Man,” “Education and the Vernacular Language,” “Adopting John Dewey’s Philosophy
of Education,” they are all very much to the point. If they could change their present
practice and open their lectures to the public so that everyone could come and listen,
then there is no telling how fast [these ideas] would spread, and how great the benefits
might be.
Explanations by River Review (July 21,1919)
I
This paper is concerned purely with academic theories and with social criticism. We
do not meddle at all in practical politics.
II
The inaugural issue of this paper was printed in two thousand copies, which have
now all been sold. At present, we are printing another two thousand, but because the
press is very busy, it will require several days before they can be produced. We beg
the indulgence of our readers.
The Great Union of the Popular Masses: Part I
(July 21,1919)
The decadence of the state, the sufferings of humanity, and the darkness of society have all reached an extreme. Where is the method of improvement and reform?
Education, industrialization, strenuous efforts, rapid progress, destruction, and construction are, to be sure, all right, but there is a basic method for carrying out all
these undertakings, which is that of the great union of the popular masses.
If we look at the course of history as a whole, we find that all the movements which
have occurred throughout history, of whatever type they may be, have all without
exception resulted from the union of a certain number of people. A greater movement
requires a greater union, and the greatest movement requires the greatest union. All
such unions are more likely to appear in a time of reform and resistance. In all hitherto
existing cases of reform and resistance in religion, science, politics, and society, the
partisans on both sides necessarily had their great unions. Victory and defeat are
decided by the solidity or fragility of the unions on each side, and by whether the
ideologies which serve as their foundation are new or old, true or ill-founded. Both
sides, however, are alike in that they must employ the technique of union.
Among the various unions that have existed since antiquity, those of the oppressors,
the aristocrats, and the capitalists have been most numerous. For example, the various
“alliances” and “ententes” in foreign relations are unions of the world’s great powers.
The so-called “Beiyang Faction” and “Southwestern Faction” in our country, and the

Satsuma and Choshu clans in Japan,80 are unions of oppressors within a country. The
political parties and legislative assemblies in various countries are unions of aristocrats and capitalists. (The upper house or senate is naturally a lair where aristocrats
gather, similarly, the lower house, because of the property qualifications for the vote,
is largely occupied by capitalists.) As for the so-called trusts (railroad trust, oil trust)
and companies (Nippon
Yusen Kaisha, the Manchurian Railway Company), they are purely capitalist unions.
In recent times, the union of the oppressors, the aristocrats, and the capitalists has
reached an extreme, and in consequence the decadence of the state, the sufferings of
humanity, and the darkness of society have also reached an extreme. It is then that
reform and resistance arise; it is then that the great union of the popular masses is
called into being.
After the victory of “political reform” had been obtained in France by the opposition
of the great union of the popular masses to the great union of the adherents of the
monarchy, many countries followed the French example and undertook all sorts of
“political reforms.” After the victory of “social reform” had been obtained last year
in Russia,81 by the opposition of the great union of the popular masses to the great
union of the aristocracy and the great union of the capitalists, many countries —
Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany — likewise followed the Russian example
and undertook all sorts of social reforms. Although this victory is not yet complete, it
may certainly become so, and it is also conceivable that it will spread throughout the
whole world.
Why is the great union of the popular masses so terribly effective? Because the
popular masses in any country are necessarily more numerous than the aristocracy,
the capitalists, and the other oppressors in a single country. Since the aristocrats,
capitalists, and other oppressors are few in number, they rely, in order to maintain their
own special interests and to exploit the collective assets of the majority of ordinary
people, first on knowledge, second on money, and third on military force. Education in
the past was the privilege of the aristocrats and capitalists; the ordinary people had
absolutely no opportunity to get any. Since they were the only ones who had knowledge,
there arose the classes of the wise and of the ignorant. Money is the intermediary in
life. Originally, everyone could get it, but those aristocrats and capitalists with their
knowledge thought up various methods for something called “the concentration of
capital,” and as a result the money gradually flowed into the hands of the landlords
80 Yoshino Sazb (1877–1933) was a Japanese politician, doctor of law, and a professor in the law
department of Tokyo Imperial University.
81 Satsuma and Choshu were clans in late Tokugawa Japan which seceded from the central government and set up their own feudal domains, giving them the power to carry out comprehensive reforms
independent of the central authorities. Their actions spearheaded a political development which led
to national rejuvenation. In 1897, Liang Qichao proposed that Hunan should follow this example and
declare independence from the Beijing government as the only way for China to prevent national subjugation by foreign powers.

