AngloChinese *Understanding

SACU SPONSORSREPORT BACK

DECEMBER, 1965

China—A Consumer's ViewMARY ADAMS (Independent Television Authority, Consumers Association,National Association for Mental Health), recently returned from a three-weekvisit to China where she was the guest of the Chinese Foreign Cultural Associa-tion, a trip sponsored by SACU. Commenting on aspects of the daily life in Chinawhich she found particularly interesting. Mrs Adams emphasised that she feltit would be absurd to make generalisations after only a month in a countrywhich was at once so vast, so different from our own, and so immersed in aprocess of change.

One of the subjects which most interested Mary Adams was communica-tions, ' I didn't actually see much television, but I did go to the BroadcastingAuthority and talked to them in some detail about their activities. They havetwo alternative programmes, one is entertainment, the other is educational —which they call the University of the Air, These appear to be equally balancedin time allotment, though the educational programme is supplemented, ofcourse, by closed circuit television in the universities. Anyone may participate inthis sort of education-by-broadcast, that is, one need not actually be a universitystudent to get a degree. This method is obviously an expedient form ofsupplementary education for the Chinese ac this stage in their development.Practically everyone has a radio, transistors are very popular, but televisionsets are mainly found in club houses, halls, schools, hotels, and such places ofgathering.'

In the same sphere, Mrs Adams was especially intrigued to find theconcentrated attention paid to the English language. ' The Chinese have madeup their minds that English is the v/orid's language, consequently every effortis being made to teach it, not only to children, but to adults. We met, onthe way out and on several occasions during our stay, teachers from Britainwho had been attracted by the conditions being offered by the Chinese gov-ernment. They must agree to stay for two years, are excellently paid, and insome places are given a ear, but of course the situations are often very isolating,in Sian, for instance, v/e met a couple living in a large, bare hotef — one whichhad been vacated by Soviet technicians. It is difficult for these teachers to moveinto Chinese circles because most of the young students are living in dormitoriesand hostels. So it is a lonely life, which Is a pity, and the teachers must makemost of their friends among the other foreign teachers. However, I think thatthey enjoy their v/ork and find it very rewarding, for the students are avidto learn, do so very quickly, and seem to speak English extremely well phoneti-cally. The students realise that in ten years time they will have to knowEnglish to get a good job. Clearly, this has been a purely technological decisionon the part of the Chinese government.'

Written translations of the main speeches were always provided for thedc-!eg?,tion. produced in clear and con tern porary English. Mary Adams wasimpressed with the high standard of translation and interpretation. Very cheapeditions translated into English are available in ail the bookshops, including awide variety of good dictionaries for all kinds of technicians and books forlearning by wireless. She brought back several of these as we!i as a special' find ' — a version of Alice in Wonderland.

' Certainly propaganda elements permeate the written and spoken v/ord, andmay perhaps get the visitor down a bit. But after aiL one must be mature aboutthis. The Chinese have a consistent philosophy and are -'ery anxious to expressit, anxious that v/e should understand it. The intelligentsia see its expressionas their mission, while to the peasants and workers, "it is part of their expressionof happiness and satisfaction in their way of life. For naople not only loolced

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SACU BranchFormation

IN THE few months since the inaugu-ration of SACU, it has become clearthat the welcome and support for theorganisation extends far beyond theLondon area, where our first activitiesw.ere inevitably centred.

Although the first locai branch tobe formed was in London, many otherareas are now preparing to launchtheir own organisations.

These include Plymouth, Birming-ham and Liverpool.

Apart from these, head office has re-ceived many enquiries from individual fmembers anxious to help launch abranch in their localities.

SACU staff are now busy sortingout these enquiries and putting mem-bers in touch with others in the samearea.

Explained Derek Bryan, the GeneralSecretary, ' The actual formation of abranch requires thorough preparationand presupposes the existence of asmall working group of active mem-bers.' These, he said, were those ' readyto take on the hard slogging involved.'

Drawing upon the experiences ofthe Hampstead branch, it had beenfound that this working committeeshould be drawn from the widestcircles possible.

Organisers there said that failure rodraw in Bother people at the verybeginning was st'f-defeating. All SACUmembers should be invited to partici-pate from the moment the idea of alocal branch is first mooted.

The Hampstead committee membersalso warned about separating membersinto a 'working committee' and a

general committee!,1 In oractics, thelatter seldom functioned effectively.

