GREATNESS OF CHINA

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20503, 20 May 1938, Page 9

GREATNESS OF CHINA

STANDING THE TEST BTRONG AND VIRILE RACE EFFECT OF THE WESTERN WORLD [The following is the second or a series of articles written for the Waikato Times by Captain E. Roberts, of Hamilton, who has recently returned arter spending six years in China— Copyright.] The greatest resource of a country is its people. How does China stand this test? One is, of course, aware of the great numbers of the Chinese. But mere numbers count for little. Are they naturally a strong and virile race, or are they weak, and likely to go under in competition with the West ? The Chinese are not only numerous, but are increasing in number. In tlie time of Christ they numbered eight millions, which was just a little less than the population of tiie Roman Empire, then practically at its height. Tn 1736 (at the time of George 11. in England; the population of China was one hundred and twenty-five millions. To-day it is estimated to be four hundred millions. The number of children horn each year in China equals the total population of Spain and Portugal. But rebellion, epidemics, flood, famine and woeful ignorance of hygiene and of medicine account for the death of vast numbers. It is estimated that out of every ten infants born eight fail to grow up. With the rapid spread of hygienic and medical knowledge, however, and proper action by the Government for the prevention of the terrible floods that cause almost yearly famines, the death-rate will drop to a quarter of what it now is, and the population will increase by leaps and bounds. The physical strength of the Chinese is very great. Most of the transport of merchandise throughout the country is done on the backs of the coolies. One has known a man carry on his back for a distance of a mile and a-half a large organ in a heavy case, the whole weighing well over four hundred pounds. The endurance of these men is extraordinary. The postal couriers trot twenty and thirty miles at a stretch. Carriers of sedan chairs will go for ten days or more with a passenger, travelling thirty or forty miles a day. Immunity From Disease Every Western doctor and surgeon in China marvels at the immunity of the Chinese from disease and especially from blood-poisoning. Recently there was brought into a mission hospital a Chinese soldier who had accidentally shot himself In the abdomen- The bullet passed through the stomach, the liver, and the tip of the lungs, carrying with it a fragment of dirty cotton from the man’s clothes. Had be been a European, death would have been inevitable, either from injury to the organs, or from bloodpoisoning. The surgeon held out no hone of the man’s recovery, but to please his friends extracted the bullet. At the end of three weeks the soldier walked out of the hospital well and strong. For many centuries the people of South and Central China, crowded together in their village or walled cities, have used water from contaminated canals or from the drawings of the rice-fields; eaten of the scavenging pig or of vegetables stimulated by the contents of the cesspool; huddled under low roofs on dirt floors in filthy lanes; and slept in foetid dens and stifling cubicles. Myriads succumbed to the poisons generated by overcrowding, and hardly a quarter of those born lived to transmit their immunity to their children. The surviving" fittest has been the type able to withstand foul air, stench, fatigue, toxin, dampness, bad food, and noxious germs. Mental Adaptability No other nation has shown such ability to adapt itself to new environments. The poor and ill-nourished coolie from the damp heat of Canton has gone to the ends of the earth, to the tropics of Malaya and India, to temperate lands like Australia and the United States, and even to the rigour of an Arctic winter in northern Canada. Everywhere he has made his way against climate, the conditions of a differing civilisation, and the dislike of other races. In every land he has made friends by his patience, his industry, and his honesty. His enemies are those who fear him because he can do such good work In other lands, no less than In their own, the Chinese have proved themselves consummate business men. They are the traders of the East. The on such small pay. business of the great commercial centres, such as Shanghai, Singapore, Penang, and Manila, where congregate the merchants of all nations, is rapidly coming into the hands of Chinese. Over forty years ago. when ex-Presid-ent Grant returned from a journey round the world, he was asked what was the most remarkabla thing he had seen. His reply was " The fact that wherever the Chinese has come into competition with the Jew, the Chinese has driven out the Jew.”

Mentally the Chinese are the equals of any race. Throughout their history, scholarship and education have been held in the highest honour by the whole people. Education was the sole road to official distinction, and it was open to rich and poor alikePoor boys of ability were assisted by wealthy"men; the honour that the student’s success reflected on his home and town was considered ample return for this help. The result has been to lead the nation to almost worship learning and literature. Great Literature Chinese literature ranks among the greatest in the world. Unfortunately, but little of it has been translated. There are novels and poems, fairy tales and histories, philosophical and political works, by the thousand. The works of the philosophers Confucius, Mencius and. Lao Tszu well deserve the renown that they have gained. The supreme proof of their value is that they have been the moral guides of the race, and have kept China, the most inoral of non-Christian nations. The trend of their ethical teaching may be gathered from the following:— When asked. "Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?” Confucius answered : "Is not reciprocity such a word?

