CURRENT LITERATURE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 October 1921, Page 1

CURRENT LITERATURE

THE FAR EAST. Mr J. 0. I’. Bland is a recognised authority upon Far Eastern questions, and in "China, Japan, and Korea" has w ritten a most interesting at count of the political and economic conditions in the three countries. His book is to some extent a pendant to his “Recent Events and Present Policies in China," published in 11)12. Them, when the establishment of the republic was being hailed everywhere with enthusiasm. Mr Bland ventured to

strike a discordant note. He Lankly refused to believe that China was tilted for representative government An immemorial tradition cannot he

overthrown ill a day or by a stroke of a pen: an inarticulate and illiterate nation cannot be expected * ) make

good use of advanced democratic institutions. lie prophesied that “emancipated" China would he at the mercy of any unscrupulous exploiter that despite all the tine talk of the Republic, China had merely exchanged King Log for King Stork. He claims that his fears have been abundantly justified 1)v tbe event. Tile experiment of pouring new wine into old bottles lias rarely been successful, and in the ease of China Inis proved particularly disastrous. China, lie says, is given over to anarchy and confusion. The history ol the (last nine years has been one ~f civil war and relsdlioii, endless political intrigue. and limmeial and administrative chaos. Three Parliaments s". and pla v at governing, but they are utterly ineffective. Meanwhile millions are dying of famine and pestilence, the people are looted and oppressed more systematically than under the 'lanchu dynasty. These are the gilts which her present rulers have bestowed upon China in the specious name of liberty. .Mr Bland attributes much of fie existing disurd-r to the inlloence of Western ideas, imperfectly grasped, inadequately assimilated. What Lord Cromer termed the "genuine, but ill-in-formed sentimentalism'* ol European sympathisers, who did not appreciate the true inwardness of Chinese problems. cannot escape its share of responsibility. "Young China.'' like ‘"loung Turkey" and "Young Persia" was nurtured on windy notions and empty inriii ii la s. Western education lias bad a bad effect on Chinese character. The student class came home fiom he American Universities with strange an upsetting doctrines, and ‘ as a result "1 Western learning on the younger generation parental authority tlm very bed rock of Chinese civilisation, lost thing of its time-honoured sanctity. The' new , lass of ollb ini. w ith bis foreign i raining and attire, has nothing to learn from the old in point of corruption. Indeed, under the Mancllils the Palace did set limits to rhe exactions of the Mandarins, hi colili-eiting a pi, ifni l ion of t'"c spoil, hut now the only restraining influence is the ndivi,lnal’s sense of the fitness of Cuing-'. Meanwhile Japan has been [nick to take advantage ~f China's weakness, and lias played ell faction againsl taction with considerable skill. Ik" uotorioiis twenty-one demands, and the secret military agreement in BBS. gave a pretty clear indication of her designs on the mainland. Air Bl'iml hardly blames h'T. Tlm Japanese are st' denis of “real politik.": they had observed that the dealings of the great Powers v iill China have seldom been distinguished by altrujsm. What more natural than that when Euriq e s hands were tied in the war Japan lioiild make the most of her chances. Although Mr Bland gives a vciy doleful picture ol China's plight In dims not wholly despair of her future, and devotes a suggestive chapter to "rr--1 unt-lTurtinn." Ibe root of f hum s trouble be holds, is economic lather lluin political. The masses ;>i o \v«:sry ol disorder and would welcome : iy fJjo-

vernment that promised them secirity. A strong i cut ial governnn-nl is Uimm s

pi ime nfivssity ; ils lorm. its isdiiu* jim* immaterial, foi political names and forms mean nothing to the < 'uncse people. Tile lirsL step to the nx-tora-tioik of order must lm the disbandment of the rabble hordes of soldiery which infest die country. Nominally the e are in the serviee of the north m- the ■ uitb. blit as limy are never paid tlmy support themselves by proinisvinni- Inigand age on tlleir own account. Provision must lie made for tlmir lull payment and M-ttleineiit in civil life. Then' must be a complete reorganisation of China's linniii c.s. whieli mist be put under foreign supervision. Mr Bland gives an interesting estimate of the value Ilf the consortium; lie insists that if anything is to Ik- accomplished in China. Japan must relinquish those advantages which she has recently extolled hv duress.

'This leads Mr Bland to the consideration of Japan, and his book contains a Veil- lucid and not unsympathetic statement of Japan's point of view . .Lilian's problem also is economic. Her population is growing rapidly, and she , an no longer produce food enough to support it. Theorists have argued that more land might be cultivated and that tile product il'ily of the soil might, 1.0 increased, but practical experts say that this is quite impossible, lapan is. therefore, faced with three altera.:, i She may re,luce her liirtli late, site ma ex Jel 11,1 her industries, and so earn lltniiw to pav lor imported food, she may

gel rid of her siirnlus population 1 y cmi;’f *.it.ion. Tlm lii-sl c, hii si- is ii..t to Be exii"i ted in all ()rienl al m l ion : Japan has hitherto adopted a combination of tile other two as Britain hits done in similar cireiinistaiiees. IL 1 with Jana n there is a limit to the I ossiblilit ies ol industrial exp-mmon : the i him |:et il ion is lion teener, .ml I 1 '" post-war slump has hit lmr hard. Sim will have to depend more and more on emigration, mid with Australia and America ruled out of account, sin- will turn to the tliinfy populated regions on the mainland Alaiiiliuiin, Mongolia and possibly Siberia. Mr Blank fount! this opinion held every where in lapam_

and, indeed, be himself cannot sec lmw Continental expansion can be avoided, oven if it involves the risk of a collision with another Rower. The Chinese may urge that it is improper that any nation should expand at another's expense, but Japan, to put it plainly, is overcrowded. and as the proverb says, "Empty stomachs have no ears." Viscount lshii’s negotiations with Mr Lansing made it very clear that -Lipin would never willingly consent to being debarred from America and at the same time forbidden to seek expansion in Asia.

Mr Bland did not find the Japan sc as a whole chauvinistic, although there were some very chauvinistic sm-ti-ins. The mouthpiece ol* tlm latter is the

“Ashm Bcvi-e" » i " : '.l w’ i- It tom ill ally establi.-lmd with the ebjeet of pri looting liarniony between e:-t "U

west, actually seizes every ipao: Unity of embittei ing Jap-n against England and America. The military party is also chauvinistic: the general stall is the hidden hand which directs Japanese foreign policy, although the Liberals declare that its intluciico is on the wane. Mr Bland mentions that the attitude of the Versailles Conference to the racial equality claim deeply incensed even moderate Japanese opinion, and lm thinks himself that it was a .reave blunder. Tlm opponents - I the elaiiii olnoeii themselves in an utterly false position. The abstract question ol equality was unarguable, he says; in ivr.r. in the arts, ill science and ill industry Jaoan has vindicated her claim "Clenr-rdghted .perception of the issue- would have led to the obvious truth that American and British exclusion laws arc not based on racial and moral objections, but simply nit .pounds of imperative economic necessity." The cconotuir a.rgnmeiit would have been unassailable, and tin- best clcnmuts in Japan would have understood and respected it. Acquiescence in the equality claim would not. according to Mr Bland have been in any way inconsistent with the assertion ot a i-'un-tn's right to restrict or regulate the influx of population as it please- the Japanese themselves recognise that the Chinese should in u-itaiu eiicumstain-es 111- excluded hut insistence on uteial discrimination has mprely served to wound tlm dignity of a people ever keen 1 1 -cm.it i e in matters of national pride.