ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:

HISTORY OF CHINA

Volume 2

CHINA AND THE WEST

CHINA AND THE WEST
Society and Culture, 1815–1937

JEROME CH’EN
First published in 1979 by Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd
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China and the West
Society and Culture 1815–1937

Jerome Ch'en

Hutchinson of London
H u t c h i n s o n & C o . (Publishers) L t d
3 F i t z r o y S q u a r e , L o n d o n wIP 6JD
L o n d o n Melbourne Sydney Auckland
W e l l i n g t o n J o h a n n e s b u r g and agencies
t h r o u g h o u t the w o r l d
First published 1979
© J e r o m e Ch'en 1979
M a p s © H u t c h i n s o n & C o . (Publishers) L t d 1 9 7 9
T h e p a p e r b a c k edition o f this b o o k is sold
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Set in M o n o t y p e G a r a m o n d
Printed in G r e a t Britain by T h e A n c h o r Press L t d
and b o u n d b y W m B r e n d o n & S o n L t d
both of Tiptree, Essex

B r i t i s h L i b r a r y C a t a l o g u i n g in P u b l i c a t i o n D a t a
Ch'en J e r o m e
China and the West.
1. C h i n a – Relations (general) w i t h f o r e i g n countries
2. E a s t a n d West
I. T i t l e
3o1.29'51'01713 DS740.4
ISBN0091 3 8 2 1 06 cased
0 09 1 3 8 2 1 1 4 paper
For Mary
 Contents

List of maps and plates 11

Preface 13
Chronology 15

Introduction: China through war and peace 23

Part 1 Agents
1 Images and image-makers 39
The West's view of China 39
China's image of the West 59
2 Missionaries and converts 92
The Catholic Church 92
The Protestant Church 94
Conversion and converts 103
Chinese Christian theology and the growth
of autonomy 112
Secular influences 116
Missionary education 122
Medicine 129
Social work 134
The anti-Christian movement and anti-imperialism 138
Conclusion 147
3 Students and scholars 151
Overseas study programmes 151
Cultural ambivalence in 'returned' students 158
The Chinese student abroad 159
8 Contents

The Work-Study Scheme 166

The 'returned' students in China 168
The spread of Western scientific thought 173
The impact of Western philosophy 179
Translation, literature and the arts 194
Conclusion 202
4 Residents and immigrants 206
Shanghai 206
San Francisco 234

Part 2 Changes
5 Process of change 265
The crisis of 1895 270
The reform of 1898 271
Towards revolution 273
6 Politics and the law 285
Attempts at constitutional government 285
The provincial issue 296
The National Assembly 300
The growth of political parties 304
The establishment of consular jurisdiction 317
The mixed courts of Shanghai 318
The decline of consular and extraterritorial jurisdiction 320
Law reform 324
Modern law courts and judicial independence 328
7 Economy 332
The growth of international trade and tariffs 332
Exports 336
Imports 338
Balance of payments and the maritime customs 340
Industrial development: the growth of government-
financed industries 348
Foreign concessions: the railways 359
Private enterprise 361
The failure of industrialization 362
The benefits of imperial economic penetration 377
8 Society 38o
Emancipation of women 380
 Contents 9

Morality and love 387

The family revolution 396
Chinese youth 399
The labour movement 413

9 Culture 426
Select bibliography 453
Index 466
Maps and plates

Maps
Three views of the East page 36
The provinces of China in the 1920s page 286

Plates (between pages 224 and 225)

Misconceptions
Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1880s
The Sphinx and the Pyramids, 1880s
An American theatre, 1880s
St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1880s
The Chinese in Western eyes
Reception of the Chinese family by Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
late 1840s
Collection formed by Nathan Dunn
San Francisco Chinatown just before the earthquake of 1906 (photo
by Arnold Genthe)
An American smile, under an American hat, and above a Chinese
jacket. Chinatown, New York City, 1915
'They don't trouble him any more', 1888
Changing city life
The Confucian village, Ch'ufu, Shantung, 1931 (photo by White
Bros.)
Street scene in Peking (photo by White Bros.)
Rickshaws in Peking, 1931
 12 Maps and plates

American warehouse at Hankow (Bain Collection)

Well-to-do Peking home, 1931
Westerners in Shanghai
Shanghai Race-course, 1880s
Cricket, Shanghai, 1880s
French opium addicts, Shanghai, 1880s
Explanation of Western diving techniques, 1880s
Changing fashions and clothes
Wealthy Manchu family, 1931 (photo by White Bros.)
Ladies' fashions, Shanghai, 1921
A Chinese couple, 1931 (photo by White Bros.)
Dr Wellington Koo – Western hair-style and Western clothes
Chinese Christian pastor and family, Canton, 1900

(Plates in the first and fourth sections by permission of the British

Library; plates in the second, third and fifth sections by permission
of the Library of Congress)
Preface

This is a general book with a difference, for it is not entirely based

on secondary works by those who wrote before me in this and related
fields. It is not a political or diplomatic history of modern China
either, as its title clearly indicates. Considerable original research
has gone into the making of this volume in the hope that the result
would please both the general reader and the specialist. A broad
survey, it should serve to reveal to the reader, and to me, where the
gaps of our knowledge and the weaknesses of our research lie; the
revelation may stimulate others to follow up in the pursuit of a
deep and fuller understanding. From a functional point of view like
this, I would like to entertain the belief that even a general book, a
broad survey, should not merely present 'the state of the game';
it should also explore new areas and seek new interpretations.
In such pursuit I have been ably assisted by Ms Irene Jones who
made meticulous use of the archives of the China Inland Mission and
the British Baptists. To guard against my Chinesisms I was glad to
have the watchful eye of Ms Judith Lucas. I am grateful to them
both.
I cannot express how grateful I am to Ms Sue Hogg for her
painstaking and critical editing of my manuscript, without which
this book would have more inconsistencies and repetitions, woolly
passages and careless mistakes than it does. However, the remaining
mistakes are, needless to say, my responsibility.
In addition to the libraries of the China Inland Mission and the
British Baptists, I myself have used the library of the School of
Oriental and African Studies in London, the Toyo Bunko in Tokyo,
the Library of Congress in Washington, the State Library of Cali-
14 Preface

