CHINA

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVII, Issue 2769, 9 April 1927, Page 5

CHINA

| THE PRESENT CRISIS.

[DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTION.

The attendance at the leeture givon On ■'Thursday evening by Mr Nj. M. Richmond, 8.A., on “The Presont Crisis in China," augurs well for the of tho \V\E-A. classes in Cambridge this wintor. St. Andrew’s ,riall v\j&spacked to hear this .-most ■ interesting and instructive lecture. Mr A. N. Siacky, president of the local W.E.a. *si?mmittec, was in tho chair, and briefly introduced' Mr Richmond. Geographical. and -Social Features.

11l opening his address,'Mr Bichmond briefly outlined tho main geographical mci social characteristics of China, jjtoizi the point of view of the present gjkaos. ' China was a country larger •ifcan U.S.A., with a population of 450,-!

'S&0,000. In this vast country there were practically no roads and very few Hallways. China had Only 4000 miles of •railways, compared with Japan’s 11,1)00. although Japan was only one twenty-eighth the size of China. In the •interior of China thoro was nothing a cart could be taken over. Both goods -and persons were conveyed by wheelbarrow.

It must further bo borno in mind, ssiii the lecturer, that tho majority of this vast population lived in utter ignorance and poverty. Ninety per cent •were illiterate, eighty per cent were peasants, and 3,000,000 died every year d>.om starvation. Only in tlie Treaty ports were thoro any industries, and ■even these were very backward, almost £!>) handicraft,. Religious, Conditions.

One of the great sources of trouble tin China -was' the inadequacy of their a'riigion, said ,Mr Bichmond. There were three main religions —Confucianism. Buddhism and Taoism. The first was the religion of the intellectuals, and consisted mainly in ancestor worship. Buddhism was a pessimistic philosophy. Life was evil.. Man suffered '.because of desire, and. if desire were .quenched, evil, would cease. Taoism was similar to Buddhism, except that there was hope of escape from eyil-by living apart from the turmoil of the.world. . These three religions were an inadey quate basis for the life of a people. Confucianism, especiallynaturally led ip conservatism and hindered progress. Then, in contact with Western civilisation, these religions wore breaking down and nothing adequate was taking •their place. j Hopeful Conditions. Amongst more' hopeful elements in ■China was'the manifestation of a very strong group system. The family was ail-important in China, and this tended ■to bind the people together a little. ' Then families expanded into villages, ’ which were very much like the villages of medieval Europe. There were also strong Guilds, similar to the old craft ‘ juid merchant guilds of England, which regulated the quality of goods, conditions of labour, etc. A more hopeful element- still, was that the Chinese paid the respect to intellectual attainments. High official poss were filled by examinations 3,n the Chinese classics. Although the •standard was not very high this was a good thing. " No Stable Government. Seeping these conditions iii mind, continued the speaker, one will appreciate something of the modern problem -in China, as she comes face to face with ifc’o Western nations, far ahead of her in dovelpomont. The worst feature of ihe situation was that thoro was no one stable government. The chief powers ■ operating’ ip China were—First, the Peking Government. This could never be a stable government, because it was just whatever power happened to be holding Peking at tho time. Then there was tho Mancholin, the gseat power in Manchuria. This party «Drived its power from the backing -of Japan, 4 Between Peking and Hankow there "was a party backed more by the British. The party under General Fong was one side of the Nationalist, party. The j power of these two last was now practically eclipsed. The power in Shanghai was the right wing of the Nationalist party. The other wing was the Cantonese party. . China’s Disabilities. The lecturer proceeded to say that there were disabilities under which ♦China was labouring to-day, which, quite apart from Bussian influence, must have led to the formation of a Nationalist party. For instance, Britain had forced her tcade on China. The Chinese had adop- . ted a haughty attitude when the British, bad offered trade, claiming they had all they needed in their own country. Finally, Britain fought them over the question and the struggle concluded in the Treaty of Nanking,. 1842, by -which several of the ports were opened to foreign trade.

In origin, no doubt, the system of wMessions bv which foreigners lived in a part of the city by themselves, •wlgcct to the justice oX special courts

—was ah admirable one. In fact it was suggested by tho Chineso themselves. But gradually abuses had crept in. For instance, Chineso criminals were able to take refuge in the concessions, because of the difficulty, of arrest there. Further, although foreigners paid no rates, they monopolised municipal affairs. It. was only gradually China had come to realise that she could not set her house- in order while these concessions remained, Another drawback. was the fact that the Chinese custom tariff was fixed at a maximum of fivo per cent, and chough money could not, therefore, bo raised to meet her needs, and she had been obliged to tax her exports—always a bad economic procedure. Aims of the Cantonese. The Cantonese party was out to remove these disabilities. Their aim is that foreigners should be under ordinary Chineso laws; and that there should be tariff , autonomy. Included in their programme was also the setting in order of China’s house, internally. In answering the question as to what would be the result of the removal of the treaties, the speaker referred first to Japan, where such treaties used to exist and had been abolished. Things worked quite smoothly in Japan. Then, wo could look at the nations—liussia and Germany —who had abandoned their extra-territorial right in China. Gormans in China had received quite as just treatment at the hands of the Chinese as they would have received in their own country. Solution of the Problem. In suggesting the solution of China’s problem, the speaker referred to the report of a Labouf member in England who had rceontly visited all the chief centres in China. On the whole, the lecturer agreed with the findings of this emissary, which were, briefly, as follows:

1. The British press in China was vorv one-sided, and all the officials had utterly no sympathy with the Chinese Nationalist aims. It should be our aim, therefore, to try to adopt an attitude more like that of the American press in China.

2. Tho report advised the removal of all troops from China. The speaker could not agree with this at present. 3. Steps should be taken to prevent arms going into China. This the lecturer heartily endorsed. 4. The treaties should be revised, Referring to this, Mr Richmond remarked that offers had already been made. Tariff autonomy had been granted on

paper. As to China’s part in the refotma tion, what were needed were reform of the language; an improved system of communication; and a modernising of China all round, and an endeavour to foster a Chinese national press.

Above all the question was one of getting the foreign powers in China to act together, and on the other hand of constructing a united Chinese to negotiate with them.

This most instructive lecture, which lasted an hour, was listened to most attentively, and at tho close several questions were satisfactorily answered by Mr Richmond. This Year’s Classes, At the close of the lecture a short business meeting was held, when preliminary arrangements made for lectures during this winter. A vote was taken to ascertain the most popular subject. Current history was most.’ favoured, with literature and economics next. Mr Bichmond said he could guarantee lectures on current history, and if he could obtain suitable lecturers, he would arrange for classes in tho other two subjects also. Six lectures will be given in each subject ,the fee for each course being -V-' Mr Richmond intimated that a library of books covering the subjects lectured on would be forwarded shortly, for the use of the class.