THE PICTORIAL BIOGRAPHY OF DR. SUN YAT-SEN
(in Chinese)
By Lo Chia-lun
Committee on Party History,
Kuomintang Headquarters
1954
116 pages NT$30
This brief volume is a collection of pictures and autographs of Dr. Sun Yat-sen together with some maps, newspaper clippings and drawings in regard to his political life. Altogether some 180 pictorial illustrations have been selected to describe the leading role Dr. Sun played in the Chinese revolution. Where the photographs of some particular events are lacking, drawings based on accounts by eyewitnesses are provided. Most of the materials are taken from the archives of the Kuomintang headquarters and many of them are not otherwise available. The value of the work is enhanced by the inclusion of extensive notes drawn as far as possible from Dr. Sun's own works. A general account of Dr. Sun's life is also given to link the separate items together, thus making the volume an interesting, coherent treatment. Undoubtedly the work is an important addition to the growing number of studies published in recent years on the life of the founder of the .
The ambitious title of the book causes disappointment to those who turn the pages and find that the book is far from a biography in the proper sense of the word. If the mere putting together of isolated pictures can not make a biography, the addition of a brief biographical sketch can not make too much difference. At best, as is admitted in the Preface, the volume is only indicative of a manner in which a complete biography of Dr. Sun Yat-sen may be worked out in the future.
The book is recommended more than once in the Preface as a historical work and inferentially its importance as such is stressed. "Apart from the individual data contained, the only thing that makes the volume look like a history is the essay on the life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen designed to bring the isolated items together. It would, however, appear that the essay is not about what historians should expect. It contains nothing new. It is a mere skeleton obtainable in any book that has been published on the subject in the last thirty years. Moreover, quite a few historical facts are stated inadequately, if not erroneously. Take, for instance, the French attitude toward the Chinese revolution of 1911. Despite their sympathy shown to Dr. Sun personally, the French were far from helpful to the Chinese cause on account of their pretensions in Yunnan. But the impression this volume gives to the reader in this respect is the opposite.
However, though the essay in question is not a satisfactory work of history, it is on the whole a useful reference for those who do not have a general knowledge about Dr. Sun Yat-sen." It gives life to the dozens of pictures which would be otherwise dull and totally unconnected with one another. As this volume is after all only a collection of data, editorial notations which are made are undoubtedly essential.
As a collection of historical data, the present volume is invaluable. It covers the whole span of life of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and represents the most complete collection of its kind we have ever had. Some of the illustrations contained are really interesting and illuminating.
On October 26, 1896, for instance, Dr. Sun wrote for the first time about himself in compliance with the request of a professor and his autographic note is printed on page 24 of the present volume. Says Sun: "At 13 I was taken to by my mother. I was amazed at the working of the steamer in the expanse of ocean. Since then I have come to realize that we have to imbibe Western know ledge to explore the depths of nature." This is a very important clew to the earliest orientation of Dr. Sun's thinking. It must have had a good deal to do with the later development of his thought. Today there is little doubt that Dr. Sun's political inclinations and personal taste were all toward the West and that his alliance with the in the mid-'twenties was only a temporary anomaly. But it is important to remember that this tendency of Dr. Sun's thought dates as far back as 1879 when he was 13 years old. For lack of a genuine photograph to show this historic event a drawing by a master hand is provided on page 10 of this book to fill the gap. As young Sun stood alone at the end of the boat, early in the summer of 1879, watching the endless waves of the Pacific, he thought of the great East that was past, with all its ancient glories and great deeds performed. Meanwhile, he thought of the West that was emerging above the horizon, full of vigor and youth and hope, and with a great and promising future that would be a challenge to the world. And he thought of himself and many others and particularly the that was old and reeling and could not stand without rejuvenation. As all these formed the object of a picture that appeared before the mind's eye of the young boy who was to play a leading role in Chinese affairs for years to come, so they form the background of a vivid picture in the mind of the artist who has successfully turned out this piece of drawing.
