THIRTY THOUSAND MILES IN CHINA 23 



The telegraph and the postal system have already, in 

 combination with the development of the public press in 

 China, done a great deal toward unifying the people and 

 may confidently be counted on for a much larger effect in 

 the future and this combined with more adequate railway 

 facilities will surely foster a greater feeling of nationhood and 

 of closeness of relationship between the various provinces. 



We have seen something of the various physical pro- 

 blems which China faces. It is significant that the greatest 

 physical feat of the ancient Chinese, the Great Wall, which 

 was executed to shut out foreign intruders, has been broken 

 down in all essential respects, and China is to-day fairly ready 

 for foreign assistance in solving her problems, if it be friendly 

 .and not predatory. 



The solution of China's physical problems largely de- 

 pends on education; the education of the people to furnish 

 the background of general enlightenment and the education 

 of the native leaders upon whom must rest the responsibility 

 for carrying out in detail such plans as may be formed for 

 the alleviation of the conditions I have referred to. In order 

 to determine just what remedial methods should be followed, 

 there should be first a thorough study of present conditions 

 by the best consulting engineers and scientists who can be 

 secured. There is at the present time, it seems to me, a 

 most important function for foreign experts to fill in con- 

 nection with the development of China, and their work is 

 ■ a necessary preliminary and hence it is all important that 

 China seek and use the assistance of such men, although it is 

 also true that her need for such assistance will be temporary, 

 and the application of the remedies, which they in their 

 wisdom suggest after a study of the field, will still depend 

 upon native talent. 



The new national flag of China embodies, I believe, some 

 significant lessons in the present connection. The sewing 

 together of five stripes of silk to form one flag is easy, but to 

 make, a united nation of five peoples so widely separated, 

 linguistically and geographically, in a country so greatly 

 accidented by mountains, and so harassed by flood and 

 famine, and so lacking the ways of quick transport and 

 general modern education which must precede the develop- 

 ment of resources and of ways of communication, requiring 

 native captains of industry and native leaders of all sorts— a 

 verv much greater task. It is just here that one of the 

 functions of our mission colleges in China comes m— to tram 

 these leaders in situ, without loss of connection with China; 

 for thev need to know China as well as Western science and 

 institutions and methods. They need to be qualified and 