What you do not want done to yourself. do not do to others." Their inventions in the early ages showed the genius of the Chinese. They invented the mariner's compass, gunpowder, and printing from movable type centuries before these were known in Europe. Their astronomical observations were accurately re-

corded two thousand years before Christ. The Great Wall of China.

completed B.C. 204 slill stands throughout a great part of its fifteen hundred miles.

A modern writer graphically sums up the matter thus:— "The Chinese unite to an intelligence equal to that of the Japanese the plodding persistence of the Germans; and the old fable of the hare and the tortoise is as true of nations os it is of individuals. Unquestionably the Chinese are the most virile race in Asia. A quaint sign in Shanghai unconsciously tells a world fact: "Furnaces and umbrellas mended; any mortal thing can do." Moral Qualities It is the moral qualities of the Chinese, however, that most entitle the race to a high place. They are essentially "a family people." The family, not the individual, is the unit of society. Hence 11m virtues that preserve family life are emphasised. Reverence for parents is the first and great commandment. The child not only loves his lather and mother, but until their death is bound by all that he knows of right to obey their merest wish. The worship of the spirits of his ancestors is simply the continuance to those who are dead of this filial reverence. A man’s duty in life is summed up in the Five Social Relations. They are those of sovereign and subject, father and son, elder and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend. In these relations he must exercise the "five constant virtues," benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity. The Chinese have a profound respect for virtue: their morals are superior to those of other Eastern races. They are, perhaps, the most law-abiding people in the world. They are, moreover, industrious, contented, frugal, kindly, gifted with a keen sense of humour, polite, home-loving, loyal to their friends, quick to resent patronage of coldness, but responding instantly to friendliness and sympathy. Democratic Instinct

Finally, the spirit of the people is essentially democratic. While they have been ruled by an Emperor, with provincial and local officials appointed by him. in most of the real affairs of life they were left to themselves. The village elders managed the affairs of the locality. Each trade has its own guild that looks after its concerns; even the beggars are organised into a guild. There have been no direct taxes. The officials knew how to extract money from the people without incurring their ill-will. Should an official overstep the bounds of what was considered fitting, the people rose against him, attacked his yamen, sometimes even killed him. In China riots have been the recognised method of protesting against wrong. Should the Emperor notoriously misgovern, "the right to rebel" has always been held to be a divine right. Family and clan loyalty; loyalty to the guild or to the province; loyalty to a personal Emperor—these have existed for centuries in China. It is loyalty to the Idea of the nation that Is new. The aggressions of foreign powers, the revolt against the Manchus, and the introduction of Western ideas of the State, are creating a patriotism that is one of the most potent forces In the country, and is for many young men their religion. One dare even prophesy that at the close of the century she will be found one of the greatest nations, if not the greatest nation, in existence. We must not close this article without briefly considering some of the weaknesses that exist in the nation, and some of the evils that threaten her future. National Weaknesses It Is cause for thankfulness that many of the more apparent evils that have flourished in the past are being put away. Opium-smoking, the great curse to Chinese civilisation, is becoming a thing of the past. But the West is pouring in spirits and wine to take its place. The smoking of cheap cigarettes has become a craze, and threatens to do great harm. Fifty millions are sold daily, and are consumed chiefly by women. Girl slaves used to be found in all wealthy families; the abolition of this slavery has been ordered by the Government. But concubinage and easy divorce on the man’s part still exist. Formerly the woman was carefully guarded in the home; to-day there is a tendency, on the part of schoolgirls especially, to demand the widest liberty. The result Is often disastrous. Loyalty to the family has, heretofore, been the chief restraint upon impurity. Modern ideas, however, exalt the individual and his desires above the family, and the result is often moral shipwreck. Strain of Civilisation It still remains to be seen whether China can stand the strain of the civilisation of the West, with its new temptations. "The average youth of a generation ago simply had the temptations of the world." The morality of Confucianism, which sufficed in past centuries, will be put to a far more severe test than Confucias ever foresaw, as it is called upon to face the new needs, created by the tremendous changes in thought and action whioh China is undergoing. There is great danger that with the coming of the new era of industrialism and expansion China may lose the simplicity and uprightness of the past, and may become a mighty force, not for good but for evil. With the development of her vast resources wealth will pour to her shores. But in gaining the world she may lose her own soul, and it is with the peril to China herself, that we are first of all concerned, though China as a world power, dominated by purely selfish and materialistic ideals, would be the greatest menace to the progress of humanity that the world has known. This danger is real. Can China avoid it, and be spared from disaster to make her contribution towards the fuller life and well-being of tlie whole race?