ABSTRACT
CHINA’S NEW ECONOMIC BASE But the Japanese invasion has obliterated this hopeful panorama, at least for the immediate future. Instead of peace and prosperity, there is today such indescribable agony and devastation in the war-torn districts in China as only her courageous people know how to endure. Two years of war spreading over one-third of China have brought about terrific losses to her people. But if one-third of China has suffered destruction, the other two-thirds have found new life. Positive measures for strengthening China’s economic front have not been neglected. On the contrary, those who have travelled in the interior provinces invariably report that the morale of the people is superb and that, undaunted by military reverses, the Chinese government and people alike are exerting their utmost in replenishing their losses with new energy and resources. The war has aroused amongst the Chinese an unparalleled interest in the development of the hinterland which, it is hoped, will provide a new and adequate base for conducting a protracted war against the invader. It is said that time and space are China’s greatest allies in the present fighting. Verily in the vast south-western provinces the Chinese have found new hope for national regeneration. With an area twice the size of Japan and a population larger than that of the United States, the south-western provinces (Szechwan, Sikong, Yunnan, Kweichow, Hunan and Kwangsi) contain almost unlimited man-power and inestimably rich natural wealth, in addition to vast fertile lands which can produce sufficient foodstuffs to make China independent of foreign sources of supply.
