THE THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNGForum

Sunday, 10 NovemberDetails on page 2

VOL 3 Number 11

November 1968PRICE NINEPENCE

NEW REALITY OF REVISIONISMSACU NEWS commissioned the following article on the Chineseattitude to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union inorder to give readers the background information which has beenlacking in the British press coverage of the crisis.

IN REPORTING China's condemna-tion of the Soviet occupation ofCzechoslovakia, Western commentatorshave tended to play down her equallyimportant condemnation of theC?echoslovak leadership. Before theactual Russian invasion on 20 August,the Chinese press broke a longsilence on the crisis by quoting froman Albanian article ' Soviet Revisionismand Czechoslovakia ' (Zeri I Popullit,24 July) which warned that theCzechoslovak people, threatened bothfrom within and from without, weregoing through difficult days. This, saidPeking Review (16 August) was ' theresult of the treachery of theKhrushchev revisionists, the Czechoslo-vak revisionists, and internalCzechoslovak reaction, the result ofcollaboration between the revisionistsand the imperialists.'

The Chinese thus began an analysiswhich has been developed in furtherstatements since the Russian occupa-tion. In the so-called ' Prague spring 'of 1968, Novotny had been ousted infavour of Dubcek, a party official pre-viously unknown and without prestige.Th« failure of most of Novotny'sformer supporters to oppose Dubceksuggests that in fact the latter waspeacefully continuing a policy origina-ted long before 1968, and that thechange was one of personalities ratherthan of policies.

It would in fact b.e wrong to main-tain that Dubcek originated the policyof forging ties and alliances with theWest, as a counterbalance to Russiandominance. Marxist ideology had longsince been undermined; a newmeritocracy had been built up, com-posed of highly paid bureaucrats andbusiness executives. Commercial popculture arrived. Traditional capitalistopposition groups still flourished under-ground, and in alliance with the newpressure groups brought Dubcek topower in early 1968.

This evolutionary process in Czechos-lovakia has a precedent. The biggestand most glaring example of such aprocess is to be seen in the SovietUnion itself. Peaceful co-existence withthe United States is official Kremlinpolicy. In order to preserve thisentente, revolutionary socialism isallowed to decay in the ' socialist *countries and throttled at birth inthose liberation movements underRussian domination.

But Russia's trump card in her deal-ings with the West is her influence inEastern Europe, and that influence de-clines as her allies become encouragedto embark on flirtations of their own.The crucial difference betweenNovotny and Dubcek was that theformer was ready to court capitalismunder Russian tutelage, whereas thelatter wanted to proceed independentlyand far more quickly.

' For many years, the Soviet re-visionists chieftains, from Khrushchevto Brezhnev, Kosygin and their ilk,have been restoring capitalism in anall-round way at home while inter-nationally piaying the active role ofUS imperialism's accomplice numberone to suppress the revolutionarystruggles of the people of the world.In their relations with the EastEuropean revisionist countries likeCzechoslovakia, the Soviet re-visionists have always been practisingbig-nation chauvinism and nationalegoism, turning the East Europeancountries into their dependencies andcolonies, tightening steadily theircontrol over the ruling cliques ofthese countries and ruthlessly oppres-sing and exploiting the broad massesof the people. The revisionist cliquesin East Europe have been doingtheir utmost to free themselves fromthe strict control of the Sovietrevisionists so as to make direct dealswith imperialism headed by theUnited States. Thus, the struggle

between the Soviet revisionists andtheir followers in East Europe is be-coming more and more acute andthe disintegration is intensifyingdaily. To make a last desperate effort,the Soviet revisionist renegades nowdispatched their troops to Czechoslo-vakia in a vain hope to maintaintheir dominating position which hasgone bankrupt* Hsinhua, 22 August1968.

Premier Chou-En-lai carried the argu-ment a step further on 2 September:As a matter of fact, it is pre-cisely the Soviet revisionist rene-gade clique which, through itsobdurate pursuance of Khrushchevrevisionism, has long since completelydestroyed the socialist camp whichonce existed. Can there be any talkabout the defence of ' socialist gains 'and ' the socialist community'?

