MODERN BUREAUCRACY AND NATIONAL STRENGTH

(From Mai Meng-hua, "China Should Venerate the Power of the Ruler and Restrain the Power of the People," 1898]
MASON GENTZLER, J (1977) Changing China, Nova York, Praeger, pp. 88-89

Nowadays, men of broad learning all say China is weak because the power of the ruler is mighty while the power of the people is slight. Those who like to map out plans for the nation say that the Western nations are strong because their way is exactly the opposite of this. Mai Meng-hua says: This is not so. China’s misfortunes arise not because the people have no power but because the ruler has no power. Hence, over all five continents and throughout all past ages, no ruler has had less power than in present-day China, and no rulers have had more power than in present-day European nations. There are far too many points for me to compare them all here, but permit me to say something about a few.

In Western countries, the age, birth, and death of every person in every household is reported to the officials, who record and investigate it. An omission in a report is punished as a criminal offense. In China, birth, death, and taking care of oneself are all personal matters, beyond state intervention. In Western countries, when property is inherited by descendants, the amount of the property and its location must be reported and registered with the authorities. An inheritance tax must be paid before the property is transmitted to the 4 inheritors. In China, people give and take as they please, and the state is unable to investigate. In Western countries, when children reach the age of eight, they all go to elementary school. Doting parents who neglect their children’s studies are punished. In China, 70 to 80 per cent of the population is indolent, worthless, uncouth and illiterate, and the state can do nothing to encourage them to improve themselves. In Western countries, one must go through school to become an official, and unless one does adequately, one cannot make his own way. In China, one can be a slave in the market place in the morning, and bedecked in the robes of high office by evening, and this is beyond the I capacity of the state to control. In Western countries, the currency system is fixed by the court; one country has the pound, another the ruble, and another the franc, but each currency is uniform throughout the entire country, and no one dares to differ. In China, each of the 18 provinces has a different currency, and the shape of the money is different. The people are satisfied with what they are accustomed to, and the state is unable to enforce uniformity.

In Western countries, only the government may print and distribute paper money within its borders. In China, banks in every province and money-changers in every port make and circulate their own money, and the state is unable to audit and prohibit them. In Western countries, all new buildings are inspected by officials, who examine the quality of the construction materials as a precaution against collapse causing injuries. Older houses are periodically inspected, and ordered demolished or repaired. In China, one can construct as one pleases. Even if there are cracks and flaws, the state cannot supervise and reprove the builder. In Western countries, roads and highways must be broad and spacious, neat and clean. There are legal penalties for discarding trash [on the roads]. Broad roads in Chinese cities are swamped in urine and litter, filled with beggars and corpses, and the state is unable to clean them up. In Western countries, all doctors must be graduates of medical schools and be certified before they can practice medicine. In China, those who fail to do well academically switch to the medical profession; quack doctors, who casually kill patients, are everywhere, and the state is unable to punish them. In Western countries, the postal service is controlled by the government. In China, post offices run by private persons are everywhere, and the government is unable to unify them.

In Western countries, there is an official for commerce. Inferior goods cannot be sold in the market. New inventions are patented, and other merchants are forbidden to manufacture imitations. In China, dishonest merchants are everywhere, devising illicit means to make imitation products, and everything is of inferior quality, and yet the state has no control. In Western countries, wherever railroads pass, homes, temples, huts, or gravestones must be demolished. No one dares obstruct the opening up of new mineral resources in mountains. In China, conservatives raise an outcry and block every major project, and the state is unable to punish them. In Western countries, foresters are appointed to superintend mountains and forests, and there are officials to oversee the fishing industry. Trees are felled only at the proper time, and large numbers of fishing nets are not permitted [in order to protect the stock of fish]. In China, no one is master of the woods and waters; the people can despoil them as they please, and the state has no way to know about it. In Western countries, statutory weights and measures are all fixed by the government; a pound of weight or a pound of money is uniform and circulates everywhere. In China, the Treasury, the Bureau of Tributary Rice, and markets all have their own scales, and the Board of Public Works and markets have their own linear measurements. Every household has its own system, and everyone uses his own private measurements, and the state is unable to regulate them.