fornia in Sacramento, the Municipal Library in San Francisco, the

Chinese collection of the Hoover Institution in Stanford, the Church
Research Libraries in New York, and the Hankow Club Collection
and the Feng P'ing-shan Library at the University in Hong Kong. I
owe them and the courtesy of their staff my thanks.
In the period of research for this book I received a sizable grant
from the Canada Council and in the period of writing the Joint
Centre on Modern East Asia of the University of Toronto and York
University provided me with a teaching assistant so as to allow me
more time for the undertaking. My own university, York University
in Toronto, financed my reading at the Church Research Library in
New York and later offered me its typing service for the manuscript.
I am deeply thankful for their generosity.
My close colleagues, Professors Stephen Endicott, Margo
Gewurtz, Diana Lary and Peter Mitchell, have read parts of the
manuscript and shared their insights and criticisms with me. Here I
acknowledge my gratitude to all of them. Professor Mary Sheridan's
stimulating discussions throughout the preparatory stages of this
book up to the final draft, her patience and care, and her love have
been an important source of inspiration and strength for me, with-
out which the book may never have been completed. To her, this
volume is affectionately dedicated.
As it is, the book is already too long, longer than any other
volume in this series; its cost of manufacture is therefore already
very high. Understandably both my editor, Professor J . H. Plumb,
and my publishers insist that all the notes should be eliminated,
leaving only the footnotes. If the elimination disappoints or in-
conveniences my specialist readers, I hereby offer my apologies.
However, they, more than anyone else, should be able to see that
much of the information contained in the pages below has come
from a wide range of primary sources, including Church archives
and missionary correspondence, Chinese and other newspapers and
periodicals, travelogues and personal memoirs, official papers and
government statistics.
Chronology

1814 Ts'ai Kao, probably the first Protestant Chinese convert, is

baptized.
1816 Lord Amherst mission to China fails over the ceremonial question
of kowtow.
1820 John Marshman and Joannes Lassar complete their trans-
lation of the New Testament into Chinese.
The Livingstone and Morrison Clinic is established in Macao.
1823 Robert Morrison and W. Milne publish their translation of
the New Testament.
1830 British and American missionaries organize the Christian
Union in Canton.
1831 The Chinese Repository is founded in Macao (its publication
ceased in 1852).
1832 Elijah Bridgman's School for Chinese boys begins teaching.
1834 J. Matheson, D. W. C. Olymphant, R. E. C. Bridgman and
C. Gut2laff organize the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge.
1838 The Medical Missionary Society in China comes into being.
1839 Commissioner Lin arrives at Canton to take charge of the prohi-
bition of the opium traffic.
The Opium War begins.
1842 The Opium War ends with the signing of the Nanking Treaty
between China and Britain. This is followed by the Sino–French
and Sino-American Treaties in 1843.
Steam shipping to the Far East begins.
1843 By the Sino–French (Whampoa) Treaty, the Catholic Church
obtains rights to construct churches in China.
1844 Wei Yuan's Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Nations is
published.
16 Chronology

1847 The Royal Asiatic Society sets up its China branch.

1848 S. Wells Williams completes his Middle Kingdom.
1849 The first Chinese immigrants arrive at San Francisco.
1850 The Taiping Rebellion breaks out.
The North China Herald begins publication in Shanghai.
W. P. A. Martin arrives at Canton, to begin his career as a
missionary and educationist in China.
1853 The Small Swords Society occupy Shanghai and foreign consuls
in Shanghai organize the Provisional System of Tariff Collection.
Chinese inhabitants in Shanghai move into the foreign settle-
ments for safety.
1854 The Chinese newspaper, Golden Hill News, begins publication.
1856 Auguste Chapdelaine, a French priest, is murdered in Kwangsi and
the lorcha Arrow is searched by Chinese police.
The Anglo–French Expedition (or the second Opium War) begins.
1857 Lord Elgin and Baron Gros are sent to command the Expedition
in China.
1858 The Sino–American, Sino–Russian, Sino–British and Sino–French
Treaties are signed in Tientsin.
1860 The Anglo–French Expeditionary troops occupy Peking and
destroy the Summer Palace, Yuan-ming-yuan.
The Sino–British, Sino–Russian and Sino–French Peace Treaties
are signed in Peking.
F. T. Ward organizes an army which is to be renamed the Ever
Victorious Army in 1862 and disbanded in 1864.
Young J . Allen comes to China.
1861 H. N. Lay is appointed the Inspector-General of the Chinese
Imperial Maritime Customs.
The Peking Language Institute is founded.
1862 The controversy over the control and command of a flotilla of
warships, known as the Osborn Flotilla, which the Chinese have
bought from Britain, breaks out.
1863 R. Hart replaces Lay as the Inspector-General of China's Maritime
Customs.
The International Settlement in Shanghai is formed.
1865 The Kiangnan Arsenal in Shanghai is founded.
Hudson Taylor sets up the China Inland Mission.
1866 The Foochow Shipyard and the Tientsin Arsenal are established.
R. Hart goes home on leave, with a number of Chinese
officials.
The Peking Language Institute begins its courses on astro-
nomy and mathematics given by foreign instructors.
1867 The American Minister, Anson Burlingame, resigns and is
 Chronology 17

