The discussion period in the morning was utilized by the Chinese delegation in informing one another of the recent developments in China, in pointing out things that have been a drawback to our country, in trying to formulate, heads together, means by which these drawbacks might be removed. Here every one took part, but Mr. Chang was really the guiding spirit. Another event that disclosed the immediate effect of the conference and marked the highest spot in the doings of the Chinese delegation was the baptism of Messrs. H. K. Li and S. D. Tung, both of the state University of Illinois, by Dr. Baker on the last Sunday. As it were, we all went a-hunger and returned fully satisfied. But I can not conclude without relating also the mixed feeling which all the Chinese delegates and many friends of China commonly experienced when Mr. Shelton, a Medical Missionary to Thibet, told of his dealings with the local bandits in a platform meetings. I said mixed feeling because we felt ashamed that such conditions existed as told by Mr. Shelton, and were grateful and certainly sympathetic for the sufferings he had endured for China. May God help him and us! JAMES KOFEI SHEN. Recording Secretary of WHAT THE MAGAZINES SAY ABOUT CHINA AND THE CHINESE Japan, Britain and China, By Anthony Chyne The Living Age, Sept. 18, 1920, pp. 694 697. "There is room for two Great Powers in the East, Britain and Japan, and the interest of both is to co-operate in the enlightenment and development of China." La Situation Politique et Economique De l'Extreme Orient Apres La Guerre De 1914-1918 By Auguste Gerard Revue economique internationale (Brussels) August, 1920 By 1914 Japan and China had given up their isolation so far as to join one after another the world war. Japan took the German fortress of Kiaochow, helped to drive the German warships out of the Pacific, furnished food and munitions to Russia, and made loans to Allies. China and Siam both joined the Allies. The Russo-Japanese War gave Japan some political advantages, but no economic advantage. The war of 1914-1918 put Japan on a sound economic basis, exports increased from 592,000 yen in 1914 to 1,603,000,000 yen in 1917, number of industrial corporations increased from 4,961 with a capital of 814,304,000 yen in 1913 to 5,942 with 1,057,108,262 yen in 1916. China, too, derived many commercial advantages from the war and some economic and political advantages from the Versailles treaty, which she ought to have signed. The situation in the Far East demands that Japan and China and also Japan and United States preserve their friendly relations in order that the allied and associated powers of the recent war may co-operate to bar the Bolshevists, the pangermanists and the panturaruanists from China. The Hegemony of the Pacific By Victor Pacificus Living Age, September 18, 1920, pp. 688–694. Japan needs more colonies. China is thickly populated; in Korea and Manchuria, the Japanese meets the competition of cheaper labor; hence, Japan turns to Australia and New Zealand where the population is only two per square mile. She has got control of Micronesia; Formosa is only two days from the Philippines, the Hawaiian archipelago is populated chiefly by Japanese; merchants from Japan are already controlling the market of the Pacific Islands; Indian nationalists are favorable to Japanese hegemony; thus Japan is fast preparing to wield the hegemony of the Pacific and to invade Australia. The white race has two weapons: (1) the hatred of the Chinese for the Japanese and (2) Anglo-American co-operation. A Political Upheaval in China By John Dewey The New Republic, Oct. 6, 1920, pp. 142–144. The defeat of Ausu Club at the height of its power is another demonstration of the force of public opinion and moral considerations in China. The conflict brought out a new leader, General Wu Pei Fu, who is sincerely working for civilian control instead of military control of government. "My Village of Facing-Light" By Moon Kwan Asia, October, 1920. A vivid description of the writer's native town, Chu-YangLi, "the village of Facing-Light"-his family, his early education, his youthful companions, and his departure for the "Golden-Hill," the Chinese term for California, where he remained for many years, and received his Western education. Les Rapports Economique De La Chine Et Des Etrangers By Yues-Guyot Wio, pp. 27-57 This is a resume of China's resources, monetary system (or lack of system) the early contacts between the Chinese and the Europeans, the opening of China, the struggle for concessions, China's foreign trade, Sino-American relations, and the economic progress of the Chinese in the future. It is seen how the foreigners have habitually treated China. They have desired to partition it. They have subordinated economic questions to political ends. They have tried to act in regard to China with diplomatic means, resorting even to Olucanery, threat and force. The foreigners have used, with the Chinese, a peace loving people, the methods of a military civilization; their relations with China will not be normal until they have been replaced by relations based on honest exchange of products and services characteristic of an economic civilization. The Religion Worth Having. By Thomas Nixon Carver. We can scarcely doubt that religion is of some use. "The tombs and temples that have been built, the crusades that have been carried on, the pilgrimages that have been performed in such laborious ways, the sufferings that have been endured with such patience and fortitude, not, as the cynic sometimes asserts, in the hope of earning a reward in some other world, but as a sheer expression of religious feeling, the violent religious dances prolonged often to the point of physical exhaustion, and even the intricate and overpowering ceremonial of our historic sects, all attest the power of religion to galvanize the human body into action, or to let loose the stores of latent energy which lie hidden away in the human organism." If religion does make a difference with men, we would not be justified to regard the various religions with equal favor or disfavor. Then what is the test of a good religion? "That is the best religion which (1) acts most powerfully as a spur to energy, and (2) directs that energy most productively." The fault of most primitive religions is the misdirection of energy while that of modern religion is its incapacity of generating energy. The ideal religion must combine both. Logical arguments about the merits of this and that religion can never be conclusive. The conclusive test is the test of performance. Struggle, both among individuals and among groups, is incessant. The factors of success are many, of which religion is one. The worse religions will be eliminated with the elimination of the people holding them. The process is automatic and inevitable; the test of a good religion is in the future. Men may say that this is materialism and not religion; as a matter of fact, God, if he is true, must conduct his operations in the universe according to principles and well-regulated ways; in a word, natural laws, including that of natural selection, are divine. This, in brief, is the test of a good religion that Professor Carver of the department of political economy in Harvard University proposes. The argument is very close, uncomfortably close in its logic. Its conclusions are boldly, defiantly drawn. At bottom, there is no offense in it. At bottom, its claims are |