and the factory bosses. They took all the land, machines, and houses for themselves,
baptizing them “real property.” They also took the money, which they called movable
property, and stored it up in their treasure-houses (the banks). Thus the millions of
ordinary people who worked for them had, in contrast, nothing but a meager salary of
a franc or a penny. Since those who worked had no money, the classes of the rich and
the poor emerged. Having knowledge and money, the aristocrats and the capitalists
set up military camps to train soldiers, and factories to make guns. Making use of
the signboard of “foreign outrages,” they recruit dozens of divisions and hundreds of
companies. They have even gone so far as to invent a method for levying more troops
known as “conscription.” This means that strong vigorous sons become soldiers, and
when a problem arises, they take their machine guns and go attack their feeble old
fathers. For example, if we look at what happened last year, when the defeated southern
army was retreating from southern Hunan, did they not kill a great many of their own
fathers? When the aristocrats and capitalists employ such admirable schemes, the
common people are even more afraid to raise their voices. Thus the classes of the
strong and the weak emerge.
Now, it happens that these very three methods of theirs gradually cause the common
people to learn a good deal in their turn. The common people, too, read a bit of these
textbooks which they have made their “secret pillow books,” and gradually acquire
knowledge. As for the land and factories which are the source of their wealth, the
common people have long been entombed in them, and look with envy on the comfort
of the capitalists, wanting to have a finger in the pie themselves. Even the soldiers in
the military camps are, after all, their sons, brothers, or husbands. Should the soldiers
turn their machine guns against them, they will let out a big shout, and at this their
bullets will immediately turn to mud. Spontaneously they will join hands and turn the
other way instead, becoming together valiant fighters resisting the aristocrats and the
capitalists. We have, in fact, seen Russia’s hundred thousand brave warriors suddenly
exchange the imperial standard for the red flag, and from this we may know that there
is deep truth in what I say.
Thus the common people have seen through the three methods of the aristocrats
and the capitalists, and they have also perceived that in order to apply these methods,
the aristocrats and capitalists employ the technique of union. The common people are
also conscious of the fact that the number on the other side is so small, and the number
on our side is so big. Thus we must unite on a very large scale. As to the actions which
should be undertaken once we have united, there is one extremely violent party, which
uses the method “Do unto others as they do unto you”82 to struggle desperately to
the end with the aristocrats and capitalists. The leader of this party is a man named
Marx who was born in Germany. There is another party more moderate than that
of Marx. It does not expect rapid results, but begins by understanding the common
82 This error in dating on Mao’s part undoubtedly resulted from the fact that it was only in 1918
that Li Dazhao first published his article “The Victory of Bolshevism.”

people. Men should all have a morality of mutual aid, and work voluntarily. As for
the aristocrats and capitalists, it suffices that they repent and turn toward the good,
and that they be able to work and to help people rather than harming them; it is
not necessary to kill them. The ideas of this party are broader and more far-reaching.
They want to unite the whole globe into a single country, unite the human race in a
single family, and attain together in peace, happiness, and friendship — not friendship
as understood by the Japanese — an age of prosperity. The leader of this party is a
man named Kropotkin, who was born in Russia.
We must know that the affairs of this world are, in themselves, very easy to deal
with. If there are cases when they are not easy to deal with, this is because of the
difficulties caused by the force of history — habit. If we can only give a shout together,
we will shatter this force of history. Let us forge an even greater union, coming together
as we have never thought possible, and then we will draw up our ranks and give a great
shout at the opposing side. We already have experience: the bullets of Lu Rongting83
will never overcome traitors like Cao Rulin.84 As soon as we arise and let out a shout,
the traitors will get up and tremble and flee for their lives. We must know that our
brothers of other lands have often employed this method to secure their interests. We
must arise and imitate them; we must carry out our great union!
1. II: Taking Small Unions as the Foundation (July 28,1919)
In the previous issue of this paper, I have already concluded my discussion of the
possibility and the necessity of the “great union of the popular masses.” In the present
issue, I shall consider what method we should employ for carrying out this great union.
The method is that of “small democratic unions.”
