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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION ON CHINA 
 
 AND THE CHINESE 
 
_ Cornell University Library 
 
 DS 740.5.J3S99 
 
 Is Japan a burning menace to the world 
 
 3 1924 023 151 727 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023151727 
 
IS JAPAN A BURNING MENACE 
 TO THE WORLD'S PEACE? 
 
 By 
 
 
 F. C. SZE 
 
 University of Wisconsin 
 
 
 The Students' Strike — An Explanation 
 
 China's Official Appeal to the United 
 States Senate 
 
 CompUments of 
 
 The Publicity Bureau of the Chinese Students 
 
 in the 
 
 University of IlUnois 
 
 NO 2 August 7, 1919 
 
Is Japan A Burning Menace to the 
 World's Peace? 
 
 This leaflet addresses itself to the task of answering the query- 
 already uppermost even in the mind of a Chinese schoolboy: "Is 
 Japan a burning menace to the world's peace?" In order to answer 
 that question intelligently, we must get at the cold, stubborn facts 
 of history instead of juggling with "ofllcial statements" and diplo- 
 matic fictions; for whether Japan is one or not is largely a question 
 of fact and hardly a question of opinion or belief, of Japanese denials 
 and Chinese afilrmations, or of approval and disapproval by a preju- 
 diced onlooker. Let us therefore face our task candidly — let us, nay, 
 resolve to look this question squarely in the face! — and endeavor to 
 fi'ame such an answer as would occur to an impartial observer of 
 world politics. 
 
 For fear that the purpose of this paper may still be wrongly 
 interpreted, the writer feels it necessary to insist strongly at the 
 outset that this is an enquiry, not a propaganda. If the conclusion 
 to be reached turns out to be somewhat positive and startling (even 
 perhaps to none but the writer himself!), the wish has none the 
 less nowhere been father to the thought. 
 
 II 
 
 But first of all, let it be remembered that what is now called the 
 "Chino-Japanese question" is no longer a local Far Eastern problem, 
 it has already become a world problem which has to be faced and 
 solved justly or else there can be, there will be no lasting peace on 
 this bustling planet. The Great War of 1914-19 has revealed, among 
 other things, the fact that "the world for the first time," in the words 
 of Prof. John Dewey, "now finds itself a round world, politically and 
 economically as well as astronomically." It goes without saying that 
 what permanently injures China must in the end also injure the 
 whole world. 
 
 It occurred to me some years ago that China and Japan, being 
 of a kindred race, ought to be able to get along amicably together. 
 Their relations are essentially those of the lips to the teeth. "De- 
 stroy the lips," to use the famous Chinese metaphor, "and the teeth 
 are cold." Why then all this fuss and flare up between, China and 
 Japan, you may ask? The reason is not difficult to find as it used 
 to be; nor will it appear a bit bewildering when found. The under- 
 lying fact lies in the fundamental difference between their traditions 
 
 2 
 
and institutions. The democratic character of one stands opposed 
 to the bureaucratic nature of the other, just as the peace-loving Chinese 
 are antagonistic to the militaristic Japanese. 
 
 No one knows better than the Japanese themselves the close 
 similarity between Japan and Germany, which accounts for "a good 
 deal of pro-German sentiment in Japan," in Kawakami's phraseology. 
 According to Prof. W. W. Willoughby, Japanese institutions and tra- 
 ditions are admittedly copied from those of Prussia, while their poli- 
 tical philosophy and practices have been strikingly similar to those 
 of that "damnable country." It is therefore not too much to say that 
 modern Japan has been "made in Germany." To put it differently, 
 Japan is the spoiled child of German miltarism and imperialism. 
 It is the most significant irony in the World War that Japan, the 
 only autocratic Power now on this democratized earth, fought (or 
 rather fooled) on the side of the Allies. 
 
 To return to the characteristic dissimilarity between China and 
 Japan. In spite of their racial kith and kin, or the "likeness of kind" 
 as Prof. Giddings would call it, and in spite of their "geographical 
 propinquity," they stand today as far apart from each other as never 
 before in the history of the world. The present antagonism seems 
 to point that their interests repel each other as strenuously as two 
 like poles in electricity. It is their unlikeness of mind which is at 
 the base of all this strife and contention. With this mental back- 
 ground in distinct relief, we shall proceed to give a brief historical 
 resume of Japan's Imperialistic career in the Far East. 
 
