St. George Fights Chinese Dragon

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 772, 19 September 1929, Page 13

St. George Fights Chinese Dragon

EFFECT OF “UNEQUAL TREATIES” WESTERN INTERFERENCE The traditional figure of St. George as a bellicose young man intent on the extermination of dragons is one which is highly approved by the Chinese Nationalists. It is true that they do not regard him as a solitary knighterrant, for that would be an insult to the dragon, but he is the worst of those who have brought pain and suffering to the great Chinese dragon. Nationalism is fortunate in the time it has chosen to make its protest against the actions of St. George and his fellows, for in this humanitarian age there are to be found in every country great masses of people who are ready to give their sympathy to an elderly, respectable dragon who is suffering from the irritation of constant spear-thrusts, particularly when the poor beast has promised to eschew fair maidens in future and to confine his diet to grass. As a matter of fact, the complaint of the Chinese Nationalists against St. George of Merrie England and his fellow roysterers from the West goes further than that. They object to the spear-thrusts, but they object still more strongly to the shackling of the dragon in chains of Occidental manufacture —the “unequal treaties,” says a writer in “The Cape Times,” reviewing a book entitled “The Unequal Treaties,” by Rodney Gilbert. On the face of it the complaint seems reasonable enough. The old dragon has always remained in his lair, and there is a fair amount to be said for the proposition that, so long as he remains there, he should be left free and undisturbed. Against this, however, there are several militating factors. One of them is that it may be argued that the dragon, like everything else in Nature, owes some duty of support to the rest of creation; another is that he has himself from time to time invited the men of the West to enter his lair, and that measures for the protection of their natural rights are therefore justifiable; and a third, which must weigh most potently with the humanitarians, is the regrettable fact that, when left to himself, the dragon suffers painfully from internal troubles. “Sentimental Generalisations” All this, however, presupposes the truth of the allegations that the dragon is really being pierced by foreign spears and galled by chains of Western forging, and fairly to judge the claims of Chinese Nationalism it is necessary to examine these things in detail, before indulging in the luxury of any sentimental generalisations. As Mr. Gilbert points out, the majority of those -who condemn the “unequal treaties” are ignorant not only of the facts which led up to the agreements, but of the contents of the very treaties themselves. His latest book gives to the Westerner a more solid basis on which to form an opinion.