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IX
Kuang Hsu--As Emperor and Reformer
In 1891 the present Emperor Kuang Hsu issued a very strong edict
commanding good treatment of the missionaries. He therein made
the following statement: "The religions of the West have for
their object the inculcation of virtue, and, though our people
become converted, they continue to be Chinese subjects. There is
no reason why there should not be harmony between the people and
the adherents of foreign religions."
--Hon. Charles Denby in "China and Her People."
IX
KUANG HSU--AS EMPEROR AND REFORMER
AS a man, there are few characters in Chinese history that are
more interesting than Kuang Hsu. He had all the caprices of
genius with their corresponding weakness and strength. He could
wield a pen with the vigour of a Caesar, threaten his greatest
viceroys, dismiss his leading conservative officials, introduce
the most sweeping and far-reaching reforms that have ever been
thought of by the Chinese people, and then run from a woman as
though the very devil was after him.
He has been variously rated as a genius, an imbecile and a fool.
Let us grant that he was not brilliant. Let us rate him as an
imbecile, and then let us try to account for his having brought
into the palace every ingenious toy and every wonderful and
useful invention and discovery of the past twenty or thirty years
with the exception of the X-rays and liquid air
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