CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF CHINA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1716, 5 April 1913, Page 9

CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF CHINA.

YUAX.SHIBt KAI'AND THE' Y.M.C.A, ■ . ; .Mr. H. A. Moran, a Rhodes scholar..in ' - tin article in the "Christian World,'" states:' , ./i'lio quality pf leadership shown by' tho - . ■young men who convened tho Sixth National 'Convention of the Y.M.C.A, 'in •. Peking from December 12 to 18 is per- . haps the best demonstration of real leadership yet seen, in China.. Tho,'order and expedition of that convention was something remarkable,--.particularly when "one. - considers that-it was almost entirely- iii ■. tho.hands of, Chinese young men.', Per'-' • haps that and the wonderful new patriot- '-' ism displayed by the whole body of tho delegates are , tliO' two most' remarkable facts of this unique convention. ' It wis not. a patriotism of loud talking and empj;y words, but tho three hundred dele-, gates gathered from, the fourteen pro- .- vinces of China were considering momentous questions in the welfare . of'• their . country and of tlio individual thfit goes to make up tho country.. Every subject . grappled with. was discussed 'trom the point of view. of Christian'equality and progress, of justice and fair play for,all; and. these problems were dealt with 'in"/', a penetrating'and concise manner that ' would do credit to any deliberative body. ■ Tho chairman .of the convention was Mr;.''. Chang Peh Ling, President of Nan ICni Government School,"Tientsin, 'and tlio • general secretary was Mr. C. T. Wang, .-. a member of, Yuan Shili Kai's firsj Cab- .' inet, through whom'the various subjects , to be discussed were , presented to the ' convention. . • , The convention opened with a reception. ' by, President Yuan Shili.-Kai .in person.. '' The three hundred delegates, after repeated instructions as to tho proper ceremony for the occasion, were marshalled'-, in rows of fifty into the reception hall afc . , the: Board of War Office. President Yuan. Shili Kai, who looks not unliko'Bisinarck, and'though only fifty-threo years of age, mipht bo well over'seventy, stepped with 'a'hrlu tread upon the platform before the;., standing delegates and pronounced an in'foresting and personal address of w'eleimia,,, on the part of the pebplo of China, as '■ well-as of the President himself, to. those young nien w;ith their high Christian' ideals for body, mind, and spirit. Later, be sent Dr. W. W. Yen, a member of the Cabinet and a Christian, to make a fur- 1 tiler* address beforo tho conference. The Vice-President of tho National Assembly also addressed tlm convention with words of strong approbation for Christianity.' ; It is to bo noted that tho delegates must ■ each ouo be a member in good standing of ■soino evangelical church, and that, although technically gathered as-dclcgatwi •of tho Y.M.C.A., tlrey in_ reality sented organised Christianity as'.sUch in, ' tho various'parte of tho Itepublicv.- Con-., taining, as it did, many of tW leaders in tho political, educational, and business life of tho country, many returned students with degrees from various universities of tho world, and many men of keen intellect and good . standing who had never beforo perhaps crossed tho boundary of their native province—in ssomo . cases men who had ljeen educated up from tho lower ranks of society in mission colleges—this gathering of men showed that wherever Christianity may have liegun in China, at present, at any rate, ' tho leaders of tho Christian Church in 1 China stand in the very front rank of tho citizens of the Republic.