CHANGING CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20923, 13 July 1931, Page 11

CHANGING CHINA.

MODERNISATION BEGUN.

COMMUNISTS' BAD INFLUENCE

STRUGGLE AGAINST BRIGANDAGE. "Although the interior of China, like the large coastal provinces, is very much disturbed at present, the country is undergoing many rapid changes," remarked Dr. H. \V, K. Mowll, Anglican bishop of Western China, who arrived in Auckland by the Monowai yesterday. "In the city of Chengtu, the headquarters of my diocese, which is the third largest city in China, the age of modernisation has begun, and where one forinorly travelled in a sedkn chair along narrow paths, one now rides in a motor-car along fine broad highways through a city well served with electric light and other modern conveniences." Dr. jipwll,.who is to make a short stay in New Zealand before he returns to China, will also pay a visit to several Australian churches which have sent missionaries to North China. He said the diocese of Western China comprised Szechwan, the largest of China's 18 provinces, which was reached after a 1500-mile journey across Central China by way of the Yangtse River. The province owed nominal allegiance to the Nanking Government, but it was so far away that it was actually under the control of the local military leaders.

Church a, Uniting Factor. Like the rest of Chinj the province of Szechwan was in a very disturbed condition, Dr. Mowll added. Soldiers who could not. collect their pay turned to brigandage, and work was carried on onl,y with great difficulty. He and his wife were in the hands of brigands for 24 days in 1925. Communism was now spreading rapidly in the province as elsewhere in China, and it was of a definitely antireligious nature. In consequence a good many Chinese and also several missionaries had lost their lives through being Christians. "Amid all the confusion of modern Chi&a we have a factor like the Christian Church, which is nation-wide and also realises its unity with fellow Churches in other parts of the world," Dr. Mowll continued. "We have found this of practical value in recent years when so much antiBritish propaganda has been stirred up by the Russians. Chinese Christians have not hesitated to show that because we are fellow members of the same Church there is something which unites us and is far stronger than the forces which are stirring up enmity between the nations.

. Christian University at Capital. "China is a rapidly changing country. In addition to the improvements in roads and lighting, aeroplane services have been established between the various cities, aud many of the old temples have been pulled down and public parks have been laid out on the sites where once they stood. We have a Christian university at Chengtu, which is attended by students from all parts of Western China, aud about 80 per cent, of the graduates of that university are workers in one or other of the organised churches in the province. "A-New Zealand missionary who has been closely associated with our work ; s the Rev. H. W. Funuell, of Christchurch. Another New Zealander, Dr. Stubbs, after having done magnificent work at the university, was murdered by Communist students on May 30, 1930." Bishop Mowll spoke in St. Mary's Cathedral last evening on churcK work iu his. diocese.