SVEN HEDIN’S PLANS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3379, 20 June 1927, Page 7

SVEN HEDIN’S PLANS.

China is fast coming into her own iirchaeologically, and soon will vie with Egypt for the attention of learned societies and* scientific explorers. Recognition is becoming general that this country contains a treasure trove of secrets of the world's past, secrets that are likely to revise our judgments on subjects ranging from the explanation of Chinese civilisation to the evolution and dispersal of man. Many expeditions are in the field, others are being organised and there seems to have been no diminution of preparation on account, of China’s political unrest and social disturbances, states the Pekin correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian.” *

One of the most ambitious expeditions, one that is likely to illuminate many branches of knowledge that so far have been dependent on deduction is that which Dr Sven Hedin has organised for the exploration of the Gobi Desert from Eastern Mongolia to the tringe of Chinese Turkestan. This territory is one of the few regions of the earth’s surface that has so far escaped complete scientific examination. Ten years ago it was sealed to science. Hence it came to have a fascination for explorers, which was extended to the lay mind when several authorities voiced their conviction that here was the original cradle of man. Its promise has been amply justified by its gifts to recent expeditions, notably those conducted every year under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History. Dr Hedin has had thirty years’ experience of Central Asian exploration. But he says that this is the gre.atest venture in his crowded life. With him are world-renowned specialists in geology, anthropology, palaeontology, meteorology, and astronomy, most of whom have been enlisted from Scandinavian countries and China. China’s quota are representatives of the Geological Survey, of various universities, and of institutions of foreign organisation.

The expedition plans to remain in the Gobi for two years. Headquarters will be fixed at Urumchi, better known by its Chinese name, Tihwafu, a city some 1500 miles due east from Pekin. The route chosen is north-east from Pekin over the Pekin-Suiyuan Railway to Paotowjhen, where a camel caravan of 150 animals will take the explorers into the desert. Most of the two years will be spent in actual field work, and abundant stores are therefore included to provide for pro longed camp life. Dr Hedin is uncommunicative about his plans, but one is able to gather that his principal object is meteorological. Six stations are to be erected on the broad expanse of the Gobi, and these will be equipped with balloons and telescopes. 11m balloons will be flown three times the height of Mount Everest, and by means of powerful telescopes their response to atmospheric conditions will be observed for two years. With the data collected from these observations, Dr Hedin hopes to fill in great gaps in the records of meteorology, for Central Asian conditions in this respect are little known. It is understood that the data will also have a great bearing on our knowledge of polar and equatorial phenomena. The telescopes will, of course, be used for astronomical observation also. The meteorological side of the enterprise is in the hands of expects of international repute. Dr Hedin himself will attend to the cartographical aspect of the expedition. American and British anthropologists at present employed in China will devote themselves to the problem of the racial origins of the conglomeration of tribes that inhabit the Gobi region by carrying out anthropometrical measurements. Geologists who have already done exhaustive work on the strata of other parts of central Asia will seek to complete their own particular investigations.

Several Chinese scientists will accompany the party. It is said that the utmost goodwill has been shown by the Geological Survey, and Dr Hedin’s data will be published in its publications. But all foreign-inspired undertakings in modern China have to run the gauntlet of China’s jealousy for her sovereign rights. Sven Hodin’s expedition is no exception. The Chinese scientific world lias been much exercised of late by the possibilities of infringement of these rights by Hedin, and a recent manifesto signed by a representative body includes the following:—“ The very name of the Sven Hedin Central Expedition is unbearable to us. An expedition means a party sent to a distant part of the world for purposes of conquest or exploration. It may be all right to send an expedition to Babylon or other countries which arc mere historical expressions now. > But for a foreigner to launch an expedition into on independent and sovereign country is something which cannot be passed over without protest. Would the Swedish Government tolerate the dispatch of a Chinese expedition to Sweden in the interest of Chinese science? We tiro certain that it would oppose it and consider it as an infringement of Swedish sovereignty. Anxious to preserve the sovereign rights of China and fearing that Chinese science and scholarship would suffer an irreparable loss if ail materials of scientific value were taken a wav from this country, we have formed a joint organisation to protest against the action of Mr Sven Hedin, which is not only ethically and scientifically indefensible, but also contrary to international law.” Dr Hedin has already received the blessing of the Pekin Government, having declared that the expedition is purely scientific and having promised not to remove archaeological specimens from China, and he has gone out of his way to conciliate the patriotic scientists. However. tliev refuse to be conciliated, havin''- declined both to meet him over the dinner table and to appoint a representative to accompany him on his travels.