If we truly want to achieve a great union, in order to resist the powerful people
confronting us who harm their fellow men, and in order to pursue our own interests,
we must necessarily have all sorts of small unions to serve as its foundation. The human
race has an innate talent for uniting together, that is to say, a talent for constituting
groups, a talent for organizing societies. “Groups” and “societies” are precisely the
“unions” I am talking about. There are big groups and small groups, big societies and
small societies, big unions and small unions — they are merely different names for the
same thing. So if we want to establish groups, societies, unions, it is because we are
desirous of securing our common interests. Because our circumstances and professions
are different, there are also some differences, large or small, in the sphere of our common
interests. Because there are differences, large or small, in our common interests, the
method (union) for securing our common interests also displays certain differences,
large or small.
83 Literally, “deal with that person according to his own principles” — from Zhu Xi’s commentary
to Chapter 13 of the Doctrine of the Mean.
84 See note to text of April 27, 1920.

Gentlemen! We are peasants, and so we want to establish a union with others who
cultivate the land as we do, in order to promote the various interests of us tillers of the
soil. It is only we ourselves who can pursue the interests of us tillers of the soil; others
who do not cultivate the soil have interests different from ours and will certainly not
help us to seek our interests. Gentlemen who cultivate the land! How do the landlords
treat us? Are the rents and taxes heavy or light? Are our houses satisfactory or not?
Are our bellies full or not? Is there enough land? Are there not some in the village who
have no land to cultivate? We must constantly seek solutions to all these problems. We
must establish a union with others like ourselves, to seek clear and effective solutions.
Gentlemen! We are workers. We wish to form a union with others who work like
ourselves, in order to promote the various interests of us workers. We cannot fail to
seek a solution to such problems concerning us workers as the level of our wages, the
length of the working day, the equal or unequal sharing of bonuses, or the progress of
recreation facilities. We cannot but establish a union with those like ourselves to seek
clear and effective solutions to each of these problems.
Gentlemen! We are students. Our lives are extremely bitter; the professors who
teach us treat us like criminals, humiliate us like slaves, lock us up like prisoners. The
windows in our classrooms are so tiny that the light does not reach the blackboard,
so that we become “nearsighted.” The desks are extremely ill-adapted, and if we sit
in them for very long we get “curvature of the spine.” The professors are interested
only in making us read a lot of books, and we do read a great many of them, but
we don’t understand any of it, we merely exercise our memories to no good purpose.
Our eyes are blurred, our brains are confused, our blood supply is insufficient, our
faces are ashen and we become “anaemic.” We become “feebleminded.” Why are we so
lethargic, so lacking in vivacity, so withered? Oh! It is all because the professors force
us to refrain from moving or speaking out. And so we become “petrified unto death.”
And yet this bodily suffering is only secondary, gentlemen! Look at our laboratories!
How cramped they are! How lacking in equipment! Only a few worn out instruments,
so that we cannot conduct experiments. Our teachers of Chinese are such obstinate
pedants. They are constantly mouthing expressions such as “We read in the Book
of Odes” [Shi yun], or “The Master says” [zi yue], but when you come right down
to it, the fact is that they don’t understand a word. They are not aware that this
is already the twentieth century, and they still compel us to observe the “old rites”
and to follow the “old regulations.” They forcibly impregnate our minds with a lot of
stinking corpse-like dead writings full of classical allusions. Our reading room is empty.
Our recreation room is filthy. The country is about to perish, and yet they still stick
up proclamations forbidding us to love our country. Just see, for example, what great
favor they have shown to the present movement of national salvation! Alas! Who is it
that has frustrated us and made us unhappy in both body and mind? If we do not
unite in order to attend to our own “self-instruction,” then what are we waiting for?
We are already sunk in an ocean of suffering, and we demand that attention be given
to the means for saving ourselves. The “self-instruction” invented by Rousseau is most

appropriate for this purpose. We will unite with as many comrades as possible and
study by ourselves. As for those professors who bite people, we must not rely on them.
If an event occurs such as the present trampling on our rights by the oppressors of
Japan and of our own country, then we will marshal our forces and direct at them a
great and powerful shout.
Gentlemen! We are women. We are sunk even more deeply in an ocean of suffering!
We are also human beings, so why won’t they let us take part in politics? We are
also human beings, so why won’t they let us participate in social intercourse? We
are gathered together in our various separate dens, and we are not even allowed to
go outside the front gate. The shameless men, the villainous men, make us into their
playthings, and force us to prostitute ourselves to them indefinitely. The devils, who
destroy the freedom to love! The devils, who destroy the sacredness of love! They
keep us surrounded all day long, but so-called “chastity” is confined to us women!
