Although the Osaka Exhibition offended Chinese viewers through the incidents discussed so far, they still sought lessons from bitter experience. Even Zhejiangchao, one of the Chinese student journals that led the protest against Jinruikan, carried a report on the Osaka Exhibition in general for the following reasons:
An exhibition is an institution for expanding commerce and to bolster foreign trade. The commerce of our country has not been prosperous for a long time. On the upper level, there is no Chamber of Commerce. On the lower level, there are no commercial studies. Therefore, commerce is not prosperous in China. If commerce is not prosperous, the nation cannot be rich. If the nation is not rich, it cannot be independent. Thus, if you want a strong nation, you should start with commercial war. Here, I record my observation in order to inform my compatriots.171
The Chinese students could not help taking advantage of the Osaka Exhibition to learn about exhibitions in general, although they were so unwilling to admit the achievement of Japan as to claim that “among the displayed machines, there was nothing
170 Kitaoka Masako 北岡正子, “Daigokai Naikokukangyo Hakurankaito Shinkoku Ryūgakusei 第五 回内国勧業博覧会と清国留学生” in Kansai Daigaku Bungakubu Chūgokugo Chūgokubungakuka ed. Buankajishōtoshiteno Chūgoku 文化事象としての中国 (Osaka: Kansai Daigaku Shuppanbu , 2002), 227-228.
171 Zhejiangchao, “Riben Diwuhui Neiguoquanyebolanhui Guanlanji 日本第五回內國勸業博覽會觀覽記” (Report on Japan’s Fifth Domestic Encouragement of Industry Exhibition), No.3 (April, 1903), 185.
invented in Japan. However, within only 30 years since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has learned technology. Japan is naturally the hero of stealing.”172
The Chinese domestic journals went further, suggesting ways to improve the performance of China at the exhibition by looking into the problems revealed at the Osaka Exhibition. The Chinese journals commonly pointed out the disengagement of the Qing government from the process of organizing the Chinese exhibit at the world exhibition, although the Imperial Commission unprecedented. For instance, both Zhongwai ribao and Hong Kong huaziribao 香港華字日報 implicitly criticized the fact that management of the items for the exhibition fell into the hands of unqualified foreigners by reporting on the poor performance of a Japanese agent hired by several provinces of the Southeast coast of China.173 Besides, Zhongwai ribao carried a commendatory ode, which Chen Jingru 陳敬如, a Lieutenant Colonel, recited at a banquet to celebrate Huang Xiubo 黃秀伯’s winning of the First Award at the Indo China Exposition Francaise et Internationale, which took place in Hanoi, 1902. The ode began with the claims that commercial affairs were related to the foundation of the nation and, for the past scores of years, European nations had been investing great amounts of financial and human resources in exhibitions as a good means by which to promote commerce and industry. Then, the ode continued to provide detailed information about how Japan, a country of the same race and same letter with China, had been actively engaged in the exhibitions with support from the Meiji Emperor since 1872 (Meiji 5), when the Japanese government first created the position of the Secretary-General for
172 Ibid., 190.
173 Zhongwai ribao, March 5, 1903; Hong Kong Huaziribao, March 13, 1903.
Exhibition and its staffs. Then, it contrasted the eager attitude of Japan toward the exhibition with the lukewarm attitude of the Qing government as follows:
In the past years, China was also asked to participate in the exhibition by its host country. However, the Qing government regarded the exhibitions simply as the affairs for public relations, and thus made do with sending staffers of the Maritime Customs. Even after they came back from the exhibitions, there was no report about their performance.
Thus, quite regrettably it ended up as if the had thrown tens of thousands [of money] into a broken jar.174
Chen’s statement is interesting for two reasons. First, it clearly relates that the Qing government approached the international exhibition for public relations, or as a diplomatic activity. Secondly, it points out the problems caused by the fact that the IMCS dealt with matters regarding the international exhibitions. As discussed in Chapter One, for Robert Hart, the Inspector General of the IMCS, the purpose of China’s participation in the world exhibitions was never to represent China as a nation. Under such circumstances, the foreign staff of the IMCS dealt with the preparation of Chinese exhibits without any sense of commitment to the commercial and industrial development of China. Thus, as Chen implied, it was inevitable for other ministries of the Qing government to replace the IMCS as the central agency in charge of the exhibitions in order to improve the Chinese exhibit and to represent China properly in the world exhibition. In this vein, some Chinese journals such as Wanguo gongbao 萬國公報 and
174 Zhongwai ribao, “Chen Jingru Canjiang Songci 陳敬如參將頌詞” (A Commendatory Ode by Chen Jingru, a Lieutenant Colonel), April 6, 1903. The official position of Huang Xiubo was guancha 觀察 or Intendant of a Circuit. Italic is mine.
