IN FUTURE ISSUESOwing to pressure on space some items

have been held over including a report from

amember of the SACU group which recently

visited China, a resume of Isaac Ascher's

lecture on the Cultural Revolution, and an

article by Jane Gates on 'Thoughts about

Mao'. They will appear in future issues.

NOVEMBER 1967VOL 2 No. 11

HONG KONG, PEKING & LONDON—The Recent Events—THE RECENT EVENTS involving the

British and Chinese diplomatic missionsin Peking and London respective!/,cannot be judged and understood ifthey are seen as isolated incidents inthe relations between Britain andChina.

They have, of course, taken placewithin the general context of a seriousdeterioration of relations, but theirorigin must be seen in relation toevents in Hongkong and the impact ofthe Chinese Cultural Revolution onpeople in London and Hongkong aswell as in Peking.

Any consideration of these recentevents must start with an understand-ing of the situation in Hongkong.

Hongkong, Kowloon and the ' NewTerritories ' are some 400 square milesof China. The island itself (29 squaremiles) was occupied by Britain in 1841as part of the operation to force theChinese to import opium. ' It was notan episode that did credit to the Britishnation. And it is one that no Chinesehas forgotten to this day.' (Evan Luard,Britain and China.) The Manchugovernments were forced to cedeKowloon (I860) and to lease the ' NewTerritories' ( 3898 ) to Britain as partof the general carving up of Chinabetween the imperialist powers.

Ninety-eight per cent of the popu-lation of Hongkong (now about fourmiliion) is Chinese. These are not'overseas Chinese' in the normally ac-cepted meaning of the term, sinceChinese people have traditionallyentered and left Hongkong freely. Des-pite all the talk of ' refugees fromChina ', the natural increase of popu-lation (births over deaths) is greaterthan net immigration into Hongkong.The number of journeys both waysacross the border annually is com-parable to (in 1957 it may haveexceeded) the total population of thecolony. Under the nationality principleof jus sanguinis, Chinese residents ofHongkong are Chinese nationals. Even

under British law, less than one-fifthmight be eligible for British citizenshipand when in 1951 these were invitedto register or forfeit their claim toBritish status, a large proportion chosenot to register. The present ChineseGovernment, and the governmentsbefore liberation, always insisted that' the Hongkong authorities must under-stand that the Chinese Governmenthave every right to demand the pro-tection of Chinese people in Hongkongand Kowloon '.

As a colony Hongkong is unique inthat it is an essential part of themainland of a great power and theoverwhelming majority of its inhabit-ants are nationals of that power.

Under the Charter, member statesof the United Nations are required ' inthe administration of territories whosepeoples have not yet attained a fullmeasure of self-government' to ' recog-nise the principle that the interests ofthe inhabitants of these territories areparamount'. How far has this principlebeen applied in the case of Hongkong?

In 1946 the people of Hongkongwere informed that the Labour Govern-ment had ' under consideration themeans whereby in Hongkong, as else-where in the Colonial Empire, theinhabitants of the Territory can begiven a fuller and more responsibleshare in the management of their ownaffairs '.

In fact the Constitution of Hong-kong is today in essence .exactly whatit was when it was introduced In 1843.The colony is governed by theGovernor, and an Executive Councilconsisting of five ex officio members,one nominated official member andeight nominated unofficial members.'The responsibility for deciding whichquestions should come before theCouncil and for taking actions after-wards, rests with the Governor.'

(Hongkong Report for 1966, Govern-ment Press) and a Legislative Councilconsisting of the Governor, the sameex officio members, eight nominatedofficials, and thirteen unofficial mem-bers nominated by the Governor,

' Hongkong is a place that takes agood deal of running' says RichardHughes (Sunday Times, 21.5.1967) 'andthere is no nonsense about democracy.The only elected representatives areeight members of the Urban Council,whose basic responsibilities — as ab-ridged by gubernatorial diktat — arethe administration of the garbage col-lection and the approval of streetnames.'

Social conditions

Most reports agree that the con-ditions under which the Chinese popu-lation live in Hongkong are appalling.Richard Hughes (Sunday Times,21.5.1967) refers to 'a jumble ofmillionaires' mansions — and horribleslums . . . a teeming mass of humanswithout any proper resources in food,water, coal or oil '. In another article(28.5.1967) he refers to Hongkong'spettifogging expenditure of 1.1 percent of the budget on social welfare.The budget provision for police andprisons is HK$ 131,280,500 as againslHK$19,348,400 for social welfare. (16HK$ = £1.) Approximately half thepopulation is under fifteen. 150,000children do not receive even primaryeducation.

Considerable numbers of peoplehave, it is true, been re-housed in hugetenement blocks, but in these, as wellas older hous.es and hovels in Hong-kong, overcrowding is still worse thanalmost anywhere else in the world.

