Han Suyin lecture—see page 72Oth Anniversary— officialfilm of Peking celebrations

University College Botany TheatreGower Street, W.I—23rd April—7.3Opm

VOL 4 Number 15MARCH 197OPRICE NINEPENCE

China—where no manis a stranger

IN CHINA TODAY there is no suchthing as a stranger — this was one ofthe points made by Felix Greene atHolborn Central Library on 8 January,when he spoke on ' The Meaning ofRevolution and Peace — the ChineseView '.

' You see an enormous number ofspontaneous acts of mutual kindness',he said. ' Old people are assisted witha load up a hill. Children can run andbe looked after by almost anybodyaround. There is an interrelatednesswhich I found quite extraordinary.Waiting in line for a bus, one veryrarely saw people standing alone with-out talking as they do here and inAmerica. People would immediatelyrelate with each other, talk with eachother, discuss with each other. Go intoa bus in China and everybody's talking.Stranger or not, they immediately makecontact. All these things would seemto indicate that there is a flow of nor-mal related ness among the peoplewhich is healthy.

' About relationships of a more per-sonal nature it is difficult to speak, asChinese people are reticent about dis-playing emotion in public. They wouldprobably be shocked to s,ee peoplekissing or embracing in public as theydo here. I do not believe that this de-notes remoteness between the sexesas some visitors from the West havesuggested. There are indications to thecontrary. There is the immediate, spon-taneous affection with which children,anywhere, are looked after. A child lostin a crowd does not cry, because he hasso many elders — uncles and aunts, asit were — ready to look after him.There is much less dependence on mymother and my father, because eachchild is part of the community in amuch more vivid and immediate way

than they are here. You see littlechildren getting on buses, and immedi-ately someone will take them on th.eirlap and make a fuss of them. So mygeneral impression is that the inter-relatedness of the people on a personallevel is healthy.

' This is true in the cities as wellas in the countryside. Going down astreet in China I get th,e impressionthat I'm in a very large and affectionatefamily. There is not the same shieldof strangeness that there is betweenpeople here. There is an immediatelink or touch or communication ofsome kind between people on a veryeasy level — between strangers as wellas between non-strangers. It's a veryremarkable and impressive thing to seethis for the first time.'

Earlier Mr. Greene had spoken ofthe need for people to decide whatthey meant by the words ' revolution 'and ' peace '. In America it was fashion-able for young people to say they were' for revolution ' and ' for peace ' — butwhat kind of revolution did they want,and what were they doing about it? Asfor peace, for many people this meantnon-violence and non-action.

It's easy for us ', he went on.' We're not anxious about where ourfood's coming from, and nor do weconsider that our comfort and securityspring from the fact that we're beingvery unpeaceful in other parts of theworld. Parts of our comfort andsecurity in the West are derived fromthe fact that we're drawing enormousamounts of wealth from the impover-ished multitudes .around the world. Isit enough for the slave to be ' forpeace'? His need is for freedom. ThePeruvian peasant, the South Africangold-miner live and work under ter-rible conditions, and there are no chan-

nels through which their wrongs can berectified. Our idea of ' peace ' is allright for us, but it is too negative forthem. We must join them in theirstruggle, and identify ourselves withthe poor of the world.'

Mr. Greene agreed with a questionerwho pointed out that the impetus forrevolution in Russia and China hadbeen despair and hunger, and theseconditions did not exist in Westerncountries.

' But ', he went on, ' w.e are also ona starvation diet, especially in theUnited States. There is an emotionalimpoverishment, a depersonalisation oflife, a hunger for meaning and relation-ship, and a contempt and disinterestin the motivations being put before thepeople. Young people in America nolonger want to be the head of GeneralMotors. The goals put before them bycapitalism are no longer meaningful, asthey were ten years ago.

' In Britain, the conditions of theworking-class are much better than theywere. But an improvement in the con-ditions of one section of the working-class is usually only possible at theexpense of another section — in thiscase, the colonisation and exploitationof the native abroad. Also, democracyin this country is still largely a sham,Power is still in the hands of a few, andgross inequalities still exist betweenthe classes in education, wealth andstatus. We have only had a bourgeoisrevolution.

' But people are beginning to seethrough the myth on which capitalismis based — that human happiness comesfrom the accumulation of things.Capitalism has failed to give a humanesens,e of relatedness with each other.We all know in our heart of hearts

continued overleaf

'Red Guard': red herring?One of the Society's functions is to try and correct misleadinginformation about China and her policies published by the press,radio and television. The Society's Chairman recently wrote tothe editor of 'The Times' and the producer of the BBC 'Europa'television programme on two subjects which required suchaction. We print below the letters and replies received.