Military intervention in Czechoslo-vakia illustrates the new reality ofrevisionism. The Warsaw Pact hasceased to be a treaty protecting thesocialist countries signatory to itagainst Western aggression, and hasbecome a weapon in the hands ofMoscow against the Socialist countriesthemselves. In Chou En-lai's words:

The Soviet revisionist renegadeclique, collecting together1 fourcountries which follow it, has in thepast ten days occupied a so-called* allied country' with a populationof only 14 million and carried outsuppression against the people thereby d e s p a t c h i n g hundreds ofthousands of troops. To describe thisbarbarous fascist aggression asMarxist-Leninist and proletarian in-ternationalist aid is nothing but aflagrant betrayal of Marxism-Leninism. It will for ever be con-demned by history. While saying one

continued on page 2

It is the aim of SACU NEWSto encourage free discussion.The views expressed are notnecessarily those of the Councilof Management.

New Realitycontinued from page 1

thing, the Soviet revisionist renegadeclique is actually doing another. Thisclique of renegades are, to quoteLenin, 'socialists in words, imperial-ists in deeds', namely ' social-imperialists '.

Soviet explanations of their inter-ference in the internal affairs ofanother country reveal a hypocrisy asblatant as the US defence of theiractions in Vietnam.

The communique [of 27 August, onSoviet-Czechoslovak Talks] talksglibly about safeguarding the' interests ' of the ' entire socialistcomunity'. The real meaning of thisnonsensical statement is: to maintainthe colonial interests of the Sovietrevisionist renegade clique in EasternEurope. Your plunder of the wealthof these countries is said to be inthe interests of that * community *.Your i n f r i n g e m e n t on theirsovereignty is said to be in theinterests of that 'community'. Who-ever dares to stand up to you, thenand there you lash out with yourtanks and guns and overrun histerritory. This, too, is said to be inthe interests of that ' community'.Isn't that ' community' cut from thesame cloth as US imperialism's ' freeworld community'? (People's Daily,30 August, 1968.)

Similarities between the methods ofenforcing state interests employed bythe US and Russia are not coincidental.

The Soviet revisionist leading cliquehas all along pursued the counter-revolutionary policy of US-Sovietcollaboration for world domination.Since the Glassboro talks, not tomention anything earlier, USimperialism and Soviet revisionismhave struck a series of dirty deals. . . It ts the result of the sharpen-ing contradictions in the scramble forand division of spheres of influenceby US imperialism and Sovietrevisionism in eastern Europe; it is,moreover, the result of the US-Sovietcollusion in a vain attempt to re-divide the world. (Chou En-lai, speak-ing at the Roumanian Ambassador'sNational Day Reception, Peking, 23August.)

The Soviet invasion of Czechoslo-vakia has had one beneficial result;as Chou En-lai pointed out in th.e samespeech it has exposed the aggressivecharacteristics of revisionism and theextent to which the east Europeanstates will be called upon to complywith the US-Soviet .entente.

The refusal of most CommunistParties to support this present action

October 4th CelebrationMORE THAN a hundred friends ofChina gathered at the Exhibition Hallin Camden Street, London, on 4October to celebrate the 19thanniversary of the founding of theChinese People's Republic.

As welt as hearing authentic Chinesemusic played by David Hung and pro-test songs by Sandra Kerr and JohnFaulkner, the assembly heard a speechby Dr Joseph Needham, Chairman ofSACU, in which he drew attention tothe great strides which China has madein the past 19 years, particularly inthe scientific field.

Dr Needham welcomed representa-tives of the office of the Charged'Affaires of the People's Republicof China and the President of theCeylon-China Association.

In a speech which highlighted China'stremendous development in the pastdecade Dr Needham emphasised thatthe trend in China was to utilise theChinese people's own experience andnot to rely on foreign expertise.

After a short interval for drinks andsocialising, the audience settled downto listen to David Hung, who, withtraditional Chinese instruments, played

is symptomatic of a deepening crisis inthe Soviet camp and the general dis-belief in Moscow as the Mecca ofMarxism-Leninism. The invasion cannotbe defended as a mistake. It is opencounter-revolution.

R G C M

a selection of musical items, rangingfrom the classical to such modernrevolutionary pieces as ' The East isRed' and 'The Helmsman Sets theOcean Course '.

By this time, it was generally agreedthat hunger had been forgotten for toolong, and the queue formed at the foodcounter, very ably superintended bymembers of SACU. The fare includedChinese pork and spring rolls, a kindof risotto, and fruit salad—so eventhe cosmopolites were satisfied.

Along with the formal items on theprogramme, there was plenty of oppor-tunity for people to engage in conver-sation, take a slow drink at the well-stocked bar, or browse among thebooks, records, posters, and pamphlets,which were in the capable hands ofthe Sheringham family.