One of the representatives on theUrban Council, Mrs Elsie Elliott, hasreported on the traffic in drugs. Shestates ' Hongkong was &et up originally

to promote the drug trade. . . Thisdrug trade has never ceased . . . drugsonly became illegal when imported insmall quantities but somehow bigbusiness in drugs went on unchal-lenged. The wholesale slaughter ofpeople, including teenagers, throughoutthe world, continues to stem fromHongkong, an entrepot for drug distri-bution. Hundreds of thousands ofHongkong people are also miserableslaves of drug addiction.' She con-cludes: ' The Hongkong Governmenthas shown clearly that it has no in-tention of trying in any way to stopthe drug traffic or to take strongaction on corruption, especially wherehigher civil servants are concerned.' (Acopy of Mrs Elliott's report of 39pages (June 1966) can be consulted inSACU Library.)

Dennis Blood worth has also com-mented on th,e scale of bribery inHongkong (Observer, 21.5.1967) 'TheChinese accuse the police of treatingthe poor with brutality and contempt,tell scandalous tales of bribery in theimmigration and police and the publicworks department. They can quote theprices that must be paid on all oc-casions, and the sum that must begiven to a building inspector tosanction a new block as habitable ac-cording to whether it has four, five ormore storeys.'

Conditions of Labour

The Hongkong Yearbook states thatone-and-a-half million people are atwork in Hongkong, 600,000 of themengaged in the manufacturing indust-ries. The textile and garment industryaccounts for 4? per cent of the in-dustrial labour force and the plasticsindustry is the second largest employer.

The conditions under which the one-and-a-half million work are of par-ticular interest since it was a labourdispute at one of the plastics factoriesthat touched off the riots last May.Much information concerning theHongkong textile industry has beencollated by Mr Jack Greenhalgh, sec-retary of the International Textile andGarment Workers' Federation whichhas its office in London. Mr Green-halgh has visited Hongkong from timeto time and is regularly receiving re-ports from the Federation's represent-ative in th.e colony. From the volumeof data which Mr Greenhalgh hasbrought together it is possible, forreasons of space, to quote only thefollowing:

' Many textile workers actually work359 days each year.'

' When I questioned the Commis-sioner of Labour (Mr Wakefield)about this, h.e replied that he sawno reason why anyone should not

work if they wished to work.'' Women and young persons in the

garment industry work a ten-hourday with a permitted overtime of100 hours per year. . . .'Many violations of the law relatingto the employment of women andyoung persons take place, but asthe penalties are so ridiculouslylow, they do not act as a deterrent.'

' This means that the workers, hav-ing no vote, no effective represen-tation and no hope of obtainingjustice, either have to endure exist-ing conditions or rebel.1

' In the past, it has appeared thatthe Hongkong Government by giv-ing employers police protection tobreak strikes, have demonstratedthat it is futile for workers to offerany protest against the inhumanconditions that exist.'

' There is a total lack of evidencethat the Hongkong Government isinterested in the well-being of theworkers generally. This point ismade by the apparent attempt tophrase the proposed new legislationin such a way as to make it com-pletely useless.'

According to the official figurespublished in the Hongkong Yearbook,unskilled workers are paid from 6s to15s a day, semi-skilled from 7s to 26sand skilled workers from 10s to 35s aday. On this basis an unskilled workerwould receive £107 for working a359-day year.

Dennis Bloodworth, in the articlealready quoted, refers to unemploy-ment in the colony. 'According toofficial statistics there is almost nounmployment; pay packets are winningthe race up the wage-price spiral;mortality rates are satisfactorily low.But in a Chinese community under-employment, not unemployment, is sig-nificent, for anyone given a broom touse and a bowl of rice a day by asecond cousin twice removed can bedescribed as employed.'

Riots and disturbances

Many historians have referred to thefeeling against British occupation ofthe island with the rise of nationalismin China in the early part of thecentury. Labour and social unrest hasb.een a feature of the colony, certainlysince the strikes and boycotts of the1920's. There were student demonstra-tions in Shanghai and Nanking in 1946demanding that the colony should bereturned to China. In the same yearthere were demonstrations against theRAF constructing an airfield in Hong-kong, it being assumed that this im-plied that the British intended to stayon in the colony. In 1948 when squat-ters were evacuated to make room for

the Kai-Tak airfield, several thousandChinese in Canton attacked and burneddown the British Consulate General.In April 1966, there were riots againstthe rise in ferry charges, an indicationboth of the poverty level at which themajority of the Chinese were livingand the smouldering resentment againstthe authorities. The Yearbook statesthat a curfew was imposed and theentire police force, including the aux-iliary police was ' mobilized into itsriot structure'. Four regular armycompanies assisted the police togetherwith the Hongkong Regiment and theHongkong Auxiliary Air Force. ' The7.1 per cent increase in crime during1966,' the Yearbook states, ' was duealmost entirely to offences committedduring the riots in Kowloon in April '.Two weeks after the Kowloon riotsthe Queen's Speech to Parliament (21.4.1966) included the following remarks:' Further steps will be taken to assistmy peoples in the remaining colonialterritories to reach independence orsome other status which they havefreely chosen.'

The reaction of the Hongkong auth-orities to unrest has been to use moreviolence and repression. To quote theYearbook once more, ' The Kowloondisturbances re-emphasised the im-portance of having an adequate internalsecurity structure . . . many improve-ments had been suggested, aimed main-ly at increasing the number of policeavailable for riot duties'. Lord Lans-downe in 1963 concluded that thepresent system is ' workable ' a judg-ment which, says Endacott (Govern-ment and People in Hongkong) rests onthe assumption that being ' workable 'is the sole criterion and ignores the factthat in the long term, government canbe based only on the alternatives ofpopular consent or the security forces '.There is no doubt which the Hongkongauthorities have chos.en.

The Riots of May 1967

Given the situation described above,it is not difficult to imagine the feelingsof the Hongkong Chinese as newsreached them of the developments ofthe Cultural Revolution. The larg.e-character posters carrying their criti-cisms, the mass meetings in schoolsand universities, factories and com-munes; the encouragement to speakout against bureaucrats, petty tyrantsand jacks-in-office; the mounting andenveloping interest in the works ofMao Tse-tung — in fact all the featuresof ' extensive democracy ' — wouldsurely bring home to the HongkongChinese the vast gulf between theirown status in society and that of theircompatriots across the border.

It was in this highly-charged setting

that the Hongkong Artificial FlowerWorks issued new regulations (13April, 1967) which the workers inter-preted as a lowering of working con-ditions. After requests for discussionwith the management had been refusedand various protests lodged, severalhundred workers w,ere dismissed (28April). The management were employ-ing a practice normally adopted byHongkong employers to curb labourunrest. A protest meeting at the San-pokong Branch of the Artificial FlowerWorks met with police action andtwenty-one workers were arrested.The President of the Federation ofthe Rubber and Plastic Trade Unions,who went to a police station to rep-resent his arrested members, was him-self arrested.

From 6 May the usual pattern ofpolice action — the 'riot structure' —began and has continued through thefollowing months. Several deaths result-ed, a new weapon firing wooden pro-jectiles against demonstrators wasintroduced, trade union offices sackedand journalists and press photographersimprisoned. The Times said that 2,568persons had been arrested by Sept-ember of this year. Jack Greenhalgh,Secretary of the International Textileand Garment Workers' Federation,stated in May that in his opinion therewas ample justification for the riots.(Sunday Times, 28.5.1967.)

There have been many such actionsof police and troops against the Hong-kong Chinese in the past. There is,however, a difference today stemmingfrom the influence of the CulturalRevolution. The Little Red Book whichthe Hongkong Chinese now wave aloftin thetr demonstrations is a symbol ofpolitical identification and dedication.These are riots of a different orderwhich are not likely to be suppressedby the methods used in the past. TheHongkong authorities and the ColonialOffice having failed to deal, even par-tially, with the .economic and socialroot causes of unrest and discontent,must take the responsibility for thissituation.

The US and Hongkong

To the conditions which have beendescribed and which provide the seed-bed for revolt, must be add.ed anotherfeature which provokes a sharp reactionfrom the Chinese; the use of Hongkongby the United States. Doak Barnett, aformer official of the State Department,has put into words what may well beimplicitly understood in Washingtonas the US policy towards Hongkong:' Even though the United States has

apparently not assumed any directcommitment to defend Hongkong, astrong argument can be made that

the future in this area — with apopulation larger and far more pro-ductive than that of many countriessuch as Laos where the United Stateshas assumed major defensive res-ponsibilities— should be a matter ofconcern to American as well asBritish policy.' (Communist Chinaand Asia, I960.)

Thus Hongkong would be added toTaiwan, Quemoy and Matsu as areasunder United States ' protection '.

There was a time when Mr HaroldWilson showed some concern with theAmerican penetration of the colony. Hequestioned the Colonial Secretary inthe House of Commons on 20 October,1954, and .elicited the information thatthe US Consulate-General in Hongkonghad a staff of 115 (compared with fivein 1938). The US nationals in Hongkongat this time numbered 1,262 so thatthere was a consular official for roughlyevery ten Americans. Mr Wilson, in asupplementary question, suggested that'this horde of officials' was employedthere ' for the sole purpose of spyingon British trade '. If in the comparative-ly relaxed international conditions of1954 this number of US consular officialswere stationed in Hongkong it does notrequire much imagination to judgewhat is happening today, with the warin Vietnam only a few miles from theChinese border.

It is known that the US intelligenceactivities in Hongkong directed againstChina are conducted with the activecollaboration of innumerable Chineseagents of the US-protected Chiang Kai-shek regime in Taiwan.

The build-up of US activities andinterests in the colony was describedby Dennis Bloodworth in the Observerof 21 May, 1967: ' It was not only thata quarter of a million American soldierswent ashore in Hongkong last year orthat American military purchasingagents spend millions of dollars there.They saw American money andAmerican-trained Chinese on all sides;in proliferating political research insti-tutes, in the press, in the ChineseUniversity and other educational bodies,in commercial enterprises fromfactories supplying Vietnam to touristagencies.'

