CHINA TO-DAY

Hokitika Guardian, 20 July 1929, Page 6

CHINA TO-DAY

The general condition df things in China to-day is the subject of au interesting article by' Dr G. Douglas Grey in the Nineteenth Century. Tlie giant lias awakened, and the country is now in tlie melting-pot, striving for emergence .as a modern nation. “There are now millions who understand- what nationalism means and who feel that it can be brought about only by unification of the country and complete restoration of China’s soverign rights. They indulge in political thinking in a way that is unsettling the whole country, and which will go on till there is a yet fuller recognition of China’s international status and greater regulation of foreign concessions and intercourse.” One fact, says the writer, stands clear, and that is that China has changed more during the past three years than during the previous three thousand. The old nationality is gone. Western influence has given birth to the new nationality, with aspirations to see the country take the place in the world that its size, its population, and the virility of its people demand. While in the interior, among the villagers and farmers, life goes on very much in the old traditional way, the implantation Rf iVestern civilisation has brought about great changes in the towns. “Almost every city, seaboard or inland, is lighted by electricity; many have water supply companies. Schools are well attended, newspapers published and their contents discussed in the tea-houses. There is an increasing demand not only for foreign imports,-, but for all sorts of articles made in Chinese factories. Huge general stores have been opened, owned, and managed by Chinese. Dance halls, kinemas, and even greyhound racing are available in some ports. In Shanghai alone there are over seventy kinema balls. Football and athletic sports are in great favour, and attract enormous crowds. There is no difference in the amenities of liTe in places such as Shanghai or Tientsin from those in Europe.”