444 Theological Observer Th ical ~ )server Information on China.-The April 17 issue of America (Roman Catholic) carries four articles on China which contain an abundance of information on present conditions in that country and its outlook for the future. A military authority, Conrad H. Lanza, sketches the wars of China since 1894, when it was quickly defeated by the Japanese and Korea was annexed by the latter. Prospects from the military point of view, so this observer says, are not reassuring. "When the Chinese retreated to their distant fastnesses in the interior, they took with them machinery which they had salvaged. Four years have gone by, and the machi.'1ery is about worn out. Neither new machinery nor parts for old are obtainable. Gasoline has nearly disappeared. Gas from charcoal has been used for running trucks, but charcoal, too, is becoming unobtainable. Transportation is breaking down. Food is lacking. There are provinces which have more than they need, but there is no way to ship the food to where it is badly wanted. Chinese clothes are mostly cotton; so are the peculiar kind of shoes which Chinese wear. There is a shortage of cotton, and the looms which were removed to the interior no longer suffice for what little coHan there is. Metal go· '5 of all kinds are lacking. No wire for telephoy.es, no . ,J for any thingnot even for military needs. A year ago Arnerican air forces in China bombed Japanese installations from twenty to twenty-five times a month; but now they do so rarely -no gasoline. China claims to have located an oil field. There is no well-digging apparatus, and if there were, there are no refineries. Chinese economy is slowly but surely bogging down." Col. Lanza holds that through the Japanese blockade Chungking, China, "is being slowly and painfully strangled to death by economic pressure." According to his view the plan of the allies first to crush Hitler before bringing aid to Ch.ina may be a mistaken policy. Speaking of China from the point of view .of ChTistian missions, Dr. Joseph P. Y. Fang, a Chinese Roman Catholic educator, says, "Three and a half million Chinese Catholics is a small proportion of the whole population of China" (which he holds is about 450 million), "but they are good Catholics of sincere faith. They may be considHed rather as good citizens, but they do not belong to the ruling class because of the lack of higher education." He states that in spite of the war the Roman Catholic Church has made constant gains. Bishop Yu-pin, the first native bishop of Nanking, is said to have been an important factor in extending the influence of the Church. As to the general outlook for Christian m i s s i 0 n ~ he sayQ "Tt is undouhtedly true t.hat after the war, perhaps even befo ~ the eI 1e war, the foreign missionaries in China will fL1'ld themselves being drawn always closer to Chinese hearts and will find them much more easy to deal with than ever." Americans are highly esteemed in China, "the United States has always been regarded as the most friendly country by the Chinese people, ov.ring to her generosity and peaceful spirit." He thinks that the visit of Archbishop Spellman in China, spoken of these days, if it eventuates, will be Theological Observer 445 viewed with much interest by the Chinese and give great aid to the Catholic cause. If the figures which he submits as to the number of Roman Catholic converts in China are correct, then his Church has made lIIlpurlant strides forW:?Il'd duri.ng the last years. The adherents of Protestant churches are estimated not to number a million as yet. A third article is written by John J. Considine, a clergyman who writes "on the economic potential of China from observations made in that country as field representative of the Fides service." That great difficulties lie ahead for China politically the following paragraph confirms. "What hope for the Communists of ruling China? They hate Japan and are bound in a United Front with Chiang Kai-shek, but b Kansu and Shensi, of the northwest, they maintain a quasi-independent realm with a quarter to a half million troops. Their organization, the Kungchangtang, loses no love on Chiang's organization, the Kuomintang, though they have great personal regard for Chiang. If Japan is defeated, they expect in turn to achieve a victory over the Kuomintang. Should they do so, China would be ruled by the radical agrarian democrats, a body calling itself Communists but, because definitely Chinese, not of the same temper as Russian communism." Of Chiang Kai-shek he has a high regard, saying, "He has tenacity, energy, initiative, is ambitious and, of necessity, ruthless." According to this authority Chiang K"i-shek wishes to promote the commercial and industrial development of his country without, however, doing it through granting special favors to foreign nations. The importation of an overabundance of foreign goods is something the generalissimo seeks to avoid. Altogether his aim is to make China a self-sufficient nation. At present, so Mr. Considine says, much wretchedness is in e'Jidence. "While the Chinese average farm family does not live in the dire poverty of India, it is so near the level of minimum existence needs that any disaster tips it into want. Before the war, a farm family's income was said to be between 150 and 250 Chinese dollars, with the dollar rated two to one of American currency." On this same point he says, "Prof. Chiao Chi-ning, of the University of Nanking, now operating in Szechwan, estimates that of every ten men in China, the tenth would starve if the other nine were properly fed. E"ven in a normal year, China produces ,only rJnety per cent of the food it requires. Another two and a half per cent is imported, but the remainder never appears; China r.ilerely tightens its belt." .l'nlS writer correctly points out that unless China is brought Christianity, its development after the war may mean the building up of a colossus which will constitute a definite threat to the peace of the human family. The fourth and last article is written by a Protestant authority on missions, the well-known Yale professor Kenneth Scott Latourette. Th" ( ' ~ n t i o n of his 8xticle is "China Faces a New VllorId." On account 'areful stuily "