The Reaction in China

To people in China engaged in theCultural Revolution attacks on theChinese in Hongkong could not fail toevoke a vigorous response. It is in-conceivable that the people andGovernment of China, imbued with aspirit of internationalism and withsupport for liberation movements asone of their principal tenets, shouldnot have reacted energetically when

their own nationals were under attack.Demands to the British authorities bythe Chinese Government, which weresubstantially those put forward by theFederation of Trade Unions in Hong-kong, were ignored. This was the back-ground to the burning of the cars andbuildings of the British Diplomatic Mis-sion in Peking. There is no reason tothink that this was engineered ordesired by the Chinese Government; itwas a spontaneous manifestation ofpopular indignation, which can beunderstood only if it is seen as a con-sequence of the Hongkong situation.

The youth of China in ferment, andin the midst of their own revolution,were outraged. To think that theauthorities in Peking could have re-sorted to force to restrain the actionsof these persons who were attackingthe British mission is entirely to mis-conceive the relations of the army andpolice with the people of China.

The Events in London

There have been numerous cases inrecent years in Djakarta and the MiddleEast, for example, in which Britishdiplomats have been attacked andmissions burned down. These havenormally been met by diplomatic pro-tests and demands for compensation.Are there any instances when suchevents have been the occasion forattacks on diplomatic missions andpersonnel in London?

Nor is it possible to ignore the leadgiven by the Prime Minister in theHouse of Commons on 8 February,1966, and at Sussex University on 13July, 1967, when, challenged on hisattitude to students demonstrating ag-ainst US action in Vietnam, he suggest-ed that the demonstrators should goto the Chinese Embassy in PortlandPlace.

There is much circumstantial evi-dence to suggest that the incidents inPortland Place on 29 August were partof a British Government policy. The factthat the Foreign Secretary, Mr GeorgeBrown — not the Home Secretary —paid a visit to Portland Place to con-gratulate the police on their conduct isan indication of the Government'sattitude.

The Chinese account of the incidentat 1.30 pm on 29 August differs widelyfrom those published in the Britishpress. It is as follows. The ChineseMission garage their cars in DevonshireMews. The police cordoned off themews so that members of the publicwould have no access. A police car wasparked in front of the garage door inwhich the cars of the Mission arehoused. When members of the ChineseMission remonstrated with the driver,they were attacked by other police. It

was then, the Chinese state, that theyreturned to the Embassy and took uprny weapons which were to hand.

During the same period other Chin-ese offices in London were being haras-sed by the police. The CommercialOffice in Gloucester Gate, Regent'sPark, found it impossible to conducttheir normal trade work owing to theactions of the police in preventing themovement of Chinese cars and inter-ference with visitors.

Since the August incident, policehave been stationed outside the Chin-ese Mission in Portland Place and otherChinese offices in London. Visitors areinterrogated, and asked for theirnames. It has been observed that theattitude of the police varies from theaggressive and provocative to the exces-sively polite, according to the age andapparent social status of the caller. Itseems that these actions are deliberate-ly calculated to suggest that to befriendly with the Chinese or even tohave any sort of contact with themborders on the subversive or is littleshort of treachery. A Commonwealthvisitor was prevented from calling atthe Mission unless he vouchsafed hisname and address. A member of theSACU Council of Management aftermaking a business call was followed bya plain-clothes man. Another callerwas told by a police inspector thatalthough he was not obliged to givehis name, when next he called at theMission he might be in for some'unpleasantness'. The Financial Timeson 3 October carried a letter from twodirectors of firms who complained atthe police interrogation which theystated ' causes unpleasantness and givesthe impression that the authorities wishto hinder businessmen trading withChina, a policy which has certainlynever been enunciated by the Board ofTrade '.

As members of SACU well knowthere is a widespread interest inBritain in th.e Cultural Revolution andin modern China generally. There aremany politically-minded young peoplein London who are now selling Chineseliterature. They too have been harassedby the police and there are numerousinstances at Hyde Park, Earl's Courtand elsewhere in which sellers of otherliterature are allowed to continuewithout interference whereas the sel-lers of Chinese literature are arrestedfor obstruction.

The incident at Tilbury on 5 Octoberalso needs examination. The Chinesesay that it was provoked by the snatch-ing of a Mao badge from one of theseamen of the freighter Hangzhou.It is clear that British Press reports ofthe origins of the fight can only havebeen gleaned from dockers who were

themselves involved in the incident, orfrom the police. In a subsequent inter-view on BBC television news, one ofthose concerned said in so many wordsthat they ' got stuck in ' and that thefight was very enjoyable. He displayeda markedly racialist attitude, referringseveral times to th.e ' Chinks ' whom heand his friends had beaten up.

The British Press version of theorigins of the fight, ie that the Chineseseamen attempted to force a Mao badgeon a docker, is hardly credible. As theChinese themselves explain, a badgebearing a profile of Chairman Mao isregarded as a precious possession. It isextremely unlikely that the seamenwould have wished to cheapen its valueby forcing it on an unwilling recipient.

