CHINA AS IT IS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 117, 3 October 1912, Page 4

CHINA AS IT IS.

REPUBLICANS COME TO STAY

INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

Interesting sidelights on China as -it really is were gleaned by a News reporter in conversation witjn a gentlemaa wiho was stationed there as late as January last, in the person of Air. Nofris King, of Victoria. Mr. King, who is re■presenting, the China Inland Mission, is visiting New Zealand and lecturing at various centres. Asked whether lu had detected any signs of an alliance between China and neighbouring Japan,. Mr. King replied in tne negative. Certain it was, however, that the great tendency was a manifest feeling, common to both countries, that they should •stand or fall together. Ther- had mutual interests, and while there was n« treaty in existence between the two nations, there was a strong bond uniting them together. Touching on the recent revolution, Mr. King spoke hopefully of the career which the Republican Govern,m>ent had just embarked on. The new party was far more liberal-minded than the deposed monarchy, and manifested a great desire and willingness to allow the utilisation of foreign capital for th« development of the various resources of the country. Nowadays there was not that intense hatred for foreigners whiah had at one time cliaracterised the Chinese. Ha himself had in the pursuit ol his ordinary duties been able to travel freely throughout China, and had been treated with the greatest of respect. Undoubtedly, to his mind, the Republican Government >had come to stay.. Tha Manehu dynasty had no chance of getting back. Again, there were no rival parties to the new Government. Ther* was abundant evidence that the new party was getting things under control, not only in Pckin, but in the provinces. The church missionaries hart been able to return to their posts, even to the remote parts of the Republic. Proceeding, the speaker said there was no doubt that the revolution wouikl bring the evangelisation of China much nearer. Many of the leaders of the Republicans were devout Christians. During the Revolution the missionaries were admitted into the camps of the military (the revolutionists) and allowed to distribute literature and even to preach tfl the soldiers. In the city of Yangchow, where the Republican army was being mobilised for the march on' Pekin. General _ Hsupaoshan arranged for large meetings, at which Christian missionaries addressed both officers and men. Th« more one moved about China the more one realised l , ad-led the speaker, that there would be no "Yellow Peril" if China was only Christianised. An element of favour of Christianity was that Dr. Morrison (Political Adviser to the President) was very sympathetically inclined to missionaries. China, continued Mr. King, was being more and more westernised. During the, last twelve years it had gone in greatly for European articles, which wer.e now to be obtained, far inland. The schools were being run on European lines, and manufactures were coming ahead more. At Hia-mmg, for instance, steel rails for railways were being turned out equal to those of Pittsburg. The people were most industrious, thrifty, law-abidine—-indeed, they had every element that made for a great nation". Intens(» cultivation was everywhere in evidence. TV average farm in China was two acres in area, and a man could easily live on that. As an instance- of the vast fund of interest that China held for tho«p 'Wicerned with antiquity. Mr. Kiu<r mentioned that the city in which he was stationed, Ping Yang Fu, was founded 2000 years before Christ, when what the Chinese now fondly looked back upon as the "Golden Age" held sway."