China and the West

Letter from John Dewey to Albert C. Barnes
135 Morrison St Peking | March 13 '21
Dear Mr Barnes, …
An American business engineer who knows China of old and who has just come over, remarked that the Consortium was more anxious to protect old investments in China than to make new ones at present. I think he struck the nail on the head so far as the financial side is now concerned. Mr [Frederick Waeir] Stevens their present representative is an extraordinarily honest man, almost innocently so. You may imagine that he is so clever that he has duped me, but I know the Chinese secy very well, in fact I recommended him, and he has been with Mr S every day now for many weeks. He is not the kind of man who would be sent if there were an intrigue to be put over, but is the kind who would be sent when a waiting policy was the key-note. Meantime the Chinese govt is on the verge of bankruptcy. The business man to whom I just referred said the same was true when he was here four years, it didnt seem as if it could least another month, and one gets very suspicious of the "verge" after awhile. But no they have pledged the last thing available and pawned things ahead. For some time they have have been borrowing money to pay interest due, and at enormous rates thirty per cent being common. It is possible that before you get this letter cables may have reported a bust-up. What will happen no one can tell. There may be a kind of international receivership; there may be a monarchical restoration; there is no doubt there is wide-spread reaction agt the "Republic"; there may be a civil war between the two military leaders of the faction now in control—Chang Tsolin of Manchuria and and Tsao Kun of this province, fairly likely anyway and Chang is a monarchist—there may be secession of all central and south China, and if a monarchy in the north a virtual tho not an avowed Japanese protectorate, or any combination of some or all of these things. Yet the expected is what almost never happens in China. Id like to saty over another year to see what happens, but nothing ever comes to a head and another year and another, there would still be the waiting to see something definitive happen. The movement for provincial autonomy is the most sure thing. Five southern provinces are now practically independent of any govt outside their own borders, and the movement is spreading north. This is the most healthful sign on the horizin even tho it means a transitional breakup of China, for with locally centred govt it may [b]e possible to secure responsibility and now there is none. The ablest of the young Chinese g[ave] us a half hour conversation the other evening on Chinese history as bearing on present situation. He finds the key in the constant conflict of Chinese civilization limited to a few Central [P]rovinces with outside barbarian tribes. In this struggle, the north has been practically barbarized by the Mongols, Tartars etc, altho socially Chinafied, and to him north China is the weight that holds China back. He makes an analogy with the history of Medieval Europe, except the northern barabarians here are not as promising material. as the northern barbarians of Europe. The extreme south Canton etc w[a]s of course also barbarians but of a different type, less stolid, more adventurous and hence progressive. The Yangste regions are the backbone of China proper. In a few weeks we are going south, to the province of Fukien, Foochow and Amoy. It is likely the schools here may close for lack of funds, and in that case I hope to go to Canton also and to spend more time in the south. Teachers have been paid only up to Nov and at that only under pressure from repeated threats to strike, and the latest rumor is that to save face the govt will move first and close the schools, instead of waiting for the teachers to close them by a strike. One of the beauties of Chinese govt is that each dept has its "own" funds, so that the dept of communications is rolling in wealth, comparatively, while the rest of the govt is bankrupt. Its like each general having his own army. The present govt is a coalition of part of the generals with the financial interest of the dept of communication politicians—or financiers…
Sincerely yours, Dewey— [pencil postscript] Have got sailing from Yokahama Aug 19