appointed the Chinese envoy at large, assisted by John Mcleavy

Brown of Britain and E. de Champs of France and a number of
Chinese officials on a visit to the U S A and European countries.
1868 John Fryer edits the Chinese Scientific Magazine sponsored by
the Kiangnan Arsenal.
1869 The Suez Canal opens.
1870 The Tientsin Massacre takes place and twenty-four foreigners,
including seventeen French citizens, are killed.
Tseng Kuo-fan resigns the viceroyalty of Chihli and is replaced
by Li Hung-chang.
Ch'ung-hou is sent to France on a mission of apology.
California unleashes its anti-Chinese movement.
Timothy Richard arrives in China.
1871 Shanghai begins its telegraph communication with Europe.
The Mandarin Bible is published.
1872 The first group of Chinese students sail for the U S A .
The Shen Pao of Shanghai begins publication.
The Zikawei Observatory in Shanghai is established by the
Catholic Church.
1873 The Merchants' Steamship Navigation Company is founded
by Li Hung-chang.
1875 A. R. Margary, a British legation translator, is murdered in
Yunnan.
A group of boys are led by Prosper Giquel of the Foochow
Shipyard to study in France.
Young J . Allen edits the Globe Magazine (its publication is
discontinued in 1883 and resumed under the name of the
Review of the Times from 1889 to 1907).
Jardine and Matheson Co. plan to build the Woosung Railway
(which is purchased by the Chinese authorities in 1876 and
dismantled).
1876 The Chefoo Convention is signed between Britain and China as
the settlement of the Margary case, and Kuo Sung-t'ao is appointed
the Chinese Minister to Britain.
1877 The Kaiping Coal Mines are opened.
The Shanghai Steam Navigation Company of Russell and Co.
is merged into the Merchants' Steamship Navigation Com-
pany. The Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General
Knowledge is founded in Shanghai by Alexander Williamson
(it changes its name to the Christian Literature Society in
1906).
Shanghai has its first epidiascope theatre.
The Conference of the Protestant Missions in Shanghai is held.
18 Chronology

1881 The Chinese Telephone Company of Shanghai begins

operation.
1882 Li Hung-chang establishes the Shanghai Textile Factory.
1884 The Sino–French War takes place and ends in the Sino-French
Tientsin Treaty which establishes France's domination of Indo-
China.
1889 The construction of the Peking-Hankow Railway begins.
1890 Chang Chih-tung plans for the foundation of the Hanyang
Foundry.
1891 Emperor Kuang-hsu learns English.
1892 The American Oriental Society (forerunner of the Association
for Asian Studies) is organized.
1894 The Sino–Japanese War breaks out.
1895 The Shimonoseki Treaty brings the Sino–Japanese War to an end
and the scholars assembling in Peking petition the throne against
the signing of the Treaty.
Y M C A is established in China.
Yen Fu's translation of Thomas Huxley's Essay on Evolution
and Ethics is published.
1896 Li Hung-chang goes on a mission to Russia and Europe.
Modern postal service is organized by R. Hart.
Liang Ch'i-ch'ao edits the Shih-wu Pao in Shanghai and
compiles the Catalogue of Books on the West.
Shanghai sees its first motion picture show.
1897 The first modern bank is established; so are the Commercial
Press and a number of modern schools.
1898 The Hundred Days Reform begins and the Open Door Principle
is proposed by Britain and the U S A .
Dowager Empress gives a party in honour of the diplomatic
wives in Peking.
Peking (National) University is founded.
Chang Chih-tung's On Learning is published; so are the
Chinese translation of Robert Mackenzie's Nineteenth Century

Yokohama.
1900 The Boxer War leads to the exile of the Ch'ing Court.
Chang Chien establishes the Nant'ung Textile Company.
A women's conference is organized by a number of missionary
women in Shanghai.
1901 Modern schools come into existence in the provinces.
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations appears in Chinese.
1902 Emperor Kuang-hsu receives diplomatic representatives and the
Mackay Treaty of Commerce is signed between Britain and China.
 Chronology

An edict prohibiting foot-binding is issued.

The Peking Language Institute is incorporated into the Peking
University.
1903 The T'oung Pao, the authoritative sinological journal of
Europe, begins publication.
The Bank of the Board of Revenue is established.
1904 Soccer is introduced to China.
The Tung-fang tsa-chib (Eastern Miscellany) begins publication.
The U S A excludes Chinese immigration.
1904–5 The Russo-Japanese War begins; the traditional Chinese
examination system is abolished; the Alliance Society is founded
in Tokyo (and to change its name to the Kuomintang in
1912);and because of the American Exclusion Act, the
boycott of American goods is organized at the Chinese treaty
ports.
The City Council of the Chinese city of Shanghai comes into
being (to be abolished in 1914).
The official organ of the Alliance Society, Min Pao, begins
publication.
1906 The Church Self-Government Society holds its first national
congress in Shanghai.
An abridged version of the Communist Manifesto appears in
Chinese.
1907 The Ministry of Education forbids students' participation in
political activities.
The Chinese government sends girl students to study abroad.
Yale-in-China establishes a medical college in Ch'angsha.
The Shanghai Electricity Corporation is established.
1908 The Dowager Empress and the Emperor die.
1909 The Political Advisory Council is convened.
Peking has its first national library.
The first group of Boxer Indemnity scholars are sent to study
in the USA.
1910 The Ginling Women's College is established in Nanking.
China organizes her first National Games.
1911 The Revolution takes place.
China adopts the Gregorian calendar.
Tsinghua College is organized (to change its name to Tsinghua
University).
The English paper, China Weekly Review, begins publication
in Shanghai.
1912 The Emperor abdicates; the Provisional Government in Nanking
adopts the Provisional Constitution; Yuan Shih-k'ai is elected the
20 Chronology