The “temples to virtuous women” are scattered all over the place, but where are the
“pagodas to chaste men”? Among us there are some who are gathered together in
schools for women, but those who teach us there are also a bunch of shameless and
villainous men. All day long they talk about something called being “a worthy mother
and a good wife.” What is this but teaching us to prostitute ourselves indefinitely to
the same man? They are afraid that we will not allow ourselves to be fettered, so they
intensify their indoctrination. O bitterness! Bitterness! Spirit of freedom! Where are
you? Come quickly and save us! Today we are awakened! We want to establish a union
of us women! We want to sweep away all those devils who rape us and destroy the
liberty of our minds and of our bodies!
Gentlemen! We are primary school teachers. All day long we teach; we are terribly
busy! All day long we eat chalk dust, and yet we have no place to relax. In a big city like
this, there are several hundred, if not several thousand, primary school teachers, and
yet there is no place of recreation specifically set aside for our use. If we are to teach, we
must constantly increase our knowledge, and yet there is no study organization set up
for our use. There are so many periods when we must go to teach precisely as the bell
rings, we have absolutely no time left over, no energy left over, to study and acquire
knowledge — our spirits are simply not up to it! Thus we turn into phonographs, doing
nothing all day long but putting on a performance of the lectures correctly transmitted
which the teachers of former days taught to us. Our bellies are hungry. Our monthly
salaries are 8 or 10 yuan, and even on this there are deductions. Moreover, there are
some of these gentlemen among the principals who imitate the method of “reducing
the soldiers’ pay” and take the money provided by the government to line their own
pockets. Because we have no money, we find ourselves moreover in the position of
widowers with wives. We and our beloved wives live in solitude, separated by several
tens or hundreds of li, gazing toward one another. According to educational theory,
teaching students in a primary school is the task of a lifetime; they can hardly expect
us in addition to spend all our lives as widowers and widows, can they? According to
educational theory, the teachers’ families should live at the school if they are to serve

as a model for the students, but today this is not possible. Because we have no money,
we can’t buy books either, nor can we travel and observe the world. There is no use
saying any more. Primary school teachers are in all respects slaves, and that’s all there
is to it! If we want to cease to be slaves, there is no way save to unite with others like
ourselves and to realize a primary school teachers’ union.
Gentlemen! We are policemen. We also wish to unite with others like ourselves in
order to realize a union which will benefit our bodies and our minds. The Japanese say
that those whose lives are hardest are beggars, primary school teachers, and policemen.
We are also inclined to feel somewhat the same.
Gentlemen! We are rickshaw boys. All day we pull our rickshaws until the sweat
pours down like rain! The rent which goes to the owners of the rickshaws is so much!
The fares we get are so small! How can we make a living? Is there not some way for
us to form a union too?
The foregoing are the lamentations of the peasants, workers, students, women,
primary-school teachers, rickshaw boys, and others of all sorts. They are unable to
bear such hardship, and so they want to set up all sorts of small unions adapted to
their interests.
Hitherto I have been talking about various small unions, such as the union of the
workers. This is still a very broad and general term. If one goes into greater detail,
such organizations as the following correspond to the lowest level of small unions:
Union of railway workers
Union of mine workers
Union of telegraph employees
Union of telephone employees
Union of shipbuilding workers, union of merchant sailors
Union of metal workers
Union of textile workers
Union of tram workers
Union of rickshaw boys
Union of construction workers …
The workers in various Western countries all have small associations of the workers
in each trade and industry. Everywhere there are to be found such organizations as
the association of transport workers, the association of tram workers, etc. From many
small unions one advances to form a great union, and from the many great unions,
one advances to form the greatest union. It is thus that what are called “federations”
or “alliances” come into being one after another. Because common interests are limited
to a small part of the people, it is small unions that are set up. The interests of many
small unions have points in common, so it is possible to set up big unions. For example,
the pursuit of learning is the particular concern of us students, so we set up our unions
for the pursuit of learning. Such things, on the other hand, as the pursuit of liberation
and freedom are the concern of everyone, whoever he may be, and therefore people of
every kind must be brought together to form a great union.

Thus, the great union must begin with small unions. We must arise and follow the
example of our brothers in other lands. We must promote many, many small unions of
our own.
1. III: The Present Status of China’s “Great Union of the Popular
Masses”
(August 4,1919)
In the previous two issues of this paper, I have already discussed (1) the possibility
and necessity of the great union of the popular masses, and (2) the fact that the great
union of the popular masses must begin by taking small unions as its foundation. In
continuing today my discussion of the great union of the popular masses of our country,
I shall consider such questions as: Do we, in the last analysis, have the requisite consciousness? Do we have the requisite motive force? Do we have the requisite capacity?
