ven.. IV

-~

CF.N11JRY.SHANGHAI. APRIL IN3

ROUND TRIP THROUGH EAST ASIA

By KLAUS MEHNERT

Thue t004 a lime when fflweling I1IrougA arecu opeMd w traffic WGI ~ com·,_place Ihm CIOC01In16 oj 4uc:A IrawM arot.l.ftld inler'uI al buI '" Olle·. own/amily .TAoH -. IA. do1/' when ,ntemational traflel WGI almoM eftIirely a malUr 0 moM1/aM ortlr~r OM oj tMtu cmd 'l*""tu. TA'J1f/4 Aave c1lcmgfJd greatJy ,,;nee 1M""_'''11 oj 1M war. Traveling beyond OM'4 imm«liaU mighborhood u ei4her"""~ or almo6l ent'r.ly II quution oj permiu, which Jew are abk to get.1'raMJlOrlalion .. on. oj 'M ma'n~ oj 111.. war. 11M IA. travekr oj tl..Iwmtiu aM IAirliu-4M lou';" wAo~ Jor pleaeure and not jtut to. getHIrMt/11l.en1-t. a ,.i"f oj 1M paM.

At 1M ~me Ii".. 1M war Aae brought about rapid cAangu 'IlerY"'Mre. Henutr/lvtli,., Aae become Jar _e 'n.terutirtg tAlI" '" fIOf'7IIOl Ii_, GM itmay be JHl"1'iMibl. today to write on II 8Ubject "'AieA would not have bun~lrUJflciemlg important .ome year. ago: a jCJtArMY I1Irot1gA pari oj Ecul AM. TAtJolWwi"f account .. a eummary oj pereonal impru.none aM oj eon_ealion.t withl«JlUr. and OO-Wr. oj oonou. nationalitiu duri,., G journey oj 5.500 ",ilu througAJapan. MancAoukuo. aM Chino; but it .hould nol be regard«l lie a~ analy....lie 1M ti".. tolU too .hort Jor thie.

No. •

HOW TO TRAVEL. • •

THE first thing a traveler likes tospeak about is the business of traveliteelf. In Japan the effect the war

has had on travel is comparatively small.In spite of almost six years of the ObinaIncident and more than a year of thePacific war, the railways run on time.Yet they are used to maximum capacity.Rarely have I observed heavier trafficanywhere than at present on the Tokaido,Japan's main line. Waiting at a stationfor one's train, one 800S other trainspassing at intervals of a few minutes;tbeee are mainly freight trains, of course,consisting of countless cars filled withcoal, lumber, machinery, foodstuffs, andmany other goode.

So heavy did traffic become owing tothe enormously increased demands oftotal war that certain limitations had tobe imposed on p&886nger traffic. Sometrains have been eliminated; on otherssleepers have been abolished in order toaccommodate more people; and several

trains which formerly ran between Tokyoand Kobe now run between Tokyo andOsaka only, which means that one hasto travel the last few miles from Osaka

•to Kobe on a local train. Most trainsare very crowded. But apart from suchdetails, which have only affected theconvenience, not the essentials, of tra.vel,the transportation system works efficient­ly and without interruption. The moreimportant trains still have their diningcars, serving the passengers breakfast,lunch, and dinner in three or four shiftseach, breakfast costing Yen 0.80 anddinner Yen 1.50.

The facilities on the Nagasaki{Tokyorun have improved. Formerly, whencoming from Shanghai, I never succeededin catching the train in Nagasaki, becausethe railway station used to be a. mileand a half from the pier where the boatsfrom Shanghai berthed. In Moji one hadto interrupt the journey in order to C1'088

by steamer from the island of Kyushuto Shimonoeeki on the main island of

244 THE XXth CENTURY

Japan, where the train trip continued.As a result it usually took three and ahalf days to get from Shanghai to Tokyo.This time in Nagasaki, however, westepped right from the boat into the trainwaiting next to the pier. Moreover, therewas no more changing in Moji because atunnel has conquered the Strait of Shimo­noseki, thus allowing the Fuji Express torun straight from Nagasaki to TokyoCentral Station and reducing the totaltrip Shanghai/Tokyo to fifty-five hoursonly. The building of t,he tunnel- atechnical masterpiece-was carried out soquickly and satisfactorily that the Unk­iug of the main island by tunnel toHokkaido in the north is also beingconsidered now.

Incidentally, the railroads of Man­choulruo under the management of oneof the most efficient enterprises in EastAsia, the South Manchurian Railway,are as good as in Japan proper.

. . . AND HOW TO MARRY

In one respect travel in Japan hasbecome more difficult for non-Japanese.The names of the stations used to beshown in Japanese and in Latin script.Now all the Latin inscriptions are beingeliminated, and if you have not takenthe trouble to learn at least the kanascript, you have no idea where you·are. Some might argue that this is goingtoo far; however, it is a symptom ofJapan's profound reaction against allforms of Western influence.

In all spheres of life, the return to whatis truly Japanese, or at lea.st East Asiatic,is being preached. I happened, forexample, to read the translations of tworecent Japanese short stories, both dealingwith the question of whether Japanesemarriages should be concluded "Westernfashion," on the basis of mutual love, orin the traditional Japanese manner.

One of the stories was written by KanKikuchi, the other by Fumiko Hayashi,the first being one of the leading authors,the second belonging in the front rank ofJapan's women writers. Mr. Kikuchitells the story of four young sisters ofgood family. Aya, the first-born and

most beautiful, has, under the influenceof her American-educated mother, "\Vest­em" ideas. Every time she hears ofbai8haku, that is, the arrangement ofmarriages by matchmakers, she becomesangry. "What nonsense," she BaYS, "tomarry a man I have never really met!I must know him for at least two or threemonths, and then, if he wants me, hemust propose to me." While hcr old­fashioned and physically less attractivesisters all get happily married, Aya,a.cting like an unmannered flapper froman American movie, is on the way tobecoming an old maid. The men resentbeing treated by her as if they were hel'toys or being kept waiting an hoUl' anda half at a rendezvous while she is in a,

beauty parlor. They prefer her sisters.In the end she breaks down and, a,gainsther principles, marries a man' whom shedoes not love and hardly knows-notwithout her mother's urging, who BaYS,with reference to the sisters' successfulmarriages: ''Maybe that's the way menare. If they only have a quick glance,they cannot look through the whole per­son, and longing and desire lead them on.But in the course of a lengthy acquaint­ance one eventually finds out everything,and the interest wanes."

In Mrs. Hayashi's story the-young girlfares even worse. Yuriko refuses tomarry Goro, who has been selected for herby her parents in the orthodox fashion.Instead, and against the will of herparents, she thoughtlessly stumbles intoa marriage with a man of her own choice.Her husband leaves her. Her child diesat a premature birth, she herself getsseriously ill and cannot find a job. Onher way from bad to worse she meetsGoro. He is by now happily married­with his and the bride's parents' consent-and out to buy some ice cream for hisyoung wife who is expecting a baby.

Thus two of the outstanding Japanesewriters, in treating the subject of mar­riage, come to the same conolusion.This is hardly a matter of ohance butrather an indication of a general trend ofthought. Incidentally, while fully appre­oiating the intention of the two authors

ROU1,D TRIP THROUGH EAST ASIA

to warn Japanese youth against morallaxity and liberalism, we might point outthat Aya and Yuriko are adherents notso much of "\Vestern" as of "Hollywood"conceptions-two things which are, for­tunately, by no melLll8 identical. Theirirresponsible, pleasure-seeking, selfish at­titude is representative, not of the West,but only of some of its decadent tenden­cies. The real Occident, while leavingmore room for the feelings of youngpeople in matters of marriage than Mr.Kikuchi and Mrs. Hayashi seem to advise,would also condemn the Ayas lLIld theYurikos. It is unfortunate that theWest is sometimes judged in tho Eastby its Hollywood exaggerations andcaricatUl'e8.