RED GUARD'S STORY

Dear Mr Rees-Mogg,I am writing to comment on the

publication in The Times (7 January)of the article headed ' Red Guard'sown story of rampage '.

The note prefacing the article makesit clear that this is not news, butsimply one story selected (by the NewYork Times ?) from those of a numberby refugees who have fled to Taiwan,or even outside China. The reader hasno means of evaluating its truth ortypicality, or indeed th.e linguistic orother qualifications of Dr. Ivan Londonfor undertaking his research project.The following points, however, arerelevant to any appraisal of the story:

(1) On the writer's own showing, acruel and unjust reign of terror in hisschool was initiated by th,e " workteam ". It should surely have been madeclear in the editorial note that through-out China at the beginning of the Cul-tural Revolution these teams w.ereacting on instructions from followersof Liu Shao-chi, who were workingagainst Mao Tse-tung. It is well-knownthat in many educational institutionsthey played a disruptive part (e.g. inthe famous Tsinghua University inPeking), setting stud.ents against eachother and against their teachers, thus' waving the red flag to oppose the redflag ' and causing the maximum of con-fusion. The official policy for the Cul-tural Revolution was stated in the 16-Point decision of 8 August 1966; bothth,e targets of criticism and the meth-ods used to attack them, as describedin the article reprinted, clearly violatethis policy.

(2) The author 'has a doubly guiltyconscience, firstly for having taken part,and to some extent a leading part, inactions he knew to be wrong, andsecondly for having fled to Taiwan. Thefirst circumstance does not make hima reliable witness, still less does thesecond: anyone now living in Taiwan isbound to produce a good anti-com-munist story, if only in self-justification.

The foregoing considerations do notof course mean that the whole storycan be dismissed as untrue, but its

authenticity must remain suspect. Itseems reasonable to ask what good youconsider it does to give such an item,three years after the events it purportsto describe, such prominence on a newspage? It is calculated to inflame pre-judice, without contributing to know-ledge or understanding of China andChinese policies today, and its publica-tion by The Times therefore seemsirresponsible.

Yours sincerely,Derek Bryan

(19 January, 1970)

Dear Mr Bryan,Thank you very much for your letter.

I think that the point you overlook isthat the Chinese Government has con-sistently refused to grant visas toBritish journalists to visit or reside inChina and has treated notoriouslybadly the agency journalists who, on areciprocal basis, were allowed to residein Pekin. If China allowed properaccess to reporters then we shouidnot have to rely on reports frompeople who have left China to give usan account of what is going on there.

Yours sincerely,William Rees-Mogg

(20 January, 1970)

Mr Rees-Mogg does not attempt to answerthe points made in Mr Bryan's letter. Hislast sentence not only begs the question ofwhat ts ' proper ' access to reporters butignores the fact that the Times story, farfrom being ' an account of what is going on 'in China, is over three years old.

ED. SACU News

continued on facing page

No man is a strangerfrom page 1it is better to be in a poor littledwelling with people we're fond ofthan in a marvellous penthouse withpeople we don't like.

' In America, groups like the Hippieshave realised this, and are contractingout. But there are many who say therecan be a meaningful life without with-drawing.'

An American in the audience saidthat young people who rejected capital-ism got caught in the same trap as theirparents once they left college. Withoutcontrol of communications they werepow.erless to change the system. Hebelieved Fascism lay ahead, not onlyfor America but for all Western coun-tries.

Mr. Greene agreed that America washeading for the Police State, and that'a savage decade ' lay ahead. But Fas-cism contained the seeds of its owndestruction. The left — at presentdisunited — would be able to see acommon objective in over-throwingFascism.

It was true — as another questionerhad pointed out — that revolutionswere unlikely to take place in Westerncountries so long as these remainedaffluent. But affluence depended on theexploitation of poorer countries,and revolutions in these would mean anend to affluence for the exploiters. InAmerica, the cost of living was alreadyrising at a faster rate than wages.

Questioned about a recent articlein The Times, Mr. Greene said it wasnecessary to consider what television

and press coverage of China in theWest signified. There was growing ten-sion on the Sino-Soviet border — farmore serious than we had so far accep-ted— and the Soviet Union had pro-voked this. The Chinese proposals hadbeen reasonable, but these had beenrejected. He believed there was col-lusion between the Soviet Union and theUnited States, to whom China repre-sented a major threat. This threat wasnot military or economic, but ideo-logical — 'China is the only countrycoming out openly and uncompromis-ingly for a revolutionary overthrow ofimperialism. As such, she is gaining theallegiance of millions around theworld '. Press and television attackson China were part of a campaign tocounteract this threat.