Can we succeed?
1. In the final analysis, do we have the requisite consciousness regarding the “great
union of the popular masses” in our country? The 1911 revolution had the appearance of a union of the popular masses, but in reality it was not so. The 1911
revolution was the work of Chinese students abroad, who initially showed the
way, of the Gelaohui, which responded with enthusiasm to their call, and of a
few soldiers of the New Army and of the provincial forces who fought with their
swords and crossbows. It had no connection whatsoever with the great majority
of us popular masses. Although we approved of their principles, we nevertheless
did not act. Nor did they need us to act. And yet we have acquired a certain
level of consciousness. We know that even sage emperors (such as Wen and Wu)
can be overthrown. Moreover, democracy, the great rebel [dani budao] can be
established. If we have something we want to say or do, we can say or do it
at any time. Following the 1911 revolution, we overthrew another emperor, the
Hong- xian Emperor,85 in 1916. Although this was still the work of a minority,
once again we became conscious of the fact that the Hongxian Emperor, with
all his awesome majesty, could nevertheless in fact be overthrown. And when
we come down to the last few years, with the wars between the South and the
North, and the World War, things have changed even more. As a result of the
wars between the North and the South, it has been demonstrated even more
irrefutably how the bureaucrats, military men, and politicians harm, poison, and
85 For details regarding Cao Rulin, see the note to the text of July 14, 1919, “The Arrest and
Rescue of Chen Duxiu.” Cao is called a “traitor” here because of his policy of concessions to Japan.
Mao’s statement that he will be overcome not by bullets, but by the action of the “great union,” is
based, of course, on the fact that the May Fourth student demonstrations actually did bring about
Cao’s overthrow.

mutilate us. As a result of the World War and the bitterness of their lives, the
popular masses in various countries have suddenly undertaken all sorts of action.
In Russia, they have overthrown the aristocrats and driven out the rich, and the
toilers and peasants have jointly set up a Soviet government. The army of the
red flag surges forward in the East and in the West, sweeping away numerous
enemies. The countries of the Entente have been transformed as a result, and
the whole world has been shaken. Hungary has risen up, and a new toilers’ and
peasants’ government has also appeared in Budapest. The Germans, Austrians,
and Czechs have done the same, exerting their utmost strength in the battle with
the enemy party within each country. The raging torrent advances in the West,
and then turns eastward. After many great strikes in England, France, Italy,
and America, several great revolutions have also taken place in India and Korea.
New forces have arisen, and within the area enclosed by the Great Wall and the
China Sea, the May Fourth movement has broken out. Its banner has advanced
southward, across the Yellow River to the Yangzi. From Guangzhou to Hankou,
many real-life dramas are enacted; from Lake Dongting to the Min River, the
tide rises ever higher. Heaven and earth are aroused by it, the wicked are put to
flight by it! Ha! We know it! We are awakened! The world is ours, the state is
ours, society is ours. If we do not speak, who will speak? If we do not act, who
will act? We must act energetically to carry out the great union of the popular
masses, which will not brook a moment’s delay!
2. Is there already the requisite motive force for the great union of the popular
masses of our country? To this question I answer directly, “Yes.” If you gentlemen
do not believe it, listen to what I have to say.
If we wish to go back to the source of the union of the popular masses of our country,
we must look to the establishment of the provincial assemblies at the end of the Qing
dynasty, and to the organization of the Revolutionary Party — the Tongmenghui. The
provincial assemblies having been established, the assemblies of the various provinces
allied themselves to petition for the early opening of a parliament. The Revolutionary
Party having been established, it called on all those within and without the country to raise troops to fight the Manchus. The 1911 revolution was a drama entitled
“Swallowing the Yellow Dragon” played in concert by the Revolutionary Party and the
provincial assemblies. Afterward, the Revolutionary Party turned into the Nationalist
Party [Guomindang], and the provincial assemblies turned into the Progressive Party
[Jinbudang]; such was the origin of political parties among our Chinese people. From
this time forward, the Republic was established, the central government convoked a
parliament, and the various provinces also called together provincial assemblies. At this
time, each province also set up three other bodies: a provincial education association, a
provincial chamber of commerce, and a provincial agricultural association. (There are
a number of provinces that have a provincial industrial association; in several of them,

it is combined with the agricultural association, as in Hunan.) At the same time, each
xian also set up a xian education association, a xian chamber of commerce, and a xian
agricultural association. (There are a few xian that don’t have them.) This constitutes
a very firm and powerful kind of union. In addition, bodies of various kinds have been
set up according to the circumstances and position of each category of people, such as:
Associations of alumni of various schools
Associations of fellow villagers traveling outside their native places [Tongxianghui]
General associations and branch associations of Chinese students abroad
The General Association of Shanghai Newspapers
The World Association of Chinese Students
The associations of students [returned] from Europe and America in Beijing and
Shanghai
The Sino-French Educational Association in Beijing.