CROWDED CAPITAL

Tokyo-including its streetcars-is asovercrowded as all capitals in these daysof phmning and total war. The morecentralized economic life becomes, thelarger must grow the governmental ma­chinery in the center, the larger also theinflux of people from all over the countryto consult the authorities or to pleadwith them. Furthermore, Tokyo is todaynot only the capital of Japan but thecenter of the whole of East Asia. FromChina and Manchoukuo, from Indo-ehina,the Philippines, and the East Indies,from Malaya and Burma-officials, busi­nessmen, journalists, and politicians areflocking to the capital in ever-increasingnumbers. It was never very easy to geta room in the Imperial Hotel, but nowit is extremely difficult, even though newhotels, particularly the huge Dai ItiHotel, have been built during the lastfew years. Just as hard as obtaining aroom is finding a table at lunch or dinnertime. Many people, mostly men fromthe government offices of the neighbor­hood, assemble every weekday in frontof the various dining and grill rooms ofthe Imperial Hotel, waiting for the doorsto open for lunch or dinner.

THE SUN AND THE MOON

One of the most impressive buildingsin the Japanese capital is the ImperialDiet which, after eighteen years of

building, was completed in 1936. WhenI arrived from Shanghai, the presentsession had just reached the state ofinterpellations. Japan is a totalitarianstate, yet in the Diet each member canget up and put questions to the govern­ment. This is one of the many indicationsof how carefully Japan is proceeding, ofhow she is avoiding radical changes andbreaks. In quick succession the inter­pellations turned the searchlight of pub­licity on a large number of outstandingissues and, incidentally, proved that thepopular Prime Minister, General Tojo, isnot only very capable in his actions, ashe has demonstrated in the one and ahalf years of his premiership, but also inhis utterances. He is always quick tofind the right word for the members ofthe Diet and for the nation at large.

One of the Members, Mr. Kita fromIshikawa Prefecture, interpellated GeneralTojo on the concern felt in some quartersthat the Wartime Administration Bill,which was then before the Diet, mightresult in a dictatorial government as aconscquence of the increased powers ofthe Prime Minister. The General dis­posed of these anxieties by saying:

In my capacity 1\8 His Imperial l\Iajeaty'sPrime Minister, I am tho leador of t.henation, but. 1\8 an individual I am but onoof Hill Imperial Majesty'll humble IlCrvantB. Inthis respect, I am not a bit different from anyof you gentlemen '.' . • The position of PrimeMlniatenbip can shine only 80 far as it reflectsthe radiance of Hill Imperial Majesty... • Ihave my beillg, therefore, br virtue of tbe lightreflecting Hill Imperial MaJesty's' radiance. Infhis reepect I am merely the moon.

Mter this, no further apprehensionsabout dictatorship were voiced in the Diet.

On another occasion, the Prime Ministerwas interpellated regarding the short­comings of some officials of the govern­ment. When he rose in reply he said,"Please do not be too harsh in judgingofficials. There are fine men amongthem." Then he relat.ed to the Diet astory which he had read that morning inthe paper, the story of Mr. Sato, super­intendent of education in Nagano Pre­fecture, and his son H.iro8hi. Hiroehihad returned mortally ill from the frontsome months before. When his illness

2.8 THE XXth CENTURY

reached its final stage, the father spentthe entire night at his son's bedside.When morning came, Mr. Sato was toa~nd a school-directon' conference, andhe said to his dying IOn: "You know,my child, that your father belongs to theState. I am going to the conferenoe. JJ

As he left his home, he asked Mrs. Satonot to disturb him during the conferenceeven if their son were to die. When hereturned from his work, his son was dead.Mr. Sato kept watch that night, but thenext day he went about his daily workagain.

This simple story of the quiet, \m­shakeable 88J18e of duty of SuperintendentSato deeply touched the members of theDiet and, as he finished, General TojopreeeecJ his handkerchief to his eyes instrong emotion.

In spite of all its interpeliatioU8, theJapanese Diet is no debating club. Itdoes its work promptly and efficiently.This could be seen, for instance, when agiant budget, by far the largest in thecountry's history, sW'pM'ing the ladpeace-time budget by fifteen times, waspulled one day by the Diet in the shorttime between 1.00 and 2.40 p.m.

'1'BE BIO J'AJOLY

The people of Japan are sacrificinga gooddeal in comfort and standard of livingfor the sake of the war. The Japaneeemerchant marine, big as it is, is ocoupiedlargely in taking care of the huge warneeds; and the tonnage available for otherpurpoees is, for the time being, not suffi­cient to ship to Japan the abundance ofthe lOuthem areas in quantities bigenough materially to improve the life ofthe people. While all Japanese are as­sured of the absolute necessities of life,they have to get along without manythings to which they were used before.The frugality and hardineu of the Japa­neee have now been put to the test. ManyhoU8e8 and government offices were hard­ly heated this winter, and much timeand effort have to be spent on obtainingthe family's food. But there is probablyno other nation which puts up with thediffioulties imposed on it by the war with

greater calm and discipline. More thanany other people, the Japaneee are likeone big family. H the father of a true,closely knit family decides temporarily tolower the standard of living of his familyin order to save money for an importantinvestment, the family will not grumblebut will cheerfully bear the privations assomething working for their own good.The same thing can be said about Japan&8 a whole.

In one important respect no lack canas yet be observed: in human reaervea.The number of young men of militaryage to be seen in civilian clothes in thestreets of Japan's cities and villages isamazingly large. Many occupationswhich, in an emergency, could be easilyfilled by women are still taken care ofby men. ThUB Japan, in spite of therequirements of her army and. her ad­ministration-both extending from theAleutians to the South Be.. Iti1l huplenty of her moet precious treuur&­man power.

TWO FACTS

The close bonds between the Axisnations have oaused them to watch eachother's military viotories with einoere andproud admiration. And yet it seems tome that none'of the triumphs of theGerman Army in this war has broughtthe Japanese as close to their allies asthe heroio death struggle of the GermanSixth Army and its allied unite at Stalin­grad. I happened to be in Japan whenField Marahal PaulUB' lad radio reportfrom Stalingrad became known, and Iobserved the profound sympathy andadmiration which it called forth in theJapanese nation.

After four visite to Japan within a yearand a half, it seems to me that theJapanese are today more clearly aware oftwo facte than ever before: first, thatthey are in the midst of the hardest,most senOUB and decisive war of theirhistory, and secondly, that Japan andher European Axis friends are boundtogether inseparably in a life-and-deathstruggle.

ROUND TRIP THROUGH EAST ASIA

With grim determination the Japanesenation is out to win this war and to paywhatever price this may require.

NEW OAPITAL

It was my first visit to Manchoukuosince 1936, when I had spent two monthsthere on my way from a journalisticassignment in Moscow to one in the USA.The changes are remarkable. From anexperiment which had still many signs ofbeing temporary, Manchoukuo has be­come a SUCC688. Hsinking, the capital,hu changed from a raw settlement in themidst of a virgin plain to the most moderncapital in East Asia. second only toTekyo. Its government buildings, inwhich I spent my days interviewing highofficials and army officers, rival thoee ofany capital in the world in the beautyand impressiveness of their architecture.At the same time, these buildings aresymbolic of the Japanese desire to dem­onstrate that Japan does not wish toforce the Japanese mentality upon theother people of Manchoukuo, but thatshe desires to bring about a synthesisbetween what is best in Japanese, Chinese,and Manchu traditions. The imposingbuildings of Hsinking are most successfulexamples of modem .Asiatic architecture.In them, Oriental elements have beencombined with the latest Western con­struction methods to form an impreesiveand harmonious style.

NEW TEMPLES

What the Japanese are striving for inManchoukuo is a synthesis of more thanjust architectural styles. On a walk inthe environs of Hsinking I was taken toa newly completed temple. The magnif­icent compound is built in· the style ofthe great Chinese buildings of the past,more imposing than any of the newtemples in China proper. But the serv­ices held there in honor of those whofell for Manchoukuo follow the rites ofShinto, the State religion of Japan.

Now that the one-sided materialism ofthe nineteenth century has been leftbehind and the significance of the worldof ideas rediscovered, our attention is

especially directed at developments whiohtake place in the realm of ideas andideals. Hence it is interesting to observethe development of the ideological re­lations between Manchoukuo and Japan.

In 1935 the Emperor of Manchoukuovisited Japan and was weloomed in theImperial family. The Empl'688 Dowagercomposed two poems for the guest fromManohoukuo. One mentioned that theEmperor of Manchoukuo looked upon heras his own mother, while the other read:

PropitioU8 doee OUl'spring garden appearWhere I feel a young pine tree is added

to the landscape.

Upon his return to Hsinking theEmperor declared: "The Tenno of Nip­pon and I, we are as one in spirit." Afew years later, after having visitedJapan to celebrate the 2,6OOth anniversaryof her foundation, he enshrined Amate­ruu. the supreme Japanese deity,who is also the ancestress of the JapaneseImperial Honse, in the inner court of hisImperial Palace, declaring that the de­velopment of Manchoukuo was due tothe divine protection of this deityand, a year ago, on the loth anniversaryof the founding of Manohoukuo, he oalledJapan for the first time not a "friendlynation" but a "progenitor-nation," there­by acknowledging Manchoukuo &8 an"offspring-nation." This caused Mr.Fujisawa. one of the most original ideol­ogists of preeent-day Japan, to make thefollowing comment:

The concept of the "progenitor.nation" mustunderlie the new international law to be appliedto all peoplee of the Greater East Aaia Co.pf'MP8rlty8~. Tbe Emperor of Kanchoukuo baa clearlyVJlllaaJiMd that it waa Ni~, the "progenitor.nation." which procreat.ed MaDchoukuo IlII an"offBpring.!and" or a "branch·land" and that.there should be ot-rved strictly the virtue of81ial piety between them. Extemany, parente andchildren are Mp&rate pel'llOnalitiea but internal1ythey are, 80 to speak, one iJUleparable being. Ane:denllion of thia novel idea to the internationalrelatione constitutes the prerequisite to the formu­lation of a new law of natiOnB deatiDed to liquidatethe modem international law which bad alrMdyceued to exert authority in Greater East Asia.

Incidentally, Mr. Fujisawa envisagesthe same development for other parteof East Asia too:

The road the Nanking Government is earnestlyadvilJed to tread in the near future should be tbia:

us THE XXth CENTURY

to erect alao a HoI.)· Shrine for the worahip of theSun Oodd_ and adopt the Way of Ole Gods asthe political and 8piritual principle for nlIUU!CtIJltChina. It ill only when Nippon. Manchoukuo. andChina ,"unerato one and the same Orand SUIl Deityt Itat one perfect fR.rnily community will be createduut of th_ three Oriellt~l ('Ountritl8.

The fusion of East Asia. not only onthe economic and political plane, butalso in a common veneration of the samedeity-that is the interesting goal which80me Japanese such as Mr. Fujisawahave in mind.

HARNESSED RIVERS

For the last few years the ManchoukuoGovernment has been reticent in itspublic announcements of the detailedresults of the country's economic growth.But the impressions which the observergains are good Il.Dd certainly surpass byfar anything ever expected by American

. and British students of Manchoukuoaffairs. Within eleven years, Manchou­kuo, from a rather baokward supplier ofraw materials, has become one of theindustrial centers of East Asia, with highlydeveloped and specialized industries,including aircraft and automobile plants.In order to utilize the huge waterpower of the country, for example,Manchoukuo has in recent years harnessedboth the Sungari and the Yalu Riversby means of dams and power plants.Two of the dams already finished dwarfthe once much-publicized dam which theSoviets had built on the Dniepr and areamong the three or four largest dams inthe world.

Another example: until a few yearsago, the city of Mukden stretched onlyto the eut of the railroad track, whileon the other side there was nothing butfields and prairie. But when some friendstook me the other day in their car tothis district, called Tiehsi, I found one ofthe m08t modern industrial areas I haveseen anywhere in the Eut. We firstdrove several miles in one direction, thenseveral miles in the other, yet the picturedid not change: blocks and blocks andblocks of factories built of red brick.

Incidentally, Manchoukuo is an en­couraging example of economic co-opera-

tion between East Asia RoDd Europe.Germany in particular, can be proud ofthe constructive role which the productsof her industries at home and the sincereeffort.~ of her representatives on the spothave played in the industrial growth ofthe country.

Manchoukuo is among the three orfour countries in the world \\-;th therichest experience in planned economy­one of the outstanding issuC8 of our time.Much has been achieved, but manydifficulties are still to be solved, forinstance in agriculture. The problem ishow to keep down the prices of agricul­tural products, especiaUy soya, and yetkeep the peasant interested in his workin the face of increased prices of manu­factured goods. The solution being triedout at present allows the peasants acertain amount of manufactured goods atreduced prices in exchange for theirproducts. The first results of thia newpolicy have been promising. It mighthelp to OVercome the stagnation in farmproduction noticeable during the lastYe&r8·

SCHOOL FOR LEADERS

One of the chief assets of Manchoukuoand to my mind one of her main attrac­tions is the large number of exceptionallyable men to be found in her political andeconomic life. This country, with itsgreat possibilities, still only in the begin­ning of its growth, has attracted manymen of the pioneer type. Quite a fewof the leaders of present-day Japan, in­cluding Prime Minister Tojo, have wontheir spurs there.

This is what one of M&J1choukuo'sleaders, Mr. Takasaki, the outatandingindustrialist of the country, told me abouthis thoughts regarding its future :

The economic bloca in the world alter the warwill be the Gl'Mter East ASa bloc led by Japan.the EUI'OpelUl economic bloc led by Germany andItaly and the American olle led' by the UnitedSta. Among th_ economic blocs. it will beRu.ia·. and England's lot to retain only remnant.sof their former ~ioll8. Under theBe circum­1Itancee, Manchoukuo will play an important roleas the aupplier of foodstuff8. iron, coal. and. otherraw materials to Japan. amI at the same tune of8Oy~ and other gooda t~ Europe. In return.Manchoukuo will be supplied with machinery and

TIll' \";lli'''I;t! I"'rtlt,~' ;-;h"illl' ill H,~illkill~, a "'hilllCl "hl'lll(' Clf ('hilll'''(' an'hitl,,'tlll'(' n'("'IlII,' 11IIill I .. 1111l\('III""" ..r lh",~(, \\'11<1 lIan' tlwi" Ii,'"" 1'" .. :\1aIll'!ICllIkll(l

THE NEW CAPITAL

ROUND TRIP THROUGH EAST ASIA 251

tropical raw materiaL~ from the Greater East Asiabloc and also from Europe.

At present, all the countries of the world aresuffering from a lack of goods and man power.The laboreMl of Manchuria, however, being Chinese.ore more industrious and willing to serve than anyother people. Thoy are able to do the same workall day long, never getting tired and applyingthemselves to it with all their strengt.h. Theirtraining in modem industry will give them theleading place among the laborers of the GreaterEast Asia bloc. Manchoukuo, which is completely88feguarded by the Kwantung Army, i~ receiving8 constant influx of laborers from Central andKorth China, and it is one of Manchoukuo's I>rreattasks to supply these laborers with food and cloth.in~ and to train them to be efficient workers intnodem industrial plants.

THE KWANTUNG ARMY

The Japanese forces known as theKwantung Army, which guarantee Man­choukuo's security, make an impression ofgreat efficiency. It was still winter inManchoukuo when I was there, andbitterly cold. Everything was frozenhard, though the sun shone from a clear!'ky. But the soldiers of the KwantungArmy have become uscd to the climateof northcrn Asia in many veal'S of service.Tho officers in particuicu: look like realwarriors, and in describing onc I amdescribing most of them. One day I hadan hour's interview with one of themembers of the Kwantung Army's staff.Motionless and seemingly emotionless hesat in his chair, speaking with a calm,even voice, as if he were discussing mat­ters which didn't concern him in theleast. And yet there wa.s no mistaking:he was as tense as a tightly drawn bowstring just before t.he release of thearrow, as tense as a clenched fist with allmuscles strained, not moving, but ready.This faculty of extreme inner concentra­tion coupled with seeming equanimity isperhaps Japan's greatest strength; andbel' ability to change from utter reposeto extreme activity reminds one ofJapan's volcanoes, which can also switchsuddenly from dreamy calm to terrificeruptions.

The officer's views on military andpolitical questions were clear and veryintelligent. When the conversationtouched this winter's warfare in Europe.he said: "We Nipponese officers judgethe German military strength, not by

the day-to-day events on the front. butby our unshakeable confidence in theinexhaustible strength of the Germannation and in the final victory of theGerman armies."

TWO-LANGUAGE ANTHEM

Perhaps the most important change Inoticed between the Manchoukuo of 1936and that of 1943 lies in the relationshipbetween the Japanese and the Chinesethere. To a serious observer there canhardly be any question that these tworaces living in Manchoukuo are gettingmore and more used to each other, andthat their collaboration today is con­siderably better than it was seven yearsago. Chinese and Japanese are workingside by side, they are learning each other'slanguages, and their children play togeth­er. The Chinese now seem to look atManchoukuo no longer as something tem­porary which they can afford to ignore butrather as something permanent. Fromthe moment they came to this conclusionthere was but one short step to the next:to the realization that, if Manchoukuo isto stay, it is in the interest of the Chinesethemselves to make Manchoukuo as quick­ly as they ca.n as good a place to live inas possible.

This growing collaboration between theChinese and the Japanese in Manchoukuohas found unique expression in the coun­try's new national anthem. For thefirst time in history, a national anthemhas been written in such a way that itcan be sung simultaneously in two lan­guages. To listen to masses of Japaneseand Chinese singing the anthem in theirrespective languages so that it makes,not for confusion, but for harmony, causesone to believe in the future of this country.

MING GRAVES-PAST ..\.J.-.O FUTURE

"Nobody goes to the Ming gravesnowadays," they said in Peking.

We went anyway. I do not knowwhat hidden dangers thero may havebeen. But what we saw with our eyeswas pictures of peace. The roads werebetter than they had been when I wentthere for the first time in the twenties;

252 THE XXth CENTt RY

the Chinese policemen in the villageslooked more efficient; and after leavingthe Summer Palace there was not a singlesoldier to be soon. The season requiredlittle work in the fields, so that thepeasants were sitting in the kindly Marchsun in front of their houses, smokingtheir smaH-bowled pipes, while womenwith infants in their arms leaned in thedoorways, and children and dogs playedin the dusty streets.

The Ming graves are perhaps the mostmagnificent imperial burial grounds inthe world. Sheltered by the semicircle ofa picturesque ridge which looks like themountains on Chinese paintings, thirteenemperon slumber in mighty tree-eoveredmounds behind gates and temples ofclassical beauty, with deep red walls andgolden-tiled roofs.

As we walked through these monu­ments of Chinese history, the childrenfrom the village near by began to gatherto look at the once familiar and nowrare sight of a private car. By thetime we left, more than a hundred ofthem were standing, shy, friendly, andcurious, around the automobile. Waror peace-the Chinese birth rate is high,and this mass of children against theproud background of Emperor Yung Lo'smausoleum was a symbol both of China'spast and future.

FRESCOES AND FLAGS

Another day we drove to Fa Hai Ssu,a charming little temple nestling on theslopes of a valley in the Western Hillsand . famed for its remarkable frescoes.Again the impression of the trip was acombination of the old and the new.On the one side the venerable templewith its timeless peace and remoteness,and close by, clearly visible from thetemple, a large electric power plantgoing full blast and enveloped in thesmoke of tall chimneys.

Even Peking, more than any othergreat city a place of the past, has itsfoot in the present age. To be sure, theAltar of Heaven and the Forbidden Citystill look the way they always did,

although perhaps they will not doso muoh longer, since it has beenannounoed that part of the groundsof the Alter of Heaven is to betransformed into farm land. But numer­ous posten (such as one showing aChinese and a Japanese soldier fightingside by side) and large models of aerialbombs at traffic centen remind thePekingese that they, too, are not entirelyout of the world; and thousands of ChineseBags lined the streets on the eighth ofthe month, the day on which the entryof Japan into the war with the Anglo­American powen is commemorated.

