Although the situation in China presents so many distressing and disturbing features, a development is taking place which is full of hope for China and for the world. I refer to the courageous efforts that are being made to build up a new economic system in the Western provinces of China and to rehabilitate in that potentially rich but hitherto undeveloped region the shattered livelihoods of refugees from the Yangtze valley. It is estimated that many millions of Chinese, among them many merchants, artisans and craftsmen, have migrated Westwards. The task of setting these people to work would appear at first glance to be an impossible one, but it is being tackled with energy and enthusiasm by responsible officials of the Administration, and I have little doubt that the characteristic adaptability and industry of the Chinese people will prove equal to surmounting the consequences of one of the great tragedies of history.
Since the beginning of the present century, friends of China have repeatedly urged upon the Chinese authorities the desirability of opening up to international commerce the rich provinces of the West by the establishment of a trade route through Yunnan and Burma, but without success. Now, through "force ma-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.