44 MONTHS AS PT CORRESPONDENT

Questions on China
answered by Whyte

BERT WHYTE returned to Canada in mid December after being
correspondent for the Canadian Tribune and PT in China for nearly four
years. He is now on the staff of the Canadian Tribune in Toronto. His first

‘assignment’ was to share his impressions oj life in China as he saw it with

our readers. These questions and answers are t.

result.

In undertaking to answer these questions Whyte said: Forty four
months in China ts not long enough to become an expert on either China or
the Chinese. But it is long enough to dig deeper than the tourist, whose sur
face impressions following a stay of a few weeks or months have been given
to the world in many books; and it enables one to judge China’s advances
and shortcomings better than those political pundits who gain their knowl-
edge of deveiopments from four-day stopovers in Hong Kong. ;

“I would also like to make it clear that the answers are my own personal

conclusions.”

QUESTION: Did China make
any significant economic ad-
vances during the period you
lived there?

ANSWER: When I arrived in
Peking in March 1960 China was
in great economic difficulties
caused by natural calamities
(floods, droughts and hurri-
canes), plus mistakes made on
all levels of leadership. The
**Great Leap’’ of 1958 had dis-
located industry and the form
taken by the people’s communes
contributed to the natural dis-
asters.

However, the early ‘‘commun-
izing winds’’ did not last long.
Corrective measures were taken
and strict ra-
tioning in
1960 and1961
led to an
equal distri-
bution of food
and goods,
Malnutrition
was wide-
spread but
famine was
aA avoided.
Emphasis shifted from heavy
industry to agriculture and light
industry. The ‘‘aid to agricul-
ture’ drive brought results, Al-
though the government has pub-
lished no production figures since
1960, an informed guess would be
a 1963 grain crop of about 200
million tons. Generally speaking
the country has regained the 1957
economic level and was ahead in
some ways — such as water con-
servation projects, tree planting
and a more solid industrial base,

*«

QUESTION: You mention mis-
takes on the part of leadership,
and subsequent correction of
these mistakes. Could you elab-
orate?

ANSWER: The mistakes made
on the industrial front were of
such magnitude and so complex
that they could only be dealt with
adequately in a full - length
article. Basically, the Chinese
tried to leap overnecessary pre-
liminary stages in economic de-
velopment.

In this interview, I would like

to confine myself to a brief dis-.
cussion of some of the mistakes

in agriculture, China is still es-
sentially an agricultural country
—the peasantry make up more
than 80 percent of the popula-
tion.

There was a bumper crop in
1958, the first year of the people’s
communes. These huge under-
takings, often combining as many
as 100,000 peasants under new
and inexperienced leadership,
had no adequate accounting sys-
tems. In all good faith, most of
the commune leaders reported
highly swollen figures of crop
yields to Peking. The total showed
that 375 million tons of grain had
been harvested. :

The government and party

leaders, basing plans for 1959 on :

SS 2%

these erroneous figures, aimed at
525 million tons, Chairman Mao
Tse-tung, entertaining a peasant
director of a farm cooperative
in June, 1958 (just prior to the
forming of communes)optimisti-
tically predicted that China’s
farm output would soon result in
everyone receiving 1,000 catties
(a catty is 1.1 pounds)of grain,
100 catties of pork, 20 catties of
edible oil and 20 catties ofcotton
annually. :

Mao miscalculated. Four years”

later, in June 1962, the average
annual ration was 360 catties of
grain, two catties of pork, two
catties of edible oil and 10 feet
of textiles. -

Early in 1959 it became eviden
that statisticians had grossly
overestimated the 1958 grain
crop, The figure was revised
downward from 375 million tons
to 250 million tons and plans for
1959 production were also scaled
down.

Flood, drought and hurricane
damage in 1960 and 1961 were ex-
tensive. Actual grain production
was probably between 150 and 175
million tons in those years.

Drastic changes were made in
commune leadership..Control
was largely placed in the hands
of the brigade — in effect, the
former co-ops. Many communes
were divided into two and even
three communes. Industry began
its ‘‘aid to agriculture’’ drive,
producing more tractors, fer-
tilizer, insecticides and simple
farm tools.

These reforms paid off in bet-
ter crops in 1962 and 1963. When
I left China in November, 1963,
there was plenty of food on the

- market and many consumer pro-

ducts had been taken off the
rationed list.

QUESTION: Did the severe
economic situation,
attribute to a combination of
natural disasters and man-made
mistakes, cause any loss of con-

which you —

fidence on the part of the people
in their government?

ANSWER: No, not to any great
extent. Chinese leaders say that
90 percent of the people support
the economic policies of the
government and the Communist
Party of China, and I believe this
to be true, The socialist system,
despite mistakes made by indi-
viduals, is superior to any form
of capitalism.

No one in China wants the re-
turn of Chiang Kai-shek, And
while the people suffered great
hardships in 1960 and 1961, they
are well aware that under the
old regime which existed prior
to liberation in 1949 many mil-
lions of people would have died
from starvation.

They remember the 1934 fa-
mine when whole families had to
leave their homes and go beg-
ging, and when mothers were
forced to sell their children as
household slaves to rich land-
owners.

Those terrible days have gone,
never to return.

QUESTION: What about the
‘flight of people from Kwantung,

to Hong Kong and from Sinkiang
to the Soviet Union in 1962?

