The far East at the end of the 19th Century, Tse Tsan-tai cerca 1900; Wikimedia Commons.
THE SITUATION IN THE FAR EAST (時局圖), cerca 1900, a symbolic work by Tse Tsan-tai (1872-1939 ) may help put the various diplomatic and imperialistic maneuvers of the 1930s into historical context. |
This is great! Who is the rabbit talking down in the corner? Holly
He is waving an Italian flag
Hmm. Although that is the Italian flag, I can’t find any evidence of Italian imperialism in East Asia.
Here is description of the drawing :
Imperialism in China around 1900 with the bear representing Russia intruding from the north, the lion representing the United Kingdom in south China, the Gallic frog representing France in southeast Asia, and the American eagle representing the United States approaching from the Philippines. On the eagle is written “Blood is thicker than water”, a reference to U.S. Navy Commodore Josiah Tattnall’s saying in 1859.
Many Westerners felt it was the moral obligation of favored nations and races to “take up the White Man’s burden” and colonize less developed nations. Rudyard Kipling wrote the following poem in 1899, urging the USA to colonize the Philippines.
Take up the White Man’s burden–
Send forth the best ye breed–
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man’s burden–
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another’s profit
And work another’s gain.
Take up the White Man’s burden–
The savage wars of peace–
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.
Take up the White Man’s burden–
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper–
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.
Take up the White Man’s burden,
And reap his old reward–
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard–
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:–
“Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?”
Take up the White Man’s burden–
Ye dare not stoop to less–
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloak your weariness.
By all ye will or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent sullen peoples
Shall weigh your God and you.
Take up the White Man’s burden!
Have done with childish days–
The lightly-proffered laurel,
The easy ungrudged praise:
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers.