CONDITIONS IN CHINA

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 188, 14 July 1925, Page 6

CONDITIONS IN CHINA

POVERTY OF THE PEOPLE. DESTITUTION RAMPANT. Industrial conditions in China, the religions of the people, and many other matters appertaining to that country were- interestingly touched upon by Adjutant Graham, a Salvation Array officer there, in the course of an interview with a "Standard” reporter yesterday. A New Zealander by birth. Adjutant Graham has been stationed in that country for the past eight years, four of which were spent in Pekin and the remainder in the Shantung province, and is at present on furlough. Touching first upon conditions among the poorer classes, Adjutant Graham said that there was much destitution. Ten shillings per month was a very ordinary wage for an unskilled labourer with a family, while carpenters, bricklayers and other artisans were receiving only about half as much again. She knew of one case where a widow and daughter, with two children to support, were engaged in manufacturing match boxes at the rate- of 2id per thousand, while another woman had made tops of soft shoes at the rate of five pairs for Id. In Pekin alone last Christmas the Salvation Army porridge kitchens had fed approximately 4000 people per day, which was an indication of the abject poverty in lliat country. The terrible floods at the end of last year, mainly between Tientsin and Paotingfu, had added much to the destitution. Big areas had been submerged, and the water in places had been ten feet deep. Hundreds of villagers had been drowned, and larger numbers still left absolutely destitute. “One of our officers.” added Adjutant Graham, “was in a boat in the flooded country for two days.” “The poorer classes have a hand to mouth existence. Man is of less value than an animal, and employers will conserve the strength of a horse by putting on a dozen -coolies to do the work.” Adjutant Graham proceeded to mention that, in time of strife, many homes were left without their breadwinners owing to the fact that the warring factions' would forcibly take into their service coolies and water carriers, who would be sent to the scene of hostilities without their families knowing anything about the matter. Adjutant Graham added that, in Tientsin last September, during the civil war then in progress, 60 odd men were taken off the streets and wired into a truck with mules, to be sent down to the fighting front. But, owing to the railways being in a disorganised state, the truck was put on one side and the error was not discovered until all the men were dead. Human life was not held in high esteem in China. Asked for a reason why there was so much distress in China, Adjutant Graham said that a good deal was duo to mis-government. There were so many civil wars that the country was terribly impoverished. The only remedy was Christianity. “I think Feng Yuh-siang is greatly misrepresented. The people who know him best honour him most. lam certain that ’he is doing much for the welfare of China. I believe that the only power to keep the people from struggling is Christianity, and Christianity has not had a chance in China yet.” ; Speaking of the religions • of'?- the country, Adjutant Graham said that Mohammedanism was sweeping over China. In the last city where she had been working there had been streets and streets of Mohammedans, who had their own mosques. Buddhism, of course, had a great hold. Ancestral worship was followed in practically every home, in conjunction with some other religion. “No human sacrifices or immoral practices form part of their religions; from the beginning their literature has been pure and the taint has come from the West.” Tho Salvation Army was natuarlly concentrating its attention upon the poorer classes, and had about 60 stations in three provinces, with 100 foreign officers drawn from all the outside countries of the world. The organisation now- had 120 Chinese officers, and was doing good educational work. The majority of people in that country were illiterate, blit Government- educational facilities were on the increase. "The Chinese are very clever, and, it they are given the chance that the Western peoples have had, I think they will become their equals.”