National Geographic : 1900 Jul
GEOGRAPHIC NOTES TIENTSIN, the military key to Pekin, is at the junction of the Hun-ho and the Pei-ho, about 80 miles by road from the capital and 65 miles from Ta-ku. Gun boats and sea going junks can ascend the river only as far as Tientsin. The foreigners live in three concessions-French, English, and German-bordering on the river and covering an area of several hundred acres. The English have a very handsome town hall, a well kept public garden, and a recreation ground. The city has also two hotels, two clubs, a theater, an excellent public library, and three churches-Catholic, Anglican, and Union. Countless barges ply between Tientsin and Tung-chau, whence a wretched cart road of thirteen miles connects with Pekin. The railway between Tientsin and Pekin, completed in 1897, is now absorbing the larger part of this commerce. The population is now estimated at 950,000, and is increasing very rapidly, as Tientsin is the principal outlet for the trade of the provinces of Chi-li, Shan-si, Shen si, Kan-su, and the northern part of Ho-nan, which contain a population of about 100,000,003. In 1870 occurred the terrible massacre of foreigners, when the French Sisters of Mercy were brutally butchered. "THA' the Russianization of China will eventually be accomplished seems inevitable. . . .. With the conquest of China the 8,000,000 soldiers of the Czar, who compose the army of Russia when on a war footing, could be in creased to 40,000,000 fighting men, most of whom could live inexpensively on a handful of rice a day. With such an army Russia could dictate terms to the world." This statement, by Alexander Hume Ford, in Collier's Weekly, is an opinion very generally shared by the press of the United States. However, two facts are here taken for granted which have yet to be proved. First, has Russia now the ability to subdue the four hundred millions of China, and, second, granted that she can subdue them, has she the capability of mould ing them and keeping them subservient to her will? The military strength of Russia in Manchuria and on the Pacific Coast cannot be estimated, but it is doubtful if she could muster, at the maximum figure, 100,000 troops. That such a force can cope with restlessness in China, especially when communica tion is by road only, is impossible. Russia has her hands full in the development of the vast resources of Siberia; here millions of colonists must be Absorbed before anything can be attempted in China. Meanwhile, notwithstanding fierce reaction, progress must inevitably go on in China, solidifying the masses of the people. It is a problem whether the national spirit of the Chinese will not be soon unified to such an extent as to be able successfully to resist Russia when she is ready to begin her " Russianization." It is argued that because Russia has been able to absorb and " Russianize " the nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of central and northern Asia that she will be equally successful in dealing with the Chinese. But the handling of immense masses of population that have a grand past from which to gain individuality is quite different from overawing weak and scattered tribes.