To-day is the first day of the year of the Tiger, a year which opens unhappily for China. Indeed it could not commence in worse circumstances, following a disastrous six months with an unknown time of trouble still ahead. Whatever else may be said of the old year this is true—the Chinese have shown a bravery and fortitude, a unity and loyalty which many, who did not know them well, could ly have believed of them. The repeated buffets which they have sustained since the commencement of war have not weakened their determination to withstand aggression, nor in any way diminished national morale, and it is believed they will face what has to come with just the same courage as they have displayed in the past. Rejoicings will, naturally, be on a modified scale. No firecrackers were allowed, curfew prevented at tendance shortly after midnight at temples for the usual religious observances, and, generally, prevailing conditions must place a damper on this annual celebration. But hearty greetings of "Kung hsi fah tsai" will be the order of the day, ceremonious felicitations will be exchanged as in happier circumstances aril the spirit of the old revived in these days of the disastrous new. It would be idle to endeavour to prophesy what China may expect before this day comes round again. The outlook seems black enough to encourage only the gloomiest forebodings, but there is comfort in the thought that snow did fall before the year of the Ox ended, and that happy augury for the farmers, may, it is hoped, be also a promise of better things to come for the whole"country. That is, at any rate, what the friends of China wish for her.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.