SITUATION IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 10, 6 October 1927, Page 15

SITUATION IN CHINA

NATIONALIST ATTITUDE TO FOREIGNERS

MISSIONARIES DESCRIBE EXPERIENCES

That much of the news from China regarding the treatment of , Christian missionaries there by the Nationalists cannot bo relied upon is the considered opinion of four London .Missionary Society missionaries situated at Ting Chow, South China, who have had nine months experience of the Nationalist Government.

"During the last half year,” they state, "the full glare of publicity has been turned on the hardships' endured missionaries, and depredations to mission properties. The vast bulk of the information given comes from the Yangtze basin. There seems to bo little ability or inclination to distinguish between major and minor facts; and there have been a number of instances where obvious trivial incidents have been reported in such a fashion as to make up a scarifying talc. Neither has there been sufficient clarity in the differentiation between incidents occurring during the advance of troops and the conditions prevalent after the civil authorities have settled down to administration. Newspapers convey the impression to the general reader that a deliberate nol'cy of suppression of Christianity in China has been darkly conceived and is now being ruthlessly carried out by the Nationalist party. Missionaries and Nationalists.

‘‘Wo challenge the truth of any such general conclusion. Al! the facts have simply not been published. 'The Yangtze basin is not the only part.of China under tho Nationalist Government. One wing of the Revolutionary army advancing from the south, took possession of the South Fukien district. Throughout tho mouth, more or less, during which tho troops were in the city, neither mission nor church were occupied or molested. During tho hist nine months members of this .mission have travelled for days, passing through important towns, using trains, launches, public motors, and in no instance have wo met with insult or - inconvenience. Ono party was warned not to travel owing to the danger of bandits, and when they were none the less resolved to go, the officials in the city not only gave advice and afforded a military escort, but also took special pains with underground communications to ensure a safe journey. The Country Party has no vendetta against British citizens us such, but is implacably opposed to Imperialism. Educational Matters.

‘‘When the Mission Girls' School celemated its 20th birthday, complimentary scrolls were iu evidence from Nationalist officials, as well as from tho chief educational people in the city. At the interview in January the Country Harty representatives asked us to give guarantees that wo recognised China’s educational authority. Since we hold that China has an indefeasible right to control the education carried on in her own borders, wo stated tho fact, and informed them that wo had already applied for tho registration of our largest school, and were making preparations for tho registration of the others. We also expressed our willingness to abide by the Government regulations unless we found that the carrying out of them involved direct contradiction of Christian principles. To this they replied that no otio would expect us to “smack our own faces,” but that Christian dogmatic'

touching must bo removed from tho required subjects for students, and worship made voluntary. To this our reply was that optional teaching and wotship were right educationally in secondary, schools, but educationally wrong in primary schools; since however the Government regulations were definite on this matter wo should abide by them Tho executive then proceeded fo go beyond tho scope of the Government regulations. They pressed that two representatives of 1 he party should be appointed on the staffs of our boarding schools. Eventually a compromise was effected, viz., one representative fur each school. Afterwards, when one of the schools catne to the conclusion that tho du.ly appointed representative was not a persona grata and returned the same to the party with thanks no action was taken, and the school has been subject to n< attack in consequence. While the schools have been subject to attack by individuals, mainly in the way of single pupils being pressed to join other schools, there has been nothing to show that there has been any deliberately organised attack. Voluntary rclivions services have been hold regularly. ’There is every evidence that confidence can be established on a basis of disinterested service coupled with a frank sincerity. Nationalists have been in control of this area for over nine months, dujpim this time services have been held as usual in every church, and there has not been one instance of interference with public worship or persecution of Christians. The Churches. “With regard to the occupation of churches by droops, we have only had one instance since tho Nationalists took over. Our experience on this score, extending baqk over the Northern regime, leads us to discount tho gravity of such acts. It is not only churches, any pul> lie building such as temples and schools are regarded as fair game. It has in the past only too often been taken for grunted that Christians should bo free from many of tho political impositions to which their neighbours aro subject, but as one old Chinese minister in these parts, put it, Christians have no right to assume any such thing and in tact, should rather in the name of Christ welcome the opportunity afforded of relieving their neighbours of tho scourge of billets. Our experience is that, where the minister on the premises is frightened, and regards the soldiers as a set of wild beasts, they tend to act as such, but that, where he is self possessed .and assumes, the attitude of a host, they tend to respond and to behave accordingly. Tn such cases when if comes- to Sunday tho majority of the billet attend public woiship. Treatment of Missionaries. “Thus far wo have spoken of facts of which we have first hand personal knowledge. We have also been iu constant communication with people in a position to hear all the news from other parts of South Fukien. In this area of over 30 countries, in which there aro 300 organised congregations, and over 80 missionaries having dwellings in 11 cities outside tho international settlement of Kulnngsu, we have not heard of one single instance of molestation of missionaries in person. “Tho facts we have adduced are not to bo taken as demonstrating that the I officials of South Fukien have acted with any special affection for the foreigners in their administrative area, or that the Nationalist I’arty as a whole is anxious to make foreigners comfortable in the special sense in which their comfort has been looked after in past years. Tho truth is that tho revolution of 1911 was little more than a glorified coup d’etat, and the present revolution, a people’s revolution, is au immensely sterner contest, vitally affecting tho interests of four hundred million people It is not a reasonable expectation that tho comfort: and interest of tho few tens of thousands of foreigners in the country should bo regarded as of major importance. For instance, nothing has irritated tho Nationalists more than the assumption in some quarters that Brit-

ish trade is a kind of sacred ark, and whatever tho country may be going through, that must go on its way untouched. “Our contention is that provided we missionaries are ablo to sec ourselves in due perspective in relation to the vast turbulent movements of our day, and lake the trouble to mind our own Christian business, doing nothing am. saying nothing but what will help to build up real trust, we shall find that the Chinese people, ardent Nationalists as well as others, aro prepared to accord us as many of the normal privileges of international courtesy as circumstances permit, and at the same time will not be slow to appreciate any disinterested services we render; but tho position of special privilege, either on the legal treaty obligation or the basis of superior culture or superior race, is gone for ever. Anti-Christian Movement. “Our second contention is that, while there is undoubtedly a strong antichurch movement running its course in student circles, yet any view of this as piedominantly—not to say exclusively a political phenomena is entirely wide of the facts. Our opinion is based on the study, of the more influential Rationalist expositions of religion which have appeared in print since the Renaissance, and on conversations with students and tho study of their local publications, and the conclusion to which we have come is that the movement is in direct relation to the intellectual movement of the West during the last 50 years, movements which embody a convicti-’c that the exact sciences aro a trustwortyh guide to life and truth, and religion is not. While therefore large numbers of students mfiy be found with a contemptuous attitude towards missionaries, “with their exploded delusions,” and this contempt can take on a political complexion, yet in essence the anti-Christian movement is a controversy centring round intellectual and moral issue, as distinct from political.”