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princessgracekelly1956 · 5 years

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The Sunday Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) - August 15, 1971

A New England Escape For Princess Grace

By HENRY FRANK

Staff Writer

Monaco's royal family has returned home after an almost idyllic vacation In the lakes region of New Hampshire.

"Princess Grace, Prince Rainier, and the children could have visited any of the world's exotic vacationlands," said Mildred A. Beach, executive secretary of New Hampshire's Lakes Region Association, "but they chose Lake Winnipesaukee."

Although they spent a month In a rented, 14-room villa in exclusive, guarded Bald Peak Colony outside tiny Melvin Village, the royal family's members were seen frequently throughout the area.

"They are simply entranced, smitten with New Hampshire," said Miss Beach as she peered out of her office at the gables of a stately old home across the street in Wolfeboro.

"Princess Grace was taking pictures over there the other day," she recalled.

"She must love flowers; the Princess was taking closeups of those beauties over there," said Mrs. Thomas Spencer, owner of a cottage colony just outside of town.

Secret Service

The Secret Service, assigned to heads of state while they are in the United States, caused much of the attention-directed at the royal family. It is reported they eventually dismissed the agents, who returned only to accompany Princess Grace, the former actress Grace Kelly of Philadelphia, to Chicago, where she addressed a convention of La Leche League International, a group devoted to mothers who wish to nurse their babies.

The couple and their children specifically requested a quiet vacation, unmarred by autograph seekers and gaping tourists. But before they departed a week ago, the royal family had become at least partially involved in community affairs.

For example, the picturesque Melvin Village Community Church, perched on a hill overlooking the lake, stages each year a fair featuring baked goods, handmade articles, and other items.

The Princess stole the show by donating three cakes to the bake sale.

"They sold like hotcakes," one of the churchwomen reported the next day.

Princess Grace turned down more than 100 requests for public appearances, autographs, and other messages asking for something or other. But she hand-wrote polite letters declining the invitations.

Pat Pierce, owner of a lakeside cottage, said he wasn't even aware that the customer in the Melvin Village general store was Princess Grace.

"Would you believe she bought a loaf of bread and a package of hot dogs?" Pierce murmured later, after he was told who the customer was.

Miss Beach explained, "Her Serene Highness had picnics several times for the children at the beach."

Miss Beach, at Princess Grace's request, assembled a selection of 36 color slides showing the area during the autumn season.

She was taking home with her photographic evidence of the area's year-round beauty.

Meanwhile, at the northern end of the bay on which are located the Bald Peak Colony's cabanas, Prince Rainier was seen at the wheel of a powerful inboard-outboard speedboat, teaching Princess Caroline to water ski.

Caroline is 14 and her younger sister. Princess Stephanie, is 6. Prince Albert, 13, was in a boys' camp just across the water from the colony, within rowing distance of the beach.

A governess accompanied the royal family on their trip here, but the Prince arrived separately at Logan International Airport near Boston, about a two-hour drive from the lake.

There was no official announcement of who visited the royal family during their stay, but actress Ingrid Bergman is known to have been one who did.

During one of the days the royal family was in the area, Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, wife of Nationalist China's president, was seen riding in the passenger seat of a pickup truck on the main street of Wolfeboro. She has a home on Wolfeboro Neck.

At Bald Peak, the homes are in the $100,000-and-up price bracket. The colony club once was part of what is now the Castle in the Clouds; a tourist attraction perched atop a mountain. It was built in the early 1900s by a Boston shoe manufacturer who brought over Italian stone masons to construct it.

And now that the royal family is gone, the people with whom they spent their vacation are telling each other how much fun they had keeping the visitors' stay as quiet and enjoyable as possible.

#Princess Grace #New Hampshire #Henry Frank #The Record #1971 #70s #newspaper

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fromirontoiron · 8 years

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Pearl Buck intended the film to be cast with all Chinese or Chinese-American actors. Irving Thalberg also envisioned casting only Chinese actors, but had to concede that American audiences were not ready for such a film. Though Anna May Wong had been suggested for the role of O-Lan, the Hays Code anti-miscegenation rules required Paul Muni's character's wife to be played by a white actress. MGM offered Wong the role of Lotus, but she refused, stating, "You're asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters. Many of the characters were played by Western actors made to look Asian with aid of make-up techniques developed by Jack Dawn and used for the first time in this film. However, some of the supporting cast did include Chinese American actors.

When MGM inquired into the possibility of making the film in China, the Chinese government was divided on how to respond. Initial hostility derived from resentment of the novel, which critics charged focused only on the perceived backwardness of the country while some government officials hoped to have control which would be gone if the film work was done outside China. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek himself intervened, perhaps at the behest of his wife, Mme. Chiang, whose American education made her an advocate for cooperation. Permission was granted on condition that the view of China be favorable, that Chinese government would supervise and have approval of shots done in China, and the unenforced stipulation that the entire cast be Chinese. The government in Nanjing did not foresee the sympathy the film would create and when MGM decided to shoot on location in China officials took extraordinary steps to control the production, forcing the studio to hire a Nationalist general to advise them on authentic settings and costumes (most of this footage was mysteriously lost when it was shipped home and had to be re-shot in California). There were reports that MGM distributed a different version of the film in China.

#Race #Culture #History #Art #Movie #Video

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missfay49 · 2 months

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Garden of beautiful years

A message in appreciation of the christening of the Chinese garden, "Meiling Yuan," at Rockefeller Center, New York City, on July 6, 1942.

In naming this garden after me I am being honored by the most delicate compliment that sensitive minds could possibly devise. To our Chinese people the garden has a spiritual significance, because it takes on every varying beauty with each changing season, and epitomizes life itself. It also symbolizes man's progress and growth, the surging spring of youth, the flowering summer of manhood, the golden autumn of maturity and the rich winter of fulfilment. Orderliness and symmetry are beauty's devoted handmaidens just as truly as peace of heart and serenity of mind are the inseparable attendants of happiness. May all of you who find your way to this happy creation of nature aided by art attain "beautiful years" which is the literal translation of "Mei-ling," and capture the serenity of soul that has been found by so many hundreds of generations of my ancestors amid similar surroundings.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #fifteenth installment

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missfay49 · 2 months

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A germ of good will

A message inaugurating the Mayling Soong Foundation for Eastern culture at Wellesley College in June, 1942. Mme. Chiang's communication was followed by a message from President Mildred H. McAfee of Wellesley College, now commander of the WAVES.

Chungking

In choosing the name, Mayling Soong, for this Foundation, I desired to associate the name of my parents with the formation of this additional link in China-American friendship. In doing this I feel that I have the sympathetic understanding of my fellow alumnae. Any individual is the product not only of environment and period but of inherited culture and civilization of his or her forbears. My parents seemingly broke every Chinese tradition in sending me as a child America-ward to study instead of accumulating money for an ample dowry. This was considered not only the summum bonum for all young Chinese girls but the wisest course and the duty of affectionate parents. By sending their daughters America-ward to school, however, they were but fulfilling their vision of what educated women could contribute toward a strong revitalized modern China. My mother particularly personified the inner urge to seek intellectual truths as exemplified by the fact that throughout her whole life until her death she was an ardent student of religion, language and mathematics.

