Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1938. THE CHINESE PEOPLE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 40, 26 November 1938, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1938. THE CHINESE PEOPLE.

The effect which the long-drawn-out hostilities will have upon China is generally regarded solely from the territorial and political aspects, but there is another phase that will operate quite apart from any actual military results. This was dealt with in an interesting manner recently by Professor TseiChen Chao, Professor of Philosophy and Christianity at Yenching University, Peiping. China, with a long history, a vast population and deeplyingrained racial habits, changes slowly, he said, but external pressure and the necessity of fighting for existence has compelled her to speed up the process of modernisation. The country which has been considered a civilisation rather than a nation has now an awakened national consciousness. The temper, outlook and attitude toward life of the intelligentsia have undergone a radical change during the last thirty years. Their efforts to make China a free and united nation exerted a slow but steady influence upon the millions on the land but now that war has been forced upon China the process of change has become rapid and effective. The people who are rooted in the good earth inherited from their ancestors have to move on, and this is fraught with far-reaching and radical meaning for the nation. The tion is China’s national strength and it is the farming population that is now affected. Industrial and commercial centres are moving from the sea coast to the interior, while at the same time modernisation of the country side is steadily taking place. When war has ceased, this process of modernisation will go on at a much greater speed and will create vast social and economic problems for China. With this awakening will come also problems for the Occidental Powers whose nationals have embarked enormous sums in developing industries and trade. The policy of the open door which has been of such momentous influence both in China’s internal affairs and also in her foreign relations will then have to go into the melting pot and a new regime of relations inaugurated.