After this second interval, it wastime for songs from Sandra Kerr andJohn Faulkner, a most accomplishedand easy-on-the-ear folk duo. Theirsongs of revolution ranged far andeven wider, beginning at home basewith a medieval English piece writtenat the time of the peasants' revolt,and culminating In the familiar foot-tapper which sings the praises of HoChi Minh.

This was probably one of the mostsuccessful celebration evenings whichSACU has held — the hall was largewithout being overwhelming, and aninteresting cross-section of bothEnglish and foreign friends came along.

PD

FORUM

on

THE THOUGHT OF MAO TSE-TUNG

Sunday, 10 November

3 pm-9 30 pm

Holborn Assembly Hall, St. John's Mews(behind Holborn Central Library, Theobalds Road)

On the platform:HAN SUYINMADAME PEROU (Belgium-China Association)MALCOLM CALDWELLJOHN COLLIER (lately teacher at ZHONGDA University)MICHAEL SASODEREK BRYANIn the Chair: Mary Adams and Sam MaugerTea will be available in the hall

Credibility Gap WidensIn July, 1968, Myra Roper, the Australian author and lecturer, visited the UnitedStates where she spoke about China on many occasions. Below she writes aboutthe attitude to China of the people she met both at her lectures and elsewhere.

CRITICISM AND SELF-CRITICISM1:the phrase is Maoist but it mightalmost be American. As a young diplo-mat said to me with a rueful smile,' soul-searching has become a nationalpastime.' The core of it all is, ofcourse, directly or indirectly the Viet-nam war. A survey of public attitudesreported, for example, the commentfrom a middle-aged, middle-classmother, ' We say we won't talk aboutthe war but we always get back to itand have the most awful arguments.'The war's doing things to all of us.Don't you think it's a bit like thedecline and fall of the Roman Empireall over aga in? '—th is from an earnestyoung student at Columbia's BarnardCollege for Women. From the lunaticFar Left to the rabid Far Right every-one has their say — through con-ferences, sit-ins, talk-ins, love-ins.

Yet, strangely, there is little closeanalysis of what is surely the crucialmotive of the US presence in Asia —her concern over the growing influenceof the People's Republic of China. Thisis the more paradoxical in that a con-siderable mileage of column space islavished on that country—much of itheadline stuff. Red Guard girls cuttingoff their ' braids ', Mao's Yangtse swim— but also, in serious journals, count-less surveys of China's economy.

Amidst all this, two crucial topicsare very much neglected — theordinary life and attitudes of theordinary people of China and, what isthe real guts of the situation, thefuture relations between them and theAmerican people. Owen Lattimore saidat Michigan University that the USknow an enormous amount about Chinabut amongst it all ' her people have gotlost*. Newsweek commented, ' It isnot so much that US has a bad Chinapolicy as that she has no China policy.'

As a result, the thinking public — abig one — finds official stances con-fusing and contradictory.

In 1966 I heard Richard Nixon andMendel Rivers (Chairman of theSenate Armed Services Committee)comment on the possibility, even thedesirability, of a collision course withChina ' before she gets too much atompower *. Some Congressmen —thosewhom Reston calls the ' spectaculardunderheads of Capitol Hill' —clamoured in support. But when Ipointed this out to the ' hawk ' Chair-man of a New York radio discussionin which I was taking part, he inter-rupted me quite angrily to say that I

must not quote them; they were notrepresentative.

In 1966, Senator Robert Kennedy,opening a China Conference, deploredthe West's ' unrelenting hostility ' to-wards China, as have Senators Fulbrightand Wayne Morse. But none of thishas produced any major policy changetowards trade, ' recognition ', a seat inthe UN. For America ' China ' is still,officially, a few million ageingNationalists on a tiny island, * a gro-tesque position ' as George Ball, USAmbassador Designate to UN recentlydefined it: ' We perpetuate a mythwhich no other nation believes.'

This state of affairs affords satisfac-tion to fewer people each year. Duringmy three visits I have watched thecredibility gap widen on China as onVietnam. Since American nationalscannot visit China, first-hand observersof the country, China-visitors, are indemand.

