THE NEW CHINA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9374, 1 November 1921, Page 5

THE NEW CHINA

AMAZING SOCIAL CHANGES. DRESS, MARRIAGE, AND WORSHIP. The Chinese Wve just taken a new census, which shows a population of 460,000,000—10,000,000 more than the population of all Europe. The figures are sufficiently striking in themselves, but taken in conjunction with the amazing sooial changes that have taken, place during the lastj ten years in China, since the revolution,' their significance is startling enough in all conscience to anybody who gives the future of the great yellow race a few minutes' earnest thought. Mr Lenox Simpson, a distinguished representative of the Chinese Government, while on a visit to England, had some extremely interesting things to say in the course of a talk with a representative of John o' London's Weekly. He pointed put what wonderful strides China ha® made since, only a few years . ago, 6he threw .a civilisation, unchanging for thousands of years, into the melting-pot. Much more than Japan, China' &■ tens of lions are assimilating, Western ideas and adopting Western ways. Electric light works, gasworks, railways, are rapidly growing up everywhere. Today the streets of Peking are as difficult to cross as those of Paris, because of the motor car traffic. American Influence. In the creation of the new » social order the Americans are playing a very important part. China has schools for girls, run by Americans. These girls have little in common with their mothers; Western ideas about dress arid marriage have taken the place of the old ones. With regard to dress, they are creating fashions inspired by Parisian models. They no longer indulge in the stupid and cruel practice of binding the feet. This custom today is looked upon as immodest. The girls fall in love and marry young men of the same free and independent outlook. Most young men in China to-, day have at least one or two European suits in their wardrobes, and foreign clothes "are being, made- -by tailors throughout the country. Ten&fof thousands of these young men have' been students in America. At all Govern- : ment functions evening clothes are the official dress, asi in France. What are these young people reading, so far as , English literature is concerned? They are deeply interested in philosophy and sociology; and nomen are more widely read than Bertrand Russell,, Norman Angell, and H. G. Wells. Of English fiction writers, Conan Doyle has easily first place with "Sherlock Holmes." There is a great appetite for detective stories. Ancestor Worship. China ■is the only nation in which religion is divorced from ethics. Ancestor worship is the custom, and this is based, in a great measure, upon principles of heredity. The Chinese worships his ancestors in just the same way as a modern racehorse might worship Stockwell. In fact the Chinese worships his studbook, and he iB careful to show it in order to prove that tie is a healthy, reputable man because he comes of a good stock. The great ambition of the Chinese is to Save five or six generations residing in the same house. The fortunate families which achieve this distinction are honoured by the local authorities, who put beautiful tablets over their doors, stating "A happy family lives here," or words to that effect. Confucius did not preach the future life. When asked his views, he said, "What is the good of talking about the unknown and unknowable, when we understand so little about the things we can see?"

The ethical system m China is derived from tradition. Once & year the Chinese have a great religious festival m the Temple of Confucius — a wonderful building m Pekin, one of the most wonderful m the world. But as far as the ~ounger generation m China is concerned, -who are being educated m Western ideas, this ancestor worship is now looked upon with amused toleration, just as Londoners regard the Lord Mayor's Show. They have lost their old religion, and so far nothing j has taken its place.

Like Japan, China has an enormous number of newspapers — many more than England. Actually, there are 2000 publications, of which 800 are daily papers. '/