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--4 II --+tMADAME CrJIANG1S MESSJ-\ ( GES I IN vV AR AND PEACE 11 'I ii 11 I
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' SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES University of London Please return this book on or before the last date shown Long loans and One Week loans may be renewed up to 6 times Short loans & CDs cannot be renewed Fines are charges on all overdue items E-mail: librenewals@soas.ac.uk Phone: 020-7898 4197 (answerphone) 3 MAR 2003 18 0467945 0 ~----...-.... J.-. .. --..,,. .. _,...... --" ______
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." _.r/ j --1-~ I
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,' ... Wair Messages anJ Other eledion.s May,,.-Iling Soong Chiang (Ma.da.m.e Chiang Ka.i-s:hek)
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FOREWORD desire has been expressed in many quarters that a record /ru. should be published of what might be called the war activities of Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Such a record will no doubt appear in full in due course after the cessation of the hostilities which Japan forced upon her unprepared neighbour. When such a record is completed, the world will learn that Madame Chiang has won for herself inclusion in that illustrious band of women who have changed history. Her interminable and exhausti~g national duties; her frequent visits to the troops in the Shanghai area-tours attended by the most deadly peril from aerial bombing-her always dangerous aerial visits with the Generalissimo t the fronts while major operations were in progress-her active performance of risky duties in connection with the air: force, with the strain on vitality all this involved, might well have appalled the strongest man. That these duties should have been unflin chingly and successfully performed by a woman ,vhose spiendid determination forced a response from a comparatively frail body is little short of incredible. For the time being only part of the story can necessarily btt told. For this publication have been gathered some of Madame Chiang's war messages. They can well and eloquently speak for themselves. The selection is by no means exhaustive, for Madame Chiang's writings are as \'olun1inous as they are varied, but t_hose addresses, interviews, messages and press despatches i;1cluded in the first section of this book can be taken as represen tative. The contributions to the world's press have far more than a transient value,. l Extracts from the article "China's Present, Past and Future,'', beginning on page 43, were published in May by the news paper members of the North American Newspaper Alliance. Fol-. lowint their publication this telegram of felicitation was received, from the Chinese Ambassador atWashington, Dr.C. T. \,\Tang~-' iii
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"American newspapers editorially comment on your articles on democracy, describing them as the most powerful and persuasive pica yet to come to the atten tion of American readers, and as a masterpiece of polemical English fully measuring up to the historical definition of eloquence. They arc, the papers add, more than notable newspaper articles; they arc a State paper. Please accept my heartiest congratula,tions." Madame Chiang's writings reveal the effect produced upon the mind of a sensitive woman by the almost inexplicable caution a11cl timidity displayed by the nations that professed attachment to the prindples of sanctity of treaties and collective security. They show the natural indignation and deep disappointment of a disillusioned believer in i11ternational good faith. It was inevi table that in some of her messages she should give utterance to he~ contempt for those whose chief preoccupation was to explore avenues of escape from their legal and moral obligations. Through all her writings is reflected the mental anguish of this super-patriot ~t the sufferings of her people from Japanese brutality. The second collection from the writings of lVI adame Chiang Kai-shek co:1tains her thoughts on pre-war problems and vital movements in Cl)ina, her Christian faith, and her. skilled steps along the path of short-story writing ,.c Editor's Note: Indulgences must he claimed for certain 1111;1voidahli\ shortcomings in this book, as it was compiled in Hankow where modern facilities for book-making are unavailable. The million or so individual letters were picked from type compartments and hand set by Chinese compositors who knew little English. Type-so smaJI 11nfortunalely-was available only for forty pages at a time. There were delays in paper shipments as Japanese planes subjected the Kowloon-Hankow Railway to daily bombings. There was a less ag~ravating delay when the compositors allocated to the type setting ran away to an army camp and needed considerable cajoling and an order from the Hig-her Command before they were made to understand that theirs was already a patriotic occupation. This first edition is a limited one: later editions of this book will be printed abroad in a manner that should do more jqstice both to the writer and th.e material. IV
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CONTENTS Foreword PART /: WAR .lll~SSAGJ:'S Speeches, .Afessages and Broadcasts ... i~'prcial Articles for United States ancl British Publications ... lVar Interuieu.~ to Correspondent.~ Despatches to the 1Jriti1~h and American Press Sr1eeial Request Jlf essage8 Selections jrom Madame Chiang's Corresprmdence PART II: PRE-WAR \VRJTINGS Page 111. 73 111 133 757 171 Fields of P1ogress in China 251 'l'he New Lffe Movement in China 303 Upbringing o.f Children of Revolutionary Martyr.~ 323 The Chri8tian Faith. of Madame Chiang 333 Three Tales cf Old China 351
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.. ~-'.! .. \ .'.'
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peeches1 Messages AnJ Bro lll dlc as ts Pageg 1-73-Appeal fo Women of Ch.iua_JBroaJcaaf to the People of America-1\!esaa.ge to Women's Ivleef. ing in Sydney-A 1938 S,,t'inz Fesfrt>al Mes~.1ge~-l\1e~ge to Women of Ame~-Mcss11ge to Austrolian Women's P~acc Conference-An Appeal for China's Refugee ChiL!reu-l\-iomenfous Message to Missionaries-1koiliM..Lfo __ b,.mc1.i.can Y. W. C. A. ~fl~-A Moth.ex-'s Day Message-Chi~ Present, Pait a.,ul. F ut111,
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Appeal to Women of China* "We must give up everything, even our lives, to support our fighters at the front." ITrO-?AY we m:et ~ith tha nation facing the grav:st crisis in its history. It 1s with great sorrow that we find 1t nece,,sary to come together under the shadow of war, for war is a terrible thing. It means that we must sacrifice a large number of our soldiers; masses of our innocent people; much of the nation's wealth and resources, and see ruthlessly destroyed a construction that we have been working upon so successfully for the past ten years. But some times it is necessary that we make the supreme sacrifice for the sake of our national honor. Now that our Government clearly has demonstrated that we have borne all suffering that a self-respecting people can possibly bear, we must unhesitatingly and with courage throw the last ounce of strength and energy into an effort to secure national survival. There is nothing left for us to do but to obey the orders of the Government and fortify others to do likewise. To-day, every one of us Chinese must fight according to our ability, in order to preserve national unity and defend ourselves against aggression. We women are citizens just as much as are our men. Our positions, our capabilities and our lines of usefulness may be dif ferent, but-each must do that which best can be done to contribute our share to rescue our nation from defeat and slavery. Wherever there is work fer our hands to do, we must strive to do it. To-day in Spain women are standing in the fighting lines with *Madame Chiang Kai-shek received a group of delegates of various Chinese women', organizations at Nanking on August !, 1937, and explained to them what women might do to help win the war.
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MAbAME CHIANG KAI-SHEI{ their men; and during the Great vVar in every country they gave of their best to aid in the realization of victory. We Chinese women are not one whit less patriotic or less courageous or less capable of physical endurance than our sisters of other lands, and that we shall show the world. Therefore, I know that I need not urg-e you to be patriotic becau~e the fact that you are here is proof sufficient that high patriotism 1s mspiring you. The purpose of our meeting to-day is to unite and so organize ourselves that we shall not waste one ounce of energy, time or money in an effort to make our work as effective as possible. As a rule, to organize for such a purpose, we should have to go through much formality, but necessity is the mother of invention, During war time we want to get the best results in the shortest time possible. I have, therefore, already delegated certain persons to draft a few simple working rules of organization and to suggest a few names of people who may head and direct different avenues of work. I hope you will accept what we have drafted and remember only that we are not working for name or fame but for the very life of our country itself. I hope each one of you will take a very enthusiastic part in this work and throw yourselves fully inlo it. \Vhile during war time the men are the fighters, it is the women who bear the brunt of carrying on at the rear. \Ve must encourage the men and let them know that we are in our own way holding on and not letting them down; that we are just as ready to give up everything, even our lives, to support our fighters at Lhe front. I know that various women's institutions have started to organize to do the very same work that we are preparing to do. It is my hope we shall all unite under one organization so that what we do may be done effectively, for indeed unity is strength. The fighting morale of our men at the front depends on how much support the rear can give. We must never forget that. And we must remember always that a final national victory, no matter how belated it may be in coming, will erase forever the "humiliation days" that have for so long crowded our calendar and will remove the sorrow that for years past has bent our heads and bowed our hearts. 2
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Broadcast to the People of America~' "The civilized nations have permitted this collapse of treaties and 20th. century revival of brutal civilian murder." IT is rather difficult for me to speak to the American people today, because my mind still holds painful recollections of tragic accidents in and near Shanghai which caused death to some, injury to others, and suffering to many American and other residents. Please' believe me when I tell you that both the Generalissimo and I deeply deplore these accidents, and grieve with those who have been bereaved or who have suffered, especially as among those killed and injured were personal friends of ours. Our Government insofar as possible is doing its best to prevent a recurrence of such accidents which could never have happened, however, ~!!-~ it not_been_for the factJh_a.Uhe I apanese brou~ar in to...Sh.ang_bai by using...thJL~I?-atio_~_al_S..e.ttlen;~~ t as a base for military oper~_tio~~'. And they broughLth_e_ws=tr. to .. China to desfroy her before she could complete the reorganization work ------:-:---"---------... which has been going on in recent years with such great pro.."Uise and ~u~~s. "Out of a united China was-~merging an orderly ~late~-The Japanese did not want that and are therefore striking in many places to destroy it. '.[hat they have utter disregard for U1e_security of the.J,u:es an
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The Japanese militarists lie to their people and they lie to the world. They seize upon any excuse to justify any evil thing they plan to do. For example, they are now publishing the gross calumny that we Chinese are spreading cholera germs among their troops in Shanghai and that they intend to take reprisals. Vvha t reprisals? .. gas? .. and why.? Is it because for five weeks now they have not been able to bring China to her knees as they boasted? They _ha~~ used the concentrated weight oLJbe---mosLm .. o.dern implements of war, navy, art11lery, air forc0anks and army, b~t our soldiers are still h~lding tben1. .,.----~------You can see by what Japan is now doing in China that she is sinister, ruthless, well armed, well organized and acting on a preconceived plan. For years she has been preparing for this_very -------------< --. attempt to conquer China evenif she has to annihilate the Chinese to ao-so:-~c"u"1i~sly no other~;t;;;-;;-~~-~-~ to care to stop it. Is it because the flood ol calculated falseholds that J apa:;~~~s daily is believed? Or is it that she has been able to hypnotise the statesmen of the world? She seems to have secured their spell-bound silence by uttering the simple magical formula: "This is not a war but merely an incident." Even the ~at ion b_y_j_b_e_J apa,_!]_~s~. P~en}i_er, _P_rince !5_ci_noye, on August 28 tha.t-Jap.an.~nds to "bea! China_!E her kl!~, so that she. may no longer have the spirit to fight" does not seem to h-ave "fi;da~y -eff~;t-i~~w~-ning_!he world to a 7e;li~~tio~ of the catastro~~is_h_ow _being devel~;ed-. ------ft-was to avert such a catastrophe that the great Powers signed the Nine-Power Treaty, which was specially created to safeguard China from invasion by Japan. They signed the Kellogg Peace Pact to prevent war, and they organized the League of Nations to make it doubly certain that aggressive nations would be quickly prevented from inflicting unjustified harm upon their weaker fellows. But strange to say alLl.hese treaties appear to have crumbled to dust in a way that has not hi~rto been equated i~ history. Worse .ilian that, all complex structure under Inte;n~tional Law which was gradually built up to regulate the conduct of war and protect non-combatants seems to have crashed with the treaties. So we have a reversion to the day of the savages when the stronger trfeato""exterminaie the \~eaker, not only to kill -thei"r warriors but their very familie~~-th~ir wo~ and their chi!~~--T~ i;-~;;ha.tJapan i;-;~; t;ying to do in ---.-... ____ ...... -----~----4
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DESTRUCTION-OF CULTURE f!].i_g_;i.,. But it is the civilized nations who have really permitted this collapse of treaties and this twentieth century revival of the wholesale brutal murder of innocent civilians. They allowed it to begin in China, in 1931, when Japan seized Manchuria. They permitted it to be continued in 1932 at Shanghai when Japan bombed the sleeping population at Chapei and they now acquiesce in its resumption all over China on a gigantic scale. The consequence of this 1s that the Japanese now feel free to destroy schools and cultural institutions wherever they can. Already the Nankai University and the Women's Normal School and the .l Engineering College at Tientsin have been wiped out completely. { -;) What was not demolished by bombs was later on destroyed by Japanese witl!_k~rn .sene, ______ They attacked the University of Shanghai, known as _thd Shanghai Baptist College-;1demolished the Tung-Chi University at Woosung, bombed the Central University at Nanking and the Baldwin Girls' School at Nanchang. Added to this, they deliberately bombed and destroyed the American Mission Hospital at Tungchow1, the Chinese Red Cross Hospital at Chenju and various Red am.bulan~. ey a so s o rom e air the British Ambassador and tried to bomb him as well, but with brazen effrontery their Foreign Minister now says that no Japanese planes would do such a thing. Fortunately the British Military Attache identified the planes and is able todisprove the lie that is now being told by the Japanese Government. If such calculated ruination to life and property can be done before the so-called hostilities have developed, what is going to happen now that the Japanese have begun to carry out their threat to crush China completely? VVhatever will be the end, a beginning has been\ made to demolish everything Chjpese, as we)) as to destroy with \ ;av~-g~lows those valuable American reli ious and cultural enter rises I .~h._at~ave_~_e_~n ~ :_:ted in Chi~.~~~~9f..l'..e.a.IS, ~--'!1-~rica~-( institutions (contributed to so liberally by the people of America) ;hi~h~do~e ~o"inuch fo;~-the p~;g-;.~s~ -~"tChi~-;;~~de;tin~e / .s..,)-) ~ ~verely crippiecf in Ther .work,if~~-a~~;;;-y~d~;h~ld -ili:~faP.~ (' have t'i-i~fr way;"siii'2e th;;-y;p;ne~e cond~r;; ~---the~ as being the / Tostering placesoT' J;-;iure 'resisfo11ce-:'"-Incleed".~o-inte;~~-th'J~ that tli.ey"areoeriTupcinwrecTrrig o~--;;;radicatin, all forei n in cultural as we as commerdal, and the sooner that fact is understood ~b r o~a; the better. -------. ----------5
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK In all this I greatly fear for the safety a A roecican and European _w_om.e.!L.Jl.Dd cbi)dcea We Chinese greatly valued the services that missionaries of all countries have giveri-our people, and it isthe~efore with si_n~e:.~ regr~! thatT~!ld m~sel_f _CC>JEpell~~d-to assist in arranging for their e_v:~cat_io_n _within {h~ im\Ilediate future. People in America ._., ___ .--~~-------~' and Europe may rest assured that the National Government of China will do everything in its power to see that those who are escaping the menace of war are transported to the coast, though naturally sQ.roe--Will wish to stay and suffer with us. Y'!_~ wisb to defend them, but so that we may no even e a le to defend ourselves, Japan blockades our co~st ~nd _-J~;~-ds-i~at thenation~p~t--;-~top to supp{ying u~ with arms and munitions, while she may be suppfie
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BETRAYAL OF BUSHIDO The militarists of Ja pan have already shown the world their contempt for any codes of international honor. They in addition have dragged the mantle of their own Samurai in the mud and have cast their own famed Bushido ( their boasted creed of chivalrous conduct) into the gutter, and they do not seem to be ashamed that the people of the world should witness such betrayal. The reason no doubt is that they are convinced that the Powers dared not oppose them. So they are proceeding with plans of conquest confident that they will~aWe to de~stat;-a;-ina and, in time, drive out western cultural and commer~i~Ciiif}tien~es;sci~LliaJ~-ii-~~CChf;;-;;~~~~~;t pr~-~~nt them, they may erect upon the ashes of China a world-shaking Japanese continerital empir_e_, It will not be founded upon international ethics (for J~p;~ has already crippled those), but upon militarized force. At least they expect to control all lands where the Oriental races live, and eventually determine internatianal conduct and policies. vVith that extravagant aim in view is it any wonder that Japan asks how China dares to have the spirit to fight? Well, might the princely Premier of J apa.n ask the question! Hitherto it has been China who has trembled while the rest of the world has wondered why she would not fight. Now we have the ironic picture of China fighting, not only for her sovereign rights ~a existence, huL~lso for the san,_<;t;g..y_ Oftreafies, while the 1~~~Tii{ nations watch their ;rTghts-andinterests __ ,... _-_-----"'""t"-'-----.. -~-~---~----------------~---------' beinf_ ~estroyedj_and_ their peop_l_E; J?.~~~---to _f!i_ght. To see the great Powers accepting such a situation must be regarded by Japanese militarists as a delightfully encouraging spectacle, for they can think they have at last been able, with no difficulty, to sweep Occidental prestige clean from the boards of the Orient. And we wonder, does this indicate the fall of civilization? Look at the mass murders of Chinese in various places by bombs, hy the naval guns mounted on miles of men-of-war anchored in the sheltered harbor of Shanghai, by machine-guns and by rifles. Look at the homes and businesses that have been swept upi!!_ savage flames or been blasted mto dust. Look at the square miles of bloodstained .. -------debris heaped with dead. Look at the fleeing thousands of Chinese and foreigners, screaming, panic-stricken..._running for their lives. indeed hundreds of thousands of Chinese mothers and_q!ijdren, h;;I"I;ele-;;,foodless, bereft of everything, leaving_i_hci.ui_oies shattered --,----~-----------. 7
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHE!<: and burning benind them when they tried to flee from the _ho!rors of S-h-;ngha~r.crokwtranerrible Tragedy ovi~t~~k them. Thousands of them a 3JY_.d;i.ys ago were cro"Y:~ed on the_ South Station to getinto a train when] apanese bombers came overhead, dropped bombs upon-them and blew three hundreds of them to ghastly fragments, while over four hundred were wounded. No soldier was anywhere near the station so there was no justification for the ter,:rible_Il}a~sacre. The editor of the -------North Clii11a Daily News, th~l~_gfog British paper in the Far East, -cl~~the barb~~s --~~t "as wa~-t;na crime against humanity as can well beconceived~"TIO~ly a iew days later when hundreds of refugees who had managed to escape Shanghai were sitting in their train at Sungkiang Station, some miles out, they were similarly attacked, and another three hundred were blown into eternity by being reduced to torn fragments of flesh while hundreds more were seriously wounded. Not a soldier was on the train. ,,..-The chief American paper in the Far East, the Shallghai Even-) in& Post and Mercury editorially cried "murder", at the first outrage, / and, when the second happened, declared that there were no words in / the dictionary to describe such monstrous deeds. At the market town of Changshu, not far from Shanghai, where there were no soldiers at all, Japanese bombers flew down one side of the crowded main street on August 23, machine-gunned the people and bombed the houses and shops. Then the planes flew up the other side repeating the deadly operation until hundreds of people were corpses and the whole street a mass of demolished buildings and debris. This type of massacre is going on throughout the country and is bound to be intensified once the army air force has prepared its fields somewhere on an occupied island or on the Japanese golf course at Shanghai. ~11 me, is the silence of Western nations in the face of such / massacres, such demolition of homes and dislocation of businesses, a sign of the triumph of civilization with its humanitarianism, its codes of _conooct, its chivalry, and its claims of Christian influence? Or is the spectacle of the first-class Powers, all standing silently in a row as if so stupefied by Ja pan that they do not utter a reproach, the forerunner of the collapse of international ethics, of Christian guidance and conduct, and the death-knell of the supposed moral superiority of the Occidental? -8
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WE WILL J7IGHT TO THE LAST If the whole of the Occidental world is indifferent to all this, and abandons its treaties, we in China who have labored for years under the stigma of cowards, will do our best. We will try to fight till we win or till we are really beaten to our broken knees, even if our good earth, with all its history and cares, is steeped with blood, swept by fire and destroyed. Perhaps you can hear over t,~_e _ragio .th_e. .ooise_of_ the _can.n.onad.e, but hidden from your ~eari~_g ( t~ou~~-]_ hope ringiug in .,YOllCh.e.ar.t.s) are the cries of the dying, the pain of the masses of wounde.st_::md..lhe tumult of the crashing buildings. A~-d f~~m yo~r s-i~ht_is~_hid(le_11 Jhe ~uffering and. sfarvation of th~ great arr~y ~f wa-;;_d~~ing, terrified, innocent homeless ones; the falling tears of the mothers and the smok~ and the flames of their bur~ing houses, Good-bye everybody, .\,,4\ ?
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Message to Vl 01nen's Meeting in Sydney* Jhis changing world is rolling towards the abyss of self-destruction with a breath-taking rapidity". 1f wish I could be wilh you at this International Women's Conference ll and help you rally the women of the world around the old ideals of Peace and Freedom, which seem to have been sadly neglected. I do not know when you decided to call this Conference, and at what time you chose as its subject "This Clia11ging H'orld", with the sub-title "\\'0111e11's Part In it", but it must have been a long time ago. There is something hopeful, cheerful in these titles .... a confidence that the world is moving on in the right direction and that woman can play the right part m the victorious drive for evolution. "This Clu111gi11g lVorld" seems to be entirely beyond control. It 1s rolling down the slope towards the abyss of self-destruction with a breath-taking rapidity. There are only two things we can do. One is to throw up our hands in despair, deplore the situation, indulge in meetings and pious resolntions, send a few touching appeals to the great men who run the world, and hope-against hope-for a better future. The other is to look bitter reality in the face, take a fearless stand, and unite for practical action. Chinese delegates to the International \~omen's Conference held in Sydney, Australia, in February, 1938, brought to the assembly this message of wuning to the women of the world from Madame Chiang Kai-shek. 10
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MosT HORRIBLE OF ALL WARS Of all the members of international organizations, the Chinese women are the ones who suffer most at the present time. (May Heaven avert a similar calamity befalling some of your beloved fatherlands). But we have not thrown up our hands. Far from it. The Chinese women have surpassed themselves in our present emergency. They were reconstructing our country along with our men. Ever since they entered the political, social and scientific domains of our national life a few years ago on a basis of equality, they have taken the initiative in supporting the New Life Movementour national program -the aim. of which is the spreading of knowledge and education among our people, the creation of a new spiritual life, and the raising of the standard of living of our under-privileged masses. They have shared the cares and the hardships with our men. 'vVherever circumstances had placed them: in administrative positions, in our ministries and public organizations, in our public health administration, in the rapidly increasing number of our schools, in our experimental agricultural stations -they were among the most important factors in the amazing speed in which China's rehabilitation was progressing. And after years of hard, every day struggle; of relentless dogge
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J\,JADAME CHIANG KA1-SliEK inadequate account of what is really happening. There are no words that could convey to you the ghastly reality of China's tragedies. Besides staining China's soil with blood, Japan has endeavored to destroy Chinese culture with systematic ruthlessness. Chinese education had been advancing in giant strides during the past few years and our enemy attempted to halt that progress, using bombs, shells and firebrands to do his fiend's work. Huge universities and modern schools became blackened ruins, as the enemy marched into our country. Other establishments, far from scenes of action, were singled out for destruction by marauding airmen. This widespread, deliberate wiping out of educational institutions indicates unmistakably a barbarous intention of crippling Chinese education so completely that revival may not be possible for years. Japan indubitably feared the new and powerful cultural influence sweeping through the country from the fountain heads of thought. But in destroying the seats of learning they have only succeeded in strengthening the ideals and sentiments which they aimed at killing. Adrift from their classrooms, the students of China have become teachers of the masses, travelling the length and breadth of the land to use their knowledge in keeping the torch of patriotism aflame. Our universities had to be moved to the far western frontiers, away from the growing war areas. \Ve did not want to sacrifice our young students, the nucleus of China's future educators. Nevertheless more than half of them, girls and boys, joined either the army, or the Red Cross, or the mass education and war training corps which go from village to village behind the lines to organize our rural population for the war of resistance. This changing world of ours has halted their civilizing cultural activities and is forcing them to teach once peaceful peasants the art of handling guns and bayonets. Many of our girls and women have rallied around the colours. Many of them can be seen at the front, as doctors and war nurses. In the hinterland some of the highly effective units, with definite practical programs, have women among the workers. We were not prepared for this war, which has been forced upon us. In our endeavors to rehabilitate the country we had neither time nor money left for the establishment of a war industry. We have not even minor factories for turning out the millions of uniforms, quilts, stretchers, which our brave men need out at the front. 12
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iN Ti-rn w AKE OF Ti-IE w An Our women have substituted their hands for the factories. Often they do not even possess the sewing machines which are considered a sine qua non by any housewife in America or in Europe or in Australia Women's organizations and private circles throughout the country are turning out hand-sewn padded winter-uniforms, knitted scarves and socks and gloves in hundreds of thousands. Voluntary units of school children of both sexes help in workshops in the manufacture of 5tretchers and camp beds. Bandages and comfort-parcels for the defenders of our nation are supplied largely by our womP-n. Then there is the relief work for countless numbers of refugees who have been bombed out of their homes, whose families have been killed or maimed, and who wander through our vast country searching for peace and a bowl of rice and a warm corner where they can squat with their poor little ones. The rate of mortality among refugees, and especially the children, is terrific. Taken unawares, most of them have no warm clothes, no food, and cannot stand the privations and the bitter cold. Were it not for the work done by our young men and women in the refugee camps and relief centres, which are numerous but do not by far meet the actual requirements, and by foreigners of various nationalities, the suffering of these poor creatures would mean their extinction. I am telling you all this to unburden my heart of an infinitesimal part of the woe which has been our lot for the past six months, and also to let you have a glimpse of the sacrificial, heroic spirit of our Chinese women, and of the part they are taking during this time of national disaster. When I look at China, I am proud to be a Chinese woman. But when I look at the world as a whole, at the international situation, as it is developing after years of existence of large international women's organizations, I must confess that my feeling is far from pride. My friends, the world situation is so grave that we can no longer afford to congratulate each other upon the splendid success that we have achieved internationally. It is imperative that we be frank, honest, and effective. As 'a first step, I propose that we recognize our failure mercilessly, even at the expense of our personal pride. We are guilty, every one of us. Let us say "111ea culpa" and not blame the rest of the world for what is happening around us. 13
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHE.K If there has been indifference in our hearts, or too strong a personal ambition, or a tendency to follow the line of least resistance, the beaten track of international conferences, meetings and more meetings, at which long strings of beautiful words are said but v~ry little practical work is ever accomplished-let us confess that this is not the way to save the world. And after having made this confessionbitter and difficult though it may be to admit the errors of our past-let us start an international New Life Movement. You have the elements of it in your hearts and in your minds. Cultivate them and translate them in to action. We in China are ready for the supreme sacrifice, if that is to be the price we have to pay for peace and freedom. You still enjoy peace, or relative peace, in your mother countries. Do not wait until China's fate will become the fate of your peoples. Unite and act before it will be too late. I do not presume to give you any detailed advice, but there is one suggestion I wish to make, and that is that every one of you, and every member of your great organizations, devote a period every day to international thought. Ask yourselves what part you are to take each day to stop the disintegration of this changing world, and you must achieve good. Our civilization is threatened with extinction. \Vhat is happening in China today, may confront you tomorrow. The forces arrayed against peace are colossal. So long as profits can be derived from war, so long as military aggression is met with indifference on our part, war and all the dire misery it entails, will continue unabated. Let us create a vacuum around any aggressor state that dares endanger the peace of the world. Let us remember that what is at sta.ke is onr country, our homes, the lives of our dear ones. Let our aim be to cut the sinews of war and take profit out of war. Even if we should, at the beginning, be unable to do this; on a large scale, let every one of us resolve not to spend a penny that might wander to the aggressor's war-chest. The movement will grow of itself. And let us hope that by the time you meet again aggresssion will no longer he at a premium in this changing world of ours, and that the part women will have taken in international affairs will have led to world-wide peace. 14
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A 1938 Spring Festival Message to China ''We owe it to ourselves, as well as to the dead, to stand staunchly and loyally together until victory." THE 1938 Spring Festival-which supplants in China. the old style lunar new year--dawns in tragic circumstances for the Chinese people. In 1937 the Festival came full of hope and promise. Unity had come to China. Measures were well under way for economic rehabilitation. The welfare of the people was being sought by more realistic administration and by the practical application of the principles of the New Life Movement. Highway and railway extensions were being pushed on with such vigor that all provinces were already connected with motor highways, while new railways were under construction to link Canton with Shang hai and Central China, and were being planned to penetrate the western provinces. Closer cordial relations had been established between Hongkong a.nd South China, and the prospects of the development of a great commercial and engineering boom throughout the whole of the country by the end of 1937 seemed assured. The materialization of an era. of peace and prosperity-in which all the world would have participated by virtue of the inevitable raising of the standard of living of the people of China and the concurrent increase of their purchasing power--was tragically wrecked by the military leaders of Japan. They viewed with apprehension the strides being made in China towards national solidarity and econoinii;; 9rgani,;ati9n, 15
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK For decades they had bent their energies to the undermining of China's national foundations. They had intrigued and plotted to perpetuate political strife, make chronic the chaos of civil war, and hoped through these sinister agencies and the consequent despair of our people lo effect the certain disintegration of our country. Throughout the world they laboured insid:ously and incessantly to destroy confidence in China. Their first aim was to delude the great Powers, who had built up large interests, into believing that Chin:i. was incorrigible and hopeless and should be abandoned as a field for commercial enterprise. Their second aim was to secure international acquiescence in their claim to the right to be the sole arbiters of affairs in China. Their third aim was to lake advantage of what they obviou-sly believed to be the simplicity or supineness of other nations to establish themselves firmly in China as a dominant factor, and their fourth aim was eventually to create out of China for themselves a Continental Empire. Their first foothold was the occupation of Manchuria; their second ,vas the penetration of North China through avenues of demilitarized zones and the creation of puppet regimes. Upon this foundation they began their undoing of China. Their first evil effort to demoralize and subjugate the people (without the knowledge of the world, they hoped) was to steep the regions dominated by them with opium and narcotics; their second was to try to evade international criticism by creating so-called "incidents" in the hope of justifying the use of unrestricted force should the Chinese authorities prove unamenable or recalcitrant. China proved patient, and apparently acquiescent, until her very honour was affected. Then she turned. Her unexpected resistance to activities designed to secure her complete national downfall frustrated the easy fulfilm.t of the Japanese schemes, and amazed and angered their perpetrators. Thus was precipitated the collapse of China's hope for continued peace and immediate future prosperity. The last half of 1937 found her in the throes of the worst calamity of her history.
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COURAGE IN CHAOS Japan deliberately devel9ped the Lukuchiao "incident" into awar, the barbarities and inhumanities of which have horrified the world. Nor have these yet, in this dawn of a new lunar year, diminished in the intensity of their ferocity and brutality. Hundreds of thousands of our people are being done to death and outraged. Tens of millions of dollars' worth of homes and property are being destroyed, and great regions are-being laid waste. The Chinese nation has met this terrible catastrophic onslaught,_ and disappointment of hopes, with a courage and determination which have evoked the sympathy of the world. China is seeing ruin descending widespread upon her, and she is witnessing it develop wnrld-wide consequences of major gravity. No one can foretell the future, but if there is any message which I could give my fellow compatriots it is the simple one that as we are in a war that has been forced upon us we must resolutely and bravely continue to fight not only to protect our hearths and our homes, but to save the national honour of a great and ancient country which isthe cherished heritage of all of us. If we realise our responsibilities and acknowledge the duties that our ancestors have imposed upon us we shall not fail. Those whohave so far died must not be betrayed by those who survive. But we owe it to ourselves, as well as to the dead, to be ready to make every sacrifice; and, confident in the justice of our cause, to stand staunchly and loyally together until victory, with the blessingSof an honourable peace, is achieved. 17
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Message To Women Of America* "''There is no shadow of protection to be had by sheltering behind the slender stockades of visionary speculation, or by hiding behind the waggon-wheels of pacific theories." IF the millions of women of China, who are already victims ot the horrors of undeclared warfare, could make their voice heard through their grief, their tears, and the smoke of their burnt homes, it is .certain that American womanhood would be shocked into acute realization of the far-reaching consequences of the calamities now threatening civilization. There would be little tolerance for amazing apologia attempting to justify the commission of unparalleled massacre, rape, and rapine in this twentieth century on the ground that such things have been done before. Instead, there is every ceason to believe that the women of America would respond to the alarm which the women of China could raise, and would be inflexible in their demands that durable barricades against the disintegration of civilization be set up before it is too late. If ever there was menace in the throbbing of distant drums, it is now. Nor is there even the shadow of protection to be had by the shutting of eyes to the possibilities of world war; by sheltering behind the slender stockades of visionary speculation, or be hiding behind the waggon wheels of pacific theories. The bow and the arrow and the bJwie knife have been replaced be far-reaching high explosives and exquisite instruments of destruction. But the holocaust in China, lighted as it has been by torn treaties and agreements, proves, surely -* A message e~nt by Madame Chiang Kai-shek to the women of America through the special request of the New Yori, Herald Tribune on March 21, 1938. 18
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STARK REALISM IS '.'IECESSARY .::and bitterly, that the forked tongue and the cloven hoof are still with us, and have to ba reckoned with just as much as ever, So it is prov-' ed that reliance can no longer be placed upon mere signed undertakings, be they dignified treaties or simple letters. Stark realism is necessary now more than at any time in modern history. If the women of America will be realistic in viewing and -estimating the happenings in China, they can do infinite good in assisting to break down misguided conceptions, and set up, as they used to help set up in old frontier days, collective action for mutual defence against a common enemy. Only by collective action, economic, if nothing else, will it be possible to arrest the collapse of democratic ideas of liberty and justice, .and prevent America, and particularly smaller, weaker, and less fortunate democratic countries, from being laid open to what are described as "unpredictable hazards,"* but which are really definitely predictable if eyes are not deliberately closed to the infamies that are now being perpetrated in China. We people of China appreciate the great and growing sympathy of the American people. We know full well that governmeritar action on our behalf is difficult, owing to a variety of circumstances, and we do not expect America, or any other country, to fight our battles for us. We, however, are unable to understand why the civilized nations .are content to permit without protest the gross inhumanities and monstrous organized robberies which are being perpetrated all over China as a definite part of a deliberate attempt to destroy the Chinese race and effect the conquest of our ancient country. After all, respect for the territorial and administrative integrity of -our country was solemnly agreed upon by a congeries of nations. If -that agreement were not to be upheld in case of violation what good was served in having the treaty in the first place ? What good, may we, who are being despoiled, debauched, and done to death, ask is any trea_ty if no retribution is to be exacted from nations who scorn it"when suitable to them; and worse, who deluge a country in blood and raze it by fire in order to conquer it? Nor, with all deference, can we understand what boots it for any country to affirm that it "should uphold .,,.Mr. Cordell Hull 19
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.APAME CHIANG KAI-SHEI-;: the principles of the. sarictityof treaties an9 of faithful observance of !nternatio-nal agreements"* if the upholding-of such principles is con tentedly defined as merely reiterating them and itself refraining from violating them? It seems to our simple minds, if I may be pardoned for saying so, that if a nation is a signatory to those principles, then surely that nation is both morally and legally obligated to act with other signatories in restraining, by some means or other, not necessarily force, any nation that dares to violate those principles. Or, again, it is puzzling to the Chinese mind why anyone should bother subscribing to someth_ing that seems to mean a lot, but,.in reality, when the test comes, resolves itself into meaning nothing. Here, in point of fact, is the loophole offering escape without penalty to any unscrupulous nation desiring to. free itself from observance of any treaties which bebome irksome or .which may obstruct some design of an aggressor upon thee territory of a neighbour. It is said, and it is true, that all nations should strive to be friendly, But should such friendship be maintained at the expense of a great and ancient country like China by submitting to or apparently acquiescing in aggression by Ja pan? We, in China, are thankful that the policy of America has been clarified in general terms. Something specific, however, must be done immediately to compel Japan to understand that her violation of treaties, and htr revoltirtg inhumanities and destruction in China, can neither be' condoned nor be excused. Above all Japan must be given unequivocally to understand that no so-called peace will be connived at or be tolerated which will in any way sacrifice, or infringe upon, the sovereignty or territorial integrity of China, who loyally has adhered to those fundamental principles which underlie international order, and. without which there can be nothing but international anarchy. To the womanhood of America I can only appeal for careful understanding of the ferociously relentless progress of the aggression. I can only urge therri to \veigh its aims, and the consequences to the rest of the world if those aims are achieved. I ask them to think of the terrible carnage and suffering; of the destruction of means of liveli-i\Jr Cordell Hull 20
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POWERS' STUDIED CAUTIOUSNESS hood; of the ghastly efforts th~t tqe J apanj!lse a.re-mak~g. to annihifate our culture, our civilization, and ourpeople. We have ne~er ceased to resist; we shall not cease. Our spirit is undaunted, even though our means are jeopardized by the studied cautiousn~s; of the Powers. But we are not afraid. It is now over eight mcmths since this invasion began. Japanese propaganda has probably led American people to believe that Japanese troops have conquered great areas of our country. They have not. We :are fighting thein everywhere. Where flesh and blood, backed only by inferior atms, could not endure against great expenditure of explosives by the enemy, we have with drawn, but we have not been defeated. Nor shall we be defeated if we are able to procure the means with which to equip ourselves. We are fighting and dying in defence of onr soil, and for the principles that other nations profess to espouse; we only ask that those nations demonstrate clearly that there can be no fruits for the aggressor from this barbarous invasion and its' mon~trous inhumanifies, and that the Powers friendly to China and the Chinese people will take collective economic action to compel Japan to abandon her atrocious attempt to I conquer our country. '2:1
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Message To Australian VI omen's Peace Conf erence'A' "Statesmen the world around seem to have been struck dumb by the sinister overthrow of the foundations of civilization." lfT is appropriate that the All-_.\ustralian \Vomen 's Peace Conference, Jl to whom I send greetings from the women of China, should assemble while the terrors of most barbarous warfare are being loosened with unrestrained ferocity upon China and her people. It is appropriate because the voice of Australian and world's womanhood can surely be enlisted to awaken Occidental governments to the significance of the increasing ruthlessness of undeclared warfare, and to the special gravity of the developments in China, even if that voice -cannot succeed in curbing the ultimate menace to mankind that is now garbed in the uniforms of Japan and which is marching knee-deep in blood, ruin, and rapine in China. Confronted by the amazing defiance of the leaders of the Japanese .army the great Democratic Powers seem to have become paralyzed; and, so far as Japan is concerned, treaties have been torn up, and international law has been ignored. All the machinery so laboriously ,erected to safeguard and energise civilization, and to protect the rights and lives of innocent non-combatant men, women, and children in time -of war, has been contemptuously set at naught by Japan. The world is consequently the witness of a deliberate reversion of the methods of barbaric savagery under the guise of undeclared warfare; a type of warfare that has been found by Japan to possess unrestricted possibili-*This message was sent by Madame Chiang Kai-shek to the All-Australian ,vomen's Peace Conference held in Sydney in Aprll, 1938. 22
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APPARENT BANKRUPTCY OF STATESMANSHIP ties for annihilation of people, particularly if full use is made of the instruments for man's undoing which scientific and mechanical progress has made possible. Up to this moment of writing, statesmen the world around seem to have been struck dumb and helpless by this sinister overthrow of those moral and humane principles which formed the foundations of civilization. The League of Nations, as well as the individual nations themselves, virtually confessed failure to be able to safeguard treaties and laws governing war when Manchuria was invaded and occupied by Japan. During the years that have elapsed since then they have further failed to cooperate in creating any international measures to prevent the continued violations, or abandonment, in part or in whole, of those legal instruments upon which law-abiding m.tions hitherto depended to insure themselves against being victimised by others who arm for predatory and ruthless conquest. Nor have they been able during the past eight months of ghastly despoiling of China to devise any policy, e't"en to intervene as humanitarians, to ensure the observance of cannons of decency in the conduct of warfare and so save innocent men, women, and children from wholesale murder, and women and girls from a fate worse than death. There is one bright hope emerging from the gloom of l\pparent bankruptcy of statesmanship, however. That is the determination of the people of civilized nations to do something themselves to lessen by boycott the power and opportunities of Japan to continue with her terrible debauchery in China. A further hope is that the voice of the women can be raised to try and stop the mental and moral demoralization that seems to have descended like a disease upon the statesmen of the world. I urge womankind to speak with no uncertainty to save our innocent people and to insure the future of those of other lands. If that cannot be done then the infamies that are happening in China will, in time, surely happen in your and other countries. Millions of our people have been bombed and burned out of their homes; hundreds of thousands of non-combatants have been slain by bombs, by bullets, and by bayonets, in cold bloocl; thousands of women and girls have been treated with brutality unpermissible of description, Accounts of the barbarity of the Japanese troops wherever they have penetrated into China would be unbelievable were their actions not confirmed and vouched for by independent foreign observers. 23
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MADAME CHIANG KA1-SHEI{ On top of all thfl vicious inhumanities is unparalleled robbery of great quantities of property. \i\Thatever bas been considered of value, especially metal ware, has been collected and shipped off to Japan. Everything of iron-from the hinges of doors and the anchors of fishing junks, to the machinery of small and large industries-has been stripped from its foundations and taken away to be made into equipment and munitions to fire back at the Chinese. Thus have the immediate future means of livelihood of hundreds of thousands of small noncombatant tJ adesmen and artisans been w;lfully destroyed. Prince Konoye, the Premier of Japan, boasted that the aim of his country was to beat China to her knees and break her spirit of resistance. The Japar.ese are carrying out that threat with calculated ferocity. They are slaughtering all men able to bear arms, destroying the youth, and carrying off many small children forcibly to educate them according to Japanese ideas. Simultaneously with the dispersal of great sections of the population, Japanese leaders are pub! icly announcing that they intend to settle Japanese soldiers and their families on the soil of China at the conclusion of the war. \Veil may we ask where, seeing that every square mile of China has for generations carried more than its quota of the population, and every inch of arable land has been cultivated. Echo answers that they will be settled only upon the farm lands rendered vacant by the deliber.i.te murder or exp~lsion of the Chinese owners and their families. There is nowhere else. Such robbery is an unpardonable crime in itselfbut in what category can be placed the brutalities. inflicted upon the humans who were entitled to expect some protection under international law? And what redress can. China expect for the diabolical injuries done to her because of her allegiance to treaties, to the League of Nations, and to the terms of international law? China is fighting for her very life; more, she is fighting to uphold the very foundations of civilization that the Powers depend upon but seem unable to support. \Veil may she ask if she is being deliberately betrayed, and if her stricken people-stricken by the millions-are to expect nothing from those whom they have been taught to regard as the champions of justice, and honor, and righteousness? No one else seems willing to answer that question, so I ask the women of the world for an answer. Are we women of China, and the children of China, and the civilization of China, to be despoiled and destroyed and sacrificed without expectation of economic aid of some sort from the so-called sponsors of international treaties and human justice? If not, then it is idle to talk of future peace in the world, for only might will be glorified. 24
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An Appeal for China's Refugee Children* "The call now is for all who have any strength, or any means, to come forward and give practical aid to the helpless and the homeless." WE have now been involved in a desperate war against a ruthless and unscrupulous eneiny for over eight months. Because it is necessary to have full public support behind our Government, and because there are criticisms that our people as a whole do not seem to understand the nature of their responsibilities in such a crisis, or the way in which they should respond to what is happening to our country, I feel that I should try to indicate where their interests and responsibilities do really lie. I am sure that educated people-people who possess consciencesare not wilfully disregarding their responsibilities, even if some may appear to be doing so. It is more likely that many do not realize the nature of those responsibilities. Perhaps they do not understand how to become active in trying to help the country in general, and their suffering fellow-beings in particular, to surmount the national and personal difficulties and dangers that confront us all. What may look like apathy may be ignorance of necessities and opportunities. Or it may be that the long period of internecine warfare following the Revolution of 19 l 1 developed in the people a mental attitude of aloofness and indifference towards armed strife, which -----------------* 11:n appeal on behalf of the many tens of thousands of children, bereft of parents and homes, was made by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, president of the Refugee Children's Relief Asrnciation, in a special article which apeared in the April 4, 938, issue of Women's Life, a leading Chinese periodical for women. 25
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MA DAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK attitude now rend~rs it difficult for them to differentiate between the nature and consequences of past local wars and the present invasion of China by a foreign foe fully equipped with every implement of highly scientific and mechanized warfare. Perhaps this explains much that looks like indifference on the part of the people in general, for civil wars were usually conducted without popular. support. Nol indeed, until the purposes of the Northern Expedition to overthrow warring war-lords for all time were understood did realistic people become conscious of the effective influence they might exert, and the assistance they might render to bring an armed conflict to a successful and advantageous end. But since then there seems to have been a natural tendency to adhere to the old accepted habit oE mind that war is none of their business, that soldiers are made to fight, and that the Government should do everything else connected with the conduct and conclusion of any armed combat that may anse. There is, however, a vast and a vital difference between the old-time civil wars and the war that has been forced upon us, and ~vhich has now involved practically all of our country in grave danger and much of it in utter ruin. The difference is that Japan is now engaged with all her strength fighting to conquer the whole of this land of our ancestors, to destroy our ancient culture and civilization, and to make us slaves. This must be realized by everyone. Japanese soldiers have perpetrated upon the persons of our people and our soil such monstrous massacres, such shocking outrage9-, and such colossal ruin that to prevent our complete annihilation every fibre in the bodies of each and everyone of us must be strained and every coin in our purse must be used, without respite, until we have either freed our country of the infamous aggressors or until we are dead. This is what our aim, our duty, and our patriotic pleasure should and must be. The duty of the Government and the army is to achieve victory, but victory cannot come unless the people take up the responsibility of organizing and supporting co-operative effort to deal with those various problems that have to do with sustaining national life, as well as caring for the vast number of refugees who have been deprived of their all; who have been flung helpless upon the mercy of the public, and who crowd everywhere, famished and benumbed.
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STATE BEFORE SELF Missionaries and other foreign sympathi:ters Jost no time, when war seemed inevitable, to plan for the protection of our people, and wherever possible, for the preservation of life. They have done noble work in a never-to-be-forgotten spirit. Many of our people have also done splendid things to help their fellow sufferers, but there are also vast numbers who have not. I think it is because these have not understood, having had no previous experience in organizing, and not having been accustomed to the mobilization of popular effort and strength to support the armies in the defence of our country. vVhalever the reason, the call now is for all who have any strength, or any means, to come forward and give practical aid to the helpless and the homeless. United effort can secure us victory, and the very fact of helping to that end will bring to each and everyone a deserved feeling of gratification of a national deed well done. Now the slogan should unequivocally be "everything .and everyone for the Sta{e." Everyone should be courageously cheerful, unafraid, resolute, stoical, kind and self-sacrificing from beginning to end, helpfully philosophic, and always, I repeat, unafraid and cheerful. The things to do are many. Those who can afford it should apply funds, or labour, or material, to national needs-for supplies for soldiers; for the production of food of all kinds; for the relief of refugees. There are many ways of doing things, and many things to do. What, however, is particularly on my mind at this moment is the problem of the children. There are many tens of thousands of children, bereft of parents and homes. There are more with parents who are too poor to feed and clothe them. These all must be cared for. They will soon be men and women. They must be housed, fed, clothed, and educated. They cannot be allowed to drift, to become beggars, and potential criminals; to burden the streets and highways with their famished bodies. Pride in our race alone should inspire us to prevent such a catastrophe, and our inherent love of children should cause us to abhor even the thought of neglecting the thousands of them now in such sore need. If we remember the times of our own childhood, if we think of our parents, our homes, and our school days, we cannot do other than rally to provide the refugee children with opportunities to escape 27
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK destitution and death, and help them to become worthy citizens able and eager to take their full share in the further defence and rehabilitation of our country. The Association for \Var Refugee Children is now making a drive for funds. It will cost $60.00 per year to house, feed, clothe and educate, in a simple way, one child. vVe ask everyone of you to subscribe for several children, so that they can he properly maintained. Our immediate object is to care for 20,000 children; and later to support as many as our funds -will allow. vVe shall distribute the children to different centres in the rear, house them in safety under responsible supervision; see that they are neither neglected nor ill-used; give them vocational training to fit them to take care of themselves; and as soon as they are able to work, provide them with something to do suited to their strength and ability to qualify them, when the time comes, to undertake the burdens of life for themselves. In this movement there is great scope for good, and it should be a source of abundant pleasure and inspiration to all contributors to feel that they have assisted materially in the building up of a new and strong and self-respecting China through its rescued man and womanpower. 28
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Momentous Message to Missionaries "I see a vision of a Chinese Christian Church which can really help China, and enrich Christianity." MADAME Chiang Kai-shek, at the Wuhan Monthly Missionary Prayer Meeting held in Hankow on April 6, 1938, announced the Generalissimo's decision to amend the law forbidding religion to be compulsorily taught in Christian schools in China. She described the decision as "the greatest testimony in the history of China of our appreciation of the value of the real, vital contributions that Christianity hasmade to the spiritual well-being and the livelihood of our people." The meeting was attended by more than 150 foreign representatives of various churches, missionary schools and hospitals in the Wuhan cities. It was primarily a valediction to Bishop Logan Roots, of the American Church Mission, and a welcome to his successor, Bishop A. M. Gilman, who had just arrived from America. Bishop Roots, in welcoming Madame Chiang Kai-shek, expressed his great appreciation of the leadership of the Generalissimo and herself, and of what their lives had meant to the entire Chinese nation. He made an appeal for a spiritual revolution among the Christians in China, declaring his helief that the future of China was strongly bound up with the quality of the spiritual life of her people. Madame Chiang spoke as follows: lfT gives me great pleasure this afternoon to be present here and Jl to greet you in person. There are many amongst you who are already my old friends, and there are others whom I am meeting for the first time. But whether you are old friends or new friends l wish to bring to you greetings from the Generalissimo,
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Bishop Roots has just now s~id something which has moved me deeply. Not because I think that either my husband or I would be able to bring about a Christian revolution in China, but because I see, as he portrayed, a vision of a Chinese Christian Church which can really help China, and enrich Christianity all over the world. The Generalissimo wishes me to tell you that he deeply appreciates the fine work which you have been doing to help our people. Please take this as a personal tribute to your courage and self-sacrificing spirit, to your valor and determination, to help our people, regardless of the dangers to your own persons and lives. On this point I may say that we both feel deeply that words are inadequate to express our thanks to the whole missionary body in China, who have stood so loyally to their ground in spite of Japanese threats and abuse, and to those foreigners who have shown their sympathy with us in practical ways, and who have been, and are, arliculate eye-witnesses to the scandalous beha vior of Japanese troops on Chinese soil. The fact that you not only risked your lives in succouring the wounded, but also helped the destitute, and saved many of our women and girls from a fate worse than death, and gave hope and support to all the refugees, has moved the whole Chinese nation to a sense of apprecia ti0n of the true Christian spirit which animated you in your aclions. Some years ago it was quite the fashion to decry missionary efforts as being a failure, and I even remember that a commission was sent out from America to gauge the results of missionary work because there was then a widespread feeling that missions had failed in their object. At that time many wondered where were the succe,,sors of the Livingstons, the Morrisons, and the Young]. Allens. I think that if one were to view impartially the work done by the missionaries, especially during these last nine months, one need no longer doubt whether the same stalwart, courageous, intense passion to help humanity is today present as it was in the days of pioneering missionaries. I may go a step further. I would say, fro1n my personal experience, that almost without a single exception all missionaries who are now in the China field have shown themselves to be possessed of those qualities which we so admired in those missionaries of other days whose names have become famous. Many people today are thrilled when they read of how Morrison, I think, with a Chinese teacher, worked on his sampan 30
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MISS10NARiES' H'.ER01SM translating the Bible into colloquial, while edicts from the Empress Dowager were sending guards to arrest him. We see something heroic in the way he laboured under the uncertain glimmer of an oil lamp risking his life as his sampan traversed tortuous canals so that the masses might have the benefit of the Bible in terms understandable to them. Today, however, missionaries are working under even greater handicaps of death and woe than those which harassed Morrison. All of you know only too well what has recently happened in Nanking, Hangchow, \Vuhu, and throughout that densely populated region marked by those cities, and how the missionaries have stood their ground and saved hundreds of thousands of our refugees in the face of Japanese bayonets, artillery, bombs, and unbridled lust. When I was at the front with the Generalissimo last week I heard stories of women missionaries whose heroism, and whose undaunted resolution to help and work among the stricken people, kept them within the fighting area. There is one woman missionary 30 miles from Hsuchowfu, in a district formerly overrun by bandits, and which is now in daily danger of being entered by the Japanese troops. She is the only foreigner in that district. There is another woman, 50 miles n01th of Hsuchowfu, who, also, is the only foreigner at her station. Then there is a case of two women missionaries going on their way in a sampan. They reached a village where the Chinese troops were destroying all available boats to prevent the Japanese from crossing the Yellow River. Understanding the object of the destruction and sympathizing with our people, these two women voluntarily gave up their sampan to be demolished, one of them remaining to work with the people in that village. It was the missionaries who foresaw the need of refugee zones, and they established them early in various places. The missionaries in Kaifeng, I understand, are now planning a refugee zone on a large, and well organized scale, in which they expect to take care of 30,000 women and children should necessity arise. You, in Hankow, have undertaken, and are continuing to undertake, the stupendous task of succouring the wounded and the refugees through the International Red Cross. 31
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK I could go on enumerating instance after instance of the selflessness and charity of missionary efforts. I need not stress here what missionaries, i~ the past, have already done in educational, medical, industrial, and agricultural lines to help the people all over the country, because you know the facts as well as I. It is interesting in passing, however, to mention that when the Generalissimo and I ma:le the first tour of the country, the response of the missionaries everywhere to our request to help in the New Life Movement was tremendous. They felt, and could see, that this Movement had unique possibilities of touching the lives of the people and of raising their spiritual and material levels. And so, throughout the country, wherever help has been called for, the missionaries have given themselves whole-heartedly. You have asked me today to tell you how best you can help us m this national crisis. I can only say: continue your efforts in the same direction in which you have employed them in the past. From the most unexpected sources I have heard admiration of the work that you have done and are doing. One of our Cabinet Ministers, who is a non-Christian, remarked one day that he was studying the Bible. When asked if he were a Christian, he replied, "No, but I notice that the Christians throughout the country show a greater self-sacrificing spirit than others, and, therefore, I feel that there must be something to Christianity." Another high Government official, who is also a non-Christian, spoke of the spirit to resist and defend the country, which is now prevailing among our masses, as being similar to that spirit of supreme sacrifice that actuated Jesus Christ when he wcn t to Gethsemane to face the Cross. If yon remember, some years ago, there was much criticism of missionary effort among our Chinese people. T 0day those who criticized you in the past have been completely won over by the knowledge of what you are doing. It is certainly true that actions speak louder than words, and this period of trial and suffering has now proved this axiom. In closing, may I just say that although the actual work you have been doing, and are doing, is noteworthy, there is one point which I wish to stress, and, that is, that the spirit which underlies your c;:easeless efforts is recognized as one of the greatest contributions
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FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS TEACHING which you can make to our people. vVhy do I say this? I shall explain. Some years ago the Government issued an order which forbade religion to be made a compulsory study in any private school. Many of you felt that policy to be unfair, and contrary to the principles of missionary enterprise. I, myself, received many letters from your colleagues asking me to use my influence to have this order rescinded. \Vhile sympathizing with, and understanding, the motive which prompted the writers, I felt the time was not yet ripe for the Governm~nt to rescind the order even if such an action then could have been made possible. We know enough about psycholo!!,'y to understand that any rule which is enforced without the consent and the good-will of those concerned is little better than not having this rule, because it would then only be obeyed in the letter and not in the spirit. In replying to those letters I wrote that I did not think it would be wise to accept the writers' suggestions until the time was ripe, because our people, as a whole, would be so against such a move that more harm than good would be done, and that since we, as Christians, know that God works in mysterious and inscrutable ways the best we could do would be to pray that God's will be made known to the Government and carried out in His good time. Meanwhile, I emphasized, we should do everything in our power to show the Government and the people that the true Christian spirit exhibits itself in persisting in doing the best we could in whatever circumstances that presented themselves, and not in allowing seeming obstacles to impede us in the pet formance of our tasks. I wrote, too, that not only was I in sympa~hy with the missionaries in their hopes to have the law modified, but that my sister, Madame Kung, would go still further. She advocated, and I agreed with her, that it shoul
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MADAME CHIA.NG KAi-SHEK subjects may henceforth be taught in registered mission schools. This decision is the greatest testimony in the history of China of our appreciation of the value of the real, vital contribution that Christianity has made to the spiritual well-being and the livelihood of our people. I am pleased to say that you have had the leading share in making this realization possible, by interpreting practical Christianity in its widest sense. 34
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Broadcast to American Y.W.C.A. Convention* "What can we who have virtually been condemned to death by the inertia of the Democracies, suggest as a means of securing permanent peace." TO the delegates of the Fifteenth National Convention of the Young Women's Christian Association who are meeting today in Columbus, Ohio, the women of war-torn China send greetings. Because my country is at war and because so many thousands oJ fellow women have met a fate worse than death, it seems almost -----------------unreal that several thousand American women should be able to hold aconvenUOffin peaceful surroundings to discuss such subj_ects _sS kadershtp,-r-efigion,-an-doemocr:i.~t this time of grave uncertainty iris encouraging tha:t ;;ou can assemble, if only for academic discuss10n. Bt I sincerely hope that you will be abl~ to accomplish more than that. The problems that you have just dealt with at your Convention are vital to China. Only strong leadership can secure the reassertion of the influence of religion, and the recovery for democracy of its lost strength and independence of action. Because these important essentials of civilised life have been tragically enfeebled it has been possible for Japan to throw laws and treaties in the faces of the hitherto resolute and undaunted champions of human rights and justice. At the ~ame time Japan has been able to subject China to the most horrifying ruthlessness that any first-class Power has ever perpetrated *Mad1me Chiang Kai-shek broadcas!ed the following address to the 15th National Con vention of the Young Women's Christian Association in Columbus, Ohia, U.S. A., on April 28, 1938. 35
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MADAME CHIANG l
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BiRTH OF THE NEW LIFE MOVEMENT we secured the chance to act upon this important decision. That fact should never be forgotten when conditions in China are being measured by Occidental standards. Then, in addition to the consequences of this delay, we had to overcome the ruinous effects upon our people of the domestic strife which was a natural aftermath of the Revolution. Because we found our peasant masses, the backbone of our country, in a benumbed state, due to continuous suffering and ignorance of methods of modern progress, we started upon a program of changes calculated to stimulate thought and action alor.g spiritual and materially progressive lines. We had to translate into realistic measures the moral precepts for which China is famous, and with which our people have always been familiar, in order to develop social and national-consciousness. We aspired to make our people better men and women; better citizens, self-reliant, patriotic, and mutually helpful, through a clear understanding of the benefits of co-operative service. We decided upon certain fundamental moral reforms which could be made comparatively easy of introduction by developing the inherent virtues of the people. \Ve went to our Classics for the principles which formed the spiritual bulwark of ancient China, and selected four of them. These were crystallized as the main tenets of the New Life Movement, and are being applied to a radical overhauling of traditional systems of thought and morality. While you of the West regard law as a sufficiently potent instrument to regulate human conduct, we of China do not. We depend upon moralism rather than upon legalism. We are, therefore, apply~ng moralism to the daily Ii ves of the people by systematised i.!!.tr_ction, -in whtch-{ask-members-of theYoung Wo1.1en'sChri-;tian Association -------.. = ..... ----.. of China arso-partic'iJ5ate. They-workthrough the New Life Move-ment, ncu.Icating practical respect for cleanliness of mind, conduct and action, as well as cleanliness of body, habitation, and general environment. In this labour, the women in particular are a potent influence for good. Their service sha.ws marked results upon the people. The latter are developing clarity of vision and understanding which is rapidly assisting to disperse provincial suspicions and jealousies. The widespread construction of motor highways, now connecting every province through the length and breadth of China, is also an important contributing factor to this desirable goal. By these 37
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SliEK means there is continuous promotion of national unity. We teach the people their responsibilities as citizens, as well as their rights, and we teach the officials that they are the servants and not the masters of the people. Thus we develop loyalty and administrative integrity. We teach private and public hygiene; the value of good conduct and order; the importance of rendering service in the interests of maintaining public health; the necessity of practising thrift; the national advantages to be derived from afforestation, from improved methods of fanning, from village industries, from the opening up of natural resources, the production of raw materials, and the advisability of general economic expansion on modern lines. Thus we develop interested citizenship. Through the whole gamut of imprnvements and reforms the importance of fundamental spiritual guidance is always emphasised. Thus we illuminate moral concepts. In short, we began to kindle anew all the democratic instincts which our people have always possessed. \\'hen Japan began her invasion we were in the process of preparing the people to govern themselves through parliamentary rule, so that they could eventually enjoy the full privileges of citizenship and all that they mean in liberty of speech, action, and self-expression. In fact, we aimed at possessing in China in due course, what I heard a statesman recently claim that the advanced democratic nations possess, namely, just as much freedom and protection for the minority of one as are enjoyed by the big majorities in houses of legislature. We were well on the march toward national emancipation from ancient inhibitions; toward national reconstruction and spiritual consciousness, when the Japanese descended upon us with their wrathful intention to reduce us to slavery by means of this "undeclared war". It was, in fact, because of our rapid advancement toward social and national rebirth, as much as for possession of our economic wealth and territory, that Japan hastened to try to destroy us as a nation. That will be impossible, of course, because the influence of the discovery of the strength that unity gave us, and the effects of the teachings of the New Life Movement, grow stronger every day. And more, because China is, at last, finding her soul. So apparent is that becoming that a foreign friend, just out from Germany, told me with some surprise only a few days ago, that he noticed a significant calm confidence and moral force in the very atmosphere here which was 38
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l>RESENCE OF MORAL STRENGTH singularly absent in other countries which he had recently visited. I explained to him that the phenomenon was due to the fact that what was happening in China was not a mere war between two coun~, .but was ~per
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A Mothees Day Message* "While our hearts are full of admiration for the heroism of our troops there is an abiding pride in the mothers who have had to sacrifice their sons." WHILE we are all gratified over the recent victories of our troops on all fronts, and our hearts are full of admiration for their splendid courage and heroism, there is poignant grief for those in all sections of society who have been killed during the war, and abiding pride in the mothers who have had to suffer and sacrifice their sons. The sufferings of our people and the sacrifices of our troops have been so intense and unprecedented that it is difficult to find words sufficiently expressive to depict the agonies the nation has undergone during the last nine months. Yet how infinitely more intense have been the mental tortures of the mothers of those sufferers who, along with their own physical pains brought about by hostilities, have had to bear the added knowledge of the agonies that have been inflicted upon their sons and daughters. From time immemorial Chinese mothers have given themselves to the upbringing of their children for the welfare of the nation. Mencius, Er Yang Siu, Fan Jung Yi, and Yo Fei, are some of the outstanding examples. The mothers of all those national heroes were widowed in early life, and, despite poverty and uncontrollable vicissitudes, brought up their sons to become great men. We are all familiar with the story of how the mother of Mencius, having realized the importance that environment played in the development of character, persisted in moving from place to place until she found one which would have a favorable influence upon the boy, -------------------------------~ "'An English translation of a special Mother's Day article written in May, 1938, by Madame Chiang Kai-shek for a Wuchang publication. 40
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FAMOUS CHINESE MOTHERS Erh Yang Siu and Fan Jung Yi both became premiers during the Sung Dynasty. Er Yang Sin's mother was so poor that she had no money to buy either paper, ink or brush, but, b~ing a resourc~ful woman, she overcame circumstances and used a.reed as a pen to write on the saad to instruct her boy. This is ho~ we come to have the story of "Drawing with a reed to instruct the son." Also, through the personal teachings and influence of his mother during his childhood, Fan Jung Yi--when he became premier-formulated and carried out the philosophical principles envisaged in his famous self-admonition: "The first to be troubled over the sorrows under the heavens; the last to enjoy the blessings," which finally brought prosperity and happiness to the people. The phrase illustrating a frugal life: "Portion out the salt vegetables, divide the congee," indicates how Fan, as a young student, limited his intake of food to the minimum amount necessary for sustenance, because he remembered his mother's economical habits during her struggle for livelihood at the time of his infancy. The story is known to every school child. Yo Fei's mother inculcated in her son the principles of undying devotion and loyalty to the country by tattooing on his back the fof lowing characters: "Utmost loyalty to recompense the country,'_' And because of this 'ihe is perhaps most revered by our people as an example of an outstanding patriotic mother. Coming to the present day there is the example of "Old Mother Chao," that courageous heroine whose fine, unquenchable spirit, albeit in so frail a body, conquers all physical handicaps. She travels incessantly, going from place to place, making contacts for the volunteers in North China and securing contributions for their support. She not only has given her whole soul to this work of helping the defenders of our country, but she has also inspired and dedicated all her children to the same cause. The other day she told me that she and the members of her family had pledged themselves to work unceasingly for our ultimate victory, regardless of personal sacrifices, and that they had pledged not to shed a single tear if anyone of them should be killed while serving the country. She has given everything she possesses in this world to this objective. More than this, she has given us a striking, modern 41
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK example of courageous devotion to the country which a mother can set for her children. She is but one of the many mothers who have dedicated themselves with equal fervor to the defence of our soil. There are also countless other mothers in China to-day who have decided that they prefer to see their children dead rather than become slaves of Japanese aggressors. The qualities, distinguishing these mothers I have mentioned, point to the reasons for the greatness inherent in our Chinese race, and the potentialities for further development in the future of our nation. Their philosophy of life; their calm acceptance of existent conditions as a basis upon which to build their hopes; their adaptability to meet every emergency in making use of resources at hand; their refusal to surrender in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles; their sublime faith, in the ultimate outcome of their aspirations; their fortitude and courage to battle against adversities so that they might translate their faith into living reality; the deep reservoir of their silent strength to carry 01.1t their appointed tasks, and their tenacity of purpose-all these characteristics are not confined to them alone, but are possessed by all Chinese mothers in a greater or lesser degree. The "Book of Odes" makes numerous references to the high spiritual status of mothers. To our own mothers we each owe an unpayable debt. The mothers of most of us may not be so spectacular nor their renown so great, but the typical and average Chinese mother is the embodiment of the virtues of our race. There are many of our mothers who have already passed away, but whose memories are forever enshrined in our hearts. We remember the innumerable sacrifices they have made on our behalf, their ever-ready sympathy and protecting love, and their gentle patience with our youthful waywardness. Therefore, to-day, on Mother's Day, I make a special plea that we should cherish and honor all mothers whether they are alive or whether they exist only in our hearts and memories; and that to the wisdom, the goodness, the self-sacrifice, the courage, and the fortitude of these mothers we should pay our respectful homage,
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China's Present, Past And Future* "We must develop our resources with the definite object of co-operating with international producers and consumers." YOU ask a lot of questions, and you want my views about the future? It is a real task to comply, even briefly, with your request. Generally speakiDg my views are unpalatable-sometimes unprintable. It is a bit difficult, too, to foresee possibilities through the murk caus ed hy the wrath and welter of a war which is not a war. Even if wa could start rebuilding at this stage of the armed unpleasantness we would have a gigantic job before us. Wherever the Japanese have been they have marked our land with rum. They have left scars upon our earth, our hearts, and our mindsindelible scars--scars which never can he healed or eradicated. I wonder if the Japanese people realize that? They should begin to do so quickly, if they ever hope to recover any semblance of prestige, or even standing, in China-or in the world, for that matter. The myriads of ghosts they have made will take a lot of laying-ghosts of men, women, and children; of ancient cities, towns, and villages; of workshops, and factories; of the little ~hops-the places of handicraft of the millions. You never saw such monstrous criminali ly. Yet, in this year of grace, 1938-at this alleged advanced period of civilization-there is no law and no nation or nations to check or punish the criminal; no applicable international instrument of any kind available. Think of it! This new style of "undeclared war," permitting any kind of unlicensed inhumanity, has superseded all decencies. Only the metaphorical sword is left. "He who takes the sword will perish *f'.xtracts from a letter to a Chinese friend in America, dated May 14, 1938.
