Renaissance in China

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24911, 9 May 1942, Page 3

Renaissance in China

Dawn Watch In China. By Joy Homer. (Collins.) 13s fid net.

The oft-repeated assertion by informed publicists that China can never be beaten by the Japanese receives confident support in <,Dawn Watch in China. Miss Homer went to China as the accredited representative of the Interdenominational Church Committee for China Relief in order that she might gather accurate news for lhat. organisation. On her arrival she had the good fortune of being allowed to join Dr Robert Brown, a leading medical administrator, on one of his periodical tours throughout the ravaged areas. Her descriptions of what she saw and heard may therefore be accepted as accurate and informed. Outstanding above all else in this book is the Chinese attitude to the situation which unprovoked aggression has brought about. There is little, if anything, in the Occidental philosophy which can quite grasp the mixture of indifference, fervid patriotism, and stocism which goes' to the making of the Chinese complex. Whole streets will be razed to the ground, but the only reaction of the hundreds thus rendered homeless is to commence rebuilding immediately, quietly and methodically, with, scarcely any comment, let alone complaint. Individual self-pity is practically unknown, even among the very young, who are notoriously prone to dramatising themselves in all countries. When Miss Homer questioned a nine-year-old “war orphan” on how he had arrived at Hankow after being separated from his parents in an air raid 400 miles away she was astounded at his simple, almost impersonal, answer. He had walked! How else could he have got there? No, he did not expect to find his parents again. China being a pretty big place. Patience numbed almost to the point of indifference, however, is not the only defence which the Chinese have to offer. Chinese pilots quickly learn ‘ the intricacies of the foreign machines which trickle in from friendly Powers, and their complete disregard of personal safety makes them formidable antagonists. Guerrilla warfare, too, which has come to be looked upon as a' national custom, provides stiff oppo-

sition and has a demoralising effect on the enemy’s nerves, especially now lhat modern strategy has been superimposed upon it. Strangely enough, right in the midst of the holocaust wrought by the invader, China is experiencing a Renaissance. Miss Homer quotes example after example to show that, honesty, always a national virtue, has risen in the common people to a height which can scarcely be comprehended, let alone eoualled, in any Western country. Where else, for instance, could a Government hand out supplies to homeless refugees for transport by handcart over a journey of some hundreds of miles in the certain knowledge that they would- reach their destination? Where else could provincial authorities grant small loans—quite enormous in the aggregate—to destitute people in complete confidence that they will be repaid in full? Education, too, is shown in this book to be in the throes of a rebirth. The great colleges and universities have had to move further into the interior, and their students have sometimes had to walk hundreds of miles to reach them, but they have been set up in makeshift premises with an enthusiasm amounting almost to fanaticism. China is determined that no longer shall she be looked upon as a backward nation. Co-operative effort is being introduced on a gigantic scale, and is. being avidly seized upon by a people who have never received anything approaching a fair share of the profits accruing from their, labours. There will be few who will not feel better, even a little humbled, by Miss Homer’s book. She has seen merciless wholesale slaughter, infinite sorrow, and national'and individual courage in a degree that is almost unbelievable and has described them, without superlatives or affectations, in a manner which does credit to the journalistic tradition. Her descriptive work is vivid, but its vividness derives from calm forthrightness, never from etymological acrobatics. Our copy of this work is from Whitcombe and Tombs. E. C. C.