The Chinese have .explained that theirseamen, as well as Chinese workersgenerally, hold to proletarian inter-nationalism as a vital principle and thatthey have expressed their strong sym-pathy with the endeavours of theBritish dockers to improve their work-ing conditions.

That the attitude of the docker in-volved in the original incident is notshared by his workmates seemed to beborne out by a report from the ship-ping agent who stated that when theunloading of the Hangzhou beganseveral days later, an atmosphere offriendliness prevailed between dockersand seamen and that the British dock-ers were asking for copies of the LittleRed Book of quotations from ChairmanMao.

The incident at Tilbury fits in withthe general pattern of events in manycountries in recent months. Apart fromattempts to provoke incidents amongthe crews of foreign ships sailing toChina there has been the issue of theforged questionnaire purporting to askFrench and German businessmen in-tending to visit the Canton Fair forpolitical assurances as a condition forthe grant of visas (see Financial Times,10 October, 1967).

These examples of anti-China activityare probably mild in terms of what isto come. It must be expected thatfurther and even more serious anti-China incidents will be created.

The .events fn Hongkong, Peking andLondon must be interpreted in relationto the overall foreign policy of theBritish Government and the US-UKanti-China campaign. Only thus can thelogical and most dangerous thread betraced from one event to another.SACU cannot merely react to oneincident or the other in isolation. It isnecessary to examine the whole line ofpolicy within which these events havetaken place, and take appropriateaction to counter it.

Society for Anglo-Chinese Understand-ing Ltd (Founded 15 May 1965)

Office: 24 Warren Street, London W.ITelephone EUSton 0074-S

Telegrams ANGCHIN London W.I

Chairman: Dr Joseph Needham

Deputy-Chairman:Professor Joan Robinson

Vice-Chairman: Mrs Mary Adams

Secretary: Mrs Betty Paterson

Council of Management: Mrs MaryAdams, Mr Roland Berger, MrFrederick Brunsdon, Mr Derek Bryan,Mrs Hung-Ying Bryan, Mr AndrewFaulds, MP, Miss Margaret Garvie,Lady (Dorothy) Haworth, Mrs SusanLeach, Dr Joseph Needham, Rev PaulOestreicher, Mrs Betty Paterson, MrColin Penn, Mr Ernest Roberts,Professor Joan Robinson, Dame JoanVickers, MP, Mr Ronald Whiteley.

Believing that friendship must bebased on understanding, SACU aimsto foster friendly relations betweenBritain and China by making informa-tion about China and Chinese viewsavailable as widely as possible inBritain.

Membership of SACU is open to allwho subscribe to the aims of theSociety. Members are entitled to re-ceive SACU NEWS monthly free ofcharge, use the library at central office,call upon the Society for informationand participate in all activities of theSociety.

Annual subscription: £1.0.0. Reducedrates for old age pensioners (5s), andfull-time students (7s 6d).

SACU NEWS is published by theSociety for Anglo-Chinese Under-standing Ltd, 24 Warren Street,London, Wl, (EUSton 0074-5), andprinted by Goodwin Press Ltd,(TU), 135 Fonthill Road, London,N4.

SACU Celebrates the Anniversaryof the Peoples Republic of ChinaNEARLY a hundred persons assembledin the Hofborn Assembly Rooms onTuesday, 3 October, for a celebrationevening organised by SACU to markthe eighteenth anniversary of theChinese People's Republic.

Those pres.ent— more than a quarterof whom were guests of SACU mem-bers— were entertained by a program-me of international folk singing follow-ed by a buffet.

The meeting was opened by SACU'schairman, Dr Joseph Needham, whowelcomed all members and guests.After referring to the currently troubl-ed world situation and emphasising thevitaf role that SACU had to play, heextended a special welcome to threeChinese guests, Mr Wang and Mr Liu,from the Embassy, and Mr Wu, fromthe Bank of China.

After his speech, Dr Needham pre-

sented Derek Bryan, who was SACU'sfirst Secretary, with a gift — The TimesAtlas of the World — from the mem-bers, in gratitude for all his work forthe Society. In thanking the members,Mr Bryan said: ' In times like these,SACU must show its friendship and Ihope the Society will find the wayforward.'

Entertainment was provided by folksinger Peter Dukes; David Hung, ofCambridge, who played a Chinese two-string violin; Leon Rosselson with hisrepertoire of satirical folk songs; andIvan Delay, assisted by his brother andsister-in-law, with more songs.

Apart from being a friendly and con-vival evening to mark a great oc-casion, the celebration event also help-ed the work of SACU in another verywelcome way. It introduced many newpeople to the work of SACU,

LetterDEAR EDITOR,

May I through SACU News explainto members — for holiday and otherreasons it was not possible in the lastissue — why I resigned as secretary ofSACU?

I had in fact for various reasonsbeen wanting for a long time to giveup the Secretaryship and devote moreof my time and energies to other workwith the same aims as those of SACU:making known the Chinese point ofview and promoting friendship withChina in Britain. 1 finally decided tomake the break in July so that I couldbe freer to undertake work of a morepolitically committed nature than Icould as secretary of SACU.