Throughout the five thousand years of her history, China has absorbed and assimilated so much culture, art and religion of all races with which she came into contact that studying Sino-civilization one studies not only the culture of a great ancient country but civilization itself. Therefore, whatever books, artists, exhibits tend to interpret China and other nations of the East interpret human aspiration, human nature, humanity itself. To my mind many would problems can be solved if we know and understand each other as human beings. En-

vironment and customs may differ but through sympathy and understanding we gain trust and confidence in each other's good faith. Wellesley by fostering the germ of good will between the East and West will have assisted in large degree in contributing lasting good to mankind.

MAYLING SOONG CHIANG

Washington, D.C.

It required imagination and daring for Mayling Soong's parents to violate the custom of their land to send their eastern daughter to a western college. They pioneered in merging the two civilizations by encouraging a girl bred in one culture to study in the other.

The Mayling Soong Foundation, founded in June, 1942, by many friends of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, is designed to express the same imagination in providing for American students an introduction to the rich culture of the Orient.

There is no limit to the amount of money which could profitably be devoted to acquainting women of America with the richness of China. However large or small the sum, the proceeds of the Mayling Soong Foundation will serve to deepen understanding and foster the good will which Madame Chiang advocates in her word and exemplifies in her life.

MILDRED H. MCAFEE

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #fourteenth installment

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missfay49 · 2 months

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To my Alma Mater: to America

A message to Wellesley College and the people of America broadcast from Chungking on June 13, 1942, on the occasion of the awarding of the degree of Doctor of Laws to Mayling Soong Chiang (Mme. Chiang Kai-shek) at the 64th Commencement of Wellesley College.

President McAfee and friends: I find it difficult to thank you adequately for the foundation fund and the personal tribute being paid to me today.

Although primarily speaking to my fellow alumnae I realize that my voice is reaching all my American friends who are listening in. My words are meant equally for them, especially for those who are holding luncheons today in my honor. But I own that I am apprehensive as well as gratified because those conferring high honors have a right to expect that they should be borne worthily. From those to whom much is given much is rightfully expected, and although I would not knowingly betray their trust I feel a chill of doubt whether my frail shoulders can support such a weight of honor.

Still I gladly embrace this opportunity of thanking you for your belief in me and I realize that yours is a genuine and spontaneous expression of friendship and good will, not so much for me personally as for China's womanhood, and is intended to testify to your admiration for the consistent and unfaltering devotion shown by the women in China in our resistance against aggression. Furthermore your complete sympathy for our common aim and your desire to symbolize our oneness of purpose is thereby manifested.

Your confidence in me makes it easier to tell you frankly and unreservedly things passing in my mind. True friendship is based upon knowledge of each other's thoughts. To our friendship is based upon knowledge of each other's thoughts. To our friends we can express our innermost thoughts freely and thus reach perfect understanding. Therefore, I open my heart to you.

On July 7 China is entering upon her sixth year of war. You are no doubt wondering how our outlook has been affected by five years of intense struggle and strain. I can assure you that the Chinese people are confident of their ability to hold on in the face of apparently insufferable difficulties if China is given the necessary equipment now. The morale of our people has been the main factor of its resolute determination never to admit defeat but to plug on in sheer dogged resistance.

Their resolution was buttressed by the belief that, after the war, there would be a new world society with a sure foundation of freedom, justice and equality.

Remember that China has never claimed to possess a mechanized army comparable in equipment to that of the enemy and capable of meeting him in pitched battles. Lacking such an army, we were compelled to adopt our magnetic strategy. By forcing the enemy to conform to it we kept him at bay. We have not been conquered nor shall we be. Our ill-equipped army has held the foe back for all these years. We shall throw him back as soon as we are given the badly needed war planes and artillery that we lack.

The people of China recognized throughout our war of resistance that they were fighting for freedom of body and soul and this not for themselves alone. I personally during these years encouraged them to believe that after victory was won the world system could be entirely altered; that we would all be free peoples and that nations strong or weak would deal fairly and squarely with each other. If our people and army had not been induced to believe this the war, as far as China is concerned, would have been over long ago.

Just pause for a moment to consider what that would have meant to the other Democracies. Recently Japan conscripted all males of nineteen and upward for military service in the puppet state that she has established in Manchuria. Supposed China had not elected to fight her war of resistance or had collapsed. All the manpower of this nation of 450,000,000 people and the resources of a country larger than the whole of Europe would have been thrown into the scale against the United Nations instead of being on their side. Even if this had not spelled defeat for the United Nations it would certainly have lengthened the war by at least several years.

At first when the Chinese people were told that there would evolve a new world order after victory they remembered 1931 and were skeptical. It was evident that promise did not always mean performance. When the invasion of Manchuria took place I confess that I myself was bewildered because, although China's sovereignty and territorial integrity has been guaranteed by international treaties, none of the powers signatory to those treaties took any effective action.

America, however, through Colonel Stimson warned Japan against her aggressive policy and endeavored to awaken other nations to the necessity of preserving the sanctity of treaties. Diplomatic representatives of some powers loftily explained to me that their countries were only responsible for not breaking the treaties themselves, they were not international policemen.

In other words, if it was some one else who set fire to a neighbor's building and thereby incidentally endangered your own homes nearby, it was not for you to stop him and you were not morally obligated to do so. This reductio ad absurdum attitude had its tragic but logical consequences.

Notwithstanding the Manchuria disillusionment, China's leaders urged our people to fight on assuring them that a new era of international justice was certain to come when victory was won. Upon that I personally staked all my hopes of being of service to my country in the future. Consequently if, after the war, the world is allowed by the Democracies to lapse to the outworn ideology and system of the past the Chinese Army and people will feel that I have misled them and that they have suffered and bled and died in vain. They will conclude, and rightly, that those of us who believe in the Democracies and who have given assurances of a better order had deceived them, in which case we shall not be able to justify ourselves before our own conscience. We hope and believe that we shall not be called upon to face the charge. To err is human, and who is not human? To progress, however, we must acknowledge and rectify our past mistakes and not repeat them.

Let me continue to be frank with you. What we must have in the new era is a concrete implementation of the principles we uphold, not empty slogans. We must not allow our fervor to exterminate aggression and willingness to make sacrifices for the common cause to subside after victory is won. There must be international policemen just as in ordi-

nary life there are policemen to see that lawbreakers and brought to justice. Nations who break the law should be no less liable and subject to punishment and it is the duty of every nation to participate in active maintenance of peace and order.

Unless nations which offend are brought to book they will repeat their crimes whenever opportunity offers and the world will be compelled to undergo an endless succession of devastating wars. Gangsterism does not change its nature because a gangster is a nation instead of an individual and it should be similarly dealt with.

After all that China has sacrificed for the common cause it is certain that those who believe in impartial justice will insist upon her having an effective voice at the after-victory peace conference in the remodeling of the new world system. As she was forced to take up arms against aggression, her advice and experience will be of value when the implementation of the principles for which we are fighting comes to be discussed and new international machinery set up.

In this new world society we must all be indeed our brother's keeper and act accordingly. Then stronger nations will help the weaker, not patronizingly as before but as elder brothers in whom trust can be felt, guiding the younger ones until they are able to stand on their own feet.

I recall that Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the Father of the Chinese Republic, said that all the world races started from the same metal and that it is a moral duty of those more advanced to help those not so far advanced.