Asked what guarantee there was thatChina would remain socialist once shehad gained prosperity, the speaker saidthe possibility of a return to capitalismcould not be overlooked. But China wasthe first country to face this problem—that revolution does not necessarilyproduce a fundamental change in asociety. To do so, it was necessary toproduce a ' socialist man '.

It was this need for a revolution inconsciousness, as well as in economiccircumstances, that made a continuingrevolution essential. Even a revolution-ary man, when put into the civilservice, will become conservative. Thatwas why bureaucracy had to be undercontrol of the people. Education againstthe idea of competition as a recipefor happiness also had to be carriedout.

Myopia from 'Europa'from page 2

SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE

Dear Mr Chivers,

I am writing personally, and also asChairman of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, to express theregret of many viewers that the'Europa' programme on 7 January wasa negative contribution to understand-ing of the Sino-Soviet dispute ingeneral, and the frontier dispute inparticular.

The programme was ostensibly animpartial look at the propaganda ofboth sides in the dispute. It opened,however, with a statement by DerekHart—that one of the root causes ofthe dispute is the Chinese demand forthe return of territories seized fromChina by Russia in the 19th century —which is the exact opposite of the facts(see for instance the article in TheTimes of 10 January by Richard Harris,paragraph 6).

Such an introduction inevitably raiseddoubts as to the objectivity of the pro-gramme. These were confirmed whenthe Chinese film that followed wasshown in a cut-down version, about aquarter of its original length (thoughviewers were not so informed). In atleast one place the commentary didnot correspond with the shots (of thefuneral) being shown, apparently outof sequence. The total result was ahotch-potch, which omitted almost allthe background historical material, in-cluding the maps, an omission all themore serious in the light of the mis-statement with which the programmehad opened.

'1 do not know whether the Sovietfilm had been similarly cut down,though it did not appear so to the

Books receivedThe inclusion of a book under thisheading does not preclude review ata later stage.

THE CHINA HELPERS: Western ad-visers in China—1620-1960. ByJonathan Spence. The Bodley Head,1969. 45s.

THE GRAND TITRATION: Science andSociety in East and West. By JosephNeed ham. George Allen & UnwinLtd, 1969, 63s.

THE PROTRACTED GAME: a Wei-ch'iinterpretation of Maoist revolutionarystrategy. By Scott A. Boorman.Oxford University Press, 1969. 65s.

viewer. In any case it was a much moresophisticated production than theChinese, and would seem to have beenmade with an eye to Western as wellas Soviet viewers (e.g. the use of shotsof US newspaper headlines aboutJapan's attack on China). It included agood deal of interesting material, but,not unexpectedly, was a travesty of thehistory of the Chinese revolution andthe role of Mao Tse-tung.

The programme thus amounted to anemasculated and confused version ofthe Chinese case against the USSR onthe 'border issue, plus a general Sovietattack on Mao Tse-tung, the Chineseleadership as a whole, and the CulturalRevolution. Its predictable effect onnon-specialist viewers was confirmedto me by a teacher friend, in severalof whose colleagues it had arousedvery negative reactions as regardsChina.

Last year, soon after the first Sino-Soviet border clashes, there was analmost equally unsatisfactory EUROPAprogramme on the subject. In this, anearlier Soviet film about a minor con-frontation was followed by a very poordiscussion between the editor of theChina Quarterly and someone from theUniversity of Essex, which did not gointo the real issues at all, but merelyspeculated on possible military develop-ments.

The Sino-Soviet border is a questionon which impartial observers who havegone into the matter agree that China(shrill as the tone of th,e film com-mentary undoubtedly is) has a verystrong case. The fact that such a repu-table programme as EUROPA shouldtwice demonstrate an obvious pro-Russian bias suggests .a form of Euro-pocentrism that is I am sure not in-tended.

Yours sincerely,Derek Bryan

(16 January, 1970)

Dear Mr Bryan,

While appreciating the care andtrouble you have taken in writing tome with regard to our ' Europa ' pro-gramme of 7 January, ;l regret I cannotagree with your criticisms.

May I begin by saying that the pro-gramme was never intended to be anexamination of the rights and wrongsof the Sino/Soviet dispute. It was, aswas clearly stated, a look at the kindof propaganda that each side is usingagainst the other in their attempts toinfluence the outside world.

