Peking to Lhasa : vol.1 / Page 364 (Color Image)

0364	Peking to Lhasa : vol.1

280 PEKING TO LHASA

be, even in what may be called in comparison)

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the palmy days of the Manchus. The one dis-

turbing case is that the Chinese student is more

outspoken in his denunciations of foreigners.

With an ancient race like the Chinese, reforms

should be brought in gradually, and I think the

foreigner is to blame for trying to force his ideas of

education too rapidly on the Chinese. The result

has been that too much education has been crammed

into the rising generation, and he has only got a

smattering of Western learning, without a proper

grounding. The first idea of sending Chinese

boys to foreign countries for a long and systematic

course of training was sound, but when it came

to establishing schools and universities broadcast

throughout the land, the evil has far exceeded

the good. The youths were taught to realise the

superiority of Western education over their own

antiquated ideas, and whilst it has made them

realise their own superiority over their parents,

they also have awakened to the fact that they

are still far behind the foreigner, and this has

aroused a feeling of jealousy against him. In the

old days respect for their elders was one of the

virtues of the Chinese, but this is now rapidly

dying out. In the old days, too, the power was

in the hands of the older men, but now it is

generally the younger men, between thirty and

forty, who have control of the country. Another

difficulty is that in many cases the foreign teachers

are poor men, to whom the loss of their posts

would result in serious financial embarrassment.

As long as the Chinese student feels he can force

his superiors by threats of boycott to do what he

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