CHINA AS IT IS.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19407, 6 November 1934, Page 4

CHINA AS IT IS.

“ONE THOUSAND YEARS BEHIND.” , N.Z. ENGINEER’S IMPRESSIONS. ! , “Outsde the Treaty ports, It can be said that .China Is 1000'years behind the .civilisation of Western countries," says Mr G-. Robinson, an electrical engineer, who was for some time a member of the staff of the Wellington 'Electricity Department, and is now resident In Shanghai as the representative of an English electrical firm. He has written a most Interesting letter to one of his former fellow officers, giving his impressions of 'China as a result of his residence in Shanghai and other oltles and his excursions Into inner.'China and his contact with the Chinese people during business tours. •After describing life in the treaty ports (in not very complimentary vein, for the shallowness of It did not appeal to him), he wrote of the real Chinese, the great mass of people living away from ports and cities, practically unaffected by Western influences. 85 Per Gent Illiterate. “Assuming a population of 450,000,000,” he says, “the illiteracy of at least 95 per cent of the population Is proverbial. Outside the Foreign ■Settlements and in the real China, the people have to work exceptionally long hours to obtain a bare existence, and •if you are particularly interested and wish to read of their life I can suggest nothing better than the books written by 'Pearl Buck. Miss Buck undoubtedly knows her China, and it Is nearly safe to say that no single page suffers from being overdrawn to ■obtain effect. Neither has she gone out of her way to string together a series of abnormal events which could only happen In this country, but she has told a plain tale of how at least 85 per cent of 450,000,000 people exist.

“At the present time China has, in name only, a Central Government under the military dictatorship of Marshal 'Chang Kai-shek, and it Is more than a possibility that this dictator will endeavour to emulate the attempt of a previous dictator, Yuan Shi-kai, and endeavour to found a new dynasty. If he is no more successful than Yuan Shi-kai, China will still be a so-called republic. Actually, the present Central 'Government Is the only -semblance of oentral authority that China has had •since 1911, but even so, it still does not bear the faintest resemblance to a popular Government as known from Western civilisation.

Voneer of Civilisation. "Outside the treaty ports It can be said that China is 1000 years behind the civilisation of Western countries, but it would bo difficult to say whether Western civilisation could ever be implanted in China, because the great majority of the people are living in their Confucian philosophy of life hack in ttie days of the'Middle Kingdom, 2000 years ago, when China was undoubtedly the most civilised nation, and all other nations were barbarians and tribute bearers to Iho Middle Kingdom. .. . The veneer of Western ■civilisation adopted by political and military loaders lias only been an attempt to obtain some knowledge of the source from which we obtain our strength, and the majority of clear thinking writers on things 'Chinese agree that the Chinese have come to the conclusion that all they need adopt of Western civilisation is our military technique. “Their polities are all 'Government, and no Opposition, with the military dictatorship predominating. Apparently, the comparatively self-elected so-called Government has decided that election by popular vole is an impossibility, and one can 'quite agree that it would certainly be a very I all order as, only f> per cent of the population could ever remotely understand what all the bother of an election or a policy was meant for, and therefore those in power lake. I lie line of least resistance and Just hand on, making what they can while they can, always having a residence In one ol ttie Treaty Port coneesions to ho used as a funkhole at (he slightest signs of danger. The Povorty. "It is only by reading books like Pearl Ruck's that one can hope lo give the foggiest idea of what poverty means. In the settlements where, (Continued m next eoluny-'

according to their station in life, the 'Chinese probably make as much in a. month as their opposite number In China proper would make in a year, the cost of living forces a large num-. her of them to take on two jobs, one during the day and the other to follow when the daytime Job Is finished. Out-, side the treaty ports It Is possible for a man with 200 dollars to be comfortable for the rest of his life. At the' present rates of exchange this is £l3 6s Bd. One of the shipping companies here has a compound with about 200 coolies, and every month two of these coolies who have won about 200 to 300 dollars by gambling will depart for' the country quite confident that they will not have any difficulty in living for the rest of their lives. “It is very difficult to .give any concrete idea what the average peasant farmer lives on, but It is probably liberal If we alloAV an average of 30 dollars per year. With an Income of this proportion you will appreciate why the Chinese are naturally lawabiding, sober, and Industrious people. They are so busy keeping that one jump ahead of starvation that they have no time for the gaiety and reoreations whioh we Westerners consider esential. This, of course, is not true of the Chinese in the settlements, wheer all types of Western amusements are patronised by those Chinese who can afford it."

Taxes In Advanoe. ' f

Two examples of what is quite all right In China, though pass.ug strange to Western barbarians, are given by Mr Robinson to round off his impressions. "In the territory of Honan, the local military governor finds himself rather hard up this year, and he,- therefore, collects immediately the land taxes for the next four years; but, as his predecessors had also thought of this happy method, you will not be surprised to learn that with this latest infliction, the land tax in the Honan territory has now been paid until the year 1994 —no patent rights are reserved on this method of raising revenue.

“Another Instance from the same district, following agreement with the League of Nations, Is that opium poppy Is not permitted to be grown in this particular territory, and fines are inflicted for non-compliance with this regulation. The Governor of Honan apparently dislikes any influence affecting his revenues, so he has stipulated that fines for growing opium poppy must be paid immediately, and as planting Is not due until April, you will appreciate that the flue actually becomes an Illegal permit. ’