China is met by the executive, however neglectful or venal otherwise, and the comparative immunity from interference which such associations have usually enjoyed elsewhere, except when brought into notoriety by some overt act of resistance to lawful authority, have had the effect of fostering the growth of the evil amongst Chinese communities abroad; and until the same precautions are taken by foreign governments to check the tendency in the bud, as is the practice in China, these societies must always form a hot-bed of intrigue and machination against the public weal. There seems to be but one remedy for the nuisance, and that is to prohibit by the severest penalties the formation by the Chinese of any clubs or associations whatever whose books and proceedings are not open to periodical supervision by the police authorities. Apart from this proneness to club together for defensive purposes, and which may be ascribed to governmental maladministration, rather than to any impatience of restraint inherent in the Chinese character, there is every evidence to show that the Chinaman, in his own country and in his normal condition, is willingly submissive to constituted authority, and gladly accepts its obligations and restraints, so long as his rights as a man and a citizen are not unreasonably entrenched upon. Indeed, instances may be pointed out, all over China, in which large villages, which in Europe would rank as towns, pass a peaceful and unobtrusive existence, free from the supervision of either civil or military officials, and governed solely by a system of "ancients" or elders, by whom every dispute or difficulty is easily adjusted.
Under this category may be ranged another characteristic noticeable in the Chinese immigrant, namely, his contempt for, and resistance to, municipal arrangements for the public good. This is a feature of social economy quite foreign to a Chinaman's ideas of what is necessary or expedient in the general interest. In China, if a charitable or wealthy individual expends his spare funds in a public work, or if the government, or a club, or an association of householders more immediately interested take upon themselves to erect a bridge, pave a roadway, widen a street, improve the drainage, and such like, the general public gratefully accepts the boon, and avail itself of the advantages afforded. But, failing the occurrence of any such fortunate contingency, the Chinaman is content to take matters as he finds them, and never dreams of burdening himself or his neighbors with any obligations beyond what may be needful to keep body and soul together. Such a thing as an association for keeping streets clean and in repair, facilitating traffic, improving the drainage, securing general comfort and health, and otherwise promoting the public welfare, he is not accustomed to, and it is difficult to force upon hrs comprehension. No doubt he carries this prejudice with him into foreign lands, and thinks to live free of such superfluous luxuries, as he does in his own country. But the remedy of this weakness is a mere question of time and effort. It is not so very long since Western people were content to exist amidst surroundings fully as wretched, filthy, and obnoxious as anything now observable in Chinese cities; and the reformation which has since proved possible in their case gives reason to hope that the Chinese are not incapable of a similar regeneration, could similar inducements and opportunities be afforded them. A proof of what is practicable in this respect may at this moment be quoted in the Chinese quarter of the foreign settlement of Shanghai, where the arrangements for the public welfare, supported and aided to a great extent by the Chinese population, would do credit to many a European town.
Assuming the premises above set forth to be sound — namely, that the Chinese as a race are not hopelessly degraded nor insubordinate to reasonable' restraint, that on the contrary they show every evidence, when in their own country, of being an industrious, intelligent, frugal, temperate, peace-loving, and orderly people, and that that portion of them which emigrate do not as a rule come from amongst the dregs of the population — the question very naturally presents itself, how it comes to pass that these people, when they go abroad, become metamorphozed into such vicious, obnoxious members of society as to be positively hurtful to any community amongst whom they settle. The reason is obvious to any one who has studied the Chinese in their own country, and is not inoculated by party or national prejudice. It is that the many commendable traits by which their character is marked have not been sufficiently understood or encouraged, whilst their bad points, developed unfortunately by adventitious and unfavorable circumstances, have not been dealt within the manner best calculated to work an effectual remedy. Misappreciation and mismanagement have in fact been to a great extent, if not altogether, the true