- Once a preparatory committee hasbeen formed, said Mr Bryan, its firstrask will be to drav/ up lists of pacpieprominent and active in the commu-nity. These v/ouid include Mayors,

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BOOK REVIEW: The Crippled TreeTHE CRIPPLED TREE by Han Suyin,published by Jonathan Cape at 35s.DAUGHTER of a Chinese scholarturned railway engineer and a Belgianmother of respectable middle-class ori-gin, Han Suyin, travelling freely be-tween both worlds, is placed uniquelyto interpret both for us and byreason of her talent and artistry, addedto an enourmous capacity for hardwork in formidable researches andassemblage of factual history, she has

made a fascinating and illuminatingliterary contribution to our under-standing of her father's country. Thisis her most important book yet anda most significant work in relation tocontemporary China.

In 461 pages she condenses thestory of the agonising and courage-ous struggles of the Chinese peopleover the turbulent years from 1885to 1928 through the medium of herfamily background and in the light of

A CONSUMER'S VIEW (continued from page 1)

same kind of research that we conducthere, but consultation through thetrade unions, among factory workers,committees and so forth. This processof consulting the._J>eop!_e._c_r_e_ates.. a_r_e-_.lationship, a unity and a wholenesswhich enters into every part of lifeand, indeed, is one of the most impres-sive aspects of China.1

Struck by the fact that she sawrelatively few pregnant women, thoughthere are enormous numbers of todd-lers, Mrs Adams asked for th.e ex-planation. It was that the movementfor birth control, particularly by meansof inter-uterine devices, began abouttwo and a half years ago. ' I was veryinterested to find that they have amost coherent philosophy about birthcontrol. Some parts of China are defi-nitely underpopulated, Their policy forfamily limitation is based mainly onthe health and welfare of women, andfamily as a unit. ' Finally,' they say, ' itis the decision of the husband and wifeconcerned. We can pursuade, advise,offer techniques, but in the end it is apersonal choice. Still we would hopethe people will understand that this isthe correct policy for now ... This isa very intelligent and sophisticated ap-p-reach-^^tke- resuk-s-,-c-f- cct^ser vary-in different parts of the country.'

Mrs Adams admitted sh.e was as ir-ritated by the self-righteousness of theChinese as were other members of theparty. ' They are not interested inBritain, not curious about our habitsof thought or culture. For this reasoncultural exchange is going to be diffi-cult. They've got a saying which weoften heard: " China must learn fromthe past — China must learn fromabroad." We joked with them, saying"Obviously you've got a great pastand are learning from it, but what areyou learning from abroad, excepttechnique?" Of course they are reallyinterested in the Afro-Asians, becausethey feel that they can teach them .-something — teach them for instance,how to make a successful revolution.They do not feel that they can teachBritain anything.'

well-fed, and well-clothed, butwere. The contrast for many betweenthen and now would inevitably producehappiness, would inevitably inclinethem, to accept^the revojutipnary £hj[-_osophy as the springboard which hasmade this higher standard of livingpossible.'

The great variety and high qualityof ordinary consumer goods to be hadat remarkably cheap prices was a greatsurprise. ' The Chinese attitude toquality control is quite different fromthat found here in England, where oneof our principal problems is to controlthe quality of goods from the factory.Visiting a paper factory, for example.I found that every sheet of paper wascarefully examined over a lamp by awoman worker. Now this wasn't par-ticularly fine paper and didn't seemto me to be necessary — but theyemphasise this kind of control ineverything from tractors to exercisebooks. Of course they do have lotsof unskilled labour now and the situ-ation will have to be reckoned withwhen they sre more highly mechan-ised. The same emphasis exists in theshops where the assistant makes athorough examination of each article-to -check .for flaws b e - -

personal experience, and if she feelsa stronger sympathetic identificationwith her father's family, that is all ourgain.

The personal sufferings of herparents through inter-marriage in thismost cataclysmic period of Chinesehistory must, for us, be counter-bal-anced by gratitude that at least oneof their progeny has the insight, com-passion and ability to trace for us, inhighly readable form, the relentlessmarch of events which inevitablybrought today's Chinese People's Re-public into being. She faces us withour undeniable share of guilt for thepast but, like a good analyst, does notleave us in the morass but points theway forward with true optimism bornof enlightenment.