President of the Republic of China; general elections are held for

the election of the National Assembly.
The work study scheme for Chinese students to study in
France begins.
1913 The Chinese Geological Institute is founded.
1914 The Constitution Compact replaces the Provisional Constitution.
The Christian West China Union University in Chengtu
founds its medical and dental schools.
1915 Japan presents the Twenty-One Demands to China.
The magazine New Youth begins publication.
The Peking Union Medical College comes into being.
1916 Yuan Shih-k'ai calls off his monarchical attempt and dies.
1917 China sees her abortive monarchical restoration fail, declares war
against the Central Powers, and organizes her second parliamentary
election under the leadership of the Anfu Club.
1918 The Chicherin Declaration renounces Russia's privileges in China.
1919 China participates in the Paris Peace Conference.
Peking students demonstrate against the Paris decision on the
German possessions in Shantung on May 4th.
John Dewey arrives in China.
1920 The war between the Chihli and Anhwei cliques of warlords breaks
out and the movement of provincial autonomy begins.
Bertrand Russell visits China.
The Christian Yenching University is founded.
1921 The first national congress of the Chinese Communist Party takes
place in Shanghai and the Washington Conference is held.
The Creation Society and the Association for Literary Studies
are established.
Lu Hsün publishes his short story, 'The True Story of Ah Q'.
1922 Chinese students lead an anti-Christian education movement.
The Star Co., a Chinese motion-picture company, begins
production.
Margaret Sanger visits China to lecture on birth control.
1923 The Peking Government adopts a new constitution and the
workers of the Peking-Hankow Railway stage a strike which is
defeated by violent suppression.
1924 Against the background of a large-scale civil war, the Kuomintang
is recognized with Russian assistance, the Kuomintang and the
Chinese Communist Party form their first united front, and Chiang
Kai-shek is appointed the commandant of the Whampao Military
Academy.
Sun Yat-sen gives a series of lectures on his Three Principles
of the People.
 Chronology 21

The Crescent Moon Society comes into existence.

1925 A nation-wide strike against Britain and Japan begins on May 30th
and the Tariff Conference to discuss the restructure of the Chinese
maritime customs is held in Peking.
Sun Yat-sen dies.
The Institute of Pacific Relations and the Catholic (Fu-jen)
University of Peking are founded.
1926 The Northern Expedition commanded by Chiang Kai-shek is
launched against the warlords of the North and twelve treaty
powers hold the meetings of the Commission on Extraterritoriality
in Peking.
Chinese representatives are elected on the Shanghai Municipal
Councils of the International and French Settlements.
The demonstration against imperialism organized by Peking
girl students is ruthlessly suppressed by the military police of
the Provisional Government.
The first six Chinese Catholic bishops are consecrated.
James Yen begins his Mass Education Movement in Tinghsien.
1927 The British Settlements in Hankow and Kiukiang are overrun by
Chinese demonstrators and are to be renditioned to China; the
Nanking Incident in which foreign residents are killed and
molested takes place; the first united front between the Kuomin-
tang and the Chinese Communist Party splits.
Chiang Kai-shek becomes a Methodist.
1928 The Northern Expedition is completed and Nanking is made the
capital of China.
The new penal code comes into force.
The Academia Sinica is founded.
1930 China regains her tariff autonomy.
The Left-wing Writers' League is established.
1931 Japan occupies Manchuria.
The new civil code is proclaimed.
1932 Japan invades Shanghai.
The magazine ILun-yü (The Analects) begins publication.
1933 President Roosevelt raises the price of silver.
1934 President Roosevelt introduces his Silver Purchase Act; the Long
March of the Chinese communists begins.
1935 The Nanking Government reforms China's currency system and
Chiang Kai-shek launches his New Life Movement.
The Kuomintang sponsors the Indigenous Cultural Movement.
Hitler's Mein Kampf appears in Chinese.
Peking students hold a demonstration against Japanese aggression
on December 9th.
22 Chronology

1936 The May 5th Constitution is proclaimed and Chiang Kai-shek is

kidnapped by the mutineers in Sian.
Edgar Snow visits the Chinese Communists in Paoan in
preparation for his Red Star Over China.
1937 The Sino-Japanese War breaks out.
Introduction:
China through war and peace

Peace was restored to Europe after the second defeat of Napoleon.

As if in vengeance, it was a Europe imbued with the conservatism of
the 'Holy Alliance', which even Metternich called 'a high-sounding
nothing'. But the dream of a European t'ien-hsia – a great empire
built on an institutionalized cultural tradition – vanished at long
last.
It was also a Europe still to some extent influenced by the new
French modes of thought, liberal, to some degree egalitarian, and
nationalistic. Politically, this meant the sovereignty of the people,
which implied the protection of civil liberties or natural rights of
man by broadening the basis of the national government; economi-
cally, it meant the promotion of greater material well-being and
freer trade, with the increasingly optimistic belief in progress based
on the advancement of science and technology; socially, it meant a
more humanitarian approach to alleviate the sufferings of those who
had been 'divorced from nature' by urbanization and industrializa-
tion but were still 'unreclaimed by art'. Though the hereditary
aristocracy still held much of their old power, new leaders were
clearly emerging from the ranks of an intelligent, hard-working and
profit-seeking middle class.
None of the ideals of individual freedom, democracy, a higher
standard of living, progress and benevolence towards the under-
privileged clashed absolutely with the basic tenets of the Church.
No one challenged the truth of Genesis; few were agnostic. If any-
thing, with the romanticization of Christianity by Rousseau and
Wesley, the Church became more tolerant and more anxious to bring
the Gospel to uneducated Europeans as well as to the heathen
24 Introduction