 Ill 
 The story of the rise of Japan from a lowly pigmy to a powerful 
 giant elicits a shuddering admiration. It was in 1894-5 that she 
 embarked upon her aggressive policy towards China and launched her 
 "Plan of State." Upon the conclusion of the Chino-Japanese War, 
 Japan wrested Formosa and Pescadores from China besides saddling 
 her with an indemnity far exceeding its cost. In 1905-6 she fought 
 Russia for the avowed purpose of maintaining the independence and 
 territorial integrity of Korea; but in 1910 she swallowed the Hermit 
 Kingdom to form a part of greater Japan. At the outbreak of the 
 Great War in 1914, she at once butted in as a belligerent ostensibly 
 on account of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Ambassador Ishii, unlike 
 most of her statesmen, frankly denied this obligation. An ultimatum 
 was sent to Germany to evacuate Kiaochow and to surrender posses- 
 sion to the Japanese with a view to the eventual return of the terri- 
 tory to China. What was most outrageous was the fact that she 
 violated China's neutrality by landing troops on the northern coast 
 of the Shantung peninsula in spite of China's repeated protests; and 
 the excuse she offered was the German dictum: "necessity knows no 
 law." Not content with military occupation of the railways extending 
 
 3 
 
to Tsinanfu, more than 250 miles distant from the object of her 
 expedition, Japan openly disregarded the territoriSl sovereignty of 
 China and instituted civil government at various points along the 
 railway line, and even at the capital of the province. 
 
 While Europe's hands were thus tied by the war, Japan seized 
 the "golden opportunity" in 1915 and thrust upon China the famous 
 or Infamous Twenty-one Demands and threatened her with war in 
 order "to bring closer the friendly relations subsisting between Japan 
 and China!" Space does not permit us to review the scope of these 
 demands, but certain of their general characteristics and of the 
 circumstances attending their presentation, as set forth succinctly 
 by Prof. W. W. Willoughby, may be noted. 
 
 "1. In the first place the demands were presented directly to 
 Yuan Shih-Kai, the President of the Republic, and not through the 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs as ordinary diplomatic usage would have 
 required. Yuan was told that he must not divulge the fact that de- 
 mands had been presented to him, and he was given to understand 
 that if he acceded to them, he might be assured of Japanese aid in 
 the promotion of his own ambitions, but that if he did not accede, 
 the Japanese government would not hold itself responsible for acts 
 that might be taken against him by disaffected parties who as he 
 knew, were to be found in both China and Japan. 
 
 , "2. These demands, if they had been fully granted by China, 
 would have made China virtually a dependency of Japan, and have 
 been in flagrant violation of the treaty rights of other Powers 
 in China. Especially was this true of the now famous "fifth group," 
 into which the demands of a general and comprehensive character 
 were gathered. So strong in the end became foreign pressure that 
 Japan consented, not to abandon, but to postpone this fifth group of 
 demands for future discussion — a status which they still retain. 
 
 "3. The 21 demands were, for the most part, not in settlement 
 of previously pending controversies between China and Japan, and 
 they were not advanced on the ground that Japan had suffered wrongs 
 from China for which compensation was duej nor were there any 
 treaty or other promises obligating China to surrender the important 
 rights that were demanded. The only justification put forward at 
 the time by Japan was that the arrangement proposed would pro- 
 mote peace and good will between the two countries. In short, the 
 demands were nothing more than a list of Japan's wants presented 
 at a time when China was helpless and the ' other treaty Powers 
 not in a position effectively to object. 
 
 "i. When, notwithstanding the injunction of secrecy, it became 
 rumored that certain demands upon China had been made by Japan, 
 the Japanese diplomatic ofllcials denied the fact. When it became no 
 longer possible to maintain this mendacious denial, the Japanese 
 Government officially supplied the other treaty Powers with what 
 purported to be a list of the demands — a list which it presently ap- 
 peared omitted some of the most important and drastic features. 
 
 "5. Finally, Japan, after somewhat revising her demands and 
 postponing, as has been said, the Fifth Group for future discussion, 
 issued an ultimatum couched in the most unequivocal terms, and at 
 the same time took steps to strengthen her military forces in China. 
 'It is hereby declared,' the ultimatum ran, 'that if no satisfactory 
 
 4 
 
reply is received before or at the specified time, the Imperial Govern- 
 ment will take such steps as they deem necessary.' China was thus 
 given no option: she had to yield, and as a result treaties were drawn 
 up and signed, embodying the demands that had been made. And 
 it is upon these treaties that Japan has chiefly relied before the 
 Paris Peace Conference in support of her claims to rights in the 
 province of Shantung." 
 