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK by the sword," will occur to the minds of many. Is there hope in lhat? There is some comfort, anyway. There are many who pray that the met<1l of our blade will stand the strain. But you asked about the future. It will be one of much rebuilding. The pity of it is that for a long time it will of necessity be jerry building. As soon as the voice of the cannons die down we must hurriedly face the task of completely reconstructing cities, towns, and villages. We even have to rebuild the nation. Bombs have not only ~haken the lives out 9f people and buildings, they have shaken the fabric of national administration to such good purpose that when rebuilding does have a chance to begin we must seize it to follow plans that will produce a national edifice thal will ultimately make us a proud member of a peaceful family of progressive democratic nations. To my mind our destiny is with the democracies, because our people are inherently democratic in nature and spirit, If we survive we have the opportunity to become a great organized democracy. That is, of course, if democracy itself survives. The ringing of the changes seems to be proceeding at such a pace everywhere that there is no guaranteeing anything any more. In the short space of time that has elapsed since April, 1917, when the late President \\Tilson was ingenuously bent upon making the world safe for democracy, a whole collection of startling happenings has taken place to the detriment of that democracy. It is consequently easy to imagine any kind of cataclysm undermining any of the stales which still have vox pop. sitting high in alleged -albeit exalted and panoplied-authority. So far we, in China, have not had much of an opporlunity to achieve any particular modernized national greatness. \Ve have bee:1 having too much warfare since 1911 to have had the time lo beco:ne even an acceptably passable Republic. Perhaps we have been too content, in a way, to live upon the musty reputation of our ancient glory, with-as caustic critics may well describe them----inlramural intellects pretending to competency in the handling of modern systems and devices. I have to say "intramural" because we are too big a country to be called provincial---and, also, we have a Wall. \Vbat ever we are, we have to admit that we found it difficult for many years to march fast toward national success, though we really had gird~g
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TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK our loins, and had started, full of hope, whim our progress was stopped by the aggression of the Japanese. Our dilatoriness lo date has really been largely due to our national characteristics never having been given a propr r airing, or scrubbing, or dry-cleaning; never having been pegged out on the line, as it were. There is one thing, however, that I am devoutly hopeful about, and that is that the terror and the death and the burning that have been unceasingly inflicted upon us since July 7, 193 7, will not have been in vain so far as a readjustmeDt of both our national outlook and our international attitude is concerned. Were it all to be in vain it would he just as ghastly a catastrophe, in a way, as the one we are now enduring. I have expressed the hope that we would tread the democratic path, but I have to mention that while the desire to adhere to the democracies is pretty widespread and substantial at the moment, there is a school of thought developing which is asking with some impatience, but also with some pertinence: "\Vhat have the governments of the democracies done for us ? That is, from their point of view, a natural and justified question. One has to admit that the governments of the democracies have done nothing tangible or practical, not even to protect their own interests. They fear, of course, that if they become too articulate just at present they may find themselves put in the position of having lo defend their words with guns. Naturally, they do not want war, but if it has to come, .they want to be ready for it. While that attitude of mind is perfectly understandable, a large section of our thinking people cannot comprehend why the democratic governments still fear to express themselves in practical terms to Jap:tn on the question of her infamies and inhumanities. After all, we seem to have been left frigidly alone by every democracy to fight as best as we can, with our inadequate equipment, for the principles which the democracies espouse-the sacredness of treaties and international laws, and all that-as well as for our own salvation. One disconcerting thing is that though we have been deserted, as it were, the democracies seem to be willing to listen with a strangely attentive ear to the demands of Ja pan that the Powers should remain neutral. Japan with the air of a grievously injured innocent, is crying for help 45
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK to destroy us as if it were her country that was being wrongly invaded and consumed by fire, and her people who were being blown to fragments by the guns of Chinese aggressors. Those of our people who question the advisability of our keeping m with the democracies point out that it is the amazing studied neutrality ot the democracies that enables Japan without any restraint to continue killing our people, violating our women, and making a wilderness of all of our territory that she has been able to penetrate. The glum picture of the down-hill progress of democracy painted for me by despondent critics evokes from me an etching of the unbounded sympathy that has been expressed for us by the people of the democracies. I emphasize that there has to be very clear demarcation between the people and the governments of. the democracies, that we must not be unmindful of the will of many to help, but that we should be profoundly and sincerely grateful for it. This practical sympathy is, in reality, the one genuine international reaction that offers us some consolation and compensation for what looks like the apparent desertion of us to our fate by each and everyone of the democratic governments as well as by the totalitarian ones. The tragedy is that the governments of the democracies have had, for some time, to how to the will of Japan because they are afraid of her; because they are still mesmerized by Japan's long insistence that she is invincible. That is a bit strange to us after what the past ten months of unequal combat has revealed. However, if Japan proves herself to be invir,cible she will-with the probable unin'tended acquiescence and indirect help cf the democratic governmentsconquer China, and will eventually, leave her foot-prints and her bomb-prints not only upon the earth of China and the sands of time, but upon the soil and character of many Occidentally controlled lands. That is a foregone conclusion. However, Shakespeare emphasises that "Reputation is a false imposition oft got without merit" and we are inclined to wonder a little if Japan really deserve the reputation for invincibility which she has contrived to acquire, It is rather ironical that we, of China, should be the ones to be putting that question to the great Powers. They ought, indeed, in the colloquial of America, to he "telling m,." 4(>
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CYNICISMS After all, we are but amateurs in this bu~iness of international warfare on a big scale. It is the studied aloofness shown by the democratic governments to China in her travail that is doing something significant, if not disturbing, to thought here in China. That stand-offishness is strengthening the school of opinion here that is beginning to express doubts about the advisability of China continuing to be a party to what now looks like demoded fidelity to a crippled, and, apparently, a useless League of Nations, or of China continuing to make herself appear like a stupid country bumpkin to a group of city cousins-who have suddenly become sophisticated-by struggling to adhere to what democratic governments now seem, judging by their cautious actions, to regard as compromising or contaminating or inconsequential principles. Strangely, it was the abiding faith of China in the League of Nations and its supporters that eventually brought the League incontinently tumbling from its lofty perch of idealism and sent its professed sponsors scurrying for shelter in the hollow logs of "realism." "Isms" appear to be useful in a way. More than that, they have become a mode-or is it a contagion? Some nations have been devotees of one or another type of "ism", for some time, and seem to swear hy their choice. The democracies lagged behind, but now they have apparently decided to be in the fashion and are embracing what 1s cynically described as "realism." Look at the startling, spectacular somersault in democratic viewpoints revealed in the declaration of Lord Halifax, of Great Britain, a few days ago, when compared with that of the late President Wilson, of the United States, a few years ago-April, 1917, to be exact. President \iVilson was committing America to war (to the plaudits of allied democracies) on the ground that "Right is more precious than Principles," while Lord Halifax was trying to escape war, or even commitments made by the League of Nations with regard to the aggression and "undeclared warfare" that lost Abyssinia for the Ethiopians, by laying it down in effect that "the Principles of the League were great but Peace was greater." Here we have a dramatic demonstration by Lord Halfax that what was right when the Allies wanted America in the war, was definitely wrong when weak nations who are being crushed, wanted practical help from the League. Now 47
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MADAME CH'ANG KAI-SHEK neither of these gentlemen-the quick nor the dead-deluded themselves as to the meaning of the words they used. They were not (and here's a jaw-breaker) what the rhetorician would call catachrestic. One was just painfully idealistic; the other painfully realistic. Times have changed, that is all. Moralism looked as if it starred in 1917, but realism has the blazing limelight in 1938. Under the cloak of this particular "ism's" benign influence the democracies appear to be able to hide a multitude of sins. Leastwise that is what our Chinese soi-disant realists say, and they add that the democracies have now conveniently discovered how to rid themselves of their poor relations, in the shape of the weak nations, together wilh all the obligations and responsibilities connected with that indigent tribe. The critics in China claim that the democracies can be heard banging their doors with a hugely relieved "thank goodness, that's over.''' It is, indeed, that very audible metaphorical sigh that is causing many here to wonder whether China would not be better off if it also became brazenly realistic and entered the ranks of the international political jugglers and contortionists. This school asks with some justice, it must be admitted, that if the League can be tossed into the air, with a bomb of lost sovereignty and a sword of aggression for company, as pieces of juggler's property, and can clumsily crash to the floor in the tossing and be metaphorically lost down a crack, without any hoots affecting the juggler, why should not China toss a few things about and eventually drag from the magical hat of expediency a bouquet of agreements with some other nation which Would be an adornment to any international collection of "realistic" documents? If democracy can conveniently shut its eyes to the sight of the mouldering corpse of national sovereignty; can hold its nose to escape the effluvia of the demised League, the defunct treaties, and decomposing international laws, why should China not also hasten her offended olfactory organ out of range? That question is constantly being asked; is becoming increasingly difficult to answer, or even parry. But, -as I have said, because the instincts of our race are democratic I want to see them developed. That is, 'if democracy is really 48
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CHINA FINDS ITS SOUL going to outlast the assaults being made upon its ciladel and overcome the apparent treachery that is raising its head within. I feel convinced that our nation, if it pulls through this catastrophic war, will change in many ways. I may be deluded, but I think I see hopeful signs of appreciation in the awakened mind of some, at least, of our leading people, of the value of sustained effort born of co-operation and of national unity. It has taken China a long time to unify, a short time to show the strength and advantage of that unity. Hitherlo, fear of Japan produced a sort of paralysis among us. Not a weakness peculiar to China, be it said, for fear has done that to other countries as well. But now that it has been proved in our civil and social arenas, no less than on our battlefields, that even the alleged invincibility of the Japanese can be countered with some success by concerted effort, we may expect that the intelligent among our people will hereafter be ashamed not to show good citizenship and energy and honesty in the forwarding of constructive and helpful reforms. If they do notif too many of them are sluggards -I foresee the rise of forces that will be dangerous for them. The old apathy will never again be tolerated. China is bound to shed her worn-out gowns of indifference and laziness-celestially characteristic though they once may have been. The awakened minds of the present generation and the developing ones of the next will see to that. In my estimation one of the most interestng discoveries made m China du,ring the past ten months is that factional issues can be subordinated to nalional interests and be forgotten when there is a will to do so. How large those issues have always loomed in our national lives I How insurmountable they have always seemed Yet, they can, when the occasion comes, disappear with uncanny completeness. Another significant thing that is happening, and, perhaps, the most important thing, is that our country is surely finding its soul. We will h.ive a tremendous social and political problem on our hands as soon as time for rehabilitation comes, no matter who wins. Perhaps our surest sheet anchor will be this new spirit that is developing; a spirit that will, in time, mature on a nation-wide scale. There is an obvious need for spiritual solace. I think our people are 49
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MADAME CHIANG KAl-SHEK realizing where it can be found. Some know; many are groping. I notice a certain amount of what might be described as awareness of supernatural influence working on our behalf. Also, there 1s suppressed awe-awe at our nation being able to last as long as it has done in the face of what was believed, when the invasion began, would be certain defeat and probably extinction within a few months. People are wondering whence came our unexpected strength. Out of the quiet and calm acceptance of belief in that strength is springing a spirit of heartening and sturdy confidence. In some prominent quarters there is a sense of acknowledgment of unworthiness to take a real part in such a great national struggle. There is quite a bit of soul-searching, too. If that will but spread; if a humility will come to us that will bite into the self-assertive know-allness that used to characterize many of us, it will be a forceful influence for permanent progress and good. We, in China, need substantial and unashamed humility. We also need to see a change of heart in large numbers of the officially prominent, as well as in leaders in civilian circles. Especially do we need it in those who have hitherto been, perhaps unconsciously, obstructionists to national progress by virtue of their failure to cooperate in forwading different lines of public endeavor. The present poignant, national suffering; the ever-present proximity and sight of crashing, instantaneous death; the vastness and awful suddenness ~f destruction by far-flung explosives, have all had a noticeable effect in sobering innumerable people, and bringing them to earth, as it were. Dare we hope that out of the recognition of human fallibility, out of the sight of the awe-inspiring panorama of our nation, struggling at once in the throes of death and potential rebirth, will come a real transformation in the hearts and minds of those who survive and who have in various ways contributed to the previous stagnation of their country? The latter range from the drones and the dissatisfied to the over-zealous and obstructively clever. You know the type-people who frustrate worthwhile plans for development either to demonstrate their smartness, or for the material enlargement of their banking account~. Or the type that disrupts possibilities of national progress because it would be "loss of face" to accept ideas of reorganization from outside. so
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NATIONAL CONSCIENCE That "face" business aggravates me. "Face" is one of our supreme follies--one of our curses. I am hopeful, however, that the horrors so many of our unfortunate people are passing through will prompt, in the intelligent among the survivors, introspection that will generate a sense of shame for past neglects and a determined will to work in future primarily for the good of the country. Such a will is manifesting itself in many places and many ways already, I am happy to say. If I judge aright, as I have said, humility is also showing itself in various places. All I hope is that we can capitalize it. It may help, among other things, to subdue the thoughtless ones who think that *Speaking of "face" reminds me of a little piece of doggerel which I have just dis covered among my papers. It satirizes ''face" in a way that might amuse you. It was written by a friend who has the habit of amusing himself and us by scattering rhymes when on journeys by airplane. We were once talking about "face" when he took up a pencil-red lead as it happens-and began writing. \/\That he handed me was this: The Great God Face A "Patriot's Soliloquy. "As soon as winter winds arise, And blow from tempest-ridden skies, I fly as fast as motor goes To buy some foreign-devil clothes, To be ill-dresseli is a disgrace, And I must never lose my face. "They say that China's in distress, That creditors upon us press, That we must now reorganize And follow foreign enterprise. 'Pooh, pooh,' I say, 'that's a disgrace,So I tight that; thus save my face. "I have my job; my friends have power, Rich gifts on them I always shower. Reform to them means irkso111e work, And as work's what I always shirk, I'll not reform our blessed race, But grow long nails** and save my face. "They say the Japs will soon be here. Oh lucky man, I've naught to fear, For I have Nippon friends galore. And they will use me, that is sure, Ah, ha I I'll then set up the pace, And I'll make lots and lots of face." And a Lame11t. "God in His wisdom suffers fools To cut strange capers, act as tools For wicked people plunged in crime, For some whose lives are lived in slime. \Vhat puzzles me is His sweet grace To silly fools who live for Face." *Long nails-inches long-used to be cultivated by the literati and all wbo lived by theit brains and not by their brawn. Tourists now buy as curios the long elegant silver shields that the rich formerly affected to protect their nails from wear and tear. 51
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHK national economic advancement can he acquired without special qualifications on the part of our people, and without the assistance or co-operation -of the outside world. That is a fallacy, of course. Somehow many of us never seem to have got over the ideas of our forebears who believed that they could live their lives within the confines of our borders, self-contained and immune from outside influences-a stupidity that our forebears should have demolished one hundred years ago, or at least fifty years ago. It has been the manifestation of a spirit of intolerance of foreign methods, often times to the detriment of foreign commercial interests, that makes foreign investors, merchants, politicians, and economists, suspicious of us, and skeptical. One can hardly blame them. After all, commer,ce is mutually advantageous; should be reciprocal in its benefits. Of course, the Chinese attitude arises from the fear of the aggressiveness of foreigners. Then, too, there is the old scorn of foreign technical help. Many of our fellow countrymen, who, I happen to know, have previously discounted the value of foreign technical experts, and, by obstructing the experts, have prevented our country from deriving the full benefit of foreign knowledge and experience, have now learned from this unequal war why we have had to suffer so much for so long from our inadequacies. They have previously always proceeded along their misguided recalcitrant way oblivious of possible reactions. It is, of course, too late now for their penitence to cancel the consequences of their follies, but in the mere realization that China has lost in numerous ways by not absorbing all that was available to her from the advisers and experts---engaged by her at high expense, may it be saidthere is hope for a wisely practical attitude of mind in the future. The average foreigner who has come to our country full of zeal. to reform us by imparting what he knows has had experience of this trait of our countrymen. It is not peculiar to China, however. It is encountered in every Oriental country whose past is enshrouded in the mists of antiquity; in every country, indeed, where people have, through the centuries, developed their own distinctive modes of thought and life; who had been, as an illustration, quite content to get about their business on Shanks' mare, in their sedan chairs, on their camels, in their one-horse shays, buggies, carts, or whatever else they 52
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A BLESSiNG IN DISGUISE had become accustomed to, before the ubiquitous "Tin Lizzie" bounced into their ken to shatter the peace of mind of the animals of their farms and their forests, and torture the welkin with racket and discord to the disturbance or demoralization of mankind. Well, perhaps that is c1. bit rough on the poor old "Tin Lizzie." Many of them still creak and groan their way through the outback of China, loaded till their springs are flattened, puffing clouds of steam out of their capless radiators, and, by their very uproar and mulishness, still adding to the gaiety of the inland peoples. I am sure, as you say in America, that "you get me" when I use this hyperbolic idea of locomotion to emphasize the effect upon the minds of many of my compatriots when they are confronted with the necessity of learning the inwardness of other modern inventions and ideas. I wonder what American youth and beauty would say if they were ordered to learn some Chinese method of doing a job of work which they personally believed could be better done by ways of their own! Had I not been educated in America to understand that comparisons are odious I might have mentioned a few. Recognition of the follies of passively resisting the introduction of new notions will cause any educated Chinese, who has been shocked into a sensible state by the war--and who devotes a little time and intelligence to an analysis of the situation in the past-quickly to discern a variety of racial characteristics that could be reformed with advantage. That this war and its calamities will provide the impetus for important reforms is certain. With the realistic changes that are inevitabl~ in responsible quarters progress is sure to be more rapid, more realistic, and more endurable once we can get a chance to settle down to the work of rehabilitation. At any rate, there will be so much to do and so little money with which to do it that we will be compelled to put a curb not only upon amateurish experimentation, but also upon incompetents, if we wish to improve. Always we have been cursed with incompetents, and with persons of inordin,1-te conceit. The lalter is an affliction we share, if report be true, with Scotland. If ever China really needed applied wisdom it is now, and in the future. 'vVe therefore have to see to it that only capable and positive-53
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK minded people are put in charge of nationally important constructive work. The fools have had their day with their little follies. Or, I hope they have. And, incidentally, in their day they contrived to bring upon us quite an abundance of scorn, if not loss, which is neither a cheerful reflection nor a nice thing to have to admit. But I, for one, hate to try to hide truth from myself, and I am far too intellectually honest to try to hide it from others under some all too obvious kind of camouflage. It is, too, always nauseating to have to excuse and explain. One thing I am surely hoping to see is a practically wise policy for economic development. It has always seemed to n:e to be a tragic crime that there has been so much short-sightedness in our reluctance to enlarge our economic possibilities. We managed to contrive a definite political line of thought and advancement, but we have been surprisingly dilatory-or delinquent-about opening up our natural resources and finding more avenues of employment for our masses through a scientific and systematic programme of economic expansion. A wise, concerted effort to raise the standard of living of our people has not been persistently pursued, though it has been much talked about. Mere talk has always been another of our banes, which reminds me of a story (perhaps, with a moral) of Kweichow province. In that remote region there lived a Tiger, but never any other quadruped of any size, until someone imported a Donkey. One day the Tiger met the Donkey; was startled by its size and formidable appearance; sat back on its haunches and soliloquized: "Is this threatening looking stranger going to conquer me?" he mused, as he meticulously surveyed the armament of the Donkey. "By golly, he has four hard rocks on the ends of his legs; he has a big head, full of great teeth. And, I ask you, just look at those ears." The Tiger crept slowly around the Donkey. "By gum," said Old Stripes, "I must be careful. He may be as dangerous as he looks-I'll find out." The Donkey grazed quietly, as donkeys do. The Tiger crept about as silently as tigers creep. He studied the Donkey's afterwards, gave a quick nip at his fetlocks. A hee-haw, a squeal, a fast-flying pair of heels---and back the Donkey went to his grazing. "So that's that," quoth the Tiger, with a sigh of relief, "I'll try the front side." He pondered as the 54
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SOWING DRAGON'S TEETH Donkey's strong array of teeth bit at the grass. Then he deftly nipped the Donkey's Jong ear. The Donkey brayed, squealed in panic, swiftly pivoted, lashed the atmosphere with his heels, and settled down once again to the job of feeding. "Ah, ha," laughed the Tiger, stroking his whiskers, and licking his chops, "you cari only talk; you are not half as dangerous as you look; you can only squeal and kick; you are__:-why, bless me! You'rn one of those pacifists. Dang it, I'll eat you." Ancl he did. Perhaps, however, the corrosive effect of civil wars, which have stood in the way of many things, also stood in the way of material organization and advancement-robbed us, as it were, of opportunity to get our backs into the correction of evils, and the systematic institution of reforms. There was a beginning, however, to solve the economic problem. We were hopeful that through the People's Economic Reconstruction Movement we would start to move the age-old mountains of lethargy, and really get somewhere. Maybe we began that movement on an unpropitious day. It was April Fool's Day, 1935. Before we could really get going, however, the Japanese started to move against us. They were apprehensive of our other reforms maturing, and probably saw that success was about to invest us with more than empty blessings. The last thing the Japanese wanted was an organized, prosperous China. They wanted China, of course, but they themsehes wanted to do any organization that had to be done so that they could control its direction and capture the possible profits for their own benefit. They strove for years to keep us in chaos; then they brought war to us; and, with it, they are sedulously bringing material ruin. No donht by this time they are amazed at what they have done, for they are ru1ning themselves, have forged a shackle of debt for armaments about the neck of the terrified nations, and, incidentally, have sown about the world, like Cadmus sowed in his furrow, swarms of dragon's teeth. I wonder what the harvest will be? Sometime ago I wrote somewhere that out of the evil being wrought against us good may come. How I pray for that. I think, as I have said, that our country will surely find its. soul in the trying 55
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK torment in which we are involved. If we do, we shall be able, without difficulty, to go about the business of upbuilding 01u country upon new lines. In any case, one thing we should insist upon is that there shall be no more experimentation with political or economic theories and nostrums. We surely should have had enough of that by now. There is no more time for it. Above all, we will have to be eminently practical -even ruthlessly so. The unfledged Doctors of this and that, just returned from their scurry through the seats of learning, will have to be restrained if the sight of the sufferings of their country has not killed the irrepressible desire that used to be in their sapient predecessors to dabble with untried and unproved things. We have to win back to prosperity as quickly as we can, but by well-known and tested ways. Failure will overtake us if any other way is followed. We have also to inspire the advanced nations with confidence in us and in our intentions. I have said that I thought the democracies were probably afraid that ill would come to them if we came out of the war victorious. If that feeling exists it is as unfortunate as it is curiously shortsighted. Recently the Generalissimo drew a remark something like that from a foreign visitor. He promptly quashed the idea with the statement that it would take China 30 or SO years to rehabilitate herself after this war, and 100 years before she would be able to compete with anyone, even if ever such a thing would be possible. On the other hand, he added, foreign products, especially machinery, tools, and manufactured articles of all kinds, would be in heavy demand for many decades, and foreign investments would be a constant necessity. Foreign countries may well be alarmed if Japan is permitted to conquer China. Then there would be reason for tears. And I do not have to elucidate why. Japan would swamp the world with cheap goods of all kinds, and buy virtually nothing in return. We are faced with the immediate necessity of providing our broken people with the means of livelihood; we must give our commercial men scope, but, above all, we must try not to do that at the expense of vested interests belonging to other nationals. We must prove that we have no intention of doing so. Foreign trade must go on. Its expansion is to China's direct benefit. It should be encouraged in every way because we have great 56
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PITFALLS OF MECHANIZM needs, and, in time, we will have raw materials to satisfy the needs of others. Investments must be protected. My countrymen will surely realize the folly of post-prandial oratory upon the advantages of investment in China if the investors are given reason to see nothing new or substantial ahead of them? Instead, if there is much promise and little performance, many of them will, in their mind's eye, see nothing but the ghosts of lost opportunity stalking by as stern reminders of old-tim:! woes. It is the very thought of those ghosts that shakes the faith of many foreign investors in us. Truly, I should like to see all phantoms of misguided experiment laid effectively and definitely. I have hope of a planned economy being adopted-something eminently practicable and tangible which will give our people a dignified and unequivocal opportunity to achieve something worthwhile for their personal respect and their prosperity, as well as for their national dignity and well-being. I should like to see village industry carefully developed wherever it is possible for raw materials to be produced and worked up to supply the daily needs of the people. There will have to be mechanical aid in cases; but I hope that machinery never will be brought to China to save labor as its first principle and requirement. Machinery should be used to make necessities which hands cannot make, but there it should stop. Nor should cut-throat competition in manufacture De permitted. In that the workmen suffer. I am against labor being sweated for the benefit of the conscienceless plutocrats. I am against it being sweated in any circumstance. We have 'so much scope in so many directions to help our people help themselves that we would be worse than stupid to burden them with trials and tribulations bred of strikes and other menaces to peace such as are attendant upon industrialization as it has developed in outside countries. We have already had a taste of competitive manufacture, and we have had a few lessons taught us by the racketeer, the gangster, the misguided Jabor agitator arid his misused unions. Surely we will be wise enough to profit by all that, and also profit by what has happened in other parts of the world as a result of over-production by laborsaving devices operating upon a large and uncontrolled scale. \Ve 57
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MADAME CHIANG I
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DIVIbl!'.NDS 1:oR FOREIGN CAPITAL incredibly low prices; she got all of our pig iron until the Hanyehping smelters at Taiyeh went out of business, at the absurd price of $3.00 (Chinese currency) per ton, which is equivalent to $1.00 U.S. currency; she got all the soya beans she could buy at low prices (her nationals controlled the business, in a sense), and she had the general market for other things in the palm of her hands. She made war, of course, not because she wanted co-operation, but because she wanted economic domination through administrative control. She wants China as a base for a Japanese Continental Empire. When her statesmen reiterate that they have no territorial designs on China they are guilty of mendacity unworthy of those controlling a first-class Power. They made similar protestations when they were busy occupying Manchuria-and what is Manchuria now? Manchuria is under Japanese control garbed in alleged Imperial trappings as a puppet empire. But there is, I feel, no possibility of a similar fate overtaking the rest of China. So we can proceed to consider the development of our resources when the time comes (it may be a long time) with the definite object of co-operating with international producers and consumers. We have a barter agreement with Germany that wa5 working satisfactorily until Japan stepped in and dislocated communications; there is no reason why we should not have othersor have some systematic plan for0 the promotion of the sale of raw products and the scientific development of natural resources so that all buyers should have an equal oppo1tunity to meet their needs. Or would that be another incentive to international discontent and jealousy? One never can tell; chips are on quite unexpected shoulders in such parlous days as these. Whatever befalls we must develop our resources on modern lines, with modern methods adapted to our conditions and needs, and, necessarily with foreign capital. I know nothing about economics, and my mind may be too simple to grasp essentials, but the common sense that is in me prompts me to believe that a thorough-going, honest-to-goodness scheme of operation of all resources, plus expansion of communications, with sensible legislation to facilitate trade, would obliterate old grievances and permit everyone interested to carry on business free from the danger of the headaches and heartaches which hitherto gave to the life of the business man in China that pathetic resemblance to the lot of the music-hall policeman. 59
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK If world troubles are primarily due to lack of raw materials, then let us open up the necessary avenues to allow the world to buy of our supplies upon a mutually advantageous basis, with a fair field to all and no favor for anyone. Of course that would not suit Japan, who is a monopolist; nor would it suit those in our own country, who, for divers reasons, some que5tionable, favour monopolies instead of open competition. But what of that? Proper machinery should be set up for all national purchases. I am strong for a water-proof and air-tight purchasing organization which would see to it that all suppliers and tenderers are equitably treated, have an honest run for their money, and are fully protected from sharp practice and from any unscrupulous officials who may survive the dragnet of some sort of purge which will be inevitable. There are some who ask why should we not indulge in that latest aid to efficiency? We can find several answers to that question in our own Classics. One was given Chi Kang by Confucius when the former asked: "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled ? "Sir," said the Sage, "in carrying on your government why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows across it." I am strong for life imprisonment, at least, for rogues and vagabonds who masquerade as conscientious officials. The one thing that we should insist upon in the new and difficult time ahead of us is the establishment of a civil service, properly paid and pensioned. We will have some tradition to live up to now, as a result of the fighting, so we might just as well create traditions in civil life that will, in time, make for our national solidarity and security. Cleansing Augean stables is neither a pleasant nor an elegant pastime-even though they be but metaphorical counterparts of the Herculean recipients of the floods of the Alpheus and the Peneus. But we have to clean them. A lot has been accomplished alre:i.dy, and the New Life Movement is turning out to be quite a potential instrument in this regard. I see in the New Life Movement much wider scope for national and public good than was anticipated when it was conceived. I 60
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SCOPE OF THE NEW LIFE MOVEMENT wonder if you know what the scope of that Movement really is? Many do not. There is, or used to ue, an idea auroad in foreign lands that it is something for the officious policeman or !Joy scout to amuse himseH with to the aggravation of the harmless pedestrian who does not have his coat buttoned up, or has the corner of his mouth fes tooned with a cigarette. It can, however, stand the comedy, or the satire, or the ridicule, so effective and substantial is its worth; so far-reaching its influence. That is why general reforms are possible through its agency; why it will be able to penetrate the sm1c:f11m sa11clor11111 of officialdom, and cut into the cankers that hitherto have been unreachable by the people. \Ve believe, as Mencius believed, that "the people are the most important element in the nation." He ranked the sovereign third, after the spirits of the land and grain. This Movement is all for the people, of course. It springs from the compulsion imposed upon us by the necessity to choose a means, or medium, to effect national regeneration. In looking forward to future improvement China had to choose between following one or other of the modern "isms" and theories to which I have previously alluded, or adhering in some respect to the past experiences of her own people. We are convinced that it is essential that the people should understand what is being aimed at when reforms are introduced. I am not one of those who believe that the mere promulgation of laws can make people cling to the straight and narrow pathway of national or personal rectitude or apply elbow grease to the bescming of their back-yards. The reconstruction of a nation as vast-and as old in customs and concepts---as China requires some sane sumptuary laws, bnt also it needs the application to the everyday life of the people of well-defined theory, expressed in terms that the masses can understand and appreciate, without too much of the creaking and clanging of legal machinery. Not so many people like the irksomeness of laws-be the laws ever so ideal and benevolent-or the feel of a policeman's presence when he is on business bent. That conscious objection to interference; that craving for liberty of action, for freedom of thought and opinion, especially with regard to social matters, is human. After all, the New Life Movement begins at the beginning of things connected with the life of the people. It is concerned with the 61
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK houses in which they dwell, the food they eat, the clothes they wear, their comings and goings in society. You may call that materialism ; I call it common sense. Our people are great home lovers, fastidious about their food and what they drink, careful in the preparation of clothing appropriate for the seasons. They are, in fact, the most socially conscious race in the world. Lest all the benefits of life be enjoyed by a small minority, and the great multitudes of toilers remain unsatisfied, the New Life Movement has appeared as a great Chinese champion of the people's right to the best that their country can provide. Hammered out on the anvil of experience are four cardinal principles of life, as we Chinese understand life: I. The way in which human beings behave one toward another. 2. Justice for all classes within our social framework. 3. Honesty in public administration and in business. 4. Self-respect, and a profound sense of the value of personality. Four ancient accumulated values. characters, Li, I, Lien, Chih, cover those To all our people they are pillars upon which our civilization rests. By following these fundamental principles we find that we can remould the life of our people. With the addition of the scientific attitude and discoveries of the Western nations we can modernize life rapidly, orderly, and thoroughly. The New Life Movement has appealed to the modern trained men and women of the nation, and has mobilized them for this campaign of ours against the evils and injustices of society. They now have a support which has heretofore been lacking. Slowly but surely the great masses of the people throughout the provinces have come to feel that the New Life Movement is their own great champion of justice; their dependable leader toward economic security. They appreciate its fearless leadership toward a definite goal. Truly, the political, economic, and social life of a nation can be improved only through strong leadership and the cooperation of all classes of society. Some years ago our country was constantly in danger of rebellion of the farmers against corrupt administrations, revolts of business over the interest rates on loans, and by the political intrigue of war62
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INFLUENCE OF NEW LIFE MOVEMENT lords and politicians. All of these were busy peddling alleged panaceas for China's ills, but at the same time were filling their pockets and their bank accounts to overflowing with the people's money. It was because of the aftermath of that conditioi;i. that the New Life Movement began to emphasize the need of action, and forthwith stepped into the impoverished villages of Kiangsi, which had been devastated during the anti communist campaign, to bring order out of chaos, unity out of armed rebellion, and prosperity out of poverty. Many of the hopelessly crooked political manipulators at first smiled to hear young men and women talk enthusiastically abouta new China and the infusion of a new quality in life through reconstruction. They had heard that tale before. Anyway, the cyp.ics consoled them selves with the comforting thought that this reform movement had enough good sense to confine itself to the backward villages of Kiangsi, and would consequently be harmless so long as it spent its energy in places that people seldom heard of, and certainly never intended to visit. They assured themselves that they had nothing to fear from a movement that confined its activities to the farms and villages of simple folk in one of China's most backward provinces, At least to them it seemed so, but they reckoned without their hosts m the shape of the awakened adolescents and the tillers of the soil. Stung by the maladministration, corruption, and injustice of the county government, the New Life Movement slowly but surely actively crept into provincial and later into national government spheres. Officials found themselves ordered to attend office regularly, to make their private and their public lives conform to the accepted standards of society, while auditors began to examine government records and hooks. It was too late to run for cover; many were caught red-handed and publicly disgraced. The observant and realistic people, who judge solely by results, soon said, "This New Life Movement means business," and they began to use its influence in effecting changes. In the villages, where the Movement began, peace and prosperity soon appeared. Newly appointed magistrates came into office and the people were quick to notice the change in their attitude. The old air of official remoteness and superiority had been lost in their new course of training; their work seemed to be more concerned. with the livelihood of the people than with mere collection of taxes, and the entertainment of their friends. There was a lot of consterna-63
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK tion, of course, when young men visited the areas of pleasure and ill-repute adjoining the government centres of the nation, and made careful records of the registration plates of motor cars parked there. A hue and cry arose about dragging "the Y.M.C.A." into the government, but there was little that could be done about it. The whole nation was smiling that at last the inefficient among the officials were finding themselves embarrassed by the professed standards of their own society; standards to which they had given lip service on platforms and in schools, and then supposed they were good only for the poor and the unfortunate. The people were not slow to realize that the officials were being taught that they were not the masters of the tax-payers, but were their servants. Also they appreciated what they themselves were being taught: their own responsibilities and duties as citizens. They responded so fast that lhe knowledge that a new time had arrived in Kiangsi quickly spread far and wide. Every province in China began to clamor for the new order, and the Movement followed the demand. Eventually, and inevitably, the New Life Movement found itself closely co-opnrating with the Chinese Christian churches, the foreign missionary bCJdy, and modern cultural institutions, both government and private. Over a long period of years, quietly and efficiently, these cultural groups have been educating and training thousands of our men and women in the arts and sciences and crafts of the western world. They conducted a test of practical Christianity which produced many worth-while competent citizens. The modern men and women they produced did not, however, have much of a chance to help improve the lot of their compatriots while the war-lords and corrupt politicians held away, being given minor positions or sinecures which were little more than demonstrations that modernized talent was really being employed. When the Republican regime became established, and the New Life Movement developed, these men and women who had spent so many years in preparation and waiting, were seized upon and put into positions of responsibility. They are now making dis Linet contributions to the betterment of their country. When the Generalissimo and I were on our tom through the north-western provinces in I 934 we were greatly impressed by the work that had already been accomplished by these various religious and cultural groups. Co-operation was naturally established, proved 64
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AWAKENING OF THE WOMEN beneficial, and has happily resulted in improved conditions of life and livelihood for the people. The cleansing of streets alone would have justified the creation of the New Life Movement, even if it had accomplished no more. We found villages, towns, and cities clean and sanitary all the way from the seaboard to the Marches of Tibet. Correspondingly people began to take an interest in keeping their houses and public buildings clean. A sharp eye, open for these improvements as we walked through the streets of countless cities, observed a genuine interest in improving both the appearance of towns and the sanitary conditions of the main thoroughfares. Here then, in the form of the New Life Mo\ement, is an already created agency which will, in time, be the medium for great progress in the reform of general conditions in the country, and which will contribute much of enduring benefit to the nation. The opening up of the provinces by motor highways will make the work easier and more efficient. Every provincial capital can now be reached by car and by airplane. No longer are provincial officials a la,v unto themselves; monarchs of all they survey. Now they are under the roving eye of the Central Government officials who can descend upon them by airplane, swiftly and. without warning or courtesy, or drop in upon them by car. But the fact that the people now know that they can make their voices heard throughout the courtyards and halls of the Yamens is the chief avenue for good. One can scarcely omit mention of an important development here that promises to be of great moment in the future-that is the growing influence of our women. There was a day when women were not encouraged in our country either to exhibit themselves to the public eye or to make their presence felt in publi,c affairs. They have lived through, or down, that man-made restriction. They have emerged from the stern cloister of the home; they are now exerting considerable weight and displaying appreciative intelligence in social service. That will increase as time goes on. In the operation of their side of the New Life Movement they have major opportunities and responsibilities. They are acquitting themselves with tremendous credit; they show an unexpected adaptability and capacity for achievement. Furthermore, they are eager and anxious to do what they can. Especially at this time of national crisis is this noticeable. They are working all over the country----: t. C
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK working with the hospital problems, with relief work of all kinds, with the care of the war orphans, 20,000 of whom we are collecting for immediate upbringing, and so on. There is immense scope for the influence of women in the future regeneration and rehabilitation of our country, In fact the land will be laid so waste wherever the Japanese troops will go that the immediate work of looking after the suffering survivors, which is peculiarly a woman's task, will be onerous, exacting and exhausting. I feel that the whole nation is tuned up like a tight screw. The people are all tense and ready to exert themselves to their utmost. Whatever is the outcome of the war a reaction will take place that will be characterized by apathy, lassitude, indifference, and plain worn outness on the one side, and recklessly exuberant and extravagant joy on the other. That is the time when we will have to be careful. For that reason those of us who are realistic must look forward to the future and make plans so that we may be able to off-set any undesirable consequences of the slackening of the tension. The natural question is: "How.are we going to do that?" If we look into the history of any nation we will see that it is mostly the women who "keep the home fires burning." We will have a major part in the hauling of the nation out of the inevitable slump, morally and spiritually. To prepare for this emergency I am calling a conference of the women intellectual leaders of the country. It begins on May 20. The purpose of this conference is to find out at first-hand exactly what women in the various provinces are now doing, or planning to do, to help those of our own sex. From the finding of their reports we will formulate a programme to be carried out during, and after, the war to uphold the morale of the population as a whole. When we are going to get the chance to resume work on a nationwide scale it is hard to tell. Japan is assaulting us now with all her accumulated might, exerting herself to the uttermost to try to subjugate us. I see our country being swept by fire and swamped in blood. We cannot help it. Out of the history of the barbarians Japan has taken pages. She is applying them, embellished with refinements that make savagery and infamy sublime. It was Genghis Khan who established and upheld the doctrine of death to defeated populations in order to prevent suppressed hatred bursting out in time
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THE SCIENCE OF MASSACRE to his undoing. Whole populations went to death under the swords, the arrows, and the knives of his hordes. He swept like a torture through the heart of China. Hot on his old tracks the Japanese are now attempting to follow. \i'\Tith new-fangled engines of war they have reduced his primitive methods of massacre and his fiery holocausts to a science. They have gone further. They have outshone him in the subjugation of survivors by introducing a new finesse. They bestow "rewards." In addition to any food or pay that may be granted them at the end of the day, all laborers in Japanese employ are given bonuses in the shape of narcotic injections. To !calve the agonies of the impoverished, or the sufferings of others who find themselves unconsolable under the benign control of the Japanese, opium and its derivatives are peddled everywhere; and facilities are provided for the weak and demoralized to secure drugs and so find surcease from their mental and physical tortures. History has proved that Genghis Khan, with all his a11nihilating crudities, failed to subjugate us. \\'hat prophesy can be made regarding the results of the sinisterly advanced methods of the Japanese? I am moved to wonder if there is not in the world some courageous international body of people who would, in the interests of humanity, dare the ire of the Japanese, and insist upon being present in China during this undeclared war, freely to investigate, and to observe without tramel, the processes adopted by the .T apanese both in warfare and in the treatment of survivors in occupied regions? Or has civilization thrown up its hands? I can't believe that. If the Japanese made one move to prevent such a body operating, they would thus provide sufficient confirmation of everything denunciatory said against them to warrant every self-respecting Christian nation refusing to have anything further to do with them, diplomatically or otherwise. We can do no more to protect our country and people than we are doing. \i'\Te are fighting as well as we know how, with inadequate equipment. But we will not give up. All I hope is that we will be able to get the necessities for our armies until peace comes. If we cannot get those necessities it will be because the democracies decline to help us get them. 67
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK If democratic governments have not, as is alleged, forgotton their principles, and have not abandoned their responsibilities under treaties and international law, surely a conscientious sense of justice will, before it is too late, inspire them to do the right thing by China and her people who have been in process of immolation since July 7, 1937. That is all we ask-that the right thing be done by us who are victims of belief in treaties, and who refused to abandon the League of Nations and the Domocracies when we could have done so had we been inclined to be opportunist and ready and willing to conceal our apostasy under the convenient cloak of ''Realism." A few lines above I used the phrase "until peace comes." In reality the burden of all I have been saying so far is connected with the policies and processes which should he adopted when this war-which has been forced upon us, and which we will fight to a finish-is over. Running true to for,n we, in China, are preparing for peace while the Occidental nations are preparing for war. It is said that the Chinese always do things contrary to the Occidental habit of mind and custom. We read a book backwards; we write a line downwards, vertically instead of horizontally, starting on the right side and ending on the left side of the paper; we shake hands with ourselves; and so on. So why should we not prepare for peace when other nations are arming themselves cap-a-Pie for war? We want peace, and we need it; hut it must not be peace at any price. It will have to he peace with honor. If it is not, then the world will be in a grievous situation, for it will mean that brute force and barbarism have signally triumphed over civilization-for we will be in ruins, and, ipso facto, all we fought for and stood for will be in ruins. That "all" embraces civilization, While we are fighting, however, we are looking ahead, because we are unafraid. In our Classics the wisdom of such a policy is applauded. Confucius once said to an inquirer: "If a ma,1 takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand." We are trying to avoid the sorrow which usually characterizes the aftermath of war. We will be faced with more poignant grief and suffering than usually overtake countries that have been burned out hy. war, but we are trying to meet them by preparing now, We are systematizing contacts for the lost ones especially children; 68
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'rHE PATRIAl{CHIAL FAMILY SYSTEM working out the problem of locating survivors and then locating their lands; planning for relief and for employment in the work of rehabilitation. We hope that we will have an effective organization completed to avoid calamities attendant upon the demoralization of millions of homeless and impoverished people. We are working hard to solve that problem. We hope, too, that we will be able to invoke the help of that age-old system of ours that has hitherto kept our people together in the ,vorst of political upheavals-the clan organizations and the patriarchial family system. In every prominent village, town or city, there were, until the Japanese came, ancestral halls where were kept the records of the families of the clan. Here, too, and in various temples, were stored lists of deeds of land or property which had been given at the death of one or other well-to-do member of the clan as endowments for the benefit of one clan or another. These endowments took the form of a piece of land here, of a parcel of land there, a stand of timber, or some other productive property. The land was usually let for farming, fifty per cent of the value of the crop or proceeds going to the endowment fund. Through ages past these endowments have benefited the poor, permitting them to live and secure education; or have contributed to the preparation of aspirants for government office secured through the famous old examination system which took candidates to different provincial capitals where they sat for days in narrow cells until they had completed their examination papers. These examinations led to the hall of fame in classical accomplishments, or to a position in the official class which then administered the country. A member of a clan in high office was always a form of insurance for the clan in times of natural calamity, so official rank for one or more members of a clan was a much prized possession. If anything is left of the records of this system in the regions occupied by the Japanese they will assist us in getting our refugees back to their feet, and in continuing without interruption the course of our age-long civilization. "China has," as H.P. Wilkinson writes in his "The Family in Classical China," "what is generally admitted to be the oldest existing, living, civilization-a state of human society where the tiller of the fields lives with little, if any, chang.e in the same way and in 69
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-Sl:IEK the same relation to his family, his clan, his neighbors, friendly or hostile, as his ancestors did when they first settled on the upper waters of the Yellow River, 'the river' of primitive China; and to the banks of which his forefathers brought with them the framework of a social system bearing the stamp of what may have been the earliest form of human association." It is all this that we are fighting for, in order to continue with its reform, its elevation, and its advancement. Because of this great heritage of ours, we are not proposing to ask for peace as a Pekinese poodle sits on its haunches and begs for food. We want peace, as I have said, but we want honor more. That and justice are our due. Militarily, we have sustained ourselves for over ten months now, and we will continue sustaining ourselves. The invaders, by virtue of their tremendous weight in equipment, may win battles, but they will be compelled to stick to the ruts of long lines of penetration, while we, if we have munitions, can move about our country like pieces are moved about the squares of a chess-board until we checkmate Japan and win the war. I have received many letters from friends in America urging me to go there to assist in the raising of funds for our sufferers. Unhappily I cannot be in two places at the one time, and since America is renowned for its unbounded generosity and its virile reaction to suffering and injustice, I am inclined to believe that it is more important _for me to stay and assist here. American people will give just what they want to give, whether I visit the country or not. If they decide that the terrible wholesale butchery and burning and outraging that is being perpetrated by Japanese soldiers upon the Chinese people does not warrant their aid then they will not give it; if many of them feel unmoved by the threat of catastrophe to the world if Japan defeats us, then nothing I can say will affect them one way or the other. If they know that we are fighting the battle of civilization against a revival of barbarism, while defending our heritage, and then still do not wish to contribute to any relief fund, nothing I could do would change their hearts or mind. I wonder if I am to be convinced by Aldous Huxley's "Ends and Means" that the spirit of charity is subsiding in America? Huxley quotes Dr. R. R. Merritt as saying that "Real progress"-(we were 70
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THE HEART OF AMERICA brought up to believe America to be the most progressive country in the world)-"is progress in charity, all other advances being secondary thereto." Huxley himself says that "periods of advance in charity have alternated with periods of regression .... The present age is still humanitarian in spots; but where major political issues are concerned, it has witnessed definite regression in charity ..... Technicalogical advance is rapid. But without progress in charity, technicalogical advance is useless. Indeed, it is worse than useless. Technicalogical progress has merely provided us with more ef ficient means for going backwards." Despite this disappointing dicta, or the pressing and purposeful invitations of my friends, I cannot believe that the American people wish me to appear as Exhibit A, or to act as a sort of before dinner cocktail to sharpen the appetite and add verve and zest to the "jollying" of dollars out of their pockets and purses. I am no conjurer; and I am no cocktail. I am just a simple-minded human being who refuses to believe that the America I knew and loved has descended to that level. My friends must be mistaken. I want to go to America, but the work to be done here to help save our country and our soul necessitates, as in a storm at sea, all hands being on deck through all the watches. Here is my place, and here I must stay until relief comes in the shape of a change in the state of this war which us defeat. new ones. will give us superiority over the invading enemy, or bring Then I may go to America to see my friends, and to make When I do go I wish them not to regard me as one coming with ulterior motives, but as one coming back to old scenes and old friends because I have wished once more to enjoy them. I should like people to feel that my visit was undertaken because it would be of interest to them and to me, and because I want to learn from the American people, and because they wish to impart, things which it would be useful for me and my country to know. It would not be a material harvest that I would be seeking to garner but one of spiritual and mental stimulii. I feel sad even to hear the good-hearted America I knew being described as requiring artificial stimulation to arouse what once were its inborn charitable and humanitarian impulses. I would be horrified to have to believe that such a thing were true. 71
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEI< \Ve feel deeply grateful to all in America who have spontaneously given of their best to succor our distressed people. Friends have given liberally, some lavishly, of their time and their money to help us. Our everlasting appreciation goes out to them all, as it does to the many who have prayed for us, who have expressed sympathy for us, who have ,vorked in movements for us, who have given practical demonstration of their feelings for us, and their realization of the menacing threat to the world that this aggression in China means, by boycotting all things Japanese. All we can give in return is a prorr:ise to try to continue the single-handed struggle we have been engaged in for ten months past, difficult and unequal as it is, for we know that il we do lose then the whole world will lose, especially those nations which are now enjoying the freedom of democracy. In the fulfilment of this determination to fight on we give of our lives and our livelihood, and all we hold dear. Death by the disintegrating influences of bombs and shell,; is uncomfortable, especially when we, too, could so easily escape by embracing the seductive safety of the new "Realism." 72
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British JP11.ll1Ilications Pages 73-109-The Development of the ''Incident'' War and China' a Women hood-China Takes Her Stand-Bursting Japan's BuLble of InvinciLilitySpiritual MoLiliZ&iion Througout China.
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:,,, ,: ; -:re i r ri : t (~ 1 1 r .. rr; > ; :"' I -~ ,r : .,, : .. ---:-:I'~ r : '..; r. ,-:...z ,' I ,,,-; .. II 'I' j 1 l L j 1 ,-.
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The Development Of The "Incident""' "There is a limit to patience which cannot be extended without endanger ing the very existence of the country and the people." FROM time immemorial the Chinese people have been traditionally the most peace-loving people in the world. Thanks to the energetic and able leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek national unification was achieved after many years of inner-political struggling, thus paving the way for the peaceful consolidation and reconstruction of the country. The developments of the last year alone have shown clearly that China-politically and economically-is on the way to take up the position due to her within the family of nations as a further strong pillar for international peace and justice. It is only too well known that Japan has consistently aimed at, and has vehemently plotted and labored at, disturbing and suppressing China's peaceful reorganization and development. History proves clearly that Japan has deliberately stabbed China in the back time and again. Unceasingly she has busied herself with Chinese internal affairs in violation of all international treaties and regional agreements, and has lorn away piece after piece of Chinese territory. Under the guidance of the military clique in Tokyo, and especially the Kwantung army, every petty officer of the Japanese garrison troops in Hopei Province and at Shanghai, as well as each of the so-called "assistant military attaches" scattered all over China, believe they have the right to choose the time and the occasion to impose the most senseless and impudent demands upon Chinese Government officials. An article written at Nanking on October 5, 1937, by Madame Chiang Kai-shek for 1'he Forum, New York. 73
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SI-i~I{ China;s traditional love for peace has, for the sake of this peace, already complied far too often with Japanese demands. More and more, however, the conviction has penetrated all circles of the Chinese people that there is a limit to patience which cannot be extended without endangering the very existence of the country and the people. The Japanese military, full of wantonness and swagger, have been blind to the fact that a people driven to the limits of endurance is capable of desperate and determined resistance. The origin of this Sino-Japanese "war," which is being accepted by the world as not a war, lays in several incidents staged by the Japanese with curious, and noted, clumsiness. During one of the numerous provocative manoeuvres of the Japanese garrison forces at Lukuochiao, Peiping, one soldier was missing at a roll call. The officer in command did not even try to ascertain the missing man's whereabouts, started warlike talk immediately, just as was done in 1934, in the notorious case of the Japanese vice-consul in Nanking (who later confessed that he tried to hide in the mountains because of dissatisfaction with his own official treatment) and in the case of the sailor who deserted in Shanghai in July, 19 3 7. Only in the case of the Lukuochiao incident talk was quickly translated into armed action. The Chinese peace preservation troops, who were called upon to act at Peiping, did nothing but their duty when they resisted such a brutal onslaught, but the consequence of it was that demands were made by the Japanese military authorities to the Hopei-Chahar Political Council which, if they had been accepted, would have been tantamount to the complete surrender of Chinese sovereignty over the two provinces of Hopei and Chahar. No Chinese Government with any self-respect could ever yield to such preposterous requirements, and consequently troops of the National Government marched into South Hopei in anticipation of an onslaught similar to that of 1931 in Manchuria. As was to be expected, the Japanese, having speedily increased their forces, turned against the Provincial troops near Peiping and Tientsin, bombing them in their barracks while negotiations were still going on. Vastly outnumbered, the Chinese troops were forced to retreat, after severe and bitter fighting, across the Yungting River, west of Peiping and toward the Nankou Pass -the highway through 74
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JAPANESE PROVOCATIONS IN SHANGHAI the mountains to Mongolia, familiar to tourists who go to see the Great Wall. The next move of the Japanese was directed against this Pass, where, for the first time, and much to their surprise, they met strong and determined resistance. Only by increasing their strength on a large scale; by employing strong artillery and air force units, and by simultaneously convey_ing troops from Jehol, through Chahar province, where only small units of Chinese troops were garrisoned, could the Japanese succeed, after weeks of fighting and heavy losses, in capturing the Pass. To cross the Yungting River and the lower part of the Hai River the Japanese had bridge-heads only near the Marco-Polo Bridge, west of Pei ping; and south of Tientsin respectively. As they were expanding their operation in this region, a new fire flared up in another area. The Japanese Navy, with landing units in and near the International Settlement of Shanghai, obviously, as in 1932, did not like to play second-fiddle to the army. The case of a deserter sailor, caught later by Chinese police up the Yangtze River, after he had jumped from a steamer on which he had escaped subsequent to absconding from his Shanghai barracks, served as a pretext for a great display of military power in the Shanghai International Settlement. This is invariably done by the Japanese when some roistering Japanese sailor fails to return to his billet on time. There was much shouting and threatening on the part of the Japanese Naval authorities; much display of force, and much public excitement. Despite the tension thus aroused, two members of the Japanese naval landing party motored to the vicinity of the Hungjao airfield ignoring, or taking advantage of, the already existing excitement and tried to enter, disregarding the well-known fact that this area was prohibited, for obvious reasons, to Chinese and foreigners as well. During the ensuing quarrel the Japanese killed one of the Chinese sentries, themselves soon afterwards meeting a similar fate. As usual, the Japanese Commander-in-Chief took advantage of the inevitable negotiations to strengthen the number of his troops. He had already ordered the Hankow garrison and reservists from the interior of China to join the naval landing party. During recent years, 75
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEI< this party openly built up a permanent defence and co 1centration zone with Hongkew and Yangtsepooin the International Settlement, at Shanghai--and the barracks in the Hongkew pa1k, as a basis. Once more the Japanese lodged demands aiming clearly at the elimination of China's sovereign rights in the Shanghai area. And, as in 1932 no doubt was left as to the Japanese aggressive intentions. Consequently, troops of the National Government moved into the endangered area, and clashes on Chinese territory provoked by the Japanese, led to the disastrous fighting which has been going on since August 13, around Shanghai, with all its endless cons~quences. No responsible government could act in any ether way than did the Chinese National Government, which, having purposely renounced any hasty actions, was driven to armed resistance only after exhausting all possibilities of dealing with the preposterous Japanese demands, As the Japanese used the International Settleme:1 t as a fighting base the first attacks necessarily had to be carried into this very area. The enormous destruction of Chinese and foreign property is a logical and unavoidable consequence of the J apa ,ese large-scale offensive preparations in time of peace and on international territory. The outspoken aggressive intentions of the Japanese were especially shown by air-raids as early as August 14th and 15th with great cities such as Hangchow, Nanchang, first of all Nanking, as respective bombing targets. The Japanese 'bombing squadrons, however, suffered heavy losses undoubtedly much to their surprise. After their previous experiences the Japanese felt quite certain that they could easily deal with China in a short time and without employing any considerable force. But the new experience the Japanese had with the gallant Chinese defenders of the Nan kou Pass, was repeated around Shanghai, just as unexpectedly. Th us the Japanese were forced to recognize that China, even if far inferior in equipment, was stronger than she ever had been before in her unity against unscrupulous aggression, and that the bravery and spirit of her troops were putting an end, once and for all, to successful abuse of China as a playball by a clique of egotistical and wanloq militarists and politicians. 74
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JAPAN WITHOUT SUCCESS FOR TWO MONTHS IN SHANGHAI Thus it happened, in Hongkew and Yangtsepoo, that Chinese troops pushed forward to the banks of the Whangpoo River, nearly liberating the International Settlement from the peace-disturbers, when the Japanese army appeared on the scene to relieve the navy from its awkward position. Similar to 1932, strong Japanese forces landed during the night of August 22nd/33rd on the Yangtze banks near Liuho, apparently hoping for a speedy retreat of the Chinese, hut only to be disappointed. Even with the Chinese deliberately avoiding warfare near the International Settlement boundary, in order to avert any further senseless destruction, the Japanese troops were very soon faced in various directions by an enemy who fought bitterly for the smallest piece of Chinese soil. Again and again the J apane!'e had to land reinforcements, and only thanks to their enormous superiority in naval artillery, bombers, and war material of all kinds,could they slowly succeed ingaining ground near Woosung. After vehement fighting and heavy losses the Japanese advanced a few miles toward a position which had been taken up by the Chinese with the deliberate purpose of withdrawing from an area under the direct fire of the Japanese naval guns. This battle has so far lasted for nearly two months without any success in shaking the human wall of Chinese defenders of justice and freedom, and despite the employme.1t of appalling quantities of war material. In the meantime, the long anticipated Japanese offensive in North China moved down the two North-South railway lines, as well as into the provinces of Shansi and Suiyuan. As it was impossible to concentrate sufficient adequately armed Chinese troops in this vast area the Japanese succeeded in capturing Paotingfu, Tsanghsi!'ffl, and Tatung. The fall of Paotingfu--celebrated by the Japanese in an absolutely hysterical manner-shows evidently the disappointment in Ja pan as to the course of events. Still, reasonable Japanese will certainly comprehend that even with the whole might of Ja pan, any lasting success will hardly be achieved in the face of the united and determined attitude of the entire 77
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Chinese people within and beyond the borders of China and of the leaders of the Chinese National government. China covers a huge area. Unlimited resources and masses of men, brave and accustomed to hardships, are at her disposal, and a strong national determination to fight for her rights has been born. She is just beginning to use her powers, which we hope will grow more and more, thus steadily increasing her strength and abili ly. The Japanese are trying desperately lo explain that they never fight the Chinese people, but against her "corrupt" leaders only. How they prove this contention is shown by their ruthless slaughter of the poor and peace-loving civil population, and the well planned destruction of cultural and charitable institutions by a rain of bombs from the air. May the day be not too far off, when the Japanese will realize that as old and cultured a race as the Chinese can never be forced to love its murderers, but that it will be wiser for them to put their own house in order and rid themselves of leaders blindly ruining their own country. China is habituated to thinking in terms of centuries, and not from to-day to to-morrow. She is more than ever determined to struggle and fight to the last, firmly convinced that in time she will emerge victorious as her history has proven so often in the past. Ja pan has borrowed her culture from Chinese and her civilisation from the West. To-day the world must be horrified to recognise from this undeclared war upon China that Japan's culture and civilisation constitute a mere camouflage for a gang of the most vicious type of robbers 2.nd murderers. 78
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War And China's Womanhood* "The days of the embroidered robes and the flirting fans have gone." lfN different countries different people have different ideas about the Jl women of China. The romantic see them with bizarre coiffures floating in flowing robes along zigzag passages girt by blooming peonies; overhung by willows. Others see thtm1 toiling peacefully but arduously in the fields, side by side with their men, or grappling valiantly with the tyrannies of the elements. The tourist always has two particular pictures of them in his mind. One is associated with his first impact with China when he saw the vast boat populations, with the woman of the sampan wielding with rythmic power the great stern sweep, which we call a yuloh; and the other is the sight, after he got settled ashore, of the modern woman of China, in all her elegance, gracing the drawing rooms or stemming the social stream and more than holding her own for pulchritude and sartorial perfection. The foreign residents in our land have realistic ideas of their own. They have seen the women of China escape from the. rigorous restraints of age-old cust01n, and emerge not only from the_cloistered background of the home, but with competency, and perhaps some audacity, break into various professional and economic avenues, hitherto regarded as the special preserves of their men. All the ideas are correct except, it is sad to say, the first one. The days of the embroidered robes and the flirting fans have gone. Now we have a new time in which the women stand on their feet with new assurance, and view life with new eyes. Yet it is a time unhappily being made bitter by the clamor and carnage of a war that the --------------------------"' An article written hy Madame Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking on October 6, 1937, at the request of a publishing house in Sydney, Australia. 79
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MAbAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK nations do not admit is a war yet a war which is being waged without rules, unrestrained by codes, and replete with all the horrors that modern devices specially invented for the purpose of murdering people en niasse are capable of producing, Death and destruction daily descend somewhere or other from the clear skies. The wings from Japan that soar over China, from north to south, and far into the interior, carry clusters of high explosives that are deposited upon cities with indiscriminate ruthlessness, and blow women and' children and non-combatant men into fragments of flesh, or wound them grievously. With them go their homes, broken or ablaze, be they huts of matting or the equivalent of marble halls. The aircraft of the enemy are respecters neither of persons nor of property. Inured to hardships, to the cruelty of floods and famine and civil wars, the women of the land who survi\e the bombings meet the situation with swift comprehension of their responsibilities and the requirements of the sudden devastation that has come upon them. The women of all classes, indeed, respond with equal energy and vigor to the needs of their several and various environments. Virtually the women of China have their backs to the wall, doing behind the Jines what their soldiers are doing at the front-helping to defend their homes and their families, and the land of their ancestors. All of us are involved in dangers. as destructive to life and limb as those characterising the war front. They are more dangerous than the trenches, in fact, for in the trenches death is expected. Consequently there are som~ defences, while in the cities and the villages flung far and wide over the face of China there is mostly no defence at all. Death and injury were not expected, nor can the people so far removed from the regions where fighting is proceeding understand why there should be rained upon them from the heavens, whence only blessings should come, the terrible missiles which explode with such shocking and terrifying ferocity and blast them to eternity. Thousands upon thousands of women, children, and non-combatant men, h..ive thus been killed, and are being killed, and many more have been, and are being, wounded, till all the hospitals of every city within range of bombers are .filled to overflowing, and all medical supplies in the country have been absorbed. 80
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WEEPING AND HYSTERIA ABSENT The tremendous casualties at the various .fronts alone cram hospitals and fill all manner of shelters to overflowing with wounded, till the problem of caring for them is almost an insurmountable one The days of Florence Nightingale were terrible enough in the inadequacy of means to treat the wounded, but with death and destruction now being so easily and swiftly accomplished over such a great range of densely populated territory inability to provide commensurate assistance is vastly more tragic despite the advantages of modern medical skill and fast means of transportation. To organize services quickly enough to take care of such numbers of wounded at one time-::me bomb can kill outright one to two hundred and wound four to five hundred humans-strenuous efforts had, and still have, to be made, but there were thousands of willing women's hands offering for nursing service and and other work that had to be done to forward the purposes of national defence. Social barriers consequently crashed, as it were, in consonance with innumerable devastated homes, and women bent their energies to the tasks at hand without regard to age or position. Social amenities ceased immediately war shook the land. Entertainments and amusements were eliminated. All sought ways and means to help the dying and the wounded; to aid in the supply of necessities to the troops; to contribute something substantial to the task of national salvation. It became a near-crime to give or to participate in a social dinner. Social aids which the Occidentusually encourages in times of crises to keep life normal and sustain morale are regarded here with disapproval. We Chinese condemn those as heartless who seek even occasional recreation while an enemy is ravaging their country and destroying their compatriots. There is no weeping; no hysteria. The philosophic characteristics of the Chinese in the face of personal and national calamity are carrying the workers through. There is fear; there is panic when planes are raiding unprotected places with bombs and machine guns, but there is courage, too, and no complaining. This is strikingly illustrated at Shanghai where the holocaust of homes has been greatest, but also at all places where the bombers have distributed death and destruction.
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK It may be stark stoicism-or the Oriental calm so often referred to by Occidental writers. The quiet suffering of the starving refugees, of the mass of homeless crowded in the streets and alleyways of Nanking, Shanghai, Canton and other bombed cities, and of the. enormous crowds driven by fire and fury far into the interior, is heroic. Nor is there complaint from the peasants or the dwellers in the interior towns and cities among whom the stricken ones are absorbed. They each and all take up their burden and try to hear it, eating to live where they can, dying if they must. The women who still have their homes, and who have the means, apply themselves to tasks calculated to help the soldiers and the poor. Here we have reproduced scenes similar to those enacted in other countries in times of war-the leading women of the land, and others from all classes, knitting sweaters, making padded garments, pyjamas, bandages, sheets. Two hundred teams of women were formed to sell one million dollars worth of Liberty Bonds-yes, we have Liberty Bonds-and more are forming. Drives are conducted to collect gold and silver jewellery to contribute to the National Treasury. Leading women finance and run hospitals, and Refugee Camps. An example of the latter is conducted in Shanghai with money and workers supplied by the Y.W.C.A., the Women's Club and the Ginling College Alumnae Association. This one ranks first among all the camps for its cleanliness, orderliness, and freedom from cholera. From finding food for the poor to visiting and helping the wounded soldiers, to running movements to teach economy, through the whole gamut of war work, the women of China are laboring and giving. Cabaret girls and taxi-dancers now toil in the first aid stations and in the hospitals; girls drive trucks and cars into the fighting zones. Heroic deeds are being done everywhere constantly, as well as generous ones. One women teacher contributed all her savings of $5,000 to the national treasury without giving her name, and seeking no recognition. Only a few close friends know of her generous act. One woman of forty who has taught for a few years, and who is now bringing up a family of four or five children, is giving all her energy to war relief activities-making bandages, etc. Normally, she says, 82
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A SINCERE DESIRE TO DO MORE she would expect to live another twenty years, but now she is happy to use all her energy during the next ten years in the war of resistance against Japan, so that her children and all Chinese children, will have a better future free from domination. In spite of the plan of the Government that wives of officials, together with their children, should leave the Capital, a number of such women have sent their children to live with relatives and they are giving themselves tirelessly in this time of National emergency. Chinese mothers would rather see their children dead than become slaves under Japanese domination. A real desire to do more and talk less is evident, and that I am sure, will be acknowledged to he a significant sign of sincerity and progress. Requests to serve in any capacity come in streams; and it must be recorded here that women the world around have sent, and are sending, applications for positions where they can help. Two or three Chinese women fliers want to pilot war planes, but they have to he refused; foreign women fliers have offered to work in the air in any capacity. Unfortunately we are compelled to decline these generous offers but we have deep appreciation of them just the same. But why should it he necessary suddenly to have the nation's womanhood grappling with broken flesh or striving with might arid main to help counteract the calamity of war when their energies and zeal might will be marshalled in avenues of peace to push forward the reform of their country? Simply because Japan, who has menaced us for years and who has now declared through her Premier that she will "beat China to her knees till she has no more spirit to fight," is striving with every lethal means in her power to prevent China from sustaining national unity or maintaining her sovereign powers. During recent years China has made spectacular strides forward in the reorganization of the country. Unity was achieved as the result of the successful overthrow of several war-lords who strove to control different regions for their own personal aggrandisement; and by the intensive pursuit of policies to promote the well-being of the peoplepolicies embodied in the New Life Movement and the People's Economic Reconstruction Movement, which aim at securing for the people both spiritual and economic security and improvement. 83
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Several of the war-lords were, wittingly or unwittingly, tools of Japanese agents who unceasingly plotted and intrigued to keep China in continuous turmoil, and on the verge of chaos. They failed only because the people of China, emancipated from the thraldom imposed by unscrupulous militarists, developed a new national spirit. Patriotism began to grow and the old-time lethargy disappeared. Curiously, the leaders in Japan seemed to be unaware of the significance of the changes fast taking place in China. In reality those changes were hastened by the Japanese themselves when they took advantage of China's pre-occupation in her internal problems, and the world's difficulties after the Great War, to invade and seize Manchuria. With that foothold on the Continent the Japanese expansionists decided to move fast. They regarded world failure to bring them to account for violation of the Nine Power Treaty, the Kellogg Peace Pact, and the Covenant of the League of Nations, as proof of world apathy regarding the Far East, or of world fear of the armed might of Japan. Their attitude towards other nations became supercilious or contemptuous. Towards China they developed a definite plan to demoralise the people by steeping them in opium and narcotics; to break up the administrative control of the Central Government by creating so-called "independent" states, with Japanese "advisers" in all positions of power, and, in time, to assert sovereignty over the whole. This could be done, they thought, by creating "incidents", when the time seemed right, to justify in the eyes of the world a war which would enable them to transplant their armies to the Continent and keep them there. They are attempting to do it now, having prepared the way by seizing political control in Japan, and having arranged with ousted war-lords and disgraced officials to lend their names to the alleged "independence" movements which the Japanese publish to the world as genuine demonstrations of popular will. One has already been organized in North China to "administer" what the Japanese are confident will be their gains as the result of their present aggression. All this is in pursuance of the notorious Tanaka Memorial which set out the policy to be followed by Japan to control the Continent. The present leaders of Japan's army and navy have bettered Count Tanaka's idea by planning to establish a Japanese Continenta,l 84
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CHINA'S LOSS WILL BE THE WORLD'S LOSS Empire that will make Japan at once Lord of Asia and all Oriental peoples, as well as Imperial Dictator of the Occidental nations. The programme of that Memorial has been faithfully developed piece by piece for years, and you are now witnessing what Japan hopes will be the triumphal culmination of one of the final phases of the plan. Japan has, with masterful cunning and boldness, risked insulting the intelligence of the world by declaring that her policies to seize control of China are innocent and helpful to the Chinese people. She has, at the same time, strenuously insisted in propaganda that China is disintegrating and that Ja pan alone can save her. Some of the world might have been taken in by this claim, but the eyes of everyone must now surely be opened to the realities of the objectives in this region. If Japan misjudged the mental capacity of the world she miscalculated to a worse degree the attitude of the Chinese people. Where she thought that we would crumble under a swift ferocious onslaught she has found that ruthless invasion has engendered in us unexpected and remarkable strength, and the courage to make great sacrifices in the defence of our country. Because of that Japan has been baffled unto exasperation and near despair. Not only has she not achieved her aims, but she is unable to calculate what her ruthlessness will lead to, or how she will escape from the terrible consequences which she has brought upon herself. We in China will keep on fighting .as long as we are able to. If we go down in defeat it will be honorable defeat. But China's loss will be the world's loss. The divorcement of the potential purchasing power of this nation by impoverishing the people will have far-reaching reactions upon the world's commerce. To realize what will ultimately happen to trade even if Japan is allowed the domination of a country no further ruined than China now is, you have but to recall what has happened in Korea and Manchuria. If the economic resources of China, as well as Manchuria, come under the control of Japan, she will he sufficiently independent. But the Japanese empire buildNs will not end with China, while there is sq 85
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK much fertile 'and strategically important territory, rich in tropical and otber raw materi~I, lying between the coast of China and the uttermost limits of Australasia. With these combined resources, and abundance of cheap la.bar to boot, Ja pan's prospective large empire can be selfcontained and absolutely independent of every country. The land that Ja pan will seize if she can will be able to grow everything from wool to rubber; all manner of food stuffs from vast quantities of wheat, to soya beans, rice, sago and cocoa.nuts, and she will be able to mine all the minerals she wants for munitions as well as for the purpose of peace time development. Already China holds the world's chief sources of antimony; and perhaps, tin. Japan, with all these materials and geographical immensity will become immune from attack, will dictate politically as well as econo mically, and that fact is .what the world must contemplate in judging what action it must take in this present crisis. But what is to be done to protect the world .is the business of the world. We in China are struggling with a savagely ferocious and inordinately ambitious enemy to save ourselves, and that is why the women of China are now abandoning the pursuit of quietude and happiness to fortify their fighting inen and uphold the State. 86
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China Takes Her Stand':~ "We are defendants in an undeclared war-a violent unwarranted, unjustified aggression." lf am writing this while I sit waiting for the Japanese air raiders to 11 come. The alarm sounded fifteen minutes ago. I came outside as I always do, to watch the raid and more particularly to observe how our defense is conducted. When the planes arrive, I will write down in order what I see. It is now two months since Japan started pounding us at Shanghai. During all this time the sufferings of our people have been indescribable. Foreig-n military experts declare that nowhere in the world, even in Spain now or during the World War, have they seen such pitiless, calculated air bombardment and artillery fire as is being directed by the Japanese on our ill-equipped but gallant soldiers. These experts say that they cannot understand how human flesh can stand what our troops have stood and are standing, In the World War the air bases were hundreds of miles from the front. Bombers could manage perhaps two trips a day, if not intercepted by a strong force of defense planes. But at Shanghai we now have no planes to oppose the Japanese, and they have to travel only, at the most, five miles back to their base to reload. They jnst cruise over our lines, dropping their loads en mass,', having nothing to do but keep out of range of what little anti-aircraft fire we can put np. Perhaps you wonder why we now have no air force to oppose the 400 odd planes which the Japanese have based at Shanghai alone (altogether they have over 3,000). You must remember that China's air force is less than five years old, and several of those years were wasted through lack of experience in handling the new type of weapon. *This article by Madame Chiang Kai-shek was p1iblishcd in the Decem her 193 7 issue of the Forum magazine, New York, U.S. A.
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHE K This caused us to be without adequate air defenses when the invasion came and compelled us to place large orders in America and elsewhere and hope to have them filled as quickly as possible. We knew what to expect from Japan but we never, in our most pessimistic moods, imagined that America .... Now I see the J apanes_e bombers coming-" three-six-nine," cries little Jimmie, who is taken with me because he has eyes like gimlets. It is now 2: 42 p.m. It is a bright afternoon. Above there are cumulus clouds. High above them, orderly mackerel. Three heavy Japanese bombers come through a blue cleft between the pile!" of cumulus, heading from the north due south. Three more follow. Anti-aircraft guns put clusters of black smoke puffs around the first three. Now they are bobbing up about the second three. Here come three more-so there are nine altogether. High above the clouds I hear pursuit planes. The detonations of anti-aircraft guns are away in front of me, near the military airfield, which the bombers are heading for. Some of our pursuit planes appear. They have flown behind clouds. The sound of machine-gun fire is now high above me. Above the clouds the pilots are fighting. The nine bombers proceed in steady progress across the city. They have to keep their line if they wish to hit their objectives. The first three are now over the south city wall. 2: 46 p.m. Great spmits of flame; columns of smoke and dust ascend. They have dropped several bombs. Then they scatter. Some of our pursuit planes are attacking. North of me a vicious dog fight is going on. It started at 2: H p.m. All the bombers now are out of sight, in the clouds, but some Japanese pursuits are still being harassed by our fighters. 2: 50 p.m. There is a dogfight m the north west. An enemy plane, with a Hawk pursuit close on his tail, dives fast. He is out of sight behind Purple Mountain. The combatants are sweeping in and out of the clouds.* The first three bombers, having dropped their '* A Japanese plane was noticed doing a number of great vertical circles until it disappear ed behind Purple Mountain. Next day the plane was found crashed on a hillside. The pilot had been hit by seventeen bullets. He apparently fell dead in such a position in his seat that his plane kept up its speed in large loops until it struck the hill. 88
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AtR RAID OVER NANKING loads, are fast disappearing in the east, bound back to their base near Shanghai. The other six, scattered by the pursuits, are circling in and out of the clouds to the south trying to get a bearing on their objectives. 2: 51 p.m. Suddenly to the south west of the city smoke and flame and dust in great colums appear. Some more bombers have completed their mission. 2:55 p.m. While dogfights are still making the northern welkin rattle with machine-gun fire, other bombers sweep to the south and drop their bombs on the airdrome. 2: 56 p.m. More explosives are deposited in the same locality. High in the air, a little to the west there is a dogfight. Another is going on over the city, in full view of all who can see. A Chinese Hawk is chasing a Japanese monoplane. They are looping and turning and diving-and zooming up again. Their machine guns are clattering. The raider seems to have our man; no, he has escaped. They sweep away in wide circles and fly fast at each other again. There is heavy anti-aircraft gun fire at the bombers now escaping. The Japanese plane seems to stall in midair. He is hit. The Hawk sweeps round to attack again. The Japanese pauses awhile, then goes into a headlong dive; flames stream out; the doomed machine is heading for a thickly populated part of the city near the south gate. Orange flame, with a long comet tail of smoke, cleaves through the sky. The Hawk flies in circles, watching his enemy crash. 2:58 p.m. Now the raider hits the top of the city, as it were. There is a great burst of black smoke and flame, Then comes yellow smoke-a house is burning. The Hawk still circles, then flies northward where other dogfights are making noises in the sky. In and out of the clouds to the northeast and northwest planes are fighting. These combats have been going on variously from three minutes past three o'clock. 3: I O p.m. One of our planes dives fast, with a great roar. behind the clouds come three Japanese planes, all attacking him. From He has disappeared from view, on his tail a Japanese plunging like a plummet. 89
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MADAME CHIANG l{AI-SHEK 3: 17 6.m. There are no planes now in sight. Engines in the distance are just audible. Only a column of smoke, from.where the Japanese plane crashed to death in the city, is visible. 3: 20 p.m. There is now no sound in the skies. The raid lasted about AO minutes. So I shall go, as usual, and inspect the damage, to find out the score of gains and losses. I drive to where the plane crashed. People are in the streets as if nothing unusual had occurred. Mothers and children who saw or heard a flaming monster roar through lhe air ne~r them and.crash into a house nearby, with a mighty'burst of flame/ appear as if nothing of moment concerned them. Firemen are at the scene with hose and buckets. The fire is out. Getting through doors to a, mass of smoking, charred timber, I am told the 'rerirnins of the pla~e are there. It is difficult to find them. I am also told .tha~ the badly disfigured head of a Japanese is visible among the charred mass', buf I d~ not look. I am anxious to discover if any of my_ countrymen have suffered. No one knows. A policeman tells me they will have to remove _the debris before they can find out. on reaching. home, l learn that three Japanese planes have been shot down, and two more earlier in the morning. These two were intercepted and did not reach Nanking. Altogether, nine two-engined heavy bombers (carrying crews of six each) and six pursuits raided the city. Our losses were two forced landings-but four injured pilots, .one dead. When I was interrupted by the raid, I was writing that we never, m our most pessimistic moods, imagined that America would place an em~rgo on shipments of :equipment and prevent American instructors .coming._ to .China by refusing them passports. For we are defendants in an undeclared war-a violent, unwarranted, unjustified aggression. Our very life is being strangled from us-there is a blockade of our coast; our railways are being bombed along their whole lengths; and worse than all are .the monstrous massacres of our defenseless people that the Japanese are regularly carrying out with their bombing planes. Homes are demolished; scores, hundreds of people are mangled at a time, and hundreds more are wounded. Destruction of railways, machine-gumiing of highways and junks, and the consequent stagnation of business are bringing ruin to those who persist in defying the bombings. 90
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TfIE AMERICAN ATTITUDE Yet, though all this horror threatens the very basis of civilization, and though the violent contempt of treaties and codes of internat,ional law menaces the foundation of human security, we find Americ,i. operating to prevent our securing the means to defend ourselves, and, there fore, aiding our enemy to fulfill her threat to. beat us to our knees. 1~ it any wonder that the sight of the champion of justice thus succoring the aggressor and actually encouraging him in his in.human acts staggered us? Not only were we amazed at America's attitude but we could do nothing else but feel that we who had loyally adhered to treaties and to. the principles laid down in the Covenant of the League of. N.;i.tions and who had suffered for it by the loss of Manchuria were simpij, be~ fog struck in the face by the great republic whom wehad been taught lo look up to with respect and, indeed, to emulate. \i\Then we sa,v America yield to the preposterous demands of Japan to respect her blockade by unshipping American airplanes (for which we had p~id cash) from American ships at San D.iego, can you blame 1,1s for thiilk ing that the end had come to all professions of faith in those principles that are deemed to be good and honest and just? That act, in (he face of an undeclared war, of an outrageous blockade, of a world-wide declaration that China was to be crushed to her knees, of the infliction of the worst kind of inhuman cruelty on our people over great areas of our country, hurt us sorely. Fortunately, the contumely which the Japanese heaped on Occidental efforts to see justice done to China, plus the continued inhumanities of the Japanese in various directions, brought the officials of Am~ica to a stage where they could no longer shut their eyes to what was going on, and the Presiden,t delivered a really masterful exposition of America's views. It was belated but nevertheless welcome as evidence of justification for our faith that America could not be a party to the calculated extermination of the Chinese as a nation. The subsequent statement from the American Department of State drove the nails a bit deeper, we hope, into the coffin of Ja pan; and we were correspondingly encouraged in our belief that some effort would be made to give deep consideration to our cause, with the object of having treaties respected and so effecting the withdrawal of the enemy from our soil before it should be too late. The enemy accept 91
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK the new attitude of America with ostensible disdain, but nevertheless there must be misgivings in high circles in Japan. If the people of Japan knew what was going on in China, I feel sure that the militarists would not be able to continue with their warfareto say nothing of their ruthlessness. They are deliberately destroying Japan's greatest market and they are not letting the people of Japan know anything about it. All radios are censored, as well as all newspapers. All that the people are told is that China has insulted their country, has defied her, and has threatened the lives of Japanese people in China. At the outset the militarists promised their country, however, that their proceedings would be concluded in China in a week or two and that Japan would be able to reap rich harvests from the militarists' program. How they are going to explain what is happening it is dif ficult to see. About their failures at Shanghai they say little, but they print colorful pictures of the might of their 3.rms against the provincial troops in the north, where their mechanized units have full play. From Japan herself, however, there is no hope of justice until the militarists have been put in their place. 92
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Bursting Japan's Bubble of Invincibility* "No nation that descends to murder, rape and rapine, can expect to prospe_r or be respected WHEN the Japanese decided to invade China last year they depended upon two premises for success. One was their conviction that the Chinese forces would incontinently flee before the wrath of Japan's irresistible soldiers with their great con centrations of modern equipment, and that the Chinese Government would be craven enough to submit to terms within a very short space of time which would be tantamount to admitting subjugation. The other was that with China thus metaphorically in her bag, the world would accept another fait accompli, and Japan would be able to enjoy the possession of her new conquest, as she has been permitted to enjoy control of Manchuria. Japan began the invasion of China on July 7, 1937, and after nine months of effort has failed to realize her first requirement for success. Instead of the Chinese forces failing to resist the aggression they have surprisea' the Japanese, and the world, by fighting so resolutely that the Japanese have l:een compelled, by this time of writing, lo send to China vast reinforcem_ents of men and munitions to recover the position of professed superiority which they have so far lost to Chinese inferior arms and equipment. If the past nine months can be regarded as the first stage of the war, Japan has so far signally failed. She boasted that one Japanese soldier was equal to any ten Chinese soldier~; she claimed that within three months the war would be over so far as she was concerned, and that all she requi.red in China would be at her disposal. She even went ahead, as it were, not only counting the chickens before Article publ:shcd in two parts by TJ;e Binning,lia111 Post, England, early in May, 1938. 93
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK they were hatched, but preparing the coops to confine them. People of the outside world seem to have been surprised at what China has done, probably because they have little knowledge of the change that has been taking place in this country during the past few years, and have accepted the Japanese estimate of conditions in China, as well as Japan's opinion of her own military competence and in vincibility, But Occidental people are not alone in their lack of knowledge of what has been going on in China, or the failure correctly to appraise it. The Japanese themselves have shown lamentable ignorance of the depth and extent of the fundamental spiritual change which has been moving among the Chinese people. The Japanese were aware that unity was coming to China, however, and they did not like it. They realize, too, that there were some changes pending that would prove of great detriment to their ambitions if permitted to develop without interruption. It was the fear that these changes would produce reorganization and consolidate unity that prompted the Japanese to take action before reforms could crystallize. To ensure a proper understanding of the situation it must be pointed out that for years the Japanese have left no stone unturned to keep China disunited and disorganized. They have always hoped that they would be able to achieve a position of paramountcy on the continent which would enable them to monopolize the exploitation of the natural resources and labor of the country without any difficulty, Eventual dominance, they considered, would be easy after that, and the subsequent establishment of a Japanese Continental Empire could then be contrived with facility. Nor have their dreams been confined solely to China. They have, for a long period, visualized the banners of Japan waving over the whole of Asia. Count Tanaka detailed in his notorious memorandum of some years ago the essential measures to be taken to have that dream translated into realistic fact, and his program has been followed with the tenacity of an insatiable zealot. This present campaign of conquest now being so ferociously pursued is a part of it. To facilitate their progress towards their glittering goal the Japanese, for years past, have endeavored to convince the people of the world that China was chaotic, incompetent, and incorrigible, and badly needed the stern hand of a disciplinarian. Their propaganda was designed to influence the Occidental mind to accept the Japanese 94
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JAPAN ABETTED CHCNA'S INTERNAL STRIPE as the divinely appointed Draco, and to allow them free and unquestioned scope in China to quieten the alleged chronic turbulence and initiate peaceful administration in accordance with their plans as arbiters of Far Eastern affairs. It is regrettable to have to say that it appears as though many foreign countries accepted the Japanese propaganda at its face value, irrespective of the lesson that should have been taught by Japan's unscrupulous invasion and occupation of Manchuria. Otherwise, how can apparent international acquiescence in Japan's unbridled ruthlessness be explained? The foreign mind has, it must be supposed, been influenced to doubt China because of the Jong period of civil wars that embarrassed her, and by the efforts on the part of deposed disgruntled militarists to recover the positions and power from which they had been ejected. Probably it was not realized by foreigners abroad that Japanese agents were behind much of the rebellion and internecine warfare, just as they are busy trying to create puppet states now. Then, too, there was the attitude of mind of many foreigners in China who had no patience with the growing pains of the country during its transition from the ancient monarchical autocracy of the Manchus to a modern republican form of government. Foreign merchants, in particular, had the misfortune to suffer from dislocation of commerce within the country. This they resented; and, perhaps, what they resented more was their inability to acquire the easy fortunes that marked the expansive pre-revolutiorlary times-mourned now as the "good old days"-when concession hunting was a kind of speculative indoor sport, and competition in trade was not so keen, while in some lines it was rendered comparatively insignificant by the Chinese consumer's stubbornness in loyalty to an established "chop"*. The foreign merchants were so wedded to the system that existed in those old times that they disliked, or were unwilling, to undertake the brain-fag or the physical exertion required by an effort to get out of their old groove to adjust themselves to the new order which was destined to develop and flourish in China. In fact they did not foresee successful radical changes, or even believe such were possible. On the other hand, those foreigners who were sympathetic with the struggles of China did realize that portentous things were afoot in the *Trade-mark. 95
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK country. They were able to visualize a China casting off its shackles and marching briskly along the democratic highway to the drum-beatsof modernized progress, developing unity, improving administration, and expanding communications. They could see that, in time, the establishment of peace and order would bring close upon its heels systematic economic improvement which would cause a striking rise in the standard of living of the people, a consequent increase in their purchasing power, and a concurrent growth in their demands for the products of western nations. But the handful of informed foreigners had no influence upon the inveterate suspicion of all things Chinese entertained by the bulk of their disappointed compatriots who had an open or sneaking belief that Ja pan would serve the world well by chastising China. These so-called "die-hards" could not admit that China had any right at all to change, malgre the political upheavals characterizing certain countries in the outside world. So this "undeclared" war broke out with little understanding of it m the mind of the average world citizen. All the eff'Jrls that were being made to promote the well-being of the Chinese people and open up their country were either unrealized by the average foreigner, or were forgotten. Also, they were promptly threatened by the invasion. Further confusion was added by Japanese leaders promptly swamping the world with broadcasts of Japan's "justification" for taking steps to "spank" the "outrageous Chinese," and to make "peace" in Asia. It must be added that the Japanese did not possess the intellectual honesty to add that they had previously threatened China with dire calamity if she pursued her traditional friendship with Great Britain or America, nor did they recall that, at the same time, they notified those countries that their assistance to put China on her feet was none of their business, but was the special province of Japan alone. The Gutcome of this war, no matter what it may be, will have far reaching consequences to the whole worl
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JAPAN'S PAN-ASIATIC POLICY Japan will have under her control the vast resources of China to build up her fighting forces, and with these ~he will set about the fulfilment of her ambition to bring all Oriental peoples under her sway in pursuance of her Pan-Asiatic policy. India will be sure to fall, because of the very incongruous texture of its peoples. And the rounding off of Japan's Continental Empire will, in additi~n to China, and Siberia east of longitude involve the acquisition of all the land east of that longitude from latifude 20 north to 50 south, which means, of course, the Philippines, Indonesia, Oceania, and Australiasia. Fanciful, you think? So was the attempt to bite off Manchuria (but it succeeded so far as the.world is concerned); so is the present effort to swallow China; so did it appear impossible for J ~pan to overthrow with one fell blow the complex machinery built through generations of time purposely to sustain civilization, control war, and protect civilian populations from death, rape, and rapine. Yet treaties and international laws have been contemptuously discarded and Ja pan has put in their place, as a possible permanency, this system of "undeclared" war and its horrors by which China, for a second time, is being victimized. It seems to permit, without international protest, a callous and calculated revival of barbarism, and the undisguised employment of improvements upon the methods_ and scope of Attila and Genghis Khan which would have brought blushes to the cheeks of their blood-stained hordes, or have evoked expressions from them of fervid admiration. What can be done in China today can, unless the Democracies beware, be done in any of the British possessions to-morrow. The acceptance of "undeclared" warfare as bei11g within the realm of practical politics, as it is being accepted, is pregnant with c:onstant acute' danger everywhere. \Ve, in China,. are in process of being exterminated by it. Humanitarianism has been tossed to the winds, and with it is fast going hope in justice. And following these things the prestige of those great civilized nations who profess to be champions of ethics in international dealings will disappear fast into the limbo. If it is only fear of Japan that prompts Occidental nations to maintain silence they had better so inform Japan, and, incidentally, other countries, for Japan is pursuing its policy of drenching China in blood and reducing it to a scorched wilderness, firm in the belief that 97
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MADAME CHiANG KAi-SHEK the Occidentals have forgotten their professed principles and are ready to accept the new order of things as a product of the changing times. It must be fear, of course, or there would not be this frantic burdening of the people with mounting taxation for towering armaments. When we, in China, see these vast expenditures it is natural for us to wonder why th_e nations concerned do not indulge in a little mental arithmetic to see how much they would ultimately save if they aided China now in her effort to bring to her senses the author of this new terror. At the head and front of contemptuous jettisoning of treaties and international law stands Japan. China was the first victim both of belief in the sanctity of treaties, and the application of unrestrained force; and Ja pan, because she was unchecked by the world, is once again expending her mighty wrath upon us. We had the temerity, or the audacity, to try to defend ourselves, and that outraged her. \Vhile we ask for justice, it must be said that the Democratic Powers, i anything, owe definite assistance to China, and no deference of any kind to Japan-that is, if they are true to their principles; It seems that by providing China with the means to continue her defence, the Democratic nations would not only be vindicating their beliefs and upholding their principles, but they would be saving colossal sums which they must sink in armaments, eventually specially to fight the very Power that has been responsible for the world upheavals and has been trying for nine months past to conquer China and eliminate all foreign interests in China; Whether or not we are helped honorably, as we should be, we shall continue fighting, and we hope we shall meet with success similar to that which has so far attended us. I wonder if the people of Great Britain realize what is happening here. For their information, it may be said, the so-called invincible army of Japan, which the Premier, Prince Konoye, threatened was going to beat. us to our knees in no time, has been constrained not only to revise its ideas but also to augment itself continuously with reinforcements, until last month it had thirty divisions, totalling 600,000 men, operating in China, with the whole nation now mobilized on a war footing. total of 300,000. Japan's casualties have so far re1ched an estimated The cost to her of all this enterprise in "making friends of the Chinese people" can be estimated by using as a basis the Per diem cost of the Great \Var lo Great Britain, or by watching 98
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iF jAPANESE MILITARISTS ARE NOT HALTED Japan's appropriations. Yet this full-dress war is but an "incident," according to Japanese army professions, though to their people at home it will soon reveal itself as a monstrous major calamity, launched without justification and continuing without benefit to anyone except the providers of equipment and munitions. And there is the tragedy, The longer, therefore, that the obsessed militarists of Japan are enabled to continue with their ruthless destruction the worse it will be for Chin,ii. and for the whole world. Not only will "undeclared" warfare become sanctified by custom, but this potential market will be ruined for many years for the industrial and commerical peoples of other nations. The Japanese army officers are purposely bent upon exterminating everything nationally or intrinsically valuable in China so that the survivors shall be poverty-stricken and dependent. Where, then, to be basely material, will be the trade of Britain: the Birmingham products, the piece-goods of Lancashire, the equipment from a thousand different British factories? And where, with the deliberate destruction of all reachable institutions of learning, will China's culture be? We, in China, are painfully aware of the answers, and the wide world will soon have practical evidence of their nature, if it does not awaken soon to end this infamous effort to destroy and impoverish the world's most ancient nation and its best potential market. What has gone before in the way of frightfulness, will, if Japanese army officers can make it possible, be completely put in the shade during coming months by the revenge they will try to take for their recent defeats. They will use every instrument, and every horror, to try to crush us in defeat. We shall, however, go on fighting as long as we can secure anything to fight with. We know, and the Japanese now know to their sorrow, what guerilla warfare is, How these guerillas have been disillusioned regarding certain beliefs about Japan is illustrated by the experience of farmers in Shansi Province, who had formed guerilla bands to protect their women-folk and their farms. They have dis covered, to their simple astonishment-so I have been informed by a foreigner who lives in that region-a phenomenon they believed impossible of proof: that a bullet from a blunderbuss, or a stab by 99
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEI< a pike, can kill a sacred and invincible Japanese soldier in hand-to hand combat j'ust as easily and effectively as either can destroy, any ordinary "tU:ppei:iy-ha'penny" bandit or bad man; that a hole in a highway can upset a Japanese truck or tank, even though flying: a dozen supe"rnatural flags, just as it can upturn a homely rickshaw or ricketty-wheeled mulecart, if the hole is artistically camouflaged. This great discovery has suddenly exploded a lot of myths about, the Japanese. in the interic-r of our land; has robbed the Japanes~, as man to man, of. their terror to our soldiers, and it is, in reality, the simple and honest explanation of the unexpected failure of th~ Japanese army to fulfill its boasts, and of the plight in which the Japanese forces find themselves, in all parts of China, at this time of writing, despite the overwhelming weight of artillery and tanks and mechanized units which they have brought to destroy us. Your military observers are well aware of all of this, and shou!d be able to estimate the real value of Japanese military, air, and naval. might if it is. challenged by any first-class Power. Curiously, however, it is Japan that has always been doing the challenging, and it is the Democracies, just like despised China, which have always been reluctant to answer her back. Is it not true that fear of Japan by other nations has been bred of exactly the same stuff as that which held our own people in awe of them, until we discovered that they are no more immune to injury.than are we, and that their "invincibility,'' and hopes of victory, depend more upon the efficient use of modern death-dealing inventions than upon the effectiveness of brains or br.iwn? Courage alone is not a monopoly of Japanese soldiers, and they have disclosed, by their terrible actions, that. discipline is no more characteristic of them than it was of the savages of old. The very unrestrained employment of the grossest barbarism to terroize and demoralize our people was a preliminary confession by the.,J apanese that they had to depend upon something otl;ier than sheer braver~ and capability in combat to overcome our ill.-armed troops. This brief analysis is purely pragmatical. It is not intendedin, any way to imply the possession by the Chinese soldiers or people of any particular courage or skill. We neither minimise the possibilities of'the pressure of armed might that Japan will continue imposing upon us, nor do we labor under any illusion about whafJapanese bombers and mechanized power will do to us. What I am trying to do is to: 100
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DISCIPLINING PEACE BREAKERS stimulate an examination by the people of the first-class Powers of actual facts of the situation. Japanese propaganda is full of frigid falsehoods, yet I notice that it is accepted abroad, and through it is perpet~ated the inordinate fear of Japan. I hear "London Calling" these days, and what I hear is quite a bit of scepticism about Chinese claims concerning the routing of Japanese forces in South Shantung Province, particularly in the vicinity of Taierhchwang. But I. also hear the silence of Japan about the events in this region during this first fortnight in April-nine months after Japan's aggression began. What will happen in the last fortnight of the month I cannot say because Japan is now pouring in many diV,isions of troops belonging to her Standing Army, all heavily armed and equipped with latest devices, bent upon exacting revenge. What they will do will probably be indescribable, but we will meet their terror, as we are meetingit today, .and as we have been meeting it every day during the past nine months, sacriffoing everything to defend _our homes and our honor, and hoping that victory will come to us before we have succumbed as a nation or been destroyed as a race, While we, in China, do not expect any Powers to fight for us; while we understand their present reluctance to commit themselves to any action likely to be construed as provocative to Japan, there is one thing we do not understand. It is the failure of the Powers to try to force Japan to respect those humanitarian principles which are regarded as being the basis of civilization. What Governments are reluctant to do, however, peoples can do, They can realistically demonstrate that "undeclared" warfare, with its revival of barbarism, will not be tolerated. They can assist to bring home to aggressors that no nation that descends to murrler, rape, and rapine, can expect to prosper or be respected. The Chinese people view with gratitude the steps that have been taken in this regard by the people of the British Empire, and we have profound admiration for the spirit shown by those who have, in no unmistaken voice, made their views and feelings known. International peace can only come through mutual respect; through mutual observance of treaties, law, and agreements; and through nations collectively acting to discipline any one that defaults. We are fighting in China with all our might, as courageously as we can, against formiclable odds. Millions of our people are withollt JOJ
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK homes or employment-moving en masse from areas pitilessly ruined by the Japanese-and they do not complain. In the local refugee camp the unfortunate inmates went without food for one day so that the cost of that food could be contributed to soldiers at the front to encourage them. All are suffering, or prepared to suffer, and are enduring, and working for victory. We fight because it is our duty to defend our ancient heritage; because it is our hope that justice will come to us, and because it is our belief that the terrible wrongs done in China will yet he righted. We ask only that the people of the Democracies will be realistic, will critically examine Japan's position and actions, and will stand true in upholding the beliefs which they profess and the ethical principles which they espouse. If that is not done the whole world will revert to the days of barbarism, as it has begun in China, and ferocious, unlicensed brutality will be enthroned in those high places where justice, and right, and human decency should hold sway,
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Spiritual Mobilization Throughout China* "Out of the ashes which the Japanese are spreading all over our country will arise a phoenix of great national worth," THE purpose of the inauguration of the Tsin Chen Chung Tung Yuan (People's Spiritual Mobilization) on March 15, is of vital national consequence. It is to stimulate and intensify public interest and active participation in three major national requirements : the practical application of the tenets of the New Life Movement; the continuance of resolute and unfaltering resishnce against the Japanese invaders, and the planning of real is tic measures for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the vast areas that have been deliberately laid waste by the Japanese, The officials and people of our suffering country are being urged to rise together in their wisdom, their hurt, and their anger, to higher heights of philosophy, patriotism, unselfishness, courage, endurance, and generosity with one national aim: That out of the agonizing sufferings and losses that have been brought upon us we shall arise a new people. Our barbaric enemies have boasted that they intend to beat us to our knees and break our spirit. We shall show those enemies, as we shall show our friends, that in the blood of our fellow men and the ashes of our burned homes has flowered a new national spirit. We shall show them that the new China that was in the making, before war was invoked to destroy it, is still marching on-wiser, more patriotic, and unfraid, We Chinese, in our long history, have survived great natural and political calamities; we have triumphed --------------~ ------------------------------*The English version of an article entitled "People's Spiritual Mobilization" writtlin by Madame Chian,;: Kai-shek which appeared in the Chinese press on March 18, 1938. 103
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK over prolonged adversity, and we have carried our culture and civilization and our national entity safely through the ages no matter what nations rose or fell about us. What our inherent powers of endurance, philosophy, and patience have enabled us to do in the past they will fortify us to do in the present as in the future. What we have to do, and what we are going to do, is to carry on. By applying with intensity of purpose the principles of the New Life Movement we shall go far. We must develop to the fullest extent the advantages of co-operation in carrying out the responsibilities of citizenship and of mutual help in solving our sociel and national problems. Time has proved that we possess the stamina and the character to face prolonged trials and tribulations, and we shall not fail now. The New Life Movement, when it was launched, was welcomed by our people as water is craved by th.e famishing, for the practical and spiritual help it gives. The political unity that also came to our country two years ago was accepted with pride and gratitude as the prelude to permanent peace and prosperity. Reform was appearing everywhere. Inter-provincial jealousies had disappeared with the widespread development of inter-provincial communications. Out of disorder emerged the substantial beginnings of defr,1ite co-operation in political, social, and economic spheres. \Veil justified were we in entertaining the encouraging belief that at last the well-being of our people was a foremost concern of our government, and that unimpeded progress would be our Jot both in domestic and international affairs. But as a snake strikes at its unsuspecting prey so struck Japan at us, and our hope of peace was crushed. \Ve found ourselves involved in the coils of a war which soon expanded to the view of the world as the most colossal exhibition of remorseless barbarism that had ever stained the pages of history. Unrestrained fury and hate were loosened upon us. We fought back, unprepared as we were, because there was nothing else left for us to do. We are still fighting back. Wemust do so, or submit to slavery as a people, and death as a nation. We must fight, as every self-respecting nation must fight, because our country is being violated ; because millions of our people have been put to flight, sacrificing their all, by fear of death ; becaus~ 104 '. I
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FACING THE CALAMITY hundreds of thousands of our helpless men, women and children have been slaughtered in agony, by bombs, by bullets, and by bayonets; because thousands of our unfortunate girls and women have been violently and shockingly outraged; because personal and public property valued at billions of dollars has been wantonly demolished in villages, towns, and cities; because the most outrageous organized rapine the world has ever seen is being engaged in with the sinister object of destroying the means of livelihood of our survivors, as well as enriching the uniformed looters of Japan. It is the most gigantic spectacle of shameless wholesale robbery by any nation for the beggaring of human beings of another nation that has ever been seen. The refugee problem is an immense and increasing one. As the vasi homeless masses struggle into one district or another, each district finds its difficulties increased by just as many refugees a~ arrive there after saturation point has been reached. Agricultural areas are able, quietly and without ostentation, to absorb great numbers, but there are the hungry and helpless masses always on the march to be taken care of. System and order are required to deal with the situation, and benefit or charity organizations inust co-operate and interlace, rather than overlap, in order effectively to meet the terrible situation. We are faced now with great responsibilities, and I am sure that they will be taken up with a will, and that courage and resoluteness will both come to the front and help us save our fellow citizens and our nation. Calamity such as ours calls for special qualities if it is to be overcome successfully. Not only must we have the courage to face our enemy, but we must have the courage to face the hitherto peaceful and industrious population of region upon region being folded back upon us by relentless invasion and thus increasing our burdens as well as testing our capabilities and our patriotism. Indeed, to be able to do justice to ourselves and materially cope with the situation we need not only physical and moral courage but we need the wisdom and strength of will tO abaridon all selfishness that may be part of us. \,Vhat is called for now is the highest type of unquestioned co-operation, and the readiness to do everything helpful to which we can put our hands. There is no room now for personal pride, or individual irritations, or doubts. There must be ui:Jifieq 105
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK confidence in developing the means to one end, and that end is our national salvation and glory. Out of this great peril and trial may come great harm to China, or great blessings. Failure intelligently to cope with the task that lies before us might bring future chaos; but if we handle our responsibilities successfully nothing but national victory can result, even if we have to pay for it in years of further agony and blood. This war has heen forced upon us, and the terrible slaughter of human beings has been permitted for some inscrutable reason. Let us feel that it is to shake our nation out of its apparent lethargy ; out of what has been believed to be inherent indifference. There used to be provincial difference which kept our country distraught but they have been broken down not only by the political unity that came to China, and by the highways that opened provincial communication, but by the war that we are now fighting. Not only are troops of all provinces fighting together, hut now people of all provinces are working together, and many, unhappily, are fugitives together in one, to them, strange province or another. What this melting of differences in dialect, opinion, and feelings may do for China can be appreciated by anyone with some imagination, some hope, and some constructive energy. Out of the ashes which the Japanese are spreading all over our country will spring a phoenix of great national worth if we so will it. And if we, by determination, pull together and strive in every way possible to sustain our armies to resist our foes, and to help those who are suffering amongst us, we will surely see our country freed from the invaders. We can make a new China if we now make up our minds to work together, to be resolute in the performance of our tasks, and be courageous in facing the main objective to defeat the enemy. There are many problems for us to solve, but reconstruction is one requiring the deepest thought and wisest planning. Involved in this problem is one which will he of first magnitude in the future, that is the demobilization of the soldiers. That i!'! itself is a stupendous task for any country, but for China, burnt out as she is being by the Japanese, it is going to prove one of great concern and difficulty to all w~o ~ave responsibility for coping with it. While the war is certain
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A HELPING HAND to be one of long duration we still must make plans for dealing with the situation at the end of it, and if the refugee problem is capably dealt with now that will contribute largely to the competent settlement of others, I feel that the women of China will on their part, be inspired to apply themselves with wisdom and bravery to the handling of the unfortunate homeless masses, especially the children, and I am convinced that all sections of our people will be resolute to endure and to make sacrifices. The intellectuals, in particular, have the opportun ity of displaying qualities of leadership which should be a stimulating contribution to all connected with the organization of national resistance upon an effective basis. They can help in many ways, in organizing the people, and in assisting guerrilla units. There is room everywhere for intelligent leadership particularly in developing farming and industry, We must grow more and more foodstuffs of all kinds; we must give of our means and our lahour. Do that and we will encourage others. And we will inspire our friends and well-wishers in foreign countries to lend us a continuous hand in the finding of the great sums of money that will be vitally necessary to provide for the millions deliberately deprived of their resources and who will be thrown upon charity, not only of surviving Chinese able to take their part, hut upon that of the world at large. Japan, owing to circumstances, is able to perpetrate the grossest inhumanities in our country in defiance of international law. To the world this contribution to chaos by Japan is terrifying, but we must stand up to it, and do our best to achieve victory. While we Chinese are unable to accept hlame, or take responsibility, for the consequences arising from the callous abrogation of international laws by Japan, we are confronted by the sufferings they develop, and it is our duty not only to continue courageously defending our country but at the same time, with undaunted spirit, to assist in the solution of the problems connected with that suffering, The apparent acceptance by the Governments of First-class Powers of the infamous conduct of the Japanese army in violation of humane and other laws has bewildered large sections of our people. Many are more bewildered by the failure of those Gover~m~n~5!
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK to attempt even to protect their own interests by collectively moving in such a; way-as to compel Japan to abandon her brutalities; There are understandable reasons why they have not been able to do anything, but disappointing as the attitude of the governments has been, it is clear that the tt!rrible trials and sufferings of our people have deeply horrified the people of the civilized world. That is a: comfor ting and consoling thing. In particular the peopie of Great Britain' and the British Dominions arid America, are; of their own volition; recording their condemnation of Japan's'criminal debaucheriesin our' country. They are also testifying their practical sympathy with us by sending medical aid and money to help us in the great humane work o( overcoming the consequences of the colossal calamity that has come upon us. I have personally received many hundreds of letters from all kinds of people living in various countries, condoling with us, encouraging us, praying for us. The depth of expression shown in all these letters, the abiding faith in all of them that we will be victorious, is inspiring and deeply moving. The people of the great Democracies are doing what they can to help us in our woe ; and that they will, if they can, do more as time goes on, is certain. What our foreign friends and sympathizers are doing deserves, and I am sure will earn, our eternal gratitude. At the same time it is a direct challenge to us to go on fighting our own battle, and to intensify the work that has already been undertaken here for the amelioration of the lot of the survivors. With our civilians courageously taking up their burdens the armed forces will be more and more tenacious in their efforts to win to victory; Close co-operation between all' who can help will profoundly influence the course of events to victory and to the ultimate glorification of our country. Unhappily the impoverished Chinese millions, victims of depen-. dence upon ti"eaties and internat_ional law, will require,more help than will be available in China. Organized help should come from gov~rnments abroad, not only from tlie sympathetic people, because of the danger of the loss of this great potential market. Witli the deli\Jerate ~idespread 'ruin 'being inflicted by the Japanese, and with t~e fo55 of means of li'.Je1ihood of the survivbi-s in rav'aged' regidris, tO~
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S1'1FLiNG THE SURVIVORS there will be dire poverty. That will lead to complete loss of purchasing and producing power until the future restores normalcy. Without return to production there can be no commerce, and no commerce will close China indefinitely to the trading people of foreign countries. That is, of course, why Japan launched her relentless campaign, and why Japanese officers and soldiers are deliberately following their occupation of territory, and the flight of the people, by studied removal or ruin of all the possible means of livelihood of survivors. It is this criminal marauding, on a scale never before seen, or permitted by civilized nations, that i~; going to intensify China's poverty, cramp world's commerce, and aggravate the difficulties of settling the masses of roaming refugees, and finding means of subsistance for demobilized soldiers, if something is not done now by the governments of the Democracies. The tragedy of China, if she is unable to overcome the barbaric onslaught being made upon her, will be that she, alone of all nations, has survived many centuries of world upheavals, has triumphed over great natural calamities and internal wars, has successfully carried her culture and her civilization through the vicissitudes of countless generations of time, ranging from the mythological period, through the Dark Ages, through social evolution and revolution, only to lose it now when civilization is supposed to be at its zenith, when the world is supposed to have long abandoned barbarism and duplicity and hedged itself in with wisely realistic treaties and laws so as to make the life of the individual, the community, and the nation, peaceful, prosperous, and secure. 109
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r. = ; 1 i f _:, 1':.;
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. Pages lH-132-J apan lllorrifying the 'IN orld-Duty of Chinese ',Vomcn in "\V ar--Japan' s Aspirations U nmaskcd-J a pan's Expansi onisf Programme-The Disgrac e Would not Be upon China
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Japan Horrifying The World On August 25, 1937, Mr. C. M. Ford, News Editor of the Shanghai Evening Po11t and Mercury, and correspondent of the International News Service, interviewed Madame Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking. The interview reads as follows:-BECAUSE the Chinese people have done no more than endeavour to live their own lives in peace and transform the chaotic aftermath of revolution into unified order and progress they are being slaughtered wherever frenzied Japanese can get at them. The terrible ruthlessness of the onslaughts being made in various parts of China, where the Japanese army and navy seek to secure dominance, is exemplified in the monstrous destruction of life and property proceeding in Shanghai which is horrifying the whole world. At Nanking last night, and on other nights, I witnessed death dealing bombs pouring from moonlit skies, and, after visiting places where 34 bombs were dropped, I left for the Shanghai front to find the air filled with diabolical wrath and the earth belching fire and being sprayed with blood of humans and deeply draped with the ashes of holocausted homes. Japan denies the poor people of China the right to live even the hard lives that are theirs, and moreover, she bitterly resents China assuming the status of a unified nation or an economically organized and sound one. Progress in China is not only an anathema to her but the thought of it enrages her to fury. When Ja pan tells the world she only wants economic cooperation in China she means only economic domination. She intends to get it under the guise of alleged offenses to her dignity or of our breaking so-called agreements which do not exist or which Japan forced upon local authorities. She expects our nation to he enslaved by her, and she takes any steps she can to bolster her claim for justification of armed invasion. 111
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MAbAME CHIANG KAi-sHEI( While the world gazed on the spectacle, she recently assembled a great fleet in the Whangpoo river, which is the harbor of Sharighai, cleared them for action, and, when an excuse was considered ample, used them under the shelter of foreign men-of-war to cannonade hundreds and thousands of innocent Chinese out of their homes and cause the flight of thousands of foreigners from their peaceful pursuits in the adjoining part of the I_nternational Settlement. What is more significant is that the Settlement authorities must have known, or must confess of strange remissness, that Japan has b3en busy since 1932 erecting in various places of Hongkew reinforced concrete pill-boxes of prodigious strength and depth from which Japanese soldiers are now machine-gunning the Chinese forces which sprang to the defense of their country when the invaders began their onslaught. For years these preparations have been going on for the very struggle now proceeding. Japan has thus given more than abundant proof of her intentions. Her sinister design to use the International Settlement as a base for war operations against China has been revealed, so there should be no difficulty in understanding all that has happened to our people, property, and interests. China is fighting on her own soil for the defense of her hearths, homes and her honor, just as any self-respecting nation has the right and duty to do; and she is not afraid. Japan may be organized as a: fighting machine, but China has found her soul and will defend her people and her -rights. Japan has contemptuously torn up treatie$ and she has treated with scathing disdain international obligations and opinions. She has so acted as to cause some people to think that China, to save them trouble and loss, should concede Japan's right to undermine China's whole national. fabric by creating alleged autonomous regions, with puppet heads, and be content to follow the dictates of unscrupulous and ruthless Japanese_ army leaders, at the same time handing over her natural resources and economic potentialities for Ja pan to exploit for her own purposes. This is a proposition to which no people with national pretensions would for one moment subscribe. China has conceded so much in the past that she has suffered and been insulted. She has accepted much humiliation, even enduring the violent rape of Manchuria, to the 112
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CHINA WILL UPHOLD HER HONOR wonderment of the world, only because she wished to put her own house in order, and effect a national unity, peace and prosperity which surely would be participated in by the whole world. The wonderful strides she was making to this end were, however, too much for Japanese army leaders. They saw in an organized China the frustration of their long cherished ambition to erect at China's expense a continental empire from which she could defy the world. They struck now because they deemed the time propi1ious and soon might be too late .Japanese claims that China broke agreements and therefore must be punished by force are as false as it is true that Japan wantonly violates any international treaty to serve her ends. Her brazen effort to convince those who wish to believe it that she is fighting communism is as specious as it is unfounded. But, now that she has been startled to find that the people of China will assert their manhood and fight, she needs much assistance and expects to be able to lure certain other nations to her aid to break this country so that she can despoil it for her own purpose. Again I say that China may suffer but she is not afraid. She feels that what Japan is doing is against the law both of God and nature; that if justice has disappeared from practical politics; if signatories of solemn treaties can calmly contemplate war being inflicted upon innocent, weak people without protest or restraint, retribution will still, somehow, surely come in time to those who inflict the evil that is now vomiting death and destruction widespread about this land. I scorn to say anything about the amazing sacrifice of the sanctity of treaties in which the world acquiesces but I do say that, if such a thing can be, then it is supreme folly for any power in the future to sign treaties or agreetpents and expect that such undertakings will be fulfilled if it suits an aggressive-minded power to violate them. To the people of America I say that China will do her best to save herself and uphold her honer. She will try to endure, no matter how long it takes, till she has vindicat_ed herself and saved the land of her ancestors from despoilers. She knows the sacrifices she will be called upon to make but she must fight both to save herself from slavery and for the sake of the poor souls who have been and will be mercilessly done to death. China knows only too well the horrors that confront her and the suffering ahead, but China is unafraid. 113
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Duty of Chinese Women in War The following report was published after an interview granted by Madame. Chiang Kai-shck to Reuters special correspondent at Nanking early in September, 1937. WOMEN must stay behind the lines in time of war and carry on men's work so that the latter can go to the front and defend the country. That is the duty of the women of China, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Generalissimo, told a special Reuter correspondent who interviewed her at Nanking. ''Naturally, the women should fight, fight in any way," she said when she was asked to define woman's duty in time of war. She clarified this by saying: "If they are ready to fight in the front line there will be room. But we have not been trained or prepared for that kind of work. Personally I doubt if the physical strength and endurance of women could equal that of men destined to face the enemy, so they must help behind the lines." Madame Chiang Kai-shek went on to say that she had already inaugurated a women's movement to stimulate the women in various parts of the country lo a '"high sense of patriotism and duty so that they can give needed help to their men at the front." These women were also to assist in Red Cross work and in providing comforts for the troops, also to raise funds and arrange lecture groups to "convey to the inhabitants everywhere in China the realities of the situation and the nature of the struggle in which the nation has by force become so reluctantly involved." "We have to teach them," she said, '.'not to be afraid of anything and to make the great sacrifices that are necessary by a country that is being so ruthlessly invaded as is China. There is the cruelty of the cold-blooded murdering that is being inflicted on the population of China by the Japanese that has to be made understandable to the people. 114
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A T:\LK WITH MRS. ROOSEVELT "But if citizens are to be killed we want those who can to make the sacrifice of their lives helping the men at the front in any way possible. The women have to assist in upholding the morale of the nation in its gravest trial; in obeying implicitly the orders of the Government, and having those orders carried out by all citizens; in suppressing rumors, and, by economies, conserving the nation's foodstuffs and apparel. The time will probably come, too, when the agricultural work in the fields, and many of the ordinary occupations of men, will have to be done by the women, so they have to organize and get ready for it. I think that the greatest contribution we can make is our strength and determination to make any and all sacrifices for the preservation of the nation.'' "Women," she continued, "are gradually coreing into prominence Ill the world around, in spheres that used not so very long ago to be considered as preserves essentially belonging to men. A similar phenomenon is happening in China and in this country women are finding their way into many avenues of endeavour where men used to hold monopolistic sway. But, fortunately or unfortunately, we cannot do without the men, nor can they do without us." It was suggested to Madame Chiang that perhaps she would give, through Reuter, some message to British and American women on what they could do to bring about the end of wars. She translated the question to her husband, the Generalissimo, who sat opposite during the interview, and there was some conversation in Chinese between them before she replied. Then she said : "When the trans-Pacific telephone was inaugurated, I seized the opportunity to voice a thought on the subject of how women might be able to assist in the ending of such calamities that are now devastating parts of China, and will in the course of time spread ruin over large are::ts. Then I asked Mrs. Roosevelt, the wife of the President of the United States, if the women of the world could not be gotten together under her aegis to do something to prevent wars. "It was merely a voice calling over the waste of waters, for it was obvious that Japan was prep:triug rapidly to descend upon China with a repetition of the savage blood-thirstiness that characterized her in I Q32 when she ordered her airplanes to fly out of the dawn ancl rain bombs on the innocent, sleeping, population of Chapej, 11 S
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK "That terrible slaughter and burning have been repeated in Tientsin and other places in North China, and once again at Shanghai, Nothing has been done by trading nations who see their interests being wiped out to stop it, and I do not see how I can usefully suggest any thing to the women of Great Britain and America that might end invasions and wholesale slaughter of non-combatants which, curiously, ;;.re legislated against by laws of war, but which seemingly can go on unchecked when an aggressive nation decides not to declare war. "I can say this to them, however: Since it is apparent that international laws and treaty rights have gone by the board, it is quite possible that the devastating kind of undeclared war that hitherto has cost China and foreign traders great losses in Manchuria, and that is now being waged once again in the important seaports of China, might be started in their country at any time. "In China we have to suffer more because we have been weakened by the delay in organization after the Revolution, but we are going to fight, come what may, for our existence. If the wiping out of China, in order to permit of the erection on onr ashes of a Japanese continental empire, is a m~tter of indifference to those powers who have trading interests and large investments here, as well as colonies and dominions of their own, there is nothing to be said, "But if those powers hope to have treaties and. agreements adhered to and respected, then they had better rapidly overhaul their ideas of what is really proceeding here and prepare to safeguard themselves by penalizing the criminal power just as society penalizes ordinary murderers and violators of their commercial agreements. "How that can be done it is not necessary for me to say, but with some criminals a solitary cell and bread and water for a time have been known to have had salutary reactions. It is easy now for the international policeman to name a culprit, and for the international judge to 'make the punishment fit the crime.' If they do not do this then they wilfully contribute to the complete breakdown of that already crippled scheme of laws created for the protection of the family of nations, and a premium will be placed upon 'incidents,' which i~ proving to be the deadliest kind of 'war' in disguise.
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JAPAN'S DIABOLICAL CUNNING "The cnme that has been previously perpetrated against China and that is now heing repeated, is a ghastly one. Nor did the present invasion come without a warning. For years, the world knows well, it has been in course of preparation, and the insidious and dastardly riature of some of the steps taken to make the rape of China easy and effective has been reported to Geneva, and been reported in the press. "Just contemplate the terrible and loathsome efforts of Japanese and their agents to drench a land with opium and narcotics with the primary object of so demoralizing the people that they would be physically unfit to defend their country, and mentally and morally so depraved that they could easily be bought and bribed with drugs toact as spies when the time came in order that their craving might be satisfied.,:, "The Japanese worked with diabolical cunning in this direction, and we find spies in various parts of the country doing the bidding of their drug-providing masters. On the routes to air-fields they are giving signals with lights and by other means to enable the bombing planes of Ja pan to come with their loads of death and destruction and spread them broadcast. And we have them in higher places in North China traitorously acting as 'puppets' so that the Japanese can claim that 'the will of the "people' demands this and that region to be autonomous. "If ever humanity was confronted with a horrible crime it DO\V has a super one to think about. When the so-calfed 'free citizens' are assembled by the Japanese to parade in alleged support of their schemes, the world witnesses not a procession of men but a parade of drug-steeped unfortunates who know not what they are doing. But Geneva knows the tragically sordid story and so do the Governments of all countries. And they know what has followed, and what has led, step by step, to all the killing and suffering now going on. So what is there left for me to tell the women of the world ? *"Jllicit dope trade" is flourishing in Japanese controlled areas in 'Asia, with the exception of Japan, Korea, and Formosa, declared Mr. Stuart J. Fuller, assistant chief of the Far Eastern Division of the American State Department, at a meeting of the League of Nations' Opium Advisory Committee at Geneva on June 13, 1938. Mr. Fuller declared that the Japane[e narcotic was sweeping through Mukden, Harbin, Peiping, and Tientsin, where Japan is attempting to keep the Chinese people under subjugation. He stated that 460,000 pounds of Iranian opium were consigned by the Japanese army to China recently. "I have been informed." he said, "that the sales and delivery of this shipment will be made under the supervision of the Japanese army in any part of Central China occupied by the Japanese army." I l 7
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Japan's Aspirations Unmasked The following messags was sent by Mr. H. R. Knickerbocker from Nanking to the International News Service, New York, on September 30, 1937. MADAME Chiang Kai-shek received me at a place different from the one last week, for, as joint leader with the Generalissimo of the destinies of China's four hundred millions, her life is sought by the Japanese as relentlessly as her husband's. All I can say is that .she is not deserting Nanking, which is the principal target of Japanese bombs, and that her crushing responsibilities-chief of all Chinese aviation in its unequal fight against Japan's airfleet-her eighteen hours of daily work, her constant sharing of all the burdens of the Generalissimo, have not yet disturbed her impressive dignity and have not yet brought signs of worry to her face. A high-collared Chinese dress of flowered silk admirably offset her slim figure. One of her most striking features was the brilliant smile, revealing superb teeth, which disappeared when she was asked how many of her people had been killed aside from soldiers. "The killing of non-combatants by indiscriminate bombing and shelling" she said, "began in July at Tientsin and has been widespread through north, central and south China, even as far south as the island of Hainan. Incidentally my old family home suffered. In all the raids I estimate that 50,000 non-combatants, men, women and children have been slain. Many more were wounded but the massacres still go on." The Japanese, predicted Madame, will eventually turn everybody else out of Shanghai if they capture the city. Americans and others may as well shut up shop and go home if the Japanese win the war. "Japan's ambition for many years has been to secure a predominant influence in the destinies of Shanghai. They have always resented the dominance of foreigners in the International Settlement. They are fighting now with might an
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FotrnrGN INTERESTS UNDER jAPAN15 DOMINANCE from that area and they will bring in waves of reinforcements and heavy weapons of war until they succeed or collapse. "Japan hates to think that her imperialistic designs are being held up as they are by th~ despised Chinese soldiers. That hurts her, so she wishes helping China. Chiang. She to salve her feelings by asserting that someone else is Alas! No one is helping China", exclaimed Madame denied emphatically that a mutual assistance pact existed between China and Russia or was being negotiated, as the Japanese as~erted. That was a calculated falsehood. Japan, warned Madame Chiang Kai-shek, is out for nothing less than the conquest of half the world: "Japan has the ambition to amalgamate the Oriental races under her leadership. She tried years ago to begin a Pan-Asiatic movement in order to spread her control over all lands where Orientals live. She conjectures that under her organization they could make the Occidental nations toe the line in all international questions. To begin with she would, after annexing China, set up a continental empire to include all islands of the Pacific including the Philippines, Malaysia, Dutch East Indies, the South Seas and, in time, Australasia. The Tanaka Memorial is being followed m detail so far and it is the Bible of the Japanese expansionists. "If Japan contrives to escape defeat and maintains control of China, the bulk of foreigners' trade will be killed. It is already virtually killed even as Japan definitely killed it in Korea and as in Manchuria it is being swiftly done to death. Japan will look upon China as her special preserve as she regards Manchuria now, and the foreigner and his ways will not be tolerated except on her own terms. Even before Japan started the hostilities to make China her own, she warned Britain and America to keep off investments. That ought to be sufficient to indicate what will happen should Japan manage to crush China. Ja pan has left the way open to compromise in the face of an economic embargo by not declaring war on China, but on the other hand she might hope to cement a bloc with Germany and Italy against the League of Nations Powers and that would mean a new world war, of course. But the world has to face something of that sort sooner or later if it allows aggressions such as Japan's to go unchecked. "On the contrary, the Japanese bombing serves to intensify the determination of the Chinese people and Government to continue defending their homes and country. But what good would peace, 119
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MAbAME CHIANG KAi-SHEI{ brought under such terror and massacre, do Japan? Japan tries to convince the world that she is developing friendship for China by these means but, if she believes it, there is something sadly wrong mentally as well as morally with that nation. And there is something wrong with the world if it continues !o permit Japan -to wreak wholesale destruction in this country. The world must draw a frightful moral from this new and apparently accepted principle of air warfare on defenseless civilians. "How Chinese soldiers are able to stand against the te1 rible deluge of bombs and shells, I do not know, but if they have to withdraw, it is certain that the Japanese will promptly run a ring around Shanghai and will control the river shipping, will probably seize the administration of the Customs* or cut Shanghai off from it and impress her will upon the administration. In short, she will dictate policies and in time will oust all Occidentals from commerce." More than that, l\fadame Chiang Kai-shek declared, if Japan were to conquer China it would mean the end of American investments here. "If this reversion to savagery can be tolerated, what is to stop the wholesale slaughter of civilian inhabitants in cities and towns of any country from being the first objective of any aggressor wishing to bring a nation to its knees. Once upon a time, aggressors proceeded to war through set legal procedures but now they have no restraint upon them. We are back in this ye:u of grace 1937 to the state that existed before international h.wyers and statesmen were born or knew how to devise measures to safeguard non-combatants. Legal processes built up through the centuries of civilization, have fallen on evil days If America and Britain decide to assist China as they are obliged to do by the Nine-Power Treaty, they can easily turn financial and economic screws to make the aggressor withdraw. There would be no danger of war, as Japan is tied up with enough of China now to prevent her engaging any nation wi.th a navy, to say nothing of other weapons." Asked what Japan's reaction to an economic embargo would be, Madame Chiang said: "An economic embargo would hit the financial and commercial sections of the Japanese people. They are now under the dominance of the army and they do not like it any more than China does." Madame Chiang concluded on a note of subdued optimism: on May 6, 1938, Li Chin-nien, an official of the Japanese-sponsored "Reformed Govern ment'.' of Nanking. entered the St,anghai Customs Honse a1:d announced that he had been appointed Superintendent of Customs in Shanghai. 120
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APPLYING ECONOMIC SCREWS "I for one cannot believe that the nations really mean to ignore their treaty obligations and I have faith in the human nature of nations who respect justice and right." "Pressure upon financial and commercial Japan would be transferred where it would be felt the most if the outside world shows clearly enough that it is through with international gangsterism. It must be remembered that the military are keeping the people of Japan ignorant of the true state of affairs in China and it probably would be sufficient for the people of Japan to be informed of the exact situation to effect a change of po] icy. I do not think that the League of Nat ions will impose economic sanctions but the effect would cause Japan to revise her whole attitude of mind toward China. "Great Britain and America alone could restrain Japan by imposing an economic embargo and the soft pressure 6f economic screws need not le'.1-_d to conflict," declared Madame Chiang Kai-shek in the strongest plea yet made to the United States and England, pointing out a method to check the Japanese without going to war. "If the signatories of the Nine-Power Pact uphold that instrument, the way to halt Japanese aggression will be simple. In New Zealand and South Australia already something is being done by the Labor Federation m that they refuse to handle w:i.r materials consigned to Japan."* Heavy clouds blanketed N anking from the Japanese war planes .but the city apprehends continued attempts of the Japanese to fulfil their threat to wipe out the Capital. Madame Chiang nodded comprehendingly as I described the bombing of Dessye, Abyssinia, by Italian planes, and Madrid by General Franco's planes and compared the bombing of Nanking which they so impressively foretold. "The same things are coming to the western nations if they don't stop it while there is yet time. Certainly this terror of the skies frightens the Chinese people and would frighten any people b;,1t there is no likelihood of terrorism influencing this country to seek peace as Japan expects." *A Reuter dispatch from Tokyo of May 24, 1938, stated that Japan had filed a protest with the Australian government in connection with'! he recently prom ulgatcd embargo on the export of iron ore to Japan. The demarche was made by the Japanese consul general in Sydney. The embargo, the Japanese spokesman declared, "not only con travenes the principle of equality but also strains the relations between the'two nations." Iron ore form~ one of the major items of Japanese in,ports from Australia. Earlier mess.ages from Melbourne disclosed that Australian dockers ha.d refused to ]oJd scrap jron (jestined for Japan for fear that it would be used for munitions against China. 12 I
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Japan's Expansionist Programme An interview with Madame Chiang Kai-shek in December by Mr. J. C. E. Rye, correspondent of the Ran ders Dagblad, Sweden. WHEN you ask me for my opinion regarding Japan's aims in the Pacific y.:u almost prompt me to di':imiss the question with the suggestion that the complete answer will be found in the notorious Tanaka Memorial. I will not, however, do that. I will say instead that though that revealing Japanese document is alleged to be a product of the fertile imagination of someone who forged the name of Count Tanaka, it is a genuine policy and programme to which Japan has adhered and is adhering with most tenacious, even sacred, persistency. Her aim in the Pacific is wrapped up in her determination to amalgamate under her dominance the whole of the Oriental, or non-Caucasian, peoples, embracing Japan, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, the islands of the South Seas (Polynesia), lndo-China, the Netherlands East Indies (] ava, Sumatra, etc.), India, Arabia, Afghanistan, and Africa. The springboard for this ambitious dive into European Continental politics is to be the establishment in China of a Japanese Continental Empire, and then to extend it until it becomes of world-shaking dimensions and potentialities. The practical development of the plan began with the seizure of Korea. That country fell as a result of a pretext. Manchuria was seized in a similar way, and an attempt is now being made to swallow this ancient land of China while Japanese statesmen broadcast assurances to the world that they have no territorial designs upon our country and only wish to show their "Jove for the people."' The Japanese invented the puppet regime idea, and undeclared warfare, to throw dust in the eyes of a probably critical world as to their intentions while they brought yqst territories nder their sway disguised as "independent" states,
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LORD OF THE PACIFIC! With the possession of China alone Japan woul(l be undisputed Lord of the Pacific, and would become an overpowering factor in the affairs of Europe. Always Japan has vowed to end the influence of the Occidentals in China and the Far East, a,1d she is already beginning to carry out her threat as a kind of automatic development of the war. She tried to frighten us into abandoning our long connections with foreign powers, and to embrace her as the one true friend and co-operator. As we would not he frightened, and as neither Great Britain nor America would accept Japan's demands that they refrain from interfering in any way in China, she decided that her partnership in the so-called anti-co,nitern pact would assure her a free field in an effort quickly to secure by force of arms the foothold in China which she never would be able to obtain through tardy diplomatic manoeuvering. Her successful calling of the apparent bluff of the Powers who subscribed to the Nine Power and other Treaties when she managed to gain control of Manchuria, tempted her lo try a similar thing again. So far she imagines she has succeeded, and will, in time, be able to control China through puppet regimes until the time comes when she can openly abandon humbug and gradually eliminate the puppets and appoint her own officials to administer Chinese affairs. The swallowing of China is a little more difficult as a gastronomic feat than the gulping down of Manchuria. The Japanese army leaders thought that China would prove so supine that she would, after a few defeats, subscribe to any agreement Japan might present. China, they discovered, was not only not frightened by the tremendous weight of explosives being unloaded about her country, but was determined to defend herself to the last. The Japanese, finding their beliefs wrong, let loose the worst type of barbarism that ever disgraced the pages of history. Her premier, Prince Konoye, boasted that they would beat us to our knees and break our spirit oE resistance. They began by air bombing all towns and cities that they could reach, murdering thousands upon thousands oE innocent people. As far as planes conld range they brought death and demolition. By this date several millions of non-combatants are refugees, having been compelled to abandon all their possessions; hundreds 123
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK of thousands have been brutally slain e11 111asse with bombs and machine-guns, and individually by bullets and by bayonets. Women and girls by the thousands have been violated with a brutality that most be] ieved was a part of mythical savagery, and was certainly not possible in this period of civilization. Wherever the Japanese soldiers have been these terrible infamies have b.een perp~trated. The tales of terror and deb,mchery would be unbelievable were they not recorded by foreign eye-witnesses. \Vhat happened at Nan king and Hangchow and other big cities happened, if possible in worse degree, in the remote cities, towns, and villages. Everywhere murderous lust goes rampant and unrestrained. Accompanying it is the organized slaughter of non-combatant men capable of helping their country, and the systematised robbery of everything of intrinsic value. Goods from warehouses, and shops, furniture from houses, every piece of ironware, from actual scrap-iron to the metal parts of any workshops or factories, are being ripped from their foundations and shipped to Japan. The world has never seen such deliberate destruction, not only of life itself, but of every means of livelihood of possible survivors of the horrors. The intention seems to be to make a wilderness of this vastly populated country, and make impoverished slaves of the people. But at the same time this sinister and devastating destruction of the means of livelihood of the people also breaks down their purchasing power so that they will not for a very long time, unless the outrages are stopped, be able to hold commerce with European markets. The Japanese will accomplish two things if they are permitted by the world to continue unrestrained: They will break China, and they will kill for evermore any hold the European or American people had upon the China market. That is what I referred to when I mentioned an automatic development; but it is one of their e;hief aims, of course, and one they seem fair to make good even though they are not likely to be able to defeat China. I am confident that they cannot conquer us, even though they might ruin us, but if it so happens that they do succeed as a result of their military agreements with Germany and Jtaly, then the outlook for the world will be black indeed, We cannot 124
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TOLERATION ENCOURAGES AGGRESSION understand why the governments of the Democratic Powers do not make it clear that abrogati:::m of treaties and defiance ol humane and other laws made specially to safeguard civilization will not be tolerated. Their reluctance even to stand up to the treaties to which they have subscribed merely encourages Japan and other aggressive powers to believe that they can do what they like in whatever way they like without fear or danger of retribution. Faced with such a condition of things what is the outlook for the weak and the small nations? Their fate is very apparent. \i\That is more apparent is the destruction and death which will come upon them if undeclared warfare and all the horrors made possible by the unrestrai_ned use of airplanes, are accepted as part and parcel of modern methods of settling disputes. What ruthless bombing and machine-gunning can do is only too plainly being revealed in China to all who care to see. But does the world care to see? \i\Te, in China, are beginning to have our doubts. Nevertheless, we are determined to keep on defending ourselves. We are ill-equipped, and we are virtually cut off from supplies, but if lhe nations who profess to be upholders of civilization refrain from assisting us to secure the supplies we require --even if they do not do something to restrain the Japanese-there is danger of our being defeated. The shame of it, if so, will not he upon China, but upon the world at large. You ask how the small nations can assist China? Really, it is not for China, which is a victim of helief in the sanctity of treaties and international law, to suggest an answer to that question. We are fighting to uphold all the obligations to which the leading nations set their signatures. \i\Te depended upon the League of Nations and the justice of the world, but it is painful for us to believe that justice seems to be as dead as the League appears to be. China is literally being burnt to death wi'.hout a hand being lifted to put out the fire. If the small nations are to escape a similar fate, or the threat of it, there is but one thing for them to do and that is to contrive by every means in their power to secure the adherence of sufficient nations to the principle of collective security to make international brigandage imp:)ssible. In the tremendous task of c;:1.ring for the refugees, especially the children, in sustaining them during the prolonged hostilities, and in rehabilitating them when the war is over, much help can be given by the outside world, We are doing whatever we can to cope with the situation, but
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\fADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK we also have the single-handed ta.;k of defending human rights and our own country. So any assistance that could come for relief work would be gratefully received. Then there is the consideration that should be given to means to curtail the evils of Japan. If restrictions cannot be placed upon her possibilities for evil by the nations themselves, perhaps the people of the world who believe in justice and are moved by human impulses can make their condemnation of ruthless savagery felt by resolutely refraining from purchasing Japanese products. It must be remembered that every kronen that goes to Japan is a contribution towards the purchase of equipment and munitions to slaughter innocent Chinese people, to blast their homes and businesses into fragments, to spread ruin broadcast over this intensely populated country and to destroy the fine culture of the one country in the world that has outlasted all others.
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The Disgrace Would Not Be Upon China Madame Chiang answered this questionnaire from Mr. A. D. Sheth, of the .I a 11111abhoo111 i, India, on January 26, 1938, QUEST/ON: In view of what the Japanese militarists have promised to their nation, and in view of the feelings of indignation prevailing among the people of China, do you think there is any possibility, at least in the near future, of any change in substance or in spirit, in the peace terms offered by China on one hand, and the same offered by Japan on the other? If not, what is your estimate of the duration of hostilities? Is it going to be a fight to the finish till every inch of Chinese land is occupied by the Japanese, or the last Japanese soldier has left the Chinese territory? ANSWER: As war has been forced upon China by Japan, in pursuance of the latter's long established policy to secure the mastery of Asia, China must continue :fighting while her sovereign rights are in jeopardy. Japan has been endeavouring to subjugate China for many years with the object of quietly developing a Japanese continental empire. Finding that the unity of China and her economic progress would definitely prevent the realisation of Japan'~ aims the latter felt it impossible to delay any longer and provoked the incidents which have Jed to widespread destruction of life and property in China. Ja pan does not want peace except upon terms which would mean the practical enslavement of the Chinese people. China will only accept peace based upon the full restoration of her sovereignty. The terms hitherto presented through the German Ambassador were impossible of acceptance for the simple reason that they were definitely designed to penalize China. The bases upon which China would accept peace were long ago set down. They were the simple r~quirements of any self-respecting sovereign state. Japan ha!=i 127
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK carried on mass slaughter of men, women, and children; and innu merable women and girls have been subjected to treatment more_ horrible than death. Never in history has thei"e been anything to parallel the merciless bru'.alities and wholesale murders that have been inflicted upon China by the Japanese. Therefore, it is vital for China that she fights until there are no Japanese troops left on her soil. QUESTION: Do you believe that the attempts of the Japanese elders will be successful in con trolling the Japanese military Young Blood, at least to avoid complication with the other powers? Or do you think it is the policy or the planned working directed from the above to bring about such incidents as would make a clash with the other powers inevitable? Do you think .T apan is really meaning to come to grips with Britain or Russia? Don't you think she would rather wish to deal with them, when she is free from her present trouble with China? Do you, or do you not, think that the real intentions of Japan with regard to the other powers are, apart from the incidents created by the intransigent Japanese soldiery, to rob -foreigners of their prestige and interests, stopping only at the point when it comes to a real clash of arms? ANSWER: The Japanese army is proving itself daily to be worse even than the Huns. It has provided the world with an astounding picture of the Japanese Government's loss of control over the army leaders or the soldiers in the field. Indeed, from what neutral and independent observers report the army officers are unable to control their own men. It they are able to control them then it is obvious that the officers share in the orgies equally with their soldiers. When the Japanese army clashes with foreign interests no outsider can tell whether it is deliberate or not. Japanese statesmen have several times published declarations that Japan would not tolerate third parties assisting China. It is therefore difficult for anyone to tell whether Japan is prepared to engage Britain or Russia in war. Obviously she hopes to avert their anger by apologizing for incidents and by avoiding a clash with them until she feels that she has China under her heel. Unquestionably Japan wishes to p-et rid of foreign interests in China. She has diligently pursued such a policy in her own country, in Korea, and in Manchuria. When she, in order to escape increased difficulties, says that she intends to maintain an 128
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lmlTISH,AND AMERICAN ATTITUDE DEPLORED open door in China she is obviously pretending to something to which, intelligent observers well know, she has no intention to adhere. QUESTION: What do you think of the working of the British mind in this affair? Do you think they adhere to the policy 'He laughs best who la.ughs last'? That is, knowing their present weakness, due to various causes including the Europen situation and their own lack of preparations, and believing in the coming weakness of Ja pan, they will rather wait till they are ready and free and till Japan is weakened a bit? Do you believe, in that case, that China shall have to carry on single-handed, in the military sense, for a few months more? ANSWER: Responsible people in China deeply regret the fact that Great Britain and America are unable for various reasons to take action against Japan to uphold the sanctity of treaties and to compel respect for their subjects and interests in China. Obviously this attitude is due to lack of prnparation to secure redress for insults and outrages. Until other powers are able to meet Japan with the weapons she prefers when dealing with problems in China, we will have to continue defending ourselves. That we must do until we are defeated or until we defeat Japan. How long we can carry on depends solely upon our ability to equip our forces. If we are defeated because of lack of equipment the disgrace will not be upon China but upon those great powers who have often enough declared themselves to be the supporters of treaty rights and upholders of justice and humanitarian principles. However, unless the great manufacturing powers of the w)rld wish to see the tremendous potential market of China killed and closed to them, it behoves them quickly to consider how they are going to prevent Japan from blinding them by throwing dust in their eyes and robbing them of their treaty rights and interests in Asia. QUEST/UN: Do you think 'Manchukuo', Korea and Formosa will be serious factors for Japan to consicler in the near future, thus increasing her troubles and weakening her in her struggle? ANSWER: No person outside is able to answer this question, but no doubt there are, in the three regions mentioned, patriots who pray for the day to come when they can be relieved of the Japanese yoke. Ever since the Japanese occupied Manchuria in defiance of world pledges and interests, there has been resistance on the part of the loyal Chinese. It is difficult for patriotic Chinese to understand how anyone can allow themselves to be used as puppets by tl:ie Japanese. 129
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MADA.ME CHIANG KAI-SHEK QUESTION: Do you think the boycott of Japanese goods m India, as well as by the Chinese everywhere, will at least have some effect on Japanese finance and the Japanese mind? Don't you think that the proposed boycott of the Japanese by the American and European labor parties will have a telling effect on the Japanese? ANS \VER: As the great nations, through weakness, or through terror of Japan, seem to be unable to impose sanctions, the only way that people who wish to be free, and who hope to be spared the horrible treatment which Ja pan is inflicting upon China, can express their feelings and contribute to the defeat of so ruthless an enemy is to refuse to have any dealings at all with Japanese officials or people. If this alone could be done there is every reason to believe that in due course Japan would be compelled to change her policy and withdraw from China. QUESTION: Do you dream of any day when there will be a perfect understanding and concord between China and .Japan? \i\Then Asiatic nations including China, and India, will come forth on the horizon, with new ideas and new culture helping the world toward lasting internal and external peace of the body and of the mind? ANSl\!ER: Until the leaders of Japan, who believe that they have the power to dominate the wor!J, change their attitude of mind, there can be no concord on an equal footing between China and Japan to say nothing of other Oriental countries, including India. Japan pretends to be wanting cooperation, but what she wants is dcmination. Japan will not be content with any dealings with China or India except upon the basis that these two countries accept Japan as their master. Japan envisages herself as possessing a great continental empire to which India and other Oriental countries will be subject. Unless Japan is restrained from occupying China, she will in time invade India with the same ruthlessness as she is now invading China. There is no escape for the people of India, because the possession of China by Japan will enable her in time to equip herself to meet Great Britain. The latter country will no doubt fight to try to save India, but what can the people of India do themselves? Even if they had independence they could not overcome the combination of powers which J apar, would be able to develop should she be able to occupy China as she has been able to occupy Manchuria. After the terrible brutalities 130
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AN oBjEcT LESSON FOR lNDiA which Japan has been guilty of in China it is difficult to visualize her cooperating with China and India to develop new culture designed to help the world toward lasting internal and external peace. Japan's idea of securing peace is to wipe out the people of China by mass murder and by the wholesal~ destruction of their property. It is by demoralization and degradation of the Chinese race that Japan strives to become the conqueror and lord of Asia. QUEiT/ON: In the present condition of India, what do you think, India can and should do to help China in its present troubles? ANS \VER: The only thing that the people of India can do for the people of China is to refuse to have any dealings at all with the Japanese. They are justified in denouncing the Japanese because of the terror which they have unleashed upon China and her people. The question of whether India is independent or not has no bearing upon what other peoples should do to prevent the wiping out of a country like China. QUEST/ON: Are you in touch or conversant with the great movement in India today for the emancipation of our country? \i\That do you think of this movement? What will you advise, in your capacity of a leader of Young China to the people of India; meaning what will be your message to the people of India? ANSWER: I do not wish to intrude any opinion about India and the.efforts that are being made to secure emancipation. The people of India would be wise to study very closely what is happening just now to the people of China. The people of China are suffering because they are a hundred years or so behind other countries in achieving organization and reform calculated to put them upon the same plane as the people of the Occident. Before the people of any backward country can really hope for equality they mu~t improve themselves in a manner which would enable them to acquit themselves, and organize in such a manner that they can successfully resist any aggression by force of arms. It is folly for anyone to believe that treaties and promises on the part of other nations will protect people while they are struggling to develop themselves into an adequate and competent nation. The object lesson provided by the aggression in China should be sufficient to show peoples who believe themselves to be badly dealt 131
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEI< with that they must be extremely cautious before taking any steps which would place them at the mercy of such ruthless countries as Japan. The latter country certainly intends to dominate Asia and she is not ready to assist any country such as India to acquire the chance to become strong enough to stand up in the world as an independent eastern power. Japan will take advantage of any unsettled conditions in India to disrupt the country should it gain a status of independence. If it were competent for me to advise the people of India I should tell them to step very carefully in all the measures that thay have in mind for the development of independent national life. It seems quite likely that when the people of India are able to achieve unity of purpose and demonstrate capacity to rule and protect themselves that they will be granted all the freedom that they desire. But the people of India can be sure that Japan is watching every movement with the sole object of bringing India under her control when the time seems ripe. Japan will judge that time to have arrived if fhe people of India manage to secure freedom from the protecting hand of Great Britain without being able themselves to fight to uphold their newly found national emancipation. What China is suffering now, India will surely suffer in due course if China is defeated and if Japan contrives to occupy and dominate this great and ancient country. If the world is withholding help from China, an independent country, how can the people of India imagine that they can do more than we are doing without outside assistance? What is happening to China should be watched by the leaders of India with great attention. The fate of China is fraught with a deep and abiding lesson to all who are striving, according to their own light!-, to effect a radical and rapid change in India. 132
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DesJP>&tches To British AnJ U. Press Pages 133-155-Japan' s Smoke-screen of Falschoods W ar Progress: News from the Fronts-America' a Disappointing Attitude-Japan's Campaign of Frightfulness-Demolition Threat to NanL:ing-Hasegawa's Insolent Order-The Possibilities of Undeclared W arfare--The Sixth Japanese Push-Stuibhorn Chinese Resistance-Systematic Destruction of Railways-B;itish Interests Suffer-Japanese Falsehood Exposed-Important Tactical Victory-Territory Through Puppet Regimes-Determination of China C:hina's Strategy of )loving on-Japan's Empty Shanghai Victory-China Is Still Undaunted.
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Japan's Smoke-screep. Of Falsehoods* Nanking, September 6, 1937. THE unceasing flood of false statements with which the world press has been deluged by Ja pan since she decided upon the present attempt to effect the conquest of China has made it impossible for most people to obtain anything like a correct estimate of the tragic situation now involving China and confronting the world. But if certain historical signposts which show Japan's emergence as a first-class Power, and the frustration of her early ambitions to become a continental Power, are kept in view, it will be comparatively easy to penetrate the smother of falsehoods behind which Japan is endeavouring to hide her real purpose, as well as to understand exactly what are her aims and the reasons why she is daring enough to risk internationai condemnati.on if she does not succeed in entirely misleading the world. Japan regards this time as particularly propitious for one last throw of the dice to conquer China and confront the world with un fail an:0111pli in order to make her dream of continental empire come true. Her early efforts to take advantage of China were thwarted by the watchful Powers. She has never forgiven them, or China .. Ever since she annexed Korea by questionable procedure and secured the island of Formosa from China as a result of our defeat in the Sino] apanese war, Japan has taken every opportunity to extend her foothold on the continent. She made an effort to hold South Manchuria after the war with Russia. The Powers would have none of it. During the world war Japan tried, behind the backs of her allies, to secure mastery of China by compelling her to accept the Twenty-one Demands "'The eighteen press despatches in this section of the works of Madame Chiang Kai-shek were syndicated to papers in America and England, those subscribing including the New l'o k I-Jera/d-Trib1111e, the Chicago Daily News, the Philadelphia Ledger, and the Daily Herald, London. The despatches briefly reviewed aspects of the war period between the third week of the Shanghai hostililies and the beginning of the drive on Nanking. 133
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SliEK which were designed to place the administration of China completely in her hands. The Powers frustrated that. As thE: price for her assistance in ousting a handful of Germans from Tsingtao during the World War she tried to retain a footing in Shantung province, which she still covets. The Powers stopped that. At the Washington Conference measures were taken by the Powers definitely to curtail Japan's aggressiveness and prevent her from taking advantage of China's weakness. The Nine Power Treaty was contrived and all the nine big Powers put their signatures to it guaranteeing to protect the sovereignty and territorial and administrative integrity of China. Smarting more and more under her defeats, Japan waited and watched. When 1931 came with its difficulties in Europe and the world depression, Ja pan judged that the time was ripe to attempt the occupation of Manchuria. She worked up preliminary "incidents" and prepared what she believed to be a watertight justification for her action. The world was momentarily stirred when she struck, but she lulled their fears by declaring that she was settling a mere "local incident" and had no territorial designs. Gladly the Powers accepted this assurance, but Japan found excuse after excuse to penetrate further and further into the country in spite of the attitude of the League of Nations, which had the matter in hand, until she occupied the whole of Manchuria. Shortly afterwards she added the province of J ehol to it. She treated the League with contumely, defied it and resigned from it. With persistence she continued her penetration of North China and assisted to inaugurate an alleged autonomous state near Peiping and Tientsin, whereupon she began to defy the opinion of the world, and especially the Central Government of China. By this time she had calculated, with apparent reason, that the Powers were afraid of her since they made no overt move when she inaugurated smuggling on a huge scale in order to break the Maritime Customs. She proceeded to secure her position in the west in case of war with the Soviet but met rec:istance in Suiyuan which eventually led to the defeat of her bandits and the officers who commanded them. That set-back angered her. She decided to make success certain by bringing to China a large force of troops, setting up barracks and an airfield near 134
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WORLD DELUDED OR AFRAID Tientsin, and there garrisoning them. In time they spread westward to Peiping when another "incident" enabled Japan to begin pressure upon China, which was, however, resisted. Realizing that unity in China meant the end of tame submission, Ja pan began to look to her position in Shanghai. More troops were brought in hy her to the International Settlement and there she established a base, without protest from the Powers. Her navy, cleared for action, occupied the river. Another "incident" gave the necessary excuse and pressure was promptly exerted to oust the Chinese from !he area. The resistance she met surprised her, and she was compelled to bring more and more reinforcements, until now shP. is employing the fullest weight of her naval, land and air bombardment to crush the Chinese troops. The war that Japan initiated fwm her base in Shanghai has so far brought about the massacre of thousands of innocent non-combatants and the ruthless destruction of millions of dollars worth of property. Foreign interests have been seriously affected. Foreigners have been forced to flee from Shanghai, as well as from their homes in other sea ports and cities in the interior, for Japan will bombard, burn and kill wherever she can, feeling ce1 tain that she has the world deluded or afraid. She thinks that she now sees a chance to demoralize the Chinese race; to drive out foreign interests and influence, and, upon the ashes of China, establish the continental empire which she believes will, in time, dominate the world. Treaties now seem to have no defenders and human rights none to protect or champion them. All those laws which have grown up through the years to safeguard humanity seem to have been abandoned by everyone. The world may be misled by Ja pan's falsehoods as to what is really going on in China, but before long the world will be shocked into an understanding of it. But it will then be too late to stop it. The Premier of Japan avowed that China would be brought to her knees, but that cannot be done without bringing the civilized world to its knees in course of time. The Chinese nation is, however, fighting and will continue to do so. Only if the Powers acquiesce in Japan's campaign of calumny and cruelty by preventing China from obtaining supplies or discriminating against her will she he crushed, but even so she will not be defeated.
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War Progress: News From The Fronts Nanking, September 8, 1937. JAPAN'S effort during the past three weeks at Shanghai to crush China to her knees has failed. It finds Chinese troops holding their lines and seriously punishing the crack Japanese Twelfth Divison, During the big push of the past three days, the most intense use by the Japanese of numerous heavy naval guns, artillery, air bombers and military reinforcements have not prevented the Chinese from inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, who lost one battalion landing at Woosung. Yesterday evening, Chinese air bombers badly damaged two Japanese destroyers and one gunboat. This morning, Japanese bombers, with pursuit planes, visited several airfields without doing material damage but Chinese pursuit planes encountered the raiders over Lake Taihu and downed two in the water. A Chinese ace was wounded but brought his ship safely back. A heavy push continued all last night and to-day but the position this evening is that the Chinese forces have advanced on the LutienLiuho road and now menace the former place. On other Shanghai fronts there are no major activities. On the North China front on the Tientsin-Pukow Railway, this morning, the Chinese suddenly attacked and routed the Japanese, the survivors rushing across the Chienho river with heavy casualties. The Japanese Government is blockading the whole China coast, which blockade the National Government will endeavour to break. In order to avert danger, the National Government is issuing an order to all neutral naval vessels to maintain a distance of one hundred kilometers from the China coast and to give a twenty-four hours' notice when desiring to enter or leave a Chinese port. 136
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jAPAN CAPITALIZES COMMUNiSM In addition to the blockade, the Japanese Government is pretending to see secret clauses in the Sino-Soviet non-aggression pact with the object of luring German and Italian support for her alleged anti-Communist campaign. In truth, there are no secret clauses or understandings. Japan's allegations are a deliberate figment of the imagination and an insult to the intelligence of the world, as is her effort to ignore the British note on the shooting of Ambassador Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen on the grounds that they cannot prove that Japanese planes were responsible, alleging that the Chinese use Japanese colours on their planes. 137
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America's D1sappo1nt1ng Attitude Shanghai, September 16, 1937. THE American Government's ruling against their vessels transporting war materials and equipment to China, on top of recently encouraged evacuation of Americans, has been received by the Chinese with feelings of surprise and disappointment. Official China has a lively understanding of the difficulties confronting the great nations of Europe but the Chinese people cannot understand how America can be the first apparently to jettison her long proclaimed friendship for China and abandon her efforts to sustain international respect for the sanctity of treaties, especially those forged on the anvil at Washington for the protection of China against invasion by Japan, and for the security of the world against war. China really asks nothing more than economic assistance and a deserve
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Cl-UNA SHACKLED BY POWERS united China nor for a wo1 ld settled enough to restrain her ambitions upon the continent. To help China sustain herself against the invasion which obviously was coming when Japan considered the time ripe, I also began reorganizing the air force as Secretary-General of the Aeronautical Commission. While this may appear to be a strange bedfellow for a movement designed to give spiritual uplift to the people, it is nevertheless a tragic and accepted Christian axiom that God helps those who help themselves. That was impressed upon China at the time of the Manchuria invasion by a world full of well-wishers, so I with others set to work to make it possible for China to do something for herself when the time came once again to face invasion. Because Japan struck so soon, I was unable to build up an air force adequate for the needs of such a large country but what was done has enabled us to prove the possession of skilful and courageous airmen readv to facedeath in scientific contrivances about which they knew little. But if nations now deliberately prevent China from acquiring the means to carry on the defence of her life and honor, which was guaranteed by various Powers who are now unable to fulfil their obligations owing to peculiar circumstances, then not only will the consequences be tragic to China but also to the whole world. 139
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Japan;s Campaign Ot Frightfulness Nanking, September 20, 1937. FORTY-THREE enemy planes were our escort back to Nanking this morning and the welcoming salute they gave us from over ten thousand feet altitude soon after nine o'clock was a shower of bombs south and west of the city. All through the night, while we were travelling, planes were searching the roads, bent upon murder as they were when they machine-gunned and bombed the British Ambassador. Mute testimony of their efforts in this direction was given by demolished cars all along the road. On my way to Shanghai it was a relief to escape this constant evidence of their murderous intent and to see our own soldiers courageou~.ly standing their ground against the perpetrators. I also met fine looking British soldiers guarding the sandbagged portals of the International Settlement. They were the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and they let me in. I had no identification papers but they were nice and wanted me to meet their captain, J. G. E. Hickson, who in turn introduced me to the Brigadier-general, and all was well. Going out in the evening presented no difficulty, and, as I have said, we got to Nan king to be greeted by an air raid which the Japanese describe to their people in a broadcast as "the greatest air battle in aviation history." Truly enough it must have been since they claim to have shot down twenty-four of our planes, which was nine more than we sent into the air. A second visit was paid to us by twentyeight Japanese planes this afternoon but like their fellows of the morning they kept aloof, the altitude being some twelve thousand feet. It was a spectacular business and part and parcel of the avowed plan to beat China to her knees. 140
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Demolition Threat To Nanking Nanking, September 21, 1937. THE J ap:rnese threat of further terrorism to bring ruin to China by demolishing Nanking will he met as hitherto with anti-air-craft guns and with aircraft which carry on to the best of their ability so long as they can. During nearly two score previous raids, the bravery of our pilots has caused serious loss to the enemy. In the past two days, raids have been on an extensive scale, and, while we lost some planes on Sunday, the enemy lost more. Yesterday, we escaped any loss but brought down four enemy planes in the vicinity of Nanking and two others flew as far as Soochow where they crashed. Intensive raiding is now certain to be undertaken by a great number of planes as the enemy has established fields near Shanghai, but more particularly since the world is accepting this ghastly und~chred war, with its terrible toll of non-combatant Ii ves and property, upon terms dictated by Japan, 141
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Hasegawa's Insolent Order Shanghai, September 23, 1937. THE Japanese threat to devastate Nanking might have !'tartled the world but it came after thirteen previou'> attempts had failed. Two raids to-day began and finished much like others, leavir.g Nanking standing, but smoking in parts, with some of its inhabitants dead and wounded and with some property, of no military importance, ruined. \Vhen Admiral Hasegawa calmly ordered the nationals of other Powers to depart for safer places, he expected obedience from .ill the embassies. The British, French and Soviet embassies decided that Hasegawa had no authority to order them to evacuate the capital of a country with which theirs was on friendly terms. They stayed. But to-day Hasegawa is reported to have issued a second warning, telling foreig ners to remain away for the duration of the hostilities. If they insist on remaining here instead, it will be a little more difficult for Japan to adopt whatever means she has in mind so that she may swiftly break China's resistance. In order to clear a way for a holocaust, without hurting the feelings or persons of friendly nationals, the Japanese wish them out of the way. \Vhat is ahead for Nanking, none but the Japanese know. They have already announced over the radio that they have reduced the city to a shambles, and it may be that is what they are determined to do. However, their technique of bombing has changed since the first day when a flock of heavy bombers sailed in full of contempt of the Chinese airmen or any of their work. The shattering blow then delivered to .T apan caused their followers to show a wholesome respect for the Chinese by taking to the high heavens. To-day, they began their devastations from heights ranging from fifteen to twenty thousand feet. 14~
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UNRESTRAINED SLAUGHTER Soon, no doubt, they will change that since the devastation is not so effectively done from such heights. If foreigners can be persuaded to take orders from Japan and leave Nanking,the Japanese think they will be free from restraint to introduce whatever methods are calculated most easily to accomplish what thay have in view. In the meantime the unshocked world may go on wondering what possibilities an undeclared war possesses in the way of swift slaughter. 143
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The Possibilities Of Undeclared Warfare Nanking, September 29, 1937, JUDGING h_y the effo~ts that Japanese agents are ~aking _to bribe various Chmese officials of Shantung and Shans1 provmces to cease opposing Japan and to assist in the formation of an autonomous state of five provinces north of the Yellow River, they must be feeling the strain of war seriously. Further evidence of their difficulties is provided by the treacherous and continuous dishonesty of their broadcasts. Their disguised planes enabled them to bomb Kwangleh Airfield yesterday. To-day one scouted the \Vuhu field, and, finding it unarmed, led twelve others there to bomb it and destroy four unarmed Douglas training planes. The Japanese are. piling proof upon proof that an undeclared war possesses possibilities for subjugating a weak nation that do not exist under the canons of international law governing declared war, and they are making the fullest undeterred use of them. However, world criticism against their slaughter o[ innocents has influenced Tokyo somewhat, for the raiders visiting Nanking yesterday avoided the walled city. I--I itherto the Japanese Army has ignored international opinion because it was not force[111ly expressed, but the people of Japan will surely feel its effects once their ears can be reached. It is certain, too, that properly applied economic pressure would quickly terminate the disastrous destruction that is relentlessly being pursued by the Japanese Army leaders with the object of reducing the Chinese people to poverty and impotency. The manufacturing nations of the world are certain to rue the day that they hesitated to prevent destruction of the purchasing power of this potentially import;lnt 1n11rket. 144
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The Sixth Japanese Push Nankin~, October 4, 1937. THE war situation over the week-end has not provided any particular changes. The sixth Japanese offensive being launched on the Shanghai front promises, like each of the others, to be the most spectacular yet. They will apparently attempt to break through the lines on each side of Kiangwan and also endeavour to destroy the Yangtze barrier to enable them to attack Nanking. Neither objective is thought by military experts capable of being accomplished without unusually serious losses. Japanese mechanized units of heavy artillery and tanks have been having a kind of hunt during the last week with the ill-equipped provincial troops of North China but the Japanese troops are being steadied up now. General Yen Hsi-shan is still at his capital of Taiyuan, and General Han Fu-chu denies all Japanese stories that he is intending to sell out Shantung. The Chinese people are awaiting the coming week with intensified interest, especially since the attitude of the outside world indicates an increasing appreciation of the realities of the situation here. The vigorous demand being made by people of the British Empire for justice to China encourages us in the belief that our struggle and sufferings are not in vain.
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Stubborn Chinese Resistance Nanking, October 6, 1937. THE concentrated wrath of the Japanese con tinned to explode upon Chinese lines at Shanghai to-day with relentless ferocity from numerous heavy artillery, airplanes and tanks. It was the sixth day of the sixth big offensive, and it ended with the startled and shaken residents of Shanghai realising that the Chinese troops are still holding their ground. The enemy made their main thrust in the direction of Liuhang and Lotien but all attacks were repulsed partly by counterattacks with heavy losses to Japanese troops. In the Chapei sector, heavy artillery fire and bombing and attacks by shock troops were repulsed. Near Lotien, there was much activity between outposts. In the evening, Chinese planes raided the Whangpoo river, hoping to destroy the Idzumo and the Japanese airfield. This caused a great display of anti-aircraft activity for Shanghai spectators. The results of the attack are not known here. J us.t. at s~ndown, six Japanese <;eaplanes were seen heading for Nanking but anti-aircraft fire with the aid of two Chinese pursuit planes frightened them off. One pursuit plane disengaged and that left one to chase away the intruders; En route to their base they dropped bombs some distance south of the city and three at Chnyung Airdrome, the results of which are as yet unknown. Yesterday and to day, the Chinese troops in Shansi Province turned the tables on the invaders near Kwohsien, north of Taiyuan, and caused them to retreat so rapidly that Chinese troops soon lost contact with them. After an all-day battle yesterday near Pingyuan, Japanese troops were defeated. They lost several heavy guns and suffered severe casualties. A second attack was made at Pingyuan to-day by about 700 Japanese soldiers, who were repulsed. In Shantung, the enemy is still being held up at Taichow, according to reports received here, 146
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Systematic Destruction Of Railways Nanking, October 8, 1937. NANKING has not heen bombed much of late, We would think that international protests had effected a change of heart were it not for the fact that the Japanese have been daily carrying out systematic destruction along railway lines and bombing isolated towns en route. Thirty civilians, including women aud children, were blown to pieces and a hundred were wounded yesterday morning at Hsinchow near Whampoa. The casualty reports from several other villages in the vicinity of Canton have not yet been received. About fifty passengers aboard an express train bound for Shanghai were killed ::i.nd maimed while the train was standing at the Wusih station, on the Shanghai,Nanking Railway. Two passengers were killed and many wounded at Likuoyoh, on the Tsinpu Railway, as well as at Yuchen and Pingyuan, north west of Tsinan. The station at Chufu, the birthplace of Confucius, was aga,in bombed to-day with the destruction of civilian life. Hsuchow junction was bombed yesterday and to-day as part of the constant effort to destroy the transportation system. Also at stations on the TsinanTsingtao Railway and at Tenghsien, Honan, to-day twenty bombs were dropped, aiming at train refugees, most of whom were, however, able to escape panic-stricken from the train. But five were killed, eight were wounded and numerous others were shell-shocked before they could get out of range of the explosions. The technique being adopted by the flying destroyercis to bomb the stations and machine-gun the trains, no respect being paid to the nature of the train. While the quick are always being bombed, so now are also the dead, for near Molinkuan, twenty miles south of Nanking, a funeral procession of white-dressed mourners was deliberately attacked, one bomb falling within ten feet of the coffin but not exploding. A half acre of rice sheaves was scattered in the air by bombers who apparently believed them potentially dangerous. More notable than the destroyed railways are the vital interests of .!3ritish bondholders. 147
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British Interests Suffer Nanking, October 16, 1937. JAPANESE bombers so far have done about a million sterling damage to Chinese railways. Most of this is on lines financed by Great Britain. The bulk of the damage is by wanton bombing. Instead of being content with interrupting the traffic at special strategic points, the Japanese cruise along the lines, destroying station after station. The design is not solely to disrupt the supply service, hut chiefly to demoralize the people throughout the country and compel them to cry for peace. Each bomb merely serves to intensify the determination of everyone to keep up resistance. The Japanese fail to understand that the Chinese people actually do not need the railways in order to sustain life. As it is, they travel over most of their country and transport most of their goods by other means. 14&
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Japanese Falsehood Expgsed Shanghai, October 25, 1937. P'fHE Japanese are reporled to have made the statement that they will not participate in any negotiations with China until they have won a victory at Shanghai. This, coupled with their declaration that they are determined to drive out the Chinese forces before October 30, lends particular significance to their dramatic efforts recently staged with the object of proving to the world that gas shells were used by Chinese troops. Answering the Japanese charges, the Generalissimo emphatically declared that no gas shells were possessed by China, and even if she ,vished to use them none could be issued. He does not know the sources of the shells which the Japanese claimed to have found, but he knows they were not Chinese. Whether the failure to convince the world is causing the Japanese to hesitate to use gas in their desperate efforts to achieve victory Lefore the Nine-Power Treaty Conference, I do not know. The attack on a British post yesterday was taken to indicate that the Japanese are endeavouring to influence the withdrawal of foreign forces from the International Settlement promptly so that they will have unrestricted freedom to smash the Chinese away from Shanghai. Chinese troops will, however, do everything possible to endure the intense bombardment and shelling in order to defeat the Japanese intention.
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Important Tactical Victory Nanking, October 28, 1937. THAT China has won an important tactical victory by withdrawing unscathed to a more secure line on Wednesday is the unqualified declaration of foreign military observers. Chinese headquarters did not decide. until a late hour on Tuesday to abandon the corner* which long ago had really become dangerous but they acted with such swift precision that most troops were in new lines by dawn and the lurid curtain of flame and smoke was in the making soon after daylight. Shanghai had a magnificent spectacle of blazing buildings which thrilled all observers until this hour of writing. The Japanese, when they broke through the smoke, were able tu occupy abandoned Chinese positions, but the victory they boasted was a negative and a costly one. Chinese troops still hinge on the International Settlement and they will try to hold on some time longer. Malgre what has gone before, war in this region has just about started. The important lesson learned during the past ten weeks is that Chinese soldiers will obey orders to fight till death and that any defending troops adequately armed are difficult to defeat when fighting within city limits. "'The Kiangwan, Chapei salient. 150
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Territory Through Puppet Regimes Nanking, October 31, 1937. IT is necessary to deny rumours that j apan has proferred terms of peace for we know nothing about them. What we know is that Japan is pressing as hard as possible to create alleged "independent" states in North China and in Mongolia, and she is trying desperately to break the Chinese lines at Shanghai before the Brussels Con fererice convenes. Ja pan has refused to attend that conference because China's resolute resistance has unexpectedly caused the failure of her plans to confront the conference with a fait accompli. Japan professes, as during the Manchurian invasion, that she wants no Chinese territory but China. is confident that the world will keep in mind the Manchurian example of how things are now done and refuse to be taken in by such declarations. If, however, she does not want territory or control of territory through puppet regimes or subjugation of the people of China, then it is fair to ask on the eve of the conference what does she want that she could not have got without resorting to ruthless warfare? Brussels is the place where she could have stated her case had it been honorable and had she not (as she professes she has not) violated the Nine-Power Treaty. 151
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Determination Of China Nanking, November 3, 1937. lf am glad through you to tell my many well-wishers in foreign Jl countries that I am convalescing from injuries and will soon be back to work. Minister of Finance, Dr. H. H. Kung, visited me to-day and said that he was amazed on his return to see how intensely the people are determined to keep up resistance and that finances are sufficient to enable China to continue to defend herself for a considerable time despite the 500 more Japanese planes that have just been brought to Shanghai. Europe has seemed not yet to realize, Dr. Kung continued, how significantly the military machine of Japan has failed to accomplish its aims against the weaker armed Chinese at Shanghai and are only able to make a showing where their overwhelming mechanized units overrun provincial troops. He added that against the army of any first-class Power it is obvious that the Japanese militarists would have no show. Dr. Kung found America pacificist and unable to realize that the crushing of China by Japan would produce a world situation that would involve America in war whether she liked it or not, since .Japan must settle the hegemony of the Pacific in her own favour and secure the abolition of the United States exclusion laws. Japan counted on 150,000 of her countrymen in Hawaii to help her there, in the opinion of Dr. Kung, and with thos~ islands in her possession he asked what would happen to the Californian seaboard. 152
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China's S"tra tegy Of Moving On Nanking, November 4, 1937. THE Japanese War Office spokesman boasts that the Brussels Conference is showing cowardice because of the "overwhelming Japanese victories at Shang~1ai and in North China." We are not aware of what is happening among the Brussels delegates but we are sure that the Japanese forces have not yet won any victories at Shanghai where the Chinese lines are still standing against a veritable verisimilitude of a twelve weeks' volcanic eruption. The force of this is to be gaug-ed by the Japanese Admiralty admission that in three days 85 naval planes alone dropped 164 tons of bombs. To-day's fighting resulted in favour of the Chinese, the point of the Japanese penetration on the Soochow Creek front being narrowed with severe losses to them. North China operations con'tinue according to the only plan that China is able to adopt in view of the inferiority of her equipment, namely, withdrawal when the concentrated fire becomes too hot. So far all lines have moved southward, reassembling unbroken at designated points. But heavy losses were inflicted on Japanese forces and communications. In Shansi, lines are shortening with the obJec t of defending Taiyuan and even that may be evacuated in order to prevent defeat by explosives. \Vhile Chinese forces are on their feet, J al'!an is in more danger of defeat than China and so far only the explosives have been overwhelming and not the victories of the Japanese, 153
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Japan's Empty Shanghai Victory Nanking, November 7, 1937. JAPAN is boasting that she will soon celebrate a great "victory" at Shanghai. Instead of celebrating, she should bow her head low in shame. This so-called victory of hers has not been wrought by superior strategy or chivalrous combat with an equally or nearly equally armed and warlike foe who has invaded her shores. If it comes, it will have been the result of three months of ruthless blasting of the valorous defenders of their ravaged fatherland out of their positions by vastly superior armament. Nor can Ja pan even claim credit for a single-handed success m devastation, for it has been achieved with the aid of Powers unable, not only to live up to their treaty obligations, but who also acquiesced in measures employed by Japan to prevent China from securing arms and munitions with which she might adequately defend herself. In this undeclared war, the Chinese are like a law-abiding citizen armed with a muzzle-loader, who is being mercilessly machine-gunned by a gangster while the police are watching the spectacle from a safe distance, hoping that they will not be hurt, giving no assistance themselves and preventing other citizens from helping to load the victim's gnn. Out of the ghastly carnage and ashes emerge a few startling facts, not the least being that China has found her soul. That is worth while, even if death-dealing weapons defeat her now. But equally momentous is the fact that organized labour the world around and not statesmen so far have proved to be the champions and guardians of weaker nations and they hold in their hands the power to compel the observance of treaties which apparently has been relinquished by their governments and that the resolution to uphold and preserve hm11,tq rights is enshrined in the hearts of the people. 1S4
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China Is Sti1i Undaunted Nanking, November 17, 1937, NOTHING paralleling the mass bombing and machine gunning of troops, towns and people which has been proceeding for the past few days has ever before been seen in the world. In an effort to reach a new line from the untenable positions which they occupied in the Shanghai region for the p~st three months, the Chinese troops, because of the absence of highways, were compelled to flounder through miles of rice fields and canals which were turned into a vast quagmire wherein the handicapped and unprotected troops were subjected to an incessant rain of death from Japanese warplanes. In order to prevent the towns from offering any sustenance to the troops, they were callously demolished. Thus ruination, as boasted by Japan, is being pursued with dire purposefulness while she ignores and defies the Powers represented at Brussels. The new lines are, however, being taken up by the Chinese troops, but constant reinforcements from Ja pan are arriving daily and efforts are being made to land them along the coast from men-of-war stretching along a line from Shanghai to Hangchow with the expectation of compelling a quick decision. China refuses surrender or defeat. If she cannot stand the weight of the armament relentlessly being increased, her troops will have to move further inland. 155
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Five Special Reg:u.est Pages 157-170-Madame Chiang Cal,les to U. S. Students-Tribute to the Heroism of Missionaries Plea to a Young People's Conference-Special Broadcast for Canada-Warning to Southern Territories.
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Madame Chiang Cables To U. S. Students'"' Young China's contributions to world thought being disrupted by Japanese destroyers of culture. My warmest greetings to the New England students, and my deepest gratitude for your support of China. To my mind there is an indissoluble bond between all college studentstlieworido~-;;r, Theiricleats can-ifotoe -compa.;se-crl>y differences in language or distance, the enlightenment of education being universal. The Japanese military have with calculated ferocity bombed all Chinese educational ins~!~s _they .. co~ld-l~cate, claiming that those i~stitutions were hotbeds of resistance against Japanese efforts to dominate China. Consequently tens of thousands of your fellow students in China are now unable to continue their studies. You realize that with the destruction of these cultural centers the world is losing a chance further to enrich itself through~medium of Y~China's social and progressi_y_;; contribut1onsTO\vorld tlio1.1ght.Y~-~-;ill see th;t o;~-1~~~-is ;!~~;ours. --c>ureaucatTonaT institutions were well on th.e ~ay to develop certai~ lines of Eastern culture which would supplement Western systems of education, but now, with the destruction of our seats of learning, that effort has also been destroyed. It seems most fitting that you, the intellectuals of New England, whose tradition has always been to uphold freedom of thought and action, are doing something definite to express not only your disapproval but also your condemnation of this manifestation of Japanese callousness, senseless brutality and ruthlessness. *Madame Chiang Kai-shek graduated from Wellesley College, New England, in 1917 being the first student from the Orient awarded the twin honors of the \Vellesley and Durant Scholarships. Early this year, Madame Chiang was vottd an honorary member of the Wellesley clas& for 1938. This cablegram was sent from Hankow on February 28, 1938. 157
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Tribute To The Heroism Of Missionaries* "We hear from most unexpected sources laudations of what the missionaries have accomplished.". THE Generalissimo and I send greetings to all fellow Christians, and gratitude to all those missionaries who have done so much to help China. ~ven the most glowing tributes to the heroism of those who have stood by the Chinese in this terrible time of tragedy and suffering would fail adequately to describe what the missionaries have done and are doing in---1hr midst of death and destruction in order to help the Chinese people_j -~ // The missionaries in China have shown the world that they are / steadfast in their faith, are without fear, and are ready to make the / greatest sacrifices in contributing to the personal well-being and ~ety of all of our people who are involved in war. The influence of the missionaries has been far-reaching. Thousands more people would have succumbed to the horrors inflicted by Japanese soldiers had it not been for the presence of missionaries. The world would not hav~ known, for a long time, of the calamities that have fallen upon our people, or of the depths of depravity to which the Japanese soldier has sunk, nor would the world have be lieved even half of the truth, had missionaries not been witnesses of it. Greater good than that, however, has been done to the people themselves. ~:~ds of th~~ have been and, insofar as many of the girls--and women areconce~. from a fate".fa,~rworse ih.in death. Missionaries il1'1all parts have faced the menace of Japan's w-rath with courage beyond description; they have A message sent on April I, 1938, from vVuchang to the Quadrennial General Conference of the Methodist Church meeting at Birmingham, Ala., U. S. A. 158
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ABIDING FAITH lN M1SS10NAIUES worked with untiring zeal in tragic circumstances to help the terrified unfortunates, but they have earned the deep gratitude of all those.who have profited by their Christian kindness and of all who have witnessed it. We hear from most unexpected sources enthusiastic laudations of what the missionaries have accomplished. Their spirit has imbued thousands with profound admiration. I am sure that what has been done now will go far towards effecting a great awakening amongst large sections of the people witq regard to the missionary body and their adherence to their Christian principles. The Generalissimo and I wish to express our deep gratitude to the missonaries for all they have done. We have abiding faith in them and true appreciation of the kindness and courage in Christian hearts. We wish, also, to tender our thanks for the prayers that are offered for us and our country by sympathizers all over the world. We hope that all who are able to hear this message will accept it as a personal tribute to what you and yours have done and are doing for our country. We are glad to hear that the Methodist Episcopal Church South and the Northern Church will be united, because the Chinese are puzzled to see so many denominations when we all worship the one true God, and when the Christian ideals and principles are the same. Hitherto the Catholics have seldom participated in any co-operative work, each denomination preferring to pursue its own separate program, but during the war the Catholics and the Protestants are uniting together to serve our people. As a consequence, therefore, the work done is more effective, and the spirit of co-operation which necessarily must underlie any successful attempt in vast projects, has a chance lo develop properly and meet with greater success. 159
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Plea To A Young Peoplets Conference''' There is a compelling call to youth now to try to grow up to save their families and countries from the blood and flame so easily invoked by undeclared warfare. THE young people of your generation are fortunate lo be born in an age remarkable for its scientific advancement. You are, too, in a way, decidedly unfortunate, because that very advancement compels us to face situations such as at present engulf China in ruin, and which threaten in turn to involve the world. It was hoped that the Great War would be the last of international armed conflicts. Unhappily, the aftermath of that war developed conditions which have inexorably led to a situation which 1s even worse than existed before world peace crashed in 1914. We, in China, are now suffering tragically from that new device of the barbaric-minded called 'undeclared warfare.' The Lambing planes of Japan are flying all over our country drenching it with death and destruction. They have been doing it for nine months past. What they fail to accomplish in the way of annihilation is completed, when possible, by their soldiers. Consequently we are witnessing in operation in China a system of slaughter and ruin which ignores those human rights which were hitherto protected by international agreement of some kind or other. Your generation, when it matures, is, therefore, going to be burdened with tremendous risks and responsibilities. That is not the fault of your elders, however. It is a consequence of the development A message sent from \Vnchang on April 1, 1938, at the request of the Secretary of the Illinois State Free Church Young People's Conference. 160
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AN ACCEPTED AXIOM OF YOUTH m the world of new political ideas, and the manner of their enforcement may be ascribed definitely to the influence of the Great \Var upon the minds _of certain men who were soldiers in that war and who now find themselves hoist by the whirligig of time into a position enabling them personally to invoke the ruthless employment of force to fulfill ambitions of their own for power, or to secure territorial expansion for their countries. Because of this the wise youth of to-day are compelled by the very force of circumstances to apply themselves to unprejndiced and open-minded study of world conditions so that they may discover what lies ahead of them, and so that they may equip themselves to meet danger greater than any that faced their fathers, or their grandfathers, in the periods of their adolescence. It seems to be an accepted axiom of youth that children are far more capable th::in their parents. Perhaps you do occasionally imagine that you are cleverer than even the most intelligent of the adults about you. It is not, of course, true; believe that or not. Some of yon probably feel that your parents are various varieties of "dumbbells", or appallingly out-of-date, because you are irked by restraints that may be placed upon you in certain circumstances for your own good, or you may be exasperated because certain things do not happen the way you think they should. You fail, however, probably through thoughtlessness, to realize or admit that adults may have particular knowledge of conditions which you do not possess, and, therefore, may have every possible reason sometimes to do things which may not nearly accord with your "advanced" ideas. That is the very reason why youth to-day should pause in its judgments and decisions and be even more cautious than the youth of yesterday, or of tomorrow. There is now much more danger of ill-judged thought, talk, and action in high places, precipitating international unpleasantness than there has been at any time before, and I mention this because some of you will, in time, occupy the high places. To be frank, the outstanding reason for danger is that there nre far too many "isms" for youth to play with. It is very easy to sny that youth should have its "fling." But if that fling is eventually going to involve humanity in such terrible calamities as are now, for instance, being perpetrated in China then it is better that youth should restrain itself, especially in enthusiasm for experimental political nostrums, or in committing itself to the belief that the panacea for l 61
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK human ills lies in the adoption of some "ism" or other, and in the abandonment of those tried principles, scoffed at by youth as "out-ofdate," but which are embodied in that democracy envisaged by Abraham Lincoln when he called for a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," It is incumbent upon all of you who are studying to-day to develop vision, to be wiser, if possible, than the youth of other days, and, until you reach the age of discretion, to listen more intently to rhe advice of your elders, if only because they are realizing the sinister dangers that beset the path of those of you who are now approaching manhood. There are grave penalties to be paid if caution is scoffed at, and if the lessons of the present and the immediate past are scorned, Truly, youth does not like less0ns, Yet there is a compelling call to youth now to try to grow up to save not only their families but their countries, from the blood and the flame which seem to be invoked so easily by undeclared warfare to destroy human life and break down those restraints of civilization which, it was fondly hoped, would develop naturally to the perpetual preservation of those things for which the average man and woman work and wish, \Var is a terrible agency, and modern inventions have made it cataclysmic in its potentialities, especially when employed in ruthless defiance of such instruments as treaties and laws, which were specially designed eventually to end wars and safeguard human life. The sufferings of the world which have been caused by the follies of this kind of fighting are right before you for study. It behoves you to try to learn and appreciate just what have been the causes of this suffering, what produced present conditions in China, and what the effects will be to your own country in time if restraint is not imposed where it should be-that is, in the first place, upon Ja pan. The tragic aggression on China, with its infamies and horrors, can be repeated in American, or other possessions, quite easily now that the conquest of the air is advancing so rapidly. Also, the progress of science and invention generally, or, perhaps, the use of some South American State or other, can make invasion of the United States possible. Unless the aggressive peoples are taught, beyond doubt, that a high sense of justice prevails in the democratic world; that humane ~entiments are paramount; that respect for tr'eaties and international 162
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HOPE YOUTH WILL BECOME WISE agreements is unshakably and unalterably part and parcel of the foundations of Democracies, and that countries violating those principles will be instantly barred from the family of decent nations, it is easy to foresee now what use the products of advanced science may be put to in the Americas when the time is judged to be propitious. I can only hope that the youth of to-day will really become the wise men of tomorrow. More, I trust that the horrors of unrestrained warfare will not be theirs, but that war will be averted eventually both by the possibilities and potentialities of the biggest battleships and the biggest cannons, and by the influence which can be exerted wherever mankind exists by the biggest brains and the biggest hearts. 163
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A Special Broadcast For Canada't If Japan succeeds, she will set up an empire upon the ashes of China, an empire based on blood and thriving on blood, which will scourge the world, lfN our opinion international peace could be quickly achieved if 11 the Democratic Powers could see their way to act together in depriving aggressor nations like Japan of their status as First-class Powers. This could be done by refusal to hold diplomatic relations with them on that basis. Likewise the democracies could save much of the tremendous cost of rearmament by extending facilities to China to acquire sufficient equipment, munitions, and finance, to pursue her defence until Japan is defeated. Already the Chinese army has fought the Japanese for nme months. During that time Japan has stained vast areas with the blood of the Chinese people and spread broadcast the ashes of Chinese homes. They have committed barbarities that would horrify even the hordes of Attila. Yet, this is the year 1938, the crest of so-called civilization, and still no Democratic Power has informed Japan that it will not continue relations with a nation responsible for such terrible atrocities as her soldiers have committed in China. Nor have the Demoratic Powers taken any steps of a humanitarian nature to compel Japan to adhere to those international laws which were designed to protect the lives and property of non-combatants. Japanese army officers and men have been engaged in the most colossal organized looting that has ever been chronicled in history, and are continuing to strip all the country they penetrate of every article of value so that they may deprive non-combatant survivors of *In answer to a special request from a Canadian Broadcasting Company, Madame Chiang despatched tl,is message from \Vuchang on April 11, 1938. 164
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NO FANCIFUL THREAT means of livelihood and thus try to effect the extermination of the Chinese race. If Japan succeeds, she will set up an empire upon the ashes of China, and lhal empire, based on blood, will thrive on blood, and will, in time, with modern weapons, scourge the world. This is no fanciful threat. It is the Japanese program which they have been pursuing for some years. Bnt we Chinese are fighting with all our might. Millions of our people, deprived of homes and employment and bereft of relatives, are not complaining. vVe are carrying on, suffering, enduring, and courageously working for victory. We will endure because it is our duty to fight to protect our heritage, because it is our hope that justice will be done us, and our belief that the terrible wrongs that have been committed on China will yet be righted. All we ask is that the people of the Democracies will stand tme to the beliefs that they profess and the ethical conduct that they espouse. If this is not done, the world will revert to the days of barbarism, and brutality will be enshrined in the high places where justice and right and decency should hold sway. 165
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Warning To Southern Territories,::, In time to come, lean years and sto.rms of death and demolition will descend upon Australasia. THE fundamental injustice of Japan's aggression is even surpassed by the ferocious ruthlessness employed by the Japanese officers ancl soldiers in their determination to effect the destruction of our national entity, and the demoralization, if not extinction, of our race. During the nine months that this "undeclared war" has been disgracing the pages of history of these so called civilized times, you, and the rest of the world, have been able to observe the sinister purpose animating the Japanese, and the calculated cruelly with which they are carrying it out. Very soon after they discovered that China would defend herself the Japanese abandoned their preliminary pretensions that they were constrained to take action solely to "bring peace to Asia," and well-being to the Chinese people. Their claim that they had no terri lo rial designs upon China was not long in giving way to a statement by the Premier, Prince Konoye, that Japan would not give up one inch of the territory that her troops had occupied. This statement came from the same princely source which previously declared to the world that Japan would "beat China to her knees to break her spirit of resistance." The world is now left in no doubt regarding the aspirations of conquest animating Japan, nor of her purpose to burn out China to erect on her ashes a Japanese continental empire. The democratic nations have, so far, done nothing to register opposition to this iniquity, nor have Japan's barbaric *A message sent from \Vuchang on April 18, 1938, at the request of the Secretary of The Movement against \Var and Fascism, Melbourne, Australia. 166
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WHAT THE DEMOCRACIES ARE DOING actions evoked any protest of moment from any of those governments of democratic countries which it was expected would be moved by them.,:, None has protested even upon humanitarian grounds, much less with the object of clearly demonstrating that treaties and international law could not, without penalty, be ruthlessly swept aside by any country wishful of contributing to its own territorial aggrandizement. While the collapse of the Brussels Conference seemed to be the death-knell of democratic effort and interest in what is proceeding in China, we are unable to believe that such an idea is intentional. Rather, we are inclined to the opinion that it has to do with the belief on the part of the Democratic Powers that Japan is invincible, and consequently she must be allowed to proceed with her designs, infamous as her methods may be, until the Democracies arm themselves. The Democracies are, indeed, spending colossal sums, and are apparently ready tq sacrifice considerable of their manhood when they are convinced that they can take action to uphold their interests with success and safety. The Chinese view of the several strange things that the Democratic Governments are doing by their silence is as follows: They are, by their failure to enter a practical protest against the actions of Japan in China, condoning those actions and encouraging the perpetrator to persevere with them and intensify them. They are, by continuing to accord respect and diplomatic courtesy to Japan instead of ostracizing her, showing that they are in agreement with her, or confessing that they are either afraid of her, or are not prepared to incommode themselves by making any physical effort to uphold the international political principles or ethics which they espouse and to which they are committed, They are, by their curiously scrupulous demonstrations that they will avoid any steps that may be construed as intervention in China, definitely informing Japan that she is free to continue, in her own way, to carry her plans to a conclusion. They are, by refraining from definitely assisting China in her fight for justice, telling China, Japan, and, the rest of the world, tha_t so long as an aggressor is forceful and infamous and impertinent enough no individual or collective action will be taken against" her. on June 16 the United States Senate approved a resolution by Senator Key Pittman condemning the "inhuman bombing of civilians", 167
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK They are, by accepting Ja pan's apologies for damages to their citizens or their interests, solacing Japan for her errors, and clearly indicating to her that so long as she confines her outrageous attentions to China and the Chinese people all may be well, and may, in time, even be forgiven. They are, by their failure to realize and take advantage of the fact that ill-armed China has, single-handed, during the past nine months, exposed the Japanese army as being not only not invincible but undisciplined, and vulnerable to the army of any of those firstclass Powers, committing themselves to eventual war and to vast costs in rearmament. These expenditures might have been unnecessary in the main had the Powers adopted an inflexible attitude against Japan's invasion, openly accorded to China financial assistance, and refused supplies to Japan. They are, by doing all these things, watching the calculated desolation of China and encouraging Ja pan to resume her offensive on a larger and more ferociously ruthless scale to revenge herself by the use of every possible inhumanity for her defeat by China's forces at Taierhchwang in April.:, They are, in short, contributing to Japan's present mighty, unrestrained effort to defeat our forces, devastate our land, annihilate our race, arid, incidentally, destroy the interests and the prestige of the Democracies in Asia as well as create for those Democracies and their peoples, in the future, incalculable sacrifices and horrors which ,viii far eclipse any of those of the past nine months in China, or any that are now in course of perpetration by the armies of Ja pan. Alsothey are contributing to the perpetuation of the belief that treaties and agreements may be violated or discarded with impunity any time that such action may serve the purpose of a nation with aggressive intentions. In addition, the Democratic Governments with interests in the Pacific Ocean, place all their possessions in immediate jeopardy if they permit China to be defeated and allow Ja pan to take possession of, and consolidate her hold upon, Chinese territory. '! In June, 1938, Japan shocked the world by a continuous remorseless bom har
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JAPAN HAS EYES ON AUSTRALIA The above reference is enlirely to the governmenls, and not to the peoples, of Democracies. The people have demonstrated their intellectual honesty in appraising the consequences of Japan's invasion of China. They have realis.tically judged in true perspective the actions of Japan, and have courageously condemned that country. They have done what they could to prevent Japan accomplishing her aims in China, and we, in China, are highly appreciative and deeply grateful for that. \Vhen Australia's best interests are considered it is competent to emphasize that if the Australian Government is thinking of trade when it so studiously adheres to "neutrality" in favor of Japan in this "undeclared war" it fails to realize that with China (or even North China and Inner Mongolia) in her possession Japan will, sooner than Australia realizes it, be independent of wool, and any other supplies which she might now purchase from the Commonwealth. The temporary benefits of trade to Australia may be worth-while, but we, in China, can see that it may, at the same time, assist Japan to consolidate herself in our country. But we also can see that it will be that very consolidation, if it succeeds, that will, in time to come, cause lean years and storms of death and demolition lo descend ui:on Australasian lands and Oceanic Islands lying under the Southern Cross, just as they are, at this moment, descending upon us. \Ve know, and Australians should realize, that Japan's aims of expansion definitely embrace your ser.tion of the hemisphere. There are proofs of that in many places. In a military textbook used by Japanese junior military officers it is set down that "the Japanese Government has the right to make war against nations which have extensive territories. For example, Australia should be taken away from Great Britain, and Siberia from Russia." In the event of a war with Britain, from which the Japanese (prior to Taierhchwang) were certain they would emerge victorious, Ishimaru Fujita, a retired naval officer, is confident that "Australia and New Zealand would pass to Japan." The pronounced policy of Japan's navy for "southward expansion" definitely em braces Ans t ralasia. Japanese publications are constantly alluding to their alleged overflowing population, and the "insolence" of Australia holding vast areas which, to quote an article in the Hoe/ii Shi111ln111, makes "one feel as if one were in a desert owing to the sparsity of the population." 169
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MADAME CHIANG l{AI-SHEJ{ It should be unnecessary to point out that Japanese officers have surveyed Australia just as they have surveyed China. It is known, too, that Australia is now committed to unusual financial outlays upon preparations for defence against attack by the very country that adhesion to democratic principles should constrain Australia to oppose, rather than comfort, in her "undeclared war'' of conquest upon China. If China is conquered there will be no abatement of Japan's colonization programme. Neither in Korea, Formosa, nor Manchuria, could Ja pan colonize. She is looking for the warmer climes, and the vast vacancies of Australia to fulfill her ambitions for empire. Little imagination is required to arrive at an understanding of what Japan will do if she can overwhelm China. But, with all deference, we, in China, feel it necessary to stimulate thought in Australia, since there seems to be failure everywhere to fulfill the obligations imposed by treaties and international law to sustain civilization based on those instruments. China does not ask any country to fight her battles; she merely asks that her enemy be not succored, and that her claims to practical sympathy be fulfilled in order that, by the overthrow of the aggressor, ,vars may be ended, and relief through peace be given to all burdened with the vast costs of self-defence. 170
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elections F iro:o.n IvlaJ&irne Chiang's Coiriresprnrn.J.ence Pages 171-249.
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Na11lli 11g, Non:111ber 8, 1937 "'MRS ......................... SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA. Dear Mrs ............ I have just received the letter you sent me under date of October 2 from the New South Wales Chinese Women's Relief Fund, of which you are the President. It is encouraging to all of us in China who are so close to the terrible consequences of ruthless aggression, to see that our compatriots abroad are thinking of, and acting for, their motherland. That the Chinese women of New South Wales have combined to forward medical supplies and help will be greatly appreciated, and so that our soldiers and people should know what you feel and what you are doing I am having your letter published in Chinese. China is at present engaged in the most tragic episode of her age-long history. Modern inventions and devices for wholesale destruction of life and property have made it possible for Japan, a next door neighbor-who has been preparing for years to do just what she is now doing-to wreak havoc upon us. While Japan has been utilizing recent years to accumulate arms and equipment estimated to be sufficient in quantity and power suddenly to overwhelm us; we, in China, have been devoting our energies to the amelioration of the conditions in our land so that national unity could be quickly achieved, and so that its blessings could be directed to the betterment of the lot of the people, and the raising of their standard of living. The National Government of China has been fully aware of the motives prompting the Japanese army leaders in their feverish preparations for invasion. The Japanese have long planned to establish a continental empire at the expense of China. They have been As we have not had time to obtain the permission of the persons to whom these letters were written to use their names we have omitted them-Editor. 171
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l\IADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK confident that they could very easily conquer our country as well as bend our great population to do their will. Their ambition is to utilize our natural resources for their own aggrandizement, and, with the labor of the great industrious masses, convert thos~ resources into implements of power so that Ja pan could dominate not only the whole of Asia, but also the whole world. Japan's plan is to seize the territory running from the Bering Straits to the south of China, and then extend throughout the South Seas. If Japan could conquer China she concludes that the absorption of the territory to the north and as far as to the south of Australia would be but a matter of time. This is an old dream of hers, the preliminary steps of which were outlined in the notorious Tanaka Memorial. But to begin with they had to secure a foothold in China. They tried to do so after the Russo-Japanese war, when they sought to possess themselves of territory in Manchuria, notwithstanding that China was not involved in the war. They were frustrated then, and several times since, but they have not been deterred. Failing to secure Chinese territory with international approval they were determined to get it under any conditions; and eventually decided that the easiest way to do so was as an alleged necessary factor in the preservation of peace in the Far East. A long time ago they began this scheme of trying to hoodwink the international Powers by persuading them that the Japanese, by their very propinquity and progressiveness, were really divinely appointed to solve all Far Eastern problems, without requiring any assistance from other Powers. Their initial moves to convince the world ultimately to allow them a free hand were directe1 toward the development of a situation in China which would look like chaos in perpetuity. The aftermath of the Revolution provided them with a splendid opportunity to carry out this intention. The break-up of the army after the death of Yuan Shih-kai, and the subsequent struggle between war-lords for supremacy, enabled their agents to work quietly and incessantly to keep one war-lord at the throat of another. By promises of support, financial and otherwise; by intrigues and plots, they were able to work upon the natural ambitions of the military and political power-seekers to keep China in a state of unrest, which, at times, bordered on chaos. The development of the natural resources of the country, and the conduct of commercial operations, became at times so difficult, and 172
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JAPANESE INTRlGUES DEf'EA'rED foreign interests became so discouraged and exasperated, that often the latter were ready to believe that it would never be possible to do legitimate and profitable business in China, and that they had better close down and go elsewhere. This is, of course, the attitude of mind which the Japanese desired to create. They worked against anything that looked like the establishment of order. They hoped that the despair of the foreign business men would breed in the various chancelleries of' the world disgust for things Chinese; develop an impatience that would cause th~m to let our country go its own way to the devil, and agree to the Japanese having carte blanche to rescue it if they could. This situation was developing very nicely. The .T apanese intrigued so assiduously that for years complete disintegration seemed to be inevitable. Chaos did not triumph, however. In 1927 what is known as the Northern Expedition was launched from Canton, under the leadership of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, purposely to endeavor to liquidate the sorry spectacle which had for so long held the stage in North China .. The outcome of that northern march was the ultimate defeat of all the war-lords, as well as, in time, the elimination of the Communist menace. The Japanese intrigues were automatically defeated, but nevertheless the Japanese refused to admit that unity had come to China, and tried through incessant propaganda to delude the world into accepting their assurances that China had not changed and was still an incompetent, incoherent congeries of jealous, unfriendly, and suspicious provinces, none of which could be trusted to maintain co-operation with any other province, and each of which, openly or secretly, hungered for independence, This picture, unfortunately, had found acceptance to some extent and when unity did come there were many, who should have known better, who persisted for a long time in their scepticism, so steeped had they become in Japanese propaganda. Unity was achieved not really by force of arms. The war-lords were beaten by force, but the people were only won over by measures which the Government adopted to prove to them that the officials were for their protection, and reforms were for the improvement of their conditions of life. The devastation caused in the regions wbi!re Communists had held sway was so terrible that the people who survived were benumbed. 173
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:MAbAM:E CI-llANG KAl-SHEK The very sight of them made it obvious that in order to revive in them the spirit to struggle to rehabilitate themselves it was necessary to prove to them, otherwise than by words, that the Government could and would help them. The proL!em of how to inspire the people suggested to us the necessity of providing something spiritual as well as practical to give them a new hold on life and a desire to live and prosper. We recalled the old virtues which were part of the foundation of the greatness of ancient China, and realized that though these seemed to have been lost through recent centuries, some of them could, if revived, make the people all the better for it. There were the four old virtues of "Li," "I," "Lien," and "C!,'ih" which embody the essential principles for the promotion of morality, As "Li" may be interpreted as a regulated attitude of mind and heart; as "/" means proper conduct; as "Lien" connotes what is right and what is wrong, and "Ch'ih" means consciousness, it was thought that observance of them could well form the basis of a new movement for the elevation of the mind of the people, and provide them with the stimulus, or incentive, to work towards not only their own betterment but also that of their fellowmen. So the New Life Movement was forged to make of the people Letter citizens and more contented men and women. The program of the Movement aimed at the enforcement of regulations regarding cleanliness and orderliness; at the encouragement of the creative and productive spirit of the people; at the promotion of order and discipline in
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PEOPLE'S ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION MOVEMENT force of arms was surmounted by a unity more concrete and powerful in the voice of the people. vVhile this movement was sufticient lo develop a new outlook on life, it became necessary lo see to it that the people were able to sustain that life. In order to increase the standard of living and "the purchasing power of the peasantry, and the masses generally, it was decided to inaugurate another movement known as the People's Economic Reconstruction Movement. This aimed at the systematic reform of agriculture, the development of natural resources, and' the manufacture of the needs of the people from the raw materials which they produced by their own labor. Provincial jealousies and suspicions were broken down by the construction of highways throughout the length, and breadth of China. Also new railways were put under construction to open up remote provinces. Now one can travel by motor car from Shanghai to Canton, or to any of the far western provinces, and indeed, right through north-west China and Sinkiang to Russia and Europe, providing political conditions permitted. Also one can motor from Shanghai through to South-west China, Indo-China, Cambodia, Siam, and the Federated Malay States to Singapore. We can travel by rail, in peaceful times, from Canton to any part of Europe or Great Britainthe longest railway journey in the world. Reforms of other kinds were steadily being inaugurated, and all national effort was put into forwarding this reconstruction and progressive work to the neglect of the defences of our own country to meet such a m.urderous invasion as. is now being made by the Japanese military, air, and naval forces. We, in China, had faith in the observance of the sanctity of treaties, despite our experiences with regard to Manchuria. We never believed that Japan would violate treaties with regard to China Proper. Neither did we believe that the world Powers would permit for one instant such outrageous use of ungoverned force as has been going on since last July when the Japanese contrived the "incident" which they used as an excuse for the barbarous aggression from which China, and the world, is now suffering, Japan for many years has been preparing, as I have said, for this very invasion, but the new spirit which has developed among the people of our country during recent years has 175
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEI< been able to fortify them with the courage and strength to meet so superiorly armed a foe. What we lack in explosive might, however, we are making up in valour, but it is difncult to understand how human flesh and blood can long endure the merciless shelling and bombardment that have been inflicted upon our soldiers at Shanghai during the past eleven weeks, to say nothing of similar assaults lhat have been made on our provincial troops in North China with concentrated heavy artillery, air force, tanks and other mechanized units. It is only the unity and the new spirit that have come to our people that have enabled us to stand up so successfully against the aggressor. The opinion hitherto held of Chinese lack of capacity to fight and suffer is now to be revised. The world, in many ways, is already acknowledging the remarkable displays of courage and fortitude that are characterizing the resistance which is being put up by our people. It was the general opinion that Japan would be able to defeat China in a week or two. She thought so herself, and because she has not done so, she is exasperated and angered so much that she has been using, and is expected to go on using, the most ruthless means that she can employ. That is why the pitiless bombardment of thousands of our defenceless people has been going on. But I am sure there will be retribution for all responsible for this shocking massacring. Millions of our people had been driven from their homes by the terrible bombing from airplanes of most of China from Canton to Tientsin and from the coast for hundreds of miles inland. Each day is adding to the terrible toll of death, wounded, and refugees. To deal with the latter is a major problem in itself. But when you realize that wounded soldiers running into many thousands have to be cared for, you will understand how difficult is the problem we have to race and why it is so necessary that we must have help, particularly, in the form of medical supplies. 176
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Nanlli11g, November 9, 1937. MISS ............................... MASSACHUSETTS, u.s.A. Dear Miss ................. I wish to thank you for your kind letter of September 14th, for your expressions of sympathy and understanding of China and the deep needs of our country at this time of national calamity. You do not know what a great comfort it is, both to the Generalissimo and to me, to see how public opinion in your great country is realizing more and more that China must be helped if greater catastrophies are to be avoided. The international political situation is appalling. The Far Eastern Conference which is at present meeting at Brussels will, probably, reflect the weakness and reluctance of the Powers which are represented on it. The world is divided into two camps: democracies and fascist states, and it seems as though the indifference and indolence of the former is preparing the triumphant conquest of the world by the latter. China, which has 'for years been looked down upon as a cowardly nation, because our whole culture, our philosophy, our outlook on life are directed towards peace and friendly relations between people and nations, seems to be today the only country which has the courage to resist the onslaught of Japan's "irresistible," highly mechanized armies. We are fighting against a foe who has spent years preparing his army, navy, aviation and industry for the conquest of the world, while we were endeavoring to better the economic conditions of our good earth, to educate and rehabilitate the Chinese masses, to develop our agriculture, build roads and railways, establish new industries, and to raise the SRiritual and material standards of our people so that they may find life worth living. Onr people have respon
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK iast drop of our blood and to the last inch of our soil. And the women and children are doing their share. The war wounded and refugee relief are largely in their hands. Only a few days ago, Japanese airplanes machine-gunned 40 of our boy-scouts who were on their way to the front, where they go daily to help carry the wounded back to safety. You have read about the ruthless and cruel means the Japanese are employing to "beat China to her knees". They are defying not only international treaties but the most primitive laws of humanity. No words can convey to you the terrible atrocities which we have been witnessing here during the past three months. The Japanese are now predicting the fall of Shanghai and rejoicing over their "victory". They should, instead, bow their heads in shame. Whatever advance they may make in China is not the result of bravery or superior tactics but, only and alone, the superiority of their armament, the abundance of their ammunition, and the weight of explosives which is blasting to pieces our undefended cities, our universities, our schools, and hundreds of thousands of our homesteads. Our soldiers are fighting against tremendous odds with remarkable courage and endurance, every one of them a hero. The whole country is behind them and will back them up to the bitter end. We all realize that we are fighting for our very existence. And we believe thatno matter what we may have to sacrifice -justice will triumph in the end. If Ja pan should conquer China, no one can tell what will be the next step of her ambitious military leaders. The establiahment of a continental empire on our soil and at the expense of our people is only one of the stages of the Tanaka Memorial. The ultimate aim of Japan is the conquest of Asia, the domination of the world. And if Japanese planes can bomb our cities with impunity, there is no reason why Japanese troops should not, some day, push towards Hawaii, establish a base there and, with California so near at hand, invade your national territory. If Japan is not checked now; if, instead of applying economic sanctions against the aggressor, the United States supply her with all the war material she chooses to order, she may achieve her ambitious program in a minimum of time. 178
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INDIGNANT VOICES HEAim The situation is very grave. The only bright spot on the horizon is that the peoples of other countries, and of your country in particular, are now awake to the danger. Indignant voices are heard from all parts of the world. Labor unions, trade ur,ions, private associations pledge themselves to defend right and justice by the only means at their disposal-economic boycott of the aggressor state. Boycott of Japanese goods, stoppage of shipments from and to .T apan alone can shorten this war and avert the menace which the entire human civilization is facing at the present time. This is my message to you and to our friends in America. 179
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MR .................... NEW ZEALAND. Dear Mr ......... Headquarters of the Generalissi1110, ivucl,ang, Cltitta, J an11ary 8, 1938. Madame Chiang Kai-shek has received and read with interest your letter of September 14, which she requests me to acknowledge on her behalf. Madame Chiang says that one of the chief consolations we have, in this time of terrible suffering in China, is the expressions of good will, such as y_ours, which come from all over the world. For years Japan has been preparing for war with the Soviet. She has also aimed eventually to dominate China completely. Her armament is of the most modern type. When she struck at Manchuria she expected no more than to be able to secure the right-of-way through that country for her military machine in a war with Russia. She did not start out with the intention, or with the hope, of being able to occupy Manchuria, because she believed that the Powers would prevent her in some way, even if only to uphold the sanctity of treaties. To her surprise the Powers showed little, if any, opposition, and eventually crumbled before the ruthless persistence which the Japanese developed when they saw the weakness of the world. So Japan took Manchuria, and that action was the beginning of the breakdown of those laws, international and humane, which were devised to safeguard civilization in times of warfare. Now the world is witnessing the most merciless disregard of all humane laws, feelings and beliefs. Japan proved, when she took Manchuria, that things could be done in an undeclared war that were not possible under a declared war. Mussolini realized that and so butchered his way into possession of Abyssinia in defiance of world opm1on. That second failure of the world resolutely to have treatie~ upheld inspired the Japanese once again, and now the most terrible slaughter of human beings that has ever been recorded in history is taking place in China. Every modern weapon devised to kill and destroy is being employed by the Japanese to full capacity. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese have already been wiped out or turned into starving refugees. 180
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EXTERMI\'ATIO'.'/ OF CHINESE PEOPLE That region between Shanghai and Nanking, one of the most thickly populated in the world, is now virtually bereft of Chinese population. The Japanese destroyed what they could by aerial bombing of both people and property, and what they left behind was finished by Japanese soldiers who shot and bayoneted all able-bodied men with ruthless determination to exterminate. Women and children have also been killed, and there has been widespread raping of women and girls. In Nanking thousands of men were executed, shot on sight, or tied together in batches and machine-gunned. In other big cities similar things have been done so that ruin and death are the hallmarks everywhere of the presence of Ja pan. The world watches this tremendous massacring and demolition of cities, towns, and villages, but, so far, has not stirred except when the property of their own nations has been affected. Then they have pro tested, the Japanese have "apologized," and the Powers interested seem to have been glad to close the "incident" and express satisfaction at Japan's treatment of the case. Civilization is being shaken to its foundations. If it can survive, it will be a miracle. China will try to fight on as long as possible. Her greatest handicap is the refusal of America and Great Britain to sell her and ship what she requires, and to assist her to get it into China. China is able to buy materials so long as she pays for them, but how she can get them all into her country is another question. She will continue fighting while she is able to equip her forces, but when that becomes impossible she will have to stop. If defeat comes, she will be defeated not by Japan but by Powers who are in treaty relationship with China against war as well as the safeguarding of China's territorial and administrative integrity. China does not expect Great Britain or America to fight her battles. She feels that if Great Britain and America would speak with no uncertain voice to Japan the war would end. China cannot conceive that Japan would hazard war with either Great Britain or America if those countries refused to do banking business with her at this juncture. By applying a few :financial screws the Japanese people could he made to feel the pinch of calamity. We are struggling with the hope that we will be victorious, and we will continue so to struggle, hoping further that the civilized world will rise in horror and place Japan outside the pale by withdrawing diplomatic representation in that country.
