CHINESE SPIRIT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24448, 6 November 1940, Page 5

CHINESE SPIRIT

THE WAR WITH JAPAN FAITH IN ULTIMATE VICTORY (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, Nov. 5. The spirit and grim determination of the Chinese people in the face of conditions brought about by the SinoJapanese war were praised by Sister V. A. Dawes, who has returned to New Zealand after six years’ service in Peking with the Anglican missions. She has come to Wellington to join the staff of the Anglican City Mission. She/has seen none of the actual fighting or bombing, because Peking was handed over to the Japanese within a few days of the outbreak of hostilities, in July. 1936, and since then has been entirely under Japanese control.

“Worship is an overworked word," she said, “ but it does describe the feeling of the whole Chinese people towards General Chiang Kai-shek. They have the greatest confidence in him, and are looking to him to lead them safely out of the present trouble, British missionary work in occupied China is being carried on under the gravest handicap, but the Chinese clergy and lay workers are continuing their missionary duties with the persistence that is a marked trait of the Chinese character.” Miss Dawes is a native of Auckland, a trained nurse, and her missionary work in China was combined with the provision of medical services. She will take up her duties at Wellington almost immediately.