Perhaps this idea was in Chiang’s mind when he refused the enticing peace terms offered him by the Japanese at Hankow. A devout scholar, he quoted Confucius: “The men of old, when they wished their virtues to shine throughout the land, first had to govern their states well. To govern their states well, they had to establish harmony in their families. To establish harmony in their families, they had to discipline themselves and set their minds in order. To set their minds in order, they had to make their purpose sincere. To make their purpose sincere, they had to extend their knowledge to the utmost. Such knowledge is acquired through a careful investigation of things. For, with things investigated, knowledge becomes complete. With knowledge complete, the purpose becomes sincere. With the purpose sincere, the mind is set in order, and there is real self-discipline. With self-discipline, the family achieves harmony. With harmony in the family, the state becomes well governed. With the state well governed, there is peace throughout the land.” With due respect for what the Generalissimo attempted to do in China and what he has accomplished on Formosa, I would like to quote one paragraph from a scholarly article entitled: “_What Americans Don’t Know About Asia_,” appearing in the June 4, 1951, issue of _Life Magazine_, written by James Michener, Pulitzer Prize author of “_Tales of the South Pacific_”: “To appreciate the greatness of our loss (of China) one must visit Formosa. This island today is the bright spot of Asia. The Nationalist government, shaken to its withers by the debacle on the mainland, has matured astonishingly in the chastisement of defeat. It has established an enlightened commonwealth. Nowhere in Asia is the food problem more fairly handled. Nowhere are justice, human safety and property—those universal measures of good government—so respected and secured. The American cannot visit this island without one lament filling his mind: _this_ might have been China today.” Let us, in the United States, so _act_ in the moments left of the immediate and perilous hours of this half-way-mark of the Twentieth Century to preclude a similar “chastisement of defeat.” May it never be said, by some lone survivor of an atomic attack, tossed upon a distant isle, the beauty, dignity and grandeur of which is strangely familiar, yet defies Paradise itself: “_This_ might have been America.” CHAPTER VIII _Behind the Red Curtain_ Immediately after the Communists gained control of China and occupied it from North to South, Russian technicians and advisors poured into the country. Everyone was asking: “What are the Russians doing in China?”