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MR ................................ ST. LOlJIS, MO., lJ. S. A. Dear 1\1:r ................. .. H eadq11arters of I lie Gc11eral issi111n, IV11cha11g, Clti11a, January 10, 1938. I regret that conditions in China have interfered with my receiving and answering mail promptly. Therefore, a reply to your letter of October 11, 1937, has been delayed until now. I appreciate very much the interest which the Optimist International takes in China. China has had many difficult problems on her hands for many years, but, perhaps, this is the worst one that she has had to face. She is fighting, as valiantly as she can, a ruthless and unscrupulous foe bent upon the annihilation of the Chinese people and the occupation of Chinese territory. The aggression \hat was launched over six months ago has been carried on with calculated ferocity. Nowhere in history can be found anything to approach the willful slaughter of innocent people and the demolition of the homes and businesses of non-combatants that have been proceeding here for months past. The civilized world imagined that it had, in course of time, hedged itself in with laws which would minimize the effects of inevitable warfare, hnt Japan made the discovery that in an undeclared war she could 11aralyze all Occidental measures to rob war of its ferocity. Not only has Ja.pan been able to paralyze international law, but she has also been able to violate with contempt treaties to which she had set her handtreaties with China as well as with the other great nations of the world. In the days of savagery massacres were common, but they were carried ont with clubs, or spears, and, later on, with swords, but now we are in an age when science has perfected implements for death-dealing such as no savage ever could dream of. A flight of a.irpla.nes with a load of bombs can blow hundreds of hnmans into fragments and devastate great areas of buildings in one fell swoop. With unrestricted use of a.irplanes and machine guns destruction can he carried swiftly and unerringly over vast areas of a conntry, 182
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HOLOCAUSTS UNEQUALLED IN HISTORY Chi:rn has been, and is being, subjected to rains of death and destruction wherever airplanes can travel. From north to south, and east to west of this land, death has come upon the people from the skies. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, having nothing to do with war, have been slain, maimed, or driven from their homes. Nowhere on earth has there ever been such a displacement of huge masses of population either by migration or by death. China is a land of grec1.t floods and great famines and these natural force-s have removed, at times, great numbers of people. But they have been confined to comparatively limited areas. The merciless assault which Japan is making is widespread. All over the country the population is being moved en masse, fleeing for safety to all points of the compass. The great area between Shanghai and Wuhu, in the valley of the Yangtze, was one of the most thickly populated and richest regions on earth. It has been virtually cleared of its original inhabitants. Bombing planes were able to fly, without restriction, in great numbers and leisurely spread death below them. What they did not blow up or burn the soldiers of Japan have converted into ashes. The unfortunate people who were not killed, or who were not able to flee, have been horribly treated. In every city women and girls have been raped, and many slaughtered, while all men able to carry arms have been shot or bayoneted. The youth of this region who were not kept by force by the Japanese for coolie labor were killed in batches. At Nanking, and at Hangchow, shocking orgies went on after the arrival there of Japanese soldiers. And what has happened in these great centers has also occurred in every other city, town and village entered by the soldiers of Japan. So it is in the center of China and in the north. Bloodshed and burning and violation of women have made holocausts unequalled anywhere in history. Ja pan's Premier, Prince Kono ye, boasted that th~y would beat China to her knees. That threat was made solely because China refused to submit any longer lo the outrages and oppression of the Japanese. ( hina is being despoiled because she would not consent to become a serf of the Japanese militarists. She is being bludgeoned lo death because she is fighting for her rights, her honor, for the sanctity of treaties, and, indeed, for the safeguarding of civilization itself. It 183
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK is amazing that the great Democracies of the world can witness such deeds as these and still carry on free intercourse with the nation responsible for them. If men burn your houses, kill your relativ'es, rape your sisters or your wives, there is a law to deal with them. But it seems that if a nation does all these crimes against humanity e11 masse there is no law to bring it to boot. And that being so, Japan has proved that man's effort to safeguard himself and his women and children against atrocities and oppression by creating complex humane and other laws has signally failed. The failure means that what is happening in China to-day can, and may, happen in your or any other country whenever some aggressive nation arms itself and feels able to strike. \i'l/hile Japan respected treaties and law she felt herself restrained, but when she suddenly tested the value of those instruments in 1931 she found they were as broken reeds. She was able to take Manchuria without more than a shrug of the international shoulders. She pushed further south into North China, and, by setting up puppet regimes, hoped eventually to dominate the whole of China Proper from the Great Wall to the Yellow River. Only the impatience of certain army officers brought about the explosion which caused China, ill-equipped as she was, to resist the aggression that was going on with international tolerance. For years the Japanese have felt that it would be hardly necessary to engage in a war with China. Were not the Chinese cowards? Would they not run away whenever seriously threatened? Would they not go on their knees and with craven servility sign any agreement or demands presented to them in return for their lives? Thus the Japanese argued, and because they could not see that a new spirit had developed in China they have been taken aback by the determination of China to protect, as well as she can, her hearths and her homes. While Japan was accumulating armaments and spending vast sums upon them, we, in China, were trying to win unity among our people. We had to remove those fact
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JAPAN NEVER DREAMED OF RESISTANCE sick and tired of the ineptitude ol China and give Japan a free hand to, as she says, "preserve the peace of the Far East." The leaders of China, having devoted themselves to the rehabili ta t ion of their country, wrought better than they knew, for unity came to China and with it came ~Teater contentment to the people. Also, we were able to inspire in the p3ople a patriotism and a courage that previously did not appear to exist, or, rather, did not manifest itself. This spirit that was arising seemed to have escaped the attention of the Japanese, or they treated it with contempt. When the army officers of Japan decided to create an "incident" in North China in order to appear, in the eyes of the world, justified in taking punitive action, they thought that one or two demonstrations of what concentrated aerial and artillery bombing could do would crush the Chinese leaders to collapse in fear and grant what was demanded. They never dreamt that throughout the length and breadth of this land there would be a cry for resistance, nor did they believe that when that cry came there would be any sustained effort to defend the country from violation by the invaders. China had relatively little but flesh and blood and manual weapons to pit against the mighty concentrations accumulated and employed by the Japanese, but for three months Chinese soldiers endured, in the vicinity of Shanghai, storms of explosive such as were never seen even in the Great \Var. The time came, of course, when this unequal fight had its effect and the Chinese lines had to be withdrawn. In the North, the highly mechanized forces of Ja pan have been able to carve a swift way along certain lines in the country. But because they have done this, and because the Japanese have been able to blast and blaze a way along the Yangtze Valley, that does not mean that Ja pan is .victorious, or that China has been defeated. If we cannot get equipment to re-condition our armies defeat is inevitable. That defeat will not, however, be inflicted solely by Japan, but, rather, by the inability of those Powers who have treaty obligations to assist China in her hour of need and in her effort to uphold the pacts and agreements which have been contrived from time to time to rid this world of ruthless war makers. We do not know how long we can go on makiirn these terrible Sflcrifices, but we shall keep on struggling hoping that somehow we f8S
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MADAME CHIANG I
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DR ........................................ WEI.LESLEY, MASS., U. S. A. Dear Dr ........................... Head1.11arlcrs of Ilic Gen1ralissii110, IV11c!11111g, Clii11a, February 25, 1938. Your letter of December 4 comes to me in the midst of increasing trials. The expenences are too horrible to write. They would be unbelievable did report<; of them not come from responsible foreign observers. It would seem that all international efforts to keep war confined to those engaged in action and to protect non-combatants have now been frustrated. Treaties and international law have been thrown into the discard with a contempt that is astonishing. Democratic Powers seem to he paralyzed in the face of the defiance of aggressive nations. It is a remarkable spectacle, and an astonishing development, considering that everyone thought that with the passing years the peace of the world was marching on more directly and definitely than ever tmvards the realization of the brotherhood of man. It was always hoped that sooner or later it would become unnecessary to submit international problems to the stern arbitrament of arms, and that human wisdom and courage would be employed in the development of methods making for the material and spiritual welfare of the world rather than in the invention and production of weapons of destruction. Instead, nations have drifted backwards rapidly. The world has become divided into two distinct parts. On the one side are those who have demonstrated their belief in the effectiveness of relentless force, On the other are the Democracies who seem to be bewildered, or even paralyzed, liy aggressive demonstrations, and who seem to have lost the nerve to cooperate even in practical denunciation of those respon sible for the overthrow of human and other laws and the re-enthronement of the terrors of barbarism. China is the victim of futile talk of treaty values and belief in the worth-whileness of collective action. Ja pan ruthlessly abrogated 187
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MADAl\lE CHIANG KAI-SI-IE!i: severnl treaties and seized Manchuria. Italy followed with Abyssinia. Both callously disregarded all in ternalional law devised to protect noncombatants. Now Japan is at it again, bombing broadcast in China, burning and ravaging. Undeclared warfare is proving the possession of indescribable consequences to innocent human beings, and scope for the exercise of merciless force to those who wish to employ it. Japan is hazarding to challenge the world, and, by sheer menace and black-mail, direct the international policies of Occidental Powers. After her occupation of Manchuria, Japan began the sinister demoralization of the Chinese people by steeping the occupied country with opium and narcotics. She hoped by this process to break the spirit of the people and prevent them from ever being able physically to fight for their rights. This dreadful method was also adopted throughout North China, and, at Tientsin, hundreds of corpses of peo ple who had succumbed to drugs were found floating down the river. When the Japanese were eventually able to develop an incident near Peiping which, in their mind, justified them launching the hostilities they long had planned, they found an easier method of doing the Chinese people to death. That is why lhey are so ruthlessly bombing villages, towns, and cities, and machine-gunning fleeing Chinese people. At the time the Japanese began to defend their occupation of Manchuria, one of their claims was that they needed territory in which to put their alleged overflowing population. But in the years since they took Manchuria they have not succeeded in persuading what they described as their excess population to settle in Manchuria. Indeed, they were never able to colonize Korea or Formosa. They could not very well claim that they were attacking China in order to find an outlet for their surplus people, because China is so thickly populated that no arable land is available. Every inch of productive soil is used. Every hill that has any earth on it anywhere in China is terraced in order to grow crops. So great is the need of land for the immense Chinese population that for years they have been compelled to push into the pasture lands of Inner Mongolia. But when Japan found she could intensively apply explosives to hlast the people of China to death without any restraint being put upon her hy the outside world she visualized an opportunity to J aponize China by putting Japanese farmers in the most fertile regions. So we now see the leaders in J apaq
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S1NISTER JAPANESE COLONIZATION stating that it is the intention of the Japanese Government to settle the families of Japanese soldiers in China when the hostilities cease. The only places that anyone could be settling are the fertile lands of the Chinese who have been murdered en masse, or driven, through fear, from their homes.* What is happening is that a great race is in process of being exterminated and deprived of its nationhood. So intent are the Japanese upon the calculated destruction of China that not only are the people being wiped out but every factory and every school that the Japanese can reach is being demolished. The Japanese are transporting to Japan everything they can collect in China of value. All the iron work they can get their hands on is being taken away. The small factories of the Chinese, iron work in households, the old cannons on junks, and even the anchors of junks, are being collected wherever possible and shipped to Japan as scrap iron to make weapons and munitions with which to kill more Chinese. It is the most amazing campaign of barbaric crime that the world has ever known. It is impossible to understand why the Democratic Powers individually or collectively, do not send missions to this country to investigate and take note of what is happening. But the apparent indifference of the Democratic Powers is as astonishing as the terrible activities of the Japanese. This return to worse than the barbarism chronicled as belonging to the Dark Ages can have but one result upon the future of the world. Seeing the horrors that are happening in China you people of culture and imagination can estimate what the future offers just as well as I can. One wonders what is becoming of civilization, what has become of those Christian principles which are avowed by so many nations? We know that the people of the Democratic countries are doing what they can to show their sympathy for China in her terrible ordeal, regardless of the apathy of their governments. 'vVe get letters by the hundreds from people all over the world, and prayers are offered everywhere, but the governments, apparently paralyzed by fear, seem to want to do nothing. Vve, in China, who know the Japanese for what they are, cannot see why Occidental governments fear that war is inevitable if they express themselves. on May 23 1938, it was reported that "20,000 Formosan farmers have been sent to the Shanghai-Soochow area to settle on lands forcibly taken away from Chinese peasants. All are equipped with farming implements." 189
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NiAlJAME Cl-iIANG KAC-SHEI< Ja pan is a bully, and bullies really are cowards. And Ja pan is finding China too much of a mouthful to chew without wanting to experiment elsewhere. Why are the Powers supine? Why have they not the courage openly to try to reduce the possibilities of the Japanese in their efforts to wipe out the Chinese people? Have the Powers not the courage to act now, even as a kind of insurance, to avert the great expenditure of life and treasure that will fall upon them in time in defence of their own lands against the aggression of future arrogant barbarians? The ruthlessness of the Japanese in the face of the stinging contempt of world opinion is surely enough to make one tremble for the future of civilization and Christianity. We get letters from various parts of the world urging us to send airplanes to destroy the cities of Osaka and Tokyo, and so bring upon Japan a taste of the death and destruction the Japanese daily bring to China. If circumstances compel such a thing it merely means that we have to do so in our own defence. We have hesitated to send planes even to bomb reachable air fields of Japan, but if the world continues to stand idly by and watch the people of China being wiped out by the hundreds of thousands, we will be forced to meet the Japanese where we can with their own weapons. God knows we do not wish to do that. As I have said, prayers and sympathy are all right, and are encouraging, but there has to be practical effort to save the lives of people and the honor of our woman and girlhood. The ghastly horrors that are being perpetrated by Japanese should shock the world to more than tears, but I am afraid that the world has become callous, and now merely shrugs its shoulders when it hears repetitions of the tragic things for which Japanese lust is responsible in China. However, we deeply appreciate what the people of variou,; countries are themselves doing in an effort to curtail the murderous possibilities of the Japanese by boycotting Japanese products. This moves us immeasurably, but we still fail to understand why it is that governments will not take the simple steps they could take to hasten the economic ham-stringing of Japan. It is a curious thing that the Japanese and their kind have discovered that by crying out in loud voices they can strike fear into the hearts of right-thinking people. It would seem that the Democratic Powers are being prostrated by sheer bluff. It is certain that if those Powers, individually or collectively, had set down their views firmly and without equivocation, they could 190
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THE WOHLD GROWING CALLOUS long ago have stopped the inhumanities which Japan is inflicting upon the Chinese even if they could not have stopped the aggression. It is unbelievable that Ja pan would continue with such abominable barbarism if the Democratic Powers had told Japan that they considered her outside the pale and would not continue diplomatic relations with her. If a person, or if a group of persons committed a fraction of the crimes which the Japanese nation is committing they would be jailed, or destroyed by hanging, or be put in the electric chair. What is the fate of any man who burns, or robs, or rapes, in America? It is what should be the fate of a nation that is murdering c11 11iassc and burning and destroying thousands of cities, spreading devastation over hundreds of thousands of square miles of thickly populated territory, slaughtering innocent men and women, and violating women and girls by the thousands. Apologists may answer that this is "war." The Japanese have not declared war, so they claim it is not war, yet it is on a scale greater than any previous war except the World \Var, and far worse than that great catastrophe in the immensity of its horrors. But war, the world believed, was governed and controlled by laws the infraction of which would bring upon the guilty combatant not only universal censure but the active condemnation of at least some of the world. 'vVe, in China, poor and ill-equipped as we are, took up the challenge of Japan and are fighting as well as we can to prevent her conquering our country and destroying our birthright. Japan thought that her forces could triumph within a couple of months at most, but by the time you get this letter she will have been at her devastating work for more than eight months. We will fight as long as we can get the means to defend ourselves. I thank you very sincerely for the kind wishes and the sympathy expressed in your letter, and I thoroughly understand the apparent helplessness of you good people. I am sorry that circumstances prevent me from accepting the honor to speak at the Commencement in June, but I hope that some time in the future I shall be able to visit Wellesley once again. To you all I send, from the midst of carnage, my cordial greetings and deep thanks for all you try to do for us who are now suffering and who are in peril. 191
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MR ........................ ONTARIO, C /\.NADA. Dear J.\,fr ............ .. Headq11arters of the Ge11eraiiss11110, Wucha,ig, Chi1ta, Marci, 1, 193S. Madame Chiang Kai-shek received your letter of January 21, and, in accordance with your wish sends you the following for the St. Mary's Rotary Club: You of Canada who are now foregathering in the security of your country, free from the menace of aerial bombardment, may find it difficult to visualize the terror and the tragedy that are stalking abroad in China. Our country has been riven by high explosives. Whole villages, towns, and cities have been wiped out. But a short year ago China had her feet well upon the rungs of the ladder of unified peace. For many years the revolution which overthrew the Manchus was followed by internal disorders. Curiously enough Japanese agents were active in fostering these so-called civil wars, and engendering fratricidal strife. Their aim was to keep China in continuous chaotic convulsions, hoping that the world would be deluded into the belief that the Chinese people were incorrigible, and, therefore, that the world would accede to Japanese pretensions to be the best situated and fittest to put the Chinese house in order. Japan strove by every means in her power, including the wholesale use of opium and narcotics, to effect the demoralization and disintegration of the Chinese people. She failed in this because those factors which were hitherto responsible for so-called civil war were eliminated, and the people were set upon the high road to peace and prosperity by the New Life Movement and the People's Economic Reconstruction Movement. The elimination of war-lords and the suppression of so-called Communists cost China many years of martial effort and great expenditure of money. The long years of disorder threatened to sap our strength as well as our finances, but we survived, and because we survived the Japanese determined that if they did not find some cause to justify an assault with the object of subjugating the masses of our people they 192
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CHiNA A VlCTlivI OF UNSUPPOl{;rEb tHEATiES would be too late and their dream of a great continental empire would vanish. Japan realized that the progress which China was making would frustrate all her hopes so she struck last July before it was too late. Her Premier, Prince Konoye, told the world that Japan was determined to beat China to her knees and break the spirit of resistance. He did not tell the world, however, that in order lo do this the Japanese would employ means that would make the world tremble, and would have caused the barbarians of old to blush with shame. The Democratic Powers of the world, who claim to stand for humane principles, seem to be unable to cope with the conditions that have now arisen. All the efforts of civilization to restrict cruelty in war have been contemptuously ignored by Powers who believe that war is more important than peace. China is a victim of dependence upon the power of treaties, and the effectiveness of international law. Japan broke several treaties when she occupied Manchuria, but the Democratic Powers did nothing even to make Japan understand that repetition of such practices would not be tolerated by civilization. Japan, seeing that the world was either afraid or unable to take any action against her, felt herself encouraged to continue with her depredations. So she crept further and further into China. At first, she essayed to secure dominance of North China through the creation ot puppet regimes. Such organizations, she saw, were not practically protested by the foreign Powers, even though the so-called East Hopei Autonomous Government began a system of smuggling of Japanese goods into China on a scale such as had never before been seen. Japan has been guilty of doing many terrible things during the past year not hitherto equalled. When she saw that the Powers of the world could not agree, even among themselves, practically to uphold human rights, to say nothing of international obligations, she decided that she could proceed with the materi,1.lization of her ambitions in China without the danger of incurring any active opposition from those Powers who had ranged themselves on the side of professed maintenance of international law and the preservation of civilization. She consequently decided to abandon the slow method of securing control of China for the swifter one embodied in the ruthless and ferocious use of all known instruments of war capable of effectively 193
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~!ADAME CHIANG KAl-SHEK discharging high explosives. To make a pretense of justifying such action she followed her methods successfully employed in Manchuria of creating a so-called "incident" and forthwith starting hostilities, again, without any declaration of war. She began at once to try and strike terror into the hearts of the Chinese people by bombing towns and villages, and machine-gunning fleeing people. Her depredations at Tientsin when she bombed and machine-gunned the Native City and destroyed the Nankai University were the beginning of months of brutal destruction of life and property that has spread all over China wherever bombing planes could travel. Worse than that are the terrible deeds done by her soldiers to innocent men, women, and children. Japan imagined that the people of China would cringe after the first onslaught and, on their knees, would beg for peace at any price. The world has seen how far wrong has been the Japanese estimate of the Chinese people. Ill-armed and ill-prepared as we were, we decided that we could tolerate no longer the terrible brutalities of the Japanese. They forced the war upon us hoping that they would be able to use China as a foundation for their dn,am of a continental empire, and we resisted, as any self-respecting people should resist whose ancestral soil was being violated, and, as we hope, all self-respecting people would expect us to resist. We will keep on fighting as long as we can to defend our homes, our hearths, and our honor, and for our national salvation. While we understand full well the reasons why the Democratic Governments believe that their peoples will not permit them to take any strong overt action against Japan, we still cannot understand why the lessons that have been given of the possibilities and potentialities for gross inhumanities which undeclared war provides have not been learned and can leave the governments of large and prosperous countries sitting still with their arms folded. Nor can we understand how the democratic populations can believe that the system of warfare that was used to steal Manchuria and to destroy China, will not be attempted against them if they do not curtail the powers for evil of those countries which seem to have decided to use this uncivilized method of acquiring what they want from the rest of the world. If Japan contrives to conquer China, she will, in time, in accordance with her proclaimed intention, marshal the Oriental peoples against those of the Occident. The cost that will 194
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THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN have to be paid by the world in such an eventuality can be calculate by anyone possessed of the slightest imagination. I know that Rotarian aims are to assist to bring about the hrotherhood o( man, but what we see here in China is that mankind i s being wiped out e11 mas 8e, civilization is being overthrown, and the country of the oldest civilization in the world i s being made a shambles. It takes great faith to adhere to beliefs when one's ears are tortured by the screams of the wounded and the dying; shocked by the shrieks of the women and the girls in the hands of demons, and agonized by the cries of the homeless children. It is harder still to hold on to faith when one s ee s villages, towns, and cities blasted to pieces and burned, and the bodies of male and female non-combatants reduced to abomination. But we have faith. We believe that justice will come to the people of China who survive the terrible ordeal through which they are now going. How justice will come, we do not know, nor when, but we shall continue striving with all our might to drive the brutal aggressors from our soil. If we are unable to do that, and if our surviving people are demoralized to virtual slavery, the tears that are theirs will surely, in time, scald the hearts of all who have encouraged China to believe that justice existed in treaties, in international law, and in so-called civilization. I was about to conclude, but I am unable to re sist the temptation to ask you men of Rotary, whose motto is "Service above Self," what redress can China expect for the diabolical injuries done to her because of her allegiance to treaties, to the League of Nations, and to the terms of international law? China is fighting for her very life; more, she is fighting to uphold the very foundations of civiliza tion that the Democratic Powers depend upon but seem unable to support. Well may she ask if she is being deliberately .betrayed, and if her stricken people-stricken by the millions-are to e xpect nothing from those whom they have been taught to regard as the champions of justice, and honor, and righteousness? No one else seems willing to answer that question, so I ask you men of Rotary for an answer. Are we women of China, and the children of China, and the civilization of China to be despoiled and destroyed and sacrificed without expectation of aid of some sort from the so-called sponsors of international treaties and human justice? Will you tell us? 195
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MISS ............................. .. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, U.S. A. Dear l\'Iiss ................ .. Hcadq11arters of the Ge11cralissi1110, lV11c/1a11g, China, March 5, 1938. I have received your letter of October 19. I appreciate )~our expressions of sympathy and thank you for them. China, in her terrible situation, is gratified to know that while governments do not seem to wish to go on record in defiance of the sanctity of treaties and human rights, the people of democratic countries manifest considerable anxiety about the fate of the poor Chinese people. They are suffering, as no people on earth have ever suffered before, the full might of modern inventions for destruction being inflicted upon them. The wrath of barbarism would seem to have been let loose, and the tragedy is that no laws that had been devised to protect noncombatant men, women, and children in time of war, have been invoked by any Powers who have subscribed to them. 'vVe, in China, are left alone to oppose the murderous aggression of a Power who already threatens civilization. The aim of Japan is to exterminate .. ... If that aim can be carried out the whole world will be menaced. Japan will then be entirely independent of world markets or world supplies, and she will have within her own realma realm that will embrace, in time, tropic regions to the south-all the raw materials that she will require to manufacture all that she needs for peaceful. or predatory purpose. If China loses, her loss will be felt in time by all the peoples of the Democracies, But China has not yet lost. She is fighting as stubbornly and gallantly as she can despite the fact that she is outmatched in material and trained men. Japan has been preparing for a generation to conquer China, hut on her part China has been devoting her energies and her finances to \i)e building np of a nnified nation after the Revolution. !96
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JAt'AN DiUViNG OUT FOl{EIGN COMPETITORS The value of peace in China coupled with the raising of the standard of living of the people would have been of tremendous consequence to the manufacturers in America. This market had potentialities that no other country in the world offered to American manufacturers, but Japan is now seeing to it that foreign competitors are being driven out, and will not, even if China is victorious, be able to do the business which would have been possible in normal times. When the war is over, the people who have been driven off and who can return will come back to a wilderness of woe. International law, it was believed, would guarantee to noncombatants comparative safety of life, and the possibilities of continuing to sustain themselves. But in China the barbaric methods of the Japanese are designed to destroy everything. While the Chinese people are bewildered by the attitude of governments, they are comforted by the attitude of people in America and elsewhere who themselves are showing sympathy for, and a desire to help, China in the defence of her hearths, her homes, and her honor. We feel that while the people of the great Democracies can continue with their practical help there is some hope that civilization will not collapse. Every move to refrain from buying from, or selling to, the Japanese will help to lessen the power of Japan to bring complete ruin to China. 197
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MR .......................... TORONTO, CANADA. Dear Mr ............ .. !leadq11arfers of tlte Ge11eralissi1110, \V11chm1g, China, April 1, 1938. Your letter of January 14 reached us in the third week of March. The Generalissimo and I send to you, and to all those who, with you, are active in the interests of China, our deepest thanks and appreciation for what you are doing. It is with great pleasure that we can testify to the untiring efforts of the missionary body to give assistance to our stricken people. The missionaries have, each and all, devoutly upheld their Christain principles. Their courage and their charity in remaining in dangerous places helping out people are beyond all praise. No words of ours could adequately describe what the missionaries have been through in defiance of Japanese menaces and in support of our unfortunate people who could not escape from the perils of war. The noble work of the missionaries has done considerably to awaken numbers of the Chinese people to the value of Christianity. We have expressions of enthusiasm in support of the missionaries from most unexpected quarters. Thousands of our people have escaped pain, suffering, and death as a result of missionary effort, and girls and women have been saved by missionaries from a fate worse than death. We would be lacking in common decency if we were to overlook any opportunity that comes to us to tender our gratitude to those Christians who have helped so much during this terrible period. It is now nine months since this revolting "undeclared war" began, but we are fighting to save our country and our honor as determinedly as ever; nor will we cease our efforts to free our country from the invaders and prevent them from inflicting continued infamies and ruin upon us. More terrible things have been clone during these nine months to the people of China than could possibly have been done in any past time to any nation. But we are determined to make the 198
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SPIRIT HIGH.EH 'i'HAN EVE!, greatest sacrifices in our defence. The spirit of the people is higher now than it was at the beginning of the war, and our soldiers are fighting with greater courage and energy than ever, despite the fact that with inadequate arms they are exposed to great concentrations of the most modern devices to cause death and destruction. Millions of our people have become refugees and hundreds of thousands have been done to death, but we who survive will struggle on no matter what befalls. We believe that justice will come to China; that the barbarism of the Japanese will bring retribution upon those responsible for it, and that, in the end, th"' world will be the better for what we now are suffering. Our heartfelt thanks lo all of you who are helping us. 199
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DR ........................................... NEW YORK CITY, NEW YOl,K, U.S. A. Dear Dr ........................... .. Headquarters of the Gc1teraliss1110, lVu.cha11g, Chi,za, April 14, 1938. I was very sorry to see the disappointment written in your letter of March 21. I suppose the world is so fearful of becoming involved in war that the people are reluctant to subscribe funds even for humanitarian purposes. In America, in particular, there is a big section against any action being taken which might be construed hy the Japanese as antagonistic. The world seems to he afraid of Japan. That shows what bluff can do. Japan has never been really tested in a war, yet the first-class Powers have developed a complex which accepts the Japanese at their own valuation. This is curious seeing that in 1932 military observers were a~azed at the poor showing made by the concentrated modern equipment of Japan against our soldiers then fighting. In the past nine months there have been many more revelations interesting to military observers. Despite the fact that our soldiers were able to stand what they did for several months at Shanghai-and then, after everyone believed that China was beaten, were able eventually to defeat two crack divisions in Shantung and almost render ineffective 100,000 Japanese troops in Shansi-the world still is unable to overcome its old fear that Japan is invincible. It is remarkable that people will witness the revival of barbarism and do little to condemn the nations responsible for it. Since you left, the morale of the Chinese people has developed considerably. Our philosophy has enabled the refugees, and all who suffer, to bear their trials without complaint. Our soldiers are fighting as they never fought before, and all are united in determination to drive the Japanese from our soil. 200
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JAPAN A THIRD OR FOURTH RATE POWER If the world is callous and becomes uncharital,le in humanitarian causes we can only regret it. It is difficult, however, to believe that the Democracies are content to ignore what is going on in China. After all, the breakdown of international law can affect other countries just the same as it is now affecting China. We are the victims of the feebleness of the Democratic Governments, and all we can do is to continue fighting as long as we can to defend ourselves. If we lose, the tragedy will he world-wide, hut it is posterity that will really feel the brunt of it. Someone once said, "Why should I worry about posterity-what has posterity done for me?" Maybe-though I am reluctant to believe it-this is the attitude of the governments. Foreign military observers have reported to their governments that Japan is not entitled to rank any higher than a third or fourth rate Power judged by her military performance and her handling of modern equipment. In addition to her inability in this regard, she also demonstrates her weakness by her res_ort to falsehoods to bolster up her "face." Many of her reports are complete travesties of truth. Although disaster overtook her divisions at Taierhchwang, Japan still maintains that she is the one who has been victorious there. and even publishes reports that the Chinese troops have been driven off and are fleeing in terror from the might of the Japanese soldiers. In her reports ab:mt her air force are remarkable falsehoods. For instance, in a recent raid, the Japanese seriously reported that they had destroyed 45 Chinese planes-in the air and on the ground---and that their planes had returned safely to their base. The truth is that the Chinese had only half that number of planes at that location and that in combats the Japanese lost six planes and we lost less. The other night six heavy bombers came over Hankow, were frightened away from the airfield by sight of three of our pursuits, dropped their hombs a mile away from the airfield, killed two farmers and wounded some others, and reported to the world that they had inflicted heavy damage upon the airfield. They are so full of chagrin, so exasperated, so crammed with hate to think that the "outrageous" Chinese should defeat their armies in North China that they, to save their face and recover their prestige, will now let loose npon us a tremendous concentration of unbridled wrath. They will probably try to bomb us out of Hankow. They are 201
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK certain to send big reinforcements to North China; endeavor to send a naval flotilla up-river to attack Hankow; make violent efforts to dominate South China and so cut the line of supplies from Hongkong, and strike westwards in the north to sever the line of supplies from Russia. Perhaps, in their blind fury they will cripple themselves. It is certain that we will go on resisting as well as we are able to do hoping that flesh and blood and the weapons we have will be able to stand against heavy concentrations of bombing planes, tanks, artillery, and mechanical equipment. Man to man the Chinese soldier is better than the Japanese. Only their heavy armament can defeat us. The Japanese boasted that one of their soldiers was better than any ten Chinese soldiers, but now it has been proved that the Japanese who have so far been in China have been terrified to go into hand-to-hand combat with our men. On the other hand, the Chinese soldiers, having no modern equipment of any consequence to supp0rt them, fight with their bayonets or their big swords, knowing that that is all that stands between them and death ,vhen it comes to manual fighting. If the nations who are afraid of Japan would pause and consider what has happened to the great Japanese army in China during the past nine months, I feel sure they would drop the deference to Japan that they have been showing and refuse to deal with a nation that has proved so inhuman, so unscrupulous, and so unreliable, They would not hesitate to ostracize her or to penalize her for her flagrant violation of treaties and her expressed contempt for international laws designed to protect innocent non-combatants and their means of livelihood. Your suggestion that I should go to America cannot be adopted at present because of the situation that exists here. Nor do I believe I would be able to endure the strain that would necessarily be imposed upon me were I to do what I would certainly like to do. I have thought several times of making the trip to the United States, but careful consideration of the conditions that I would have to confront there have compelled me to abandon the idea. I would like to go to America if I thought I could get a rest. I am sure, however, that that is the very thing I would not be able to get. \Vhether or not my sister could go, I do not know, but I will try to find out. 202
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FUNDS FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN In the meantime I am working hard here to try lo help the people. I gave up my work in the Aviation Commission because it required too much time, and I need a lot of time lo try to organize the work of looking after refugees, particularly the eh ildren, and attend to other labors that fall to my lot. I got my brother, MinisterT. V. Soong, to take over the aviation work in order to free me for other things. We now have organized to collect the children. We are raising funds to take care of 20,000 to begin with. It will cost, at most, US$20.00 to shelter. feed, clothe and educate one child for one year. Already we have arranged for large numbers to be taken over by various missionary organizations, and we are creating institutions of our own for this purpose. We have agents in various parts of the country collecting the children of refugees, or the orphans, from the occupied areas. We are hoping to be able to raise sufficient money here and abroad to take care of these children until such time as they are able to earn their own living. They will be brought up to be good citizens, but, above all, will be given vocational training along simple lines so that they will be able to work on the farms, or as artisans. I am afraid that many more people will now become the victims of Japanese hatred and wrath, and consequently there will be more and more orphans and more and more refugees. It is with great sadness that I see people in America and elsewhere coming to accept this condition of barbarism as part and parcel of modern warfare. It is a reversion to the days of savagery which seems to me incredible at this period of so-called civilization. I thank you very deeply for all you are trying to do for the Chinese people, and I ho"pe that the time will come when there will be 11niversal revolt against injustice and inhumanities, 2Q3
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MR ............................. LONnON. Dear Mr ................ .. Headquarters of tlie Ge11cralissi1110, 1V11cha11g, Clti11a, April 14, 1938. Your telegram from the returned Yangtze Martyrs in London stating that they are delighted with the news from the North, and urging us to "follow up," gives us great pleasure. First, it shows that at least someone in London has the right perspective on this Shantung situation, and second, it is encouraging to hear from you. Both the Generalissimo and I thank you for your good wishes. I mention the first point because, as I listen in to "London Calling" these days, I gather that there is much scepticism about our claims to have dislodged and routed strong forces of Japanese, and there is some kind of fanatical fancy that the Japanese tell the truth, and are, indeed, mighty and formidable. You have had experience of their air-raid reports; you have been able to check up actual happenings when they have claimed extraordinary things. You saw it at Nanking and at Hankow. They keep it up. Every time they make a raid they follow with fantastic statements, as you k~ow, of what they have done to us, when they either have done nothing at all of any consequence, or something infinitesimal when compared with what they claim. For instance, on February 25, they claimed that at Nanchang they brought down more planes than we had in the air, and damaged more on the ground than actually were there, totalling 45. You have seen this kind of wilful lying before, but I mention it merely to say that the same thing is happening now with regard to battles in Shantung and Shansi provinces. The .T apanese were badly routed from the positions they occupied in their effort to take Hsuchowfu, and they have lost some 15,000 men in Shansi province. Yet they calmly alleged, two days after we took Taierchwang, that they had routed the Chinese. I must say that for several days they were silent, and, to cover their chagrin, professed to know nothing about the sitm,tion in South Shantung. It amuses 204
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TIME TO INVESTIGATE JAPAN'S CLAIMS me to hear the announcements over the radio from London doubting Chinese reports (not in that many words) hut stating that "the Chinese claim" this or that, and add: "No reports come from Japanese sources," or words lo that effect. This brings me to a point I wish to make: Is it not really time that the great Powers-say, Great Britain and America-actually analyzed this situation, investigated the claims of Japan, and published the truth? Why is it that they seem to wish, or to be willing, to perpetuate the belief that Japan is some kind of super-nation and the Japanese some kind of super-men? Why is it they seem to want the British and American people to cherish the idea that Japan is invincible, and, indeed, invulnerable? Is it not time that some realistic facts were published to explode the fantasies that Japan has so industriously built up for so many years? Does it not seem necessary in the interests of historical accuracy, if not in the national interests of the great Democracies, to run down in cold blood the myths about Japan which many people seem to love to believe and cling to? It would seem that statesmen in Great Britain, who are now pursuing the wise policy of having their country armed, would want, and demand, in the interests of economy if not the national nervous system, to have a correct estimate made of the fighting potentialities of Japan in the role of an ally of the two European Dictators who count upon her for the production of tremendous power in the event of the development of armed unpleasantness. Those gentlemen believe what Great B.ritain apparently imagines, that Ja pan is able to throw enormous weight into a war. Why do the Democracies, now so busily arming, not study what has happened during the past nine months in China? They have always entertained and expressed sublime contempt for China as a warrior nation, but somehow or other the picture of the Samurai swashbuckler taking on the whole world never seemed to amuse them, or to stimulate them to inquire whether, after all, there may not be rnmething distinctly ridiculous about the Japanese-something .that might not stand enquiry. Look at the way the British and others have swallowed the insults of these offensive little people. They have never, shall I say, dared answer back, And that being so, look at the way the insolent 205
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Japanese continue challenging Britain's right even to protect her own interests in China. Why, it is an amazing spectacle to us to see a great country like Great Britain being shuflled and shouldered and smacked in the face by the little Japanese, just because Britain has fallen for Japanese bluff and boastfulness, and has never stopped to examine actualities. That is all that is the matter. They took Japan at her word to be a mighty power, and they despised China as a coward unable to defend herself because of the habit that exists of giving a dog a bad name and booting it into oblivion. They have forgotten what the founders of the old Wei-hai-wei regiment 5aid of those Chinese. However, there should have been enough evidence obtainable in 1932 to compel a revision of ideas about J 1pan 's invincibility, and about her competency in the handling of war equipment. If there was not, then there must have been made available during the past nine months sufficient realistic fact to explode to the blue infinitudes the myth of Japan's supreme capabilities. It seems to my simple mind that the British executives would require a close and detailed analysis to be made of Japan's military competency as demonstrated by her fighting activities in China, if for no other reason than to ascertain just how far it was necessary to go in expenditures and plans to rearm against potential foes. If such an analysis has been undertaken it must have caused several outstanding facts to intrude thernselves upon the intelligence of those who read it. The chief one would be that Japan, by her showing, is neither entitled to the rating of a first-class Power, nor is she up to standard, as required by first-class Powers, in her military proficiency. A realization of these two facts would dispel a lot of fear of Japan, and likewise prevent great nations from suffering in silence the insults of Japanese spokesmen, officers, and newspapers. Now, what have the past nine months revealed? They show indisputably that Japan had the mechanized strength to rush pell-mell into far places in China but did not possess the military intelligence or wisdom not to do so; and having done so in the circumstances, she revealed herself as an unsafe ally since she is governed and animated more by self-conceit than by military principles, And as for actual fighting prowess, it has been demonstrated that the Japanese infantry man is at a loss without his tanks and artillery and mechanized 206
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OPINION OF FOREIGN OBSERVERS equipment to back him up; is reluctant to attack, and is in no way superior, indeed, not equal, to the Chinese in hand-to-hand combat: As for modern ec1uipment, the Japanese are judged to be inefficient in using it. That is the opinion of foreign observers-military, naval, and aerial. In short, the .T apanese have demonstrated themselves to be poor combat men. It is now an old story that they could not blast our Chinese from their tenacious hold upon Shanghai in less than three months. Then came an aftermath, and Japan yelled, "Victory!" while the world shrugged its shoulders and said: "I told you so; these Chinese cannot fight." "China is licked," were the words most mouthed at the time. "Japan has conquered three parts of China"and papers listed the provinces she had "conquered." Japan hersel screamed, "Eureka!"-no, "Banzai! "-announced puppet governments in North and Central China, held victory parades down the main street of Shanghai, and of every city in Japan and Formosa, and any other place where they could arrange it; and "told the world" that both puppet governments would be united very soon, "when we just flick these pestilential Chinese off the rails of the Tsin-Pu line." Well, it is now April, and marching fast on to l'l'lay. But a change has come over the spirit of the Japanese dream. When they were congratulating themselves over our defeat on account of the occupation of Nanking, our troops in Shansi province were closing in and gradually the 100,000 Japanese in that province found themselves in a critical situation, and being gradually and inexorably cut up. Meantime, the Japanese (even before you left) were cheerfully counting chickens round about Hsuchowfu. Soon, they gave it out, that they would have complete control of the Lung-Hai Railway, and have through traffic operating between Shanghai and Pei ping; and have the "Chiang Kai-shek Government" on the run westwards to Szechwan, or to Chinghai, or somewhere equally distant, in no time. Maybe they think they will chase us along that new road to Burma, and down the lrrawaddy. They have not got Hsuchowfu yet, nor have they got their lines anywhere near there because they have been badly smashed up by the despised Chinese troops, who, the Japanese said, were "licked" and who "would not fight because they were cowards," and who were mortally afraid of the mere appearance of the sacred troops of Japan, to say nothing of contact with them. So badly were the Japanese armies cut up on the Lung-Hai front that the 207
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Japanese dare not admit it. They told lies to cover their bewilder ment, and they are still lying. To think that the Chinese could walk all round them and rout them is loo much for them. But that is what happened, just as it has happened in Shansi Province. Nor is that all. Far from conquering provinces the Japanese have been compelled to reveal by their defeats that they do not hold any more than the actual roads and railways that they followed in their long push with mechanized equipment, and then only parts of those roads. They are being cut day and night by Chinese guerrillas. \Vorse than that, Chinese soldiers are right near Hangchow, and Shanghai, and in and out of all that country about Shanghai that the Japanese claim that they conquered and hold. But their puppet government is not in Nanking, it is in the International Settlement at Shanghai. This strange reversal of the situation and contradiction of Japan's claims is opposed to the ideas of the "Diehards," and the admirers of Japan, and those who are afraid of Japan, so they adopt the simple device of "not believing it." If that attitude of mind also dominates the high places in England it is unfortunate, for serious misjudgment will result. It is time that tlie Democracies learned, or appreciated, that Japan is not what she is believed to be; that she is much like the school bully who has stamped about the premises and stamped upon the students until the weakling of the school hit back and surprised everyone by uncovering an Achilles' heel in veritable feet of clay, and exposed the bully for what he was worth. If the Democracies would seriously consider Ja pan in the light of her China performances they would have easier nights and better bank accounts. Japan is really no more than an impertinent well-armed braggart, who has got away with murder. If England tells her-as she should years ago have told her -to sit in the corner or be cuffed, Japan would quickly sit in the corner indicated, and be humble enough. Japan frightened Britain and America just by bragging. Now her bluff is called by China, of all countries, and if the British do not learn that lesson and put Japan in her place then the Democracies deserve all that will be imposed upon them in time to come. We, in China, do not entertain any illusions about our capacity to give blows or take them. We know that the Japanese, after putting ~08
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CHINESE PEOPLE UNDAUNTED some 600,000 men in the field, will put in lots more, with corresponding heavy equipment, with the object of crushing us and getting adequate revenge. We will have to suffer a lot but we will not quit. We never at any time had the least intention of quitting. In the days when Japan was jubilant, and the rest of the world was dubious, we did not quit. You know, because you were here. Now, that spirit has grown, not decreased. The philosophy of the people has stood by them; they have got over the original shock that explosives pouring from the heavens gave them, they have adjusted themselves to tragedies and losses, and they are undaunted. Their morale is very high, and since the guerrillas, and the farmers, have found out that a bullet and a bayonet can kill a Japanese just as easily as they can kill any other mortal they are no longer afraid of the Japanese. Up to this war the Japanese spell-bound the Chinese as they spellbound the rest of the world. The Japanese were confident that they had labored so wisely and well in deluding everybody that the Chinese would be terrified to fight, but now that we are fighting, and have been fighting for nine months past, it is the Japanese who are becoming terrified. In that terror they are likely to unload more ruthlessness than ever upon us. But if the world allows inhumanitarian actions such as have disgraced civilization during recent months to be continued then we will still have to endure it all, and what will happen to civilization you can guess just as easily as I can. One resulting certainty will be that barbarism will be intensified when aggressors are ready to strike. Japan will become more and more desperate in China because she knows that she has been badly hit, and she realizes that while she may be able to bluff the world about the situation in China today, it will definitely become known in due course. Japan is, therefore, rushing in reinforcements from Manchuria and from her standing army in Japan. Since March 20 large forces have been moving towards Siberia in the direction of Khabarovsk, and some to Saghalien, but that move has been stopped and troops diverted to China. Japan must make good her loss of "face" and consequent loss of prestige, at all costs. Perhaps the intensity of their hate will con tribute to their undoing. As I write it is raining. An hour ago 100 planes were reported to be headed this way. They did not come. The alarm has just been repeated, but I fancy the clouds are too low to let them in. If they 209
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEK are sending 100 planes it shows that they are determined to do as much destruction as they can. Last night five heavy bombers came, but three of our pursuits showed up at the airfield and the bombers flew off, dropping their bombs not far from the Jardine Estate. You will have read about it, and before you get this you will no doubt know what deviltry the Japanese are now up to. Well, we shall go on fighting while we can, come what may. It is time, too, that Great Britain took stock of the situation and really put her foot down on the impertinence of the Japanese, if only in order to save money in armament, for a weak Ja pan is worthless to the two Dictators, and they lose by her uselessness. If Britain does not care about using her own foot she can give us the means to secure what we need, and we shall be able to maintain our resistance without hindrance and without worry about supplies. But apart from that, Great Britain cannot afford to take a back seat at the bidding of Japan, with all Asia, and India, looking on. This dictation has been going long enough so I'll stop. Also there is no more light. 2(0
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111< ......................... TORONTO, CANADA. Dear Dr ............ .. \V11clu111g, China, April 16, 1938. I should like all people in the outside world to know how deeply we Chinese, who are now suffering so much, appreciate their sympathy and their kindly help. Through no fault of their own the people of China, at this period of civilization, are being submitted to barbarities on a scale such as have not hitherto disgraced the pages of history. China is suffering because she is the victim of belief in treaties and reliance upon those international laws designed to govern wars and protect innocent men and women from inhumanities. China is being attacked by the ferocious and undisciplined armies of Japan, whose whole actions are directed to the extermination of our race, the destruction of our culture, and the conquest of our ancient country. Foreign observers confirm that this land is being methodically burned and blackened with ruin, and that means of livelihood are being deliberately destroyed or removed so that impoverished survivors shall become dependent, as slaves, upon the Japanese, in the event that we are un<"hle to continue our defence until victory comes to us. We have fought with might and main for nine months no,v. We shall continue resisting as long as we can. We believe that justice will come to us. We have undimmed faith in the triumph of truth and right, and we feel convinced that the wrongs we have suffered, and are suffering, will yet be adjusted. But we grieve for the loss of the lives and the honor of the people who have been slain and outraged, for those who have been brutally maimed, for those who have been rendered homeless, and for the little children who have been thrown helpless upon the country because their parents have been butchered or have been lost to them. \Ve grieve for the losses and the impoverishment that have come upon them all. \Ve grieve, too, for the tr~gedy that has descended upon the world; for the conditions which seem to permit the unrestrained perpetration of such infamous happenings without rebuke or protest, and which, indeed, would appear to encourage their con tin nance. 211
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MADAl\iE CHIANG kAi-si-tEK We, in China, were violently interrupted in the rehabilitation of our country after years of trouble; we were developing the means to ensure the elevation not only of the mind of the people, but of their standard of living. Ill-armed, we were forced into a war by a country equipped with an abundance of the latest modern devices of death and destruction. We did not shrink from the unequal combat. \Ve began to defend ourselves with the best that we had. Hundreds of thousands of our people have since made the supreme sacrifice; hundreds of thousands more will do so. We shall keep on undaunted, with heightened spirit, with increased morale, with full confidence in eventual victory, with abiding faith in the ultimate overthrow of violence and the restitution throughout the world of the wisdom which proves that glory is not in war but in the maintenance of universally sustained peace. If we are defeated then shame will not be upon us, but upon those countries which failed to uphold the international agreements to which they had committed themselves and which should have been invoked to save us. 212
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MRS ................................ .. OYSTER BAY, NEW YOlU<, U.S.A. Dear fvlrs .................... .. Wuclw11g, China, April 22, 7938. Just as I am about to go to the northern front again with the Generalissimo I am trying to clean up some correspondence. It is very difficult for me to keep pace with the innumerable letters that come to me, so I must apologize to you for any delay that has occurred in the acknowledgment of your letter of March 20. Let me express our very great appreciation for the efforts you made to raise funds for the Chinese Women's Relief Association's work. I was very glad to hear of the success of your Exhibition of Chinese Art Treasures. That must have cost you a lot of work, but I think, in these times, the response was very gratifying. We have been through a lot since you left here. It is now over nine months that we have been defending ourselves against the aggression of Japan. Fortunately, nine months of struggle ended in the defeat of two of Japan's best divisions on the front north of the Lung-Hai Railway. The Japanese regarded that as the worst disgrace their military have ever suffered and they are determined to wipe it out with the blood and ashes of .China. To this end they have concentrated, on that front, great masses of men, munitions, and equipment, and are now striving to wreak vengeance upon us. We will do our best to defeat their purpose. The Generalissimo and I are going to that front now to stiffen our resistance. The Chinese people have suffered terribly during the past nine months, but those in the region now being" fought over will suffer worse, if such a thing is possible. The encouraging thing is that the morale of the troops is as high as the spirit of the people. All over China there is evidence of great determination to carry on the war until the Japanese are defeated, or until we are unable to make any further move. 213
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The refugees are showing remarkable philosphy in the acceptance of their lot. There are no complaints, even from bettter class people who have lost everything in the cities and country so far destroyed. The Japanese are endea voring to demolish all means of livelihood, so that survivors will be impoverished and become dependent upon Japan in the future if they succeed in holding any parts of China. At one time there was a certain amount of feeling against continuance of resistance, but that has now disappeared. Naturally no one likes war, but the Japanese have now proved to the Chinese people that it is better to die than to become slaves of Ja pan. Our serious problem is, of course, securing supplies of munitions and equipment to arm our new forces. Unhappily our losses have to be tremendous because we have nothing adequate to counter the heavy equipment of the Japanese. When we are able to come to grips with the Japanese our men have proven themselves to be far superior. When this war broke out the Japanese claimed that one Japanese was equal to any ten Chinese. There was a feeling in China, and, indeed, in the world, that the Japanese were super-men, and were invincible. When our soldiers discovered that a Japanese could be killed by a bullet just the same as anyone else, and that a Japanese could be afraid in hand-to-hand combat, all fear of them disappeared, and our men gained superiority whenever it came to combat with manual weapons. The Japanese seem to depend considerably upon assistance from mechanized equipment, and the infantry are very loath to attack before the Chinese defences appear to have been blown to smithereens by shells and bombs. Then, they charge. If any of our men survive, however, the ardor of the Japanese is quickly lessened. Some of the Japanese reinforcements that have now come to the Lung-Hai front to take revenge for the recent defeat are said to be from the standing army in Japan, and are calculated to uphold the previous reputation for invincibility which the Japanese army had, some way or other, secured for itself. It is impossible to make any forecast. All I can say is that we will do our best to fight to the hitter end. We do not expect to win many battles, but we are convinced, nevertheless, that we will win the war, I thank you for your assistance, and for your good wishes. 214
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MR .......................... TORONTO, CANADA, Dear Mr .............. .. lV11clia11g, China, April 23, 1938. I have not been able before this to acknowledge your letter of October 29, 1937, telling me of the way the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy, under your Chairmanship, is devoting its energies to try to have something done to restrain the brutal aggression hy the Japanese against our people. The history of the world holds no parallel to the barbarities which the Japanese have committed, and are still committing, in China. They are sedulously, and with calculation, endeavoring to destroy the means of livelihood of our people and so encompass their ruin as a nation. They are trying to impoverish survivors, and, in tum, will destroy their purchasing power for decades, thereby annihilating foreign commercial interests in this country. \Ve are resisting the terrible invasion with all our might, fortified by the k.nowledge that there are millions of people in the outside world who are sympathetic with us even though their Governments make no practical move to show that they condemn and will expose the inhumanities and ruthlessness of the Japanese. For over nine months we have been fighting desperately, and we have contrived to prevent the Japanese from securing the swift victory which they boasted they would obtain. We have managed to expose them for what they are, and, above all, destroy the myth of their invinciblity. Hitherto they have brought fear to the whole world by their boasts of ability to withstand any force brought against them. When the great Democracies, whose principles and ethics have been flouted by Ja pan, see that ill-armed China has been able to bring defeat to crack divisions of the Japanese surely they will no longer refrain from the condemnation of Japan which should place that country in the position that it should occupy. The only way to bring home to the people of Japan the actual situation is for the great Powers to refuse any longer to accord to Japan the courtesy of a first-class Power. Any blow at Japan's prestige will sink home quicker than measures which might jeopardize peace. 21$
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l\L\DAME CHIANG KAISHEK The people of Japan are kept in ignorance of actualities in China. The control by the military leaders of the press and the radio prevents the people knowing accurately what is transpiring in our country. There are, however, suspicions in Ja pan that all is not well, and these suspicions would be confirmed could the Powers notify the Japanese Government that, owing to her continuous violation of treaties and international law, and her infamous inhumanities, she could no longer be regarded as worthy of the rank of a first-class member of the family of nations. We do not expect any other country to fight our battles. All we ask for is justice and the assistance we should be afforded to defend ourselves and bring defeat to the aggressor. The great expenditure on armaments to which the democracies are now committed is prompted by the fear of the Japan-cum-Nazi-Fascist bloc. If the Democracies, therefore, assist China to defeat one-third of that bloc there should be little danger from the other two-thirds. And danger having been diminished, there will be a concurrent diminution of expenditures. If China is allowed to be defeated by Japan then the Democracies will be confronted with constant menace, and, in time, will be forced to pit their manhood and their treasure against the Japanese. The latter will, if they defeat China, be in a position to use the natural resources cf this country and its geographical advantages against the white race. The whole Pacific will fall to Japan, and if that includes, as it surely will, the continent up to the Bering Sea, the Japanese will not be far from Canada. The advance in aerial warfare is such that it will be quite easy for ruthless bombing, similar to that which is being so devastatingly used in China, to be conducted over the North American continent. We will do our best, for our own nationals' sakes, to defeat Japan. \Ve feel sure that if we can get the supplies necessary to equip our soldiers we can prevent Japan from conquering our country. If those supplies are not made available to us then we may be de feated. If we are defeated the shame will be upon the Powers who profess to adhere to treaties and their obligations. However; as I have said before, we are not asking anyone to fight our battles; we are only asking for justice. The Generalissimo and I send to you and the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy, and all others who are sympathizing with us, our deepest appreciation and our warmest gratitude, 216
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MR ......................... TORONTO, CANADA. Dear Mr .............. \\!11cl1a11g, Clii11a, April 23, 1938. This is to acknowledge the good wishes which you sent to the Generalissimo and myself op November 29 last. We deeply appreciate the sympathy that comes to us from friends abroad, and the prayers which are offered for us and for our country. China is suffering now as probably no country has ever suffered before. She is the victim of modernized implements of de:i.th and destruction wielded by a ruthless foe bent upon the utter annihilation not so much of armies but of the Chinese race. Ja pan began to try to demoralize the people of China, so as to crush their spirit of independence and resistance, by spreading broadcast opium and narcotics.* That being too slow, she resorted to war, which she does not call war, and is now engaged in a major adventure which requires the mobilization of all her national power to continue. Our people, fortified by the knowledge that their country has been wrongly invaded, are determined to fight until they are defeated, or until the enemy is driven trom our soil. We have no alternative, despite the terrible losses and the unparalleled destruction which we are suffering. We have faith in justice; our belief in righteousness is undimmed, and, although we are losing so many of our people, we feel sure our nation will find its soul, and not lose our country. In the midst of our grief and our pain stands out brightly the benevolent and noble work of the foreign missionaries who are in the *Commenting on the discussion held by the League Opium Advisory Committee on June 14, 1938, concerning the Japanese opium and drug traffic in China, the Geneva Jou1al des Natio11s, in an editorial entitled "Aggressor at the Accused Bench," wrote: ''The report of Mr. Stuart J Fuller, American representative clearly showed that the Japanese military invasion was preceded and followed by the invasion of murderous drugs, opium, heroin and morphine being eftective and powerful auxiliaries of annihilating China's resistance power." 217
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MADAME CHIANG KAl-SHl:!.I< China field. They have braved terrible penalties in their determination to keep the Christian spirit glowing. They have shown unexampled heroism in defending our poor people. They have earned the undying gratitude of all who have been able to see what splendid service the missionaries have rendered, and are rendering, in areas where barbarism is predominant. Both the Generalissimo and I have publicly expressed our admiration of the missionary endeavor, and our gratitude for all they have done. The one consolation we have in this terrible tragedy is the work of the missionaries, and the evidence that comes to us from all countries of the sympathy that is felt for us, and the prayers that are offered on our behalf. 218
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MR .................. .. LONDON, S.W.l. ENGLAND. Dear Mr ........ .. \Vucl1Cmg, China, April 23, 1938. China is the victim of Democratic failure to uphold treaties or promptly to penalize Japan for violating them. China is suffering more from the gross inhumanities perpetrated upon her innocent people by the Japanese, and cannot understand why a so-called sympathetic world can see what has been happening for the past ten months without politically penalizing Japan by boldly declaring her unfit to rank as a first-class Power in the family of nations. If these simple things were done it would probably bring home to the people of Japan a knowledge and realization of what their soldiers are doing in China. At present they are kept ignorant of realities here by rigorous censorship of speech, press, and radio. Surely, it is time that the Democracies, even if they do nothing else, find some means to bring home to the people of Japan the fact that decent nations will not tolerate, much less condone, such actions as have been committed daily by Japanese since hostilities broke out ..... The Chinese leaders are unable to understand why it is that the Democracies will plunge into tremendous expenditure on rearmament mainly for defence against Japan, when, by supporting China with the finances and the equipment to enable her successfully to resist the Japanese, defeat will come to Japan without costing any of the Democracies the risk of war ... 219
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MR .......................... TORONTO, CANADA. Dear Mr ............. IV11cha11g, China, April 23, 1938. \Ve have to thank you very deeply for your letter of November 15, 1937, and to express regret for our apparent tardiness in replying. We are inundated by letters from all over the world, and prevented, by i-nnumerable duties, from attending to that correspondence as we should. That is why your letter has not been answered before this. V{e wish t9 thank you for the sympathy you feel for us, and the prayers you offer on our behalf. We are hopeful that China will emerge from this terrible ordeal sound as a nation and sanctified by her sufferings. Dear to our hearts is the constant sight of what the missionary bodies are trying to do for us, and the dangers which individual missionaries are running in order to try to give succor and protection to our people in occupied regions. Indeed, the missionaries are working everywhere for the welfare of China. Th~ir deeds have impressed all the Chinese who have intimate knowledge of what they are doing of who have heard of it. They say that Christians will make great sacrifices and this has moved many of otherwise indifferent Chinese people to 1emark upon the va"Iue of Christianity. I tqok the opportunity quite recently in Han~ow to express to the missionaries the grat'ifode felt by the Generalissimo and myself toward them for the noble work that they have done, and continue to do, in China. I do not know whether you saw that address. I am enclosing a copy which, I hope, you will bring to the attention of the Right Reverend Peter Bryce. I have just send to him a short letter, hut did not enclose a copy of the address. I send this merely to show you that we have lively appreciation of wi:iat the missionaries have done. I hope, too, that as a consequence of all this our bloodshed will not have been in vain, but that it will 220
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JAPAN'S GHASTLY CRIME discover tor our country our national soul, and enable us to emerge a self-respecting and a respected nation, worthy of a high place in the comity of nations. \Ve are being assailed with all the might of Japan We have resisted that Power for nearly ten months now. \,Ve have not quailed before concentrations of explosives such as have never before been launched upon the heads of devout patriots. \Ve have suffered immense losses both in the ranks and among the innocent people whose only crime has been to he honest to themselves. The Japanese have murdere_d them by the tens _of thousands, and they have done worse to our women-folk. No terror ever previously let loose upon earth has had such wide scope for evil as this which the Japanese are still inflictin_g upon us. They are. hent upon exterminating our culture and our civilization. To that end they not only are killing outright what people they can, but they hope, by destroying all means of livelihood, to impoverish any who may survive. It is all a ghastly crime that cannot adequately be described. Yet, it may have its blessings, and we devoutly hope that the surviv ing Chinese will live to profit by their trials and their losses and emerge free from bitterness and be able to contribute something worthwhile to the future of mankind. Thanking you and all Christians who pray for us.
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MRS ................................ CORTLAND, NEW YORK, U.S. A. Dear Mrs ................... Wuchang, China, April 22, 1938. I have not been able, owing to circumstances which you can understand, to acknowledge your Christmas card with its encouraging message. Just before again leaving for the northern front with the Generalissimo, I am going through correspondence and come across your message. I want to apologize for this belated acknowledgement and to thank you and your husband very sincerely for what you are doing to help China in this time of crisis. We have been fighting now for over nine months. There have been terrible losses both in our ranks and among our people. There have been, too, tragedies that no pen can describe. Great as have been the death and destruction we can only pray that the blood that soaks our earth will not have been spilt in vain, and, even though China is being burnt to a wilderness, that she will emerge blessed and not embittered; be able to revive her national life, and develop to full-grown nationhood. We have, so far, manged to show our enemy that we are not the cowards that we were believed to be, and prove to the world that what looked like cowardice was merely prolonged patience in an effort to avoid the calamity that has now descended in full force upon our country. But, when patience became exhausted we fought, and are continuing to fight. To such good purpose have we done so that we managed at the end of nine months to bring defeat upon two of Japan's best divisions, and hold her from victory all this time. However, so deeply does Japan regard this as a disgrace that she is now mobilizing her whole national power in an effort to secure revenge through the complete destruction of our country and the impoverishment of our people. We are going to the front to stiffen our resistance, to encourage our troops, and to fortify our officers. Their morale is, however, exceedingly high, and the spirit of the people 1s remarkable. We thank you and all who try to help ns, and hope that it will not be in vain.
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MISS ........................................ NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A. Dear ................................. Wuchan.g, China, April 23, 1938. You are a scribe of much merit. Certainly one who is indefatigable. Likewise you have the capacity to say what you think very concisely and very concluiively, and replete with understanding. Anyone would think I was writing a book review, or something of the sort. Well, when I look at the results of your zeal, it is nearly a book that I have in front of me. Do not think because I am so tardy in acknowledging your letters that I do not appreciate them. I read them all. From them I get a very clear and comprehensive insight into the situation in America. I do not have any illusion about the attitude of mind there, because I know that a country where big minorities exist cannot, in international matters, carry on a definite and determined policy when that policy may affect other nations. I am a little bit surprised, however, that the humanitarian aspect of the situation in China leaves philanthropic America pretty cold. I know that America is tired of being bled in war, or by wars. However, it is difficult to abandon one's old belief that Americans are inspired by ideals connected with the well-being of the distressed and the underdog. But' I do not complain about that. I only regret that the cause of the millions of refugees--who have been driven out of their homes because of the failure of treaties and international law to hold a nation like Japan to the straight and narrow way-is insufficient to touch the hearts of hitherto generous people who feared not to express themselves when it came to a question of their feelings. I have received many letters from people saying that if I could go over there no doubt I could stir up quite a lot of support. I want to go to America, but I do not want to have any visit of mine marked by a belief that I am coming on a begging expedition. The very thought of that causes me to postpone even an attempt to try to visit your country,
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK In China we feel,.rightly or wrongly, that it is to the interest of the Democracies to help China win her fight. If China loses then Japan may be able to develop on this continent a very powerful menace to the white peoples. America and Great Britain are, at present, launched upon tremendous expenditures for armament.. During the past. ten months we have proved, ill-armed as we are, that Japan is not the super-nation that people hitherto believed her to be, nor is she invincible. The fear with which other Powers have always regarded Japan should, by the exposure of Japan's weakness, be a thing of the past, and clever intellects should, without any prompting, be able to see the course of action which should be followed. That is very simple, since support to China to defeat Japan would be the means of reducing the heavy expenditure~ on rearmament, particularly in America. Your country is arming,, with Japan as the main potential enemy m view. l f Ja pan is defeated by us surely it is obvious that the vast expenditures you are committed to will not be necessary now, or all at once? Therefore, if America would contribute to enable us to secure the necessary equiprnent and munitions that we need she would be able to kill' two birds with one stone-she would assist to kill Japan in the full sense of that word, and she would enhance her position and prestige in China. But, above all, she ,vould save money for herself, and limit the burdens that will be imposed upon the tax-payers if China is allowed to be defeated by the enemy now invading our territory. I suppose you saw the message which the New Yor!t Herald Trib1111e asked me to give to them. As I was writing it Mr. Cordell ii nil ;s speech came in so I could not resist the temptation to make allusions to it. A paragraph appeared in the newspapers here the other day saying that probably America would name Japan, Italy and Germany, as aggressor nations. If she would ostracize Japan, to begin with, good might probably be done. The lowering of the prestige of Japan by branding her as unfit to be. regarded as a first-class Power might cwnvince the people of Ja pan that what they know of affairs in China must be incorrect.. The control of newspapers, radio, and all sources of information, .enables the military leaders to keep from the. people 224
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JAPANESE PEOPLE SUSPECT WRONG everything they do not wish them to hear. The people o( 'Japan already suspect that something is wrong, and I feel sure tha:t if the Japanese nation was reduced in rank it woq!d have such an effect upon the Government that they would not be able to keep the fact secret. Through action like that by the Democratic Government.s Ja pan might be shaken t9 a realization of t.he contempt in which she. is held. In the meantime, the Japanese are deliberately bent upon the destruction o( all means of livelihood in the places they cc:introl. Th is is done to impoverish the people and make them dependent upon the Japanese. I suppose narcotics and opium will follow the Japanese soldiers, so that, in time, the spirit o( resistance of the Chinese will be entirely broken. Thus, if we are not victorious, Japan will have this great country delivered into her hands by the curious aloofness of the Democracies. We here do not misunderstand the situation in America or the motives which prompt the Government to refrain from antagonizing Japan. We know they fear Japan, and that they fear war just as much. But we must be pardoned if we, who are victims of the failure of treatie'>, should be a little bewildered at the tardiness of the nations--who should see that treaties are respected-in making an expression of determina tion to penalize those who deliberately violate international instruments for their own aggrandizement. Above all, for perpetrating, without cessation, inhumanities which would bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of the barbaric tribes who disgraced even the Dark Ages. What they knew about inhumanities was nothing in comparison to the "refined" methods of slaughter, robbery, and torture; displayed by the Japanese. Contrary to all expectations in the outside world, we sustained ourselves in battle for, now, ten months, and at the end of nine months, had routed two of Japan's crack divisions. Tokyo regarded this as the greatest disgrace in Japan's military annals. Consequently the Japanese have descended upon us with reinforcements full of wrath. They are concentrating against us a tremendous weight o( heavy armament. But we shall go on fighting to the best of our ability as long as we are able to secure the wherewithal to enable us to fight. 1 the Democracies do not help us, we shall fight Lill we are fini.shed, ns
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK or until we win. I am sure that if we lose that loss is going to have grave repercussions in the outside world. That is inevitable. Yet, how simple it would be for the Democratic Powers now to ensure themselves against the extravagances of another Great War, or the necessity of appealing to arms to suppress Japan in time to come. I have very deep appreciation of everything that is being done by the people who are sympathetic with China, and who have a lively desire to see us win. I know that governments and peoples are two different things. So we thank the people with all our hearts for all they have done and are trying to do not only to comfort us but, by practical sympathy, to help us to win. The one comfort that we have in the terrible tragedy surrounding us is the thought of the wishes and the prayers of the people abroad for our welfare. I am glad to say that the morale of the soldiers is high, as is the spirit of the people to resist. The refugees, who have been bereft of all their possessions, are uncomplaining, and, indeed, are cheerful in their philosophical outlook. Even if terrible things happen to us as a result of the employment of concentrations of mechanized equipment Japan cannot conquer this country. We have no great industrial or financial centers to destroy. We are an agricultural country, for the most part subsisting upon the products of the soil. As our millions are rolled back from their farms they are trying to grow what they need elsewhere. We only hope that we can find the means to help to provide them with the necessary tools and seed and shelter. I have started to take care of the poor children, thousands upon thousands of whom have lost their parents by death, or as a result of the panic which bombing raids produced in the interior. We are trying to take care of 20,000 to begin with, and we are raising as much money as we can in China to house, clothe, and educate these chil,1-ren. We are destributing them in mission orphanages, and we are erecting institutions of our own to take care of them. We estimate that US$20.00 will take care of one child for one year. So far we are meeting with hearty response in this part of the world. \,Vhat I am not sure of is whether we will be able to finance this war as well as the consequences of it. That remains to be seen. If
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THIRD INTERNATIONAL HAS NO INFLUENCE IN CHINA we fail it will only be because we have exhausted our strength and all our means. We are hoping that our armies will be able to stand the terrible strain now being placed upon them. If they can do that, then we will be able to overcome the present onslaught by the Japanese. Even if we cannot do that now we will continue resisting, and, maybe, the end of the war will not come for years. I am just going to the northern front with the Generalissimo, and I am hastily writing you a few lines in order that you will know that I have received all your letters, that I have read them carefully, that I deeply appreciate them, and that I want to thank you very much for them. Letters that I have written to you before have, of course, been for your special perusal. But since you ask, in your letter of Feb. 1st, whether you could use these letters I can only say that you may do so within your discretion-and I can see that you have good discretion. You ask about the Communists in one letter. Virtually there is no Communism in China if by that you mean people under the in fluence of the Third International. As a matter of fact, you do ask that question in your letter of January 24. A year-and a-half before we finished with the campaign against the Communists the Soviet had withdrawn support from the so-called Communists in China. There is no Communism now in China as it is thought of by outsiders. The socalled Communist armies take orders from the Generalissimo just like any other forces. The Third International gives no orders. Also, China has no deal with Moscow. Indeed, the Russian attitude toward China is exactly similar to the attitude of the so-called Imperialists. Russia no more wants to make an outward show of helping China than does America. Both seem to be animated by the one idea, i.e., to sell equipment for cash-and be sure of getting the cash first! We have to pay for Russian planes as we have to pay for American planes. We have to pay for Russian volunteers to fly them as we have to pay for Americans. In fact, the Americans were so troublesome that we had to disband the few that we had here. The Russians, at one time, asked for the same salary as American instructors get, hut they later on modified that demand. So if there is any difference between the Communists and Imperialists with regard to their attitude toward China at this time I, for one, am unable to detect it. 227
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MADAME CHIANG KAI:SHEK When you mention the "scorched earth policy," it is the Japanese who are doing the scorching rather than the Chinese. The Japanese are burning wherever they go. Worse than that, they are robbing everything of value and shipping it to Japan. Particularly are they taking the metalware in the shape of tools, of equipment, and machinery, found in establishments from the smallest village blacksmith to the largest spinning mill. There never was such downright organized robbery of any country as has been. indulged in by the Japanese army officers and men in China. I must close now, and I do so with abiding thanks to you for all you are trying to do, and for all that you have done, as well as for your regular informative correspondence. To you I send my warmest regards and gratitude. Please convey my best wishes to all friends and inquirers. 22~
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MRS ............................. : .. FORT VALLEY, GEORGlA, U.S. A. Dear Mrs .................... lV11cl,a11g, Chi11a, May 2, 1938. It is very pleasant to hear from old lriends, especially those whc knew me in my "green and salad days." There is very little in the candy-pulling line now. Instead, we are pulling 'for our very lives. Unhappily there are hundreds of thousands who forfeit theirs. The bombs and the bullets and the bayonets of the Japanese are ruthless. How much sooner would I indulge in the irresponsibility of the "Tripullate Club" than be.concerned in the terrible tragedies that are confronting us! We wear a different kind of badge now. Yet, we have great faith that, in the end, good will come to us. Perhaps all the suffering is for an inscrutable reason, but I feel our country will find its soul. Our greatest consolations are the sympathy that comes to us from all over the world, and the knowledge of the prayers that _are offered for us throughout Christendom. Our people are learning of the great sacrifices Christianity is prepared to make as evidenced by the courage of the missionaries in defying the Japanese so that they may give help, protection, and comfort to our people. Throug:hout the regions where the barbarism of Japan has been unrestrained the missionaries have stood their ground and have saved the lives of great numbers of our people. For all this the Generalissimo and I have publicly expressed our deep gratitude. \Ve feel tha{ our people will derive benefit from this exhibition of what Christianity is prepared to do. The only misgiving we have is connected with the strange attitude of the Democratic Powers. They have, during the last ten months of horror, stood aside, giving voice to pious platitudes and hopes but doing nothing tangible to show Japan that they abhor whaf she is doing to innoceqt people, to say nothing of what she has done _toward the complete breakdown not only of treaties and laws but of civilization itself. Your country in particular is committing itself to tremendous expenditure to fight the very nation now trying to subjugate us. 229
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MAbAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK \Ve, during ten months of fighting, have exploded the myth of the invincibility of Japan. It is obvious that if we were given adequate assistance in finance and equipment we could continue our resistance until we defeated Japan without involving the loss of one man of any other country, or involving any other Power in warfare. I the De mocracies, by standing aloof, assist Ja pan to defeat us then there will be an end not only to civilization but to Christianity. That seems so patent to me that I cannot understand it not being apparent to others. However, we are continuing with our resistance. We are unafraid, The morale of our soldiers and our people is high, and we are certain that victory will come to us in time i we can only hang on. The barbarities committed by Japan are sufficient in themselves to shock Christian nations into action to help put a stop to them. The least thing these nations could do would be to refuse any longer to carry on relations with Japan as a first-class Power.. They should no\ify Japan that, in their eyes, she is not entitled to that status, and they should promptly reduce the rank of their representatives in Japan to that of a Minister. The people of Japan would then be awakened to a realization of the disgrace into which their country had fallen, and, perchance, they would, by knowing the truth, be able to exercise influence upon their leaders which would bring an end to the aggression that is now proceeding even more violently than ever. Our success against the Japanese forces has produced in Japan great wrath. It is being expressed against us now in an effort to secure revenge for the defeats in South Shantung. What will be the end of this battle, we do not know. But even if the concentrated inigh t of Ja pan is able to blast a way through our lines we will not be defeated. We are fighting wherever there are Japanese soldiers, and we shall continue to fight no matter what befalls. We are fortified in the knowledge of the righteousness of our cause. Nobody can foretell what is going to happen, but I hope that the Democratic Powers will justify themselves by seeing to it that we are not deprived of means of defence. I thank you and others for your good wishes, and for the prayers you offer for China in this time of trial. 230
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MISS .............................. NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A. l)ear Miss ................. .. Wucha11g, China, May 3 ,1938. The disturbances caused by the war which has been forced upon us by the Japanese have involved me in duties which prevent me personally from attending promptly to correspondence. Therefore, acknowledgment of your letter has been delayed. For this, I am sorry. You ask in that letter for a message to American young people. All I can say is that I hope the youth of America will never be submitted to the terrible sufferings which are now being imposed upon their fellow beings in China. The Japanese, with ferocious barbarism, are end ea voring to obliterate Chinese culture and civilization, and reduce our people who may survive to conditions of impoverishment and slavery. \Ve are, however, fighting for our homes and our honor to the best of our ability. We have fought for ten months now and have exploded the myth of Japan's invincibility which has, for many years, held the democratic countries in terror. That terror has produced conditions which are, at present, involving America and other .Democracies in record expenditures for rearmament, and threaten to involve your country in tremendous sacrifices in the future if we cannot now defeat Ja pan. Although we have so far suffered as no people on earth have previously suffered; although we know we will have to endure even worse horrors, if such a thing is possible, we still are undaunted in our determination to continue our defence. We believe that victory will be ours, in time. Even if Japan does win battles, we are sure she will not be able to win this war, unless the Democracies aid and abet her to that end by refraining from helping us to acquire the means to maintain our defence. While we can procure arms and equipment we 231
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ivIADAME CHIANG KAi-si-IEl{ shall continue resisting. If we cannot secure the means to defend ourselves we.may be defeated. If we are defeated the shame will not be upon us but upon those great Powers who have permitted our ancient country to be a victim of faith in treaties and international law, and in justice. If it so happens that we, with our limited equipment, cannot defeat the tremendous concentration of modern devices being used by Japan, we will at least die fighting for principles hitherto espoused by democratic peoples, and for which the youth of America will, in time, have to die, For Japan will continue with her relentless ambition to dominate not only Asia but the world. : I hope that we, who are fighting so. desperately in China, will have our confidence in ultimate victory confirmed, and that you who are now so young will be saved from what we in China are suffering. With good wishes for the continuous well-being of the young people of America. 232
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SE:CRE1'ARY, I
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MADAME CHtANG KAI-SHE~ any soldiers quail. They die by thousands, but there are other gallant souls to jump into the breaches that the Japanese cannon make. There is no cowardice or fear. Our troops are all full of determination to kill the enemy. Your countrymen have won the unstinted admiration of all foreign military observers. The foreign observers say that man to man our soldiers are better than any Japanese. In hand-to-hand combat the Japanese fear us, and avoid it as much as possible. Do not believe any Japanese prnpaganda. They lie to their own people as well as to the world; and they lie about everything. The Japanese leaders dare not tell their people the truth. In Ja pan everything is controlled by the Government-newspapers, radios, speech. The people only know what is told to them. But they will know the truth in time. Even if the Japanese break through our lines in South Shantung, that will not matter. It will cost them a lot in men and equipment and money to do so. We will merely fall back to continue fighting. Our people are in high spirit; the morale of our soldiers is great. The refugees, even, are uncomplaining and philosophic, despite the fact that they have lost everything. We are trying to help all refugees, and we are collecting money for the orphaned children to bring them up to be good citizens. We are teaching these children the meaning of patriotism, and those who are old enough, are receiving manual training so that they will be able to earn their own livings. We know there is wide world sympathy for us. \Ve get thousands of letters from all over the globe in the course of every few months. I hope that the time will soon come when foreign Democratic Governments will be able to help. But we are going ahead ourselves. So far we have prevented the Japanese winning any battle of consequence. Yet after nine months of fighting we routed two of their crack divisions in South Shantung. Now they are pour:ng in reinforcements, with the determination of wiping out their disgrace. But we are unafraid. We are meeting them valiantly, and so far we have held them up for a week already. If we can stick it out for another week I feel sure that we will again defeat them. But one never can tell what 234
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WILL NOT SACRIFICE IN VAIN will happen when overwhelming concentrations of artillery airplanes, tanks, and mechanized equipment are used. We are prepared for the worst, hoping for the best. Above all, we are determined never to give in while we can get anything with which to fight. If we all stand together now in confidence 1tnd in faith, surely the Japanese never can conquer us. I am sure they cannot. I realize their strength, and I do not boast. We are bound to suffer terribly, but we will not spill our blood or sacrifice our lives in vain. China will come out of this trial a nation with a soul, marching upon the highway to greatness. That is inevitable. I send to you, and to all our countrymen you represent, our deep appreciation. 235
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\V11cl1a11g, China, May 5, 1938. MR ......................... LONDON, ENGLAND Dear Mr .............. It gives me much pleasure to send to you for Mrs .. ;,, ........ a receipt for the .0.0 sent for the relief of the orphaned children. That sum gave us $8,421.05, a substantial help to the cause. We are collecting the children as quickly as we can to save them from starvation, or being stolen by the Japanese. They are properly cleaned and clothed and cared for iri temporary stations here or elsewhere. Then they are drafted to wherever we can arrange quarters. We are establishing Government institutions, and we are utilizing the orphanages of various mission bodies. Children are being sent to various places in western provinces, though many are being kept in Central China, in mission establishments. It will naturally take a lot of money to continue with the care and education of the children. The education will be vocational so that when the children grow up they will have the chance to sustain themselves as worthy citizens. We need all the worth-while citizens we can develop for the great task of rehabilitation, That will be a long and anxious national trial. A feature of the orphan problem that is significant is the constant transportation of Chinese children to Ja pan. The Japanese are endeavoring to educate these little ones to be instruments of Japan in China in due course, a sinister object we must do our best to counteract as time goes on. So_ far, the war seems to be going in our favor. The defeat of the Japanese in their drive to H suchowfu early in April has roused them to great wrath. It is intolerable for them to stomach discomfiture by anyone, much less by the forces of China. Now they are consequently coming back in increasing strength with the object of obliterating, with the blood of our people, the stain upon their military escutcheon. If we can continue holding our lines against the terrific weight of explosives which they incessantly hurl against us, we will be able to frustrate their aims. Our soldiers, man to man, are better than t'1e
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Japanese. 'rhat is, at least, the conclusion ot foreign observers. 1'he latter also state that the Japanese are losing their effective111ess in offensive, if they have not already actually lost it. Every nerve is being strained by the Japanese to capture Hsuchowfu in order that they may be able to control the whole Tsin-Pu line. So far we are making them pay dearly for their efforts. They have not yet managed to make any progress. On the contrary they have been pushed back, so far. We hear that they are digging in about one hundred miles away, east and north of Hsuchowfu. That looks as if they foresee the time when they will have to give up their offensive and make an endeavor to consolidate their hold on territory protected by fortified lines. It is a significant coincidence that just one month after their first defeat at Taierchwang, the forces they sent to avenge that defeat are in process of being cut up. Our offensive, beginning on May 2, resulted in our forces advancing on a thirty-mile front and driving a wedge through the Japanese center to a depth of six or seven miles. We are, at this writing, attacking both of their flanks. Heavy Japanese reinforcements are being rushed in. Their arrival will alone save the Japanese, if they are to be saved. The defeat that was inflicted at Hsuchowfu early in April had immediate serious repercussions elsewhere. Throughout Shansi, Suiyuan, in the Wuhu-Hangchow-Shanghai triangle, and in fact, wherever there are Japanese positions or garrisons, or lines of communications, there has been intensified effort on the part of our regulars and guerrillas. The Japanese have been suffering continuous losses and harassment. In addition, they had to withdraw forces in order to bolster their lines in South Shantung. Guerrillas are gradually appearing in most unexpected places-near Tientsin, Peiping, Taiyuan, and the various cities in the Kiangsu and Chekiang areas. On May 5 some were fifteen minutes motor car drive from Nanking. Japanese have been bringing troops from Manchuria and from Japan, and have been readjusting their positions everywhere to try to stave off the disaster that they see threatening them. If it is. true that they are losing their grip as well as their push; if we can take advantage of it, and if we can have the means continuously to arm the soldiers we need, the end will come quicker than even we dared to think possible. Yet, it is unwise to be too optimistic. 237
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK What we do strive to do is to restrain the people from believing that the end of the war is in sight; that it will be an easy thing to drive the enemy from our soil. We tell the people that the war wjll be a long and strenuous business; that it will bring intensified suffering; hat it will bring increasing ruin and death and disaster over widespread areas. We try to encourage them to hold on, to be cheerfully brave-it takes almost super-human bravery for them to be cbeerful..:_to believe in victory, to have faith in eventual national salvation There is great response. The morale of the people is magnificent~ It surprises all visitors who come to the interior from Shanghai. The troops are full of high spirit. They are unafraid of the Japanese. The only superiority the Japanese have is in the deadly weight of modern equipment of all kinds. We have, however, fought for ten months now against all that; we are still fighting. We shall continue fighting, and if we can but hang on, we will defeat our enemy. We may lose battles but we will win the war, that is certain, unless there is some strange and unexpected change of front on the part of the great Democracies. If they, in their new-found "realism" which brought them to swallow the conquest of Abyssinia, decide to aid and abet Ja pan by making it difficult for us to obtain supplies of munitions, it is going to go hard with us. Since the Democracies are rushing pell-mell. into costly rearmament, however, it is patent that they think they will have to to fight someone in the future. So far their potential enemies are contained in the Fascist-Nazi, Japanese bloc. Is Italy being dragged from the embrace of Germany? Does the great acclaim now being given Hitler in Rome savor of a funeral service? If it does not, then the enemy in view is still the Fascist-Nazi-] apanese combination. Therefore, it is surprising to me that the British and Americans do not apply realism to recognition that Ja pan's weakness has been exposed by our forces; that Ja pan's boasted invincibility is a myth; and that her power against great nations is limited. If they do recognize such a thing why is it they do not appreciate the advantage to them of assisting us to continue with the defeat of Japan, who is one-third of the bloc they are arming against? With Japan beaten, and Italy wobbling in her affections for Germany, what can Germany do? Especially since Britain and France come closer together in their martial relations. 238
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FIELD FOR REALISTIC POLITICS If this S(!-called "realism" is to be practically applied then one would think the_ place to apply it is in China in an effort to save a fut~re world war and a lot of money just now in rearmament. Or is it that they are afraid of us winning? Sometimes I think they are. If, of course, we can break Japan ourselves so much the better for us. It will give us something upon which to build a new nation, 239
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WELLESLEY COLLEGE, WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSSETS, U.S.A. Dear "1917" and "t 938," /(11li11g, Kia11gsi, China, I.Hay 27, 1938. I send you all warmest greetings and my abiding thanks for all that you are trying to do for the distressed people of my country. I regret very deeply that I am not able to be with you at the Reunion and Commencement. My spirit will be with you, however. I am prevented from going to America by the many duties that fall to my lot. In addition to other activities I have been organizing the work necessary to take care of refugee children, and I have just ended a week's conference of the leading women of China. We have been making plans to mobilize the women of the coun lry to carry on war work. This war is going to be one of long duration. Ja pan ventured into it lightly, believing that she could conquer China in a few months. By the time you get this she will have been eleven months trying to beat us, as she threatened, to our knees. Her heavy armament, her dominance in the air, and her superabundance of equipment, make it difficult for the flesh and blood of our soldiers to stand in positions for long, no matter how those defences may be fortified. The Japanese simply swamp our lines with an incessant rain of bombs from the air and shells from large guns. After they have blown our defences to pieces they then rush in with their tanks and machine-guns. How our soldiers have been able to endure the terrific bombardment and then put up resistance against the infantry, or themselves charge from the remains of their trenches, I do not know. Our policy has been to hold on to strategical positions as long as possible, and then to withdraw before the enemy is able to secure the great victories for which he is striving. \Ve are, therefore, constantly in the jaws of death. We hope to escape them just as constantly 240
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A TRULY DISTORTED WORLD however, so that time will enable us effectively to counter-balance the superiority of arms which the Japanese possess. This war prevents me from. fulfilling an ambition I have long entertained. That is, to attend the ceremonies of this Commencement, meet some of my teachers, renew friendships, and make new ones. l would like, too, once again to see the surroundings of Wellesley. Unhappily, that cannot be this summer. Not ~nly have I too much to do, but what I have to do is telling upon my strength much more than I care to admit. The conference just concluded was attended by fifty of our leading women from thirteen provinces. They came, many from great distances, to discuss the place and work of women in war. We must prepare ourselves to carry our part of the burden, and do our best lo help save our country from the invaders. At our conference we succeeded in drawing up plans-to be put into operation merely for the that lie ahead. under the aegis of the New Life Movement-not days of war, but, also, for the years of reconstruction We naturally hope that that period will come soon, We are hoping, too, that when the Japanese discover that we can never be conquered, their troops will be withdrawn and we will be able to begin the rebuilding of our country. This will be a tremendous task, for we will not only have to rebuild cities and villages, railroads and factories, roads and homes, but the very nation itself. The wholesale destruction and brutality that have been visited upon us are really unbelievable. But, despite the disaster that has overtaken us and that is sure to follow, we must prepare for the work of rehabilitation. It is truly a distorted world in which we live, and my thoughts turn to the many young women who will be marching from the Wellesley halls of learning this year into the universal confusion. Indeed, you will need all of your learning, all of your philosophy, all of your courage, and all of the faith in God of which human beings are capable to look the world, that I see, straight in the face. \Vhen Wellesley sent us forth along our separate ways, on that Commencement Day in 1917, the world was then engaged in war. Our sheltered college years had been only slightly marred by its shadow. Naturally we were soon lost in the keen enjoyment of life, 241
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Now invasion is real to us in China, but is still unreal to those of you who are going forth from Wellesley in this year 1938, I devoutly hope that war never will inflict its penalties upon America, and that you will always escape the infamous brutalities which accompany invasion, especially that which is supported by modern inventions. Our dear old Alma Mater, through the imparting of knowledge, the development of character, the establishment of our faith in God, in society, in the brotherhood of man, has sent us forth into the fires of discipline to test our quality and to see whether or not we can assist to build as well as dream of a new world. How much we will be able to do remains to be seen, but I am sure that all from \,Vellesley will do their best wherever their lines may be cast. You are at present in peace at \V~llesley-, while I am virtually within the sound of the guns of war, which are drawing nearer and nearer. To you all I send greetings across the wide waters of the Pacific, as well as assurances that I am with you in spirit. I send you, too, material remembrance in the form of equipment that will enable you to drink with me of "the cup that cheers but does not inebriate." Bless you. 242
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MISS ............................. ........ NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, U.S. A. Dear Miss ....................... Wuchmzg, China, June 1, 1938. I received your telegram for an official letter regarding the refugee children problem, and requesting photographs. I am trying to get photographs taken but it is a little difficult. We have children in process of collection over a very wide area. They are taken to different points for eventual distribution. To get photographs now a special man has to go out, really into the war zone. That is not easy to arrange. However, I am sending some photographs of the children already collected. When we are able to get the children settled down in permanent localities then it will, in course of time, be easier to get photographs taken. As you will realize, if you look at the map of China, this war is covering a tremendous territory. Refugees are being driveh from areas over hundreds of thousands of square miles. The children have to be collected, as best we can, throughout this vast region. They are being taken to centers where they are washed and cleaned, a~d are than passed on to various institutions, official and missionary, in the rear. Briefly, the following is the process: We send people out to the various war areas to try to collect the children but often times we gather them from the roadsides in districts which have been bombed. Familes fleeing from war areas to the rear usually have four or five children. They have to traverse great distances. As transportation is so difficult on all sides we hear little children cry, "Father, Mother, do not leave me behind. I won't cry any more." Often a family starts out with several children. When they reach their destination only one or two are left, because the parents have neither the money nor the physical strength to continue caring for them. These people at one time were fairly well-to-do, otherwise they never could have started on the long trek and escaped from the war zones, 243
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK We -have. undertaken, as a first step, to care for 20,000 children. So far, in every province in the rear we have established orphan homes. The workers are usually volunteer workers. All workers who devote full time to the care of the children are given board and lodging, and an allowance of US$3.00 per month. This rate of remuneration ensures that only those genuinely interested in children apply. Overhead expenses are thus cut to the bone. We have a National Committee in Hankow which looks after the refugee children, This Committee is divided into sub-committees whose work consists of gathering the children, transporting them, and placing them in the rear, for eventual adoption by private individuals or families, or for care in mission or Government institutions. All committee members, whether national or local, give their services free. Every cent contributed goes directly to the National Committee which, in turn, sees to it that the funds are used directly for the care and education of the orphans and children of poor refugees. The cost for housing, clothing and educating each child has been worked out at Ch. $60.00 or US$20.00 per year. There are also local committees m every province. These local committees are headed hy responsible women appointed by the National Committee. The first group of refugee children consisted of SOO odd, coHected in Kaifeng, Honan Province. Other children who have been collected have come from the 1st War Area in Anhwei Province, where Luan is the largest station, and the 5th War Area along the Lung-Hai front, which includes the large stations of Hsuchow, in Kiangsu Province; Kaifeng and Chengchow, in Honan Province. The refugees are concentrated at these large stations from the surrounding country and from interior points. Our first task is to try to ascertain which children are true orphans, and which are foundlings. Many, if not most of the surviving children, have either father or mother living, but have lost contact with them. In many cases parents send their children to be taken care of by the refugee centers as they have no means of supporting them. Otherwise they would '1ie of starvation.
