Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 360 (Color Image)

0360	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

276 PEKING TO LHASA

The Mahommedans of Kansu, the finest fighting

race of China, have been oppressed for ages, and

it is only since the advent of the Republic that

they have been able to assert themselves, and

now they are beginning to retaliate on the Chinese,

to whom they bear no love.

In the south, the fierce Nosu (Lolo) have been

oppressed in the past by many corrupt officials,

they have lost their best lands, and a branch has

been driven into the wild mountains of southern

Szechwan, where they have maintained their in-

dependence and bear an undying hate to the

Chinese. Here they have not remained passive,

but year after year they have seized harmless

Chinese families of the farmer class and driven

them as slaves into their mountain fastnesses,

from which they generally never return.

To the eternal disgrace of China this has been

allowed to go on, and never a word of protest is

raised by the wretched students of Szechwan and

Yunnan.

One can imagine what a howl of indignation

would be raised in any country if such a state of

affairs were allowed to continue. One cannot

imagine what the state of public opinion would

be if it were possible and an announcement made

that a small alien race was in the habit of raid-

ing the surrounding country, kidnapping British

farmers and their families, and bringing them

and their descendants up as slaves in the heart

of our own land, and yet these things have been

happening for years within less than 200 miles of

Cheng-tu, and never a word of protest has arisen

from the Cheng-tu student.

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