Universities Aid in Struggle

"One of the reasons the Japanese have had no major successes recently may be attributed to the work or Chinese students." said Mr. K. Wong She, when I asked him to comment on the aspects of the present Sino-Japanese "incident" that concern the student class in China. "You see." he added, "the Chinese Government has recognised the great value of the students to the community and has engaged them to work amongst the illiterate behind the lines."

Mr. Wong She who, by the way, was the head master of a night school at the age of 17, came out to New Zealand in 1934 and went to Scots College where I first met him. Last year he returned to China to take up a commercial course in the Ling Nan University, Canton, but was forced to come again to Ao Tea Roa when the University was closed by Government order two months after the outbreak of hostilities. Japanese planes, incidentally, had bombed Canton everyday—frequently three times a day during that period. But or the five universities there, the only one to suffer any real damage was the National Tung Shan University.

The way in which the Chinese prize learning is well known and my old friend even went so far as to say that Chinese scholars would rather die than leave their schools. The Government had decided their course for them, however, for the Japanese, knowing of their love of scholastic attainment, had aimed at destroying as many of China's universities, schools and colleges as possible. Indeed, two-thirds of the universities throughout China have already been razed to the ground.