Sketches from Formosa.

288 SKETCHES FROM FORMOSA
plies for their thorough exploitation of a " sphere of
influence " which is meant to embrace, not the Yangtse
valley only, but the eighteen provinces of China. And
any simpleton can see the reasons which urge
forward this peaceful conquest of the Middle Kingdom.
For one thing, recent events have convinced the Chinese
that the Old Dispensation must pass away, and they
of themselves are unable to usher in the New. On the
other hand, Japan has come greatly to the front since
Marquis Ito signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and none
have been taking more careful note of affairs than the
high officials at Peking.
Of course, large room would have to be made for self-
interests in any attempt to bring about the rapproachement
now hinted at, but both sides could well afford
to keep this in view on considering the geographical
contiguity of the two countries, the racial affinity of
their inhabitants, and the fact that any written or printed
statement circulated throughout China is intelligible
also in Japan. But all this, and a great deal more,
has already been taken into account ; so much
so that the Japanese are now daily strengthening a
position which has turned out to be both helpful to the
Chinese and very profitable to themselves. One or
two illustrations may be given in corroboration of this.
Chang Chih-tung, the most influential and progressive
of the Chinese Viceroys, lately dismissed an American
expert, who was in charge of the Wu-chang Agricultural
and the same
College, and put a Japanese in his place ;
high official has sent a large number of Chinese students
to Japan to be educated for Government service while
;
the following published statement was recently made by a
"
A large school has just been
foreign resident in China :
established by Japanese near the Shanghai Arsenal in
buildings which formerly served as that Chinese girls'