I also feel you may be under a mis-

apprehension as to the exact natureof the statement made by Derek Hartat the start of the programme. In facthe said that the Sino/Soviet disputewas rooted in many things. Whatevermay be the present tactical position, 1think you will agree that in the pastthe Chinese have sought to raise thequestion of the 19th Century treatieswith Russia — as Mr Harris's articlealso makes clear.

It is true, as you say, that theChinese film was shortened, but I hopeyou will believe that great care wastaken in doing so, in an attempt topreserve both the main points of theargument and the spirit and flavour ofthe original. I am sorry, if in your view,w,e have failed.

The Russian film was similarly shor-tened. I am sure that the Russians, atany rate, would not accept your viewthat it was a ' travesty ' of the historyof the Chinese revolution.

Whether or not the Chinese havea strong case is not for me to say. Iwould only remind you that amongother things the commentary of theirfilm called the Russians ' shamelessgangsters ', ' wild beasts', and ' madanti-China clowns '.

But I do thank you most sincerelyfor writing. While disagreeing withwhat you say, I would certainly agreewith your right to say it. I hope youwill grant us the same liberty.

Yours sincerely,Anthony Chivers

Producer —' Europa '(2 February, 1970)

The fact that the Chinese have in the pastraised the question of the 19th centurytreaties does not mean that they demandedthe return of the territories in question;their stand is one of principle, not oftactics. And I cannot accept the implicationthat the strong language she uses in an/ wayweakens the strength of China's case.

D.B.

Leading class1 The working class must exerciseleadership over everything' was themain theme running through RolandBerger's lecture — the fourth in theAnglo-Chinese Educational Institute's20th Anniversary series — which wasattended by over 100 people at theHolborn Central Library on 5 February.Mr Berger, who last visited China inOctober 1969, spoke of how this policyhad been applied in both education andindustry and gave his audience someinteresting accounts of visits he hadmade to schools and factories and thedevelopments that 'had taken place inthem since his last visit some sixmonths previously. The lecture wasfollowed by a very lively period ofquestions and discussion.

Last words on Liu?The February issue of SACU News included a letter from WilliamHinton and Ed Berg's reply. We now publish their further letters.

IN REPLYING to my letter Bergaccepts the idea of class struggleinside the Communist Party but insiststhat it is inadequate to explain LiuShao-chi and his role. In support ofthis view he cites two radically differ-ent evaluations of Liu made pre- andpost-Cultural Revolution. Since theseevaluations contradict one another he,in effect, urges me to reject the de-nunciatory one and uphold the lauda-tory one.

How can such a conclusion be basedon the mere existence of two evalu-ations? If a man's role has been mis-judged, and because it has beenmisjudged he achieves a central posi-tion in a movement, will not a realisticreview of his history lead to a newjudgement sharply at variance with theold one? Of course 'Liu was regarded asa leading revolutionary dedicated tothe cause of Communism prior to 1966.If he hadn't been, he would not havebeen elected to positions of authorityand trust. But by his own acts he ex-posed himself. This led to a drasticre-appraisal, condemnation and expul-sion.

Such re-appraisals are not exactlyrare in poltical life. Both the presentAmerican president and his predecessorcame to power because they won thevotes of the American people on thepeace issue, only to expose their truepolicies and quickly lose that support.P.eople and events are re-evaluated allthe time, sometimes rightly, sometimeswrongly of course. W'hat Berg is tellingus is that 'Liu Shao-chi has been falselycondemned, that Mao and his comradeshave fabricated evidence and lied tothe Chinese people and the world forulterior motives. In other words weshould not re-evaluate Liu, we shouldre-,evaluate Mao. Mao is not what heseems to be. 'Mao makes up classstruggle explanations to conceal per-sonal power rivalries, etc., etc. Whatsupporting facts can be cited fromMao's long career to uphold such aview?

A myriad facts are cited by Chinesejournals and by foreign observers livingin China to back up the new evalu-ation of Liu. For a fairly complete sum-mary of these see Gerald Tannebaum's'The Struggle Between Two Lines' inEastern Horizon, Numbers IV and V,1969. Of the many controversies divid-ing Chinese revolutionaries cited in thisarticle 1 have personal experience of

more than one. I know, because I wasin China at the time and talked withmany people, that in 1945 some Chineserevolutionaries had illusions about theparliamentary road, the role of GeneralMarshall and the ' peace ' plans of theAmerican 'bourgeoisie. This puzzled mebecause Mao Tse-tung was definitelynot spreading any such views. It isnow clear that Liu Shao-chi was. Hisspeeches of that time proved it.

1 know, because I was in the TaihangMountains with a land reform workteam at the time, that in 1948 .an ultra-left, poor-peasant line dominated policyfor an extended period. Liu Shao-chiwas identified with this line by MaoTse-tung himself in April of that year.(See Mao Tse-tung, Selected Works,Vol IV, pp 231-252.) More recentmaterial confirms this.

I know, because I worked six yearsin the State Farm Programme after1949, that many Chinese Communistsviewed the revolution as 'having beencompleted in 1949, saw New Democ-racy as a protracted stage in Chinesehistory, and put technique instead ofpolitics in command of their work. Atthe time I was unaware of th.e sourceof these views, but documents nowavailable clearly demonstrate that LiuShao-chi led in propagating them.

Since each of these controversies andmany more cited by Tannebaum reflectclass struggle and since Liu Shao-chiplayed«ither a leading or a supportingpart in all of them, what grounds ,arethere for excluding Liu from a majorrole in intra-Party class struggle?

Objectively Liu Shao-chi certainlyrepresented the bourgeoisie inside theCommunist Party. Objectively his poli-cies, if followed, would certainly haveled to a restoration of Kuomintang andimperialist hegemony in China. Thereal problem arises, it seems to me,when the charge is carried further andit is said, as all current Chinese materialsays, that Liu Shao-chi subjectively andknowingly supported counter-revolu-tionary policies, that as far back as 1925he betrayed the Party to save his skin,that h,e acted as a covert renegade andagent for 30 years. To be a renegade,to engage in intra-Party struggle and,at the same time, to rise to a leadingposition in the Chinese CommunistParty is an achievement so extra-ordinary as to stagger the imagination.For many, these charges cannot butdetract from the credibility of a class

struggle interpretation. Certainly mostpeople involved in revolution who sup-port Right or 'Left ' lines think theyare true proletarian revolutionaries andnever imagine that they are actually ex-pressing petit-bourgeois or bourgeoisideology. It is not necessary to postu-late renegacy or treason to prove classstruggle.

Why then would Mao Tse-tung, LinPiao and the comrades of the proletar-ian headquarters make such charges?The only logical answer would seemto be that they are true. I personallyfind them hard to believe but there isnothing in the history of the ChineseCommunist Party to back up a theoryof false charges and frame-up arrangedby the leadership. Nor can 1 see anyshort-term, not to mention long-termadvantage to that leadership from sucha tactic. In the end it could only back-fire.

As 1 see it Berg has joined thatlarge company of foreign ' experts ' whoare trying to do abroad what the ' ad-verse February current' of 1967 andthe ' sinister trend ' of 1968 failed to doin China — that is: reverse the verdicton Liu Shao-chi and his clique ofcapitalist readers. Over the years theseexperts have, in connection with oneChinese crisis after another, jumped into belabour Mao Tse-tung, only to beproven wrong in th,e end. How theymaintain their expertise with suchrecords is 'hard to understand, exceptof course for the basic fact that theyare bourgeois experts. They have tocombat Mao, and even though they loseround after round they ride back intothe fray for all their life is worth.Some carry red banners, some carrywhite banners, but all concentrate onthe same target — Mao Tse-tung andMao Tse-tung Thought. That is thegreat dividing line today. Revolution-aries stand on Mao's side, not mind-lessly, but on the basis of the record,a record which in the last few yearshas vastly enhanced the stature of theman and the fundamental importanceof his political analysis and creativeaction—and the Cultural Revolutionmost of all.

That is the fundamental issue vis-a-vis Berg — his estimate of the Cultural

continued on facing page

SACU NEWS is published by theSociety for Anglo-Chinese Under-standing Ltd, 24 Warren Street,London, W.I and printed byGoodwin Press Ltd, (TU), 135Fonthill Road, London, N.4.

Harvesting by traditional methods on newly-irrigated commune land, Lungshan, Szechuan Province

What the Chinese papers sayCHINESE PERIODICALS—March Issue

China Pictorial No 12, 1969This is a special issue with over half

the magazine filled with magnificentpictures of the 20th Anniversary Cele-brations in Peking. Other articles in-clude one on the Kutien Conference of1929 which adopted the resolution byMao Tse-tung, known today as ' Cor-

Liu Shao-chifrom facing page

Revolution as ' exorcism of the bour-geois devil ' as against Mao's estimateof it as a life-and-death class strugglefor carrying the socialist revolutionthrough to the end.

W. Hinton(21 January, 1970)

HINTON quite clearly sees the diffi-culties involved in the question ofLiu's career. He states these difficultiesin plain terms and pulls no punches.Rather than polemicising with Hinton,I have only this to add: in studyinghistory it is policies and not personali-ties than count. Regardless of whetheror not Liu was a secret spy for theKMT and the CIA, the policies associ-ated with his name were disastrousproducts of bourgeois thinking. Besidethe importance of these political issues,our interest in Liu's personal careerseems a bit misplaced and academic.

E. E. Berg(3 February, 1970)

recting Mistaken Ideas in the Party ';'China's first 125,000kw Steam TurboGenerating Set; and a survey of JolmoLungma (Mount Everest) in the Hima-layas.

China Reconstructs No I, 1970Two articles in this number — 'China

is Mechanising her Farming ' and ' Fer-tiliser Industry comes to the Country-side '— show how decentralisationhelps farming, while ' 'Banner Herds-men's Commune on the Chinghai High-lands ' describes the development ofsheep breeding in a stock-raising com-mune populated by some of China'sminority peoples. Other articles, al fbeautifully illustrated, include one onprice cuts in medical supplies and an-other on the self-criticism by the headof an ear, nose and throat teachingresearch group. At 1 s per copy thisperiodical is .excellent value.

Chinese Literature Nos 11-12, 1969This periodical always includes repro-

ductions of Modern Chinese Art; thisissue also has some striking photo-graphs from the Three-Stones Museumin Tientsin illustrating an article entitled' A History of Blood and Tears'.' Notes on Ar t ' discusses the role ofthe hero in revolutionary theatre andcinema and stories of real-life heroesare given under ' Reportage ', ' Who arethe Makers of History?' is a detailedcriticism of the film ' City Besieged ',based on a novel of the same namewhich has been praised in the West fortaking an ' anti-Mao ' line.

For those whose Western back-ground makes it difficult for them tounderstand modern Chinese literatureand art, this magazine may be of helpif read with an enquiring mind.Peking Review Nos 1 to 6, 3970

' Usher in the Great 1970's ' thePeking newspapers' editorial. NewYear's Day (Peking Review No 1 ), andthe first article in No 2, commentingon it, are important policy documents.Read in conjunction with the investiga-tion report on Party Building in PekingHsinhua Printing House (Nos 1 and 2)they set the political stage for thecoming year in China. For those in-terested in preventive medicine thearticle ' Developing China's MedicalScience Independently and Self-Reliantly ' (No 2) will be of particularinterest: this also gives a great deal ofinteresting information on traditionalChinese medicine, while ' New Trail inAcupuncture Treatment ' (No 6) coversthe popularisation by the PLA of auri-cular needling treatment. Also in No 6there is an .article on the history, andthe importance for the future, of themilitia. All numbers deal also with theinternational scene, particularly theanti-imperialist struggle, and with thegrowth of Marxist-Leninist movementsall over the world. E.S.

The Socialist Medical Associationhas been advising the Labour Movementfor 40 years on Health matters.

WHY NOT HELP?Details from

31 Lionel Street, Birmingham. 3.You don't have to be a doctor to join.

Education for humanityIn February's SACU News, Elsie Colliercriticises Odile Gail's ' Observer ' articlein general terms. While I agree withall she says, it may perhaps be worthadding ,a few detailed comments.

The intention of the ' Observer'article was to portray a generation ofyoung fanatics being encouraged, eventrained, in fanaticism: ' The child islet in judgment over the parent': ' hisparents represent the shabby world ofcompromise'; and the Red Guards' overturned the last idols and broughtwar to the countryside'.

This sort of thing, based on a smallminority of cases, could be refuted ifspace allow.ed. I would rather point outthat reading between the lines of thearticle one can see the writer havingto admit the real meaning of Chineseeducation: the making of people for anew society. For instance we are told

that the child knows he is China'sfuture, the champion of its interests:' All the emphasis is on enlarging educa-tion at the base, at the expense ofspecialist scholarship at the top . . . "

Co-education is universal, and child-ren grow up to men and women who' work side by side, driving tractorson the farms and drafting policies inthe Government'.

Miss Call, unconsciously perhaps,puts her finger on the essential aspectof Chinese education: ' General subjectstend to be taught with a strong biastowards their practical application ' . . .' agricultural studies ' includes mathe-matics, chemistry, physics and economicgeography. As well there are lessonson Chinese language, English, Russianand French '. Surely not a bad curri-culum for a peasant child who, 20 yearsago, often had no schooling at all.

