With the departure from the Tibetan frontier of a number of Chinese professors and students for. the Wuhan University at Kiating, the work of some nineteen universities came to a close, Quiet early in the summer, after the close of the spring term, 60 professors and students left their different universities on the plains and came to the Tibetan border. Their object was to investigate dif ferent branches of science connected with their studies in their respective colleges and universities, Further objectives were to gather all the information they could about: the Tibetan people and to carry back with them to their respective schools anything and everything of interest in their different lines of study.
Among the first to arrive was a Dr. Mao from Tsungming Island, near Shanghai. He is a barrister in practi¢e and a graduate in Jaw from the University of London. He is also connected with teaching work in some of the Chinese schools near the Coast. Dr.
Mao's purpose in visiting the frontier was to discover all there was to be known about Tibetan law. Chinese lawyers are not frequent visitors to Tachienlu so it was most interesting meeting this young fellow. He intended to visit some of the large Iamaseries throughout Sikang and discover how law is administered in some religious institutions. Kanze has 3,000 lamas on the roll and so has Litang, while other lamaseries have a roll call of 1,000 and 2,000 monks. Dr. Mao had a wide field before him and practically virgin sell; it will therefore be interesting to learn the result of his investigations and what happened to the lama discovered wearing his neighbour's shirt. Every lamasery throughout Siang has its regular court where cases between lamas are heard and where judgment is given, Dr. Mao was followed by a Dr. Wu, graduate in economies from the University of London. Dr. Wu is professor-of-law in the Southwestern University with its headquarers at Kunming in Yunnan. There is one advantage if no other in young investigators. visiting the frontier, namely, in the introduetion of of new and strange terms into the 'Tibetan language. What word we wonder will these Keen young Chinese professors use for economy and how will they express the terms politico' economy,—spiritual economy and physical economy One of the great difficulties facing these Chinese investigation expeditions is that of Janguage. The teachers and the students all speak English; but now they are meeting new and strange language, the characters of which they have never seen before. A few of the keener doctors and students have made a start in the study of Tibetan, but as a rule they have had to depend on Tibetan interpreters whose knowledge of spoken Chinese leaves much to be desired. In these Chinese scientific inquiry expeditions both the professors and students want exact. Knowledge and nothing chabudoh will satisfy them. It is a question if any known Tibetan interpreter on the frontier could get over the phrase: political economy: Dr. Wu had a brilliant career through London University and studied economy under well Known teachers in Manchester and other centres. Like Dr. Mao, he too, hopes to tackle some of the big religious institutions in Sikang and study their economic conditions. We are wondering just how he will begin and where his survey will lead him. Economic conditions in a large lamasery seem very simple-and are very remote from international polities and world markets. The lama's menu is distressingly simple and is so constructed as to give him all the time he wants for study and meditation.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.