overseas. Morality, Bible study, prayer and preaching appealed more

strongly to the liberated individual than ritual splendour; and thus
religious life played a more vital and more meaningful part among
the new pursuits of Western man.
The Napoleonic Wars inevitably forced the countries of continental
Europe temporarily back upon themselves, partly because of the loss
of their possessions abroad and partly because of the immediate
concerns of their own reconstruction. Britain, on the other hand,
emerged as unchallenged mistress of the seas with her peerless navy
and merchant fleet, which had by now established itself as far away
as Singapore and even Nagasaki. In spite of her military supremacy
and rapid industrial development, Britain was preoccupied mainly
with internal reforms in the two decades after the Congress of
Vienna. Her overseas interests scarcely extended beyond the sup-
pression of the slave trade and the administration of her white
colonies. This was the background to Lord Amherst's ill-starred
mission to China in 1816 which foundered on the question of
kowtow.
There is hardly any doubt that the majority of the British merchants
engaged in overseas trade came from the urban middle class; the
China trade was no exception. The sons of minor civil servants,
naval and army officers, small businessmen and small manufacturers,
these men had seen poverty but aimed at riches. They aspired to a
position of importance in society, a country house if possible, and
even political influence. At any rate they wished to be free from the
drudgery of working for their living. They were intensely family-
centred men, saving for security but spending unsparingly on the
education of their children, demanding obedience from their wives,
and living in comfortable but over-decorated homes. Mostly devout
Nonconformists, they attended Sunday worship together with their
families, neighbours, and friends ; they also read the Bible, edifying
stories, and later magazines and newspapers with their families. By
thrift, hard work, and robust common sense they had improved their
own lives materially and socially and therefore they adopted a utili-
tarian attitude in their search for knowledge and happiness and were
antagonistic towards antiquated customs and laws. Their faith in
science and progress was as strong as their disdain for Kantian moral
law or for intricate theological argument. Their taste in music was
limited to playing popular tunes on the family piano; in literature
it was no more advanced than that of the Westminster Review or the
 25 Introduction

Economist; in art it extended no further than appreciation of con-

ventional portraits and landscapes. There exists no better picture
of these hard-headed and dynamic people than Samuel Smiles's Self
Help.
It was such confident and self-righteous Britons as these who
virtually monopolized the foreign trade at Canton. Two years before
the French Revolution, out of a total of seventy-three Western ships
anchored off Canton, fifty-two were British. The Napoleonic Wars
put an end to all hopes of a challenge to British domination from
continental Europe, while American competition could safely be
ignored. Apart from the restriction imposed by the Chinese that all
foreign trade must be handled by the chartered merchants, the
Co-hong of Canton, and the restriction of imports of Chinese silk
and cotton textiles into Britain there was no official policy on either
side governing the trade till the ending of the British East India
Company's monopoly and the appointment by the British govern-
ment of Lord Napier as superintendent of trade in 18 5 3. By this time
the new commodity from India – opium – had finally tipped the
balance of trade in favour of the British merchants and China's
determination to stamp out this traffic had crystallized. Napier's
appointment was significant, not because of any clearly defined in-
structions from Palmerston (he did not even carry letters of credence),
but because he came as his King's representative, empowered to
negotiate as an equal with the Chinese viceroy at Canton. Thus he
came armed with the assumptions of modern diplomacy to China,
only to find that that ancient empire was not a nation-state and did
not share those assumptions. Trade was not regulated by any treaty
until 1842.
At this time the Ch'ing empire had neither any clearly defined
boundaries based on international agreements (except for those laid
down by the two agreements already signed with Russia) nor a law
of nationality based on eitherjus sanguinis ot jus soli. Therefore 'China'
(the 'Great Ch'ing') and "the Chinese' ('Hsia' or 'Hua-hsia') could be
defined only in cultural terms. 'China' was the land where the Chinese
lived; 'the Chinese' were that people who adhered to a certain distinct
set of values and norms suited to their way of life. Naturalization was
possible only in the sense that a foreigner could adopt (or a Chinese
reject) this set of values and norms and take up a new mode of life.
The process of naturalization in either direction was purely cultural,
needing no legal sanction, though the Chinese traditionally treated
26
Introduction

any of their number who became 'barbarians' with universal con-

demnation. History consequently records in detail the mass sino-
cization of foreigners (barbarians) from the Torba Wei in the fifth
century down to the Manchus in the seventeenth, but remains tact-
fully silent about the 'barbarianization' of Chinese emigrants in
Central Asia and overseas.
Since the 'barbarians' were ignorant of Chinese values and norms,
they were seen as having no values or norms at all. Logically, then,
they could only be motivated by crude instinctive desires for food
and sex, like animals. They would stop at nothing until their desires
were satisfied. This was why the Chinese saw them as quarrelsome,
stubborn, greedy, and licentious, with little awareness of those finer
human qualities, such as flexibility, moderation, kindness and con-
sideration, which were so essential for the smooth functioning of
human relationships. China should show these people benevolence
and understanding, in the hope that her moral example would lead
them to repay her with obedience and respect.
The whole system of thought and action was based on Confucian-
ism; it was Confucianism alone that distinguished the Chinese from
the barbarians. Within Chinese society, the theory ran, the higher
one's social level, the more one was permeated with Confucian
ideals, and this hierarchy extended outwards to include the barbari-
ans – but their position in it was below even the lowest class of
Chinese. At the apex of the hierarchy was the emperor of China him-
self, whose main interest in the management of 'barbarian' affairs
was to maintain peaceable relations between his own subjects and the
outsiders. In the days when overseas trade mattered little to the
Chinese government, and when the exchange of ideas with the out-
side world meant practically nothing to the Chinese, this policy was
reasonable and understandable.
The barbarians' goodwill in responding to China's benevolence
was shown symbolically by their tribute mission. Foreign delega-
tions seeking trade concessions were invariably treated by the
Chinese as if they were tribute missions, even though they did not
always go through the elaborate rituals which were expected of such
missions. Both Pieter van Hoorn in 1667, who was granted an audi-
ence by the Ch'ing monarch in 1667, and Lord McCartney, who was
treated likewise in 1794, were described in the Chinese records as
tribute-bearers, and the countries they represented were classed with
Korea, Annam, and Liu-ch'iu. In return, their merchants were
 Introduction 27

allowed to reside and trade in China, enabling them to share the

benefits of the empire's superior culture.
Culturally and economically, China regarded herself as far above
the 'barbarian' countries; there was no question of equality. But
there were reasons for her arrogance. Her staple exports – principally
tea and silk – were highly marketable and yielded high profits, for
the Europeans had considerable difficulty in finding commodities
that the Chinese wanted in exchange before the introduction of
opium. China had enjoyed a continuously favourable balance of
trade for as much as two centuries at a time when mercantilism
dominated economic thought. Moreover, as an assistant magistrate
at Hong Kong, Mitchell, pointed out in 1852:

It seems a strange result after ten years of open trade with this great
country, and after the abolition of all monopolies on both sides, that
China with her swarming millions should not consume one half so much
of our manufactures as Holland or as our own thinly populated North
American or Australian colonies.
But this seemingly strange result is a perfectly natural one to those who
are sufficiently acquainted with this peculiar people and have marked their
thrifty habits and untiring industry . . .
or as Sir Robert Hart pointed out, some fifty years later:
The Chinese have the best food in the world, rice; the best drink, tea; and
the best clothing, cotton, silk and fur. Possessing these staples and their
innumerable native adjuncts, they do not need to buy a penny's-worth
elsewhere.

One might add 'except of opium' in which China was not self-
sufficient until the twentieth century.
The trade, confined to Canton as we have said, was actually
handled on the Chinese side by officials and their assistants and by
the chartered merchants (the Co-hong), with the officials firmly in
control. The system they operated was cumbersome, restrictive and
corrupt. The officials, educated in the Confucian classics, believed
that China was the most civilized community on earth just as un-
shakably as Macaulay believed that England held that distinction.
They were no less self-confident and self-righteous than the late
eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English, and they were also
stubborn.
It was the opium question that brought these uncompromising
28 Introduction

attitudes into head-on conflict. China's defeat in the war of 1839–42

was no surprise to the British, but did teach the Chinese a lesson that
their military preparations had not been sufficient. None the less,
they were defeated again by the Anglo-French Expedition of 1856–
60, in the Sino-French War of 1884–5, in the Sino-Japanese War of
1894–5, and in the Boxer War of 1900. China's foreign policy was
born in military humiliation.
In the long run no foreign policy could succeed unless backed by
efficient military power. This belief has been shared by all schools of
Chinese diplomatic thought from 1860 to the present day. In the
second half of the nineteenth century this line of thought gave rise
to what came to be known as the Self-Strengthening Movement.
In the short run, however, the pragmatists, especially those who
were in control of Chinese foreign policy and consequently knew
better than most what the real situation was, hoped to keep the
foreigners on a 'loose rein', either by setting up a system of checks
and balances ('using one barbarian to check another') or by observ-
ing carefully the letter of treaties and agreements. Both these short-
term policies required a fresh interpretation of the nature of the
'barbarian'. If he was driven by greed and self-interest alone, how
could he be trusted, however briefly, either as an ally or as a foe? It
is interesting that this re-interpretation became a problem in the
1860s. By then the Chinese policy-makers' knowledge of the foreigner
had changed considerably. Chinese diplomats now knew something
of Western diplomatic practice, international law and Christianity.
However arrogant they might be, the Europeans were not to be
dismissed as 'dogs and goats'; they had their culture too, inferior
to that of China as it might be.
Not all the high officials at court accepted the new interpretation,
nor were all of them possessed of the new information about the
foreigners. Indeed, high-minded gentlemen like the Grand Secretary
Yen Ching-ming considered that to dirty one's fingers by handling
foreign affairs was utterly despicable. Many such men thought that
China's weakness lay in the government's reluctance to make good
use of 'the spirit of the people' (min-ch'i) which had shown its power
on the question of British entry into the city of Canton in the 1840s
and 1850s. The defeat in the war of 1856–60 did not put an end to
this school of thought, for the activities of foreigners often touched
on the interests and provoked the resentment of the ordinary people,
compelling the government to take cognizance of their feelings.
 Introduction 29