ANSWER: Yes, tens of thous-
ands of Chinese citizens did leave
their country that spring. In
Kwantung province the reasons
were partly economic (although
even the biased Hong Kong
papers admitted most of the
refugees did not appear to be
starving) and partly due to other
causes. ;

In Sinkiang province the
problem of Han bureaucracy was
a contributing factor; the national

“minorities in that area have al-
ways felt a close affinity to their
brother minorities in the Soviet
Union.

The Hans make up 94 percent
of the Chinese population; the
growth of Han nationalism has
created many problems in areas
where national minorities form
the bulk of the population. ©

*

QUESTION: What do _ you
mean by the growth of Han na-
tionalism? Is not nationalism in-
compatible with socialism?

Heavy industry in China is in for a boost from a new advance on the i
dustrial front and a program of industrial expansion. This picture sho
workers in Shanghai assembling a high pr

‘e compr .

ANSWER: One must glance at
history to find the answer to your
question, Chinese state that their
civilization goes back 5,000
years, as proof of the greatness
of their country. But a country’s
greatness is not measured in
terms of longevity. True Chinese
civilization began under the Han
dynasty, when a unified empire
first came into being,

The Han (206 B.C. — 25 A.D.)
and the Tang (618 — 907 A.D.),
dynasties were the two periods in
which Chinese civilization and
culture reached towering heights,
At no time since has China been
able to compete in greatness with
the civilizations of the West.

But today China is striving to
overcome a thousand years of
feudalism and semi-feudalism;,
tomorrow her achievements may
again place her among the more
advanced nations of the world.

_ For century after century the
Chinese wrote of surrounding
peoples as‘*‘barbarians’’ but even
‘a cursory glance at historical
facts shows that at certain peri-
ods these so-called barbarians—
Turks, Mongols, Tibetans — were
neighbors with a history andcul-
ture at least equal tothe Chinese.

Even after China had lived in
the swamp of feudalism for hun-
dreds of years, while Europe was
flourishing and had long sur-
passed her both culturally and
economically, the scribes at Pe-
king referred to Europeans as
**barbarians.”’ ;

Recall the haughty mandate the
Ching (Manchu) emperor Chien
Lung sent to George II in 1793
rejecting his request to establish
diplomatic relations:

*¢Our dynasty’s majestic virtue
has penetrated unto every coun-
try under Heaven, and Kings of
all nations have offered their.
costly tribute by land and sea,
As your Ambassador can see for
himself, we possess all things, I
set no value on objects strange
or ingenious, and have no use for
your country’s manufactures...
But as the tea, silk and porcelain
which the Celestial Empire pro-
duces are absolute nesessities to
European nations and to your-
selves, we have permitted, as a
signal mark of favor, that foreign

AIN’T IT THE TRUTH?

PRODUCTION

at ra

. si

A WIGHER LIVING STANDARD
DEPENDS LIPON How MUCH EACH
WORKER PRODUCES...SO WORK
FASTER, JERKLEY-(NCREASE

PRODUCTIVITY

i i

(SPLENDID WORK, WHIPLASH /
Now WE CAN START THE
LAYOFFS, CUT CosTS
AND (NCREASE
— PROHTS ! :

| PRODUCTIOX

‘plying that China is preparing fo

‘time but a steady upward climb.

industrial expansion will be un-_

January 24, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag

‘hongs’ should be established
Canton, so that your wants mig!
be supplied and your country thi
participate in our beneficence
The point I am trying to mak
is that Han nationalism is not
new thing; the arrogant languag'
used by China in current pol
mics is not something arisi
out of socialism, but is a han
over from the nation’s past.
Russians make up about one-
half of the Soviet population;
Hans account for 94 percent of —
China’s 700 million people. Mi
you, the remaining six perce!
adds up to over 40 million people.
This difference has resulted
two distinct political structures;
in the USSR, a voluntary union 0!
republics; in China, a unified
multi-national state. :
Although efforts were made,
particularly in the early years —
following liberation, ‘to fight
agains the ancient’ Han great-—
nation chauvinism, in recent
years it has grown rapidly and
caused serious situations t0
arise in almost all the areas
where the smaller ethnic groups

reside.
*

QUESTION: What is the situa
tion in heavy industry?
ANSWER: Signs are mul

front. Not a ‘great leap’’

a

My opinion is that a program of

dertaken within the next year:
*«
QUESTION: Is China receivin
industrial aid from the Sovié
‘Union and other socialist cot
tries?
ANSWER; Yes. AlthoughSovi'
experts left China in 1960, ther!

are at present some 80 industri?
undertakings underway for whi¢

the USSR is supplying blueprint

and complete plants and eq Ds :

ment.
*

‘QUESTION: What are the pros:
pects for increased trade
tween Canada and China?

ANSWER: I believe the pr
pects are good if we are willif
to develop two-way trade. 4
‘present Japan is making astro?
(and successful) bid for mot
trade. In the near future traé
between China and France wW)
undoubtedly increase, Britai
extremely conscious of lo
term trade prospects,

But to date Canda, aside from
the big wheat deals, has virtua
ignored China as the Far E
greatest potential customer.

*

Readers are invited to send
other questions about life in Chit
which we wil! forward to Bé
Whyte. Within our limited spa
Whyte will answer them in a futul
article. ,

See ae

Ng pt Ay Ee NR I Ee RE ENC SG