from Peking to Canton. These two dividing lines meet at Hankow, which
has long been an important strategical point in Chinese history. From
Peking to Hankow there is a railway, formerly Franco-Belgian, now owned
by the Chinese Government. From Wuchang, opposite Hankow on the southern
bank of the river, there is to be a railway to Canton, but at present it
only runs half-way, to Changsha, also a Treaty Port. The completion of
the railway, together with improved docks, will greatly increase the
importance of Canton and diminish that of Hong-Kong.

In the Treaty Ports commerce is the principal business; but in the lower
Yangtze and in certain mining districts there are beginnings of
industrialism. China produces large amounts of raw cotton, which are
mostly manipulated by primitive methods; but there are a certain number
of cotton-mills on modern lines. If low wages meant cheap labour for the
employer, there would be little hope for Lancashire, because in Southern
China the cotton is grown on the spot, the climate is damp, and there is
an inexhaustible supply of industrious coolies ready to work very long
hours for wages upon which an English working-man would find it
literally impossible to keep body and soul together. Nevertheless, it is
not the underpaid Chinese coolie whom Lancashire has to fear, and China
will not become a formidable competitor until improvement in methods and
education enables the Chinese workers to earn good wages. Meanwhile, in
China, as in every other country, the beginnings of industry are sordid
and cruel. The intellectuals wish to be told of some less horrible
method by which their country may be industrialized, but so far none is
in sight.

The intelligentsia in China has a very peculiar position, unlike that
which it has in any other country. Hereditary aristocracy has been
practically extinct in China for about 2,000 years, and for many