CHINA'S PART.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 39, 15 February 1935, Page 3

CHINA'S PART.

THE WORLD'S MARKET. REMARKABLE CHANGES. A DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY. In China, with her population of 450,000,000, lies the future market of the world, in the opinion of Mr. H. L. Fletcher, formerly of Hong Kong and Shanghai. Mr. Fletcher ie now visiting Cliristchurch and has some interesting comment to make on Eastern affairs. Thirty years ago Mr. Fletcher first went to China and he has beeji able to watch the development of the country with an unprejudiced eye. There had been, he said, amazing development.

"China is a country of tremendous possibilities," eaid Mr. Fletcher. "Aβ yet the surface has barely been scratched. The Chinese are a clever peo'plc, ingenious craftsmen and good business men." The greatest obstacle in the way of progress was that the Chinese lived in the past. If they looked to the future and realised the power in their hands there would be rapid development in every way. As it was the various provinces were not working in unity. There were so many dialects that a man from one province could very well be a stranger in the next province. Neither were they in sympathy with one another. Not Military Danger. "It is a very remote possibility, in fact, hardly a" possibility, that China will ever be a military danger. There is no national spirit that could be called on, even in an emergency. The national movement has been attempting to encourage that spirit, but this generation will not see the many and various factions welded into one common aim. They are not a warlike people.

"The ostensible form of Republican Government of the country is unsatisfactory, mainly for the reason that 95 per cent of the people are illiterate. That is on the authority of a Chinese leader himself. The 'Republican , Government wielde its authority only because of the armed power behind it, and when a stronger power arises that power will be the 'Republican' Government. "There is a big task facing the Government with the 'Reds,' but China will never become a Bolshevik country. Tradition is all against it. The Chinese are perhaps the most conservative people in the world and not the least factor is that family tics are so strong. The family life of the Chinese fe beautiful."

In a Chinese family, if a married son had a widowed mother, <she not only lived in his home by right, but she also controlled his household. The Chinese considered this not a duty but a pleasure. These aspects of family life were something that the Western mind could not understand. Essential Differences. The outlook of Europeans and that of Chinese was completely different, exemplified best perhaps in small ways. Black was the colour chosen by Europeans for mourning. The Chinese chose white. A Chinese servant swept a room towards the centre, not towards the door. When Chinese greeted one another they ehook hands as if with themselves and did not clasp the other's hand. "You have to live in China to appreciate the liner points. When you do, you find that there is a great deal to be said for them. The customs have been built up over the ages." On one occasion Mr. Fletcher returned to Shanghai after an absence of four years. "On my return," ho said, "the development evident was amazing. A email instance will perhaps explain. When I left the people had been wearing their felt shoes even in the wet weather. On my return nearly all of them were wearing goloshes when it rained. Realise what that means in such a huge population. The change spreads from the main centres in time to the remotest parts and means a tremendous demand on industry to supply the need. "I must say that I would prefer the China I knew thirty years ago to the China of to-day," he said. "It wa9 then one of the most delightful countries of the world in which to live. It still is. There is a wonderful atmosphere about the country. The social life is wonderful and the Chinese are the world's perfect servants without any trade unions to

worry you. "I don't say, however, that China lias not benefited from her more intimate contact with the Western world. Revisiting the country, however, one is struck by the fact that the old China has been superseded."