CHINA

Hokitika Guardian, 19 February 1927, Page 4

CHINA

— -»>»- - IS SHE AWAKENING

(Ivy Professor Grillith Taylor in , the “Sydney Ilorsild.”)

China to-day is essentially a nation of 100 millions grouped in families of peasants or small farmers. The writer made a special effort to see something of their environment. Near Shanghai I visited some of the farming communities to the north-easi of the city, and here sociological work has been carried out hv Shanghai College, which |s very helpful in this connection. I owe much of the following information about Hie I armors to work done by the members of this institution.

Lot us take as an example the little ' illage of Sung-ka-hong. built on the lint delta of the Yangtsckiaug. consisting of about 70 families. Most of these 350 people live in one-storey houses, clustered closely along the narrow main street. The houses are usually of one pattern, consisting of several rooms surrounding a, small courtyard, which is entered by it narrow doorway. Tito bedrooms are at the side of the court, and have wooden iloors, hut the kitchens, etc., have only damp earth floors. There are very few glass windows. and the small openings in the trails admit neither sufficient air nor light. The daily work is usually done on the courtyard, while at night many folk sleep in one room to ensure sufficient warmth. When n young man marries he and his wife usually occupy a room in his father’s house. He is, .suported by his lather to a considerable extent, and this has led to the prevalence of onrlv marriages and of a large birth-rate. This complex family is the real unit of Chinese society, and tlie strength of China lies in the fact that in the course of 10 centuries “family custom” lias become so stdndnrdised that it largely takes the place of the laws of our own civilisation. Thus, the head of the family is its external representative, and the most efficient head in >i group becomes the clan-leailer. In Sun-ka-hong several (lans (each consisting of many family groups) dwell together, and constitute the village. There is a village »ts-

sembly, corresponding to our town council, and this is responsible to the magistrate, who usually lives in an adjacent city, and hurdle ever visits the village.

AGRICULTURE. Now, its to the agriculture in Fpsteni Chinn, the farmers sow rice and

cotton iii April and beans are planted in June, while wheat and rape are then harvested. The farmer is busy imputing during the summer, and in October the rice fluids are reaped.

Then at <Tie end of October wheat and rape are .sown, and so the agricultural cede proceeds.' Most of the weeding and cultivating is done by the women, while the sowing and harvesting are largely men’s work. Harvest-

ers earn 50 cents (one shilling) a. day without food, or twelve shillings a month with food. This is somewhat o! a contrast to the pay earned by some of the Chinese - near Sydney. I have licett informed that intensive gardening in a. few ‘teres yields these Chinamen up to seven hundred pounds a

year each in our own relatively wealthy environment. In the Chinese village carpenters and masons also earn about

one shilling a day as wages. It ice costs from l.’i to 17 dollars (florins) for 200 pounds, and this is the main

sustenance for three or four coolies for a month. At their meals one sees them squatting round a, large bowl of soup, with greens and a little fish or pork therein. Each holds a sni'rdl howl of rice close to his mouth and shovels in the rice with his chop sticks. Frequently lie dips into the common centre howl and adds a little meat to his rice. The craftsman works from 7 o'clock to o, with time for meals. Two hours’ talk in a tea .shop from five to seven in the evening is his chief recreation. Such then is the environ-

ment of many millions of Chinese. They on mint read, they have no time

for travel, their roads are had. and railways are unknown in most parts of the interior. The family and the clan hounds their horizon, just as ancestor worship largely hounds their mentality.

Religion in such a small village is not taken very seriously. There are three or four temples, hut for the most part lay-women care for the buildings. The gods they worship are essentially deified human beings. Of these the chief are Til Deli, the judge and protector : Mong-Chiang. the goddess of mercy, who takes churge of their fields; and various deities who are supplicated to provide’sons or wealth by means of prayers and offerings. But they have a very real belief in the existence of their common ancestors in the spiritual world, and these must olways he placated. The real reason for the conservatism of the villages is that they fwir that any new thing will bring down upon thorn file disfavour of the ancestral spirits.

Bet us now turn to the other extreme. In Nanking the writer was

guest at a dinner given by the members of the Science Society in China. We met in an imposing old building, containing various lnboraories, and scientific collections, while across the courtyard was u large scientific library. This fine institution was the growth of only a few years, ft originated in zeal of certain research students in America, who felt that science in China would not progress far without a common meeting-ground. Severed of these enthusiasts lived on bread and water for many months—giving,up almost all their scholarship moneys—so as to inaugurate the society. One direct result of tins self-sacrifice is that China was awarded It place on the council recently of the Pan-Pacific ~Science Congress because it had at length an institution representative of the nation. HELPING THE BOVS.

Bet u.s take another example. Some few years ago a giuld of Chinese merchants in Shanghai decided to devote a sum of money to found an institution to help boys from their own home citv of Swntow. This has developed

into a school for 140 boys, where they are taught woodwork and ironwork of quite advanced character. 1 was shown lathes and other tools, and wardroU s and desks (all made by the students), which were for safe to the public. This is entirely maintained by the Chinese and the present director is Mr Teliou. a well-known graduate and sociologist. The same worker is largely responsible for the new settlement in the slums of Pootong. behind the factories to the east of Shanghai. This settlement is well worth

considering. To visit this settlement we crossed the Whangpoo River in a Sampan, passing a dozen steamers tied stem to stern. These were Chinese vessels which were laid tip in the treaty port, because the war-lords would commanderc them if they carried out their usual voyages up the Yangtse River. Some of the other vessels were defended by palisades of iron rods to keep out the pirates—for these survivors from old times have become relatively abundant on the south-east coast during the recent troublous times in

China. Arriving in Pootong we passed down the usual narrow" streets, rkfonged with poor folk oi every desnTj\i°ii. and then reached the more open f\nds behind. Here were sqiidid lints crowded with children and domestic animals, in the ditch or canal alongside one woman would lie washing her rice or greens, another washing her clothes, another dipping water for the tea, and the fourth throwing in Uirbage and litter from the house. Starved docs raked over the heaps of rubbish, and the whole place cried out for sanitary reform. Further along were fields of cabbages rather blighted by the wintry weather. A keen blizzard from 'Mongolia had reduced the temper'.iture of Shanghai to some 14 degress below freezing, though the city is much nearer the equator than is Sydney. Indeed lor several days the maximum did not rise to freezing point, and plumbers ami garages did a brisk trade as the result ol burst pipes in houses and motorcars. Among the crops stood nituy coflins waiting for an auspicious date lor interment. 11l one corner was a pathetic heap in babies’ coffins, for the young cannot withstand this insanitary environment, while clusters of large grave nimuuls occupied about onc-til£li of the whole farm lands. In this unattractive district several groups of social workers have co-op-orated to build a block of houses suitable for poor Chinese. There are 12 of these homes arranged in six pairs, each having two rooms 'ami cement floors. The rent for a house is six shillings a month. In the same enclosure is a, recreation hall, with a cinema and stage, anil in the uppi i story are a few smvdl classrooms, i lie phut is a practical one and is hound to do good, in the long run. hut the Chinese operative is not the only one who. in tiie mass, is very slow to profit l.v hygienic examples.