Tsingtao

“ Though there are still mighty guns pointing seaward above the concrete underground forts which they dug in the 325surrounding hills, and which show vivid evidences of the Japanese bombardment, Tsingtao was never a Port Arthur or a Gibraltar. The Germans strove rather for the good will of the Chinese, that they might above all sell them more goods. Yet their national efficiency never failed them, and reforms which they felt essential were carried through with as nice a balance as could be preserved between complacency and insistence. ”

“ The people may reassert their centuries of training and pilfer all the trees, as some were already beginning to carry off the brushwood contrary to rules, as they cut even the trees about their graves when hard pressed, for only their 329Confucianism stands guard over the few groves that are left in the land. Or they may, as some of the enthusiastic young officials of the former leased territory announce, make Tsingtao more important than either Tientsin or Shanghai, by pushing new railways back into the interior beyond Tzinan and draining even the Yang Tze of its natural carrying-power. ”

“ One was got out signed “Thirteen hundred and fifty-eight students,” but giving no names, saying that the sole object of the strike was to regain Tsingtao, but that a few men had tried to turn the movement to their own ends, one wishing to be Chancellor of the University.
Peking, June 20.
Some time ago I had decided to tell you that here I had found the human duplication of the bee colony in actual working order. China is it, and in all particulars lives up to the perfect socialization of the race. Nobody can do anything alone, nobody can do anything in a hurry. ”

“ Moreover, Tsingtao had only been leased to Germany for a term of years, and, according to the scrap of paper, ought never to have been fortified, seeing that this constituted a flagrant violation of China’s neutrality. These arguments are unanswerable, even from Germany’s point of view. But the Kaiser still maintains that he has right on his side! Deutschland über Alles!
With a people whose reasoning powers show as little respect for the laws of logic as their armies evince for the laws of humanity or their press for truth, it would be idle to argue. ”

“ The Germans merely had the railway itself, and certain specific mining enterprises, together with the port of Tsingtao. A general priority in the mining districts within a zone of ten miles along each side of the railway had been abandoned some time previous to the war. Now the Japanese asserted in this "zone" general administrative power, including policing, taxation, forestry, and education. With this encroachment, the Chinese noted evidences of Japanese toleration of revolutionary and bandit activities wherever they served the purposes of the invaders. ”

“ There is every indication that Tsing-tau is to become one of the great port cities of China, and the opportunities for trade, the coming of steamships and the construction of the railway are making it an attractive place to multitudes of ambitious Chinese.
The German Government owns all the land in and about Tsing-tau, and will not sell save on condition that approved buildings are erected within three years. The single tax plan has been adopted, that is, there is no tax on buildings but there is a six per cent. tax on all land that is sold. ”

“ Tsinan is a city of real beauty, owing to the fact that there are bubbling streams in all parts of it, so that the trees grow well. The water is singularly bright and sparkling, and looks attractive even in the dirtiest gutters. As it comes bubbling up in every direction there is a radiance about it which seems untarnishable. In the very centre of the town is a temple, standing on a terrace with fine carved balustrades round it, in front of which is a large pond full of this bubbling water, overhung by willows—a typical Chinese picture. ”

“ There seems little doubt that Tsingtau with its temperate climate will soon become one of the most popular holiday resorts in China. It is only thirty-six hours' journey from Shanghai, and its attractions include charming scenery, excellent bathing, and a good band. A racecourse with polo ground has been constructed, and other facilities for sport have been provided. Substantial residences are being built on all sides, and the town, which possesses a good water supply, and is partly lit by electricity, is making rapid progress. ”

“ Tsing-tau as a seat of deputed government may not have found its way into school-books—but the inquisitive traveler in Northeast China readily learns of its existence. Perhaps it is meant to be complimentary to China to retain the name Tsing-tau—but that is all about the place that is Chinese, [309] save the coolies executing the white man's behest. There are 3,000 Europeans, almost exclusively Germans, in William II's capital on Kiau-chau Bay. Soldiers and officials predominate, of course, but merchant and industrial experts are in the pioneer band in conspicuous number. ”

“ Sufficient for Tsang Kwoh Fan that he had completed his share in the educational line well. He did a great and glorious work for China and posterity, and those who were privileged to reap the benefit of his labor will find ample reason to bless him as China’s great benefactor. Tsang, as a statesman, a patriot, and as a man, towered above his contemporaries even as Mount Everest rises above the surrounding heights of the Himalaya range, forever resting in undisturbed calmness and crowned with the purity of everlasting snow. ”

“ Tsingtau, in Shangtung province, is a German port, and a colonial experiment which has attracted much attention because of the experiment of Henry George’s “single-tax-on-land” plan, in its effort to attract improvers of land, and spread out, instead of congest cities. In 1898 the Germans forced a lease of it at the same time that Russia occupied Manchuria. The Japanese drove the Russians out of Manchuria, which they have largely occupied themselves, treaties notwithstanding, but no one has driven the Germans out of Shangtung, the most sacred of the provinces of China. ”

“ The village of Tsitkaw, which seemed little changed as to its dirty poverty since my recollections of 1868, consists of about eighty huts, built on piles, enclosed within a bamboo stockade, which was being repaired. The western half of the village is occupied by Chinese, and for the first time the Chinese women are seen, for there are none in Bhamô. At this time the Celestials were busy erecting a wooden temple outside the stockade. Their principal men came to our khyoung to greet Li-kan-shin, otherwise Moung Yoh, who was known to them, and had been supposed to be dead. ”

“ On board the Sibiria between
Tsingtau and Japan.
March 19th, 1901.
“ ... We arrived at Tsingtau on the morning of March 14th. The impression produced by this German colony on the new-comer is an exceedingly favourable one. Everywhere a great deal of diligent work has been performed, and one feels almost inclined to think that the building activity has proceeded too fast, so that the inevitable reaction will not fail to take place. Looked at from our shipping point of view, it must be stated that the work accomplished looks too much like Wilhelmshaven, and too little like Hongkong. ”

“ The native population in the ceded area is about 60,000. The German government in 1899 declared Kiaochow a free port. By arrangement with the Chinese government a branch of the Imperial maritime customs has been established there for the collection of duties upon goods coming from or going to the interior, in accordance with the general treaty tariff. Trade centres at Ts’ingtao, a town within the bay. The country in the neighbourhood is mountainous and bare, but the lowlands are well cultivated. Ts’ingtao is connected by railway with Chinan Fu, the capital of the province ”

“ The sympathy between the natives and the foreigner409 which exists at Newchwang, Tientsin, Shanghai and Hongkong, is lacking at stern, military, exotic Tsingtau. Yet the Germans have set a splendid object lesson in the precision and strength of the Tsingtau municipal establishment. The fine German navy is always in evidence, and the finer German army is everywhere. Many German industries have been established, and are run with as grim a determination, being backed by the “syndicates”, when they are losing money as when they are making it. ”

“ He then said there were five persons in Tsang who took interest in science and study—the Shape Porapa, the Chief Secretary (Dung-yig chenpo) Ka-chan Dao, the Donyer, and himself. “There are,” he added, “many other learned men at Tashilhunpo and in various other monasteries of Tsang, but they only interest themselves in sacred literature; they do not care to know of the science and civilization of other great countries such as that of the Phyling (foreigners) and India.” ”

“ Ts'in never seems to have produced a native literary statesman on its own soil. During this 500-year period of isolated development, and also during the later period of conquest in the third century B.C., all its statesmen were borrowed from Tsin, or from some orthodox state of China proper; in military genius, however, Ts'in was unrivalled, and a special chapter will be devoted to her huge battues. The literary reputation of Ts'u was high at a comparatively early date, and even now the "Elegies of Ts'u" include some of the very finest of the Chinese poems and belles lettres ”

“ Later on, as has already been mentioned, he put in a claim for the Nine Tripods because of the services his ancestor, "living in rags in the Jungle, exposed to the weather," had rendered to the founder himself. In 637, when the future Second Protector and ruler of Tsin visited Ts'u as a wanderer, the King of Ts'u received him with all the hospitalities "under the Chou rites," which fact shows at least an effort to adopt Chinese civilization. In 634 Lu asked Ts'u's aid against Ts'i, a proceeding condemned by the historical critics on the ground that Ts'u was a "barbarian savage" state. ”

“ The piano is also very popular among the35 girls. Like the boys, they have astonishing memories, and think nothing of reciting a whole Gospel; it is even not ranked as a feat by the Chinese to know the whole of the Bible by heart.
Tsinan is a most progressive town: it has a British postmaster, who has organised, not to say revolutionised, the postal system of the province. Letters now go to Peking in four days, and to Tientsin in three and a half days; the runners carrying them reckoning to do fifty or sixty miles at a stretch, with an average speed of three and a half miles per hour. ”

“ Incidentally this statement is of value; for when the King of Ts'u, as narrated above, was making his demands upon the Emperor, one of his grievances was that he possessed no relics of the founder such as the presents which had been made by him to Ts'i, Lu, Yen, Tsin, and other favoured states of no greater status than his own. The above are only a few instances out of many which show how, from age to age, the Chinese have seen with their own eyes things which in the vista of the distance now seem to us uncertain and incredible. As usual, Ts'in gives us nothing in the way of antiquity ”

“ But it is plain that the Germans intend to make Tsing-tau, only twenty hours distant by steamer, the chief port of Shantung, and as they have the railroad, they will doubtless succeed.
From hundreds of outlying villages, the Chinese are flocking into Tsing-tau, attracted by the remunerative employment which the Germans offer, for of course, tens of thousands of labourers are necessary to carry out the extensive improvements that are planned. The thrifty Chinese are quite willing to take the foreigner's money, however much they may dislike him. ”

“ Against difficulties woven together out of the practices of Chinese government for centuries; with far too little coöperation; lacking funds to secure armies—his total expense for more than ten years being limited to slightly more than a paltry 21,300,000 taels—and without any military skill whatever; Tseng eventually performed the miracle of suppressing this immense rebellion. This he did through clear thinking, unfailing patience, prudence, and common sense. He never feared that others would eclipse him, he begrudged no man his fairly earned laurels ”

“ Meanwhile, the ambitious great families of Tsin very nearly fell under the dictatorship of one of their number; in 452 he was himself annihilated by a combination of the others, and the upshot of it was that next year the three families that had crushed the dictator and, emerged victorious, divided up the realm of Tsin into three separate and practically independent states, called respectively Wei or Ngwei (the Shan Si parts) , Han (the Ho Nan parts) , and Chao (the Chih Li parts) . ”

“ Tsang Kwoh Fan was a most remarkable character in Chinese history. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a great scholar and a learned man. Soon after the Taiping Rebellion broke out and began to assume vast proportions, carrying before it province after province, Tsang began to drill an army of his own compatriots of Hunan who had always had the reputation of being brave and hardy fighters. In his work of raising a disciplined army, he secured the co-operation of other Hunan men, who afterwards took a prominent part in building up a flotilla of river gunboats. ”

“ That I have done my utmost in dealing both with the Tibetans and the Chinese to gain access to the country north of the Tsangpo is no consolation to me. If one can storm the opposing bulwark of Nature, one should be able to overcome the obstinacy of man. Up yonder in the north, behind Kailas, the Trans-Himalaya extends its granite ramparts, and I must go there though it cost me my life. I must go there, if I clothe myself in the rags of a mendicant lama and beg my way from one black tent to another. ”