The search for knowledge goes onapace at government, university andpopular level. Both Congress andSenate Foreign Affairs Committee haveheld open hearings on China. Universityconferences on China are legion. I tookpart in two or three day sessions inMontreal, Michigan, St Louis, Chicago,Iowa and Albany and heard of a half-dozen others. Lecture invitations camefrom faculty or students in institutionsranging from Berkeley, Columbia andCornell to East Texas Baptist College.Popular groups included the earnest

. League of Women Voters and theAssociation of University Women, butalso the social women's clubs in moreexpensive suburbs, not to mentionPeace and Asian Study groups. Many ofthese were arranged by the Churches,especially the Methodists, Presbyteriansand Quakers.

American audiences are the quickestoff the mark with questions. Fromacademic audiences these were mostlypolitical, reflecting current confusions.

' We keep being told that China isstarving (Joseph Alsop alleged theChinese existed on 600 calories a day).Why is she such an unconscionabletime a-dying?' ' Why can China payfor imported wheat on the dot whenIndia can't pay at all ? '' If her economyis disintegrating, why do we get reportsof her expanding trade? (as in LondonGuardian, November, 1967).' ' Is theSino-Soviet split real or phoney? '' What will the Cultural Revolution doto Party alignment and leadership? '

The ' popular' groups wanted, likeLattimore, to find the Chinese peopleagain; and for a complex amalgam ofreasons.

They have been frightened by DeanRusk's ' massive threat'.

The Vietnam war has created anAsia-oriented climate of opinion. China,closed to US nationals, has the fascina-tion of the last forbidden territory(USSR is almost old hat to ex-perienced tourists). In addition thereis a special bond between Chinese andelder Americans. Most of my over-40audiences must have given their SundaySchool cents to help ' starving Chinesechildren ' or help bring thousands ofChinese students to US universities. Idoubt if I lectured to any audiencethat did not produce at least oneChinese missionary or a relativethereof! ' Why do the Chinese hate usnow? ' It looks to many as if she isbiting the hand that once fed her andit seems to them almost an affront thatChina has ' gone communist'. It iscommonplace to speak here of a ' love-hate ' relationship, but the formerbonds of affection for China forged inUS add a dimension lacking in Britainand Australia. Time's hard China lineseems not unconnected with the factthat Henry Luce was born in China ofmissionary parents.

At question-time four allegationsregularly turned up — that peasantslived in barracks and family life hadbroken up; that old art treasures hadbeen destroyed; that visitors were ableto see only what ' they wanted you tosee', and that children were taught tohate the Americans. The speakers werepuzzled, perturbed, sometimes angryabout China and sometimes, under-standably, sceptical about my answers,but on the whole I think I wasaccepted at least as an honest, hard-working seeker after truth!

Through all the confusion andapprehension there is in the US, areservoir of goodwill towards theChinese people, however great thesuspicion of China's ideology. I had animpression of a sense of relief, even ofpleased surprise, when I explained thatfamilies lived together, that the Sum-mer Palace stood where it did, and thatChinese children may draw pictures ofUS planes being shot down in Vietnamand GIs captured by the Viet Cong,but never of bombs on the EmpireState or the People's liberation Armymarching across Golden 'Gate Bridge.

Responsible Americans are nowstrenuously seeking a truer picture ofChina, realising ever more clearly thatpeace hopes elude and delude us solong as the world's most powerfulnation fails to come to terms with itsmost populous.

BookReviewsEveryday Life in Early Imperial China,

by Michael Loewe. Published byBatsford at 25 shillings.

IN A VOLUME of less than 200 pagesMr Loewe, lecturer in classical Chineseat Cambridge, succeeds in giving apicture of the Han dynasty (202 BC to220 AD) with astonishing detail andscrupulous adherence to availableevidence. This evidence includes con-temporary documents and especiallyfunerary equipment and decorationfound in tombs of the upper classes invarious parts of the country, as wellas in watch-towers on the north-western frontier and on the silk roadto Central Asia. In the tombs claymodels of figures, houses, well-heads,weapons, utensils, etc, were found.They also contain wall-paintings andreliefs depicting contemporary life.The documents were written (with thebrush) on silk, wood and on paper,invented in Han times, or carved instone.

The author gives an over-all pictureof the development of Chin.ese history,going back into the past and reachingforward to the twentieth century. Hepoints out that the cultural unity ofthe sub-continent derived from thespread of the system of writing. The

written characters of present-dayChina go back to about 1500 BC.During the Han period the charactersincreased from 3000 to 9000, thanks tothe growth of intellectual maturityand technical progress.

