“BUILDING - China Ss Republic EPIC OF VISION - VALOUR - VICTORYBuilding, Giina’s Republic China alone of existing nations can boast of a civilisation stretching back over 6,000 years. It is this fact which makes so fascinating the study of her reactions to the new social and economic forces which ai stirring the world. There are signs that this ancient civilisation which like some vigorous plant that has defied droughts, storms and all the selective processes of nature, will surprise the world by the quantity and quality of the fruits which will spring from the new branches which her modern leaders have grafted on to this virile stock which has the strength of ages in it. Tt has been said that the: ,000,000 of people who inhabit this 4,000,000 square miles of territory called China, have, in that long history, done all the wise things and all the foolish things that society keeps on doing still. One thing we know is the ripe experience gained in their long unbroken history, a ed qualities of patience, tolerance and endurance which rich China’s contribution to the New World to which s so nobly dedicating her resources. It is only pos in the compass of this pamphlet to give the barest outline of China's story. The origin of the people has not been definitely determined. Some say they came from Egypt, others contend they drifted from Mesopotamia whilst other authorities consider the race was cradled on the high plateaux of Central Asia. We do know that 2,000 years B.C they were established in Shenshi Province inside the great loop of th Yellow River. Their first great Dynasty “The Chou” seized power about 1,100 B.C. They built a splendid Em irrigated the land, used metals and invented writing and argued philosophy. Confuscius lived 500 B. Mencius nearly 200 later and Lao-''se who believed in absolute simplicity followed and resi teachings of both predecessors. Philosophical thought in China was rich and varied when our forefathers were savages The Chou dynasty gave way to that of Ch'in during which a more centralised State was established. Uniform weights and measures w introduced and the Great Wall of China built—a stupendous underta which astronomers tell us is the only work of man on earth that would be visible from the Planet Later came “The Han” dynasty, an age in China which cori with the Periclean in , the Augustan in Rome and the El in England, During th sty the frontiers of ( westward in Turkestan, beyond Samarkland, where they touched frontiers of Roman territory. Along the great Cai acro: Asia were carried precious China silks and perfumes and in excl was brought back the art and more precious still—the Philosophy eee It would almost seem as if the modern rev f learning in China and the place which the scholar i New Life Movement, the rekindling of the Spirit of China's g ynasty. In that dynast; there was no landed aristocracy, no hereditary ruling class, The Scholars who controlled the State by th ul civil service the world has ever seen, might spring from a The culture and achievement i to the worth of the leadership of trained reason, Thirteen hundred years ago, eight hundred years before the Chinese practised printing and even printed bank notes, China has experienced many invasions—her territory has bec run by conquerors like Genghis Khan, the Mongol destroyer, but in every ence of Chinese habits and culture submerged the invaders and China has ultimately triumphed. In 1644, the last of China's con. , the Manchu, warrior tribes arrived, but they made no social and they too were merged into the life of the nation.In the i9th century, the system of Government which the Manchu Winperors had maintained since 1644, became shaken from within by the jecuent of western political ideals, which were penetrating the minds ox the intelligensia and also by the direct assault of the Western Powers on tne policy of isolation, followed by the Manchus. The argument of ‘Armaments was too. powerful to be resisted by the Chinese, and the gates oi China were opened. China’s defeat by Japan in 1894 still further weakened the regime whilst the suppression of the Boxer rebellion in 4yuv, consolidated foreign influence. THE RE VOLUTION. In 1911, the Storm broke. The revolutionary seed which had been sown widely by Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen, bore fruit, and his able lieutenants Chin Chi-Mei and Chiang-Kai-Shek with their revolutionary “Dare to die” bands, successfully staged a revolution and permanently overthrew the Manchu Government. On New Year's Day, 1912, Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen was inaugurated Provisional President of the Chinese Republic. In a country as vast as China, which for over a century has been subjected to the corrupting influence of a cruel reactionary government, it could only be expected that the land would be torn with divisions, and civil conflicts. The cross currents of these conflicting interests at times so powerfully deflect the main stream of events that it is sometimes difficult to trace the true course which can alone explain the tragic story of the Chinese Republic. Following the Revolution, Yuan Shih-Kai—the power behind the Manchu throne, faced with revolution came to terms with the Kuomintang (The People's Party). He persuaded the Boy Emperor to abdicate, and Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen, who was not ambitious, resigned the Presidency, to devote his life to the education of the people for the responsibility of citizen- ship. Yuan Shik-Kai was elected President and almost immediate.y began to plot for the overthrow of the Republic. He dissolved the Parlia- ment and proclaimed the restoration of the monarchy. In 1915, he pre- pared to assume the imperial tit.