Another instance of interest is a map of drawn by Dr. Sun himself in 1899, showing the network of railroads he had in mind as a part of his national reconstruction program. (p. 27) His talents and ambitions as a national leader are fully exhibited in this map. Most significant is his explanation contained in the notes on the map. Says Sun: "The best of all maps of is made by the Russians. For they have long considered the Chinese soil to be within their sphere of influence. Accordingly, they have surveyed 's mountains, rivers, strategic points, cities, people, etc. more carefully than the geographers of other countries." (Italics supplied) This is illustrative of Dr. Sun's early thinking about in unmistakable terms. It is unlikely that in later years he would turn around and favor an alliance with on a permanent basis. It is true that the Russian revolution of 1917 and its announced policies exerted some influence on the thinking of Dr. Sun, as of many others. But it is also true that the influence on Sun was limited. For one thing, it was temporary. For another, it was not so far-reaching as to exclude Western influence as a basic factor in Sun's ideology. As a matter of fact, his political inclinations were throughout toward the West. Even during the time when he allied himself with the Soviet Union, he never abandoned the hope of winning the friendship of, say, the and to his side. It is a pity that the book under review does not throw adequate light on this all-important point.
Despite its shortcomings, this volume is on the whole a useful contribution. It contains a good deal of valuable material which makes for interesting reading and deserves the widest possible circulation among both Chinese and foreigners. Above all, it gives promise of a much more complete work to come. - HSIAO TSO-LIANG
TING HSIEN: A RURAL COMMUNITY
by Sidney D. Gamble
First edition, April 5, 1954,
by Relations,
, 472 pages
The author of this book was Research Secretary of the Chinese National Association of the Mass Education Movement at the time which was about twenty-eight years ago, when a detailed study of the rural life of Ting Hsien, a county of Hopei province and a typical rural area in North China, was started under his directorship with most of the work done by Chinese scholars and assisted by the villagers themselves. This study was started in 1926 and ended in 1933. It represents the first attempt that had ever been made in China in making a thorough study, by sample methods, of how the people, living in a group of 453 villages and towns and a walled city in a sample hsien in North China, lived, worked, played and worshipped during those years.
The results of this study were first published in Chinese in three volumes. Two volumes were published in 1933. one being a general survey of the social life of Ting Hsien by Franklin Ching-han Lee who served at the same time as the Director of the entire field work for this study, and the other one containing a collection of the dialogues of the local planting songs by Franklin Ching-han Lee and Shih-wen Chang. The third volume was printed in 1936, concerning a study of the village industry of Ting Hsien by Shih-wen Chang. In this book under review all the materials and information contained in these three volumes are summed up for the first time in English with many new and previously unpublished data included.
This book is com posed of six parts and twenty-one chapters. Part I consists of one and the first chapter entitled "Summary," which sums up in a clear and concise way all the information, statistical data and conclusions to be found in the subsequent chapters. The other five parts deal with family studies; government and education; agriculture; finance; business and industry; social and religious activities; and historical and geographical background, respectively,
In writing this book, the author had the intention of presenting his materials and statistical studies in such a way that they would be useful and interesting to the general readers and thought-provoking and suggestive to those who are experts in the various fields included in this study. With this intention in mind, the author presented a chapter of summary in Part I which is interesting and useful both to the laymen and experts; and then pointed out and discussed, in chapters of each of the subsequent Parts, the outstanding figures of the different studies for the benefit of the general readers and again gave the figures in complete tabular form at the close of each Part for the reference of the specialists.
From reading through the whole book, the reviewer has gained two major impressions. One is that Ting Hsien was perhaps after all, more than a typical rural area or community in . It presented a fewer number of problems than one would usually find in other places on the mainland of , before its occupation by the Communists. Relatively speaking, it was better off economically than most other rural areas. There was no problem of unemployment. The people were contented and worked hard. There was no political agitation, but peace and order in the whole area. The other impression is that the study was made in a comparatively quiet and peaceful time between the two World Wars. Since then, many changes have been brought to Ting Hsien, as a result of the Japanese invasion, a period of confusion and Communist infiltration after V-J day and finally the occupation of the whole mainland by the Communists. When Free China recovers the mainland again, one will find that the picture of Ting Hsien is totally different from what has been presented in this book. This book will become a historical record of Ting Hsien in the past.
Ting Hsien had no land problem. Over 92 per cent of the families owned land of. some kind. There were also no large landowners with the exception of one family which had 660 acres, but only 132 families, 0.2 per cent, owned as much as 50 acres and only 9.0 per cent as much as 8.3 acres. The average farm owning family had four plots of ground with an area of 3.6 acres, and the average farm: operating family farmed 3.5 acres. Twelve per cent of the crop area was rented. This area of land was farmed by 30 per cent of the farming families, but only 4.8 per cent were full tenants. Just under six per cent of the landowning families rented land to others, but only 0.7 per cent were non-farming landlords.
