I—The Tragedy of Dropping Confucius: Practical Man's Views, The. Age of Disorder: Old Standards Reversed: Lack of Discipline By Came in mortals to command success; But we will do more, my friend, see will deserve it"
{tis an a spirit such as this I pen the following paragraphs. May I offer it as a call to my fellow countrymen over the tumult—the tumult of our nation's wild restless Let us recall to mind that ship which is a floating mass of incongruous parts, fall of confusion. There is the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people. None will doubt that Cathay is going through a troublous time, an age of confusion, disorder and chaos. In Chinese we say it is 'a "Laun Hsi" (@U iit), the age of disorder, the dark age. As I have shown, the present crisis is but the inevitable outcome of the impact of the East and the West, and its most far-reaching effect isthe birth of nationalism in China. Birth, of necessity, entails pain, the travail of the soul. Outwardly we witness confusion everywhere. These "confused conditions are but the accompaniment of fundamental changes, and a strong spirit of nationalism will, it may be hoped, prelude a period of national pence," writes a fair-minded observer, Professor MacNair. It may be pointed out that the seeds of nationalism have been sown brondeast by foreigners throughout China during the. past century, which are now beginning to bear fruit. What is nationalism? This is one of those words that are incapable of exact definition. Tt is certainly something new in the history of the Chinese people. It is the birth of national consciousness and the development of a soul or a mind of its own. But unfortunately it has been at times identified with Bolshevism or some such radical political movement and at other times mistaken for antiforeignism and anti-christianism.
The Practical Man's View This may be a true enough interpretation of the happenings in China, But the practical-minded person will say that this is all talk and theorizing. For indeed nationalist itself cannot offer any. practical solutions. But a right @ingnosis and understanding of the situation is important in that it should give us a better temper of mind by being more patient and less pessimistic and, further, that it should help us to be better prepared in the great and difficult work of national reconstruction. Again, in face of the amount of scathing criticism some pertinent and others not;—it should not only stir up in us feelings deeper than a mere passing resentment and irritation; it should lead to an earnest self-analysis. This self-analysis cannot be too severe and exacting, for the work of reconstruction requires much thoughtful care as well as wise and conscious guidance. tome may be steep but all may be important. Certain dificulties~ we must realize. Time element constitutes one of them. China cannot take her time, she must become strong in a hurry. Again, with all the retarding weight of tradition, with popular distrust im: patience, with official intro counter-intrigues, with diplomatic: embarrassment, Chinese people are subject to great risks and dangers.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.