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WELFARE OF REFUGEE CHILDREN The children sent to the centers by their parents are taken in on condition that the parents sign a paper stating that they wish the refugee center to raise the children to prevent them being abandoned. The name, record, and history of the child are registered. At first the adult refugees did not understand the reason for collecting the children, and believed the action was not to their benefit. But later they learned that the children were being taken to the rear to be cared for. Then refugees began to pour in to the centers to register and to send in their children. For the collection of the first group, 24 members of the Relief Association, among whom were some members of the Board of Directors, were sent to Kaifeng. The children were transported to Hankow in groups of 200 and 300. The War Area Service Corps aids in the collection of children in the war areas. There are altogether five war zones. In each zone we have established receiving centers. Catholic and Protestant missions in all localities give continuous help. The National Relief Association Headquarters is now located temporarily in Hankow, Hupeh Province. The orphanage in Hankow, which is located in a Catholic Hospital, is a temporary one caring for transient children only. The children are kept here for a month at least, receiving, while they wait for permanent distribution, what little training can be given to them. Outside of Chekiang and Anhwei Provinces (the children of which provinces are collected directly by the Nanchang center) all other children who are collected pass through Hankow. Upon arrival they are washed, dressed in clean clothing, and each one undergoes a physical examination. Each child is given a number and a tag, and its name is registered. Most of the children are found to be in good health. Theirages range from three to fourteen .years, but many newlyborn babies, who have been abandoned, are being cared for. The children collected are mostly boys, there being very few girls found, The staff and teachers at the temporary center at Hankow number 49. The children are taught what is termed "war-time education." It consists of learning to reco_gnize written characters, to be patriotic, etc. It resembles the regular primary education. At their permanent homes they will be taught vocational training such as agriculture, manual work, making sandals, towels, etc. 245
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK \Vhere the different foreign missions are helping the Relief Association to care for the children in their institutions, the Association finances the care of the children but the mission supplies the staff, the missions being established organizations. Also, the missions at this time are not carrying on thei"r usual school work and consequently have the space to accommodate the refugee children. The distributior1 of the children to the various organization up lo June 1, 1938, is as follows: Name of Plac.: Number of clzildrc11 already received 01ganizatio11 Under direction of Chiaokow, Hupeh Province 100 London Mission Mr. & Mrs. Knott Ching,han SO American Church Mission Bishop A. A. Gilman Hnangchow ... Ichang, i'ayeh, ,. Szeki:rnr, Hunan li:aifeng, Honan StatioD on Kiangsi Border Kuling, Kiangsi Province J(iukiang, .. Chnngking, Szechwan ,. Chengtn, Szechwan Kweilin, Kwangsi Kweiyang, Kweichow .. Hongkong Canton, Kwangtung Foochow, Fukien Hankow, Hupeh Chekiang Province Nanchang, Kiangsi so ISO 100 50 2,000 SOO 100 100 1,000 1,000 SOO 1,000 2,000 Transients 1,000 1,000 Swedish Mission American Church Mission* Methodist Mission* Famine Orphanages and Evangelistic Band Catholic Mission* \Vom.n's Relief Association* Women's Relief Association* Danforth Memorial Hospital Women's Relief Association Women's Relief Association* Women's Relit'f Rev. D.R. Wahlquist Bishop A. A. Gilman Mr. Hailwood Mr. H. Becker Dr. McClure Kiangsi Branch Associa1ion Kiangsi Branch Association Chungking Branch Association Chengtn Branch Association Kweilin Branch Association* Association "'* K weiyang .. *'" Hongkong ., ** Canton *"' Foochow Women's Relief Association Hankow (Headquarters) Chekiang Branch Association Kiangsi *Have agreed lo care for children. Initial expenses paid. "'*Have agreed to care for children. No expenses yet paid. H6
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THEFT OF CHINA'S FARMLANDS The above are a!J the details I am able to give at present. I am actively perfecting the organization. I am hopeful that when the children are settled down at permanent places we will be able, as a matter of interest, to let the little waifs know who are helping to support them. This will, of necessity, be a bit complicated, but I hope to simplify it in course of time through registration and photographs. You use the word "adoption." Yon must remember that US$20.00 covers upkeep for only one year. It is possible that many of the children will have to be kept in orphanages until they gro,v up. We are hopeful of distributing as many as possible among Chinese families in various parts of the country soon after hostilities cease. But when will hostilities cease? And when they do cease, what will be the condition of the country? Viill there be sufficient families well : enough off properly to care for additional members of their families? The whole social system will be shaken from its founda tions, and it will be a long time for those foundations to be re-established. When this aspect of war is considered it may be realized what are the terrible consequences of the widespread devastation and demolition being systematically carried out by the Japanese. The Japanese are deliberately trying to exterminate as many of the Chinese people as they can. Their objective is to try to J aponize the rich agricultural areas within reach of the coast. /\!ready they have importecl 20,000 Formosan farmers, and are settling them on farmJands in the Yangtze Valley near Shanghai, Soochow, etc. This sinister proceeding means that the Chinese survivors who go back to th.at region to find their homesteads and farms are going to be confronted with aliens occupying their proerty. This is a problem that the nations should really consider, especially in view of .T apan's studious effort to make the world believe that this is not a war and that she has no territorial designs upon our country. There are international laws provided.to safeguard the lives and interests of noncombatants. Surely foreign governmets are not going to permit Japan to perpetrate such theft as this. If the laws of nations are ,to be abandoned then there is one inevitable end. All peoples will fight for their property. If Japanese or Formosans are permitted to occupy land that has been stolen then your imagination 247
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK 1s just as good as mine in foreseeing the consta.nt bloodshed that will go on while the lands of our people are being used by others. That problem has a great bearing on the future of the refugees. The refugees are people who have been driven by war out of the regions where their ancestors have lived and died. And when the war is over, they expect, as is their right, to return and re-occupy those lands and what is left of their homes. Is there not an international body that is going to see to it that gigantic robbery of the type now heing instituted is prevented? If not, we do not know what will become of the millions of refugees who will have been thus deprived of their possessions. I am kept exceedingly busy trying to attend to various problems connected with the social side of this war. It is a huge task. I have managed to establish women's organizations upon what I think are sound foundations, and I am hopeful that they will now be able to expand and fulfill all the responsibilities expected of them. In the meantime, the war goes on. The strategy which we follow should be, by this time, well known, so there should not be any surprise when we move out of untenable places instead of standing there to be wiped out by superior Japanese equipment. We will hold positions until the weight of explosives renders them undefendable, and then we will move on to other positions to prevent the Japanese routing our forces. For instance, we will move out of Kaifeng and Chengchow (the junction of the Lung-Hai and Ping-Han Railways) as soon as it becomes necessary. We are making the Japanese pay dearly for every yard that they advance before we do withdraw. These two places are difficult to hold so our lines will move back to positions, already prepared, where we will be able to withstand Japanese artillery, shelling and air bombing, for a much longer period. Any attempt of Japan to take Hankow will necessitate her putting into the field for that action at least 250,000 to 300,000 men. The Japanese will have to pay a big price for this plaf'e, They are paying heavily all the time. Reliable information from foreign sources who are able to take note of the dead and wounded being taken into Shanghai alone state that the average for a period was 700 to 800 per week. Going through Peiping there is one continuous
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Fol< THE SA KE OF HUMANITY stream of dead and wounded. In South Shansi province foreign observers claim that the Japanese losses total some 6,000 per month. \\'hen this is the state in just three regions you can ima~ine what it is in all the other places, because, as you probably know, wherever there are .Japanese soldiers there are guerrillas, if not regular Chinese forces. Even if we have to move out of Hankow, you will see, if you look at the map, how much other country there is for us to fight in. So, friends of China who cannot help her in her fighting should not be disappointed when we move because that is the only strategy we can adopt against the heavy equipment of the Japanese. But, the further inland we go the more losses the Japanese are going to sustain in men and money. \Ve are certain that we can hold on no.matter how long the war lasts, providing we can get supplies of munitions and equipment. Unhappily, as the war goes on we also lose. Greater areas of our country are overrun and more acute becomes the problem of the refugees and the children. Because of this, and because friendly countries cannot materially help us in our fighting, we hope they will help us in this humanitarian work which must be carried on if millions of people are not to die in their tracks from starvation. The greatest mass movement ever known in history is taking place in China, and it is rendered possible only by the breakdown of treaties and internaiona l law. I send my warmest thanks lo you and to all who are trying lo help us. 249
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W rifings Fields Of Plt"oglt"ess In China Pages 251301-Unifying China by Air--March fo National BettermentY oud1 Movement in ChinaFinding the V oicc of Ch.i.naT rnelling in Di&turLed China-W 011dera of China' Southwest.
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. if I. '_, t ;;,
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Unifying China By Air* "In time all large cities will have their adequate airports and facilities for air traffic, and China will take her. rightful place among lhe best air-served countries in the world." OF all the inventions that have helped to unify China perhaps the airplane is the most outstanding. Its ability to ann.ihila.te distance has been in direct proportion to its achievements in assist, ing to annihilate suspicion and misunderstanding among provincial officials far removed from one another or from the officials at the seat of government. Prior to the advent of the airplane provincial officials, especially those in far-flung provinces, were almost rulers unto themselves. In the particularly remote provinces they seldom were able to visit the Capital. Exchange of correspondence was almost futile because of the great length of time absorbed in the coming and the going. Nor could the high officials of the Capital ever feel it possible to take extended journeys into the interior except at very rare intervals. In the old days such jo'.lrneys not. only absorbed considerable time but they were full of discomfort, hardships, and inconvenience for the travelling f,unctionary as well as for all the lesser ones through whose territory it was his obligation to pass. Only along the railway lines could of-ficials_ move with anything approximating speed and comfort before the airplane appeared, but the railways touched a mere fraction of this great country. Reprinted from the Slranglwi Evening Post Supplement, "Wings Over China," March 12, 1937. 251
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK How significant has been the influence of air travel on nalional political and social development, to say nolhing of its economic affairs, can be realized by a cursory review of the aerial itineraries of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. He has flown to almost every province of China--journeys that he never could have undertaken in ordinary circumstances. From Nanking to Yunnan and back, via the Yangtze River route, would have taken two months of quick travel-time by the m,ual means of transportation. Yet now it may be done in one day by airplane. The journey from Chungking to Kweiyang, in Kweichow province, used to absorb sixteen days of arduous sedan chair travel, and enormous energy. The chair journey from Kweiyang to Yunnan took a similar amount of time, and required as much stamina. Yet the Generalissmo swept over this ocean of mountains by airplane in about one hour and a quarter for the first journey and one hour and a half for the second. Roads are now connecting these points, so travelers who are unable to use airplanes may employ moto~ driven vehicles and save themselves, their flesh, their bones, and their nerves the aches and pains produced by weeks in cramping chairs. It is not necessary to list in detail the almost constant important journeys that have been made by the Generalissimo in pursuance of his duties. Suffice it to say that he has flown the length and breadth of the country, over rugged mountain, fertile plain, and desert sand, and he has been able to do things of inestimable value and farreaching importance for the country by being able, with comparative ease and without loss of time, to meet officials of remote regions in their own yamens, and there solve with them their varied problems, satisfy their minds, and give them assurances of Nanking's close interest in them and their worries. At the same time he has been able to acquire a working knowledge of the topography and characteristics of the country such as no high official has ever been able to do before, and this, added to his personal contacts with different officials and peoples, has provided him with unprecedented equipment for the performance of those duties which fall to his lot in the furtherance of his plans in the interests of a better China. And other officials are following his example in more limited but just as important ways. All of them certainly are demolishing provincial jealousies and establishing relations on a basis of understanding. 252
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AI1{-MINDEDNESS GlWW"lNG What the airplane has done for the Generalissimo in his official work it surely is doing for other3 in their different lines of endeavor. China is a country particularly adapted for the utilization of the airplane. Its great distances, the remoteness of enormous regions, the difficulties and slowness of ordinary means of travel combine to make the airplane an increasing necessity for the transportation of. mails and passengers on urgent business in far away places, as well as in cities that are, in terms of time, comparatively close. With the adjustment of internal affairs in China so that the benefits of unity and peace may be effectively realized will come greater development in the establishment and equipment of airports. Apart from the airfields that have been constructed at various cities throughout the country, numerous emergency landing fields have been laid down in intermediate regions to make flying safer. Many more will come as time goes on, and existing fields will be enlarged and improved. As the well-surfaced highway is the si11e qua 11011 of the modern automobile, so has a well-surfaced airfield, equipped with efficient runways, become the .~i,,e qua 11011 of the fast and up-to-date airplanes that are now becoming a necessity either for personal use or public air services. It was not so long ago that China had neither airplane nor landing ground, but she has augmented her possessions in both as time bas gone on, and these it is to be hoped will be but guiding stones of experience along the road of continued progress. The air-mindedness of the Chinese people is growing greatly, and this augurs well for the future of aviation. Given freedom from disturbances, prosperity will come with leaps and bounds to China. Hand in hand with that desideratum will arrive the need for expanding air services. In time all large cities will have their adequate air ports and facilities for air traffic, and China will take her righ tfu I place among the best air-served countries in the world. 253
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March To National Bettermenf'' "We do not stand in need of any political, social or economic "isms," so long as we can use the experience and wisdom of our forefathers and have the advantage of modern scientific technique." CHINA lately has been brought forcibly into prominence as a result of spectacular happenings. For example, there have been internal political explosions and the more widespread effects of external aggression and intrigue. Unfortunately the reading public as a whole has no time to analyze origins of ~ewspaper reports or to focus events in their proper proportions. Distortion consequently triumphs over fact, and th@ public mind is therefore prone to take it for granted that China produces nothing but startling sensations, mysteries and make-believe. The really startling thing about China, however, is the amazing progress that is taking place. The era of civil wars and banditry is now approaching its end. Both the will of the people and the policy of the National Government are united in harmonizing, composing and settling all differences through peaceful means. Public opinion within China is now the strongest factor in deterring the hasty who would rush to settle their differences with the sword. Everywhere there is widespread recognition of the fact that with the solution of the economic problem the political problem will be automatically solved. For this reason the government is bending its energies toward giving the people an efficient, honest and progressive administration. Where carelessness and corruption have long held sway this is not as easy as it may at first appear. A radio broadcast from Nanking to the United States on February 21, 1937. 254
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PEOPLE DEMAND UNITY The New Life Movement, the third anniversary of which we are celebrating this week, is deeply concerned with the character that goes to make a nation. \Vithout men of character there can be no unified state. \Vhen meu allow personal ambition, greed, selfishness and vainglory to dominate their political theories and actions, we are immediately plunged into civil war. There is an old Chinese saying: "If you are planning for one year, sow grain; if planning for ten years, plant trees, but when planning for a hundred years, grow men." The work of educators, missionaries, social workers, the various philanthropic foundations and now the New Life Movement is deeply concerned with developing men and women of character. As China finds herself being closely knit together into one unified whole she acknowledges a debt of gratitude fo her own sons and daughters and to those who have come to us from across the seas. In addition to building character, the New Life Movement stresses the responsibility and duties of citizenship. Ambitious men may intrigue to invade neighboring provinces but as citizens are more and more voicing their opinions and insisting upon unification this breaking of national unity is becoming exceedingly difficult. He is a foolhardy man indeed who today will disregard this growing and formidable public opinion. National unity i::i here because the people demand it. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has devoted the greater part of his life to the unification of China's armies and this has been no small undertaking. For some time past he has been turnin&" his attention to the economic and social needs of the people as the next logical step in the modernization of this country. But before I go on to that fascinating subject, let me devote a few minutes to the remarkable advancement in cultural education that is taking place right before our eyes. This may be the least sensational program of reconstruction but it is certainly the most far-reaching. Everywhere in China there seems to be an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Book stores are crowded; periodicals and magazines are increasing, and newspapers are bursting open around us like pop-corn. Universities, schools, lecture halls, are all crowded. Popular evening classes for farmers, workers, ricsha pullers, shop assistants and house-keepers are in full swing in most large centers. All modern 2SS
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MADAME CHIANG KAISHEK findings in hygiene and diet as well as the simpler rules for healthful living are eagerly sought. The radio over which I am now speaking to you is being listened to by tens of thousands of our people. We receive fan mail from the remotest corners of our country. Knowledge and unification go hand in hand. To you in Ame1-ica, Canada, Great Britain and Europe, we are greatly indebted for the part you have played and are still playing in helping us to spread knowledge of the modern world throughout-the provinces of China. To the Generalissimo and to me it is a great pleasure indeed to be able to speak to you in your own homes. I wonder if this makes you realize as it does me that we are brothers and sisters the world over? \i\Thy should there ever be misunder standing and strife when there are so many of us who hold the same ideals and are working for world peace and progress? In order to ensure a still more rapid spread of knowledge throughout this country, we are relying upon the New Life Movement which is gathering together those currents of life and thought which count most in the reconstruction of the nation. All cultural organiza tions are working toward a new social order which has now become the symbol of unity and service. On this our third anniversary, telegrams are pouring in from all over the world offering congratula tions and co-operation. One has just come from the Chinese in Manila requesting the opening of New Life Movement associations in the Philippine Islands. Every one of these requests will be carefully answered by the enthusiastic young men and women who are feeling the thrill of building a new China. It is reassuring on this our third birthday to have such complete co-operation within and so many offers of help from overseas Chinese and friends abroad. But I must hasten if I am to tell you something of what progress we are making toward economic betterment. You know as I do that economic improvement comes more rapidly in times of peace. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has not merely brought the nation peace, and has under the New Life Movement, unified all the forces working toward the welfare of the people, but since his return from Sian, in addition to his military duties, he has been working unceas ingly on plans for economic betterment. Into the framework of a constitutional system of government will go all these schemes for the 256
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'fALES OF' PlWCRESS development of natural resources and the opening of new avenues of livelihood for the people. Perh~ps the biggest factor in the economic development of the country and the unification of the various provinces is the ever widening system of highways and railroads that i~ being pushed into remote parts of the interior. The motor bus is now busy in every province supplementing the donkey, the mule Ii tter, the sedan chair, and the wheelbarrow. Highways now exist so that you may drive an automobile through China from Shanghai to Singapore, as well as through the westernmost province of China to Europe and Great Britain. You can board a train at Canton in the very south of China and ride by rail right through to any point in Europe and Great Britain-the longest railway journey in the world. I{ you could use your imaginations on what this means to China and the other nations of the world, you would have a picture more startling than anything misinformed newspapers and magazines have yet-brought to you. Yesterday, I was examining some samples of soil taken from Lich wan in Kiangsi Province and analyzed by the National Geological Survey Laboratories in Nanking. This forcibly reminded me how greatly scientific methods are now being applied in China for economic improvement and how those scientists under the National Government are now busily classifying the untapped resources of the country. Such was not possible a few years ago, but China now has her own sons and daughters returning from abroad equipped with the technique and skill for participation in this great task of reconstruction. Not only are scientists busy at work everywhere but great engineering projects are under way, especially in connection with flood prevention, river conservancy and irrigation. Great efforts are being made to raise the standard of living by systematically developing the natural resources of the country. To do this effectively the Generalissimo has launched the Peoples' Economic Reconstruction Movement as complementary to the New Life Movement. In the midst of all these changes, the New Life Movement supplies us with a spiritual life line to hold on to, while we struggle toward a higher level of living for all our people. 257
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MADAME CHIANG l
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Youth Movement In China* "Our students today feel a responsibility that perhaps the youths of no other country feel, for they are working under an immense handicap." lfN the past the youth of China had no recognized vital part in the llaffairs of the country. Then came the time when students made their presence felt by strikes and agitations all over the land. Today the Chinese Government, realizing that the proper development of its human resources is just as important" as that of its vast material resources, is making special effort to train these students. For centries, under the Manchu regime, government was something. tq which we paid taxes aod under which in return we suffered oppression. But since China became a Republic in 1911, there has been a gradual and growing consciousness of the meaning of a government for the people, of the people and by the people. A spirit of service and duty towards the masses is being instilled into the officials of the country; the idea that a government official is the servant of the people has been born, This idea is really the motive power which produced the New Life Movement, and the New Life Movement is fundamentally a youth movement. The new attitude of responsibility toward the people among the leaders of our government is awakening a response in the hearts and minds of our youths. As a result, patriotism and respect for the flag and the National Government have become real. The essence of the New Life Movement, inaugurated two years ago by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, is found in the four basic principles of ancient China. These foundation pillars on which Chinese society was based in years past, and which made China greal, "'This article was written at the request of ll'orld Yo11t/1--an American p11hlication--for its inaugural issue. 259
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MADAME CHIANG RAi-SHEK are Li, meaning courtesy; l service toward our fellowmen and toward ourselves; Lien, honesty and respect for the rights of others; and Cltih, high-mindedness and honour. The Generalissimo, in viewing the causes of the spiritlessness of our people, felt that if we could be brought to realize the worth of these spiritual values in our every day conduct, we would have the key to a revival of national consciousness and pride, characteristics which had been ruthlessly stamped out by the Manchu rulers for centuries. He also realized that if the youths of China could be so filled with the spir:it. of these four principles tpat they would live them, the future of our nation would be safe in their hands. Our students today feel a responsibility that perhaps the youth of no other country feel, for they are working under an immense handicap. Our people have always understood loyalty to a personal leader, to the clan and to the family. But loyalty to a national cause and public spiritedness were forgotten during the centuries of Manchu oppression. And it is to revive this loyalty and unite our people into one great nation that the New Life Movement has been crystallized. In the past education was only for the few and not for the masses, but now the students are helping to create public-mindedness, as, during their vacations and after school hours, they help in health campaigns, mass education classes, better home projects and other forms of public service. Thus they share with the less privileged what they have learned and develop new idea)s of service. Child welfare work and primary education receive particular attention from our educational authorities. For example, in Kiangsi Province, which only three years ago was overrun by bandits, four thousand community schools-one for approximately every hundred families, supported by local educational endowment-are being opened. The teachers for these schools receive special training in elementary rural education. Other provinces have similar programs. Under the auspices of the National Government, seven years ago, 10 Nanking, I started two schools for the orphans of the soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for the National Revolution. It seems significant that we do not give these children military training. We emphasize industrial and rural education, for we recognize that the fundamental strength of a nation does not depend upon a military 260
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CHINESE YOUTH INTERESTED IN OTHER LANDS spirit but the proper appreciation of spiritual value and the ability to promote economic reconstruction of the country at large. In China, we have always emphasized the training of the mind, but neglecttd the development of the body. Today we realize that the building up of a strong healthy body is an important phase of our educational work. Our youths, therefore, are learning to play, and they take much interest in all wholesome sports. That the youth of China take a lively interest in other lands and their problems is shown in the eagerness and intelligence disp)ayed in all the schools I have visited. In view of the peculiar and complicated political conditions existing in the Far East, world peace with its possibilities is one of the favorite topics for discussion. The basis of real pe3:ce, of course, is mutnal understanding and respect. And as the youth of China are fully awakened to their responsibility towards their fellow countrymen, and are endeavoring to share their knowledge with their less fortunate compatriots, I feel certain that they would welcome the opportunity to co-operate with the youth of the world in working for world peace. It is my hope, therefore, that World Youth will be successful in its aim to bring together all nations under the banner of universal brotherhood in the insurance of a lasting world peace. 261
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Finding The Voice Of China~' "The most significant landmark on the highway to progress is undoubtedly the encouragement given to the people to express their opinions." PROGRESS in China is not to be measured by any international standards. Nor can the merit or the magnitude of changes of anv kind be so estimated. A realistic conception of what is happening in this ancient land can only be obtained by comparing the present with the not so distant past, and, at the same time, by keeping in sharp focus the details of that age-long background which so mystified Occidental observers. It however, constituted the real China, and upon it is based everything that goes lo the making of those Chinese characteristics which, by their unfamiliar nature, amused many foreigners, puzzled most, and exasperated some who had neither the patience nor the sympathy to endeavour to understand them. But, above all, progress can best be measured by keeping constantly in mind the effects oE the turbulence that ensued as a result of the revolution that brought about the overthrow of the dynastic system, and by remembering that fundamental national progress is not necessarily merely materialistic or indicated by the construction of great works, or by substituting a silent motor car for a screeching wheelbarrow. Revolution is no easy thing to introduce, or easy to carry through, in a land like China. Hide-bound with conservatism, suspicious of all things, superstitious, mostly illiterate, and void of all conception *Reprinted from the North-Clti11a Daily New.~ Double Tenth Supplement, October 10, 1936. 262
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THE EMERGENCE OF UNITY of the responsibilities of citizenship and public service, a huge population like that of China possesses, by virtue of its very ignorance, tremendous powers of passive resistance. This can impede, and delay, and frustrate reforms that the Occidental imagines could easily be introduced if only because of their apparent practical value, the ostensible logic of them, and their obvious necessity. However, reformers anywhere have notoriously hard lives to endure. In China they have been beset with innumerable difficulties that do not exist elsewhere. The launching of any major scheme of improvement, to say nothing to any potentially sweeping social reform, has consequently been equivalent to entering upon an endurance test, out of which come triumphant the ones having the greatest supply of patience, persistence, and philosophy, and, at times, physical strength. For several years following the revolution efforts were made to effect radical reforms and reorganization. In a sense some were successful, and some steps were taken that have been of lasting good. But the introduction of measures calculated to have widespread influence upon the lives and character of the people were delaJed, and sometimes strangled, by reason of conditions which developed and enabled unscrupulous military officers and others to build up coolie armies, or bandit gangs, with the object of personally controlling different districts or provinces throughout the land. There was a negation of progress in such a condition. But gradually that system was broken down. One after another the selfish and unpatriotic usurpers of power were overcome, and a unified China began to emerge. Step by step with the crushing of the selfish incompetents and the bandits in one region and another went measures to ameliorate the unhappy lot of the people, and as the latter gradually learned from experience that such measures really were for their benefit, and not for their further exploitation, they eventually applauded with surprise and relief the arrival of a new day. Newspapers, perforce, chronicled administrative and other improvements, and gradually there developed in various parts of the country that public opinion, hitherto an unknown factor in national affairs, which has so remarkably influenced the trend of events during the last few years, and particularly during 263
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK these last few months. In this practically unnoticed development is the most significant sign of progress in China since the fall of the Manchu dynasty. Its effects and influences are even now possible of categorical record. For instance, what has become known as the Fukien rebellion was swept away with surprising swiftness solely because public opinion throughout the country was against it, and because the people of the province, of their own volition, assisted the troops of the Central Government to drive out the unscrupulous leaders of the movement. This despite the fact that the so-called national heroes, the leaders of the 19th Route Army, were in the forefront of the revolt. Szechwan Province--where war-lords who fought over 400 civil wars in twenty years, and led to the impoverishment of the richest province in China, seemed to reign supreme-fell into line with the requirements of the Central Government so suddenly when the time arrived that observers were quite startled. What seemed impossible also swiftly occurred in remote Kweichow Province where the oppressive provincial government was quickly dislodged And, more to the point, the early collapse of Kwangtung Province, in its ill-starred attempt in conjunction with Kwangsi Province to oust the Central Government, was so precipitate that observers of former events, who failed to recognize and properly appreciate recent developments throughout the country, were amazed that such things could be. Popular opinion, born of the recognition of what the Central Government has been doing for the people, and feeling the new power of freedom of expression that has come to it, exerted itself with amazing vigour, and from all sides the leaders of this new revolt were assailed, Joining in the clamour which arose in other parts of China was also the voice of the people of Kwangtung Province itself. They have suffered so much for so many years under the tryannical rule of officials, who were now ready to plunge the country into renewed warfare and bloodshed, that they surprised everyone by their eager welcome of Central Government control of their province, And their unexpected attitude immediately influenced several important Kwangtung army generals and the air force. Some of the former promptly announced their determination not to participate in civil war and to
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WEIGHT OF POPULAR SENTIMENT give adherence to the Central Government. The whole air force, moved by a like spirit, flew off at the dawn of one day and thus dramatically abandoned the leaders of the revolt. Those leaders incontinently fled. \i\Thether, of course, the reforms which the Central Government will introduce will please everyone remains to be seen. The influence of public opinion also manifested itself upon Kwangsi provincial leaders who continued to threaten war. Some high officials fled, aeroplanes escaped, and some generals showed intention to muti_ny. The people of the province resisted war measures, farmers were reported to have fought, and, in places, killed conscription officers. In fact, public opinion exerted itself so continuously that the leaders were left with a forlorn hope on their hands. The Central Government, exhibiting unusual patience, waited and watched, and pleaded with the Kwangsi leaders to be wise in national interests if not in their own, so that the horrors of civil war should not be let loose upon the land, so that the people should be saved from further suffering. By September 6 the leaders shovved that they, like their Kwangtung colleagues, recognized the weight of popular sentiment, and accepted the terms of the Central Government, thus bringing to an end the possibility of what threatened to be one of the most tragic civil wars that ever broke out in China. Consequently, the most significant landmark on the highway to progress is undoubtedly the encouragement given to the people to express their opinions. And if the word progress embraces moral as well as material betterment, then it must be acknowledged that remarkable progress has taken place in China during the past few years, for it is only within that period that the people have been able really to realize the changed nature of the administration that came in with the National Government, and the wide-spread character of the reforms, compatible with local conditions, which the Government set under way as soon as possible. The years immediately succeeding the successful overthrow of the Manchu dynasty were lost, in a sense, owing to the failure of the persons who contrived to assume power to realize that the liberty supposed to be conferred by a republican form of government is not 265
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK licence. Many likewise failed to understand that the country was not theirs to exploit for their own personal benefit, and most of them felt that they were in nowise servants of the people but the masters of them. The expression, "\Vho nre the people?" so much heard among old officials, which rang for aeons down the corridors of old-time yamens, is not audible any more. The old fashions and the old ideas have gone, and the people have now asserted themselves to such effect that their voice will henceforth carry weight in national discussions and in all future crises. Perhaps it is folly to prophesy, hut at least it is not idle to hope, that the period of civil war will end with elimination of the last of the factors that make insensate internecine conflicts possible. Left to themselves, the people of China, and the officials, and the army for soon, and henceforth, it is to be hoped that it may legitimately he called a National Army and not a "miscellaneous mob of militarists"-are sure not recklessly to submit grievances and especially personal ones, to the arbitrament of arms, but will have them de< with in a constitutional manner as befits the dignity of a progressive State. I repeat, advisedly, if China is left tc, her own devices. Next month constitutionalism is designed to come to China, and that, it is to be hoped, will mark the inauguration of definite national progress where the voice of the people will rule.,:, Any progress that has gone before has been but the foundation, but that foundation has been well and truly laid. Upon it has been built the realization by the people of the possession of a voice and the ability to use it. That alone is sufficient to produce a moral satisfaction that surely will promote better citizenship and will develop loyalty and patriotism. The people, for centuries were ruthlessly taught that an official class, to the exclusion of all others, governed China, and they were brought by bitter experience *The First Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, held in December, 1935, resolved that the Draft Constitution of the Republic of China should be promulgated on May S, 1936, and that the Na:ional Assembly to decide on the date of the enforcement of the Permanent Constitution should be conven ed on November 12, 1936. Tht: election of delegates to the National Assembly, however, could not be completed before October 10, 1936. By the resolution of the Standing Committee of the C. E. C. the convocation of the National Assembly was postponed and the later date, November 12, 1937, was resolved upon by the Third Plenary Session of the C. E. C. The Sino-Japanese hostilities which broke out in July, t 93 7, caused the convocation of the National Assembly to the fnrther postponed.
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ARTICULATION AWAKENED to realize that if they were to save their heads they had to give up trying to save themselves, and, above all, to abandon attempts to save the country from the maladministration of the official class. The consequence was that the people lost all interest in public life, in patriotism, and in the affairs of the country, and applied themselves solely to the task of protecting the interests ar.d promoting the welfare of their families and their clans. \/\Then the Republic came, pledged ultimately to relieve them of their woes (it will do so some day), it consequently found existing a deep and vast ignorance of the requirements of that form of government, and it has taken years-till now-to educate, even casually and cursorily, sufficient of the population to know what is required of them so that they could in some measure impart the knowledge to others. Large sections of the people seem now to have awakened, and articulation (if not profound wisdom), so long suppressed, has come to them. Nor have they been awakened by any form of desperate theoretical teaching, but by a practical demonstration of what a properly organized and supported Government could do for them. The existing National Government as soon as it assumed office began to demonstrate its intention to develop the welfare of the people by creating organs for their betterment. And it took one significant step that has, perhaps, been forgotten. As early as a few months after its establishment at Nanking in 1927 it called into being a National Economic Conference and a National Finance Conference, and they were significant, if not spectacular, inasmuch as the delegates to those conference embraced, for the first time in Chinese history, leading bankers, industrialists, and merchants. Here was signal evidence of the bona fides of the Government in its promises to depart radically from the old traditions that excluded the voice of the people from the councils of State, and to enlist the support of civilian brains and experience in laying the foundation of a better administration. Among other things, too, the Government called the various magistrates to a conference at Nanking and subjected them to an educative course on the proper conduct of officials tow11.rd the people. The average age of these officials was over 50 ye~rs, and they were instructed as to the rights of the people to have their grievances heard, to he protected, and to be properly considered in the administration of Jaws and regulations. Mainly the officials were enjoined to assist the 267
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK people in the presentation of their claims and complaints, and were warned that acts calculated to be contrary to the public weal, and militating against the rights of the people would redound to the discredit of those responsible. Indeed, from the beginning of the Republic in 1912 patriotic minds have been bent to the task of ameliorating the lot of the people by providing them with means to raise their standard of living. Dr. Sun Yat-sen issued his industrial and railway schemes, and from time to time measures have been devised to provide for the establishment of industries to utilize raw products, even if conditions in many cases militated against satisfactory fulfilment. Political unrest did, for years, render abortive practical economic efforts, but now a definite programme has been adopted which will, in course of time-backed up by more enlightened public opinion-strike at the roots of economic stagnation. This will give the investing public and the progressive industrial and mercantile leaders the encouragement, the security, and the protection that are necessary to ensure the long-delayed systematic development of national and industrial resources, and the scientific production of raw materials. While it is not necessary m this article to detail financial and other reforms that have been inaugurated, national prosperity will, conditions permitting, be statesmanlike, systematic, and sustained, and gradually there will come to China complete elimination of all those factors which have, one way or another, contributed to the stagnation that has in the past prevented her from assuming her legitimate role in international affairs. Certainly the National Government intends to pursue a policy aiming at material betterment, and the fulfilment of plans in that direction will not only benefit China and her people but also the world at large. In view of all this, then, the judgment at this anniversary of the establishment of the Republic, taking all things into consideration, must be that great progress has been made in the face of heart-breaking internal obstructions, which have been aggravated by external interference of serious import and consequence, and that, in addition lo material advancement, there has been a remarkable change socially and spiritually which has contributed to the most important of all potential developments-the finding of the voice of China. 268
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Travelling In Disturbed China.' "No country on the face of the earth has stepped so quickly out of the medieval story into the twenteithcentury air-plane ONE who has never traveled in interior China has little or no conception of what modern aviation means to this country. It means that one can travel from Shanghai to Kiukiang in central China in three hours instead of three days. It means that a letter posted in Shanghai for Chungking, up the gorges of the Yangtze River, arrives in two days instead of two weeks as formerly. It means that the far northwest of Sinkiang or Chinese Turkestan can be reached in three days instead of four months. Mail and passengers are now carried over more than six thousand miles of air routes in China. No other country on the face of the earth has stepped so quickly out of the medieval story book into the twentieth-century airplane. We were making rapid progress travelling in Kiangsi when the Fukien rebellion started. The short-lived government set up in Fukien was a fiasco. I had accompanied my husband to Fukien. On Christmas Day we traveled over one thousand li, (333 miles) partly by air and partly by the new military road he had built after the Fukien trouble started. We arrived at Puchen, over the Fukien border, after two hours in the air and eight hours by motor car from Hangchow. During that time we had crossed the boundaries of Chekiang, Kiangsi, and Fukien provinces, and I was so weary from being jolted and bumped over the rough roads through the most mountainous part of eastern China that I could scarcely hold up my head. *Extracted from the February issue of the Forum, 1935. 269
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEK In spite of my weariness I marveled at the scenery. It was gorgeous, unlike anything I have ever seen. i know your Rockies. They are rugged and majestic. But Fukien has range upon range of mountains covered with delectable foliage, thousands upon thousands of fir trees in their Christmas green, brightened here and there, in startling contrast, by a single candleberry tree of flaming red. T9 think that a road had been built through this mountainous region within a month's time! Considering the topography of the region and the rapidity of accomplishment, experts regard it as a Herculean task. 'Whole sides of mountains were cut through by hand labor. To be sure, thousands of men were employed, working in three shifts per day. It was also a rough country road. But it was there. Sometimes the road passed through a cut so narrow and deep th:!~ the mountains seemed ready to topple over on us. I thought of the pass ofThermopylae and wondered if it were like this. Again we motored along the edge of a plateau where the least swerve would have flung us over the precipice. Parts of the high,vay were still under construction, and the steep gradings seemed almost perpendicular. It was not until we had reached our journey's end that I realized how dangerous the trip had been and how great the strain. The11 my husband began to reproach himself for submiting me to such hazards. Fortunately, in times of actual danger one does not feel as acutely as in retrospect. To illustrate this, I am reminded of an incident which occurred at field headquarters in Kiangsi recently in the dead of night. Suddenly we heard the crack, crack, crack of several hundred shots from the direction of the city wall. What had happened? The General was up instantly, calling me to dress hurriedly. He ordered the secret-service men to investigate. The shots became more frequent, more insistent. Shivering with cold, in the feeble candlelight I threw on my clothes and sorted out certain papers which must not fall into enemy hands. I kept them within reach to be burnt if we had to leave the house. Then I took my revolver and sat down to wait for what might come. I heard my husband giving orders for all available guards to form a cordon, S'J that we could shoot our way out if we were actually surrounded. \T'/e did not yet know what was happening outside but we did know that the enemy had been close-pressed lately and was desperate. After an hour, reports came back that a portion of the enemy troops 270
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PETALS OF' GOOb LUCI< had staged a surprise attack under cover of darkness, knowing that only a few hundred sentries guarded the city wall. \,Vhile we were in apparent danger I was not frightened. I had only two things on my mind: the papers giving information of our troop movements and position and the determination, should I be taken captive, to shoot myself. I would prefer death to the fate of women who fall into the hands of bandits. But, fortunately, the attack was repelled, and we went back to sleep. A month later we were in Puchen, within the borders of the province to the south. Isolated little city! Until the road I have described was built, the city had little communication with the outside world. Devious footpaths through almost impassible mountains did not encourage travel. The people belonged to another age. I saw there costumes like those of my great-grandmother and the elaborate hairdressing of a century ago. On New Year's rounding mountains. flowering profusely. Eve, my husband and I took a walk in the sur vVe discovered a tree of white plum blossoms, What an omen of good luck I In Chinese Iitera-ture the five petals of the winter plum portend the five blessings of joy, good luck, longevity, prosperity, and (to us most desired of all) peace! The General carefully plucked a few branches and carried them home. When ~ur evening candles were lighted, he presented them to me in a little bamboo basket-a New Year's gift. The plum blossoms had looked graceful and lovely on the tree, but massed in the basket by candlelight they took on an indescribable beauty, their shadows on the wall making clean, bold strokes like those of the great Ming artist, Pah Dah Shan Jen. Perhaps you can see why I am willing to share the rigors of life at the front with my husband. He has the courage of the soldier, and the sensitive soul of the poet. At the end of a week my husband left for Kien-Ur, a point farther south. It took him only an hour by military plane, but the trip was bitterly cold and hazardous, so he wired me to proceed by sampan. Do you know what a sampan is like? Twenty feet long, by six feet wide, it is a shallow-bottomed boat, usually propelled by two boatmen. with room for two or three passengers in the covered mid-section. I had with me my American nurse, my woman secretary, an amah, men servants, and guards. Since we numbered altogether about sixty or seventy, we had five sampans and five bamboo rafts. 2 71
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEI{ The bamboo raft, too, is an interesting invention. Made of eight thick bamboo poles tied together with bamboo peel, it resembles nothing so much as a huge toboggan sled. The likeness is increased by the fact that the front end of the raft is heated until pliable and then bent upward, curving gradually to an angle of forty-five degrees, so that it can take the water smoothly and rapidly. The rivers of Fukien have rapids in places, and water so shallow 10 others that the trip is full of exciting moments. Through shallow waters the boatmen pole the sampans from rock to rock or push them along the shore with bamboo poles steel spiked at the ends. So frequently did we scrape the rocks or hit against the boulders of the rapids that one of the boats burst open against a sharp jagged rock, splitting its sides. My sampan sprang a-leak, but the damage was less serious. At that we were kept busy bailing out the water and stuffing the hole with absorbent cotton. These little boats have a bamboo-matting cover amidships. At night, by rigging up padded cotton curtains, it is like a little cabin with some degree of privacy. During the day, however, this little room must be kept open at both ends so that the boatmen can look ahead or behind as they pole the boat. :For my bed some planks were laid along one side, on which my mattress was placed. I used this narrow berth for bed by night and seat by day. The other three women had to spread their bedding in the bottom of the boat. Our quarters were cramped enough, but we felt safer together. Though the guards stood on duty, our boats had to tie up during the night in the bandit-infested country. In the early evening we would restore warmth to our half-frozen bodies by gathering rushes and making huge bonfires on the rocky bank, where we thawed out tingling toes. The glow warmed our hearts as well and lit up the whole countryside. We were not unaware that the bonfire might attract unwelcome attention to our party, but encountering bandits seemed the lesser evil as compared with frost and hunger pangs. The two boatmen in oui:sampan were brothers, the younger an engaging youth of nineteen summers. He beamed and sang more lustily each day to please me. These two had a tune, the younger asking a question in a sort of chant, the other replying antiphonally. 272
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1'ltlWUGH BANDI1' INFESTED AkEAS I<''or example, when we came to a bend in the river, the younger would sing: "Hey ho, how is the wa-water cur-ur-urr-ving, hey ho?" And .the older at the front of the boat would respond: "Yay ho ya, ho, a-a-a-ll ri-i-ight, bu-but kee-eep stead-yyy, yay he, ya ho!" Then when they came to a particularly difficult place they would heave to with all their strength while chanting in unison, "Ya ho, he, ho, careful! The first night we moored near the home of these two boatmen. Wb~n we made camp they came to me and said, "Tai-tai (Respected Lady), will you and all your party honor us at the evening meal?" Considering that besides rice the only food they would have for supper probably was that which they held in their hands-a bunch of green onions and a pound of pork-how could I accept their invitation? I finally pleaded fatigue but promised to send an aide-de-camp to thank them after supper. Thus was the situatio.i saved. They had not lost face, and I had not failed in courtesy. The distance. my husband flew in less than an hour took four days and night by small boat. Towards the last lap of this journey we passed through areas still actively infested with scattered b;mds of roving bandits. The General sent adqitional guards to meet us. Fortunately, we met with no mishap. At night, however, I could scarcely sleep, haunted as I was by the deserted farms and ravaged villages I saw during the day. After being cramped for hours in the sainpan I would frequently get out and cut across the. hills on foot, rejoining our little fleet several miles beyond. Desirous of not attracting attention, I would take only two or three plain-clothes men with me and leave the other guards behind. On these walks I passed through many villages, often completely deserted. Sometimes there would be a little life. More often they were dead to all intents and purposes, for I could not find a single human being or animal in sight. Silence, like a thick pall, hung over the empty houses. The only sound in all the village was the tap, tap of my walking stick and the pad of our footsteps on the cobblestones of the one long street. Vacant houses stood with doors gaping ,vide. lhside mutilated pieces of furniture sprawled in confusion. The walls were scorched and blackened from hurried attempts to destroy them, mute testimony to the relentless fury of the marauders. 273
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MADAMg CHlANG KAI-SHE!{ Everything that could not be carried away had been damaged. Devastation and death silently pervaded the whole hamlet. A Chines~ village is normally full of life, movement, and rhythm-the cries of hawkers, the laughter of children, the good-natured jostling of people in the street, the grunting of pigs running at large. But here not even a lean dog was in sight. Emptines'>, desolation, desertion. Why? Bandits. Into the open fields I hurried. I could not bear to linger in the village. But again! Instead of what were once swaying fields of golden grain, I found here a stubble of blackened roots, there a heap of broken tiles, and, beyond, barren wasteland. The tiller of the soil may have been killed. If lucky, he may have escaped with a hen tucked under either arm, bundle of bedding on his back, and wife and children following at his heels with a few earthen pots and bowls. The next day the motion of the swaying sampan made me seasick, and again I walked. We passed through a village where a few old men were basking in the sun. "\Vhere are the people of the village?" I asked. They continued to gaze into space. At long last one anwered listlessly : "The bandits have been here!" Then after another silence, as though loath to speak: "Some of the people have been killed. Some were carried ;i,wav. Some escaped, heaven knows where! We were too old and weary, so we hid beneath the straw and we are left." They alone were there to tell the tale. Later that same day I was walking alone when I heard a guard say, as I passed a camphor tree: "What a wonderful coffin that would make!" In any other country the remark would have seemed incongruous, a superficial comment in a spirit of levity. Not so in China. The Chinese coffin cut from huge slal,s o( wood, the more massive the better, is literally a longevity article. I( presented to the ill it will propitale the spirits. If prepared for the aged it assures a feeling of. peace and tranquillity. 274
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REBELLIOUS ARMY SUBDUED Just at that moment I stubbed my.toe. Over what? A piece of ancient cremc glacc, perhaps? \Vhen the Nanking airdrome was built a few years ago, anliques were dug up, some of them a thousand years old. They are now in the provincial museum. Perhaps I had stumbled on some such antique. I stooped to see. It was almost an antique but it was not a vase. It was a human skull. Victory was ours in less than two months in Fukien, partly because of modern aviation. Victory is in sight in Kiangsi as I write. But when the rebellious army has been brought to terms and the bandits have been forced from their mountainous strongholds that is not the end of the problem. A long, slow process of rural rehabilitation must be undertaken if the people who have lost land and property and farm animals and household possessions (meager as they were) and gallant spirit are to he enabled to carry on again in the fundamentally important task of wresting a livelihood from mother earth. In this task the Government and all philanthropic organizations are cooperating. Experts are working with us on this rehabilitation program, and we are pushing ahead in a glorious enterprise. It will not make front-page news but it will mean a contented peasantry. The army has done its part. Modern aviation has immeasurably facilitated its success. Now comes a long, steady pull. Where a nation's people are contented, seeds of so destructive a type of banditry as we have seen in China do not readily take root. 275
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Wonders Of China's Southwest* Pen pictures of the rugged loveliness of the remote southwestern provinces and the sorrow brought to the people of those regions by bandits and misrule. I. I am now a very long way from you, but I think of yon always. As I travel far and wide about this great country of ours and see the conditions under which so many of our people live I think how fortunate you are that you are living comfortably and are being educated so that you can make your way in the world to your own betterment, and can help others. Indeed, you are very lucky to have the splendid chance that you are having, and I am very happy that you are able to have it. Now I will tell you something of this great country of yours. You know that Kweiyang is the capital of Kweichow Province, a province that is mostly mountains and is poor and very difficult to reach. Or it used to be difficult. Now there is a motor road from Kwangsi, and soon there will be one from Changsha and another from Chungking, in Szechwan. Soon, too, there will be an air-mail service. Only a short while ago all travel was over stone paths climbing the mountains and descending the valleys. It took seventeen days to get from here to Chungking, and about the same time to get to Canton or while accompanying the Generalissimo when he was leading the bandit suppression campaign in the Southwest provinces, Madame Chiang found time to write to the students in the school for the orphans of revolutionary heroes in Nanking, which she directs, and which she was mainly instrumental in founding. The first letter was sent from the Generalissimo's Headquarters of the National Forces at Kweiyang, Kweichow Province, on April 4, 1935. It was addressed to "My Dear Students." The second was sent the following month from Chengtu, Szechwan Province, and the third tro111 Omei Shan in July. 276
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'fHE CITY OF KWEIYAN(; Yunnan, and one had to travel by chair or walk. There are mountains everywhere. Not great ranges, but a higgledy-piggledy mass of cone like hills, some very curious to look at. When we were flying from Chungking here we saw these cones lying in long rows as if some giant had put them there to play with, as children make little hills of sand. When that came about I do not know, but possibly in the time of volcanic action when the crust of the earth was being formed and getting cold. Kweiyang City is in a valley surrounded by these curious hills. It is over 3,000 feet higher than Nan king, so is very cold at this time, whereas you probably feel the summer coming on. Here the trees are just getting their new leaves, the birds are building their nests, and make a great clatter with their chatter and their song. There are different trees and birds here from what you might see in Nanking, and the people also are different. Mostly the people wear turbans, and there are also many tribespeople here, the Miaos, who live in the mountains and do hard work on very simple food. They dress differently from the other people; they are shorter and sturdier. They do not smoke opium, and they work hard. Their food is chiefly corn. Around about us are bandit bands. It is to try and suppress them that the Generalissimo came here. At present they are but twenty miles away from us, but they will be defeated in the end, and then we will really be able to do something to help all the people and make our country strong and great. And that is what you students always must remember-that you are being educated solely to be of help to your country and your fellow men. Now I will tell you something of our travels. To get here we used steamers, motor cars and aeroplanes. From Kiukiang I went by steamer to Chungking, which is in Szechwan, and is some 1,350 miles from Shanghai, and some 600 feet higher than Nanking. Really the steamer climbs up that height through the rapids of the Upper Yangtze. Up to lchang the river is just a great body of water running strongly and eating its way into the fields on either side and carrying lots of good earth out to sea, making the ocean yellow for some 60 miles out, so strong is the current of the river, so great is the quantity of silt (that is earth) that it carries. 277
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEK Just after leaving Ichang we come into the famous Gorges. The river has, through the centuries, eaten its way through the mountains, and sometimes the cliffs are over 1,000 feet high, some of the mountain tops being as high as 4,000 feet. How strong the river is; what power it possesses can he seen as the steamer drives up against it, and one _sees what mighty work the rushing water had done on the rocks. Sometimes they are just straight walls on either side, with the river rushing deep and menacing in between, making whirlpools and eddies and currents that are sometimes almost too strong for the steamer engines to work against. Some of the rapids roar in tumult and are very dangerous. These the steamer climbs, throbbing and panting, and-almost stopping. It is all very exciting, for one wonders if the steamer will manage to make the ascent, and it is a climb, one rapid having to be negotiated upwards some six or seven feet in fifty yards. Steamers often get wrecked because the savage river literally takes them and throws them against the jagged and cruel rocks, and woe betide any people who get thrown into the river. They are swept down in the great roaring whirlpools and they are lost. Before the steamers were made to fight their way through this powerful water the junks had to be hauled by men, taking weeks to get through the Gorges alone. Twenty and thirty men hauling on great ropes made of plaited bamboo strips dragged the junks slowly and patiently, most times working like animals, with bare feet clinging to the rocks, and often wearing no clothes. Now that steamers have come such big junks are not used to go against the stream, but all the small ones have to be hauled, or tracked, as they call it, against the strong current, the trackers having to struggle along a narrow path cut in the rocks of the Gorges. If they fall they are lucky if they are not drowned. The Gorges are very beautiful in the sunlight, and while in them one can fully appreciate the greatness and the grandeur of nature. Upstream from Wanhsien, which is west of the Gorges, the character of the country changes and we pass day after day through rolling hills, all cultivated, the farm houses being different from those we are used to, and much like the style, as to the roof, that is seen in middle Europe. It is very picturesque landscape, and rich looking. This upper part of the river is known as the River of Golden Sand, because gold is found in the sand, which as it happen5, is 278
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THE RiVER OF GOLDEN SAND black. As we passed bank after bank of boulders and sand we saw gangs of men heaving away the stones and washing the sand to get the gold out of it. There are five men in each gang. One carries water from the river in two wooden buckets; three throw the boulders clear and dig up the sand in which the gold dust is found (called paydirt), and one works a basket into which the earth is tipped and over which the water is thrown. The water washes the dirt on to a large board about three feet six inches long and three feet broad, the surface of which is made into fine ripples, as they are called in the goldwashing industry, but much like a foreign-style washing board. The :::and is washed over this board and the gold, being heavier than the sand, is caught by the ripples. One night we anchored near a bank where gold seekers were working, Some of the passengers went shore and saw a "clean up," as it is called, of one gang. After working all the afternoon they washed out of the ripples about one pound of black sand, for all the sand is of volcanic origin here. They then put that sand not in a tin dish but in a wooden tray which they gently moved about till the sand was washed out and left behind a fine line of "color", or gold dust. There was not much, however, and the workers sold it to one passenger for one silver dollar. So they got for one afternoon's work, just twenty cents each. Not a rich showing by_ any means. If they have luck, they might find more gold dust, and even a nugget. .Sometimes they do get a chance and find a nugget which is valuable according to its size. There is a great possibility of making this industry worth something to the country if modern methods of getting the gold out are employed. It is hoped that will soon be done so that the country can find a lot of work for the people and in time get strong again as it used to be in olden days. Hundreds of miles further up the Yangtze there are great a,reas of alluvial which will, some day, be worked by dredgers. When we got to Chungking it was rammg, the first rain since leaving Nanchang. We had to climb high flights of wide stone steps to get to the roadway. We went to live in a big house which the Generalissimo and I did not like because it was not built from honest money. It belongs to a militarist, like many others here. It is sad to say that Szechwan, which is one of the richest provinces in our country, is made poor by the greed of men who get into power and rob the people for their own profit. They are ignorant, and do not know 279
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ivI.~DAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK what patriotism n1eans. That is what you students must learn and understand. If you do not, than China will never recover. You must always try to teach others what the country is, what the flag stands for, and what all good citizens should do-that is, work honestly to help the country become strong and great. In Szechwan, and in Kweichow, as in several other provinces in the west, the people are made poor by opium. The bad officials have pop~ies, from which opium is made, grown and by shipping opium out, make great profits from it. This evil will kill China if it is not stopped. Therefore, the Generalissimo and I, wherever we go, speak strongly against the evil and we work to educate the people to do their best to have the opium stopped so that our race shall not become slaves. In Chungking we persuaded the high officials to shut up the opium shops, and I am trying to organize the women to work against the evil. The difficulty is that they do not know how to organize anything, or have meetings, and this is one thing I want the girl students to remember. They must try their best to prepare themselves to grow up competent to form societies to do good, to hold meetings, and get things done. At present the illiterate women think that they have to talk about this and that and everything except the one thing they ought to talk about and do. That is not their fault so much as it is their misfortune. They had no chance to be educated, as you girls have, avd therefore, they are more to be pitied than blamed. But you can learn a valuable lesson frorri it, for as time goes on, our women are going to do their share in saving their country. You must, therefore, try to understand things so that you can teach others what to do and how to do it when you get the chance. In Szechwan there is a great chance for the people to recover themselves for their province is rich in vegetation, as well as in other products. But there has been no systematic development there, as in some other provinces. Lack of development of natural resources is one reason why China is poor and weak. If you look at the great countries of the world you will see that they are strong because they have developed their mining and other industries to make the things they. want, and to give employment to their people. In China mostof the work is done on farms, and we have to spend our money buying other things that we need from foreign countries. This is not right. 280
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THE FRUITS OF HARD WORK Consequently the Generalissimo and I are working hard lo have a new movement started to develop the natural resources of the country, .. start industries to manufacture the necessitie'S we must have, and improve agriculture so that we can grow all we need to eat. This movement will be The People's Economic Reconstruction Movement, and we want all of you students to understand what it means to China. It means that if China takes lessons from the good foreign countries she in time can be strong and powerful, and can get rich, too. Also no one will dare to take ad van Lage of her and rob her of her territory. But we must all work hard and educate the people to understand the reasons for snch a new movement. All of us want our country to be strong and rich, and that is the means by which it can be done. There is no magic about it. Riches are not conjnred out of a magician's hat. They have to be worked for. We must be wise and open up our country. If we do not we will surely become the slaves of some other country who wants to take what we have. The Generalissimo is doing his utmost out here to teach the officials and the people what they must do. In that work of teaching everyone must help. By and bye, I will tell you more about the interesting things in Szechwan. So far we have been only to Chungking. It is a city built on a high hill at the junction of two rivers-the Yangtzekiang and the Kialing. Long flights of steps lead up from the water; up and down go the travellers, jostling with the carriers of water, and the bearers of freight. Now there is a motor road, and many wide streets at the top. Five years ago there were no wheeled vehicles here. Now there are many motor cars and hundreds of rickshaws. Previously peoples rode in chairs, carried by coolies. The main road goes to Chengtu, the capital, and people can travel there in two days. Just a little while ago it took weeks to do the journey. This is a long letter so I must close with good wishes and hopes that you will work hard so that you all can help your country, II. When last I wrote to you I was in Kweiyang, but now I am far away from that spot. I am in Chengtu, an old capital, made famous at the time of the Three Kingdoms. I told you about Kweiyang. It is set in a small valley surrounded by numerous cone-like hills, on the top of some of which are temples
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK surrounded hy cool groves of trees. At the south of the city a clear water stream flows, and twists and turns away into the hills. \Ve found another clear stream some miles from the city where the Generalissimo and I used sometimes to walk. It winds itself through a pretty little gorge known as the Dragon Gate. Someone carved the characters high on a cliff. The legend has it that all the water of the stream ran into a cave and disappeared, but that was not quite true. We saw the cave and we saw some water running into it, but the rest of the stream crawled like a dragon through the narrow valley between the hills. Beautiful wild roses-like dark red velvet-festooned the rocks in places, and ferns and flowers grew elsewhere, making the spot as pretty as it was quiet, for no one lived there. Farther out from Kweiyang, about twenty miles, in a region where the bandits went through, we found another delightful stream alongside of which azaleas grew in abundance and of a beautiful red color. The hills hereabouts, are, as elsewhere in the Province conical-shaped, a formation which generally rendered it very difficult for our troops to surround the bandits. In due course the time came for us to leave. We went to the air field and boarded an airplane which took us high over the mountains to Yunnanfu, now called Kunming. About sixty miles from Kweiyang we saw the river tumbling in a beautiful waterfall over a ~liff about two hundred feet high. It raced into a deep ravine. Someday, maybe, the water will be used as power for the development of electricity. The mountains are high here and the gorges are deep. Low down in one we saw an old suspension bridge made of chains, over which the old trail passes to and from Yunnanfu and Kweiyang. When we got to Kutsingfu we were over the high ranges, and Yunnan was below us. Here the soil is very red, and there is much cultivation. We saw motor roads built and being built. Soon they will connect with Kweiyang, whence a road already runs west almost to the Yunnan border. In the deep ravines it is difficult to build a road; but it will be done in time. By October, it is hoped that a traveller will be able to get in his car at Shanghai and drive all the way to Kweiyang and Kunming, and also from Kweiyang to Chengtu, as well as to Kwangsi, and other places.
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KUNMING AND ITS PEOPLE Flying over the red soil of Yunnan we came to the plain on which Kunming stands. There we saw rows of dark green trees crawling over the country like big long dragons. They mark the old canals, dug centuries ago by wise people, and which are stiII supplying water for the fields. When we reached Kunming we could see the Provincial Chairman's house on a hill, while on another stood the Yunnan University, a spacious pink colored building. In the latter we stayed while in the city. We landed at the airfield, on which was a colorful ma,quee. A large crowd of people was there to welcome us-high officials, the foreign consular body, and Chinese civilians. All along the road to the city were crowds of students, mostly dressed in white, though some were in blue. When we passed through the city gates and began traversing the streets we saw thousands of people crowding the footpaths and lots of flags hung out together with big red lanterns. Kunming streets are clean and well kept. In the main street, the houses are all of one type in one section, and of another type in an adjoining section. They look very effective, better than the higgledypiggledy assortments of badly designed houses that we see in some other places. And it is to be noted, the people are taught to walk on one side of the street going one way, and on the other side going the other way. The people of Yunnan Province, like the people of Kweichow, are very picturesque. The country people wear the colorful clothes of former times. The women wear red trousers, embroidered jackets, and big picturesque hats. There are also tribe people, the Lolos, sometimes in the streets and now and again some Miaos. The latter are very distinctive especially the "Flowery Miao", who get their name from the attractive, flower-embroidered clothes they wear. They all favor prodigious pleated skirts. These I saw in Kweichow. The University building was put at our disposal while we were at Kunming. We appreciated it. Generally speaking, the climatic conditions were better than Kweiyang, which was damp and cold. One night the school children, numbering many thousands, gave a lantern procession. It was strikingly effective. There were many beautiful lanterns and many curious ones. Plenty of representations of airplanes appeared, in all colors and designs; there were crabs an4
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK fishes and strange animals; there were lots and lots of flowers and haskets, as well as buckets, birds, vegetables, and other things. It took a long time for the procession to pass, and, as the chlldren had to climb long flights of steps to get to the enterance doors near where we were seated they ,vere puffing and blowing. But they got a lot of fun out of it. The procession of vari-colored Ian terns could be seen a long way off-winding and twining through the night, sinuously like a serpent. Ne~ Yunnan 1s a mountain, known as Hsi Shan, where there are some old, picturesque, and big temp1es. At the foot of the mountain is a large, deep lake, said to be the largest fresh water lake in China. We went by motor car close to the mountain; then went by chairs the rest of the way, up hill and down dale, and through the bamboo groves. At one temple we saw a large crypt where were stored jars and vases containing the ashes of the priests who had died. The bodies were cremated, and this crypt held hundreds of urns of_ashes. Perhaps cremation is better than burial, especially in China where so much valuable land is wasted by graves. In Central China, and in other. parls, too, the people bury their dead on their farm lands. This is not good, for it takes up land that could grow crops. In Szechwan and Kweichow they are wiser, for they bury their dead on hillsides that cannot be cultivated. Near some cities the burial places are great cemeteries. Each grave, or nearly every one, has a headstone. This system of burial ensures a great saving of good arable land, and it is a wise practice. The priests perhaps do a still wiser thing by cremating their dead, and keeping their ashes in the porcelain vases in the crypt. There is orie temple,-or many temples in fact, cl~stered together, -on the steep side of the mountain near a high cliff overlooking the lake. At the top a tunnel has been driven through the solid rock to get to a cave, which has been ornamented by carvings of Buddhas. The tunnel leads out into the open at one spot. A balustrade has been cut to prevent one falling down a thousand feet. The lake extends a long way, and beyond are mountains painted purple by the evening sunlight. 284
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A MINE OF SORROW It was a long descent down stone stairways to the lake side. A little steamer was waiting for us. We reached it in sampans rowed liy girls in their picturesque red trousers and light blue jackets. The steamer took us across the lake bcj.ck to Kunming. We landed at a park, well laid out, with nice .buildings which were well kept. A narrow canal runs from the lake some distance towards the city. It is a channel of navigation for junks and sampans. I saw many carrying stone and other cargo, from the remote side of the lake. All the boats were rowed by women or girls. I saw several, however, being pushed through the thick mud by little boys. They thought it great fun, but it was hard and dirty work. I felt sorry that they did not have a chance to be in a clean school instead of having to work while so young, in such a dirty place as a narrow muddy canal. Yet they are not so badly off as the thousands of little children who have to work in the tin mines at Kochin. These little ones, mostly aged from 8 to 14, are, I am told, sent thousands of feet under the ground, through n\rrow tunnels only big enough for their little bodies to crawl. They dig out the tin, and then have to carry it out. The temperature is so hot under ground that they often faint when they get to the cool air, and many of them die of pneumonia and other diseases. There is so little water there that they can seldom have a wash, to say nothing of a regular bath, so they take ox bones, and scrape the dirt off their little bodies. The bones are also supposed to be a charm to ward off evil. The children have a hard and difficult life, and get little pay for it. The Generalissimo is trying to have child-labor stopped, but just think how lucky you boys and girls are to be in a well-kept, clean school, having good food, and time for play when you are free from lessons in the class room. When you think you have big grievances you should always remember the poor children of your country who have no chance to go to school, or get an education, or have good food, but who have to work hard in bad and unhealthy surroundings. Never forget these poor, unfortunate children when you fancy you have something to complain about. Then, I feel sure, you will not complain. If you remember your geography you will know that south of Yun nan is Inda-China. It is all hot, tropical country. From lndo iss
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK China to Kunming there is a railway. It is narrow-gauge (not so wide as the railways in China) and the line follows the valleys because the mountains are high and rugged. I wanted to go and look at the tropics, so started off one day from Kunming at a little after the noon hour. I did not go by a train, but by what looked like a motor-bus running on the rails. It was driven by gasoline and ran on rubber tires. It went fast over the rails-twisting and turning-and, for me, the journey was not only uncomfortable, but made me very brain-sick. The temperature got hotter and hotter. Kunming itself, as I mentioned before, is some 6,000 feet above sea level, and not far away from the city the line climbed over a ridge which is the highest point on the rail way, over 7 ,OOO feet. As we glided down the other side we saw three beautiful blue, or green, lakes, set in red country. They were the only things which looked cool and inviting. We travelled down-grade through numerous tunnels, round curves along precipices, and through very pictures.que gorges, the torrent roaring and rushing below us or by us all the time. The farther we went down the valleys the hotter it became and the more tropical the vegetation grew. Bamboos and bananas appeared, and in one narrow gorge we were told that monkeys abounded. On the return journey one of the party actually saw a monkey on a bush. The monkey he saw was so excited to see the car that he shook the bush like a mad thing. I suppose the little fellow wondered what the rushing monster was. We stayed at Amichow for the night, at a sort of hotel. The temperature was so warm and the air so damp that I decided not to go any farther down the railway, for the further south we went the lower dropped the altitude and the higher mounted the heat. Also I was told thl!,t the line wiggled worse than before, and would be too uncomfortable, especially since I had not been feelipg well for some time. Next morning we started back, and were in Kunming after one o'clock. We would have been earlier, b11t a tire blew out and we had to wait until a new one was put on. The air was so cool at Kunming that it was like balm after the heat of the valleys through which we had just ascended. On May 12 the Generalissimo flew to Kweiyang, and on to Chogkiang. I left by airplane, for Chungking direct, on the 14th.