Child prodigies seldom succeed in after life to achieve the distinction in the broader world that they had received in the model sphere of home and school. Nations similarly will not succeed whatever their potentialities unless they harness their abilities not for self-seeking but for the common good.

The time has passed when we can determine a man's status or his nations by the color of his skin or the shape of his eyes. We must create a world society to fit the need and requirements of all races instead of adopting the procrustean method of lopping off a nation's territories and liberties to fit that nation into the existing order.

I have faith that from the crucifixion experienced in this war the Democracies will learn the lesson that prevention is better than cure,

that it is better to prevent wars than to win wars. But war can only be prevented if world society is so constituted that all races are given equal opportunity to develop their native genius not hampered but aided by the stronger and more advanced races.

It is paradoxical but true that nations like individuals can only permanently enjoy privileges and rights if they are willing to share them with others. If they attempt to reserve them solely for themselves they will lose them. History has illustrated this time and again. Exploitation, imperialism and all the other anachronisms of pre-World War society must be swept out of existence.

Therein you can render invaluable help. Hundreds of my American friends have written me asking how they could be of service to China and the world. By marshalling all your power and influence to see to it that America helps to confer upon all races the freedom, the justice and equality that America herself enjoys. You would thus also help me because this is the vision I have held out to our people.

Before I conclude I would like to say a few words expressly to my Wellesley friends. I am not speaking figuratively when I say that I am with you in spirit today. I often recall with abiding affection my happy college days and you my friends whose problems and ideals I shared. We have greater and graver problems confronting us in these days when freedom is fighting for survival, but I am convinced that we will carry on the fight with serene courage and bring to the lasting good of mankind with rich fulfillment of our Alma Mater's ideal, "Not to be ministered unto, but to minister."

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #thirteenth installment

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missfay49 · 2 months

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Morale plus equipment

A broadcast from Chungking to America made by Generalissimo and Madame Chiang on May 31, 1942, on the U. S. Army Hour program. After translating the Generalissimo's message from the Chinese Mme. Chiang made a speech of her own.

Madame Chiang and I have gladly accepted the invitation of the War Department to send greetings to you, the American people. As I am speaking, bloody battles are being waged in the east, north, south and southwest of China. In these areas Japanese planes have been daily, relentlessly bombing our Army which has been gallantly fighting without air protection.

For five years China has stood up against Japan. We have fought with inferior equipment and with little more than bare fists. Though we are producing small arms we have not had the time nor the means to build up heavy industry. We lack airplanes, artillery and tanks. What has sustained us and made it possible for us to continue resisting has been adoption of what I might term magnetic strategy which consists of attracting the enemy to the interior, bog him there, and hold him at bay by the more vital factor of morale.

As a realist I must point out, however, that morale, important as it is, is not sufficient in itself to win a decisive and final victory. It must be supplemented by mechanized equipment. Mechanized equipment by itself, however, is futile. Morale and equipment combined spell final victory. This truth can readily be seen when we consider how much the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force has been able to help us despite its ever slender resources. As Commander-in-Chief of the China Theater of War, I pledge you my word that, given 10 per cent of the equipment you produce in America, the Chinese Army will reap for you 100 per cent of the desired results.

In looking toward the future I would like every one of my listeners to realize that our Chinese people are convinced that the principles

enunciated in the Atlantic Charter are not vague assurances and empty diplomatic phraseology, but that they are the underlying convictions to which the peace-loving people of America are dedicated. To my mind these principles should be applied not only to America and Europe but also to all peoples and races so that freedom, justice and equality may reign the world over. For all the principles and support, both moral and material, which the government and people of America under the leadership of President Roosevelt have given up throughout these five years of resistance, we wish to express our heartfelt appreciation.

Madame Chiang's speech

You have just heard the Generalissimo's reaffirmations that in spite of the long years of war our conviction in ultimate victory is stronger than ever. I have one more minute which I would like to utilize by pointing out to you an insidious example of enemy propaganda which has just come to my attention, and which I hope deceived no one. The plot is to sow dissension between us by announcing that China has plenty of arms and is now stalemating because she depends on America to win the war for her. I need not tell you that this is a malicious lie, fathered by those who wish to undermine our friendship. Chinas has always proved loyal and will continue to fulfill her obligations. In the past she has never hesitated to divert her entire resources to the common cause. She does not hesitate now, nor will she hesitate in the future.

China has survived all kinds of wars because she has consistently adhered to certain moral principles. Those principles preclude her acting otherwise than in an honorable manner. The enemy has repeatedly made offers of peace to China and sought to assure her that the Western Democracies were making use of her as a tool, whereas, Japan would coöperate with and consider her as an equal. The fact that we have unhesitatingly rejected those offers is proof positive that we have implicit faith in America's sincerity. We know that you are equally certain of China's sincerity. In oneness of purpose, in devotion to a common cause and coöperation, therefore, let us march forward, shoulder to shoulder, beneath the flaming banner of freedom to sure victory.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #twelfth installment

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missfay49 · 2 months

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A key to humankind

A message to Pi Gamma Mu, the American national social science honor society, upon receiving its national honor key. The award was one of two made at the annual banquet of the society in Washington on April 26, the other one being awarded to General Douglas MacArthur. The following citation went with Mme. Chiang's award.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek: Heir of ancient culture, co-creator of a new; blender of thought of East and West; cheerful and courageous counselor of a people in their sorrows and successes; twentieth century stateswoman; upon you, as a prominent participant in the intellectual and spiritual renaissance of a nation, the national social science honor society, Pi Gamma Mu, confers honorary membership and bestows the symbol of its highest distinction, its national honor key.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek's response, made public on May 4.

In accepting with pride and gratitude the signal honor you have conferred upon me by the presentation of this key, I realize that through me you wish to give recognition of the work that hundreds of thousands of my fellow compatriots have performed in social services, which are the embodiment of social science. Your society, I understand, was established to give the high cachet of your approval to endeavors to better the conditions under which the masses live, labor and have their being. The matrix of real democracy lies in its concern for the welfare of the people. Endeavors toward this goal are being made with the earnestness and sincerity in many countries, but even in those in which social science has progressed most - even in America itself, which has taken the lead in this as in so much else, and in other advanced states - there are large sections of the population living in circumstances which are an anomaly and reproach.

In China we were slowly but steadily advancing the practical application of social science when in 1937 there came the rude interruption of war. But even in war, which demanded and is still demanding our utmost national effort, we have followed the path pointed out by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in his principle for the livelihood of the people. The New Life Movement, which itself is the sublimation of social science, has received great impetus during the war, as was well shown when eighteen months ago the National Government created the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The war inevitably brought its own tremendous social problems and opened new avenues of social service. We were suddenly called upon among innumerable other things, to care for the millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of families of recruits, and vast numbers of children who had lost their parents. The burden was heavy and our means meagre, but they were augmented by the generous assistance received from America and other friendly nations. This gesture of sympathy and good will was deeply appreciated by all our Chinese people.

Brevity is the soul of other things besides wit, and it is especially necessary on occasions like this that one should be brief. Let me conclude, therefore, with this one remark: This key symbolizes social science itself, which unlocks the casket of desire to help their fellow creatures that lies hidden in the hearts of all humankind. Thank you again.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #eleventh installment

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missfay49 · 2 months

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China emergent

An article published in THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY for May, 1942.

It may not seem to be the best of good sense to prepare plans for architectural improvements while the house is still afire and one is having hard work to extinguish the flames. Yet the United Nations realize that after the war is won new problems will automatically arise which will demand for their solution as much thought, devotion, and practical application of idealism as winning the war itself. While it is true that in the midst of life there is death, it is equally true that in the midst of death there is life.

We in China, though we have been harried for years by death and destruction, have been giving careful thought toward the perfection of a political and social system that will ensure in the future the greatest good for the greatest number. All the existing systems of government in the world - and this applies to the non-aggressive as well as to the aggressive nations - are being weighed in the remorseless balance of war. Some, we are sure, will not survive the test, but all have shown weaknesses that call for drastic alterations. "It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who never change," observed one of our sages.

We have chosen the path that we shall tread in the future. We are determined that there shall be no more exploitation of China. I have no wish to harp on old grievances, but realism demands that I should mention the ruthless and shameless exploitation of our country by the West in the past and the hard-dying illusion that the best way to win our hearts was to kick us in the ribs. Such asinine stupidities must never be repeated, as much for your own sake as for ours. America and Britain have already shown their consciousness of error by voluntarily offering to abrogate the iniquitous system of extraterritoriality that denied China her inherent right to equality with other nations.

While, as a nation, we are resolved that we will not tolerate foreign exploitation, we are equally determined that within our country there

be no exploitation of any section of society by any other section or even by the state itself. The possession of wealth does no confer upon the wealthy the right to take unfair advantage of the less fortunate. But neither, as a nation, does China believe in communism or wish to obtain it in our land. We have no use for most isms which pose as panaceas for all the ills of the human race. In fact all forms of authoritarianism adopted by some European countries, Jana, and certain Latin-American republics (which in late years have flirted a little, discreetly perhaps, with dictatorship) leave the Chinese people cold. We are disposed to be politely skeptical of sweeping claims such as are held by many to be made by Henry George's single-taxers, who are said to believe that all that is wrong with the world could be righted by a tax on land values.

In post-war China, although we shall not countenance exploitation, international or national, we shall grant private capital its rightful place, for it implements individual initiative, and we Chinese, being realists, fully recognize basic facts. Our age-old civilization has been developed through harmonizing conditions as they existed and as they ideally should be. But no individual will be permitted to wax rich at the expense of others. The rights of the people will be protected by progressive taxation. I maintain that when incomes exceed legitimate needs and a reasonable margin to ensure freedom from want the excess should belong to humanity. On the other hand, private capital must be given every encouragement to develop the resources and industry of the country - but only in coöperation with labor. All public utilities should be state-owned.

Any governmental policy in China ought to take cognizance of the all-important fact that we are an agricultural nation. Over 90 per cent of our people are dependent directly or indirectly upon the land - the overwhelming proportion directly. It follows that the nation cannot flourish unless the farmers are prosperous. At present they are enjoying a degree of prosperity undreamed of since the Golden Age. As a by-product of war, prices for all that comes from the land have increased so much that the standard of living of the rural population has reached a height that did not seem possible. Children are attending school who formerly would never have had a chance of education; homes that have been perforce mere inadequate protection from the elements are being made hygienic and comfortable. This is as it should be.

We want these gains held and consolidated. This vision of a better life that has been given to the backbone of our nation must not be dimmed by the policy bequeathed us by the conservative past. There has been one fly in the ointment - there always is: while those who live on and by the land have prospered, government employees and men and women classed as intellectuals have been having a hard time to make ends meet owing to the increased cost of living. But they represent a very small percentage of our people; when victory is won, a permanent solution of their difficulties will be arrived at. It is significant, however, that the masses of our people are now following the path of progress and happiness, from which I hope they will never swerve, certainly not as a consequence of any act of omission or commission by our government.

We are striving to institute a flexible system of political and economic development that will serve the future as well as the present. This attempt started directly China became a republic, thirty-one years ago, and has continued, even throughout the war years. In order to give our people fuller and better opportunities for a well-rounded and happier life, a new kind of Chinese socialism, based on democratic principles, is evolving. It is no mere pale reflection of Western socialism. China colors all seas that wash her shores. We do not necessarily reject everything the West has to offer; to views of modern socialists we lend a willing ear, more especially as most of their ideas find their counterpart in the third of the three principles envisaged by our late leader, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, upon which our whole ideology is based. These three principles are: first, Nationalism; second, the People's Rights; third, the People's Livelihood. Nationalism means that there should be equality among all peoples and races, and that all peoples and races should respect each other and live in peace and harmony. The People's Rights means that the people should have these four rights: election, recall, initiative, and referendum. The People's Livelihood means that the people are entitled to proper clothing, food, housing, and communications.

Westerners may be surprised to learn that China is the Columbus of democracy. Twenty-four centuries before the Christian Era, Emperors Yau, Shun, and Yü succeeded each other by their subjects' wish instead of by hereditary right. Over a thousand years before Confucius as articulate political platform proclaimed, "The people's views are heav-

en's voice," anticipating by centuries the Western adage: "Vox populi vox Dei." From earliest times a system of local government prevailed in our country, based upon subdivisions of the hsien, or country, which, as I shall explain later, is the foundation upon which we now are framing - even in wartime - our constitutional government. Mencius, in the fourth centur before Christ, enunciated the theory that the people rank first, the state second, the ruler last. Jean Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract, published in 1762, rings like an echo of The Essays published by Huang Lichow in 1663. Huang, in discussing political theories, severely criticized the monarchial form of government. In a chapter on "The Origin of Rulers" he dwelt at length on differences among ancient rulers and the autocrats who followed them; the former regarded their country as the hub of the universe while the latter held themselves to be of primary importance. Logically, Huang urged the overthrow of such rulers in order to establish the people's government. This sugject might be pursued further, but enough has been said to substantiate the observation that China, long before the West, embraced democratic ideals.

I have already referred to Chinese socialism, for our political compass shows our ship of state ploughing in that direction. Nevertheless, some people are alarmed at the very word "socialism," much as a timid horse shies away from its own shadow. Actually, though not called by that name, socialism has influenced national thought in China for decades, even amid the confusion caused by civil unrest and the present war. But it does not have any affiliation with communism. The Chinese do not accept the much-mooted theory of enriching the poor by dispossessing present owners of their wealth, nor do they believe such a step would give any prospect of an enduring alleviation of poverty and human misery. We prefer leveling up to leveling down. Before the present war started, the political tutelage which Dr. Sun Yat-sen decreed should precede full constitutional government had been put into practice for the purpose of laying sound and lasting democratic foundations for the people to build upon. Some progress had already been made when Japan forced us to take up arms to fight for freedom on July 7, 1937.

In the midst of war, in 1938 the People's Political Council was established as the precursor of the National Parliament. This body of 240 members includes not only regional representatives, some of whom are women, elected by provincial and municipal popular assemblies,

but also scholars and experts appointed by the National Government. It has the power of revision and recommendation and has become an important element of our national life. One of its outstanding achievements was the adoption of a proposal to constitute the county (hsien) as a unit of self-government. As I write, greater scope of action and further popular representation have been given to the Council.