She writes:

Industrial DesignThe problems of industrial design

is a subject Mrs Adams wanted verymuch to discuss, but was unable todo so with anyone knowledgeable. Shewas also disappointed that the impli-cations of the gift that was taken fromSACU were not grasped. ' We tookthe Duke of Edinburgh's award forelegance for 1964, a large glass bowlsuitably inscribed, designed by youngDavid Queensberry — a piece whichis specifically designed as capable ofmass production. The fact that it wasthe work of an artist produced on amass scale did not seem to get across,but it is the sort of problem whichultimately will have to be met inChina. Nonetheless, great care is takento consult consumers -— not using the

' Today, although England is reducedto a minor power, while the youngbristlingly armed United States ofAmerica has taken her place, gun-boac diplomacy still tries to crushthe spirit or man by a show offorce. And though for the last eightyyears these methods have provedseif-defeating, they will continue un-til a new generation, crippled bytheir own ferocity, come to a newawareness of our one world andone humanity.'

And thus affiirms her own faith thatgood must ultimately prevail overevil in the universe.

Faithfully and with consummateskill she has obeyed the injunction ofThird Uncle, now retired in his nativecountry, content to see at last ' Chinafor the Chinese.'

' You must write it all down exactly,for future generations to read, andto know all, the evil and the good,to know The Great Change.'

Moreover,--we- are promised -fm-tmrr-volumes to bring us up-to-date.

Roma Gelder

Two Doctors Lookat China

SACU has been fortunate in being ableto arrange meetings in England forDr J. H. de Haas, Professor of WorldHealth at Leyden University. Professorand Mrs de Haas will be giving illus-trated lectures on China at NuffieldCollege, Oxford at 8.15 pm, on Friday,December 3, and at Cambridge on Sun-day December 5 in the Union SocietyDebating Hail at 3 pm.

Members in London are Invited tohear Professor de Haas on Saturday,December 4, at 7.30 p.m. at SACUpremises, 24 Warren Street, London,W.I.

A View on Four ViewsThe jour sponsors who made up SACU's /trst delegation toChina reported back to members at a special meeting atChurch House, Westminster, November 16. Here, two mem-bers o/ the Editorial Committee o/ SACU NEWS, Nan Bergerand Bill Habets, give their impressions o/ the meeting.AN ORGANISATION which sends to based this view on the fact that duringChina a delegation of four sponsorsof such widely differing backgroundsand viewpoints as Mrs Mary Adams,OBE, Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper,Mr Ernie Roberts and Mr Robert Bolt.knows that in providing a public plat-form for the delegation it is likely toget four very different reports, a situ-ation which makes for controversyand the exchange of views, all of whichis part of SACU's brief.

The decision to provide a platform. becomes harder when one of the dele-

gation has already committed himselfto print as Trevor-Roper had done inthe Sunday Times under a headline asmisleading as could be—though it wassaid not to have been chosen by theauthor—with criticism of the Chineseway of life being expressed in themost unfriendly and subjective terms.Nevertheless, SACU took this decisionand the result was a lively and contro-versial meeting. Despite harsh wordsabout the rectitude of selling an articleto the Press before reporting back tothose on whose behalf you had beenaccepted as a guest in a foreign coun-try and some equally harsh wordsabout criticism offered in an unfriendlyand sensational way, there was nodoubt that the audience of two hun-dred and fifty left Church House witha clear picture of what had happenedto whom in China. Be it noted, how-ever, that no one took Trevor-Roperto task for making his criticisms ofChina, only for the manner in whichhe chose to make them.

Mary Adams, as leader of the dele-gation, spoke first. Her general im-pressions of China are published in aninterview on the front page of thisbulletin. As did all the other speakers,she emphasised that, despite reportsto the contrary, China in her viewshowed no signs of being an aggres-sive country. So far as world peacewas concerned, she felt China to bedefinitely non-aggressive.

She was however disturbed—as wereRobert Bolt and, on a different plane,Trevor-Roper—to find that Chinesechildren w.ere taught to hate imperial-ism and especially American imperial-ism and wondered whether it waspossible for them to distinguish ade-quately between the American peopleand the American imperialists.

Trevor-Roper, who spoke next, madeit plain that in his opinion the Chinesewere not interested in Britain. He

his tour the Chinese had not addressedany question to him about his assess-ment of Briatin.

He felt that the Society, set up tofurther Anglo-Chinese Understanding,must content itself with trying tounderstand the Chinese and not .expectto be understood by them. He con-sidered that he had been treated to a

horse drench ' of Chinese propagandaand was expected to ' evacuate it inthis country.'

Addressing himself to prospectivemembers, he said that if SACU couldprovide an ' objective study of Chinesecircumstances, it deserved their sup-port. If not, not.'

Ernie Roberts said that he had beengiven the opportunity of seeing every-thing he wanted to see in China. Hehad also found the Chinese keenly in-terested in many aspects of the Britishway of life. As an example in his ownfield, he cited the several delegationsof Chinese trade unionists now visitingEngland.

