SPIRIT OF CHINA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 31, 7 February 1939, Page 8

SPIRIT OF CHINA

MIGRATION TO WEST A NEW NATION STRIKING PHILOSOPHY HASTINGS, Feb. 4. There is every prospect ot a new China being built up in the far west of the country as the people flee from the urea occupied by the Japanese, says Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Commander of the Chinese Forces, in a letter to Mr. Barnard, M.P., Napier, chairman of the New Zealand Council for the "Adoption" of Chinese Children.

"It is the philosophy of the survivors that is so striking," says Madame Chiang Kai-shek, after describing the bombings. "In no time they are building shacks on the ashes, or continuing their business in a.ny section of their establishments which have escaped the effects of the bombs. I have seen shopkeepers resuming their business with the top parts of their houses blown to atoms, with broken rafters, smashed furniture, and belongings dangling about them. "Within a few hours after the raid at Kweilin I saw such a sight and saw people in what was a shop, but what looked now like a distorted woodpile. And what was the man selling and the people buying so close to direful calamity? Tooth brushes! Think of it! But this is the spirit that is going to prevent the Chinese people from being conquered by the Japanese, Vast Migration. "The migration of people westward is probably one of the greatest in human history. If you will look at a map of China, and run a rule down the railway line from, say, Peking to Canton, you will see that the bulk ol China is westward of that line. East of it is the great agricultural section of China which is being ravaged by the Japanese. To the west of it the country, hitherto remote, is absorbing the great masses who have been forced to leave their homes and their farms in the east.

“These people are penetrating to the nooks and corners of the mountains west. They are taking with them as much as possible of their handicrafts, and we are helping them to get as much equipment there as we can so that industries can be restarted, and so that, the natural resources may in due course be utilised for the rehabilitation of our country. Not much imagination is needed when looking at the map of China to understand what all this will mean. All the west is now connected by motor highways and railways are gradually being constructed. National Aspirations, 'There is every prospect of a new China being built up in this far west. Not only are farmers and artisans pouring into the region, but, also, the colleges and the intellectuals are re-establishing themselves there. They will surely lay the foundation for new national aspirations. "One of the most encouraging things about this great march of men, women, and children is the cheerfulness with which they are meeting the tragic adversity that has suddenly descended upon them. We heard no! complaints from these unfortunate! people, but the recuperative powers! of the Chinese people are almost a! historic commonplace, for has not our: nation survived natural calamities' and wars for thousands of years, and ’ is it not the only nation in th« world I to-day which has come through the: trials and tribulations of time to; form a link with the remote past, that I is only known through the energies of archaeologists?” '