 Such are the significant facts. Regarding recent occurrences. 
 Prof. Willoughby has at least this much more to tell: — 
 
 "It is not too strong a statement to say that Japan's record 
 with regard to China has been uniformly, since 1906, an oppressive 
 and immoral one, glossed over by repeated assertions of friendliness, 
 but controlled by the determination to demoralize China and thus 
 provide an opportunity as well as an excuse to increase Japan's 
 political influence and control in that country. Japan can point to 
 no single act on her part that has been affirmatively and disinterest- 
 edly helpful to China. On the contrary, in South Manchuria and 
 Shantung, where her control has been predominant, she has per- 
 mitted extensive smuggling in fraud of the Chinese revenues and 
 to the prejudice of fair competition with the other Powers trading 
 with China; she has allowed the importation and sale of morphia 
 in large quantities, in many cases with the open aid of her consuls, 
 from which large profits have accrued to herself and infinite injury 
 to the Chinese people; she has exported from China, contrary to 
 Chinese law, enormous quantities of copper "cash"; she is the one 
 nation that has arbitrarily refused to allow the Chinese customs 
 authorities to examine postal parcels sent into China from Japan 
 through the post offices which she maintains in China; she alone, 
 during the war, prevented China from taking steps similar to those 
 taken by other nations of the world to conserve her supply of silver; 
 in the tariff revision commission which was recently held at Shang- 
 hai to re-value goods for customs purposes, it was her representa- 
 tives who made it especially difficult to secure for China the effective 
 5% ad valorem duties which, under treaties, she is entitled to levy; 
 in many well-established cases in Shantung, through her control of 
 the railways and railway zones, she checked the efforts of the Chi- 
 nese authorities to suppress the brigandage which is prevalent in 
 that province; and, through the importation of arms and munitions 
 and the many loans which her bankers have made during the last 
 three years, she has knowingly made possible the continuance of 
 the strife that has devastated so many of the provinces and made im- 
 possible the institution of administrative and financial reforms in 
 China." 
 
 This imposing array of Japanese atrocities in China should be 
 sufficient to convince any one of Japan's real intentions and aspi- 
 rations in the EYir East. The world should no longer be kept ignorant 
 of her aggressive policy toward her unoffending neighbor. The con- 
 tinuance of such a reckless course is bound to Jeopardize the peace, 
 not only of the Far East, but also of the world. 
 
 With the ushering-in of a new international order under the 
 League of Nations, the time has come to call a halt to the "let's 
 grab" policy pursued by foreign nations, notably Germany and Japan, 
 in China. True, England, France and Russia have also played the 
 "game of grab," to use Mr. Ku Hung-Ming's apt phrase; but what 
 
 5 
 
Germany did in 1898 and Japan did in 1915 has passed beyond all 
 precedent. China now pleads before the world to#e let alone, to 
 be allowed free opportunities to develop herself; for it is only a free, 
 powerful China that can safeguard the world's peace in the Far Bast. 
 
 IV 
 
 Carlyle writes; "Shams are all and sundry of the devil, and 
 poisonous and unendurable to man." It is high time that the sham 
 of the so-called Japanese Monroe Doctrine be exploded. Difficult 
 as it is in these days to talk about such an elusive thing as the 
 American Monroe Doctrine without incurring the risk of misstate- 
 ment, there can be no doubt that it has had as its foundation the 
 protection of the American continent from the dangerous military 
 movements of autocratic governments. There is a distinctly altruistic 
 and beneficent note in such a doctrine. Viewed in this light, the 
 Jap-ized doctrine is veritably a nightmare. Instead of telling the world 
 in plain everyday language what it means, the Japanese statesmen 
 and publicists are continuously talking Japanese to the West as if 
 the world could thus be fooled. 
 
 The crux of the matter is this: The Japanese doctrine is just 
 the antithesis of the American doctrine. True, the outer shell looks 
 the same, but the meat is entirely different. Japan has clearly 
 revealed her intention to keep Korea and China for selfish, corrupt 
 and immoral exploitation regardless of the interests of other na- 
 tions or of the welfare of her Asiatic neighbors. Pan-Japanism 
 is the real keynote of the Japanese doctrine. Japan is already play- 
 ing the tune of "Nippon Ueber AUes" in the Far East. If Japan's 
 formula for the world's peace is her hegemony over Asia, then 
 Japan constitutes a grave menace to the peace of the nations inter- 
 ested in China and the struggling Republic herself. A pax Japonica 
 could not be a stable peace. In that direction lies war, and the 
 ultimate defeat of Japan's pretensions. Nor is the way for peace 
 to be found in the perpetuation of the existing status quo, as has 
 been indicated above, but in reform and development of China into 
 a powerful modern state capable of dealing with other great na- 
 tions on terms of equality. 
 
 In propagating their Asiatic Monroe Doctrine, the Japanese na- 
 turally paint China to be another Mexico. This cannot but provoke 
 a smile. They also insinuate that the Chinese are not fit for self- 
 government, whatever that may mean. Now such diplomatic tricks 
 are highly mischievous. The analogy they try to impress upon the 
 outside world is grossly misleading. The very fact that China is 
 the only country that has 40 centuries of continuous history and 
 civilization behind her bears eloquent testimony that she is capable 
 of sustaining existence in spite of all odds. If the bloodless revolu- 
 tion of 1911 which transformed her from a monarchy to a republic 
 
 6 
 
shows us anything, it is this: the Chinese people have virile energy 
 in them to adjust their nation to the world environment. Passing 
 as she does through a hobbledehoy period, she is naturally experi- 
 encing many hardships and encountering many obstacles. If allowed 
 full liberty to do what she thinks is right and best for the good gov- 
 ernment of the people, China will doubtless play an important role 
 that is her due. 
 