Waijiaobao also suggested specific ways to more systematically organize participation in the international exhibition under the leadership of the Qing government.175
Finally, Chen’s ode concluded: “Because the technology of China had reached a fair level, China must have its own exhibitions in order to avoid simply relying on (the invitation of) other countries. The court is also aware of this necessity, but no one has proposed this yet. Thus, by taking advantage of this opportunity, I wish that three Ministers here take the lead in launching exhibitions, and that the industry and commerce of China establish itself, achieving wealth and power of our nation.”176 The suggestion that China should hold its own exhibitions were found in other Chinese domestic journals as well. For instance, Hong Kong huazi ribao claimed that China should hold an agriculture exhibition for the reason that nations could not exist in the current world of evolution without competition, reflecting the influence of Social Darwinism among the Chinese elites at that time. This article also indicated a rivalry with Japan: “Considering that Japan has been holding domestic produce exhibitions, how regretful it would be if China never had one like that.”177 Zhongwai ribao advanced various suggestions such as the systemization of the process to report detailed statements of exhibit items, as well as the expenses for shipping, insurance, and maritime customs. It was even proposed that awardees of exhibitions should be congratulated with plaques from the provincial
175 Waijiaobao, “Lun Gesheng Paiyuan Saihui Banfa Weihe 論各省派員賽會辦法未合”
(Discussing that it is Unreasonable for Each Province to Dispatch Officials to the Exhibitions Individually), No. 39 (May, 1903); Wanguo Gongbao, “Lun Fusaihuizhifa 論赴賽會之法”(Discussing How to Participate in the Exhibitions), No. 173 (May, 1903).
176 Zhongwai ribao, “Chen Jingru Canjiang Songci,” April 6, 1903. The three Ministers mentioned here were the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Commercial Treaties, and the Minister of Telegraph Administration. As discussed in chapter one, the petition for holding a national exhibition in China had been submitted by Pan Shengnian, a Chinese official of the Board of Works, during the period of the Hundred Days’ Reforms in 1898. Chen Jinru was apparently unaware of this fact.
177 Hong Kong huazi ribao, May 11, 1903.
governors.178
As the Chinese press derived the necessity of improving the current system of preparing the Chinese exhibit at the world exhibition and holding a national exhibition of China from a series of unpleasant incidents of the Osaka Exhibition, the Qing government also made its own moves. Although the controversial issues such as Jinruikan were not officially reported to the Qing court, it was at least aware of China’s disappointing display at the Osaka Exhibition.179 According to Hong Kong huazi ribao, Lord Zaizhen reported to the Empress Dowager that the Osaka Exhibition was overall quite splendid, but that the display of China ranked the lowest, being unable to match the exhibited items of other countries that had greatly improved because they were unrestricted by old practices. It was also said that this negative self-evaluation provoked a displeased look from the Empress Dowager.180 As if making up for the unpleasant memories and negative evaluations of the performance of China in the Osaka Exhibition, the Qing government involved itself in preparing for the St. Louis Exposition the following year by investing more money and effort. Thereby, China finally made its official debut in the world exhibitions of the West by sending the Imperial Commission and establishing the China Pavilion in the St. Louis Exposition. In other words, the Chinese exhibit at the St. Louis Exposition would be supposed to represent China as a nation rather than a random collection of products from the treaty ports.
The Osaka Exhibition of 1903 inaugurated China’s first meaningful step toward
178 Zhongwai ribao, March 7, 1903; Zhongwai ribao, March 9, 1903.
179 According to the official documents recorded in Qinggong Wanguo Bolanhui Dang’an, there is no evidence that those controversial issues were reported to the Qing government.
180 Hong Kong huazi ribao, June 23, 1903.
participation in overseas exhibitions for both the Qing government and the elite reading public. However, at the same time, the conflicts revealed through the Osaka Exhibition foreshadowed that the Qing government’s willingness for reformation and improvement of its diplomatic relationships by participating in the St. Louis Exposition the following year would not be received by the Chinese reading publics as intended. Moreover, the Chinese newspapers and journals, which gave priority to specific political ideologies over the impartiality of the press at the turn of the 20th century, were ready to project their sense of anti-government outrage into their coverage of the Chinese exhibit at the St.
Louis Exposition, thereby deepening the distrust of the Chinese people toward the Qing government, as will be discussed in the following chapter.
Chapter Three: Recurrence of Trauma at the St. Louis Exposition of 1904