CHINA A VITAL FACTOR WITH VAST POSSIBILITIES

Speaking to a CRIMSON reporter the other day of the general situation in China and its relation to the other nations and to America in particular, the Right Reverend Logan Herbert Roots, D.D. '91, Bishop of Hankow, said:

"There exists in China today a deep sympathy and general good feeling toward the United States. This is due in part to the community of ideas and ideals between the two governments and to similarity of their political institutions. As in America we have the state existing as a strong unit of political independence and yet forming a part of the well-knit federal government, so in China they have the province as the local unit with the same ideal of a political liberty reconciled with a national unity.

"There is, however, a strong nationalistic spirit which is constantly manifesting itself against foreign innovations. The chance for America to overcome this feeling is better than that of other countries on account of the prevalent feeling among the Chinese that she has no ulterior political aims. The best way for Americans to cope with this situation is to understand the feeling that lies behind it and give that feeling a certain amount of play. Their aim must be cooperation and not domination. Once this cooperation is established China will become a splendid field for all sorts of activities. This opening up and modernization is bound to come in time, and when it does the movement must have outside help, just as the beginnings of American industry were fostered by British capital, and for this help China is going to turn to the United States.

"Even now the opportunities for Americans in China are practically unlimited. There is a vast amount of constructive work to be done in the fields of diplomacy, commerce, education, and religion.

Becoming Powerful Factor

"China is becoming more and more of a factor in international politics on account of her immense population and the possibilities of her heretofore unworked industrial and commercial wealth. It is the exploitation by foreign nations of just this wealth that China now fears. The problem of the American diplomat in China is to allay these fears by helping her to establish cooperative relations with the other nations, and by seeing to it that she gets a square deal. The college man who is looking forward to such a career should make a study of international law and Chinese history.

Education System Changing

"In her educational system China is in a state of transition from medieval to modern standards. Until 1905 the learning of the country was entirely literary. History, science, and philosophy had no place in the curriculum. China has inherited from the days of Confucius a marvelous old civilization of which the scholars were justly proud, but around which they kept a barrier which kept out all the knowledge acquired by men in later times. It was this very policy of jealously stifling the new learning that has put China in her present humiliating condition. This system was smashed in 1911, and the old scholars and the disciples of the old learning were utterly discredited. The new learning is now eagerly sought, and the opportune moment to found government, mission or private schools is at hand.

"Vast Commercial Possibilities"

"There are vast commercial possibilities for the commercial firm that will approach the problems of China from an appreciative point of view and will work honestly and fairly for a cooperative spirit. The Chinese are as quick to appreciative such an attitude as they are to suspect ulterior motives.

"Moreover China provides a remarkably rich field for religious work. She has a legacy of a rich religious past, and a mind trained in religious experiences. It is for the mission worker to supplement and fill out those same religious experiences by the teachings of Christianity. The Christian faith cannot be imposed. It must be adapted to the needs of the people for whom it is meant. This fundamental fact was recognized as far back as the time of Pope Gregory the Great who instructed Augustine to adapt his religious teachings to the understanding of the Britains among whom he was going. It is to be hoped and expected that the Christian Church will do as much or more for China than it has for other countries. I believe that with the background of their own richly religious history the Chinese will ultimately come to understand Christ's teachings far better than we of the west. For one thing the Chinese place very little value in the efficacy of force. They believe rather in meekness and gentleness. Supplement this with the Christian virtues of kindness and intelligence, and you ought to get a splendid result.

"Something new, something now lacking in the world, must be brought to bear upon international problems if they are ever to be settled. Perhaps a Christian China may show the way.

A Million Soldiers in Arms

"The Chinese situation is beginning to assume world importance, and deserves a great deal of consideration by statesmen of today. The present government under the acting presidency of Li Yun-Hung is maintaining over a million soldiers under arms. What the outcome of the internal fighting will be is unknown, but it is going to be of immense importance to the world. How soon it will be important depends on how rapidly a new and lasting unity is achieved. That this unity will take the form of a democracy, I have no doubt. The Chinese have never believed in the Divine Right of kings, and the whole national tendency is toward a popular government.

"There is another significant feature in the political situation. Russia has a longer contiguous boundary with China than with any other country, and Bolshevik agents are making every effort to stir up the people. How far they have been successful cannot yet be judged because whatever movement there may be is still underground. The men who are running the government, however, are rather fearful for the immediate outcome.

In Relation to American Trade

"American economists will do well to consider China and her relations to future American trade. China's natural resources of coal, iron, and forests are as great as our own, and some day they will be opened up. Her population makes up one fourth of the human race. We are told that the human being is the most important factor in national wealth. When, therefore, China with her vast resources is opened up, and with her plentiful supply of labor to work those resources, it is obvious that her trade is going to assume world importance.

"The Chinese have a unique social system, based on an aristocracy of learning. There are four so called 'honorable' classes, namely: Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Notice that in this system there is no place for the soldier. He is classed with the barber, the actor, the butcher, and the hangman as a necessary evil. Is it not possible that the world might get the germ of an idea from this system which would materially advance international relations? It may leave China without much strength as strength is now reckoned, but I am confident that in the end she will emerge and having found herself, will take her place as one of the great nations of the world".