CORRESPONDENCE THE CHINESE REPUBLIC.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 270, 14 October 1929, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

THE CHINESE REPUBLIC.

(To the Editor.) . . Sir,—l was surprised to read a notice which appeared in the Press recently, published by the Chinese Consul and inviting all local residents to celebrate the foundation of the Republic in the Flowery Land, by observing a close holiday. The present writer was not aware that the Celestials had shaken off the shackles of an Emperor, or a monarchical form of Government. Hence it would be interesting to listen to an Eastern scholar, who is an authority on the conditions obtaining in that country, with its teeming millions of a population. We all know it is a vexatious and debatable subject amongst ourselves as to whether the Chinese should be allowed to land and remain in the Dominion. Some contend that they are industrious, inoffensive and hospitablo to all whom they meet; others contend that their laundries and market gardens deprive our own people of earning a living. A white population should be our aim, they contend. Much of this evangel, which is preached, is pure hypocrisy, or sentiment, when investigated. Confucius was, I understand, a philosopher of no mean order when he reigned in the Flowery Land. Recalling the language employed by that young Chinaman in tins country, who on going blind, recently, decided to end his life, and left a. message to his friend, couched in this simple, poetic and pathetic term—“ Perhaps we will drink a cup of tea on the other side” 7—can any of your readers inform me if that was included in the doctrine or philosophy as expounded by Confucius, or was he an advocate of fatalism in the days when ho lived, and was at the height of his popularity in the Flowery Land? —I am, etc., H. J. CANTON, Palmerston North, October 12, 1929.