The corruption and anarchy in Chinese politics do much less harm than one would be inclined to expect.  But for the predatory desires of the Great Powers—­especially Japan—­the harm would be much less than is done by our own “efficient” Governments.  Nine-tenths of the activities of a modern Government are harmful; therefore the worse they are performed, the better.  In China, where the Government is lazy, corrupt, and stupid, there is a degree of individual liberty which has been wholly lost in the rest of the world.

The laws are just as bad as elsewhere; occasionally, under foreign pressure, a man is imprisoned for Bolshevist propaganda, just as he might be in England or America.  But this is quite exceptional; as a rule, in practice, there is very little interference with free speech and a free Press.[96] The individual does not feel obliged to follow the herd, as he has in Europe since 1914, and in America since 1917.  Men still think for themselves, and are not afraid to announce the conclusions at which they arrive.  Individualism has perished in the West, but in China it survives, for good as well as for evil.  Self-respect and personal dignity are possible for every coolie in China, to a degree which is, among ourselves, possible only for a few leading financiers.

The business of “saving face,” which often strikes foreigners in China as ludicrous, is only the carrying-out of respect for personal dignity in the sphere of social manners.  Everybody has “face,” even the humblest beggar; there are humiliations that you must not inflict upon him, if you are not to outrage the Chinese ethical code.  If you speak to a Chinaman in a way that transgresses the code, he will laugh, because your words must be taken as spoken in jest if they are not to constitute an offence.

Once I thought that the students to whom I was lecturing were not as industrious as they might be, and I told them so in just the same words that I should have used to English students in the same circumstances.  But I soon found I was making a mistake.  They all laughed uneasily, which surprised me until I saw the reason.  Chinese life, even among the most modernized, is far more polite than anything to which we are accustomed.  This, of course, interferes with efficiency, and also (what is more serious) with sincerity and truth in personal relations.  If I were Chinese, I should wish to see it mitigated.  But to those who suffer from the brutalities of the West, Chinese urbanity is very restful.  Whether on the balance it is better or worse than our frankness, I shall not venture to decide.