CHINA AWAKENING.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20256, 27 July 1937, Page 3

CHINA AWAKENING.

IMPACT WITH CIVILISATION. DIFFICULTIES IN CULTURE. . MISSIONARY’S EXPERIENCES. The economic and religious conditions ruling in China at the present time and the part the country would play In the world of the future were outlined by the Rev. A. Taylor, D.D., secretary for Scotland of the China Inland Mission, addressing the Hamilton Rotary Club at its weekly luncheon yesterday. He painted a picture of the country quite different from that imagined by most people. •China, said Mr Taylor, was a country much bigger than Europe and consisted of 22 provinces, none of which was smaller than Scotland. In one area there was enough coal to supply the whole world for three centuries. Such inestimable value had interested Japan to a large extent. China was wealthier than America and the progress made by the country was amazing. Here was one quarter of the globe’s population. Japan, again, was a well-developed country with a rapidly increasing birth rate, which necessitated the annexing of further territory, and she realised that England did not visualise in China a valuable acquisition to an Empire. Use for Bamboo. For centuries China had been a self-supporting and united country. The valuable product she possessed I in bamboo had allowed her to coni struct almost any necessity, and today the bulk of household utensils were made from that material. In that manner the intelligence of the people was exemplified. When Europe was still Immersed in the Stone Age, and its inhabitants clothed in skins, Chinese noblemen were wearing silk robes. The Impact with Western civilisation had awakened China as it had never before been awakened, but there was more ignorance and superstition rife among the people than in any other country in a similar social state. The Hoods which covered an area of China the size of England, Scotland and Wales, and which rendered thousands of people homeless, were put down to the exploits of a dragon. This monster was said to have been liberated by the god of a temple which had been destroyed by the authorities. How could that ignorance he overcome ? asked Mr Taylor. Education could not effect a cure, as China was educated long before Europe had given thought to serious learning. The people In the rural areas had also to he shown that the female sex was of as much importance to a nation as the male. If there were enough girls horn for the maintenance of the race, then the surplus were destroved at birth The women folk were maltreated by their husbands for the simplo reason that they had the misfortune to be born females. Missionary Influence. j Many of the disagreeable practices l in China had been destroyed through missionary influence. Educational faculties were being introduced in "I'der that the children might grow !o manhood and womanhood with the | hility to read and write, a privilege • which had been denied their forcThe opportunities offered by China towards civilisation, said Mr Taylor in concluding his address, could not lie unnoticed and the wealth which the country possessed would, he felt sure, be devoted to the development of that great country and to relieve economic distress in the world.