China: experts conferCONTEMPORARY CHINA: edited by

Ruth Adams. Peter Owen, London,1969. 45s.

THE AUTHORS of this book wereamong the 32 ' experts ' who took partin a large-scale conference on the sub-ject of China held in Chicago in Feb-ruary, 1966. The conference was atten-ded by 2,500 people, and was televisedin the US by National Education Tele-vision. The panel discussions and audi-ence participation resulted in a livelydebate; it is a pity that extracts fromthis could not have been included inthe present volume.

Instead we have 15 papers, coveringthe whole spectrum of China's post-revolutionary development — political,economic, social and cultural — prior tothe Cultural Revolution. The contribu-tors — who include such well-knownnames as Jan Myrdal, Han Suyin andJoan Robinson — are mainly sympa-thetic; though there are exceptions.A. W. Halpern, for example, conjuresup the familiar bogey of an aggressiveChina contained only by a ' defensive 'American presence; while James A.

It is the aim of SACU NEWSto encourage free discussion.The views expressed are notnecessarily those of the Councilof Management.

Duncan describes China as a ' Franken-stein monster ', and hopes that the' fundamentally peaceloving Chinesepeople, tired of overwork and povertyat home and of adventurism abroad,will gradually influence their leaders toabandon their policies of belligerence '.

Such extravagances are, however, fewand far between. And even the mostcritical of the ' experts ' agreed ' thatthere seems no doubt that the presentregime has succeeded in unifying Chinaunder a central government for thefirst time in living memory; that it hassuccessfully coped with inflation,famine, and disease to a degree unpre-cedented in Chinese history; and thatit possesses the substantial allegianceof the Chinese people/

Although the book is no longer' contemporary ' in the strictest sense,it should be of value to all who seeka wide range, not only of facts, butalso of opinions, about China. Errorsthere are, though it would take anotherteam of ' experts ' to detect them all.One example is a seriously misleadingstatement by C. P. Fitzgerald, writingabout the Sino-lndian border dispute,that the Chinese ' kept the fruits ofvictory in the form of the frontierthey claimed.' In fact, as he must know,they voluntarily withdrew in the east-ern sector from all the territory theyclaimed and had occupied in the courseof the fighting.

T.R.

Miss Cail complains that history ismis-taught, saying ironically: ' Nothinghappened in China before . . . 1927,when 'Mao decided to conquer thecountry '. Well, to the peasants whoselives had been bound by the povertyand isolation of their villages, thisirony is in fact a truth; but if onewants to learn about the past, the manymuseums and local collections are thereto teach the children who crowd tothem .as much national and regionalhistory as they need.

It is easy to smile at the simplepresentation of heroic stories but eventhis supercilious article indirectlyadmits their value: 'Lei Feng . . . onhis days off taught young children toread, or swept the railway station. . . .This good and simple man has becomean example to the whole of China.' This same pattern of selfless heroismis reflected in the brief life of WangChieh '. — 'The lesson is that the sup-reme aim of life is heroism in theservice of the community '.

If the end product is the little girlwho ' spends her free time lookingafter old people . . . and organising hersquad to water the flowers and treesin the school grounds and repair thedesks and chairs', surely we can onlywish enviously that more of this sortof lesson were taught in Westernschools!

Miss Cail points out ' the care withwhich parks and public gardens havebeen equipped for small children ', andthe bathing and swimming they enjoy inthe Summer Palace Lake (once re-served for the Imperial 'Court); onewishes she had also mentioned theChildren's Palaces in almost everytown, where they dance, make music,invent games, practise hobbies — sothat it seems there isn't such a thingas a bored Chinese child!

She might also have mentioned thefact that seriousness and responsibilitygo hand-in-hand with gaiety and a feel-ing of security too often lacking inyoung people in the West today.

The tone of the article is contemp-tuous, but the subject matter shouldgive cause for rejoicing, that ' one childout of five in the world ' is beingbrought up with such a sense of pur-pose and a zest for life. Bertrand Rus-sell wrote in his book. The Conquestof Happiness, ' Zest is the secret ofhappiness and well-being '. The childrenof China have all three in plenty,fostered by their education and theirsociety.

Frida Knight

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

Office: 24 Warren Street, London W.ITelephone 01-387 0074

President: Joseph NeedhamChairman: Derek Bryan

Deputy-Chairman: Joan Robinson

Vice-Chairman: Mary Adams

Secretary: Betty Paterson

Council of Management: Mary Adams,Premen Addy. Kate Allan, IsaacAscher, Roland Berger, Sydney Bid-w.ell, William Brugger, Derek Bryan,Hung-Ying Bryan, Patrick Daly,Douglas Greene, Richard Hensman,Frida Knight, Jim Little, Sam Mauger,Joseph Needham, Betty Paterson,Colin Penn, Ernest Roberts, JoanRobinson, Eve Sheringham.

