthe Japanese war. Officers of all ranks, both military and civil, cameflocking in from all parts of the Empire to seek commands, butbefore their petitions could even reach Li, they had to pay im-mense bribes to his attendants.
When a military appointment has been made, and the warrantis ready for issue in the hands of the Clerk of the Yamûn, the off-icer has to pay for its delivery a sum proportionate to the valueof the appointment. Then, as soon as he has his warrant, the off-icer commences business by selling the commands under him. Onlythose who have some kind of military rank can, however, buy com-mands in the army; but, as will presently appear, military rank canbe acquired in many curious ways. It is, for example, not at all un-common for men who have never seen a battle in their lives tobe promoted to the rank of Colonel. By citing one out of many in-stances that have come directly under my own observation, I can,perhaps, best illustrate the possibility of such promotions. A young man from my native town entered the army, and, bydint of hard fighting and real merit rose to the rank of Brigadier-General; but with him, at every promotion, rose his brother, whomI will call X, who had not met him for years, and who was
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 78

peacefully occupied as cook in a distant opium den. This is howit was done. The soldier, after each engagement in which he dis-tinguished himself, reported imaginary deeds of valour performedby this brother, and his word was taken. One day the cook in theopium den, who had never even seen a battle, read his name inthe Gazette, and found, to his surprise, that he had attained theank of Colonel in the Imperial forces.
Military service is, in many ways, very remunerative to the off-icers. They enrol any men they like, and they always draw the payfor many more men than are actually in the army. Abount 70 percent, of the full number of men nominally serving and for whompay is drawn is the average strength of the forces, even under LiHung Chang's comparatively honest officers, while elsewhere, 100men on paper usually menas but 40 or 50 in the flesh. On reviewdays the officers engage a sufficient number of soldiers by the dayto make the army look all right. But there are other sources of pro-fit besides dealing in dummy soldiers. The live ones have to wearuniforms, and to eat, and both food and clothes are supplied at ex-tortionate prices by the officers; so that of the five tael per monthpaid by Government for each soldier, about one-fifth or less reachesthe pockets of the men. All this refers to the "braves" who are onlyengaged during war time and are disbanded the moment the fight-ing is over wherever they may happen to be, and nearly alwayswithout the means of returning to their homes, thus keeping upthe supply of armed robbers all over the Empire. As to the soldiersof the standing army in times of peace, they are, with the excep-tion of the Manchu garrison, so wretchedly paid, that its strengthexists only on paper. The men enlist and regularly draw their pay-about 3s. a month-and have scarcely any further connection withthe military service. The few that go on duty, in the city gates liveentirely on bribes. The Manchu force under the Tartar General, onthe other hand, is well paid; but these soldiers do no fighting; theyare only engaged in guarding the city against Chinses rebles. Theylive in a separate quarter to that occupied by the Chinese, on
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 79

whom they often make unprovoked attacks. Thus fights betweenthe Chinese and the Tartar soldiery are of common occurrence,and as these Tartar soldiers are not under the jurisdiction of theCivil Law, their outrages invariably go unpunished. Naturally thereis no love lost between the city guards and the native Chinese. That promotion for military service means, in China, little morethan a decent pretext for the purchase of entry into official life,and of posts of profit, is, perhaps, by this time sufficiently obvious,yet another fact will help to make it even more clear. The Gen-erals in the Chinese army are in the habit of mentioning for pro-motion a large number of soldiers who exist only in theirimagination. They thus obtain possession of a large number of pro-motion papers made out for non-existent soldiers bearing the mostcommon Chinese names. The paper-Corporal Smith or Private Jonescontinues to be regularly promoted, so that in time the Generalhas a whole collection of commissions for various ranks of the ser-vice, ready for sale to the first applicant whose family or clan nameis, say, Smith or Jones, and who is willing to pay the market price.Private soldiers also who prefer money to promotion are in the habitof changing their names and selling their papers to civilians de-sirous of acquiring military rank by combined purchase and per-sonation. Thus there is little to favourably distinguish "promotionfor military service" from the fourth avenue to official life, or merepurchase. It has, however, a semblance of decency and is some-times combined with a certain amount of public service. The third method of rising in the world, "promotion for spe-cial merit," is even less honest, and need hardly be considered byitself; for the "special merit" has to be recorded by officials whoare, without exception, corrupt and dependent for their livelihoodon bribes; so that, unless they recommend members of their ownfamily or clan, they will certainly only see "special merit" in thosewho open their eyes with gold.