< nimself. The reorganised Kuomintang was forced to secure allies, in the barons and war lords, and Yuan’ ambitions were frustrated and he died the following year. A new phase of political instability opened. War lord jostled with war lord for power over swiftly changing groups of provinces. Mean- while the Kuomintang prepared at Canton for the day when it could bring unity and good government to China, and the programme framed and launched there, in spite of all the vicissitudes of the Republic, has con- sistently progressed, and is the great hope of China. A CHAPTER OF DISHONOUR. It is a matter for regret and shame that Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen and gifted cultured wife, with their heroic band of helpers did not rece greater assistance from the Western Democracies, who professed so mucn concern for the future of China. This gallant figure battling against tremendous odds—fighting against incurable disease in his own body, as well as the terrible disorders in his beloved country, deserved better than he received. During the century that’ has elapsed since ern Powers forced their way into China, she has had little for which to thank the white races, Almost the first demand made was that the opium trade be extended. British, French, Germans, Russians, Italians, Americans and Belgians all came to the helpless country para- lysed by ages of corrupt government, and proceeded to help themselve Some got trade concessions, some seized territory, others took ports, some leased others, loaned money at high interest, and almost all staked out their spheres of influence for a future land grab. The heroic efforts of Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen to regenrate his country, made no difference to the Imperial plunderers. In fact, his programme which included the nationalisation of all the mineral wealth, transport, ductive power of the Republic, made these powers definitely hostile as they realised that with the success of the Republic, all hopes of rich mineral ions and extra-territorial rights would disappea The hostility which had been directed at the Soviet Union, a few year ealier, by the same interests, was now directed at the very mild socialistic policy of Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen. Without bearing in mind the tremendous pressure of these unseen hands on Chinese polities, it is impossible to interpret its mysteries. How cruelly unjust was the attitude adopted by the British Goyern- ment, in 1932, when Sir John Simon speaking—not on behalf of the British people, but for British Ruling Class interests, justified Japan in her aggression, may be realised by a study of Chinese progress. In 1929, out of 41,000,000 Chinese children between the ages of six and nine, only. 8,840,000, barely 21 per cent. attended primary school. Of th only a small fraction went on to a secondary school, and only about 30,000 were absorbed annually in China’s universities, whilst about 5,000 wont to foreign universities. Four years later, one year aftér Sir Johu Simons betrayal of collective security and Mr. Amery, M.P. had declared that Japan was justified in going into China to preserve order, we find the number of children in primary schools had gone up to 12,000,000, an increase of 3,160,000 in four years, whilst secondary schools had increased from 1142 to 8125. To make up for the previous lack of primary schools, the government had established 40,000 schools for adults attended by at least 4,000,000 men and woben who learned to read newspapers and books and to appreciate their civic responsibilities. At the same time, notable progress was made in flood ‘prevention, irrigation, road building, public health, currency reform and the establishment of co-operatives. The beneficial influence of Japan upon Chinese life which Mr. Amery M.P. was so zealously advocating may be best appreciated by reference to Book of the Year, 1941, Ency Brittanica, Page 232, in which we find that out of a total of 118 universities and colleges, 91 have been either occupied damaged or destroyed by Japanese. This authority further stated: “In China, where life was badly disrupted, the determination to remain free resulted in the repeated trek of universities from their original situs, in Eastern China, to places in Western China. Moreover, the Chinese universities were inspired by new and forward looking ideals, which have already produced far reaching results in elevating standards, quickening interest in primary and adult education and stimulating the students to organise the people in relief and social services.” The magnitude of the offence committed by the signatories of the Nine Power Pact (which guaranteed the territorial integrity of China; when they failed to oppose Japanese aggression, can only be fully realised when we remember the heroic struggle China was making in response io the leadership given by Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen, to achieve national regeneration along such lines as every liberal thinker would approve. This betrayal becomes a crime against not only China, but civili- sation, when it is learned that in the very year of the condoned aggres- sion, in Manchuria, Japan was engaged in a fierce persecution of her own liberal leaders. In October 1932, this reign of terror reached its peak, On one night, one thousand people were arrested, for that month, two thousand two hundred and fifty people, comprising a large proportion of professors, teachers and students of the universities were either ex- ecuted or thrown into concentration camps. Thus Japan stifled the voices in her own country, which would have been raised against the plans of the militarists. Tt came as a shock to the average decent Britisher to realise that the Representatives of his Government were amongst those who saw nothing in these outrages to disqualify Japan from invading China to take up the role of guide and guardian of civilisation there. CHI SE STUDENTS. In all countries striving for Freedom the students of colleges and universities have played a notable part. In Czarist Russia, Poland, an Czecho Slovakia, the courage and devotion of the students has been an inspiration. In China, they form the very vanguard of the progressive movement. James Bertram in ‘Crisis in China” pays a great tribute to the courage of these young people aged from 14 to 18, who with fine daring never lacked leaders to march right into the ranks of the opposing police. Bertram tells how he has been more affected by students pro- cessions in China than in any other country not even excepting the March of the Komsomol (Youth Organisation) in the Red Square of