Since then a great deal has happenedaffecting relations between China andBritain for the worse. 1 believe that inthe present crisis SACU has an import-ant role to play in informing itsmembers, and as far as possible awider public, about the real causes ofthe events in Hongkong, Peking, andLondon. The article in this issue ofSACU News is a most valuable con-tribution towards this end. I hope thatit will not only help members and thepublic to understand the situation, butwill lead on to the Society's taking the' more resolute stand ' in support ofChina referred to by the Chairman atthe AGM on 20 May this year (see

SACU News, Vol 2 No 6).

May I conclude by thanking everyonewho contributed to the most generousand quite undeserved, but very much

appreciated gift of the Times Atlaspresented to me by Dr Needham on30 October. I am grateful to all thosemany members who gave me invaluablehelp and support during my period asSecretary, and I know that BettyPaterson and her colleagues can counton similar support in the new situationof SACU today.

Yours sincerely,Derek Bryan

StudyingChinainDepthA SERIES of fortnightly study sessionson Tuesday at 7.30 pm at 24 WarrenStreet, London WI, has been organised.

It is not visualised that everyone willwish to come to every session but wehope that there is something of interestto everyone during the coming months.

Members intending to join in areadvised to read selected material be-forehand so that the discussions canbe really fruitful.

Reading lists may be obtained fromSACU office.

A fee of 2s 6d for each session willbe charged to help cover expenses.

For further details see SACU DIARYon page 7.

PolicyStatement

THE COUNCIL of Management at itslast meeting had before it a compre-hensive statement of SACU's policy.The Council agreed to the documentin substance and a final version isberng prepared for the approval of theCouncil at its next meeting. This state-ment will then be issued to all branchesand members.

The Council also considered, amongother matters, the question of pressand information work. A press officerand other volunteers are still neededand members interested should contactthe secretary.

There are now a number of vacancieson the Council. Mr Alec Horsley, whowas one of the Society's joint treasur-ers, has resigned because his businessin the north of England is now demand-ing more of his time. Resignations havealso been received from Mr WilliamAsh, Mr Geoffrey Carrick, Mr JohnLloyd and Mr Martin Tomkinson. MrEvan Luard, MP, resigned some monthsago. The Council have co-opted MrsBetty Paterson, honorary secretary,and will be co-opting other membersto fill the vacancies still outstandinguntM the formal election takes place inMay 1968.

StatementANY MEMBER wishing to have a copyof the text of the Press Statement onChina's H-bomb test drafted by theSecretary and issued by the Chairmanon 18 June, 1967, together with a copyof the resolution, amendment and de-cisions of the ensuing Council Meetingon this question, may obtain it onapplication to the secretary, 24 WarrenStreet, London Wl.

CORRECTIONIN THE September-October issue ofSACU News a mistake occurred whichaltered the meaning of a sentence. Inthe last paragraph of the article headed' Nuclear Policy' on page one thesecond sentence should read ' Whatmust be said in this context, however,is that if nuclear disarmament is to beachieved it cannot be done withoutChina '.

5

GLYNLIFFON MOSAICA Summer School Report Compiled by

Mary BrittainAT SACU's SUMMER SCHOOL inNorth Wales (25 August to 3 Septemb-er), nineteen students and six lecturerstalked, listened, watched, walked, ate,and argued together in a once magnifi-cent but cavernous mansion, nowturned Agricultural Institute. On busyClynnog road near Caernarvon, wewere not in the Wales of coal mines,slag tips, and social protest, but inGeorge Borrow's Wild Wales of rockycrags, rushing waters, slate quarriesand Welsh-speaking people. That weekBank Holiday crowds came from theMidlands, and the Beatles attendedtheir school in Bangor. Hard by atClynnog Fawr, St Beuno, second onlyto St David in zeal, had made his socialprotest, but that was in the seventhcentury.

Yet lovely countryside; Bank Holidaytraffic; dearth of soap, towels, andsmall nooks to settle into comfortably;even the resonant Welsh songs in pubstook second place: 'Who would havedreamed,' writes Frida Knight, ' that aweek in Snowdonia could bring you soclose to Ch ina? ' By some magic theSACU school achieved just this. Theintensive course got more and moreabsorbing during the hours spent on it.Kate Allen also felt a 'quality ofdepth ' and was impressed by ' the am-ount of concentration that went intothe lectures and discussion concerningrhe cultural revolution '. For P N Addy,graduate from Calcutta, ' Bill Bruggerspoke with an assurance born ofpersonal experience of China, yet neverdid he inundate his audience with anendless array of facts. He was able toplace recent events in China in theirproper perspective, and I for one feltenlightened about much that I hadonly half understood before.'

From the other side of the desk, BillBrugger confessed surprise ' at thekeenness; not that I didn't expect any,

An Open Air Session

but f thought that people would havemore equal a motive for coming; sight-seeing and interest in China. In fact, in-terest in China far outweighed theother.' For Tim Beal ' the special thingabout the school was its length. Thoughthere were disparities between us therewas sufficient common ground for usto form a community for a while.