 Before leaving the fancied Japanese Monroe Doctrine, it is per- 
 tinent to call attention to Art XXI in the Paris Covenant for a League 
 of Nations which provides as follows: "Nothing in this covenant 
 shall be deemed to affect the validity of International engagements 
 such as treaties of arbitration or regional understandings like the 
 Monroe Doctrine for securing peace." One hardly knows what havoc 
 such a meaningful phrase as "regional understandings" may play in 
 the hands of Japanese statesmen. Because of "geographical pro- 
 pinquity," they have already claimed "special interests" as recog- 
 nized in the Lansing-Ishii notes. That they will assert their pet 
 doctrine under Art. XXI is more than probable. To accept any such 
 interpretation will mean the virtual abdication of the traditional 
 Open Door Doctrine from the diplomatic throne of world politics. 
 
 Were it not for the fact that China has been treated, as plainly 
 shown in the Big Three's Shantung award, as a negligible quantity 
 to be dealt with as whim or fancy may direct, the writer need 
 scarcely point out that any settlement of the Chino-Japanese ques- 
 tion that does not remove the root of the trouble will inevitably 
 breed war. The Chinese people have suffered enough humiliation 
 and injustice; they can no longer tolerate any more travesty of 
 justice. The 400- millions are rising in a nation-wide protest against 
 what the Parisian politicians euphemistically call "political expedi- 
 ency." The latter have apparently neglected the teaching of the 
 great Chinese sage who admonitioned : "Uphold the cause of the 
 just and put down every cause that is unjust, and the people will 
 submit. But uphold the cause of the unjust and put down every cause 
 that is just, then the people will not submit." It is well for them 
 to keep constantly in mind that the dove of peace builds its nest 
 only in the haunts of justice. 
 
 V 
 The German menace — thank the Almighty — is at last gone; 
 never to return, let us fervently pray. But in its place we see another 
 one which is no less formidable than the one just gone by. The air 
 is now humming with a new menace which is perhaps just as threat- 
 ening as the one just past. That new menace on the international 
 horizon, as one must come to the inescapable conclusion, is nothing 
 but the luminous menace of the "Rising Sun." It is not a mere 
 matter of accident that the Japanese menace should raise its head 
 
 7 
 
in the Far East upon the complete shattering of the German menace; 
 for is not the former the logical successor of the latWr? 
 
 With an unerring instinct to detect "sympathetic" evil and false- 
 hood, the German ex-Kaiser painted for the edification of the Rus- 
 sian monarch the picture of the Yellow Peril at the conclusion of the 
 Ghino-Japanese Wir of 1894-5. What William II had In mind was 
 nothing hut the approaching Japanese menace. We are now only be- 
 ginning to realize the prophetic tone of his prescience. The only 
 Yellow Peril is the "Yellow Hun," and not yellow journalism as the 
 Japanese publicists would have us believe. Being obsessed with a 
 militarism that out-Prussians the Prussian, Japan becomes in many 
 respects more German than Germany herself. In the light of the 
 foregoing analysis, can it be wondered that Japan is a burning menace 
 to the world's peace? 
 
 The writer should be wanting in justice if he fails to add at the 
 consummation of this paper that Japan may yet succeed in a change 
 of heart. The present extension of suffrage and the installation of a 
 commoner cabinet under Premier Hara both point toward the rise 
 of democracy in Japan. With this brightening prospect before us, 
 we have every reason to hope that the militaristic itch may yet be 
 removed and the bacillus of imperialism may still be blown out from 
 the Japanese body politic. Instead of being a burning menace to the 
 world's peace, Japan may become by one stroke an immense asset 
 to the peace of the world. That is, the writer feels sure, the sincere 
 prayer of everyone who looks upon the world not merely as a good 
 American, European or anything you will, but also as "a citizen of 
 the world,'.' in the happy Goldsmithian phraseology, under the League 
 of Nations. 
 
 The Students' Strike 
 
 An Explanation 
 
 For the first time in the history of China a genuine democratic 
 movement has appeared. The entire Chinese people has risen. No 
 officials head this movement. No great men have attached their 
 names to this cause. Spontaneously out of the schools, among boys 
 and girls, among shop-keepers and merchants, among laborers and 
 coolies, has arisen this historic defense of the rights of China, this 
 demand for good government. 
 
