To sum up the main points of the student situation: their actual demands at the present time are for self-determination, self-government and the abolition of the Tuchun system, namely the military government of the provinces. If these are their demands, it is well to consider what they have already accomplished: they have created a student organization, with unions in every part of the country; they have broken down sex prejudice in an extraordinary way; they have aroused the interest of the masses of the common people; and they have proved strong enough to alter Government action. These are things which certainly justify their title to serious consideration of their demands. There is a wonderful spirit of hope and courage growing up, and it is worth noting that this new nationalism has been singularly free from the outrages to be found in popular movements in the West. The natural ebullience—to use an ugly but expressive word—of youth has on the whole shown itself wiser and more keen-sighted than could have been expected under the circumstances, and gives great hope for the future. The special stress laid on social service and voluntary work is of great promise, and missions may justly claim that it is the outcome of their work for the sick, the insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, the orphans and the poor. They have put an ideal before the race, and the young are accepting it. [Illustration: A medical student.] _Chapter X_ _Some Chinese Seaports and Commerce_ “The problems of the Pacific are to my mind the world problems of the next fifty years or more. In these problems we are, as an Empire, very vitally interested. Three of the dominions border on the Pacific; India is next door; there, too, are the United States and Japan. There, also, in China the fate of the greatest human population on earth will have to be decided. There Europe, Asia and America are meeting, and there, I believe, the next great chapter in human history will be enacted. I ask myself, what will be the character of that history? Will it be along the old lines? Will it be the old spirit of national and imperial domination which has been the undoing of Europe? Or shall we have learned our lesson? Shall we have purged our souls in the fires through which we have passed? Will it be a future of peaceful co-operation, of friendly co-ordination of all the vast interests at stake? Shall we act in continuous friendly consultation in the true spirit of a society of nations?”—GENERAL SMUTS. _Chapter X_ _Some Chinese Seaports and Commerce_ [Illustration: RAIN AT AMOY.] Last year I went down the China coast twice from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and it is a most interesting trip, especially if you stop at the ports and see their multitudinous activities. Their variety is most striking: no two are alike, and even the sails are different in every port down the coast.