This new hsien system aims to enable people to manage the affairs of their home districts by electing their own representatives to local governing organizations. When this program for local self-government is carried out, they will be free to elect their chief magistrate. Furthermore, these assemblies, composed entirely oe elected representatives, will choose delegates to a national convention for the purpose of adopting and promulgating a permanent national constitution and for the election of the president of China.

From the base to the apex the political structure will be erected by the people themselves. Thus the rules and regulations of the new hsien system are much more than a mere step toward local self-government. they are a political move forward in the direction of national democracy.

Some of our time-honored institutions such as our trade guilds will usefully complement this new pattern of national political growth. For centuries they have been a valuable feature of our social and commercial life. The provincial guilds in our large cities relieve fellow provincials in distress, settle disputes among members, thus preventing costly litigation, and help in numerous other ways. We propose to give these organizations more executive power and to obtain for the government the benefit of their experience.

Regarding civil administration, I have often expressed strong views about our civil service. I hold no brief for a system of political patronage. In our country, after the war, civil service appointments must be made on merit alone. Fitness to hold a position should in the future be the criterion for government service, not friendship or the favor of those in high and influential places. Nepotism must be completely jettisoned. This is a reform that I , for one, have always advocated, and it has been started on its way.

Their agelong experience has taught the Chinese people that all mundane things change, and even social and political systems are sub-

ject to transmutation. Chinese thinkers today are therefore content if they can so fashion the framework that the political fabric of the future can be woven and expanded in the best interests of the nation.

Chinese socialism, if you like to call it that, seeks above all else to preserve the birthrights of the individual. No state can be great and prosperous unless the people are contented. They can only be content if their dignity and rights as human beings are kept inviolate. To cherish the worth of the human personality is what we seek, and we are therefore giving the individual ever-increasing power to decide his own and the nation's future.

One of our national characteristics is not to do things without careful deliberation. Those who are privileged to direct the aspirations of a quarter of the world's population have a wonderful opportunity but a fearful responsibility. This responsibility has grown weightier, now that China has become a leader of Asia. If their program for social and political development is carelessly planned, they will imperil the happiness of hundreds of millions of their fellow countrymen and jeopardize the very core of world society. No instrument devised by human brains can be absolutely perfect. We, however, are recruiting the wisest intelligence available amongst our people in order to ensure that the political and economic machinery which will swing into full operation in China after the war will be as nearly perfect as possible and susceptible of readjustment without causing civil unrest. To my mind democracy means representative government, and by "representative" I mean representative of the steadfast and settled will of the people as opposed to the irresponsible and spellbinding slogans of political hawkers. Furthermore, in a true democracy the minority parties should not be left out of consideration. I am opposed to any system which permanently gives absolute power to a single party. That is the negation of real democracy, to which freedom of thought and progress are essential. A one-party system denies both. Freedom of thought and action should be given to minorities long as the activities of such groups are not incompatible with the interests and security of the state.

There is no necessity, moreover, for the systems of democracy in our respective countries to be slavish replicas of each other. They must adhere to the fundamental principle, of course, but each democracy

should have an order that fits truly its own peculiar requirements. Therefore, our Chinese democracy will not be a colorless imitation of your American democracy, although it will undoubtedly be influenced by the Jeffersonian views of equality of opportunity and the rights of the individual. It will be redolent of our soil and expressive of the native genius of our people. It must meet China's own needs and be in harmony with our present environment, which is inevitably linked to the best traditions of our past.

Considering what China has already accomplished in the face of heartbreaking obstacles, we confront the future with calmness and confidence. The difficulties before us are stupendous; but with the help, from our sister Democracies, of technique and capital, which we have proved we deserve, we have no doubt we can solve our problems. The fortune of war has brought China for the first time abreast of the great powers. We have won our place in the front rank by our prolonged and unyielding resistance to violence. We shall keep it by playing a major part in building a better world.

In the old world that is crumbling to pieces as I write, nations strove with each other to win supremacy in the means of destruction. The defunct League of Nations, whatever its shortcomings, had in its conception of world peace an area of thought which we should do well to cultivate. While lip-service to international equality and justice was not found wanting, signatories of the League Covenant did not have the courage actively to implement the principles enunciated so piously by their representatives round the conference table. China, Abyssinia, Spain, Poland, and other militarily weak nations became the victims of aggression, and the Democracies, which should have seen their own fate from the writing on the wall, did little more than make futile protests. It is my hope, therefore, that when victory is ours we shall have learned the lesson that "the substance of wisdom is made out of the substance of folly,' and profit thereby. Cannot we, in the new day whose dawn is nearing, strive together to gain supremacy in the peaceful arts of government and administration that will secure lasting happiness for the people of all races and thus create a world vitalized by new hopes and worshiping a more Christlike ideal?

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #tenth installment

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missfay49 · 5 months

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East speaks to West

An article by wireless from Chungking which appeared in THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE for April 19, 1942, under the title "First Lady of the East Speaks to the West."

Since China was opened to the world relations between East and West may be divided into three stages. In the first the weapon of the West toward China was always force. By the pointing of the gun at her the West made her suffer humiliation after humiliation. All her port cities were opened, in an actual as well as a metaphorical sense, at the point of the bayonet.

The result was what might have been expected. China resolved to have as little to do with the West as possible. She was forced to trade, but she did so reluctantly and reduced social and diplomatic contacts to the minimum. Withdrawing to her own ivory pagoda, she decided to let the crude world go on its power-worshiping path. She scorned to demean herself by learning the ways of the West.

This policy was not effective. It left China behind in modern scientific and industrial developments, thereby causing her to get out of step with China's world. In the meantime the West established self-governing cities in China on the West's own model in violation of China's sovereign rights, but as a face-saving gesture shrouded them under a thin veil of foreign settlements and concessions. The West also instituted the vicious legal device known as extraterritoriality, which removed foreigners from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts.

Nor did the West keep its hands off our material resources. The richest of our mines passed under foreign control. Foreigners administered our customs, salt revenue, railways, in fact, took over the management of virtually all public utilities, while even the control of foreign exchange was vested in them. With the exception of the Christian church, the policy of the West, on the whole, seemed to be to get as

much as possible from us by force and to give nothing in return that it could withhold.

The superiority complex was a cardinal point in the creed of the Western world in its dealings with all things Chinese and this was insisted upon in season and out.

Knowledge of Chinese literature and philosophy was, however, making some progress among Western scholars. It was realized that China had culturally a great contribution to make to the world. Accomplished littérateurs of all nations translated some of the greatest works of Chinese writers and made them accessible to the Western World. This, though a move in the right direction, failed to correct the misconception which the West had forced on China and which was the basis of the West's unquestionable belief in its own superiority.

However much the Westerners might respect China culturally, they seemed to be constitutionally unable to regard her as an equal. The development of trade made it necessary for the nations to conclude political and economic agreements with one another and China was forced to be a party to many of the them. It is significant, however, that in practically all these treaties China was inferentially considered as an inferior, not as an equal. This arrogant belief in innate Western ascendancy was largely fostered by treaty-port tai pans (foreign heads of banks and other business houses) whose prejudiced knowledge of China was restricted to associations with their successive Chinese compradores and ignorant gossip gleaned in their clubs and bars. Needless to say, this die-hard attitude did infinite mischief to China and to her relationship with the world.