' Wherever ! went there was anatmosphere of freedom and security,'he reported. ' Freedom from foreignor nationalist oppression, security fromhunger and the kind of poverty theyhad suffered before the liberation.'

He had met and exchanged viewswith numerous Chinese trade unionistsand visited several different kinds offactories. A fuller report of his exper-iences will be published in a lateredition of SACU NEWS.

Playwright and author Robert Boltsaid he had been deeply impressed bythe egalitarianism he had encounteredin China, such as finding a factorydirector sharing identical housing withhis workers.

He had also experienced difficulty inmeeting people he had wanted to see.Despite his many requests, his Chinesehosts had been unable to arrange ameeting with other writers and play-wrights.

He agreed with Trevor-Roper thatthe Society at this stage would prim-arily have to concern itself with un-derstanding the Chinese. Mutual under-standing was not made any easier bythe fact that th.e present mood of theChinese was immaculately self-right-eous.

He however did not think this anyreason for believing that the Societydid not have a useful function.

CHINA NEWSThe drive to produce more chemicalfertilisers—and persuade peasants touse them—has been an important fea-ture of the 'Aid Agriculture Move-ment' of recent years. In general theefforts has been very successful, andaccording to Peking reports outputthis year should be two million tonshigher than in 1964. Most of this in-crease will be sent to grain and cottonregions. This year has also seen theconstruction or expansion of 28 large-scale fertiliser plants, as well as thebuilding of many smaller plants on thecommunes.

Shanghai newspapers recently com-mented on the success of a remarkableoperation on a hunchback performedin the Hsinhua Hospital earlier thisyear. The hunchback's deformity waslargely caused by chronic rheumatoid-arthritis. His chest caved inward to anangle of 97 degrees. Eventually eatingbecame painful for him and he haddifficulty in breathing.

The operation was performed inApril. It involved not only osteotomybut also syndesmotomy (dissection ofthe ligaments that joined the deformedbones), and called for great skill, asany damage to the spinal nerve wouldhave resulted in paralysis of the lowerlimbs. Now, after several months insplints, the patient can stand erectand walk normally.

Representatives of British port instal-lation and equipment firms visitingChina have already secured certaincontracts from Chinese purchasingagencies. Among the firm.s representedare General Electric Co., Stothert andPitt, and Pri.estman Bros.

A report from Dairen, the North-east China port, stating that 75 percent of loading and unloading is nowdone by machinery, indicates how farChina has already gone in the direc-tion of port mechanisation.

WEEKEND SCHOOLONLY A FEW places are available atthe weekend school to be held 9-11January at the White House, (Univer-sity of Sussex) Haywards Heath. (Forfuli details see SACU NEWS, Novem-ber issue). Anyone wishing to reservea place should send a deposit of IDsor the full fee of £4.10.0 (non-mem-bers £4.15.0) to SACU, 24 WarrenStreet, London, W.I. Those who havealready made a reservation should nowsend a deposit or the full fee.

LETTER BOXDEAR EDITOR,

As is well known, the ChinesePeople's Republic has always main-tained that the liberation of Chinacould never have been achieved butby applying Marxist ideology to Marx-ist practice which implies also thecorrect analysis and interpretation ofany Chinese past history in the lightof Marxist thinking. That is to sayConfucianism and Taoism were notconsidered as the underlying doctrineswith which to guide the people toliberation and progress. In fact theChinese are bound to consider Con-fucianism and Taoism as specificallyhistoric conditions of mentality mirror-ing the feudal social setup of China ofbygone ages. I doubt, therefore, whe-ther we are justified—when promotingAnglo-Chinese understanding—to sug-gest (as the Chairman of SACU main-tained in his Inaugural Address asreported in SACU NEWS, No. 1) that' the age-old traditions of Confucianismand Taoism were still, and alwayswould remain (my own emphasis) thebackground of Chinese mentality '.

At a time when subjects becomerulers and wives independent of theirhusbands it seems incongruous, withpresent practice still wanting, to applythe Confucian conception of the ' fiverelationships '; the entire nation takespart in government at al! levels; andthis, by the v/ay {to comment onSACU's first brains trust's reply to aquestion about bureaucracy and the' restrictive ' aspect of government assuch) overcomes and overrides allproblems (in time) of bureaucratichardships and failings—perhaps for thefirst time in Chinese history. We wouldfail miserably if we would not makethis clear to our friends who want tounder-stand China of today, -of yester-day and of tomorrow; and it would beequally erroneous to suggest thathowever Marxist the Chinese may be '

the old traditions of Confucianism andTaoism v/ould prevail and Marxism nsan exigency of the struggle for libera-tion would soften down or water downto normal thinking, as people in theWest seem to hope.

