1934

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_____ "_.- Nan.charig, Ki. ~ China,
May,. 1934.
For a large. I>art of the material Ln this Le t t e r we ar-e tn-'
debted be Mr. Turner~ of the Nan chang Y. M. C. A.~, throue;h whose
kindness we have been permitted to quote from his general report
leGter of recent date. The map on the other side was re~roduced on
soap-stone) local lithographing. Much of the lettering was re~
touched by a ppinterst devil who knows no English. If it seems
crude, he hopes for your consideration. He is a boy whose face
lights U] with a contagious smile at a friendly word. He make~"a
good job of life with the tools he has.
The letter was mimeographed by our tgeneral man' who has had
more years of service at Baldwin than anyone else and on whom vve
call for ~el:p in any practical difficulty.
1JVhct. t a thrill you would have. could we exp Lo r-e 'toe;ethe.r this
ci ty of such contrasts as you would never d.r eaml It has a sy s tem
of parksl a chain of lakes now being drained and "dredged and
encircled with promenades for the sake of better sanitation and
recreation. concrete roads, a rapidly growing network of motDr,roads in to the Province, Le ad i.ng now to Shanghai, and yet, wi thin
three minutes of concrete, I could lead you into the China of
Harco Po~o. and into sh09s along narrow, stone ~aved streets~ where
you could purchase flints and steels, and inBtruments of home and
far.m$ unchanged in shape and form since Columbus discovered his
uIndia of the western.ro u t.ev, and here circulate still silver
dollars of the Spain of Carolus III and IV, when Portugese sails
dominated the Eastern seas, and American Trade dollars from days
when the Yankee Clip~ers led ~the world of sails.
Carrying out hab i ts of centuries, too, the ci ty recently ob~
served 'the lunar new year and,the Lantern Festival. This season,
~he gayest of them all in China, usually means a two week sus:pen~
sion of business. It ended he'r e wi t.h a two and a half hour- lantern
procession thru the streets of the ci ty to t-he.larges t park," where
it dissolved in a gr-and finali of Mardigras hil~ari ty.,The lanterns
in the procession were such as we think of in Fairy-Land, fantas~
tic, brilliantly colored, impersonatIng frogs, rabbits, lions,
fishes, birds, insects, horses, tigers, and mythologic2.1 figureB,
never seen on land nor sea, such as only light s trips of bamboo.,.
colored pal' er I artis ti c ab~i~.i ty.. imagina ti on,' dex t er-I ty and pat-~
ience, a t their best AA China~ can possibly produce. They were led
by s qu.i rmi.ng, bright paper-scaled. flash-light eyed d.-agans, spout~
ing. fire from their red, y awn i ng mouths, which furnished the cli~
max of the pantomimes and steps of the marchers as they beat time
and snakeadanced to the music of gDng, flute and'horn. Thousands"
lined the streets to see the wondrous procession. The most signi"':'
ficant feature of it all was the altmost entire absence of super~
stition, which for ages has been inherent in the celebration. and
its use as a great city-wide influence and force for the develop~
men t of home indus t.r Le s and the.~_lJse of national e;oods., -. The changin~$ of this ~esti~al/ from an e~pressi0l?- of sUl?ers~i~
t.i on and. an orgy of gamb I Lng to,; a con s t.ruc t Lve one l.llustrates
how this.Seoond Capital"t because of its military and po Li.t.Lca.l
importance, has become perhaps the most active center of progress~
ive movements in China today. I spoke of the network o f r o ads,
but dii not sny~that most of it has been built within the ~ast
eighteen mon t hs, Roads are "be In g extended as fas t as t.e r r-Lto ry is
reclaimed f r om the 'ban d L to. Three years ago Comrrllmism! s stretch
was over three-fourths of the PTovincej today it holds less thQll
one-fourth. Only one-twelfth of the; "Province is cu L ti vated, be~
cauae of water and mountains, yi,hicll make ideal r"8J1ee 8114 refuge"
for the lightly.e qu Lpp e d., highly mobile, guerilla fo rCBS of the
"CommWlists. Their final s upp r-e ss i.on will probably be 0. ma t t.e r of
years, unless soeething better ean be IJrovided for them.
It is this.something better that the Got;ernmen t is trying to:provide for them thru well p Lann ed rura.l rehabili t.a tion. 8even.ty~
five workers are now being trained for this, and the government
leaders axe frankly hoping that they CM acquire what they call
the s:piri t and devotion of Church w o r-ke r s, In the Lar-g e scheme of
rehabili to, t.I on, the Church has been asked" to s har e by s e t.t tn g up
a ap e o i r.L proj e c t of" rural service in Q, recently "reclaimed" di~~
trict. This is u. great cho..llene;e to the Church to:put forth her
best efforts to reconstruct this area on Christian principles.