Sometimes popular feeling was expressed indirectly, but more ar-

ticulately, through the mouths of certain officials who took it upon
themselves to uphold Confucian orthodoxy (ch'ing-i); sometimes it
was expressed directly by mass action, as in the anti-missionary riots.
Caught between foreign and popular pressure, the Chinese authori-
ties found themselves in an exceedingly difficult position during the
period from 1840 to 1937. Sometimes they acted according to the
popular will, as in the Boxer War of 1900, sometimes they gave in
to the demands of a foreign power, as in the de facto cession of
Manchuria to the Japanese in 1931.
The rise to power of a new generation of diplomats, mostly
Western-trained, after 1900, brought a deeper understanding of the
West to China's foreign service, against the background of an upsurge
of nationalism that came to dominate Chinese political thinking in the
twentieth century. But these officials were, like their predecessors,
elitist pragmatists, sceptical of the reliability and staying power of
'the spirit of the people'. They regarded earlier attempts to make use
of this spirit as foolhardy, absurd, yet did not themselves take the
trouble to find out how the masses could be mobilized, organized,
disciplined, and led in effective action. Their personal attachment
both to China and to the West – more particularly to the country
where each individual had been trained – led them into an ambiva-
lence. China must be strong in order to recover her lost sovereign
rights; each of the new-style officials thought she could become
strong only by learning from whichever country he had studied in.
Social Darwinism gave coherence to their theories; China's general
weakness was due to her specific weaknesses; her salvation depended
on her own efforts to make herself fit to survive. Since the previous
attempt at self-strengthening had failed, China must adopt a new
approach, beginning with a merciless self-criticism to expose her
weaknesses and then designing ways and means of curing them. The
whole process was fraught with almost insoluble problems – what
the methods were to be, how they were to be financed, who was to
give the lead, and finally, the suitability or otherwise of the Western
model. In the long term, if China could emulate the West well
enough to fulfil her nationalistic aspirations, she would eventually
become another Britain or another Germany – i.e. another imperial-
ist power. Imperialism was seen as the final stage of nationalism;
Japan provided a recent example of this process of development,
which was seen as constructive and admirable – there was no
30
Introduction
anti-imperialist sentiment yet. In fact the expression 'anti-imperial-
ism' (ta-tao ti-kuo chu-i) had not yet entered the Chinese language.
The short-term goal was 'recovery of rights' (shou-hui chu-ch'uan),
but while China lacked military power and the ruling class distrusted
the strength of the people this could be attempted only in a piece-
meal fashion, as opportunity offered. In essence, China's foreign
policy now became one of introspective nationalism, using appease-
ment and compromise to buy time in which to work towards that
distant vision of a strong country. The new generation of diplomats
were not in tune either with radicalism or with the spirit of the
people. Over such issues as the Twenty-One Demands (presented
by Japan to the Chinese government in 1915), the Shantung resolu-
tion (which came out of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919), the
Nanking Incident of 1927, and the December 9th Movement
of 1935, they took up a stance opposed to the radicals and the
masses.
The 'spirit of the people' itself underwent a process of rationaliza-
tion during this period. After the May 4th Movement of 1919 it was
no longer the crude xenophobia shown by the Boxers in 1900 but
the anti-imperialism of the age of Lenin that lay at the heart of
Chinese nationalism. Popular methods of resisting imperialism also
changed. In place of the chanting of magical incantations and the
indiscriminate killing of foreigners, we now find organized boycotts,
strikes and demonstrations. These new methods gained their first
important success in the recovery of the British settlements in
Hankow and Kiukiang in 1927; their second was in persuading the
country to go to war against Japan in 1937.
Before the inauguration of the treaty system in the years after 1842
the Western nations had no coherent China policies at all, except a
vague expectation that, once 'opened', China would provide an un-
limited market for Western manufactured goods. It was this expec-
tation, the importance of the China trade to British India, and
China's intransigence that, taken together, caused Palmerston to
decide on war in 1839. Between 1840 and i860 ideas of mutual
accommodation were debated by both sides and were embodied in
a series of treaties. Although Whitehall did not realize that the stories
of China being another El Dorado were sheer fantasy until the time
of Lord Elgin's expedition in 1857–8, Britain had never entertained
the notion of turning China into another India. Her aims were
limited to the maintenance and gradual expansion of her mercantile
 Introduction 31

interests and their protection by a negotiated tariff, consular juris-

diction and gunboats. Contact between British subjects and the
Chinese native should be kept to a minimum to avoid trouble; it was
hoped that commerce could then be conducted in a less stormy
atmosphere. The other powers shared the fruit of the war with
Britain under the 'most favoured nation' formula. In more concrete
terms, the new treaty system, which in part preserved and in part
broke down traditional Chinese diplomatic practice, consisted of the
stationing of resident envoys at Peking and of consuls at the treaty
ports, the establishment of foreign settlements, the organization of
a modern maritime customs service under joint control, and the
creation of mixed courts presided over by Chinese and foreign
officers. In addition, as France was interested in protecting and
furthering the efforts of missionaries, China was forced to open her
doors to the Gospel, Western missionaries, like Western traders,
coming in under the protection of extraterritoriality.
These agreements were made in 1860 when the Ch'ing empire was
threatened not only by the Anglo-French Expedition but also by
internal rebellions. Its survival was in the balance; the rebels, of
whom the Taiping (185 0–64) were the most important, might reduce
the gains won by this and the earlier war and by many arduous
sessions of negotiation to nothing. The Western nations therefore
switched from attacking to defending the Ch'ing regime. To call
this policy 'co-operative' evades the question of the purpose of the
co-operation. Was it to protect China's national interests or the
vested interests of the West in that country? These two sets of inter-
ests were incompatible. However, the system worked out at this time
was to remain effective up to 1917, when the Czarist government was
overthrown and China declared war on the Central Powers.
Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century Britain was
supreme in east Asia. The French War in the 1880s did not really
alter Britain's position or the structure of the treaty system. But
thereafter the international situation changed rapidly because of
Russia's eastward expansion, mounting competition from Germany
and the United States of America, and the emergence of Japan as an
imperialist power. In the years immediately after the Sino-Japanese
War of 1894–5 these powers threatened to carve up China into
separate spheres of influence, within which each one would have
exclusive rights and privileges. To arrest this anarchic, and, to China,
potentially lethal process, Britain and the United States put forward
32 Introduction

the formula of the`OpenDoor and Equal Economic Opportunities'.