Then began the second stage. It took, however, a continent0shaking shock to compel the Westerners to realize that China was something that was never dreamt of in their philosophy, and even then this realization was imperfect. When Japan forced war upon us in 1937 - which interfered with China's foreign trade - the West became very sympathetic. China was immediately applauded; perhaps, at first, rather condescendingly.

But the interest, although sympathetic, was as detached as that of spectators at a college football game, cheering from the safety of the stand while taking no personal risk in the game themselves. It was not

until later and owing to strenuous and selfless efforts of freedom-loving men and women, particularly in America and the British Commonwealth of Nations, that the man in the street realized as he watched us that it was his battle that we were fighting, that it was on his behalf as much as our own that we were shedding our blood and grimly scarring the smiling landscape of our country to prevent our cities, villages and resources from falling into enemy hands. We were regarded by him with a kind of puzzled interest inspired by good-will but still uncomprehending.

What a world of difference there is between the fighting at Shanghai in 1937 and the defense of the so-called impregnable Maginot Line! The Chinese were not allowed by the foreign powers to fortify the Shanghai area or even to dig trenches near the city, though the Japanese were permitted to use Shanghai as a naval and military base. An extraordinary state of things! Yet our ill-equipped army for over three months held its hastily improvised line against Japan's massed forces, which included naval squadrons, vastly superior artillery, war planes and far better-armed infantry.

When the history of Chinese resistance at Shanghai is written it will be recorded that we suffered enormous losses of manpower because our soldiers were so eager to fly at the enemy's throat that they refused to remain in their trenches. It was only in obedience to strict orders from the High Command that our men were restrained from hurling themselves as human bullets against the Japanese.

Full realization of the significance of China's epic fight began to dawn in the third stage, when the powers themselves felt the shattering impact of Japan's might and began to ask what secret weapon it could have been that enabled China to remain undefeated. Accustomed to view war in terms of material equipment, in the beginning they failed to understand that our weapon was the spiritual heritage of the Chinese race. Equipment, important as it is, is not all-powerful. Men at the front must be inspired as ours were and are by the knowledge that they are fighting for something that is worth the sacrifice of homes, loved ones and everything else precious in life.

During the last three months our Chinese people have watched with incredulous amazement the spectacle of Western armies surrendering because, it was explained, of Japans' superior might. This explanation

is to us in China incomprehensible. It is also incomprehensible to us why the West for so long swallowed insults, indignities and face-slapping with a mien meek and mild on the plea that it was unprepared for war.

Neither can we understand why the West, with its vaunted prescience, could not see that each passing hour gave Japan added opportunity to prepare to strike more deadly blows while the powers contented themselves with fortifying their positions with paper bullets. When the Japanese started their aggression against China we were unprepared. In fact, no nation could have been less prepared than we, for China had still not recovered from the wounds of decades of civil strike. But we took up the gauntlet.

During the past five years there has been no instance of Chinese troops surrendering to the enemy. On the other hand, there have been numerous cases of officers and men fighting to the last though there was no hope of reinforcement or escape - except by surrender. They disdained to embrace such an alternative. Several high Chinese commanding officers killed themselves when they realized that defeat could not be averted and that their only hope of saving their lives lay in surrender. To them death was preferable to dishonor.

I could relate many instances of this unconquerable spirit but I shall mention only one. Early in the present year Major Wong Chao-kwei fought in the battle of Singchiang River in Hunan Province against overwhelmingly superior enemy forces. When surrounded he and every member of his battalion were killed fighting.

To the Chinese soldier resistance to the last cartridge and the last man is no mere pretty figure of speech. When our men to the battlefield the are prepared to die. They feel that they have a sacred mission entrusted to them and they are determined to fulfill it by making the supreme sacrifice if necessary. Their patriotism is fully shared by their families. I have met thousands of women whose menfolk have fallen in battle and I have never yet heard one word of regret. Sorrow, of course, inevitably; but in place of regret an immense pride that they have given their all for their country. The West has always thought of the Chinese as an artistic and philosophic race unable to make the Spartan sacrifices that war demands. We have proved to ourselves and to the world that

this evaluation is false, for the word surrender is not to be found in the present-day Chinese vocabulary:

'Tis man's perdition to be safe When for the truth he ought to die,

is the resolve indelibly inscribed in the nations heart.

Let us for the moment leave the moral aspect of the war and turn to one of the serio-comic revenges of Father Time which recent events have disclosed. In the last century an Anglo-French force took the Taku Forts which were the coast defenses of Tientsin and Peiping. The forts were built and gunned on the assumption that attack would come from the sea. There were actually taken by detachments which had landed in the rear, much to the chagrin of the Chinese commander, who bitterly complained that the foreigners hadn't played the game in accordance with the rules. The Western world ridiculed what it considered China's ludicrous conception of the military art.

The years rolled on. A few months ago Hong Kong and Singapore were attached. Stupendous sums of money had been spent to make them invulnerable to attack from the sea - only to have both taken from the rear. The old Chinese commander at Taku, now in the Elysian shades, if he still retains an interest in mundane matters, can be pardoned if he gave vent to a Jovian guffaw at the manner of the fall of Hong Kong and Singapore.

To return to our subject. The example that China has set by nearly fire years of bloodshed has been emulated by the gallant Philippine Army under General MacArthur. It would be well for the West to ask itself why these men succeeded for so long in holding out against the same enemy who proved irresistible at Singapore, Rangoon and Java. Certainly General Mac Arthur had no more material resources available than the others. This phenomenon could be explained to my mind by the human approach and man-to-man appeal that America, through General MacArthur, made to the Filipinos.

This psychology will always prove irresistible. No emphasis was laid on the superiority of the West. The Filipinos had been promised their independence and freedom and they know the promise will be kept. So they fought proudly and gladly, shoulder to shoulder with their American comrades in defense of their own land, not as mercenaries to

whom victory or defeat would in its last analysis merely mean a change of masters.

This brings me by natural association of thought to India, whence I have recently returned. The Indians are a fine race with a rich cultural and spiritual background and have infinite potentialities. If they were convinced that they were making their war effort for freedom of their own country as well as for the more abstract freedom of the Democracies they would be surging with the same vibrant and unrestrainable enthusiasm that has girded the people of the Philippines.

So far as the West is concerned, the spiritual strength of India in our common resistance is an unknown factor. India's war resources have not been tapped and she has not yet started to resist in the real sense of the word. Once her material and spiritual vitality and energy are given full play the impetus that she will give to the democratic front will startle the world.

What of the future? The West must revise its ideas about the East. We in China must reciprocate. In the world society that we are going to create, there must be no thought of superior and inferiors. We must be equal men and women of all ages, pressing forward to a great ideal.

East and West both have foolishly tried to be self-sufficient. Neither has succeeded nor could succeed. Each must acknowledge that the other has something to teach. We hope that the West has now learned the value to itself of China's spiritual strength which has sustained us in our darkest moments. We in China must learn the value to us of the scientific developments of the West. Let us, East and West, each in its own way, make unstinted contributions to the common treasury of cultural, spiritual and scientific achievements which are the only real wealth.

Obligations of nations toward one another have been one of the central themes of philosophic thought in China for thousands of years. One of the greatest of our sages taught that humility, which is bitter medicine, in proud nations would bring its own undying reward.