 On the anniversary of the Twenty-one Demands when the Chinese 
 people were in mourning because of the shame their country had 
 suffered at the hands of Japan, news arrived that China had been de- 
 feated at the Paris Peace Conference. For months previous to this 
 day, since the signing of the armistice, China had high hopes that 
 
 8 
 
she would have an opportunity to develop as a nation, that the 
 wrongs which she had suffered from militarism while the nations of 
 the world were fighting militarism in Europe would be righted. But 
 now China was hopeless. In Peking was a government corrupt to the 
 core. In one year it had borrowed £220,000,000.00 from Japan, ceding 
 to her the richest resources of the land. Coal mines, iron mines, 
 forests, future railroad rights, control of the army, control of finances, 
 control of the few great industries of the country, having been thrown 
 away for a mess of pottage. Great China, the land richest in re- 
 sources, richest in man-power, richest in territory had become a 
 plaything because of the militarism of Japan and the corruption of 
 her own officials. 
 
 The Manchus were driven out by a small band of intrepid revolu- 
 tionists in league with enlightened officials. But the Chinese people 
 took no part in the first revolution. The monarchist movement of 
 Yuan shih-kai was killed by Peking officialdom. But the people of 
 China were silent. Chang Hsun's attempted restoration of the Man- 
 chus was squelched by the very officials who are betraying their 
 country to-day. But the people took no Interest. 
 
 Since then a Great War has been fought in Europe. On the fields 
 of France and Belgium the fairest sons of the great nations of the 
 west had given their lives that democracy and justice might exist 
 upon the earth. Throughout the world like the voice of a prophet has 
 gone the word of Woodrow Wilson strengthening the weak and giv- 
 ing courage to the struggling. And the Chinese people have listened 
 and they too have heard. They have been told that their four- 
 thousand year old doctrine that peace is the greatest of all aims 
 of a nation has become the slogan of mankind. They have been told 
 that in the dispensation which is to be made after the war unmilitar- 
 istic nations like China would have an opportunity to develop their 
 culture, their industry, their civilization, unhampered. They have 
 been told that secret covenants and forced agreements would not 
 be recognized. They looked for the dawn of this new Messiah; but 
 no sun rose for China. Even the cradle of the nation was stolen. 
 
 The masses of the people looked toward Peking. There they 
 found only corruption and treason. They looked toward Paris. There 
 they found that a compromise had to be made because of the injec- 
 tion of the question of Piume and racial discrimination. There is 
 no hope there. They looked toward their own enlightened young 
 men who had studied abroad. They found that they were inade- 
 quately prepared to offer a practical plan to save the country. 
 The merchants lacked initiative; they were looking for a leader. And 
 the leadership came from school boys and school girls who were 
 ready to sacrifice their future careers, liberty and life that China 
 might continue to exist. The students of China refused to study, 
 refused to participate in the usual affairs of life until China was 
 
 9 
 
free. They clogged the machinery of the nation. They brought the 
 Issue to a head. They demanded immediate restitutio* of the rights 
 of China and the immediate democratization of the government. 
 These students were Chinese trained. They had never, most of them, 
 left the country. They had not forgotten the nation in the glamour 
 of foreign travel. Their cry was, "sell us, sell everything we have 
 or may at any time have, hut let the nation live." 
 
 II 
 
 Students of Shanghai spontaneously gathered in the Public Recre- 
 ation ground, West Gate, on May 7. There was no pre-arranged pro- 
 gram but before the meeting had proceeded very far it was clear that 
 the students demanded the dismissal of the corrupt officials, the 
 return of Tsingtau to China or effective guarantees by the Allied 
 Nations that Japan would make such a return within a reasonable 
 time, and that the Twenty-One Demands and other secret treaties 
 written between the Peking militarists and the Japanese militarists 
 would be renounced. 
 
 Immediately the Shanghai Students' Union was organized. It 
 consists of eighty-three schools in Shanghai and represents 20,000 
 students, including 5,000 girls. 
 
 Similar action was taken in Peking, Tientsin, Nanking, Hankow, 
 Canton, Hangchow, Soochow, Ningpo and other cities In China. 
 
 The Peking organization became particularly effective. Peking 
 Government University has during the past year, under the guidance 
 of its Chancellor, Tsai Yuen-pei and other enlightened professors 
 become the intellectual centre of China. The democratization of the 
 Chinese language, the development of a modern Chinese literature, 
 the growth of political discussion centered about the Peking Govern- 
 ment University. It was therefore only natural that the Students 
 of this University should refuse to be associated with a government 
 of treason. The Students of the Peking Government University 
 were the first to strike for Chinese freedom. Mandarinlike the Gov- 
 ernment looked upon this as a schoolboy prank. They threatened. 
 They cajoled. They intimidated. They attempted to bribe. But 
 the students would not return to their desks as long as Tsao Ju-lin, 
 Chang Tsunghsiang, Little Hsu and the other traitors remained in 
 power. Came a day when the students marched to the house of 
 Tsao Ju-lin. They wanted to tell him that he ought to resign. Who 
 should be in his house but the arch-traitor, China's Minister to Japan? 
 And in their company was a Japanese. And on Tsao's wall was a 
 portrait of the Mikado. The minds of the Students were inflamed. 
 What new rascality was being hatched? What concession was being 
 bargained away? What mine, what forest, what railroad was Japan 
 stealing at that moment? The result is well known. Tsao Ju-lin 
 ran away. Chang Tsung-hsiang was beaten almost to death. But 
 much more important was the fact that this demonstration awakened 
 
 10 
 
the entire student body of China to the fact that Immediate action 
 was necessary. In every city of China the students left their books 
 and went out on strike. 
 
