Evening star., 1935-12-01
China's Rebirth Is Coal

nation of "CIean Up-Paint Up
Week." And while the New Life Move
ment has been laughed at by the
skeptics. 1t contains the germ Of the
same sort Of idea that elsewhere has
made fanatics Of self-respecting and
better educated citizens than China's
400 millions.
Japan viii Not Sit Idle.
But along with these spectacular
attempts to create spirit ct patrio-
tism where none existed before there
is the curious contradiction that in
wolves the attitude Of the government
at Nanking toward Japan.
Japan. facing her own problems Of
population density, and led by the
militarists, who have made what they
conceive to be national welfare and
national expansion their religion, will
never sit idly by and watch united
China grow strong-no matter how
long that growth would have to con-
tinue before 1t became a threat to
Japan. Japan has already carved
Manchukuo out of China and is now
hourishing the carving knife in
gesture preparatory to slicing of the
large area Of North China which lies
between the Yellow River and the
Great Wall. That Is the area which
Japan intends to keep under her tight
control-involving for the time being
the five provinces of Hopei, Suiyuan,
Chai1ar, Shansi and Shantung-
against the time that such a buffer
territory Is needed for her apparently
inevitable clash with Russia. And
through the usual procedure Of "inci-
dent" followed by demands" Japan
calmly prepares to create in North
China an autonomous area that will
be separated by her always efficient
japanese military and economic domi-
nation, from whatever Is left for the
Nanking government. And for the
Nanking government the only prac-
tical course, apparently, is to furnish
the supine cooperation" which
Japan sternly demands, and which
obviously consists in raising no OBJ
iections to the course Japan intends
to follow.
Must Create New Psychology.
Protection of national honor and
prestige Is the meat which elsewhere
nourishes patriotism and Japan's
provocative attitude might in other
lands furnish the flame for welding
national sentiment. But Gen. Chang
Kai-Shek and his government at
Nanking must steer the difficult course
Of creating a sense Of national honor
and prestige and constructing a
psychology Of patriotism on the one
hand without offending the highly
| developed sensibilities of the Japa-
nese on the other. The japanese are
more interested in his failure than in
his success. They have done nothing
to smooth his path. If they can make
him 'lose face" by presenting de-
mands Of one sort or another, they
weaken by so much his standing with
his own people-particularly with his
critical countrymen in South China,
who, maintaining their own autonomy
in the provinces of Kwangtung and
Kwangse under generals who so far
have kept free of Nanking. would not
be saddened by the failure of the
| Marking government. Gen. Chang
Kai-Shek Is at the same time criticized
by his countrymen for adopting
pro-Japanese attitude, and by the
japanese for failure properly to "co-
operate" And if the pressure becomes
| too great from either side, his only
recourse is to dash away from Nam
king in pursuit Of Communists and
take 1t out on them, leaving the
| officials at Nanking to dicker as best
they can until he chooses to come
back.
The hazards Of following such a
! course are exempliied in the at
tempted assassination on November !
Of Wang Ching-Wei. president of the
Executive Yuan and minister for
foreign affairs. and one of Gen. Chang
Kai-Sheks strong supporters. For,
while Mr.. Wang Ching Wei has in the
past run counter to the wishes of the
Japanese, he has also been accused
by the Southern Cantonese Of having
pro-Japanese leanings, and no sooner
had the echo of the assassin's shots
at Marking died away than the out
rage was interpreted, rightly or
wrongly, as the suspected work of
Cantonese zealots who chose this
method of warning the Marking au-