Every time I was in Peking the officialBag of the country was different. Duringmy fint visit, the flag of the ChineseRepublic, which had replaced the ManchuDynasty, consisted of five b&1'8 (red forthe Chinese, yellow for the Manchus, bluefor the Mongolians, white for the Moham­medans, and black for the Tibetans).Next, in the late twenties, with the vietoryof the Nanking Govemment, came theflag of the Kuomintang (a blue rectanglewith a white star, the rectangle in theupper inner corner of a red field). Whenthe Japanese armies occupied NorthChina in their struggle against ChiangKai-shek, the Kuomintang Bag was dis­carded in favor of the former five stripes;and on February 9, 1943, one month afterthe new Nanking Government had joinedJapan ill her declaration of war againstGreat Britain and the USA, the Kuomin­tang flag, which has by now become theemblem of the National Government ofWang Ching-wei, came back once more.

A rickshaw ride through the streets ofPeking is both restful and stimulating.The streets are broad and straight.Gates and walls, palaces and mud houses,stream past on either side. They allblend into an impressive harmony, andyet one is aware of riding in the shadowof many different centuries and dynasties.And one becomes so history-consciousthat one cannot but include the changingBags into the rhythm of past and present.The East is great in symbolism, and thepresent ohange of flags shows that NorthChina is passing through a new stage.

ROUND TRIP THROUGH EAST ASIA 263

MOMENTOUS ClIANGE

When the Nanking Government de­clared war on Great Britain and theUnited States, many observers throughoutthe world were inclined to take this asa gesture without practical meaning.More than two months have elapsedsince then, and they have demonstratedthat this step was important, if not yetin the military, at least in the politicalfield. By entering into an active alliancewith Japan, the National Governmenthas made China into a full-fledged partnerin the great struggle. From the statusof an oocupied territory, North China ischanging into a trusted ally which isdoing its share in the war of its own freewill. Consequently, Japanese advisersare being reoaJ.led in increasing numbersfrom the positions they have held in theadministration and in economic life duringthe past few years. The outstanding polit­ical organization of North China is itssole party, the Hain Min Hoi. Most of itsJapaneee advisers, formerly several thou­sands of them, are being withdrawn.8imilar changes have been announced forother fields.

Already the results of this new Japanesepolicy are being felt. On my first nightin Peking, I was asked to attend a large,festive dinner given by Mr. Chu Shen,the new head of the government of NorthChina (the "North China Political AffairsCommission") and concurrently the prtl8­ident of the Hsin Min Hoi. This dinnerwas given to a hundred or 80 Chineeenewspaper men from all over NorthChina who were meeting in the city toconsider the new situation. Mr. ChuShen's message to the gathering aptly

expressed the attitude of the Chineseleaders after China's entry into the war:

"The national reconstruction of Chinadepends on the outcome of the presentwar," Mr. Chu Shen emphatically de­clared. "Her national salvation can beachieved only through her own strenuouse1Jorta." He urged the men of the pre88to advocate the increase of production inNorth China and the extensive supply ofimportant materials for the prosecutionof the war. "Only through this proce88,"he added, "can the Chinese hope to attainthe independence of their country."

China's active participation in the warin return for her growing independence-this is the direction in which events inNorth China seem to be moving today.There are still difficulties ahead on thisroad; yet the very fact that it is beingtried seems to fill the Chinese with newconfidence in their future and with thedetermination to overcome as quickly andefficiently as possible their present eco­nomic difficulties. People usually workbest when they feel that they will sharein the fruits of their efforts. This feelinghas been considerably strengthened bythe events of t.he past few weeks.

Hand in hand with the increasedparticipation of North China in the waragainst the Anglo-American nations goesthe growing collaboration between Nan­king and Peking, for w.hich the changein flags is only one of many sympto~.

The Sino-Japaneee relations in NorthChina have entered a new and hopefulphase-this is the most important impres­sion gained by a visit to North Chinain March 1943.