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THE LOLO TRIBES Vt/e flew due north from Kunming to the Yangtze River, over a countryside of bright red, orange, purple, brown, and other colors, which, with the varied greens of the vegetation, looked like a gorgeous painting. But there were heavy clouds, and we had to dodge up the valleys till we reached the Yangtze. \Ve came to the river near Kiaosi, where the Yangtze touches the southernmost point in the whole o'f its course. You can see it on a map, where it takes a dip down into Yunnan. Then we flew high over the clouds (14,000 ft.) to get smooth air, till we were past the Taliangshan ranges, one that we flew by beinr 16,000 ft. above the sea. Far away to our left was Ningyuanfu, recently besieged by the bandits on their way into northern Szechwan, and still further away to the westward, was the great high country of the Lolo tribesmen. Some who have travelled in this rarely visited region tell me that there are great rolling spaces reminiscent of the Canadian wheat lands. The Lolo tribes people do not welcome strangers, however, nor did they, for a very long time, want to have anything to do with our officials. They used to be treated badly, but in these enlightened days life will be better for them. They like their independence. They are described as tall, muscular people, the women being attractive and cleanly dressed, and the men being distinctive-by reason of what looks like a horn protruding from the top of their foreheads. In reality it is their hair twisted with a turban to look like a horn, from six to nine inches long, and is supposed by them to resemble that of the fabled unicorn. The women affect little jackets and long, flounced and pleated petticoats, which trail to their heels, and which they like to swirl vigorously as they walk about. They plait their hair in two long tails which they wind about their heads. It is interesting to know that travellers observe that the women hold a highly respected place in the tribe. The country which these aloof people inhabit is all mountainous and remote, and approximates some 10,000 square miles. Perpeiuai. snow peaks grace their landscape, and beyond them is the great rampart of Tibet. As we flew past the high peaks near Ningyuan the clouds developed into a bank that looked solid enough to stand upon, ar;id the pilot decided to fly back and get underneath them. So back we went for 50 miles till we found a hole in the clouds through which we could l87
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK corkscrew down till we were in the valley of the Yangtze, between great high mountains. We followed the river under the clouds till we reached Chungking. Through the narrow valley made by these mountains the plane flew fast. \Ve seemed to -be in danger of our wing-tips striking rocks or farm houses. Sometimes we passed through rain storms which blotted out sight of everything, but we got through safely. The mountains average in height about ten thousand feet; their sides are cultivated and dotted with houses, perched high on the sides of the ravine. If the people fell out of their front doors they risked tumbling thousands of feet into the river below. \Vherever possible the mountain sides are terraced for cultivation, some of the terraces running to eight and more thousand feet-just like widerunged ladders. Far down below the river tore through its narrow confines, a sheer torrent, and no junks were seen navigating it till we got near Suifu, now called lpin. lpin is at the end of the old caravan trail from Kunming to Chengtu, and is situated at the junction of the Yangtze and the Min River, which flows southwards from Chengtu. lpin is a clean looking city, with good streets. Here the high mountains end. We met many bad rain storms in this vicinity, in one of which we could not see anything at all. We had to swing round and round in as small a circle as ~ossible so as to ~eep from hitting any hill that might be about. When we got out of the storm we found our~lves cruising over a river which proved to be the Lu Ho. It enters the Yangtze near Luchow. Soon we were at Luchow, which has a high clock-tower and a big square-based stupa decorating its centre. It was soon out of sight, for we were now going down river fast, and we arrived at Chungking before eleven o'clock. \Ve left Kunming about 8 o'clock. I forgot to tell you that just before we reached lpin we saw a beautful blue lake high among the pine-covered mountain peaks. The lake was still and looked deep, and apparently no one lives near it. I saw no signs of life. The peaks surrounding it are steep and afford no foothold for farms. A little farther on than the lake we saw that all the houses were towers. They looked like block houses three stories high. Many were partly destroyed, as if they had suffered from fighting. I suppose in this difficult and distant region there has been
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WORLD'S HEAVIEST POPULATED REGION a lot of trouble in the past, compelling the people to devise perrh~ne~t defences; so they decided to live in towers to protect themselves. The country is mountainous and. wild and high above th~ ru~hing river below. l found out later that the inhabitants of the" regio~ are tribes people. The towers that I saw we~e in the south of Szechuan, in difficufr mountain country along the Yangtze, but similar ones, perhap's a little more pretentious, exist over wide areas in the northwest of Szechwan. An "Englishman's home is said to be his c.;stle/' b~t each family of these tribesmen ~f remote China ha~ a -real castle ~f it's own..:._a castle like those in the fairy stories. They are from two to four stories high with embrasures, loop holes, and no wind.ow or opening __ (so far as I could observe when studying those I flew by) less than ten or twelve feet from the ground. I could see no way of getting into them except by the use of a ladder, but I may be mistaken, since study from an aeroplane has its disadvantages_. One writer says the castles in the north of the province sprang from an old feudal system which existed among the tribesmen, and which the Chinese destroyed in time to the benefit of all concerned. Well, we must hope so. We stayed m Chungking for the day and left for Chengtu next afternoon. We flew over the famous Red Basin, which is said to be the heaviest populated region in the world. It looks as if the country had the measles-red blotches of hills surrounded by khaki-colored water which are paddy fields. As far as the eye could reach it was this kind of landscape, all the red hills being cultivated, and not a piece of land visible that was not growing something or holding a farm ho'use, a village, a town or a city. Then we went under _what looked like a dangerous storm-a line squall-the clouds being black and low and threatening. But we got through all right and came to a ridge of mountains over which we flew and found stretched before us the pjain of Chengtu, quite different_ from the Red Basin, in colour~ though also heavy with cultivation. Canals were everywhere, radiating from the famous ancient irrigation system beginning to the west at Kwanhsien. This irrigation system was founded by a Chinese offi.ci~l named Li-ping, and his son, some 2,000 years ago, and is famous throughout the world, for it was so well planned and built that for all these centuries it has been giving life to this great plain and Red Basin. These wise meri had a channel cut through the Li-tu hill to 289
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Jead. the .waters of the Min River by several main canals, spread fanwise from. the .. source, to the v;;i.st region of which Chengtu is the centr.e. At the present day those canals look like original rivers and are mapped as such, but the lateral canals, which spread all over the -country and irrigate it, still work with their locks as in the days of old. No wonder that. this part of our country grows four crops of lush vegetation a year. Let us hope that those responsible for dissipating the benefits which can be derived from this old system will mend their ways and that prosperity will soon return to this rich, though distant, province. We found Chengtu sprawled on the plain, not square like some -cities, but with walls following the contours of the country. It is a large city for one so far in the interior, and has had a past packed full of historic interest. It seemed to our flying eyes to be packed full :,of houses and the streets were full of people looking up at us as the airplane glided round and round the city. Then we landed and drove into the city to the place prepared for us. The streets we saw were full of shops, and we could see many handicrafts being followed, workers in brass and bone and bamboo. They were making all ma~mer of things, .:.nd were all very busy. I shall tell you more about "it when we have b_een here a little longer. III. The Red Basin that I mentioned in my last letter was so-called by a German geologist, Baron Richthofen, because of the red rock with which it abounds. It is about 100,000 square miles in area. Great mountains surround it on all sides; while the Yangtze river rushes through it from west to east at its ~outhe;n end. In fact the Yangtze m;i.de _the basin. It is said by scientists to have been a lake in remote ages, the waters of which were drained off by the_ Yangtze cutting a cbanel some thousands of feet deep through the mountains. Where biUio'.:1s of fishes no doubt thrived in ancient times farmers now live by the million. After the waters went off with their fishes the aborigines ca[I_le; Th!:lY, too, died out or departed ages ago. Only signs in caves show tha,t they existed at all. One foreign writer on this part of our country savs that "the wholE of the Red Basin is a lasting monument to Chinese genius and industr.} in matters agricultural." Here are grown rice1 maize, millet, swee1 290
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THE RICHES OF THE RED BASIN potatoes, sugar-cane, tobacco, wheat, rape, peas, broad beans, cabbages, and fruits of different kinds, the oranges being famous for their juice and their cheapness. Silk is made everywhere, and is worn by' most people here, but cotton is difficult to grow. While we Chinese are spoken of so highly as "agrkulturists, we must realise that we do not know everything. We have a lot to learn. Science has been taken advantage of in \Vestern countries to improve crops and plants. We must do that in China. Old ways are well enough, but we could grow more and better crops and fruit by taking intelligent advantage of experiences in foreign countries. We should always look and learn, for we.have wonderful foundations for prosperity and wealth if we would only improve upon them. \Vhat has suited' our ancestors need not be accepted as suitable for us. Times have changed; so have manners. Living is a much more hectic business in these modern times. If we want to use motor cars and trucks and modern inventions we must improve our standard of living to be able to pay for them. Sticking to a wooden shovel, as an example, because our forefathers might have used one, will not get us along very far. The same thing holds for everything. We must not only improve agriculture bu.t also methods of mining. In fact, we should seek to better everything we do for our livelihood. For progressive people nothing is ever good enough. They always try to improve things. \Ve must do that. You young people should always bear that in mind and make it a rule to try to do something better than anyone else. In the Red Basin are the great salt deposits, especially at Tzu-liu-ching and Wu-ting-chiao. At the former place the people ~ore holes as deep as 3,000 feet to get the brine up. They do the boring in the old primitive way-an example of what I have just been writing to you-and it is a long and tedious job. They use a heavy iron bar for a drill, attach it to a plaited bamboo rope, drop the drill into the earth till it cuts away a little earth, haul it up again by means of a large wheel, or drum, turned by a bullock, then drop it again, and keep on drop, drop, dropping for years to make a hole two or three thousand feet deep. But after centuries of this the little spa~k of progress is being seen there for I am told an attempt is being made to use mechanical power of some sort. At Tze-liu-ching, in particular, natural gas is often got instead of brine, but it is useful to heat the iron vats in which the brineis put 291-
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK for ~vaporation. \\/'hen the wat.er is boiled off salt 1s left deposited in the vat in the form of a dirty cake.. I have seep donkeys and porters carrying such cakes in various provinces.. I saw them in distant Kweiyang and in Yunnanfu, having been carried over terrible mountain paths for hundreds of miles. I wished to go to Tzu-liu-ching but was too iii to take the journey. One can travel much of the distance by motor' car, but a chair has to be used some of the way, Only a few years ago there were no other means of overland transport in this province than ponies and chairs. The chairs for long distance travel are simple structures made of bamboo-two poles, to which is hung a kind of hammock made of slats of bamboo. They are to be seen everywhere, most of the travelers stretching out in them, their bedding on the slats, and above the passenger a long strip of cotton cloth to keep off the direct heat of the sun. Chengtu, while it has an interesting history, has not much to see when compared with big cities in other parts of China. It has a high wide wall, which is about nine miles around. I think I have, at different times, walked most of it. This wall was the only place where the Generalissimo and I could walk. The city streets are too crowded and too narrow for comfort. The only open space is on the wall, which 1s about 35 feet high and 40 feet wide at th_e top. Round each side of the city runs a swift stream. All the streams here run full and fast. Canals are everywhere. They are all part of the irrigation system. Strong looking bridges and bunding made of great stone slabs are very noticeable. The people here follow an old rule. It is "dig the bed deep, keep the banks low." And they do. Every year silt is removed from all the channels, and bunding is repaired If that could have been done with the Yellow River we never would have suffered so much or so continually from floods. You know, I think, that the bed of the Yellow River is high above the le~el of the country in many places, especially in Shantung, because the people kept building the dykes higher to keep pace with the silting of tht bed of the river. From the top of the Chengtu wall can be seen industrious peoplE working everywhere. All the canals have mills working, mostly fo1 grindin~ flour. The powl':r is got by the swift water turning eithe1 vertical or horizontal water-wheels. The water from the irrigatior 292
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. THE CITY OF CHENGTU I ,channels is served to all owners of fields .through a complicated system -which has been in force for centuries. Every field, or collection of' -fields, has its own level, differing a little from that of its neighbors, so that the water runs by gravity. Proper proportions of water are .always avaihble for every field without shortage or flooding. Famine is practically unknown because of this, and scarcity of food is very rare. In the city, as I have said, there is much manual industry. The -streets are full of little shops which are also little factories, where -everyone seems to be awfully busy making something or other-brassware, brushes from bristles, articles from horns, embroideries, and so on. Though for twenty years past the province has been disrupted by incessant civil wars signs of wealth are still abundant in Chengtu. In peaceful days of the past it must have been very rich. Gilded signs, now the worse for wear and neglect, still adorn many of the old shops. In the old days most of the travel in the city was done by better-off people in chairs fastened to the top curve of two long bent poles carried on the shoulders of coolies, with the curve upwards. Some of these chairs are still seen in the country. This type of chair enables the passenger to be kept above the heads of the throng. Now the motor cars traverse the streets to the annoyance of everyone but the people riding in them. There are many schools and two universities at Chengtu, th_e foreign one being the ,vest China Union University. The faculty of this University do a lot of excellent things to improve the lot and life of the people. They try to improve food supplies, and push the use of milk, introduce new' varieties of plants such as cabbages, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. When the weather got too hot we went to Ornei Shan, the famous sacred mountain, some distance south-west of Chengtu. In the old days travellers had to go overland by chairs, or by junks down the Min River to near Kiating. We went by motor car. We were able to realise how thickly populated was the Chengtn Plain, how rich the vegetation. Crops were lush, there is no other word for it. ways were spanned by strorig bridges of great stone slabs. WaterAt each end of many bridges grew tremendous banyan trees, the widespreading branches of which sometimes met o'verhead and cast a shade over the whole bridge. We had to cross the Min River-split irito several 293
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK branches, with islands of gravel in between-by ferry or bridge. The ferry system was an ominous looking affair, for the river was in flood and ran fast and furiously. Long cables held the barges carrying the motor cars, but we crossed the big stream in a junk and walked over the temporary bridges hung over the smaller water-ways. The wildly rushing clear water was fascinating after seeing so much of th? turbid streams of ~ther parts of China. When we came to this river we were met by a procession of boy scouts and girl guides. I was surprised to see them in this far-away part of western China, yet we encountered them everywhere. The boy-scout uniform is now part and parcel of the student life of China, no matter how far, or in what direction, one may travel. I have seen them here in sight of the snow-clad mountains of Tibet, away in the northwest near the burning sands of the Gobi Desert, in the loess. regions of Kansu, in the tropics of Yunnan, in remote Kweichow, and everywhere through the vast provinces from north to south China. They should have tremendous influence in time to come upon the character of our people, especially the illiterate ones, so .you boys. must always be "good scouts." Aftei; crossing the Min River the road wound through fertile country, with trees, sugar-cane, rice fields, and many other things of interest. This part of our country has lots o_f moisture, b?th in the ground and in the air. The clouds are so very much present that it is s_aid the sun is obscured for such long periods that when it comes out the dogs are frightened of it and bark to chase it away. I wonder. A long time before we got to Mount Omei we could see its bulky form rising high in the south-western sky. It bursts upwards sheer out of the plain, or appears to do so. It is some 11,000 feet above sea level-a beautiful sight in the clear evening light. It looked like a huge headless animal crouching to spring. Its precipices are tremendous; straight walls of rock, some of which are said to be a mile high. I had no means of measuring them, Once past the city of Omei Hsien, which we found cleari and fresh, we felt that we were near our objective. We saw great banyan trees; and lots of white~branched trees encircling the paddy fields. I wondered if they were some relation to the white pines of north China, but later I learned .that they were ash trees and that the white on the 294"
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THE STRANGE TEMPLES OF OMEI branches was wax deposited by insects. I was also toldthat this insect is peculiar to another part of the province and deposits the wax only on special trees. They had to be transported to this locality. However, it is an insect that contributes somethicg definite to human economy, for the wax is treated and marketed. We reached the bottom of the mountain, where the motor road ends, in time to be carried in chairs before darkness set in to the house in which we were to stay. We travelled alongside a torrential stream through a narrow tree-filled valley, the walls of which echoed and re-echoed to the vibrant screeching of thousands of cicadas. They seemed to be crying in chorus: "Free me; free me." I fervently wished that some magician would free me from them for their unceasing stridulation tortured the very air. Unhappily there was no magician to waft me away-only the coolies who had no waft about them. They only puffed and blew as they climbed with me higher and higher towards the towering mountain. But we did not go up the mountain. We left the stone paved pathway, with its innumerable steps, and ascended another which climbed over streams and thiough corn fields perched precariously on the sides of the steep bills. We were bound for a ridge about 4,000 feet above sea level on which some foreign style houses bad been built by Missionaries to enable them to escape the terrible beat of the plains in summer. There are many temples on the mountain, in all of which accom~ modation of a kind can be had, but the temples are noisy places, since they are also the inns for the pilgrims. The temples are not like the ornate structures of other parts of China. They are more like the great barns of the Swiss Alps. They are wooden-walled, heavy-thatched buildings without any adornment outside, and very little inside, One section is set apart for the buddhas and for worship, but all the rest of the acconimo.:iation is for any travellers who come along. There are a few small rooms, but m~stly the pilgrim~ hustle together in the large semi-open spaces. The noise they make by their conver, sations, by their arguments with chair carriers, and by their r.ickering with the priests, kills all possibility of sleep or rest. so the temples were not suitable for us to inhabit. The heavy thatch is to keep <;mt the constant heavy rain, and to bear the weight of the s.no\V, for there is much snow on Omei Shan in the winter months. The building's themselves are really huge caravanserais, a:nd when the pilgrim HS
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MADAME CH!AKG KAI-SHEK seasons, are on they need all their hugeness. Pilgrims come from all over China, and from distant places on the Tibetan border. The pathway up the mountain becomes a stream of puffing and perspiring humans, most of whom climb the steps, women as well as men, as a penance. There are a few special temples which I will mention later on .. We:passed under two plum trees which were shedding their fruit to the delight of some peasants who were busily picking it up and putting it in baskets. Thick patches of bamboo jungle clung to the hillsides, and our pathway got steeper and steeper. Progress was very slow. On the hillsides were pine trees, and for a distance we saw the ash trees with the white insect wax, but after a certa.in hight they did not appear again. There were thick growths of alder near the singing streams. Gorgeous butterflies were everywhere, making the ascent on upward currents of air. Thus these natural gliders reach the 11,000 feet summit. We met several coolies carrying green shubbery. I could not understand why they were carrying so much green stuff down the steep trails. It looked to me at first like carting cement to Lungtan, but it suddenly dawned on me that they must be medicine plant gatherers. I remembered that this part of Szechwan was in the most fertile region for such plants. I saw many of them in the days that followed. All had cloth wrapped round their legs like puttees; always they were soaking wet. They carried small machetes with which to cut or dig up the plants in the dense and dripping jungle. The house we occupied was of weather-board. Similar houses were scattered about at various distances. Far below us stretched the plain with the city of Kiating in the distance. The Min River glittered in the evening sunlight. A gorgeous panorama. V\le could see other cities, and lots and lots of villages. Anoth~r stream crossed the plain from the north-west to join the Min. Later on they were in flood, and communication with Omei by motor car was stopped till a bridge could be repaired. Everywhere .below us were farms and cultivation; everywhere above us were great bunches of c9mulus cloud riding serenely to the mountain crest, bumping and flowirig over the top of the immense precipice like a waterfall atwork upside down. 296
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'fHE "GLORY OF BUDDHA'' Later, I often saw the mountain solemnly purple in the sunshine: at times cloud-covered as if imitating a great iced cake. Some days it could not be seen at all. The ridge on which we lived had no level walking space, To go for a stroll one either went uphill or downhill. The growth on the hill sides was dense shubbery of sorts, and tangled bracken. There were some beautiful flowering plants. We used to climb to a little hillock where we could sit in the cool air and fading sunshine and gaze at the calm and aloof massiveness that is Omei Shan. On clear days the temple perched on the brink of the great precipice known as the Golden Summit, was plainly visible. I used to wonder when I would get up there. I never managed it, I am sorry to say, but the Generalissimo went up with some others of the party. I can only tell you what they saw. People who go to the top of Omei Shan want to see the snow clad peaks of what they call Tibet. I suppose it is the Marches of Tibet, now named Sikong. I know that the white peaks do tower high toward the clouds there, for there are photographs of them. To see the peaks themselves one has to get up at daybreak on a_ fine morning and catch sight of them lightened up by the rosy glow of the rising sun. Later on the haze blots them out. Another ambition of those who climb to the top is to see the "Glory of Buddha." Clouds roll up so frequently that it is often seen. All that is required is a sunny day and that the clouds that float over the plain at a height of seven or ten thousand feet will drift to the great cliff and then stream up over it. If a person is standing on the cliff with the sun behind hi'm his shadow will be projected on to the white cloud mass, and around the shadow will form a beautiful rainbow. The legend is that this phenomenon comes from the aureole of Buddha. The priests assert that it is a special symbol of the holiness of Omei Shan. It is said that some pilgrims get so moved by this that they leap over the cliff. A chain has been strung to iron posts to prevent people falling over, but they could still get over if they had a desire to tumble about a mile downwards. There is another sight which pilgrims long to see-the lights that_ are said to float promiscuously in the air far below. Sceptics say they are the lanterns of woodsmen or farmers. 297
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Near this spot stands a large bell, and some pieces of bronze; remains of what used to be a copper temple. It stood on the Golden Summit, the highest point of the mountain, until it was destroyed by fire caused by lightning in 1918. It is said to have been built by the Emperor Wan-Ii (A.D. 1573-1620) and bad many fine bronze panels, some of which are said to be beautifully designed, and valuable. There are still two small bronze pagodas standing near the edge of the cliff, which reminds me that I forgot to tell you about the bronze pagoda at Kweiyang. That ornate and heavy piece of work, some twelve or more feet high, stands in a curiously shaped temple at the end of one of the bridges at Kweiyang. It remained there by accident. It was designed and made in Yunnan and destined for Peiping at the time of the Ming dynasty. It had to be carried over the mountains by hordes of coolies. By the time the coolies got it from Yunnan, over tremendous mountain ranges, to the approach of this bridge they became tired of carrying it. them, so they abandoned it. The mountains ahead were too much for The Kweiyangites built a temple around it, and thus came into possession of a relic that might have adorned one of the Palaces at Peking and been a source of wonderment to millions of visitors. It now stands hidden far away in the middle of one of our remotest provinces and is seen by only the few travellers who pass there, if they are curious enough to enter the building to look at it. When the bronze temple at Omei Shan burned, finis was written to it. No money could be found to re-erect it. I was told that the original one was bought by public subscription, a collection having been taken up all over China. I do not know what is the truth about it. The one thing certain is that it did exist, and the remains are there for anyone to see who has the strength to make the ascent. To goto the top of Omei Shan from the bottom takes two days at least. The distance from where we used to sit and look at the massive front of the mountain seemed but fifteen miles. To walk the distance, however, one first had to descend about one thousand feet or more, then climb up five hundred or a thousand feet, descend again, and with such ups and downs still make progress upwards. There are lots of temples on the way up. At the temple of the Flying Bridges there are two ways to go, one up the main paved path, or stairway, 298
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SOMETIIING LIKE A TOOTH and the other along the bed of the torrent. That way passes through. a narrow canyon which is traversed by way of a board staging which has been erected on beams set in holes on both sides of the canyon wall. The wood seemed pretty rotten to the party when they went up but none fell into the cold stream surging below. The path leads through gorges, and over hills, pine clad, and profuse with flowers. Progress is a slow business, and tedious. At intervals along the way there are stalls where food stuffs of sorts are sold, as well as medicinal stuff, felspar, porcupine quills, deer horns and bones. I have seen some of these. They have herbs for every ailment, and the vendors seem to know what they are talking about. Carved staffs for the climbers are also sold. Everyone who walks or climbs must have a staff. And some of the staffs are unique. They are mostly of alder wood, carved with all manner of grotesque motives, depending upon what the shape of the root suggestsdragons, old men, women, serpents, and so on. Travelers like to take back a collection of them. At the Union University Museum at Chengtu I saw several which had been strikingly colored. One of our party made a collection but being a careful person he lost it. The priests on Omei are all Buddhists. There are a couple of thousand of them, I am told. The mountain is one of the four buddhist sacred mountains of China, and the most distant, yet people are said to have tramped all the way to it from the coast to do penance. The patron saint of the mountain is P'u-hsien Pu'ssa (Samantabhadra Bodhisattva), who is said to have descended on a great black elephant with six tusks. At Wan-nien-ssu temple there is more than a life-sized elephant in bronze. It was, according to records, carried up in pieces and then welded together. At this temple they also show what is alleged to be a tooth of Buddha. The only doubt about that story is that the so-called tooth is ten or twelve inches long and weighs several pounds. It looks, I am told, like the tooth of a dinosaur, or elephant. When the priest told one of our party that it was found further up the mountain, he wanted to desert us at once to go and excavate for dinosaur remains and put the Gobi Desert discoveries in the shade. Some distance further up is the t~mple of the Elephant's Bath. \Vhat they show you for a bath is a cistern that no self-respecting 299 a
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK elephant could get into, much less get out of. But I should think that particular temple would be more interesting to you children than any other for the apes that abound near there. They come to the terrace for food thrown to them by the pilgrims. One of the monks claims to be able to command the apes. They certainly come when he calls, screeching and chattering, hand over hand, through the branches of the trees-whole families of them. They travel right around the mountain about the same level above the sea, eating a dark blue fruit. I suppose they find nuts of sorts, as well as chestnuts. Most of the temples have been built on commanding sites, and are picturesquely located. One of the most pleasing is said to be that near the cave of the Immortals. This cave would also interest you children. It goes some distance into the mountain, and the believing are sure that it connects Omei Shan with Kiangsi Province, or some other equally distant place. The Immortals are said to have travelled on foot through the cave to Omei Shan. The cave is now the home of thousands of bats-who cling to each other until they form large Ii ving clusters far away in the dark-and of swarms of swallows who have covered the walls and sides of the cave with their grey mud nests. Seeing that swallows do not have flash lights and do not have numbers painted on their doors how do Mr. and Mrs. Swallow find their way home? And how do the baby swallows, flying in the blackness, find out which of the thousands of closely-packed nests is theirs? None of our party was courageous enough to try to walk back to whereve_r the other end o( the cave is supposed lo be, all those who went in being content to turn back when the walls narrowed and the smell became too overpowering. Some distance inside they found a shrine, and a bubbling spring of cold water. The mouth of the cave opened out high up on a steep mountain side. A track was cut to it by the priests so that the pilgrims might see the way the Immortals came to the mountain. Large trees grow profusely here. IVIuch silvE:r fir is seen.-That tree provides the timber for the temples. There am groves of them near the top of the mountain, many standing stark and splintered, having been struck by lightning. Thunder storms are frequent on this p!)ak, the reverberations of the thunder roaring round the great precipices and through the gorges and chasms in a terrifying manner. 300
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CLIMBING MOUNT OMEI Hydrangea and rhododendrons are prevalent. So are berriesraspberry and blackberry. One spot is famous for its white strawberries. They are said to be much sought after by the pilgrims who have grown thirsty climbing the steep steps. These strawberries grow on a thickly wooded tableland, the edges of which are sheer precipices. Wonderful views are to be had of the ridges and valleys lying far below, which nurse clouds of all grotesque and picturesques formations, and of the distant plain stretching far away in all directions. To get this view in safety paths have been cut in one or two places through the thick shrubbery and ferns. The climb up Omei Shan is a terrific business. There are innumerable steps for weary legs to tremble over, since chairs cannot be carried up them. That is why I did not try to go up this time. Chairs can be used most of the distance along one line of ascent, but on the other that one which passes the temple of the Immortals-the steps are dizzily dangerous, and numerous. There is one method of riding that is interesting, but not to my taste. I saw several aged women using it. The coolie straps to his hack a frame of wood which has a kind of seat. The passenger straddles this, hangs on to the coolie's head, and appears to be riding pick-a-back. It is a good way for the elderly to go up and down the veritable ladders, if they keep their eyes shut, and at the same time it is the cheapest form of conveyance. Some of the elderly pilgrims ride in that fashion from top to bottom and back again. Merit is always achieved by getting to the top of Omei, no matter how one gets there, though to crawl up on one's knees is the best way of acquiring forgiveness for sins. But it must hurt the knees, I can hear you say. No matter which way one goes up some part of one's anatomy will ultimately ache, but one of these days I shall try the ascent, and then I shall tell you more about it. Just now I think this is enough. When you grow up you will be able, perhaps, to climb the famous mountajn yourselves. 30l
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, 1: .. -~;(r I:_) _'?t -~ : ~,j ,. : L !:: Jj: j : : ; ;_' ; : t lL.::.~ l l; -~,:r!~..' .'.
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The New Life Movem.en.t Kn. Chin.a Pages 303-321-New Life in China-New LifeMovrment in China.
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New Life In China':,, "The work of the New Life Movement is proving to be the first stage of a long battle against ignorance, dirt, carelessness, unsuitable dwellings, and the corruption that has for so long cost so much in human suffering." CHINA, like almost every other nation during the past few years, has felt the tremendously enervating effects of world depression. Each nation, according to its lights, has sought to find a way out of stagnation into normalcy. Italy has its Fascism, Germany its Nazism, the Soviet Union its first and second five-year plans, and America its New Deal. The primary aim of each is to solve the economic problems involved and to bring material prosperity to the people. China, like the rest of the nations, is confronted with a similar problem, added to which is the necessitv of rescuing the people from the cur.::uiacive miseries of poverty, ignorance, and superstition, combined with the after effects of banditry and natural calamities, not to mention the grave consequences of external aggression. To this end, what is known as the New Life Movement has been launched, to strike at the very roots of the several evils. Conditions obtaining in China are so different from those facing any other country that it would be impossible for the average foreign mind to comprehend the reasons for the New Life Movement, its program, its actual working results, and its future, without a brief explanation of the background of the psychological and social state in which China finds herself after some three hundred years of oppression and neglect by the rulers of the Manchu Dynasty, followed by the chaos consequent upon the revolution which overthrew that regime. ----~~-----"'~eprinted from the June issue of the Forum, 1935. 303
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK In foreign countries which have enjoyed the advantages of social, political, and economic organization over a period of years, a system has been erected under which citizens have become accustomed to making their contributions to the promotion of the interests of the state and to the general well-being of the people. In China, particularly under the Manchus, no such opportunities existed. The people were, on the contrary, restrained from interesting themselves in administrative affairs; were compelled to accept without question the ruling of an official class; and were decapitated, banished, or imprisoned in dungeons if any criticism of official action escaped them. In reality the executioner's sword swung menacingly between official power and prerogatives and any expression of public opinion concerning them. In conditions such as these it did not take the civilian element long to learn the wisdom of discreet silence. And, since in cases of forcible attempts to effect political reforms all the relatives of those deemed guilty were forlhwith exterminated, the risks run by would-be reformers were so great that in course of time the whole of the people learned to accept what befell and to confine themselves to their own affairs. Discouraged by every possible means from participating in administrative work or community service, they eventually forgot what the state meant to them. As an old Chinese proverb has it, "The people dared to be angry, but they did not dare to speak." They came to believe that governmental affairs were no concern of theirs. So it happened that, when the Revolution of 1911 drove out what was accepted as the official class, the people found themselves without any knowledge or experience of what was required of them to build up a new state. They were, in the main, illiterate; liberty was, at the outset, defined by them to mean license, and public service was ~corned by them as something they never heard of and did not understand. They were, in a sense, bewildered by the transference of responsibility from the old-time official shoulders to their own and they appeared to resent all efforts of the revolutionary leaders to induce them to undertake community service-to clean up the dirt of centuries of official neglect and organize those activities which, in foreign countries, seem a natural course of action for the citizens. Gradually, however, the leaven of the Republic began to work, and relatively great and far-reaching reforms and improvements took 304-
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SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION place, though these changes were mostly confined to seaboard cities and to a number of the larger cities in the interior. But the country at large went on unchanged, or difficult to change, and because of this fact disturbing agents soon discovered that here they had a more fertile field in which to work than any other country could afford. They seized their advantage and, before their activities were realized, they had contrived to impose upon the ignorance of the people to such an extent that they were firmly established in several regions. The idea of the New Life Movement crystallized in the mind of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek during the anti-bandit campaign. He realized that military occupation of recovered territory was not enough; that it must be followed up by social and economic recon struction in the devastated areas; and that, to be effective, a national consciousness and spirit of mutual co-operation must be roused. He saw that the immediate need was the development of the vitality of the spirit of the people, which seemed to have been crushed. He contemplated the perspective of history in the light of existing conditions about him; he realized how much depended upon the people's consciousness of their heritage from the past; and conviction came to him that the four great virtues of old China, Li, I, Lien and Clzilz, constituted a remedy that could recover the country from stagnation and ruinbecause, at the time when those principles were practiced, China was indeed a great nation. He decided there and then to base a New Life Movement upon them, to try to recover what has been lost by forgetfulness of this source of China's greatness. For it has become obvious that mere accumulation of wealth is not sufficient to enable China to resume her position as a great nation. There must be also revival of the spirit, since spiritual values transcend mere material riches. What significance lies behind these four principles which hold so much good in them for China, if they can be carried out in the spirit intended? First is Li, which, in the ordinary and most accepted form of translation, means courtesy. And by courtesy is meant that which emanates from the heart-not a formality which merely obeys the law. The second is /, which, roughly translated, means duty or service, toward the individual's fellow man and toward himself. 305
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The third is Lie11, meaning clear definition of the rights of the individual and of the degree in which those rights may be enforced without infringing upon those of others. In other words, honesty. A clear demarcation between what is public and what is private, what is yours and what is mine. The fourth is Chih, which denotes highmindedness and honor. Some people have criticized the New Life Movement on the ground that, since there is not sufficient food for everyone in the land, it is useless to talk about or seek spiritual regeneration. \Ve refute this argument by pointing out the very evident fact that, if everyone from the highest official to the lowest wheelbarrow coolie would conscientiously practice these principles in everyday life, there would be food for all. If we have the right conception of Li, we recognize not outward pomp but the sterling native qualities in our fellow men. If we practice /, we feel an obligation not to hold wealth and enjoy it wastefully while our fellow countrymen may. be on the verge of starvation or suffering from sickness or other misfortune. Again with Lien: if officials recognize the rights of the people under them, they do not try to benefit themselves at the expense of the people just because the latter are too powerless and ignorant to fight in their own defense. And, if Chih is a reality, no one is shameless or stoops to mean or underhanded deeds. Being a realist, the Generalissimo recognized that conditions in China are entirely different from what they were centuries ago when China was a great nation. At that time China could well afford to stand aloof, shut herself within the confines of her own boundaries, and keep out all intruders; but today she is a part of a world-wide scheme of things, and, in order to maintain and improve her present position, she must keep in step with the march of time. So the New Life Movement is based upon the preservation of these four virtues, and it aims to apply them to actual, existing conditions, in order that the moral character of the nation shall attain the highest possible standard. The Generalissimo found the people bereft of ideas or ideals concerning either humanity in general or their fellow men in particular. Banditry was, indeed, the last abrasive in the destruction of a sense of law and order, unselfishness, loyalty, and those other qualities necessary for the development of human kindJless 306
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THE FLAME OF A NEW LIFE andc the maintenance of a high national consciousness. It torturec;l and degraded the status of man and dispossessed human life of value. In the face of this dismal prospect, the Generalissimo decided that the New Life Movement could sow the first seeds of an effort to awaken in the people an urge for a more satisfying life. To this end the New Life Movement was launched in Nanchang, the capital of Kic1J1gsi Province, not long ago (and, it must be said, purely for local application, to begin with). But, once launched, it swept the country like wildfire, the apparent reason being that our countrymen felt urgently the need for a movement that would lift men out of the rut of their usual existence and breathe into them the flame of a new life. It may be asked how exactly these abstract principles can be applied to the course of everyday life. Any theory appearing sound in itself may collapse in practice, unless backed by common sense and unless it fills an actual need of the time. This fact did not escape the Generalissimo, and he planned that the New Life Movement should start from the simple and proceed to the complex, advance from the practical to the idealistic. The first step was to have the four principles applied to food, clothing, shelter, and conduct; in other words, to the universal and indispensable facts of life. Looking around him the Generalissimo saw that fantastic doctrines had destroyed the respect that should be shown to elders, teachers, law and order, producing confusion, disorderliness, and untidiness. Here, then, the New Life Movement inculcates Li which teaches tidiness and cleanliness in dress and in habits. It was felt that if a man were sloppy and careless about his personal appearance, about his bearing, and about his general conduct, he would also be untidy in thought. Or, to put it in another way, it was recognized that there is ground for thinking some truth exists in the Neoplatonic theory that outward beauty is a manifestation and forerunner of inward and spiritual beauty. To the West this idea may. seem fantastic, but to us it appears natural. Which one of us would ::tppear in the ancestral hall in untidy dress? We should consider such a step at once unworthy of us and an insult to our ancestors. 307
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK If dirt and carelessness are, then, an insult to the dead, are they not equally an outrage to the living? This may be an explanation for scoffers who claim that the New Life Movement means only the forceful buttoning up of one's coat by some over-zealous policeman, the affectation of decorous manners in public places, or other trifling considerations of behavior. Foreigners sometimes accuse our people af being selfish and hard-hearted, because, for instance, a boatman may not even attempt to rescue some unfortunate who has fallen into a river and is in danger of drowning. \Vhat lies behind this seeming callousness is not hardness and indifference to the fate of a fellow-being but rather the effect of centuries of superstition. In such a case as this it is universally believed in China that the river god would surely revenge himself by tl.king the life of the person who had saved another. And J, the second of the four virtues, concerns one's duty toward one's fellow men. It teaches that one in distress should not be left to his fate; that those who have plenty should regard it as their duty to succor those who are less fortunate; that it is not enough to sweep one's own door-step but that the individual should develop a sense of public responsibility ; that the greatest loyalty should be to the state instead of to the individual. In other words, there should be what is called in the West public spirit or public consciousness. To translate into deeds the idea of harmonizing economic and spiritual values, a medium had to be created. The personal sacrifices known to have been made by the misguided followers of banditry were a distinct challenge to those working in the opposite field. From that challenge sprang co-operation between the Christian workers and the leaders of the New Life Movement in putting the ideas of the Generalissimo into practical use-co-operation which has now, curiously enough, become a distinct challenge to Communism because of the methods of procedure adopted. In Kiangsi the first thing done when areas were reclaimed from the marauders by the Government forces was to send a group of young officers called the Pieh Tung Tui, meaning Special Movement Organization, to the devastated sections, to assist in rehabilitation work. These young officers had previously received careful training at Military Headquarters in their duties and in thP. objects of the New 308
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TI-IE RETURN OF HAPPINESS Life Movement, and had also been brought to realize that fairness and courtesy should be the rule in all their dealings with their fellow men. Upon arrival at the front, the duty of this group was to make a rapid survey of the local situation, proceed to discover the abuses which had borne most heavily upon the people during the bandit occupation, and then embody their findings in a detailed report to Headquarters. In the meantime they organized co-operatives to enable the people to secure tools, seed, materials for repairs, and other necessities of life at a reasonable rate of interest on long-term loans. In almost every reoccupied area large numbers of inhabitants had either fled the region, or been killed. Consequently much of the land would have had to lie fallow, without the assistance of the Pieh Tung Tui in directing military units to help plow fields for the benefit of the people-without charge and without obligation of any sort. This aid usually won over the inhabitants, for hitherto their terror of armed forces had been real, their bitter experiences at the hands of bandit forces and, perhaps, former corrupt military units, having caused them to regard all armed men, uniformed or otherwise, with horror. Gradually the government troops completely won the confidence of the people. This was well demonstrated last May, when the Generalissimo made a personal tour of the devastated areas which had just been taken over from the bandits. For hundreds of miles as we passed through the villages the peasants lined both sides of the roads, bearing long-handled spears, red-tasseled and gleaming, waiting to salute him, in spite of torrential downpours. At one village we stopped to watch a procession of happy peasants dressed in their best, often in costumes of ancient heroes, most of them bearing silken banners and some of them carrying in sedan chairs the village deities for their annual outing. Such processions had not been seen for five or six years, partly because the bandits had suppressed all gaiety and local customs as the products of detested imperialism, partly because the people, faced with the dire necessity of holding body and soul together, had had neither the time nor the inclination to indulge in any recreation. Now, with exorbitant taxes removecl, in comparative peace and plenty, they felt again their former joy in living. 309
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The Generalissimo and I left the car and followed the procession, ourselves excited to see the peasants once again happy in a region where for so long had stalked only death and desolation. Along with military assistance on the farms, Headquarters sends out specialists to care for the poorly nourished, the sick, and the dying and to provide food for those still able to carry on. The Pieh Tung Tui then organizes all able-bodied men, from sixteen years of age upward, into self-defense corps, teaching them how to protect themselves and to act in concert, should bandits by any chance come when the Government forces have moved on. They are shown how to build simple mud fortifications, how to use arms-some of which are given each village-and all are taught how to defend themselves and their homes with long-handled, steel-pointed spearsquite formidable weapons when used by massed forces. Apart from the fact that a certain measure of self-defense is thus available to the inhabitants, the greatest gain to them is the psychological effect of united effort and the development of the spirit of self-reliance. In addition to these practical aids to rehabilitation, the Pieh Tung Tui materially assists in re-establishing confidence in the Government forces by effectively protecting the people against any infraction of regulations by individual soldiers. If any dispute arises between civilians and the soldiery, the Pieh Tung Tui inves!igates the matter on the spot and gives a just decision; but the decisions, curiously enough, are generally in favor of the civilians. But the Pieh Tung Tui is concerned not only with the mamtenance of peace and order but also vitally with the education of the demoralized youth of the country. The Pieh Tung Tui has organized free classes for the children and takes upon itself to teach not only reading, writing, and arithmetic but also common sense, courtesy, and citizenship. A foreigner once remarked to me, after a visit to one of the places where the Pieh Tung Tui is functioning, that he was amazed by the courtesy shown him by the little tots, who, instead of gaping at him as he walked through the heat of the day, offered him cups of tea and a shady corner in their schoolyard-and this in a locality where a foreigner is not seen, perhaps, once in five years. 310
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THE COMMON AIM OF BENEFITING PEOPLE Working in close co-operation with the Pieh Tung Tui, once the ground is cleared, are many groups, for the field is so broad that all help is warmly welcomed. For example, the National Economic Council, the Kiangsi Provincial Educational Commission, the Five Province Special Education Commission, and the Kiangsi Christian Rural Service Union are among the chief organizations now at work. They are so closely related in their labors that the experience gained by one is at the service of any other, for their common aim is to benefit the people. Each, however, has its special type of aid to give. The National Economic Council, with its staff of experts trained m rural rehabilitation and employing both Chinese and foreigners, offers a scientific approach to conditions which are peculiar to China but whose principles have already been studied in other countries. The Provincial Education Commission, in unison with the Five Province Special Education Commission, specializes in rural normal courses for teachers who have been specially sent from their home districts. It has been found that in every case it is far more satisfactory to train local men than to send to the front people unfamiliar with the area. These men do not necessarily have to be highly educated. So long as they can read and write and have the rudiments of education, we deem them sufficiently well informed to become teachers, if they understand the spirit of service. An intensive course is given them in public sanitation, rural economy, village industries, military discipline, and, most emphasized of all, methods of teaching the people to .become self-respecting and worth-while citizens. Some instruction in organization is also given. We point out to them, for instance, that it is idle to teach people in the beginning the theories of Dr. Sun Yat Sen 's San Ming Clw I and their superiority as compared with Marxism, because such terms are entirely above the level of the intelligence of the average farmer. Rather the teachers should first impart the principles by practical demonstration, coupled with military discipline for both men and women, and then, later, after the people have grasped the significance of these principles, explain Dr. Sun's ideas. So far, three groups of teachers have been trained, and subsequent reports have shown that they have grasped the essentials ..;o well that the districts to which they have returned have gone far 311
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK ahead of the others hygienically, economically, and in the development of social consciousness. In order to incorporate the village school into the very heart of community life, the children are taught during the day, and at night the adults go to classes, while farmers also gather to listen to current news, which is patiently and painstakingly explained to them by the teacher. The people consequently not only know what is happening in China itself but also what is happening in other parts of the world, and visitors are surprised to find how well informed the average farmer is. Not content with organizations specially delegated to these devastated areas to work toward a better community life, the Generalissimo, before the end of the spring school season, called a meeting of all the middle-school students in Nanchang. He spoke at length to them of the conditions in the country at large and particularly in their own districts, He pointed out to them the necessity of recognizing the sacrifices their parents were making to give them educations and the fact that such sacrifices entailed a proportionate responsibility on the part of the students to repay the community for what they were receiving. "The literati of the Manchu Dynasty thought only of benefiting themselves and their families through their learning," the Generalissimo said. "Their highest aim was to become officials, so that they might advance themselves in material prosperity and official honors. As a result they became a privileged class, and the division between them and the people became wider, to the ultimate exclusion of all sympathy. The youth of today is the hope of the future. Upon you depends the sort of nation China will become. \IV'hat are you going to do to justify your educa-tion? Are you returning to your homes this summer with an air of superiority, to look clown upon your families for not being so well educated as you, or will you show the result of true education, which is to to pass on whatever knowledge you have gained to the largest number of people within your reach?" As a direct result of this talk the students pledged themselves to return to their homes to take active part in giving a practical impetus 312
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A NEW ClTilENRY EMERGlNG to the principles of the New Life Movement. Some pledged themselves to open up kindergartens for the village children; others, to teach night classes for the adults; others, to lecture on hygiene and sanitation; and still others, to make fly swatters and to rid their communities of breeding places of insects which carry malarial infections. The reports have just arrived, and these show that the students take their work seriously. Out of all this is emerging a new citizen, a contented farmer and artisan, on the one hand, and, on the other, a teacher with new ideals, born of the contentment he is producing. The response of the people to the new movement on their behalf has been significant. Finding that those who have come so suddenly to work among them are working for them, they co-operate to the full and have complete confidence in their leaders. Progress is noticeable immediately. The neglect and filth which characterized the villages go quickly. Personal cleanliness is replacing erstwhile indifference to dirt and disease, and the villagers' participation in the many schemes for their good develops a feeling of happiness. Corruption is being fearlessly exposed when detected; soldiers have been shorn of domineering attitudes by strict punishment for proved offences. The New Life Movement has already come within the reach of the humblest citizen and has much to contribute to the most enlightened. As it operates in Kiangsi, so it is spreading and flourishing all over the country. In the twelve provinces recently toured by the Generalissimo, noticeable advances were seen in the general cleanliness and orderliness of the cities, as well as in the recovery of spirit by the people, and in a new sense of responsibility in officials. They, in contradistinction to other days, are manifesting lively concern for the well-being of the people and contributing in every way possible to the effective application of the principles of the New Life Movement. In the large centers, the missionary bodies were assembled and were addressed l>y the Generalissimo and by myself. In every case they signified an immediate wish to work with the leaders o( the movement in their respective regions, and joint committees were at once formed under the chairmanship of the Governors of the Provinces, While the Government is enforcing stringent measures for opium 313
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK suppression, these committees will do their part in establishing opium-curing clinics and teaching the people the evil of opium. The committees will carry on campaigns against foot-binding, tuberculosis, trachoma, and other more local evils. In conclusion let me quote from a letter just received from one of the foreign missionaries, now in Kiangsi, on his reaction to the work sponsored there by the New Life Movement: "The suppression of the bandits and the work of the New Life Movement are proving to be the first stage of a long battle against ignorance, dirt, carelessness, unsuitable dwellings, and the corruption that has for so long cost so much in human suffering. Like the program of Christ this movement is concerned with the poor, the oppressed, the sick, and the little children who have never been given a chance to enjoy life. Out of it will come a strong and united China, which will command the respect of the world; and that new China, like the very old one, will be based firmly upon the four cardinal virtues, with the addition of those desirable elements which go to make a modern world." 314
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New Life Movement In China':,, "It is not a Movement of words and phrases; not a window dressing; not superficial. It is a realistic effort to improve living habits so that the spirit will correspondingly develop." WHEN one is asked to write "something on the New Life Movement" one is confronted with several avenues along which thoughts might be expressed. It seems necessary, however, to confine one's attention to an explanatory course, since, despite all that has been written, there still seems to be lack of comprehension of the origin and the motives underlying the foundation of the Movement. Facetious critics have found much to amuse them in the zeal of enthusiastic police and others in enforcing their conception of what is required of them to aid in educating the public in the essentials of the Movement. Others have failed to grasp the reasons for resurrecting and emphasizing the advantages and the importance of four of China's ancient virtues, and have branded the Movement as reactionary, while others, who have no intimate knowledge of China or her history, have failed to understand the reason for it at all. The reason for it is simple. Through the centuries the Chinese people were ruled by an official class whose main object in life was to stifle in the people all desire to exercise the privileges of citizenship and to suppress all political instincts and ambitions. This they succeeded in doing to such good purpose that all but very few of the people of China were, when the Republic came, found bereft of all ideas of their responsibilities in public life, and completely ignorant of their status in the national scheme of things. More tragic, indeed, was their ignorance of the simple requirements of hygiene in home life, "'Article written for the press on the second anniversary of the New Life Movement in 1936 31S
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK to say nothing of almost complete lack of understanding of what the modems would describe as the elementry needs in the upbringing of a family. Illiteracy was rampant, and its consequences were apparent in all directions, particularly in the complete crushing of the spirit of the people. Some three years ago Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek found himself very aware of this latter condition, and the effects it had in strangling progress and in encouraging corruption. He realised that if a spirit of self-sacrifice in the service of public well-being could not be developed among those in cities, towns, and villages who should be doing public service then surely the nation in time would be doomed. The natural trend of his thought was back to the ancient days when China was really great, and reflection on the methods by which that greatness_ was achieved. And from that retrospection came the inspiration to revive the four ancient virtues upon which was based the life of that old China whose renown still lives. In the course of my travels over the length and breadth of this great country during the past few years I have been a pained eyewitness of conditions which proved that the life of the people is not only tragically hard and primitive but also hazardous; that society is lifeless and indolent, and apparently divested of hope. With this condition existing it was obvious that some stimulating agency was vitally necessary to promote recovery, and, not only that it was absolutely incumbent upon all who had national interests at heart to co-operate in effecting reforms that would strike at the apathy that had, through tens of generations, taken such deep root in the natures of the people. So there came into being the New Life Moyement. That Movement embodies those principles of reform which are calculated to elevate the spirit of the people by encouraging them to reform themselves and their habits of life; to improve their minds, and so inspire their hearts to a livelier and more active interest in their own and each other's needs, and in local and national affairs. It is not a Movement of words and phrases; not a window-dressing ; not superficial. It is a realistic effort to improve living habits so that the spirit will correspondingly develop. If we can encourage the development of regular habits that will keep the house and its 3l6
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THE FOUR CARDINAL VIRTUES surroundings clean, then the mind in time will be cleansed. Pari passu, the village, the town, and the city, will be made sanitary, and the nation in course of time will be washed free of the imperfections that have so long characterised it. From small beginnings we are working towards great and substantial results, and in that manner reform must be proceeded with in China in order to be comprehended and be successful. In such a l\'IoTement, it can be realised, the women have large scope for effective activity, and upon the women is being impressed the duty of cleansing their homes, assisting in reforming society, and thus be material and constant contributors to the reform of the nation. The New Life Movement provides the citizen with the means of estimating his life, as it were. Not all new things are good; while some old things serve as worthy models and examples. So the New Life Movement revives the four old virtues, Li, I, Lien, and Chih, and directs the minds of the people to them in order to promote the principles of etiquette, justice, integrity, and conscientiousness. These virtues must be applied as guidance in ordinary matters such as food, clothing, shelter, and action. They are the essential principles for the promotion of morality. From them one learns how to deal with men and matters, how to cultivate oneself, how to adjust oneself to surroundings, how to help others. In reviving these four old virtues the New Life Movement does not, as has been alleged, endeavor entirely to restore the ancient system of life. They are, in fact, the best of our old national morals, the basis of our national life. It is because, in the past, we were able to foster and mould oui lives on these old virtues that China is still regarded as the oldest eivilized Eastern nation. We revive the four chief virtues again to re-establish that reputation and for our national salvation. Through Li we learn sincerity and courtesy in dealing with others; / teaches the development of the spirit of service; Lieu inculcates honesty, both in private and public affairs; and Chih impresses selfrespect. From them the people can learn to be courteous, and understand that one step further they can pay respect to order and thus put society and the nation in a strongly organized position. 317
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Through developing a spirit of service the people can be taught 10 despise struggles for power, and corruption; they will learn that a clean people can make a clean government, and that the latter will easily solve the problem of the people's national life. Self-respect will promote self-consciousness, and that will produce a self-conscious country that will be strong in itself. Thus, through these old virtues, China will reach reforms of mind and heart, and, in time, will come complete spiritual as well as material reconstruction. The New Life Movement aims at increasing the blessmgs of the people so that each life shall be rendered peaceful, prosperous, active, and happy. The Movement is not to interfere with private affairs or prohibit others from realising their legitimate wishes. It is to encourage citizens to get rid of the cause of bad habits. It is not to curtail freedom of the individual, but to promote the freedom of the whole nation. It is for the good of the majority and not solely for the minority. It is not for the rich to the exclusion of the poor. Rather it is to show the rich bow not to be extravagant but to help the poor, and to show the poor how to improve themselves so that they can become more prosperous. For instance, it endeavors to reduce extravagance in funeral and wedding ceremonies-extravagance that is born of "face," which is one of the curses of this country. It encourages frugality in all directions. It teaches that there are many things which can be done as contributions to the sum of human happiness without expenditure of money. And, to reiterate, its main aim always is the effort to reform the lives of every Chinese citizen so that each may enjoy a happy existence and a worthy one. Since the Movement is designed to act in such a direction it stands to reason that the women of China can materially assist. If a correct measure is to be taken of the standing of a nation regard must be paid to the status of the women and their attitude toward home and national life. If the majority of the women are educated and lead a healthy life then that nation may be considered to be a civilized one. In China, unfortunately, the majority of women not only have no chance of securing an education but most of them are still living as they did several hundred years ago. In so-called society the majority of women have a chance to secure an education, but there are only a 318
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MciTUAL HELP -small number who have taken the opportunity to be active in society. -Some observers think that the system of society prevents 'such a thing, -others thank that the government and public opinion are responsible. In my opinion any woman who is healthy and educated, who possesses ability' ambition, and purp~se can be as active as sne is willing to be. With a sound foundation of knowledge no force can prevent the women from participating in those spheres of social and public life where she can be especially active and useful in promoting the general welfare of the nation. Learned and able women share el1ually with men the responsibilities of public life, and, so far as women, hav_e the enthusiasm and other qualities for public service, they can wield increasing influence upon the destiny of the country. vVhat is important is that the women formulate their own ideas and ascertain if their training and education and character fit them' for public service consistent with those duties that embrace the care of their homes. As the strength of a nation depends upon the strength of the people there is every reason why the women of China should strive to take their proper place in .the conduct of national as well .as domestic affairs. The faults of a government can be removed by the citizens, but the citizens must first remove their own faults, and learn in full what self-sacrifice really means. They must be self-reliant, and have self-respect. The women must realise that mostly their thoughts and actions are not right, and they must emancipate themselves from ignorance and inertia. Their family life should be orderly, their houses clean, and the)'. should resolutely work against gambling, smoking, drinking, extravagance and other bad habits of life. The knowledge of educated women should be used to help their neighbours; to teach illiterate and ignorant women how to read and write and conduct their homes. If every women of education ,vould. do this there would be rapid signs of knowledge an4 progress in every community. 319
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MADAME CHIANG r,A.I-SHEIC During this time of national crisis, women should strive h,uder than ever to help their country, and if they do soalong worth-while lines there quickly will come desired national development and emancipation from strangling influences and circumstances. The New Life Movement has now a hold throughout the country. In centres far. removed from the seaboard it is noticeable that the villages, towns, and citi~s are clean; that students are working with their families and neighbours to increase the general knowledge of sanitation and the ,alue of cleanliness. The results are remarkable. Travellers, who have knowledge of interior conditions now and before the New Life Movement was inaugurated, can tell what remarkable changes have come. The Movement is certain to progress to the spiritual and m~terial benefit of China and her people. One independent source is the annual report of the China InlandMission. It says with regard to the Movement: "New Life-no phrase is more commonly on the lips of Christians and non-Christians in China to-day ... From the moment of his arrival off Woosung, at the mouth of the river on which Shanghai is built, the traveller (if he reads Chinese!) is assailed by the slogans of the Movement, which exhort him to be clean, dignified, simple, and honest. If he proceeds. up the Yangtze to Chinkiang, and Nanking, he finds its moral maxims affixed to every telegraph pol_e, posted wherever there is wall-space availa_ble, as well as in buses, steam-launches, and other public vehicles. Branches of the Movement have been formed wherever the Generalissimo's influence extends, and, whether by compulsion or by mass suggestion, its ideals are being furthered with some measure of success." In General Chiang's own words, its purpose "is to perpetuateChina's ancient virtue in such a way that our people will become modern-minded and progressive citizens." As watchwords he has selected four Confucian virtues, which may be translated "propriety," ht ". It f h h ng eousness, mt_egnty, a sense o s ame, t ough their content is fuller than the bare English rendering suggest. Although the Movement has laid itself open to half-jocular criticism by issuing an exhaustive list of precepts and prohibitions, in which the trivial and the weighty are curiously intermingled, one 3ZO
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FOLLOWING THE LEADER cannot but approve its main objective, for even outward reformation is not to be despised. Cleanliness and neatness (e.g. the proper use of a handkerchief, the buttoning of one's gown or uniform when out of doors) are strictly enjoined. It is no common thing for city officials, from the mayor downwards, to be seen sweeping the streets as an example to thepeople generally, and in scores of towns a sanitation inspector pays a weekly visit to every house, and affixes a label marked "Clean," "Fairly Clean" or "Dirty," accordingly. But the suppression of opium, of official corruption, of dishonesty in business dealings are also in theforefront of the Movement's programme, and though we recognize that men are not made sober, or honest, or virtuous by Acts of parliament"', yet if the rulers of China practise what they preach-and Chiang Kai-shek's own example ~eems uniformly helpful-something, at least, of permanent value may be accomplished. *"The reign of law is in some places superseding that of 'face' and favour." Thus Miss Mitchell, at Kwangyuan, Szechwan, reports: "The principal of the school for poor children, a local man, was imprisoned by inspectors who came from Chengtu by motor. and found twenty scholars in school when he had reported eighty I A prominent man was taken by car to Mienyang and imprisoned for dishonesty in misappropriating part of a sum of $30,000 given by the Government for famine relief and rehabilitation." 321
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Up1bringing Of Chii1Jren Of Revolutionary Martyrs Pages 323-332.
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Bringing Up Children Of The Revolution* "If among our students there should be one who will grow up to be a great leader we can then feel that our strenuous efforts have been abundantly rewarded." AFTER Nanking became the capital of the National Government of China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek conceived the idea of -doing something in memory of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary Army who were killed during its campaigns and the martyrs who had laid down their lives for the cause of the State and the Party. Upon the unification of the country in 1928, his idea was realized by the Government in building cemeteries and parks as memorials of the fallen heroes and in granting pensions to their widows and orphans. In view of the lack of education on the part of these orphans, we did not, however, deem our responsibility fully discharged unless a school were established for training them to become good citizens. In October, 1928, the Generalissimo recommended to the Central Executive Committee measures for initiating an Organizing Committee of the Institute for Sons and Daughters of the Revolution. Eleven members of the Committee were elected, including the late Mr. Tan Yen-kai, then President of the National Government. Mr. Tan gave a very enthusiastic response to the plan and suggested to me that I should assume the full responsibility of seeing the Institute established. At the initial stages of organization, the Institute was, of course, confronted with many hardships, and even at present difficult problems frequently arise. This is inevitable in any kind of undertaking, and the objective sought can be gained only through strenuous efforts and timely rectifications. "'After the commencement of the Sino-Japanese hostilities, the schools were forced to suspend. The school premises were made base hospitals for wounded soldiers where the older students remained to serve. Younger students were either returned to their guardians or transferred to schools in the interior. The libraries and laboratory equipment were contributed to the Hunan University and Hunan Bureau of Education respectively. The cattle, hogs and poultry, parts of the famous school dairy, were n,oved to Changsha before the fall of Nanking. 323
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Attention was first given to the .financing of the Institute. At the outset, only the surtax from the eastern section 'of th_e Lunghai Railway was appropriated for our use, and the appropriation was received in August, 1928. In the following seven months we raised an endowment fund of $500,000. The buildings of the Institute were also worth $500,000. In the campaigns for funds we enlisted the general support of both the Government and our comrades. The Ministry of Finance approved of a monthly appropriation of $6,000 and since February, 1931, this has been increased to $12,000 on account of the greater numbtr of students. It is evident that the Government is willing to accord support to the Institute in bringing up the sons and daughters of the revolutionary martyrs. The environment of a s_chool is an important factor of education. It was especially necessary to provide a good environment at a school charged with the up-bringing and training of the sons and daughters of the revolution. Therefore, it was decided to build the Institute on a site near Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum in Nanking. While construction of the school buildings was going on, the school opened in .1~ased houses inside the city. During August of 1929, above the trees in the heart of the Mausoleum Park appeared the roofs of the new school buildings, the water tower and the flag-post. The school is in the center of the Park, with the Purple Mountain in front, the moat behind, Dr. Sun's Mausoleum on the right and the Ming Tombs at the left. Immediately in front is the Grove of Plum Trees and behind it is the Parterae of Peach Blossoms. It rests under the shade of pine trees and is beautified by variegated flower beds. The school campus occupies 100 mow, with 1,000 mow of farmland around it. The children who are privileged to study in the Institute will certainly enjoy the aesthetic influence of nature which, coupled with the guidance of their teachers, will tend favorably to the development of their talents and characters. Sons and daughters of revolutionary martyrs come from all parts of the country, even from the Thrt:e ~astern Provinces. Therefore, the enrollment of the Institute is fairly representative. At the beginning, we sent application forms to army headquarters in different provinces with the request that they notify the familes of the revolutionary martyrs, but only a small number responded. This wasprobably due to the strictness of the regulations (at first only partially 324
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INSTITUTE FOR DAUGHTERS OF REVOLUTION understood) whereby students, unless the funeral of their elders requires their absence, are not allowed to leave even during the summer and winter vacations. They are required to remain in school pursuing their studies or attending extra-curriculum activities. These regulations are provided for the benefit of the studentsa fact the families have gradually understood and appreciated. To date, more than SOO students have enrolled actually a little beyond the capacity of the school. Even those who do not fall under the category of families of revolutionary martyrs have applied for the admission of their children, being willing to pay for tuition. Their applications necessarily had to be refused. In addition, there are about 200 to 300 students who have been granted enrollment, but have not yet arrived due to their homes being very distant. The Institute for Sons and Daughters of the Revolution was conducted at the beginning on a co-educational basis. There were then a primary school and a middle school of agriculture. As the number of students increased daily, however, we felt that boys and girls need separate training with a view to the development of their respective lalents. It was, therefore, decided to establish a separate Institute for Daughters of the Revolution at the premises of the Generalissimo's former Headquarters at Yang Pi Hsiang inside Nanking City. While the purpose of both institutes is identical, the administrations are independent of each other. For primary schools emphasis is laid on elementary courses, while the middle school for girls stresses courses on home industries. A separate class giving vocational training intended for grown-up girls ha~ also been instituted. There are J]OW 200 students in the Institute for Daughters of the Revolution, excluding an additional SO, who have been granted enrollment, but who have not yet arrived. The school was located in the heart of the city with all conveniences in communications and spacious playground. But as the building could not accommodate all the students, more than. 100 mow of land near the Institute for Sons of the Revolution outside the Chungshan Gate was bought, on which stand the present buildings of the Institute for Daughters of the Revolution. The new buildings have been occupied since October 10, 1933, and we have proceeded with internal decoration and installed all the equipment necessary thoroughly and efficiently to train the girls. 325
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK As we have accepted the entire responsibility for bringing up the children of the revolutionary martyrs, we not only admit their sons and daughters to our institutes free of tuition fees, but also provide them with everything they need besides books and stationery. Particular attention has been focussed on their health conditions. Every entrant is required to undergo a strict physical ex;;.mination, and in case of the discovery of any disease, he or she is sent to the infirmary or to the Central Hospital for medical treatment. In case of the outbreak of communicable disease in the city, students would be given injections as a preventive measure. Training is conducted in the dormitories as well as in classrooms and on playgrounds. In each dormitory are stationed two or three fnstructors having under their care 30 or 40 students. In the dining room, one teacher sits at each table teaching table etiquette so that the children will cultivate good habits and manners. Attention is also paid to the maintenance of cleanliness and orderliness on the part Of each individual student and the school as a whole. Directions in this connection are given at a meeting of 1 S minutes duration held every morning, while during the day two inspections are made to see that everything is kept clean and in order. This is a point of emphasis common to both institutes. Thus the school is just like a home to the children, and the teachers are led to feel that they are fulfilling the functions of veritable parents. The only consideration in the employment of teachers is their ability and qualification. As I am opposed to mixing up education with politics, I rejected many applicants who only relied upon the recommendation supplied by Party or Government leaders. I wished solely to be sure of their knowledge, skill and experience which constitute the basis for choice, irrespective of the persons who recommend them. I personally receive and examine all those who apply for the positions of deans or teachers. If their qualifications are found satisfactory, they are accepted on probation for one term, after which, provided that their services prove satisfactory, they will be formally engaged. Teachers thus engaged are given increases of salary each year on merit. A spirit of enthusiastic service prevails among the teaching staff, and they gladly remain at their posts even during the summer and winter vacations. They willingly accept the dual responsibility of teaching and of character building by guiding the students both in and out of the classrooms. 326
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PILLAR OF A NEW SOCIETY I have always maintained that emphasis in education should not be laid on mental training alone, but on the physical movements and general activities of the daily life of the students as well. Especially should the children of the revolutionary martyrs be trained so that they will be industrious and persevering, and thoroughly understand the value of life. As most of them come from the country, school education should not tend to lead them to forget their rural life as they are expected to return to their country districts to assume the responsibility for social reforms. I have high hopes that these young people, equipped with the old moral virtues and modern knowledge, will afterwards live up to their spirit and their aspirations and become the pillar of a new society and a new country. I have said to them over and over again, "You should not think that, because your fathers or elders had sacrificed their lives for the cause of the revolution you are entitled to such privileges of education granted by the Government as you are receiving here now. There are thousands of children of the revolutionary martyrs who have not bad the opportunity to attend this school. You should consider yourselves as the fortunate few in receiving the good care of the Government, and in return for that care should contribute in the future to the benefit of the state and society. You must not be mere parasites, if you want really to feel honored for having received training in these institutes." In both institutes with the exception of the lowest classes in the primary schools in which emphasis is laid on elementary courses of study, education on production is the central theme for students of the fourth or fifth year grade upward. All the boy students have to uodergo agricultural training in the new methods of sowing and ploughing, so that upon their return to the country they may be able to direct the farmers and bring about definite rural reforms. Based on the scheme of productive training, students are required to supplement their curriculum with practical working. There are gardening, dairy and farming departments, and students are assigned to one of the three branches according to their inclinations and abilities. Inside the Chungshan Gate, about 30 or 40 mow of land with several straw cottages and an arbor with seasonal flowers is open to visitors. Students sell flowers, fruits and vegetables, and teachers are here engaged in teaching the nearby inhabitants plans in gardening, with 327
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK -elderly students doing the work, The equipment in the dairy_is in keeping with the requirements for cleanliness and sanitation. It has, therefore, proved very popular among the residents in Nanking who have shown great eagerness to buy milk therefrom, so much so that the supply frequently proves insufficient to meet the demand. We bought ten cows from the United States the year before last, but still the output failed to meet the ever-increasing demand. Later we bought ten more cows from Hsuchow and Shanghai. Attempts have also been made in breeding. As the milk from our dairy has been generally recognized as the best, we not only have no need to advertise, but sometimes have to apologize to our customers for running short_of supplies. We have two farms, the Model Farm occupying 800 mow of land, with most up-to-date equipment for students to handle, and the Economical Farmoccupying 200 mow of land which is sub-divided into small lots and assigned to different classes for cultivation exclusively by their own manual labor. My idea in this is to enable the students to learn not only the modern methods of ploughing and sowing, but also how to handle simple farming instruments on small farms and grow fruit, vegetables and other agricultural products. They are thus trained to adapt themselves to their own surroundings and do true-to-life work upon return to their home villages. Students in the school for girls from the fifth or sixth year grade up are all given training in home management. They are instructed in sewing, hosiery, embroidery, weaving, makinp.artificial flowers, :toys and rattan work. In addition to meeting their own needs, a considerable part of the hand work can be sold, as was the case at Christmas 1933. Many orders came last Christmas and Easter. I myself bought SOO pairs of stockings and donated them to an orphanage in Shanghai. In the institute for boys, works in carpentry, bamboo and plaster have been conducted, and it is planned to introduce courses in the manufacture of towels, carpets and canning. We plan to develop a cooperative scheme between the institutes. For instance, the institute for boys can supply the girls with vegetables, fruit and other agricultural products, while the institute for girls can supply the boys with stockings and clothes. But the usual charges for such articles will be made with a view to maintaining the 328
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THE RURAL SERVICE LEAGUE independence of the finances of each. Recently, several shops have been established along the street bordering the playground of the Institute for Girls of the Revolution, selling articles turned out by the two schools, thus enabling the students to gain knowledge of salescraft. While students in both institutes below eight years of age are taken care of by the school, those above that age are all required to wash their own clothes, clean their dormitories and classrooms and help in other things for the school. Senior girl students have to take ,care of the younger ones. In fire-combatting exercises, for instance, the former must first rescue the latter. Boy students are given practice as telephone operators, clerks and other important lines of services. Among the elder students of the middle school there has been organized a ''Rural Service League." This group is divided into three sections, namely, the Rural Service Section, Health Clinic and the Farmers' Welfare School. Members of the group are assigned to the particular section in which they are interested and volunteer their service, Members of the Rural Service Section frequently visit the villages around the Mausoleum Park to investigate the living condition of the farmers. Through such contacts, they are able to make friends with the villagers, to whom they sometimes give improved seeds. The farmers are entertained with motion pictures or dramas once each month, and on such occasions, about a thousand villagers attend. During spring of last year, an investigation of 15 villages was conducted through which students were able to gain first-hand knowledge of the domestic life of the villages. Most of the villagers are superstitious and illiterate. The children have no proper names. They are called "little cat" or "little dog" or the like by their parents. So our students visiting these villages gave the children proper names. The farmers, therefore, are very friendly to our boy students. In the Health Clinic, doctors come twice each week, and it 1s always crowded with patients-the farmers. The boy students help the doctor in preparing medicine and bandages. At the beginning, I contributed money for buying medicine, but later I asked them to .devise their own means for raising such funds. They thought out a 329
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK unique method of raising the needed money for medicine. They cut the grasses that grow in the nearby villages and sold them in bundles, the proceeds being used for buying medicine. The Farmers' Welfare School is attached to the office of the Students' Self-Government Council. There children of the farmers are received and given elementary education from 4 to 5.30 o'clock every afternoon. The students act as teachers after they have finished' their own classroom work in the institutes. The courses taught in the Farmers' Welfare School consist of common knowledge, Kuo Yu, or national language, arithmetic, hygiene and sanitation. I am intensely interested in the organization of the Rural Service League. When in Nanking, I invariably have a talk with the students engaged in theservice once every week. Even when I am away, their work continues regularly and I receive their reports for my critical study. All the talented boys and girls in our institutes have the opportunity of going to other schools for advanced training. Several boy students, upon graduation from the institute, have already been sent to college. Some of these students who have shown speciat aptitude for music and fine arts have been sent to schools of fine arts and music. They have all gained satisfactory records. One of them has even passed the entrance examination of the aviation academy and is now studying aeronautics. Some of our girl students have been sent to middle schools for secondary education, while several. others have gone to the Central Hospital to learn nursing. Their good work and character in the nursing school have drawn the commendation of members of the faculty of that school, and one of them has even been elected chairman of the Students' Self-Government Council. The nursing school has asked us to send some more like them and will give them gratuitiously their further training. Administration in our institutes is the more difficult as we combine caring and teaching in our work. As all the needs for clothing and food of the 500 or 600 students are supplied by the institutes, the school authorities have to handle supplies with care. We have to, test all kinds of material for clothes in order to choose the kind that is most durable and reasonable in price. materials that are cheap but not durttble. 330 It is not economical to select Sometimes we buy clothing
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THE MODEL SCHOOLS OF CHINA materials for the students when there is a reduction sale. Some of the children grow up so rapidly that they soon out-grow their clothes, in which case such clothes have to be replaced and given to the younger students. All these details call for the constant careful attention of the teachers. Regarding food we also have to experiment to ascertain what is most nutritious and healthy. It is estimated that the charge for board of each student per month is about $6. Including clothing and sundry other needs, the cost of each student would be around $24 each month. While we have to economize, we do not wish to be parsimonious about the clothing and food of the students. Rather we desire to see that all our students are well fed and dressed. People may criticize us, saying that we should direct the students to live a lower class life and should not be extravagant about their food and clothing. But it is nourishment rather than taste that is our main consideration about their food. Similarly, we stress the durability and not the beauty of their clothes. Through this wellbalanced arrangement, we hope to diminish sickness among our students and strengthen their bodies and indirectly tbeir spirits. Made of durable material, clothes will stand wear and tear. Such money-saving experience has proven sound and we are by no means trying unduly to raise the standard of living of the students. As I have assumed full responsibility for the Institutes for Sons and Daughters of the Revolution, it is my hope that they may become the model schools of China. It would not do merely to outline a plan for others to put into execution, in my opinion; consequently I have always attended to the affairs of the school personally and with a keen sense of responsibility. As I have to be occasionally absent from Nanking, a special committee has been organized to discuss, manage and supervise the affairs of the institutes from time to time. The -committee is composed of Mr. Fu Huan-kwang, a director, who is an agricultural expert, the secretary of the Board of Directors, supervisors, deans of the two institutes and myself. It meets once a month, with the secretary as convenor. Emergency meetings may be called whenever necessary. Members of the faculty and staff are invited to attend in case questions are to be discussed which concern them. All the decisions and reports or recommendations adopted at these mee~ings are checked by the secretary and are subject to my .approval and revision. 331
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The Institute for Sons of the Revolution celebrated its fifth anniversary on November 14, 1933, while that for girl5 celebrated its third anniversary on December 20, 1933. During these five years, I ha~e worked pretty hard and have experienced considerable difficulty, and it is gratifying to know that my efforts have grad1ially proven successful. I realize that a school is not based on a sound foundation if one merely tries to accomplish a few things for window-show purposes. One has to start from solid ground and be patient and persevering in achieving one's goal step by step. Those who are able and well-educated sometimes fail in their careers merely because they seek after their own fame and neglect the basic things. Therefore, the success of anything doPS not depend solely on knowledge or temporary enthusiasm. It calls for an intense interest, unflinching determination, deep insight, sound judgment and the magnetic spirit of unselfishness. The seeds of the Institutes for the Sons and Daughters of the Revolution have been sown and they are putting forth buds and flowers. It is yet too early to predict that they will bear good fruit. I realize, however, that education is a spiritual enterprise. The achievement in the future will be in proportion to the spirit with which one strives. It is an important motto for educators "to mind only the ploughing and sowing, and not the harvest." In this way we can carry through. The lofty buildings of our institutes have risen in front of the Mausoleum Park. With the Purple Mountain and the ancient city reflecting the beauty of the clouds and sky, our students will surely be able to develop their latent ability and receive high inspirations. Our hopes are indeed great and unlimited. If among our students there should be one who will grow up to be a great leader like Dr. Sun Yat-sen and complete the mission of carrying out the Three People's Principles, we can then feel that all our strenuous efforts for the establishment of the Institutes for Sons and Daughters of the Revolution have been abundantly rewarded. 332
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The Christian Faith Of MaJam_e Chiang Pages 333-349-Wbat Religion Means fo McSpirit of Co-operation and Sacrifice--Messnge fo tbe National Christian Council.
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What Religion Means To Me* "with me religion is a very simple thing. It means to try with all my heart and soul and strength .and piind to do the will of God." lO) Y nature I am not a religious person. At least not in the common U acceptance of that term. I am not by nature a mystic. I am practical-minded. Mundane things have meant much to me, perhaps too much. Mundane, not material, things. I care more for a beautiful celadon vase than for costly jewels. I am more disturbed as I traverse the crowded, dirty streets of an interior city than I am by the hazards of flying with poor visibility, which my husband and I experienced the other day. Personal danger means nothing to me. But I am concerned that my school for the children of the revolutionary heroes shall raise for them, and perhaps for the communities to which they return, the standard of living and the quality of life. Also, I am more or less skeptical. I used to think Faith, Belief, Immortality were more or less imaginary. I believed in the world seen, not the world unseen. I could not accept things just because they had always been accepted. In other words, a religion good enough for my father did not necessarily appeal to me. I do not yet believe in predigested religion in palatable, sugar-coated doses. I knew my mother lived very close to God. I recognized something great in her. And I believe that my childhood training influenced me greatly even though I was more or less rebellious at the time. It must often have grieved my beloved mother that I found family prayers tiresome and frequently found myself conveniently thirsty at the *Reprinted from the March issue of the Forum, 1934. 333
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK moment, so that I had to slip out of the room. Like my brothers and' sisters, I always had to go to church and I hated the long sermons. But to-day I feel that this church-going habit e':itablished something, a kind of stability, for which I am grateful to my parents. My mother was not a sentimental parent. In many ways she was Spartan. But one of my strongest childhood impressions is of mother going to a room she kept for the purpose on the third floor to pray. She spent hours in prayer, often beginning before dawn. When we asked her advice about anything, she would say, "I must ask_ God first." And we could not hurry her. Asking God was not a matter of spending five minutes to ask Him to bless her child and grant the request. It meant waiting upon God until she felt His leading. And I must say that whenever mother prayed and trusted God for her decision, the tindertaking in variably turned out well. Perhaps this is why I sometimes think that I have grown spiritually because mother was taken from me. Or to be perfectly honest, I sometimes think perhaps God took mother from her children in order that we might grow. As long as mother lived I had a feeling that whatever I did, or failed to do, mother would pray me through. Though she insisted that she was not our intercessor, that we must pray ourselves, yet I know for a certainty that many of her long hours of prayer were spent interceding for us. Perhaps it is because religion in my mind is associated with such a mother that I have never been able to turn away from it entirely. Before.I leave the subject of prayer, I want to tell you of a lesson I learned from my mother. It was shortly before she left us. She was ill and already confined to her bed. Japan had begun to show her hand in Manchuria. Most of this we kept from mother. One day I was talking with her about the imminen l Japanese menace and I suddenly cried out in irresistible intensity of feeling: "Mother, you're so powerful in prayer. Why don't you pray that God will annihilate Japan-by an earthquake or something?" She turned her face away for a time. Then looking gravely at me she said: "When you pray, or expect me to pray, don't insult God's intelligence by asking Him to do something which would be unworthy even of you, a mortal!" 334
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THREE. SPIRITUAL PHASES That made a deep impression on me. And to-day I can pray for the Japanese people, knowing that there must be many, who, like Kagawa, suffer because of what their country is doing to China. During the last seven years I have suffered much. I have gone through deep waters because of the chaotic conditions in China: the lopping off of our richest provinces, the death of my saintly mother, flood, famine, and the intrigues of those who should have been helping to unify the country. All these things have made me see my own inadequacy. More than that, all human insufficiency. To try to do anything for the country seemed like trying to put out a great conflagration with a cup of water. In contemplating history I began to feel the futility of life. Sometimes I would say to myself (never to my husband): "What if we do achieve a strong, unified country? In the sum total of things what does it amount to? As surely as a country rises to its zenith, so surely does it decline!" During these years of my married life, I have gone through three phases as related to my religion.. First, there was a tremendous enthusiasm and patriotism-a passionate desire to do something for my country. Here w:is my opportunity. With my husband, I would work ceaselessly to make China strong. I had the best of intentions. But something was lacking. There was no staying power. I was depending on self. Then came the second phase. These things that I have referred to happened, and I was plunged into dark despair. A terrible depression settled on me-spiritual despair, bleakness, desolation. At the time of my mother's death, the blackness was greatest. A foreign foe was on our soil in the north. A discontented political faction in the south. Famine in the northwesl. Floods threatening the millions who dwell in the Yangtze valley. And my beloved mother taken from us. What was left? And then I realized that spiritually I was failing my husband. My mother's influence on the General had been tremendous. His own mother was a devout Buddhist. It was my mother's influence and personal example that led him to become a Christian. Too honest to promise to be one just to win her .consent to our marriage, he had ,promised my mother that he would study Christianity and read the Bible. And I suddenly realized that he was sticking to his promise, 335
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK even after she was gone, but losing spiritually because there were so, many things he did not understand. In common parlance, I have to "hand it to him" for sticking to his daily Old Testament reading when without illumination there was little help in it for him. I began to see that what I was doing to help, for the sake of the country, was only a substitute for what he needed. I was letting him head toward a mirage when I knew of the oasis. Life was all confusion. I had been in the depths of despair. Out of that, and the feeling of human inadequacy, I was driven back to my mother's God. I knew there was a power greater than myself. I knew God was there. But mother was no longer here to help the General spiritually, and in helping him I grew spiritually myself. Thus I entered into the third period, where I wanted to do, not my will, but God's. Life is really simple, and yet how confused we make it. In old Chinese art, there is just one outstanding object, perhaps a flower, on a scroll. Everything else in the picture is subordinated to that one beautiful thing. An integrated life is like that. What is that one flower? As I feel it now, it is the will of God. But to know His will, and do it, calls for absolute sincerity and honesty. Political life is full of falsity and diplomacy and expediency. My firm conviction is that one's greatest weapon is not more deceptive falsity, more subtle diplomacy, greater expediency, but the simple, unassailable weapons of sincerity and truth. Solomon showed his greatness when he asked God, not for wealth or fame or poVJer, but for wisdom-for the sake of his country. It is nothing just to be good. That can be read backwards-good for nothing. One must have moral conviction, wisdom, and the energy to accomplish. I used to pray that God would do this or that. Now I pray only that God will make His will known to me. God speaks to me in prayer. Prayer is not self-hypnotism, it is more than me ditation. The Buddhist priests spend days meditating. In meditation the source of strength is oneself. But when one prays he goes to a source of strength greater than his own. I wait to feel His leading,. and His guidance means certainty. In the feudal time of the Three Kindgoms, there was an old general called Ts'ao Ts'ao~ Once upon a time he was going on a long march. His soldiers were weary, thirsty, discouraged. He said 336 ...
