in this prosperous country. The cause for which they are working certainly deserves the hearty support of every one who is interested in China and her people. A WORD ABOUT OUR STAFF Among the staff of CHRISTIAN CHINA this year are Messrs. C. T. Kwei and L. S. Loh, associate editors, and Mr. Daniel C. Fu, managing editor. Mr. Kwei, graduate of Yale and Cornell, is well known to practically every member of the Association as he has been serving this institution for many years in various ways. He has recently returned to China to join the teaching staff of the Union Medical College at Peking. It is indeed extremely fortunate for CHRISTIAN CHINA to retain him among its staff, as he will be in a position to report home conditions and his reflections upon them. Mr. Loh is now doing graduate work in education in the University of Chicago. He is already quite familiar with the work of CHRISTIAN CHINA to which he has contributed articles in the past. Mr. Fu has studied in the University of Chicago and has served overseas in Y. M. C. A. work for the Chinese laborers. He is, therefore, well prepared both through training and experience to serve as managing editor as well as general secretary of the Association. JOIN THE ASSOCIATION! It is the customary practice of this Association to launch a membership campaign at the beginning of each academic year. The campaign for the year 1920-1921 is now on. We eanestly hope that before its close all old members will have renewed their membership and all new friends will have joined the Association. This Association is organized for the purpose of doing Christian work among the Chinese students in North America. Its object is threefold: (1) to cultivate Christian fellowship; (2) to develop Christian character; (3) to promote Christian service. Such an organization deserves the support of every true Christian, no matter what nationality he or she belongs to. Moreover, the Association this year is having a big program on hand. It provides a large budget, larger than any one in its history. It plans to widen its sphere and increase its activity. It aims at giving more practical help to the students by carrying out the visitation work both extensively and intensively. Such a program calls for the cooperation of all members and friends. The best way of showing one's willingness to cooperate and support in this case, of course, is to join the Association. By joining the Association, one will receive gratis one year's publication of "Christian China," official organ of the Association. To be sure, there are other privileges besides this. Fellow-students and American friends, are you interested in an organization like this? If you are, we invite you to join the Association and become its members today. The annual membership fee is only one dollar. Application cards can be obtained from the following persons: Women's Department: University, Ithaca, N. Y. Miss T. N. Kwong, Risley Hall, Cornell Eastern Department: Mr. Frank W. Price, 1121 Yale Station, New Haven, Conn. Mid-Western Department: Mr. Lum K. Chu, 5315 Drexel Avenue, Chicago, Ill. Calif. Western Department: Mr. Ling Lew, 2504 Regent Street Berkeley, DANIEL C. Fu, General Secretary. A MESSAGE FROM HON. SUEZ, CHINESE CONSUL AT NEW YORK To My Brothers and Sisters in Christ: The Editor of "Christian China" has graciously asked me for a message to the Chinese Christian students in America. He wanted it for the first fall number. I felt instantly the responsibility of framing such a message, so I begged for more time. than was originally allowed me. I feel it is easier to talk politics, easier to theorize and easier to criticize, but I find it infinitely harder to say what should be a personal message that would appeal to you and at the same time be consistent with the needs of our Fatherland. Being Chinese you are of course familiar with China's problems, political, social, economic and religious. You are aware of the fact that China awaits with ripeness for Christianization. I say China is ripe because God has prepared it, God did not send Confucius, Laotus, Buddha and other great teachers in vain. It has often been observed that the Christian missionary when sent to a foreign field has no foundation to build on. This may be true elesewhere but not so in China. The future Chinese Christian Church must be built upon the old religious foundations of China. In other words, a new Church adapted to the religious cravings and the ancient civilization of the Chinese will have to be evolved from the moral and religious conceptions of the three co-existing religions of China and the Christian religion. And this seems to be the natural course, unless God in His infinite wisdom ordains otherwise, for Christ came to fulfill. Is China to wait for this work entirely to be done by foreign Christian missionaries? Decidedly No! Is China, with her teeming