THE CHINESE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 229, 15 June 1918, Page 8

THE CHINESE

MISSIONARY LECTURE CRITICISED. Sir,—l venture to hand youi a copy of a letter 1 have addressed to (lie Honourable the Acting-Prime Minister respecting certain statements regarding the Chinese which are being made by a gentleman who at the present time is lecturing on (lie subject of China and the -Uiao in China.—l am, etc., . US blllH-TUAN. Consul for the Republic of Chinu. The letter is as follows:Sir,—l boy respectfully to enclose herewith a cutting' [nun The Dominion newspaper of the 12th instant, containing a. brief report uf a missionary lecture on the Aiiao of China delivered at the Y.M.O.A. in Wellington on the llcli instant. The partieu'ar passages to which I Ijcft to call your attention are as follow (tho numbering of the sentences having been added by me for tiie purpose, of reference later bnj :— 1. His stories of life in China were not in the least attractive, but they helped to impress the need for mission work in the land, of Confucius. 2. Life there is apparently cheap. 3. Men steal girls and cell time cf them. 4. Unsuitable wives aro also sold. 5. Mothers destroy baby girls. 6. And there is other need for Christian influence. These sentences were apparently the text upon which Mr. Powell based his remarks, i-.i'.d the lecture, was illustrated by kiivtern slides, which, in the language of tho report, "tell more than can ibe. conveyed in-words, and are really iippeal. iiig and instructive." My object in addressing >ou is fo ask whether it is not possible for the Government of tho Dominion of New Zealand to prevent the repetition of what are slanders upon a nation with whom the British Government is now co-oper-ating in resisting the present Germanic effort to dominate the world. I call the statements 2, 3, 4, and 5 slanders, because while there may be a grain of truth underlying each statement that grain of truth no mors discloses the characteristic of the Chinese nature ihan doe.s a single grain of dock seed indicate the character of the thousand-ton shipment of wheat'into which it has unfortunately obtruded, and of which it forms an infinitesimal "art. The statement Nα. 2'that life there is apparently cheap seems to suggest a disregard of ihe moral law respecting the duly <•{ a Chinese to his neighbours, and this is answered by the dictate of Confucius, who said: "Do not do unto others what you would not they should do unto you," a dictate which has been impressed upon every schoolboy during the past 2200 years. The Chinese make short shrift with criminals, and hence the Chinese are a moral a:id law-abiding people; but a missionary would possibly prefer to snve the lii'e of some whose presence, among then? self-respecting Chinese would resent. The statement No. , 3 is one which unfortunately is as applicable (or even more so) to "all Christian countries as to China. 'Those Chinese who have studied the manners and customs of Christian countries are quite as much shocked at the practice of "white slavery" in these countries as is Mr. Powell at the kidnapping of girls in China; but i.mthcr practice is a characteristic of the nation concerned. AVith reference to the statement No. 4, while such a transaction may be possible among the lowest orders in China, I venture to say that a similar transaction is not unknown among tho lowest orders nf the Europeans. No. 5 is a statement which has been repeated till , one is sick' by short-sighted travellers who gloat over tho garbage supplied to them by low-class scandal-mong-ers, who are well aware that a lie commands a higher price than the truth. It is not true that infanticide is common in China. It is true that it was practised to some extent in certain parts, but the practice is being eradicated, and for centuries there have been established in various parts of the country homes where the child which is "not wanted" is taken in and cared for. The sixth sentence suggests that there are other things which "Christian influence" will remedy; but I would point out that if Christian influence has not eradicated the evils referred to in those countries which are professedly Chris'tian, Christian missionaries would be doing a mure fitting work if they cleansed' their own countries before, branding a whole nation as vicious because among the people in that nation there is an infinitesimal number who do things which are abhorred by the nations at large. The gravest etatoment, however, is that contained in the sentence Jfo. 1: "His stories . . . helped to impress the need for mission work in the land of Confucius." To eoiiplo Confucius with such stories as Mr. Powell relates is a gross insult to the Chinese nation, nnd to the man whose works contain the finest code of morals ever yet published, and who compiled that code without claiming assistance from anything supernatural. Well might a Chinese paraphrase the sentence after relating stories of the white slavery, wife beating, adultery, infanticide, declining birth-rate,-drinking to excess, and other vices in Christian countries, say that such conditions "impress the need for mission work in the land of Christ."

I have written at length and with emphasis, because I am Chinese, ami J recall the harm done to China by the. opium traffic forced upon her by the British people in days gone by, and J resent the libel which nn itinerant missionary- throws at my countrymen. A people who with their ancestors (identifiable for generations, (luting back centuries before the- Christian era) have been and arc still admittedly a sober, moral, and virtuous people. Following in the footsteps of my great grandfather, High Commissioner Lin, who in 1833 and succeeding years took a great part in an endeavour to save his country from tho blemish caused by the use of that most pernicious drug above referred to, I deem it my duty to try to save my country from wicked aspersions on the character of its people, and I respectfully appeal to you, as the leader of the Government of this country, to assist me in helping to establish mutual respect and friendly relations between the peoples of our respective countries. 1 have taken the liberty of sending copies of this letter to the 1 local Press, eo that the harm may, if possible, be minimia(\' (Sgd.) LIN SHIH-YUAN.