Disparities of age mattered little' When all decry the young,' writes anot-so-young, ' I must say I was greatlycomforted by the tact and friendlinessof many younger members towards usolder folk.' David Bruce, student atUniversity College, suggests in future' a more pronounced accent on groupdiscussion ', since ' an atmosphere ofuncritical acceptance is both unwel-come and unhelpful '. Neither China'sbomb nor her views on the Middle Eastwere accepted uncritically. It wasthought that this was most helpfulsince the heated discussion threw somelight on the ' paper tiger ' thesis, andthe question of what is a ' peoples'war '.

The oldest and most enthusiastic ofus, H H Jones from Liverpool, affirmedthat is was ' a school that was veryappreciative of first class lectures, andof the wonderful views and films thatbrought everything so near to you '.This was echoed by Frida Knight andher daughter Sofka (back on leave fromShanghai, and contributing somethingspecial by her presence): 'Of all thedelights the one which will stick in ourminds the longest was John Bell's filmof Southern China, brilliantly colourful,teeming with healthy happy crowds." Funny thing " said the projectionist," He only showed the better-off peo-ple "— not realising that in Chinaeverybody is " better-off". Incident-ally, John Bell, petroleum geologistfrom Lancashire, gave us not only anexcellent running commentary on hisfilm but shared his ' geologic ' journeyon the Trans-Siberian Railway. Despitea bad back he managed to stay thecourse because the school was' intensely interesting'. Tim Raperfound it difficult to choose a high point,' it was all so informative '. DerekBryan felt it 'sadly ironical that whileSACU members were learning in anecessarily academic way in NorthWales, the Chinese diplomatic Missionin London was being harassed byBritish police '. Ironic too was BernardMartin's account of the 1896 kidnap-ping of Sun Yat Sen. Kept on the roofof the Embassy at Portland Place, aboutto be sent by Chinese officials to be

REVIEWChina in the /ear 2001, by Han Suyin.

New Thinkers Library. 15s.

' THE RE-DISCOVERY of China by theWest is of paramount importance. . . .'It is ' the wilful refusal of the West toaccept her as she is, which obscuresour understanding. . . . China is notisolated except by the exertions ofothers to isolate; and there is nothingcomplex about her which cannot alsobe ascribed to many another nation;but there are many built-in conditionedcomplexes in those who slander her,which must be overcome.' So saying,Han Suyin sets out to break down theWestern refusal to accept China, andto destroy the complexes, by a valuableand lucid study of China as she is andwill be between now and 2001.

A short account of pre-revolutionChina precedes the main chapters des-cribing the process of transformationof the country since Liberation, withmuch detail and documentation, andanalysing the basic philosophy whichhas been inseparable from the trans-formation.

She compresses the exciting story ofchanges in agriculture, industry, trade,scientific research into three chapters,for her main purpose is to assess andexplain the transformation of the wholesociety through ideology and the

(continued on page 7)

locked up as a lunatic, it was Britishfriends who helped to effect his rescue.

Was Glynllifon ' necessarily aca-demic' in its effects, however? Not ifone is convinced that ' theory onlybecomes thought when it has practicalapplication '. Hertha Christie sent abrief note: ' Tesserae for a mosaic Icannot offer you. All I can offer is glueor cement to hold them in position. Itwas the school that activated me. Untilthen I was a subscription paying mem-ber; now ( feel a responsibility to help,personally, in my own small way.'

In a poem written in 1963 and ad-dressed to Kuo Mo-jo, the feelings ofmany of us after Glynllifon are expres-sed eloquently by Mao Tse-tung:So many deeds cry out to be done.And always urgently:The world rolls on.Time presses.Ten thousand years are too longSeize the day, seize the hour!The Four Seas are rising, clouds and

waters ragingThe Five Continents are rocking, wind

and thunder roaring.Away with all pests'Our force is irresistible.

Review(continued from page 6)

present cultural revolution, in the firstserious stud/ of all its aspects publishedin Britain so far.

She points out that in spite, or per-haps because of, tremendous materialadvances, old attitudes, .and ' deep feud-al roots of bureaucracy ' had remained.The new society, industrial and agri-cultural, could not function properlywithout a re-orientation. Hence theCultural Revolution, based on Mao'sthinking, aiming at persuading everysection of the society to combinetheory and practice, to become ' redand expert', and achieve ' the immensetransformation required of a wholepeople to pass from a world of feudalsuperstition to a world of science',doubled by ' the transformation ofemotion, attitude and behaviour neededto pass from an exploiting to a non-exploiting society '.

