Remembering that Russia and Japan, in 1896, etc., first sought for
railway control and then practically occupied the three Manchurian
provinces, we can understand the patriot’s side of the following
article objecting to the three nations’ railway loan, published in
Chinese in a Hankau paper: “The merchants of Hupeh urge the people to
take shares in the Szechuen, Canton and Hankau railways. The people of
China are in a sad plight. Why is China so poor that every foreigner
is eager to come to her aid? You Chinese say you have plenty of money,
but you are unwilling to loan it. Why do you not use your money to
construct these railway lines? If you do not, the foreigners will
come under false pretenses, destroy your nationality, and cut off
your supplies. England has used this diabolical system to obliterate
Egypt; otherwise how could she have got it?” Even if a foreign banker,
statesman or merchant does not fully agree with the local feeling of
the Chinese, it is wise to look frankly at their side of the argument
in making educational, financial and political plans in the future.
There was much complaint also of the private hoards of the Manchu
princes, both in strong-boxes and in foreign banks. The taxes levied
in the southern provinces mainly supported the empire, and these
taxes were increased. Something then was brewing, especially in the
southern and central provinces. The word went forth, “We are not Boxer
murderers if we cry China for the Chinese, and it is not fair to put a
stone around China’s neck with indemnities just because you are ahead
of us in possessing fleets. We love the American and British peoples,
and their glorious books on _Liberty_, even if we do not love some of
your unregulated trusts any more than you and your Supreme Court’s
decisions do! We are willing to pay a fair rate of interest. Not a
hair of a foreigner is to be touched. We appreciate the education and
lovable alienation of the missionaries, and especially the miracle of
Occidental medicine and surgery.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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