The Han dynasty was the firstsuccessful exponent of imperial andcentral government. A pyramidalsystem evolved, with the emperor atits apex, and under him thehierarchical ranks of the officials rightdown to the broad base of that vastmajority of the population who gaineda living from agriculture. Their ranksincluded large and small land-owners,small-holders who could still live onthe work of others, farmer-cultivators who worked with theirfamilies, and at the bottom tenants andlabourers.

In theory people of all stations couldadvance on an official career. The authorthinks that periods of integrity andcorruption were evenly balanced.Schools existed only for trainingofficials, who were mostly sons ofofficials and other highly placedfamilies. There were three grades oflearning: mastering word-lists ofcharacters, classical texts, andmathematics.

Statutory obligations included onemonth every year in the labour corps,working on transport, in the state ironand salt mines, road-building, etc. Taxesincluded land-tax, poll-tax and market-tax: there was two years' militaryservice.

BOOKS ON CHINAANCIENT AND MODERN

JUST OUT:HAN SUYIN: BIRDLESS SUMMER

autobiography (III) China 1938-48. 35s.

CHINA READINGS: ed. F. SCHURMANN and O. SCHELL3 vols: Imperial, Republican, Communist ChinaPaperbacks 23s 6d the set.

ALSO IN STOCK: LANGUAGE BOOKS BY DE FRANCIS AND OTHERSLatest publications always stocked

* * *ARTHUR PROBSTHAINOriental Bookseller and Publisher41 Great Russell Street, London, WC1

It is impossible in a review to dojustice to the wealth of informationthe author presents on government,literature, religion and the occultpowers (which were used to con-solidate imperial influence), on life inthe cities and in the countryside, oncraftsmanship, trade, industry andtechnology. In agriculture, co-operativeschemes based on units of severalhouseholds producing for themselvesand for tho superior landlord, were de-veloped for irrigation, dyke and roadbuilding, etc. On trade: '. . . politicalunification and stability under theempire .enhanced the opportunities forprofit-making by large-scale and small-scale operators alike.' Han administra-tors encouraged the trend towardsregular trading, the profits of whichthey milked through taxes, regulationof coinage and state monopolies.

Han craftsmanship shows itself moststrikingly in textiles and bronzes. Inindustry official agencies started asearly as 100 BC to take over the saltand iron mines formerly exploited bya few magnates who had made im-mense fortunes.

ImbalanceFactors making for popular

dissatisfaction were listed by a states-man in the second half of the firstcentury BC as: natural disasters; ex-cessive government demands for labourservice; tax-exaction by greedyofficials; insatiable luxury demands bythe great houses; military servicedemands which hindered field-work,and inefficiency of government. But'. . . one of the permanent achieve-ments of the Han emperors was thefoundation of normal and regularmeans of bringing authority to bear ontheir subjects.' A document on causesof popular distress, the outcome of aninvestigation ordered by the emperorin 81 BC, criticised the excessiveopulence of the very rich, theirextravagant ostentation and hypocrisyin funeral rites while they neglectedtheir duties to living parents.

There was a shocking imbalancebetween different sections of thepopulation. Ordinary people had not apeck of provisions in store; thepeasantry worked day and night; slumsand hovels stood next to palaces andtheir parklands. And even in thosetimes there were complaints about theinefficiency and high cost of theproducts of state-run enterprise ascompared with those of private enter-prises!

A most u&eful, interesting, well-documented and well-illustrated book.

HCcontinued on page 5

Book Reviewscontinued from page 4

The Chinese Cultural Revolution.Selected Documents: Edited by K HFan. 78s. Monthly Review Press.

IN THE welter of documentation thathas grown up around the CulturalRevolution, it has been impossible forany but the most professional ofsinologists to keep up to date witharticles, speeches and decisions pub-lished in the Chinese Press.

Dr Fan's book Is therefore a veryvaluable and authoritative interimguide. Happily, he kept inter-pretation to a minimum: h,e has merelyreproduced his documents in anorderly sequence, with a pithy, dis-passionate introduction separating eachtopic—education, editorial condemna-tions of ' those following the capitalistroad' and those of Mao Tse-tung'sthoughts which have been mostenthusiastically studied during therevolutionary period — stalwarts like' In Memory Of Norman Bethune,' ' TheFoolish Old Man Who Moved TheMountains ' and ' Serve The People '.

There is also a historical backingwhich illustrates the political debatewhich had been going on in Chinasince the mid-1930s. As well as suchwell-publicised documents as Mao's' Talks At The Yenan Forum ' and ' Onthe Correct Handling of ContradictionsAmong The People' (surely hisclearest piece of dialectical persuasion),there are relative rarities like ' OnContradiction ' (written in 1937) andthe Eighth Plenary Session's denuncia-tion of Peng Teh-huai in 1959.

From such original documents it ispossible to weave together many of thecontradictory strands which have comepartially to the surface in the last two-and-a-half years.

Which Peking intellectuals were thefirst tacitly to attack Mao and wheredid their attacks first appear? Howare the Red Guards organised and whatis their ethos? What is the differencebetween a Red Guard and a RedRebel? Dr Fan's book is not compiledto give pat answers to such questions:but it provides documentary evidenceon which possible answers may bebased.

We have already had an excellentseries from th.e Peking ForeignLanguages Press — 'The Great SocialistCultural Revolution in China * — andthe earlier parts of it are of particularinterest. But Dr Fan is able to exploremore obscure aspects — ' Big LetterPosters', the criticisms of Liu Shao-chi's ' How To Be A Good Communist'— in great detail. Perhaps even morevaluably, he is able to transliterate a

number of Chinese short-hand slogans.What are the ' Four Clean-Ups ', the' Four News ', ' Notes from FourFamily Village', 'San he yi shao', the

Five Requirements'? Dr Fan's glossaryhas the answers, and they are generallyaccurate ones, although necessarilyabbreviated.

Most discussion of the CulturalRevolution in the West has beenmarred by over-interpretation, based oninsufficient knowledge of the implicitlyalien and confusing nature of theChinese language. Dr Fan has clearlyrealised this deficiency and set himselfa harder and more rewarding task.

The question of what to include andwhat to leave out must have been atesting one: what is implicitly involvedis nothing less than a guide to China's' permanent revolution '; not simply inits latest and most controversial form,but from its earliest theoretical be-ginnings. There is enough here, ex-pertly selected, to satisfy everyoneinterested in Chinese affairs, explainedby chose who are best qualified tounderstand them — the Chinese.

The general reader should dip and

sample: the sinologist should read fromcover to cover. The Monthly ReviewPress, because of limited demand bornof ideological commitment, has onceagain been compelled to ask a highprice, but it is well worth paying. Thebook's title may sound dry or forbid-ding: once sampled, it reveals itself asan unrivalled guide to a confusingperiod of Chinese history.

WL

The Paper Dragon, by John Selby. Pub-lished by Arthur Barker, 1968, at42 shillings.

SUBTITLED 'An Account of the ChinaWars, 1840-1900', Mr Selby's book,with its contemporary illustrations, issuperfically attractive. Said to be

based on extensive scholarly re-search ', it contains a long bibliography.Yet the author's understanding ofChina shows no advance on that of theVictorian empire-builders about whomhe writes.

The tone is set at the outset in thechatty and complacent ' Acknowledg-ments '. These dwell on the social side

continued on page 6

Shanghai is only one of the excitingcities served by PIA Boeing y2oB

and 707-3400 big jets from London.

PIA has the best places:

LONDON • FRANKFURT - PARIS • CAIRO • MOSCOWGENEVA - ROME - TEHRAN - KABUL - KARACHIKATHMANDU- DACCA- BANGKOK- CANTON- BEIRUTNAIROBI • ISTANBUL • BAGHDAD • KUWAIT • DOHA

DHAHARAN - DUBAI BAHRAIN - JEDDAH

A Christmas

ThoughtA VARIETY of greeting postcards re-producing Chinese paintings is availablefrom SACU central office. Four of thecards are coloured and depict birds,fruit and flowers. The remaining eightare of horses both contemporary andfrom ancient Dynasties. Prices are 3shillings per dozen or £1 per 100.They are available either in a mixeddozen packet or a dozen of onevariety, and as required if ordered bythe hundred. Envelopes to fit the cardsare also available at 1 shilling perdozen. Postage costs: 100 cards Is 4d;one-dozen packet 6d; s'x one-dozenpackets Is 2d; 12 one-dozen packetsIs 9d.

continued from page 5

of a brief visit by Mr Selby to HongKong, the highlight of which was a' conversazione ' given in his honour, towhich were invited ' members of theWorld Press '. He appears to think itadds to the authority of one of hissources that he ' recently delivered apaper on Chinese secret societies atSandhurst'.