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TUNING IN TO GOD to them, "From my horse I can see a beautiful garden, full of luscious plums I" Their mouths watered, new strength and courage came to them. But for how long? The plum garden did not materialize, and the soldiers were more weary than before. That to me is like meditation. There is a buoyancy of spirit for a time. It may help when there is no oasis in sight. But when I am spiritually thirsty, I do not think of plum gardens-I go to the fountain of living water. There are two things in the Bible that impress me more than others. One is, "Thy will be done," and the other, "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." We have to use our minds as well as our hearts. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. And I know of nothing more aggravating than a wellmeaning person who has no judgment. Prayer is our source of guidance and balance. God is able to enlighten the understanding. I am often bewildered, because my mind is only finite. I question and doubt my own judgments. Then I seek guidance, and when I am sure, I go ahead, leaving the results with Him. Our finite minds beside His infinite mind seem to me like this: I go walking, and the hills loom above me, range upon range, one against the other. I cannot tell where one begins, and another leaves off. But from the air (I seldom have time to travel any other way now) everything has a distinct contour and form. I can see things so much more clearly. Perhaps that is like my mind and God's. And when I talk with Him, He lifts me up where I can see clearly. I do not think it 1s possible to make this understandable to one who has not tried it. To explain to one who has had no experience of getting guidance what it means would be like trying to make a stone-deaf person understand the beauty of a Chopin sonata. A physicist or a specialist in tones and their wave lengths might convey some idea of it to such an one. I do not know. But I'm sure I could not. What I do want to make clear is that whether we get guidance or not, it is there. It's like tuning in on the radio. There is music in the air, whether we tune in or not. By learning to tune in, one can understand. How is it done? As Brother Lawrence told us long ago, 337
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK "by. practising the presence of God.'' By daily commumon with Him. One cannot expect to be conscious of God's presence when Qne has only a bowing acquaintance with Him. In conclusion, with me religion is a very simple thing. It means to try with all my heart and soul and strength and mind to do the will of God. I feel that God has given me a work to do for China. In this province of Kiangsi thousands of li of fertile rice field are now devastated ruins; hundreds of thousands of families have been rendered homeless. This bandit situation in some of the provinces of China has grown increasingly menacing in the last five years. The ba~dits openly avowed hatred for law and order and force the government to suppress them. But military occupation of retaken territory will not be enough. Rurai rehabilitation must follow, helping the farmers back to their land and to better conditions of life, This is no small task. In fact, China's problems in some ways are greater to-day than ever before. But despondency and despair are not mine to-day. I look to Him who is able to do all things, even more than we ask or think. At this time of writing, I am with my husband in the heart of the bandit area. Constantly exposed to dangers, I am unafraid. I know that nothing can happen either to the General or to me till our work is done. After that, what does it matter? 338
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Spirit Of Co-operation And Sacrifice,,:-"'We sincerely dedicate ourselves unreservedly to the welfare of our people. In this way we hope to become creators of New Life." ON the occasion of the dedication of this new broadcasting .machine, I consider myself fortunate to be privileged to speak a few words. One wonders at the fact that it is possible to speak over this machine so that people who live thousands of miles away can hear. This is due to the invention of modern science and shows to what extent human beings are able to control nature. The forces of nature may be used for good purposes or for destructive purposes, but those who use them wrongly bring about their own destruction. But while we are thus subjugating nature to our own uses we must also give attention to the more important matters of the spirit. Mankind is controlled by spiritual forces. By them we may develop a world-wide harmonious state. By the spirit we also may realize our oneness with the all-embracing God. While we cannot visualize spiritual force with the physical eye, yet we know it is real and eternal. Jesus propounded the profound question, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" We, too, now have come to see this great truth. On this first day of 1936 I hope you and I will give thanks to God for his manifold blessings. Throughout a history of several thousand years God has blessed us. We now implore Him to lead us on and to help us through the difficult paths ahead as we firmly lay the foundations of our Republic. We sincerely dedicate ourselves *A New Year messae;e broadcast at the opening of the radio station of the Shanghai Christian Broadcasting Association on January 1, 1936. 339
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK unreservedly: to the welfare of our people. In this way we hope to become creators of new life. If we wish to make our country strong and prosperous and to restore our race to its former glory, the only way is for each one of us to bear his own responsibility. But we must be united in our effort. It was said of old, "One arrow is easily broken, but when many arrows are placed together no one can break them." If we as citizens of the nation, regardless of our position or profession, all work for the good of society and the nation, living unselfish and simple lives, we will be able to save our country. But in order to do this we must work very hard, and we must sacrifice. Mere talk will lead us nowhere. By means of this machine I am able to address you in the hope that we will all become united in the common aim of loving and saving our country-and not our own country alone, for we must go one step further and work for the welfare of the whole world. Let no one think that he is bearing his heavy responsibility alone. We are all serving our fatherland together. So let us be optimistic and with gladness and faith co-operate and serve. Most important of all, let us realize that while we are striving and progressing God is working with us all the time. We cannot get along without God. Only by His help can we succeed and realize a Happy New Year. Finally, may God bring to you all much blessing. With a sincere heart I bid you, "A Happy New Year." 340
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Message To The National Christian Council* "The whole of the Chinese nation is on the march. The Church must march with it." ONE thing that society asks of the Church is that it shall show men how to meet the pressing problems of their day. In the midst of a poisoned social atmosphere a strong religious faith should act not merely as a gas mask to protect its wearer, but it should also be as a cleansing breeze that gradually changes and purifies the dwelling places of men. We are met here to consider the relationship of the Church to its present environment in China; to remind ourselves that the Church cart no longer stand apart from the development of modern China. The whole of the Chinese nation is on the march. The Church must march with it. Beacon after beacon is being lighted across the country, warning the people that they must arise to attack the strongly entrenched social evils of our day, and to help usher in the new order of things. The bugle call of the New Life Movement is sounding clearly in the dawn of China's new day. One critic of the New Life Movement has said, the real question of the masses is one of livelihood, and the New Life Movement has done nothing about it. I want to pass that challenge on to you, that together, we might share its responsibility. In the summer of 1933 I received an invitation to join a discussiongroup at Kuling on the subject of Christians and Communism. At that time I found Christians willing to discuss these problems of livelihood in a rather academic way, and I became convinced that *Delivered for Madame Chiang by Dr. Wu Yi-fang, President of Ginling College, Nan king, on May 6, 1937. 341
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK somehow we should be more practical in the application of our faith. The National Christian Council later co-operated with the Government in organizing eleven rural experiment centers in Kiangsi where young men and women from Christian and other colleges might take the lead in studying and trying to solve some of the most pressing needs of the farmers. It has been a source of great satisfaction to the Generalissimo and myself that the Church has united with us in the rehabilitation of recovered bandit areas. We hope this is merely a beginning in this great field oE improving the life of the people. Perhaps one reason why the Church has been slow to engage in this work of rural reconstruction is on account of the hardships involved. At such a tin,e as this we should honestly face the fact that we have not accustomed ourselves to enduring hardships as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. In this we are weak. I1i the words of the Prophet, "We are not at ease in Zion." As my husband and I have traveled over many provinces we have met devoted missionaries, living far away in the interior, bringing new life to the communities that they touch. We have been astonished at the absence of talented modern-educated Chinese men and women, either supporting these heroic missionaries, or carryi-ng on similar activities in like needy areas. Is it possible that modern trained Chinese Christians lack the stuff of which missionaries are made? Are we in. the position of accepting all the benefits of the Christian faith without caring to accept the responsibilities and the hardships? At the very heart of our faith is hardship, endurance, sufferinga cross. Without them there cannot be any Christian faith. I have frequently heard the Generalissimo remark that Christ, as a young man, willingly gave up his life for the cause, and that we shall not be able to solve our own great problems until more of us are ready to do likewise. That is why he feels that Christianity is a revolutionary faith, and that every man of faith in such a world as ours, should be a revolutionary. If my observations are correct, and you care to accept my suggestion, I think this is the time and place to go into the question as to whether or not we are ready to endure all that may be involved in 342
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CHURCH AND GOVERNMENT being good soldiers of J esns Christ, engaged not m some rearguard action, but in the main battle of our day. In this age of grim necessity, when the utmost qualities of men and of nations are on trial, to have a robust Christian faith rrieans that we will never give m. This age wiU be changed in the proportion that our faith, personality, and enthusiasm, soak into it. Just as we deduce the value of medicine from its effects, so we appraise the quality of our faith from its moral effect upon ourselves, and upon society. What we need to-day .is to feel certain about the call of God and to make some decisions at the price of our comfort, and if need be, of our necks. Perception and action must go together. We are called to translate our faith into the life of our day. Like the sleeping beauty in the castle, surrounded by high hedges of thorns, China has at last been awakened to live in a new and wonderful world of progress. In this new world the Church has a large place to fill, providing that it is willing to move forward and to endure. One singular thing about our Christian faith is that it is not merely a social creed, but a revelation from God. There is no such thing as revelation of itself, for revelation consists always of the fact that something is revealed to us. In our day God is revealing Himself anew in the needs of society, and impressing upon us the need for social action on our part. Let the younger churches of the East, and the older churches of the West, unite in a grand effort to bring New Life to the people of the towns and the villages. As in response to the season, the trees have borne their fruit and the fields their grain, so the New China has responded to seasonable co-operation from the churches of the West. I wish, on behalf of the Generalissimo and myself, to voice an invitation to still closer co-operation through the activities of the New Life Movement. One of the outstanding examples of co-operation between Church and Government is to be found in Kiangsi. Not merely the Lichwan experiment, but ten other welfare centers have been organized under the leadership of Mr. Chang Fu-Jiang, the National Christian Chuncil Rural Secretary on leave for this purpose. Visitors have often remark~ 343
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK -ed that they see little difference between Lichwan and the other ten centers, now under the Ministry of Industry. How could there be any difference when they all embody the same Christian ideals of -service, and have the same leadership? Neither in Lichwan, nor in the ten other welfare centers, have we attempted to reconstruct rural life in a way that is peculiar to Christians. Rather have we attempted to discover methods that may be readily used by anyone int~rested in the welfare of the people. The Church has demonstrated that it is willing to lend some of -its men for work in this vast field of rural reconstruction the edge of which we have scarcely touched. The Kingdom of God is real indeed when it can be brought down to life in the village of war-torn Kiangsi. Yet another place where Church and Government have been developing co-operation is in the health plans for the nation. The first public health body in China, the Council on Health Education, was carried on for years under Christian auspices. Now that its functions have been largely taken over by the Government there are many gaps in the national health program that mission and church hospitals can fill. I am glad to know that the National Christian Council has a medical secretary assigned to this work of co-operation. This spring the Central Health Administration at Nanking had 40,000 dozen tubes of small-pox vaccine available for use in country .districts. The New Life Movement was appealed to, through its medical adviser, Mrs. Shepherd, and she immediately arranged with local New Life Movement Associations in a few of the provinces to co-operate with mission hospitals, schools, and country churches in conducting vaccination campaigns in nearby villages. Health authorities have not yet perfected their machinery for reaching all the neglected areas, and, until they have, here is one place where the -church is still able to serve the people. One-fourth of the available vaccine has been applied for, and is now being distributed. Sixty thousand people are being vaccinated through the combined efforts -of government health stations, New Life Movement Associaticns, hospitals, schools and churches. In Canton a Women's Prayer League of one thousand members is being formed, all of whom pledge themselves and their families to 344
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THE REVISED STATUS OF WOMEN pray daily for China and her leaders. This is one of the most practical forms of patriotism and one that will go far toward bringing about a strong spiritual unity. The New Life Movement urges that such Prayer Leagues be formed in every church throughout the country. The Minister of Railways, Mr. Chang Kia-ngau, is fitting up a special railway coach called "New Life on Wheels" that will travel over as many lines as possible, spending some time in centers large and small. It will be equipped with movies, and other forms of visual education, that can be used on the streets and in halls and chapels. See that your church co-operates with this unit when it comes to your locality. You can secure its schedule by writing to the New Life Movement Headquarters, Nanking. Such co-operation need not over-concern itself with correct doctrines and pious aspirations, but with China's ancient heritage, with sacrifice, and love for our fellows in His name. Christianity has been correctly styled as materialistic, because in Christian lands have developed most of the modern scientific inventions which to-day go to make life longer and more comfortable. Other nations, such as ancient Greece, have given us the elements of physical science, but only in Christian countries have these sciences fully developed and become the common possession of all. In China we are rapidly introducing these modern ways of living to our people, and they are accepting them without question. The Apostle Paul dignified the whole physical life of man when he said: "Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy spirit ..... ? A more .comfortable physical life is desirable for all, and not merely for the privileged few. Surely it is one of the responsibilities of the followers of Christ to see that "New Life" is put within the reach of all. The status of women has been raised wherever the Christian faith has become known. Not so long ago, mission schools in China had to offer girls free tuition and spending money to induce them to accept a modern education. It is to the lasting credit of the missionaries that they used every means to get girls to study. Now these trained women are at the heart of many of the movements working to improve the living conditions and the status of their sisters 345
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK throughout the provinces. Their faith is already in action. Let us carry our co-operative program, between New Life and the churches, for the improvement of the life of women and children, into every village and hamlet throughout the land. The Christian Church throughout the world is rich in finances and in consecrated enth.usiastic youth. Let us concentrate some of these resources upon the great need of our day. The Chairman of the Kiangsi Provincial Government, General Hsiung Shih-hui, is just beginning a comprehensive program to improve the life of women and girls throughout the province. Under the able direction of Mrs. Chu Hsiung-tze these activities include complete co-operation with churches and social agencies within the province. When General Hsiung was in Peiping last year he asked some women members of the faculty of Yenching University to assist him in drawing up plans for this work, which he now refers to as his "three-fold co-operative plan." The first is co-operation with highly trained women, the second is co-operation with the churches and social agencies already at work in Kiangsi, and the third is co-operation with the Women's Advisory Committee of the New Life Movement Headquarters. Evidently he is counting heavily upon the resources of the Church to make this ambitious undertaking of value to the nation in its struggle to improve the Jot of women. There are always those, even among our own people, who are afraid that co-operation with the government will not succeed. In Nanchang a prominent church social worker is being severely criticised by her own group for spending so much time and energy co-operating with the Women's New Life Committee of the Provincial Government. We oftentimes lose sight of the fact, that, through well thought-out co-operation and service, everybody benefits. The church stands to benefit most of all from an enlightened prosperous community, and in my opinion, no enlightened community can afford to be without a church. When we were desperately in need of college trained women actually to live in the recovered village~ of Kiangsi we appealed to Ginling College. The President, Dr. Wu Yi-fang, Chairman of the National Christian Council, (whom I have asked to read these remarks) in consultation with other members of the faculty, 34b
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THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS has sent us qualified, unselfish, hard-working graduates who are a credit to that already famous institution. We now say, "If Ginling College recommends a graduate for rural work, don't ask any questions, tell them to send her immediately.". Many educational institutions under the direction of Christians have contributed greatly toward bringing New Life to thousands of students. The low cost of administration and the high quality of work in Christian schools, often maintained under difficult circumstances, have all left their mark upon the.nation. In the matter of education let us not "grow weary in well doing" and give up our work just half-completed. The Generalissimo and I both feel that a religious faith is essential to a well rounded life. Without it education is incomplete. The nation is in great need of leaders, in all walks of life, who have Christian ideals of service, and who live up to them. The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. have been in the front line of leadership and have slowly, through the years, been pressing upon us the necessity of a change in our manner of living. These two Associations are considered one of our greatest aids in giving youth a zest for New Life. We must constantly remind ourselves that Jesus' respect for personality did not stop with an interest in individuals. He was deeply concerned with the welfare of society, and talked incessantly about the Kingdom of Heaven, wherein dwell righteousness and justice for all. The Chinese people have always displayed a profound respect for personality and have been severely criticised by visitors for giving much time and thought to courtesy and "face." Much of life is regulated by the requirements of custom, and the necessity for maintaining dignity. Offence must not be given, wherever it can be avoided. The ideal society, according to the genius of our race, is the "Golden Mean," the middle of the road. All manners of extremes are to be avoided. The totalitarian state will not meet with much response in China as long as it continues to exalt the state at the expense of the individual, and to crush personality in its fanatical drive toward establishing authority; The New Life Movement has definitely rejected all forms 347
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK of regimentation as being opposed to the principles of Dr. Sun Yatsen and a~ betraying the Chinese people into the hands of those, who, in their innermost souls, do not respect personality, or the rights of individuals and groups. The Chinese people have always had a mind of their own and will continue to think for themselves. They can co-operate only with those who understand their culture, their sense of justice, and their love of freedom. Chinese society has within itself the germ of a new life, but it needs direction and a deeper religious faith. The new China will arise upon foundations already laid by our ancestors, and not upon the current "isms" of our age. Because of the trend of world events in some circles there is a tendency toward discouragement, but our Christian faith will cease to be faith when we can no longer believe in the regeneration of a nation. The primary interest of Christianity is not systematic knowledge, known as theology, nor yet philosophy, though it.may include these, but the relation of a personal faith to. the men and women around us. One thing we must do is to find the point of contact between our faith and contemporary life. The need of our times should determine our perspective. God, who all down through history has spoken to men through revelation, can, through His Holy Spirit speak to us here. When He speaks we will know, for it will both convince the mind and satisfy the heart. In discovering the need for regeneration, and the resources at hand for meeting this need, we shall be drawn and carried along as on the crest of a great wave. As we proceed the details of -our task will be made clear and comprehensive. Two striking things about Christ are that He lived what He preached, and He had faith that could remove mountains. We shall heed both of these qualities in increasing measure if we are to carry through this breath-taking venture of pointing the way to a new social ?rder. The New Life Movement asks us to live up to the highest principles known to man,, an~ to move forward in faith. Both call for positive action on the part of individuals and society, and are well within the r~alm of our Christian experience. -. 348
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DR. SUN YAT-SEN'S FAITH I am pleased to see that on the program at these meetings there is a main topic of the "Church and Its Relations," and that under this heading you have included the New Life Movement. I am offering these few thoughtc; as my contribution toward the discussion of this important subject. With reference to the regeneration of the nation, as I have intimated, important changes in the life of the people of China must come within the system given to us by our late leader, Dr. Sun Yatsen. The Founder of the Chinese Republic was a man of faith and action. He had within his soul a burning passion for the uplift of the people who toil. Beyond the slightest trace of doubt, he walked in the steps of the Master. He lived in faith, and died in faith, cleaving to us the task of completing the more important stages of the revolution. The most important factor in reconstruction is the spiritual renewal of the people, and the improvement of their character. We cannot create the social life of the people, history has a long start on us in that, but it is within our power to regenerate it, and wholly transform it by breathing into it a new soul. The beginning of the Christian life is really a "radical and permanent moral change wrought in the spiritual nature," and commonly referred to as the New Birth. "A change in the growing purpose, reformation of habits and life, and continuation by the Holy Spirit -of new ways of living," is New Life from within and the right place to begin the regeneration of a nation. In very large measure this part of reconstruction is pre-eminently the work of the Church. Then let us do it together, the New Life Movement and the Church .; 349
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Little Sister Su ~, "l:fer gestures suggest willow leaves in the breeze, and her movements bespeak delicacy and precision." DURING the Sung Dynasty, when the Chinese essay form reached a degree of literary perfection never since equalled, there lived in the province of Szechwan an old scholar named Su-Hsin. Since he had received no schooling whatsoever up to the age of 27, it was all the 1nore remarkable that he finally attained literary eminence and became a member of the Han-lin Yuan, the Imperial Academy, whose members were the most distinguished scholars of the country. Su had two sons and a young daughter. The sons also ranked among the well-known essayists of the period. To distinguish them from their father and from each other, the father was known as Old Su, the elder son Big Su, and the younger one Little Su. The writings of the trio survive to the present day. Those of Big Su rank atnong the Classics; their exquisite rhythm and inimitable style are the despair of ambitious imitators. Although Old Su was p'roud of his sons, he loved most of all his daughter, whom the family affectionately called Little Sister: He gave her the same education he had given her brothers; and, since she, possessed natural literary gifts, she became wonderfully proficient, and at the age of sixteen outshone scholars many years her senior. Her unusual intellectual attainments gave her father as much anxiety as pleasure, however, for he feared it would be difficult to find a husband sufficiently brilliant to please her. One day the Premier, Wang An-shih, invited Su-Hsin to dinner, Old Su detested the Premier heartily. He had written satires attacking *Reprinted from the September issue of Asia, 1935. 361
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Wang for promoting queer and freakish fads in order to draw public attention to himself. But for the sake of expediency he accepted the invitation. The Premier disliked Old Su as cordially, but he thought it wise to maintain a semblance of friendship with the literary trio, .the biting sting of whose wit he had felt on more than one occasion. Dinner ended, Old Su and the Premier sat in the library. In cup after cup of wine they challenged each other. His tongue loosened by the strong drink, the Premier boasted of his son's literary talents. "My sons, too, are no mean writers," retorted Old Su, equally flushed with wine. "Besides, my daughter. "Oh, daughters!" rudely interrupted the half-drunken Premier. "Ha, ha, ten candles are not to be compared with one lamp," he laughed, quoting a proverb. "Were there no daughters, tbere ~ould be no mothers," said Old Su, rebuking him with considerable heat, and also quoting a proverb. "Mm, mm," continued the Premier, bent on having his say, "as I remarked, my son is unusually talented. Why, it is only necessary for him to read a book or manuscript once, just once, and he can reproduce it faultlessly character for character!" "And, as I was saying, when I was interrupted," retorted Old Su, "my daughter need never read anything more than once. She also has a remarkable talent for criticism. I have never known her to fail to judge literary values accurately, Furthermore, a manuscript reveals to her the personal virtues and shortcomings of the writer." The Premier started in agitation. "Then, indeed, my friend," 1-ie said thoughtfully, "all the genius of the province of Szechwan is concentrated in your illustrious family." At these words, Old Su recollected himself. Covering his confusion as best he could, he rose to take leave, pleading the lateness of the hour. The Premier produced a manuscript and handed it to Old Su, the old scholar. "May I beg you to give my son the benefit of your criticism on this essay?" he requested as he escorted his guest to the gate. 352
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THE LITERARY CRITIC When his head had cleared from the fumes of the wine, Old Su Tepented bitterly of his boastful words. "Alas, wretched tongue! Alas, drunken folly! Wang An-shih certainly means to ask the hand -of Little Sister for his son, else why did he request me to criticize this manuscript? Very likely, too, he will begin negotations at once. What excuse can I give without offending him? For, cost what it .may, I will not give my daughter to such a conceited fop as the son must be." And the rest of the night he strove to find a way out of the difficulty. When morning came, he had still found no solution. Sighing heavily he picked up the manuscript. To his surprise, it was logically conceived and exquisitely worded. "It is a masterpiece!" he exclaimed happily. "Every character a lustrous pearl, every line an -embroidered thread of gold. But I shall let her decide." Calling Little Sister's maid, he gave her the essay. "Take this to your young lady," he said. "It was given me to criticize, but I am busy now. Let your mistress do it for me." The maid took the essay to Little Sister, who immediately became absorbed in it. Several times during the reading, she paused and sighed. When she had finished, she wrote on the cover: "Its merits-daring in expression, original in treatment; its faults-insincere in feeling, superficial in thought. Your showy qualities will gain you high honors, but, alas-will you reap them ? When Old Su read Little Sister's criticism, he tore off the entire cover and replaced it with a new one. Scarcely had he finished writing flattering compliments upon it, when a representative from the Premier was ushered in. The man received the manuscript from Old Su and furtively read the eulogy. Then, smiling with satisfaction, he spoke of everything under the sun except the real purpose of his visit. Old Su understood the visitor's assured smile, and he, too, -chuckled slyly to himself. "His Grace, the Premier, has a very remarkable son," finally -ventured the representative, since Old Su failed to take the indirect hints which he threw out. "Undoubtedly," replied Su, bowing and smiling benignly. 353
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MADAME CHIANG KAi-SHEK i'And so different from most young men of his exalted station. He is brilliant and handsome, yet modest." "Yes," politely agreed Su. "Most young men are so proud and haughty that their eyesmight well be set on the very top of their silly heads. Ah, me, sons such as that of the Premier and those of your honorable self are rare." "My boys are nothing extraordinary," disclaimed Old Su politely, "And Your Excellency is blessed, too, with a priceless daughter." "Yes, I have a girl," guardedly admitted Su. "How blessed is your illustrious house I Doubtless many suitors have clamored for your honorable daughter's Horoscope of Eight Characters. Probably she is already betrothed?" Old Su thought a moment. "If I say she is betrothed, then the stupid fellow will insist upon the name of her betrothed. If I tell him the truth, how can I help insulting Wang An-shih by an unequivocal refusal?" he agonized. "It would serve him right, though. What business did he have to send such a stupid and thick-skinned match~ maker?" Deciding, however, that truth-telling would be theJesser of two evils, he finally said in a tone of great boredom, "No, she is not betrothed.'' In spite of Old Su's efforts to ward off the proposal he so dreaded, the persistent matchmaker con.tinued to throw out hints. The more Su tried to change the subject, the more resolutely his visitor clung to it. Finally, the matchmaker, unable to believe that Old Su would not jump at the proposed alliance, changed his tactics and stated in unmistakable terms the purpose of his visit. "His Excellency's condescension," replied Old Su, "fills me with pleasure on one hand, regret on the other. The young man in question is undoubtedly a genius, and the house of Wang dates back seven times seven generations. Would that I could do as His Highness desires"-and here Old Su could not forbear to smile sardonically-"has not this proverb truthfully described his importance, as Premier-'above the myriad people: below one man only'? Cer354
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UNSUCCESSFUL MATCHMA.KING tainly his subjects should gratify his every wish. But, even at the risk of his displeasure, I would rather not burden his son with so unprepossessing a bride as my daughter. She is unworthy of the honor of having so handsome a husband. Be so kind, therefore, as to, convey my appreciation and regret to His Excellency," and, bowing,. he dismissed the unwelcom_e guest. Bewildered by this : curt and unexpected refusal, and afraid to return to Wang An-shih without some plausible excuse, the thwarted: matchmaker decided to learn all he could about Sittle Sister. In this, he was more successful than he had been in the other busines_s. Although her brothers were many years her senior, Little Sister did not stand in awe of them. From childhood she had looked upon them as obliging playmates. Big Su used often to write nonsense rhymes to tease her about her rather homely appearance, and she would retaliate in kind. The Su family had many friends, and in time these rhymes became well known around the town. The matchmaker memorized as many of these rhymes as he could .. Then he went back to the yamen and reported the result of his visit. As he expected, Wang An-shih felt greatly insulted at Old Su'soutspoken refusal, and angry at his own loss of face. And, as the matchmaker had also expected, the Premier began by abusing him. "Your Excellency, with all respect to Miss Su, she is not worthy to be Your Excellency;s daughter-in-law," the matchmaker hastened to say; "for in truth her ugly and repulsive face makes her the laughing stock ef everyone. Her forehead protrudes like an overhanging cliff, and her eyes are so deeply embedded in her face that they look like muddy ruts. I should not wonder but that she may be a hunchback,,,. he added for good measure. "Besides, as Your Excellency knows, the father and brothers have unpleasant faces as well," and he went on to repeat the nonsense rhymes written in fun. Thus he succeeded: in appeasing the wrath of the Premier, who consoled himself with the belief that Old Su had exaggerated Little Sister's accomplishments,. and that he would not have her for a daughter-in-law now, even if Old Su were willing. "For," he argued, "all the brilliancy in the world cannot discount a clown's face." Meanwhile, Little Sister did not lack suitors. In each case Old Su requested the prospective husband to submit an essay, which he,
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK -then passed on to his daughter. But Little Sister found flaws in each .and every manuscript submitted. Old Su became more and more -perplexed. One day, however, he found this criticism on the cover --0 an essay. "Today, an earnest Hsiu-Ts'ai, Tomorrow, a brilliant scholar; Too bad the Sil Brothers live in your generation, Otherwise, you alone would deserve admiration." In spite of this half mocking verse, Su saw that his daughter was really impressed by the writer's ability and personality. At once he gave orders that, when the scholar Chin Shao-yu called, he should be admitted. Time passed, and Shao-yu did not appear. Mystified, -Old Su made secret attempts to identify the young man. Shao-yu .himself heard of all this in time, but still he did not present himself. "For all I know," thought the young man, "Little Sister's wit and learning may be exaggerated. Besides, I hear she is homely. Now, accomplishments and intellect are all very well in a girl and quite worthy of admiration, hut suppose she is actually so ugly that I feel repulsion at the sight of her? And is she really such a wonderful scholar? Beauty fades with time, and I love not beauty for beauty's sake, but a wife ought to have at least passable good looks. What if I married her and then discovered her wit to be shallow, her ,pride intolerable, her looks unbearable? Why should I not watch her .unobserved and test her in conversation before I present myself?" An opportunity soon came for him to do this. He learned that on the first day of the Second Moon Miss Su had planned to offer sacrifices at a certain temple. Shao-yu dressed himself in the robes of a Taoist priest with chains of prayer beads around his neck and placed himself at the temple gate, holding a mendicant's bowl in his hands. Before long, Little Sister appeared, riding in a palanquin. He followed her into the Sacrificial Hall. To his great joy, although her face was not of the goose egg shape most often lauded by poets and -connoisseurs of feminine beauty, it looked very pleasing and most intelligent. "Not bad," he said to himself; "in fact I prefer it to the regular ,contours of the egg oval. And liow gracefully she carries herself! 356
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VERBAL FLOWERS Her gestures suggest willow leaves in the breeze, and her movements bespeak delicacy and precision. Now to test her wit." When the sacrifices had burned to ashes he followed her out into. the courtyard. Making a deep obeisance, he held out his bowl toward her. "May the young lady have happiness and long life in doing good works," he murmured. "You, oh Taoist, what virtue and merit have you who dare to hope for alms?" she asked. "May lhe young lady be a life-giving plant, free from the hundred., human ills," he chanted. "I would not give one cash for verbal flowers such as these," she retorted. "Good little woman, well said," he mocked. "Crazy Taoist, it is hard to acquire merit because of such as you!" she exclaimed as she stepped into her waiting palanquin. An old retainer, hearing the Taoist's impertinence to his mistress was about to rebuke him when he heard a voice calling to Shao-yu,. "O Master, come hither to change your robes." His curiosity aroused, the old servant followed the voice and perceived a young valet with a pile of neatly folded clothes in his arms. "Who is he whom you called,. master?" asked the retainer. "That is my master, Chin Shao-yu, the most brilliant and talented Hsiu Ts'ai in the world, on the word of no less an exalted person than your old master. And the very man your master has been searching for," boasted the valet. Upon returning home, the old servant lost no time in relating the incident of the morning. Little Sister heard of it through her maid, while she was having her long tresses oiled and combed that evening. Through the recital she smiled mischievously but remained silent. The very next day, Shao-yu appeared before Old Su and requested Little Sister's Horoscope of Eight Characters. Old Su joyfully consented, and upon being pressed to set the auspicious date for the wedding he consulted his daughter. 357
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK "Tell him," replied Little Sister, "that he must first pass the -examination for the Degree of the Raised Man. This is the Second Moon; on the third day of the Third Moon the examination will commence. Until then, let him prepare himself." In the middle of the Third Moon, Shao-yu, having won the coveted degree with honors, returned to beg Old Su to set the wedding day. Little Sister consented demurely to her father's wishes and the wedding took place. After the ceremony, when the guests had feasted until midnight, Shao-yu traced his steps to the nuptial chamber. He tried the door and found it securely latched on the inside. Looking around the ante-chamber, he noticed a table on which were placed writing brushes, paper, ink, three wine pots and three wine cups. A young maid stood near the table. "Tell your mistress," directed Shao-yu, "that the bridegroom is here. \Vhy not open the door?" "My mistress," replied the maid, making a deep bow, "ordered me to stay here to await the bridegroom. On the table are writing materjals, and here are three sealed envelopes. When the bridegroom shall have successfully passed the three tests in them, then, and only ,then, will the door of the Perfumed Chamber be opened to him." Shao-yu took the three envelopes from her out-stretched hand. "And what is the meaning of these?" he inquired in amazement, pointing to the three wine pots and cups. "Inside this pot of green jade is fragrant wine/' she explained. "If the bridegroom is sue;cessful in all three tests, he may drink three Cups of fragrant wine out of the jade cup, and will have immediate access to the Perfumed Chamber. Inside this pot of bright silver is amber tea. If the bridegroom is successful in two of the three tests, he may drink two cups of amber tea out of the silver cup and then may try again tomorrow. Inside this pot of white porcelain is clean water. If the bridegroom is successful in only one out of the three -tests, then he may drink one cup of clear water to quench his thirst :and. must remain in solitude in the ante-chamber for three months to :sharpen his wits." ~58
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THE THREE TESTS "He, ho," thought the bridegroom, "so Little Sister is as doubtful of the keenness of my wits as I was of hers. Well, she may give me three hundred tests and not find me wanting." Opening the first envelope, he took out a piece of shining white silk, delicate as gossamer. On it was written a poem of four lines. "You are to write a companion poem to it," directed the maid. "The theme of each of your lines must be sought in the hidden significance of each of the four corresponding lines in my mistress' poem." Shao-yu, his brush poised in mid-air, chuckled. "The little tease!_ So she recognized the Crazy Taoist! I see, I see. The key to her poem must signify 'Heaven Fated Begging Taoist'." Setting to work, he soon finished his poem, which the maid thrust under the door. Little Sister in the Perfumed Chamber smiled. Opening the second envelope, he found another four lines of poetry. "Each of these lines refers to an ancient hero," explained :the maid. Shao-yu thought a few moments, and wrote the correct names, which the maid again thrust through the crevice. Little Sister in the Perfumend Chamber nodded with delight. "Now for the third," laughed Shao-yu. In the third envelope he found only seven characters. "You yourself are to write seven .characters which together with those in the envelope will form a perfect antithetical couplet," directed the maid, who herself was no mean scholar. "Easy!" he cried as he read the line. He set to work, but, try as he would, he could not find seven characters which would match the seven which he had found in the third envelope and still conform to the rules of versification. Unable to think sitting down, he began to pace back and forth. Finding no inspiration, he stepped out on the balcony and gazed pleadingly at the silvery moon. Roguishly the stars twinkled. He scratched his head, he caressed his moustache, grown in honor of the marriage. He chanted poem after poem from the famous T'ang poets. Still no inspiration. He sighed, he groaned, he fidgeted. And all in vain. Finally, with beads of perspiration on 359
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK his forehead, face upli'fted heavenward, one hand inotioriing as if to close a door, the other as if to shut out the moon from his sight, hemurmured over and over the seven characters: "Closing door, shut out moon from windows." Little Sister in the Perfumed Chamber giggled. Now Big Su, having drunk a great deal of wine at the marriage feast, could not sleep. Stepping out on the balcony to cool his head, he heard Shao-yu murmuring the first line of the couplet and saw him gesticulating. "So, Little Sister, is this the way you treat your bridegroom!". he chuckled silently, taking in the situation. Leaning forward, he started to call to the hapless Shao-yu, when he noticed the bride peeping from behind a half-opened window of the Perfumed Chamber. Tne more violent the bridegroom's gestures, the more merrily she laughed. Finally, unable to control her silent mirth, she covered her face with both hands. Big Su picked up a handful of pebbles from a near-by jardiniere and threw them into the lily pond in the garden just beneath the balcony. Drops of water splashed into Shao-yu's face. He came to himself with a start and looked downward. The surface of the water, disturbed by the stones, rippled into widening circles. The moonlight danced quiveringly over it as it reflected the sky above. With a shout of joy, he rushed back into the ante-chamber, seized a brush and finished the couplet: "Closing door, shut out moon from windows. Throwing stone, open up sky in waters." Big Su waited until the door of the Perfumed Chamber had been, unlatched and closed again behind Shao-yu. Then he yawned sleepilyand returned to his room. 360
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A Legend Of The Lute "Then choosing an auspicio~s day, he entrusted the seasoned wood to Liu, a craftsman of magic skill to fashion of it an instrument whose tones could charm the floating clouds of heaven into forgetfulness of motion." lfN the latter days of the Chow Dynasty, there lived a scholar named Jl Yu Pai-ya who served as Minister to the Prince of Chin. He had just completed an official visit to the Prince of Ch'u, and, being a, native of Ch'u, tarried a few days longer at his ancestral home. Finally, having swept the family graves, he embarked on a large sail-boat with a retinue of servants on his return voyage to the Kingdom of Chin. On the evening of the Moon Festival, his boat approached Hanyang, a spot noted for its beautiful scenery. The moon, never so luminous as on this festival, shed a white frost-like brilliance over the surrounding country, its loveliness dazzling to behold. "On the horizon below the tree tops, droops the sky; <1-nd close to me the moon is mirrored in water," Pai-ya murmured as he gazed downward at the splashes of swiftly moving light shimmering in the crystal stream. "How still the night, how serene its calmness, unbroken by human sounds, unflurried by rustling leaves!" Lighting the incense in an urn, he asked for his lute. Soon a plaintive melody, "The Resentment of a Fragrant Stream," broke the evening stillness. Scarcely had the echoes of the opening chords died, when twang! snapped a string. Startled, Pai-ya rose from his chair. "A string broken!" he exclaimed, "It can mean but one thing: someone of whom I am unaware is listening." 361
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MADAME CIIlANG KAI-SHEK Quickly he walked to the bow of the boat and searched in all directions. towards him shoulders. A figure approached. He saw a woodcutter hurrying on the shore bearing bundles of stout faggots on his "Honourable Sir," began the woodcutter, "be not alarmed. Your humble servant was gathering firewood on these shores when evening fell. Homeward bound, I heard the sweet strains of a lute." "Ha, ha," laughed Pai-ya amused at this rustic appreciation of his song, "Woodsman, perchance you would also tell me that you understand my music." "Thus runs a saying," replied the other spiritedly, "in a hamlet of ten families there must be a talent." Astonished at this quotation from the "Four Books," Pai-ya remained silent. "And since," continued the woodcutter in a clear voice, "a bare-footed country-man such as I may not listen to a moving melody, ought a musician to break the silence of deepening night with silvery song?" More astounded, Pai-ya motioned him to enter the boat. Without hesitation the woodcutter complied. Unfastening the bundles he bore on his back, he sat down opposite his host. "Since you understand music, doubtless you can tell me the history of the lute," remarked Pai-ya. The other nodded. "The lute was conceived by Fu-hsi, the first of the Three Emperors. One evening be noticed the animated essence of the Five Celestial Planets hovering over the Dryandra tree. Soon afterwards, the King of the Winged Creatures, the Feng-huang (phoenix), perched among its branches. The Feng-huang, .. "Was a marvelous bird," interrupted Pai-ya leaning forward interestedly, "for it ate only the cleanest of bamboo seeds, sipped only sparkling waters of pellucid springs, and nested only in the green-barked Dryandra." 362
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THE FIRST LUTE "True. And Fu-hsi, seeing the tree attracted the Feng-huang and the Essence of Planets, recognized it as the Monarch among trees and at once apprehended its inherent magic power. Cutting down the tree, he divided it into three sections symbolic of the three powers in nature: heaven, earth and man. The first section proved too light, the third, too heavy; but the central portion being well balanced, he selected it. He soaked it in living waters for seventy-two days and let it dry in shadowy coolness. Then choosing an auspicious day, he entrusted the seasoned wood to Liu, a craftsman of magic skill to fashion of it an instrument whose tones could charm the floating clouds of heaven into forgetfulness of motion. Thus Liu set to work on the first lute. "It measured three feet six inches and one fen m length, corresponding to the three hundred and sixty. one degrees on the celestial globe, eight inches in width at one end, conforming to the eight principal festivals of the year; four inches at the other end, symbolizing the four seasons; and two inches in thickness, representing the two conflicting primeval forces, the Yin and Yang. The body of the instrnment perfected, he attached five strings over the gracefully curved arch typifying the five elements of nature-metal, wood, water, fire and earth. These strings Kung, Shang, Chiao, Chin, and Yu each descended one tone in scale, and were fastened to jade pegs at each end. The twelve pegs signified the twelve moons of the cycle. Pleased with his handiwork, the master craftsman submitted it to Fu-hsi, who, after vain attempts to find a name sufficiently descriptive of its merits, called it simply 'The FiveStringed Jade Lute.' My honorable host, probably, has come across records in history of the Emperor Yau playing a 'Song To The South Wind' on a lute." Gently Pai-ya plucked the strings in succession. After the fifth note had swelled in the breeze and faded in liquid vibrations, he folded hands and looked askance. "Continue, oh, Mine Host," urged the woodcutter. "Pluck the sixth string. Hark I Played singly, it wails: 'tis the moan of a heart-sick exile, the sigh of a wanderer yearning for his native land.' But I scarce had finished. Shall I continue?" 363
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Without awaiting a reply, be went on: "Wen Wang o/ the pr13sent dynasty, some five hundred years ago, tell into the hands of inv~ding b.:.rbarians, at Yu-Li. His eldest son chafed under this humiliation of the Royal House. And fearful lest his subjects should forget this outrage and neglect to seek revenge, he added a sixth string to the lute as a reminder of his father's sufferings. Hence, its haunting quality. Another string, the seventh, was added at a later period by the good Wu \i\Tang, after he had successfully driven away the dissolute Ch'ou from the throne. That has a note of rejoicing and triumph. And so the lute upon which you played derived its name 'The Seven-Stringed Wen Wu Lute'." Delighted and impressed as well, Pai-ya declared ecstatically, "Such knowledge, such. Not noticing this interruption, the woodcutter continued: "According to the Book of Rites, one should not indulge in music during the great cold, the great heat, the great wind, the great thunder or the great snow, for music and the natural elements are closely linked. Furthermore .... Here Pai-ya exclaimed, "Alas, only too well do I know what you have in mind One should not touch a musical instrument when in mourning, when distracted, or preoccupied, or unclean, or untidy, or hardest ot all, when without a responsive friend. With such restrictions, why then have music at all?" "Even so, Your Excellency," replied the woodsman. "Yet does not the Book of Rites also describe its power over mankind? Purity, awe, peace, elegance, joy, sorrow, vastness and remoteness may all find expression through certain combinations of tones. And he who masters the lute can soothe roaring tigers and shrieking hyenas." "Well phrased," applauded Pai-ya, "do you recollect how once when Confucius was playing on the lute, his favorite disciple Yen-Yuan entered the room and, startled by the unusual strains, exclaimed, 'Master, there is murder in your heart,' whereupon the Master replied, 'True. Just now I saw a cat chasing a rat and wished that the cat would catch him. My wish found its expression in these chords.' How music reveals the heart l But come, my friend, I will play a. tune. Can you tell me of what I am thinking?" 364
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HAMLET OF ASSEMBLED VIRTUES "Flowing waters and lofty peaks, that is the theme of your song," interpreterl the woodsman when Pai-ya had finished. "Your Excellency does not lack skill." At this fresh evidence of discernment, Pai-ya rose from his seat and bowed deeply to bis guest. "My illustrious friend, such penetration and subtlety as you have shown are extraordinary. How ashamed I feel to have treated you as an ordinary man!" He then ordered delicious dainties and stoups of flower-flavored wine. Little by little the woodsman told about himself. "My surname 1s Chung, my little name, Tzu-Chi. I live over there," he pointed, "in the Hamlet of Assembled Virtues, about half a li from here. I cut wood and gather faggots for a livelihood. This afternoon, held by the loveliness of the setting sun over yon mountain, I disregardf'd the falling of dusk. Thus by great good fortune, I made the acquaintance of your honorable self." \Vhen between sips of wine, Pai-ya in turn had told his story, he suggested that they compose impromptu poems for a pastime. To his amazement and delight, Tzu-Chi showed ready wit in capping verses and displayed marked familiarity with classical allusions and sources. "My friend, you a wood-cutter?" Pai-ya was moved to say, "What waste I To what may you look forward in this wilderness ? To bury yourself here is bu.t little better than vegetating with grasses and weeds. Why do you not present yourself as a candidate for a degree at the next State Examination? With your ability and learning, you -can readily procure an official post. Remember 'the scream of an eagle is heard as she passes over; but the name of a man should remain after death.' Cotne, return with me and seek honors that your name may figure in the annals of history." "Indeed, Your Highness over-rates my capabilities," protested Tzu-Chi. "' A single strand of silk does not constitute a thread; a single tree does not constitute a grove.' Yet eagerly would I follow your illustrious footsteps and prof.it by your estimable advice were I not the sole support of my aged parents. To leave thtm behind is unfilial; to take them away from home is cruel. I have no choice but to stay." 365
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK "Talent and filial piety, the traits of the superior man I Great indeed would be my sin to tempt you; yet loathe am I to part with one who can fathom the unexplored regions of my heart. What can be done? Ah, I have it! How many springs and autumns have you passed?" "Twenty-seven." "Then I am your senior by seven years," declared Pai-ya. "Will you consent to take the oath of brotherhood with me? Such a bond would unite us forever. Even death cannot sever this tie." "My lord, between you, a noble Minister at Court, and me, a lowly tiller of the soil, such a bond is unthinkable. For is it not true that 'he who touches vermillion is reddened, and he who touches ink, blackened'?" protested Tzu-Chi quoting a proverb, "'Morning is no forecaster of the evening; this life is like a dream,'" neatly parried Pai-ya. Because the eyes of the world esteem a man by his clothes instead of his person, will you deprive me of your friendship?" Thus he overcame Tzu-Chi's opposition. Again lighting the incense in the urn and kneeling, the two friends kowtowed to each other eight times, and took draughts of warm wine. The longer they talked, the more they found in common and deeper grew their mutual admiration and affection. Gradually the moon sank; and the stars, becoming fewer and fewer, finally disappeared, while streaks of white light glimmered in the eastern sky. Tzu-Chi, sighing softly, arose to leave. ''Need you go?" protested Pai-ya. "Surely, younger brother,. you may visit me for a few days!" "I would gladly tarry longer, kind brother. But did not the :VIaste~teach, 'With parents living, one must not travel far'?" "Yes; but he also said, '\Vhen he travels let him receive their consent.' Go, and ask them, if only for a short visit. I shall await you at Chin-Yang," urged Pai-ya. "I dare not promise lightly, for should I fail, you would expect me in vain." 366
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THE EVE OF MOON FESTIVAL Seeing further persuasion useless, Pai-ya counted time silently on his fingers. "Last night was the Mid-autumn Festival; to-day, the sixteenth of the Eigth Moon. As you cannot come to me, brother, I shall return here twelve moons hence to visit you. Meanwhile let us bear our parting with equanimity." "So be it, big brother, twelve moons from yestar-eve I shall welcome you at the foot of the Mo-An Shan without fail," promised Tzu-Chi joyfully. Then Pai-ya took two pieces of sycee and presented it ceremoniously with both hands to Tzu-Chi, saying, "This is a slight token of my regard for your revered father and virtuous mother. I pray you accept it and disdain not its slight value. Remember now we are brothers.'' Not wishing to hurt him, Tzu-Chi accepted it. Strapping his bundles of faggots and hatchet over his back he took leave of Pai-ya who escorted him to the river-bank. When his figure had disappeared, Pai-ya re-entered the boat sadly shaking his head A few days later, the winds being favorable, he reached the Kingdom of Chin. His mission to Ch'u having been concluded with success, the Prince of Chin received him graciously with pomp and ceremony. Time flew like an arrow, days and months like a shuttle. But for Pai-ya, time dragged on leaden feet. Finally, the cycle was nearly completed, and obtaining leave, he straightway set forth on his journey. His boat again approached Hanyang on the evening of the Moon Festiv:aJ, and as it drew near the shore he exclaimed, "Twelve moons have waxed and waned since last I saw these shores; yet I see no change. The clear orb gleams, the tall trees stand, the high peaks tower, and the bright stream ripples. Man withers and dies, never to return, but trees blossom anew each spring." When the boat had anchored, he looked eagerly in all directions. But Tzu-Chi did not appear. "I know! Last time he came when he heard my lute. Now again shall I play. It shall be a song of welcome." Lighting the incense urn, and adjusting his robes, he commenced a merry tune. But a moaning broke out upon the evening stillness, and instead of dancing trills, a succession of painful wails 367
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK came from the lute. Startled, he stopped. "Why does the second string sob and the fourth string sigh? My younger brother must be in trouble. \Vhy does he not come? At dawn I shall go ashore to seek him." Putting away the lute, he courted sleep in vain. At the first hint of daylight, he went ashore followed by a servant carrying gifts for Tzu-Chi. Undaunted by the steep ascent, he toiled laboriously upward. At last, panting with exertion, his clothes drenched with perspiration, he reached the mountain top. Not waiting to rest, he descended on the other side to a valley. There he saw two paths leading in opposite directions. Undecided. which to follow, and exhausted, he collapsed on a stone-hewn bench by the roadside. Ere long from the left path approached a figure; an old man bent with toil drew near. In one hand he held a bamboo cane upon which he leaned heavily; on his other arm dangled a bamboo basket. Pai-ya arose and with folded hands saluted him. The old man, returning the salutation, inquired, "Is there aught I can do for you? You are a stranger to these parts." "Venerable Sir, which of these paths lead~ to the Hamlet of Ass em bled Virtues?" "Both. The left leads to the Upper Hamlet, the rig_ht leads to the Lower Hamlet. To which do you desire to go?" "I desire to go to the hamlet in which dwells Chung Tzu-Chi." "Chung Tzu-Chi, my son?" cried the old man while tears were coursing down his cheeks. "What do you wish of him?" "I love him as a brother, and would do him no harm," assured Pai-ya. "Harm? He is beyond that! Listen! Last Moon Festival while out gathering wood on these shores, he became acquainted with the Minister of Chin, with whom he talked all night. They became friends, and on parting the Minister presented him with two pieces of sycee. Knowing my son's love of knowledge, I advised him to spend that money on books, for although poor, our family has produced many generations of scholars. My boy, always studiously inclined, now burned with a hunger for learning worthy of the Minister's friendship. 368
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DEATH OF TZU-CHI .And so he bought books and more books. I, a foolish old man, restrained him not. Daytime, he cut wood, a most taxing task; nights, he pored over his studies. Thus, in a few moons his strength gave out, and he died. Now I am childless," he lamented. Stunned, Pai-ya raised his voice and wept without restraint, beating his breast with clenched fists, and stamping his feet on the ground. "My friend, my brother, have I loved you only to lose you? Have we parted forever? Will you never answer again to the call of my lute? \\Till we never again feel that peace of perfect communion; will our spirits never soar again on wings of exquisite ecstacies? Tzn-Chi, Tzu-Chi, how can I bear your loss?" Amazed at this, the old man turned to the servant, "\Vho is this gentleman; whence does he come? Why is he so agitated ? "Speak softly," whispered the servant. "He is no other than His Excellency, Yu Pai-ya, the Minister of Chin." "The friend of my son!" Brushing away his own tears he turned to comfort Pai-ya. "Be not so grieved, my lord. I have a message for you. My dying son req,1ested me to tell you that had he lived, he would have kept his appointment in person, for he yearned unceasingly for you; and even in death he would keep it in spirit. Hence he begged me to bury him at the foot of the Mo-An-Shan, in the very spot where he had promised to await you. I was on my way thither when I met you. Little did I imagine you to be the Minister." Shaking with emotion, Pai-ya replied, "Thank you, Honorable Sir. Tzu-Chi and I swore the oath of brotherhoodere we parted last year. Tzu-Chi gone, you are without a son. Let me take his place. Allow me to salute you, my father!" And before the old man could protest, he prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed three times before him. Silently they re-entered the valley; and retracing their steps in the -direction of the river, they arrived at the foot of the Mo-An-Shan. The old man made his way slowly to a fresh grave, and pam:ed. Taking from the basket shoe-shaped ingots of tin foil, to represent silver sycee, he put them in a sacrificial urn to offer to the spirit of his departed son. Within a few minutes the fire had consumed the offering. 369
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Meanwhile Pai-ya having adjusted his garments, knelt before the grave and kowtowed, "Tzu-Chi in this living world of light, you were wondrous wise; in the nether world of darkness, your soul must still retain its sentiency. Know you, then, that joyous I hurried hither to greet you; and woeful, I must now leave you. Farewell, farewell!" Lifting his lute to a stone slab at the side of the grave, which served as a sacrificial table, he sat monk-fashion on the ground, and improvised a tune while chanting the following words: "Last year under the silvery moon, We met for the first time, n9ne too soon. To-day I thought to greet again, You, my brother, beloved friend. You rise not when the lute I sound, Before me lies a fresh clay mound. Alas! painful throbs my heart, Bleeding that again we part. Happy, I sailed Hanyang-ward, Desolate, my return homeward! Over the tree-tops gloomy cluster the lowering clouds, Our friendship can ne'ver be sensed by vulgar crowds. This song finished, never more shall I play. This lute too has sung its last, sad or gay." When the echoes had died, holding the lute in both hands, and raising it high overhead, he smashed it against the stone slab. Turning to the frightened old man he explained: "Beyond recall has Tzu-Chi flown, And my heart has weary e-rown. Shattered, lifeless, lies my lute, Happy to follow Tzu-Chi's suit." Posterity has it that, after returning to the Kingdom of Chin to put his affairs in order, Pai-ya resigned from office. He then went to the Hamlet of Assembled Virtues, erected a magnificent tomb for Tzu-Chi and cared for the latter's father as his own. 370
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The Wife Of Chuang Chow "They who are not enemies do not meet, E'en as such how long each they greet, Love, Devotion, all bonds Death severs, 0, Constancy, thy vain endeavors!" lfN the latter days of the Chow Dynasty the Sage Lao-Tzu (founder Jl of Taoism) was born. He came into the world with snow white hair like that of an old man, and people called him Lao-Tzu, literally meaning, "Old Boy." Among his disciples was a scholar named Chuang Chow, who dreamed repeatedly of a white butterfly. Once he told the Sage of his dreams and asked their significance. "The butterfly of your dreams is yourself in a previous incarnation," explained Lao-Tzu. "In an earlier life you were a beautiful white butterfly with wings the size of cartwheels. You spent your days flitting hither and thither, sipping the nectar of flowers, but one day you rifled the Blossom of Delight of its perfume and angered the Yellow Goddess to such an extent that she set a bird to peck you to death. In time you were reborn into the world." Having heard the story of his former existence, and grieved by his own wrong doing, Chuang Chow set himself tasks of penance and deep meditation. His master Lao-Tzu observed his earnestness and pitying his dejection, he taught him the secrets and mysteries of the Taoist religion, keeping back nothing. For days and nights Chuang Chow devoted himself to the study of Taoism until in time he could chant by heart the five thousand characters of the doctrine. He became so well versed in strange and marvellous miracles that he could make himself invisible to mortal sight, change his shape, travel in the air, be present at various different places at the same time, and perform other unusual feats. 371
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Though he was new a Taoist, he did not forsake life. In '.fact, at the time of this story, Chuang Chow had .already muried thrice. His first wife died; he divorced his second wife, but his third wife, Tien, was beautiful and accomplished, and he loved her deeply. Now it happened that the Prince of Chu heard of Chuang Chow's learning and accomplishments, and desired him for Prime Minister. Messengers were accordingly dispatched to the scholar bearing gifts of rich brocades, shining silver, translucent jades, prancing steeds, and a variety of wonderful things. But coveting not worldly fame or honors, and knowing well the caprices of royal masters, Chuang Chow declined the post and gifts; and taking Tien with him, he fled to the solitude of the mountains. One day while out walking on a mountain path, his thoughts upon the dual principle of the \'i11 ;ind Y,n1R in nature, he came upon a young woman clothed in the coar~e yellow hempen garments of deep mourning sitting by the side of a newly made grave. In her hand was a large fan with which she vigorously stirred the air over the mound. Touched and astonished by her actions Chuang Chow went to her and inquired : "vVhat are you doing, my good woman?" "Your unfortunate handmaid has just lost her husband. His bones lle here," replied the woman. "When he was alive, we each .pledged that neither would marry again until the sod on the grave of the beloved was dry. Methinks a long time will elapse ere this clay becomes dry. I am fanning it now to hasten its drying." Chuang Chow smiled. "You need not tire your arms," he remarked, "Let me help you." He took the fan from her and waved it thrice over the grave and the clay was instantly dry. Quickly the young widow leaped to her feet and blithely she cast off her mourning clothes. And rejoicing, she kowtowed to Chuang Chow and insisted upon his keeping her fan. Then,' with never a backward glance at the grave, she tripped merrily off toward town. That evening as he sat sipping a cup of vVhite Rose wine in the moonlight, Chuang Chow took the fan out of his pocket and sighed. -"Alas," he murmured. 372
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EMPTY WOI{DS "They who are not enemies do not meet, E'en as such how long each they greet, Love, Devotion, all bonds Death severs, 0, Constancy, thy vain endeavors !" Ilis wife, standing behind him overheard his sighs and begged to share his sorrow. So he related the story of the afternoon's incident, stressing the joy of the widow in leaving the grave as soon as it was dry. "What an unspeakable hussy," remarked Tien indignantly. "I never heard of such shameless conduct. Though the world is wide, such a woman must be uniq~e." But Chuang Chow only sighed the more deeply and hummed a stanza:. "Life pulsing, eternal love she vowed, Death facing, when will the grave be dried? Many can draw a tiger, few can trace its bones, 0, \Voman, thy face and heart, Will both mourn when I depart?" Tien grew angry and replied :-"Although human nature is everywhere the same, virtue and the lack of virtue are two different things. Why do you speak of me so lightly? Judge not all womankind by one faithless woman." "\Vords, empty words. Of what use are they? vVith your flow_erlike beauty, would you, could you, remain single for, say, even three years after I am dead? Ah?" questioned Chuang Chow. "A faithful official does not serve two princes, a virtuous woman does not marry twice, thus runs an old saying," said Tien. "Should misfortune descend upon me and your death precede mine, never, never, would I consent lo the ignominy of becoming the wife of another." "vVell, it is hard to say," taunted her husband. "A virtuous woman surpasses a virtuous man," retorted Tien. "To be sure one can only judge others by oneself. For instance, I have known a man to be so utterly neglectful of propriety that at the death of his first wife, he took another, and finding the second wife unpleasing, straightway divorced her and married a third time. 373
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Humph!" pieces. MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK Snatching the fan from Chuang Chow, she tore it to "No need to get angry," Chuang Chow said smoothly. "Your words do you credit." A few days later Chuang Chow fell ill and steadily grew worse. Then calling his wife to him, he said: "No medicine can be of any avail now, for already I feel the chill of death in my bones. I have reached the end of my years. It is too bad that you tore the fan to pieces the other day. Had you not been so angry, you might have found it useful in drying the clay upon my grave!" "Alas, alas, how can you jest?" protes ted Tien, her beautiful almond eyes reddened with weeping. "Your handmaiden has had enough learning to know that a word once spoken can never be broken. I swear to you that I will be faithful to your memory, whatever happens. Doubt not, or I will kill myself before your eyes. \Vhen you are dead, my heart, too, will die; I shall Jive but with the thought of rejoining you hereafter." "Your sincerity allays any doubts m me. I can now close my eyes in peace," breathed Chuang Chow, and his body soon grew stiff and still. Broken-hearted, Tien implored the help of neighbors for the last ceremonies for the dead. For several days and nights, dressed in harsh hemp cloth, she kept vigil by her husband's bier. About a week after his death a young scholar named Wong-Sun, who had already attained the literary degree of Sui-tsai, came to see the Master. \,Vhen he was told that Chuang Chow was no more, the scholar clothed himself in deep mourning and kowtowing four times before the coffin, cried, "How miserable am I, 0 Master! From over the mountains I have come to seek thy wisdom. Alas! cruel fate, .cruel fate!" And kowtowing four more times, he sent his servant to beg an interview with Tien. At first Tien refused to be seen. But she was at last won over by Won~-Sun's servant, who depicted touchingly the youthful scholar's disappointment and grief at not finding Chuang Chow alive and his -earnest desire to pay his respects to his widow. Signifying her 374
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THE HANDSOME STUDENT willingness to receive the visitor, Tien rose and went into the outer apartments. At the threshold she paused to receive Wong-Sun's greetings with down-cast eyes. Afte.r expressing his appreciation in being received, Wong-Sun continueil: "Some time ago, I had the honor of receiving a letter from the Master in which he designated this time as fitting for my journey here. How heavy my heart then, Madame, to find that his spirit had departed ere I had the honor of listening to his instructions in person. With your permission, may I consider myself his unworthy disciple? Though cold and lifeless his mortal body, his spirit remains alive. Could I but be near the books he loved, in the surroundings he sanctified, then should I becor!le steeped in his infinite wisdom. Dare I, then, Madame, beg for freedom of access to his study for a hundred days, to mourn his loss, and to commune with the spirit of him whom Fate has not permitted me to worship in life?" Tien was about to seek an excuse for refusing this request, when raising her lowered eyes, for the first time she beheld Wonir-Sun. Straight and tall, slim and supple, he stood before her. How handsome his face, how noble his mien! His countenance flushed by sorrow, his eyes glowing with eagerness and a nervous intensity evidently foreign to the youthful scholar's usual serenity, moved her greatly. She found herself swept away by her admiration, and unable to refuse his request. She beckoned him to follow her into Chuahg Chow's study and herself showed him its contents, indicating the books on Taoism and her husband's own manuscripts. The days passed now too rapidly. Each increased her love for Wong-Sun. In the beginning, she merely sighed, but, as time wore on, she decided to resort to her wits. Seeking vVong-Sun's servant one day as he was on his way to his master's apartments, she called to him and set choice wine before him, saying: "Old man, what manner of beauty is thy young mistress?" "My master is yet unwed." "Ah, I fancy so accomplished and handsome a gentleman is hard to please. Come, I am sad, and long for diversion. Tell me wbat type of beauty best pleases your young master," coaxed Tien, "for I have many pretty cousins who are not yet betrothed. Besides, I am 375
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MADAME CHIAr-;G KAI-SHEK in sore need of amusing conversation," and as she set delicate viands. before the old man and urged him ~o sit down, her hands trembled. "Nay, this is no subject for jest," protested the old man. "If the truth be told, it was only last night my master sighed that other ladies fall so far short of young Madame's wit and beauty." Overcome with delight, Tien threw caution to the winds. "Tell your master he need sigh no more. Go quickly, old man, be you our match-maker." "A thousand pardons, young Madame, I had scarcely finish~d," continued the old man, "tis true my master sighed, and, having learned the cause of his sorrow, I hinted that a formal proposal of marriage be made to young Madame. But no, my master only sighed the more deeply, for the bond between Master and Disciple is as sacred and inviolable as that between Father and Son, he said, and he would be loathe to err against propriety." "Tell your master to be of good cheer, for since he never saw my late husband in person, nor went through the rites of becoming a disciple, in all truth this bond of Master and Disciple never existed. Can he then sin against that which never was?" triumphantly demanded Tien. Urged by the now openly infatuated woman, the old man promised to speak to his master on the first occasion which presented itself. Days passed and the servant did not return. Unable to bear the suspense, Tien waylaid him again and asked whether he had spoken to his master. "Alas, alas," he replied as he shook his head. "Speak!" commanded Tien. "\Vhat did your master say?" "Young Madame's wit and beauty," replied the old man, "surpasses that of all womankind, my master admitted. As to the bond of Master and Disciple, he decided that might be overcome. But there remain three difficulties in the way of attaining Madame's hand, and so insurmountable do these barriers appear, that my master has. despaired." "Quick, what are they?" 376
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THE WIDOW'S EXPEDIENCY "T11e first is that !he hocly of the departed lies in state in the most honorecl position in the large tin/!, (hall). A wedding in this atmosphere, my master fears, would prove most inauspicious for all concerned. Besides, a wedding ceremony perforrned in the same room in which a coffin lies would not look well. The second is that the late honorable Chuang Chow was a man of such distinction and attainment I hat my master would prove a most unworthy successor. Besides, the mutual devotion between young l\fadame and the departed is so well known that my master would be loathe to cause Madame lo he made a laughing stock in the neighborhood. As for the third, alas, my master is a poor struggling scholar. He has not the face to offer hi:11self empty-handed. He is unable to bear even the expenses of a wedding ceremony." "Tell your master," said Tien in a ti.rm voice, "these obstacles are not insurmountable. Here is my answer. As for the coffin, it shall, by my order, be remdved immediately to one of the back outhouses. As to the learning and accomplishment of my late husband, they were born of mere he:1rsay. He had no deep fund of wisdom, else why did he flee into these mountains when the Prince of Chu invited him to become Prime Minister? As for our mutual devotion, that, too, iii only a rumor, for did we not have a most seriou,; falling out over his violent flirtation with a young widow only a few days before his death? Now as to the question of money, tell your master that what is enough for one can be stretched to suffice for two. He is of the Wong family, I, of the Tien family. Onr social positions are equal, .and we can marry with propriety. I have saved twenty taels of silver which is sufficient for all necessary expenses. quickly, old man, and see that you return without delay. stay away again on the pretext of insurmountable obstacles. hring good tidings, I shall reward yon." Go, then, Do not I [ yon Before long the old man returned and said that his master was only too happy to have the obstacl~s removed, and begged Tien to choose an auspicious day for the wedding. She immediately c:hose that same evening. At the appoi'lted time, robed in a rich bridal costume of red_ satin h~avily embroidered with silve1 and gold threads, she awaited th~ pridgeroom, who arrived in e(J ually gorgeous rohes,o
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MADAME CHIANG KAI-SHEK The ceremony having been performed, and several rounds of wine drunk, the couple proceeded to the bridal chamber. But no sooner had he entered then the bridegroom staggered to a chair, and laying his head on the table, he groaned and writhed as if in great l)ain. Alarmed, Tien called lo the old servant. "Come, old man, your master is in pain and unable to answer me. What is the matter?" Taking one look at \Vong-Sun, the old servant wrung his hands, exclaiming, "Alas, my master has one of his heart attacks. Many doctors have prescribed for him, but only one medicine will cure him." "\\'hat is it? Fetch it immediately!" "\Vould that I could," sighed the old man. "You must," commanded Tien. "\Vhat is the medicine?" "Alas, it is the brain of a newly killed man steeped in hot wine. As soo11 as my master swallows that, his pains cease. Ordinarily, when he has these attacks, I go to the Prince of Chu who orders the death of a convict sentenced to life-imprisonment, and thus the neces sary remedy is provided. But now, alas, we are no longer in the Kingdom of Chu. \Vhere can the brain be procured? \Vithout it, my master must die. See, even now he grows weaker and looks blood less," the old man mourned. "Stop yo~r wailing," cried Tien, now desperate. "Listen, old man, would. the brain of a dead man do?" "Yes, if the person has been dead no longer than seven times seven days, for then the brain is not yet dried." "Well," breathed Tien in relief, "why didn't you say so at first and save time? Consider your master's life saved, for only some twenty days have passed since Chuang Chow breathed his last. \Vhat say you to extracting his. brain for your master?" "Ah, hut young Madame would not consent," ventured the servant. "Not consent? Have I not given myself? Why, then, should I grudge the brain of the dead? Come, old man, place your master on the bed," directed Tien. 37S
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CHlrANG d10\v HEi'uiiNS TO Lll"E .. She then\venl 'swiftly lo fetch a hatchet. Holding it in one hand, and a lamp in the other, she entered the dark outhouse where Chuang Chow's coffin lay. Setting down the lamp, she held the hatchet in lioth bands and dealt several resouridirig blows upo11 the coffin lid. At last it was shattered. A sigh, faint as an echo, escaped from the coffin.. Chuang Chow sat bolt upright and pushed aside the shattered co(Jin lid. Tien's hatchet dropped from her nerveless hand. She stood rooted to the spot, eyes bulging, her mouth wide open ........ ;. ,; "Come wife, help me out," directed Chuang Chow. Receiving no' assistance frcm her, he stepped out of the coffin, and, taki~~ the lamp in one hand, he beckoned her to follow him. Almost against h~r ,viii Tien obeyed. To her great relief, upori entering the bridai ~h'airiber all signs of Wong-Sun and the old man had disappeared. "My husband, my lord," T.ien addressed Chuang Chow as she gathered courage, "how rejoiced I am that you are returned. I have thought of nought but you since your death, and my poor eyes are well nigh blinded with weeping. Many a time have I gone to the side of your coffin, striving to glean a ray of comfort near your mortal remams. Ho\V fortunate that, keeping vigil by your side this evening, I heard you sighing, and recalling instances when the dead have returned, I hastily broke open your coffin. Fortunate, fortunate woman that I am I My fondest hope is realized. The gods indeed must have been touched by my anguish and bitter tears." "Thank you for your beautiful thoughts. \Vho knows that you are right? \Vould that I could repay in kind!" exclaimed Chiiang Chow. "But wife, 'tis not many days since I died but I find you in these gay bridal robes parading most seductively your flower-like beauty. \Vhat is the m(!aning ? "My h.>rd, does not a traveler, braving hardships and perils such a.s those you must have undergone in returning from the other world, like to find joyous preparations awaiting him? lf you find yo"ur handmaiden pleasing in her poor attempts to welcome you, her happiness overflows," replied the ready-tongued Tien, "ill becoming ,vould it have been .indeed, had I welcomed you in a garment of co'arse hemn.'' 379
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~-tADA\-IE CHl.-\1\'G KAI-SHEK "How thoughtful of my happiness, wife! Your words do yo1i credit'.. But may I be enlightened as to the reason for my coffin being removed from its rightful place of honor to an outhouse in the rear? Surely it is not seemly to welcome the master of the house by the back door?" Tien had no reply. Chuang Chow ordered her te bring him \Vhite Rose wine. He leaned out of the window to ga,,e at the bright moon, taking a sip of the wine every now and then. Finding the suspense unbearable, and curious as lo his loni.:silence, Tien moved near him. Chuang Chol\' seemed oblivious of her presence. Terrified at the th'.rn!!ht that she had lost her power over her husband, she spoke of her love for him, how much she had mourned his death, and how rejoiced she felt at his return. In her gentle, flute-like tones, she con tinned her endearments. Chuang Chow finally turned his head towards her and smiled. "Beautiful, beautiful face," he exclaimed. "Longing for me has added a bloom to your cheeks, wife. Bring me a brush and ink that I may immortalize ycur charms in verse," he requested. Taking the brush in his hand, Chuang Chow wrote: "Once fooled is once too often. Though now you love me, with yon I'd not be seen. Should l once more be beguiled, My corpse, would it not be defiled ? Tien, reading it over his shoulder, gasped. Taking up the brush again, Chuang Chow wrote: "Man and wife, beware of avowed devotion Love the new groom ere the old is cold ; Break the coffin with a motion, 7ait not to fan the clay o'er the mould." "Lest my absence made you long for diversion, let me now offer you some compensation," said Chuang Chow. "Look!" He waved his hand. Tien, almost swooning, -saw \Vong-Sun and the old man shuffling towards her. She covered he1 eyes and screamed. \Vhen she looked again, they were nowhere to he seen, for Chuang Chow had resumed his natural form. 380
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