He who is great must make humility his base. He who is high must make lowliness his foundation. * * * If a great kingdom humbles itself before a small kingdom it should make that small kingdom its prize. And if a small kingdom humbles itself before a great kingdom, it shall win over that great kingdom. Thus, thus one humbles itself in order to attain, while the other attains because it is humble. * * * But in order that both may have their desires, the great one must learn humility.

The reason why rivers and seas are able to be lords over a hundred mountain streams is that they know how to keep below them. * * * I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness, the second is frugality, and the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle, and you can be bold; be frugal, and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others, and you can become a leader among men.

The wisdom that echoes back to us from half-forgotten centuries may supply a need that is particularly felt in the perplexed world today, and may aid us in that complete revision of our ideas about each other that will bring about mutual understanding and appreciation between East and West.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #ninth installment

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missfay49 · 5 months

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Monarch of the air

An address delivered by Madame Chiang when she made the official presentation of a Chinese painting to the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force, in Chungking on April 17, 1942. The gift was received by Squadron Leader James H. Howard, representing the "Flying Tigers." The ceremony was sponsored by the Chinese American Institute of Cultural Relations of which Dr. H. H. Kung is the president.

Dr. Kung and friends: As honorary president of the Chinese-American Institute of Cultural Relations, I take great pleasure in presenting on behalf of this Institute a souvenir to the American Volunteer Group oft he Chinese Air Force, through their representative, Squadron Leader James H. Howard.

Squadron Leader Howard, you represent the American Volunteer Group who are affectionately known throughout the length and breadth of China as the "Flying Tigers" because of their superb courage and fearlessness in combating the Japanese marauders. This souvenir, however, is a painting of eagles by the well-known artist, Hsu Shih-chi. But it is particularly appropriate as a gift to you, the American Volunteer Group, because the eagle is your own national emblem as well as a blood brother of the airmen, and they both move with the same grace, swiftness and accuracy. Also the eagle with its telescopic vision can unerringly detect his objective while soaring high in the sky. So can the American Volunteer Group.

The eagle is credited with being the only work of creation, feathered or unfeathered, that can gaze defiantly at the setting sun of Japan and proudly at the dawning sun of China whose rays enfold them in a warm and appreciative glow. Thus, with the strength and ferocity of the tiger, you possess the added attributes of the eagle, the monarch of the air.

I shall not embarrass you by singing your praises, but it would be ridiculous affectation to refrain from any allusion to your amazing record. During the first World War of the Lafayette Escadrille, fighting in France, won well-deserved fame when they shot down fifty-seven planes in less than two years. You, the American Volunteer Group fighting in China, have destroyed more than two hundred Japanese planes in less than four months. This is as it should be, for with your technical skill and intensive training you have satisfied even the super-standard demanded by your commander, General Chennault, and have magnificently carried on the fighting tradition of the Lafayette Escadrille.

You have shown resolute endurance and cold courage that have enabled you to face the worst inferno of anti-aircraft fire and enemy guns. You have had to face the worst. You have put such fear into the hearts of the Japanese that they dread to meet you though they vastly outnumber you.

I should like to pause for a moment here to salute the spirit of Robert Short, the first American airman to fight and die for China - in 1932 during the Shanghai outrage. He may well be called the harbinger of the American Volunteers. The memory of Robert Short, and those of the American Volunteer Group who gave their all in unselfish devotion to China's freedom and the greater freedom of humanity, lives and is enshrined in the hearts of the Chinese people. China claims them as her own for they have watered the roots of our national renaissance with their blood and strengthened our morale by their young, noble, and ardent spirit.

This souvenir and scroll will serve as symbol of sisterhood linking our two great Democracies across the Pacific. As honorary Commander oft he American Volunteer Group, I take special pride that these gifts carry with them the abiding affection and admiration of the Chinese people for our Group, the American knights of the air, who have so signally proved themselves to be without fear and without reproach.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #eighth installment

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missfay49 · 6 months

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To our friends in India

A speech delivered in Chungking on India Day, March 17, 1942, as part of a special program broadcast to the Government and people of India. Mme. Chiang's speech was followed by other messages from Chinese Government leaders and from Sir Horace James Seymour, British Ambassador to China.

One is seldom given the privilege of thanking one's hosts for their hospitality in this manner and consequently the Generalissimo and I gladly embrace this opportunity of greeting you, our friends in India, on the day specially set apart in honor of your country.

You can hardly conceive what is meant for our party to get away, even for a little while, from the sounds and stress of war to a beautiful land as yet untouched by its defiling finger. We hope that we succeeded while we were with you in conveying, even in a small measure, the warmth of the friendship that the very word "India" inspires in the breasts of our compatriots.

Some of your leaders were already our friends but this trip has reaped a rich harvest from the contacts that we made with the people themselves. The great qualities that we found in your leaders we saw reflected in you. We discovered that when we gazed into the eyes of the crowds at your railway stations and the thousands who thronged the streets of your cities; they all, silently but eloquently, told of the greatness of India as a nation. We learned that you are the same kind of human beings that we are, subject to the same emotions and anxiety, cheered by the same hopes and aspirations, endowed by the same dignity and fortitude.

We hope that you learned the same thing about the Chinese people as a result of our visit, that we are not marble statues but are men and women like yourselves, and are filled with goodwill and affection toward you and determined to prove the genuineness of our friendship by our desire and eagerness to fight side by side with you.

China is composed of men and women who, like yourselves, are struggling forward and upward for freedom. We believe also that you now know that China is unconquerable in site of the greatly superior military might of Japan.

For nearly five years, time after time, the Japanese vented their wrath and disappointment at being thwarted in their aggression by renewed outrages against our defenseless citizens. But they cannot subjugate us. The secret of our successful national resistance is simple. We have a weapon that no brute violence can shatter. It is the weapon of refusal to admit defeat.

During the past five years we have repeatedly felt the chilly breath of death, but by drawing on our spiritual resources we fought the enemy to a standstill. Our people and army are one. When pressed to the limit we disappear like floating clouds into our mountain fastnesses. Experience has taught us to leave nothing behind that would enable the enemy to live on the land. Every means of life - food, fuel, even rice bowls are either destroyed or carried away. Finding only a deserted town or village with no means of sustenance and harassed always by our encircling forces the enemy is compelled to retreat. Thus we may withdraw when our high command so orders, but the Chinese Army knows no defeat.

This weapon of "dare to die" which can equally well be expressed by "scorn to live," if living be enslavement, cannot be purchased by money, neither can it be forged by machinery. It can alone be born from resolute patriotism that shrinks from no sacrifice, even life itself.

What China has done, India can do. We have both survived centuries of civil unrest, pestilence, drought and famine. The people of India have the same indomitable qualities as the people of China.

Until the last few months we fought singlehanded. When you take an active part in this titanic struggle, however, you will have all the United Nations battling on your behalf. Especially you will have your comrade and neighbor beside you eager and ready to aid you by her experience and fortify you by her example. Let us then gird ourselves with courage and with the resolution to resist to the utmost our common enemy on whatever ground he may select to attack. The future peace and prosperity of Asia will depend on the twin pillars of Chinese and Indian resistance against aggression.

Since our return we have been telling our compatriots something of what we learned and experience among you. I told them a few days ago of the noble qualities I observed in the women of India, their capacity for endurance and sacrifice, their gift of sympathy and sensibility.