The book is replete with inconsistentspellings and other errors too numer-ous to list. Its most serious defect,however, is the author's total lack ofany historical understanding of theevents he describes. His first chapter,for example, after a quotation from acontemporary British observer of whathe calls the ' First China War', begins:

By this time China had been in con-flict with Britain and the West forseveral years. It started in 1757 whenan Imperial edict drastically changedthe arrangements which allowedforeign vessels to trade at severalChinese ports and confined them toCanton. There were other irksomerestrictions as well. European's werenot allowed to live in the Chinesepart of Canton; they were confinedto the suburbs, and neither womennor arms could be brought to theirtrading factories.

As a misleading summary of theorigins of the Opium War this wouldbe hard to beat.

Summing up the 1860 war (duringwhich the Summer Palace in Pekingwas first sacked by the French and thenburned by the British, on the orders ofLord Elgin) Mr Selby writes:

The Third China War had achievedwhat it set out to do. Except for themurder of the envoys, it was carriedthrough, albeit slowly, without anyreal hitch. The administrativearrangements were sound, and thesoldiers fought well. With remark-able skill the plenipotentiaries gotthe China Treaty ratified in Pekingitself. It was, moreover, a lastingsettlement. The friendly relationsestablished between England andChina by this Treaty remained un-broken for 40 years.

'Friendly relations' indeed, of a sort,between Britain and the decadentManchu dynasty which she and herallies saved from being overthrownuntil 1911, but not between Englandand the Chinese people.

Writing about the 1911 Revolution,the author refers to Dr Sun Yat-senas its ' instigator'. Such inept use ofwords by a historian, even a militaryhistorian, is remarkable.

As a final illustration of theauthor's point of view, the concludingsentence of the appendix on HongKong is worth quoting:

British Hong Kong, although over-crowded, has become a successfulsmall Chinese capitalist state compar-able with Chiang Kai-shek's Taiwan.

' The Paper Dragon ' is altogether adeplorable product of the British pub-lishing industry.

DB

POSTERS from China are generallyavailable to personal callers—prices:2s 6d to 5s. They need careful packingand therefore )/- must be allowed forpostage.

Books ReceivedChina's Economic System by Audrey

Donnithorne. Allen and Unwin Ltd.84/- 1967.

Birdless Summer by Han Suyin. Jona-than Cape. 35/- 1968.

Asian Frontiers by Alastair Lamb. PallMall Press. 35/- 1967.

The Red Guard by Hans Granqvist. PallMall Press. 35/- 1968.

How People Live in China by LynHarrington. Benefic Press, U.S.A.

A CHINA CONFERENCE is being heldin Birmingham, 8-10 November, at DrJohnson House, Bull St. It is beingorganised by the Young Friends.Speakers include William Sewell andthe Rev Ian Thomson. Felix Greene'sfilm ' China' will be shown. For furtherinformation apply John Newton,Friends House, Euston Rd, London,NW1.

A FULL REPORT of the 'Studentsand China' two-day Conference willappear in the next issue of SACUNEWS. This is taking place on Satur-day and Sunday, 2 and 3 November, at' The Roebuck ', 108A Tottenham CourtRoad, London, Wl. Tickets and furtherdetai Is from 24 Warren Street, Lon-don, Wl. Telephone: 01-387 0074.

' Some Publications on Modern China '— a newly compiled booklist is nowavailable for 9d, postage free.

SACU DIARY

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

Office: 24 Warren Street, London W.ITelephone 01-387 0074

Telegrams ANGCHIN London W.I

Chairman: Dr Joseph Needham

Deputy-Chairman:Professor Joan Robinion

Vice-Chairman; Mrs Mary Adams

Secretary: Mrs Betty Paterson

Council of Management: Mary Adams,Premen Addy, Kate Allan, IsaacAscher, Roland Berger. Bill Brugger,Fred Brunsdon, Derek Bryan, Hung-Ying Bryan, Andrew Faulds, DouglasGreene, Dorothy Haworth, FridaKnight, Jim Little, Sam Mauger,Joseph Needham, Paul Oestreicher,Betty Paterson, Colin Penn. ErnestRoberts, Joan Robinson.

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.

Every member of the Society receivesSACU NEWS each month, has the useof the Angfo-Chinese Educational In-stitute library at central offices, cancall upon the Society for informationand is able to participate in alfactivities of the Society. On manyoccasions SACU members get ticketsfor Society events at reduced rates.

