on of those
forces, with
[Page 202]
the duty of making them not provincial, but national. Efforts of
this kind, however, are no proof of a reform spirit. Are not the
same to be seen all the way from Afghanistan to Dahomey? "To be weak
is to be miserable"; and the Chinese are right in making military
reorganisation the starting-point of a new policy. Yet the mere
proposal of a parliament is a better indication of the spirit of
reform than all these armaments.

In the mind of China, wealth is the correlative of strength. The
two ideas are combined in the word _Fuchiang_, which expresses
national prosperity. Hence the treasures hidden in the earth could
not be neglected, when they had given up the follies of geomancy
and saw foreigners prospecting and applying for concessions to work
mines. At first such applications were met by a puerile quibble
as to the effect of boring on the "pulse of the Dragon"--in their
eyes not the guardian of a precious deposit, but the personification
of "good luck." To find lucky locations, and to decide what might
help or harm, were the functions of a learned body of professors of
_Fungshui_, a false science which held the people in bondage
and kept the mines sealed up until our own day. Gradually the Chinese
are shaking off the incubus and, reckless of the Dragon, are forming
companies for the exploitation of all sorts of minerals. The Government
has framed elaborate regulations limiting the shares of foreigners,
and encouraging their own people to engage in mining enterprises.

"Give up your _Fungshui_;
It keeps your wealth locked up,"

says a verse of Viceroy Chang.

[Page 203]
A similar change has taken place in sentiment as regards railways.
At first dreaded as an instrument of foreign aggression, they are
now understood to be the best of auxiliaries for national defence.
It has further dawned on the mind of a grasping mandarinate that
they may be utilised as a source of revenue. If stocks pay well,
why should not the Government hold them? "Your railways pay 10
per cent.--that's the sort of railway we want in China," said one
of the commissioners at a banquet in England.

It would not be strange if the nationalisation of railways decided
on this spring in Japan should lead to a similar movement in China.
In a country like America, with 300,000 miles of track, the purchase
would be _ultra vires_ in more senses than one, but with only
1 per cent. of that mileage, the purchase w