 Ill 
 What is it that they demand? 
 
 1. First and foremost if China is ever to rise out of her present 
 shameful condition every one of her sons must be taught that treason 
 to his country is man's greatest crime. Chinese officialdom has grown 
 up under the old Mandarin system in which corruption was not only 
 tolerated but expected. The officials were poorly paid and they were 
 to earn enormous incomes by robbing the country. Under the Man- 
 chus this system could prevail; in a republic it has no place. The 
 Peking oflScials have not only sold the wealth of the country but 
 they have betrayed her integrity. The worst enemies of China are 
 not in Tokio but in Peking. Not only to avenge the wrongs that 
 China has suffered must the traitors go, but to prevent the recurrence 
 of treason, to inspire future generations, to set an example for the 
 very boys and girls, the future fathers and mothers of China, who are 
 now on strike, must they be driven out. The fate of the nation de- 
 pends upon it and with this principle there can be no compromise. 
 
 2. China demands that effective guarantees be secured from the 
 Allied Governments that Tsingtau and the German rights in Shan- 
 tung be returned to her immediately. Tsingtau was stolen from 
 China by Germany. When China entered the war it was understood 
 that this territory would be returned to her. When Japan prevented 
 China from joining the Allies and captured Tsingtau she promised 
 the Government of the United States that she would return the ter- 
 ritory to China. The Peace Conference has maintained the princi- 
 pal that territories forcefully seized and unjustly held shall be re- 
 turned to the nation whose people inhabit them. 
 
 The foreigner will say, "But Japan intends to return this terri- 
 tory." China has suffered too long from Japan's intentions. China 
 cannot accept a promise from Japan for it is like a whisper in the 
 wind. China has been betrayed too often by her island neighbor to 
 accept her covenant. She is a nation whose word is bankrupt. One 
 need only think of Korea, of Formosa, of Manchuria, of Mongolia, 
 and of Siberia, to realise the uselessness of a Japanese promise. 
 Japan will never fully, truly, and completely return Tsingtau unless 
 she is forced to do it by the nations of Western Europe. It is to 
 avoid the bloodshed that might be entailed in this use of force that 
 the students want effective guarantees made now that Japan will not 
 be permitted to deceive China in this matter. 
 
 3. The Students demand that the Twenty-One Demands shall be 
 cancelled. They were agreed to by China under duress. When the 
 nations of the western world were at war, Japan sneaked in like a 
 thief in the night and demanded that China give up her sovereign 
 
 11 
 
rights. An ultimatum of war was made. What could China have done 
 at that time but to agree to Japan's proposal, made at the i«int of the 
 bayonet? But these demands cannot be acceded to. China can never 
 agree to the Twenty-One Demands. Until every one of them has been 
 cancelled, China will always be in a state of turmoil. For the peace 
 of Asia, of the world, they must be expunged from history. 
 
 4. The Students demand that freedom of speech and of the 
 press shall be preserved as an inalienable right of citizens of the 
 republic. To secure this right the Students desire that the Constitu- 
 tion of China shall be completed and this right included. 
 
 IV 
 
 To secure these rights the Students have adopted the principle 
 of passive resistance. They are unable to fight against the Peking 
 militarists and enough blood has already been spilled in China. There 
 is no ballot In this country. The only thing that could be done was 
 to strike, peacefully, quietly, but effectively. To strengthen them- 
 selves the Students joined with merchants, bankers and laborers, 
 so that if the moment arose when everything else should fail and 
 it became absolutely necessary to force the hand of the Peking mil- 
 itarists there would be unanimity of aim and action in China. Such 
 unanimity exists to-day. 
 
 The shops are shut. The banks have closed their doors. The 
 schools are without pupils. Labor is on strike. Can any Government 
 continue to exist in the presence of the unanimous will of the people 
 of the country that the Government should cease to be? 
 
 The co-operation of all elements has been secured because every- 
 body in China feels that it is not a question of political party, of 
 social status, of economic condition. To-day China must decide 
 whether she becomes a tributary of Japan or an independent na- 
 tion. And on that question there is no division of opinion. Four 
 hundred million heads are ready to fall before China will become ser- 
 vile to the Huns of the East. 
 Allied Friends of China: 
 
 Your statesmen are at this moment sitting in Paris trying to mete 
 out justice to the nations of the world. Your sons, your brothers, 
 are lying on the fields of France and Belgium, in the hills of Italy, 
 in the distant snows of Russia to preserve democracy and justice. 
 You have established the principle that militarism shall not prevail. 
 You have given all of your strength to destroy imperialism. 
 
