It Is essential to proceed empiric ly, with a thorough grasp of natio.at characteristics. This. applies, though In varying degrees, to every feld of reconstruction: education, which has, everywhere a national tinge, and ever. when modern—especially when modern~—must always be contemplated in the light of the precise functions to performed by its subjects in the national community; administration, which cannot be reformed without regard to its ancient traditions; rural organization, which is. linked by secular custom to the most archaic Dut still respected pellets. But it appiles also in the field of industrializ Mon, where room must be found for Tocai arty and crafts, and even in public works and public health. The conditions for the safety of a bridge, or the preservation of a man's health, Belong to universal science and are everywhere identical; but the methods of constructing, maintaining, oF friar irrigation or for the development of public health in rural districts, can only be determined by reference to the needs, habits, mode of life, and administrative and sceinl organization of the communities concerned, and they vary according to the commun ity, according to whether China or elsewhere, oF in one part of China or another. No preconceived prinetple, no formula, is valid, once we leave the theory of reconstruction for its practice, Extent of Experimentation That is why so many "experiments" are now in progress all over China~—numerous trials of new methods of Toad transport, or new kinds of fuel, and in some cases new types of ral way; experiments in the organization of the population, "and economy, in Kiangsi and experimental rural _hygie experimental areas for popular education and agricultural " improve mer experiments in the introduction of State industries, as In Kuangtung. In some cases, indeed, an entire province!
the theatre of a large-scale experiment in reconstruction, affecting general and local. administration, economic' life, education, and the organization of internal security, as in Kwangsi, The needs of economic and technical reconstruction, or the lessons of a few) years of practical reconstructive wone have not indeed In themselves ssu! Aced to create this new state of mind, at the same time more realistic and more national, whose infivence extends also to many other aspects of Chinese public life. Tt has had other contributory causes, as it has had other effect Deepened National Sentiment, Ther? has been what is perhaps normal and logical deepening of na-Honal sentiment, which. in the early days of the Chinese revolution, though fervent and sometimes violent, was curiously allied in many people with servility to foreign inspiration. China has found: herself obliged to rely en: tirely on herself for her reconstruc. tion,' to draw everything, or almas everything, from her own material "and spiritual resources, and become once more, herself. The new preached by General Chiang Kalshek is in some respects the ancient} Mfe—a return to neglected virtues; the renovation undertaken by Generals Li and Pel in Kwangal seems, in a sense a conservative movement, tending to reconstitute the traditional civil service of the country by educat~ Ing Sts members and training them for modern duties. One of the mast westernized of Chinese, M. Chang Chi, has undertaken, inthe "neighbourhood of Sianfu, in Shensi, to preserve and make accessible to all the tombs! end monuments of the Chou, Han ind Tang Emperors—to transform those almost deserted lands, -thoss evidences of ancient greatness, into laces of pilgrimage and sources of encouragement for the younger generation.
Adaptation to Local Needs In such an atmosphere, even while investigating their economic or techni-al problems, those who are directing and those who are carrying out the work of reconstruction, though following the teaching "of - Western, science and technique, must inevitably be impelled to individual research into national peculiarities and encouraged to devise original solu tions conceived with strict regard to the special conditions of the country.
In the two fields of reconstruction in which the progress made is most visible and is, indeed, malter of common knowledge—communications and public _health—development hag net} followed, o seems unlikely to follow "lin future, the exact lines of a pre-established system valid' In almost every latitude. After the successful execution of its frst three-year- plan, which was chiefly concerned with the formation and operation of the central organizations in the capital, and. with various health problems mainly affect ing the urban centres, the National Health Service has attacked the wider and more specifically Chinese problem of public health in the rural districts. It Is endeavouring to train and organize a corps of spescialisis of every Kind—doctors, " sanitary engineers, nurses and midwives—to Serve inthe interior. Yn so. doing.
has been forced to depart from the practices generally followed the principal Western countries and, In view of the inability of the majority of the population, especially in country districts, to pay for attendance and medicine, it has had to adopt the old conception of the medical pro: fession as a public service. ease of communications, whereas in the early days Chinese statement and publicists laid chief stress on the disproportion between the mileage of railway track per head of population in China and in Western countries, more especially the United States, and urged first and foremost the speedy construction of an exten sive railway system with the help' of foreign loans; whereas until 199 although an example had been set by certain provinces such as Shans:, Ro general effort on a national scale had been made to construct and organize a system of motor-roads, the sudden development of road communications presents itself as. the great novelty and, - notwithstanding the growth of flying and the system and successful effort 10 improve electric communications, as the form of progress most characteristic of the last few years. District centres are being gradually linked up with provineial capitals, and the Latter among themselves. T have covered nearly '5,000 kilometres of these roads, which used by regular motor services.
ith stations at intervals and. fre quently a telephone system. Thel: construction has been financed almas entirely with Chinese funds; ili seme cases it has not, strictly speaking, been financed at all, but carried out hi? local labour. This development was: doublies called forth or hastened by reasons of internal policy, and pr'- marily to meet the need of the Chinese State for a more solid groundwork. on which to. maintain order and consolidate the country. I:
already producing economic effec's fon certain currents of trade and psychological effects on the process of national unification. It is not based on any theory—indeed, {t is criticized by certain doctrinaires—but hai! /grown from a sound national instinct, and from the needs of the country and the time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.