CHINESE LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 3

CHINESE LEADER.

DR.. T. Z. KOO IN AUCKLAND. VISITS TO UNIVERSITY CENTRES. INTERESTED IN STUDENTS. Dr. T. Z. Koo, vice-chairman of the World Student Christian Federation, and associate general secretary of the Y.M.C.A. in China, Avas a passenger to Auckland by the Niagara this morning. He was met on board by the Rev. WMawson, secretary of the Presbyterian Foreign Mission, and on the wharf by representatives of the Student Christian Movement in New Zealand, the Y.M.C.A., and representatives of the Chinese race.

Dr. Koo comes to New Zealand at the invitation of the Student Christian organisation. He will visit the four university centres, and devote the whole of his time to lectures and other work connected with the movement. He stated this morning that the organisation had started nearly half a century ago, and the membership was now 300,000.

Referring to education generally, Dr. Koo said large numbers of Chinese students were attending universities throughout the world. There were .)000 in Japan, 1-)00 in the United States, 130 in Great Britain, 2000 in France, 300 in Germany, and 500 in Russia. The latter, he said, were being trained in Bolshevik propaganda at a special school ill Moscow. "The Chinese Government has its eye on these Moscow students," he said, "and they are debarred from coming back to China. Some of them, however, seem to be able by devious methods to return to their native land, where they are a menace to the peace of the country." Dr. Koo gave as a reason for so many Chinese students attending universities in France that the living there was cheap and there were no racial prejudices. There was also a society in exis-l tence in France especially designed for the promotion of study among Chinese students. Oxford, Cambridge. Edinburgh, and Glasgow were the universities popular among Chinese students in England, while there were many Chinese attending the London School of Economics.

Dr. Koo mentioned that there were two student movements in China- One group were National students and the other Christian students. The educated man, he said, composed the ruling classes in China, and every political party endeavoured to capture the student' groups first. The National Student Union was non-religious and was not so well organised and coherent a-s the Christian unit. Speaking of education facilities, Dr. Koo said there was nothing to prevent the poorest children from attending college. The charges were very nominal, and the students to a. large extent were drawn from the poorer classes. The sons of the wealthy, he said with a smile, did no.} trouble themselves so much with education. . . The Chinese community are meet-in? Dr Koo this afternoon and later in_the dav the district council of the S.C.M. will give him a welcome. In the evening he will be met by the local branch of the Institute of Pacific Relations at the University. Throughout the week until Friday, Dr. Koo will have a full programme, including meetings with students of the universities and high schools. There will be. a League of Nations luncheon on Friday and he will leave for Wellington the same evening.