Ting Hsien was overwhelmingly an agricultural community. Seventy-six per cent of the hsien land, which area amounted to 480 square miles, was arable. Over 96 per cent of families farmed some land. From a group of 515 families, it was found that 88 per cent of the males and 80 per cent of the females over 12 years of age were doing farm work. Twenty-eight per cent of the land was double-cropped. Grain was planted on 80 per cent of the crop area, beans and peas on 20 per cent, vegetables on 10 per cent, and cotton on 9 per cent. The estimated total value of the production of all crops was $16,000,000 (The figure was in Chinese silver dollars, the value of which in terms of US currency varied from US$0.49 to US$0.197 for each Chinese silver dollar during the period from 1926 to 1933). It represented an average value in crop production of $67.7 per acre or $40 per capita.
The monetary value of crops produced per acre of landseems to be very low, especially if it is converted into US dollars. But it was the general situation prevailing in Ting Hsien as well as in other parts of at that time. Money was scarce and its purchasing power was high. One Chinese silver dollar could go a long way. In a group of 400 farm families, the estimated per capita income was $55.10 per year. In 1,220 home industry families, it was $34.20 per year. In Ting Hsien, home industry was an important source of income, other than that from farming, to the people and their families. It was found that approximately one third of the population over 14 years of age, 18 per cent of the males and 50 per cent of the females, were engaged in some industrial work. Some 90 per cent of the industrial workers were working at home. As far as their annual income is concerned, the author estimated that the average figures for agri. cultural production and gain from home industry made up an average per capita income of between $50.00 and $60.00 per year. Out of this sum, each adult male equivalent member of a family paid in average $35.45 for the food consumed per year. This shows that there was not much money left for other necessities of life or for savings.
However, the people in Ting Hsien should consider themselves rather fortunate in comparison with their brethren in other areas in having additional income from home industry. Ting Hsien was famous for two home industries particularly. One was an eye medicine which was a very old home industry and which enjoyed a good reputation and great popularity throughout and even . The total value of production of this eye medicine was about $ year. The other one was cotton-cloth weaving industry. It involved the hand-spinning and weaving of the locally grown cotton which accounted for the large proportion of female workers employed. While the value of the total industrial output in 1931 was estimated to be some $8,570,000, the value of the cotton products alone was worth 56 per cent of the total.
Another characteristic feature of Ting Hsien at that time was the influence of the Mi family and the Mass Education Movement in reducing the illiteracy of its people. In 1928, there were 447 schools and 18,666 students in the whole hsien, out the result of a stuay made by the author and his colleagues showed that only 20 per cent of the population over 6 years of age were literate, approximately 37 per cent of the males but only 3 per cent of the females. This problem of illiteracy was one which the Mass Education Movement took up as a challenge, and since the fall of 1926, when it was moved into Ting Hsien and made its head quarters at Chai Ch'eng, a model village of the hsien, at the invitation of the Mi family, it had attacked this problem for ten long years. The result was quite gratifying. By the end of 1931, there were People's Schools, sponsored by the Mass Education Movement, in all the 453 villages and in the 19 satellite villages. More than 20,000 students were enrolled. By 1932, it was possible, in some villages, to organize a campaign to enroll all of the remaining illiterate young adults arid eliminate illiteracy in those villages. By 1934, the hsien government had taken over the promotion of the literacy class. That year, there were 844 classes in 416 villages with an enrolment of 21,170 student, 14,080 males and 7,090 females. When the student was first enrolled in a class, he was taught some 1,200 Chinese characters as a beginning course. By this method of teaching, a person could, in two months' time (later six weeks), became literate enough to read simple books, write letters and keep accounts. A second or post-graduate course covered another 1,200 characters.
The book, as a whole, is well planned and well written. It contains a huge amount of information. In fact, it contains more information than one usually finds in a book of this nature. Some of the information may not have been included in the book. For instance, the author took great pains in tracing and outlining the history of the silver-copper exchange rate for 75 years from 1857 to 1931. It is valuable information, but may not be necessary as an integral part of the book. The book covers a very wide range of the activities and organizations of the people of Ting Hsien, trying to tell, in minute detail, how these people lived, worked, organized, studied, played and worshipped, during a period of 7 years. But the past is past. Ting Hsien looks different now. However, because of this fact, this book becomes more valuable as a source book of information about the rural life of a sample hsien in and a historical record of Ting Hsien in the past than otherwise it would be. - TIEN-HO CHIEN
SUBSTITUTE FOR VICTORY
By John Dille Doubleday & Company, Inc.,
Garden City, .
1954, 219 pages, $3.00
After his graduation from college in 1943, the author joined the United States Army as a lieutenant in the Tank Destroyers in . Since 1947, he has been with Life as reporter, editor and foreign correspondent and is currently representing that magazine in . He spent two and a half years in as Life's reporter.
