centuries the country has been governed by the successful candidates in
competitive examinations. This has given to the educated the kind of
prestige elsewhere belonging to a governing aristocracy. Although the
old traditional education is fast dying out, and higher education now
teaches modern subjects, the prestige of education has survived, and
public opinion is still ready to be influenced by those who have
intellectual qualifications. The Tuchuns, many of whom, including
Chang-tso-lin, have begun by being brigands,[36] are, of course, mostly
too stupid and ignorant to share this attitude, but that in itself makes
their régime weak and unstable. The influence of Young China--_i.e._ of
those who have been educated either abroad or in modern colleges at
home--is far greater than it would be in a country with less respect for
learning. This is, perhaps, the most hopeful feature in the situation,
because the number of modern students is rapidly increasing, and their
outlook and aims are admirable. In another ten years or so they will
probably be strong enough to regenerate China--if only the Powers will
allow ten years to elapse without taking any drastic action.

It is important to try to understand the outlook and potentialities of
Young China. Most of my time was spent among those Chinese who had had a
modern education, and I should like to give some idea of their
mentality. It seemed to me that one could already distinguish two
generations: the older men, who had fought their way with great
difficulty and almost in solitude out of the traditional Confucian
prejudices; and the younger men, who had found modern schools and
colleges waiting for them, containing a whole world of modern-minded
people ready to give sympathy and encouragement in the inevitable fight
against the family. The older men--men varying in age from 30 to
50--have gone through an inward and outward struggle resembling that of
the rationalists of Darwin's and Mill's generation. They have had,