China and the West

Letter from John Dewey to Dewey children
135 Morrison St Feb 17 [1920] | Peking
Dearest family, …
The J govt has stood in Korea in the way of persecution and propagand by missionaries etc—and as the lying missionaries of China she would never forgive them for hating Japan. That last is a good mor war moral, hate is so hateful you must be very careful to hate the right ones. The morning paper says Tom Lamont is on way over here—tho it didnt call him Tom, just like that. Some of the business people here say it wasnt true that the Morgans are going in with Japanese capital in Manchuria and Siberia, and think the Japanese gentlemen in Sf just an-||nounced it from nerve because it was piqued because the other crowd had just announced its cooperation with Chinese capital. Internal politics here are too much for me—I hae to admit it. The popular objection to Sha entering into direct negotiations with Japn about her return of Shantung is universal. Its so strong that it would seem unreasonable if it didnt give a measure of the existing distrust both of Japan and of their own officials. But the officials have gone straight ahead. No public decision has been announced but it is generally believed that the govt has decided to go ahead. In fact it is generally believed that private negotiation[s] have been going on thu the medium of some big Japanese financiers here, and that when it is announed that negotiations will be begun it will mean verything is settled. One well posted Chinese said that he thought that after it was fixed Japan would simply announce the terms, saying she would not insist upon direct negotiations in view of the opposition of the people. The terms in general will involve considerable concessions but will be quite general and the details will be fixed by private treaties including some generous "loans". Domestic politics is also miced up, the premier while a militaryist is a rival of little Hsu the head of the Anfu club, which controls the govt except him, and it is said they are playing for his scalp and to get complete control. The best evidence of something going ions is the campaign of the last few weeks against the students Adter suppressing the movement in Tientsin, they have stopped it here, really stoped it so far as external manifestations are concerned. They tried every possibe way to provoke the students to strike. At first the students fell in the trap, but and voted a strike, but they got wise and voted not to. Then the govt to provoke the more, dissolved both the teachers and students unions by main force, police. Still they keep quiet What the govt will do next to provoke them, I dont know. The govt wants to get an excuse to close up all the schools and send the students home. The supposition is that it wants them out of the way when direct negotiations with Japan are announced. Thats probably a part of it, but demands from Japan and money are probably a factor too. The students really won a moral victory over themselves in not striking. Their fellow students had bee[n] arrested and physically abused, over forty are in hospitals here, from beatings up by soldiers and about as many more leaders in prison, no one knows where, and their sense of honor was that they should all strike for their comrades sake. But other managed to persuade them that the Shantung issue was the important thing, and they reserve themselves for that, and their fellow students in prison were more interested in the cause than in themselves. Finally the vote not to strike was unanimous—you cant imagine what it means for them to change about, becuase this would be loss of face for those who had been in favor a strike. Then they also sent telegrams to all the other towns where they had sent emissaries to start strikes telling them not to, to wait. Reports from the Shanghai valley are that probably the southern vaprovinces will break loose and start a revolution oif the Peking govt begins direct negotiations Probably the Japanese discount this. If they can get control of the northern govt, it would give them Manchuria positive and Shantung and this province Chili, and they could get the north and south to fighting one another, without their having to use their own money and blood. Howver the revolution if it occurs wont be confined to the south. The suppression of organizations will lead to direct action by individuals. There is no doubt Bolshevism is growing very rapidly in China—not technical Svovietism, but a belief in revolution as the cure of both Japan and their won govt, and making use of the Russian revolutionary aid to bring it on—there is too much lamd owned by individualistic peasants for a real Russian Bolshevism and factory industry too undeveloped. But the militarists who have used command of the army to extort money have been pu[t]ting their money into banks, stores (that is the chief thing the boycott is up agt) and indutrial enterprises, and in that way an economic question is growing up, and class feeling which has never existed before as class feeling. Its no use trying to prophesy about China, but anywhere else in the world, if things go in the present direction, it would be safe to predict an era of terrorism, assassinations etc, and efforts at revolution. Mentime the Chinese have got pessimistic agin, as much so as when we landed last May. A large part of them predict complete Japanese control—they are so many of them fatalists at bottom. On the other hand they think in the long run fate is on their side and that after they have had fifty years ofr a century of Japan—a century or two more or less is nothing here—Japan will be completely destroyed. They have evolved so far next to no capacity for selfgovernment. As Ive probably said before if I were a historian of ancient times, amytime up to eighteenth century Id study China and see the thing before my eyes. And the financial mess is the worst, and the foreign govts and diplomats are primarily responsible for that. The govt exists from month to month simply by the favor of foreign loans. It is now borrowing twentyfive million—that is five million pounds, which by the time exchange is reckoned and the premium to baker paisd will net China ten million dollars. The reason for our govt going in is thaa toherwise Japan alone will laon the money. But verything is handled in this piecemeal pawnbroking style. They have paper assurane that some of the money will be paid used to pay off loans soldiers and disband the army, and that there will be foreign supervision of expeditures—but Lord. Well there doesnt seem to be anything but politcs to write about—the lanterns of fishes and fruits and bugs and grasshoppers that we get for twenty five cents, oiled paper, for new years are much more interesting—New Years is in three days, but how much we are going to see except the special markets and bazzaars I dont know. When Ev gets here there is to be another big banquet given us, a kind of farewell departure I think.
Lots of love Dad
Ill try to send this by Shanghai and Empress mail. Plese direct the next letters to me | Care Teachers College | Nanking. | Where the family will be I dont know, but try some of your letters direct to me there, and some to rest of family here.