EMPIRE OF EAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23083, 7 July 1938, Page 18

EMPIRE OF EAST

CHINA'S TRADITIONS VAST MISSIONARY TASK "If civilisation means art, science and invention, then China has all these. .When our skin-clad forefathers lived in caves and ate raw food, the Chinese possessed proper houses, wore silk and cdtton garments, and used fire in their daily tasks." This statement was made by tho Rev. C. J. Patchett, who has served for eight years with the China Inland Mission, in an address at„ a luncheon of the Auckland Creditmen's Club, in the Reception Hall of Milno and Choyce, Limited, yesterday. Ho said that to-day not only did Christian principles have a part in the lives of the Chinese, but they also guided .the Government of the country. "I have spent eight years of varied experiences in China, but I look forward to returning," Mr. Patchett said. "We have faced civil wars and sieges; we haVe contended with robbers, brigands and Communists; and we have undergone floods and earthquakes. None the less, I still have the profoundest admiration for China and its people." The China Inland Mission was one of the largest missionary organisations in the world, he continued. International in membership, it possessed 1400 active missionaries, and it was a matter of record that in tho 73 years of its existence £'7,000,000 had been used for the evangelisation of the great land. Members were not paid a salary, but were made allowances in accordance with the funds that were available,, and they were not permitted to own or buy property in China apart from the treaty ports, as it was f believed that this action would give a false idea of the purposes of the mission to the Chinese people. Nor were they allowed to carry firearms, or to make any demand for help or protection to the Chinese or British authorities. "We know China as being a land of vast area," Mr. Patchett said. "But do we, know that the Chinese Empire covers 4,290,000 -square miles, and that its population of 480,000,000 is, a quarter of the world's population ? It also possesses wonderfully high ethical and moral standards. It is a land of outstanding opportunity so far as missionary enterprise is concerned."