ved a
promise that India would decrease the production of opium annually by
one-tenth for four years and subsequently if China did likewise. The
Indian government also assented to Indian opium being taxed equally
with Chinese opium, but China did not raise the duty on foreign opium.
In 1908 the Indian government undertook to reduce the amount of opium
exported by 5100 chests yearly. In the same year the opium dens in
Hong-Kong were closed. In February 1909, on the initiative of the
United States, an international conference was held at Shanghai to
consider the opium trade and habit. At this conference the Chinese
representative claimed that the consumption of opium had already been
reduced by one-half--a claim not borne out by the ascertained facts.
The conference was unable to suggest any heroic measures, but a number
of proposals were agreed to (including the closing of opium dens in
the foreign settlements), tending to the restriction of the opium
trade. The conference also dealt with another and growing habit in
China--the use of morphia.[70] Japan agreed to prohibit the export of
morphia to China, a prohibition to which the other powers had
previously agreed.

Education.

The attempts to reform the educational system of China on a
comprehensive scale date from the year of the return of the court to
Peking after the Boxer troubles. In 1902 regulations were sanctioned by
the emperor which aimed at remodelling the methods of public
instruction. These regulations provided among other things for the
establishment at Peking of a university giving instruction in Western
learning, a technical college, and a special department for training
officials and teachers. A much more revolutionary step was taken in
September 1905 when a decree appeared announcing as from the beginning
of 1906 the abolition of the existing method of examinations. The new
system was to include the study of modern sciences, history, geography
and foreign languages, and in the higher grades political economy and
civil and international law. Thousands of temples were converted to
educational purposes. In Canton, in 1907, the old examination hall was
demolished to make way for a college with every appliance on Western
lines. Equal zeal was noticeable in such conservative cities as
Si-gan-fu, and in remote provinces like Kan-suh. By May 1906 fifteen
so-called universities had been founded. Moreover, many young Chin