MEMBERSHIP FORM

To SACU, 24 Warren Street, LondonWl P5DG

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Annual subscription: £1.0.0. Reducedrates for old age pensioners (5s), andfull-tim.e students (7s 6d).*Delete as necessary

November

1 Bar net Branch. Film ' Th,eWhite-Haired Girl', Hen-don Town Hall, The Bur-roughs, NW4 (nearestunderground Hendon Cen-tral, 745 pm.

2-3 ' Students and China ' Con-ference. 10 30 am to 5 30pm, 'The Roebuck', 108ATottenham Court Road,London, Wl.

Discussion Meeting. M FMei speaks about his visitto China in September 1968.24 Warren St, W1.730 pm.

Manchester Branch. JumbleSale. Saturday, 10 am to 4pm at Stockport Market.All offers of Kelp and saleitems should be sent toPhilip Heymans, DaneHouse, Middleton, Man-chester.

10 The Thought of Mao Tse-Tung. Forum at HolbornAssembly Hall, St John'sMews (behind HolbornCentral Library. TheobaldsRoad, London, WC1) 3-930pm. See page 2 for fulldetails including Speakers.

13 Cambridge Branch. SamMauger speaks on 'Studentsand China'. Mill LaneLecture Room at 8 15 pm.

19 Discussion Meeting. 24Warren Street, Wl, at 730pm. ' Peoples' War.1 Intro-duced by Tim Beal.

20 Manchester Branch. ColinPenn will give an illustratedaccount of his travels inChina. Friends MeetingHouse, Mount Street, Man-chester 2 at 730 pm.

21 Film Show. Porchester Hall(Small), Queensway, Lon-don, W2. Buses: 36, 15, 7,27. Royal Oak or Queens-way Underground, at 730pm.

28 Camden Branch. Film show' The East is Red '. FriendsMeeting House, 120 HeathStreet, London, NW3, at730 pm.

SPEAKERSAMONGST its members SACU hasnow formed a Panel of Speakers will-ing to visit colleges, schools and otherinterested organisations and groups,and lecture on many .aspects of thePeople's Republic of China. Please letus know if you would like furtherdetails of this service.

MUSICCHINESE MUSIC FROM ENGLAND—RECENTLY received from BBC RadioEnterprises — a record of Chineseclassical music with notes by JohnLevy, h is available from retailers onlyat 45s.

INSTRUMENTAL music and revolu-tionary songs are available from Centraloffice at 19s 6d for a 10-inch record(plus Is postage). Titles include 'Singin Praise of Chairman 'Mao's GoodFighters', ' Raise High the GreatBanner of Leninism ' and ' Quotationsfrom Chairman Mao (set to music).Also a recording of the opera' Shachiapang ' (set of three).

FILMEDGAR SNOW'S latest film on China,' One Fourth of Humanity ', is in-cluded in the series of film shows beingpresented this autumn by the Stop-itCommittee. The film will be shownon Monday and Tuesday, 18 and 19November, at the Unity Theatre, 1Goldington Street, London NW.l at730 pm.

SACU NEWS !• published by th«Society for An»lo-Chine« Under-standing Ltd, 14 Warren Strevt.London, Wl, and printed byGoodwin Prcu Ltd. (TU), 1MFonthlll Road, London. N4.

Air France to ShanghaiAir France weekly service to Shanghai, flown byBoeing Jet Intercontinental, gives businessmen,exporters, diplomats and official travellers fast,direct access to the heart of industrial areas. Theflight leaves Orly, Paris at 11 a.m. on Mondays andthe Boeing reaches Shanghai on Tuesdays at3.30 p.m. The return flight departs Shanghai onTuesdays at 6.20 p.m. and arrives at Orly at11.30 a.m. Wednesday. London-Shanghai jet eco-nomy return fare is £461.3.0. (1st class return£789.4.0.Air France is the first West European airline to begranted a route to Shanghai, and the new servicebrings to seven the total number of flights a weekby the company to the Far East. Countries served byAir France include Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand,Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Phillipines,

Japan—and now the People's Republic of China,Destination in many of these countries may be usedas stop-over points on your journey to Shanghai,Full details can be obtained from your Travel Agentor nearest Air France office.

AIR FRANCE, 1SB NEW BOND STREET, W.I. GRO 9O3O