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CHINA DOES MORE THAN FIGHT

Far-Sighted Policy Of Reconstruction

CHINESE horticulturist who A insists on a positive view of life is Dr. Lai-Yung Li, recently arrived here from America. He will not talk of mass slaughtering, the destruction of industries or the dispersal of schools; he prefers to talk of China’s unity, her industrial co-operatives, her mass education, and her "reconstruction amid war." He has studied soil erosion in America, but he prefers to talk about "soil consérvation." Dr. Li was, or rather is, Assistant Professor of Horticulture at Lingnan University, Canton, China, which operated an exchange system with 25 universities in the United States and two in Canada. He himself went to Pennsylvania in 1938 and was on his way back to China when circumstances brought him tao Wellington. Christians Lead New China Dr. Li is a Christian, and he told The Listener that many of the leaders of the New Life Movement in China are Christians, notably, Chiang Kai-Shek and his wife, Madame Sun Yat Sen, H. H. Kung, Minister of Finance (whose wife is a sister of Madame Chiang KaiShek), and Dr. Chang Po-Ling, a prominent member of the People’s Council. When asked why Christianity had made so much more progress in the new China than it apparently had in Japan, Dr. Li said he thought the background of Chinese philosophy made his countrymen more receptive to Christian teachings. There were obvious points of similarity between the teachings of Confucius and Mencius (both approximately 500 B.C.) and of Christ. "Confucius taught that ‘within the four seas, all men are brothers.’ Christ taught ‘Love thy neighbour,’" said Dr. Li. Other points of similarity might be found, and the disparity with Japanese Christianity may be attributed to this fact since there were probably .as many Christian missidnaries (in proportion to the population) in Japan as there were in China.

* Basically, Christianity and Chinese teachings are the same," Dr. Li said, "except that you could not call the Chinese teachings theology; they are the teachings of morals, humanistic téachings. Resurrection is not touched on, nor anything superhuman." His Personal Views Dr. Li stipulated that his views were purely personal, when he began to answer questions about names appearing in current news from China. "This is only what I think, and if I am wrong, then it is my fault and not the fault of the Chinese nation," he said laughing. "Sun Fo? Yes, he is all right. There is nothing exceptional about him, you know, but he is the son of Sun-Yat-Sen." "Takung Pao? Ah, yes, that is a very fine paper. It is from Tientsin. It is highly respected and trusted. It has had a hard time. It has had to move several times from one town to another. But it has national circulation. I should say that it is found in every town, large or small, in China, 6 or 8 pages daily." Possibly Takung Pao continues with its 6 or 8 pages daily, because, as Dr. Li said, the paper it is printed on is made in China, from bamboo pulp. As for the section it represents, Dr, Li said that this paper was published in a democratic country, " irrespective of who has the first say." Often it expresses the views of the Government, but just as often the people’s criticism of the Government. Conserving the Soil Going on to speak of the future of China, Dr. Li said, " China to-day is not just fighting, she is building up for the future. The Government takes a very far-sighted policy, it invests us in the reconstruction of the country. They could have put us all in arms, but some of us have been able fo go to America to study sciences." Dr. Li’s special studies as a horticulturist have been devoted to soil conservation, which is China’s worry as much as New Zealand’s. "But in China the problem is more obvious; you can see Nature’s work immediately with the naked eye," he said. " China is an older country, and agriculture has been known there for 40 centuries. At present, erosion there is ae result-as I hear it in this countryof the misuse of modern artificial methods of exploitation. Not merely cutting down of the vegetation; a man may cut down trees, but he may also burn, or plough the grassland in order ‘to put stock or crops on the land, in order to get twice as much off the square acre --- which Nature usually doesn’t give." Chungking is Safe Chungking, the new centre of China’s great effort is very well protected, Dr. Li says, There are many days of fog

and cloud in the year, and around the city there are many caves which give natural protection from air raids. Very rapid modernisation has been in progress-business has sprung up and colleges have been established; the cooperatives, led by the New Zealander Rewi Alley, are working hard all over the nation, and in Chungking some of them are working on armaments, "T have one friend who is a fuel technologist in Chungking. His work is connected with the production of alcohol from cane sugar. I have another friend who is a metallurgist. He is in Chung king, making armaments, I suppose. | have not heard from them for some time." Scientific Advances Dr. Li was asked whether China had followed the progress made by Russia in applied science. "Yes, the Russians are very great pedologists, and they have gone ahead in plant physiology as applied to agriculture," he replied. "China is very keen on pure and applied science too. Our National Scientific Research Council publishes its records in Academia Sinensia, and there are altogether 15 scientific publications) coming out regularly in China. This would indicate how much emphasis is placed on scientific research in the building of a new China. Among those 15 there is the Lingnan Science Journal (from my university) which I found here in your Department of Research library.’ "Of course China started later than the other countries, but she was fortunate

in a way, because she was able to profit by the findings of European scientists, instead of having to start at the beginning." A New Zealander known to Dr. Li at Lingnan was Robert Fortune, of Victoria University College, who was in Canton with his wife in 1937-38, as a faculty member in anthropology. "Of course the university is large and he was in the College of Arts and Sciences while I was in the College of Agriculture, so I did not know him well, but I knew of him. I have been trying to locate him but I do not know where he is at present." _

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.I whakaputaina aunoatia ēnei kuputuhi tuhinga, e kitea ai pea ētahi hapa i roto. Tirohia te whārangi katoa kia kitea te āhuatanga taketake o te tuhinga.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19420130.2.19.1

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 136, 30 January 1942, Page 9

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,113

CHINA DOES MORE THAN FIGHT New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 136, 30 January 1942, Page 9

CHINA DOES MORE THAN FIGHT New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 136, 30 January 1942, Page 9

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