millions, to trust to good luck for some miracle which will bring about her wholesale conversion to Christianity? This is altogether too risky an experiment. The Age of Miracles is past. This is the Age of Reason and the Age of Spiritual, Mental, and Physical Efforts. We are all making mental and physical efforts but leaving those of the spirit to take care of themselves. This may seem natural because we do not develop them. But, aside from our profession of the Christian faith, have we, as citizens, a part in the work of uplifting China to the level of other great nations? We are agreed that we have, and we are conscious also that one of the reasons usually given for ruling out China from the first rate powers is the fact that she is "heathen." Thus uplifting and Christianizing China constitute the task of Chinese Christians. They are inseparable. While we are doing the one we may be unconsciously doing the other either for or against the best interests of the Church. This has, at least, been my experience. Perhaps I may be pardoned for being too personal, since my object is to profit you by my experiences, both varied and various. After a series of experiments, some unpleasant and some costly, I find the following to be a safe guide for Chinese Christians to uplift and Christianize China either in a conscious or unconscious way. My tri-une formula is "KNOWDO-BE," meaning to know, to do, and to be, and I incorporate it in my message for what it is worth. Let me amplify it just to make it more intelligible. 1. To Know: Before one attempts the herculean task let him be circumspect, size up the situation, study his surroundings, survey the existing institutions, master the causes and effects of events, form an opinion of the people he is dealing with and finally he must know himself, his strength and limitations and have the initiative, energy, and self-reliance. When I was a fresh graduate from college I thought I knew everything and plunged into the idea that sauce for the goose was also sauce for the gander. But I found out my mistakes not so very long after. What one learns at college may be good for one country but that does not necessarily follow that it is also good for China. It is, therefore, essential to know and be able to discriminate. 2. To Do: As soon as one has the first essential then he may apply his knowledge. To Do is the Application of knowledge in a judicious and wise manner. Haste and recklessness are arch-enemies of any undertaking. Things done in haste are never done right. No one can expect to modernize and uplift China in a year or two. Neither can one hope to convert the whole Chinese nation in that length of time. Only by assiduous application of Christian principles, by persistent efforts, both united and individual, and by constant encouragement and wise counsel can one hope to speed up the Christianization of China. Practice what we preach. 3. To Be: One may know and do, and may not be what he should be. He may have a good realization of what is actually wrong with China; he may pretend to do what is right for her, but he may not be sincere. His pretentions are mere camouflage; outwardly he may be doing it but at least with an ulterior motive, if not a sinister one. To Be is to become a founder, a leader, or an organizer. One becomes the moulder of thought, the builder of character, the inspirer of life, and the personifier of the large-minded and ever-loving Christ, when one begins to live a life irreproachable, to say and act with responsibility and a high sense of duty. To Be is to display one's true self in its real worth and to its best advantage. To Be is to manifest the Inner Man, and Being is the measure of value of one's existence. To Be is to show how. Admiral Li Ho, sometime Vice-Minister of the Chinese Navy, refused to worship and offer sacrifice to the Chinese war gods when ordered to do so by the President of the Republic and he resigned his post because he was a Christian through and through. Although the President, on learning that he was a Christian, was prepared to countermand his order and requested Admiral Li to withdraw his resignation, yet the Admiral persisted, giving as his resaon the fact that no-compliance with the order from the highest authority of the land should bring about dismissal. His resignation was finally accepted with regret and the President immediately offered him an advisership to the President. All of this happened in a natural way. Yet on account of Admiral Li's action, and similar actions of other Christian leaders in Government service, the Christian religion is now more respected throughout the country than ever before. Many obstacles and prejudices of twenty-five years ago have been removed. If we would be willing tools of the dictates of our conscience we can Be what we should Be. Yours at command, IUMING C. SUEZ (Signed), New York City |