 Will you not sympathize with China when she is trying to do in 
 her way what you have done in Europe? China is confronted with 
 the same problem that faced you in 1914. The enemy Is at her door. 
 Peacefully, but through trickery the enemy is penetrating into the 
 Jieart of the country. Already she controls the Government in Peking, 
 the northern provinces from the Siberian frontier to the Yellow 
 River, the island of Formosa and the province of Fukien. Her ad- 
 
 12 
 
vance in the Yangtsze Valley is as great as it is appalling. It she 
 be permitted to take Shantung what is left to the people of China? 
 
 But the danger is as great for you as it is for China. You have 
 come here honestly to trade and to teach. One need not recite all 
 the crimes that Japan has committed against you in China. You 
 know them well. She has damaged your goods, forged your labels, 
 opened your letters, broken every rule of honest competition. But 
 do you need more proof of what will happen to you in a Nipponized 
 China than what has already happened in Korea, Manchuria, and 
 Formosa. Your missionaries have already been expelled from Tsing- 
 tau. Your business will go next. 
 
 The Students are now fighting your battle. If they fail now 
 you will have to take up the war against militarism in the East 
 sooner or later. You can prevent their failure by sympathizing with 
 their cause, by bringing pressure on your government immediately to 
 return Tsingtau to China. The students are sacrificing themselves 
 for you as well as for China. Won't you help them to destroy the 
 Hun of the East? 
 
 [Beginning from May ^, 1919, there has Seen o nation-toide boy- 
 cott against Japanese goods. We putlish this article as an evidence of 
 the real feeling- hack of this movement. — Ed] 
 
 China's Official Appeal To The United 
 States Senate. 
 
 The representatives of China at Paris have appealed hy cable to 
 the United Btates Senate against the decision of the Peace Conference 
 regarding the award of German claims in Bhantung to Japan. As a 
 matter of record and reference this important protest should be printed 
 vndely by the press, inasmuch as, under Senate rules regarding unani- 
 mous consent, it could not be printed in the Congressional Record. This 
 protest on behalf of China is transmitted under the signature of Eugene 
 Chen for the Chinese delegation at Paris. The text follows: 
 
 Important meeting representative of Chinese assembled at Paris 
 decided to appeal to Senate to assist in securing revision of Shantung 
 settlement by speedily passing resolution affirming same to be incon- 
 sistent with national honor and interests of America besides incredi- 
 ble injustice to China and danger to world peace. 
 
 President's counsel finally brought about China's entrance into 
 war. On him as trustee of American honor China rested hope of set- 
 tlement enabling her to live untrammelled and unthreatened by Jap- 
 anese imperialism. August 14, 1917, China declared war. American 
 and Allied governments assured her of their solidarity, friendship and 
 support and promised "to do all that rests with them to ensure that 
 China shall enjoy in her international relations a position and a regard 
 
 13 
 
due to a great country." Proposed settlement Is a denial of this and 
 a violation of well defined aim of American foreign policy. Apart 
 from Monroe Doctrine America committed nowhere except in China 
 through the Hay Doctrine of the Open Door with its necessary guaran- 
 tee of territorial integrity and political independence of China. Doc- 
 trine confirmed in Root-Takahira agreement reaffirmed by Lansing-Ishii 
 agreement which introduced, according to a statement issued by Lans- 
 ing 6th November 1917: "principal of non-interference with sovereign- 
 ty and territorial integrity of China which generally applied is es- 
 sential to perpetual peace as clearly declared by President Wilson 
 and which is the very foundation also of Pan-Americanism as inter- 
 preted by this Government." This principle of noninterference was 
 stated in terms denying that American and Japan had "any purpose 
 to infringe in any way on the independence or territorial integrity of 
 China" and also in terms declaring that "they are opposed to the 
 acquisition by any government of any special rights or privileges that 
 would affect the independence or territorial integrity of China or 
 that would deny the subjects or citizens of any country full enjoyment 
 and equal opportunity in the commerce and industry of China." 
 
