Like political upheavals in other ages and other lands, the Chinese revolution has been the outcome of the hopes and dreams of impetuous and indomitable youth.  Herein lies one of its main sources of strength, but herein also lies a very grave danger.  Young China to-day looks to Europe and to America for sympathy.  Let her have it in full measure.  Only let us remind her that the work she has so boldly, and perhaps light-heartedly, undertaken is not only the affair of China, not only the affair of Asia, but that the whole world stands to gain or lose according as the Chinese people prove themselves worthy or unworthy to carry out the stupendous task to which they have set their hands.

The grave peril lies, of course, in the tendency of the Chinese “Progressives”—­as of all hot-headed reformers, whether in China or in England—­to break with the traditions of past ages, and to despise what is old, not because it is bad, but because it is out of harmony with the latest political shibboleth.  Those of us who believe in the fundamental soundness of the character of the Chinese people, and are aware of the high dignity and value of a large part of their inherited civilization and culture, are awaiting with deep anxiety an answer to this question:  Is the New China about to cast herself adrift from the Old?

But surely, many a Western observer may exclaim, the matter is settled already!  Surely the abolition of the monarchy is in itself a proof that the Chinese have definitely broken with tradition!  Was not the Emperor a sacred being who represented an unbroken political continuity of thousands of years, and who ruled by divine right?  Was not loyalty to the sovereign part of the Chinese religion?

These questions can not be answered with a simple yes or no.  Reverence for tradition has always been a prominent Chinese characteristic in respect of both ethics and politics.  We must beware of assuming too hastily that the exhortations of a few frock-coated revolutionaries have been sufficient to expel this reverence for tradition from Chinese hearts and minds; yet we are obliged to admit that the national aspirations are being directed toward a new set of ideals which in some respects are scarcely consistent with the ideals aimed at (if rarely attained) in the past.

The Chinese doctrine of loyalty can not be properly understood until we have formed a clear conception of the traditional Chinese theory concerning the nature of Political Sovereignty.  The political edifice, no less than the social, is built on the Confucian and pre-Confucian foundation of filial piety.  The Emperor is father of his people; the whole population of the empire forms one vast family, of which the Emperor is the head.  As a son owes obedience and reverence to his parent, so does the subject owe reverence and obedience to his sovereign.