Ail the reports from China point tothe contrary: every effort is made toensure the continuity of Marxist edu-cation in the next and following gen-erations, which goes to shov/ that thepresent generation knows too '.veilthat Marxism was and is the means toemancipation and the maintenance ofa clear mind of the people—and Con-fucianism is the mc-ntaiity of the pr.stas it v/as in its time the contemporarysuperstructure of a given society, s!as,defunct by no\v. 1 think we should

not allow any room for any other in-terpretation of and any misconceptionabout the background of Chinesementality.

Fredy Brandler,London, N.2

Asked for hts comments on the aboveletter Dr Ncedham made the followingpoints:I FEAR that Mr Brandler's ideas onConfucianism are rather superficial.Let him read Msu Shih-Lien's ' ThePolitical Philosophy of Confucianism(London, 1932), H. G. Creel's 'Con-fucius, the Man and the Myth' (Lon-don, 1951), and Vol 2 of 'Science andCivilisation in China' (Cambridge,1956). There was far more to the Con-fucian world-outlook than he thinks.The essential thing for us to realise isthat owing to Confucianism, Chineseculture had two thousand years ofhigh morality without dependence uponsupernatural sanctions. This may yetbe of profound importance for theworld. With affluence comes the dis-appearance of all faiths and all ideals,' teddyboyism ', ' juvenile delinquency '.the contracting out of the beatniks,and so on.

If Mr Brandier's analysis were so' correct' as he thinks (the very wordgives him away), these things wouldpresumably not be happening in theSoviet Union as well as in the capital-ist countries. Could it be that only aculture with Confucianism in its moralcirculation will be able to shov/ ushow to overcome the temptations ofaffluence! Last year 1 spent a fascina-ting afternoon floating round the lakeat Hangchow discussing Confucianismand Taoism with two ' high partybureaucrats'; in the end they freelyagreed that the Chinese would takeall that was best from these creationsof the Chinese spirit in the past. 1prefer to agree with—them tnnrr-withMr Brandler—but when he knowsmore about Confucianism he will per-haps find himself agreeing with us.

Joseph Needham

SACU Branch Formation(continued from page 1)

Members of Parliament, political, reli-gious, and trade union leaders, to beasked to sponsor the local branch.

The inaugural meeting should beplanned we!! in advance. Speakers needto include local personalities as wellas national figures.

invitations should be sent out to asmany individuals as possible—LS well asto every known iocs! organisation. Forexample, the Hampstead committee\yrote 1,250 letters of Invitation toindividuals and drew 120 persons totheir inaugural meeting.

Society for Anglo-Chinese Understand-ing (Founded 15 May 1965).

Office: 24 Warren Street, London W.ITelephone EUSton 0074-5

Telegrams ANGCH1N London W.I

Chairman: Dr Joseph Needham

Deputy-Chairman:Professor Joan Robinson

Vice-Chairman: Mrs Mary Adams

Chairman of General Purposes Com-mittee: Mr Ernest Roberts

Secretary: Mr Derek Bryan

Council of Management : Mrs MaryAdams. Mr Peter de Francia, Mr AlecHorsley, Dr N Kurti, Dr E R Lap-wood, Mr Jim Mortimer, Dr JosephNeedham, the Rt Hon P j Noel-Baker,Mr E G Pulleybank, Miss VanessaRedgrave, Mr Ernest Roberts, Profes-sor Joan Robinson, Sir Gordon Suther-land, Mr Peter Swann, ProfessorGeorge Thompson. Mr Jeremy Thorpe.Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper, DameJoan Vickers, Professor K W Wedder-burn.

Believing that understanding be-tween Britain and China is of thehighest importance, SACU aims tomake information about China widelyavailable in order to help every in-terested person in Britain to makehis or her own assessment.

Membership of SACU is open to allwho subscribe to the aims of theSociety. Members are entitled to re-ceive SACU NEWS monthly free ofcharge, use the library at head office,call upon the Society for informationand participate in all activit ies of theSociety,

SACU NEWS is published by theSociety for Anglo-Chinese Under-standing. 24 Warren St. London.Vf.i. (EUSton 0074-5), and printedby Goodwin Press Ltd. (TU),-135Fonthill Ho ad, ^andon, N.4.