The review of Chinese political events during 1920 is so fully dealt with in the report, that there is little for me to add thereto. I cannot help thinking, however, in view of recent reports of fierce fighting in Honan, brigandage in North Kiangsu, an attack by pirates on a Revenue Cruiser, robbery in the Yangtze Gorges, the self-appointment of Dr. Sun Yat-sen as President of South China, the troubles in connexion with Mongol-la, in fact a sea of unrest throughout the whole country, that these do not point to that storation of a peaceful China tha: we are al] so anxious to see.
So far as Shanghai is concerned, the freeing from brigandage of the Upper Yangtze, the main artery for our trade to Western China, is most important. It would appear that almost every district in these regions has its own particular brigand to coerce all boats passing, to pay tribute or take the consequences. China is striving most energetically to be recognized by both the European Powers and America as a nation of equal rank and yet, what do we see? She is not even able to afford the first elementary protection to travellers in spite of the enormous amount of money being squandered annually on the so-called sol-diary of her many provincial tuchuns. Yet, gentlemen, with all these troubles and difficulties that true trading instinct of the Chinese merchant is not by any means crushed and the regeneration of China, resting as it always will on the common sense of the general public, must become materialized at some future date; let_us hope it is not far distant.
We sympathize with the Chinese in all this political unrest and would assure our Chinese friends that, disturbed as the country now is, we are always willing to show them our true friendship as we have done in the past and to assist them in placing their country upon a sound financial footing. I¢ is our desire to see a prosperous China, a united China and an enlightened China, and as already pointed out, if there is anything this Associatioa can do which makes for any improvement in the present state of affairs in China we should help.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.