Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/757

* CHINESE EMPIRE. 639 CHINESE LANGUAGE. liridge (Xew York, 1900) ; Cordier, Uistoirc dcs relations de la Chine arte les puissances occi- dentales (Paris. 1001): Siiuith. China in Con- vulsion I Xew York, 1901); Landor, China and the Allies (New York, 1901); Ku Hung-uiing, Fapcrs from a Viceroy's I'amen (Shajighai, 1901). CHINESE GORDON. The name given to Gen. (.'liarlos George Gordon from his exploits in putting down the Tai-jiing l^eliellion in 1S63. CHINESE HEMP. See Cohchorls. CHINESE IMMIGRATION. This subject first assumed importanee in tl>e United States about the year 1S70, although legislation hostile to the Chinese begjin in Calit'ornia in lS,5o. The I'alifornia Legislature investigated the subject in 1802 and the United States Congress sent a joint special committee to the Pacific Coast in 1.S7G, the voluminous report of which gives the most authentic infornintion on the subject yet publislied. (Rep. 44th Cong. 2d Sess. Sen. R. 6S9, pp. 12S1, Wash. 1S77). Up to ISGS the United States was trying to compel China to admit Americans into that country for the ])ursuit of trade and commerce. The first treaty (1844) with China gave Ameri- cans the right of residence in five ports and gave them the rights of extra-territorial con- sular jurisdiction. The Americans, though not participating in the Chinese war of 1858, secured all of the privileges obtained by other nations, which were stipulated in the Reed Treaty of 1858. Nothing was said in these treaties about Chinese in America, who came here under the same condi- tions as the citizens of other nations. The Bur- lingame Treaty of 18G8 deprecated involuntary immigi-ation — aimed at coolie labor — but de- clared the right of migration to be an inherent one, and a sj)ecial resolution of Congress (July 27, 18G8) declared the right of expatriation to be a natural and inherent right of all people, the obstruction or restriction of which is incon- sistent with the fundamental principles of the republic. This declaration became subsequently an object of embarrassment in dealing with the Chinese when anti-Chinese feeling on the Pacific Coast made it necessary for both political parties in 1876 to insert anti-Chinese planks in their platforms. The question of abrogating the treaty of 1868 was discussed in Congress. A bill to restrict Chinese immigration passed both Hoiises of Congress in 1879. but was vetoed by President haves because it violated the Treaty of 1868. A commission was sent to China in 1880 to nego- tiate a new treaty to permit the absolute prohibi- tion of Chinese immigration. The Treaty of 1880 declared that '"the Government of the United States may regulate, limit, or susjiond such com- ing or residence. l>ut may not absolutely prohibit it." The treaty further stated that the limitation must be rea.sonable and apply only to Chinese laborers. The act of 1882 suspended the immi- gration of Chinese laborers for ten years and gave those in the I'nited States or those who should arrive within 90 days after the passage of the act the right to remain, hut forbade the naturalization of Chinc'ie. ami the act applied to both skilled and unskilled laborers. The act was amended in 18SS. while a treaty, in which the Chinese Government undertook to prohibit Chi- nese laborers from coming to the Ignited States, and our Government agreed to jjrotect those here from the violence and outrages to which they were constantly subjected without redress, was still pending. The amendment prohibited the re- turn on certificate of Chinamen once here who went back tu China, declared all such certificates void, and practically made Chinese exclusion per- manent. This act angered the Chinese Govern- ment, which did not ratify the treaty. The act of 1882 expired in 1892. and the (Icary l.iw con- tinuing the exclusion for a further period of ten years was passed May .5. 1892. President Roose- velt recommended in his message to Congress, December, 1901, the continiance of this policy, and the general sentiment both in and out of Congress still favors Chinese e.xclusion and will demand further legislation to this end. The methods by which Chinese e.xclusion has been accompli<licd have not yeen above reproach, but public o|)inion forced radical action on the part of the Government. It is asserted by those who advocate Chinese e.xclusion that the Chinese come here not in families, but chiefly as male laborers for a temporary stay, to secure about .$1500 in savings and then return to China with a competency'. The difi'erenee between the Ameri- can and Chinese civilization makes it almost im- possible to assimilate them. They work for low wages and live very cheaply. Vhether or not they would ever come to this country in sufficient nmiibers to constitute a menace to the economic interests of American labor, which the American workingman supposes, is doubtful. The number of Chinese who came to the United States from 1848 to 1852, when they be- gan to come as a result of the gold discoveries, IS estimated at 10.000. From 1852 to 1854 the excess of arrivals over departures amounted to 31,861. During the next 15 years the annual de- partures were about as great as the annual ar- rivals; 1868 showed a net gain of 6876, and from that year down to 1876 the net gain was about 11.000 per annum. The census of 1880 showed 105,465, exclusive of Hawaii: 1890, 107,488; 1900, 89.863. Consult Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration (New York, 1895). See Immi- gration. CHINESE LANGUAGE, WRITING, AND LITERATURE. The language of China is an- cient and important because of the vast number of human beings speaking it: but it ranks among the most rudimentary forms of speech that have maintained a long existence anywhere in the world. It has matter-elements and nothing else; besides this, it is monosyllabic, each word being uttered by a single movement of the organs of speech, and expressing a complete idea or thing. It is characterized by the unchangeability of the root. Hence it is without inflections or distinct parts of speech. Tlu> relation of a word is recognized by its position in the sentence. The same word may sen-e as noun, adjective, verb, or adverb. Gender, number, person, and case are signified, not by the form of the word itself, but by related additional ^•ol■^ls. Posilicm is everrthing in the construction of Chinese sentences. Chinese is one of the simplest lan- guages in the world, and at the same time one of the most difficult: for while there is no gram- mar except syntax, to be a scholar one niu.st learn the book language in its two or three dif- ferent forms, the collociuial or spoken languages in their various vernaculars, and the tones (as many, it may be, as seven to a single sound).