277
May 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
China and the Nations B y G eorge W. M c P herson Yonkers, New York
T HE thought of the whole world is now centered on the “Middle Kingdom.” China at last has been rudely shocked out of her long. slumber into semi-con sciousness and is undergoing far-reaching changes, the end of which no one can foretell. Many persons in this vast nation appear anxious at last to make an honest effort, even though North and South are divided and at war, to adapt themselves to modern ways of doing things—to the new scientific age-—and thus be able to cope with the aggressive foreigner, who for many years has been forcing himself and his civilization upon her, even to the extent of gaining some legally established privileges, known as For eign Concessions, on China’s sacred soil. All the nations are vocal in their declarations that they have no designs upon China, no desire to disturb the peace of the world, and in this we should presume that they are sincere, while at the same time circumstances have com pelled them to rush more soldiers to protect Shanghai than there are foreign residents in that city, and sufficient war supplies to blow up every port in China. Doubtless they mean to be ready to do what is right in the event of any' possible scramble that may be just ahead.. And thus it has always been since men began to look selfishly and also with covetous eyes upon that which is their neighbor’s. C h in a ’ s P ast S tory It may be well to first note some general facts regard ing this ancient race. China’s authenticated history dates back about 2500 years, but her legendary history beyond that time to about 2,800 years B. C., though much of the latter should be accepted largely on faith. Since the Boxer Rebellion, and as a result of the impact of our Christian civilization, China has been slowly changing, nevertheless her old civilization is still largely intact, even though the “pigtail” has gone and the custom of binding the feet is rapidly passing. China has given to the world the mar iner’s compass, but for centuries the nation has. in matters of science, been almost at a standstill. This, however, is not so true of her literature and art. In the realm of religion some progress has been made in the last few cen turies. Due to the influence of western education, and especially to the presence of the missionaries, not a few of the student class, and the intelligentsia generally, as of the great common mass, have been slowly turning their atten tion to Christianity. It is a fact that, while Confucianism is the system of thought most observed, the nation has no state, or what might be called a national religion, as is the case with some of the nations of the West. Taoism, Budd hism, Shintoism, like Confucianism, have for years been losing their hold upon the people. But China is charged with vast moral and material power and possibilities. Many of her educated classes are now seeking to incorporate into the nation’s life the best in western civilization, though progress in this direc tion has been exceedingly slow. When China’s millions will have become united, around a new spiritual ideal -77 namely, Jesus Christ—what will not this awakening nation be able to accomplish, for, in the last analysis, her moral possibilities are her greatest asset. Notwithstanding all her moral and material resources,
China today is exceedingly poor. A well trained and equipped western army of 300,000 could conquer her mil lions of disunited and impoverished peoples. Due to wars, heavy taxation, and the corruption of her past rulers and present military and political brigands, the nation has been bled white, consequently this great prostrate giant of Asia constitutes one of the most pathetic and momentous prob lems of modern times. What is China going to do for herself? What are the nations going to do with China? What is the attitude of the great powers most interested in the crisis in the Far East ? These are the great questions now under consideration. W hat A bout R u s s ia ? Because of her long frontier and sympathy with and active support of the armies of the South, Russia, of all the nations, is exerting the most powerful influence in China. If the daily press in the Asiatic countries I have visited, as India, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, the Straits Set tlements, the Philippines, China, and even in Egypt and Japan are stating the facts, Russia is carrying on a far- reaching propaganda in China and also among the working peoples of the above mentioned countries. In China, how ever, this intensive and extensive promotion of rebellion is most pronounced. I have consulted many persons in those countries—professional and business men, soldiers, wage-earners, travelers, writers, native and foreign clergy men serving in the East—and they all agree that the Rus sian influence is what has most confused and upset the masses of the South and abetted their organized resistance of the Northern armies. Russia is reported to be the chief source of the military supplies for the Cantonese armies, and that it is due largely to her propaganda that the natives have been aroused against the missionaries, by representing them as the agents of the foreign governments and the capitalistic class. If this is true, and Chinese merchants themselves affirm that it is, then the vast problem in that country today. is not so much China as it is Russian Bolshevism. Her agents are active everywhere, not alone in China, but even in Japan and the United States, seeking to arouse class against class, instigate strikes, boycotts, intimida tion, to arouse the masses, to picture the business man, small or great, as the despoiler of the poor, and also to cre ate hatred for religion, and particularly the Christian religion, referring to the Cross of ChristH-the world’s greatest symbol of love and sacrifice—as a superstitious dogma, used only by cowardly priests and ministers to shelter an ignorant aristocracy and the capitalist in his robbery of the world. With such an inflammable influence set afoot in China, it need not be wondered that there is a revolution in that country. If the masses of the working people in the other nations should be won to believe in this colossal system of falsehood, doubtless we would witness a world revolu tion. And this is the aim of the Russian Bolshevists—to Sovietize the whole world by the cut-throat, bloody way of social revolution. How long will'the nations permit Russia to carry on this insidious propaganda in their midst? Can the working masses be finally won over by
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