NURSE IN CHINA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 96, 18 January 1938, Page 4

NURSE IN CHINA

Foreigners Running The Hospitals

■Writing to friends in Sydney, a nurse who is in charge of a Canadian mission hospital in Honan comments on the dearness of commodities. “Parcels,” she states, “are not coming through from the south, and absolutely nothing can get from Peiping and Tientsin unless by going round by boat to Tsiugtao and then inland. A letter from friends in Manchuria took seven weeks to reach me. Australian letters are put off in Hong-Kong and come via the Canton-Hankow railway, which is a very direct route to Honan, and would be quicker if the line were not being continually bombed and requiring repairs.

“The uncertainty of things keeps a constant sense of excitement in the air, and there is a closer feeling of friendship between the Chinese and us, I think. So frequently, when' on the street, one is called the ‘foreign devil,’ but lately they say The foreign lady’ and more polite things. The first time I returned after my holidays, ever so many people said, ‘She’s back,’ etc. We were told that when the foreigners leave a place it causes panic in the hearts of the people. They fear danger more if we are also afraid to remain at our work; so that our return unconsciously helps to buck up their morale. The British and Americans in Shanghai have been particularly friendly during these troubles, and. in fact, everywhere in the Orient the Eng-lish-speaking people ‘hang together’ more than they do elsewhere.

“The Chinese Government is certainly depending on our foreign hospitals these days. I don’t think there are half-a-dozen Chinese-run hospitals in all China. ‘Foreigners’ have started and partially financed almost all the medical work in China.”