Historic filmon Lenin

The China Policy Study Group havearranged a showing of the film ' Leninin October' for Thursday, March 19 at715 pm at Holborn Central Library,Theobald's Road, WC1.

Holidayclosing

SACU Office and the Library will beclosed for Easter holiday from Friday,March 27, until Tuesday, March 31,inclusive.

'China Now'For technical reasons the change-overfrom SACU News to CHINA NOW(s,ee January issue) has been tempor-arily deferred.

20TH ANNIVERSARY LECTURESThe last lecture wHI be given by

HAN SUYINon

CHINA —WAR & PEACEHan Suyin, author and lecturer, hasrecently spent three months in

China.THURSDAY, 5 March at 7 15 pmHOLBORN CENTRAL LIBRARY

THEOBALD'S ROAD, WC1

SACU DIARYMarch

3 Cambridge Branch. Meeting onChina. Keynes Hall, Kings College,8.15 pm.

5 20th Anniversary Lecture. HolbornCentral Library, Theobald's Road,WC1. 715 pm. See below.

10 Camden Branch. Film Show: ' TheEast is Red '. Exhibition Hall, Cam-den Studios, Camden Street, NW1.730 pm.

11 Barnet Branch. Film Show: ' TunnelWarfare'. East Finch Ley Library,226 High Road, N2. 8 pm.

24 Discussion Meeting. ' Revisionismand its Causes'. Introduced by:Sam Mauger. 24 Warren Street,Wl. (Entrance Richardson's Mews.)730 pm.

April23 Peking celebration of China's 20th

Anniversary (official film) BotanyTheatre, University College, GowerStreet, Wl. 730 pm.

SACU AGMThe Society's 1970 Annual General

Meeting will be held on Saturday after-noon, May 16, at the College of Pre-ceptors' Hall, 2 Bloomsbury Square,London, WC1. Further details of, andall documents for, the meeting, to-gether with the programme for theevening's entertainment to follow it,will be sent with the April/May SACUNews, which will reach all membersby April 24.

RESOLUTIONS for the AGM must bereceived at central office by April 10,and must be signed by five members ofthe Society.

NOMINATIONS for the Councilmust be received by April 17 if with-out the permission of the nominee, orby May 1 with the written acceptanceof the nominee.

Ten of the following twelve mem-bers of the Council are due to retirethis year: Mary Adams, Premen Addy,Kate Allan, Isaac Ascher, Sidney Bid-well, Bill Brugger, Douglas Greene,Frida Knight, Jim Little, Sam Mauger,Betty Paterson, Joan Robinson. All areeligible for re-election. The recentlyco-opted members—Kathleen Dodd andChristopher Norwood, MP — are alsoeligible for election this year.

Shanghai is only one of the excitingcities served by PIA Boeing 7208

and 707-3400 big jets from London.

PIA has the best places:

LONDON • FRANKFURT - PARIS • CAIRO • MOSCOWGENEVA - ROME • TEHRAN - KABUL - KARACHIKATHMANDU-DACCA-BANGKOK-CANTON-BEIRUTNAIROBI • ISTANBUL - BAGHDAD • KUWAIT - DOHA

DHAHARAN - DUBAI • BAHRAIN • JEDDAH

PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRUNES

Air France to ShanghaiAir France weekly service to Shanghai by Boeing Jet Intercontinental gives businessmen, exporters, diplomatsand official travellers fast direct access to the heart of industrial areas. The flight leaves Paris, Orly, on Mondaymorning and the Boeing reaches Shanghai on Tuesday afternoon. The return flight departs Shanghai on Tuesdayafternoon and arrives at Orly on Wednesday morning.Air France has 9 services a week to the Far East-and countries on this route include Iran, Pakistan, India,Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan-and the People's Republic of China. Destin-ations m many of these countries may be used as stop-over points on your journey to Shanghai. Full details canbe obtained from your Travel Agent or nearest Air France office.

on voyage158 NEW BOND STREET LONDON W1 - 01-499 9511 reservations - 01-499 8611 all other dentsMANCHESTER 061-832 7S31/6 • BIRMINGHAM 021-236 9251/4 - GLASGOW 041-221 8054/5/6 - DUBLIN 77-9073