The various study societies such as the Self-Strengthening Society [Qiangxuehui], the
Christian Literature Society [Guangxuehui], the Southern Study Society [Nanxuehui],
the Aspiration Society [Shangzhixuehui], the Chinese Professional and Educational
Society, the Chinese Scientific Society, the General Association of Asian Culture…
The various professional associations (of the various branches and professions of
industry and commerce), such as the Banking Association, the Rice Dealers’ Association…
The study societies in various schools, such as the Society for the Study of Painting
and the Society for the Study of Philosophy at Beijing University —there are dozens
of them…
The various clubs…
All these are products of the recent flowering [kaifang] of political and intellectual
activity, which were not allowed to exist and could not have existed in the era of
autocracy. The examples listed above are all very simple, more or less like the “small
unions” referred to in the previous issue of this paper. It is only recently, because
of political disorder and foreign oppression and the resulting rise in consciousness,
that there has been a motive for establishing great unions. Such organizations as the
following all belong to this category:
National Federation of Educational Associations
National Federation of Chambers of Commerce
The Guangzhou union of seventy-two guilds [hang], the Shanghai union of fifty-three
public bodies
Union of Commercial, Educational, and Industrial Journals
National Union of Journalists
National Association for Promoting Peace [Hepingjichenghui]
National Union for Peace [Hepinglianhehui]
Sino-French Association in Beijing
Citizens’ Association for Foreign Affairs
The Hunan Reconstruction [shanhou] Association (in Shanghai)

The Shandong Association (in Shanghai)
United students’ associations in Beijing, Shanghai, and various other places
The Union of All Circles, the National Union of Students…
All such associations, societies, clubs, general associations, unions must inevitably
include a considerable number of gentry [shenshi] and “politicians” who do not belong
to the popular masses (such organizations as the parliament, the provincial assemblies,
the provincial educational associations, the provincial agricultural associations, the
National Association for Promoting Peace, the National Union for Peace, etc., are
entirely associations of gentry or of politicians), but the associations of the various
professions and industries, and the various study and research societies, are purely
groupings of common people or of scholars. As for the recently created United Students’
Association, Union of All Circles, etc., they are even more purely great unions of the
popular masses, who have risen up to resist the oppressors within and without the
country, and in my opinion, the motive force for the great union of the popular masses
of China is to be found precisely here.
1. Do we really have the capacity to carry out the “great union of the popular
masses” in our country? Can we really succeed in this? When we come to talk
about capacity, then some doubts may well be expressed. Hitherto the people
of our country have known only individually run enterprises, with the unworthy
aim of maximizing individual gain. Those engaged in business did not know how
to set up a company; those engaged in labor did not know how to set up a Labor
Party; those engaged in studies knew only the old method of working alone in
one’s closet, and not joint research. Organized undertakings on a large scale were
something of which the people of our country were quite simply incapable. As
for how badly our political affairs were managed, that goes without saying. If
there was a degree of success in the postal service and the salt monopoly, it was
thanks to the foreigners. The prohibition of oceangoing trade has been lifted for
such a long time, and still we have not even one little boat going to Europe. Even
the few lone countrywide undertakings such as the “China Merchants’ Steamship
Company” and the “Hanyeping Mines” show capital losses every year, and when
the losses are too great they call on investment from abroad. On all those railroads
managed by foreigners, the standard of cleanliness, equipment, and service is
bound to be a bit better. As soon as a railroad comes under the control of the
Ministry of Transport, it goes to pot [zaogao]. Among those who ride on the
Beijing-Hankou, Tianjin-Pukou, and Wuchang-Changsha railroads, there is none
who does not snort with contempt and gnash his teeth. Moreover, such things
as schools are not well run, self-government is not well implemented, and even a
single family or the life of an individual is not well ordered. It is all very much
the same, monotonously uniform. Is it not all too easy, then, to talk about the
great union of the popular masses? Is it so easy to stand up and resist the deeply
entrenched and well-established oppressors? Although things are like this, we