Page:Through China with a camera.pdf/229

 progress, from the sheer necessity of self-preservation; and I have no hesitation in saying that China, petrified and stagnant as she is, and has been for so many centuries, yet contains within herself all the material elements that will one day win her a proud pre-eminence among the nations of the earth. Truth even now is busily at work loosening the earth about the ancient foundation of classical lore and superstition on which her venerable wall of fossil institutions is reared; and that wall, ere long, will be lowered stone by stone, or over- thrown with some violent shock, till a way has been opened across it for the purer institutions of progressive government. Should war be the alternative, it will probably only hasten the work of regeneration." This is a fairly accurate forecast which I made some years ago, of the position which China has taken as a fighting power, shown in the result of the late Chino- Japanese war. It is extremely doubtful if the lesson taught by the issue of the conflict will lead to the introduction of any serious measures of reform. Since the date of the Japanese raid on Formosa the Chinese have practically done nothing to strengthen their position and secure themselves against the attack of even a third-rate power.

I will now take leave of the island of Formosa and cross again to the mainland of China, where, in the province of Fukien, I gathered some information relating to the supposed progress made by the Chinese in the arts of natural defence and the construction of implements of war.

The river Min, flowing through the heart of the Fu-kien province, is one of the main outlets for the drainage of the mountainous region where the celebrated Bohea hills stand, and is also the channel down which the produce of one of the richest tea districts in China is conveyed for exportation. The