 The proposed settlement of the Shantung question is a direct vio- 
 lation of this principle and nothing better established than the German 
 system as to Shantung which included or later consisted of special 
 rights and privileges that affected the independence and the territorial 
 integrity of China besides denying the subjects of other countries 
 the full enjoyment of equal opportunity in the commerce and industry 
 of China in the province of Shantung. Despite these precise provisions 
 of the Lansing-Ishii agreement and the notorious character of the 
 German servitude of Shantung, the American member of the Council 
 of Three has consented to the inclusion in the Peace Treaty of. two 
 special articles drafted by the Japanese granting more than originally 
 asked of China and providing that all German rights in Shantung 
 "are and remain acquired by Japan free and acquitted of all charges." 
 This injustice is more glaring when it is remembered that rights 
 whose acquisition by Japan is ordered by the Council of Three ceased 
 to exist since China declared war on the 14th of August, 1917. In 
 the Chinese declaration of war "all treaties of whatever nature between 
 China and Germany" are expressly abrogated. Notice of abrogation 
 was given to America and the Allied powers and none questioned the 
 validity of this act of abrogation 
 
 Such a settlement is also opposed to world interests because a 
 Pan-Asiatic solution of the Chinese question is rendered a certainty. 
 Chinese question involves the issue of whether the manpower and re- 
 sources of China are to be developed in the interest of the world and 
 human progress or are to be exploited and used for selfish and Asiatic 
 ends. If China is free to cooperate with America and the West, the 
 Chinese question will be solved in the interests of the world as a 
 
 14 
 
whole. If China is prevented from developing in cooperation with 
 the West, the Chinese question will be solved in the sense desired 
 by the Pan-Asiatics under the political and military leadership of 
 Japan. Pan-Asiatic development of China is inevitable if the policy 
 embodied in the twenty-one demands continues in operation. The 
 dominant feature of this policy is Japan's claim to be the beneficiary 
 of German ruthlessness in Shantung. As one of the Allied Associated 
 States China has been claiming that the destruction of the German 
 system cannot be limited to Europe, Africa and the Pacific, but must 
 be extended to the Far East. But the proposed Shantung settlement 
 perpetuates the German system in China in circumstances which re- 
 sult in grave and added danger because it replaces Germany whose 
 strength is based on Europe by Japan at the very threshold of China. . . 
 
 Korean claim tabulates series of facts showing that this Japanese 
 world conquest has already found expression inter alia Japan's two 
 successful wars against China and Russia which have made her the 
 greatest military power in Asia in much the same way that Prussia's 
 two wars against Austria and France made her the greatest military 
 power in Europe; the annexation of Korea and the Japanese posses- 
 sion of the South Sea Islands north of the Equator bring Japan nearly 
 two thousand miles closer to Australia, giving Japanese navy base 
 dominating practically the entire land areas of the Pacific. The grow- 
 ing subjection of China to Japanese domination through the same 
 methods made the annexation of Korea, in spite of solemn treaties, a 
 "political necessity." This process of subjection will be powerfully 
 assisted by the proposed Shantung settlement which will enable Japan 
 to entrench herself in a vitally strategic area in Intramural China, 
 just as she has already entrenched herself outside the Great Wall in 
 South Manchuria through which lies the quite historic road of in- 
 vasion into China. In the past Asiatic invaders have entered China 
 from the North and it was through the Manchuria Gate that the last 
 invaders crossed into the great plains of northern China. 
 
 It is said that China had to be abandoned in the belief that the 
 President's insistence on a just settlement of the Shantung question 
 might have wrecked the conference and destroyed the League. But this 
 event was only a possibility. Great Britain reversing her policy for 
 an Anglo-Saxon Entente and aligning herself definitely with Japan 
 against America in China where Anglo American interests are faced 
 by Japan's aggressive rivalry. 
 
 Also said "the whole future relationship between China and Japan 
 will fall under guarantee of the League regarding territorial integrity 
 and political independence." But if the Senate opposes Article Ten or 
 otherwise the same forces that enabled Japan to triumph today may 
 be expected to enable her to triumph in China though the League 
 exists. This is almost a certainty in view of China's exclusion from 
 the Executive Council of the League, despite strong Chinese expecta- 
 
 15 
 
tlon that the President would secure China representative small pow- 
 ers Asia one of the four seats allotted small powers of ttk world. 
 
 The covenant of the League shows it is impossible for Japan to 
 contend that her consent is necessary before China could submit 
 twenty-one demands set forth in the treaties and notes 1915 for the 
 consideration of the League under Article 19 
 
 Holding fast faith in America, we appeal to your Senate to say 
 that the decision of the Council of Three against China shall not be 
 ratified 'by the American people in Congress assembled for the reason 
 set forth herein and because it involves the violation 6f the pledged 
 word of the American Government to China and the chief if not only 
 aim of American foreign policy outside the Americas; from this view 
 therefore the equitable settlement of the Shantung question is as much 
 a war aim of America as of China; and the only fair and just settle- 
 ment of the existing circumstances is that all Germany's rights in 
 Shantung acquired by the council of prime ministers be referred to 
 the League for disposal according to the findings of an international 
 commission appointed by the conference after visiting Shantung and 
 investigating the situation on the spot. 
 
 NOTICE 
 Copies will be given free on application. Address to The Publicity 
 Bureau of the Chinese Students in the University of Illinois, 204 E. 
 John Street, Champaign, Illinois.