China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 80

The fourth method of entering public life, i.e., by purchase pureand simple, is quite recognised by law, and is becoming more com-mon every year. Even such a highly-placed official as Chang, thelate minister to the United States, had passed no examinations, buthad simply bought his first official post.
Whenever the Government is in financial difficulties, and re-quires money for a specific purpose, it "opens a subscription," andthose who give a certain sum obtain a rank. Moreover, it is not un-common for companies to be formed for the purpose of paying thebribes and other expenses attendant upon the purchase of a civilappointment. One of the members of this Magistrate Manufactur-ing Limited Liability Company (or, as it is called in Chinese, back-flogging company, because of the prospective magistrate's methodsof extracting money from the people), gets the appointment, andthe other shareholders divide with him the spoils of office. Otherwould-be officials borrow the necessary money and pay it back withinterest before many years have elapsed.
It costs rather more to buy one's way into the Chinese civilservice than to enter by examination: otherwise the chances of ob-taining promotion for the two classes of candidates are practicallyequal. When once the rank of District Magistrate and an appoint-ment have been bought, further promotions follow regularly, asalready described.
I have tried to made it clear that corruption and bribery, nepo-tism, and the unblushing sale and purchase of influence and po-sition, are, in China, no mere accident, or result of occasional orindividual cupidity, circumstance, or temptation, but are univer-sal, and the only possible condition of accepting or retaining of pub-lic service-whether civil or military-under the presentregime-that to be a public man in China, however high or low,means to be incurably corrupt, and that to renounce corrupt prac-tices is to renounce public life altogether.

China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 81

Thus no change for the better can be hoped for from the in-fusion of new blood into the official class, since the very conditionsof official existence exclude the possibility of honesty. Nor can im-provement be hoped for from the spread of education; for not onlyis it the recognised interest of the official class to keep the massesignorant, but also the officials themselves are absolutely ignorant,some of them even unable to read and write, and even those thathave passed the examinations being only trained in a useless"literature and literary style of composition," but totally withoutknowledge of the world's affairs or even of the needs and possi-bilities of their own country, and of the laws administered in theirnames by poorly-paid clerks.
What has been said of the condition of the army and of theway in which military commands are given and used, has perhapsmade it unnecessary to explain that it is not want of physical cour-age or of patriotism in the native Chinese, but the prevalence ofan incurably corrupt system, kept up by their Tartar rulers, thatmakes China a ready prey for any other nation, and explains oureasy defeat at the hands of the Japanese. I may in this place alludeto the attempted regeneration of the navy under the English Ad-miral Lang, who only failed because the presence of an incorrupt-ible officer was felt to be intolerable, and led therefore to an intrigueand series of insults that practically compelled his resignation. Someidea of how official corruption affects China's preparedness for re-sisting external attack, may be gathered from the recital of an in-cident that took place shortly before the outbreak of the Japanesewar. A young naval officer, one of my personal friends, who shortlyafterwards quitted the service in disgust, told me that he had just hadto sign a receipt for several tons of coal-dust, described and paid foras gunpowder! I may add that the officers of the Government gun-boats have practically a monopoly in smuggling, in which they do alarge and lucrative business; and the southern squadron of the navyis entirely and exclusively employed in carrying the mandarins andtheir families whither they wish to go, and in smuggling.
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 82

Here in England it seems to be supposed that China's regen-eration will begin, and the development of her vast natural resour-ces will become possible, when Li Hung Chang and others who maybe convinced of the utility of railways and telegraphs, Europeanmilitary and naval organization, etc., etc., enlighten their compat-riots and attempt the introduction of all this machinery of civili-sation. As well might one expect the conversion of cannibals tovegetarianism by the introduction of silver forks and Sheffieldcutlery.
A concrete example or two may perhaps better serve to carryconviction than many arguments.
European innovations have been introduced within the pastthirty years. We have arsenals and docks opened in Tientsin, Foo-chow, and Shanghai; there are military and naval colleges in Tien-tsin and Nanking, and there are now telegraphs all over the Empire;there is a railway between Tientsin and Shan-Hai-Kwan; and thereare steamers on the coast and on the rivers, belonging to the Gov-ernment and to merchants: but there is no improvement result-ing, or to be hoped for, from any or all of these modernimprovements. In the arsenals no real work has been done; onlya large number of appointments and "jobs" have been created. Thepermanent expert heads of departments, engineers, and so forth,are badly paid, and have absolutely no freedom or voice in the man-agement of work they understand, but are altogether governed by"superior" officials, who are not only entirely ignorant, but haveno time to learn before they are promoted and their place is takenby others. These temporary officials issue contradictory orderswhich have to be obeyed by the skilled foremen, so that, so far asany manufacture is attempted, waste of materials is the sole re-sult. That however, is not very often, since it pays the officials bet-ter to import arms and ammunition on which they can make bothprofit and commission.