Substitute for Victory is meant to refute General MacArthur's theory that "there is no substitute for victory" as enunciated by him in the course of the Korean war. In the opinion of the author, the theory holds good only when a nation is engaged in an all-out struggle. But this was not the case with the war in which was limited in scope. Accordingly, the truce talks at , far from being a stalemate, was an extremely efficient and practical substitute for victory.
The book consists of twelve chapters, the first nine of which deal exclusively with . Chapter X is concerned with Free China anti the last two chapters are a size-up of the situation in .
Quoting President Eisenhower's speech during the 1952 campaign, the author considers the war in to be nothing but an emergency measure within the framework of the policy of containment. In this sense, the United Nations has already attained its objective because it has succeeded in building a wall against Communist aggression. There were certainly no military reasons to continue the war after it had already accomplished its mission. On the part of the enemy, he did not relish a conflict of a decisive nature in , either. An Armistice was, therefore, the proper answer to the dilemma.
Mr. Dille admits that divided, is hopeless. But he does not think that the partition of would be so intolerable as to warrant the war, for at any rate it would not be any worse than the partition of , or . The talks at which lasted for more than two years might seem ridiculous to the Americans back home, but they were as much a part of the war as was the artillery duel itself.
It is absurd for the author to compare the Chinese Communist participation in the Korean war to ' coming to the rescue of , if the latter were invaded by an enemy who would wade across the . Obviously that is no comparison. It must be remembered that the Chinese Communist has been condemned by the United Nations as an aggressor in , and Mr. Dille can not close his eyes to this plain fact. Now that Mr. Dille has come frankly out for closing his eyes, one has reason to doubt if he is suffering merely from sore eyes. The doubt is all the stronger when one takes note of his attitude toward the Communist treatment of prisoners of war. Mr. Dille flatly declares that the Communists treated the Allied prisoners about as well as they treated their own soldiers. The declaration would lose nothing in conviction if heard from Radio Peiping.
In Chapter X the author tells of some good impressions he gained during his sojourn in . He feels Free China's spirit has reached a new high as a result of the de-neutralization of this island. Although this move die not alter the basic military situation here, it had two immediate effects. On the one hand, it allowed Free to operate directly from bases in , keeping the Chinese Communists guessing and nervous. On the other, it urged the to increase military aid to Free China which has the men and morale to attack.
The author highly commends General Sun Li Jen as the greatest asset of the Chinese armed forces. President Chiang, he observes, is still the heart and soul of the Chinese cause. His greatest strength is that there is no one else around who can match or replace him.
Mr. Dille expresses his warm approbation of Premier Chen Cheng's land reform program which has improved the lot of the farmers. According to him, reports filtering out of continental indicate that the people on the mainland have learned of Free China's achievements on such as free elections, land reforms and the 37.5% land rent. He believes that once Free China could establish a bridgehead on the mainland and proceed to transplant such reforms there, the Chinese people would all rise to help the cause and then the whole of would be free again.
The author seems to be quite at home with the problems of . Democracy did not come to Japan as an act of will but was thrust upon the nation by the occupation authorities, Despite MacArthur's effort to introduce reforms, the Japanese still preserve a good deal of their own tradition. Although they have been forced to bend like bamboo in the wind, their habits can not be yanked up by the roots. If General MacArthur has succeeded in destroying the authoritarian organization of , he has not succeeded in destroying its latent power, namely the Tonari Gumi (neighborhood association). After the occupation ended, Premier Yoshida introduced a bill before the Diet providing for the control of education. When Mr. Yoshida submitted the first bill, he explained that he was forced to undo some of the "excesses of the occupation." (p. 193)
In its handling of the rearmament problem, the author observes, the Japanese Government has reflected the public's craving for pacifism. It is to be expected that the Communists will try to take advantage of the circumstance to find an avenue to power. Mr. Dille's description of the Japanese character is of interest. Says Dille, “Psychologists who have studied the Japanese character think they probably lack the moral drive necessary to stand in the center of the street and fight for freedom against people attacking them from both the left and the right. They have no religious or philosophical background for such a position. The, are more likely to drift over to one side of the street or the other and stay there. And they will go to whichever curb has the most people on it. As it looks now, the curb on the right will be jammed. But if everyone goes there, that is precisely where we came in, on December 7, 1941. If a good number go instead to the opposite curb, then that is what we are fighting now. Either way presents a problem." (p. 218) - WANG HONG