Also since our return the momentous announcement of Sir Strafford Cripps' mission to India has been made. The whole Chinese nation is buoyed up by the hope that the people of India will be given power to prove their mettle in the battle for human freedom and will realize that in so doing they are safeguarding their homes and hearths. May this hope be materialized and the aspirations that you cherish be brought to fruition for the enduring happiness of the people of India and the welfare of the whole world. May courage and good cheer attend you always.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #seventh installment

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missfay49 · 7 months

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Women of the world

A speech before a mass meeting of over 10,000 people at the New Life Model Center in Chungking on the occasion of the 33rd Anniversary of the International Women's Day, March 8, 1942. The substance of this speech was given in a broadcast to the United States on the same day.

I have just returned from India in time to take part in our wartime capital's celebration of International Women's Day. It is a long time since I have had any opportunity of speaking to you.

I feel that in these stormy days when the aggressors are ravaging the world every man and woman of us must make the best possible use of his or her ability in practical work if humanity is to be saved. China suffered earliest and has suffered most from aggression. She was also the first to rise in resistance against it.

Upon Chinese women has fallen the responsibility of steadfast loyalty to their country's just cause. Today women in all countries of the world are enthusiastically celebrating this occasion. The forms they adopt in doing so may differ but two common resolves are uppermost in their minds: that the aggressors must be overthrown and that civilization must be preserved.

The women of this age have a great contribution to make to the success of this just war against aggression. Since the manifesto of the twenty-six United Nations was issued on New Year's Day the forces of right and might have been ranged in two clearly distinguished camps. A beginning has been made in bringing about a better state of world affairs. The history of mankind is being rewritten.

The main consideration before the minds of women today should not be what they have to demand from the world but what they have to give the world now and in the future. We must assume half of the responsibility for the welfare of humanity and from this belief should spring our faith in ourselves.

While I have been on my journey abroad I have had this belief strengthened in me and something of what I experienced I wish now to tell you. I think you will all be glad to hear of the things I saw and heard in India. I wish to assure you that the women of India possess a great potential energy which they are ready to devote to progress. They are especially endowed with the virtues of endurance and fortitude.

I was present at a meeting of the All-India Women's Association and I was asked to convey to my fellow countrywomen the solicitude and sympathy felt for them by Indian women. When I was giving them an account of Chinese resistance and the outrages of the invaders not a few of them shed tears of compassion, not of mere negative sorrow. It was an expression of righteous indignation at iniquitous deeds. It represented the noblest and purest qualities of human nature and those qualities that are the peculiar gift of women. Although I was but a short time in India I had opportunities of meeting several outstanding women figures. I met Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, Mrs. Ranjit Pandit and Begum Nawaz. Each had special attributes worthy of our admiration.

Mrs. Naidu is a famous poetess of whose literary genius I need not speak. Most striking was her accurate understanding of human life and her rich emotional nature. Listening to her I felt that her heart was an inexhaustible fountain of warmth and sensibility.

Mrs. Pandit is the president of the All-India Women's Association and the sister of Pandit Nehru. She, whom you all know, is a resolute, able, lovely, dignified person with all the womanly qualities we admire.

Begum Nawaz is of a courageous and discerning disposition. She made me feel that I was talking to a woman general. She said that the gallantry of Punjab women did not fall short of that of the men. From what I have said of these few women you can gather something of the intelligence, learning and character of Indian women in general.

There are, or course, many girls and women there who are unable to get an education yet they are straightforward, hard-working, conscientious and firm in such a way that I have no hesitation in saying that when they are given adequate opportunities they will certainly render valuable service in the struggle for freedom.

Turning to our own work, I feel that one of the most important things today is that we women should show our strength and put it to the best use. If we can concentrate our energies there is no doubt they can be made to serve some good purpose. Solidarity is absolutely necessary. Complete solidarity, not only of the women of the same nation or of the same area, but also of women of all nations and all parts of the world. There must be a unity of mind and purpose among all women of the world in their endeavor to perform their duties in the modern world, to save the world and save themselves at the same time.

Consider: if we do not unite to save this splendid and beautiful world from the clutches of the aggressors there will come a day when they will rule the world and under them women will meet with an abominable fate. In Japan, Germany, and Italy where are there any women who have not been robbed of their noblest qualities, their individuality oppressed, their finest gifts corrupted and abused? The overthrow of the Axis is the key to women's emancipation. As the war goes on our maxim must be, "The fighting forces first, victory first.' In all women's activities war service must stand first. This is a fundamental principle of which there can be no question.

Another point I wish to make and take this opportunity of impressing upon you is the immense value of spiritual strength. I have recently become aware that in the history of human endeavor physical and material force has determined success or failure only in a proportion of thirty per cent, while spiritual force has amounted to seventy per cent of the total strength exerted. With men and women it is the same. If their faith is firm, their spirit robust and their hearts inspired with high resolve they can, despite bodily weakness, support whatever suffering they are called upon to endure and actually profit by their weakness. If on the other hand their spirit falters and their will is weak the best physique will not enable them to recover from setbacks and face dangers and difficulties. Women have been generally considered the weaker sex, but for qualities of tenacity and intrepidity we are by no means inferior to men. In war service and social work we ought especially to develop our spiritual strength, employing it in stimulating morale at the front and influencing the tenor of social life. The struggle will become fiercer, the conditions of national and social life will become harder, but if we have firm confidence in ourselves and go on unceasingly with our work victory will assuredly come and the nation and humanity attain freedom.

In three day's time we shall commemorate the third anniversary of the inauguration of spiritual mobilization. That too is a direction in which we women must exert our efforts.

Finally, I should like to tell you something of women's work in Yunnan as I have recently observed it. I am sure you will be delighted to know of it as proof of the real strength of Chinese womanhood. Under the leadership of Madame Lung Yun the women of Yunnan have already organized a New Life Women's Working Corps and are engaging in many kinds of war service. At a gathering I attended while in Kunming I happened to propose the raising of money for four kinds of service promoted by the New Life Movement this year. Only members of the families of army men and officials were present together with some teachers and factory workers. Very few were moneyed people but my proposal met with a most enthusiastic response, some of the women even taking off rings and other ornaments and donating them to the cause. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars were immediately collected and a few days later a total of four hundred twenty thousand dollars was subscribed. That is more than the entire sum subscribed by the bankers. The generosity and the ingenious zeal of us Chinese women need only be aroused. We are ready to do more than give money. For the nation and victory we are ready unstintedly to give all that we have and are.

Yunnan is now an important base of resistance and under the leadership of Madame Lung the women of the province will undoubtedly go on developing their strength with, I am sure, an encouraging effect on those in other parts of the country.

A last word in conclusion. Women's activities must proceed along lines of the most essential and realistic work, the high and noble ideal to be pursued never at the same time being lost sight of. In our love of country and of humanity we must never forget the distress of suffering fellow women. All our work, however, must be centered upon the task of overcoming wartime difficulties and attaining the final victory over the forces of aggression. That victory will be the guarantee of the freedom of our nation and of humanity and will mean the success of the great undertaking of world rehabilitation. It will mean also an unprecedented elevation of the status of women in society. Looking with exaltation into that future, I appeal to you for your best efforts.

#we chinese women #mme. chiang kai-shek #speeches and writings during the first united nations year #sixth installment

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