DEMOCRATIC CHINA







DEMOCRATIC CHINA


Theoretically speaking, the Empire of China is ruled by an autocratic
monarch, responsible only to God, whose representative he is on earth.

Once every year the Emperor prays at the Temple of Heaven, and
sacrifices in solemn state upon its altar. He puts himself, as it were,
into communication with the Supreme Being, and reports upon the fidelity
with which he has carried out his Imperial trust.

If the Emperor rules wisely and well, with only the happiness of his
people at heart, there will be no sign from above, beyond peace and
plenty in the Empire, and now and then a double ear of corn in the
fields—a phenomenon which will be duly recorded in the _Peking Gazette_.
But should there be anything like laxness or incapacity, or still worse,
degradation and vice, then a comet may perhaps appear, a pestilence may
rage, or a famine, to warn the erring ruler to give up his evil ways.

And just as the Emperor is responsible to Heaven, so are the viceroys
and governors of the eighteen provinces—to speak only of China
proper—nominally responsible to him, in reality to the six departments