...The Awakenine of China...

Radio Record, Volume VI, Issue 42, 28 April 1933, Page 9

...The Awakenine of China...

A 3YA Talk

by Mr.

G.

Lawn

M.

A.

T is a truism, but nevertheless worth repeating, that one of the -most urgent needs of the present day is the cultivation ‘of international goodwill. This necessitates the removal of fear, mistrust and misunderstanding based on prejudices that arise from ignorance.

Modern means of rapid -communication, transport and trade are bringing us more closely into contact with our foreign neighbours, and, as we learn to know them better we find that differences of colour, race and creed are merely superficial differences that do not matter very much. On the basis of our common humanity the things that unite us are greater than the things that divide us. In our hopes and fears, our sympathies and aspirations, our desire to live happily and usefully and make the best of the bountiful gifts of Nature, we are all very much alike, whether we be black, white, yellow or brown, whether we call ourselves Chinese, Japanese, New Zealanders or Russians. This basic unity of human interests was well illustrated by an incident I witnessed three years ago in Japan. I had just come from a conference where Chinese and Japanese representatives had been discussing the clash of national interests in Manchuria, Angry feelings had been aroused and bitter accusations had been made of broken treaties, acts of violence, boycotts and other manifestations of hostility. Liktening to these one had a sense of irreconcilable attitudes and the

inevitability of war. But on the steamship Nagasaki Maru leaving Kobe for Shanghai was a group of Chinese students from Fuhtan University. who had been visiting Kobe College to engage in friendly tournament. These Chinese students’ were being farewelled by the Japanese students with those manifestations of boisterous affections that are characteristic of University students the world over. They had exchanged banners and streamers, they shouted to each other messages of affectionate goodwill. One gained a vision of community of interests of youth calling to youth across the artificial boundaries of political states, forecasting the day when the selfish ambitions and secret intrigues of economic and military groups would no longer be able to

stampede the masses of people into the horrors off fratricidal war. When I read of battles between Japanese and Chinese armies my mind reverts to this incident at Kobe, and I am strengthened in the belief that a better era will dawn when the Japanese and Chinese people es, bs ee en wes

will unite in friendly cO-OperaulOon ANG ad MCW sy COD GeO Se the rich blending of the best cultural elements of two great races. In discussing China with different people in New Zealand oné finds that three false ideas are prevalent. One is that the Chinese are an inferior people, the second that China for many centuries was asleep and its social structure unchanged, and the third that the Chinese are incapable of solving their present political and economic problems, and of achieving national unity without the enforcement of order by alien nations. , To those who know the Chinese best the suggestion that they are an inferior people is a joke-a bad joke, in the worst of taste, but a joke nevertheless. Bertrand Russell, after residence in China, said:"Tf intercourse between Western nations and China is to be fruitful we must cease to regard ourselves as missionaries of a superior, civilisation, or worse still, as men who have a right to exploit, oppress and swindle the Chinese because they are an inferior race. I do not see any reason to believe that the Chinese are inferior to ourselves, and [ a, a, ew ie

THINK MOSt JLULOPCdlig WAG PAVE Any Anke mate knowledge of China would take the same view..... , "When I went to China I went to teach, but every day that I stayed there I thought less of what I had to teach them and.more of what I had to learn from them. Among Europeans who had lived a long time in China I found this attitude not uncommon 3 but among those whose stay is short, or wha go only to make money, it is sadly rare. "It is rare because the Chinese do not excel in the things we really value-mili-tary prowess and industrial enterprise. But those who value wisdom or beauty, or even the simple enjoyment of life, will find more of these things in China than in the turbulent West, and will be happy to live where (Continued inside back cover.)

" .°, In discussing China with different people in New Zealand, one finds that three false ideas are prevalent. One is that the Chinese are an inferior people, the second that China for many centuries was asleep and its social structure unchanged, and the third that the Chinese are incapable of solving their present political and economic problems and of. achieving national unity, without the enforcement of order by alien nations .. ."

The Awakening of China

(Continued from page 9.)