A dismembered China without an effective central government would
naturally mean the collapse of the treaty system. Russia was, in effect,
to reject the Open Door principle, and because of this neither France
nor Germany showed any enthusiasm for it. Japan, on the other
hand, equivocated, paying lip-service to the formula while con-
solidating her gains after the defeat of Russia in 1905.
During the First World War Japan's continental expansion
gathered momentum to the detriment of the treaty system which was
further weakened by Russia's voluntary renunciation of some of her
rights in the Chicherin declaration of 1918 and the loss of the treaty
rights of the Central Powers at the end of the war. Meanwhile the
fast-growing anti-imperialist nationalist movement in China itself
was calling for a recognition and sympathy which only Soviet Russia
would give. The delegates to the Peace Conference at Versailles
ignored it in a manner which showed contempt for its impotence;
the Western powers decided to hand the former German possessions
in Shantung to Japan.
It was Wilson who realized the explosive nature of the problems
created by the Peace Conference; it was Harding who convened the
Washington Conference in an effort to hinder its consequences. But
the achievement at Washington in 1921–2 was meagre. Re-affirming
the principles of the Open Door and Equal Opportunity, the nine
powers at Washington sought to uphold China's territorial and ad-
ministrative integrity – in other words, to bolster up the warlords'
government in Peking; they wanted the door of China to be open to
foreign trade and investment but did not appoint a 'door-keeper' to
keep it open. Unlike the Anglo–Japanese alliance, the Washington
formula was not provided with any mechanism to enforce its general
acceptance. Its workability rested on three hypotheses : (a) that the
British and American Pacificfleetswould retain their preponderance;
(b) that Russia would not become strong enough to upset the balance
of power in east Asia; (c) that Chinese nationalism would continue
to be ineffectual. If any one of these hypotheses turned out to be
incorrect, the formula would become a dead letter; and even if that
eventuality happened, neither the United Kingdom nor the United
States would resort to force to guard their interests in China.
While these hypotheses held true, peace among nations did prevail
in the East. Then came the Depression and the arms race between
Japan and the Anglo–American powers, which swiftly changed the
 Introduction 33

situation. Japan's seizure of Manchuria in 1931 shocked the Western

powers into a panic-stricken disunity. The League of Nations could
do nothing beyond sending a fact-finding mission, while the major
powers behind the League, faced with Japan's military might, con-
fined themselves to refusing to recognize the puppet state set up on
the soil of Manchuria. After that the spectacle of Europe's retreat
from east Asia was, to use a Chinese metaphor, like that of watching
mercury poured upon the ground and seeing its scattered beads
rolling into holes and crevices.
Apart from pursuing their individual imperialist aims, the Western
powers had never, in the past hundred years, had a concerted policy
towards China. From the Western point of view, the treaty system
of the 1860s was probably the best thing they had done. Once
erected, the system became the status quo and its architects conserva-
tive and passive. The West's lack of initiative and dynamism in the
1920s was in acute contrast with the communism of Russia, the
expansionism of Japan, and the nationalism of China, all of which
sought to destroy the status quo. That the status quo was undesirable
weakened the West's case, and it finally became untenable after
1937. When the West first came to east Asia, it represented a new,
progressive force; when it withdrew, it was already out of date.
In the hundred years from 1842 to 1942, China had been treated
by the West with distrust, ridicule, and disdain, mingled from time
to time with pity and charity, only occasionally with sympathy and
friendliness. No Western head of state while in office lowered his
dignity by paying a visit to China; no Chinese head of state was ever
invited to visit a Western country. The first time China took part in
a major international assembly was at Versailles, but her second
appearance at the Washington Conference was greeted by Briand's
embarrassing question: 'What is China?' Chiang Kai-shek's trip to
Cairo in 1943 and Chou En-lai's to Geneva in 1954 were therefore
landmarks in her progress as a member of the family of nations.

This brief summary of China's international relations will, I hope,

provide adequate background for the rest of the book which, after
all, is not a diplomatic history. The book is mainly concerned with
China's cultural and social contacts with the West in a dynamic pro-
cess of change; the process is called 'Westernization' or 'moderniza-
tion', which involves institutions of all sizes from the state and
political parties down to voluntary organizations, and also, of
C.A.T.W.—Β
34 Introduction

course, many individuals, on whom this study will focus. The book
will be concerned throughout with society below the level of
government.
To make the book manageable in scope and size, I propose to treat
China as she was from the beginning of the nineteenth century down
to the outbreak of the Japanese War in 1937, and to define the West
to include Europe west of Vienna, the United States of America,
and the white dominions of the British Empire. The period and
geographic area are so chosen as to exclude Japan and to minimize
the impact of communism, though I am fully aware of the profound
influence Russia and Japan had on China. Japan can hardly be re-
garded as a Western nation; Chinese communism, like Chinese
diplomatic history, has been discussed in detail in several existing
works. Nevertheless these topics will be referred to from time to
time, for narrative clarity.
My analysis will open with a chapter on how China and the West
saw each other. Attitudes and policies are formed, approaches and
procedures are chosen, on the basis of things as they are perceived,
not as they really are. Therefore the role of image-makers and the
images they created will be analysed. The image-makers are also
agents of changes ; they include missionaries and converts, scholars
and students, traders and emigrants. Diplomats, too, perform this
role, but, with few exceptions, only those who addressed their views
to the general public in an unofficial capacity are discussed in this
study. Among the groups of people mentioned above, a comprehen-
sive coverage of the traders and emigrants is extremely difficult
owing to a dearth of recorded material. Therefore I shall limit myself
to treating the Western community in Shanghai and the Chinese one
in San Francisco as two case studies.
The remainder of the book will then deal with the process of
change induced by the ideas brought to China or the West by these
agents. After outlining the basic attitudes, I shall go on to describe
political, social, economic, and cultural developments. It is hoped
that, on the one hand, the book will help to settle some controversial
problems, such as the nature of the T'ung-chih Restoration – China's
first attempt at modernization in the 1 8 6 0 s – 1 8 9 0 s – and that of the
reform movement after 1900, and, on the other, to fill in some of the
gaps in our knowledge. By means of a review such as this, some of
the strains and stresses of China's modernization may be better
understood.
 Introduction 35

For the purposes of this book, the basic elements of China's

modernization must be sought in stimulus and response. When
looking at these in political and economic affairs alone, one receives
an impression of China's lethargy and passivity, almost like that of
'a patient etherised upon a table'. But China becomes alive, dynamic,
buzzing with activity, if one looks below this level, at the feng-ch'i
(climate of opinion) and the min-ch'i (spirit of the people) with their
biases towards either tradition or radicalism. By exploring these
depths one may come to realize what an obstacle the government of
China was to the modernization of the country.
Three views of the East