China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 83

The telegraphs were first established by merchants under Gov-ernment sanction, but afterwards came into the hands of the Gov-ernment. Since that time all the local superintendents have beenappointed through the nomination of relatives or through"influence," and no annual balance-heet has been issued. The ex-ecution of repairs is here, as in the case of the river, a very pro-fitable part of the business. When, however, a new station isestablished, little or no profit can be made as the material is sup-plied by the central authority. This accounts for a curious phenom-enon that strikes the foreigner:--In the country districts the telegraphposts are much lower than in the towns, though all were of the samelength when supplied. A case explaining the shrinkage came un-der my personal observation. The superintendents cut a few feetoff each telegraph post before its erection and sell the wood to lo-cal carpenters. It is thought that native superstition and conser-vatism form the chief obstacle in the way of telegraph and railwayenterprise, but this is not the case. When the telegraph was firstset up in Hunan the posts and wires were immediately pulled downby the people, and it was publicly reported that the masses weretoo anti-foreign in their sentiments to allow such an innovation.The private and true reason was very different. The superinten-dent had not paid his workmen in full, and it was these workpeo-ple who started the riots and destroyed the product of their unpaidlabour. It is the officials and not the masses who are anti-foreign,the Tartars and not the native Chinese; and it is these officials whomEngland defended from the Taipings, who instigate the anti-Christianrisings and massacres, afterwards throwing all the blame upon thepeople. Chow Han, the famous anti-foreign agitator, is a Taotai, andis looked upon by the official class as one of the greatest heroesin China. The Tientsin Railway is appreciated by the people, andhas a large traffic, but it is bankrupt because it is in the hands ofthe unscrupulous official administration, whose members manageto appropriate all the profits, with the result that, of course, therailway is bankrupt; and Chinese capitalists, who understand thereason why, will not be likely to invest in any similar undertaking.
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 84

As the railways now under construction are to be financed entirelyby Russian and Chinese capital, it is not very difficult to foreseewhat will be the nationality of those who will pay for and controlthe line.
The Steam Navigation Company was originally established bythe famous merchant, Tong-King-Sing; and, at first, no official inter-ference was allowed. The concern, however, seemed likely to bea success. Then the Government got hold of it, as it does of everyprivate undertaking that shows signs of becoming profitable; and,of course, the steamboat company is now as corrupt as any otherGovernment Department, and each commander must buy his ap-pointment. It is thus evident that China cannot be reformed by theintroduction of material civilisation, but only by the extirpation ofofficial corruption, this official corruption becomes worse every year.Things that would have been regarded as shocking even ten yearsago, are now quite common. Never, until quite recently, was therea fixed tariff of bribes in connection with the granting of officialpositions. Now, so shameless have the authorities grown, that thelate viceroy, Li Han Chang-brother of Li Hung Chang-has actu-ally fixed a regular price for every office in the provinces of thetwo Kwangs (Kwang-Si and Kwang-Tung).
The whole people is ready for a change; there are plenty of hon-est men ready and willing to enter public life; the army is so cor-rupt, that even were it not to a great extent leavened withsympathisers with the Reform Party, it could not be depended onby the Government. It is only from the Manchu soldiers or fromshortsighted selfish interference of foreigners that the Reform Partyhas anything whatever to fear. Indeed, one object I have in writingthis article is to prove to the English people that it is in the inter-ests of Europe generally, and of England in particular, to allow usto succeed, and that the policy often recommended (as, for instance,by "L." in the August number of this Review), that of protectingthe present Government, is entirely mistaken. That writer says that
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 85

England ought to protect the present regime from every attack, na-tive or foreign. One thing he fails to recognise is that it is the Man-chu or Tartar element alone, and the officials whose bread dependson the maintenance of the present system, who are inimical to otherraces, and that if the pure Chinese were left to themselves, and leftto consolidate their own country, they would be at peace, and beready to cultivate friendly relations with all the world. To adequately describe the aims and ideals of the Reform Partywould; alone, require a separate article. Here it may be enough tosay that the benevolent neutrality of Great Britain, and the otherPowers, is all the aid needed to enable us to make the present sys-tem give place to one that is not corrupt, and that even if tradewere temporarily disorganized it would soon be vastly improved.While the development of the natural wealth of China would en-rich the whole world, the reform of her government and admin-istration, and of her army would make her impregnable to anyforeign attack-even from Russia-and prevent the disruption which,like the partition of Turkey, could hardly fail of producing seriousEuropean complications.
Sun Yat Sen
China's Present & Future, Mar. 1897 86