such things are valued, I wish I could hope that China, in return for our scientitie knowledge, may give us something of her large tolerance and conlemplatiye peace of mind... . "Contact between Wast and West is likely to be fruitful to both parties. They may learn from us the indispensable minimum of practical efficiency, and we may learn from them something of that wisdom which has enabled them to persist while all other nations of antiquity have perished." I have heard from many foreigners, who haye through long residence in China learned to know ahd to admire the Chinese, many expressions of appreciation of their good qualitiestheir tolerance, personal honesty, couriesy, industry, patience, good humour, intellectual keeuness, self-respect, freedom of thought, and their dignity and pride of race: It is a commonplace that the word of a Chinese is as. good as his bond. The origin of the Chinese peoples fs Shrouded in the mists of antiquity. Cninese civilisation represents the aecumulation of forty centuries of culinral endeavour. Some of the elements of this civilisation are of purely Chinese origin: some are the results of contacts with other peoples. At various times in its history Chinese civilisation has been influenced by such forces us Buddhism, Graeco-Indian art, Arabian science, and, in later days, by Christianity and the practical efticiency and mechanical genius of European nations. At with all other races, Chinese progress has been gradual, and subject to interruptions, but it has nevertheless heen progress and not unchanging stagnation, as so many people mistakenly believe. Rapid and startling changes have taken place during g the last thirty years. Until recently the order of social status in China was scholar, farmer, trader, soldier, coolie, ie¢.. the scholur eccupied first place in the scale of social values, the farmer next, whiie the occupation of soldier was held in low esteem. Little progress had been made in the mechanisation of agricultural and manufacturing, and the large-scale organisation of business. Means of transport were, and still are, crude and inefficient. Away from the navigabte rivers and the few railways that have been recently built, roads are. still mere (dirt tracks, and the wheelbarrow, pushed or pulled by human beings, the chief means of earriage of goods and forsons. . Lack of transport has made it impossible to cope with provincial famines, and while some parts of China are over-populated other fertile agricultural and pastoral areas are underpopulated, because of the absence of adequate transport facilities. Rich mineral resources have lain unused or ouly partly used, Begining with the Opium War of 1839-42, foreign pressure was broug?t on the Chinese Government to open wun treaty ports and to grant concessions to foreign traders, These concessions finally gave extra-territorial yights to foreigners, so that although living on Chinese soil they virtually became self-governing units, largely independént of Chinese control. ‘During the fifteen years followiug 1895 great activity was displayed ty foreign business firms-English, French, German, Japanese, and, later on, American-in gaining profitable concessious to establish. railways,

banks, mines, and other enterprises in ranious parts of China, The treaties upon Which many of these concessions were biased are regarded by Chinese as unfair treaties forced upon them when they were militarily weak hy aggressive nations whose business firms were backed by the power of their home governments. There is little doubt that one of the fundamental causes of the Chinese Revolution of

1911 was the rousing of Chinese national spirit by European and J apanese imperialism. The revolution which overthew the Manchu dynasty in 1911 was much more than a political revolution substituting a republic for a monarchy. It was a symbol of far-reaching changes in the whole social structure -political, economic and religious. In a sense it is but part of that revolution which is taking place in all eountries where youth is questioning the ancient traditions of their race, where old sanctions are no longer respecte, and where social, political and religious institutions are being challenged io prove their usefulness or give place ro newer and better forms of social organisation. The Kuomintang or Nationalist party of China has set itself the task of unifying the Chinese people around the personality and principles of the great Chinese leader, Dr. Sun Yat Seu. The Wuomintang programme of niational reconstruction is based on the revolutionary principles known as the San Min Chu I and the Five-Power constitution. The first element of reconstruction is livelihood, the Government ¢o-oper-ating with the people to provide food, clothing, shelter and roads by improving agriculture, developing the cotton industry, building houses and construcéing new roads and canals." The secoud element is democracy, involving tbe training of the misses to be competent in politics and the exercise of the rights of election, recall, initiative and se-

ferendum. " The third element is aationalisation, the Govérnmeut reudering assistance and protection to racial resisting oppression and inyasion from foreign countries, and revising treaties in order to secure national independence and international equality. The awakening of China has been accompanied by a breaking, away from traditional practices, adoption of new forms of dress, simplification of the language, reorganisation of the schools, a mass education movemeut designe: to eliminate illiteracy, and a demand for the abolition of foreign concessions. A striking part of this revolution is the change in «he mentality and status of Chinese women. Evidences of this are observable in the natural feet and bobbed hair of girls, the free mixing of the sexes, the freedom and ease with which women appenr in public, new ideas of miurriage inyolying equality of the sexes and abolition of blind obedience to parents, the wider outlook of women, their entry into political, educational and business circles, their determination to share in the social regeneration of China. ‘Another revolutionary characteristi¢ is the rise in the social status of the soldier, who has now to some extent ousted the scholar from first place on the seale of social values. This is probably one of the most unfortunste phases of the revolution. If, in their reaction to Western imperialism the Chinese people depart’ from their traditional love of peace so that they come to glorify the soldier and to make themselyes proficient in the arts of modern warfare with ifs horrors of mechianised, chemical aud aerial equipment for wholesale slaughter, the world may enter upon a new era of imperialisriz aggression in which European civilisation will be the victim. Much will depend on the extent to which wise wnethods of conciliation and goodwill replace arrogance and aggression in the Asiatic policies of Kuropean nations. The task of Chinese national reconstruction is a vast one; but the Chinese themselves face this task with courage and confidence. This is expressed in the following words of M. Tt. Z. Tyau taken from the preface to his recent book, "Two Years of Nationalist China’: "The travails and tribulations of four hundred iillion people may continue for a few more years-and he will be a bold man to make light of the forces of opposition, of evil and darkness--but the end "ul never be in doubt. As the sun will rise in the east, so surely will the advent of a united and happy Chira come to puss.... "It is al a question of time, and the Chinese may be expected to work out their destinies in their owl, Way. Schooled in the experience: of fifty centuries, they will ‘assuredly solve their own problems with their innate genius and perhaps modern methods. Wellwishers of China will render a genuine service’ by fortifying themselves with a full measure of kindly sympathy and goodwill... "Factors that made for unity and solidarity, for progress and recoustruction, for enlightenment and prosperity aus well as the greatest good of tine

greatest number, must triumph evene inally. Nothing can stay the operation of this inexorable law."