MISTAKEN FOR AMERICA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 86, 30 September 1947, Page 6

MISTAKEN FOR AMERICA

LITTLE KNOWN NEW ZEALAND CHINESE PEOPLE’S IMPRESSION The hope that something may be done to dispel the ignorance of New Zealand which exists in China is expressed by Mr Kenneth Choy, livestock consultant for.,, UNRRA in China, in a letter to a member of the staff of Massey Agricultural College. He suggests as a partial remedy the sending of more Chinese agricultural students to New Zealand, and the formation of some type of cultural organisation embracing the two countries.

“Most people in China today know little of New Zealand,” writes Mr Choy. “This is particularly noticeable in the interior. When I accompanied the UNRRA livestock from New Zealand to various remote regions, I had a difficult task in convincing the people that those animals were not from America. After I had proved that, I was faced with another job of explaining that New Zealand had its own government and was not part of Australia.” “This ing'orance has been due largely, I think, to two factors. Firstly, over the last decade American influences in China have been so overwhelming that most Chinese mistake every Westerner for an Ame rican, and believe that everything foreign comes from the United States. The second reason may be that in the past there has been between New Zealand and China few trade transactions or cultural exchanges. “The outlook in China at the moment is not very bright. The problem is a universal one—a shortage of American dollars. As a result of the Sino-Japanese war and civil strife which is increasing in intensity daily in the north, the economic system of China has been to a large extent destroyed. Production is completely out. Transport between north and south is cut. So prices are skyrocketing. At present, in Shanghai, one newspaper cost about 3,000 C.N.C. dollars, and one average meal leaves the diner poorer by at least 20,000 dollars. “However, as China bases her economy almost entirely on agriculture, whether the absolute economic collapse will come or not remains to be seen.”