Hence the rirt with the USSR whichto the Chinese appears to have turnedits back on revolution. For anyone whowants to understand the split, HanSuyin's expose gives a clear and con-vincing explanation and shows how itwas inevitable: the Russians were seenby the Chinese to be turning to theWest, and making agreements with theUSA at a time when the Pentagon andState Department were planning everincreasing aggression in S E Asia, andintensifying the anti-China campaign,(The author who has many contacts inhigh places cites some telling unofficialcomments bearing this out.) She ex-plains something which often puzzlesthe Westerner: the Chinese lack offear of war— even of nuclear war. ' ToMao (and thus the Chinese people) thethreats of containment, encirclementand bombing by the USA are not newbut old them.es . . . it is not so muchthe enemy without as the enemy withinChina, and especially within the Chin-ese Communist Party, that is danger-ous; revisionism in China could squan-der all the hard won gains of the peoplein one short decade.'

The Cultural Revolution was designedto make sure that the next generation,the young, would be worthy successorsof the Revolution. 'The psychologicaland physical preparation of the wholepopulation, including the young, for along protracted war upon Chinese soilhad to be made. Ever since 1958 thispossibility (now a conviction) has beentaken into account.' The decisions notto build any more big plants or cities,and the establishment of the com-munes were strategic considerations.Increasingly, it seems, war cannot be

SACU DIARYNovember7 Study Course. Mao Tse-tung — ' On

correct handling of contradictionsamong the people.' Introduced byColin Penn, 24 Warren Street, Wl,7.30 pm.

10 Barnet branch. ' The US-ChinaContainment Policy.' Speakers: BillAsh, Derek Bryan. Hendon TownHall, The Burroughs, NW4, 7.45pm.

1 1 Film Show. ' The East is Red '(dance-drama film of scenes fromChinese revolutionary history).Kensington Central Library, Camp-den Hill Road (Children's Libraryentrance), nr Kensington High Stunderground.

13 Manchester branch. Meeting andFilm Show. Talk and film on theirrecent SACU sponsored visit toChina by Sir Geoffrey and LadyDorathy Haworth. Friends MeetingHouse, Mount Street, Manchester.

IS Film Show. Camden branch. Hoi-born Central Library, TheobaldsRoad, WC1, 7.30 pm.

17 Merseyside and North Walesbranch. Film Show on his recentSACU sponsored visit to China bySir Geoffrey Haworth. Royal Insti-tution, Colquitt Street, Liverpool,7.30 pm.

19 Social evening. Films: ' China, Aug-ust 1967' with introduction and

commentary by Sir Geoffrey Haw-orth. ' The New China ' colour andsound, from Myra Roper, Australia.Entrance 3s including coffee andbiscuits. 24 Warren Street, Wl,7.30 pm.

21 Study Course. 'The Role of theArmy in the Cultural Revolution.'24 Warren Street, Wl, 7.30 pm.

23 Public Meeting. York Hall, CaxtonStreet, SWI. Details to be an-nounced later.Bristol branch. Public meeting andfilm show. 'China's Red Guardsand the Little Red Book.' Speaker:Mrs Hung-Ying Bryan. Chairman:Prof H D Dickinson. Alfred Mar-shall Building (Dept of Economicsand Politics), Berkeley Square,Bristol, 7.30 pm.

December

1 Film Show—title to be announcedlater. Kensington Central Library,Campden Hill Road (Children'sLibrary entrance), nr KensingtonHigh Street underground, 7.30 pm.

5 Camden branch. ' China-USSR Re-lations.' Holborn Central Library,Theobalds Road, London WC1,7.30 pm.

12 Study Course. Dictatorship of theProletariat and its development inthe Cultural Revolution. 24 War-ren Street, Wl, 7.30 pm.

averted, and the only reasonable courseis full preparedness.'

The blood runs cold as one reads,but the Chinese face threats anddangers calmly — certain of their ' shin-ing future * and determined to cleartheir country of possible traitors.

To the question 'Would the nextgeneration, say by the year 2001, bedegenerate, ally itself with imperialism,return to selfishness, become . . . frus-trated and aimless? Would a new classemerge, exploiting the Chinese peas-ant? ' The answer is no, because of theCultural Revolution: 'What China willbe like in 2001 depends entirely onthe Red Guards of today, on the Cul-tural Revolution today; what the worldwill be like in 2001 also depends onwhat happens in China today.' Sowrites Han Suyin, and with an auth-ority and conviction that will makeyou want to buy at least two copiesof her book — one for yourself and oneto present to friends as a cure fordoubt or pessimism.

F K

CommentON THE STRENGTH of the review inSACU News I got Chinese LookingGlass by Dennis Bloodworth and wasrather surprised by the recommenda-tion.

The author appears to have collectedevery bit of historical, mythical andcolonial gossip with which to denigratethe Chinese. After reading the bookone could be left with a feeling thatthey were a particularly repulsivepeople now under the domination ofan equally repulsive dictator. That theauthor has no real knowledge of Com-munism is obvious to a Communist butthe book is for the general public.

The falseness of the whole pictureis perhaps not intentional — colourblindness obtains in colonials. Perhapsthe book is intended to be humorous —regretably I am allergic to that form ofhumour— denigration is so very simple.The book does not seem to serve anypurpose useful to China.

A Member (London W9)

Chi Pai-Shih, mosl celebrated national painter of this century

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